And the next chapter goes up!

P.S. All credit to respective owners!

-Y.A.R.N.


Spidercide scowled as he was trussed up and tossed into the back of the squad car, rage burning inside.

He failed.

He didn't even come close.

All this violence, the sacrifice of his sanity and intellect, and all his reputation was worthless in the end.

If he wasn't already gagged and slapped with a restraints made for enhanced individuals, he would've erupted and killed anyone he could get his hands on. He frowned as he heard the car he was in screech as the person driving slammed on the brakes and caused him to pitch towards the front. He let out a pained grunt as he slammed against the side of the inside of the vehicle and straightened with a snarl. When he was sent to the Raft he may be able to kill the criminals he wanted to at the very least, he may not be able to frame Spider-Man but it would soothe some of the rage.

Suddenly the entire car flipped and several gunshots sounded out side and Spidercide covered his face with his hands before and explosion launched him out of the back of the car. He landed on his back and saw a man dressed in a suit and smiling down at him. The man held a gun at his side and pointed it at the villain. The raft vehicle he had been traveling was nothing more than a lump of metal on fire and smoke covered the surrounding streets.

"Spidercide I presume?" The man greeted happily.

Spidercide struggled to his knees right before several darts were fired into his chest. Bound as he was, he was helpless as the darts whirred and ejected a liquid into his body. He immediately felt himself grow dizzy as his vision began to blur and slide in and out of focus. He collapsed once again struggling to stay conscious. The man knelt down and place a placating hand on the villain's shoulder, as though comforting a friend.

"Oh do not worry." The man said amicably, "We have many plans for you, friend."

As Spidercide blacked out a van screeched to a stop next to the two before three men picked up the villain and loaded him in the back as the well dressed man clambered into the passenger seat. He pulled out a phone and dialed a number before placing it next his ear.

"Tell Zabo that we got him and pay him the agreed amount. We don't need him to have a vendetta against us and he did deliver on leading us to Spidercide." He said simply, "Prepare the pods and begin the tests for the cloning and transfer. We have everything we need but one person. Do make sure you retrieve our dear doctor as soon as you can."


Peter walked into the penthouse less than hour after leaving it as his alter ego. He made sure to plaster a look of fear and confusion as he surveyed the destruction his beatdown of Spidercide had caused. He really need to speak with Viri about what happened to him when he lost his cool and began to furiously attack the villain. He wasn't sure what he looked like when he lost it, but he could tell that something was off when he could literally see his own tongue looking like a lizard's in front of him and feeling a mouth form to show off jagged teeth he could tell looked monstrous. He paused as he heard a sound of something moving through the halls towards him. He figured out what when he saw Harry wheeling himself towards Peter on a wheelchair, looking worn and weary. His thin arms shook and shivered as they weakly pushed at the wheels in his chair.

"Hey Pete." He greeted weakly.

"Harry?" Peter gaped, "What's with the wheelchair?"

Harry grimaced, "My muscles have atrophied from disuse, I need physical therapy and time before I can walk."

"Disuse?" Peter parroted, forcing himself to act shocked, "Did you not walk at all when you were in Europe?"

He knew that if Harry had been in that vat since his supposed vacation, his muscles probably been in any shape to do anything. There were so many things he was angry with Osborn for, but considering he was trying to save Harry, Peter could understand his obsession. Either way, he didn't appreciate being kept in the dark. Harry's eyes darkened as Peter mentioned the 'trip' that Harry had been on while he was really locked up in his father's lab. Either way, he had to play the part, he couldn't bet his alter ego here to his best friend; revealing that he was aware of Norman's secret lab — something that only a scant few had even known existed — would paint the bullseye on his back for Norman to see. MJ had told Peter about how Norman had been trying to replicate his abilities, another pet project in his hidden lab destroyed by Spidercide dropping in uninvited.

"I wasn't in Europe." Harry grumbled, "I was here. This whole time I was here."

"What?!" Peter shouted indignantly, "You didn't tell us you were here?"

"I was unconscious!" Harry shouted, "I was being treated for my disease!"

Peter inwardly grimaced, this wasn't going to be fun, "What disease?"

Harry gaped and held his head in his hands, "Of course dad didn't tell you."


Harry and Peter sat in Harry's old room, Harry sitting his bed. They had talked, about the sickness, about Devil's Breath, Otto becoming a villain after using the imperfect interface, about May's death (something that caused Harry to curse and cry for the loss of someone who had helped soothe the pain from his mother's death), about MJ in Symkaria, even about Project Olympus. By the time they were done, both Peter and Harry were quiet and just letting the silence fill the room. So much of Harry's absences before he left made sense, how he was really just trying to find a cure when none was available.

