//------------------------------//
// An Explosive Confrontation: Part 1 
// Story: The Amazing Spider Mare: The Symbiote Saga 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

                It didn't take Pinkie long to travel from Ponyville to Manehattan, she'd made the trip several times as Spider Mare. And the memories of one of her trips was already coming back to her, that faithful trip in which she had lost Pokey Pierce.

Pinkie Pie shook her head to clear her thoughts. "I can't focus on the past right now, I just need to focus on the present. Once The Scorpion and The Mane-iac are behind bars again, then I can worry about Cheese Sandwich." And with that goal in mind, Pinkie Pie swung past the Manehattan Bridge, and into Manehattan itself. 

Spider Mare was more than a little surprised at how quiet and empty the city seemed to be, even considering what had happened. But right now, she had a bigger problem to worry about. "How am I supposed to find those two criminal crackpots?" she thought to herself. "They didn't leave behind any clues or leads. Maybe I should've read the story all the way through first. It'll take hours to comb through this city, and in there's no telling what sort of crimes The Mane-iac and The Scorpion could pull off in that amount of time."

However, as luck would have it, at that very moment a police carriage came rushing down the street. From the safety of a rooftop, Spider Mare watched as the carriage sped past, obviously in a hurry. "Looks like I found my meal ticket," Spider Mare thought eagerly, as she swung after the police carriage. "I just need to get close enough to plant a tracker web, then I'll let the police dispatch take care of the rest. It's not perfect, but it should give me an idea of where to start looking."

Carefully but quickly, Spider Mare followed the police carriage, as she swung across the roof tops of Manehattan. At last, she managed to pull out in front of it. Timing her throw carefully, Spider Mare launched a tracker web at the carriage. It stuck onto the underside, the police were completely unaware it existed. As the carriage disappeared into the distance, Spider Mare adjusted the frequency of the listening device inside her suit, until she was able to pick up the right one. "I told Twilight the enhanced tracker web was a good idea!" she thought to herself, as she carefully listened in on the conversations between the police carriage and the dispatch center.

"Unit 609. Unit 609. Come in 609, over." The dispatch crackled.

"Dispatch, this is 609, we read you loud and clear." a male officer replied. 

"We are receiving reports of a hostage situation at the First Manehattan Bank," the dispatch said urgently. "Unconfirmed sources report wanted criminals Scorpion and Mane-iac broke into the bank with an unidentified stallion, and are holed up inside the vault. All available units are to report to the scene at once, and await further instruction!"

"Copy that, dispatch, we're on our way! 609 over and out!" a female officer replied, and the conversation ended.

"The First Manehattan Bank! Should've figured those two would go for a big target like that," Spider Mare thought to herself, as she headed to the bank. "I'm not sure who that unknown stallion is, but he must be crazy trying to cut a rug with super villains. Oh well, we all live and learn." 





By the time Spider Mare reached the bank, the sun was beginning to set off to the west. The entire Manehattan police department was already there, and had barricaded the path behind their patrol carriages. And one unicorn officer was displaying a projection of the situation in the vault, thanks to the aid of a spell that enabled the user to see through walls.

Spider Mare was watching the projection from a distance, and her fur began to crawl at what she could see. The Scorpion and The Mane-iac were indeed inside the vault, holding all the bank employees hostage behind the locked vault door. Spider Mare couldn't see any other ponies besides the super villains and the hostages, but there was something else that caught her attention. Just behind The Mane-iac was a huge bomb with a timer, and a key pad to punch in the code. "They DO have hostages!" Spider Mare realized. "And a bomb?! Oh man, this just got a whole lot more complicated."





"Boss, are you absolutely sure Spider Mare's gonna show up?" The Mane-iac asked nervously, as she spoke with Electro through a well concealed head set. "These hostages are getting restless, I don't know if we can keep them locked up for much longer before they try to revolt."

"Yeah, and I'm getting tired of standing around here!" The Scorpion complained.

