Yeah, definitely more than three parts. Sorry, guys. Man, this is really long! And I apologize for completely forgetting the players of Grim Hunt. It's been a while since I read it.
Chapter IIX
Grim Hunt III
Peter looked around.
Ben was gone. So were Julia and Arana. The Kravens were a distant memory.
All that remained was Kaine, sunk to his knees, clutching his chest.
Peter was stunned by how much he looked like him, and now scarred his face could become. Blood was trickling from Kaine's nose and mouth.
"Kaine?" he said, standing up, stumbling a little. "What happened? Where'd everyone go?"
"Kravinoffs took them," Kaine said in clipped tones, clearly in a lot of pain. "The girl, Arachne, and Reilly. It happened... right after this... hit me."
"Are you okay?" Peter asked, walking over to him. "What's hurt?" Kaine gave a short bark of laughter that was cut short by coughing.
"Everything," he responded. "I'm dying Pete... matter of fact, I'll be dead in... maybe thirty minutes, maybe an hour. I certainly won't see tomorrow morning."
"Oh, Kaine," Peter breathed, feeling pity for his damaged clone. "Isn't there anything I can do? Some cure?"
"Nothing I haven't already tried," Kaine answered. "But there is something you can do."
He grabbed Peter's costume, pulling him closer.
"Run. Just run."
Peter pulled back, stunned.
"Run? From what?"
"The Hunters," Kaine told him. "They won't rest until you're dead. And you can't die. 'Cuz if you do, so does Aunt May."
"What?" Peter asked, shocked. Kaine had a coughing fit, which briefly interrupted his explanation.
"I saw... a vision... where someone killed Aunt May. Sniped her. You were in the vision, and so was Ben."
"Yes? And?" Peter interrupted, desperately wanting more information.
"Well, way I see it, with Ben out of the picture, that changes things. And if you leave now, you can protect her. 'Cause you know I don't give a damn which way you or Reilly turn up, dead or alive. But... I'm still Parker enough... to care for the old woman."
He finished, breathing heavily. Peter regarded him for a long moment.
"You coward."
Kaine held his breath. He looked up into the whites of Peter's mask.
"Maybe so," he muttered, but Peter grabbed the collar of his blood-stained coat.
"No, listen!" he yelled. "I know you've had a crappy life. I get that! But all you can care about is whether Aunt May dies or not? We have bigger things to worry about! There are maybe six lives at stake, and you want me to drop it all and run?"
"They aren't family," Kaine said, but Peter laughed.
"They may as well be!" he answered. "Ben definitely is! Julia just as well! And I'll be damned before I let an innocent girl be brutalized by the freakin' Kravens while I did nothing!"
He stopped talking, staring into the brown eyes that he knew so well. He searched them, trying to find any trace of the soul that Uncle Ben had inspired.
He found nothing.
"Have fun dying, Kaine," he said, releasing him. "Maybe you'll have some peace."
Ben looked around him, seeing the dark, dank pit that he had been thrown into.
There was no one else, which gave him the first clue that something was amiss. The Kravinoffs had drugged him early on, and had taken him away from Arachne and Arana. He had no idea where they were. He had no idea where he was.
His spider sense was buzzing, but that was just telling him he was in constant danger. His spider sense had somehow been enhanced during this whole "Grim Hunt," giving him an extra edge, and animal edge.
Which is probably the reason why he was here now. Because Hunters hunt animals, don't they? And now they hunt Spiders.
Ben searched the room, looking for a way out. There was none. Surely there was a door somewhere, maybe?
Maybe not. There could be a trap door. Or a sliding wall that can only be opened on the outside.
He hit the wall, yelling in rage. There was nothing he could find, and he was beginning to panic. So many questions filled his mind, predominately was the concern for Peter and the rest.
Last he saw was Peter curled on the ground, and Kaine fighting off the rest of the Kravinoffs from his comatose body. Now he thought about Kaine. Why was he fighting so desperately to protect Peter and himself, when for so long he had done his utmost to kill them both and make their lives miserable.
