16 - Back To School III, A New Suit

Chapter 16 - Back To School III, A New Suit

Written By Dr Armstrong

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->Peter Parker, AKA Spiderman POV<-< p>

Peter packed his bags as he quickly left the classroom at a hurried pace, not even greeting his old childhood friend who had just returned. He strolled out of the class with a focused gaze, his mind seemingly already preoccupied with something more important.

His footsteps resounded in the hallway as a dozen or so other students rummaged through their lockers, Peter ignored them as he continued on the treacherous task of walking, eventually reaching the school's parking lot.

"Peter!" He paused, before turning around as he heard a familiar voice calling out to him from behind.

"Harry..." Peter addressed, looking his old friend up and down. The Parker silently noted that he hadn't even felt a tingle when Harry called out to him, confirming his previous suspicions regarding Flash.

"Heya, Pete. You good, buddy? You seemed like you were in a rush or something..." Harry Osborn asked in a lighthearted tone as he rubbed the back of his head with his left hand.

'If you thought so, then why the hell did you even start talking to me?' Peter silently complained, though his face didn't change a bit.

"Yeah...I'm going to check up on Aunt May, do you want to come?" Peter asked with a casual expression. Harry was close enough of a friend to him to know his family and such, so this wasn't a big deal.

"Sure..." Harry said as he placed a hand on Peter's shoulder before the pair walked away at a much calmer pace than before.

The light of the evening sun glistened against his skin as Peter walked across the pavement with Harry slightly behind him, a serene aura manifesting between them.

"So..." Harry began as he caught up to the Parker, glancing sideways in his direction.

"What's with that Mary Jane girl, huh? She was kinda looking at you through most of her...intro." Harry paused on the last sentence as he pondered about the right choice of words for the occasion.

As expected of Harry and his astute observation skills, Peter glanced at him before replying with a straightforward answer.

"She was my best friend back in Elementary School, moved to Georgia in 4th grade and only returned now." Yes, she was indeed his best friend back then. That girl had always been weirdly interested in his, at the time, uninteresting and mundane life for some reason.

"Best friends, huh? Any special connections there or...?" Harry asked with a cheeky smile, intending to tease Peter who would usually have clumsily denied with an embarrassed face.

"Of course not, she's too annoying," Peter said with a straight face.

Harry spat blood at his words, the words 'Are you serious, right now???' were practically written on his face.

"Wha-how can you say that with such confidence!? It was her first day and she already became the #1 bitch, mate..." Harry said with an amazed face.

Peter just looked at him.

"Huh, you're right, Harry." The Osborn scoffed as he realized what Peter meant by that.

"Damn...what's with you today, Pete? You seem off...on edge even." Harry asked with slight concern.

So he's catching on...?

"And what was that thing with Flash earlier? I saw what really happened..." Harry said as he gave a side eye to Peter, he wasn't usually like this.

Peter showed his first-ever expression today as he gave a menacing smirk to the Osborn before abruptly stopping dead in his tracks.

"Follow me." He turned around and started heading to a shadowy alleyway.

"Uh...okay?" Harry looked perplexed and a little nervous before he joined his friend in that alleyway.

"You're not about to jump me, right...?" Peter didn't respond to that question, menacingly.

Eventually, they reached a well-hidden part of the alleyway where no one could see them from the main street.

Peter paused before facing Harry's direction, who whilst nervous, still trusted his friendly neighbourhood companion.

*RIPPLE-GUSH*

Harry raised his brows and widened his eyes in alarm as the entirety of Peter's clothes turned into a pure black colour.

They then started to liquefy into a gelatinous, sticky black substance that covered Peter's entire body.

As if he was wearing the corpse of a skinwalker, the abyssal substance twisted and elongated before engulfing Peter's whole body except for his face.

Trendils of black ooze rippled and bubbled before Peter's face was swallowed into the abyss.

"What the...! I thought you just camouflaged your suit, what the hell is this!?" Harry's jaw fell as he looked at the twitching tendrils that covered Peter's body. 

"This isn't just a suit, Harry," Spiderman said as he raised his right hand before clutching it into a fist, feeling the raw strength coursing through his body, the Other ripping into his very flesh and regenerating it into its prime state, all without even an ounce of pain.

"Damn...where did you get this thing?" Harry said as he poked at the black suit, it instinctively rippled in repulsion.

"We met some time ago in...a cage. It was love at first sight." Peter said with newfound enthusiasm that hadn't been present in school, the white eyes of his suit rippling in response.

This new black suit...it accepted who he was, the both of him. It freed him from the constraints of 'Peter Parker' and 'Spiderman', now those two identities have become one.

Harry stared at the white spider iconography on the black Spiderman's chest, it looked like a ferocious Tarantula rather than the usual humble Jumping Spider...

He felt that this wasn't just the normal type of edge but something much more concerning, Harry glanced at Spiderman's covered face in contemplation.

"What even is this suit?" Harry asked, curiosity laced in his tone.

"This is not a suit, it's alive," Spiderman revealed, stretching in his black suit as he felt it across his body.

"What? What do you mean?" Harry was utterly befuddled.

"I've looked into it..." Spiderman said before leaning against the wall behind him.

"I'm in some sort of symbiotic relationship. I don't know where this Symbiote even came from, but it seems to consume certain hormones in my body like adrenaline in exchange for..." Spiderman paused as he considered his next words.

"...Certain benefits."

"And that would be...?" Harry asked as he raised his brow.

"For one..." The tendrils in Spierman's right hand pulled back, revealing his skin.

He then raised his left hand where the tendrils in each finger started to morph into a unique shape, that of a feline's talons.

*SLICE*

Blood dribbled down from the cut on his palm, to which the tendrils instantly shot out and covered his arm.

"Regeneration..." Harry, seeing where this was going, said in a fascinated tone.

"That's right, Harry. And it doesn't just heal my body, but also my mind..." Spiderman said with a grateful tone.

"I'm free, Harry. I don't feel any worry or sadness...it's like drinking alcohol without the negative effects, I'm FREE!" Spiderman shouted in a really enthusiastic tone.

"Uh-huh..." Harry replied as he kept observing the tendrils of the black suit.

"So that's the reason why you're acting different? Um, but what about Flash?" Harry asked as he looked at Peter's now revealed face, the tendrils shapeshifting back into his regular clothes.

"I don't know..." Peter said with a genuinely ignorant tone.

"I...I know he was just gonna pat me on the shoulder, but for some reason...it felt like he was a train that was going to crash into me full force, I just kinda...reacted, then it spiralled a bit," Peter said as Harry listened with a certain gaze, a little bit of the usual Peter spilling out in his tone.

"The Spidey Sense told you that?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I think..." Peter rubbed the back of his head.

"But Flash isn't really...dangerous, right? Why did your tingles activate?" Harry asked as he already knew the specifics of Peter's Spider abilities.

"That's the thing, I don't know either," Peter answered truthfully.

"It rang louder in my head than when I first fought Sandman, it's weird..." Harry didn't know what to make of that sentence.

"Well, just don't do it anymore. Flash isn't gonna do shit to you anymore, I made sure of that..."

"Oh, I know..." Peter nodded with gratitude.

"Thank you."

--->Author's Note:

Thoughts?

Happy new years!!!

If you have some resolutions, check out Gymshark 66 to help out.