SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 36)
Note: Title of the chapter is a bit of a play for 'The Clone Conspiracy' Saga.
7:30 pm U-Genetics…
Miller had gained almost complete control of U-Genetics since the last night and so. Once he had finished with his human appearance changes; he took the next initiative in gaining control of both information technology and financial services. Although there were minor slip-ups, only a few acted suspicious.
"Thank you, Raja." Miller said talking to the IT support team and chewing a piece of gum while sitting on his newly acquired office desk.
After hanging up the phone, he excitedly typed in the password on the computer and accessed multiple confidential files.
"Not a bad way to start anew." Miller said smiling and clicking the computer mouse.
Later, the same receptionist Miller saw the other day before killing Richard knocked on the door.
"Sir, have you cleared everything today?" The receptionist asked.
"Yes, I just restored access to all the company files. The quality assurances; projects etc." Miller replied while trying to act normal.
"I'm going to take my leave today and I'm just letting you know…I've sent an email reminder about our potential clients looking to patent our products." The receptionist said.
"Ah, yes. I will look forward to meeting them." Miller said hastily.
"Good night, sir." The receptionist said before leaving.
"Wait a second…" Miller spoke.
The receptionist then stopped and turned around.
"Can we arrange an urgent meeting tomorrow afternoon?" Miller requested, "I have to address some changes in our…Company work." Miller said.
The receptionist nodded before closing the door. After the receptionist left, Miller was pretty much the only person aside from the hired cleaner to be left in the building. Being a company manager was tough and he planned on shaking the chain of command by forcing the place to be his personal scientific playground.
"The pursuit for ubiquitous health…" Miller pondered, "And I still have yet to understand a Spider's physiology."
Miller sat in deep thought as he thought about his next step before shaking his head.
"I better check on my precious…. Specimens." Miller said getting up from his desk and doing what he said.
8:00 pm Verrazano-Narrows Bridge…
Meanwhile, Spider-Man went ahead with his personal quest to save Ned. Carrying a backpack on him this time, he had planned on having extra items in case the situation put him outside of New York City.
"If I actually get to Delaware, I'm going to cope so much trouble again as Peter Parker." Spider-Man said, "But I can't let Fisk play me."
Hanging on top of a bus, he used his lenses to identify the police truck that was informed by the police news media to be carrying Ned. The number of vehicles leaving and entering New York was a reasonable amount as he anticipated.
"This is New York. Other than LA, where else would people like to go in America?" Spider-Man said as he felt the air pass by as the bus drove.
Concentrating hard, Spider-Man was certain that finding the truck was not difficult since it should be identifiable. Eventually, he spotted what looked like a black armoured vehicle and hopped off. Using other vehicles as jump boards, he made his way as fast as he could to reach the vehicle.
Inside the truck, Ned had two prison guards beside him carrying rifles while he was stuck in chains with a white prison uniform on. The situation for Ned was uncomfortable and there seemed to be little hope for him.
"You know I'm really thinking of going to the toilet." Ned stated as he tried to converse.
The guards said nothing as they sat side by side in a stern manner. Their eyes were the only indication of a reaction with their mouths masked up.
"So… Did you guys always dream of being police officers? Or were you just in it for the money?" Ned asked.
One guard then responded by taking out a stun baton and zapping Ned in response.
"I don't care if you piss your pants, Porky. How about you shut up if you want to stay awake on the trip?" The guard on the left replied.
"Ow." Ned groaned in response.
"Hey, let me say this. You know why I support a guy like Fisk? He's a guy who can get the job done; he doesn't wait around. He's the kind of guy who's tough on crime and he's giving back to us." The guard on the right explained, "So he's keeping all our families fed."
"At least you're a nice guy for telling." Ned said as he shrugged off the shock of the stun baton.
The three of them then heard a knock on the backdoor of the truck.
"You mind checking?" The guard on the left asked.
The other guard nodded before making the slow approach to investigate the noise as they were being driven. He then made the risk and opened the left door to see what made the noise.
"Hey there, it's Spider-Man. Just wondering if this truck is carrying a guy named Ned Leeds?" Spider-Man asked startling the guard.
"Damn it! Spider-Man is here!" The guard near Ned yelled before getting up, "Slow the car down!"
The truck then reacted by braking causing Ned and the guards to be thrown around a little while Spider-Man held on. The truck then hit the barricade separating the bridge putting a stop to both the truck as well as the surrounding vehicles.
