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raze_flynDisclaimer and notes on prologue.
Jackal’s Game
Book One: Family Matters
Chapter Two
She sat feeding Benji his lunch after assuring Peter during his latest hourly phone call that she was all right. She knew he was worried but with May at School and April with him at the police lab where he could run some covert blood test but she and Benji where fine. “May I join your Mrs. Parker,” A voice said and she turned to see a heavily bandaged man. She recognized him instantly from the description. “Do not worry I am not here to hurt you after all in a way we are family.” He began to remove the bandages from his face revealing a bald head covered in hideous badly healed scars. “I apologize for my appearance but I need you to look closer.”
She did as he requested hoping to keep him focused on her and not Benji when she saw it. “You’re a clone of Peter aren’t you,” She said as underneath the scars were a set of eyes that matched Peter’s perfectly and his facial structure was still there.
“Yes,” He said as he sat down. “I was created by the Jackal to be a lab assistant Peter’s body and mind paired with the Jackal’s knowledge and forced to obey his every order completely.” He then laughed bitterly. “He gave me to Osborne when they made their deal ordering me to take every order of Osborne’s as if it came from him.” He then got a haunted look. “Osborne delighted in punishing me for imagined disobedience even though I could never disobey him.” She realized where the scars he was covered with came from and suppressed a shudder.
“Why are you hear?” She asked once she got over the horror at what this man with Peter’s face had faced. She found it hard not to instinctively trust him but she couldn’t forget he claimed to be the one who cloned May all those years ago and brought April back to life.
“Osborne’s last order was I was to wait for him and serve the order of the Goblin until he returned at which point he would be my only master again.” He smiled then. “Your husband and daughter defeated him which meant I was finally free to act to attempt to make up for the crimes I was forced to participate in that is why I restored April to you and why I am here now.” He pulled a folder form his coat. “Did you know that Ben Reilly had a son,” He said and she was shocked. “Yes, Norman knew and used the pregnant mother as a test for something he intended for you and Peter if you ever had more children.” He looked grave. “The mother was exposed to a specially designed toxin that affected the boy’s development it accelerated his spider powers so they emerged in child hood.” She found herself involuntarily looking at her son who was happily spreading strained peas around on his hair chair. “When puberty arrived the toxin revealed it’s full effect and the boy began to die.” She was still staring at her son in horror at what this man was hinting at. “Osborne was determined that only the child he intended to use would exist so he wanted any other Spider heirs destroyed.” The man looked over at Benji. “I do not know for sure if the Order of the Goblin managed to carry out his will and dose you with the toxin but for the sake of my nephew there I have brought you this.” He pulled out a disk and sat it on the table. “This disk contains all the files on the toxin, how to identify it and how to treat it.” He then got up. “Goodbye Mrs. Parker give your husband my regards and tell him that I hope that disk is not needed.”
He began to put his bandages back in place when she stared at the folder he’d left and the small picture of a boy who looked a lot like Peter sticking out of it. “Wait, did Ben Reilly’s son die?” She asked thinking how much like him Benji might look when he was older.
“No, Kaine saved him though there were side effects,” The man said. “The method he used was unorthodox and he didn’t know the real cause of the boy’s disease he assumed it was because Ben was a clone.” The man smiled then. “Clones can have perfectly normal children so you needn’t worry about your future grand children both May and April whichever is the clone will have normal kids.” He finished securing his bandages. “After all me, Peter and Kaine’s other neices and nephews are doing fine.” She was so shocked by the implications of that statement that she couldn’t react in time to say anything else as he turned and disappeared form the room.
She stared down at the file on the desk and the disk and immediately got up to grab the phone. She had to tell Peter about this visit and hope and pray that Benji wasn’t suffering from some toxin Norman Osborne cooked up to keep her and Peter from having any other children.
____
“I’ll be right there,” Peter said as he hung up the phone. She had been sitting there bored out of her mind while he used the police lab equipment to run test after test on her blood. She wondered why he couldn’t have just taken the blood samples and left her at the house. “We have to go April the bandaged man paid Mary Jane and Benjy a visit.”
“Are they all right,” She asked concerned and noticed he seemed a bit surprised by her concern. She was trying the least he could do was do the same since he was a clone himself. She was reminded of the time before her death and how miserable she’d been in his house she really hoped it would eventually be different this time.
“MJ says he didn’t hurt them but he made some disturbing claims about Benjy so we are going to pick them up and pull May out of school and then we are all heading to Oscorp to get some answers.” He sounded tired. “I just wish Reed was here he’d be a lot of help fixing this mess.”
