Chapter 22

Whew . . . it is done!

I can hardly believe I wrote 80k in less than a year in this story alone. I am quite proud. Yes, I think I shall give myself a pat on the back. Of course, I have a few regrets, but . . . relatively minor ones, I think. This came out bigger than I had planned. It was only supposed to be a form a prequel to set up the scenario for the sequel . . . ;)

See more details below this final chapter.

The two redheads descended on him the moment he stepped onto school grounds.

"Pete!" MJ screeched as she wrapped her arms around him.

"We missed you, man! Where have you been?" Harry smiled broadly, not waiting for his turn to squeeze Peter in a one-armed hug.

"It's great to see you guys too!" Peter said in the middle of it all. "I would answer your question if I could breath."

They released him. "We're sorry!" MJ said. "Aunt May mentioned something about the hospital. Are you all right?"

The story, as Peter had memorized it during breakfast, was that he had tagged along on one of May's woodland adventures upstate. Tragically, he fell in a landslide and suffered a sprained wrist. And though that injury wasn't too serious, as luck would have it, a venomous snake then bit him at the bottom of the hill. So he had spent the past week recovering from the incident.

It went well enough with what had really happened, so it was one of the easier stories to tell.

"Wow, that's the classic Parker Luck right there," Harry said when Peter was done explaining.

Peter smiled knowingly. "Yeah, as usual. But I'm fine now."

"On the bright side, you missed Hydra's latest attack on the city," MJ said. "It was awful. The streets were a mess."

"It wasn't just Hydra, MJ. You don't need to skirt around the fact that my dad organized the whole thing," Harry told her, although his expression became decidedly gloomier.

"The news said it was a joint collaboration," Peter said, which was true. Bored in the Helicarrier, he had watched some of the news stories about the attack so he knew what the rest of the world knew about it. And it had been very educational since he had only seen a small fraction of what had been going on at the time.

"He was still involved," Harry muttered.

Peter narrowed his eyes. "People aren't still bullying you about that, are they?"

"Nah, but I still know what they're whispering about behind my back."

May's words from last night came back to Peter, about how he and Harry were both related to villains. Peter could easily imagine receiving the same treatment if anyone else knew he was a clone. In fact, that would probably be worse. No one had trouble seeing Harry as his own person, but what would the world say about a clone?

Peter didn't really want to know.

"Harry," Peter said consolingly. "Why do you still beat yourself up over this? Your dad is currently out of his mind."

Harry shook his head. "He was running the dark side of Oscorp long before that."

"But that was just evil business stuff. The Goblin is an entirely different flavor of evil." Peter licked his lips. "Would you forgive your dad if he's ever turned back?"

Harry was silent for a long moment. The moment was long enough for a crazy thought to strike Peter. If he had many of Octavius's memories, then the recipe for the concoction that turned Norman into the Goblin was probably in his head somewhere. If he could remember it, then maybe he could transform Goblin back. Harry would have his dad again.

But did he dare try to purposefully remember something so dangerous? Five days of casual lecture couldn't entirely make up for years' worth of science education. What if he made a mistake?

"Maybe," Harry decided at last. "Or at least I'd tell him he's got to change his ways or else I'm disowning him. Can I do that? Can a kid disown their parent?"

"I think that's pretty much just when parents lose custody of their kids when they're convicted of really serious crimes," MJ said.

"Right, well, I'll make it clear that I'm disowning him anyway. I'll change my last name to Osmond or something. Probably something cooler like Paradox. Harry Paradox . . . I like the sound of that."

"Or Potter is a good last name," MJ supplied with a grin.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't even think about it." His face lit up. "Hey Pete, what if I asked your aunt to adopt me? Then we'd be real brothers and I could have her homemade cookies every day!"

Peter chuckled. "She would totally go for it, you know. But I'm not sure if I want to be demoted to little brother just because you're a few months older than me."

"Oh my God, yes! I could call you Little Bro! That would be so much fun!"

"You still have to inherit Oscorp though," MJ cut in. "You can't forget how you want to change it for the better."

"Yeah, of course. But if Mrs. P adopted me, I'd just change the name to Parker Industries and Pete and I would run it together." Harry slung his arm around Peter's shoulders. "You're in charge of the Research and Development Department, okay?"

"I don't want to be the boss! The boss gets stuck with all the paperwork!"

"First rule of business is that you hire assistants to do your paperwork. Duh, Pete."

"What about me?" MJ asked.

"Public Rep or Legal?"

She nodded, satisfied. "Sounds good."

"Which one?"

"Both work for me."

