"There's two of them," Darius whimpered, his voice barely a whisper as he and Ben stood back to back, adrenaline coursing through their veins. They were cornered, shadows of fear creeping closer as the two Scorpios prowled, their sleek bodies glimmering in the dim light like monstrous obsidian figures.
Laura and Kraven watched from a distance, hearts pounding as the Scorpios circled the four of them, their vicious claws slicing through the air. But to their astonishment, the threat was not directed at the children. In a sudden twist, the Scorpios lunged at one another, fierce snarls echoing through the darkening woods. A brutal fight erupted between the two creatures, a chaotic dance of teeth and tails as they struggled for dominance.
Kraven, initially prepared to defend, found himself spellbound by the ferocity of their battle. He retreated silently into the shadows of the trees, his gaze fixed on the spectacle, momentarily forgetting about the children he was meant to protect. It wasn't that he had any genuine affection for them; he had simply seen them as a means to lure the Scorpios closer, and he was, unfortunately, correct.
Laura, sensing the danger escalating, quickly grabbed Ben and Darius, yanking them toward the safety of their limo. As she pushed them inside, the weight of the moment bore down on her. She glanced anxiously at the second vial of antiserum, either back at their campsite or lost somewhere on the boat—neither place felt remotely safe now. They had to tread carefully; these creatures were not to be underestimated.
With a reflexive motion, Darius buckled himself in tightly, a survival instinct kicking in. "Reflex," he murmured, his wide eyes fixed on the chaos outside.
No sooner had he secured himself than the Scorpios collided with the limo, the force rattling the vehicle like a toy. Ben quickly buckled his seatbelt, his heart racing, while Laura instinctively slammed her knuckles against the sides of the car. She extended her claws, desperately trying to anchor herself amid the tumult. But the impact was overwhelming; the vehicle was heaved violently off course, smashing into a tree trunk before careening off a small cliff.
They found themselves dangling precariously, the world outside a whirlwind of chaos as belongings in the limo flew about in a bizarre ballet. Amid the scattered debris, Ben's eyes caught an unexpected sight—Kenji's hat, tumbling wildly as if searching for its owner.
"Huh, Kenji forgot his hat," Ben remarked, a strange feeling of normalcy cutting through the tension of the moment, even as danger loomed just outside.
On the yacht, Peter was looking over at the shore with a sorrowful look. He knew Laura could handle herself for a few extra minutes while they were waiting out the Scorpios, but Darius and Ben still risked getting harmed. If they got hurt, he swore he would hunt that creature down and rip off its-
"Hey," Brooklynn called, causing Peter to stop his train of thought and face her. "You okay?"
"I feel on edge," Peter stated. "I should have done something."
"What could you have done?" Brooklynn asked him. "You just got over the last encounter you had with the Scorpios. I'm sure they're fine. Laura can handle anything."
"As far as we know," Peter retorted with a sigh, rubbing his head. "Am I being overprotective?"
"Maybe. But... it is pretty sweet," Brooklynn admitted.
Peter sighed as he eyed the island.
"Aw, man." Kenji got their attention. "I left my captain's hat in the limo."
"Uh, Kenji? I think we have slightly bigger problems." Yaz scoffed.
"I know, I know." Kenji sighed. "We're heading back to the dock. Hopefully, the Scorpios has cleared out by now."
Back on the island, Laura knocked the door off its hinges, allowing her to help Ben and Darius out of the limo and down onto the ground.
"How are there two of that thing?" Ben asked in anger.
"My theory is that since the dinosaurs have other animals' DNA in their genetic code, like tree frogs, some of which can reproduce asexually-"
"I meant that more as a rhetorical complaint, but thanks," Ben told Darius. "The only thing more terrifying than one psycho dinosaur is two that make more of themselves whenever they want."
"You're right. No dinosaur, or kid, crazy enough to stay on this island stands a chance if the Scorpioses keep replicating." Darius agreed as they reached the ground.
Laura leaped down and landed on the ground easily and shook off the fall. "We gotta do something fast. Before they multiply again."
"They don't seem to get along." Ben noticed. "Maybe they'll take each other out?"
