Ch 11

Peter thought for sure that he was having a heart attack. Three words, just three words she left him with before ending the call.

I love you.

Her voice hung on the air with such a finality. And then it dawned on him. She was saying her goodbye. If she didn't make it out of this, she wanted him to know that she loved him... tears pricked at the back of his eyes. Though he had treated her badly, abused her feelings, she still loved him. He guessed theirs was a love that outshone the darkness. And he would use that light to find her and he would not take her goodbye, not now, not ever. She was stuck with him, he was stuck with her for better or worse, but dammit, Gwen, why don't you listen to me? She had a bad habit of taking matters into her own hands, something they'd have to discuss tomorrow. And there would be a tomorrow for her. Even if she ended up hating him after this, she would live. He had bolted from the graduation, and ducked into an alley leaving his graduation robe and dress clothes. He was now swinging through the city in the direction of OsCorp, praying he was not too late, that Gwen would still be alive when he busted in those doors. That there was a Flash to save. He knew that Coulson was following him below in a black sedan. Peter had to admit, it felt kinda nice having someone on the outside beside he and Gwen that he could trust. Coulson had showed him schematics of OsCorp, and he hoped that Gwen wouldn't use the front door...

"Peter, this is is Coulson."

The sudden voice nearly made him miss his target as he swung. "Hello?" He asked. "How am I hearing you?"

"We've re-routed the signal going to your cell phone. It's like a walkie-talkie."

Peter's eyebrows shot up under his mask. He was impressed.

"We've lost visual on you. Heading to OsCorp, meet you there."

"Okay," Peter said. He wanted to reply over and out, but thought he'd sound too much like a nerd.

OsCorp loomed just ahead.

…...

The symbiote danced in the specimen jar, eager to latch itself onto a human body. Flash watched it with apprehension. It looked like living black ink. Maybe this was a bad idea. So what if he lost Gwen to Parker. He wouldn't see Parker again anyway. Flash was off to Pennsylvania, and both Parker and Gwen were staying in New York. He sat next to another man with long dark hair. Flash spotted a star tattooed on his wrist. He was chained to his chair while Flash was not. This man seemed to be drugged, as his head rested on his chest, and every now and then, his limbs would spasm. Flash had seen Norman for about two seconds when he greeted him and welcomed him into this room. Flash had passed two large thugs at the doors when he arrived. They nodded to him and ushered him down the hall.

Norman reappeared then, snapping on a pair of rubber gloves. He nodded to Flash and smiled. He walked to the jar that held the symbiote, and looked at it more closely. The symbiote went wild, attacking the glass in a frenzy to latch onto Norman.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Norman asked.

"What is that?" Flash asked.

"This, Mr. Thompson, is what I told you about. This marvelous little being will make you stronger, faster, more agile than Spider-man could ever be." He smiled, "I promised you no steroids."

Flash swallowed a large lump in his throat. "What does it do?"

"It latches into your nervous system and allows you to use its power."

"What if I want it gone?"

"You won't."

"But what if I do?" Flash asked.

Norman put the jar down, and got right into Flash's face. "Peter Parker stole your girlfriend right from under your nose, Mr. Thompson. He made a fool out of you."

Flash shook his head, "I know that, but..."

"But what?"

"I have a future, and I don't want to mess that up." Flash said, backpeddaling. "Gwen is just a girl, Mr. Osborn. I'll be able to get another one of those."

Norman nodded, placing his hands in front of himself and folding them neatly. He looked down at Flash like a teacher might to a disruptive pre-schooler. "I understand your hesitation, Mr. Thompson. How about I give you a quick demonstration?"

Flash had to admit that he was terrified, although intrigued. "Okay," He said wearily.

Norman gave a nod, walked over to the wall and flipped a switch. Two thick metal shackles came out of Flash's chair and clamped down on his wrists. That was it. He couldn't move. "Hey!" He cried out angrily.

"You try my patience, Mr. Thompson. I tried to be the good father like figure to you, and you continually spit at me. Well no more. I will show you what I see for your future, and you will see power, real power right before your eyes."

Flash struggled in his bonds as Norman took the glass containing the symbiote and walked over to the unconscious man. "Watch," Norman ordered as he opened the glass jar and the symbiote leapt onto the man, leaping into his face and crawling up his nose.

"Hey!" Flash cried, "Hey, man! Get up!"

Nothing happened for a few moments. Flash's loud, labored breathing was the only sound in the room. And then it happened. The man's eyes opened, revealing inky dark pupils. And then he began to scream.

…...

Gwen inserted her security card at the door. It glowed a bright green, and she entered the premises quietly. Two large men stood a few feet from the door. They had their arms crossed, and eyed her menacingly.

"Hi," Gwen said. "I'm... I'm here to just grab a few things."

"OsCorp is closed for the evening. You'll have to come back in the morning."

"I'd only take a minute." Gwen said.

"Ma'am, you will have to come back in the morning." The guard said, louder this time.