The first bell rang, and they began to enter the school. Peter remained in high spirits. Harry's words echoed in his head. Perhaps his friends had helped him solve one of his problems without even knowing it existed.

It was Peter's free period, and Sam knew exactly where he would be. It didn't take a genius to know that the nerd would go to the library to study even on his first day back. Sure enough, Sam found him in the quietest corner available, doodling in his notebook. Peter must have been lost in thought, because he didn't hide his notes when Sam approached. Usually Peter tried to force him to study on his own.

"Why did you get B's on purpose this week?"

Peter looked up at him, startled like a deer caught in headlights. "What?"

"You got B's on every piece of homework you did while you were out sick. Why?"

"Because that's the grade the teacher put on it?"

"Why?"

"Because that's the grade my work deserved?"

"Why?"

"Will you stop asking why?"

"Fine, I'll tell you why. Because that's the grade you wanted. You answered everything precisely so you'd get a B. Nothing more, nothing less." Sam folded his arms. "So why?"

Peter looked down at his doodle. It looked like a mindless scribble to Sam, although it also vaguely resembled a complicated free body diagram. "I was kind of distracted in the Med Bay. Not to mention I missed all those lessons. Is it so hard to believe I didn't do a perfect job?" He looked back up, frowning. "How do you even know this anyway?"

Sam shrugged. "I volunteered to hand all your work in. Naturally I compared your answers to mine."

"So you copied my work."

"Not all of it. Some of your answers were so wrong that even I knew they were wrong." Sam paused, speaking softer now. "And I know Octavius taught you stuff. You said so yourself. So why aren't you using that knowledge to knock this stuff out of the park with zero effort?"

Peter averted his gaze again. "It's not fair."

"How is that unfair?" Sam nearly exclaimed. The last thing he needed was for the librarian to come over and interrupt this.

"It's unfair that I don't have to work for this anymore. I was doing just fine before. I enjoyed studying and learning everything for the first time." Peter sighed, folding his arms on table, resting his head behind them so the bottom half of his mouth was covered. When he next spoke, his voice came out slightly muffled. "Octavius took that away from me."

Sam mulled that over for a second. "Okay, I'm going to pretend I understand why you're so upset about that."

Peter brought his head up to give him a feeble glare. "Of course you don't understand."

It was a very diluted sneer, but it was there. And, not for the first time, Sam saw a real resemblance between Peter and Octavius. But he didn't mention that out loud. A sneer was a sneer, after all. Habits were so easy to pick up that Peter was bound to have picked something up from his little 'vacation'. But saying anything about it would completely contradict the point Sam was about to make.

"You're right, I don't understand because I struggle with my homework. Finding time to study in between training and patrol is hard, and I'd rather be playing video games. So why, in the name of all that is good and pure, are you upset that you won't have to worry about another test for the rest of your life?"

"It's—it's just another way he's tried to ruin my life."

Sam shook his head, sitting down opposite Peter. "Okay, first, he wasn't actively trying to ruin your life for once, which is a pretty huge deal in my opinion. Only you could turn one of your worst enemies into a potential ally overnight. Second, if you're stuck with the knowledge regardless, doesn't it make more sense to actually use it to your advantage instead of purposefully bringing down your GPA?"

Peter slumped, resting his head on his arms again. "Well, if you put it that way it doesn't sound very smart. So you wouldn't mind if I use Octavius's knowledge?"

"I would be using it if I were in your shoes. At least one aspect of your life just got a whole lot easier. Take your victories where you can, Pete."

"You don't think this just makes me more like him?"

"You're already a clone. How do you get to be more or less like him? You're you and he's him and that's that," Sam said with finality.

Peter gaped at him. "Um, I'm honestly not sure what you just said."

Sam rolled his eyes. "We've been over this. Let me be abundantly clear this time. According to the rest of the team, you and Octavius were working together in a freaky twin way last week. Days later, you were able to separate and return to being Peter Parker. And yes, Pete, we all noticed a few differences. Don't freak out about that though! Because at the end of the day, you're not Octavius trying to act like Peter. You're Peter trying to not act like Octavius. I think you've established that your personality is about as set in stone as anything metaphysical could be."

Eyes wide, Peter stared at him for a long moment. "When did you get so good at pep talks?"

Shrugging, Sam pulled some papers out of his backpack. "Even a radio stuck on a trash station is bound to play a few good songs."

"Is that a Danny-level metaphor? Are you feeling okay?"

"Ha ha, very funny. But now that we've established that you don't mind using your upgraded science skills, why don't we go over my homework?"

