Chapter 27: Learning Trust and Compliance.

Lorna Dane had gotten used to the quick-paced surprises. It was the younger girl, Tabatha Smith, who gave a high-pitched whimper when Giant-man opened the side door abruptly. Well, maybe he was Normal-man to Lorna. He seemed normal sized …. if you hang around 6- footers.

Over one of the Avenger's shoulder, Lorna saw the big round guy running towards the Wanda-broad. Hopefully, he was going to jump on her and squash the living sh – t out of the bitch. But the seventeen-year-old's main interest was on the fellow in front of her. The size-changing hero placed one knee onto the van floor and reached for a satchel. In all the excitement, the two girls had not noticed the bag before. Lorna stepped forward.

"Everything's all right, right?"

"Right?" Tabatha repeated behind her. Damn—Tabby had a strong grip. She was cutting off circulation to Lorna's right arm again. As the older girl attempted to escape the strong fingers, Gi—eh, Normal-man answered.

"Fine. An uninvited guest just came to our party, so I've called over some 30 new pals of my own. I need a few things from here. Then I'll close the door again."

Lorna was beaten out on her next question.

"What's in the bag?" Tabatha asked.

"This bag has disguises. If things go too wrong, we could put them on and just walk away," Henry replied. Then, for the sake of the girls, he quickly added, "But it hasn't come down to that, believe me. I only need the communication headsets that are inside of it."

Tabatha as pointed to two headsets. "Is that what those golden swirly-bent thingies called?"

"Yes," he replied as he reached into the bag for the third communicator. "It will keep everyone on our side in contact with each other. We need to know how each member is progressing as we wind down this mess."

"Oh, I want one, too." Tabatha gushed out. "Please. Please."

Lorna looked at her thinking how childish the younger girl sounded. Then Lorna turned to the man and asked, "Yeah, can we? Please. Please."

Hey, childish or not, Lorna saw that it made the authority figure concede everywhere she had seen this played out— the Salvation Army, the city parks, the stores, the …

Of the three people who Hank had planned to offer the headsets, he had anticipated one to refuse. In addition, valuable time was ticking away and the two girls didn't look like they would let up, so he surrendered to that familiar appeasement plan. It was the same plan that he had scolded himself for because he had given in to Yolanda many times. And look at the situation she was in now.

"All right. I had thought that I could give one to the Scarlet Witch, hoping she could tell us if her brother revives. But now I doubt that. She would fear that we'd rough him up again."

Lorna was happy when she heard the word revives. It meant Whitey was down. But if Lorna's rescuer was concerned that he'd get back into the action, she had only one passionate advice for the Avenger.

"Well kick his a – s once and for all. I'm talking about a quick ticket to a hospital's Critical Ward. Then that's one less worry."

"No time to explain why not," the Avenger replied as he repressed a chuckle. "Just that, we'll probably need his sister on our side."

"I have only one spare headset—you two will have to share. And as unrealistic as this deal sounds to me, I will give it to you only if you agree to stay in the van until I say different."

He turned it on and handed the headgear to the older girl. Attempting to listen through the section of the "thingy" that was supposed to be a hearing device, the two girls speedily brought their heads together and conked their foreheads. The communicator dropped between them.

Tabby nursed her head with two hands. Lorna used one. She had intended to use her free hand to push Tabby away, expressing her anger. But the blue-eyed hero caught her hand the nano-second that it left her side. WOW, she thought. Was this guy a mind reader?

The man said, "Let's try it again… slower."

The hero then quickly moved two steps back. He covered his mouth so that his voice could only be heard through the communicator.

"You hear me?" he asked when the girls carefully joined their heads. Yes, responded the two girls. A third voice— Yolanda— replied as well.

"Good," he said before disappearing behind the sliding van door. The girls scurried to their seats in the front of the van. Darn, if that Tabatha didn't win the driver's seat again.

The girls had a death-grip on the communicator. They were as still as statues for fear that their ears would miss something. As was her custom during tense moments, Lorna made a fist and brought it to her lips. But her deep concentration was interrupted by a sound outside of the vehicle.

Her eyes lifted from her fist. At a distance away from the front of the van, something bounced on the grumbled sidewalk and then it returned to the ground as if dead. It was something that looked like metallic octopus tentacles attached to the body of an arrow. What the f - - k was it and where did it come from?

