Remnant's Mightiest Heroes!

by I Am The Prophet

A day came unlike any other when Remnant found itself conquered by an alien force. On that day, eight students escape seeking a way to save their people. On a world filled with the universe's mightiest heroes.

15. Hunters and Hunted Part 2

Remnant's Mightiest Heroes

Chapter 11: Hunters and Hunted Part 2

[~][~]

A few hours ago, …

"Absolutely not!" Yang shouted after Jaune explained his plan. He was right, she did not like it one bit. "We are not using Blake as bait!"

"Did you forget about me!" Doreen shouted. Yang sent her an apologetic look before turning back to Jaune.

"I mean seriously, using our friends as bait?"

"Gwen also had the right idea," Jaune said defensively. "Think about it, Kraven only shows himself whenever he's after someone he considers prey. However, if he sees the rest of us are after him, he'll vanish back into the hole he calls home and not surface. If that happens, we may never have another chance."

"Are you sure it's because you want to rescue Gwen?" Yang accused.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Jaune asked. "I never even met her!"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe it's because every song on your playlist is a chick!"

"Yang, that's enough!" Blake shouted, silencing her. Yang looked at her in surprise. "Jaune's right, this may be our only shot. Are you saying you would rather risk the lives of who knows how many people he captured over ours?"

"Did you for—oh," Doreen was about to shout until she realized that Blake didn't exclude her.

"So, the only option is to follow Gwen's lead," Rayshaun said. "Get Kraven to capture two of our own so that we track him back to his base of operations. Then we can call SHIELD for back up."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Daisy said. She turned to Doreen and Blake. "Make sure you two stay alive. Okay?"

"We will."

"Alright then, let's get to work."

---

Present time, Unknown Location…

Blake and Doreen groaned as they stirred back into consciousness.

"Are you alright?" Doreen asked.

"I'm fine," Blake said as she got up. She checked her wrist to make sure Gambol Shroud is still tied to her. "When all of this is over, I'm going to have to install a rebreather mask into my suit."

"No kidding," Doreen said. "You guys may have an aura to protect you, but it still has a lot of flaws."

"No need to mention it," Blake said with a shudder at the thought of a biochemical weapon. Throughout Bootcamp, they had the luxury of looking into the major weaknesses of aura. She looked around the area. "Where are we?"

"Central Park," Doreen said, much to Blake's surprise. "We're in Central Park. I've been around this place enough with my friends to know it when I see it."

"All this time, he was right here," Blake said. "Right underneath our noses."

"In plain sight," Doreen breathed. "The oldest villain trick in the book…or, one of the oldest villain tricks in the book. There's a lot of them and we didn't even read it."

"That reminds me," Blake said, remembering the look-alike back at the abandoned mall. "Who was that other guy? He looked just like Kraven."

"That's what I wanted to know," Doreen said. "Could he be a genetic clone of Kraven? Could he be his twin brother? Oh, this is so confusing!"

"We'll worry about that later," Blake said, turning. "For now, we should—DUCK!"

They dove to the side as something flew past them and landed smack dab against a tree. It is a man wearing a red and black suit with a spider symbol emblazoned on it. His mask is a bandana with two strands flowing from the back, leaving his mustache exposed.

"Let's see," Doreen shuffled through her cards. Since they can't contact the outside world, it probably means that they can't access the Datacrux from Blake. "Anton Miguel Rodriquez. Also known as the Tarantula. Long story short, he's a professional criminal and a guy in a suit. But he's still deadly."

"Leave him to me."

They turned to the source of the voice. Out of the shadows came a girl their age wearing a black suit with a white spider symbol. She carried a bag over her shoulder. They knew who she was from the photos back at Wilson's Auto. The only difference from the picture is that her suit looked worse for wear with the tears and smears of dirt. The same girl dropped the bag and walked towards the dazed supercriminal and lifted him.

"You'll thank me later," Spider-Girl said as she tossed him up into the air and fired a web blast at him. The webbing restrained him to a tree branch high above the ground. "As long as you keep quiet, they won't be able to find you."

Spider-Girl then turned her attention to the two watching her. "You guys must be new. Names?"

"You haven't heard of me?" Doreen asked. "I'm Squirrel Girl! You know, the unbeatable Squirrel Girl? Ghost-Spider may have mentioned me?"

"Ghost-Spider?" Spider Girl's eyes widened in surprise. "You know Ghost-Spider?"

"She's one of the reasons why we are here," Blake said, drawing Spider Girls' attention. "After you got captured, Ghost-Spider let herself get captured to rescue you."

"She's here?!" Spider-Girl shouted.

"Yes, she's here," Blake said. "She was worried that you guys got done in by Kraven. Any friend would've done the same thing."

"I see…" Spider-Girl said. Then she realized that she didn't know her name. "And you are?"

"I'm the Shadow," Blake introduced. "Before you ask, yes, I'm new to the superhero gig."

Spider-Girl raised an eyebrow.

"Not Cat-Girl or Black Cat?"

Blake's eyes narrowed. "I'd rather avoid naming myself after my ears, thank you. Besides, from what I head, Black Cat is already taken."

"Let's just say that she's sensitive around the subject," Doreen told Spider-Girl. She got the message and dropped the subject.

"Anyway, we'd better get out of here," She said as she hefted the bag over her shoulder. Blake had a suspicion that it's made of webbing. "We don't want to be here when the Hunter-Bots show up."

"The what?"

Blake's ears perked up to the sound of machines. From the increasing volume, they were closing in on their position.

"I assume that the ones coming from there are the Hunter-Bots?" Blake asked, pointing to the direction. Out of the bushes and foliage came two robots roughly the same size as Kraven. Their metal chassis is outlined with red with a design similar to Kraven's lion head coat. To complete the similarity, their faces are the same as Kraven's. They all aimed energy rifles at them.

"Run!" Spider-Girl shouted. They quickly ran as they opened fire on them.

"Why are we running?" Doreen asked in between breaths. "We can take those chrome domes!"

"We can't!" Spider-Girl shouted. "I'll explain later! We need to get to somewhere safe!"

"What about the others?" Blake asked. "Spy-D and Spider-Man? Where are they?"

"I and Spy-D came for supplies," Spider-Girl answered. "We got separated so I went to look for him. Then I ran into Tarantula and you know the rest. As for Spider-Man…"

"LOOK OUT! WILD RHINO INCOMING!"

Everyone turned to the direction the voice came from and dodged as a gray behemoth charged towards them. It is a large man in an armored suit. The helmet has two horns fashioned on it. No need to guess who this man is.

"Get off me!" Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA Rhino shouted as he tried to buck the person on his back off. They held on for dear life from yellow threads wrapped around the torso. Hanging on for dear life is Spy-D. Like Spider-Girl, his costume is torn at some places, exposing dark skin.

"So, you can kill me?" Spy-D shouted over the bucking. "All for some supplies? Sorry Rhino, no way! Not sorry!"

"Spy-D!" Spider-Girl called.

"Give me a second here!" Spy-D shouted. He pulled himself onto his back and planted his hand on his back. A spark later, then Rhino spasmed as yellow electricity coursed throughout his body. A few moments later, Spy-D ceased his attack and got off him. Rhino stood for a moment, then with a few stumbling steps, he fell to the ground.

"Don't worry, a blast like that would've dazed him," Spy-D said as he walked back to the group. "He'll be out for a while. I later found out that it's more effective on people with genetic alterations."

"What was that?" Doreen asked.

"I call it my venom blast."

"I thought spiders shot webs, not electricity," Blake pointed out.

"I'm a special case," Spy-D said as he grabbed the bag of supplies, he dropped. "Let's get out of here. I spotted some of the hunter-bots on Rhino's tail. Let's get out of here!"

Suddenly, they heard a crash behind them. They turned around to see a Hunter-Bot impaled by a barbed tail. The owner of the said tail is a man in a dark green armored suit with a black underskin suit, with vermillion optic lenses. His hands had three fingers on each hand, two claws on each foot, and a long extensible tail with a stinger. Next to him are the remains of more Hunter-Bots.

"Macdonald 'Mac' Gargan," Doreen read his card. "Also known as the Scorpion."

"Scorpion!" Spy-D shouted with vehemence, much to the surprise of Doreen and Blake. "Do you realize what you have done?"

"It's called survival Spy-D," Scorpion retorted. "There's only one way of getting out of here and it's either us or them. You chose them."

Scorpions tail coiled behind him. The heroes got into fighting stances as he launched himself thirty feet into the air. He came down at them hard, tail poised to strike. But before he got close to them, he was suddenly yanked back. All eyes see a string of web attached to the bulbous stinger on his tail. As the Scorpion is slammed to a tree, a voice spoke.

"Miss me?"

Scorpion glared at Ghost-Spider as she held the string of webbing. Her costume is scuffed in the dirt, but she looked okay. She was glaring at the supervillain. "I know that it's been a short while that you tried to kill me, but I figured we bonded. Being in the same animal kingdom and all."

Scorpion roared and grabbed the web string and yanked her towards him. As she approached, he swiped a clawed hand at her to which she dodged with a backflip.

"Guess not." She said as she aimed her arms at him in midair. She fired twin streams of webbing at him. They wrapped around him, pinning his arms. But with a grunt of effort, he broke free of them and aimed his stinger at her. His stinger glowed blue as it fired a blast of electricity. Ghost Spider leaped and twisted to avoid the blasts as they scorched the grass.

"You can shoot lightning bolts now?" Ghost-Spider said. "I'm shocked that you aren't using acid! You know, like an actual scorpion? Although that gives me a bolt of brilliance! Hah! I'm so full of these!"

The onlookers watched as she fought against the scorpion. Blake was groaning at the quips that she was making.

"She reminds me of Ignite," Blake said. "Is she always like this?"

"Try dealing with two of them," Spider-Girl commented.

"Oh, come on," Doreen said. "Her puns aren't that bad!"

Ghost Spider dodged another blast and slingshot herself into the air. Scorpion looked up with a confident smirk and aimed his tail at her. As his tail charged up another blast, Ghost-Spider shifted her position and dived towards him. Just before she landed, she grabbed a hold of his tail and aimed it towards him. Too late to change his aim, the tail proceeded to fire an electric blast into him. The Scorpion spasmed and fell unconscious. Ghost Spider stood in triumph.