Peter let out a genuine laugh. "Okay, now it makes sense. You just said all that to help yourself."

"Yeah, and it helped you too, so you can't complain."

"I'm not. Thanks Sam."

"Don't mention it. Just make sure we both get A's this time."

"I'm only going to do your homework this one time. After this I'll just help you study."

"I'll take what I can get."

After hours of thinking everything over, Peter and May waited in his bedroom at nine o'clock sharp. May sat on his desk chair. Peter stood in front of his bed. A piece of white paper rested in the window.

"Are you sure you want to do this tonight?" May asked for the fifth time.

Peter gave a slight variation of the same answer. "I'm done trying to ignore things like this. I just want to get this over with now or I'll be stressing about it all week."

He didn't ask again if she really wanted to be here. Not only was she stubborn, but he did feel better with her being near.

Octavius arrived, surprisingly silent for a man walking on long metal legs. They held him at the height of the second-story window. He was in full sight, the curtains having been pushed aside to allow for a clear view. He knocked politely anyway. Peter let him in, returning to his place by the bed before Octavius had even started to come in.

"Hello, Peter, Mrs. Parker," Octavius said as he ambled in. If one knew him well enough, they would know his passively casual voice really betrayed how awkward he felt.

Peter knew him well enough.

"Mr. Octavius," May said, voice carefully civil but firm, verging on stern. She stood, approaching him with her arm stretched out for a handshake.

Shifting his weight from foot to foot, Peter refrained from coming between them. Shaking hands or making any sort of direct physical contact had not been part of the plan. But Octavius returned the gesture gently. He didn't even correct May for her choice use of title.

And then her other hand came up, and there was the sharp sound of flesh hitting flesh. May returned calmly to her seat, leaving Octavius standing there with red blossoming on his cheek. Slowly, he reached up and removed his goggles, rubbing the sore area. Peter wished he hadn't.

May's eyes widened slightly when she saw his face in person for the first time.

"I suppose I might have deserved that."

"Might have?" Peter asked incredulously. "After everything you've done?"

"I plan to change—"

"Changing now doesn't change who you were in the past. And you can only change yourself now if you know who you were in the first place."

"I know what I've done," Octavius said regretfully.

"Do you?" May asked sharply. "Because from where I'm standing, I see a man who kidnapped, tortured, and tried to kill Spider-Man for months 'in the past'. And then what did you do just the week before last?"

"I didn't torture him or—"

"Pain doesn't have to be physical," May shot back. "And even if you don't count that, you still kidnapped him."

"I did that to protect him. I'm trying to help now."

Peter shook his head. "You call that helping? We both nearly died afterwards because you didn't help us stop Goblin's attack before it ever happened. My team nearly died. And do you know how many people were covered in symbiotes? Because I don't. Shield still hasn't reached all of the victims."

"We would have died if I hadn't taken you from Hydra's base."

"You mean the same Hydra base where, under your control, we—we both took down not only Goblin and Taskmaster, but also my team?" Peter's throat tightened. "Nova was in the hospital for days after that."

"We couldn't have taken on the army that was coming."

Fists clenching, Peter decided to hit him where it hurt. "You had the two of us, symbiotes, access to Hydra's computer system, and we would have had my team too if you hadn't beaten them! If you were really smart, you'd have figured out a thousand ways to make winning possible."

That finally seemed to make Octavius at a loss for a counterargument.

May cleared her throat, speaking in a softer tone now. "You've been searching for power for a long time, and whether you know it or not you have found it in your intelligence. You also may not know that with great power—"

"With great power, comes great responsibility," Octavius finished for her.

May gave him a strange look. "Yes," she said at last. "Which only leaves the question: what is your responsibility right now?"

Octavius thought about this for a moment. "I thought my responsibility was to save the world, but we have all seen what that led me to do."

Peter shook his head. "A real good guy knows the world can't be changed for better overnight. I started out as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for a reason. And everyone—well, except Jameson—still thought I was doing good just by helping one person at a time. You have to know how to help one person before you can help more." He licked his lips. These weren't direct quotes from Uncle Ben, but they were some of his unspoken philosophies. Saying them spread warmth through Peter's chest that was counteracted by the cold knowledge of who he was sharing this wisdom to. But Ben would have tried to help too.

"I'm not saying you should go out and try to be a vigilante," Peter continued in the silence. "All we're asking is that you stop doing bad things, even in the name of being 'good'. I need to know that, if I let you walk out of here, I won't be releasing a supervillain."

"The 'greater good' has tempted me for many years now," Octavius admitted.

