"Let's see, who's absent today?", asked Mr. Parker, going through the list of student's names. "It looks like everyone except Chris. Has anyone seen Chris this morning"
Chris Campbell was a somewhat unusual person as well. He was fourteen years old, also wore glasses, and had a head covered with thick, light brown hair. Chris was of exceptional intelligence, and was Mr. Parker's best student. He was fascinated by everything scientific and by the nature of the universe; truthfully, he reminded Mr. Parker much of himself during his own high school days. But there was something else different about Chris Campbell. A few years ago, he had been diagnosed with an unknown form of cancer that seemed to be a severe case of cell degeneration. It had already crippled both his legs and threatened to spread to other parts of his body as well. Chris had not missed much school because of his condition; he hadn't wanted to, and fortunately things had not gotten quite so serious as to cause his extended absence. Even so, the disease was a constant thorn in his side, and it was the cause of his absence today.
"He's not here today, Mr. Parker.", stated another boy in the class. It was Billy, one of Chris's good friends and next-door neighbor. "He had to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion. You know, for his, uh, disease"
Peter cringed, recalling the unpleasant truth that Billy had just brought to mind. "Oh, that's right, I remember him saying something like that yesterday. Poor Chris, he doesn't deserve to have to go through all that. Well, I hope it works. Maybe I should go see him after school..." He stopped, making brief mental plans. A moment later he came back to the present and continued. "But for now, class has started. Please get out your homework and pass it to the front of the room."
In an unfathomably huge building on the other side of New York, a very large man sat in a fine chair behind and expensive desk. At first appearance, the man did not look particularly appealing; he was exceptionally huge and had a fat, bald head; some might think him ugly, others intimidating. However, almost everyone in the city knew that this man was Wilson Fisk, one of the richest men in the state. He owned billions of dollars worth of companies, corporations, and businesses throughout the area. His vast wealth and good reputation, in his opinion, quite made up for his size and looks. He was a well-known and loved public figure and a generous philanthropist, often giving money to support various projects and institutions around the city.
He was also secretly the Kingpin of crime, the absolute head of all organized crime in the city of New York.
A knock was heard on the door of his spacious office. "Yes, come in.", the Kingpin stated.
The door opened and three figures walked in. Two were guards under Kingpin's employ; he knew and recognized them very well. The third was being led in, somewhat forcefully, by the two guards. He was also one whom Kingpin had dealt with occasionally in the past, and who he also recognized well. The man wore a large trench coat and hat as an attempt to disguise his appearance, but Kingpin was well aware who was behind it. A green suit covered his entire body, including a mask for his face. Kingpin was able to see the prosthetic tail extending out of the rear of the suit.
"Welcome, Scorpion.", Kingpin said, building up a false pretense of politeness. "Or do you prefer to be called Mr. Gargan?" He turned to his guards. "Unhand him, but stay close by." The guards obeyed.
"What do you want with me, Fisk?", the man called Scorpion asked angrily. "I'm not working for you, if that's what you want"
Mr. Fisk countered the statement with the calm and cool, yet intimidating tone that he used with all of his "business partners". "Now, is that any way to speak to a man who is doing you a favor?", he inquired. "From what I understand, my guards have just rescued you"
"I told you, I ain't gonna work for you, Fisk!", Gargan retorted. "I'm trying to go straight!" The super-powered Scorpion had quite a criminal history, and had been foiled many times by the costumed vigilante known as Spider-Man--an enemy shared by both Scorpion and Kingpin.
"Is that so?", Kingpin asked. "Then, may I ask, how do you explain the robbery for which you were convicted just earlier this week"
"Look, I needed the money!", the Scorpion replied, trying to defend his position.
