The Marvelous Spider-Man

Chapter 26 – "The Edge of Darkness, part 4"

Previously . . .

Peter's actions continue to be more aggressive thanks the alien Symbiote, which is bonding to him more and more each day. He had a fight with both Gwen, who is still waiting for a modeling call, and Mary Jane, whose father is in the hospital. He also caused Eddie, who was just broken up by Felicia to get fired. In exchange for his rescue, Rick Jones prepares to help him search for his Uncle's killer, only to get interrupted by Doc Ock's horrific broadcast.

Mark and Liz try to help Mark rid of his blood transfusion, which causes him to erupt in stressful situations, and stumble upon Norman's old hideout as the Green Goblin. John Jameson is still in the hospital after the attack he took from Electro. Spider-Man now prepares to take on the Sinister Six and protect all those in danger

Brooklyn Bridge

Spider-Man was in the biggest fight of his life. Six of the some of the most dangerous enemies Spider-Man has faced had put him out on an island. In the middle of the bridge he was surrounded up top by Electro and Vulture, while the other four waited down below, threatening to kill off any civilians.

"Ready to die, wall-crawler?" Electro threatened.

"The day we die is the day you decide to buy a pair of Levi's . . . seriously, there are children around!"

"Shut it!" Electro shouted, annoyed by his constant mouthing.

Spider-Man leapt above his electric shot and turned on the attack. He spun around and shot two web lines at Vulture's chest. Pulling himself toward the airborne villain, he prepared to strike him hard. Vulture was old, but not slow. He shifted to the side just enough where the blades of his wings were in the path of Spider-Man.

Spider-Man adjusted in mid-air, rolling to the side. Part of the blade scraped his arm, but the Symbiote quickly recovered itself. He shot a web line at the bridge, and prepared to swing under the overpass, and surprise Electro from behind. He circled around quickly, but they were ready for him. They were obviously prepared.

Electro launched himself toward the incoming hero when thick strings of Symbiote shot from his chest and pounded the electric menace. Spider-Man landed back on top of the top of the bridge as Electro began to recover from the attack, "I'm not going to lose to you again." Vulture said, "I'm going to make sure of it."

"Try us." Spider-Man replied.

Vulture flew straight pass Spider-Man and down near where the others were. Spider-Man jumped off and followed him down. His spider-sense started blaring as he was soon dodging shockwave attacks, sniper bullets, and metallic arms. Spider-Man was too smart to fall for this trap though. He landed on top of a car as he was surrounded by Octopus, Shocker, Kraven, and Mysterio.

"Burn!" Mysterio shouted as the car magically combusted. Spider-Man leapt into the air and yanked in Shocker and Kraven to each side of the car. Spider-Man's webbing then came to life via the Symbiote, and tied them to the side within seconds.

Shocker and Kraven yelled and struggled, but when the fire reached the gas tank, the car exploded, sending Kraven and Shocker in opposite directions. The roof popped upward, which Spider-Man used to propel himself back up to Electro, while Doc Ock and Mysterio were stunned by the blast.

Electro watched from above, and charged Spider-Man as he did to him. Electro was confident in this as any contact with Spider-Man would send thousands of volts into his body. The Symbiote suddenly became active at his shoulders, combing over his head to create a shield of sorts. Electro was surprised and almost disgusted by his live suit.

" . . . the hell?" Electro said as he went head on into the Symbiote shield. He immediately was dazed, and began to lose altitude as he recovered from the hit.

The shield retracted and Spider-Man caught eye to the civilians hanging over the river due to Mysterio's cloud. Spider-Man pinpointed himself to the cloud they were standing on, but to his surprise, he appropriately went right through it.

"I should've known." He said, shooting a web at the bottom of the bridge, he swung around to the other side and over back to the road where Mysterio and Doc Ock stood. His two top tentacles went in for the attack while Mysterio backed off, afraid if he were to create any more traps, Doc Ock would be next. Spider-Man easily dodged the first arm, but to Ock's surprise, caught the second one with his hands. Octavius couldn't move it, proving Spider-Man's new strength. Doctor Octopus prepared his two bottom arms for another attack.

As he held down one mechanic arm, his spider-sense warned him of an attack from behind. He waited till the last minute, and leaped up into the air. Vulture came in at full speeds and rammed right into Doctor Octopus, who just released his bottom arms from the support of the ground. They landed hard against one of the bridges support beams. Spider-Man then casually began to walk over toward Mysterio.

"Release them, Mysterio!" Spider-Man commanded, now realizing that there were more matters at hand than just the Sinister Six. He also noticed a group of people trapped between flaming cars.

"Don't come a step further!" Mysterio said, raising his hand, "I'm warning you!"

