Welcome everybody to my first chapter with the milk and s stick of butter… you'll see whats going on in the end which will explain the absence of Ashton.
Trux - I appreciate your presence and your patience man.
A Spider's Sense
Cindy...
Silk desperately clung to the metal grating of the ground as the flashing lights from the portal continued to go on around her. "My Silk Sense is going off like crazy!" she thought. She saw the floating islands, debris, buildings, and cars all being pulled to the center. Not too far away, she spotted Venom, still in pain from when she rang the bell, "I have to help him! He's hurt and it's my fault!" So, she began to make her way towards him. Jumping from a floating island to cars, swinging off a floating traffic light. "Almost there, keep pushing. Faster," she fired another webline that attached to the Soviet statue and was able to gain momentum to send her flying forward, but it still wasn't enough, "Faster." she mentally told herself as she lucked out and was able to get a solid runway of swingable objects, "FASTER!" eventually, she ran out of space and was left on a floating island. Ashton was still too far away for her to reach with her webbing. She squinted her eyes and her nose flared, finding the only object she could swing on, she fired two weblines to a fire truck that read 'ye Old Yorkenshire Fire Killers' and pulled herself back, "I'm coming!" she let go and launched herself across the void, she was close now, within a webline's length, she was sure of it.
"ASHTON!" Silk yelled out.
"Cindy..." Ashton held his side in pain, Venom vibrating due to the ringing of the large bell caused by Cindy just a little bit earlier, "I'm...I'm sorry!" the boy yelled out, his suit now morphed into him due to Venom's weakened state.
"Ashton!" Silk yelled again, holding out her hand and firing a webline to her friend. But before it could reach him, Carnage and Riot crashed through the debris that Ashton was standing on and sent him flying towards the center of the portal. The dimensions becoming more and more unstable.
"CINDY!" Ashton yelled. He tried to grab on to other flying debris he was flying towards the center, but the force was too powerful, "CINDY!" he yelled again until his voice faded and Silk could no longer see him.
"Ashton, no!" Silk felt the ground underneath her start to give way, and she webbed the ground as she was ripped from the surface, "Shit!" she cursed as she held on for dear life. Her Silk Sense went off and she didn't have time to react as the bumper of a red and blue Dune Buggy slammed into the side of her head, the resulting blow causing her to let go of her webline. Her vision dazed as she flew towards the center of the portal, she wanted to move but just didn't have the strength. She flew towards the center of the portal, the only thing she could hear, aside from the tinnitus, was faint laughter, before she knew it, everything went black.
"Uuuugh...what happened?" Silk groaned as she rubbed her head as she felt a throbbing, not her Silk Sense, just pulsing pain, "Oooooh, yeah, that's probably a concussion." She got off the ground and tried to reorient herself, looking around, it looked like she landed in New York, specifically Hell's Kitchen at what looked to be around 10:00 pm. "Oh...that's not so bad. Not too far from home." she stretched and tried to shake off whatever ringing she was still feeling in her head before swinging home.
"I'll see if I can contact Ashton when I get home. If I ended up in Hell's Kitchen, maybe he didn't end up much farther than me?" she thought mid swing. However, she stopped and stuck herself to a wall when she saw a large screen of her favorite reporter (sarcasm) J. Jonah Jameson.
"...tragically, it is unsure whether the nation of Symkaria will ever truly recover. However, thanks to the efforts of Silver Sable, a Prime Minister she personally recommended has now taken control after the country. One that's in favor of the United States and her ally nations as opposed to Latveria. Only time will tell."he paused and turned to face a different camera as a new picture appeared over his shoulder. One showing a man in a costume, the shoulders and the mask were matte black, the mask itself had large, deep red, teardrop shaped lenses. The rest of the costume seemed to be a scarlet red, and on the chest was a large black spider design. A headline came across the bottom of the screen 'Scarlet Spider: Good for the City?'. "In other news, an opinion piece of mine. As I'm sure many of you are aware, I do not very much care about the Wall-Crawling Menace known as Spider-Man."a picture of a man with a similar costume appeared on screen, but it was mostly red with blue on the sides of the costume, the lenses were now white instead of a deep red, an even larger spider on the chest that seemed to go to the back, and a web pattern on the red parts not too different from Silk's own. "However, what about this...Scarlet Spider? Is he related? Where did he come from? Regardless on who he is, I believe he's good for the community. For starters, he actually does things BY THE BOOKS! He's a member of the esteemed group 'Hero for Hire' and yes, I know I haven't always seen eye to eye with the group, the fact of the matter is, they work with the city and with the police to ensure the safety of the people. Meaning that they work within the confines of the law, under police approval. Have you ever noticed the amount of super powered villains has diminished since his arrival? Has anybody heard from that Electro? What about The Vulture? Sandman? Or, dare I even say, Mysterio? All of them, MIA for the last year or more. A majority of that time with him swinging around our streets!"
Silk sat on the side of the building in bewilderment, "Spider-Man?" she mumbled, "I know Jameson mentioned that name every time he was talking about Ashton-er-Venom? But that guy DEFINITELY wasn't Ashton. And this 'Scarlet Spider'..." she cupped her chin before pulling at her hair in frustration, "What the hell is going on? Who was that guy?" her eyes widened in realization, "Wait a minute...That machine, it distorted reality, Ashton got sucked in along with Riot and Carnage...was that some sort of trans dimensional portal? If that's the case, then where the hell am I? And where's Aston? And just how the hell could that man make such a machine?"
New York, Earth-922...
A costumed hero with a sword strapped to his back stood on top of a police cruiser while three men stood in front of him, just coming out of a jewelry shop with the valuables in black duffle bags. Of the trio, in order from left to right was: Fancy Dan, a very dapper looking criminal wearing a purple blazer with a pink vest under that and a white button down and magenta necktie under that. He wore black slacks with a designer belt and shoes. His hair cut in a high fade and slicked back, and he wore polarized shades; At the center was Jackson "Montana" Brice, the leader. He looked like a modern-day cowboy, wearing a green jacket, black best, gray button down and a bolo tie. He wore khakis with a normal belt and even 'shit-kicker' boots. Around his waist he had a gun holster which was used to hold his Single Action Army. And to complete the look he wore a white rancher's hat to compliment his cowboy handlebar mustache; and finally, their muscle, a 400 pound almost seven-foot-tall bald man they called The Ox. His real name was Raymond Bloch, but one could see why he just went by Ox. He wore a big yellow tracksuit and black trackpants and running shoes, and due to his large hands, he kept black gloves on (you don't need to scan for prints with a hand his size, the choices narrow down to him, Shaq, Wilson Fisk, or a monster). Together these three men formed: The Enforcers.
