
   Web of Ranma
   
   Disclaimer: I know that I've got one somewhere around here... you'll
   take my word for it, okay?
   
   < >: Thoughts
   
   Chapter 4
   
   The Spider Slayer
   
   "OW!" Akane cried out as she was once again tripped up by Ranma. The
   martial artist with spider powers was having a difficult time of
   keeping his superhuman abilities under wraps. To him, Akane moved with
   all the speed and grace of a dead slug. Of course, if he ever went all
   out, the youngest Tendo daughter would be nothing more than a smear on
   the dojo wall from just a casual swat, so Ranma had to restrict
   himself to dodging and tripping his opponent. However, this lack of
   aggressive moves only served to make Akane angrier as she took it as
   an insult to her skills.
   
   "Fight me for real!" Akane yelled as she got up and tried another
   whack at Ranma's head, only to fall flat on her face again as she
   overextended herself. Ranma's reflexes were just too good, and since
   Akane tended to telegraph her moves, one didn't even have to rely on a
   spider-sense. It was like trying to hit a shadow.
   
   "Man, you're slow!" Ranma commented as Akane got up to charge again.
   He easily hopped over another kick, landed behind the angry girl, and
   gave a gentle nudge to the back of her head with an index finger. "You
   really got to work on your defense. I don't know how you managed to
   last this long against Kuno and that mob every day. Then again, like I
   said before, they probably go easy on you."
   
   "SHUT UP AND STAND STILL!" Akane shouted as she whirled around with a
   haymaker, but only hit air as Ranma dodged the blow by mere
   centimeters.
   
   The one who was secretly Spider-Man tensed up as he hated to hold back
   so much. Normally, he would have dodged such an attack by more than a
   foot, but he had to slow down and make it look like he was actually
   trying to avoid being hit. He wanted to make it appear that he wasn't
   as good as he actually was. With his natural abilities augmented from
   that radioactive spider bite, he could easily outstrip excellent
   martial artists without even breaking a sweat. However, Ranma still
   trained in secret to improve on his martial arts skills. The main
   problem was that he was far stronger and faster than normal, so he had
   to increase the difficulty levels to past anything that was considered
   normal by human standards. Some examples were shattering stacks of
   steel-reinforced concrete slabs, bench-pressing cars and performing
   acrobatic routines while blindfolded (that would have given him a
   platinum medal in any gymnastics competition). He figured that with
   the amplified training, he could achieve a level of martial arts that
   the great masters could only dream of.
   
   Over the years, Ranma had discovered some other interesting abilities.
   His body had gained a very enhanced metabolism which allowed him to
   heal at an astounding rate. Now trained martial artists could focus
   their ki to speed up their rate of recovery, but Ranma's body did so
   automatically. Now think of what Ranma would be able to do if he could
   add his fast recuperative powers to that ki ability of self-healing.
   
   Ranma had also discovered that his sight was somewhat enhanced and
   allowed him to see into the infrared range of the electromagnetic
   spectrum, giving him night vision. He could also detect heat
   emanations as well.
   
   Probably the most interesting of his abilities was his power to
   produce webbing. Ranma was grateful that he didn't mimic a spider
   completely. That would have meant that he would be shooting webbing
   out of his butt and have a desire to eat flies. At first, Ranma was
   only able to produce either a long web line, a fine spray or as a mass
   of sticky goop that had the adhesive powers of industrial grade Super
   Glue. In time, Ranma learned to manipulate his webbing to a point that
   he was able to shape it into various forms. The webbing itself was a
   wonder as it was quite strong, like steel cable or better. A few weeks
   before arriving in Japan, Ranma had begun experimenting with the
   spinnerets in his arms. With just the right amount of hardened
   webbing, Ranma found out that solid shapes could be achieved, making
   it possible to fashion blunt or sharpened objects. Anything from
   hardened spheres, long cylindrical shapes or complex patterns could be
   achieved. One of his most recent developments was the invention of
   what Ranma called his 'impact webbing.' He had used this new concept a
   few days ago to stop a hood from mugging an old man.
   
