Author's Notes: A rewrite of the Amazing Spiderman 2 ending. Gwen is alive and well, and the fight between Harry and Peter is written in immense detail. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think! - Dave
Under the Moonlight
...
The moon. It's usually a calming sight in an otherwise dark and infinite expanse of black, enveloping the abyss of silky black quilting, freckled with trillions of glimmering stars. The occasional slow moving comet of blinking red strobes and quiet wail of Plane engines move across the black canvas with a pencil streak of vapour. Sometimes though, we wish that those aeroplanes were shooting stars, so that when we make a wish, we at least have the audacity to believe it will come true.
When described like that, it sounds almost peaceful, quiet, tranquil, even romantic. Try glimpsing up at it through a smashed glass dome, leaping and bounding from rusty catwalk to catwalk as you try to keep out of the sinister grip of your fallen best friend. Suddenly that romantic and calm lunar light that paints the meshing cogs below takes a devilish twist. Heart hammering in your throat, quaking and racking the very marrow of your bones, fingertips alight with sensation as their gloved exteriors twist and grip from handrail to Biocable, swinging and leaping across the hundred foot drop to sheer black concrete below.
Cylindrical in design, this Clock tower was not big enough to stage the fight at hand, Once be brother bound in Goblinesque flesh and heavy green armor, racing around the innards of this clock tower's smashed skull. The shattered dome of dirty glass above simply acts to make horrific shadows of gruesome sharp teeth and jagged fingers, casting them on the turning cogs below, the love of his life looking petrified through her ruffled blonde hair.
The Spandex of his gloves catches and tears with an audible rip against the twisted metal of the broken and charred catwalk below, banging loudly in a rhythm as the cog's teeth crunch against it with every turn. It merely added to the tension of this horrible fight, adding drums to a chorus of gruesome cackles and Glider wails.
That Glider, trusted steed to the lost best friend, betrayed brother, wailed and screamed as a trail of green wispy light paints across the catwalks grates beneath. Gothic fangs of sharp black metal flip and flap atop the huge bat - like wings. Leaping across this forty foot by forty foot Clock tower diameter, just trying to keep out of Harry's close behind claws. Soon enough a forest of torque tensed cables stretch across the small expanse between catwalks, making it slightly easier for Peter to dip and weave across the gap, Harry's Glider wings slicing through cables like a knife through warm butter.
With only a mere millisecond to catch a breath, peering down at the confusing swirling maelstrom of meshing cogs, he sees her. Gwen, panting heavily, mouth contorted into a terrified grimace, her usually bright and intellectual eyes, now cast up in sheer panic and fear, as Harry lunges atop his racing Glider, big enough to take up most of this Clock Tower's girth. Her button nose scrunched, her eyebrows raised in terror, her dirtied fringe of gold, now stained bronze, flicking across her eyes. Torn coat billowing in the whipping winds that howl down through the shattered dome, the Moon peaking in to witness this fight of brothers.
Spiderman presses tired and clammy palms to the wall, biceps pumping as he pushes up and off, corkscrewing though the dank air, weight pooled into his toe tips. The smashed Catwalk that Harry obliterated with a Grenade still clanking and grinding with every jagged bump of the cog's teeth below. Leaping back and forth like a petrified frog, Peter fires cable after cable in Harry's never still position, always one step ahead atop his wailing Glider, desperately clawing at the air to grab the scruff of Peter's neck.
Usually, a fight against Spiderman is funnily light hearted and almost comical for Peter. His age makes him feel invincible, so he wise cracks, quips and feels absolutely undefeated. He always knows he's gonna win against a crook or a car thief, even Electro. But this? This was so, so different. Not a single smart aleck comment or insult left his trembling lips beneath the mask as he panted heavily, dipping and ducking across catwalks. Whatever power his vocals once possessed was pulverised by the quaking heart smashing his glass-like throat to pieces. Moonlight danced and shimmered across the charred rubber veins of his suit.
