Chapter 15.1
Guys.
I am so sorry.
I was looking at my author profile page, and it turns out that May 15th 2014 was the day the first chapter of Golden Age: Spider-Man (then called Spider-Man: Golden) was published. Yeah. That's today. Or, it's Friday next week. I just started writing this, and it's the 4th. It'll probably take me a few days to finish it though.
Oh, the reason I was apologizing is because I had just started Spider-Verse when I wrote this. You see, if I had remembered this, I wouldn't have started Spider-Verse yet. But, y'know, can't go back now.
Another thing I'm ashamed of is, at this point this story is only at 15 chapters. A whole year, and it's 15?! I know why this is. The reason for this is, after I wrote a few chapters, I wasn't really happy with the first few chapters, so I tried rebooting it. Ashamed of it, but I did. I guess I was going for a more serious tone. Yes, I was trying to pull a DC. I only wrote the first chapter, then I completely quit that. It was called The Spectacular Spider-Man. You won't find it, I deleted it. There is absolutely no trace of it.
This chapter is going to be looking at the first year of Spider-Man. Drake is having some time in this. Tyler is having some time in this. I hope this chapter is extra long.
By the way, just want to say I hate character resurrections. So, when a character dies in the Golden Age universe (which I'm now going to refer to as the GAU) they are dead. That goes for all my fanfics. So, even though Tyler and Drake appear alive in this chapter, they are not coming back, except for flashback or something.
I'm hoping to do something like this every year. Y'know, revisit the most important characters of that year. The characters who are spotlighted in this chapter, won't necessarily be spotlighted next year. Some of the characters spotlighted in this might be dead next year. Who knows? I didn't plan to kill Tyler until a few days before I wrote it, so you never know what will happen.
Okay, I've talked enough! Let's do it!
BAM!
Drake Durham felt the gun clack in his hand. Another teen dead. A person he had never even met before, and he was killing them. The scary part? He didn't regret it.
He pulled the trigger. His parents were the real murderers though.
"Drake," five year old Kendrick Durham asked his fallen brother. "Are you okay?"
The six year old Drake had fallen in the background of their family home while he and Kendrick were playing. His knee was scraped and a little bloody, but overall he was okay. A little bit of grass was stuck in the cut from the ground. It was probably going to be infected. With eyes full of fear and hopefulness, he turned towards his parents. In there eyes was a look of...was it...oh God...was that sympathy? Fear? Sadness? Did they love him after all? But whatever it was, it was gone. Just like that. His last hope of his parents love, gone with a blink. Like it was never there.
"Come on Drake," his brother Kendrick said as he helped him up to his feet. "Let's go patch that up."
Thank God for Kendrick. If there was a God, Drake Durham wanted to thank him for his little brother Kendrick. While his parents did nothing except for feed him Great Value food and buy him some clothes from Good Will, Kendrick used his free time to help Drake. To clean his wounds, to help him with his homework, Kendrick did everything for Drake that his parents should have done. Kendrick was more than Drake's brother. He was all he had.
While the gun crackled in his hand, he looked out for Kendrick, making sure not to shoot him. If he had even hurt Kendrick...he would kill himself. After everything Ken had done for him, the thought of hurting him just made Drake sick. He couldn't live with that. He couldn't even fathom it.
The gun cracked again. Maybe now his parents would notice him. Maybe now they would know how much he suffered from their ignorance. If he wanted to be noticed, he had to make him notice. He had to make a scene.
As he was about to fire into a classroom, he felt something hit his head and pull him as he emptied the clip into the air...BAM! A punch to the face.
"Doing a school shooting? Crazy," he heard a voice, presumably from the person who punched him. "Doing it in my city? Even crazier."
As Drake hit the ground, he finally saw the man who had hit him. The golden shine of his helmet almost blinded him. Suddenly, Drake felt a large sense of anger and hate towards the red and gold man before him. Drake had planned to kill himself after this. Now he couldn't. He wished he had the power to kill the man. He wanted him to die...he would pay for this.
Drake swore that he would pay.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. After each section I'm going to do a little thing where I explain each section and give you a look into my writing process. A little behind the scenes thing, I guess.
