Several months ago, Agent Joe Wade of the FBI was sent to infiltrate the operations of Carolyn Trainer, the Lady Octopus. However, he was caught and strapped down into a machine inside her lair designed to turn him into a solidified hologram version of the Scarlet Spider (2). The purpose was to discredit the real Scarlet, a constant thorn in Ock's side.
An explosion destroyed the lab and caused a malfunction in the device, turning Wade INTO the Scarlet Spider. Wade fought hard against his programming, but he could barely contain it. It took the combined might of Ben Reilly as Spider-Man and the New Warriors just to keep the cyber maniac in check (3). It was Special Agent Stephanie Briggs, Wade's partner and friend, appealing to him that allowed him the strength he needed to become himself again. Barely.
His story should have ended there. But, it didn't. Wade soon fell into a coma while in FBI custody, and his failing condition forced them to put him into a hospital ASAP. Since that time, he's been in Bellevue Hospital's prison ward, hooked up to life support machines in a deep coma. The mark of the Scarlet Spider still stands prominent all over his skin in the form of metallic circuitry, glinting in the sole light above his bed.
A woman in a trench coat approaches the nurse's station at the entrance to the ward, her collar flipped up and her hands kept in her pockets. She stops by the desk and the nurse looks up from her charts.
"Can I help you?" she asks.
"I'd like to know where Agent Joseph Wade's room is, please," the woman says.
"I'm sorry; Agent Wade is in a restricted area."
"Oh really?"
"Yes, I'm sorry." The woman leans forward, a sinister smirk on her face. The nurse looks into her cold eyes and begins to grow a little nervous.
"I'm afraid it's really rather urgent I see him immediately." Two police officers standing guard watch the scene intently. The nurse flashes them a look, prompting them to start moving forward.
"I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." The woman eyes the cops approaching, then smiles at the nurse.
"I don't think so." Suddenly, four metallic tentacles rip out of the sides of her coat. Two of them smack the guards aside while the other two fly at the nurse. She screams as one grabs her wrist and the other her ankle, hoisting her up to the ceiling in a blinding motion. Lady Octopus rips off the remains of her coat, revealing her green and gold costume underneath. She looks casually up at the nurse, smirking confidently. "Now, if you please, Mr. Wade's room number. Now."
"I-ICU, 134."
"There, now was that so…" A gunshot rings out through the hall as a bullet speeds towards Lady Ock's back. Unfortunately, its trip was a futile one as it bounces harmlessly off of her personal force field. She turns to look at the guard on the other end of the hall, holding his gun, stunned. "Stupid."
Sounds of metal hitting flesh can be heard from inside Wade's room as Lady Ock tears through the hospital towards his room. She reaches his door and rips it off with part of the frame with her tentacles. She flings it aside causing it to land near the bodies of the guards she was fighting through as she casually strolls into the room. She approaches Joe's bed, looking around in the darkness that is his room. She looks down at him, smiling as she strokes his hair.
"Ah, my dear Joe," she says as she holds up her right hand. One of her tentacles removes a computer chip from her belt and rises up over her shoulder, dropping the chip into her hand. She holds up the computer chip in the light, looking at it. "It's time for you to serve me once again to enact my revenge on…"
THE SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN
#1
"SCARLET FEVER PART 1"
Written by
CHRIS BUCHNER
Epilogue transcribed from the work of
HOWARD MACKIE
Spider-Man created by
STAN LEE
STEVE DITKO
Ahh, there's nothing like web slinging in the morning! It's such a beautiful day, I could almost forget about everything that's happened in the last few months…hell, make that the last few years!
One of Peter's old teachers, Professor Miles Warren, became infatuated with his girlfriend at the time, Gwen Stacy. Naturally, he was as devastated as Peter when she died in battle with the Green Goblin on top of the Brooklyn Bridge (4). He snapped and took on the identity of the Jackal, accelerating his cloning experiments until he could create the perfect clone…me!
Somehow, I managed to escape the cellular degeneration process that killed all of his other clones, and he lured Pete into a trap by rigging Ned Leeds (5) up to a bomb. Jackal caught him and pitted us against each other, after he filled my head with ideas that I was the original. The bomb exploded and knocked us both out (6), but the next thing I knew I was crawling my way out of a smokestack, left for dead.
