SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 14)
Note: Hope you all enjoy Far From Home when it comes out…
10:02 am J. Jonah Jameson's office, 4th floor…
"I'm sorry, Mr. Urich. I'm going to have to let you go…" John said holding the head of a phone near his ear, "Besides, you deserve the retirement and care from your children."
John listened carefully as Urich spoke with his voice being muted to everything except John's ear.
"Look…Uh- I get it. When people get old, their memories start to go haywire sometimes." John said, "What? I'm not saying you have Alzheimer's! That's not how I treat others."
Tired of the talk, John was ready to terminate the call.
"Look…It's a busy day at the Bugle. No one can catch a break. Everyone's straining themselves and catching colds because these days there's a gold mine of media to report." John said, "I'll still send you over that nice box of Christmas meat I promised this year, okay?"
As the call neared its termination, John gave out his final word to Urich despite his protests in his ear.
"I hate losing you, pal. You were definitely one of the most hard-nosed reporters I've known in my career." John said, "Goodbye!"
John hung up the phone and placed his thumbs on his forehead.
"Don't beat yourself over this, Jonah…" John mumbled to himself before deciding to open up the window behind him.
As John let the air into his office, he was startled when he noticed a silhouette that resembled Spider-Man swinging. He was shocked when it came closer and displayed a petrifying spider face with fangs and multiple eyes.
"AGH!" John screamed as the strange creature swooped by like Spider-Man and swung away.
Falling down backwards away from the window, John was spooked and after witnessing the monster, he knew there was a headline.
Meeting room…
"So obviously I'm not crazy when I say I've seen what looks like the face of Spider-Man." John said to everyone in the room.
Peter and Ned looked at each other before having to listen to what John had to say.
"After all these years…Spider-Man decides to show his face in public. Why? Because he wants people to fear. He wants people like me to go, 'Jonah, you better stop trash-talking me or I'm feeding off of you.' Hah! You think I'm scared? I've got all the guts to spare for the whole world to realise about him!" John ranted.
"Do we have clear images on what this 'Spider-Man' looks like?" Betty asked inspired by Peter's attempts to stand up against John.
"Clear images? I saw the red on him. It's him. No doubt." John said, "No one else swings like he does. Oh… Let's not forget, he's not even a human under the mask."
"And what about the blue?" Robbie asked, "Did you see any of that, Jonah?"
"Must have torn those off his costume, now that he has all eight arms instead of four." John grumbled.
"Mr. Jameson, if I may interject." Peter said, "I can help track down pictures of that Spider-Man."
"Oh, I don't know, Parker. He might eat you alive now if you do that." John replied.
"Well actually…" Peter added, "What if I can uncover some things regarding where it came from?"
"Parker, I asked you to be a photographer like Mr. Leeds. Not a reporter." John reminded.
"Of course, it's photography." Peter stated.
"In that case, I'm happy to back Mr. Parker's findings." A man of Indian appearance called out.
"Well, Mr. Prahim… In that case, Parker has my approval now." John stated, "Alright, um… Let's all get back to stations."
"Do we need to worry about building safety, Mr. Jameson?" Someone called out.
"No need…I'll see to it." John answered.
11:10 am Professor Warren's Laboratory, ESU…
It had already been hour or so since the spider-like creature had been let loose onto the campus grounds of Empire State University. The case was so bizarre that Manhattan's top police commissioner, Phillip DeWolff arrived with his team to see what the fuss was about.
Miller was shivering a little as the authorities were grilling him. Somewhere deep inside his mind, he was struggling to suppress the secret within him.
"Professor… Your work is already compromised. Now you have to tell us things to help with our investigation." Phillip, the old man requested.
"I can't… I've worked so far with this. It's not easy if I lose my grants and all." Miller said being cagey, "I need some else to talk with."
Peter and his reporter partner arrived on the scene to witness the damage and showed off their Daily Bugle name tags to get permission onto the scene.
Peter was worried about whether Gwen got hurt and wanted to know if she was okay after looking around the destroyed lab.
"What have you and Warren been doing in this lab?" Peter wondered as he snapped a few shots.
He then got out his phone and rang Gwen.
"Gwen? Are you here? It's Peter… Just heard about the incident, are you still around uni?" Peter asked.
"Hey. I'm still alive, okay. I'm still at the university. With my dad now." Gwen answered.
"Cool. Whereabouts, are you?" Peter asked.
"The Student Longue place…" Gwen replied, "You'll find it."
Peter then excused himself in front of the Daily Bugle reporter.
"Excuse me, Mr. Prahim… I've got some other matters to take care of on this campus." Peter said.
"Family, Mr. Parker?" The reporter questioned, "If so, then okay… But make sure we have photos to bring back."
