Am I Peter Parker?

Chapter 12: Symbiote

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The morning light filtered slowly through the curtains of Gwen's small apartment, bathing the room in a soft, golden glow. My body was still feeling the effects of the serum. The black substance that had begun to invade my skin during the night seemed to have calmed down, but its presence was still there, latent, like a predator waiting. The feeling that something dark was lurking beneath the surface did not go away, and with each passing second I felt more trapped.

Gwen slept beside me, her breathing rhythmic and soft. Her face reflected tranquility, as if everything was right with the world. Seeing her like this filled me with a peace I had not felt in a long time. However, I knew that peace was ephemeral. The storm was lurking, and when it broke, no one would be safe.

Oscorp. Connors. The Lizard serum and the mysterious black substance… All of these elements were part of a larger web, a conspiracy that was only just beginning to unravel. I knew I was at the center of something dangerous, and that time was running out.

Carefully, I got out of bed so as not to wake Gwen. As I moved, I felt a tingle run up my arm. The black substance covering part of my skin stirred, moving on its own, as if it had a will of its own. I watched in horror as this thing reacted to my thoughts and movements, as if it were alive. This wasn't just a symbiote; it was something else, something conscious.

I moved over to the balcony, seeking fresh air to clear my mind. The city was still sleeping, with the morning traffic just waking to life. The lights of New York shimmered in the distance, but the world around me felt heavy, heavy with omen. The Darkness wasn't just outside; it was inside me.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up from my chest. It was like something inside me was fighting to get out, like the symbiote was resisting being contained. I fell to my knees, clutching my torso tightly as the pain spread throughout my body. The black substance began to spread rapidly, covering my skin like a second layer.

"No! Not now!" I screamed silently, fighting to maintain control.

The connection between me and the symbiote was growing stronger, more intimate. I felt its thoughts in my mind, a surge of anger and power and hunger that was not mine. This being didn't just want to coexist with me; it wanted to dominate me, absorb me. Turn me into it.

Suddenly, a cold, unfamiliar voice echoed in my mind, something deeper than a simple thought. It was the symbiote, communicating directly with me.

"You are weak. You cannot resist me. Together we will be unstoppable."

My breathing was quickening, my heart was racing. The symbiote was trying to take control. With each passing second, I felt her presence engulf me more, like a living shadow. My senses grew sharper, my strength increasing, but something else was fading away: my humanity.

"I'm not weak!" I mentally replied, pushing back against the invasion of her influence.

In the midst of my internal struggle, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. Gwen had awakened. Her gaze was filled with concern, but also resolve.

"Peter, what's going on?" she asked quietly, her voice heavy with anguish.

I didn't know how to answer her. How did I explain to her that something was growing inside me, something that was slowly consuming me? That the same power that was making me stronger was also devouring my soul. Fear and guilt coursed through me, but there was no time to stop and process it.

"Gwen, no… it's not safe," I managed to say through gritted teeth, trying to pull away, but my body wouldn't fully respond. The symbiote was taking control of my nervous system, resisting my will to move away from her.

Gwen, however, did not let go. Instead, she knelt in front of me, holding my face in her hands. Her eyes met mine, and I saw in them something I had not seen before: a fierce determination.

"I will not leave you, Peter. Whatever this is, we will face it together," she said, her voice heavy with conviction.

Her words pierced the dark veil that enveloped me. For a brief moment, I felt the symbiote's advance pause. "Together…" That simple word, spoken with so much love and determination, was enough to give me a fraction of control.

With a titanic effort, I managed to move my arms, momentarily breaking the symbiote's hold on my body. Her words pierced the darkness that enveloped me, giving me back a fraction of control over my own body. The symbiote seemed to falter for a moment, its advance briefly halting.

"Together…" I thought, clinging to that idea with all my might.

Nervously, I found myself making up a lame excuse for Gwen. "It's just my stomach, nothing serious, I need to get some rest," I told her, forcing a smile. I didn't want to worry her, I didn't want her to know what was really going on inside me. As I walked out of her apartment, my heart was beating faster, but not from fear, but from the internal tension I felt. What I was carrying inside me wasn't just an illness, but something much darker.

