Project Renewal
Monday, July 3, 2018, 12:34 AM.
The chains of his handcuffs clanked against the metal table. It all seemed a bit unnecessary, to be honest. He understood the interrogation room. But did he really have to be cuffed to a table? What was he gonna do? Bust his way out? That wasn’t gonna happen.
So, there he was. Alone in a tiny room with a one-way mirror. It made his stomach feel weird to know that the cops were definitely watching him through it. Still, he tried his best to look unbothered.
The door creaked open and two guys in ties walked in. They sat across the table from Harley and opened their files.
“You wanna tell us your name yet?”
Harley stayed quiet.
“You know, the longer you stay quiet the longer you’ll be here. You look like a minor, how old are you?”
Still, he stayed quiet.
“Right.”
There was a knock on the door. The three of them looked up as another officer walked in. He was holding a plastic bag with the words EVIDENCE printed across it. He placed it on the table and one of the officers opened it with a gloved hand.
Harley’s stomach dropped when he saw it was his wallet. They must’ve searched his car. Or what was left of it, anyway.
“Harley Keener. Born 2001. That would make you a minor. And it’s a Tennessee licence. What brings you here from two states away?”
“Are the handcuffs necessary?” Harley asked, staring at the chain on the table.
“He speaks,” The other officer said. “And maybe if you hadn’t tried to run, they wouldn’t be.”
“I want my phone call.”
“Answer the question first then you get your phone call. What brings you to New York?”
“I used to live in Tennessee, I live here now and I want my phone call.”
The officer rolled his eyes and took his phone out of his pocket. He left it on the table and motioned for the other officer to follow him out of the room. They would obviously watch him from the one-way mirror, but he didn’t care.
He picked up the phone and began to call Peter. He froze before hitting call though. Was it worth it to waste his call on someone who would have no clue how to get him out of there? Or worse, he might call May. He thought for a moment about who to call.
There was only one person he could call. Sure, Happy was probably on a jet god knows where, but he would bail Harley out in a second. And he wouldn’t tell Tony or May.
He quickly dialled Happy. It rang for a few seconds before he picked up.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Happy! Hey, it’s me. Uhm… I messed up. I need you to come get me.”
“Harley? Are you okay? Where are you? What happened with the tentacle guy?”
“I’m gonna have to explain that later. Listen, I got arrested. I need you to come bail me out.”
He was silent for a while. So long that Harley thought the line went dead. “You’re kidding, right?”
He wished he was. He looked down at his wrists handcuffed to the table and laughed. “Nope. I really messed up. You need to get here now.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there.”
The door swung open. “That’s enough chatting, kid. We still have questions for you.”
They took the phone and sat back down across from him. “Who’d you call?”
Harley rolled his eyes.
“Was that your mom? Your dad?”
“No.”
“Your guardian?”
“No.”
“Then who’d you call?”
“A friend.”
“Well, that’s great. What’s their name?”
Harley rolled his eyes.
“We’re really getting somewhere. I can feel trust building here.”
He rolled his eyes again.
“Alright, let’s get to the good stuff then. Are you aware, Mr. Keener, that you were driving 111 in a sixty and that a vigilante was riding on the back of your car causing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage?”
He didn’t know how to respond to that. “Nope.”
“You didn’t know how fast you were driving or you didn’t know about the property damage?”
“Nope.”
There was another knock on the door.
“What?” The officer snapped at the woman.
“He’s made bail.”
“What do you mean? Bail hasn’t even been set!”
She shrugged.
“You can’t just-”
The woman shrugged and handed them a sheet of paper. They read it over and glared at Harley. He just shrugged.
They uncuffed him from the table and lead him to the door. They gave him his wallet and phone back.
Happy was there waiting for him. The minute he saw Harley, he stood and walked out the door without a word. Harley followed feeling like a complete idiot.
“I told you, one weekend of peace,” He ranted as he made his way down the stoop. “One weekend of not screwing things up but here we are at the goddamn police station. Why am I always the babysitter?”
“Happy,” Harley said. “The guy with the metal arm things, he was my boss and I really messed up-”
“Yes, you did.”
