The two fought through the streets amidst chaos. Raw and unbridled violence exchanged through fists and claws, the raw hatred apparent in the pitch of their roars.

  Lucas kicked the monster hard, the creature slamming ag, before it launched itself at him, snatching him off the ground before slamming him back down. The two fell, crashing to the ground before the fight resumed, claws of strength against claws of speed before the floor beneath them cracked under the weight of jumps. They fell again, this time smashing through a wall before they crashed into the wreck of the street.

  It was weaker. Lucas could feel it. He needed to take advantage of that. Fast. He pulled himself up quickly, gasping before he let out a frustrated roar. His body strained, he stood straight, ignoring his pain as he turned to the beast. The creature struggled to pull itself up, its form half melted as it hissed in pain. Lucas hurled a piece of asphalt at it, knocking it back to the floor.

  Then he was running towards it, claws at the ready.

  As he charged it, all he could think about was Amy. About all the things he’d get to do it. The pain he’d get to inflict on the monster that had ruined his life. He stabbed it with a claw, his hands sinking past goo into flesh before he hurled it into a burning car.

  He screamed at it, in a fury, then paused, looking down to his claws.

  What am I doing? he thought. This is just- it’s the same thing all over again.

  Lucas looked back to the monster then behind him, to the half standing wrecks of the street. He hadn’t done this, not all of it, but the memories of regret returned to him anyway. He suddenly became aware of himself, of the trembling of his body, the hard pumping of his heart and the burn of adrenaline in his body. He’d let his anger take him again. Let the mixture of his fear and hatred, his desire for revenge take a hold. He’d nearly repeated it all over again.

  All that had happened, this past half year and all the lessons he’d learned, he’d nearly forgotten them. But he remembered. Remembered the aftermath, the emptiness. Just like that the years had been almost wiped away.

  He looked back to the monster and clenched his fists, his claws retracting. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. Couldn’t. But he still needed to fight. Still needed to free Yu.

  He jumped forward, firing webs at the still struggling monster, before slamming its head against a streetlight. The creature resisted weakly, before he encircled it, tying it’s form together in a cocoon of web before leaping onto its body and coming face to face with it. He grabbed it by the sides of the head, shaking the monster violently.

  “Hey!” he cried. “Yu! Wake up! Wake up!”

  Instantly its neck stiffened and it’s form came alive, the creature ripping itself from the web as it grabbed him, an alien screech echoing from its mouth.

  “We are not Yu!” The monster roared. “We are Venom!“

  He kicked at it hard in the chest, before slipping from its grasp. With a new anger it cut at the air slashing violently as it chased him. Lucas flipped backwards, dancing away from slashes as it screeched even louder. And as he leapt his thoughts steadied, a calm taking the panic that’d replaced his anger.

  He saw the monster so clearly now. It was angry, to the point of excess. Distracted. It hated him. It wanted revenge just as much as he had. But unlike him, it’d steeped itself further in its anger. Like this it would hunt him anywhere.

  Even to a less populated area.

  He dodged another slash before firing webs at its face again, continuing to back away.

  “Venom?” he said. “That’s a shit name. You come up with that yourself?!”

  The creature roared again leaping at him and he jumped back, firing a web as he pulled himself away. The monster screeched louder, incensed, then leapt after him, jumping from building to building as it chased the now swinging Lucas.

  As he swung, He pulled his phone from his pocket, quickly dialling a number. The call picked up on the second ring.

  “Uh- hello?” Peter answered.

  “Peter!”

  “Lucas? What’s wrong?”

  “I found Yu! But the symbiote’s got him! I’m leading him to Prospect Park!”

  “With the Alchemax compound?”

  “I- shit. It’s the closest place without people”

  The monster roared again, chasing behind him as he swung.

  “Don’t worry. We’re coming” Peter said, before hanging up. He let out a breath of relief then my spider sense rung out. Heat and light attacked from all directions before he had a chance to react, his body sent careening as the monster screamed out behind him too. The pain was instant visceral, as if someone had taken an electrified hammer to ever nerve ending in his body. He crashed atop a rooftop rolling around in pain as waves of strength and weakness shot through his muscles with every spasm. Then it was gone, the feeling fading as his strength returned.

