Hi there, True Believers! Welcome to another all-new exciting installment of Spider-Man: Secrets of Oscorp! What has been Peter up to to prepare for the great evil and danger ahead? Just what has been hiding from Jessica for 6 months? More dark days of uncertainty filled with drama will shroud our heroes in this chapter! I hope you enjoy yourselves. Excelsior!

Disclaimer: All the characters are owned by Marvel. Also the phrase "True Believers" and "Excelsior" belong to the almighty Stan Lee.

A/N: You'll soon find out why this chapter is called Spider's Guilt. As usual, please read and review my story and I'd like to thank all my followers and readers who have favorited this story, all the thanks in the world. Thanks again!

Chapter 8: Spider's Guilt

At the time when Jessica was infiltrating Oscorp, Peter was watching the footage of Carnage's attack patterns obtained from Nick Fury and he was running through some tests with his chemistry set in his room, trying to figure out a weakness in Carnage's body. He sat there with his arms wrapped in long bandages that were tearing apart and had marks of dried blood on them.

He scratched his head in frustration and thought to himself, Damn it! Damn it all! I've spent almost a half year and I still can't find out Carnage's weakness! All this time, I've been training by practicing against a half-ass version of the symbiote that I created from my own blood, I've tried all kinds of fucking chemical permutation known the human race and I still can't find anything!

He then jumped on his bed flat on his back and let out an angry sigh as he looked into the empty ceiling and thought, I've wasted so much time. Who knows what the Osborns are up to? They could be striking the Helicarrier today. They could be striking in 10 minutes from now, and I don't have any answers.

His sweat started to glisten on his goggles as they started to flow down the lab coat that he borrowed from the Weapons and Gear lab. He tossed and turned on his bed as his laid on his bed sideways.

I still can't let Jessica know that I'm going after the Osborns as soon as I find out how to beat them. Fuck, she was so worried about me during lunch today. Poor Jessica, she had to go through that torture for a whole week without any food or water. She almost died again, all because of me…. Not to mention that the Kingpin shattered a part of her ribs 2 weeks ago…. Man, I hate it when she gets hurt.

Then he jumped up from his bed and said to himself, "Come on Spider-Man! You can't slack off now, not while Jessica's and your friends' lives are at stake."

He then sat on his desk and again as he continued to observe the twitching red goo inside the Erlenmeyer Flask.

Miriam said that Carnage's molecular structure should be weak against fire. But that's not enough. It needs to be more concentrated form of energy, much like a flamethrower but with less projection and more condensed and impactful. BUT HOW IN THE FUCK DO I ACHIEVE THAT?!

Peter then took a sip of a large Red Bull that was next to his hot chocolate and grabbed both of his web-gloves put it inside his hands. He pressed a small button inside the gloves with his thumbs as small blue flames came out of it. He thought, I'm so close. My fighting are skills are good enough to take them down, now I just need a little more power from these flames and I can do this!

Peter felt too cooped up in his room as he put his goggles and gloves back on the table and walked out from his room and walked down the hallway and went outside the door at the end of it to go outside the balcony of the Helicarrier. He stood against the railing as the lukewarm New York spring breeze brushed his face as he saw another tall man wearing a lanky lab coat with sandy blonde hair next to him. The man with the sandy blonde hair approached Peter and said, "Hi, Peter. How are things with you these days?"

Peter replied, "Hey, Dr. Conners. I'm still going through the daily grind of me getting ass kicked by top-notch S.H.I.E.L.D. agents around the clock."

Curt Conners noticed Peter's lab coat as he asked him, "What are you working on? Any cool new upgrades to your web-shooter gizmo?"

Peter chuckled as he replied, "Something like that. Inorganic nylon-adhesives don't grow on trees you know."

Curt chuckled back as he noticed Peter's heavily wrapped hands as he asked, "Well it certainly looks like you're working hard. You look like Danny Rand when he was in his teenage years."

Peter replied, "You mean, Iron Fist? I heard that he brought along his friend Luke Cage to join the Avengers last month."

