The Invincible Spider-Man
Chapter 64: Break Bad
The police had barricaded off the Clinton Mission Shelter, guns trained at the stained glass windows. A place of worship was housing one of the most dangerous serial killers in the city.
"Detective, we don't have a clear shot from out here. Permission to move inside?" asked one of the SWAT members.
"Negative. We'll keep him inside for now. I've got backup on the way," replied Yuri.
"Backup? What backup?" asked a second SWAT member.
Just then, they looked up at the night sky and saw a black figure jumping on top of them. Before Yuri could even call out to him, Spider-Man impulsively crashed through one of the windows on the second floor of the church.
He jumped from the balcony and down onto the ground, without a sound. Right at the altar was the Sin-Eater, without his mask, and his hands clenched.
"Dear Lord, forgive me for my actions. Please let me continue your mission," pleaded Carradine, his back turned away from Spider-Man.
"Your mission ends here Carradine," said Peter, but Dennis seemed to not hear him. Peter rushed closer and grabbed him by the back of his shoulders.
"Your mission ends here, and so does your life!" exclaimed Spider-Man, as he threw Carradine across the altar and towards the wall.
"Stand back, sinner!" he yelled out.
"You went from killing old defenseless men to young defenseless women. WHERE DOES IT STOP?!" shouted Spider-Man, as he kicked Carradine back to the seats.
He grabbed him, lifted him up and slammed him back to the ground.
"We are going to enjoy this…" growled Peter, as he threw Carradine, now bloody and bruised, back to the altar and started kicking his chest repeatedly. Every single hit made Peter feel more powerful, more free.
Just then, SWAT members crashed through their window, and through the door, their guns trained on Spider-Man and a beaten down Carradine.
"Spider-Man, put him down!" ordered Yuri, as she made her way to the front.
Instead of complying, Spider-Man let out an inhuman growl, opened his mouth and out came a row of sharp teeth and a long tongue, visible for barely a few seconds.
He then clutched onto Carradine, shot a web to the second floor of the church and swung up with him, jumping out of the window…
Carradine came to in a dark place. His arms were raised above his head, tied to the ceiling by some black webbing. His ankles were tied up as well, but they were on the ground. His shoes were on a shallow puddle, and he could smell the rust wherever he was.
He looked around frantically. To his left was a brick wall, which seemed to go higher and higher, above his head, and the curve back down to his right, almost like a tunnel.
"Oh dear God, bless my soul. Please-"
Before Carradine could finish, two white eyes suddenly showed up in the darkness, sending fear rushing down his spine. The eyes got closer and closer, as Carradine saw a huge white, elongated spider on the man's chest, its legs running laterally and behind to his back.
Spider-Man was breathing heavily as he walked straight up to Carradine, inches away from his face. He stared into his terrified eyes. Carradine whimpered and started to pray.
Spider-Man punched Carradine across the right side of his face.
"You can stop praying, nothing's saving you now," said Spider-Man.
"You've got it all wrong! I'm not a sinner, I punish sinners! I-"
"IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID WHEN YOU MURDERED BEN PARKER?!" yelled Spider-Man, his voice echoing around the tunnel, bombarding Carradine's ears.
"I never wanted to kill him. That was my biggest sin," said Carradine.
"Save it for Satan when you meet him. Now, it's time for your Atonement," growled Spider-Man, his voice almost unrecognizable as he walked away, and came back with a crowbar.
"No…no please! Please!" begged Carradine.
Spider-Man took the crowbar and swung it across Carradine's back. Dennis let out a blood curdling scream, while Spider-Man laughed.
He continued with the crowbar, but after 4 swings, he stopped.
Dennis was panting heavily, tears streaming down his face.
"T-Thank you…" he whispered. Peter dropped the crowbar. The logo on his chest seemed to shift, almost as if it had a life of its own. The spider's legs seemed to grow tighter, wrapping around Peter's back.
"We're not doing more today. So that we can do more tomorrow," hissed Spider-Man, fading back into the darkness.
Peter quickly rushed into his class with Dr Connors, not knowing he was late.
"Peter, so glad you could join us. After all, you missed 3 consecutive classes," said Connors, while some of the class snickered. "And you're late today as well," continued Curt.
