Chapter 4-3
Construction Site
I had anticipated that Morales and Reilly would get involved but not so soon. They had caught me almost off guard and now here I am, without my alien parasite bonded to me, enhancing my powers tenfold. I have no ally to help me out but the good news is that it's only Morales and Reilly. Cindy is elsewhere and if I had the parasite with me, I would know her location.
Spidey leaped to a red pillar and clung to it tightly.
"Venom," Kid Arachnid hissed as he landed on the ground.
He thinks I'm Venom and not Spider-Man, good, I'll use that to my advantage. And if I remember correctly, Venom spoke with a deep voice that is hard to copy. For now, I won't say a word unless I want Morales and Reilly to recognize my voice.
Spidey decided to risk it anyway and spoke with a deep and guttural voice.
"Hel-lo," he whispered softly, knowing Kid Arachnid's keen ears will pick it up. "Come to kill me?"
"Yes," Kid Arachnid answered without hesitation. "I'm going to kill you, Venom."
Spidey leaped off the pillar as a taser-web shot in his direction. Spidey fired a web at the source and nearly hit Scarlet Spider. He landed on the ground and dodged an incoming attack from Kid Arachnid.
Spidey leaps above Kid Arachnid and collides with a jumping Scarlet Spider. Spidey kneed him in the groin and punched him in the stomach. They fell to the ground on the side with Spidey kicking Scarlet in the groin.
Scarlet gets to his feet, switches a few settings on his web-shooters, and fires a web.
Spidey dodged the web attack but the web ricocheted off the wall behind him and came back. Spidey's spider-sense alerted him, allowing him to duck and cause Scarlet Spider to get hit. He barely managed to dodge but still got hit in the shoulder.
Kid Arachnid activated his secondary powers and electricity sparkled between his fingertips. Spidey grabbed his hands and held them above his head. Kid Arachnid kicks Spidey in the stomach but is unable to shake him off.
Spidey flung him like a ragdoll and made him hit Scarlet Spider. Scarlet caught Kid Arachnid before punching Spidey, who blocked the blow with his forearm.
With both copy-spiders in his possession, he headbutts them into each other but they retaliate and punch Spidey in the stomach. Without hesitating, they lunge for his waist, lift him up by the stomach, and bodyslam him.
They piled onto him with Scarlet thrusting his knees into Spidey's chest and Kid Arachnid activating his bio-electricity before strangling Spidey.
Spidey was electrocuted in the throat and made his eyes roll back in pain and nearly blacked out, had it not been for the fact that his spider-sense alerted him that Scarlet was going for another taser-web attack.
Man, I REALLY wish I had Scarlet Spider's web combinations.
Spidey kicked Scarlet off of him and sent him flying into a pillar, breaking it and making part of the ceiling collapse on top of him. With part of him free, Spidey socks Kid Arachnid in the face and nearly disorients him but the pure rage was making him immune to any pain inflicted on him.
Ironically, the strong will to survive is what was overriding Spidey's pain response to being electrocuted in the throat.
Spidey webbed Kid Arachnid in the face, which blinded him when Spidey shot for the pillar beside them and yanked it out of place, causing the ceiling above them to collapse.
Either Kid Arachnid will move out of the way out of self-preservation or he'll take the full blow of the collapsing ceiling just to keep me at bay.
Kid Arachnid chose option B and the ceiling landed right on top of him.
Spidey managed to slip away when he felt an interruption in the flow of electricity and kicked Kid Arachnid off of him and rolled away. He put a hand to his throat and looked up to see Kid Arachnid pushing the ceiling off of him.
Kid Arachnid may have survived the attack, but Spidey could tell by the way his head was limping that he got hit in the back of the head hard and was suffering from a concussion.
While Kid Arachnid was suffering from a concussion, Spidey turned and fought with Scarlet, exchanging a few blows here and there but Spidey was quicker. He blocked a few with his forearms and legs but nothing Scarlet threw was enough to cause him pain. That's why he switched to a new web combination on his web-shooters.
