Full Moon Knights

Chapter 4: A Different Dark Knight; Alpha, the Wolf-Man pt. 1

City District of Everett

Late At Night

Alleyway

At that moment, in the dead of night, a gang of guys had busted into the back alley of the store, and were currently loading up the van with as much techno equipment as possible.

The gang was loading up the van, unaware of a shadow that swung in, landed on the wall, and began to crawl down into the shadows. One of the guys, a Caucasian wearing a red beanie cap, a pair of baggy jeans and a sweat jacket, was putting a flat screen plasma TV into the side of the van. "Come on, Frankie. Move your ass, man. The cops'll be here soon," he warned his buddies. But he didn't get a respond from him, until he got fed up, "Frankie! I'm not gonna tell you again! Move it!"

"Sorry, but Frankie can't come to the phone right now," a new voice spoke up from the shadows. "He's a little tied up at the moment."

The unfamiliar voice caused the punk to twist around, and went bug eyed at what he just saw. Frankie, tied up in what appeared to be iron bars and gagged up. The bars looked like they had been taken from anywhere, but strong steel bars… bent like they were clay or cheese. He was wriggling to be free, but to no avail, as Frankie's associate backed up. He looked to the door, as he saw a blonde, wearing a leather black jacket, jeans, and sporting on himself an Uzi.

"Mike," the leader called out. "Get Tremblor out here fast! I think we got some problems here!"

"What kind of problems," he asked, as he exited the building with a stolen set of Sony Walkman pods.

But suddenly, a black and gray blur sped fast at Mike, and yanked him up pretty fast, as he screamed and disappeared. Mike ran out, dropping the bag and pulling out his Uzi. He looked around, trying to find what had just happened. But nothing there at all. Until he spotted something… or someone crawling up the walls. He pulled out his Uzi, and fired hysterically. But the figure jumped from wall to wall, with Mike missing him constantly. Until finally, he the figure disappeared in the shadows, as he fired again, hitting steam mains, caused a fog to cover the ground and the surrounding area, hiding whoever it was, and not leaving a trace to find him.

The lead goon, whom was assumingly a Joe, was obviously a nervous wreck, as he was shaking at the seams. He twisted around, trying to find the guy, unaware that slowly coming up from behind, was a seven foot tall being… with pointy ears, red eyes… and a big tail.

Backing up, Joe finally yelled out, "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Here."

He whipped around, as he came face-to-face with what had taken down his entire crew. There, in front of him nearly ten feet from him, as the thief backed away in fright, was a seven-foot tall werewolf, with a medium build in body muscle, with gray fur, but had black fur from his hands to forearms, shoulders; his whole back and outer thighs from his knees ending in triangular points, around his face, short but shaggy hair, and a long male wolf tail, save for a gray tip at the end. His feet were elongated with wolf toe claws, his face a short sleek muzzle, wolf ears on top of his head in pointed tuffs, and with eerie glowing red eyes.

He was wearing a steel slate gray and black spandex body armor suit of sorts. He had steel slate gray armor plating on his shoulders, chest, abdomen and upper back, knees and elbows, as well as flexible greaves and ankle guards, as well as a little armor on the front of his feet. But in the middle of his chest from down to his pelvic area, the armor was a flexible black weaved armor. On the suit, were black parts on the outside and inside of his thighs, but stopped under his knees, which was shown from the back of his calves. His feet were in heelless and toeless spandex-like footwear. His forearms were in long fingerless gloves that ended at his elbows, where the elbow armor pads were at. But the outer part of the gloves had slate gray forearm and back hand guards. On his back was a metallic slate gray backpack with a black diamond insignia on it.

If the thief didn't know any better, he swore this guy would have been Batman.

But all the werewolf said and did, was poke his hands forward, and made a surprised look on his face, as he spoke in a low and quiet tone, "Boo."