"Okay," the costumed hero sighed, "Let me go over this one. Last. Time." he cleared his throat, "My name is Kaine, and for the last ten months or so I've been New York's one and only Scarlet Spider. Didn't originally want to do the hero thing, but my brother fucked off to another planet and got himself killed, my other brother went back to school and is fighting a bunch of monsters so I'm all that's left to protect the city. I started off humble, as most do, fought a bunch of vampires with Blade, stopped some psychopath named Morbius from spreading a disease that would turn all human life into vampires. Then from there I did some light work as hired muscle, I ran with The Punisher once or twice, helped beat the ever-living shit out of Hammerhead and the rest of those out of place mafia families, was able to throw Silvermane behind bars, fought off Carnage on my own, killed a clone of Dracula, and then I did that again...and again...and again. Lot of clones of Dracula, it's actually a problem. I tried going on dates because my brother was giving me shit of having no game (even though it took him almost a year to tell a girl he was into her) that didn't go well, superheroes don't make good partners...or maybe I'm just an asshole, I don't know. Anyways, reconciled with my family and moved in, got my GED, got a job with Hero for Hire, stopped some bad guys here and there, helped a lady give birth so now I'm a godfather (that's a weird one), got lucky with a blue alien girl (long story...ALSO weird), I'm a believer of Mutant rights, I don't like monsters (still debating if that makes me racist or normal), I just scarfed downed a couple slices of Joe's Pizza and now I'm here. Any questions?"
Montana cocked an eyebrow in confusion, his hand was on his gun, but he was too flabbergasted to do anything, "What?" he asked.
Kaine sighed and slumped his shoulders, "I came here, you asked in your overly western cowboy sounding accent 'WhO'rE yOu?' I told you, you were still confused so I let you know."
"Yeah, but...we didn't ask for your life story." Fancy Dan said as he scratched his chin, "That was just unnecessary."
"But do you know who I am now?" Kaine asked. The three men looked at each other and all nodded or shrugged, "Exactly. So now you know, I'm the Scarlet Spider of Hero for Hire, and I've been hired to kick you-" he stopped as he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone, "One second..." he mentioned as he held up a finger and grabbed his phone, "Hey, Doreen."
Doreen Green, "The Unbeatable" Squirrel Girl. She was a new hire for the Heroes for Hire crew, a freshman at ESU and somehow knew Jessica Drew who recommended her to the team. "Heeeey, Kainey!" she said in a sing song voice, "Listen, can you answer Luke's calls please? He's been trying to reach you for a bit now."
"I'm kind of working right now." Kaine complained, "Tell him I'll call him when I call him."
"No need to be rude!" Doreen said with a pout, "By the way...since I have you on the line. Are you perhaps-"
"I don't date coworkers." Kaine interrupted, "Also squirrels and spiders don't exactly mix." he quickly hung up and shook his head, "Sorry. Now...how you want to do this dance?" he started pointing at each of the three, chuckling, "Do we go one at a time? Or perhaps all at once? Do I take on discount Rhino first? Or wannabe Revolver Ocelot? Hmm, decisions decisions." Kaine looked down and saw Montana getting ready to unholster his weapon. Thinking quickly, Kaine fired a webline from his wrist and stuck Montana's hand to his belt. "Ah, screw it, y'all go down the same anyways." he laughed as he jumped off the police cruiser and fired a webline at Ox and yanked himself to the big man.
Ox Kaine coming and held his hand up and grabbed the hero's leg before slamming him to the ground, "Don't get cocky, spider wannabe." the big man laughed.
"Okay...ow." Kaine wrapped his legs around Ox's arm and used his ahesive ability to stick to him. Kaine then arched his back and put his hands on the ground behind him so he could get into a handstand before quickly slamming down, acting as if he performed a judo throw on the man with his legs. "You're big, but I can tell your brain isn't." Kaine taunted as he dusted himself off. He was caught off guard when Fancy Dan hit him across the face with a night stick, shattering the weapon on impact. The two stared at each other, neither saying a word of what just happened.
"I'll get on my knees." Dan said as he held his hands up and began to kneel, only to get his teeth slammed into Kaine's knee before being webbed to the ground.
Kaine heard the click of a gun and moved his head back to narrowly avoid a bullet from Montana. "You're a bit of an asshole, aren't you? I mean, you brought a gun to a fist fight." Kaine reached his hand forward and was able to slide his pinky in front of the hammer before it came down a second time to fire. "Gotta be quicker than that, partner." he laughed as he yanked the weapon from Montana's hands and tripped him up. Kaine then jumped in the air and webbed Montana by the chest and yanked him to the air, giving him a couple punches to the lungs before spinning him and slamming him to the wall and webbing him in place.
Kaine couldn't celebrate yet as he felt two burly arms wrap around his body and lift him off the ground. "Okay, doc, I've been having some lower lumbar pains, so if you wanna start there-" Kaine couldn't even finish the joke as Ox began to squeeze Kaine's body as hard as he could. "OOOOOOH! Hey, safe word, we need a safe- *CRAAACK* AAAH! AAAAH—Uuuuh—Oh? Wait, actually, that's exactly what I needed." Kaine chuckled as he slipped one of his arms out from the grip, "Alright, doc, time for YOU'RE shot!" he flexed his forearm and a large stinger shot out from his palm which he used to stab into the large man's arm.
"YEEOUCH!" Ox yelled out as he let go of Kaine. Kaine performed a flip and landed in a crouch before turning to face the large man who was still rubbing his arm in pain as blood was dripping out of it. "You'll pay for that, you Spiderman!" Ox growled.
"Firstly, Scarlet Spider. We went over this. Secondly, don't forget the hyphen between Spider and Man." Ox let out a battle cry as he charged Kaine and threw a punch, but the hero countered by throwing a punch of his own, the two fists colliding. *CRAAK* Ox cried in pain as he felt several of his knuckles break on impact, but Kaine wasn't done. The hero sent a kick to Ox's knee, forcing the large man to kneel, he then gripped Ox's face with a single hand and lifted him off the ground before jumping in the air and throwing him down, slamming Ox into the pavement below. To finish the big man off, Kaine ripped a car door off one of the police cruisers and slammed it on Ox's head as if it were a folding chair used in professional wrestling. The large man immediately lost consciousness, and Kaine stood with his hands on his hips, cracking his neck.
"Well, that was a good workout." Kaine looked to one of the cops, a young female officer his brother, Ben the second Spider-Man (first Scarlet Spider), got to know. She was young, third generation Japanese American, former Army specialist, Lieutenant Yuri Watanabe. "Lieutenant." Kaine greeted with a salute.