Curt nodded as he added, "Me, Danny and Luke go way back since our high school days. God, Danny always used to wrap his arms around with mummy wraps from his Halloween costume and went to school every day with me. Jesus, those wraps smelled terrible. He eventually took over his dad's companies and really changed that company's unethical ways of illegally outsourcing natural resources from countries in Asia. And Luke, well Luke was a true gym rat and a heck of a linebacker in high school. He was a true friend who would always stick to your side and stand up for you no matter what you did in life, good or bad. Unfortunately, he dropped out after freshman year in high school and went to Seagate Prison for supposedly dealing Heroin, but that's a bunch of horseshit."

Peter replied with a smile, "Well, at least he's going to be an Avenger with his best friend now. Looks like that mystical Jedi power and unbreakable skin really did something good for them after all."

Curt Conners looked out into the perfect blue New York sky as he asked, "Peter, don't you want to be an Avenger too? I mean you're a superhero too, and the Big Apple's favorite to top it all."

Peter looked down at the ground and said, "What kind of a hero lets his Uncle and ex-girlfriend die on the same year? That's like the number one rule in the superhero criteria that I can't follow, so I'd be the immediate laughing stock of the team if I asked them if I could join. Can you imagine what Cap would say to me?"

Curt replied, "Hey, kid. You're only 19 years old. Don't beat yourself up until you're at least 30 years old without any marriage plans like me. And girls hate self-deprecating guys you know, especially when he's supposed to be a superhero."

Peter laughed out loud for the first time today and said, "Thanks Doc. I really needed that."

Peter added, "You know Doc, you were my greatest inspiration for science when I was in 6th grade. If it wasn't for you and all your great works, I would've never made my web-shooters and I would've never gone to that field trip to Oscorp and Spider-Man would've never existed."

Curt sighed as he replied, "Thank the lord I don't work in that shithole anymore."

Peter lightly chuckled and added, "I know how you feel Doc."

Then all of a sudden Curt scratched his neck with great irritation and Peter asked Curt, "You ok?"

Curt replied, "Yeah, I've just these little bumps on my neck. I've gotta go. Nice chattin with ya kid."

Peter gave him a concerned look as Curt went back inside the Helicarrier as he thought; he's been like that for weeks now. What's going on with him?

As Peter walked back inside the gigantic floating aircraft, he saw Miriam getting a cup of coffee from the table that was filled with assortments of coffee powder and sugars that were right next to the Weapons and Gear Lab. Peter smiled at her and said, "Hey, Miriam. Thanks for letting me borrow all the lab gear."

Miriam replied, "Has your pseudo-carnage been compatible with the LMD so far?"

Peter replied, "Yeah. Thanks for letting me borrow it."

Miriam then sighed and looked at Peter as her glasses hung beneath her eyes and said, "Peter, I don't know how long I can keep up the secret."

Peter replied, "I know." Miriam replied, "She's really worried about you. She says that you don't look healthy."

Peter chuckled as he replied, "Yeah, she told me that during lunch. What's she doing right now?"

Miriam then looked around the hallway to make sure there was no one around and then gestured a motion to tell him to come inside the lab. As Peter and Miriam were in the lab, Miriam walked around the lab nervously as she looked at Peter right in the eyes and said, "Peter, things at S.H.I.E.L.D. are not the same as they used to be."

Peter asked with suspicion, "What do you mean by that?"

Miriam replied nervously, "Jessica just has been given a Non-S.H.I.E.L.D. assignment by Nick Fury to look into Oscorp. Do you remember that empty storage where the Iron Man suits stole the Vita Ray containers?"

Peter replied with a disappointment in his tone, "Yeah. That really put a huge dent in the Avengers."

"Well someone snuck in the storage and somehow teleported to Oscorp."

Peter replied with a great shock, "What? Wait do you mean that there's a-"

"A possible double-agent. Yes."

"What did the culprit look like?"

"Some jackass wearing a skull mask with a hooded cape and gauntlets."

"That's an awful costume."

Miriam chuckled as she continued, "Anyways, Jessica is doing a espionage mission there and….I'm hanging out in the lab to help her out with her mission."

Peter's voice slightly started to shake as he asked, "How is she so far? That Kingpin incident last time was no joke."