The crook jumped back, letting out a high-pitched squeal, as he shakingly and in a clumsy fashion, pulled out his firearm. His grip was shaking, as was the gun in his hands, as he tried to aim it at the wolfman. "St-Stay back, you freak! I'll plug ya!"

The Wolfman tilted his head, as he gave a confused look on his face, as he asked, "With an empty gun?"

"It's still loaded, Cujo!" he shouted, his confidence returning to him.

"First of all, it's Alpha, not Cujo," the Wolfman stated, and then pointed to the gun, "And secondly, you're right, it's still loaded… but you forgot to take the safety off that thing when I spooked you."

Now the thug just looked confused, "Safety?" But he shook it off, as he shouted, "The safety's off, Freak!"

Alpha put his hands on his hips, as he asked, "You sure about that?"

It was a silent standoff, as Alpha stared down the crook, while the man was sweating up a storm. The tension between the standoff could have been easily cut through with just a dull butter knife. It made it even worse for the thief, as on with his taunts, "Better check and hurry. Because the second you hesitate, I'm coming over there, and…"

The thief quickly looked at the machine gun in his hand, and noticed the safety was off. But before he had time to act, in a slate gray and black blur, Alpha rushed over to him, and delivered a powerful palm strike, sending the thug hard into the side of the van, knocking him out cold, as he groaned and slipped to the ground unconscious.

Alpha walked over to the downed thug, and picked up the Uzi, looking it over. He popped out the clip, showing a full clip and chamber, and then looked over at the safety, which was off. Alpha smirked, as he flipped it on, and threw the gun aside, "Well what do you know? You were right."

Suddenly, a tremendous shockwave sent Alpha flying into the wall, shattering it all around him, as it collapsed on top of him. The fissures that the shockwave came from, led to the wall with the hole in it. And out of it stepped the source of the blast into the night lights. He was a Caucasian bulky man with a large bulky frame, possibly around 5 to 6 feet, in his thirties or forties, short white hair military cut, strong jaw, and sunglasses hiding his eyes. He was dressed in a white undershirt, black pants and combat boots, and a big brown duster jacket with a black weight belt around with a tool case attachment. But his more detailed features were a pair of big metallic clunky gloves with yellow glowing dials on the back of them that looked high tech than just some part of armor.

Alpha managed to dig himself out of the rubble, as he shook himself clean off, and glared at the satisfied man. He cradled his right arm, which didn't seem to move at the moment, as Alpha glared, "I take it you're the ring leader of this group?"

"Name's Temblor," the big guy made the introduction, as he adjusted the dial on one of his gloves. "Y'know, when I started out in this town, they always said, beware the full moon. 'Cause they say that's where the Wolfman callin' himself Alpha comes out to make life hard for guys like me."

Alpha grabbed his right arm, and yanked it. Once he had, a loud pop was heard, as Alpha grunted from the small amount of pain that came with the action. Once he flexed the arm about, he looked to Temblor, and stated, "Well, maybe if guys like you made honest livings, I wouldn't have to make life hard for ya."

"Oh don't worry. Life for guys like me in this town will be easier…" Temblor said, as he brought his hands up, and smirked, "… when you're dead!" And slammed them hard into the ground.

They created a massive fissure shockwave strike, which came right at Alpha. But the werewolf jumped up in the air, and twisted around in the air, and then he let out a powerful howl that sent him propelling towards Temblor. A sonic howl, as it were. Once he was launched at Temblor, he flipped over to deliver a hind foot double kick. But Temblor shielded himself with his metallic gloves, as Alpha hit him hard. Once both landed and were on their feet, Alpha launched forward, delivering a barrage of powerful left and right punches, as Temblor managed to block them, but got Alpha with one right hit.

Alpha managed to right himself in time as he saw the sonic attacker charging at him with fists charging. The werewolf leapt out of the way, as he smashed the ground. Alpha jumped at the wall, and then at the other one, as Temblor threw a massive trash can at the wall, using his gloves to give it a boost. Luckily, Alpha dodged it, as he leapt to the gorund, with the garbage unit smashed into the wall and crashed on the ground.