   The impact webbing projectile that Ranma fired was simply a mass of
   condensed webbing that was coated with a very thin shell of hardened
   webbing. When the sphere struck its target, the webbing within would
   explode outward, and the sticky tendrils would then begin wrapping
   themselves around the target along the paths of least resistance. The
   target would be coated with the sticky substance within a heartbeat.
   
   Of course, Ranma's ability to spin webs was not inexhaustible. He did
   have an upper limit of how much he could produce at one time and had
   to sparingly use the impact webbing concept as it required a lot of
   webbing to create one projectile alone. Another little fact was that
   his webbing was like a real spider's and was biodegradable. It would
   dissolve within a couple of hours into a powdery residue.
   
   Every now and then, he had to give his spinnerets a rest to replenish
   their supplies of the special enzymes they used to create his webs.
   Though Ranma was trained to fight without weapons, he considered his
   spinnerets a part of his own body, and therefore were not counted the
   same as one who was armed with a sword, gun or such.
   
   Ranma winced as Akane once again kissed the floor. Her overall
   fighting style was mediocre and looked to be mostly self-taught. He
   wondered how anyone could be so clumsy and easy to read, especially
   since her father was supposed to be Genma's equal in skill. After all,
   Soun was supposed to have trained with Ranma's father. Surely he would
   have been training Akane to take over the dojo, right?
   
   However, in the last few days, the heir to the Saotome Anything Goes
   had seen Soun do nothing more than casual exercises, smoke, drink or
   play shogi with Ranma's father all day. He assumed that Akane's father
   was more or less retired from martial arts and had let his skills
   degrade over the years. He also seemed pretty high-strung in the
   emotional department and would always go on about his dead wife, or
   about that half-baked pledge to unite the families. Fortunately, he
   and Genma had not been bothering him about it for a while as the news
   of Spider-Man was usually the main subject of many discussions at
   dinner.
   
   Akane huffed as she picked herself painfully off the floor and glared
   at her sparring partner. "Why don't you fight back? All you dodge!"
   
   Ranma simply shrugged his shoulders and replied. "Why bother? If you
   can't even hit me, then there's no way you could take any of my
   attacks."
   
   "Hmpf! You're pretty sure of yourself aren't you?" Akane sneered as
   she began stomping away. "Ahhh, I don't know why I'm wasting my time
   with some guy who won't or CAN'T throw a punch and dodges like a
   coward! You're no real challenge like Spider-Man!"
   
   This caught Ranma's attention as he gave her a questioning look.
   "Spider-Man? What's he got to do with it?"
   
   "Hmpf!" Akane turned to face him with a disdaining look. "Spider-Man
   is a REAL fighter and he's like a true martial artist!"
   
   "Oh? And what exactly is your idea of a true martial artist?"
   
   "As if someone like you would know." Akane said with sarcasm. "He
   fights crime and protects the weak. He's not some arrogant smart aleck
   like you!"
   
   Ranma gave a snort and gave a dismissive wave. He couldn't believe
   this situation. Akane couldn't stand him because he was a boy, but she
   was idolizing his alter ego. "Spider-man, Schmider-Man. Who cares
   about some guy who runs around in tights and swings on ropes like
   Tarzan."
   
   "Hah! I can tell that you're jealous of him! I bet you wish you could
   the things he can do!" Akane sneered as she stalked away.
   
   Ranma just barely managed not to snicker as he watched the
   short-tempered Tendo girl leave the dojo.
   
   ----------
   
   Later that night...
   
   Ranma smirked as he swung on his web line high above the streets of
   Tokyo in his garb of Spider-Man. It felt good to do a little web
   swinging to clear his mind and relieve the tension of the day. After
   firing off another web line to an adjacent building, he then made a
   graceful arc upward like a pendulum and then released his hold at the
   peak of the swing. Making a neat flip in midair, he then shot out
   another web line to snag a flagpole on the opposite side. He then
   swung to a nearby water tower, rebounded off it, then made a triple
   ricochet bounce off a trio of smokestacks. He made a spectacular
   tumbling routine that would have made the best Olympic athletes green
   with envy. Finally, he made a double reverse flip off the side of
   another building, used a flagpole to rebound himself back up and
   easily landed on a nearby ledge.
   
