Disclaimer: I do not own Spider-Man! The comics or the movies... I just own this story and I do not get paid for it. This is simply for my amusement.
Also, I would like to thank RonW.312 for helping me out with this story and giving me the courage to post it. :D
Note: This is my very first fanfic for Spider-Man so please go easy on me. X3 Also, I'm sort of new to the Spider-Man fandom so please be understanding. This story is slightly AU and is based of the Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie. I really based the character of Harry on Dane Dehaan's Harry as well as Dane Dehaan himself. That is all that I can think of for now for this note. So please enjoy this story.
It's dark in my cell, but I can make out the faint lights through the glass door that keeps me in. I can also hear the familiar hum of the machines that are probably calculating more data on the last tests he ran on me. I can even smell the new chemicals he is mixing to inject in me with later tonight. It is thanks to him that I can even see, hear, or smell these things. I suppose I should be grateful to have such sharpened senses for they are what can get me out of this cell I've called home for years.
A low growl escaped my throat. My claws are sharpened. My teeth are bared. But I must be patient... the right time has not come.
I curl up in a tight ball on my doggy bed. My back is to the door. I don't need to see to know that he is coming.
I let out a soft whine and scratch at the collar around my neck. It tightens around my neck painfully. I hate this contraption. I whimper and curl up into a tighter ball.
Soon... soon I will be free from this all.
The sounds of sirens echoing across the city reminded him that the police would soon be here to collect the body of the now dead Green Goblin and any other evidence they could gather.
He sighed softly as he glanced at the villain. This was not what he had in mind. As much as he hated the man behind the mask... he had never wanted to kill him. Of course, the police would know it wasn't his fault. Evidence pointed to self defense, but still... he felt guilty for causing a man's death. Even if his ex-boss was the one who caused the death of his father. Killing someone was wrong.
He sighed again and glanced at the rubble that surrounded them.
Boy, was OSCORPS going to have some cleaning up to do, or what? A slight smile graced his lips from behind his mask at the thought.
He turned to go; he wasn't really needed here anymore. But something stopped him.
Was that doorway always there?
He cocked his head slightly and maneuvered his way through the ruins of the tower. Curious, he moved away the broken bits of wall and glass that covered the doorway.
Aha... the door handle. It definitely hadn't been there before the fight had started. It definitely need investigating right now. It was the right thing to do.
At least, Spider-Man hoped it would be... and he hoped he wouldn't regret entering this door.
The hallway was dark but it wasn't too hard to find his way down it. The light switches were in a convenient spot at the very end of the hall.
Flick!
Spider-Man frowned in disgust as the lights revealed the equipment in the lair. So this was how the CEO of OSCORPS had been able to turn himself in the Green Goblin. All this stuff... was what his father was trying to destroy to keep things from happening to innocent people. This wasn't natural and shouldn't be messed with. It had happened to his son with no bad-affects but chances were it wouldn't be the same for everyone and therefore must be destroyed.
He clenched his fists. He would finish the job that his father had started. Never again would there be another Green Goblin or anything of that sort. This would stop now so no more people would get hurt.
His eyes fell on a case of familiar looking pumpkin bombs.
He smirked. What a perfect way to destroy this place.
Spider-Man grabbed as many of the bombs as he could and began lining them up all over the lair. He had just finished lining up the last of the pumpkin bombs when he noticed a hallway. He cocked his head slightly. How did he miss seeing that?
It was a row of kennels? Well,that's what it gave him the impression of. He didn't know why he was even looking through them. They were all empty. No dogs, no cats. Nothing. But he knew there had to have been all sorts of creatures in there at one time.
He shuddered some as he turned to go, but he stopped. Wait, was there something in that last one? He leaned back to glance at the kennel. He gasped in surprise as he took a closer look through the glass door.
In the far corner of the room was a young man sleeping on a rather small doggy bed. It made his heart tighten. How could someone do something like this?
He clenched his fists. Well this would never happen again. He would make sure of it.
Clack! went the door as he pulled it open.
He had barely entered the room when the young man unexpectedly pounced on him.
"Whoa, whoa!"
