Act 3, Scene 28
Back on the bridge.
SPIDERMAN: I save Jameson's son and in return his old man offers a reward on my head. And what do the people do? Support me? No. They hunt me.
We hear a whisper on the wind, a whisper of Norman Osborn's voice.
NORMAN: In spite of everything you've done for them...
SPIDERMAN: And then there's you, Eddie. What am I going to do with you?
Directly beneath them on the bridge, Lynas' car screeches to a halt, causing immediate traffic chaos. Mary-Jane emerges from the car first, looking upward, straining her eyes to make out the figures above.
MARY-JANE: NO!
Between the squealing tires of traffic and her shout, Spiderman notices her presence below. Lynas emerges from the car, holding the sonic emitter.
LYNAS: Take this with you!
MARY-JANE: I need to get up there!
LYNAS: Er...how?
A webline attaches itself to her waist and wraps around her once, twice. She's pulled upwards out of shot with a small squeal. Lynas cocks his head to one side in a 'well, that's one way' kinda way.
People begin to emerge from their cars to verbally abuse Lynas. They witness MJ's sudden ascension, however, and notice what's going on above.
MAN: It's him!
WOMAN: Who?
MAN: Bob Hesselmeyer!
Inside Lynas' car, Bob Hesselmeyer gives a proud little grin.
Up above meanwhile, Mary-Jane is deposited via some elaborate web-trickery on the opposite end of the same bridge beam that holds Spiderman, who himself is still holding Eddie Brock over the side. Mary-Jane takes a moment to steady herself and makes the mistake of looking down.
MARY-JANE: (terrified) Oh my God...
SPIDERMAN: Nostalgic yet, MJ? I know I am. How about you, Eddie?
EDDIE: Let me go!
SPIDERMAN: Let you go? Well if you insist-
MARY-JANE: No! Peter, no!
Brock is released...and caught again a quarter-second later. Even so the sensation of beginning to fall is enough to send Eddie Brock into another fit of ranting, pleading and cursing at his captor.
SPIDERMAN: Journalists.
He webs the man's mouth shut. Mary-Jane is crawling extremely carefully along the beam toward them. The positions are eerily identical to the setup in Peter's nightmare, except with Peter standing in the spot where the Goblin once stood.
MARY-JANE: Stop this, Pete. Please.
SPIDERMAN: Don't call me that.
MARY-JANE: It's who you are.
SPIDERMAN: No more.
MARY-JANE: No. It's this thing inside of you-
SPIDERMAN: Yes. Weakness. That's what I always feared. That I'd go back to being just Parker again, that I'd lose my powers like last year.
MARY-JANE: The nightmares.
SPIDERMAN: I can't lose myself again.
MARY-JANE: If you drop him, you will. Can't you see that? You'll be hunted for the rest of your life. You just got your life back, Pete! Why...why would you do this?
SPIDERMAN: That was for you and Aunt May. No-one will know Peter Parker did this. This is for me. Stay back, MJ. I'm warning you.
Tears stream down Mary-Jane's face.
MARY-JANE: I love you, Peter.
SPIDERMAN: Yeah. I remember.
MARY-JANE: (desperately)Are you making him proud?
SPIDERMAN: I'm done with that. Goodbye, Eddie.
We watch his fingers slowly uncurl around Eddie's shirt. Eddie's mouth strains at its web-bonds in a silent scream. Mary-Jane sobs helpless tears. And then-
HARRY: Don't do it, Peter!
Frozen in amazement (and with Eddie still attached) Spiderman looks down. Clambering up the girders toward them is Harry Osborn.
MARY-JANE: (as amazed as we are) Harry?!
SPIDERMAN: Harry! Good to see you, buddy! Let's go for coffee!
HARRY: Sounds good, Pete. Why don't you web Eddie to the surface and we'll do that?
SPIDERMAN: Oh, gimme a break. I'm being talked down by an escaped lunatic?
HARRY: I'm not the one dangling some guy over a bridge, am I...
SPIDERMAN: What, am I supposed to believe you're cured now?
HARRY: I am cured. Thanks to you. You gave me a chance when you could have killed me. Whatever was between us in the past, Pete - it's over.
SPIDERMAN: And what about dear Daddy?
