saudade

It was already dark outside when Peter got back to their flat. He wanted to stay at Aunt May’s bed, but she didn’t rest until he agreed to leave. She wanted him to rest but he knew he won’t be able to rest until she could go home – and his aunt knew that too. Nevertheless, Peter couldn’t deny he was exhausted. He was looking forward to cuddling with Harry and falling asleep in his arms.

“Harry?”, he called as he entered the flat where everything was dark. No response. Peter frowned. Harry should’ve been home by now. That was strange. Harry rarely went outside when it was already dark and when he did so, he let him know. Peter was seriously worried.

Peter picked up the telephone and called Harry’s phone number. “Come on, Harry, pick up, pick up”, he murmured and paced back and forth nervously. It was only the mailbox.

“Harry? It’s Peter. Where are you? Call me as soon as possible. I’m really worried about you.” What if something happened to him? What if he had an accident? He shook his head to make the thoughts vanish. He couldn’t allow himself to think something like that.

Then the mailbox disappeared, and the call was picked up.

“Hello? Harry?”, Peter asked, almost relieved.

When it wasn’t Harry’s voice he could hear on the other side of the phone but a mad laugh, his heart stopped for a second.

“Can Spider-Man come out to play?”, the Goblin asked.

“Where is he?” Peter had to save Harry.

Peter didn’t hesitate. He put on his suit and jumped out of the window a second later. He swung through New York to get to the bridge. What had he done to Harry? Was he still alive? Of course, he is, otherwise the Goblin wouldn’t have a leverage anymore. Fear spread through his whole body as he climbed up the bridge. What was he about to see?

“Spider-Man! This is why only fools are heroes”, the Goblin welcomed him, holding an unconscious Harry in one hand, ready to let go of him. “Because you never know when some lunatic will come along with a sadistic choice: Let die the man you love or suffer the little children.” In the other hand, he held a steel cable from which a gondola full of children hung.

The Goblin perfectly knew how sadistic it was, but it was the only way to keep Spider-Man as well as Norman under control. But he respected Norman’s beg for making Harry unconscious for as long as it will take to break Spider-Man, so he won’t notice anything. He couldn’t risk Norman getting a part of the control back. He needed him submissive.

Peter could hear the screams of horrified children and he saw Harry hanging on the verge of death.

“Make your choice. And see how a hero is rewarded.”

“Don’t do it! Please”, Peter begged.

“We are who we choose to be. Now, choose.” The Goblin let go of Harry and the gondola, both were falling into their damnation.

Peter didn’t hesitate. He jumped off the bridge and caught Harry while he shot a web on the bridge to have an anchor. He wrapped it around him so he could use both of his hands. With the other hand, he shot another web to grab the gondola. The fate of too many lives rested on his shoulders. The web started to tear. They would all fall to their deaths.

“Ahoy up there! We’re gonna bring the barge right under you”, a man shouted through a megaphone.

The web wouldn’t last long. He needed to put Harry down somewhere. The Goblin rammed Peter and Harry almost fell out of his grip. Carefully, Peter let down the gondola centimetre for centimetre while he pressed Harry’s body on him.

The gondola was halfway down when the Goblin started to attack Peter. He struggled to hold the gondola and he struggled to hold on to Harry as well as himself. His muscles screamed because of the pain but he couldn’t listen. He needed to be strong. For Harry. From a far distance, Peter could hear angry screams and he saw things falling on the Goblin. New York was at his side. And he was at New York’s side.

Peter concentrated and lowered the gondola faster than before but still carefully. The last centimetres went quickly, and the gondola fell on the barge. Peter groaned in pain, but it wasn’t over. He still had to save Harry. “It’s gonna be okay, Harry, I promise”, he whispered, rather to convince himself than Harry.

He climbed down the thread of his web. When the passengers of the barge were in reach, he carefully handed Harry over to them. The children cheered at Peter and the adults wanted to thank him, but he rushed them off. “If you want to thank me, take care of him.”

