The Sensational Scarlet Spider.
Chapter 8: Yanking Yer Chain like Never Before.
I lay in bed. My body frozen, pain throbbing through it raw and new. I can barely move my neck before it screams out in pain. Zeke trusted me to stop that train, and I had to go all out to make sure it didn't end badly. Now I'm here in bed, aching, worming my hand up towards my phone, the air rushing through my web holes makes me stop and hiss out a heavy breath. I grab it and my hand shakes, trying to see the time.
"Great…" I whisper, seeing the time as somewhere after school started. I force myself out of bed, ambling over to my dresser, trying to ignore the pain in my body as I get on a shirt and slip on my slippers.
I grab my old walking stick from the closet and lean against it. A text dings to life on my phone.
Eds: Hey, you okay? I heard what happened uptown.
I turn on the voice text, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just another cooldown period."
Ding.
Eds: I'll bring your homework home for ya.
"Thanks, Eds. Say hi to Felicia for me." I groan softly, starting the coffee maker. I watch it percolate. Remembering the fact that I stopped a train makes the pain way worse. I take my coffee and shuffle over to the couch, dumping sugar and creamer into it beforehand.
I pass by the window to the fire escape, glancing out of the corner of my eye. There's someone standing on it, trench coat billowing, drinking a beer. I shuffle back over and Zeke kneels, smiling as I open the window, the traffic's din filling the kitchen.
"Hey Scarlet." he greets me, "Got somethin' for ya." I glare at him and turn back into the living room. He follows, my Spider Sense thrumming in tandem with his. That's how he found me I guess. Our Spider Senses resonate.
He digs in his pocket, pulling out a paper bag, "Here, Donuts." I try to reach for them but my arm lights up in pain, making me shirk it back like it was gonna burn me. He cocks his head at that.
"Kid, are you-"
"I'm fine!" I force out a little meaner than I meant it to be. He raises his hands.
"Whoa, okay, no need to get snippy." he says, seeing me almost temperamentally snatch the bag from him and dig in, getting powdered sugar everywhere with my body shaking and smarting.
"Why are you here?" I snarl a little.
"Because you stopped a damn train and didn't sling straight. In fact you never have." he sighs.
"Yeah, because I'm disabled. I have to adjust my slinging and all that." I huff, "Just… look, I know I'm far from the most normal guy to get bit, or even get powers."
"Kid, that's not what I'm here to talk to ya about." he sighs, "I'm here to yank yer chain like never before."
"Go ahead." I say.
"Here's one thing I don't get about you. You're doing this dangerous thing at the beginning of highschool, you're still a kid. Sure, your Dad died and you want answers, maybe even revenge. But why? What happens after that? Why do you want to be a Spider?"
I sigh and smile, "Well…"
"It all started when I was younger."
I hit the ground, lunch skittering out of my hands like a rocket. My Captain America shirt splattered with the school spaghetti. My hands and legs stinging with scrapes. I blink back tears as I try to pick up what I could.
"Oh no! What happened, Parker? I thought you could balance!" one of the kids jeers.
"I can! I can, you just pushed me!" I yell, getting surrounded by them and after they're done jostling and throwing things on me it's just a mess. But then just as they were about to beat me up, someone comes to my rescue.
Shielding me from the hits was a bigger kid with blond curly hair and dark eyes, staring daggers into all of them, "Get away from him!" he snaps. There's a symbol on his shirt, a spider. It looks homemade and once he chases them off he kneels.
"Hey! Nice shirt!" the boy who'd become my best friend said, "Name's Eddie."
"Jack." I sniffle, "Nice shirt."
"Yep! It's Spider Man!" Eddie exclaims, "You like Cap?"
"Mmhm. He's like me." I state, "Small, skinny… but he's a hero anyway."
"No he isn't, he's big n' muscly on your shirt!" Eddie laughs a little and noogies me. I sigh and laugh, the other kids giving the two of us a wide berth.
"Adorable, so you're the Spider 'cause of your friend Eddie?" Zeke bluntly huffs, drinking some kinda iced coffee from his coat and looking at me full of 'You gotta be kidding me.' energy.
