Chapter 11

"Okay, I'm listening," said Harry, his anger at the unexpected intrusion fading. He stroked his chin, curious at what these men could do to eliminate his Spider-Man problem. He guessed from the accent that they were Japanese.

The man who was addressing Harry continued. "My name is Matsuo and this is Takashi. For several weeks we have been following both Elektra and Spider-Man. We have our own problem with those two and maybe we can help each other out. With our combined efforts, we can eliminate both of them."

Harry remained impassive. "I'm intrigued." He said. "You guys must be sharp to have gotten past my guards. I'll be happy to give you whatever resources you need, starting with this." Without further ado, Harry produced the briefcase that Elektra had left behind and showed the two Hand agents what was inside.

Matsuo and Takashi were surprised. "This should be of some use to us," Takashi said briefly examining the money before closing the briefcase.

"Do we have an agreement, then?" Harry asked.

"Indeed we do, Mr. Osborn. We will inform you when the 'problem' has been taken care of," Matsuo replied.

"Excellent. There is one thing I would like for you to do for me when it's done. Bring me back Spider-Man's mask. I want it as a trophy."

"As you wish. We'll be in touch," Matsuo said and then he and Takashi left Harry's study.

On a rooftop across the street, Spider-Man and Elektra watched what was taking place in Osborn's study by using a pair of binoculars. They were able to hear everything that was going on there, thanks to the listening device that Elektra planted inside the study before she left. They were neither surprised by nor pleased with what they had heard.

"This adds a new wrinkle into things," Elektra said as she stopped her surveillance of Harry's penthouse.

"That it does, but we will be ready for them," Spider-Man said as he took out his monitor for the spider tracer. "The tracer we put in the briefcase is broadcasting loud and clear. It shouldn't be a problem following them wherever they go."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Elektra said, mentally preparing for the combat that lay ahead.

"There's one thing that is bothering me about all of this," Peter said in a hushed voice.

"What's that?"

"It seems to me that my friendship with Harry meant nothing to him. All he had to do was talk to me. I would've explained to him that I didn't kill his father."

Elektra put a comforting hand on Spider-Man's shoulder. "Would you be able to tell him everything about his father, Peter?"

Spider-Man turned to face Elektra saying, "I really don't know. I didn't think that Norman Osborn was such a bad guy. I still think he wasn't himself when he became the Green Goblin. That part of him was so controlling he lost himself to it. If there were a way that I could've helped him, I would have, believe me. I really don't want to ruin Harry's memory of his father and I did make a promise not to tell Harry. Maybe sometime soon I'll be able to fix this."

"If you ever need any help or need to talk about it, I'm here."

"Thanks," Spider-Man said. He then took a look at his hand-held monitor. "It looks like our guys are on the move. What do you say we see where they're going?"

They gathered their things and walked to the edge of the roof. After securing Elektra, Spider-Man fired a web line, and together they took off after Matsuo and Takashi. The hunters were becoming the hunted.

As the two gentlemen left his study, Harry went back to work going over papers from Oscorp.

"I see you still haven't listened to a single word Isaid," Norman Osborn growled.

"What is that, dear old dad?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"You should be the one that takes care of that wall crawling menace. There is one thing that I do admire of you though. You are taking the initiative to eliminate that girl who you originally hired to take care of Spider-Man."

"Actually, I never thought of that. Whatever they want to do to Elektra Natchios is not my concern. My concern is with Spider-Man, but I wish that Peter wasn't involved."

"Of course he is involved you idiot, because he's Spider-Man!" Norman shouted at his son.

"I still don't understand why he didn't say anything about it. I thought Peter was my friend."

"He was never your friend, Harry. Parker was just using you to get what he wanted just like that Watson girl that you were seeing."

"You're wrong Dad!" Harry snapped, "Peter has always been there for me when I needed him. He helped me through science in high school and he's been a true friend to me."

"He was there all right. Parker weasled his way into our lives so he could take me away from my only son and to steal away your girl. You have to start seeing him for who he truly is, son. Parker is a user and a taker."