Yuri blew a bubble from some gum and let it pop before looking at the squad car and its lack of door thanks to Kaine. "Do you have any idea how much these cars cost, Spider?" she asked, squinting her brown eyes as if to peer into Kaine's soul.
"Um...That's a Ford so...they lost all their value once they left the lot?" Kaine flinched slightly as Yuri punched his shoulder, a move she immediately regretted as she yelped in pain, "I can literally punch through steel, and I've had a baseball bat shatter on impact before. You really should have seen that coming."
"Just..." Yuri let out a breath before pointing at Kaine, "Lower the collateral next time, think you can do that?"
Kaine grabbed a business card from...a belt apparently...and placed it between Yuri's fingers. "Call Hero for Hire, ask for Iron Fist. If he's not there, ask for Luke. He'll help you." he gave another salute before firing a webline to a streetlamp, "I got work to do, otherwise I'd stay and help clean." he said as he launched himself in the air.
"NO YOU WOULDN'T!" Yuri yelled out.
"You're right, I wouldn't! HAHAHAHA!"
"Cage." Kaine held his phone up to his ear as he swung through the city doing a couple flips and spins in between each webline he swung from, he also managed to web a penis on the side of the Fisk Building as he swung by.
"'Bout time you answered." Luke Cage replied with an aggressive tone, "You know, usually when your boss calls you, you answer the phone."
Kaine clicked his tongue in annoyance as he swung into Central Park because he saw what looked to be a shady meetup. "I'm kinda working out here, you should know that calling during work hours is bad for productivity. Hold on a second." Kaine webbed his phone to a light post as he jumped down and scared the men he tailed, "Hey there boys. You wanna come quietly? Or is this gonna go down the fun way?" Both the men hesitated before one reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife which was immediately ripped from his hand and thrown into the tree. Both men then screamed in fear as their bodies left the ground and they hung upside down in a tree, weblines attached to their feet.
"Okay, as I was saying." Kaine cleared his throat as he picked hup his phone and began swinging through the city again before finding a water tower to rest on, "Yeah, calling during work, blah blah blah, what did you want?"
"It's about a job." Luke clarified, "It's in Hell's Kitchen. Apparently, there was a superhuman fight. I'm not sure if it's been stopped yet, go check it out."
Kaine let out a long groan and slumped his shoulders, "Hell's Kitchen?" he whined, "That's like...two districts away still. Can't anyone else do it? What about Danny?"
"You know damn well that Danny is in Hong Kong." Luke argued.
"Well, what about Daredevil? That's literally his stomping grounds."
"Daredevil?" Luke echoed almost in disbelief, "A) It's daytime out, so he's probably not running around. B) Daredevil. The regular ass human. You want him to take care of a superpower situation?"
"Hey, I've seen Punisher beat a superhuman before, I know it can be done." Kaine argued. The line was silent for some time, eventually, Kaine gave in and let out another sigh, "Fucking, fiiiiiiiiine...I'll go check it out." Kaine hung up his phone and put it in his pocket before taking off again.
Kaine finally made it to Hell's Kitchen, he had to look around for a bit, but he eventually found the two superhumans in question. However, there was the issue that they were already stopped. And weirder yet, they were held up on a lamppost by webs. "Now this is interesting." Kaine thought as he looked the men over. He walked up and touched the webbing, "Not synthetic. I'd know from the touch. That's actually more of a relief to hear. I don't know what I'd do if someone else figured out our formula. They'd become too dangerous." he gripped his chin with his thumb and index finger while he looked the two criminals up and down, they weren't gang affiliated, didn't look like students at Xavier's Institute, for all he knew they were Inhumans or Mutants hiding in plain sight that just had beef with each other. "Even then...that still leaves the question: Who has spider powers with organic webbing?"
Kaine waved to the officers and jumped to the top of the building and pulled out his phone.
I'm done for the day. Gonna investigate something:.
He texted Luke and quickly started scrolling for his contacts until he found the name 'Eddie'. He clicked the call button and heard some ringing, going through about six cycles before there was finally an answer, "Hello?" a male voice responded on the other side, he sounded groggy as if he had only gotten a few hours of sleep.
"Eddie, it's Kaine."
There was a sound of shuffling on the other side of the line, as well as what sounded like pots and pans falling to the ground, "Shit!"
"Is this...a bad time?" Kaine asked.
"No just—I had a long night. I was working on this story—right—for the globe—right. And It turned into this whole...underground hidden Supers fight ring—right."
"Eddie, if you say 'right' one more time, I'm going to rip out your tongue when I next see you." Kaine growled, "But...you said something that may help me out. You mentioned an underground fight ring for hidden super types, right? Kinda like those old underground mutant rings?"
"Yeah. Long story, gonna blow it wide open. Lot of people involved, a couple high profile businessmen, officers of the law, and even a congressman." Kaine heard like what sounded to be the sound of a microwave going off, "Sho...what jid you need from me?"
"Don't talk with your mouth full, that's gross." Kaine started swinging towards a bridge, stopping to catch a ride on the top of a boss, "You didn't happen to do some extra work after that did you? Maybe you caught a few guys this morning and left them tied up?"
There was silence on the other side of the line for some time, "...No?" Eddie finally said, but admittedly he didn't seem too sure.
"This jog your memory?" Kaine sent an image of each of the two captured men, "These men were said to get into an altercation this morning. A passerby called Hero for Hire. When I showed up, they were taken care of, bruises on their body and tied up with webbing. Organic. That not you?"
"Not us. We definitely remember those two though. They had some sort of beef with each other, something about an argument they've been having for a while."
Kaine clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Then I may need your help solving this mystery. This person may have stopped some morons from hurting anyone now...but I don't like too many variables."
New Jersey...
Kaine swung through Jersey City for a couple of minutes before landing on top of an older apartment complex. "Jeez, Eddie. Why can't you live somewhere better? I.e. NOT Jersey." he thought as he lifted the bottom of his mask up to his nose before messaging Eddie he'd arrived, Kaine then pulled out a pack of cigarettes and placed one in his mouth and lit it up. "Honestly, given how bad the smog has been lately, this may actually be better for my lungs." he chuckled as he took a deep puff and blew the smoke out his nostrils.
