Shout Outs: Thanks to Phoenix X 2 for favoring the story.


Chapter 7: The Blood of a Killer

Tony stared at the TV screen with a hardened loon on his face. It appears that the enemies have gotten a lot quicker if they could track Spider Man that easily. In all honesty, it worried Tony and he wondered just how much Peter was able to hold it.

Frowning, Tony turned on the volume from the TV, listening to the report.

"...There had been an attack on the Empire State. The students were frightened but during the fight, no one was harmed. It appeared that Spider Man defeated the creature since it has not been heard in a while. However, the police are investigating the scene that tore apart a hallway."

On the TV, it showed the lights dangling from the ceiling and sparks flew from them. The entire wall was broken, having its debris scattered throughout the ground.

"The police may have to close off this hallway until further notice. They stated that it is too dangerous for the students to walk by. However, just before the battle, a student had been murdered. The murder may lead to the creature that attacked Empire State though the police didn't confirmed nothing yet."

Jesus Christ, Tony thought as he stared at the broken hall.

A sudden thump startled Tony as he muted down the news and stared up only to see Spider Man swinging in.

"Peter," Tony breathed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Peter muttered as he carefully slid the broken shard out of its spot. The blood might've been smudged a bit.

"Do you think you could analyze the blood?" Peter asked.

Tony nodded as he got up, walking towards him. He took the shard away, staring at it.

"Yes. Just come back tomorrow or whenever. But are you sure you're alright? Every time an enemy comes, it gets worse. It's so easy to track you as Spider Man. Please, Pete. Be careful."

Peter started to walk away but before he exited, he slightly turned his head to the side and spoke.

"I will."


Peter awoke the next morning. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, staring at the ceiling before checking his phone which was on the ground.

8am.

He groaned, returning back to bed, throwing the covers on him. Of all the days he could've slept in, he had to choose Saturday to wake up early.

"Hey Peter."

"Go away. Let me sleep."

"You're such a diva. Wake up, you fool."

A pillow was thrown at Peter but that had little impact since Peter was still under covers.

"I want to sleep," Peter shut his eyes tighter.

"Your phone just vibrated," Harry said in an annoyed voice.

Groaning, Peter threw the covers off and shuffled himself towards the side of the bed so that he could grab it. When he turned it on, Peter had his eyes wide as he realized who the text was from.

"He has it!" Peter exclaimed.

"Who?"

"Nothing."

Almost immediately, Peter hurriedly scrambled off the bed and began to have a tug o war with his Spider suit. He then grabbed his web shooters, shooting it at the window and yanked it up. Just from seeing the Spider suit, Harry knew where he was headed to.

"You're going to Tony?"

"Yeah. He got some stuff," Peter answered.

Before Peter left, Peter turned to the side and shot another streak of web so that it got attached to his pillow and Peter grabbed it. He then twirled around, performing a slam dunk with the pillow so that it struck Harry.

"That's payback."


"You got the info?" Spider Man asked as he was sliding in the room.

Tony gave him a questioning look. "Nah, I just thought that I would randomly sent out a text."

Peter rolled his eyes at Tony's sarcasm. "Very funny."

Tony chuckled a bit. "So...how's school?"

"It's alright...when you don't have maniacs on your trail all the time. Oh and I've met a new bully."

"Oh? Well...if he continues to annoy you, you could...you know...show some of Spider magic," Tony winked.

Peter grinned.

"Right. So," Tony began to click away on the keyboard and pulled out the images.

"Here's your guy," Tony announced.

The image showed the red creature that attacked Empire State. The menacing eyes sent a shiver down Peter's spine though his look hardened.

"Cletus Kasady," Tony said. "Had a troubled life and he was sent to St. Estes Home for Boys. Eventually he became a serial killer."

Peter frowned. "So…then what's the red suit for? Identity, I know but how can he have the same ability as I do? What's making him to have it?"

"I've also done some more digging and Cletus goes by another name: Carnage. But the thing is, it appears that Cletus is actually bonding with someone," Tony said as he showed the two DNAs. "Whatever is bonding with Cletus, that's the reason why it has the same abilities as you do."

Peter sat in thought, registering the information. A small flashback went into his mind as he remembered how the noise bothered that creature.

"Then what's the weakness?"

"The weakness is however you had defeated him for now."

"The last time I did, it was with sound. That creature with Cletus can't stand sound but it just can't be loud noises."

Tony sighed. "I know this is troubling but I'll spend more time on digging up some more information about this…being. In the meantime, you keep out of trouble."

"Fat chance," Peter slightly smirked.

Peter later reached the dorm where he crawled through the window and took off the mask.

Tired, he flopped himself on the bed, resting for a bit. However, the door being opened caught his attention though he ignored it.

"You're back," Harry announced.

"Uh huh," Peter muffled.

"So any lead on whatever it is you're looking for?"

Sighing, Peter turned to the other side, letting out another breath.

"It turns out that the creature is bonding with the actual being. He goes by as Cletus Kasady. He's the one who's behind all of the murders and he also has the same abilities as me which is unnerving," Peter answered with a small scowl on his face.

"Sounds like fun."

"No, it really isn't. Do you not know how annoying it is for an enemy to do the things you could do? They could frame me...again!" Peter exclaimed.

