Bitten by a radioactive spider, high school student Peter Parker gained the proportionate strength, speed, agility, equilibrium, and early warning danger sense of that irradiated arachnid. Hoping to use his powers for personal gain, Peter sought to make money as pro wrestler and a TV sensation, but with the death of his beloved Uncle Ben, a grief stricken Peter learned an invaluable lesson. With great power there must also come great responsibility. Armed with his wondrous web shooters Peter struggles with this lesson. Trying to balance an ordinary life with a day job and still divide time to be with his wife and to protect his fellow man. Due to the events regarding his personal life, Peter has given up the role to the one true Peter Parker whom goes by the moniker Ben Reilly. This is the story of The Amazing Spider-Man!
"Changes Part 2 of 3"
To be truly defeated one must be deprived of everything he or she cherishes. A skilled predator knows this and uses this tactic to weaken it's prey before striking the killing blow that will send it's victim out of this world. Laying in the midst of a giant spider-web were Peter and Mary Jane Parker, unconscious and unaware of where they were. To the other side of the construction yard Spider-Man was tied by his ankles and hung upside from a crane forty or more feet in the air. Edward Brock cracked his knuckles as he started to become giddy over the fact that he would finally have his revenge on Parker and the fake Spider-Man. The cool gentle breeze picked up, whipping against the web-slinger's body and stirring him to consciousness. When he opened his eyes he realized that he was not in the best of situations. The last thing he remembered was fighting with Venom, saving those bystanders, and then nothing. It figured that after saving some ungrateful bystanders that he would be carted off by one of his most dangerous foes. He flexed his muscles straining the chains to their limit until they snapped. As he fell, he pressed the hidden palm triggers in his gloves and fired a web-line to slow his fall to the ground. Once he touched down his spider-sense went crazy. He leaned backwards as symbiote tentacle shot by him and latched onto the crane. Sensing that Venom wasn't done, Spider-Man sprung onto his palms and back flipped away before Venom could attempt anything further with his symbiotic other.
---
The weekly edition of the Brooklyn Herald was released through out the city with every subscriber coming out of their house fresh from whatever they were doing would pull open their carefully wrapped newspaper to see the latest headline.
WILSON FISK FOUND DEAD
The news was shocking and had left many of Fisk's allies uneasy. While it did open new opportunities it also left a void that could be filled by anyone. Jessica Jones looked over the newspaper that had been printed by her colleague Kat Farrell and was impressed by the outstanding note taking she did on the report. One thing bugged Jessica though was who could have gotten so close to Wilson Fisk to kill him? He had the best paid for bodyguards in the world. If some one could have gotten through them then they would have had to border on superhuman. That meant it feel into her lap since she was the superhuman related crimes reporter. Or SRCR for short. She folded up her copy of the Herald and tucked it under her arm as she had some sleuthing to do.
---
Detective Ronald J. Schroeder of the Major Case Squad was puzzled by the case thrown into his lap. Nearly thirty years as a policeman and he had never seen a case like this. It happened two hours ago when the dispatcher received a call from a neighbor next door to the Parkers. The neighbor had stated that she heard a ruckus from the Parkers residence and reported seeing some one carrying what looked like two bodies off into the night. By the time officers arrived they found that the Parkers were gone, but their daughter was left behind. It appeared from what the CSI could make of the crime scene that they were trying to get away from some one or something before they were kidnapped. What confused Schroeder is why the kidnapper didn't take the baby with him when he took the Parkers? Did he feel the kid was a burden? What Detective Schroeder had on his hands was a doozy of mystery and it would take a lot of man hours to find out what happened to the Parkers. For now young May was in the custody of Anna Watson, the aunt of Mary Jane Watson-Parker. An officer walked into the room leading a woman with platinum blonde hair and wearing tight shirt that showed ample cleavage and hip hugging jeans to Detective Schroeder's desk.
"Detective Schroeder?" the woman asked.
"Yes, and you are?" Detective Schroeder replied.
"Felicia Hardy," Felicia said, shaking Schroeder's hand. "I'm a friend of Peter Parker."
"Oh, really?" Detective Schroeder responded. "Have you heard from the Parkers recently?"
"No, I haven't. I was hoping you would could tell me why their house is a crime scene," Felicia said, a worried look on her face.
"Well, Miss Hardy," Schroeder replied. "I'm afraid the Parkers have been kidnapped. By whom we don't know, but I swear when we do we'll bust'em."
"Thanks," Felicia said, her expression lighting up only a little. She then turned on her heel and left.
"Poor girl," Schroeder said mostly to himself.
