It was Monday night. I should be at my lab or out
patrolling the streets, though the latter half Matt does cover for me so it isn't absolutely necessary. But still, I should be
somewhere else, i honestly didn't think I would be...well, here.
For the first time since Nat and I began using it the Queen's SHIELD bunker was finally being used for actual SHIELD mission
purposes.
I stood in full costume next to Jessica and a scientist named Albert Reech that SHIELD had on their payroll. We stood on the
other side of a one way mirror looking into an interrogation in progress. And the man of the hour? A fully cured Curt Connors.
"So you're telling me, you don't remember any of it?" the agent interrogating him scoffed as he leaned back on his chair, "I find
that hard to believe doctor."
The man in question was bald and sickly looking, almost as if he was a cancer patient that had gone through extensive
chemotherapy.
"I-I am telling you all the truth. I am sorry, but I don't remember what happened to me for the past three days," he whispered,
his voice frail like a wilting rose.
"You killed a man," the agent hissed, "gutted him in half and then tried to kill more people. You're telling me you don't
remember any of that?"
"What a douchebag," I grumbled.
"He's just doing his job," Albert argued.
"We established the Lizard is a separate entity, sort off like a split personality disorder deal," I shot back, "and he's still treating
Corners as if he's personally responsible for those deaths."
"It's protocol Spider," Jessica told me, sending an apologetic look, "it can't be helped." I grumbled, but didn't argue back.
"Find," the agent tapped the table rhythmically, "fine….tell me about ROXXON."
Coroner's blinked, "what do you want to know?"
"How did they contact you?"
"Email...they sent me an email with...well, everything I would need," Conner's looked down, his shame was so potent I could feel
it form here, and form the way Jessica's eyes sadness, I'm guessing she could as well.
"How did they even know what you were working on?" the agent asked.
"I was stuck on grafting of genetic markers onto a subject's DNA...the key to the whole formula...I...I reached out to the dark net,
hoping someone, anyone could help me. I visited so many site, so many forms...and then...I came home one night to see a new
email in my inbox."
"And..that's it? A multinational company just happened to reach out..forgive me, but a nobody professor and gave him the
answer to all his worries? No strings attached?"
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"I...yes," Corners nodded.
The interrogation went standard from then onwards. They asked him the formula details, who knew, if it could be massed
produced. Whatever SHIELD was planning...HYDRA might get their hands off it. I need to make sure if Corners tell them, it's not
the real formula.
But then...something...something was nagging me. In my head, something didn't sit right with this whole deal.
"That doesn't make sense," I hissed.
"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.
"I have been after those bastards for weeks," I replied, "I have followed every trail, every corner of the city. I couldn't find a
trace of them, not even a paper trail. But now? They slip off? An email with their name in big bold letters? They must have
know Coroner's was a liability, they aren't stupid. But now….it doesn't make sense."
"Maybe they made a mistake...it could happen you know," Jessica argued.
I shrugged, "maybe….maybe..." I saw the integrated get up and call agents to escort Corners away. I narrowed my eyes, "I need
to talk to him. Can I?"
Jessica turned to the doctor who shrugged, "sure. But make it short."
I walked out and saw him being dragged to the exit where a van was waiting to take him away.
"Wait," I called out, the agents turned and nodded at me, "give me a few minutes. Alone."
They nodded and left, leaving me and Coroner's alone. I waited until they were out of earshot to speak, "Sexy, cut the audio
monitors in this entire corridor."
"You got it boss," the AI replied.
Corners looked at me, his eyes softening, "my son is a huge fan of yours sir...he keeps asking me to make him a human spider,"
he chuckled, "it's so difficult to tell a nine year old that's not possible."
I chuckled, "I suppose so...does he take after you?"
"You mean is he smart?" I nodded, Corners smiled, "he isn't a genius like I am but...he takes after his mother. An artist, a genius
in his own right I suppose."
"I see...so...why did you do it?"
Coroner's looked at me, "because...because I wanted to cure the world."
