Ben found himself surrounded with Iron Fist to his right, Power Man to his left, and now in full control White Tiger in front of him. Ben took a big gulp as he realized the Tiger wasn't just staring at him, she looked like she was studying him, paying attention to every move his muscles made, she looked like she was going to pounce on him at any moment. Unbeknownst to Ben though, Ava was starting to let her tiger instincts take over, posing to the ground as close as she could, readying herself to strike at Ben at superhuman speeds.
Ben's Spider Sense suddenly went off as he glanced to his left and saw Power Man charging at him once again, figuring that they were just doing the same thing again, this time Ben slipped under his legs and was about to get into the sky before a a out of nowhere energy blast hit him in the chest, causing him to hit and bounce off the ground like rubber as he looked over to see Nova standing once again, although just barely as you went to take another shot Ben webbed them in the face as Iron Fist punched him in his spine sending him flying into the stairs, triggering his Spider Sense again, Ben flipped out the way Tiger's slashing claws and landed right in the middle of Luke's hands.
Before he could react, Cage slammed his wide open hands over Ben's ears, causing all of his senses to go haywire and in a blink, Tiger could be seen going in to make the card folding blow, but before she could land it however, a web line attached itself around her ankle as she got yanked back and slammed right into a tree of which her body snapped on the impact, Danny looked around to see what was happening as before he could dodge he was hit with a electro-web and thrown into Luke, of course it had no effect on him, but then he felt something hit him in the face as flying into a nearby building with whatever hit him immediately webbing him in place.
"I guess that wraps up that, but really guys, S.H.I.E.L.D couldn't give it a year before they tried to replace me?" Everyone looked up from the ground to see that Ben's backup had just arrived in the form of Peter Parker, his Brother. "I know you guys would like another spider person theme, but Scarlet here isn't on the market."
He finally looked down to see his injured Brother on the ground, "Hm, were they trying to capture him to replace me with him, or figure out how to make me with him?" He thought to himself as he picked up the now unconscious Ben Reilly and slumped him over his shoulder, "Alright then, I'm taking him home to heal, just know if I see S.H.I.E.L.D anywhere near him or my house those Agents will have me to deal with. Oh, and by the way, send Fury my regards and tell him that we need to have a little chat."
Peter began to hear police sirens in the distance as he finished talking. Not wanting them to get into too much trouble, he shot a web line at Luke and pulled, setting him free so that he could grab Ava, Danny, and Buckethead, before leaving Luke gave him a head nod to which Peter did the same, they couldn't talk right now but they were going to have to talk sometime later, out of everyone on team Danny and Luke were always the most reasonable, so the three of them built a brotherly bond of some sort and started a head nod system that one of them could use to signify that they wanted to talk to another.
After taking a mental note, Peter finally swung off with Ben in tow.
The Parker Residence, NYC, NY.
Thursday, September 9th, 4:00 p.m.
Ben stirred awake, quickly clutching his side in pain from sudden movement, it has been three days since the team attacked him and gained these injuries, more specifically from White Tiger, but it would appear that they were only trying to capture and not kill, meaning S.H.I.E.L.D wanted him alive, in which it narrowed it down to two reasons, either shield was trying to replace Peter with him or trying to capture him to dissect him since they couldn't very well do it to Peter.
The dyed blonde took one glance of his surroundings and realize that he was in Peter's Room, which was technically his room but not really, Ben was not mentally ready to reopen that can of worms. he figured since he was in this room and he was patched up, Peter must have came very last minute, he then looked to the digital clock on the nightstand to the left of the bed that read 4:02 p.m., but that wasn't what he was paying attention to, right next to the clock was a picture, picking it up to further examine it, it was a picture of him and Uncle Ben, well it wasn't exactly him in the picture, but then remembers taking the picture with him.
The hardest thing that Ben has ever had to accept was the fact that almost everything he that can remember are the memories, traumas, and tribulations of a man he could never be, it was almost enough to drive a man insane, hell, it DID drive a man insane, but what comfort that could help ease that pain was the fact that Ben only had the memories of a 16 and a half year Peter Parker, so every memory he's made over the last 3 years were all his and not Peter's.
Ben realizes that he might not ever get over the fact that he's a clone, but he takes comfort and knowing that every choice that he's made thus far is his own, it also helps to know that he's got a brother in Peter Parker and family in Aunt May. Ben decided to lay back in bed and ponder on what he was going to do today, he couldn't go bother peep at school since that let out at 3:00 and even then it's not like he went to learn anything because even though see biologically ages at the same rate that Peter does, he was given the brain and intelligence to get a master's degree four times over and thanks to Pete having access to S.H.I.E.L.D technology and being able to get in undetected, Ben was legally deemed a US citizen with credentials and everything.