"Quit your bellyaching, you two!" Electro snapped in response. "Spider Mare will come, sooner or later. If the hostages try anything funny, turn on the bomb. If Spider Mare hasn't shown up by the time it's ready to go off, I'll swoop by and the three of us will make our escape, while the hostages make a desperate run for it."

Just then, The Scorpion and The Mane-iac heard what sounded like somepony trying to crawl through the air vents. It didn't take them long to realize what that meant. "Oh man! Spider Mare's here, she's in the air vents!" The Scorpion shouted frantically.

"Of course she is, just as I predicted!" Electro replied. "With our bomb and the hostages, she doesn't dare try a direct approach."

"Good thing those vents don't lead right into the vault," The Mane-iac said, breathing a sigh of relief. "There's no way she can get in here without getting past us."

"She won't even get the chance!" The Scorpion vowed. "One blast of my acid, and she'll be out of the way for good! We're going to be rich!"

"Give me a front row seat to the action," The Mane-iac insisted. "I want to be there when Spider Mare meets her end, and that smug little grin gets wiped permanently off her face."

"Don't get careless, you imbeciles!" Electro warned. "Spider Mare wants you both to come out and attack her, that's just the sort of opening she needs!"

"But, we can easily take her, boss!" The Scorpion replied.

"Yeah, we'll wipe the floor with her in ten seconds, and that's if she's lucky," The Mane-iac chuckled. "Then we can get rid of the hostages, clean out the vault, and give the cops the slip!"

"If our plan is to succeed, you must both do as I say and trust my judgement!" Electro demanded. "I could easily activate the bomb right now, and leave you both stuck in the vault with the hostages! I'll call the shots around here, so do as I say if you want to make it out of here in one piece!"

The Mane-iac and The Scorpion both gulped. "Yes, boss." they reluctantly replied.

"Good, that's more like it," Electro said sweetly. "Now, Scorpion, you go out there and look for Spider Mare. Mane-iac, you stay and guard the hostages, make sure they don't try anything funny."

"As you wish, boss." The Scorpion replied. She then waited, until Electro had opened the vault door from the outside. Once she had walked through it, The Scorpion shut the vault door, and went to look for Spider Mare.





Spider Mare was incredibly anxious, as she made her way through the air vents. "I have to make sure those hostages don't get hurt," she said quietly to herself. "And I need to prevent either The Scorpion or The Mane-iac from activating the bomb. Then I can figure out who or what is behind this, and make them pay." Because she was so fixated on rescuing the hostages, she failed to notice the rising tone of anger in her final statement.

At last, Spider Mare reached the vent that was just outside the vault. Carefully, she removed the vent cover, and dropped down. Unfortunately, The Scorpion was already there, waiting for her.

"Well, well, it's the itsy bitsy spider," The Scorpion teased, before she noticed the new suit Spider Mare had. "That's a nice new suit you got there, too bad it ain't gonna look new for long, because I'm gonna dirty it up real good!" The Scorpion proceeded to shoot off a burst of acid from her tail, which Spider Mare easily dodged.

"Same old Scorpion with the same old tricks," Spider Mare taunted. "You make this too easy. I guess all that time in prison didn't help you learn that you can't beat me!"

"Shut up, rancid wall crawler!" The Scorpion hissed, swinging her tail around in an attempt to hit Spider Mare.

"Too slow, Scorpion!" Spider Mare taunted, as she easily jumped over the tail and delivered a punch to The Scorpion's chest. 

The Scorpion was more than a little surprised when that one punch was enough to bring her to her knees. "How can this be?" she muttered to herself. "You were never this strong before."

"Must be because I've been working out." Spider Mare guessed, as she quickly shot a stream of webbing at The Scorpion's tail. In her mind, she was thinking. "Maybe this suit does more than just give me a new look. If it does, I think I'm gonna keep it, it should be just the thing for putting the smack down on criminal scum."

But at that moment, as Spider Mare webbed up The Scorpion, an angry voice bellowed out. "You dunderhead! How hard is it to defeat Spider Mare when you have the element of surprise?!"

"Sorry, boss, she's more powerful than I thought she'd be." The Scorpion apologized.

