Spiderman used without permission

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	Hikaru Gosunkugi: The Amazing Spiderman Issue Fourteen
	Power Plays

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	"I'm getting nowhere like this," Gosunkugi muttered as he swung across the Ginza. The nest of light below still managed to barely illuminate the buildings even at sixty stories up. The noises of the gaggle of shoppers and businessmen was a jumbled mass at his height, yet still audible. It had to be a hundred times worse down on the street. Hikaru was glad he wasn't down there to heart it up close.
	He knew he'd never get a lead on that kidnapped girl at the rate he was going. If the girl he had saved last night had been telling the truth - and Hikaru doubted she wasn't - then this Yukio was in serious danger. And he could do nothing to help.
	Gosunkugi began a climb up the building he was currently adhered to. He had no clues, no leads...
	"That girl!" he shouted. If he could find the girl he had saved, she could tell him about Yukio. But where would he find her? And why had those guys tried to kidnap her in the first place? And, while he was on the subject, what was her name?
	Hikaru reached the roof, some eighty or ninety stories above the noise and lights of the Ginza and sat on the edge. Being a detective was harder than it seemed.
	"Think, Gosunkugi," he commanded himself. "Where can you go for answers?" The police had come only a few minutes after he had taken down the kidnappers. He had been out toward Odaiba that night. It had to be a Koban preceint in that area. How many could there be? Hikaru would check into that. It wouldn't be too hard.
	"Okay," he muttered, "now, how do I find out?" She had been a victim of an attempted kidnapping. Such a crime carried a rather hefty punishment. The Koban would have a file on the case, no doubt. Hikaru rested his head in his hands, brain whirling with thoughts racing about like lightning bolts.
	"I'll bet they have a copy of the case file somewhere." He looked out to the skyline of Tokyo, a city of concrete and glass. The old was rapidly giving way to the new, he noticed, yet the old ways still remained...
	"I'll be damned." That was it! "They gotta have a hard copy of that file! A records room or something! Spidey, you're a genius!" Seaking into a Koban building shouldn't be too hard. The security wasn't set up with Spiderman in mind. "All I gotta do is sneak in, find the case file, and sneak out all without being seen by a cop. No problem!" First, he had to find out where that particular Koban preceint was. Hikaru swung out into the night toward home. All he needed to find that place was a handy-dandy phone book. It was amazing what a little creative thought could do.
	As he swung out toward home, Gosunkugi paid no heed to the traffic below, or to the panel truck that seemed so out of place in the commuter traffic.

================================

	Wu Long took a deep breath as he waited in the darkness of the truck's cargo section. The panel truck - along with the six men accompanying him - were courtesy of Tatsu Ishikawa. Assembling the necessary manpower and equipment was no trouble, nor was briefing them on what to say. He thanked every diety he knew of that he had been able to move so fast. Wu Long was the only man who knew all the security codes and protocols for the Black Widow Project, and Leung knew it. Doubtless he had issued the order to use a different set of codes, but implementing them would take days at best. Long only hoped that Leung wouldn't expect him to move so quickly.
	He almost let out a chuckle at it all. Just a day before, he was the second most powerful man in Pao Leung's organization. Now he was a fugitive, scrambling for his only chance at survival. That his chance had set him against the man who had delivered him from the gutters of Meng Cun, the man to whom he had pledged his loyalty, and that this chance could very well let him usurp that selfsame organization, was a most delicious irony. He only hoped it would work. It had to. Deliveries of this nature only took place after midnight, in a truck of this particular color scheme and with specially stamped orders.
	Thank you, Pao Leung, he silently prayed. Who would have dreamed that in my failure, I would have the chance to rule so much. That he was betraying the man who had saved him from a life of poverty and petty crime was a thought Wu Long chose to ignore.
	One hour and thirty minutes, Long thought as the truck came to a stop. According to the route he had given the driver, they were at the outer gates of the Yamaguchi Industrial Complex. Right on time.

	The driver handed over the invoice, detailing the equipment that the truck carried. The gate security officer, a man with red-rimmed bleary eyes and a tired face, glanced at the stamp which indicated that the shipment was meant for the Special Projects Wing, and waved the truck through.
	The off-white Mitsubishi Fuso roared into gear as it rolled past the gates. The driver followed the route Wu Long had detailed, maintaining a constant rate of forty KpH. the panel truck passed through alleyways between elongated sheetmetal buildings where the grunt work took place. After twenty minutes exactly it arrived at the designated access point.
	The driver handed over his orders to a much more fresh and alert looking guard. He had been briefed on this point, that the truck would be inspected before being allowed to go further. From beneath the stained brim of his cap he studied the other three guards who stood at port arms, each holding a Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle.
	The first guard called over two others to check the rear of the truck. The driver's heart thudded in his chest. If this part of the plan failed, then he was certain he'd meet his end at the flaming barrels of those rifles. He had no doubts those men knew how to use them. Three from the front, three from the rear. The Mitsubishi's body would never stop those rounds. He only hoped he'd survive long enough to see his wife and son again.

	Wu Long tensed as the door rolled up and the three guards stepped in. Their boots stomped heavily on the metal floor, beams of light searching all the crates for any signs of something out of the ordinary. Shipments to the Special Projects Wing were always thoroughly checked. 
	Just a little closer... once the three were fully inside, he would strike. It would have to be quiet, and there were no second chances. Wu Long didn't dare breathe as the first guard drew up alongside him. A muted thud sounded from the door, and Long pounced. Muscles uncoiled as he rose to his full height, wrapped his hands about the guard's head, and gave a vicious twist. The crack of a neck breaking sounded like a gunshot in his ears as he lowered the now-dead guard. Two of the four men in the rear with him were donning the uniforms of the dead men while Long removed the clothes of the one he had killed. Over an hour freezing in this truck with nothing but his boxers seemed insignificant now.

	The driver glanced at the mirror mounted on his door and forgot to breathe when a black-suited man stepped out of the truck.
	"All clear!" a familiar voice shouted.
	"Acknowledged," the leader of the three who barred the truck's passage answered. The uniformed man, someone the driver knew personally, hopped back into the truck. The driver heard the rear door slam and placed the truck back into gear. The guards stepped clear.
	Wow... he thought. The gate before him did not open. He felt the truck shudder just as the scene before him began to rise. The brightly-lit checkpoint was steadily replaced with darkened machinery. A low-pitched hum vibrated throughout his body as the freight elevator lowered him - truck and all - into the depths of the Yamaguchi Complex.
	"Wu Long was right. Amazing." Maybe, just maybe, they could pull this off. The driver absently fingered the grip of the SOCOM .45 - a very difficult gun to get in Japan - which was concealed beneath his uniform.
	Focus. Remember the route. Stay at twenty KpH. Don't make a wrong turn, don't even jerk the wheel in the wrong direction. All this the driver repeated like a mantra. Wu Long had said that there were automated defenses down in this place as well as men who carried guns that even the Self Defense Force didn't have. If they just *smelled* something wrong, they would blast the truck into dust.
	Left, left, right, straight two intersections, two more lefts, four intersections, and a right. That was the route Long had told him. The driver only prayed that it was the right one.
	The elevator finally stopped, and he moved the truck forward. This was it, they were really here. Once Wu Long got what they needed, they would all fire on him at once. Long would not survive this night. The driver hoped that he himself would.

