Now, I know some would expect me to kill off Pop-Pop, but then I took a moment and realized that I'm making Lincoln out to be a carbon copy of Peter Parker and I'm genuinely trying to be more original with this story. It's good to use the source material as a basis, but it doesn't hurt to be more original, so I hope what I use here is good enough for you guys, it's the same with Miles Morales, Miguel O'Hara, or any other person who got bit by a radioactive spider. They each have different backstories, unique powers, and a whole other stuff that sets them apart from Peter Parker. That's what I want to portray Lincoln as a unique spider, one that faced his own special tragedy that made him become the hero he chooses to be. I know some would say that this is a cop out, but when you think about it, while Albert's still alive, is his current fate even close to living? Staying hooked up to some life support machines with a slim chance of waking up is pretty much a fate worse than death, that bullet did come close so whose to say he'll ever wake him up.
Also, I'm sure that everyone has heard the tragic news.
On November 12, 2018, we suffered a great loss in the world of comic book superheroes.
Stan Lee, the talented and incredible man who was responsible for giving us the likes of Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, the X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Thor, Hulk, and every other Marvel character we loved to read and watch about in comics, television and movies passed away. He lived a long glorious and marvelous life and we could never forget how he paved way for an entire industry of comics with intricate plots and compelling characters. As sad as his passing is, we should celebrate the life he lived until the end and be grateful to him as stories like this wouldn't be possible if not for his creative vision and imagination that captivated millions. If it weren't for him and his creative genius, this story wouldn't exist and for that I am grateful. This chapter will be dedicated to the real life superhero of the Marvel Universe, may he rest in peace.
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Enjoy!
Life can be a precious thing to cherish.
A lesson either learned by the owner of said life or by other those who were personally associated with the owner himself, and more often than not, they learn it in the worst possible of ways. The Loud family were a semi-normal family and they've faced problems before, the only thing closely related to a family tragedy was the death of their pet goldfish, but they managed to move past it, but they still have fond memories of the little fish, the service Lucy provided for him was also good and heartfelt, a perfect sendoff to the family fish. But what was happening right now, they're not sure how they can move forward from what transpired not too long ago. Some of them were refusing to believe it, denying that such an event had occurred, but no matter how hard they tried, no amount of denial would erase the cold hard truth.
Albert Loud.
Rita's father, Lynn Sr.'s father-in-law and the kids' beloved grandfather had recently bee shot by a lone gunman. The very sentence alone was enough to make the family fall into deathly silence for once. From what the police had told them, a mugging was in progress and Albert happened to be nearby and the old man attempted to peacefully diffuse the situation, but in the process, the gunman lost all sense and shooting wildly, hitting not just him but a few others as well. Even more tragic was that some of them didn't make it in the emergency room, but while Albert survived, his current condition was most certainly not comforting.
Through the glass, all the Louds could do was watch helplessly as the old man who was dear to all of them hang in the balance of life and death and a few doctors were talking with the parents and Myrtle to describe his condition, with Maria Santiago nearby having been working this shift. "We've stabilize his condition the best we could." the doctor somberly told them. "All things considered, your father is very lucky, Mrs. Loud. Men his age aren't exactly known to survive getting shot, let alone living past surgery. Even so, he has sustained internal damage, we managed to connect him with machines just in time and from the look of things, he's entered into a comatose state."
Lynn Sr. had his arms wrapped around his wife to console her as he mascara was running. "D-Do you know when he'll wake up?" the matriarch of the Louds choked out as she blew on a tissue.
"Unfortunately, we have yet to see any change in your father's condition, the bullet just narrowly missed his heart, any closer and we wouldn't have a need to put him on life support." the doctor informed her. "Nurse Santiago, can you handle things from here?" he asked the nurse who also personally knew the Louds through their kids.
"Of course." Maria nodded in acknowledgement. "Rita, Lynn, the waiting room's right over there, you and the kids can go when you're ready." she told them, a comforting hand resting on Rita's shoulder.