Spidey's spider-sense warned him of imminent danger coming from Scarlet's new web-combination.
Web bullet?
A web shot out as fast as a bullet but Spidey managed to dodge it by doing a front flip and landed on Scarlet's shoulders and began pounding his fist into Scarlet's scout.
Scarlet grabbed Spidey by the legs and threw him to the ground. Spidey shot two webs to a ceiling that was still intact and performed a maneuver that shot them both in the air and landed on the ground with Spidey on top of Scarlet.
Spidey's spider-sense went off.
I was wondering when you'd recover, Morales.
Kid Arachnid ripped a pillar out of place and swung it like a baseball bat at Spidey. Spidey was quicker and in one fluid motion, yanked Scarlet to his feet and used him as a human shield as the pillar made contact.
The pillar sent both Spidey and Scarlet flying across the construction site like a ragdoll. Scarlet took the full blow of the hit so he was the one in the most pain. Spidey took advantage of the fact that they were flying and rotated around so Scarlet was behind him, thus, making Scarlet also take the full blow from the cement wall they subsequently crashed into.
The cement wall wasn't enough to stop them completely so they crashed through and landed on the ground and kept rolling. To be specific, Scarlet Spider's body was the one rolling across the ground with Spidey standing on Scarlet's back like a guy on a skateboard.
Once the Scarlet Spider skateboard finally came to a stop, blood was smeared across the floor that didn't belong to Spidey and Spidey used this opportunity to snatch Scarlet's web-shooters off of him.
These guys are amateurs, unBELIEVABLE amateurs. I've been fighting villains and supervillains for two years now and these guys come along, thinking they can take on Spider-Man just because they think they're the protagonist of this story. How sorely mistaken they are. These guys don't know how to properly hold back or how much energy to PROPERLY exert.
Spidey turned back to Kid Arachnid, who dropped the pillar he was holding and charged for Spidey. They leaped at each other and bumped heads hard. Still slightly disoriented from the concussion from earlier, Kid Arachnid winced and was thrown off his equilibrium.
Spidey threw him to the ground and caused another pillar to fall down and trap Kid Arachnid underneath it. Spidey web-yanked a cinder block towards him and began hammering into Kid Arachnid's skull.
I'm going to kill him. I'll kill them all.
Spidey managed to get only two hammers in when Kid Arachnid kicked the pillar off of him and launched it at Spidey. Spidey dropped the cinderblock and spun on his heels to avoid the pillar.
Kid Arachnid picks up the cinderblock and smashes it into Spidey's foot. Technically, he was aiming for Spidey's knee but he moved out of the way in time.
Spidey winced in pain and adjusted the web combinations on his newly stolen web-shooters. He shoots a taser-web at Kid Arachnid's face, electrocuting and making him fall to the ground.
Spidey quickly switches to another combination and chooses web-grenade. He shoots the grenade at Kid Arachnid's chest and the grenade explodes, trapping him to the ground.
With Kid Arachnid temporarily out of commission, Spidey turned in the nick of time as Scarlet Spider snuck up on him.
Lacking any available web-shooters on him, Scarlet relied on close-quarters combat to engage Spider-Man. Like before, Spidey dodged each attack or blocked and only counterattacked. Spidey caught Scarlet's forearm with one hand and wrapped his hand around the throat with the other. Spidey leaps into the air, taking Scarlet with him as they collide with the ceiling and leave a crack behind.
Scarlet ripped free from Spidey's grip and managed to get behind him and put Spidey in a chokehold. Spidey wasn't having it and he leaped into the air once more, bending forward slightly to angle Scarlet Spider forward a little. Scarlet's head crashed into the ceiling and he winced in agony.
They fell to the ground with Spidey landing on his feet and Scarlet still clinging to him. Spidey throws Scarlet to the ground and does a front flip above him which ends with his knees plunging into Scarlet's stomach.
Spidey quickly leaped away and ran for a rebar laying on the ground. He intended to use it as a weapon and turned around in time and swung it down on the still-dazed Scarlet Spider like a golf club.