Once Alpha landed, he shot his right fist forward, and out of the back of the hand guard, shot a grapnel line that was heading right for Temblor. However, it passed him as it went far to the streets. It stuck to the lid of a manhole cover, locking into place.

Temblor looked at the line, and then back at Alpha, as he smirked, charging up his fists for another attack, as he gloated, "You missed."

But Alpha smirked, confusing Temblor, as he yanked hard on the line, as the retract function kicked in. the grapnel line pulled fast, taking with it the manhole cover, as it was racing in high speed. But by the time the stunned Temblor looked behind him…

WHAM!

Temblor was sent flying backwards towards Alpha, face first, as the werewolf delivered an Axe blow with his left arm, smashing his glasses and his face, smashing into the ground. Temblor was knocked out cold, as the werewolf got up on his feet. He cradled his arm, as he looked around, sighing, "Let's just hope this is enough crazy for tonight."

Stagg Enterprises

Stagg Enterprises was a research and development firm founded by billionaire entrepreneur Simon Stagg, and had offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Metropolis. And after a year ago, was stationed in Seattle, Washington. But at the moment, crazy things were happening at Stagg Enterprises.

At the moment, someone was running to the main doors in a panic. The man was Caucasian, possible early fifties or early sixties, slim but well-fit frame, dressed in a green business suit, light green dress shirt, with a yellow tie with an S insignia on it in the form of a dollar sign, black gloves, and black shoes as well. His hair was combed back, but stuck up at two points, like an owl's eyebrows, thick black eyebrows, and eyes so sharp, they might as well be shark eyes. This was Simon Stagg, of Stagg Industries, a company specialized in chemical experimentation.

All the while, he was being chased by two individuals in a modified antique Model-T. Its driver was a little man possibly around 2 or 3 feet in height, scrawny, and dressed in a brown European style London getup, with a bowl hat and a wooden cane. But the most distinguishing thing about him, was that he was an anthropomorphic African Frog Man.

His associate was a tall Caucasian man of six feet in height dressed in a purple suit, and purple great coat. He appeared to be obese but that was possibly due to his height. He had black hair slicked back, but his face was hidden by a pig mask, minus the mouth.

They chased him until they stopped at the door, to which he had locked behind him, as he got inside. He thought he was safe, but it was far from it, as the car the duo were driving in, folded out a cannon from the front, and fired a shot shattering the glass door. The explosion from the vehicle, caused Stagg to slide and crash into the wall, as the occupants walked in to corner the old man.

"Oooh, I do enjoy a good Stagg Hunt, Mr. Toad," the pig-masked man addressed his friend with a British accent, accompanied with pig-like snorts from his tone.

"I couldn't agree more, Professor Pyg," Mr. Toad acknowledged his friend in a husky German accent.

The man managed to get back on his legs shakingly, as he glared arrogantly at the two, "Do you… have any idea… who you're dealing with?!"

"Of course," Professor Pyg stated, holding in his hand an old fashion hunting gun with a horn barrel, "You're Simon Stagg, a well-earning CEO of Stagg Enterprises."

"I am the CEO and Founder of Stagg Industries," Simon Stagg spat out, as he glared at the two. "You pathetic pieces of mentally unstable filth! Do you slimeballs have any idea how powerful I am?! Enough to crush…!"

SCHNIT!

Before Stagg could finish rambling, he was shot in the deck with a tranquilizer dart. In his stunned state, the sedative began to kick in, as he slumped to the ground.

Mr. Toad clapped his hands, "Excellent shot, boss, right in the gizzard."

Professor Pyg put the gun down, and rummaged through a medical bag, until he pulled out a stethoscope. He then listed to Stagg's heartbeat, and didn't look pleased, as he sighed, "Oh dear. That does not sound good." He pulled it back, as he snorted, "Have you recently had your cholesterol checked? It's horribly off-balanced."

