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Time stopped around him as he had turned around at the pained yelp, his eyes locked on the scene that had been behind him, Spidey had two metal arms sticking through his chest, one of them even came back out of his back.
Blood didn’t fall, it just hung there in midair, everything was frozen, the mad scientist they had come to fight, the army of octobots he had been fighting were frozen around him, the ones that were left anyway.
The last bit of life left in his partner was frozen, but he wouldn’t be able to save him, the young heroes healing factor was good, but not as good as his, there was no way he’d recover from this the man realized as he pushed off.
Time kicked in again, first slow, then fast, like a tsunami hitting the beach for the first time, he could hear the sound of his own voice, a meaningless cry that locked everything out, even the voices in his head as his loyal companions Bea and Arthur sliced through the scientist, severing his head from the body. He dropped the swords shoving the dead body away wrapping an arm around the fallen hero.
The robots fell down motionless as he cradled the body in his arms, his hand slipping in the open chest cavity, grasping the heart, pumping it in his hand, squeezing rhythmically, if only he can keep it pumping long enough, the healing factor will kick in, it has too.
He could hear a gurgled sound down the webbed hero’s throat, a weak hand closing around his sleeve, he couldn’t understand what the man was trying to say, but the sound of his own voice had stopped now as he held the dying body against him.
He kept pumping the heart, even after the hand had fallen down, he kept pumping while the blood had soaked the ground around him completely, he just kept pumping as he felt the body grow cold. He didn’t stop pumping even when he heard the sound of air whistling through the organ.
He’s gone
“He’s not gone! He’s just a slow healer!”
We lost him…
“No! We didn’t he…he can still heal!”
He is dead, we were playing around and we couldn’t help him!
“No! He can’t be dead! He beat that doctor so many times before…”
But never while babysitting us, making sure we don’t kill, don’t cross the line he lives by…
“That’s not my fault! I just wanted to help!”
The organ in his hand no longer wanted to cooperate, it started growing hard and rigid, the entire body went rigid and he could hear the sound of sirens, he realized hours had passed by now, small blisters had formed on the visible skin on some places and he pulled the dead body close to him, sobbing like a child as he held the body close.
He refused to move as people came in, he refused to let them touch his body, he pulled his gun on anyone who tried to force him to let go, shooting them in the knee, because he had made a promise, he had promised not to kill, the murderer he had to take down, but that one kill, that one would be his last.
“…I want to follow you baby boy, why did you go where I can not follow…”