Before Lorna had a chance to alert her partner, Tabby suddenly shot a pointed finger under Lorna's nose. Lorna followed the younger girl's aim. There on the ground, motionless, … on his side was Whitey.

Yep, Giant-man laid him out, alright. The girl whose brown hair was already squeezing the green out of her locks gave out a cheer. She was hushed by Tabby as Giant-man's voice came over the communicator.

The hero was speaking to someone about the communicators. Then came a few seconds of silence. After that, they heard a yell from outside of the van.

"Hey! Hey, where the hell are you?!"

Tabby spooked the older girl when Tabby leaped out of her seat. She ended up leaning in front of the Lorna trying to see where the shout came from. The frown of her face told Lorna that she wasn't seeing much. Lorna rolled down the window and peeked out.

Now Tabatha feared that looking out of the window was somehow violating the deal that they had with the Avenger to stay in the van. But when Lorna laughed, Tabby forgot all about her concern. Both girls were stretching their necks to look behind them.

They saw the kiddie-pool-circumference guy with hands almost as big as Lorna's thigh. One hand held a communicator. His other hand had swallowed up both of Wanda's hands. His head was turning here and there as the broad was kicking at his voluminous stomach.

Tabby couldn't help but join in on Lorna's laugh.

The Unicorn had reached the roof of the two-story building from which the attack arrows were launched. Her jet-propelled boots had enabled her to beat the web-swinging Spiderman to the spot. The heroine's intention was to use a backhanded slap and lay the predominantly black-garbed, sneak-attacker out flat. In Yolanda's mind, imagining him sailing through the air seemed just as satisfying as seeing him hit the ground with a thud.

Her feet touched the roof, but she didn't advance towards her assailant. Swarms of wasps were still surrounding the mysterious archer. Not wanting to cause collateral harm to Henry's new little allies, she waited for the yellow jackets to part before charging into that walking pile of turd. But admittedly, after a few seconds she became impatient.

If there was one consolation, Yolanda knew that her beloved mentor was in good condition. If he was endangered by the mutants, these meddlesome little warriors would've been at his side.

A second, smaller cloud of flying insects appeared to the cowardly sucker-puncher's right. They appeared to be carrying one of Henry's head pieces, and they hovered in place.

The first group of wasps that had afflicted the masked bowman lifted up and away from the villain. The idiot had not noticed, though. The archer had his eyes closed as he continued to swat his arms wildly in the air. Yolanda thought that she finally had her opening for that slap, but Henry suddenly appeared. He was walking away from the stationary insects towards the crud.

The Avenger said to the archer, "Hmm, you shoot at one fellow who in his slowest day is faster than your arrows and at a young lady with the strength to sink a battle ship. Very stupid thing to do, fella."

Her spirits lightened upon hearing Henry boasting of her ability. But she also grew apprehensive when the bowman responded.

"The name's Hawkeye, not fella," the villain retorted. "And I'll show you how stupid I can be."

Hawkeye's right hand reached for his quiver on his back. The villain's eyes opened wide when he couldn't feel the arrow ends.

His second big surprise came when he tried to pull his hand away. He couldn't. He stood there with his bicep nearly kissing his right ear.

"Well, well," a voice came from behind Hawkeye. Both Yolanda and the villain turned to see Spider-man sitting on the north parapet. "Seems that now you'll have a better chance at picking your nose than picking your arrows, Mr. Hog Eye, or Hog Wash, or whatever stupid name you have."

Yolanda felt cheated. She still wanted to introduce the arrow-shooter to her hand. As tempting as it was, attacking the now one-armed bowman seemed unfair.

The helicopter noise behind her became louder, but it didn't increase beyond a point. Good— a healthy distance was to the news crew's advantage.

"I don't like being used for target practice," Spider-man continued. "Honestly, right now I have to fight the urge to stick one of those arrows up your—"

"He's no longer a threat," Giant-man interrupted. Yolanda saw the villain blow out a breath of disgust.

"I'm not?" the bowman asked. "I don't need my arrows to put away a big f- - king zero like you."

The second colony of flying insects that were behind Henry then traveled above and in front of the Avenger. They carried the communicator with them. The archer plastered himself against the wall of the neighboring building as they passed him.