Spidey raised the rebar to stab Scarlet in the chest but was interrupted when Kid Arachnid escaped from the web-grenade binding and shot a web at Spidey's rebar-carrying hand.
Spidey ripped the rebar free and looked at Kid Arachnid.
"Weak…" he hissed softly in his deep and guttural voice. "Like… your… un-cle."
"Fuck you," Kid Arachnid cursed. "I'm going to kill you."
"Good," Spidey praised.
"Kid," Scarlet gasped, "don't kill him, don't!"
Without heeding Scarlet's words, Kid Arachnid leaped for Spidey, lunging for his waist. He tackled Spidey to the ground and they went rolling across the ground with the rebar still in Spidey's hand. As they were rolling, Spidey kicked Kid Arachnid off of him and raised the steel bar above his head to hit him.
Kid Arachnid activated the electricity in his hands and held his hands up to grab the rebar.
Hold a metal rod above his head, forcing him to activate his electricity powers, then allow me to get electrocuted. I just thought of that plan on the spot; how smart am I?!
Spidey gets electrocuted and smoke begins steaming off his body. Spidey pushed down the pain by retreating into a corner in his mind.
Huh, there are SO many volts of electricity he has the ability to shoot out. He's a very dangerous boy. That's why I have to take him down and I have a plan.
Spidey let go of the steel bar and fell on his back. Spidey staggered to his feet before Kid Arachnid uppercut him so hard that Spidey was flying back through the air. Spidey landed on the ground with a yelp of pain. Kid Arachnid's front flipped forward and socked Spidey twice in the jaw with an electricity-powered fist.
Spidey blocked the next punch but suffered another uppercut to his chin and his head nearly snapped back. Spidey threw a punch back at Kid Arachnid, who caught his fist and electrocuted him.
He proceeded to flip Spidey over his waist and sent him sprawling to the ground. He planted his knee into his chest and began pounding his electricity-powered fist into his face. Spidey kicked him off with minimal effort but Kid Arachnid was stubborn. He resisted the next few kicks Spidey had to offer and refused to let go of Spidey.
Without missing another beat, Kid Arachnid uppercut Spidey up the jaw once more, making Spidey hit the back of his head against the floor and disorient him.
Kid Arachnid climbed on top of Spidey's chest and began delivering as many electricity-powered punches to his face as he possibly could. He did not stop until his knuckles were bleeding from the inside of his gloves and even then when he felt the wet and warm liquid dripping down the fingers of his gloves, he proceeded to punch Spidey.
Spidey thrust his hips up, making Kid Arachnid tilt forward and he punched Kid Arachnid as hard as he could. Kid Arachnid fell back but got to his feet first. Spidey was too slow to react and sore in the muscle areas to get up quickly and Kid Arachnid used that to his advantage.
Kid Arachnid lunged for Spidey's waist before supplexing him face-first into the ground. Spidey groaned and rolled onto his back and curled into a fetal position when he was kicked in his stomach. Without hesitating, Kid Arachnid stomped onto Spidey's head with his right foot before alternating to his left foot.
"This is for my uncle!" Kid Arachnid shot webs at a cinder block, yanked it towards him, and smashed it into the top of Spidey's head.
Spidey's head goes limp and his eyes get heavy behind his mask.
The plan I discussed with Venom can only work if Venom is here. Where in God's name is Venom? It doesn't matter, I can still win. No, I WILL win.
With Spidey injured and incapacitated on the ground, Kid Arachnid let his shoulders go limp as he turned around and slowly moved over to pick something off the ground. It was another cinderblock and Kid Arachnid knew exactly what he was going to do with said cinderblock.
Spidey looked up and scooted away as he saw the vindictive Kid Arachnid approach him holding the cinderblock in his left hand. Spidey flinched when the young vigilante held the cinderblock above his head, eyes staring into Spidey's emotionless soul.
And if Ben Reilly is just like I profiled him to be and based on what he said earlier… Reilly should be intervening in three…two…one.
