Chương 101: Control
Over a month had passed since Eren Parker and his friends bowled together, introducing Liz Allan to the group. For the last month, all seven of them had grown to become a lot closer, surprisingly, even Eren and Flash were continuing to get along, despite Eren still understandably feeling somewhat reluctant to do so.
Also during this month, Eren continued to let the symbiote that bonded with his body consume criminals, leading to many theories being formed about what exactly this monstrosity was. There were rumors of it shooting webs, leading people to believe that it was related to Spider-Man in some way, however, no one besides a few crazy theorists believed that Spider-Man was the one inside the dark monster seemingly made of tar.
Still, only Harry knew about this secret of Eren's and about the terrifying future. Telling everyone else would only share the immeasurable amount of dread that was already consuming both boys. Despite Harry doing everything he can to become closer to his sister and enjoying what time he had left with Lily, he couldn't shake that feeling of ominous anticipation eating away inside of him. It was as if there was a permanent pit formed in his stomach as his brain thought about what exactly Eren meant by this supposed dark future.
Even if Eren wanted to tell everyone, having multiple people trying to change the future would only complicate things. If Eren were to work by himself, he could control everything that was going to happen. At least, that's how he himself viewed it.
Cindy, as Eren assumed, began noticing that Eren would disappear at night. Part of her wanted to follow him, to see what exactly he was doing when he left without saying a word, however, she also didn't want to even ask.
Without the facts, Cindy could feel this aura around Eren at all times, an aura that became more sinister over time. She was beginning to grow afraid of her partner, but at the same time, she loved him so dearly that she couldn't stay away.
When the rumors started and footage of the monster running around at night began popping up on social media, Cindy started to notice a pattern. Whenever a new video or picture was posted, it just so happened that it was posted during the times that Eren had left their bed. By that point, she was certain it was him and she didn't know what to do about it.
Despite her certainty, she didn't confront him about it. She continued to act oblivious...
However, Eren was ready to finally come clean.
Several minutes before the Green Goblin would pop back into the timeline after getting pushed forward in time inadvertently by Eren, Cindy walked into their apartment to find Eren sitting on their bed with a serious expression on his face. "Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Eren asked her.
"Yeah, sure." Cindy closed the door behind her, turning on the light before walking across the room and sitting on the bed next to her lover. She could sense the guilt and anxiousness resonating in his body. It was almost as if she could hear his heartbeat despite being a foot away from him.
"Norman is going to return very soon. I am going to kill him using the symbiote I stole when I returned to the timeline. In other words, I stole Project V for the purpose of using it to stop Norman from using it himself. When I fight him, I want you to stay here where it's safe." As Eren said this, Cindy didn't even look at him. However, she still spoke her mind.
"Yeah... I figured you had something to do with that." she told him quietly. "There's this... feeling I get when I'm close to you where it feels like something crying out, or at least, something is trying to break loose. Is that the symbiote?" she asked.
"Yeah. I can hold it in while I'm awake as long as I focus on it."
"So that's why you sometimes leave at night?" she asked him.
Eren nodded. "It needs to eat or else it'll start to take from me, the host, and kill me from the inside out. You gotta understand that if I don't let it do that, if I don't cross that line, then I can't protect everyone."
"No, don't explain yourself. I understand. I should've killed Norman myself." Cindy muttered as tears fell from her face. In her mind, if she'd killed Norman, Eren would have never had to become a monster.
"No. We don't know what that would have changed in terms of the timeline. It's best that your hands remain clean, Cindy. As I said, I'll just do it myself." As Eren said this, Cindy looked up at him with tear-filled eyes before telling him something she hadn't admitted to anyone.
"Then why did you feel disappointed when I didn't?" As she said this, a chill went down Eren's entire body. When she stopped herself from killing Norman Osborn, Eren felt relieved that she didn't cross that line, but at the same time, a small part of him had wished that she finished the job. He imagined himself, the old self that still existed inside of him, destroying Norman in the same way he destroyed Fisk. However, those thoughts passed fairly quickly.
"So you felt that, huh?" Eren said quietly. "Yeah, I won't lie. I did wish you killed him for a moment, just a moment. He was far worse than any man I let live. You know, the villains I beat before pretty much all died or were basically dead after we fought. Electro fried himself to the point of becoming unrecognizable, Connors shot himself, Otto was killed by his own creation, Doom was sent to God knows where to be tortured for all eternity. Really, the only ones that lived were the Shocker and the Tinkerer. I guess you can throw the Vulture and Hydro-Man in there, but those two were jokes.
The real hard hitters, the ones who needed to be stopped before they could hurt thousands, are all dead.
So you know, I got to thinking... what would have been the difference if I killed them with my own hands? What if I killed Norman right there? What if I let you do it? There's a reason why I didn't stop you, a reason why I hesitated. It was a brief thought, something that came and went fairly quickly like when you're walking somewhere really high up and you think 'What if I were to jump?'. You don't actually want to jump when you think that, right? I didn't really want to kill Norman at that point... I think.
But now I do. Now that idea in my head isn't just some fleeting thought anymore. I think it might be best that guys like him are erased. There's a reason why there were no more Electro attacks, no more killer robot arms, no more lizards, and no more Latverian kings trying to conquer nations... It's because the job was finished.