"Did you know that in some cases, the spider wins against the scorpion?" Ghost Spider asked as she clapped the dirt off her hands. "I believe this is one of them."

"Ghost Spider!" Gwen turned to see her friends.

"Spy-D! Spider-Girl!" Gwen rushed over to her fellow spiders. "Thank god you are alright! I was worried that Kraven—"

"Excuse me?" Doreen asked with her hands on her hips. "Don't you have anything to say to us?"

"Squirrel Girl?" Ghost Spider blinked. "And…who are you?"

She directed the last part at Blake.

"The Shadow," Blake introduced. "We didn't get to meet yesterday, but I and my friends saw you took out Mr. Negative."

"Mr. Negative?" Gwen became perplexed until it was replaced with realization. "Wait…I remember. You were one of those—"

"Don't change the subject!" Doreen marched up to Ghost Spider and glared straight into her eyes, making her flinch. "Do you know how worried we've been for the past few weeks?! What possessed you to go after Kraven without us?! And don't even think about using the 'I didn't want to endanger you' excuse! It's really old! It's really, REALLY old unless you are an old lady!"

"Well…I…uh…" Gwen stammered. Then her shoulders slumped as she hanged her head in resignation with a sigh. "I'm sorry Squirrel Girl."

"You're not getting off that easy! Wait till the others show up!"

"I hate to interrupt your little reunion," Spider-Girl shouted. "But we got to go! Those Hunter-bots are right behind us!"

"Right!" Gwen shouted. "Let's get out of here!"

"What about them?" Blake pointed at the unconscious forms of the two supervillains. Spy-D answered by sending out energy threads that wrapped around them. With tremendous effort, he lifted them into the air. Ghost Spider and Spider-Girl fired web blasts at them and restrained them to trees.

"I'm hitting the gym after this," Spy-D groaned, rubbing his arms. Together, they ran. In the spider's case, they fired streams of webbing and swung through the forest. Blake used her weighted ribbon to swing as well. Doreen leaped after them.

"Hold on a sec!" Gwen shouted as they traveled. "Where's Spidey? And to avoid confusion, I mean Spider-Man! I thought he'd be with you guys!"

Spy-D and Spider-Girl looked at each other.

"Well, right about now he's…"

---

"…trapped in a cell by a crazed hunter."

Peter Parker AKA Spider-Man is in a pickle. After getting an SOS from Black Cat, he went to investigate. In the process, he got captured by Kraven to take part in this sick game of his. Then he had the luxury of running into a swarm of Vermin. The next moment, he is in a cell with a shackle around his neck.

"I've lost count of how long we've been here," Dr. Curt Connors said. He stood wearing only purple shorts. Unlike the web-slinger, he was not shackled. To the rest of the world, he was known as The Lizard. He is in human form thanks to the inhibitor chip implanted on his neck.

"You reckon we should ask for a clock?" Peter asked. "Or is the answer the same as when I asked for a shower and a change of clothing?"

"I see your sense of humor hasn't diminished during our imprisonment," Connors commented with a chuckle.

"What can I say? It's not every day we get trapped in a cage."

Then the atmosphere became depressed as they remembered their situation. With his spider strength, Peter could easily remove the shackle, but Kraven had it so that it will explode if it was tampered with. While in human form, Connors can't do anything much.

"Do you think that he's alright?"

"I saw Black Cat with him," Spider-Man said. "They'll be alright."

His son, William Connors. He killed him when he became the Lizard. When his son was resurrected, it brought him joy. They had been living underground for a while, making sure to stay away from the surface. But his son disobeyed him and went, thus getting captured in the process. Felicia, AKA Black Cat, managed to get him away from Kraven thanks to his spider friends. But every so now, Kraven will show up to try and kill them. It was only thanks to Felicia's bad luck powers that they were able to escape him. But they knew that it was only a matter of time before Kraven caught up with them. The worst part is that their cell has a television screen that's always on.

"But for how long?" Connors asked, staring at the screen. "Every day, Kraven tortures us with that man hunting them. Every time he comes close…"

"That won't happen," Peter declared firmly. He stood up, the shackle clanging. "I promise Dr. Connors, we are going to get out of here. If only we could get this off without blowing me up."

"About that," Connor said. "I may have an idea to get us out of here."

"What?"

"You're going to have to trust me on this…"

Before he could continue, the intercom came to life.

"Are you enjoying yourselves? I hope that you've been helping yourselves to the food I've been giving you."

They knew that voice anywhere. It was from the same man keeping them prisoner for nearly a month if they are correct.

"Kraven!" Peter called out in faux joy. "We've missed you, buddy! Quick question, do you think you can change the channel to where we can see your butt get kicked?"

"You haven't dropped your witty tongue Spider," Kraven spoke. "I came because I have some news to share. If you look to the screen, you might find another surprise waiting for you."

Spider-Man looked to the screen. His eyes were wide when he saw his friends engaged with criminals and Hunter-Bots. He saw two others with them, Squirrel Girl and another he didn't recognize. But what got his attention was that Gwen is smacking around Scorpion by the tail. That means she's here too.

"Ghost-Spider…" Spider-Man whispered. "Not you too…"

"There is only one way to stop me Spider," Kraven said over the intercom. "All you have to do is submit to the beast. That is when you'll be stronger."

With that, the feed went dead. There was only one reason that Kraven had put them here. It was to make them see them die. All of their loved ones.

---

"Alright," Gwen said. "Give it to us straight. What happened with you guys?"

The heroes sat within the treetops on a web. Before Gwen arrived, the spiders had already set this up during their captivity. Despite the resemblance, none of the Hunter-Bots have Kravens tracking abilities. He knows the one thing most people do: lookup. It was how they managed to avoid the Hunter-Bots for so long. After they rested and ate, they got down to business and told them everything that happened in their month of captivity.

Doreen had taken the liberty of laying out the cards of the captured people.

"Are these things accurate?" Spy-D asked as he examined one with the title White Rabbit. "How does the artist know these things?"

"Beats me," Doreen shrugged. "Anyway, are we going to talk about what happened to you guys?"

"Of course, Spider-Girl?"

Spider-Girl cleared her throat.

"When animal-themed criminals started vanishing, we went to investigate," Spider-Girl began. "It was supposed to be the two of us, but Spider-Man insisted on coming despite not feeling well."

"He was sick?" Blake asked. "Why didn't he take a break?"

"That's because he's Spider-Man," Gwen answered with the hint of a smile beneath her mask. "Nothing will keep him down as long as someone needs his help. Didn't he learn after what happened last time?"

"Apparently, he did not," Spider-Girl groaned. "Anyway, he got an SOS from a friend and went to go help. After that, we lost contact with him. History repeats itself."

"Kraven got to him," Blake guessed. "What happened last time?"

"Long story," Spider-Girl said. "As for your previous comment, yes and no. But we'll get to that later. After he went missing, we began looking for him. Then we got captured."

"When we came to, we found ourselves in Central Park," Spy-D explained. "We reunited with Spider-Man and the other guys he caught. To prevent us from escaping, Kraven set up a forcefield, making it easy for everybody..."

"…To kill each other," Blake finished. This reminded her of a book she read. The plot is that the main character is one of twelve tributes sent to fight to the death for scraps of food. "But wait, how did anybody not notice this?"

"It's called hiding in plain sight," Spider-Girl replied. "That or he has concealment tech covering the place."

"Great. How did he get all of this technology?"

"From what I guess, connections," Spider-Girl snorted. "To whoever has a sick mind like Kraven. Someone with a high intellect judging by the technology at their disposal."

"Why is he doing this? Why would he kidnap you?"

"It's because he believes that we disrespect the beast we represent," Spy-D said sardonically. He pointed to the spider on his chest. "Because we don't act like animals, we're being hunted like animals. He sees us as unworthy to be the animals we represent. To punish us, he got a lot of millionaire hunter wannabes to participate with the latest hunting technology he acquired."

"The Hunter-Bots," Blake surmised. "Kraven's party guests are operating those robots."

"We did some digging," Spy-D said. "We found out that if any of them get destroyed, the guys on Kraven's party list hit the bucket."

"So that's why you didn't want us to destroy them," Doreen said with a shudder with Blake mirroring her. They felt glad that they listened to the warning. The last thing they want is someone's death on their hands. "But why would Kraven want his hunters killed?"

"He calls it 'penance' for the hunting they did," Spider-Girl said with a snort. "That and he believes that they are unworthy to become hunters. Considering that he also hunted animals, I find it hypocritical."

"No arguments about that," Blake growled. "What happened next?"

"Spider-Man went to confront Kraven," Spider-Girl said. "He told us to get the other guys to stop destroying the Hunter-Bots. Easier said than done thanks to Vulture."

"Adrian Toomes?" Blake asked. She picked up the Vultures card. Former electronics engineer that utilizes high-tech artificial wings to fly at very high speeds and commit crimes. He had a beak-like mouthpiece that helped earn his namesake. He served as one of Spider-Man's deadliest foes.

"He got this idea that to get out of here we have to destroy a lot of Hunter-Bots," Spy-D said grimly. He tapped five more cards. "The top dogs of the Vultures army are called the Savage Six. Kind of like the Sinister Six, but a little more aggressive in killing. Rhino, Tarantula, Stegron the Dinosaur Man, King Cobra, and Scorpion. Thanks to them, a lot of people have died. Hunters and Hunted."

"Damn," Blake cursed as she read them through.

Aleksei used to be an enforcer for the Russian mob. Seduced by promises of wealth and power, he volunteered for an experimental combat suit. The result is that the suit is grafted to his skin, modeled after the hide after the rhinoceros. The suit provided enhanced strength and durability, and the horns are an effective weapon should he charge.

Tarantula, otherwise known as Anton Miguel Rodriquez, was a revolutionary in the South American country of Devaldia. His actions reminded Blake of Adam Taurus, especially when he was expelled for murdering a security guard in cold blood. The Devaldian government took notice of him and gave him the role of Tarantula, a government-backed costumed agent. He was used against his former allies until his violent streak got the better of him when he killed a guard. Disavowed by the government, he fled South America and began living in New York illegally.

