Chapter Seven: The Burning Flame of the Way of the Spider
The crickets sing in the starlit sky as all of Camp Hammond is in a deep slumber...well almost everyone. On the roof of the Alpha barracks, a figure is seen sitting alone staring into the distance.
'Man these past few weeks have been rough' Kyle thinks as he watches the shadows of the trees 'they've been on our asses this whole time...and for what?'
Kyle sighs as his breath is visible in the cold air which catches the young man off guard.
'Shit, I haven't felt this cold since...since...I don't know when.' Kyle thinks as he shoves his hands inside his pits to stay warm. 'They just had to take our powers away...'
Just as Kyle finishes his thought, a faint light catches his attention. Kyle looks up to see the morning sun rise over the trees and eliminate what is left of the stars and the darkness. The rays begin to hit Kyle as he closes his eyes and takes it in with a smile.
'Now that's more like it.'
As the light makes its way to the cabins Kyle sees another figure walking towards the Alpha barracks. Kyle recognizes the figure to be one of the counselors of the camp getting ready to wake everyone up.
'I guess I should get inside before they tear me a new one' Kyle thinks as he climbs down the side of the cabin 'Well they're lucky they took my powers away, if they hadn't I'd be out of here so fast.'
Kyle slips through a window he left opened and crawls into bed careful not to wake anyone up. The second he closes his eyes the front door is kicked open as the camp counselor barges in.
"Wake up sleeping beauties, there's a trail with your name on it" the counselor yells as he rips the blankets off of the campers "You've got 60 seconds to meet me outside or you'll be doing push ups till your arms fall off...now MOVE!"
The counselor walks back outside as the campers jump out of bed, fearing the consequence. They throw their pants and shoes on before lining up outside where the counselor is there to meet them.
"Ok ladies, this morning we're going to jog through the woods, there's a trail inside that treks around the forest before leading us back to the cabin." the counselor informs the group "So let's start, a light work out to start off the day. MOVE OUT!"
And with those words the counselor turned around and began to jog toward the forest. The campers looked at each other before sighing and jogging after him. The group entered the thick forest as the sun was still continuing to rise. Kyle keeps up with the rest of the barracks when he sees Elias ahead. He speeds up till they're side by side. "Hey Elias, what's up?" Kyle asks.
"Ehh same old same old." Elias answers with fatigue clear on his face "You seem pretty awake considering you were up before all of us."
This takes Kyle by surprise before he smiles. "I didn't know anyone else was awake."
"Yea, I haven't been able to sleep that well since we got here." Elias adds as the two round a corner continuing to follow the counselor and the rest of the barracks.
"I hear ya...by the way where's Ben?" Kyle asks looking around.
"I'm not too sure, but if I had to guess, he's bringing up the rear."
As Elias finishes his sentence the two look back and see Ben jogging in the back barely keeping up with everyone else. He's having a hard time as he looks exhausted. Elias and Kyle chuckle as they continue along the trail. After about 40 minutes the campers arrive back at their barracks where the counselor is waiting for them. When the campers see the counselor standing they stop a few feet in front. Some collapse onto the floor while others remain standing just hunched over trying to catch their breath.
"Alright ladies, good job today." The counselor says as he walks by everyone "Head over to the mess hall and get some breakfast, you'll need the nourishment for the rest of the day's training exercises."
The counselor continues, leaving the group behind as he heads back to the main offices. "Ready to get some food?" Elias asks as he wipes the sweat from his brow.
"Yea, let's go I'm starving" Kyle answers as they begin to walk up to Ben who is seen laid out on the ground. "Need help?"
"Just leave me here to die" Ben says not opening his eyes.
Elias and Kyle turn to each other before reaching down and helping Ben up on his feet. The three walk over to the mess hall where there are a lot of campers already sitting. Once the doors open the smell of food causes Ben to perk up and run away from Kyle and Elias and onto the line. "Whoa, guess he was hungry." Kyle says as the two of them follow.
The three teens wait on line till they receive their so-called breakfasts. Once the oatmeal, which can only be described as gray and lumpy slop, was plopped into their bowls the teens give a disgusted look. "Aaahhh...yea about that..." Kyle says "Who can eat this?"
"Come on guys let's find a seat so we can eat already." Ben says as he walks away from the line and into the middle of the mess hall in search for a table.
He surveys the area looking for empty seats when two arms flail in the air catching his attention.
"BEN! Over here!"