"You ever think about wearing actual clothes when you show up?" a voice called. Kaine turned his head to the rooftop entrance of the apartment building to see a fairly tall man in his early to mid 20s, he had dirty blonde hair and blueish-green eyes, his face has some slight scruff to it like he hadn't shaved in a couple weeks. He wore a black tee-shirt and a black leather jacket, on his left shoulder was a patch that read 'Trask Ent.' with the logo slightly faded out. Around his neck he had a press badge that had the name Eddie Brock and belonged to The Daily Globe. He had some basic jeans and a pair of boots. "Or maybe, I don't know, just come by every once and awhile to hang out? You know, Ben would come by to hang out. We'd play Tekken, we'd try different chocolate recipes to see which one Venom likes the most, you know he got me really into Gundam again. I haven't seen Gundam since like Wing, but he showed me Unicorn...it was like I was a kid again."
"Yeah, Unicorn was pretty good." Kaine mumbled, "Anyways, sorry your boyfriend goes to school, but this is business." Kaine took one more puff of the cigarette before tossing it to the ground and stomping it out. "Okay, you ready...Venom?"
Eddie smirked before a black goo began to form around his body, eventually covering him entirely. He became taller, more muscular, and his look overall looked monstrous. On his chest was a large white spider that stretched to his back and connected to another large white spider design. His 'mask' had large white, jagged, tear drop eyes and a mouth with lots sharp teeth. "We are always ready." Venom replied, his voice sounding dual layered as if it was Eddie's voice and the voice of the alien symbiote that shared the body. Venom used his tongue to clean between his teeth before letting out a slight laugh before both he and Kaine took off, swinging back to New York.
"Your ass needs to move back to New York. Fuck Jersey." Kaine complained as they swung. Eventually having to opt to running across rooftops as the real estate for tall buildings was much less crowded in New Jersey compared to New York, "If there comes a point where May can retire and live independently, you're first on my list for a roommate. A lot easier that way. We know each other's secrets, we get along decently well, both of us actually have jobs, not like either of us will get a girl in the room any time soon."
"Ha! Says you! We'll have you know that we're quite the charmer. Eddie is fit, has a stable job, and is quite handsome. Ben said it's called 'Unspoken Rizz'."
Kaine felt a shiver rush down his spine as Venom said that, "Don't listen to Ben. He knows less about how to get a girl than even we do. And never EVER say that again."
"So, what is the plan anyways?"Venom asked, "What's your genius plan to catch this imposter?"
"Swing around the city, listen to police chatter. Show up at crime scenes, see if they arrive." Kaine explained, "If they don't then we'll take care of it. If they do, we'll stop the crime first then deal with them. Hopefully they are willing to talk to us."
"And if they don't?"
Kaine had a grin that was visible even beneath his mask, "Well...I'm off the clock."
Venom gained a large toothy grin of his own that stretched from ear to ear, "The Lethal Protectors. We like the way you think!"
Cindy...
Cindy had been running around this version of New York all night and well into the next day. Many things were different, but some things never change. For example, the coffee shop she frequented back home was still a thing here! The overall aesthetic was a little weird though, but eh coffee still tasted just as good! Another issue, or rather, a conundrum, is that she noticed her friends were here...but she wasn't. And she had to try her hardest not to call out to them because she realized they wouldn't respond, let alone recognize her.
"It's a long shot, but if I want to figure out where I'm at and how to leave...I may have to find this universe's spider hero. That...Scarlet Spider." Cindy thought as she took a sip of her coffee, "But how do I find him? There's eight million people in this city. It'd be like searching for a spider in a haystack." she jumped a bit in surprise as she heard rushing police sirens. Her Silk Sense went off and that's when she had an idea, "If I keep stopping crime like I normally do, then I'm bound to run into him eventually, right?" She downed the rest of her coffee and left the coffee shop before rushing into the nearest alleyway where she knew nobody would see her and changed to her costume. In a matter of seconds, she was swinging between buildings, tailing the police cars.
Her Silk Sense went off and she heard the sounds of gunfire, sounded as if a firefight was nearby. "Perfect." Silk grinned. She fired a webline at one of the assailants and zipped herself to him before kicking him in the face and knocking him out instantly, she calls this 'Zip-Strike'.
"It's Spider—Woman?" another assailant asked, confused to see Silk, "How many of you Spider-Freaks are there?!" he pointed his rifle up at Silk and she webbed it and yanked it from his hands and bent the barrel before tossing it to the side.
"Hey, so, like, I'm looking for a guy." Silk started as she dodged a few punches from the man before catching his fist and twisting it, "And I don't mean to date. I think you guys may have seen him around before? He wears red and black, kinda scary looking, is a hero?" Silk dodged another gunshot before webbing another assailant and yanking him towards her before she kicked him in the face, "I take it you guys aren't big talkers. That's fine, really." Silk finally punched the man who's arm she was still holding before cracking her knuckles, "I prefer you guys didn't talk anyways." she immediately got to work, jumping around dodging all the gunfire while punching or webbing the assailants, before the police knew it, the remainder of the gunman were disarmed and webbed to the car they were using as cover, "All in a day's work, boys. Make sure these chuckleheads get the right amount of detention before they go back to recess, 'kaaaay?" she chuckled as she webbed away.
"First crime of the day stopped...total bust. This Scarlet Spider didn't show up." Silk thought with a frown, "Buuuut...that just means my chances of him showing up increase from here, right?"
Hours pass. HOURS. Silk had been swinging around stopping every two-bit crime she came across, shady drug deal in the park, break-in to a government warehouse, weird guy holding up a bodega dressed as a walrus, found a cat, stopped a kidnapping. Wherever she went, she never ran into him. "Some hero he is." Silk thought with a frown, "Had it not been for me, all these people would have gotten away with the crime." Finally, she landed on top of a construction site for a new skyscraper in the middle of Midtown where she took a breather. She looked out along the skyline; she could see a tower not too far in the distance with a large red 'A' on it. "Curious." she thought with a sigh.
"So many things are the same, but so many are different." she complained to herself, "Feels like I'm the only one out there. That Scarlet Spider could at least try to make it easier on me."
"Sorry about that, I'm kinda off the clock right now."
Silk's whole body shook, and she jumped to her feet and turned around to see that it was the Scarlet Spider she was looking for as well as... "Ashton?" she asked as she saw a large hulking creature next to the hero. It wasn't exactly like how Ashton looked, but that smooth organic looking suit, the large white spider symbol, the eyes. It was too familiar. Plus...she had seen Goopy make that face before, when Ashton was in pain. She gulped when she remembered that it was her that hurt him before she ended up here.
"Is your name 'Ashton?'" the creature asked as he looked at the Scarlet Spider.
"What? No! You know my name is, Kaine." Kaine argued as he facepalmed and groaned, "Maybe YOU'RE 'Ashton'."
The creature let out a laugh and its long tongue twirled around its mouth, "We cannot be 'Ashton' our name is VENOM!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. 'We' this, 'we' that. Why don't WE get back to business." Kaine slumped his shoulders and looked back to Cindy, "Sorry about that. Anyways, my colleague and I are investigating something, and we believe..."
