NOTE: Chapters 28 to 31 are flashbacks from Felicia's past. Though they are not crucial to understand the story, they offer insight on Felicia's time in captivity and her relationship with Peter, so I'd recommend you to read them. If you don't want to, though, you can skip them by going straight into chapter 32. Thank you and enjoy :)

C H A P T E R   28  :   K I L L   M E   O R   I   W I L L

❝ When I saw you for the first time, I knew I would never want to see you for the last time.❞

"Murder lives forever
And so does war
It's survival of the fittest
Rich against the poor
At the end of the day
It's a human trait
Hidden deep down inside of our DNA

One man can build a bomb
Another run a race
To save somebody's life
And have it blow up in his face
I'm not the only one who
Finds it hard to understand
I'm not afraid of God
I am afraid of Man"

F L A S H B A C K S

"Everything." The menacing, loud voices demanded. "Again. Harder. Now."

My body, sticky with sweat and feeble from fatigue; my mouth, stained with my own blood; my hands, filled with theirs; my mind, emptied of all will.

It had been so long since I had seen the light of day. Sometimes I wondered if this was how afterlife looked like. Worse than death; a place where you could die but never stay dead. The truth was I was just a lost child in a world colonized by monsters. And all the exits were just viler entrances.

"I... can't." I let out in a faint whimper, spitting blood onto the cold cement floor. My fists were shaking from the effort of trying to stand up. I knew the consequences of refusal. Just as violent as those of failure. "I'm... dying..."

One of them struck me violently with a sharp object. In between my blurry vision and fuzzy mind, I couldn't discern which weapon it was this time. All of them felt the same. I didn't know why I still tried, why I still foolishly believed they could have the smallest hint of humanity in them. They never showed me any mercy. They never answered my pleas. The only thing they wanted from me was perfection. But my best always fell short of it.

"Even if you can't, you will." One of the voices said, so devoid of emotion it felt like listening to a black hole speak. "You don't get to choose, 666."

I made the mistake of staying still. Someone hit me again, this time harder, and I screamed in pain, a raw, animalistic growl wrenched out from inside me as more of my blood was spilled on the floor.

"Clearly your lungs are still working." The voice spoke again, the mockery and cruelty in his tone chilling my bones. "Get up."

"Kill... me." I spat out, blood dripping down my chin. I refused to be the monster they wanted to make of me. I'd rather die than allowing something else to take control of myself.

"That's what we're doing." Someone else declared, their voice controlled and static like grey noise. "So that you may be reborn from the ashes of your past."

I felt hysterical waves of anger invade my spirit in an intensity I knew I couldn't hold back. It was as if someone was stepping on my grave. As if I was choking beneath the ground. They had been the ones to burn my entire story to the ground.

If they wanted me to be their phoenix, they should expect to get stung. Coughing blood, I stood up, moved by the new rush that pumped my body. I stumbled forward clumsily but managed not to fall again. Even though I wanted to. Even though all I wanted was to fall right into my death.

"Complete the routine in less than a minute this time." The voices warned, all muddled in my drained brain. "You know the deal. If you fail, you pay."

I didn't let their words deceive me. Not anymore. Even when I succeed, I pay.

That was the truth. They always found the minimum reason to punish me.

Every single day, I died in a new way.

***

"W-water..." I begged, my voice scratching my dry throat, as if I was swallowing sandpaper. Every new circuit they came up with forced me to undergo inhumane conditions. They were torturing me by depriving me of of everything. The only omnipresence was pain. My lips were chapped and bloodied. I didn't know why I still bothered asking. I guessed humans simply couldn't let go of some instincts. Asking for help from the monsters that put us in danger in the first place was one of them.

"Complete the routine, 666." The robotic voices repeated. They all looked and sounded the same to me. Anonymous faces with a common goal. Twisting my broken pieces in a new, painful way each day. I was the main attraction in their freak show. "A killing machine has no needs."

My fists clenched, nails digging violently into the palm of my hands.

"Three... times... I did it... three times... already."

"And we told you to do five. Running, jumping, swimming, fighting, shooting. If you fail on any of them, you repeat the routine before even seeing a drop of water." My head looked up as I saw one of them taking a long sip from a bottle. This was the worst part. The humiliation that reduced you to shreds and annihilated your sense of worth.

"But I am... still... human..."

"When we're finished, you no longer will be." He cut off with a powerful kick to my ribs that made my vision go dark. "Now get up and get the job done."

