Chapter Thirty-Six: Fight for Honor

Peter gasped for air, feeling his lungs burn. He screamed until he couldn't scream anymore and sobbed when his tears were dried. He didn't want to believe that this had happened. Flash was holding Michelle back so that she wouldn't do anything stupid but no matter how hard Michelle was kicking him, Flash would always hold back.

"Let me go," Michelle pleaded, lowering her head down as tears furiously rolled down. "Please…" she sobbed.

Mysterio simply stood there; his eyes fixed on the young hero and at the dead body of his friend. That boy was willingly to sacrifice himself just so Spider Man could live. Why would he want to do that? Mysterio narrowed his eyes as he wondered. If he had a friend, would that friend do the same thing for him?

Growling, Iron Man stopped slicing through the wall and he placed both of his hands onto the wall and began to rip it apart with brute force.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like?"

"You do realize, that with this amount of power entering into your suit, you won't be able to make it out alive."

"You know, if I knew that, I wouldn't be doing this," Tony grunted as he already felt the crackling electricity creating sparks.

Shaking terribly, Peter lifted his head as he stared angrily at Mysterio who was awfully quiet for Peter's liking but he didn't care. He only had one thing on his mind.

"You…you will pay for this!" Spider Man roared as he got up. Being consumed by too much anger, Peter used his web rush mode while Mysterio created a shield. Once Peter got there, Peter delivered a punch just as the shield went up so that a shockwave was emitted.

Michelle tore her gaze away since sparks of electricity grabbed her attention and she turned to the side.

"Wh…what are you doing?" Michelle stammered.

"Getting you guys out of here," Iron Man spoke as he continued to pull the wall apart.

Michelle saw the sparks that were crackling through his suit. "But isn't it destroying the suit?"

"Forget about it. Just go!"

She narrowed her eyes. "No! Spider Man doesn't need another loss. He needs you there."

"Just like how he needs you too. Now do as I say. Get out…of here…I don't know how much I can hold on."

Michelle drew in a sharp breath as tears brimmed at the corner of her eyes. So much death…

And all of them were caused by just one person.

Michelle went underneath Iron Man's arm and she slipped through the hole. When it was clear, Flash followed shortly until Captain Stacy was the only one left.

"It was nice having you as an alley," Stacy said quietly.

Iron Man nodded. "Likewise. Now, do me a favor and take care of Spider Man. There's no telling what he would do."

Stacy nodded. "You have my promise."

The Captain went through the hole and as he did, Tony could feel himself slipping.

"Sir…withdraw now…"

With no hesitation, Iron Man pulled back down and the circuits got fried. Because there was nothing to hold it, the power of the wall released its energy and it struck Iron Man, having him fly backwards, crashing through some objects until he slammed his back against rail, slumping over it, being motionless as the arc reactor's glow died down.

Flash stumbled, slightly losing his balance but he quickly composed himself. No one spoke for a while until Flash did.

"What now?"

"Now…we stop Spider Man from doing something terrible," Michelle replied in a shaky voice. She looked solemnly at the ground. "I just can't believe Ned's really gone."

Flash placed a hand on her shoulder. "Then let's finish the battle for Ned."

"Sorry you two. I promised Iron Man that I would take care of you," Stacy said.

Michelle sharply gave a look at him. "What? Ned was my friend! If anything, we deserve to be in this battle!"

"Spider Man doesn't need any more loss," Stacy said sharply. "If one of you gets…killed…he would never forgive himself. Now, you stay here. That's an order," he then turned around to his men. "Alright men. Let's find this son of a bitch and put an end to him."

"Yes sir!"

The police ran off in order to search for Mysterio and Spider Man. Before Stacy left, he paused.

"I'm sorry but when I give someone my word, I keep it."

With that, the Captain ran off, leaving the two behind it.

"He had nothing to with it!" Spider Man yelled furiously, throwing objects and webs at him. Everything came dangerously close at Mysterio who had somehow avoided them all except for one.

He didn't timed it properly and a large item came smashing at him from the side, throwing him off his feet. Mysterio grunted, letting out a harsh breath, feeling the wind knocked out of him as he crashed down at the ground.

"YOU DIDN'T HAD TO KILL HIM!" Peter screamed.

"That blade was aimed at you, not for him. It was his own foolish mistake," Mysterio heaved. Getting up was suddenly difficult.

"I hope you're happy," Peter growled. "Because now,

"I hope you're happy," Peter growled. "Because now, you will get a taste what death means!"