Kaine's words drowned out as Cindy just looked at the both of them in disbelief. "No." she thought, "No, it can't be true. THAT'S Goopy? What happened to him? He doesn't look like that normally." she furrowed her brow and stared right at Kaine.
"What? My masked fucked up?" Kaine asked as he adjusted his mask slightly.
"Where is he?" Silk asked, her voice slightly shaky.
"Beg your pardon?" Kaine asked as he leaned forward slightly. His hand began to reach towards his back as he saw Silk's hands tense.
"WHERE'S ASHTON!" Silk shouted, tears beginning to well up in her eyes, "The boy that goopy suit belongs to! He has dark brown hair, he's nineteen and he's one of the sweetest people I've met!" Silk shot her hand forward and fired out a webline, "Where is he! What did you do with him!?" As the webbing came towards Kaine he unsheathed his sword and cut down on the webbing, slicing through it like it was butter. "Huh?"
"Pretty good, huh?" Kaine gloated, "High Frequency Blade: it has a molecule edge and is imbued in Holy Water. I've killed well over a couple hundred vampires with it and even sliced down several clones of Dracula. I'll have no issue countering your webs. But, credit where it's due, not every day I go against someone with organic webbing." Kaine shot his hand forward and fired a webline of his own, narrowly missing Silk thanks to her Silk Sense.
"I should have known that someone that Jameson supports would be nothing but a scam!" Silk shouted as she swung towards Kaine, sliding between his legs as he tried to swipe her with the back side of his blade. She then popped up behind Kaine and performed a spin-kick, landing the attack against the other spider's chin. "Some hero you are. You do it for money, and you're not even that good at it! I mean, I was doing your job the whole day, and I didn't see you jump in to help!" Silk's eyes widened as her Silk Sense went off and she jumped out of the way from a grab from 'Venom', the large monster instead grabbing Kaine.
"Let go of me, doofus, you're supposed to be stopping the girl!" Kaine growled as he kicked Venom off him. "You, go left. I'll go right." Kaine ordered as he pointed Venom to the left.
"Left, right, doesn't matter. I won't lose to you anybody until I find Ashton." Silk performed a back handspring to gain some distance and readied herself. Her Silk Sense went off and she focused her attention to the right to see Venom charging her with his mouth open and his arms open wide to grab her. She jumped to the side and webbed a bag of concrete mix and tossed it at the monster. However, to Silk's surprise, the bag slammed into the side of Venom's face, and he had little to no reaction.
"You'll need more power than that, girly!" Venom continued charging forward and Silk tried to swing away, but as she did so her Silk Sense blared, and she felt a strong tug on her right leg. "We have you now!" Venom laughed as he yanked down with his 'web' and put Silk into a bear hug, "Smells good. Our compliments to the chef!" Venom licked his big chops, his long, snake-like tongue going all around the outside of his mouth before licking the side of Silk's face, causing her whole body to shiver. Venom opened his large mouth, it looked as if the jaw was dislocating to open wider, like a snake, and he inched Silk's head closer to the opening. However, he stopped when he felt a powerful fist from Kaine strike against his temple, causing him to let go of Silk. "WHAT THE FUCK, SPIDER?"
"What the hell are you doing?!" Kaine yelled back, "You're just supposed to stop her not kill her!"
"Stop, kill, it's called semantics. They are all the same to us." Venom shrugged.
Kaine flinched in bewilderment, "NO! Not 'Semantics' they are not close to being the same thing!" he rubbed his temples in frustration as he tried not to lose his cool, "Listen, lady, we aren't trying to fight you. And we DEFINITELY aren't trying to kill you. We just want to—FUCK!" Kaine was cut off as Silk tackled him to the ground and began throw hooks left and right, pummeling Kaine's face repeatedly.
"HOLY SHIT!" Venom laughed, "She's fucking you up, Kaine! Why didn't you just dodge it?"
"I don't-OOF! Have—UGH! Spider-Sense!" Kaine grunted, "KNOCK IT OFF!" Kaine caught Silk's left hand and twisted it, making her wince in pain. "Now...please, let's talk this o—OOF!" Kaine squinted his eyes behind his mask and growled in annoyance after Silk punched him again with her free hand. "GRAAAAAH!" Kaine tensed his right arm, and a long stinger of sorts came out of his palm. Silk's eyes widened and she tried to jump away, but Kaine grabbed her ankle with his left hand, "Where are you going?" he asked with a sinister tone before slamming Silk into the ground, causing the concrete to crater slightly, "I tried to talk it out, we're past that now. Now I'm pissed." Kaine jabbed his hand forward, his stinger stabbing through the concrete as Silk narrowly moved her head to avoid getting hit.
"Nice aim, dead eye." Silk taunted as she kicked her legs up and knocked Kaine off her and sent him across the ground, but not to far as he slid to a halt with his adhesive abilities.
"So kill?!" Venom laughed as he charged forward and fired two large 'web' nets from the top of his hands, capturing Silk like she was prey. Silk struggled and fought, but the webbing was just too strong, way stronger than any webbing she could produce. Venom laughed as he lifted her up in the net with one hand, using his free hand to rip a hole in the net so he could reach in. He grabbed Silk by her throat and lifted her up, licking his lips once again. With her vision beginning to fade, Silk tried her best to escape by kicking Venom in the jaw, but the monster was unfazed. "HAHAHA! Is that all? You're awfully pathetic for a Spider Hero. Even Spider-Man packed more of a punch." Once again, Venom opened his mouth to bite down on Silk, but instead of his mouth covering Silk's face, her face instead got a small splatter of green blood that came from the monster's tongue as a blade had sliced through it. "AAAAAAAGH! What the fuck?!" Venom shouted as he dropped Silk and grabbed his mouth, "Did you cut off our tongue? Do you know how long it takes for that to heal, Kaine!? I mean...not very long, but that FUCKING HURTS!"
Kaine twirled his sword and quickly flicked it, cleaning all the blood off the blade before re-sheathing it. "Not killing her." he growled, "But I'm still gonna kick her ass!" Kaine webbed a concrete mix and swung the bag towards Silk who jumped out of the way, causing Kaine to hit Venom in the face. "Oops."
Venom shook his face and growled at Kaine for hitting him AGAIN. "Man, some team you guys are." Silk taunted, "What's your group name? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Ugly?"
"It seems she has Spider Sense." Venom suggested as both he and Kaine refocused their attention on Silk.
"I noticed." Kaine groaned.
"Which means she has an advantage over you."
"I know."
