Chapter 14

"Wherein Kendrick goes to a funeral and interrogates cops."

Wow. The response for chapter 13 was amazing. More people followed and favorited me off that last chapter then I think they have on any chapter I've ever written. Every chapter I post, and this story gets more and more popular. I hope one day that this story has thousands of views every time a new chapter comes out. I know, unrealistic, this story isn't nearly that good. But I don't have any foreseen ending to this story. As I said in the description, this story is ongoing. It could last for 100 chapters, it could last for 1,000. Maybe even more, I don't know. As long as you guys support me and this story, it might be a while. Unless I kill Kendrick at the end of this arc, then have him replaced by Hernan.

Thanks to Exile037 for reviewing. Yeah, my plan was to make her more of a Charles Xavier character when I first introduced her, but as I went along, I just thought that she was better suited as Psylocke. As for who killed Tyler...

Thanks to mario986 for favoriting and following.

Gracias to posedionking for favoriting & following this story, and for favoriting and following me.

Thanks to shadowmwape for favoriting and following me, and following and favoriting this story. But come on? No review? (Kidding, please don't un-favorite me.)

The funeral of Tyler Farroway was as well as could be expected.

A lot of people came. Food was eaten. Most of it was casserole, for some reason. Condolences were given. The preacher preached. Pretty crapily, if you asked Kendrick Durham.

Of course, maybe that was because he was in a crappy mood.

As he looked at Tyler's casket, he was filled with a huge sense of disgust. They had to have a closed casket ceremony, because of the horrible state the body was found in. Kendrick remembered something Tyler had said to him:

"When they have my funeral," he had said. "I want to be wearing a pimp suit."

"A what suit?" Kendrick had asked.

"Y'know," he elaborated. "A white suit with purple polka dots."

"What do you think a pimp is?"

"No, seriously though, I want to wear something special on my special day."

"It's a funeral, not a wedding."

"You know what I mean. I want people to look at my corpse and say, 'now there was a man who had some style.' You know what I mean?"

"And the way you plan to do that is to wear polka dots?"

"Ah, you don't know what I mean."

"No, I do," Kendrick told him. "Tyler, I promise you, when you have your funeral, everyone will see how pimped out your dead body is. I'll make sure of it."

"You promise?"

"Promise."

Kendrick couldn't keep his promise. Not the one he had made. But he promised something else right then and there...

Whoever did this to his friend would pay.

"Come on Ken," Marshall said as he put a hand on his shoulder. "We should go."

Kendrick hated funerals. He did. He hated seeing people cry, he hated seeing corpses, and he was terrible at comforting people. Maybe a little part of him was glad that he didn't go to his brother Drake's funeral. And Marshall knew that. That's why, even though he had only met Tyler once, he came to the funeral, to help Kendrick get through it. Ken would always love Marshall for that. He was his brother, and his best friend.

Ken normally didn't go to the funerals of his employers. He used to work at Burger King, and the manager there had died of rectal cancer (don't laugh, it's actually a thing.) He didn't even consider going to his funeral. But Tyler Farroway was more than his boss. He was his friend. He was a good man.

And he damn sure didn't deserve what he got.

"Yeah," Ken said to Marshall as they put the casket in the ground. "Let's go."

As they turned away, Kendrick saw someone he had completely forgotten about. Someone he hadn't seen since the day he was bit by that spider.

Dr. Curtis Lance.

Dr. Lance must've felt Kendrick looking at him, and turned towards him. They met each others' eyes. And Kendrick noticed something. Remember how he said the Scorpion looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it?

He was a splitting image of Dr. Lance.

And suddenly, it all was put together. If Dr. Lance created the Scorpion, or was the Scorpion, that means he wanted him dead. Maybe Tyler had found out and tried to confront Dr. Lance about it, then...

Shit. Shit!

"Mr. Durham, it has been a while."

Kendrick blinked, as he noticed Dr. Lance was now standing right in front of him, hand outstretched.

"Has it?" Kendrick said as he reluctantly shook his hand. He didn't want Dr. Lance to know that he knew, until he had a plan. Anyone who could do what he did to Tyler, was a crazy bastard, and should not be taken lightly.