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	Gosunkugi sat on his bed, his muscles still warm from webslinging in the cool air. The only light which burned in his room was the small reading lamp he kept on the bed table. The window was firmly shut and the blind was down, his costume hidden safely in the secret compartment of his closet he had discovered when his family had first leased the apartment.
	Hikaru never knew what had been kept there before, but it had served as a handy spot for his voodoo materials and magical texts. As of late, however, it had been the hiding place for what he had come to call his "work clothes". His parents had no idea the compartment was there, and for that he was glad. He hated the thought of explaining to them that he was Spiderman. Just as well that they were seldom home before eleven at night, oftentimes later.
	"Let's see..." Gosunkugi muttered as he flipped through the yellow pages. The phone book lay open before him, turned to the section of Odaiba Ward. "Koban... Koban... Hello!" He finally found the listing for Odaiba Ward's Koban Precient, and the address for the building.
	One step closer. Tomorrow night, Spiderman's gonna pay that place a visit. Discreetly. With that thought buzzing in his head, Hikaru Gosunkugi clicked off his lamp and lay down to sleep. With any luck he'd find that girl and from there get what he needed to find this mysterious Yukio.
	"Always wanted to... save the damsel in disress..." he muttered before drifting off to sleep.

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	"Jesus," Pate said. He had seen this before - more times than he really cared to recall - but the sight still managed to jar some part of him.
	"How could anyone do that?" Keiko Megumi said beside him. Her porcelian face had gone whiter, wide eyes brimming with tears and a hand over her mouth.
	"Some people just aren't human."
	"You've seen ths before."
	"Yeah," Pate replied.
	The body lay nude on the table. The skin, once supple and lovely, was colored now by hideous yellow-black bruises laden with cuts and dried blood. The horror of such insults to a human body were a thing that William Pate had seen often in his time in the LAPD, and a few times in the FBI. Being a Federal Agent, he didn't have as much exposure to street crime as he once did. Seeing it here brought all that home and the old instincts began to kick in.
	"Yukio Segawa," Keiko said, her cool voice having come back under control. "her body was found this afternoon in the red light district. She'd been picked up several times on prostitution, but always made her bail."
	"You think this is the same Yukio that Sachiko was talking about?" Pate asked.
	"I hope not, but..."
	"Yeah. We'll get her back in to identify the body." Pate prayed that this might be a coincidence, but knew it wasn't. He had read the preliminary autopsy report and was not surprised to read that the girl had been beaten and raped repeatedly and brutally before death. Anyone who didn't believe that the devil walked the earth had not seen the mutilated corpses and horrendous crimes William Pate had. 
	Keiko pushed her horror down into the depths of herself. This was her first homicide. It was a crime she had hoped never to encounter. But for her first to be something like this, it was beyond appalling. That one person could even consider doing such things as the late Yukio Segawa had suffered was a thing that Keiko Megumi couldn't wrap her mind around.
	But she had to. Keiko couldn't look at this as a person - as a woman - but as a detective. There were people responsible for this crime, and they had to be brought to justice. The case belonged to her and William. It was theirs to solve and the men responsible were theirs to take down. Hard.
	An objective perspective didn't make looking at the nude and battered corpse any easier. She spotted the crusted blood around Yukio's vagina and had to repress the urge to vomit. Up past the chest that would never swell with breath to the face frozen in agony to...
	"What the.."
	"Something wrong, Megumi-san?"
	Keiko ignored William as she moved around to Yukio's head. Her dark brown hair lay beneath her head like a filthy blanket. Something was wrong, all right. Keiko studied Yukio's hair, which was crusted with blood and other fluids. The strands were still smooth, though... How could the pathologist have missed this?
	"Pate-san."
	"Yeah."
	"Her hair's been combed."
	"Say what?!"
	"Yes. Before the body was dumped, someone had combed Yukio Segawa's hair!" She heard William draw up beside her to look.
	"Well I'll be kicked," he whispered. "Wonder why?"
	"The medical examiner didn't do it, that's for sure."
	"This has gotta be a clue."
	"But why?"
	William Pate thought back. He had heard of something like this somewhere...
	"Why? Some men beat her, raped her, and murdered her, and then combed her hair?"
	It was a case a friend of his father's had worked on, Pate was sure. How did it go?
	"Wait a minute here..."
	"Do you know what this could mean?" Keiko asked. Pate ignored her.
	A woman had been found in a fountain in much the same condition as Yukio, back in the sixties. Who was the detective... AH! Jack Ryan, that was it. The woman had been horribly raped and beaten, but her hair was combed. William Pate tried to recall the details he'd overheard as a kid...
	"Pate-san?"
	She had been a lover of some guy Jack Ryan had known, some ex-SEAL type. Back in Vietnam the SEALs had been top-secret. Special Forces agents like that were as tough as they came.  More details were coming back from that conversation he'd eavesdropped on.
	"William?"
	"Not now. I think I may know something..."
	Now I remember! William Pate thought.  The girl had been a mule for a drug-running/prostitution ring. She had gotten away from her pimp, but had been found again. When her body had been found, the hair had been combed!
	He remembered more, about how the ex-SEAL had gone on a vengeance trip and taken out the men responsible. William remembered thinking, in his later years, about how a major drug and vice ring had been shattered before the drug trade had really taken off in America.
	The SEAL, a man named John Kelly, had taken out the men responsible for the woman's death. Her name escaped him, but he recalled Jack Ryan's account of the case. John Kelly had died in a crash at sea while being chased by police and Coast Guard forces.
	"Keiko, let's go."
	"Pate-san?"
	"You want to hear this. I think I just found a few answers."

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	Wu Long stepped into the cool recycled air of the Special Projects Wing. He had gotten this far and there was no turning back. He glanced over at the guards stationed about the enormous round chamber. He knew what to say, that he and Tatsu's men were guards from the surface. The driver would follow the rest of the route to where the cargo would be unloaded and inspected. Once they found that the load was only a collection of junked Dreamcasts and PS Ones, the driver would be shot and the general alarm would be sounded. Wu Long planned to be in Ops Control long before then.
	He led the other men who had donned the uniforms of the dead guards above to the guard force stationed in sub-basement five. He gave the appropriate salute, his own men and the other guards following suit. He had not yet been detected.
	"That truck goes to SPW Drop Site Gamma. We're to report to SecOps Master Control."
	"Acknowledged," the lead guard replied. "Proceed."
	Wu Long marched ahead, Tatsu's men following in step. Teaching them that hadn't taken too much time. The guard force here were nearly all ex-military. Below the surface there were no mere rent-a-cops. The men in these levels were all trained and experienced soldiers. They duty may be dull, but Long doubted they'd let that make them lax.
	The tunnels were wide enough for four men side-by-side, two-and-a-half meters high. All he could hear was the blood roaring in his veins and the rhythmic tumps of their boots on the cold metal floor. This next part of the mission was the most crucial. If they failed to gain control of SecOps Master Control, then they were all dead men.
	The door was at last in view, and Wu Long felt an icy calm descend over him. It was do or die time.