So, this little section showed Drake during the school shooting. I wanted to give a little explanation on Drake and Kendrick's relationship, so that the whole thing where Drake killed himself as Venom makes sense. That's something I think I messed up with the first few chapters. I noticed that there were a lot of things wrong with the first few chapters. So, I plan to go back and fix some stuff about them. I'm already in the process of rewriting the first chapter. Don't worry, I'm not adding any major changes, so you don't have to go back and read them if you don't want to.
Anyway, the flashback sequence kinda showed Drake's unloved childhood from his point of view, and where Kendrick fits into that. So...yeah.
She was pregnant.
This was the sixth test she had taken, and it all turned out the same. She was having a baby. She was bringing new life into the world.
Clarissa Durham looked in the mirror. What was the expression on her face. Even she didn't know. Was it fear? Pain? Excitement? Joy? And what would her husband John think? What would her son Kendrick think? If he ever came back. He had gone missing after Drake had done the unthinkable. She hoped he would come back. She felt he would. But she didn't know. The only thing she knew for a fact though was...
She would not treat this baby like she treated her oldest son Drake.
A tear came to her eye as she remembered her late son. Her oldest. Her miracle baby...
"I...I miscarriaged...?" she had asked the doctor.
"I'm sorry," the doctor said. "And...you won't have any children. You can't. And if you do..."
"They'll be retarded?" John Durham asked, fearful.
"Mentally handicapped," the doctor said. "I'm sorry."
As the tears fell from her eyes, she felt the warm and loving embrace of her husband around her. She didn't know what she would do without him. The love that they felt in each other was amazing. She knew that he was her soul mate, and that they would get through this. Together.
Clarissa smiled at the mirror in front of her and wiped her tears.
"Honey," she called to the love of her life. "Come here. I have...I have some news..."
This was pretty much to remind you guys that she was pregnant.
Seriously guys, don't forget. It will...it will be really important later.
I haven't really done a good job of showing Kendrick parents. It's like, they've always been there, but in the background. I plan to fix that. Eventually.
I wrote this in a matter of minutes. In fact, I wrote this just a few seconds ago. It didn't take me long. I had originally planned it to be a story about how Clarissa and John Durham treated Drake. But it turned into this. I don't really regret it. I like how this turned out.
"Hernan, can you carry me on your shoulders?" his little sister, Rachael asked.
"Sorry Rach, my back hurts," Hernan Cueves.
"Stop being such a butt, you fart," eight year old Rachael said.
"Rachael, stop it." their mother, Patty Cueves, scorned her. "You know he had soccer practice today. He's probably tired. Besides, you're getting too big to pick up anyway."
"What are you trying to say?" Rachael said as she crossed her arms.
"She's saying you're fat," Hernan said with a slight smile. "You know, you have gotten a little bigger."
"You know what, you can eat m..." she started before stopping. Flying above her, above them all, a large sedan was flying at them. Directly to them. On instinct, he grabbed his mother and sister and put them under him. Thinking about it, it wouldn't have done anything, but at least they didn't have to see it coming...
Hernan blinked. They should've been dead by now.
He looked up and saw that the same car that had flew at them was now suspended in the air by what appeared to be a giant spider web.
Holy shit, he thought.
And with that he saw the man who had spun it, a man in a red and blue costume swung through the air, towards the back of some restaurant. He looked down and saw that his mother and sister were okay, if anything a little shaken. But they were okay. He owed the man his life. Some how, some way, he would make it up to him. Suddenly, he coughed. That's weird. He wasn't sick. Or was he...?
This showed how Hernan was saved by Kendrick back in Chapter 8. We also get our first look at his family. Hernan will be a pretty big player this year, so keep him in mind.
He kissed her.
He had bent down and kissed her.
Jen Farrell was surprised as Earl Wilson put his tongue in her mouth. She was even more surprised as he closed her eyes and kissed him back. She like Earl. He was cute, and funny, and, most importantly, he was here. He was here, and Kendrick Durham was off...somewhere...doing God knows what. She understand he needed some time after his brother's death (he was wound beheaded on a rooftop) but it had been days. Even his parents didn't know where he was. She just hoped he would come back...
Wait. What was she doing thinking about Kendrick while she was kissing Earl?
Jeez, she thought. I'm acting like a slut.
She snapped back into reality as she felt Earl kissing her on her neck, and making his way down. Oh shit.
"Hey hey hey," she said, stopping him. "Take me out to dinner first. Jesus."
"S..sorry," he said, his face as red as Jen's face. "I just got a little carried away."
