"Mr. Lang has a split personality? He's both a good guy and a bad guy?" Jean said as she was walking with Paul. Paul told her everything he's learned about Mr. Lang.
"Yeah. He wants control of the city as well and he's taking it pretty far." Paul said. "I probably wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen all of that stuff with my own eyes."
"I can't believe I'm among the last you're telling this about." Jean said as she found that to be a little offensive.
"Sorry. Does that bother you?" Paul said. "I had to tell Lindsay and Thomas first because I need their help to find him. I also told Monica ahead of time because she was researching on the guy. Her reporter abilities might be a big help."
"I'll let it go, but that's because I'm more worried on how your mother must be handling all this." Jean said. Both of them walked up to the homeless shelter and went inside. Paul led her straight to Trisha's office. Both of them went inside and saw her still at work.
"Hey, Mom." Paul said. Trisha looked up and saw both of them.
"Paul. Jean. I would say I'm surprised, but I actually expected that the two of you would come over." Trisha said.
"We were both worried about you." Jean said. "You know about Mr. Lang, don't you?"
"Yes. I was very surprised when the police showed up." Trisha said. "That doesn't even begin to cover how I feel when I saw that hidden room. I can't believe he was the one behind what happened to all those people. Paul, I have to ask you this. Did you know the whole time?"
"Not at first." Paul said. "I didn't say anything because I was worried on how you would take that. I guess I also didn't want to believe it myself. Mom, you should know that Mr. Lang is still the person we all know. He has a separate personality. That other personality is bad, the one behind all the horrible things he's done. It's like two people sharing a body."
"Yes. I saw the medical records myself. Therefore, I still believe in the man I know." Trisha said. "I don't know much about separate personalities, but I do know that he was a good man. He seems to be going through a hard time."
"It's going to be even harder now that the police are after him." Jean said. "Now that they know the truth about him, he's been declared a dangerous criminal."
"So what's going to happen to the shelter?" Paul said.
"As long as I'm still here, I am not going to let this place fall apart." Trisha said as she got back to work. "These people need help and they won't be getting any if I let this place go under. I saw the letter Ling left for me. So I'm going to make sure this place stays running for his sake."
"I think that's a great thing." Jean said.
"Yeah. I'm glad to see you're doing okay about this whole thing, Mom." Paul asked. Now that he knows that his mother is doing okay, he can focus on what needs to be done. "Jean, can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure." Jean said as they both stepped to the side to talk in private.
"Listen, Jean. I need to find Mr. Lang. He might be hiding out, but now that his secret is out, there can't be that many places for him to hide." Paul said. "I'm going to try and reason with him if I can. Reach out to the good personality. Can you stay here and help my mother out with whatever?"
"Of course. I'm not needed back in the lab for a couple hours." Jean said. "Just be careful. We don't know enough about his condition."
"I will." Paul said. Jean gave him a quick kiss and he was off. He needed to find Ling. If there's really any chance for him to reach to the man he knows, he needs to find it.
…
Paul
Paul changed into his Spider-Man costume. He swung around the city and was trying to find Mr. Lang. Now that he's a wanted and considered dangerous criminal, there can't be that many places for him to hide.
"Come on. Where is he?" Paul said as he landed on a building and looked around for him. "Come on, Ling. Give me a sign or something. I want to help you." Paul kept his eyes open for him. Paul looked down on the streets and saw police cars drive by. When they did, he saw something in the alleyway. He looked further down and saw it was him trying to run off. "Ling!" Paul shot a line and swung after him. Ling saw him coming his way, but was scared.
"Paul, go away! Please!" Ling said, but Paul wouldn't do that. Paul swung ahead and cut him off.
"Mr. Lang, stop." Paul said.
"Please, stay away from me." Ling said. "You know the truth about me, don't you? You know who I really am."
"Yeah. I know and I also know that it's not entirely your fault." Paul said. "What's going on with you? Why are you running away?"
"Paul, you don't understand." Ling said.
"I do understand that you're suffering." Paul said. "I want to be able to talk to the real you while I still can. I know Martin Li was your guardian. I know you have a separate personality inside you." You would think Ling would be surprised by the fact Paul knows, but he wasn't.