"I suppose you're right, dad."

"Suppose nothing you dolt. You have to step up and be a man, Harry. Take charge and get rid of that insect once and for all."

"That's exactly what I'm doing. So, why don't you get lost and let me handle things that you could never accomplish," Harry shouted defiantly, standing up to his father in ways he never could while Norman was alive.

The outburst achieved its intended effect. Harry was alone once more. He went back to work not caring what his father had said since he had everything under control.

Spider-Man and Elektra followed the spider tracer's signal. Since Elektra had a free hand, she was able to keep an eye on the monitor and relay the information to Spider-Man. It wasn't long until the spider tracer's movement stopped.

Spider-Man took the monitor from Elektra to zero in on the apartment that the signal was coming from. "I'll be right back," he told her.

"Hold on a second," Elektra said to Spider-Man as she rummaged through her backpack. She pulled out an earpiece. "Put that in you ear. This way we can be in contact with each other and you can tell me what you see." Slipped the earpiece on underneath his mask and gave her a thumbs-up signal.

With monitor in hand, Spider-Man went over the side of the roof to start searching where the signal was coming from. Before he got too far he tested the earpiece to see if Elektra could hear him.

"Do you hear me now?" Spider-Man asked, speaking into the communication device.

"Loud and clear," Elektra responded.

"Good."

"Peter, this isn't some Verizon commercial. Get back to looking," Elektra said exasperatedly even though she let a light laugh escape from her lips.

"You know, I always wanted to say that just like the guy in the commercial," Spider-Man responded getting another chuckle from Elektra. "I think I'm close to where my tracer's signal is coming from."

It did not take long for Spider-Man to pinpoint the source of the signal. "I found them," he told Elektra.

"Good job. Are they still there?" Elektra asked.

"They're still there alright but I think they're getting ready to leave." He paused briefly as he observed the signal start to move again. "They just left. I think it's time we took a little look around their apartment to see what those guys are up to." I'm sending a web line up to you so that you can climb down and join me."

"I got it," Elektra answered and fastened the end of the web to the roof. Elektra made her way down the web strand to land on a ledge that Spider-Man was on waiting for her.

Spider-Man led Elektra to the window of the apartment that Matsuo and Takashi were occupying. The window was bolted shut, but Spider-Man was able to open it without overly exerting himself.

"After you, my dear," Spider-Man said gesturing with his arm for Elektra to enter.

"Why thank you kind sir," Elektra answered giving Spider-Man a curtsy before entering the apartment. "I think your sense of humor is starting to rub off on me."

Spider-Man followed Elektra inside and said, "Thanks. I try to share my humor with everyone I meet so that I can lighten his or her day. All funny business aside, I think it's time to get to work."

Elektra gave Spider-Man a nod and began searching the place, beginning with room into which they entered. Elektra took one side of the room while Spider-Man took the other.

Spider-Man was standing over at a table, shocked at what he found. "Elektra, come here for a sec. I have something to show you."

"What did you find?" Elektra asked.

"Take a look at this," Peter said, gesturing at the table. It was littered with various articles about Spider-Man from the various New York newspapers. Most of if not all of the negative articles came from the Daily Bugle, especially the editorials by none other than J. Jonah Jameson. Spider-Man could only shake his head at those. He also saw photos, most of which he recognized as his own. The others, he guessed, were taken by Takashi or Matsuo.

"I'm just wondering why they're so interested in me. I know I am a lovable, friendly neighbourhood kind of guy and all, but still . . ."

"That's one question I can't answer for you, Peter. I can understand why they would be after me since the Hand and I have a history, but their interest in you puzzles me as well," answered Elektra.

"I think the only way to find the answer to that question is to ask them. Anyway, lets keep looking to see what else those two are up to."

They continued to look around the apartment, but couldn't find anything important except the empty briefcase with the spider tracer still inside, which had had the money that Harry had given them.

