AHOY Mateys, here be chapter 3.

Chapter 3: Personal Issues

Harry Osborn hung his head in dismay. Even though he had found out Spiderman was really his best friend Peter Parker, he just couldn't take it. In just a short, three days time, his destiny had been laid before him. Three days ago, he had discovered Peter's big secret. Three days ago, he had discovered that The Green Goblin was Norman Osborn. He fingered a tightly closed vial filled with fluorescent green liquid. His heart ached. He just couldn't kill Peter. And yet he couldn't disappoint his father again.

"You are weak, you always were weak... Avenge me!!!" Norman's voice reverberated off of the walls of his mind.

The events of the past three months had taken a lot out of him, not to mention had practically ruined him financially for providing all of the precious Tritium for an experiment doomed to condemn the wielder of such power to a cursed life. Just thinking about it made him enraged. He hated Doctor Octopus more than Spiderman... at the moment.

A knock on his office door brought him back to reality. A wiry old man dressed in a black tuxedo that was a size too big for him, quietly entered. "You're visitor has arrived sir," he said in a tired, reformed voice.

"Send him in Bernard," Harry said monotone.

"Yes, Sir."

A man in a large, tan trench coat took Bernard's place as the butler closed the door. His black scarf wound tightly about his mouth. The man's dirty-blonde hair was short and disheveled. And he had an evil scowl about his blue eyes.

"I hear you can help me in obtaining something of great value," Harry said quietly making sure no one was listening from outside.

The man removed the scarf from around his head. He had stubble as well as a few scars across his jaw. He was extremely muscular by the looks of him and had a roughish attitude in his voice that showed that he was practically fearless. "Depends on what exactly you're looking for," he said gruffly in a heavy Californian accent.

"I believe your name is Brock, Right?" Harry said eagerly.

"It's Eddie...Eddie Brock," He said quickly.

"Right, Eddie... What I'm looking for will be heavily guarded, I'm sure, and however, I'm sure you won't be too afraid to slit a few throats to obtain it."

Eddie smirked evilly at the remark. He was proud of the fact that he could be a stealthy killer. He was proud of his bloodstained past.

"It's classified as code XJ-760293. It is an alien symbiote. A creature capable of granting inhuman abilities to whomever acts as its host; I want it to help me get rid of someone whom everyone thinks is dead." Harry said as an evil grin. He had heard some thugs that he had hired to steal something for him that they had claimed to have seen Doctor Octopus alive.

Eddie scratched his unshaven chin lost in thought, "Spiderman and Octavius huh? I've got issues with both...what's in it for me if I get you this legendary symbiote?"

"A reward better than wealth, my friend, I assure you as a business man you will be satisfied beyond your wildest dreams." An evil smirk crawled its way across Harry's face.

Back in central park, Otto sat on top of the green-shale roof of his apartment, staring across the way at the rising moon that peeked over the top of the low buildings of El Barrio.

The girl is here, she has something

The actuators had chosen to speak as one voice together now.

Otto turned his head to see MJ appear from beneath the trap-door that led to the roof. She had a plateful of food in her hand. "Hello? I brought you some dinner."

Otto turned his head to look at her and smiled, "Thanks,"

"What was your name again?"

"...Otto."

MJ sat the plate down next to him and looked at him curiously. "You look different than when I last saw you."

"Well, I certainly feel different," Otto looked up at her.

"Well, enjoy," MJ said with a sweet smile. She turned and went back down the trapdoor and back into the house.

After a while, Peter came up to see Otto lying on his back, head resting on his hands, looking up into the clear night sky. An empty plate sat a few feet away from him. Peter walked around him and sat down on the other side of him.

Otto sighed, "Gosh, I haven't eaten in so long, I'm worried that I'll get sick because my body doesn't know what it is," he said with a chuckle.

Peter smiled. "Yeah," He sighed as well. "What's wrong with you?"

"I just have a bad feeling. Like something bad is gonna happen soon, I can't explain it." Otto said in a concerned tone.

"You too huh?" Peter furrowed his brows in thought, "yeah. I don't like it. Whenever I have a feeling like this, it ends up being hell for the city."

Otto nodded.

"The reason I came up here was to ask you, if you wanted to race." Peter said with a smirk playing across his lips. Otto looked at him quizzically. "I just wanna see if this Radioactivity really did leave you as a super human." Peter continued.