"I can't believe I missed so much." Harry eventually declared, "I wish... I'm sorry for everything, if I hadn't been unconscious..."

"Not your fault." Peter replied, "If anything, I should've stopped Otto... I should've done something."

"That's not your fault either Pete." Harry chided, "He made the choice to ignore your advice. It's not your fault that everyone else paid for it."

"This year's been..." Peter trailed off.

"Yeah." Harry sighed.

"So what can I do to help?" Peter offered, "There's got to be a cure right?"

Harry closed his eyes in sadness, "No... I don't think there is Pete. I have no idea how long I have and whatever they were using to keep me stable while I was unconscious is gone too."

"What were they using?" Peter asked, a pit forming in his stomach, "Some sort of drug or something?"

Peter knew that he was referring to the symbiote, but that was with Miles; he'd have to give it back to Harry, because if it kept him stable, he might live long enough to survive.

"Or something." Harry replied tiredly, scrubbing at his eyes.

"You need rest." Peter said as he got up and gently pushed Harry down on his bed. " You're too tired to stay up. It's been good to see you Harry. There has to be a cure out there somewhere, and if you every want to talk, I'll be there."

Harry smiled at Peter, eyes drooping. "Thanks, Pete. It's been too long, but I need to get back in shape first."

Peter chuckled, "Take it easy."

"You too." Harry replied before fully relaxing on his bed.


Peter exited the room and stood with his head bowed for a moment, praying for a solution only to turn and find himself face to face with Norman Osborn.

"Mr. Osborn!" Peter yelped in surprise.

"Peter." Norman replied evenly, "I see that you met Harry. I'm sorry you weren't told like he wanted, but it was for the best."

Peter grimaced, "I think Mary Jane and I had a right to know our best friend was dying Mr. Osborn."

"He won't die!" Norman shouted, helpless anger palpable, "I will find a cure!"

Peter wanted to point out Harry was running on a timer, but he felt pointing that out to Norman would not help anything. Reminding him that the situation was now more dire due to 'someone' now carrying the symbiote was only going to raise unwanted questions. So Peter decided to let it go.

"I hope you do sir." Peter mumbled, "I don't want to lose another person I care about."

Norman let a sigh out as he had heard about May Parker, "Of course... I apologize for yelling."

"Right." Peter mumbled as he walked away.


Miles poked at the suit that was covering his arm, marveling at how it writhed and twitched.

"This is so cool!" He whispered, "I can't wait to use this in the city! I won't have to worry about changing my clothes and worry about a safe place to hide my suit!"

His phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket to see it was Peter.

He raised it to his ear and said, "Hello?"

"Hey Miles." Peter greeted, "I need to ask you something about your suit."

Miles nodded, "Of course coach. What's up?"

"The symbiote that was on Harry's body leapt onto you, and reformed your suit." Peter said, "Harry needs the symbiote back. He's dying and the symbiote was keeping him stable. Can you meet me tomorrow so we can give it back to him?"

Miles opened his mouth to agree when a a thought struck him.

"What are you doing? If they take the suit away and stick in on Harry, you'd only be helping one person! If you use the suit as a hero, you'll be able to save hundreds with its power!" Something in him hissed.

Miles paused and shook his head, "I don't know if I can remove it, but let's try."

Peter sighed on his end of the line, "Well... we'll figure something out. We have to."


Peter carefully placed the sonic shielding into the nanobot's systems and went to the sonic emitter he prepared. Viri squirmed in discomfort at the idea of what Peter was going to do in the relative secrecy of his new apartment. While he did take some of his new tools and materials from Horizon Labs, he made sure to clear it with Max before starting. His job was good and his pay was steady, and he was in no mood to ruin that with them accusing him of stealing tech. Max had seen Peter's other inventions such as a prototype bullet-proof helmet and noise cancelling headphones. They weren't revolutionary inventions but they were much more efficient than most on the market. And — as a plus — Peter was studying a new particle he had just discovered, testing was being done but Peter was on to something big.

"I must admit," Viri grumbled, "I don't like the idea of this test."

"It's for your own protection Viri." Peter said, "This should protect you if sonics are used against us. You can bleed back under the iron spider armor to avoid the all the pain but this should dull it so you can still lend a hand and I can still fight without you being completely incapacitated."

