Spider-Man: The Lost Years #3
The Truth
After beating up Ben Reilly in a drug bust gone awry, Kaine had fled to the roof of the building due to his body becoming wracked with pain as his clone body begins to degrade. Looking through the skylight, he is shocked to see his love -- Detective Louise Kennedy -- is in league with Vincent Tannen's drug dealers and has Ben Reilly at gunpoint ready and preparing to execute his enemy. A man who appears to be Vincent Tannen demands that Louise kill Ben immediately. However, she refuses to do it in front of Matthew Raven, the son of his partner, Jacob. Tannen relents, handing the boy off to his nephew, Jimmy the Mouth and orders him to get the boy out. Seeing this, Kaine feels betrayed and that her love for him was nothing more than a lie. He comes smashing down through the skylight and confronts Louise telling her that he is going to kill her. Ben tries to stop him but is easily swatted aside. As Louise flees the scene, Kaine tries to go after her, but Reilly smashes a wooden crate over him. Kaine screams in pain as his body continues to degenerate. Wanting to stay and see what he can do to help, Ben can't while Tannen still has Matthew Raven as a hostage.
Outside, Tannen orders Kennedy into his limo and they speed off, leaving Jimmy the Mouth behind with the Raven boy. Ben Reilly confronts Jimmy and knocks him out with a single punch, then promises the boy that he will not harm him. Realizing he is finally safe, Matthew Raven breaks into tears and collapses into Ben's arms. Reilly brings the boy back to the hospital where his father is waiting. Thanking Ben for his help, he can't believe Vincent Tannen broke out of jail, assuring the masked hero that the notorious drug lord is locked up. When Matthew makes mention of seeing Louise at the crime scene, Ben notices his confusion and assures him that Kennedy is fine before leaping back out into the stormy night. Ben rushes back to the home of Janine Godbe, despite the fact that she broke off their relationship. Seeing the bruised and bloody Ben Reilly comes as a shock to Godbe who barely manages to catch Reilly as he passes out. When he comes out of his blackout, Ben refuses to tell Janine what happened to him. That's when he notices that she has her bags packed and that she is leaving. She won't tell him why either, but he causes her to stop by the door by telling Janine that he loves her. He then promises to stick by her as long as they are honest with each other. That's when she tells Ben that her real name is Elizabeth Tyne and that she is a murderer.
At that same moment, Louise Kennedy has fled to a closed down diner with Tannen -- Paul Tannen, Vincent's twin brother. Paul is furious about what happened, as it is has ruined his brother's revenge scheme. As he throws a tantrum, Kennedy tries to convince him to calm down. Things take a turn when Kaine bursts into the room and break's Paul's neck, killing him instantly. Still thinking that Louise is responsible for the bombing of Jacob's home, he intends on killing her himself. Louise begs Kaine to stay back, warning him that she will shoot if she has to, but doesn't want to because she loves him. Hearing this causes Kaine to pause and rethink his next move. While back at the home of "Janine Godbe", Elizabeth tells Ben the story about how she became a murderer. She tells Reilly how her father was abusive and molested her as a child. It soon got to be too much for her and when she was 17 years old she couldn't take it anymore. Getting a gun, she shot her father dead and she has been running ever since. Hearing all this, Ben hugs Elizabeth tightly in his arms. When she asks how he could love her after hearing all of this, Reilly replies by telling her he wonders why she feels the same way about him for similar reasons.
Back at the diner, Kain asks Elizabeth why she would turn to a life of crime. She explains that she realizes how foolish she was to try and clean up Salt Lake City and decided to surrender to this life. This devastates him, as Kaine saw her as his only hope. Kennedy tells him that she thought he was her salvation as well and walks out. When Louise returns to the station, she discovers that Jimmy the Mouth was arrested but hasn't talked. Pretending she is still working undercover, Louise tells him how recent sightings of "Vincent" were actually his brother Paul. Before she can learn more, Jacob tells him that they finally got enough evidence on the Godbe investigation. Meanwhile, Ben Reilly has told Elizabeth the truth about who he really is. To prove that he is a clone of Spider-Man, he carries her across the city as he leaps from rooftop to rooftop.[1] After hearing everything, Tyne finds this news exciting and tells him that she loves him. They leave town together, but a half-hour later when they stop at a diner for some food they are confronted by Detectives Raven and Kennedy. They order her to surrender when Ben reminds Jacob that he saved his son. Telling Jacob that this is one of Tannen's goons, in order to save her own hide, Lousie pulls a gun and threatens to shoot. However, Jacob is confused about what to do.
Thanks to his spider-sense, Ben swats Lousie's gun away and then warns Jacob against going after him and Elizabeth in the future. Later, up in the mountains, Ben and Elizabeth are ambushed by Kaine who seeks to eliminate Reilly once and for all. As they struggle, Elizabeth watches in horror. To make matters worse, the detectives have followed them and are closing in. Louise gets up the ridge first. When she tries to shoot Ben in the head, Kaine steps in and snaps her neck with a single twist. That's when his hand burns the Mark of Kaine into her face -- the first of many disfigurements to come. Horrified by what he has done, Kaine flees the scene. That's when Jacob Raven catches up, and without Kaine present presumes that Ben murdered his partner. However, Reilly easily disarms Jacob telling him to stop following him as Elizabeth was justified in killing her father, and that he himself is not a murderer. He then knocks out the police officer with a single blow. When Elizabeth asks what they should do next. Ben tells her that he doesn't care, as long as they are together.[2]
While Kaine mourns the death of Louise Kennedy, Jacob Raven spends time fishing with his son. Ben and Elizabeth went on to live life on the road for some time. Thinking back on these events, Ben Reilly recalls how he eventually lost Elizabeth in the end but cherishes every moment they spent together.[3]
Recurring Characters
Ben Reilly, Louise Kennedy, Jacob Raven, Janine Godbe, Paul Tannen, Vincent Tannen, Kaine, Jimmy the Mouth, Matthew Raven
Continuity Notes
Ben Reilly is a clone of Peter Parker, as revealed in Amazing Spider-Man #149. He left New York to start a new life during the Parker Legacy story arc.
Ben's narrative states that Kaine's fingerprints on Louise Kennedy's gun would come back to haunt him. This is because Jacob Raven eventually traces Ben to New York a few years later as seen in Spider-Man #53. Further, those fingerprints like Louise's murder to Peter Parker, leading to his arrest in Amazing Spider-Man #400. The truth would only come out during the course of the Mark of Kaine and Trial of Peter Parker story arcs.
The fate of Elizabeth Tyne is explored in Spider-Man: Redemption #1-4.
