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The Scarlet Spider
Chapter 3: The New Spider
Though most paid their respects to a fallen hero there were some who paid no respect what so ever. That included the Kingpin who took this chance to upstart his business. Without Spider-man crime only went up, corruption amongst the police increased and Kingpin gained more resources. Though Spider-man was gone there were still those who opposed Wilson Fisk in both the vigilante world and criminal world. Daredevil still defended Hells Kitchen, Moon Knight would appear every now and then, beating up thugs who would break into stores. In the criminal underworld gang bosses began declaring a war on the Kingpin, this of course meant more cops and detectives being bought and more DA's being assassinated by the many mercenaries and super humans that the gangs would hire. S.H.I.E.L.D. could do nothing because Fisk was good at covering his tracks and they had bigger issues to solve. The Ultimate's didn't get involved for similar reasons. It was midnight and at the moment a group of petty burglars were breaking into a department store. As they began loading the money into a suitcase a man watched them from the distance, dialling the number for the police station on his phone. He was Phil Urich, a young reporter who was just starting out and the cousin of a certain almost award winning journalist. Phil was about to speak into the phone until a voice behind him caused him to freeze.
"You'd better put the phone down and forget what you've seen" Phil heard a clicking sound and felt the cold barrel of a gun press against the back of his head.
He tried to react but couldn't, he was just too frozen with fear.
"You've got three seconds…1…2…!"
Suddenly a web was shot from the shadows. The burglar looked in shock at the web on his gun. With one tug the man hiding in the shadows pulled the gun towards him. A few seconds passed and a plastic ball that was once the gun rolled across the floor.
"You've got to be fucking me!" The burglar said.
Phil turned around and dropped his jaw in utter awe. A man wearing a similar costume to Spider-man's jumped out of the shadows. On his chest he wore a light blue top which had its sleeves ripped off and the image of a black spider on its chest and back. He wore a red suit which unlike Spider-man's costume didn't have any webbing patterns on it and the eye lenses were much bigger and didn't have black lines drawn over them, he also wore four bands made up of metal capsules worn around his wrists and heels, on his waist he wore some kind of utility belt.
"Spider-man!" Phil whispered.
"No…cal me the Scarlet Spider!"
The Scarlet Spider jumped off of the wall, landing in front of the burglar. Before he could pull out his knife the masked man kneed him in the stomach. He fell to the floor, unconscious from the sheer force of the punch. Phil forgot about calling the police and instead switched on the camera on his phone. The Scarlet Spider moved at incredible speeds, appearing only as a blur in the eyes of the camera. He punched, kicked and even head butted some of the crooks, throwing one out of the window of the shop then pulling him back in with a web line. Phil moved closer to the fight in order to get a better image. He saw a group of the burglars all huddled together, tied up by the masked mans webbing. Phil moved in just a little bit closer so the camera could get a better look at this new Spider-man. But the camera only recorded a red blur jumping past Urich and swinging away into the night. Phil reached into his pocket and called the police for a pick up, then he got to work on the article that would put him on the map.
'The nights still young' Scarlet Spider thought as he swung around the city.
Even children woke up to look out of their windows at this new hero. Scarlet Spider landed on a warehouse at the docks, through countless undercover work and eavesdropping he had discovered that there was an arms deal going on. He looked at the thugs, a part of the Skull gang. Scarlet Spider counted at least twenty thugs all armed with types of automatic rifles. And another imposing figure caught his eye, a guy who had a comparable build to Captain America, he wore mostly street style clothes and a black mask, he had a symbol of two crossed bones on his black shirt.
'What kind of nut goes out in a costume like that…oh wait stupid thing to think' Scarlet Spider chuckled.
He was about to leapt into action, until his spider sense blared. A rocket was fired from one of the warehouse windows and blew up the explosives and weapons that the thugs were loading up. Scarlet Spider's eyes widened in shock at the burned and charred bodies as well as those that were dying. He turned his eyes to the building and saw a very familiar man dressed in black with a skull on his shirt. From Peter's memories Scarlet Spider identified him as Frank Castle, the one who had killed Jeanne De Wolfe and many more criminals and corrupt cops. He squeezed his fists together at the very thought of killing. Ignoring Crossbones, who was running away Scarlet Spider leapt at the window. He crashed through the window, tackling a shocked Punisher to the ground. Castle tried taking out a pistol to shoot the new Spider-man. But Scarlet Spider fired some kind of web ball from the device on his wrist. The "impact" webs as he called them slammed into Castle, knocking him to the ground, then Scarlet Spider proceeded to web Frank up in a cocoon but left his face exposed.
"They're criminals!" Punisher said.
"But your killing them, find a better way Castle!" Scarlet Spider growled before he jumped out of the warehouse.
This new Crossbones character got away but Scarlet Spider did something better than pursue him, he instead grabbed the only survivor of the blast, a critically injured man and swung him to hospital, ignoring his curses and cries which would have made even a sailor gasp in shock. Scarlet Spider ignored the many looks he had been given when he ran into the hospital. He put him on the nearest stretcher and yelled at the nurses to get him to an emergency room. The receptionist didn't even have time to call security as Scarlet Spider ran out of the hospital.
