telerib | The Spider's Web (Reply)

While the rest of the group was gallivanting about in Greenland, the Scorpion was on patrol in New York. Looking for evidence of Don Bruno's continued existence, he first ran the usual checks on EVIL, but the organization had been keeping squeaky clean since the saucer incident. He finally turned to Bruno's old Mafia operation to see if "the Rock" had reappeared there.

He had not. One of the lieutenants, Attilo, had taken over the operation for himself after a typical Mafia re-organization. The gang was trying to get itself back together when a new player appeared on the scene.

The Spider recruited several of Attilo's more disaffected members away from him and had been making a serious play for territory over the past two weeks. This shadowy person's identity was not known by the thugs the Scorpion managed to question, but there were certain rumors that it might be "the Machine" Agnelli, a female capo of Don Bruno's who had been seriously upset that Attilo had nudged her out for control of the gang.

The coming gang war could easily spill out onto the streets of the city, with bloody results. The Scorpion brought it to the group's attention when they returned, and all agreed that something should be done.

Adam Archer suggested that the group begin to hit Attilo's operations as a ploy to draw out the Spider. The Mafioso might want to make allies with the people hurting his enemy, and then the group would know all the players. If possible, they'd also collect information that would allow Max to infiltrate Attilo's gang to do even more damage.

The group split up to handle some of the easy stuff. Reg, Phineas and Max made a tour of the brothels, beating up the pimps and giving the girls the keys to the cash box and the phone number of the secretarial pool Smythe-Worthington Enterprises uses. Adam, Greta and Dr. Olsson went to the gambling halls. Dr. Olsson brought a magnetic device that made it trivial for Adam to clean out the roulette wheel; whenever the House got suspicious, tables would flip and big fistfuls of dollars would go flying. In the ensuing chaos, Greta found it easy to relieve one place after another of its books and other incriminating evidence. Guys the cops had had nothing on for years were suddenly being booked.

But where they really needed to hit was the main warehouse where the gang's bootleg liquor was stored. The assault came in two branches: Greta, Max and Adam snuck in a side door. After giving them a few minutes to decide where the good stuff was, the rest of the group created a diversion. A failed experiment of Dr. Olsson's - a modified truck - was aimed at the main warehouse door and let go with a brick on the accelerator. The thing slammed through the doors, scattered a group of mooks, then lodged in a stack of crates containing Canada's best. It all promptly caught fire.

Then the *second* truck came in, carrying Reg, Phineas and Dr. Olsson. Greta had the books; it was time to leave, right?

But wait! Don Attilo himself, come to check on his operation, was spotted making for a door. The group was after him - but the thugs ran to place themselves between Our Heroes and the fleeing mob boss.

Phineas took two out with knife-handles to the temples and hardly broke his stride; Max used a handy crate to vault over another pair. Each one, swinging for him, missed when he suddenly wasn't there and managed to clock the other instead! Just a few seconds behind them came the rest of the group: Adam's judo skills tossed two to the side; Greta and Reg put four down with a flurry of flying fists and feet; and Dr. Olsson swung a mean wrench.

Going down the stairs, Phineas threw a knife into Attilo's leg, wounding him. The Mafioso caved, telling them everything they needed was behind that door. Adam offered to watch Attilo while the rest of the group entered the room. Dr. Olsson really wanted to stay to explain, in detail, to Attilo how he had been cunningly defeated, but Adam encouraged her to search the room now, gloat later.

But the room was a trap! Floor tiles gave way under three members' feet, and mechanical pinchers of some kind pinned their feet. A set of narrowly-spaced bars at the other end of the room began to slid down, and the now-familiar sound of a hungry alligator roared!

And that's when Adam slammed the door shut and locked it. "Reg," he said, "the Spider resigns as your legal counsel."

Adam Archer was the Spider!