So Ben was able to legally work and get a job, which helped out a lot back when he was in L.A., as a matter of fact, he was actually a teacher back home and even though he's biologically 17 years old, Peter made sure to mark him as legally 25 as to not draw suspicions to his identity, now that Ben was really thinking about it, he realized no one was home at the moment, otherwise either Aunt May or Peter would have came in and checked on him by now because there was no way May wouldn't notice his presence in the house, the Parker men were always no good at keeping secrets from her and the only successful secrets that was managed to be kept was the fact that Peter was Spider-Man and Ben was his clone.
Refusing to be bedridden any longer than he already was, Ben kickflipped out of bed and onto the wall, feeling up for a walk he grabbed some clothes out of Peter's closet and put them on, he wore a white crew neck long sleeve sweatshirt with a black crew neck short sleeve t-shirt over it while wearing some purple cargo pants and black and white converses, in case of emergency he grabbed one of Peter's old one strap backpacks had stuffed his suit inside of it and strategically put some old notebooks and binders over it to hide it, finally ready to head out he rushed out of the room with an excitement.
Practically jumping down the stairs, Ben was about to flip over the really but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw MJ sitting on the couch in the living room, since it appeared that she hadn't noticed him yet, he began to sneak his way down the stairs, using his lay of the land from Peter's memories, he made sure to carefully avoid every squeaky step as he made his way down, once he touched down on the surface of the carpet in living room he was practically home free as he made his way towards the back door, well that was until he heard, "Benjamin." come out of her mouth, so he officially knew that he was caught.
"MJ! I didn't see you there, how are ya doing?" he asked, trying to save his ass.
Never looking up from her book for a second, she quickly dismantled his false claim of ignorance. "Well you definitely saw me because otherwise you wouldn't have taken extra precaution when making your way downstairs and you would have taken the front door out instead of trying to make it your way towards the back."
"Well shit. Fine, you caught me, I wasn't expecting for you to be here." He gave in, like May, MJ always had a knack for seeing through him and Peter's bullshit, they've actually theorized that Aunt May thought that Peter and MJ were going to end up together one day it thought it would fit to teach her how to make a truther out of Peter Parker and/or his clones. "No offense, but I figured I was here all alone when I was awake for a good while and no one came in to check on me."
"Well, for that I apologize, to make it up to you, postpone whatever you were about to go do income sit down and watch TV with me and catch up, y'know?" Ben weighed his options, which was either this or going for a walk, it wasn't a hard decision.
"Going for a walk sounded boring anyway." He admitted as he slipped the backpack off and hopped on the couch with her. "So, how long have Peter and Aunt May been gone, and do you know when they'll be coming back?"
"Peter, I don't know about, all May told me was that he went out with Luke and Danny for a while, no idea when he'll be coming back and May went out to go shopping with Principal Coulson for their trip." She explained before interrupting him as he tried to question why May was leaving. "Ah ah ah, I understand, I was just as confused as to why she was taking a trip now of all times, but it turns out that she's leaving Saturday morning, the day after Ben's anniversary, but then she'll be gone for the next two weeks."
"Right. Okay, thanks for the info. Y'know Pete and I always forget that ours will always be a very abysmal percentage of her love for Ben Parker." He stated, looking towards the TV screen with a smile on his face. "When we do remember that part I could promise you that we'll always be appreciative of her being able to carry the strength of moving on like he would want her to and even though I was opposed to it at first, I can tell that he makes her happy and as long as she's happy I'm happy."
"Hell, I bet that's the reason Coulson is still breathing right now." She joked, looking at them with an accusatory look on her face.
"I mean I wouldn't go that far but let's just say the second she stops being happy, I can guarantee he won't either, he won't hurt her though, even if she doesn't have superpowers, May Parker is a force to be reckoned with."
They laughed the night as a lot of time went by and with it a storm came, they realized this by hearing the heavy winds and thunder outside. Ben quickly went to the front window and opened the blinds to confirm his suspicions and like that he was suddenly so glad he didn't take that walk.
Figuring that but the storm was probably going to be an all-nighter, they were likely going to be trapped in here and if May is with colson that he probably took her to a S.H.I.E.L.D safe house disguised as his apartment to ride out the storm I didn't know why but he figured that Peter was probably somewhere on the Helicarrier, but he will just ask him about it later. "Looks like you won't be going home tonight MJ."
