Chapter 6

The following day, Matsuo was in his apartment going over some information when there was a knock at the apartment door.

"Who is it?" Matsuo asked as he approached the door.

"This the NYPD. We're here to see Matsuo Tsurayaba. Open the door please," the cop said.

"Son of a…" Matsuo said under his breath as he let the officer into the apartment. He began to wonder what the hell happened and if he and Takashi were found out. Matsuo thought that they were being very careful.

"Are you Mr. Matsuo Tsurayaba?" the officer asked.

"Yes. What is this about, officer?" replied Matsuo.

"We have reason to believe that you and another accomplice have been stalking a woman by the name of Elektra Natchios," the officer said.

"Now wait just one damn minute. You have no proof that I am stalking this person and another thing I don't even know this person."

"I'm afraid you're wrong Mr. Tsurayaba. We do have a witness."

"Who is this witness then?"

"The witness is me," the officer replied with a smirk.

That revelation left Matsuo dumbfounded. There was no escaping the truth now because the cop had him dead to rights. Matsuo then looked over at the officer and saw something very strange happening.

"What the…" was all that Matsuo got out as he saw the cop change into Takashi.

"Gotcha," Takashi said with a laugh.

"I really hate it when you pull that kind of shit," Matsuo replied angrily.

"Yes, I know. I thought I would show you how I was going to go about getting info on the guy that was with Elektra the other day. The only way for me to accomplish this task was as a police officer because it would be so much easier to get what information we need."

"You're right. You really had me fooled."

"Thanks. I knew sooner or later my shape shifting ability would come in handy."

"So, when are you going out?"

"I thought I'd go right now to the university since I did a convincing job of fooling you."

"Good luck, Takashi."

"Thanks."

Takashi then left the apartment as himself to find out whom that person with Elektra was.

It didn't take long for Takashi to get to the campus of ESU. When he was within a few blocks of the university, Takashi ducked into a dark alley and changed his appearance to that of an NYPD lieutenant. That was the same way he looked earlier when he was fooling Matsuo.

Once on campus, Takashi found a map of the campus that showed him where he was at the moment. He began to study the map to find out where he would have to go to find out who the person was that was with Elektra in the photo that he had. Takashi then found where the administration building was and decided that that was the place to start his information gathering.

When Takashi had arrived at the administration building, he went up to the counter to start his 'investigation'.

"Good morning, officer. What can I do for you?" the lady behind the counter asked.

Takashi then took out his photo and showed it to the lady. "We are currently involved in an investigation and were wondering if you know the gentleman in this picture. We believe that he is a student here and we would like to ask him a few questions," Takashi/officer said.

The admissions clerk studied the picture for a brief moment and then said, "If this guy is a student here we should have his picture in the student database since he would have a student card. It may take a bit to ID him so if you would like to take a seat, I'll get started on this right away."

"That would be fine."

She went to her computer and started the process of trying to find out whom that guy in the picture was.

"I got it!" the admissions clerk exclaimed some thirty minutes after she began her search.

When Takashi heard that, he got out of his chair and went back up to the counter. The clerk then gave him a printout of who the person was and read that he was Peter Parker.

"Thanks," Takashi began, "I was also wondering if I could have a printout of Mr. Parker's class schedule?"

"Sure thing, officer," the clerk replied.

After a couple of minutes, Takashi had Peter's class schedule for the semester.

"Thank you for your cooperation," Takashi/officer said and left the building.

When Takashi got far enough away from ESU, he changed back to his normal appearance and then found himself a quiet spot to go over all of the information that he found on Peter Parker. Once he finished that he pulled out his cell phone and called Roshi.

"This is Roshi," he answered on his phone.

"Sir, this is Takashi. I have some information on the guy that has been seen with Elektra," Takashi said.

"Good. What did you come up with?"

"The guy's name is Peter Parker and he's a student at Empire State University. I have just gone over his class schedule and it shows that Elektra is a teaching assistant in one of his classes. It appears that this is his only connection with Elektra."

"From what you just told me, this Mr. Parker is of no consequence to our plans with Elektra. You can leave Mr. Parker alone. It is interesting to know that Elektra is working at an American university."

"Would you like us to find out why she is there?"

"No. I think I know why she's there. She is probably doing what you and Matsuo are doing and using the job she has at the university as a cover for her real 'job'."

"Is there anything else you require?"

"That should do for now. Tell Matsuo what you have found out and to leave Mr. Parker alone. He is of no use to us. Keep me informed on everything else that you and Matsuo are doing," and Roshi ended the conversation.

After his call to Roshi, Takashi then dialed Matsuo's number to tell him what he had found.

"Matsuo here," Matsuo answered.

