Yes, I know the release schedule for this has been terrible, especially for a fic that is, you know, already finished. I offer no excuses for that. But anyways. On with the show!

"I don't know, Spider-Man." Axel's head swooped about, looking for the cameras, apparently, hidden in plain sight "Doesn't look that way to me."

Blaze had figured out the fact they were being watched not long after the Spider. She pointed directly at one of the cameras for Axel, only for him to shrug and her to groan.

"Would you just- over there." She full-on grabbed the sides of Axel's head so he could not look at anything but the camera. Once he found it staring back at him, the surprise at his own blindness was punctuated by silence.

"Oh. I see it now."

Eddie's palm found its home on his face. He was beginning to think that, in some ways, Axel's status as someone to look up to may have been oversold by Adam.

The group continued on down the corridor in kite formation; Axel designated in front, Blaze and Spider-Man to either side of him, while Eddie stayed behind.

They had been about to round another identical corner, broad and gold like the last one and all the ones before that.

Spider-Man jerked to a halt.

"Oh man." His eyes widened to such an extent that it showed through the mask. "Spider-Sense going off like crazy."

"Your what? " Eddie asked, unaware of his own volume and how it bounced off the walls.

"It means something bad is gonna happen. Something close by."

That instilled some carefulness in Axel, who gestured for the others to follow as they had been but to keep any noise at a minimum.

Spider-Man reduced his footsteps to no more than light taps on the ground. As he walked as if on air, his thoughts raced on, a million miles a minute, a futile effort in preparing for the unknowns beyond his reach.

"Wait!"

Axel turned around.

"What?"

"Let me go up front. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Axel moved to where he had been. With Spider-Man functioning as group leader, until the worry passed, they rounded the corner. Having to wait for him and his vague "Spider-Sense" made Blaze and Eddie antsy, as they played out imaginary battle plans for whoever was waiting on the other side.

Reality played them all for fools and turned out far, far worse.

Elektra jumped off the back of another Spider-Slayer, transitioning her leap into a perfect landing. Mad Jack, his whole face in bandages except for a pair of sunglasses, juggled not one, but three knives.

Eddie denied his first instinct to run away, told himself that he would be brave for staying and not out of his mind.

Footsteps that were more like seismic disturbances clued Axel and Blaze to the presence of another foe.

"Spider boy not look so scary from here." Rocky Bear placed his hands over a gut that rumbled with his laugh.

The similarities between Rocky Bear and one of the X-Men's nemeses, the Blob, were not lost on Spider-Man.

"Look like I can pick him up, crush him like little bug!"

This time around, Spider-Man did not fight back. Not with words, at least.

Electra held her whip, poised to lash out. The last one to appear, but not the least, was Jet, flying in with a fresh tank.

The women in red, Blaze and Elektra, stared each other down, the whip crackling in the background not intentional but a good fit. Axel was the one to break their attention, and the invisible cord that kept their eyes connected.

"Just because there are more of you doesn't mean you stand a chance," he said.

Eddie stepped out from behind Axel and found he had the courage to stand by his side.

"Yeah. 'Sides, we've beat all you guys before. What makes you think we won't do it again?"

"Because we've made preparations, boy." Kraven smirked, confident. Elektra stood next to her.

Eddie was cowering behind Axel, with none of the bravery he showed on the boat.

"You all know your orders," Elektra said, addressing the six others. "Take them down, but take them alive!"

Both sides ran. Jet hovered just above the rest of his group, undisturbed by Rocky Bear's footsteps.

Blaze had to make a conscious effort of keeping her balance while the other villains, especially Jet, moved faster. So occupied by this need to keep up was Blaze that Elektra caught her off-guard and snuck in a punch that Blaze only just veered away from. Throwing out the weight through her fist, she aimed to return the favour with her own attempt.

Elektra moved to the right, dodging her closed fist. In fact, Blaze swore the fist had gone through her. The blinking of her eyes to process Elektra's speed gave the woman time for another trick; a disappearing act.

"Your slowness, Blaze Fielding, is to your detriment."

She turned, but not fast enough. Elektra reared her kick, winding up like a motor, before slamming it into Blaze's back. She was sent flying, pain shooting up her spine, made to soar through the air until she came face to face with a pillar.