Discovering Peter already in his--our life, I decided to take the name Ben Reilly and hit the road for the next five years (7). I had kept in contact with Aunt May anonymously, checking up on her, and when her conditioned worsened I found myself returning to the city (8). I ran into Peter and he didn't take my presence well (9). I became the Scarlet Spider (a name which I had NO say in, by the way) and Peter and I settled any differences we may have had. That is, until, a rigged genetics test conducted by my supposed friend Seward Trainer revealed that I was the original and Peter was the clone (10)!
Peter, in desperation over the combined impact of May's death (11) and the loss of his humanity, joined up with the Jackal and his Spider-clone army (12). Eventually, he came to his senses and ended up thwarting (do people still say that?) the Jackal's mad plan of releasing the Carrion Virus on the world (13).
Pete decided to retire the webs and went off with Mary Jane to have a family, and I took over as Spider-Man. But circumstances forced Peter to return to New York (14) and that's when we learned who the puppet master behind all of this anguish truly was: Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin, back from the dead (15)! He was supposedly killed when he accidentally impaled himself on his glider, and tried to give Peter a taste of the same during an assault on the Daily Bugle, which was filled with all of Peter's friends and loved ones…Osborn's trump card (16). But I saved Peter from Osborn's previous fate, and we took him down. We don't know what happened to him after that, nor did we care, because Peter's a Dad…
…and I'm an uncle…
…and life is FINALLY good!
THE DAILY BUGLE
"Aww, lookit her!" a staff member exclaims.
"Such a beautiful baby!" Glory Grant declares. A crowd of Bugle staffers gather around Peter Parker and Mary Jane as they show off their new baby daughter in the shambles that is the City Room. During Osborn's assault on the Bugle, he caused massive damage to the building that J. Jonah Jameson, esteemed publisher, has been feverishly trying to restore to its former glory and continue to get out the paper.
"She's beautiful, Pete," Editor Robbie Robertson says amongst the group as he moves out of the way of a passing maintenance man.
"Thanks, Robbie," Peter says, "and I wanna thank you all for being there when I was in the hospital (17)," Peter says to the crowd of his co-workers. "Your support was a great help. Especially…"
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" a familiar voice booms across the room; heard clearly over the sounds of tools working about the room. J. Jonah Jameson storms out of his office and towards the group, already dispersing before he reaches them. "Do I pay you people to stand around! I have enough chaos in this place without having to chase you all! Get back to work! We've got a paper to put out!" Jonah turns his attentions on Peter. "And you, Parker! Not even back a day and already slacking! We've got an Octopus sighting at Bellevue! Get there and find Ben Urich! I wanna know why she was there, why the Feds are there, and what they're hiding! You're full-time now and I expect you to act like it!"
Peter holds up his hands defensively with a goofy smile. "Easy, Jonah, I'm going." He turns to MJ and gives her a kiss. "I'll talk to you later, honey."
"Be careful, Tiger," MJ says as Peter heads out of the room towards the elevators. MJ turns towards a nearby desk where baby May's carrier sits. "Jonah, could you watch May for a couple of minutes? I need to use the restroom," she asks as she places May into it.
"What do I look like, a babysitter!" MJ leans in and gives him a peck on the cheek before turning and heading out, waving back with a sly smile.
"No, you look like someone who chased the other candidates away. Thanks!"
"Hrumph!" Jonah grabs the carrier and turns, storming back to his office while grumbling the whole way. "ROBBIE! I'll be in my office!" Jonah shouts as he passes by Robbie talking to a couple of staffers. Jonah enters his office and slams the door behind him, placing the carrier on the desk. He looks back curiously at the door over his shoulder before turning his attentions back on May, playfully kicking and gurgling in her carrier. He reaches in and picks her up, a smile crossing over his face. "Who's the cutest wittle thing? You are! Yes you are!"
ELSEWHERE
Well, time to engage in the daily grind (No pun intended.) Ben thinks as he lands in the alleyway behind his job, the Daily Grind coffee shop. Within seconds, Spider-Man disappears and Ben Reilly emerges. He heads to the front door and heads inside, waving a greeting to the people already there.
"Hey, everyone!" At the counter, one of the Grind's frequent patrons (and by frequent there's rarely any time he doesn't occupy his usual seat at the counter) Buzz sits and reads his usual morning paper.
"Benjamin," he comments without looking up. Behind the counter, Shirley Washington, owner and proprietor of the Grind, dries out a glass with a towel.
"Hey, Ben!" she says happily. Her son, Devon, looks up from drying the counter to look at Ben.