"I think it was a little more than a little..." she said. "So..,uh,..are we doing this? Like, you and me?"
"Do you want to?"
"Yes," she replied a little too quickly. "Yes, I..I want to. Do this. That is."
"Okay," Earl said, starting to smile. "We're doing this. Awesome!"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
They stood there a moment, before they started kissing again, more passionately than before.
So...yeah...
I kinda hate Jen now. Which is weird. The reason I hate her is because of the stuff she has done. Like, crushing over Kendrick when she's with Earl, yelling at Kendrick when he came back. I know you're probably saying "but you wrote her like that!" Well, shit. I know I did, but after a while the character started writing herself, if that makes any sense. And the reason it's weird that I hate her is because...well, when I first wrote her to be basically Kendrick's Mary Jane. Yeah. Now at this point, I'm wondering if she'll be his MJ or his Betty Brant. Or Gwen Stacy...
So tell me what you think of her. Come on, in the comments section: who do you ship?
I was thinking about what I wanted to do for the Jen section, and my first thought was to show her looking for Kendrick using her skills on the computer. I had shown a hint of that before (probably chapter 7, but I really can't remember) and that was my first idea. But, I'm glad I did this. Most of the ideas for this story come from when I'm writing, and I just got a huge idea while I was typing this. Wow. It. Is. Huge.
And that's all I'm gonna say about that.
Well shit.
Tyler Farroway stood up and poked his head out of his door into the cubicle of Kendrick Durham.
"Hey Ken," he told him. "Can you fax me the employee records? I need them for my report to the board."
"Can we stop using a fax machine? Why can't we just use gmail? Everyone does."
"I use Bing."
"And that's why you're lame."
"Your mom."
"Why're you talking about your grandmother like that?"
"...okay, that was pretty good."
"Thank you," Ken said as he walked over to the fax machine. He plugged the telephone cord into the telephone line port. He then turned and fired a web-line that attached to the paper that he then pulled to him.
"Hey!" Tyler snapped at him, looking around to make sure nobody saw. "I thought we agreed you wouldn't use your powers in here."
"Sorry," Ken said. "Force of habit. And my spider-sense didn't tell me anybody was looking."
"Your what?"
"My spider-sense," Ken said as he got the fax machine ready. "It tells me whenever something bad is about to happen."
"That...makes no sense."
"It really doesn't," Ken said.
"Like, how would that even work?"
"You're the scientist."
"I am the scientist," Tyler said shaking his head. "And this makes absolutely no sense."
"Yeah. Hey, you read the new issue of Hexed?"
"Yes! Lucifer turned into The Thief! Who saw that one coming?"
"I know..."
"Hey, I gotta head back to the office."
"Cool. See you in later."
Tyler walked into his office. He sat down and smiled.
Spider-Sense. So frakin' cool.
He did this. He created the spider. He evolved humankind. Everything he wanted to do in life, he had managed to do it, but on a much larger level than anticipated. Much more than his father had given him credit for.
"Bullshit," his father had said. "Kid, you couldn't even memorize the periodic table. How the hell are you supposed to be a scientist."
"Please..." his mother said, hesitantly. "Just leave him..."
"You shut up!" he said to the woman.
A little background here:
The way that his parents met was...Tyler's father raped his mother. And that was how Tyler was born. To make sure that Tyler didn't grow up without a father like she had to, she decided not to tell the authorities and stayed with him. Tyler never understood it, but she said he would "understand when he was older." That day has yet to come.
Tyler flinched at the thought of the memory. His father had died a few years later. His mother was serving out a life prison sentence. He never faulted his mother for what she did. But he had to make her proud. He worked. He worked for years, as hard as he could, and as long as he could. Now he was the leader of one of the largest organizations in the entire United States. He was making his mother proud, and scorning the memory of his bastard father.
He leaned back in his chair. One day, when he was old and gray, he would write his autobiography. Because goddammit, he had some stories to tell...
This was fun. This was just a way to get more into Tyler's head, because that didn't really happen much before he died. That's all I really have to say about this one...
"Nathan! Get down here!"
Nathan Ross walked into the living room of his apartment where his sister, Nicki Ross, was sitting on the couch.
"What is it?"
"Dude, have you seen this movie Hot Fuzz?" she asked as she laughed on the couch. "Kendrick told me about it. It's freakin' hilarious!".
"Are you kidding me? I was doing something!"
"Was it Call Of Duty?"
