As Peter neared the Stark Industries building, he expected his enhanced hearing to pick up the sounds of gunfire or something that indicated a battle. He could hear plenty of that going on in the background as Happy had called, and it had taken him a matter of minutes to get there. Instead, even as he drew closer to his destination, he was met with nothing but silence. That, plus the fact that the front entrance looked like a disaster.

Was he already too late?

The doors completely gone, Peter swung inside the clear path, landing in the entrance of the building. He looked around, his stomach sick at what he saw. Bodies were lying everywhere; bullet holes and other damage having riddled through people as well as property. Some were stirring slightly, so at least some were alive.

"K-kid."

Peter glanced over to see Happy, face scrunched in pain as he leaned against the wall.

"Happy!" Peter said, his voice hushed as he hurried over to the man. "You okay?"

"Yeah, better than most probably," Happy said, wincing as he straightened his back up against the wall. He didn't appear to be bleeding anywhere, but Peter a could see a dark bruise beginning to form on the man's head.

"What happened here?" Peter asked.

"He must've gotten to at least one of our security people, maybe more," Happy explained, "because next thing we know a bunch of these guys walk in wearing these black and white masks with guns that just start shooting up the place."

"And Martin was with them?" Peter questioned.

"Yeah, I think so at least," Happy replied. "The one who appeared to be leading them looked like how you described my face when I attacked you. He tore through a lot of people at first, blasting this weird black energy from his hands."

Oh, so Martin could not only control people's minds, but he could also shoot what was likely a quantum-based energy from his hands. That was good to know.

"Where did they go?" Peter asked.

"What they are looking for is being kept in the basement," Happy said. "Go, I'll be fine; the ambulance is on the way."

Peter rose slowly. He hated to leave Happy and the other survivors of the attack like this, but he knew there was a greater potential for many others to get hurt if he didn't stop Martin Li. As he turned and headed for the elevator shaft, Peter thought about how strange this incident was compared to Martin's other tech thefts. They had all been incredibly stealthy, with not even so much as security footage to see who was responsible.

Here, however, all of that had apparently been disregarded in favor of a much more malicious and violent approach. Not only that, but now Martin was DIRECTLY leading the charge. What could have caused such a drastic change, especially when the old way was working so well?

Peter pulled open the elevator doors, gaining entry to the shaft. He leapt onto one of its walls, rapidly but quietly scaling down towards the basement. Martin and his cohorts had clearly taken the stairs, which meant there were probably quite a few of them down there, and they were clearly all armed if the damage he'd just come from was any indication. He'd have to be clever in his approach here, or he was done for.

Coming upon the doors to the basement, Peter pulled open just enough to peek inside. He could see Martin, plus at least a dozen other people in there, all wearing different variations of some creepy black and white mask that looked like something either out of Halloween or the opera. Everyone was facing away from him right now, so Peter dared to pull open the elevator doors a little further, just enough to quickly squeeze through and quietly close them back.

Leaping high onto the wall right behind him, Peter got a better of view of the room. Surveying his options, he decided that getting the guns out of the hands out of the others was the smartest move; that way, he'd only have Martin left as a true threat. He had tweaked his web shooters to be able to fire much more rapid lines that could remain attached to the device itself, and now it was time for Peter to test it out.

Moving himself into a more centralized position, Peter hung by his feet from the ceiling as he shot out both arms, rapidly firing multiple web lines from each hand, quickly latching onto their intended targets.

"Sorry guys," he said, yanking the guns away, "but we have a no touch policy here at Stark Industries."

He then dropped down to his feet, landing among the group, and Martin turned to face him.

"Listen, Mr. Li," Peter said, hoping that calling him by a different name as Spider-Man might help the whole secret identity thing. "I don't know what's going on inside your head these days, but we need to get you some help."

Martin appeared to smile lightly, turning and nodding on either side to his men. They started moving over towards the device, where some others had been already.

"Hey, did I say that you..." Peter was interrupted by his spider-sense going crazy. Moving entirely on instinct, he leapt into the air just in time to avoid what looked like some kind of... energy whip? He landed about twenty feet to the side of where he had been moments ago.

"Okay, cool toys aside, we really need to get you some help," Peter said.

The man strode toward him slowly, not appearing to be in any hurry.

"It's amusing that you think that Martin Li can here you," the man spoke up. His voice sounded distorted, as if the energy coursing through his body was serving as a built-in voice modulator.

"Umm, okay," Peter said. "Whoever you are then, stand down please. There's no need for any further violence."

"Oh, don't worry," the photonegative figure replied, "soon, this city will be mine, and nobody will get hurt anymore." He then threw his arm forward, sending a powerful blast of energy out of it that Peter barely managed to dodge in time, landing on the wall. He barely had time to recover before another blast came for him, dodging that one as well. Blast after blast came, but he managed to evade them all.