Miriam sat next to him on the steel table as she added, "She's bright and confident as ever. My little girl….she was born to be a fighter, and I'm pretty sure you've figured that out by right now."

Peter replied with a smile on his face. "I know. She's so brave. Not to mention that she's also really stubborn."

Miriam giggled as she replied, "Jessica said that the same thing about you. She mentioned that you have a giant hero complex, and they don't call you Spider-Man for nothing."

Peter sheepishly scratched his head as he said, "Well, she's certainly right about that."

Miriam then sighed and looked at the ground as she said, "You know….if she finds out what you're up to, she's gonna hate you for a really long time."

Peter looked across the empty space in the lab as he replied, "I know. But I just don't want her to face the Osborns again, especially after what Harry did to her."

Miriam put her hand on Peter's shoulder as she asked, "Are you sure you want to fight him? I mean Norman's one thing, but Harry's been your best friend throughout your whole entire life."

Peter lowered his chin as he closed his eyes shut with teeth clenched as he replied, "I'm not sure if I even consider him as a human being at this point."

Miriam sighed as she added, "Well, I just want you to know that you shouldn't have to face this problem alone. It's too much of a burden to bear for a one person, even if you're Spider-Man."

Peter then smiled at Miriam and said, "Thanks. I really appreciate your concern."

Miriam replied, "Don't mention it kid. You're part of the family now."

Peter blushed heavily at that comment as he said, "Aww, shucks. Well, I guess that I have even a bigger responsibility now to take care of her, huh?"

Miriam sighed again and replied, "You know, I've been thinking. Even though I get scared and cry my eyes out every time Jessica goes on a mission, deep down I know that she's gonna be ok. She's always been a strong girl and she's growing up so fast. So maybe she doesn't need protection anymore."

Peter replied, "I know. I guess I'm being selfish huh?"

Miriam replied, "Yes, but I understand where you're coming from." Her tone became more serious as she added, "But understand this: You can't keep her in the dark forever. Sooner or later she's going to find out, ok?"

Peter silently nodded as Miriam got out a Banana and a can of V8 Juice from her pockets and handed it to him and said, "And for christ's sake! Don't drink that crappy energy drink all the time! I see you walking around with that 32 oz of Red Bull every day! No wonder why Jessica said that you've been walking like a zombie lately!"

Peter chuckled as he happily replied, "Thanks for everything, Miriam."

Then Miriam heard a beep on her comlink and Peter waved her goodbye as he headed out towards the exit. As Peter was about to leave, Miriam turned around and said, "By the way, no one's using the gym in the basement anymore. So you can do some extra training there if you need to."

Peter replied, "Sure thing, Miriam."

XXXXX

Meanwhile in Hawkeye's room in 4th floor...

Clint was listening to music on his laptop while making a report for secret recon assignment in Latveria that he and Natasha did together last week for the Avengers. He was typing out notes and adding suspicious pictures and video footage that gave the reason for the Avengers to go and investigate Doom's totalitarian dominion in eastern Europe. He then heard a friendly voice outside his door.

"Hey there, sharpshooter."

Clint opened the door and saw Natasha standing in front of him and said, "Hey, Nat. What brings you here? You hardly ever come up here anymore."

Natasha crossed her arms and said, "I only live a floor away silly. Not to mention that I can hear you snore every time you go to bed because I literally live right above you."

Clint blushed as he scratched his head and said, "Yeah, sorry. I've been having trouble sleeping lately."

Natasha regarded him carefully and said, "Can I come in?"

Clint said, "Y-yeah, sure."

Natasha walked in Clint's room as she heard the classical music fill up the place and rolled her eyes and sat on the bed and said, "Really? Tchaikovsky No.6? God you're so morbid."

Hawkeye sat on his chair and looked at the picture of him and Bobbi that was taken couple of days after the Battle of New York and said, "What can I say? Morbid has been my favorite word for a quite some time now. I really like the last movement. It's just so….Shakespearean."

Natasha walked over to Clint and put her head on his shoulder as she said, "You need to stop blaming yourself Clint. I was just as responsible for her death as well."

Clint carefully wrapped his hand around Natasha's shoulder as he said, "I was the one who held her in my arms as she died."