   <Ahhh, that was a decent warm up. > Ranma thought as he stretched out
   and worked out the kinks. Just as he turned to continue his nightly
   patrol and training, his spider-sense went off.
   
   <What the...? > He looked up and to his right as he suddenly caught a
   noise that sounded like the whooshing sound of jet engines. That was
   when he saw... them.
   
   There were five of them and each resembled a flying eyeball with
   wings. Each were about the size of a football with a circular, red,
   glowing camera lens in the front. Each 'eyeball' zoomed their camera
   lenses at him as they hovered above.
   
   <What the heck are those things? Are they dangerous? >
   
   The devices answered Ranma's unspoken question as they suddenly
   accelerated toward him and tried to knock him off his perch.
   
   <Whoa! Well ask a stupid question...> Spider-Man ducked one of the
   machines that tried impact with his head, then began making a series
   of evasive maneuvers up the side of the building as the flying devices
   continued to chase after him.
   
   ----------
   
   "Amazing! Look at his speed and agility!" The man said as he watched
   the images being transmitted to his monitor by the flying cameras.
   Beside him, two others watched the screen with equal interest. One of
   them was in a wheelchair.
   
   ----------
   
   <What the heck are these things? They're like a mini air force! >
   Ranma thought as he did a complex acrobatic somersault routine up the
   side of the building, flipping over the edge of the roof to get more
   fighting room. The five flying cameras followed him relentlessly like
   heat-seeking missiles.
   
   Spider-Man did another series of tumbling maneuvers, then came up with
   his arms extended and launched two small projectiles at his attackers.
   
   THAP! THAP!
   
   The impact webbing exploded against the camera lenses of two of the
   flying projectiles, instantly coating them with their sticky payloads.
   The devices began flying off haphazardly as their sensors were gummed
   up and their navigational computers were made useless. After making
   several blind passes at their target, the two camera eyes slammed into
   a nearby radio tower and exploded.
   
   Ranma had to duck for cover as the two flying eyes blew up like hand
   grenades and sent twisted, flaming metal debris at him. <Whoa! Those
   things are like flying smart bombs! > His spider sense then alerted
   him of the remaining three as they sped toward him on kamikaze dives.
   He leapt form roof top to roof top in a dazzling display of agility
   and speed, then leapt between twin smokestacks. He then turned and
   fired off a wide spray of webbing, which began congealing into a large
   net between the stacks. The three flying bombs were unable to alter
   their courses in time and slammed into the sticky netting, exploding a
   moment later and devastating the roof. Fortunately, the arachnid
   martial artist easily leapt to safety and was now perched on the side
   of an adjacent building.
   
   <I wonder what THAT was all about? > Ranma wondered as he gazed at the
   burning rooftop. Fortunately, the building had been slated for
   demolition and no one had been injured in that encounter.
   
   -----------
   
   "I am... most disappointed." Dr. Yamashita said as he turned from the
   monitor which was now showing static to the two other people beside
   him. "You failed."
   
   Dr. Spencer Smythe frowned a bit as his son Alistair began defending
   him from his wheelchair. "My father is the foremost expert in the
   field of robotics! He is not a failure!"
   
   His father Spencer waved it off as he began pushing his son's chair
   out of the monitoring room with Dr. Yamashita following him. "Calm
   down Alistair, there's no need to defend me."
   
   "No need?" Yamashita said incredulously. "Your Spider Seekers failed
   to bring down Spider-Man."
   
   "That's not their job." Spencer replied as they entered a large,
   darkened room. "This was only a trial run and it has proven that the
   Spider Seekers can track down Spider-Man."
   
   Yamashita softened a bit at that statement. "Perhaps, but what good
   are they if they can find him yet not be able to catch him?"
   
   "The Spider Seekers are the 'eyes' of the operation. My other
   invention shall be our hands!" He then flipped a light switch and
   revealed what was standing in the middle of the room. "Gentlemen, I
   give you... the Black Widow, my Spider Slayer!"
   