Scarlet Spider jumped in Kid Arachnid's path and stopped the young boy from smashing the cinderblock on Spidey's head.
"You'll kill him," the injured Scarlet Spider warned, "you don't want that."
"Yes I do," Kid Arachnid argued as he tried to bring the cinderblock down but Scarlet Spider didn't budge.
"It's not," Scarlet said, "trust me, I know."
Kid Arachnid sighed heavily and looked Scarlet in the eyes a sad look blooming behind his mask but Reilly didn't have to see his face to know what he was feeling.
As Kid Arachnid slowly stopped giving pressure into slamming the cinderblock down, the more he realized that he and Reilly had so much in common and how that he wasn't going through this alone. They weren't just Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid, they were two people who lost their uncles, murdered right in front of them, and they both stared into the abyss where they almost just stopped caring.
Somehow, Reilly had managed to escape from falling into the abyss before it consumed him, and here he was preventing Miles from falling into the same abyss.
Kid Arachnid relented and slowly put the cinderblock down, the heavy object suddenly becoming too heavy for him as he dropped it to the ground.
HAHAHAHA, I've won, I'VE WON!
Spidey web-yanked the rebar back to him and stabbed Scarlet Spider in the back. He plunged the steel bar halfway into Scarlet's back until he severed his carotid artery.
Scarlet didn't even scream as he collapsed to the side, leaking red like a juice box.
"Scarlet," Kid Arachnid gasped. He looked at Spidey as he threw the steel bar over the young boy's head. Kid Arachnid growled. "You son of a bitch!"
Kid Arachnid was stabbed in the back. He collapsed to the ground next to Scarlet, landing on his side with his back stiffening. He gasped completely caught off guard and confused as to why his spider-sense didn't go off. And when he saw his attacker, it all made sense.
"Guess who's back, back again!" Silk laughed.
"Silk?"
Silk stood above Kid Arachnid holding the steel bar covered in his and Scarlet Spider's blood. Kid Arachnid looked to his left to check on Scarlet but his life had already expired before his eyes.
"How could you," he sobbed at Silk, "how could you do this?"
"Because she is mine," Spidey answered, not bothering to try to disguise his voice. He looked down at the ground and marveled at the sight of Kid Arachnid bleeding out faster than he could comprehend. "Silk and I go back a long time."
Spidey looked at Silk and realized that her eyes were half-open.
I know EXACTLY what's going on. Venom bonded to Cindy when she was sleeping and has been keeping her unconscious while he controlled her body like a puppet. He must've tracked me using the trackers on Reilly and Morales. Because he was possessing Cindy and Morales knows Cindy, his spider-sense didn't go off when she stabbed him from behind.
He looked at Scarlet's corpse.
I caught Reilly off guard because his spider-sense doesn't respond to me.
He smiles behind his mask.
It's EXACTLY as I planned. The plan I discussed with Venom was this: I get into a battle with the three copy-spiders and then I separate Cindy from the other two. After that, I fight Kid Arachnid and Scarlet and drive Kid Arachnid to his breaking point. I'd hit him in the emotional weak spot and provoke him into trying to kill me. Knowing the kind of person Scarlet is, I'd expect him to stop Kid Arachnid and when he's distracted I stabbed him with a weapon, and then I have Venom sneak up on Kid Arachnid disguised as Cindy and kill Kid Arachnid.
"Silk is my girlfriend. Are you not, Cindy?"
Silk nodded. Kid Arachnid's eyes widened. Spidey stepped over the bleeding-out Kid Arachnid before approaching Cindy. He yanked her mask down and bestowed a kiss upon her, one that he made sure was unmissable by Kid Arachnid.
"You've done well, Cindy."
The symbiote bonded to Cindy escaped through her skin and bonded to Spidey once more.
"Hello, David, I missed you."
"So did I."
Silk collapsed to the ground.
