C620 Uncle Ben’s Tragic Past…
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In the dimly lit prison cell, Ben sat on his bunk, stealing glances at Uncle Ben who remained absorbed in his old book. The silence between them was thick, broken only by the distant echoes of the other prisoners.
Despite his curiosity, Ben hesitated to disturb the aged Spider-Man, who seemed to be ignoring him in favor of the tattered pages of his book.
As the minutes passed, Ben couldn't contain his restlessness. "So, uh, what's the deal with this place?" he ventured, attempting to break the silence.
Uncle Ben's eyes flickered over the book's pages but didn't lift from the text. "It's a prison. That's all you need to know," he grumbled, shutting down any potential conversation.
Undeterred, Ben pressed on, "But why are we here? Actually, why are you here?" He asked, clearly extremely curious about his cellmates origins. "I'll go first to break the ice. My friends were recruited in this suspicious spider cult, so I came to investigate… Now it's your turn."
"Has anyone ever told you that you should learn to shut your mouth?" Uncle Ben's gaze finally lifted, his stern expression warning Ben that he was growing tired of his nonsense. "Surviving here means keeping your head down, not asking unnecessary questions, and staying out of trouble..."
Despite the gruff deflection, Ben couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure we're not already in trouble? I mean, we did kill that spider thing…"
Uncle Ben sighed, his patience wearing thin. "It doesn't matter. They won't do anything about it. One less inmate is a good thing to them, fewer mouths to feed, more room for new prisoners. Understand?"
Ben nodded, sensing that further inquiries might lead to more frustration. For a while, they sat in silence, the weight of their confinement settling in the cramped space.
The silence persisted until Ben, feeling a renewed sense of curiosity, couldn't resist asking the same question again. "Why are you here, Uncle Ben?"
Uncle Ben's gaze remained fixed on the book, and he replied dismissively, "None of your business, and stop calling me that..."
Ignoring his prickly behavior, Ben persisted, "But if we're stuck here together, I think I have a right to know," he argued, testing the elderly Spider-Man's patience.
"Look, kid," Uncle Ben snapped, closing the book and setting it aside, "who I am or why I'm here is irrelevant. You're not my concern, and I'm not your Uncle. Got it?"
Undeterred, Ben pushed further, "Fine, but what if you're some kind of psycho murderer or cannibal? Don't I have the right to know who my cellmate is?"
Uncle Ben shot him a glare that suggested he thought Ben was an idiot. "No, you're a prisoner, you have no rights." He sighed, pulling the covers over himself as he laid down on the top bunk, facing away from Ben.
Resigned, Ben climbed into the lower bunk, staring upward in the oppressive silence. The unfamiliar environment and the distant noises of the spider-people made sleep elusive.
As time crawled on, the racket of the prison gradually hushed, and the block fell into silence. Every inmate, besides Ben and Uncle Ben, succumbed to the sleep.
…
..
.
Time passed in the confined prison cell, both parties unable to sleep due to their own inner thoughts surfacing. Soon enough, the silence between both cellmates was shattered by the persistent tossing and turning of Ben. Uncomfortable and still hungry from missing the earlier cafeteria break, Ben's agitation filled the air.
His restless movements only added to the challenges of the cramped space. The metallic bunk creaked with each shift, making it nearly impossible for the elderly Spider-Man to find solace in sleep. The tension in the air thickened with every passing second.
Finally reaching his breaking point, Uncle Ben snapped. "If you move one more time, I swear I'll rip your head off like I did that spider earlier," he barked, his patience worn thin.
Ben groaned, voicing his discontent. "I can't sleep…"
Uncle Ben's irritation flared, and he shot back, "Then learn to stay still. This isn't a luxury hotel, kid."
The tension lingered in the air until Uncle Ben, his annoyance momentarily overshadowed by a somber expression, sighed. The dim light in the cell revealed a hint of sadness in his eyes.
Frowning, Uncle Ben began, "You remind me of my nephew, you know. Always complaining about nightmares and sneaking into bed with me and my wife." The mention of his nephew carried a weight of both love and loss.
Uncle Ben's gaze shifted to the shadowed corners of the cell, lost in memories. After a moment of reflection, he spoke again, "You really want to know why I'm here?"
Ben nodded, curious about the man who shared his cell. "Do you even have to ask?"
Silence permeated the cell for a while before Uncle Ben sighed deeply. "I got my powers when I accompanied my nephew to a science demonstration. While we were on a tour around the place, a radioactive spider got loose, and I was bitten. When we realized I had powers, I decided to use them for good." He explained before chuckling out of nowhere. "Peter suggested I go into show business, make some money out of it, you know? But I didn't need money. I was happy with my normal life."
Ben listened intently, surprised by Uncle Ben's unexpected openness.
