Title: Brother: Love and Adversity
Author: Jenn
Summary: Movieverse. After an accident leaves Harry with amnesia, Peter and Mary Jane go to help their friend. Will Harry ever regain his memory? If he does, will he see Peter as his brother or his enemy?
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Both movies as well as the novels. Also my story, Love's Waiting. You do not have to read the story to understand this one, but it will make better sense if you do.
Timeline: One week after the second movie ends.
Category: Angst and with some Romance, but Non-slash.
Feedback: Always happy to hear what readers have to say.
Archive: Anywhere, but please ask me first. I would like to know where it's going and to make sure it will have my name on it.
Dedicated: I am dedicating this story to all of my reviewers. I would like to dedicate this especially to Hazelle and LordLanceahlot, you two have reviewed all of my stories to date, thank you so much!
Disclaimers: They're not mine. Stan Lee and Marvel own them. Anyone else not recognizable is mine. Not making one penny for this story.This fic is just for enjoyment.
Thoughts and quotes from the movies are in italics. Flashbacks/memories are also in italics, but thoughts for them are in bold.
Part One
Perplexing Facts
Manhattan, New York
With the rising sun on his back, the man soaring through Manhattan made an extraordinary sight. But the June morning's first light wasn't acknowledged by the guy in a red and blue outfit. Or who shot out webbing, swinging from building to building. He had a destination in mind.
Seeing the place, its ominous presence caused it to stick out among the other great buildings. It wasn't the place that was menacing, but the person who was inside.
Soundlessly as he could, Spider-Man landed lightly on the Osborn's estate balcony. Turning the latch on the balcony's French doors, he found them unlocked.
His body tense, Spider-Man stepped into the den with caution. His spider sense wasn't going off like a siren in his head, but he still should be careful.
Was it really only a week and a half ago that my best friend tried to kill me?
That was the reason he was here now. Maybe he could talk to his friend. But there was no sign of Harry.
Looking around the room, his gaze fell on the place were the mirror was. It was covered with a sheet. But it must have been shattered, the small glass shards laying on the carpet in front of it. The larger shards had been cleaned up.
Walking over to it, he pulled the sheet off. He inhaled sharply. There wasn't a wall behind the mirror. It was a hidden room.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Spider-Man stepped through hollow space that once held the mirror.
The short walkway was grimy with dust; cobwebs hanging everywhere. He could see just fine with his mask on, through his white eyepieces. Spider-Man felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
His spider sense starting going off, a dull sound at first. But the more he walked toward, what, he didn't know, it got louder.
Turning he was face to face with Goblin! But it took him a spilt second to realize it was just the mask.
With his spider sense calming down, Spidey almost swore that the mask was laughing at him.
Pulling off his red mask, the man's blue gaze didn't weaver from the demonic green face.
All was quiet now, all but the beating of Peter Parker's heart.
Looking beyond the mask he saw the Green Goblin's suit along with his glider.
How much of this stuff did Mr. Osborn have?
Seeing the Goblin suit and glider made Peter remember something. The morning of the day that his life had changed forever after that spider bite…
Barely making it to school on time was not something Peter liked.
I should be use to it by now, he thought. After the weird morning he just had, coming to school late should be the norm for him. Weird morning? Hell, it wasn't even 8:00 yet!
I now have 20/20 vision, I now look like I've been working out for months, but happened overnight. Then that banner from the bus stuck to my hand? Probably just the glue. And now running to school? Usually I'm out of breath, but not today.
"Pete!"
Turning, he saw his friend jogging up to him. "Hi ya Harry, I didn't think you'd be late coming to school."
"I told Bernard to go faster, but did he listen?" Pausing he answered his own question with a shake of his head, no. "I guess it's a good thing he is just the butler."
Peter didn't want to stand here and hear Harry rant and be late for class. That and he wasn't focused on what his friend was saying, he was too caught up thinking about his own morning.
The other students still tarried around the halls. Strangely enough no one paid him any attention. Just because he went through some type of metamorphosis didn't make him that different.
"You think we have a minute before class to talk?"
"No." It came out a little harsher then he had meant it to. Peter was slightly irritated that Harry tried to flirt with M.J. through information that he had said, not by Harry himself at Columbia University yesterday.