   Both men were in awe at the huge machine that was in the shape of a
   gigantic spider. The robot was about the size of a small truck, had
   thick armor plating and glowing red eyes. In the back and on its
   underbelly, it had powerful propulsion thrusters. Its fangs were
   equipped with a variety of weapons and equipment that were specially
   designed for one purpose... to defeat Spider-Man!
   
   ----------
   
   Ranma sneaked back into the Tendo home and quietly removed his
   costume. It had been a easy night with only five muggings, two gang
   fights and saving three people from being run over. Fortunately, his
   father was already snoring away in the guest room and would not awaken
   even during a nuclear blast. It was a relatively simple matter for his
   son to stow away his costume into a secret compartment in the storage
   closet that he had recently made and then laid down in his boxers and
   undershirt on the futon. As he went to sleep, he wondered about those
   strange devices that had attacked him that night.
   
   ----------
   
   The next day at Furinkan...
   
   "Did you hear about the latest news about Spider-Man?"
   
   "He was totally awesome!"
   
   "I'm going to join up with the Spider-Man Fan Club!"
   
   "With Akane? Count me in!"
   
   "Look! Here comes Akane now."
   
   Ranma and Nabiki shrugged as they walked by the crowds that were
   surrounding and asking if they could join the club that she was a
   member of. Apparently, the fight-Akane-so-you-can-date-her had been
   abandoned as joining the Spider-Man Fan Club was less painful.
   
   "I don't know what's the big deal is about this Spider-Man character."
   Ranma said nonchalantly. He had decided that feigning indifference to
   the celebrated status of his alter ego would help keep people from
   suspecting him of being the masked crime fighter.
   
   "Are you kidding?" Nabiki said incredulously. "Spider-Man is the
   biggest thing to have hit Tokyo since Godzilla." The middle Tendo
   sister had been making a good amount of yen by snapping photos of him
   in action. She had been having her cronies on the lookout for any and
   all appearances of the arachnid superhero. Recently, Ranma had been
   seeing other students with pictures of him in action as Spider-Man.
   Apparently, Nabiki too had been making a few secret nightly excursions
   to snap photos in action. She had invested in a telescopic camera and
   snapped the pictures from a distance, just outside of his spider-sense
   range. She had been getting a lot of preorders for any action shots or
   better yet... the face behind the mask. She was even selling several
   photos as a freelancer to a local newspaper, adding to her family's
   coffers, which it sorely needed.
   
   Nabiki had a potential fianc in Ranma and a good money maker in
   Spider-Man. She would have been even happier if she knew that they
   were both one in the same
   
   It was at that time that Kuno appeared on the scene, breaking up the
   crowd surrounding Akane.
   
   "What do you want, Kuno?"
   
   The so-called Blue Thunder puffed himself out. "Ah, the fair tigress
   Akane! I see that you still under the spider-demon's spell that you do
   not shower your affections and attentions on your one true love! Fear
   not my love for I, Tatewaki Kuno shall free you by vanquishing the
   foul spider-demon!"
   
   Akane gave Kuno a disdainful snort. "Hah! As if you could ever compare
   to Spider-Man! You wouldn't last five seconds against him!"
   
   The rest of the crowds murmured their agreement. As long as Akane was
   speaking out against Kuno, they could also voice their opinions
   without fear of reprisals from the kendoist.
   
   "It cannot be! I am the great Blue Thunder of Furinkan High and this
   Spider-Man cannot possibly be my better!"
   
   Akane shrugged as she replied without hesitation. "Fine. If you can
   actually beat him, then I'll sacrifice myself and go out with you."
   
   The rest of the crowds gasped when they heard this, but Akane wasn't
   worried. She knew that her idol could make mincemeat out of Kuno, so
   she'd have nothing else to worry about. Maybe this would also get
   those other jerks to lay off attacking her every morning as well.
   
   The rest of the crowds were still a little shocked at Akane's
   announcement as Kuno went into his usual ranting mode.
   
   "I promise you Akane Tendo, that I, Tatewaki Kuno the Blue Thunder of
   Furinkan High shall defeat the evil Spider-Man and free you from the
   clutches of his sorcerer's ways! This I vow!"
   
