Chapter Forty-Eight

"I think this will work!" Ben handed the second web shooter to Gwen's awaiting hand. Smiling widely, she began to play with the nozzles on the device making them shoot out different types of sprays making a mess on the wall. The mess would be gone by morning so there wasn't much of a problem other than the waste of the chemicals. 

They were inn a 'barrowed' lab at NYSU, Ben and Gwen stood over a mess of different materials which helped make the formula of their webs. It hadn't taken long to assemble the shooter; Ben had a lot of experience since he started his nightly excursions assembling the devices. So, in less than thirty minutes another web shooter was ready for use. 

"How'd you know the password to turn off the security system to Dr Connors lab?" Gwen asked.  

"Dr. Conners and Spidey have somewhat of a history working together in my world. Just doesn't look like it'll happen here. I'm glad his codes are the same, his son's birthday." Ben said as he cleaned up the glassware and machines quickly.  

"Why not?" Gwen asked as she helped put the chemicals back in the proper place inside the lab. Ben realized too late he was too deep not finish the story, dipping his head in remorse he replied, "Kurt was the Lizard where I came from."   

Gwen stepped back in surprise, not controlling her voice she asked, "Then how'd you work together? He should be dead."  

"Cause I uh...because Peter cured him." Ben finished cleaning unable to look at her. He knew it was still a touchy subject for her, "Sorry for bringing it up. I sometimes I can be pretty thoughtless."  

"So, I could have saved Peter from the lizard formula, he could have lived? May could still have her nephew now and could have been spared them that pain?" Gwen was sinking deeper into the depression he had found her in when he first came to this world.  

"No, you couldn't, when Pete faced Conners, he could have been compared to an advanced college student into biochemistry. You guys were in freshmen in high school and Pete was the one that created the serum. Conners tampered with my blood along with his own and that of a lizard's. They were very different formulas. There is a chance that I wouldn't have been able to tell how to fix what went wrong, let alone you." Ben said sounding as if he was coaxing an enraged animal.  

"You mean Peter's blood not yours! You're just his clone!..." Gwen couldn't believe the venom that came out of her mouth. Horrified by the words she put her hand over her mouth wishing she could snag the words back out of the air. Tears streaming from her eyes she started running out of the room, before she could say anything more hurtful, she was gone in a near flash.   

Ben just stood in the room alone, he was stunned he wasn't sure why he felt like she had punched him in the face with the last comment. After several more breaths, he shook his head. Finishing cleaning the equipment and sitting them back in their correct places he left returning to Pete's grave site. He was sure why, but he felt it was the only place he had left to go.  

---   

Gwen swung through the city trying to clear her head. She knew she wasn't really to blame for Peter's death, but she still felt the weight of her old friend's actions on her shoulders. She had been lost in thought for so long that she hadn't even realized that she accelerated to a near blinding speed.   

Taking a deep breath, she landed on top of a semi-truck, sitting down while it drove around the city to catch her breath. 'I shouldn't have said that.' She rubbed her temples, 'Stupid Gwen.' She knew those were the only words that could have cut him so deeply and the look on his face confirmed she had ripped out a chunk of his flesh with her barbed words.  

The night's air felt good even through her costume and the constant supply did a lot to clear her raging emotions. She started to wonder if having Ben in her life was really working out, or if they should just call it quits sooner rather than later.  

Her feelings for Ben were strong from the start, but she wondered if those strong feelings were from a dead man laying back on the metal of the shipping container she stared at the stars. For several minutes she stayed like that, but as the truck started heading towards the freeway, she decided her piggyback ride was over. Hopped off onto a nearby building she perched on the side of a building when something caught her eye. Climbing along the wall she headed towards the sound.   

In a dark alley she spotted a group of thugs chasing a girl, it wasn't something she hadn't seen often. Unfortunately, it was common enough sight that she could see something like the chase in front of her weekly. Though she wasn't happy for the bad luck of the girl below her, she still smiled. At least with this going on, she had an outlet to let out the frustration of the night's events.  

The girl had curly red hair and was wearing club cloths in a pair of high heel shoes. Gwen realized that even if the alley wasn't a dead end, the girl would still have been cornered because of her footwear.   

"What do you want?!" She asked fiercely.   

Gwen was stunned as she recognized the girls voice, 'EmJay?' She was ashamed to say she hadn't had much contact with her band since Ben came into her life. Though it had only been a few weeks it still felt like a lifetime since they had gotten together.   

"Ha?! What do you think we want little girl?" One of the thugs asked as two of them blocked any possible escape from the alley and the final two stood behind the speaker. Flipping open a knife he took two large steps to the frozen EmJay. Suddenly two web balls flew from the sky and pinning two of her would-be attackers to the wall.   

Dropping in the middle of the remaining thugs, she sent an uppercut to one's jaw and kicked the next one making him fly to the wall joining his friend that was stuck there. Her spider agility was miles beyond these thug's capability, but she still worked them over thoroughly. She wanted to get a small amount of revenge for the red head. 

The last one was the only one among his crew that knew much about fighting, but still it hadn't taken long before she had dispatched him as well. As the last one fell, she accidentally 'slipped' crushing his 'man-parts' beneath her heel. Ignoring his cries of pain, Gwen ran to her friend that was still stunned in place by what happened in front of her.  