"I don't play it that much!"
"Yeah you do."
"...shut up..."
"Go ahead and go back," Nicki said, rolling her eyes as she put her platinum blonde hair in a bun. "And don't forget to refill the Netflix subscription!"
"I won't!"
"Go ahead and do it!"
"I won't forget, I swear to God Nicki!"
And, with that, Nathan walked back up to his room. Inside were various posters of Battlefield, Call Of Duty, and Batman. In the middle was a bed that had a brown comforter, and white sheets. At the front of the room was a large TV that stood on top of a desk, that sat in front of his closet. His sister said that that wasn't a good idea. But what did she know anyway?
Nathan walked to the desk under the TV and opened the top drawer. He shifted around and looked under his various underwear to see his most valuable possession: a picture of him, Nicki...
...and their parents. Cassandra and Xander Ross.
Before he knew it, he felt tears running down his cheeks. This picture was taken the day they went missing. Nicki and Nathan were eleven, their youthful smiles showing how things could have been if their parents were still there. They might have actually been happy. They might have been living in their family home now, instead of this admittedly badass apartment. The court said they couldn't get back the use of their mansion until they were eighteen. They were seventeen now. Just turned actually. One more year to go.
One more year...
Nathan. Nathan needs more chapter time. Seriously, I want to dig into this character more. Dig more into his want, no desire, to find his parents. Maybe later.
Kim Gray sat in class. Bored out of her freaking mind.
This guy, Mr. Parker, was talking about...stuff. She wasn't really paying attention, honestly. I mean, the guy was cool, and kinda cute, but she just couldn't pull herself out to pay attention to him.
She looked in front of her desk to the left, and saw Kendrick Durham sitting, listening intently to what Mr. Parker had to say. She didn't know what was up with that. When Mr. Dent was their teacher, he hardly paid attention, probably thinking about what his and Jen's kids were gonna be named. Now, with Mr. Parker, he's been looking and listening to him like he might hold the secrets to his entire existence or something.
Man what a dork, she thought, rolling her eyes and smiling.
Kendrick was probably one of her best friends. They had known each other for years, he was a good guy, funny, and he wasn't that hard on the eyes.
She looked to his right, and saw her friend Marshall. She like Marshall a lot. She still owed him for letting her hang with him on the Visit The Parents day. Her parents were serving out life sentences in this huge prison. She didn't really remember what it was called. Thinking about her parents now, she felt something build up in her.
Oh no, she thought. Not now...
She raised her hand almost instinctively, getting Mr. Parker's attention.
" 'tholdit!"
"Uh...," he let out before answering. "I'm gonna go on a limb here, a very long limb, and guess you asked if you could go to the bathroom."
"Actually, it would be considered a restroom since there's not a..." Kendrick Durham started.
"Shut up Ken!" she snapped. She really couldn't hold it any more.
"Um yes, you can go Kim." Mr. Parker said, looking as confused as the rest of the class. Honestly, she didn't really care as she ran out the classroom and down the hallway to the bath...uh, restroom. She ran inside and...
...released everything she had.
No comment.
"You did not do that," Kendrick said.
"I totally did," Nicki Ross said into the phone she was holding to her head.
She was sitting in her room, on her computer. Her room was filled with a lot of different things. She had a Hello Kitty poster on one wall and a Walking Dead poster on another. Her bed sported a Powderpuff Girls comforter, while the pillow was a design from the reality TV Show Deadpool, which came on every week on Friday. Two completely different things if there ever were one.
"But why?" Kendrick asked over the phone, confused. They had started talking regularly over the phone ever since the night of the dance. Ken was going through a tough time right now. His friend Tyler had been brutally (emphasis on brutally) murdered, and he had found his body. If that wasn't bad enough, he was now having regular nightmares. Whenever he did, Nicki was there to help comfort him. She was kinda flattered that he used her shoulder to cry on. Although, it was probably just because he didn't really have anything to hide from her. She had already seen his entire life. Every embarrassing moment, moment, every massive shit, every time he jerked it to Kerry Washington...she was actually a little startled how much she could know about a person she had only just met. It was a good thing he was a cool person.
"Look, do I accuse you of telling me fake stories of you as Spider-Man?" Nicki asked.
"What fake Spider-Man stories could I possibly tell you?"
"I don't know, maybe that giant Scorpion was a lie."
"You fought him!"