Spider-Man didn't recognize it thought, continuing toward Mysterio, as he did, he looked over on both sides of him, noticing Shocker and Kraven were beginning to come to. As Spider-Man came closer to the illusionist, he snapped his fingers. The cloud disappeared, and the two civilians began to fall toward the water.

Spider-Man leaped onto Mysterio, and used him as a jump pad, diving over the bridge wall; he shot two web lines to each civilian, pulling himself closer to them. Half way down the bridge, he grabbed both the man and woman. The Symbiote then sent two web-lines from his shoulder to stick to the underground of the bridge.

Slowly, the alien suit pulled them back up to safety.

"Spider-Man . . . is that you?" the woman asked.

"What are you?" the man began to freak out as he watched his suit interact with the bridge.

"It's complicated . . . but yeah."

As they neared the top, Spider-Man took control, shooting a web, and swinging back toward the top. He released the civilians to safety as they ran out of the battleground. Spider-Man looked over toward the four people trapped between the flaming cars, where Shocker had prepared to blast them all.

"Shocker! No!"

Spider-Man ran quickly, mantling the cars in his path. Shocker prepared to stop the approaching hero. He created a large shockwave that send one flaming car flying toward the wall-crawler. Spider-Man quickly ducked, and attached a web as it flew right over his head. Using the momentum of the car, he flung it right back at Shocker, with twice the velocity and twice the power. Shocker dived off the car he was standing on, and barely avoided what would have been a lethal shot.

Spider-Man finally arrived to where the civilians were, taking his attention of the Sinister Six, who were regrouping behind him, "Everybody get out of here" He said, directing them through the path Shocker created. As they all stood up and ran, Spider-Man quickly caught notice to one of the civilians with a hood over his head. He recognized the face, and jumped in front of him. Stopping him in his path, he removed the hood, revealing a face he wished he'd never have to see. The face of his Uncle's killer.

The last time he faced this man, he just about killed him in anger, and now . . . now he wanted to again.

"No." Spider-Man said, "Not you . . ."

Dennis Carradine backed off slowly. He was just as scared of Spider-Man as he was being trapped by the Sinister Six . . . as he probably should be.

Doctor Octopus took advantage of this distraction. His four mechanical arms reached out and grabbed each one of Spider-Man's limbs. When the hero realized what was going on, he was furious. His uncle's killer was finally in his hands, and as he watched the killer run away from him, his anger was now focused on the leader of the Sinister Six.

"I applaud you Spider-Man." Doctor Octopus said, "You finally decided to get serious and take us on, using your wits, your strengths, and an interesting new specimen." He finished, implying his new living costume.

"I hope you know, it's been an honor watching the way you fought us, you truly are a strong opponent, but in the end, all you are is a thorn in my side."

"You're a coward, Octavius." Spider-Man replied in a dark tone, "When things go wrong for you, you play the blame game with Connors, and now you ask help from your petty little friends, who were hardly a challenge to us the first time. Now look at me . . . look at US! Tell us we aren't going to rip your team to shreds, all until that's left is six skulls for me to skip into the Hudson river."

"Strong words, Spider-Man, but that's all they are . . . words."

"Then allow me to show you how serious I am!"

Four strings of Symbiote then came out of his back, similar to the way Doctor Octopus had four tentacles, and pounded the scientist hard. He lost his grip on the black Spider-Man, and went flying backwards. The other five villains watched their leader get overpowered, and then back at the hero.

"Get him!" Shocker commanded.

"Bring it on!" Spider-Man taunted.

Electro and Shocker sent their ranged attacks toward the web-slinger. He jumped into the air, as Kraven charged him with his lion strength. He tackled him to the ground, similar the last fight, but Spider-Man didn't have the alien suit last time. He easily escaped the grip of Kraven, and grabbed him by his vest. Not pulling any of his punches, he sent his fist into Kraven's gut and jaw. Kraven moaned as he took the beating, falling to the ground immediately, suddenly, Mysterio teleported behind him.

Thanks to his spider-sense and the alien, he wasn't surprised. The hero did a flip kick right away, using the spring to help send Mysterio flying backwards, Shocker than tried the head on approach while Electro continued firing from the distance. Shocker went in for two punches, both easily blocked by the web-slinger. Shocker then decided to put an extra kick into his attacks.

Charging up his shock gloves, He went in for more powerful, faster swings, but they were only fast enough to make Spider-Man laugh in return. He dodged a shocked uppercut, and quickly swept the legs of Shocker, sending him to the ground. As Electro continued to pour on the attacks, Spider-Man yanked up a half conscious Shocker who was still weak from the blast, and began to use him as a shield. With one arm, he tossed over the thug like a rag doll. He smashed into Electro hard, knocking them both to the ground.

