Peter landed down, looking to Joshua wide eyed, his body language filled with rage.
“What?” Joshua said, looking to him.
“You just killed her!” Peter shouted. “You just… dammit. You fucking killed her! And him! Dammit! Shit!”
“Hey, they were controlling the spider things! I stopped them!”
“That’s not- Jesus Christ” Peter cursed. “Jesus Christ”
“Hey, I know it wasn’t pretty but I stopped them!”
“Stopped them!? Is that what you call this?!”
“Yeah!” Joshua shouted, indignant. “It’d be nice if you could show a little appreciation”
“Appreciation?” Peter said, his voice suddenly quiet. “Are you… serious?”
“Am I serious?” Joshua scoffed. “I just saved a fuckton of people, in my first proper fight. Sure, it wasn’t pretty but-”
Peter hit him, sending Joshua stumbling. My eyes widened and I stood, throwing the still unconscious Miles over my shoulder.
“You just fucking hit me?!” Joshua shouted, turning on Peter. “Who do you think you are?!”
Suddenly Yu and Jess swung landed down, behind Peter, Jess quickly pulling Peter away.
“Woah, woah” Yu said, looking over everyone. “What’s happening? We won didn’t we?”
Peter took a second, calming himself as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Yeah I- no. We won but…” he trailed off
“He fucking hit me!” Joshua shouted, “Some kind of hero you are, huh? Attacking your own teammate?”
“You killed that woman!” Peter shouted, angry again.
“You what?!” Jess and Yu cried turning to Joshua.
“I saved everyone!”
“Who did you kill?” Jess said, serious.
“He killed that woman, and the guy controlling the spiders” Peter said.
“You what?!” Yu cried grabbing the sides of his head.
“Look, the woman said that the guy was in her head, controlling the spiders or something. I killed her and the spiders stopped moving. It wasn’t pretty but it worked”
Everyone stared at him incredulous.
“Don’t look at me like that. I- I- He was ok with it” Joshua said, pointing to me. I remained still, silent for a moment, before shaking my head.
“Oh, come on” Joshua said. “How’ve you all suddenly turned this on me?!”
“We’re not turning anything on you” Jess said. “You fucking killed someone”
“I’ve had enough of this. Are we just going to keep going in circles or get on with the cleanup” Joshua said. “Cause I’m all for talking about this later when we can have a conversation like adults”
“No, we’re not”
“What then? You want to shout at me some more? Get it out your system?”
“No” Jess said. “We’re going to do something about this”
“Like what?” Joshua scoffed.
“Uh… arrest you?” Yu asked.
“Arrest me?!” Joshua said incredulous.
“Woah, guys calm down” I said, stepping forward.
“Calm down!? He killed someone! Someone he didn’t have to!” Jess said, as she glared at him.
“B-but he did it for the greater good”
“Greater good? We don’t just kill people in cold blood!” Peter shouted at me.
“I- sorry, b-”
“We’re heroes” Joshua said. “Tough decisions get made, and-”
”We don’t kill innocent people! We try not to kill anyone!” Peter shouted.
“What? Gonna hit me again?” Joshua said.
“If you don’t come quietly, I just might” Peter said. The others stepped forward, looking to each other, then Joshua. Oh shit. They were really about to arrest him.
“Guys” I mumbled stepping forward. “Wait just a second”
“Don’t think I won’t hurt you just because your Spider-Man” Joshua said, his voice cold.
The rock under us suddenly started to shift, Joshua’s rock form growing as my spider sense started to steadily buzz. I looked to the others, recognising that they noticed it too. Then Peter leapt forward.
“Wait!” I cried, leaping in front of Peter. We crashed into each other, Miles sent flying as we both hit the ground.
“Dammit! What the hell are you doing?!” Peter cried. Suddenly the asphalt began to warp underfoot, and we were forced to leap to cars as. I looked over, watching as Jess and Yu swung forwards, weaving through the swirl of rubble that’d replaced Joshua’s feet as his form continued to grow, spike jutting out of his forearms now.
