Along Came A Spider
Along Came A Spider
Gwen shut the door to her and Peter's apartment. Her father's police protection had escorted her from the ESU Lab after questioning her. She had been the one to find the body. Seeing Professor Warren spread eagle on the floor of the lab that had been home to so many of her cherished memories; seeing his blood splattered over the various equipment…she didn't know how messy it could be. But that wasn't the worst of it. No, the one thing she would never be able to unsee was the mark on Warren's face. It was as if someone had taken their hand, placed it on Warren's face, then tore his skin away.
When the police arrived at the scene of the crime after she dialed 9-1-1, her dad had tried to get her to talk to the psychiatrist on hand, but Gwen refused. There was only one person she wanted to talk to about this.
"Howdy!"
"H-hi Ben," Gwen said into her phone. Her shaky legs gave out under her and she flopped onto her bed. Gwen reached over and clutched her pillow to her chest.
"What happened?" Ben asked instantly, his voice alert.
"It's Professor Warren," Gwen said in a hushed voice, "he's been killed."
"What? How? Who did it? Are you okay? Do I need to come back? I'm coming back!"
The rapid-fire nature of Ben's questions nearly overwhelmed Gwen. "We don't know yet. I-I'm fine, and—"
A muffled shout broke through Gwen's words, along with a muffled bang!
Gwen paused for a second. Did she hear… "Are you fighting right now?"
Silence, followed by a few more muffled bangs and the telltale thwip of a web shooter.
"Ben!"
"No, I'm not fighting right now," he said, with a little too much innocence.
"Don't answer me when I call unless you are swinging or out of the suit!" Gwen scolded. "Please tell me you put your phone on vibrate!"
"Uh.."
"Ben!" Gwen cried out, exasperated. "You need to stop giving the bad guys a way to know you're there!"
"I know, but you should see their faces when they realize they got their butts kicked by a guy with 'I Want It That Way' as his ringtone!" Ben said, laughing. "It's so worth it!"
Gwen tried to fight the smile playing at her lips, but it was a losing battle. She could just imagine his mischievous grin hidden by his scarlet mask, and it helped. "If you really want to deliver more psychological damage, why not make your ringtone the Barbie theme song?"
"Well, I don't wanna give your dad more of a reason to arrest me," Ben said. "Isn't that kind of psychological warfare like a war crime or something?"
Gwen giggled, and for a moment, the visage of Professor Warren's bloodied and torn face left her mind.
"I can be back in New York in a few days," Ben said. "Fewer if I go full burn."
"Ben; stop trying to talk like Wash from Firefly," she said, smiling, "and you don't need to come back."
For a moment, all Gwen heard was the static of the phone call, until—
"Why?" he asked, and Gwen could tell he wasn't just talking about her latter statement.
"Because that show is never coming back, and we don't need you here right now," Gwen said. She wasn't going to let him get sidetracked in the middle of his own journey.
"Wow, I feel so loved," Ben drawled.
"You know what I meant," Gwen said. "This city has more than enough heroes to take care of crime, and you don't owe Warren anything!"
The static burned on the other end of the phone again, and Gwen held her breath. This was the part of the conversation she had been dreading.
"Warren may have created me, but he's not the person who gives me life," Ben said, his voice deadly serious. Hearing Ben talk like that sent a shiver down Gwen's spine. "He's not the reason I would come back."
Gwen felt her cheeks flood with warmth. "I know, Ben," she said. "And I appreciate the thought, but I'm not the one who would need you right now."
"Oh?"
"Peter and MJ broke up."
"What!?"
Gwen then regaled the whole story of Peter and MJ's break up to Ben, doing the best she could to tell him both sides of the story. Though, that was admittedly difficult as Peter had barely told her anything in the two weeks that he and MJ were in limbo. All she could do was tell Ben why MJ felt like it was time to break up.
"She thinks she's a burden on his life?" Ben asked.
"I guess," Gwen said. "To be honest, Peter wasn't really handling things the best either. I swear, if they just talked to each other and told each other about what was bothering them, they could've avoided all this! But no, they insist on being two stubborn people that think the other is better off without them!"