I passed out in the middle of it. When I woke up, they made me do it all over again. I ended up drinking my own tears.

***

"P-please... don't...", I pleaded, my voice cracking from despair. My whole body was sore from the exhausting trainings and aching from all the fresh, open wounds that came with them; from the blows and the bruises I had because they enjoyed teaching me through agony and violence. Now I was trapped on a stretcher, waiting for the daily dose of injections. "I can't... I can't feel myself anymore."

"That is the point." A different voice spoke, calmer, more methodical, more incisive. Not as mocking as the ones who trained me, but somehow even more frightening. This was a scientist, a doctor, and I his guinea pig. His favorite. "We need the new you. And for that, the old one must die."

"W-why?" My brain shouted, though my mouth offered but a whisper, as my body uselessly fought against the chains that held me down.

"You know why." He answered, his sickening, wicked tone infiltrating my pores like acid masked as honey. "We perform these experiments in order to unleash your hidden genetic potential. It's a shame it hasn't yet triggered on its own, but at the same time, it's a good thing, because our experiments will improve its power greatly. You will be more powerful than you could ever had been if you weren't here, with us. You are lucky, Felicia."

I wanted to laugh but laughter was the first thing that died within me. This doctor was the only one that treated me by my first name here. All the others saw me as an animal to kick and step on. This one scared me more, for he saw me like a goddess.

"Anesthesia." I cried out, tears resting on my lips. "Please."

The scientist shook his head, his eyes never leaving the tray of injections he was carefully preparing. It horrified me, how someone cared more about mad science than ethic values and humanity.

"No, dear Felicia. You can not. You need to feel pain now so you can develop the taste for it. So that in the future you will gladly inflict it upon our enemies. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but all of this has a purpose. You will enjoy causing pain to people. You will never want to do anything else. For the rest of your life, that shall be your passion. But you'll only ever understand it if you go through it yourself first."

He came closer to me, a menacing needle prepared in his careful fingers. My body fell still when he placed it against my skin. I urged my veins to run away. They didn't listen. Nothing nor no one heard me anymore. My voice had been stolen and only theirs spoke for me now.

"Now, you know what we agreed on, don't you, dear Felicia? Don't close your eyes so I can see the pain in your soul."

I kept them wide open, but everything else shut down.

***

"Don't make me do this." I pleaded to anyone who would care to listen. All the time all I heard was the echo of my lost voice. "Please."

"I thought you had figured by now, 666. You do as you're told. Our wish is your command. Your will died when we killed your father in front of you."

I closed my eyes for a second, my bruised fists shaking violently. Then I looked down at my feet, to the bloodied boy down on his knees, coughing blood and gasping for air. Younger than me and completely at my mercy.

"He's just a kid."

The nameless, emotionless voice instantly struck me with a sharp object, opening a deep cut on my cheek. Though it would soon heal, the pain would stay. It always did. The blood slid down my face until it fell on my lips. I remembered my father. I remembered his blood, all around me. It was like it never stopped haunting me.

"He's your mission."

I dug my nails into my palms so furiously that they pierced through the skin and more blood tainted my hands. It was exhausting, having to fight their voices. Having to stop them from becoming my own.

"I've done enough damage." I retorted wearily. "Mission completed."

The man hit me again, this time so hard I fell to the solid, concrete floor, the room spinning precariously around me, my heart bumping in my ears. I didn't know why I couldn't keep my mouth shut. Out of all they had taught me, this was a lesson I refused to learn.

"Kill him or we will, 666, and you know we will not do it mercifully."

The boy beside me whimpered lowly, not even able to move after the blows I had already inflicted on him. I bit my lower lip, trying to stop the tears from flooding my eyes. I've had endured torture, but nothing like this. Making me go up against stronger, bigger opponents was one thing. Even if I was constantly being beaten up, at least I learned something. It improved my fighting. Putting me against these younger, weaker targets that they knew I could easily defeat was purely meant to obliterate the rest of my humanity, if I still had any. My mistake was letting them discover that I'd rather get hurt than hurt. That I'd rather be the bag than the punches.

Spitting blood, my eyes locked with the boy's. He was terrified. Not just of them, but of me. To him I was a monster. To me I was too. Then I looked up, to the men behind the glass, watching me from a safe distance, impeccable suits on their bodies and champagne glasses on their hands. I was a caged animal in their horror circus, and my humiliation was their nourishment.