"I guess they didn't want to leave all of that money lying around," Spider-Man said matter of factly.

"I don't think we'll find anything else here," Elektra responded. "We might as get out of here before they come back."

They made their way back to the window by which they entered. Suddenly, Spider-Man had an idea. "Hold it," he told Elektra just before she climbed out onto the ledge.

"What's the matter?" Elektra asked.

"I've got an idea on how we can deal with these guys and bring the fight to them instead of the other way around"

As Spider-Man went over his idea with Elektra, a slow smile appeared on her face.

Matsuo and Takashi had just deposited the cash in a safety deposit box. Once they completed their assignment, they would bring the money back to Japan with them.

"Do you think Master Roshi would approve of us getting money from that American to do his dirty work?" Takashi asked Matsuo anxiously.

"No, I don't think he would mind. He wants us to get the job done by any means necessary. With the funds we got from Osborn, our task at getting rid of Spider-Man and Elektra is that much simpler"

The battle-hardened duo silently made their way back to their apartment but when they got there, the first thing that they saw was a note hanging from the ceiling by some type of thread.

Alarmed, Matsuo warned, "We better take a look around and see if anyone is still here."

But they couldn't find anyone. Matsuo inspected the note and realized that it was attached to a web.

"Spider-Man was here!" Matsuo exclaimed.

"How?" Takashi asked.

"We had better find out, and fast." Matsuo said as he yanked the note off the web. It read:

'Hey guys. What's up? Elektra and I thought that we would get the drop on you guys for once. We want to finish what you started those many nights ago. There are instructions on where to find us. Don't be late. I hate it when people are late. See ya soon. Signed your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man.'

"Who the hell do they think they are?" Takashi asked.

"It doesn't matter. They have signed their death warrant. Go and gather the ninjas right away, and we'll give them a surprise that they won't soon forget," Matsuo answered.

Spider-Man brought Elektra back to her place so she could change and pick up some things in preparation for the coming battle. He was amazed how beautiful it was and it reminded him a little bit of Harry's luxurious penthouse.

During his exploration, Spider-Man found a room that looked like a small gym. It had everything a gym had, weights, treadmill, a punching bag and a full compliment of gymnastic accessories. There were other things in that room, but Spider-Man decided to scope out the gymnastic equipment. He made his way over to the uneven bars.

"Why not?" he said to himself as he mounted them. He started mimicking what a gymnast would do on them. Moving with an arachnid's agility, Spider-Man handled the uneven bars like a true pro. Once finished on the uneven bars, he tried out the parallel bars, and then the rings. After a short, but intense routine that reminded him very much of web-swinging, he dismounted with a triple twist and a flip landing perfectly on the mat below.

Unbeknownst to him, he had a spectator. "And Spider-Man nails the dismount and the crowd goes crazy," Spider-Man said as he mimicked the crowd reaction. The next thing he heard was someone clapping. He turned his head and saw that Elektra had entered the gym.

"I give that a 9.5, maybe a 10," Elektra said as she approached Spider-Man.

"Why not a 10?" Spider-Man asked.

"Poor form," Elektra answered chuckling a bit.

That got a laugh from him as well.

"Why were you messing around in here?" Elektra asked.

"I was just curious to see what I could do," Spider-Man answered as if he'd just been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar. "And maybe burn a little nervous energy while I'm at it."

"I know what you mean. This is going to be tough but with the element of surprise on our side we should have a good chance of beating the Hand."

Spider-Man got a good look at Elektra's attire. She was now dressed completely in red instead of the black that she wore previously. Along with her attire, Spider-Man noticed that she had something in her boots.

"Boy, you sure do dress for the occasion. What's in your boots?" Spider-Man asked.

Elektra reached into one of her boots and pulled out a short, thin-bladed sword with a widely flared handle. It looked eerily like a candelabra. "This is a Sai, Peter. It was traditionally used as defensive weapon but it can also be used offensively. It comes in handy sometimes."

"You come prepared, don't you?"

