Hello Readers, old and new. This is one of those stories that I had been writing on the side that I was talking about.

Around the time of Nick Spencer's run beginning, I found myself drifting away from the Spider-Man fandom as a whole. I heard good things, and bad things about the run, and thought that the good outweighed the bad and hopefully meant that Peter would finally catch a break. That said, I then heard about the latest run of Spider-Man and immediately felt a very strong distaste. I figured that it would likely end soon, however, and decided to ride it out. Until I heard about what happened to Ben Reilly.

Now, I haven't been too fond of the treatment he has received as of late, especially with how he was used in the second clone saga (A sentence anyone would dread to hear). Ben is my favorite clone, and Scarlet Spider is by far my favorite Spider-Man character out there, so that was already rubbing me the wrong way. And then I heard about Chasm. Maybe I'm missing a few things here and there, but the character assassination had me writing this as a result.

When I began to write this, the ideas I'm working with prove to not match up with the latest issues of the Spider-Man run, meaning this will be a weird amalgamation of ideas with a bit of the timeline being manipulated. That said, I believe it will still end up being an enjoyable read when you see this. I hope you all enjoy, and let me know your thoughts of the first chapter.


He had thought he had woken up in a new world. Advanced. Futuristic, yet the same. That's what he thought when he opened his eyes. Up until he couldn't control himself. Not what he thought. Not what he did.

He remembered dying. He remembered dying in 1996, yet it was 2016 and everything looked.. the same, yet so different.

He watched himself— No. Whoever this was lived a painful existence. Then he gained freedom, and then he fought a strangely similar Peter Parker to the one he had died for. Same age. Same tactics. The only difference was how.. irresponsible he was. How flashy and witty. It was more like the mask than Peter, he realized.

Somehow, Ben's body avoided death.. and a new personality emerged within the body. The body and the personality argued before the other personality was wiped. Or.. Yeah. Ben didn't know what else could have happened. It just.. was gone?

Ben worried for a moment that he would disappear too.

This.. this was Hell, wasn't it?

Ben didn't know what he did to deserve this. He didn't know why it had to be so painful. Why he didn't have control over his own body or why everyone he met seemed like a bastardised version of themselves, with exception of maybe a few.

For a long time, things

Then things seemed to be better. Ben didn't understand why things got better, why they were looking up. But they were. They were getting better...

And then.. And then something happened? Ben felt like he was being thrown around too much to see what was happening. Everything felt foggy, and confusing. He, for the briefest of moments, forgot who he was. He forgot his past. He couldn't remember anyone. He couldn't remember why he became Spider-Man..

And then as quickly as the obliteration of everything that made him who he was, it was removed, and Ben felt a sob tear through his throat. He was almost erased, wasn't he? No. He was erased, and then brought back.

And again, things seemed to be better. But it was all wrong. He was missing something-- Or, the him in control was. Life became a blurr, and..

And now.. Chasm. This.. this disgusting perversion of himself..

"NO!" Ben screamed into the void of his mind, feeling his body move against his command, his voice speaking words he would never mean in a million years.

"All the power, and none of the responsibility!"

"YOU BASTARD! THIS ISN'T ME! PETER, THIS ISN'T ME!"

And then he woke up.


Ben shot up, grasping his chest. He felt.. cold.

Ben looked around, confusion etching his face. He looked at his hands, then down to his body, covered by a thin sheet.

Moving the sheet off himself, Ben got off the.. table? The table. And looked around.

"What.. the hell?"

First things first.

Ben pinched his arm, wincing. Ok, he was awake, and he had control of his body.

"Ookay, better than whatever that was.."

Had he come back? Could he do that? Oh man, he had to tell Pe—

"Peter."

Oh crap, his last words to him were literally telling him to tell his "niece" about Uncle Ben- Wait how long had he been gone? What if she was in her teens?! He smacked his forehead, looking up.

"Do I have to forge my paperwork again? Damnit."

Ben looked down, feeling a chill, and sighed.

"But first, clothes."


Sneaking was one of Ben's strongest suits, he'd like to think. Breaking in was unfortunately part of that, but at least it got him a hoodie and some jeans.

He didn't have his web shooters, but if his memory wasn't wrong (and the stashes were still there) he could find some relatively quickly.

'Thank you, Peter.'

As Ben crawled and ran throughout the buildings of New York, he noticed just how.. advanced everything was. During his time in what he could only assume was Hell, he knew that things advanced. But he didn't expect that dream to be so.. realistic. He saw people walking around, typing and talking to little tablets. Neat.

Ben finally found a stash, opening the bag and sighing in sweet relief as he finally found some of his old web shooters. Latching them on, he tested it out by shooting a web out successfully, and pumped his other arm in victory. Alright!Then he took out his hoodie and mask, pumping his fist again. Alright, it was one of his stashes! Not Peter's. A good night so far.

Ben squinted his eyes. That never bode well.

Shaking his head, he went over his mental checklist.

Clothes? Check.

Web shooters? Check.

Checking on Peter and MJ?

He still needed to find them. For all he knew, they had moved apartments entirely, so that left the only other option. Watch his old patrol routes and hope to pass by him. So that's what he did, swinging over to what he assumed was Oscorp, and began to watch.