	SecOps Master Control was a rather small chamber for such an important task. Stationed at the floor-to-ceiling termials which showed rotating images of all sectors and scanned every inch of the underground were a force of five men. They each whipped their heads up in surprise, hands reaching for weapons, and relaxed when they saw the uniforms of their own.
	"What're you guys doing here?" one asked.
	"There's still time before the shift change..."
	The sentence was cut off when Wu Long raised his Kalashnikov and opened fire. Tatsu's men followed suit. The automatic fire - suppressed as per regulations - sounded like staccato coughs as three men met their deaths with astounded cries. Another second and the remaining two followed suit.
	Long rushed forward to the main terminal on the south wall. The rounds had not damaged any critical systems, redudancies for what had been damaged already activating. That the men had not the chance to raise an alarm was no matter. The audio sensors would recognize the gunfire and sound a general quarters alert. He had to move quickly.
	Wu Long's fingers raced across the panel of the main terminal, inputting codes he had memorized in the event of an unforseen incident. Well, he thought, Leung surely hadn't forseen anything like this, did he?
	Long's hunch was correct. Pao Leung hadn't had time to alter the access codes. Wu Long grinned as he switched the security systems to manual and inputted his own lockout code. The computer acknowledged. The Yamaguchi Complex's computers would only accept commands from this one terminal.
	"Initiating Stage Two Lockdown," Long said aloud. He didn't bother to check the other monitors. Tatsu's men, he noticed, couldn't keep their eyes off them. Heavy, meter-thick, blast doors lowered at every junction. Stage Two wasn't the highest level of security, yet it would do for now.
	"Bringing anti-personnel protocols online. Target: guards."
	Tatsu's men watched in awe as, while uniformed men pounded on the blast doors and screamed, automated cannons dropped from hidden partitions in the ceiling and walls to blast everyone present. Men were reduced to hamburger meat under the hail of projectiles while Wu Long continued to manipulate the main terminal.
	"Have you accessed the data yet?"
	"Just a moment." Wu Long watched as the security systems for SecOps activated and the autoguns lowered from the ceiling. The gasps from his right betrayed the horror of Tatsu's men as the weapons locked on and fired. For such an enclosed space, the weapons were suppressed yet the effects were just as lethal.
	"Security sweep complete," announced the sterile voice of the complex's main computer, and Wu Long almost laughed. He had done it. He had penetrated into the heart of Pao Leung's weapons hanger and now had control of one of the deadliest weapons systems known to exist.
	"Computer." No sense in using the panel when voice command was so much easier. "Access all data on Project: Black Widow."
	"Black Widow Options: Status. Information. System Config."
	"Status."
	"Seekers. Minor Variant. Major Variant."
	"Seekers."
	"Seeker Drones. Quantity: one hundred. All are available and ready for launch."
	"Major Variant."
	"Major Variant," the disembodied voice replied. "Repairs are complete and weapons are re-armed. Major Variant is ready for deployment."
	Okay, he thought. "Minor Variant."
	"Minor Variant. Four prototypes ready for testing. All weapons fully armed. All systems functioning at ninety-seven percent efficiency as of last test."
	"Good," Wu Long said. The computer didn't reply, not recognizing Long's statement as a valid command. "Computer."
	"Yes?"
	"New mission for Black Widow: Minor Variants and Seeker Drones."
	"Please input mission data and parameters."
	Wu Long did so.
	"Acknowledged. Mission programming in progress. Time to completeion: twenty minutes."
	Wu Long checked his watch. The sun wouldn't rise for at least three more hours. Still plenty of time.
	"Execute on completeion of mission programming," Wu Long commanded.
	"Acknowledged."

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	"History does repeat itself after all," Keiko said. The two had returned to the space they shared, which was fairly empty at the wee hours of the morning. 
	"Both Yukio and Sachiko had been picked up on prostitution before. I wonder..."
	"We'll have a hell of a time proving that."
	Pate merely nodded. In his time in Odaiba Koban, he had learned just how different Japanese police functioned from American cops. They placed a far higher value on saving face on all sides. Not to mention that the legal system was more of a railroad than back in the States.
	"If this is really a prostitution ring," Pate said, "it has to be Yakuza. Where was the body found?"
	"In an alley close to the city," Keiko replied with a small yawn. "There were no reporters present when she was found."
	"Which means no coverage in the papers."
	"As such, if this is what we're thinking and not just a random act, the Yakuza won't have any reason to help the police."
	"As long as the money stays quiet," Pate spat. He'd seen a lot of that in America. Some things simply did not change.
	"Pretty much," Keiko agreed. "We will find who is responsible."
	"Got that right."

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	Nabiki Tendo was naturally a heavy sleeper. One wouldn't think so, considering how quick and alert she often seemed, yet the fact still remained. It had taken years of conditioning for her to rise at the alarm on her clock radio before Kasumi could come and rouse her.
	The display on the digital clock read three forty-five AM. Not a soul in the Tendo Dojo was awake. Pale moonlight poured through Nabiki's window and spilled across her blanketed form. Nabiki snorted once and rolled over, lost in a pleasant dream she wouldn't recall in the morning.

	Wu Long grinned at the display from Seeker Alpha - the first of the five Seeker Drones he had sent. The Dojo was cast in the green glow of the drone's night vision, a blinking cursor surrounding the window behind which Nabiki Tendo slept.
	"Minor Variants Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Epsilon are approaching target coordinates," the comptuer toned. "ETA: thirty seconds."

	Nabiki didn't stir at the sound of muffled turbines outside her window. The moonlight was blocked, only red eyes in the window.
	The Minor Variant accessed its mission data. Nabiki Tendo was to be taken alive. It prepared the cable launchers mounted between its titanium mandibles. The list of residents in the Tendo Dojo scrolled across its Heads Up Display. Designates: Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were also to be taken alive if possible. The remaining residents were to be killed.

	"Minor Variants are in position."
	Wu Long clenched his fists. All four Widows would storm the Dojo at once and begin the snatch.  The monitor's display separated into four quadrants, displaying the HUD views of each Widow.
	"Execute."
	"Acknowledged."

	Ranma stepped out into the hall. The shadows were deep as the ocean, the only light coming from the windows to coat the floor in small spots. She could feel it on her skin, the looming dread of something about to happen.
	Wish I'd thought to change back, Ranma thought as she crept through the hall. Some nights she wouldn't even bother to become a guy again. The fact that the hot water lines were busted hadn't much helped.

	"Alert. Motion detected."
	WHAT?! "Where?"
	A glowing red dot appeared inside the image of the dojo.
	"Single human. Identity unknown."
	"Status." Why now of all times?! Could it be Spiderman? How?
	"Alpha and Beta are outside target areas and are ready to aqcuire. Epsilon is in position for cover fire."
	"What about Gamma?"
	"Gamma is outside target area three. Target Designate: Ranma Saotome is not in target area."
	What the hell? "Begin operation."
	"Acknowledged."

	"HEY!"
	"GET OFF ME!"
	Rama froze at the sudden screams. Akane and Nabiki's voice sounded even over the crash of breaking glass and splintering wood.
	"What's goin on... SHIT!"
	The wall ahead of her was scattered across the floor in a cloud of plaster and dust. Ranma shielded her eyes reflexively, muscles tense for the fight. She readied her fists and swallowed nervously at the hateful red eyes that flared at her from the dark.