"But not us." Venom smiled, his large teeth all showing, "We will be on even ground because we have our Venom Sense."
"Shut up, fucking alien parasite." Kaine cracked his neck, "I have a plan. No killing!" he scolded while pointing at the monster, "Just...do what you would do aside from that."
Venom slumped his shoulders and sighed, "Fiiiiine. And we ARE NOT a parasite!"
Venom let out a loud roar and dashed his way towards Silk by running on all fours like a monster. Silk gasped as he reached her faster than she anticipated. When Venom was only a couple feet away, she jumped over him and fired several web balls at his face to blind him. "Sorry, Goopy. No hard feelings, 'kay?" she sent a punch towards Venom but gasped when he grabbed her fist without even looking at her, "Huh? But you're-"
"Blinded?" Venom chuckled, "Paralyzed, dumbstruck? No. We. See. Everything." he lifted Silk in the air before throwing her over his shoulder and slamming her into the concrete with a hard thud. Then he lifted her up and did it again, and then again.
Silk groaned in pain, she was sure that she dislocated a shoulder...or maybe relocated it? She wasn't sure. "Maybe that's a concussion." she thought, "Dammit! He's way stronger than me. Come on, Goopy. You know me. Remember who I am!"
"Goopy." Silk groaned. Venom held her up high by her leg so that her face and his were in front of each other, "Please...remember who I am." using a free hand, Silk lowered her mask, showing her face, "It's me, Cindy. Remember? You remember, don't you? Maybe not that guy you're attached to, but you, Goopy. You have to remember me. When you were attached to Ashton." Cindy slowly reached her hand out and caressed Venom's face, hoping she'd get through to him.
"Who are you?" Venom asked. Cindy's heart practically sank to her stomach when he asked that. "Sorry, Sweetheart, we've never seen you before in our life. We don't know this 'Ashton'. And, quite frankly, you're a little young for our liking." he emphasized his point by brushing Cindy's hand away, "You're delusional, and a danger. We'd honestly rather eat you. But our friend there won't let us. We must stop you now." Without warning, Venom slammed Silk on the ground again, knocking the wind out of her.
"I need to escape his grasp!" Cindy thought as she writhed in pain. Her eyes looked to the wall that was behind her and she saw an electrical box, "If I'm lucky...hopefully that's hot." she extended her arm out and fired a webline to the electrical box and yanked as hard as she could so that the box came flying at Venom. Venom laughed at the attempt and caught the box, however, much to his dismay, it was hot. Electrical currents shot through Venom's body, and he cried out in pain, the electricity making symbiote split from its host temporarily, allowing Cindy to see a man underneath that looked eerily like Ashton. Due to all the pain, Venom backed away from Cindy, allowing her to slowly get to her feet. "Good...now I need to find a way to stop him. But how-" Her eyes widened in realization as she thought back to when that scientist man had told her to ring the bell to stop Carnage and she ended up hurting Ashton as well, "High frequency sounds! That's the weakness!" Cindy looked all around the construction site and found several metal poles that weren't yet put in use, "Well, guess I'll give them a test run." She swung all around the site, grabbing as many poles as she could carry, avoiding Venom as he started to chase after her after he recovered. Finally, she had Venom where she wanted him. She slammed two poles together, the sound stopping Venom in his tracks. She then placed poles all around the monster and repeatedly hit them, so he was surrounded by the sound.
Venom screeched as the symbiote tried to practically jump from its host body, only barely holding on. "I'm sorry, Goopy. But if you don't recognize me, I can't take chances. I need to stop you so I can look for Ashton."
"Forget about something?" Silk's eyes widened as she heard Kaine's voice behind her, "Didn't sense me coming, right? I know, that's because I have trained really REALLY hard to not come at certain people with murderous intent. And I don't intend to kill you, I've been serious the whole time." Silk yelped as she felt Kaine's two strong arms wrap around her body, "Still gonna hurt you, though." Kaine leaned back and performed a German Supplex, and then again, and then again. "You ever play Tekken? I main King." Kaine lifted Silk so her legs were by his head before jumping in the air and performing a Corkscrew Pile Driver.
Silk recovered and spun on the ground, trying to trip up Kaine, but he jumped out of the way and stuck himself to the side of a pillar. "Not bad, you're...strong." Silk grunted, "But I will beat you, I'll do everything I can to save my friend!" she Web Zipped her way towards Kaine, hoping to kick him, but he jumped and was able to counter her by performing an RKO in mid-air.
"SOOOOO fucking cliché." Kaine criticized as he slammed Silk in the ground, "Oh, I'm gonna use the power of friendship to beat all my enemies! Then I'll turn golden and save the world!" he taunted, "Shut the fuck up you wannabe Sonic protagonist."
"HEY! Sonic is rad!" Silk yelled as she managed to web Kaine's foot and yank up, making him fall and hit his head. She then rushed towards him and slid, kicking him in the face and launching him in the air the moment he got to a knee. While he was in the air Silk jumped from pillar to pillar and even the ground, punching and webbing Kaine until he was in a thick web cocoon, suspended in air. Silk then jumped high into the air above Kaine and then webbed the ground below them before launching herself foot first towards her prisoner. "SILK PRISON!" she shouted.
"'Silk Prison'?" Kaine scoffed. To Silk's surprise, he ripped out of her prison with a stinger coming out of each of his palms, "It's called 'Maximum Spider', this is why you don't let women name attacks."
"EXCUSE ME?" Silk didn't get to voice her complaints as Kaine met her in the air and spun her around before tossing her towards the ground. Thankfully, Silk was able to correct herself in the launch and land on the ground safely in a crouch. "SILK SENSE!" she quickly jumped back as Kaine came flying in with an axe kick and broke the ground when he struck the ground. "Holy schnikes he's strong!" Silk let out a slight yelp as Kaine Web Zipped towards her. "Waitwaitwait, let me say something, LET ME SAY SOMETHING!" Kaine stopped and motioned for Silk to continue. "THINK FAST!" she went to punch Kaine in the face, but he simply redirected the attack before performing the splits and sending an uppercut right to Silk's gut and knocking the wind out of her.
"Yeah, maybe don't shout 'Think Fast' before you punch your opponent." Kaine said as he got to his feet. While getting to his feet, he webbed her feet to the ground to make sure she didn't try anything funny, "Now..."
"YOU BITCH! WE'LL KILL YOU FOR THAT!" Venom charged towards the stationary Silk after recovering from his pain of having the intense sounds ring in his ear.