Yolanda snipped, "You can't handle a few insects, why do you think you could fight someone who's a hundred times the man you wish you were?"

Before retreating, the bugs placed the thin devise six feet away from the astonished Spider-man's toes.

"Take it, Spider-man," the size-changer said. "After the fight, I'll ask for it back."

"Damn," the youth replied. "You give air mail a whole new meaning."

Giant-man gestured to the Unicorn. "You can free this Hawkeye- character. Our web-spinning friend has taken care of his weapons."

Yolanda spoke into her armor to reactivate the laser beam. It was her pleasure to free the archer's right hand. Smacking the scum would then look fair.

The Unicorn ordered the enemy. "Stand away from the wall and turn so that you're facing Spiderman….. Don't look at me with that stupid expression. JUST DO IT, YOU IDIOT!"

Yolanda was in no mood for Hawkeye's uncooperative stare. When he was finally in position, an enhanced-vision lens dropped over her right eye. The lens targeted the small portion of wedding between his fingers and the now useless arrows. The beam sliced the adhesive strings with no harm to Hawkeye.

A miniscule red light with the letters "ak" went on over her left eye. Ak were the first letters in the Russian word for battery.

The Unicorn's alternator was as thin as an American penny and twice the length of a half-dollar, yet it had the strength to power an entire New York apartment building indefinitely. But now, mysteriously, the device that ran her armor's functions had stopped. The battery was now powering the armor, while simultaneously trying to stir the alternator back into action.

How was this possible? Yolanda was sure that she had secured the power source's functionality.

The red light shut off seven seconds later. The alternator had kicked up again. That was good. In fifteen minutes, she would have been facing a run-down battery. Not only would she lose the ability to use her weapons, but the simple task of walking in her metal outfit would have become strenuous.

Yolanda would look into this malfunction when she returned home. Right now, she had other things to concern her.

"I think I already have something similar to this" she heard Spider-man say concerning the communicator.

Hank replied, "Good— then you know how to use it."

Yolanda saw that her mentor wasn't surprised by Spider-man's response. All the more, Henry had that half smile that he always wore when he knew what Yolanda had to say before she even said it. This was another thing that she was sure to look into after the fighting.

With her mind back into the present, Yolanda made sure that her head faced the masked archer. This was to intimidate him into forsaking a second cowardly attack. But behind the helmet, her eyes shifted to Spider-man. The young crusader appeared to be looking over the communicator with skepticism.

How could he look down at this futuristic technology? Maybe he was jealous that he didn't invent it?

Was this the hero she had dreamed of meeting? He first looked awesome, then he acted like a jerk. He redeemed himself by coming here. Again, Yolanda greatly esteemed him. But now, she feared that she was going to be let down a second time.

The heroine's nerves were already tighter than a violin sting. Now this guy's hesitancy to cooperate was stomping on those same nerves.

Finally, Spider-man stretched his hand to return it. "I really don't—"

"We need to work as a team." Giant-man interrupted. "This will allow us to coordinate with each other."

"Just take it." The Unicorn said trying to hide her frustration… but failing.

Spider-man didn't like being snapped upon by anyone. He turned to her and brought a finger up before his face as if to issue a warning.

Well, if Yolanda couldn't recover, why not let it all out.

"If you're going to say something stupid—"

"Whoa, wait" Giant-man interrupted.

But Yolanda continued ,"…save it for someone who is as intelligent as you are. Let me see if I can find a brick.

"That's enough," Giant-man said.

"No, forget it," she continued. "You'll sound too stupid for it , too."

"Did you hear me, young lady?"

Peter was about to tell her what she could do if she changed her mind and found that brick, but he stopped. He looked away toward the police van about a block away. Yolanda knew that it had to be his defensive senses kicking up.

Just yards away from the van, the almost forgotten giant robot sprinted out into view. Like the Grey Gargoyle when he stood around the same area, minutes before, the giant looked lost.

"All right," Spider-man replied. "I'll take the stupid thing. But not because bossy Miss Draws-Too-Tight says so. I have to head north again and you'll soon have your own troubles.

"If I need help, I'll give you a call. If you need me, you do the same. Though, I doubt that I could come in a hurry. You are two people playing with a toy robot. I'm a less-courageous one trying to save the city from two destructive terrorists."

