Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Punisher.

All four were confused beyond belief, as the office of Wilson Fisk was completely empty.

"I have to applaud you," the crime boss's voice rang out in the room. "It took a lot of guts for anyone to invade my tower. Yet, here you all are."

"Fisk," Wolverine growled. "Where are you!?"

"Hmmm, Logan, is it?" Fisk asked. "You've been a bigger pain than I expected. Hence why you're in my office."

"Where's his voice coming from?" Peter asked, as he looked around him. Daredevil tapped him on the shoulder, and then pointed at a speaker that was on the desk in front of them.

"Fisk," Daredevil warned. "Speak. NOW."

Kingpin chuckled. "It's very simple, Daredevil. Right now, I'm on a business flight to Japan, watching you all stumble through my place of work through the camera system."

Spidey looked up, to see a security cam zoomed in on him.

"Since I was going to be out of town, I decided to move forward with some plans that I had been working on for the past five months now. You see, at the moment, I'm the Kingpin of Crime in name only. However, that won't be the case in the next few moments."

"What's your game, Fisk?" Castle bluntly asked, not pleased at all.

"You four are the ones who cause me the most trouble," Fisk revealed. "Whether it's by thwarting the crimes my men commit, or by sending some grunts to jail, you've been putting a damper on my expansion. Of course, my plans only involved three of you, but having the Punisher here is even better. Less people to stop me."

"Stop you from what?" Spider-Man asked.

"From completing my empire."

Silvermane frowned, as he stared out the window at Fisk Tower. The gaping hole in the side of it was still smoldering, but other than that, there has been no movement at all for at least an hour.

"Something's wrong," the old man said to himself. He quickly pulled out his cell phone, and dialed a number. He then brought the device to his ear. "Tombstone? Status report."

"Nothing's changed at the tower, boss," the thug for hire stated.

"I don't like this," Silvermane stated. "Get back over to the tower, and-"

"Boss! Somethin's comin'!"

"What?" He asked, as he looked to the side, to see a small missile heading straight for him.

The four men jumped at the sound of an explosion, and saw a giant blast of fire come off of a tower nearby.

"No..." Peter gasped, seeing his second explosion of the night.

"That wasn't me," Frank told the others, just as surprised as everyone else.

"No," Kingpin stated. "That was me. I had planned for weeks how to keep you all occupied, while I took out the competition. Now it seems I have."

"What...?" Peter was at a loss for words.

"My men have stolen and fired a missile at my main competition. I've killed Silvermane," Fisk stated, matter-of-factly. "Now, I truly am, and always will be, the Kingpin."

Spider-Man looked down, sullen, as Daredevil shook his head. "No..."

"Face it, devil," Fisk gloated. "You lost this round. I won. And when I come back from Japan, it'll be impossible to stop me. Or invade my tower, for that matter. Now if you'll excuse me, my jet's about to land. Goodbye, heroes." With that, Fisk let out a sinister chuckle, before the speaker on his desk had cut off.

"We were played..." Logan lamented, frustrated.

Peter looked down. "All those people who died. Everyone who was killed. And that madman got more power."

Daredevil walked to the young hero, and patted him on the shoulder. "Congratulations. You're one day older."

Peter clenched his fists, not believing the injustice in it all. "He used us. He distracted us so we couldn't save that man. So he could build himself up."

"Kid," Murdock consoled. "It's ok."

"No, it's not."

"Kid, things like this, they happen all the time. People live, people die. That's the life. The only thing we can do, the only thing any of us can do, is try our best. We tried to stop him, and we weren't able to. We just need to get better."

Spider-Man looked up, and had his opaque lenses meet with Daredevil's eyes.

Wolverine walked over to the two, still visibly annoyed. "Yeah, he's right. I don't like it, but he's right." After a moment, realization hit the mutant, and he looked around the office.

"What?" the Webhead asked.

"Castle's gone."

Daredevil and Spider-Man looked around, to see that the Punisher had in fact disappeared.

"Great. The psycho's gone," Peter complained.

"Come on, kid," Daredevil told him, as he began to walk out of the office. The three walked out of the room together, and went down the hall.

"At least we got Electro," Spider-Man stated. When they got further down the hall however, they didn't see any trace of the super villain. "Or not. Great, tonight's just been great, huh?"

In his offices in Harlem, Luke Cage leaned back on his swivel chair, bored out of his mind as he stared at the telephone on his small desk.

His partner, Iron Fist, walked in the room with two lattes, one for him, and one for his best friend. "Quiet night?" He asked, as he sat the coffee down on the desk.

Cage scoffed. "You got no idea. I guess the heroes ain't for hire tonight."

On a rooftop, far away from Fisk Tower, Spidey looked at his allies for the night, still not happy with the day's events.

"You did good tonight, kid," Wolverine stated.

"It doesn't feel like it," Peter replied.

Logan gave a little smirk. "Sometimes it don't," he said, as he started walking away from the other two. "If you're ever in Westchester, come find me."

Peter was quiet as he saw Logan get off the rooftop, and disappear into the night. The teenager then focused on Daredevil, who was perched on the edge, facing away from him.

"So," the wall crawler started. "Is that it?"