Kaine sighed and quickly unsheathed his sword and sliced Venom across the chest, making him stop in his tracks, "STOP!" Kaine yelled, "I am SO far past fucking done with this. Venom, she's stopped. Girl..." he looked at Silk and sighed, "Let's...start over. Who are you? What's your name?" Silk looked at Kaine and squinted her eyes as if she was studying him. "Okay...fine, I'll start." Kaine grabbed the bottom of his mask and lifted it up until it was resting on his head, just above his eyebrows, showing his face. There was a scar that slashed across his left eye and a few cuts on his lip, there was swelling on his right eye as if he was recovering from a black eye and his nose looked slightly bent as if he had a broken nose and he fixed it himself. The face, however, was more than familiar to Cindy.
Cindy cocked an eyebrow in surprise "Peter Parker?" she asked, "From Advanced Physics?"
Kaine squinted his eyes in slight annoyance, "Kaine. My name is Kaine Parker. Peter is my brother." he explained, "He fucked off to a different universe." Cindy's eyes widened in surprise at the statement.
"M-My name is Cindy Moon. I go by Silk. And...and I think I'm from a different universe too."
Kaine smiled and nodded, "Good, now we're getting somewhere." he walked over to Cindy and used his sword to cut through the webs so that Cindy was free once again, "So...what happened? Why did you attack us? What's the last thing you remember?"
Cindy looked Kaine in the eyes, she could tell he was telling the truth and that he genuinely wanted to help her. Her senses went off, but it wasn't due to danger...it was almost like an acknowledgement. "Okay...last night, me and my friend, Ashton, we went to stop some...villain. There was a man, a strange man with robotic arms that created a machine and it created some sort of weird portal. We saw all sorts of weird environments. I'm starting to think it was different universes melding together."
"A trans dimensional portal." Kaine mentioned with a nod as he cupped his chin with his thumb and index finger, "Interesting. And the man with the mechanical arms, did he have weird goggles or glasses? Did they look like tentacles?" Cindy nodded, "Octavious." Kaine hummed, "Always causing trouble, even if he isn't our Octavious, he's still a nuisance." Kaine paced back and forth and looked at Venom when a thought hit him, "Wait, you said 'Ashton' again. And when you first looked at Venom you also called him Ashton. Why?"
Cindy frowned and looked at Venom, "Because Ashton IS Venom." she claimed.
Kaine nodded and pointed to Venom, "Mask off, show her." Venom hesitated for a moment, but he listened to Kaine, and the suit retracted to show Eddie.
Eddie coughed into his hand to clear his throat, a little unprepared to show himself, "Uh...hey there. I'm-"
"Eddie Brock?" Cindy asked, "I know you, we met...or I guess I met the 'you' of my world." she stopped with her mouth gaped in awe, as if she came to a realization about something. "Oh my god...ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!" she yelled before crouching and gripping her head, "That's why he looks familiar! His name...they share a name. Both have Goopy. Holy shit. I think Ashton isn't from my world. More than that...I think Ashton is related to you, Eddie, in some way. Potentially even your son!"
"Ain't no way." Kaine argued as he waved his hand back and forth, "This guy lost his last relationship because he couldn't make a commitment like that."
Cindy frowned, "Does that mean...Ashton really isn't here?" her lip began to quiver and both Kaine and Eddie had awkward expressions like they weren't sure what to do if the waterworks started. "I just..." she crouched down and tucked her head between her knees, "I just don't know what to do now. Ashton isn't here and wherever he's at, he probably has that awful monster hunting him."
"Monster?" Eddie asked, "What, like a vampire? He'll be fine, vampires don't like us that much."
"No!" Cindy shouted, "That awful monster that looked like Goopy. That...Evil Goopy." she scrunched her nose as she recalled the last time she saw Ashton once more, and how she inadvertently hurt him while trying to save him, "The red one."
Instinctively, the Venom suit covered Eddie and the monster let out a loud, angered, roar, "CARNAGE! That bastard, he thinks he can hurt OUR baby boy?! We will tear him limb from limb and devour his bones!"
Kaine pat Venom on the shoulder, "Calm down dumb-dumb, he's not actually your kid. Also, not our Carnage. Carnage is taken care of, remember?"
"Carnage is Carnage, no matter the universe! And a Brock is a Brock! Clearly, we trusted him enough to give him our symbiote."
"It doesn't matter now...I'm stuck." Cindy moped.
Kaine crossed his arms and closed his eyes, taking several deep breaths as he thought of some way to help their extra-dimensional explorer. Finally, an idea came to him. "Multiverse." Kaine said quietly, gaining a look of confusion from both Cindy and Venom, "The multiverse is scientific, but also, in a way, it's supernatural. All around us are these 'Warp Gates' that act as portals that can take us all over the world if they are unlocked. But what if there was a bigger one? What if we could find a 'Warp Gate' that broke through our reality and entered another?"
"So...we'd have to know a magic man?" Venom asked.
"Magic?" Cindy scoffed, "Okay, now you're being ridiculous."
"Oh no, we're quite serious, we know not just any magic man, but we know THE magic man." Kaine smirked.
"We do?" Kaine made some strange gestures with his hands as if he was trying to cast a spell and Venom began clapping, "Oh, oh, oh! WE DO!" he laughed, "Yes, let us go to THAT magic man."
Cindy looked back and forth between Kaine and Venom, "What...are you two talking about?"
"Keep walking, people!" Kaine yelled out, mask back on, as he, Venom, and Silk stood outside a strange building with an interest circular window design, "God, you'd think people have never seen a large monster before."
"We don't understand, they see you every day!" Venom laughed, causing Silk to let out a laugh of her own, "HAHA! She seems to be in good spirits now. FANTASTIC! You need to be in a good mood when you reunite with our son so our grandchildren can be made!"
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Silk shouted out with a red face only barely hidden by her mask.
"He's not even your son, if anything, he's the alternate universe version of your son." Kaine argued, "Or, maybe, he's not even that. What if he's like, your cousin or something?" Kaine walked up the few steps and began knocking on the door repeatedly.
"No. He is our son. We can feel it in our bones." Venom replied with a toothy smile.
"A little scarier than the one I know...but still the same Goopy." Silk said with a chuckle. Silk rubbed her arm while Kain knocked on the door again, "Um...so...Kaine, you said your brother is in another universe too?"
"Yeah. Thought he died. But Madame Web cleared things up." Kaine smacked his head and groaned, "Shit, I forgot to tell Ben the last time I saw him."
"Ben?"
"Yeah, our other brother. The current Spider-Man while Peter is in a different universe." Kaine explained, "His connection was severed from Madame Web somehow and she hasn't told him that Peter's alive. I should have told him last time but...Kinda got distracted."
"Cute girl?" Silk asked with a smirk under her mask while wiggling her eyebrows.