I looked at his arm, the stump of his right hand, "may I ask how it happened?"
He touched it softly, "when Billy, my son...when he was five, he was about to be crushed by a giant machine in my lab. It had
toppled over...I pushed him just in time but in exchange...my arm was crushed beyond repair."
"A small price to pay I would say."
"It is," Connors smiled, "and I would gladly give my other arm for him as well.. But...no one else should ever have to give that
up...no one. I thought I could make sure nothing like this ever happened again...no matter what happened to me."
I felt his sadness grow as he continued, "but I never imagined...did he have a son?"
"Quinber? I….I don't' know….Sexy?"
"The office had a children sir."
Conner's head fell, "I'm a monster."
"Yes….you are," he looked down, tears forming in his eyes, "but...you can always change."
"How? How will anyone ever forgive me for what I did? How will my son ever stop seeing me as-as not a monster?"
I was silent, my thoughts running through my head a mile a minute until I finally got an answer. "Most people believe that once
you become evil...you can never change, that that's who you will always be. But...that's a lie. You can always change...it won't be
easy, it might not even be possible. But if you don't' try...if you give up...then you are truly lost."
"B-but I-"
"-I forgive you," I told him, "I forgive you and everything you did. I forgive you Curt...no one is is above forgiveness, no one. And
I forgive you...now, you have to get the rest of the world to forgive you...and most importantly...you have to forgive yourself."
Curt's tears flowed freely, he cried, his voice hitching, breaking. He was broken inside, but I knew he would recover, I could see
it. Anyone who ever asks the question, 'am I a good person', has the potential to be so. At least, that's what I believe.
"Sir, the audio system is down. You have two minutes before they notice," Sexy replied. I sighed, good, now I can begin.
"Corners….I need your help….can you do me a favour?"
He looked up, "what do you want me to do?"
"Has SHIELD will ask you for the Lizard formula?"
Curt shook his head, "no...they didn't."
"Good...if they do...lie," I told him, much to his shock.
"W-why?" he asked me.
"Because SHIELD has a mole in it," I replied, "an organization older and far more terrible than ROXXON has control of it and if
they ever get their hands on the formula, thousand, if not millions of people will die."
Curt's eyes widened, "who?"
"HYDRA," I replied. And the way Coroner's eyes widened, I'm guessing he knew.
"If you know they are still...active. Why haven't you stopped them yet?"
"It's complicated," I replied. The truth was...it wasn't my destiny...it was Captain America's to stop them. Canon, no matter how
much I fucked it up, will try and repeat itself. It's just a law of the universe.
"I see….fine...I'll be quite...but I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
"Billy...tell him I'm sorry...tell him I'm not a monster they say I am...please, I beg you."
I nodded, "consider it done." I turned and left, Corner smiled, I smelt a small breeze of happiness in the stench of sadness
around him. I'm glad I could do something to change his mind.
I watched the Agents return and escort Conner's to the back of a van. He sat there between armed guards, he was supposed to
look depressed, defeated even. But I saw a small smile on his face.
Soon they drove away, I watched the van pull out of the warehouse we sued as our front and hoped HYDRA didn't try anything.
I know it might be a vain belief to have, but I had to hope.
I made my way to the interrogation room and found Jessica dismissing the doctor form before. 'Confidential' and 'need to
know' was passed around quickly. She sighed as I approached, "this is such a pain."
"I suppose it is," I saw the doctor and the interrogator form before enter the lift and exit the safe house. Meaning Jessica and I
were alone.
I reached up and removed my helmet, sighing as I ran my fingers through my hair, "at least it's over."
"Yes...I suppose it is," she looked away, sad.
I narrowed my eyes and slowly placed my hand on her hip, pulling her closer, her back pressed against my back as she sighed,
leaning back on me for support.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I bite into neck playfully, the lust rolling off her was….so intoxicating.
"I told you...I'm here only till the whole ROXXON mess is solved, and then I'm gone," she moaned, "and it's solved...so..."
