Chapter 8

*Author's disclaimer – characters aren't mine*

*Author's note – this story is about to get dialogue heavy (I like to consider dialogue my specialty) so if you're looking for action you might just want to cruise through this and then demand an update, otherwise enjoy.*

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Peter sat on the roof of the skyscraper clutching his mask and sobbing uncontrollably. He hated his life, he hated being Spiderman. Ever since he had become Spiderman it seemed that only bad things happened to him and everyone else around him was being hurt or killed and he had to suffer because of it.

A jet black hand came to rest on Peter's shoulder, "Get a hold of yourself," Mary Jane said, "I thought you were tougher then that."

Peter spun around to face her blinking as he tried to stop the tears, "It's hard!" he cried, "I killed someone today! Someone I cared about."

Mary Jane wrapped her arms around Peter and hugged him close to her chest, "It's not all your fault," she said soothingly, "We had a part in that too."

Peter choked back a sob, "Even so I'm still responsible."

Mary Jane pushed Peter off of her and held him at arms length, "It had to be done," she said, "There was no other way. To remove the symbiot would have killed her and in the time it would have taken for us to find a sonic weapon to use on her thousands of people would have died. It's much better this way."

Peter forced her to let go of him, "There must have been a way to stop her with out killing. There always is."

"Even so," Mary Jane said, "If we don't kill her and figure out this other way she's still going to be killing people. She wanted to kill us."

"Just because she doesn't care doesn't mean I can't care," Peter said drying his eyes, "If I don't hold on to that I'm afraid I'll be like she was and just snap."

Peter turned around and sat back down on the ledge and looked out across the city at the bay area. Mary Jane sat beside Peter her black venom costume was still on everywhere but the head. She stared out at the bay as well and then turned to Peter, "Here's a question for you," she said, "You have two chickens and a fox and you need to get them across the river or else you will all die in a horrible fire. However you can only take one across at a time and you can't bring any back with you. If you leave a chicken with the fox the fox will eat the chicken. You need both chickens for food though. What do you do?"

Peter thought about it for a minute, "Well then I can only save one chicken and the fox."

"Then you'll die of starvation." Mary Jane said.

"But what else can I do?" Peter asked.

"You can kill the fox." Mary Jane said, "You don't need it and it's just causing you trouble."

"That's not a very good analogy," Peter said.

"Maybe not," Mary Jane agreed, "But it gets the point across. Sometimes it is necessary to kill things. Here's another example, if there's a mosquito biting you do you smack it and kill it?"

"Yes but that's different," Peter said, "A mosquito doesn't have feelings it doesn't interact with other people like a person does. You can't care about a mosquito."

"Perhaps," Mary Jane agreed, "I guess there really isn't a good analogy, but rather it's a selfish them or us question and you seem to always choose them over you."

"It's not that I don't understand the point you're trying to make," Peter said, "But I just can't do it. Just before he died my Uncle Ben told me that with great power, comes great responsibility. So far I've only slipped once…"

Peter's voice trailed off and his shoulders drooped. Mary Jane put an arm around Peter and pulled herself towards him, "You haven't slipped yet," she said, "Whether you want to admit it or not what you did was right. And even if you don't you aren't to blame. What happened back there was an accident. You didn't know that the fabric would flame up immediately like that and you definitely did not know that a gas line had ruptured when we smashed the runway."

Peter wrapped his arms around Mary Jane and buried his face in her chest, "Thank you," he murmured.

"Peter?" Mary Jane asked.

"Hmm."

"Are you really upset or was this an elaborate plan for you to stick your face in my chest?"

Peter looked up at her, "That's not funny," he said, "Although I will admit I like being able to do this."

Mary Jane playfully pushed Peter away, "You never cease to amaze me Tiger," she said.

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Well that's chapter 8. But the story isn't over, why? Well you'll have to just wait for the next chapter to find out.