Axel shoved Electra to the side with the confidence that Spider-Man could knock her out again, and could not have run any faster to check if Blaze was alright. Not once in the may fights he'd been in after leaving the force had he ever seen a kick quite like Elektra's.

Mad Jack seemed to materialise in front of him. He alternated with two knives in one hand, one in the other.

"Sorry. Can't let you do that."

Axel had meant to barrel through when he walked into Mad Jack, but he stayed there, motionless. Mad Jack did not so much as flinch. Urgency overwhelmed his fear of what should have been no more than an urban legend and he pushed against the man for a second time, only for him to remain there, unaffected.

He had a grin that seemed far too wide for his angular face, what little could be seen under the bandages, anyway.

"Model One, your target is Axel Stone. Engage the target with offensive procedures."

"Huh? What are you-"

Synthesised noise attempted to replicate an animal's cry, instead creating a sound that fell somewhere in the uncanny middle.

Another Spider-Slayer. This one mimicked a lizard, painted with scales to imitate the skin. The distinct and uncomfortable sensation of being watched washed over him. Red orbs for eyes glowed and seemed to be scanning him as it sorted through the offensive procedures. Axel got into fighting position with his fists primed and all his focus directed at the Spider-Slayer.

He tasted a drop of sweat as it rolled down his lip.

Its jaw creaked open at Mad Jack's command, mouth gaping. Axel had a similar expression when two blasts of energy knocked him off his feet and before he recognised what was going on, another blast engulfed his form in white light.

That was how the battle started. It could not have gotten worse.

And yet, it did.

…

A monitor played back video feed from one of the cameras in the corridor. Blaze, helpless to stop the knee thrusted into a face already bruised all over by Elektra. She slumped against a dented pillar with cracks now running through it– only for Elektra to grab her by the hem of her top, a promise of more violence to follow.

Eddie, squirming in Rocky Bear's grasp as the man squeezed him into a tighter and tighter ball. Axel, forced to do double the work of keeping away from Jet and the Spider-Slayer, half avoiding the blasts and half avoiding the urge to help Blaze laying on the pillar. Not impaled, but not far from it. It would have hurt less.

Then there was Spider-Man. Peter Parker. With the others she had a choice. With him, wound up tight by rope and her emotions, she had no choice but to watch, to be a spectator.

That much was the same, the spectating.

The others had new targets but Kraven opted instead for another rematch with Spider-Man. For as long as Mary Jane cared to remember, Kraven had been on the giving end of the blows. Every time he would send him reeling and twisting in all different directions but somehow, for some inexplicable reason, her husband never dropped. Never gave inch nor quarter.

All out of energy to scream, Mary Jane looked through the screen with unblinking eyes. They saw beneath the mask, the show he put on for the world. She knew that, deep inside, he wanted to cry out just as much.

Another blow from Kraven, coming down like a sledgehammer. Peter stumbled back and his dodging, while inadvertent, was proof to Mary Jane he stood a fighting chance.

You've got this, Peter…pull through for yourself. She whispered in her head a silent prayer. Pull through for me. Like you always do.

"How is it?"

Venom made no effort to hide their evil, fangs bared and gleaming white.

"How does it feel to have the man you love, who you hold oh-so-dear be beaten to a pulp right before your eyes?"

Unflinching, she fixed her gaze on them, on Venom. "Talking an awfully big game for someone who's lost a fight to him about a hundred times."

A burst of anger hit Venom and they flew out of their chair to full height, growling with all the grace of a wild animal. They stepped forward. The form of Venom loomed over her as a black shadow, and the forcefulness of his presence made Mary Jane rethink her actions. Spider-Man took his fair share of risks in battles. In provoking Eddie Brock, she may have risked her life.

"Leave the girl alone."

At the sound of Mr. X's voice, Venom fell silent and the growling ceased. Mary Jane noted the symbiote distort around Eddie's mouth and force him into complacency.

Her tormentor, and their boss, got up from his chair and went to his corner of the room to stare at one of the windows. Not through; Mr. X didn't have it in him to appreciate the jungle.

"Save that 'til after we relocate them."

"Relocating?" She whipped her head around to Mr. X, a closed book, arms folded behind his back. "To where?"

He walked over, squatting down to eye level. A grin kept one side of his lips arched.

"To the piranha room."

