Chapter 7

In no time, Spider-Man arrived back at his apartment. Peter carefully slipped inside through the French doors of his balcony with his web sac. He opened the web sac and put its contents on the table in his kitchen. After getting out of his costume, taking a quick shower and putting on some fresh clothes, he called Mary Jane to see if she was home to tell her what had happened to him.

It didn't take long for Mary Jane to come over to Peter's place after he called her. He didn't explain much to her on the phone, he just wanted her to come over immediately. She went over to his apartment, knocked on his door and he immediately answered it. Mary Jane gave him a quick kiss and a hug when he let her inside. Grabbing her hand, Peter led her to his kitchen.

"So, Pete, what did you want to talk to me…" Mary Jane said, trailing off at the end of her question when she saw the crossbow and arrows on Peter's kitchen table.

"I took that off a person who was shooting at me," Peter told Mary Jane.

"Are you all right, Peter?"

"Yeah. I'm fine for the most part. You know it's a good thing that I have a sixth sense warning me of danger, which allowed me to avoid every shot that was taken at me."

"Did the person who did this get away?"

"Unfortunately yes. I tripped 'em up with a couple of strands of webbing but they were able to cut it with some type of blade that I didn't get a close look at and then they were gone."

"The good thing is that you're OK," Mary Jane said while reaching across the table and took Peter's hand; giving it a gentle squeeze. "Do you think this person will try again?"

"More than likely, I suppose. Next time I'll be ready for 'em."

"Just don't try anything foolish that can get yourself seriously hurt or heaven forbid, even killed."

"Don't worry, MJ. I'll be careful. It's not like I haven't dealt with this kind of thing before you know."

"I know you have and it's because I love you so much that I worry about you."

"I love you too, sweetheart. I think one of the reasons that we are together now is that you wouldn't have to worry about me so much. But I don't think you'll ever stop worrying, will ya?"

"Nope."

"Well, if you don't have anything else to do tonight, why don't we get a bite to eat and catch a movie?"

"I think that's a wonderful idea."

They each grabbed their coats from their respective apartments and headed out.

It had been a couple of days since Elektra had her encounter with Spider-Man. She realized then and there that her job was definitely going to be a tough one. Everything that she had learned and heard about the wall crawler was true. But one thing bothered her about Spider-Man. How was he able to dodge and catch some of the arrows that she fired at him? She had thought about that constantly since their confrontation. There was only one way for her to find out how he did that and that was to ask him herself. She knew there was going to be a 'next time' and when that time came she would be ready for him.

After mulling that over, the phone rang in Elektra's apartment and she went to answer it.

"Hello?" Elektra asked.

"Hello, Ms. Natchios. Have you made any progress with your assignment?" her mystery employer asked.

"Indeed I have. We had our first encounter a few days ago."

"How did that go?"

"It wasn't like I expected it to be."

"How so?"

"Spider-Man was as tough as I expected but more challenging than I knew."

"So, did you kill the arachnid?"

"Unfortunately no. I was lucky enough to get away from him before he was able to catch me."

"He almost caught you?"

"Yes. Somehow he was able to dodge my arrows and was able to catch some with his hands before they came near him. I don't know how he did it but he did."

"Interesting, very interesting indeed. You're not giving up are you?"

"No, of course not. It's just that now I will have to be even more prepared when our paths crossed again and they will very soon," Elektra said with determination.

"Excellent, that is exactly what I wanted to hear and I'm glad that you're not giving up. Do you need anything else from me?"

"No, I think I got everything under control."

"Good, keep me posted on your progress."

"I will," and Elektra heard the connection end.

Now Elektra had to be prepared for Spider-Man when it came to the next time they met. She began preparations for this next encounter and she would be ready to take care of Spider-Man for good.

Spider-Man was out on one of his nightly patrols through the city with the encounter that he had a few days ago still fresh on his mind. But since then there wasn't anything out of the ordinary that was going on. So far it was an uneventful night and those were the nights that he really liked. He would get one of those nights every now and again. Then his spider sense went off.