Ben squints his eyes to see Kimberly sitting alone at a table in the corner. Ben smiles as he turns to Kyle and Elias who are just now walking away from the line. "Hey, found some seats over there" Ben says as he points to the table before the three of them march over.
"Good morning fellas" Kimberly says as she smiles at the three guys who take a seat around her. "How is your day so far?"
"Better now that we're here." Kyle says as he looks at Kimberly with a smile
"Oh...kay..." Kimberly says confused when she turns to Ben who wasted no time in digging into his food. "Ben?"
"Can't talk now...eating." Ben replies in between chews.
"And you?" Kimberly asks in the direction of Elias.
"Nothing that I'm not use to." Elias states as puts his spoon inside the gray goop. "Since I have been training for this sort of stuff my entire life...and-."
'Man here we go again, Elias and another one of his 'I've been a soldier all my life' stories.' Kyle thinks to himself as he sighs 'Elias is a good kid, always wants to help the helpless, do the right thing...a real boy-scout.'
Kyle reluctantly takes a bite of his oatmeal as he looks over to Elias who is still talking.
'There is one other thing though. He would make a great leader on any te-...' Kyle pauses and smirks as he realizes the word that he was just about to say 'huh...team...what a joke concept.'
"Kyle?" Kimberly says confused at the amused expression on his face causing him to leap out of his thoughts and back into the conversation taking place at the table.
"Oh nothing nothing, I just thought of something funny that's all." Kyle replies with a grin
"Anyway, as I was saying-" Elias continues as Kimberly returns to listening to him.
'Ahhh Kimberly, she's strong, level headed with...' Kyle thinks as his eyes wander from Kimberly's eyes downward 'great endowments'
Kyle grins before a sharp pain is felt on his shin. His closes his eyes as he bites his lip from the pain. He opens one eye to see Kimberly crossing her arms with a pout on her face.
"What's wrong?" Elias asks
"Nothing, continue." Kim replies as her face turns a little red.
'Ok, note to self...be more discreet when looking down Kim's shirt' Kyle thinks while he recovers from the kick.
Ben quickly slips a small note to Kyle catching him off guard. Kyle slowly opens it and reads what's written
"Tried and failed my friend...there's a reason why they call her the ice queen."
Kyle chuckles at the note as Ben smirks.
'Then there's Ben, he's quickly becoming my best friend in this horrible place. He's light-hearted, compassionate and a great team player, Dammit there's that word again...every since I've arrived here I can't help but think about my home where Uncle Reed and Aunt Sue have been trying to force the concept of team down my throat since God knows how long.'
Kyle stares down at his food and begins swirling it with his spoon. 'What good is a team anyway? It's just a bunch of conflicting personalities that will more hurt the team and its mission then if they were each alone. It's one big melodrama that I don't want to be a part of.'
Kyle rises from his seat taking the others by surprise.
"Where you going?" Ben asks as he takes the last bite of his food.
"I just need some air I'll see you guys later." Kyle answers a little perturbed by his own thoughts. "Here Ben you can have this."
Kyle slides his bowl over to the teen who graciously accepts with a quick spoon full into his mouth. "Alright Kyle, talk to you later." Elias says as the three teens continue to converse.
Kyle walks away from the table and towards the exit when he stops himself and looks back at his three friends. He sees the three heroes laughing and talking when a vision of three of the four members of the Fantastic Four appear behind them. Reed Richards behind Elias, Sue Richards behind Kim and Ben Grimm behind Ben, but the Human Torch is missing from the group and before he walks out Kyle lays his eyes on the empty chair he left.
Later that night Ben sat up in his bed and pulled out a camera and pressed the record button on it,
"Dear Mom and dad, it's been a week since I last sent you tape recorded message and the camp hasn't really changed, except the training is a massive pain. Let me explain what mean and hopefully you'll finally do what I have been asking for weeks." Ben began as he leaned back and think in his bed.
Ben sat back up and looked into the camera and started to recall some of the events from the past few days. "Well let me start from the beginning I guess."
A few nights ago, Ben awoke up with a massive headache in the infirmary, from what he had considered another one of his "brilliant" plans to escape, from what he considered a hell hole.
"Damn Nazi breeding ground." Ben scratched his head and looked at the nurse that was helping him out
"Well what did you think was going to happen to you?" asked the nurse as she handed Ben an icepack
"It was an actual good idea, but who puts an electrified fence five feet underground, but I digress." Said Ben as he snatched the icepack from the nurse and place it on his head. "Am I free to go?"
"I would like to run some more test on you, before you leave."