"Well, what a pleasant coincidence.", Fisk remarked, his tone not sounding pleasant at all. "For you see, I need someone to help me with a little project of mine. You, Mr. Gargan, are a very fortunate man; as I understand it, you were about to be placed in prison for another ten years, minimum. If my employees hadn't heard the news and intervened when they did, you would be on trial right now. Instead, I was able to use my vast resources to bail you out and bring you here; there is something I'd like you to do for me"
"Look, Fisk, for the last time"
"If you complete this task successfully, you will be handsomely rewarded. If not, I will turn you back over to the proper authorities and have them deal with you. The choice is yours, Mr. Gargan; if I were you, I would make the wise one"
Scorpion paused, anger and frustration laying heavily on his heart. He sincerely did not want to get involved in such a dangerous organized crime institution, but he knew that Wilson Fisk didn't make empty threats. Finally, he was forced to concede. "Okay, Fisk, whatever you say.", he consented. "But just two questions"
"Yes?", prompted the Kingpin.
"First, when you say 'handsome rewards', how handsome are we talkin' here"
"I'll pay you fifty thousand dollars.", Kingpin offered. It was pocket change to him.
"A hundred thousand.", countered Scorpion.
"Seventy-five thousand"
"Done"
"Good.", stated Fisk. "And, your second question"
"What exactly is it you want me to do"
The Kingpin chuckled to himself; a low, deep, ominous chuckle. "Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Harold King?", he asked.
"A little.", Scorpion replied, unsure. "I mean, I heard of him and all. Ain't he the guy who built that brain-enhancement machine thing"
"No.", Kingpin corrected bluntly. "The brain enhancement device has not yet been built; Dr. King is the one who made the designs for it"
"So let me guess.", Scorpion said. "You want me to go in and steal the plans and stuff for the machine, so you can build it yourself"
Kingpin smiled. "Excellent deduction for one who speaks with as many grammatical atrocities as you do.", he commented.
Scorpion knew it was an insult, that Kingpin didn't truly like him or care for him at all. However, he was in a desperate situation and didn't want to do anything to upset the man who held his freedom or imprisonment in his hands; Scorpion made no response.
Fisk continued. "Once I have the blueprints, research notes, and all of Dr. King's written work, I'll have my top scientists construct the machine and test it. Then, I will own the only existing copy, and the expanded powers of the human brain will be mine to use at will"
"That's brilliant, Mr. Fisk!", Scorpion commented, still trying to keep Kingpin in a good mood. "I'll do it. But where will I find the stuff"
"That information is not publicly known, and even with my vast resources, I am unsure of the answer. However, if you find Dr. King himself, I'm sure that you, with your various superhuman abilities and methods, will be able to convince him, however forcefully it need be done, to give you the research"
"Of course!", Scorpion exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that"
"Because you are merely my means to an end, and I am the genius.", Kingpin replied arrogantly. He paused, and then continued. "Dr. King, despite his scientific genius, has had a history of health problems in his old age. Just last week, he was moved into the local hospital and has yet to be released"
"I got it.", Scorpion acknowledged. "I'll be there right away"
"Good.", Kingpin stated. "Very good. Oh yes, and one more thing..." He turned to face Scorpion directly. "If you let anyone know that I am behind this, then I will see to it that you come to wish you were in prison."
Peter Parker ascended the staircase from the hospital foyer, into where patients were seen and waited to be seen. Not sure exactly where to go, since the hospital was a fairly big building, he tried to find a nurse who could direct him to Chris. With all the hospital's different hallways and doors, it was not an easy task.
"You'd think that with all my special powers, at least one of them would be able to help me find my way around this place.", he muttered to himself in frustration.
"Can I help you, sir?", asked a female nurse who was passing by.
Peter turned, not having realized she was there. "Oh, yes. I'm here to visit a friend of mine. Well, actually he's a student of mine, uh, I teach at the high school, you see. Anyway, I'm kind of lost, and I was trying to-" Peter stopped suddenly. Something was wrong.
My spider-sense is tingling, he realized. But why? What danger could there be here? He didn't have time to figure it out; he had to protect himself and others from whatever it was that was making his spider-sense go off. Quickly, he grabbed the nurse and, with the agility of a human-sized spider, jumped away from the area. He landed safely on the ground a few yards away; the nurse, though shocked and confused, was unhurt.
