Time slowed almost to a stop.

Peter threw his arm forward and attempted to catch the sphere with his webbing, just before remembering he did not have his web shooters on. Thinking quickly, he jumped into the air and caught it, flinging it back towards the goblin.

He swiftly landed on the ground and checked around to see if anyone had seen how high he had jumped, but everyone was scrambling to get out of the building. He peered behind him at Aunt May, whose eyes were wide with shock. Hoping it was just from what was going on and that she hadn't actually see what had happened, he went to usher her out of the building when a loud crash shook the building from behind him.

He turned and saw that the sphere he had thrown had missed the goblin and instead hit the lighting above the stage, causing several of them to fall to the ground, followed by more screaming.

"Oh my!" cried Aunt May.

Another sphere landed near the middle of the theatre and began blinking rapidly, causing a strobe effect. The flashing lights caused confusion and made it difficult for people to escape.

Peter's mind was completely chaotic at this point. The overwhelming instinct to save all these people was threatening to tear through him, but he couldn't. He wasn't Spider-Man anymore. Another sphere and the curtains went up in flames.

What should I do!? Peter 's knuckles were turning white as he clenched his fists at his sides. Someone pulled at his arm. Suddenly, the sound of the theatre washed out as he contemplated his choices.

Get these people out and save them!

You'll only cause further damage.

I need to help them! Nobody else can.

Pay them no attention. Look, Harry is right there.

I don't care about him right now, people need my help!

And you need Harry's help, don't you? You know why you want to talk to him. Don't you...?

"Peter! For goodness sakes let's go!" Aunt May finally pulled Peter back into reality and he looked at the fear in her face.

"Right. Let's go." he took Aunt May and Anna by the arm and led them towards the exit. Most of the people had vacated the building already. Peter looked up towards the ceiling but he could no longer see the goblin. Smoke was starting to spread through the big room.

They finally got to the door and as Peter was about to leave, he heard a blood-curdling scream. He looked back and through the smoke he saw that someone was caught under a light fixture that had fallen.

It was Mary Jane.

The light fixture that had fallen was the one Peter had hit with the sphere. His throat suddenly felt very dry.

This was his fault. He had to fix it. He knew Gwen would want him to.

He pushed Aunt May and Anna out of the building and swiftly ran towards the stage.

Everyone else was gone. The smoke was getting thicker by the second. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose.

"Help me! Someone please!" Mary Jane cried out.

"I'm here!" Peter shouted as he jumped up on the stage. He quickly assessed the damage. The light had pinned down her leg and the glass shattered on her. "Do you think anything is broken?"

"My leg- my leg, I think." Her voice was getting weak.

Peter lifted it and threw it aside. She wasn't losing too much blood; it was the smoke he was worried about. He scooped her up in his arms and ran towards the exit. The police, fire trucks, and an ambulance began arriving. Right away, two paramedics rushed over to him with a stretcher and put Mary Jane on it.

"What happened?" they asked him.

"Light fell. Her leg might be broken and she has glass in her arm." he said stiffly.

They nodded and began to study her leg.

"Don't think it's broken. A doctor will check it out when we get to the hospital."

Peter looked around. Several people were being treated for smoke inhalation and had on oxygen masks. The fire fighters had busted down the theatre doors and had begun hosing down the fire. Police officers were questioning people about the incident.

"Peter!" Aunt May rushed over to him. "What did you think you were doing going back in there?! Are you crazy?"

Peter was about to answer when someone from behind interrupted him.

"He saved me," Mary Jane answered.

"Oh-Oh Mary Jane! Are you okay? What happened?!" She walked around Peter and took Mary Jane's hand.

"That thing blew up the lights and one fell on me and trapped me. Peter was the only one who came back to help me," she said as she rested her eyes on him. Her smile was full of gratitude and it brought out a good feeling in him; for the first time in a long time, he felt good about himself.

"Oh, Peter!" Aunt May turned around and hugged him. Then she quickly bounded over to Anna to let her know about her niece.

"I'm okay Aunt Anna, really. Peter saved me," Mary Jane said as Anna came over to the stretcher.