Instead of heading to the hospital, as Gwen probably expected, I headed to my true destination: my personal laboratory at Uncle Ben and Uncle May's house. They were still out of state on vacation, and wouldn't be back for another week. That gave me some time, but not much, to sort out what was becoming an ever-growing chaos inside my own body.

As I headed toward the house, I felt the black symbiote that had begun to attach itself to me not only affect my body, but my mind as well. It was something alive, something conscious, and now it seemed to be interfering with my will. I called it "the black symbiote," but it wasn't just a name. It was a constant presence, whispering in my mind, goading me into things I would never consider in my right mind.

"I must get it out of me… before it's too late," I told myself, as I crossed the empty streets toward my shelter. But it wasn't just the symbiote that was the problem. The Lizard serum, which had been injected into me during prom with the help of Dr. Connors, was also still coursing through my veins. I was starting to notice the side effects. My skin felt different, sometimes flaky, and there were times when I noticed a strange, almost primal desire to be more… beastly.

I arrived at my uncles' house, the place where I had grown up, but which had now become my personal sanctuary, filled with technology and experiments. I quickly climbed up to the attic, where I had set up my equipment. I closed the door behind me, feeling the tension building in my muscles, but I knew I had to stay in control.

I turned on the lights in the lab and activated the monitors I used for my analyses. The samples of the black symbiote I had collected during my previous attempts were still there, in small vials, moving as if they were liquid, though I knew they were much more than that. The symbiote was not just a parasite, it had intelligence. I had already experienced this firsthand. Every time I tried to use its strength, I felt a part of me slip away into the darkness.

"What the hell am I now?" I thought, as I prepared the equipment to analyze my own body. The symbiote and the Lizard serum were interfering with each other, something I had never anticipated. But the result was clear: if I didn't act soon, they would both consume me.

I sat in the chair in front of the microscope, my hands shaking as I collected a sample of my own blood. What I saw on the monitor chilled my blood: human cells, mutated into a reptilian pattern, laced with a black substance I recognized immediately. The symbiote was fusing with the effects of the Lizard serum. It was worse than I had imagined.

The symbiote, instead of simply being an external threat, was feeding off my body and the serum, accelerating the transformation process. With every passing second, I was moving further away from being Peter Parker, and more toward a monstrous creature I couldn't control.

"This… this can't be happening," I muttered under my breath, as my heartbeat quickened even more. The pressure was enormous, and sweat began to drip down my forehead.

I knew the symbiote wouldn't just let me release it. I had a conscience, a will, and I was struggling to maintain control. And worse, every time I tried to resist, it showed me a small part of what I could achieve if I accepted it fully. The promises were tempting: unlimited power, strength beyond anything I had ever known, and the ability to defeat any foe that stood in my way. But at what cost…

I stared at the screens, and a plan began to form in my mind. I needed to find a way to separate it from my body without killing myself in the process. Using a combination of high-frequency sound and UV radiation might be the solution to weakening the symbiote, but that would only buy me time. The real problem was the Lizard serum.

"If I can stabilize the serum's mutations, then I can focus on eliminating the symbiote," I thought. But time was not on my side. With every passing minute, I felt the transformation progress, the symbiote becoming more dominant, more controlled over me.

In the midst of it all, the phone rang again. It was Gwen.

—"Peter, are you okay? You've been looking weird for days now, and I'm starting to get more worried. You know you can always talk to me..."

Guilt hit me like an avalanche. Did Gwen deserve to know what was happening? How could I make her understand that with every passing second, the Peter Parker I knew was fading further away, as something darker replaced him? I put the phone away without answering, closing my eyes for a moment.

 I could feel the whisper of the symbiote in my mind, tempting me, trying to break my will. But I couldn't give in.

 —"This can't end like this. Not after everything I've sacrificed." I turned on the speakers and adjusted the frequencies, preparing for the procedure.

The separation would be painful, and dangerous, but I had no choice. As the sound began to fill the air, the symbiote began to writhe inside me, resisting with all its might.

 The blackness in my veins stirred, as if it were alive, trying to hold on to what was left of me. But I would fight back, too. .

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