He didn't know who was in charge of the company. Harry? It'd make sense.

It was an hour past twelve when he saw someone web swinging. Ben sighed, standing up and warming himself up, before giving a sigh.

"Show time."


Miles Morales had decided to give Peter's area of the city a try. His area was abnormally quiet, thankfully, but so was Peter's for some reason. He knew that the night felt different, like something.. Something big happened. Really big. He just didn't know what.

His Spider sense went off and then he was suddenly hit by a body and sent tumbling into a roof. Miles' first reaction was to shock whoever just hit him, causing the other guy to jump off him.

"Peter, what the hell? Wait— You're not Peter."

Miles' eyes widened further under his mask and he twisted his body to get a better look at whoever this was, wondering how he knew-

And then he saw the different costume, and raised an eyebrow. A hoodie? With exposed web shooters and a belt?

"Okay, first off, why are you after Peter? Second off, how do you know who Peter is?" Miles asked, his costume's eyes squinting with him. The other guy's eyes didn't move, but he sounded.. confused. And upset.

"A high schooler—?"

Then the memories of Hell hit him. Ben stepped back for a second before regaining his footing. Another thing Hell got right…

"Alright, it's really complicated, but he's family?" Ben tried, to which Miles' eyes seem to widen. Ben looked from side to side, trying to keep an eye on his surroundings. The sudden silence creeped him out.

A few moments passed, and Ben tried again.

"Kid-?"

"Are you the same guy who I was worried was trying to sue me for being Spider-Man?"

A beat of silence and Ben guffawed. He was so confused by the statement given to him, he didn't know how to react.

"I- What??"

"Okay, not the same guy. But that means Peter has more family than I know about.." Miles stated, putting his chin in his hand. Ben blinked several times before repeating "What?"

"Nevermind. Why'd you tackle me?"

"I.. thought you were Pete."

"So you tackled me?!"

"Hey, I want you to try coming back from the dead for who knows how long and then finding his apartment. It's not easy!"

"You were dea—?! No, wait, later. Have you tried the internet?"

"Wha- Why would I use the internet? It'd be faster using a phonebook."

"A what?"

"H- You don't know what a phonebook is??"

"No, I do, but why would you use that to find someone's address?"

"Because the internet isn't fast enough?"

".. How long have you been dead?!"

"What year is it?"

"It's 2023."

Ben's eyes widened and he coughed, choking on his own spit.

"Holy shi-! Peter has gotta be in his forties!"

"WHAT?! No, he's not that old. I think."

"Then he's hiding it well, Spider-teen."

"Spider-Man."

"Y'sure? That'd mean there's two-"

"Three. Three Spider-Mans- I don't know where the other one went."

"… We're getting off topic. I need to see Peter, do you know where he is?"

"I can show you his apartment, but A. I don't know if that's still his place or not, and B. I'm not sure he'll exactly be happy to see us. He's.. going through a lot, right now. At least from what I've heard."

Ben raised an eyebrow under the mask. That couldn't be good.

"Even more reason to see him, then."

Miles' eyes stared at Ben for a moment, before he looked away.

"Listen man, we'll have to do this tomorrow. I'm already an hour past curfew and I do not need my parents worrying again. But I'll tell you what. Meet me over by Joe's- You know what Joe's is, right?"

Ben guffawed. Really?

"Of course I know what Joe's is."

"Cool. Meet me there, and we'll go check on Peter together. Alright?"

Ben nodded his head.

"Sounds good to me, man."

Miles sucked in a breath, before letting it go.

"Cool. See you there."

And with that, he jumped off the building. Ben followed shortly after, figuring he should try to find somewhere to sleep for the night. Shouldn't be too hard, he's slept in dumpsters before.


Ben didn't sleep that night.

After much confusion as to which Joe's they were meant to meet up at, Miles and Ben finally met up. Miles asked Ben why he looked exactly like Peter, and after a rushed explanation that he was a clone, Miles quickly accepted it, causing Ben to not only be relieved but curious as to why he wasn't so surprised.

Ben knocked on the apartment door, raising an eyebrow towards Miles when he heard someone tell their Mom that someone was here. That didn't sound like a Niece. Then again, more time had passed than he had initially thought, so maybe they had multiple kids..? He didn't know for sure.

Then he recognized the voice that told them to hold on, that she was coming. The door opened, and Ben's suspicion was right, recognizing her in an instant. Miles raised a hand and gave a nervous laugh and Mary Jane frowned at the sight of Ben.

"Peter. I told you that you shouldn't come here."

Ben's good mood was out the window in an instant. There were multiple red flags here, and Miles seemed to be taken aback too.

"MJ, it's me, B-"

"Who's at the door, Mary Jane?" A male voice came from inside the apartment, followed by steps. Ben's heart beat faster. That wasn't Peter. He assumed Peter wasn't there at all, but not another man.

"It's— Paul, it's no one."

The man came up behind Mary Jane, and took immediate notice of Ben, squinting his eyes.

"Peter. We told you to stop coming around."

Ben felt the full punch of Parker luck, realizing that he was right.

The night had been going too well.