They swung for each other, the spikes missing them narrowly as they attacked him to no avail. Then he roared, a deep bassy sound, that shook the street as the roads and brick of the walls began to tremble.
His left arm grew large and he brought it down, slamming it hard enough into the ground to crush cars.
“Guys stop!” I cried, my heart beating wildly. “Stop! Guys we can talk this out!”
Joshua roared again, the bass in his voice deafening as he absorbed more of the asphalt, growing in height.
The others ignored me, continuing onwards. I fired webs, pulling them both back, before leaping over to Joshua.
“Stop! Joshua stop!” I shouted. “We can talk this out with-”
I narrowly dodged as a large spike arm cut through the air, and crashed into the building across the road, shattering all the windows. Jess and Yu leapt past me again, but I webbed them back, swinging quickly to Joshua as I cried out desperately for him to stop.
But his arm cut back through the air, targeting me again as I swung and dodged through the mess of debris that the ground was now hurling up at me. The arm missed by inches, one of the spikes pricking before it crashed into the already damaged building. The sounds of civilians screaming echoed out from the lower floors.
“Joshua! Joshua stop!” I shouted again. He ignored me, continuing to swing and swat at me. Shit. He either couldn’t hear me, or didn’t want to.
Suddenly a hand grabbed me, yanking me to the side where I was slammed atop a car.
“What the hell are you doing?!” Peter said, holding me down.
“I- shit. Sorry I-”
He glanced back and his eyes instantly widened.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Shit! Miles!” Peter cried out.
He swung off, and quickly snagged an unconscious Miles out from under some rubble as the large spiked fist nearly crashed down upon him. My eyes widened, and I looked up as Joshua roared again, batting away Yu and Jess with his un-spiked palm.
Dammit. What the hell was I doing? Joshua had killed people and now he was trying to kill us. It didn’t matter what I was feeling, I needed to think this through. I had to stop him.
I leapt up into the air and swung forward, as fast as possible. My heart hammered as I weaved through the debris, nearing the mess of brick and debris that was now Joshua. Then I sensed it. The wristband that Peter had given him. It was on the spiked arm. If I took that away, did he go back to being stuck in the rock? It was the only plan I could think of.
“Joshua!” I shouted, nearing him. “Joshua!”
He looked down to me and then attacked with the large arm.
I dodged, a few of the spikes grazing me, then grabbed a hold of a spike as the arm shot past. With all my might I held on, the brick and debris of the arm curling around me as the spikes started to close in.
“L- Spider-Man!” Jess cried from below
“Stay back!” I shouted, as Yu and Jess leapt up towards me. Then with as much might as I could muster, I flung myself downwards, towards the wristband, as various spikes cut at me. Joshua seemed to noticed what I was doing and cried out, the rumble echoing through all the brick.
But it was too late. I grabbed at his wristband and with a final desperate leap, jumped away. The rock and stone seemed to collapse in on me, sharp spikes aimed for my body. But the stabiliser broke first. Instantly the soft flowing sound like sand ceased, a harsh and grating echoed through the rock.
I dodged through the slower spikes, and landed a top a broken car, breathing heavily as I looked ahead. Joshua’s form remained a top the mess of rubble, wall and brick, but beneath him the had stone had hardened.
“What did you do!?” he cried. “What did you do?!”
All the stone came grinding to a halt.
“No!” Joshua cried, “No, no, no!”
The flow of bricks and debris slowed, before solidifying, Joshua’s torso still formed out of rock.
The mass trembled slightly, the bassy rumble of a voice reverberating through the stone as if trying to escape. But it was only echo. Joshua was once again, frozen in rock.
Then the MDA helicopters descended from above. I looked back to Yu and Jess, then to Peter who stared at me, holding the still limp Miles in his hands.
"Shit" I mumbled.
-
I sat on the rooftop silent, staring out at the cop cars, firetrucks and ambulances below. The MDA had carted Joshua, well the rock formation that was Joshua off, using some special kind of helicopter. He was going to the Hortz-Bruig now. Where he'd probably stay, trapped in rock and rumble. I shuddered.