"With my experience with the Hand, one should always be prepared. Are you ready to go?"

Spider-Man nodded, and together they left Elektra's apartment to meet with Matsuo and Takashi.

It wasn't long before Spider-Man and Elektra arrived at the designated meeting place. Spider-Man knew it fairly well. They were at an abandoned warehouse by the docks, not too far from the site of Spider-Man's final battle with Doc Ock. Seeing that place again brought back a lot of memories, some good and some bad.

"Why on Earth did you pick this moldy, rotting dump?" a surprised Elektra asked.

"If things get out of control, as they usually do when Spider-Man gets involved, innocent people won't get hurt, and property damage will be kept to a minimum."

Now all they had to do now was wait for their guests to arrive.

"You know, you did pick a pretty good place for a fight," Elektra said sitting on an old crate as she looked around at the warehouse.

"Thanks, I think," replied Spider-Man with a slight laugh while he was perched on a nearby wall in a sitting position facing Elektra. "The only thing I hate now is waiting for those guys to get here."

"The waiting can be a pain but we do have the element of surprise on our side."

"Yeah, this time we can…" Spider-Man stopped what he was saying and began looking around the warehouse.

"What's the matter, Spidey?" Elektra asked knowing from Spider-Man's reaction that something was up.

"We've got company. My spider sense is tingling and boy is it ever. I think our two friends have brought a few others with them. By my count, over twenty. Let's get ready," Spider-Man said.

No sooner had they separated, Matsuo and Takashi entered the warehouse. Just as Spider-Man suspected, they had brought two-dozen Hand ninjas with them. The Samurai warriors started to fan out once they got inside.

I knew this was not going to be easy, Spider-Man said to himself as he moved quickly across the ceiling towards Matsuo and Takashi. Oh well, let's get this party started.

As Matsuo and Takashi made their way inside the warehouse they were constantly looking around to see where their adversaries were hiding. The reached the center of the warehouse, still wondering why they hadn't seen Spider-Man or Elektra.

"Do you think they're not going to show up?" Takashi asked.

"They wouldn't have left that note if they weren't. Be ready for anything," Matsuo warned.

No sooner had Matsuo said that, Spider-Man descended from the ceiling in front of them on a web line upside down.

"Hi, guys. How's it going? I'm glad you got my message and found the place," Spider-Man said to them.

"Why did you want us to come here?" Matsuo asked as if he had nothing to worry about.

"Well, to finish what you started . . . and this," without warning, Spider-Man suddenly fired his webbing into the faces of both Matsuo and Takashi.

"Get him!" Matsuo shouted as they frantically tried to pull the rapidly stiffening goo away from their eyes, noses, and mouths.

The Hand ninjas immediately closed in on Spider-Man, who saw them coming and launched himself at them as though he were a human cannon ball. He managed to knock them all down in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, they did not stay down for the count.

That was when Elektra sprang into action. She approached from behind and quickly took out the last ninja in the pack. A few kicks and a punch and the ninja went down. But when Elektra turned her attention to the rest of the warrior's compatriots, he got up and attacked her again. This time, she stabbed the ninja in the chest with one of her Sais. The dark-cloaked warrior promptly disappeared in a green mist and Elektra went to help Spider-Man.

Spider-Man was holding his own rather well against the remaining twenty-five ninjas.

"Nice to see you, Elektra… look out behind you!" Spider-Man shouted a warning to Elektra.

With a grace of a dancer Elektra turned around and saw a ninja was coming at her with a Bo staff. Raising both of her Sais up, Elektra fought off the ninja and disarmed him. Then she thrust both her Sais into the ninja's chest.

"Why did you do kill them?" a shocked Spider-Man asked.

"They're already dead," Elektra explained quickly. "These ninjas are mindless slaves to the Hand. They are killed in combat and the Hand brings them back to life to use them for its own evil purpose." A dumbfounded Spider-Man beheld the impossible as the ninja whom Elektra had just stabbed disappeared in a puff of green mist.

