Previously, two wildly different versions of the Sinister Six teamed up against Spider-Man and a new, younger hero named Tiger. Now the two heroes are fighting for their lives against twelve supervillains who want nothing more than to see Spider-Man dead. Oh, and Tiger might possibly be Peter Parker’s son from a later point in the future, so we’ll see where that goes. Or not, depends on if there’s time in this issue… What? Hints have been falling like bricks out of the sky for the past two issues, you mean you haven’t figured it out yet?

 Elsewhere, Mary Jane’s just given birth to a baby boy, but the Hobgoblin arrives, intending to use the baby to distract Spider-Man so the villain can finish him. With Spider-Man and Tiger busy, who will stop the Hobgoblin?

THE DEADLY DOZEN

Part 4

By Tobias Christopher

One Month From Now

 “Peter, I can’t do this,” Flash said as Peter put the month old baby in his arms. “I’m not–”

“Flash, you are my best friend and this baby’s Godfather,” Peter said as he put a hand on Flash’s shoulder. “I can’t tell you where I’m going, or if I’ll be back, but… if the worst should happen then there is no one else in this world I trust more to raise this baby right and show him to be a good man. We’ve had our differences in the past, Flash, but you’re the best one for this. Take care of him, we’ll be back if we can.”

“Pete, I–” Flash started to say, but Peter and Mary Jane were already in the cab heading up the street. Flash stared down at the infant in his arms. “I won’t let you down.”

After three months, Peter and Mary Jane still hadn’t returned and had since been declared legally dead. Flash, being the baby’s legal Godfather had gained legal custody of the child, and with the help of May Parker, raised the boy as his own.

When May passed away, Flash found that his job had become much more difficult without a female presence in the boy’s life, but he still worked as hard as he could to provide the child with everything he needed. Over the next twelve years, Flash watched the boy grow into a young man who shared the traits of both of his parents. He had Mary Jane’s attitude and Peter’s intelligence, which made for a deadly combination when the boy wanted something bad enough.

From his first steps and words to his first day of kindergarten to slugging a bully in the first grade for picking on a kid weaker than him to his first kiss with a girl in the fourth grade to his first junior football game to giving Flash a home-made Father’s Day card every year, Flash took care of Peter and Mary Jane’s boy as if he were Flash’s own flesh and blood, and loving him every bit as much. And in those 12 years, Flash had never once thought about having a drop of alcohol.

“Why’d my Mom and Dad have to leave?” the boy asked one night as Flash tucked him in, staring at Flash with his best friend’s eyes. “Did– did they love me?”

“They loved you more than anything in the world,” Flash told him. “If they could have stayed, I know they would have. I wish you could have known them, kid. Goodnight.”

Flash turned off the light and headed downstairs as the boy closed his eyes. A short while later, a loud crashing downstairs woke the boy up. He headed toward the staircase and saw Flash laying on the floor, bloodied and bruised as a woman stood over him with a sword.

“Looks like we beat Drew here,” a young Spider-Woman with a half mask and bomber jacket said as she stabbed Flash through the heart. Around her stood other Spider-themed soldiers. “Find the boy and kill him, but leave the body somewhere Drew will see it as soon as he comes in.”

The boy ran back to his bedroom and closed the door, locking it behind him. Maybe he could climb out the window, but as he turned around he found Drew standing there in an Iron Spider suit without the mask.

“You want to live, little brother?” Drew asked as his mask appeared around his face. “Then let’s go before–”

A pounding on the door forced Drew to grab the boy and flee into the night.

“Just you and me now, kid,” Drew told him as he saw the boy crying while they swung through the city. “The Parker Brothers are going to avenge Flash and our parents, I promise. Norman Osborn’s going to die for everything he’s done. But for right now, we have to leave New York.”

Now

 Spider-Man and Tiger ran through Central Park, which currently had a thick layer of fog covering it to obstruct their vision. Mysterio had unleashed the fog and made holographic clones of all the members of the Deadly Dozen to keep them disoriented.

“How did you know that The Mad Cow wasn’t real?” Tiger asked.

“He wasn’t making a bad dairy pun,” Spider-Man told him. “I think the fog’s getting worse. Luckily I still have my spider-sense.”

“That’s a real thing?” Tiger asked.

“Yeah,” Spider-Man said. “You think I just make these powers up?”

“Kinda,” Tiger told him. That would explain how you fell into the trap that killed you so easily. “So, uh, is there a Spider family you go home to at night?”

“There is a Mrs. Spider-Man, yes,” Spider-Man told him. “And there is a baby spider on the way. And there is kind of a Spider-Boy I’ve never properly met, but he’s not really blood-related, but there is one without powers that is…it’s kind of complicated.”

He doesn’t know about May. Tiger thought to himself. I still have time to turn things around for my siblings.