Unfortunately, that didn't matter too much, which Peter realized when he noticed that Martin's men had cracked the security surrounding the devices, removing them swiftly. Making a drastic move, Peter leapt off the wall, firing a web at Martin's eyes, blinding him. He landed behind the man and was about to fire webs to yank the devices away. If nothing else, should they get damaged during this little scuffle, it would be better than for them to end up in the wrong hands.

Martin had apparently already recovered from the webs to the face though as Peter's spider-sense rang once more. He was too committed to his current action, however, and soon found himself wrapped up in the energy whip he had successfully dodged before. Next thing he knew, he felt himself being flung back across the room near the elevator, slamming hard into the wall before collapsing into a heap on the floor.

Suddenly, a large, military looking vehicle came through a special entrance point to the basement, normally used for deliveries, and Peter looked up to see that Martin and the others were rapidly piling into the vehicle. Fighting through the effects of the impact he just took, Peter forced himself onto his feet as fast as he could, trying to give chase to the vehicle. As soon as it passed through the point it entered in, the door began to shut. Peter fired a web, yanking himself forward in an attempt to try and make it through the doors while there was still space left, but they finished closing just before he could make it.

Refusing to give up, Peter dug his hands into the doors, trying to pry them open. They were much larger and heavier than the elevator doors, but he managed to get them open enough for him to slide through all the same. He ran through the tunnel that led out into the street, barely catching the slightest glimpse of the vehicle Martin and the others had escaped in. Firing a web, Peter pulled himself up into the air, setting out after the vehicle.

His targets were going really fast, and at first Peter struggled to catch up with them. At least none of them were shooting at him, but things were made more complicated by the fact that, as he finally started to gain some ground, they started trying to run over everything and everyone in their path. Peter was repeatedly pulled away just when he thought he was about to catch them by the need to keep the innocent bystanders that were suddenly involved from getting hurt.

Finally, propelled by a long, deep swing, Peter landed on the driver side of the vehicle by the door. Punching through the glass, he landed a blow to the driver of the vehicle, knocking him out. The vehicle started slowing down, and Peter grabbed the wheel, aiming to steer it into a nearby empty construction site. Unfortunately, Martin, who had been sitting on the passenger side, lunged towards him. In having to deal with this issue, Peter lost focus on where he was directing the vehicle, and soon it spun out before tilting over sideways on the road, throwing him off in the process.

By now, several news vehicles and helicopters had caught up to the action, which Peter didn't care for too much. If Martin or one of his men were to turn on them, this whole scenario could turn ugly fast. He saw Martin come out of the vehicle, emerging perfectly unharmed. Peter fired a web, but to his surprise, Martin caught the web, yanking him forward. He then grabbed Peter's wrist, and his hands began to glow with energy.

"What are you doing?" Peter questioned as Martin forced him to his knees. "What's happening?"

"It seems like we've got an audience," Martin responded. "Let's show them what it looks like when a superhero breaks!"

Then everything went black.

When Peter opened his eyes, he was back on Titan again.

"What?" he questioned to himself as he slowly rose from his lying position. "How did..."

"So, Peter Parker; I must say, this is more than I anticipated," came a voice. Peter spun around to see that it was Martin, still with his photonegative appearance and voice.

"How did we get here?" Peter asked. "Is this even real?"

"I simply decided to take a little tour of your mind, your memories," Martin responded, strolling around. "It seems you have encountered more tragedy than most. For instance..."

Martin then gestured forward, and Peter glanced that way to find the image of himself with Mr. Stark, Dr. Strange and his other allies from that day. Once more, they immediately started turning to dust, going out in the same order as they had on that day.

"No," Peter muttered, watching as each one of them disappeared once more. "No, no..."

He found himself running over to Mr. Stark, but it was too late, as he finished dissolving when he got to him.

"You fought here, in what might be the greatest battle of all time," Martin said from behind him, "even putting up a valiant effort, but ultimately falling short. But this wasn't even the full extent of your failure, was it?"

Suddenly, the environment around them changed, and Peter was back in his old apartment, where May and Ned were.

"This is how you always pictured it in your nightmares, I'm guessing?" Martin said as May and Ned both started to disintegrate.

"No, no no," Peter said, running to Ned, who was dissolving much faster. He disappeared, and Peter turned to May, throwing his arms around her and grabbing onto her. Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time before her remains slipped out from his arms, fading away.

"You didn't just lose your allies," Martin said, "you lost the only family you had left...and it was all your fault."

"Shut up," Peter said, his grief turning to anger. He spun back to confront Martin, but as he did, the scene changed again. This time, he was back at F.E.A.S.T, and he was near the room where he had found M.J. that day. He slowly walked around to see her with her hands covering her face, sobbing.

"M.J." he said in a hushed voice.

"The girl you care so much about," Martin said. "Yet, you hurt her maybe most of all."

