At his vila hideout in the hills, the Rose was receiving some very worrying news from one of his contacts over the phone.
"Are you absolutely certain? I see. You did well to inform me. No, don't take any action yet. Just stand by for the present. I may contact you with further instructions later."
Putting down the phone, the concerned Rose turned around to face the waiting Johnston and Varley. "I have just been informed by one of our reliable informants that a young woman with blonde hair has been making inquires about a white Limousine registered to the 'Rose Import/Export Company'."
"Maybe someone spotted it outside those kids' apartment," suggested Varley, as he and Johnston exchanged anxious glances.
"I'd say they did far more than simply 'spot' it," said the Rose, rubbing his chin calculatingly. "The inquiring lady knew the California licence number. And from the description given to me, the young woman may be our 'friend', Doctor Gwen Stacy. This could mean a very serious problem for us. If she was able to trace us out here, then so might the police. Where is the car now?"
"Marko and Prowler are driving it," replied Johnston. "They're picking up some additional equipment from our drop-off point in Hollywood for the bomb."
"The moment they get back, I want you to go over the car very carefully. Check every last panel, gear, nut and bolt."
"You don't think this Stacy girl or one of her police buddies planted a bug on it, and used it to follow us out here, do you?" asked Varley, catching on fast to what the Rose was suggesting.
"Anything is possible," said the Rose coldly. "With this much at stake, we cannot be too cautious."
"We'll get to it, boss," promised Johnston. "By the way, has there been any response to the demands you sent to New York?"
The Rose gave a sinister chuckle. "Not yet, but then I don't expect such a swift answer. Much too soon. With my kind of proposal, I would imagine there will have to be some considerable discussion first."
Johnston gave a smirk. "Hah, I'd sure love to see their faces right now."
"Fifty Billion Dollars In Gold!" exploded Jean DeWolff in her office, as she recounted to Agent Sitwell the details of the demands that the Mayor of New York had just received. "Not one billion. Or even ten billion. This Rose guy, who has the bomb, wants us to pay him a fifty billion dollar ransom! Gah, I thought the Mayor was going to have a heart attack when he got the news."
"Well, this fella certainly doesn't beat about the bush, does he?" breathed Sitwell, almost admiring the sheer audacity of this mysterious master criminal.
"Yeah, he wants it delivered to a bank in Costa Rica," said Jean as she collapsed into her chair, feeling like the weight of the whole world was currently pressing down on her weary shoulders.
"But New York doesn't have that kind of money," pointed out Sitwell.
Jean gave an exasperated sigh. "It's not just New York. He's blackmailing the whole country!"
"Hmm, then perhaps your friend's theory about the President being the target holds some water after all."
"Have you contacted the President, advised that he should postpone this trip of his to Los Angeles?"
"I already tried," said Sitwell solemnly. "But he doesn't scare easily, and he won't allow himself to be intimidated by terrorists. Says that if he let every threat on his life be taken seriously, he'd never get any work done! He wants more solid evidence that the bomb actually is in California before he even thinks of changing his schedule. The government feels the same way, and I can almost guarantee they'll be even less willing to negotiate when they hear these outrageous demands."
"Oh terrific!" groaned Jean. "So the politicians are willing to sit by on their laurels and risk letting themselves, and countless civilians, get blasted to atoms! Well, I guess it is all up to Gwen to find the evidence we need to make them change their minds and take action."
Sitwell frowned. "I can't say I'm too happy that you've allowed two civilians to conduct unofficial investigations in Los Angeles, Captain. Are you absolutely certain that they are reliable?"
Jean DeWolff stood tall and firm, and looked Sitwell resolutely in the eye. "I can't say I know Miss Parker well enough to judge her character yet, Agent Sitwell. But Gwen Stacy is one of the smartest and most resourceful persons I've known, and is daughter to one of the finest men I've had the privilege of working under in the force. If anyone can find this bomb, it's Gwen."
Even as Jean was speaking, Gwen and Teresa were already hard at work searching for the bomb. Having rented themselves a Volkswagen car, they were currently scouring the streets of Hollywood for any sign of the White Limousine belonging to the Rose, and thanks to the signal being picked up on the tracking device 'lent' to Gwen, it seemed that they were on the right path.
"Looks like the odds of finding those guys aren't looking too bad," remarked Teresa, as she glanced down at the tracker sitting on top of Gwen's satchel bag, which had been wedged between the two front seats. She noted that the signal displayed on the tracker's screen indicated that the Limo was close to their own position.
