"Drake let me explain…." Pleaded Vance.

"Explain what? I saw you Vance! Your part of the reason we don't have a normal childhood, your part of the reason why our mother is a drug addict and doesn't give two shits about us!" Drake yelled in anger at his brother.

The older Carter looked around and saw that their argument was starting to draw unwanted attention to them. He reached over to grab Drake's arm but Drake quickly pulled away.

"Don't touch me! Tell me V…. what did you buy me with the money? Was it the phone? How about the iPod?" Snapped Drake.

When Vance didn't reply, he realized his answer. Drake pulled the two items out of his pocket and threw them at Vance. Drake glared at his brother. He was so filled with anger and confusion. He didn't understand how his brother could get into drugs. 'How could he do this to us? After everything we have gone through! Mom, dad, me...how?' Thought Drake. He looked around and saw people were starting to watch them. He looked behind and saw his two best friends looking at him with concern. He turned his attention back to his brother, looked down and said,

"Just stay away from me because as far as I'm concerned…. I have no brother." he shook his head, glanced up at Vance and then started walking away.

Vance stood there watching his brother walk away. Maria ran past him trying to catch up with Drake. The older Carter didn't know what to do. Everything was happening so fast. He ignored the looks he was getting from everyone who had stopped when they heard the yelling. He made his way to his truck, climbed in and drove off down the street.

All he could think of was how he had to end this. He couldn't get Drake's look out of his head. He never wanted to see Drake look at him like that again. 'What the hell was I thinking?' All I wanted was a better life for us.' Vance thought, smacking his hand on the steering wheel. He was barely paying attention to the road. 'How am I going to get out of this?' He contemplated. How was he going to quit the Vibes. The only way he had ever heard that anyone ever left was in a body bag. Vance hoped that he could talk Steven into letting him leave peacefully. After all he had always done what Steven had asked of him. He always did whatever Steven had wanted. 'Just stay away from me because as far as I'm concerned…. I have no brother' those words Drake yelled at him, killed Vance to hear. Vance hit the gas and weaved in and out of the lanes ignoring the honks and angry shouts from the drivers he had cut off.

Vance came to a stop in front of an old laundromat. The paint on the sign was peeling and the light over the entrance was out. Hardly anyone used it anymore. Only four washing machines worked and one dryer. He quickly killed the engine. Gripped the steering with a vice like grip and put his head down on his hands. 'I have to do this. It has to work. Please. Please let this work.' Vance lifted his head. Took a deep breath and opened the glove compartment. He pulled out a piece of paper. It was a photo of him and his family. A moment in time caught years ago when everything was as it should be. When they were a real family, happy, drug free, laughing, loving, living life. He folded the photo and put it in his front pocket and opened the truck door. The sound of it shutting echoed in the stillness of the area around him. He made his way down the alleyway to the right of the laundromat. He pulled his hood up over his head and kept walking. He stopped when he thought he had heard something from behind him. When he turned to look, there was nothing there. 'It's just your nerves.' He told himself. He continued on his way towards the brick building in front of him. He stopped at a red metal door and knocked three times. He stepped back as the door was opened abruptly. A large bald man with a scar running down the right side of his face poked his head out, ready to roar at whoever was knocking. When he saw Vance standing there, his face changed and without a sound he moved aside allowing Vance to enter. He led Vance down a hall past closed numerous doors before coming to a stop in front of a black wooden door at the end of the hallway. The large man knocked once and then opened it as he motioned Vance to enter the room before him. There wasn't much to the room, except for a few of Steven's guys and their girls lounging on the worn furniture that lined the walls of the room. The man Vance came to see was sitting in a large over stuffed chair that swiveled around as Vance approached the oversized antique maple desk.

"All-star! What brings you here at this hour? Shouldn't you be on a football field or doing your homework?" Steven asked smirking, with a cigar sticking out of his mouth.

His comments elicited chuckles from his members watching the two. Vance stared at him. The man, Steven, was a skinny, power hungry low life. He had a greased faded haircut and emerald green eyes that people swear can suck your soul out of your body as he takes your last breath with his bare hands. Steven leaned back in his chair, knowing that he was about to hear something he wasn't going to like. Decades of surviving this kind of life had taught him to read a person's body language. Vance took a deep breath and pulled out a bandana from his back pocket. He laid it down carefully on the desk, as if it was going to break if he moved too fast. Vance let out the breath he had been holding then said,

"I'm...I'm out."

(!)

Drake didn't say anything as he and Maria walked together on the sidewalk. Maria reached her hand over and placed it on Drake's shoulder. Making him stop in his tracks, which woke him up from his thoughts.

"I mean, did I even react to the situation right? I mean I just blew up at him without letting him explain why he was dealing drugs in the first place?" Drake burst out.

