There was no alternative; he had to help Peter. Andrew texted a quick response saying he was just outside of the train tunnel and that he would be there shortly. He pocketed his phone and pulled the mask out of his bag.
The electricity bouncing off the skyscrapers made it obvious who they would be facing tonight and with an event this big, Peter was probably right that Andrew should be hiding his identity. There was no time to change into the whole suit, so the mask and hoodie would have to suffice for tonight.
"I'm going," Andrew said to Violet.
"I knew you would," she smiled, but it didn't hold for long. "You do realize what has to happen tonight though?"
"Yes," he said in a clipped tone.
Violet stared at him for a moment. "Ok, I'm coming too."
"What? Why?"
She quirked an eyebrow at him and frowned, saying nothing.
Oh.
Violet was going to be damage control; Gwen Stacy needed to die tonight and in case Harry wasn't there, she was going to make sure it happened. Andrew knew his sister would never want to intentionally hurt anybody, but when it came to family, she would do whatever it took to keep them safe. Andrew was just glad that she volunteered herself to execute the task if need be; he had grown closer to Gwen in the last couple of months.
"Right... well, let's get going." Andrew jerked his head towards the city.
Violet wasn't looking at him, though. She was staring past him. "Look!"
Andrew turned just in time. He jumped back several steps, narrowly avoiding being plummeted by-
"Whoops!" Peter was in his full Spider-man suit. "Sorry about that, just, I'm kind of in a hurry."
Peter wasn't alone. He set down an angry-looking Gwen onto her feet. She immediately started arguing with him about her choices and respecting the decisions she's trying to make.
"No!" Peter said in finality. "It's too dangerous, Gwen. You're not coming. Andrew will be there to back me up, right?" he turned to Andrew.
Andrew shifted his eyes to Violet and then back to Peter. "Of Course."
"Well, I'm coming too. I can do something to help. Tell him, Andrew." Violet's eyes widened with feigned alarm.
Andrew scrunched up his face in confusion. Then, realizing what Violet was doing, was glad he was wearing his mask.
"Like he said, it's too dangerous," said Andrew. Violet scowled.
Violet knew that Peter didn't know that she had powers too. If she revealed her powers now, either Peter wouldn't trust them, or he would take all the help he could get and leave Gwen here out of harm's way. By staying behind with Gwen, Violet could make sure Gwen was in the place they needed her to be in.
"You two stay here, we need to go stop him before he hurts more people." Peter pivoted his foot like he was unsure if he really wanted to leave Gwen here. "But, just to make sure you don't try anything..."
Peter shot out two strands of webbing, one towards Gwen and one towards Violet. He had basically made them each a pair of web-handcuffs.
"Peter!" Gwen yelled out indignantly. She immediately snapped her mouth shut and sheepishly looked at Violet. Peter put his palm to his forehead and shook his head.
"It's fine, she can keep a secret," Andrew said quickly, "but we need to go now!"
Peter shouted a quick 'sorry' to Gwen and Violet and swung away from the train tunnels, Andrew close behind him.
As they got closer to the skyscrapers, the air popped with static from Electro. With a quick look below, the police were already stopping traffic, attempting to prevent further accidents.
"Holy shit," Andrew murmured to himself. Electro's face was lit up nearly ten stories tall on the side of a building, and he was looking right at them.
"There you are, Spider-man." The face blinked. "It looks like you've brought a friend. But I was your friend first!"
Peter dropped down on top of the building across from Electro, while Andrew clung to the side. "It was a misunderstanding, Max!" Peter shouted. "I was trying to help you. Let me help you."
"You're nothing but a liar, Spider-man," Electro ground out. Andrew climbed to the top of the building, hopping over the side. "I am going to take my grid back, and everyone will look to me for their electricity!"
"Sorry, Twinkles, but you might as well give up now," said Andrew. "There's two of us and only one of you."
"My friend will be here soon," Electro replied mysteriously. "My new, better friend."
The face suddenly vanished and a surge of blue electricity shot out at Peter, which he narrowly avoided. Andrew squinted at the blue electricity that now seemed to be flying away from them, not because he couldn't see it, but because it seemed so unreal. Electro was the flying blue electricity, he wasn't just throwing it at them.