"No, they're not looking too bad at all," agreed Gwen from behind the steering wheel, as her spider-sense began to pick up the tracer's signal as well. "In fact, I think we're getting warm."
As they turned around a bend, they saw it! The white Limo parked right in front of a recording building with the sign 'United Western Studios' placed on the top, and as the girls drew in closer, they could see two men emerge from the building and start to get into the car.
"That big guy is Man Mountain Marko," said Gwen. "I think I recognise the little guy with the red hair too. He's a cat burglar that the police were after a few years back."
"Maybe he's the Prowler guy who tried to kidnap you," wondered Teresa, as they saw the Limo start driving away. "Should we call the police?"
"No, let's tail them a bit first, see where they're going," said Gwen. "They might lead us to their boss and the bomb."
Trying to keep as discreet a distance between the two vehicles as possible, Gwen started following the Limo. At first, the shadow on the crook's tail went unnoticed as they turned a corner and went down a street. Then suddenly, the Limo increased speed and started to pull away from them fast!
"They must have spotted us!" realised Gwen. "Hold tight, Teresa! We're in for a bumpy chase!"
VROOOM!
Putting her foot to the pedal, Gwen sent the car rocketing down the road after the fleeing Limo, and Teresa had to hold on tight to prevent herself from being rocked about too much in her seat. The engine roared, and the gears and wheels wailed in protest, as Gwen impulsively picked up speed as much as she dared, determined not to lose sight of the fancy white car and its misbegotten occupants.
Almost neck-and-neck, the two vehicles whipped down the road, skidding past corner after corner as the Limo tried desperately to lose the rental pursuing it. No matter how hard Man Mountain Marko tried from behind the wheel, he simply not not shake off the Volkswagen that was gaining on them fast.
SCREEECH!
"Yikes! Careful, Gwen!" squeaked Teresa, as the Volkswagen swerved past another junction, leaving deep black tyre marks in the road. "Any faster, and you might cause us to flip over!"
"Don't worry, we've almost caught up with them," said Gwen, as the gap between the two vehicles got narrower and narrower.
"Yeah, but have you actually got a plan for what to do when we've caught them up?"
"Umm... I'll think of something!" said an abashed Gwen. The truth was, in the heat of the moment, that she was not sure what to do. The original plan had been simply to follow the Limo back to the Rose's hideout, but that was unlikely to happen now. Perhaps, if she could find someway to block the Limo's path and force its passengers to disembark...
Suddenly, a hidden compartment from underneath the rear of the Limo opened up, and a series of triangular metal spikes fell out, spreading themselves right across the road. Gwen quickly hit the brakes, but was just too late to prevent the Volkswagen from stopping in time.
BANG!
The car ran across the spikes like they were a bed of nails, the sharp points blowing the tyres like balloons and causing the vehicle to come to a screeching, juddering halt by the pavement.
"Oh great!" groaned Teresa, as she and Gwen clambered out and surveyed the damage, while the Limo drove off at a more leisurely pace. "Where did they get that car from, 'James Bond World'?"
"There's got to be some way we can get back on their tail," mused Gwen, glancing about the place for some inspiration. Her eyes lit up as she spotted a nearby rent-a-ride station, with some motorbikes placed elegantly out at the front on display. Quickly picking up her satchel with the tracker in, Gwen raced over to the guy in charge of the station, who was currently checking the bikes over.
"Hi there," said Gwen breathlessly. "Can I rent one of these? Our car broke down, and I, err, have a rehearsal to get to, like ten minutes ago!"
"Sure!" said the manager pleasantly, quickly holding out his iPad, well used to customers in a hurry. "These babies are all ready and fuelled up. If you could just show me your driver licence and details..."
Gwen quickly obliged, and within minutes, she had donned a crash helmet, jumped onto one of the bikes, and got the engine roaring into life, just as Teresa had hurried over to join them.
"Teresa, wait here!" instructed Gwen, and without waiting for an argument, she sped off down the road after the Limo.
"As if," snorted Teresa, before turning to the manager. "Say, have you got another helmet?"
Fortunately, the Limo had not moved beyond the range of the tracker, and as she raced down the road, Gwen soon spotted her quarry again. The bike she was riding was fast and moved like a dream, enabling her to catch up in no time at all. As the driver of the Limo realised that the vehicle's pursuer was back on their tail, he picked up speed again and turned violently around another series of corners, but Gwen managed to keep up with them, and it soon became evident that the Limo could not repeat its steel spike trick a second time. Gwen could feel her own heart pumping fast at the thrill of the chase, as both vehicles went off the main road and charged straight down a woodland area.
