*****

9. Wrath and Fury

FISK TOWER, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 12 6:06pm

Spider-man dropped from the ceiling and landed on the varnished oak desk, right in front of the businessman's eyes. "Hiya, tubbo! Long time no see! Look, I'd love to do the witty repartee thing, but I got places to be, webs to spin. Let's cut to the chase for once, O.K?"

Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime, leaned back in the leather chair and smiled. "Yes. Let's," he rumbled.

The doors to the office were flung open. A masked man in skin-tight black with a white bulls-eye painted on the top of his head marched in, a Glock in each hand.

Spidey swallowed hard.

"I do believe you know Mr. Bullseye, a free lance employee," the Kingpin said pleasantly. "The self-proclaimed world's deadliest assassin, is that not?"

Bullseye smiled, the empty, brittle, crazed smile of someone who snapped 'round the bend and was still doing loop-de-loops. "Now, now, Mr. Fisk. The FBI and Interpol calls me that too. Been on their most wanted list ever since my first kill."

"Ah. My apologies," Kingpin said, lifting his bulk out of the chair with the help of a certain diamond headed walking stick. Spidey eyed it nervously. Darn matchstick was loaded, literally, with ugly surprises. So was Bullseye. Come to think of it, this whole thing was an ugly surprise. Who was ambushing whom?

"Bullseye, if the wall-crawler tries to leave, kill him. He and I have much to discuss." The assassin flicked his boss a casual salute. Gee, what a great solider. "As you might have surmised, Spider-man, I have been expecting you." Kingpin flipped open a gold pocket-watch. "You are not punctual. Captain America will be most displeased. He is, after all, risking a great deal so we can have this little chat. Distracting SHIELD and all that."

Spidey's fingers raked splinters from the desktop. He knew. That fat tub of lard knew! "Been investing in fortune cookies, doughboy?"

The corner of Fisk's mouth pulled down. "Hardly. But investments... ah! Yes, investments. Tell me, Spider-man, do you know what's more valuable than gold?"

"The Kebler Elves' pot o'fudge?" His spider-sense flared. Spidey skittered aside just as the large diamond came crashing down.

"No, bug," Kingpin growled. "Technology. Inventions. Patents. Information," he enunciated. "That is the way to power in these days! Everything from ways to entertain the masses to obtaining the knowledge needed to mine the stars themselves have been promised to me, bug, if I will only deliver that outdated buffoon in red, white, and blue to my client."

"With Sinister."

The big man smiled tightly. "With Sinister, who is far more willing cargo than our raw material."

"Did it ever occur to you that Sinny's twisted little brain might not be satisfied with just splicing up bouncing baby gladiators?"

Great booms of laughter rolled out from that huge belly. "What satisfies Sinister hardly matters! He'll be in Mojoworld, AND MOJO RULES THERE! Sinister, for all his grandiose plans and intellect, is nothing but our redneck farmer, the Captain our livestock. Once our herd-dogs collect him, the riches of their produce belongs to me... and Mojo."

An ugly realization hit him. Not for the first time that day, he wondered if ignorance really was bliss. "You sick ol' Santa, you," Spidey said in a deceptively light voice, shaking his head. "YOU'RE the one who riled up the anti-mutant groups? Washington? Even SHIELD? Why? Just so someone could pin Cap long enough for you to collect him? Oh, Willy, you have been a bad boy."

The tip of the cane swung up to point at the web-slinger's head. Kingpin pulled part of the shaft towards himself, chambering a round into the gun-cane with a loud snap. "Call me that again and I will show you bad, bug."

"Oooo, I'm so scared."

The Kingpin smiled again. "You should be. I need something only you can provide. Namely the cooperation of the super-solider children. They simply cannot be allowed to aid their father any longer. This is, of course, in their best interest. Even you must see that."

"'Their own best interest?' Is that like the farmer telling the turkey to eat up? Forget it, Fatty, they told me everything. What makes you think I'll make 'em lie down and just take it?"

"Didn't you know, Spidey?" Bullseye laughed, twirling his pistols like an Old West gunfighter. "Kingpin isn't paying me to kill you fast." He smiled that eager, empty smile. "I do you... slow. Of course, if you do what he wants, I might be nice and blow your brains out afterwards."

"No one will bother you while you work, Bullseye. Please tell my secretary when you're done," Kingpin said, glancing at his watch again. "I have another meeting across town to attend to."

"You jokers actually expect me to squat here and go along with all this torture calmly," Spidey asked incredulously.

"Easy or hard, it makes no difference to me, bug," Kingpin said, sliding into a white silk trench coat.