"The situation was out of control. We all didn't see this coming, since it was just after the Battle of New York. Everyone was just out of it, you know."

Clint replied softly, "Nat, she told me that she loved me. That was the last thing she said before she drew her last breath."

Natasha gently rubbed Clint's back as she said, "I know. But maybe if I decided to come with her for moral support when she was going to confess to you, she and I could've taken down that slimy bastard and none of this would've happened."

Natasha slowly started tearing up and said, "You're not the only one who's still crying over her. She was my best friend, and I couldn't be there for her when I should've been at that time."

Clint hugged her as he gently caressed her long red locks and said, "Don't worry. I'm gonna put an arrow in his fucking head when I find that son of a bitch."

Natasha wiped her tears as she smiled and replied, "Hey, don't get all the glory for yourself. I want a piece of him too!"

Clint chucked and replied, "Fine. We'll get him together."

They sat down on the bed as Clint smiled at Natasha and said, "That mission we went on last week, it was just nice because it was just the two of us. It felt like Budapest."

Natasha smiled as she said, "I know, just like old times huh?"

Clint replied, "I wonder what Doom was doing with that gigantic laser beam? Do you think he's up to something again?"

Natasha replied in a worried tone, "I don't know. It never feels right when Latveria is cooking up weapons of mass destruction. It always means trouble."

Clint looked towards the window of his room and said, "I wonder how Tony's doing these days. He just went rogue that day without any word."

Natasha looked in the same direction as she added, "We could sure use his brain right now. He knows all about the fancy laser beams and all those star wars weapons. It's like playing with toys for him."

She then blushed as she looked away from Clint and added, "You know, I'm surprised that you actually liked spending time with me during the mission."

Clint turned around and looked at her and said, "Why?"

Natasha looked down at her feet sheepishly as she said, "Because you hardly ever talk to me anymore, not to mention that the only time we see each other is during lunch."

Clint replied, "I have my reasons."

Natasha shut her eyes as she replied in a frustrating manner, "I know. But I hate it when you do that."

Then she opened her eyes and looked at Clint so desperately and put her hand over his scruffy cheek and said, "Please, don't act like a stranger anymore. You're one of the closest people who I know, so don't leave me hanging during dark times like this."

"He's still out there, that double-agent."

Natasha's voice cracked and said, "You don't have to worry! If he comes after me, I'll take care of that murdering piece of shit and beat him to the ground!"

Clint's voice began to shake as he said, "Nat. We don't know what kind of tricks he has up his sleeve. He could be working with hundreds of other double-agents in this ship right now as we speak, and if any one of them finds out that we're really close friends and go after you as a gang, I….I just can't Nat. Fuck…I just can't let that happen to you."

Natasha inched ever so close to him as she replied, "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She nuzzled her nose against his and said, "I'm more worried about you. You've always been wallowing yourself in self-pity ever since Bobbi died and now you think everyone you know is in danger and you constantly distance yourself from them."

Her body started to shake as she added, "D-do you know how much I hate seeing you like this? Burdening everything on your shoulder, when you clearly don't have to?"

"Nat….I-"

Without warning, Natasha planted her lips deep against Clint's for a good long time. She pulled back and looked him in the eyes with a fluttering gaze and said, "Clint…please don't be like this. Not while we have each other."

Clint then looked down at the ground and said, "I'm sorry Nat. I-I can't do this right now."

Natasha held him close and tightly as her voice quivered, "Why not?"

Clint met her passionate gaze as he gently caressed her smooth cheek with his hand and then let go of her as he looked down at her dusty black spandex suit to avoid looking at her tears and said, "Please, just go. It's better for us to not get complicated."

Natasha felt defeated as she lowered her chin and tears were continuing to stream down from her face again and said, "God, I hate you so much."

Clint put all his effort in to hold in his tears as he replied silently, "I know."

Natasha whimpered, "And I hate Tchaikovsky."

As she got up from the bed and proceeded to go out the door, her's and Clint's wrist gears beeped as a holographic image of Nick Fury appeared before them and he said, "Avengers, this is Nick Fury speaking. This message is only for you and I need to see you all in my office. This is a level 10 emergency, so please come as soon as possible. I repeat, this is a level 10."