Peter peered up sharply as Harry lunged around atop his Glider again, a flash of yellowing teeth and black gums filling his evil grin. He quickly leaped across the platforms again, somersaulting through the air to just peak a glimpse at Gwen nervously leap frogging from cog to cog. She peered up quickly as Peter back flipped into the air, eclipsing the moon with his broad physique.
He shot a Biocable downwards while suspended in mid air, latching to Harry's pouldron and reeling on the webbing to hurtle down feet first into Harry. He crawled over the Goblin boy like an arachnid, fists and feet tensing across Harry's pointy chin. The Glider wailed and screamed as they spun wildly over the catwalks, suspended above the massively long drop below. Peter shot a web across Harry's throat and caught it in his other hand, pulling back on the tether to choke the monster. Harry lifted his feet, Glider tilted with it. As such, the Glider's thrusters jolted and sent them both hurtling backwards with a horrific scream of turbines.
The mulching crunch of exploding bricks sounded as Harry's heavy spine sunk Peter's body into the aged wall. Chunks of flaking plaster peel away and tumbled down into the chewing metal teeth of the cogs below. Without even a moment to suck in a breath, solely running on adrenaline now, Peter plants both feet into Harry's mechanical spine and pushes hard, violently, shoving his once be best friend forward. The Glider huffed with a glimmer of crackling green flames as Peter pushed both hands into the crater of sunken bricks and pushed out of it, pooling all of his weight into the solid heels of his feet.
Just as Harry managed to recover from the violent shove that sent him and his Glider staggering through the dusty air, Peter wrapped both hands around a cable and swung round it, planting both his heavy feet into Harry's face, sending him falling off his Glider, gravity rag-dolling him down to smash his face into a pole of metal and somersaulting backwards to land face down atop a catwalk. The pilot-less Glider spluttered and tilted downwards, wailing down into the cogs below.
Gwen peered up at the buzzing as it neared, yelping as she leaped across to another cog, just as all the others exploded in a violent and dank eruption of sheered metal and broken poles. A bright flash of green flames lapped up across the brickwork and ate away at the rust eroded catwalks above her. Having skidded atop her knees to avoid such a plummet, she found the skin of her pale legs to be ripe with red tar, sticky at the touch. Her tights were torn and frayed along with her silky purple skirt. Adrenaline had numbed her nerves and she quenched a shaky breath as she peered up atop her still spinning cog. The muffled crash of heavy debris below got her attention and she flit her eyes down to see it bounce across the moon painted floor stories downwards.
Peter leaped across the warping catwalks to see the moon paint Gwen in a harmonious glow. "Gwen, you're okay!" He cried out in an octave quaking screech, echoing across the rounded walls of this Gothic hell-hole. Ironically, a place often associated to Churches and places of God, this Clock tower was a vision from hell.
Gwen smiled weakly and gave a tremulous laugh at the crazy situation. Then it changed. The silence shattered as she gasped, seeing the green armored silhouette stand to rear up behind Peter. "Peter, look out!" Gwen tremendously screamed, quaky finger pointed. Peter turned too late as his Spider senses fizzed across his brain. Harry lumped him in the side of his temple , knocking Peter's feet out from under him. He fell down and slammed onto his back atop the last remaining Cog that Gwen was perched on. The room spun around them as the lonely cog twisted. The amber paned glass clock spun wildly outside with no cogs to control the arms. Gwen bent down and grabbed Peter's spandex covered bicep in an attempt to haul him up, his lungs squeezed shut and his diaphragm begging for a breath of air to fill his winded body.
Finally he spluttered and coughed and oxygen flooded his body. "Peter, g-get up!" Gwen cried, thick, fat tears dripping off her cheeks. Peter looked up as Harry's silhouette leaped off the skeletal catwalks, a horrific roar leaving his Goblinesque throat.
"Gwen, go!" He shouted, shooting a web cable to the rusty ladder beside them, pealing flecks of paint chipping away from the steel. Gwen hesitated several times and finally leaped, just as Harry's seventy pound feet slammed down onto Peter's chest with an audible crack and thud. The slowly spinning cog beneath them groaned and listed from the sudden weight.
