(Spiderman) The Amazing Story of Altered Fates: Chapter 5 – Altered Fate part II

Chapter 5 – Altered Fate part II

Peter kept staring at the melting colors in front of him while whispering disbelievingly, “You broke up. But…”

The guy cut him off, obviously not in the mood to talk about it. “It ended up saving her life, at least.”

Peter turned to stare at him and began asking, “What…”

But he was cut off again, this time even more sharply. “Just watch.”

When the colors were clear again, Peter recognized Harry’s penthouse.

All the expensive furniture was as he remembered them. The blue curtain that hid the few large windows around the room.

Harry and Peter were standing in front of each other. Harry was offering Peter a glass with gold liquid inside, and he was smiling.

Peter eyed the drink warily, and Harry laughed. “Chill, buddy. You are over 18, and that’s like a shot. It won’t affect you.”

Oh, Peter knew it wouldn’t. An entire glass probably wouldn’t cause anything thanks to his super metabolism. He looked up at Harry, not quite managing to smile. He hadn’t managed it for a week now. Not since the breakup. “It’s been a while, Harry.”

Harry looked sad himself as he nodded and said, “Yes. You know how it is with boarding schools and all the Oscorp stuff Dad made me do. But now, with him gone and me taking over, I will be around a lot more.”

Peter gave him a small bitter smile. “Around Oscorp, you mean. I doubt you will have time for friends now that you are a big-shot CEO.”

Harry gave a bitter laugh of his own and said, “I suppose so,” before taking another big gulp from his glass, emptying it.

Peter broke the silence by asking, “You said you needed a favor.”

Harry put his glass down next to Peter’s and said gravely, “I’m dying, Peter.”

Peter blinked, unsure of where this was going. He waited until Harry explained, “I have the same disease as Dad. The only way I will have a chance to survive past age 30 is in Spider-Man’s blood.”

Peter felt his heart stop. Did he know?! If he did, how?

Peter tried to show calmness on the outside as he asked, “How can I help with this?”

Harry pulled out his phone and showed him a picture of himself with Gwen inside Oscorp.

Peter felt a strong pang in his heart as he saw the smiling couple with their arms around each other as if the moment would never end.

Harry’s voice cut through his heartache. “Your girlfriend was saved a few times by him. I wanted you to ask her if she could contact him on my behalf.”

Peter tried to swallow the bile in his throat as he spoke. “We broke up. We’re no longer on speaking terms.”

Harry dropped his phone, letting it hit the carpeted floor as he grabbed Peter’s shirt by the collar. He looked at Peter desperately and said, “Please, buddy, he is my best shot.”

Peter looked at his old friend. It hurt to have to say this to him, but he had to. “I can’t do it, Harry. And I don’t think he would agree, even if you asked. It’s too dangerous. You run Oscorp now; you can have them work on…”

Harry began pulling on Peter’s shirt and yelled, “What did you think my dad did? How do you think Conners happened? It failed. The only good result any of those experiments brought was Spider-Man. He has to be the key.”

Peter shook his head and tried to push Harry back gently as he said, “It’s still too dangerous…”

Harry shouted at Peter, “You don’t get it!”

Harry shoved him far stronger than he expected, and Peter fell to the floor, his shirt giving way during the fall and tearing away.

Harry looked shocked at what he did. He instantly stepped forward and extended his arm down to Peter, saying in a voice full of remorse, “I’m sorry, Pete. I didn’t…” But Harry froze a moment before their hands touched.

His eyes were wide, and his face pale. He looked down at Peter’s chest and blurted out, “It’s you!”

Peter looked down to see his shirt torn apart where Harry was holding him. It tore enough to expose the spider symbol of his suit. Oh, shit!

Peter jumped to his feet and tried to calm Harry. “Harry… trust me…”

But the man had a mad look in his eyes as he screamed, “Trust you?! So when you said Spider-Man won’t agree, you knew he wouldn’t because you are Spider-Man!”

“Buddy, listen to me, it’s dangerous. It won’t wor…” Peter tried to take a step forward.

But Harry waved his hands at Peter and screamed, “You don’t get to call me buddy. A friend wouldn’t allow me to die when he can give me the cure!”

Peter tried to placate his oldest friend again. “I can’t give you the cure…”

He was cut off when Harry snatched a knife that was decorating the shelf next to him and launched himself at Peter with it.

Peter’s eyes grew wide. He felt a shiver go down his spine, and he automatically flipped backward, easily avoiding the knife.

Harry stared at him with outrage and screamed, “If you won’t give me your blood willingly, I will take it by force.”

Peter raised his hand slowly and tried to reason with Harry. “It won’t work…”

Peter was talking about his blood, but Harry took it as a comment about his ability with the knife. He screamed, “We will see!” and charged at Peter again.

Peter was left with no other choice. At this pace, Harry would hurt himself more than he would hurt Peter. So he raised his arm and shot a web straight at the hand holding the knife.

Harry was yanked from his path and crashed into the wall next to him. He tried to pull his hand away, tried to turn the knife so he could cut himself free, but the web held him trapped.

Peter closed his jacket so it would hide the Spider-Man suit. He looked at Harry sadly and said, “The web will dissolve in a couple of hours. Call me when you’ve calmed down.”

Peter started to walk toward the elevator that would deliver him to the exit, but before the doors closed, he could hear Harry screaming, “It’s not over yet!”

Peter closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh just as the walls began melting again.

The Peter that was watching the scene let out a low breath and said, “Tough week.”

His twin gulped loudly and whispered, “It got worse. So much worse.”

The new scene was set on the edge of the Empire State Building. As usual, Peter was sitting on one of the statue’s heads, legs swinging in the air.

His mask was off, and he took a deep breath. In two days, Gwen would be gone, and Peter wasn’t sure how to deal with it.