"…you don't think you're a burden on my life, do you?" Ben asked, his voice quiet and small.
"Never," she answered instantly. "And if you don't want me to think that you will stay in Chicago."
"Oh, that's just not fair!" Ben blurted out.
Gwen couldn't help the smug smirk that played on her lips. "Not supposed to be!"
"You're infuriating, you know that right?" Ben asked, with simultaneous notes of exasperation and fondness in his voice.
"I'm aware."
"Keep me posted, will you? On everything?"
"Of course," she said. "And Ben?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks," Gwen said. And she meant it. Ben always had a way of getting her out of her own head; to get her to stop hyper fixating and forget about the pressures of her life for a second. Even if they weren't together.
"Anytime, Gwendy," Ben said.
Gwen rolled her eyes. She could just picture his smirk as he said that nickname. The one time Peter called her that as kids, she had axed it immediately. But of course, Ben started calling her that when he found that particular memory in his travels. She swears he only does it to get a rise out of her, and every time—even though she swears she wouldn't—she rises to it.
"Don't call me that!" Gwen said.
"Sure thing, Gwendy," Ben replied.
Gwen curled up in her bed and watched the cars of New York City drive on into the night. The image of Professor Warren's mangled face was just a fleeting thought as Ben's cheerful voice lulled her to sleep.
Across the city, above the skylight of the ESU laboratory stood Spider-Man and the Black Cat. They watched as a parade of cops marched through the crime scene, taking note of every minute little detail in the lab. But Spidey didn't care about any of that. No, his lenses were focused solely on Professor Warren's body.
Blood covered the professor's body. His arms were pressed out, almost as if he had been begging. But his face…Spidey had never seen anything like it. It was as if someone had taken their hand and used it to rip the flesh from Warren's skull.
"I don't get it," Spidey said.
"Why not? I mean, this guy did give off hardcore mad scientist vibes," Felicia said. "Makes sense that one day he'd make something that would kill him."
"This wasn't the work of a science project gone mad," Spidey said. He leaned closer to the skylight. "This was something different. Something smart."
Captain Stacy walked into the lab.
"Come on," Spidey said. He and Felicia dropped through the skylight and landed in front of the Captain.
"Spider-Man," Captain Stacy said, without looking up from his crime scene.
"Hiya Captain, I heard through the web that someone died in this lab?" Spidey asked. Even though Peter and Spider-Man knew the Connors, only Peter knew Warren.
"Professor Miles Warren," Captain Stacy said, nodding. "My daughter, Gwen, found him. Apparently, she was coming in to burn the midnight oil."
"Is she alright?" Spidey blurted. Captain Stacy regarded him and Felicia snickered behind him. Spidey pointed at Warren's body. "I mean, look at him! That would even scare the Hulk back into Banner form!"
"I sent her back to her apartment with a security detail. We don't know if this was an isolated attack, or if she and Peter Parker are in danger too. Until we know for certain, I'm giving her round-the-clock police protection." Captain Stacy said, casting Spidey a long look.
Spidey's eyes bugged behind his lenses. That was gonna make returning home annoying.
"Is that a handprint on his face?" Felicia asked.
Captain Stacy motioned for them to follow him. The three hovered over Warren.
"Looks like an Uruk-Hai got way too into branding," Spidey remarked.
"The question remains as to who our White Wizard is," Captain Stacy said. He looked at Spidey. "You know of anyone in your sphere capable of tearing a man's face off?"
Spidey shook his head. "The only guys I know that could deal any kind of damage similar to this aren't in town. Not to mention they would've been a lot more destructive."
"Spider, give me your hand."
Spidey and Captain Stacy looked at Felicia. She squinted at Warren's ripped face like he was a safe that needed to be cracked. Spidey looked at Captain Stacy, who nodded. The young hero extended his hand to her.
Felicia grabbed hold, then yanked him forward so that he now had a fistful of Warren's hair. "Focus on sticking to his hair, and pull as hard as you can."
