The news came in the afternoon.
There was a shootout in central park between a gang of armed robbers and NYPD officers. Peter saw the news through the televisions in the window of an electronics store. Somehow he knew Kraven wasn't behind it. Given how tame the hostage situation before had been Peter knew that this was different. This wasn't just bait. The danger was real.
But Peter knew Kraven would be there all the same, hunting the Spider.
That didn't stop him from going though. Peter had a plan this time. He looked at the bag he was holding and checked his web shooters. The modifications he had made to them previously seemed to be working fine, including the glowing bars that indicated how much web fluid he had left. With that he went into an alley and a few minutes later was swinging through New York as Spiderman. He wasn't going to let this Kraven guy hurt him or anyone else. That being said he had the strangest feeling that he had forgotten something.
But he couldn't worry about that now.
....
Kraven, meanwhile, saw the news cast from the hotel room and knew the Spider would be there. He shouldered his crossbow and spoke to Dmitri, who was reading the newspaper.
"Well Dmitri," said Sergei Kravenoff. "Are you ready?"
"I suppose," said Dmitri, putting the newspaper down. "But are you sure about this? I thought you preferred to work alone. Why do you need my help?"
"Good hunters use a pack," said Sergei. "Just remember who the alpha male is here and we'll be fine. Won't we?"
Sergei had that look that Dmitri remembered as a child. It was a look that said, 'agree with me or I'll break your legs.' As it was Dmitri's legs were aching a little.
"Fine," said Dmitri. "You're the boss."
"Good," said Sergei with a satisfied sigh.
As they left the hotel Dmitri couldn't help but think that he'd hate this. He still planned to try and capture the Spider on his own, but if he didn't assist Kraven in this it would look suspicious. Dmitri decided he needed to keep his motives hidden, so he would play along for now. He'd just have to make certain not to try his best at this.
He chuckled just a little. For this particular hunt he'd actually be rooting for the Spider.
"Did you say something?" asked Sergei, partially hearing the low chuckle.
"Nothing brother," said Dmitri with a subtle grin. "Nothing at all."
....
Central park was like a small forest. It was usually pretty quiet and peaceful, but today there was gunfire. The gang of shooters had fled into central park hoping to evade the cops, but they just couldn't seem to shake them.
Spiderman watched the scene from the top of a nearby building. He didn't see anyone, but he heard and saw gunfire in the trees below. He knew Kraven would be there, and in truth was the perfect place for an ambush. Amid skyscrapers Peter could just web to a tall building and swing away, like a bird flying out of reach of a predator, but down there all he could swing off of were the trees, and that wouldn't swing him out of Kraven's reach.
Peter took a deep breath and then, as Spiderman, swung down to catch the crooks below. He reached the area where the criminals were shooting back at police. The thwip sound from his web shooters caught the attention of the crooks, but Spiderman had accounted for that. He kept just out of sight. Then he would swoop in, spin a big web to catch the crooks attention, and then swing right in their mist to kick, punch, or otherwise throw one of the crooks into the web.
Caught like a fly in a web.
After this maneuver he would swing away, back out of sight. The shooters eventually ignored the cops pursuing them and tried to hit Spiderman, but every time Spiderman disappeared he would kick off a tree to quickly change direction and throw his attackers off. He would then swing around behind them and repeat the process. A lot of bullets came his way, but Spiderman was able to dodge all of them.
"I must be the hero in an action movie!" cried Spiderman as he swung out of sight. "Everyone I fight has terrible aim! Seriously, where did you guys learn to shoot?!"
Back at the police one of the officers, a big, broad shouldered guy, called on his radio.
"Sir," he said. "We've got Spiderman rounding up the crooks. Should we advance?"
"Negative," said Captain Stacy over the receiver. "You might hit Spiderman if you keep firing, and right now I'm not classifying him as a target. Just hold your men back and wait."
"I don't like this sir," said the officer.
"I know," said Captain Stacy with a sigh. "I know."
A few minutes later Spiderman had rounded up the gunmen. He stood, all fours, on a tree branch and watched as the cops flooded in, just gawking at the webbed up criminals. Behind the mask Peter was thinking. It had been a little harder to use his Spider-Sense during this fight. He could sense vibrations through the air, but that sensation wasn't as strong as it was on the ground, so he couldn't sense their location. He could occasionally sense their location through vibrations in his webbing, something he made sure to remember, but there seemed to be a time delay from that. The best he could do while web swinging was keep an eye on his targets and use spider sense as a supplement.
So, Peter thought, I'm most vulnerable when I'm web swinging huh? I'll have to be careful. In the meantime, where's Kraven?
He looked around and as if on cue he felt a strong tingling sensation run through the tree and into his limbs. He immediately leaped as a tranquilizer flew past.