"Well, it doesn't matter! I will not allow Spider Mare to ruin my plans!" the angry voice replied. "Mane-iac, start the timer on the bomb, and 'take care' of the hostages. Make sure that wretched web spinner doesn't interfere!"

"Yes sir, boss! I won't let you down!" The Mane-iac said with a fiendish chuckle, as she went over to the bomb and turned it on.



 

Spider Mare became frantic upon hearing that statement, time was of the essence. Anger coursing through her veins, she picked up the webbed up Scorpion and angrily asked her. "How do I get inside that vault?!"

"The heck if I know! My boss is the one who opened it, I only know how to shut it!" The Scorpion replied. "And I sure as hay ain't gonna tell you the code!"

"If I don't get inside that vault, that bomb will go off and dozens of innocent ponies will die!" Spider Mare hissed.

"Worth it to see you fail!" The Scorpion chuckled. "And don't think you can trick me into thinking I'll be one of those ponies, that bomb doesn't have enough firepower to take out the whole bank, just the vault."

Realizing that she needed a different approach to make The Scorpion talk, Spider Mare quickly pressed The Scorpion up against the wall of the vault. "Tell me how to open that vault, or I'll turn you over to the royal guard! They won't be as kind to you as I've been!"

"You think your threats scare me?" The Scorpion asked. "I ain't afraid of you!"

Furiously, Spider Mare clenched one of her front hooves into a fist, and threw it at the wall just to the left of where The Scorpion was standing. "This is your last warning!" she told The Scorpion. "Unless you want to feel another one of my suped up punches, tell me what I want to know!"

"O-okay, okay! I'll talk, just don't hurt me!" The Scorpion pleaded. "The code is 960572!"

"It better be, for your sake!" Spider Mare growled, as she quickly set The Scorpion on the ground, went over to the panel, and input the code. The vault door slid open, and Spider Mare quickly rushed inside!





"You're too late, Spider Mare!" The Mane-iac taunted. "The bomb will go off in less than five minutes! I was just about to start taking out the trash!"

"No you won't!" Spider Mare vowed, quickly leaping between The Mane-iac and the hostage she was going to attack. Spider Mare just barely got the mane tentacle before it would've struck the hostage.

"Arrgh! You stubborn fool! I've had enough of your interference!" The Mane-iac said angrily, as she swung more of her mane tentacles towards Spider Mare. Spider Mare barely managed to catch them as well.

"This isn't the time for us to be fighting, Mane-iac!" Spider Mare pleaded. "If I don't defuse that bomb, we'll both be caught in the blast!"

"That's what you think! I've got a friend who can get me out at the last minute!" The Mane-iac chuckled. "So I'll make a great escape, while you get blown to pieces!"

"You're more of a fool than I thought if you believe that!" Spider Mare replied, as she tied the mane tentacles together. "And it looks like you still have the same weakness! Except this time, you don't have a protective barrier to keep me out!"

"But how did you-That's impossible! My mane is far more powerful than any ordinary mane, you shouldn't be able to tie it up at all!" The Mane-iac exclaimed, as she was forced to her knees.

"When will scum like you ever learn? Crime doesn't pay!" Spider Mare scolded, as she raced over to the bomb.

"Boss, a little help here, please?" The Mane-iac pleaded. "Spider Mare's going to defuse the bomb, I think it's we cut our losses and high tailed it out of here!"

"Actually, I'm afraid you and The Scorpion won't be going anywhere anytime soon, and neither will Spider Mare," an angry voice said ominously. "I gave you both simple instructions to follow, yet somehow you two managed to blow it! So I will be cutting MY losses, while the two of you suffer the same fate as the web slinger you've twice failed to defeat!"

Spider Mare was just about to deactivate the bomb, when a powerful blast of electricity knocked her away from the panel. "What's going on?!" she asked outloud.

"Consider that a taste of what I can do, Spider Mare," the angry voice replied. "I've taken remote control of the bomb, and I don't think I like you messing with it. Hope you've said your prayers."