She recalled hearing something about the Fantastic Five suffering some kind of tragedy in Latveria during that mess with Doom a few weeks ago but she hadn’t paid much attention. The Fantastic Five didn’t matter very much to her but based on Peter’s tone they did to him. “Does it really bother you that you might be a clone?” She asked once they were in the car driving toward the house.
“Honestly, for a long time it really bothered me but then I got over the questions about it and put it behind me,” He said as he drove a bit faster than he should. “I hadn’t thought about it in years until...” He didn’t finish but she knew what he wasn’t saying.
“Until I came along,” She said careful to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “That’s why you disliked me so much the fact I made you wonder about your daughter just like you wondered about yourself.”
“Part of it,” Peter said grimly. “Also you were part Symboite and aside from what the costume did for May I don’t have fond memories of the Venom Symboite or its children.” She could understand that.
“You know I originally didn’t save May,” She said and he slammed on breaks and pulled over to the side of the road staring at her. “In the explosion in the original time line I lived and screwed things up terribly so that me came back in time and showed me her memories that’s why I saved May.” She could see the tension in his face. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this I just want you to know I want things to be different this time.”
“I want things to be different this time too,” Peter said after an uncomfortable silence. “I think from now on April we should start over and leave the past in the past.” She wondered what it cost him to say that but still she was glad to hear it.
“Thank you, Peter,” She wasn’t ready to try calling him dad yet despite how much she desperately wanted to. “We should get to the house and make sure Mary Jane and Ben are all right.” He nodded and pulled out a bit too sharply into traffic. She could hear the horns blaring but she felt better for once maybe things would be different this time.
____
“It’s good that you were able to recapture Fury so quickly,” Whedon said as they arrived in the lab. “I don’t think we needed her running loose while we are trying to deal with that symbiote.” He ignored the other man he had rushed to recaptured Fury to keep May safe the mad woman knew her identity. “The lab techs say they have found something out about the symbiote that was using the guard.”
“Yes sir we have,” said one of the lab techs. “The symboite has been altered substantially none of our normal counter meassures of heat or sonics will work against it.” He did not like the sound of that the vulnerabilities were the only chance they had against the damn things. “But those alterations seem to have come with a price our test on the traces left behind show it has a life span of only seventy two hours.”
“That doesn’t seem practical,” Whedon said quickly. “There was an awful lot of effort put into making that thing and if it only lives seventy two hours it can’t finish off the entire Order of the Goblin like it claimed.”
“Unless its condition is treatable by the party who made it,” He volunteered. “It would make an excellent control mechanism for such a symbiote stay loyal or die in three days.” He would certainly consider it if he was going to use a weapon like that.
“Could that be possible or is its condition un-treatable,” Whedon asked the tech’s quickly. He saw them scrambling over their notes to check. “Well is there anything to Kaine’s theory?” He could tell Whedon was annoyed with them.
“It’s possible sir,” another tech said. “Any person or group capable of this level of modification to a symbiote could probably pull it off if they designed these flaws intentionally.” The tech then got extremely nervous. “However, we can’t say for sure without a large sample from the symbiote to work with our intitial test used up the few samples we collected.”
“Did you think to test for the source of the symbiote,” He asked before Whedon started yelling at them. “Surely you can tell the which symbiote it came from all of them on Earth have been in government hands at some point.”
“Yes, it came from the yellow and red one of the life foundation symbiotes.” The first tech said quickly. “According to records it was believed lost to operatives of the Order of the Goblin a few years ago after the death of Donna Diego it’s host.”
“Perhaps we are dealing with a power struggle inside the order of the Goblin where one of the members is killing off their rivals to Desantos throne.” Whedon said in response. “That or our information was wrong and someone else got possession of that Symbiote.”
He felt his private phone vibrating but he didn’t reach for it. “I’ll head out and see if I can get a lead,” He could feel Whedon’s eyes on him but the other man knew enough not to call him back. There working relationship was good at the moment and he knew Whedon had no reason to challenge him yet but if this situation continued to get more and more complicated that day might arrive soon.
“This is Kaine,” he answered as soon as he was alone. “What is it Parker?” He could barely understand the man he was clearly up set and on edge. “Parker you need to speak slower I’m having trouble following you.”
“Just get to Oscorp Kaine,” Peter said after a moment. “I’ll fill you in when you get here, all you need to know is that bandaged man turned up at my house while Mary Jane and Ben were alone.” He felt a sense of urgency then and hanging up the phone began to make his way to Oscorp as fast as possible.
To be continued...