His inner thoughts were disrupted by the wall opening, blinding him with the sudden light. As he held up his hand to protect his eyes, his arms were grabbed and he was forced roughly out, where he feared his fate awaited him.
Aloysha looked at the assembly.
On the one side was his family, a gathering of Hunters, fiends, and criminals. Sasha and Ana, those two obsessed with honor and the arcane. Vladimir, the poor beast, neither dead nor truly living. And some of his father's old comrades, Mysterio, master of illusion, and Chameleon, who was in fact Aloysha's uncle, Dmitri Kravinoff. He had just pulled of the mask of Ezekiel, the old man, revealing their charade.
On the other side he saw Scarlet Spider's shoulders visibly lower in reaction to Dmitri's revelation. Arachne did the same, and the girl, Arana's jaw dropped. The old woman, Madame Web, lay on the ground, unable to stand, tears staining the band around her sightless eyes.
"Well played, Chameleon," Mysterio complimented him, shaking his hand.
"Likewise, Mysterio," Chameleon responded. "It's good to work with you again, old friend."
"Now what?" Scarlet Spider demanded, shaking his bonds a little. "After all that, what's gonna happen? You're gonna kill us all, and for what? So you can avenge Kraven and his idiot son?" Vladimir growled a little. Sasha laughed.
"Fool," she responded. "This is Vladimir. And soon, Sergei will join us. We will kill the Spider, and when he dies, Kraven the Hunter will be reborn, pure, unlike poor Vladimir. We need the one true Spyder, you see."
Scarlet Spider strained against his bonds more.
"Then take me," he said. "Let me take his place. I was Spider-Man for a while, and... we're a lot more alike than you think. I can do it."
"I know exactly who you are, Benjamin Reilly," Sasha retorted. "You are the only perfect clone of Peter Parker. Unfortunately, you are just that. A clone. You have no soul. You can never take his place. You won't do."
He tried to leap at Sasha, but the bonds were too powerful. Even though his mask was on, Aloysha could feel the heat from his gaze as he stared at Sasha.
"Poor, wooden boy," Ana breathed. Aloysha was tempted to backhand her, to get her to show some respect. Because even though Scarlet Spider may be a clone, he was more of a real person than Sasha or Ana could ever hope to be. He wasn't consumed by his pride.
"Where did you say he was, Dmitri?" Sasha asked Chameleon. The man turned his white face toward her.
"A little ways in the woods behind us," he said. "We have time to kill."
"Not just time," Sasha said, advancing on the Spiders, raising her knife. "A few more of these scum, I think."
She was going for Arana, but Scarlet Spider stepped in front of the girl, his head raised defiantly.
"You wish to die first?" she taunted him.
"I'll die before I let you kill an innocent girl."
Sasha laughed, but raised the knife higher.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with knives?"
The voice. The voice of a man trying to make a situation better with jokes, when really, they're all that's keeping him from snapping.
A web-line grabbed the knife out of Sasha's hand, yanking her entire arm back. A red and blue blur shot through the air, pulling Sasha and Ana away from the Spiders.
"Oh, I forgot," Spider-Man said, punching Mysterio hard in the helmet, cracking it. "You were abused as a child, am I right? I'm right, aren't I? That would explain what you're doing to your daughter."
"Scum!" Ana screeched, trying to leap at him, but he merely punched her on the jaw, sending her flying.
"I've waited to do that for a while," he admitted. "Now, where's big and furry?"
Vladimir was already charging for him, but he had leapt easily out of the way. He landed on Vladimir's back, yanking on his fur.
"Ole!" he shouted, and Vladimir ran, taking Spider-Man with him. Aloysha almost pursued them, but then realized that Madame Web was missing gone.
In the graveyard of Kraven's mansion, an old woman lay on the ground, panting for breath.
In the ensuing fracas that had occurred, she had followed the psychic leadings to this place, unnoticed by anyone. This was the spot, over the grave of Kraven the Hunter.
She hoped against hope that he wouldn't appear, that the lion would lead him away from this spot. Then maybe, just maybe, he would live to escape, to regroup. Because if Spider-Man died tonight, and Kraven the Hunter returned, then the Web of Life would be torn asunder, and Madame Web wouldn't be able to see the future anymore. Mostly because there wouldn't be a future for them.
