Distorted Reflections
Distorted Reflections
BOOM!
Green and orange fire chased Spidey and Felicia as the explosion forced them through the window of a warehouse! An inhuman scream echoed behind them as they plummeted toward the street below.
"Okay, Spidey, so that didn't go exactly like how you planned," he said. He shot out his wrist; however, instead of the familiar and confident THWIP of his web shooter, what came out was a wimpy puttering. "Okay, so it really didn't go as you planned."
Earlier
Spider-Man dropped down onto the balcony of Felicia Hardy's apartment with a satchel of webbing around his shoulder as the afternoon sun bore down on him. For the past few weeks, he had left his classes at ESU earlier than normal and sometimes just not even showing up at all. ESU's attendance policy stated that if he missed four classes in a row, he would be dropped from the class. For a guy with more responsibilities than the average student, Spidey felt that he could miss a few classes out of the week. He was smarter than most people, and he'd been used to making up his schoolwork on time since junior year of high school. His new schedule has only caused him to drop one class, and it was a decision he'd decided was for the best. Going cold turkey may be hard, but Spidey believed it was for the best. For both him and MJ.
The only downside to this was Gwen's disappointment. For the most part, he's managed to avoid her wrath by staying at Felicia's. Her bed was much more comfortable than his. Spidey just thanked his lucky web that when he did see Gwen, she had decided to spare him The Look.
Besides, he had other fish to fry. The uptick in sightings of this new Spider-Person had set him on his edge. He had scoured the city from edge to edge and turned up nothing. Occasionally his Spider-Sense had buzzed, but by the time he honed in on the signal, it was gone again. All he had left to go on was the webbing left behind and the stories running around the streets. Stories of a six-foot-tall hulking monstrosity with pinchers beating criminals within an inch of their life ran rampant across New York.
Of course, the Bugle didn't help things on that front. The Jolly One had even set up a hotline to call for sightings of the new Spider. Along with more than a few papers about how Spider-Man had once again shown his true colors for the city. Sparking yet another campaign against the Friendly Neighborhood Hero that even a few of his fellow heroes had believed.
Needless to say, Spidey was looking to turn this new black and red-suited Spider-Person black and blue.
"Hey there, Spider!" Felicia said as she stepped out onto the balcony. She was dressed in her trademark catsuit, ready for business. "Tonight's the night; you ready?"
"Always, Cat, you know me."
"Oh, that I do," she purred into his ear. Felicia stepped over the railing Spider-Man was crouched on, grabbed handfuls of his suit, and pulled him over the edge.
They plummeted to the busy streets below, staring at each other with challenging gazes. This game of chicken had been a habit they started to play with each other when going out on patrol. It honestly made the downtime between crimes much more enjoyable. Having a partner out there for him to bounce ideas off of and to just talk to helped. Helped him both get out of his own head and experiment with his powers in a way that he never considered before. A swinging make-out session was a new experience for Spidey.
THWIP!
But of course, Spidey always lost these games of chicken. As his webbing latched onto a building, he wrapped an arm around Felicia's waist. Gravity hit them as the webbing went taut, and Felicia wrapped her legs around his.
"Ha ha!" Felicia shouted, pumping her fist victoriously into the air.
"This isn't fair," Spidey complained as they reached the arc of their swing.
"I think somebody is just mad that their edge is duller than a kitchen knife," Felicia said in his ear before leaping off of his body and swinging ahead on her own grappling hook.
"I like to think I'm more like a cream cheese spreader," Spidey said, swinging after her. "I spread jokes and happiness, but I can cut if you aren't careful!"
Felicia laughed as she swung down to land on the caboose of the subway heading to Brooklyn. Spidey landed next to her and reached into his web satchel.
"I, uh, thought we could have a little impromptu lunch/evening brunch thing," he said, pulling out a pair of sandwiches. He offered one to Felicia. "My aunt kinda went overboard with supplying me with food for the week, so…"
Felicia took the sandwich and gave it a sniff. She cast Spidey a sideways glance. "Tuna," she said dryly, "well played, Spider."
