Chapter 9: Double Trouble

The next couple of days later, Rose as Star Spider web-swinged across the city while using her invisibility feature to reach the Central Park Zoo. And she had no time fooling around when getting there. For besides going to meet her albino ape friend once again, Rose wanted to discreetly deliver her application to the zoo office for the Summer Internship. While there was no guarantee that she'll get the job, she thought about doing it sooner rather than later.

'I got to make this trip fast. The Sooner I do this, the sooner I can figure out how to make my other new features more everlasting on time like my invisibility feature,' Star Spider thought, seeing she's near the zoo with some people there. 'At least, it will come in handy for now.'

After flipping over in the air and landing on the ceiling of where the zoo keeper uniforms are located, Star Spider activated her intangibility to go through until she reached the floor and switched back to invisibility. She then grabbed the same spare uniform, went to the nearest bathroom, and changed out from her hero look to her civilian one in disguise. Rose even stuck with her fake name Naomi Rosalie while getting out.

The disguised teen girl made it to the exhibit where her albino gorilla was to tell him the good news of sending her application for the internship after talking to him. Around arriving, she noticed a gold plate in front of the cage.

"What's this?" Rose asked, before she started reading it. "Let's see… 'Marked for adoption and will be transferred immediately'…Wait, what?!"

I couldn't believe it when I read it, but it was all true. Mangos was about to be adopted by some spoiled rich group. My first friend since day one of breaking Kraven's rules and becoming Star Spider would be sent away.

Since rich people pay for zoo benefits, they get an animal in return for adoption. And I was not happy about it.

Rose quickly went to Mangos with horror and disbelief in her eyes. "Mangos! You're leaving the zoo?!"

Mangos nodded, looking upset about his new owner. He grunted sadly.

"I can't accept that! You don't belong in some heartless home that would make your life miserable!" Rose reasoned, tears forming in her eyes. "You deserve to be free where you feel happy. Believe me...I should know."

Mangos looks into Rose's tearjerking eyes. She was telling the truth. She relates to what's happening to him. He then whimpers as he dries Rose's tears with his hand

"I don't know what I'm going to do. At least, not yet," Rose reasoned, trying to calm down and think of a plan. "Maybe if I find those adoption forms, then I can track down those snobs and expose them as careless monsters to animals. Anything to keep you safe."

Mangos smiled and grunted happily.

Giving a sweet pat on her gorilla friend's arm, Rose quickly returned to the main office in search of those files.

Rose sees the files for one albino gorilla adoption, and to her sudden shock, she could not believe what she had found out who adopted Mangos. Sergei Kravinoff, Rose's father, Kraven.

"No…My own father is the one adopting Mangos?" Rose muttered, feeling her heart drop in horror. "This is worse than any rich snob family I could think of."

Rose knew her father would hunt Mangos for sport. Or worse... Make her hunt the poor gorilla for sport one of these days. Angry at the realization, she took the adoption papers. She was very angry; she only gave a faint wave at Mangos. Mangos didn't understand what's happening, but from the look on Rose and the papers she had in her left hand, she did not like who was going to adopt him. And Rose did not want to tell Mangos that the rich snob was her father.

Later in the afternoon...

It was now cloudy in New York. Distance away Star Spider kept swinging around town while invisible, really steamed that her own father is responsible for another animal scam.

"It's official. My father is out of control!" Star Spider grumbled under her breath. "First, he didn't let me go to the special event at the zoo. Then, despite doing something nice, he still prohibited me in going in the zoo. And now, he's taking a wild creature that shouldn't be adopted at all behind my back?!"

Slowing down, Star Spider landed on top of a building and became visible for a bit while walking to the edge in seeing below her. Considering she was miles away from both home and the zoo. The female hero needed time to adjust this horrific news.

'I already lost my birthparents a long time ago. Even abandoned the animals I left behind when moving away to here after Sergei adopted me. I just can't lose another animal friend after so long. But I can't confront my father without exposing the truth that I disobeyed him. How am I going to fix this?'