The verbal swipe was not lost on Yolanda. The red-and-blue hero swung away before she could react. It was just as well. Why argue with a supposed ally— a knucklehead as the American saying went— when there was so much at stake?

"Let him go," Henry said over the communicator. "This wasn't what I had planned for him. But since he's been a loner all this time, maybe giving him space is the best thing."

"Yeah, you two can do this better without him," a voice interrupted.

"Excuse me, girls. I gave you the communicator to listen in, not to comment."

"Y'know," Lorna replied. "I bet that's why you have a couple of sandwiches here— you get grouchy when you're hungry."

"Congratulations on your new discovery. You're welcome to them if you keep quiet."

"What, you think I can't get better food?"

Not willing to continue the distraction, Giant-man then pointed the Unicorn towards the Blob and the Scarlet Witch. Wanda Maximoff had stopped struggling to free herself when she saw the 24- foot robot standing between her brother and herself.

Henry said, "Our new recruit has his headset, so please join him. Let's see what the mechanical man has up his sleeve. If he's trouble, we need to enlist Mr. Duke's aid. And this could be the break he needs."

The ocean of adrenaline within Yolanda had not swallowed the small island of instinctive sympathy. If it wasn't for the last comment about the Blob also receiving a benefit from teamwork, Yolanda would have protested that she didn't need a third ally. Besides, her former rotund punching bag now looked more cooperative than a certain childish, head-in-his-butt arachnid.

The Blob was using his free hand to put on the headset. In mid-flight, Yolanda felt compelled to warn the powerful mutant that he could easy destroy the headset if he wasn't careful.

"You're telling me," was the response from the mammoth figure.

Yolanda heard a girlish whisper in her ear piece, "You think he sat on her yet?"

Knowing that she would be wise to ignore the strange question, Yolanda flew over the unconscious body of the first pile of crap who she wanted to punch into orbit— Quicksilver. What a shame— she was denied delivering justice to two different jerks.

She stopped a safe distance away from the robot. Hovering so that she was at eye-level with the man inside the dome, the Unicorn asked in English, "What is your business here?"

"Bai-chi. Get out of here," Xu was sure that the lowly American didn't understand that he called her an idiot. But that was before the Unicorn, in perfect Mandarin, said that if there was ever a brain-dead person in the world, it would have to be someone who sits inside of a gold fish bowl….. Oh, and if he didn't understand her words, she asked him to stay there while she looked for a book explaining how to talk to a person who had dog crap where his brains should be.

The scientists' expression moved from dismissive to full rage. The machine swatted a right hand towards her, but the Unicorn was light-years faster than the clumsy swing.

Henry tried not to smile. His knowledge of Chinese was as good as his understanding of French…. nearly zilch. But it was becoming evident that despite all her lady-like charm in plainclothes, an armored Yolanda wasn't going to take crap from the Gargoyle, this man in the robot, or anyone else. He really, really liked that. Now, if she would control herself in front of potential allies like Spider-man….

Seeing how easily she dodged her attacker, Giant-man was confident that he could turn his attention to someone else.

"Mr. Dukes," he said over the head phone. "Your circus is about to be sold. Don't you think that you can be a good owner?"

If the Unicorn was surprised at the direction of the conversation, the Blob was more so.

"Ah,… yeah," Frederick replied.

Giant-man continued, "I may be able to get you the money to buy the circus. But the cash flow will be predicated on publicity. Good publicity, such as saving the city from terror."

"I could give him money, if he'd squash—"

"Young lady, be quiet!" Giant-man charged Lorna.

During this talk, Hank must have appeared crazy to the disarmed Hawkeye. Under the early afternoon sun, the Avenger walked backwards away from the roof edge. He stopped twice during his travel. At a few feet away from the parapet, he then returned to his original observation spot but not before stopping a third time. He performed this weird behavior a second time.

Giant man continued, "It's your time to shine, Mr. Dukes. Follow my instructions, don't get distracted by the helicopter, and you may have a good portion of your dreams come true."

Hank could imagine how the whole situation was frustrating to Fred. He was "bounced" here by an enemy. In protecting the Scarlet Witch the powerful, but embarrassed round man had to put the brakes on his desire to deliver vengeance on his foe. Now, could he turn away from his new perceived priority to grasp a bright future?