---
It was another lonely and busy night at Stark Enterprises. The employees in the Weapons R&D lab were hard at work trying to get their new phase shift generator online in time for tomorrow's presentation, yet they were sadly unaware of a single metallic appendage that slithered down through an air conditioning vent above them and scoping out the layout of the lab. Miles away a young woman with dyed purple hair and fair skin fancied a glass champagne while watching the video stream from her octobot that she built. She looked to the holographic program that projected in the center of her lab and pouted.
"I don't understand why you don't want to return my love," she said.
"Because my dear I have come to accept my fate and it is only through death I can be rid of the pain that Spider-Man causes me. As I have said before if anyone could complete our work it is you and only you," the program replied.
"I appreciate your faith in me, but sometimes I feel it's not warranted." the woman said.
"Nonsense!" the program responded in most emotional tone it's programming would allow. "You are the finest student I ever had and I trust no one else with my work, but you."
The woman cried, but if it was tears of joy the hologram could not be certain as it's hard drive didn't possess any equipment to detect the emotional responses of his affectionate savior.
---
Spider-Man avoided another blow from Venom and leaped high into the air firing a barrage of impact webbing covering the psychopathic villain and as he descended he fired a web-line and swung up to a platform next to the web that Peter and Mary Jane were stuck to courtesy of Venom.
"Hey Peter, MJ! Wake up!" Spider-Man said, taking brief glances at Venom who was struggling with the constricting impact webs.
MJ was the first to stir and she looked up seeing the ground below her and screamed. This shrill woke Peter up and he looked up saw that he was upside down. He turned his head as much as he could to see his wife who was frightened and he could hear a muffled voice calming MJ down.
"It's okay MJ, I'm here." Spider-Man said.
"Ben?" Peter inquired.
"Yes," Spider-Man replied, his spider-sense flared and he leaped away as a girder flew past. Peter looked down and saw Venom land on the web.
"Well, well, Parker. Looks like you get to see me kill Spider-Fake!" Venom said, a costume tendril lashed out at Spider-Man as he tried to sneak up on the symbiotic murderer. The web-spinner was caught by the throat and driven into the web where he became stuck and couldn't move.
"Now isn't this a nice reunion all three thorns in my side at the right place where I can safely dispose of them," Venom commented, as he tried to suppress a laugh. "Fortunately for you our other has other plans for the three of you otherwise we would kill you now!"
Peter went to say something, but stopped himself as MJ was there and he didn't want to make the situation worse for her. MJ however was frightened to death. Spider-Man struggled to get free of the web so he could save Peter and MJ, but since Venom was so close to his costume shedding that it increased it's tensile strength. While he laid there helpless Spider-Man began to wonder plans Venom had for them and if he could escape in time.
---
Black Cat dropped down through the sky light of the Parker Residence and started to look around for clues. Ever since she had seen the police parked outside of Peter and MJ's house she had this fear that something wrong had happened to both of them. Well more precisely Peter. Peter was the one she cared more for though, but she did think MJ was a good friend. She took the flash light from her belt and searched the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and garage. Just at the foot of the edge of the garage where Peter and MJ's van had been parked and trashed she found a black jello like substance coming out of the cracks of the driveway. Right there and then realization dawned on her as to who kidnapped Peter and MJ. And she also knew how to find them as Peter had given MJ a spider-tracer disguised as a piece of jewelery because of the danger caused by the villains who knew Peter's real identity and the many times MJ had been kidnaped by obsessed stalkers. A fact that Peter shared with Felicia should something happen to MJ and Peter wouldn't be around to help her. Black Cat raced upstairs to their bedroom and opened the only drawer of the nightstand and threw out all the junk until the drawer was empty. She felt along the bottom and noticed an indention in the middle which meant there was a hidden panel. She removed it and found Peter's old spider-tracer. She picked it up, flipped a few switches, and a steady signal began to pulse south east from Forest Hills. Black Cat smiled and stuck into her Fanny bag.
Well Peter dear it looks like you knew you'd knew their would be a time that you'd need your old spider-tracer and lucky for you it's in my hands.
She then left the house the way she came in desperate race to get to them in time.
---
Fisk Towers stood as one of the tallest buildings in New York next to Stark Tower, the Empire State Building, and the newly constructed Four Freedoms Tower built in memoriam of the Fantastic Four and all of those who died in the Onslaught crisis. Jessica Lynn Jones gazed at the intimidating skyscraper and again wondered how some one got through forty-nine floors of security. Pushing aside that terrifying thought she took a deep breath and walked through the double doors and up to the reception desk. A shaggy blonde haired man sat in the receptionist seat with a Chuck Palahniuk book in hand and a soda in the other. Jessica cleared her throat and went ignored. She did it again and was ignored a second time. This time she grabbed the book out of his bony hands, which brought his eyes forward where he stared shamelessly at her chest.