"You know, every time I think I'm going to have an easy night there is something that happens to ruin it. The old Parker luck is running true to form yet once again," Spider-Man said to himself while swinging to where the trouble was.

While making his way to the trouble area, Spider-Man's web suddenly snapped and broke. Luckily, he was able to fire another web line to slow his descent and then cling to the side of a nearby building.

"What the hell just happened?" Spider-Man said to himself. "My webbing never breaks like that. Even when I was having problems with my spider powers, nothing like that ever happened. Unless…"

That's when his spider sense went off again but this time it was a very strong tingling and his body moved out of the way of a few gunshots.

"I guess that explains why my web line broke. I should've known this person wouldn't have given up so easily on me. They must be using a silencer on their weapon because that would explain why I didn't hear any of the shots or a shot when my webbing broke."

Spider-Man stopped just for a second on the wall of another building to catch his breath when his spider sense went off again.

"Move Spidey, move," he said as a dodged another round of bullet fire.

Spider-Man thought that he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever and that's when he decided to go on the offensive. Using his trusty spider sense as a guide, he made his way towards the shooter and as he neared the person, he wasn't surprised to see whom it was. The person was dressed all in black and wearing a black cowl over their head.

As Spider-Man approached, the attacker kept on firing their gun at him. He avoided every round and fired two strands of webbing at the gun. With one quick tug, the gun was out of the attacker's hands and into his waiting hands.

"Now lets see who we have here?" Spider-Man said after giving the gun a quick once over. Grabbing the barrel of the gun with one hand and the butt of the gun in the other, he bent the weapon in half leaving it completely useless. Dropping the gun to the ground he then said, "Whoops, clumsy me. I guess I don't know my own strength."

His attacker then let out a blood-curdling scream and launched a flying kick at him. Spider-Man didn't move an inch, as the attacker came closer, he grabbed his attacker's leg in mid air and tossed them to the ground.

The attacker slowly got up from the ground, which was really the roof to a building that the attacker was using to shoot at Spider-Man. His attacker said, "You won't be able to beat me that easily you son of a…"

Spider-Man then cut them off saying, "Hey! Watch your language. My ears are sensitive to that kind of talk."

"Fine, less talk and more action."

"Bring it on, Blackie."

"Blackie?"

"Yeah, Blackie. What else do you want me to call you? Now let me think for a second," Spider-Man said while tilting his head up with a hand on his chin. He then snapped his fingers and said, "I got it! How about numskull or idiot? No? Ok. Ok. What about moron or jackass or a…"

He was cut off when his attacker said, "Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?"

"That seems to come up on occasion. I don't know why that is. I kind of like my witty banter since it's such a cool way for me to express myself."

"Why don't you shut up?" the attacker said while launching another attack on the web slinger.

For the next few minutes they traded blows while neither one of them getting a clear advantage over the other. Spider-Man was constantly blocking blows from his assailant but every once and a while he was able to get a shot of his own in. The attacker then decided to try a roundhouse kick, which he blocked and was able to counter by grabbing the assailant's leg and slamming them hard to the ground. His attacker wasn't getting up but he could tell by the rising and falling of the attacker's chest that the person was still alive.

Spider-Man slowly walked up to his opponent to see how they were. Bending down he grabbed the cowl and said, "Lets take a look and see who is behind the mask here." He pulled the cowl off the attacker.

"Dear God!" Spider-Man exclaimed as he saw the face of Elektra Natchios. He stumbled back a little bit out of sheer shock at who was behind the cowl.

Elektra slowly got to her feet and noticed that Spider-Man had her cowl in his hand. Now that her cover was blown, it was going to be even tougher for her to get rid of him so she had to make this time the last time that she would see the wall crawler.

Since it appeared that Spider-Man was off balance for some reason, Elektra decided to attack him again. This time she was attacking him with such ferocity that she hoped she would come out of this fight as the victor.