"We can't count on that," Darius stated. "I'm gonna stop them once and for all."
"Not alone, you aren't," Laura promised.
"Yeah," Ben was on board with helping. "So, how are we gonna do it? With explosions?"
"No," Darius said. "First, we need to disable them somehow. Knock them out maybe. To do that, we gotta go back to where it all began."
Darius then ran off, leaving the two of them confused as they weren't entirely sure what he was planning.
"And? Is there a part B to that idea?" Ben asked, quickly following him and Laura. "Like maybe blow something up?"
The yacht made its way over to shore. Everyone was cautious as they looked around and saw that there was no sign of their missing members. They made their way to shore while Peter morphed the V252 around his body as he approached the ledge of the stairway to the main island. They were waiting for something to happen when a spiky tail came out of nowhere, causing them all to shriek and run, except for Peter. His senses didn't alert him of danger, and it turned out to just be a stegosaurus.
"No Scorpios," Peter called out.
"Oh," Kenji said with relief.
"Oh, my gosh! Guys!" Sammy cried as she saw the limo and ran towards it with the others.
Kenji didn't however as he kept his head down. "What is it? Describe it with words."
"Oh, just walk over here, Kenji!" Peter called, sending a tendril to yank Kenji towards them. "Ugh!"
Kenji gasped when he saw the limo.
"Oh, no. Darius? Laura? Ben?" Brooklynn asks.
Sammy gasped when she saw footprints. "They got away. Look!"
Peter leaned down and caressed the tracks, looking off to the distance. "Where are you guys going?"
Laura, Ben, and Darius were running down the pathway when they heard a dinosaur snorting in the distance.
"Think they're coming this way?" Ben asks.
"Given our luck?" Darius asks.
"Right. Let's move faster." Ben said.
They heard dinosaurs coming, causing Laura to spin around draw her claws, and snarl. "Run!"
"But where?" Ben asks.
"I don't know!" Laura shrugged.
That was when a pack of brachiosaurus' came through and caused them to run along with the pack to try and survive. Laura was falling behind on Darius and Ben, causing her to use her claws to dig into the ground and fling herself forward. She raced ahead, seeing Darius fall over, causing her to work fast and grab him, getting them both out of the way.
The rumbling got Peter's senses to go off, allowing them to follow him as they ran and found the clearing that they were in.
"More footprints, over here!" Sammy found the footprints.
"That means that they came through here," Peter said, looking around.
"And something big came through here as well," Brooklynn said, seeing the destruction.
"So? We're looking for Ben, Laura, and Darius, remember?" Kenji asked. "That's just dinosaurs doing dinosaur stuff."
"No. Look. They destroyed the trees they like to eat." Sammy said, being the animal expert noticing something was wrong. "Something spooked them real bad."
"Likely the Scorpios," Peter said.
That was when they heard a roar, causing them to flinch and jump to stand in a circle, looking around to try and find what made the noise.
"I swear if that's the Scorpios rex…"
They heard the dinosaur crying out again, causing them to look to see it came from the stump ahead of them. They approached the noise only to discover a baby brachiosaurus.
"Oh!"
"Aw!"
Sammy ran ahead to the baby.
"Sammy, don't touch…" That was when Sammy began to pet the baby.
"Hi, there. I'm not gonna hurt you," Sammy calmed the creature down.
"Okay, nobody else-" Before Kenji could figure it out, the others raced over to pet and calm the creature.
"Oh! Aw!"
"Hi, baby."
Peter looked to Kenji with a chuckle. "Yeah, you thought that was going to work?"
"Oh! You are so cute." Brooklynn giggled.
Peter walked over and began to pet the baby dinosaur. "Yeah, you're pretty cute."
"Ugh! Guys! In and out, remember?" Kenji asks.
"She's looking for her herd." Sammy recognizes
"So, what?" Kenji asks. "Why should we care about what happens to the dinosaurs?"
"Dude, where have you been?" Peter asked sarcastically. "All we've been doing since we've been stuck here is either survive dinosaurs or protect them."
"He's right, life is worth protecting." Brooklynn agreed with Peter. "The Scorpios was never meant to be out in the wild." Dr. Wu knew that when he froze it."