Spider-Man looked around at his enemies. Shocker and Electro were out for the count, Mysterio and Doc Ock were slow to get up, Kraven had a broken jaw, all that was left in his path was Vulture, who was locked in loaded. He faced his metallic wings toward Spider-Man, and launched all of his blades, he gave up his steering ability, but the odds were in his favor that blackened hero would be impaled. This Spider-Man was new and improved though. Using his spider-sense, he jumped into the air, contorting his body in any way possible to dodge all the blades. While this was in slow-motion for Spider-Man, Vulture was struck by his agility. Spider-Man grabbed two blades in mid air. He landed, and slowly walked toward the frightened Vulture.

His eyes widened as he watched Spider-Man come closer in his direction. His mean eyes shone in reflection to the fire. He had never been so terrified as he watched him defeat each one of his enemies one by one. Adrian began running, and jumped off the ground. Although he didn't have his wings, he could still fly via the anti-gravity device on his back.

Spider-Man caught notice, and threw one of the blades into the backpack of Toomes, causing him to fall to the hard pavement. Spider-Man stood over the defeated Toomes. He looked back at what he had done. Mysterio was long gone, but the others were subdued. All that was left was the mad scientist himself, the one who put this all together – Doctor Octopus.

Cops began arriving at the bridge, led by Captain George Stacy. Doctor Octopus stood up on his strong metallic arms, and faced the web-slinger.

"I can't wait to study that amazing suit of yours." Doctor Octopus exclaimed.

"Shut it!" Spider-Man shouted, throwing a blade at one of Octavius' bottom arms. The sharpness of the blade normally wouldn't have cut through Doc Ock's indestructible tentacles, but with the strength of Spider-Man, it didn't matter, it sliced right through it. Sparks flew and Ock screamed as he lost connection with one of his arms, and lost his balance.

Spider-Man leapt toward Octavius quickly, but was met with the sweep of one of his top arms. He wasn't going without a fight. He developed this plan, this team; he was going to get the job done.

The hero quickly recovered from the hit, and went right back into attack mode. Launching himself toward the villain, he dodged two more attacks from the upper tentacles, and then a sweeping of the third one, leaving Octavius vulnerable. Spider-Man punched him twice in the gut, and then a right jab to the face, shattering his glasses.

Captain Stacy and Jean DeWollfe arrived on location with Carter and Macendale securing civilians. They spotted the new Spider-Man putting the smack down on Dr. Octopus.

"Because of you . . . he got away!" with each word of anger, he landed another punch, one stronger than the other. Octavius couldn't even focus enough to communicate with his arms, "I'll make you pay!"

"Spider-Man!" Captain Stacy shouted.

Do not worry of them, finish the job!

Captain Stacy . . .

Kill him!

Kill? No . . . that's not us . . . is it?

Spider-Man looked down onto the bruised and bloodied face of Doctor Octopus. The dark hero picked him up by his collar, "Tell me . . . how did you manage to escape!"

Octavius was stunned. He could barely speak or manage a thought.

"TELL ME!" Spider-Man shouted.

"King . . . pin." Ock mumbled.

Fisk . . .of course, how could we have missed it. Not only do we have the power to put that philanthropist phony behind bars for good . . . he would have the info we need to catch Carradine . . .

With ease, Spider-Man tossed Octopus aside, who landed on the concrete. Spider-Man swung away. He had just defeated the Sinister Six. Five out of six were incapacitated, while one chickened out. This was just one more thing to check off his to-do list . . . next was his Uncle's killer, who he had watched get away one too many times.

Meanwhile, the cops began to enter what was once a war zone. Captain Stacy was disgusted of the bloody face of Dr. Octopus. He checked a pulse and was glad to see he was still alive, if not barely.

"Captain Stacy . . ." DeWollfe said with a fear in her voice.

"I know . . ." Captain Stacy replied, showing that he was worried of Spider-Man's new way of dealing with these villains.

"We can't let him keep up with this 'heroic' act if this is the result!" DeWollfe added.

"Your right, DeWollfe, and I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen."

"What are you going to do?" She asked.

"Whatever is necessary." He said with a saddened voice.

Allen Residence, Late that Night.

Mark Allen laid against the wall on his old bed. It still had the basketball bed set from when he was young. He was tossing a baseball into the air, catching it as it came back down. He repeated this process over and over as he thought over how his life had gone the past months. His thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Come in." Mark said.

Liz opened the door to his room, "Hey." She said softly.

"Hey sis." He replied.

"How are you?"

"I don't know really." He said as he lost concentration to the ball. It fell off the bed and rolled down to Liz's feet.

"I think we should talk, if that's alright with you." Liz asked as she picked up the baseball.

Mark sighed. He knew she would eventually want to go into more detail about why he left, where he's been, and why he's back.

"Where do you want me to start?" He asked.

