Work Text:
Fighting Alone is Never the Solution
"You'll never catch me, Spider-Man!"
"We'll see about that, bud!"
Here was Peter Parker, chasing Scorpion through the streets of New York. Blake, his version of Scorpion, tried to poison the water system and lucky for Peter, he was able to get to him on time before he could do anything to the system. And luckily with the new suit he knitted up all on his own, Peter was starting to catch up to the criminal, dodging any debree that was thrown at him.
"Aw come on, Blake! You haven't lost your touch, did you? I was able to catch up to your quicker than usual!" Peter shouts, but he was smirking underneath his mask. Scorpion growls and tries to throw a street sign at him, basically snarling at him. "Do you ever shut up!?" He shouts, using his dark green claws to dig into the side of the building to make a sharp turn.
"Just trying to make casual chat with you before I hand you to the police!" He said, shooting webs so he can catch up to Scorpion. He shoots web at his arms, Blake tripping over the sticky webbing and crashes, landing on his side. He struggles against the webbing, trying to get himself free. Peter lands beside Blake, kneeling down. "It's been fun, Blake--"
He shouts when there was sudden pain against his side.
Scorpion's tail had stabbed him against his side, the tip slowly dripping with some green ooze. This made the villain that was detained in webbing laughed as the young hero stumbles back. "You'll be lucky if you last a few hours with that in your system now!" He laughed, but his laughter was cut off when more webbing covered him, including his mouth, his tail no longer a threat to those around him.
After a few minutes, Peter watched the police escort Blake into a police van, the villain's struggle were now exhausted. The Chief of the Police, Daniel walked up to Spider-Man. "Thank you for your help, Spider-Man. If you haven't stopped Scorpion from poisoning the water system..." He trails off. Peter simply smiled and shrugged his shoulder. "It's not a problem, officer. I just happened to be in the neighborhood when I saw him. Guess he's going to the Raft now, huh?" Peter asked, watching the police van leaving the crime scene.
"Yeah, we got a good solid case now. He'll be there for a good while..." He trails off when he saw the stab wound against his side. "Hey, do you want us to call an ambulance for you? That looks pretty bad." Officer Daniel asked, gesturing to the stab wound. Peter looks down, seeing the wound. Even when it's no longer bleeding, it was red and swollen. But the young hero only shrugged it off. "Nah, I'm good. But I'll make sure I'll get it taken care of. Thanks for the concern." He said, then webbed up to a street light.
"LIsten, Spider-Man."
Peter looks down at the officer, a concerned look on his face. "...you be careful of webbing home, okay? If...you need help, you still have my ID caller card, right?" He asked. Peter nods at him. "I still got it. See you around, Officer Daniel!" To that, Peter swings away from the crime scene.
00~00
Peter hissed as he applied hydrogen peroxide to the wound. Despite the wound not bleeding, it still hurts if Peter applies even the slight pressure, still swollen and red as if it was filled with pus, but there was no sign of it. He placed ointment on it and then wrapped it up in bandages. The young man sighs deeply, placing his face into his hands and leans over, muting out all the noises from the busy streets of New York.
Despite nearly five months, he's still not over the event that happened.
Dr. Strange's spell.
Meeting other villains from other multiverses.
Seeing his two counter parts of Spider-Man.
The death of his Aunt May.
The last part he hasn't gotten over yet. People say that grief takes time; days or even years. It works different for other people of losing a loved one, may it be a friend, significant other or a relative, it still hurts. He does not blame Norman Osborn anymore of her death. Granted, he was only in rage once he had Norman in his sight by the Statue of Liberty, but then overcome it and managed to cure Norman so that his other personality no longer controls him.
And before Stephen Strange managed to cast another spell, Norman managed to talk to him one more time.
"I don't know if you will find it in your heart to forgive me, Peter...but I am very sorry. Truly, I am...I...hope we can...make amends if we see each other again someday." Norman said. Peter only stared at him, the older man staring at him with pleading eyes. He can no longer see the other personality. He can no longer see the Green Goblin.
Only just Norman.
"...I don't know, Norman..."
Norman looks down sadly, sighing deeply but then perked up at the next part.
"...but I do want to one day...it will take time...but I want to..." This made Norman sigh deeply with relief, managing to grip the younger man's hand with gratitude. "Thank you, Peter. Truly, I can't thank you enough..." He said. The young man nods before saying his good-bye to him then went to find Octavius. When he saw the scientist, he was holding onto one of the now decapitated actuators that got sliced off from his attempt to capture Norman. "Dr. Octavius!"