“No listen, we were building this thing together. He hired me just to lift heavy stuff and I used to spend a bunch of time after school there and then I got home today and suddenly he’s crazy and has this tentacle suit but I messed up cuz-”
“Harley!” Happy interrupted. “You messed up. I get it. We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t. Where’s Peter? I need to kick his ass.”
“I don’t know he went to chase after Octavius.”
“Get in the car. We’re going to find him.”
Harley didn’t argue with that. He hopped into the backseat and pulled out his phone. He called Peter.
“He got away,” Peter panted. “I’m headed back to the house now. How’d it go with the police?”
“Happy came and bailed me out, I can’t drive anymore, and we’re headed to the house too because Happy is pissed.”
“Perfect. We’ll just have to figure out a plan that doesn’t involve driving then.”
Peter met them in the alley beside the apartment. He had already changed out of his suit and climbed into the car.
“I lost him a few miles from the road. I have an idea on-”
“Nope,” Happy began. “I go first.”
Peter sighed and let his head drop against the headrest.
“I asked for one weekend of peace. One weekend. If Tony finds out about this he’s going to kick my ass.”
“It wasn’t our fault!” Peter began. “This dude just came out of nowhere and he’s got this crazy tech-”
“And you thought the best way to deal with him is to drive like a maniac through the city so everyone could see?”
“It’s not like we had a choice. He was chasing us!”
“And you didn’t think to call for help? Tony could’ve taken that guy down in three seconds if you’d called him.”
“We had it handled,” Harley mumbled.
“That was handled? That’s what you call handled?” he laughed sarcastically. “Did you see the state of your car? It’s totalled. You both look like you’ve been hugged by a cheese grater. And you did hundreds of dollars worth of property damage. I don’t think that’s handled.”
Harley rolled his eyes. He knew Happy would’ve done the same thing in their situation.
The silence grew around them. Peter and Harley, unable to defend themselves. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t deny that they did not have that handled. Happy was right of course, they should’ve called Tony. And Harley hated when Happy was right.
Happy seemed to notice their remorse.
“I’m glad you’re not dead though,” the man sighed. “Let me patch you up.”
“I'm fine,” Peter and Harley said at the exact same time.
Happy rolled his eyes that time. “Jesus there’s two of them.”
He climbed out of the car and motioned for them to follow. They entered the building together and followed him into the elevator. “Listen, if you see that octopus guy again-”
“Octavius,” Harley corrected.
“-Whatever. If you see that guy again, call me. I’ll handle him from now on. As for you two, house arrest. If I hear that you’ve left the apartment, I’ll find you and you’ll be house arrested at the tower. I don’t think either of you will want to deal with Tony then.”
The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Happy escorted them to the apartment door.
“Before you go in, let’s just all agree not to tell May,” he said as he pushed the apartment door open.
“Not tell me what?” May asked, sitting on the couch a few feet away. She must’ve just gotten back from work.
The three froze.
She smiled and looked up at them. She faltered when she realized how beat up Harley and Peter looked. “Oh my god! What happened?”
She jumped off the couch and began examining their faces.
“Harley got arrested,” Happy blurted out. Seriously? There wasn’t even an interrogation yet!
“Dude!” Peter whispered.
“You what?” She looked more shocked than upset.
“It’s not that big a deal!” Peter said.
“He crashed his car and got his licence taken away,” Happy continued.
“You what?”
“Happy,” Peter elbowed him in the ribs.
“Sorry,” He mumbled. “I panicked.”
“Happy, thank you for driving them home, but I need to speak with the boys alone.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He was instantly pulling the front door open.
“Wait,” Peter called after him. “But what about-”
The front door shut leaving just May, Harley, and Peter.
“Octavius…” He finished quietly.
“Explain. Now,” She folded her arms across her chest and waited for an answer.
“There was this guy with these-” Peter began.
“I was being an idiot,” Harley interrupted. “I was driving like an idiot and I crashed. Peter had nothing to do with it. Just wrong place wrong time.”
May’s eyes flicked between the two of them. Judging by the look of shock on Peter’s face, she wasn’t buying it.