 “Duck!” Spider-Man shouted as he pushed Tiger out of the way as The Vulture flew by.

“How’d you know it was really him?”

“I smelled his gross old-man aftershave,” Spider-Man told him. “Not even the densest fog can hide that stench.”

A pack of Rhinos came charging through as Spider-Man shot a web toward a tree branch and swung Tiger to safety as the herd rushed through. “Stay here, kid, I’ll get the real one and take him down.”

Spider-Man closed his eyes and extended a web to swing through the trees, letting his spider-sense guide him as he let go of the web to land on the real Rhino’s back.

“Worst Uber ride ever! Don’t expect a good Yelp review after this!” Spider-Man shouted as Rhino swatted at him while he continued charging through the trees. Spider-Man’s senses went off as he jumped away as Rhino fell into a pond, where his density caused him to sink to the bottom. “Now be a good villain and enjoy your swim time, I’ll be back later to pick you up!”

 Tiger noticed Shocker sneaking around and decided to pounce, only to find it was one of Mysterio’s holograms. A blast to the back sent Tiger to his knees as Shocker prepared a finishing blast.

“Hold on, baby!” Hypno-Hustler shouted as he pulled out his guitar. “Why kill this cat when we can have some fun with him?”

The Daily Bugle

“I’ll take the baby now,” Hobgoblin said as he tossed Jameson to the floor in front of Drew, Robbie and Mary Jane. “Or I can take it after I kill all of you, which I might do just for the hell of it.”

“Drew, take the baby and run!” Mary Jane ordered him. “Go!”

“I’m not leaving you with that psycho!” Drew shouted as Robbie shoved the baby into his arms.

“If you care about this baby, you’ll do as I say!” Mary Jane said. “I’m in no condition to move and that monster’s not taking my child!”

Drew just nodded as he held the newborn in his arms as Robbie got between Hobgoblin and the others.

“Leave now, before I have to get rough,” Robbie said. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Don’t make me laugh, old man,” Hobgoblin told him, not seeing Drew sneaking away with the baby. “You couldn’t hurt a gnat, let alone someone like–”

Robbie’s fist plowed into the Hobgoblin’s stomach, causing him to bend over in pain. Another punch sent the villain flying onto his back. The hits hurt his fists, but Robbie withstood the pain and continued on.

“I was a small-time boxer in college,” Robbie said. “Been years since I threw a punch, but you never forget how. Like riding a bicycle.”

“You’re still only human,” Hobgoblin said as he stood up. “And humans can be broken is so many glorious ways. Let me demonstrate.”

“Demonstrate on this!” Jameson shouted as a fire extinguisher slammed into his back. As Hobgoblin turned around, the extinguisher rammed into his stomach before uppercutting him in the face. Mary Jane kicked a chair behind the villain as he fell backward onto the floor.

“Don’t worry, little guy, I have you,” Drew said as he held the newborn baby close to him. “I’m never going to let anyone hurt you. Just gotta find a safe place to hide. You’re gonna be okay.”

Drew looked down at the baby, feeling a connection he couldn’t explain. “You’re probably getting hungry, huh? You need like, formula or something, right? Can’t hide if you’re starving or you’ll end up giving us away. I gotta find you food and diapers and something warmer to put you in. This protection stuff is hard, but I raised a little brother with cancer, so I can do this.”

Maxine Power and Will O’ The Wisp were unconscious and webbed back to back as Spidey tilted his neck to let out a little crack. “Two more down, just gotta deal with the rest of these goobers. I hope Tiger’s okay on his own and– goobers? Definitely been spending too much time around Captain America. Yo, Tiger! You still alive, buddy?”

Tiger came leaping out of the fog at Spidey, whose only reaction was to punch the young hero just hard enough without splitting his head open. Tiger fell to the ground, rubbing his jaw in pain.

“What the hell, Dad?” Tiger asked, coming out of Hypno Hustler’s trance.

“Heard some bad music in the distance while Rhino took me for a joyride and kind of figured that Hypno Hustler got to you and a little punch is the on– what did you just call me?”

“I was dazed, that’s all,” Tiger said as he stood up. “That love tap didn’t help.”

“I was holding back so I didn’t knock your head off,” Spider-Man told him. “You don’t look like you can take a real punch to save your life.”

“I can kick anyone’s ass, my uncle taught me how to box from the moment I could walk,” Tiger told him. “I could go professional if I wanted.”

“Sure, kid,” Spider-Man told him. “We’re three villains down, we just have to get the other nine before– DUCK!”

Tiger ducked a blast of nacho cheese as Spider-Man shot his webbing into the dense fog and gave a good yank. Nacho Mama came flying out as Spider-Man tossed her into the grass, using a good layer of webbing to pin her down.