Peter threw his web at a humongous sword that was hanging from the ceiling. Sharp as a knife, the web sliced through its handle which made the object fall down. Mysterio widened his eyes at the large metal item and he lifted his hand up in front of his. He was about to produce a protection but didn't happen.

Curious, Mysterio lowered his arm down as he gazed upwards only to see the metal hanging above him from an inch. The sword was moved away and was released, hearing a loud clang against the ground. There, it revealed Spider Man who was perched upon a ledge.

"No…" Spider Man muttered. "Not like this," he lowered himself down from his web and he slightly turned sideways.

Mysterio narrowed his eyes. "Why not? I've tormented you, manipulated your mind, killed your best friend…anyone who went through that would want to kill his opponent."

"As I said," Spider Man snapped. "That's not how I do things. I don't kill. Never have. Never will. And trust me, if I was able to kill, I would've done it already. I would've already ended you a long time ago."

"Then how are you going to stop me?"

Growling, Peter leaped towards him and delivered a punch from under his chin. He continued to deliver blows until Peter punched him across his face hard enough that there was a crack across Mysterio's helmet. And then, for the final blow, Peter kicked at the crack with his feet until Mysterio stumbled down and the helmet was smashed into pieces.

"NO!" Mysterio yelled. "My helmet!"

Peter raised an eyebrow as he stared numbly. "What…?"

Mysterio turned around slowly and sneered as Peter gaped. Never in his life that Peter would've guessed that Mysterio had a face. An actual face. But Mysterio's face was tormented, disfigured as it shown signs of oldness.

"Surprised to see the real me?" he said darkly.

"Your…face…what happened?"

"That's what happened when you're using too much potion. The kind where you knew it would kill you slowly…and because of that, I designed myself a helmet where it could sustain oxygen for certain amount of time," he grunted as he staggered up, placing his hand behind him.

"I've created a potion so I could be the 'almighty'," he scoffed. "Funny how things didn't…simply…turned out," his eyes glinted and then, Peter widened his eyes as he felt his Spider senses buzzing on. He twirled sideways in order to avoid the sharp blades that came from behind.

Mysterio widened his eyes as he saw daggers flying towards him and he closed his eyes. However, a shooting sound and it struck at Mysterio's ankle, causing him give out a yell as he stumbled down. The blades brushed past by him and they struck the wall.

Peter turned around to see Stacy who was holding the gun and he wore a sharp look.

Mysterio heaved out a heavy breath. "You still think…that a bullet would stop me?" he laughed.

"No. But I would like to see how a heavily secured anti-magic prison would," Stacy replied, roughly grabbing Mysterio by the arms and he began to hand cuff his hands until Spider Man spoke.

"Wait…take of his gloves," Spider Man spoke.

Stacy glanced at him before he did what he was told and then, Stacy hand-cuffed him.

"Come on."

Spider Man watched as how the police dragged Mysterio out and not too shortly, Flash and Michelle came.

Peter lifted his head up as he gazed up. For now, they didn't need to have words. Michelle ran towards him and hugged him tightly. Flash stared bitterly at the ground, feeling saddened that they had lost Ned. Sure, he wasn't friends with him but he actually didn't minded him…

A pair of footsteps came and on instinct, Peter was on guard, ready to attack. Out of the entrance, it showed Iron Man who was just barely making it.

"Iron Man?" Michelle asked.

"What? You honestly thought that those measly electricity would kill me?" he grinned. "It takes more than some sparks to kill a Stark," he turned to face at Peter and gave him a solemn look. He walked towards him, placing both of his hands on his shoulders and then pulled Peter into a hug.

Peter hugged him as he needed a comfort. After a while, Peter pulled back.

"Let's go home," Tony said.

"Wait…there's one more thing we need to do."

And, the four of them found themselves back at the acid station—where Peter finished off the evil version of himself. Peter let out a sigh before he nodded at Tony who had a straight look.

And then, Tony let go of his hands so that the deranged figure of Spider Man fell down. They all stared at the figure until it splashed into the acid, letting the poisonous liquid to consume him.

Author's Note: A dark ending for a dark story…whoo…I bet you guys had a small mini heart attack when Iron Man sacrificed himself *evil grin* BUT we only have one more chapter to go and that will be the it of Book four! Oh my goodness…I still can't believe that we're also going to finish book four…woahhhhh…What happens next? Find out! Toodles!