"So, what's up doc?" The slightly nervous Spider-Man asks from his seat. His "seat" being the wall of the room he was in.
"Classic line or not, that has gotten so old after all these years", says the Doctor Strange from his own seat. The place he sits is several feet off the floor, crossed legs floating in mid air.
"I will return to my duties", Wong cuts in. He wasn't sitting at all.
Doctor Stephen Strange nods his head to the departing Wong and turns his attention to Spider-Man. Lowering to the ground, he lands softly on his feet and addresses his guest. "How can I help you Spider-Man?"
The dark form of Spider-Man stares at the floor in front of him, trying to figure out how to word his request. "I think", he begins slowly, "that I'm cursed".
Someone like Sue or Reed would have scoffed at the statement, Reed having several charts and graphs to prove otherwise.
Strange however merely raised an eyebrow and asked for his guest to continue.
The web-slinger takes a deep breath and let's it out. "I mean, how else would you explain it? Do you know half the things I've been through? From day one, nothing but death and failure. How can anyone suck so much? And now, I've got nothing. Both of my identities are hated. No job, no home of my own. I mean, DD and Elektra have let me stay with them, but how much more can they stand of me before they kick me out too. I don't know how much more I can take." He ends his rant by plopping down in an oversized armchair. During his speech he had gotten on the floor and paced around wringing his hands.
Strange takes it all in and thinks for a moment. "So, you automatically think curse?" The question is delivered with a bit of dry amusement.
"It's happened before", Spidey says and pouts. He didn't think it was funny at all.
"Yes", the doctor concedes, "it has. But that had been a product of your friend Black Cat and her "bad luck" aura."
"Another person who doesn't want a thing to do with me", the masked man sighs out. "But what about something other than that? I mean, some demon who's who snacking on my karma or something? Maybe my parents ticked off a wizard or something and cursed their first born?"
The doctor pinches his brow. "Spider-Man. All of life's pains can't be attributed to the occult or outside forces. Sometimes, things happen to good people. I know you feel it is not fair, and I share your sympathies." Strange raises his hands in front of him, the skilled surgeon hands that were damaged beyond complete repair. Hands that have not since been able to save lives in a hospital room. "But it is how we deal with these setbacks that I believe is important."
"I know doc", Spider-Man says in a small voice. "But I wish I had answers. So much has happened because of me." He rests his head in his hands, "I don't know." Getting up from the chair, almost in a daze, he walks toward the door to let himself out. "Sorry to bother you doc."
"Wait", Strange grabs the younger man's shoulder and gets his attention. "There... does seem to be something off in your mannerisms just now. And I thought I sensed something." He narrows his eyes in focus. "But it's gone now."
"No Doctor Strange, you were right. It was nothing. I will deal with it on my own", Spider-Man turns to leave again, but an invisible force stops him.
Hands glowing and a dead language on his lips, Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts gestures to the figure in front of him. A strong wind picks up in the room and spins anything not held down or heavy enough.
Spider-Man's body thrashes in the magical hold of Doctor Strange, but his voice comes out weak and struggling. "D-doc? What's h-happening?"
"Fight Spider-Man! Fight for your soul!" Strange screams over the winds. "It's stronger than it should be, the strongest I've ever seen! You have to fight it!"
Fight?
Why fight?
He was too tired to fight. Tired of the pain and heartache, tired and dissapointing Aunt May and Jay and-
Wait a second.
Didn't he just go through this not too long ago? Quickly thinking over the past few weeks, it seemed like his life stuck on a loop.
Depression.
Dark thoughts.
Someone reaching out to help him.
Feeling better until the next episode.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
What's going on?
That's when he felt it. A small tingle in the back of his head.
Spider-Sense.
Danger.
But where?
Focusing on that tingle, his body fighting against Doctor Strange, he tries to discover the source of this danger. Following it, he turns his focus inward, and finds himself being pulled. He's been through enough lately to know where this will end up.
His mindscape.
Something was affecting his mind.
Turning his attention all around, he notices that his mind once again looks like Queens. After a fight between the Hulk and Thing over the last slice of pizza.
His mind was crumbling, something was killing him slowly.
Turning his perception around, trying to find the source of this damage, he's unprepared for the sight he sees.
Some... thing. Something with feelers, millions of them stuck in the concrete and buildings, and an infinite amount waving angrily in the air. Parked right where the house he grew up in should have been.
Well nuts to that.
He looks around for something he can throw or beat this thing with, only to now realize he has no hands. He has no body period. He's just his own senses, watching his very being be torn down.