“Peter, I’d like to talk to Harley alone.”
Peter nodded and moved to the bedroom. He could obviously hear through the wall. But at least they could feign some privacy.
“Harley, what happened? You’re not the type of guy to just drive like a maniac and total his car. Did something happen?”
He shook his head.
“What are you not telling me? It’s just you and me. Lay it out.”
He shrugged.
“You’ve been working late every day. I hardly see you, you sneak out of the house every night. That’s not fine.”
At that moment, he realized what he’d done. He did what he’d always done when he was younger and there was any sign of trouble with an adult. He took all the blame and shut down. He trusted May, why the hell did he do that?
“Sorry,” He mumbled. Tears flooded his vision. God, he hated crying in front of other people. “Sorry.”
He wiped his face with his sleeves, hoping she wouldn’t see the tears.
She softened. “You look tired. Have you been sleeping? Are you still having nightmares?”
“I’m fine, really. I just- Sorry,” He buried his face in his hands. It wasn’t something he could explain to her. Especially not at that moment. Not without telling her things he hadn’t told anyone. And he hated himself for that. He trusted May, why couldn’t he open up to her?
She placed her hand on his shoulder and rubbed small circles with her thumb. “It’s okay. I’m not mad, I’m just worried.”
He nodded.
“Can I hug you?” She asked.
“Yea,” He chuckled wetly.
She pulled him into a tight hug. He hugged her back. She was warm and soft and smelled like home. Real home. He trusted her. He loved her. He was safe with her. He repeated this in his head like a mantra as he held her.
She pulled away and looked at his messed-up face.“You get some sleep okay? You look exhausted.”
He nodded again and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
“You’re absolutely grounded, though.”
“Yeah I know,” He laughed. “Happy already grounded us.”
She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek. “Get some rest.”
He moved to the bedroom and closed the door behind him.
Peter was sitting awkwardly on his bed waiting for him. It was still pitch dark outside through the window beside the bunk bed. Harley checked the time. It was just past two in the morning. He looked at his top bunk and suddenly craved sleep. He couldn’t just yet though. There was work to do.
“Alright,” Harley began. “What’s the plan?”
“Plan?”
“I thought you were gonna come up with a plan.”
“What do you mean?”
He rolled his eyes dramatically. “You were in here all that time and didn’t come up with a plan?”
“I mean, I don’t know. What else would you be doing?”
Peter’s eyes widened and his ears turned slightly red. Great. He’d been actively listening to that whole conversation. Harley pretended not to notice the embarrassment on Peter’s face. There were more important things to think about.
“So no plan… Yet. Let’s think. I know where Octavius keeps all his equipment and stuff. I guess that counts as his lair, right? So we just gotta sneak in and take him out.”
“That’s an awful plan.”
“Why?”
“We can’t just walk in there! He almost killed both of us three hours ago-”
There was a knock on the door. They both went silent instantly. “Boys. Bed. Peter, I’ll talk to you when you wake up.”
They waited until they heard her bedroom door to shut to continue in a more hushed tone.
“What’s he so mad about anyway? People don’t just build a tentacle backpack and start breaking stuff for no reason.”
It was a valid point. As long as Harley had known Octavius, he never showed signs of mental instability. Well, maybe that wasn’t entirely true. He was borderline obsessed with finishing the fusion reactor. Harley always assumed he was just trying to change the world for the better. Trying to finish his life’s work. Wasn’t it normal for a scientist to spend every waking moment thinking about their latest project? Maybe it wasn’t.
He remembered his most recent shift in the lab with Octavius. The look in his eyes when Harley tried to shut down the machine. It wasn’t him. He shivered.
Harley shrugged despite the million thoughts racing through his head. “I don’t really know anything about him. We only really talk shop.”
“I mean, it’s not like we can do anything anyway. If we leave, Happy will take us to Mr. Stark if we do.”
That was true. And the last place Harley wanted to end up was in the tower getting reamed out by Tony after months of radio silence from the man. Though, some time in the lab really would be helpful. He could finally finish his full suit and then it would be a piece of cake taking Octavius down.
