Chapter 2: The Web Of Guilt

 Spider-Man: Fanfiction Colab 

Chapter1: https://storymirror.com/read/story/english/n82shb9c/spider-man-fanfiction-colab-ch-1/detail

The characters in this story and the base story is from Marvel comics.

Everything in this story is purely fictional.

The story is dedicated to stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

 

 

 “We are surrounded with problems all around us and your job as a student of science and reason is to identify them and then solve them. So, the scope of this year’s project is applying a solution-oriented approach which has the capability of solving a real-world problem. The focus should be on developing a device which can either improve the safety and security of the city or help the society as a whole.”

The words of Mr. Raymond Warren were echoing in the ears of Peter who was sitting by the window looking at him as if he was looking through him; lost in his thoughts, he whispered:

“Improve the safety and security of the city… only if I had…”

“Only if you had stopped that woman that day, Aunt May would not be dead. It was you, Peter. It was your fault.” Mr. Warren’s eyes widened into a manic gaze with his lips forming a creepy smile, a blanket of darkness surrounding him and swallowing everything around him.

Peter’s mind froze, he felt dizzy as he remembered the shot sounding like the clap of a thunder which snapped him out of his trance. It was raining outside. He found himself teary eyed but quickly collected himself as he realized Mr. Warren still standing there but looking at him as if expecting a response to a question he asked before. The bell rang and everyone rushed outside.

“To my office, Peter.” His teacher said. Peter followed him to his office which was fairly small yet decent enough. Mr. Warren had a small table which had a chair backing the wall for himself and two chairs facing his across the table, backing the door. There was an almirah on the right and a large book case filled with all sorts of boxes full of papers, records and books. There was a window on one end which had a beautiful tree with birds nesting inside.

He sat him down on one of his cushiony chairs and pored him some tea and stood by his side, leaning against the table.

“Life is hard, Peter but as a scientist, you need to observe and not affected by it.

Peter listened with his gaze down.

“You need to accept it to come out of it. If you need anything, anything at all, just reach me out.”

He nodded and finished his tea. He sat there in silence for a couple more minutes and the took his leave.

As he came out of his office, Summar approached him.

“Hey…” a soft calming tone, she asked him, “Are you okay?”

“Yes… yes, I am.”: forcing reassurance in his words. She noticed his perspiring restless hands and shaky voice but did not want to pry, aware of how the recent events had unfolded for him, she had heard of how Aunt May was killed. It was in the local news. She put her warm hand over his jittering ones, “You know you can talk to me. I am here for you.”

If only he could share his pain with her but, how could he? He didn’t even share it with himself. Burdened by his own guilt, he lied to her and to himself. “Yes, I know. So, what do you think we should work on?” trying to change the subject; withdrawing his hands.

“I have a few things on my mind but let’s take some time off tonight to brainstorm on it and we can meet-up after school tomorrow to share the ideas.”

“Tomorrow, it is.” He responded with a soft smile on his face to conceal his deep sorrow.

On the other end, his friends were having struggles of their own.

“How is Peter doing?” asked Norman Osborn, Harry’s father in a concerning way.

“Not sure.” Replied his son.

“Why? You two are friends, right?”

“I think so but we haven’t spoken in 3 months since…” he paused.

“Poor kid. First his parents and now his Aunt.”

Harry’s phone buzzed. It was MJ (Mary Jane). He ignores the call which his father noticed.

“Still dating that waitress, Harry?”

“If only you could meet her once…”; before he could finish, he was interrupted, “That’s disappointing. Illusions are not reality, Harry. Break out of yours before it breaks you. You’re an Osborn. You’re my son; my only heir. Maybe it’s time you start acting more responsibly and make your father proud for once.” – he stood up and turned away from him in dismay as he was walking away, he recalled something and turned to Harry to say,

“And yes, tell Peter to see me in my office tomorrow for the internship he applied for. He is a talented young man, and his gifts should not go to waste. He is bright one. Maybe you can learn a thing or two from him.”

Harry shook his head as his neck dropped and he looked at phone which had a picture of MJ kissing Harry on his cheek. Sadness engulfed him. If only his father could embrace him as quickly as the sorrow did; then maybe he wouldn’t have felt so alone in that big mansion which was full of precious things yet had nothing that could fill him with joy and made him feel loved.