Viri sighed but waited until peter's Iron Spider suit formed before bleeding over it into the symbiotic suit. Peter pressed a button as the sonic emitter fired and winced as Viri grunted in pain. Not perfect by far, but Viri wasn't screaming in pain and debilitating Peter alongside him by trying to hurl himself away. Viri quickly receded back under the suit and sighed in relief as the suit itself completely blocked off the sonics from affecting him. Peter let out a breath as they both waited a moment to see if the effect would wear off. When nothing happened and Viri reported that the sonics were not affecting in the slightest, Peter sighed in relief.

Peter smiled and shut off the sonic emitter as they completed the test and the initial prognoses seemed to be good. With the tweaks that Peter added to the suit, the Iron Spider was now capable of protecting Viri and enhancing Peter should he get in a fight where Viri would be at a disadvantage and unable to help. He walked over the the emitter and placed it a case he used to bring home projects from work when he had the ability to finish them at home. He had initially debated between keeping his suits at his apartment or at Horizon Labs before settling on the lab. All his spares were still in his coded Octavius Industries lockbox but he didn't want anyone to stumble across it in his apartment and try to find out what was inside. At Horizon Labs the other scientists were much less interested about what was contained in a scientist's workstations.

He sat down on his chair and leaned back for a moment, considering the situation of his life at the moment.

Miles had a symbiote.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that; Miles wearing one was fantastic in theory — his own relationship to Viri could attest to that — he would be stronger, faster, better protected and able to take on much more challenging obstacles that much more easily. It would have been fine if it wasn't for the small instant when the symbiote tried to take over him that he could feel the anger and aggression radiating off of it. Maybe it was just pissed from being bonded to Harry who was in no shape to do anything while in that vat? Maybe it just needed a better host that was actually capable of action? Better Miles than Spidercide, that combination would've been a nightmare.

Harry was out of stasis and sick, not to mention physically weak.

That was bad. Really bad. If he got a symbiote, he might be able to stave off his sickness long enough to get a cure. But Viri refused to leave Peter no matter what and Miles seemed unsure how to separate from the symbiote without hurting them both. Even so, it had to be done somehow, they couldn't just wait. Harry was in desperate need of the symbiote.

MJ was still in Symkaria, and while they tried to call, international calls were a bit too pricey for either of their paychecks to safely afford.

Yuri was still MIA after having vanished off the face of the earth leaving Peter to hope she hadn't gone a spree of killing criminals. His only shred of hope at the moment was that he hadn't found anymore crime-tape murders. But he knew that those were specifically meant to lead him to the recordings, and Yuri was no fool to tempt Peter to come after her.

Spidercide was finally taken care of, which was probably the only good thing that happened today. And while that was a very good thing, it didn't seem enough to balance out all the bad that had occurred from his rampage.

He meandered over to his bed and flopped into it face-first.

He needed sleep.


Norman Osborn grimaced at the amber liquid that he swirled in his glass as he stared over the nightlife of the city that never sleeps. Of all the disastrous things to happen, it was the loss of the symbiote.

Forget the replication of Spider-Man's abilities for all he cared at the moment, Spidercide had already proved that to be a bad idea. Finding the thing on a asteroid that had been captured by one of his companies in a crash site had been a stroke of unimaginable luck. After a few tests, he realized that the creature had healing properties and could enhance his host. He quickly brought the symbiote to his son after thoroughly sedating the creature through a heavy mix of drugs (he had no way of knowing how well the drugs meant for people would work, but he had to try). The symbiote had been unresponsive before he dumped the creature in the vat with Harry shortly after putting Harry in stasis. The initial signs had been remarkable, the symbiote was helping keep Harry alive by bonding to him, it was buying time so that the disease that killed his mother couldn't consume him.

Now it was gone and nowhere in the nooks and crannies of his penthouse that was still undergoing repairs.

He drained his glass and hunched over his desk.

He had to figure something out, he doubted Harry would allow himself to be put back under stasis again. The Devil's Breath was not an option he could use as of yet, with Dr. Micheals and Charles both having been unwilling to work on another prototype after the initial fiasco (while he was sorely tempted to lash out, he could not afford to drive off any of the people who worked on GR-27). Fisk was no doubt still cooling his heels in the raft while debating having a deal with Norman considering his diminished power and Sable damaging his reputation once again had him on the defensive. Every turned seemed fraught of problems and damage which he had no idea how to navigate, his once sterling reputation was in tatters and he had less support than ever. Not to mention his private lab was in utter ruins after Spidercide had so thoughtlessly rampaged through his home.

Norman Osborn growled in frustration as he pulled open his desk and stared at what little he did manage to salvage, his new grenades and his helmet. He frowned, it was a miracle they hadn't blown up otherwise flames wouldn't have been just restricted to the lab.

He sighed and leaned back heavily.

What was he going to do?