1Chapter 3. Family Ties
Two years ago.
A steamship on a mission to land the first person on Mars rocketed it's way past the Earth's moon.
"Ready for the cryo tubes?" an attractive redhead said to her flight partner.
"As always, sis." Simon and Cameron Fordyce. The best astronauts NASA has to offer. The bother/sister duo have flown more space missions than anyone else in the world. They lowered themselves into the cryogenic tubes that would put them into a frozen slumber until they reached their destination. They closed the lids and were instantly asleep, waiting for their arrival on the untouched planet. They never made it.
The present.
Jason Wickens was having a rotten day. He was barely getting by on his meager cabie salary and all of the people in this God forsaken city were lousy tippers. The air conditioner in his car has been broken for weeks and the cab company was to cheap to fix it. After an entire morning without a single fare, Jason had spent his lunch break stuck in a traffic jam on the Brooklyn Bridge. Sweat poured down his face as he hung his head out of the window in an attempt to cool off. He looked up to the sky and his eyes opened wide in surprise. A ball of flame was careening directly toward him. He sat there, unable to move, petrified in fear. People all around him had abandoned their cars and began a horrified stampede. The object soared over Jason's head, the heat nearly blistering his skin. It crashed loudly and began to skid down the bridge, knocking cars into the river below. It slowly began to stop as Jason emerged from his car. He began to head toward the wreckage.
"Is anyone there?" He yelled looking for survivors. The flames from the crashed ship had begun to subside when he neared it. He saw movement. On of the doors on the shuttle slowly opened.
"Are you O.K.?" Jason asked as he put a hand on the young woman's shoulder.
"Don't touch me!" She spun quickly and thrust her palms into his chest. Searing hot flames erupted from her hands, catching Jason on fire and throwing him from the bridge into the water below. Cameron looked at her hands in shock, before remembering her brother.
"Simon!" She yelled as she frantically searched for her brother.
"I'm over here." Cameron ran over to the sound of her brothers voice.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I think so, but I'm stuck." Cameron began to remove the scraps of metal that covered her brother. Her eyes widened when she uncovered him.
"What?" He asked before looking down. "Oh." His legs were encased in ice. He looked at his sister and the ice shattered, freeing him. Cameron grabbed his hand and the two fled, disappearing into the city.
Spider-Man perched high up on a support cable as he snapped a few more pictures of the wreck on the bridge. He would have been there sooner, but he had to catch a man that had been thrown from the bridge. He had already searched the wreckage for survivors and was perplexed that he hadn't found anything, not even a body. After a few more moments of thought, he swung off toward the Daily Bugle.
"Parker" J. Jonah Jameson screamed when Peter entered his office. "You are walking in here late for the last time. You're fired."
"Alright J.J." Peter said with a smile. "I'll just take these pictures of the Mars mission shuttle crash to another paper."
"What shuttle crash?" J.J. asked. Just then Robbie ran into the room.
"Jonah." he said. "A space shuttle just crash landed on the Brooklyn Bridge." Peter set the roll of film on J.J.'s desk and left his office with a smile. Jonah looked at the roll blankly before puffing on his cigar and tossing it at Robbie. Peter made his way out of the building with a smirk as a live news broadcast caught his attention. The camera swept over a large area as if it was on the top of a building. Several small fires had started all around the city. As of yet, no one had been injured but the quantity of blazes was far to high to be a mere coincidence.
"Probably just a gang trying to get on T.V." Peter thought to himself. "But I better stop them before someone gets hurt."
Sider-Man swung his way around the general area were the fires had sprung to life.
"No sign of anyone. They probably burnt themselves out." Spidey said to himself. He landed on the side of an old brick building. "Better head home before I stink up this costume again. Ol' MJ's probably getting tired of doing my laundry." He raised his hand to fire a webline when he heard a female voice shout.
"Two years! They left us out there for two years!" Spidey climbed the wall of the building to get a higher view. He looked down into a nearby alley and discovered were the noise was coming from. He jumped toward the alley and landed silently in the shadows beneath a fire escape. He continued to listen.
