He almost felt bad for the man.
'How screwed up is that?" Jeff thought to himself as he watched the man that had nearly killed his son scramble about desperately trying to find a way out of the mess he himself had crafted.
At the very least O'Hara understood just how bad things were about to get. He wasn't delusional enough to think that he could easily talk his way out of this. Once he had realized that everyone in this so called 'Spider Society' (and there was so many questions he had to ask when it came to the group… from what little Peter had told them Jeff's Police Sense was tingling…) had gotten the video sent by the baby (who had promptly gone back to sleep after informing them all of what she had done) he had begun to scramble, trying to find allies to help him out with the bloodbath that was about to come.
Unfortunately he wasn't finding anyone that was truly interested in helping.
"You are in this with me, Parker," O'Hara snapped, jabbing a finger at the man.
"Oh, am I now? That's news to me, Miguel," Peter snarked back. "Because it looks to me like the only way I am 'in this with' you is that you dug a massive hole and the rest of us slipped into it." He suddenly leapt onto the ceiling, looking down at the broader and more muscular man. "But hey… I'm really good at jumping."
"Don't make joke right now. I'm not in the mood."
"You aren't ever in the mood. Its like I keep saying! Only Spider-Man who isn't funny!" He looked at Dr. Percy, gesturing at Miguel.
"Keep me out of this."
O'Hara turned towards him. "You are part of the Society."
"And? That means I need to save you? I hate to break it to you, Miguel, but its going to be the Society who shows up here to tear you apart. So which part of it should I side with?" The doctor shook his head. "I am here to help the sick and the injured. That is what I'm going to do. If there is anything left of you after they are done I'll help you." He narrowed his eyes. "But don't think for a moment it means we're friends. Or allies. Or anything other than a faceless patient and a doctor. I'm treating you the same way a WWII doc would have treated Hitler."
"Whoa now," Peter said, coming down from the ceiling. "Hold on now with that talk. Remember, we don't go with Reductio ad Hitlerum."
"If the shoe fits," Rio muttered and Jeff quietly wrapped an arm around her and steering her back a few more steps from O'Hara. Honestly it was probably going to end up with her snarling at him for daring to think she needed protecting but he'd take the cursing out if it meant right now she was safe.
Thankfully O'Hara was focused on Peter again. "You and I need to discuss what we do next."
"There is no we!" Peter declared, throwing his hands up in the air. "How have you not gotten that through your skull yet? This is all on you, man!"
"That's rich, coming from you." O'Hara narrowed his eyes. "With all you pulled? The lies you've told? You want to get on me? Don't forget I know your secrets."
"I am so scared," Peter mocked. "Going to go to my home universe and rat me out to Doc Ock or the Green Goblin? Tell them who I am? Please. Been there, done that, got body swapped with Ock." Percy glanced at Peter, surprised by that. "I got better."
"…right."
"You love to act like you are all sweet and innocent in all this," O'Hara rumbled, taking another step towards Peter. Every instinct in Jeff was crying out that he needed to step in. That this was going to end rather poorly. O'Hara was a fraying rope, ready to snap at any moment and Jeff had seen plenty of times what happened when someone finally snapped like that. The body posturing was making it clear just what he wanted to do… he might as well have been wearing a sandwich board declaring how much he wanted to tear Peter apart and as a cop Jeff's instincts were to stop the incoming violence.
But… he also knew that these men were far beyond him. Each one was able to rip a bus in half or punch a hole through steel. Sure, one was just wearing a mismatch of clothes and the other a pink bathrobe but still they were dangerpus. All he would do is get in the way.
And it stung that he could do nothing to stop this if the man who had already nearly killed his son attacked again.
"I'm as innocent as new fallen snow," Peter joked.
"Who is the one that told me that Morales wasn't really Spider-Man?" O'Hara demanded.
"I did NOT word it like that," Peter said, glancing over at Jeff and Rio. "I did not."
"But you agreed that we should hold of on Morales."
"For his own safety. But-"
"You warned me he wouldn't listen, that I needed to find a way to keep him from doing something stupid. Yet when I detained him-" And that set off Jeff's warning bells. They had detained his son… and the way he was talking about it reminded Jeff of when he'd been a kid and he'd seen cops 'detain' people just because their skin color matched their assumptions on the criminals they were looking for. "-you suddenly try to play like you never agreed to it."