	"Who's that?"
	"Subject unknown. Terminating."
	"No. Subject is to be taken."
	"Acknowledged."
	Wu Long had heard of that red-haired girl before. She was connected with the Tendos in some way. Since Ranma seemed not to be present, she would do for a third hostage.

	Akane fought in the grip of the metal coils that had clinched about her body. They squeezed like steel anacondas, threatening to crush the life out of her as they drew her closer to those red eyes.
	"LET ME GO!"
	Akane let her anger take over, let it banish her fear. Whatever this was, it wasn't going to take her without a fight! She strained and yelled, hoping to gain enough leverage to free herself as it dragged her past the shattered wall.
	"AKANE!"
	She looked over to the shouted voice, the fear beginning to swell again as she saw Nabiki bound as she was.
	"NABIKI!" Akane glared at her sister's captor. Eight legs were folded beneath it. From between a set of wicked-looking pincers were a set of cables which had wound themselves around Nabiki's body.
	A spider?! she thought with surprise. It looks like...
	Akane looked up at the spider which had her. They were smaller, but they bore a striking resemblance to the robot she had seen Spiderman fighitng on television.
	"What's... going... YAAAHHH!" The electric current hit like a rocket and Akane fell into unconsciousness.

	"AKANE! NABIKI!" Ranma heard Soun wail just before the unmistakeable sound of gunfire ripped the air.
	"NO!" Ranma screamed just as she felt the thing launch its cables out again. She leapt backward beneath the ensnaring lengths and catapulted down the stairs to the foyer.
	"Ranma! What's happening!"
	"Kasumi! Get down!" Ranma saw her, sihllouetted against the light that managed to penetrate the rice paper door that faced the yard. Behind her was a much larger shape. "GET DOWN!" Ranma screamed as she charged Kasumi's position. These things were packing some heavy firepower. She had to find Akane and Nabiki, but first...
	The floor shook as the other spider hit the bottom of the stairs. Kasumi stood there, horror plain on her face. The shadow behind raised a sharp leg to strike. Ranma gritted her teeth as she wrapped an arm about the other girl's waist and leapt clear just as an obsidian metal appendage shredded the wall and cratered the floor where Kasumi once stood.
	"GET OUTTA HERE!" Ranma screamed as both robot spiders emerged into view. "NOW!"
	"What's..."
	"KASUMI! GO! NOW!" Ranma heard the sound of Kasumi's running footfalls as she faced down her two attackers.
	Spiderman fought something like these a couple nights ago, Ranma realized. Looks like its my turn! The spiders slowly approached, the glowing crimson of their eyes beaming into Ranma's heaving chest. They were tough, no doubt about it, but she could take them. She had to. The only way Ranma would get to the rest was through those two spiders. At least Kasumi was safe.
	"MOKO TAKABISHA!" she screamed when the two spiders were close together. The orange ball of ki lanced outward and detonated on contact with the metal of the robots.
	"Now to... WHAT?!"
	The undulating metal cable wound itself around Ranma's legs and jerked her to the floor. The glare from the ki orb faded to reveal both spiders, unharmed by the attack. The cables began to cut off the blood to Ranma's legs as they dragged her closer to the spider's clacking mandibles.
	"MOKO... DAMNIT!" Ranma thrust her hands forward only to have another cable loop about them and then her torso. She screamed in surprise and pain as the coils tightened and she was yanked roughly upward.
	Won't give in! Can't....
	"AAAAAAHHHHH!" The lightning raced across her nerves, bolts of pain lancing her brain in a relentless tide as muscle control fled Ranma's limbs. The barrage of energy continued for what felt like hours. It ended, leaving Ranma panting in its wake.
	Gotta... fight... Gotta...
	Another blast sent Ranma spiralling into the abyss.

	Two to take that girl down? Wu Long thought with surprise. She's a lot tougher than she looks.
	"Enemy units approaching." A map of the city appeared, showing several red dots moving at high speed toward the dojo.
	"Police."
	"Engage?" the computer asked.
	"No. Recall all Widows and Seeker Drones. Re-engage stealth protocols."
	"Acknowledged. Operation completed."
	"Status."
	"Designates Akane Tendo and Nabiki Tendo captured alive. Deisgnate Ranma Saotome was not present. New Designate: Unknown captured alive."
	Excellent, Long thought. Leung was bound to have found out that something was wrong by now. It didn't matter. No amount of men Pao Leung could send would ever penetrate the Yamaguchi Complex's defenses unless Wu Long allowed it.
	"Computer."
	"Yes?"
	"New mission. Seeker Drones only."
	"Please input mission parameters."
	Wu Long did so.
	"Acknowledged. Mission programming in progress. Completion in ten minutes."
	Come into my parlor, Wu Long thought with a mirthless chuckle.

======================================

	Pao Leung stood in open-mouthed shock. His robe hung loosely down to the thick carpet of the floor, cast in a pale glow from the light of the television screen.
	"Recapping our top story," said the somber-faced newscaster. He was bathed in rotating red and blue lights from at least a dozen police cars and other emergency vehicles. "Just an hour ago, the peace of Nerima Ward was shattered by what witnesses claim to be a quartet of robotic spiders similar to that which had been fought by the mysterious Spiderman only two nights ago."
	"Damn you, Wu Long!" Leung roared. His hand grasped the nearest object and hurled it like a javelin. The table lamp shattered the TV screen in a shower of sparks. Leung stormed out of his bedchamber, already plotting how he would flay the skin from Wu Long's traitorous hide. He definitely would not let any underlings kill the bastard. Leung wanted that pleasure all for himself.

==========================================

	Hikaru stepped past the gates of Furinkan High, already contemplating how he would break into the Koban station. The AC ducts seemed the most logical choice. They just might be large enough for him to fit. Then there were the cops themselves to deal with while trying to find the records room. Hikaru found himself wishing he were more adept with a computer. Hacking was not his forte. 
	On awakening that morning, Hikaru realized that his choice to sneak into the Koban wasn't well thought out. The girl he was looking for had committed no crime that he knew of...
	"Man, whoda thought it?"
	"The dojo got trashed!"
	"I hope Ranma and Akane are okay."
	WHAT?! Hikaru stopped, his blood running cold. What had happened at the Tendo Dojo? Hiroshi and Daisuke - two of Saotome's friends - were whispering to each other. Hikaru looked about to find students talking to eachother in groups. From what he could catch, they seemed to be discussing the same thing.
	"What about Nabiki?" Daisuke asked.
	Hikaru silently approached. Even without spider powers, he was a consummate master of slipping about unnoticed.
	"Kuno's been raving like nuts, man," Hiroshi said.
	"Nabiki got kidnapped, too, y'know..."
	Oh, damn... Hikaru thought.
	"Excuse me."
	"GAH!" Hiroshi and Daisuke both spun around, startled at Gosunkugi's sudden appearance.
	"Yeah?"
	"What is it, Gos?"
	"I couldn't help overhearing. What happened to Akane?"
	"What, do you live under a rock or something?"
	"Don't you watch TV?"
	"I missed it this morning."
	"Jeez," Hiroshi groaned. "Listen. The Tendo Dojo was attacked last night."
	"Nothin' new there, man," Daisuke said.
	"It was what?!"
	"It kidnapped Akane and Nabiki."
	"Oh, shit..."
	"Here's the real bad part," Hiroshi said. "They got Ranma, too."
	"Okay," Gosunkugi said, "now I *know* you're kidding me. Who could take *him* down?"
	"Not who," Daisuke said, "what."
	"What?"
	"Yeah, what. It was four robot spiders."
	Robot... Spiders? Hikaru immediately tuned out the rest.*Four* of them?!
	"They looked like smaller versions of the one Spiderman fought on TV."
	Gosunkugi felt the world turn upside down. Four of those damn things had kidnapped Nabiki, Akane, and Ranma. Why? Why do that? Why *now* of all times!
	"Hey, Gos, you okay?"
	"Hah? Sorry. Spaced out for a second. I gotta go."
	"Boy, what an oddball," Hiroshi said before returning to the gossip.