Knowing that Kid Arachnid had only a few more seconds of life left, Spidey kneeled beside Kid Arachnid and ordered the symbiote to pull itself from his face, exposing his identity to the dying boy.
"Oh my god…" Kid Arachnid gasped with wide eyes.
"Hello, Miles," David smiled sadistically. "It's been fun but it's time for you to move on. But don't worry, I just want to let you know that I'll be taking good care of Cindy. And don't worry about missing Christmas with your parents; I'm going to send your Dad where you'll be going in just a few days."
Kid Arachnid's eyes were too heavy to stay open.
"Say hello to Uncle Aaron for me."
And just like that Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid are DEAD.
After the deaths of Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid, Spidey carried the unconscious Silk over his shoulder and swung off with her. Due to the symbiote bonding with her than leaving her, she was naked and shivering in her sleep. Spidey did the chivalrous thing and ripped Kid Arachnid's jacket from his body and used it to cover Silk.
Once Silk was back home in her bed, sleeping naked, Spidey swung back into the city, collected Copeland's corpse once more, then swung back to the construction site and set it on fire. Before he did that, he had decapitated Reilly and fed him to Venom to keep him satisfied before removing Kid Arachnid's mask.
He poured gasoline all over the construction site and set it on fire. Before he did so, however, he made an anonymous tip to the police, who arrived several minutes later. As the construction site went up in flames Spidey quickly stripped himself of his inorganic black Spider-Man suit that Black Cat made for him and put it on Copeland's corpse.
He had the Venom symbiote briefly take over Copeland's corpse to make him stand and just as the flames engulfed him, he retreated back to Spidey.
Spidey swung back, having Venom morph into his casual clothing, and then took a good look at his handiwork on the news.
With Roderick
With the goddamn police off his tail for once, Roderick worked his hours at Kingsley's Fashion before retiring at his brother's house. He stretched his arms out as he dropped his jacket onto the floor, not bothering to pick it up, and turned on the TV to check on any updates on Spider-Man. To say he was shocked was an understatement.
Jameson was doing a report. "Another fire this Christmas, ladies, and gentlemen, caused by the menacing spider crew at a construction site. But here's a shocker, in what looks like to be a fight to the death between the black-suited Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, and Kid Arachnid, all three of them have perished. The black-suited Spider-Man was burned to death, the Scarlet Spider was decapitated and Kid Arachnid bled to death. Shockingly, in other news, the police have found out Kid Arachnid's true identity but because he is a minor, they won't leak his identity to the public."
Roderick quickly muted the television and watched camera footage someone took of the black-suited Spider-Man burning in the flames.
But he knew better.
"You're not dead, Spider-Man," Roderick said. "You faked your death so the police won't be after you." He stroked his chin. "Is that why you faked your death or is it something else?"
He thought for a few moments but decided not to dwell on it. "Eh, I guess it doesn't matter."
He looked back at the screen and narrowed his eyes. "You killed Reilly and Morales, however, you weren't supposed to do that." He sighed and his face fell into his hand. "Gargan, Davis, Morales, and Reilly, quite a death toll that is."
He folded his arms over his chest. "I gotta do something about Spider-Man before he comes after me. I've already come too far to give up now." He rubbed the back of his head carefully, scratching his hair and messing his hair up a bit. "What to do… what to do…"
He turned to the fridge and took out a beer bottle. He uncapped the bottle and took a big swing.
"Whatever your plan is, Spider, it won't work."
He takes the bottle with him as he gathers his things and heads off into his car. He begins driving to the subway, beer still in hand, as he parks up a curb. He finishes the beer bottle before heading down into the subway tunnels and back to his base of operations.
When he got there, something felt off. No, it wasn't the fact that he still had costumes for his two dead partners, not that, but his near-perfect memory immediately picked up on something that was missing.
Specifically, the vial of green liquid he left there. When he saw that it was missing, his rage ambushed him tenfold.
"Spider-Man," he hissed. "You broke into my fucking home. Oh, you are so going to pay."
He had to unclench his fists unless he wanted to risk digging his nails into the skin of his palms.
