Chapter Fifty-One

With a quick kiss to his cheek, Gwen walked to the door and with a smile, she pulled open the door and a tall stocky middle-aged man entered. Ben's breath caught in his throat at the sight of him.

It had been years since he had last seen Captain Stacy in Peter's memories. Then he was just a seventeen years old boy trying to hide an identity that was much too big for him, but the mountain of a man was always a kind father to his friend and was nice enough to him as well.

When Gwen passed on his world had shattered and the guilt Peter had felt overwhelming to him. He had lost track of him after that, but seeing him again now was a reminder to how he felt back then and he inwardly cringed at the thought of a confrontation with him.

For several moments, Ben was that seventeen old boy again and the much larger man seemed to dominate the room. With a clearing of a feminine voice, Ben remembered who he had become since those days and what he had gone through to get to this point.

Looking gratefully at the blonde in the room Ben turned his attention back to the man that somehow shrank back to normal size once again, "Hello sir, I'd like to thank you for your assistance with the hospital. There have been times I've had to do the best I could with my injuries and I can tell you..." Ben's rambling words were cut off with a wave of a large hand abruptly.

"Gwenny, can you leave us for a few minutes?" George Stacy asked sternly.

"Wait just a minute. I understand you want to speak with him, but why do I need to leave?" Gwen asked getting aggravated.

Frowning, George Stacy started to say something else but Ben beat him to it, "Gwen it's alright. You have some errands, I assume?"

Clenching her jaw she frowned at her two most important people and with a small huff, she left the room.

There was a brief pause between them where silence filled the space between the two men before George Stacy started speaking. His words, however, didn't surprise Ben given how their first meeting in this world went.

"P...Ben, Gwen tells me that you aren't the person I've met in the past. Peter Parker is dead and you are his clone... with powers similar to her own." The words seemed hard for him to force out of the older man's mouth as if he hardly believe the contents himself.

Pressing on he continued, "I won't lie to you. It sounds like a bald-faced lie, to me. I don't like you and I would rather you never meet Gwen again..."

"Wow sir, when you said you were going, to be honest, I didn't realize you were going to be brutal as well," Ben said attempting a joke.

George Stacy ignored the boy's attempt at humor and continued once more, "But you and I both know that when Gwen loves someone it takes only death to intervene. So, today I will give you some advice."

"Aww, but I haven't gotten you anything." Ben had tried to be respectful and it got him nowhere. He tried to be funny and he was ignored. Ben stopped caring at this point and decided on being a dick instead, it was more natural for him anyway. At least he could get a little pleasure out of the experience.

Grunting as if he was holding his own retort back, "I'm warning you now. If you hurt my daughter because of some wild plan. Even if I don't have superpowers I will become your plague and you will never get rid of me."

Becoming serious again Ben met the eyes of his girlfriend's father and replied, "Mr. Stacy, I know a lot of what you said today was simply out of protection for your daughter and the only family you have left. So, I won't take too much offense. I wish you would have gotten to know me before jumping to conclusions, but I can tell you that you have nothing to worry about with me. The reason why I am in this room was that I would rather get hurt than your daughter. So how about we start fresh and shake hands?" Ben said holding out his uninjured hand to the older man in front of him.

---

Gwen stood outside the hospital fuming at her dad and boyfriend. The sun was high in the sky, for a winter day in New York it was brighter and warmer than usual but Gwen paid little attention to it still brooding in her dark mood. She didn't like how her dad could demand her out of the room with Ben still injured in a hospital bed and Ben still would rather face him by himself.

She still hasn't spoken to Ben about the kiss he and EmJay had before he passed out. In her mind she knew the kiss didn't mean anything, Ben was half dead and it was obvious EmJay didn't expect to be kissed... but she still wanted to know why it happened. 'Did he think it was her and not another girl? Would he even remember? Did it even matter now?' Shaking her head, she blew out a foggy breath into the winter air.

Spotting her father's long stride, she met his gaze with a slight glare of her own as he approached.

"Gwenny I know you're mad at me..." George started to say before she interrupted him with a wave of her hand.

"After all we have been through recently, do you really think that was okay?" The man had hunted her with a police force making her a public enemy for half a year before he had discovered her secret. He hadn't known who she was at the time, but it had still strained their relationship. Their relationship had just started to get back on track when he thought now was the best time to play the overprotective father.

"Look kiddo, you may not understand this, maybe you might understand when you have children of your own but all I want is what is best for you. There is so much about your life that is dangerous. With your mother gone..."

George's words were cut short as a squad car pulled up next to them. Sgt. Marko a tall man with dark black hair and light blue eyes got out, his NYPD uniform suited him well as he walked casually towards them.