	Not good, not good, *so* damn not good! Hikaru made his way through the gossiping students to where he could make a clean getaway.
	Gotta get home, he thought. Gotta get my costume on and find those fucking spiders!
	He skirted about a group of five girls - all of whom were chatting about the latest news.
	"Spiderman fought one of those!"
	"Why'd it go after the Tendos and Ranma?"
	"Wonder if Spiderman'll save them?"
	Hikaru kept moving. He had thought that damn robot was only after him. Why the Tendos? Why Ranma?
	Damnit! Nabiki! That had to be it. The Yakuza had it out for her, too. But why send robot spiders after her? Why just kidnap her when they... Then it hit him.
	Bait. Hikaru thought back to when Doc Ock had kidnapped her. It wasn't as if they couldn't have gone after him. Nabiki had published those photos of the warehouse raid. That had placed her high on their shit list. But that didn't explain why they got Ranma and Akane.
	Gosunkugi neared the wall and prepared to leap when the spider sense brought him up short.
	"Hikaru Gosunkugi!" shouted a childlike voice. "Where are you going, you delinquent?"
	"H... Hinako-sensei!" he shouted as he leapt about to see the teacher glaring at him with her five-yen coin at the ready to drain his ki.
	"Skipping school is a big no-no," the child said.
	I don't got time for this! "Listen, Hinako-sensei, this is an emergency!"
	"I'll just bet, young man. I know how many days you've taken off lately! Now get to class before I..."
	Hikaru briefly considered webbing Hinako. He'd have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Her draining him was not an option either.
	"I'm sorry, Hinako-sensei," Gosunkugi said with a bow.
	"Good. The bell's about to ring, and you'd best not be late!" Hinako fell in step behid Hikaru all the way to his first class.
	First chance I get, Hikaru thought, I'm getting out. 

==============================================

	Wu Long awoke from the cat nap he had managed to snag. He glaced up at the chornometer above SecOps Main Terminal and was disappointed to find it was only noon.
	"I can't launch the Seekers yet," he muttered to the empty room. His eyes passed over the security monitors and the same sights that had been there for the past several hours. Nothing but dead guards and closed blast doors. Wu Long had locked out all security and computer commands. Nothing would respond except to SecOps Master Control, which he had possession of. The maintenance shafts and jeffery's tubes were sealed as well, preventing access to computer nodes in those areas.
	Wu Long called up the image from the Black Widow hangar bay and focused the camera on his three guests.

	Ranma strained against the cables that held her suspended in midair. The air was cold against her bare arms and legs, chilling through the tanktop and boxers she usually wore to bed.
	"LET US GO, DAMNIT!" she screamed into the enormous room. The floor was at least thirty meters below her feet, the same cobalt blue color of the walls and ceiling.  Pieces of equipment were scattered across the expansive floor amid crates, drums, and legths of thick black cable. Strewn amongst the machinery were a slew of bodies, torn limb from limb.
	"What *is* this place?" Akane gasped. She hung to Ranma's right, coils wrapped tight around her form as well. Situated into four metal niches were the robot spiders which had abducted  them, two on each side of the giant version. "What are we doing here?"
	"Enjoying yourselves?" asked a voice from above that echoed off the walls.
	"WHO ARE YOU?!" Ranma shouted.
	"What do you want from us?!"
	"Akane, you and that girl next to you are merely bait."
	"Bait?" Ranma asked. "For who?"
	"What about Nabiki?" Akane looked over at her sister, hanging on Ranma's other side. She looked back, eyes wide and face pale. Akane could't recall ever seeing her unflappable older sister so scared.
	"Ah, Nabiki Tendo. I'm afraid there's a deeper reason for her being here."
	"What are you talking about?!"  Nabiki demanded. Akane could hear the fear beneath her sister's voice. She knew something...
	"Please, Nabiki, there's no need for you to play dumb now. It's very annoying."
	"Nabiki," Ranma snarled, "what's goin' on?"
	"I don't know!"
	"Oh, please," the voice groaned. "Do *I* have to tell them?"
	Akane's eyes never left her sister's face. Nabiki's cool exterior was rapidly melting away as if she were realizing something.
	"Nabiki. Oneesan," Akane said gently. "Talk to me. What does he want with us?"
	"It's not you," Nabiki said in a strangled voice. "It's me."
	"Not just you," the voice gloated. "You and Spiderman were lucky last time."
	Akane's jaw dropped, and Ranma's followed suit.
	"If he hadn't lured Doctor Octopus into setting that old warehouse ablaze, the two of you would have been long dead now and my life would have been much easier."
	"Nabiki, what the hell's this all about?!"

	Wu Long scratched his chin. So, Nabiki hadn't told anyone else that she had been kidnapped. Strange that no one else had found out. Perhaps the raid last night hadn't been necessary? Oh, well. It was too late now.
	"It appears that Nabiki has quite a lot of explaining to do. I'll be back later. Until then, feel free to hang around." Ugh. Bad joke.

