Peter Parker

It was pretty normal over the next couple of weeks. The only major thing that happened was me, along with the rest of The X-Men and The American Idiots, seeing Scott off as he flew off to Haiti. As Scott ordered, Kitty was leading the X-Men while he was gone. We all kept our head on a swivel in case anything happen, but there wasn't a follow up to that picture – no related crime, no video, no picture. So, life went on as usual. The X-Men were still patrolling the city, and The American Idiots were trying to finish the school year strong. As days went by, people talked about the picture less and less. The only people that were really bringing it up were J. Jonah Jameson and the rest of the anti-Spider-Man crowd, because it wouldn't be a normal day without Spider-Man slander. I wanted to believe that Scott was right and that I was just being trolled. And a part of me started to believe it.

So, of course, it turned out that it wasn't a troll.

March rolled around. Betty and I were in the breakroom at The Daily Bugle, having an early breakfast.

"So, how're the GED classes going?" Betty asked as she took a bite out of her croissant

"It's going well," I replied. "It's a little weird, though. With Scott down in Haiti, my class is being taught by a substitute. She's doing a good job, don't get me wrong. But I'm so used to Scott being there that it feels a bit off being taught by someone who doesn't know about my night job." After that, I took a sip from my coffee. I then grimaced as I set the cup down. "I should have just gotten coffee with my bagel and egg sandwich."

Betty chuckled. "Yeah, J. Jonah Jameson is still not buying the good stuff for this office. According to him, it's fine American coffee."

I cringed. "If this is what he calls fine, I'd hate to taste what he considers subpar." I shook my head. "But how is school going for you?"

"It's going well, I think." She shook her head. "It's just that I have to work extra hard to keep on top of things. Balancing school and this internship was hard enough. But I've been working under Jessica Jones as well. I've been helping to keep her office tidy, but she also takes me out on her less gritty cases." She smiled. "Jessica may be caustic, and can be a bit of a lush, but I've been learning quite a bit from her." She leaned towards me and spoke in a lower tone. "I actually learned how to pick a lock. It came in pretty handy during one case she brought me on. You see – " Before she could finish her sentence, she looked downward. "Excuse me." She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, which was vibrating in her hand. She narrowed her eyes. "It's Ned." She answered the phone before she put the phone to her ear. "Good morning, Buttercup." I couldn't help but smile. Betty and Ned make a cute couple. Not as cute me and MJ, but I may be a bit biased.

Okay, I'm extremely biased.

My smile faded when Betty had a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong?" She paused and gave me a look. "Are you serious right now? …Okay. …I'll let Peter know. …I love you, too, Buttercup. …Bye." Betty hung up the phone and huffed out a breath. "…Spider-Man is trending again."

I tilted my head. "Wait, what?" I replied.

Betty started going through her phone. "Apparently, the person behind the picture uploaded a video on Twitter."

I sighed. "Of course."

It didn't take long for Betty to find the video. She got up and moved into the seat next to me. After that, she placed the phone in front of us and tapped the screen, playing the video.

In the video was a man sitting in some chair that looked like it was made out of wicker. He looked rather muscular, like a running back. He had black hair that was long enough to cover his ears. He had a thick beard/mustache combination and these brown eyes that, when paired with the scowl on his face, gave me the impression that he could snap on someone at any given moment. He was wearing khaki cargo pants tucked in black hiking boots. However, on his upper body, he was wearing a vest that looked like it was made from the skin of a lion's head, mane and all. Around his neck was a necklace of what looked fangs you'd find in a lion's mouth. In his right hand, he held a spear that looked like it was made out of wood and stone. I couldn't help but get the feeling that this guy liked "roughing it". On a dark green wall behind him were three taxidermized animal heads – a lion, a rhino, and, of all things, a hippo.

"Are those animal heads legal?" Betty asked, glancing at me for a moment. "They can't be legal."

"Somehow, I think the legality of the animal heads is the least of his concerns," I deadpanned.

After some seconds, the man spoke. I didn't understand what he was saying. I assumed he was speaking Russian. Luckily – or unluckily – there were subtitles in English.

"Good day, everyone – I'm Sergei Nikolaevich Kravinoff," he began. "You all probably know me by my more popular moniker, Kraven The Hunter. All over the world, I have hunted the most dangerous of game. Some of them were mundane. Others were man-eaters, beasts of legends that have terrorized villages and towns for years and struck fear in the most skilled of warriors. I can say without exaggeration that I'm the best hunter in the world. But as I continued to hunt, I've grown tired of hunting beasts. I've been having an urge to hunt even greater prey. However, I was at a lost what that prey would be."

Sergei… Kraven… leaned forward, still staring intently.

"That's where you come in, Spider-Man," he continued. "I've been having my eyes on you for a very long time. Even in this part of the world, your name holds weight. I've been biding my time for a while. After what you did to Scorpion, you proved yourself more than worthy to be a part of my plan for revenge. So, count your days."

The video ended. Betty and I continued to stare down at the phone for some seconds. I sighed.

"Never a dull moment," I muttered. "At least he keeps his speeches somewhat short, I guess."

"How bad do you think things are going to get?" Betty asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know. The only thing that can be done is to hope and pray for the best and prepare for the worst."

The rest of the time at The Daily Bugle was rather tense. Jonah and Robbie were arguing back and forth about trying to get an interview with Kraven. Meanwhile, Carmilla texted me, letting me know that she was going to pick me up from work. Needless to say, I was happy when my shift ended. Once I made my way out of the building, Carmilla's Civic was right there up front. After I got into the passenger seat and buckled up, she drove off.

"So, how's my fellow arachnid holding up?" Carmilla asked.