"Me? I like hard," Bullseye grinned, licking his lips, guns pointed at Spidey.

"Sorry to hear that," the wall-crawler said cheerfully.

An ear splitting raptor's shriek cut the air a split second before heatless flames smashed through the windows. Shards of glass and fire cycloned through the room, cutting off all escape. Kingpin dove for the ground. Bullseye just stood there, guns in his hands forgotten, staring open mouthed.

A masked woman in a billowing gold sari hovered just outside. Long red hair writhing in the wind, eyes incandescent with power, she was bathed in the gloriously pure aura of wings pinioned with deadly light, like some avenging angel.

"Meet my partner," Spidey smirked.

Bullseye dropped to his knees, eyes wide and cracked, drool dripping from the corner of his mouth. "I'm--- if this is about those nuns--- shit, I'm dying again, aren't I?"

An aural claw shot out and squeezed the assassin so suddenly he vomited all over himself.

Spidey began to snicker, but his spider sense cut him off. "Phoenix, duck!" He tumbled out of the way just as a mammoth bullet whizzed past him. It should have struck the woman square at the chest... but didn't even crease the silk. The lead just hung in the air. Frantically, Kingpin fired off more shots, each meeting with the same ineffectual results. Another aural claw smashed the gun-cane out of the crimelord's hands before snagging him, jerking the huge man off his feet. "No," he cried, frantically struggling against the strength of the telekinetic.

"Spider-man," the bored husky alto breathed into the air. "Do we need them both?"

"Naw, just the Goodyear blimp. Bullseye is just muscle. But dangerous," Spidey added hastily. "The police are looking for him."

"I'm sorry! I won't ever do nuns again," the assassin shrieked.

Phoenix chuffed in disgust. She glared at Bullseye. Her telekinetic powers flared.

He screamed as she broke all his fingers, toes, arms and leg bones. She threw him against the metal filing cabinets and cocooned his whimpering body within the steel.

"PHOENIX! A little extreme. DON'T YA THINK," Spidey yelled in disapproval.

"No," she said flatly. "He enjoyed causing pain. What I did was justice." She fixed her white eyes on the Kingpin. "This disgusting piece of filth deserves worse."

Spider-man gulped. She was really pissed off at Kingpin. Not good. "Um, Willy? I'd do everything the lady says if I were you."

Kingpin stopped his struggling and glared right back at the both of them. "This pathetic good cop/ bad cop routine will get nothing from me but severe reprocutions. I am the---"

The harsh, edged laughter of the Phoenix cut him off. "Willy, my boy," she snarled, "you just don't get it. I'm not a cop. I'm in a bad mood. And people I care about are in danger." She grabbed his baldhead with both hands. "People that you put in danger. Now, I can be vindictive and do to you what I did to Bullseye---"

"Uh, Phoenix," Spidey said, waving, trying to catch her attention. "We're the good guys, remember?"

"---or you can stop the hunt and keep the use of your legs."

Kingpin snorted. "You will not dare. I AM THE KINGPIN OF CRIME! If you think your people are in danger now, just wait."

"Oh, shit," Spidey muttered. Lard-butt did it now. Spidey dove under his second table of the day.

"You just don't get it," Phoenix said, shaking her head. "As my mother once said, 'you are a firecracker. I AM AN ATOM BOMB!'" She struck.

Kingpin screamed as mental claws plunged into his mind. For a split second, the pure gold form of Phoenix's true self was superimposed over her borrowed body. Kingpin and Phoenix fell to the floor, both gasping for air. Spidey scrambled to help his friend to her feet as the Kingpin writhed in pain, clutching his head. Phoenix nodded to the Spider in thanks, absently brushing herself off. "How's Vanessa doing, Willy/" she asked mildly. "How's your estranged wife?"

Dark, pig-like eyes stared hatefully up at her.

Phoenix knelt and put a gentle finger under his chin. "Strange that anyone could actually love you. Stranger that you could actually, truly love her in return." She looked around the trashed office and its entire cold, minimalist decor. "But it is true what they say, that sometimes, love isn't enough to make a marriage work. Otherwise, she'd still be with you instead of traipsing Europe and Asia. She does love Japan, doesn't she, Willy."

"You wouldn't---" Kingpin began to gasp.

An aural claw picked him up by the throat and slammed him into the wall. "I would. Oh believe me, I would," she hissed.

"Phoenix, stop it!"

"She's... innocent..." Fisk choked out.

"So is Captain America," she whispered. "Call off your dogs, Willy. If Mojo gets his hands on the Avenger, your Vanessa will be cursing your name for a very, very long time... if she's lucky. I promise." Phoenix released him abruptly. Fisk fell to the floor, coughing. "I keep my promises, Willy. Remember that."