"Not since you were bitten by the lab bug," Dr. Lance said with a slight grin to his face. "How are you doing after that? Any...side affects?"

"Not at all, just a little more hungry," Kendrick said. "Dr. Lance, why are you smiling?"

"Hm?"

"Doesn't really seem like the occasion," Kendrick said, trying his damnedest not to punch him in the face.

"Hm, it would seem not," Dr. Lance said, still smiling, before he turned to walk away. "Goodbye, Mr. Durham. I'm sure I'll see you rather soon."

Police Captain Kathryn Mosley sat at her desk, stupefied. She was in her mid early twenties (she was the youngest police captain the state had ever had) she had short black hair that stopped just below her shoulders. She was attractive, but she had a determined look on her face that tended to intimidate men, and make them steer clear of her. That, and she was told by many people that she "didn't have a butt."

She thought the reports of a man in a red and blue costume fighting bad guys was straight bullshit. Now she was seeing proof of it. Along with a big ass Scorpion.

She was looking at the security camera footage of the fight at Midtown's Finest, which interrupted the school dance. Two Spider-Men, a giant scorpion, and a girl who was admittedly rocking the superhero look, along with the death of billionaire philanthropist Tyler Farroway. That was one hell of a night, looks like. On that night, the whole world changed. It might not seem like it, but it was. Up until that point, Spider-Man was a myth, and mutants were considered a four letter word. Nobody spoke of them, and pretended they didn't exist. But this...holy shit, but this. This showed everyone that there were things out there that they didn't understand, that they couldn't understand. And that they could not be ignored. Not anymore. They were starting a new age, and she honestly didn't know what the fuck to do anymore.

"Um, hello?" she heard a voice say behind her. She turned around and stopped, surprised.

Holy shit.

"Uh hi," a man said outside her window. "I'm, uh, Spider-Man. Can I talk to you?"

Dr. Lance sat in his lab and smiled.

Things had gone even better than he thought. He had had contact with Kendrick Durham. He was reminded of Dr. Lance's presence. And he probably recognized Dr. Lance on the Scorpion's face. They were locked in a conflict now, and things were not going to stop until one of them won. It was that simple. He took another sip of wine.

This was going to be exciting.

"So...you're Spider-Man." Kathryn said to the man sitting across from her.

"Yes." he replied.

"Which Spider-Man?"

"The Spider-Man. The first one."

"And the other one?"

"A guy who was trying to be like me."

"Seems like he did a pretty good job of it."

"Depends on who you ask."

"I bet," she said before she sat up in her chair. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Tyler Farroway."

"What about him?"

"He was killed."

"I was aware."

"I want to help find his killer."

"What, were you two buddies or something?"

"You could say that."

"How do I know that you didn't kill him, and you're trying to pretend to help to cover your own ass?"

"Because you have no reason to," he said. "And no proof."

"Point taken."

"And, besides, I know who did kill him."

"Who?"

"Curtis Lance."

"Curtis Lance?" Kathryn asked incredulous. "As in, head scientists of Farroway Enterprises Curtis Lance?"

"I know it sounds dumb," Spider-Man started.

"Oh no, you don't know how dumb that sounds." she rebuked. "That's like saying Jesus killed God and burned his body in acid."

Kathryn saw him flinch at the mention of acid.

"Uh sorry," she said. "Sorry I mentioned the whole acid thing. I..."

"Do you...have any idea why his body was like that?"

"Well, my first impression was that it was burned in acid as to know reveal any fingerprints on the body. However, the autopsy showed no evidence of acid burns. It's almost like his skin just...exploded."

"Spontaneous combustion?" Spider-Man asked.

"I don't think so, but I'm no doctor so..."

"What was...what was the cause of death?"

"...are you sure you wanna know?"

"Y...yes."

"You know the how all his skin was burned off?"

"No..."

"He was alive when it happened. And he was awake."

"Oh my God...!"

"I guess he couldn't take the pain..."

"Oh my God!"

Spider-Man punched the wall, leaving a hole, and making Kathryn flinch and instinctively pull out her gun. A few moments passed as their eyes locked. Then, Kathryn put the gun back at her side.

"I'm sorry," Spider-Man said. "About your wall, I mean."

