From now on the timeline will shift to last a little longer, spanning over a few more days than the film (hope you guys don't mind). Things are obviously going to be shaken up from now on to become a little more original from the film, but will still keep the same feel. And I promise that's you'll get Peter in the next chapter as well as Harry, but for now I give you Chapter Nine!

Thank you for reading guys, love you all! :)


I remember when I was seven, walking with my dad in the heart of the city. We used to live on the outskirts in a large house that was once a farm house many years before. Dad worked in the city as a surgeon at one of the hospitals, but sometimes he would work long shifts that lasted days at a time. Because of this he often stayed in hotels, so sometimes mom, Martha and me would tag along so we could spend more time with him. Lucky for us mom could travel with her work since she was a journalist, so when we went during the school breaks it meant we could be very flexible. On occasion, dad would take me to a sweet shop that was no longer open, which sold everything and anything any kid could have wanted.

But to get there meant that we had to pass Oscorp.

At that age, the huge building scared me. There was something about it that just didn't quite fit with the rest of New York. I liked to think of it as the bully that thought it was better than everyone else, and imagined that it sneered at any civilian who crossed its path while glowering at its surrounding skyscrapers. Basically I thought it was an ass.

One day dad caught me staring at it and squeezed my hand which was captured protectively in his. "Don't ever go there, baby girl," he'd told me. "It's a dangerous place."

"Why?"

"It's said that bad things happen in there, sweetie." He'd stopped and crouched in front of me despite the many people around us, like it was just us in the whole of New York. That's how dad saw me as well as my mother and sister, the only people he needed to care about, his whole world. "And I don't want bad things to happen to you."

"I can be brave." I'd said with a little grin. He grinned, too.

"I know you can, but sometimes being brave isn't the right thing to be." He poked my nose. "Sometimes being sensible is better."

"Okay."

He'd bent forward to kiss my forehead while smoothing my hair, and when he kept walking he never said another word about it. Oscorp was forgotten for a long, long time, presumably never going to be a problem in my life, so why the hell was I dashing straight into the heart of something believed to be dangerous? It was because being sensible was boring, being brave was overrated, and being reckless was just too enticing to resist. It didn't stop the guilt from poking its way through my skin, though, yet I was stupid enough to ignore it.


Gwen dragged me though the main doors of Oscorp without any hesitation. It didn't take a single second to know I was out of place; dressed in just a pair of sneakers, skinny jeans, t-shirt and zip-up grey hoody, it didn't take a genius to know I didn't belong. Gwen on the other hand was dressed completely for work, like the young business woman she was and wasn't at the same time. She was professional and fiercely intelligent, yet she had the beautiful innocence of a teenage girl going about an ordinary life… or as ordinary as it got when one of your best friends was Spiderman.

It didn't take long for people to look at me in question as we rushed through 'security', which consisted of swiping an ID card. The barriers moved with access, and being so small and slim I was able to slip through at the same time as Gwen without it catching me out. I didn't feel frightened at the idea that what I was doing was probably illegal, but more exhilarated. There was something about being reckless that made anyone feel strong. Even Gwen, the most sensible, clever, overlooked girl I knew still got a kick out of doing something stupid. Besides, after everything that had happened, I was in dire need of some kind of distraction.

I couldn't get a clear visual on anything around me, only that it felt like it was made of glass. It was one of those buildings where if a single punch was thrown to one wall then the whole thing would collapse in on itself. It had the sophistication of any company going ahead of its time, yet it had the delicacy of one that was still finding its place in the world. Oscorp was a place to be feared as far as citizens of New York were concerned, but to me it felt like fear was its own way of getting to the top. Fear made people do stupid things, (I should know), but it also made them do things without them even realising. Oscorp would grow and thrive, and its delicate walls of glass would soon transform into lethal shards, and only fear would get it to that point.

Fear made people cooperate, and cooperation meant power.

Gwen yanked me into one of the elevators, speaking the number to the robotic woman who's voice was beginning to get on my nerves.

"You people are so lazy, what's wrong with buttons?" I demanded, watching the ground floor thriving with people in white coats blur as we rose up.

Gwen chewed her lip to keep from smiling. "Technology is the future, you know this."