"'Bout time you got here!" he says. Ben heads behind the counter and starts to put on his apron.
"How's your cousin's baby, Ben?" Shirley asks.
"Healthy and happy, thanks. You gotta see her, Shirl…most beautiful baby I've ever seen."
"And lucky too, from all you've told me."
"Definitely."
"Hey, Reilly," Devon starts, "I think you got a customer." Ben looks at Devon and follow where he points over his shoulder with his thumb. At a table by the windows sits an attractive woman with short blonde hair, resting her head on her hands held up by her elbows on the table while she sips at the drink before her through a straw. Desiree Winthrop, Ben thinks.
Desiree is a fashion major at nearby Centennial University. Recently, she had asked Ben out on a date to see "Rent" on Broadway at the same time the villain known as Swarm was making a desperate bid to regain his empathic bond with insects by holding the scientists at the Institute of Seismoharmonic Research captive (18). Spidey, of course, had to save the day which threw a major kink in the date plans. Desiree attributed it to Ben not being ready to date so soon after Jessica Carradine, Ben's ex-girlfriend, and they parted as friends. Since then, Desiree hasn't been seen around the Grind much. Until now, that is. She looks over at Ben and gives a little wave and a smile.
Ben wipes his hands off on his apron as he heads over to her table. "Hey, Desiree," he says with a smile.
"Hi, Ben. Could you sit for a few?" she asks, her face turning a little serious. Ben sits down, curiously.
"Sure, what's up?" Desiree looks down at her drink, playing with her straw.
"Well, I've been thinking about…well, our date…"
"Okay…?"
"Well, I…I dunno, I felt a little foolish about it."
"But, there's no reason for you to," Ben says giving her a sympathetic look.
"I…I know. But, I was so absorbed in the ditzy popular me…I should have known…REALIZED…how you felt about Jessica and what her sudden departure would've done to you." Ben looks down at the table as Desiree looks up at him. "Have…have you hard from her at all?" Ben closes his eyes as he thinks.
Jessica Carradine was a photography major at Centennial U I met here when I started working. I learned that she had an unhealthy obsession with my other self because of the fact her father was the burglar who killed Uncle Ben all those years ago (19). She blamed Spidey for his death of a heart attack during their second meeting (20) (which I had nothing to do with, by the way). We had become an item just before she caught me with my pants down…so to speak; she had managed to get a photograph of me taking off my mask (21). This put a strain on things, considering this was a woman dedicated to ruining me and now she had the means to do it. But, she turned around and just gave me the photographs before she disappeared (22). Desiree thinks my emotions for Jess played a part in our date's failure…and maybe she's not so far off.
"Desiree, look, you took a chance and that's commendable. It's more than most ever do. You're also a very sweet girl, and you shouldn't hide behind your 'popular girl' image like you were when we first met." Desiree smiles and blushes a bit. "Be you. If people can't take you for who you are, then they aren't worth it. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm gonna be your friend no matter what."
"Thanks, Ben," Desiree says with a smile as she reaches across the table to put her hand on his. "That's very swe…" Seconds after making contact with Ben's hand, the world shifts. Desiree's head begins to pound and her teeth clench and the world looks like a filtered version of itself. She sees the hand under hers is no longer one of flesh, but one in a blue glove with red webbed fingers. She looks up and in Ben's place sits Spider-Man.
"Are you okay?" Ben/Spider-Man asks in what Desiree perceives as an echoing sound. She clenches her eyes as tears form, and when she opens them the world is back to normal. She shakes her head and sniffs as she begins to feel a small line of blood beginning to trickle down her nose. The last time she felt like this was on her date with Ben.
"Nnng…just a sudden migraine." Ben gets up from the table.
"I'll get you some aspirin," he says as he heads quickly over to the counter. He heads behind and passes by Buzz, not noticing the front page of the early edition of the Daily Bugle in his hands with Doc Ock's image, courtesy of a security camera at Bellevue.
BELLEVUE
Agent Wade's room lies in shambles. FBI agents have all but closed off this wing of the hospital as they scour around, looking for clues as to where Lady Octopus would have taken Wade. The head agent on scene, an old portly man, is led into the room by another younger agent carrying a file.
"What the hell went on in here?" the head agent asks.
"We have confirmed reports of Lady Octopus breaking in, tearing up the place, and kidnapping Agent Wade."
"I know that! WHY did she kidnap him? What was his last assignment?" The younger agent flips through the file.