HARRY: I loved my father, but he died when he took that serum, not afterward. No-one knows that better than me, now. I was just lucky to have people who believed in me. I know you're still in there, Peter.
SPIDERMAN: You're wrong.
HARRY: No. I'm not.
Spiderman says nothing. We see his head swing from looking at Harry to looking at Eddie Brock.
HARRY: You've got a choice, Peter. We are who we choose to be! So choose!
Massive internal conflicts are raging within Peter/Spiderman/the symbiote. He staggers and poor wretched Eddie flounders in mid-air, panicking. Eventually he lets loose with a piercing cry of frustration, rage, pain, and a hundred other emotions...and Eddie Brock drops to the beam. Brock falls onto his knees, his hands still webbed together.
SPIDERMAN: Aaaaaaaaggggh!
MARY-JANE: Peter!
Peter is beginning to change, and this time we sense it might be permanent. His teeth are sharpening, his body filling out, becoming more and more powerful as the symbiote makes an all-out grab for power, seizing the moment of uncertainty in Peter's mind to make its challenge.
Harry runs to the next beam and jumps, pulling himself up one-handed with some effort, making his way toward the scene above him.
HARRY: Stay away from him, MJ!
Brock, terrified at what he's seeing, tries to crawl away...and a claw, not a hand, alights on his ankle. He looks behind him tries to scream, but can't. Peter's face has now completely transformed into the symbiote's true form; a howling, monstrously-tongued, needle-toothed abomination, leering and hissing at him.
PETER/THING: Brock...
Brock kicks out at the thing, and so debilitating are the physical changes it's going through that he actually manages to free himself. Mary-Jane grabs his hand and tries to pull him clear. They scramble across the beam away from the figure that was once Peter Parker...
...only for two black weblines to attach themselves to their backs. Getting stronger and less debilitated by the moment, the creature approximates a laugh as it reels Mary-Jane and Eddie in, pulling them back toward it. MJ screams as the weblines bring them within touching distance of the thing. It reaches out a deformed arm and grabs Eddie by the leg...
...just as Harry Osborn arrives.
HARRY: Get the hell out of my friend.
We pan down to his right hand. It's holding a sonic emitter.
The Peter/Thing screams, but too late. Harry activates the emitter and the blackness surrounding Peter's body spasms and writhes. The webline holding MJ breaks and she's free, falling to the beam and almost rolling off. Only Harry's outstretched hand saves her.
MARY-JANE: Harry! Don't let me fall!
Eddie's webline also breaks, but he's being physically held by the thing, and it won't let go. His mouth still welded shut, he can't scream; his eyes plead with Harry for help. Harry however has MJ hanging off the edge by just one hand to deal with. He is forced to drop the emitter to the beam and swing his other arm around to better support MJ.
The emitter continues to broadcast its terrible disruption. The symbiote's blackness is literally bleeding out of Peter now, leaving his white skin exposed, but causing him spectacular agony in the process. And yet, as the blackness bleeds from his face, we see a curious expression of pleasure and triumph alight in Peter's eyes. He even manages to grit his teeth and hiss-
PETER: Get...OUT!
The symbiote flows along the only biological route available to it. Eddie Brock. He is soon covered in the living skin. Finally the webbing covering his mouth is dissolved and re-absorbed back into the main mass of the symbiote, leaving Eddie just enough time to emit one lingering scream.
Harry manages to get MJ safely back up on the beam. He turns to Eddie's writhing body.
EDDIE: HELP...ME!
Harry reaches out a hand, but he's stopped by Mary-Jane, who jerks his hand back.
MARY-JANE: Don't touch him! It'll spread to you!
Eddie's accusing eyes settle on them both. That expression of betrayal is the last thing they see as his body slips, slides, and finally topples over the beam and down...down into the raging river below. It's gone, over in an instant, leaving only the three friends above.
Harry crawls over to Peter, who's motionless on his back. He rolls him over as gently as he can. At first appearing out cold (or worse), Peter's eyes flutter open after a moment.
PETER: Mary-Jane? Harry?
HARRY: Thank God.
PETER: (weakly)Brock?
HARRY: He's gone. That thing too. They're dead. It's over, Pete. It's over.
But Peter's eyes say different. His eyes contain the worry, and the unwelcome certainty that Harry is wrong. Very wrong.
As Mary-Jane envelops him in a tight embrace, we fade out.