As he landed he looked over to see Kraven running through the trees with his hyena like grin, crossbow in hand. Kraven had thrown a tranquilizer into the air and had pulled the crossbow string back with his bare hand. He caught the tranquilizer in the bed of the crossbow, and a second later had fired it.
The bolt of the crossbow sent vibrations through the ground, up through the tree, and through Peter's whole body.
Spiderman dodged the bolt and started swinging through the trees. He shot webbing more rapidly than normal as he fled from Kraven, hoping to get away. His Spider Sense was weaker while web swinging, but he found that this crossbow was easier to dodge than a gun might have been, as the projectile was slower. This meant that as Kraven fired a new dart every five seconds Spiderman just twisted out of the way.
It was a little unnerving how fast Kraven ran as well. Peter figured he was more comfortable out in the open and among the trees for he was running faster than he had in the apartment building, so Spiderman had to pick up speed. His speed was like that of a wild animal, which didn't surprise Peter, but made him nervous. Still, he knew he couldn't let it show.
"Wow," said Spiderman loudly yet dryly. "I'd expect the supervillian to at least have better aim than the henchmen! Come on, this is embarrassing!
"This time Spider!" cried Kraven, still grinning. "I'll cut out that tongue of yours!"
"And take away my sharp retorts?" said Spiderman, aghast. "You evil man!"
Then Spiderman twisted and started swinging backwards, firing webbing between the trees and blocking Kraven's path. Kraven just laughed and shot a dart through the webbing, forcing Spiderman to do a mid-air backflip with one hand on a strand of webbing. The next moment Spiderman landed, sticking to a nearby tree.
"That trick again?" cried Kraven. "Didn't you learn the last time?" He pulled out his bowie knives to cut through the strands.
"Actually," said Spiderman. "I did."
Kraven suddenly found himself stuck in the webbing. Not even his knives could cut through the material. He struggled, but found himself stuck.
"What do you think?" said Spiderman. "Based on the molecular structure of the cables on a suspension bridge, this webbing is as strong as steel. Nobel prize worthy huh? And now..." he got serious. "You're mine!"
Spiderman swung down and up again, raising his fist for a punch. Suddenly Kraven pulled, and the bark of the tree webbed to Kraven's arm came loose. Spiderman shot two strands of webbing behind him to stop his advance, and Kraven's fist ended up a fraction of an inch from his face.
Peter, wide eyed under his mask, did not like how close it was.
Spiderman sprung back as Kraven started freeing himself. Kraven then swung his arm, using the webbing to swing a piece of wood at Spiderman, who dodged as the wood struck a tree with a CRACK! Spiderman then retreated, swinging through the forest. He needed a new plan, and he needed one fast.
Meanwhile Kraven, freeing himself from the webbing, put his finger on a hidden receiver in his ear.
"Dmitri," said Kraven. "Time to herd him back in my direction."
....
Good cables, Peter thought, poor bridge. I need an area with a stronger foundation. Concrete, steel, something like that. I've got to get out of central park.
He didn't get far before he saw Kraven in the distance, crossbow in hand. Kraven fired a bolt and Spiderman immediately dodged and turned the other way. Peter was thinking that it should be impossible for Kraven to be that fast. Something was wrong here.
What he didn't notice was that this Kraven didn't pursue but put his hand to his ear and said, in Chameleon's voice, "He's heading to the east side of the park."
Over the line the real Kraven said, "Understood.
The fake Kraven, meanwhile, turned and walked towards a camouflaged four wheeled ATV. He got on it and rode off.
....
This was getting ridiculous. Every time Peter got close to getting out of central park he ran into Kraven. He just couldn't get close enough to one of the skyscrapers to web out of there. He didn't know how Kraven managed to keep cutting him off, but he did. Something was off about him as well. When he was close to getting out of central park Kraven didn't seem too trigger happy. In the center of the Urban Jungle, however, Kraven shot that crossbow like a madman. In both cases it was a simple matter spreading some steel hard webbing to slow him down and get away, but the indicator on his web shooter was ridiculously low, and he had already replaced the web cartridges once by that point. He needed a plan, and he needed one fast.
Speaking of which he saw the group of cops camped out in an open area. He swung past it and webbed a radio transceiver away from one of the cops.
"Excuse me!" said Spiderman. "I need to borrow this!"
"Hey!" cried the cop.
Spiderman stopped swinging as he grabbed the transceiver and started leaping from tree branch to tree branch. He needed his hands
"Hello," said Spiderman into the radio. "Hello, testing one, two, three. Can anyone here me?"
"Who is this?" said Captain Stacy over the line.
Shoot, thought Peter. I should have known it would be him.
"Uh, yeah," said Spiderman in his best deep voice. "This is Spiderman. I was wondering if you could help me." The last thing he wanted was for the captain of the police to recognize his voice.
"You're asking me for help?" said Captain Stacy, surprised.
