Is anyone actually surprised by the title? Something bad always happens to Peter Parker. Yesterday it was finding out that his best friend of almost a decade was now trying to kill him, this morning it was being pushed out a window, and right now it was arriving at his apartment to see it engulfed in flames.
Decked out in his usual Spider-Man attire, Peter swung to the ground and found himself amongst a sea of distressed residents. The flames had consumed the entire building - painting the sky a vibrant red and specking it with embers like tiny stars.
It didn't take long for Peter to deduce that this had been Harry's doing, and suddenly, he was relieved that he had moved any potential targets to an undisclosed location. That still didn't erase the guilt he felt at not predicting Harry destroying an entire apartment block. He should have seen this coming...he should have found some way to stop it. At the very least, he had to make sure that everyone got out safely.
Peter's first instinct was to find the chief firefighter, who was currently directing his men towards the largest influx of flames on the right hand side of the building. He somehow got his attention for long enough to say, "What's the situation?"
"Oh, it's you." The firefighter said, seeming somewhat underwhelmed by the webslinger's presence. "Most of the residents got out before the fire got too bad...but we think the landlord's still stuck on the fifth floor."
Peter's next breath was immediately stolen from his lungs. Mr. Ditkovich was still up there...and it was all his fault. Without waiting for any further information, Spider-Man dashed towards the crumbling structure. It didn't look like it would stay upright for much longer, it was burning like a bonfire set with gasoline. Even the front door was already beyond recognition; paint bubbled on it's exterior, and Peter dared not to touch it directly.
Instead, he aimed a web at the building next door. It hadn't been touched by the flames yet, but the smoke was so thick in the air that everyone within a one mile radius had evacuated their homes.
With all the grace and finesse that most spiders lacked, Peter pulled himself skyward and smashed through the fifth floor window with the soles of his boots. He cringed at the sound of glass shattering around him. He could still feel his body stinging from his last encounter with a window...luckily this time none of the shards managed to puncture his skin.
"Hey!" Spider-Man called into the thick smoke and searing heat. "Is anyone up here?!"
It was hard to hear anything over the intense crackling of each flame that surrounded him, but as he continued forward, he could detect the faintest muffled cry coming from down the hall.
The walls around him screamed in agony, melting and hissing until it threatened to collapse on top of him. Still, Peter didn't waver. He ran as fast as his legs could take him - ignoring the bitter singe of the fire as it lapped at his suit. He could see the left arm of Mr. Ditkovich through the chaos, but the rest of him was buried under a large heap of rubble.
"Oh my god..." Peter gasped. An enormous flame blocked his path, and as he jumped through it he could feel his entire body burning. His costume was treated with heat retardant solution that prevented it from catching fire...but that didn't mean that he couldn't feel it furling around him like a fever.
"Spider-men, am down here!" Ditkovich's strong Russian accent was barely audible beneath the pile of collapsed roofing.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here." Peter tried to sound as calm as he possibly could despite knowing that time was running short.
He examined the debris, and discovered that it had fallen with a slight tilt. This meant that it was still somewhat supported by the structure above it and was not completely crushing Ditkovich yet. It would though, if it wasn't moved. Peter took a few deep breaths so prepare himself, then finally grabbed hold of the bottom slab of wood. He pulled, and heaved, and strained with all of his might but the heavy debris only moved one inch at a time.
Peter growled and applied even more pressure to the debris - every muscle ached, and every tendon stretched. His arms felt like they were being torn to sunders but he still didn't stop. Not until that collapsed roof was on his shoulders and he was pushing it further away from Mr. Ditkovich.
The landlord scrambled backwards into the searing red light of the flames where Peter could clearly see the injuries that he had sustained. He was burnt, but Peter couldn't tell how severe it was. With a grunt of exertion, Spider-Man finally let the debris drop from his shoulders...but as it did, the rest of the roofing trembled. Coughing at the smoke attacking his lungs, Peter grabbed Ditkovich's arm, wrapped it around his shoulders, then dashed back towards the window that he had entered through.
As he dove out and formed a web to swing on, he could hear the landlord's erratic screaming. Apparently, he wasn't a big fan of heights. Even as they landed to safety the Russian man was shivering.
"What were you doing up there?" The chief firefighter said, watching as the medical team swiftly covered Ditkovich's mouth with a respirator. "We told everyone to evacuate."
"Parker still inside. You hev to get boy!" Ditkovich coughed, and the sound echoed through his chest. "Never hev rent, but is good boy. Fire will keel him!"