"I agreed that we keep him here, not-"
O'Hara rolled his head skyward. "oh don't give me that! You don't get to play those games with me, I'm on to you! There has never been a problem you caused that you didn't try and back away from! You have NEVER accepted blame for a single mistake you have made!"
"Really? Let me get my wife on the phone. Because 'Peter Parker' and 'Not Feeling Guilty' are always linked closely."
"We agreed!" O'Hara roared, waving at Jeff. "You tell your new little friends the truth?"
"I-"
"And who here has been with me the longest?" O'Hara asked. "You bother to tell your new friends what we discussed?" O'Hara turned towards Jeff, eyes narrowed. "For your universe to survive certain events must take place. The Spider of every universe must suffer certain tragedies… and that includes a Captain on the police force dying."
Jeff's eyes went wide.
"Now see," Peter said quickly, "there is a bit of wiggle room-"
O'Hara was on him in a second, swinging at him only for Peter to leap back. "ENOUGH! YOU DON'T GET TO HELP ME DISCOVER THESE RULES AND THEN BACK AWAY WHEN THEY DON'T WORK FOR YOU!"
Percy reminded everyone he was there by firing off weblines, capturing the two and locking them up. "ENOUGH! This is a hospital! And there are a lot of sick people in here." He turned towards Peter. "What is he talking about?"
"…so admittedly I was in a dark place. Worried about the pregnancy and-"
"He was with me when I tried to break canon. When I caused my new universe to collapse," O'Hara growled. "When my daughter died in my arms. He saw what happened. He was one of the first people that helped me study the multiverse and discover canon events. Not that he ever wants to admit it." Something vicious passed through O'Hara's gaze. "You ever admit to Gwen that you staged your 'recruitment'?"
Peter winced.
"You lie. That is all you do, Peter. Because for as much as you and every other Peter Parker talk about great responsibility you NEVER take responsibility for your own actions. You'd rather let me take the fall. You could have gone to Morales and told him all this and because you actually have a connection with him maybe gotten him to listen. But you didn't want to risk it… you LOVED that he looked at you as someone that could help him and teach him. You wanted him to see you as the man that hung the stars in the sky and not the pathetic, flawed, broken down piece of trash you are. So like a coward you didn't say a word… no… no, you said words. You did all you could to play all sides. You KNOW what we must do but you don't have the guts to do it yourself. That's why you brought them here!" He waved at Jeff and Rio. "Always trying to play the hero. Never wanting to be the bad guy. Never wanting to make the tough choice. If you laugh and joke then you can have their love. But we both know the truth, don't we?" O'Hara snapped the webbing while Peter hung his head. "You lied to Gwen. Set her up to bring Morales here because you KNEW that he couldn't be trusted to be left on his own. But you didn't have the guts to own up to it. Just want everyone to love you because maybe, if you can avoid everyone hating you, you'll stop hating yourself-"
"I was wrong, okay!" Peter shouted, finally breaking out of his bonds. "I was wrong! I see that now! Who cares if Miles is an anomaly… he's a good kid and he doesn't deserve what YOU did to him!"
"And what about you?" O'Hara roared back. "His mentor that abandoned him! Who tossed him aside. Who uses guilt as a weapon… oh, I heard that ENTIRE speech you gave him about your kid and how he's the reason she is around… how long do you think it was going to take Miles to do the math and realize there is no way she could have been conceived AFTER you left?"
"Leave my daughter out of this," Peter said. "You have no idea-"
"I have every idea. You lied right to his face… you led me right to him but you didn't want to admit it. You stalled for time but you STILL wanted him to see you as someone wonderful and great! You watched me attack him and did NOTHING. You could have stopped me… you should have stopped me." He looked away and for the first time since he'd met the man Jeff heard regret in his tone. "You could have stopped me, Peter. But you didn't, did you? Because deep down you know we are right… but you don't have the will to see it done. Because its easy for Morales to hate me forever… but you can't stand the idea that you'll turn him against you. Another person cursing your name and hunting you down." He pointed right at Peter. "You are a fake. A fraud. You hide behind your jokes… never wanting anyone to realize that you are a two-faced traitor. To me. To Morales. To Gwen. To your wife. How long before you betray Mayday-"
Peter let out a strangled cry and tackled O'Hara, the two of them smashing into walls.