Maybe this was for the best. Take him out painlessly, to spare everyone the trouble of dealing with him. Just give up and let this thing take his body and-
"Stop." The sound of his own voice startles him, and the thing pauses in its movements.
How could he speak with no mouth? Better give up trying to figure this-
"Stop it." This is starting to feel familiar to him.
Octavius.
He HAD fought this fight before. Give up-
"No." Octavius had him beaten on the street below. Give u-
"NO", he grabbed his head and realized he had hands. And a head. Looking down, he sees his body, covered in his black spider suit, slowly fading into reality. This was different. Almost the exact opposite of how it felt to fade away. Wasn't it a relief when you faded-
"Wait", Spider-Man interrupted the weird voice. Wasn't there something then that had made him give up? He fought, but it wasn't with everything. He tried, but he was so tired. Sleep sounds good doesn't-
"Wait a minute", he says a little more forceful. Things start adding up in his head. Ever since the Registration Act, no. Ever since that weird mumbo jumbo Strange pulled to give him back his identity. Should have given up-
"Enough", this thing was trying to distract him. Ever since then, he's been a bit tired. Strange said it was normal, that the spell that they would lay on him might take some getting used to, that fatigue might happen. Sleep-
But it stuck with him. He took a few months off afterward to rest and recuperate. But did he feel rested? You could rest forev-
No. He threw himself back into crime fighting. And then the bad stuff started happening. Bad always happens around y-
People died. Mistakes were made. He should have been better than that. He IS better than that. Don't you deserve rest-
This THING kept ringing in his ears. Trying to make him give up. Give up-
Was this thing with him since then? Give Up-
Martha and Billy. Marla. Silver Sable. Give UP-
During the fight with Octavius?
GIVE UP!
Spider-Man stood in the middle of the street, looking down at the road. Slowly, he raises his hand up to the back of his mask and pulls it off.
The thing twitches and shakes it's tentacles in anticipation.
Letting out a long sigh, Peter Parker drops the mask to the ground and for a long moment, does nothing.
A long tentacle emerges from the thing and lowers down in front of Peter. Two lids peel back revealing a grotesque eye, half the size of the man in front of him. The eye moves close to him, in preparation to devour the host of this body.
Give... Up...?
Peter's head rises from his stare off with the ground. The first thing that the "thing" notices is wrong, is the smirk on the face of the host that's about to be devoured. The second, the deterioration of the host's mind has stopped. The third is the hand pointed directly at the eye, in a VERY familiar shape.
"Make me", Peter quips before unleashing web hell on the vulnerable eye in front of him.
The thing cries out in shock and pain, a sound that Peter feels more in his head than anything. It's feelers shake in the air like those tube guys at a car dealership.
Peter jumps into action, hitching a web line onto the retracting eye thing that shoots him into the air.
Give up meat sack!
"I know you are but what am I?" He retorts, web swinging through the air using the things tentacles as anchors. Swinging in a circle around it, he sees the size of the thing and goes closer to the main body.
You can't win!
"Have you lost weight? What's your secret?" Peter babbled at the thing, noticing it DOES look like it's shrunk a few thousand pounds. He dodges another set of tentacles as he lands on the body. Peter kicks it into high gear and pinballs around, punching, kicking, and webbing anything that moves.
Your efforts are as a flea's to a dog!
"Are you calling yourself a dog?" He moves too quick for the human eye as he dodges and evades a constant barrage of tentacles. "You got a poor self image, you know that? And that's something coming from me."
The thing mind shrieks in rage. It's now a mass of tentacles hanging off of what looks like a bloated tick, half the size of the old Daily Bugle building, covered in webs. Peter knew his shooters didn't have that much web, and he never reloaded, but they were in his mind so he just rolled with it.
You couldn't even defeat Octavius, how can you hope to defeat me?
"My charm and dance moves?" Slip into the Way of the Spider and fight off three tentacles.
Your friends aren't here, they won't help you!
"Well duh, we're in my mind remember?" Split kick in the air and dodge a hit from the side.
Resistance is futile!
"Wow, ripping sci-fi shows now? Getting kind of desperate." Plant feet on a limb trying to throw him and set two web anchors.
You are nothing!
The thing swings a limb and Peter let's his feet go to fly several blocks down the street. He KNOWS that his web anchors shouldn't have held, or stretched this far, but this is his mind. He'll decide what happens in here. And no one else, never again.
YOU ARE NOTHING!
"You're wrong", Peter says as the elastic webs snap back like a rubber band. The speed of the human missile shreds the black costume away, revealing red and blues. Just before he hits this creature, Peter's face peels away, revealing a red mask with large white eyes and a web pattern stretched over it.
"I'm Spider-Man."
