Chapter Thirty-six: Adrian Harris and Stiles Stilinski

Whoa, holy crap! I didn't expect this when I showed up trying to be a hero. Now I'm just a few inches from being mauled by a she-wolf. That's just cute, Stiles... you idiot! At least I have ten minutes to inject the cure into Erica... that'll be enough time to take Cora through obedience school, right? Oh god, I'm making dog jokes, that can't be good.

Stiles rolled out of the way of Cora's claws as the werewolf slammed into the wall. Harris laughed in the background as Stiles stood up wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "I felt the breeze off of that!"

She growled as Stiles watched the werewolf turn, her yellow eyes glowing through the dark basement. Stiles felt his eyes turn pitch black and he smiled menacingly.

"Heel..." he growled with his voice sounding slightly demonic before Cora launched at him. This time he couldn't move, and instead took the full force of the hit. It sent him crashing into the wall, and Cora slashed at his face. Stiles grabbed her by the wrists and kicked her back to where he could get out of the wall. As Stiles was dealing with Cora, Harris ducked past, grabbing the unconscious Erica and took her upstairs to avoid the bloodshed that was sure to come.

Stiles felt his heart beating slower, as his body calmed and with it so did his mind. The world began moving in slow motion and Stiles could anticipate every single one of Cora's attacks. He blocked the attacks with his arms, and punched her in the stomach as hard as he could without fatally injuring her, sending her flying back a few feet each time.

"Cora, fight it!" he pleaded, as she got a little too close cutting his face. Stiles winced in pain as Cora licked his blood off of her claws. "Oh boy... that's not good."

He immediately thought of something that he hated to do, but it was all he could think of at the moment. As bad as it sounded, he needed to make her experience a great deal of pain.

Okay, Cora... let's hope your healing factor is way better than mine...

Stiles watched as she threw a punch, using all of her weight behind it. He grabbed her fist in his palm, and closed his eyes tightly as he squeezed. Stiles felt the bones crush behind his fingers and she screamed. He grabbed her other arm and broke it, while he shot a web onto her leg and pulled her down to the ground. Cora couldn't move quickly enough as he jumped up and clasped his fists together, coming down to hit her in the face. Stiles knew she was knocked out immediately, but he felt white hot pain excreting from his stomach, and as he looked down he found her claws dug into his flesh.

Oh, that's my blood... that's a lot of my blood.

He coughed as her claws retracted and her arms fell to the floor. Stiles held his side and looked at the clock. There was only four minutes left before it was too late for him to save Erica. Speaking of which he looked to see that both of them were gone.

"NO!" Stiles growled, running weakly up the stairs as his Spider Sense buzzed in the back of his head. His eyes grew wide as he leaned his head back just in time to dodge a knife that would have surely killed him if he hadn't moved. The knife lodged itself in the wall and Stiles turned to see Harris holding two more knives in his hands. "Let her go... please."

"No, I'm afraid I can't do that Stiles. There's more to you than meets the eye... you beat a werewolf."

"You beat a werewolf, and you're just a psychotic Chemistry teacher. It's whatever..." Stiles grunted as blood seeped onto his hand from the wounds on his stomach. Harris smiled at the sight. "You say you won't touch me because my father saved you from Kasady all those years ago, right? This is what it's really about, you and me... Adrian Harris, and Stiles Stilinski."

"I didn't do this for you... you're just icing on the cake."

"Please, you killed Tracy to make me suffer. Made Erica break up with me... planted that necklace on Jackson. Everything you've done for over a month has been to make me suffer. I might not have been the first, maybe not even the last... but I am the reason you have Erica now. It's the reason you sent Cora after me... you want to break me, because you can't kill me. You can't kill me because of your oath you made to my father, you feel obligated. He's not here... he can't stop you from killing me. I'm telling you, right now... you want to kill me, you've got your shot. Come and kill me, right now... because I guarantee if you don't manage to kill me, I'm going to make sure you wish you were dead for everything you've done. So take your shot."