Norman deserves to burn in hell, he truly does. Norman wanted us to kill him more than anything by that point. He wanted us to become like him... today I'll give him what he wants.
I tried to be good. I tried to not go back to the kid I was when I murdered Wilson Fisk, but... I've seen the future, Cindy. Pretending to be good won't work this time. As Norman said time and time again, playing the hero won't work. This almost made me want to quit, it truly did, but I figured that I was looking at things too simply.
I was looking at saving the world as a coin toss. Heads or tails. Good and evil. However, I realized that there can be a third option if you flip the coin enough times. Each timeline is a coin flip, right? Over and over, Eren Parker thought of the world as heads or tails in each timeline. Now... I realized that a coin could land on its side. The chance is minuscule, but it is possible."
Cindy couldn't believe him. It was almost as if Eren had completely gone against his own character at that moment. It was as if he wasn't the one speaking to her. "You're changing, Eren." Cindy told him. "This isn't you. At Connors's funeral, you-"
"That was just me playing the role I placed myself in. Those were just words" Eren said, interrupting her. Whether or not this was true or not would only be known by him.
Cindy shook her head in disbelief. "I find that hard to believe. You know how I said earlier that I can feel something crying for help? At first, I thought it was that... thing inside. Now I realize who it really is."
Eren's eyebrows furrowed, he didn't really understand what she was getting at. "And who would that be?"
"It's you." Cindy told him. "It's Eren Parker."
Eren paused for a second, not saying a word. It seemed as if Cindy's words struck something within him. After a few moments, Eren grabbed Cindy's hand and spoke gently to her. "You might be right." he said before grabbing her other hand and holding them together. "Don't worry, I'll get rid of this thing soon. Until then..." Eren started expelling webs from his wrists, locking her hands together. "You're staying here."
"What are you doing!?" Cindy shouted as she tried to break free from the webbing but not even her own strength was great enough to snap them.
"There's no point, Cindy. This is a new formula I made. These do not break or dissolve. They are permanent unless you have this." Eren held up a vial of a clear liquid, something that he created as the only way to dissolve his special fluid. The new web fluid was incredibly difficult to make, so he could only make it in very, very small quantities.
"Why are you doing this?" Cindy asked, still trying to break free despite it being impossible.
"Because you'd follow me. You'll just get in my way, you and Harry." Eren webbed her legs together before walking over to their dining table and placing the vial on top of it. "I'll leave this here and have my phone send a text to Harry that you're here in about thirty minutes."
"Eren!" Cindy shouted as Eren enveloped himself in his red and blue Spider-Man costume and climbed up to their skylight. "EREN!" she shouted louder, but he ignored her as he continued to leave their apartment.
She thought about screaming for help, but explaining to her neighbors why she was covered in Spider-Man's webs would be more of a headache than it'd be worth. She had no choice but to let time pass. All she could do was sit in fear that the next time she saw the man she loved so dearly, Eren Parker would be gone.
.
.
.
It wasn't long before Spider-Man found himself on the corner of a building as everyone around beneath continued on with their night as normal. He knew what was coming, what would be appearing at that exact spot, but he told no one.
𝘡𝘛𝘛!
There was a blue flash, and as if he slipped through a portal, the Green Goblin appeared with that aura of fire surrounding his body as it did before he was shot through time, causing the Earth to tremble upon his arrival. Spider-Man hopped off the building as everyone around him began to run away for their lives. He knew they'd all clear out upon seeing the monstrosity in front of them, so he wasn't too worried about them.
As Spider-Man fell from the sky, his body slowly began to become enveloped in Project V, starting from his back. That red spider symbol on his back began to turn white, as did the black symbol on his chest. Darkness began seeping out from the white symbols, covering his chest and back to meet each other at the sides of his body.
Landing on his two feet with his fist pounding the ground, Spider-Man cracked the floor and left a crater as the darkness continued to consume him, making its way to his legs and arms slowly. He then stood up straight, looking at the Green Goblin as claws began to form at his fingertips.
The Green Goblin had a look of surprise on his face as he watched Spider-Man's entire body become covered in the symbiote. "Project V..." the Goblin whispered under his breath. As the symbiote covered Spider-Man's masked face, it was becoming more and more clear that the boy was furious beneath it all, as seen through the massive white eyes that were scowling at the monster.
The Green Goblin couldn't believe the amount of control that Eren seemed to have over the symbiote, as every subject prior to him failed to do so. This was the product of Eren relentlessly training himself to be able to do so, locking himself away in a chamber inside the Baxter Building in an attempt to become one with the symbiote while Cindy was at work or school.
At first, the symbiote did not want to relinquish control to the boy, however, Eren had already seen it happen in other timelines, so he learned how to do it fairly quickly. Now with the symbiote under his command, Spider-Man was ready to kill the Green Goblin and protect his timeline once and for all.
"Norman!" Spider-Man shouted in an earth-shattering voice as Godspeed energy began to surround his entire body. Norman smiled, he could smell the boy's killer intent in the air and he was loving it. "Let's finish what we started."
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