"Yeah, but annoying, robotic women aren't exactly up my alley." I gave her a false stern look. "Call me old fashioned, but I would choose buttons any day. Robots aren't to be trusted."

"How old are you again? This isn't a sci-fi movie where robots take over the world, you know."

"You won't be saying that when you're a robot's servant."

"You're impossible."

"I'm sensible, buttons make all the difference."

She rolled her eyes and took my hand when the doors opened. The lift had moved so swiftly that I hadn't even felt it stop, so being dragged out again made me blink in confusion. Technology was indeed the future, but I wasn't fast enough to keep up with it. Gwen on the other hand was so in touch with it that it made my head hurt; swipe a card here, insert a code there, speak a number and voila, we were at her desk.

She sank into her spinning chair, rolling it up until she was trapped between the desk and the back of the chair. I perched on the arm, staring at the screen of a computer that flashed Oscorp at me. She inserted a username and password, her fingers gliding over the keyboard while her eyes never left the screen. There was something robotic about the way she did it, like it was clockwork inside her head that ticked with each thought, moving her forward. It was a side I had seen many times but not like this. This was all professional, workaholic Gwen with one agenda, and the answer was hidden in the files of the very company she worked for. I looked around as she searched for whatever it was she was looking for, and everyone else had their heads down to their screens, looking frighteningly mechanic. Some looked to be barely in high school.

"Max Dillon was his name," Gwen said, pulling back my attention. "He seemed so… lonely. It was a few days before the attack in Times Square, and it was his birthday; he had a card that I think he wrote to himself. He spoke about Pete like he was his best friend, and it had only been a few minutes; Peter never even said anything about a Max. Then at Time's Square, when he said his name, it got me thinking…"

She pulled up a search page for the employees and typed in DILLON, MAX, hitting enter with determination. Images fleeted across the screen with many faces of the people who worked here, from men to women between the ages of sixteen to sixty. It hurt my eyes to see so many faces flit by, and soon enough they all began to blur into one and look the same. Gwen felt rigid in the seat, eagerly awaiting the result, but the faces just kept on coming and going.

Nothing was found, and even I frowned. "Should that be right?"

Gwen chewed her lip. "Nope."

"Are you sure it's the same guy you're talking about?"

"Has to be. Even if it wasn't, why's he wiped off the system?"

"Maybe he was fired or he left?"

"No, it would take a few weeks to get him off the system if that had happened…" she pressed enter again, but what happened made my stomach twist. SEARCH BLOCKED.

"The hell?" I whispered, leaning closer. "I don't think that's the computer talking, Blondie."

"Me neither." she agreed. "That's Oscorp security talking."

"Maybe they don't like employees searching other employees."

"Or maybe they actually have something to hide."

At the same time we looked up, and sure enough two men in dark suits were pointing in our direction. "Ah, hell," I whispered. "Time to go."

"Yep."

She pushed the chair back just as I slid off, and together we slipped away from her desk as smoothly as we had arrived. Due to my very normal mind, I had to lie on Gwen to get us out of the situation. It was the only thing about myself, Gwen and Peter that wasn't right; they were the insanely clever nerds while I was just plain little me with a hot temper. Sometimes it was annoying, like I was useless and simple, yet somehow right now I was glad to have Gwen to guide me through this insanely intimidating building that smelt like a hospital.

"Are they following us?" Gwen hissed. I looked over my shoulder. The two men were weaving through staff members and calling out to us.

"Yes." I said with a heavy swallow. "If I get arrested I demand that you bail me out."

"You won't get arrested."

"No? Will the robots get me first?"

"My god."

We darted around a corner, both of us grinning despite the situation. Fleeting down the stairs, I heard the men getting closer and calling out Gwen's surname, and while they sounded polite I didn't miss the venomous warning in their tones.

We came to a line of elevators to which many people were waiting for. I looked back, catching the men almost jogging as they reached the top of the stairs. Heart hammering I looked at Gwen, who was now looking a little bit panicked. I swallowed, taking her hand and squeezing her fingers.

"You take the elevator." I said quickly, guiding her towards them.

"What about you?" she almost snapped. "I can't leave you here!"

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to, Gwen?" I said with a mischievous grin, gently pushing her into the small crowd.

