Spider-Man: The New Age- Book 1 in The Vindicators Series

Chapter 22

"You killed Carnage?!?" Riv asked.

"Yup," Connor said simply.

"How?" Dawn asked.

"Look, can we talk about this later?" Connor asked.

"Fine, but don't think I'll forget about it," Riv said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, I won't either. I want to hear all about how our fearless leader defeated the man who destroyed his family," Dylan said, clapping Connor on the back.

"Ow," Connor muttered.

"Dylan! That's so insensitive!" Maia scolded.

"It may be insensitive, but it's reality," Dick grunted, shrugging as Maia gave him a shocked look.

"Reality sucks," Logan groaned.

"Jean, can you try to locate The replica's," Peter asked, struggling not to go crazy with all the teenagers in the room.

"I'll try," Jean sighed.

Jean lowered her head and flames began to flicker through her hair.

"They're at Central Park," Jean said, before teleporting them away.

****

Connor fell to his knees, trying his hardest not to throw up.

"A little warning next time?" Logan gagged, clutching his stomach.

"Sorry," Jean said.

Everyone tried not to giggle as Dylan sprinted away from them, his hand covering his mouth.

A few seconds later they heard him empty the contents of his stomach.

"I'm guessing we're at Central Park," Dick said.

"You guess correctly. Dawns replica is trying to open a portal just beyond those trees," Jean said.

"So how do we play this?" Peter asked.

Everyone turned to look at Connor.

"What?" Connor asked.

"You're our leader, lead us," Maia said.

"Uh, right. Ok, this is what we're gonna do," Connor said.

****

Connor, Peter, and Dick crept through the bushes until they had arrived at the edge of a clearing.

Connor peeked over the bushes to see Dawn's replica running in the center of the clearing, a blue portal beginning to form.

He glanced behind her to see the rest of The Replica's watching her,glancing around nervously.

Sensing movement across from him, Connor looked over to see Logan, Riv, and Dawn crouching down, waiting for him to give them the signal.

Connor took a deep breath and gave a tense nod.

Dawn shot out from the bushes and tackled her replica, the portal closing in on itself.

Connor and the rest of them jumped out of the bushes, forming a loose circle around The Replica's.

"You heroes just don't know when to quit," Connor's replica sneered.

"It's one of our redeeming traits," Connor said.

"Where's the rest of your team?" Dylan's replica asked.

"They're otherwise preoccupied," Dick said, pulling out his batons.

"Glad they have some brains," Jeans replica grunted, her claws sliding out.

As The replica's began to walk toward them, Connor raised his hand into the air.