Spidey shrugged and lifted up his mask to show the sky smirk on his face. He took a bite of his roast beef sandwich and looked at Manhattan through the wires of the Brooklyn Bridge. The late afternoon sun reflected off the skyscrapers, casting an orangish red glow across the island and into Brooklyn.
Spidey looked at that glow for a second, and his smirk was swallowed along with part of his sandwich. It looked just like her hair when the sun caught it—
"So, any new details on this hideout?" Spidey said. His words came out choppy and harsh.
Felicia eyed him carefully. "Nothing beyond a new pair of Hammerhead thugs every few hours," she said coolly.
Spider-Man looked up at Felicia, taking care to see as little of that orangish-red glow as possible. "Good, good," he said absently. He took another bite of his sandwich. It was getting quiet. Spidey hated quiet. It allowed him to think, which in some cases was helpful, but right now, it only served to let a certain fire-haired old flame come right back to the forefront of his— "Hey, how 'bout a real date?"
Felicia froze, her mouth open with the tuna sandwich inches away from it. "Tonight?"
"Well, no. I would've done more than leftover sandwiches, but how 'bout later this week?" Spidey asked, his voice slightly nervous at her lack of reaction. "You know, outside of the suits. Just a nice dinner—"
Felicia grimaced, but took a bite in an attempt to hide it.
"—with a skyline view of New York after a night of dynamic duoing!" Spidey's voice raised an octave as he continued rambling. "We could pick a fight with a new baddie then—"
"Spider!"
Spidey stopped and went cross-eyed as he tried to look at the finger Felicia placed on his lips.
"That sounds fun," she said, smiling at him. "I'm intrigued at what a date with New York's Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is like. Hope it lives up to the hype. After all, I know when a man is showing off."
Spidey chuckled, and he couldn't help but rise to the challenge she laid at his feet. "Have I ever not lived up to my reputation?"
"Well, you aren't a menace…"
"Ha ha."
The subway crossed the threshold of Brooklyn as the young superhero couple finished their dinner.
Kaine crouched like a Victorian gargoyle on the roof of a building in Brooklyn. His dark red and black suit allowed him to blend into the shadows. With only his scarlet eyes poking out.
His hands gripped the edge of the rooftop. The stone cracked under his grip as the anger of meeting roadblocks had delayed him for a week longer than it should have. After his first encounter with one of Hammerhead's goons that yielded less than stellar results, Kaine had resorted to hunting down more of the higher-ranking member's thanks to Blackie's information.
Unfortunately, by the time he even got close to the interrogation phase, Kaine would sense him. That goody-two-shoes in red and blue spandex. Kaine knew Spider-Man was looking for him. It was the only explanation for the frequency of his sense going off. Only he refused to be in the same block as the 'hero.'
A chunk of stone popped out from beneath his grip and fell to the street below as Kaine thought about Peter Parker. How both he and Ben, his brothers, had known about Warren's proclivities and did nothing about it! They just left him and his fellow lab rats there to be a subject of the pursuit of science.
A smile formed under Kaine's black mask as he looked at his right hand. When he closed his eyes, he could still see Warren's blood on his hand. He could still hear the agonizing screams that slowed to a quiet, blood-filled gurgle as he left his Mark on the old scientist. And now, he couldn't wait to hear that same scream from Hammerhead tonight. All he had to do was wait for the mob boss to arrive, and he could set his fellow lab rats free. He could kill two birds with one stone.
Kaine didn't know how long he sat perched on the roof, but it didn't matter as he watched a fancy black Rolls-Royce with gold trimming pull up to the warehouse.
"Finally," he muttered.
Kaine launched himself off of the roof. The stone he had cracked underhand shattered beneath his feet, and the rubble fell to the street below. Kaine aimed his wrist at the warehouse.