The young man was growling and clawing at him. Or rather, trying to. If Peter had taken another step into the small kennel-like room, the young man would have been able to give him a full fledged attack. Well and if it weren't for the restraint attached to the collar around the young man's neck.
The young man whimpered as he felt the collar give him sharp shocks. He went onto all fours and retreated to his corner, watching Spider-Man with uneasy blue eyes.
Spider-Man wasn't sure what to do. He hadn't been expecting the young man to attack him... or be around the same age as him either, come to look at him. Well, he was probably older than the young man. He looked to be around nineteen or so, maybe younger. Spider-Man was in his early twenties. Twenty to be exact.
He pursed his lips. Maybe it was the mask that was making him uncomfortable?
"It's, it's okay," he whispered as he pulled his mask off. "See? Just a mask."
The teen seemed to relax some but still remained in the corner, growling and whining softly. He was crouched, ready to attack Spider-Man again if he made a wrong move.
Spider-Man watched the teen carefully, trying to see how he could get the collar off. He took a step towards him.
The teen whimpered some as he came closer.
"I'm not going to hurt you..."
The teen growled and backed further into the corner.
Spider-Man sighed. "I'm just trying to help... Here."
He extended out his hand towards the teen, palm facing upwards. He didn't like treating him like an animal... but this was the only way he could think of that might be able to get the teen to trust him.
The teen seemed hesitant at first but took a step closer. It actually wasn't much of a step but it definitely was closer than what it was before. The teen gave a quick sniff of his hand before moving back into his corner.
But it he had given enough time for Spider-Man to see how to undo the collar.
Click!
With a swift movement, he pulled the collar off the teen's neck.
The teen gave a sigh of relief before quickly moving his hands to massage his neck. Spider-Man couldn't help but wince at the sight of the green bruises on his neck. They looked awful...
The teen glanced up at him nervously.
Spider-Man gave him a small, encouraging smile. "Let's go."
The teen shrunk back some.
Spider-Man sighed softly. This was going to be harder than he thought.
The teen whimpered softly and tugged at something under the doggy bed.
Spider-Man raised his eyebrow and lifted the bed up for the teen.
The teen gave him a grateful look as he was able to pull out a brown object from underneath the bed. Well, it looks like he was making some progress after all.
Wait... that looked awfully familiar. Spider-Man cocked his head slightly as he spotted the stuffed animal in the teen's arms. Where had he seen that bear before? He was about to ask the teen about it, forgetting that the teen probably wouldn't be able to answer.
The teen nudged him some as he started to exit the kennel on all fours. He was carrying the bear in his mouth.
"Hey... Wait, where are you going?" Spider-Man asked confused at the teen's sudden movement.
The teen ignored him and kept making his way out and down the hall.
"Hey wait!" he cried out again as he too exited the room and entered the center of the lair.
He found the teen pulling himself onto his feet and sitting down on the steel table. He set his teddy bear beside him and gave it a small squeeze of affection before pulling off his shirt. With a swift movement he started hooking himself up to the machine.
Spider-Man was relieved to find that the teen wasn't completely lost. He did act human. But Peter didn't understand why the teen was hooking himself up to the machinery... but perhaps through this he could find out some information on the young man.
As the machines started to flicker and come to life, he glanced at the teen.
His blue eyes were slightly glazed over as he stared out at space. He barely made any movement. If Peter didn't know better, he might have thought the young man was a wax figurine. The ghost of a breath on the oxygen mask and slight movement of his hand reaching for his bear was the only visible sign of life.
He hated to think of all the times the young man must have gone through this. He could tell it had been many times by the small needle scars running across his arms and chest. He didn't even want to think about where the ugly bruises across his ribs came from or the last time the young man probably ate.
How could Mr. Osborne be so cruel to this young man?
He shook his head and focused on the computer screen. It was now opening files and documents. Somewhere he would find information that could help him. His eyes quickly scanned all the info that kept popping up towards him.
Log: September 8. It's been exactly fifteen years since we've started this experiment. It's been going rather well. We've had a few mishaps with him lately, but it's all under control now. It does have us slightly worried though. This might be a good thing... But we are worried. If he is smarter than we think, things could backfire on us. In time, he will be perfect and will surpass Spider-Man.