"You would like to, but don't have it, if that is what I'm hearing from right." Ben smirked
"Well.." replied the nurse but before she could finish, Ben was out of the door and back to his barrack and in bed. The clock that hung above the door of the barrack showed that it was already four in the morning.
"Ugh, I have to grab some sleep, before out latest drill instructor comes in here and screams at us." Ben said as he climbed into his bed and wrapped the blanket around him.
Ben woke up a 5:30 in the morning as the drill instructor walked into the room and started to shout at the "students" of Camp Hammond. Ben, jumped out of the bed and turned to Kyle and Elias and said "Hey."
The two teens turned to their friend and said "Hey" as Kyle scratched the top of his head and Elias stood at attention.
"Quiet Parker!" shouted the drill instructor
Ben quickly jumped at attention and awaited the orders of the instructor. 'What a douche.' Thought Ben as he looked around the room.
"Well we will start our morning with a brisk jog, let's get going brats." Said the drill instructor as he lead the teens out of the barracks and out into the early morning air.
The day went on as usual, and as it continued the more annoyed Ben grew. "Parker, are paying attention to me?" The drill instructor asked as he jogged with the group of teens
"Not really could you repeat everything from good morning maggots." Ben responded with a smile
"Was that a joke, Parker?" The instructor asked and then blew his whistle. "Everyone stop!"
All the teens stopped and took the moment to relax and stand watching what may become a fight between the instructor and Ben. "I asked you a question boy, was that a joke?"
'Jerkzilla!' Thought Ben before answering "No sir a joke usually starts with knock-knock or what do you get when you cross a something with a something or simply Yo momma." Ben replied with a smile on his face as everyone in the group began to snicker.
"Oh you think you're funny, don't you boy?" The instructor asked Ben
"I think you're funny too sir, but looks aren't everything. I'm sure a nice woman would love a man who looks like the cross between Jay Leno and a silver back gorilla." Ben answered back making everyone else laugh
"Oh that's it, thanks to Parker, we're all going to do laps around camp." The instructor yelled as we began to run "Anything you like to say to that smart mouth?"
"Only one thing, when you run do you drag your knuckles like other apes or do you run like a normal person." Ben yelled back as the Instructor caught up to them
"Well now that has given the whole group another two hours of laps. Get running!"
Before Ben could open his mouth, Kyle ran next to him and punched him in the arm. "Keep your mouth shut bro."
After the two hours were over the Drill Instructor blew his whistle, "You maggots can have a break for breakfast I guess." Said the drill instructor as the teens all tried to catch their breaths.
'Another moment here and I'm going to lose my mind!' thought Ben as he walked into the cafeteria and there he saw them.
'The S.H.E.I.L.D Brats, I mean I like Tim he's a cool dude and he hates it here as much as I do, I think.' Thought Ben as he looked towards the table of Kimberly, Steve, Tim and Angela. 'They are just so, so, I don't know, prefect.
"Yo!" said Tim as he waved over to Ben.
Ben waved back as he finally got onto the line to grab some breakfast. Behind him he could feel someone standing there, Ben turned around to see Kimberly standing behind him. "Morning." Kim said as she grabbed a tray from the end of the counter.
"Hey." Ben replied 'How can she look this good this morning after all this training and jogging, doesn't even look like she broke a sweat.'
Kimberly was staring at Ben as he was lost in thought, As Angela walked up behind Kimberly and shouted out. "Morning training was intense."
"Hey Ang, Def was, Always a great way to start the morning." Said Kimberly
Ben continued to think 'Wow they are both cute, but they seem way too much into this Camp thing. Damn Kim, be yourself once and awhile. I know under that uniform has to be someone that wants to have fun, hopefully.'
"BEN!" shouted Kyle from the end of the line
Ben, shook his head, "Huh, what?"
"Move man, some of us are hungry!" shouted Kyle as he pointed that the line had moved ahead of him
"Oh damn!" Ben rushed down the line, embarrassed with himself a bit for letting his mind wander.
Back in the present, Ben looked at his camcorder and said, "That was just Monday morning. I mean it wasn't so bad but come on. Those S.H.E.I.L.D brats need to loosen up. Yes Kim and Angela are cute and Tim is pretty cool but they seem to be doing all of this because Tony. Even his bratty son gets on my nerves. I don't trust him he always sends my spider-sense into overdrive when talks to us."
Ben looks closer into the camera and whispers. "And where the hell does he go all the time, he always seems to disappear, something doesn't add up with him, but since Elias and Tyler trust him, I'll play the dumb jokester until I know more, but if he stabs us in the back, so help me."