Well, yes, Hank dared to answer for him. The mighty circus performer had to see that Giant-man had everything in control.

Frederick admitted that he couldn't understand all of what Giant-man said.

"But from what I see," the rotund man said, "you seem honorable enough. So… Big man, deal me in."

Fighting off another dizzy spell, the size-changer began to move his two hands – the Unicorn and the Blob— on the battle field.

The Unicorn circled and swooped around the robot man. His reaction to her led him further away from the fallen Quicksilver and the van where the two girls were hidden. With Xu's back turned to her, Wanda made a dash towards her brother.

Seeing this from the rooftop, Hank was moved to pity as the woman knelt by at the head of the presumed last member of her family. She wrapped her arms around her brother's shoulder and attempted to drag the young man away from danger. The two air force regiments that were behind Giant-man raced to the brother and sister. When they arrived, Hank had thought that they kept a disarming distance from Wanda, so as not to frighten her. But their fierce colors, their buzzing, their mass numbers alarmed the beautiful woman.

The insects quickly assembled around her brother. Before she could cast a spell in defense of Pietro, they lifted him up. Wanda instantly knew that the innumerable yellow jackets were there to make her rescue much easier. Her heart swelled with gratitude to Giant-man… wherever he was.

Meanwhile, the Blob followed Hank's instructions and pushed on the back of the robot's metallic knee. As expected, the machine fell into his waiting hands. Frederick spun Xu's machine over his head like a helicopter blade and then tossed the robot half a football field further away from the van that sheltered the two teenage girls.

Giant-man saw hands come out of the van's passenger window. Applause and a whistle reached his ear. Well, at least the girls kept their promise about staying put.

A couple of blocks away, the 6 mobsters who had hid behind cars were worried. The Sandman had just sandwiched the Thinker's boy between two vehicles and it looked like the kiss-off. But none of the hired guns were as nervous as their leader, Epstein. The boss had specifically chosen Ep to lead these gunmen on the mission. They were to get the strongman out of northern Manhattan and down to the courthouse district.

They would have to wait until the Sandman walked away before they tried to push the car off of the palooka.

Oh f - - k, thought Ep. In what shape will the Thinker's guy be when they free him?

Just then another complication surfaced. To everyone's surprise a fellow with a few burn marks on his white shirt and tan khaki pants miraculously glided down from the sky to land behind the Sandman. This guy was mysteriously giving off crackling noises from his equally mysterious glowing hands. Those sounds had caused Marko to turn around and face him. The guy talked, and the Sandman listened.

Well, with the Sandman preoccupied, this was the chance that the gunmen needed. The men slinked closer to the wreckage that entrapped the Thinker's boy. While twelve hands reached for the top vehicle, Epstein wasn't the least bit in a hurry to see what would find between the two cars.

"Y't'ink dat new guy is dat Electro-guy who escaped the pen?" one hood asked Ep.

"Hey F - - ko, yer here to lift, not talk."

While he was swinging towards the action Spiderman was wondering … "What the hell's wrong with Giant-man that both of his hook-ups are bossy, loud, obnoxious butt-holes? Is he extremely lonely or extremely stupid?"

The questions didn't live beyond another second or two. The young hero had arrived at his destination with equal parts surprise and disgust.

"That two-bit, deceiving piece of…" Spider-man didn't finish his thought. But he was referring to his discovery— Mighty Mutt was nowhere to be seen, but Electro had replaced him. The liar had not run away as he said he would do. He was right there talking with Flint Marko.

The Sandman wasn't the least happy with whatever Dillon was saying. Marko looked like Flash Thompson when he discovered that Jay and the American's single, Come A Little Bit Closer still wasn't number one on America's Top 40. Peter sure hope that the sour puss was because Electro had proposed that they team up. Peter would second that disapproval.

His last web-swing hadn't reached its end-point zenith when Spider-man let go and dove down to the street. Having done it many times, he knew that he could land as silently as a cat who was getting within pouncing distance to a mouse.

His feet touched the ground and in one fluid motion, Spider-man instantly rolled his body into a ball. Using the momentum of his forward movement, the youth continued towards his two preys.

When he was close enough, Spider-man's right hand slapped hard against the street. The amazing power within his arm elevated the human ball to the chest level of Electro and the Sandman. The two were still debating when they both turned to the advancing ball.