His eyes widened and he smiled. "I just thought of a perfect plan. I'm going to lure you out into the open and I know how I'm going to do it."
He marches over to his desk and moves to the bottom drawer. He opens it, pulls out the false bottom, and removes several pages he's stolen from Barton Hamilton's office and photos he's printed out.
He stole the files on himself and replaced them with fake copies of his brother's and as for the photos, he managed to take photos of the files of every other patient Dr. Hamitlon ever had a session with.
Not only that but he listened to all tapes and recorded them separately on his several phones.
He flipped to the first file he photographed. "David Dante, a boy living with ASPD. You think you can play the entire world, let's find out, shall we?"
Downtown
"I need to see him," Jefferson David spoke to the officer in front of him. "Please, I need to see him."
The officer standing before him pushed him back. "Sergeant Davis, I don't think you want to."
"Let me see my son," Jefferson yelled.
The officer moved out of the way, allowing Jefferson to rush over to the gurney where his son's dead body was being taken away.
"It can't be him," Jefferson shook his head. "No, not Miles."
"I'm sorry for your loss," the paramedic spoke. "First your brother, now your son. I can't imagine what you're going through." The paramedic suddenly smiled. "One's a hero and one's a villain, congratulations; you're in a superhero story, am I right?"
Jefferson glared at the paramedic. His smile vanished.
"My apologies." The paramedic put the sheet over Miles's dead face before loading him into the ambulance.
Jefferson turned away before he could watch them load his corpse of a son in and was met by Captain Hardy.
"How are you holding up?" the captain asked.
"Not good," Jefferson answered honestly. "First Aaron, and now Miles. Why did it have to be them?" He looked up at Hardy with sad eyes. "Why them? What have they done to deserve this? Why must they suffer?"
Hardy looked down at the ground with closed eyes. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I kinda know what you're going through in a way."
"Losing someone you love?"
Walter meant being related to a superhuman but decided not to say anything. "Yeah. I lost my brother and my niece one time."
"Didn't know you had a niece and brother."
"Not something I'd like to dwell on. But, yeah, I lost them a couple of years ago but it was kinda similar to your situation."
"Were they also superheroes and villains?" Jefferson raised his hands. "Look, if this is your way of trying to make me feel better, spare me. I just…" He waved his hands before dropping them. "I need to call my wife. I need to tell her and I need to tell her in person."
"Take the rest of the day off," Walter ordered, "we'll finish up here." He leaned forward to whisper. "Do I have permission to have Miles's DNA matched up to Kid Arachnid?"
Jefferson didn't want to admit it but there was a slim hope that Miles was framed as being Kid Arachnid. Kid Arachnid was the one who killed his brother, Aaron, and the one he made a promise to Miles to take down and bring to justice. It couldn't be him, Miles couldn't be Kid Arachnid, he just couldn't be. If he was, that meant that he shot his own son in the shoulder and chased him off. He had to know Miles's innocence.
"Yes, you have permission to match Miles's DNA up against Kid Arachnid's. You call me the second the results come back."
Walter nodded. "I will." He patted Jefferson softly on the shoulder. "Take care, sergeant."
"Thanks." Jefferson hesitantly nodded before turning and walking off.
With Cindy
Waking up from her slumber, naked, Cindy quickly carried her still unconscious brother back to his room before rushing back inside and quickly putting on clothes. She was confused as to where her clothing had gone but she had more pressing things to deal with.
Like the fact that when she went into the living room with her little brother to see the TV turned on with the headline: 'Black Spider, Kid Arachnid, and Scarlet Spider DEAD!'
Cindy stopped in her tracks and stared in shock and horror as the meaning of the headline truly set in. "Holy fuck."
"No cursing," her mother scolded. She laid down a plate of toast, eggs, and crispy bacon out before Cindy. "Especially in front of Little Al." She set a cup of hot chocolate down for Cindy. "Understand?"
Cindy barely heard her mother and nodded absentmindedly. The farthest thing from her mind was breakfast as she went back into her room.