   "Yeah, whatever." Akane said as she waved him off and walked away,
   leaving him to continue ranting. As she approached the main building,
   she was joined by Ranma and Nabiki.
   
   "Akane, are sure about this?" Nabiki asked.
   
   Akane shrugged again, not at all worried. "Why not? Spider-Man could
   take out Kuno with one finger. Besides, Kuno first has to find
   Spider-Man and you all know how hard it is to track him down."
   
   "True..." Ranma allowed. "Still, I've seen Nabiki managing to get some
   pictures of Spider-Man." <And that's something I'd better be careful
   about in the future. > Ranma mentally added.
   
   Akane considered that fact for the moment and nodded. "Maybe, but it's
   not like she knows who he is."
   
   "All a matter of time, Akane." Nabiki assured. "I've already gotten
   more information about him that I'm willing to sell."
   
   "What? You actually know who Spider-Man is?"
   
   This got Ranma to be a bit nervous as Nabiki began giving details.
   "Not yet, but as a courtesy to my dear little sister, I'm going to
   give you the information that I've collected so far on Spider-Man for
   free. But when I find out who Spider-Man is, I hope that you and all
   the other fans have their wallets ready. Now then, I would say that
   Spider-Man is between the age of fifteen to eighteen, given his height
   and probable weight. And here's some information that might surprise
   you. I have reason to believe that he may be a student at Furinkan
   High."
   
   "What? He's a student here?"
   
   "That's right. Remember that fire that we had a while ago? He was seen
   wearing a student uniform, remember?"
   
   "So? What does that got to do with it? He probably just threw it on to
   blend in or something before he got that costume he wears now." Ranma
   said to try and throw Akane and Nabiki off track.
   
   "Oh? Then how can you explain that he was there at the right time and
   place and KNEW where to go to save the entire school from blowing up?"
   
   "Probably just a coincidence."
   
   "Oh sure it was." Nabiki said. "Well, according to what my sources are
   telling me, many of Spider-Man's appearances have been concentrated
   around the Nerima area, where most of the students do live in and I
   have good reason to believe that he may be among the new arrivals and
   transfers, since that was about the same time that our web-slinging
   friend started showing up."
   
   "Oh come on now. If that was the case, then Ranma here would be among
   the suspects." Akane snorted. "And I happen to know that he couldn't
   POSSIBLY be Spider-Man!"
   
   "Why not?" Nabiki gave Ranma a mischievous grin. "Ranma's about the
   same height and weight as Spider-Man is and did you ever notice that
   he's never around when our webbed wonder appears?"
   
   "That's because he always runs away to call the police or something!"
   Akane scoffed. "Besides, Ranma doesn't have what it takes to be a
   superhero with his always dodging and afraid to throw a punch.
   Spider-Man is much more a true martial artist than he'll ever be."
   
   "Are you sure? It could be all an act."
   
   "Hah! I can TELL when somebody's pretending to be something he's not.
   Just like the way Kuno says he's the best. Ranma's no more Spider-Man
   than I am!" Akane said without hesitation as she walked off to her
   homeroom, leaving Ranma and Nabiki to discuss among themselves.
   
   "Nabiki... were you really serious about me secretly being
   Spider-Man?"
   
   "Oh don't worry your little head about it, Ranma. I just wanted to
   ruffle Akane's feathers a bit, that's all. Though I would LOVE to see
   the look on her face if that were true!" Nabiki chuckled a bit at the
   thought. "In any case, you're not really a likely suspect and I was
   only making conversation, that's all."
   
   Ranma became a bit relieved at this news, but was still a bit on
   alert. Unlike her sister, Nabiki was much more observant and used her
   head more than the short-tempered Akane.
   
   ----------
   
   "Well, everything is all set." Dr. Spencer said as he made the last
   adjustments to another squadron of Spider Seekers and giving the
   Spider Slayer its final instructions.
   
   Alistair nodded as he powered up the monitor. "If we want that new
   laboratory and that grant from Yamashita's employer, then we've GOT to
   destroy him! With someone like Spider-Man, there won't be a second
   chance."
   