Peter had been just in time, too. Right next to the spot where he had just been standing, a window was smashed by something long, green, and menacing. A green-clad figure climbed up from the outside wall and entered through the window. Peter recognized him immediately.
The Scorpion, Peter thought, recognizing the foe he had fought several times in the past. What does he want here?
"You saved my li-", the nurse began.
"Excuse me, I've got to go now!", Peter exclaimed, rushing off to find a spot where he could change into his Spider-Man costume unnoticed.
"W-What do you want here?", the frightened nurse asked the Scorpion, hoping that it was something they could feasibly give him.
"I want to see one of your patients.", the sinister figure replied. "Take me to Harold King"
Before the nurse could answer, Scorpion heard a familiar yet much-dreaded voice from behind him. "Well if you want to see a patient, why not just come in through the front office like everyone else? It was very rude of you to break that window like you did"
The Scorpion turned to see who was behind him.
A familiar figure, one he had met often, yet mysterious at the same time. A face hidden behind a red mask, and a colorful costume of red and blue, with the all-too-familiar spider-emblem in the center of the chest. It was the last thing he wanted to see.
"Spider-Man!", he yelled, his voice fuming with anger that had been gradually built up inside of him with each past encounter he had had with the web-slinger. "But what--? How"
"The regular security guard called in sick, so they had to get me to help.", Spider-Man fabricated from his position perched on a side wall.
"You have pestered me for the last time, you stupid insect!", said the Scorpion, preparing to swing at his foe with his mechanical tail.
"Oh, come on!", Spidey said, jumping off of the wall to dodge the lethal tail. "Spiders are arachnids, not insects! Sheesh, I thought everyone knew that"
"You can't win, Spider-Man!", the Scorpion threatened. "I won't let you this time--I must not be stopped"
"Well then, I hate to say it, Scorpy, but--you're grounded!", Spider-Man retorted, ever mocking his foe with his constant witticisms. "You'll just have to stay in your room and think about what you've done"
The enraged criminal swung his tail at Spider-Man once again, this time releasing the sharp blade that was built into the end of the tail. This would be more deadly to Spider-Man.
"Playing with sharp objects is dangerous!", called Spider-Man, using his enhanced agility to jump out of the way and stick to the ceiling. "Now now, you know better than that"
The Scorpion meant business. He did not reply to Spider-Man's taunt, but once again readied his tail for a swing.
"Oh please, is that your only power?", Spider-Man asked mockingly. "The same joke can get old pretty quick, you know"
"Die, Spider-Man!", the Scorpion yelled, launching his tail once again at his foe. Spider-Man jumped off of the ceiling and easily to the ground.
"Die?", he repeated. "Why is it always, 'Die, Spider-Man'? Wouldn't a bad injury suffice just as well? 'Course, I wouldn't want that either"
"I'll show you a serious injury!", yelled the Scorpion, charging at his foe with a surprise attack. Before Spider-Man could get out of the way, Scorpion had swung a hard punch to Spider-Man's chest.
"Oh yeah...", the web-slinger muttered, cringing with pain. "I forgot about your super-strength...guess the tail wasn't your only power..." Thinking quickly, and acting even more so, he webbed up Scorpion's eyes, a trick he had often used to temporary annoy and fluster his various opponents. Then, ignoring his enemy's cry of frustration, he returned with a reciprocal punch, knocking Scorpion to the ground.
"No!", the Scorpion cried in despair. "This is too important--you can't interfere with this mission"
"Hate to break it to you, Scorpy, but interference is my middle name.", the sarcastic hero replied, while inwardly wondering what mission his opponent was talking about, and why it was so important.
With incredible perseverance, despite his questionable motives, the Scorpion tore the webbing off of his face and stood back to his feet, for one more attempt at hurting Spider-Man. This move did not go unnoticed by the wall-crawler, who prepared himself both with a ready stance and with a witty comeback.