"Hey, don't worry about it," she said. "If I had crazy super powers, I'd probably go around breaking other people's shit too."

"So sorry."

"It's fine."

"So...did Tyler suffer?"

"Yes," Kathryn said without hesitation. "He was probably in more pain than most people go through in a lifetime."

"When I get my hands on Dr. Lance..."

"Hey, look at me," Kathryn said seriously. "We'll get whoever did this to your friend. You said you wanna help, then help. How do you know it was Curtis .lance who killed him?"

"Do you have footage of that fight at Midtown's Finest?"

"Everyone does."

"I need to see it."

"So, what am I supposed to be seeing here?" Kathryn asked Spider-Man as he looked at the footage.

"Hold on a sec...there." Spider-Man paused the video. "You see The Scorpion? Look at his face. Who does he remind you of?"

Kathryn looked at the image in front of her. It was a little blurred, but not enough to fuck up your view.

"Goddamn..." she said as she recognized the face in front of her. "It's almost a splittin' image."

"Yeah, my theory says that either Curtis Lance is The Scorpion, or he created him. And he's the one who set it on that school."

"Why? To go after you?"

"Wh...what? I don't go there," Spider-Man defended nervously. "I was just passing through. I'm, uh, thirty."

"I didn't say anything about going there," she said smirking. "You could've been a staff member."

"Uh, honest mistake?"

"Yeah, okay," Kathryn said rolling her eyes. She had been in law enforcement since she was seventeen. She could spot a lie easily. Especially when they lied as shitty as this guy. "Back to the case, how do you know Lance killed Farroway?"

"He's the freakin' Scorpion!"

"Okay, so he was responsible for a school invasion. That doesn't necessarily mean he killed Farroway. They could be completely unrelated."

"They're not."

"They could be."

"But they're not."

"Okay, look, I like ya enough. You helped save those kids, so you're a good guy in my book. But this just isn't enough to go on. We got enough to bring Lance in for questioning concerning the school invasion, but other than that..."

Spider-Man sighed. "Yeah, I know. I've seen Castle. I know how the whole cop rules work."

Spider-Man stood up and went to the window.

"I just...I want to help Tyler any way I can. But I'm not an idiot. If I went guns blazing after Lance without proof, then you'd be after me. So, uh..."

Spider-Man dug in his exoskeleton (not as gross as it sounds) and took out a small flip phone. He threw it to Kathryn, who caught it.

"What is this? A burner phone?"

"If you find anything out about Tyler's murder, call me with that. The number to a burner phone I have with me is already in there."

"So, only call you if it's about this case?"

"Or, call me anytime you need help. From every comic book I've ever read, once the superhero shows up, that's when the crazy ass villains come up. If, or when that ever happens, call me. I don't want to risk powerless cops lives."

"Why? Why would you want to help us? What do you get out of it?"

"Nothing. I just want to help, Captain Mosley. I get the feeling you understand that. Because, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility."

"Wow. That's good."

"Right?"

"No, that's really good. You could start a religion with that."

"I'm pretty sure you can start a religion from anything these days."

Spider-Man opened the window, and prepared to jump out.

"See you soon, Captain Mosley."

And with that, Spider-Man jumped out the window, and was gone. And so was Kathryn's resolve. She fell back into her chair and sighed.

Well, that was crazy shit.

This chapter didn't go how I wanted it to

I don't know, I just wasn't feeling it. Which sucks, because last chapter was so goddamned fun to write. And it was good too.

Also, I'm going to write those Spider-Verse chapters soon. Either starting next chapter, or the chapter after that. I feel like I've been putting those off, and you're probably sick of me by now. Yeah, it'll probably be next chapter.

Oh, and follow me on Tumblr, I have the link on my author's page (since it's against the rules to post a link in a story). It's just a place where I do stuff like review comics that I read and did or didn't like, maybe some previews for some comics I'm looking forward to. Some movie trailers here or there. My thoughts on stuff that's going on in the world. Or maybe even a preview for a chapter of a story I'm writing. Fun fact: I actually posted a preview for this chapter a few days ago.

So, that's about it for now. See you in two weeks guys. Follow me on Tumblr!

-Brad