55 Mercy For The Strong

Wielding the Murumusa Blade gave him a high he'd never experienced before. Unfortunately, the rage he'd experienced had crushed any enjoyment he'd felt when brandishing the mythical blade.

"Ugh!"

His eyes narrowed with worry as he firmly tied a splint to Gwen's ankle. They were back in her warehouse and he hoped she wouldn't take getting injured before her big day badly.

"You okay?", he muttered anxiously, internally kicking himself for taking his sweet time with Emma Frost's lackeys, who the rogue mutants were most likely to be. He'd recognised the spandex-clad assailants as the Hellions and the Pudgy Bishop as Leland. You couldn't get more obvious than that.

The fact that they were plotting to destroy the Sanctum Sanctorum wasn't good. He wouldn't be surprised if the other Sanctums had gone through similar attacks. Was the Hellfire Club planning to take over the world? If so, why attack the Sanctums - the few things keeping Earth from being swallowed by mighty multi-dimensional entities?

"Do I okay?", she grumbled, glaring at him.

"You look more than okay to me, " Peter gave her a saucy wink, eliciting an exaggerated eye-roll.

"Oh shut up, I'm still pissed at you going through your evolution without me", she resumed her glare.

He sighed, "Didn't I tell you about the-

"Yeah, yeah, your Danger sense was poking at you blah, blah, blah, and I would've died if you weren't evolved in the fight. I get it", she waved away the incoming explanation with a huff.

"Then-"

"It doesn't mean that I'm still not mad at you", she pulled him closer for a peck on the cheek. "We women are quite irrational, aren't we?"

Peter gulped, "I invoke the fifth."

Gwen's smile grew wider, "I'm not the government."

"Your dad's an officer. It's close enough", he shrugged and she flicked his nose in response.

He returned the favor which devolved into a mock wrestling match while B.O.B. the mechanical spider cheered them on, ceasing his attempts to woo the 3D printer.

"Yield, Mr. Criminal!", Gwen declared as she held him in a rear-naked choke, her prodigious ten-tonne strength unable to shut off the blood flow to his brain.

"Is this roleplay?", he wondered out loud, while Gwen tried her best to choke him out, in vain.

"Do you want it to be?", she whispered in his ears.

He slipped out of the choke using his superior strength and flipped over, now looking down at her.

"Is this where you kiss me, Mr Criminal?", she grinned at him.

He leaned in, a wisecrack reply on the tip of his tongue, but stopped when he recognised the look in her eyes. It was one he recognised. Her eyes had the very same empty look after her concert crashed and he'd come close to killing Tombstone.

"Gwen...?"

"Hm?", she frowned, confused.

"Is something wrong?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I can see it in your eyes."

"Are you sure your second evolution didn't let you read minds?"

"Nope, quite the opposite. And I'm always here to talk, you know that."

She sighed and sat up, slightly wincing at her ankle.

"So there was something", he leaned back.

she nodded and whispered, "Did you have to kill them?", while curling up and resting her head on her knees.

Peter raised an eyebrow, "I don't know if I had to. Maybe I'll never know, but I did."

"Then why?", she stared into his hazel eyes with uncertainty. "You did it to save me, I know. But you're strong Peter. You're the strongest person I know. Couldn't you have found a way to...I don't know...just not kill them..."

He nimbly slid next to her.

"You're right", he sighed, slipping his hand in hers. "I could've. I tried. Two of the four are still alive and the man in the suit would've had a cardiac arrest in four seconds. He flattened tens of people without merely a twitch of an eyebrow and it hurt you too. It...it isn't an excuse, but I just wanted to put it out there."

"But the other guy?", she rubbed his fingers.

"He was going to kill you, Gwen", Peter said, gritting his teeth as a bit of familiar anger resurfaced. "I'd do it all over again if I have to."

"I-", Gwen frowned and began, before sighing and shaking her head. "I'm not going to argue, Pete. Not when you saved my life, but a small part of me still hopes that you didn't resort to killing them."

Peter's heart clenched, analysing his every move and reasoning again. He'd always considered himself a person sure of himself, but lately, he'd had experiences that showed him otherwise. The encounter with the Silver Samurai was a prime reminder that he wasn't as perfect as he subconsciously thought he was.

'Did I slip up?', he thought worriedly. 'I let my anger take hold of me, didn't I? I let my fear take control. I knew I had issues with those emotions when I was thrown into this world, yet I never did anything about it and it led to me killing a kid soldier.'

"I messed up", he sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Fuck. I messed up."

He had no problems with killing Leland, but decapitating Beef was a dire mistake on his part. He would kill anybody vile and deserving of it. Beef had killed numerous policemen and was on the verge of killing Gwen too. But, not only was Beef a kid soldier who had a chance to redeem himself, and had in the comics, but Peter had the option of incapacitating Beef.

Yet, he didn't. Wasn't mercy a privilege of the strong? If so, why hadn't he given Beef that?

Just as he was about to spiral into a circle of self-analysis and self-hatred, Gwen pulled him into a kiss and he practically melted into her arms.

"He was still an asshole and a murderer", she smiled at him. "And you killed him to save me. Sure, you could've done far better, but don't beat yourself over it."

"Yeah, thanks for that", Peter mumbled gratefully. Frankly, if she hadn't pointed it out, he may have walked down the path of a muderhobo - he most definitely did not want to be a muderhobo. 

"If you want to thank me, then you're helping with the decor", Gwen twinkled, letting Peter help her up.

"Oh, I can do tha-

"And helping me explain why my ankle is broken."

"Fuck."

***