"It could be a very thorough lie."
They both laughed. It wasn't even really that funny, but they were laughing. Nicki didn't really understand it. There was just something about talking to this guy that made her feel...fuzzy. And she had been in his head. She knew he felt the same way.
"So...whatchu wearing..." Kendrick said, trying and failing to sound seductive.
"Oh no," Nicki said rolling her eyes. "We'd have to actually be dating before you even think of phone sex."
"So if we were dating, we would have phone sex?"
"If we were dating long enough, we could have real sex."
"Hey, you wanna grab dinner later?"
"Oh so that's how it is," Nicki said mid-laugh. "You just want me for my body."
"Well, it's not exactly a bad one."
"Perv."
"Tease."
More laughter.
This guy.
"So, uh, what are you doing?" Kendrick asked. "I hear computer clicks."
"I'm looking up stuff about...Hernan. About his mutation."
"You're trying to find a cure?"
"I said I would help him didn't I?" Nicki said. "I can't find anything though. I don't...*groan*."
"Hey, it'll be okay." Kendrick said, reassuringly. "We'll think of something. Both of us. That's what superheroes do, right?"
"So, am I, like, a superhero now?"
"You saved those kids in that school. People would be dead without you. If you're not a hero, I don't know who is."
"You're just saying that," she said. "You and Hernan really stopped him."
"Hey, don't question yourself. You...you're awesome. You're brave, you're smart, you're pretty hot..."
"You're making me blush."
"...and you just...get it. You just get people and stuff and me and...well yeah. Don't question how awesome you are. You're, like, the only person who hasn't realized it yet."
Nicki could feel herself blush.
This guy. This fucking guy.
I wanted to write more for this chapter. Then I just wrote that last part and...I said to myself "this is enough." And hopefully it was.
His best friend was a superhero.
Holy shit.
Marshall was standing at the floor of his school dance...
...and Kendrick was fighting a giant Scorpion. Him and...was that Nicki? Damn, she was really filling out that outfit.
Aw dude bro code, Marshall thought, remembering that she was there with Kendrick. Besides, I'm here with...
"Oh my God Marshall," Kim Gray said right next to him. "What the hell is happening right now?!"
Kim was standing in a pink in white dress that clashed heavily with her caramel skin. Her light brown hair was tied in a bun, and she was wearing white high heels. All these things put together probably shouldn't have worked, but that didn't matter when you looked like Kim. Her usually beautiful features were twisted in a face of pure terror at the sight before them.
Is it weird that I still think she looks hot...?
"Okay, uh...," Marshall pondered as he looked at all the panicking teens and faculty running around scared. One thing was for certain: panicking was definitely not the way to go. "The bleachers! Let's hide under the bleachers!"
Kim nodded and started running towards the bleachers. Marshall was proud of himself. He had handled the situation well, and had made a good plan. But if this backfires on them, he would never forgive himself.
Well, as the other Marshall said, sometimes you gotta Sing For The Moment.
Even though Marshall wasn't the best runner in the world, he was goddamned Usain Bolt when it came to giant-ass fucking scorpions. He ducked as a table that The Scorpion had flipped sailed over his head and smashed into the wall behind him.
Holy shit. I could've just died...
Marshall decided to worry about the psychological effects later as he jumped under the bleachers, right next to Kim.
"Dude, you almost died!" she said as soon as he dived in.
"Yeah," Marshall said. "I noticed."
She probably didn't hear him, as he noticed she was looking intently at the battle scene playing out in the gymnasium.
"Maybe," she started, still looking at the battle. "Maybe we should...do something..."
"What could we possibly do?"
"We could...nothing. We couldn't do anything."
"Exactly," Marshall said, taking a hot can of Mountain Dew from his jacket, which he had stashed before he came to the dance. "We might as well let Spider-Man and that hot chick with white hair to stop this."
"Hey, didn't Ken's date have white hair...?"
"Hey, you wanna sip?" Marshall said, interrupting her thought process.
"Huh? Uh, sure." she said, taking a sip of Mountain Dew. "Thanks."
"Hey, what are friends for?" Marshall said.
"...I'm so scared Marsh."
"Hey...hey, don't be scared. I'm here. I promise that I won't let anything bad happen to you."
"What could you do against...that," she said, motioning towards the elephant, or Scorpion in the room.
"Well, I could annoy him to death," Marshall said. "Or I could blow his mind with my amazing freestyle skills."
