JohnJuanRamboJr35: Yes, it is indeed about to go down! I hope you enjoy the next chapters.

To everyone, I think this season may have more four-part arcs since as you can probably tell by the ending of the last chapter what storyline I am loosely adapting from the comics. Four parts will definitely give me more wiggle room to work with, but if you'd rather have three-part arcs, please tell me. The length of the chapters will probably be the same no matter what unless I get into the 'zone' while writing and write way too much in one chapter.

Aight, let's get into part 2. Hope you enjoy!

Extended Family Part 2

Ben Reilly looked around the courtyard of Midtown High. It certainly was different from his old school, for starters, it had a gate around it. Though Ben couldn't really blame them for that, the amount of criminals he stopped on his way to school was surprising. He thought Professor Warren had been joking when he told him about all the supervillains in New York, but after a summer of filling in the blanks in his memories with recent history, Ben had to admit that it didn't seem that crazy.

Ben did want to make an entrance when he arrived at Midtown, he'd never been one for subtlety, and in a city where a dude swung around on web's, a dude that channeled electricity, and a Russian guy that loved animals so much he decided to turn himself into one, walking through the main gate just didn't feel right.

"Hello-o-o?" Ben called out to all the students staring at him. "I have Anatomy first period, room 203, where is that?" When nobody answered him again, Ben flopped his arms and scanned the courtyard, then a new sensation crashed into his forehead. Whoa, that's new! Ben shook his head and shrugged off the sensation. It doesn't sound like an alarm clock, so it's nothing dangerous. I'll worry about it later.

Then, Ben's eyes landed on a trio in front of him. Two of the trio—a redhead and dude that he definitely recognized—were huddled close together, the redhead was looking with a concerned look on her face at the dude who sat on the fountain in the courtyard clutching his forehead. Occasionally, he saw the redhead glance back at him, looking extremely confused, but she quickly would turn her attention back to the boy. The third, however, was staring straight at Ben. She was a blonde, not much shorter than him, wearing a headband and skirt that Ben thought suited her perfectly.

Shrugging, Ben strolled on over to her. "Evening," he said casually, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'm kinda lost here, and I kinda need a tour guide."

The blonde stared for a moment longer, then shook her head, snapping out of whatever trance she'd been in. "I uh–"

"Did you say you need a tour guide?" a new eager voice said. Ben turned to see a preppy blonde in a cheerleader uniform standing inches from his face. "Because I know this place like the back of my hand!"

Ben looked the girl up and down. She was pretty, and he didn't know anyone. Ben shrugged. Why not? He extended his hand to the girl. "Benjamin Reilly," he said. "Call me Ben."

"Sally," the blonde said. Taking his hand eagerly, Sally slid next to Ben and pulled him by the arm into the halls of Midtown.

"Pete, seriously, are you okay?"

Peter shook his head, the radio wave his Spider-Sense was receiving had simmered down to a low buzz. Normally when his Spider-Sense went into overload, the worst he got was a headache after, but he'd gotten used to it and now it was no problem. This new sensation was just that, new. "I'm fine MJ," he said, standing up and rubbing his forehead. "Just a headache, think I was up too late last night."

MJ helped pull Peter to his feet and frowned when he winced as she touched his shoulder. He seemed to realize this and tried to subtly shift his t-shirt to cover more of his right arm, but MJ beat him to it. She gasped when she saw the long scab over his shoulder. "Where did you get this!?" she demanded.

Peter pulled down his sleeve. "Nothing, I just–"

"Gwen!"

Gwen turned immediately and gave Peter The Look for MJ. Peter balked under her gaze and backed away, he was about to open his mouth when the bell for class rang. "Let's go," he muttered. MJ narrowed her eyes, and turned on her heel, leaving Peter and Gwen in the dust as she walked for her first period. Peter whipped around to face Gwen. "Why!?"

"She asked," Gwen said with a shrug. "Plus, the odds that you deserved it were pretty high."

Peter pointed his finger at her as the two walked for their first class together. "Don't use Math for evil, that's how we get supervillains!"

Gwen snickered at Peter.

Peter had never really been in the doghouse before, and he decided he really didn't want to say in it any longer. MJ had loosened up on him by the time they met for third period, Creative Writing. A class that Peter chose partially because he knew MJ would want to be in it, but mostly so he could hopefully put some of those skills to the test to make better excuses now that he was off the Spider-Man pictures. Though he was sad Mary Jane was in California for a Theatre Program, he was happy that he didn't have to spend half the summer justifying his sudden disappearances whenever trouble called.

