Hello! Guys, it has begun! THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 IS OUT! I'm celebrating by wearing my Spider-Man sweat shirt with red jeans, finger and toenails painted red and blue! I'm going to see it possibly tomorrow with my parents and older sister and I'm going to show off my new Spider-Man shirt! Haha, well not show off really, just wear, but I'm so excited guys! And I saw everyone was just getting more excited with the short chapters I put up yesterday! Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone! I really appreciate the kind words, the support and the overall presence of everyone being there for me! I'm always happy to hear that my stories make others happy, it makes me happy so without further ado this chapter is for all of you! Whoa, almost a BTR song moment there! Ha, well sit back and enjoy! Hopefully this chapter is a bit longer than the last two put together! I hope you all enjoy it and if you're going to see the new spidey movie I hope you all enjoy that too! It looks AMAZING (haha, see what I did there?) from the trailers and I have a feeling it won't disappoint! It's always great to see one of my favorite superheroes of all time take the big screen! Just like you all make me happy and the BTR boys make me happy! Okay, long author's note done! Enjoy! :) Disclaimer: I don't own Big Time Rush! I just love them and writing stories about them, particularly AUs! I also don't own Spider-Man or any of other Spider-Man related characters! All I own is the plot of the story!
"James, James! Can you hear us?!"
"Jay, Jay wake up! Please wake up!"
Said brunet groaned at the sound of two voices echoing loudly in his right ear, soft hazel-green eyes finally fluttering open.
At first his vision was blurry, just a mess of shapes coming in and out. It took a few minutes for everything to clear up, but when it did the worried, pale faces of Kendall Knight and Peter Parker were as visible as storm cloud in a sunny, blue sky.
"U-ugh...huh?" Was all he could mumble out, Kendall helping him sit up while Peter removed his hand from the taller boy's forehead.
"W-what happened?" James asked, confusion and concern forcing his eyes to take on a smoldering golden-red. Kendall moved one of his hands from the brunet's waist to cup his face, wiping away the light tears streaming down his cheeks.
"You fainted. You were getting up to head to the bathroom when you started groaning, as if having a really bad headache all of a sudden. You were groaning and gripping at your head before...before y-you collapsed to the floor. I tried to wake you up as best as I could, but it looks like you were trapped in a nightmare. When I finally got you to calm down, Peter got here and told me about Gwen." Kendall explained, his usually lively green eyes going dull.
Gwen was his best friend, his best girl friend in the whole wide world. She was the one who befriended them when they came to Midtown High, the one who's been like a big sister/mom to them ever since.
The thought of her in danger...
A chill went down his spine, though Kendall did his best to ignore it and focus on James and Peter.
"G-Gwen, so it's true..." James choked out in horror, eyes going wide though when a rather large gasp left him. That made Peter and Kendall jump.
"Jay, what is it?"
"K-Kendy, Pete...it wasn't a nightmare I was having, it was like a mental link. A mental link, with V-Venom." The dirty blond paled at this, Peter looking scared yet confused at the same time.
"Venom? Isn't that the name of the monster that looks like Spider-Man, the thing that tried to kill him? Wait James, you were involved with that...? I saw the headlines, the pictures in the Bugle and their speculations of Spider-Man having a buddy or something. And your last name...it's Diamond! Oh God I'm so stupid, why didn't I make the connection earlier?! James, you were in danger! V-Venom tried to hurt you but why, why would Venom go after you?"
Kendall and James looked at one another, silently asking the same question and providing the same answer.
'S-should we tell him?' James asked; the two were so in sync sometimes speaking to get a point across was useless to them.
'He's our friend, and Gwen's in trouble. If what I'm thinking and you're thinking is on the right track...then we have to. I trust Peter.' Kendall replied with a nod of his head.
James sighed and turned to the blue-eyed brunet, taking in a deep breath. "Peter...there's something me and Kendall have to tell you..."
-Page Break-
"Where is he?!" Jett growled, he and Gwen having finished scouting the city for Peter. They've spent almost two hours trying to catch a glimpse of the brainy brunet, from the public library to Midtown High but so far their search has met a dead-end. He hasn't shown up for school and when Gwen had called his aunt May (without the Symbiote suit on, of course) to ask where he was, she claimed he was on his way to school.
It wasn't like Peter Parker to ditch classes.
Unless...it was an emergency.
"Where the hell is he?! I'm losing my patience; if he appears now, I'll rip his damn head off!" She-Venom turned to Venom with growl, punching him so hard he crashed into the nearest wall.
"You. Won't. Touch. Him." She said coldly, pure white eyes now in dangerous slits. Jett scowled and got to his feet, pushing Gwen back with just as much force.