Elektra hadn't taken into account Spider-Man's ability. He fought back just as hard.

They traded blows for a while when Spider-Man caught Elektra by surprise with a kick to the stomach which sent her flying into a door that was part of the roof entrance to the building they were currently fighting on. Luckily for her, she just had the wind knocked out of her.

Spider-Man then went up to her and picked Elektra up very carefully so that he wasn't hurting her any more than she already was. She then opened her eyes and saw that she was looking into the eyes of Spider-Man. Wiggling her feet she found out that he had her off the ground and then Elektra heard him ask, "Why are you after me?"

Elektra was about to answer him when they both heard some clapping. That's when she saw two figures slowly making their way towards the both of them.

Spider-Man also heard the clapping, so he quickly webbed Elektra in place and looked at the oncoming figures.

"Well, well, well. Elektra, we meet again," one of the men said.

"Who are you?" Spider-Man asked.

"Pardon me for my bad manners. My name is Matsuo and the person with me is my associate, Takashi. We have come to offer you a deal, Spider-Man."

"What kind of deal?"

"Join our organization or we will be forced to kill you," Takashi said.

"Ok. What would I have to do to become part of 'your' organization?" Spider-Man asked.

"That's simple. Since Elektra here has been a thorn in our organization's side, we would like you to execute her as a test of your loyalty to our cause," Matsuo said.

"Well since you put it that way I don't have much of a choice than but to accept your offer."

"Excellent. Now, kill Elektra."

Spider-Man walked up to Elektra and whispered to her, "Do you trust me?"

"Do I have a choice?" she whispered back.

"I don't think so. Just follow my lead."

Very quickly, Spider-Man got Elektra loose from his webbing and was able to swing Elektra around so that she knocked both Matsuo and Takashi down.

"I've changed my mind, gentlemen. I won't be joining you," Spider-Man said.

"You will pay for not joining us, Spider-Man, with your life," Matsuo told him.

"Well, I've had a good run."

That's when Matsuo and Takashi charged them and the fight began. Working together, Spider-Man and Elektra were holding their own against the two newcomers. Knowing that their lives were at stake, Spider-Man wasn't pulling his punches like he would against common criminals. He was letting both of them have it.

Elektra was doing the same as Spider-Man, she wasn't holding back either even though she never did. During the fight she noticed how well the wall crawler was doing and she was impressed. What also impressed her was how well that they worked together.

They tide of battle began to turn in the favor of Spider-Man and Elektra. They were then able to incapacitate Matsuo and Takashi and Spider-Man quickly webbed them up.

"Lets get out of here before they come to," Elektra said to Spider-Man.

"You don't have to tell me twice," responded Spider-Man as he grabbed Elektra by the waist.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"This," and Spider-Man fired a web line and then both him and Elektra were then airborne.

As they were swinging away, Elektra was curious to know who was under that mask of Spider-Man's. An idea popped into her head and she had to carry it out without his knowledge.

Finally they were able to land on a rooftop and Spider-Man began looking around to see if they were followed.

"Well, it looks like we got away," he said.

"It appears so. How long will they be webbed up like that?" Elektra asked.

"An hour or so before my webbing dissolves or sooner if they were able to cut themselves free."

"Thanks for not killing me back there."

"You're welcome and besides I don't kill."

That's when Elektra went up to Spider-Man and gave him a hug of gratitude. While doing that she was able to grab hold of his mask. That was when his spider sense started going off but he could do nothing as she pulled off his mask.

"Hey," Spider-Man said as he faced Elektra.

When Elektra saw his face she said, "Oh my God!"

AN: All I have to say is things have now taken an interesting turn and you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see where things go from here. Thanks go out to the following reviewers: Jenn1, Laser Crusader, Ratdogtwo, SpartanCommander, closetfan, Georgia Kennedy and welcome to SaticShock28. Don't forget to review to let me know what you think.