Ignoring his friend's sharp tone, Harry said, "There's something weird going on with my dad. But after what happened just a while ago…"
Now Harry got part of his interest. "What's going on?"
Peter had just met the elder Osborn the day prior. He seemed nice enough. But Harry didn't understand science like his father did. And from what his friend had said, Peter guessed that Norman Osborn spent much of his time at OsCorp Industries.
"I found Dad laying on the floor in his office. So when I helped him up and asked him what he was doing on the floor, he looked at me with a blank look and said that he didn't remember. I thought he must've had too much to drink."
"That's probably it. We've got to get to class, Harry."
"One of the guys he works with, Stromm, I think, was murdered."
This got Peter's attention. Forgetting his own morning weirdness, he was going ask about the murder, but the warning bell rang. Everyone had five minutes to get to their first class.
"Murdered? How did he find out, and did they catch-"
"No, they didn't. Dad's assistant was the one who came and told him. Plus some stuff that Dad was working on was stolen. Some type of an armor suit and glider."
As much as Peter wanted to hear the rest of this story, he knew he, or rather they, better get to class. Walking down the hall, Harry at his heels, he got the rest of the story in a short version.
"Dad is now at OsCorp to check it out. I wanted to with him, but he said I didn't need to be there."
Stopping Peter looked at his friend. "Harry, whoever did this will be found out sooner or later. Your dad may know of someone in his laboratory that could be behind this."
"With a killer among them?" Harry looked at him with disbelief. "Pete, I don't know much on my father's company, but I think it's not doing too good and the last thing he needs is to have it fold because of all of this."
Peter didn't reply. The late bell rang at that moment. What irony, he thought with disgust. We get to be late for class to add to all of this.
Shaking his head to clear it, Peter looked behind him. His mouth went dry. There were rows upon rows of the Goblin's pumpkin bombs.
"Holy…" but his thoughts were anything but sacred.
One of the main thoughts he had was that Harry knew what, or rather, who, his father had been.
Looking around, Peter's gaze fell on a bracket of cylinders. They were filled save for one empty space.
Walking over to it, he picked one up with care. It didn't have any thing on it, except OsCorp on it. Other then that it didn't have anything on it telling what it was.
What is this?
The substance was a green liquid. No, it looked thicker then that, it was more of ooze.
He didn't really know what it was. He had many guesses, none of them comforting. There was one place he could to find out.
Unfortunately he had nowhere to put the green liquid cylinder. Man, I really shouldconsider adding more pockets to the outfit, Peter thought ruefully.
But that can be easily fixed. He made a small sack out of webbing to put the green substance in.
Looking around, he didn't know what he could do with the rest of the Goblin's things. But it was a little too late for that now, he thought he had destroyed the suit and glider. But Mr. Osborn, the Green Goblin, had spares, or had been working on them.
But if he wanted to find out about this stuff, he had to get going.
Thwip.
Feeling the morning air against him, Peter still enjoyed the thrill of soaring across the city. That was one thing he missed when he hadn't been Spider-Man for a month.
But at the time, being a normal 20 year-old was more important. Nothing had seemed normal to him for the pass two years. He was Peter Parker, as well as Spider-Man. They were one in the same. He couldn't be one or the other.
The college science building came into view. Bingo.
Since he had been in Dr. Conners' private lab before when he had worked as an intern, Peter knew that his professor left the window open a few inches.
Boy, Jameson would love this, Peter thought with disdain. I am technically breaking and entering. Not just once, but twice, though Harry's door was unlocked.
Of course considering what happened not too long ago, Jameson would want my head on a silver platter. He remembered all to well when he was at the Daily Bugle five days ago. His boss didn't know he was the reason that his almost daughter-in-law ran out on his son. His boss may have gone into a heart attack if he did.
With this being the beginning of summer, there weren't too many classes. But Peter knew that Dr. Connors would be doing some summer classes for students who had to retake or wanted to do more classes. Which, Peter was supposed to have one of his classes this afternoon. It was one of the retake classes.
Peter had failed his molecular biology class, mainly because he hadn't finished some of his homework. No, he doubted that, it probably was because he missed the final. Well, some New Yorker was thankful that Spidey came when he did and saved his life. And there's the fact that Peter had been running late to start with. The story of his life.
He didn't want to draw attention to the room, so Peter left the lights off, save for a lamp on the desk.