"I call the shots in this little partnership, Stacy. If I want to bust his head in, I'll do it" He said, though he soon took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit, "but you're right. I can't lose my cool now, not when we're getting so close to finally killing Spider-Man."
Gwen's lips turned up into a cruel grin. She now knew who was Spider-Man; the Symbiote has shared a few big secrets with her while the two were together and to say she wasn't happy to learn her best friend was the Friendly Neighborhood Spidey was an understatement. She was angry, beyond furious. She had trusted Kendall, trusted James. She thought they were her best friends, that the four didn't have secrets between them.
"I guess I was wrong..." She hissed, voice distorted. On the outside she looked positively livid, wanting nothing more to than share in the Symbiote's blood lust and desire for revenge.
But below the surface...
'N-no, stop! You can't make me hurt my friends! Please, stop this now!' Below the surface, Gwen was struggling internally to regain control of her body.
Deep down she wasn't angry with Kendall and James. Being Spider-Man was a dangerous job, and she knew how Kendall was: when it came to those he loved, he was willing to do anything to protect them. Even keep his hero identity a secret.
She wasn't angry, well not anymore. At first she was, but everyone goes through irrational anger at one point in their lives! That moment of discovering he was Spider-Man, that had been her moment of irrational anger but she was over it now! She wasn't angry anymore, she didn't want to hurt her best friends and boyfriend! She didn't want to kill them!
She was still Gwen Stacy inside; the only thing that was really holding her back though was the influence of the Symbiote. Rage, sadness, anxiety, happiness...all those emotions produced some levels of adrenaline. The Symbiote fed off adrenaline levels like the parasite that it was, like a tick feeding off the blood of a poor animal.
It was feeding off her adrenaline, and because she was in such a racing state of mind, she couldn't calm down. Which only meant the Symbiote would still have the upper hand to her.
Internally she was battling for control over her body again, but on the outside she didn't bat any eye. She didn't reject the parasitic alien substance, instead she embraced it. She embraced the enhanced strength, flexibility and pro of Spider-Man's powers.
On the inside she rejected the evil, but on the outside she rejoiced in it...
'N-no, Peter! James, Kendall! They're in danger!'
-Page Break-
"Oh my God..."
At first Peter felt stupid that that was the only thing he could manage to say, but it pretty much summed up the surprise, amazement, and shock he was experiencing at the moment.
James and Kendall were in the red at their friend's reaction, the dirty blond most of all though. "Y-yeah, Pete. It's a lot to take in, but the truth is...that I'm Spider-Man."
"T-that would explain why sometimes you'd skip school, why both of you would skip school and cover for the other. And the bruises you would show up with later, Ken, the bruises and cuts and scars...you're Spider-Man! One of my best friends is Spider-Man, and my other best friend is the brains of Spider-Man!"
"Are you m-mad, Peter?" James couldn't help himself from asking that question. Peter's face was usually readable, the boy wore his carefully reserved yet loving heart on his sleeve. It wasn't hard to decode anger or sadness, happiness or anxiety in the blue-eyed brunet; he was shy, but could be very expressive behind all that timidity.
Peter rose from the bed to his feet, pacing the floor for a few minutes before he sighed and turned back to Kendall and James. His crystal blue eyes were...soft, gentle while his face was in a smile.
Wait, a smile?
"Guys, I'm not mad."
"Y-you're not?" Kendall asked, a little taken back himself. Peter let out a small chuckle, rubbing the back of his head.
"No, not really. You see...I kind of already suspected that you were Spider-Man, Ken. I didn't have proof though and I didn't want to pressure you under constant accusations, but...yeah, I kind of suspected that. I mean the few times Spider-Man has saved me, I noticed that your voices sounded alike. You haven't really tried to high or low-pitch your voice to protect your identity, plus there's the pictures in the Bugle. The only person who can get those really good pics of Spider-Man would have to be the person who IS Spider-Man; I imagine you had the cameras web-slung when taking the action shots, right?"
At the blond's slightly embarrassed blush, James chuckled and put an arm around him.
"So, you're okay with this?"
"Okay? Guys, thanks to you two New York City isn't as crime-infested. These last two years have been like the Golden Years for this place, you can actually walk down the streets without getting mugged on the spot! You two are the ultimate team, Spider-Man has been the best thing to happen to the NYC!" Peter exclaimed, his praise making James blush this time around and for Kendall to smile and put an arm around him.
"So...we're all still friends." Peter looked a little hurt now.
"Guys, did you really think that Gwen and I would stop being friends with you two just because you're team Spidey?"
"Some people are not as understanding, Pete." James pointed out, silently referring to his dad. He was suppose to love him unconditionally, yet look how that turned out.