"...Thank you, Maria."
The nurse left the Louds to their own devices, with the kids, it was painful to watch their grandfather in such a state, despite his old age, he always seemed so full of life, no matter how much times passed, he never once seemed to slow down, almost as if he felt like he should be there for many things, his daughter settling down and getting married, getting to know each of his grandkids and to fall in love once again. To see him in such a taste, it just didn't feel right. Most of them were in tears, Leni was consoling the twins, while Lori held baby Lily, rocking her to sleep, as for the others, Luna and Luan was comforting Lucy who was hugging her knees while wrapping an arm around Lisa, which was rare considering both weren't well known for being emotional, but considering the circumstances, now as the time for them to actually act like two little girls and Lynn was leaning against the wall, her fists clenched in silent fury.
And yet, while she didn't know it, her anger paled in comparison to that of the sisters' only brother, Lincoln. He placed his hand on the glass with his slumbering grandfather on the other side. When he got home and was given the tragic news, it almost felt like the whole world stopped and nothing made sense anymore. He had just spent some time with the old man and now this happened, all because of some...bastard with a gun, not just Pop-Pop, but many others who were just minding their own business, there was so much anger, so much...vengeance building up inside, Pop-Pop didn't deserve this. Neither did those people.
No.
He deserved worse.
"Kids." everyone turned to Maria once she addressed them. "I think it'd be better if you all wait with your parents in the waiting room, after that, I'm afraid you'll have to leave soo." she regretfully informed them. "Visiting hours will be over soon."
With nothing left to do, the kids complied and started to move away, though Lincoln lingered a bit, giving the comatose form of Pop-Pop one last look with his eyes shutting closed out of anger and his nails digging into his palm. As they took their seats, Lincoln noticed that there were a few cops nearby at the front entrance and overheard their conversation. "So we got no leads on the son of a bitch that did this?"
"Afraid not, the only thing we got on this guy was that he was wearing a ski mask and some spotted a star tattoo, that's pretty much it."
"Damn, that could be any two-bit thug in Royal Woods, I hear that mark is the insignia of some gang and everybody wears it. Might take us days, or maybe weeks until nabbing his ass."
"That's assuming we actually find him."
Lincoln was mad before, now, he's full on vengeful. From the sound of things, whoever did this to his family, whoever caused so much pain and despair for everyone and put Pop-Pop in the hospital would be getting away with it.
He wouldn't stand for that.
Someone needed to do something.
Things were pretty tough a few days after that. Pop-Pop hadn't woken up since and there weren't any signs that he would eventually, really messed us all up in the worst ways possible. For me, all I wanted to do was get justice for Pop-Pop, I couldn't let it go, at the time, I wondered if this how Lynn feels since she's usually the short-tempered one. But what was I supposed to do? I was just a kid, a spider-powered kid, sure but still a kid, and didn't even know where to start.
Good thing I had friends to help me out, even if I tried to tell myself I didn't need it.
At Royal Woods Elementary School, the sole son and brother of the Louds sat alone at a cafeteria table, barely touching his food, not really in the mood to eat or even sleep that much last night. "Hey, Linc." his head shot up at the sudden voice of Ronnie Anne, who stood along with Clyde, Liam, Rusty, Zach, and Girl Jordan who sat next to him with sympathetic expressions. News of the shooting spread all around, most were surprised that something so horrible would happen in a supposed quaint town like Royal Woods where the worst offense some one has done was someone not picking up their dog's poop or that serial burglar that kept breaking into people's homes.
But that wasn't important right now, they needed to be there for their friend.
"How you holding up, pal?" Zach asked.
"Alright, at least for the most part, I guess the same could be said for my sisters." he gazed across the cafeteria where his younger sisters were and saw that they too were being consoled by their own friends.
"You know, Dr. Lopes also works with grieving patients or stuff akin to that." Clyde informed it.
"My uncle once met a feller that helped track down the scoundrel that done went and wreck his barn, think he was on a mortorcycle or something." Liam chimed in. "Then again, my uncle is a little superstitious, given that he said the feller's skull was on fire."
