Erich: Actually I drew it from my own vicious streak, actually I don't get that meaning what did you mean by that? I'm not sure the girls would be jealous of her I mean it's not like they all got a crush on him. But I'll think about it.

CloudsHalo: Thanks for the review, I like to put a bit of everything in my stories, including romance. I'm glad you liked everything else though, and I got plans for JJ and Brock. Sometimes Fight scenes are hard but I try my best at them. Unfortunately I don't have a comic shop anywhere and I can't find anything on certain titles.

The Uncanny R-Man: I haven't brought in the FF in this story so no, just him and the X-Men will have to deal with it.

Lord Destroyer: Let me put it to you this way, he thinks he's talking to himself but it's that uncertainly that I wanted to use.

Morlin: I need to take a break from this so I figure end it then start a sequel when I'm ready.

Sparky Genocide: I wouldn't say whipped exactly I mean would you want to say 'no' to someone like that? Venom will be in the sequel later on.

Slickboy444: Yeah I wanted to add my own unique twist although technically it's the symbiote, Venom is when it bonds with Brock. Yeah you know the road ahead won't be easy for anyone.

Spyder616: You'll see more of her in the sequel.

Zack M. Strith: Are you kidding, I got a trilogy planned out. Plus only 50 chapters, most stories don't go this high.

Mark C: Actually I got how the symbiot used him like that from an old comic, I'm not sure how long to make the symbiot thing and I'm not sure how to end this as I planned it or start of the sequel where I planned to end this.

Stoneman85: Actually I will, see I want to take a break from this and finish up a few other fics before I start the next one.

X-Over: That's a no on the spider-x team, that makes no real sense when you really think about it especially the characters you want in it. Other members of the Brotherhood and Acolytes will join up mainly like you saw with Black Cat but others will be recruited.

Worker72: Thanks, and yes the symbiote will be evil and Carnage will show up like in the comics.

And thanks to: calamite, WingDing9, Red Witch, Episodic, Zeo the Other one, psychobunny410, Proponent of EVO, Jaguar, Jyru, Kaliann, ldypebsaby, Sithicus, Aaron, Mofo7, Shinobi, Janusi, fireinu, Stoneman85, demonman21

SPIDER-X

CHAPTER 48: THE BATTLE WITHIN

At breakfast Peter walked down looking calm and in fact in a good mood. He saw various students already eating and got himself some. "Hey Pete, I'm surprised you can walk." Scott joked seeing him.

Peter just shrugged. "Guess all I needed was a goodnight's sleep." He started to eat his breakfast and pretty much ignored everyone there. When he was finished he just walked out, he was still feeling great though but he had been planning throughout breakfast and he was going to go and put that into action.

"Hey Peter!" He turned to see Spyder running towards him. "Where ya going?"

"Out."

She gave him a confused look. "Where?"

"Look." Peter said a little harshly. "I got stuff to do."

"But you, me and Kurt were going to go into the Danger Room for a little more practice." She said pouting a little.

"Look you and Kurt will have to do it without me, I'm busy." Peter said and then just turned around and walked out the front door. Leaving behind a very confused Spyder just staring at him leave like that.

'Man what's his problem?' She thought angrily, he had never talked to her like that and was wondering what was going on with him.

-New York-

Peter had taken the bus to New York and was now outside the Daily Bugle. He looked up at the tall building with a mixture of contempt and hatred. He was wondering why he felt so strongly about this, okay sure he was pissed but he was never one to try what he had been thinking about.

But then again these guys had made money off of dragging his name through the mud and all the lies they told people also angered him. Peter's jaw clenched just thinking about that and saw a payphone nearby. He had two plans of action. One was to get even with Brock the next to clear his name and ruin the Bugle's in the process.

He would go for Eddie Brock first since he still might have some photos that showed that he wasn't part of that theft. He looked up the number for the Bugle and calling. "Hello, Daily Bugle. How can I help you?"

"Yeah I'm trying to reach Eddie Brock is he in?" Peter asked the female voice on the other line.