Otto stood up to his full height, towering over Peter who had gotten to his feet and pulled out the red Spiderman mask. Otto slipped on his sunglasses. "Boy... You are so going to lose."

"Oh, we'll see about that," Peter said slipping back into the apartment for a second, then emerging in full costume.

Eddie had secured his scarf back around his head and traveled across the river to the mainland. In less than an hour he found the building where all top secret files and objects were kept. He slipped in through an air vent, carefully disabling any 'so-called' hidden security cameras. He had learned ninja-like reflexes and stealth from his former getup. He was once the renowned serial killer 'The Sin-Eater'. He had worked for the Daily Bugle as a photographer and actually gotten to meet Peter Parker. He would constantly create reports about this legendary serial killer who supposedly could not ever have been captured by anyone, until Spiderman discovered who the real 'Sin-Eater' was.

He cursed Peter Parker and Spiderman for foiling his schemes. He was able to escape from the maximum security prison he was kept at, thus earning himself a spot on America's most wanted list.

Eddie slipped behind a guard and, taking out a foot-long, razor-sharp blade, slit his trachea. The guard let out a gurgle before falling to his knees. A pool of blood began to form beneath his head. Eddie managed to steal the key-cards and unlock the series of locks on the heavy steel door guarding the container where the symbiote resided.

"I'm so close," he whispered in excitement. His patience was rewarded by the reassuring mechanical voice from the door, "Access granted!"

The door flew open, releasing an Icy wave of freezing air. In the center of the room, a large cylindrical container sat on a pillar, encrusted in ice. Eddie reached out with a gloved hand and smoothed away some of the frozen condensation. In a clear, little window, he saw a mass of thick black goo, almost resembling tar. Picking it up, he gently stuffed it into a fold of his jacket. He slipped out of the frozen vault and closed the heavy steel door. The Guard he had slaughtered was now bleeding all over the floor. Then came the sound of pounding footsteps.

The captain of the guard, flanked by half a dozen guards on each side halted at the entrance to the corridor. "Brock," He said in a low voice, "You're wanted in four states for several counts of first degree murder". The men on either side of him brandished their shock-staves.

With a wave of his hand, Eddie beckoned them to him. "Come, your future is death," he said taking out the foot-long blade that was dripping with blood.

"Where to?" Otto asked confidently crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Peter thought for a moment. "Oscorp."

Otto stared at him from behind his sunglasses before uttering one word..."Go."

Both beings seemingly flew from the apartment roof to the next roof of an adjacent building. Otto ran at full speed across the roof, the tentacles flinging him upwards at the last possible moment. He watched as the street below became smaller. Flinging out an actuator, he pulled himself up onto the roof of an even higher building. He gained velocity as he sprinted faster across the wide surface, tentacles bracing themselves for another launch.

"No, no... I want to try something." He told them. They relaxed a bit as he jumped to the top of the railing on the edge and launched himself off of the roof with a flying leap. He watched as he went higher and farther. Clearly he could jump at least fifty feet in the air.

"YEAH!!!!" he yelled as he began to fall. Wind whistling in his ears, he caught a glimpse of a red and blue blur as Spiderman swung through the air.

Our turn to try something

"Fine as long as it doesn't kill me!" Otto said as the ground rushed up from beneath him.

The upper right tentacle flew forward, catching onto the corner of a building with its claw. The sudden feel of flying upward made Otto see exactly what it was doing, it was swinging him to the next building. Otto threw out the two upper actuators out so that they hooked onto two buildings. He concentrated all of his energy into the actuators as he made them slingshot him forward with a great push. He seemed to fly for ages. He lost track of Peter but could feel his presence behind him. He entered the southern part of New York, where low, three-story buildings gave way to the familiar towering skyscrapers of the Financial District and Tribeca. He slid along a wall, suddenly pushing off of it in a wall-jump.

The familiar triangular shape of Oscorp loomed from behind a large building.

"I'm going to win," Peter thought to himself. "Oh, no!" he exclaimed, seeing Otto closer to the building than he was. Within 20 feet of the roof, Peter let out a web zip line, sailing over and touching the roof at the exact same time that Otto did. Peter rolled and landed in a crouch. Otto landed, but lost his balance and skidded across the roof. He finally stopped and landed on his back. He lay still there for a moment as Peter walked up and looked down at him. "Tie," Peter panted. Otto nodded.