"Yeah, got it." Peter said and head off.
"No running in the lab!" Miller shouted from behind as he noticed Peter scoot off.
Empire State University Student Longue…
Peter rushed in and found students and staff all stationed together with police surrounding them. Peter looked around the crowd before spotting Gwen sitting around a table with George.
"Gwen! Thank god, you're okay…" Peter said.
"Easy there… She had a rough day." George said as he tried comforting his daughter.
"Oh, you need space now. Okay…" Peter said before attempting to keep his distance.
"No, it's okay…" Gwen said, "I'm glad you're here."
"I heard about the news. New Spider-Man, is it?" Peter asked.
"More like Man-Spider." Gwen stated, "Buggy eyes, freaky mouth… I'm going to have nightmares."
"I thought you don't have any of those…" Peter said trying to lighten the mood before Gwen gave him the cold stare.
"Sorry, not a good time for jokes I see." Peter added.
"I had a weird feeling…I played a part in this mess. A lot of us did." Gwen said.
"So, what's Professor Warren's deal with it then?" Peter asked.
"Don't know… But I swear that thing is Anton. Remember, the friend I've told you about?" Gwen asked.
Peter thought hard and realised that Gwen might have mentioned that name before.
"Anton… That's who it is, huh?" Peter replied, "What's the guy's surname?"
"Rodriguez…" Gwen answered, "It's not like you know him."
"Of course, I don't… But um… It's why I'm in the Bugle." Peter replied, "Um- Take care, Gwen."
Peter rushed off in relief knowing his ex is safe and decided to pursue the runaway experiment.
6:30 pm Building rooftop, Manhattan…
After the hours of being confined to the Bugle are over, Peter hoped not much had happened since the creature's escape. The temperature in New York today was cold but without snow. He was hopeful about the police being capable in handling the situation but also thought about other things.
"What if this is Wilson Fisk's attempt to frame me?" Spider-Man questioned, "Surely, he's not crazy with going the generic route in making a duplicate of me."
"It's possible. He's the guy who's brought Electro out of prison and he has cops with him who might not be the nice ones. Oh wait… That's got more to do with Queens than Manhattan."
Ned then contacted Spider-Man through the ear communicator.
"Aren't you cold in just spandex?" Ned asked.
"Yeah… But actually, not that freezing." Spider-Man answered.
"Bless your spider powers then… Enjoying the view up there?" Ned asked again.
"I've seen Manhattan at night before. It's honestly cool and it's free for me." Spider-Man said looking over the city.
"So how are you doing with your genetic clone guy?" Ned asked.
"I'm prepared. I've got some things to use to get this guy's attention." Spider-Man said before shining a light from both of his web shooters.
Together, the light shined an infra-red light in the night sky that was bright enough.
"Apologies to all the other superheroes who use this tactic." Spider-Man said trying to align the light signal together to make something resembling his red mask.
"Kind of looks like me but not really." Spider-Man said observing the signal, "Oh, Phil… You sure you don't have another way of doing this?"
Spider-Man's arms were a little tired as he attempted to keep the Spider-Signal present in the sky. This prompted him to even lie down. Eventually his Spider-sense began tingling a little but not as strong as he hoped.
"Something is definitely…" Spider-Man said to himself before being surprise attacked by the spider-like creature.
The creature began using its arms to physically swipe at Spider-Man who dodged them as fast as possible before one arm landed a cut on his costume.
"Careful… It's not easy to sew things back together." Spider-Man as he felt like he was fighting himself.
The creature hissed and spat out a string of web which stuck onto Spider-Man's left web shooter. With its strength, the creature pulled using its mouth to detach the web shooter.
"No, no… Not my web shooter!" Spider-Man before jumping in to land a kick onto the creature's stomach which knocked it down the building dragging Spider-Man along.
As they fell, Spider-Man used the other web shooter to save themselves as they zipped by thousands of New Yorkers. The creature gained back its instinct and used the tips of its legs to create web swings.
"Oh man… If only I had that many arms." Spider-Man said chasing the creature down.
6:54 pm Stark Industry Warehouse…
Eventually, Spider-Man tracked the creature into an old warehouse that was once a Stark Industries warehouse. The place had been built at a time when Howard Stark, the father of Tony Stark was alive. Now it was relic of the past sitting in Manhattan as a tourist attraction.
The two crashed through the rooftop tumbling down and hitting as much metal structural supports. Spider-Man felt bruised as he tried hanging onto the creature that Gwen had dubbed, 'Man-Spider'.
"You are one ugly… Actually, you're everything I wish I didn't become beforehand." Spider-Man said hanging onto a roof support.
Man-Spider hissed from down below as he faced his target.
"Damn it, how do I stop this guy?" Spider-Man wondered.