If they were feeding off me, then the least I could do was give them food poisoning. I'd be the apple to their Adam. The devil in their paradise.

Gritting my teeth, I got up between grimaces of pain. I stared at the men again and raised my voice so they'd hear me.

"If you're so desperate for death," I told them, "why don't you come over here? Or better yet, why don't you kill me instead?"

The instructor next to me grabbed me by the neck violently and clasped it tightly. I felt the air being sucked out of my lungs and closed my eyes. Perhaps I'd finally have my wish granted.

"You are testing my patience." He said hazardously. I opened my eyes and held his diabolic stare. Then I spit blood right on the Devil's face.

"Kill me... or I will." I let out in between heavy gasps, mimicking his words. His face twisted into an unfathomable ire and his fingers pressed against my neck harder. I was sure he was going to do it. I was sure this was it for me, and I couldn't wait for it. Then a gunshot was heard, and I saw the bullet come in and out of his brain as red and grey sprayed my clothes. My gut twisted savagely in repulsion, the utter shock preventing me from screaming. His arms let go of my neck and his dead weight fell loudly onto the floor. The boy on the ground was crying. My eyes were widened, every nerve in me jolting. I turned around, to the suited men behind the glass, the gruesome imagery playing over and over behind my eyelids.

One of them was holding a gun, a small circle in the window in front of him. A wicked grin filled his face upon my inquisitive, horrified expression.

"Mission completed." He said as I threw up on the floor and passed out next to the corpse.

***

"You must be very important." A woman said to me as she tightened the straps that kept me trapped onto the bed. Her voice was as cold and sharp as a knife. Her vicious eyes made me feel like I was already six feet under the ground. "If they went as far as killing one of ours just to keep you alive."

I swallowed hard, my whole body trembling from the anticipation. I knew I'd be punished. I just didn't know in which new, wicked way.

"I don't understand." I said truthfully. "I'm just... I'm just a nobody."

"If you were, you wouldn't be here. Clearly you have something they crave greatly. If it were up to me, you'd be dead. I'm just not stupid enough to try to do it myself. That foolish soldier crossed a limit he shouldn't have. When he decided to kill you, he disobeyed direct orders from above. Everyone knows no one defies our supreme leaders and lives."

I thought about her words, about what I could have that they so desperately wanted. I couldn't find out what it was.

"What are they going to do to me next?" I asked mechanically. The only way to survive was to shut down my emotions. To become a robot, like them.

A long, slender smile formed on the woman's lips, reminding me of a snake ready to attack. Even if the hunter changed, I was always the prey.

"Now, 666," she said, her voice sickening and sour, "we're going to bring out the beast from inside you."

***

When they came out for the first time, I screamed so much I tore my vocal cords and my voice broke. I welcomed the pain because I was sure it would kill me. It was impossible for anyone to live through that kind of agony, to feel such distress and survive to tell the story.

I looked down at my nails, at their abnormal extension. At the solid claws I now had and couldn't take back. At the animal they had woken up in me.

The experiments were starting to have visible results. I didn't know where they came from or even what they were, all I knew is that it didn't stop, like they still hadn't found out what they truly wanted. My skin was pierced with needle after needle, each dropping venom in my veins and poison in my system. They didn't sedate me, but all the pain was having the same effect. The excess of stimuli was making me become less reactive to them all.

Most of the time I only felt half. But for them it was still too much.

***

"This time, don't make anything stupid." Another instructor warned me, rage beneath his impassive tone. They were all more brutal to me, now that I had gotten one of them killed. "Use your claws and kill the man. Plain and simple, you should be able to do it. You know the deal, kill him or we will."

I looked at the old man in front of me, his face pale as a ghost. Ignoring the pain, I let the claws roll out of my nails slowly, watching as his eyes widened in horror. I looked at him, unresponsive and indifferent. Then I moved my head to stare right into my trainer's eyes, a flame igniting within me. It came and went, this flame, but somehow, it never died down.

"And you know the deal," I said, pointing the claws to my own neck instead, "kill me or I will." The soldier's face twisted in fury, but given what had happened to the last instructor that had dared trying to end my life, he controlled himself. "Ask me to kill again and I will." I raised my voice for the people behind the glass, challenging them with my own slick stare. My claws were still pressing onto my skin, a fine blood strand gliding down my neck. "Just not the target. If you want me in your army, prove that you deserve me. Elders and children don't fight in wars. Bring me an assassin."