   Spencer nodded. "Yes, and we'll finally be able to get those...
   special doctors for you. Alistair... that explosion back at the old
   lab was my fault. I'll make certain that you'll get all the treatments
   that you need to get you to walk again... and all we have to do is
   destroy one man... Spider-Man!"
   
   ----------
   
   "The Spider Slayer is ready, sir." Dr. Yamashita said as she spoke
   into a communications console.
   
   "Excellent! And you are certain that it will be able to do the job?"
   Yamashita's employer asked.
   
   "Yes sir. I have been assured that with the data I have supplied to
   the Smythe family, the Black Widow will be able to neutralize all of
   Spider-Man's powers. Soon, he shall be ours! I am certain that after I
   have analyzed his biological and genetic structure, I will be able to
   duplicate the original spider venom and we shall have our own
   Spider-men!"
   
   "Yes indeed, and if the Spider Slayer is capable of defeating
   Spider-Man, then we shall also have the means of controlling 'our'
   Spider-Men as well."
   
   "And if the Smythe family fails in their venture, then we shall have
   two very talented experts in robotics under your control. Very
   interesting. Either Spider-Man is destroyed or we get the famous
   Spencer as our subordinate. Whatever happens... you win."
   
   The big boss (and I do mean big), smiled as he spoke from his private
   office in New York City. "That's why I am called the Kingpin."
   
   ----------
   
   It was at that moment that Spencer Smythe pressed a button on his
   control console and launched a fleet of Spider Seekers into the air.
   The devices shot up from a secret launching site from their base of
   operations, which was located in an abandoned warehouse.
   
   The hunt for Spider-Man had begun!
   
   ----------
   
   Later that afternoon...
   
   Ranma yawned after emerging from the last class of the day. The
   session had been one of the dullest ones yet and he began wishing for
   anything to break the tedium. Unfortunately, his wish was about to be
   granted as he suddenly stopped when his spider-sense went off. He
   looked up and his eyes widened as he saw what was hovering nearby.
   Several of those strange flying eyeballs were floating above and
   scanning the area. He immediately ducked behind a tree and waited as
   the machines scanned each and every one of the students below.
   
   ----------
   
   "Father! The Spider Seekers had detected a large amount of spider
   bioenergy!"
   
   "Location?"
   
   "It's in the Nerima district! Right near a place called Furinkan High
   School!" Alistair pointed to a blinking dot on a schematic map of the
   area.
   
   "Yes, many of the sightings of Spider-Man have been in that area.
   There have been some reports of seeing Spider-Man in downtown Tokyo,
   but he always seem to emerge from the direction of that district.
   Thanks to the special spider detectors in the Seekers, we can now send
   in the Spider Slayer!" Spencer then pressed another button and
   launched their ultimate weapon against Ranma.
   
   ----------
   
   Ranma's spider sense began giving its customary warning buzz, which
   began to increase in intensity as some kind of unknown danger
   approached his school. The flying cameras had distanced themselves
   from the front schoolyards and were hovering more than two hundred
   feet off the ground, waiting for something.
   
   Ranma couldn't just stand there. He had to do something. He ran toward
   a nearby storage shed and ducked inside. He started removing his
   school uniform as he reached down and pulled out one of the
   floorboards of the shed. Over the last few days, Ranma had made
   several costumes and had them hidden in various locations around
   Furinkan and the Tendo house, in case he needed them. He couldn't wear
   a costume under his own clothes all the time.
   
   Just as he was pulling on his gloves and mask, he heard a loud
   rumbling sound like rockets, which was accompanied by the screams of
   several dozen terrified students.
   
   ----------
   
   "What is it?!"
   
   "Look out!"
   
   "Run!"
   
   The throngs of students scattered as the Spider Slayer suddenly
   appeared from the sky and landed on all eight legs on the concrete as
   it scanned for the presence of its quarry. Most of the people there
   had the sense to get out of the behemoth's way. Most that is except
   for...
   
   "Akane! What are you doing?!" Nabiki shouted as she saw her sister
   rush toward the machine.
   
