Scarlet Spider Issue 6

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled program! In this installment, we see Ben having to contend with his bodily injuries, while Connor learns of his family's problems with legacy...

-Co-creator Richard Wilson III

Spider-Man and ALL related characters are owned by Marvel Comics and Stan Lee respectively

All original characters were created for the purposes of fan fiction. This is in NO WAY connected to Marvel Comics or the ongoing Scarlet Spider title produced by Marvel.

Scarlet Spider

Issue 6

To Be Taken With a Grain of Sand

 Part 1

By: Tim Ruppenthal and Richard Wilson III

Midtown General Hospital, 2:54 PM

Ben: (internal) Mmmm....(beep)....So....comfortable....(beep)...what’s that beeping sound? Then again, where exactly am I?

(Ben opens his eyes to see a crisp white hospital room)

Ben: WHAT THE HELL!?

(Ben tries to get out of bed, but his entire chest is tightly wound in bandages, along with his head)

Ben: Where—OW MY HEAD!

(Wilson pokes his head into the room)

Wilson: Hey kid, he's waking up!

(Wilson walks into the room, with Connor following behind him)

Connor: Well, if it isn’t ‘Sir Sleeps a lot’?

(The Doctor walks in and interrupts the reunion for a quick evaluation and leaves not long after)

Ben: What the hell happened?
Wilson: Well, you collapsed in the hallway at school and got hit in the head by a door by the captain cheer team... She gave me her number to give you by the way

(Wilson hand the slip of paper with the girl’s number to him)

Ben: Ugh...great, the I.Q. of a gnat....Wait, WHERES MY BAG?!

Connor: Relax; it's in the closet, along with your 'coat and stuff'

(Ben slumps against his pillows)

Ben: How long was I out?

Wilson: Three days

Ben: THREE DAYS?!!

Wilson: Just messing with you, it's only been a few hours

Ben: I hate you Wilson.... What have people said about my little debacle here? Did it spread fast?

Wilson: Ben, it’s Midtown High, it spread faster than my dad on the newest Playboy bunny; everyone knows what you did to bust up your ribs like that

Ben: Oh?

Wilson: Yeah, you saved this kids scrawny ass from a bunch of muggers or something, no offense.

Connor: None taken?

Ben: What about the smoke smell?

Connor: You ran into a trash can fire left by a hobo

(Ben raises an eyebrow to Connor who just shrugs)

Wilson: That explained the scorch mark on your bag

Ben: There’s a scorch mark on my bag?

Connor: A small one…

Ben: A small one?

Wilson: It’s on the ENTIRE right side of your bag!

Ben: THE HELL!? Connor! Get my bag!

(Connor goes and gets Ben’s bag, which doesn’t have a scorch mark on it)

Ben: You’re a JACKASS Wilson!

Wilson: Let’s go kid! The chariot a waits!

Connor: I’ll be right there Wilson

Wilson: See you tomorrow Ben!

Ben: Jackass!

(Wilson laughs as he leaves the room, leaving Ben shaking his head at Connor)

Ben: Really? Muggers and a hobo fire?

Connor: It was either that or you fell down the stairs doing a Rocky impression and into a hotdog stand

Ben: Thank God you went with the first one…

Wilson: Come on kid! I'm not waiting on you!

Connor: Sure I'm coming! See you around Ben!

Ben: I hope not kid… I hope not…

Underneath Warehouse 32D, 8:04 AM (Scene takes place before the Hospital Scene)  

(Sandman stands along the beach, desperately trying to remember what happened since his reformation, and he flashes back to 'Spider-Man' [really Scarlet Spider Sr.] with a sonic resonance device)
Flint: Spider-Man… It’s ALWAYS SPIDER-MAN!
(With that, Flint Marco begins to absorb the surrounding sand into his body mass)

Parker Family Apartment, 3:15 PM

(Connor walks up the stairs to his family’s apartment, while Wilson’s car drives off down the road)

Wesley: Hey there kiddo, what's up?