"I'm getting there, I'm getting there!" I huff, "Jeez, impatient much?" I chew on the donuts he got me, my arms and legs and entire body still hurting like crazy but the food will help. Can't really heal on an empty stomach after all. The morning sun still streams in from on high as I take another drink of my coffee. Still thinking of the real reason, Eddie helped me and that was one of them. What was another? What could I remember that really motivated me.
"My mom's a nurse."
"Yeah, figured."
I played with Cap today, fighting my army of tiny toy soldiers and pretending they were the evil German Third Reich, throwing the little plastic shield at a battalion of soldiers. They scatter across the floor like shrapnel.
"Fear me, enemies of the United States! I am CAPTAIN AMERICA!" I yell, hearing the door open with a heavy groan and a sigh. I peep up from my battle to see my Mom, slumped over and putting her purse on the side table near the door. Her hair was a disorderly ponytail and she ambled over to the couch, not even noticing me. Ever since I got bit by the spider my memories are a lot more clear. She looked so tired and so sad that even Dad's cutesy little song greeting of him humming 'Come and Get Your Love' wouldn't make her crack a smile.
"Daddy?" I ask, "Is Mommy okay?"
"Mommy's okay, Jacky…" she huffs, "She's just had a long day, okay?"
"Okay. Do you need Cap?" I walk over and put him in her hand. She smiles and ruffles my hair. Dad kisses her on the cheek with a happy chuckle.
"See, kiddo? She's already grinnin'!" he exclaims.
"What are you doing up, Jack?" she asks.
"I wanna'd wait for you!" I exclaimed, "Cause you always come back when I'm in bed!"
Mom lifts me up and sits me beside her, Dad on the other side and my little Captain America figurine between us. I smile and almost close my eyes.
"Mommy, Daddy?" I asked.
"Yeah?" Dad wondered.
"Mm?" Mom grunted.
"When I grow up, I wanna be a big strong hero! That way Mommy doesn't have to be the hero anymore and she can rest and you two can have lots of fun together!" I exclaim, "Like Cap! Or Tsuchi on TV!"
I leap from my parents and I remember doing the pose Tsuchigumo would do every episode, "An Emissary from Hell: THE SPIDER!" I yelled.
"Pretty standard, dig deeper." Zeke huffs.
"Wow, I thought that was hard hitting." I shake my head, "Come on, you-"
"Were in a warzone, yeah. But why be so reckless? Why risk everything? That scarring on your arm, it's gotta have a story to it."
I look down at my right arm, the splotchy and even spiderwebbed scarring still there after all these years. I close my eyes and take a shaky breath. Zeke reaches over and pats me on the shoulder.
"Jack, you lost faith, didn't you?" he asks.
"No, that's not it, it's… I wasn't there for my dad when he died. I had the power and the will and all the skill I could have…" I look up into his eyes. He's not as young as Dad was but he reminds me of him. I take a deep breath.
"After the Stark Expo, I never felt more powerless."
The hospital was cold the day my parents finally got to visit me. Mom taking off work and Dad too. There was a tense silence in the air. Dad's expression was the closest thing to murderous that I remember looking at him.
"Dad… don't be mad." I whisper.
"Jacky, I'm way past that." he growls, "I can't believe that happened!"
"Benny-" Mom starts.
"No, May. No. Our boy got blown to hell and back and they just told us his arm was almost gone! First the Cerebral Palsy and now this?!" he tries to calm down but begins pacing, huffing softly in and out of his nose.
Mom sighs, "Look, Ben I'm mad too. But he's alive. Tony Stark got the drones. Jack's okay and… and well, I'm trying my damn best to see the silver lining in this."
She smooths my hair, "Want me to get you anything, honey?" she asks. She's tired looking, still in her scrubs since I woke up while she was working. All I wanted was them.
"No…" I mumble, "Just tell Eddie that I got my helmet signed." I look down at the cracked and mostly broken remains of my helmet, looking miserably at it. The helmet still sits in my closet, still with the hot rod red ink on the gold plating with a TS for Tony Stark.
