[A few days ago]
Somewhere else, inside an empty apartment, four teens suddenly busted through the front door and slumped down. They were tired and barely stayed upright. And the weight of the briefcase one of them was holding... felt even more than before.
"...W-we got out..." One of the teens, a boy with curly black hair breathed out, struggling to hold the crimson-haired girl he was already barely holding on to. "But shouldn't we have a better place to stay than this place?"
"It's only temporary, S," Another boy, who had brown hair and a stack of cards in his hand. "We have nothing on us, and she's covered in blood for god sake."
"Just... shut up, C." A blood-covered girl with shoulder-length chocolate-shaded hair interrupted them, still holding her left arm in pain. "F-fuck, my arm..."
"Shit," Widening his eyes, the boy named 'C' hastily rushed to her side, worry and hesitation both clear in his eyes. "E, steady your breathing, I'll try to-"
"NO! You'll only make it worse- AHHHH!"
Before the two boys could even react, her arm suddenly started twisting and twitching. The sound of bones cracking rang around the entire room, accompanied by the pained screams of her.
It lasted for a few seconds, as E's screaming slowly faded into panting. "...I hate this part of my power," She murmured, lifting her arms little by little. "But I'm alright now... I guess."
"So... that's the 'healing' part of your power," S sighed, putting the girl he was holding onto the couch near them. "No wonder for you to not want to fight."
"Yeah, no shit," She glared at him, her fist tightened. "I'm not like you, I can't stop those bullets like you, or just throwing things that explode like C. I have to get close and personal."
"Or hell, like how M could heal herself, then using those blood to kill everyone," E pointed at the girl on the couch, who was still unconscious. "Every time I get hurt, this happens. Remember that."
Seeing no words coming from them, she stumbled and walked into the bathroom. "I'm going to clear all this blood off from me, don't you even dare to come in," She said without looking back, slamming the door shut.
The silence stayed for a few seconds before C finally broke it. "...Now what, S," He asked. "We can't just stay here forever, and definitely not going to call each other by the codenames they gave us."
"Just taking it day by day, I guess."
[Back to right now] (Ethan's POV)
After rushing back home and putting on the new suit, I had to be much quicker to get to where Miss Watanabe told us to come. After all, even with the new suit, I couldn't just wear it underneath my normal clothes.
climbing up from the edge of the police station's roof, I saw Peter and Miss Watanabe were already there, and probably just waiting for me. Oh boy, let's hope I wasn't too late.
"Sorry for coming late, Miss Watanabe," I breathed out, and she looked... weirdly calm?
"It's fine, Noir, you're just a few minutes later than Spider-Man," She shook her head, taking out a file to us. "Anyway, this is what I asked you two to come over for."
Wait, a file? That must be something important.
Opening the files, we were greeted by pictures of a warehouse, and... Holy shit, holy fucking shit.
It was literally painted in crimson, or other words, blood, and guts. Not only that, there were pieces of bodies lying around, severed heads, or just a piece of it. And there were bullet marks as well, tons of them.
Even if there was a shootout, the result shouldn't be this bloody. Then... what exactly happened?
Glancing up from the photos, Peter raised an eyebrow at Miss Watanabe. "Yuri, do you have any more information about it?"
"It's a warehouse located around Upper Manhattan, and we got calls about a shooting a few days ago," The lieutenant explained. "It's actually the same day as your fight with the Lizard."
"But when some of the patrol squad arrived, this is what they saw."
"It must be traumatizing to see that," I sighed, resting my hands on my hip. "How's them?"
"Some of them are going through therapy to deal with that, but all of them are on break right now."
"Yeah, they definitely need that," Peter agreed, glancing to me for a moment before turning back to Miss Watanabe. "Is there more stuff about it?"
"We looked around the warehouse and searched the corpses... or what there's left of it," Yuri said, giving out a long breath. "We found a basement with cells, makeshift prison cells, that were clearly broken out of. And we found now of the few corpses that aren't in pieces..."
