Returning home after their unforgettable night together was a truly revitalizing experience. Both Gwen and Eric had a private dinner on the deck of the ship where they just enjoyed each other's company with the distant lights of the city being a reminder that they could just enjoy each other's company without concern. The joy of being alone as they drank premium drinks and enjoyed the amenities of the yacht led to a wild night worth remembering. Although in the back of his mind, he was sure that he failed to close the bedroom door all the way and led to the female staff recording him and Gwen fucking for hours. Following up with the staff had him warning them that only they could have the video. Any redistribution would end in his wrath on their heads. Against his expectations, all of the women whom he thought he had threatened were looking more flustered and excited than scared.
Checking up on their devices on his way home with Gwen revealed that the video wasn't uploaded at all, but was replayed on their phones repeatedly after she and him left the yacht.
"Felicia? We're home!"
Gwen called out to her girlfriend to let her know that she and Eric came home. She was nowhere to be seen, but was clearly still in the apartment as she and Eric heard some suspicious noises inside of the bedroom with Felicia's hushed voice and another woman's voice that actually made Gwen wonder who that was. Their deep yet enticing voice sent chills down the length of Gwen's arms as she finished taking off her shoes to go check up on Felicia. What she saw when she finally managed to get a full visual picture of the bedroom knocked the breath out of her.
"O-oh! Wel-fuck! W-welcome home…"
Trying to suppress an unexpected shockwave of excitement had Felicia looking like a prime cut of meat in front of a hungry lioness. On top of a messed up bed was Felicia in the nude while still completely soaked in sweat with her legs crossed trying to hide her soaking wet center. The image only made Gwen want to tear off her own clothes and jump her girlfriend until neither of them could keep their eyes open. Watching the sexy vixen known as Felicia acting so innocent just made that impulse harder to abstain from.
"Gwen! Watch ou-"
Pushing her out of the way of a giant mass of black erupting from underneath the bed. Even without his spider sense, Eric was a sharpened warrior who never doubted his instincts.
Tossed onto the floor out of nowhere left Felicia trying to stop things from escalating while she experienced an orgasm that completely immobilized her until she finished riding out the unbelievable waves of completion. In a panic, Gwen got back up to her feet and spun around to then lose all logical thinking as she observed a sight she couldn't make heads or tail of at first sight.
Sitting on top of Eric, as he was thrown into the couch where he landed on it perfectly, was this pornographically sexy woman with skin made of obsidian that had clawed nails on her hands and feet. Her shins were planted on Eric's thighs as she trapped her lips against his in a very effective kiss that he felt his entire nervous system explode in response to.
Their mouth felt off a little, but the sensual motions of the lips and rather long tongue left Eric unable to fight back. Behind the alien woman who suddenly jumped onto Eric was Gwen as he eyes fell upon the pitch black holes of the mysterious stranger's sex and backdoor. Her own body betrayed her as she felt another debilitating jolt hit her between the legs the longer this was allowed to go on. A hand turned Gwen to an extremely horny Felicia as she locked lips with her and was ravaged without mercy.
This went on for hours before everybody managed to find their sanity.
That Evening
Nobody at the table said a word as both Eric and Gwen were staring at Felicia and what she identified as She-Venom looking ashamed of themselves with their eyes glued to the edge of the table directly in front of them. It actually shocked Gwen that Felicia actually had sex with this thing for almost two days with no name to cry out. Neither of them thought of it as a problem as She-Venom mentioned how much Felicia enjoyed her attention. Neither Gwen nor Eric even graced the attempt at humor with a reaction. She-Venom experienced her first cringe-worthy moment of embarrassment as she just returned to her silence.
"You could have called us."
Hitting the nail on the head was none other than Eric. He and Gwen were caught off guard and it left them a bit miffed that Felicia had been too distracted to at least give them a heads up. Neither Felicia nor She-Venom could argue since She-Venom practically sexually assaulted Eric while Gwen was somewhat involved in that mind-blowing experience.
Despite everything, they saw how much Felicia had come to value She-Venom as Eric didn't hate the experience at all. Both him and Gwen were just hoping for some kind of heads up that this would happen when they came home.
Forgiving these two wasn't an act of benevolence as much as it was a warning for them to remain in communication when something changed in their now shared lives. Burying the hatchet on this matter was a blessing as Eric and Gwen were too tired to do anything else.
She-Venom actually scooped up Eric and brought him to bed while Felicia did the same for Gwen. Being the bigger spoon for them both was a nice change of pace as the bed that Eric had still had enough room for everybody still. Something that She-Venom and Felicia took full advantage of when they made love.
Going to be had everybody slipping into dreamland. Something that Eric shared with She-Venom as he drifted off to sleep was how he thought of a name that would suit her better. Listening to the man in her arms revealed how he thought that Eve was a much more elegant name for somebody like her.
Ea was Latin for 'she'. Venenum was Latin for 'venom'. Combining these names landed on the title Eve for somebody as loving as her. Hearing him call her loving sort of threw She-Venom off for a moment. Yet he only said that she was actually quite generous when they made love as he wanted her to be the one who had the most fun. Because for him, her enjoyment was still his enjoyment. Their pillow talk was actually very personal and tender as She-Venom finally just accepted that perhaps that she was meant to be here.
Eve pulled Eric onto another breathtaking kiss as she pulled him into her actually nude body out of affection for this one man. Her words carried the weight of the world as she told him something only he had the privilege of knowing.