Abruptly, a harsh kick smashed her in the back and another in her side that sent her plummeting off the building, before her spider-sense could react.

"Whoa! What the heck?!" Star Spider exclaimed, using her webs to move to a different building and look over who attacked her. "All right, show yourself and quit hiding like a coward!"

"A coward is prey for the strong!" a familiar accented voice shouted.

"Looks like we got a trophy to hang on the wall." a new harsher voice said.

Star Spider's eyes grew wide, recognizing those voices instantly. And they were the last baddies she wanted to deal with.

'Oh, no. Please tell me it's not who I think it is,'

But much to her dismay, they were the two villains she expected: Kraven the Hunter and Taskmaster.

"A fine trophy indeed." Kraven agreed, stepping into the daylight.

Crunch, crunch!

"She's no Black Widow, but she should be fun." Taskmaster stepped out on the other side, cracking his knuckles.

'This is bad. If I show off my moves, Taskmaster will just study them instantly and take me down. Even worse, Kraven will recognize them and know who I am. I got to get out of this fight now,' Star Spider thought to herself, taking a few steps back.

"Come on, give me something to work with, Sweet Cheeks," Taskmaster said, stalking towards her.

"You are no brave spider. You are a scared rabbit. Pitiful." Kraven stated.

Acting fast, Star Spider activated her intangibility feature and went down beneath the building to get caught. She deactivated it in order to go invisible.

'That should buy me some time.'

"She definitely ain't no Spider," Taskmaster said with a smirk.

"Strange. From all the rumors, I would expect more from her," Kraven admitted. "But no matter. I enjoy a good chase on hunting my prize."

"How about you show me what trap you set up?" Taskmaster questioned.

"Way ahead of you," Kraven took out his tech-band and started activating some traps in the room Star Spider is in. "She has no clue that we wanted her to hide in this particular building.

While she was still walking around cautiously, Star Spider noticed from familiar logos on some boxes.

'Those are Kraven's symbols...Oh, no,' Star Spider thought, during the same time her spider-sense activated.

Bang! Nets and darts flew through the air at high speed.

No time to touch her belt, Star Spider quickly reacted by doing some flip dodging and web shooting to disarm the traps coming right at her. Even use her stingers to cut the nets.

'I should have known my own father rigged this place! He always knew how to be one step ahead of his enemies. Unlike me,' Star Spider thought, making her way out of the room.

"The itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the water spout...then the villain came and washed the spider out~." Taskmaster taunted in slight song form when walking to the exit.

'Oh, great. Taskmaster is coming out of the exit,' Star Spider thought, quickly hiding behind one of the crates and tried going invisible again.

However, one of the darts pierced her belt a little that couldn't make her go invisible, intangible, and or teleport.

'Are you kidding me?! Now is not a good time for my belt to stop working!' she exclaimed mentally, opening her device to see if she could fix it enough to get herself out. 'Ugh! Why does my day have to be worse than it already is?'

"The itsy-bitsy spider came up the water spout, down came the villain and crushed the spider~! " Taskmaster said, creeping up then smashing a crate distance from where his enemy was hiding.

'I really don't like the song he's singing. Got to distract him long enough to escape,'

Star Spider looked around, thinking of a way out. Her belt seemed out of commission temporarily and didn't have time to fix it. She noticed a fire alarm not too far from her reach. Acting fast, Star Spider fired a web ball at the button.

BBBBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

Taskmaster just smirked. "Sorry, Princess, but that is the oldest and most pathetic trick in the book."

'Oh, yeah? Ever seen a trick like this?'

Star Spider grabbed some nearby rock and threw it across the room to make it look like she went that direction.

"Hmm, diversionary tactic...not bad for prey," Kraven's voice came up from behind her.

Gulping, Star Spider tucked and rolled forward away from Kraven and shot her webs to cover his eyes before running.

"Eyes are only one sight to thrive on." Kraven growled, before launching like a cat at Star Spider's legs that made her collapsed forward.