THWIP!
A strand of silver silk shot from his wrist and attached to the warehouse. Kaine yanked and flew toward the roof like a bullet. He landed by the skylight and watched as Hammerhead exited his car and adjusted his new white suit. Behind him stood two men carrying a large box with a tarp on it.
"Sir, you're here!" one of the guards said. He and his partner both snapped to their feet. Two handfuls of cards fluttered to the ground.
Hammerhead walked up to the two guards and regarded them silently for a moment. Then, he produced a roll of bills from his pocket and handed it to one of them. "Keep the good times rolling, eh boys?"
"Y-yes, sir," the guard said, breathing a sigh of relief and taking the money from Hammerhead. "Thank you.
Hammerhead nodded and walked past them. Kaine crawled over to the skylight. He watched Hammerhead cross the threshold of the warehouse and speak to some of the men inside.
Scattered across the warehouse stood six different lab stations and a wild assortment of boxes. Each had a container at the center, and five of those containers held the object of his desire. His fellow lab rats. Each was a different color; yellow, pink, grey, green, and orange.
This was it! All of them were nearly there! Only one was missing; the red one. As much as Kaine wanted to, he couldn't move in just yet. He couldn't afford to bungle this rescue mission. Blackie had told him that some big whig scientist was coming in to examine these symbiotes and to work with Hammerhead on a new batch of Enforcers.
Kaine grinned as a sense of satisfaction overcame him. Apparently, Warren had been Hammy's scientist. Yet another reason why he took pride in the blood on his hand.
The scientist in the warehouse looked up from the station with the grey symbiote. Hammerhead and the scientist met each other halfway, shook hands, then walked around the makeshift lab. The two men carrying a box followed Hammerhead, but the scientist whipped around and started barking at them.
Kaine flexed his wrist, and his stinger shot out of his wrist. He lightly stabbed it into the skylight and placed his left hand on the glass. He drew a circle around it and pulled the glass back.
"—if you so much as lower that case by a degree, I will use you as my next guinea pigs! In the center, now!"
The two men shimmied to the open lab station and set the box down. As soon as they did, the whole station shuddered slightly. The two men backed away quickly from the box.
"Alright, Drake, you better be close to a breakthrough," Hammerhead said, pointing a meaty, sausage-like finger into Drake's chest. "I've got a new Spider problem and the Devil cracking down on my case!"
"These are fascinating specimens," Drake said, "but I am not a miracle worker. Warren's research was primitive at best. He had barely scratched the surface of their potential before his…untimely demise."
Kaine smiled to himself. There was nothing untimely about Warren's death.
"Get to the good part, Doc," Hammerhead said.
"Warren did make one small leap for mankind. According to his research, the original specimen required its host to accept them in order to reach its full potential. But, from it, he managed to make 'offspring' from it. Offspring that is better in every way," Drake said as he walked over to the box. He pulled off the tarp on the box with a flourish and revealed the sixth symbiote. A jagged, blood-red mass of sinewy creepiness. "All we need is willing or unwilling subjects."
Kaine's eyes widened. Finally! They were all here! This was his moment—
A radio-wavelike sensation nearly knocked Kaine off balance. "No!" he growled. The glass circle in his hand shattered and cut through the fabric of his gloves and deep into his hand. Blood dripped from his fingers and through the hole in the window. Kaine looked behind him, and down the street, he could see two figures swinging toward him. "You won't get in my way this time, Parker!" Kaine reared back his fist and punched through the skylight!
Shards of glass rained down on Hammerhead and Drake. Kaine landed in the center of the lab stations. He had to move fast to set his brethren free. Hammerhead was recovering from the debris, and he heard the shouts of his donor getting louder.
THWIP!
Six strands of webbing latched onto the six different lab stations. Kaine leaped into the air and landed on the wall.
"No, don't!"