Spider-man's legs kicked out in opposite directions to strike the Sandman's right shoulder and Electro's left arm. The powerful blows shot the two villains in contrary directions.

"Maybe sending flowers was a better idea," Spider-man quipped as his feet found the ground again. "But this is just a little present, in case you've forgotten me."

Electro used electro-magnetism on a sturdy fire hydrant to slow him down. Spiderman's kick had already injured Dillon's arm and he couldn't afford further injuries that would result from his body skidding over the blacktop.

Flint Marko wasn't badly hurt because he instinctively granulated his body at the sight of something magically appearing to his right. The sand participles softened the effect of the kick.

The young hero was ready for action. But then, in front of everyone, a car that was smashed on top of another car began to move. Six men, who Peter had not noticed before, ran away from the damaged vehicles as if their lives depended on it. His senses tingled …. and up from between the vehicles came the original guy he had played tag with— Mighty Mutt.

Okay," Peter thought trying to reassure himself. "It won't be that bad. I can get him and Marko to renew their fight. I'll knock off Electro, then help Marko finish off Mr. Smiley. And then it'll be just Kitty-litter-boy and me.

Epstein again hid behind a vehicle. He witnessed the silent powerhouse free himself from the metal sandwich by lifting the top car up and over his head. And just look at the big magilla— he looked great.

As relieved as he was, the hit-leader knew that there wasn't too much time. The trial was on in mere minutes. He had to provide cover for the Thinker's boy. Just how late he'd be and how he'd get there would be entirely on that palooka. Epstein just wanted to make sure that the boss couldn't find fault with him and the boys.

The strong man hurled the car. Though Epstein knew that it was aimed at Spiderman, Ep wasn't all that interested in the flight of the wreck. His grateful eyes were on the Thinker's guy as he sprinted towards Second Avenue.

The mighty man must've also realized the time, Epstein figured. Great, because none of his gang was stupid enough to get close enough to the strong man to show him a watch. Ep instructed his crew now to lay low and if the any of other three costumed clowns got close to the strong man, OPEN FIRE!

The machine that Zhing Xu had commandeered hit the street and rolled over twice before resting on its back. It took a few seconds for the young scientist to get his barring.

He again reached for the instrument panel in front of him. He had envisioned a victorious return to the REAL China with the humbled Capitalist Giant in chains. And he wasn't going to be thwarted by the arrival of two new American slimes.

The fat American pig had tossed him aside as if he was mere rubbish. That was, intolerable. But the audacity of the flying gnat-like metal woman nearly drove him insane with rage. In Mandarin, she was now actually warning him to surrender or face serious consequences. WHAT UNMITIGATED INSOLENCE!

Xu brought the robot to its feet and swatted at the retreating metal she-rat. The round American was running towards him. This was better than he planned. Xu pointed the two rapid-fire guns at the approaching Blob.

This dirty, fat American pig will go down first, Xu said to himself. After that, Xu would teach the armored female the folly of disrespecting a Son of the Revolution

The Unicorn held up a hand to warn the news helicopter to advance no further. She then heard Henry say that everything was going along perfectly. When she saw two heavy artillery gun barrels stretched out from under the see-through dome, she had her doubts.

Never-the-less, against her instincts, the Unicorn had to back away and let The Blob take what was coming.

Yolanda's eyebrows rose in disbelief as the Blob defiantly putting his fists on his hips, inviting the onslaught. She had heard that in his circus act, the Blob withstood a pistol shot, but these were large nozzle machine guns. If that wasn't enough, her armor's lightning-fast, technological tracers indicated that big, thick armor- piercing shells were in the artillery chambers.

Her heart pounded hard, but she had to stay at a distance. Henry couldn't possibly have ordered the Blob to commit suicide. No, he couldn't have. She fought to have her mind believe that her mentor, and not her eyes, knew best.

Then the air was filled with that ugly, savage sound— the machine guns let lose a horrible barrage. Yolanda couldn't help but turn away with tightly closed eyelids. It was at least ten seconds before the horrible sound stopped. It was on the eleventh second that she turned back around to witness …

Xu releases the two buttons on top of his yoke— his steering wheel. He was shocked beyond words. The round American dog just stood there… with a blank, far away expression.

Then the Blob brought his arms around his massive chest and bent forward.

