Webs In Ink

I don’t know how I fell asleep without a call from Peter to see if he was okay, but I forced myself to go to sleep. My neighbour to the right of me had come over to make sure I was alright. He was an older man that I was sure I should’ve been checking on instead of the other way around. The total quiet definitely hadn’t helped one bit. But even that quieted down and still nothing from Peter.

But a different call woke me up.

“Hello?” I answered groggily, sitting up and wiping away any sleep from my eyes. I wasn’t expecting a call from anyone, but I tried to sound like I was still remotely awake.

“AJ…” I heard from the other side of the call. It sounded familiar. “It’s Harry, uh, Peter gave me your number.”

“Yeah, hey, whats up?” I asked, concerned by the tiredness of his voice.

“I need your help… I already called Pete, but…” His voice trailed off and I heard him sniffle. “I’m dying.”

“What?” I asked, my heart stopping. I got up quickly, riffling through my clothes and picking up the first pair of jeans I could find.

“I- can you just get to Oscorp?” He asked quietly.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, wobbly pulling up my jeans. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Nerves rushed through my body as the video in front of me played. I watched Norman Osborn and Richard Parker explain their testing on spiders for regenerative properties. I swallowed harshly as Peter’s dad explained their, at the time, newly discovered hybrid science. Human-Spider science. Made to heal diseases.

I started bouncing my leg up and down as Harry paused the video file with a tap on the glass table. I swiveled myself around to face and and I warily glanced up to my left at Peter. He had his eye trained on the now dark T.V. screen.

“They never made it to human trials,” Harry said bitterly. “Fourteen years of research, and nothing to show for it.” I silently watched Peter as Harry got up and walked the small table in the corner of the room. “Except maybe this.”

My eyes shot over at the newspaper Harry threw onto the table. It was an issue of The Daily Bugle. The headline read, “WOW! FIRST CLEAR PHOTOGRAPH OF SPIDER-MAN!” with a picture of Peter in his suit, swinging from a building. I remember when Peter finally got a clear shot of himself and he asked if it was even a good idea for him to send in to Jameson.

“Spider-Man?” I asked. Harry nodded slowly, his eyes looking at Peter. I looked over at Pete, trying to gauge how he wanted me to approach the situation. By the look on his face, he was treading immensely lightly.

“What about him?” Peter asked as I looked back at the newspaper numbly.

Harry pointed at where the video had just been playing, “He was bitten by one of those things and it worked,” He said. “I don’t know how and I don’t know why… but he can do everything else a spider can… including self heal. And I need to find him.”

Harry was right, ever since Peter got his powers, he’s had an incredible healing rate. Even last night, he had all of Times Square's electricity running through him and he’s here now, walking around like nothing happened.

“And do what exactly?” I asked lowly, watching Harry’s sunken eyes look at me. The dark circles made the blue of his irises jump out at me. He shook his head with a slight smile as if it were obvious. 

“I need his blood,” He said, swallowing hard as he put his hands on the desk and leaned over it. Alarms started going off in my head at what Harry could possibly think would help him. Blood transfusion? Testing Spider-Man’s blood to find the healing agent and isolate it? Regardless, he would know Peter was Spider-Man.

“You need… Spider-Man’s blood?” Peter repeated, not sounding as confused as I had wished he had. He then slowly lowered himself into the chair next to me.

“It could save my life,” Harry said, shaking his head.

“It may not, Har,” Peter said slowly as Harry grew visibly more annoyed. Or disappointed. I couldn’t really tell. “It may not be that simple. You saw what happened to Curt Connors, right?”

“Connors was weak. This is me, Peter.”

“Connors was not weak,” I said, remembering what he looked like when he ripped the Ganali device from me and Gwen. “He was desperate.”

“And either way,” Peter continued. “I don’t think you can just set up a van… and have him donate. I mean, I’m sure he’s sensitive-”

“Sensitive…” Harry repeated with a humourless scoff.