"And from him, we found out that this warehouse belonged to Dead-Bridges. While some of them belonged to Tombstone's gang."
...Of course it's Dead-Bridges again. So basically, they had a shootout with Tombstone's gang- Wait.
Narrowing my eyes onto the photos, I pointed to a few weird marks left on the wall and floor. "Wait, there's... claw marks there. And from how the blood splattered on the ground, it looked like it exploded from the inside..."
"And that's why I called you two here," Yuri interrupted me. "Those marks and the basement with cells... It looked like something, or someone broke out from them and caused this massacre."
"And with this being on top of the shootout with another gang..."
I subconsciously toned out what Miss Watanabe was saying as I pondered. Wait, basement with makeshift prison cells, and the warehouse belonged to Dead-Bridges... OH.
"It's the test subjects," I blurted out, interrupting what she was saying and grabbed Peter's attention. "It's the test subjects for Blue Ice."
"Test subjects of Blue Ice?" The lieutenant repeated with a raised eyebrow, clearly surprised by my words. "Wait, how did you figure this out-"
"I knew one of them, she escaped because of me," I explained, feeling a bit guilty from hiding the truth of Rachel for this long. "She mentioned that she escaped from a basement when we first met..."
"I-I was in a basement... a man came over and ... I-I don't know how but..."
"So maybe... the rest of the subjects got out..."
Meanwhile, stroking his chin in thought, Peter glanced over at me in confusion, "Wait, you never mentioned anything like that, when did you meet her?"
"...I..."
Judging from how his eyelid widened, I guessed Peter figured out what I meant. And he was speechless for a few seconds. "It's her, isn't it?"
"Just don't tell her you knew," I sighed, and my eyes landed back on Miss Watanabe. And she was understandably confused from our exchange.
"...whatever, there's something else as well," Pinching her nose bridge, she let out a long breath before continuing. "There's also the fact that after this, Tombstone's gang and Dead-Bridges have been in somewhat of a war."
"There are already two shootouts related to them, and by this pace... innocent people would be in danger."
So in a nutshell, we're dealing with two things at once, those test subjects, and Tombstone... Dammit, it's not going to be tough for us... At least I expected this when I decided to go out and started fighting.
"I'll deal with the test subjects," I said, surprising both Peter and Miss Watanabe again. "You two can deal with the whole matters with Tombstone. After all, he's more of a threat than those test subjects."
"After all, I'm dealing with Dead-Bridges already, so a leg up for me... I guess."
However, I could feel Peter gave me a look of disapproval. "Wait, but you're still somewhat new to this... Are you sure about that?"
"I'm the only person other than her who can somewhat know what they're going through, Spidey," I adjusted my goggle, resting my palm on my waist. "Besides, Tombstone is no joke either. If what I heard is right, that guy is basically Rhino without being a massive idiot."
Well, Tombstone was running his own gang, so he was definitely not stupid in any shape or form.
But before Peter could give a response, Miss Watanabe interrupted with a small sigh. "Either way, we are facing a potential gang war already... And with those test subjects on the loose on top of it..."
"Things aren't looking great at all," She finished, shaking her head. "Anyway, I shouldn't bother you two for too long. I will continue the investigation, and I will notify you if there's any new development."
With that said, she turned back and left the rooftop with only me and Peter remained. And... to say the atmosphere between us 'awkward'... was an understatement.
After a few long seconds of silence, Peter finally broke it with a sigh. "So... did Rachel mentioned anything concerning them?"
"No, but I don't blame her for not wanting to talk about it," I rested my hands on my waist, looking down at my feet. "From what Catherine told me... Rachel's in a bad shape when she found her."
"But then... how are you going to find them?"
...Peter's right, I literally had no real lead to them. The only thing closest thing to one was Rachel herself, and she couldn't help too much either. The only way I could even get a bit closer to them was for them to do something. At best, it was that they were attacking a warehouse or anything owned by Dead-Bridges. And at worst...