"I..." Peter didn't know what to say. Reliving all this stuff, from Titan, to May and Ned, and now this, it was starting to overwhelm him. He just stood there, a new piece breaking off his heart with each time she sobbed.

"You see, Peter, I can make all of this go away," Martin said. "Let me takeover, unleash your inner demon. You will never know pain again while serving a higher, greater purpose."

Peter was still stunned by what he had been forced to see and relive. It all felt as if it were truly happening all over again, like all the progress he had made over the last several weeks was coming undone faster than a poor stitching job.

"I... I can't," he managed to get out, but he wasn't sure how convincing he sounded.

"Ah, I see," Martin responded. "Still not quite there yet. Everyone has breaking point though, and maybe this will be yours."

Once more, the scene changed, and now Peter found himself in the middle of some random street in Manhattan. There was not a soul around him at first, but then a young woman suddenly was right there when he spun around.

"My fiancé and I... we were supposed to be married tomorrow," she began, her voice already breaking. "But now I'll never get to see him again, and it's all your fault."

"I... I'm sorry," Peter replied.

"My daughter was coming home from college to visit," a man said, Peter spinning around to face him. "After my wife passed, she was all I had left, and you let her just get snapped out of existence!"

"No," Peter said, "I tried, I really..."

He started to hear more voices, and soon people were beginning to crowd him, each one telling him about a husband, wife, son, mother, and so on that they'd all lost, and how it was all his fault.

"No, please," Peter said, looking around at the crowd, tears forming in his eyes. Their voices grew louder and louder, and it was starting to become overwhelming. He suddenly caught sight of Martin Li, who appeared next to him.

"Make it stop," Peter muttered, putting his hands over his ears and sinking down as the crowd continued to bare down on him.

"I can," Martin Li said, "but only if you join me." Martin then held out his hand. As the crowd continued shouting at him, he didn't know what he should do. Maybe, if this was the only way to make it all stop.

Peter started to reach forward, but then hesitated, something in him holding him back...

Suddenly, just as soon as it had consumed him, the mindscape faded around him, and Peter was opening his eyes for real. He was lying on his side in the middle of the road; moving to his hands, he glanced up to see Martin Li walking toward a man who appeared to be holding a steel pipe in his hand in a defensive position.

The man must've hit Martin, taking away his concentration, which is why he came out from Martin's mind games.

That man saved his life.

Still feeling a bit weak (physically and emotionally), Peter fought to get to his feet, lunging for Martin Li. Jumping onto the man's back, Peter wrapped his arms around the man, pulling him away from the stranger. Martin then reached behind, grabbed Peter by the arm, and threw him down on the ground again. The man then pulled a large knife, his dark energy surging through it, and stabbed Peter in the right shoulder.

"AAAGH!" Peter yelled in pain.

Martin looked like he was about to say something else, but then his cohorts drew away his attention.

"Don't worry," Martin said, turning back to Peter. "Soon, you'll find a release from your pain...one way or the other."

The man then turned and ran, leaving the blade still embedded in Peter's shoulder. He fought to get up, but could only watch as Martin and his cohorts escaped in a small caravan of other vehicles that they had confiscated. Unable to follow, Peter still got up, moving as fast as he could make himself to the vehicle, pain shooting through his right upper half with every movement. He looked in the back of the wrecked vehicle, but sure enough, the devices in question were gone.

Great, just great.

Peter slumped against the vehicle, not sure what to do next. He grabbed the blade, figuring he needed to get it out at least.

"Don't do that yet," came a voice, "you might do more damage if it you do it wrong."

Peter glanced up to find Happy there, helping him up.

"Happy?" Peter questioned. "How did you get here?"

"I drove," the man said.

"Are you serious?" Peter asked as he was being shuffled to the car, strangers crowding around him to check on him. "Your head..."

"Don't worry about me," Happy said, which did nothing to actually soothe Peter's concerns. Still, he was in no shape to argue as Happy laid him down in the back seats of his car before getting in himself. The drive back to the apartment felt like an eternity as Peter thought back to how Martin had shown him everything he'd been through all over again, like he'd ripped a band aid off his memories.

They finally made it, using the elevator to get to Happy's place. As soon as they opened the door, M.J, was already there, and she helped Happy get Peter on his side. Happy instructed M.J. to grab something for Peter to bite down on.

"Now kid, I won't lie, this is going to hurt, like a lot," Happy said.

"I don't care, just do it," Peter said through the pain. M.J. returned with a spare roll of thick medical wrap, and Peter bit down on it quickly. He looked into M.J.'s concerned eyes as he heard Happy count down.

"3, 2, 1..."

Peter let out a yell of pain through the roll before passing out.

Oh my…..

Hope you all are still enjoying it! Can't wait to show you more!

Continuing to pray for you all! Stay safe and healthy!

"My life is consumed by anguish, and my years by groaning..." Psalm 31: 10-15