A/N: I'm really sorry for delaying—for a whole six months too! I've been really busy, and I didn't even have time for myself. I'll try my best to give you chapters, at least 2 a week. I'm still busy, it's time for me to go to the university so I'm not really free 😭. Anyways y'all should enjoy
It wasn't funny anymore to Peter. He was losing control faster than he liked, his temper was actually worse, and he even raised his voice at Aunt May. He jogged to school, though to the other pedestrians he looked like an athlete.
Carla waved her dad goodbye and walked into the school, passing the open gate. Someone walked past her and she turned to look, just to discover that it was Peter. She felt a strange pang in her chest as she looked at him. The bags under his eyes, his messy hair, and the little mustache that was growing above his lip gave him a different look. He wasn't begging her or even trying to explain anymore, he just ignored her.
Well that's what she thought though, because he wasn't ignoring her, he didn't even notice her. He didn't notice anyone, he kept on bumping into people and things on his way to school. "I need Anna." He muttered under his breath. Harry walked up to him with a smile,but the smile quickly disappeared when he saw Peter's face.
"Peter, what the hell is wrong with you?" Harry yelled in shock. Peter slowly moved his eyes to Harry's direction. He looked at him, but it didn't last long as he continued walking. Harry was about to grab him but a hand pulled him back.
"MJ?"
"I know you're worried about Peter, I am too. But I think we shouldn't bother him, at least not today." MJ said with a sad sigh, "I'm scared though, I'm really scared Harry. What's going on with my Peter?"
Carla froze behind them. 'Her Peter? What the hell did she mean by that?'
"Hey guys, what's going on?" She asked them, her eyes moving from Harry to MJ.
"It's Peter —" Harry said, but MJ interrupted him.
"Why do you care? We've all seen you ghost him for some time now, maybe we should be asking you!"
"Mary Jane, I don't have time to talk about that right now?" Carla replied, deliberately stressing her name. MJ wasn't backing down though. She grabbed Carla's hand when the latter tried walking away.
"I'm not done with talking to you."
"But I am. Let go."
"Don't you feel guilty? Where's your conscience?"
"MJ —"
"Don't you care about how you're making Peter feel?"
"I do!" Carla yelled, startling MJ and Harry. "I care about him goddamn it! But have you ever asked why I no longer talk to him? No! Your stupid ass hasn't! Every time we schedule a date, he always disappoints me! When we meet, he has these bruises on his body. Not mere scratches, some actually look life threatening! I ask what's going on, and he always says it's nothing! Do you think I'm that heartless? No! But I care about my feelings too! If he can't have time for me— for us, then he shouldn't be our friend in the first place!"
Some students looked at Carla, surprised at her outburst, but she didn't care.
"Maybe we should ask him together then." Harry said with a little frown. Carla sighed, "Why didn't you say that before you started accusing me?"
******
The trio looked at each other before approaching Peter. He looked at them and a little frown appeared on his face as he saw Carla.
"Hey Peter." Harry said, a nervous smile on his lips.
"Hey Harry."
There was a little silence, before MJ cleared her throat and walked forward. "Peter what's going on?" She asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Peter sighed and shook his head.
"Don't even think of saying 'It's nothing ' like you always do—" Carla began to speak, but Peter interrupted her.
"Guys, nothing's fine. Everything is going terrible." He said, shocking them.
*****
Anna frowned as she looked at the holograms that appeared before her. She muttered words to herself as she paced the room, then all of a sudden she stopped.
"Peter only lost control when he pushed himself past his limits. This must be a side effect from his powers. So he loses his sense of self when he feels extremely threatened—no that's not right. He loses his sense of self when he uses all of his powers. Like some sort of madness. But what could possibly cause it?' she paused, pacing the room again. "Maybe it's a special trait of one of the spiders used to create the super spider that bit him. Yes that's the only good reason I can come up with for now." She sighed as she looked around. The WEB was a mess, she hadn't slept for days trying to get a solution for Peter's lack of control. But now she had an idea on what to do.
"His body releases a special fluid that increases his strength, but makes him lose control, and I'll call that Liquid X. So when his body releases Liquid X, his emotions are used as fuel to keep it running. Now if he was a regular teenager the difference in him would be evident in his courage, or his shyness, or whatever emotion a teenager suppresses nowadays. But for Peter, it makes him stop holding back. Hmmm, now that's a good theory, but I better sit down before I—" and with a thud Anna collapsed.
Carla had a little frown on her face because she wasn't expecting him to admit that all wasn't well.
"Well, tell us then. Tell us exactly what's going on." Harry said cautiously.
"It's just...after my uncle died, things have been quite rough. My aunty is struggling to keep me in school, so I have to work—"
As Spider-Man —
"because the workload is too much for May—"
And the police.
"The responsibility is really choking and I'm afraid that I'll not be able to fulfill my duty as her nephew—"
And as Spider-Man.