"Look, we can settle this-." Spider-Man uttered before one guard attempted to swing his baton at him.
The two guards within the truck both jumped out and started to approach Spider-Man aggressively. Both of them carried their stun batons in hand while also deploying riot shields.
"Fancy toys, hey?" Spider-Man replied before shooting two strings of web at each of the shields.
Spider-Man tugged at the shields while the guards gripped them. Pulling the guards forward, Spider-Man was hit by a double stun baton causing him to fall over.
"We've learnt a couple of tricks at training." One guard said before beginning to hit Spider-Man over and over.
The other guard followed as Spider-Man tried to resist the physical attacks. The two remaining guards who drove the truck finally got out as well and deployed the same weapons. Together, the guards started beating down on Spider-Man until they were certain he stopped moving.
"These shields are the deal breaker. Can't get past them unless you want to be zapped." One guard snickered.
Spider-Man groaned on the ground; while onlookers who stopped their car continued to film. This caught the attention of the guards who began moving forward to ward them off. Ned on the other hand was concerned while being held back by his chains.
"Hey, police business here. Everyone go back." A guard shouted and ordered, "Restrain the Spider."
As the guards gleefully attempted to pin down Spider-Man; they were taken by surprise by Spider-Man's recovery. Slowly gaining strength, the guards prepared to beat him down again before he caught one of the guard's baton by hand without being zapped.
"Sorry for the surprise. But this isn't the first time I've been zapped." Spider-Man said before knocking the guard down.
Grabbing the stun baton out of his hand; Spider-Man battled against the other two guards as he tried to navigate between bypassing the shields as well as the stun batons. Using rapid web shots to his advantage, he was able to distract his opponents before throwing successive punches and kicks.
"I don't know how to feel about beating down police but there's always an exception." Spider-Man commented as the last guard lunged towards him with ferocity.
Diving under the guard; Spider-Man punched the guard's crotch before shooting down the guard with his sticky webbing. After the guards were taken care of, Spider-Man walked towards the back of the truck and released Ned from his chains.
"Dude, you just knocked out some police officers." Ned whispered.
"Police officers who were on Fisk's payroll. That's the significance." Spider-Man said leading him out of the truck.
As Spider-Man got out, the number of civilians who witnessed the fight began to back away from recording and reluctant to give Spider-Man any cheer.
"Did Spider-Man seriously free a criminal?" One man questioned.
"Oh, look. They hate you now." Ned said shaking his head.
"I could care less about that now." Spider-Man commented, "At least, we didn't break the bridge. Let's get out of here."
Grabbing Ned by his side; Spider-Man leaped off the bridge and used the bridge support stands to swing himself back to New York City.
7:45 pm U-Genetics Underground Laboratory…
Earlier, Miller made his way to the laboratory where he keeping biological tissue samples of his victims stored in regeneration tanks. He had worked hard to make them tanks to keep fresh cells for his personal experiments on rather than their original medical use.
"My lovelies… So well preserved." Miller gloated staring at the tanks with glee.
There were exactly a hundred tanks present in the room; some of them still contained the original stem cell samples to avoid suspicion from the other employees. While, the victims Miller killed which include the Hanz family had been preserved in their complete naked forms.
"Definitely not for kids." Miller groaned as he stared at the tanks, "I'm so glad to sneak in these bodies past the receptionist."
Walking up to the tank which preserved the body of Richard's son, he got out a single test tube which contained a secret 'regenerative' formula which was previously used when he experimented on Anton. The formula whose ingredients are unknown was manufactured discreetly with Miller utilising the available resources at U-Genetics.
"Pray that I don't have to carry this guilty conscience for the rest of my life." Miller said before inserting the tube into a dispensary site component of the tank.
After pressing a couple of buttons, the tank began to automatically transfer the contents of the tube within itself. The amount of formula Miller placed in was soon followed by an immediate reaction of the son's body which looked as if it was repairing itself. The son then opened up its eyelids and began struggling to breath.
Seeing the reaction of the son, Miller selected the drainage function on the tank control panel which drained all the preservative fluid out of the tank and prevented him from drowning. The son breathed heavily as it tried to catch its breath. Taking the test tube out of dispensary, Miller grinned and snickered at the promising result.
9:45 pm Leeds residence…
Swinging down from the top of a tree, Spider-Man carried Ned down to the ground who was now sporting regular casual clothes instead of his prison ones. In addition, Ned was given a pair of glasses and a New York Mets baseball bat to go along with his appearance.