"Okay, yeah, obvi the Scorpios thing is bad, but it's not our responsibility." Kenji defended as he scoffed. "The people who made that freak should've thought of the consequences before they gene-spliced rando lizards together!"
Peter gave him a look, raising a brow. "Uh..."
"Spider genes don't count," Kenji said.
"Yeah, but there's no-"
We need to focus on finding the others." Kenji said, marching forward. "In and out. And then finally, we escape this nightmare island.
The brachiosaurus roared out, getting Kenji to sigh.
"I can't believe I'm…Woo!" Kenji begins imitating the dinosaur's cry.
Peter looked to the girls and back to Kenji. "Look at that, he's been listening to Dino-Nerd all along."
Everyone began to help out, letting out a roar to imitate the cry. They did this a few more times before they got a call in return.
They watched as an adult brachiosaurus came into view. It approached them, and the baby ran off to be with it.
"I can't believe we did that." Sammy giggles.
"What the…" Yaz noticed something and went over to pick up Kenji's hat.
"Whoa! My captain's hat!" Kenji recognized it.
"The others must have brought it here, which means we're still heading the right way," Brooklynn said.
Yaz looked down and saw footprints. "More footprints!"
That was when Peter spotted the Scorpios' tracks. "And the Scorpios."
"The guys must be tracking it." Yaz guessed.
"Or the Scorpios are tracking them," Sammy said in fear.
Darius leads Laura and Ben across the jungle. "Hopefully, we're the only visitors at the Visitors Center today."
"Don't worry, Compies won't mess with us," Ben said as they slid down the hill. "We have a history."
"I meant that blue raptor," Darius said.
"I can handle her," Laura scoffed, drawing her claws.
"There!" Darius recognized the car accident where they dropped the tranquilizer gun. "Right where we left it."
"Tranq gun. Solid plan." Ben said.
"Yeah. Let's hope it works." Darius sighed, seeing the limited amount of ammo.
That was when Laura smelled something, causing her to spin around and draw her claws out of both her hands. She let out a ferocious roar, causing the others to screa, in terror. That was when Laura recognized who it was and sighed.
"Don't sneak up on me!" Laura stated.
"Oh! Thank goodness we found you!" Sammy cried as she ran and hugged Laura, causing her to flinch.
"What are you doing here?" Darius wonders. "We thought you left."
"What? No! Camp fam for life, right?" Sammy said, still holding Laura.
"She gonna let me go?" Laura asked Peter.
"Not if you give her the choice," Peter joked.
"We'd never leave someone behind," Sammy stated as she finally let her go.
"We just had to get away from that stupid Scorpios," Kenji explained. "It was on the dock."
"Yeah. We saw them up close and personal." Ben said.
"Hold up. "Them"?" Brooklynn asks.
"There's two of them," Darius said with a sigh.
"You have gotta be kidding me," Peter snarled.
"Who would put two Scorpios on one island?" Yaz asks.
"How is that even possible?" Brooklynn asks.
"Uh, some animals reproduce asexually, and I think…" Darius was explaining when he saw their faces. "Right. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that unless we take them out, they're gonna destroy everything and everyone."
"I don't wanna be on this island a second longer than I have to be." Kenji said with a sigh, but giving in, "But, uh, it's like I always say, life is worth protecting."
Peter gave him a look and scoffed. "I don't remember you ever saying that." He then looked at Darius. "Whatever your plan is, we're in."
"Okay, then," Darius said. "Let's go find some Scorpios rexes." That was when Peter sensed danger and drool fell on the tranq. "Huh!"
Looking upward, they saw the Scorpios hiding in the tree. It snarled at them, leaping to attack, followed by Peter stretching a tendril to knock it backward, slamming into the tree. "Laura, get them out of here!"
Laura nodded as they raced off, allowing Peter to continue his fight. He saw the Scorpios come back, and he quickly used several tendrils sticking off his back to quickly block the attack. The Scorpios then began to strike several more times, but it did nothing. That gave Peter the opening to then punch the Scorpios, sending him flying and knocking the tree over with its mass.