"He's heading for the grid!" Peter swung forward after Electro. "Race to see who gets there first?" he called after Andrew.
Andrew huffed out a laugh and jumped off the building, shooting out his webbing and zipping forward. He would never take that challenge from Violet since she was the fastest in their family, but he was sure he could beat Peter.
Once again, even in all this danger, it was like a game to them. Swinging through the buildings, and dodging random bursts of electricity from Electro seemed like child's play. Andrew did a double somersault in the air, just missing another blast and Peter whooped excitedly. Electro seemed to buzz louder when he heard the two laughing behind him.
Peter ended up winning by a couple seconds, though Andrew wouldn't admit it out loud. They both stood on top of a building, overlooking the power grid that Electro seemed so obsessed with.
"I will not let you take this away from me!" Electro appeared in front of them and shot out several bolts at them, cracking the building under them.
Peter jumped forward as Andrew jumped down lower on the building. Electro flew straight in front of Peter, swinging a giant electric fist at him.
"Watch out!" Andrew leapt forward without a second thought, taking the full brunt of the swing. The electricity surged through him and he fell to the ground. He quickly got to his feet, still shaking slightly.
Peter was at his side in an instant. "You good?"
"Yeah," Andrew nodded.
"Thanks," Peter said seriously. Andrew just waved his hand as if it were nothing. "Do you think you can distract him while I crack open that water pipeline?"
Andrew nodded, shaking himself off. He swung himself up into the power grid, shooting webs at Electro, who was easily dodging them. Peter was waiting for him to get Electro in front of the pipeline, which was proving difficult. His movements were sluggish after getting electrocuted. He hoped it would wear off soon.
The next thing Andrew thought of was to use his fear augmentation to possibly incapacitate Electro in front of the pipeline; however he hated using the extra powers that Stryker had given to him. He decided to try a different tactic, when he felt a sudden whoosh next to him, and suddenly Electro was floating in front of the pipeline looking just as confused as Andrew felt.
Andrew looked around, but no one else was with them. Whatever had happened seemed to be good enough for Peter. He strapped his webbing around the end of the pipeline and cracked it open, causing the water to blast straight for Electro.
"This again, Spidey?" Electro surged his own blast of electricity against the water easily overtaking it, and Peter was thrown backwards. Andrew took this opportunity and swung forward, delivering a kick to Electro's jaw.
"Peter!" Andrew looked down and saw Gwen running up to the scene, Violet close behind her. When Peter heard Gwen's voice, he kicked himself up off the ground and quickly made his way to her.
"What are you two doing here?!" Peter threw his hands up in the air.
Electro was throwing out beams of electricity in retaliation at Andrew, who was both trying to dodge them and listen to what was going on with the others down below.
"You can't just web us up and expect us to stay out of it!" Gwen yelled. "I know these grid specs, I worked at Oscorp! I can reset the system!"
One bolt of electricity got a little too close for Andrew's liking, and he had to practically bend over backwards to avoid it. "Come on, Twinkles, is that all you've got?" Electro opened his mouth and a tunnel of electricity came straight for Andrew who dropped to the ground, missing it by less than an inch.
Andrew was about to swing back upwards to avoid electricity being shot at the others, but Electro stayed put at the top of the power grid, not even making another move. Peter and Gwen were quietly arguing with each other.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha"
The hair stood up on the back of Andrew's neck. He knew that laugh. He and Violet had first heard it when they had snuck out of the house to help people out of a burning building. The goblin had shown up and he had been terrifying back then.
"What is this now?" Peter stared up at the glider that was circling the power grid. Wherever the glider was flying at that time, Peter kept maneuvering his body to be in front of Gwen. Andrew's stomach was in knots.
"Ha-ha-ha-ha"
"I told you my friend would be here soon!" Electro yelled to them from the power grid.
The glider circled the grid once more before slowing to a stop in front of their group. Andrew heard Gwen gasp behind him as she realized who it was. Harry's eyes darted between Peter and Andrew, as if he was trying to figure out who was who. Electro flew down next to Harry, hovering several feet above the ground.