"Must watch the red meat," Mr. Toad advised.

Groggily, Simon Stagg looked to the two, as he wearingly asked, "Wh-Why are you doing this… to me?"

Professor Pyg stood up, as he glared down at the downed man, "Quite simple. It's because of what you've done to our kind!"

Stagg blinked, "Your… Kind?"

"Yes. Animal Kind," Mr. Toad stated, as he brought up his cane to be used like a bat or a golf club. "Now, hold still."

THWACK!

And then… everything went black…

The Next Morning

Talbot Hall

Harley's Room

Harley walked towards the main room, holding a towel around her, as well as her hair, as she had just taken a shower. Entering the room, she saw Jean standing on the sofa in front of the TV, watching the news. She walked closer, and leaned on the back of the sofa.

"Hey Blue, what's…"

"Shhhhh", answered the blue-haired girl, as she turned up the volume.

Curious, Harley turned her attention to the TV as well.

"And in other news, Vali Ddraig, founder and CEO of the renowned Red Soul Clinic, is currently in New York City, where he will be establishing another branch of his company. Though he was only 23 at the time, Mr. Ddraig single handedly created one of the most successful clinics in the state, and possibly the entire country. Meanwhile, the Clinic is being managed by Mr. Ddrake's famous assistant, Claire Nightshade, while the … "

"Why are you interested in this?" asked Harley with a bored expression. "This is boring. This guy is just another one of those CEO who see people as walking money dispensers. Came on, let's watch a movie for the day; it's been nearly 10 years since we hung out together, and I want us havin' the best time of our lives before I start workin'."

"Okay, okay. But if you must know," said Jean as she turned to Harley, "This guy is one of Peter's best friends. They go way back. Vali actually helped us when we got in a rather tight spot."

Harley could not believe it, as she pointed to the screen, and back to Jean with an arched eyebrow, "Peter? Best friends? With this guy? Are you sure?"

"You better believe it," Peter answered, who had just entered the room. "I know, I know, it sounds improbable, but Vali is actually a really nice guy once you get to know him." But then he turned away, scratching his chin. "Though…" he said with an awkward expression, "… he can be rather… scary sometimes."

Harley laughed. "That guy, scary? Hahahah! Oh man, that's priceless! Can't wait to meet him." Bu then she noticed that Peter had got all red, and… looking down… she saw that her towel had gotten loose, exposing her cleavage, and nearly about to fall off of her.

She also noticed Peter as well, and blushed a little as well. Apparently after nine years, Peter's upper body was well defined and small muscles tightened. He had gone through a massive change, going from the body of a scrawny asthmatic to the body of an Olympic athlete. Both just seemed to stare at one another blushing, while Jean and the hyenas, who were laying on her lap, looked over either amused or annoyed.

"Um… I should get dressed." She said as she got up and left the room.

Peter turned to Jean, both having uneasy looks on their faces.

"She's gona have a shock meeting him, isn't she?" asked Jean.

"I don't know. I mean she's seen a lot of scary things in her life. The people she used to… hang around weren't always pleasant to the eye. Besides, Batman himself is rather scary sometimes." Answered Peter.

"Yeah," Jean nodded. "But then again… Thane's scarier. Especially when he's angry. Remember when you got on his bad side."

Peter held back a shiver, "Now that's an experience I DON'T want to repeat."

"Yea." Said Jean as she looked out the window. "Me neither."

"Now if you'll excuse me, I've gotta get dressed," Peter stated, as he walked back to his bedroom.

But before he did, Jean stood up, letting the hyenas out, as she asked seriously, "So how are you going to tell her? About that thing…"

Peter stopped in his tracks, as he sighed, combing his hair back with his fingers, "I haven't' really figured that out yet." He turned around, as he saw Jean, crossing her arms on her chest, and giving him what would best be described as the Stink Eye. Peter sighed, as he stated, "I'm trying to find a good time when she's more comfortable with work before telling her something this life changing."