"Are you alright, EmJay?!" Gwen said in panic fiercely checking her for wounds.  

Stunned further EmJay asked the only question Gwen never thought she would, "How did you know my name?"  

She was saved from answering by the pain in her neck "Owe!" Gwen shouted as her spider sense gave her a delayed warning about the attack. Pulling the silver dart out of the soft tissue of her neck, she dropped it as fear gripped her at what this might mean.  

"Little Spider be happy that I will need you alive for a little longer. The price is for two spiders... not one." The voice was followed by a low chuckle.   

"Though you are good, you're no hunter. You will sleep soon and when you awake..." Gwen could feel her heart and mind slow down and her head start to feel dizzy. Shooting out a web line she grabbed hold of EmJay as she jumped into the air.   

---    

Halfway through dialing Gwen's number he stopped sighing he turned the screen off and shoved the small device back in his pocket. Ben was wearing his Scarlet-Spider suit and sitting at Peter's grave pouring out his frustrations into the empty air, "Maybe it's just our bad luck. We fall in love and its great! But then it's always so short lived! Ending in complete disaster." He hadn't had much time with Peter in his own world. What was it? A day, two? But in a way, he had been with Peter every day of his life. So, talking to him now like this, felt somewhat natural.   

"It's like a bad horror flick." He complained with a sigh and as he looked over, he spotted Richard and Mary's gravestones, kind of like his own parents but not really. But seeing their familiar place in the graveyard he started to feel rage exploding out of him.  

"You know what?! Screw you both! What was such a big deal that you two had to go and die?!" Ben raged.   

"If you hadn't, Peter would never have been on this road and I'd have never been made in a test tube by some insane scientist. Seriously, did you two really think living with Ben and May was going to safe for them? He's frigging Spider Man now! He puts his life on a line every day and you bastards are... Such selfish bastards running off and leave me behind..." Sighing again he whispered, "leave him behind."   

The soft touch on his shoulder brought him back to reality, but the voice that followed made him freeze in place, "Child you are not alone, and you need to forgive yourself for whatever you think you have done." He turned to see Aunt May with tears brimming in her eyes at the boy raging at the graves of three people.   

Sitting down, beside Ben in front of Peter's grave she started to reach out for Ben's hand but stopped herself. Hesitantly she spoke, "You're the man from a few weeks ago, that was looking for my Peter. My husband never saw your face, but he did notice your voice was so much like our Peter's and he swore it was him. Then the other day on the streets we heard you say, 'With great power, comes great responsibility', we really didn't know what to think at that time."   

Smiling wryly, she spoke once more, "You were in the middle of that fight at the time, so we could only hope to find you again. But those words were the very same my Ben told to Peter when he was being bullied at school. Now you're here yelling at his dead parents..."   

A steeliness showed in the elderly woman's eyes as she asked, "Please explain to an old lady, how I buried my Peter there." She pointed to the grave marker, but her eyes never left his own.   

"But you stand out here and how exactly how are you older than when I put Peter in that horrid box? Don't lie to me, I know it's you. I could never not know my Peter."   

Ben pulled back his mask revealing his face, "Aunt may, I am Peter but I'm not at the same time. I'm kind of a genetic copy, a...a clone. If that makes sense?" Ben attempted to explain, the only chance he would have ever gotten in his original world to speak with May once again was pretending to be Peter. Ben wasn't a Psychologist, but even he knew opening a door like that wouldn't have been very healthy for him. Not that speaking with another world's May would be healthier, but maybe if he was honest with her from the beginning he could get by.  

"I chose the name Ben Reilly; I'm not from this world. I know it's hard to believe, but..." He was interrupted by aunt May hugging him fiercely nearly tackling him to the ground.   

"It's not hard to believe, you smell like him. You have his eyes, his voice, and his gentleness. Peter once tried to explain the idea of clones to me, from one of the movies he was watching. Thank God, I don't know who helped bring you back, but I wish I could shake their hands." Ben was happy that May accepted him immediately, but he guessed she didn't listen to everything he was telling her either.  

"You may not be my Peter. But you can be my Ben, you can be a part of my family. That is... If you want?" Nodding his head in acceptance, Ben's throat felt hot and painful.   

The smile on her face seemed to stretch at his response, "You must come by for dinner one night, I won't take no as answer." Nodding again he started to feel like he was a chicken pecking rice.  

"Promise me you will be safe my dear. I can't bear to lose you both." Ben just silently cried hugging the person that reminded him of home. Feeling his belt vibrated he guessed it might have been Gwen calling him back.  

Wiping the tears away from his face, he answered putting the call on speaker, "Hey Gw-"  

"Ben help, I've been drugged, a dart. Some kind of hunter is chasing me, I'm trying to run and... EmJay is with me. I... I don't know how long I can last! Ben... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I love you." Gwen said her voice full of fear.  

"I'm coming Gwen, where are you?" Ben asked immediately. 

"I'm at the park near…" To Ben's horror, the phone had gone dead.  

Ben looked at May but before he could say anything, she cut him off, "Go save her. Then come back to us safe."  

Putting his masked back on his head he nodded. Jumping into the air Ben shot out a web-line and launched himself back towards the university praying he wasn't too late to save her this time.