“Yeah, sensitive about people shoving needles,” Peter said, his face looking more and more pinched as he spoke and did a hand motion as if he was pricking someone with a needle. “And-”

“Ah, he’s sensitive, okay,” Harry agreed sarcastically, “Well, then, maybe you could just sensitively tell me where he is… and i will go ask him myself!”

I looked at Peter and I could see it in his face that his heart was racing. “What..?

“You took his picture,” Harry said, sitting on the edge of the table and pointing at barely visible words in the corner of the image giving Peter credit for the picture.

“So?”

“You know him,” Harry said with accusation heavy in his tone.

“I took a picture from a long way away. I used a long lens.” Peter explained softly but firmly, “I don’t know him.”

Harry looked away, something in his demeanour telling me that he didn’t believe Peter. “He really doesn’t, Har. It took him forever to take that picture.”

Then he looked up at me, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. I felt my breathing start to shake. He looked back at my best friend.

“I put together what you said at the river,” Harry told Peter and I felt him tense up beside me.

“What I-”

“About how he gives people hope,” Harry said angrily. Then it turned desperate. “Come on… Just say, yes.”

Peter got up and I saw Harry’s eyes got hopeless. He quickly stood and stopped Peter from leaving. I let out a breath and put my face in my hands as Harry yelled.

“Don’t turn your back on me!” He gritted out. I heard him let out a shaky breath. “I don’t wanna end up like my father, Peter…Please. Please… I can’t.”

I felt my heart break at his tone. I could hear the warble of his tear logged voice and couldn’t imagine the look on Peter’s face. Let alone what he was feeling in that moment. This was Harry we were talking to. Not some random person. Our Harry.

Peter had the choice to either lie and potentially let Harry get worse or tell him the truth. There was not other option where everyone was happy. Because regardless of the situation, we don’t know how Harry’s body would react to anything compatible with Peter’s. It was just too dangerous for the both of them.

I turned around and made eye contact with Peter. I cocked my head to the side and Peter bit his lip as Harry wrapped his arms around Peter.

“Please,” I heard Harry plead one last time, his voice was muffled into Peter’s shoulder. I felt my own tears come to my eyes as I looked down at my lap.

I could feel Pete’s eyes on me as they pulled away from the hug. “I’m gonna try…” I looked up at his words, noticing how he refused to look at either of us. “...and find Spider-Man.”

Harry didn’t say anything as Peter pushed out of the door and left without another word. I stood up and put my hand on his shoulder. He turned around quickly and hugged me, burying his face into my shoulder like he had with Peter. Then, I felt his body start to shake as he took in a shaky deep breath.

“Oh, It’s okay, Harry,” I cooed, rubbing the back of his neck. I felt his hands tighten around his grasp on my shirt and I closed my eyes to stop my tears. “We’ll figure this out, okay? Peter and I wont let anything happen to you.”

He let out a sob in response to my words and I bit my lip as a tear slipped out of my eyes when I opened them. “I-I… I d-dont have anyone anym-more…”

I sucked in a sharp breath involuntarily before a sob of my own ripped through me. “You’re not alone, Harry. Not as long as Peter’s here,” I breathed in, “And definitely not as long as I’m here.”

I felt him nod and sniffle. I ran a hand through his hair as I tried to swallow the sob that wanted to leave me. More tears fell down my face and I remembered this wasn’t about me. Harry needed me.

“How about we go for a walk, yeah,” I suggested tearfully as he moved his face away from my shoulder. He kept his arms around me but was making eye contact with me now. The skin around his eyes were red along with the white of them, but they were still a mesmerizing blue. “We can get some fresh air and calm down a bit.”

He nodded, not breaking eye contact with me. “Y-yeah. Okay…”

“Okay,” I nodded, reaching my hand out of his hair and wiping away the new tear that fell. “Take a deep breath, okay?”

He nodded and did as I said. I took a breath with him and let it go, prompting him to do the same. I saw him swallow harshly before he pulled away from me.

“I need to tell my assistant that I’m stepping out,” He said shakily. He wiped his face as he left me in conference room of his office. I took in a deep breath and tried to compose myself before he came out. But he was dying.