Chapter 25: Of Lies and Rumors

Everyone who had stayed at the University Residence for the Christmas breaks woke up late on Boxing Day. The halls where Harry's and Peter's dorm were located were quieter than before and the whole morning itself felt lazy. Even Harry who worked harder than Peter felt lazier. Snow was still thick upon the grounds with the windows of the dorms being covered from frost and mist.

Peter made a small muffle sound as he tried to find his way out of the blankets that got him covered completely. After much searching around, Peter finally managed to reach the top, getting out of the covers. When he did, he was instantly met with a chilly breeze which caused him shiver so he wrapped himself with the covers.

The room was covered in darkness due to the blinds being closed despite the fact Peter woke up very warm, very sleepy.

Yawning, Peter rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he got out of the bed and headed for the shadows. Maybe the warm water can help ease his tense muscles. Needless to say, he was surprised to see that the nightmares have been longed settled down; he would've thought that the flashbacks of Ned's death would kept him up in the night but that wasn't the case.

After showering, Peter dressed in his usual sweater and jeans and went down to the cafeteria where he found Harry munching on a toast, reading the newspaper. The thoughts from the Christmas party flashed back into his mind, making him wince though he ignore it as he mentally agreed that it was just a strange coincidence at how Norman Osborn knows so much.

Once he grabbed his breakfast, Peter sat beside Harry who was currently reading the Daily Bugle.

"Anything interesting?" Peter asked.

"Did you know that the Daily Bugle is calling my father a lunatic?" Harry asked.

Peter frowned and when he turned his head to the side, he suddenly realized that just how uptight Harry was. His knuckles were white and it looked like Harry could rip out the newspaper if he wanted to but he refrained himself from doing so.

"A lunatic?" Peter echoed his words. "In what way? What had he done to have people call him that?"

"Well, that's the thing. People had always seen my dad as a power-crazed madman. It took me a while to figure out that he was always after power but I didn't think it'll go this far. See:

Norman Osborn, who's a highly respected man, suddenly disappeared after the Christmas Party that was held at the Norston building. People who used to respect him suddenly turned against him, declaring him a mad crazed man who wants nothing more than power. There are no words yet on what exactly happened at the OsCorp Company where the accident took place late at night. One worker—who's a close friend to Norman—is still in the hospital in an unconscious state. The area where the incident had taken place is off-bound for investigation though it's still a mystery has to what really happened or why it occurred in the first place.

"I knew my dad was a bit mad in the first place but still…" Harry muttered. "He could've at least confided in me about it…Or at least what his work is about anyway…"

"I'm sure there's a reason as to why your dad didn't tell you about what he's working on. By the sound of it, it looked really dangerous since the man is still in the hospital from the accident. Trust me, Harry. If there's anything, even though your dad is always constantly busy with work, your dad really loves you even if he doesn't show it. Trust me."

"I hope so," Harry mumbled. "But what could he possibly be working on?"

Peter frowned. That was a rather good questions. There were so many mysteries going on all at once that it was hard for Peter to keep up. Maybe he could go in there as Spider Man and get any evidence to find out—assuming if there's still evidence there.

"If you want…maybe I could sneak in there to find out what your dad has been doing…?" Peter suggested.

Harry shook his head. "No. I don't want anything bad happening to you. You're already have so much things to do that needs to be taken care of."

"But…" Peter pressed on.

Harry bit his lip as he tightened his grip on the paper even tighter. "Would it be selfish of me to ask if you could…you know…"

"Find out?" Peter grinned. "Of course. When I find something, I'll let you know."

"Thanks, Pete."

Peter nodded. "Anytime."

As the two were getting ready to leave, Peter stopped in his tracks as he gazed down at the newspaper. Raising an eyebrow, Peter flipped the page only to stare at it.

A GREEN SIGHTING: WHAT COULD IT MEAN?

Peter gazed into the blurry picture of what it appeared to be a mask with a creepy look etched into it. Its menacing ominous eyes stared at Peter and it almost felt like it was staring into Peter's soul. Shivering, Peter flipped the page back and walked out; the image of the mask still haunting his mind.

Later in the evening, Peter had already found himself zipping across the city in his Spider suit where he reminded himself that he should get an upgrade soon. As he was scaling around the building, he recalled the last time he was here. That being said, the fight that took between him and Smythe ended up costing Smythe's life as he made a suicide attempt.

Peter gritted his teeth as he finally found an opening to the building. Perhaps the thing where he hated the most about himself was that he could've saved Smythe. Maybe he wasn't a hero after all. Maybe he wasn't the hero that the city needed.

The city needed a hero where they could count on them to be saved from dangerous situations. They needed a hero where the savior always makes the right choice—not the wrong ones and lately, that's what Peter felt like. He felt as though he had been making all the wrong choices and sometimes, he even felt…lost at times.

Maybe he was no better than the villains he had fought over the years.

Peter shook his head. Now, it's not the time to be doubting about himself. He needed to find the room where the accident took place. Where it was, he doesn't know and it's going to take a while especially since the securities have been upgraded.

Peter gradually found himself in the upper level and he eventually found the room. It just so happened that where the accident took place, it happened right at the Chemistry lab.

When he entered in by crawling up at the walls, he took a glance around and at a corner to where he's at, to the side, there was a camera. Sighing, Peter used his web rush mode to swing himself over there and then he covered it with webs. After finding the rest of the cameras, they were now covered in webs and Peter was able to proceed to the evidence floor.

Surely, there must be something he could find in here.