He said after he looked to his left to see that the clock said it was 8:45 p.m. and pulled out his phone to check the weather, after all that was said and done he sat back down on the couch with Mary Jane before something popped into his head. "Shit!" he said as he quickly got up and ran downstairs into the basement.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Checking on the furnace and making sure it doesn't go out!" he yelled from down there. "It tends to go out during big storms or winter and since May doesn't know anything about fixing pipes, it was always up to either Ben, Peter, or me to fix them, but they look fine for now." he said, this time it was finally back in the living room and sat down.
We sat in silence for a few minutes before then finally proposed an idea, "Wanna raid Aunt May's liquor cabinet and watch Rosewood?"
"1. May has a liquor cabinet? 2. Make it Lucifer and you have yourself a deal." She responded.
"Well alright then, also yes she does have a liquor cabinet that part shocked me too." As the pair raided Aunt May and were about an hour into the show, they had officially got into the point where they weren't even watching it anymore.
"You know what bothers me?"
"What?"
"It's the fact that Lucifer and Maze still talk to each other even though Luci treats her like she's not even worth half a damn and Maze seems to betray him almost every other episode." He ranted, to which MJ nodded and agreed.
"I know right?! Like, that relationship is so toxic even if they're quite literally the Devil and Demon." she yelled in agreement, continuing with what she was saying. "The only thing that could possibly bring them together at this point is the Detective and Trixie, who by the way, should have way more appearances than she does, I think she only got one episode in season 5."
"But that is a plus about the show, even Lucifer's very graphic nudity and little kids like Trixie running around, there's not a moment where it makes you stop and think "wait a minute, am I watching the same show?" and that's what I appreciate about it." He said to add on, conveying his feelings in a well-spoken manner.
"I kinda feel the same way, y'know?" Ben hummed in acknowledgment and understanding of what she said. "Speaking of very graphic nudity, ever heard of the movie 365 days?"
"I have, what about it?" He said as his curiosity got the better of him.
"Okay, allow me to expand my question." Ben was even more curious now than ever, MJ was bold but never this bold, where was she going with this? "What I mean is, have you ever watched the movie?"
"That depends on Ms Watson, what happens when I answer the question?"
"Don't worry about it, cause you're asking a hell of a lot of questions for someone supposed to be answering one." she deflected, not giving him any hints as to what she was trying to do. "So, have you ever watched a movie or not?"
"Yes, yes I have. Can't say I enjoyed it but it was definitely…..interesting."
"Alright, fuck the beating around the bush." she said while annoyed as she planted a good one on his lips.
"Well at least I know what you're after now." He confessed as he pulled MJ in for another kiss, this one longer and much more intimate than the last.
As the two were going back and forth with each other, Mary Jane's mind was practically blaring with red lights but it was not for the reason you'd think it was.
"That was…amazing!" She excitedly said, but even with her face and voice saying something else, her eyes were telling him something different.
"Y'know if you liked the appetizer so much, then you're going to love the full course meal." he tested the waters, trying to see what she was up to, because if he definitely didn't just want a kiss out of him. "Or if you're not in the mood for that, we can most certainly just skip to dessert."
"Normally I would, but my curiosity just gets the best of me, can I ask one more question, Ben?" She asked, not sure what to do Ben just slowly nodded his head while giving a wondering look. "Okay great!"
"I've heard plenty of bizarre things, but what had taken the cake was Peter's identical brother suddenly showing up out of nowhere to renounce his long lost status." she was standing now and that's when Ben realized that he was being interrogated and he was hoping that she wasn't going with this where he thought she was. "So I found it pretty unbelievable, as I thought "how could Pete's parents be completely unaware of their blonde-haired child?", of course Richard could have had a blonde blue-eyed mistress without Mary ever finding out, but that couldn't possibly be true."
"Why's that?" he questioned.
"I am so glad you asked, it isn't possible because the surname Reilly is very rare, so the chances of a Mistress having that surname is one in a trillion, but funny enough, one of your family members have the surname Reilly, your Aunt May, it's her maiden name and you three are only related because of Ben being Richard's brother." and from that point forward Ben knew exactly where she was going with this conversation.
"Look MJ I think there's a misundersta-"
"I'm not done yet, because you and May are not blood related, there's no way you should have the last name Reilly." here it comes. "So let's recount the evidence, if you walk like a Tiger, talk like a Tiger, kiss like a Tiger, and even look like a Tiger, so then you're probably a Tiger."
"So Peter, you wanna explain why there's two of you walking around, because so far I'm drawing blanks."
To Be Continued….