Then Peter heard the sound of a motor. But not one he ever heard before.

“Peter!” He heard a familiar voice calling him.

Peter jumped on the statue and spun around, his eyes wide with terror.

A little above him, a man in a high-tech green suit was standing on a floating glider. Over his shoulder, a woman was trying to fight him off.

Peter recognized the woman immediately; it was Aunt May!

The Peter that was watching the scene looked to the guy next to him and was about to ask, “Aunt May? But…” He stopped when he noticed the guy next to him had his eyes closed painfully.

Then Peter realized who was on the glider. His skin had patches of green on it. His brown hair was disheveled and pulled back. His eyes were milky green, and he had a sinister smile on his face.

“Harry. What have you done?” Peter breathed out.

The man kept the same smile and sang out, “Peter, catch me if you can.”

With that, he turned around and began flying away, May screaming over his shoulder.

Peter put on his mask, and a second later he was swinging on the man’s heels.

They both moved between buildings with sharp turns until Harry began flying in circles around a watchtower. His green theme contrasted the darkness of the night sky.

Peter landed on the glass dome of the tower and began shooting webs at the glider, hoping to bring him down safely. But Harry kept maneuvering and escaping his shots.

Finally, Peter gave up and screamed at the man, “Harry, put her down! It’s between you and me.”

Harry gave him a mad laugh that made Peter nervous. The man cackled and said, “Of course, buddy.”

And with that, he simply dropped the woman he was holding.

Peter jumped to catch her. And once she was in his arms, he dropped through the glass dome and landed on a gearwheel.

Peter looked down at his aunt and asked, “You okay?”

May looked like she was trying to nod and shake her head at the same time.

Peter was about to reassure her he would handle it when what was obviously a ticking bomb landed next to them.

Peter rolled so his body covered Aunt May’s completely. He could feel the skin on his back bristling from the heat the bomb created.

But that wasn’t all. The power of the explosion dislocated the gearwheel they were on, causing both it and them to start falling toward the bottom of the tower.

Peter immediately sent an arm out and caught Aunt May with a web shot. Before he could reach her himself, Harry smashed into him with his glider, pushing Peter against the wall of the tower.

Fortunately, Peter had enough time to release his side of the web and attach it to one of the gears around them. Aunt May screamed before she grabbed the web line with both her hands and raised her head to look at Peter.

Peter found solid ground to stand on and used his web to yank the glider from under Harry. The glider landed in the corner of the gearwheel he was standing on, while Harry landed on his face in front of Peter.

Peter looked down, enraged at his old friend, and demanded, “What do you think you are doing, Harry? What’s going on?”

A knife appeared in Harry’s hand, and he tried to jump up and stab Peter with it. Peter felt the same shiver again and knew what was coming. He took a step back, and the knife missed him by an inch.

Harry was still smiling madly but managed to snarl, “You took my only hope from me. I decided to return the favor. That’s what old friends do, after all.”

Peter shook his head and tried again, “I already told you it won’t work. My dad did something that…”

Harry just laughed maniacally as he responded, “Don’t you listen, Peter? I told you it’s too late for that. All I want is for you to suffer like I do. You are going to watch your last family in this world die tonight!”

Peter’s vision turned red. He charged at Harry. Flipped over him to avoid a knife strike and used his webs to yank the knife out of the green-gloved hand.

Peter gave Harry a strong punch to his gut, causing the madman to cough blood while laughing and taunting, “You will never be able to protect the ones you love. You failed Ben, you failed Gwen, and you will fail May.”

Peter could feel his anger taking more control as he kept punching his former friend. And with blood spitting out of his mouth, Harry kept laughing and said gleefully, “At least after that, there will be no one left to die because of you.”

Peter let out a roar. He gave Harry a kick that caused the man to lie on the floor before he used his web to yank the glider into his hands.

Peter raised the glider over his head and was about to bring it down to end the madman’s life, only to be stopped by a familiar call of his name. “Peter, don’t!”

Peter looked at the dangling May. She gave him a stern look and said, “That’s not how Ben and I raised you. You are the guy that finds a creative way out of every situation. You have to stay loyal to yourself.” She gave him a small smile and said, “Remember, with great power comes great responsibility, Peter.”

Her words got through to Peter. He lowered the glider and dropped it to the floor.

Harry let out another laugh that caused a shiver to go down Peter’s spine.

Peter saw Harry move his arm, sending another knife out of it. Peter launched a fist to the man’s face that sent him flying to the wall and then with a ‘thud’ to lay on the wheel. Unmoving but still breathing.

Peter heard a scream from behind him, and he turned around to see Aunt May start falling down the tower.

Too late, Peter realized what happened and immediately jumped after his aunt.

He tried to reach her but quickly understood it wouldn’t be possible in time. So instead, he sent a web line to reach her.

Peter could see it all in slow motion.

May’s terrified face. The web that looked like a hand trying to reach her in time. The gears all around them falling down with her.

The web reached May just before she hit the ground, but Peter could still hear the snap coming from the woman’s neck.

A moment later, Peter landed next to her. He took off his mask and called, “May?”

But he got no answer from the limp body hanging on his web a few inches above the floor.

Peter cut the line and sat down with May’s body in his arms. He could feel no pulse, and her nose was bleeding.

Peter gathered the body close to his chest and began rocking while sobbing out, “No, Aunt May. Not you too. You can’t leave me too.”

Peter kept rocking and sobbing as the scene began to melt.

Peter wasn’t sure when he started crying too. That was so awful. He looked at his twin, who looked like he was holding back tears himself, and asked weakly, “How can you still smile? When I lost Gwen… I lost myself too.”

The other Peter gave a small shrug and replied quietly, “Like Gwen said, life moves on.”