My name is Kaine and now...

Player Information:
Name: Kaitie
Age: 24
Contact: redconfession
Game Cast: Mark Grayson, John Colby

Character Information:
Name: Peter Parker Kaine Parker
Canon: Marvel 616
Canon Point: Scarlet Spider 20, right after landing back in Houston but before he is "stung by a Mosquito" (poisoned by Kraven)
Age: appearance-wise roughly 30, physically roughly 9
Reference: Marvel Wikia | Comicvine | Wikipedia

Setting:
Earth in the Marvel Universe is in many ways a more fantastical version of our own. Though locations are mostly the same (with a few added countries like Latveria and Madripoor and famous landmarks such as the Baxter Building or Avengers Tower in New York City), and humans are still the predominant species on the planet (though they share it with other species such as Atlanteans, who live in the oceans, and an occasional member of an alien species such as the shapeshifting Skrulls or the bird-like Shi’ar), everything on this Earth seems to have an extra… something.

Magic is real and it is powerful (if you know how to wield it), and the technology, while not dissimilar to our own, is at least 10 years more advanced, possibly more depending on the inventor. Corporations, such as Roxxon or Oscorp, are just a little more evil… though not all (such as Stark Industries or Horizon Labs). And death… well, death here can be less than permanent.

Oh, and superheroes exist, and primarily inhabit New York City. These costumed heroes gain their powers from many sources—birth, accidents, technology, as gifts, space rocks, etc.—but all do their part to keep New York City (and the universe) safe. That isn't to say that everyone with powers is a hero. Every hero needs a villain after all, and the Marvel Universe has them in spades. For every hero there is at least 5 costumed villains, though luckily for the average person, they’re never on the streets for too long (...though they never seem to be in prison long, either).

The most controversial of all of these super-humans are known as mutants, evolved humans born with something called an x-gene which gives them their amazing abilities. These powers typically manifest themselves around puberty, making already awkward teenage years that much worse. For years mutants have been the subject of hate, fear, and discrimination, and were almost brought to extinction when one of their own cast a spell declaring "no more mutants" (she has since tried to fix things). The X-Men, the world’s leading mutant group, is currently divided into two factions—one led by Scott Summers and one led by Logan.

It was infiltrating the latter’s group, headquarted in the Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning, where Kaine learned firsthand just how powerful mutants can be. He was tasked to kill Logan, better known to the world as Wolverine, by the head of the Assassins Guild (more on them later), and instead formed a temporary alliance with the man to get the guild off his back (well, he also killed him, but as Wolverine can heal, it wasn’t for very long…).

See, Kaine hasn’t had much interaction with a lot of the more fantastical elements of his Earth before getting stuck with the name of Scarlet Spider. Spider-Man and the original Scarlet Spider were as close as he got to the spandex set for most of his life. Instead, he either lived among those below the poverty line while he traveled the country tormenting his brother Ben, taking contract killings on the side, or he was incarcerated for the aforementioned killings (and some of the non-contract variety).

It was back when he was still taking contracts when he first angered the Assassins Guild, composed of some of the world’s deadliest assassins, by taking hits in their territory. They obviously did not take this too well, so they issued an ultimatum—join the guild or die. He chose a third option, “go fuck yourself,” and had been on the run from them ever since (at least until that aforementioned rendezvous with Wolverine).

The plainness in which he lived the vast majority of his life is in stark contrast to the extraordinary circumstances which brought him into this world. In the Marvel Universe not only is cloning possible, Kaine is living proof it works. Kaine was the first of multiple clones created by Professor Miles Warren, better known now as the Jackal, in a plan to ruin Peter Parker’s life for the death of Gwen Stacy, Peter’s girlfriend at the time who got caught in a fight between Peter’s alter-ego Spider-Man and the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn.

Kaine is actually a clone of Peter, though not a perfect one. These differences are both physical (Kaine is taller and larger than Peter), as well as cellular. A few short months after being created, he started to show signs of a condition known as clone degeneration, meaning that his body wasn’t stable enough to support life for very long. His body began to scar as his cells began exploding, leaving Kaine in constant pain and leading to his “father” to try and dispose of his failure, though Kaine managed to escape.

It took him many years (years that he defied the odds of just by surviving that long), but eventually he found a cure, and it was the stabilization of his body that would eventually force him down the path of a hero. Only Kaine didn’t want to be a hero, he wanted to buy a beach in Mexico and get as far away from the superheroes in New York City as possible. Well, he and fate compromised and now he’s in Houston, Texas as the city’s very first superhero.