"Why did you leave us?" She asked, sitting down in the desk chair, leaning over its back.

Mark leaned his head back as he thought it over, "I was angry. We've both been through parents divorcing, I couldn't take the constant fighting between your mom and my dad. And because it split them apart, I felt it was splitting us apart."

"Well, I was pretty angry when I found you split. It felt like you abandoned us." Liz added.

"I thought you'd be happy. From what I could sense, I wasn't your favorite person." Mark replied.

"Well sure, there were some things that I could've done without . . . the random disappearances, cheating on my best friend in high school."

"You didn't talk to me for a month after that one."

"Can you blame me?" Liz said.

"No, I can't . . . it was part of my rebellious nature you could say. After I ran away, I found an old a dumpy apartment where I stayed for a few months. the rent took up all of my life savings, and the random jobs weren't keeping me stable enough. Soon, I lost my job, my home, I had nothing. I didn't want to come back home, because I knew of the drama that had been going on."

Liz knew all too well what that was as well. She had wanted to move out for a while because of her parent's fights. It's a lot of the reason she took the job at OsCorp.

"Anyway, I filled out several job applications. One of them being at Roxxon Industries as you know. It was small time crap. Anyway, that's when all this happened . . .

One Week Ago, Roxxon Industries

"Mark Allen, is it?" Justin Hammer asked as he held out his hand.

"Yes, you must be Mr. Hammer." Mark replied, shaking his hand.

"I read your application, and see that you've really jumped from job to job."

"It's hard to find a stable place to work . . . especially in this economy in a city of thousands and thousands of people."

"What if I told you, that I could pay you enough money to last you for six months . . . if all you had to do, was undergo a test. It has to be completely under the radar though."

"What kind of test?" Mark asked curiously as he walked with Justin into the elevator. He pressed a button to go downward into the underground labs.

"A simple blood test, we are comparing samples of blood from different . . . species." Hammer said.

"A blood test, huh?"

"It will take mere minutes, Mark . . . trust me, what have you got to lose?" Hammer said as he introduced him to another lab assistant, "This is Rick Jones, he is heading this section of this experiment. He specializes in different forms of radiation, specifically gamma rays, today however, he is studying a blood sample that is a different type of radiation, one that this world has never seen.

Mark never really paid much attention in science class, but even he was impressed with how big this operation is.

"Mark, why don't you head into that room, we'll fill you in with more details in a moment." Hammer said, opening a test room. As Mark walked in, Justin panned over to Rick.

"I'm assuming you are ready." Justin said.

"We've been studying this blood sample you took from Spider-Man for weeks. It's not mutant like we assumed, it's some sort of genetically altered blood. To be honest, I don't even think I can explain it!"

"I don't care what it is rick, I care about what it does. Do you realize what you hold in your hand? Now I have a test subject in there that is more than willing to find that out for us."

"You want me to test this on a human? Are you crazy? Just because we mixed elements from Spider-Man's blood with other chemicals doesn't mean it's going to have the same effects. We don't know what to expect!"

"That's the beauty of it, aye?" Hammer replied, ignoring all concerns from Rick Jones.

"I'm not doing this!" Jones said.

"It's not an option, Rick . . . I want answers and now . . . and if I see any of this in the globe tomorrow, I'll make sure that the pieces will fall where they may." Hammer threatened.

Rick was angry. He grasped the reddish-orange serum in his hand tightly. If he was any stronger he might have shattered it in anger. But he entered the testing room where Mark was waiting.

"Hey doc, so what's the deal?" Mark asked.

"We're going to take a sample of your blood now." Rick said, holding the injector in his hand. There were two tubes, one of them filled with the red liquid, and the other empty. He pushed the needle into his skin on his left arm, and as one tube emptied the serum into his body, the other retrieved a sample of his blood.

"There, we're done."

"That's it? That's all I had to do?" Mark asked.

Rick quickly left the testing labs, allowing Hammer to deal with it himself. Mark stood in the lab, rubbing his arm, which quickly grew red around the area.

"Hey, are you sure I'm okay?" Mark yelled out, "My skin is turning red . . ."

Hammer watched from behind the one-sided glass as Mark began to worry. He fiddled with the door handle, but it wouldn't open.

"Hey, what is this a joke? Let me out!" Mark shouted as he began pounding on the glass. Soon the whole left side of his body was a burning red. He could feel the pain as it spread through his bloodstream. He continued pounding and pounding, until there was finally a crack beginning to form in the glass. He was beginning to receive the strength of a spider, with a few side effects in the process. His skin was boiling now, he clothes began to burn off and fall to the floor as his entire body was consumed in red hot aura. The temperatures inside the room were rising.