Onscreen, Elektra had switched targets and thrust her knee into Spider-Man's face with a flying kick. Blood spattered. He fell, down on all fours.

Mary Jane choked as a gasp clogged in her throat.

…

After much sweating, and the use of strength he would have liked to keep, Eddie wormed himself free from the prison that was Rocky Bear's grasp.

A small victory turned into a loss, fast, as he rejoined the diorama of chaos below. Holes in glass windows, Axel ducking the blasts from the Spider-Slayer that caused them. A knife from Mad Jack slicing at the thin space of air separating him from Blaze, one brush with death after another. Kraven buckling to a punch from a weary Spider-Man, to the apathy of Elektra. The only punch that mattered, as the so-called hunter could not stay on his feet after that.

Damage on all of them. Damage to the corridor, a crack where Blaze and the pillar collided. Only Eddie remained pure; but, judging from the whip Electra had coiled around her wrist, that was only temporary.

"You little brat. A shame you and Spider-Man couldn't take your treatment together, but oh well."

Eddie stood his ground as Electra got closed in, the air buzzing around her electrified whip. The more she did, the more he noticed some…changes since their last encounter. Her hair looked a mess, and unlike on the S.S X, she did not come off as in control. Of herself, or of anyone else. Instead she came off as unhinged, a madwoman as she made herself airborne and leapt for Eddie.

"Now die!"

The whip, a conduit for the elements and her anger, lashed out. Eddie ducked underneath, wincing at the crackle of lightning not far from his cap.

Electra continued to use her whip not as it was intended, but more like a sword. She swung it about in wide, sweeping circles that someone as adept on rollerskates as Eddie had no trouble gliding away from.

He faked a yawn, having skated from her reach. At that distance not even her whip had enough range to make an impact.

"You dare mock me, child?" Electra spat, Eddie tapping his foot. "I'll have to make you pay dearly for that!"

She pulled the whip, a fury in how she had flung it back that suggested this was a crack to be afraid of, a crack that pierced the air before bones were shattered.

Some haste felt required on Eddie's part. He didn't have the jump of someone like Spider-Man, or Electra for that matter, but he did manage to take himself under Electra. The two of them passed each other and almost clashed in the air. With her core unguarded, all effort transferred into flailing the whip, Eddie made a split-second decision. He reeled his fist to knock her in the stomach, sending her back some considerable distance.

She landed on her feet. After a moment to catch her breath, she started on him again. Electra ran, Eddie in her sights and directly in front of her

"I've got you now," she declared and, slower than before, uncoiled her whip.

Eddie ducked, then swung his leg in a circle under Electra. Both the woman and her weapon were downed in one sweep. Some part of him wanted to be remorseful, but then Electra had sort of asked for it, being a villain and all.

He only hoped his friends were holding up better.

Not for the first time today, Spider-Man had his sense of direction readjusted, senses assaulted by a sting across his face. Again she swung her leg, and again he took the blow.

"Pathetic," Elektra said. Despite her seeming victory, Elektra had an emptiness about her with neither smile nor frown. "Your loves ones would be ashamed."

While Elektra's words spelt impending doom, Spider-Man had a talk with himself. Ok Spidey, think. You beat Elektra last time, you can do it again. They're counting on me. Mary Jane's counting on me. Have to find a way out of this.

Making the mother of all comebacks was the only shot he had. A shot he still believed he had, even as the sense of feeling in his face fleeted; in so much turmoil it couldn't tell the difference between pain and comfort.

"I hope you've said your prayers."

And yet, Spider-Man took his fate without issue and stood perfectly still. Waiting for the moment, the one that always came, when a plan dawned.

Elektra paused. Definition returned to her expression as she studied him with a hard gaze, before launching what would be her final kick.

A hand had wrenched itself around her ankle and stopped Elektra moments before Spider-Man would have fallen, or worse.

Blaze stared Elektra down once again, except this time the other woman seemed smaller by comparison, shrinking as her chances of killing Spider-Man dwindled to zero.

Spider-Man could only be an onlooker, mouth open as wide as the fabric around it allowed.

"Blaze? But- but the guy with the knife, he's-"

"Way less of a threat to me than she is to you." Blaze turned to Elektra, her smile making the woman recoil. "You can call this finishing business."

