CHAPTER TEN: Family Reunion Part 2

"Aiyyo, come get a look at this..."

"Who's this faggot-ass nigga?"

"What the fuck is he supposed to be?"

These are the words that I heard, although I couldn't tell who was uttering them. All I knew was that Mark was standing over me with a baseball bat, and there were now at least two other people standing with him. I managed to stand up, although it was difficult trying to keep my balance. My head buzzed as Mark swung at me a second time with the bat. I was able to catch it in my left hand and completely destroy it. After that, I lunged for Mark and squeezed his throat with both hands.

"You bastard...I'll kill you..." I threatened.

Unfortunately, I was so distracted in my rage that I did not notice my danger sense, which was warning me about Mark's friends. By the time I had noticed it, they were already in the process of beating me to the ground. After a few punches, kicks, and stomps, I was on the ground.

"So this is Spider-Man..." one of Mark's friends observed.

"This is the guy who took out Rhino and Shocker?" another one asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see how. Still, Rhino's gonna be happy to know we took him out," said Mark.

I tried to make it to my feet again, but a couple of feet to the head and midsection put a stop to that notion. Mark and his partners proceeded to beat the hell out of me while I made futile attempts to fight back. At one point I was able to stand and punch Mark in the face. Imagine my shock when Mark was still standing afterward. All the punch had done was give him a bloody lip. He returned the punch with one of his own, and then I was overcome with various fists and feet.

Now, my friends, let me ask you a question. Do you remember how this story began? Remember where I left off before telling you about my past? Well, here we are. My mask had just been removed, my mother had seen them unmask me but decided to turn her back on me for drugs, and I was dizzy and in a lot of pain. And, on top of that, I was now staring down the barrel of a gun.

I was ready to give up. As I heard the click of the gun, I began to think about the bulk of the events of my life. What few memories I had of my mother were not good ones. I could remember coming home from school one day and seeing her strung out on the couch after snorting coke while I was gone. I could remember her beating me in the face with a belt on my seventh birthday. I could remember the day she left my father and turned my world upside-down. So why was I here, risking my life for her? Every child should have a mother and father, or at least mother and father figures. Guardians, perhaps. A loving aunt and uncle. A nurturing grandmother and grandfather. Every child should have both components to life. I would give anything to turn back the clock and do it all over again, only with a mother this time.

But things would not be that way. Within that split second that my life flashed before my eyes, I had already had a change of heart. I didn't want to die. No, I wanted to kill...

Mark was standing on the side laughing as his friend was getting ready to kill me. I wasn't about to have it. I rose and grabbed the guy by his forearm, and then I twisted his arm and broke it at the elbow. Before he could scream in pain, I grabbed him by the face with both hands and squeezed. Mark was staring at me in shock as I did the deed, but I didn't care. I removed one hand from his face and moved the other to his throat. With my free hand, I struck him in the face repeatedly, watching blood fly with each punch. After the sixth punch, I released him and watched his body drop. He was dead before he even hit the ground. Then I turned to Mark.

"I shoulda' known it was you, pussy! You better believe your bitch is dead!" Mark screamed as he attempted to run off.

I would not allow it. I fired a web and snared Mark at the ankles, then I yanked it and let him fall on his face.

"Stay where you are," I said to Mark. "I'll be killing you shortly."

Mark's other friend attempted to attack me from the side, but I saw the punch coming. I caught his fist, grabbed him by his shirt, and rose him into the air in a bench press. I held him in the air for a moment, and then I slammed him as hard as I could onto the ground, head first. Seeing his brains splattered along the pavement was a good indication that he was dead.

The guy who had just gotten his dick sucked from my mom was attempting to pull his pants up so he could come fight me. Rather than give him the chance to initiate the fight, I leapt toward him and planted my foot into his chest. His body hit the ground after the kick. I fired two webs at his feet to pin them down, and then I grabbed him by his shoulders and sat him up.

"What...what the fuck you think you doin', man?" he asked me.

"You want to make my mother suck your dick? I got a better idea..."

With all my might, I pushed his upper body downward, breaking his ribs, so that he was bent over to the point that his penis was now stuck in his mouth.

"Suck it yourself." I fired another web on top of his back which pinned him to the ground, therefore preventing him from sitting back up. Whether it was the fact that his body was bent in an inhuman fashion, or that his mouth had just been filled with his own penis, either way the fool would die of asphyxia. Now, there was only one more person for me to kill. I turned to my intended prey and began to advance.

"Now, I'll kill you, too," I said to my mother.

My mom...no, Rhonda...was backing up slowly. Eventually her back hit the wall, and she had nowhere to go. She was staring at me with pleading eyes, as if to beg for her life. I was ready to punch her head into the wall.

"Baby...baby, you know I love you..." Rhonda started saying to me.

"Shut up!" I demanded. "What had I ever done to you? I always loved you, in spite of everything you'd ever done to me...even now, I damn-near killed myself trying to help you...but I should have known better..."

Rhonda dropped to her knees and held her hands up. I was glad she knew what I intended to do to her.

"Rob, please...I'm your mother..."