Gwen's fingers latched to the cold ladder, looking down to see one of her ripped leather boots slide down her bloodied leg and cascade down to the darkened floor below. Her hair fell across her eyes and she dug her fingers into the ladder, looking back up from her vanishing boot's tumble.
Harry grinned and grasped the scruff of Peter's mask pulling it up and off of his head in one violent motion, some of Peter's windswept hair plucking away from his scalp. He grimaced and groaned in absolute agony, feeling the cleats of Harry's boots sink into his skin and muscle.
"You...all along, it was you." Harry scoffed, his voice cracking and squeaking in his throat. "You, of all people, YOU! You betrayed me!" He roared, spit speckling across Peter's cheeks.
"I wanted to..." he hissed in pain as Harry twisted his foot. "...to protect you!" Peter cried out. Harry scoffed, a hand disappearing behind his back. Gwen eyed Harry from the ladder. She sniffled and looked up through her thick glassy eyes, climbing the ladder, one foots boot clapping against the metal while her other bare foot pressed to the sharp cold metal. She continued to climb the ladder, using Harry's distracted mind to get away.
Peter groaned as Harry pulled a knife from his mechanical belt, holding it in his scarred hand, seeing the metal plate sunken into the back of his hand, flesh moulding and healing around and overlapping the metal. The knife sprung open and Peter's eyes bulged upon the syringe. Harry lifted it up and grinned down at Peter.
"All you had to do, was give me your blood. See, all of this?" He chuckled manically, head shaking at the idea. "Gwen wouldn't have to die, if you'd have just helped me!" He spat, white patches of Saliva forming in the corner or his mouth. Peter grit his teeth at Harry's words.
"I can't help what's already lost, Harry."
Harry cackled, shaking his head, eyes fury filled and wide upon Peter. He sunk his boots deeper into Peter's chest, crouched upon his once Best friend. "First, I'm gonna take your blood..." He whispered into Peter's ear, his voice crackling like fire across Peter's nerves. "Then, I'm gonna take away your hope..."
Gwen clambered up onto the catwalk they were previously fighting on, ducking under the Biocable maze and carefully stepping across the rickety metal. The lunar light bathed the metal and she peered down beneath the grates at Harry and Peter atop the once slowly spinning cog, stopped as Peter's tensed cable kept them tethered to the wall. She grit her teeth and clenched her jaw, furious. She stormed over to the brick wall crater, where Peter had been smashed against. She threw her shoulders back and her beige coat tumbled off, hooking to a sharp prong of metal, blowing like a flag in the cold wind. Her black blouse was ripped at the stomach, but she did not care, not one bit as she rolled up her sleeves. She lifted her hands and grabbed the biggest and heaviest brick she could, shaking it loose from it's concrete gums.
"...Then, I'm going to watch you cry over her dead corpse, and then, and only then will we be square!" Harry smirked with yellow teeth. Peter's eyes filled with fury and his muscles tensed below Harry. "What's the matter? Little Parker gonna cry?" He cackled, teeth grinning.
Gwen finally pried the brick tooth out of the concrete mouth, holding the several kilogram block in her grip. She stepped across the metal to the lip and peered over carefully, above Harry and Peter. Her arms trembled as she held the brick out over the edge, right above Harry's head a few feet below.
Harry cackled at Peter's tensing body below him, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Harry's slick back Goblin hair lulled back as he laughed and Peter saw Gwen up above, holding the huge brick out above Harry. His eyes bulged and he looked over at the web he stuck to the wall by the ladder. He still had it in his grip, and good thing too.
"Hey, Harry!" Gwen called, her voice echoing across the clock tower. Shocked and confused, Harry peered up at her, lunar light sinking into every scar and boil on his face. "One thing you should know about me?" She began to prise her fingers off the block. "I've got my Father's temper!" she roared and dropped the block, watching gravity take hold and weigh it down. Given his distraction, Peter managed to free his arm from under him and grasp the collar of his Oscorp armor. Harry's attention dropped back to Peter and he slammed the syringe down, only for Peter to free his other arm and bat the syringe away.