Connor: Uh nothing, just visited my friend Ben at the hospital

Wes: Is he ok?

Connor: Yeah he'll be fine; he saved some kid from a gang on the way to school. Got his ribs cracked pretty bad though… Then he passed out in the hall

Wes: Well, that’s not good. I hope he recovers quickly <Sniff > Connor, why do you smell like smoke?

Connor: Uh, bad peer groups?

Wes: Connor?

(He crumbles as his mother walks in from the kitchen)

Connor: OKAY, OKAY! I got grabbed by this Vulture guy this morning and landed on the Scarlet Spider. He was chasing him and I made him let me help. We fought him in this big old warehouse by the beach and it went up in pumpkin bombs

Mayday: Connor, we've talked about this…

Connor: No! You've lectured and I've had to sit through it! I understand how dangerous it is! But this is something I was BORN to do!

Peter (walking in from the other room): You weren't 'born' to do anything except to live; what you do in that life is your choice... But in this case, the choice has been made for you

Connor: I...What?

Peter: There's too much pain involved in being a superhero than anyone should ever have to face

Connor: But I want to be able to look back on my life and say that I did everything in my power to make this world a better place! I can’t do that in good conscience knowing that my powers put me in a position to help!

Wesley: There's other ways to help people than to put on a costume and punch out people

Connor: Then why did you do it Grandpa!?

Connor: If there are so many other ways then why didn’t you take the advice you’re preaching?

(Looking to Mayday)

Connor: Or you! You heard this whole story already! Why should I listen to you giving rules that not even you followed!?

Peter: That's enough out of you! You want to hear why? Well, it goes something like this: When I first got my powers, I wanted nothing than to use them to get rich quick, I made a stupid choice and then Uncle Ben was dead. Flash forward a few years, and my girlfriend, another person I loved was killed by the man I hated the most, and the next day, he died. Not to mention the countless friends who were hurt over that time. Your mother nearly died when she was a superhero and not to mention...

Peter (continued): ... Not to mention your Uncle Ben...
Connor: I have an Uncle Ben? Why haven't I ever heard about him?

Mayday: He died a long time ago, saving people as Spider-Man... He was 15 when he died...

Connor: I… oh God…

Peter: Now do you understand?

(Connor nods in defeat)

Peter: Good. Well May, I've got to be going now, Mary Jane's waiting for me at home
Mayday: Of course dad, we'll see you soon

(Connor puts his head in his hands)

Connor: Mom… Dad… I’m so sorry…

Mayday (Goes to hug Connor): It’s okay honey, you never knew, and we should have told you sooner…

(Connor later walks into his room, sees the "Powers That Be" list and the Scarlet Spider clippings hanging on his wall. He tears up and takes them down from the wall and puts them in his desk)

Outside Midtown General Hospital, 9:15 AM

Ben: Man, not only is it great to be out of the hospital, but it’s Saturday AND it’s FREAKING AMAZING  how good it feels to NOT BE FRIGGIN INJURED!

(He raises his arms and immediately puts them back down, holding his side)
Ben: Never mind!

(Walking down the sidewalk)

That accelerated healing factor is total bull, but then again, it is called 'accelerated healing' rather than 'instantaneous healing'...

(HORRIFIED SCREAMING, CRASHES, AND STRESSING OF STEEL)

Ben: Life's never gonna give me a break is it?

(Ben slips into an alleyway and gets into his costume, ignoring the pain of his sides)
Ben (internal): If whatever's going on ends me back up into the hospital, I'm going to have a conniption

(Ben swings into time square, finding the entire place covered in sand. along with several windows shattered

Ben: What the hell happened here?

Sandman: YOU!

Ben (internal): Oh boy (to Sandman) Captain Sediment I presume?

Sandman: DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T REMEMBER ME SPIDER-MAN

Ben: Spider-Man!? OH COME ON! I AM SO NOT SPIDER-M-

(Ben is smashed in the face with a fist of sand)

Ben: OW! This is going to be more difficult than expected...

TO BE CONTINUED…