The aftermath is tremendous. In the center of this thing, a black hole appears. It starts sucking in the mass of this thing and then the tentacles like spaghetti. It's feelers in the ground start coming up like roots from a tree that's knocked down. It all gets sucked into this hole in the middle of the sky. When it's done, the hole blinks into nothingness.
When Spider-Man opens his eyes again, he's staring into a Strange face.
"Ha, ha, Ow. Funny thoughts hurt", he groans and tries to sit up off the floor.
"Take it slow my friend, you've been through a great ordeal." Strange turns and takes a glass of water from Wong. Must have shown up during the chaos.
"Feels like someone tried to bikini wax my soul all over", Spider-Man croaked, lifting his mask part way and takes the water. "What happened?"
"A rare psychic parasite, a kind that I have not run into into a very long time", Strange answers him as he and Wong help him into the chair. "It feeds off of the host's soul until it can take over and completely dominate the body."
"Jeez, been there and done that", Spider-Man quips in a cracked voice. Felt like he screamed it raw.
"Drink the water, it's been treated with special herbs to help your throat."
"Thanks. So what happened to that thing?"
Wong exits the room with the empty glass and Strange continues conversing. "You fought it off. You defeated it inside yourself, which unlatched it from you, and allowed the spells I wove to send it back to where it belongs."
"Yay me", Spider-Man says and takes a deep breath. "So where did that thing come from?"
Strange stands up and searches his mind for the right words. "This creature is rare because of its prey. It searches for those that deny their nature strongly. This inner turmoil is food for the creature. It will plague the victim, sending them into a downward spiral of depression and grief. Eventually, it will consume the soul and take over the body, searching for more victims. Usually, the entire process takes a month at most."
"But I got the one on steroids? Figures." The man in the chair sighs and coughs. His throat wasn't finished healing.
"I believe it was the strength of your spirit that allowed you to survive so long." Strange begins using his magic to rearrange the room back into its former shape.
The Web-Head rubs his throat and thinks. Denying his nature. Could he mean, "the spell you cast for me? Was that me denying my nature?"
Strange pauses in thought. "Yes, I believe so."
"But, I had those extra abilities for a short time."
"But from what I understand, they were only scratching the surface of your potential."
"Talking with Spiders? Pym does that kind of thing all the time and he doesn't look like he's got magic parasites."
"But that wasn't abilities granted to him from an irradiated spider."
"Touche", Spider-Man sinks into the chair a little further.
"Your extra gifts", Strange started, "there was a reason you were given them."
"The spell needed a "power source" to run." Spidey drifts into his memories. "A battery, and a mystical conduit to link the spell to the recipient."
"I'm not condemning you. It was a decision I agreed with after all."
"Giving up a few bells and whistles to protect my family didn't seem like a bad plan. I would have gladly given away all my powers to make them safe."
"But not all of your abilities were mystical. Your original powers came from that spider. The ordeal with the Queen unlocked part of them, and got the ball rolling so to speak."
"Then I gave all that away for a spell that erased the knowledge of my identity. Wow, that giant weird talking spider is probably really disappointed in me right now."
"And that turmoil, the sense of something being pulled away from you, the sense of being incomplete, is what must have attracted the parasite."
"Huh. Now what?"
Strange thinks for a moment. "Well, I must do some research. The thing was incredibly strong, and usually they're much more subtle than that. Something must have changed dramatically if it was making obvious attempts to control you with devouring your soul."
Spider-Man thinks for a moment as well. "What about someone else taking over my body?"
"Ah, you mean "SpOck Fest"?", Stephen grinned slightly at his friend's groan of protest. "The possibility of something else appearing and possibly discovering it's presence? Yes, that might have set it off. You're obviously harder to digest than it's normal victims. It was probably getting desperate. Desperate enough to force you to make bigger mistakes and act out of your normal character."
"Oh", Spider-Man shrugged and stood up. "There's some people that will be glad to hear that." Stretching, his back pops a few times. "Is there any long term side effects?"
"None that I'm aware of, but you should probably go home and rest a few days", Strange answers his friend.
"No can do doc!" He adjusts his mask over his face and turns to Strange. "I feel like a new man and there's bad guys to bust."
Strange chuckles a bit and starts to lead his guest out. "Of course. No rest for Spider-Man."
Spider-Man's grin is wide, but slowly falls when Strange's face turns serious.
"Make no mistake Peter." Strange's use of his real name draws all of his attention. "It was fortuitous that you came here and spoke to me. Much longer, and I'm certain you would have been devoured and a shell for that thing. It creates deep mental anguish and feeds on it, but it doesn't create them from nothing. The things you've been through, must have left a deep mark on you. I say this, as your doctor, ally, and friend. Get help. Work out your issues. Please, if you keep going into battle like you do, do it with clear mind. For your sake, and everyone else's."