"Harry, what- what happened?" Peter took a step forward, keeping a watchful eye on Electro. Greenish black veins ran down Harry's neck, and his hair looked like he had just got electrocuted.
"Peter," Harry smiled sinisterly. "It looks like I couldn't count on you after all."
"What did you do Harry?" Peter took another step forward. He was next to Andrew now, with Gwen and Violet behind them.
"You lied to me, Peter. Both of you did." Harry shot a look at Andrew. "In fact, you lied to Max too, which is why I helped him escape."
"You broke him out of Ravencroft?" Peter shook his head in disbelief.
Harry sniffed derisively. "I wasn't going to let the Oscorp board bury him in there like they wanted to do with me."
"Let's get you out of here, Harry. We can help you."
Harry cackled and shook his head. "Help me? Help me?! I've been asking you to help me for weeks! You did this to me, Peter! This is your fault."
"Peter..." Gwen whispered behind them, her voice shaking. She wrapped her hand around Peter's arm as if she wanted to pull him away from Harry.
Harry's head snapped up and his attention went to who was behind them. He tilted his head as he stared at Violet. "You," he growled, clearly recognizing her. His glider moved forward several feet.
"Harry..." Peter warned him, pushing both of the girls back with his arm.
The glider stopped. Harry's eyes darted between Gwen, Andrew, and Peter next, before he smiled maliciously again. "Gwen Stacy. It seems everytime we meet, you're either with Peter or him," he pointed at Andrew.
"Harry, ignore them. Talk to me, ok? I'm your friend. I can help you," Peter said anxiously. If what Harry had said bothered him, Peter didn't let it show.
"I wonder which one of you will mourn her more." Harry smiled and then turned to Electro. "Now, Max!"
Harry's glider shot forward towards Peter and Gwen, while Electro blasted electricity at Andrew. Violet shot her webbing towards Andrew, pulling him out of the way; the move did not go unnoticed by Peter. Electro flew forward, pinning Violet to the ground. He opened his mouth and another tunnel of electricity shot out, electrocuting Violet. She gasped in pain.
Andrew swung forward, giving Electro a powerful kick in the side, shooting him far into the power grid.
"That... really hurts..." Violet fought to catch her breath.
"Hell yeah it does," Andrew agreed.
Peter had Gwen held tight to his chest with one arm, while dodging attacks from Harry through the power grid with his other arm. At one point, Harry managed to hit Peter into one of the poles, but he never once let go of Gwen.
"We need to stop Electro. He's going to hurt a lot more people," Andrew said. "The power needs to be reset in that building," he pointed.
"Lucky for you I researched as much as I could about the power grid while you were off playing hero with Peter," Violet said smugly.
Suddenly, Peter's body was thrown into the ground beside them and he groaned in pain. There was a deep gash in his arm and without thinking, Andrew shot out a small web to hold the wound together.
"Harry, no!" Peter called out to him. "Andrew, help me!" He jumped up from the ground and swung after Harry.
Electro had made his way back to them after Andrew's kick, throwing multiple electricity bolts at the both of them. Violet jumped into the air, easily dodging all of the attacks. Andrew shot more webs at him, which Electro kept hitting them out of his way. The power grid was making him more powerful.
"Go, help him!" Violet said to Andrew as she flipped backwards into the air, Electro flying right past her. "Make sure Peter stays safe. I've got this."
Andrew nodded, knowing his sister could handle Electro; she was much quicker than him. He looked around, trying to spot where Peter had gone, and saw two figures under the bridge across from the power grid. He swung there quickly, wondering where Gwen had gone.
Harry and Peter were fighting next to one of the pillars under the bridge. Peter looked like he was frantically trying to climb upwards, but Harry kept fighting him, breaking his webs with the glider and some high tech blade in his hand.
"Andrew!" Peter called to him. "Get Gwen, hurry!"
Shit.
"You need help!" Andrew yelled. Harry had him pinned to the side of the wall, Peter was fighting to keep the blade that Harry was using away from him.
"No, get Gwen! She's hanging from the deck of the bridge-" Peter was cut off by a punch in the face. He swung his head forward, looking like he'd break Harry's nose, but Harry pinned him again, wrapping his hand around the gash on his arm. "-she's hanging on to my webbing, she won't be able to for much longer, HURRY!"