Knowing she's slightly trapped; the female spider had no other choice but to use her special power on her own dad.

'I'm truly sorry for this, father. Please, forgive me,' Star Spider apologized in thought, retracting her calved stingers to inject her venom on his arms.

Kraven laughed. "Venom, huh? ...Not bad. Too bad I am immune"

"And too bad I'm here as well," Taskmaster said, sending a kick to her ribs that pushed her across the room harshly.

Star Spider groaned in slight pain, finding herself surrounded while hugging around her torso.

"Time to say bye-bye, Spider," Taskmaster said, bringing out his own saber.

Star Spider closed her eyes as Taskmaster swung down his saber, but then she heard a cling sound. A sound that can only be made of two metal parts hitting each other. She opens her eyes, and to her surprise, she sees a familiar person... The Scarlet Spider. And he had his stingers out and holding Taskmaster's saber.

"Stay away with her, punk!" Scarlet Spider exclaimed, as he reflected his stingers from the saber and kicked Taskmaster away. He then grabs the defenseless Star Spider with his hands and carries her away as fast as he can.

Taskmaster sees them getting away, but then Kraven shows up. "What happened?"

"Spider-Man's cluster happened," Taskmaster said sarcastically. "Scarlet Spider somehow followed us here. And he took the spider girl."

Kraven simply smiled at the notification. "This hunt has now gotten more interesting."

2 minutes later...

Scarlet Spider managed to get Star Spider to a safe place on an abandoned rooftop, away from Taskmaster and Kraven. He puts Star Spider down who was feeling dizzy and nauseous. "You bleeding?" He asked.

Star Spider coughed a little, placing a hand on where she got kicked. "Not sure...How did you find me?"

"Spidey and I got word from Iron Spider about Taskmaster teaming up with Kraven again. So, he sent me on recon. But I didn't expect to run into you until I saw Taskmaster coming after you." Scarlet Spider explained.

"Yeah, well…That makes two of us," Star remarked, trying to laugh a bit but was groaning in small agony instead. "I was only minding my own business until those two ambushed me."

"Anything feel broken or out of place?" Scarlet asked,

"The only place I got hit was in the ribs by Taskmaster," Star Spider answered, getting her hand out of the spot that hurts very badly before wincing in pain again. "I can barely tell if it's broken or not. And it feels slightly hard to breathe easily without feeling a sharp blade there."

"I'm taking you somewhere safe...I know some people who can help you out." Scarlet Spider said, picking her up gently before having her grip around his neck from behind

"If it's S.H.I.E.L.D., then I can't be seen by the others. At least...Not yet," Star Spider stated, groaning from another sharp-like pain.

"No, I'm not taking you to S.H.I.E.L.D. But don't worry. It's not far. Just stay awake and talk to me." Scarlet Spider said, as he leaped and web-slinged across the buildings.

Star did her best not to blush at how close she was close with Scarlet Spider. "Okay…Not a problem," she managed to say. "So…where exactly are we going then?"

"There's a place with advance tech not even S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't understand. But it's where one of the Avengers live." Scarlet Spider explained. "He also has a Kingdom in Africa."

Soon, Scarlet and Star arrived at a building called the 'Wakandan Embassy'.

"Wakanda? Why does that name sound familiar?" she asked out loud.

It should be familiar. That's the home of the legendary Black Panther! Of course, back then, I was still focused on arriving. Not to mention the animal security.

Growl! Snarl!

A large black panther animal stood on edge with its fangs bared.

Looking at the panther, Scarlet Spider let out his stingers from his wrist. "Nice kitty." He said, as he was about to charge at it.

"No!" Star exclaimed, putting Scarlet's stinger arm down before feeling another sharp pain that made her gasp and groan. "This panther is just being protective. Like how a guard dog acts when seeing intruders. We shouldn't do any harm."

Scarlet Spider listened to Star this time. Since his memories showed that she can understand animals. "All right, all right." Scarlet's stingers went back into his wrists. "Can you tell it to let us pass?"

