BGM-Spider-Man: Web of Shadows OST-Web of Shadows
Spider-Man: Look out! It's your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! While MJ gets treated at the hospital, I'm helping out Luke Cage stopping a gang war. Typical in this side of my life. Iron Fist showed up and helped me master my X-Aura, but it won't be enough to stop the gangs. We need them to agree to a parley. I'm on my way to the Rolling 7's Hideout, and hopefully they'll agree to one.
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Issue 4: Parley in the Park
Symbiote Hive. Miles under the Streets of New York.
BGM-X-Men Legends OST-Sentinel Lab (Quiet)
In the abandoned sewers and subways underneath Grand Street, two particular individuals are dragging a homeless man along a walkway. The kidnappers are Emerald Sustrai, a female thief with hallucination powers, and her partner Mercury Black, a male assassin with killer jokes.
The scared homeless looks at his kidnappers and asks, "P-Please, stop! At least tell me where you're taking me!"
"Relax. We're not sure ourselves." Mercury quipped. "We're just following the directions our boss texted us." He says, looking at his Scroll for directions to their new hideout.
Emerald lets out a disgusted grunt, "Wish it didn't direct us through a sewer. This place stinks."
Not long after, the criminals and their hostage walks into a massive lair in the subway tunnels that is covered in alien slime, purple crystals, and symbiotic pods, from the walls to the ceilings. The criminal duo feels they've stepped into an alien world, one that has Emerald cover her mouth while Mercury seems slightly disgusted. They spot a Beowolf gradually crawling out from a pool of black slime. They spot their boss, Cinder, approaching them, while her boss, Salem, sits on a throne of living abyss.
"What IS this place…?" The homeless man asks in terrified awe.
"That is one of the many questions I have…" Emerald quips with a stunned face of horror.
"MWAHA HA HA HA!" Venom's sudden laugh frightens the criminals, and the homeless man. They look up and spot him, soaring through the sky with his new pair of draconic wings. He stops, flapping his wings while floating over the duo, "Ahhhh. Merc. Em. Welcome to our new crib. Please, make yourselves at home." He greets them before soaring through the sky some more.
"Since when could you FLY?!" retorts Emerald, highly confused by his new powers of flight.
Venom lands in front of his friends, retracting his wings into his symbiote, "Salem taught us a few new tricks. Had us form a link with her Grimm hive mind, allowing us to form an arsenal of cool new weapons and manipulate magic. Like this!" His symbiote manifest an arm cannon, quickly firing a powerful mystical blast at a wall, creating a large hole, much to Emerald and Mercury's amazement.
"That is AWESOME!" Mercury express with an excited smile, sharing a highfive with Venom, "Wonder why we bothered tracking down Maidens when we could've went to you."
Cinder scowls, feeling offended by that comment since she was once the Fall Maiden. She sternly snarls at her underling, "Watch your words, Mercury. We weren't even aware of alternate realities until a few months ago."
"Sorry, boss." Mercury apologizes.
"Don't be jealous, Cindy." Venom teases her, annoying her.
"Enough!" Salem proclaims calmly, gaining everyone's attention, "Did you two succeed in your task?" She asks the criminal duo.
Mercury tosses the homeless man towards Venom as he hits the floor, while Emerald says, "We did, ma'am. Brought you this homeless man. But, may I ask, what makes him so special?" She asks the witch.
"He is not. Venom, on the other hand, is." replied Salem, prompting her symbiote minion to begin with their experiment.
Venom looks down and hisses at the homeless man, who sheds tears and has his hands cupped for mercy, "Please, don't kill me! I'm begging you! I didn't do anything wrong! I was on my way to FEAST! I'm an innocent-!"
"Innocent?" Venom cuts him off coldly, "Don't be afraid, little man. We are not going to kill you."
The homeless man drops his guard in terrified confusion, "Y-You're not?"
Venom ominously says, "Nooo…" and then immediately sprouts tendrils from his chest that attach the screaming hostage, "WE WILL DEVOUR YOU!" He pulls the man into his body, startling and terrifying the likes of Mercury and Emerald. Even Cinder was caught off-guard from watching her friend swallow the homeless man without remorse. Salem smiles, as she can tell what Brock is doing. He is not eating the man. Instead, within the symbiote, he is changing him into something just as worst as Venom. "MWAHA HA HA HA HA!" He laughs demonically, spitting out the homeless man from his chest into the form of a Symbiote Snatcher.