His holographic disappeared from Clint and Natasha's gears as they both said at the same time, "Great timing."

They both looked at each other's tearful expressions and chuckled at each other and Natasha said, "Come on, we can't go to work looking like this."

Clint wiped his tears as he grabbed a napkin and wiped off the tears off Natasha's face and teased her, "You've always looked cute with puffy eyes."

Natasha playfully slapped his chest as she replied, "Shut up."

Meanwhile, in the Basement….

Peter was practicing his fighting moves on the wooden dummy as the blood from his hands started to seep through the wrappings on his arm again. He thought to himself as he kept on practicing.

Still not fast enough. Come on Peter! Is this all you've got? You're slower than a slowpoke right now! Heh, I said slowpoke. Ok, snap out of it! You don't have much time left. Remember everything that Coulson taught you, from Wing Chun to Hapkido. You've got to get faster at this!

Peter then walked over the table and grabbed the towel and wiped the drenching sweat off his face. He then went over to the wooden dummy as he hid it inside a Vibranium closet on the side. He then walked to the punching bag and hid it in another Adamantium closet next to it. He then put his belongings on the table inside a triple-reinforced adamntium box and put that inside another Adamntium closet along with the folded table. He then walked up to a cabinet behind the punching bag and pulled out the Life-Model Decoy of Harry Osborn and dragged it over to the center of the gym. Peter then pulled out the sealed Erlenmeyer Flask that was containing the red goo from his pocket in his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform. He grabbed it and opened a hatch on the LMD's chest and opened the seal on the Erlenmeyer Flask and gently placed it on the hole as the red goo twitched itself forward inside the chest of the LMD.

Peter shut the hatch and immediately grabbed the web-gloves and stood in front of the Harry android as the red goo flowed all over the machine's body and it became a red monster of boiling red skin of pure hate and destruction. He put the Erlenmeyer Flask in one of the unbreakable cabinets, as the LMD Carnage began to attack Peter with its series of red webs as Peter dodged it with ease by jumping in mid-air and avoiding powerful webs that hit the Vibranium walls of the gym.

Peter turned on the blue flames from his gloves as he jumped and saw an opening and lunged at it from the wall to punch him.

SMACK.

Peter saw the red goo come off for a second from its face as it immediately latched itself back on the machine. He grunted in frustration as the red gooey machine lunged its slimy arm to grab Peter as he back-flipped and said, "You know, it's too bad that you have to smell like a rotten egg instead of chocolate cake."

The LMD Carnage appeared to become frustrated and started to shoot out more of its lethal red webs from its shoulder at Peter as he back flipped and mid air evaded by twisting his body acrobatically as the webs shot in all directions. He said as he gained a huge hang time in mid-air, "And who doesn't like chocolate? I mean unless you're a heartless republican like Chris Christie, it makes sense."

He then dove straight down to the ground like a rocket with his fists full of blue flame stretched out and landed a hard hit on the chest of the machine as a huge chunk of the burning red goo started to detach itself from the LMD. Peter said to himself, "Come on, please stay off!"

The goo attached itself to the LMD again as Peter gave a long sigh of frustration as the LMD Carnage began to attack him series of powerful punches. Peter said, "You are actually managing to piss me off more than an angry Coulson on a decaffeinated Monday morning. And that's a huge achievement."

As Peter began to parry off its web attacks with his burning web-gloves, he added, "Come on now! It's been 6 months and you're still arguing about this? Didn't I tell you already?" He landed a uppercut on the LMD Carnage's chin as it fell on its back and yelled, "Han shot first, you stupid rancid symbiote!"

The fake Carnage got itself up as its red goo started to attach itself to the face of the machine again. Peter thought, Damn it! I tried hitting him harder with the flames and it still won't come off! And this is not even the real thing! How am I supposed to beat Harry if I can't even leave a permanent mark on the beta-test version?

The fighting kept going on for at least 30 minutes without stopping. The Carnage's skin of boiling red goo wasn't coming off as Peter's S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform was getting ripped to pieces as he was starting to scratches and burns on his torso. Peter stood in front of the LMD Carnage as he realized that his head was buzzing painfully and thought, SPIDEY-SENSE! Someone's coming down to the gym! I need to make sure no one sees the LMD!