“Oh shit,” Harley deflated. The lab. Obviously.
“What?”
“There’s one place we can find out about Octavius. I mean, he probably has a file on everyone in the city he’s that paranoid.”
“Where? Who? What?”
“Tony has that private server, you know.”
“Oh god…”
~
Monday, July 3, 2018, 3:56 AM.
“This is stupid,” Peter mumbled. He landed carefully on the helipad of Avenger’s tower. The lights were dark save for a few of the lower levels and the giant glowing A on the side of the building. “You could just walk in with me.”
“I’m not risking Tony finding me in the lab. He’d actually kill me I think,” Harley replied over the coms.
Peter rolled his eyes and pushed open the door to the lounge. Tony had calibrated it to only let in people Friday recognized in the system. He crept quietly through the dark lounge into the elevator. Harley had come up with this plan. Obviously. If it had been up to Peter though, he’d have just swung up with Harley and brought him inside. But no, they had to do it the hard way.
The elevator doors slid open revealing the lab. It was completely empty and dark. The only light was the thousands of cars and buildings out the window a hundred floors below.
“Okay, he’s not here,” Peter whispered, even though he was alone. “Like I said…” He added in a mumble.
“Headed to you now.”
With that cryptic response, Peter moved to the window he’d seen Tony take off in his suit so many times, pushed it open and waited for a few silent moments. The cold wind blew in and against his face. It was eerie to be alone in the lab in the dark. Usually, it was so homey and warm.
Something approached from a distance. Repulsors. About a mile away, he could see the outline of a figure with four white streaks of light moving quickly towards him.
He panicked. Mr. Stark was about to fly in through the very window he was looking through. “Harley! Abort! Mr. Stark is flying in!”
“Relax, boy scout it’s me,” Harley replied. His voice was slightly muffled and there was a lot of wind.
“No way,” He had to squint to get a better look. But, as the figure got closer, Peter could see clear differences between him and Iron Man. For one, he didn’t have a completed suit, it was just a helmet and repulsors. Another, his helmet was purple?
Harley flew in through the open window and landed not-so-gracefully. He pulled his helmet off and revealed his ear-to-ear grin. “Cool right?”
“Awesome! When did you build this?”
He shrugged nonchalantly but Peter could feel his pride seeping out of him. “I’ve been staying late at the lab to work on it.”
“It’s purple,” Peter said, looking over the mask.
“I thought I’d make something different. I can’t completely steal Tony’s look.”
That reminded Peter of the task at hand. “What’s the plan here? It's not like Mr. Stark knows everything about everyone in the city.”
He shrugged. “His server is pretty thorough I’ve heard. Maybe we’ll find something useful.”
“You want to try-”
He twisted a piece of the gauntlet and it folded smoothly into a watch. He did the same for the other gauntlet and it folded into a metal band around his wrist. One tap of his heels and the boots folded and clanked until they were hidden beneath his jeans. “We’re not trying. We’re doing.”
Peter was stunned. “Did you just make a Star Wars reference?”
“Come here. Last time I tried to hack in I had to bypass Friday. We can turn her off temporarily but she’ll automatically reboot. That’s when we’ll have access to the server. It’s a short window but it should be enough time.”
“You’ve done this before?”
“Not important,” He crouched beside the far wall of the lab and pried open the panel door Peter hadn’t noticed before. It swung open revealing a series of buttons, wires and switches Peter had never seen.
Harley spent the next few minutes studying the panel. Peter crouched beside him as if he would be able to help.
“Last time Friday was helping me a bit but I couldn’t make it in. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then though,” He got to his feet and rummaged through the drawers of desks until he found a screwdriver and a pair of wire cutters. He knelt down and inspected one of the wires closely. It was wrapped in red electrical tape. “I cut this one last time and all it did was reboot the system. We need the system to shut down and then I think if we can bypass the security protocol I could get Friday to temporarily give us access.”
“You’ve really spent a lot of time on this.”
“I don’t like failing. I’m a mechanic I work the problem.” He unscrewed the panel above the wires and exposed the circuit board. He inspected it quickly and nodded. “Okay, I think I got it. When I tell you, cut the red wire.”
