Fan Fiction: Crossovers
Wrath of Khan
Chapter 8
Peter arrived at the JFK airport for the second time in as
many hours. He wandered up and down the terminals looking at destination
view screens. London, Maui, Hawaii, Paris, Geneva. No Tibet.
Finally he gave up and decided that the best way was just to ask, and went up to the information desk.
"Excuse me, could you tell me where the cargo plane to Tibet is?"
The woman looked at him confused and looked at her terminal.
"I'm sorry sir, there is no plane to Tibet for a month. And that's a commercial passenger jet."
Peter thought that over and decided that Stephen had gotten the destinations wrong. He would have to tell his partner immediately. It was then that Peter realised that Stephen was nowhere to be found. It came to him then. He had been tricked.
"Damn you, Stephen." He muttered.
He had to find out where those co-ordinates really were.
Peter sprinted from the airport. He needed to find a map and then Stephen.
The Shadow looked from the top of a hill down toward the harbour.
The boat shed was sitting on pylons over the water. That was the real location,
given in the numbers. Vanishing from sight, he made his way toward the shed.
He entered the dark shed. It was fairly large. There were two
small rooms on the top floor. The ground floor was one large bay with boxes
piled high. Symbols made it clear what was in those crates. Explosives.
The Shadow moved to the crates and fixed a small box to the side.
Several people came down the stairs. The Shadow froze in the
darkest corner where he found. Ten Mongols busily loaded half the crates
onto an elevator. The elevator, now fully loaded, slowly sank its way down
through the floor to the water. The Mongols went down with it. Once down
there they loaded the crates into a small speedboat. The shed was now empty.
The boat with its deadly cargo powered toward a huge freighter just out
of the harbour.
The Shadow could sense it. The shed was empty, except for his enemy. This was the fight he was born for.
"Khan." Whispered The Shadow to the empty room.
Peter had found a Global Positioning System for sale in one of the numerous airport stalls. He was frantically punching in numbers from memory. The location came up on the screen. New York Harbor.
He sprinted for the door.
Khan was meditating in his Sanctum, when suddenly the mocking laugh of his foe reached his ears. Khan's eyes flew open and before him stood The Shadow. Khan stood and walked to the center of the room. As he walked he spoke.
"Well Ying Ko, It seems you found me."
"You're finished Khan." Said The Shadow.
"Ah but I have two cards yet to play. First, my shipment has already left," Khan, replied pointing out the window toward the freighter. "You can probably get to it but if you try for it, I will escape. Don't try, and my army will take the world with those munitions."
The Shadow did not flinch. He merely raised his gloved fist. In it was a small transmitter with a single button. Khan divined its purpose instantly.
"NOOOO!" He cried.
But it was too late; The Shadow hit the button and the enormous freighter exploded in a massive fireball that could be seen for a mile in every direction.
Spider-Man had left the airport and was swinging madly for the
harbor. The huge fireball showed him the way, and Spider-Man hoped he would
make it in time to help.
The wind was against him however. He tried going lower, hoping
that the buildings would shield him from the wind. But the high walls worked
as a wind tunnel. Spider-Man gritted his teeth against the merciless wind
and kept swinging.
"You Lose Khan." Whispered The Shadow, as Khan stared in shock at the remains of the boat.
"Not till this fight is over." Khan gestured to a small wooden stand. The fake Phurba was sitting on it. Khan commanded the blade to attack. It did not move. Khan pointed toward the knife and once again yelled an order. The Phurba did nothing.
"Hard to tell the genuine article isn't it?" Chuckled
The Shadow.
Khan gave a scream of pure rage and grabbed the Phurba. Khan leapt at The Shadow. While it was not a living knife, it was a sharp one.
The two experienced combatants grappled over the knife. The
Shadow broke his grip for only an instant to deliver a mammoth blow to Khan's
stomach. Khan reeled under the blow but did not falter with his grip. Khan
also broke his hold to hammer The Shadow in the elbow, with a sharp grunt
of pain; The Shadow lost his grip. Khan swung the blade in an arc and speared
it down toward his opponent's heart. The Shadow threw an arm up to block
the knife and was impaled through his dark glove.
Falling to the floor in pain, The Shadow lashed out in reflex
and kicked Khan hard in the knee. Khan also groaned and fell to the floor
next to The Shadow. Khan rolled toward his opponent and turned the roll
into another attack. The three-edged blade speared toward The Shadow's face.
The Shadow rolled away at the last moment and the knife stabbed his cloak,
ripping it apart. The Shadow instantly shrugged of his cloak and rose to
his feet. Khan tried desperately to pull the protruding knife handle from
the floor and accidentally snapped the blade in half. Discarding the useless
handle, Khan leapt toward The Shadow again and the two fought each other
like demons.
Spider-Man was now away from the buildings. His webline useless
now, he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, still pushing toward the harbour.
It was only a few hundred yards away. Getting a good look for the first
time, he froze. The docks were immense. How would he find the right shed?
Khan and The Shadow had been trading titanic blows for ten straight minutes. Both had countless cuts and bruises. The Shadow delivered one final right hook and fell to his knees exhausted. Khan reeled from the blow and fell too. Both gasping for air and miserably drained, the men stared at each other.
The Shadow gulped air to re-oxygenate his blood, retrieved some energy, dragged himself over to Khan and pulled him up by the collar.
"It… is… over." He whispered.
"Never." Said Khan calmly. A crafty look appeared on his face, and he pulled out a remote control, identical to the one The Shadow had used not long ago.
Khan screamed his rage and a ten second countdown appeared on the remote's display.
The Shadow could hear a quiet beeping coming from the walls. He dropped Khan and ran for the door.
9...
8...
7...
Spider-Man had started at one side of the docks and worked his
way to the other side. About a hundred meters away was the last shed. It
had to be the one. Praying he was in time, he ran for the shed.
6...
5...
The Shadow was running on adrenaline and it was not enough. He knew he could not make the door in time. On the lower floor now, he looked frantically around the room. Thin wooden walls, no windows and the door was too far away.
Turning to the wall, he drew both automatics and started to blast away at the wood.
4...
3...
The sound of gunfire confirmed the location. Only The Shadow,
had weapons that sounded quite like that. He was seriously blasting away.
Something was wrong. He was only fifty yards away.
2...
1...
The Shadow had punched through the wood in several places and decided that he was out of time. He charged the wall, smashed it, and leaped into the night air, just as his world flew apart in a blinding flash.
Spider-Man was far enough from the explosion to avoid being
hurt. He heat made his hair smoulder through his mask. Blinded by the explosion,
he tried to see through the blinding light for his partner. Nothing, just
flames and smoke. Coast guard boats and fire department speedboats, which
were already on site of the tanker, scattered around the shed. Sirens were
heard a few minutes later, as fire trucks came and tried desperately to
keep the fire spreading to the rest of the docks.
"Come on Stephen," whispered Spider-Man as he leapt off the
rooftop to search the area again. "Where are you?"
Down on the water Spider-Man saw a dark spot. Releasing his
web line he fell toward the water. Turning his fall into a dive he splashed
down next to the darkness. It was the slouch hat that The Shadow always
wore. It was burnt. Refusing to be discouraged, Spider-Man kept looking
till the sun rose high the next morning.
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