Nine-tailed kitten: thank you, I try to write it when I can

Plasma57: thank you

INeedAUsername8: hold on

Chapter 37: In The Spider's Web

(In Dracula's castle)

The castle fortress had man twists and turns, traps and tricks that confused the heroes and their allies who entered the building. Like the one Spider-Man and the Howling Commandos entered to find Spidey's team and stop the vampire king from using the ankh. The set of stairs Logan's squad is running up has various mirages and illusion that have been deployed there to trick them into a wrong area. But like the way Jack used his nose in the other castle, Wolverine is following and trusting his sense of smell to find Spider-Man who is trapped somewhere in the castle. The others trust him to find Peter.

"Are you sure your nose can find him?" Hulk asked as he followed behind Logan. "Grah, yes I'm sure. Jack told me to trust my instincts. To keep us from those damn illusions in this shit-hole of a place." Logan grunted, annoyance in his voice. "Let's just hope we can find Webs. If not, Tiger's going to have our skins." Nova shuddered. "Scared of her bub?" Logan chuckled. "Have you seen her lately?!" Nova shouted. "The kid's right Logan, you did see how she… treated him, Iron Man, and Hawkeye." Hulk said. "That was funny to watch." Wolverine chuckled. "Why you..." Nova growled, his hands starting to glow with their usual blue color.

Iron-Fist put a hand on his' friend's shoulder to calm him. Sam grumbled but relented. Logan and his group arrived at the top of the staircase. There is a hallway with 3 doors on each side and 1 at the end. The group slowly moved through the hall as Logan tracked them scent. The mutant eventually opened the door at the end of the hall. They all walked through, but the room was pitch black, no light anywhere.

"Rah! We can't see anything." Hulk snorted in irritation. "I got it!" Nova said.

Before they could react the door closed suddenly with a loud thud. They all turned to look in the direction of the door. Nova used his powers to brighten the room slightly, just enough to see without hurting their eyes. But what they saw disturbed them: the door is gone.

"Where the hell did it go?!" Nova shrieked. "This... not good…" Kazar mumbled. "Wait... *sniff*… *sniff*... His scent... it's gone!" Logan snarled. "What do you mean it's gone?!" Nova shrieked. "Webs's scent has just… vanished." Logan growled. "You mean we..." Hulk started to bellow when they all heard this sound.

A noise of metal scraping against metal could be heard. The group didn't understand it at first. By the time they could possibly tell what it was… it was a little to late.

"Son of a BBBBIIIITTTTCCCCCHHHH!" Wolverine screamed as he and his group fell downwards.

The floor had opened up beneath them. They were so busy arguing and looking for Peter that they didn't pay attention to their surroundings. For what seemed like 5 minutes they fell. Their screams echoed through the dark void. It was only till a few minutes later did Logan recognize what was wrong with the current picture.

"BUB?! WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU FLYING?! CAN'T YOU GET US OUT OF HERE?!" Wolverine roared with anger. "I CAN'T LIFT YO…" Nova couldn't finish screaming as he felt something hit him.

The group could hear the definite crack at that very moment. As they all turned to see where the barely lite blue light was now a flash of something they couldn't see clearly. One by one Fist could hear his comrades grunting in pain and cracks of something hitting each of them. The next thing he saw was a pair of blazing red eyes approaching him at Mach speed before he felt something hard hit him before he blacked out.

(A few minutes later)

The group woke up, but kept their eyes close in pain. They moaned and groaned in pain.

"Uhh… What happened?.." Nova moaned. "Ugh... I feel like I got hit by an angry Fin Fang Foom when he's mad…" Hulk groaned. "Oh… Huh?.. What the hell?!" Logan yelled in shock.

The other tried to move around, but felt themselves immobilized. Instantly they opened their eyes and saw they were all trapped. None of them could move. But they were actually incased in something white and sticky. They all knew what it was.

"Are we… In webbing?..." Hulk gasped. "I can't move!" Nova shrieked as he trashed in the cocoon of webbing. "What the hell?" Logan grunted as he tried to move.

They looked around to see where they were. Even though the room was still mostly pitch black, the area where they're stuck is bathed in torch-light. As they looked around, they saw they were in a web that could cover the main room of Avengers' Tower.

"W-Where are we?... What part of the castle is this?" Nova mumbled. "What hit me?" Kazar groaned. "I saw something… Before blacking out..." Iron-Fist replied. "What did you see?" Hulk asked.

Before Fist could reply he saw something very familiar moving towards them from the blackness.

"T-That!" Iron-Fist said, trying to point at the thing in the shadows.

The others looked towards where he tried to show them. They gasped as they saw two bright, red orbs moving towards them. They're low to the 'ground' and their owner moved into the light.

"N-No..." Fist gasped. "This... no…" Kazar added.

They saw a familiar figure move towards them. It crawled on all four limbs on the webs. Long claw-like nails trailing the silk webs with careful motions. The all to recognizable red and blue suit is worn by the one they had come to rescue. But now it's torn and damaged, several rips and holes scattered across its once lean and clean body. The red eyes of Spider-Man stared right into the shocked eyes of the ones who'd come to find him. His mouth is open; his long fangs revealed as green venomous saliva dripped out of his mouth with anticipation of his… feeding time.