Peter bent down as he studied the broken glasses and it appeared that it looked like it had some trickle of blood on a few of them; it must be from the man. Poor guy must've had it rough.

Nevertheless, Peter resumed searching though he hoped whatever he was looking for, he would find it fast—he didn't want to attract any attention. If there's nothing in here then his best bet would be going to the Police Department to search up recent crime activities.

While he was looking around, he didn't looked where he was stepping and he suddenly felt his foot stepping onto sharp which as a result made him hiss in pain as he lifted his foot up, hopping on one.

"Ah!" Peter hissed as he grabbed his slightly injured foot. Hissing, Peter leaned against a wall as he examined his foot. It looked like nothing was in there but what had pierced him?

Raising an eyebrow, Peter walked towards the area where his foot got pierced, bending down to get a look at it. Nothing special about it. But wait. Peter carefully leaned closer. There it is. It was small but the dull light from the room gave it away as it gleamed dully.

"Hey there you little bugger. Stabbed my foot, why don't you?" Peter mumbled as he picked it up.

It was a needle and if there's a needle then there must be a syringe around here somewhere. It took another few minutes to find the remaining part but Peter finally found. If the needle flew off the syringe then the man must be very lucky to not have been stabbed by it. Nonetheless, Peter found evidence right on the syringe. Green liquid was splattered on a few parts of the syringe which made Peter be curious about the substance.

But if anybody can figure out what it is, it's Tony. Going with that, Peter stuffed the broken syringe into his side pocket and got up. He needed to leave; he was running out of time. With that, Peter released his webs and attached himself up on the wall, crawling out of sight.

Before Peter went back to the dorm, Spider Man quickly headed at a different direction by immediately going to the Avengers Tower. Might as well since it was on the way.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Peter called out once he had arrived at the usual room.

It sure is quiet. Since no one was here, Peter began to turn on the computer so he can start to analyze the green substance—he really was curious as to what it is and he hoped that the computer can find out what it is.

Peter then proceeded with his procedure and then he waited.

"Do I come in and start messing with your stuff?" a voice called out, startling Peter.

On instinct, Peter slammed down the laptop lid and stared at the entrance. It was none other than Tony who entered in with a raised eyebrow, staring at the young web slinger.

"Uhm…Tony…didn't expect for you to come in…" Peter said awkwardly.

"Uh huh," Tony muttered as he eyed the laptop that was currently closed. He walked towards the web crawler then paused.

"What are you doing on the laptop?"

"Nothing…"

Eyebrow still raised, Tony shooed Peter's hand away and opened the lid only to make a questionable look. He then looked back at Peter, motioning to the screen that had the process bar which was only up to fifty percent and waited for an explanation.

Peter sighed. "I went to the Osborn Company because of the recent article that was published in the Daily Bugle and was curious what was behind the closed doors. And well…that's where the green liquid comes in. There had been accident at Osborn and I'm trying to figure out what this fluid is…"

"And you came here, helping yourself," Tony concluded.

"No one was here so uhm…yeah…"

"And so once you found what this…liquid is, what are you going to do after?" Tony asked.

Peter bit his lip. "Get back to Harry. He wants to find out what happened to his father—he suddenly disappeared…after the Christmas party—"

"Christmas Party?"

"Yeah; Harry's dad invited me so I went there. It was…eventful…" the image of Fisk lingered at his mind, making him shiver. He tried to forget about him but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't. Fisk really was a hauntingly madman.

"I repeat; what are you going to after you get back to Harry? I mean, analyzing this stuff is great and all but it could only tell you so much. It doesn't really tell you whose DNA is it."

Peter frowned. "I don't know…go after him? Make sure he's in jail? I've already got enough to deal with. I don't need another madman."

Tony sighed. "Whatever I'm going to say, I know you won't listen so I'm going to cut the crap and only say be careful. I sincerely hope you know what you're doing."

Peter stared at him with his mouth slightly opened. Was he hearing right…?

"Wait…wait…"

"I'm waiting."

"You're not going to stop me? Like you usually do? Are you're alright?" Peter asked, eyes wide.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Yes I'm fine. Besides, I think your thing is done. I need to get going…best of luck."

Peter stared at him, still having a surprised look on his face though it was more of a shock. However, as Tony turned around to leave, it was then where Peter noticed that his hand was injured. Before Peter could even ask what happened, Tony left.

Feeling uneasy, Peter had his attention back to the screen and began reading the information that was given to him.

THE GOBLIN FORMULA.

A biogenic chemical compound that is made by Oscorp, which in a way, it is similar to the Super-Solider serum—

Peter paused as a thought came to his mind. Captain America.

This is nice and all but whoever had this formula…how could they have their hands on this? How on Earth could they had recreated this?

Peter stared at the screen. He then scrolled up and reread the sentence: it was created by Dr. Mendel Stromm…

Peter narrowed his eyes as he stared at the name Stromm. If he had the ability to create the formula then he would know how to stop it. How to create a cure for it. Peter growled when he found out that the very man he was looking for was dead.

Peter lowered his head as he tightened his grip on the table, turning his knuckles white. Unless he, himself, can create the cure for the formula then he's pretty much out of options. The formula belonged to OsCorp…and OsCorp was owned by Norman Osborn. Peter stared at the keyboard of the laptop; if that serum was what kept Stromm alive in the first place and if that serum is still around…

This was one of the craziest ideas Peter had ever thought of but it has to work. It has to work.

He has to revive Mendel Stromm.

Author's Note: …Peter, you're insane. How you're gonna do that, not a clue (well of course I know how but you know XD) oh and Norston is a completely made up building. What happens next? Find out! Toodles!