   "It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak! I'll stop it!" The
   headstrong, but very foolhardy girl replied as she ran toward the
   Spider Slayer and cocked back a fist.
   
   "HIIIIYAAAAAAHHH!"
   
   CLANG!
   
   "OW!" Akane winced as she pulled back her hand. The reinforced
   titanium hull of the Slayer was a LOT harder than those cinder blocks
   and wooden training dummies that she routinely smashed at home. She
   tried a roundhouse kick at one of the massive legs, but that too had
   no effect.
   
   Akane then decided to pull out all the stops and prove what a great
   fighter she was. It was time... for her secret weapon. She reached
   behind her back and pulled out a very large wooden mallet. She reared
   back and swung her weapon around to bash it on the Black Widow's head.
   However...
   
   FZZZZAAAK!
   
   The eyes of the machine glowed red as twin laser beams shot out and
   vaporized the mallet's head, leaving Akane staring stupidly at the
   charred handle in her hands. Before the girl could react, a casual
   swat from one of the Slayer's legs sent her flying back a dozen feet.
   She landed hard on her back against a storage shed as the machine
   turned around to deal with this minor nuisance. At that moment, some
   one else came onto the scene...
   
   "Fear not, fair Akane! I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder shall rescue
   thee!" The wannabe samurai took a dramatic pose, holding his bokken up
   high as he addressed the machine. "Hold, foul metal monster! I see
   that you were sent by the nefarious demon Spider-Man to spirit away my
   true love! I shall smite thee and save my beloved and..."
   
   WHAM!
   
   Kuno's speech was cut short as the Spider Slayer knocked him aside
   with a leg, causing him to see little spiders dancing over his head as
   he crashed into a nearby tree. It then turned back to its first
   attacker and that was when its sensors began picking up something.
   
   Aken had landed against the same shed that Ranma was in and was close
   enough that her bio-energies were mistaken for his.
   
   ----------
   
   "There! The sensors have locked onto Spider-Man's bio-rhythms! He's
   right in front of the Spider Slayer!" Alistair Symthe exclaimed as he
   saw the readouts on the machine's sensor logs.
   
   "Activate the Slayer's visual optics." Spencer said. "Let's have a
   look at this... Spider-Man."
   
   His son turned on a switch and the monitor then gave a
   three-dimensional image of the person before their creation.
   
   "THAT girl is Spider-Man?!" Alistair said incredulously.
   
   "Hmmm." Spencer looked down at the readouts and they did indicate that
   Spider-Man was directly in front of the Slayer and since they could
   only see one person in front of it, then that meant...
   
   "So that's the man... er, girl behind the mask."
   
   "It doesn't make sense! She's smaller and doesn't conform to
   Spider-Man's proportions at all!" Alistair exclaimed.
   
   His father nodded and decided that more investigation would be needed.
   "Bring her back to the lab. We're going to have to look into this a
   little more."
   
   Alistair nodded as he turned on the manual controls and directed the
   Slayer to pick up the unconscious girl in its mandibles. The thrusters
   on its underbelly then fired, launching the machine and its cargo into
   the air.
   
   ----------
   
   Ranma had been ready to exit the shed, when he heard a thump as
   something hit against the wall. He then ran out the back and circled
   around the structure, just in time to see the Spider Slayer take off
   with something clutched between its metal fangs. With his accelerated
   vision, he was able to see what, or rather who was being carried away.
   
   ----------
   
   "AKANE!" Nabki cried out as she began running after the machine. It
   was at that moment that she saw an agile form dart above her from a
   nearby tree, then made a forty-foot leap to the top of a nearby
   building. She recognized the red and blue uniform with webbed cape, as
   he made a triple somersault toward a lamp post, and then used a web
   line on a three-story building to swing after the mechanical monster.
   
   < SPIDER-MAN! > Nabiki looked about and saw her friend Ayasa parked
   nearby on her motor scooter. She rushed over to her friend and pushed
   her off.
   
   "Sorry Ayasa, but I NEED this! I'll bring it right back to you!" She
   then gunned the engine and rode after the masked superhero and the
   robotic spider that had kidnapped her sister. The chase was on!
   