"Just a moment." There was a short pause before the woman came back. "I'm sorry he's out on assignment. Can I ask what this is about?"

"Well I'm his cousin visiting in from Jersey and I'm supposed to room with him for a bit but I lost the address of his place and I figure I could catch him at work." Peter did his best to sound alone and scared in the big city.

"Oh well we're not supposed to do this…but…hold on." She said and Peter smiled. A few seconds later he had the address. He bought a map at a news stand and looked it up. Normally it would be a forty-minute ride on the subways but he had a faster mode of transport. He found an alley and crawled up to the rooftops and willed his new suit on the way up.

He had to admit having this suit sure made changing easier and he didn't have to wear another suit under his normal clothing, that got uncomfortable at times and itched some times too. Not to mention he always had to make sure that when he did that, that his suit never showed.

Now he swung over the streets of New York. He wasn't sure at first but he seemed to be doing it faster then normal. He landed on a rooftop and looked to another two buildings away. Normally that would be the maximum jump so he wanted to test this out. He ran forward and jumped. To his amazement he jumped higher and longer the normally. When he landed he looked behind and saw he was now five buildings away from where he had been. "I don't believe it…this thing is actually enhancing my abilities!"

He practiced some more on the way and he had to admit he had made it to Eddie's apartment in record time. Normally he would have had to go all out to get there as fast as he did but he had gone at what felt like a normal pace. He knew the apartment number and knew it was on the forth floor. It took a little trail and error but he figured that the apartment with the photography equipment was Eddie's.

He looked around the place. It was a one-bedroom place, kind of spacious but not too much. He looked around for photos or the negatives. He looked though the place for over half and hour and all he found was a fridge full of stuff that had gone bad weeks ago and nothing interesting.

He was also having doubts on doing this. This wasn't the kind of thing he did and what he had planned was certainly not something his Aunt or the others would approve of. Then he would think back to what he had been put through and his anger just flared up. He went on searching but then his spider-sense went off and he hear the door being unlocked.

Eddie Brock however was just getting back from shooting some shots of the mayor at a speech. He had time to process the photos and could hand them in to JJ just in time for the late addition. He walked to the table in what he liked to think of as the dinning room when he noticed his place looked slightly trashed. At first he thought he was robbed but still saw his stereo. He turned to get to the phone and call the police when he was suddenly grabbed from off the ground.

He was suspended in the air and was turned around only to face a dark mask with two giant white circular eyes. "Hello Eddie, we need to talk." Spider-Man said evenly in a dark tone.

"S-Spider-Man!?" Eddie said which was more of a question then a statement because of the new dark costume.

"Yeah I know, I'm going for a new look," The pulled him close to his face. "And a new attitude to match. Now I'm going to ask nicely only once…where are the photos?"

"W-What photos?"

"Wrong answer!" Spider-Man shouted and threw Eddie through the air and he landed and bounced off his table and landed onto the floor. Eddie shook his head seeing stars from the pain he was feeling but then he was lifted up again. "The photos Brock! The ones you took of me and I mean ALL of them!" He started shaking Brock in the air.

"I don't know-" WHAM! Eddie was slammed into one of the walls and he shouted out in pain.

"Look Brock I'm not toying with you." He said sternly holding him against the wall with one hand on his collar. "Now we both know I wasn't involved in that theft and you got the photos that prove it. So here's what I'm going to do, I'm going to start breaking bones until you tell me where they are."

Eddie had actually met him once that day in the alley with the Sirens but this was a side he never saw before. He thought Spider-Man wouldn't just bust into his home and rough him up. In fact the tone of his voice alone told him that he was more then willing to carry out this threat.

"And in case that little brain of yours it telling you that I might be bluffing that was the old Spider-Man, I'm the new and improve not-very-friendly-neighborhood Spider-Man." Just then the suit started to ooze off his arm and wrap around Eddie's neck squeezing it slightly.

"Ah! W-w-what…what the hell are you?" Eddie asked him terrified by seeing his suit was alive.

"Someone you really shouldn't have pissed off!" Spider-Man slammed him into the wall again to drive home that point. "Now give us the photos!"