"Oh, I know you are kiddo. You've always been a tough one," she said fondly as she pushed some hair out of Mary Jane's face. "I came over to thank Peter here for saving you." She wrapped Peter up in a hug. "Thank you so much, Peter. Mary Jane, let me just grab my purse and I'll ride with you to the hospital."

Aunt May and Anna walked to the car leaving Peter alone with Mary Jane.

"Thanks again, Peter," Mary Jane said.

"Don't mention it." He smiled at her. It was his first genuine smile in a long time, and he liked the feeling. Maybe this could work out. Maybe he could become her friend again after all this time.

"I'll make it up to you! How about in a couple days I make us some dinner?" She asked, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

"Sure, sure." Aunt May would like having her over.

"Great. It's a date then!" she laughed.

His face fell so suddenly that Mary Jane looked around to see if anything was wrong.

"Peter? What's..?"

"Nevermind I- I can't this week," he said tonelessly. The paramedics and Anna came over and before Mary Jane could question him, she was loaded into the back of the ambulance.

Peter hastily walked to the car. Aunt May was waiting for him in the driver's seat.

"Let's go," he said.

"Are you sure you don't need to be looked at Peter?"

"I'm fine," he said with his eyes on the ambulance as it drove away.

"You probably inhaled a lot of smoke though.."

"I'm fine, Aunt May. Can we please go home now?" he said as he laid his head against the window.

She nodded and drove off.

If Peter had turned his head upwards before they drove off, he would have seen a very resentful looking Harry staring at him from the top of the apartment building across the street from the theatre.

It had been a week since the "Green Goblin terrorizes small-time Theatre" affair. Mary Jane had been asking to speak to Peter several times now, but he didn't want to leave his room to speak with her. Aunt May was shooting him perplexing looks at meal times, wondering why he would ignore her so blatantly right after he had saved her from the fire.

Peter was lounging on his bed watching "Lords of Dogtown" when a thud against his window caused him to jump from his bed. He hastily opened his window and yelled "What now!?"

Instead of a letter taped to his window, a very annoyed looking Mary Jane was staring at him from her window with her arms crossed.

"Oh, so you are home," she said in a miffed tone.

Peter looked down and it looked like she had thrown a shoe at his window. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah, why did you throw a shoe at my window?"

"I wanted to check if you were home and I guess I got a little carried away." She let a small smile slip. "I just wanted to check if you're okay."

"Me? I'm fine. I should be the one asking you that question."

"My leg wasn't broken like I thought, thank you for asking."

"That's good," he had said.

"Your aunt told me about what happened Peter. With your girlfriend, Gwen, I mean. I'm sorry, I had no idea." She uncrossed her arms and rested them on the window still.

Peter tried not to let too many emotions betray him, but hearing her name always seemed to hurt him.

"I'm fine. It's been several months now. I just- I can't see other people right now."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's why I've been ignoring you this week. You had said 'It's a date.' and I'm sorry but I can't see anyone else right now."

"That's why you've been ignoring me?" She sniffed. "I didn't mean it like an actual date Peter, it's a figure of speech."

"Oh- Oh right." He nodded to her but didn't look convinced.

"Peter, you and I used to be really good friends. I want us to be friends again. Besides, I'm seeing someone."

"You're seeing someone?" Peter relaxed at this news. It would be much easier to be friends with her if there were no romantic feelings involved.

"Yeah, about a week before my play, Harry asked me out to dinner. He didn't tell me where to because it was a surprise, but guess where he took me!"

"Harry. You're seeing Harry," he said in a dreary voice.

"Yeah, but guess where he took me Peter!"

Peter just continued to stare at her.

"He took me to the Eleven Madison Park Restaurant! It costs $225 per person there! I couldn't believe it. A few days later he bought me this-" she held up her wrist to show a bracelet, "-well you can't see it well from there but it's a Pandora bracelet. It's really pretty," she added.

"You can't," Peter said.

"I can't? I can't what?"

"You can't see Harry."

She let out another sniff as she crossed her arms. "You can't tell me who I can and can't see, Peter. Just because you're holding a grudge against him..."

"A grudge? What do you mean? What did he tell you?!"

