Hey, bros and bras, wassup?!
I have decided to return to the roots of all my fandom. Here, at long last, is a straight, no crossover tale of the one, the only, the Amazing Spider-Man! This story will be AU, with several different takes on some landmark stories Marvel has told that I believe could have been handled better, up to and including The Return of Norman Osborne, the Death of Ben Reilly, Civil War Aftermath, One More Day, Brand New Day, Grim Hunt, Scarlet Spider II, and Amazing Spider-Man #700. I really think these could be so much better than they actually are(i.e., no OMD). So here is the prologue!
Enyoi yu meal.
Dramatis Personae
Peter Parker/Spider-Man
Mary Jane Parker
Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider
Kaine
May Parker
Cassandra Webb/Madame Web
Michael/Red One
Van/Red Two
Patrick/Red Three
James "Bucky" Barnes/Winter Soldier/Captain America
Mephisto
Norman Osborne/Scrier/Green Goblin
Otto Octavius/Dr. Octopus/Spider-Man
Stephen Strange/Dr. Strange
Avengers
X-Men
This timeline is somewhat distorted from the one you know. Instead of Norman Osborne returning when he did, and killing Ben Reilly, he has remained in the shadows. Peter Parker returned to being Spider-Man, and Ben returned to his former moniker of Scarlet Spider. Mary Jane is pregnant... very pregnant... with hers and Peter's first child.
And then the Civil War occurred. The superhero community was split in half. On the one side was Tony Stark, Iron Man, who pushed for superheroes to reveal their identity to put trust in the hearts of the general populace. On the other, Steve Rogers, Captain America, who felt it was unethical to force superhumans to act against their will. And like the War Between the States in the 1800's, brother fought brother. Peter Parker joined Tony Stark, and revealed his identity to the world. Ben Reilly decided against this, and went underground with Captain America.
Hero fought hero. Nothing was different for these two wall-crawlers. In the epic battle atop the wide expanse of New York's skyline, Spider-Man and Scarlet Spider battled far above where others could reach. In a moment both would regret, Scarlet Spider plummeted to his apparent death.
The act tore at Peter. He began to question his support of the Superhuman Registration Act. And then he discovered Stark's use of the Negative Zone as a jail for heroes, and fled, taking his family with him. Joining up with the Anti-Registration group, he discovered that Ben had survived the fall, if only barely. The brothers reconciled, and helped to bring an end to the war.
But now Peter has to live with the notoriety of being publicly identified as Spider-Man. And the world has just been rocked with the assassination of Captain America.
Meanwhile, the other clone of Peter Parker's, Kaine, has been the recipient of strange dreams...
Prologue
Kaine woke up, gasping for breath.
Cold sweat clung to him, making the sheets stick to his body. His chest rose and fell with each heave, and his scars stretched and receded.
He lay there for a few minutes, catching his breath. Finally, he calmed down, and reflected on what he had just seen.
Usually, when he slept, he was revisited of memories of his past. Murders, kidnappings, assassinations... all of the stuff nightmares were made of. When he was awake was when he received visions of the future.
But recently, intruding upon his dreams, was the scariest thing he could imagine.
He was always covered in blood, blood spilling from open wounds that showed through a costume he was wearing. He would stumble into a bathroom. He would pull of a mask...
And see Peter's face in the mirror. Not his own, not Ben's blonde hair... Peter's.
Or course, it could be Kaine's. Yes, minus the scars, and with his hair cut, it could very well be Kaine's. But there was no way. The scars would be with him forever. The pain would remind of that.
The oddest part was the costume. It was red, with black at the top, and a black mask with dark red eyes gleaming at the viewer. It was too dark for a costume worn by Peter.
It was too unsettling red... scarlet...
He got out of bed, walking slowly to the bathroom. He pushed open the door, flipping the switch that turned the light on.
The sudden light made him blink, and he winced. When his vision restored, he looked in the mirror.
Pale face... long hair... scruffy beard... web of scars...
Yep. All normal.
Kaine shook himself mentally. There was no way it could be his future. He was going to wind up dead in an alley or a gutter, and it would be because he finally met someone more powerful than he, or that he finally succumbed to his degeneration.
Which, as he had learned recently, was a lot closer than he thought.
He ran his hands through his hair, feeling the long strands pulling at his scars. He knew there was no way... no chance... no hope...
Kaine was dying. It was a long time dying, but it was finally at the penultimate stage. Only one thing remained unfinished.
Parker and Reilly.
The two of them had tried to reach out to Kaine. Both, apparently, had failed. But when Kaine saw on the news that actress Mary Jane Watson was pregnant and would be retiring from the soap opera she had starred in. And then he knew.
She wasn't the only one who would retire.
For some reason, Kaine felt the need to return to New York, to make a final pilgrimage to the place of his birth.
It would be fitting... as the Parkers brought new life into the world, a Parker would loose his life.
Don't think that. You're not a Parker. You never were.
And then it hit him.
The world was spinning. He was looking through the scope of a rifle. He knew it wasn't really him, Kaine, but that he was seeing the future through someone else's eyes.
The scope was focused on a table, where sat a group of people. Two women, two men. One of the women was old, and very kindly looking. The other was drop-dead gorgeous, with a prominent belly that showed life existed inside. The two men were almost identical but for their hair, with one being dyed blond.
The sniper trained on the one with the brown hair, but the blond man stood up. Sensing an easier target, Kaine turned the scope on him.
As his finger squeezed the trigger, the old lady stood up. Her chest exploded in a red mist, blood which splattered onto the blond man. The smile he had vanished in horror.
Aunt May...
Kaine returned to himself.
Unlike before, he wasn't cold and sweaty, and he wasn't panicking. He felt like ice inside, a quiet rage building.
Someone was going to assassinate Aunt May. All the more reason to return. Because he was the only one who could prevent it.