Was something involving civilian casualties.
As all these thoughts flooded my mind, I could only give out a long breath. "I know it's risky and stupid, but I'll probably try and go after every warehouse and location owned by Dead-Bridges. There's gotta be some document or file about those test subjects."
And Peter... took a long while to process what I was suggesting before answering. "...You've got to be kidding me. Calling this idea 'stupid' is an understatement," With a hint of shock underneath, he walked over and stared at me with widened eyelids. "I know you're already dealing with Dead-Bridges, but... that means you're definitely going to get their attention-"
"I am already on their radar, Spider-Man," I interrupted him, subconsciously adjusted my glove. "So... nothing much had changed, I guess."
With that said, I leaped off from the roof and went on my way. And... I should tell Felicia about this too, I couldn't just do this alone. Hell, I might have to ask for more help, but... who could I ask?
Shaking my head to clear my mind, I decided to get back home for now. I need to look through my dad's journal to see if there were any leads.
[The next day, the subjects' apartment]
Back to the subjects, even though they had settled at this apartment for a couple of days, and things somewhat calmed down. However... for some reason, M still hadn't wake up.
As he watched her with a downcasted face, S could only blame himself for all of this. "Dammit, if I just stop her in time... none of this would've happened..."
"M! Just stay back!"
"No, I... I can help... I should help..."
"If I can control my power better, you don't need to-"
"Still thinking of the 'what-ifs', S?" Surprised by the voice coming from behind, S turned and gave C a small nod.
"Yeah, there's just... too many things I can... I should do," He said, turning back onto M. "Besides... you messed up the name again. It's Scott."
"Well, it still needs time to get used to, especially referring myself as Connor, or E as Eveline," C, now known as Connor, shrugged and pressed his back on the wall. "But either way, there's no point of thinking of those 'what-ifs'. We can't turn back time."
"I know," S, now known as Scott, stood up and shook his head. "How's Eveline? I haven't seen her since this morning."
"Well, I guess she went off to look for her family... or something like that," Connor answered. "After all, at least she got a bit of memory about her life before. Not like us."
"Yeah, at least she still got a bit of those memory-"
"Hey, we can't change the fact that we don't have any of them," The brown-haired boy interrupted him, crossing his arms. "We don't have the luxury to look back, after all."
"Maybe, but speaking of now..." Scott trailed off, looking over to the window inside the living room. "Are we going to just rely on the money we stole from those guys? You know... it isn't limitless."
"I know, but there's nothing we can do," Connor gave out a long breath, glancing over to the pistol he stole from that guy he killed. "And... doing robbery is only going to make things worse, no matter it's just a shop or a bank."
"You're right..."
However, just as the two were about to leave the room, the crimson-haired girl suddenly stirred. Gradually opening her eyelid and took in the light coming from the window, she turned her head and looked at the two with a confusion-filled gaze.
"...Where... am I?"
Eyes widened, Scott rushed to her side without a second thought with a bright smile. "M! You're finally awake!" He exclaimed, almost brought her into his arms before stopping himself. "O-okay, so uh... this is where we're staying right now. You can say that it's out hideout from them."
"Hideout..." Trailing off, she tried to sit up but failed, and slumped down onto the bed. "Ah! I..."
Hastily putting his hand on her back to support her body, Scott slowly helped her sat on against the headboard. "You've been unconscious for two days straight, M," He awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you need anything?"
"I... I'm hungry... and thirsty..."
"Okay, I'll find something for you-" Turning around, he was about to leave the room before stopped by the sight before him.
As if he could predict what's about to happen, Connor was already holding a cup of chocolate. "Here, it should be warm enough," He said, handing the cup of hot chocolate to Scott. "Just don't tell E-Eveline that I... might have stolen a pack of chocolate powder from her..."
"She's gonna find out anyway," Scott deadpanned, grabbing the chocolate and handed it to her. "Here, just be careful when drinking it."