========================================

	Hikaru leaned back against the tree which had made his usual eating spot. The spider sense had been buzzing off and on, pointing out Hinako and other teachers keeping an eye on him. Since when did school become a prison?!
	There was no way he could sneak out, not with most of the staff keeping watch for him. How paranoid could people get, for crying out loud?! He ate his bento silently, thoughts of those spiders filling his head. Three lives hung in the balance, and he could do nothing because a bunch of fucking teachers kept him in sight! Hell, they wouldn't even let him go to the bathroom! How many did Hinako tell?
	Looks like I'm stuck here, he thought.
	"Hi, Hikaru."
	"Hi, Miku." He looked up as Miku stopped in front of him, her face unreadable.
	"You look down today." Miku really didn't know what to say. She had meant to ask him about that film he and Nabiki had been argueing about. When she had heard about how she had been kidnapped along with her younger sister and a girl she didn't know, something had clicked. It was almost preposterous, but she was rapidly learning that such things were practically the norm in Nerima Ward.
	"Got a lot on my mind."
	"Want to talk about it?"
	"Not really." Hikaru found he couldn't look at Miku directly. How could he tell her? How could he tell her that not only was he the one who had saved her from Shigeru, but at the same time was partly responsible for three people getting kidnapped by the Yakuza?
	"Y'know," Miku said as she leaned next to him against the tree, "I'm worried about that Nabiki girl and her sister. Who was the other girl, anyway?"
	"Ranma."
	"Everyone else has said that. How? Ranma's..."
	"Got a weird curse," Hikaru explained half-heartedly. "Cold water turns him into a busty red-head. Hot water turns him back."
	"So, it's true, then?"
	"Oh, yeah. The only one here who doesn't get it is Kuno."
	"I've seen him," Miku replied. "I never thought anyone could be that dense."
	"Me neither. Until I came here, that is." 
	"Hikaru," Miku said. Best to get on with it. "I heard you and Nabiki yesterday."
	Oh, shit.
	"What was on that film you were fighting about?"
	What *else* can... No, better not ask. I might find out.
	"I gotta go."
	"Hikaru, what's going on?!" Miku demanded. "You and her were really getting into it over that film yesterday, and now she gets kidnapped by robots like Spiderman fought."
	"Miku..." Hikaru looked up at her, at the anger and need in her eyes. She wanted to know. She deserved to know. It was a shame that Gosunkugi couldn't tell her.
	Her hand appeared on his arm. "Hikaru, what is it?"
	He wanted to tell her, and that scared him. The feel of her hand on him nearly made him weak in the knees, nearly making him lose control. But he still couldn't let her know.
	"Miku... it's..."
	"Yes?"
	"It's none of your business. Just stay out of it, okay!" Hikaru regretted the words the second they left his lips. Miku's face grew pale, eyes wide and hurt. The knowledge that the pain was from him was worse than the sight.
	"I'm..."
	"No, Hikaru." Her voice was harder, which didn't completely conceal the tremble in it. "Don't say it."
	"Listen..." Maybe he could explain this somehow...
	"I thought you were different, Gosunkugi."
	Hikaru felt as if someone had puched him in the stomach.
	"I guess I was wrong!"
	"WAIT!" It was too late. Miku spun on her heel and ran back to the school. He wasn't certain, but Hikaru thought he could hear her crying.
	The bell rang. Hikaru ignored it, instead dwelling on the pain of what he had just done. Was being Spiderman going to ruin his life? Did being a superhero mean hurting the ones you wanted to protect?
	"Gosunkugi! Get to class!"
	"Hai, sensei."

	Miku ignored him the rest of the day. She wouldn't even look at him and the knife in Hikaru Gosunkugi's heart kept twisting. As the teacher droned on and on about Punnett's Squares and such, Hikaru kept wondering if perhaps he should tell her.
	Tell her about the film, about the robots, about his being Spiderman. Maybe she'd understand. Maybe he could talk to her about what it was like to lead a dual life.
	Yeah, he thought sourly. And then we can discuss costumes and spandex! And after that, about how to dodge the Yakuza on a daily basis! She'd had enough trouble. Miku Tachibana didn't need more. There were enough people in danger because of Spiderman. Hikaru didn't want any more added to that list.
	He just wished he hadn't hurt her so badly.
	"I thought you were different, Gosunkugi. I guess I was wrong!"
	The final bell rang, and Hikaru took his leave with the rest of the class. His eyes fell on Miku's retreating back and he sighed heavily.
	I want to tell you, but I can't. I'm sorry, Miku.
	Gosunkugi turned away and forced himself to focus on the new problem. Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki were counting on him, whether they knew it or not.

============================================

	"Why didn't you tell us?" Akane asked.
	Nabiki sniffed, inwardly ashamed at having shed tears like she had recently. Crying like a little kid hadn't made telling Ranma and Akane that her greed had ended up with all three of them hanging in a deathtrap any easier.
	"I didn't want you all getting involved," Nabiki began. "I thought that finding who Spiderman really was would let me keep them off."
	"Why?" Ranma asked. "All ya had to do was say somethin'! I coulda taken these guys..."
	"GET REAL, RANMA!" Nabiki screamed. "We're not *all* martial artists like you, here! Those robots just tore up the dojo, okay! For all we know, everyone else could be dead!"
	"Not Kasumi," Ranma said. "I got her out."
	"Really?" Akane asked hopefully.
	"What about Daddy?" Nabiki asked.
	"And Uncle Saotome?"
	"I..." One of those robots had come crashing through their room and he heard Soun scream just before the guns roared. 
	"Ranma?"
	"I don't know."
	Nabiki shut her eyes. She had never felt helpless before. It was worse than anyone could have ever said, and it was because of her...
	Stop it! Nabiki searched inside herself for the resolve, the will to succeed that had enabled her to become as feared as she was amongst Furinkan's student body. She commanded almost as much respect as Ranma due to the way she could pummell someone senseless without balling a fist. That would be the only thing to help her now.
	"Listen."
	"Nabiki?"
	"Akane. Ranma. You know why they wanted me, now. But why take you?"
	"The hell should I know?" Ranma asked.
	"Nabiki, what are you getting at?"
	"Akane, it's like this." Nabiki felt the shame and guilt begin to give way. She was getting into her element. "The last time these people kidnapped me, there were two reasons."
	"Those pictures you took," Akane answered.
	"But what's the other?" Ranma asked.
	"Puh-LEEZE, Ranma, I've already explained this. The pictures were of Spiderman busting up some crime that these people were in on."
	"I got it!" Akane exclaimed, getting excited herself. "They wanted Spiderman, too!"
	"Right," Nabiki answered, "and they got him. Thing is, they underestimated him." Nabiki still hated to admit how lucky she and Spiderman had been that night. If even one small thing had gone differently, she would be dead now.
	At least this wouldn't have happened... Nabiki ended that thought dead on.
	"They could have killed us, but instead they captured us," Akane said. She was starting to catch on.
	"We're alive now," Ranma added, "because they're gonna try an' get Spiderman here!"
	"But how?" Akane asked. "How'd they do it last time?"
	Nabiki decided not to tell them what she thought of that. "I don't know, but let's hope they do it again. Much longer and they may just kill us anyway."
	"That still don't explain why me an' Akane got kidnapped," Ranma said.
	"To sweeten the pot," Nabiki answered.
	"More hostages," Akane began softly, "more to worry about."
	"Right on the nose, sis," Nabiki said with a grin. "You're getting good at this."
	"Learned from the best." Akane returned the smile.
	"Not if I get us outta here first," Ranma growled before renewing her struggles.

===========================================

	"Your report." 
	"I'm sorry, sir," the voice on the other end of the secured connection replied. "We're locked out of the whole system, and the automated defenses are online."
	"Explain." Oh, how he would make Wu Long *suffer* for this!
	"Mister Leung, the situation is worse than we thought," the leader of the team said. "All defenses for the lower levels are online. From what we've learned, all the blast doors are down. There's no way to go in by force."
	"That is not what I want to hear!" Leung resisted the urge to smash the receiver. "There is another way."
	"If we can get to a central node," the leader said, "then we could at least disable some of Wu Long's control over the system."
	"And why hasn't that been done?"
	"Sir, the defenses..."
	"I don't give a damn! I want results, not excuses!"
	"But..."
	"Listen to me. If you manage to rout Wu Long, I will personally pay you one hundred million in *any* currency you desire!"
	"Yes, sir!"
	"If you decide to run, I will kill you myself!"
	"Understood."
	"Do not contact me again until you are successful!" Leung cut off the comm line and roared into the air. How could he not have forseen this?! How could Long have moved so damn fast?!
	"Wu Long, once I am done with you I will find who aided you and make them suffer as much as you will!"