Meanwhile Peter arrived at home to find Uncle Ben sitting alone who glanced at him once but did not utter a word. The photograph of Aunt May was on the table beside him as if the chair beside him was left empty for Aunt may to join her. He had been talking to her picture lately and losing touch with reality which hit him hard every single time he saw Peter. The resentment he had in heart was only growing for him as he believed if only he had not left that day angrily, Aunt May would have been alive. The love of his life.

“Did you take your meds today?” - asked Peter.

Didn’t want to engage in a conversation so he nodded in response.

Peter had got some pizza from Crispy Crust. He served some to Uncle Ben and took some for himself. He noticed the headline from todays’ newspaper: “Another kid went missing near the sewers, body found mutilated.”

“I’ll be in my room.” And he left Uncle Ben at the table.

As he took a bite, it reminded him of Aunt May who used to pamper him with different delicacies. She was not the best chef but her food had her warmth and affection. No matter how much he tried to make peace with it, he couldn’t. “With great power, comes great responsibility.” The sound of those words with her dying breath, were fresh in his head. Thinking of those, he took out his suit and opened the window of his room, spun a web and swung out into the cityscape.

The city looked quite different at night. All the corners which are illuminated in the daylight, become eerily silent and dark as the dusk sets in. The body of the missing kid report had intrigued his interest and that was not the only report he had heard or read about. Several people had gone missing in the past month, men, women and men, none were spared. He knew something was off about those killings. Some families were lucky, at least they had found some bodies and were able to identify them but others were still waiting for their loved ones to return on day. The police had no clue until now but they suspected a serial killer behind it. But it looked like there was something more to the story which is what Peter was after.

As he was swinging at the outskirts of the city, a sudden scream drew his attention to the sewers. There was a factory near by and the area was not that safe either. He suspected a thief but as he reached at the source, some else caught his eye. He found the handbag; shredded nearby indicating some struggle but nothing was stolen. The bag, ID and the little cash she had, was all in there but no sign of her as if she had vanished in thin air. All he had left with was some unpleasant smell, some fur and some claw marks on the shredded bag and on the wall. And in that moment, he realized, it was no ordinary man they were looking for… it was something else.

The next day he met Summar who told him she was thinking to work on a sensory device that could be used to incapacitate the adversary and makes it easier for the Police to overpower the person. That way they would not have to shoot him/her but physiologically paralyze them for a few minutes to detain them.

“Wow where did you get the idea from?”

“My cat.” She replied.

“How so?”

“Yesterday she brought me a mouse and as soon as I saw it, frightened, I shrugged it off aggressively. As soon as the mouse hit the floor, it just came back to life and ran off and my cat started chasing him again. I realized in the moment that he might just be shocked when Kiwi (my cat) caught him. So, I though what if we highjack the sensors of the person the same way in which they go into a paralytic state and then overpower them.”

“That’s impressive and dark at the same time. I don’t know if I should be impressed or afraid of you.”

She laughed it off but the idea was set now they needed some expert advise to work on. They decided to prepare a proposal report for Mr. Warren and once he approved it, they could start working on the same.

That night, Peter went to the same place yesterday to see if the “killer” shows up again. His instincts told him to venture further into the dark tunnels of the sewer and as he could not find the victim anywhere outside, the only thing nearby was the sewer. He proceeded with caution, the deeper he went, he noticed some random objects like a shoe, a stall and some pieces of a shirt and the scene only got grimmer from there when the objects started to change into limbs. But before he could go any further, chaos ensued. Loud screams and crying filled the tunnel. It was coming from above. He got out to investigate further when he noticed, a huge blast had taken place. Everything was in debris and people were dying all around as if a war had broken out. Not sure of what to do, he noticed a child crying and in shock, sitting over the body of his father and still holding his fingers, and in the way of a huge mob who was rushing in his direction. Spiderman leaped over to save the child. As soon as he tried to carry him, it vanished. Everything around him calmed down in a second and he found himself in the same alley sitting in the dark with sewers nearby and a locked factory. He looked around, checked for any signs of people and found nothing. Unable to make sense of it all, he left.

The next day, at school, Summar was busy working on the report when Peter was still in shock of the last night events and was not sure if he had hallucinated all of it or not.