He turns over to Peter, but was smiling with relief. "Peter, you are alright?" He smiled, to which he smiled back before looking at the claw in his hands. "I'm sorry about one of your arms, doctor. Will you be able to fix it?" He asked. Octavius shrugs, but the small smirk was on his face. "Do not worry, my dear boy. I'll be able to fix him when I do get back to my universe."
"Him?"
"Harry...I...named my actuators." Otto confessed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. He was expecting for the young man to snicker at that or let out a laugh just like how he and his friends did when he told them his name. But he didn't. He glanced at Peter and only saw a smile on his face. "It's alright, Doc...I would've done the same if I had these..." Peter smiled.
This made Otto smile back as well. He then blinked when he saw his upper right actuator, which he named Flo, stretched over to Peter, clicking her claws in appreciation before closing her claw, nuzzling the side of Peter's head. The young boy blinked before smiling, raising his hand up to pet the claw. The doctor seemed relief that the actuators actually like someone except for himself. "She's saying thank you..."
Peter blinked and smiled up at the claw. "You're welcome..." To which, he only got a happy click from the claw in response before returning back to her master. "...I guess this will be the last time we see each other, I take it?" Otto asked. If he hadn't known better, he saw a sad look on Peter's face. "Y-Yeah...Dr. Strange is working on the spell now...but I want to say this before you leave..." Peter took a deep breath.
"...thank you for letting me helping you all so you can have a second chance."
Otto blinked in response. Granted, he vaguely remembers trying to deny the boy's aid of fixing his chip that controls his arms, but Peter didn't have to. He had a good heart of trying to help him and the others. And he can no longer hear the voices in his head drowning his thoughts as soon as the chip was installed. Peter didn't have to help them to escape their fate from death in their timeline and yet he did, despite what happened in the past few hours, and yet he did. He risked everything to help them and succeeded.
Otto smiled in response and placed his hand on Peter's shoulder, making him blink up at Otto in surprise.
"...It should be me thanking you, Peter. You didn't have to help me and fix my chip...but you did. To that, I am grateful, truly I am..." He said. The young boy smiled up at him and before he could even react, Otto felt arms wrapped around his neck. He blinked and glanced at Peter, who was now hugging him.
"...I'll miss you, Otto..."
The doctor looks at Peter before closing his eyes, wrapping his arms to hug Peter in return, the robotic arms also curling around them both to be in the hug as well.
"...I will miss you too, my dear boy...."
Peter sighs a shaky breath. before sitting up. Taking a deep breath, he lays down in his bed, covering himself up with a small blanket he purchased and fell into a restless sleep.
But the next time he woke up, he felt horrible.
Everything seems to be hot, the air being unbearable to breath, sweat covering his entire body. His vision was unfocused and blurry as he tries to sit up. He immediately regrets the action as everything spins around him. His breathing was fast and raspy as he tries to support his head with his hand, struggling to stand on his two feet. Maybe some fresh air might do some good. And he could always do some day patrols to get his mind off.
Vaguely of remembering of dressing up into his suit, he hops out the window and starts to swing around the city. He thought the spring breeze would help him out, but it seemed it got worse, the buildings being blurred as he swings around the city, almost running into the side of a building a few times. He lands on a roof, barely making the landing.
"Wh...what is happening...?" Peter asked, pulling his mask off as he lets the cool breeze chill his face. His breathing seemed to be getting worse and slowly sat down, pulling his knees up to his chest while he tries to calm down--
He heard a faint laughter.
This made the young hero sat up rather quickly, scanning his surroundings. But he could not hear or see anything. Trying to find the source, then saw how empty the streets were. No people, no cars going up and down the street, no pigeons.
Nothing was in sight.
"Oh...poor poor, little Spider-Man.." A hoarse voice said, snickering at him. Peter turned to the source, seeing nothing. He kept his guard up, trying to find the intruder that was stalking him, but could not see anything.
He heard a hissing and rattling, making him turn as he saw something nearly stabbing him. When he lands, he tensed up when he saw a giant scorpion tail, the barb barely missing him as it retracts, disappearing from the building.
"Don't like what you're seeing, huh? The poison is very potent...sadly it won't kill you...but your sanity and mind on the other hand...can't promise anything about that..." Blake's voice echoed in his head, more scorpion tails starting to spawn from each side of the building, aiming their barbs towards Peter.