"Even so...I'm pretty sure the public won't fall for the same trick again. At least, this time, and like the other times, you'd have the police with you," Harry made a small smile.

Peter spent the following week, wondering the many different weaknesses of the strange creature he had encountered. To be honest, Peter felt a bit outmatched with this beast.

He felt as though this enemy is a lot stronger than he is. That being said, Peter thought he could make a new suit—a suit that would survive in a battle. He needed a new upgrade anyway and maybe some new sturdier web shooters although the ones he currently has aren't bad but there's no problem in upgrading them.

Smiling, Peter pushed the bad thoughts away and started to think up of a new design for his costume.

Throughout the days, Peter began to work on his outfit secretly, drawing out new sketches during classes though he would have to sometimes close the notebook and pretend to have paid attention whenever his name was called out.

"Peter, are you still with us?" Watkins announced.

Peter blinked, closing the notebook as he looked up. "Um, yeah. Yeah."

However, doing new designs turned out to be complicated since Peter would sometimes rip out pages from the book if he didn't like the designs. Irritated, Peter stopped for a moment, having his head against the wall of his dorm and looked out at the window from the side. He was impatiently tapping the pencil against his leg and sat in silence as though that would somehow make him have inspirations for his outfit.

Annoyed, Peter threw the notebook to the side and grabbed the newspaper, flipping through the pages, hoping to have some news on Cletus. It appeared that Cletus went quiet after the encounter with Spider Man but as Peter flipped to the next page, a headline grabbed his attention and he furrowed his eyebrows.

GREEN SIGHTINGS CONTINUE

Peter paused in his thoughts as he recalled that there were green sightings from last year but he hadn't checked them out yet as he thought it didn't really pose any danger though if the article reprinted the same story then perhaps he should check it out.

Just in case.

"For Pete's sake," an irritated voice snapped Peter from his thoughts. He saw Harry walking in and threw his phone to the bed while dumping his bag to the floor.

"What happened? Girl problem?" Peter teased.

"No. It's just my dad," Harry muttered. "Every time I try to reach him, he just pushes me away like I'm some worthless scum or something. He always claim that he's always busy with his damn work. Like I get it but…you know…" he trailed off, heaving out a heavy sigh.

In a way, Peter supposed he could feel what Harry was feeling but Peter's dad wasn't so cold and distant like Harry's.

"Well…do you know what he's working on? Like what projects?" Peter asked.

Harry snorted. "He never lets me in on anything about his work. Always a secret and sometimes, I wonder why."

"If you're curious then maybe you know…you and I could find out…?" Peter suggested.

"And risk getting caught? No way. Thanks Pete but I like to live my life."

"No but really. If you're that curious and if you want to know what project your dad's working on, you should see it. You do have access to his office, don't you?"

Harry shrugged. "It depends. Sometimes, I have access if he only wants to see me for something. Other times he just kicks me out," he scowled.

"Look: I'll go with you as Spider Man. I'll take out all the cameras and the security systems and everything and we—you—can discover what he's working on. Come on Harry. I know deep down you know want to do this. You want to know the secrets that lurks in his lair."

Harry rolled his eyes at Peter's dramatic antics. "My dad isn't a mad evil scientist but thanks," Harry drawled. He then trailed his eyes down as he suddenly noticed a pile of crunched papers at the side of the bed on the floor.

"What's up with the papers?" Harry pointed it out.

Peter sighed. "I'm working on a new suit design and I'm having some trouble coming up with them. I want this costume to be sturdier—you know, so it doesn't rip and stuff."

Harry made a small scoff. "Good luck."

Peter made a small smile before he went back to the newspaper. The headline of GREEN SIGHTINGS CONTINUE had once more grabbed the attention from him. He suddenly paused as he continued to stare at the storyline. A sudden dark thought entered his mind, going previous to Harry's conversation.

"My dad isn't a mad evil scientist but thanks."

He gazed at it before shrugging it, tossing the newspaper to the side.

Nah, that wasn't Harry's dad.

It was a much too coincidence.

Sometime later in the afternoon, Peter met up with Gwen who seemed to be annoyed since she was talking to a guy named Luke.

"Aw come on, please? I'll take you out to a dinner," Luke pleaded.

"No," Gwen said firmly. "I'm not doing your homework for you."

Peter slightly made a smile at the brief conversation that had been going on.

"How about just a bit?" Luke continued.

Gwen sighed. "Fine. I'm only going to do the introduction paragraph. The rest's on you."

"You're amazing, Gwen."

Peter chuckled at the final decision. As Peter was walking, Gwen (with a grumpy look) changed her expression when she saw Harry walking down the hall though Harry looked a bit…frustrated which made her wonder what had happened.

A fumph sound came when Peter collided into something solid and he looked up only to see an angry Harry.

"Hey Harry—"Gwen started.

"Peter, I need you for a minute," Harry said hastily before roughly yanking him away from the two.

Once they were from ear shot from Gwen and Luke, Harry spoke. "I need your help."

"For what?" Peter asked confused.

Harry gritted his teeth. "I'm going to break into my dad's company."

Author's Note: Are you SURE you should be doing that, Harry? Peter, you're a bad influence—you're supposed to NOT encourage him /sigh/ but Peter's going to get a new suit, huzzah! Can you guess what it is? And Cletus made an appearance! What happens next? Find out! Toodles!