Spidey paled under his mask. He had an idea of where Felicia was headed with this. Focusing on staying sticky, Spidey ripped his hand out of Warren's hair. A handful of hair followed suit, and Spidey gagged.
"So, you think someone with sticky powers did this to the professor's face?" Captain Stacy said, rubbing his chin. "But what's the motive? Warren is just a scientist at a college."
"Not necessarily sticky powers. We could be dealing with super strength, heat-based powers, or an angry telekinetic. Best guess is that he pissed off the wrong super," Spidey said, shaking the hair off of his hand. He then walked over to Felicia and wrapped an arm around her waist. "We'll check the streets. See if anyone has heard anything about a new nut job in town."
Spider-Man crouched down to jump and Captain Stacy cleared his throat. "There wouldn't happen to be another Spider-themed hero making their way back to town, would there?"
Spidey and Felicia shared a glance. "I haven't heard anything about him coming back, Captain, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him swinging across town when word about this spreads. He and Warren had an…interesting relationship."
"Really?" Captain Stacy drawled, scratching his chin with his pen. "That I was unaware of."
Spidey cocked his head to the side. "Why else would he–"
"Spider, why don't we start looking around town?" Felicia blurted out. "See if anyone has seen anything. The first twenty-four hours are vital to these kinds of cases."
"Your friend isn't wrong," Captain Stacy said, turning his back on the two vigilantes. "Besides, I have a daughter who I should check on. I trust you to handle this Spider-Man."
With that, Captain Stacy walked away from Spidey and Felicia, and the two leaped out of the skylight and swung off into the city.
"So, who do you think did that?" Felicia whispered in Spidey's ear.
"I'm not sure," Spidey grunted. "None of my usual suspects have the capability or the motive."
"That you know of," Felicia pointed out.
"Well I'm sorry, I'm not allowed into the Bar With No Name!" Spidey said. "Last time I was there, Daredevil, Moon Knight, and I kinda broke it."
Spidey yanked them high into the sky then spun around to look Felicia in the face.
"You still have your old contacts, right?" he asked.
"My dear Spider, you wouldn't be suggesting that I still have my toes dipped into the criminal pond?" Felicia asked, placing her hand on her chest in mock offense. "I'll have you know that this cat has gone straight…ish."
"Do you think you could put any feelers out there?" Spidey said, ignoring her comment and shooting out another line of webbing to break their fall. "It would help as I should probably get back to Gwen."
"Why? Her dad said he's going to check on her."
"Yeah, but I promised Ben I'd look out for her," Peter said as he hurled them up to the rooftop of a building.
Felicia peeled away from Spidey and crouched over the ledge of the building. "You going to dial him up?"
Spidey sat down on the wall of the building and faced Felicia. "I don't know. Last time I talked to him he was really hitting his stride. He had a whole crew of friends in Chicago he was making memories with. He even sent copies of the pictures he took when he was in Florida. Apparently, he had a run-in with a scaly Doc Conners, but the Conners treated him differently enough while in the mask that he considers them a new memory. Apparently, Billy wants to be like him when he grows up."
"Well, that's adorable."
Peter huffed. "Sure, it's adorable on the outside. Billy used to want to be like me! Do you know how weird it is to be beaten by myself!?"
Felicia smirked. "I thought you and Scarlet were different people?"
"Don't make good points! I'm venting right now!" Spidey exclaimed. He leaned back so now he was sprawled along the wall of the building and looking at the city upside down.
Felicia planted her grappling hook on the edge of the roof and slid down until she was face to mask with Spidey. She gave him a coy smile. "Well, I can't say I want to be you when I grow up. But I can say something else," she said, lowering his mask.
Peter's exposed mouth quirked upward into a smile. "Oh yeah? You know, I always heard that actions speak louder than words."
"Consider this a shout, then."