"Um, yes?" The receptionist said.
"Is there some one here I can speak to about Mister Fisk's death?" Jessica asked, she made a motion with her hand to draw his attention away from her breasts.
"Uh, yes." the receptionist replied.
"Well?" Jessica said, becoming very irritated by the half-wit.
"Oh, right." the receptionist apologized. He made a call to some one from upstairs and after a moment hung up. "Mr. Dillon will be down in a moment to see you."
Jessica gave him back his book and moved to a safe distance away from him so she wanted be tempted to throttle him something fierce. It took twenty minutes before mysterious Mr. Dillon showed up and Jessica was a bit unnerved by his intimidating size. He stood a good eight inches taller then her and his body was well developed from obvious rigorous exercise and training. His black hair was gelled and slicked down so he'd look more professional. He pulled his shades down and stared into her brown eyes with the most icy cold blue eyes she had ever seen.
"My name is Mister Dillon and I am a representative of Mister Fisk's estate. May I ask what your business is Miss?" Mister Dillon asked.
"J-Jones," Jessica stammered a response. "Jessica Jones."
"As I was saying please state your business Miss Jones. My time is short," Mister Dillon said, placing his shades back on his face.
"I was wondering if you had any more details concerning Mister Fisk's death and if I could interview any of the personal on du--"
"Absolutely out of the question, Miss Jones. As the representative of Mister Fisk's estate I must insure that the privacy of his businesses and family is maintained," Mister Dillon said, with a dark, frightful tone.
"Right," Jessica replied, her heart started beating faster as she was now very scared of this Mister Dillon and she wasn't so sure that she was safe right now. "I'll be going then."
"Do so and please don't come back," Mister Dillon said, as he watched her leave.
Once Jessica was clear of the building and caught a taxi she scolded herself for folding like stack of cards, but deep down her inner voice had told her that if she didn't leave then she could end up in a worse fate then Wilson Fisk. She rode the taxi all the way home where she hoped a nice alcoholic binge would wash away her fears and disappointment.
---
Felicia realized she was close. The signal was getting stronger every second and soon she would arrive where Venom had taken Mary Jane and Peter. She had only hoped she wouldn't be too late.
---
Meanwhile, Spider-Man was surprised when he saw the Wizard floated down from the sky and crack a grin. Venom didn't seem to off put by the former intellectual nemesis of Reed Richards, which meant lots of trouble for the wall-crawler and the Parkers. Ben had thought to attempt to break his bonds now while Venom was away from the web and talking with Wizard, but with Mary Jane and Peter in harm's way he knew it would be mistake. Instead he listened on the two villain's conversation.
"I see you have done well for yourself and your other Venom," Wizard said, with a superficial compliment.
"We do try Wizard. Now did you bring what we asked?" Venom replied, his patience wearing thin of Wizard's insincere flattery.
"Yes, Isotope E7, the closest medical science has come to a cancer cure." Wizard said. "I still don't see what you want with it."
"You will once you give it to me," Venom chuckled.
"Not that I don't trust you -- well actually I don't trust you," Wizard said, as he snapped his fingers. From the three corners of the yard appeared the Trapster, Speed Demon who had appeared to be faster then ever, and Rhino.
"Aw, you brought us some friends to play with!" Venom laughed as suit tendrils pulled him high up into the skeleton of the building that was being erected.
"Frightful Four fan out and find him!" Wizard commanded, his voice filled with anger.
Trapster took the west side, Speed Demon came up the south side, and Rhino climbed the east side while Wizard floated over to Spider-Man and the Parkers.
"I don't know who these two are Spider-Man, but I'll dispose of them once I'm done with you," Wizard said.
"What's wrong with you, Wizard? Did the death of Mister Fantastic finally goad you to working with a two-bit villain like Venom?" Spider-Man replied, hoping to goad Wizard into a rage.
"For your information WEB-SLINGER! I've wasted my life trying to prove my superiority to Richards only to time and time again be out shined by him and his accursed family!" Wizard snapped, his rage bubbling to the surface.
"Oh poor baby -- you know you and Doctor Doom should form your own support group for overlooked super-nerds," Spider-Man mockingly replied.
Wizard fired an energy blast from his gloves and Spider-Man leaned to the left just in time for the blast to sear the threads holding him down. He leaped at Wizard and redirected the villain's second blast to dissolve the web tendrils that supported between the skeleton of the building. This caused Peter and MJ to free fall for what seemed like forever, but sudden jolt landed them on solid ground. When they both looked up it was with relief.
"Well, looks like I'm just in time," Black Cat stated.
"Felicia, Venom and the Frightful Four are here. Ben will need this sonic grenade to beat Venom and your help to the Wizard and his gang," Peter said.