Eddie was about to ask what he meant by 'us' but the thing around his neck tightened. "Drawer…over there…" He chocked out and pointed to one in a small stand by a chair. Spider-Man let him drop to the floor coughing and checked it. He found an envelope and looking through it he found all the photos including ones that showed him fighting Rhino and Shocker.

Spider-Man walked over to him and picked him up. "What? I gave you the photos! What more do you want?"

"A little payback." He hissed out and threw Brock across the room and he slumped to the floor out cold.

Spider-Man exited through the window swinging away. While Peter was going to his next destination he couldn't help go through all of that in his head over and over again. There was a part of him that was horrified by his actions, yet there was this other part that enjoyed it, that got a rush from doing that. He couldn't believe he had hurt him just like that, and yet he was glad that he did it, hell he was wishing he could do it again.

Peter found an alley close to his destination and quickly changed into more normal clothing. He looked up and smiled at the sign on the front.

'New York Post'

Peter figured the best way of getting back at the Bugle was to make the entire world know what they did. He looked through the photos and tore up the ones that made him look like a criminal and dumped them. He walked right in. In his head he knew that he was kind of sinking down to their level but then there was another part of him that kept on saying how they deserve this for all the lies they printed.

It took some time but he got to meet the assistant editor of the paper. He was taken into an office and sat down across from a desk. The man on the other side leaned forward in an all business manner. "So young man I hear you got pictures of that Spider-Man fellow?"

Peter nodded. "Oh I got more then that. Tell me…how would you like to take the Bugle down a peg?" Peter grinned when he saw he had captured the man's interest. Fifteen minutes later he was walking out with a nice check for selling 'his' photos to them.

He grinned at the check but then he stopped and his face fell. 'What am I doing? What did I just do?' He asked himself, horrified by what he just did. He was supposed to be a man of principles, how would Uncle Ben think of him doing this?

'But he's not around anymore is he? Taken from you, by some punk. Besides you deserve this.'

Peter was wondering about that. Did he really deserve this? His Uncle would be ashamed of what he did.

'How would you know? Besides it's your fault he died because you didn't act. Now someone is attacking you and you're just supposed to lay down for it? He always said you should stand up for yourself more. Justice was handed out.'

Peter tucked the check into a pocket and just walked back to the bus station thinking on things. Everything just seemed so…different lately. Everything that was so clear just seemed to muddy. He was thinking that maybe he should talk to someone.

'NO!'

'Why the hell not?'

"How would they know how you feel? Can they honestly relate to you and what you deal with all the time?'

'But they're my friends. I mean what about Rogue?'

'You don't need her.'

Now THAT thought scared Peter. Where the hell did THAT come from, of course he did he cared for her…hell…he was sure he was falling in love with her. He thought about her a lot, the smell of her hair, the taste of her lips, that little smile she gets that lights up her face and those beautiful green eyes he loved to look into.

'She's only trouble, get rid of her. You don't need her you don't need anyone else.'

Peter stopped and was wondering what was wrong with him. Those were thoughts he never should have he was also getting worried. When he got onto the bus he sat down thinking that maybe he should talk to someone, then he got a huge pain in his skull and passed out.

The next thing he knew he was waking up as the bus pulled into Bayville. He was confused and disoriented. He tried to remember what had happened and he remembered sitting down and he was thinking about…his face contorted in confusion as he tried to remember what it was he had been thinking about but for the life of him he couldn't remember.

He must have dozed off or something. He just shrugged it off and when the bus had finally stopped he got off and felt the check in his pocket. He figured he might as well put it into his saving account he had earned it. It was strange he thought to himself. Before he had been against the idea of the check but now he felt better about having it.

'Guess that sleep must have cleared my head.' He figured and walked on to the local bank.

-Later, Xavier's-

Rogue was in her room finishing up her homework. She didn't notice the presence behind her until a dozen long stem roses were just placed in front of her. "What the!?" She turned to see Peter with a smile on his face. "Peter?"

"Hey beautiful."