“Four down,” Spider-Man said as Tiger saw a small rabbit approaching. “Oh, crap.”

“Well, hello there, little fella,” Tiger said. “Aren’t you just the cutest–”

The rabbit hissed and flew into Tiger’s face like an Alien face hugger, holding tight as the young hero thrashed around.

“Three, two…,” Spider-Man said with a defeated sigh as a large robotic rabbit dropped out of the sky with a loud THUD! White Rabbit laughed as the rabbit hopped around in an attempt to crush the heroes. “Right on cue. Hey, Rabbit.”

“Spider-Man, it’s been a while,” the villainess said as the robotic rabbit’s mouth opened, firing carrot projectiles that exploded on impact. “We should catch up before I kill you.”

Tiger finally pulled the rabbit away from his face, only for a large litter of them to pounce from the fog to attach themselves to his body.

“Oh, COME ON!” Tiger shouted as he fell into the grass and started rolling around to free himself.

“Come on, this is just getting sad now,” Hobgoblin said as Jameson and Robbie were both trying to hold the villain back. “I don’t feel right killing something this pathetic. I mean, I’m totally going to, I just won’t feel right.”

“You’re not getting the kid!” Jameson shouted. “I’ll kill you myself before that happens!”

“Yeah, I survived a fall down an elevator shaft, the bar’s kind of high at this point,” Hobgoblin said as he grabbed Jameson by the throat. “TIme to die, old man.”

<Let him go,> Osborn’s voice in Hobgoblin’s ear. <While I have enjoyed the show, you’ve strayed from the group. You have a job to do, Rhett.>

“I gave myself a promotion, Normie,” Hobgoblin said with an evil cackle. “I’m going to kill Spider-Man. I just need an innocent pawn to distract him. And what’s more innocent than a baby?”

<Enough is enough,>  Osborn told him. <Your upgraded suit includes one more modification you didn’t know about.>

A powerful surge of electricity ran through Hobgoblin’s suit, causing him scream in pain as he fell to his knees.

<That was enough electricity to kill a normal man, and that was on the lowest setting. Let’s see what happens when I turn it up to 11.>

 Hobgoblin roared in frustration as his glider crashed through the office window. He jumped on and flew out of the glass window and into the night sky.

“What just happened?” Mary Jane asked.

After grabbing some formula and diapers from the convenience store, along with a Spider-Man onesie, Drew tried to find the best place to hide with a newborn baby until it was safe. He finally ended up at the abandoned home that he’d grown up in, which was now going to be sold at auction soon.

Finding an emergency key under the floorboard, Drew entered the house, seeing that everything had been long since removed. But at least no one would think to look there for him.

“Welcome to our home for now, baby Parker,” Drew said. “I can get the water running, and I have a lighter so I can warm up some formula to feed you. Think you can keep from crying too loud in the meantime?”

The baby just stared up at him with his innocent eyes.

“I think we’re going to make a great team.” Drew told him.

As Tiger rolled around the grass, trying to get the genetically modified killer rabbits off of him, Shocker got ready to attack.

“Like shooting fish in a barrel,” Shocker said. “Only with rabbits.”

“Don’t mind me, just passing through!” Spider-Man shouted as he ran by just as the large robotic rabbit landed right on top of Shocker. “Thanks for the assist, Rabbit!”

“Oops,” White Rabbit said. “Now you’re really going to get it, Spider-Man!”

“Five down,” Spider-Man said as he spotted the Vulture getting ready to dive bomb him. The hero took a running leap and jumped, using White Rabbit’s head as a stepping stool as he shot his webbing at Vulture before jumping back to the ground and running. He dragged Vulture along with him as forced a collsion with White Rabbit’s rabbit, destroying it and disabling Vulture’s wings in the process. “Seven down!”

Before they could run, Vulture and White Rabbit were webbed to a tree to restrain them.

“Kid, you okay?”

“I think those rabbits had rabies,” Tiger said as he stood up, his costume partially shredded as he looked at White Rabbit. “Someone’s a fan of Monty Python.”

“Huh, and I thought my friend Flash was the only person who liked that troupe,” Spider-Man told him. Okay, this just leaves The Chairman, Mysterio, Hypno Hustler,  The Mad Cow  and Hobgoblin. Two of them will put up a hard fight, but I have yet to take Hobgoblin down in a fight and keep him there.”

“You’ve never had me with you before,” Tiger told him. “We’ll double team his ass and make him scream… I think I should rephrase that.”

“Please do.”

“Drew’s not answering his phone,” Robbie said. “I’ll keep trying.”

“You mean this phone?” Mary Jane asked as she heard Drew’s phone buzzing in his jacket pocket on a chair. “Where did he go with my baby?”