The Marvel Universe’s Houston is not much different from our own, other than it’s used to reading about superheroes in the newspapers and seeing them on TV, but not in person... at least not in their own city. Needless to say, when Kaine comes on to the scene, they’re thrilled. The city quickly embraces their very own superhero, cheering for him when he sends thugs to the hospital or praising him for beating the shit out of an assailant with his own baseball bat… basically Kaine’s a violent guy and Houston’s the city that has 0 problems with this. As Kaine’s friend Donald once told him “We need you. Not some super hero, we need you. You’re a little rough around the edges. For Houston… that makes you perfect.”

So now Kaine spends his time in Houston wearing a “borrowed” costume and beating down thugs, gang members, slave traffickers, evil corporations, werewolves, assassins… basically the whole superhero crash course defending Houston from whatever it may face… but even now he’d rather be in Mexico drinking Margaritas.


Personality:
Kaine is considered by many (including by himself) to be the evil clone of Peter Parker, and in many ways that's true. In the past Kaine had no qualms killing anyone he felt deserved it, or that furthered an agenda that made sense only to him. I say "in the past" because now, while he will still kill, he attempts to limit this to situations where he feels it’s truly necessary. That isn't to say he's a kinder, gentler Kaine; most of the people he tussles with end up in the hospital with multiple broken bones. Even at his most restrained, Kaine will go to lengths that Peter wouldn't dare unless under extreme duress, and even then it's iffy. As such, he's also angrier than Peter, quick to assume someone is a threat or isn't being particularly truthful.

He's also got one heck of a filthy mouth, best seen in Scarlet Spider 1 when, after saving an old woman from being hit by a car, Kaine promptly curses her out for stepping into the road in the first place. This is a habit he's been trying to kick, as Aracely and his friends have implemented a swear jar, where he (well, any of them) has to put in a dollar per curse word. Kaine's probably going to go broke before any real progress is made.

As dissimilar as Kaine can be from Peter, he is still a clone of the man, and as such they share some similarities as well. They both harbor guilt for things that they felt should have gone differently, where their actions (or inactions) set into events something that they feel they should have prevented or they regret. And as Kaine, by his own admission, has been a bad man for most of his life, he has a lot to feel guilty over. He's weighed down by the death of Ben Reilly, unable to understand why he was able to die and return on 3 separate occasions when Ben died once and never came back, since Ben was clearly the better man. He's weighed down by the deaths of all the people he killed back when he thought that was the only thing he could do with his life, especially the only person to love him back then--Louise Kennedy--whom he killed after he felt she betrayed him. And now that he's begrudgingly become a hero (just don't call him that), the people he failed to save also weigh heavily on him. This guilt causes him to second guess himself when it comes to heroic things, and to downplay his own accomplishments in the face of even minuscule failure.

This extends to his personal life as well. In the past, Kaine kept to himself, forcibly keeping everyone at least at arms length. He allowed himself no friends, no lovers (after Louise), and wasn't even particularly fond of acquaintances, a habit that he blamed on his clone degeneration (why befriend anyone when he's just going to drop dead at any moment?) and the haze it created in his mind (he had no use for those things because people only lie and hurt him). And now that he's free of that burden, it is his own overpowering guilt that causes him to continue to push people away. He considers himself a monster, and monsters don't deserve friends, no matter how much they crave the connection.

Luckily for him, he met some individuals in Texas that didn't care what he thought, and became his friends anyway. It was through them--Donald, Wally, Annabelle & Aracely--that he learned to loosen up a little and rejoin humanity. He cares deeply about his friends, to the point where he is willing to go along with whatever it is they want to do, such as going to a rodeo, regardless of whether or not he has any desire to do them. Through them he learned how to be "a real boy," even if he sometimes doesn't recognize it as such, and he's grateful to them for that. He's even allowed himself to love again, as he has begun to date Annabelle despite his apprehensions over not being good enough for her.

It is his friends that have to remind him, on a regular basis, that he really does care. Not just about them, but also about other people in general. He's so used to bring closed off that he doesn't think that being a superhero comes naturally to him (to the point of refusing to be called a superhero). It's Donald who has to remind him, when he's ready to give up and attempt to run off to Mexico again, just how much good he's done for the city. When he discovers a woman attempting to bring down Roxxon, it's Aracely who forces him to go out and do something about it, after he literally spent the remainder of the day trying to convince himself it wasn't his problem ("Will you go do something about it already? I can't sleep with all your 'not caring'!").

