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Chapter Four
The hefty rain spitting on him, Peter's costume was getting flooded inside him like a water tank, resulting in an unwanted cold. His webbing slipping off the drenched rooftops, he holstered his body onto the clapping tiles of a church's top. His hands too shaken to crawl, he wrapped his arms and legs around the metal cross that overlooked the cemetery. Hundreds, if not thousands attended the funeral, most of them police officers. In the foreground of the black parade was Harry, minding himself with a white rose in his left hand and a clenched fist in his right. Peter couldn't get a good look at him, but could tell he was crying because of the red welling surrounding his eyes. He carried the same swelling, but blackened like a bruise. On the way there, he had contemplated himself to tears, his head everywhere at once. Each place fed into his headache of depression that grew deeper with each rain drop steaming down his face, joining gracefully with his tears down to his chin. And as they left his face, he started laughing his heart out. Just a few feet away from Gwen's grave, there was Uncle Ben's. He'd always wanted her to meet him-she would of loved him. Shrouding his pale face again with the red emblem, he kept laughing, realizing maybe they did meet.
Two weeks had flown past so quickly following Gwen's funeral. For close friends and family, it was a time for closure and a chance to move on, but it was a different story for Peter and Harry. The pair had been at each other's throats since the explosion, both unwilling to forgive each other for what had happened. Peter wanted Osborne as he felt that he was responsible for the events that happened. Harry wanted Peter for his callousness. The two had not spoken to each other and deliberately tried to avoid each other as they would take different sidewalks, subway routes and bus stops in order to avoid seeing each other's faces. Their friendship had truly died, and it was proven.
It was a sunny Monday morning when Peter headed down the Forest Hills street on his rusty moped. He felt he couldn't do anything without seeing Gwen pop out in his mind. How he let her go so easily towards her death. She was just minutes away. Suddenly, his spider-sense alerted him of a nearby danger. He had been hoping that it was the giant Scorpion that he had been tracking throughout the city for days. So far, he had no luck with it, he was assuming that was about to change. Quickly, he pulled the brakes on his moped, stopping it immediately, and when no one was around, he swung into an alley, changing into his costume. Once he was ready, he wildly leaped across the rooftops towards the area of danger he sensed. As he landed and perched himself on top of a roof, he was amazed to see that the police had cordoned off the street. No one was hurt but a huge hole had appeared in the road which led down to the sewers beneath. Spidey inspected the hole carefully to find that it was a tunnel that had been cleverly dug. He wanted to go down, but the severed electrical cables made it too dangerous for him to crawl down. So there was only one other way. He was going to dive down.
"Well I don't really have any experience in water aerobics, but here goes."He thought as he prepared to dive.
Using his strength, Spidey formed his body into the shape of the arrow and headed for the hole. With one quick swoop, he entered the hole and burst his way through the electrical cables that could've fried him. He landed with a plash down in the dark caverns of the New York sewer system. The place stank and was piled in garbage as Spidey tried hard not to puke inside his mask. He always tried hard to avoid going down there but he knew that his luck would bring him back.
"Right now how hard can it be?"he thought vigorously while heading cautiously in a random direction. There's a 6 foot monster down here with a tail the size of the Coney Island promenade and bad teeth. He shouldn't be hard to find, right"
As he scaled the tunnel wall, He could hear a foul growling sound that echoed from the darkness up head. It sent a chill down his spine which left him feeling apprehensive to go further. Getting himself together, he moved onwards. The tunnel led to a room where there were a dozen switch boards that controlled the sewer turbines. Spidey ashamedly recognized the place from an earlier encounter that he had with the Lizard. The switchboards were sparking as if they had been tampered with, even destroyed. Above them was another hole which led up towards another level of the sewer system. Spidey web-zipped upwards through the hole and clung onto the slimy wall. He had found the Scorpion prowling idiotically.
"Hey Gargan!" he shouted as he fired a shot of webbing at the creature. "So this is where you hang out? Well it's not upper class but I like it. It has that, Umm.. slimy look. No wonder you like this place"
"You again!" Scorpion loudly snarled as he used his tale to knock the wall crawler to the ground. "I don't know how you found me, but you will never leave here alive, and that I can assure!"
"Is that so now Scorpy?" Spidey replied as he continuously dodged the Scorpion's attacks. "Because we surface spiders don't like the sewers that much. In fact, I wonder if you could do me a little favor and perhaps, I don't know, make my job easier and turn yourself in?"
