Spider Island

Once upon a time, in the great city of New York, something very strange began to happen to the island of Manhattan.

It started quietly, dear one, the way big troubles often do.

A wicked villain called the Jackal had cooked up a sneaky, secret spider-virus, and he set it loose all across the island. And this virus spread from person to person, gently and quietly, just the way a common cold spreads when someone sneezes on a winter day.

At first, it did not seem so bad at all. In fact, it seemed almost fun. One by one, ordinary New Yorkers woke up to find they had spider-powers! They could crawl straight up the walls. They could stick to the ceilings and dangle upside down. They felt strong and fast and full of zip. All across the city, people laughed and marveled at what they could suddenly do.

But the virus, dear one, did not stop there.

Slowly, ever so slowly, it began to change people even more — turning them, little by little, into spider-creatures. And no ordinary medicine, from any doctor or any hospital in all the world, could make it stop.

The whole city was in terrible danger. And this great and frightening event became known, forever after, as Spider-Island.

Now, Spider-Man raced to help, as fast as his webs could carry him. And he was not alone. Beside him worked Reed Richards, the brilliant scientist of the Fantastic Four, along with every single hero they could gather. Together they searched, and searched, and searched for a cure, while all around them more and more of Manhattan changed. Tick, tick, tick went the clock. Time was running short.

And then, at last, Reed's science found the answer.

And oh, dear one, the answer was astonishing.

For the cure was already here. The cure was already walking the streets of New York City. The cure… was Anti-Venom.

You see, Eddie's wonderful white antibodies — the very same ones that washed away sickness, and drew out poison, and dissolved black symbiote goo — turned out to be the one perfect medicine for the Jackal's spider-virus. Wherever Anti-Venom laid his gentle healing hands upon an infected person, the virus melted clean away, and the frightened spider-creature became a grateful, ordinary human being once more.

And so Eddie became the living cure.

He moved all through the chaos of the city, calm and steady and kind, laying his glowing white hands on person after person after person. A touch, and a healing. A touch, and a healing. Again, and again, and again.

But you remember his limit, don't you, dear one? You remember that the healing was not endless.

With every single person that Eddie cured, a little more of his precious white power drained away. And there were thousands upon thousands of people in Manhattan who needed him. Eddie could feel himself running low. He could feel the warm glow inside him growing dimmer and dimmer, like a candle slowly burning down toward the end of its wick.

And now Eddie faced the hardest choice of his entire life.

He could stop, and save himself, and keep the wonderful gift that had given him his second chance.

Or he could give it all away, and save the city.

Eddie did not hesitate for long, dear one. For deep in his heart, he already knew what kind of person he wanted to be.

Working side by side with the other heroes, he poured out everything he had. Every last bit of his strength. Every last drop of his precious cure. He gave and gave and gave, until the whole island was healed, and every spider-creature was a person again, and Manhattan was itself once more.

And when it was finally over… the white symbiote was spent. The Anti-Venom power was gone — given away, freely and gladly, to save a whole city full of strangers who would never even know his name.

Eddie Brock stood there in the quiet, ordinary once again. Tired all the way down to his bones. And, in his heart, deeply and truly at peace.

For he had been given a second chance. And he had chosen to spend that second chance on everyone else.

And there is no braver, kinder, more wonderful thing, dear one, that any hero can ever do.

So close your eyes now, and rest. The city is healed. The people are safe. And somewhere out there, a good and gentle man is smiling in the dark, glad for every single thing he gave away.

Goodnight, Eddie. Goodnight, brave and giving heart. Sleep well.