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Scarlet Spider |
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Arachne |
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Steel Spider |
His heart felt like it would burst from his chest. He ran down the moonlit street, afraid to even look behind him to see if it was still there. He just kept running. His muscles felt like they were on fire and soon, he wouldn't even feel that.
Taking a sharp turn, he ran between two buildings. Yeah, an alley. That's a good way to lose that...that thing. He didn't even know what happened to Evan, lost him somewhere a few blocks back.
Mark stopped and crouched behind a dumpster. He covered his mouth, trying to hide the sound of his heavy breathing. Through the nose, through the nose, he kept telling himself. Try to slow down. Let yourself relax a little.
Yeah, relax.
As if that would work when he was running from something out of a horror flick.
He needed protection. Something to take out the bastard. Just in case he couldn't outrun it, then he could at least kill it. Mark reached behind his back and lifted up his t-shirt...but there was no gun in the waistband of his jeans.
“Fuck you, Ev,” he muttered. He forgot, Evan wanted to use the gun for the hold-up. He made a huge production out of it, saying how Mark always gets to use the gun. Never him. So Mark took pity on him, gave it to him while they were still in the car and said, “go ahead, you goddamn baby. Take the damn gun.”
He'd have to go back. But if he went back, he'd run into that thing again, wouldn't he?
No, maybe there was a chance. Maybe the thing had already passed by. After all, how long had he been sitting here? Felt like hours. Yeah, the thing must've gone on ahead. Besides, Evan had the money, too. Couldn't leave that behind, now could he?
Mark stood slowly and looked back towards the street. He took two steps and then stopped. “Nah...don't go the same way.”
He slowly backed deeper into the alley and looked down the narrow road between buildings. He walked down it, careful not to make too much noise. Just gotta work his way back down there.
So he walked. Walked for what felt like forever. But he knew it couldn't be that long. Why was it taking so long to walk down this goddamn alley?
Wait...he could see the intersecting road off in the distance. And the light from one of the buildings, that was the liquor store they hit. Mark smiled and ran towards it. But as he ran, he tripped over a bar and fell face-down in a puddle of mud.
Mark pushed himself up and tried to shake the mud off him. He looked at his hand and even in the light, he could see that his hand wasn't covered in wet dirt, but rather something red. He looked down at the puddle and saw it was blood. And that thing he tripped over?
He reached out and picked it up. Not a bar, but an arm. A human arm.
Mark dropped it and backed up, hitting the side of the building. Intestines were everywhere, and the head of the victim looked at him with wide open eyes, the corpse's mouth frozen in a state of horror.
It was Evan.
Mark started heaving and bent forward and vomited on the cold alley. He gagged a few times, before vomiting again. Mark wiped his mouth and braced his palm against the wall to try and stand.
Something came from the darkness.
A low growl. Something primal. Like an animal. But it wasn't like any animal Mark had ever heard before.
The growl came again, this time louder. Mark jumped and looked to the source.
In the alley, he could see it slowly approaching him, moving on all fours. Its body seemed extremely disproportioned, with an abnormally large torso and arms like tree-trunks, but the legs looked small. Its head seemed devoid of a nose or ears but in the moonlight, Mark could see two large eyes. Almost as if they were painted on. And the light flashed off rows of razor-sharp fangs. Its mouth opened and an extremely long tongue snaked out.
“No...no god, please...”
The creature roared and Mark screamed. Something came out of its chest, like cables wrapping around Mark's body and pulling him towards it. The creature stood up, its form massive and towering. Mark tried to claw at the ground, his fingernails breaking off in the process. He screamed, begging for someone to help him, but he grew closer and the creature embraced him.
The screams subsided some time after that.
Marvel 2000 Proudly Presents...
EXCESSIVE FORCE
Part I
Written by Dino Pollard
The Scarlet Spider swung through Los Angeles, relishing in the feel of being back in his hi-tech suit. Although it was a nice flashback to be back in his old suit, he was glad Ollie was able to finish the repairs on the newer model. Despite all the little gadgets on it, it felt lighter and more comfortable.
Ollie tried to explain how it worked. Something about the nanotechnology embedded within the suit responding to the elements, but Ben had been too antsy to just hit the rooftops to pay much attention. At some point, he swore he would have Ollie over to his place for a few beers and just have a science geek-off.
{Hey there, hero. Happy to be back on the clock?}
Ben smiled beneath his mask when he heard the voice of Julia Carpenter through the built-in com-link. “More than you realize, pretty lady. Glad to finally be out of that hospital bed.”
{Maybe you should've milked it a bit more. I might have felt sorry for you.}
“Well, if you're planning to dress up as a nurse and fawn all over me, I suppose I could find myself in a life-threatening situation that I barely survive.”
{Very funny.}
“How about I take on the Serpent Society single-handedly?”
{Being a hero will get you points. Being an idiot will have the opposite effect.}
“I'll keep that in mind,” said Ben. “Any other news?”
{You mean about Elizabeth and Reilly?}
“Yeah, basically. Am I that obvious?”
