The Devil You Don't Know

Chapter 8: Predator and Prey

May Reilly Parker sat quietly on a cot inside her cell, her mind racing, wondering why she had been taken. I hope that brute didn't hurt Edwin too badly, she worried. It was quite a predicament she found herself in, but it was not the first time, not by any stretch of the imagination. At least she hadn't been buried alive this time. She shuddered as she heard the door and watched two figures entering, one carrying the other. The light in the room was so dim that she couldn't tell who it was.

"Here's a roommate for you, ya old bat," the kidnapper spat out as he tossed his captive onto the floor of the cell.. He abruptly locked the cell door and left the room.

Feeling her years, May pushed up from the cot and crept over to where the crumpled figure lay. It was difficult to see the new victim's face in the dim light, but, as she got closer…

"Mary Jane?" a startled May asked, "Mary Jane, is that you?"

Mary Jane groaned and took a good look at May as she slowly turned over. The fog seemed to clear from her eyes. She asked, "Aunt May, is that really you?"

"Yes, it is dear," she said gently.

May carefully helped Mary Jane off the floor and over to the cot. As MJ struggled to her feet, the two women silently gave each other a warm embrace. Now they were in this together.

"Jarvis told us what happened," Mary Jane reported as she regained her balance, and her strength. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"No, honey, I'm sorry. He knocked me out with some kind of spray." She paused, and then added, "I do hope that Edwin is all right." The concern in her voice was palpable.

"He's fine, May," Mary Jane reassured her. "With all that he goes through with the Avengers, I think he's used to it."

"How about you? How did you end up here?"

"It was right after a play rehearsal. I was getting ready to hail a cab and that bastard surprised me and knocked me out. When Peter finds out who did this…" Her voice became thick with anger.

"Do you know who did this?" May asked.

Mary Jane answered, "Don't you?"

"No, the man that took me was wearing a duster and a mask. There was no way for me to tell who it was."

"Well, the way he grabbed me, I have no doubt who it was. Venom."

May gasped.

Mary Jane continued, "But it wasn't Eddie Brock. According to Peter, someone else bonded with it recently. His name is Mac Gargan. At one point in time, he was the villain called the Scorpion. I have no idea why he's doing this, but I bet it's to get back at Peter."

"Oh, dear me."

"We'll get out of here May, somehow."

Relieved at no longer being alone, an exhausted May lay down and rested while Mary Jane sat at the end of the cot pondering their predicament.

How are we going to get out of here? Mary Jane thought. I know Peter's going to be looking for us. I just wish we hadn't had that argument. If anything should happen to either of us…stop thinking that way, Mary Jane. Peter and the Avengers will find us and take care of Venom.

As these thoughts played through her head, she began fiddling with the bracelets that Peter had given her. All of a sudden, a thought came to mind, bringing a somewhat mischievous smile to her face.


Still as a predator, Peter perched on the ledge. A slight wash of red tinged the streetlights below – simply due to his mental state. His anger over MJ's disappearance had cooled from a hot flame to a simmering rage. Felicia waited in the shadows nearby. Her eyes were narrowed to angry slits, muscles tensed. With no leads other than Gargan's identity, they were frustrated beyond measure. They could only wait and hope that their prey would return to the building where he had imprisoned the Black Cat…

"Your blood sample shows traces of etomidate – usually that's used as a general anesthetic. Can you remember how many doses he gave you?" Peter asked Felicia, concerned.

She rubbed her upper arm distractedly. "I can remember two times, it could have been three…"

"It's mostly out of your system, now. The effects only last about 24 hours, so it was probably only twice." Peter placed the vial of blood in refrigeration, and then turned back to her. "Did you get a good look at Gargan? How was he dressed?"

Her eyes drifted upward in thought. "Black full-face mask… long duster…" She tilted her head to the other side. "And he seemed to be disguising his voice – I had no idea I who it was. But it's not like Gargan and I fought that often, either when he was the Scorpion or in that last battle as Venom."

Felicia had described her captor's appearance the same way that Jarvis had described May's abductor ...

With a slight shock, Peter realized that MJ was right.

"Don't worry, it doesn't matter now, I'm sure it's him. But he never mentioned my Aunt May or the Dark Crusader at all?"

She shook her head.

Peter picked up the phone and dialed his apartment. "We'll go after him as soon as you're recovered enough to fight," he said. He let it ring several times before ending the call. Maybe she's already asleep. If she's tired enough, she turns off the ringer…

Next he tried the front desk. "Hello, this is Peter Parker. Could you please give a message to my wife?"

"Certainly, sir," the receptionist responded. "When do you expect her to return?"

A terrible sense of dread overwhelmed him. He had been uneasy for hours now, which he attributed to worry for May and regret over his argument with MJ. He looked up at the clock. It was midnight – she should have been home from rehearsal at least an hour ago…

"Sir?"

Peter turned to Felicia again, fury and fear suffusing every nerve. She stared back at him, eyes hard. "Don't worry about me, Spider." She slid from the examining table. "Let's go get that bastard."