"When do you have to leave?" I asked.
"I was given an hour to gather my things and leave the safe house...and you," she moved away and turned, we held each other
in our arms, Jessica looked into my eyes and I into her's.
"When will I see you again?" I asked.
"Honestly? I don't know," Jessica sighed, "I suppose...it will be some time before I can be free again."
I smiled sadly, "do we have have at least an hour?"
"Yes...we do," she leaned forward and kissed me. I wrapped my hands under her curvy rear and lifted her into the air.
I made my way into her temporary room and kicked the door open, careful not to break it. I threw her on the bed and put my
helmet aside and slipped out of my costume.
Jessica wiggled out of her uniform and threw it away as well, throwing it to one corner of the room where it lay forgotten for
the next hour.
All the times before we had sex it was rough, violent and passionate. We fucked, but this time, we made love.
I remembered her kisses were filled with sadness this time, as if she was saying sorry for leaving. I didn't blame her, I couldn't.
She had a duty...a responsibility. She want to be a hero. Who was I to stop her?
I won't say that night was the most intense sex we ever had, in fact we only lasted a single round. But we prolonged that single
round for as long as we could for we knew after it, we would have to leave. And neither of us were ready for that.
Half an hour later Jessica and I were content staying in each other arms. Our bodies was warm and sweaty, our breathing
shallow. She had her head resting on my chest while I held her free arm in mine.
"This fucking sucks," she whispered, eyes drafting on the bedroom walls.
"I know..."
"...I'm going to miss you...you know?"
I reached down and kissed her forehead, "I know...I'll miss you too."
"Me or the sex?" Jessica chukled.
"Both," I smiled back, "although...I am kind of disappointed we never got that date."
"We have half an hour," she chuckled, "maybe we can do something with that."
"A half an hour date huh? Maybe," I smiled at that, "yeah….let's do that."
Jessica blinked, "Peter, I was joking."
"I wasn't," I took out my phone and went to YouTube, putting the first video I noticed in my feed, a video about the mystery of
Black Holes, narrated by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
Jessica raised an eyebrow as the video began, "seriously?"
"What? You don't like it?"
Jessica smiled, "no," she leaned forward and kissed me, this time, it wasn't filled with sorrow, but filled with content, "it's
perfect."
She rested on my chest and we watched the ten minute video. We didn't say a thing, we didn't need to.
After it was over we got dressed in seconds. Jessica didn't have much to pack, in fact she literally had nothing to pack. I
suspect whoever gave her an hour did so simply because they knew she wanted to say goodbye.
I watched her enter her jet and take off through the entrance in the warehouses' roof. She waved at me from the cockpit. I
waved her back.
The warehouse window closed up and I sighed, another women left, damn this Parker luck. The entire place suddenly grew
colder, the warmth of companionship was gone, I was alone.
I looked at my helmet, the mask of Spider-man looked back at me. I suppose I wasn't alone...I had the duty that came with this
mask. Spider-man had a duty. Billy needed to know his father wasn't a monster.
I swung out into the night without a sound. I had Sexy find Connor's address and swing over to the place. Ironically, it was a few
neighborhoods South of my home. I jumped from rooftop to rooftop until I found myself in the tree growing next to the house
and inside I heard two people crying.
I focused on the one that sounded younger, I swung over and peaked into the window, the bedroom looked to be that of a
young boy and the figure hidden under the covers and crying was short.
I opened the window easily, the noise I made startled the boy. He got up from his bed and looked at me, he gasped, "S-Spiderman?"
"Hey….Billy right?" I climbed in and closed the window behind me.
"H-how do you know who I am?" the kid asked. He wore a set of blue pyjamas with vertical white stripes. His hair was blonde
and he had blue eyes which were tinged red from crying.
I sighed, "your father sent me...he wanted me to speak to you."
"Y-you know my daddy?" hope seeping into his voice, "where is he? Is he okay? Is he coming back?"
I sighed, "he's safe Billy and...I don't know when he'll come back though..."