Nodding, Star got off Scarlet and had her hands raised to show she means no harm.

"Hey, Panthera pardus. It's okay, we just need help," Star assured, walking a few steps until feeling the pain again where she almost collapsed on the floor.

Thankfully, Scarlet reacted fast enough to catch her. The panther then went close and rubbed its head to Star's cheek. As if saying, 'You are hurt. I believe you. Go ahead.'.

"I think we're good to go," Star replied, unable to hide her smile when the panther was purring.

Scarlet, after picking Star up again and seeing the panther is calm now, kept moving before coming to a large room. A dark woman with braided hair stood at one of the councils with her hands skittering across the keys.

"Princess Shuri! I have someone who needs help," Scarlet announced.

Shuri, the princess of Wakanda, and a highly intelligent engineer in Wakandan technology, walks towards the spiders. "Greetings, Scarlet Spider. And who is this new Spider girl?"

"Her name is Star Spider. Kraven and Taskmaster jumped her. She's hurt." Scarlet replied.

"Set her over here. I will see to her." Shuri said.

Star Spider coughed a bit when being settled down.

"Young one, I will need you to remove your suit. You may keep your mask on, though. To keep your identity secret." Shuri said.

"Okay...But I prefer if Scarlet Spider isn't around," Star Spider requested.

It's not that there were any scars or fat in her body. She just doesn't feel comfortable showing it off in front of boys.

"Very well," Shuri said. She turned her head to Scarlet Spider. "Scarlet, I'm sorry, but Star Spider requests that you wait outside of the room."

"Seriously?" Scarlet asked with his arms crossed.

"It's…a girl thing, Scarlet," Star tried to explain, looking away bashfully. "I'm more comfortable doing that step with Miss Shuri alone."

"Do as she requested Scarlet, I will inform you when to come back inside." Shuri demanded.

"Okay, fine." Scarlet Spider said. "As you wish, Your Highness." He turned towards the door and left the room. "I can't argue with royalty after all..." He muttered to himself.

Once it seemed safe, she took off her suit and left her mask on.

Shuri sighed, already seeing heavy bruising on the girl's side. "Poor thing. They really were cruel. Lie down so I can do a scan to check for breaks."

"Technically, it was only Taskmaster who bruised me. Kraven just held me still by restraining my legs," Star Spider corrected while following Shuri's instructions.

"Men. They're...oh, they're something." Shuri said in an irritated voice.

"Some guys, yes. But not all of them," Star Spider shrugged.

Shuri took a moment to look over the injuries. "Looks like you have some very intense bruising and a couple of cracked ribs, but you should be alright. Though...you do also have a concussion."

"Oh, boy. How am I going to explain this to my dad when he clearly cannot know that I'm Star Spider?" The female spider heroine asked, placing a hand on her face. "Miss Shuri, isn't there something you could do to heal me fast or have some medication device to keep me from pain or anything?"

"I can give you a mild injection of nanomites. They can work on the healing process to make you more comfortable." Shuri replied. "As for the bruising...hmm, maybe a patch or something will work."

"Okay. I'm willing to try anything," Star sighed. "How soon can you do it?"

"I can give you the injection, but I'll give you a shot of pain medication, first." Shuri said.

"Alright. Go ahead and do it, Miss Shuri," Star Spider answered.

"Okay, here's the pinch. One...Two...Three." Shuri injected Star Spider the medication in the right arm. "We'll let that kick in, before the next one. Honey, you're pretty pale. Do you ever go outside?"

"Barely," Star Spider cringed a bit on the pain medication in her system. "I'm usually cooped up in home. My dad told me I'm not allowed to be out unless I'm by his side or until I'm eighteen."

"What father would...? Star, have you never had a life outside of walls? ...Do you not have friends?" Shuri asked, sitting with Star Spider on the bed.

This caused the female spider to look away, kind of ashamed. "No...I really don't. The only times I'm free are when dad is out on work and I get to be Star Spider. Having these spider-powers are the only thing that make me feel like my life isn't a prison and destined for something awful."