Peter panted and said, "You know what, smelly-pants? I think we're gonna call it quits for today."

He then quickly slid under the Carnage's flurry of short burning webs and got behind his back and smashed his back as a giant red button came out of the goo. Peter than quickly landed another punch on the button as the red goo stopped flowing from the LMD as it shut itself down and crashed on its back. He walked over to an Adamantium cabinet and grabbed the flask as he opened the hatch of the LMD and placed the gooey symbiote in its container as Peter shut it tight so it couldn't get out. Peter put the flask in his pocket on the pants that was still intact and grabbed the LMD as he dragged it to its rightful cabinet. As he proceeded grab his stuff, he heard a concerned voice from the entrance.

"Hey there, dork-face."

Peter saw Jessica leaning against a wall with her arms crossed in her S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform as she carried a gym bag filled with boxing gloves and other accessories. he smiled nervously at her and said, "H-hey, Jessica! What are you doing here?"

Jessica looked up at his scarred body and she put her hand over her mouth and asked, "What the hell happened to you? Y-your arms! Your hands! They're bleeding again!" She also saw that he had scarred burn marks across his chest and shoulder as he was standing half-naked in front of her. She blushed heavily and panicked at the same time as she stammered, "A-are you ok? What kind of sadistic torture did you do to yourself?!"

Peter nervously replied, "Uh…just training?"

Jessica put her hand gently on Peter's shoulder as she asked, "Are you sure it's nothing more than that?"

Peter replied, "Yeah! It's just training! I promise!"

He added, "You usually don't come here. What's the occasion?"

Jessica lowered her head down as she sighed and said, "I just felt like I needed to punch the shit out of something so I came here."

Peter then looked at her carefully as he replied softly, "Was it about the mission you came back from?"

Jessica looked at him and said, "How did you-"

Peter answered, "Your mom told me."

Jessica looked downward again as she said, "Oh, right."

Peter asked her quietly, "So….how was it?"

Jessica then gave a loud sigh as she began to walk inside the gym and said, "I….I found out who killed my dad and Mockingbird."

Peter asked in a shocking manner, "What?! Who was it?"

Jessica she stood in front of him and as she looked down at her feet as if she was too afraid to say who it was as she kept her voice down as she replied, "It was a guy with the skull mask. He was also the culprit who stole the Vita Ray containers from the storage room."

Peter was stunned as he said, "Is he a double-agent?"

Jessica replied, "Yeah, we don't know who it is but he's definitely on the ship right now as speak. And, it wasn't Stark who stole the Vita Ray Containers."

Peter stood back a few steps as he said, "Damn, that's insane...what's next?"

Jessica slid down to the ground as she sat on the floor and said, "Well, we have to remain on high alert and look for this so-called cure of immortality because, the goons in Oscorp are going to strike the Helicarrier as soon as that magical potion is ready."

Peter said, "Hey, let me go get the punching bag for you."

Jessica got up and smiled as she said, "Nah, you don't need to help me. I'm not your damsel."

Peter got in front of her and waved his frantically and stammered, "N-no! I'll go get it. You've had a long day so t-this is the least I can do for you!"

Jessica twitched her eyes and she gave him a sharp frown and said, "Is everything ok, Peter?"

Peter scratched his head sheepishly as he replied, "Yeah! I told you that I was chill as a cucumber!"

Jessica replied as she still twitched her eyebrows, "Okay….."

Peter then hung the black punching bag on the ceiling as Jessica got out her boxing gloves and she began to punch the living hell out of the bag to vent up the anger from the horrible discovery of her espionage mission.

Peter backed away from the punching bag as he looked at her and said, "Are you ok?"

Jessica kept her focus on the bag as she continued punching the bag and replied tonelessly, "I'm ok. It's been a long day."

Peter then grabbed the table from one of the super steel cabinets as he folded it back down. And he grabbed the wooden dummy as he put that in its rightful place. He grabbed his bag as he sat on the table an looked at Jessica as he asked, "How's your ribs?"