  Lucas threw himself upwards, looking back to the rooftops covered in green fire. Venom screeched, only it’s silhouette clear as it pulled itself from the flames, it’s form half melting. His eyes darted upwards and he spotted the goblin, watching as the mess of, blood, flesh and molten-metal shot through the sky aboard a glider, screaming. Instantly he hurled another bomb towards Lucas who quickly pulled himself away with a web as the top floor of the building below was caught in a sea of green fire.

  Then the goblin as a top him, screaming. The glider slammed into him and then they were spinning through the air. Lucas punched at the villain, but the goblin was unaffected, tanking every blow as he raked across Lucas’ arms with half melted claws and speed unmatched, a metal death machine.

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  Lucas cried out forcibly pulling away as he leapt into a swing, his arms marked by deep scratches as the goblin continued after him screaming, his face a mess of burns and metal debris.

  “Listen to me! I’m the hero! I am!”

  The goblin pulled a bomb from his suit, the small orb glowing white hot as he held it, shooting towards Lucas with death in his eyes.

  “Shit” Lucas muttered “Holy shit.”

  “He’s mine!” Venom roared, clearing the goblin with a tackle. The villains screamed a mixture of incomprehensible rage carried by their voices as the two spiralled through the air, venom ripping at the goblin’s suit as the goblin stabbed through its weakened flesh, bomb still glowing bright.

  Lucas skidded to a stop against a wall face and grabbed the two with webs, wrenching them away from the screaming civilians below as he launched them upwards and towards the park. The two screeched stuck in a clinch, before the air caught fire in a flash of green, over the park before the two figures fell out of the air.

  Without a moment’s hesitation Lucas charged after them, a mixture of guilt, hope and desperation carrying him forward. He swung into the park and landed in front of the two. Yu lay on the floor his skin half covered in a writhing mass of the symbiote and the goblin lay unmoving, both their bodies smoking.

  He webbed the goblin to the ground and rushed to Yu, looking him over for before checking his pulse. He was alive. His heartbeat was faint, and some of his bones were broken but he was alive. He let out a sigh of relief, then looked to the still writhing mass of symbiote staining his skin.

  Then his spider sense blared. The goblin roared, his mad screech echoing through Lucas’ mind. He flipped backwards, grabbing him from above before slamming him down to the ground hard. The wind was knocked from him, but so too was the orange sized bomb in his hand, rolling across the floor as it beeped.

  He fired a web, ready to throw it before the goblin stabbed him in the stomach, then grabbed him by the neck. With a desperate shout Lucas snapped the goblin’s arms, then with a pained groan prepared to fling the bomb skyward as the sense built to a crescendo. His eyes widened as his already weakened body met resistance. Yu had dived atop the bomb, his body and the symbiote wrapped tightly around it to shield him from the blast.

  “NO!” he cried, leaping forwards. And as the world went white the symbiote peeled away, a web of black goo enveloping Lucas and Yu.

  -

  I opened my eyes to an endless expanse of white, before letting out a sigh.

  I’d really screwed up.

  In almost all the ways possible I’d screwed up. I brought a hand to my face clutching it tightly as I struggled to breathe for a moment before sitting up. Lucas lay next to me clutching his stomach as he trembled, face pooled with sweat.

  “L-Lucas?”

  He turned paused a moment, confused, then looked around, sitting up.

  “Are we not… dead?”

  “No” I muttered. “Well… I don’t think this is a good place to be exact.”

  “Where are we?” he mumbled, still clutching at his stomach.

  “I think we’re inside the symbiote” I muttered. “I’m not really sure. This happened with Peter before but we never really spoke about it.”

  “This happened before?”

  “Yeah, just hang on, I’ll get you out of here” I muttered, hands trembling.

  “What? How?”

  “Uh… doesn’t matter. Just give me a sec” I said, closing my eyes.

  “Wait” Lucas said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I- this doesn’t make any sense. The bomb went off. Shouldn’t we be dead?”

  “I think time’s slower here.”

  “Slower” Lucas muttered. “So we’re still over the bomb.”

  “Yeah” I said. “I was trying to protect you from the blast. Thought the symbiote would take the brunt of the blow. Didn’t expect him to run.”

  “I was gonna throw it” he mumbled, sad.

  “That… probably would’ve been better”

  We sat in silence for a few seconds, before I turned to Lucas, voice shaky.

  “Should we get this over with?”

