It's been two years since I made the contract with Mr. Stark. If he hadn't helped me, I'd be in the dumps by now, or worse.
It all started one day in high school. I was on a field trip when a radioactive spider bit me. Next thing I knew, I could stick to walls, sense danger before it happened, and shoot webs from my hands. I became Spider-Man. But then things got complicated. I was chasing a group of robbers when I stumbled into a weird cabinet in their hideout. Something inside… it was sticky, like jelly, but it was alive. It latched onto me, and suddenly, I had more power than I ever dreamed of. I could do things my old spider-powers couldn't touch. I started calling myself Venom Spider.
But the power came with a price. The thing… it amplified everything. My anger, my aggression. The line between good and evil started to get blurry. It all came to a head one night. I was about to commit a heinous crime, to murder the man who had just hurt someone I cared about. But as I raised my hand to strike the final blow, something stopped me. Invisible chains wrapped around me, holding me in place.
That's when I saw him. Mr. Stark. He was in his gold and red armor, a shimmering cape flowing from his back. He teleported us into what he called the Mirror Dimension, a world of fractured glass and twisted reality.
"Hey, kid," he said, his voice echoing around us. "Don't you think you should reflect on yourself?"
"I don't think so," I spat back, the symbiote's rage fueling my own.
But he made me see. He showed me how wrong I was, how the thing attached to me was amplifying my darkest desires. I begged him to make me free of it, but he had a twisted way of looking at things. He told me to control it, that it could help me. He taught me to make the symbiote follow my will, not the other way around. He trained me, using some kind of codes or spells, I think. It was a long, hard process, but I learned. Each lesson felt like falling through shards of my own guilt. One time, he made me fight a version of myself who had killed Uncle Ben. Another time, I had to save Gwen from a collapsing skyscraper that only existed in my mind.
"We hunger for battle. Let us hunt, Parker.""Not until I say so," I whispered back.
He told me he'd contact me when he needed me, but I never knew when that would be.
"Peter?"
A girl's voice pulled me from my thoughts. I turned and smiled. "Hey, Gwen."
Yeah, she's my girlfriend. Gwen Stacy. Blonde hair, green eyes, and the brightest smile you've ever seen. She's perfect. She knows I'm Venom Spider, but she loves me, Peter Parker. That's what's so amazing about her.
We were standing on the terrace of her building, looking out at the city lights. Suddenly, a swirling portal of orange sparks opened right in front of us. Mr. Stark stepped through.
"How are you, kid?" he asked, his eyes landing on Gwen. "Your girlfriend?"
"Yeah," I said, my heart starting to pound.
"Hello, I'm Gwen Stacy," she said, offering a polite, if slightly nervous, smile.
"Both of you are perfect together," Tony said with a grin. "I'd really love to chat, but we need to hurry. Come on."
"But where?" I asked.
"You know where," he replied, his expression turning serious.
I looked at Gwen, my heart sinking. "I'm sorry," I said. "I have to go."
She smiled, her eyes full of understanding and support, and squeezed my hand. "Come back, okay?" she said. "I don't want the hero. I want you."
I gave Gwen one last look, then stepped into the golden fire, leaving behind the boy I was… and walking toward whatever kind of warrior Mr. Stark wanted me to become.