I'm only writing that stupid-ass disclaimer once. If you corporate bastards didn't see it, get some friggin' glasses.
CHAPTER FOUR: Tiny Victory
"Carnage, what have you done?" asked Spider-Man.
"Quiet! Corpses aren't aloud to talk!" replied Carnage.
Mark advanced upon Spider-Man and rose the knife. Suddenly, a web flew right into his eyes. With the hand with which he shot the web, Peter fired another web, caught the knife, and pulled it back. He twirled the blade in his hand so that it was upside-down, and then he jabbed it into the tendril that held him. Carnage's grip slowly loosened, and then Peter began to cut away at it until he had gotten his arms free. Carnage still had him by the waste and legs, though.
"Hey!" exclaimed Carnage as he hurled Spider-Man into a wall.
Peter's body hit the wall. Before he could recover, Mark had already torn the webbing from his eyes and had pounced upon Peter. They grappled for awhile, and the stalemate was finally ended with a left to the stomach and a right to the jaw from Spider-Man. Mark stumbled backwards, and Spider-Man immediately jumped at him with a flurry of punches and kicks. Mark swung back, but Peter ducked below his fist, crouched down low, and shot back up with a powerful uppercut to the jugular. Mark flew through the window and landed outside. Spider-Man then turned to face Carnage.
"What's the deal this time, Kasady?" asked Spider-Man.
"Well, it was supposed to be a little experiment, but apparently it was a failure so it's time to send the old prototype to the scrap heap," said Carnage.
Carnage held his hand out. Mark stood up while screaming and shaking. Suddenly, a red spike flew from his head. Spider-Man ducked beneath it, and it flew into Carnage's hand. Mark's body hit the ground.
"What have you done to him?" asked Spider-Man.
"Obviously, I killed him. Oh yeah, and I took over his body and made him my killing puppet," replied Carnage.
"Just like that man I fought the other day."
"Yup, same guy. In fact, I made him kill his own son," said Carnage.
"What?" Spider-Man said, surprised.
"Oh yeah. It was brutal stuff. But you know the best part? I left his wife and daughter alive, and I fed them a little bit, you see. You wanna know what I fed them? I ground the kid's remains into the food..."
Spider-Man immediately leapt into the air and slammed his fists into Carnage's face and throat.
"You monster! How could you?" exclaimed Spider-Man as he pummeled Carnage.
Suddenly, Carnage's hand grew into a large claw and wrapped around Peter's throat. He lifted Peter into the air, turned, and slammed him into a wall.
"The fun doesn't stop there, Web Man! I'm gonna go kill the bitch and her kid right now!" said Carnage.
Suddenly Spider-Man's feet slammed into Carnage's face. Carnage stumbled backwards.
"I won't allow you to harm these people anymore, Kasady!" said Spider-Man.
"Watch me!" Carnage immediately ran down the hall to the master bedroom.
Spider-Man ran after Carnage. He could hear Amber and Michelle screaming for help as Carnage rose his axe-shaped hand above them. He immediately dove and tackled the killer, and the two rolled on the ground. Carnage kicked Spider-Man off of him and swung the axe hand. The attack cut a deep wound in Spider-Man's arm. Peter howled in pain, but his scream was halted by a fist to his face. He fell back and hit the window. Carnage held his arms forward and formed several spikes which protruded from them. He ran forward with the intention of impaling Peter. Instinctively, Spider-Man jumped into the air and stuck to the ceiling. Carnage stopped himself just short of the window, but Spider-Man dropped and drove both feet into Carnage's back on the way down. Carnage flew through the window and fell to the ground below. Peter rose and looked out of the window, but the killer was nowhere to be found.
'Damn...either he ran, or he's planning a sneak attack...better follow my gut instinct,' thought Peter.
That instinct, of course, was the protection of innocents. Peter ran to the bed and untied Amber first. Then he untied Michelle. The mother and daughter embraced each other, with Spider-Man watching. His heart was heavy with grief, but also a small bit of relief. When Amber and Michelle released each other, Amber then turned to Peter and hugged him. He was surprised, but he returned the hug. He cradled her in his arms while rocking back and forth. Suddenly, there was a loud rumbling. The police burst into the room.
"Freeze!" commanded Captain Payne.
"Captain, please..." Spider-Man pleaded without turning to face the captain.
The captain surveyed the situation, and then he had the other policemen lower their weapons. The room was quiet except for the sounds of Michelle and Amber's weeping, and Spider-Man, quietly telling Amber that she would be alright.
******
May Parker jabbed sadly with her fork at the roast pork and potatoes that sat on her plate. There was an empty seat on the other side of the table, with an empty plate, and unused silverware sitting beside it. May sighed sadly at the realization that her nephew would not be arriving to dine with her that evening.