He looked to his right and there Gwen was, hanging off the deck of the bridge, about twenty feet down. Peter was right; she wasn't going to be able to hang on much longer. With every second she was sliding further down the webbing.
No no no no no! It wasn't supposed to be like this.
He turned around and Violet was making some sort of webbing knot between some of the coils in the power grid all while dodging Electro's attacks.
"Andrew!" Peter's voice brought him back from his thoughts and Andrew swung himself up on the deck of the bridge. Cars were left empty as people had fled the area when Electro was causing his destruction.
He knelt down and peered over the side. "I can't hold on much longer," Gwen said in a strained voice.
Andrew shut his eyes and took a deep breath.
Letting her die was the same as killing her. He didn't- couldn't be that person anymore. In the end, it always managed to come back to him.
Gwen's hands slipped from the webbing and Andrew shot out his own webbing, wrapping it around her hand in an instant. It was like an instinct: when someone's in trouble, you help them. The look of relief she gave made it so much worse because he knew he just fucked up. He could have just let her fall and that would be that. But he saved her. Now it was going to be his own webbing that failed her.
The relief slowly evaporated from Gwen's face when she realized Andrew wasn't pulling her up. "Andrew?" she called to him in uncertainty.
He tilted his head up towards the power grid. Violet told him that there would be consequences to what Andrew was doing, and he in turn told her he would deal with them. It was either Gwen, or Violet and himself.
"I'm sorry," he said thickly.
Gwen's eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. "Peter!"
Andrew let the webbing slide through his fingers. Gwen screamed out in shock as she no longer had anything to hold onto and plummeted towards the water. There was a loud metallic noise near the power grid, but he didn't have a chance to see what it was. Something crashed into his side. Andrew flew sideways hitting one of the suspension towers.
Peter shot out his webbing towards Gwen. It had been him who pushed Andrew out of the way. The next sound Andrew heard was something that he would never forget. Gwen must not have hit the water yet, because the noise he heard was definitely something breaking. His stomach hurt.
Had Peter not heard what had happened? He continued to pull her up, mumbling under his breath. Andrew stood up as Peter pulled Gwen's lifeless body over the edge of the bridge and up onto the deck platform where they were. Her head hung at an unnatural angle; the whiplash from Peter's webbing had caused her neck to snap.
"Oh, God." Peter sobbed, ripping off his mask and tossing it to the side. "Gwen. Gwen!" He collapsed onto the ground and cradled her body into his lap. There was no doubt that she was dead. Peter pulled her closer, pressing his forehead against hers, and cried out in agony.
"I wasn't fast enough," Andrew murmured. Peter didn't even look up at him.
It was painful to see him like this; his father who had always been so strong had been paralyzed in his grief. Andrew couldn't accept the fact the he was the one who caused Peter this pain. He could practically feel his pain, and he knew this had broken something inside of him.
Violet's sudden scream shook Andrew out of the near trance he was in.
"I'm... I'm sorry," was all he could muster up before he swung off of the bridge, hating himself every second for leaving Peter up there by himself.
He made his way to the power grid as fast as he could. Harry's glider had crashed into the ground near one of the coils, and Harry's unconscious body lay beside it. That must have been the noise Andrew heard earlier.
Violet was attempting to tie the last of her webbing knot together while being blasted with Electro's electricity. Andrew jumped forward to stop him when Violet shook her head and yelled out to him. "I reset the system all you have to do is pull the red lever in the control room! Do it now Andrew!"
Andrew swung as quickly as he could. A dead security guard surprised him at first, but he soon found the red lever. As soon as he pulled it, Violet was shot backwards into a power coil, and the electricity bounced from the web knot back into Electro. Whatever Violet had done worked; it was overcharging him, causing the city lights to start turning back on. With a last painful growl from Electro, he burst into nothing; he had been defeated.
"Vi?" Andrew called out to his sister as he left the control room. The shock from the electricity had sent her flying and he needed to make sure she was alright. The elated feeling of defeating Electro was gone the moment he remembered what he had just done to Gwen and Peter.