"Peter, she easily took down an entire sports team at the underground roller derby," Jean reasoned. "If she's this strong now, she could be as strong as you. Possibly even Tom."

Peter assured her the best he could to calm herself of the situation, "Don't worry, Jean. Once I know what I'm going to say, I'll tell her the truth. I'll even show her first hand."

Jean looked at her brother, and just sighed, "Well, you better hurry Peter, the next moon is in three days, and you better have the right words that won't make her turn against you."

Peter sighed, rubbing the back of his head, as he looked away, "Yeah. That's the hardest part, finding the right words." But the conversation was put on hold, as he looked at his watch. "I have to get ready now." He turned to go back to his room through the bathroom, but stopped as he saw that Jean was still worried. "I promise, we won't lose her this time." He then closed the door behind him to get ready for work.

Though Jean was still worried as ever, as she fidgeted with her hands, looking rather worried and sad, "I want you to be right Peter; I don't want anything bad to happen to Harley. You're not the only one who cares about her." And then looked back at Harley's room, and saw that Harley had not heard the whole conversation, and was getting dressed. "Because if you wrong, you'll be in the most trouble out of all of us."

Peter's Room

Peter walked back into his room, getting dressed for the day… when all of a sudden from behind… a masked man shot right at him. He had a bat in his hands, swinging at Peter, who dodged it, until he finally grabbed the bat, and yanked it away. He then butted the guy's face with the handle, causing him to get disoriented, and then finally, tripped him down, sending him crashing on his butt.

Peter got back up, as he crossed his arms, and looked down at the guy in question, "Mind telling me what the whole sneak attack is about, Mikey?"

The individual got up, as he pulled his mask off to reveal who he was. He was a Caucasian male of twenty-six, with slicked back brown hair with a left bang combed to the left, but left the bangs dangling, a small muscle build that seemed to hide compact muscle underneath, and dazzling clear blue eyes. He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with the sleeves pushed up under his elbows, a black winter combat vest with a lot of pockets on it, baggy blue jeans, and a pair of white and black sneakers. His name was Michael Corvis, police photographer, and best friend of Peter Talbot since the 4th grade.

"Dude, it took you five moves just to take me down," Mikey stated, as he crossed his arms. "Usually, it takes three."

"Is that why you attacked me? To see if I'm getting rusty," Peter asked, crossing his arms.

"Something like that," Mikey smirked, as he and Peter left the room. "I also wanted to see if Harley bein' here's slowing you down. Y'know the distraction talk."

"She's not a distraction, Mikey," Peter reassured his friend, as he was getting dressed.

"She is one, especially if you haven't told her yet," Mikey pointed out.

Peter sighed at that, as he was just finishing dressing, "Jean brought it up as well. I plan to tell her once I have the right words and it's the right moment."

Mikey sighed, as he crossed his arms, as Peter finished getting dressed. "Well I hope you can multi task, because we have a new situation."

Peter finally finished getting dressed, as he was now dressed in blue medical scrubs, white sneakers, and was putting on a khaki hooded jacket. "What is it? Don't tell me Temblor broke out already?"

"No he's still locked up, but Rojas isn't taking the fact you beat him to another crook again well," Mikey commented, as the two walked out of his room.

"Chief Angel Rojas hasn't been a big fan of our work since I made the decision of keeping this city safe," Peter stated. "Not to mention he's blaming us for making the cops look bad."

"Well, this situation got a little weird on the subject," Mikey said, as he explained. "You know who Simon Stagg is?"

"Yeah, he's the founder and owner of Stagg Enterprises," Peter answered. "Big name in Bio-technology, as well as just mechanical technology."

"Seems he was kidnapped from his office last night," Mikey explained. "The security camera showed a man with a pig mask and a frog man behind it."