======================================

	The sun gradually sank beneath the skyline. Its passing bathed the earth with glorious color as the shadows lenghtened and day gave way to night. It was against such a backdrop that Hikaru Gosunkugi swung from building to building in a desperate race against time.
	This is pointless, he silently cursed. I don't have a single frigging clue where to look! How am I gonna find them?
	Hikaru sailed freely though the air from his last swing to anchor himself on the wall of a handy skyscraper. He remained there - adhered securely to the surface - and allowed himself a moment's rest.
	He knew he couldn't just swing around Tokyo blindly. He had to think.
	"If I were a huge robot spider, where would I hide? Okay, let's try that again," he said.
	Hikaru didn't know about Ranma and Akane, but there was one good reason why Nabiki had been taken. Sending out more robots seemed a little extreme for a few unsavory pictures, though. So why bother?
	Hikaru slammed his fists against the wall he was stuck to. This detective crap was worse than trigonometry!
	Think, man, think! Why the robots?
	Ranma could easily take down any person. So could Akane for that matter. Maybe not those robots, but... HEY!
	The thought was disturbing. The Yakuza must have done their homework. Gosunkugi started swinging again, his brain taking some rather unnerving paths.
	"They're bait for me. At least Nabiki is. Maybe Ranma and Akane are..." Oh, he did not like this math at all.
	"Maybe all three are? I guess the more hostages, the better." Hikaru swung to the left. Somehow, that didn't seem quite enough reason. Maybe Nabiki had told them something? Maybe they thought she had?
	"Man, I hate maybes," he growled.
	Hikaru altered his course to Nerima Ward. He might find an answer there. He may even find Ranma there.
	He may be a womanizer, Gosunkugi thought, but he's gotta be the toughtest S.O.B. I've ever seen.
	The more he thought about it, the more Hikaru believed it. Ranma had to have saved himself as well as Nabiki and Akane. They were probably fixing the dojo right then.

=======================================

	"RANMA!" Akane screamed as the energy slammed into the sometimes-girl without mercy. The redhead's face was screwed into an expression of agony, body rigid as countless volts slammed though her over and over. Ranma's scream hammered her ears in a barrage of pain.
	"STOP IT!" Akane demanded. "STOP IT RIGHT NOW!"
	The attack finally ended, leaving Ranma limp in its wake. Her eyes were closed, breath coming ragged into her chest as faint trails of smoke drifted lazily from her body.
	"I'm sorry about that," the voice replied in as insincere a tone as Akane had ever heard.
	"When we get out of here..."
	"You won't, Akane. Trust me."
	"Let them go!" Nabiki shouted. "You want me, not them!"
	"Actually, I wanted all three. I would have taken more, but I only had so much time."
	"Why?"
	"You see, Nabiki Tendo," the echoing voice explained in a patronizing tone, "Akane and the girl you're calling 'Ranma' are going to die before you do."
	Nabiki felt her blood freeze on the spot.
	"You and Spiderman have cost me dearly, you little slut," the voice hissed. "For your role, you will watch as your sister and this other girl die."
	"You... son of a... BITCH!" Ranma managed to yell. "If..." 
	Another shot of lightning hit home, and Ranma's epiteth vanished in a convulsion caused by thousands of volts of electicity. It ended as abruptly as it began, leaving Ranma in a semi-conscious state.
	"You know, I've never seen someone resilient like her. That much would be enough to kill anyone else. Maybe she'll last longer than Akane will. Or maybe not."
	"Please! I'll do anything you want, just let them go!"
	"How heroic!" the voice mocked. "How noble! How utterly pointless!
	"Bastard," Akane spat.
	Nabiki screamed as a jolt hit Akane. Her sister's back arched against the cables, mouth wide in a silent scream. Nabki felt fresh hot tears fall from her eyes at the sight. Whatever it took, she would live and she would tear this motherfucker limb from limb!
	"So, Nabiki Tendo, let this thought accompany you into hell. If it weren't for you, then Akane and this girl would never have suffered."
	"YOU SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH! I don't care what it takes, I *will* find you..."
	"Please, you're already starting to bore me."

=============================================

	Hikaru stopped on a rooftop adjacent to the Tendo Dojo.
	"What a mess," he whipsered. Most of the second floor's face was gone. From what he could see, the rooms beyond what had once been the wall were charred. The lower half and the grounds had fared little better. The lawn was marred with punctures where the spiders had stepped, the walls that remained festooned with cracks. The front porch and foyer were gone, a few deep craters dotting the land around them. Bright yellow tape encircled the grounds, declaring the premises a crime scene.
	"Kim. Kim. Kira. Kira. Sun is glaring in my eyes..."
	That's gotta be Tendo-san, Hikaru thought as he crouched lower to the rooftop. The sun had almost set, the dark growing deeper by the second. Several streetlamps were beginning to click to life.
	"Where did they come from?" another man's voice asked. That had to be Genma Saotome. He heard Kasumi say something, and no other voices.
	"Nabiki... Akane... Ranma..."
	Looks like things are just as bad as I thought. Hikaru remained in place, unsure of what to do. Should he go down there? Maybe tell them that Spiderman was on the job? As if it would do any good...
	"Huh?" The spider sense tingled, warning that he was being watched. Hikaru came to a crouch, glaring in every direction at once. What could be after him here? The sense still hammered his brain, but something was amiss.
	Where is it?! he thought, unable to see anything. Whatever had set off his spider sense was nearby, but it couldn't pinpoint exactly where.
	Oh, man, what is it *now*?! The spider sense began to fade, and then vanished altogether.
	"That was weird," Hikaru muttered before leaping off. Whatever had set him off, it was gone, and Ranma hadn't saved Akane and Nabiki. Time to go hunting again.

	Cologne watched as Spiderman leapt across a distance even she thought impressive.
	What are you, Spiderman? she thought. Cologne had spotted him coming in, and had thought to ask him what he might know about the robots which had managed to kidnap her son in law.
	She had watched him up until she felt that strange presence brush against her aura. At that moment, Spiderman had begun searching for her. If she had not withdrawn to a safer distace, she was certain he would have found her.
	You are definitely full of surprises, Spiderman, Cologne thought as she watched him vanish from sight. You had best return Ranma. I've a feeling that you're the only one who can.
	Cologne departed to the Nekohanten. The signs were good. Ranma would be returned safely, as well as Akane and Nabiki. Just so long as the costumed man posed no further problems...