"Can't do that." Gwen said, and took off toward their stairs. She heard gunshots behind her, and footsteps. And then she felt a burning pain in her back that knocked her to the ground. She put a hand to her back, and it came away slick with blood. The pain hit her like a ton of bricks. But she couldn't stop. She tried to push herself up to her feet, but found that between the pain and her legs feeling like dead weights, she couldn't manage that. So, she drug herself forward. She knew she was going slow. She knew it was only a matter of seconds before the guards were on here and ended her short life. She saw the shadows creeping up on her and knew that this was it. Her mind flashed back to her family; her mother and little brothers, and also Peter. She wished she could see his face one more time, but they would be a luxury she would not be granted. She would not back down. She would not stop until they ended her. She crawled on, dragging her legs, every inch agony. She saw a pair of shiny black shoes in front of her. She didn't know if they were shoes or if her vision was going. Her head began to spin. Her arm slipped in something red. She gasped as the two men loomed over her, with peculiar guns in their hands. Those guns looked familiar. She knew them. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she remembered. They were the guns that shot those cartridges.

….

Peter's eyes focused on her before his body had a chance to react. She lie in the alley just beside OsCorp, her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and into a puddle. A small pool of blood that trickled out from beneath her turned the asphalt on the ground a purplish color in the dull light from the lamp post overhead. Her eyes were lightly closed, and she was quiet, so eerily quiet.

Peter's heart leapt into his throat, his worst nightmare happening before his very eyes. Forget that nightmare of her dying in his arms. Gwen dying alone in an alley because had not arrived in time to save her was much, much worse. His breathing was loud and heavy, and tears pricked the back of his eyes. Oh God, Gwen, please, just don't die on me. And the three words repeated in his brain and rolled off of his tongue before he cared to stop them. They were the three words she had left him with earlier that day.

"I love you." His voice came out faint but full of meaning. How it was true. How it always had been true, he just chose to go about it the wrong way. Being with her would get her heart, he had made himself believe that. But now, being without her got her heart, and he would punish himself until the end of time. He could have made her happy. He could have been there for her. He could have been the one holding her after her father died. But he had chose the path he thought he was meant to follow, and it still ended in despair.

He swung haphazardly to the ground, ignoring the blaring horns from cars as he ran across the street. He was half certain he jumped over the hood of a Chevy to get to her, but he wasn't sure. All he saw was her limp form in the alley, and he wouldn't rest until she was in his arms.

Everything flashed before his eyes as he gathered her. Every dumb argument they had, every time he pushed her away. It all seemed so pointless now. "Gwen," He whispered, yanking off one of his gloves and putting shaking fingers to her neck. There was a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. He breathed a sigh of relief and then gritted his teeth as he felt a wetness on his his hand. His palm came away slick with her blood. She was bleeding from her back. He sat her up slightly, and her head lulled to the side. He saw two jagged marks burnt through her coat. He removed that as gently as he could, and saw it. The same marks he had on his arm. She had been shot with one of those guns. His worst fears were coming to light in front of him. He knew the poison in those cartridges acted swiftly...

"Oh God," He roared softly turning his head skyward, "No. Please. You can't take her. You can't take her. Because I need her." He got to his feet then, gathering her in his arms. Vowing to love her the way that she deserved. "Do you hear me, Gwen?" He asked. "You can't leave. You can't. Because I love you, I love everything about you, and I promise..." His voice trailed off, and he swallowed the lump in his throat, "I promise to never leave you again, as long as you promise not to leave me right now."

She lay still as ever as he spoke this to her, and it unnerved him to his core. Why did it always work in the movies? The hero confesses his undying love to the girl, and she wakes from a coma. The prince lays a kiss against ruby red lips and she wakes from the evil spell. What did he have to do to cure her of a gunshot wound?

Coulson's black sedan screeched to a halt, and he jumped out, jabbering into his headset. Coulson had the resources to save Gwen's life. He was a government agent, and he needed Peter's help. Well, Peter needed his as well. Peter's heart was pounding. He cradled Gwen tightly in his arms. He hated seeing her like this. The blood from the wound on her back soaked into his suit. Her head slumped to the side as he walked with her toward Phil Coulson. He was running out of time. He had no idea when she had been shot, but it couldn't have been that long ago. It didn't take him long to get to OsCorp from the highschool. Peter's eyes locked on Coulson's.

"Please," Peter begged, "Please, you have to save her."

Phil eyed Peter, and glanced down at Gwen. He put a finger to her neck, and then got back on his headset. "This is Coulson. Gwen Stacey is down, I need a medic ASAP at OsCorp."

"Save her." Peter whispered not even bothering to ask how Phil knew Gwen's name, "Save her, and I will join any team you want."

Phil took Gwen from him. The older man cradled her awkwardly, and turned to the sedan. "Get the door. What happened?"

"She's been shot in the back with some type of OsCorp gun... it shoots some kind of cartridge," Peter whispered, knowing for almost certain that she'd be paralyzed now. Those cartridges had to have hit her spine. His hands curled into fists at his side. Wait till he got his hands around Osborn's neck. If he denied Gwen the chance to walk or dance at her wedding...

Phil gently placed her on her side in the back seat. He got back on his headset. "She's been hit with the Zeus prototype."

Overhead, the windows on a higher floor of the OsCorp building shattered. Peter watched as shards of glass impaled the ground. A horrible, guttural scream followed. Peter looked up there. He had to go, but he had to make sure Gwen was going to be safe first. "That's my cue."

"I'll take care of her." Phil said, locking eyes with Peter, "You have my word."

Peter saw a gentle understanding in Phil Coulson's eyes. The kind of reasoning that made Peter understand what this girl meant to him. Peter gave Gwen a quick glance, taking her image with him as he shot his hand up and started his decent on the OsCorp building.