"Com'on sis, there's got to be a reason why they didn't come looking for us. There has to be. Besides, you've been throwing a fit for over an hour now."
"You're right, Simon. But at least I got to learn how to use this." Cameron quickly turned and hurled a ball of fire at a pile of garbage, sending flaming debris in all directions. Spider-Man moved slightly to the side to avoid getting garbage stains on his red and blue outfit.
"Yep," Simon replied. "While you were playing with matches," he put his hand on the wall next to him. "I figured this out." The wall was instantly frozen solid. Simon then flicked the bricks with his finger and it came tumbling down.
"All I can figure," Cameron said. "Is that we must have run across some kind of radiation while we were unconscious." Simon's eyes widened.
"Like the Fantastic Four! How cool is that? I mean, we're super heroes."
"Not yet." Cameron said. "First we need to take care of the men who sent us on that ill-fated mission. We could have easily been killed."
"You mean General Thomas Philp?"
"And Professor Cole Heller."
"How are we gonna do that?" Cameron held up a copy of the Daily Bugle. In big bold letters, the front page headline read, "PHILP AND HELLER ANNOUNCE SECOND MARS MISSION SHUTTLE TO LAUNCH TOMORROW." Flames danced in Cameron's eyes as the paper went up in a blaze.
"I don't know sis. You're talking about murder."
"No, I'm talking about righting a wrong. And when we're done, I promise, we will only try to use these powers for good."
"Alright." Simon agreed uneasily. His sister had never acted like this before.
"Okay kids," Spidey said as he emerged from the shadows. "Playtime's over."
"Wow!" Simon yelled in excitement. "I've always wanted to meet you. I can't believe that you're right here." He turned to his sister. "Isn't this awesome?"
"Thrilling." Cameron answered dryly as she crossed her arms.
"Always nice to meet a fan." Spidey said. "But I couldn't help but overhear some talk of revenge. That's not becoming of a pretty lady like yourself."
"It's none of your business." Cameron said as she willed fire to her hands. Spidey crouched down, ready for a fight.
"What are you doing?" Simon asked as he approached his sister. "That's Spider-Man. You don't wanna start with him, he's a legend." Peter could almost feel his ego growing.
"Better listen to your brother darlin'. I'd hate to have to take out a looker like you." Cameron's rage continued to grow on her face, before flames began to swirl down her legs and lift her off the ground.
"You're flying." Simon said as he covered his face from the heat. Spidey jumped back as the flames grew and grew. Her anger was feeding the fire. She let loose several blasts of scorching fire in the heroes direction. One quick leap and the wall crawler was out of harms way. Cameron began to hover in place, blasting away at the hero. Spidey continued to ricochet around the alleyway before clinging to the wall to Cameron's right side and rocketing in his attackers direction.
"It kills me to hit a girl." Spidey thought to himself. "Sometimes being hero isn't glamorous." Cameron turned to see a red and blue flash heading toward her. With no time to attack, she attempted to block the best she could. Just inches away from his target, Spider-Man was struck by a hard, cold chunk of ice that knocked him into a pile of garbage. He looked at Simon, whose eyes had clouded a light blue. His skin had paled, his once brown hair turned white and his breath was visible as if it were winter time in the big apple.
"What happened to all the adulation?" Spidey asked as he stood up, broken pieces of ice falling off of him.
"Sorry Spidey, blood runs thicker." he turned to his sister. "Let's get out of here."
"This isn't over." Cameron said as she soared off, leaving a trail of smoke in her wake. Simon put his hand to his sides and let out a blast of cold air that launched him onto the top of a nearby roof. When he landed he looked down at Spider-Man and shrugged his shoulders before blasting off again after his sister.
"MJ's not gonna be happy." Spidey said as he looked down at his soiled attire. "Those two did a number on my suit." He bent down and picked up the half singed newspaper. "I'd better go home and clean up, I've got a shuttle launch to attend."
"Ladies and Gentlemen," a uniformed man standing behind a podium on a small stage announced over the loudspeaker. "It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you, the first five people to land on the untouched planet of Mars." Pictures began to snap at the five astronauts standing in front of the speaker. Spidey took a few pictures of his own as General Philp continued his speech.