Hammer began to evacuate the area when he realized that he would be escaping any minute now, and he was right. The glass was soon shattered and the new Molten Man stepped out, his bare feet were unaffected by the shattered glass as all it did was melt it when he stepped on them.

"HAMMER!" He shouted as he began thrashing the labs. Fires started and sprinklers began going off. Steam rose from his body as the water touched him.

"AH!" He shouted in pain as the cold water touched his boiling skin. As his temper and body cooled off, he realized his hands and forearms were starting to grow skin back. It's as if he had adjusted to the power. He grabbed a jacket to cover himself up with, and went out a secret door that led out of the building.

Allen Residence – Now

"I can't believe that happened to you, Mark." Liz said as he told the whole story.

"I know, I didn't even get my fucking money, and now I have this curse . . ."

"How hard is it for you to control exactly?"

"I just can't get stressed or excited too much or otherwise everything around me will start melting." Mark replied.

"Well, despite all we've been through . . . I am sorry, for all you've gone through . . ." She consoled him as she threw the baseball back at him.

"Thanks, it means a lot." Mark replied as he caught the ball.

"Oh, and for dragging you through the OsCorp labs last night."

"Hey, what's life without a little adventure? I am curious how you plan to deal with your boss dealing with creeps like Green Goblin."

"Mark . . . I don't think he's just holding the Green Goblin's weapons . . . what if . . . what if he is the Goblin?"

"Are you kidding? No way, I've seen the guy, it doesn't add up at all."

"It still scares me . . . that man attacked several people . . . and Harry . . . I can't even imagine the consequences of all this."

"I'm sure this is all in your head, Liz."

"My head? My brother is in here with a heated superpower that goes off when he's tempered, there's a man swinging around the city in red and blue tights, and my boss is dealing weapons to criminals!"

"Actually I thought his costume was black now . . ." Mark said sarcastically as Liz began stressing over her involvement in this, which would've never happened if she didn't stumble upon those papers. She took out the photo from her back pocket she kept with her. She stared at the Goblin fighting Spider-Man.

"I just don't know what to believe." She said to herself.

Fisk Towers

Wilson Fisk, also known as part time crime lord Kingpin. He had really been behind the scenes since the whole Green Goblin ordeal. After he had been attacked, he tricked Alistair Smythe to create killer robots for him. However, due to Beetle's failure in killing Smythe, he was able to confirm who the Kingpin really was.

He sat at his desk. three cameras surrounded his room, and an armed guard stood in front of the door entering his room. A large television screen was on, showing the destruction caused by the Sinister Six and Spider-Man.

"Hmm, it appears this wasn't worth the trouble after all." Kingpin muttered to himself.

He was then quickly caught off guard by the shattering of his large glass window in which Spider-Man flew through, striking his famous pose. He shot a large web at the guard right away, taking him out of the picture.

"Spider-Man, what an unpleasant surprise." Kingpin greeted.

"feeling's mutual . . . Kingpin" Spider-Man replied, showing that he knew who he was.

"I must say I am impressed at your disposal of the Sinister Six."

"Approval from you makes us wanna puke."

"Either way, I believe congratulations are in order. You have managed to make yourself a public menace within a few days." He said, referring to the news report on the television., already coming out of Spider-Man delivering a punishing blow.

"Several victims of the attacks report witnessing Spider-Man acting just as bad, if not worse than members of this Sinister Six. Police are in control of the scene now. Five of the six have been taken into custody, while Mysterio, also known as Quentin Beck was not at the scene." the news reporter said.

"I think that pretty much explains it all." Kingpin replied, "You're really doing me a favor. You may have put a huge dent in my operations, but my making yourself an enemy of this city; you will no longer have the glory of the spotlight to help you in your endeavor, the authorities will no longer let you roam as you please."

"We'll do whatever it takes to bring you down." Spider-Man threatened.

"Will you really?" Kingpin asked as he turned to face his mini-bar to make a drink, but Spider-Man shot to webs at his back, and yanked him over his head. He rolled and landed just by the open window.

"Listen fat man and listen well, we didn't come here to listen to you babble. we came for answers, now where is Dennis Carradine!" Spider-Man shouted.

"Dennis Carradine? Now what would you want with a small time thug like Dennis. I wouldn't even remember his name if he wasn't the first of my empire to be convicted because of you."

"Well, now he's escaped, and why wouldn't he come running back to you?"

"Maybe because he's reformed."

"Your lying! Where is he!"

"I'm not."

"TELL US!"

"You know I'm telling the truth, but for whatever reason, you want him to be a criminal, so you won't feel guilty about beating him to death."

"We are WAY past guilt now, Fisk . . ." Spider-Man said, insinuating a violent nature.