"GYRAAAAAAH!" The Symbiote Snatcher roared at its masters.
"What…did you just do?" A stunned Emerald questions her symbiote friend.
"Ever wondered where babies come from? Now you know." Venom quipped.
"Since when could you do that…?" Mercury asks him, just as shocked witnessing the birth of a new symbiote.
"Recently, during his battle against Spider-Man." Salem answered from her throne. "Venom has learned the ability to replicate his symbiote and attach it to others, thus 'infecting' them. This is because of the magic I had infused into his symbiote, having unexpectedly sped up the cellular growth of the symbiotic lifeform." She explained.
"This wouldn't be the first time we spawned a child. At least these new kids are more obedient than Carnage." Venom replied.
Salem raises a curious eyebrow, "Carnage?"
"Cletus Kasady. He was the first to bond with my spawn, but we do not like him. He is a serial killer, and a psychotic loose cannon! Do not even THINK about adding our son to this party. He is too insane for us!" Venom informs her about his first symbiotic son, warning her not to recruit Carnage.
"I have humbled several serial killers in the past to obey my commands." said Salem, recalling her deceased minion, Tyrian Callows, "Regardless, I will respect your wishes. Now I want you to respect MY wish." She said.
"And what would that be?" Venom questioned.
Salem gets up from her throne and says, "Bond me with my OWN symbiote." She said, much to the utter shock of Cinder's group.
"But Master, a-are you sure…?" Cinder asks with a worried expression.
Salem coldly glares at her pawn, "Are you underestimating me? Or are you envious?"
"N-No, no. I did not mean to disrespect you." Cinder replied nervously, fearing her master.
The Dark Witch ominously walks away from her throne and approaches Venom, "Grimm and Symbiotes. There is little difference between them. I have mastered the darkness for thousands of years under thousands of moons. Now, I will do it once again. Do you agree with me, Venom?" She asks him.
Venom sticks his tongue out, hissing a devious smile, "A Symbiote King needs his Symbiote Queen. Be patient, Cinderella. We will give you a SPECIAL symbiote later if you behave, like a good princess." He slyly mocks her, which annoys Cinder, and at the same time worries her, as that almost sounded like something Brock wouldn't say to her.
"Ew, gross." Mercury quips, thinking nasty thoughts of Venom's word, which got Emerald to elbow her partner to shut up and keep that stuff to himself.
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BGM-Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 OST-Powerful Man From The Darkness
Venom creepily snares Salem with tendrils with an ominous and horrifying chuckle, "MWAHA HA HA HA!" Tendrils hits her eyes and dive through her mouth, infecting her lungs and pancreas with the symbiote, changing her body from the inside out, transforming her into a monstrous She-Venom, but it gets worse. As Cinder's group watch in horror, Salem's symbiote begin to change. It transforms into a very long, short-sleeved black-and-red robe and cloak resembling her original uniform, except there is a stylized red spider-emblem on the chest. And her dark purple veins are replaced with black symbiotic tendrils that line her arms and face, as she retracts her facemask and reveals her face and regular white hairdo.
"You look beautiful. Like a true Queen of the Abyss." Venom compliments Salem, after she had finished bonding with her new symbiote.
"And I can't thank you enough." Symbiote Salem smiles evilly.
"Did we just watch them…do it?" A stunned Mercury jokingly asks his teammates in awe of Salem's transformation.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" quips Emerald, while Cinder stays silent and shocked.
Salem looks at her right palm, clenching it a few times. She decides to test out her new power, showing off a terrifying display of acrobatics and agility, bouncing around her lair with grace and speed unlike anything she has felt before. She clings to walls. Lifts up a large object with one arm. Fires webbing from her wrist, all to have a grasp on Spider-Man's powers.
"Such strength and agility…So this is the power of Spider-Man. One merged with the substance of Grimm and Symbiote." Salem looks to her left while casually holding out her right hand. With her new powers, she conjures up a Beowolf that is already bonded to its own symbiote, effectively creating her own Symbiote Grimm. "How delightful." She smiled.
"What do you want us to do?" Cinder asks her transformed master.
"Assist Venom while he creates symbiote pods throughout the city, and devise the means to ruin Spider-Man's reputation for a certain purpose I have of him." Salem orders her underlings, "In the meantime, I will take a visit to Remnant and Mobius. Prepare the means to weaken their military when the time is right. Starting now, EVERYONE is a target." She said ominously before leaving for the different dimensions.