Yolanda gasped. The Blob clutched his body and he was falling forward. How could Henry have let this happened. HOW?!

Hawkeye had witnessed the crazy back and forth movement of Giant- man. This scumbag must have been high on something, the villain figured. And that was just fine. Hawkeye was still going to claim his prize.

The masked archer picked up his bow. It was still the sturdiest of the finest wood. It could knock out Giant-man in his normal size. Then all that Clint Barton had to do was to throw his unconscious body over the side of the roof, head first. His head would burst or his neck would snap. Either way this was going to be the first of countless days where the world would mention the name Hawkeye in awe.

With his bow ready to strike Hawkeye crept closer and closer to his victim.

The powerful stranger had thrown a four-ton car at Spider-man. It was far easier to avoid than the Sandman's attack. After the vehicle passed over his head, Spider-man had to bounce to his left to avoid Sandman's right hand—a flat 5 foot by 3 foot slab of concrete. The concrete hand hit the ground behind the hero and with a tremendous sound— it shattered the blacktop. The spiked ball—Marko's left hand— then charged forward.

Spider-man jumped to his right narrowly escaping the nearest flesh-tearing spike. His sense went crazy again. He instinctively shot his chin down towards his left shoulder. He heard a "whoosh" and through his mask, he felt a strong wind spank the back of his head. That all resulted from Marko's flat, concrete fist being pulled back towards the Sandman. Marko had that hand make a specific retreating trek. The intention was to crack the back of the youth's skull while Spider-man faced forward.

He hero continued to bob, weave, and leap out of the Sandman's attack. The corner of his eyes, spotted Mighty Mutt high-tailing it towards the main street.

Dear Lord, the people over there… the people held back by cops will get slaughtered by the merciless brute. Spinning away from the flat hand, Spider-man shot a web towards the escaping menace.

The advancing spiked hand unintentionally intercepted it. Sandman's mace hand swung over the spot where Spider-man's chest was located only a nano-second ago. Now that hand was captured in the web. A second later, the entire arm turned grainy and sifted down and away from the web's snare.

Spider-man fired another adhesive mesh towards the escaping Mighty Mutt at the same instant that he lounged under another of Marko's attack. His web didn't make it past a bolt of electricity.

It disappeared into nothing behind a loud fizzle sound. In freakish speed, Peter leaned his upper body back so far that his skull almost crashed into the pavement. But the maneuver that would have injured another man's spine was needed to avoid a blast from Dillon.

He heard distant machine gun fire, but he couldn't concern himself with that, given the immediate danger. Besides, if the gun was aimed at Giant-man or the walking garbage can, body mass and armor would render the bullets useless. .. Unless they were armor-pier….

Oh come on, he chided himself. He had to concentrate on saving his own hide. Electro was coming up fast on Spider-man. Another Sandman pile driver was coming. Spider-man threw himself under the thick, elongated arm heading his way.

That was the cover from Electro's eyes that he needed. While still horizontally airborne, Spider-man managed to shoot a web that hit Mighty Mutt's sit-upon. The encouraged hero hit the ground and rolled away from Sandman like a baker's rolling pin. At the same time, he pulled mightily on his web.

Skipping on his rear back to the battle scene, came the silent powerhouse. In seconds, the brute would turn around and rip off the web, but Spider-man got want he needed— a third playmate returning to the party.

The young hero cart wheeled away from another concrete fist that brushed his left elbow.

"Too close for comfort. " Peter said to himself, but he had to turn these three cracked bells against each other in order to pick them off one by one. Spider-man jumped towards the ensnared Mighty Mutt's side. No doubt, another concrete punch was coming. Spider-man had planned to jump out of the way just at the last second so that Marko would actually hit the silent strong man. That would be enough to renew their fight.

Spider-man instinctively turned towards a collection of ruined cars. Four men barely raised their heads over car hoods, but the sense-tingling focused on two men who had their elbows on the cars taking aim. They didn't look like plainclothes cops, but they had guns. Who they were targeting was anyone's guess. Spider-man was confident that he could avoid getting shot, since he's done it a million times, Still, what if leaping out of the way of a bullet would land him in the path of an electric bolt or a concrete fist that he would have normally evaded?