Lincoln could only sigh while looking down at his food, while he could appreciate them trying to lift their spirits and genuinely wished that it worked but like with everyone else. he just couldn't get past it, at least not yet. Right now, the only thing that could possibly pacify him was for someone managing to find the shooter and bring him in, maybe even worse, it still ticked him off to no end that the scum was still out there and wondered why the cops or the other superheroes caught him yet, he may not be some supervillain, but still. "Look, guys, can we just not talk about this?" he asked, which almost came off as begging. "I-I just want things to be normal, okay?"
"You sure?" Girl Jordan softly asked.
"Positive." he then felt Ronnie Anne's hand on his shoulder.
"Just tell us if you need anything." she told him.
Luckily, this was enough to make him crack a light smile. "I will, thanks."
Everything that happened for the rest of the day went by like a blur, save for the occasional look of sympathy from other classmates and teachers given to each Loud kid, but Lincoln paid them no heed, he just wanted the day to end already. Thankfully, the school day ended and he was ready to go home and cope with his family, he saw his younger sisters at the school's entrance, with Haiku nearby, much to his curiosity. "Hello, Lincoln." the young gothic girl of whom was best friends with Lucy greeted the white haired with her usual stoic gaze. "Lucy and the rest of your kin are waiting up ahead, I've been keeping them company by her request until you came, I was willing to do so for a friend."
"Oh, well thanks for that." he smiled, gratefully.
"And I don't mean just her." Haiku informed hi, taking his hand in hers. "Tell me, how are you progressing?"
A bit surprised by her bold move, resulting in a little bit of red tint on his cheeks, Lincoln managed to answer. "Uh, g-good so far."
Haiku's stoic expression softened into a concerned look, and placed her hand on his chest. "Don't hold all the pain inside, it will only get worse for you in the long run, just look at your sister." she gestured to her fellow goth. "You can almost feel her pain radiating off her, though with you, I can't help but sense it runs deeper."
If she only knew.
"Yeah...I-I should be going now, thanks again."
Lincoln met with his sisters and they began their walk back to their house and it was deathly silent between them, all this silence in the Loud family was very unsettling. As they walked, Lincoln started feeling something inside, it's been building up since seeing Pop-Pop in the hospital, and all the doubt he once had was beginning to disappear, he may be a kid, but he was still a kid with superpowers, and if the cops or other superheroes are too busy, then who better than him, the old man's grandson to exact justice? Haiku was also right, keeping the pain in wouldn't help at all, what needed to be done right now was vent that anger.
Starting with the shooter.
"All units, 10-23 in progress, report upon arrival."
A 10-23, also known as a street fight is he's reading correctly.
Shortly after arriving at home, Lincoln re-used the police scanner that placed in the attic after the serial burglar was apprehended, he also had Royal Woods Police Code guidebook to let him know which crime he should look out for. The guy was a mugger, so he would be either repeating the same crime or perhaps something akin, such as a robbery. He's been at this for hours now and hasn't left his room, except for bathroom breaks or getting snacks and played video games to pass the time but so far, it's all been quiet which was frustrating to him, but he knew that he had to be patient, otherwise, he might as well blow this. Lincoln sat on his small bed, looking at a picture of when Albert was holding him as an infant. The old man made it his business to be the first person on the scene after a Loud kid birth.
Heh, they really did look a like, Lincoln thought it was because he had white hair and also had orange in his clothing, but looking at the photo made him clearly see the close family resemblance. A knock was the heard and he quickly moved to hide the police scanner by placing it underneath his bed and turned his game. "It's open."
Lori was the one who peeked inside his room. "Hi, Lincoln."
"Oh, hey Lori, what's up?"
"The dream boat's about to come on any minute now. It's only me, Lola, and Lily down there, everyone else is..." the eldest Loud sibling went downcast for a moment. "You wanna see it?"