Kim smiled. Marshall could feel his face turning red. At least he got that scared look off her face. Maybe he couldn't climb on walls, or have crazy mutant powers, but as long as he could bring that beautiful smile to the world, he felt like the real hero.
"Y'know," Kim said, brushing hair out of he face. "I don't think I've ever actually heard you rap."
"Sure you have. In Mr. Dent's class. Right before..."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
They sat there for a moment, in a sort of moment of silence for the people who lost their lives that day. Then, Kim broke the silence.
"So, uh, are you gonna rap or not?" she said with a teasing smile. "Come on Skittles."
"Why did you say that like it was an insult?"
"Oh whatever could you mean?"
"Alright all right," Marshall said, forming some words in his head. "Okay..."
"We're sitting under the bleachers, hiding from The Scorpion
Hoping that I don't have to duck some table again
That girl Kim Gray keep the sky from gray
Cause her smile shining bright from a mile away."
She smiled again. Damn. Marshall probably would've kept looking at her smile for the rest of the night, had he not felt something touching his hands. He looked down, and saw that Kim had taken his hands into hers. He could feel his face getting hotter.
"That...was really sweet," she said, slightly blushing herself. "And...really bad."
"Bad?!"
"You weren't even on beat."
"What?! Man, Skittles got mad bars."
"You refer to yourself in the third person?"
"It's my thing!"
"Pfft," Kim said. Then stopped for a moment before she spoke again. "Do you hear that?"
"Sirens," Marshall said, confirming.
Slowly but surely, they stepped out from behind the bleachers, to the welcome site of The Scorpion, unconscious on the ground, with a swarm of disturbed cops surrounding him.
It was over.
Marshall felt Kim slip her hand into his. He smiled.
Who needs superpowers anyway?
I love Marshall. I do. He's incredibly fun to write, and I just love his character. It's weird, my original plan was for Kendrick and Marshall to start out as kinda resenting each other after Marshall discovers his secret, until they start to gradually become friends. But it didn't come out that way. And I am so damned glad it didn't. Writing Marshall and Ken's dialogue has got to be the best part of writing this series. It just comes out so natural, and it always makes me laugh when I go back and read it.
This section was kinda to show that Marshall is more than just comic relief. Or Kendrick's best friend. He's his own character, who just happened to be thrown into a crazy situation. His best friend is a superhero. How would you react to that?
Dr. Curtis Lance sat in his lab, looking at his computer with slight disappointment.
The Scorpion was captured.
It was only slight disappointment though. The Scorpion would deliver his message to the police, and that message would be heard.
The Goblin was coming.
Dr. Lance took another sip of his Lipton Peach Iced Tea.
Goddamn, this was some good shit.
Dr. Lance was ready to wrap things up and go home, then he saw a picture on his monitor. Tyler Farroway was coming towards his lab. Dr. Lance rolled his eyes. He used to have respect for Farroway, until he had been so soft on the Durham boy. They could have captured that spider, but Dr. Farroway insisted on giving him medical attention.
"Curtis, open the door."
Let's get this over with.
Dr. Lance got up and walked to the door, opening it to a not so happy Farroway.
"We need to talk," he said, with a large amount of conviction.
"About what sir?" Dr. Lance said. It annoyed him to have to say sir to an inferior mind, but he held his tongue.
"Before we continue, I know that you hate calling me sir, so you can go ahead and cut it out," Tyler said as he closed the door behind him.
Hm. Maybe he's not as idiotic as I had considered him.
"I also know that you used the Neogenic Recombinator without logging it in," Farroway said with the same conviction. "I want you to tell me why."
"I must've forgot," Dr. Lance said, wondering how Dr. Farroway had known he'd used it if he hadn't logged it in.
"Cut the bullshit," Tyler said, causing Dr. Lance to flinch. "Ever since Kendrick was bitten by that damned spider, you've been different. You've been secluding yourself into this office of yours. What are you working on Curtis? What are you...oh my God."
Curtis followed his gaze, until his eyes rested upon the computer screen. On it, was the news report he had been looking at earlier, showing a picture of The Scorpion, who looked like a splitting image of Dr. Lance.
"Tyler, this can be explained..."
"You! You...you created The Scorpion! You used our cloning technology and created a monster! You tried to kill Ke..."