"And now, the man responsible for the success of this historical mission, head of the space program, Professor Cole Heller." Applause rang out and more pictures were snapped. The professor drew a breath to speak when a large explosion erupted behind the small stage. Spidey quickly webbed his camera to the wall that he was clinging to and readied himself. Through the flames the shape of a woman could be seen, casually walking across the blaze. When she emerged, Spidey's eyes opened wide. Cameron had donned a very revieling orange and white costume that looked to be a part of her body. Her fiery red hair danced in the heat of the flames.
"Who do you think you are?" General Philp yelled.
"You don't remember?" Cameron asked, flames engulfing her clenched fist. "You left us out in space to die."
"Us?" Professor Heller nervously asked. When he finished speaking, the flames were instantly extinguished.
"That's right." Simon said as he emerged from the smoke, hair white and breath freezing in the air.
"The Fordyces!" Philp yelled in surprise. "How is this possible?"
"You can call us Flare and Cryogen." Cameron said, flames dancing in her eyes. "And it is possible because we were left to die in the cold reaches of space. No one came for us."
"An unforseen glitch caused a malfunction in the guidance system." Professor Heller nervously said. "You veered to far of course to be tracked."
"Shut-up!" Flare yelled as fire erupted from her body. "It's time to right the wrong that was done to us." She reeled her right arm back to throw the fire at her helpless victims, when an expertly aimed webline extinguished the blaze. Spider-Man leapt into view.
"Nice outfit, darlin'. What does your brother think of it." After he finished speaking, a tingling sensation prompted Spidey to backflip out of the way of a large chunk of jagged ice. "Thank you spider sense." he thought as he watched the ice shatter on the concrete.
"I'll handle him sis," Cryogen said to Flare. "You take care of your business." Flare turned to see Philp and Heller fleeing to a nearby hanger. She rose off the ground and pursued her prey. Spidey tried to swing her way, but was stopped by a wall of ice, causing him to land on the ground..
"Don't make me hurt you." the icey villain said to Spidey.
"I was about to tell you the same thing. It doesn't have to go down like this."
"I would do anything for my sister. Even take out my hero." Cryogen punched the ground, sending thousands of jagged icicles jutting up from the ground. Spidey jumped to the side, narrowly evading the attack. He shot out a webline and attempted to swing up. Cryogen sent a wave of cold that shattered the web, causing Spidey to land on the ground. He shot out another line that grazed by Cryogen head.
"You missed."
"Or did I?" Spidey gave a hard tug. Cryogen turned around to see the wall of ice that he had used to stop the hero falling toward him. He quickly encased his fists in ice and hit the wall with all his strength, destroying it. Spidey jumped in and was able to hit Cryogen with a hard right hand, causing him to stagger backwards. Blue blood ran out of the corner of his mouth. He wiped it off with his hand and smiled at the wall crawler. A cold wind began to swirel around Cryogen as pieces of ice began to cling to his body. In a matter of seconds, Cryogen created a protective shield of ice. Spidey leapt in and assaulted his foe with a series of punches and kicks that had no effect. Cryogen took a quick back swing that knocked the hero to the ground. Spidey quickly got up and jumped onto a large metal structure next to the space shuttle. Cryogen instantly froze the structure, causing it to crumble under it's own weight. Spidey pushed himself off as fast as he could, flipped around and came down hard with his feet onto Cryogen's face. He then pushed off back into the air, webbed a falling piece of ice and steel and swung it around, smashing it into the side of the villain's head, cracking his protective shield. Cryogen charged Spider-Man, who land on the ground and crouched down. The ice man reeled his fist back in a final blow. Spidey expertly dodged to his right, the ice fist grazing his chest, and swung hard with his left hand. The blow exploded the ice from the face of Cryogen and he toppled to the ground, unconscious.
"Stop hiding you cowards." Flare said as she blew up more pieces of machinery in the hanger. She turned to see the two trying to escape in a jeep. "There you are." She shot out a flame that engulfed the engine. Philp and Heller sprinted away as the vehicle exploded behind them.
