saudade

Peter was exhausted as he got back to his flat. It was almost morning again and he barely got some sleep. He just wanted to sleep. And then he had to talk to Harry. It wasn’t fair what he said yesterday, and he still needed to explain what really happened to his Norman before Peter could make things worse thanks to his impulsivity.

Bank robbery in progress. Another sandstorm is reported in the vicinity, a voice on the police radio said.

Marko. Uncle Ben’s murderer struck again. Peter had to find him. He went to his wardrobe to get his suit but then he remembered the new suit he got. The suit that made him feel better, stronger. Forgetting what Dr. Connors said to him, Peter took the black suit.

So, Peter jumped out of the window of his flat and swung through the streets of New York to get to that vicinity. As he arrived at the bank, taxis were turned over in the middle of the street and the building where the bank was in had several holes. A man was lying on the street, a severe wound on his head but he was still alive. A track of sand was disappearing into the canalisation.

He didn’t hesitate for a second. He’d find sandman and he’d make him pay for what he had done to Uncle Ben. Peter grabbed the duct cover and ripped it out.

“Wow, buddy, love the new outfit. This is exactly what I need to scoop Parker.” It was Brock’s voice.

Peter turned around and grabbed the camera with the help of his webs to throw it against a wall where it broke into pieces. He wouldn’t let such an ass kisser take away his staff job. “See ya, chump.” Then he jumped into the canalisation.

The canalisation turned into the subway network only a few hundred metres later. Peter crawled along the ceiling. Then he saw a man walking along the rails. When Peter was close enough to attack him, the man turned around. It was indeed his uncle’s killer. Peter merged with the shadows so he couldn’t be seen.

When Marko turned around again to walk away, Peter jumped and let himself hung from the ceiling by a web thread. “Flint Marko”, Peter said, his voice calm.

“What do you want from me?” Marko struck out to punch Peter, but Peter jumped away.

“Remember Ben Parker? The old man you shot down in cold blood?”

“What does it matter to you, anyway?”, Marko shouted back.

A subway drove past them, and Peter jumped to the other side of the ceiling. “Anything!”, he yelled. This criminal wasn’t even sorry for murdering his uncle. This needed to be punished. Peter shot some webs at the driving subway and let go of the ceiling, directly kicking into Marko’s face.

They flew at least hundred metres wide before crashing down onto another track of rails. Peter wanted to attack him again, but Marko saw that coming and kicked him away so Peter could get run over by the approaching train. He jumped away just in time.

Peter swung under the bridge and jumped onto the rails from behind, kicking Marko directly into the train. Then he grabbed his head and crashed it into the train. The sand was blown away.

“It’s time to pay”, Peter said as half of Marko’s face was blown away.

But his enemy freed himself from Peter’s grip and regained the sand he lost. It was as nothing happened to him.

Peter was thrown into a subway and as he got up to punch Marko, his enemy punched him so hard that Peter flew into that subway again. He was sick of his enemy fighting back. He just wanted to finish him. He would fight like with like.

He punched Marko in the face, causing the sand in him to appear on the surface. Marko was thrown into a subway, but Peter didn’t let go of him. Peter grabbed him by the collar, dragging him away from the subway so he could punch him to death.

But Marko fought back and the fell, crashing onto a pipe. Peter didn’t let that stop him. He punched him with a strength that was new to him, maybe a feature of his new suit, maybe just caused by the adrenaline. Either way, Peter didn’t care. As long as it killed Uncle Ben’s murderer, it was fine. The hit was so hard that the pipe broke.

They fell but Peter caught himself with his webs while Marko was falling into a giant puddle, causing his arm to dissolve. Peter witnessed his chance. He jumped onto the big water tank and tried to rip it apart. Thanks to the new strength he’s got, it worked. Water flood out of it, causing Flint Marko to dissolve.

It was done. He did it. He avenged Uncle Ben by making his killer pay.

Peter grinned. “Good riddance”, he said as the last bits of his victim were flood away by the waterfront he has caused.

When Peter got back to his flat, he was awaited by his landlord, Mr. Ditkovitch.

“Rent”, he demanded. Peter hasn’t paid his rent in quite a while now since he struggled to earn money.

When he lived with Harry, rent wasn’t a problem since they shared the price but since they broke apart, his life went downhill. Peter needed to sort things out with Harry before he gets his memories back, but it was difficult to tell him the truth.

“Not now”, Peter responded.

“Listen, it’s a free country. It’s not a rent-free country.”

“Leave me alone.”

“Give me rent.”

“You’ll get your rent when you fixed this damn door”, Peter yelled as he tried to get into his flat, but the door once again didn’t work.

Finally, he could open the door and disappeared into his flat. What was this? Since when was he that aggressive? Peter wasn’t used to have so much hate boiling inside him. He first felt it at the police station, and it increased during the fight with sandman.

Peter swallowed. He killed a man. He killed a man on purpose. He provoked the fight, knowing it will end in him killing a human being. Who was he? When did he start changing? Peter paced around the room. What was happening to him?

As he went past the mirror, Peter stopped to look at his reflection. He didn’t just change on the inside. He also changed on the outside. His hair was messy, his eyes had dark circles and he made the impression of a school bully rather than the weird nerd he had always been. There was nothing left of the friendly neighbourhood boy he had been his whole life. And if Peter was honest with himself, it scared him.

Peter put off the black suit and put it back into the box. To be sure he locked the box. Maybe Dr. Connors was right and that symbiote had already bonded with him. He swore to himself not to use that suit ever again.

Peter went to Aunt May’s house. His aunt was always there for him, and her advice never failed to help him. Even though he couldn’t tell her he was Spider-Man, she understood his struggles. She kept him right and maybe she’d keep him right again this time.

“Oh, Peter, my dear. Are you okay? I know yesterday hit you hard”, she welcomed him.

“Well, I don’t know. I just wanted to talk to you”, he said.

“Sure. Sit down. Do you want some cake?”

“No, it’s fine. Thank you.”

They sat down at the kitchen table.

“So, what is it?”, his aunt asked.

“Flint Marko, the man who killed Uncle Ben, he was killed last night”, Peter said.

“Oh my”, she gasped, “What happened?”

“Spider-Man killed him.”

“Spider-Man? I don’t understand. Spider-Man doesn’t kill people. What happened?” Aunt May eyed him in concern.

Peter didn’t know what to say. He struggled to find words. Didn’t he do the right thing? “I, uh, I thought that you’d feel … He deserved it, didn’t he?”

“I don’t think it’s for us to say whether a person deserves to live or die”, she told him.

“But, Aunt May, he killed Uncle Ben!”, Peter insisted.

“Uncle Ben meant the world to us. But he wouldn’t want us living one second with revenge in our hearts. It’s like a poison. It can take you over. Before you know it, turn us into someone ugly.”

Peter swallowed. Aunt May was right. Didn’t he see how Harry slowly turned into someone else after Norman died? How Harry became violent towards him once he discovered the truth? How he wanted to kill Peter just because he was obsessed with revenge?

Harry.

Peter needed to talk to him. Now it was time to sort things out.

Now or never.