He moved over to George and said with a slow yet confident voice, "Hey Gwen, Captain." Catching her eye he winked when her father looked away recomposing himself. "We need to talk spiders."

Gwen's stomach did a flip when the word 'spider' came out of his mouth, but judging by the smile on Marko's face he misinterpreted her reaction as shyness.

Capt. Stacy turned with a grimace, "Well spill it." He said sounding annoyed.

The Sgt. looked at Gwen then smiled, "Kingpin's caught one. The male one, but he's not calling him the Scarlet Spider but Spider-man instead. We can't tell if it's the same guy or not but I figured you needed to know."

Gwen turned and started running inside in a dead sprint, 'Surely he couldn't be gone that fast... Dammit, I shouldn't have left him!' Gwen thought as she climbed each agonizing step towards her boyfriend's room.

Sgt. Marko looked at the Captain puzzled at his daughter's reaction. The older man just shrugged, "She's a fan of the spiders. Thanks for the intel keep it quiet though."

Nodding Marko looked skeptical but soon left as Capt Stacy walked in after his daughter, finding her next to Ben.

Ben's pain meds had started to kick in and he was sounding a little loopy as he still tried to comfort her by rubbing her back slowly.

Seeing this George's resistance with the Parker kid finally faded away. He was glad he did shake the boy's hand, albeit reluctantly, he was a good kid after all.

"We shouldn't stay here much longer if the Kingpin doesn't already know where he is he will soon. But not back to your place either." George said at the doorway casting a shadow into the darkened room.

"But where? Murdock could probably guess where you live and the Parker's are just civilians..." Gwen said starting to panic.

Confidently he spoke, "I have a place. When he wakes up again we'll move." he said noticing Ben falling unconscious.

---

George dropped them off at the front of the apartment, it wasn't a bad neighborhood perse just seemed a little run down. It was on the outs of Queens, apparently, it was a safe house her father had maintained over the years when he couldn't come straight home after a case. Gwen wasn't sure how she felt about that but at least they had a place where Ben could recover.

She hadn't yet told him about the Spider-Man that the Kingpin captured, but she couldn't risk him running off in this state. She planned on going out later that night to investigate, she didn't know if what Marko said was true it could just be a scheme to draw them out. Until she knew for sure the facts she wasn't going to involve Ben.

Ben walked inside the apartment door, seeing the state of the place was a complete mess. Gwen wasn't too far behind looking stunned at the disrepair.

"Well… Dad did say it was a fix-r-upper." Gwen said with astonishment lacing her voice.

Ben smiled at her, he had seen worse apartments recently and wasn't too vexed of its condition. His room at the Matthew's was little more than a storage space, cleaning up this larger place shouldn't be too hard. His healing factor was starting to kick in, although he still felt a little sore cleaning up shouldn't be a big issue.

"Just think of it as a 'wax on, wax off' kind of thing... like training," Ben said with humor in his voice.

"Ummm... yeah. I have no clue what you are talking about Ben. But let's go with that." Gwen said still overwhelmed by the clutter.

Looking at her strangely Ben asked, "You guys don't have the 'Karate Kid' movies here?"

Shrugging her shoulders, "Maybe it's called something else, but we don't have a movie with that title here, that I know of."

"Well, come young grasshopper, you must learn patience…" Ben smiled as he walked deeper inside the cluttered space.

"Yeah, that still not ringing any bells. Although I can now confirm you were a total dork where you came from... Not really a surprise there... but I still haven't heard of this movie." Gwen said sticking out her tongue childishly.

"Well, 'there is no such thing as bad students, only bad teachers.'" Ben said his voice echoing from somewhere inside the dark space.

"Now I know you are making these things up." Gwen laughed as she slipped inside the apartment as well her voice sounding like a bell in the silent room.

Neither of the spiders knew there was an envious pair of eyes watching from an unknown location. His eyes red and his body language suggested ruthless intentions.

---

The levitation cloak floated gently at the bedside of its master inside of the New York sanctuary. It had been a few months since he let himself relax at his room here.

Though Strange's sleep was generally peaceful nothing disturbing him during the wee hours of the night, often his astral body still walked in several planes of existence and dimensions of the multiverse.

Strange had a naturally curious and inquisitive mind, which took him into Erie worlds and planets that harbor civilizations either evolved or primitive. Stephen also often enjoyed discussing philosophy, magic, and medicine with other sages from other galaxies.

Extending his knowledge, horizons and opening his mind to other possibilities were the main reasons for Strange's visits through these varied dimensions.

Recently something was bothering the wizard, creeping into his dreams and making him wake at all hours of the night. Stephen had a constant nagging feeling... a call... maybe a push that told him to get in touch a certain man... or was it a spider?