The most obvious way to highlight how deeply he can care is to talk about the girl currently in his care, Aracely. After discovering her clinging to life among the corpses in a shipping container, he sees in her a kindred spirit, another who had a second chance at life, and promptly brings her to the hospital. This need to protect her second chance would later put his plans on running away to Mexico on hold twice, and would lead him to (unofficially) adopting her to keep her from getting deported. His affection for the girl eventually leads him to make a deal with a literal monster just to keep her safe... and it would be Aracely's safety that would lead him to promptly partially renege on that deal after it threatens her.

Aracely isn't the only family member he's literally sacrificed himself for. He also saved Peter's life during the Grim Hunt by switching places with him, leading to Kaine being killed in Peter's stead by the Kravinoff's. So yeah, he really cares, especially for his family and friends... he just hasn't figured it out yet.

What about that monster I mentioned before? Well, that's known as the Other. Originally the spider side of Peter Parker, the Other decided that Kaine (whom others have said on multiple occasions has always embraced the Spider and rejected the Man) was just as suitable a host after Peter rejected it. When Kaine agreed to accept the Other, it transformed him into a spider-human hybrid and unleashed all of his most primal instincts, particularly his prey drive. When this turned on Aracely, he regained his sense of self and now the two fight for control of Kaine's actions. He now literally has a voice in the back of his head encouraging him to kill every threat he faces. If he gives in to this voice, he blacks out, the Other gains control of his body, and bad things happen. Though Kaine thinks otherwise, he actively fights these urges, instead choosing to follow the path of his brothers Ben and Peter, the path of a hero, whenever he can. Having the Other in his head forces him to think about his actions and consciously choose if he wishes to be the monster he believes himself to be, rather than lash out instinctively like he had in the past. He's chose to be the better man every time.

Upon learning he's been brought to the In Between, the first thing he'd do is laugh. He'd be amused by the fact he's already died 3 times and it was a mosquito bite that finally did him in. As his last death reminded him he actually has something to live for now, he'd want to get back as quickly as possible so he can continue to protect Aracely, and won't take it too well that there's no known way back. The gangs of Keeliai will provide a nice outlet for that frustration, at least until he finds something to live for on the turtle...


Abilities:
- The Other - Kaine's "monster" lives in his head, and has been seen twice attacking telepaths that try to enter Kaine's mind... and Kaine has no way of protecting them
- Enhanced Spider-like Strength - due to being an imperfect clone of Peter, Kaine is actually stronger than him
- Enhanced Spider-like Speed
- Enhanced Spider-like Agility - despite being larger and bulkier than Peter, Kaine can still move with the same grace he does
- Wall Crawling - Kaine can control this ability to such an extent that he is able to combine it with his enhanced strength to tear down entire walls off buildings if he concentrates.
- Mark of Kaine - Kaine is able to heat up his hand to such a degree he can sear flesh. In the past, he used it to create the "Mark of Kaine", an act consisting of him burning a hand print into the face of his victims (either pre- or postmortem depending on the victim and his mood). This Mark would either resemble the scars on Kaine's face (when he still had them), a red hand print, or a hybrid of the two. He apparently has control over its intensity as he shaves using it in Scarlet Spider 1.
- Night Vision
- Organic Webbing - Kaine is able to shoot webs organically from his wrists that seem to function the same as Peter's, in that they are able to take on a good deal of weight, can be spun into webs, hold the bad guys for a period of time before dissolving, etc... (this is good for him because he could never make his own web fluid)
- Stingers - Kaine possesses two retractable bone spikes that extend from beneath his wrists.
- Spider Communication - Kaine has the ability to "talk" to Spiders, which is less Disney Princess and more like he shares an empathic connection with them, enabling him to sense what they sense and giving him a general idea of what is around them. This extends to giving him a certain level of control of them as well, as he is seen in Scarlet Spider 1 siccing an army of spiders against the gang members he was busting up.
- Weapons proficient - Kaine has been seen handling both a gun and a katana with ease
- Multi-lingual - Kaine is shown speaking Spanish and Japanese. Additionally, by the fact Aracely learned it (she learned how to speak multiple languages by reading his mind), he apparently also speaks French


Inventory: A white t-shirt, blue jacket, beige pants, belt, white socks, sneakers and a beige backpack containing his Scarlet Spider costume (see below for details), two changes of clothes (a black polo, blue long-sleeve shirt, grey pants, and brown pants), and his fake USA passport courtesy of the Assassins Guild.... as well as an XXXL "I Heart NY" T-Shirt and a snow globe of the Statue of Liberty that Aracely snuck in there when he wasn't looking.

