Author's Note: We're gonna catch up with another favorite in this chapter. And maybe learn some interesting things about one of my less beloved characters, I own nothing.

33. Pasts In Focus

Harry Osborn had been very busy over the past month. Ever since he'd been rescued by the Avengers from Hydra he'd been thinking. Nightmares had plagued him, Piper covered in blood but this time it was hers, her jumping in front of a bullet for him, the man with the monocle doing unspeakable things to her in front of him until she screamed and choked on her own blood. He woke up screaming a few times, it really didn't help that he hadn't seen her since he'd left Stark Tower the day after they were rescued. After the third time he woke screaming he paced into his dad's office. It had been about two in the morning when he'd cracked open his dad's laptop and gotten past his password. He was sort of terrified what he would find. There was a lot of information on the laptop. A lot of it seemed to be mundane stuff but digging deeper, using what Piper had taught him about hacking in their spare time he found something. A file folder labeled with a small image of an octopus. He delved deeper and stared as he came across a video file. He hesitated for a moment before he clicked on it. It looked like security camera footage of a lab he'd never seen before. There was a man laying on a table. He had dark hair and pasty skin. Harry jumped slightly as his father stepped up to the man.

'Octavius, we know you're awake.' The man turned his head but the rest of his body didn't move. His father gave a smile that Harry recognized as the cool smile he gave when things had gone his way. The man on the table, Octavius, spoke.

'W… what did you do to me?' Norman shook his head.

'Nasty business, that plane crash. You're paralyzed, from the neck down. We have a way of getting around it but I'm not sure we're going to. Not for you anyway. Not after that business with SHEILD.' Harry stared. He checked the date stamp on the video. This was from years ago, nearly thirteen years ago. His father looked down at his fingernails, uncaring of the tears slipping down the face of the man in front of him.

'I.. I don't know…' The man on the table trailed off as Norman raised a condescending eyebrow at him.

'Richard Parker wore it well, so did his wife. Professionals the both of them. Even the Brocks were better at hiding it. On you, it's a cheep suit. It's a shame really they were very intelligent people and both had children, now orphans, because you are spectacularly bad at keeping your cool. But despite that you're intelligent. What do you say we give you another chance, your last chance doctor. Nobody knows your alive, nobody cares, except for me. You could advance Oscorp into the future, if you only cooperate.' The man on the table was sobbing. Norman checked his watch.

'I'll leave you to think about that.' The video stayed on Octavius as Norman left the room. Harry stared at the screen as the doctor sobbed. He slammed the laptop closed. The implications of this were horrible. His father had tortured a man, had… Had been responsible for the plane crash that had killed Piper and Eddies parents. Harry bit back a sob. There was nothing he could do to fix this. But maybe there was a way he could make up for it. He stood and stepped over to a set of blueprints that his father had been working. Determination lit his eyes as he flattened them out and read the name at the bottom of the page.

"Hobgoblin."

Piper tapped away on the screen in front of her. She hadn't even bothered to take off her mask when she'd swung into Stark Tower. Glen had arrived shortly after them. Dr. Connors hadn't understood what they were panicking about until Nova had flown in holding a specimen box looking disgusted.

"Look I know you're into some weird shit Spidey but." Piper cut across him grabbing the box from him. He recognized the body language from when she'd been trying to cure Harry of Venom. He frowned and grabbed her hand.

"Spidey, what do you need?" Piper shook her head, forcing a smile under her mask.

"Time I don't have." Sam held her there for a moment before she spoke again. "If I didn't know better I'd say you cared." Sam dropped her hand.

"I never stopped caring webhead, I just stopped trusting." With that he flew out of the window. Piper blinked back a few tears as she popped open the box. She winced slightly at the dead giant rat thing. Dr. Connors started at the sight of it.

"What is that?" Piper shook her head as she pulled it out of the case.

"We were hoping you could tell us. It attacked us when we went to your apartment this morning." Dr. Connors frowned and peeled back the eyelid of the thing. He shook his head.

"It can't be. Freddie?" Piper shook her head.

"I was afraid you were going to say that. You tested the formula on him didn't you?" Dr. Connors nodded. Glen shook his head.

"Who's Freddie?" Piper let out a hissing sigh through her teeth.

"His three legged mouse. Or at least he was." Glen stared.

"That thing was a mouse?" Dr. Connors nodded looking beyond terrified as he scratched at his arm. It had continued to get longer, it was almost had a wrist again.

"A rather small mouse actually." Glen ran a hand through his short blonde hair.

"Shit." Piper nodded and snatched up a syringe from the table sticking it in between two of the scales. She pulled the plunger up and frowned at the greenish red liquid inside.

"When last night did you use the formula on Freddie?" Dr. Connors shook his head.

"Midnight, when I woke up at eight he had all his legs but he wasn't this." Piper nodded.

"We got there at around nine. Which means we have about six maybe seven hours to figure this out." Glen nodded and took the syringe from her quickly dropping a small amount onto a slide and sliding it under the microscope.

"No time to waste then." Piper nodded and set to work. The damage crew had retrieved what was left of Doc Connors laptop. It looked like the hard drive was mostly intact but the rest of the computer was shot. She had to get something workable from this if they were going to fix this. Dr. Connors was shaking as he sat down hard in one of the chairs.

"I… I never thought…This wasn't how… It was supposed to be a cure." Piper reached out and squeezed his hand.

"We're not going to stop trying to fix this." Dr. Connors nodded but he didn't stop shaking.