"I am Eve because of you. Don't forget that, Eric."
He returned a breathtaking kiss that actually caused Eve to flip over and allowed Eric to be her big spoon. Feeling this vulnerable for a human male didn't feel wrong to her. Whatever this was, it helped to lull her to sleep as his protective warmth made her feel safe.
One Week Later
Getting everybody on the same level of understanding in their relationship took about two days before Eve stopped trying to fuck everybody into the ground. Gwen had about five hours with her as she entered the shower when Eve was experimenting with hot water and ended when they were both kissing on the floor of the shower stall after Eric found them there. His position in this affair was more out of confusion than actual irritation as he felt the need to start analyzing why Eve had such a drastic effect on everybody who lived inside of that apartment.
He asked that Eve remain inside of his office so that he could try to understand why she had such a unique trait over everybody else. When she asked if she would be put into a glass jar, Eric just said that her self isolation would be within the room itself so long as she would be willing to honor the agreement. His level of trust was to the point of this amount of freedom for her so long as she kept up her end of the bargain. The only stipend she added was that anybody who wandered into his office was hers for four hours. He then countered with two. Eventually, two and a half hours of freedom to do with as she pleased when they entered his office was accepted. If they wanted to bring her into the bedroom when she was out and about, however, then she had all the freedom in the world to do with as she pleased. Little did Eve know that she had little experience with how much endurance he had as Web Weaver.
One day, Eric excused himself as he said he needed to go out and pick something up for Gwen. He left in civilian clothing and even took his truck keys to bring back whatever it was he wanted to buy for Gwen. Gwen herself was keen on doing a patrol as she felt particularly energetic that day and thought that she could take on a whole patrol all by herself. Intercepting her before she could leave was Eve as she approached Gwen and asked that she take her around New York City with her riding along with Gwen. Shrinking her nearly seven foot height to just the black areas of her costume felt strange as Gwen didn't notice that much of a weight change. Eve just told her to not mind her as they were both going to swing around this version of New York City as tourists for the most part. Gwen agreed and just looked forward to exploring what this version of her home would entail.
That Evening
"Why are there so many theaters? Is it necessary for so many places to employ actors?"
Answering Eve's questions actually put a lot of things about New York City into perspective. This version of her City had significantly lower crime rates as Web Weaver still exercised his control over the city on his patrols with Gwen and Felicia exercising a bit more self restraint whenever they patrolled the city. Gwen was the more popular option since Felicia actively made sure than nobody recognized her for her vigilantism after she stopped the occasional robbery or assault. All the credit went to Spiderwoman and her truly just stance of heroism.
"... It's because it's New York… No, it's because too many actors come to this city."
Being in a relationship with a man who actively made an effort to be honest with his loved ones broke down Gwen's willingness to sugarcoat the truth. Eve seemed to be receptive as she listened to Gwen explain how entertaining ment blew up in the city in its early days. Now just the skeleton of the entertainment industry that had grown in this metropolis kept the faint outlines of the dream available for truly desperate actors.
This wasn't even a cynical take. A significant amount of people seeking opportunities to grow as performers actually did end up impoverished in the city before Web Weaver hunted down the predatory executives who kept causing the suicide rates to go up in his city. His contribution ended with the industry starting to die down to the point where the remnants of theaters all across the city were all just visible skeletons of an industry that died due to the greed of those who managed it.
Seeing all of those abandoned theaters just made Eve curious more than anything.
Gwen found herself genuinely seeing how different this New York was compared to hers. People didn't approach their overly optimistic dreams as much since she noticed a lack of fresh faced college graduates swarming the universities after starting patrolling as Spiderwoman. The tradeoff was the fact that the previously impoverished sections of the city no longer felt helpless as there were efforts being made to improve the city to bring in more people with Web Weaver being a significant factor as to why nobody wanted to even enter the city. He forced those who would enter the city with ill intentions out with his reputation of torture whenever he punished criminals. No area of the city could prosper with criminal activity resulting in untold body counts. Not even the corrupted upper echelon of this city were safe as Web Weaver had killed Wilson Fisk and burned down his entire building in one night. That incident shifted the city in a direction that Web Weaver intended to take this city in.
His legacy was one of fear and hatred, yet Gwen and Eve saw kids playing in the streets and enjoying life so freely. His name carried significant weight behind it as even gang members that Gwen approached all laid down their arms when they saw her long after she had started patrolling without her even speaking. None of them wanted to incur the wrath of the one who eliminated countless people to keep the city safe.
Arresting those criminals only took her presence because they simply recognized her as a possible associate of Web Weaver. They were actually thankful that they were just arrested as they were being carted away by the authorities.
Both Gwen and Eve were now swinging through a construction sight that still looked like it was being worked on. A last minute precaution since a lot of shady deals occurred in these places. Gangs, drug dealers, only when they confirmed that they had intentions of illegal activities did Gwen ever move in. Sweeping these areas just made sure that minor crimes were kept in check and were unable to escalate into full blown felonies.
Observing nothing but the pitch black at every available corner of this construction site basically wrapped up their night as complete. Eve asked Gwen if they could have some egg-drop soup, to which she asked how Eve managed to get a taste for that dish when the nearest Chinese restaurant to their place was over nine miles away. Eve sweated bullets before she admitted to using a delivery app with Eric's card information saved on it. Gwen told Eve they would talk about trust when they got home when the concrete next to her exploded.