Glancing down to the bottom of the bed, Lincoln tried coming up with a valid escuse. "Uh, I'd like to, but...I got some studying to do." he told his oldest sister. Raising a skeptical eyebrow, she pointed to his portable game. "I'm taking a break." he added.
Her expression softening, Lori sat down on her younger brother's bed. "Look, Linc. You don't have to pretend to be strong, Mom's been doing it since we left the hospital for our sakes, but she's not fooling anyone, neither are the others. We're all taking this pretty hard, and if there's anything you want to talk about, well, we're all here." she may be known as the bossy older sister, but let it not ever be said that Lori Loud is never there to help her siblings, especially her little bro.
"I know, I just want to be alone right now, but I'll think about it."
Though disappointed, Lori respected his wishes. "Just call if you need anything."
Once she closed the door, Lincoln heard the scanner speak up and quickly pulled it out from under his bed and listened intently to see if this would be the one he was looking for. "All units, we have a 10-14, suspect is driving a stolen vehicle, witnesses claim that it's the same shooting suspect not too long ago." Dispatch informed.
Bingo.
He pulled out a case where his wrestling outfit was kept inside.
Time to finish this.
At downtown Royal Woods, a highspeed car chase was taking place, the perp had made a robbery at a store and stole a car from a nearby dealership and the cops were quick on the scene, making their pursuit as the carjacker shot at the police cars with his gun and having the duffel bag full of the cash that he stole. People who were walking aimlessly nearly got run over and almost crashed into cars after not stopping at a red light, the perp was desperate to get away with the money, it was the only way he could settle his debt to him. The chase went on across the whole town, and neither was aware of the small swinging figure who was following them. Up atop, Lincoln shot out another web from his web shooters, keeping up with the chase and was planning on making sure that the thief would remember what happens when you mess with the Louds in any shape or form.
He watched as the stolen car made a surprising left turn that made some cars swerve to move out of the way, inadvertently blocking the police from following even further. But the masked white haired son of the Loud family had the advantage of swinging across the skies of his hometown and followed the vehicle until it stopped at a warehouse that was closed down. Lincoln watched as the bastard exited the vehicle with the bag in one hand and his personal firearm in the other, making Lincoln's eyes narrow behind the goggles. After tonight, he'll never use that damn thing to hurt anyone else ever again, he'll see to it himself.
The thief entered the warehouse, waving his gun around to make sure he was all alone, after making sure that was indeed the case, he crouched down and took out an untraceable phone while also taking off his ski mask. "Hey, it's me. Yeah, I got the money and I guarantee that it's enough to settle things with...you know." he whispered that last part. "Hey, I'm serious, took a lot of risks to get it along with the last stash."
Just then, he heard the sound of something clattering from close by.
"Hang on." putting the phone away, the thief began pointing his gun. "Who's there?!" he was ignorant of a shadowy figure hanging upside down behind him and then went up just as he whirled around to aim. Taking out a flashlight, he used to see anything out of the ordinary hiding out from within the darkness of the warehouse, and for a brief moment, he saw something slip away and shot 4 rounds, but hit nothing. "Where are you?!"
He frantically searched around to find whatever it was, sweating furiously, but as far as he could tell, there was nothing there, and there was no way the cops managed to find him so soon and maybe it was just some rat or something. Sighing, he made the mistake of letting his guard down and turned around...resulting in him meeting face-to-face with a masked figure who socked straight across the face, making him fall to the ground and dropped his gun. Lincoln landed down and stomped on the weapon, shattering it to pieces. "Who-Who the hell?!" a web impacted on his shirt and was pulled forward where more punches were thrown at him, followed by a knee to the gut.
"Tell me. How does that feel?" the kid seethed in a dangerous tone.
"Wha-Wha-GAH!" the thief screamed as the boy took his arm and twisted it around.
"It hurts doesn't it?! Just like how you hurt those people killed and the old man you gunned down without a second thought, he's practically on the edge of life and death right now!"
The thief began crawling away. "Please...! Just give me a chance!"