He handed Peter the wire cutters and readied himself in front of the circuit board.
“Now.”
Peter cut the wire just as Harley pried one of the integrated circuits from the board. It popped off easily and landed with a clack a few feet away. They waited for something to happen. Nothing.
“Shit. Friday? You there?” Harley asked after a tense silence.
“Yes, Mr. Keener. How can I assist you?” Her voice made them both audibly sigh with relief.
“Show me the Stark Secure Server please.”
“Stark Secure Server,” She replied as a holoscreen appeared in front of them.
Peter’s heart skipped a beat. It really worked.
“Okay, I don’t know how long we’ll have to look at this until Friday reboots security so we’ll have to be quick,” Harley said already typing the name Otto Octavius on the screen.
To Peter’s immense surprise, a file instantly popped up. It wasn’t very long. He read through it quickly.
Doctor Otto Octavius: Worked at Stark Enterprises 1993-1995 in the nuclear energy department. Best known for his work on Project Renewal and his work on the arc reactor in 1994 assisting in software updates and general health and safety of the machine. Was fired in 1996 for misconduct and endangerment of coworkers during illegal experiments on-premises.
“Shit,” Harley breathed. “What do you think the experiments were?”
Peter shrugged. “It doesn’t say.”
“What’s Project Renewal?”
Another screen lit up beside Octavius’s file.
Project Renewal: Lead by Doctor Otto Octavius 1995-1996. Focused on renewable energy and the creation of the fusion reactor. After only one year of research, the team discovered the fusion reactor was highly explosive and unstable. Many tests were done illegally, without authorization. The project was shut down after an incident of (illegal) experimentation in which an explosion injured three project members and killed two more. Most notable of which was Dr. Oliver Octavius, head engineer on the project.
“Oliver Ocatvius?”
Harley shrugged and another file appeared.
Oliver Octavius: Son of Dr. Otto Octavius 1975-1996. Graduated MIT in 1993. Worked on Project insight for three years before his untimely death during an illegal experiment in 1996. He was killed instantly when the fusion reactor destabilized and caused an explosion. His father was fired from Stark Enterprises shortly after and all fusion reactor experiments were ceased thereupon.
“What did you say you were helping Octavius build?” Peter whispered.
“Shit,” Harley breathed.
The screen glitched and turned red. The file became encrypted again and the lights flashed on.
“Shit!” The boys looked at each other in horror and scrambled to put the breaker back together.
“Security breach,” Friday called.
Once the breaker was back together, they moved toward the window and tried to push it open. It didn’t budge.
“We broke safety protocol!” Harley explained. “The windows and doors lock.”
Peter looked around wildly for an escape. The elevator dinged and the doors began to slide open. Peter grabbed Harley by the arm and took cover under one of the desks.
They both watched in the reflection of the window, as the elevator doors peeled open and Mr. Stark jogged into the room, looking around wildly for an intruder. He had one metal gauntlet on and his palm was raised cautiously in front of him.
They sat stock still in fear of being discovered. Harley kept shuffling his feet closer to his body as if Mr. Stark would see his toes poking out from under the desk. They were running out of time. Mr. Stark had already swept half of the lab and was moving closer.
Looking around frantically, Peter noticed something he didn’t think he’d seen before in the lab. One of the desks was in front of a pretty large vent. Maybe big enough for them to squeeze through. He tapped Harley’s shoulder and pointed at the vent.
“What?” He whispered. “Are you serious?”
Peter shrugged and crawled toward the wall. Being careful to stay hidden behind the desks on his way. Harley followed close behind, his heart beating a mile a minute. He didn’t know what would be worse, the possible jail time for breaking and entering or seeing Tony again. Definitely the latter.
Peter slowly pulled the duct cover off and motioned for Harley to go in first.
With a whispered sigh and dramatic eye roll, he climbed in. Peter followed in behind him and pulled the duct cover back into place behind them. He put his mask between his teeth and crawled deeper into the vent.
“Now what?” Harley whispered. “I don’t know where I’m going.”