"See?" Elektra said. "I know how difficult it is for you to believe this, but we're actually doing them a huge favor."

"I don't understand."

"By releasing their souls from the grip of the Hand, we're freeing them to join their ancestors in the afterlife."

"Oh sure. Now I get it!" Spider-Man said sarcastically. Truthfully, he did not get it. No westerner could. But at least he wouldn't have to hold back like he did when fighting everyday criminals. He then noticed that Matsuo and Takashi had finally joined the fight. After webbing up a few ninjas, he zeroed in on the two ringleaders.

"Surprise, gentlemen," Spider-Man said as he kicked both of them from behind and sent them flying into a bunch of crates.

Matsuo was the first to get up from the crates and charged at Spider-Man. Matsuo was able to tackle Spider-Man and they began rolling around on the warehouse floor. Spider-Man was then able to kick Matsuo off of him and stand back up. Before Matsuo could do anything else, Spider-Man fired a web line to snag Matsuo and with a slight tug on the line Matsuo came back to Spider-Man. With a punch to the head, Spider-Man knocked out Matsuo and webbed him to the floor and went back to help Elektra.

Elektra was doing fairly well against the Hand ninjas. One by one the ninjas fell to her expert skills and there were only a few left to deal with now. She was glad that Spider-Man had webbed some together so that she could take care of the few that weren't. But she was unaware that Takashi was coming at her from behind and surprised her with a kick to her knees knocking her down.

Elektra got back up and squared off with Takashi. For the next several minutes the two of them traded blows, with neither of them getting the upper hand. As the shape-shifter noticed Spider-Man coming towards him and Elektra, an idea immediately took hold.

As Spider-Man approached the two combatants, he was confronted by Elektra and . . . her twin sister? He knew right away that one of them was Takashi. The only trouble was, he could not tell which one.

"Watch out Spider-Man," shouted the Elektra on the left. "He's an impostor!"

"No!" the Elektra on the right said sharply. "I'm the real Elektra and that is the imposter."

Spider-Man couldn't tell from looking at them, which one was the real Elektra and which was the impostor. "There's only one way for me to do this and I hope it works. Spider sense don't let me down," Spider-Man said to himself as he closed his eyes and allowed his spider-sense to take over complete. It was like putting an airplane on auto-pilot.

Spider-Man sprung into the air and landed a kick on the left-hand Elektra. Opening his eyes, Spider-Man noticed that the one that he kicked morphed back into the man he recognized as Takashi. Spider-Man took one look at Takashi, and was relieved to see that he was out cold. He secured the unconscious Takashi with his webbing to make sure that the shape-shifter wasn't going anywhere.

Elektra approached Spider-Man and asked, "How could you tell who was who?"

"My spider-sense has never let me down," Spider-Man answered reassuringly.

"That sixth sense of yours really does come in handy doesn't… lookout behind you," Elektra said as she noticed a Hand ninja coming at them. She wasted no time throwing a Sai at the oncoming ninja, hitting him dead center in the chest, making him disappear in that now-familiar green mist.

All of a sudden Spider-Man's spider sense began going off. Spider-Man looked over to where the ninja was and looked at what was beside Elektra's sai. He saw a box with a digital clock counting down and Spider-Man didn't waste anytime in saying, "We have to get out of quickly. That ninja had a bomb which is set to go off in thirty seconds!"

Gathering up Matsuo and Takashi as well as Elektra's sai, they made a mad dash for the nearest exit. "Just a few more yards to go," Spider-Man panted, the ninja squad leaders slung under his arms. They had just made it to the exit when the bomb exploded, and the whole warehouse started coming down around them.

AN: Now that was an explosive ending. You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out if Spider-Man and Elektra made it out alright. As usual I would like to thank the following for their wonderful reviews: firefairy032003, Jenn1, Laser Crusader, htbthomas, SpartanCommander, Georgia Kennedy, and Saitouu Ryuuji. Once again, hit that review button and tell me what you thought of this chapter.