As Felicia's hands wrapped around his head, Peter felt his mind start to clear for the first time since he and MJ parted ways. Ever since he watched her walk away from him in Central Park, his mind had been a whirlpool of angst and heartbreak. Not even swinging through the city, or taking it out on his favorite usual suspects could lift his spirits. But when Felicia arrived, it was as if someone plugged up the whirlpool. He felt like he was starting to heal.
However, despite his primal instinct telling him it was okay, a small part of him hated that he kissed her. Was he really that desperate for affection that he was willing to use Felicia like that? Was that fair to her?
Felicia's lips found his. Despite her outward appearance, she was light, soft, and gentle. She wasn't greedy or forceful. Like a well-trained thief, she knew when to press her luck, and when to walk away.
She pushed back away from Peter, and he forced himself to not follow her. She gazed at his mask. "What's wrong, Spider?" she asked.
Peter looked away from her. "Nothing, I…" Peter clenched his jaw and reminded himself that he wasn't a burden on Felicia's life. This was her life. "Actually, it's not nothing."
"So…" Felicia drawled, looking at him expectantly.
"I don't want to use you," Peter blurted out.
Felicia wrinkled her nose. "Use me?"
"Cat, I just broke up with a woman I love, and not even six hours later I kissed you!" Peter said, putting his face in his hands. "What does that say about me!?"
"It says you're single! What does it matter that we kissed after you and Red broke up?" she asked. "You aren't together anymore! You did nothing wrong!"
Peter sighed. He knew, in a technical way, she was right. But it still didn't feel right to , he liked Felicia, he trusted her to watch his back, but he didn't really trust himself to treat her right. Not after how he treated MJ. "I'm not ready for another relationship—"
"Fuck a relationship!"
Peter did a double take. "Y-you don't want…"
"Peter, do you really think I am the kind of girl you bring back to your Aunt's place for dinner?" Felicia asked, raising her eyebrow at him.
"Well not on the first date!" he said. "Besides, May would love you!"
Felicia gave him a rueful smile, remembering the first and last time she ever spoke to May Parker. "Look, I'm not the dating type. But I don't see why we can't have our fair share of fun. I mean, I know you are as into this as I am."
Peter frowned. "What makes you say that?"
Felicia's eyes slid up toward his crotch. "Call it an educated guess."
Peter's hands whipped to cover his crotch and Felicia giggled.
"Besides, you clearly need someone to knock some sense into you," Felicia said. She then extended her hand. "So, partners?"
Peter stared at her hand. Partners…that sounded nice. Kinda like how he and Ben operated. He wouldn't deny that he missed having his brother out on patrol with him, and Felicia always had a way of picking him up out of the dumps. The only difference (and one he knew deep down he was a fan of) was that they could have a different kind of fun.
Peter grasped Felicia's hand, smirked, and pulled her toward him. Their lips met, and this time, he didn't hold back. He had to accept that he and MJ were done and that he had to move on. If things were meant to be, Peter believed that they'd find each other again, just like Aunt May and Uncle Ben did. Until then, he may as well enjoy the ride.
"What do you say to getting you a good night's sleep?" Felicia asked when she finally surfaced for air.
Peter shook his head. "I won't get that until I check in on Gwen."
"Alright then," she said, readying her shot for her grappling hook. "I hope your bed is big enough for two."
"I know yours is," Peter said quickly, righting himself on the wall and lowering his mask. "And my room is a bit of a mess right now."
Felicia's eyes lingered on his mask for a moment, before she shrugged. "Why not."
Spidey let out a sigh of relief, then the two sprung off the wall and into the city!
Across town, on the roof of a seemingly defunct warehouse, a young man in a red and black suit was crouched over the edge. Blood dripped from his hand and onto the street below, but he didn't care. No, he was proud to wear the blood of Warren. The bastard deserved to die like that. He deserves to feel the pain he wrought through his experiments.
However, the young man wasn't done. Warren had done more than just experiment on human beings. No, Warren tortured the young man's fellow inmates. They may have been puddles of different colored goo to the average person, but to anyone with a brain, they were sentient. They felt pain and hope just like he did. And he would free them from their torment, just like he managed to free himself.