"Why did you want to race here?" Otto asked, obviously curious.

"Because I just wanted to see what Harry was up to," Peter answered walking away from Otto.

"Alright, do your peeping Tom routine, I'll just lie here," He said as he closed his eyes.

Peter crawled down the wall and looked through the top of the nearest window. He was lucky, it was Harry's office. Harry was leaning over his desk and examining a metallic Green mask, with piercing yellow eyes and gaping mouth. "No... he's found out."

"Hey, sleeping Beauty, wake up!!" Peter said nudging Otto's shoulder with his foot. "We have to go."

"What?" Otto was obviously not too happy for the sudden wake up call.

"Things are seriously not looking good for New York. That feeling in my gut, well, the situation was worse than I thought."

Otto removed his sunglasses. The city lights reflected off of the auburn irises, making the fierce, concerned look in them more intense.

"Damn gumshoes!!" Eddie yelled as he trudged through knee deep water in the sewers beneath the streets. He cradled the canister in his arms, blood streaming down from a gash in his cheek. Sirens wailed above him. They would never think to look for him here. Eddie stared down at the clear window and noted that it didn't take very long for the creature within to thaw. It moved around inside. He swore he could hear it speak.

"Please, get me out!" it hissed quietly.

"I will, however, we will need to wait a while until it's safe to come out." He answered softly, looking up at the manhole cover above his head. HARLEM is what it said. So he was at the northernmost point in New York. It would take weeks for him to find a way to the Financial District and Oscorp.

Eddie crawled up onto a dry platform above the water and fell asleep.

Peter and Otto had crept back into the apartment. Peter went off to change out of the Spiderman costume and then to bed. It was pitch black in the house, however, Otto had no trouble seeing because of the built in night vision sensors the actuator's 'eyes.'

He changed into a clean black shirt, hearing the loud rip as the four arms tore holes through the back. Otto rolled his eyes. "First thing in the morning, I'm going to cut holes in all of my shirts."

He finished putting on a clean pair of pants. He really liked the clothes selection that the actuator had picked out the other day. He was going to keep the new look. He put the dirty clothes in the hamper in the bathroom, and then crept silently out to the living room. He looked down at the street from one of the large windows on the second floor, watching a breeze ruffle the tree tops in the park below. He walked to the large loft where He and Rosie had lunch with Peter. "Just some last minute renovations." He said as he used the actuators to pick up the furniture, while he picked up the large sofa with his own two arms. He walked to the middle of the concrete floor and arranged the furniture quickly, with the couch facing the windows. He then flopped down on it and fell asleep.

Peter stirred and woke up with a start to the sound of blaring sirens. He sighed as he climbed out of his bed. "Why can't people keep out of trouble at least until after 7:00?"

Running quietly out to the demonstration hall, he quietly opened the lock on one of the huge, half-moon windows and pushed it open. The sounds of sirens were still strong, but were fading with each second. The sound of light snoring startled him. As Peter turned around, the small blue light of the inhibitor chip gave away the silhouette. Peter as Spiderman, leapt out into the night.

Following the line of Police cars, he swung from building to building. After a few minutes, he noted that he was ahead of all the commotion. Looking down, he saw a rather expensive-looking, black Nissan fly up the street below him. Spiderman swung low and landed on top of the head Police car for a moment. Over the radio he managed to catch an explanation. "Requesting a blockade!!!" The Policeman shouted into his radio, "Subject in stolen black Nissan, heading south, just passing daily Bugle building. Perpetrators are armed!"

Spiderman leapt forward and onto the top of the Nissan ahead of him. Climbing down to the hood, he stared into the startled eyes of the crooks, "I have issues with car jackers!" He said as he began to punch the hood repeatedly. The car finally skidded to a halt. The two men climbed out and both aimed their 12-gauges at him. "Shall we dance?" Peter said before flipping and jumping out of range from the bullets.

As he came down, he dealt a swift kick to both of the guys on the jaws.

"Awww, come on guys, put some effort into it!" Peter shouted mockingly as bystanders cheered him on.

The men flew backwards, their guns making clattering noise on the street. Spiderman shot out two webs from his wrists, snagging the crooks in midair and, jumping up to a light post, tied them securely to it, then, flying back towards central park, he disappeared.