Begging, and to a child no less, this man was pathetic. Lincoln didn't want to hear any of his petty excuses, what he wanted was to hear his screams and make him pay. "Did you give the man a chance, or the others?!" Lincoln grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up and held him up high. "ANSWER ME!" the light from the moon shone at the thief's face and it felt like Lincoln's heart stopped again.
"No…."
That face.
He knew that face.
From the wrestling place.
"...stop that guy, he took my money..."
"...I missed the part where it was my problem..."
"Thanks, kid."
It was him, the same guy, the guy that he...let go.
Pop-Pop, all those people, they died because of...him.
His hands shaking, Lincoln raised a fist but saw the terrified look on his face.
Is this really justice?
Minutes later, police were tipped off about the warehouse and as they went inside and were surprise at what they found, their suspect trapped in some webs with his mouth gagged.
Getting back to his house was quick enough, and once he entered into his bedroom, he quickly changed out of his wrestling get-up and back into his regular clothes, and he collapsed to his knees as he processed what he just realized. The man responsible for innocent lives being lost, for giving Pop-Pop a fate worse than death, who caused so much pain for his family was the same man who robbed the fight promoter from before, the same guy he let get away. The gravity of it all hit harder than any of Lynn's balls, and the boy grabbed both sides of his face as tears began to leak from his eyes. He now blamed someone else for all of it.
Himself.
"I let him go..." he mentally realized. "Pop-Pop would never have gotten shot, those people would never have died...if I had just done something..." With a shout, Lincoln smashed his face to the ground. "It's my fault...!" he began to weep. "I could've stopped him, but I couldn't and for what? Just to spite that promoter? Pop-Pop..." his eyes shut as he began to sob.
Outside, Luna exited the bathroom and heard something from her only brother's room. "Linc...?" she opened it slightly to see the boy on the ground and heard him choke a sob. "Baby bro?" she knelt down and moved her hand towards him and he instantly embraced her, wrapping his arms around her as he continued to weep. The rocker returned the hug, and soothed his back with rubs. "It's alright, Linc, it's alright."
This got the attention from the other sisters and the parents and it wasn't long until they too went inside the room and they all hugged each other for this was a time when every Loud needed to be there for each other.
Lincoln needed time to clear his head.
So he spent the next day, sitting alone at the park, with all that's been happening lately, he needed to collect the thoughts. The cops informed his family about the shooter getting caught and got served 25 to life as his sentence, at least now he'll be too busy rotting away in a prison cell to shoot anyone else today. Still...that didn't erase the guilt and self-loathing that has enveloped Lincoln, the poor kid was placing a lot of the blame on his shoulders for all that's happened. In his mind, if he hadn't been so spiteful, then maybe he'd be scheduling another visit to the nursery home and not the hospital nowadays, and no one else would've lost someone.
"Hey there, kiddo."
Lincoln was snapped out of his musings when he saw a familiar face next to him. "Mr. Buck?"
Bill Buck, the creator of his favorite comic book and old friend of his grandfather looked to him with sympathetic eyes as he sat down next to him. "Couldn't help but notice you look a little down. I, uh, heard about what happened to Al." he shook his head. "Darn shame. I can tell you right now that he's the last person who deserved that."
The kid shifted his gaze downward. "No argument here."
"How you holding up?"
Linc wanted to say he was doing okay, but he didn't feel like lying. "Honestly, terrible."
Bill nodded in understanding. "Yeah, can't say I blame ya. But hey, I've known your gramps a long time and all I can say is that Al's always been a fighter, the fact that he's still alive says a lot about how stubborn he is about not kicking the bucket. Still, can hardly call his current state an improvement."
"Neither can I." both stayed silent for a moment, until Lincoln spoke up again. "They caught the guy. Last night, they managed to bring him in."