"Don't make me laugh, you stupid bug!" Scorpion replied as he hit the wall crawler in the chest, sending him through the wall. "Don't you see what's happened! I'm not the bad guy here, Norman Osborne did this to me! He ruined my life and you're just making it harder!"
Spidey emerged from the wall and staggered towards the Scorpion, regaining his strength, he leapt upwards and fired a barrage of web balls to subdue the enraged Scorpion.
"Don't you understand Gargan. I can help you return to who you were." He continued as he pinned the beast to the floor. "It still can be done let alone the damage that you've done to the labs. All I need you to do is come with me."
"I…I don't trust you!" Scorpion groaned.
"Hey! Arachnids got to stick together, right amigo!
A raging Scorpion had enough of his smart talk and sliced through the thick webbing and sent the wall crawler up towards the bright street. "I'll never trust you or anyone else again! YOU'VE RUINED MY LIFE AND OVER TIME YOU WILL ALL PAY!"
Sometime later, Spidey regained consciousness and quickly realized that he was back on the street side. His sight was a bit fuzzy but he could easily make out the noisy crowd that was forming around him along with a few shattered cars and burst water pipes.
"I got to get the hell out of here before the boys in blue arrive."He thought as he picked himself up off the pavement and swung off into the city.
He had travelled quite away through the sewers as he swung tiredly across the George Washington Bridge and towards his favorite hiding spot; behind the warehouse at the small pier. As he arrived at the destination, he quickly changed into Peter Parker and decided to get the bus home. He paid his ticket and winced in pain as he slumped down into his seat. The journey was a long one but it gave him time to reflect on his fight with Scorpion.
"He sure did a number on me. My ribs feel like they've been cut to shreds."He thought as he stared blinkingly out of the window. "If only Gargan could listen to me. If only he would realize that I am trying to help him not kill him. If only he knew that Spider-Man hates Norman as well as he does. It hurts so much when I think of Gwen and yet I feel like it's my fault, why? It was Harry! If he saved himself, he could have saved Gwen on time!
When he finally arrived home, he noticed a black limousine parked outside his suburban house in Queens. He recognized the plates anywhere. It was the Osborne limousine. Brushing himself off and acting casually, he walked towards his house and prepared for a confrontation with his aunt. He thought this because most incidents would normally involve his Aunt May. As he approached the door, he was stopped in his tracks by Harry.
"Peter. I've been looking for you." He said with a fierce look in his eye. "I was beginning to think that you fled the country with your guilty conscience."
"Not now Harry. I haven't got time for this." Peter replied as he prized Harry's grip off his shoulder.
"Yes now!" Harry snarled. "I'm going to say this once because you deserve to hear it! You heartless sack of crap that I've ever known and I hope you rot in hell for what you did that day. Gwen needed you and you walked away! You had to drag us to Oscorp didn't you! You didn't even think to check if she was okay with going there! You were stuck in that stupid world of yours!
Peter snapped into tears, nostrils flaring. "Fuck you" Clearing his throat, he lands a punch on Harry's jaw, almost throwing him off balance. Harry glared back at Peter, knowing he held it back.
"Don't think that I haven't seen the signs, Osborne! I've known from beginning that it was always your true intention to steal her away from me. You were never happy for us! NEVER HAPPY! It was your father that killed her with that Scorpion freak. You're supposed to be my best friend Harry, not a self centered jerk who planned on making his best friend's life a living hell"
"If it makes you feel better" Harry replied, wiping the blood from his lips. "You've never appreciated what I've done for you. Gwen never deserved you after the way you treated her. She should've been with me. I would've kept her safe!"
"That was her choice to make not mine." Peter interrupted as he turned away to hide his tears. "She could of been with you but she didn't because she didn't love you. You guys had nothing in common. She loved me. You can't blame me because of the choices she made. Any sane person would know that."
"Then who do I blame for this atrocity?" Harry said as he reached for his Handkerchief.
"She never loved you! She wanted a real person, not some pampered one-dimensional rich boy"
Rushing into his house, Aunt May approached Peter worryingly.
"Peter, is everything alright?"
Peter didn't even look back at her
"No!"
He ran up to his bedroom in great pain of stress, jumping onto his bed. He dug in his pocket, pulling out a tin tube of green, bubbling fluids.
"Gargan...you're right here"
Outside his front porch, Harry sat on his swing bench, grabbing a white and pink pillow that was horribly hand knit, which meant it Gwen made it.
"Gwen" He said, voice slowly falling apart. "You were so good at being lame" He managed to say before his words cracked away, leaving a smile.