She went flying in a wild tumble when Eve saw that Gwen was in danger. She abandoned all promises to remain inconspicuous in order to save somebody that she had grown to care for dearly.
Somebody had Gwen in their arms when she finally stopped plummeting towards the ground. Looking up at the one who held her so carefully was the one who had spent the entire day with Gwen and just wanted to know about the world around them.
"Are you okay, Gwen?"
Eve genuinely wanted to protect Gwen. That thought stuck out more than anything as Eve brought Gwen to a dark corner of the construction site that brought them out of the sight of whoever was trying to kill Gwen. Evading the scanners of this killer fell upon Eve as she could still detect the type of sensors their equipment utilized to find potential targets. Being an alien actually gave Eve the ability to protect Gwen.
"Eve, we can try to get around him. If we work together, then-"
Interrupting Gwen was a single finger that pressed itself into her lips through the mask. Clearly, Eve saw something that Gwen couldn't as their hiding spot was being closed down on. Without warning, Eve's lips pressed into Gwen's through the mask. Gwen deactivated the mask to properly return the kiss and deepened the interaction until Eve pulled back with this look of heartfelt love for Gwen.
"Thank you for your love."
With that, Eve went off into the open to then be targeted by whoever was hunting them down. Gwen couldn't follow after her with the risk of being caught while Eve practically sacrificed herself for Gwen's safety.
Being an evolved alien species did make the escape easy at first as the thing flying around and cleaving through the environment couldn't land a solid blow on someone who could easily convert their body into a mass of malleable goo. All she did was draw this hunter's attention way from where she left Gwen. The longer the chase went on for, the less she was attacked. In her mind, the likely truth was that the one trying to hunt down Gwen saw her ability to evade deadly blows and was already giving up.
Her entire world completely flipped into a violent cyclone when a painful high pitched sound sent Eve into a violent fit of thrashing as she was unable to escape the agonizing sound that came out of nowhere. Almost every atom of her being felt like it was being thrashed violently by some sort of unknown force in trying to distract this individual from Gwen. As she laid there in pain after being assaulted by this unknown method, Eve just held on to the simple fact that Gwen was still safe.
"Huh, so you are a symbiote. Guess I only have to do this-"
Pressing the prompt on his glove to reactivate the sonar jammer caused the high pitched sound that racked Eve's body with indescribable pain sent her into another fit of indescribable suffering that Gwen was crying over as she watched Eve endure torture for her sake.
"-to make you comply. Good enough for me."
Something scooped up Eve and carried her away as Gwen sent out a message regarding the current emergency regarding Eve. Tailing the one who had her beloved in their grasp was Gwen's sole focus as she swore to herself that she would save Eve no matter what.
Some Time Later
Emerging from being knocked out was a new experience for Eve. Experiencing such incredibly debilitating pain in the first place left her completely changed after being captured and now was being detained with two cuffs locking her arms out to her sides. Tugging at the chains didn't make the chains give at all, so Eve assumed the worst in terms of their potential tensile strength. If she could just shift her shape enough to slip her hands out of them, then maybe-
Another wave of indescribable pain soaked every square centimeter of her entire body instantaneously. Thrashing and trying to escape her binds by force left her helpless as the traumatizing experience rattled Eve far too much.
When it stopped, she was gasping for oxygen as her new body was now adjusted to human environments. Though now she still suffered the weaknesses of her species as whoever had kidnapped her recognized this exploit.
"So now you know I'm not fucking around. Answer my questions and it won't have to be like this."
Dozens of lights were keeping whoever it was that spoke to her in the unknown. Both of her arms were restrained to this strange metal cube behind her. None of these things mattered to Eve as she just wanted to go home. To go back to the place where she felt loved and safe.
"Who is Web Weaver? Who are his associates?"
Only silence met their request for answers. Hitting the command to reactivate the sonar pulses in his hoverboards reintroduced the female alien to the concept of indescribable pain. Her will was surprisingly stronger than he expected as he had yet to see any moment to exploit for his own needs.
Shutting off the sonar pulses left Eve as a panting mess while her body felt like shattered glass. She wasn't sure that she could even survive another bout of torture at the hands of the one who sought to end Web Weaver personally.
"Answer me."
Responding to his demands for intel only got him one response. His desire for retribution made this creature an enemy worthy of punishment in his eyes.
"... P-please don't hurt me anymore. I'm sorry…"
He didn't care for her begging. What he wanted was intel and she failed to provide that. So he reactivated the pulses that hurt her so effectively and watched her scream helplessly as he neglected to check his surroundings. Somebody was already diving through the glass ceiling to stop the madness going on inside of the old Osborne Estate.
The thing that dove through the glass rooftop directly targeted the man who was tormenting this alien entity who had no business being so mercilessly tortured for the sake of one man's revenge. Plunging down from heaven was the wrath that would end the life of the one who forsook their own soul for the sake of his revenge. A black and white blur slammed down directly onto the place where the man taking great joy in torturing Eve was waving around his right arm. Web Weaver didn't cut off the arm, but he grazed the glove that acted as the remote to activate the sonar pulses. It actually impressed them that they knew where to cut to disable the emitter controls to his glider.
Just cutting the controls off wasn't enough for Web Weaver. Swinging his leg in a full forced swing that could shatter reinforced concrete like styrofoam went straight for the head. Another nanosecond of hesitation would have ended with Web Weaver caving in a man's skull with the blow he intended to kill somebody he had come to hate. Reacting in time only caused the fracture of a bone in their wrist to grow in pain.