"And the cure for this? ...there is no cure....your mind will break slowly...and you will never be the same Spider-Man everyone knows..." Blake laughed, Peter dodging the four tails and kept swinging from one building to another, the streets below him starting to turn green in what seems to look like poisoned water, slowly rising until he could no longer see the streets. Peter's breathing was starting to become panicking, swinging faster and faster as he tries to get away from what illusion was thrown at him. He kept dodging all of Scorpion's tails that seemed to spawn left and right.
"Peter...." This made him tense up when he saw a corpse in front of him and it was someone he was familiar with.
Tony Stark.
But he was half decayed, half of the Iron Man mask hanging from his face. One side of his face was a skull, his hair drooping from Scorpion's poison, the other half of the iron man mask glowing, stumbling towards him, his hand stretched out. "M-Mr. Stark--"
"Peter....Help..." His body was slowly turning to dust, the alien warrior Thanos standing behind him, the Infinity Gauntlets in his hand as he smirked down at Peter. "Such a shame...couldn't help him from disappearing....shame I can't say the same for you, boy..." Thanos said, then snapped his fingers. Peter felt himself falling, desperately trying to web something he can land on, screaming in his mind.
00~00
"....eter...Peter....!"
"....e okay....?"
"....temperature rising....eed help....
".....lab....e's freezing...."
Peter vaguely felt himself being carried to somewhere, shivering while breathing raspy breaths. When he was sat down on something, he starts to struggle against whoever had a grip on him.
"...eter, easy..."
"....ethetic will have....old him still..."
"...Peter, it's..."
He can no longer hear the voices.
00~00
Peter was on his side, gasping as he saw he was surrounded in darkness. Nothing around him. "H-Hello!? Anyone!?" Peter shouts, looking around for anyone that can help him. But when he saw a small light, he tries to go towards it, but then stopped when he saw Mysterio, his helmet cracked, his body wracked with stab wounds, a drone machine from Stark aiming towards him.
"Spider-Man's identity....is PETER PARKER!" Mysterio's breath hitched when the drone stabs him from behind, disappearing into nothing once again. Peter clenched to his head as he tries to find a way out. He could hear people he didn't know ranting and taunting him from his face being plastered all over the news in the world.
"Murderer!"
"You're no hero!"
"Long live Mysterio!"
"Hang up the mask, Spider-Man.
And when he heard a humming sound, he turned and barely dodged when he saw something zoomed past him. And when he looked, he tensed up when he saw Green Goblin's glider aiming towards May Parker.
"MAY!!!" He tries to web the glider, but then saw how his web shooters were not working.
"Peter--"
The glider explodes, Peter's eyes filled with tears as he saw himself once again at the Statue of Liberty, the Green Goblin looking down at him instead of Norman. "Face it Parker...you can't save everyone...not even me..." Peter's hands clenched to a fist and tried to tackle him, but found himself glued to the ground. When he looked down, he saw one of Octavius's actuators clenching to his leg, another one curling around him in a constricting grip.
"Look around you, Parker...do you really think that curing us will change our heart? Change our fate because of your selfish need to please people. But you can't please everyone you meet...all you see...is failure..." Green Goblin laughed, the other villains that Peter attempted to save, including Octavius. "P-Please, Dr. Octavius...please..." Peter pleads, the robotic arm snaking around him until the claw was near his neck.
Otto simply stared at him.
"You're on your own, Parker....nothing is there for you...but death..."
Peter felt the claw grab onto his neck--
00~00
Peter shot up with a gasp, clenching to his chest as he breaths fast and raspy breaths, trying to take on his surroundings. It was dark again, only a simple light hanging up on the ceiling, laying down what seems to be a medical table. Was it all the dream? Was he at the hospital? He had to get out of here! He pulls at the at the IV needle from his wrist, barely standing on his two legs as he tries to get out.
When he feels his face, he tensed when he wasn't wearing his mask. Where was his mask? Where is his suit?
Where is Scorpion?
He can still hear the laughter in his head, trying to block it out as he stumbles to find an exit--
"Peter!?" He heard two voices, making him turn into a defensive position. His vision was still blurry, but he can make out two people standing a few feet in front of him. Not keeping his eyes off of them, he grabbed the nearest thing he can use as a weapon, which was a scalpel and held it tightly in his grip. "S-Stand back!" Peter shouts, his entire body shaking. From either fear or adrenaline, he didn't know; but he can't let his guard down.
"Peter...I know you're confused right now...but you're safe..." One of the figures tried to approach him, which made Peter held the scalpel higher in his grasp towards them, making the figure stop in his track. "I s-said stand back! I want out!"