Bring me one of you.

My voice was rigid, but the rest of me was shivering. I knew I was crossing several limits, that there was no way they'd answer to my desperate pleas. But I had to try. I had to try and stop them from bringing this innocent people here just to break me; their lives were worth more than that. And now that I knew I had some leverage over them, I could try and use that to my advantage. If I had to kill someone, I could at least try to kill culprits. It was not just them that were thirsty for blood. My claws were too.

I never got to hear if they accepted the deal, though, a tranquilizer dart burrowing itself into my skin.

***

If I wasn't being tested on, I was training. Fighting until bones were broken, mine or theirs. Running until my legs gave up on me. Swimming until I threw up, my inner senses rebelling against the freezing water. Climbing walls until my fingers were drenched in blood and my claws ripped out the stucco. Shooting at targets from a great distance until I was covered in powder, my ears numb from the constant buzzing. Slashing and stabbing until my hands couldn't hold the blades anymore.

I had to learn, they said. By punishment or reward.

The reward, of course, being just a slightly less heavy punishment.

My body was a complete weapon at their disposal, the killing machine in the front line of their war. They almost had me entirely. All there was left to control was my mind, and so came the brainwashing. Or its attempt.

***

Months later, they ordered me to kill again. I thought they had given up on the idea or decided I wasn't fit for the role. Apparently not. They were just waiting for me to bend further, to see if I would finally break. Now here I was, this small girl in front of me, a gun in my hands. No blood or fight this time. Quick and clean. That's what they wanted.

The way they were speaking to me, though, it was different. As if they were no longer talking to a human being. Then I understood they thought they had already captured my mind, but amongst all their dreadful voices I could still hear mine. Vaguely and lowly, but it was there. Something inside of me was resisting their control, and I knew that many other subjects had already been converted. I didn't know how much time I had left. This was a test to see how much of me they already had. And I was terrified of when their control would outweigh my will, of when I'd finally lose myself.

"Subject 666. Kill the girl."

I stood still, unsure of what to do. Everyone in the room was watching me. The girl in front of me was shuddering, her eyes suppliant.

I had heard these orders before, being told to other subjects. Not even two seconds later and every single time a gunshot would be heard. But my finger was still on the trigger, immobile. The men in the suits were exchanging worried glances, wondering why I was taking so long.

"Subject 666." The automatic voice repeated, louder this time. "Kill the girl."

My eyes locked with hers. I knew right then and there I'd never kill her. My moral compass could be twisted sometimes, but at least I had one.

"Yes, sir." I said, and brought the gun to my forehead, resting the barrel against my temple. I could hear the blood pumping through it. The satisfied smiles my answer had drawn quickly turned into horror. I had tried this before and it hadn't worked. My system was too impenetrable, and I healed too fast to be able to make a damage strong or lasting enough. They knew it too, but still weren't willing to risk it. "Kill the girl."

"Subject 666." The voice said, its urgent tone proving it was not a machine. "Kill the girl in front of you. Do not, under any circumstances, make any attempt against your own life."

I took the gun from my forehead and moved it swiftly to the balcony ahead of me. I was sick of this façade, of being their marionette.

"Why not, if you have made so many?" I shouted, completely out of myself. My emotions, suppressed for so long, were now all over the place. "Get out of that castle of glass and face me, you cowards! I might not be able to kill myself because I heal too quickly, but you don't. One bullet and you're dead. You know I'm lethal. You made sure of that. You know I won't miss."

Their eyes were wide open in astonishment. They thought I would execute methodically this time. Instead, I was crazier than ever. A robot rebelling against its programming. A virus in their firewall. A fatal flaw on their flawless code. Surely this was an error they'd have to delete.

"Subject 666. Do not engage."

I looked at the frightened little girl in front of me and whispered 'run'. Then I pulled the trigger, without bothering to wonder why the men hadn't moved yet. I found out when the bullets hit the window and fell to the ground. I cursed under my breath, realizing my mistake too late.

Another gunshot was heard and my body froze in horror. She didn't have a bulletproof wall around her, protecting her. When I turned around, the child was already dead on the ground.

***

"It's not working. Why is it not working? Why is she still her?" Someone shouted, breaking the deafening silence with a dangerous tone. It sounded like a chief. Someone even my trainers and doctors were afraid of. Perhaps even monsters could fear. There was always a monster who was worse.