"I see that your-"
Nothing but absolute hatred existed for Web Weaver as he cleaved through everything possible with his blinding blows. That very same wrist that was just fractured became broken at the bone that had been cracked when Web Weaver struck repeatedly at the one he wanted to kill.
Entering the abandoned Osborne Estate were Gwen and Felicia. They only appeared slightly later from Web Weaver since he had this speeding webbing technique that could even beat speeding highway traffic in terms of average speed. Finding Eve collapsed with her arms restrained to a massive metal cube left them truly heartbroken as they did what they could for the poor soul.
"Eve?! Eve! Wake up! Oh my god, what did he do to you?"
All that was left was a babbling broken mess of a scared creature with mumbled apologies being offered nonstop out of her lips. Neither Gwen or Felicia wanted to leave her there, so they got to work trying to free her restraints. She clearly wasn't able enough to simply shift through her cuffs after what she had to go through.
Cutting through the chains would take much longer than trying to pick the lock. Using her experience as a master locksmith, Felicia got to work on trying to get the tumblers inside of the cuffs. Her new suit really did a lot of the heavy lifting with her tools just changing into whatever she needed with just a thought. Behind them was a violent maelstrom of destroyed building materials.
Melding perfectly with the supersoldier serum that had advanced since the days his father utilized it in his moment of desperation filled Harry Osborne with the will of a wildfire. The broken bones in his arm were already starting to stitch together with his decreased sense of pain rushing him back into combat.
Summoning his glider took some effort. Getting Web Weaver to back off enough for him to mount it was the hardest part as he had his own combat knife out to fend off the infamous serial murderer. Slashing at each other at high speeds produced sparks that were sizable in mass and were essentially the molten remains of the chipped off tungsten alloy combat knife that was looking uglier the longer they kept trying to kill each other.
Rolling over unexpectedly over the left side railing on the stairs leading up to the second floor of the mansion threw off a bloodthirsty Web Weaver as that instance allowed Harry Osborne summon his glider board to fly in through the walls and attach itself to his boots before the second board erupted from the wall behind Web Weaver and made the killer leap backwards to avoid certain death.
Fully assembling his glider in the heat of combat sent Harry into a full blown counterattack that resulted in his second board spinning like a buzz saw as he lunged at his target. Wood, mortar, and marble all showered everywhere as Harry Osborne chased after Web Weaver and even destroyed his old family estate to guarantee his revenge. Becoming swallowed in hellish chaos didn't distract Felicia from her task of unlocking Eve's cuffs.
Engaging her yellow tinted goggles protected her eyes from the countless granules of destroyed building materials from lodging themselves into her eyeballs. Even with the advantage of being able to reliably map out the internal structure of this lock, the damned thing was a puzzle lock that the original key was the solution for down to the nanometer. She had no room for errors as she managed to undo the first level of tumblers with another minute necessary for her to crack the whole thing.
Gwen set up a protective net of webbing when she saw the larger pieces of debris flying towards Felicia and Eve. Just getting Eve to safety and then helping Eric was the main move right now.
Erupting from behind the main family Osborne portrait was a geyser of powdered cement, wood shards, and dust that swallowed the entire hall in an instant. Nothing in his family's estate was too cheap for Harry as he hooked the oxygen mask to his helmet to fully embrace his persona as the descendant of the Green Goblin five years ago. His military flight suit with the helmet with the two respiratory hoses jutting out the top of his helmet portrayed him as none other than what was recognized as Hobgoblin. A dangerous enemy with advanced tech and genetic enhancements which elevated the abilities of an already well trained soldier.
"You're dead, Web Weaver!"
The glider he utilized was a hoverboard that was roughly the size and shape of a large snowboard with a secondary board he could control that was exactly the same size as the first board. This second board was spun at untold speeds and was essentially one of the most dangerous aspects of the updated glider project.
Fine dust swept up by the speed of the spinning lower board caused a dust devil to firm inside of the long abandoned Osborne Estate. Hovering in the foyer of his family's legacy, Hobgoblin brandished his teeth right as he found his opportunity to end Web Weaver.
First diving at Web Weaver and then deploying his board to the left as he was brandishing his bladed board at him made sense to divide and conquer his target's attention. Getting Web Weaver to mess up once would be the end as he had his sights set on just making sure that he could take him out and him alone. He didn't sacrifice all those years and his military career to just end up with nothing. His father's spilled blood demanded that Web Weaver's soak the same dirt as his.
Swooping in with the expectation that Web Weaver would at least break eye contact for a moment had him looking for his opening. The longer he let the milliseconds roll by, nothing came to him. No opportunity for a blind spot existed with Web Weaver remaining hyper focused on him alone. Striking now was inopportune as he didn't understand why a massive spinning blade of death about to cleave the hostages was of no concern for them if they came all this way with the rage of the blinding sun at the beginning of their fight.
Harry Osborne got the reason why as he heard an alert that his other board in his HUD was unable to bear additional weight for optimal speed. Swooping away and pulling back to regain some distance let him safely turn back for a moment to see what had happened.
Gwen had changed her webbing settings to fire a constant stream of much thinner and finer Web strands that were like the delicate fibers that baby spiders used to fly and sprayed the spinning board in it while jumping around the entrance hall to let the drying fibers collect and stick to all available surfaces of the large space. Walls, railings, the stairs, and especially the old marble flooring all were weighing down the board as it struggled to pull at full rotation with all the tangled strands starting to pull chunks of the building down with the torque. She even took an additional measure to fire off several strands and stuck them to the dense metal cube that Eve was almost freed from with just the left cuff now being popped open and freeing the now humanoid symbiote.