"You killed Kendrick Durham! You did! If you had let me catch that damned spider, I would've left him alone! But you are the one who forced my hand! Now Kendrick Durham must die, and it will be all because of you!"
"You...you're delusional..."
"Yeah? I am delusional?" Dr. Lance took a pistol from his pocket and pointed it in Tyler's chest. "Then let me be crazy for a minute."
"Dr. Lance...Curtis...you're not thinking clearly..."
"Oh, I'm thinking more clearly than I have in a long time Tyler."
"I don't think you...holy shit!"
"What are you...," Dr. Lance started before turning his head in the direction he was facing. "Holy fucking shit."
There, sitting on Dr. Lance's desk was a splotch of red. Upon further looking, it was revealed to be an arachnid. A red and gold arachnid.
It was the spider that bit Kendrick Durham, turning him into Spider-Man.
Tyler and Curtis looked at each other for a moment, before both of them ran for the spider, looks on pure excitement on their faces. That stopped as soon as they reached the spider though. The only thing that could be heard throughout the room...was a BOOM.
This section was written while drinking Lipton Peach Iced Tea.
Kendrick Durham sat in the dark room. Alone. Slowly, he pulled off his shirt, and looked at the many scars on his shoulders. They weren't caused by burglars, muggers, or even The Scorpion.
They were self-inflicted.
He never understood why people cut themselves on their wrists where everyone could see them. So, when he did it, he did it on his shoulders. He got a few from when Drake killed himself. He got a few from when he found out he wasn't the real Spider-Man. That he wasn't Peter Parker. He got a few from when Jen yelled at him. That hurt. He had cut himself so many times since that spider bit him, that his back was basically just scarred flesh. Slowly, he put out his middle finger, causing his bone claw to form itself on him. Slowly, he cut a new mark on his back. Tyler Farroway had just died.
The pain was just that...pain. But it had something else on it. Something...relieving. The adrenaline was a cure to him. A cure to all the pains he felt in life. It bottled the demons back up.
It bottled the spider back up.
And that's the end.
I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thanks to myulander for following Spider-man: New World, favoriting Spider-man: New World, for favoriting and following Spider-man: New World 2, for favoriting this story, for following this story, and for reviewing this story. Glad you thought it was "good." (Man of few words I see.) Also, thanks for favoriting me. (Whew, hope I got it all.)
Thanks to Exile037 for reviewing. Yeah, I noticed you had did that, although I didn't know if it was connected or not. (Also, go check out his stories you guys.) I'm glad you thought it was perfect, I thought it turned out pretty good too, although it was a drag to write out all those character descriptions, when I just wanted to write the story. And yeah, Ken totally has a thing for Anya. And Spider-Verse isn't the only time his crush on her will come up. Age Of Superior...
Thanks to josephguy217 for reviewing. Awesome that you liked it. Yeah, it was pretty fun how Ken didn't know what the hell was going on most of the time. It was a blast to write.
Thanks to CrimsonBlade13 for reviewing. And you said you like the story "so far." That's impying that you're gonna stick around. I'm gonna hold you to that. More reviews!
Thanks to The Voices In Your Head for favoriting.
And now, I shall put up the answers to the FAQs.
* The reason I don't put a lot of detail into describing scenes and surroundings and stuff is because I like to leave it to the imagination. I know how I picture it, but that's not as fun. I want you guys to use those minds of yours to picture what happens in this story. I might put your heads in the right direction, but ultimately, it's up to you.
* Kendrick and Marshall are not gay.
* I'm not telling you who killed Tyler yet. Stop Private Messaging me about it!
* My favorite comic book characters are Spider-Man and Deadpool.
** I do not ship Spideypool.
* I didn't like The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
* No, Golden Age and New World are not the same universe. I thought that was obvious.
* No, I will not combine the Golden Age or New World universes because of Secret Wars. As far as we know, those universes were not touched by the incursions.
* Playstation Over Xbox.
* Android Over Apple
* I like Peter/Felecia.
* There might be spin-offs of Golden Age: Spider-Man in the future.
That's enough of that. You guys have any more questions, be sure to post them in a review, or send them in a PM if you don't everyone to know you asked it. I will answer all of them.
Well, I hope you like this little annual. Oh yeah, I'm gonna be naming the arcs of this story now. Or, I'm gonna try to.
Thanks for reading. Tell me which section was your favorite in the reviews!
Happy birthday Kendrick!
-Brad