Power to Protect, Power to Destroy

Next chapter of my crossover story, enjoy.

Reviews:

Boris Yeltsin: Thanks and yes indeed, it is the same man ;)
Wolfgirl2013: Thanks :)

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man, Stranger Things or their characters.

Chapter 10

Mike sighed heavily as he made his way into his room after showering. His mind was rushing with concerns and thoughts, wondering about his next move.

'I still haven't been able to get those shots for Jonah...I've got to do something before the deadline. But what am I going to do...I can't just…?' He thought worriedly before shaking his head and groaning.

All this worrying was going to get him nowhere, he knew he had to be more proactive. Spider-Man wasn't exactly going to let Mike track him down and take pictures of him, especially since Jonah was after 'action shots', of Spider-Man 'in the act' as he had said. Mike just turned from his desk and stood up to approach the window, peering out into the lit up street at night.

'There's gotta be something...some way to do this, do I...need to start keeping an eye out for crimes and watch for Spider-Man to arrive or something, that's...that's just messed up.' He thought to himself. 'I'd be putting myself in danger too if I did that, urg...the things I'm having to do for this.'

He paused for a moment, thinking he saw movement, among the rooftops. He wondered briefly if it could have been Spider-Man, but shook his head, the chances of Spider-Man just randomly passing by were almost zero surely. He turned and began to head for the door of his room.

He planned to just go downstairs and get a drink from the fridge, hopefully not disturbing his parents who he knew were still up. He flinched however as he heard his dad, he actually sounded angry about something.

"It's unreal." He was saying in a fury.

Mike then heard his mother, trying to placated him. "Ted please, it's not that big a deal, calm down."

"Not that big a deal?" Ted repeated, still angry. "It's disgusting, they can't be doing something like that, Karen. They're not even having the decency to hide it, flaunting themselves at our work like that."

"Ted-" Karen said, her voice wary.

Mike was wary too, it was the most emotion he'd ever seen his dad show and unfortunately that emotion had to be anger.

"Whoa, what the fuck?" Mike muttered. 'What the hell is wrong with dad, this isn't...I mean, what's got him so worked up, he's never been like this before.'

Unfortunately Mike soon found out the truth and was horrified by what he heard. It turned out that the reason his father was so worked up was due to two co-workers he had just found out were in fact in a relationship. He had been outraged by it and even tried to raise the issue, only to be rebuffed and given a severe warning that he was putting his job at risk. Naturally this did not sit well with Ted, that he couldn't work out how he was the one who was being warned about his behaviour. The biggest issue about all this, that made Mike freeze, terrified and sickened, was that the co-workers that Ted had an issue with, were both men.

Mike had disregarded his choice to go for a drink, instead retreating back to his room, still sickened by what he had heard. Hearing his dad's outburst left him in terror, especially due to what he was just starting to realise, about himself.

'This, this can't be, why would dad...he wouldn't...Fuck, if he finds out, about me, if I, if I'm really…' His mind raced and he began to panic. 'If I really am, I can't let him, oh God, this isn't...what do I do?'

He leapt from where he sat on the bed and almost yelped, but it was just a sound from his computer, he had just received an email. He took a slow breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Okay, okay." He told himself. "Calm down, Mike, just...check the email."

Moving to his desk and clicking the email, he tried to get his mind to stop racing from the terrifying revelation of his father's views, which were now a personal fear for him. Luckily the email was something that made him smile. It was from Dr. Conners, a well known and celebrated scientist who was good friends with Mr. Clarke.

'Mr Clarke...showed some of my work to Dr. Conners and now he's…' Mike thought in amazement.

For it seemed, after seeing some of his class work, Dr. Conners had actually sent him an email, praising his work and expressing an interest in working together in the future if Mike managed to make it into ESU. That gave him some relief and hope, something that allowed him to ease his mind after what he had just overheard.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.