Dr. Vincent Stegron, ironically Stegron the Dinosaur Man, was an assistant to Dr. Curtis Connors on a project for SHIELD that used dinosaur tissue from the Savage Land. Obsessed with the Lizard experiments, he stole the dinosaur extract and fled to the Savage Land. He injected himself with his version of the Connors Formula, with stegosaurus DNA, and turned himself into a Dinosaur man. Thanks to his new abilities, he was able to lead an army of dinosaurs to overrun Brooklyn if Spider-Man hadn't stopped him.

Piet Voorhees became the second King Cobra after his uncle Klaus Voorhees injected him with the same mutagenic serum that gave him his abilities. Like his uncle, Piet became a high-level international mercenary. He has performed operations in Southeast Asia, Bosnia, Central Asia, and Chechnya.

MacDonald "Mac" Gargan, also known as the Scorpion. He became a supervillain by an experiment bankrolled by Jameson. That last bit made Blake dislike the CEO of the Daily Bugle even more. Sadistic and cruel, he has become wanted for multiple accounts of attempted murder, first-degree murder, robbery, and kidnapping. His cybernetic tail has a poisonous stinger like his name's sake. The toxin can be injected or hurled at his victims. Like the others, he is one of Spider-Man's deadliest enemies.

"Vulture has assembled a deadly crew," Doreen whistled.

"We managed to save the hunters by restraining them in places where the Six can't find them. However, I expended my web fluid, so I had to resort to my energy threads."

"Not me," Gwen said. "My web-shooters can trap moisture from the air to create my web fluid. So, you don't have to worry about me running out."

Everyone became silent, mostly from Spy-D and Spider-Girl. Gwen looked at everyone as if she was asked a question she didn't know. "Umm…did I say something wrong?"

"You mean to tell me," Spy-D said slowly. "That you have web-shooters that can produce their webbing and we are stuck using cartridges?"

"Nobody ever asked," Gwen said. "Plus, you have your energy threads. I don't see why you don't use them all the time instead of the web-shooters Spider-Man gave you."

"Did you forget about me?" Spider-Girl asked before an argument could break out. "My webs are bio-organic. But without proper nutrition, they can run dry. Fortunately, Kraven had the brains to send supplies every so often. The trouble is that it incites us to fight for it."

"That sicko…" Blake growled. Then she realized they have yet to ask the obvious question about the fourth spider. "What happened to Spider-Man?"

"Our last contact with him was that he was shouting about running into Vermin and then we heard a shrieking," Spider-Girl said, pointing to the rat villains' card with a shudder. "He was hiding in the sewers when Kraven captured him. He would… let's just say that he lets his animal instincts take over."

Blake nearly gagged at the thought. "Any plans to rescue him?"

"We tried breaking in," Spy-D said. "But we encountered Vermin at the complex Kraven is holding Spider-Man each time. By the way, somebody had the genius idea to clone him several times, which is how Spider-Man got overwhelmed so easily. Then there's also the fact that Kraven keeps trying to kill us. I swear, it's like he's in two places at once…"

"Wait," Doreen said suddenly as she remembered their fight at the mall. "I completely forgot to mention. We saw two of Kraven before we got captured."

"That's probably the last son of Kraven," Spider-Girl suddenly said.

"The last son of Kraven?" Blake asked.

"That explains why he looked so much like Kraven!" Doreen said with a gasp. Then she frowned. "But I didn't hear anything about him having a son. How did that happen?"

Spy-D turned to Spider-Girl and nodded. Spider-Girl continued the explanation.

"While Spy-D here looked for Spider-Man, I did some investigating of my own. I found Kraven's daughter Anastasia Kravinoff. Though she's claimed to have cast off that name."

"Disowning her father?" Doreen asked. "Why?"

"Because of something he did," Spider-Girl said with distaste. "Because he couldn't bear to have a woman carry on his mantle, he traveled to Wundagore Mountain and forced the High Evolutionary…"

"Here's his card," Doreen whispered to Blake as she passed on a Supervillain Card to her.

"…to create 87 clones of himself. To which he called his sons."

"He cloned himself?"

"Yep. After she disowned him, Kraven took his sons to the Savage Land and trained them everything he knew. Then he sent them out to prove themselves. One however deemed his brothers weak and unworthy. So, he hunted and…" Spider-Girl grimaced. "Presented their skulls to Kraven."

Those words horrified Doreen and Blake.

"So much for brotherly love," Doreen said grimly. "No pun intended."

"He killed his brothers?" Blake exclaimed in disgust.

"They say the most dangerous animal is man," Spider-Girl said darkly. "Kraven admired him for his ruthlessness and declared him his heir. His first mission was to catch Spider-Man for an elaborate plan."

"I take it it's this Great Hunt?"

"Yes," Spy-D said. "We think there is something more to this. Kraven's taken only Spider-Man and Dr. Connors, prisoner. There has to be a plan Kraven has for them."

"We'll find out once we rescue them," Blake said, drawing their attention. "Ghost-Spider, Ms. Marvel said you had a portal device?"

Gwen nodded and held out a wrist.

"I was going to use this to get us out of here," Gwen said. "Turns out Kraven had someone smart enough to prevent that from happening. From what I guess, he had some kind of dimensional disruptor. However," Gwen became conspiratorial. "The good news is that the disruptor doesn't prevent me from opening portals inside of the barrier. That was how I was able to catch up with Scorpion. Meaning we can get to Kraven pass the Vermin clones."

"Good enough for me," Blake tapped the emblem on her suit. It turned from white to black, blending in with the darkness of the night.

"Let's get going."

"Quick question," Spy-D said. "What do we do about the Savage Six? We can't have them wrecking more robots."

"Don't worry, we've got that covered," Blake turned to Doreen. "Right Squirrel Girl?"

"Found a squirrel!" Doreen chirped. "The little guy was hiding in a bird's nest to avoid Kraven when he was cleaning the park up. He'll get the message to them when they get here. As long as we clear the park for his friends. I have a good mind to call him Monkey Joe the Second. I can't call him Junior because they aren't related."

"What happened to the other two?"

"Dead."

"I'm sorry."

"What are you guys talking about?" Spider-Girl asked.

"Let's just say that we took a leaf out of your book Ghost-Spider," Blake said, looking at the spider with a smirk. Gwen looked confused before realizing what she meant. The Faunus couldn't see underneath her mask, but she could tell she was smiling.

"Oh, I think we are going to get along just fine."

---

"So, they got all of the supplies," Toomes said. The Savage Six have gathered before their leader.

It had been only been so long since the war for survival. Seeing this, the Vulture had a fortress constructed to keep out the Hunter-Bots while they conduct their plans. They survived this long because he knew what had to be done. What needed to be sacrificed. Like Gibbon.

Yet the spiders keep interfering.

"Yes," Tarantula said. "The Spiders got to the supplies before us. We tried to get them, but they fought us off."

"Spy-D treated me like a rodeo bull!" Rhino shouted. "I couldn't get him off until he shocked me!"

"You're all a bunch of sissies," Scorpion sneered. "At least I managed to take down a spider."

"Easssy for you to sssay," A oranged anthropomorphic stegosaur hissed. "You got your asss handed to you by Ghossst-Ssspider! Oh, wait, wasssn't ssshe the one you beat?"

"You want to take it someplace else?" Scorpion threatened. His stinger hovered above his head. Stegron glared at him as if challenging him.

"Enough, both of you!" Toomes ordered before a fight could breakout. They all fell silent. "Nobody was expecting another spider to show up. Or Ghost Spider for that matter. She's as annoying as the wall-crawler we know."

"So, what do we do now?" Rhino asked.

"While we've made significant progress clearing out the Hunter-Bots, it's clear that the spiders are hindering our efforts," the Vulture declared. "Therefore, we must take them out."

His crew whooped with joy at hearing those words. The chance to take down the people they hated the most once and for all.

"What about the Spider-Man?"

"We'll keep the others alive as hostages," Vulture declared. "We'll use them to draw him out. Once he's gone, we will dispose of them."

Just then, they felt the earth shake. The Savage Six stumbled and almost tripped except for Toomes. Due to prolonged use of his electromagnetic wing harness, he can hover his body even without it.

"What was that?" Rhino called out.

"Feels like an earthquake!" King Cobra called out.

"An earthquake? Here?" Vulture glared at the ground below them. "There was no mention of such a thing!"

---

"How much further?!" Yang shouted. Her hands are pressed into her ears to block out the deafening noise.

"We should be underneath the field area of the Planetary Defense Shield!" Riri shouted over the noise. "Just a few meters more and we should be inside!"

"I think my ears are going to burst!" Weiss cried out with her hands pressed to her ears as well.

"That's just how my powers work!" Daisy shouted, keeping her palms facing forward. Waves of seismic energy pulsated against the earth, making bits of rock crumble to dust before them. "If you think that's bad, wait till you hear Screaming Mimi!"

"Who?"

The heroes managed to find where Kraven is keeping his prisoners. Thanks to Squirrel Girl, Tippy-Toe organized several of her friends to track Kraven as he brought their friends to Central Park. Riri and Ruby can build tracers with the same size and shape as the little acorn on Tippy-Toes collar.

According to Riri's scans, Kraven had set up a Planetary Defense Shield which is so strong not even the Hulk or Captain Marvel can break it. She guessed that Kraven had it modified with a cloaking field, which is why nobody picked up on it before. They tried teleporting inside it with Lockjaw, but something was keeping the dog from getting inside. Brute forcing their way in isn't on the table. They were out of options until Jaune pointed something out.

The dome was covering the ground. However, it doesn't reach the ground. Meaning they have an opening.

They left SHIELD and the NYPD to surround the barrier. The heroes quickly got to the New York subway to dig out a tunnel. Dante sparked a flame on his hand to give them light. Thanks to Daisy's powers, the process of digging is hastened. However, the acoustics of the tunnel leave them powerless to the sound of them.

"Won't the city complain about the public property?" Weiss called over the vibrations.