"Probably had extra therapy sessions," whispered one student to another, chuckling to himself.
He was inaudible, but Peter's increased senses caught onto him.
"The Hell did you just say?" asked Peter, his face whipping towards the student.
"Nothing, nothing," said the student, a fake shocked expression on his face.
"No, say it to my face if you wanna do it that way," replied Peter, much more aggressive. The student stood up. He was certainly taller than Peter.
"Well come on then, freak. Let's see you talk your way out of this one," threatened the student.
"That's enough, Mr Rider! You too, Peter," said Curt, shooting Peter a concerned look.
Peter scoffed as he walked to any seat available.
"If he fought me he'd join his girlfriend in the grave," said Rider.
Peter's fist clenched, as the Symbiote seemed to crawl out of his watch. Instinctively, he rushed towards Rider and punched him square on the jaw, sending him off of his chair and onto the ground.
"Want some more, dick rider? Or does that not stand up to your mother's swing?" asked Peter, but before anything could happen, Curt quickly held back Peter while a couple other students held back Rider.
"Peter, Richard! That's enough!" said Curt, sternly.
"You're not my friend, Connors. Stop acting like one," said Peter. Curt was taken aback.
"You're right. I'm your teacher. And as your teacher I am telling you to go back to your seat, or I will notify the headmistress about this, and your tardiness," said Curt, much more seriously.
Peter walked away towards the only seat available: The one next to Carlie Cooper.
He sighed as he sat down, trying to ignore Carlie's presence. Carlie did the same.
After class, Peter was the first to leave. He walked across campus and back to his dorm.
As soon as he entered, he took off his clothes and looked at himself in a mirror. Despite looking skinny on the outside, he seemed much more muscular, and much stronger too. There seemed to be bit of an imprint of the huge spider logo on his chest. It wasn't very visible, but it certainly was there.
Almost as soon as he started to question the suit, it immediately jumped out of his watch and covered every inch of his body. Spider-Man chuckled to himself.
"We've got work to do…"
Yuri was sitting in her new office, having being promoted to Captain. She was busy filing paperwork, when she heard a knock on the door. It was Detective Macendale.
"Come in," she said, rubbing her forehead.
"Hey, Captain," said the detective. "Everything going okay?" he asked, handing her a cup of coffee.
"No. None of this feels right," she lamented, taking a huge sip of her hot coffee.
"This is Jean's position, not mine. And we have no clue where Spider-Man and Carradine are," she said.
"Despite what happened to Jean, she would've wanted you to have this position. As for Spider-Man, I always knew there was something about him," replied Macendale.
"Right. For now she would focus on sightings of Spider-Man," said Yuri.
"About that. We just got a report about an attack on the Daily Bugle. Witnesses put Spider-Man on the scene," said Macendale.
"Get every available unit there right now! We need to bring him in for questioning," said Yuri, as she quickly got up from her chair.
20 MINUTES EARLIER
Peter walked out of the elevator and towards Jameson's office, handing him the photos.
"These are pretty good, and work well with Eddie's new article," replied Jonah. Peter sighed, as he walked out of the room, only to see Eddie's laptop open.
"Hey, Ned? Where's Eddie?" asked Peter.
"He went to visit the washroom," replied Ned, busy in his own work.
"Hmm…" thought Peter, as he sat down and started to scroll through Eddie's recent work.
"Anger management class? Eddie used to attend that?" asked Peter to himself. He then pulled up a Word Document, where Eddie seemed to be writing his new article.
"Spider-Man Breaks Bad? City's Hero Turning Into Terror?!" exclaimed Peter.
"Peter, what are you doing?!" asked Eddie, quickly running towards him and getting him off the chair.
"You're still posting slander!" shouted Peter.
"It's not slander, it's the truth! It's not my fault you can't see it," replied Eddie. Peter instantly punched him against his jaw.
Eddie looked back at him, enraged as he punched Peter straight on his chest.
"Eddie, no!" yelled Carlie, holding him back.
Peter stumbled back, but immediately grabbed a stapler and threw it at Eddie. However, Eddie dodged at exactly the right moment, causing the stapler to hit Carlie straight in the face.