Kaine looked at the skylight to see Black Cat and Spider-Man drop through. Spider-Man's arm was outstretched, and a strand of webbing zipped toward him. Kaine said nothing. All he felt as he yanked as hard as he could was vindication!
Spidey watched with horror as the hulking mass of muscle in a red and black suit ripped open the Symbiote containers with six strands of webbing.
Jesus, how strong is this guy? Spidey thought. He can't be my clone. He's nearly twice my size!
The hulking Spider-Person dodged Spidey's strand of webbing. It latched onto the wall, and Spidey pulled. He rocketed toward the Spider-Person.
The Spider-Person launched off the wall and met Spidey mid-air! They collided, and the Spider-Person wrapped his limbs around Spidey like a spider trapping its prey.
"What've you done!?" Spidey shouted as he struggled against the hulking Spider. He shot another line of webbing, but it was to no avail. Spidey felt his back crash through a few boxes—spilling their contents—and then slam into the wall. The stone cracked behind him, and Spidey struggled again under the Spider's hold. "Who are you!" he spat out.
The Spider leaned in close to Spidey. "You ever hear the story of Cain and Abel?" he whispered.
Spidey froze. That voice…could it really be…was this Warren's last trick? "Look, Abel—"
"Ha ha ha!" the Spider's laugh was cold and harsh. His grip tightened on Spidey. "Oh, so you haven't."
Alarm bells went off in Spidey's head, and he saw on the Spider's mask that he sensed it too. The Spider pushed off the wall and dodged the claw strike from Felicia.
"Back off my Spider!" she shouted.
"Ever the hero, eh Adam?" the Spider shouted as he flipped backward. He landed on the wall opposite. "Guess that great power, great responsibility line is more of a do as I say, not as I do thing, huh?"
Felicia looked at Spidey, bewildered. "What is he talking about?"
Spidey shook his head. "I think I'm starting to understand why my enemies find me annoying," he said. Out of the corner of his eye, Spidey saw Hammerhead and some scientist run toward the exit, but at the same time, he watched six different colored symbiotes bolt across the floor like insects. If there were more of them, he couldn't let them get out. Not after what happened with Venom. He aimed his web shooters at the symbiotes, and that's when his alarm bells blared again!
As fast as he could, Spidey pushed Felicia out of the way and dove for the ground. Pain sprouted in his shoulder for only a second, and it was then replaced with a numbing feeling as his left arm went limp at his side. "Aargh! What the hell?"
He looked to see the Spider hanging off one of the railings, with blood dripping from the tip of a pointed stinger on his wrist.
"Well, this is just crap!" Spidey shouted, annoyed. He stood up, and his arm swayed at his side. "How does everyone else get the power upgrades, while I'm still three updates behind!"
"Be glad I'm sparing you of my mark," the Spider said. He raised his hand and flexed it.
"What's your deal, Stingy!" Spidey shouted.
"I'm just a man that's tired of cages!" the Spider said. Spidey flinched at the bitterness of his voice. "And I wasn't about to leave my fellow captives to live a life of servitude like you and my brother did!"
Spidey reeled back. "What the hell does Ben have to do with—"
"Spi-i-i-der-M-a-a-n," a voice hissed.
Spidey's eyes widened. That's not possible! We destroyed Venom! He whipped around, and in front of him stood a grey, sinewy, hulking mass. Its smile twisted up and curled over its narrow white slits where a human's eyes would be.
Spidey looked around; Hammerhead and the scientist were nowhere to be found, and there was one security guard. Not to mention the other symbiotes had disappeared too. Spidey raised his fist into a defensive stance, but his left arm refused to move.
Spidey tilted his head to the side and saw a flash of platinum disappear behind some of the boxes. His eyes glanced at the ground, and he saw another ghost from the past littering the floor. Ugh, typical Parker Luck. But he couldn't draw attention to them. Not when he knew Felicia had snagged a few. He had to trust whatever plan she had brewing, and stalling was something Spidey was good at.