Shooting out several tendrils, Peter latched onto the mouth of the Scorpios and then slammed his head into the ground. But that wasn't enough as the Scorpios flung its tail at him, getting Peter to jump and dodge the quills. When he was dodging, the Scorpios grabbed onto his body and slammed him into the ground.
"Is that all you've got?!" Peter taunted, quickly using his suit to send out spikes, allowing him to escape the Scorpios' grasp. "It's not all I've got!"
Peter then created a giant tendril, almost like a whip, as he spun around and sent it flying toward the Scorpios. It smacked the Scorpios to the ground, and Peter quickly leaped onto its back, shooting several webs to try and keep it down. When that didn't work, Peter decided to use the suit's tendrils to restrain it. He managed to pin the head down, sending dozens of tendrils to hold its claws and tail, and it seemed to work.
Until the Scorpios opened its mouth, letting out a massive roar, causing Peter to flinch as his entire suit began to malfunction. The Scorpios then flung Peter off, sending him flying and crashing into a few trees.
A few minutes ago, everyone else ran to the Visitor Center and closed the doors behind them. They panted in relief before looking and remembering that Darius was holding a tranq gun.
"I honestly forgot I was holding it," Darius said sheepishly.
"It's okay. We'll get another chance." Brooklynn promsied.
"What about Peter?" Yaz asks in concern.
"I think he can handle himself with that V252 armor thing," Ben said with a sigh.
That was when Compies came running past, causing them to shriek. They then looked and saw a dozen of them running away from something. Then a Scorpios came into view. This one has the claw mark across its face, meaning it's the one Laura attacked.
"It's the other one." Darius recognized.
Dadius raised the tranq gun and tried to get his aim right before firing. But when he fired, the tranq flew past the Scorpios and embedded into the dinosaur wallpaper.
The Scorpios then looked at them and snarled, getting everyone to run in terror. Laura snarled as she raced over to fight the Scorpios to give everyone the chance to escape up the stairway. Darius was working on trying to reload the tranq gun when the Scorpios' tail swung and knocked the gun out of his hands.
The others continued to run, leaving Laura to fight the Scorpios. When she saw everyone was safe, she drew the Scorpios to charge at her, leaving it to ram the wall. That left it disoriented enough to allow Laura to race off with the others. They ran off into the kitchen where they saw the place was a mess and quickly closed the door to hide. They waited, seeing the Scorpios peak its head through the window.
The Scorpios sniffed the air, trying to open the door, before walking away. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when suddenly they saw the Scorpios ram the door, bursting through the doorway. Everyone screamed as Laura stayed down, watching the others draw the Scorpios closer. When it got close enough, she leaped out of her hiding space, drawing her claws, and then impaled them into the dinosaur's eye.
The Scorpios let out a roar of pain as Laura took her claws out. The Scorpios were in too much pain to attack as they made a run for it while it tried to get used to its lost vision.
"Outside!" Kenji cried, racing to the doors.
"What about the other Scorpios?" Brooklynn asked.
"I'll take my chances Peter dealt with it!" Kenji cried.
When they ran outside, they were met with the velociraptor. It screeched at them, causing them to scream and run back inside. They tried to keep the velociraptor out, but it was too strong and pushed them down.
Yaz pointed up the structure they once climbed the last time they were here, "Up there! Come on!
That was when the Scorpios came marching out, its left eye swollen from Laura's strike. Everyone screamed as Laura snarled while the velociraptor chirped in surprise.
"We're trapped," Brooklynn said in fear.
That was when the doors burst open, Peter coming in while his suit had morphed, its tendrils sticking off the back, his fingertips looking sharper than before.
"Let's fucking go! Round two!" Peter exclaimed, shooting multiple tendrils to slam into the Scorpios', sending them crashing into the Visitor Center.
The others watched as Peter almost effortlessly fought the two of them off until their roars caused Peter to scream and hold his ears in pain.
"Make it stop!" Peter cried, shooting spikes off his body, knocking both Scorpios' over, knocking into the construction equipment and causing the roof to shake. Darius then rushed to grab the gun, but the velociraptor stopped him. It snarled at him, Darius watching to make sure it didn't attack him. Then he got an idea as he raised his hands in a form of submission, showing the Velociraptor he meant no harm.