“What a week” I mumbled. Graduation, telling everyone, picking the mask back up again and a bunch of other stuff alongside this mess. I sighed. So much had happened I couldn’t even think about all of it properly. My thoughts were a mess like always, but today they'd actually had an impact on the fight. I cursed silently.
“You can say that again” a voice said behind me. I glanced back, spotting Peter as he made his way over. I offered a small smile, before looking back to the streets again. “No mask?” he asked.
“No” I said. “I guess my mind feels clearer without it. I feel less… confined”
“Makes sense” Peter said, taking a seat next to me, before pulling his own mask off. His face was slightly bruised in places, his lip split and he had a look about him, one that made him feel older than he was. But most of all he just seemed tired.
“You alright?” I asked.
“Yeah. Just thinking. About everything you know. Mostly my suit though. Smells awful. When I haven’t had the chance to wash this thing for too long it gets like that. And sometimes when the materials get covered in corrosive stuff and I wash it too soon, then the colour gets all faded and the lining gets kind of scratchy so, I have to buy the stuff for a new one and it’s all… actually nevermind” he chuckled sheepishly. I chuckled too.
“Nothing like hearing Spider-Man talk about the banality of washing his suit”
“Sorry, sorry” he laughed.
“It’s fine. You’ve gotta complain about it to someone”
“Liz hears about it enough as it is” he said smiling. “She’s great with stuff like that. But that’s besides, the point. Suits. That’s what I’m here for”
“Suits?”
“Yeah. We should probably sort out a new suit for you”
I looked down at myself, and the tattered mess that covered my body.
“It’s fine. I like this one”
“I know but it’s practically falling off of you at this point”
“… fair point. I can keep the colourway though”
“Of course”
I nodded, then looked back out at the city.
“It’s great isn’t it?” I asked. Peter nodded, smiling to himself.
“It really is”
“I could”
“I do sometimes. Less often than I used to though” he said. “First time I came up this high, I think it was right after I saved someone. I swung ”
“I think the first time I came up this high… must’ve been in the other world actually. Sat on a skyscraper for a few hours. Before that I don’t think I’d ever been higher than the Flatiron. I swung along the Queensboro once though. That felt weirdly high”
“Yeah, bridges do don’t they” Peter said, smiling before his smile fell. “Uh… Lucas?”
“Yeah?”
“Back there… when Joshua started… I don’t know. Just, why’d you try to stop us?”
My heart sunk slightly and I clenched my mask in hand.
“I don’t know. I thought we could talk it out or something”
“Even after he killed that woman? After he tried to squash Miles?”
“I… sorry. I know it was stupid I just… I didn’t want us to fight like that”
“But… I- look sorry I don’t mean to be rude but that’s not a reason Lucas. You can’t just…” he trailed off before looking back to me. “Is there something more going on?”
“I don’t know man”
“You don’t know?” Peter said incredulous.
“No, I… I don’t know” I mumbled.
“Well, you better think of a damn answer! That was dangerous Lucas! The others nearly got seriously hurt!” Peter shouted, uncharacteristically angry.
“I-I’m sorry” I stuttered. “I wasn’t thinking and I just- I…” I went quiet, bringing a hand to my face. Peter stayed quiet for a second, then tentatively put a hand on my shoulder.
“I- sorry. I’m sorry for shouting. But… they’re kids. It’s obvious with Miles, but with the other two… I just forget, given how similar Jess is to me and how strong Yu is. But they’re kids. I know you’re young too, but your older than them. You have a responsibility. Doing this… I- we can’t let anything happen to them”
“I… I understand” I said.
“Good” Peter said. “And… sorry. I didn’t mean to shout”
“It’s ok”
There was a short pause, both of us staring off at the city before I decided to speak again.
“It was guilt”
“Huh?”
“The reason I tried to stop you guys. When you and the others wanted to turn him in, I thought… ‘I’ve killed someone. How comes I get a chance, but he doesn’t?’ I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted to talk to him, give him a chance to explain himself. I felt… guilty. I thought there was still a chance to clear things up but…” I trailed off again.