"It should be working by now." The familiar, analytical voice of my doctor responded. I was being kept alone in a dark room after my little stunt, but I could still hear at a long distance. "On any other patient, the process would be complete at this point. 666 has been prepared for months and has responded well to everything so far. Her system is ready to receive the final stage of the treatment, yet it keeps on rejecting it. I... I don't understand."

"Then find a way to." The towering voice demanded. I could almost sense the fear in that room. "We need her power. That's what makes her so distinguishable from all the other subjects. With the right training, everyone can become a killing machine. But few can be killing machines that can turn odds in our favor. You have to make it work. She's the weapon that our army lacks and desperately needs. She can be the key that makes us finally win the war. I'm sure you do not wish to be responsible for our failure."

"No, sir. I will make it work, you have my word. I just need time."

"Time is a luxury that does not exist in wars!" The deranged man shouted, and a loud bang was heard. For once I was not the punching bag. For once I was not the insect being stepped on. "Make it work. Now."

"Sir, with all due respect, I've brainwashed countless of valuable subjects during decades of work. Felicia's instincts are resisting the intrusive treatment for longer than we expected, but we will get the power off her. She's taking longer to subjugate, but she will. In the end, they all do. They all bend and break in my hands."

"You better live up to those words, Doctor. All of your previous attempts have failed miserably, embarrassing us pathetically in front of our superiors. Surely you know there are consequences."

"Yes. I have been paying them, sir."

"Good. Now solve this. She can't be that hard to figure out. We can't afford having a disobedient soldier or a killing machine that refuses to kill. You must make her comply to everything we demand her to do, no questions asked and no objectifications put. She cannot for even a second think for herself. Her body, mind and spirit must be ours to control."

"I know. They will be. I promise, sir. She will be ours. She will be mine."

***

Since they were failing to make me theirs, they were punishing me for it, so much I was starting to beg whatever it was inside me that was still resisting to just give in. It would be easier if I could shut myself down and let something else take control. If I didn't think I wouldn't know. I wouldn't suffer. Among so many murderers, my conscience was killing me the most.

"I'm very confident this time, dear Felicia." The doctor told me, the needle pressed against my arm. Even if I was the subject giving him the most trouble, he still liked me best. Even if my failure could get him killed. "I think you're finally going to be ours, now. Just a few more minutes and---"

A loud explosion was heard somewhere inside the building. Frantic voices started shouting, bullets started raining down, alarms started ringing. But I didn't care. I didn't have the strength to. I felt detached from reality, existing in a parallel, numbed state where nothing could reach me. Maybe this was a dream. I used to have so many of those. Dreaming somebody would care enough to save me. Now all I saw, eyes closed or not, was a blank space. No one told me darkness could be this white.

"What is happening?" The doctor yelled at the guards that rushed inside and out of the room, anger distorting his usually placid tone.

"Some patients seemed to have broken free after someone hacked into our system, disabled our security cameras and blew up our centre of operations, sir. They opened many of the cells doors automatically." One of them informed as if he was talking about the weather.

"Was it Prisoner #56898?" Some other guard asked.

"Not this time." The first one answered. "Sir, Protocol Kaput has been activated. We must move the patients to the underground floors."

"No, no, no, NO!" The doctor roared. "I'm almost there. I will not abandon my greatest work when I'm this close to conclude it. It's almost done. Dear Felicia... you are almost mine."

The needle was pressing harder against my skin. The fighting sounds were getting closer. I could smell the gunpowder and the blood and something else. An unfamiliar presence I had never felt before. I struggled against my own hope. Given my current luck, it was likely just an even worse monster.

"Sir, we really need to go—"

"QUIET!" The enraged scientist demanded. "I will not let anyone come in between me and my creations. My work will not be in vain. They will give me the credit I deserve for being superior and---"

Another explosion silenced him. Part of the roof collapsed, and the sunlight poured inside the room abruptly, making me close my eyes instantly. The forgotten sun invaded my skin like I was in a surrealist painting. I thought the sun had died. I thought everything I couldn't reach had vanished.

"What is this---" The doctor started, but then shut up abruptly.

"Yup, I think it's time to shut up now. The last thing the world needs is someone with goggles and blue gloves to have a God complex."

