Fan Fiction: Crossovers
Wrath of Khan

  JFK airport was always busy. The only reason it managed to function at all was because the thousands of milling people had a vague idea of where they had to go.

  Peter Parker/Spider-Man was coming of the afternoon flight from Australia. Glancing around the arrival terminal, his pack slung over his shoulder, (The two always-travelled light) he saw his partner calmly standing with his back to the wall. Peter smiled and went to meet his partner/friend.

  "G'day Mate! Howzit going Downunda?" Asked Stephen in a VERY bad stereotypical Australian accent.

  "Knock it off Steve." Peter saw the dangerous glint in his partner's eye. Stephen always saw the crime fighting part of their lives as a simple game of cat and mouse. So that look only came into his face when he was VERY angry. Something had happened. Peter sighed. His vacation was over.

  Wandering through the airport, the two men kept up the banter. Chatting about Peter's vacation, the weather in Australia and other meaningless things.

  An empty cab pulled up just as they left the airport. People waiting would have killed for luck like that. Behind the wheel was of course, Moe Shrevnitz.

  "Drive," commanded Stephen.

  The cab took off.

  "So," said Peter calmly. "Are you gonna tell me what's happened?"

  Stephen nodded slowly and took a breath. By the time the cab had reached downtown NY, Peter knew everything. He also knew why Stephen was as angry as he was. Fire and water, Snake and Mongoose, Khans and The Shadows.

  "The only clue I have now," finished Stephen, "are these numbers." He handed that scrap of paper to the man next to him.

  Peter clearly had no idea what they meant and neither did Stephen.

  "What is 'Ying Ko'?" Asked Peter.

  "It means 'The Shadow' in Tibetan."

  "So what now?" Asked Moe, who had been listening to the conversation.

  "I don't know." Said Stephen. "But I'll bet every cent I have that it has something to do with these numbers."

  For the next few minutes the three turned the problem over in their minds.

  After a while Stephen noticed that Moe was taking the long way around town to The Sanctum. And his eyes were constantly returning to the rear-view mirror.

  "What is it Shrevvy?" He asked.

  "That black and yellow," replied Moe, meaning as cab behind them. "It's been following us since we left the airport. I think we got a tail boss."

  Stephen thought about this briefly. "Okay, let's take him on a tour of downtown. If he's still with us by Broadway, pull over and let us out."

  Moe nodded and gunned the motor.

  The cab weaved up one street and down the other. This pattern repeated all the way to Broadway. It was a very slow and tedious route, but one that people very rarely use. For that reason, they knew that the cab must have been following them.

  At Broadway, Moe's cab pulled over and the two men got out.

  Calmly walking down the street, Stephen glanced in the side-view mirror of a parked car. He could see nothing unusual behind them. The street was almost deserted.

  "Maybe Moe was wrong." Said Stephen to his partner.

  "No," replied Peter. "My spider-sense is tingling slightly. We are being followed."

  Stephen nodded. The two men did not change their pace. They did nothing out of the ordinary. Suddenly, a swishing sound passed between them. A long arrow was sticking from the wall beside them, still quivering. The men spun, ready to fight, but their attacker was already in a cab and pulling away. It turned into the main road.

  "Can we get him?" Asked Peter.

  "No," Said Stephen. "Over a million cabs go down that road every day, we would never find that one."

  "Lucky he missed then."

  Stephen laughed. "He wasn't trying to kill us. Mongol bowmen can hit a man five hundred yards away while riding a horse at full gallop. He missed on purpose."

  "Why?"

  "Khan is playing games with us. That's fine, I love games. Never played a mind game yet that I haven't won."

  The two men headed for the Sanctum.