"We'll leave it to Damage Control Snowflake!" Daisy called despite the rumbling. "If I get crap for this anyway, I can just seal it back up. You won't believe how many times public property gets destroyed."

"She's not kidding," America said.

While this was going on, Yang was staring at her robotic hand, which is clenched in a fist with tension. She was worried about Blake, being used as bait to track down a crazy hunter. She didn't want to think about the sick game that man is putting her through.

Yang felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see it belonged to Kamala, who is giving her a calming smile.

"I'm worried about them too," Kamala said. "But we have to believe they'll be alright. I don't know Blake as much as you do, but I know Doreen. She's a tough cookie."

Yang nodded, her mouth turning upwards for a small smile. "Blake's tough too. Even before she became my partner, she can handle herself."

"No surprise," Riri said. "She's proven to be quite elusive during our training session yesterday. I do not doubt that Kraven will have trouble with her."

"But if he doesn't, we can beat him up. Am I right kiddo?"

Riri sighed. "I wish I had AMI back."

Yang grinned. That was her armor AI, whom despite sounding like Tony it is NOT Tony. When they met him during their training session, she found it hilarious as it was his name. Even his humor reminds them of the industrialist.

"No, he's right. We're going to pound that creep!"

"That's the spirit," Patriot said. Then he called out to his leader. "So, what's the game plan Quake?"

"First we find Ghost-Spider, Squirrel Girl, and Shadow," Daisy called. "Then we go after Kraven. Ironheart, disabling the forcefield will be your priority! Thorn, support her!"

"Understood!" Riri called, her suit synthesizing her voice.

"You can count on me!" Ruby called.

"As for the rest of you, if you see any criminals, you are to apprehend them on sight."

Teams RWBY, minus Blake, and JNPR nodded. Like Blake, they had taken the time to redesign their costumes. Ruby has taken to wearing a full-face mask underneath her hood, blending in with the shadows of her hood. Her silver eyes gazed out.

Weiss had decided to add a skirt and pouch to her costume. On her right thigh is a holster with Myrtenaster in revolver form. On the back of her waist is a pouch to contain ammunition and various other essentials. She decided to keep the domino mask, despite her doubts about concealing her identity.

Yang had opted to add a brown jacket to her costume. Her arm is shifted to have a flame motif at the fist. Around her waist is a bandolier with shotgun slugs. Like Weiss, she kept the domino mask.

Jaune had gone some overall changes. Thanks to Kamala and Doreen's advice, he looked like a knight out of a fantasy game. He added some more armor plating along his body with gold accents. He wore a helmet that left two blue LED eyes.

Pyrrha, likewise had her costume outfitted to be similar to her old huntress clothing. She had her mask fashioned to look like a helmet similar to the spartans of ancient Greece. After a warning by Clint, she added some armor plating to her torso.

Nora, like Weiss, decided to add a skirt. Around her waist is a belt with pouches and several capsules with pulsating with a pink glow. Around her torso is a bandolier with 40mm grenade shells colored pink. Nora decided to change her mask so that it covers her lower face as well.

Ren, because of a bet that he lost, made his costume look more eastern His right arm has a black and pink armguard. He traded his mask for a hooded cowl for better identity concealment. Inspired by the Chinese culture, his attire has magenta intricate designs of dragons. His weapons holstered in green bracelets, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice.

Then, the rock fell apart to expose a hole. They had reached their destination.

"I'll go first," Daisy said as she exited the hole. They waited before following after her. Ruby came out first, immediately seeing the leader of the Secret Warriors standing still.

"Quake?" Ruby called out. "Is something wrong…oh…"

"Finally!" Weiss shouted as she exited the tunnel. "Glad to be out of that tunnel! Wait, why are you just standing…oh…"

"What's going…oh…" Jaune began before he saw what got them perplexed. Staring at them, in surprise, are six men in costumes. The others filed out and stared at the people in front of them.

"Who are these guys?" Nora asked.

"I saw Doreen's cards," Ms. Marvel said. "From the right, it appears to be Rhino, Scorpion, Tarantula, King Cobra, Stegron, and Vulture."

"You got that right!" Scorpion shouted. "Now who the hell are you people?"

"Agent Daisy Johnson," Daisy held out a device that displayed her agent credentials. "Despite being kidnapped by Kraven, you are still wanted criminals. Hands to the ground and we can take you someplace else."

"Wha—S.H.I.E.L.D?!" Stegron shouted. "Why are they here?!"

"From one cage to another," Vulture said sardonically. He turned to his crew. "What will it be comrades? Do we allow ourselves to be taken in by S.H.I.E.L.D and back to prison? Or do we stand or fight?"

"I have enough of getting stuck here," Rhino shouted, stomping on the ground. "I'd say we plow through them and use the tunnel to escape!"

"For once, I agree with the Rhino," Scorpion said. "Let's waste them!"

"So much for peaceful surrenders," Patriot groaned as he readied his shield.

"Don't they realize they are outnumbered?" Weiss asked.

"Did you forget, Snowflake?" Pyrrha asked her. "Sometimes, the number of people doesn't determine the outcome of a fight. It all comes down to skill and the mind."

"That and I know that these are some of the deadliest enemies Spider-Man ever encountered," Ms. Marvel said. "I know that for a fact."

"Savage Six! Attack!" Vulture cried out.

"I think we know the drill!" Daisy said as her hands began vibrating. "Take them down!"

The Secret Warriors and Remnatians charged at the Savage Six.

Vulture took to the sky as Riri provided air support. She fired repulsor blasts at the winged villain. The Vulture ducked and swerved to avoid them. When he gained enough distance, he returned fire with his feathers launching from his wings. Riri's eyes widened and thrust out her forearms. Her arms shifted and fired the micro-impact precision missiles towards the feathers. The moment they made contact, they exploded in a cloud of smoke. It hanged there for a moment before her sensors picked up a fast-moving object towards her.

She didn't have time to react as Vulture clamped a hand on her faceplate. Her HUD flared red as she felt pressure slowly build.

"You didn't think my wings are the only thing, did you?" He asked. "I'm strong enough to crack that armor like a tin can!"

Just before he could do so, he felt his head snap back as an impacting bullet slammed into him. This forced him to let go of his quarry and give Riri some breathing room. Vulture plummeted to the ground before regaining his bearings.

"Who the hell—Arg!" He shot to the air just in time to avoid a jab from Ruby's electrical bo-staff. Ruby looked up as he went as high as he can.

"You okay?" Ruby asked as Riri landed next to her.

"My armor integrity is at eighty-six percent," Riri said as her armor highlighted where she was damaged. "But my systems are still operational."

"By system, I think you mean me," Not Tony said.

"Good," Ruby said as her form gave off rose petals. "Shall we clip his wings?"

"Definitely."

Meanwhile, Patriot is engaging Tarantula with Weiss. The criminal leaped over the head of Patriot with a hand swiping towards his face. Patriot was able to raise his shield just in time to block the razorblades from the fingertips of his gloves. As he brought his foot towards Weiss, a blade retracting out of his boot. The heiress brought up Myrtenaster in the rapier form to block.

"Watch out for his blades," Shaun warned. "His blades are coated with drugs that can render anyone unconscious. Get cut by one of those and you're finished."

"Good to know," Weiss said as she felt where Tarantula struck her. If it hadn't been for her aura, she did not doubt that she'd be out. All the same, she needs to treat the villain as if he's the biggest threat to her life.

Weiss transformed Myrtenaster into a revolver form and fired several impact bullets at Tarantula. Each of them is boosted by her glyphs so that they slammed into Tarantula before he had time to react. Patriot seized the opportunity and slammed his shield into his temple, knocking him out.

"That was fast," Shaun commented as he walked away from him.

"Well we are on a clock after all," Weiss said, obviously referring to their teammate's survival. Myrtenaster turned back into a revolver. "Which do you prefer? Brute number one or brute number two?"

"Snowflake, you know how much I love a challenge," Shaun said with a smile to which she returned. They darted in different directions to help their teammates.

Quake and Nora are going head to head with Rhino. Quake sent a blast of vibration at him every time he charged. Nora gripped a capsule and felt electricity flow into her, giving her new strength to hammer into the Rhino. Quake then levitated several boulders and threw them at him. They smashed into him and stopped his advance, but they didn't knock him down.

"You puny girls think you can out best me?" Rhino demanded. "I am the Rhino!"

"Yes, we know," Patriot shouted as he came over. "How are you guys holding up."

"They weren't kidding about his hide," Nora said in between pants. "He took my blows like he's a champ."

"He can withstand my blasts," Daisy said. "If I go high, I could disrupt his organs. But that would kill him."

"I wouldn't worry about that," Patriot said. "You see, Snowflake and I have a little idea. Take out the two stooges with one stone."

As he told them the plan with hand signs. Pointing to Weiss and back to where Ms. America, Inferno, and Ren are fighting Stegron. Dante is firing a blast of flames at him, content to not hold back as Stegron is cold-blooded and durable. Ren is firing bullets into his face, blinding him enough to let Ms. America punch him in the torso to send him flying.

"Hey!" They all turned back to Rhino as they got on all fours. "Get ready to be crushed!"

"You girls ready?"

"You bet," Nora said with a maniacal smile.

"Charge!" Rhino shouts as he barreled towards them. Shaun threw his shield where it transformed into drone mode. It hovered for a moment and headed straight towards Rhino.

"Hey, Knighthood!" Nora called to where her leader is fighting Scorpion with Ms. Marvel and Invincible Girl. "Can yours do that?"

"What?" Jaune asked. He looked over to Patriots drone. "No!"

Then the drone beeped as it fired a missile straight into the face of Rhino. He let out a holler as he grabbed his face to rub it.

"Can yours do that?"

"NO!

Below his feet are a series of glyphs. The second that he stepped on them, he was sliding, unable to stop. Right to where their friends are still fighting with Stegron.

"Miss America!" Quake shouted as Nora grabbed another capsule and absorbed its electricity. "On your six!"

Together, she and Nora provided Rhino more momentum. Nora with her hammer and Daisy with her vibrational blasts. This push propelled Rhino faster than he had ever gone. Miss America noticed just in time and grabbed Ren and Dante.