"If you need to choose to do nothing," May said, "in order to avoid harming innocent people, then that is your responsibility."

"I must say I am . . . surprised that Shield hasn't apprehended me already. Are you truly willing to face the risks of letting me be?" Octavius asked, sounding quite bewildered by the idea. "Wouldn't it be simpler for you to put me behind bars? I recognize that I may very well deserve that."

"Simpler, yes," Peter agreed. "The real question is whether it's the right thing to do now that you've offered to change. Why let you waste your years doing nothing when you can eventually try to make amends for everything you've done?"

"A truly good and intelligent Octavius can do a lot of good in the world," May elaborated, glancing at her nephew. "Just look at Peter."

For a second, Peter was taken aback by that statement before his aunt continued.

"Of course, Peter had certain advantages, such as caring friends and family." May's voice became sad. "I hear you did not benefit from such things, Octavius. We will both understand if it takes some effort for you to manually craft your own moral compass."

There was a tense moment during which Peter was afraid they may have been just a little too blunt to Octavius, that they might provoke him to go into a rage. But the man with the metal arms just stood there. Eventually, he nodded.

"I thank you for giving Peter such an advantage."

"I . . . thank you for creating him," May said in return. "I'm probably biased, but I firmly believe that if your goal was to create a better version of yourself, then you have succeeded."

"That was not my initial plan," Octavius confessed, looking at Peter. "I was arrogant then, wanting you to be just as I was, rather than for you to be everything I ever hoped to be. But I am glad the problem corrected itself."

Another brief silence. Peter cleared his throat. "So where do you plan to go from here?"

Octavius shrugged. "Asia, likely. Or perhaps Africa. America is no longer the only country with excellent labs. What do you plan to do?"

"The same thing as always."

"A wise choice."

A heavier silence hung in the air now, one that seemed to signify the end of the meeting. Octavius went back to the window. He did not ask to be led out through the door this time. When he was out of sight, May stood and went to her nephew, wrapping her arms around him.

"I think we did the right thing," she said.

"It's the hard thing to do, so you're probably right."

Peter Parker was torn. He felt proud and exceedingly dim-witted and jaded by his own pride.

Now that he had made the decision, it felt so obvious in retrospect. The man who had just left his room was not the same Otto Octavius who had tried to kill him just months ago. This was the Octavius who had risked his own life to help Peter.

Of course, that wasn't the best Octavius was capable of.

But still, Octavius was proving that he was at least capable of changing. Peter had tried to ignore that, chalking it up to Octavius being evil all the way through. He had kidnapped his clone, after all. Yet Peter had to admit even that wasn't nearly as bad as it had once sounded. In his own twisted way, Octavius had only been trying to help. If Octavius was able to see that now, to admit his past mistakes, then that suggested he had morals deep down inside. Maybe he even had a heart.

Once upon a time, Peter would have been reluctant to say that. Now, he was only relieved that Octavius wasn't inherently evil.

At last! Peter no longer felt as tainted as he once had.

All he ever wanted was to help people, to save lives. He didn't want luxury or fame, just the knowledge that his actions made the world a better place.

But then, when he had found out he was Dr. Octopus's clone, Peter had been afraid that those goals might not be possible anymore. He had feared that Octavius's nature would be inherited.

Now, Peter realized Dr. Octopus was not Octavius's real personality. Now he knew Octavius could be more than just a villain. Now, he had set Octavius up to live a better life.

Of course, there was a healthy amount of doubt in the back of his mind. This was still a risk, after all. Octavius had done much worse in the name of the greater good.

But a healthy amount of doubt was not the same as giving up. This time, Peter had faith in him. He had a feeling Octavius may have gone wrong in the past because he didn't have anyone to talk to, to trust. This time he had Peter to double-check if he was headed in the wrong direction. This time, it wasn't just him alone.

Well, in one sense it was. Peter was his clone, after all.

Peter couldn't help the hopeful smile that spread onto his face as he watched Octavius disappear into the night.

The (temporary) end.

Does anyone remember how I mentioned in the very first chapter that the Spider-Verse events haven't happened yet in this story? Well, that's the setting of the sequel. Except it won't be in the USM Spider-Verse, it will be a sort of sequel to Into the Spider-Verse as well. I want to write up a buffer for it, so it probably won't be posted for several months. And I do have other MCU projects I want to work on. But it will come out eventually if anyone is interested.

For now, that fateful question: What do you think? Was the ending satisfying?

And last but not least, thank you to all readers and reviewers! It has been a blast sharing this with you!