Swerving around another bend, the Limo crashed through a large wooden gate and disappeared past the trees. Slowly down her own speed, Gwen glanced down at the sign on the broken gate, which read 'STUDIO BACKLOT - NO ADMITTANCE'. Then, following the tracks that the wheels of the Limo had left in the dry mud ground, Gwen zoomed her way along the relevant path that the villains had taken, which emerged into a full-scale replica set of an old-cowboy town, just like the sort in those Spaghetti Western films Clint Eastwood did back in the sixties.
As Gwen glanced around the seemingly empty town square, her spider-sense was tingling urgently in her head, indicating that the occupants of the Limo were waiting in ambush, somewhere in the middle of this cowboy land. Switching off the motorbike's engine, she wheeled the cycle out of sight behind a barn, then, once she was certain that she was not being watched, began to get her costume out of her satchel...
A short distance behind, Teresa was racing down the woodland path on another rented motorbike. She had managed to spot Gwen earlier, close on the tail of the Limo, but she had momentarily lost sight of them both when they had all swerved off the main road. It had not been too difficult to get back on their track though, and upon reaching the broken gate, Teresa quickly realised that they must have gone into the middle of a outdoor studio set. Gathering up all her determination, she drove the bike down what she hoped was the right path...
Emerging from hiding, Spider-Woman stepped cautiously into the town square, glancing back and forth as she tried to establish with of these faux buildings the crooks were hiding in, the wood of the dwellings creaking ominously in the soft breeze. As she made her way slowly along, she came to a halt and moved into a fighting stance, as she saw Man Mountain Marko step out into the middle of the square some distance in front of her, a fierce snarl on his face.
"I don't know how you escaped getting splatted in New York, lady," he growled, rubbing his huge fists eagerly. "But Man Mountain Marko does not fail twice!"
"There has to be a first time for everything," Spider-Woman answered back at him, as the double doors of a nearby saloon bar flung wide open and the Prowler jumped out, decked out in his stolen costume again, his sharp metal claws outstretched and ready for fierce battle.
Moving side-by-side, Marko and the Prowler began to advance on Spider-Woman, who in turn started to move towards them, but before any of them could make a move, Teresa burst onto the scene with her motorcycle. Upon spotting what was happening, she hit the brakes, but the momentum from the bike's speed caused her to rush right past the surprised Spider-Woman, before sending her skidding to the ground, directly in front of the Prowler.
Eager to get his own back on the journalist who had humiliated him before, the Prowler rushed towards Teresa as she tried to disentangle herself from the bike and get away. Leaping into action, Spider-Woman cartwheeled herself forwards at full pelt and slammed her feet into the Prowler, knocking him away from Teresa. While the winded crook hit the dirt and tried to catch his breath, Spider-Woman hurried over to Teresa, helped her to her feet, and dragged her away from the villains.
"Run for it!" the webbed-wonder instructed the Parker girl, and she turned back to face Man Mountain Marko, who was charging right towards them. As Teresa reluctantly fled, Spider-Woman ducked and rolled through the large gap between the racing Marko's wide-spread legs, managing to get herself directly behind him.
FWAM!
Swiftly jumping back to her feet, Spider-Woman delivered a strong karate kick at Marko's back before he had a chance to slow himself, sending the super-strong muscleman flying through the air and crashing right through the sugar glass window of one of the town buildings, leaving him momentarily dazed.
Seeing his partner in crime getting taken down, the Prowler quickly recovered himself and sprinted towards Spider-Woman, intending to slice her to ribbons whilst her back was turned to him. But the wall-crawler's spider-sense warned her of the impending attack, and she leapt herself high up into the air, well away from the Prowler's sharp talons. As Spider-Woman landed onto a nearby balcony above, the astonished Prowler below crashed into one of the support beams, which broke under his weight as he hit the ground hard.
"Yoo-hoo! Up here, buster!" Spider-Woman called mockingly down to the masked villain, as she raced along the rooftops, intending to lead him as far away from Teresa as possible.
Pulling himself together, the Prowler watched as Spider-Woman disappeared through the top window of an apartment block, and he raced over to the entrance below, hurried up the main steps and wrenched the main door open. But before he could even step inside, the crime-fighter suddenly appeared in the opening as if from nowhere, and she leapt up, grabbed the top of the doorframe and swung herself forwards.