"I assumed you might be among the first to know." Ling said. "Paul, I never really wanted to hurt anyone, but I have no control over myself. That other me is stronger than I am."
"Can't you do anything to compress him? You don't need to give into him." Paul said.
"It's not that easy." Ling said as he held out his hand and showed a strange black and white energy forming around it. "These powers I possess, he's more efficient with them than I am. He was formed when I got them. My guardian gave these powers to me in order to carry out his reign."
"What does this other you want exactly? Why would he be doing all this?" Paul asked.
"My other half seeks power and destruction." Ling said. "He wants control over the city and he wants to share it with no body."
"How come you never turned yourself over to the police about this? How come you never got help?" Paul asked.
"I can't do that. If I do, I'll never be able to help people." Ling said. Paul was amazed he would say something like that.
"You're a good man, Ling. However, you're letting this other half that calls himself Balancer do whatever he wants. Something must be done to hold him back." Paul said. Ling knew Paul was right, but he just couldn't. That was when Ling felt something coming over him. "What's wrong?"
"He's coming." Ling said as energy started to consume him.
"Fight him, Ling! Fight him!" Paul said.
"I can't. He's too strong. Get back, Paul. I don't want to hurt you." Ling said as he was completely taken over and his body changed into that of something out of a photo negative.
"But I do!" Balancer said and unleashed a powerful blast of his energy. Paul got blasted by it and was blown back from it. It left a scorch mark in the ground and Paul couldn't believe how powerful he was.
"I guess I know what where the scorch marks came from." Paul said.
"So we finally meet, Spider-Man." Balancer said.
"That's me and you must be the monster inside Mr. Ling." Paul said. "Why did you attack City Hall? Why are you going after the three crime lords?"
"Why should I tell you anything?" Balancer said.
"Because it will be less painful for you!" Paul said as he leaped at Balancer, but Balancer was able to hit him and knocked him back. "Listen to me, Ling! You've got to fight him off."
"Forget about it! That other half of me can't hear you!" Balancer said. "You should be more worried about yourself!" He went right at Paul, but Paul rolled under him. Balancer unleashed energy bolts at Paul, but Paul kept jumping out of the way.
"Bastard. You really are a destructive maniac, aren't you?" Paul said.
"You have no idea what I can do." Balancer said. He blasted the ground near where Paul was standing and knocked him down. Paul tried to get back up, but Balancer raced over to him and grabbed him by the arms. That was when energy started to form over him.
"What are you doing?" Paul said as he tried to fight him off.
"Giving you a new look at things." Balancer said. Energy flowed through Paul and something was coming over him as things went dark.
…..
Paul
When Paul could see straight again, he looked and saw he was in a strange space. Everything was dark and appeared to be in ruins.
"What is this? Where am I?" Paul said.
"A psychic plane." Paul turned around and was faced with Balancer.
"There you are!" Paul said as he shot a web at him, but Balancer disappeared the moment it made contact with him. He reappeared a few feet further away. "Get back here!" Paul chased after him, but Balancer was getting further and further away. "What is all this? This can't be real."
"It's not. It's all in your mind." Balancer said. "I can see into your past. I can show you a lot here. You've been through a lot." As Paul went further and further inside, the scene around him began to change. He saw himself with the last time he saw his father.
"Wait. I remember this moment." Paul said.
"That's right. Your father saw something great in you, but you were the type of guy that didn't really care." Balancer said. "You thought that if things weren't your problem, why should you even get involved? You didn't understand or see things the way your father did." The scene around him changed again and showed Paul letting a robber escape.
"No. Not this." Paul said.
"Yes. You had powers during this time, but you did nothing to stop this." Balancer said. "It's your fault that this happened." He changed the scene around again and it showed when Paul with his family and the police when they learned his father was dead.
"Stop it! Get out of my head!" Paul demanded as he didn't want to see any of this. It was beginning to be too much. "How are you doing this? Why are you even showing me this?"