"Vi, where are-" Andrew felt the wind knocked out of him as a second force knocked into him, sending him tumbling back several times.
"You son of a bitch!" Peter yanked the momentarily stunned Andrew off the ground with his webbing, just to knock him back down with a shot to his chest.
"What are you doing?" he held out an arm in defense as he got to his feet. The look of resentment on Peter's face told him everything. Peter wasn't stupid; he knew Andrew could have saved her if he had gotten there sooner.
He lunged at Andrew, taking another swing that just missed his face. "I saw you! You- you had her! And you just let her go!" Peter webbed a chunk of the wreckage from Harry's glider and hurled it towards Andrew, who ducked and swung himself out of the way as a second piece of wreckage came his way.
Andrew wasn't sure what his plan was at this point. He couldn't tell Peter why he did what he did, he would just think he was crazy. In the back of his mind, Andrew thought maybe he could still get away with what happened; he wasn't fast enough, he couldn't hold on properly because he had been electrocuted, or something that didn't take Peter out of his life. There wasn't really anything he could say to him now; he had fucked up whatever chance of friendship he had with him the moment he let go of Gwen. Peter didn't deserve this, and Andrew wasn't going to fight him back.
"You're a murderer. You're just like the people that we save this city from." Peter spit at him. Andrew paused at the accusation, which was all Peter had needed. He leapt forward with brute force, grabbing the back of Andrew's hoodie as he somersaulted over him, and slammed him onto the ground.
"I trusted you!" Peter pinned him to the ground, delivering a solid punch to his face. He was shaking with anger, his eyes narrowed and cold. "I let you in my house!" Punch. "I let you sleep in my room when you had nowhere else to go!" Punch. "I made you that suit!" Peter ripped the mask off of him and threw it aside.
"I know," Andrew gasped. That second punch had broken his nose, and the mask was practically suffocating him with the blood running down his face. "I know," he repeated.
A look of concern crossed Peter's face, before his eyes hardened again. "You were my friend." His voice broke. "I stuck up for you through everything. What did she ever do to you, huh? What did I do?" The anger on his face transformed into betrayal.
"Nothing!" Andrew fought back tears, hating how everything was always his fault. Hating the way Peter was looking at him. None of this was Peter's fault, and he had to know that.
"Then why?!" Peter cried out, shaking him. "Why!"
"Andrew?"
Peter and Andrew turned their heads to see Violet limping out of the power grid. Her eyes widened when she saw the state of her brother.
"Get off of him." Violet had tried to make that sound like a command, but her voice was strained and she could barely hold herself up.
"Just stay there, Vi. Everything is fine," Andrew said. He knew Peter's mental state was not the best at the moment, and he didn't need him going after his sister while she was hurt. Despite what he just said, it didn't surprise him when Peter's fist collided with his face again.
"Fuck," Andrew groaned, holding his nose with his free hand. If it wasn't broken before, it definitely was now.
"Everything is not fine!" Peter growled, looking over at Violet once more before turning his attention back to Andrew. "That's another thing. You lied about her; she has powers. What else did you lie to me about?"
Andrew shook his head and closed his eyes, knowing what was coming next. What was the point? He wasn't going to believe anything he told him anyways.
"Stop hitting him!" Violet yelled, much closer now.
Andrew's left eye was nearly swollen shut, and his vision seemed blurry to him in his right. He could just make out Peter's outline in front of him. They had been so focused on each other, that neither of them noticed the newcomer.
"Who are you?" Violet called out.
"Lay another hand on my son and I'll knock your fucking teeth out."
Andrew knew that voice, but it was impossible that he was hearing it. Peter's weight was suddenly thrown off of him. Andrew opened his good eye as much as he could, ignoring the pain. A man in an all black Spider-man-like suit besides the white spider logo was standing in front of him, arm stretch out towards him. Andrew weakly lifted his arm towards him.
"Dad?" Violet asked in disbelief.
Orange and red suddenly erupted around them. The sound was intense; Andrew wouldn't have been surprised if it rendered him deaf. He heard his sister scream and someone call out to him, and then suddenly nothing.