"T-thanks..." Nodding, M took the cup and drank it. Almost instantly, a wave of warmness filled her body, and then it was replaced by a wave of sweetness. And weirdly, it felt... comforting.
To be honest, how long had it been since the last time she had a cup of chocolate like that? Or... is there even was a 'last time' she drank something even come close to it?
"It's kinda funny seeing you being amazed over a cup of chocolate, Mia."
Surprised by the sudden words coming from the other side of the room, M looked over where the voice came from. And leaning against the wall, a girl was staring at her with an amused smirk.
However, the thing that grabbed most of her attention was that... This girl looked exactly like her, if not for the clear difference in their expression and the bright red eyes of her, it would just like a mirror to one another.
"And lucky you, waking up with him by your side," Ignoring M, now named as Mia, the copy walked over to right behind Scott, leaning over and took a closer look at him. "I never had a good look at him when I took over, but huh... he looked nice."
Finally recovered from the shock, Mia hastily shook her head with clutched eyes before looking at her again. "Wha-Who are you?" She asked, the blinks of her eyes unintentionally quickened.
"Well, let's just say... I am your imaginary friend, call me Red, or whatever you want," Tilting her head with slight playfulness, noticing how Connor's features tensed. "Oh great, they definitely noticed."
"I guess you should turn your focus back on them before they got suspicious."
Before she could even react, Scott's concerned words brought Mia back to reality. "Hey M, something's wrong?"
Eyes widened, Mia hastily shook her head with a faint smile, trying to reassure him. "O-oh, it's nothing..." She muttered, just loud enough for him to hear her. "My mind... might just have wandered to somewhere else."
Even though he didn't look like buying her words, the older teenage boy decided to let it go for now. "Well, you just wake up from a long... sleep," Awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, he backed for a bit a gave her some space. "And oh right, you should have a name of yourself as well... We can't just call each other with what they gave us, right?"
Nodding, the crimson-haired girl found her eyes darted between Connor and Scott a few times. "...A name?"
"Yeah," Scott nodded. "So I'm Scott, and he's Connor," He said, gesturing over to the said brown-haired boy who gave a wave of greeting. "And there's also Eveline as well, but she's not here right now."
"So... you don't need to answer us right now, since it's important for you, after all-"
"Mia," Seeing how Scott was surprised by her sudden words, she blushed in embarrassment and looked away. "I-I'm sorry... I shouldn't interrupt you."
"O-oh, it's fine," He shook his head. "I'm just surprised, that's all."
"I... That name just came up in my head," Mia lied, deciding to keep the small conversation she had with Red. "I'm really sorry."
"No, I'm not angry or anything. And... I think Mia sounds... fitting to you," Scott smiled, unintentionally started rubbing his thumb and index finger. "And... I guess I should properly greet you by your name."
"Nice to meet you, Mia," He said, raising his hand to her. "I'm Scott."
Even though she's visibly hesitant, but Mia took a deep breath before taking his hand. Just like how he got her out of that cell, out of that basement. "N-nice to meet you, Scott," She said, a bit louder than before, and with a hint of relief and joy.
"I'm Mia."
Meanwhile, on the street of Manhattan, Eveline couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable around all those people. Maybe it was paranoia, but it just made her anxious.
"C'mon, no one know who you are..." Murmuring to herself, she tugged the collar of her hooded jacket. Doing that, somewhat gave her a faint sense of comfort.
However, just as she was about to pick up her pace, the voice of bewildered pedestrians caught her attention. And following their gaze, she looked up to above. Before she could react, a blur of red and blue swung past.
"Good morning New York!" Spidey exclaimed with glee, as his voice slowly faded away with distance. "What's up, pedestrians!"
Watching how his entire feature slowly faded as he swung, Eveline couldn't help but gave out a long breath. "Oh right, they're real now. Never thought that this would happen to me, but here I am."
