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#4
DEC 09 |
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Test and Trials, Part Four:
“In the End”
“In the End”
Peter Parker cursed. The spider-tracer that he had attached to Morlun* had gone dead. There was no way to find him…not until Morlun found Peter himself. He was back to be being hunted. He rubbed his eyes and dropped onto his bed. He was screwed.
Peter hit the answering machine button and listened to the message MJ had left. His anger subsided and he played it again.
Why does she want to talk to me? And right now? Morlun is still out there, and until he gets me... Innocents are in danger. Glory’s still in surgery and will probably still be there for a few hours... How can I feel so helpless?!
He hung his head. He felt so drained. He needed some sleep. He scribbled a note to himself to call MJ later, then laid back and closed his eyes. He was asleep immediately.
Morlun looked at the unconscious man who had been snooping around his ship several days earlier. He claimed to be Ben Urich, a reporter for the Daily Bugle. He had read Urich’s work, which was Pulitzer caliber in some cases and the man had won the award before. But that didn’t matter to Morlun; Urich had invaded his territory and had endangered Morlun’s task in New York City. Urich’s eyes fluttered open.
“Whu...” he rasped. Urich squinted, trying to see without his glasses then curled his lip in anger. “You.”
Morlun said nothing.
“You’re committing a federal offense, you know?” Urich continued. “Every cop in New York must know I’m missing.”
Morlun ignored him still. He didn’t care what Urich had to say. He had considered snapping the man’s neck several times over, but it wasn’t worth it. There was a sudden thunderclap overhead. He would rest for several hours, then resume his hunt. Spider-Man would soon be his. He left Urich to his protests and retired to his own cabin for meditation. Soon he would have his goal. Then he would have peace.
Peter’s eyes opened wide. He sat up, his mind suddenly filled. Ben Urich. He had disappeared right around the time Morlun’s tests had started. He was investigating an old ship that had appeared on the harbor. Could it possibly be...?
Peter picked up the phone and dialed Robbie’s number. After several rings a voice answered. “Robbie?”
“Huh?”
“It’s Peter. I have a question for you.”
“I don’t see why it couldn’t wait until morning, but okay.”
“Has Ben gotten back to you?”
“Uh, no. He’s still missing.”
“I might have a lead on where he is. Talk to you later.”
“Uh, okay Peter. Bye.”
Watch out Morlun. Here comes Spider-Man.
Spider-Man swung through the rain, headed for New York Harbor. He fired webline after webline. Underneath the mask, Peter Parker’s face was a mask of pure determination. He was going to stop Morlun from killing anyone else just to get at him. He could see the harbor now, and knew the ship he was looking for instantly. He landed on a building opposite the ancient ship Ben had told him about. He could feel a deep evil within.
He was there.
Peter jumped from the building to the ground. He strode across the street separating the pier and the building. His clothes were soaked through, but Peter didn’t care. He had his goal in sight and nothing was going to stop him. Spider-Man leapt from the pier to the side of the ship and climbed up to the deck. It reminded Peter of a pirate movie; everything on the deck was straight out of the 1800s. Peter saw a door leading to the lower decks and strode over to it. He opened the door and descended the stairs to the deck below.
First he needed to find Ben and free him. Then, he would find Morlun and take him down. It ended right here. Peter walked down the middle of the hallway, looking in and out of doors. After several empty rooms, he found what he was looking for. Ben was chained the wall opposite the door. Peter looked around the room as he entered. It looked to be equipped to hold at least a dozen captives all at once. Morlun was experienced.
“You actually going to say something this time?” Ben said without looking up.
“This is my first visit here, actually,” Spider-Man said.
“Whu-?!” Ben’s head jerked up, and his eyes widened. “Spider-Man, is that you?!”
“Who’d you expect? Wolverine?” Spider-Man raised his finger to his lips. “You don’t wake up the psychopath though, do you?”
“Good point. A little help here?”
“Certainly.” He walked to Ben’s side and took the chains in his hands and tugged. No luck. They were built for someone of even his incredible strength. He looked around the room, trying to find keys and spied them on the far wall, next to the door. Peter fired a webline to snag the keys and tugged them towards him. He tried several keys before finally getting the right one. The manacles opened and Ben shook them off his wrists. He rubbed them, trying to increase circulation, and then looked at Spider-Man.