He frowned and closed the log's window. He didn't want or need to read anymore of it. He needed to look at other things... more things about the teen that could help him find out who he was. He closed a few more windows as he skimmed through them. Nothing there to help him. But wait!
He stared at the screen in shock. His mind just couldn't wrap around the name that was flashing at him.
Harold Theopolis Osborne. Age, nineteen. Birthday, September 8th. Height, 5'6". Weight, varying. (Note: Need to change his diet again. More raw meat, less kibble.)
He glanced back at the teen.
"H-Harold?"
The teen's heart skipped a beat as he looked up at Spider-Man in surprise. It had been years since he had been called by his name.
Spider-Man pursed his lips. "Your name... it's Harold, right?"
The teen nodded slightly.
Spider-Man pinched the bridge of his nose. This was worse than he thought... This teen was Norman's own son. And to be doing something like this? What a mess!
He shook his head again. What should he do? He still needed to destroy this place. But what about Harold? He couldn't stay at OSCORPS like... like this. He needed to get out of this place. Go to a hospital maybe.
But for now?
Spider-Man glanced at Harold. He had just finished deattaching the cords from himself, putting on his shirt, and was now hugging his teddy.
For now... Spider-Man would just take him out and let the police figure out what to do. He nodded some as he slipped his mask back on. He'd do just that. The police would know what to do. After blowing this place up, he would be done. He would head home and spend some time with Gwen before-
Thud!
Harold was now slumped on the steel table.
Spider-Man pursed his lips. Great... now what? He hadn't expected Harold to just pass out like that. Well, he maybe he should have given the circumstances.
He watched Harold's still form. He really couldn't leave the teen like this, not with the police. The only solution was to take him to his apartment. But it wouldn't be for too long. The police or even Gwen could help him come up with a solution. He really couldn't leave Harold. He was his responsibility... for now.
"Good work, Spider-Man. Seems like we finally got rid of our green problem, eh?" the policeman joked.
Spider-Man managed a chuckled. "Yes, sir..."
"So what about the young man?" the policeman asked.
Spider-Man shifted the unconscious Harold carefully in his arms. He had to be careful not to lose the teddy bear that Harold barely had a grip on.
"I know someone who will be willing to take him in until you police can sort things out. I'll take him there then drop off a note at the headquarters with the address."
The policeman pursed his lips and glanced at his fellow officers who were inspecting the rubble.
"I suppose that will work. Don't forget to give us that address, though."
Spider-Man shook his head. "I won't."
The policeman gave him a small smile. "Thanks for the good work."
"No problem..."
The policeman nodded before joining the other officers which allowed Spider-Man to make his exit.
He webbed his way quickly through New York City. Well... he tried to. It wasn't easy balancing Harold on one arm while trying to web from building to building and at the same time making sure that teddy bear wouldn't fall. He didn't even know why he cared about the stuffed bear. Perhaps it meant a lot to Harold, but it was just a bear, right? For some reason, he just couldn't lose the bear. It had a familiar look... and well, he wouldn't want Harold to be upset when he regained consciousness. Though why was he caring for the teen so much? This was the son of the man who killed his father. He shook his head. You can't blame a child for his father's wrongdoings. And well look at Harold, his father hadn't treated him much better than he had Spider-Man. Maybe he was just sympathizing with the teen.
Sooner or later, the two would go their separate ways as if nothing had happened. This whole thing would mean nothing... There was no way the two of them could become friend, or could they? Part of him wanted it, while the other part didn't want to get hurt. He had already lost so much.
Spider-Man found himself sighing for what felt like the hundredth time as he entered his apartment. It was good to be back... Now he could go back to being normal Peter Parker.
But he wasn't going to be exactly normal. He now had a guest. He sighed again as he made his way towards his bedroom. He'd have an interesting time explaining this to Gwen. Why oh why did he get himself into these situations? He was too nice... but it wasn't like he really minded. He just didn't like not knowing what he was suppose to do next.
He set Harold on his bed and placed the teddy bear beside him. He'd be comfortable there while he changed clothes and saw about making something to eat for himself and maybe Harold too if he was up by then.
It was going to be an interesting rest of the day...