"Look, buddy, I'm really not in the mood for this," Spidey said. "So how 'bout I just read you the riot act, you take a breather—"
"The Riot Act…" the Symbiote hissed. Its hand morphed into a spiked flail, and it fell to the ground with a thud. "We like that. Call us, Riot!"
"That mouth of yours ain't quite what it used to be," the Spider taunted. "I thought your fans expected a certain amount of quippage from you in every battle?"
"Alright, that's it! I'm getting a lawyer!" Spidey retorted. Come on, Cat. "Stealing my lines, and then mine and Daredevil's gimmick? You, sir, are in for quite the litigation case ahead of you!"
"We tire of your web of words!" Riot hissed. He flexed, and jagged, gray spikes shot out of his shoulders. Riot bared his fangs and crouched low to the ground.
"For once, I agree with the bad guy. Cat!" Spidey called out.
Alarm bells rang, and Spidey leaped backward. He watched as a familiar pumpkin sailed passed him. Its mouth was open, and lights danced along the circumference. A high-pitched beeping rapidly gained speed.
"That was your plan!?" Spidey said as he landed next to Felicia.
"Hey, we don't all have powers!" she retorted. "Web us up!"
Spidey spun in a circle and, with his good arm, enveloped himself and Felicia in a cocoon of webbing and–
BOOM!
Green and orange fire chased Spidey and Felicia as the explosion forced them through the warehouse window! Inside, Riot's piercing scream echoed over the explosion. Spidey could only assume that the fire was doing its work. He'd have to get back in there to get Hammerhead's goon. The symbiote would protect him mostly from the explosion, even if it was destroyed, but he wouldn't last much longer in there. Spidey had hoped that hi
"Okay, Spidey, so that didn't go exactly like how you planned," he said. He shot out his wrist; however, instead of the familiar and confident THWIP of his web shooter, what came out was a wimpy puttering. "Okay, so it really didn't go as you planned."
"I gotcha, Spider!" Felicia said. Spidey wrapped his arm around her waist as Felicia fired her grappling hook at a nearby roof. They felt the tug of gravity as the grapple found its mark, and they swung down into the semi-crowded street.
"Gargh!" Spidey clutched his head and fell into the sidewalk.
"Spider!"
Spidey tumbled through the crowd before he collided with a body and came to a halt. All the aches and bruises from the tumble felt like a light breeze compared to the migraine that assaulted him! The only times he'd felt something this intense…
"Are you kidding me? Another one?" Spidey groaned, looking up at the skies. He slammed his fist into the sidewalk, cracking it. "How many clones did you make, Warren?"
"Clones?" a voice groaned. Spidey looked down and found a dark-skinned kid dressed in a puffy jacket over a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top. Spidey stared at the kid, who stared back. Slowly, the kid's eyes changed from dazed and confused to wide with excitement. "S-Spider-Man!?"
Spidey stared at the kid and focused. The migraine disappeared, and his Spider-Sense retreated to be a low hum. It was then that Spidey could register the rest of his surroundings. He thanked his lucky stars when he saw that the warehouse was still in good(ish) condition and that the explosion hadn't sent too much debris into the streets. He and Felicia were going to have a conversation later about exit strategies.
"Ugh, my…my head!" the kid groaned.
Spidey looked down at him. The kid grabbed his head, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Spidey knew what the kid must be feeling, and as much as he wanted to deal with this, he had a more pressing matter. "Hey, kid, look at me!" Spidey snapped his fingers in front of the kid's face.
"Name's Miles," the kid groaned. He shook his head and opened his eyes. "Only Uncle Aaron calls me kid."
"Uncle Aaron?" Spidey said to himself. He didn't have another uncle, but then again, Ben had memories of Aunt May's sister being his mom. "Look, is there a place you can–"
"Oh, don't worry, Adam, Ben and I are your only flesh and blood. That one is a different case entirely," a voice said behind him. Spidey whipped around to see Kaine leaning casually on the side of a light post.