KAPOW!
Her feet smashed into the Prowler yet again, sending him tumbling down the steps to the bottom. Groggily, he tried to take aim with the blasters in his gauntlets, but Spider-Woman was prepared for such a move.
THWIP!
Firing out her webs, she managed to clog up the nozzles, preventing any further darts or other nasty surprises being fired her way.
"Lord, can't anything stop this girl?" the Prowler thought frantically to himself, as he lashed out again with his claws to defend himself. "Why in the world did I ever let the Rose talk me into getting involved in all this? If I don't take this lady down now, I'm sunk!"
Again and again, the Prowler swiped his claws at Spider-Woman as she came down to him, but each time, she dodged his talons with incredible speed and grace, bouncing back and forth, leading him further down the street, until they were both directly under the overhang of a sheriff's office.
Sudden terrible realisation sunk in as the Prowler realised that Spider-Woman was only toying with him, and was deliberately manoeuvring him towards a certain spot. Before he even had a chance to think of retreating, Spider-Woman fired a web-line at one of the overhang's main support beams, jumped clear, and pulled on the line with just a little of her fantastic strength.
CRASH!
The pole pulled free easily, and the whole overhang fell and collapsed upon the Prowler like a pack of cards! Waiting a moment for any sign of movement, of which there was none, Spider-Woman headed over and pulled the Prowler out from underneath the wreckage. He was not badly hurt, but he was definitely unconscious and out for the count.
As Spider-Woman quickly webbed up her foe, she heard a scream from nearby. Spinning around, she saw a frightened-looking Teresa standing in the open hatch at the top of one of the horse barns. It seemed that the journalist had chosen that particular spot to hide and use the high vantage point to observe the fight. Unfortunately, this had proven an unwise move, as Spider-Woman could also see that Man Mountain Marko had recovered himself, dashed in through the barn's open doorway directly underneath the hatch, and was now climbing up the ladder after Teresa!
Sprinting over to the barn entrance, Spider-Woman leapt up to the hatch above, and landed next to Teresa, just as Marko had reached the top of the ladder and the upper level of the barn. The web-spinner quickly delivered a strong punch which knocked the giant backwards, giving her enough time to grab Teresa, and together, they jumped off the end of the wooden ledge and landed on a soft stack of hay below in the centre of the barn. Taking hold of Teresa's hand, Spider-Woman pulled her out of the building and they ran with all speed across the town.
"Guess that wasn't a good hiding place to choose," said Teresa as they kept running. "So where are we going?"
"To find someplace where you'll be safe," said Spider-Woman, as they reached another building, this time an old-style bank. "Wait in there and keep out of sight."
As Teresa ducked into hiding, Spider-Woman crept cautiously into the open, waiting for Marko to make his next move. Suddenly, there came the terrific roaring sound of a car engine, and Spider-Woman just barely managed to roll out of the way in time before the White Limo, with Marko at the wheel, raced out of hiding, zoomed its way across the spot where she had been standing just a few seconds ago, and drove at top speed towards the exit, before disappearing from sight.
With a sigh, Spider-Woman decided it was time for her to pull off a disappearing act of her own, and she raced off to the point where she had hidden her bike and everyday clothes. She knew that there was no way that she could catch up with the escaping Marko now, so she just had to hope that she would be able to pick up the hunt again later.
When Teresa finally decided it was safe enough to come out of hiding, she was relieved when she saw Gwen speeding down towards her on her bike.
"I was looking all over for you," said Gwen as she pulled up by Teresa and took off her helmet. "I'm afraid I lost the Limo. I must have taken a wrong turning."
"You missed all the excitement!" said Teresa cheerfully. "Spider-Woman was here. She was terrific! She saved me from that Mountain Marko guy and she took out the Prowler too!"
She gestured to the webbed-up Prowler, who was grumbling and rolling about on the ground irritably.
"That's great!" smiled Gwen. "We can hand him over to the police, then we can get back on the Limo's track. It can't have gotten too..."
She stopped, and the smile faded on her face when she saw a small spider-shaped device on the road, which she quickly picked up.
"Oh no," groaned Teresa, upon seeing the device in Gwen's hand. "Is that...?"
Gwen nodded glumly. "Yes, it's the transmitter that Spider-Woman planted on the Limo. It must have shaken loose. Now we have no way of tracking the bomb down!"
TO BE CONTINUED!