Darkness, Darkness... * "SHROUD" (Maximillian Coleridge) Guest Appearance
Six hours earlier, Spider-Man encountered the Werewolf in a Los Angeles nightclub known as Cat's Jazz Club. It is now well after closing time, and Cat and Mouse are cleaning the place up. Cat comments that it is odd that Spider-Man should be in Los Angeles, so far from his usual hangout. Mouse wonders why their boss kept them out of the fight with the Tatterdemalion. They could have easily taken him, she says. As they converse, they fail to notice Spider-Man himself clinging to the ceiling. Suddenly he snags Cat with his webbing and suspends him in the air. Mouse tries to rescue her partner, but Spider-Man hangs her in the air, too. He wants to know where the Shroud is and Mouse is only too happy to point out that the Shroud is on the club's stage behind him. The Shroud demands to know why Spider-Man's looking for him and Spider-Man replies that he was told the Shroud has been taking over the Los Angeles gangs one by one. Then Spider-Man attacks, but the Shroud easily dodges. When he tries to cover the Shroud with webbing, the room is suddenly plunged into pitch darkness. He can see nothing, but his spider-sense warns of danger from all directions. Punches start coming at him that he cannot see to avoid, and the Shroud declares that he is aware of all of Spider-Man's limitations. Spider-Man knows little about the Shroud, but he realizes that the Shroud is somehow responsible for the darkness that is triggering his spider-sense. Focusing his sense and allowing it to guide him, he strikes out with his fist and connects. The darkness vanishes, and Spider-Man finds the Shroud unconscious on the floor beside him. Spider-Man picks him up and web-swings out of the nightclub.