"That cap used to be my uncle's by the way." Spider-Man said as he looked around the neighbourhood carefully.
"You sure this is a good enough guise?" Ned asked.
"If I have Chameleon's disguise tech. I'd give it to you, alright." Spider-Man replied.
As the two approached Ned's house, Ned's cat, King stopped licking its paws on the home porch and mewed at the sight of its owner.
"King. I missed you. How are you holding up, buddy?" Ned asked cheerfully as he petted the cat.
Walking up to the household door, Spider-Man knocked without hesitation. The door was picked up by Ned's little sister, Mandy who at first was surprised to see Spider-Man but more surprised to see her brother.
"Ned?" Mandy asked upon seeing him.
"Oh my god, Mandy." Ned said as Mandy came forth to receive her brother's hug, "I can't believe it."
"How did you escape? Mum keeps worrying." Mandy said before she started sobbing.
"Easy, I'm here." Ned replied.
However, Ned soon felt that his sister's cries were more than just for his return and he immediately began questioning about his mother.
"How's mum?" Ned asked concerned.
Mandy looked up before she started dragging Ned to the house.
"Mind watching the door?" Ned asked Spider-Man as he entered the house.
Ned's mother, Natalie was lying on the bed looking pale than before. She looked visibly weak from exhaustion and had trouble opening her eyes. Ned carefully opened the door and spotted his mother who looked as if she was treated with neglect.
"Mum? It's me." Ned said.
"Ned? How-?" Natalie asked, "You got out."
"Yeah, I did. I did nothing wrong, mum. Please…" Ned said trying to dispel the false guilt of him killing Frederick.
"I know you wouldn't do such a thing. Why would you?" Natalie groaned as she attempted to stretch herself.
"Easy, mum. I'm sorry I couldn't be here to take care of you every day." Ned said holding his mother's hand.
"What's the point of it anyway? It can't always be forever." Natalie said, "Your sister by the way… Did the best she could in your absence…"
"Oh, good. Wait… Hold on. What do you mean 'It can't always be forever.'?" Ned asked in concern.
Natalie did not say anything in return immediately and appeared to look tired. She looked at the digital clock next to her bedside before looking back.
"It's been admittedly hard to follow up with health insurance…" Natalie said, "I'm feeling… Drowsy."
As Ned's mother began to shut her eyes, she had a few more words to utter out.
"Ned… Take care of your sister. Take care of your future." Natalie said.
"Mum?!" Ned cried as he felt his mother's hand grow cold.
It was then that Ned realised the hard truth. His mother had given up her fight against cancer and it seemed like she wanted to preserve all her strength to seeing her son again. In Ned's mind, he tried to grasp the possibility if this was all just a coincidence. Nevertheless, he grieved for the shortest amount of time.
Leaving the house, he looked at Spider-Man and Mandy who were both waiting outside. Looking at Spider-Man first, he then turned to his sister and spoke out the hard truth.
"Mandy… Mum's…" Ned stammered before finding it hard to grasp his sadness.
His sister then hugged him and cried in response leaving Spider-Man as the only witness to this sadness. It was certainly not the first time for Peter himself to experience the loss of someone close to one. But to witness this outcome for himself made him pity his best friend all the more.
"I hate to interrupt. But we have to move…" Spider-Man said.
As Ned and Mandy gained control of their emotions, Ned nodded in grief before saying a word.
"Yeah, this was something that was inevitable one way or another." Ned said, "Besides, Fisk's people will never stop bothering me and my family. It's not safe in New York."
Ned stood quietly for a few seconds before looking at his sister.
"Mandy, we don't have a choice." Ned said, "Let's get some stuff out of the house before it's too late. Understand?"
"What stuff?" Mandy asked.
"Anything valuable that you don't want to leave behind? Get your bag." Ned ordered.
Mandy then understand her older brother and did as she was told.
"Don't worry, you'll come back home safe. I promise." Peter said to his friend.
"I hope so." Ned replied, "Goodbye, Peter. Thank you for being the best of friends during these times."
Before Ned walked inside his house, he then stopped and turned around.
"Oh, I almost forgot." Ned said turning around and picking up King who was casually strolling around, "Can you look after this guy?"
"Uh, you're not taking your pet with you?" Peter said looking at the cat.
