Chapter 59: Beetle and Bloody Resolution

During his fall, his gaze analyzed the situation at lightning speed. Four enormous billboards threatened to crash down at any second. He immediately understood that he would not be able to hold them back one by one. He had to stop them all at the same time.

Without hesitation, he simultaneously fired two webs at two different billboards before connecting them together. He immediately repeated the same maneuver with the other two screens. Unfortunately, the moment he finished, all four structures still began to tilt toward the ground.

A large part of the crowd had already fled, but several dozen people still remained frozen in place, paralyzed between fear and fascination by what was unfolding before their eyes.

— "Come on, Peter! You can do this!"

With spectacular speed, he gathered the four webs connected to the different billboards into a single anchor point. Then, while performing a backflip, he used that enormous web as support to fire another one and reinforce the entire structure.

With absolutely no time to circle around each structure, he then spun dozens of new webs and attached them to the surrounding buildings, creating just as many support points intended to slow their fall.

But he knew it... it would not be enough. He would have to compensate for the rest with his own strength. He then grabbed the bundles of webs with both hands and pulled with all his might to keep the four gigantic structures suspended long enough for the last civilians still present to escape.

And yet, against all expectations, many of them remained motionless. Some even pulled out their phones to record the scene. Meanwhile, Peter could feel every muscle in his body screaming in pain. He couldn't help thinking back to the day he had lifted the Daily Bugle.

That ordeal had been horrific... but this one felt just as unbearable. Back then, he had struggled against the weight of an entire building. Today, he mostly felt as though both of his arms were about to be torn off, with the forces pulling in opposite directions.

And a question briefly crossed his mind: weren't those four structures combined almost as heavy as the Daily Bugle after all? One thing was certain... he would not be able to hold on much longer.

He gathered what little air he had left and shouted at the top of his lungs:

— "I CAN'T HOLD THIS MUCH LONGER! GET OUT OF THERE! DO YOU HEAR ME?! MOVE!"

— "HEY! DO YOU WANT TO DIE OR WHAT?!"

— "DIDN'T YOU HEAR HIM?! RUN!"

The civilians who were already outside the danger zone also began shouting to make those still beneath the billboards react.

— "CAN'T YOU SEE HE'S ABOUT TO LET GO?!"

— "GET OUT OF THERE, NOW!"

This time, the last passersby finally realized the danger and ran away. As soon as he made sure the area was clear, Peter immediately released his grip. The four gigantic structures crashed onto the ground at the same time with a deafening impact, making the entire street tremble.

The civilians continued backing away, completely in shock. Peter, meanwhile, could feel his arms burning from the effort. As he fired one last web simply to reach the side of a building and catch his breath, something suddenly grabbed him and carried him through the air at full speed.

Within seconds, he understood that it was the mysterious armored man attacking him. But he also realized that it was not merely a flying suit... it was a man wearing an imposing metallic armor shaped like a Beetle. At the sight, Peter couldn't hold back a slight grimace mixing exasperation and exhaustion.

— "I can't believe it... another lunatic dressed like an animal..."

A growl of anger escaped him. Without wasting a second, he began repeatedly punching the armored man, but without the slightest result. Meanwhile, the two of them were flying through the sky at a terrifying speed, gaining more and more altitude.

They climbed so high that the ground gradually became difficult to distinguish. Running out of patience, Peter finally grabbed the Beetle by the throat and slowly began crushing the layer of steel protecting his neck.

But at that very moment, something violently flashed through his mind. Fragments of the previous day surfaced without warning. He saw Hammerhead, Wilson Fisk, Tombstone, and Silver Sable... dying one after another. By his own hands.

Completely unsettled by these visions, Peter instinctively loosened his grip. The Beetle immediately seized the opening and delivered a violent kick that sent him tumbling into the void. Regaining his senses in a fraction of a second, Peter tried to catch himself by firing several webs toward his opponent, but the latter dodged them without difficulty.

He watched the young hero fall for a brief moment before resuming his course and disappearing into the sky. Peter then found himself in free fall, and panic slowly began to take over.

— "SYMBIOTE! WAKE UP!"

