Shout Outs: Thanks to Yukiko3001 for favoring the story. Thanks to NatureSorcerer for favoring the story.

Chapter 10: The Secret Riddle

Peter groaned as he flickered his eyes open. He coughed, trying to grasp some air, breathing. His mind was still scattered so he was having difficult trying to figure out what happened.

He felt weak, drained and his mind was spinning around but he forced himself to push himself up.

"You woke up."

Peter lifted his head and gazed at Harry who had his head down.

"What…what happened?" Peter muttered. It was getting difficult to support himself.

"You tell me. I pulled you out of the pool when you got knocked out. People were screaming, trying to get away and I knew something was wrong. Who attacked you, Pete?"

Peter sighed, leaning his head against the wall. "I don't know…" he breathed heavily, shutting his eyes closed. Something was bothering his body.

"You're slacking off, Peter," Harry said as he got up. "Enemies are easily getting to you. Shape up your game, Parker."

As Harry went towards the door, he paused. "Oh by the way, when I was pulling you out of the water, I've noticed that there was a large angry blotch on your shoulder. You might want to get a look at it."

With that, Harry exited the room, leaving Peter alone to his thoughts.

Maybe I should get a look at it, Peter thought as he rubbed his pained shoulder.

Regardless, Peter decided to check up on Sara since she might've gotten affected the most.

Peter found her where she was hanging out with her group of friends.

"Sara!" Peter called out.

Sara stopped what she was doing and looked up, giving a smile.

"Pete!" she walked up to him, excusing herself from her friends.

Peter stood there awkwardly. "Um...how are you?"

"Great. Thanks for coming, by the way though I wanted to escort you out but I guess you left early since I couldn't find you."

Peter gave a sheepish grin. "Um...heh...yeah. About that...sorry...I heard about the attack and about Spider Man. Are you alright?"

Sara laughed. "I'm fine, Pete. Most of the attack took place on the second level. The police came and started to question people who got affected by them."

Peter nodded. "Alright...it's good that you're okay...um...I'll see you later, I guess."

Peter walked away though he absent-mindedly rubbed his shoulder again. He honestly felt weak and couldn't hold it that well.

Nevertheless, Peter had went to his classes, despite feeling terrible. However, when he reached his biology class, he could faintly see Prof. Slatter who had a disapproving look on his face.

Something has happened.

"Before we begin our session, I have a lecture to share," Slatter spoke a bit angrily.

Almost everyone went quiet though most of them felt uneasy.

"As you should know, the reasons why we were bring live beings to our class so you could all have a sense of how they work, their climate life and so on but they are not to be messed with or get stolen. Obviously, someone decided to have a little fun and take the creature away and that being said, failure to comply these rules will result as punishment..."

Peter's mind spun around and whatever Slatter was saying, he could no longer hear him. His vision was blurry which made him slump against the chair, placing his hand on his forehead.

He had to go.

Peter got up which raised a few attentions including Gwen who gave a concerned look. Peter rushed out as quickly as he could, stumbling through the halls, ignoring the looks.

If he could make it to the dorm, he should be fine.

He hoped.

After much struggling, Peter managed to reach his dorm. He fumbled the doorknob for a couple of minutes until he was able to open it. As he did though, Peter tumbled down, barely gripping the knob.

He forced himself to get up so that he could change into his suit. If he could get to Tony, he would be fine.

After putting on the suit, Peter clumsily swung into the city and reached the familiar building. He was getting worse; if walking was bad then swinging himself to reach here was even harder.

I must…find him… he thought with staggered breaths. Find…

Peter reached their usual place but when he did, he found out that he wasn't there.

Where he is?

Groaning, Peter slumped against the wall though unable to hold himself, Peter slid down, crumbled.

No.

He's not weak. He's strong.

And hell, this was not going to be his last breath.

He's not going to die. Not like this.

Gathering all of the strength of what he has, Peter pulled himself together. He got up and heard voices a few seconds later.

"…of course, I'll get on it right away," one of the voices spoke as the door opened which revealed Tony and Happy.

"Good," Tony smiled.

"T—Tony…" Peter mumbled.