The doctor didn't speak anymore. Besides heavy breathing and fighting sounds, I heard strange noises, like glue being squirted out of a tube. I kept immobile, holding my breath and just waiting. Anxious but curious, I forced my eyes to open and adjust to the brightness. Slowly and amid all that white, traces of red and blue filled my vision, like brushstrokes on a new canvas. It was a man, it seemed. Wearing some kind of suit. Somehow that didn't make me fear him more. For a long time, all the monsters I had seen had had a face. I wasn't afraid of masks. I was afraid of eyes.

Then I felt that strange glue touch my wrist and I shivered. My fingers reached for it instantly. They felt like... spider webs. I looked up, to the man across the room. He had finally noticed me and froze in his place.

"My God..." I heard him mumble under his breath. He took some steps towards me and my entire body stiffened in anticipation, preparing itself for the pain that would certainly come. I could feel his eyes watching me behind the mask. The room was silent now except for the heartbeats of the soldiers. He hadn't killed anyone. He had trapped them with the webs and left them uncounscious, but there was minimal damage to all of them and I felt disappointed. They all deserved to die. And before that they deserved to suffer. I noticed my doctor wasn't there, which made my anger boil. That son of a bitch had managed to escape. "What have they done to you?"

"Don't... don't touch me." I let out in a weak whisper, even though I knew I was in no conditions of fighting an ant, let alone a man who had just taken down several heavily armed and trained soldiers.

"I won't." He said immediately. "But I need to get you out of here. I disabled the base as much as I could but they will reorganize and spot that I am here. We don't have much time."

"You should have let them finish it. I'm an uncomplete work. I'm nothing. You should go and leave me here."

He took another step towards me but kept a safe distant. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was respecting my personal space. As if I still had any.

"Never. I'm not leaving without you."

"You don't even know me."

"And I don't have to. I know you have no reason to trust me, but please believe me on this. I will not hurt you. Ever. You're safe now. It's over."

"I'm not so sure about that, Spider." A soldier said just before entering the room and starting shooting in his direction. I watched in awe as the masked man swiftly dodged the bullets and used his webs to take the gun out of the soldier's hand, slamming him on the head with it and leaving him out.

"We need to leave." He said, looking at me. "Now. Or we'll both die and--"

"Watch out!" I warned as more men entered the room and shot towards my savior. He dodged the first ones, but I knew they were too many for him to handle alone. Moved by a force I didn't know I had, I broke the chains that were holding me down and got up from the bed. If this guy was my chance, my exit, my dream come true, there was no way in hell I was going to let him get killed. My claws rolled out of my nails naturally, eager for blood and this time I didn't fight it. I slashed and scratched every inch of skin I could find, piercing all the way to the bone. Then I heard him gasp for air.

One of the soldiers had managed to grasp his neck and was trying to strangle him to death. Something inside me twisted, rage thundering in my ears, and I threw myself onto the soldier and slashed his neck. He fell to the floor immediately, blood dripping off his neck, a source of life dying.

I froze for a second, shocked. My first real murder. Ironic that against all odds, it was one of them I ended up killing. But it was not what I had done that scared me, it's how I had felt. A part of me was pleased. His words echoed in my confused mind. You will enjoy causing pain to people. For the rest of your life, that shall be your passion.

At that moment, I became terrified of the monster inside me.

But then he spoke.

"I... you just saved my life. Thanks. It would get me in a lot of trouble having to explain my death to Aunt May." I arched an eyebrow at that. "And that didn't make any sense. And I shouldn't even have said it, but--"

"There are more coming." I interrupted. "Lots of them."

"You can hear them?" He asked, sounding impressed.

I nodded. "They're still far, but we will never reach the closest exit before they catch us."

"That's not a problem." He said, pointing to the hole in the roof above our heads. "I just need your word. You're coming with me?"

I stared down, at the unconscious, bloodied soldiers at my feet and the nameless one I had killed. Then I looked right through Spider's mask. The color of his eyes was kind.

"Yes."

"Underneath it all, we're just savages
Hidden behind shirts, ties and marriages
How could we expect anything at all
We're just animals, still learning how to crawl

We live, we die
We steal, we kill, we lie
Just like animals
But with far less grace

All the hate coming out from a generation
Who got everything, and nothing guided by temptation
Were we born to abuse, shoot a gun and run
Or has something deep inside of us come undone?
Is it a human trait, or is it learned behavior
Are you killing for yourself, or killing for your savior?"

A/N: Song is "Savages" by Marina And The Diamonds. Absolutely love the meaning of the lyrics and it fits this chapter so well!

Gif is from Spider-Man PS4 game from 2018. Don't they look amazing?