Carlie let out a shriek as Betty quickly rushed to her aid, while Eddie stared at her. Ned started to hold Peter back.
"Parker, that's enough!" he shouted.
"Fuck off, Leeds!" hissed Peter, breaking out of his grip and pushing him over a desk, knocking down a laptop with him. Peter moved back his shoulders, only to get tackled to the ground by Eddie.
"You piece of shit! I tried putting up with you!" shouted Eddie, punching Peter down. Peter grabbed a fallen pen and stabbed it into Eddie's legs, as Eddie yelled out.
Peter quickly flipped over and kicked Eddie away as he scrambled to his feet.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" shouted Jonah, as everyone came to a stop.
"Parker, you're suspended for two weeks. So are you, Brock! Leeds and Brant, get Miss Cooper some medical attention," said Jonah. Ned got up to his feet and helped Carlie up, as they walked towards the elevator.
"And both of you. GET OUT!" yelled Jonah.
Peter walked out of the Bugle first, walking down the stairs, followed by Eddie.
"Parker, wait!" called out Eddie. Peter stopped and turned around, coming face to face with Eddie.
"You're stepping out of line because of your crush on Spider-Man," said Eddie scornfully.
"Oh there you go. The mild mannered Edward Brock Jr breaks bad," mocked Peter.
"You watch your mouth," said Eddie, fuming.
"Word of advice, Brock. Watch your back, even around people you consider "friends." The second you turn around they'll stab you, I learned that from you the hard way," spat out Peter, turning around and walking down the stairs, an idea formulating in his brain.
Eddie was enraged, as he punched the wall of the stairwell, barely creating a dent.
Jonah was planning the layout of tomorrow's newspaper, when all of a sudden a massive explosion destroyed the back of his office wall.
Jonah was thrown across the office, and as soon as he got back to his feet, he saw Spider-Man.
"You slime!" shouted Spider-Man, as he grabbed Jonah by the collar.
"What…do you want?!" asked Jonah, struggling to breathe.
"Stop publishing slanderous articles about us!" threatened Spider-Man, throwing him out of the office.
"And where's Peter Parker?!" yelled Spider-Man.
"I just suspended him!" replied Jonah, as Ned quickly ran up to him.
"Whoever you are, you better leave now," ordered Ned.
"If we see another article from this place destroying our name, we can guarantee we won't just stop at this building, Jameson," growled Spider-Man, as he jumped out of the whole he had made in the office.
"You okay, Mr Jameson?" asked Ned.
"Just my pride," groaned Jonah, as he got back on his feet.
"So, what now?" asked Ned.
"We publish the article," replied Jonah.
"But, you heard what he said, he-"
"I'm not going to let some glorified thug threaten me in compromising my integrity. If anything, this just proves Brock's article," replied Jameson.
Ned chuckled as he headed back to his desk, impressed by Jonah's courage.
Spider-Man walked into the abandoned subway tunnel, with a McDonald's Happy Meal in his right hand.
Carradine looked weak, almost as if he was barely awake. He looked up and saw Spider-Man walking in.
"Got something for you," said Spider-Man, taking out the burger and the pack of fries. Carradine's hands were still tied up and were getting fatigued. Spider-Man took out the burger, as the symbiote pulled away from Spider-Man's mouth. He started to eat the burger directly in front of Carradine.
"Oh shit, we forgot!" said Peter, as he took out the fries and a packet of chili seasoning. He took out a fry and fed it to Carradine.
As Carradine savored the fry, Peter tore up the packet of chili seasoning and quickly pushed it straight into Carradine's eyes.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH!" screamed Dennis, as his eyes began to burn. Peter delivered a punch to Dennis's chest, causing him to cough.
"Can't have you screaming so much," said Peter, as he punched Carradine again so hard in the stomach that he vomited.
"An empty stomach should weaken you enough," said Spider-Man.
"Why…are you doing this?" sputtered Dennis, nearly choking on his own vomit.
"Did you know, that spiders trap their prey in webs, and keep them there for days? Then, once they're done having their fun, some spiders liquefy their prey from the inside out," replied Spider-Man.
"Is…is that what you're going to…do to me?" asked Carradine.
"No. We're going to do worse," replied Peter, as he webbed up Carradine's nose and mouth.