Visibly, it dawned on Elektra just what that business was, but by then realisation came too late. Blaze let go of her leg and slammed Elektra's face with a kick of her own. The movement happened in a flash of footwork and, the next time he blinked, Elektra was on the ground in front of Spider-Man.

"Thanks Blaze," he said, after catching his breath. "Maybe I didn't have a plan."

"Hey, what are friends for?"

Before Spider-Man could return her goodwill, Elektra laughed, a noise somewhere between a cough and someone being strangled. It preceded her exit from the waking world, and the arrival of a new opponent.

A beam of energy shot across the corridor. Blaze jumped. Spider-Man scooped Elektra into his arms and rolled away unharmed, though the warmth he felt from the beam did worry him.

Not everyone could be so lucky.

Axel had no time to dodge. No energy, either, going limp when the firing of the second beam, like a machine gun from the future, took him past Mad Jack, Blaze and Jet and threw him across the corridor.

He willed his limbs to move, even if they were the equivalent of wet noodles. The Spider-Slayer retracted its tongue. Or rather, a robot's imitation of one, as blue light gathered in the back of its mouth. Axel's shirt was already in tatters, torn to pieces, and he feared it would not be long before the rest of him followed.

Overhead, Jet ignored Spider-Man and made a dive for Blaze.

The innards of the Spider-Slayer glowed.

Taking into account the speed of Jet's streamlined form, Axel made a play that either helped the group or made matters worse for Blaze and Blaze alone.

"Hey!" He made a signal, waving his arms. "We never properly got to finish. How's about a rematch?"

"Well, if you insist." Jet curled his lips in an ugly sneer. "Who am I to refuse?"

Jet altered his trajectory from spiralling downward to flying straight ahead.

The Spider-Slayer had slits for eyes, and they sharpened, turning crimson red.

Axel watched Jet's every movement, zoning out all other distractions save for one Spider-Slayer. Once he had closed in enough, the others took notice. Eddie's eyes were wide. Spider-Man, perhaps because Axel was pulling a stunt he wasn't opposed to, was unreactive as he stuck to a wall. He could tell that Blaze wanted to intervene, arms in a tight fold as she forced herself to trust him against better judgement.

With Jet in range, Axel grabbed the man before he blistered past and held him firm.

The blue light reached its climax and plateaued, impossible for it to get any brighter.

Axel's hold tightened as Jet squirmed, kicking his legs while mumbling an incoherent plea. As a beam so huge in scope that it filled the room, causing the others to dive for what passed for safety, it arced across the hallway on a collision course with them both.

There was a flash, then Axel found himself blind. Screams were ripped from Jet's vocal chords, made to absorb the blast in all its shining, terrifying glory, but even still he kept his hold tight.

Wave after wave of energy began pushing against them. Axel felt this too, even with a shield to protect him; a trench forming as his feet dug deeper into the ground.

The light disappeared. He rubbed his eyes, relieved that he could see again, and let go of Jet. He fell, weightless.

A sigh of relief was about all Axel managed before his legs buckled and he dropped, thudding down.

Far away, as if to punctuate the moment, Mad Jack swished about with his knife.

"How about that," he said, staring over Blaze's shoulder down the other end of the corridor. "Looks to me, doll, like your precious Axel ain't so tough after all."

Blaze avoided his swipes without trouble, her hair flowing behind her as she weaved back and forth. She didn't show him the decency of answering and instead went straight for his neck. With a deft chop to both pressure points, she rendered Mad Jack unconscious. Had it not been in a cast, his face would have been her ideal target, but she did end up taking his sunglasses.

With him down, it was back to the main issue at hand; Axel. Blaze broke into a sprint in an instant, in defiance of a throbbing pain in her back and a leg that refused to work properly. Eddie and Rocky Bear were locked in battle, neither able to hit the other, making her path to Axel clear as clear could be.

He stayed unmoving, unblinking. The Spider-Slayer must have not recognised him as a threat on its radar, making no further attacks.

"Axel?" Blaze kneeled down beside him. "Oh god, Axel."

No response. Blaze wanted to stay strong, to not shrivel up and collapse into herself, but her eyelids went moist with worry.

Axel's eyes, closed off to the world, opened. They stared back at her, sparkling blue, unsure of why she came to his aid.