"Well-" she looked a little uncomfortable saying this, "-he told me about Gwen."

Peter stared at her with his mouth gaping open. He told her about Gwen?! How Harry had killed- no how he himself let her- die. He shook his head. "What did he say? What about Gwen?" he said, trying to keep his voice even.

"Harry said that you and him hadn't talked in many years. He said that you two had reconnected your friendship after his father died and how happy he was. He really missed you. You let him know that your girlfriend worked at Oscorp. He had introduced himself to her, and ever since that happened she followed him around everywhere becoming obsessed with him. He kept ignoring her advances towards him though, Peter. He couldn't help how she felt about him..."

"WHAT are you talking about!?" he yelled at her.

"I'm talking about why you won't talk to your friend anymore! He still cares about you, you know? No matter what Gwen had told you, Harry never tried anything with her. He just didn't tell you at first because he didn't want to ruin your relationship. She was lying to you.."

"DON'T YOU EVER SAY ANYTHING ABOUT HER AGAIN! You have no idea what you're talking about!" he couldn't help yelling at her. What had Harry been putting into her head?

She didn't even reply to him, but shot him a hurt look as she slammed her window shut. He didn't want to hurt her feelings but hearing her talk about Gwen that way had made him feel so angry. At first he had thought Harry had revealed their identities to Mary Jane and he had panicked. What was Harry playing at?

Deciding he needed to take a walk to clear his head, he swiftly walked out of the house, slamming the front door behind him. Aunt May was still at work, but she'd be home in a few hours. It was starting to get dark outside.

Peter didn't exactly know where he was going. He just needed to walk to blow off some steam. After about an hour he found himself wanting to go back home. He was in a pretty much abandoned part of the city; buildings were falling apart and nobody was outside at this time and it was putting him in a worse mood.

Rain started to trickle down from the sky, soaking Peter's hoodie.

"Great. Just great." He shook his head.

His anger at Harry wasn't going away. The things he had said about her were obviously fake, but he couldn't help feeling aggravated anyway.

"Hey, kid," a voice called from behind him. Peter turned around and saw a man had just walked out of a dark alley and had a pocket knife pulled out in front of him.

Peter looked at him and sniffed. He smiled and shook his head at the man.

"Turn out your pockets and give me all your money, now," he said in a voice he had tried to sound menacing.

"I don't have time for this tonight." He turned around and continued to walk.

The man ran ahead of him and put the knife up to Peter's chest.

"Now kid! Don't make me hurt you." He smiled showing several teeth were missing. The other teeth were yellow and chipped. This guy was probably just a junkie. He waved the knife in front of his face. For some reason in the back of Peter's mind, he heard the manic laughter of the goblin again.

"I'm really not in the mood for this," he growled at the junkie, waving his hand away from his face and stepping around him. The man grabbed Peter by the arm.

"That's it kid, I'm—"

Peter pushed the man up against the brick wall and began punching him in the face. Blood poured from his apparently broken nose, and the man dropped the knife.

"Please, stop!" the man cried out as he spit out one of his rotten teeth. "I'm sorry!"

Peter looked the man in the eyes and let him go. "Thank you." he said and as he did the man quickly reached for his knife and went to stab Peter in the torso.

It had only gone in an inch when Peter grasped the man's hand and pulled out the knife. He bent the man's hand backwards, instantly breaking it.

The man howled in pain and Peter, enraged, began punching him again.

"Peter, stop!" he heard someone shout behind him. He paid it no attention and kept punching the man who seemed to be unconscious now. As he pulled his arm back in a fast motion for one last punch, his elbow made contact with something behind him. He dropped the man to the ground and looked backwards. Mary Jane was on the ground clutching her mouth and blood was already leaking through her fingers.

"Mary Jane, what- what are you- oh my god are you okay!?" He bent down towards her and put an arm out to help her up. She swiped his arm away with an angry look in her eyes before standing up.

"What the HELL is wrong with you Peter!?" she yelled.

"I- I- I don't..."

"I followed you because you were so angry I wanted to make sure you didn't do anything stupid," she said with tears in her eyes. "You were going to kill that man!"

