Us Against The World ｡ Peter Parker [2]

46 - The Devil You Know

Peter shook his head with her question, "Well, not fine, we'll still have to deal with New Goblin, but half his plan would be ruined if he's wanting a great showdown in the darkness. We can at least tackle his attacking the city idea. But he still wants Spider-Man, so...that's another obstacle." 

Mary Jane came to sit by us, her cheeks flushed from the chill in the air. Despite her usual bubbly exterior, I could see the pain and fear in her eyes. She was always the girl to keep on smiling, always the one to put herself before others. She should have been the girl spending her Friday night with friends and family, laughing and enjoying the weekend. Instead, she was the girl forced to deal with the idea that she could die at any given moment. Despite all this fear, she still held her chin high though. "How do you plan on actually stopping Harry, I mean, New Goblin? You won't...you know, kill him will you?"

"We don't kill others," Peter said. "We don't take lives. That's not what a hero does. That's not what I do, or the Avengers. We try our best to save people, even the villains, when we can. With Harry in mind, he's still our friend and he's still Harry deep down. We'll get him out. We'll save him too."

She smiled softly, something hidden in her eyes. Her voice was so quiet, her tiny hand reaching for his own. "Please get him out, Pete. Please save Harry. I know, he's done terrible things lately, but I still love him and if by some mistake, he does kill me, don't let him suffer because of it. New Goblin in not our Harry. Save him."

Fat tears sprung to my eyes. "Mary Jane--"

"Please don't." she started, her voice cracking. "I know we've gotta' have faith and I one hundred percent believe in you guys and in Spider-Man, but if something horrible does happen when all this goes down, please know that I'm okay with it. It totally sucks, but I've made my peace and if this is one of the last moments I've got, then at least we're all here. Together."

Within a blink of an eye, my arms were pulling Mary Jane in for a tight hug. Gwen joined in, wrapping her arms around us both as tears dotted her cheeks. We stayed like that for a long while, just the three of us. Our trio. 

Before we broke away, Gwen whispered so softly, that I almost missed it. "We're not going to let anything happen to you, not ever."

Brushing away tears, my eyes settled back on Peter Parker. He had rubbed away his own tears, redness touching his eyes but he was remaining hopeful and strong. He was our leader and tonight he took the role to heart. "We don't know when Harry's going to attack. It could be tonight, or next week. So, we've gotta' be prepared. Be ready for a call, guys."

Gwen nodded her head. "So, when all this does happen, you'll tackle New Goblin and we'll get the mainframe back online before the entire city goes into a melt down. Simple. I like it."

"Well, yeah, in theory." Peter shrugged. "My ideas rarely go to plan."

Ned was clapping his hands together. "Great. Bring down New Goblin, reboot the mainframe when the city falls into darkness. Save the city, save the redhead."

Despite the fear that danced in the back of my mind, despite the hope that would win out in my heart, a tiny smile almost made it to my lips with Ned Leeds words. Peter without thinking, took my hand and held me close. "Yeah, something like that, Ned."

***

Later that night, after five full hours of crying over girly movies and stuffing our faces with popcorn and chocolate, we all finally headed our seperate ways. Even though chaos would fall upon us soon, we had gotten one night of pure happiness to almost make up for what was to come. Mary Jane had reminded us, that despite all the bad, we have to keep fighting and why not laugh through her tears alongside Kate Hudson. With my best friend's wise words in my head, I headed straight home and found my parents cuddled up on the couch.