He'd plunked it on my head and that was it.
They sat there for the full visiting time, Mom refusing to let me go, and Dad still pacing. Over and over, softly mumbling murderous words. I couldn't quite remember them all. He's tense, arms swinging gently. He wanted to knock Stark's lights out. All I wanted was my parents, all I wanted was to become a hero that wouldn't just save this random kid in his merch that he signed and plunked on my head.
I wanted to do more. I wanted to BE more. I wanted to have the power to become a hero people could look to and say he really was one. I was bullied, alone, blasted, and now? I wanted to change.
"So that's why?" Zeke says.
"Yeah. I wanted to become a hero that showed that he cared for people. That he'd be a friendly face you'd see and immediately feel okay." I explain, "I now have the power to do that, to become that."
"I know there's no war, I know there's not some big thing like you or Yamashiro had. It's small, but it's my responsibility to protect it, to make sure none of what happened that night at the Expo or another kid losing their dad or uncle or grandfather ever happens in my city, and make sure nobody feels alone because The Scarlet Spider is swinging in the sky looking out for them."
"Lofty." he laughs, "Look kid, just say you wanted to be a hero and leave it at that. I get that a lot of people screwed you over and a lot of them fucked up, but yeah you got the power and the will to do it. But the thing you lack the most?"
He taps my head, "Experience." then taps my chest, "Stamina."
He lifts my arm and pain shoots through my body making me fall back against the pillows to get away from him. He doesn't smile.
"Listen, you got everything I do, just in a smaller package and less ugly, the healing takes longer too." he states, "You'll see once you rest up."
"Zeke?" I ask before he slings out of my window, "Thank you for listening."
"Anytime Scarlet, See ya."
I lay back down and watch some TV, coming across the news about the train rescue.
"A subway crash in Uptown Manhattan was stopped-" the TV was cut off by my front door opening and Eddie running in.
"Dude! Dude dude dude!" he yells, "Here's your work, but!" he pulls out his phone and shoves it into my face, showing the bright eyed old reporter from the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson. He sternly stares into the camera and I read the headline.
Spider Men?! Does New York have a Double Masked Menace Problem?!
"Please tell me it's clickbait…" I huff.
"Nope. Real. Play it." Eddie says.
I sigh and press play. JJJ starts off by saying, "Are we under attack by the Man-Spider and his new red-costumed friend? Well, I'm here to say that while Man-Spider is still a menace, I had done a live report on the ground since I was on the train that evening!"
I tense, "Don't. Don't you dare lump me with Zeke."
"He is! He got himself to the front of the train, stopped it, but then left! How rude! How disrespectful! And the fact he didn't even sling straight! He could've been hurt for all I know! Why does our country have so many Spiders anyway?! The last one we had was Ezekiel Sims! He was a real hero!"
I cringe, wincing at the screen and the pain in my body.
"Dude, please." I whimper, "Make it stop."
"Wait for it." Eddie says, "And…"
"Back to our current story out of Central Park, the Wall Man has been found! Good! Now he can stop blocking the traffic! Seriously, it gets bad enough!"
"Hey! John's not hurting anyone! He's just watching the-" I get cut off by more slander.
"Now we still have that Black Cat character hitting the more affluent areas of the city, which is even worse when you consider that the RED SPIDER-"
I toss it back to Eddie, "It's Scarlet! SCARLET! Not red, SCARLET! Fucking hell." My body screams with me in solidarity, that or I just FUBARED more of my muscles.
"Dude, I know you've been going through a ton, so… I thought that'd give ya a good-" Eddie tries to apologizes but I don't let him. On any other day I'd riff on JJJ with him because his headlines are ridiculous and Eddie uses it as a way to practice his own investigations.
"It didn't, Eddie. I know you meant well. Thanks for dropping in." I smile as he turns to leave, noticing something weird wiggling out of his shoulder and righting a loose paper. I blink and it's gone.
"Eddie?" I ask.