"This is Takashi. I found the information that Roshi wanted and I just finished talking to him. I let him know what I found out," Takashi replied. He then told Matsuo about Peter Parker being the guy in the photo and that he was a student at the university who was in a class that Elektra was a teaching assistant in.

"What did Roshi say about that?"

"He said to leave Parker alone and that he is of no use to us. I'm on my way back right now so we can plan our next move."

"Good job, Takashi. I'll await your return."

They both hung up and prepared for what was to happen next.

Several weeks later

Elektra had been planning for several weeks now on how she was going to fulfill her contract. But that wasn't the only thing that she was preparing for. Elektra was preparing for Professor Ling's Japanese History class.

When she took the job as Professor Ling's teaching assistant Elektra was preparing for the martial arts portion of the class. The professor set up that class pretty well last week by discussing the samurai. That was perfect for Elektra since she was planning on demonstrating the use of swords and her favourite weapon: the sai. Elektra was able to get some people to help her with the sword and sai demonstration as well as the hand-to-hand portion of the class for that day.

Everything seemed to be going well for Elektra. She had learned a great deal about Spider-Man. Elektra felt that very soon she would be able to take a crack at the wall crawler. During this time she spent a lot of time with Peter and Mary Jane through whom she got information on Spider-Man. The amazing thing with that was that she enjoyed spending time with Peter and Mary Jane. She was starting to become friends with those two and it scared her a little bit. Elektra found it hard to get attached to people after everything that had happened to her in the last year. Plus when she was done with her assignment, Elektra wasn't sure what she would do next and she wanted to at least keep in touch with Mary Jane and Peter in case she decided to leave New York.

After thinking this she decided to ponder about that stuff later and get back to finalizing what she was going to do for her class.

The following week Professor Ling's Japanese History class was to meet at the ESU gymnasium for the martial arts portion of the course. Everyone in class was told to dress in sweats or any type of workout clothing because of the possibility of actually participating in that day's class.

Both Peter and Mary Jane were able to get to the gym before the class was to start. They watched as Elektra and several other people prepare part of the gym floor with mats for the demonstration. What caught their attention was a table that was off to the side of the gym mats. On that table were a variety of swords. With everything set up Elektra noticed Peter and Mary Jane and went over to them.

"You two ready for class this morning?" Elektra asked.

"Yes," both Mary Jane and Peter said together.

"What's with all the swords?" Peter asked.

"Those swords are also part of the demonstration. A few weeks ago I talked to Professor Ling about what I intended to do today and since she was going to discuss the samurai, I thought it would be a good idea to show the class what kinds of weapons they used," answered Elektra.

"This will be some class today then. We'll let you get back to work and wait for you to begin class," Mary Jane said.

Elektra went back to make final preparations for the demonstration while Peter and Mary Jane found a place to sit until the start of class.

Slowly the gym was filling up with students for the class as well as the professor who made her way towards Elektra.

"Good morning, Elektra," Professor Ling greeted her.

"Good morning, Professor," replied Elektra.

"It appears that you have everything under control here. Do you need anything else before class starts?"

"No, I think I have it covered. Thanks any way Professor."

"Excellent. Well then let me know when you're ready and I'll get the class started."

Elektra took a quick look at a clock on the gym wall to see that it was almost time for class. She did a final check of things that she would cover today and went to the Professor to let her know that she was ready.

"Good morning, class," Professor Ling began, "Today's class will be on martial arts. I won't go into too much detail about that since it's not an area I am an expert in. So, I will hand over the class to Ms. Elektra Natchios and let her go into detail with what we're covering today."

Elektra then took over the class giving them an overview at which forms of martial arts were being used in Japan. The ones that the students recognized Elektra talking about the most were Karate and Judo. After this Elektra talked a little about the samurai that they had covered in the previous class. That was when she showed the class some armor a samurai would wear, complete with a helmet and sword.

Elektra then started talking about the swords they would use and showed the class the ones that she had displayed on the table and passed one around for all the students to get a good look at it. As the sword made its way around the students, Elektra got a couple of her assistants to demonstrate the use of the swords in a mock fight. With swords raised they began the fight. During the fight Elektra explained what the 'duelists' were doing. When the fight was over, the class erupted into a round of applause for the fighters.

Once the fighters put down their swords, Elektra then told the class to form small groups so that they could be shown a few Karate and Judo techniques. Luckily for Peter and Mary Jane's group they had Elektra to show them her technique. Over the next several minutes, Elektra showed them the basics and she demonstrated a few of the moves for them.