"About as good as anyone could be with a big game hunter gunning for them," I muttered.

"Yeah, not gonna lie – I didn't have that on my bingo card."

"Funny thing is, I did." I looked over at her. "Right before that huge fire on Fifth Ave a while back, and while Craig and I were driving out of Harlem at the time, I kind of said that I'd probably have to end up taking on a crazed big game hunter. Lo and behold…"

Carmilla scoffed. "You probably shouldn't have put that out in the universe."

I raised my eyebrows briefly. "That's what Craig said." I sighed. "So what do you make of this?"

"Honestly?" Carmilla shrugged. "I don't know. It's pretty up in the air."

"How come?"

Carmilla didn't say anything at first. However, there was a frown on her face as she tapped the steering wheel a few times. "…I don't want to alarm you or anything," she began slowly. "However, I've heard the name 'Kraven The Hunter' spoken several times amongst SHIELD agents. On one hand, I haven't heard anything super crazy about him as far as powers go. As far as he we know, he's not a superhuman."

I frowned. "On the other hand?"

"A person doesn't end up on SHIELD's radar without good reason. From what I've heard, he really is that good of a hunter. It's just hard to confirm his exploits. See, a lot of his hunts are illegal. He allegedly does a lot of hunting for those who want exotic animals to keep, whether it be as pets, material for clothing or jewelry or the like, food, or even medicine."

I sneered. "Why hasn't he been taken down already?"

Carmilla scoffed. "Politics, mostly. Even though we can't confirm it, there's a good chance that Sergei is in pretty good with the president of Russia. Going after him would mean looking for every loophole there is to take him down without causing an international crisis."

I looked forward out of the windshield. "It must suck being a government agent."

"At times, it really does." She glanced at me with an unhappy smirk. "When people think of espionage and other government work, they think people like me are running around in fancy clothes, infiltrating high society parties in countries around the world, drinking fancy cocktails, and bedding attractive folks on our way to handling our objective. While I have done some of that – barring the sex – fact of the matter is, though, my life is more Burn Notice than 007." She chuckled. "Though, to be quite honest, I never did like the James Bond books and movies."

I looked at her. "Why not?"

"Contrary to popular belief, a person who drowns out their sorrows with alcohol and casual sex don't usually make a good operative."

I looked forward, then tilted my head briefly. "Good point."

Sometime later, Carmilla and I arrived at our building. After thanking her Carmilla for the ride and telling her bye, I made my way into the building and to my apartment. Once I was inside, I took off my shoes and walked over to my bed. I sat on it, took in a breath, and let it loose.

"So, now, apparently, I have a hunter who is targeting me. But for revenge?" I furrowed up my eyebrows. "What does that even mean? What did I do to him? What do I even have to do with him?"

Who knew? It wasn't like every person I took on was of sound mind and judgment.

I got changed and went to school afterwards. After class, I went to Peter Pan. MJ wasn't there, but I didn't think anything of it, especially since she had my usual ready for me. So, after that, I went home. I didn't immediately do homework. Instead, I decided to lie down on my bed for a bit. I was about to doze off before I felt the phone vibrate in my pocket.

"So, what we're doing about Van Pelt?" Craig asked.

"Was that a Jumanji reference?" Ned inquired.

"Yes. Specifically, the '95 film."

"There was a Jumanji movie back in 1995?"

"Ned, how the heck are you a fan of a trilogy of movies from the 70's and don't know…" Craig's text ended there. After some moments, he sent another one. "You know what? We're not friends anymore."

"As much as I'm amused by this, I seriously want to know, how dangerous is this Sergei or Kraven or whatever he wants to go by?" MJ cut in.

"Who knows?" Kitty answered. A few moments later, she sent another text. "Carmilla is already doing everything she can to gather as much information as possible."

"How are you holding up, Peter?" Betty asked.

I really wanted to send a shrug emoji, but I figured everyone would appreciate an actual answer. "I'm somewhere between being annoyed and worried," I texted. "I don't know what this guy can do. Though, at the very least, we know what this guy looks like and where he's from."

"Allegedly," Craig added.

"Craig, need I remind you what happened the last time you underestimated someone?" Kitty warned.

"First of all, ouch. Second of all, I'm not taking this lightly. I'm still preparing for the worst. All I'm saying is that, barring any new info from Carm, all we got on this guy is hearsay, unconfirmed stories, and a video. So far, he's all talk."

"We can't forget that he's also in high favor with Putin, apparently. That could mean a whole lot of things. As it is, we have to be on high alert. From now on, we'll be rotating patrols, and, barring certain circumstances, every X-Men needs at least one other person with them when they go on patrol. Also, in case this needs to be said, we'll be keeping contact between the X-Men costumed identities and the rest of The American Idiots to a minimum. Speaking of American Idiots, MJ, Ned, Betty, please don't pull a Bunker move. Am I clear?"

"Crystal," I replied.

"You got it," Craig texted.

"Understood," Betty added.

"You're the boss," MJ stated.

"Okay," Ned finished.

"Good," Kitty texted. "So, how is everyone's day?"

We were all texting for about an hour straight about different things, from things happening at Midtown to Craig being mad that his date with Carmilla had to be cancelled since she decided to head over to a SHIELD facility in some undisclosed location so she can gather information on Kraven. Eventually, it ended with Kitty telling me to take the night off and leave it to her and Joanna tonight. After that, I did my homework, made dinner, and went to bed. As much as I wanted to patrol, I knew that Shadowcat and Frenzy could hold their own without any problems. Plus, in hindsight, I needed the mental rest. Still, as I slowly started to go to sleep, I couldn't help but think that this was going to be one rather long spring for me.

But, hey, that's the life of a superhero, right? What else is new?