Kaine's Scarlet Spider costume was originally created by Peter Parker to battle the Hobgoblin, but was used by Kaine during Spider Island to counter the Queen's sonic scream. At Madame Web's insistence, he kept it (she also modified the suit so it looks the way it does now). The suit, which is made up of omni-harmonic mesh with wave bending properties, has the following modes that he can utilize by thinking at it:
- can bend light and sound, leaving the wearer invisible (though special lenses could be created to view him). While in this mode his movements are totally silent, but he can be heard if he speaks.
- can shield against all sonics from infrasonic to ultrasonic. While in this mode it is impossible for the wearer to hear or be heard. (Note: Kaine has never used this form, but it was in the design when created by Peter)
- can self-mend all tears


Suite: Fire sector, 3 floors. Kaine is a violent person by nature, so Fire is most suited to his personality, and as it's the location with the highest number of gangs, he'll never be bored. Plus, he's gotten used to a certain standard of living since going to Texas that the Fire district can provide, and he'd rather not go back to slumming it, though he certainly can if need be.


In-Character Samples:
Third Person:
This place was cooler than Houston, which was a relief as far as Kaine was concerned. This was the first night in months where he was crouched in the shadows on a rooftop and not sweating from every pore in his body. He had almost forgotten what it felt like, being comfortable in the weather around him. But the weather wasn’t why he was out tonight.

Focusing his attention to the grungy streets below, one particular Kedan caught his attention, and it wasn't just because of the feathers he called eyebrows. Though the guy had been smart enough to hide most of his flashier (read: pricier) belongings in this neighborhood, even from the rooftop several buildings away Kaine could spot the expensive watch catching the light of the lanterns as he passed. And those alligator-looking shoes, while tacky, probably cost him a pretty juulan too.

And of course the guy just had to take a shortcut down a dark alleyway.

He should have let him get jumped by the five young punks who were currently loitering in there. He should have left the guy to his own devices for being such an idiot, for putting himself into that position in the first place.

Should.

Kaine leapt down from his perch to the alley below as the punks inevitably pulled their blades and demanded his watch and shoes, using the one farthest in the back to cushion his fall. He smiled despite himself as he heard the crunch of a broken bone, probably more. The clone had not yet figured out exactly how this species' anatomy differed from humans, but he intended to learn--by trial and error.

Before the remaining four could react, Kaine reached out and twisted the arm of the next closest thug, pulling until he heard the pop and scream he was waiting for. Unfortunately, he also knew he had the other three's full attention now, and without any form of Spider-Sense, he was going to have to move fast if he didn't want to get stabbed.

At least these idiots didn't have guns.

"Stupid fucking 'superheroes,' stay out of our business!" yelled one of them as he lunged towards Kaine.

"Despite the impression the costume leaves, I'm not a superhero," he growled as he flipped above him, landing onto the side of the building. "How unfortunate for you."

He grabbed the would-be attacker by the wrist holding the blade and snapped it back, ensuring it would be quite some time before he could wield a knife again. The man cried out and crumpled to the ground, clutching his hand. Good, wrists were still where they should be.

The last two were tricky. They stood frozen in place as they tried to weigh their options. If they fled they were safe, but lost face with whatever organization the might have been a part of. Depending on what organization that was, it would be just prolonging the inevitable. If they tried to attack like their buddy, they would just wind up on the ground beside him. Those were the logical choices, anyway. But these men weren’t logical, they were desperate, and Kaine knew just how unpredictable desperation makes a man… he could only guess it would extend to Kedan as well.

He decided to take a page from Parker's playbook and try a move he'd seen but had never tried. Flicking his wrists, he shot out his organic webbing at the remaining thugs, catching them in their opposing temples with the strands. With a second flick he pulled them in opposite directions, throwing them entirely off balance... just in time to reverse the motion and send them careening headfirst into one another. No noise, no screams, just two unconscious bodies in a heap on the ground.

Not bad, he thought I'll have to remember to try that again.