"Now for our next test, let's see how well you can hold your breath," said Peter, as the black webbing started to suffocate Carradine. He started to yell loudly, but Spider-Man simply stared at him. He watched him struggle to breathe, as he smiled.
"Peter," said a voice, sounding like Gwen.
Peter jumped, as he looked around for the source of the sound.
"Gwen? GWEN?!" shouted Peter, looking around, and saw Carradine just about to die, as he quickly ripped away the webbing, letting Carradine breathe again.
Spider-Man stared at his hands, as he looked around. Then back at Carradine.
He quickly ran out of the tunnel and swung back into the air. He reached a vantage point and stumbled onto the roof.
"What the Hell was that?! Did I just…imagine that?" asked Peter, questioning himself. All of a sudden, he seemed to snap back.
"It was just an auditory hallucination," he told himself, as he swung back to ESU.
He stealthily emtered his room, and pulled up his computer. He quickly looked up the anger management class that he had found on Eddie's computer.
"A focus group that helps in controlling anger…why was Eddie here?" asked Peter, as he opened up another tab and searched up "Eddie Brock." The only thing that showed up was him as a journalist.
"No no, there has to be more. If there is something, it can solidify my plan more," thought Peter. He scrolled through multiple Google pages, until he found an article from San Francisco.
"Teenager Edward Bryson attacks a teacher in the school's parking lot? Gets rehabilitated to Dr Allen's anger management classes," read out Peter, as he pulled up a picture of Edward Bryson. It was a picture of 17 year old Eddie Brock.
"Perfect!" said Peter, as he took screenshots and printed all the evidence. Just then, he got a notification on his phone.
"Spider-Man Attacks Daily Bugle! Police Call For An Arrest Warrant."
Peter laughs to himself, as he stares at the night sky. Once again, an elongated tongue seemed to slither out of Peter's mouth, but Peter barely noticed.
The next morning, Peter rushed towards Jameson's office.
"Peter, weren't you suspended?" asked Betty, who was sitting with Carlie. She had stitches on her forehead.
Peter ignored them and ran to Jameson, who had two carpenter's working on the hole in his office.
"Mr Jameson!" exclaimed Peter.
"What are you doing here?" asked Jonah.
"Look, I figured out something, okay?" panted Peter, pretending to be out of breath.
"Slow down. What is it?" asked Jonah.
Peter quickly explained everything and showed Jonah the evidence.
"My God. This never showed up in the background checks because of his changed last name," said Jonah, truly looking surprised.
"And considering Spider-Man attacked yesterday, I feel like they're in cahoots," continued Peter.
"He threatened me to stop printing "lies" about him, which is what Eddie does,"
"And then what did you do? You used Eddie's article anyways. And the attack on the Bugle would obviously generate buzz, causing more people to read his article," said Peter.
"I suppose it does make sense. Spider-Man even threatened you, and it seems like Eddie has it out for you. While the theory may not be very substantial, the evidence of him lying about his past is enough to…think about his future here. Thank you, Peter," said Jonah.
"You don't need to thank me," said Peter, leaving the office and The Bugle with a sly smile.
He walked out of the building and ran into an alleyway, his suit taking over him as he swung away. Just as he began swinging, he got a call from Eddie.
"What...did you do?" asked Eddie. Peter could just barely hear his voice breaking, and a couple of sobs.
"We won." Replied Peter.
Carradine came to, only this time, he was hanging upside down.
He looked down, and found himself looking back at the streets of New York City, hanging from a gargoyle almost 350 meters high.
"AAAAAHHH!" he shouted with whatever strength he had left. Right in front of him, Spider-Man rappelled down, holding a strand of webbing in between his hands and feet. They both were on one of the gargoyles of the Chrysler Building.
"This is your final test, Carradine. Depending on how well you do, we'll either kill you slowly, or kill you even more slowly," threatened Peter. The black suit looked more like his skin now. Carradine could barely tell it was a costume.
Peter pulled him back up and onto the gargoyle, the symbiote peeling away from his face.
"Remember me?" asked Peter.
"Y-You're that kid…of that guy…" panted Carradine, as Peter grabbed one of Carradine's thin fingers and twisted it the other way. Carradine yelled out in pain.