Or so she thought...
The doorbell rang. May went to the door.
"Who is it?" asked May.
"Peter," Peter replied.
It immediately struck May that Peter did not reply with a joke. He simply said his name. May opened the door. Peter stood in the doorway, wearing a black turtleneck with blue jeans and black sneakers.
"Hey, Aunt May, sorry I'm late," said Peter.
"I'm just glad to see you made it. I hope you're hungry," said May as she ushered her nephew into the house.
They ate in silence for a few minutes. Then...
"So, how did it go?" asked May.
"How did what go?" asked Peter.
"You said you had a lead to follow, right? How did it go?"
"Oh, that...it...went well, I guess..."
"You guess?"
"Uh...yeah..."
Peter wanted to spare his aunt the gory details. How would she react to what had happened that night?
"I was watching the news today. They said you were fighting that man in the rhino costume this morning," said May.
"Oh, yeah I was..." replied Peter.
"Are you hurt?"
"No, he didn't lay a finger on me."
"Peter, are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine, Aunt May."
"Really? You couldn't tell by looking at that bruise on your neck."
"What bruise?"
Peter rose and ran to a mirror. He had hoped that the turtleneck would hide the bruise, but alas, it didn't.
"Take off your shirt, Peter," said May.
"Excuse me?"
"Take off your shirt," she repeated.
Peter hesitated and thought over the situation. With a sigh he rose the shirt over his head and pulled it off. May immediately gasped and ran to her nehpew.
"My God..." May exclaimed.
Peter's body was ridden with bruises. His left arm, in particular, had taken a lot of damage. He had his arm wrapped in a bandage. The blood could be seen through it.
"Peter, what happened?" asked May.
"Aunt May....I..." Peter stopped.
"Tell me!" demanded May.
Peter sighed and sat down on the couch. May sat beside him.
"Did you hear the story of the man who killed a policeman last week? A guy that I fought downtown?" asked Peter.
"Yes, I did."
"Well, he was...possessed..."
"By what?"
".....Carnage."
The name sent a shiver down May's spine. She remembered how her nephew had been hurt during the riots that Carnage had caused, although at the time, she hadn't known that he had been injured as Spider-Man.
"Carnage," Peter continued, "Had broken into the man's home. He...he planted something in his head that took control of his body, and he had the man kill his own son."
"My Lord..."
"And then...I had to fight the man. He ended up being killed. Well, I did some investigating and went to his house. When I got there, I saw this kid from my school. Carnage did the same thing to him, and I had to fight him too."
"Were you hurt?"
"Just a little. Well, Carnage was at the house. He killed the kid, and then we fought. He held the man's wife and daughter captive the entire time. After we fought, he ran. I later found out that he had been raping the man's wife and torturing them both."
"That's horrible...but...at least you were able to put an end to it, right?"
"I guess, but...why couldn't I have been there sooner?"
"You had no idea this was going on, Peter."
"You know, when I looked into that little girl's eyes, all I saw was pain. And I just...I wanted to kill Carnage at that moment. That beautiful little girl...the pain she went through...it's just not fair...It's not fair!"
May held Peter firmly. He sunk his head into her shoulder and wept.
"It's not fair...why must this happen? I could have been there...it's just like...just like Uncle Ben...I wasn't there..."
May held her nephew and rocked back and forth. Eventually, Peter fell asleep in her arms.
*******
Steven Hardesty was busy walking down a dark alley. He had nowhere in particular to go, he was just walking. Eventually, a sound caught his attention.
Not too far away, a woman's scream could be heard. A man with a knife threw a woman to the ground and then straddled her.
"Please, don't hurt me," the woman pleaded.
"Yeah, slut, keep beggin'...that kinda shit turns me on," the mugger said.
That's when the would-be rapist saw Steve out of the corner of his eye.
"Get lost," he said.
Steve said nothing back. He only stepped closer.
"What are you, retarded? Get the fuck outta here!" he demanded.
Steve only came closer.
The man rose and swung his knife. It caught Steve at the eye and flung it far away. Steve's left eye landed six feet away. He barely flinched. The woman screamed in horror at the sight. As for the attacker, he just stared in shock at the now cyclopean Steve. Steve grabbed the mugger by the throat and rose him into the air. He drove his other hand into the man's chest, and when he pulled his hand back out, the heart came with it. Steve dropped the body to the ground.
The woman on the ground stared at the sight of a now heartless body on the ground. Before she could speak, Steve took her hand and rose her to her feet. Then, he grabbed her by the throat and tore it out. Her body hit the ground.
Steve continued walking, with nowhere in particular to go.
END OF CHAPTER FOUR