   ----------
   
   Spider-Man began to gain on his mechanized adversary as he got to
   downtown Tokyo where there were taller building to swing from. Just as
   he came to the top of a very tall building, he shot out another of his
   amazing web lines at the Slayer. The line attached itself to the
   bottom of the robot's head and he then yanked hard with his
   spider-strength while using the adhering power in his feet to anchor
   himself to the roof. The sudden jerk caused the mandibles to loosen
   their grip on Akane. The unconscious girl slipped through and began
   falling toward the street below.
   
   Ranma had to act fast. Akane was a pain but even she didn't deserved
   to be splattered over the pavement. Releasing his hold on the web
   line, he directed his spinnerets to release a widening spray of
   webbing, which formed into a kind of netting strung between two
   buildings. Akane's body landed safely into the net as the human
   arachnid went to get her to safety before the Spider Slayer could
   attack. It was already diving down toward them and readying its
   weapons.
   
   ----------
   
   "What happened?!" Alistair asked as the sensors had relayed the
   message that something had forced the Black Widow to release its
   prisoner.
   
   "There! THAT'S THE REAL SPIDER-MAN!" Spencer declared as he pointed to
   the image being displayed on the monitor. Both men could now see that
   the girl was not the masked superhero, but they had found him anyway.
   Now all they had to do, was to catch him.
   
   ----------
   
   Down on the streets, Nabiki pushed the motor scooter to its limit as
   she raced to the scene. She looked up and saw that Spider-Man had just
   gotten her sister out of the Slayer's clutches and the machine was now
   diving down to attack them.
   
   She came to a stop at the building's fire escape and began running up
   the stairs toward the roof. She also took out a small camera that she
   always carried with her.
   
   ----------
   
   Ranma had just gotten Akane out of the net that his spider-sense went
   off again. He looked up and saw that the Spider Slayer was coming down
   at them. He had no time to put Akane down and had to move quickly. He
   scrambled out of the way as the machine began firing stun bolts at
   him. Using his incredible agility, he began darting about, dodging
   every shot that was fired at him. It was then that he noticed that
   someone was coming onto the roof. He recognized the person and bounded
   toward her.
   
   ----------
   
   Nabiki gasped as Spider-Man suddenly leapt toward her, then pushed her
   sister into her arms.
   
   "GET HER OUT OF HERE NOW! RUN!"
   
   Spider-Man then bounded away to the next roof to lead the Black Widow
   away from any other innocent bystanders. With Akane no longer weighing
   him down, he could now cut loose against the machine that was created
   solely for his destruction.
   
   As Akane was beginning to regain consciousness, Nabiki held her in one
   arm while watching the ensuing battle. She then remembered that she
   still had her camera. She gently set her sister down when she was
   certain that she was all right, then began snapping pictures of
   Spider-Man battling the Black Widow. She knew quite a few newspaper
   publishers and television stations that would pay big money for
   exclusive photos of the mysterious superhero.
   
   ----------
   
   Ranma dodged another volley of energy blasts as he tried to get more
   fighting room. He then decided to go on the offensive and used a
   nearby flagpole to rebound off and propelled himself toward his
   attacker.
   
   "Okay you big piece of junk! Let's see how tough you are!" He thrust
   out his right leg in a sidekick and put his full spider-strength
   behind it. However, his foot was still only flesh and bone and when it
   met with a foot-thick, reinforced plate of tempered metal alloy...
   
   WHANG!
   Ranma flipped back and landed unsteadily on his left foot while his
   right throbbed a bit. He looked up and saw that he had barely made a
   dent in the Black Widow's armor as it continued to advance on him.
   
   "Oaky... so that's pretty tough." Ranma realized that this wasn't
   going to be as easy as he thought it would be.
   
   To be continued...
   
   Author's notes
   
   Gomen. I apologize for the long delay in finishing this chapter, but
   real life has kept me hopping. In any case, chapter five will be the
   conclusion to the battle between Ranma and the Spider-Slayer and we'll
   be seeing more interaction between out webbed martial artist and
   Nabiki as more characters are introduced. Until then!