She pulled out her phone and dialed Miles's number. All she got was a long dial tone. She tried again two more times before giving up. She quickly dialed Ben's number three times and got the same results.
"No," she whispered under her breath, "no, it can't be."
She went back into the living room and grabbed her jacket. "I'm heading out."
"Eat your breakfast, Cindy," her mother ordered. "Eat up."
"Save it for me," Cindy replied. She was at the door when her father suddenly stepped in front of her. "I have somewhere to be."
"Dressed in your PJs?"
Cindy grumbled and went back into her room to grab a pair of jeans and a thick shirt to wear. Without wasting another second, she went back into the living room and much to her surprise, her mother poured her hot chocolate into a thermos and had her breakfast set up in a lunch box for her.
Cindy took the thermos and lunch box and ran out the door. There was somewhere she needed to be and for some reason, she couldn't shake the fact that David had something to do with what happened.
She decided to put David in the back of her mind; she had to race down to Ben and Miles's houses to confirm their status herself.
With David
David smiled as he watched his handiwork on TV. He folded his arms over his chest and nodded smugly, proud of himself.
With Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid dead, that leaves only four more people on my shitlist. Hobgoblin, Walter Hardy, Jefferson Davis, I'm coming for you next. And Cindy, thank you so very fucking much for helping me kill Miles. Looks like this piece of shit parasite CAN follow basic instructions.
"Only two people left of the Sinister-Savior Six."
"Yep. And I'm going to destroy them next."
"David, I have to ask, why? Why did you fake your death?"
"I didn't fake my death, I faked Venom's death, or rather, Black Spider's death."
"Why?"
"Because of one Felicia Hardy. She used her powers on me to detach you from me. If she saw me with you attached to me next time, she would've used her powers on me again. If I want to catch her off guard the next time I see her, I need her to think that Black Spider is dead. That's why I faked my death."
"Won't she realize it's not you? Won't she be asking questions as to who I bonded to?"
"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. From now on, I can only wear my red and black suit until I 'take care' of Felicia. Think you can handle black and red?"
"As long as there's black, I'll manage."
"Good."
David heard knocking on the door and answered it. Standing in the doorway was his mother with Eddie. David welcomed them both in.
"Mother," he said politely. "So, what brings you here on this fine morning, Eddie?"
"Miles," he answered, cutting to the chase. "And Mr. Reilly. Those guys went to school with us and they're Kid Arachnid and Scarlet Spider?"
Eddie looked offended. David slowly nodded. "Yeah, I was shocked too."
Eddie noticed the television on and the channel switched to the news segment. He pointed to the screen. "Those guys were the copy-spider vigilantes and now they're dead. I should be happy but I'm kinda sad."
David tilted his head. "Why's that?"
"They were kids?" He closed his eyes. "Well, Miles was but Mr. Reilly-"
"Why are you feeling any remorse for them?" David suddenly asked. "Don't you think it's a little weird that Miles, being Kid Arachnid, is nephew to Aaron Davis, AKA, the Prowler? Who's to say they weren't in cahoots? If anything, you should be grateful that they're dead."
Eddie shook his head. "It's always the adults in the family, it's always the adults in the family who are assholes." He wiped his eyes. "I took pictures at the construction site. I fucking took pictures of the pool of blood they left behind. I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record-"
"Broken record? I've heard some people say the same thing about Miles and Ben for the umpteenth time; trust me. Today's a day of nothing but broken records." He shoves his hands into his pockets. "But allow me to break the status quo."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm glad that Miles and Ben are dead."
Eddie winced. "Why?"
"They went after Spider-Man," David said angrily. "I've always hailed Spider-Man as the greatest of all time and Kid Arachnid and Scarlet Spider went after him. They tried to bring Spider-Man down and look where it got them; they paid the price. They're dead." He smiled gleefully. "They dead."
Eddie groaned in disgust. "Oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with you? You have been acting extremely off your game lately."
"Fuck you," David snapped. "What's so fucking different about me?"
