CHAPTER 6

PARKER APARTMENT, 8:36am, Saturday

Mary Jane was still asleep when Peter came downstairs that morning. He had laid her on the couch and wrapped a duvet around her when they returned last night after the rooftop encounter with Venom and the strange, new species.

She had slept like a log. Peter, however, had drifted off whilst looking for something to clean webbing stains from a green dress, but had woken up on the ceiling. This only happened when Peter's mind was troubled.

And boy was he troubled.

When something scares someone like Venom, should I be scared to? I mean, Carnage worried Venom when he first showed up, but we've both found ways to deal with him. But this new thingy, it's kinda worrying me a lot! And I don't even know what it is yet. Could it be worse than Venom?

Peter looked at MJ on the couch and remembered how Venom had been smart enough, on several occasions, to attack people close to Peter to get to Spider-man.

I hope not.

Spider-man decided it was time to assess the situation; there was an armoured extraterrestrial running around New York following him, testing his skills and examining his every move.

"Oh god..."

Peter ran over to the balcony and slammed the glass doors shut. Mary Jane stirred slightly but didn't awake. This was good as Peter didn't want to worry her with the thought he had just, er…thought!

What if it's watching right now? My spider-sense is picking up something…but what!

Sure enough, his head began to tingle when he looked out of the window. There was something across the street looking toward the apartment, but Peter couldn't make out what it was. "I might not be able to see it, but Spider-man can get close enough. Just need to make the place 'bad guy proof'…"

A few splats of webbing here and there and the apartment's window borders and skylight were blocked by ultra-strong, ultra-sticky fluid. Peter left the front door unblocked in case of emergency; or if MJ just had to go out at some point.

Satisfied with his security procedures, Spider-man removed his costume from the washing machine and began to unbutton his shirt.

ACROSS THE STREET, minutes later…

Spider-man couldn't understand it; his spider-sense was still tingling, but he still couldn't find what was setting it off. Could it be the alien? Was it Venom? Was it something else? All these questions will be answered in the next exciting instalment of…oh wait, sorry! Moving on.

So, he fired one webline toward the top of the building and used it to swing up there. Perching on the corner of rooftop, he overlooked his city, his playground. The sight from here was breathtaking; it was one of the reasons he had agreed to buy that particular apartment. He liked to visit this spot to think, which was often.

No sooner had he settled, than his spider-sense buzzed heavily and he whizzed round to see todays stalker.

Felicia Hardy, The Black Cat, stood there, her long white/blond hair blowing in the warm breeze. It came as a bit of a shock to Spidey, as he had never seen her out and about in the day before. But, she was a welcome sight; at least she wasn't an alien bounty hunter or a symbiotic psycho.

"Morning." She smiled, also pleased to see him. It proved to cheer her up quite a bit, she still fancied him slightly.

"Who put you out at this time? Aren't you meant to be napping on a wall in someone's back yard?"

She grinned. "Come to think of it, why aren't you in some old ladies bathtub, fallin' down the sink?" To Peter, she looked amazing. It seemed that her costume had undergone a redesign. She wore a short tank top-like top with gloves that reached all the way up to below her shoulders. She had hot pant-like shorts on with thigh-high boots. Her belly was completely bare.

"So you're going for the revealing look to, eh? It seems to be the style with the women in my life at the moment."

"It's our choice, it's not like we're characters in some fan fiction written by a horny teenager!"

"No, you're right! Heh!" There was a pause. "So, what brings you out this time o' day? You're normally a night time operator."

"Well…" She paused for a moment before picking up where she left off. "I think there's somebody following you. You and MJ, I mean. Venom as well, but I'm not sure. All I know is it's carrying some serious hardware, better than my stuff."

"Our survey says…Dingdingding! We have a wiener! Yeah, I met the thing last night, it's some kinda hunter. It's been tracking me for a couple a days. What do you know about it?"

Black Cat tried to remember. "Okay, it had a scan, or something…yeah, that's it! It has one of them thermo-scans, the ones that see heat patterns. It's built into its helmet. Well, according to my CCTV analysis. And it has blades on its arm."

"Yeah, I got a little to close to them for comfort. Heat vision, eh? So, it looks for peoples heat signatures. That'll be easy in this weather-everyone's scorching! Do you know where it is now?"

Cat began to look worried. "I think it's around here somewhere. That's why I'm here; to warn you." Upon finishing her sentence, her gaze rushed to somewhere across the street. "It's here! Look, OVER THERE!"

Too late. By the time Spider-man had turned around, the creature had leapt from its perch across the street and landed on him with the strength of a piano being dropped off the Eiffel Tower, only less musical.

Spidey curled his legs up to his chest and kicked the alien off of him, knocking it to the other side of the rooftop. Before it had time to land, he hit it with a webline and yanked it toward Black Cat, who scissor kicked it in the mush. She continued to pound the creature, which refused to retaliate. It just slowly stood up, towered over her at full height and stared at her until she was too tired to continue hitting it.

Realizing that her attacks were not harming the creature, and that her arms were beginning to hurt, Cat stopped and looked it in the eyes. Big mistake.

Withdrawing its fist only to launch it forward again at full force, the creature whacked Cat far enough for her to fall off the building. Spider-sense sending a mini explosion coursing to his brain, instincts took over as Spider-man followed her, diving off the building.

Ahead of him, or rather, below him, Black Cat was frantically looking for something to grab hold of, and in midair, that ain't easy. Shooting a webline around her waist, he yanked the burglar towards him and held onto her tightly. Now that she was safely in his arms, Spidey was able to spin around so that she was facing upward.

He aimed his wrist toward the rooftop again and fired a strand to break their fall. Unfortunately, the creature was ready for this eventuality. As the webline hit the roof, the alien brought its heavy wrist blades down upon it, severing it at the end.

With no time to aim for another try, Spider-man decided that he would take the impact of the drop to protect Black Cat. Looking down, he saw that there were at least seven more storeys to go. Seven isn't that much a drop is it?

Oh yes it is.

The newsstand didn't stand a chance. Within seconds, the blue and red flash that was Spider-man had caused it to cave in by landing on the roof. Black Cat fell out of his arms and landed nearby, completely winded.

Spidey looked up from the rubble of Mars bars and issues of Playboy that he had landed in to see the creature take a great leap off of the rooftop. The landing caused the ground itself to tremble slightly, a small earthquake hitting the one street alone. Spidey's vision was blurred, but he could tell that it was getting closer; its footsteps shook the earth.

Looming over him, the creature shot a three-point beam from its helmet and aimed it at Spidey's chest. It was a laser sight for the huge plasmacaster that was raising itself upward from behind the creatures back, ready to fire.

"Oh, crud…"