REVIEW HERE
Jackal’s Game
Book One: Family Matters
Chapter Two
She sat feeding Benji his lunch after assuring Peter during his latest hourly phone call that she was all right. She knew he was worried but with May at School and April with him at the police lab where he could run some covert blood test but she and Benji where fine. “May I join your Mrs. Parker,” A voice said and she turned to see a heavily bandaged man. She recognized him instantly from the description. “Do not worry I am not here to hurt you after all in a way we are family.” He began to remove the bandages from his face revealing a bald head covered in hideous badly healed scars. “I apologize for my appearance but I need you to look closer.”
She did as he requested hoping to keep him focused on her and not Benji when she saw it. “You’re a clone of Peter aren’t you,” She said as underneath the scars were a set of eyes that matched Peter’s perfectly and his facial structure was still there.
“Yes,” He said as he sat down. “I was created by the Jackal to be a lab assistant Peter’s body and mind paired with the Jackal’s knowledge and forced to obey his every order completely.” He then laughed bitterly. “He gave me to Osborne when they made their deal ordering me to take every order of Osborne’s as if it came from him.” He then got a haunted look. “Osborne delighted in punishing me for imagined disobedience even though I could never disobey him.” She realized where the scars he was covered with came from and suppressed a shudder.
“Why are you hear?” She asked once she got over the horror at what this man with Peter’s face had faced. She found it hard not to instinctively trust him but she couldn’t forget he claimed to be the one who cloned May all those years ago and brought April back to life.
“Osborne’s last order was I was to wait for him and serve the order of the Goblin until he returned at which point he would be my only master again.” He smiled then. “Your husband and daughter defeated him which meant I was finally free to act to attempt to make up for the crimes I was forced to participate in that is why I restored April to you and why I am here now.” He pulled a folder form his coat. “Did you know that Ben Reilly had a son,” He said and she was shocked. “Yes, Norman knew and used the pregnant mother as a test for something he intended for you and Peter if you ever had more children.” He looked grave. “The mother was exposed to a specially designed toxin that affected the boy’s development it accelerated his spider powers so they emerged in child hood.” She found herself involuntarily looking at her son who was happily spreading strained peas around on his hair chair. “When puberty arrived the toxin revealed it’s full effect and the boy began to die.” She was still staring at her son in horror at what this man was hinting at. “Osborne was determined that only the child he intended to use would exist so he wanted any other Spider heirs destroyed.” The man looked over at Benji. “I do not know for sure if the Order of the Goblin managed to carry out his will and dose you with the toxin but for the sake of my nephew there I have brought you this.” He pulled out a disk and sat it on the table. “This disk contains all the files on the toxin, how to identify it and how to treat it.” He then got up. “Goodbye Mrs. Parker give your husband my regards and tell him that I hope that disk is not needed.”
He began to put his bandages back in place when she stared at the folder he’d left and the small picture of a boy who looked a lot like Peter sticking out of it. “Wait, did Ben Reilly’s son die?” She asked thinking how much like him Benji might look when he was older.
“No, Kaine saved him though there were side effects,” The man said. “The method he used was unorthodox and he didn’t know the real cause of the boy’s disease he assumed it was because Ben was a clone.” The man smiled then. “Clones can have perfectly normal children so you needn’t worry about your future grand children both May and April whichever is the clone will have normal kids.” He finished securing his bandages. “After all me, Peter and Kaine’s other neices and nephews are doing fine.” She was so shocked by the implications of that statement that she couldn’t react in time to say anything else as he turned and disappeared form the room.
She stared down at the file on the desk and the disk and immediately got up to grab the phone. She had to tell Peter about this visit and hope and pray that Benji wasn’t suffering from some toxin Norman Osborne cooked up to keep her and Peter from having any other children.
____
“I’ll be right there,” Peter said as he hung up the phone. She had been sitting there bored out of her mind while he used the police lab equipment to run test after test on her blood. She wondered why he couldn’t have just taken the blood samples and left her at the house. “We have to go April the bandaged man paid Mary Jane and Benjy a visit.”
“Are they all right,” She asked concerned and noticed he seemed a bit surprised by her concern. She was trying the least he could do was do the same since he was a clone himself. She was reminded of the time before her death and how miserable she’d been in his house she really hoped it would eventually be different this time.
“MJ says he didn’t hurt them but he made some disturbing claims about Benjy so we are going to pick them up and pull May out of school and then we are all heading to Oscorp to get some answers.” He sounded tired. “I just wish Reed was here he’d be a lot of help fixing this mess.”