Maria looked at him with wide eyes. She had no idea what had happened between Drake and his brother until Drake's blurt. She had only heard broken bits of yelling from Drake. This news left her of them not knowing what to say. Drake walked over to the nearest building and leaned up against the brick wall then slid down it until he was sitting on the ground. Maria walked over and sat next to Drake who had put his head in his hands.

"To be honest Drake…. I...I don't know what to say. I'm sorry." Maria replied putting her hand on Drake's shoulder. "I think you should talk to him." Maria said. "Everyone deserves to give their side of the story, even if you might not like what they have say." She finished.

Drake lifted his head and looked at his friend Then said, "Thanks."

Drake knew Maria was right. How many times did Vance let him give his side of the story when Drake did something stupid? After everything, he felt he owed to at least listen to what Vance had to say. He gave a half smile to Maria, and they both got up and started walking again not really knowing where they were going, until they reached a small coffee shop.

"Come on, my treat!" Maria said cheerfully, hoping to lighten up her friend's mood, a little.

The two entered the coffee shop and each ordered two hot chocolate. "Man I hate November, it's windier, colder, and almost Christmas time when everyone goes insane!" Drake said as they took a seat at a nearby table.

"What? Are you kidding me? Haven't you ever been shopping on Black Friday?" Maria gasped, looking completely serious and shocked.

"It's so insane! The stores and malls get extra police for security, people get up in the middle of the night to get in long lines and shop at all hours. Sometimes they turn crazy and cause total chaos fighting over socks and stuff. My dad got a large flat screen HD T.V. for only a few hundred dollars! He saved hundreds!" She exclaimed excitedly before taking a sip of her hot chocolate.

Drake stared at Maria as she rambled on about the upcoming holiday. As he sat listening to her talk about the holidays, he realized that this is the first year he would have a real Thanksgiving and Christmas. Drake's thoughts drifted to comparing holidays from the past to what he envisioned for this year. 'Finally, a real home cooked holiday meal. Not scrounging the moldy left-overs mom puts in the fridge because all the years of drugs eating away at her insides has left her with not much of an appetite anymore. Christmas, the time of colored lights, colorful decorations, and pretty packages wrapped up for someone special. No more empty beer cans left all over the house and mom laughing at him saying his gift is a roof over him. No more cigarette butts all over the floor because mom can't walk a straight line to the trash without dropping everything she's holding. Maybe I'll actually get a gift this year. A carefully wrapped gift, thoughtful gift, just for me.' Drake mused. His thoughts brought a smile to his face. 'This year will be different.'

"Drake, are you okay?" Maria asked seeing the smile on his face.

Drake turned and looked at her. He said, "I'm good Maria, I'm good."

Just as those words left his lips, he started to feel dizzy again so he shot up and ran into the bathroom. He went into the closest stall and once again started throwing up.

When it was finally over, he made his way to the sink and turned the faucet on, cupping some water in his hands he splashed his face. Drake looked at himself in the mirror, 'what the hell is wrong with me?' he thought to himself. He stared at his reflection. Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, 'the spider bite…. that spider that bit me…at Alchemax, the AlphaX thing!…. Oh god am I going to die?' He frantically thought.

Drake left the bathroom and made his way back to the table.

"I'm fine…. must've ate something bad." he said as he sat down seeing the looks of concern on his friend's face. He goes to grab his drink when suddenly his hand shoots out catching something right in front of Maria's face. They leaned in closer to see that Drake had caught a fly with his bare hand. When he realized what he had done, he quickly released it allowing it to fly away.

(!)

Doctor Victoria made her way down the narrow hallway as fast as she could, she turned the corner sharply hanging on to the wall for balance. 'Damn heels.' She thought. What she had just learned was not good, not good at all. They had just found the remains of their AlphaX spider on the lab floor.

"Move it!" she shouted as she weaved in and out of some employees walking in the opposite direction.

Doctor Tori came to a stop outside a frosted glass security door. She quickly composed herself then knocked on the door before using her security pass to open the door. Sitting at the sleek black onyx desk was her boss and mentor William Granger. She always had thought that he looked like the actor Jason Isaac.

"Sir we have a problem, it seems that during the tour today, the one with students from Midtown High…. Sir one of the students was bitten by AlphaX." she said as she showed him the security footage of the incident on the screen of her tablet.

It showed the back of a student but no spider. The student never turned around in the direction of the camera and the hood on the hoodie they were wearing, covered even more of their identity.

"I've searched the other security feeds but there's no shot of the student's face." she said before turning the tablet off.

She placed the vial containing the remains of the dead spider on his desk. Granger leaned forward and picked up the vial.

"Where we able to find any DNA?" he inquired without looking up.