“Well?”
“Get off the ship, get to a phone and call the cops. Tell them you’ve discovered who the Madison Square Garden bomber is.”
“The what?!”
“I don’t have time to fill you in Ben. Just do it and hurry.”
“Okay.” Ben followed Spider-Man out of the room and then rushed up the stairs to the deck. Peter continued on into the bowels of the ship. He opened several more doors. After a minute, he heard a voice behind him.
“You’ve found me, Spider.Thank you for making my task easier.” He spun on his heel as his danger sense flared and immediately ducked. Morlun advanced, grabbing Peter’s head. His spider-sense screamed and he felt Morlun begin to drain energy from him. He lashed out with his fist, punching Morlun in the gut. His grip broke as he stumbled backwards. Peter advanced forward, punching Morlun again.
“It ends now, Morlun,” Spider-Man said. “I will not let you take another innocent life to get to me. One of us will not walk away, and I’m not planning on that being me.”
“Then you will be sorely disappointed, Spider.” Morlun uppercutted Peter, who flew upwards and broke through to the upper deck. Peter twisted and then used his momentum to flip onto the deck. Morlun jumped from the lower deck to where Peter stood. The rain still continued, soaking the two combatants. For several seconds, Morlun and Spider-Man just stared at each other. Then Morlun acted.
His arm swung at Peter’s head. He ducked and used his center of gravity to kick Morlun in the side. Morlun jerked to the side, wincing at the blow. Peter jumped to his feet and tackled Morlun. He punched Morlun’s head over and over, but he seemed unaffected. Suddenly, Morlun’s arms jerked up, palms flat, hitting Peter in the chest. Peter flew back and slid across the deck to the debris from his entry from the lower deck. Morlun stood and strode over to Peter. He stretched out his arm as he neared Spider-Man, opening his hand to touch, to feed off him. Peter’s hands scrambled desperately for a weapon or something to stop Morlun. His right hand fell on a large splintered board.
Peter grabbed the board and thrust it forward, impaling Morlun. The hunter looked at the board, the blood seeping from the wound it created, then back at Spider-Man. He smiled at Spider-Man, then collapsed to the deck. Peter stood and walked over to Morlun. He checked his pulse.
It had stopped. Morlun was dead. Peter felt a strange emptyness as he looked at the man who had hunted him. He had killed him to save his own life. Why had it come to that? Peter heard sirens in the distance and fired a webline to the building that had been his vantage point less than an hour earlier. He swung away, rain still pelting the city.
The coroner zipped up the body bag they had placed the man’s body in. Police detectives carried C4 from the lower decks to their cars while the coroner and his assistant carried the body to their van. They lowered it to the floor, closed the doors, and then got in the cab. The coroner started the van and drove away from the ancient ship. The windshield wipers squeaked as they did their work.
“Strange case,” said the assistant.
“Definitely,” said the coroner. “I haven’t seen a crime scene like that ev-URK!” Two strong hands snapped the necks of both men. Morlun threw the bodies into the back, then took the driver’s seat. He rubbed the rapidly healing wound and smiled.
“And so it begins.”
Peter sat down at his desk heavily, exhausted from the previous night. He was lucky that he had planned labs for his two science classes. The class began to file in one by one. He looked up as a peculiar pair walked in. Joey Michaels and Mariana Pacheco were practically inseparable, but today something was different about Mariana. Her movements were quicker, but more graceful. She had also appeared to lose some weight over just the weekend. It was strange.
Peter leaned forward and saw the note in his dayplanner reminding him of lunch with Betty. He’d also received word that Glory was going to survive, but she’d be in a wheelchair the rest of her life. He then saw his other note.
Call MJ.
His mind began running through all the possibilities that MJ wanted to talk about. He put it into the back of his mind as class started. He ran through the motions until lunch. He walked out of Midtown High and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed MJ’s number. After several rings, someone picked up. There was a few seconds of silence.
“Hello?” he finally said.
After several more seconds, he finally heard MJ’s voice.
“Hey Tiger,” she said. “We need to talk.”
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The End...
Next: In Amazing Spider-Man #5: 90 Days Later!
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