Chapter 4: Spider Man

New York, The Big Apple, The City that Never Sleeps. New York City is known by many names and is associated with many different images. Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, Crime. And Superheroes.

Sometimes it amazes me. Spider Man thought. A city with this many heroes, still manages to have one of the highest crime rates in the country.

"Oh well. At least the city has been quiet lately. D'oh! What am I saying? Every time I say that, something bad happens. Oh well, as long as I'm ruining a good mood, I might as well try to sell some pictures to Jameson. That always seems to do the trick." He extended his arm and shot a stream of web fluid onto a nearby building. He leapt from the wall he'd been perched on, and swung off to work.

Matt's chest pains began a block from the Daily Bugle. He screamed, and clutched his chest in agony. He also lost control of the car.

Above him, Spidey had just arrived on the roof of the Bugle. He paused briefly, still savoring the sensation of being back in New York. He felt sorry for Peter Parker, or rather, for his clone. It couldn't have been easy for him, finding out that he was only a clone. That his entire life had been a lie.

His sympathy was quickly replaced with grief. Everyone who he'd ever known and loved thought that the clone was the real him. Therefore, they didn't know him anymore. It pained him more than he could find words to describe, when he thought of how he'd not been there when his Aunt May had died.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of screeching brakes and a woman's scream. He looked down at the street below, and saw a woman leap out of the way of a car that had swerved onto the side walk. He ran down the wall towards the car.

The car picked up speed and crashed into a streetlight on the corner. Spider Man jumped the ground and hurried towards it. Suddenly his spider sense began to tingle wildly as he pulled along side the car. He hesitated then approached anyway.

"Spider sense or no spider sense. I've got to get that guy out of there!" He reached for the door, and barely managed to duck as something hurtled out of the passenger side window at him. The creature sailed over his head, screeching. It landed behind him and streaked down the street. Spidey let it go. He stared at the body of Matt Boise in the driver's seat. Then he looked around and saw that he'd drawn a crowd. He ran back up the wall to the roof.

"Parker! I mean, Reilly! Get in here!" Jameson yelled. "I still can't get over the resemblance between those two." he muttered.

"You called?" Ben Reilly asked as he entered Jameson's office.

"Reilly what is this?" Jameson held up the pictures that Ben had handed him, not five minutes ago.

"Those are pictures of Spider Man J.J." Reilly said patiently. "See, you can tell by the red mask he's wearing-"

"I can see that you nimrod! What I can't see, are any pictures of the car crash that happened right outside this building, two minutes before you came in this morning, one that killed one of my best reporters! And do you know why I don't see them?"

"You need prescription lenses?" Reilly guessed.

"Because they aren't there! That's why! Explain to me how you can get pictures of Spider Man at impossible angles, but can't get them when he's standing on the ground!"

"Magic." Reilly said, keeping a strait face.

"Get out!" Jameson yelled at the top of his lungs. "Get out!" Reilly fled. Inside, he was laughing.

"Jesus Ben!" Jameson's secretary said. "What did you do? He was practically foaming at the mouth! Don't you need this job?"

"Ahh, by tomorrow he'll be the same lovable old Jameson. You'll notice he still paid me for the pictures." He headed for the roof. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go work my magic." He took the stairs three at a time. He didn't know what that thing was that killed Matt, but he did know that he had to find it, and fast.

Now, he thought, If I was a little brown monster, where would I hide?

The New York City sewer system, a world of darkness, filth, and rats. If something goes wrong, not many are brave enough to go down there and fix it. Martin and Bob are two such individuals.

"I hate this job." Martin complained.

"Yeah but it's the only one you could get Marty. Next lifetime, don't drop out of school." Bob replied. "Just keep an eye out for that damn power line that's on the fritz."

"Shut up Bob."

Neither of them noticed, as one of the shadows behind them, moved.
"You wait here for a minute." Martin said. "I'm gonna go back and see if we missed it."

"Yeah you do that."

Martin headed back the way they came, chuckling softly. He knew that Bob was a sucker for horror movies, and he'd often bragged that nothing could scare him. Well old friend, Martin thought, We'll soon see about that. Then, he heard Bob scream. The scream echoed eerily down the sewer tunnel, unnerving Martin.

"Bob you asshole!" he shouted. "Couldn't you have the decency to wait till I scared you before you screamed?" There was no answer. Martin shined his flashlight in the direction of his friend. His light glinted off of something but he couldn't tell what it was.

Slowly, he inched back towards where he had left Bob. He didn't know what Bob had planned for him, but he didn't intend to just walk blindly into it. Suddenly, he stopped. He played his light on the walls of the tunnel, stunned. Where before they had been a monotonous grey, now they were red. He touched the wall, and his hands came away wet. It was blood. He turned quickly, intending to run so fast and so far that whatever had done this would never find him. But it was too late for that. The darkness before him moved. One of the shadows separated itself from the others and came for him.

In the sewers, no one can hear you scream.

Next: The Punisher!