Felicia landed next to Spidey. She looked quizzically back at Miles and then to Spidey. Spidey gave her his best 'I'll tell you later' shrug and stood in front of Miles. He raised his good arm, then tried to lift his left. A slight tingling sensation ran through his left arm. It felt like his arm was asleep and slowly waking up. He'd be able to use both arms in a second, and then it would be an even(ish) fight. Just gotta keep talking. "How do you know him?"
Though it wasn't shown on his masked face, Spidey could see the grin on the Spider's face. "Oh, I couldn't care less who he is. I just wanted to keep you talking."
Spidey's lenses widened, and he looked to the burning warehouse to see the wall shake. The dull echo rang from each hit as the bricks inched further and further apart from each other.
"Get him out of here," Spidey whispered to Felicia.
"What?" she hissed.
"This guy wants me to stay until Riot breaks out. Get Miles and everyone else you can out of here," Spidey said, leaving no room for bargaining.
"What about you?" Felicia nudged his numb arm, sending another prickling sensation down it. "You're down an arm."
"I don't need to win. I just need to not lose for a bit."
"A bit?"
"Get ready to go on my signal," Spidey said. He looked back at the Spider and watched his posture; the Spider may have looked like all was well, and this was no sweat, but Spidey could see through that facade. He knew beneath the laid-back posture, and snarky words lay a predator waiting to strike. Spidey was outmatched for the moment, but he couldn't just do nothing. With one hand, he couldn't refill his web shooter, but he did know someone with fire powers. And all he needed was fifteen seconds. The Spider may be stronger than him, but strength means nothing if you don't have a chance to use it.
Spidey lunged forward, and the Spider bolted toward him, but this time, Spidey was too fast. He heard the Spider's stinger sink into the concrete behind him as he leaped across the street to another light post. "Whoa, somebody needs to shake the lead out!"
He jumped to another one as the Spider chased after him and fished into his suit pocket for his phone. "Call Flaming Idiot!" he said into his phone.
As the phone rang, alarm bells rang in his head, and Spidey flipped into the air to avoid several large globs of webbing aimed straight at his back. "Oh, so close!" Spidey yelled to the Spider as he flipped over him and landed on the building wall. "I don't think you grasped the concept. See, you want to hit me with the webs, not miss."
The Spider lunged for him again, and Spidey leaped up the wall as the Spider slammed his fist into the building. The Spider pulled his fist out of the wall and ripped out an even larger chunk to throw at Spidey!
"Oh, I get it. You're one of the silent, angry types. You know, you should really find a way to channel that anger. I hear the Hulk has some great tips for that!" Spidey leaped off the wall and into the street. Thank god Felicia had mostly cleared it. A brick flew from the left toward his head, and Spidey reached up with his left and caught it! "Oh, yes! Back in business!"
Using his powers, Spidey kept his phone stuck to his ear and began swapping out his empty web cartridge with a full one from his belt.
"What's up, Webs?
"Hey, Johnny!" Spidey exclaimed. "Listen, no time for talk, just get over to Brooklyn as fast as you can!"
"What? Whoa, slow down!" Johnny said. "What's happening?"
A strand of webbing latched onto Spidey's foot, and his eyes widened. The line went taut, and Spidey felt himself get flung through the air! "Can't answer that, getting my ass kicked. JUST GET TO BROOKLYN!" he shouted as he collided with a light post.
Stars floated around his vision as he looked up to see the Spider standing before him. A hand latched onto the front of his suit, and Spidey felt himself get lifted into the air until he was mask to mask with the Spider.
"You know, the story goes that Kaine killed his brother, not his father," Kaine said. His free hand hovered just over Spidey's mask, open and ready to be placed. "I think I'll stick to the story for now, but I think Riot wants to make his own story."
The warehouse wall came crumbling down, and from it, an inhuman scream rang out, "FREEDOM!"