In no time at all, they had arrived at the theater. As Peter searched frantically for clues as to his wife's whereabouts, he kept throwing glances over at the Black Cat. The women Gargan had kidnapped were all related to him in some way, which wasn't surprising. After all, Gargan had known his identity since just before bonding with the symbiote. But what of the Dark Crusader? Had he been caught accidentally in Gargan's treachery? Or… was he working with Venom? Sadness floated above his anger. This black cat has had nothing but bad luck when it comes to men…

On one side of the theater, near the stage door, Peter found a darkened streetlight. Climbing nimbly up the pole, he examined the broken glass. A tiny trace of the white symbiotic webbing clung to one of the shards.

But no matter how they had searched, neither he nor Felicia could find a trail leading away from the theater.

Now, back at the abandoned building, Spider-Man and Black Cat waited. Neither moved. Neither spoke. Although his body was unmoving, his thoughts swirled in a million directions.

Felicia made a small sound of surprise. A black-gloved hand suddenly grasped the bricks at the edge of the roof. Before he could even wonder where it had come from, the Dark Crusader's arm and head hove into view. He strained with great effort to lever the rest of his body over the ledge.

Felicia was racing across the roof in a flash. "Paul!" she cried, not seeming to notice she had used his real name. She took his hand and pulled him into a relieved embrace. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm all right, Felicia. Just still groggy… can't shake the drugs off," he assured her weakly.

"How did you escape?" She led him to sit, and kneeled beside him attentively.

"Just lucky, I guess." He shook his head to clear it. "The last time I woke up, I found myself alone. The drugs had worn off enough that I could break my bonds and escape."

Felicia touched his hair gently. "But how—"

"—Did you find us?" Spider-Man interrupted, coming close for the first time.

Dark Crusader ducked his head in embarrassment. "I went back to the site of the fire where Cat disappeared. There was this trail of stuff… I don't know what it is… leading here to this building." He looked back up at Spider-Man. "But it looks like you saved her first. Thanks, man."

"Of course," he nodded noncommittally, arms folded across his chest. Beneath his mask, Peter wore an expression of mistrust. He couldn't find any holes in the Dark Crusader's story. But there were some things that were not adding up.

Crusader turned to the Black Cat again. "How about you? Are you all right? Did he touch you…?"

She smiled that smile, one he knew so well, and answered while unconsciously flexing her claws, "Of course not," she purred. "You would've see him in little pieces all over this roof if he had."

Peter cut in, "We know who it was." Dark Crusader looked up with interest. "Venom," he finished, gauging the other man's reaction.

"Really?" he asked with some surprise. "Is that what all the white stuff was, then? His webbing?"

"Without a doubt," Peter replied, voicing the thought that had been bothering him since he first discovered the substance. "But why there was enough left to leave a trail to this building... it was almost as if he wanted us to show up here…" He purposefully left the idea hanging between them.

"You think it's a trap, then?" Crusader asked with a touch of worry.

"Or a distraction." Spider-sense or no spider-sense, he was sure this guy knew something about what was going on. I just don't know how…

"Oh, yeah… is your family okay?"

Something about that question flipped a switch inside him. All the anger and rage pent up inside for the last several hours burst out of him at once. He exploded into action, tackling the Crusader, and pinned him by the throat against the ledge.

"Spider, what the hell!" Cat cried out.

"Yeah, man, what did I say?" Crusader choked, gasping for air.

Coolly, quietly, Peter spoke. "You don't know me from Adam… how do you know I even have a family? And if I did, why wouldn't they be okay?"

"I—" His words cut off as Peter squeezed tighter.

Felicia seized him by the shoulders, and tried to pull him off. "Are you insane? He's just as confused about this as we are!"

"I don't think so. I've been suspicious of him since the first day I met him," he growled back at her, shaking her off easily. "Are you in this with Gargan? Where is he keeping them, dammit?"

The Black Cat rounded on him angrily. "In it with Gargan? What are you talking about!"

Peter tried to explain why he had come to this conclusion, all the while never releasing his hold. "He's never seemed to be on the level to me. Didn't it seem suspicious to you how you met?" Felicia tried to defend him again, but he pressed on. "And what is the first thing that happened after you started dating? You were kidnapped!"

"Just because I was kidnapped, doesn't mean he had anything to do with it!" Black Cat came around to plead with her boyfriend. "Tell him you had nothing to do with it!"

"I… had… nothing… to… do… with… it…" the Dark Crusader managed.

"And what about that vaunted spider-sense of yours? Didn't you tell me that you haven't felt any danger around him? There's no way…" her voice trailed off suddenly.

Am I overreacting? Stressed out over my family's disappearance? He started to let go…

"Wait—" Felicia took a step backward, and a strange look came over her face – a mixture of puzzlement, astonishment and revulsion. "No…" her voice was full of confusion.

Peter looked up at her, curious about her sudden change. Her eyes narrowed, and she bared her teeth. "Don't let go, Spider…" With a metallic ring, her claws snapped up from her gloves. "I want a taste of him first."