Peter raised an eyebrow at that, as he asked to confirm it, "A pig and a frog?" Mikey nodded, as Peter sighed, "Well that's a new one. Next thing you know, we'll have turtles to fight. Is there any more info about the case?"

"The assailants said something about Stagg hurting animal kind right before the camera was destroyed with a saw blade. A bone saw blade," Mikey advised. "I'm waiting on some info from my informants in Stagg Industries as to anything animal related."

Peter sighed, as he rubbed his forehead, as they made their way down the stairs. "I bet Batman never had to deal with guys like these. So then all we can do is wait."

"No, all Tom and I can do is wait," Mikey advised as they ended at the ground floor, and then jabbed a gentle poke in Peter's chest, giving him a stern look. "You can use this time to figure out how you're going to tell Harley."

Peter waved it off as they headed to the kitchen, "Don't worry, I'll tell her at the right time."

Mikey sighed, as he rubbed his forehead, groaning as he followed, "I'm just hoping that the right time isn't during or after the full moon."

Kitchen

The two boys walked into the busy galley-sized kitchen; everyone was getting ready for the day. Even the hyenas were eating out of specially made bowls for them, with steaks in there, as they were chowing down. Harley and Jean were coming in as well; Harley's outfit for the casual movie outing was a white skin tight T-shirt with a good neck line that showed off her collar bone, black jeans with the knees torn a little, a red jacket with a black collar and black sleeves, with black boots. As they were going through, Harley bumped into the guys a little, as Peter caught her before she slipped.

Peter smirked, "You okay?"

Harley smiled back, "Yeah, doin' fine." She stood up, but then stared in concentration at Peter's chest, where her hands gently scanned in with her fingers tracing it. 'Whoa. Major muscle underneath… didn't realize he was workin' out this much when I was gone.'

"Um, Harley…" Peter remarked, getting her attention.

She looked up to him, with his face blushing down at her. She blushed as well once she realized what she was doing, and doing it to Peter no less. She pulled back a little, both of them now blushing, as she cleared her throat, "Um… sorry about that."

"No problem," Peter remarked. But then took his eyes off her, as he scowled, "Hey, GB! No eating out of the trash can. I don't want another mess again."

GB, or Goat Boy, whose head was currently in the garbage can, along with the Conundrum, simply tore out, with cans in his mouth, with the Conundrum eating a rotten banana peel. "I'm not eating the garbage," he denied, gulping down the cans.

Peter shook his head, but both Peter and Harley blushed, as Mikey cooed out, "Oooh, looks like you two are havin' a lovers' quarrel. Though if bein' landlord wasn't getting in the way between you two, you'd two be havin' breakfast in bed. Like a lovey dovey couple."

Harley frowned at whoever made that comment, and then turend to belt the guy, "Aw, shaddup, you…!" But before she did anything, she suddenly blinked as her mood went from annoyed to surprise at the sight before her. "Mikey? Mikey Crovis?"

Harley beamed at that, as she giggled out, "MIKEY WIKEY!" and then bear hugged Mikey who felt at that moment what Jean went through a day ago.

"Harley, I'm happy to see you too," he managed to wheeze out. "But I can't breathe!"

Harley realized that, and then let him go, as she awkwardly chuckled, "Oh sorry." But then smiled again to see an old friend other than Peter, "But it's so great to see you! Peter told you're still working with cameras." She then had a mischievous grin on her face, as she teased, "Find any good shots lately?"

Knowing what she was talking about, Mikey shrugged, "A few here and there."

But then Harley gave him a stern look, as she jabbed him in the chest with her index finger, "There better not be any secret cameras here, because if I find any of Jean or me…"

Mikey sighed, as he knew that his teenage hobby of photographing girls in dressing, showering, or in the nude or bathing suits would follow up to him with the one girl he tried to catch on film. He raised his hands in defense, as he calmly stated, "Peter and Jean have already given me this talk, and there are no secret cameras for that purpose in this building." But then thought about it for a moment, "Unless you count the hallway security cameras I helped to install, that's about it."