Suddenly, Captain Stacy kicked open the door to Fisk's office, and drew his weapon, catching the attention of Spider-Man and Fisk. He had followed Spider-Man in this direction, once he realized where he was, Stacy knew exactly where Spider-Man was headed.

"Hands up, Spider-Man." Captain Stacy commanded.

"You know just as I do who this man is! He is going to get what he deserves!" Spider-Man said violently.

"That's not your choice to make!"

"Why not? I have the power to make that choice now!"

"Being a police captain, I have a lot of power, but we've been taught to use it responsibly!" Stacy yelled.

Responsibility . . . Peter thought, suddenly, his thoughts went from anger and hate to his uncle's famous words.

Spider-Man held Kingpin by his collar. hebegan trembling, as if he was fighting himself in some way, but that was quickly halted by Captain Stacy's handheld transceiver.

"All units report, Carradine was spotted going into an old church. subject may or may not be armed."

Suddenly, Spider-Man's thoughts were overcome by the hatred of Carradine. He chucked Kingpin over his head, and launched him out the window he had entered.

"No!" Captain Stacy said, who was just about to pull the trigger on Spider-Man, but something was holding him back

Oh my god! What am I doing?

Stop! He deserves this!

No! I'm not a killer!

Snap out of it! We are going to end this!

He quickly shot a web at the back of Kingpin. The string of black thread was the only thing keeping him from falling eighty stories to his death. Fisk stayed steady. His heavy figure may be held by some very strong webbing mixed with the alien Symbiote, but he still didn't want to move much.

"Spider-Man, don't move!" Stacy said, "I will fire if necessary."

Spider-Man looked at Stacy with anger, "Than you're an enemy." He leaped out of the window, and swung away.

Captain Stacy was disappointed. He was one of the few cops who truly believed Spider-Man was in the right, and as a Captain, a part of him felt guilty to know if he was truly wrong about the hero. He walked over to the window to make sure Fisk was still there. Knowing he wouldn't be able to pull him up, he made a call on his radio, "This is Captain Stacy; we're going to need about a dozen men up at Fisk Towers ASAP."

Midtown General

Mary Jane watched over her father who laid ill on the hospital bed. the machines were beeping slower and slower. His heart was failing, and she knew it. She felt like she had been crying non-stop since this happened. If anything it showed that she really did still care for her father despite all that he had done.

To make matters worse the one person that she thought she could count on had changed. She didn't want him here now. She regretted the twenty-plus calls she made to him. What she thought was something special had changed between them all due to a few bad circumstances. In the end, she couldn't help but feel that if this wasn't the case, that her and Peter would've become something very special.

Her mind couldn't focus. One part of her really liked Peter, and felt that he could easily be the one later in life . . . but the other half hated him for the way he acted toward her. The way he abandoned her. She had been abandoned once in her life by the person laying in front of her, and now she felt Peter had done that to her.

Suddenly, she shifted back to her father as the thoughts began to interconnect. She thought about the yelling that occurred the other day when he visited. She put her hand in his, and felt a light grip. She gasped at first, and then looked to her father. His eyes were barely open and his voice was weak.

"Daddy."

"Mary. It's so good to see you." He said weakly, "We never got . . . got to finish our talk." He said with disappointment.

"It's okay daddy . . . I didn't want it to end like this. I wanted to deny the fact that you were changing your ways. I was wrapped up in a closed mind. I'm sorry for the way I talked to you and . . ." Mary Jane began to ramble as tears streamed down her face.

"Stop . . ." Her father interrupted, "I needed to hear that . . . I deserved to hear that. I love you Mary Jane. You're my daughter, and I feel so angry at myself because I didn't see you grow up to be the beautiful and amazing woman you are today. I just hope that despite all I've done . . . you can forgive me."

Mary Jane watched his face. A small tear fell down his cheek, showing he was completely sincere. Her face was emotional as she nodded her head, "Yes daddy, I . . . I forgive you."

Her father smiled as big as he could when suddenly the heart monitor slowed down even more. Mary Jane looked at him and back at the machine.

"Please, no . . ." She said quietly.

Her father's eyes closed as his head fell to the side slowly, and rested on the pillow. His grip on Mary Jane's hand weakened and soon, his heart stopped. Mary Jane trembled as she watched her father pass away right before her eyes. She grasped his lifeless hand with both of hers and laid her head on it as she wept.

Brock's Apartment

Eddie Brock was humiliated, destroyed, and angry as he punched a large hole into his rundown apartment wall. He had lost his girlfriend, his job, his reputation, and his life all because of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. He had nothing left. Nothing at all. He was ruined. He couldn't focus because of all the hatred he felt.

"Peter Parker, If I ever run into him again . . . Spider-Man, if I ever get the chance . . ."

He mumbled to himself over and over. Spider-Man and Peter Parker were the only things on his mind. For the past month it was really all he was able to focus on. It was like they were purposely trying to make his life as miserable as possible.