In front of the exit, Spider-Man stares at the doctor. In partial shock at Strange's words, he nods his head and turns to leave.
Outside, the sky was pouring rain. But to Spider-Man? It was like he was feeling it for the first time. What a difference a little exorcism makes.
He aims his hand to fire a web, but pauses and turns back to Strange, standing just on the other side of the open doorway.
"Hey doc? If my mystic powers were what was fueling the spell, and that was broken awhile back, what about those powers? What happened to them?"
Strange cocks another small grin, bids his friend goodnight, and closes the door.
Spider-Man stands there staring at the door. He mulls over the interaction a bit and decides to think on it later.
Jumping into the air on a silk-like thread, Spider-Man thinks on the advice that the doctor gave him. It would be his greatest battle yet, but maybe it's time he talked to someone.
-The Next Day-
Emma Frost knocks on the apartment door in a decent building in Hell's Kitchen.
When Matt Murdock managed to call her this morning, she thought about hanging up on him and going about her day. But listening to him explain the situation, she was intrigued.
A friend could use some psychiatric help, no questions asked. Well, she wasn't an expert, but she did dabble when she had her psychic powers, and the students needed someone to talk to.
So, come here to Murdock's apartment, pretend to listen for a bit, give some vague advice, get payed, and a highly talented lawyer/vigilante would owe her a favor.
Interrupting her train of thought, the door is opened by a tall woman with dark hair and an annoyed expression.
"Frost", she backs out of the doorway to let the guest enter.
"Elektra", Emma replies, and steps into the apartment. Walking down a somewhat shabby hallway, she nearly walks into Murdock when he turns a corner and stands in her path.
Feeling like she was being cornered between the two vigilantes when Elektra approaches her, the platinum blonde uses her mutant power and turns to diamond.
"Easy Ms. Frost. We just wanted a word before you talk to your patient", Matt tells her, spreading his hands in surrender.
"Then speak Mr. Murdock, so we can get this over with", Emma speaks in a frosty tone.
Elektra grunts in disapproval, but says nothing more.
"Well the man you're going to speak with has been through some rough times lately, so I'm sure this won't be your only session", Matt starts in his courtroom voice. "Honestly? I'm surprised he hasn't spoken with anyone before, but nothing we can do about that. But we have a few rules before you go in."
Emma rolls her diamond eyes but motions for him to continue on.
"First, you do no't tell anyone you were here." Matt holds up one finger for emphasis.
"That's simple. I don't want anyone to know I was in this hovel anyway." Emma retorts, but jumps at a scraping sound. Turning, she sees that Elektra has taken out a small blade from somewhere and starts to sharpen it.
"Second", Matt continues, "do not tell anyone we're here. That goes for your patient as well."
Ms. Frost nods, ignoring the sound of the blade on the whetstone.
"Third, and most important", three fingers held up, turn into a pointing hand directed at the diamond woman. "Do NOT speak about ANYTHING you hear about in there with ANYONE."
"Standard doctor patient confidentiality. I understand", Emma says, eager to get this done and get away from the annoying Greek woman.
"Yes, but this will stick. NO ONE must know the things you hear in there", Matt tells her, in a no nonsense tone.
"Otherwise", Elektra snuck up and whispers in her ear, with the blade pressed into her back. "You'll get a visit from me."
In her diamond form, the blade is fairly useless, but the intention is noted.
"And me", Matt joins in. "With a subpoena. I won't harm you, but I will tear down everything around you. She'll destroy your body, I'll destroy your character." The smirk on his face speaks volumes, even without her psychic powers.
The only sign that Emma Frost is rattled any is the slight widening of her eyes. But in diamond form, and to the hearing of Matt Murdock, it might as well have been two mountains grinding against each other.
"Well", Matt turns and gestures her to follow, "make yourself comfortable and follow me."
Emma follows Murdock and turns briefly to find no trace of Elektra. A few steps later, she finds herself in front of a door, as Murdock nods and walls away.
Emma Frost shifts back to her flesh form and adjusts her clothing before knocking on the door.
"Come in", comes from the other side and she turns the knob and enters.
She finds herself in a well kept room, no trace of dirt or grime on the floor, walls, or ceiling. There's a work station of some sort in the corner, with items she assumes only Dr. McCoy would understand. Beside the bed in the middle of the far wall, is a bookshelf full of texts of advance sciences. To the right in a small table and two chairs. Sitting in one is a nervous brunette male. He looked familiar, but nothing came to mind.