"All right," Black Cat replied, as she took the sonic grenade and went to help Spider-Man.
"C'mon MJ, we have got to get down from here and far away from here," Peter said.
MJ nodded her head and they ran for the elevator.
---
Venom was toying with Trapster and Rhino and they both knew it, but the one he couldn't predict was Speed Demon. The damned speedster was faster then before and Venom's form of spider-sense went seconds too late to do anything to help from getting nailed by a supersonic punches. The pure excruciating pain from the sonic booms was hurting them and they wanted to drink Speed Demon's blood and feast on his tainted heart. The problem was catching the speedster. Venom created a web barrier to the four sides of him and once he heard the sonic boom he jumped in the air and fired a big glob of webbing as Speed Demon started to burst through the web barriers. With a hard yank they sent Speed Demon flying into the distance and returned their attention to Rhino and Trapster.
---
Spider-Man struggled with Wizard trying to prevent the gizmo laddened villain from unleashing another blast from his wonder gloves. A claw cable wrapped around Wizard's waist and he felt a tight tug as Black Cat was zip lined onto his back and raked his face. This allowed Spider-Man to nail him across the face with a right hook knocking the villain out and causing the three to fall. Using his web-shooters, Spider-Man lowered Wizard and himself to the ground while Black Cat lowered herself to ground with her claw cable.
"Hey, um, Spider-Man." Black Cat said, confused as to who was under the mask.
"Black Cat right?" Spider-Man replied. "Thanks for the help. I have to go stop Venom now."
He sounds just like Peter... "Wait, Peter gave me this sonic grenade to give to you to use on Venom." Black Cat said.
"What will it do?" Spider-Man ventured.
"Incapacitate him I think," Black Cat responded.
Spider-Man nodded his head and swung off toward where Venom was and just as he landed Venom had finished dealing with Trapster and Rhino. Both were hurt, but still alive. Spider-Man held the sonic grenade behind his back and edged closer to Venom knowing that Venom was tricky, but he hoped that provided to be trickier.
"Okay Venom. Let's settle this once and for all!" Spider-Man demanded, hoping to coax Venom to get closer.
"You asked for Spider-Fake!" Venom snarled, but he didn't charge ahead. He instead turned invisible.
"Nice try Venom, but I can detect you with my spider-sense." Spider-Man muttered, focusing on the buzzing from the base of his neck. However, it appeared Venom wasn't getting closer in fact he was moving further away. That's when Spider-Man turned to Black Cat who was suddenly jerked from mid-air.
"Hahahaha! Come and get her Spider-Fake!" Venom dared, his inhuman voice giving off the sound of arrogance.
What now? I can't risk Venom harming her before I can use this sonic grenade. Suddenly, an idea popped into Spider-Man's head and he kneeled and unmasked himself hiding the small, marble sized grenade in the palm of his hand by the use of his wall crawling ability. Venom dropped down and edged closer to the hero holding Black Cat by a suit tendril.
"So you see how futile it is," Venom said. "Now that you have given up. It's time I killed you!"
Venom picked Spider-Man up and that's when Ben took his opening by placing the device against Venom's cheek after activating it. The devastating sound caused the suit to retreat into Brock's body and Black Cat was dropped to the platform first followed by Spider-Man. But, the grenade didn't stop there for it's powerful sonic pulses continued to grow in intensity and Brock grew weaker and weaker till he was near death's door. Spider-Man realized this and he grabbed the grenade and crushed it in his palm, and then slipped his mask back on. He checked Brock's pulse and Brock was far too weak to do anything. After Spider-Man wrapped Brock up for the place and the Frightful Four, he and Black Cat swung away off to distant roof top to talk.
"So who are you?" Black Cat asked.
Ben pulled off his mask and Felicia was shocked. "My name's Benjamin Russell Reilly -- I'm the real Peter Benjamin Parker."
"But -- I mean how?" Felicia said taking off her masked and sitting on an air vent.
"Along time ago the Jackal cloned me and set up a fight between me and my clone. During the fight I think we were heavily drugged because I can scarcely remember the details," Ben explained, his face ridden the sorrow of the years he had lost. "The sense of confusion I had seeing Peter and the effects of whatever Jackal doped us up with had me believing I was the clone. I don't remember much after excepting waking up in the smoke stack and thinking that it was best if just drifted away to let Peter have his life -- my life."
Felicia rubbed the edges of her mask as tears welled up in her eyes. "All that heartache and it was over some one who wasn't who he appeared to be. I-I don't even know who you are Peter Parker."
Felicia put her mask back on, got up, and sprinted to the edge of the ledge where she leapt off. Ben sat there for a moment longer wondering if that was his best decision or his worst decision.