Felicia quickly cleared Eve out and pulled the symbiote over her right shoulder and carried her out through the front door. Gwen kept binding down the board and was now getting in his way. Reaching into a padded pouch on his lower back, Hobgoblin pulled a large marble sized item from it and pressed down on it with his thumb to then cause it to start glowing orange as it suddenly expanded into a hand grenade sized ball and let off a bright orange light. The thing was thrown with the chemical reaction inside growing more unstable with every passing nanosecond. Harry chucked it quickly directly at Gwen right as Eric already leapt up into the air and caught the thing with a strand of his pressurized tension webbing. It first flew into him instead where Gwen couldn't even tell what was happening with the second floor overhang blocking her eyesight. Another bizarre event that caught her off guard was something taking her to the ground and completely enveloping her in complete darkness.
Outside of this dark space, Both Web Weaver and Hobgoblin were both realizing that they were both going to be caught in the blast range of this orange glowing explosive. Eric flipped around and twisted his body full force to launch the ordinance back at him. Matching Web Weaver's enhanced reaction speed, the board that Harry still had his boots attached to was flipped up to act as a shield to block the initial blast. Following the idea, Eric quickly wrapped his cloak around himself right as the bomb went off just a meter away from Hobgoblin. The entire middle section of the once proud Osborne Estate became a cloud of shattered glass, rubble, wood, and fabric that flew everywhere all at once. Following the initial blast was another more fiery fireball as the gas lines that ran through the home caught fire and engulfed the flammable parts of the abandoned mansion.
Being protected by the initial shockwave made it much easier for Eve to focus on morphing into a tarp shape that sealed Gwen and Felicia behind the massive metal cube to use it as a makeshift barrier. Her body still felt like hell after her cells had been viciously torn at by weaponized sonar, but she still managed to pull those she cared for to safety. Felicia pulled a now unconscious Eve up into a bridal carry and ran out of the mansion to find a place to check up on the female symbiote alongside Gwen, who immediately spotted Web Weaver crashing down through the tall pine tree off to the side of the abandoned front lawn and painfully slammed on multiple branches on his way down. Felicia tended to Eve while Gwen used her webbing to try and leap faster towards Eric.
Eventually, the hard dirt below greeted him with a solid slam against his back. Getting the wind knocked out of you after experiencing a blast wave equivalent to semtex going off would hurt like hell for anybody. That strained groan as he struggled to get air back into his lungs perfectly encapsulated the amount of shock he could feel had rattled his bodies inside of his tenderized body.
"Eric! Are you okay?! C'mon, sit up! Get some air!"
Sucking in that first lungful of fresh oxygen managed to get him to stop himself from blacking out. After a few moment to make sure he wasn't mortally wounded or injured, a frightened Gwen leapt into his lap and hugged him for dear life. Her eyes were wrenched shut behind the mask as he gently returned the embrace with pats on her back while he let the birds tweeting inside of his skull let themselves out.
"Wh… How's Eve?"
Gwen pulled back and turned to where Felicia was already checking on a barely conscious black female symbiote. She helped Eric back onto his feet before they used their webbing on the treetop on the opposite side of the yard to swing over to them faster. Looking at the vitals didn't reveal any major damages, but the alien was in no condition to remain with her minor injuries. Felicia elected to take Eve somewhere safe when something cut her off mid sentence.
Not just emerging, but erupting out of the flaming wreckage was a spirit of vengeance who was riding his glider with the wind being churned all around him with such ferocity that the flames now engulfing his abandoned home was merging with the cyclone and illuminated him with an ominous red and orange inferno below him.
"WEB WEAVERRR!"
Taking a second to zoom in on Harry showed how he was suffering from multiple breaks and was even wearing a shattered visor that revealed his completely bloodshot left eye. Barely surviving the explosion and he still wanted to fight his sworn enemy with his past broken body. The supersoldier serum had been the only thing stopping his body from shutting down. Only his unbridled rage and starvation for revenge kept his body moving the way it was.
"Go! I'll-"
"-We'll catch up! Go and get her to safety!"
All Felicia could do was offer them silent prayers for their safety as she used her grapple hook to get Eve as far away from this place as possible. Gwen shot Eric a pointed glare that he just ignored while they were getting ready for another battle to the death.
"You need to go with them. I can-"
"One more word and I'm breaking your legs and doing this myself."
Their silence wasn't as awkward as it was Eric silently pleading Gwen for her to leave and seek safety. She let out a slightly annoyed sigh before speaking. Hobgoblin was already targeting them with the remains of his intact HUD and primed another three blast charges in his left hand.
"I know you're not one for customs, but we share this life now. All of us are here for each other."
Peeking out of the corner of her eye at Eric, he couldn't fight the desire to do so as well as they were both in stance. The smile in her eyes through her mask never failed to make him feel better. Plus, he found the look adorable, personally.
"So you're stuck with me through thick and thin. Got it?"
In the face of potential death, Eric couldn't help but let out a chuckle that made his ribs ache. This woman kept exceeding his wildest assumptions all the time and yet he couldn't find anything wrong with that. His eyes were clear and focused as they both prepared for the worst.
"Yeah."