Stiles clenched his fists tightly standing up straight as Harris ran at him. It all went in slow motion as Stiles pushed himself forward, slamming into Harris and sent them flying through the door into a kitchen. Stiles was glad he had knocked the knives out of Harris' hands as he grabbed Harris by the collar of his gray jacket, and dragged him through cabinets, shattering them into millions of pieces.

As Harris fell to the ground Stiles aimed his web shooters, firing four shots onto his hands and feet, making him get stuck to the floor. Stiles knelt down, grabbing Harris by his shirt, lifting him up just enough to where their eyes met.

"Do it..." Harris hissed at him. "Do it, kill me..."

Stiles wanted to, oh how he wanted to kill Harris right here and right now for what he had done to everyone he cared about, and to the countless people he had murdered over the past six years.

He had his fist raised to do so, but he took a breath and lowered his hand. "No, I'm not like you... I'm not a murderer. I know where to draw the line... you deserve to die in my eyes, but that's not my choice to make. I can't be judge, jury, and executioner. If I try to be, I'm no better than you. You'll get what you deserve, after all... someone wants to see you a lot. Tell him I said hi..." Stiles knocked him out as sirens echoed in the background. He looked at his watch, and found there was one minute left. His Spider Sense told him he was only a few feet away from her, as she was stored in the closet.

Pulling the cure out of his pocket, thankfully not broken by his fight with Cora, he ran to the closet, pulling Erica out and injected her with it. She was still injured, enough to go to the hospital, but her injuries were too severe to heal within ten minutes. The internal damage received would hopefully be healed enough to where she would live. Stiles brought her into a hug, tears running down his face.

As the sirens grew closer Stiles picked Erica up in his arms as her eyes slowly opened. "St-Stiles?"

"Hey..."

"Is it, is it really you?"

"Of course it is, I would never let anything happen to you. Can you walk?"

Erica nodded, as he stood her up, and he turned to the kitchen where Harris was. "He won't hurt you anymore, I promise... just get outside, I'll be there in a moment."

She once again nodded, walking weakly towards the broken door as Stiles grabbed the unconscious serial killer and dragged him outside. Police cars now parked outside, ambulances following as Stiles caught sight of news reporters, and... students from Midtown High. They must have seen something on the news. Stiles could see Scott in the crowd, his eyes wide with fear as the teenager dropped Harris, holding his stomach lightly.

In the crowd, Tracy's boyfriend, Carter Steel stood with tears in his eyes as he saw the man responsible for her murder be brought to justice... along with him Flash Thompson stood, and Gerald Roberts, the father of Sara Roberts... they all saw Stiles for something different tonight... they saw a hero.

Harris was taken into custody... currently in route to jail. Stiles watched as they pulled Cora out on a gurney, taking her into the back of an ambulance to go to the hospital. Erica had been taken too as she wasn't out of the woods yet. Stilinski had arrived the same time everyone else had, pulling him into a tight hug.

"What were you thinking?!" Stilinski cried out, as Stiles lowered his head into his father's neck. "I can't lose you kiddo."

"You didn't... and Dad, I couldn't just stand there and let her die... I couldn't. Punish me if you want, just give me this one, please."

"Oh you got it..." Stilinski squeezed tighter, as Stiles hid his pain. "I'm so proud of you."

Stiles' eyes grew wide at that statement. For once in his life, Stiles truly felt the way he had when he saved Erica from drowning. He actually felt like a hero. He wasn't invisible, he wasn't just puny, weak, Stiles Stilinski anymore. It felt like he had just started living.

"Do you think Mom would be proud of me?"

"I would certainly think so, son."

He looked up towards the sky, hoping Claudia was looking down on him, proud of who he was becoming.

This was only the start. After tonight, I would start my transformation into the hero that New York City would come to know as Spider-Man. But, here's the thing... when it comes to superhero stories, there's always one thing that seems to be in common. The hero, loses someone they love.

Tonight was the only good night I had where Stiles Stilinski got the spotlight. As soon as the sun came up, that would change. My life was finally coming together, and all it would take, is a bullet to shatter it.

A bullet, a werewolf, and a bank robbery. That was what it would take for me to become Spider-Man... I just didn't realize it.