Kaine webbed the five to the ground and wondered for the first time what, if any, kind of police force they might have here. If these punks were lucky, the cops would find them. If not, well... he didn't doubt there were less than reputable doctors they could crawl to.

"Thank you! If it wasn't for you--" said the Kedan with the feathered eyebrows, who hadn’t moved through the entire confrontation, his eyes wide like a deer in headlights.

"Save it." Kaine’s voice was curt. Frosty. He didn't want to deal with this nonsense, especially from an idiot too dumb to realize he was in danger. "You want to show your gratitude? Get your head out of your ass. I can see your coin purse in your breast pocket, I could see your fucking watch from down the street, and with shoes like that you’re just announcing you have money. Stop making yourself a target or, even better, stay the hell out of a neighborhood like this--"

Kaine shot a strand of webbing into the air.

"--because next time I might not be around to stop them."

With that, he was gone, leaving the feather-eyebrowed Kedan standing there in stunned silence.


Network:
[Even though he had been shown how to use the console in his room close to 5 times now, Kaine still finds himself fiddling with it when the feed turns on. There was a reason why, after buying him a laptop (with Kaine's money) and multiple attempts at teaching him how to use it, his friend Wally just accepted the 3 AM visits whenever Kaine needed to run a simple Google search. But the clone was desperate, and now here he is.

How desperate, you ask? Well, he's currently wearing an oversized tacky "I <3 NY" souvenir t-shirt and an expression that's a cross between a pout and a scowl.] Where can I buy a normal shirt? I'm down to this one and there's no way in hell I'm wearing it again. [A pause.] For the record, by "normal shirt" I mean a t-shirt or something along those lines.

[He shifts in his seat, discomfort pouring out of him as he tugs at the hem of his comically large shirt. He hates asking for assistance, but he's been searching for something for a couple days now and keeps coming up empty.

But he'd rather be asking for that than his next question. The thought of asking it causes him to grit his teeth, and the beginning of it comes out like a growl.] I'm also looking for a job. Something like a bouncer or a bodyguard... [Glances down at something off camera.] I'm, uh, good with my hands, and not that it matters here but I'm fluent in four languages.

[With that, he's officially gone past his comfort zone and he attempts to quickly turn the damn thing off--key word being "attempts." He lets out a slew of curses, and right before he finally manages to turn it off, he can be seen depositing some juulan into a large, clear container already a quarter full with the coins just before the screen finally goes black.]

The Clone Saga, Post-One More Day
As One More Day eliminated the marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, the events of the Clone Saga have been slightly changed. In One Moment in Time (the mini-series that attempted to explain the changes to a post-One More Day Peter Parker), Mary Jane refuses to settle down with Peter or have a child with him unless he gives up the mask, something Peter can not do. As a result, they never expected a child. As this was a major plot point for the Clone Saga, this alters the way several events go down.

It still starts off the same--Gwen Stacy dies, Miles Warren doesn't take it too well, and goes crazy trying to clone Gwen and Peter. The two Peter's still fight in Shea Stadium, Peter still believes his clone dies and still dumps him down the smokestack. Warren still saves the clone. Norman Osborn still switches the papers and leads Kaine and Warren to believe that Peter is the clone and Ben is the original. Kaine still hounds Ben Reilly during the Lost Years as a result.

Things change when Kaine and Ben get back into New York, and Kaine begins to have visions of someone harming Mary Jane. His motivations for protecting her are still the same--this is someone that "the clone" loves, and he felt he had to protect the life "the clone" had created for himself. The only difference is MJ was never Peter's wife, and was never pregnant during the ordeal.

The biggest change is the Spider-Man handover. Originally it was done so Peter could take on the responsibility of being a father, a responsibility greater than that of being Spider-Man. In a post-One More Day reality, this was slightly different. Upon learning that he was the clone and Ben was the original, Peter begins to wonder if this was really the answer to his prayers. As Ben was the original, he could finally give Mary Jane what she wanted, a life without Spider-Man, while still allowing a Spider-Man to protect the city and shoulder the responsibility he had been tasked with.

Peter handed over the costume and went with Mary Jane to Portland, where she was traveling for a photo shoot, to give their relationship a new start. Upon arriving in Portland, he discovered the lab that had conducted the experiment that led to his spider powers was headquartered there, and on a whim he applied. The final adventure pretty much occurs as written, and Peter temporarily loses his powers. MJ thinks it's the greatest thing to happen to them, and seriously contemplates attempting to marry him again.

