Perjurer
"So, what did Stark say to you?" Ned asked.
It was 3 hours later and all of Peter's class had been sent home to terrified parents. May looked like she had swallowed a bee. She had grabbed him and barely agreed to let Ned come over, acting like he was a zombie. The two teens couldn't have been more safe if Thor had been guarding them. They'd just managed to slip away into Peter's room for a very private chat.
"He asked me if I wanted a bandage" Peter replied quietly. He was deep in thought.
That robot-many-armed-thing had said one thing that stuck into his mind like glue.
'I know you're not who they say you are!'
Does that mean he knows who he is? Does that mean he was going to come after him? What about May? Ned? MJ? Were they all at risk?
"What did you say?"
"Huh?"
"To Stark. Did you accept a bandage?"
"Wha- Oh yeah, um no. No. No, I didn't. I just kind of said no and ran off."
"Well, that's a good thing. I mean, if he had your blood on record there's so much.... Are you listening to me?"
In truth, not really. Peter liked hanging out with Ned. It was cool to geek out with some one, and nice to know he had someone who had his back. But, Ned didn't know the full responsibility of being a superhero. But, to be fair, neither had Peter until he tackled the vulture. That had been fun at the start. Beating up a few bad guys here and there and dealing with super cool weapons. It only started to get serious after he'd been dropped by a giant vulture. But, even afterwards, he went right back to playing a hero. The trip to Washington woke him up a bit. But, after nearly dying in a plane crash, that's when the dangers really hit home.
"Sorry Ned" Peter crawled from the top bunk and began to pace. "I've got a lot on my mind."
"Like what?" Ned asked, following Peter with his eyes.
Peter exhaled deeply. "That thing from earlier. He said something strange about knowing Harry wasn't Spider-Man."
"Well, why's that on your mind?"
"Ned, what if he knows who I am? What if he targets my family? What if he tells Mr Stark? What if he goes after everyone to get to me? What if-"
"Peter, calm down!" Ned stood and grabbed Peter to stop him pacing.
"I can't Ned! I keep thinking that any second that door" he pointed to his bedroom door, "is going to burst open and a team of armed men are going to take me away! I mean, we don't even know what that guy is telling Mr Stark now!" Peter pushed his hands through his hair in frustration.
"Well, should I hack the Stark data base and find out?" Ned suggested with not a hint of sarcasm.
Peter stopped stressing instantly and looked up. "You can do that?"
"Yeah, might take a while though." Ned shrugged modestly.
Peter practically jumped on him, arms around his neck. "THANK YOU!"
"Yeah, you're welcome. What are best friends for?"
Peter pulled away. "Hacking a billionaires computer to find out how he is dealing with a criminal with a maniac suit and a death wish against his best friend?"
Ned clicked. "Exactly."
*
"Yeah, it was awesome dude. Proper action!"
"I know!" Harry answered with a grin.
He was lounged in his penthouse bedroom back at his father's home. Tony had sent him there to 'collect himself'. Whatever that meant. So he decided to put his best friend on video call and talk 'Spider-Man'.
"Everyone on Instagram is going insane! One kid even uploaded a vid of your super cool dive! It's going viral! Look at how many likes it's got!" Flash held his second phone to the camera. Even Harry was blown away.
"That." Harry paused in surprise. "Is insane!"
"Yeah! We should do a live stream of you doing flips and stuff! That would make us rich!" Flash suggested in a fit of excitement equal to a 4-year-old at Christmas.
"Ah, yeah, whatever." answered Harry, awkwardly turning his head away from the camera. He wasn't too keen on that idea.
"How's Tony Stark? I bet he's planning a press conference for you to explain your awesomeness!"
"Maybe." answered Harry, still looking away, this time in actual thought.
In truth, Harry hadn't seen or heard from Tony since the attack at the tower. He'd called him several times, but only got sent to the answer machine. So instead he called Happy, who informed him that Tony had locked himself in his workshop and refused to see anyone. Not even Harry.
"I think he's busy doing interrogation work right now though." Harry turned back to the camera grinning.
Yeah, he thought to himself, that's probably it.
"Probably." Flash accepted. "So, has he told you anything about that guy yet? The one who tried to kill you?"
"Nope." Harry smirked "But, if he does have information, I'm sure I'll be first one to know!"
*
"Well, that was easier than I thought." Ned speculated twenty minutes after picking up the laptop.
Peter paused the movie he'd been watching (The Empire Strikes Back, of course). And sat next to his friend.
"What's that suppose to mean?" he asked.
"Well, I got past all the protections quite easily. I don't know if it's too good to be true or I'm better than I thought." Ned shrugged with clear hopes.
"Well seconds the better option." Peter agreed.
"Yeah, but then it said to give it a password. My first guess was 'IronManRox'. And low and behold.." he gestured the screen.
There were tons of files labelled things like 'Next Mark' and 'Expo plans' and even 'How to deal with Bore-a-man Osborn'.
"There!" Peter pointed a file labelled 'Dr Octopus'. Ned clicked on it.
A picture of a fairly large man with brown greying hair appeared on screen. He had his hair short and his colourless black eyes bloodshot and staring at the camera. He had been stripped of his armour and appeared to be a short man.
"His name is Otto Octavius." Ned commented. And, sure enough, the name was written under the picture in bold capitals.
"That's weird." Peter thought out loud, staring at the picture in wonder.
"What's weird?" Ned asked turning to face hm.
Peter continued to stare intently at the picture. "I swear I've heard that name before."