"Hold on there hot stuff." Spidey said. Didn't your parents teach you not to play with fire. Flare bombarded Spider-Man with several fire balls that he was able to dodge.
"You will not keep me from my revenge." she yelled as she continued the assault.
"Oh my." Spidey said as he dodged another attack. "You are ugly when you're angry." Flare screamed as fire covered her body. The heat she was producing was extreme enough to melt nearby steel. The blaze continued to grow, forcing Spidey out of the hanger. He sighed in relief as he seen Philp and Heller run out of the back of the building. Soon, the hanger was burnt to the ground as the flames intensified. The orb of fire that surrounded Flare was growing increasingly fast. Spidey was at a lose of what to do.
"Wh-what's going on?" Cryogen said as he slowly rose to his feet.
"Your darling sister is going to destroy the entire city if she keeps growing at that rate."
"The whole city? No, she can't."
"It looks like she's going to." The two were beginning to feel the heat, even hundreds of feet away. Cryogen once again encased his head in ice.
"Throw me in."
"What?"
"Throw me in." Cryogen repeated, more urgently.
"You'll be destroyed."
"Maybe, but she has to be stopped." Spidey reluctantly shot webbing around Cryogen's waist.
"Are you sure about this?." Spidey said.
"I've always wanted to be a hero. I'm just doing what you would do in my place." Spidey began to spin Cryogen in a large circle. Faster and faster before finally releasing it. The ice man sailed through the air at his sister. His armor began to melt as he soared into the wall of flame. He put his fists out in front of him and blasted sub-zero temperatures out of his hands. The cold was instantly snuffed out but in caused his armor to melt slightly slower. Spidey watched as Cryogen disappeared from sight into the flames. Suddenly, blue fire erupted from the core of the blaze. It made it's way to the exterior, extinguishing the heat as it ran along. The blue flames exploded out and froze. Spidey looked in amazement as the once scorching blaze had turned into shattering pieces of ice. He made his way to the center to see Cryogen back to human form, lying on his back and Flare on her side, propped up by an elbow. She slowly crawled to her brother, who was barely breathing.
"Simon!" She yelled. "He's dying." She looked up at Spider-Man. "Help him."
"There's nothing I can do." he replied. Fire appeared in her eyes.
"Do something." The fire left her. She looked down.
"Please don't leave me." Her brother let out on last frozen breath. Simon was dead and her powers died with him. Spidey swung away as authorities came to arrest the weeping Flare and place Cryogen in a body bag.
Bio
Name: Flare
Real Name: Cameron Fordyce
height: 5' 4"
Weight: 110 lbs.
Eyes: Blue, Red when active
Hair: Red
Age: 24
Superhuman Powers: The ability to create and control fire in a variety of projectiles and use it for flight. She also possesses an extremely powerful "Super Nova" attack.
Source of Powers: Exposure to radiation in deep space.
Special Skills: Expert pilot.
Weapons: None.
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man, New Faces #3
Name: Cryogen
Real Name: Simon Fordyce
height: 6' 1"
Weight: 210 lbs.
Eyes: Blue, entire eye light blue when active
Hair: Brown, white when active
Age: 22
Superhuman Powers: Ability to instantly freeze the air surrounding him into a variety of attacks. Is also capable of creating a cold thrust of air to propel himself up to 40 feet into the air and covering parts or the whole of his body on an ice armor that is hundreds of times stringer than natural ice.
Source of Powers: Exposure to radiation in deep space.
Special Skills: Engineering genius.
Weapons: None
First Appearance: Amazing Spider-Man, New Faces #3
Origin: Simon and Cameron Fordyce spent their youth dreaming of going into space and by the age of 19 and 21 were accepted into the NASA space exploration program. After only three years, the brother sister duo were chosen to pilot a shuttle destined for the untouched planet of Mars. During the mission, they entered cryogenic tubes that would keep them asleep as they made the six month long trip to the red planet. Only days into the mission, contact was lost with the shuttle. After two years without a response from the astronauts or the shuttle, Simon and Cameron were presumed dead.