When that was all over Elektra went to the head of the class and performed a demonstration for the students with the help of one of her assistants. Between the two of them there were several kicks and punches thrown as well as chops. A few times they were able to knock each other down with either a roundhouse kick or by a toss. When they finished sparring they bowed to each other and the class clapped for the two of them.

"Now that you have seen what we can do, how about we see what one of you can do. I would now like to have a volunteer," Elektra said.

Several of the students raised their hands and Elektra spotted the person she wanted to assist her.

"Peter, would you mind helping me out, please?" Elektra asked.

"Sure, why not," answered Peter.

As Peter got up, Mary Jane whispered to him, "Try not to put too much into your moves there, Pete."

Understanding what Mary Jane meant, Peter gave her a quick nod with a little smirk and proceeded to go to the front of the class.

When Peter went up to Elektra, she told him to remove his shoes and socks. Then she explained to him what she was going to do in order to prepare him for it.

"Are you ready, Peter?" Elektra asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Peter answered.

Before they started, Elektra and Peter bowed to each other and then started their sparring. Elektra started with a few punches, which Peter blocked and then she tried a couple of kicks, which Peter blocked. This amazed Elektra. She was surprised at how fast Peter learned to protect himself against her attacks.

Peter was proud of himself. With his spider sense he was able to deflect each blow that Elektra threw at him. But he later thought that he should let Elektra get a couple of shots in so that she wouldn't suspect that there was something fishy going on. Elektra was then able to get a few shots in at Peter and was finally able to take Peter off his feet.

Then Peter was able to get a couple of hits on Elektra and was able to take her off her feet.

"You OK?" Peter asked extending his hand to help Elektra up.

"Yes, thank you," replied Elektra while taking Peter's hand and getting up off the mat.

Then they both faced each other and bowed again signifying the end of their sparring. The students erupted into another round of applause with a loud whistle coming from Mary Jane.

"If there isn't anything left that has to be covered today," Professor Ling began as she looked over to Elektra who shook her head, "Then I guess class is dismissed."

Everybody then started to make his or her way out of the gym.

"Great job out there, Peter. You really held your own," Elektra said.

"Thanks. I guess I'm a fast leaner," Peter replied with a grin.

"You were great, the both of you," Mary Jane said as she came up to the two of them.

"Well ladies, I would like to keep this conversation going, but I've got to change and get to my job," Peter said as he gave Mary Jane a quick kiss on the cheek and he made his way to the gym exit.

"Good-bye, Peter," both Mary Jane and Elektra said together.

Peter gave them a wave and left the gym.

"You know, Mary Jane, you do have one special boyfriend," Elektra said.

"Don't I know it," Mary Jane replied, "Don't I know it."

Later that evening

After a good day working at Stark Enterprises, Peter decided to take the quickest way home, web swinging through the concrete canyons of New York as Spider-Man. As he was making his way home, Spider-Man felt the tingle of his spider sense and then heard a whizzing sound go right by his head.

"What now?" Spider-Man asked as he went in the direction of the sound.

As he was swinging, his spider sense made him bring his arm up in mid swing and he caught an arrow.

Spider-Man then landed on the nearest rooftop and studied the arrow. "Who in the world would be taking pot shots at me with an arrow?" Spider-Man asked himself.

He didn't have long to think about that as a few more arrows made their way at him. Spider-Man was able to dodge them easily and make his way to where ever they were coming from. With a couple of quick swings, Spider-Man was able to get to the person who was firing those arrows at him. Spider-Man noticed that the person was dressed all in black with their face covered so he couldn't easily recognize them.

Without any hesitation Spider-Man fired two web lines at his assailant to trip the person up. "Now where do you think you're going?" Spider-Man asked.

All of a sudden the black clad figure produced some sort of blade and cut Spider-Man's webbing and made their escape. This caught Spider-Man off guard, which benefited his assailant as they made a clean getaway.

Spider-Man wasn't left completely empty handed as he saw the crossbow that was used against him just lying there on the roof. "I guess they left me a gift. Ah, they shouldn't have," Spider-Man said as he picked up the crossbow. "This ends my fun for this evening. Might as well go home and try to figure this out." Spider-Man then slung the crossbow across his back with a web sack full of some arrows that he found and headed home to start to piece this puzzle together.

AN: Thus comes an end to another chapter. It appears that Elektra took her first shot at Spider-Man and failed. Matsuo and Takashi now know of Peter being linked with Elektra but are no longer interested in him but they are determined to get their hands on Elektra and their interest in Spider-Man continues. Things are starting to get interesting so be prepared to see what happens next. Special thanks go out to Jenn1, Laser Commander, SpartanCommander, Ratdogtwo, closetfan and Georgia Kennedy for their wonderful reviews of the previous chapter. Don't forget to review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.