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Meanwhile with Spider-Man…
BGM-Spider-Man: Web of Shadows OST-Gang War (Black Suit)
The amazing arachnid lands atop of a rooftop near an abandoned Roxxon gas station, which acts as the hideout of the Rolling 7's. A couple of cars belonging to the Park Avenues are spotted driving towards the gas station as they begin shooting at the Rolling 7's leader and his gang, with one of the cars nearly running him over. The 7's hide out inside the gas station to avoid gunfire, but that doesn't stop the Avenues from relentlessly shooting the place, threatening to blow up the gas station.
"Somebody wants their ass kicked!" A Park Avenue mocks their rivals.
Suddenly, Spidey lands atop of the hood of the car to surprise the thugs, "Thanks for volunteering!"
"It's Spider-Man! Get him!" The thug shouted.
The thugs of the car immediately shoot at the arachnid, who easily jumps away from their bullets. The spider-hero webstrikes the engine, disabling their car before webbing them out of their seats. "Gotta disable the other cars before they blow up the gas station." Spidey swings around the station and pursue the other cars shooting the gas station. He fires web shots to destroy the tires of the second car, causing it to stir out of control until it was caught in a huge web net. With a powerful swing kick, Spidey smacks the third car into the air before spinning out another web net to catch the thugs from crashing into a wall. Spotting the fourth car circling the station, Peter zips towards it, "If you want gas, you've come to the right place!" He webstrikes the car a few times, forcing the thugs to jump out of the car before it blows up from constant punishment. "Here's your receipt!" He pulls down a nearby tree with his webbing, causing it to fall on top of the engine of the last car, immediately smashing it as the sudden whiplash launches the goons right out of the car before getting caught by a web net.
"H-Hey! Spidey! Can you let me down? I-I'm afraid of heights!" said a scared thug, having been caught in a web net.
"After you and your friends nearly blew up a gas station and the Rolling Sevens? Up there is a safe haven 'til the police show up, or when the webbing dissolves. 'Sides, I'm on a tight schedule." quips Spidey, launching a webline to the nearest building, "Ta-ta!" He says before swinging away from the gas station.
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At the Park…
Spider-Man swings to the park to meet up with Luke Cage about the success of his mission saving the Rolling Sevens' hideout. "You will be pleased to know that I heard from the leader of the Rolling Sevens." said Cage, as Peter lands in front of him.
"Let me guess. He wants us to come over to his house and hang out and be friends." Peter says dryly.
"Actually he agreed to a parley, after I pointed out that you saved his scrawny butt and he needed to return the favor." Cage replied.
Peter shrugs dryly, "Let me guess again. You want me to set up a play date with the other gang leader."
"You could put it that way. I wouldn't. Just find him. Tell him the other side agreed to come to the park tonight at sundown. No guns." Cage told him.
"Sundown, eh? Well, you got it sheriff Luke. Deputy Spider-Man will get that rascally varmint." quips Spidey, putting on an Old West accent. He swings away towards the Park Avenue neighborhood, leaving behind Luke to sigh while facepalming from his annoying joke.
Park Ave Neighborhood
BGM-Spider-Man: Web of Shadows OST-Gang War (Red Suit)
Spider-Man swings into the Park Avenues' turf in hopes of finding their leader quick and get him to agree to the parley. "Alright, I'm here. Now where's-?" His Spider-Sense tingles, alerting to a barrage of gunfire from an army of Park Avenues down below, "Hey, stop it! I'm swingin' here!" He shouted, using his reflexes to dodge all of their shots with no trouble whatsoever.
After jumping off his webline, Spidey switches to his Black Suit and dives down, using his X-Aura for a moment as he smashes the ground and unleashes a devastating wave of energy that wipes out the army. As he switches to his Red Suit, he senses reinforcements approaching. He glances a large trash container, which gives him an idea. "Time to take out the trash." He webs the container and hurls it at the goons, knocking them out.
"Hurry and shoot the hug!" shouts a desperate thug, as more reinforcements arrive and relentlessly shoot the web-swinging superhero.
"Nice shootin', tex." Spidey swiftly dodges their bullets while leaping into the air and slamming himself onto his enemies, knocking them down. And just as his Spider-Sense tingles, he dodges a swing from a brutish thug's baseball bat. He spins a web hammer to wield and shouts, "Play ball!" before swinging it onto the heavy hitter, sending him flying until he hits a car. "I definitely need to try out for baseball next season." He muttered.