"Heard about that, they found him trapped in some webs." Bill chuckled. "Heh, I don't know about you, but some spider-person webbing up scumbags, it sounds a little far fetched but also has potential. Surprised no one's thought of it before." the elder noticed that the kid was still down in the dumps and out of respect for his old friend, Bill found the need to give the boy a pick-me-up. "Look, I know things are bad right now, but it only gets worse if you dwell on it so much. The best thing for you to do is to move forward, otherwise, neither you or your family can recover from this. Trust me, I should know." he formed a somber expression. "When my wife passed away last year, can't say I was any better than you. In fact, I didn't if I could go on with my life without her, we were together for as long as I can remember. She was one of a kind."
"I'm sorry about that."
"Appreciate it. But, you know what? If she were still there, she would've kicked my ass for being such a downer, and I wouldn't blame her because I reminded myself that I'm not completely alone, I got my daughter, who lives upstate, likes to visit from time to time." he smiled fondly. "Like you, you still got friends and family who care about ya. And you know what else? Albert always told me how much potential he saw in you, how he knew that you were capable of a lot of good, that people like you are capable of great power-"
"-that also comes with great responsibility." Lincoln finished, touched that Pop-Pop had such a high regard for him.
"I see he already shared that philosophy with ya. Wise words to live by." Bill Buck got up and began to walk away, while still talking to the kid. "Never forget them kid and more importantly, treasure the people who are still in your life, they can be your reason for going."
Lincoln considered each word spouted from Stan Lee. He was right, he still had his sisters, his parents, all his friends from school and then there were his great powers. In the beginning, he thought he could make money off them as a show of responsibility, but now he knows the truth, he knew what he truly needed to do with them. "Mr. Buck. Thanks."
"Anytime, pal. You ever need a good talk, imaginative people like me will always be here." Bill Buck assured the boy before walking off to his next venture, whatever it may be. "Just like that friend I mentioned. He also got me through my troubles, because he understood my pain. Life's easier with friends, family, people who love you."
The sole Loud brother rose up from the bench with a new sense of determination coursing through his veins and gained an expression of it as well.
At the dead of night, a local shopkeeper was counting up the money she made today with her two kids, a son and daughter close to her as they worked part time there. But then, a brick was thrown and broke the windows, the door was busted open and several armed thugs burst in, causing the daughter to shout in fright and her brother to shield her as the guys aimed their guns. "Mrs. Fuller, you're late on your payment, we can't protect ya if you won't cough up what's been owed."
"Please, just let my children go." the woman begged.
"Can't let any squealers." the leader of this gang smirked but was then pulled out all of a sudden, surprising everyone else.
"What the hell?!"
"Axel!"
The thugs went out to investigate while leaving one behind to keep an eye on the innocents and they all saw their leader being webbed to the wall and that's when it happened. He moved like lightning, slipping past them and swiped his foot against two of them from underneath, making them fall down, and he did a series of backflips to avoid the gun fire that was shot at him. He shot out two web lines that connected to the arms of a couple of thugs and pulled so that they could hit themselves in the face with their own guns. He quickly leapt high into a lamppost and shot out a web at the last one's chest and pulled him up, encasing in web-like cocoon and left him to hang.
"Who's out there!" the last guy emerged from the store and the interloper landed down behind him, the thug turned around but he was aiming to high, not expecting him to be so short and had zero time to avoid a swift punch to the gut, followed by a kick upside his chin that knocked him out cold. The family warily looked outside to see each of them incapacitated and the one responsible was crouching on a car, he looked like a kid himself, but it was what he was wearing that made him stand out. A full bodysuit that was colored red and blue, covered in web patters, a giant red spider was plastered on the back while smaller black spider was on the chest,
Their mysterious savior faced them with what looked like white lenses on his mask. "Who are you?" the girl whispered.
He stayed silent for a moment, before giving his answer. "Spider-Man." he shot another web from his wrist and swung away, while leaving behind an astonished family.
No one knew it, yet, but this was a debut of someone...spectacular.
Excelsior, True Believers.
'Nuff said.
Stanley "Stan Lee" Martin Lieber
1922-2018
RIP
