Peter felt himself stuck under all that debris unable to get up; this was it, he failed... He took the gamble of putting on the guise of Spider-Man and here is where it ends. Hopefully Aunt May will be able to be cured since they got the isotope and could the bothers handle the city crime wave and stop Octavius...
Would May get over it if they find his corpse and unmask him to reveal his identity as her nephew? She already lost her husband and now him...
All his friends Harry, Grady and Debra who were at risk of dying when Octavius dispelled that toxin; his girlfriend Liz and he also thought of Flash & Sally who he didn't want to suffer through this. Could it also worsen the conditions of those at the hospital if it reaches them?
He had to do something; he already failed Uncle Ben and was close to failing Aunt May; he can't fail anyone else. He had to try...
He did his best to gather his strength; calling it all in to prove himself worthy of this task or else he didn't deserve it. The weight and strain was unbearable, his head was spinning but he was slowly getting up; he can't give up now.
"I can't fail my aunt, my friends or the people in the city who are counting on me... Come on Peter... Come on Spider-Man..." Peter groaned to himself as he was getting more and more up; the debris was breaking and then he had done it up on his feet as he lifted up the debris. "I did it! I am free!" Peter cheered as he gave it a minute to get his strenght back as he jumped out of the hole in the wall and ran up the walls to see Octavius waiting out the timer on the dispelling device.
"So you survived Tombstone; no matter because you ae too late! This shall be Norman Osborn's final legacy; the fall of New York as everyone knows it!" Octavius said shaking his head avoiding Peter's web as he tried to web up Octavius's limbs and get his punches when he was close enough.
"Won't this be your legacy? People will know that you set all this up and released the toxin; you will be remembered as a murderer! Do you want all your scientific achievements to be forgotten and overshadowed by this one crime? Because this is what happens when people with good reputations end up becoming monsters; it's the one thing that people will remember them for!" Peter said hoping that he could try and talk Octavius down.
"I will be here to lead the survivors! I was able to take control of a large criminal syndicate, I staged the biggest prison break in New York history and I was able to defeat New York's official superhero on live news! I will kill you and I will transform this city into a utopia; they will look to me as their leader!" Octavius snapped as Peter saw that the timer on the device was a few minutes left so he managed to shoot a web to pull it towards him.
He managed to dodge Octavius's limbs with the scientist angrily as Peter managed to figure out how to cancel the countdown and jumped off the building and down back down to the hole as Octavius gave chase.
Octavius was now furious as he throwing his limbs at Peter; "NO! I have gone too far and put too much planning into this to be beaten now by some insignificant little..." Octavius ranted as Peter grabbed a limb and threw it into an electrical circuit shocking Octavius and Peter knocked him out with a punch.
He picked him up and jumped out of the hole and shot out a web above him to lessen the impact as he then tossed Octavius to the officers with the citizens cheering for him. Peter then felt himself being pulled through a portal.
"Sorry; didn't trust the cops not to try something stupid." Ty told Peter as he was now on top of a building with Tandy.
"Cloak & Dagger? So you two are heroes after all. Did Spider-Man mention me? I am Firestar and this is my first day!" Liz said flying down to join them.
"You did great on your first day rookie!" Peter told Liz who squealed.
"Sorry for bailing on you like that since we are still fugitives but you saved the day." Tandy told Peter apologetically.
"No we saved the day; Spider-Man and his amazing friends!" Peter said and they all thought that it was corny.
"Still plenty of crooks out there on the streets; let's clean up!" Ty suggested looking over the buildings and they all grinned.
"Spidey is here to stay; this city needs me..." Peter told himself as he went to work.
Soon it was cleaning up in the aftermath of the day's ordeal with Damage Control and the authorities all busy; the Sinister Six and other criminals were taken into custody but still plenty of escaped convicts and other criminals at large.
Jameson was at the main office of the Daily Bugle Communications building as Robbie was showing him the next top story crediting Spider-Man and his costumed allies with stopping the Sinister Six and stopping a release of the toxin. "Are you crazy Robbie? Spider-Man inspired these crooks that put my son in the hospital again and now he is running amok with other costumed vigilantes he has inspired! We can't have people thinking that they are heroes; I am trying my damnest to try and convince his supporters of the truth and this won't help..." Jameson ranted and Robbie slammed his desk as he got up on his feet.