"Honey, why don't you leave? Have someone help you? This man is poison. He keeps you in a cage." Shuri said, taking her hand.

"I really appreciate your concern, Miss Shuri, but my so-called dad has done a lot for me," Star Spider reasoned. "He teaches me a lot, keep me healthy, gives me a roof over my head, and his reasons of having me in home are more than that. In truth, he is just concerned of my safety. Even if he shows it and love differently. I just can't abandon the only family I have that has rescued me in the past."

"Honey, you need more people than just your dad. You need people your own age a life outside of home... You need to be able to make your own choices." Shuri replied.

"I know...Which is exactly why I became Star Spider. So I can go out, make my own choices, and interact with teens like Spidey. It's why I work hard to prove that I am a worthy hero. So I might, one day, hang out with the Web-Warriors and tell the one Spider I look up to everything. Because he has been through way worse than me. He was created to be a Slayer in destroying Spidey and the people that matter to him, but he made a choice not to be. If anyone could understand what I'm going through, it's him."

"Okay...I won't suggest you leaving. But I want you to promise me that if you ever need help or a place to run...you'll come here. Can you do that?" Shuri asked, placing a hand on Star Spider's cheek.

The female spider had her eyes closed, thinking about this offer. "...Okay. I promise,"

"Good. Now, I'll get the second shot. This has the nanites in it. They will heal the damage and take care of the damage done. I also have a spray that can help with that bruising." Shuri said, grabbing the next immunization.

Star Spider replied. "Thanks, Miss Shuri,"

"No problem. Now, hold still." Shuri then went about tending Star Spider's wounds.

Later...

Shuri was able to stabilize the wounds in Star Spider's ribcage. "It is done." She said.

Star sighed in relief, as she no longer felt the pain. "Thank you, Miss Shuri."

"Anytime," Shuri said. "Now I have a curious question. Why did Taskmaster and Kraven go after you? And what are these documents I found in your costume?"

That made the female spider nearly jump from that last question. "Oh! Well, to answer the first question, I can only guess that they're in need of new evil members for their league. I mean, I don't actually know, but it's a guess. As for the last question…They're for something else that I was in the middle of processing a rescue plan before interrupted by those two bad guys."

"These documents are for an adoption from an albino gorilla. Very rare." Shuri read the papers.

"I know. And unfortunately, he's being sold for adoption and going to be moved away from the zoo," Star explained, looking down in sadness while putting the suit back on.

"That poor creature," Shuri said.

"You don't know the half of it," Star muttered, her stingers slowly showing around her body. "I thought of doing something drastic by confronting the man who bought that gorilla for his selfish purposes to hunt down for sport or worse. But after the fight I had earlier, I'm not sure if it's a smart move anymore. I don't know how to fix this. I just…I can't let anything bad happen to him."

Star nearly cried when admitting that last part, putting her hands on her face in frustration.

Hearing the spider heroine out, Shuri then had an idea. "Return the documents back to the zoo. And do not worry. I will talk to my brother about this white gorilla. We might just be able to save him from hunting sport."

"Really? You mean it?" Star asked, looking at Shuri in surprise. "But you barely know me. How could you possibly trust me?"

"Because it is the right thing to do for someone's noble and selfess cause like yours, especially for a friend that you made that wouldn't harm you." Shuri explained.

Star blinked again, still disbelieving that Shuri would help a random hero on a personal mission. People like her and Scarlet Spider doing all of this for her.

Shuri smiled. "Everything will be okay. You were lucky Scarlet Spider and I are willing to help you."

"Oh, arachnids! I forgot about Scarlet!" Star exclaimed, making sure her suit was completely on properly. "Thanks again for your help, Miss Shuri,"

"Just Shuri is fine, Star," Shuri responded. " Be safe. And be careful."

"With Scarlet Spider around, I'll be fine," Star Spider assured.

"Godspeed Star Spider." Shuri said as Star leaves.

To Be Concluded...