"No, you're not! You're just the woman who gave birth to me! Am I supposed to be grateful for that? I never asked to be born! I never asked for this life! For the last ten years, not a day has gone by that I didn't think about ending it all...you know I tried it once? Took a bunch of Tylenol, washed it down with Vodka...don't know why I survived...so I can't kill myself...but you...you're different..."

"Rob, please..."

"I can kill you...but you're right. Maybe I owe you that much respect. Since you gave me life, I'll take yours quickly. I wouldn't want you to suffer, even if you made me suffer for as long as you did."

"Rob, I never meant to do this to you...please, don't do this..." Rhonda pleaded through tears.

"Stand up. For once in your life, stand up," I demanded of her.

She slowly stood up, tears still streaming down her face, and then she lay her back against the wall. I rose my fist, but for some reason I hesitated. I stood there with my fist in the air, trembling, ready to kill her on the spot. But...I couldn't. I just couldn't do it. I just didn't care anymore. Maybe because I hadn't done it, my mother had just assumed that I automatically forgave her. She attempted to embrace me, but I pushed her back against the wall, and she fell back to the ground. I looked her straight in the eye.

"You are dead to me, woman. Whatever love I once had for you is gone now," I said to her.

Turning back, I could see that Mark had just gotten done cutting the webbing from his ankles with a knife. I was just about to approach him, when my danger sense suddenly started screaming in my ear. A high-pitched scream pierced my ears, almost drowning out the buzz of my danger sense. I turned around and saw that the scream came from my mother. From the shadows above her, an arm had just dropped. But it was no normal arm. This arm was very muscular, with very sharp fingernails, almost like claws. But that wasn't the only thing that I noticed about the arm. It was also....green.

The green arm reached out of the shadows from above my mother and grabbed her at the throat. She screamed quickly before the claws became embedded in her throat. Blood poured out of the open wounds in her neck. I was standing in utter disbelief, just watching, trying to comprehend what the hell was going on. And then, in one split second, the hand whipped away, and her throat along with it. She fell to the ground and held her hand out to me. I felt completely empty at that moment. I felt neither happy nor sad, just empty. She was still holding her hand out to me, and she was attempting to say something. Whatever she was saying was being muffled by the blood pouring out of her mouth. I stepped toward her and listened even more carefully. That's when I heard what she had to say.

"I'm sorry..."

How was I supposed to react to that? An apology? Of all things, an apology? Now? She was still holding her hand out to me. Reluctantly, I knelt beside her and took her hand. I could almost feel her life slipping away.

"I'm sorry..." she repeated once more. With that, she was gone.

I released her hand and slowly stood up straight. My mother's blood was dripping from the shadows above me, from the claws of whatever had just killed her. I stared into the shadows, waiting for whatever had done the deed to reveal itself so I could kill it. I expected it to come out and attack me. However, I did not expect it to speak.

"Coward..." spoke the voice from the shadows. The voice did not sound human. When it spoke, it sounded like two people were speaking at once. The voice was incredibly deep. I could almost feel it as well as hear it. "I would have expected you to finish the deed, but you've proven yourself to be incredibly disappointing."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"You don't remember me?"

"Who the fuck are you?"

"You should be thanking me, boy. I did what you were afraid to do."

"Why? What did she do to you?"

"Nothing at all. But you...you've been a hindrance in my plans. Don't you realize that you were a beta test? I should let you know, you're failing miserably. Although I must admit, your abilities are quite impressive."

"What is it you want with me?"

"Are you really that dense, Jordan? You damned fool...one would think that you would have caught on after Electro nearly killed you..."

"Electro...no...Osborn!"

"So you're not as stupid as I thought...I would say that I'm impressed, but I'm afraid that I'm not. Well, I should let you know that this test is far from over, Jordan. There is still much work to be done."

"Damn you, Osborn, I never asked for any of this!"

"It's not like I made you wander into my lab, Jordan. You brought that upon yourself. Anyway, this little exercise is finished. I think I'll take my leave now. Good day, Jordan."

"You're not going anywhere, you son of a bitch! You killed my mother!"

I fired a web up in an attempt to catch Osborn, but my webbing only hit the wall. I could see him leap out of the shadows and way over my head. He was already on his feet by the time I had turned to face him. He was standing over Mark, who was still on the ground, cowering in fear.

"This one looks promising...perhaps you could be another guinea pig." Osborn reached down and grabbed Mark by his throat and then lifted him into the air. This was the first time I had actually gotten a good look at him. However, this was not Osborn as I remembered him. He did not look like a man. Now he looked more like some kind of...green goblin. He stepped back into the shadows, and all I could see was a pair of yellow eyes staring back at me.

"One last thing, Jordan. I suggest you pick your mask up off the ground and take it with you," said Osborn.

With that, he and Mark were gone. I was left alone with several dead bodies, including that of my mother. I felt emptier than I had ever felt in my entire life. It would be about twenty minutes before I finally retrieved my mask and left. And when I reached home that night, I would not sleep. I would sit and stare at my wall without thinking. Eventually the sun would rise, and I would still be awake. And I would still be alone.

END OF CHAPTER TEN