"Yep? What's wrong?" he starts.
"Nothing, just… go back to school." I sigh, shaking my head. He smiles and leaves. I'm losing my mind here alone… ah well, looks like I got homework to keep me company. Math, Science, Drama-
Wait, Drama? Since when did Mr. Beck assign homework other than line readings? Oh wait wait. I take it out and look at it. It looks like homework but really it's just the way he does reminders. It's a weird thing he does now. I heard the Upperclassmen got notifications that looked like malware but it just was a big joke. Now this looks like a math sheet.
Hey Jack, I want to know if there's anything you need accommodation-wise for the Hamlet set, I know it's late in production but if you could come by sometime this week or next week we can make it happen.
See you next class,
Mr. Quentin Beck.
I smile and settle back down, getting homework done and checking Eddie's investigative blog on my laptop plastered with Captain America and Iron Man stickers, even if I disliked him they were a bitch to peel off. Something about my train rescue was on there with a nice picture of Zeke and Rhino, and a little red man on the top of a streetlight. That's me. And I read the article as I work, taking breaks between each page. Taking a rest from being a spider might just be the medicine I need.
Until my phone dings with a text. I flip it over from my nest of couch cushions, pillows, and blankets sleepily. It's from Felicia and I read it.
Jack,
Come over to our usual spot when you have the chance, we need to talk.
Felicia.
I simply answer, with softly aching fingers, Okay, but I might be late. I grab my jacket and sling off with my body cooperating with me as much as it can, my webbing coming back at just the right time. I hope she's okay because I might need to do a little damage control if not. Just stay safe, Felicia.
Sneaking out is the easy part, sneaking in is the hardest. Of course my dad is gone but you can never be too careful with a Hardy because sometimes… well. I get in after my talk with Jack around Central Park, my ritzy apartment still dark with its modern aesthetic making it look like something out of a sci fi flick. I pause in the kitchen, looking down at some leftover cake in the-
Suddenly the lights come on and there he is. My father sits there, platinum blonde hair messy and eyes ringed with bags. Blue eyes piercing me down to the very soul. He leans against his hand.
"Dad! You're back!" I exclaim, feigning excitement.
"Yeah, Kitten. Sit down." He orders, tapping the armrest on the armchair he's sitting in. I sit down on the couch across from him, the clock ticking away on the wall. He sighs and leans forward, his suit shirt wrinkled and lopsided.
"Felicia, where were you?" he asks, "You were near Central Park today." I think about it for a minute. Then it clicks hard. Rage shoots through me like a sniper round.
"You tracked my suit?" I gasp.
"Answer my question."
"What happened to the right of privacy?!" I yell with Dad raising his hand to ward me off.
"Felicia, listen to me, I know where you go so I can protect you. So I know you're doing what we agreed on. Methane Sea was the test and you passed. The yacht night went perfectly." he lists. I see the 'but' coming a mile away and I don't try to stop him.
"But. What's with the Mask you're hanging around with?" he growls, "I thought I told you no distractions, but here you are ditching school with him, chasing him over rooftops, hell even stalking him while he's hangin' out with another girl! And don't even get me STARTED on Wheele…"
He gets out his phone and flicks over to the messages, clicking one from Big Wheel's father, Winston.
"I don't know where your daughter gets off on bringing that horrid Spider to harass my sweet little Johnny, but you better cough up the cash, Hardy!" he flicks through more, message after message, shrill and snooty and all kinds of fake upper-class. There's about fifty and they bleed together into one hellish din of a sound. Like a chainsaw and a weedwhacker were having sex in the New York Metro.
"I get it." I sigh.
"Really? 'Cause I don't think you do." Dad segues, his tone gaining that soft Southern Mama 'Bless your Heart.' tone, "Kitten, what do I always say?"
"Never be a cheerleader, be a captain?" I ask.
"Yeah. And you can't be that when you have a crush on a Mask, you're a thief. I taught you better than that. Fox taught you better than-"
I tense, "Dad. Don't you dare bring him up." I growl.
