New York City, Halloween Night, Two Years Ago
It was the beginning of the end. Spider-Man - Ben Reilly who was, as far as he knew at the time, actually the original Peter Parker - had defeated Gaunt, the cyborg mastermind who had seemingly been behind the hell his life had been for five years. But that would have been too easy. There was still one man behind Gaunt: Norman Osborn, the original Green Goblin. Peter Parker had watched him die years ago. He was dead. His body was buried. And even that couldn't stop him. Shocked and poisoned by a gas, Ben fell to Norman's attacks.
He awoke hours later. Norman had somehow gotten the drop on his clone, Peter, the man who had been Spider-Man during Ben's years in exile. The man whose wife was having a baby right now. The first thing he heard Osborn tell Peter was that he'd been manipulating everything; the Jackal, Ben's dear friend Seward Trainer, and more aspects of their lives than Peter could imagine. He heard Osborn confess that Peter had been the real one the entire time. That the tests that lead the "brothers" to believe the past five years were a lie were themselves a lie. It sounded nuts, even coming from Norman. But there was a part of Ben that knew it was true.
Spider-Man - Peter - and the Goblin started to fight across the Manhattan skyline. Meanwhile, all of Peter Parker's friends were trapped in the Daily Bugle offices across the street with a number of the Goblin's explosives. Ben was still dazed and bruised from the beating he'd taken at Osborn's hands earlier. While the fresh Spidey fought the Goblin, it was up to Ben to rescue the people at the Bugle and round up the explosives. One of the Goblin's bombs went off in front of Flash Thompson, though, injuring Ben further when he pushed Flash out of the way. When he caught up to the fight, he and Peter agreed to switch places. Peter - still in possession of webshooters - could get the bombs farther away while Ben held the Goblin off.
The Goblin had other plans. He launched his spear-headed Goblin Glider at the distracted Peter. Ben, in a final act of heroism, threw himself in the way. The glider plunged into his back with several spikes, then dropped him from the rooftops onto a car below. He heard an explosion and the fading sounds of the Green Goblin's laugh while a doctor checked him out and realized that there was nothing that could be done. When Peter swung down to the car, Ben knew that his 'brother' had won.
Ben Reilly - Spider-Man - told Peter to come closer. "From this day on," he said, "clone or not... you are Spider-Man. You have to carry on for me. Take care of my 'niece', Peter... Tell her about her Uncle Ben." In the moments before he passed on, Ben could feel it. The clone degeneration the Jackal had never quite managed to solve had set in. The last thing he felt was his arm starting to turn to ash.
The last thought he had was, "I guess I am a clone..."
And that was the end of Ben Reilly.
[OOC: Establishy. NFB due to being off island and in the past. This post is 99% descriptions of events from Revelations parts 3 and 4 from Amazing Spider-Man #418 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75. Ben's final thought/username is completely mine. OOC comments appreciated but entirely undeserved since all I did was recap. Posted now because I can't sleeeeeeeeeeep. Woo insomnia! To be continued on Friday.]
He awoke hours later. Norman had somehow gotten the drop on his clone, Peter, the man who had been Spider-Man during Ben's years in exile. The man whose wife was having a baby right now. The first thing he heard Osborn tell Peter was that he'd been manipulating everything; the Jackal, Ben's dear friend Seward Trainer, and more aspects of their lives than Peter could imagine. He heard Osborn confess that Peter had been the real one the entire time. That the tests that lead the "brothers" to believe the past five years were a lie were themselves a lie. It sounded nuts, even coming from Norman. But there was a part of Ben that knew it was true.
Spider-Man - Peter - and the Goblin started to fight across the Manhattan skyline. Meanwhile, all of Peter Parker's friends were trapped in the Daily Bugle offices across the street with a number of the Goblin's explosives. Ben was still dazed and bruised from the beating he'd taken at Osborn's hands earlier. While the fresh Spidey fought the Goblin, it was up to Ben to rescue the people at the Bugle and round up the explosives. One of the Goblin's bombs went off in front of Flash Thompson, though, injuring Ben further when he pushed Flash out of the way. When he caught up to the fight, he and Peter agreed to switch places. Peter - still in possession of webshooters - could get the bombs farther away while Ben held the Goblin off.
The Goblin had other plans. He launched his spear-headed Goblin Glider at the distracted Peter. Ben, in a final act of heroism, threw himself in the way. The glider plunged into his back with several spikes, then dropped him from the rooftops onto a car below. He heard an explosion and the fading sounds of the Green Goblin's laugh while a doctor checked him out and realized that there was nothing that could be done. When Peter swung down to the car, Ben knew that his 'brother' had won.
Ben Reilly - Spider-Man - told Peter to come closer. "From this day on," he said, "clone or not... you are Spider-Man. You have to carry on for me. Take care of my 'niece', Peter... Tell her about her Uncle Ben." In the moments before he passed on, Ben could feel it. The clone degeneration the Jackal had never quite managed to solve had set in. The last thing he felt was his arm starting to turn to ash.
The last thought he had was, "I guess I am a clone..."
And that was the end of Ben Reilly.
[OOC: Establishy. NFB due to being off island and in the past. This post is 99% descriptions of events from Revelations parts 3 and 4 from Amazing Spider-Man #418 and Peter Parker: Spider-Man #75. Ben's final thought/username is completely mine. OOC comments appreciated but entirely undeserved since all I did was recap. Posted now because I can't sleeeeeeeeeeep. Woo insomnia! To be continued on Friday.]