Hobgoblin catapult forward while screaming bloody murder with his glider pulling some of the flames behind him like he was the devil coming to pay them a visit.
"DIIIIIEEEE!"
Taking him head on would only be suicide. Brute force was his advantage and was demonstrated when Eric and Gwen used their shooters to slingshot themselves out of the way on opposite trees on the lawn before traveling to the nearby buildings and away from Felicia's retreating signal. Making sure that nobody could get hurt was the biggest priority right now.
Erupting from the impact of the glider; this massive wave of dirt, soil, and weeds the size of the grand central library. Being caught by that thing would only lead to permanent maiming or just death. From the deep trench gouged into the earth flew out two speeding projectiles that both homed in quickly on both Gwen and Eric. Web Weaver had expected Hobgoblin to be the one to come after him. Finding the spinning half of his glider chasing after him threw him off for a moment as he couldn't even see Gwen at that moment while he needed to evade certain death for the time being.
Elsewhere
Swinging through the mostly abandoned areas of old businesses and apartment buildings that she had purposefully aimed for did take the edge off of her having to watch out for bystanders. A necessity by the looks of things with Harry Osborne looking like an actual monster from a horror story chasing after her while swiping at her and cleaving through the steel and bricks of the buildings she swung from.
"If you keep getting in the way, then it only makes sense to remove the obstruction!"
His voice was rough after being hit with a shockwave from a close blast he just barely evaded along with the fire partially damaging his lungs. He didn't care with all the adrenaline and desperation overloading his rational mind.
Several more swipes at the nearby buildings actually hit Gwen with some rubble that made her have to dive down further and swing closer to the streets. About three blocks to her left were the beginnings of nearby cars that she wanted to avoid at all costs. Aiming to her right as she passed an abandoned street didn't lead to her going that direction. Something was moving Spiderwoman backwards in the opposite direction. Checking what happened to her attached web she still was dangling from showed Gwen being pulled by said Web with Hobgoblin with her Web in his left hand. The jagged knife in his right gleamed menacingly as he was nownmaking the situation dangerous for everybody as he would even be willing to bring innocent civilians into the fight for an advantage over Gwen.
Letting go and trying to fire a web elsewhere then led to Harry stopping and swinging his bladed board into the line she just fired. Another line went off elsewhere as he just did the same there. He was actively neutering her method of moving midair.
Turning around and firing a line to go swinging into a faster swing would be risky, but she needed to get away from the crowds. Unfortunately, that was exactly what Hobgoblin wanted as he made a mad dive for her back.
"Gotcha!"
Now he had her in his grasp by the back of her neck. No matter how hard she tried to pull loose, his fingers were tightly secured around her. Turning back up, he circled around and did something that was much more of an act of pure sadism than ending his intended target.
Formerly Lieutenant Harry Osborne shoved Gwen's body into the nearby windows and buildings he flew past and completely brutalized her by relentlessly using her body like a wrecking ball.
Her suit was giving her massive warnings and alerts regarding the integrity and material being yanked away from the suit that was trying to protect her. This constant onslaught of violent torture beat and cut her like a sponge rubbing against asphalt at highway speeds. She had taken punishment in the past, but this guy was just out of his fucking mind. Any attempts to fight back only ever ended with her getting painfully stabbed or slashed at by the damaged knife in his right hand. Being held from the back kept her from not being able to retaliate.
By the time she was almost unconscious, Hobgoblin just unceremoniously chucked her onto a nearby rooftop next to a bunch of glass window high rises. She went tumbling painfully for a few meters until she stopped in a sprawled out pose. The only thing she could do at first was cough painfully for several moments before she tried to move. Her entire body screamed for her to stop doing just that. Still, her survival depended on her getting out of there. Even the suit was pulled away from the less damaged areas of her body to compensate for the lost or damaged nanites. At least the suit prevented her from losing her eyes or getting something too dangerous lodged in her arteries or organs. Still, she was bleeding and wounded with untold amounts of internal damage done to her body. Just crawling made her want to vomit.
Staring at her trying to escape so pitifully filled Harry with some sick gratification as he remembered from the autopsy reports that his father was killed by a wire implement from behind. There was bruising from a boot on his back. Watching Gwen be in the same position made him smile as he could inflict the same wound upon Web Weaver as he did him and then kill him. A temptation too powerful for him to ignore as he jumped three meters from his glider down to the rooftop. His boots slammed with a terrifying slam as Gwen knew what was happening. Her spider senses were demanding that she move out of the way of this twisted sadist. Yet all she did was close her eyes and remain calm as she just trusted in the one person who never failed her so far.
Not even her death could shake that faith in him.
Seeing her suddenly stop crawling had Harry pausing as well as he saw it as her possibly giving up. About to move forwards again, Harry had all of two seconds before something pole tackled him with enough to send him flying through about three brick walls before flying off the edge of the rooftops.
Falling and tumbling over in a jumble had been none other than Web Weaver. He stumbled to get back up as the board that Harry had rode went over the side of the building to go and catch him before he hit the ground. As he stood up straight, his feet stumbled even more over seemingly nothing. Turning towards Gwen with a genuine look of sorrow and dread, he ignored The back of his costume stitching back up and providing just a surface level wound dressing to the massive slash carved into his back diagonally. His left arms started to move awkwardly as a good amount of muscles had also been sliced clean through.
"Gwen! Gwen, wake up! You still in there?!"