"Oh..." that single word seemed to shatter Billy's dreams, he hanged his head, anger and sadness coming out, "I thought so...I
mean...after what he did..."
"What do you think he did?" I asked him.
"He killed people," Billy responded.
"No," I shook my head, approaching his bed and sitting down next to him, "he didn't do that."
"But mom said he was that Lizard thing we saw on the NEWS! That he hurt someone!"
I sighed, "yes, he did hurt someone. And he is the Lizard but, it wasn't him who did all those things."
"What do you mean?" Billy asked.
I sighed, great, I had to explain multiple personality disorder to a ten year old, joy. "It's like this...do you know why he did what
he did? Why he became the Lizard?" Billy shook his head, "it's because he was trying to help people. But something went wrong
and it turned him into that monster. I stopped him, not only because I needed to save the city, but because I knew the Lizard
wasn't who your father really was. He was a good man, and I was trying to save him."
Billy looked down, confusing in his eyes. But slowly, I smelt the anger disappear, "so...he's not a bad guy?"
I shook my head, "no, he's a good man Billy. A kind man. He just...made a mistake. I'm not saying you should forgive him, but you
have to at least realise he never meant to do anything he did...he told me to tell you he's sorry….that's why I'm here."
Billy looked down, silent for a while. Finally he looked up at me and with tear filled eyes asked, "c-can you stay? J-just for a
while...please?" the last part was almost begging.
I nodded, "of course," I let him rest on my thigh as the boy began to sob, crying himself to sleep. I waited and waited and I
honestly didn't mind the wait. As much as Billy needed someone, I also didn't want to be alone.
When he finally did go to sleep I gently placed his head on this pillow and wrote down a quick note and placed it on his
bedside. It read: 'It's always easy to hate and harder to forgive. Your father will always love you, I promise. Signed, The Spider.'
I left after that swinging away. I made my way back home, but before I entered my bedroom through the roof, I heard a crash. I
quickly looked around and noticed the light in MJ's room was still on, I focused my hearing and immediately picked up
something.
"No Mark!"
"MJ, it's just something to cut the edge! You said you were nervous for the gig tomorrow right? This will help."
"Look, if it was weed or some beer then fine, but this is cocaine Mark!"
"Sexy, transform into civilian apparel," I ordered as I jumped across the road, clearing the distance in a single bound. The
unstable molecule fabric shimmered as it changed, transforming into what I designated as street clothes, a pair of jeans, black
hoodie and sneakers.
I removed my helmet and gauntlets and placed them on the roof, "MJ please, you're acting like a bitch!" I sighed, me sneaking
into MJ's room in the middle of the night. Didn't I already graduate form this last year?
"Mark, get out, now!"
"MJ you don't mean that! Look I'm sorry okay, look, I'm putting it away," I jumped onto a nearby tree branch and landed. I
turned and got a directly line of sight to MJ's room.
"Mark...I don't think I can keep doing this if you keep doing that," MJ pointed to the trash can, Mark must have thrown it away.
"MJ...look...I'm sorry, but you have no idea the pressure I'm under," Mark begged, "I have the band, my dad, school, it's all so
much! I need this!"
"Mark..please, for me," she approached the man with a loving look, "stop...I don't think I can stand the sight of the man I
love...becoming a junkie."
Mark looked down and snarled, "yeah right," he pushed her back, "I'm the man you love...as if."
MJ blinked, "what's that supposed to mean?"
"You know what I damn well mean!" Mark yelled.
MJ signed, "Mark, how many times are we going to go over this. Peter and I are just friends!"
"Yeah right!" Mark growled, "you always talk about him, every time you and Liz hang out it's always, Peter this, Peter that. 'Oh
Peter adopted a street stary and feed her, isn't he so amazing'? 'Oh, Peter saved a basket of puppies! Let's all suck his fucking
dick!'"
MJ narrowed her eyes, "take that back."
"Or what?"
"Or we're thru."
Mark snorted, "I see how it is...I can't even make fun of your precious Peter Parker. What's so special about him?!"