Carla sighed as she looked at him. At last he finally opened up! She was extremely worried, and she expected something worse. But after hearing it was just financial problems she finally relaxed. MJ sighed too, "I was extremely worried about you Peter. I thought you were in a gang or something!"
"Why would you think that?" Peter asked with a chuckle.
"Well your hair's longer, heck it's touching your shoulders now. You sound way cooler—you look way cooler, and you just seem different." Harry answered this time.
Peter frowned when he saw his friends relaxing. "That isn't all." He said, causing the trio to freeze. This was what Carla was afraid of hearing, she knew it was too good to be true.
"Guys ...I'm losing my mind."
*******
Wilson sat down, tapping his finger gently on the table. This Spider-Man was becoming more than a nuisance now, he was becoming a threat. His first try failed woefully, and now he was considering who to hire next. A thought flashed in his head and he immediately sat up.
His mind went to Vulture. Though he wasn't working for him, he almost killed Spider-Man. Maybe he should leave the job to other villains, instead of risking doing anything that'll destroy his life. He wasn't afraid, but he just wanted to play it safe. He knew he would retire from this villain's life soon, so he didn't want to do anything without thorough thought, because he wants his daughter to live a good life.
He sighed and smiled at the thought of finally leaving the life of constant bloodshed. He wasn't complaining, truth be told he loved it; hearing the sound of his enemies scream and beg for mercy. But he also wanted to taste life outside the killings. And he wasn't going to let a bug spoil his plans.
*****
"Peter, what are you talking about?" Harry asked, as they followed Peter. He suddenly stood up and gestured for them to follow him. He led them to the rooftop, and they couldn't help but feel nervous.
"I can't control my temper, I forget things really quickly, I seem to break everything I hold— did I mention that I raised my voice at Aunt May? Everything's going strange too, I don't feel any emotion except anger—"
"Peter," MJ interrupted him with a smile," it's fine now. We can help you."
Harry and Carla nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry I said we shouldn't see each other anymore, I never knew this was what you were going through. I mean, you never told me so how was I supposed to know?" Carla half apologized and half blamed him.
Peter smiled at his friends, watching them heave a sigh of relief again. If only he could tell them that about how he almost killed plenty of petty robbers, and how he was very brutal against whoever came his way. He wished he could just tell them everything, he'll probably cry midway, and finally hug them.
But he couldn't.
'You're not good enough.' the voice whispered to him again.
Finally at the WEB Peter exited the elevator just to see Anna on the floor, unconscious. He ran towards her and lifted her up, lying her down on the bed. While he was doing all that, she slowly woke up.
"Peter, is that you?"
"Yes it is. What happened to you?"
"It seems like I passed out."
"Anna, when was the last time you slept?" Peter asked, finally noticing the bags under her eyes.
"It doesn't matter. I've discovered what is causing you to lose control. I call it Liquid X!" She said, sounding excited.
She sat up, though slowly, and started narrating her theory to him.
"So the best way to continue being in control, is to limit the amount of power you use in a fight."
Peter nodded absentmindedly, as his thoughts wandered to something else.
'The best way to continue being in control, is to ignore the voice I hear in my head.' Peter thought to himself.
In a lab somewhere in the city, a man was frantically running some calculations. He muttered words to himself like his life depended on it. Well technically it did, because if he didn't succeed he would lose his life. His son, Alexander, walked in and stared at him.
"Dad." He called, but is father didn't respond.
"Dad." He called again, but he still received silence.
"DAD!" He yelled in anger, startling his father.
"Ahhh..... Alexander, when did you arrive?"
Alexander groaned, ignoring his question.
"What's going on father? You don't come home anymore, you're always here trying to solve some kind of equation or whatever. Mum's worried you know? So please, tell me what exactly is going on?"
"Alexander my boy, this isn't a matter for a little boy like you." His father tried to put him off, but Alexander walked forward and stared at the black board.
"Well, you're fundamentally misapplying the principle. If your objective is to transfer the kinetic vector properties of one biological organism to another, you can't just brute-force it — you need a catalytic excitation source. Think of it like a lightning strike, but calibrated. Too much voltage and you destabilize the biofield; too little and the energy dissipates as thermal noise. The sweet spot lies in the resonance frequency of the recipient's cellular lattice."
Alexander paused as he picked up a chalk lying in the corner. His father stated at him with his mouth wide open. He never knew his son was this smart! Alexander, ignoring his father, went to the whiteboard and began scribbling on it.
"Now, if we take your theory and normalize it against the coefficient of bio-kinetic elasticity, and divide it by the inertial dampening constant, you get something close to a workable serum. In fact, the formula looks like this:"
He drew some symbols and his father nodded slowly.
"Where S is the serum stability index and E is the energy differential between donor and recipient. With a few molecular tweaks — say, adjusting the peptide conduits or splicing in a quantum stabilizer — you could literally dial in how fast you want the recipient to move. It's like programming velocity into biology."
There was a brief silence between both of them.
Suddenly, his father hugged him tightly.
"I'm really blessed to have a son like you."