"Whoa, whoa! What's going on here?!" The leader of the Park Avenues arrives too late, as he finds his men have just been beaten up by Spider-Man. "What did we do to deserve this?" He asks, as the hero confronts him.
"Well I guess it all started when you decided to MURDER each other in front of the hospital." Spidey shrugs, "THAT kinda rubbed me the wrong way."
"Man, Rolling Sevens started all that. They killed my cousin." The P.A. Gang Leader retorted, gesturing to a nearby mural on the wall that is in memory of his cousin.
"And you hit back at them and so on. Thing is, they've agreed to a parley." Spidey replied.
"What you talkin' 'bout?" The gang leader crosses his arms as he listens to the webslinger.
"I'm saying that you, the leader of the Rolling Sevens, and Mr. Cage are gonna have a little sit-down. A little chat." Spidey expressed.
"Sevens agreed?" The gang leader remarks with an unconvinced head tilt.
Peter nods, "Yes they did, and I suggest you do the same. Or Mr. Cage, Iron Fist, the police, and yours truly are all gonna be your new best friends." He quips, coaxing the leader to agree to the parley.
"So, uh, what's the plan?" asked the gang leader, unfolding his arms.
"Tonight. At sundown. In the park. Be there, or be square." Peter informs him.
"'Be square?' You from Queens or somethin'?" questions the gang leader, unaware that the arachnid hero really is from Queens.
Peter rolls his eyes under his mask, "Just show up or else." He warns him before swinging away from the neighborhood.
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While swinging through the city to find something to do until sundown, Peter receives a call from Mary Jane through his suit and answers it. 'Peter, where've you been? I was worried. The doctor told me, "Spider-Man was asking about you, young lady".' MJ asked her ex.
Peter says during his swinging, "Well there was this drive-by shooting just as your ambulance showed up, and then one thing led to another and-."
'Same old story.' MJ cuts him off with a quip.
"But what about your arm? How come you're leaving the hospital already?" Peter asked with a worried tone.
'Miracles of modern medicine. A few titanium pins. A few painkillers. I'm good as new.' MJ replied.
Peter lands and sticks to the side of a water tank, "I was so scared this afternoon. Venom was choking me and you weren't moving…Maybe that explains it."
'Explains what? Explains turning into that other thing? That other version of you?' MJ asked about his Black Suit.
"You saw that?" Peter questioned.
'Yes I saw it. Tell me it's gone, Peter. Tell me you don't have that Black Suit again.' MJ retorted.
Peter switches to his Black Suit and stares at his palm, "Well…It's complicated."
'You have it don't you? You know what that does to you. You know how it can CHANGE you!' MJ reminded him of the corruptive powers of the symbiote.
"Y'know it actually WORKED for me…at first. Maybe this time it's different." Peter replied, believing he has control of the symbiote this time.
'I don't believe you.' MJ retorts, 'Get rid of it, Peter! Get rid of it and THEN I'll talk to you!'
"C'mon, MJ…" Spidey zips off of the water tank to continue swinging, "Venom is out there still! I have a feeling that something's changed. That, something about the Suit is different."
'Yeah? Well I have a feeling that everything will be the same. Get RID of it! It's not who you are!' MJ sighs, 'Find me when you are yourself again!'
"Alright. I have to go. I've got this whole 'Saved all of Harlem by forcing a peace between two vicious gangs' thing going on." said Peter, hanging up the call and swings through the city while still wearing the Black Suit.
Later at the Park during sundown…
That night at Harlem, Symbiote Spider-Man perches on the edge of a rooftop, staking out the area while the parley between the gang leaders and Luke Cage is about to begin. "All present and accounted for. Hope this works. Know it means a lot to Cage." He says as the leaders and Cage enter the small castle on the park. While on stakeout, he senses something, "Spidey-Sense…" He turns to his left, "There!" and spots an army of high-tech, armored snipers pointing their guns at the castle park.
BGM-Spider-Man: Web of Shadows OST-Protect the Innocent
"Dunno who these guys are, but they seem to be itchin' in ruining this parley. Won't let these nutjobs have their way. Wearing the Black Suit will help me blend in to the dark while I take 'em out!" Spidey said, keeping the Black Suit on for this mission.