Spider-Man as threatened him once during the Lizard incident when he was writing an article. He made a mockery of him while he was on a date with his girlfriend, and then caused him to blow up at the media because of his involvement in the Spider-Slayer fiasco. And then there's Peter Parker. Rivals ever since they started working together at the Daily Bugle, but Parker pushed the limit. Stealing articles right under his nose, and then showing off his fake articles just to get him fired.

"I hate you Peter Parker . . . I hate you Spider-Man . . ."

Eddie Brock was losing it. His mind was becoming fragile. He flipped on the television to try and clear his mind, but what came on only made things worse as it showed Spider-Man's activities on the bridge.

"Spider-Man is said to be heading Northern Manhattan, there are two cars in pursuit at the moment, we will update you more on . . ."

Brock launched the remote across the room and it shattered as it crashed into the television screen. Just the mention of his name sent Brock into a full on rage.

"Northern Manhattan huh? Least all I got to do is watch the skies." Brock mumbled to himself as he grabbed his jacket and left his apartment. He called for a taxi cab, telling the driver to head North.

Church Tower

Spider-Man landed on the side of a church tower. The night was dragging on as midnight was about to strike. It was around this time that Aunt May would probably starting to worry about Peter, but his Aunt was the last thing on his mind right now. His Uncle's killer was somewhere in this church, and he intended on finding him.

He crawled through a small church window, which took him into the church tower. He jumped down the middle of the spiral staircase which went all the way around the tower. When he landed, Spider-Man opened the large door to see a man in a hooded jacket on his knees in front of a cross hanging on the wall.

Spider-Man itched with anger. He was twenty feet from the man that changed his life. He heard police sirens beginning to close in on the area. If he wanted to get this done without any interruptions, he had to act quickly. He crawled up the wall, and onto the ceiling of the church. The killer was directly under him.

He released his hands from the wall, and fell down right in front of the hooded man. The man looked up and opened his eyes to see the dark hero in front of him. He stood up to face him.

"So many things right now . . . so many things are going through our head . . . of what we want to do to you."

"And I deserve everyone of them." Carradine replied.

"You deserve more than everyone of them . . . you took the life of an old man . . . a man I loved and respected!" Spider-Man said, starting to get emotional, "Because you wanted a fucking car."

Carradine didn't say anything. He just accepted Spider-Man's words.

"And you think you're going to be forgiven because you're 'reformed'."

"I don't expect forgiveness." He said.

"You don't deserve forgiveness." Spider-Man screamed, grabbing Carradine by the collar of his jacket.

What the killer didn't know was Peter was crying under his mask, and wasn't acting any of this out. He wasn't in control. The Symbiote was talking through Peter, acting through Peter, and living through Peter's emotions.

"I've done a lot of bad things . . . I get that . . . but I'm willing to pay for my mistakes." He said.

"Good to know." Spider-Man said.

Suddenly, his spider-sense warned him of the oncoming danger approaching the church. Several policemen were right outside to arrest Dennis Carradine, and if Spider-Man was there, they were unlikely to let him get away.

Spider-Man grabbed Carradine, and headed back into the stairwell. He shot a web line straight up to the top next to a large bell, and pulled himself up along with Uncle's killer.

Shortly after, the front door of the church was quickly opened. Several police officers filed in, each one with their weapon drawn. Nobody knew what to expect especially with all the chaos that had ensued in the past few hours. They checked every corridor, every side room, but with no sign of anyone. As the cops searched the area, unknown to them, another man entered through the front door – Eddie Brock.

He had followed the news reporters and cop cars all the way to this point hoping to find the wall-crawler he hated so much. He stayed in the back of the church, hoping to avoid bringing attention to the cops. While the authorities searched down below, Spider-Man held Carradine in his hands up top near the church bell.

"This look familiar?"

Carradine didn't respond as Spider-Man held him in his grasp. threatening him with a long drop down below.

"Remember the day we spared your life. The day that we didn't make you suffer the same fate as Ben Parker?"

Spider-Man held him over the streets of New York. It was a long fall that would instantly kill anyone dropped at this height.

"Why a change of heart?" Carradine asked, not fazed by what he was going through now. He felt this was either what he deserved, or it was all a ploy to try and scare him. He was ready to accept whatever was heading his way. He did know that Spider-Man wasn't kidding though.

"Because it's what's fair."

Spider-Man then released his grip on Dennis, and watched him fall. He didn't scream or yell, he silently headed toward his death.

. . . And then struck Midnight.

The bell rang loud, and the alien suit that covered Peter freaked out, Tendrils and webs shot out from all over his body, as it squirmed in pain.