The Kingpin tapped his cane against the floor of his office, impatient as Mr Rose gave him the report on all the operations that had been stopped by either Dare devil or Moon Knight.
"The Museum raid for the tablet of time, the hit on the Kangaroos, the attempted hit on Leland Owlsley and the meeting between our Yancy street contacts" Mr Rose listed.
"Their little rebellion wont last long, its only a matter of time before the head of the DA and the commissioner give in to my threats, and soon Landon will have finished his little super soldier project and we will have a force capable of stopping S.H.I.E.L.D. if they ever turn their attention to us" Fisk explained and relaxed in his chair "Soon I'll have enough authority and resources in New York to take on the government itself"
Fisk looked at Mr Rose who had a look of complete shock on his face. He turned around and his expression mirrored Mr Rose's. Outside, stuck to the wall was the Scarlet Spider. He spoke no words and took no action but it was a clear sign for the Kingpin that there was someone else who would oppose him.
The next day at the Ultimate's new mansion the team addressed the rumoured sightings of this Scarlet Spider. They moved onto a close up picture a photographer had taken of the clone in the hospital.
"Captain, should we not begin a search of the city?" Black Panther asked.
"He's right, I've just been waiting to pay him back for my nose" Quicksilver said.
"Oh poor Pietro's wounded pride, still I do agree we can't just sit back" Wanda said, rubbing her brothers nose.
Captain America shuddered at the twin's incestuous relationship. Wasp flew into the room and grew into her full size.
"I just got off the phone to Fury, he's mobilising that team he's created to capture the target" She said.
"It doesn't sit right by me just standing back as the governments lackeys strap a man to the chair" Thor said, gripping his hammer tightly.
"Your attitude is charming baby but the clone did kill Spider-man" Valkyrie added her two cents in while Hawkeye and Iron man stayed silent.
"Either way if things get out of hand we'll intervene" Captain America said and his fellow Ultimate's nodded their heads in agreement.
At the Baxter building the Fantastic Four watched the news report seeing the blurred and perfect photo that had been taken of the Scarlet Spider. Upon seeing the clone Johnny eyes flared in anger, while Ben merely commented on the costume.
"Wow, surprisingly it seems original, I was expecting the web patterns, and who knew Pete had so much muscle on him" He said.
Sue and Reed slapped their foreheads at Ben's idiocy before Johnny threw a fireball at the teams muscle.
"Johnny wait, we're military personnel now we can't interfere when Fury's already made a team to stop him" Sue pleaded with her brother who merely ignored her as he walked to the hanger.
The Human Torch flew out of the Baxter building, while he was angry he wasn't stupid enough to go on a rampage for revenge but he needed to clear his head a little.
Elsewhere Mary Jane and May had met one another for coffee. Mary's eyes were diverted to the screen in the corner of the coffee shop, lately all the news channels were showing amateur videos of the new Spider-man.
"No he called himself the Scarlet Spider" Phil Urich said on the television, being interviewed by a Daily Bugle reporter for being the first person to see the Scarlet Spider in action.
"So are you saying you condone what he did?" The reporter asked.
"Of course not, what he did was a crime that many years ago would automatically earn you the death penalty, but I don't see a murderer I see a man whose doing what he can for redemption, carrying on the work of Peter Parker while also honouring his memory by not stealing his name or costume" Phil explained.
Mary-Jane lowered her head while May merely huffed in anger.
"How dare he!" The older woman growled.
"He can try all he wants I will never forgive him" Mary-Jane whimpered with tears in her eyes.
May patted the girl on the back before a woman behind her screamed. Mary-Jane turned around and came face to face with the barrel of a gun. It was just some punk yelling about how Peter had put his brother away. She didn't care how but she just wanted to be with Peter. Closing her eyes, Mary-Jane waited for the bang but all she heard was a sound she never expected to her again.
THWIP!
The mans revolver was yanked into a red gloved hand. Opening her eyes, Mary Jane looked at the Scarlet Spider. No one spoke a word as he quickly beat the thug up and webbed him to the floor. Before anyone could react Scarlet Spider ran out of the coffee house. The coffee house owner had already been on the phone by the time the Scarlet Spider swung off.
Elsewhere in an abandoned warehouse Logan sat in the dark, listening to the police radios. He got up off his chair and looked to the fur corner of the warehouse as the room was lit up. Scott Summers had tried to disband the X-men but they were still around, Iceman wore a blue and black Hawaiian shirt with a long coat that had x's on the shoulders while his girlfriend Rogue wore a black body suit with green gloves and a shirt. Nightcrawler joined the group wearing just a pair of torn Jeans, by his side was Storm wearing a tight black shirt that left her midriff exposed and her shoulders free. The final member Shadowcat wore a costume similar to the one she wore when she fought crime with Peter but it was now black and gold and her mask left her mouth exposed.
"Ok X-men, its time we put this murderer down for good" Logan growled
S.H.I.E.L.D. may have assembled its own team but some, particularly Kitty wanted the Scarlet Spider to face justice their own way.
Next Chapter 4: The New X-men
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