The concrete block crashed against the back of Harry's head and he lulled forward, dazed and confused and chunks of concrete exploded and crumbled down his shoulders. Harry listed forwards and the cog finally snapped from its support, the platform below them dropping suddenly. Harry fell and tumbled downwards past the debris bouncing and tumbling off the brick walls.
"Harry!" Peter called, leaping off of the cog to dive for his friend. Even after all he'd done, threatened Gwen, tried to kill her and him, he was still his friend, had been for ten years. Peter can't add his death to his list, he can't. If he went to Ravencroft, at least he'd be alive and well, able to think about his choices and do his punishment. Peter shot a cable out and it latched to Harry's chest plate as he bounced off the walls, the goblin armor smashing and buckling off of him. The silvery strand tugged as Peter knew he had a hold of his friend. Gwen watched with a held in breath as Peter dived for Harry. She was so proud of how Peter could overcome the urge to enact revenge. He'd come along way from his Uncle Ben's killer hunting days.
Peter grabbed onto a metal pole to stop his descent and he did, sharply. Harry carried on though, and he came to stop too short, his back arching from the sudden stop and his head bouncing off the ground with a deathly crack. his fingers went lifeless and Peter watched his friend turned Goblin hang lifelessly from the cable.
"Peter!" Gwen called from high up above, her voice echoing off the walls. "I-I'm coming down!"
"B-Be careful!" He manage to call, never peeling his eyes off of Harry's body. The silence was horrific, only the quiet sounds of his breath and Gwen's descent down the ladder. Peter let go of the pipe and dropped, landing with a thud beside his friend. He bent down on crunching glass and metal and scooped up Harry's head, feeling the thick red tar matting his goblin hair. The crater in the ground indicated just how hard the impact was. Peter tried to jerk him awake, but Harry never budged.
"H-Harry? C-Come on buddy, w-we forgive you." Peter chuckled weakly. Finally Gwen arrived at the bottom, stepping off the ladder, feet finally on solid ground. she turned and saw him, her heart thick with upset for Peter. While she hated Harry for what he did, she felt for Peter, having to lose yet another person in his life. If life was anything, it was definitely unfair.
Peter shook Harry again, only causing a loose plate of broken armor to peel off his chest and roll across the floor. Blood trickled out of his nostril and Gwen knew it was too late. Harry was dead.
"W-We forgive you! R-Right G-Gwen?" Peter looked up at her desperately, lips trembling and thick fat tears dribbling down his bruised cheeks.
"Peter..." she said softly, gingerly stepping closer, her one bare foot padding carefully around the crunching glass and clinking metal debris. "H-He's gone." She bent down and rested her hands on his shoulders. Peter shook his head vigorously, wetting his trembling lips and shutting his eyes tight.
"H-He was my friend." He managed to breath. "He was wrong to hurt you, b-but Gwen, he-he-he was-
"You grew up with him. I can understand, I can." She softly kissed his cheek, feeling her lips slip against his tear wet cheeks, tasting his salt. "Oh Peter." She wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging herself into his side. She kissed the joining line between soft skin and spandex.
Peter dropped his head to Harry's armored chest, arched his spine and roaring into the Goblin body. "RRRRAAARRRRGHHH!" He bellowed to release his emotion, limbs fizzy with numbness. Gwen staggered back slightly from the echoing cry. She looked up at the top of the Clock tower, moonlight seeping in through the smashed dome.
She always though the moon was romantic, maybe even peaceful and tranquil. But tonight disproves it, as they morn a lost and betrayed friend, who in turn betrayed to right what he felt was wrong. As they both peer up through weighty tears at the white sphere in the sky, they knew they would never view that moon as romantic, or peaceful, or tranquil ever again.
Author's Notes: Yeah, just a drabble I wrote a while ago. Thought I'd give you guys something to read before the next chapter of we're Best Friends. Should I make this a series of oneshots? Let me know what you'd like to see! Love ya - Dave