She recalled hearing something about the Fantastic Five suffering some kind of tragedy in Latveria during that mess with Doom a few weeks ago but she hadn’t paid much attention. The Fantastic Five didn’t matter very much to her but based on Peter’s tone they did to him. “Does it really bother you that you might be a clone?” She asked once they were in the car driving toward the house.
“Honestly, for a long time it really bothered me but then I got over the questions about it and put it behind me,” He said as he drove a bit faster than he should. “I hadn’t thought about it in years until...” He didn’t finish but she knew what he wasn’t saying.
“Until I came along,” She said careful to keep the bitterness out of her voice. “That’s why you disliked me so much the fact I made you wonder about your daughter just like you wondered about yourself.”
“Part of it,” Peter said grimly. “Also you were part Symboite and aside from what the costume did for May I don’t have fond memories of the Venom Symboite or its children.” She could understand that.
“You know I originally didn’t save May,” She said and he slammed on breaks and pulled over to the side of the road staring at her. “In the explosion in the original time line I lived and screwed things up terribly so that me came back in time and showed me her memories that’s why I saved May.” She could see the tension in his face. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this I just want you to know I want things to be different this time.”
“I want things to be different this time too,” Peter said after an uncomfortable silence. “I think from now on April we should start over and leave the past in the past.” She wondered what it cost him to say that but still she was glad to hear it.
“Thank you, Peter,” She wasn’t ready to try calling him dad yet despite how much she desperately wanted to. “We should get to the house and make sure Mary Jane and Ben are all right.” He nodded and pulled out a bit too sharply into traffic. She could hear the horns blaring but she felt better for once maybe things would be different this time.
____
“It’s good that you were able to recapture Fury so quickly,” Whedon said as they arrived in the lab. “I don’t think we needed her running loose while we are trying to deal with that symbiote.” He ignored the other man he had rushed to recaptured Fury to keep May safe the mad woman knew her identity. “The lab techs say they have found something out about the symbiote that was using the guard.”
“Yes sir we have,” said one of the lab techs. “The symboite has been altered substantially none of our normal counter meassures of heat or sonics will work against it.” He did not like the sound of that the vulnerabilities were the only chance they had against the damn things. “But those alterations seem to have come with a price our test on the traces left behind show it has a life span of only seventy two hours.”
“That doesn’t seem practical,” Whedon said quickly. “There was an awful lot of effort put into making that thing and if it only lives seventy two hours it can’t finish off the entire Order of the Goblin like it claimed.”
“Unless its condition is treatable by the party who made it,” He volunteered. “It would make an excellent control mechanism for such a symbiote stay loyal or die in three days.” He would certainly consider it if he was going to use a weapon like that.
“Could that be possible or is its condition un-treatable,” Whedon asked the tech’s quickly. He saw them scrambling over their notes to check. “Well is there anything to Kaine’s theory?” He could tell Whedon was annoyed with them.
“It’s possible sir,” another tech said. “Any person or group capable of this level of modification to a symbiote could probably pull it off if they designed these flaws intentionally.” The tech then got extremely nervous. “However, we can’t say for sure without a large sample from the symbiote to work with our intitial test used up the few samples we collected.”
“Did you think to test for the source of the symbiote,” He asked before Whedon started yelling at them. “Surely you can tell the which symbiote it came from all of them on Earth have been in government hands at some point.”
“Yes, it came from the yellow and red one of the life foundation symbiotes.” The first tech said quickly. “According to records it was believed lost to operatives of the Order of the Goblin a few years ago after the death of Donna Diego it’s host.”
“Perhaps we are dealing with a power struggle inside the order of the Goblin where one of the members is killing off their rivals to Desantos throne.” Whedon said in response. “That or our information was wrong and someone else got possession of that Symbiote.”
He felt his private phone vibrating but he didn’t reach for it. “I’ll head out and see if I can get a lead,” He could feel Whedon’s eyes on him but the other man knew enough not to call him back. There working relationship was good at the moment and he knew Whedon had no reason to challenge him yet but if this situation continued to get more and more complicated that day might arrive soon.
“This is Kaine,” he answered as soon as he was alone. “What is it Parker?” He could barely understand the man he was clearly up set and on edge. “Parker you need to speak slower I’m having trouble following you.”
“Just get to Oscorp Kaine,” Peter said after a moment. “I’ll fill you in when you get here, all you need to know is that bandaged man turned up at my house while Mary Jane and Ben were alone.” He felt a sense of urgency then and hanging up the phone began to make his way to Oscorp as fast as possible.
To be continued...
REVIEW HERE