Ben grips his fist tight as he fills up with anger, thinking and hoping that his family back home is really ok. Ben then takes a deep breath and then continues to record "I guess I feel this way since Tony never bothered to help our family after Dad went public and Aunt May got killed by that sniper."
Ben's eyes weld up with emotion as he continued his rant to his parents. "Sure he helped pay some of the bills, but did he try to relocate them from all the enemies that dad had made? No, he made you have to use an image inducer to hide in plain sight to survive. On top of that Mom had to use to get a nine to five job at a damn café to help support the family."
Ben stops for a second and looks down, realize that he just has been going off and letting his emotions spill all over the place. "I'm rambling again, I guess I should tell you guys about a good day I had here."
The other afternoon, some of the teens were split up for individual training sessions. Ben was brought into one of the training simulation buildings and stood with a few of the other students that had to share the session with him. Ben sighed and then turned to the doors as they swung open and in walked in was a man by the name MVP. Some of the students began to whisper as he entered the room and Ben began to think to himself. 'Man talk about all you can be, he's so white bread he makes Cap's old man look like hood.'
"Welcome boys and girls to what will be the best or worst moments of your lives. We are going to teach all of you how to fight, but not by using your powers, but by using your brain and your fist." Said MVP as he walked up and down the ranks of students that were before him
"Excuse me." Said one of the training heroes
"Yes."
"I heard that you're not the real MVP, I heard the first one got killed and then you replaced him."
"That is a disgusting rumor that needs to end. I will show you how original I am." MVP said as he pointed to the student. The other students formed a circle around both the people and looked on in shock how quickly MVP defeated the student.
'The rumor isn't fake, it's very much true the original MVP died and S.H.E.I.L.D, in their infinite wisdom, decide to clone the guy and when the clone wasn't enough they made two more of them. When they got wasted they made a clone from the clone's remaining parts and apparently programmed him to vomit pro-shield speeches.' Thought Ben as he watched another student enter the ring and fight MVP.
Ben was in so much pain he couldn't feel his eyelids, He marched out of the battle simulator as the other students clapped and MVP looked on with acceptance. After the fight, Ben was looking forward to lunch. "I don't care what kind of crud they are serving us today, after that fight this lunch break was well worth it."
Ben found his friends, sitting at the far end of the room and sat next to them with a tray of food. Tyler, Tim, and Elias were telling me about their day and I started to believe this place was more or less hell on earth.
Tim then said "This is just practice until I get into the air force, I mean if I don't get in whatever, but its free and honestly it's not that big of a deal."
Ben was about to make a comment, when Steve showed up and sat down started to chat with the group.
"So, how is everything guys?" Steve greeted
"I hate this place." Ben said as he glared towards Steve, his spider-sense going off.
"Second that, but I deal with it." Tim said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Meh." Elias said as he ate what we hoped was meatloaf
"So you think we're going to a great team after this?" Steve asked
"We're already a great team; this is just a waste of time." Ben answered
"Teamwork isn't a group of people running at the same target and hoping for the best." Steve explained
"I know that, Tyler, Elias and Me have been working together since we were younger." Ben responded eating the nasty thing he had eaten before.
Ben stormed out of the cafeteria and headed back to his room.
Back in the present Ben continued to record his message to his parents "Well not counting the fight between me and Steve I had an ok day, At least I got to beat one of the instructors here, but I still stick think this place is trying to break my spirit, I wanted to try and escape again, but I really couldn't feel my legs, so jumping over the fence and making a break for it was totally out of it." Ben snickers at the notion of trying to break out again
"So that's about it mom and dad, that was last couple of days. I miss you guys and I understand why you sent me here to train, I'm trying my best but I'm trying be just like you dad and Uncle Ben Riley, but I at least should try to be myself more. I'll see you when I get home, tell May I love her" Ben smiles into the camera and reaches to shut it off, but then pulls his hand back and grabs the camera tight.
"I will only ask this one more time GET ME THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" Ben yelled into the camcorder.
"Ben, shut the hell up! It's 2 o' clock in the morning and we have training in three hours and I would like not to be force into running two hours of freaking laps!" Tyler yelled as he throw a ball of fire at Ben, but he missed and melted the tape recorder.
"No! My only source of Freedom!" Ben whined
"Shut up!" Elias and Tyler yelled "And go to bed!"
"Damn it." Ben said as he dragged himself to bed and went to sleep dreaming about going home and getting the hell away from camp Hammond.