"AH, that noise, what the hell!" Spider-Man said

Suddenly, Peter's mind was open. His emotions were in control, and he realized all that was going on. As the alien was struggling, Spider-Man shot two webs down at Carradine. They reached him just before he hit the ground. Dennis let out a loud sigh as he was saved.

Up top, a new struggle was brewing. Peter thought more clearly than he had in days. It was a strange feeling for him.

"What is going on?" Peter asked aloud

You fool! You saved him!

Where am I? How did I . . . I didn't want this!

I was going to help you! Relieve the guilt that you burden on yourself. But because of your pathetic conscious . . .

You . . . this is all because of you . . . you don't want to help . . . you want to destroy!

We only seek to help, Peter Parker

No you don't . . . all I am to you is a host . . . you're a Symbiote. You're using me, you tricked me . . . you controlled me!

For your own good!

Like the way I treated Aunt May? The way I treated Mary Jane! The way I treated Gwen? I hurt them all! You pushed them away from me!

They hold you back from your true potential! Think of the power, what we could accomplish together!

I accepted you . . . I trusted you . . . how could I have been so . . . irresponsible.

You place to much responsibility on yourself! we are relieving you of those duties!

Stop! Get out of my head! Stop twisting my thoughts!

It's too late Peter! We are one!

No . . . no we are not.

You let us in, Peter our minds our one, our bodies our one . . .

You've overstayed your welcome! I am not going to let you turn me into something I am not!

Suddenly, the bell struck again, and the Symbiote screamed. Peter could hear his head pounding as the mental connection was felt. The alien was weakened by the loud noises. Somehow, someway, that gave Peter the opening he needed to gain the upper hand in this mental battle.

The Bell . . . the loud noises.

Don't do this Peter! You will regret it!

Spider-Man walked over toward the bell slowly. He was mentally fighting the alien. It was difficult. The alien was not going away without a fight. He fought hard though, with each step he thought of his Uncle who always taught him that 'With great power, comes great responsibility' With those words he fought the alien's mind games.

Down Below

the police had begun to clear out, word came in of Dennis hanging outside the church from a few late night civilians out on the town. However, Eddie Brock was still searching for his revenge. He hid out from the cops, and continued throughout the church. He walked into the tower cautiously, looking for Spider-Man. He looked upward and noticed a disturbance among the bell. He knew . . . he just knew it had to be him.

As Eddie began to climb the staircase, he saw the black-suited Spider-Man standing near the bell, "I have you now . . ."

The Bell Tower

Spider-Man had finally inched close enough to the bell. He wound up, and with all his might, punched the bell. Because he was fighting the Symbiote, it wasn't even near his full strength, but it was enough to make quite a vibration.

The Symbiote cried out in pain as Peter began pulling the Symbiote off his chest. It squirmed, it screamed, but as the sounds got louder, it couldn't find back. He then ripped a piece of his arm. It continued to reattach itself with strands as he continued to pull, but it was in so much pain, it couldn't regenerate fast enough.

Peter than pulled the mask that surrounded his face, ripping it in half. The white eyes were then lost inside the black ooze that was now all over the ground of the bell tower. He smiled as he pulled off the last bit of alien that covered his body. For the first time in days, he felt free.

The alien crawled around the floor as it reattached itself from the ground. It grew bigger and bigger as each piece reconnected, but Peter was prepared. With his full power, he punched the bell, causing a crack to split right down the middle. The loud vibration caused the Symbiote to shrivel up. It looked for the quickest escape. It slid toward the hole, hoping to fall down as far away as it could from the noise.

Peter backed off toward the wall of the tower and fell to the ground. He was cold and unclothed, but was free. His mind was clear; he wasn't fighting himself or anyone else. It was over.

The Staircase

Eddie walked up slowly. He could hear screaming and conflict up above. It was dark and he couldn't see anymore than what little moonlight showed. As he walked upward, he felt something fall onto his arm. It felt like a large drop of water. He wiped his left arm, and it stretched to attach to his right hand.

"What on earth . . ." He said to himself as he continuously tried to clean his arm off.

As more and more of this stuff fell upon him, he became frightened as it slowly consumed him.

"What is this, get off of me!"

Eddie continued to pull off, but it was no use, the Symbiote was overpowering him. Eddie fell to the ground, now completely consumed in the black ooze. He lifted his head up and screamed. His face consisted of jagged white eyes, and a large jaw and his tongue slithering like a snake. The hatred of Eddie Brock caused his appearance to be that of a fully grown mature alien Symbiote. It fed off his brain, his mind, his hatred and anger. With their minds connected, one thing was clear to Eddie Brock, he no longer had two enemies, but one. Taking on the memories and feelings of the previous owner, Eddie now had the power to accomplish his one simple goal - Killing Spider-Man.

Next Chapter: Venom