He jumps into the air and uses his Web-Strikes to swoop in onto the snipers in succession. The Black Suit helps him camouflage with the night, helping him get the drop on the armored goons. He webs their mouths before zipping to his target and knocks them out with a brutal punch, all while remaining silent and with a stern look on his face.
Spidey lands in front of one sniper and webs him to the water tower behind him. "This guy's a pro. Who sent him?" Spidey wondered. He looks down and spots the sniper weapon, as well as a few pictures involving the two gangs and quickly deduce everything, "Oh no. The whole gang war was a setup." He picks up the pictures and stores them in his symbiote.
As Spider-Man webstrikes the second wave of snipers surrounding the park, Luke Cage walks out of the castle with the gang leaders, who don't seem too happy standing on the same ground with their rivals. "You're all talk, Cage. Every hero I ever met just use me for a punching bag." The Rolling Sevens Leader said while slamming his fists together.
"We HAD a deal." Cage retorted.
"I gotta do what I gotta do! With or without me, my crew is taking down the Sevens!" declared the Park Ave Leader, taking out and pointing his gun at his rival, prompting him to do the same with his own gun.
"I said no guns!" Luke retorted, trying to calm both parties down but it's not working.
After clearing out the snipers, Spider-Man spots the gang leaders pointing their guns at each other. "Guess the parley didn't work out." He joked. He takes out the pictures from his symbiote and looks at them, "But with these pictures, I can prove to them that they were set up and put an end to this gang war."
'That won't solve everything.' said his inner voice, which is being influenced by his corruptive Black Suit, 'These are gangsters. Idiots. Killers. It doesn't matter if we stop this war. They'll just find excuse to start another one. These losers were played and were MORE than willing to start this turf war. Let them kill each other. The streets will be safer that way.'
Spidey considers that evil option for a moment. The decision to not reveal the gangs were set up. But, he shakes his head against that horrible idea and switches to his Red Suit, "NO! That is a horrible idea! What was I just thinking? It's better that I end this gang war now BEFORE it could escalate into a bigger problem."
Sticking to his heroic side, Spider-Man leaps into the park to confront the gang leaders. "Guys, listen to me! This whole war! It's all been one huge misunderstanding!" He told them before either of them could pull the trigger on their guns.
BGM End
Cage grabs the gangsters by their backs and lift them into the air, as Peter shows them the pictures of evidence. "You were played." Cage stated.
"They were trying to make you guys kill one another." Spidey told them.
"And it worked." said Cage, letting the gangsters down.
The Rolling Sevens Leader scoffs while feeling ashamed for being tricked, "This is a damn mess." He holds out a hand to his rival for a handshake, hoping he would forgive him for accidently starting a war.
The Park Ave Leader shrugs his shoulders, "Alright. Don't see no other way to end this." He accepts the handshake, which quickly turns into friendly bro-fists that peacefully closes the gang war.
The Rolling Sevens Leader looks at Spidey, "You ever need the Rolling Sevens, we're there."
"Same goes for the Park Avenues." The Park Ave Leader added.
Spidey nods with a smile behind the mask, "I appreciate it, as long as you guys aren't killing each other. I gotta go and find the maniac that tricked you guys into a war in the first place. And I have a hunch it is a crimelord who is very cunning, FAT, and likes counting money in his own tower in the Financial District."
"Good luck, Spidey! Call me or Fist if you need help against THAT guy." smiles Cage, offering his assistance to the webslinger.
"Sure thing!" nods Peter, launching a webline and swinging away towards Fisk Tower, home of the Kingpin.
BGM-Shadow the Hedgehog OST-Main Menu
KFX Here: The gang war is over, but a new war against the Kingpin is about to commence. And within the shadows, Salem has gained her symbiote and become the "Symbiote Queen" (imagine she looks like a female version of Knull) as she secretly prepares the city for the symbiote invasion.
superjoeyf721: It's almost as if Black Widow and Winter are stressed out and desperate trying to survive in a symbiote apocalypse with no backup from outside Manhattan, and fighting a war against an immortal Symbiote/Grimm Queen that wants to conquer several dimensions.
Nexus240: She kinda has to or else it would completely mess up the timeline.
Next Time: Twin thieves! The Cat, the Bat, and the Spider!
Remember: I have a forum page! Link can be found on my homepage or search for the "United Heroes Series" forums!
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