"Come on!" Percy shouted, gesturing for Jeff and Rio to follow him. He fired out a webline and snagged the sleeping Mayday, shoving her into Jeff's arms. "In here!" He led them into a room and shut the door. "Damn it all… I'll alert hospital security but no one is answering-"
Rio let out a scream and Jeff turned around, his heart plunging to the soles of his feet.
There… lying in a bed… a Spider hovering over him… was Miles.
Jeff took a step forward, reaching out a trembling hand to… well, he didn't know what he was going to do. Snatch his son away from the looming figure? Shove the man away? Plead with him not to hurt him? He… he didn't know.
"What are you doing?" Rio snapped, breaking out of her shock quicker than Jeff did. She took a step forward but Jeff caught her by the shoulder, glancing down at the sleeping Mayday. As much as it killed him to do it he couldn't risk an innocent child… even for his own child.
"Please do not interfere," the unknown Spider stated. He looked different from the Spider-Men that Jeff was used to. The original one had worn the red and blue while the new one ('Miles… the new one is Miles') went with a mostly black outfit with red highlights. This Spider had a red and black outfit too but more in the style of the original Spider-Man… and also had four long 'appendages', for lack of a better word, jutting out from his back. "I understand your concern but I assure you the young man will be fine. The last thing I want is another Spider's death upon my soul."
"What are you doing?" Percy asked as the Spider pulled out a syringe, tapping it before jabbing it into Miles' arm.
"You did good work, Dr. Parker," the Spider stated. "Truly impressive. Please don't believe that what I am about to do, the 'miracle' for the less intelligent, negates what you have accomplished. As a matter of fact you have allowed me to skip several steps… I hope, once this is all done, we may converse."
"…Otto?" Percy whispered.
"But not your Otto," the Spider said. "But an Otto. The greatest Otto. The… Superior Otto Octavius."
Jeff didn't care about any of that. What he cared about was how the bruises and swelling on Miles' face disappeared. How the cuts disappeared, healing within seconds. How the monitors began to sound far more normal… and how Miles suddenly fluttered his eyes open.
"Wha-?" he got out before Rio and Jeff rushed forward, giving him a hug so tight that, had they been thinking clearly, would have concerned them as it might have hurt him again. "Mom? Dad?" Miles got out. "Mayday?" He looked at the baby. "What… what is-"
The building shook.
"We must go," the other Spider said before placing a finger to the side of his head. "Hunter-Spider, it seems that O'Hara and Peter B. Parker's fight has grown more dangerous. I am moving to extract Miles Morales. His parents are here as well…" He looked to Percy. "Doctor?"
"I have to stay. There are other patients." He swallowed. "Otto… please protect them."
Otto nodded. "That was never in doubt. I hope to see you again." He pressed his finger to his head again. "We also have a toddler. We will need to be quick-" He stopped. "What?"
"What's going on?" Miles murmured. "I remember-"
"Shhh," Rio said, stroking his hair. "We'll explain in a moment. Get dressed." Miles nodded and Percy gestured to where his suit was laid out. There was a brief moment where Miles' eyes went wide and he stared at his parents in shock but the Doctor whispered something and Miles moved again, though he kept casting nervous glances towards his parents.
Jeff walked over to Otto, who was checking over things on his suit, the call done apparently. The building shook again and he frowned. "This is more than just O'Hara, isn't it?"
"…it is," Otto said. "But my associates and I will get you out of here, rest assure."
"What is going on though?" Jeff pressed.
Before Otto could answer… the hospital intercom fired up.
"Spider-Society," a new voice said, "months back I warned you what would happen if you harmed another innocent. I told you that you were not welcome in the multiverse… that the children of all realities were under MY protection. I threatened to expose all of you but stayed my hand, convinced that you could learn. You… have not. And thus you leave me no choice. To quote a wise man: you are monsters. That is the role you seem determined to play so it seems that I… must play… mine."
There was a pause.
"The one that stops the monsters."
And then… they heard the explosions outside.
"Oh god no," Percy whispered.
"God has nothing to do with this," Otto said, listening to something over his comm. unit. "It isn't just him either… he's brought the heroes of his world."
"Who?" Miles asked even as Otto motioned for them to follow him.
"Spider-Chaos."