Pained groans and an attempt at a smile through the retreated bottom half of her mask. Whatever relief he could feel couldn't be dwelled upon.
Making a makeshift carrier with his webbing and hooking Gwen over his neck with his right arm free was the best he could do as he Even used his stick to secure her right leg against the palm due to his left arm being basically useless now. No ability to pull back on it rendered it more of a liability than an asset. Making certain she would still be okay, Eric offered Gwen's suit more of the nanites from his own until she was properly shielded. His cape got shorter, but she needed it more than he did.
Just then, his senses told him that the thing that just grazed him and left a debilitating wound upon his back already had circled around and was coming back for more. It only stopped since Harry had almost been struck with the other board unable to provide proper periphery for its recalibration. Now Hobgoblin was back and sporting more bleeding wounds from being sent through several walls. He watched from below as Web Weaver was struggling to get away from being unable to use his other arm for added mobility. Only way that he could dodge the spinning glider was to keep climbing up and out of the way to preserve Gwen and his weblines.
Grabbing the knife that was dropped with his still intact left arm, Harry made his way up towards the top of the skyscraper that Eric was using to try and escape. His excitement triumphed over his burns, his internal bleeding, and his shattered right arm.
Above
Another close brush with death left Eric and Gwen on the ropes as their pursuer wasn't letting up. Landing on the rooftop had him scrambling for options as he knew he couldn't just drop Gwen. He knew he needed to do something drastic. Something crazy if he wanted to beat this thing.
Eric had seconds on the clock before this thing would make another pass at them. Observing and checking all resources available landed with one daring yet extremely stupid decision that he would usually never use in the past. The only reason he went for it was because of the injured woman in his care. So he just threw caution into the wind and used his webbing to pull her out of harm's way with some modified tension webbing that he used to pull civilians out of harm's way.
Forming a mouthpiece inside of his mask would keep him from unintentionally losing his tongue if anything went wrong. He unsheathed his right knife and switched it to iron breaker mode to improve chances of cracking through that thing's shielding. On top of the rooftop, with nothing but a weapon the size of a two inch wide chistel, Web Weaver braced for impact as he waited for the thing to come back around. There was no need to strike it since that would just put his hand in unnecessary risk. What Eric needed to do was far more dangerous.
The closer it came, the more his brain slowed down his environment. Remaining g focused on the ideal timing made his head feel like it was going to burst as this thing was spinning thousands of times at rotations that would completely melt other tech if it wasn't glider tech. Eventually, the split nanosecond of an opportunity he had to grit his teeth and brace his entire body as he just dodged the edge of the glider and ducked under it to then raise his arm braced against his neck as he timed out one spot he wanted to nick. From going standing to flying with two large chunks of building stuck to your feet felt like he was decapitated until the shocks of pain woke up the rest of his battered and bruised body.
Meanwhile, Gwen was trying to decipher what on earth Eric was doing. He didn't get cut but still managed to get hit. It almost seemed in those nanoseconds that he tried to get hit as well as the tool used to block the glider.
Again, he got back up and barely avoided going off of the roof this time. Gwen stumbled to try and get back up without success. Still, Web Weaver wasn't just a fool who wanted to get knocked around for kicks. Scanning the thing for temperature changes got him exactly what he wanted. There was a thin line of dramatically increased heat that he needed to hit if he wanted to end things with this piece of annoying tech. This time, he ran as best he could to reach one spot on the rooftop and stood there in anticipation as he carefully watched it take the intended bath around and towards him. As expected, it made the route best suited for its needs as he just waited in position for one last time.
Slipping the edge this dime resulted in Eric flying off of his feet faster than expected as he went directly into the transmission tower powerboat. A large amount of electricity coursed through his body as Gwen watched in horror as he was completely swallowed up with arcs of deadly energy. These arcs didn't just emerge from the damaged components and cables as the electricity followed the long piece of webbing that Web Weaver had attached to his chisel as the power now had a way to flow freely past the exterior shields and into the delicate hardware keeping the machine functional. The thing erupts into what looked like a dispersal of purple EMP energy as the skyscraper and several buildings nearby all lost power. This also meant the power surging through the skyscraper had gone completely silent, leaving just a shouldering wreckage.
She couldn't just lay there in her suffering. Every cell of her being wanted to give up while she forced herself to move and get back up onto her feet. Doing so seemed to be the worst of it as the discomfort only felt minor in comparison to limping to where Eric was. Before the panic could set in, a piece of smoking wire fencing was thrown out of the pile of burning copper and steel as somebody stumbled out of the mess and fell over onto the rooftop in a smoking pile while coughing violently. Her tears were already soaking her mask and causing the cuts underneath to burn as she collapsed on top of him and cried.
He was more able to move, so he just pulled her in and held her with his one good arm as she just fell apart from thinking that she had almost lost him just now.
Things weren't meant to end just yet as their senses alerted them to the still living Hobgoblin floating over the edge of the skyscraper they were both on. He looked like a corpse beaten beyond all recognition as his right arm was mangled, he was bleeding from random parts of his ragged flight suit. Even his left eye came loose out of the socket and looked grotesque after being tackled so hard on the right side. Gwen couldn't even look at him without wanting to vomit.
"... Look at us. Look at how far you've taken it, Osborne. Both of us, pushed to these limits, and for what?"
Harry just hovered on his board with a haunting silence as he just kept staring at Web Weaver. The jagged knife never left his grip as he focused in on just his target with the last burning embers of his hatred.