"Phoenix, are you nuts? This is against Hero-Union rules," Spidey protested. "The lady has bad taste in men, but she's suffered enough already because of Fisk!"

"Well then, Spidey, she'll just have to hope hubby can stop Mojo from taking the Captain, won't she?"

"But---"

"Spider-man," she said in a voice of ice, "if I can kill my own grandparents, I can kill an innocent woman."

Wind whistled through the silence of the wrecked room. "Dark... Phoenix," Fisk whispered in a voice that finally showed fear.

For the first time, Phoenix looked at the criminal with cypress eyes that held no anger or disgust. Only a great, terrible sadness. "No. I'm not. I don't enjoy pain or death. But that doesn't mean I won't cause them. Not if it means stopping a greater evil. It won't justify what I'll do...but I'll still do it."

Fisk swallowed hard, massaging his throat. "I... I need to make phone calls. But... it will not be easy to stop the ball now that its been rolling for so long." He began to gag. It took Spidey a few seconds to realize that the big man was laughing. "I suppose it doesn't really matter now. Either way, I am still repaid."

That so did not sound good. "What're you talking about?" Spidey demanded.

"Can you not grasp the scope of this?" Kingpin wheezed. "The irreparable damage done to the good Captain's status?"

Spider-man felt as if he'd explode. "You mean to tell me, all this time, you set Cap up for all this misery just so you could DISCREDIT HIM?"

Kingpin, beginning to regain his composure, calmly dusted himself off. "Of course not. I am a businessman. But I admit, it was a bonus."

That did it. Spidey picked up the massive oak desk and brandished it at Fisk. "Get 'em off of Cap's back, or so help me, Fisk, I'll tear this building apart with my bare hands and whack you into next Tuesday! And if I EVER hear you messing around with Cap again..." Spidey swung, just missing Fisk's face, and smashed the desk into the wall. "...I'll come back with the entire Avengers crew to take you down. You understand me?"

Fisk glared at the both of them angrily. "I understand her. What more is needed?"

"Plenty. C'mon, bird-girl. We gotta go."

Phoenix spared the Kingpin a white-hot look. "Remember." Then, spreading her wings wide, she took Spider-man in her talons and flew off into the sleet-filled sky.

Wilson Fisk watched the dim glow of the Phoenix until it was lost in the snow and eternal orange twilight of New York City's lights and night. When he was sure they were gone and not coming back, he limped to where the phone had fallen and dialed a certain cell phone number by heart. "Vanessa," he said in a voice that shook. "Dearest, I... I must talk with you." A tear glistened at the corner of his eye. "Yes. I'm afraid I've done it to you again..."

"What the hell was that?" the Spider and the Phoenix both yelled at each other. She damped down her aura to better conceal them in the wind-borne slush. No doubt that SHIELD would be on the look out for her signature bird form. No reason to help them.

Spidey crankily shook a fist at her. "What the heck was all that crap with Mrs. F? I'm telling you, Rachel, you ain't doing squat to her!"

"I don't want to, Spidey, but more importantly, Kingpin doesn't want me to. He'll play ball with us. A viable threat to his ex is too high a cost for him." She dug her palms into her eyes. "Wish I could have literally changed his mind for him... but prying out his weakness over his lady was the best I could do." Phoenix grimaced ruefully. "You could say it's taking all of my telepathic concentration to stay in your MJ. I... can't really afford to do anything like that again. Not if I want to live to get back where I belong. And... it could hurt MJ if I get ripped out of her."

"Hey," Spidey yelped.

"I'm trying to keep her safe," Phoenix snapped. "I kept a T.K. blanket over me at all times. I didn't get into a fistfight with anyone. I'm wearing this stupid costume instead of my usual design because you insisted---"

"Half the men on this planet drool over MJ's face, the other half drool over her bod," Spidey shot back. "She's a supermodel. Hello? True, she doesn't go parading around in the all-together, but some of the stuff she wears during her shoots doesn't leave much to the imagination. A lot like your costumes. If you went waltzing around in your skin-tights, someone would recognize her. You can say I'm paranoid, but it's happened before. We're at the beach, she's in a cute little bikini number with a snorkel mask over her face, and some bozo comes running up to her yelling her name. Fans, Rachel. They know."

She sighed, defeated. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Just keep her in one piece, Rachel. That's all I ask."