She heard it before she saw them. The sound of a roaring lion. The yelling of a possibly deranged superhero. It was almost too much for her to bear.
She had failed. Because Spider-Man was going to die.
"... of a bitch!"
The yelling became discernable as words as they got closer. Spider-Man sounded like he was having the time of his life. It was terrible to imagine that it would be his last battle.
"Okay, slow down, boy!" He yanked hard on the fur he was grabbing. The force of his strength pulled Vladimir back, bringing him almost to a complete stop. "Now that we've come this far, I can really beat the crap out of you."
Madame Web heard him begin to beat Vladimir, and the lion's roars became whimpers of pain.
"Now, stay do-,"
CRACK!
Ben heard the rifle crack through the air.
He broke free from his bonds in that moment, running hard toward the direction. He stopped at the edge of a clearing in the forest.
Sasha Kravinoff was holding a rifle, the end smoking slightly. And in the graveyard a little ways off Spider-Man was on his knees, clutching his side.
"NO!"
Scarlet Spider leapt into the fray, but Aloysha grabbed him. Sasha and Ana ignored them both. He tried to break free, but Aloysha was holding him with superhuman strength.
"Tonight," Sasha was saying, "you will die." Madame Web, who was lying on the ground next to two graves, suddenly began screaming at Spider-Man.
"You fool!" she yelled at him. "You were the only hope! Because of this, the Web of Life will be broken, and the whole world will collapse! Don't you realize how important you are?!"
"No," Spider-Man responded, and Scarlet Spider had to strain to hear him. Aloysha was merely restraining him, but now, both were frozen, watching. "But... it was nice... to know how it feels."
"How it feels?! You are the greatest hero of all time! Much more worthy than I! I have failed... oh..."
Her voice trailed off as dawning comprehension crept into her voice. Scarlet Spider tried to see the extent of Peter's injury.
"Makes two of us," he answered her.
Now Mysterio, Chameleon, and Ana were grabbing him, laying him out on a stone slab, the same one they had killed Mattie Franklin on. He tried to fight back, but they were stronger, and he was fading fast.
"Let it happen," Aloysha breathed in Ben's ear. "There is nothing you can do to stop it."
"I can't sit here!" Ben hissed back.
"You must!" Aloysha insisted. "If you fight, you will die as well. And the world needs a Spider-Man. You must live!"
"I can't let them kill Peter!"
"I condemn you to the hell reserved for animals and cowards," Sasha was saying, raising her knife high.
"PETER!" Ben screamed.
The knife fell, and blood spurted high in the air. Lighting cracked across the sky, and thunder rolled behind it. It was as if the very elements of nature were rebelling against the unholy act being performed.
The scream that filled the air seemed to tear the souls of everyone there. Mysterio and Chameleon released Spider-Man so quickly, it appeared their hands burned. His scream was the scream of a man in pain and fear, and yet, content. Somehow, he seemed to be saying it is finished.
And then it ended. It was over. Spider-Man was dead.
"Now," Sasha said, breathing heavily, "now he arises."
Thunder rumbled through the air. The ground began to shake, and suddenly, the earth churned around the grave of Kraven. A hand shot into the air, desiccated, decomposed, but instantly upon meeting the open air, flesh reformed around it.
In this way was Sergei Kravinoff resurrected. A terrible corpse, that was restored once he arose.
He stood there, clad in the funeral suit he was buried in, his mustache bristling, his hard lined face contorted in pain.
"Sergei," Sasha breathed, touching him on the shoulder. But he slapped it away.
"You fool!" he bellowed. "Have you any idea what you've done!?"
His voice trailed off, and he stumbled. Vladimir placed a paw gently under him. Ana looked stunned.
It occurred to Ben that he had actually never met Kraven the Hunter before. The Hunter had committed suicide before his return to New York two years ago. But that didn't matter.
Peter Parker was dead. Spider-Man was dead.
The next part should be the epilogue. And then I'll take a break and write that Teen Titans one-shot I promised.