"His name…was Ben Parker. Say it," said Peter. Carradine was still yelling.
Peter grabbed another finger and twisted it the other way.
"SAY IT!" shouted Peter, his voice booming raspily.
"Ben…P-Parker…" sputtered Dennis.
"Good…now tell me. Why did you kill him?" asked Peter.
"I needed his money…" said Carradine. This time Peter grabbed the ring fingers from both hands and snapped them back.
"You already had enough money! The money I LET YOU STEAL!" shouted Peter.
"I'm sorry…I didn't want to shoot, but he wasn't listening…" cried Dennis.
Peter grabbed Dennis' left arm and hammerfisted it, shattering most of the bones in his arm.
"I'm going to end you. It's time the Sin-Eater pays for his sins," hissed Peter, the mask covering his face once again.
Just as he was about to kick Carradine off of the gargoyle, he heard a voice.
"Peter…" said a voice, sounding like Uncle Ben.
"U-Uncle Ben?!" exclaimed Peter, startled as he started to look around.
"Don't," said another voice, sounding like George Stacy.
"No…no no no no no no!" shouted Peter, clutching his head. The suit started to shift a lot more, as more tendrils started to break out.
"The suit…no…" gasped Peter, as he fell to his knees, still balancing himself on the gargoyle.
Dennis' vision started to turn blurry, as his head felt heavy. Malnourished and broken, he took a deep breath and groaned, closing his eyes.
Peter shook his head and turned back to Dennis, whose eyes were closed. He was not breathing.
"No…NO NO NO!" shouted Peter at the top of his lungs, as he grabbed Carradine and quickly swung to the nearest hospital.
Spider-Man rushed inside the hospital, holding Dennis' body as he called for a doctor.
"Anyone?! This man needs help!" shouted Peter. A doctor quickly showed up.
The doctor's eyes widened in fear when he saw Carradine. "Start prepping an ICU ASAP!" ordered the doctor, as they wheeled away Carradine towards the ICU.
"Will he be okay?" asked Spider-Man.
"We can't be sure. What happened to him? In over 30 years of me practicing, I have never seen injuries so…barbaric," replied the doctor, as he rushed into the ICU.
But Carradine didn't have a pulse, and Spider-Man just stood there, looking through the window and at the body of the man he murdered.
Well, this was definitely the darkest chapter yet, and this is Black Suit Spider-Man in his prime. Stay tuned to find out more!
Also, I have some bad news, but I have decided to end the Marvel Universe. I've become wayyy too busy and have so many other ideas for other stories, but they're constantly hindered by The Invincible Doctor Strange, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, etc. So I will be discontinuing those series. The Invincible Spider-Man will definitely go on, however. There will also be a huge event that will take place in Season 6 of this story. I truly am sorry for the news, but I really have a lot to work on, and I don't want something fun becoming a chore. I hope you all understand. The stories will still be up, for the previous crossovers, but they will not be continuing.
In less sad news, I GOT A DATE! And it's tomorrow, so I'm quite terrified about that. I also finished watching Breaking Bad and I highly recommend you watch it, shoutout to redbirds12 for recommending the show to me, it's honestly the best show I've ever seen. I even put a couple of references to it in this chapter! And wow that trailer for No Way Home gave me straight chills. You have no clue how hyped that one trailer gave me, although I feel like they revealed too much. I guess time will tell!
Marvel Nerd: And you bet that's going to be useful
Fate-Be Changed: Indeed he will!
Geek4Life: Maybe you never know. Also I don't think I ever mentioned this, but I love your username lmao.
SpideyXBC: Thanks for pointing that out! Went back and rectified it. Seriously though, thanks!
Teller-Story: Yep, I did demonstrate that when the gas station blew up. But you bet that's gonna come in use!
I am the Voice: I guess she was confused but didn't really express it. Besides she did say that Spider-Man wasn't being himself.
Guest: Yepp! The bonding process is almost complete. And thanks for the suggestion!
redbirds12: Thanks! And yeah, Eddie and Peter's rivalry certainly blew up here. And thanks! Here's hoping it goes up from here too!
Yours Truly,
Shadow Strike.