The hero kept the corners of his eyes on the men. Spider-man continued wrapping more webs around the seated Mighty Mutt in front of him. He would do this until he sensed the anticipated office desk-sized fist coming his way. But unfortunately, Spider-man had to jump out of the way long before it got close. Damn it— Electro had ruined everything.

3 wiggly veins of electricity—the center bolt was as thick as Peter's thigh—hit the ground by Spider-man's quiet foe. The strong man went sailing to the left. Mighty Mutt was again free. But that was the least of Spider-man's concern. Chunks of bone-breaking blacktop shot out in every direction. Two pistols went off to the hero's right, where the two gunmen were last seen. The gun noise stopped when Peter heard an electric bolt explode in that direction. Well, Dillon's presence was good for something.

Landing off balanced on one foot, Peter bent his body away from the flying street debris and shielded the back of his head with his hands.

Before turning his face away, Spider-man had noticed that Electro's left arm appeared to be glued to his side. That earlier kick could have busted something in the jerk's arm. But that didn't make Peter want to do cartwheels of exuberance. Even with one hand, Dillon was chucking electricity with lethal potential.

Without seeing the Sandman's next punch, he still managed to avert it with a vertical jump. When he landed just a few feet away. He raised his eyes to see that that same granite spiked hand became a sphere three times as big as a beach ball.

The spiked hand returned to Marko. Again, the route that the hand took should have nailed the hero, but he leaped away. Once his feet hit the ground, the jump had to be reversed because Marko lunged a larger-than-life butcher knife right hand towards the youth.

Then the knife hand swung up in front of the youth as the mace-hand raced towards Spiderman's back. Marko's movements were quick, but Spiderman masterfully avoided both as if the Sandman was going in slow motion.

He pulled his upper body back and to the left as the knife swooshed by. Like an Olympic high jumper, he arched his back and the round spikes missed his butt by a half inch.

He shot a web towards a street lamp and pulled himself away. This purely instinctive one-second move saved him from being lit up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. A flash of light appeared and a loud "CRACK" screamed exactly from the spot that his leap would have taken him.

Spider-man's adrenalin was still pumping, but even he couldn't deny it— his escapes were getting narrower. The far misses of bolts and concrete punches were becoming near misses.

Worst yet, the attacks were moving him away from that the silent, powerful, cold-blooded killer who was sprinting away again. Soon he'd be beyond the reach of his web-shots.

There was a temporary lull in the action as the Sandman yelled over to Electro to stay out of… "my fight." Fat chance either would step aside for the other.

Over his own heavy breathing, Peter heard metal being deformed, or something from afar. As much as he didn't like her, Peter hoped that the mouthy Unicorn wasn't in danger. But why would she? She's the female version of Iron Man, right? Besides, Giant-man has her back.

Something far more worrisome to him was the upcoming second round of the fight. Peter had not rested sufficiently. Dodging two attackers was quickening the advance of a possible collapse from exhaustion.

Now, to top it off, while trying to keep himself from being barbequed or bludgeoned, he lost sight of Mighty Mutt. If the powerhouse jumped into a crowd, there would be a mass slaughter.

And what about himself? This also was looking like the final chapter in Spider-man's life.

Oh GOD… Aunt May… alone.

Spiderman could continue leaping and dodging, hoping for a miracle. He could run away to safety and forget about all three meta-threats, and live to see another day.

But a wisest move was to kick his pride away faster than skin-flint J. Jonah Jameson reaching for a penny that fell out of his pocket, and call the Big Yapper and Giant-man for help.

He looked down towards the mouthpiece. Oh, no! IT WASN'T IN FRONT OF HIS CHIN. The communicator was missing.

Damn it! He remembered the headset being was so light, that he couldn't even feel it as it wrapped around his head. No wonder it fell and he hadn't missed it until now.

In an instant, electric bolts forced the young, weary hero to jump to his left, then right. He dodged the cement-hard axe and mace here, then there. All the time his eye searched for the headset. His eyes widened when he finally found it.

"You've got to be kidding! At the FEET OF THE SANDMAN?!"

Writer's Note:

My deepest apologies. Chapter 26 was added on May 1, 2013. This update comes on November 14th of the same year. I hope that I can pull my personal life together so as to NEVER take this long to update again. Thanks for hanging in there. I know that there are more talented writers out there and I am humbled that you think my work is worth your time.

-HC