"Hold on to your seats!" She cried as she took off into the air. Stegrons eyes followed them before hearing Rhino's cries. Behind him, another row of Glyphs formed.

"Look out!"

Stegron looked baffled as Rhino crashed into him. This sent the two powerhouses sliding to the wall of the barrier. Conveniently, their head smashed into the wall. They laid there unmoving.

"Ten glyphs in a row," Weiss declared as the others convened on her. She fist-pumped. "New record!"

"Give me a second," Daisy said as she lifted her hands. A few rumbles later, the two behemoths are submerged into granulated earth, like quicksand, heads above. The quicksand solidified, preventing them from moving.

"That takes care of that," Daisy said, clapping her hands. "Don't celebrate just yet. Three down, three more to go. I wonder if the others are having trouble."

Back at the fight between Jaune, Pyrrha, Kamala, and the Scorpion are going well. Every time he tried to strike with his stinger, it missed its target and buried into the ground. This provided them with an opening for Jaune to slash at him with his sword or Kamala to pound him with oversized fists. When he pulled back, he fired blasts of electricity at them, but somehow, they keep missing. His armor is cracking at where they are striking him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that his stinger is glowing black. His eyes turned to see the spartan looking girls' hands glowing black as well. He realized that she was the only one who isn't attacking. It then clicked in his brain.

"It's you!" He pointed to the Invincible Girl. "You're the one screwing up my aim!"

He smiled at her surprised look.

"I'm not as stupid as you think I am. Back before I got the suit, I used to be a private detective."

"So why did you quit?" Jaune asked.

"Let's just say that this life is more suited for me," Scorpion said in a suave tone that made them sick. Then he suddenly smiled. "But you didn't think that my tail is the only trick I have up my sleeve?"

As he said this, he grabbed a tree trunk nearest to them. To their astonishment, he uprooted the tree with no problem. He brought it down on them like a bat. Ms. Marvel was smacked to the other side.

"Did you?"

They all moved to the side as he swept at them. Prioritizing her first, he brought his makeshift weapon upon her. Pyrrha gritted her teeth as her powers don't affect wood. She rolled out of the way and transformed Milo into a whip form. She brought it down on the tree, slicing it into separate sections. Scorpion threw what's left aside and sped in front of Pyrrha and stabbed at her with his tail. Pyrrha used her semblance to direct the stinger to her shield.

"Don't think the same trick will work on me twice," Scorpion shouted as he reached a claw out and grabbed her by the head. Despite her struggles, she couldn't get out as he got ready to sting her.

"Invincible Girl!" Jane shouted as he charged at him. He combined his sword and shield and formed a claymore. He brought it down upon Scorpion, who threw her just in time to catch it in his hands. Jaune struggled to free it, but Scorpion wouldn't let go.

"Nice knife!" He commented. "But my strength was enough to overpower Spider-Man. You are pretty weak in comparison."

His stinger lifted and glowed an acidic green.

A few seconds ago, Kamala and Pyrrha are catching her break. Now that he's caught on to their strategy, they'll have to figure out a new one. They only have a few seconds before Scorpion skewers Jaune.

"We have to help him," Pyrrha said. She made to move but Kamala blocked her with a large hand.

"We won't be able to get there in time," Kamala said.

"Then what do we do?"

Kamala didn't know what to say until she was drawn to the sounds of battle overhead. She looked up to see Ruby and Riri still fighting the Vulture. Ruby would appear and stab at the villain with her bo-staff, but the Vulture will twist out of the way. Riri wasn't having much luck either.

That gave Kamala and idea.

"Get his tail again," Kamala told Pyrrha before turning back to the sky. "Hey, Thorn! You look like you have trouble! Want to trade?"

Ruby looked down and saw Scorpion. Kamala can tell she knew what she was thinking of and she smiled. "Sure!"

"Time to embiggen!" Kamala shouted as she let her body grow. As she grew, Ruby sped down to the ground as a red blur. Pyrrha had already grabbed Scorpions' tail and is holding him back. The villain was putting up a struggle. Ruby's bo-staff transformed back into its scythe configuration. The moment she landed near Scorpion is when Ruby proceeded to slice off the Scorpions stinger. Due to its mechanical nature, there is no screaming in pain as he had lost his greatest weapon.

"Why you little—" He could finish as he found the blade of the scythe around his throat.

"Surrender and get off my friend," Ruby said coldly. "Now."

"Okay, I give."

Scorpion backed off, releasing Jaune. Jaune took the opportunity to bash him in the head with his shield. Scorpion fell to the ground unconscious. Knighthood glared at the unconscious villain.

"That's for trying to hurt my teammate."

Back in the sky, Ironheart is still fighting the Vulture. They exchanged repulsors and flechette feathers at each other. The latter was so focused on his fight with the armored teenager that he didn't notice the growing.

"I thought you were going to beat the Vulture," Not Tony said. "Not play dogfight."

"I do miss putting you in French mode," Riri shouted. "But your right, let's end this!"

She fired another repulsor blast at Vulture who once again swerved to avoid it. At this time, he noticed the gigantic form of Ms. Marvel, who is bringing both of her hands to trap him on both sides. Quickly, he shot himself into the air before she clapped her hands at the area where he once was.

"Hah!" He jeered. "Did you think that you could trap me!"

"That wasn't a trap!" Riri called out. Her right arm is raised, and a small device ejected out and shot towards where Toomes is headed straight. Before he could change trajectory, the object exploded in a flash of light. He cried out as he is blinded by the light.

"What?"

"This is what we call a distraction!"

Vulture screamed as he shook his head to recover his sight. Because he was disoriented, he began to plummet to the earth. Ms. Marvel caught him in between her hands. She held him by the wings as she lowered him down.

"Inferno?" Kamala called. "Care to clip these birds' wings?"

"My pleasure," Dante said as he walked up to the captured villain and gripped a wing in each of his hands. Smoke drifted from his fingers as the feathers caught ablaze. They lasted a few seconds before Dante put them out.

"You ruffians!" The Vulture shrieked. "You have no idea what you have just—"

He couldn't get another word out as Kamala dropped him. While she shrank back to her normal size, Ruby walked up to him. She transformed Crescent Rose into its bo-staff form and proceeded to shock him with the tip. He spasmed before he fell to the ground unconscious.

"Was that necessary?" Inferno asked her.

"I wanted to make sure that it was easy to put the cuffs on," Ruby said as she withdrew a pair of zip tie cuffs. "I've read enough comic books to know that the bad guy tends to get away the moment you take your eyes off them."

"Quite true," Daisy said as she and the others converged. The villains they have defeated have likewise been restrained.

"Hey…" Ruby noticed something. "Where's Ignite?"

Everyone blinked and looked around for Yang.

"Get the hell off me!"

Everybody turned to see Yang struggling against King Cobra. He has his body wrapped around her. Her arms are pinned to her sides. No matter how much she tried to get out, she couldn't get him off her. It seemed the slippery bastard is impossible to hurt physically. Every time she pinched, headbutted, heck even gets a lucky punch out, it felt like she was punching a rubber dummy.

"Let's see you try to break out of my Cobra Grip!" King Cobra shouted as he tightened around Yang. The blonde gritted her teeth as her aura flared. Because he's applying steady pressure, she can't use her semblance. She struggled to get him off her, but his grip was too strong. If things weren't bad enough, she had to duck to avoid his acidic spit. It would be extremely bad if some of it got in her hair.

Time to explore a new option.

"Alright," Yang growled, her eyes turning red. "Don't say you didn't have a chance…!"

From her masks HUD, she scrolled through the options before stopping at a lightning icon. Ember Celica's knuckles and outlines turned blue as it sparked with electricity. She dug her hands into the slithery body of King Cobra and screamed as she used what little energy she has left in her arm from the previous night. Electricity coursed into the snake-themed villain. As soon as he let go, Yang whirled around and proceeded to pummel him with electrically charged fists. True, he may not suffer physical damage, but there was nothing that his power could stop electricity. The more he got shocked, the more dazed and numb he felt. This helped reduced his speed, making it easy for her to land more blows on him. With one final punch, the King Cobra is unconscious. Seeing her quarry down, her eyes returned to normal.

"Alright!" Yang grinned and pumped her fists. "Who else wants some…!"

Yang stopped talking when she noticed the fallen villains and her staring friends. They were all looking at her. She blinked with disbelief and threw her arms up.

"Oh, come on! You guys ended the party already?!"

"Have you been struggling with that guy for the duration of the fight?" Weiss asked. Yang could've sworn she heard a chuckle.

"Were you getting crushed to death by a snake man?" Yang asked heatedly. "Huh?"

"Relax Yang," Daisy said. "Let's all be glad that this fight is over."

Just then, the bushes rustled. A squirrel rushed up to Daisy. Tied around its neck is a roll of paper. Daisy took it and read the contents. What she read made her eyes widen.

"Everyone! If you see a robot, do not and I repeat DO NOT destroy them!"

"Robots?" Ruby asked. "What robots?"

"I think she's referring to the ones that my scanners are picking up," Not Tony said as the aforementioned robots came into view.

"Why can't we smash them?" Yang asked, putting her fists up. To her surprise, the robots put their weapons down and held their hands up.

"Oh, thank god you are here!" One of the robots spoke. "Please don't hurt us! We surrender!"

"Huh?

"Kraven invited us to participate in this," One of them spoke up. "We can't back out because these robots are designed to kill us if they are destroyed in any way. Please…we didn't know…"

"But you wanted to participate in this sick game, didn't you?" Yang snarled. Anger at the short-sightedness began to cloud her mind. She felt a hand on her arm, and she found Ruby looking at her with a stern look. Yang immediately backed down and turned away. Ruby turned to Riri.

"Ironheart, is it possible to deactivate these robots without killing them?" Ruby asked.

"It's possible," Riri said. "But a neural connection is tricky. I'll have to patch in Not Tony into the robot's systems."

"Please," Not Tony scoffed. "How tough can these systems be?"

"We will provide cover to make sure they don't get destroyed," Daisy said as she helped Jaune restrain King Cobra. "First, let's make sure that these guys aren't going anywhere. But try anything, and we will retaliate."

She directed the last part at the Hunter-Bots. The Hunters nodded meekly.