"I'm fine, Blaze. Don't worry about me." Groaning, he pushed himself to lean up.

Blaze sniffled. She opened her mouth as if to say something but thought better of it, opting instead for a confirming nod.

"Me? Worried?" Blaze rolled her eyes as she wrapped an arm around Axel and brought him off the debris and into a standing position. "No way."

One thing Blaze had always admired about Axel was his ability to always pick himself back up from the brink, an ability he demonstrated now by turning to face the Spider-Slayer. No protection was offered by the shreds of fabric that once were part of a shirt.

"Go help the others."

"But…"

"Like I said, I'm fine." Axel strained a smile, hoping it looked more convincing on the outside than he felt inside. "Now go."

She swallowed her concerns and ran, leaving him alone. A familiar shade of blue glowed in her peripheral vision.

Blaze ducked her head as Spider-Man went through Van Gogh's Starry Night head-first. Rocky Bear reached his great hand down, aiming to give his younger companion the same treatment.

Eddie propelled himself a good distance into the air; flying without wings.

"Could really use your help here," He shouted.

"You got a strategy in mind?" Blaze shouted back.

"You and Spidey go high. I'll go low."

That sounded to Blaze as good a strategy as any other, save for the fact Spider-Man may or may not have been unconscious. All the same, she plucked him out from the inexpensive mockup of a priceless painting.

Spider-Man shook his head to clear away the stars he was seeing. "Oh man. Wow, that guy makes Big Bertha look petite."

Rocky Bear shifted his weight and assumed a fighting pose as the three conversed, bundled together.

"We're going high," Blaze reiterated, not bothering to ask who Big Bertha was. "Eddie's going low."

Spider-Man nodded, a silent got it.

The three of them, all at once, moved in their respective directions. Eddie glided underneath the hand moving to grab him again, vaulted over the trench Axel had dug, and that jump brought him next to Rocky Bear's leg.

Eddie kicked out at him, and it was as if he had tried making a dent in steel. His own leg throbbed while Rocky Bear's remained intact. Which was just as well, because Eddie never meant to hurt Rocky Bear. He meant to distract him.

"Is that the best you can do, little boy?" Rocky Bear erupted into laughter that could stir the dead.

With his attention on Eddie, the other two had ample opportunity to get the jump on him. Quite literally.

Blaze pressed the full force of her body into him, boots digging into soft skin. Spider-Man went for a gentler approach by comparison and scored a punch across his cheek.

Still drilling into him with her sharp boots, she flipped backwards for a cartwheel kick. That, combined with Spider-Man not pulling back his punches, caused Rocky Bear to lose balance. His hands flailed about for some semblance of stability, only for that to make it worse.

With a thud that shook the corridor and perhaps the earth itself, Rocky Bear collapsed onto his back.

Memories flashed in Spider-Man's head of that old nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty, and how much Rocky Bear now resembled the titular character.

"The bigger they are…"

"...the harder they fall," Blaze finished, eyeing Rocky Bear in case he got back up.

"We make for a pretty good team, us three," Eddie said.

"Yeah." Spider-Man's smile beamed, even through the mask, glowing with happiness. "Yeah, we do."

The team of three rushed to become a four. With only one enemy from the past to put down, Blaze, Eddie and Spider-Man ran, skated and leapt, respectively, over to Axel.

None of them had ever seen him so defenceless, breath so shallow. Blaze placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Axel, please. maybe it's best you sit this one out."

Axel gestured to the Spider-Slayer, just about. "It can't be stopped. Whatever I do, it keeps on firing."

Spider-Man's built-in alarm blared. "Yeah, and it's about to fire again."

He jumped. He didn't think his actions through, ponder the ramifications of them. He knew only that someone had to do them, and that someone was him.

The blue light blinded, and then rushed in his direction as rapid-fire bullets. Every one of them left an impression on Spider-Man; punches and blows to his body that, while weak on their own, all added up, all to soon.

They pushed him onto what had once been carpet, now a mess of fabric and debris. Spider-Man tried to get up but the thousand invisible punches had left their mark and made sure that couldn't happen.

Elektra and Eddie turned to acknowledge each other, acknowledge that in this moment they were the last line of defense.

The Spider-Slayer tiled its tail from side to side. Otherwise, it was still.

