Author's Note: Yay! We have our first real bad guy of this story! The Frightful Four don't really count. I own nothing!
11. A Chance Encounter
Spidergirl wasn't worried, Spidergirl didn't get worried. Piper on the other hand was close to panicking. None of the boys were answering their coms, Ava had ditched hers in Little Italy, it was now safely tucked in Piper's belt. But Spidergirl didn't show worry. So instead she swung up to the side of a building and stuck there. She tapped her watch and a holographic screen popped up. She frowned as it displayed a mini 3D map of New York. Three red dots were sitting in Central Park, in the lake near the Loeb Boathouse. Piper frowned. The sun was starting to set as she made her way back across New York. She landed on one of the building that lined the street that surrounded Central Park. She glanced back at her watch. The dots hadn't moved. She sighed.
"Why do I get the feeling you guys aren't there for the paddle boats." She swung across the street, a red and blue blur disappearing into the trees.
Glen didn't like leaving late, he missed his bus again and this time Piper wasn't around to save his ass. He was going to end up grounded. So, he decided to take a shortcut through Central Park. He entered at the statue of William Tecumseh Sherman and began his trek down East Drive. He pulled out his phone to text his father and let him know he was going to be late. He glanced up as he heard something shift in a tree above him and shouted as he spotted a pair of yellow eyes right before a white blur lunged at him. It was intercepted by a red and blue one. In the dimming light of the setting sun Glen spotted Spidergirl squaring up against a disheveled looking White Tiger. The arachnid themed hero shouted over her shoulder as she blocked a swipe from the cat.
"Run Glen!" He took off down the path. It wasn't until he was safely out of the Park and dialing his dad that he caught what she'd said. How did Spidergirl know his name, unless… Unless he was right. He hung up before his dad could answer and glanced back over his shoulder.
"Ava you have to listen to me! I know what you're going through!" Ava took another swipe. Piper flipped backwards. "Listen to me for a minute damn it!" Piper shot two lines of webbing sticking Ava's hands together. She landed in front of her friend.
"Can I talk now? Cause I'm going to. I know how hard it can be to control yourself. You know I know, you've seen how hard I work at it at school and anywhere that isn't home. I'm always on the walls and ceiling at home but maybe we need to find you a better outlet than trying to slit up your friends." Ava managed to extricate her hands from the webbing but didn't swing at Piper again so she called it a win.
"You have no idea what I go through trying to keep the tiger in check. How hard I've had to work at it." Piper nodded her hands raised in surrender.
"Maybe I don't. But Ava you're my friend. You never let me face things like this alone, not even after I ditched the team to try and take the Goblin on myself. Let me help you like you helped me." Ava brushed the remainder of the webbing off on a nearby tree.
"You can't get involved in this, none of you." Piper frowned.
"So, you don't know where the boys are?" Ava stiffened.
"What do you mean?" Piper pulled up the map.
"I sent them after you while I took care of something in the lab, I was snooping into Fury's files on the team to see if I could figure out what was wrong. They're here in Central Park but they aren't answering coms, or moving from one spot. So, we're in this whether you like it or not. So maybe let me in on what 'this' is." Ava growled and took off towards the Boathouse, Piper hot on her heels.
They arrived in minutes and Piper spotted the boys first. They were all tied up, slumped on top of each other like they'd been carelessly thrown into the boat. They were snoring. Ava hissed as she stepped forwards onto the dock.
"I hate water." Piper frowned. She opened her mouth to say something when her spidey sense went nuts. She lunged forwards shoving herself and White Tiger to the edge of the dock as Tiger's foot caught the edge of a camouflaged trap. Red beams of light shot out of the trap and rabidly disappeared a hissing sound following them, one Piper associated with high intensity lasers. Someone had set that trap to kill, not capture. Both girls whirled as laughter filled the empty docks.
"At least one member of your pack has the survival instinct, unlike yourself." The man was tall, tanned, his hair slicked back. He was built and clearly proud of it, his arms bare. Fingerless leather gloves rested on his hands. His clothes were soft leather and what looked like animal skins. What had to be a lions mane rested around the collar of his vest. The whole outfit gave off a high tech poacher vibe to Piper and she didn't like it. He grinned at Ava, his canines had been sharpened to a point. "Drawn to the call of the Wild like a moth to a flame." He appraised Spidergirl and Ava growled, stepping between them. He kept talking. "Though she reacted quite interestingly to the Song of the Savanah Drum."
"Kraven!" Piper glanced between the two. Ava was practically vibrating with her growls. Kraven gestured to the boat full of teen heroes.
"Though you might make interesting prey someday Spider, I am not here to hunt you. Take your companions and go." Spidey shook her head.
"Not likely." Kraven laughed and Ava snarled.
"You hunted my father like an animal! I'll kill you for what you did too him!" She lunged at Kraven as Piper dodged one of the knives thrown by the hunter. She landed in the boat. No more sharp implements were flying her way for now so she took a second to check on the boys. She scanned them with her watch as she pulled them off of each other, sitting them up around the small boat. They were alive, just sedated. She glanced back up at the fight raging on between the Tiger and the hunter. She nodded to herself and flipped out of the boat.