He then felt something cold and hard grab onto his wrist, making him stumble and try to get out of the iron grip before he felt another grip on his wrist, basically making him drop the scalpel. This made the other figure rush over to him and held him by his shoulders, making the young man struggling to get out of their grip. "Hey, hey, hey, easy...easy...you still have a high fever, easy..." The figure hushed him, Peter's struggles starting to become less and less.
He felt a slight pinch on his neck, making him whimper in response, clenching his eyes shut, but then felt a hand slowly massaging his scalp. "It's okay...it's okay...you'll feel better when you wake up....rest now, Peter....you're okay..."
Peter can feel his body go into slumber, his entire body now leaning against the figure that held him. And soon, his world went black once again.
When Peter did wake up again, his head was pounding. The bright lights hurting his eyes when he tries to open them. He can still see the same lights that was dangling above his head when he last woke up. But where he was, he didn't know. The young man slowly sat up, wincing at how his body ache He saw an IV was now connected to him once again, nutriments starting to pump back into his system. When he turned his head, he tensed up at the two figures fast asleep.
Norman Osborn and Dr. Otto Octavius.
Norman was asleep in a chair, leaning his head in one hand as he snores softly in his sleep. Otto was asleep on the couch, his head dipped down while his arms were folded over his chest, the actuators resting their claws on Otto's lap. The top right actuator suddenly whirled up to life then turned to Peter. This made him tense up when the bright light on the AI staring at him before clicking it's claws in happiness and nudged the side of Otto's face.
This made the doctor jolt awake, blinking rapidly as the other claws woke up from their 'rest mode' the bottom left claw accidentally knocking into Norman's chair, making the other man jolt awake as well, nearly falling out of the chair. "I'm up! I'm up!" Norman shouts, clenching to the chair so he wouldn't fall. If it weren't for the situation, Peter would have laughed at what he witnessed.
But he had to be on his guard.
He didn't know if this was another illusion from Scorpion's poison.
When both of the men saw Peter awake, they were instantly filled with relief. "Peter, are you okay--" Norman was cut off when Peter starts to scoot away from them. Otto and Norman glanced at each other, the robotic arms tilting at Peter in confusion as well at his reaction. "Peter....it's okay....it's only me and Otto..." Norman tried to explain, but saw the same fear in Peter's eyes that he had once when he stares at the mask he once had when he was Green Goblin.
Fear and Doubt.
"Y-You're not real..." Peter whispered, already in fight or flight mode, clenching to the side of the medical table he was laying on. Otto held his hands up, slowly going over to Peter without spooking him. "Peter...we are real...we are not an illusion..."
"...prove it..."
Otto and Norman blinked, looking at Peter, who was doing his best not to shake. "P-Prove it you are real..." He asked, not keeping his eyes off of them both. Otto glanced over at Norman, to which he nods at the doctor. Otto allowed Flo, the top right actuator, to come closer to Peter, her claws clicking sadly before starting to nuzzle and nudge the side of Peter's head with gentle care. At first, Peter did flinched, thinking that the claw would go through him, but felt solid and the coldness from the claw.
Peter watched the claw, allowing Norman and Otto to come closer to Peter and when they were merely inches away from the young hero. When Peter saw them close now, his shaking was getting worse as Otto placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "...Peter...We--"
"....O-Otto....N-Norman....?"
Both Norman and Otto saw how realization dawned on Peter's face, his shaking seeming to gotten worse as big tears rolled down his cheeks. Norman was the first to interact and pulled the young man into a gentle hug, allowing Peter to bury his face into his shoulder, actually clenching to his arm as sobs escape from him. Otto wrapped his arms around both of them, the robotic arms snaking around all three of them as if trying to shield Peter from the outside world.
Peter only sobs, his face buried into Norman's shoulder as one of his hands clenched to Otto's arm, his entire body shaking as everything that happened from the poison and the illusions he had to witness. Norman rubbed his back in gentle circles while Otto's actuator starts to nuzzle the top of Peter's head. "I...I..." Peter couldn't finish his sentence, clenching his eyes shut. Otto tighten his grip around both of them.
Nothing was said between the three. It felt like minutes, even hours but both men waited until Peter finally calmed down, his once heavy sobs turning into silent sniffles, mentally and physically exhausted. Norman glanced up at Otto, to which he nods and took his place, holding Peter as Norman managed to pull him away and went to a computer to look at Peter's vitals.
"...how...how did you all....find me...?" Peter asked, leaning against Otto.
"Me and Otto were testing a machine that allows us to jump one universe to another. It's mostly for Peter...uhh...our Peter, I mean...in our universe because he wanted to see you all. We were testing it out to see if we can multiverse-hop. It was a success...but we saw you crash into the Hudson river in your universe. Otto managed to grab you before you could drown." Norman explained.