"Could you shut up Jonah? You are still like this after pushing your son into being the Bugle and the city's mascot put him into the hospital and Spider-Man's abscence had indeed caused the recent crime wave! Here is the facts as facts are what we are supposed to be printing: Spider-Man's approval ratings are high in the city after he saved the day! Your's however are actually right now lower than the previous mayor's! I think that you have your hands full with City Council and keeping yourself in office; right now you can't run this city and the Bugle at the same time so how about you give us leeway!" Robbie shouted as Jameson looked furious but Robbie showed him an open lettter with plenty of signatures.
"Most of the best reporters have signed this and I have too; we are in agreement... You focus on being the Mayor and leave me to run the Bugle or we all quit! The stocks on the Bugle are low so if you are not careful then you could lose both the Mayorship and the Bugle!" warned Robbie and Jameson grumbled in silent defeat.
With the death of Gustav Fiers, Hammerhead having failed to escape from prison during the big breakout, all the escaped convicts and the arrest of the Sinister Six there were talks of this becoming a city wide crime war including those trying to take leadership of the Hammerhead crime family and the Gentleman's organisation. Right now several criminal gangs including prisoners, Maggia family heads and other criminals had all been invited to this hideout. Only criminal group that declined the invitation were the Demons who were focused on maintaining their new rule over all crime in Chinatown.
There were nonstop arguing amongst them all but then Aaron made himself known by a door using a sonic device to get all their attention; "I thank you all for answering this invitation to come here. I am sure that we can all come to an agreement about us being united by one leader." Aaron said and there were laughter and scoffing.
"Prowler? You called us and you think you are the next Kingpin?" scoffed one biker gang leader.
"Oh no; I may have set this meeting up but on behalf of my boss. There is only one man who can call himself Kingpin." Aaron said and the door opened and there were eyes widening.
An escaped maximum security prisoner at Ryker's Island walked out in a white suit and cane; having made his way to a secret hideout set up as a contigency.
All mocking and sounds silenced as they all looked to Wilson Fisk out of prison for the first time in years; his reputation as well as the fear and respect that his presence evokes speaking for itself.
Soon they all started bowing before him as he came closer; "This city belongs to me; not Octavius, not Jameson and certainly not Spider-Man! I will be reminding this city of this; with your cooperation I will bring order back to this city! This phase of costumed superheroics shall end soon; I am King and I am taking back my throne." Fisk said in a low voice that had everyone's attention with no one daring to speak up against him.
Norman was in his personal study in his penthouse home looking over reports of the fixing of Oscorp Tower as well as cleaning it up. "Due to recent events in your city and the reports that OZ is a success; we have decided to give you leeway to let you fix things up at your company. However we expect OZ fully operational for us and we hope that you anyone else gets first taste of it. Remember our agreement Norman and congratulations on your bill of clean health." said a member of Viper Worldwide's board as he was on video call for them.
"Much appreciated; thank you!" Norman said as the call ended as it seemed that OZ was a success with no traces of his disease left; he still had plenty of time to not only keep his company alive, make sure his legacy is ensured but also turn Harry into a worthy heir. In the aftermath of that day; he was getting questions but thankfully his lawyers and PR team were hard at work to smooth things over and Octavius as getting the lion's share of the blame. He had bounced back before.
He got up and looked out the window to the city; Spider-Man with all his power and skills decided to protect and save the people of New York.
Those teething masses that existed solely to lift up the few exceptional people onto their shoulders.
He felt like a new man after all this; perhaps it was time to make new plans...
Peter was waiting nervously in the waiting room at the hospital with Martin, Liz, Harry, Debra and Grady there for support. They were asking eachother how they were getting on since that day to lighten the mood; "I am doing fine but Sally is stuck at home; she snuck out on that day and her parents caught her trying to sneak back in. She is grounded for the foreseeable future..." Liz was telling Peter and then there was the doctor.
"Peter... I am pleased to say that May and the others have made a full recovery! She can go home soon though I do recommend that she gets plenty of rest." the doctor told Peter with a smile and they silently cheered as Peter was happiest he had been in a long time.
Peter was let into a room and embraced May with her hugging back; "I thought that I could have lost you!" Peter said with tears with joy.
"Not for a long time Peter; thanks to that new friend of Spider-Man that I was told got the isotope for the cure back here to help us all. We are lucky to have them." May said and Peter smiled as other loved ones went to check on their recovering loved ones.
Yes I had been planning on using this famous scene from the If This Be My Destiny storyline since I started this story.