“Lucas…”
“Sorry. What I did was beyond stupid. It won’t ever happen again” I said. “I promise”
“It’s… it’s fine Lucas”
We were silent again.
“Is that why, afterwards, you tried to take him on alone?”
“I guess. I just… sorry. I keep making the wrong choices or feel the wrong way, then try to compensate for it by making the wrong choices”
“Feel the wrong way?”
“I- whenever things get tough, or there’s something I don’t want to do, I avoid it. I always run” I said. Peter was quiet, staring at me silently. I didn’t look at him, staring expressionless at my feet. “I thought I was doing better, cause I felt fine and I’d managed to avoid the feeling till now, till after getting back, but… there’s more to it than I thought”
“More to what?”
“My… I don’t know… the way I think? The mindset? I thought I’d gotten over everything, but when I realised I put everyone in danger again, it all came back. I lost control earlier too in the fight. It’s… I don’t know”
“Lucas, I don’t understand. I know how difficult being afraid can be, but-“
“It’s not about being afraid” I interrupted. “It’s… sorry” I mumbled, realising my rudeness.
“It’s fine” Peter said. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“I just… I guess during the fight, with everything that I was thinking about and trying to manage it… I’m not explaining it right. It feels like there’s so much more too. Like even if I overcome this… weirdness in my head, things will still be just as hard. I kind of realised when I read the other me’s diary, but I only really understood it now.
"He’d been doing the Spider-Man thing for years. He didn’t feel afraid anymore or at the very least it didn’t bother him enough that he wrote about it. He just felt trapped in a way. The responsibility of his position unnerved him. He didn’t feel he deserved it and he wasn’t even a bad person. It made him uncomfortable. I think that’s the killer for me. I can’t stand feeling uncomfortable” I said. There was another pause.
“I’ve been trying to change that. It’s part of the reason I ignored Joshua’s behaviour. I didn’t tell anyone but that glider guy, he nearly killed him. Probably would’ve if I hadn’t shown up and said something. And he probably wouldn’t have thought it that bad a thing. The way he spoke about villains, and my own thoughts and feelings, it all made me feel uncomfortable. But instead of seeing what his actions for what they were until it was too late, I focused on what I was feeling. I focused on rejecting the feeling or justify it. I… I tried to rationalise it as growth.
"I even told myself we were saving people and that’s what heroes do, right? I thought I was being responsible for once” I said with an ironic chuckle.
“Just because you messed up here doesn’t mean you didn’t learn the right lesson. You’ll get more chances”
“How many more?” I said, looking up at him. “I mean how many more people have to die because I can’t be a proper hero? Because I want to pretend certain things are ok, or not have tough conversations? How many more people have to die because I can’t even trust myself to do what’s right with this power?” Peter’s face shifted, from concern to sadness.
“What happened today wasn’t your fault Lucas”
“You don’t have to lie, Pete” I said, looking away. We were both silent again.
“Just… give it some time" he said. "Build yourself up brick by brick”
“I- brick by brick?” I said with an arched eyebrow.
“S-sorry, that was unintentional” he chuckled, before becoming serious. “But you know what I mean. The fact that you’re even able to talk about all of this, that you know and recognise that you’re having issues is a good thing. It’s the first step to becoming better. I think, outside of a few mistakes you’re already good enough anyway. Just… don’t quit”
I went silent, nodding to myself.
I stared down at the mask in my hand. Memories throughout my life, moments and feelings, of everything I’d gone through to get to this point flashed through my mind, finally stopping on the bloodstained picture I still kept in my wallet.
“You’re… not a coward”
I clenched my fist tighter. I’d never be able to stop doing this. Even if I wanted to. Cause if I didn’t wear the mask, I wouldn’t be able to live myself.
Sure, my girlfriend just broke up with me, I was starting college in a few months and I was nowhere near where I thought I was mentally. There’s probably even a ton of other things I’d have to worry about in the future too. But it wasn’t going to get any easier and there’d gonna be a lot more people who need saving. So I was sticking with it.
“Don’t worry Pete. I won’t” I replied. I’ve missed enough time already.”