"While you do that, I'll go on ahead and look for Shadow and Squirrel girl," Shaun called out. He threw his shield forward and it transformed into its glider function. "With a little luck, I might find them with Ghost-Spider.

"I'm coming with you," Yang said in a manner that left no room for argument. Patriot nodded as he hops onto his glider. Yang got behind him and held onto. Before he could take off, two brown blurs ran up and jumped onto the glider and ran up their legs. Tippy Toe chirped at Patriot.

"You want to help lead us to your partner?" Patriot asked. Tippy Toe chirped in affirmation.

"Hang on," He said as he surged forward. Their teammates stared after them as they flew over the tree line. Jaune was staring after Patriot before Nora asked him the same question the third time.

"Can yours do that?"

"For the last time and any further repeats Voltage, no," Jaune sighed. He was starting to get defensive about his shield. "But that is the last straw. I'm getting my shield modified."

---

A portal opened in the air and deposited the three spiders, Squirrel Girl, and Blake. They landed on the ground with a roll and stood. In front of them is a three-story building surrounded by a brick wall. There is a sign on the brick column that said 'Zoo'.

"This is the place?" Blake asked Spider-Girl and Spy-D.

"Yep," They nodded. Spy-D spoke next. "Considering what he does, it should be no surprise that he picked this place to be his base of operations."

"It never occurred to me," Blake muttered. She looked around. "Where are the Vermin clones?"

"They should've been here the moment we arrived," Spider-Girl said with a frown. "We have the thing ready for them."

"Let's take advantage of their absence while we still can," Spy-D said, moving forward. "I don't want to be here when they come back."

"Not so fast," Doreen held out an arm in front of him. Spy-D looked at her in confusion. "In case you've forgotten, Kraven is THE hunter. He could have a trap waiting for us!"

"Oh yeah," Spy-D stepped back and rubbed the back of his head. "But I have my spider-sense. I can tell if there's going to be a trap."

"We talked about this, Spy-D," Spider-Girl said. "Kraven was able to fool it once and Gwen's isn't exactly reliable. Plus, the rest of us don't have it. Which leaves Shadow to do this."

Everyone turned to Blake.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Move," Blake answered. She combined Gambol Shrouds Katana and Sheathe and formed her HF-Blade. Without another word, she charged forward, prepared to use her semblance if a trap is triggered. So far, none was activated as she neared the house. With a few strokes, the walls came crumbling down in perfect slices, exposing the interiors of the house. With a flourish, Blake sheathed her blade and reverted it into dual wield form. The others, besides Doreen, looked at the display in awe.

"Is that a high-frequency blade?" Spider-Girl asked.

"Yes," Blake nodded. "Now let's go get Spider-Man and end Kravens game before—"

"Guys?" Spy-D said slowly. "My spider-sense is acting up and I think I know why."

He pointed to the house. Inside the darkness of the house, beady eyes glared out. A clawed and furry hand gripped the edge of the floor and pulled into the light a furry creature. Its features are similar to that of a rat complete with a worm tail. Thankfully it was wearing pants. Its front teeth are bared at the heroes below.

"Vermin," Doreen cringed. "He was hiding in the mansion this whole time?"

"Not him," Spider-Girl said. "The correct term would be THEM."

And she is correct as the clones of Vermin emerged from the mansion. They all hissed the same thing.

"Yum."

"I think they think we're dinner," Doreen gulped.

"Remember what to do?" Blake asked, turning her Katana into its gun form while keeping the sheathe in cleaver form. Her eyes are hardened at the horde of rats. Even though they are clones, she isn't going to kill.

"Break their jaws to prevent them from eating us," Gwen said grimly. "In everyone's case but for us spiders. If anyone asks, just say that they didn't give us much choice."

Snarling, one of the Vermin clones crouched down and propelled itself into the air. Its landing is right where Blake is. It was she who raised her pistol and fired the first shots. The force bullets slammed into both its ramus, enough to break its jaw. It cried out in pain as it thrust its clawed hands at her. Blake spun out of the way and slammed the blunt edge of her sheath. The clone crumpled to the ground.

Seeing their brother being beaten, the other clones snarled and charged at them.

"Take them down!" Blake ordered. Together, they charged to meet the rats.

Blake fired force bullets at several approaching clones, aiming for the jaw. Any that got to close met the blunt end of her sheath. Any that tried to bite her only found themselves biting a shadow, which she used to attack in between changing places or reload her pistol. While her aura may take the biting, she didn't want the clones to dogpile on her, which would make her lose aura faster. Whenever it would almost happen, Blake pulled a grenade out and dropped it before disappearing. It exploded in a cloud of riot foam.

Ghost-Spider has cut loose with her expertise in webbing. Thanks to her web-shooters, fired webbing into the mouths of the clones before giving them a beatdown with her spider strength. She even went as far as to create a wrecking ball out of a bunch of clones trapped in webbing. Gwen used it to knock several clones into the air and used web ropes to pull them down and slam them into the ground. Several times she trapped some of them in web netting. To make things even further interesting, she used her portal device to open a portal beneath her to avoid a clone leaping from behind. She reappeared above to deliver a heel drop kick onto its cranium.

"I think your word is rats," Ghost-Spider quipped.

Despite not having any actual webbing on hand, Spy-D was far from helpless. With his spider strength, he made sure to hit the jaw to dislocate it so that he won't be eaten. His punches are infused with the power of his venom blasts. Whatever clone he struck is hit with a jolt of red electricity. The Vermin clones cried out in pain as the red electricity coursed through them. A group of Vermin clones charged at them, and he held his hands forward to project a blast of red electrostatic energy that struck them at once and send them to the ground unmoving. They are still alive, but they won't be getting back up in a while.

"Remember," Spy-D spoke in a low voice. The blast took a lot out of him, but he couldn't afford to go down now. "The first and only reality of the rat. There can only be—"

"You finish that joke, and I will forget that you are not a clone!" Spider-Girl shouted as she threw a clone away from her and into another. She leaped into the air and fired a web blast at a clone's mouth. Placing her hands on the shoulders, she used it to handspring herself into the air again. Firing several more web blasts into clones, she spun in mid-air and landed on her feet to engage the Vermin clones in close combat. Knowing that Vermin can endure large amounts of impact forces, she struck at soft spots like the neck, behind the knee, and in some cases, in between the legs. Thanks to her reflexes, she evaded the claws of Vermin.

Doreen, following Spider Girls' example, went for the soft spots to apply her strength. She utilized her tail to blind the enemy to strike them. She grabbed a Vermin clone by the tail and used him as a flail to either hit an enemy or throw them into the path of a fellow hero where they will finish them off.

"I think we're clear," Doreen shouted as she held a Vermin clone for Spy-D to shock. All around them are the whimpering Vermin clones scattered on the ground.

"Not just yet," Ghost-Spider said. From the mansion, more Vermin clones emerged. "How many of these guys did Kraven clone off of Vermin?"

"Let's hope it's not a lot," Blake said. "I'm below half my aura and almost out of bullets and grenades."

They waited for the Vermin clones to strike. To their surprise, they just stayed there kneeling. Their eyes seemed to be closed.

"What are they doing?" Doreen asked. The others voice their confusion. Then, they heard another sound. When Ghost-Spider heard it, her eyes widened in recognition.

"Squirrel Girl?" She said slowly. "Remember that you can talk to squirrels?"

"Yes?"

"Oh yeah," Spy-D said slowly as he realized what she is getting at. "I forgot that he had that trick."

Blake was about to ask when the sounds came closer. What her faunus eyes saw made them wide. Crawling out of the building and towards them is a pack of rats. A lot of rats. What made her skin crawl is the dogs growling at her.

"Rats," Spy-D cursed.

"Spy-D," Ghost-Spider said, narrowing her eyes. "I already called that joke."

---

Peter and Connors watched two separate screens. On one screen, it showed Peter's friends, including the new girl, fighting the Vermin clones. For the first half, they appeared to be winning against them. The next moment, the tables have turned against them when the Vermin brought the unholy alliance of rats and dogs. A single rat or dog taken out is replaced by several more. The other screen showed a woman in a black catsuit and a lizard boy running from a hunter. The same hunter that looks like Kraven has wounded her. They didn't need Kraven taunting them to know what is going to happen.

They are going to die.

"Spider-Man," Curt said calmly as possible. "There's only one way to save them, and my son."

Spider-Man turned to him as he pointed to his inhibitor chip.

"You need to remove this," Connors said. "I promise that I will be in control."

"You can't Connors," Spider-Man protested. "If that gets removed, you won't be able to turn back!

"And what can you do?" He shouted back. "You won't be able to get that collar off without blowing up. But I can do something. I know you feel as I feel watching the people, we care about being hunted like animals. You keep preaching about responsibility Spider-Man, and right now, I am taking responsibility. I'm not going to spend another day waiting for my son to get killed by that lunatic! Please, Spider-Man, help me to save my son!"

Spider-Man's mind froze at Connors's desperation. He knew that if Connors turns into the Lizard again, he will go on a mindless rampage and kill people. Even if he claimed that he will be in control, he cannot take that risk. But he can't let his friends die. He will never forgive himself if he lets that kiddie…

Slowly, he reached out to the inhibitor chip…

---

"I'm out of bullets," Blake cried out. Thanks to those dogs, it screwed up her aim when she was trying to take down the Vermin clones coordinating the rats and dogs. She made her escape by getting to high ground, but the rats are impossible to get rid of as they kept climbing to her position. She stood at the top of a tree, where she tried and failed to take out the clones.

The others are lucky as they can climb walls and simply stuck themselves to parts of the house where Blake didn't cut. Blake remedied that by using Gambol Shrouds weighted ribbon form to grapple herself onto the roof, but the rats are starting to climb the walls to get them.

"I'm too tired out from my last venom blast," Spy-D said, shoulders sagging. "I'm starting to hate rats now."

"Same here," Ghost-Spider said. Blake nodded in agreement. Ghost-Spider was fiddling with her device. "I'm going to teleport us somewhere else."

"What about Spider-Man and Kraven?" Doreen asked.