Without skipping a beat, MJ replied, "everything...you won't understand. You don't know him."
"Yeah...and I guess I can't compare to him either," he walked away, grabbing his guitar and slammed the door behind him. MJ
feel on her bed, tears running freely. I watched Mark get into his car, which was parked at the end of the road, and drive away.
She cried, I heard her cry loud and hard. I felt the pain and sorrow she held in her heart and I knew I had the same, except I
had learnt to hide my feeling a lot better than she ever would.
I walked along the branch and latched onto the side of the house, crawling up to her window and knocking on the frame to
alert her to my princess.
She looked up, those brilliant green eyes now clouded and red. She looked up and was surprised, "P-Peter?"
"I was just getting home from swinging when I heard you crying," I said as I climbed into her room, closing the door behind her.
"You did?" she asked in disbelief.
I sighed, "no...I actually heard you and Mark fighting," I said as I sat down on her bed as she got up and wiped away her tears.
"I see..." she looked away, ashamed.
I sighed, "MJ...do you want me to talk to him? Tell him that there's nothing going on between us? I know I never really gave Mark
the time of day and all, but that isn't because I hate him or anything. I just never had the time for...well...friends."
"I know Peter," she sniffed, "I know...you have your responsibilities...Mark and I...we have our own problems. He's just blaming
them on you because he's the jealous type...it's nothing to do with you."
I put my arm on her shoulder and patted her back, "I'm sorry things turned out this way MJ..I knew you liked him."
"Yeah...but even I'm not stupid enough to stay with a drug addict."
I snorted, "you're not stupid MJ."
"The last boyfriend I had was Harry Osborn," she shot back, a sad smile, "my track record speaks for itself Peter."
I rolled my eyes, "but hey, at least now Harry's acting a lot more responsible...kind off."
"Yeah...I guess that's once again because of you," she pulled away and looked at me, "how do you do that Peter? How do you
get people to change so much?"
"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.
"Liz...we both know how she was before all of this. Before we befriended Jean and fought a psychotic metal mutant," MJ sighed,
", then came Harry, the daddy's boy who was a spoilt rich kid became more controlled and even responsible. Hell even Flash is
less of a jerk these days."
I snorted, "I think Flash cares more for what Spider-man thinks rather than what I do."
"Maybe...but they are the same person aren't they?" MJ raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged, "yeah...maybe."
"So how? How do you change people so much?"
"Honestly MJ? I don't know. I just live my life and I stand for I what I believe in. I guess...if people think it's worth the risk, they
stand with me too."
She was silent, I knew the talking was just...an ideal distraction. She tried to push away her thoughts, she tried to keep herself
busy. But I felt the laziness come back.
"I don't know what I'm doing with my life," she whispered.
I reached out and held her hand, "I promise...one day, you'll have it figured out."
"How? How can you possibly know that?"
I knew I shouldn't do it. I knew it was possibly the worst idea I ever had. But I felt so...broken. I felt so hurt. I know this wasn't a
proper excuse, but after so many people leaving me...I was desperate for someone to help me lessen the burden.
So I did something so fucking stupid.
I took out my phone and opened the safe gallery, MJ looked at it and raised an eyebrow, "what are you going to do? Show me
Captain America's nude?"
I chuckled, "please, Steve's too straight edge to take a nude."
"Only you would call Captain America by his first name," MJ rolled her eyes, "anyway, what are you showing me?"
"Something important," while most people would store nudes in their gallery, I didn't. What I held was much more precious.
I took out a picture I had taken while on Earth 982. A single perfect picture with that version of Peter Parker and his family. He
and his MJ stood in the back while May and I grinned arm in arm, standing like siblings.
"When I was lost in another world...I told you I found a version of myself...right?" I looked at her passing the phone to her,
letting her look at the image.
"Yeah...wait, isn't this May? That female version of yourself?" MJ asked curiously.
I shook my head, "no...I lied."
"What?" MJ snapped to me.