Peter caught on to the other brunet's silent comparison and sat down again, eyeing them both a fierce, yet gentle, fire in his eyes. "Well I am, and I'm sure Gwen will be too. She loves you guys, I love you guys...the four of us are a family, a team. You can count us in; we won't leave you guys high and dry..."
Kendall smiled. "Thanks, Peter."
"Anytime, now Jay...what about this 'mental link'? What do you see, was Gwen involved somehow?" James' smile fell a bit at this, eyebrows pulling together.
"Y-yeah, I saw her and Jett. I saw them and they were l-laughing, but...they weren't themselves. They were She-Venom and Venom; the Symbiote attached itself to Gwen and kidnapped her, that's why there's no trace of her whereabouts in her room: that thing knows how to cover its tracks.
"James, you were right. That has learned to make copies of itself, and it targeted Gwen because she's our friend." Kendall began.
"Which means it will target you next, Peter. That alien substance has a very...umm, unhealthy admiration for Kendall. It wanted to permanently fuse with him at one point, until we managed to weaken it and take it to Dr. Conners. It escaped his lab though, and has been missing for months. We've been trying to track it ever since...though it looks it has been tracking us this whole time instead." James put in, the two finishing each other's thoughts.
"That means you're in danger, Pete. You can't go to school today; the chances are that they're either waiting for you to show up or have already did a sweep and found nothing. You can't go to school today, and we can't leave you alone so you'll have to come with us. We're going to Dr. Conners' and get help. You'll be safe there; the guy has a lab in his own house, I'm pretty sure anything that can produce sonic waves or fire he has in case of emergencies. Don't put up a fight, we don't want to lose you too. That thing can turn anyone into a bad guy; it nearly tried to do that to me."
"It's okay guys, I understand and I was going to go with you regardless. I'm not abandoning my friends and Gwen needs us, the more time she spends with that thing on her the more aggressive she might become. The thing is though, why did the Symbiote go after Jett? He's not exactly friends with us...unless, unless he's the current host! T-the first host, the one he chose after being separated from Kendall!" Peter said, everything clicking in his mind like puzzle pieces.
"That's why I was off the other day, remember? I had a feeling that Jett was involved, and if Gwen got attacked...Peter, did you see a long string of black goo anywhere in your room?!" At this Peter grinned.
"Way ahead of you, Jay." He pulled up his backpack on top of his lap and dug through it until he got out a mason jar. It had no holes at the top and sealed tight, with...the sample of the Symbiote at the bottom, trying desperately to escape its prison!
"Y-you caught it."
"I found it clinging to the bottom of my shoe after school. At first I thought it was just a piece of gum, until it tried to crawl up my arm. I knew bringing this to show it to you guys would be a good idea. We should take this to Dr. Conners." Peter said, James and Kendall on board with that plan.
"We'll get dressed and head out now, the sooner the better." James said, ushering Kendall towards the bathroom to shower first. The blond untangled his arms from around the taller boy and made to disappear into the bathroom, but he stopped momentarily to give Peter a big hug.
"Thanks buddy, we owe you one." He whispered, Peter hugging back with a smile once again on his lips.
"You can thank me later, when we stop that thing once and for all and save Gwen." He replied, elbowing the blond softly in the side when they broke apart. Kendall grinned back before finally vanishing into the bathroom, leaving the brunets alone.
"Well, this year is going pretty well." James said sarcastically, digging around in his closet for some random clothes to throw on. Peter sighed and sat down, smiling in spite of the worry and fear he was feeling inside.
"At least I know you and Ken are safe, Jay. That helps me relax a little, comforts me with the idea that we can save Gwen."
"We will, Pete. We'll have our Gwen back soon, no way I'm letting that thing play around with my little sister." James said, in both a playful and serious tone. James and Gwen were really close, just like brother and sister. Even though she had siblings of her own, he didn't; it felt nice to have someone like that in his life, even though he loved having Peter as a brother. Sometimes you just need a bit of a girl's touch in your life.
"I know, thanks. And I know this will be a bit off topic but...did you and Kendall...?
"Me and Kendall what?"
"S-sleep together? You guys look...different for some reason, h-happier..." James' face broke out in a fiery red blush, he hiding his face away in the closet though.
"Pete, go eat something in the kitchen. Go eat something and pack something small for me and Kendy, we're going to need a lot of energy to deal with this mess."
"I'll take that as a yes. It's about time, Jay. Me and Gwen were wondering when you two would get together. I'm happy for you two." Peter said as he got up and left the room, James sighing into one of his old leather jackets.
'As much as I'd like to talk to Kendall about...last night, I'm more worried about him getting attacked by Venom again. And that nightmare, that mind link...does that mean that Venom is still attached to me as well? Are we still somehow bound to t-that...thing?'