He struck his chest violently in the hope of getting a reaction from the alien, but nothing happened.

— "Shit! Come on!"

He tried again, this time with even more force. The distress was now clearly audible in his voice.

— "I NEED YOU!"

Still no response. Desperate, Peter then tried everything that came to mind. He first attempted to create a parachute with his own webs, but he was falling far too quickly to have enough time to weave a structure strong enough.

He then tried to create web wings to slow his descent, with no more success. His mind was racing. Fear was written all over his face, beads of sweat ran down his forehead, while the city drew inexorably closer with every passing second. That was when a thought suddenly forced itself upon him.

— "I'm going to die."

Time immediately seemed to slow down. Everything around him gradually disappeared, as though the world itself had ceased to exist. His mind began revisiting his entire life.

He saw his parents again, their disappearance, his adoption by Uncle Ben and Aunt May, all the people who had shaped his life, whether good or bad, the spider bite, then the death of his second father... and everything that had followed since that day.

— "I've done so much good... I've given so much... So why? Why am I the one who has to die?! It's not fair!"

Suddenly, everything that had escaped him until then came rushing back all at once. The sensation was comparable to a violent blast of freezing water directly in his face. His fight against the Terrifying Six, his discussion with Yuri Watanabe, the blackmail he had used against his boss, the mercenary who had come to his home whom he had killed, his decision to eliminate all his enemies, the massacre of Wilson Fisk, Hammerhead, and Tombstone, his strange transformation... then, above all, the extermination of Silver Sable's entire team, including the mercenary herself.

It was probably the strangest sensation Peter had ever experienced. In his mind, he relived every one of those scenes with unsettling precision, yet at the same time, he felt as though he had never truly experienced them himself. As though the memories he was witnessing were not really his, but those of the creature that now shared his body.

And yet, against all expectations, he was neither horrified nor afraid. On the contrary... he was perfectly calm. More than that, what he was seeing gave him a strange sense of satisfaction. Thanks to his actions... thanks to the symbiote... he had protected the people he loved, avenged George Stacy and, above all, his identity had remained secret.

— "No... I'm not the one who should die. The others are the ones who need to disappear."

As his body continued falling toward the ground at a dizzying speed, a figure suddenly appeared in his mind. His Uncle Ben. He stood there before him, a gentle smile on his face. Peter stared at him for a moment, almost hesitating to move toward him... toward the light that seemed to be waiting for him.

But when he saw the symbiote, standing motionless behind him, he stopped dead. A choice now stood before him. Should he continue sacrificing himself endlessly for others, never thinking about himself? Or should he accept making his life as a hero easier, even if it meant becoming more violent? After everything he had been through... the answer now seemed obvious to him.

He slowly stepped backward, increasing the distance between himself and his uncle, then walked step by step toward the symbiote. It seemed gigantic... almost infinite. It occupied such an immense place in his mind that it gradually absorbed all the light emanating from Uncle Ben... until not the slightest trace remained.

The more the seconds passed, the more Peter seemed to be swallowed by the darkness. First his feet, then his legs, his hands, his arms... before the shadows covered his torso, his neck, and finally his entire face. That was when the symbiote formed a wide smile, happy to have chosen Peter as its host... and even happier to feel the bond between them growing stronger and stronger.

When he was suddenly brought back to reality, the symbiote instantly spread across his body and took on the same bestial, savage, and terrifying appearance it had already adopted the day before. Several long seconds later, the creature violently crashed onto a car parked in the middle of a New York street.

The moment the impact occurred, the vehicle exploded under the force of the collision. Flames immediately burst out, injuring the symbiote, which quickly leaped out of the wreckage while letting out a monstrous scream of pain, quickly followed by a deep growl that seemed to mark the beginning of a far more intense relationship between the two beings. All around them, the passersby were so terrified that none of them took the time to stay or even pull out their phone. They all fled, screaming in panic.

After a few moments, once the last civilians had disappeared and the street had become completely deserted again, the symbiote slowly retracted to reveal Peter once more. He returned to his human appearance, and the young man stared at the still-burning car for a moment before letting out a deep sigh and muttering to himself:

— "Fire... It really hurts."

TO BE CONTINUED.