The Clone Saga continues on as normal. Peter gets called back to figure out the mystery behind Spider-Man stealing the Spider-Man skeleton, gets a job as a full time photographer only to lose it due to budgetary cutbacks. He almost dies as a result of regaining his powers, but regain them he does. While happy Peter is alive, Mary Jane wishes he never got his powers back.

At the conclusion of the Clone Saga, Allison Mongraine poisons Mary Jane as per Osborn's instructions. Ben dies, and Peter realizes he can't give up being Spider-Man. Mary Jane feels they went back to square one with their relationship.


Kaine's missing 10 (production) years
After Kaine turns himself in (Spider-Man: Redemption 4), he is temporarily detained in New York. During this time, Ben visits exactly once, and then weeks pass with nothing. Kaine begins to think that Ben lied to get him off his back and starts getting violent with the other inmates. Motions are made to get Kaine transferred out of there as soon as possible. Right before his transfer, he gets one more visitor--Spider-Man. Peter thought it would be best to not be seen with the guy who "tried to frame him for murder," but felt he owed to to Kaine to tell him what happened... to hell him that Ben died (Web of Spider-Man v2 1).

Shortly after, Kaine is transferred to the Vault, a superhuman detainment center in Colorado where he attempts to be "rehabilitated" like Ben had wanted. His plans change, however, when he begins hearing rumors of the Scriers holding Aunt May. Wanting to repay Peter for telling him about Ben (and for all the crap he put him through), he joins in a prison break to try to get back... but it was thwarted by the Thunderbolts, who had staged it to break out Moonstone (Thunderbolts Annual '97). He refuses to give up, and manages to escape on his own. He begins a one-man war on the Scriers to try to get Aunt May back (Amazing Spider-Man 435)... but his efforts were in vain, as Peter got Aunt May back without his help. Knowing the kind old woman was safe back home, he turns himself in once more.

Kaine is then transferred to an unknown prison, where he is placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. For that last hour he is allowed to go outside, but is so drugged up he couldn't do anything... this is subsequently his favorite hour of the day, as he is free from himself (Web of Spider-Man v2 1). During his stay there he grows bitter at the way his life turned out, as he had nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. This is also the time he begins to put Ben on a pedestal.

His clone degeneration, no longer slowed by the costume he wore during the Clone Saga (Spider-Man: Redemption 3), kicks into overdrive during this time, and Kaine believes he's dying. It's during this time that he has echoes of the people in his life that meant something to him, and while he reaches some epiphanies about himself, his condition stabilizes as his body finally stops fighting his enhanced powers (Web of Spider-Man v2 1). However, this doesn't stop his clone degeneration, it merely lessens it to a pain reminiscent of his pre-Salt Lake City days.

Kaine remains in solitary confinement until Norman Osborn becomes leader of HAMMER and stumbles on to his records. Thinking Kaine might still be a useful weapon against Peter Parker, arranges an opportunity for him to break out of prison once more. Kaine takes it.

ASM 608-610 goes here. Kaine, suffering from paranoia due to prolonged solitary confinement, attacks Peter and nearly burns down Aunt May's house.

After murdering Damon Ryder, Kaine finds himself in the South Bronx (Amazing Spider-Man 631) figuring out his next move when transients, mistaking him for homeless, offer to let him stay with them in an abandoned building. Orignially he turns down the offer, as he's never thought highly of the homeless (Spider-Man: Redemption 3), but when he realizes being a federally wanted mass murderer with a very distinctive face would make getting lodgings in even a fleabag motel difficult, he changes his mind and agrees. He tries to avoid all contact with them as possible, but over the next few weeks he breaks down and starts to help out in his little community, mugging those that look like they're up to no good to buy food. He doesn't choose them out of a sense of justice--merely because he knows they're unlikely to report it. While he still keeps the others at arms length, he's grateful to them for helping him recover in a roundabout way.

Then Ana Kravinoff shows up and kills them all (Amazing Spider-Man 631). It reminds Kaine that no good deed goes unpunished, and that he belongs alone. He flees from Ana and her brother Aloysha, and for several days they play cat and mouse throughout the city, with Kaine as the mouse. Ana eventually catches him and badly injures him, leading him to have the brilliant idea to go to Peter and try to warn him... and more importantly, get medical help without (hopefully) getting arrested (Amazing Spider-Man 634).