"We're in the spider's web." Logan growled. "AND WE'RE THE FLIES!" Nova screamed in fear.

The snarls that reverberated from Spider-Man's throat sounded like that snarling growls of a hungry jaguar. He moved like an actual spider as he crawled along the web as he checked on his 'food'. His red eyes scanned those trapped in his webbing, and he took whiffs of their blood. He approached Nova, who cried in hysterical fear. Spider-Man covered his ears and wailed in annoyance and mild pain at the 'girly' cry. He covered Nova' mouth with his left hand and moved the hero's head slightly, exposing his neck.

"Spidey No!" Fist cried. "Spider-Man don't!" Hulk screamed. "Hey Webs!" Logan snarled.

As he said that, the noise of what sounded like ropes being cut was heard. Spider-Man turned to see Wolverine standing on the web, his claws drawn. While Spider-Man checked his 'catch', Logan had silently cut the webbing holding him. Brute strength couldn't get them out; even Hulk's might wasn't enough to get him out. The vampiric teen screeched loudly.

"Come one Webs! Show me what you got!" Logan snarled as he got into a fighting stance. "Don't hurt him!" Fist said.

Spider-Man lunged at the mutant and locked his strong hands around the mutant's arms, avoiding his claw. He snapped his jaws at Logan's face.

"I don't think he'll give me the same luxury!" Wolverine grunted as he tried holding back the stronger combatant.

Logan kneed the vampire in his chest. Spider-Man grunted in pain, but quickly recovered. He slashed with his own claws as he tried to disembowel Logan. Wolverine dodged as fast as he could for the strikes were becoming faster with each new attempt. The mutant ducked downwards and raked his claws against the webs. They all fell and hit the ground, some with more grace than others. One of them hit a torch, which for some reason after hitting the ground, encircled them all in a blazing flame. Spider-Man snarled and lowered onto the ground as Logan cut the others free from a far enough distance. They all stood ready, but with uncertainty.

"Careful, remember, he's stronger than before." Wolverine growled. "But we must try to help him. Your claws are temporarily laced with the tranquilizer your blades too Kazar. Just try to gently graze him." Hulk said.

Spider-Man raced at them with his new super-human speed and knocked them all around like bowling balls to pins. They groaned as they got back on their feet.

"Easier said than done, bub." Logan grumbled.

The group charged forward. Nova started blasting at Peter who dodged with ease. Sam growled with annoyance as he continued to miss. He raced forward faster, but Spider-Man back flipped over him. Nova turned around and raced at him again. But the vampire dodged once again and grabbed Sam by his leg. Nova gasped in shock before he was thrown over the others. Kazar drew the blades from their holders as he and Logan started slash at him. But the vampire dodged with little effort.

"Rah! This is getting really annoying!" Logan snarled.

With quick succession, Spider-Man moved behind them. Before they could react, he grabbed them by their by their neck. He lifted them in the air with little effort before throwing them to either side. What sounded like a charging elephant could be heard from behind the vampire. The vampire turned to see Hulk charging towards him.

"Sorry little buddy, but this is for your own good." Hulk said as he neared the vampire.

Spider-Man's eyes narrowed in anger. Hulk threw a fist forward, but the only thing it hit was the ground. The vampire had moved out of the way of the attack in just moments. The green goliath turned to see a fist fly towards his face. A resounding crack could be heard as the blow landed. Hulk fell to the floor. The others looked with shock as he slowly tried to get up, but fell back. They could see the green blood drip from their friend's face. Hulk groaned in pain as he put a hand on his face. The cheek bone was shattered, the punch applied great force in its hit. The vampire then turned to face Iron-Fist.

'Oh no…' Fist gasped in his thoughts.

Spider-Man hissed as he lunged at Danny. Fist dodged by flipping backwards. The vampire raced forward and starting slashing and punching at the kung fu hero. Fist had trained with Spider-Man in combat many times. He could dodge some of these hits, but now… things were different. Blow after blow landed, Peter's speed was far greater now. Danny grunted in pain at each hit. He tried his best to defend himself and fight back. To his good fortune, a blow did land every now and then. The vampire grunted as he felt a punch, chop, or kick land on his torso. But he eventually pinned Danny to the ground.

"Peter… your friends are here… We've come to free you… We're here to help." Danny calmly said.

Spider-Man didn't attempt to bite Fist, but he hissed like a huge snake right in Danny's face. The vampire's eyes are narrowed and burned with hunger. Fist locked eyes with Peter, as calm as ever. He slowly attempted to put a hand on the vampire's shoulder. But Spider-Man growled louder.

"My friend... Ava is here... She has come to help you…" Fist said.

Something inside the vampire clicked.

"…A… A… Av-…Av-… Ava… Ava…?" The vampire tried to mouth the word. "Yes my friend… She is here…" Fist said.

Before anymore words could be spoken, the vampire was suddenly engulfed in a red aura of what looked like static electricity. Spider-Man jumped off Danny and shrieked in pain. Before any of them could act, the vampire jumped to the wall and crawled about what looked like 40 feet. Then he punched the wall, making a hole that was as large as an elephant before jumping through.

"Come on!" Fist said. "Right." The others nodded.

Nova flew Fist towards the hole while Hulk jumped towards it carrying Wolverine and Kazar.

To be continued…