"Well then what about your mother?" he continues, "What would she think?"
"Dad, I'm serious, don't." I growl through grit teeth and an anger rising in my chest.
"Why not? You're not listening to me, maybe if I could bring them back they could-"
I stand up, looming over him with anger grabbing me and shaking me hard enough to make me wake up again. All I could think about was Jack in that suit three sizes too big, dancing with me on the Yacht.
Or that time the Spider and I first met. He was so cute. But also… Mom and the Black Fox came into my mind. Mom, so beautiful with her long blonde hair and green eyes holding my hands and dancing to 'Fly Me to the Moon' or The Black Fox with his wild stories of heists gone by, calling me, 'Darling' and 'My dear'. His eyes twinkled with so much nostalgia it was like movie screens back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s casting black and white shadows of Bogart and Lorre.
"You want an answer, Dad?" I bite out. He smoothly leans back with a smile. That smarmy smile he'd get when he'd see a score. He stands up and glares at me, closing the distance.
"Let me hear it." he states.
"It's because Jack Parker is the only boy that makes me feel normal!" I yell, "All my life, look at this!" I storm over to a wall of medals gleaming gold on the wall, trophies, even small bits of jewelry I cutesily stole from the clerks when I was little. I gesture to it with a vicious grin.
"All my life, nothing but the best from Felicia Sara Hardy! Great grades, great achievements, and for what?" I huff, picking up a trophy, this one for chess with it's stupid plastic models of pieces on the top with my name imprinted on its dumb face.
"I don't even LIKE chess." I huff, "I don't like being tied down by things you force me to do."
"I didn't force you to become a thief, our family motto-"
"Fuck the family motto! Fuck it with a chainsaw for all I care!" I scream, "Born a thief, raised a thief, will die a thief?! Sounds like bullshit out of an action movie!"
Dad flinches, "Felicia… watch your tone."
"No, I won't watch my tone! For the first time I found someone similar to me! Someone who's running around in the night looking for adventure, to do the right thing instead of stealing from people! Don't you understand what it's like to be in love?" I shake, tears coming to my eyes.
"Let me be happy, Dad. Please." I warble, "Jack makes me happy. Jack makes me feel like I can do the right thing. I've helped him with the Tombstone stuff. It's… it's a work in progress and he's gonna need all the help he can get."
Dad sighs, falling back into his chair, "Go." he says, "Go see him."
"You're mad." I say.
"Yes, I am. Not only are you blatantly stomping on both Fox and your mother's graves, but you disrespected my years of teaching you how to live." he says, "But of course, Felicia wants what Felicia wants. Don't come crawling back when small, tiny and webby decides to kick you to the curb." I get out of the house, my suit left behind and my gadgets still with me. I grapple from building to building, heading towards my safehouse. Of course my suit's tracker couldn't find it, I intended it that way just in case I was bugged.
I land on my balcony and type in the code, unlocking the balcony door and closing it behind me. I turn on the lights, I don't bother trying to hide my emotions, sinking to the floor and the burning hot ball of anger and grief begins to spin inside me. Crying as I hear the door open, Jack slowly ambling his way in with street clothes on. I look up at him through my messy swathes of hair, "Hey…" I sniff heavily, trying to dry my tears.
He sits down stiff as a board, trying to get comfortable. His messy brown hair is even more messy because of the windblowness of it all. He must've wrecked his suit. He wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close as best as he can.
"Hey, it's okay, Felicia." he says, his voice warm and strong, full of hope and optimism. I couldn't help but smile and drag him along on fun little adventures when he felt up for it. But tonight? I just need him to be Jack.
"It's not okay, Jackyboy…" I sigh.
"Why? Did something bad happen?" he wonders, "Is it about JJJ?" I see his doe eyes widen, "Oh Felicia, I'm sorry-"
I sit up, "No, no no. It's not JJJ. It's my Dad."
He tenses, "Oh." he says, "Do you need me to beat him up?"