While MJ's eyes had softened upon first seeing him enter the class, she tried to broach the subject of his arm wound again. Unable to figure out how to tell his girlfriend how he received it without scaring her, Peter lamely told her that he wasn't looking where he was walking on his way to her party and tripped. Hey, at least it was half the truth! She appeared skeptical, but toward the end of the class, she seemed to cut him a break and gave him a hug before they left for their fourth-period class.

Peter walked into the boy's locker rooms and started to change for P.E. All last year, he was late for the class because he'd waited for everyone to leave before changing his shirt. But now, he wouldn't have to be late. He did have a few scars along his chest from his various battles, but thanks to his healing factor, they could only be seen if you were looking for them.

As Peter took off his shirt, he felt that radio-wave Spider-Sense feeling again, only not as intense this time. He turned around to find the same blond kid from the morning removing his no-sleeve blue hoodie, catching a glimpse at a black logo of some kind on the inside.

Peter furrowed his brow but didn't have any time to think more about it. Coach walked in and started ushering everyone out, his gaze landing on Peter for a moment. "Better not take your sweet time this year Parker!" Coach shouted.

"Not this year, Coach," Peter replied, pulling his P.E. shirt on. "I used all my sugar during breakfast, there wasn't enough to sweeten my time and french toast."

Coach nodded appreciatively at Peter. "Good man!"

When P.E. ended, Peter felt his Spider-Sense go off, the alarm bells version this time. He changed out of his P.E. clothes as fast as possible, then bolted to the bathroom so he could put his suit on. Leaping out the window, Spider-Man swung off in search of the source of his distress.

It didn't take him long, and he breathed a sigh of relief to see it was just a simple break-in rather than a full-on super-villain. He really didn't want to face one of those on an empty stomach. Spidey did a quick recon, making sure that there was no one around who could get caught in the crossfire. Finding no one there, Spidey prepared to zip in quips-a-blazing when he heard gunfire.

No! Spider-Man swung around the corner, but what he found surprised him. Instead of an innocent bystander wounded on the ground, Spidey saw a guy dressed in a red onesie and blue hoodie with its arms cut off and a large tilted spider logo plastered across the chest fighting the criminals. Is this what my Spider-Sense was trying to warn me about?

Spidey didn't have time to think more about it as this new crime fighter was hit in the back by a bottle. He stumbled, then fell over as one of the other criminals managed to kick him in the gut. One of the criminals stood over the new crime fighter as the others ran off.

"Let's go, Chris! Before the real web-head shows up!"

The criminal aimed his gun at the blue-hooded crime fighter on the floor. "What are you talking about, this is the real deal right here!" he shouted at his retreating team. They stopped running and slowly moved back to him. "Look, all the webs, he's even got the spider on his chest!"

"I thought he had that new white logo?" one asked.

Another criminal nodded his head. "He does, but I heard his suit got all trashed yesterday. Maybe this is just his spare threads?"

The criminal holding the gun looked back at the superhero on the floor. "We'll never get another chance like this, imagine the kind of power we'll have if we are the ones to take down the web-head?"

"You know, for a second, I thought you guys were the first set of smart crooks I've ever come across," Spidey said in a dry voice. He swung in and landed in front of the three crooks. "You should've gotten outta here before I showed up."

"I told you–" the thug's words were cut short as Spidey webbed the gun out of the first crook's hand and used it like a whip to knock out the other two. They fell to the ground and quickly webbed them to the pavement.

Alarm bells rang in his head, and Spidey flipped away from the danger, ready to counter when he saw the blue-hooded crime-fighter shoot his own line of web from a silver web shooter that was a bit bulkier than Spidey's and tripped the criminal. Then, the blue-hooded crime-fighter leaped to the top of a light post and hung the criminal from it.

"I had that," he said to Spidey. Before swinging away.

"I saw that," Spidey replied, swinging after him. This guy is really new to the whole business, he swings super slow. How did he beat me here? "I've used the Possum Technique several times myself."

"Well, I've clearly perfected it!"

Spidey frowned. "Don't know if that's something you want to brag about, Mister?"

The blue-hooded crime-fighter landed on the side of a building that overlooked Midtown High, with Spidey landing just below him. He stood up, his body parallel with the street below, and took off his make-shift mask, revealing his blond hair, carefree brown eyes, and a scar that crossed his left eye. "Reilly, Ben Reilly," he said trying to make his voice deeper than it is. Ben's smile faltered when Spidey said nothing, then realization hit. "Oh, did you mean my stage name?"

"Duh!"

"Oh, man," Ben said to himself. "I still have not gotten the hang of this whole secret ID thing. You wouldn't mind helping me out, would you Pete?"