"There?" Eddie pointed. "Why are you so angry? Are you on Santa's naughty list or something?"
"Santa isn't real."
"Fuck you, he is real."
"David," Misa scolded, "calm down."
David rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
Eddie squared up to David's shoulders. "Don't roll your eyes at your mother."
"Fuck off, you're not my father."
Eddie shook his head. "I'm going to go. Obviously, you're going through something, I don't know what the fuck it is, but I hope you get help. Good, fucking help. Like a therapist. A real one, not one who has casual sex with their patients. You can't spell 'therapist' without 'rapist'."
Eddie bumped into David's shoulder as he left the apartment. David looked down at his shoulder.
You're next, Eddie.
Misa went and locked the door tightly. She looked over her shoulder back at him with a disappointed look on her face. "David, are you okay?"
"For fuck's sake, why does everyone think there's something wrong with me?"
Misa narrowed her eyes. "David, as your mother, I know you well. This, you snapping, that is not something David would ever do."
"What do you know, you're just a fucking whore who flashes her tits for singles every night." Misa subconsciously tugged on her jacket. She kept a calm and level head and took a breath before choosing her next words carefully.
"We both have jobs that the other doesn't like," Misa said, "isn't that what makes things interesting?"
"You said that you like me being Spider-Man?"
"To stopping crime and saving people, none of that sadistic brutal crap. But it's something we got to put up with so the other can get by."
David rolled his eyes. He headed over to the kitchen table. Misa's eyes followed the back of his head.
"You killed Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid?"
David's head turned in her direction. "Of course… mother."
"And Black Spider?"
"Stop asking me questions, Mom."
Misa carefully moved towards her son. "I'm just trying to help, David. I think-"
David pulled a knife out of the drawer and pinned his mother to the fridge. He places the blade on her throat.
"I was beaten, humiliated, and injured by Hobgoblin and his crew. I was stabbed with an injection that caused me to lose my powers. I was shot at by the police. My girlfriend, Felicia, strips me naked in public. Eddie, for some reason, keeps rambling on about his baggage, and worst of all, all everyone ever talks about is poor Miles and Reilly, boo fucking hoo." He slowly presses the knife into his mother's throat. "And even worse than that-"
"You'd hold a knife to your own mother's throat?" Misa asked. "Where's the family loyalty in that?"
David's grip on the knife suddenly softened and his eyes went wide. He suddenly became aware of the fact that he was half a second away from slitting his mother's throat and he carefully removed the knife. There wasn't a speck of blood on the knife, meaning that he hadn't pierced his mother's skin.
David put a hand on his heart, an uncomfortable feeling from before returning. He winces and looks down at his chest, where his white spider symbol should be when was Spider-Man.
I held a knife to my mother's throat and almost killed her. That is NOT something I would do. My mother is innocent and if anyone deserves to live, it's her.
He put the knife down on the counter and steps away from his mother. His angered expression from a few seconds ago had taken the form of a blank expression, one that his mother was accustomed to seeing.
"What's going on with you?" she asked carefully.
David shook his head before looking at his mother. "I don't know."
Ever since this… thing bonded to me… I have been acting out of character. I had fantasies of raping Cindy and rape is something beneath me. Not only that but when I was about to fuck Felicia, she used her safe word numerous times but I ignored her. And worst of all, I threatened the one person in my life I might actually give a rat's ass about.
He kept his hand on his heart as he said, "I apologize for any inconvenience I might have caused."
It's the symbiote, it enhanced my powers tenfold but it also must've enhanced my aggression tenfold. I've been getting angry quicker, having short fuses, and targeting people like Felicia's father just for using their powers on me. AND I paid a homeless woman to insult Miles. While I would've paid to see something like that-
He quickly shook his head.
Shut up, David. This symbiote, I have to get it off.
A/N: A lot has happened in this chapter: Kid Arachnid and Scarlet Spider dying and David realizing that the symbiote is making him aggressive. A LOT is going to happen in the next few chapters.