Jessica replied as she continued to work the bag and said, "It's fine. I should be able to take off the bandage by tomorrow."

She began to punch the bag harder as she added, "I just want to kill that Skeletor-looking motherfucker. He's gonna pay for what he did to Bobbi and my dad. I won't rest until he's dead!"

Peter said to her as he smirked, "Did you just call him a Skeletor-looking motherfucker? I thought I was the one who was supposed to crack jokes."

Jessica continued to punch the dusty bag hard as she replied, "Well, I guess I've been missing some good ol' Spidey humor in my life."

Peter looked at Jessica as he noticed that tears were glistening away from her face as he walked over to her and hugged her from behind and said, "Don't worry. Everything's gonna work out."

Jessica stopped punching the bag with her left hand still on the bag. She panted hard to catch her breath as she kept her head down from exhaustion and said, "Why have you been avoiding me, Peter?"

Peter let go of her and said as if he was trying to joke out of his way, "W-what are you talking about? We just met today during lunch and I told-"

Jessica cut him off as she still avoided eye contact with him, "You didn't answer my question!"

Peter didn't say anything as he turned away from her. Jessica threw her gloves down to the ground as she turned around to Peter and said, "Peter Parker, I need you to look at me."

Peter reluctantly turned around as he avoided eye contact with her by looking down at the ground. Jessica raised his chin as she said in a desperate voice, "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

Peter turned his head to the side as he closed his eyes shut and replied, "Nothing's going on. I'm just trying to work hard to become an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. just like you."

Jessica then grabbed his bloody wrapped arms in front of him and said as her voice began to shake a little bit and said, "You've been wrapping up your hands for 6 months! And I've seen you walking around like a fucking dead man in the hallways throughout every single day, and…."

She looked at the charred marks on his body and said, "Those are not your ordinary cuts and bruises! I know where those marks came from, Peter!"

Peter then looked at her sparkling blue eyes as he looked at the ground again and said, "I….I found about what Harry did to you."

Jessica clenched her teeth as she shut her eyes and thought, Goddamn it, Fury.

She looked at Peter right in the eyes and said, "You need to tell me how you got these burns."

Peter slowly pulled out the flask and showed the twitching red goo inside as Jessica was stunned in horror. She then growled at him, "Where in the 9 fucking realms did you get that from?"

Peter replied, "I've pulled out a DNA from my blood sample and I was able to create a Carnage look-alike."

Peter proceeded to take out the Harry Osborn LMD from the closet and place it in the center of the gym as he said, "I've been putting the Pseudo-Carnage inside the LMD and I've been trying to find the weak spots by training with it for 6 months."

Jessica replied as she was still steaming with anger, "And what were you gonna do after you had found out its weakness?"

Peter avoided her eye contact again as he turned away from her and said, "I was gonna go after the Osborns alone. And I'm still planning to go alone."

Jessica laughed out loud and said, "You think the Osborns are your only worries now? Peter! We have a double-agent to deal with! And the guys that Osborn teamed up with are making giant Superhero-killing robots! Not to mention that you have to deal with Dr. Doom also!"

Peter replied, "But Osborn's the head of the snake. As long as the head is cut off, the snake will die."

Jessica continued to look at him as he turned away from her and added, "They're still formidable foes, Peter! Do you honestly think you can take all of them on your own in the current state that you're in right now?! You can't even walk straight without stumbling over for fuck's sake!"

Peter avoided her face and yelled, "So, what?! I have to try, Jessica! All of this….all of this would've never had to occur if I knew who really the Osborns were at the time."

He then turned around and faced her as he met her furious and passionate gaze and added softly, "You would've never had to go through such a horrible experience if I knew their true intentions from the beginning."

Jessica screamed, "LOOK AT YOU!"

Her tears were flowing down on her face like a tsunami of tragedy coming to sweep a downtrodden city as her voice cracked and added, "Have you even looked at yourself in the mirror lately?! You can't go after them like this! Y-you're not even gonna last 5 minutes out there fighting these guys off! I didn't ask you to train and beat yourself to the point of death! Hell, I've never asked you to go through any of this…. so, why are you doing this for me?!"