That was seemingly enough for the velociraptor to charge at the Scorpios, giving Peter a moment to then shoot off the tendrils to knock the Scorpios against the wall. The roof began to shake, giving Darius an idea.
"We gotta go," Sammy said. "If the roof collapses on us, we're toast."
"But they would be, too," Darius said, running over to pull at the equipment. "Help me!"
Laura tapped his shoulder, getting his attention. Laura then drew her claws, reminding him of their Adamantium coating. Slicing at the equipment, the roof begins to slowly crack and fall.
"Peter!" Yaz called out to him. "We've gotta go!"
Peter quickly created a whip with his tendrils and slammed the whip against the legs of the Scorpios'. "You're lucky it's not me." He snarled. "I'd make it hurt more!"
Peter then saw the roof falling and quickly shot off tendrils that then allowed him to slingshot himself forward. Grabbing Yaz on the way out. They rolled down the hill outside and groaned. Peter quickly got back up and looked towards the Visitor Center as the velociraptor came running out, finished by Darius running out. The entire building then collapsed, sending the two Scorpios' to their demise.
The others began to sigh in relief. They looked over towards the velociraptor and waited to see what it would do. That was when the velociraptor raced off into the jungle.
"Well, that happened," Peter said with a sigh.
"So... who wants to get out of here?" Darius asked everyone.
As everyone boarded the boat, a collective sigh mingled with the salty breeze. The air was thick with tension as Kenji made his way to the controls, fingers deftly brushing against the buttons. Peter stumbled over, plopping down beside him with a heavy exhalation. The V252 detached from him, morphing away to reveal the toll that the harrowing encounter had taken—despite its protective barrier, the relentless sonic blasts from the Scorpios had left him exposed and weary.
"Okay, once and for all, let's escape this cursed place," Kenji declared, thrusting the boat into gear, its engine roaring to life as it shot out into the vast open ocean.
"Costa Rica, here we come! Woo-hoo!" Yaz cried out, her exuberance palpable as she tumbled onto the seat beside Peter, her spirit illuminating the dimness of their recent ordeal.
"If luck is on our side, we'll reach the shores by morning," Darius chimed in, his tone cautiously optimistic as he gazed out at the undulating waves.
Brooklynn settled across from Peter, her gaze assessing. "You okay?" she asked softly, concern lacing her voice.
"Yeah, just exhausted," Peter replied with another sigh, his shoulders heavy. "It's not easy fighting for your life against poison and then sprinting from two Scorpios. It really drains you."
"I can imagine," Yaz murmured, leaning gently against his shoulder, offering unspoken support. "But hey, you survived. You might just have dethroned Ben as the invincible one."
"Oh, I'd gladly accept that title," Peter said with a faint smile, feeling a sense of relief wash over him. As the tension eased and a calming silence began to envelop them, Peter pondered broaching a subject that had been lingering in his mind. "Look, I wanted to—" he began, but was abruptly interrupted as bright lights flared to life on the boat, slicing through the darkness like daggers. "Oh, come on! What now!?" he exclaimed, heart racing as he squinted up at the sky.
The sight that greeted them sent a chill down their spines: a fleet of nearly half a dozen helicopters emerged from the shadows, their powerful beams illuminating the night. One helicopter hovered menacingly above, its door swinging open to reveal a figure gripping an enormous weapon, aimed directly at them.
"Attention, you on the boat, return to the dock and cut the engine immediately!" a booming voice commanded, echoing ominously over the water.
"Who are these guys?" Darius queried, fear creeping into his voice as he glanced nervously around.
Meanwhile, on the island, Kraven gazed through an imposing pair of binoculars, watching as the helicopters approached with a malevolent smirk twisting his lips. "My greatest hunt... ends with you, Spider-Man," he whispered to himself, anticipation glimmering in his eyes as the game of predator and prey unspooled before him.
(A/N) I'm adding a few more thugs to the group rather than the two Wu brought. You'd think someone like him would have brought more to this island, especially considering he knew the Scorpios was here, and there were other dangers. And I think you can imagine why I'm adding so many more. We've got a certain someone who is going to want revenge on another certain someone...