She shook her head, tugged her collar again for no real reason, and reached her destination. The public library.
Giving out a breath of relief from the change of temperature, Eveline walked over to the lone computer without a user and sat down. "Okay, the internet should be the same..." She murmured, opening the browser. "Now, let's see who my other self used to be... or if there's even an other-self of me."
With that said, she took out a small pen and notebook. And started typing on the keyboard, with one name appeared on the search bar. Her name.
"Eveline Turner"
Even though she didn't expect too much from this, but she was surprised by a few new reports concerning herself. Especially one from the Daily Bugle.
"Breaking News: Eveline Turner, 14, gone missing."
"Local search for missing teenager continues, but with no result."
Gulping from how grim those new titles were, Eveline hastily wrote down notes from the news articles. "...So I've gone missing for a year... Well, not exactly missing, more like being kidnapped by those fuckers."
"Jesus, I don't even know what kind of hell my other self went through," Shaking her head, the black-haired girl took a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, if my memories serve me right. I was some kind of test subjects... for Blue Ice."
With that said, she quickly searched on Blue Ice. Which only came out with more news on super-powered criminals.
"Armed Robbery reported at Queens on September 15th, witness claims the robbers have 'Mutant-like ability'..."
"Police investigation on recent drugs 'Blue Ice' continues, with the gang 'Dead-Bridges' as the prime suspect on the distribution of said drug..."
However, one exact article caught Eveline's eyes. A certain article about a second Spider-like vigilante targeting Dead-Bridges.
"Blue Ice deal interrupted with an effort by a new vigilante 'Noir'. Police arrested over 20 people associated with both Dead-Bridges and the gang 'Animals'..."
"Wait, Noir?" She couldn't help but asked out loud, writing the name 'Noir' with a few question marks surrounding it. "Okay... this definitely never appeared on anything in the comics..."
"But... I guess I'll have to search about him, huh?" Giving out a long breath, Eveline hesitated for a moment. "But how am I going to face them, just showing up after missing for a year? Even though that I wasn't exactly the person they lost..."
"...Fuck it, I still have to do it. For them and for me."
Taking a deep breath, her hand lowered back onto the keyboard and started typing. And a name appeared on the search bar.
"Ethan Turner"
(To be continued)
Okay, so uh... finally, a new chapter of New Spiders is here!
First, I should notify you all of what exactly happened between the gap between Chapter 16 and 17. So I was dealing with my public exam for quite a bit of April and May. But don't worry, the exam ended about 3 weeks ago, so I'm relatively free right now.
Also, I have done a rewrite of the first chapter of this fic, and it's more about the story itself than just grammatical fixes. But FFN never counted as an actual 'update', so... it just appeared like I haven't done anything for all this time.
Anyway, this chapter mostly focuses on the 'test subjects' of Blue Ice, with a proper introduction of them! And for the incident that led to the aftermath seen by the police and now to Peter and Ethan, I'd keep this as a secret for now, and more on implying what happened.
But I'll reveal it, later down the line.
Review Response:
Drozeros: Oh, thank you! :)
Death Fury: Thank you so much as well. Especially with commenting on every chapter XD. I really appreciate it, even though the inconsistent update schedule of this fic XD.
Raidentensho: Oh so uh... about Kaine's stingers... To be honest, I'm not sure that it'll be on Ethan himself since we already have a glimpse of his additional power at the final fight with Lizard (so not entirely relying on faith and smarts to pull through).
But this stinger idea... I think I might put it on someone else. And it's for the best to not spoil it right now.
And Kraven... Well, I have planned out the next arc, after the Tombstone/Test Subjects arc (thank you for the Tombstone idea though :)) So it might not be close for now. But just as you said, it'd be interesting to see Ethan interact with Kraven. Especially since I am playing shattered dimension, and Kraven's jungle is really fun to get through XD. Even though probably not so much for Ethan.
But either way, thanks for sticking with this fic!
Anyway, I hope you like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!