"For now," Murdock stated. "He's going to have extra protection now. But someday, he'll slip up, and we'll be there."

"We?" Peter asked.

The Man Without Fear looked back at him, his emotionless face etched onto him. He then looked away. "See you around," he said, before he jumped off the edge, and swinging away with his modified Billy club.

Spider-Man found himself alone, as he looked down, not able to comprehend what has happened. People died. A lot of people died. People who didn't have to die, all because of him.

He jumped off the roof, and started swinging towards his destination, knowing exactly what he had to do.

"That stupid spider!"

Electro was walking down an alley way, cursing and mumbling to himself. He's fired, he knows he's fired! There's no way Fisk would keep him after tonight.

"All because of that damn spider!" He cried. "Soon as I find that bug brain, I'm gonna fry him!"

"My dear Mister Dillon," a voice called, making the former electrician turn his head, only to see the sight of Doctor Octopus, Rhino, and Scorpion.

"Yeah, and what do you want?" He impatiently asked/

Otto only smirked. "A partnership. To take down the spider for good."

Electro raised an eyebrow under his mask. "I'm listenin'."

After a long night, Matt Murdock entered his law offices, dressed in his civilian clothes, with his cane in hand. He had decided to catch up on any cases he had missed while he was gone.

"Foggy?" He called. "Foggy? Nelson?"

"He went home for the night," a familiar voice said, making Matt's blood run cold.

"No," he whispered to himself.

Frank Castle appeared in front of him, a frown on his face. "It all makes sense. What else could Daredevil, a man with such strong morals, possibly have for a day job, other than a civil defender?"

Murdock knew he was discovered. There was no point in denying it. "How did you find out?"

Castle looked around the law offices, picking up a picture with Foggy and Matt at a beach. "I've been trying to figure it out for months. Tonight, I just decided to follow you."

"How? I didn't-"

"New stealth tech I acquired," he interrupted, knowing what he was about to ask. "Conceals everything about the person. Including their heartbeat. All I had to do was stay downwind of you, and I was golden."

Matt chewed on his bottom lip, not quite sure if he could win this fight. "What do you want?"

"Nothing," Castle told him. "I just wanted you to know where we stand."

"Yeah? And where is that?" Matt asked, venom on his voice.

"I know who you are," Punisher stated, plainly. "I know your friends, family, acquaintances, clients, everything. I know that after tonight, you probably would've come for me next, and I couldn't allow that."

Matt was trying to keep the fury that was building up inside him from coming out.

"You do good work," Frank told him. "But I do better work. You operate, I operate. If you come after me, I sure as hell can come after you," he told him, as he walked past him. "So let's make sure it doesn't come to that. Goodbye, Matt," he said, exiting the office and slamming the door behind him.

When the vigilante was gone, the lawyer threw his stick on the ground, and slammed his fists on a nearby desk, frustrated beyond belief.

Peter finally reached Avenger's tower, as he landed on the balcony, and made his way inside. He looked around the living room, to see Tony fast asleep on the couch, with the TV on some kind of infomercial.

He took off his mask, as he pulled out his flip phone to call Aunt May. However, he saw that he had a voicemail from her, and he also saw what the time was: one in the morning.

"Aw man," he mumbled to himself, knowing that he was screwed. He clicked the voicemail button, and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Peter? It's your aunt. Are you ok? I know you've been working really hard lately, so you're probably at Stark Tower. If you fell asleep over there, don't worry, I'm not mad. I just want to make sure you're safe. Call me when you wake up, and don't let that Iron Man give you any of his super trouble, ok? I love you."

Peter then shut the phone. "Love you too, Aunt May," he whispered to himself, as he wandered closer to where he wanted to go. He shuffled his feet through the tower, tired and upset, but needing to do this.

After a few moments, Peter made it to the training room, as he heard the grunts and strains of Steve inside. He raised his fist up to the door, and after a moment's hesitation, knocked on the door. The noises inside stopped, as the door slid open, showing Steve in his workout gear. He was surprised at the sight of the dejected boy.

"I...I need to get better," Peter sadly told him. Without a word, Steve understood, as he wrapped an arm around the teenager's shoulders, and guided him inside the training room, the door closing behind them.

"I'm very pleased to be working with you."

Kingpin sat in a chair, wearing a dark business suit, as he was in an ancient Japanese building. He was talking to someone over the phone.

"And how soon will the Hand be in New York?" He asked. "Really? Excellent. I will see you then." With that, he hung up, and faced a man that was nearby. "As for you, I seem to have a bit of a problem back in the states. You see, the Hand will be focused on Daredevil. The one I'm more concerned with, and the one who you'll be concerned with, is Spider-Man. He's been causing problems with my empire's growth, and after tonight, he'll only pose more problems. I need him taken down, permanently."

Kingpin stood up, and walked towards the man. "Rose," he said, as his right hand man entered the room, a briefcase in his hand. He then opened it up, and presented it. "This much, for the death of Spider-Man. Can I count on you?"

The man, clad in a red and black bodysuit, with various guns, grenades, and katanas on him, looked at the crime boss through tiny white dots.

"Sister, for that much money, you can count on me to do a whole lot more than kill," Deadpool told him.