(The following morning, a safehouse somewhere in NYC...)
The inside of the safehouse for the Kravinoffs seemed quiet. Tidy and clean rooms, unoccupied. Only a little noise came from one particular room. The door was labelled with the word "INTEL" all in uppercase.
On one of the walls hung a bulletin board. Photos of Black Cat and the Spider-Men pinned on it, along with sticky notes next to them. Closeby there were open notebooks on a wooden table, full of scribbled words on the pages regarding the Kravinoffs' targets.
A note said, "For the past few weeks, no attacks on Kingpin safehouses by the trio. No apparent Black Cat activity. Yet, the Spider-Men still attack by helping the cops."
"Current priority targets: Spider-Men. May be able to lure Black Cat out with them in danger. If not, she'll be the final target," said another note.
On the desk, there was a laptop whizzing. Sergei sat there with Dmitri standing next to him, reviewing security camera footage of Shocker and Tombstone's safehouse from a few weeks ago.
"W-What now?" an armed man stuttered in the footage.
"Kill that bughead obviously! What else!?" another man replied, before the two fired at something. Soon, they stopped but kept their shotguns trained at the target from a safe distance.
"Is... Is he dead?" the first man turned to the other, asking for confirmation. But all he got was a shrug.
When they checked the target though, something was amiss. A distorted, animalistic growl caught the men's attention and startled them.
"Oh shit..." the second man's eyes widened in horror.
A tall, imposing masculine grey figure sprang out of a room and turned toward the two men in a hallway. The footage only showed his back, so Sergei switched it to another camera from a different angle. The picture there horrified him and Dmitri, no matter if they'd watched it before.
A humanoid monster with eight eyes like a spider and long fangs stared at the two guards with a grin. They froze in fear, speechless. Before they could regain their wits, he came close and grabbed them with his huge hands, growling at them.. The men began to scream and dropped their shotguns.
"Let...go! LET US GO!"
"SOMEONE. ANYONE! HELP- HELP US!"
The monster smacked the two men's heads together, knocking them out. Then he threw them onto the floor and webbed them up. At last, he glared and grinned at a security camera.
Sergei paused the footage, looking at the man-spider with admiration. "The Scarlet Spider... He is a ferocious beast. And never stops to impress me."
Dmitri turned to Sergei. "You're saying that as if you want him as your target."
"I do. That spider can bring a thrilling hunt for me. And I'm looking forward to see what he can do," said Sergei.
The other Kravinoff nodded. "Very well, Master. So the Black Cat and Spider-Man will be my targets. Although considering the trio are in a state of disarray, I suppose it'll be easy to take them all out."
"Indeed," Sergei smirked. "But we're only going to hunt them for who they are, which is more valuable than their civilian identities. And New York will be devastated when they learn their heroes are dead."
Thinking of the trio, Dmitri clenched his fist with anger. "This will be a chance for us to exact our revenge for Shocker and Tombstone's defeat, along with the others. Those three shamed the men we'd trained, damaged Kingpin's organization..."
"And they will pay for it," Sergei said. "Kingpin's men couldn't focus on many things because of the war with Hammerhead and the presence of the trio. Which is unfortunate. But now, that can be rectified with us hunting them. And today, the hunt starts."
Hearing the word "hunt," a thought popped up in Dmitri's mind. A desire to hunt the targets not as a servant and a master but as brothers. But he looked away in sadness as it reminded him of the past assassinations he did with Sergei. From all of those, the feeling of disappointment would always knock his heart's doors. As Dmitri knew what his master's would be. Yet a part of him never stopped wishing it would change.
He took a deep breath and turned to Sergei, his face trembling in fear. "M-Master? May I ask something?"
"Ask away," he replied.
"I- I know mustn't ask this, given our history..." Dmitri stopped for a bit, hesitating. But in the end, he continued. "But can we...be brothers?"
Such question prompted Sergei to turn around with a glare, making the other Kravinoff back away in fear. "This foolish question again...!" His hand curled up into a fist as he got out of his seat and approached Dmitri. "Let me remind you. You...are no brother of mine. Do you understand, bastard child?"
That nickname stung Dmitri's heart. It silenced him and all he could do was nod.
"Enough of this," said Sergei in a frustrated tone. "We should stop wasting time. The hunt will be done this evening. So we must begin preparing and planning. If need be, do another review." With that, he exited the room to prepare his gear.
Alone in the room, Dmitri stood there weakly, looking down in a dejected manner. "A brother... Is it too much to ask for?" he sighed, before following Sergei to do the same.
A/N: I hope I've done the villains justice, especially in this chapter. Because there will be more of them in the future. And looks like a fight between heroes and villains are gonna come in the next and final chapter of part 1. I hope you'll enjoy it! Cuz it took me a lot of time to write it while dealing with thesis lol. Anyways, lemme know your thoughts thru the comments. Feel free to follow and favorite me and this fic too to stay updated!