Spidey's feet slipped on the windows of the building. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Come on, cuz," Ben said, seemingly oblivious to Spidey's tone. "Think about it; the Scarlet Spider and Spectacular Spider-Man working together to take down baddies! It would be so much easier to just take that mask off than keeping our IDs a secret, especially if we are gonna team up!"

"Yeah, no thanks," Spidey said. He checked his watch, Only got twenty minutes left in lunch. "Look, good work out there, but a piece of advice, don't take off the mask if your gonna keep going out here." With that, Spidey swung off in the opposite direction of Midtown High and doubled back when he felt that he'd given this Scarlet Spider the slip. He changed quickly with a pounding heart and didn't even recognize when he sat down at a table with MJ and Gwen.

"Where have you been?" Gwen asked.

Peter didn't answer, his mind was still racing through what Ben had said. He didn't have a cousin named Ben, he knew Aunt May had a niece named Alexa, but that was it. There was no Ben Reilly.

"That's my fault," a casual voice said as a tray landed on the table. Peter looked up to see Ben sitting across from him and next to Gwen. "Was trying to catch up with my cousin."

Gwen's eyebrows raised and MJ stopped chewing on her sandwich. They both looked to Peter who was staring at Ben with wide eyes. "Uh, Tiger," MJ said slowly, "you never told us you had a cousin."

"I don't," Peter responded, his throat dry.

"Well, technically Tiger and I aren't actually cousins," Ben conceded. "I'm actually related to Aunt May. Her sister's my mom."

"What are you doing here?" Gwen asked when Peter remained silent. "Sorry, I mean, why did you transfer to Midtown?"

"Just thought I'd swing over," Ben said, winking at Peter. Then he turned to Gwen and smiled. "In all seriousness, apparently schools don't like it when you have fun. Mom thought it would be a good idea to send me here since she knew Tiger was here. She thought it'd be good for me."

"Pete, are you okay?" MJ whispered in his ear as Ben continued to talk animatedly with Gwen.

Peter jumped in his chair and looked wildly from MJ to Gwen to Ben. "Uh, Ben?" Peter semi-shouted, causing several people to look at them. "Why don't you and I go for a walk, remember, I wanted to show you the trophy case."

Ben grinned at Peter, then turned to Gwen as he stood and gave her a dramatic bow. "Raincheck, Gwen. It is Gwen right?"

"Stacy. I mean, Gwen Stacy, yeah," she answered, correcting herself when Ben tilted his head to the side. She then turned to the table and looked at her food confused.

"I'll see you later Red," Peter said, kissing MJ as he stood up. He then grabbed Ben by the hoodie and proceeded to drag him toward the hall. Ben stumbled behind Peter and laughed.

"Yo Kenny," Flash said, "look at the new kid getting dragged by Parker! What a loser!"

Ben planted his feet to the floor, stopping him and Peter abruptly. "You wanna say that again?" he shouted at Flash.

Aw crap! Flash please, keep your big mouth shut for once!

"I would say you're getting dragged by Puny Parker, but I heard he's not so puny anymore," Flash answered, giving the slightest of nods to Peter. "Look's like he's already started the Midtown High Welcome Ritual for us."

Peter jumped on the opportunity Flash had just given him. He bounded in front of Ben, halting the teen before he got too close to Flash. As he did, Peter heard and left the tile beneath his feet crack as Ben tried to use all his Spider-Strength to push him out of the way. "Yeah, I am Flash," Peter said, in a strained voice. "Figured I should be the one to properly welcome my cousin to the school. In fact, that's what I'm gonna do right now, don't follow us!"

"Parker's got a cousin?"

Peter bear-hugged and practically lifted Ben off the floor and sprinted down the hall, leaving everyone in the dust.

"Why'd you do that?" Ben snapped at Peter when the latter finally seat him down.

"Cause you were going to punch Flash into next week!"

"How did you–?"

"Because I recognized the look," Peter answered. Then, he pinched his nose and sighed. "Where are you staying? It looks like there are some things we are gonna need to go over."

Ben snorted. "Are you serious, dude? I'm staying with Aunt May, where else would I stay?"

Peter opened his mouth, but no reply came out. Then, the bell signifying the end of lunch rang, causing Peter to groan. "Meet me in the courtyard after school, and don't punch anyone unless I say so."

"Why do I have to listen to you?" Ben called to Peter as he walked away.

"Because I'm older than you!" he shouted back, realizing as soon as he turned the corner that he didn't actually know if he was older than Ben. Oh yeah, he thought sarcastically, this is the perfect start to the school year.