“So, what do you think of the proposal, Peter?”

“What proposal?”

“The one that needs to be sent to Mr. Warren?”

“Yeah I think you did a great job on it.”

He excused himself and went straight to the theatre room which was empty. He took out the radio to catch the frequency of the nearby police station which was on alert as a robbery had happened where people were sure they had seen the dead zombies and vampires attacking them which vanished later.

“So, it was true.” He knew what he saw was an illusion but how he did not know. He went back and asked Summar to submit the proposal but she insisted they should work on it together but Peter needed to get back home to do some more research so he agreed to meet her after school and left.

He went to the crime scene and talked to the victims, some of them were in shock and no one knew how it happened since no body saw anything but a few did notice a guy in a suit with a fishbowl helmet filled with smoke which jogged his memory and he realized he had seen a similar thing last night too. Peter noticed MJ and Harry nearby who were giving their statement to the police. The officer looked amused more than seriously listening to their story. He walked upto them and they narrated the same tale as everybody else.

“You saw that fishbowl thing too?” asked Harry to Peter who nodded in no, and he clarified that he was at school and had some bank work so came here to get it done and got to know about the incident. He noticed a scar on MJ’s hand to which she told him not to worry about it.

At the evening, he met Summar at a coffee shop to discuss about her concerns about the project when he noticed, the dark thundering clouds all around and the same fish bowl helmet appeared, after which everyone started seeing the people who had died in the last year’s subway accident. He could not believe his eyes. “I’ll be back.” And he left and the next thing was him appearing outside as Spiderman. He tried to stop the “ghosts” who were trying to attack people and kept on illustrating the same accident on loop. There was fire and smoke all around when he noticed MJ in a trance in the middle of it. She seemed awake but not in her control. She looked at him and smiled eerily when the guy in a suit appeared beside her. His face was hidden in that smoky helmet. It seemed as if she was conjuring those evil forces.

“You can’t defeat my Spiderman. I am a God.” Whispered in his head as more and more destruction started to take place and this time, real people were getting harmed. The building was being smashed, the bridge collapsed and a burning train came out of the dark cloud and rammed into another building.

Peter exclaimed, “Why are you doing this? Who are you?”

“I am the new God. I am Magneto! And I am here to teach you a lesson, Spiderman. You can’t save everyone. Like you couldn’t save those people in the subway train. I will show everyone how their hero is selective and he picks and choose who will live and who will die.”

Spiderman was stunned. There was chaos everywhere and this time for real. He tried to fight him but in vain. He was constantly taking people off the line of attack when he noticed Harry was screaming MJ’s name. He asked him to take care of the people at the coffee shop and take them into the basement. The people on the ground were taking refuge in different buildings around which were constantly under Magneto’s attack. He tried to talk to MJ who was unaffected to his words and relayed the same words as that of Magneto that he can’t save everyone. He noticed a device attached on the same scarred arm. He took it down with his web shot which pulled her out of trance and he noticed a drone-like device falling off the sky disturbing the illusion Magneto had created. He took her to a safe spot and realized the simulation and holographic technique he was using so he started shooting webs in the air to disarm more and more drones when Magneto attacked him.

“Let’s peek into your little Spidey head.”

Spider-Man became entangled in a nightmarish illusion—one where he battled twisted versions of his greatest foes, reliving moments of failure and loss. The line between reality and nightmare blurs, and the hero found himself overwhelmed. In the climax, the mysterious figure stepped into the dim light, revealing himself. The hero is ensnared in a masterful illusion crafted by the villain, who taunted him with the promise of returning nightmares. “This isn’t over, Spiderman. I’ll be back and until then…”

Mysterio's laughter resonated as he faded into the shadows, leaving the defeated hero to grapple with the haunting echoes of his illusory defeat. And with him, everything vanished. And he sat there defeated. As he noticed people started to walk in his direction, he swung out.

Back in the coffee shop, Peter appeared and explained how he was helping people on the other side. Summar standing in front of him, sounding worried but was glad to see him unharmed. She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek as he blushed a little. There Harry took MJ home while she could not recall what had happened.

Peter walked Summar to her home and was left with unanswered questions about his unforgettable foe.