The smile on Tony's face instantly vanished when he immediately saw Peter who was stumbling.

"Peter! What in the blazes happened to you?" Tony exclaimed, quickly ushering towards him.

Blurry and dizzy, Peter mustered the only word he could do before he collapsed into Tony's arms.

"Help…"

With that, Peter fell into his arms.

Peter groaned as he flickered his eyes open. He shielded his eyes from the glaring light that was shining down on him. Apart from the light, he was met with a pounding headache that felt like his head was going to explode. Wincing, Peter started to push himself so he could get up but a hand stopped him, forcing him back down.

"What…happened?" Peter muttered.

"You tell me," Tony said. "When you came in here, I got worried. You just fell into my arms. You really didn't look good either," Tony added.

Peter closed his eyes as he was composing himself. "I don't know…the last thing I remember was not feeling that great. I began to be dizzy and weak as if all of my energy had been drained and then…" he frowned, squinting his eyes. "I think…I'm not sure…but I think I left one of my classes since I wasn't feeling that great."

Tony made a thoughtful look before he cleared his throat. "Well, while you were passed out, I had the liberty to examine as to what exactly happened to you. It turned out you were poisoned, Pete. You got infected by something. Do you know where or from whom?"

"I…" Peter trailed off as small brief flashbacks came into his mind. The party. Everything led back to the party. The attack…that black creature or whatever it was…Peter suddenly remembered when the strange being bit his horrible fangs into him…

"It was from the party," Peter realized. How could he have forgotten it? "The attack…I went to a party from the big football game last week. Everything went fine and then, all of a sudden, there was an attack that came at the house—well mansion really. I don't know what kind of creature that was. It was all black with tints of white and had really disgusting fangs—guess I know now that it's poisonous. It's stronger than me…and we fought…and well, that's all I remember other than after the fight, I passed out," Peter finished, rubbing his neck from behind.

Tony sighed with a disapproving look. "You need to be more careful, Peter. From the sound of it, it looks like you're slacking off. You need practice. Stay on guard."

"But I'm not slacking off," Peter said a bit irritably. "If you were facing this creature, you'd probably had less chance into defeating it."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "At least I wouldn't be reckless. That poison that's going into your body right now…you're lucky to be alive. You better keep me updated from now on."

Peter slightly glared at him. "How can I if you're always so busy? What are you even doing anyway? What's keeping you busy that I can't even reach you at most of the time?"

"You don't need to know. At least not yet. Just…just try not to get killed by the end of your year, alright?"

Peter stared at him for a moment before deciding to let it go. The more Peter continues, the less answers he would get.

"Fine. Whatever," Peter muttered.

"Nevertheless, I'll inform you once this poison had been analyzed."

After getting himself back, Peter swung out of the building with thoughts in his mind. Maybe he should investigate what Tony has been up to. If Tony wouldn't tell him then Peter's going have to explore what Tony's had been hiding.

Once Peter entered his dorm through the window, he automatically started to take off the suit and pulling his usual clothes which consisted of a plain white t-shirt and jeans.

I'm not that irresponsible, Peter muttered in thought. I can take of myself…

"If you're done muttering to yourself, I do believe this stuff is yours."

Peter looked up and saw Gwen holding up his things. Peter blinked, staring at his backpack as though it was a stranger to him.

"Um thanks," Peter said, taking it. "I guess I forgot about it."

"Tell me about it. I wanted to give it to Harry or Michelle but I couldn't find them so I kept it with me until I was able to give it to you. You left the class in a hurry. You honestly didn't look too good."

"Um, I guess I have some kind of sickness. I'll be fine," Peter faintly flashed her a smile.

"Well, alright," Gwen said with a small curious look. "But take it easy. I know this semester is supposed to hard but don't overwork yourself, okay?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah…"

Peter departed his way, giving Gwen a one last faint smile. It wasn't soon where Peter had found Michelle and the two were walking down the halls; both of them have a free period so they decided to meet.

"It's so easy to get to you," Michelle said after Peter had told her what happened so far.

Where have I heard that before? Peter thought angrily.

"I can take care of myself," Peter replied annoyed since he was having this conversation again.