“Move, I’ll lead.”
“Move where? It’s a tiny vent.”
Peter rolled his eyes and shoved himself under Harley’s arm so he could slither past him.
He pushed Harley into the wall awkwardly until he was fully in front.
“Let’s go,” Peter whispered, setting off into the dark.
“That was so fucking weird,” He whispered, following again.
Peter ignored him and shut his eyes, listening to the rooms around him. They needed a quick exit. He thought hard about the quickest escape route.
“What are you doing?” Harley whispered behind him. “We don’t have time for this! Put on your mask and get Karen to get us out of here.”
“I can’t. If I put on the mask, Karen will automatically sync with Friday and alert Mr. Stark I’m here,” He listened again. He could hear the wind outside not far from their right. There may be an exit somewhere on the roof. He began moving forward for a few more feet but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the vent narrow. “Shit.”
“What?”
“It’s too narrow,” Now he remembered the air duct. Mr. Stark had installed it after they had accidentally lit a massive fire in the lab and it took forever for all the smoke to clear out. The only reason it was so massive was to suck up the smoke and spit it out outside. Obviously, it narrowed. It was only meant to carry smoke out. Not two idiots.
“Now what?”
“I guess we just have to wait for Mr. Stark to give up looking.”
“Give up? He’s the most paranoid person on earth. He’s not gonna just give up on someone breaking into the tower.”
Peter just shrugged and slumped into a sitting position. It was a bit difficult because of the tight space but eventually, he settled into something somewhat comfortable. He ended up with his back against one wall, his neck slightly bent against the ceiling and his back slightly slumped to fit the lack of vertical space. His legs were crossed over each other criss-cross-apple-sauce style. Harley sighed and shifted until he was seated that way too.
“You know,” Peter began after a short silence. “I can’t help but feel like this is my fault.”
Harley rolled his eyes. “Being stuck in this stupid vent? Yea, no shit.”
“No, not that. Well, yea that, but everything honestly. With Octavius.”
Something strange crossed Harley’s face then. He couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Peter felt a pang of guilt in his chest.
He shook his head though, “It’s not your fault.”
“What do you mean?”
“How would any of this be your fault? He was my boss. I was the one helping him build that stupid machine. I-” He swallowed thickly. “It’s my fault, okay?”
“You didn’t know what you were doing-”
“Didn’t I?” It was louder than a whisper, so it echoed through the vent for a moment. It was vague though.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Peter asked.
Harley shifted uncomfortably. Either from the awkward position he had to contort himself into or from the question. Peter couldn’t tell which.
“Nothing,” He replied. It was so obviously a lie, though. “What, you don’t trust me?”
He seemed to cringe at his own words.
“No, I do. I just thought that since you spent so much time with the guy, you would know a bit more about him.”
He grimaced again. “Yea, me too.”
Peter froze. He could hear Tony speaking a few feet away. Just too far for Harley to be able to hear.
“Scan for intruders,” He said, probably to Friday.
“Shit,” Peter whispered. “We’re screwed.”
“What? Why?”
“Scanning,” Friday replied.
Peter sat completely still and held his breath, hoping that his lack of movement would somehow help him escape Friday’s scan of the building.
“Scan complete,” Friday began. “No unrecognized intruders found.”
What? How was that possible?
“Parker, tell me what’s happening,” Harley whispered.
“Friday scanned the building but didn’t find us.”
“How’s that possible?”
Peter tried to shrug but it was hard in the awkward position he was crammed into.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said there were no unrecognized intruders found…” That’s when it hit him. Friday seriously just covered for them. There were no unrecognized intruders. That much was true. Both Peter and Harley were in the system. Friday covered for them through careful wording. Or she just accidentally worded it that way.
“Is he still there?” Harley asked.
Peter listened hard to the sounds of the lab. It took him a moment to filter through the countless whirring sounds of machines to hear the elevator doors slide shut. “He’s leaving.”
They waited a few more minutes after the elevator doors shut just to be sure they were alone. Harley filled the minutes with complaints about how uncomfortable his neck and legs were before they quietly climbed out of the vent and back into the empty lab.