"That's what I mean about somewhere else," Ghost-Spider said. "We're going to be sitting ducks if we stay here. I can already tell that the dogs are getting to Shadow."

Blake hangs her head down. "I'm sorry. It's just…"

"What about the Vermin clones?" Spider-Girl asked. "If we take them out, we can disrupt the pest's coordination."

Before they could utter another word, a new sound reached their ears. It was the sound of a primal roar. The heroes looked at each other and ran to the edge. Below, a green scaly reptile humanoid is thrashing the vermin clones around. It swiped at the Vermin clones with its claws, and even bit one and thrashed it around. A Vermin clone attempted to sneak behind it, but its tail snapped against it, a bone crack can be heard.

"Is that…"

"Yes," Ghost-Spider said slowly as if reliving a memory. "That is the Lizard."

Throwing away the last Vermin clone, the Lizard ran on all fours and into the forest. Thanks to his rampage, the rats and dogs have lost their coordination and have begun to scatter away. The sight of the dogs fleeing settled Blake's nerves. The moment the ground is clear, the heroes jumped down. Spy-D looked in the direction the Lizard fled.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" He asked.

"We'll deal with him later," Ghost-Spider said. "For now, we got to find…Spider-Man!"

"But he could kill someone," Spider-Girl said.

"No really!" Ghost-Spider rushed into the house. "I saw Spider-Man!"

The heroes ran after Ghost-Spider into the darkness of the house. Blake and Doreen took the lead because of their night vision. Spy-D and Spider-Girl followed from behind. Eventually, they found the blue and red-clad hero standing with his back to them.

"Spidey!" Ghost-Spider called out, relief in her voice. "I'm so glad that you are…alright…?"

Her voice trailed off when she saw what was in front of him. On the ground are men in green fatigues and combat gear. On their bodies are slash marks all over. Blake ran forward and checked one of them for a pulse.

"No pulse," Blake said. "They're dead."

"It's all my fault," Spider-Man spoke. Everyone turned to him.

"Spider-Man?"

"This is MY fault," Spider-Man repeated, clenching his hands in anguish. "I released the Lizard. Kraven put an explosive collar on me. It only came off after a few seconds he became the told me that he can control it. But they're all dead. He killed them. He said he could control it! He said—"

"Spidey, calm down," Ghost-Spider gripped his shoulders. "You couldn't have known what would've happened."

"But I've fought him before," Spider-Man argued, taking her hands off him. "I should've expected this to happen. I let him loose. I did this. And now he's on his way to—" His eyes widened "—Oh no—Billy! We have to-!"

"Not an easy sight, is it?"

Everyone turned to where the voice came from and narrowed their eyes at the form of Kraven the Hunter.

"But then," He continued. "Lies are always more beautiful."

"Kraven," Spider-Man growled. "This has gone on long enough. You have to stop this. NOW."

"Only YOU can stop it, Spider," Kraven spoke, moving forward. "And you have taken your first steps. My heart swells with pride. After all…I did not know if you would pass this test."

"Test?" Spider-Man held up his hands and fired a stream of webbing at him. "TEST?! Is that what this is supposed to be? Just another one of your sick games?"

He pulled himself forward to land a knuckle sandwich on the hunter. "Do you know how many people you have killed with this hunt of yours, you psychopath?!"

"Who I have killed is inconsequential," Kraven said, wiping away the blood from his mouth. "Who you would kill is all that matters."

"What do you have to gain from all of this?" Blake demanded, brandishing her weapons. "Satisfaction? Money? Fame? What did these people ever do to you?"

"Do not disrespect me with those vices cat," Kraven spoke, making her flinch. "That's right, I know for a fact that those ears are real. Do you still not see it? I had to punish those who defiled the call of the hunter. The ones who made a mockery of everything I stood for. And those who claimed the skin of animals without the right—without understanding its cost—they too deserved my hand."

"We have our reasons for choosing our animals," Ghost-Spider spoke with her eyes narrowed. "Not all of us agree with your philosophy."

"Then you are just like him," Kraven growled as he took out two knives. "Spider-Man is the worst of them all!"

He charged at them with his knives in a reverse grip. Blake open fired with her pistol, but Kraven easily dodged the force bullets and swiped his knife at her hand before she could use her semblance. Her aura protected her from the damage, but not the pain as she dropped her pistol. Kraven brought his other hand forward in an arc but only succeeded in hitting a shadow. However, his instincts tracked her real body and reversed punched her. As Blake fell to the ground, the others engaged Kraven.

"Wait," Spy-D said as he threw a punch at him, infused with his venom blast energy. "All of this was about Spider-Man? Why did you have to drag everyone else into this?"

"Because he was chosen to be the spider," Kraven yelled out as he dodged a punch and grabbed him by the upper arm and threw him. "The web of fate made it his destiny."

"We don't exactly believe in fate," Spider-Girl said as he tried to punch him, but Kraven beat him to it by hitting her in the head. He turned to Spider-Man

"You are nature's purest predator," Kraven said to him. Ghost-Spider fired a web blast at him, but he dodged and threw a knife at her. It caught on her costume and pinned her to a wall. "Its most nightmarish hunter. Children are known by instinct to fear you the most."

He punched him in the face, causing him to be dazed. This left him open to the knives as it sliced across his back.

"I have gazed in awe at your gifts," He dodged a strike from Spider-Girl and kneed her. "Desired to make them my own." Grabbed Squirrel Girl by the tail and threw her to the side. And I did. After all, all you have ever done is spit in the face of the gods who made you!"

With that, he punched Spider-Man again. He fell to the ground, groaning. He was too weak from being kept in captivity to retaliate.

"He never spat in any face!" Blake argued, drawing his attention. She struggled to stand up. Her aura is red. "I don't think you know this, but everyone has the right to choose how they live! I don't know how he became Spider-Man, but what he chooses to do with his powers is up to him! Not you!"

"Amazing," Kraven spoke over the curled-up hero. "Even you cling to the weakness. To the man inside." He turned to Spider-Man. "I thought my last hunt would be enough to show you, to help you understand. You were born to hunt. To kill. That includes all of you as well."

He directed the last part at all of them.

"No…" Spider-Man groaned as he struggled to get up. "…We are not like you…"

"Aren't you? You all think that killing is wrong. That it makes you evil. And you cannot see beyond these things. That is why when I was reborn, you rejected my please to put me back in the ground."

"Wait," Doreen grunted from the floor. "You were resurrected? When?"

"I tried to appeal to your anger," Kraven ignored her and continued. "Your sense of vengeance at that moment. And that was my error. You were right to deny me. Because the true hunter does not kill out of rage, or cruelty—he is above such things. He does it to maintain the balance in nature. For sustenance. For safety. To thin the herd. All of these, necessary."

As he spoke, Spider-Girl crawled along with the shadows of the ceiling. She tried to get the drop on him, but it was if he had sensed her. He grabbed her and threw slammed her into the ground.

"He hunts and sees his place within the hunt. He honors the animal's sacrifice. There is no sin in this. Only something beautiful and noble!"

A black ribbon wrapped around his waist. Electricity sparked before he is shocked by electricity. Blake held one end of the ribbon, amber eyes glaring at Kraven.

"There is nothing beautiful about murder!" Blake growled. "You have to be insane to think that otherwise!"

"Regardless of what you may think," Kraven grunted as he gripped the ribbon and pulled her towards him. He thrust a palm against her, causing her aura to break. She fell to the ground with a grunt. "This is my calling now. So that I may know rest. So that Kraven can finally die!"

"Wait," Spy-D panted. "You did all of this…as part of your bucket list?"

"Exactly," Kraven answered. "I must show him the necessity of the kill. And, my how quickly he seems to have learned."

"No," Spider-Man felt his mind getting fuzzy. "That's not true…"

"But you did, spider," Kraven continued, gesturing to the other heroes. "You wanted to save them. The ones you care for. So, you made a sacrifice."

"He…Curt…he didn't die!" Spider-Man gripped his head and fell to his knees.

"But he could have. You decided it was worth the chance."

"He told me to!"

"Yes. Because he could see the good in that death. The reward would be greater than the risk. And pushed to your breaking point—so did you."

Oh god…is Kraven, right?

"And you knew the dangers of letting the Lizard loose. You considered that as well. So, these guards' lives were forfeit by your decree as well, then."

"No…I'm so sorry…I didn't mean for this to happen…."

A web robe attached itself to Spider-Man. He was pulled towards Ghost-Spider, he shook him by the shoulders.

"Get a hold of yourself Spidey," Gwen cried desperately. "He's messing with your head. There must be something in those knives that are making you—"

FWOP!

As quick as her Spider-Sense, a weighted net trapped her against the wall. She tried to get it off, but the weights feel as if they're stuck to the wall. It was like it was designed to withstand her spider strength.

"Don't interfere," Kraven growled. He knelt before Spider-Man. "You should never apologize for things like this. This is what a hunter does. He kills the tiger to save the village. You feel it, don't you? The web around you, the strands pulling you closer to your destiny.

Kraven straightened up.

"If you kill me, my associate will shut down the hunter bots, free the tourists, deactivate the force field and send the drones in to save Billy Connors and Black Cat. Your friends will walk away as well."

"Don't do it spidey," Squirrel Girl said as she struggled to stand up. "You're better than him…"

"You must make the right decision now. End this foolish game where you dress in garish colors and catch the dangers to your kingdom, only to spare them in the end! How many times has it come back to haunt you? How many times has your, escaped prey returned, more vicious and deadly than before? How many lives has it cost already?"

He could feel his voice fading. Peter couldn't think straight at all. He remembered what Gwen had said before. His blades must have been dipped in something but that thought went away as his mind became hazier and hazier. Images flashed before his eyes. Images of the people he loved dead. Aunt May. MJ. Gwen. Miles. Anya. Everyone. He failed them. Just like Uncle Ben.

This isn't real…

But it is real, isn't it? And now you see the truth of the world. Hunters and Hunted. All because you weren't strong enough to protect them…

"You wanna see strong?!" Peter roared as he threw a punch at Kraven in the face. He didn't hold back. He never had to. Kraven can take every blow of his spider strength. So, he didn't stop. He kept attacking him. The rage, the pain, he wanted him to feel it—

"Peter stop!"

