Disclaimer: I own nothing; if you're here, you know the drill
Feedback: Always appreciated
AN: No plans to make this a longer storyline, but after the recent revelation of the Jackal's identity in 'Clone Conspiracy' #3, I wanted to write down what I hope will happen before the next issue comes out and we hopefully learn more about what 'Ben Reilly' REALLY is…
AN 2: In advance, I'm assuming that all that was erased by Peter's deal with Mephisto in One More Day was his actual marriage to Mary Jane, but they remained in a relationship until Peter erased all memory of his identity after the Civil War
Dead No More?
"It's the brown hair, right?" the man who had been wearing the Jackal mask said, smiling nonchalantly despite the fact that he and Peter had been fighting before he took that mask off. "I let my roots grow out."
"You're dead!" Peter said, refusing to accept the idea that the man he'd considered a brother could be behind something this dangerous. "You dissolved!"
"I told you," Ben said solemnly, "the New U process is more advanced than cloning. It can restore anyone, with all their memories intact. I remember burning away in your arms."
Peter wasn't sure if that was proof of this man's identity or further proof that it wasn't Ben; would his 'brother' really bring up something that painful just to prove a point?
"If I can come back from that…" Ben continued, looking encouragingly at Peter, "imagine the possibilities. With your help… with Parker Industries' resources, we could go worldwide. You never want anyone to die. I'm offering you someone even better; everyone gets to live."
Everyone gets to live…
It was a good dream, but Peter had seen enough of the world to know that things couldn't be that easy; saving lives was one thing, but even with everything he was trying to achieve now, restoring lives felt too much like playing God…
"Anyone we've ever lost," Ben said firmly. "No matter how long ago. No one is off-limits, even him."
Him? Peter thought, looking uncertainly at the coffin. Could he mean…?
"The man in here is my gift to you," Ben said, his hand on the coffin. "Join me, and together we'll bring back Uncle Ben."
Bring back Uncle Ben…
That loss had been his defining motivation for everything he'd done ever since he could remember…
But would it even be right?
As much as he wished his uncle was back, Ben Parker had been dead for so long by now that it would basically be impossible for him to get his life back; bringing him back to life would make Peter feel better, but would it be right?
Even if he didn't have Gwen and Kaine's warnings about what had happened in the worlds where he accepted the Jackal's offer to consider, he had to think about everything that had happened to him since he became Spider-Man.
As much as he wanted to believe that something purely good was happening to him at last, he'd experienced too many good moments turn bad to accept something this big this easily, and that was before he thought about what other heroes had been through. He lost Gwen just as things were finally getting back to a good place between them, Betty Banner seemingly died of cancer just as the Hulk's reputation was officially good, Johnny learned that he'd married a Skrull at the same time she revealed that she was pregnant, the Scarlet Witch went insane just as the Avengers were being publically lauded for leading the world after that mess with the In-Betweener, Jean Grey returned shortly before Cyclops had to send his son into the future to save him from that screwy techno-virus…
Even if this was Ben, he had to be sure that this was the one occasion where everything went well before he agreed to do anything.
"What was the last thing you said to me?"
"What?"
"When you were dying," Peter said, staring firmly at the man who claimed to be his lost clone and brother. "If you really remember… that… what was the last thing you said to me?"
"I… told you that you were Spider-Man now," Ben said, looking uncertainly at his 'template' for a moment before he became more assertive. "That was it; I told you that you officially had the webs back, and then…"
"And that's it?" Peter asked, after all Ben gave him was an uncomfortable shrug.
"Well, OK, maybe I'm not remembering the specific words, but I was dying at the time and it was years ago; you can't expect me to get it word-for-word, right?" Ben smiled disarmingly at him. "I got the specifics right; that's enough isn't it?"
"It is," Peter said, clenching his fists as he glared at the man before him with new resolve. "It's enough to know that you're not Ben."
"What?" Ben looked at him in surprise. "Pete, just because I forgot the specifics-"
"You 'forgot' that Ben asked me to take care of his niece?" Peter said, making it clear that he wasn't accepting this story any more. "I'm expected to buy that? I should believe that Ben Reilly would forget wishing that he had a chance to know the niece he's never going to meet? I should just blindly accept a plan that involves bringing my enemies back to life just because a guy who looks like me claims he's my long-dead brother?"
"I am Ben Rei-"
"No," Peter said firmly. "At best, you're another clone of me who thinks he's Ben and really believes what you're saying to me, and if that's the case I'm sorry you got created into this mess… but at worst, you're another sick player in Warren's latest game to win me over by basically turning everyone into junkies just to stay alive, and I'm not going to just take it any more!"
For a moment as he stared at the man with his face, Peter hoped that the man would stand back and admit that the first option he'd voiced was the correct one, but then his expression hardened and Peter knew that he wasn't up against a patsy.
"So much for the hope that you'd take the easy option," 'Ben' said, as he shifted into a combat stance.
"And that's more proof that you aren't Ben," Peter said, following his new foe's example. "He knew that we never take the easy option."
He didn't know who was really behind all this, but right now, after the emotional chaos of seeing so many lost foes and allies returned and working with one of his most twisted foes, he was glad that everything had been reduced to something he could hit…