Peter tried to bury the guilt that stabbed at his stomach. Not only was he to blame for all these people losing their homes, but he'd almost gotten Mr. Ditkovich killed as well. Somehow, he managed to steady his voice for long enough to say, "It's alright, I got him out before I found you."
It wasn't the best excuse in the world, but it was apparently enough to ease the landlord's panic. He settled into the ground and took a few deep breaths from the respirator. A few hoarse coughs followed, but after his lungs were cleared of the smoke, Mr. Ditkovich was finally taken to the hospital to have his injuries assessed.
At this stage Peter was mad. No, he was beyond mad. Harry could have killed these people, and for what? Some selfish desire for revenge. Peter knew how it felt to lose someone important, and he also was more than aware about the anger that followed, but putting innocent people in peril? That he couldn't comprehend.
The redness that the fire had inflicted upon the sky slowly vanished as Peter moved through New York. Instead, it was suddenly showing bursts of gold on lavender then melting into saffron. It looked like it had been spray-painted by a graffiti artist. Peter wished that he could enjoy the sight, but right now the entire word was just a blur of grey. He needed to find Harry. He needed to stop him from hurting anyone else.
The only problem was that he had no idea where to find him. Peter could only follow his vague instincts, and they lead him towards Harry's penthouse. Spider-Man scaled the building and peaked inside the window. The entire room was cloaked in shadow, and seemingly completely empty as well. It didn't look like Harry had been home for a while.
Peter had the dreadful idea of sneaking inside and double checking the place, but before he could execute such an ill-advised plan, he sensed something moving behind him. It was slicing through the air with incredible speed. The hairs on the back of Peter's neck stood on end, and without a moment to spare, he removed his grip from the stone building and dropped. The wind whistled through his mask as he fell, and that was quickly followed by an almighty explosion.
Spider-Man swiftly swung himself onto the tower opposite this structure of penthouses, and saw that the smoke was a distinctive emerald shade. He had only seen one other explosion with such a strange cloud of smoke...one made from The Green Goblin's pumpkin bomb.
His Spider-Sense rumbled through his skull...but this time, Peter had no idea what it could be warning him about. All too soon, the wall he clung to began to shiver. It exploded from within, sending Peter hurtling off it like a flicked insect as shattered bricks were thrown into his body in mid air.
From the wreckage screamed the Goblin atop his glider, its trajectory marking itself directly for Spidey's bruised form.
Before Peter could evade the attack, the Goblin snapped his hand outward and seized his foe by the neck. Peter felt his throat being constricted by Harry's newfound strength. "You lied to me! You were my friend!" The Goblin snarled, banking his glider toward a building, clutching Spidey's back with both hands.
As he sped by the solid brick wall, Harry shoved Peter into it, scraping the wall crawler across the rigid surface. His face was dragged across the brick, shredding parts of his mask and cracking one of its lenses. Cringing and grunting through the pain, Peter managed to push himself backwards and elbow Harry in the face.
Due to Peter's forceful and desperate attack, Harry's focus was shattered and the glider's flight path spun out of control. It veered sharply left, away from the building and was threatening to spiral directly into an oncoming building. Peter fired a webline onto the nose of the vehicle and tugged on it with great effort.
Its front was pulled upward, and the glider shot straight up the face of the structure with inches to spare. The roof quickly zipped by Spidey's eyes, and the Goblin finally managed to come to his senses and launch a vicious kick at his enemy.
Spidey was propelled off the glider and onto the roof, landing with a roll. As he stood, he cried, "Stop this, Harry! I don't want to fight!"
The glider looped around in the distance, and deployed a gatling machine gun from its undercarriage. It began lobbing rounds at the web slinger, whose Spider-Sense helped greatly with dodging said bullets. After he twirled and flipped through the gunfire, Peter shot two weblines simultaneously at the Goblin which both hit their mark on his chest. With a grunt and a spin, Peter pulled with all his might and succeeded in removing Harry from the glider.
The vehicle, without its driver, sputtered anf crashed into an air conditioning unit on the roof as Harry fell face first onto the concrete. Spidey didn't waste any time, promptly spraying the Goblin with layers of webbing to keep him contained. Peter panted heavily, feeling blood drip from his forehead and aches in his chest.
Harry screamed with unbridled rage as he managed to stand and tear straight through the webbing keeping him hostage. "You took my father from me! I won't stop until you're dead!" He snatched a pumpkin bomb from his hip and pegged it at Peter so quickly that he wasn't sure if he had enough time to react.