{It's okay for you to be concerned, Ben. But to answer your question, Zeke hasn't been able to dig up any new information on their disappearance.}
“Figures. At least give me something to do.”
{Careful what you wish for, Scarlet. Ollie just pointed out something on the police band you want to take a look at.}
“I'm all ears, red.”
{Two bodies found in an alley this morning. They were both badly mutilated.}
Ben made a face beneath his mask. “Can I just comment? Ew.”
{Sounds that way. You want to check it out?}
“I don't suppose I can say no, can I?”
{You know the deal: Zeke pays the bills and you investigate all the weird and gruesome things LA has to offer.}
“Does that mean I have to watch Transformers 3 when it comes out?” asked Ben.
{Don't let Ollie hear you say that.}
“Yeah, I know, I'm a traitor to all of geekdom,” said Ben. “Okay, where's this crime scene at?”
{GPS coordinates have just been uploaded to your suit.}
“And I got em.” The heads-up display showed Ben directions on how to get to his location. He swung off, following the suit's information. “I've been meaning to say, I really love this suit.”
{You're slipping, been a full ten minutes already.}
“Everybody's a comedian,” he mumbled.
When he arrived at the location, he landed on a rooftop. Moving to the edge of the building, he looked over to see the boys in blue gathered around the bodies as onlookers tried to crane their necks over the barricades. Ben concentrated on the bodies and used the suit's enhancement to zoom in on them. Whatever attacked them, it was vicious.
He hopped over the edge, flipping to the opposite building and springing off the wall over to the other wall, zig-zagging his way down the alley until he landed right before the cops. Behind him, he could hear murmuring as people tried to snap pictures of him.
“Anything I could help you guys out with?” asked the Scarlet Spider.
“Don't need any vigilantes down here,” said one of the uniformed officers. “Why don't you go back to your TV show, glory hound?”
“Enough of that,” said an officer dressed in plainclothes. He looked the Scarlet Spider up and down. “I'm Detective Mulligan. If you're offering, we might be able to use a hand with this.”
“Tell me what you've got so far.”
Mulligan looked down at the bodies. “Looks like they were attacked by a wild animal of some sort. But we've gotten no reports anywhere in the area of any loose animals. And we've checked with all the local zoos—all their beasties are accounted for. Got any ideas, because we're pretty much at a loss.”
The Scarlet Spider knelt down. “Okay guys, initiate transmission.”
“Who are you talking to?” asked Mulligan.
“Ever watch Knight Rider?” asked the Scarlet Spider. “I've got my own team, too.”
{We see what you see, Ben,} said Ollie.
“Alright, talk to me.”
{The cop's right, looks like they were mauled by a bear or something.}
“Right, but we've ruled that out.”
{Then we're definitely looking at a superbaddie.}
“Can you cross-reference this with any known baddies on the coast?”
{See what I can find, but something like this, it'll be difficult to pin down.}
“I'll keep looking, let me know about the results. Scarlet out.” He stood and faced Mulligan. “Anything we know about these guys that might help?”
“Apparently, they tried to rob this liquor store, shot the clerk. We checked the tapes, but couldn't find anything useful,” said Mulligan.
“Mind if I have a look?” asked the Scarlet Spider.
Mulligan motioned for him to follow. He led the Scarlet Spider into the back entrance of the liquor store where they had a uniformed officer scanning through the tape on the security feed. Mulligan patted him on the shoulder. “Play it back from the start.”
“Yessir,” said the officer and he rewinded the tape to the appropriate spot, then pressed play.
Mulligan pointed to the screen. “Okay now here's where our two criminal masterminds come in.” The two men walked inside and the Scarlet Spider watched as they milled about the store, wandering for a few minutes. “See, trying to act natural, trying to build up their courage. And then...here.”
One of them pulls out a handgun and aims at the clerk. The other stands there with a bag as the clerk takes the money from the register. The one with the gun looks up at the camera and back to the clerk...then immediately back to the camera.
“Pause,” said the Scarlet Spider. He points to the gunman on the frozen screen. “Go back by about a second.” The officer does so and plays it back. “Okay stop. Did you see it?”
“He did a double-take,” said Mulligan.
“Yeah, so he saw something pretty weird I'm guessing,” said the Scarlet Spider.
“Keep going,” said Mulligan. The video resumed. The gunman fired at the clerk, then turned and fired towards the camera as he backed off. His partner turned, saw what his friend was shooting at, and ran out the door first, dropping the money as he did. The gunman followed and something black passed over the camera before the image turned to snow. “And that's it. The tape just ends. When we came in, we found the camera was trashed.”
“Let me take another look at the bodies,” said the Scarlet Spider.
“Sure.” Mulligan led him back outside. But this time, the Scarlet Spider didn't look at the bodies, he looked everywhere except the bodies. He checked the walls, the ground, scanning everywhere in the area. And then his lenses picked up something.
One of the telescoping spider arms emerged from the housing on his back. It hovered above a spot on the wall and scraped something off, before retracting into the housing. Mulligan watched this all happen with curiosity.