"Everything was fine at first. I helped people, made a name for myself as Spider-Man. But nothing good ever lasts," Uncle Ben continued, his tone heavy with regret. "I did something that turned out to be a big mistake."
Curiosity burning, Ben asked, "What did you do?"
Uncle Ben's eyes held a mixture of sadness and guilt. "I saved my family."
Ben's brows furrowed, awaiting an explanation. "How could that possibly be a mistake?"
Uncle Ben sighed, "I didn't really get it at the time, and truthfully, I still don't understand it. Apparently, my wife, May and Peter were supposed to die while I was trying to save them from Emerald Elf. But luckily or unluckily, I don't know which, I was able to save them and even killed that crazy Elf."
Ben couldn't help but ask, "I don't get it… How is this a mistake again?"
"Because… That's when he showed up…" The elder spider-man spoke spitefully.
"Who?" Ben asked.
"Miguel O'Hara…"
-Flashback- (A/N: For this flashback, Uncle Ben will be called Ben.)
The aftermath of his battle with the Emerald Elf left a younger Ben weakened, but victorious. His Emerald adversary was dead and his family was still alive, if not a bit traumatized from this whole experience, but they were safe and that's all that mattered. Yet a deep instinct told him that something was wrong.
Seconds later, a mysterious portal opened up and a man in a blue and red spider suit stepped out, standing far too close to Ben's family for comfort. After all, May and Peter were still tied up and unconscious from their encounter with the Emerald Elf.
On high alert, Ben rushed towards his family, yelling, "Hey, get away from them!"
"I'm afraid that I can't do that…" The mysterious man replied, a somber yet resolved tone to his voice.
Suddenly, Ben's senses went haywire, telling him that his family was in imminent danger. "I said stay away!" He screamed, sending a punch to the mysterious man's face.
"I'm sorry, Ben, but this has to happen…" The man said, blocking his punch and responding with one of his own.
The impact of their struggles echoed through the air as Ben tried desperately to intervene. However, the agile man before him proved too formidable, swiftly knocking Ben to the ground, his already exhausted body slamming into the hard concrete.
"Ugh!" The older Spider-Man's limbs felt heavy with fatigue as he tried and failed to get back onto his feet. Laying there, powerless, he was forced to watch as the menacing figure approach his beloved family.
Miguel, with an eerie calmness, turned back for a single second, staring at Ben, "I'm sorry…" he stated as he turned away and approached May and Peter. "But it's either them or everyone, and I'd rather save everyone…"
"No! Stay away from them!!!" Ben screamed, his voice straining as he crawled toward his family, his body barely able to move. "I said, STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!!!!"
The mysterious man didn't bother replying and certainly didn't comply. With a cold detachment, he stared down at the woman and child before him for a moment before reaching down to snap their necks, one by one.
Ben, frozen in despair, could only watch in horror as the two people he loved most in the world were taken from him. May, the woman he had vowed to spend his life with, and Peter, the boy he had raised as his own son, both died right before his eyes, their bodies falling limp.
Unable to comprehend the magnitude of his loss, Ben looked up at the man who took everything from him, hate burning in his eyes. He screamed, "Why?! You killed them! Why?!"
Miguel, seemingly unaffected by the carnage he had wrought, met Ben's gaze with an emotionless stare. "To save your universe."
The words hung heavily in the air, an enigmatic justification for an unfathomable act of brutality. Uncle Ben's mind reeled with confusion, grief, and a searing hatred towards the man before him. The tragedy unfolded before him, a cruel twist of fate that shattered his world in an instant.
-Flashback End-
Ben silently listened to Uncle Ben's story, his eyes tearing up as he heard the grief in his cellmates voice as he spoke. "I-I'm sorry for asking, and talking too much…" He felt bad for making him relive such a tragedy.
Uncle Ben cleared his throat before speaking again. "You asked why I'm here." He said, a hint of hatred entering his voice. "I'm here because I dedicated my life to killing the man who took my family from me... Miguel O'Hara."
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After sealing the deal with Galactus, Peter opened a portal and stepped inside, returning to his bedroom. Recalling that he had some messages, he headed straight to his bedside drawer, retrieving the memory card from the remains of his broken phone.
Walking over to his desk, Peter opened another drawer, revealing a shiny new phone, a recent upgrade, which he's been waiting to use.
Plugging the memory card into the new device, Peter powered it on. As the screen lit up, he was bombarded with a flurry of notifications. However, one group of messages stood out among the rest, over a hundred messages from the spider-verse group chat. 'Okay, this is starting to look like an emergency…'
Though before he could delve into the many messages, his phone rang, a call from the spider-verse group chat, specifically from Miles.
Answering the call, Peter attempted a casual greeting, but his words were drowned out by the sound of a scuffle followed by Miles's urgent voice, "Peter?! Are you there?! Finally- Ugh…!"
A/N: 1851 words :)
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