Peter had no idea what this stuff really did, so he could not afford to be careless. Putting on latex gloves and putting on another a mask for good measure, he was able to open the container. Taking care not to spill it, he smeared a small amount with a thick rag onto a disk to analyze it.
Looking into the microscope, he was stunned at what he saw.
Some of it Peter didn't completely understand, but he had to go back to the Osborn House to see if Mr. Osborn had any records of what this substance in the cylinder did. What its side effects were.
Recapping the cylinder, Peter put in back in his web sack. With it he put a smaller sack in it with the soiled rag, gloves, and mask.
Before he turned off the light, Peter gave the lab a once over. There was an iguana in a cage. That wasn't unusual. Dr. Connors always had some type of lizard. But this one was staring straight at him. Like he knew that Peter had come in unannounced.
Disregarding the iguana, Peter turned off the light. Back outside, he slid the window back down a few inches.
Now soaring through the sky, Peter, or Spider-Man rather, thought had been a quiet morning. He hoped to find the files he wanted back at the mansion.
But he knew he shouldn't have gotten too content. Nope, not when sirens reached his ears just then. Sighing, Spidey had to put his own plans on hold to see what the city needed.
Elroy, Wisconsin
Caitlin McKinnon checked the vitals on her patient. She was just a volunteer nurse this summer. She did earn a small wage, but for the most part, she was here on volunteer basis as well as to gain some experience. With only one year of nursing school behind her, she was doing mostly the 'dirty' jobs at the hospital that no one else cared to do.
But this patient was different, she wanted to do all she could to make him comfortable. He seemed to be doing well, but she and everyone else didn't know how he would be. He hadn't waked up yet.
Considering that you almost killed the guy, Cait thought guilty. She had been driving home from a shift here, when she hit his car with hers.
Though she didn't remember his name, was it Barry something? She had gotten a glance at his ID once, but she was too caught up in making sure he was alright. He wasn't a guy she had seen in Elroy, but that didn't mean anything. But judging by the now totaled car he drove, she would say he had money.
"How is he?"
Cait glanced her brother's way, while checking the patient's temperate. "Vitals are normal, but he may have a slight fever."
Ivan McKinnon was one of the best doctors in Elroy Hospital, though only 34, he had much experience under his belt. And judging from the way a nurse slowed when she passed the room, Cait would say her brother was one of the most sought after bachelors too. Not that Ivan noticed any of it, he was married to his job. She would guess if she was one of these nurses, she would say that Ivan's Scottish features, blue/gray eyes, and his light ginger hair made him good looking.
"We'll have to keep an eye on that. Has he woken?"
"No. What's his name anyway?"
"His ID says Harry Osborn."
"Does he have family near here?"
"His driver license says his from New York, Cait. But the only name he has for emergency numbers is someone by the name of Peter Parker."
Cait wondered why Harry Osborn would be out here in Elroy, perhaps he was visiting someone out here? Something she wouldn't know until he woke up.
"I'm going to call this Peter Parker. Why don't you get checked out?
"No, that's ok, I'll be fine." Cait was worried and feeling guilty about hitting this guy to worry about herself. Not to mention she was too wired from the accident to do much of anything anyway.
Pinning his baby sister with a look, Ivan asked, "That's nice to hear, but why don't you get yourself checked out anyway? You don't know if there is something wrong." He didn't want to get her upset, or say what was on his mind. There could be unknown internal bleeding or something worse. But he had to face reality.
Cait knew better then to try to argue with her brother, so she nodded and headed down to the ER. She knew that Ivan couldn't treat her himself, but there was the other doctors he trusted for her care if need be.
Realistically Ivan is right, I should get checked out just in case. Though I do feel fine, but a bit sore. But why can't he see I'm grown up enough to make my own decisions?
Note: I haven't read the comics, but from what I have heard is that Harry marries someone named Liz Allen, whom was poplar in the comics, but was a big geek in the SM1 book. But I am not going to mention her, sorry. So I guess this is going to AU for the comics and most likely SM3.
I also want to mention that without Scarlet's It Begins and The Story Continues, I don't think I would have gotten this part finished. The stories helped explain some things and they are just as good as the novelizations. Well, I think they are.
Thanks for reading. Please Review. Jenn