====================================

	Hikaru landed as the spider sense hit yet again. He glanced upward to see a red lens bearing down on him. He tensed his muscles as the drone grew nearer, but the spider sense pointed out no other threats around.
	"Well. Looks like it's time to get this party started," he muttered as the drone slowed to a hovering stop. The lens appeared to study him for a few moments as the robot held position at eye level. "What, no friends?"
	"Spiderman," came a familiar voice from the lone robot.
	"The one and only. What is it...."
	"Follow this drone."
	"Follow the leader, eh? I can do that. What about..."
	"This drone will lead you to the Yamaguchi Industrial Complex."
	"Okay, so this isn't a live performance."
	"Akane, Nabiki, and that redhead are waiting. If you want them to live, then follow this drone. Once you arrive, you will be shown the path to take."
	"Why do I smell a trap here?"
	"If you do not follow this drone, I will know. Come to me, or they will die. I promise to take my time killing them, too."
	The drone launched itself skyward, and Hikaru followed.
	He felt the fear gnaw at his intestines as he swung after the slow-flying robot. This was trap, it had to be. Three lives depended on him being able to defeat that trap.
	Four damn robots, Hikaru thought sourly. I barely beat *one*! How am I gonna take down four?
	Gosunkugi looked down at the street below, with all its moving lights and ant-like people. Last time, he had been lucky.  This time the Yakuza were naming the place and calling the tune. This dance was gonna be deadly, and this time far more personal.
	Okay, you son of a bitch. Let's get this show on the road.

========================================

	Hikaru released the webline and let the momentum carry him over the outer wall of the Yamaguchi Industrial Complex. With no other tall buildings around to swing from, he let himself land in a crouch atop one of the many buildings which dotted the premises. Gosunkugi rose to his feet and walked to the edge, unable to see the drone any more.
	"I'm here," he said, "but where do I go now?" Within the walls were a collection of buildings no higher than around three stories and longer, more squat, buildings. "Something's not right here." He jumped across to the nearest building, the spider sense buzzing softly all the while. Where were the robots? Where was the trap? Where were Ranma, Akane, and Nabiki? Were they even here at all?
	This is getting to be too much, Hikaru thought. If the Yakuza was willing to send all that force out on account of him, where was it? What was he not seeing?
	"What's going on, here?" a voice from the pavement asked.
	"Don't know, but I hear it's *real* big."
	Well, well. Coincidence is a wonderful thing, Gosukugi thought as he listened in.
	"I hear all the security on the lower levels is active, man."
	*Lower* levels? This place went underground? It all began to make sense.
	The two men walked away.
	Underground, Hikaru thought. Those robots are waiting under the pavement. There's gotta be a way down there...
	He caught a glimpse of a red lens off to the right before it vanished skyward. Showtime!

	Wu Long watched the security images as Spiderman bounded toward the vent shaft. He let a cruel grin twist his lips as the costumed source of trouble drew nearer. Once down in the bowels of the complex, Spiderman would be his.
	The ventilation shaft was one of only three that reached the surface. Once Spiderman was in, Wu Long would cut off his only escape.

	Hikaru crawled down the length of darkened steel. In the deepest corners of his mind he could feel the Black Widows waiting for him in the depths as he descended. The feeling was none too pleasant. Down he crawled, fingers and toes sticking to the icy surface as he made his way to the lair of the beasts.
	All the while, his spider sense merely kept up its slight buzz at the base of his skull. Hikaru braced for the moment when it would blare that he was in imminent deep shit. The wait was practically worse than the thought of what he was up against.
	"Man, how far down does this thing go?" The only light came from small covered bulbs fixed onto the sides of the shaft at regular intervals. Their glow was only enough to lighten the shadows enough to see. From what he could tell there were no rungs for maintenance workers to use to climb the sheer surface. 
	As he went lower, Hikaru began to hear a soft humming which he also started to feel through the metal. He finally spotted the end of the tube below by its faint light and nearly breathed a sigh of relief. 
	"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic," he quipped.

	Wu Long watched as Spiderman came into view from the ventilation shaft. The wall crawler was on *his* turf now. Long grinned as he called up the route he intended Spiderman to use. The sight of the mangled corpses would definitely let the bastard know what was in store for him.
	He had briefly thought of activating the autoguns to give Spiderman a bit of a workout before the main event. Watching him dodge about the corridors for his life would have been entertaining, but not as much as watching him crushed by the Black Widow he had defeated once before.
	Besides, Wu Long wanted that bitch Nabiki to see her one chance - however illusory as it was - crushed first. One had only a single chance at vengeance. It was best to make that one count for all you could.

	"Wow. Beam me up, Scotty," Gosukugi whispered. The chamber was enormous, at least as long and wide as a football field. In the center rested a row of three enormous turbines, one of which was no longer turning.
	I may be wrong, he thought, but this looks like some huge ventilation room. The other two still spun, their sound an almost physical thing in the air.
	"Let's see. Three turbines, three shafts. I bet all these lead to the surface..."
	The turbine before him activated with a low rumble. Hikaru started for a moment as the air about him began to move while the rumble grew to a loud hum the to a muted whine accompanied by the roar of air being forced upward. Gosunkugi didn't much like the thought of going up with all that wind at his back. Who knew how strong the gale was?
	"Looks like my exit's gone. Why do I feel like this is all being arranged?" He looked at the only open door in the room and made for it.

	Oh, shit! Hikaru had never seen so much blood in one place. It was congealed on the walls amid chunks of meat that had once belonged to the ruined corpses on the floor. Despite the sick display, he found himself unable to look away while his gorge tried to rise and expel the contents of his stomach. Horror at the carnage nearly overwhelmed him, dredging up doubts and fears he'd never had before.
	If the Tendos and Ranma were really here... NO! *Don't* think that!
	"Ghastly sight isn't it?" asked a voice from seemingly everywhere.
	"If you've hurt them..." Hikaru growled.
	"They are alive, I assure you. But if you don't get a move on, I won't be able to guarantee that they will remain so."
	Hikaru broke into a sprint. He forced himself not to look at the bodies which lined the metal floor and focused on the rising anger. He let it grow until its warmth coated his muscles. The only time he had felt this kind of rage was against Shigeru, and Hikaru had nearly killed him.
	But this wasn't just some derranged stalker with a street gang. These people had some serious hardware, and no qualms whatsoever about killing. To think that they would sacrifice so many lives just to get back at him...
	Whoever they were, they were a hundred times worse than Shigeru Katsuo. Gosunkugi knew he couldn't hold back, not this time. No matter what it took, these bastards would *never* harm another person.

=====================================================

	"Can it be done?"
	"I think so. It's risky, but doable."
	"Can it gain us control of the main systems?"
	"No."
	"That's not what I want to hear..."
	"But if we do this right, we can at least disrupt the system enough to get to a more important node. From there, we just might be able to regain control."
	"Do it, then."
	"Yes, sir."
	The Commander grunted. It was a longshot, but perhaps it would let him reclaim Yamaguchi Industrial Complex. Wouldn't *that* make him look good to Pao Leung? Oh, yes.

=======================================

	"Where are they?"
	Ranma's eyes snapped open at the shouted voice. She still felt groggy from the enormous jolts of electricity that had been shoved across her nerves, but still managed to lock onto the sound far below.
	"Spiderman!" she shouted from surprise. The costumed fighter looked up, then across at the robots which still lay dormant.

	Okay, this blows, Gosunkugi groused. I got three hostages hanging a long way over the floor and...
	Fuck me running...
	The anger nearly vanished before a new tide of fear. Standing before him was the same robot he had barely managed to beat, along with four smaller ones. Their eyes glowed with artificial malice, all aimed at him.
	Oh, yeah. I am *so* screwed now.