"What? No. No, he didn't hurt me, well, the interaction with him hurt but everything else was nearly pain free." I explain, smiling and I hear the sigh of relief go through him, my chest fills with warmth at that. Jack cares about me, he won't hurt me.
He's smaller, wrapping his arms around me, head against the wall. Chin resting on the top of my head, his grip is reassuring. A little weak but that's not the point. My little Spider came when I called. 'Felicia Hardy, you hit the jackpot. No, not the jackpot. You stole the heart of the world's cutest vigilante and bagged it no problem.' I think, 'Eat your heart out, Dad. He really does love me!' I shuffle near his heart. Hearing the soft but strong heartbeat rattle through my ears.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks, "Because that's not all there is to it, is there?" Dammit, he's smarter than I thought. Damn these thoughts of him! I let out a little bit of a chuckle.
"I'm that easy to read, huh?" There is a flat tone to my voice, sarcasm dripping from my mouth like venom. He doesn't shrink back. He stays steady, looking at me with those eyes that scream the earnest innocence of Saturday morning cartoons.
"Well no, just tell me what happened. You were crying on the floor and all that. I'm worried." he says.
"My dad put a tracker in my suit, saw me do the Yacht thing and seeing you. He doesn't want me around you." I explain with him nodding.
"Oh come on, we can still be-" I cut him off almost with a desperate bid for attention with him looking almost shocked.
"I don't want to be that." I say, "I… I wanna…"
He smiles and kisses me on the forehead, "Okay." he says, "That's fine. How about another movie? Maybe I could go out and get something for dinner?"
I don't nod but I get up and lead him into the kitchen, "I do have a lot of stuff in here, it's still pretty good." I explain as he digs through the pantry and fridge, ambling stiffly but working quickly, getting pots and pans. Stuff like that. He's almost steady in his work.
'He knows how to cook? Damn, now I really know I hit the jackpot.' I think, watching him cook some spaghetti, going slow just to make sure he doesn't spill anything. It's almost mesmerizing. He hums 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' by Metallica.
"Got any cheese?" he asks.
"Yep. Where'd you learn to cook?" I wonder, seeing Jack smile up at me.
"My dad taught me, my mom is normally really busy at the hospital she works at so he made sure I knew how to cook a few things myself, we were gonna make chili together but…" he shakes his head, "You know."
I see him get reserved again, resigned and quiet. He doesn't like talking about his Dad all that much either, especially considering what happened to him. I watch him work.
"Hey, got any-"
"No, I forgot." I huff, "I know I love Garlic bread as much as the next person but I forgot this time."
"Aw man…" he sighs.
I smile, "Nah, it's okay." I lean against him from behind, smelling the scent of lavender on him. He uses lavender detergent? I smile and dinner is ready soon. I grin and my heart gets a little lighter than before.
Maybe I can make things right again.
Meanwhile, in Coney Island among the bright lights, bustling thoroughfares, and hawking employees trying to coax the people into playing their games… one man struts jauntily into an old arcade, flicking the lights on and going among the cabinets and various games. Machines interfacing with his cane he swings along gently.
"Yabadaba buddy boo…" he hums, "I got a lot of death for you…" he transforms a few of them with a tap of his cane, grinning at all the fun he's going to have. He nearly whimsically jaunts up to his stand in front of the entrance. His old sign swings down with a rusting screeching sound. A garish nightmare of hot pink, red, white, and green with the words 'I'm Arcade!' and an arrow pointing at him. He grins and stamps his cane on the little stand, a microphone jerking up to his lips. He steps back. The lights flicker and catch on, with Arcade grabbing the mic.
"STEP RIGHT ON UP AND THRILL YOURSELF TO DEATH IN MY…" he pauses, thinking, 'Come on, Arcade! Snappy name that doesn't start with a felony! You can do this!'
"WHIMSICAL WORLD OF THRILLING ARCADE DELIGHTS!" he calls as a few come away from their friends, leading them along.
"Aw yeah…" he says, "It's good to be back~!" With a wicked smile and a swirl into the arcade, he begins his work. Arcade's good old reliable Coney Island Murderworld is back online.