Someone wrapped their arms around his waist. They are joined in by other arms as they restrained him. Some got his arms. He struggled against them as before he lost strength. He looked up and saw his fellow heroes grabbing him. From where Gwen was trapped was hanging remains of the net.

"Is your mind clear you, idiot!" Gwen shouted in anger.

"I—"

"Can't you see that you are already strong?" Gwen interrupted. "You don't need to prove it to us because we've already seen it. You are Spider-Man, the greatest hero that we know."

"But he's right!" Spider-Man argued. "No matter what I do, it's never enough. The monsters keep getting back and it keeps getting worse!"

"And what did you do?" Gwen asked. "You fought against them and prevailed, just like the others. You didn't stop until everybody is saved, no matter what!"

"She's right Spider-Man," Blake cried. She held his other arm. "I know you don't know me, but I read all about you. If you do this, you'll be everything that you hated. Please calm down!"

Spider-Man stared at his fellow heroes than at Kraven, who is still on the ground. He wasn't moving, but he isn't dead. His eyes found the bodies of the guards. The guards that the Lizard…wait…something isn't right.

"Those cuts…" Spider-Man said as he felt the arms around him loosen their grip. He stepped forward to examine the cuts. "I would know if the lizard caused this. I even treated the wounds myself. This was caused by…"

"By a knife?" Anya asked. "You're correct. I knew when I first saw the bodies. The Lizard would have been a bit more savage and sloppier if he did this."

"He wanted you to act out," Spy-D realized. "He was pushing you to your limits so that you do something that you would regret later on."

"Well two can play at that game," Spider-Man said as he grabbed Kraven by the back of his jacket. He dragged him away from the others.

"Spidey?" Doreen called in concern. They followed after him. "What are you going to do to him?"

"Making sure there is a working screen," Spider-Man said without turning his head. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill him. I just want to show him something."

He arrived at the cell where he was being held.

"Spider," Kraven groaned. "What are you doing?"

"Watch, Kravey," Spider-Man said as he gripped him by the hair and chin. He positioned the head to watch the screen. "I just want you to watch."

The other heroes looked to the screen as well. On the screen is what they assume to be the last son of Kraven fighting a white-haired girl in a black suit. Hiding behind a tree is a reptilian boy. They wanted to go and help them, but something told them to keep watching.

"Pain and violence," Spider-Man spoke. "The powerful devour the weak, right? And as much as I hate to admit it, a lot of the time you are not wrong."

The girl laid on the ground, not moving, a blood spot on her back. The last son turned his attention to the lizard boy and gripped his kukri knife. Blake could feel her knuckles whiten at the sight.

"But I've seen something else," Spider-Man continued, causing her head to snap to the back of his head. "You think the truth is loud. I disagree. In my experience, it's quiet."

The last son's advance is stopped by the tackling form of the Lizard.

"It sneaks up on you."

The Lizard stopped the last son from advancing upon the boy. He fought him tooth and nail as if to keep him away.

"You want me to believe I have to be like you to survive. You wanted all of us to believe. To protect everything, we care about. But you don't understand. That's what we're trying to protect them from. We are more than blood and bone. I learned that from the people who raised me…"

The last son, seeing that he had lost, retreated into the forest. The lizard turned to face the boy. Behind him, the girl had recovered and approached them both. The boy had fallen, but the Lizard picked him up and gave him to her. Then, he turned and ran off.

"…And I see it all the time in the people I love. We weren't meant to just chase and devour each other, constantly looking over our shoulders or searching out some new victim. We're here to help one another. Care for one another. Lift each other up. We give ourselves to other people, no matter what it costs us. Believing that doesn't make us naive, or weaker than you. It's what makes us stronger."

Spider-Man was looking down at Kraven, who had both his hands on the blood and blood dripping from his face.

"Do you see now, you murderous lunatic?" Spider-Man asked. "This is why we'll never be the same."

Everyone stared at him. Blake saw his expression turn from solemn to one who realized the truth of something he never saw before. Then, he did something that neither of them expected him to do.

He laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA."

"What's so funny?" Spider-Man asked.

"I finally—hahaha-understand, don't you see?" He asked in between laughter. "I finally understand."

He pressed a finger to his earpiece.

"It's me. I have new orders for you. Proceed with it anyway and bring it up on the screen. Prison level."

"What are you doing?" Blake asked. Her answer came when she saw various holographic screens pop up. Each of them showed Hunter-Bots attacking animal-themed villains. One showed Her team and the Secret Warriors, trying to disable the Hunter-Bots near them.

System Shutdown

That is what they said before they suddenly turned off. From what they are seeing all of the Hunter-Bots are being shut down one by one. Soon, there wasn't a single one active. It was like the hunt is over.

"What," Spider-Man said in disbelief. "What did you just do?"

"Severed the link between hunter and man," Kraven answered. "There will be no more bloodshed in the fields or the ballroom tonight."

"And the force field?"

"Will be down by the time this is over."

"I…" Spider-Man stammered. "I don't get it…"

"You don't need to," Kraven said. "Only know that you have given me a great gift today, Spider. But now you must leave. All of you."

"What?" Spy-D asked incredulously. "After all the shit you did, you expect us to let you go?"

"Why not?" He asked. "I am no longer a threat. Go and rescue the rest of the people I kidnapped and make sure they're safe. That includes the people you love."

"No…"

"I am a man of my word," Kraven said. "I promised spider once, and I kept it for the rest of that life. Do you recall? I will never hunt again. Today, I make that same promise. For this lifetime and all others."

"Hold on…" Spider-Man said. "The last time you said that I left, and you—"

"You beautiful creature," Kraven muttered. "So majestic. Caring even for your deadliest enemies. But remember, my fate is no longer my own. The curse of Kraven still holds. Only the spider can kill me."

Kraven propped himself up and began to walk out of the cell. Before he stepped out, he paused and looked directly at Blake.

"I hope you see the same gift the spider gave me, Shadow," Kraven said. Blake became confused. "I sensed from your anger the hate that has been directed at people with your features. Let what you had seen and heard help guide you and them to a brighter future. A future who shares the same heart as the spider."

With that, he left the cell. The others watched him go, not moving.

"Shouldn't we go after him?" Doreen asked.

"No." Everyone turned to Spider-Man. "Kraven may be a lunatic, but he always keeps his word. Let's get out of here and find the others. We have a lot of work to do."

Everyone nodded. The people who got mixed up in this may have been victims, but they are still criminals. Serious gaming laws have been violated because of this. They proceeded to run out of the cell.

"What did he mean?" Blake asked Spider-Man as they ran. "What did he mean by only the spider can kill him?"

"I guess he's referring to that time when he got resurrected," Spider-Man answered. "It didn't go as intended and he viewed it as a curse. For some reason, he believes that I'm the key to ending his life. Any other ways wouldn't have worked."

"I see," Blake muttered. All this time and all this planning he was trying to end his life. But now that he's no longer hunting, how will he end it? That was a question he had for another time.

"Another question. Is it true that your name is—"

"Shadow!"

"No, my name is not Shadow," Spider-Man joked as Blake heard the sound of a glider. She looked up to see Patriot and Yang descending towards them.

"Ignite!"

"Shadow!"

"Squirrel Girl!"

"Tippy Toe!"

Tippy-Toe chirped and leaped off Patriots' shoulder and into the arms of her partner. As soon as Patriot landed his glider, Yang leaped off and tackle hugged her partner.

"Are you alright?" Yang asked worriedly. "Did he hurt you?"

"I'm alright Ignite," Blake said in between breaths. The hug was suffocating, but she knew her partner was worried about her.

"YOU."

Both remnatians heads jumped at the venom of the voice of Spider-Girl. They turned to see her pointing an accusatory finger at Patriot.

"Hey," Patriot waved. "No hard feelings, right?"

Spider-Girl huffed and pivoted on her heel. Spy-D and Spider-Man looked at him sheepishly.

"Don't worry, she'll only hate you for the rest of your life," Spy-D said.

"Trust us," Spider-Man said.

"So you must be the spider people right?" Yang asked as she approached them. "Name's Ignite. I'm a new hero."

"Glad to see more heroes in this city," Spider-Man said. "I'm your friendly neighborhood—"

"Spider-Man? I can tell," Yang said with a chuckle. "I also know Spy-D, Spider-Girl, and Ghost-Spider. But I don't know why she is hostile towards Patriot."

"Oh yeah," Spider-Man said. "We met him when he was chasing Ghost-Spider for a crime she didn't commit."

"What?" Blake and Yang looked at Patriot and Squirrel Girl for affirmation and they nodded. They looked at Ghost-Spider who shrugged.

"It's a long story," Ghost-Spider said with an awkward smile. "But for now, we should probably—"

"NOOOOO!"

Everyone jumped at the sound. Without thinking, they scrambled into action. The spiders shot threads and pulled themselves into the air. Patriot and Yang rode on his glider. Squirrel Girl leaped up to the roof and began running. Blake swung Gambol Shroud in ribbon form and pulled herself up. They are determined to get to the source of the noise.

They found the source to be in the zoo cages. Signs of battle had taken place as blood and rubble are scattered. They followed it to a hole and on the wall. When they walked through, the found—

"Is that…Kraven?" Yang asked. Her eyes would've turned red at the name, but they remained lilac at the sight before them.

"Is he wearing my costume?" Spider-Man asked, walking closer to the body. It is indeed Kraven. And he is wearing a copy of Spider-Man's costume, minus the mask. However, he isn't moving or breathing. Blood trickled down his face. Despite him being a villain, the lowered their heads in respect as they realized what happened. Spider-Man respectfully closed his eyes.

For Kraven the Hunter is dead.

[~][~]

Another chapter is done. This concludes the two-part saga of Hunters and Hunted. With the death of Kraven and the spiders rescued, what is next for our heroes? Tune in to find out more.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the April fool's joke I played. I was busy with personal matters and didn't have time to finish the second part. The chibi is all I could think of. It didn't help with the coronavirus running about. I beg for your forgiveness and I pray for everyone's safety in these troubled times. I made the chapter longer than I intended to make up for it.

Well, that's all for now, hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Thank you for reading.