Spidey ought to be thrilled. Thanks to Phoenix's help, the Kingpin was so neutralized, with some serious come-upance coming, no Mrs. F needed. Without an agent, Mojo couldn't interfere in this cross-dimensional caper as directly or effectively as he'd probably like. That left the unpredictable, nigh-indestructible Sinister to be dealt with. Cap said that if his plan worked, then he'd be dragging a load straight into Sinister's lap. But man, what a gamble. Cap really had to be desperate to be doing this. Spidey had to be desperate to agree. But there was a good chance that this might work and if--- when!--- it did, maybe, just maybe now that Phoenix was on the scene, they could salvage some of the damage done to Cap's rep.

"Hey," she said, cocking her head, "Don't we have a bomb threat to call in?"

AVENGERS MANSION, NEW YORK CITY, Dec. 12 6:13pm

Fury watched his agents carry off the last of the rioters, ignoring the fierce aches in his bones and scars that the driving sleet brought on. He chomped his soggy stogie, frustrated at the weather, frustrated at his mission, and frustrated that he was surrounded by a bunch of wet-behind-the- ears rookies doing or saying things so stupid, it was almost enough to make him want to retire. Fury had already sent Agent 26 back to scrub the entire deck of the Helicarrier with a toothbrush for his sorry-ass performance: Civilian casualties, using the Falcon as a hostage (Real good. The kid better not hope to ever get promoted.), and a mutant inhibitor collar. Just who the hell authorized that piece of crap? 26 will be lucky to get to do kitchen inventory for chunking that junk around Cap's neck.

Inconsistent? Fury could care less. No matter what, this was still Captain-friggin'-America. A national icon. His old war buddy. No one respected the man more than Fury. He wasn't going to humiliate the greatest patriot since ol' Georgie of Virginy raised hell. Least, not anymore than he had to. Naw, they'd just have a knock-down fight that even Wolverine would appreciate, take Cap kicking and screaming up to do those damned tests, prove he's not a mutant, make him fill a few vials, get ready for the trade off, and then...

...then they'd have the son of a bitch who sold out on them. No way could SHIELD be dumb enough to look the other way in this. Super-soldiers. In enemy hands. As big a threat to national security as Fury ever heard. No way could they fool anyone with decoy DNA but someone in the Belt was bribed to push this idiotic plan through by feeding the President some very edited reports. Someone with a lot of clout. Probably the same someone who slipped Fury's boys the anonymous info on where Cap would be. Most likely that also meant someone close to Cap was feeding that traitorous lowlife intelligence. But who was it? Fury couldn't rule out anyone, not even McCoy, one of the straightest shooters Fury knew. He couldn't even trust THE straightest shooter. Thanks to someone, Cap was shooting cross-eyed and he didn't even know it. No hope for it. Fury had to play his cards close to his chest... and hope he'd still have some friends after this was done.

Tobacco roughened lips curled back and hocked out a long stream of spittle.

This job was really a motherin' shit sometimes.

"Colonel Fury!"

Fury dragged his attention back to the mission, or more specifically, to a stiff backed, earnest baby-faced boy saluting him. "Spit it out," Fury growled. Damn, these types scratched him the wrong way. "Where'd he go?"

"We are currently plotting possible sites where the---"

"Where?!"

The agent paled and gulped. "W-we don't know, sir."

"YA DON'T KNOW," Fury bellowed.

"He-Agent 26---he said the Captain was heading towards the East River---"

"What the hell is so important towards the East River?"

"Uh, the United Nations Building---"

"And what's he going ta do once he gets there, AGENT?"

The kid could only gulp like a fish.

"Damnit! You," Fury snapped at another agent, "get me a map! And you," Fury glared the baby-faced kid. "Yer supposed ta be a SHIELD agent. So use that lump on your neck and THINK! Already six confirmed civilian deaths, one critically injured Avenger Reservist, and dozens more civilians down. Cap's a walking disaster area! We've already established the man still gives a damn 'bout lives. Why'd he want ta endanger the friggin' UN? Naw, he's going ta want to expose as little people as possible ta any danger he's goin' draw," he muttered, vigorously tapping a finger against his hovercar.

"So why go east through heavily populated neighborhoods?" the agent asked.

The finger slowed to a stop. "Did he?" Fury scowled, looking over the agent's shoulder.

"Well, yes, sir. 26 and his squad saw---"

"That moron saw what Cap wanted him ta see," Fury said sharply, marching up to the stone wall separating the street from the tops of bare trees whipping in the wind. "Fer the love of--- right in our face!" He slammed his communicator on. "This is Director Fury! I want all agents to converge on Central Park! Station watchers on the perimeters! Repeat Captain America's in the friggin' Park! Now get in there and bring me that patriot's butt!"