Time seemed to tick by in slow motion as the explosive flashed and careered closer and closer to Peter's face. He webbed the small orange orb, twisted with its trajectory, and sent it hurtling back towards its owner. Metres away from Harry, the grenade exploded. He was thrown off his feet and onto his back, and Peter stumbled back from the impact.
Ash, soot, dust, and green smoke consumed the rooftop as Peter shook his head and squinted into the fog.
In an instant, the smoke was pierced by an infuriated Goblin, charging forth like a bull. He tackled Spidey clear off the side of the building, and the pair began their lethal tumble down into the streets of New York. Harry pummelled Spidey's face repeatedly whilst the webhead struggled to stay alert enough to prevent the ground from coming up underneath them too quickly.
First, Peter splattered Harry's helmeted face with a spray of webbing, then fired out a line towards the blur of a building that was growing taller and taller as the pair neared the surface of the Earth. However, Harry, still blinded, secured both hands around Peter's wrists as he snarled. "I'm taking you with me, you lying, murdering son of a bitch! You just love getting everyone close to you killed, don't you Pete?! First Ben, then Gwen, my father, now me!"
He squeezed and Peter cried out in pain. Before long, the pressure crushed both of Peter's webshooters, rendering them completely inert. In a last ditch attempt to save them both, Peter lashed out with a headbutt to stave off Harry's unrelenting anger, locked the fingers of his left hand onto Harry's chest, then desperately reached for the wall with his right. There was a violent 'snap' as Peter's fingers adhered to the structure and suddenly halted their downward momentum, dislocating his shoulder.
Peter screamed in response to the sharp stabbing pain that lanced up his shoulder. He felt the fingers on his right hand tremble, peel back, and finally give out.
With the speed of their fall cut down by Peter's last act, the Goblin and Spidey were about to slam onto the roof of a parked car before Harry's glider emitted a burst of thrust. The acceleration was enough to pull the Goblin free of Spidey's grip, and rocketed the villain skyward and out of danger.
Spidey was not as fortunate. He was rammed by gravity directly onto a car, collapsing its roof and shattering every window it had. His back was alight with dozens of nodes of searing pain, but he couldn't wallow in it. Without enough time to even process it all, Peter pushed himself up and out of the wreck as he gritted his teeth.
Blood painted red streaks down the blue of his costume, indicating that the folded and crushed metal had cut him deeply. His eyes lanced into the sky and caught sight of the Goblin on approach.
The traffic was bustling, as usual for New York...and Peter knew that if Harry opened fire with that machine gun or even a pumpkin bomb, people were going to die. Without his right arm or his webshooters, it was easier said than done.
With utmost urgency, Peter bounded over to a manhole cover, flattened his left palm onto its surface, then heaved it upward. In a blinding motion, he twirled, leapt into the air, and let the object go. It arced directly into Harry's glider with a 'clang', instantly embedding itself into the aerial vehicle.
The Goblin was about to come down hard into the stream of oncoming cars. Peter broke into a sprint, trying to ignore all of the pain that beckoned for him to stop and give up. He once again pushed into the air, then struck the glider with a shoulder charge.
The mid-air blow sent Harry and his vehicle arcing over into a mostly empty parking lot as Peter landed in a heap on the sidewalk. He cringed and clutched his dislocated shoulder, watching as the glider smacked the pavement, made sparks as it skidded, then slammed into a dumpster at full-force. Smoke trailed from the thing, and Harry's body fell motionless beside it.
Fear overtook Peter's nerves. He sprinted over to the wreck, trying to fight away his tears. Spidey collapsed at Harry's side and pressed a hand onto his neck. Thankfully, he felt the slow rhythm of his pulse. At that point, it hit him. Harry was going to be tried for not just his crimes...but his father's as well. No one knew who the first Goblin was. The court would pin Norman's countless murders on Harry...and Oscorp's stock would drop. It would kill the company. He didn't want Harry's legacy...and Norman's legacy to be the Goblin. The Goblin destroyed both of them...Peter couldn't let that be it.
As fast as he could with one arm, he removed Harry's flight suit and webbed it to the glider's wreck. Before the emergency responders arrived, Peter tossed the debris into the river and perched himself atop a nearby building.
As the police came upon Harry's unconscious body, a sob tore itself from Peter's throat. His best friend was gone, and he could do nothing but cry in solitude.
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