"I don't regret killing him. But I don't take any joy in what I did either… Do you even know how many people he's killed? Huh? How many innocent men? Women who were daughters and mothers? Kids?"
That got a reaction from Harry. His grip tightened on the knife in his left hand while the storm churning inside swelled with pure wrath.
"I do. Fifty three. Eighteen boys. Eleven girls. Seven women. And Seventeen men. I know the losses of that day. I'm willing to carry their lives burden because I couldn't stop him that day! Hell, I know that I've personally killed a hundred and sixty eight civilians! Where the fuck is any of his accountability?! Because he was sick?! How many more needed to die from his sickness?!"
Stopping him now felt wrong. Gwen just let Eric slowly pull her to the edge of the building while Harry Osborne was too caught up in his own chaotic thoughts.
"He turned himself into a living weapon! You knew he was going to get the insanity plea! A mind as damaged and intelligent as his would never allow themselves to be put away! Was another 'accident' going to be okay for him since he was 'just sick'?!"
"SHUT UUUUUP!"
Complete madness took over. Blood gushed out the sides of his mask as he rushed Web Weaver while he and Gwen fell backwards. His lock of control over the board and himself made it easy to dodge him. They were falling backwards down towards the street while Hobgoblin struggled to reorient himself. The way that Hobgoblin floated up to the rooftop told Web Weaver that maybe the effects of the blast did more damage than what Harry was letting on. It was likely he was too close to the gas line explosion and was actually fighting with a very broken body only fueled with rage and hatred.
Unfortunately, not everything could go as planned as when Harry tried to go after them, he swerved too wide and struck the face of the building. Literal tons of glass shards and jagged metal all were showering down towards the streets below where a few innocent people weren't paying attention as they had wandered into the area without looking up. Neither Gwen nor Eric knew what to do as they were both too injured to try and construct a safety new with Harry Osborn still diving after them like a suicidal human missile. Gwen embraced Eric as he couldn't think of anything. Harry was almost at them and dodging would doom at least ten innocent people to their death. Even if they could save two, Harry would just take advantage and kill them anyway.
Nothing seemed possible for them as everything around them closed in. Utter despair swallowed them whole as they were likely going to have to let those innocent people die.
Eric looked down at Gwen and saw her with her face buried in his chest. She was his responsibility. She put her life into his hands. Between hell itself and her, he would sacrifice everything he was for her sake. Even if it meant to make his past sacrifices meaningless by choosing her over them.
True sacrifice.
Everything felt… quiet for Eric. Just the sensation of nothing. Only existing could be even remotely experienced within this emptiness.
My child. My spider. You understand what it is you stand to lose, yet you do so without hesitation.
Something was there. It had its eyes upon him. Then his mind slowly started to fade into a dreamless sleep. Falling into this slumber felt like he was just taking a nap as he was washed away by the gentle breeze I'd a calm soothing stream.
You do more than just receive my gifts. You honor them by your sacrifice. None are more worthy than you to be my true champion.
New York City Midnight
None of her body did any of the things she wanted it to. She had been beaten and wounded so terribly that she literally couldn't move at all. Her eyes poured tears as she felt responsible for those pour lives she couldn't save. All she had left was Eric as he suddenly felt very strange.
A strange white flame started to engulf him as well as Gwen. These flames weren't hot or dry to the touch, but quite the opposite. On top of them being cool and gentle to the touch, the way they appeared was as if somebody painted them frame by frame as these flames even caused Web Weaver's shortened cloak to start lengthening.
Below them, the pedestrians were now all noticing too late as the falling debris had come too close. Many were all curled up and balled into each other or shielding their loved ones from the wreckage with their own bodies. Time kept ticking past as they all realized nothing happened. Even stranger was this odd ethereal white glow that looked like white fire light. One by one, they all turned back up to witness a truly bizarre sight, even for them.
There was this person who was completely covered in white flames that were more similar to the faded brushstrokes than the flickering of actual fire. A giant Web had formed where they stood in the center above the small crowd with somebody being held in their arms. Gwen couldn't see the shape of a solid body as the two limbs holding her were also made of what looked like those same painted flames but black. She could only see it in contrast to the white flames or anything behind them to a lesser degree. Trying to make sense of this left her dumbfounded as Gwen looked up into the hood of Web Weaver to see something completely different to his usual two eyes.
Underneath the hood were eight white eyes all spaced out against the black as spider eyes. Her eyelids felt unbelievably heavy as she just fell asleep out of nowhere. The thing that had occupied Web Weaver for the time being just looked up at the mess of webs that had instantaneously caught everything midair with threads that emanated those same white flames. Trapped in those flames, Harry Osborne couldn't move at all as he struggled against the impossible tensile strength of these bindings.
Pulling on these webs hard enough to rip out his skin or chunks of his flesh was completely doable, yet he couldn't do it. His entire body had been caught in this Web and he had no choice but to be there.
Looking up at him, the entity just barely considered Hobgoblin worthy of being executed over being given something worse. Only because of Gwen and Eric did they manage to keep him from that fate. So instead it just decided to kill Harry by enclosing him inside of a compressed ball of glass shards and metal that it crushed him in by shrinking the webbing until it all became this slightly melted mass that still was hot to the touch before it dropped and landed on the flaming white web. The web stretched and lowered the mass until it was gently placed into the middle of the street where the police could come pick it up when they eventually would discover the crushed remains of Harry Osborn on one side of the melted mass of glass and metal.