"Agent Wade was on undercover assignment to infiltrate the organization of Lady Octopus and keep close tabs on her operations. Near as we can tell, he was made and forced into some kind of virtual reality experiment that turned him into a metallic creature (23)."
"Actually, it was a virtual copy of the Scarlet Spider," a voice from behind them states. They both turn back towards the room door to see an African-American woman standing there with an FBI ID clipped to her belt.
"And you are?" the head agent asks.
"Special Agent Stephanie Briggs, I was Agent Wade's partner on that assignment." She walks into the room, looking around. "Over a year ago, the new Doc Ock stole components that were the largest leap in Virtual Reality technology. She used them to create a solid hologram powered by Agent Wade's mind." She walks over to the bed and places her rubber gloved head on the torn wrist restraints hanging off the side. "Agent Wade was stopped, but fell into a coma shortly after and needed to be placed on immediate life support."
"So if Wade was comatose, why take him now?" the head agent asks.
"My guess?" Steph starts, "She wants the Scarlet Spider back.
MEANWHILE
Lady Ock stands over a metallic pod inside a virtually empty warehouse. Gauges and indicator lights are peppered over it with thick black tubes running from it over to a computer console against the back wall. Inside the pod, visible through the glass window on the front, Wade lies strapped up to life support devices built into the pod. Ock runs her hand over the smooth surface of the pod.
"The time has come, Joe, to recreate the accident that made you more than even I could have anticipated." She turns to the console and inserts the chip from her belt into a slot. She makes a few keystrokes and the equipment comes to life. "With this chip, you'll be faster, stronger, more powerful than before…" She presses a button, activating the pod and causing it to light up. "…and totally loyal to me!" The pod hums and begins to glow brighter.
Inside, the circuitry over Wade's body begin to lose their shape and melt over his flesh. Wade's body arches back and his mouth opens in a silent scream as the metal covers his entire body. Suddenly, red tentacles emerge from inside his mouth and begin to cover over the metal on his body. Ock holds up her arm, shielding her eyes from the light that has suddenly become blinding. The next thing she knows, the pod explodes, sending her flying backwards amongst a hailstorm of shrapnel and debris.
Ock sits up on the ground, dazed by the force of the blast but protected from relative harm by her personal force field. She coughs a bit as she looks towards the smoky area where the pod once was.
"Pardon me…" a voice from within says. She squints as she sees a figure moving about in the thick smoke. It begins to emerge, the bright red of the form contrasting with the dark smoke in the light of the warehouse. Ock looks up, seeing the Scarlet Spider looming over her with both fists clenched and hunched over in an intimidating pose.
"…do you have any GREY POUPON?"
TO BE CONTINUED...
FOOTNOTES
(1) This is modified from the ending of Spider-Man vol. 1 #75.
(2) See Scarlet Spider #2.
(3) Web of Scarlet Spider #s 3-4 and New Warriors vol. 1 #67.
(4) Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #121.
(5) Ned Leeds was a Daily Bugle reporter and the third Hobgoblin.
(6) Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #149.
(7) Spider-Man: The Lost Years mini.
(8) May had a heart attack that left her in a coma in Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #391.
(9) Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #393 and Web of Spider-Man #117.
(10) Spectacular Spider-Man vol. 1 #226…sick of these footnotes yet?
(11) Aunt May eventually died in Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #400.
(12) In the saga called Maximum Clonage.
(13) Maximum Clonage Omega.
(14) Spider-Man: The Final Adventure and Spider-Man vol. 1. #66.
(15) Osborn was killed in Amazing Spider-Man vol. 1 #122 and returned in #418.
(16) Once again in Spider-Man vol. 1 #75.
(17) Starting in Spider-Man vol. 1 #70.
(18) Sensational Spider-Man #9 & 10.
(19) Waaaaaay back in Amazing Fantasy vol. 1 #15 and revealed in Sensational Spider-Man #3.
(20) The classic Amazing Spider-Man #200.
(21) Sensational Spider-Man #4.
(22) Sensational Spider-Man #6.
(23) Scarlet Spider #2 again.
SENSATIONAL SPIDER-MAN VOL. 2 NO. 1 © 2003, 2005 C. BUCHNER. SPIDER-MAN AND ALL RELATED CHARACTERS TM & © MARVEL COMICS GROUP. THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL. ANY SIMILARITIES TO ANY LIVING OR DEAD PERSONS, BUSINESSES OR ORGANIZATIONS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.