"Well yeah," said Spiderman, still leaping from the trees and keeping an eye out for Kraven. "I think I can beat this Kraven guy, but not here in central park. However, every time I try to leave he cuts me off. Even considering how fast this guy runs he shouldn't be able to get in front of me like that."
"You say he runs fast?" asked Captain Stacy. "I've been getting conflicting reports on that. Some say he's running like a cheetah, others say he's on an ATV."
That was news to Peter. An ATV? Kraven wouldn't need something like that, but then...
It hit him. Kraven wasn't around so he stopped on a tree to think about it. There was a Kraven that only fired one shot, and a trigger happy one as well. There were two of them. And the other was the principle's doppelganger at school. His job was to keep Spiderman from getting out of central park so Kraven could keep up the hunt. They must have been communicating somehow so they could coordinate their efforts.
"Alright," said Spiderman. "How would you like to help me catch one of these Kravens?"
There was a pause before Captain Stacy answered. "I don't know what you mean by two Kravens, but sure, I'd love to catch one."
"Alright," said Spiderman, seeing Kraven running up in the distance. "I'm going to head for the north side of central park. The Kraven on the ATV will cut me off there, but I can catch that one. Think you can have your men ready for an arrest?"
"We'll be there," said Captain Stacy.
"Good," said Spiderman before tossing away his radio and swinging past Kraven. He put up another barrier of steel hard webbing and went on his way, north."
Kraven shot a few darts at him but Spiderman still got away. Kraven growled in frustration and put his finger to the hidden receiver in his ear.
"He's headed north," he said.
....
Dmitri stood in the forest, and was sweating in all the foam padding, but it was necessary for this ruse. Kraven was a great deal bigger than he was after all. Dmitri had hoped Spiderman picked up on the hint. He knew Sergei would be firing his crossbow as aggressively as possible, so by only firing one it should be an adequate clue that he wasn't the real one. Not that Dmitri could reload his crossbow as fast as Sergei anyway, but still.
Something was wrong however. Dmitri knew he should have seen the spider by now, but he was a no show. Or, at least, that is what Dmitri thought.
"Gee nice ride," said a taunting voice behind him. Dmitri looked to see the Spider above him. "Though, wouldn't running be faster."
So you did figure it out, Dmitri thought, well done. With that he jumped onto the ATV hidden nearby and rod off. He looked back but Spiderman wasn't moving. No matter, Dmitri thought. He looked ahead and didn't see anything in front of him.
But he hit something anyway.
He felt thin yet strong strands strike him in the chest. The next thing he knew he was dangling midair, stuck to something unseen as his ATV was going off on its own. It proceeded to crash into a tree, and Dmitri couldn't help but wonder what had just happened.
He could feel the strands, but he couldn't see them. However, as he looked around he eventually saw strands that caught the light, and it hit him. It was, of course, webbing, but more like a real web; completely invisible unless you looked at it from the right angle.
Peter, behind his mask, grinned.
Spiderman leaped and landed on a nearby tree and pulled Dmitri's mask off with a strand of webbing. What he saw was a bald man with a pale white face and an almost nonexistent nose. It surprised him.
"Are you, by any chance, wearing a suit under there?" said Spiderman.
"Yes actually, I am," said Dmitri. "It helps to get out of disguises quickly sometimes. Why do you ask?"
Spiderman gushed. "Oh my goodness I am the first spider to catch a slender man in his web. Awesome! Though I'm surprised, you have more of a face than I thought you would"
Dmitri just gave him a blank look.
The next moment Captain Stacy arrived with cops. The cops surrounded the unmasked Dmitri and trained their weapons on him. Captain Stacy looked at Spiderman who looked back. Spiderman nodded, and Captain Stacy nodded back. With that Spiderman left, swinging away, eventually swinging out of central park and to the skyscrapers.
Meanwhile Kraven watched the scene from behind the trees, hidden from sight. Curse that Dmitri, he thought. Curse him for getting captured like that. At that moment he was considering hunting one of the police, but he thought better of it. Ever since he hunted that first cop police in the city hadn't been going anywhere alone. They always had two or three other police with them. It would be dangerous to try and hunt one today, even for him.
He'd have to sooth his wounded pride elsewhere.
Captain Stacy, organizing the arrest of this imposter Kraven, had a good feeling. He hoped the precautions he was having the other officers make would be enough to keep them safe, or perhaps capture this Kraven if he got careless. Captain Stacy may have been in an arena of people with superpowers, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his job.
Finally Peter swung home, glad to be out of the trees and back among the skyscrapers. He was also happy that things seemed to be working out a little better. The doppelganger was off his back, hopefully, and he had a better strategy for facing Kraven in the future. Still, he couldn't help but feel that he had forgotten something.
Harry and Gwen felt that Peter had forgotten something as well, for he had never shown up to their homework session at Harry's place. They eventually started homework without him, but they would not be forgetting this any time soon.