Dansen Macabre

Dansen Macabre: One of the spectators studies the battle with rapt interest...

Hmm! Interesting... A New York superhero-- Spider-Man, I believe-- And he took action against Tatterdemalion in the pitch darkness... Either he can see in the dark or he has special senses! If the latter is true-- he may be the agent I seek! I must study him further! If he's everything I suspect he is, Spider-Man will be a perfect weapon in my secret war! And body and soul, he shall belong to me!

Unnoticed in the general evacuation, the enigmatic woman slips out a side door. END_OF_DIALOG

Spider-Man: Wait a minute! That manhole cover is a little off! Sure, Tatterdemalion escaped via the sewer system! That'd be his style! Leaving the cover off the manhole isn't his style, though! It smells of a trap, but trap or not, here I come! Dansen Macabre: Good! He took the bait! It was I who opened the manhole for him to discover! I will watch as he fights the Tatterdemalion! If he wins, he will remove for me a potential enemy-- and I will know he is the man I want...

Silently, the woman follows Spider-Man into the sewers... Unaware that she is being watched in turn... END_OF_DIALOG

Spider-Man: Hmm? I thought I heard something! Werewolf by Night: "Just one thing worries me... Someone outfitted Tatterdemalion! He couldn't have done it by himself! Who helped him, and why?" Spider-Man: "Shhh! What was that?" Werewolf by Night: "What? I didn't--" Spider-Man: "Look! There's a woman!" Werewolf by Night: "What are you talking about? There's nobody there! I think you're suffering from combat fatigue!" Spider-Man: "You... Didn't see her?" Werewolf by Night: "Something I've been meaning to ask you... What are you doing in this neck of the woods anyway? It's not exactly your city... Spider-Man? He's gone!" Spider-Man: Sorry I ducked out on the werewolf so quickly... But something's wrong here! That woman is no illusion, so why wasn't she visible to Jack Russell?

Boy, she's light on her feet! I'm moving at a good clip, and I can barely keep up with her! Wait! She's going into that apartment building!

It occurs to me-- she probably could have lost me in the streets! Didn't she know I was behind her-- or was she trying to lure me here? What for? Holy--! Dansen Macabre: "Welcome to my home, Spider-Man! I am Dansen... Dansen Macabre. Forgive me my methods of getting you here, but I wanted to speak with you... alone." Spider-Man: "Well, you've got me, lady-- and you've got about thirty seconds to prove to me this isn't a trick! I don't like it that I'm the only one who can see you..." Dansen Macabre: "No tricks, Spider-Man... I have few talents, but I can prevent people from perceiving my existence-- unless I wish otherwise... But enough of that! I wish to enlist your aid against a fiend that threatens this whole city! He calls himself the Shroud-- and he is using his strange powers, given to him by the chaos-worshipping Cult of Kali, to supplant the criminal element in Los Angeles... until he alone rules here... In his devotion to Kali, the goddess of death, the Shroud wears her mark on his clothes and on his person-- thus he may be recognized! Under the Shroud, criminals will spread the worship of Kali! I have been charged by my sect to stop him, though I am but a lowly dancer... Do you like my dancing, Spider-Man? Spider-Man? Yes, you like my dancing... Do not be ashamed, Spider-Man. No mortal can resist the hypnotic effects of the dance of Shiva-- he whose breath made the world... He whose hand shall destroy it! Tonight, when I saw you, I knew that you had the power to defeat the Shroud. I must have your help, Spider-Man-- and you will aid me!" Spider-Man: "Y-yes... I... will... aid... you..." Dansen Macabre: "Bring the Shroud to me! I have a means by which his power may be crushed... Forever! Now go! You will find him at his headquarters-- the jazz club that you visited earlier this evening! Be careful-- for he is a cunning and treacherous foe!" Spider-Man: "Not to worry, lady! See you in a while!" With that, Spider-Man's memories drift... Dansen Macabre: "My lord Shiva! Soon your will can be done... Your foe stretched helplessly across your altar! In that hour, the blasphemer-- and the infidel, Spider-Man-- will die!" END_OF_DIALOG

Spider-Man: "Hooray! Daddy's home!" Dansen Macabre: "Spider-Man! But... You're back so soon... I thought..." Spider-Man: "Your boyfriend didn't put up much of a fight lady-- once I figured out what he could do." Dansen Macabre: "Hmm... Perhaps you're more powerful than I thought. No matter! The time has come to put an end to the Shroud!" Spider-Man: "What-- What do you mean?" Dansen Macabre: "I mean that, in gaining his powers from the priests of the Cult of Kali, the Shroud transgressed against the lord Shiva-- and he must pay the price!" Spider-Man: "That knife! You're going to--! No! I won't let you!" Dansen Macabre: "You can't stop me! My hypnotic control over your mind has loosened-- but your body is still at my command! Stand where you are, immobile... Until it is your turn!"

"And now... The lord Shiva will taste your blood, Shroud, and--! What?! You blundering idiot! This isn't the Shroud!" Shroud: "He's only a decoy, priestess-- to make you drop your defenses and allow me to enter your lair unnoticed!" Dansen Macabre: "The Shroud! How--?! My existence should have been unknown to you!" Shroud: "My senses are not like those of other men-- nor are they so easily deceived! I knew you from the second you stepped into the jazz club!" Dansen Macabre: "Then you should know that the absolute darkness you bring means nothing to me, heretic!" Shroud: Incredible! Somehow she can still see me-- and she seems to think I'm in the service of Kali! Whatever she believes, she's coming dangerously close with that dagger! My veil of darkness doesn't faze her... So I'll change tactics... Dispel all of the darkness! The sudden burst of light will blind her... and the shock should break her hypnotic control over Spider-Man! Dansen Macabre: "My eyes!"