“We’ll find him,” Robbie promised. “Drew’s a good kid, he’ll keep the baby safe until we get ahold of him. For right now, we need to get you to a hospital to be checked out. When we find Drew, we’ll bring the baby to you.”

“I just wish Peter was here,” Mary Jane told him. “He’s probably still busy… at work.”

Robbie looked out of the window toward the fog covered park across the way. Flashes of light and the sound of fighting were coming from within.

“What the hell is going on in there?”

“Prepare for udder defeat!” Mad Cow shouted as he shot poisoned tipped darts out of his plastic udders at the two heroes.

“Those are new,” Spider-Man said. “Looks like someone’s finally made friends with The Tinkerer.”

“I thought you said this guy was a push over?” Tiger asked.

“He was, I guess he got an upgrade that he was holding back on!” Spider-Man told him as he looked down at his wrists. “Oh, right, I forgot I can do this.”

Spider-Man shot as much webbing as he could to clog Mad Cow’s poisonous udders as Tiger kicked him to the ground where Spider-Man webbed him up.

“Four to go,” Spider-Man said as he realized he was nearly out of web cartridges. “Damn, I’m usually loaded up enough for six supervillains, never expected a full dozen.”

“So what, we’re boned now?” Tiger asked.

“We’ve got four supervillains left, I’ve faced tougher odds with a lot less to work with,” Spider-Man told him. “Between the two of us, we should be able to take out the rest and be back home in time for Conan.”

“I didn’t think President O’Brien was giving a speech tonight,” Tiger said as Spider-Man stared at him. “I mean–”

Spider-Man rubbed the bridge of his masked nose with two fingers. “You’re my son from the distant future, aren’t you?”

“What gave it away?”

“Pretty much just about every word you’ve said to me since we’ve met,” Spider-Man told him. “Why are you here?”

Before Tiger could answer, a laser blast shot past them. The beam struck an owl, turning it into a high chair.

“Come out, Spider-Man!” Chairman shouted. “We’ll have a seat and talk!”

“Just how fucked up is your rogues gallery, exactly?” Tiger asked.

“Language!” Spider-Man told him as the two heroes avoided more blasts that shot past them. Tiger managed to duck behind the Chairman, who kept his aim focused on Spider-Man. As he had the hero in his sights, Tiger whistled to get his attention. As the villain turned around, Tiger let go of the tree branch he was pulling back. The branch hit The Chairman with enough force to send him flying back where Spider-Man clotheslined him. “The circumstances may be horrible, but I kind of like this father/son bonding experience.”

“Me, too,” Tiger told him, finally letting his defenses down long enough to talk to his father. “Look, Dad, the whole reason I’m here is because in a few weeks, both you and Mom are going to–”

SCHLUCK!

The bladed toe of Hypno Hustler’s boot stabbed right into Tiger’s heart. As the hypnotic villain pulled away, blood started to stain the chest of Tiger’s orange and black costume. Spider-Man caught him before he fell, not wanting the young man to be hurt any further.

“NO!” Spider-Man shouted as he helped Tiger lay on the ground. “Tiger? Stay with me, son. Stay with me.”

“You have to–,” Tiger started to say between coughs. Spider-Man pulled the young man’s mask off, seeing Mary Jane in the boy’s features. “You have to tell Drew the truth about who his parents are. It’s the only way to stop him from– from–”

Tiger’s eyes rolled back as he stopped breathing as the hero pulled his son’s lifeless body into a tight hug. Spider-Man’s breathing grew heavier the angrier he became as the realization came that his boy was not only dead, but his murderer was just a few feet away. First A.J. and now his own son. Two young men cut down in their prime just as they were starting their journey into the world. There were no quips as he found Hypno Hustler standing there, smirking over having just killed one of the good guys.

“You. Are. Dead.” Spider-Man calmly said as he stood up. Even Uncle Ben’s words about responsibility were now a distant whisper as he focused on the man who’d just taken away his child. “I am going to rip you apart limb by limb, web you up before you bleed out and keep you alive so I continue to torture you until I tire of hearing your screams.”

“You’re a hero, baby! You don’t have it in you to kill someone!” Hypno Hustler taunted him.

“The way I’m feeling right now, I might just finish all twelve of you tonight,” Spider-Man said with gritted teeth, his anger and rage continuing to build. “This ends now.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Mysterio said as Hobgoblin arrived on his glider, only his suit was missing, leaving him in only boxer shorts, his cape, hood and mask. “Let’s finish this, Spider-Man.”

<Rhett, you can save the day now, well, after you beat him to a bloody pulp,> Osborn said as Hobgoblin started laughing. <What’s so funny?>

“I’m not wearing the suit, Normie,” Hobgoblin laughed as he destroyed the comlink between his fingers. “Spider-Man dies right now.”

TO BE CONCLUDED…