"For you to see how things are. I've taken my powers beyond what my guardian can do and see into your mind. I'm doing this to show you the real path." Balancer said. "We all have to balance ourselves out. You let your father died. So you took the mantle of Spider-Man and tried to make amends for it. However, there were times you failed." The scene changed again and it showed Paul being saved by Peter before he died. "You couldn't save Peter. He had to save you! Some hero you are."
"Shut up!" Paul said. "He's trying to mess with my head. Is this what happened with Glacier? Is this why Glacier appeared to be afraid of him?"
"You think you're some hero, but you have doubts." Balancer said. "You think you don't have what it takes." Balancer appeared in front of him. "Just give up. Step into the light. Step into my light."
"What do you mean by your light?" Paul said.
"You can take out all your anger and aggression. You can balance yourself out." Balancer said. "You may have done a lot of good, but what does that get you? You lost the woman you loved. Your father and your mentor are gone because of you."
"Stop it. Shut up." Paul said as he kept trying to block him out. "I think I get his style now. How he can have people work for him. He looks into our minds and tries to persuade us into working for him. He uses our darkest memories or our negative feelings against us so that we work for him. Wait. That can't be just it. Otherwise, why would Glacier act the way he did at the bank?"
"Why bother resisting when you know it's true?" Balancer said. "You want to stop Goldberg, Master, and White Streak. I want to take everything of theirs. Let's work together."
"No way! Not when you're going to hurt people!" Paul said as the scene changed around again to the city.
"This is the way to do it!" Balancer said. "Everyone has light and darkness inside them! In order to have the things we've always desire, we must use both light and dark."
"How would you know anything about light? You're nothing, but darkness. Ling is the light here." Paul said.
"You think you can resist me?!" Balancer said. "You have no idea what I'm capable of! If you won't join me willingly, I'll force you!" He formed the yin-yang symbol and tossed it at Paul, but Paul jumped up and avoided it. "You can't escape it! You can't escape the pain! The burden! Your failures will always haunt you! I can help you make sure that they don't matter!"
"I'm starting to understand how he can manipulate people now. Either they choose to follow him through fear or their own insecurities or he uses his powers to have their negative thoughts and emotions to overtake them." Paul said. "There's no way I am helping you with anything!"
"Think again!" Balancer said as he suddenly appeared in front of him and used his powers against Paul as he grabbed on. As he was taking him over, Paul was beginning to see some sort of black and white monster wearing a mask forming. Paul couldn't believe it. "Become one of us! Step into the space between the light and the dark! If you can do that, you can do whatever you want!"
"Never, you psycho!" Paul said as he tried to resist. "I won't because I have my own light!" He remember all the people that are important to him. "You might act like some sort of savior for people, trying to help them, but you're not. Ling is when he actually helps people. You're just a sociopath that takes advantage of people. You scare people into following you, but it won't work with me! I won't let you!" Balancer's hold on him was weakening and Paul was able to fight back.
…..
The Real World
Paul was able to resist Balancer's power and was pushing back with their grapple. Balancer kept trying to persuade him, but he was failing. Paul smashed his head against Balancer and placed his foot against him.
"Get off me!" Paul said as he kicked him right off. Paul sat up and breathed pretty hard. It took a strong will to resist what Balancer was doing.
"You really think you can resist me?" Balancer said. "I'll admit that you aren't the first to resist me like that, but you are the strongest. So, just like the others, I'll make you lose that will to resist me."
"Not happening." Paul said. "You're going to answer for what you've done. All those lives that you took, you'll pay for all of that! I'm taking you in and getting Ling help. Once you're dealt with, Ling won't have you getting in his way again. I won't let you ruin the life of a good man."
"It's too late for that. It's too late for him." Balancer said.
"We'll see about that!" Paul said as he went at him again. However, Balancer gathered power in his hands and smashed them against the ground. It caused an explosion of black and white with it blowing Paul back. Paul paved the ground until he reached the end of the alleyway. When Paul could see again, he saw that Balancer was gone. "Damn it. Balancer, you bastard." Balancer is more dangerous than Paul thought. What he's done is bad, but what he does to get people to work for him is cruel. He must be stopped.