She looked back and took the flowers. "Peter…what is this?" She asked him. No one had given her flowers before she always figured it was just some cheesy romance novel thing but despite herself she actually liked it. She took them into her arms and looked back at him. "What's all this about?"

"I'm going to take you out tonight, I figure I should start treating you like you should be treated." Peter told her. "In fact I'm thinking of taking you to that restaurant uptown, you know the one on Main Street?"

Rogue tried to think of which one that was and her eyes widened. "Peter that place is too expensive for ya."

Peter just smiled. "Normally I would have agreed but not this time. Come on I can afford it and I want to show you a good time."

"But…what am ah goin' ta wear? Ah mean it's kind of classy." Rogue said to him. She kind of hated how that sounded like something Kitty would say but it was true.

"How about that dress you wore at the dance?" Peter offered her he ran his hands down her arms and started to talk gently into her ear. It was a new side of Peter she was seeing at the moment and it was catching her by surprise. "Only without the gloves and scarf, it really looked good on you."

"Alright, ah will." She told him. She wasn't sure but to her Peter was acting a bit differently.

"Great I'll go to Scott and get his car for tonight." It took Peter a little time to find Scott, he was watching TV with a few of the other kids.

"Hey Scott I need to borrow your car for tonight I want to take Rogue out for dinner."

Scott as well as a few of the others looked over at him at this information. "Why my car?"

"Because it's better then the van or Lance's jeep." Peter said flatly.

"Hey lay off my ride." Lance said to him. "It's a good jeep."

Peter snorted at that remark and looked to Scott again. "Okay fine, I figured you would want to help the guy that made you see in Technicolor again, my mistake." Peter then began to walk off and now Scott felt a pang of remorse now. He did owe Peter, hell he owned him a lot for helping him see the world again.

"Wait! Alright Peter you can take my car, just be careful with it."

Peter nodded and walked off.

By the time for the date Rogue was putting on the final touches. When word of this got around Kitty of course just had to help out. But Rogue managed to convince her that she was just fine. All she did was fix her hair slightly and put on new makeup with the dress.

When she got down stairs and saw Peter waiting and the suit that she saw that he was wearing surprised her. It looked expensive and was wondering how he could afford it. There were a lot of strange things like Peter seemed more confident but also a bit more rude to other people like the valet for instance. And the looks he was giving her were also a little unnerving.

It was like he was undressing her with his eyes or something. It wasn't the kind and compassionate look that she liked seeing. She was getting kind of uncomfortable with it. And every time she brought up how he could afford this he got frustrated and kept telling her to drop it. She did but her uneasiness was beginning to grow.

Even thought the meal was great, Peter's new attitude was strange and was killing the mood at times. She was worried that maybe something was wrong with him at one point. He just seemed like his old self only more confident then he was angry and lashed out without reason. She knew he was under some stress of late but she couldn't help but wonder what else was going on.

By the time they got back to the mansion she was sure there must be something wrong with him. They walked to the upper levels and Peter suddenly took her arm and quickly pulled her into a kiss. It was full of passion and she was surprised at first. "You know Rogue I really care about you." He whispered to her. "I mean I've never felt this way about a girl before."

They started to make out in the hallway. Rogue was still reeling from the passion he suddenly just put into this. "Ah know how ya feel." She said back, which was true. Peter had gone from friend to boyfriend and her feelings for him were growing. Then he did something totally surprising. While in a passionate kiss he slipped one hand down her back to her ass and actually squeezed it. Rogue jumped in surprise but Peter didn't stop.

Rogue was wondering what to do when his other hand grabbed another more inappropriate place higher up on her front. That had done it and she pushed him away. "Hey! What the hell are ya doin'?!" She was completely shocked by his behavior, this definitely wasn't the Peter she knew.

"Oh I see," Peter said in a dark tone she had never heard him use before. "That's how it is huh? Well fine then." He sneered and just walked off.

It was at that moment Rogue knew there was something wrong with Peter and she was going to find out what it was.

NEXT UP CHAPTER 49: DARKNESS REVEALVED