  “Get this over with?”

  “The symbiote, it’s entwined with me now. The bombs they gave me more freedom back. I think with everything going on, I can break it from here.”

  “Break it?”

  “Destroy it. I mean this thing needs to be gone”

  “Wait. Will that… kill you? The bomb just went off”

  “I don’t know. Last time I stayed behind it weakened the symbiote enough that I could take control. This time… well it was already falling off my body anyway. If I destroy it, all it’s evil will be gone.”

  And so will my powers.

  “You don’t have to risk your life” he said suddenly. “We can figure out a different way to do this. It’s my fault this thing even exists in the first place.”

  I paused, hesitant.

  “I mean you said it fused to you last time because it was weaker, what if you don’t need to stay behind. We just let it blow up and die on its own?”

  “That was more of a feeling. I don’t exactly understand how this thing works.”

  “Uh… well. What about… uh… it’s the bomb right? Something to do with the goblin. Where did the goblin take you? And I mean how did he even capture in that form? Maybe it’s something to do with that.”

  “Oh. I was normal for a while, so it wasn’t too difficult. There was this collar thing he strapped to me. Kept the weakened symbiote at bay.”

  “You had control again?”

  “Yeah”

  “How did it take control back? Wait, could it take it back now?”

  “No, I gave it control”

  “What?”

  “I- I gave it control”

  “And what in the world possessed you to do that?!”

  “I didn’t- I had to win”

  “To win?”

  “I- I don’t know. The heroes always win” I muttered, my logic unravelling. “I had to- it’s all just- I mean what’s the point of doing this if I can’t do something. He was going to ruin everything. Destroy both our families. And I was just there, powerless, and helpless and- I had to do something. I couldn’t just…. I had to win.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I don’t know” I muttered. “I was just desperate. I- he was going to ruin everything. And I couldn’t do anything. Just like before. No. This time I wanted to do something, but I couldn’t. At least until he spoke to me. I thought he’d break us free and then I’d take control back, but… I’m sorry. I was just desperate.”

  “Desperate?! Do you even understand how many lives you put at risk?!”

  “I’m sorry” I mumbled. “I just- without the powers I couldn’t do anything. It’s- without the symbiote. I’m nothing. We were right there and I just- I wanted to stop him”

  Lucas stared at me silently, his expression unreadable. Then he sighed back, looking to the floor.

  “I’m sorry” I mumbled. “I shouldn’t have put everyone in danger like that. It was stupid.”

  “No” he muttered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry.”

  “You’re sorry?”

  “Yeah. I… this whole thing… I understand” he said, looking to his hand. “The weight of this responsibility. But also, the power. Wanting to use it. To keep it. Remembering how helpless you can feel without it.”

  His shoulders slumped as he sighed, looking back to me.

  “Peter told me you went out in his costume. Saved people, even before you got your powers” he said. “If anyone’s a hero without the power, it’s you. Don’t let today ever make you doubt that”

  “T-thanks” I mumbled, before looking down to my hand.

  “I guess if this is it, I can make my last act heroic too.”

  “You’re not getting what I’m saying Yu. Destroying this thing, it’s not worth killing you. We can figure out a way to defeat it, even if the bomb doesn’t work. Now come on Yu let’s try leave this. Together”

  “I-” I paused.

  Did it really matter if I stayed behind? Wasn’t that me giving up on heroics in a way? Or was leaving giving up anyway. Had I just wanted to stay behind on the slim chance that I didn’t lose my powers?

  “Yu? Kind of running a clock here”

  “Sorry” I said, letting out a laugh. With a sigh, my shoulders sagged with relief. “I- I you know what? I think you’re right.”

  “You do?”

  “Yeah. Let’s leave together. The sacrifice thing is cool but I want to see my brother again.”

  “Y-you sure it will work?”

  “Don’t worry” I laughed. “I’ve done this whole destroy the symbiote thing before. I’m pretty sure it will. Though if it doesn’t, forget I even said anything”

  “I… alright” he said chuckling.

  I paused, hands trembling before I forced a smile.

  “I was pretty good right? At this hero thing?”

  “Yeah” Lucas said. “I was even a little envious of you before I came back.”

  “Envious” I chuckled. “That’s pretty funny.”

  I looked upwards, then closed my eyes.

  “Alright” I muttered. “Let’s do this”