"No, Ben told me he's going to fight this evil organization...and that he might not make it." Kaine knocked on the door again, "I'm torn...on if I should help him or stay back and take care of our aunt like he'd want me to."
"Ben is a good friend." Venom added, "If he gets in trouble, WE want to be there to help in any way we can. Were it not for him, we'd still be holding a grudge against Parker. Foolish really. Peter was a child, he was confused and angered. We weren't much better. Ben helped us realize that we could move on. IF we see Parker again, it would not be to fight...it'd be to apologize to someone we used to call friend."
"That was beautiful, Goopy." Silk said, wiping a fake tear. She then became serious again as she stared at Kaine, "You know...I know he probably wants you to do what's expected. But I know that if I got in over my head, I'd want someone to help me. I don't have siblings like yours...but if I did, I'd fight to the ends of the Earth for them, and I'd hope they'd do the same."
Finally, after several minutes of waiting, the door of the building opened up. Nobody was on the other side of the door; it was as if it opened on its own. Kaine shrugged and waved the other two to follow him inside. The inside of the building was a large staircase that went to a second floor and broke off into many hallways. Same with the first floor, there were several doors as well as a hallway that led who knows where. "YO! Is the doctor in!?" Kaine called out, "Strange? You here? Anyone?"
"I'm afraid the Sorcerer Supreme is out on important business." the trio heard the voice of what sounded to be like an aging man when suddenly the figure the voice belonged to appeared at the top of the stairs. The man looked to be of Asian descent, bald, and wearing a red martial tai-chi uniform with gold accents, he also wore a pair of burgundy slippers. "Unfortunately, there has been some...complications regarding our reality. Something is weakening our 'Universal Barrier'." the man made quotes with his fingers before shrugging, "But, I have a feeling I know why you're here. My name is Wong, second to the Sorcerer Supreme. You are here because of the girl, correct?"
"Yes!" Silk replied quickly, "My friend and I were taken from my world. I ended up here, and he ended up...somewhere else. Please, if there is some way you can help me find him, I'd appreciate the help. I NEED the help."
"I cannot." Wong claimed, much to the dismay of Silk. He clicked his tongue and smirked, "But...I know who can. Come." the trio looked at each other before following Wong through the building. He led them to a doorway and clapped his hands twice before opening it, revealing the outside of large fortress of some kind with dozens of trainees practicing magic. "Welcome to Kamar-Taj. Our helper is not too far."
"Kamar-Taj?" Silk echoed.
"We're in Tibet." Kaine explained as he continued following Wong, grabbing Venom and practically dragging him as he was getting distracted by looking at the sorcerers.
"She is this way." Wong explained as he led the group into a large room with many pillows and rugs as well as bookshelves and even a phonograph playing some classical music.
"Swank pad." Kaine joked, "Only way it could be better is if you put some Pharoahe Monch on...or All Time Low, you know really hit ALL the different spectrums of music."
"We would prefer Eminem." Venom grinned.
"Figures a Venom would prefer Eminem." the group looked up to see a girl standing on a catwalk above the area the group were standing in, "For some reason, across the multiverse, Eddie Brock's and Venom REALLY like Eminem. I don't know why, but it's pretty funny." the girl jumped down so she was at the same level as everyone else. She stood about six feet tall and had an athletic build, she had tan skin, and long curly hair and brown eyes. She wore a blue crop top athletic shirt that showed off her midriff (and abs) and had a large white star on the chest, she had a denim crop top jacket that had red and white stripes that stretched from shoulder to shoulder, she wore navy blue spats with red pinstripes on the side, and finally she wore a pair of black and white Chuck Taylor Converse. "Oh! A Scarlet Spider and a Cindy Moon in the same place? That's a rare one." Kaine and Cindy looked at each other before looking back to the girl, "You know...because one of you guys is usually dead. (Him)." she looked at Cindy and pointed to Kaine, "Or you guys don't have powers. (Her)." she then looked at Kaine and pointed to Cindy.
"Ms. Chavez." Wong called out, "Please." he gestured to her to greet herself and she gave a quick apology.
"Sorry! I'm America Chavez." she greeted with a smile as she shook everyone's hand, "I'm a newer hero, but I'm starting to get the hang of this a couple years on. OH! Also I can travel dimensions."
Wong stepped in and looked at the trio, "It is quite fortunate timing that you came to us when you have. America was visiting our universe when your ordeal happened. I asked her to stay in case we ran into you."
"Looks like the plan worked out!" America smirked, "Lucky you, eh, Silk? So, let's find you your boyfriend."
"Not my boyfriend." Silk mumbled. America took a deep breath before shooting a star shaped portal in front of her, revealing the Nexus for her and her passenger to walk through, "Kaine...I can tell you love your brother. Don't hurt yourself by not helping." Silk took America's hand and the two walked through the Star Portal.
"We like Ashton. It's a good name."
"You need to keep a girl first, Brock." Kaine countered, "'Don't hurt myself by not helping', huh?"
Cindy was sure to stick close to America, somewhat in awe of the Nexus of Realities. The weird monster looking creatures in the distance, the strange walkways that seemed to helix the further it went on, the multicolored environment around them. "Um...I'm sure you know where you're going, but...do you know where you are going?" Silk asked, "I mean, you don't know anything about Ashton."
"Don't worry." America reassured, "I always get there, eventually."
"'Eventually'?" Silk echoed.
"Well, I can't always get them right first try, right?" America laughed, "That would be WAY too convenient."
To be continued...
Trivia:
1: This chapter was not written by the normal author...BUT IT WAS I: theallaroundnerd! Author of known mediocre fics such as Spider-Man and Deadpool: Face the Music, Fast Times at Yokai High and its sequel Fast Times 2: Yokai Boogaloo, and The Spider of UA: Kaine Yoshida.
2: Earth-922 is the Earth designation for my "main" universe where the Peter from my Spidey and Deadpool stories is from, same with Ben from Fast Times.
3: I wrote this in like a week and a half. And technically less because I was pre-occupied with homework and gaming.
4: I was listening to MF DOOM when I was writing this chapter. ALL CAPS WHEN YOU SPELL THE MAN NAME!
5: Came up with the idea on a whim. I owed Terrence a chapter someday and realized something had to be done with Cindy. Figured this was the best way to do it. I always want to do stuff with Kaine, but honestly don't know what stories to tell with him. So he's kinda been designated to my 'One Shot' stories guy for now.
6: In real Marvel comics fashion, some somewhat important information for my stories was used for this story and it will probably stay on this story.
Alright, that was a good time, I'm gonna go back to writing my mediocre stories now. I'll see y'all later across the multiverse. BYE!