Peter vaguely looks around until he saw the machine they were talking about. It looks like it was shut down for the time being, seeing many monitors and a large one that said 'Rest Mode Initiated' but it seemed like it look functional. "We worked months on it, and the test was a success...but there are still some hiccups we still need to fix." Norman said, reading the vitals and nods.
"....what hiccups....?" Peter couldn't help but asked. When he saw a smirk on Norman's face, he could feel Otto tensing up at that.
"Only Otto's actuators can fit through the portal. He couldn't fit through entirely so he had to use his claws to get you out of the river." Norman chuckled. That earned a glare from Otto, even his arms were hissing at Norman with accusations. Peter glanced at them but said nothing, a shiver running through his body. This made Otto blink down before using his robotic arms to shed off his large trench coat and wrap it around Peter's shoulders.
"But...whatever it was that was in your blood system...it's long gone now...you were out of it for the past few days..." Norman said, scribbling something down before going back to them. This made Peter shrunk down a bit, lowering his head in embarrassment. "...so mind telling us what happened? And don't say it's nothing...because we know it's nothing." Otto asked. At first, Peter didn't say anything before sighing deeply.
"...I...have someone called Scorpion...do-do you guys have a Scorpion here in your universe?" Peter suddenly asked, earning confused looks on both of the men's faces.
"Nope." Otto shook his head.
"Doesn't ring a bell..." Norman replied.
Peter sighs, feeling one of Otto's robot arms nuzzling the side of Peter's head once again. "...he...had some...poison. It...made me see things...things I couldn't tell if it was real or not...I kept seeing things...T-Tony...Mysterio...my...." Peter starts to trail off, tears starting to swell up in Peter's eyes once again. Norman immediately knew what Peter was going to say, sighing sadly before wrapping an arm around Peter. "...I'm sorry, Peter...." He mumbled. Peter didn't say anything, the three staying silent until Peter took a deep breath. He then looks at the two. "I...I couldn't tell what was real or not...and..." He then tensed up and looked at both Norman and Otto.
"I didn't hurt you two, did I? D-Did I do anything--" He was cut off when he felt Otto placed both hands on his shoulders, making him stop his rambling almost immediately.
"No, Peter. You were pretty much out of it for the past few days. There was an incident with a scalpel the other night, but you were out of it. We...had to take precautions and give you anesthetic so you can calm down while we try to flush out the poison that was in your system. There was so many chemicals in there that..." Otto trailed off at that before clearing his throat. "But we cleared out your blood and immune system...but to be safe...we need you to stay here for another day to make sure."
"You...guys don't mind me staying?" Peter asked, already asking so much from these two.
"Of course not, Peter. You helped us...let us help you...you don't have to fight this all alone, you know..." Norman said, wrapping an arm around Peter's shoulder, giving him a comfortable squeeze. Peter didn't say anything but then leaned into Norman's touch, Otto getting up to get a blanket and pillow for Peter so he can rest more easily. Norman looks down at Peter, who seemed to be half awake.
"...I forgive you...."
Norman blinks.
"...when we last spoke...you asked me to forgive you....and I do..."
Norman smiled in response, squeezing Peter's shoulder in response. "...forgiveness is all I ask for, Peter..."
Otto soon came back with a large blanket and pillow, Norman helping Peter over to the couch and also help him lay down. "Alright...I'm gonna grab something for you to drink and see if I have any pain killers on hand..." Norman pats Peter's shoulder before disappearing. Otto sighs deeply and sits down in the chair that Norman was sitting in before, sighing deeply while rubbing a hand over his face.
"...hey Otto...?"
The doctor glanced down at Peter, who was staring down at him. "....does it ever go away?" Peter asked, Otto blinking in confusion. "...does what go away?"
"...the emptiness...does it ever go away...?"
Otto sighs deeply at that, seeing how tears starting to swell up in Peter's eyes once more. He couldn't come up with an answer at first, but then saw how Peter's hand was fidgeting slightly, making Otto reach his hand over and allow the young man to clench to his hand. "...it will in time...and it depends on you...but...." He took a deep breath and looks down at Peter. "...it will go away in time...."
Peter nods, seeming to accept that answer. As Norman came back with water and some light pain killers for Peter so he can sleep better. Peter pretty much conked out after that. But when he felt Otto squeeze his hand and Norman making sure that the blanket was secured so Peter can sleep better, there was a smile on his face.
He felt safe.