"He had a knife to me. I didn't mean-" He looked at the man, who was definitely unconscious on the ground. He bent down and checked for a pulse. He was breathing.

Mary Jane wiped the blood from her mouth.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you. I would never do that," Peter whispered to her.

"Screw you, Peter!" She turned on her heel and walked away. Peter blocked her.

"I can walk you home. It's dangerous in this part of the city," he urged.

"Get out of my way, Peter. Stay away from me," she said coldly as she walked around him. Peter didn't say anything further but silently walked about thirty feet behind her the whole way home, making sure no more harm came to her. When they got to their houses, she walked inside and slammed the door without another word.

Peter sighed and walked into his house. Aunt May was standing in the living room.

"Peter, should I even ask where you've been?" she said tiredly. She looked at him and saw he was trying to hide his hands. "What happened Peter?" she walked over to him.

He sighed defeatedly and held up his hands. She gasped when she saw them. Both hands were covered in dried blood and his knuckles were swollen and raw.

"Honey, what happened?" She tried moving some hair out of his face but he stepped away from her, shielding his face from her.

"I'm going to bed." He sprinted up the stairs, but not before she saw the tears in his eyes.

Peter slammed his door and started pacing his room. Why did everything have to go wrong today! First he finds out Mary Jane is dating Harry, that he's been spreading lies about Gwen, then he hurt Mary Jane. He tugged at his hair and slumped onto his bed. He had thought things were getting better. Things should be getting better for him.

He was poison. No matter what he tried to do, he always ended up hurting people.

It's true, you know it. You beat that guy to a pulp today and then you hurt your friend. You're dangerous. Pathetic. Worthless. Poison.

It's true, he thought. Why should he think any differently. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, Aunt May was in the kitchen with the news turned on. With her coffee in her hand, she turned to Peter as he entered the room.

"Why do you always watch this?" Peter asked.

"Maybe I'm just waiting for Spider-Man to make an appearance again." She smiled at him, but then let it drop again seeing his knuckles. Self-consciously, he tried pulling the arms of his hoodie down further.

Peter glanced up at the television and his heart stopped.

Even though it had been dark last night, he remembered the face. The mugger who had stabbed him last night was on the screen.

"Police still don't have any clue as to who was involved in last night's murder. It was most likely a drug deal gone wrong, or gang activity, Police Chief Greg Murdock announces. The man had received blunt trauma to the head, which caused his death..."

Peter didn't want to hear anymore. He ran back up to his room, clutching his chest.

I told you last night didn't I? The voice echoed through his head.

You're dangerous. You killed someone. You're a murderer.

"I killed someone," he repeated.

He hadn't meant to go that far. He had just been so angry about Harry. How could he have killed that man? He was breathing when he left, wasn't he? He should have made sure the guy was okay before he left, but he had been so worried about Mary Jane..

You hurt her, too. Murderer. You don't deserve to live.

He nodded to himself, his hands shaking. Walking towards his desk, he almost tripped on some clothes. His breathing was erratic. He opened up the drawer and pulled out the swiss army knife and walked over to his bed in a trance-like state. Peering down at the knife, he saw there was still blood on it from when he was trying to fix his hand.

A knife? Really? You're pathetic.

Peter started to sweat. He was really going to do it this time.

You'll heal too quickly with that. The voice seemed to overjoyed and coaxing.

Yeah, that's right. He got up and silently made his way towards Aunt May's room. Uncle Ben had kept a gun locked up under his bed. He opened up the bedroom door and ducked down to look under the bed but the lock box was gone.

Aunt May had never approved of having a gun in the house. She must have moved it or gotten rid of it. Peter hoped it wasn't the latter. If she moved it, it would probably be in the basement with Uncle Ben's other possessions. He went downstairs to the basement without being seen by Aunt May and began looking over some of the boxes. Finally he opened up a box and sure enough, Uncle Ben's lock box was inside.

Dammit, he didn't know what the code was.

Rolling his eyes, he remembered he didn't need the code, and simply crushed the lock and opened up the bronze tinted box.

With a small sad smile on his face, he took the M1911 Pistol into his hand and shut the box, making his way back up to his room.