"Um, hello." The man holds out a sweaty palm, "I'm Peter Parker."
Looking down at the offered hand, she steps to the table and puts her designer bag on it. "You may call me Ms. Frost."
Pulling his hand back, he nods and fumbles to speak.
Emma speaks first. "This is how this will go. You tell me your life story and I'll tell you what to do for you to feel better about yourself. Understand Mr. Parker?"
Peter looks skeptical, but shrugs. "Where do you want me to start?"
Emma's eyes narrow as she takes a seat after wiping down with a rag she carried. "From the beginning", she tells Peter sounding annoyed.
"Ah. Ok well", Peter takes a deep breath and forges on. "My parents were spies for the government and left me with my aunt and uncle before the flew over seas and were killed and framed for treason-"
"Stop", Ms. Frost interrupts him looking highly displeased. "Your friend is paying me for this, but if this is how you want to spend his money, I will start to ignore you and read a magazine I brought."
Peter's nervousness turns to amusement at her declaration. "But I'm telling you the truth."
"Riiiggghhhttt", Emma draws the word out. "Who do you think you are? A trashy soap opera star?"
Peter takes a deep breath and stands from his seat. "No", he tells her before he jumps to the ceiling and sticks, closing the distance to barely a foot face to face. "I'm Spider-Man."
Emma's eyes widen in shock and she leans back into her seat. After a moment her eyes return to a cool professionalism and she gestures him back to his seat. "Parents were spies you said?"
-In the Kitchen-
"Anything you want to tell me Elektra? I've caught some strange noises and smells around the place, and you've been acting different as well", Matt asks her while she's putting away her blade.
"Yes", Elektra turns to Matt. "After helping Peter and trying things around the apartment, I've decided." She steps closer to hold Matt around the neck, as he holds her waist.
"I want a baby."
-Abandoned Factory-
"Thanks for the help kid", Misty Knight tells her temporary partner. "I'd usually ask your old man for a sniff job, but that ain't much of an option anymore."
The young lady Wolverine walks ahead of Knight, occasionally smelling the air. "Hmm. Hearing who you were doing this for, I couldn't refuse."
"Ya, you gonna explain that to me?" Misty asks looking at some complicated machine.
"No", came from the human bloodhound. She doesn't owe anyone an explanation. No one except for him
Wolverine stops suddenly and sniffs the air strongly. She follows the smell to a corner that looked like someone had stayed there recently. A small cot and generator with several electric appliances were left around.
Getting close to the cot she smells deeply. Suddenly, her eyes widen and she turns and runs.
Misty struggles to catch up to her and asks what happened.
"It's her. She's been calling for him", Wolverine grits her teeth.
"She won't get him."
-Elsewhere?-
"Peter" "Peter" "Peter"
"Stop calling me that!" The red and black figure screamed as he dodged the teleporting women calling for someone else's name.
"This is like a dream I had once", spoke a younger but similar voice in red and blue, also dodging the strange group of identical women.
"I remember that one. They all tried to kill me. You. Us." A female in red and white webbed up one of the teleporters but sighed when she vanished from her trap.
A red and blue mass of tentacles swung around, attacking anything that got close while the oldest female in their group followed close behind.
Suddenly, all the perfect duplicates of teleporters vanished from the large, forest like room. The small group of fighters gathered together back to back and watched for trouble.
"Hmm. I'm impressed Peter. A lot more fierce than I remember", came the silky smooth voice of a familiar woman.
A loud 'bamf' is heard and the group turns their heads to the source. Several yards away from them, a woman in revealing, black and metal suit and snow white hair, almost a carbon copy of the teleporters they just fought. She stands with her arms crossed, grabbing her shoulders.
"Well, what are you waiting for lover?" She opens her arms and spreads her fingers into claws while she crouches slightly, in preparation to jump. "Come and get me."
A silence envelopes the team, before the woman in red and blue speaks. "You know? This reminds ME of a dream I had."
-Empty Apartment-
"He used to live here", She-Hulk tells the orange rock man behind her.
"Doesn't look like he's lived here for awhile", the Thing replies to the green amazon leading the search.
Looking for any sign of what she came for, all she finds is months old trash and bugs. Lots of bugs. Well, not exactly bugs.
"Lotza spiders in here", Thing takes a step and crushes about 20 of them. "Think there's some kinda connection Jenny?"
"Does Johnny try way too hard?", she cracks a grin and starts for the door. "Let's go check another lead. All these spiders are creeping me out. Like they're watching me or something."
When the heroes leave the apartment, the swarm of spiders pool together. From the center, a form starts to rise...