"You're not invincible."

"No, but I'm fast." I said, backing away.

"Claudia!" she hissed as the elevator opened. People moved against her, inadvertently pushing her into the elevator. Behind me I heard one of the security men yell at me, demanding that I stop where I was.

To hell with that.

Gwen practically shrieked when I bolted, taking the corridor that I prayed led to some stairs. I wasn't risking having Gwen caught out, yet if I was caught I was hardly of any significance. What I was doing was illegal, but because I wasn't an employee and was unaware of what went of here, they would probably just ban me from ever stepping for here again. I wanted to avoid getting caught if I could help it; if I was wrong, I didn't want to find out what they would do to me. They'd made one of their employees disappear, and I didn't want to know what they would do to a civilian.

I sprinted down the corridor so fast that people had to jump out of my way, and the people that didn't move in time were knocked into the wall and thrown to the ground. I ran as fast as my legs allowed, pretending that this was just a race against Peter in New York, yet the mere thought of it made my heart ache. I hadn't seen him since Max attacked me, partly because I was avoiding him and partly because I'd been busy, so now wasn't the time. I looked over my shoulder, saw that the men were giving chase, and it was all the motivation I needed.

Darting around a corner, I was met by two flights of stairs, one going up and one going down. Obviously I went for the ones that went down, almost sending myself flying as I jumped the last six. I landed in a crouch before pushing myself forward, which made my muscles protest painfully. I didn't make it any more than ten steps before someone reached out from a corridor to my left, yanking me out of the way. A hand was tight and cold on my elbow, and a strange scent of men's cologne and something bitter made my nostrils flare. In a blur my captor swung me behind them, keeping an arm out to keep me from bolting around them. Dressed in a tight suit with dark hair and a single shaking hand at his side, Harry Osborn was the man in front of me.

The two men chasing me swung, reaching out as if ready to capture me. they froze dead on the spot when they saw who it was in front of me, wiping their expressions of annoyance to professional blankness.

"Mr Osborn." One said with a curt, respectful nod.

"Gentlemen." Harry said back with a smile that had an unnerving edge, his eyes flashing. "Is there a problem?"

"Sir, this girl shouldn't be here—"

"Miss Thatcher is with me." Harry interrupted rudely, yet he smiled.

"But… sir—" The man glared furiously while his partner kept his eyes on his feet. I glared back with equal malice.

"I said she's with me." Harry said lowly, dipping his head as his eyes darkened in warning. He stepped back, urging me to move, which I both did and didn't want to do. In that moment, though, I had very little choice in the matter. "I suggest you be on your way."

A beat passed. "Yes, sir." the first man said with a final glare in my direction before swiftly storming away, his partner like a puppy at his heels.

I stared in astonishment, having a flashback to when Peter had protected me in high school after a fight, but there was something darker about this time around. Peter approached his fights with reason, while Harry struck me as the kind of guy to be lethal if he wasn't obeyed.

Harry turned around but said nothing. Instead he snatched my elbow and dragged me after him, and I suddenly felt like a scolded child. His grip almost hurt, but it was a grip that was real and urgent. I followed in silence, knowing that there was little else I could do.

"You're reckless." he said as he pulled me into an elevator, speaking a high number to the robotic woman. To my dismay, the elevator rose up rather than descended.

"I know." I said, staring at him with wide eyes. He stared back, hard, his eyes bluer than the sky on a clear, summer's day.

"Why are you here?" he asked after a moment.

"I felt like being stupid."

"You succeeded."

"Oh, goody." I pulled my eyes away just as he broke out in a grin, yet somehow it looked pained. He didn't say anything else but instead leaned against the corner of the elevator, looking lazy and sophisticated at the same time. He didn't look at me for the rest of the time we were in there, instead getting himself deep in thought. I watched him carefully, half expecting him to demand why I was here or scream at me for a reason I couldn't understand. Something in his eyes was dangerous and excited, almost twisted, which set me on edge and yet kept me interested. He was darker than before, somehow, like a drawing gone over in another layer of shading.

The doors opened, and without a single word he walked out. With a second's hesitation I followed, just as the robotic woman wished us a good day.


You'll have Peter, Harry and Claudia all in the same room in the next chapter... Stay tuned!