"I told you that you wouldn't beat me.", Spider-Man said to the Scorpion, while poised and ready to defend himself from the next attack. "I mean, face it, I just have too many powers for you to keep up with. It comes with the radioactive blood"
At that point happened to come a momentary lull in the battle--a third figure entered who neither of them had expected. It was a nurse; though the original crowd who had been present at the start of the battle had long since run away, apparently not all of the hospital staff had been alerted to the danger that was taking place in this particular area. She was pushing a cart that held two blood samples and some other tools on it. But whatever doctoral task she had was soon momentarily forgotten, as she noticed two powerful superhumans battling just a few feet away from her.
Spider-Man was the first to notice the visitor. "What are you doing?", he asked, concerned for the innocent bystander's safety. "Get out of here--quick"
The Scorpion took advantage of his foe's momentary distraction. He launched his deadly tail once again, this time going up behind Spider-Man to try to sneak up from the back. Spider-Man was, of course, too quick for that; he was easily able to web up to the ceiling and stick there to avoid the oncoming attack. However, the Scorpion wasn't finished; before Spidey had a chance to react, he launched his tail yet again, directly towards Spider-Man's position. And even with enhanced agility and early-warning spider-sense, one is not invulnerable; the energy he had already exerted in the battle made Spider-Man tired, and he jumped off of the ceiling--right into the oncoming blade.
SWISH!
A clean, smooth stroke of the tail had cut deep into the left shoulder of Spider-Man's costume and, much more painfully, into the skin. From the relatively safe position where he had landed near the top of a far wall, he was able to glance quickly at the cut; sure enough, it was bleeding. A small but steady flow dripped from his arm to the ground below; neither he, Scorpion, nor the frightened nurse noticed when a few considerably large drops of blood fell into one of the nurse's blood samples as she was frantically making her away from the danger.
"Ow...", the web-slinger managed to mutter, struggling to regain his composure while fighting the immense pain from the tail's assault. "Seriously, ow..."
Quickly, he did a visual scan of the area to locate the Scorpion, only to see his enemy standing in front of him, preparing for yet another attack. This time, the pain of his wound kept Spider-Man even more alert. "Oh, no you don't not again!", he stated, once again webbing the Scorpion's eyes, just to buy himself some more time.
While the Scorpion struggled with his present problem, Spider-Man swiftly stepped down from the wall and launched a punch at the Scorpion. The latter fell backward; Spidey punched again.
"No...", Scorpion managed. He had almost gotten the web off of his eyes, when Spider-Man supplemented it with even more of the fluid; not just on his eyes, but wrapped around his legs to prevent easy movement. With more quick shoots of web around the tail and arms, Scorpion was nearly helpless. Just to finish the job off right, Spider-Man punched him once again, making sure that he was out cold, or at least out enough to be of no threat.
"Well, that oughta do it.", Spidey said to himself, still hurting, but at least grateful to have won. "I wonder if I could get any sort of treatment for this shoulder here...A few stitches, or a couple of band-aids, even." At that point, however, he heard a sound which most displeased him: sirens.
"Sirens? Great..." He looked out the window that had been crashed through to see, sure enough, police cars on the ground below. Someone from the hospital must have called during the fight. Spider-Man knew that he should not have needed to be concerned with the police; he had, after all, just stopped a crime, rather than perpetrated one. But the general public tended not to agree with that. Because of lies often printed by the Daily Bugle newspaper, and various misunderstandings in the past, the majority of the public regarded Spider-Man as a menace, rather than a hero. He knew that if he stayed around to wait for the police, he would most likely be treated and prosecuted like a criminal.
"Well, at least they'll find Scorpion here.", he said to himself, trying to look on the bright side. "But I don't suppose I'll be able to visit Chris now, especially with an untreated injury." With that, he jumped out of the broken window and webbed across to a nearby building. From there he continued to swing across the skies, making his way towards his home and help for his shoulder. The whole time, he continued to wonder exactly what mission the Scorpion had been trying to complete.
To be continued...