“What was that?” he asked.
“Good question,” said the Scarlet Spider. “Could be nothing, but it could be something. Any witnesses?”
“Some people heard screams, but by the time they checked, the guys were dead and whatever did this was gone,” said Mulligan.
“Okay, do me a favor.” A small compartment on one of the Scarlet Spider's gauntlets opened and a small card slid out. He took it and handed it to Mulligan. On it was a red spider symbol with a number written in a heavy black font. “If you find anything else, drop me a line?”
“...you've got a business card?” asked Mulligan.
He shrugged. “My boss' idea.”
Mulligan cocked his eyebrow. “You have a boss?”
“Y'know...” The Scarlet Spider folded his arms. “The Avengers have a hotline. What's so weird about this?”
Mulligan shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. Actually kinda makes sense. We'll be in touch.”
SimsCorp
Ben looked closely under the microscope, watching the properties of the substance he found at the crime scene. He pulled back and looked over his notes. “No...that can't be right.”
There was a knock on the door before it opened and Julia walked in.
“It's customary to wait for a 'come in' before you just enter,” said Ben.
She shrugged. “I'm not one for tradition. You find anything?”
“Maybe, but I really hope I haven't.”
“What's that mean?”
“It means if this is what I think it is, then we could be in big trouble.” He reached over on the table and picked up a small scalpel. He put the tip of it against a finger.
“What are you doing?” asked Julia.
“A test.” Ben broke a bit of skin, getting a drop of blood on the scalpel. He brought the scalpel over to the microscope and added that bit of blood to the substance. Ben looked through the microscope again. “Oh fuck me sideways...”
“What's wrong?” asked Julia.
Ben slid away from the microscope. “Take a look.”
Julia walked over and peered into it herself. She watched as the substance seemed to extend itself in the form of tendrils, merging with the blood cells, becoming one. “I'm not sure I get it. What's happening?”
“It's bonding with my blood sample,” said Ben. “I've heard about this, but I've never seen it firsthand.”
“So what is it? What are we up against?” asked Julia.
“A symbiote,” said Ben. “We've got a symbiote on the loose.”
At the Los Angeles bus station, a young girl exited, a backpack hanging over one shoulder. She looked around and slowly walked past the rows of buses. He spotted her though, and came up to her. He tapped her on the shoulder and she spun around, instantly backing off.
“H-hi,” she said.
“Hey there,” said the guy. His hair was dark and messy, not to mention greasy. He wore a beat-up leather jacket and had several piercings in his face. “Long way from home?”
“Yeah.”
“Where you from, girl?”
“Montana.”
“LA's a long ways away, ain't it?”
She nodded.
“Got a place to stay?”
She shook her head. “No, not yet. I was going to find a motel or something.”
He walked closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Now, you don't wanna do that. Motels, they got shady people there. You wanna stay somewhere you can feel safe. You wanna feel safe, right?”
“Y-yeah, I guess so.”
“How old are you?”
She looked down. “Ni-nineteen.”
He grinned. Nineteen, yeah right. Couldn't be more than sixteen. “What's your name, girl?”
“Sherry.”
“Well Sherry, my name's Wes. I'll take care of you, okay?”
“I don't know... I think I'll be better off if—” Sherry paused and backed away from him. Wes looked confused.
“Hey, what's wrong with you? I'm just trying to he—”
*GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*
Wes' blood froze. He slowly turned and saw a creature rise, towering over him. It opened its mouth, rows of razor-sharp teeth lining a jaw that could easily swallow Wes' entire head whole—and then some. The creature let out a fierce roar, its spittle and venom striking the petrified man. Sherry ran off screaming. Wes just remained frozen in silence, unable to move.
The creature pounced on Wes, biting his head clean off and tearing into his flesh, skinning his bones. It looked up to the sky and roared in victory as it raised its blood-drenched hands to the sky.
Then, the creature convulsed. It turned around and snapped at empty air. It collapsed to its knees, pounding the pavement in pain. Its scream went from a guttural roar to something with a higher pitch, dropping in volume. The creature shrank down, the black and red living skin seeming to retreat into its body and its head becoming something more natural.
The growls and roars now became a whimpering as a naked man lay where the creature once was. He slowly rose to his feet, stumbling and shivering. He gasped when he saw the remains of Wes.
“No...god no,” said Detective Patrick Mulligan. “Dear god, what have I done?”
TO BE CONTINUED...
WEBMAIL
Just wanted to fire off a quick apology. I had planned to have this issue finished a while ago, but I had some computer problems recently that resulted in a crashed hard drive and about a month without access to my laptop, followed by a trip overseas and handling promotional stuff for my latest novel release (not to mention the regular work stuff).
But I'm back now and I hope you enjoyed this issue. #11 wasn't the best, and I had really wanted to begin my run with this issue. But you play the hand you're dealt, and this issue is a much better indicator of what you can expect from my run.
As always, if you have any comments, feel free to send them to me or post them on the M2K message board and they'll end up in here.
- Dino Pollard