Harley looked Mikey dead in the eyes for a minute with Mikey having a nervous look on his face. She finally stated, "All right then." Her smile then returned, as she saw Mikey and gently nudged him, "I also see you finally changed your hairstyle. Finally got a little confidence to date a girl to do it then, eh?"

Mikey shrugged, as he slicked his hair back with one hand, acting cool, "Well, you can't get job interviews with hair in your face." Once he and Harley grabbed a coffee, he smirked, "Sorry if I didn't come sooner, I was busy with a few assignments. Got me a job with the police force with photo evidence and security camera details."

Harley rolled her eyes back, as she smirked, "Nice to know you landed a job in the force. Your sergeant of an Uncle doing okay?"

"Yeah, but it's Lieutenant Edward Corvis now," Mikey smirked. "He keeps doing whatever it is he's doing, he'll land commissioner soon. I hope." He then shook her hand, as he smirked, "By the way, congrats on landing your jobs."

Harley smiled at that, "Thanks. Though, I don't start until later on though. Jean and I are about to watch a film, care to join us like old times?"

"Sounds great, but I have another assignment to go to," Mikey disappointedly rebuked. He pointed to Peter, "I just came by to pick up Peter to get him to work." But then he thought about it, and smirked, "Though, maybe we could have dinner with Jean, Peter, and Coach later on. We'll even introduce you to Tom. He's not here at the moment, but he'll be back from his job overseas."

"That sounds like a great idea and I know just the place," Harley smirked.

"Cool then, I'll get the details later," Mikey smirked. But then got mischievous, as he pointed out, "I also know a few good love hotels for you and Petey boy to hang around."

Harley half-frowned half-smiled, as she gently shoved him, "Oh, come on. Petey's nothin' like that. We're best buds. I doubt he'd…"

"Hey, Guys," Big T suddenly appeared, as he ran in the kitchen, as he huffed out, "I think you guys should see this."

After Tony had spoken up, he turned on the kitchen TV located on the counter to the cooking area. Once it was on, the news broadcasted a report, saying that Simon Stagg had been kidnapped by two strange individuals. During the report, Peter asked Mikey, "When did this happen?"

"Yeah, that's what I was trying to tell you before breakfast," Mikey whispered to him. "It happened last night. Maybe if you didn't sleep through most of the day; but then again, wolves are often nocturnal creatures."

"A video tape of the kidnappers was left after five hours ago of Mr. Stagg's kidnapping," the news reporter said. "Though we may advise young viewers not to see. It could be rather frightening."

After that, the screen was switched to the tape, as Professor Pyg graciously introduced himself.

"Hello there," Professor Pyg smiled on the camera. "Say, "Hello," Mister Toad."

The camera then moved in a close-up with Mr. Toad, who smiled his frogman smile, "Hello there."

The camera then panned back to the professor, as he smiled, "We want you all to know what an honor it is to be in your fair city. And we'd like to share with you something special." He then turned and walked back, as the camera followed him. once they were over, they saw Simon Stagg, entrapped in a trophy plaque-like neck vice, with a wad of dollar bills gagging his mouth.

"Beautiful, isn't he," Professor Pyg smiled at the screen, as he spoke up again. "Poor Simon Stagg. Sure likes to brag. And covet his billions all day. But he's not the last with stolen keys to the past - who learn in the jungle – "

"Everyone pays," Mr. Toad finished, as he moved into frame, and then back to Professor Pyg.

"Welcome to the hunt, Everett and Seattle," Professor Pyg concluded, as the screen went black.

Once the report was over, Peter and Mikey both looked at the screen sternly, knowing the face of the enemy.

Next Chapter: A Different Dark Knight; Alpha, the Wolf-Man pt.2