"No." She responded right away not wanting him to yell at her. 'He's going to be so furious that there's a student out there with the AlphaX in their bloodstream. The potential lawsuit that could come, the press, the...'

Granger placed the vial back down, looked up at her and said, "We need to find this kid… and when we do then…. think of what this means! The experiments we could do! What this could mean for scientific research!"

His excitement grew in his voice as he said each word. Tori looked at Granger in shock. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was talking about human experiments, and on a child! Granger had grabbed the vial off the desk again. His eyes were wide with excitement as he thought of all the potential this could mean for him and the company. He looked up from the vial and noticed that Tori was still standing there.

"What are you still doing here, go find the boy!" He yelled.

She jumped at the sound of his voice. She had never actually heard him yell before, only heard from others that he does and nobody comes away the same. Then ran out of the room leaving the man alone. Tori made her way down the hallway going straight to her office. She slammed and the locked her office door shut behind her. She didn't want anyone walking in on her. She made her way over to her desk and picked up the phone. Quickly dialing a number she had memorized a thousand times over in case of something like this. She sat down in her chair. Anxiously tapping her fingers on the desk as the phone continued to ring. Finally, she heard someone pick up on the other end. In a Russian accent, she said,

"Get me the director now!"

(!)

"Oh come on! Iron Woman [1] and Captain America [2] are kickass superheroes!" Maria declared as the two were walking back down the street towards her house. "I mean it's nice to finally see a female superheroes kicking ass and taking names!" she added.

Drake let out a huff and retorted,

"No offense, but since Iron Woman and The Avengers are too busy saving the world, we need a hero who will stand up for little people like us."

Maria looked at him shocked. She couldn't believe he was so cavalier about The Avengers and the good they were doing for the world.

He listened as Maria started heatedly listing off all the great things that not only Iron Woman had been doing since emerging into the world, but all the good The Avengers had been collectively. He hadn't really been listening to her anyway. He was far to busy looking at his hands. He peered closer and noticed that little tiny hairs had grown on his fingers. He glanced up when they had reached Maria's house.

"See you Monday Maria." Drake said, he watched as she walked over to the front door then went inside.

As soon as Drake knew the front door he reached over to pull the sleeve of his hoodie down but when he went to remove it he came to find that he couldn't. He pulled at it again but it wouldn't budge so he pulled a little harder and ended up pulling the whole sleeve off. He stood there in shock at what had just happened. 'How could this have happened….' He thought to himself then it hit him. 'If… if I was bit by that AlphaX Spider that Doctor Victoria was talking about, now what?'

Drake started freaking out that very moment, he had to tell someone but then he realized that if he did that then they would probably call him a freak. Call the men in white coats and come and take me away.

(!)

"You wanna run that by me again boy?" Steven said coming around the desk to stand right in front of Vance, anger was raging in his eyes.

Vance took a deep breath, speaking slowly and carefully, "I'm out...I'm done. I can't do this anymore. I need to look after my kid brother he's all I got."

Steven didn't say anything. He looked down at the floor for a moment then said, "There's only one way out of this family."

The men in the room slowly got to their feet. Seeing this, Vance checked his surroundings trying to take in what each one of Steven's guys were doing and or holding in their hands. However, before he could even move he was struck from behind by the man with the scar going down his face. His body went limp from the intense pain and he fell to the floor. Though conscience, the pain was overwhelming and he couldn't get back up. Then each man in the room proceeded to kick him. Not one of them took mercy with their continued wallops. One kick caught Vance in the face busting his lip wide open and breaking his nose. He couldn't help but let out a wail from the ferocity of the pain. Multiple kicks broke five of his ribs. Vance tried to go into fetal position to attempt to protect as much of his body as possible. For what seemed like hours of hell, Steven delivered a few more kicks to Vance's broken body and stood up straight making his way back around the desk. He grabbed a cloth and turned back towards Vance who was coughing up blood, still lying on the floor withering in ferocious pain. Steven crouches down next to Vance's head so Vance could hear him. Then he reached over and shifted Vance's head so that he faced him.

"I took care of you like you were family. You told me that night you came to me that you needed to take of your brother, that you would do anything I needed from you in order to take care of him." Steven growled with venom.

Vance looked at him with the one eye that hadn't been kicked and swollen shut.

"Nothing to say All-star?" Steven asked oozing sarcasm. Steven punched Vance in the face knocking him out cold. Then he wiped Vance's blood off his shoes, stood up and said matter-of-factually,

"Time for All-star to take his nap."

So Iron Woman and Captain America are other heroes in this Universe. I know for sure I'm going to have Iron Woman appear in the story towards maybe the end while Cap will only be named dropped once more that's about it as she... Yes I said she doesn't play any real part in this story.

Anyways hoped you liked the chapter and I'll see ya next Tuesday.