Man-Spider jumped into the air with incredible speed and managed to drag Spider-Man down from the ceiling.
Using four of its eight legs to pin down Spider-Man, the creature hissed again and spewed webs from its mouth and onto Spider-Man's mask.
"Gross…." Spider-Man said struggling before kicking the abdomen-like area behind him.
Man-Spider reacted and pounced off as Spider-Man regained his strength. Looking around, Spider-Man thought that maybe if there was enough heat, the creature could be subdued.
"Oil drums perhaps? Or what about the gas cylinders? After all, bugs are scared of fire." Spider-Man said.
Man-Spider continuously was trying to find ways to take down Spider-Man taking the stance of a defensive male spider at times. Pouncing all over the place, the creature eventually sunk its fangs onto a gas cylinder.
The flammable gas made Man-Spider swing its head around as the gas leaked. Spider-Man managed to cough the gas and attempted moving away. Eventually, Man-Spider swung the cylinder into the direction of the oil drums knocking them down.
The reaction of the gas and oil together proved reactive as flames were ignited as soon as the boom came. Man-Spider was startled by the sight of flames and was even burnt by the embers. Immediately, the creature was attempting to flee.
"Not so fast." Spider-Man said throwing a spider-tracer onto the creature's abdomen.
Man-Spider swung out from the rooftop crash hole into the sight with Spider-Man attempting to tail along. His attempt to bring Man-Spider down was delayed when parts of the roof collapsed. As Spider-Man fell down, he landed on his back hard before a steel beam starting falling. Luckily, Spider-Man held onto it before being crushed.
"Oh f-… All this time fighting him, and I forgot that this guy's a person." Spider-Man said pushing the steel beam off him after reminding himself that this was Anton Rodriguez.
Once that was done, Spider-Man swung out of the warehouse through the crash hole where he and Man-Spider first entered before the place blew up. The sound was enough to startle people, but Spider-Man hoped no civilians were hurt nearby. Perching onto another building and clutching on his back, Spider-Man watched the warehouse go up in flames.
"Oh man… That does not feel good on my resume." Spider-Man noted.
9:45 pm Stacy residence…
That night, Gwen returned home feeling a little disturbed. The sight of a monstrous creature nearly eating her was something to haunt her dreams. She could not afford to eat dinner and opted to try and forget things by going to bed early.
As she slept, her mind was numbed by visions of Man-Spider that even her pillow could smother it out. She knew the world was a bizarre place and that seeing things like Spider-Man swinging or Shocker using shockwave gauntlets was normal. But seeing a grotesque monster-like thing felt too much.
"What exactly have I been helping the professor with, this whole time?" Gwen questioned trying to relax herself.
Eventually, her brain gave in and she could rest. However, she opened her eyes at the point where a spider was crawling next to her glass of water. Her hand was also close to the glass at that time. She freaked and broke the glass of water after swatting the spider off her hand and killing it.
George came rushing into the room to see what was going on and saw the mess on the floor after turning on the lights in her room.
"Oh no, you broke the glass." George remarked before noting the dead spider as well.
"Sorry, overreaction." Gwen said, "I'm just freaked out by spiders now."
"Arachnophobia? Nonsense." George stated.
Gwen got out of her bed in an attempt to clean up the broken glass before George interjected.
"I've got this." George said trying to find the sweeping pan in Gwen's room.
"So, dad…I know you work close with Spider-Man, am I right? You think that's really him?" Gwen asked.
"I don't know, sweetheart. I'm not part of the police force these days. If I was, I'd be in on all the information." George assured, "Besides, it's out of character for him to be like that."
"Yeah, I guess. I've never talked with him before." Gwen said to herself recalling that there was never a time Spider-Man came down and said "Hi" or anything.
"He is a friend around this neighbourhood for sure. But he's a hero and he has a lot to do. I haven't spoke to him in a whole if I'm being honest." George said.
"Really?" Gwen asked.
"Yep… We've haven't talked since… I guess the time we discussed about Maxwell Dillion." George said.
"Huh. I guess he's being protective then." Gwen said.
"Indeed…" George said sweeping up the last bit of broken glass.
"Dad?" Gwen asked.
"Yes, sweetie?" George questioned.
"I don't know if I want to continue with science. I know there's safety hazards in that subject but…I just feel things are getting out of control all of a sudden." Gwen said.
"Gwen, me and your mother don't know about your choice with music either." George stated, "We want the best out of you."
"I just…" But before Gwen continued, she was overwhelmed by emotion and placed her arms around her father.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You'll be fine, I promise." George replied as he let his daughter embrace him.
TO BE CONTINUED…
End note: This chapter had some partial influence from the story of a horror-themed Spider-Man film that nearly got made during the 80s by Tobe Hopper.