Peter swung up again. The fight wasn’t over. It had just begun. He couldn’t react fast enough as the Goblin approached him and wrapped a cable around him to drag him behind the glider. Peter tried to free himself, but he could only free himself when he crashed through a stone wall followed by a window. When he landed on the ground, an explosion caused by one of those Goblin balls followed. The force of the explosion threw him into another wall.

He tried to get up, but it was too painful. His back as well as his head felt like they were destroyed. The mask had teared, but it didn’t make a difference. The Goblin already knew who he was.

“Misery, misery, misery. That’s what you’ve chosen”, the Goblin said, looking down to him to enjoy his pain. “I offered you friendship and you spat in my face.”

The Goblin hit and kicked Peter who struggled to move since every part of his body hurt so much. Peter was too weak to fight back. Would it end this way? He couldn’t allow that.

Peter shot a web to avoid another hit, but he was too slow. He got kicked in the stomach. That was enough. Peter shot webs out of his wrists like there was no tomorrow and who knew? Maybe there was no tomorrow. He built a whole net to catch the Goblin, but he freed himself almost immediately. Peter tried to punch him in the face just to be crashed into another wall. He was sick of those walls.

As he tried to shoot another web, the Goblin stepped on his hand. “You’ve spun your last web, Spider-Man. Had you not been so selfish, your little boyfriend’s death would’ve been quick and painless but now that you’ve pissed me off, I’m gonna finish him nice and slow. Harry and I, we’re gonna have a hell of a time. I’ll make him suffer and I’ll enjoy seeing the light in his eyes fade as he dies.” It wasn’t only a promise to Peter. It was also a promise to Norman who tried to fight against him.

The anger rising inside Peter made him forget his pain. As the Goblin tried to stab him, new strength flowed through his veins, and he pushed him back. This time, it was the Goblin who crashed into a wall. Peter used his webs to let the wall crash upon him. The Goblin tried to free himself from the bricks and Peter didn’t hesitate, so he swung down and threw the Goblin in another wall. He grabbed him by his neck and punched him. Peter punched and punched and punched until his fingers were numb.

“Peter, stop! It’s me.” The Goblin’s voice sounded frail, and Peter stopped punching.

The Goblin put down his mask and Peter could have never been prepared for what he was about to see. “Mr. Osborn”, he said in disbelief. It was Harry’s father who caused him all the pain. It was Harry’s father who would’ve murdered his own son.

“Peter, thank God for you”, Norman Osborn said.

“You killed those people on that balcony. You almost killed Harry.”

“The Goblin killed! I had nothing to do with it”, Norman explained desperately, “Don’t let him take me again. I beg you. Protect me. Otherwise, he could hurt Harry.”

“You tried to kill Aunt May. You tried to kill Harry. You tried to kill your own son!” Peter’s voice filled with anger.

“I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t stop it”, Norman said, his voice shaking, “I would never hurt him. I knew from the beginning if anything ever happened to me, it was you I could count on. You, Peter, would save me and so you have. Believe me as I believed in you. I’ve been like a father to you. I’ve probably been more of a father to you than I’ve been to Harry. Be a son to me now. Give me your hand, Peter.”

“I have a father. His name was Ben Parker”, Peter said.

The expression on Norman Osborn’s face turned into hatred. “Goodbye, Spider-Man.”

It was thanks to his spider senses that Peter survived. He jumped up just in time before the glider could stab him. Instead, it stabbed Norman.

Norman groaned in pain. Peter was in shock. He didn’t expect that to happen. He couldn’t let him die but as he ran towards him, he knew there was no possibility to save him anymore.

“Peter”, Norman whispered, “Don’t tell Harry.”

Peter knew what he meant. “I won’t”, he promised.

It would break Harry if he knew. The death of his beloved father would be hard enough for him to process. What had he done? He should’ve tried to save him, but he made things worse instead. He didn’t know what to do. The shock had paralysed his brain. There was only one thing he knew.

“I’ll take care of Harry, I promise.”