Peter looked down at the ground as he whispered, "Do you really want to know?"

Jessica continued to cry as she replied in a hoarse voice, "Yes, I hate cliff-"

Peter cut her off in mid-sentence as he aggressively cupped her face as and passionately kissed her mouth. He was able to feel her tears crashing down like a river of sadness on his cheekbones as they continued to flow downward and splashed on his charred skin on his chest. He pulled back as Jessica looked down at the ground to not let him see her embarrassing tears again.

Her body began to shake as she said softly, "God, this is so unfair."

"I know."

"I hate you so much right now."

"I know."

"You're a fucking piece of shit."

"I know."

Jessica then grabbed by his shoulder and said, "Peter, please. You have to let me help you! This is something that you can't do all by yourself!"

Peter met her watery gaze as he replied, "I-I can't put you in a harm's way, especially after what Harry did to you."

Jessica yelled at him as her voice was starting to become choked up, "What about you?! Do you think I'm perfectly content with seeing you like this?"

She buried her face in the crook of his neck as she cried in a muffled tone, "D-do you think I'm going to be fine watching you take on all those villains by yourself when I know that you will die?"

She raised her head up as she put her arms around Peter's neck as she looked up at him and said, "Have you ever thought about what would happen to me if I saw your corpse lying on the ground?! Peter, I…I love you too and I can't go on with my life if you're taken from me. God….I just can't."

Peter gently let go off Jessica's hands as he turned around and shut his eyes tightly and said, "I know, Jess. It's just that….I don't you want to be another Gwen Stacy."

Jessica threw her hands up in the air in frustration as she retorted, "It has always been about Gwen Stacy with you! Gwen Stacy this, Gwen Stacy that! Damn it, Peter! For the last fucking time, I'm not your stupid damsel-in-distress!"

Peter glared at her as he said, "Jessica, don't you dare-"

Jessica said to him in a mocking tone, "Don't you dare what Peter? Oh, you want me to be dressed all cute and dainty and act like this?"

She began to mock her dead best friend as she said, "Oh, Spider-Man~! Please save me! The Green Goblin kidnapped me and I need your help! Please help me~!"

Peter yelled at her, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! Jessica, why can't you understand that I'm trying to protect you?!"

Jessica glared at him as she hissed back, "And why can't you understand that I want to fight by your side?!"

Peter stubbornly replied, "Because I hate watching you getting hurt!"

Jessica yelled back, "Well the same goes for me, you fucking asshole!"

They looked at each other quietly for some time as Jessica said, "Peter, do you know what it feels like to be in a cage?"

Peter retorted, "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?"

Jessica glared at him and replied, "I was put in a lab as an experiment for a week. Harry Osborn beat me mercilessly and I couldn't do anything about it back then but now I want to beat the living shit out of him and you won't let me!"

Her tears came flowing out again as she added, "Peter, I appreciate that you want to protect me. I really do. But when you're not giving me a chance to get back my revenge on him and Norman, it's just as bad as Harry putting me in that horrible prison for a week."

Peter remained silent as Jessica caressed Peter's right cheek with a fluttering gaze and said softly, "Baby, please don't put me back in the cage. Let me fight beside you."

Peter silently replied as he looked away from her and said, "I don't know if I can do that."

Jessica shut her eyes in hopeless defeat as she looked at the ground as she added in a quivering voice, "Then, I-I'm sorry Peter. I don't know if this can work out between us."

Her tears continued to flow from her face as she wiped her tears, gathered her belongings and walked out of the premises.

Peter laid flat on his back as he covered his tearful face and thought to himself, Fuck. Natasha is so gonna kill me.

Uh oh! What will this storm have effect on Peter and Jessica's relationship? Will Peter ever learn to trust her and not push her aside? And why has Nick Fury assembled the Avengers to office? What are the heroes' plans to deal with this great treacherous evil? Find out next time in Spider-Man: Secrets of Oscorp! Excelsior!

A/N: I had so many feels writing this chapter and I hope I did the justice of portraying the same amount of emotion that I have felt when I was writing this chapter. Again, thanks for reading and please review! You people are the best! Thanks again!