"Same as last time?"

"No." Eddie shook his head dismissively. "We have to do this without Spider-Man."

"Oh," Blaze said with slumped shoulders. "Right."

Eddie whispered the plan into her ear, and while some parts she couldn't make out, most of it she got the gist of.

Blaze stayed under the red glare of the lizard, head flitting about from time to time like a real reptile would. While she kept its attention, Eddie slunk around, smooth as liquid night, to the back of it.

Brute strength would have to suffice; he gripped the tab protecting the Spider-Slayer's inner circuitry and pulled it clean off.

The Spider-Slayer detected interference and began to wail.

Knowing which green wire to cut was enough stress on its own, but the Spider-Slayer had innards as complex as any living creature's. Red wires accompanied the green wires. They were joined by yellow wires, snaking around like lemon-coloured worms, and a mass of blue ones.

Eddie lowered himself to his knees. As if that would help him focus, as if that would allow him to make sense of the Spider-Slayer's inner workings. He had skipped the science class where they dissected reptiles to skate with his fellow truants.

Regardless, he reached forward. Not without great caution, however.

"Need some help, kid?" Blaze asked.

"I'm fine," Eddie said, not looking away from the task at hand, the mass of wiring. Blaze likely meant well but the reminder of her presence meant added pressure to him and a reminder that he only had so much time.

Spider-Man lifted an arm and gestured to his legs. "I'd offer to help, but, y'know."

Blood thundered in Eddie's head as he grabbed the red wire. One of them, anyways. It made little difference to him. No action was worse than any. With no utensils at hand, he pulled the wire until it split in two. Eddie considered it a miracle when all that flew were sparks and not live electricity. He was close enough to that with Electra.

What he did not consider a miracle was the timer that had started, the synthesised bleeps that made up the creature's voice declaring that he had ten seconds.

"Eddie?" Blaze said, her voice deceptive in its softness. "What did you do?"

"Maybe it's best you let one of us take a crack at it."

Axel's suggestion, valid as it was, went ignored. Eddie started earlier but only now became aware of his sweating. Liquid terror poured down his face in rivulets as he dared to tempt fate and try again.

Red was a dangerous colour. It made sense why cutting it had gone wrong. Yellow suggested another big reaction, blue was a mellow colour and did not suggest much at all, leaving only…

Eddie took one of about a hundred green wires and twisted until it snapped. Sweating bullets, he held off on breathing, only two seconds to spare.

The countdown stopped. What little life the Spider-Slayer had disappeared, eyes turning the same shade of grey as the dust underneath his bed.

Eddie's relief was strong when he finally breathed again.

It was a hollow victory for Blaze, and not a moment later they stepped past the bodies of Mad Jack and Kraven, like litter on the floor, to help Axel.

"We did it," Blaze affirmed with a tentative smile. "You can get up now, mister macho."

Shaking, relying on Blaze's hand, he rose to full height.

That left them with the matter of Spider-Man, whose body had also forced him down. Stabs of pain knifed him and forced out the harshest of gasps. Blaze pursed her lips in worry. Eddie turned away. He couldn't bear to look.

Axel was the one to break the silence and squatted, meeting where Spider-Man's eyes would have been.

"Nice shirt." His voice sounded frail. If he tried a higher frequency, it would shatter.

"What shirt?" Axel asked.

"That's the joke," and Spider-Man leaned forward and tried to laugh, but ended up having a choking fit instead.

"Need a few minutes?"

Spider-Man, conservative with his energy, nodded.

While the others waited, Eddie leaning on the very same pillar Blaze had slammed into, he pulled out a heart-shaped locket. The picture inside was of his wife, Mary Jane, her love and warmth always within reach.

Peter paid close attention to this picture. He didn't need to be Spider-Man, to have a healing factor or be able to spin webs, to get by. All he needed was Mary Jane.

I'll pull through, Mary Jane. Somehow, he hoped Mary Jane heard his thoughts, received the broadcast. For you. For all of us.

Spider-Man walked with the group again with renewed motivation, pushing past any wounds his healing factor had yet to cover. Any pain to himself was unimportant.

The threat of Mr. X loomed ever larger, only a few rooms away now.

NEXT: You've seen Maximum Carnage, but what about...Maximum VENOM?