Chapter Twenty Seven: Spiders
Jean knew things were getting complicated when she felt the other mental signature swinging over. She noticed both Ben and the masked guy seemed to become conscious of him as well because both of their bodies seemed to turn toward the oncoming figure.
Landing on the building top in classic Spider-man fashion the eyes on Peter's mask were wide with astonishment. He spotted three people, one in a costume reminiscent of his own with a hoody and a belt and the other a pretty redhead. Thankfully she wasn't a clone of MJ because that would make his day all the weirder.
"So, three spiders walk into a bar… wait have you heard this one?" Peter says attempting to break the tension.
Nodding his head Ben replies, "Yes, I know it well. They all said ouch."
"Jesus, that is the worst joke I have ever heard…" Jean mumbled.
"And I'm the one losing my mind..?" Kaine rasped from his corner.
Shifting his focus to the guy that finished his joke Peter asks, "So… Lucy, you got some splainin to do."
"Ok, that was too far. Never do that again." Ben told him harshly
"Yeah, it felt weird when I said it… Who are you?" Peter asked.
"I'm me. The Scarlett Spider… not the name I would have picked but 'that name' was already taken."
Understanding this was another one of his clones Peter nodded his head, "So, you going to introduce me to your… uh, friend?"
"No," Ben said protectively as he shifted slightly in front of her. He knew Peter wouldn't harbor animosity towards Jean, but he didn't know this other guy and well. Jeans' identity was just as important as Peter's.
"Right then, should I be worried?" It was a loaded question. He wanted to know if Ben was an enemy or an ally or if he planned on taking over his life as the last clone had tried.
Ben replied, "Me? You're the one that pissed off Jango Fett over there!" Pointing a finger at Kaine, shaking his head. "No... If it was up to me, we would have never met. You would live your life and I, my own. Like two ships passing at sea."
That was odd, but he couldn't think of that right now. This other guy had already started approaching them.
"Now that the meet and greet is over… it's time for me to introduce myself… I am Kaine… and I will use you both to become complete…"
BLACKBIRD
When a normal person wants to fly from New York state to the Sahara Desert it takes twenty hours and fifteen minutes with two lay overflights. On the Black Bird Jet, they were able to achieve the same distance in around six hours. It had been around one hour since they had begun their journey, each team member was setting in their own seat. While the atmosphere was mostly subdued, it wasn't uncommon when a battle situation was expected.
Scott was contemplating what Ororo had told him earlier, and he had to admit there was some wisdom there. On the inside looking out all he could see was a bad situation getting worse, but by Ororo's words, he was making them go in the wrong direction.
Scott Summers was the first student in Xavier's School for Gifted youth. When he and his younger brother Alex, were kids, the two had been forced to abandon their family's plane when it caught fire. When they were flying towards a vacation spot, something had happened to their plane. It was after a severe head injury upon landing on a rocky ocean cliff, which became the main reason for Scott's lack of controlling his abilities.
Scott then spent the next few months in a hospital realizing he was the only surviving member of his family. As was from then on, an orphan. It was at that time his abilities fully emerged. It was the worst thing that possibly could have happened to him… while he was in a hospital, he had blasted a hole clean through the ceiling. The fire department came, police and several people in black suits showed up. It had been deemed a terrorist attack, but he felt the staff knew there was something wrong with him. It was a small blessing that his powers were sometimes weird back then and beams of energy didn't always blast everything in front of him to vapor. Scott then spent the next few months bouncing around from foster home to foster home.
It was truly a godsend that at the same time and due to the sudden boost of power in the area, Professor Xavier's Cerebro computer was able to pinpoint the young mutant, and Scott became the first official X-Men, code-named Cyclops. But it was a lonely experience, he had always had a mother, father and a brother to keep him company.
Scott had begun to close himself off from the world at the age of thirteen he spent most of his day's training. It was expected that when he had hit the rocks on that windy rainy day, he had received some damage to his brain. Nothing that affected him mentally but made it nearly impossible to ever fully control his powers. But soon there was a new person at the mansion... she became his only friend. Soon others came and he was surrounded by friends, but that first one was special to him.
When Ben came into the picture all he could see was that the same unreplaceable person only has eyes for him. Duncan was annoying but he knew that wouldn't last long but he could tell things changed when Ben showed up. Now he had to take a step back... for real this time and it felt wrong. Like he had been replaced.
SAHARA DESERT COMPLEX LAB
Magneto felt a little satisfied by his new ally, although he wasn't a mutant… He had the ability to enhance their abilities. The only other object he knew that could achieve something similar are the 'gems of Cyttorak', but those items are a rarity. Mystique is a truly marvelous woman, if he wasn't preoccupied with preparing for the war between humans and mutants, he might have found a quiet place and married her… But that wasn't here nor there. After discovering the new Scarlett Spider's origins, it wasn't long before she managed to track down the hiding Dr. Warren.
Miles Warren was once a professor of biochemistry at Empire State University. At some point, he studied genetics under the tutelage of the High Evolutionary. He was expelled from the Evolutionary's headquarters due (in part) to his cloning experiments, which the High Evolutionary reportedly dismissed as stagnating human evolution instead of improving it.
Magneto would admit the good doctor was eccentric at times, and he felt he couldn't trust the man completely, but his work did speak for itself. Magneto clenched his fist and the room full of metallic energy responded to his command. His powers were magnified three times to what he used to be able to achieve. To top off the power boost up until recently Magneto was on his death bed… He had overused his powers, he only had months to live. But with the equipment from SHIELD and Dr. Warren's science, he was able to not only recover, not only multiply his powers, but he had also extended his life span. They had managed to get ahold of the 'infinity formula' which had been derived from the fountain of youth. It was only a matter of time before the formula was perfected and when that happens… He would be able to personally fight for his race.