Michelle slightly narrowed her eyes. "Sorry…I'm just worried. So far, there are two creatures out there who has the same abilities like you. You kind of have to go out of the box if you want to defeat them."

"Tell me something I don't know."

Michelle gave a small sly smile. "Well, if you insist…I wonder what you'll think if I start to develop the same powers as you."

Peter stared at her with wide eyes from the side, giving her an incredulous look. "No. Absolutely no way. No friend of mine is going on a crazed injection power. I forbid."

Michelle laughed. "Somehow that would get your attention."

Peter gave a small chuckle, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, how are things? I'm assuming its crazy busy since we haven't seen each other since."

Michelle gave a small chuckle. "Guess you could say that. The teachers are stricter this year, piling up the homework. It's going to get crazier."

"Yeah, no kidding… I'm already stressed out."

Since his hands were in his pocket, Peter was able to feel his phone vibrating. Frowning, Peter took the phone out and saw the text message.

"Tony?" Michelle guessed which earned a nod.

"Yeah. Gotta go. I'll see you later," Peter replied as he started to take off.

Michelle nodded. "Yeah…bye…"

"This being is not from this Earth," Tony stated as Peter stared at the screen that contained images.

"No, really? I thought the large freakishly fangs and the unearthly outfit is a dead giveaway," Peter replied sarcastically.

Tony narrowed his eyes, giving a disapproved look. Seeing this, Peter sighed.

"Sorry."

Without a word, Tony pulled out more images which revealed the bizarre creature, making Peter wince. After the battle, he really didn't want to see it again.

"This creature are a goo-like parasites that requires a host to bond in order to live. In order to come alive though, it needs to feed off negative emotions such as anger, greed, hate etc. With that, the parasite and the host will become as one, being stronger. This creature also has the same abilities as you—as you had already saw—as well as having poisonous fangs."

"But if that's the case, then how come I wasn't able to sense the danger of this pest? It literally felt like my spider senses had been clouded, unaware of them," Peter mumbled.

"If that's the case, then that makes them even more dangerous," Tony replied. "Remember that creature from a few days ago?"

Peter slightly narrowed his eyes. "The red one? Who did all of the killings?"

Tony nodded. "Yes. That creature is also the same kind this one is. They're both Symbiotes."

Peter suddenly felt irritated. "I don't know how to stop them, though! Every time I try to, something bad always happen."

"You figured one of the weaknesses, didn't you?" Tony pointed it out. "It was sound, Peter."

Peter gave a small dark chuckle. "That was actually from mistake but…" Peter suddenly stopped talking as a small flashback came into his mind.

"We must proceed with caution if we were to survive in these dark times," Slatter said as he brought the now lit-match closer to the creature.

"Light…or heat, actually," Peter said with realization. That class wasn't for nothing. Why didn't he paid more attention to Biology?

Tony raised an eyebrow, giving a look as Peter was muttering incoherently.

"Sorry?" Tony asked.

"Heat," Peter repeated; this time, more loudly. "A few days ago, Professor Slatter—my Biology instructor—brought in this same creature—the Symbiote. He lit up a match and that made the creature crawl away. It can't stand heat."

Despite the new information Tony was given, Tony frowned his eyebrow. "Where did your Professor even got such a creature?"

Peter paused, suddenly realizing that he had no idea. "I actually don't know. Even the Professor doesn't know. He only said that it went into his classroom and he kept it so he could continue to do some research on it…but then a few days later, the Professor became unhappy because that being was gone."

"So now, it's roaming free," Tony muttered though Peter caught his mutter.

"Obviously," Peter spoke.

Tony sighed. "This puts students—and anyone else—in greater danger. This is dangerous. Nevertheless, you must stop it. I know I've said this countless of times but be careful, Pete. This creature is a threat to cross-species and human kind. You cannot let it overcome you. Be careful of your emotions or otherwise they'll feed you from it too…"

Tony's words rang into Peter's mind as Peter stared into the parasite that was on the screen.

Author's Note: Yay! We know more about it though I'm sure you all already knew who it was XD things are getting darker which makes me excited but of course, there'll be some goofy moments as well. What happens next? Find out! Toodles!