"How can I? He probably won't survive long if he comes with us. Plus, you can keep him to remember things." Ned said as he tried passing the cat to Peter's hand.
King initially panicked at the idea of being in the hands of someone unfamiliar before Ned calmed it down and requested Peter to lift up his face mask to make King recognise him. Peter did as he was told which helped the cat's nerves.
"I better consult with Aunt May about this." Peter said holding onto the cat.
"Does your household ever allow pets?" Ned wondered.
"Uncle Ben used to own a dog. Other than that, we never touched on the subject." Peter replied.
Mandy then came out the door carrying all that she could in her tiny backpack. As Ned clutched his little sister's hand, Peter quickly discussed with Ned on where he could go.
"Got any idea where you want to go?" Peter asked.
"Don't know… I always want to see California or… We could hike all the way north to Canada." Ned commented.
"Either way, is your phone-?" Peter asked before being interrupted.
"Guards took it away from me. Besides, they're basically tracking beams if we have them." Ned said addressing mobile phone concerns, "Guess, it's up to me and my guile."
"Right…Know which bus stop to find if you want to get out of New York?" Peter asked.
"I know. There's one near JFK airport if we make it." Ned said.
"I'll swing you there." Peter said in return before realising King in his hands.
"No need…Once again. Thanks, Peter. For everything." Ned said before hugging his friend.
After the hug, Ned took Mandy by the hand and walked. Mandy had one good look at Peter's face before she and her brother left the residence. Together, the Leeds siblings disappeared into the dark for their unknown journey leaving Peter at another house with a soon-to-be distant memory.
8:30 am St. John's Cemetery, Queens…
Today was not a bright day as Gwen attended the funeral of Anton at a small cemetery around Queens. However, it was time of gathering to be with some of her university colleagues who she had missed. Wearing her black coat and other funeral garments, she hugged every one she could meet.
Anton's family from Delvadia also was present at some capacity with a mother; two younger brother siblings and a young sister being present. Finding her seat, she sat down in guilt as she recalled the day Anton had died. In some twisted sense, she felt like the murderer who had yet to confess.
As the event began, the reverend had a speech paper ready on the stand as he surprisingly began to speak in Spanish first before English considering Anton's own cultural background. As Gwen listened, she felt her Spider-sense tingle and a cold chill go down her spine.
Gwen looked around and noticed a nearby bush start to rustle. As she paid attention to the rustling bush, Miller burst out like a wild predator scaring all the funeral attendants in the process. In his green beast form, Miller lunged at the reverend scaring him before turning around to look at his audience with his deadly eyes.
"Sorry to interrupt but this event was not something I want to miss." Miller said grinning, "Say, where's the body of Anton Rodríguez?"
No one in the audience wanted to speak for fear of drawing Miller's attention. Gwen sat in fear as she did not want Miller to pick up that she or Spider-Woman herself was part of the audience.
"Heh. Anyway, I guess…" Miller said before eyeing Anton's sister, "I'll still take something here!"
Pulling the little girl away, Miller grabbed her violently making Anton's mother scream in fear and the audience to be more fearful.
"Spider-Man; Spider girl or whatever. If you're here; can either of you follow me? I've got a message to deliver." Miller warned.
With those few words, Miller dashed off from the scene leaving the audience stunned and Gwen in crisis and urgency.
9:00 am Parker residence…
Depressed, Peter could not sleep as he covered himself with his own bedsheets. With Ned out of the picture and on the run, he continuously worried the days ahead of him were getting worse. In securing his friend's freedom, Wilson has public leverage to pull the strings as he pleases. The other side of his mind had to remember Gwen and her conflict. Lastly, since Aunt May is more of an elderly, it is his responsibility to look after her while she works tirelessly.
"How am I going to deal with everything?" Peter said as he tossed and turned.
King mewed nearby as he began scratching the bedroom wall of Peter. Ever since bringing home the cat, Peter had yet to receive approval for keeping him and it was something he had to disclose with Aunt May today.
"Hey, leave my wall alone." Peter said trying to prevent the cat from doing further claw damage.
Upon grabbing King, the cat wrestled around before Peter dropped him.
"Fine, do you want to hang around outside?" Peter asked and opened up the bedroom window, "Go on."
As he watched the cat wander around, Peter's phone soon rang. Picking the phone up, Peter heard Robbie's voice.
"Peter, are you there? Listen, do you have time today?" Robbie asked.
TO BE CONTINUED…