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Chapter Eight

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Peter's fight with Green Goblin, however short it was, must have been brutal. Cuts littered his face and there were already dark bruises beginning to form as well. You'd bet there were even more injuries beneath his suit.

"(Y/n)," May hissed from behind you, holding out the cure you had formulated for Norman.

Taking it from her hand, you darted forward and jabbed the needle into Norman's neck, pressing the release for the cure inside. Grabbing Peter's arm, you pulled him away just in case. He was limping and holding his ribs as well.

"It didn't work. Norman was right. He got it from you. That pathetic sickness! You tried to fix me..."

"May, go," Peter rasped out, "Now!"

You guarded May as she moved around to the front door. Green Goblin grinned, and you realized what was going to happen much too late, "Now I'm gonna fix you!"

Green Goblin's hoverboard crashed through the window, slamming into May and sending her to the ground.

"May!" You and Peter cried.

Goblin slowly and calmly walked over and jumped onto his board, "Oh children... no good deed goes unpunished. You can thank me later."

Beep beep beep.

"Get down!" You threw out as much water as you could and surrounded the bomb with it. When it went off, it sent droplets everywhere, soaking you, Peter, and May, but that result was much more preferable to the other option.

More explosions came from outside, and you hoped that the ice shield you created took most of the damage.

Peter ran over and helped May to her feet, "Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh. Uh-huh."

"Really? It's okay. We're okay, right? (Y/n)?"

"Yeah. Knocked on my ass."

"Yeah, me too. I think I broke my ribs. This is all my fault. I should've just listened to Strange and let him send them back."

Reaching over to May, you hovered a small layer over her head, there was definitely damage there. Just to be safe you moved around and looked for damage in other places as well.

"If it's anyone's fault, Peter, it's mine," you insisted, there was something around May's middle that was concerning, "I'm the one who convinced you to let them stay.

"You did the right thing," May seemed to be paling. That wasn't good, "They would have been killed. You did the right thing."

"It's not my responsibility, May."

"What Norman said? My moral mission. No. No, Peter. Listen. You listen to me. You have a gift. You have power. And with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

Reaching out, you slowly guided May into a sitting position. Peter looked at you with concerned eyes, and you shook your head, "There's some bleeding here, May. I'm gonna heal you up and it's gonna be alright, okay?"

May took your hand, and you tried to not let it distract you from healing her, "But you're gonna take my damage, won't you? It'll be okay... I'm... I just need to catch my breath."

"May," Peter knelt down next to her, wincing on the way down, "(Y/n) knows what they're doing, let them help, okay?"

The internal and external bleeding was getting worse. You had to work quickly. You moved water into the wound to speed up the healing process. Your side was starting to ache, which meant it was working. You didn't want to kill yourself in the process of healing her, so you only did as much as you had to to keep her alive. There would undoubtedly be police and ambulances here soon.

Looking away from May, you looked to Peter instead. He was crying, and you desperately wanted to reach out and comfort him but you had to focus on keeping May alive instead, "Peter you need to leave."

"What?"

"The police and the DoDC are on their way. They'll arrest you again if they get the chance and we need you out of prison. I'm gonna take care of her, okay? Please, go somewhere safe and wait for me."

Peter clearly didn't want to, but red and blue lights flashed outside and he realized he had no choice. Leaning down, he pressed a kiss against May's forehead and then yours, "I'm so sorry."

And then he was gone.

"NYPD, put your hands in the air!"

"I have an injured civilian in here, internal and external bleeding on the side," you shouted back, drawing the water back into your stores, "I need first responders in here, now!"

"Where's Spider-Man?" Was the first question they asked, and you nearly lost it.

"I said I have an injured civilian here and I need first responders!" You repeated, louder and more firm this time, "There are no longer any criminals in the building and Spider-Man is in pursuit. Now get me some goddamn help."

A shaking hand covered yours, and May gave you a reassuring smile, "It's gonna be fine, take a deep breath."

Following her instructions, you took in a deep breath through your nose and let it out through your mouth. You stayed with May and made sure she was okay until the ambulance finally arrived, first responders immediately put her onto a stretcher and carried her out to the car.

"I'll go with her," Happy was jumping out of his car and running to the ambulance immediately, "What the hell happened here?"

You had to find Peter and make sure he was okay, "I don't have time to explain. Just make sure that she's alright. It's head injuries and bleeding on her side. I did enough to keep her stable but any more and I wouldn't be able to fight."

Nodding, Happy got into the ambulance and shut the door behind him. It took off, speeding down the road. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see J. J Jameson making his way over. Not wanting anything to go with him, you were quick to take your leave.

"Misty, where's Peter?"

"Mapping out directions now."

The map led straight to school, and you were left wondering if there was a glitch in Misty's system that you would have to fix later on, still, just in case she was correct you followed the directions.

There was no sign of Peter anywhere on the grounds, and upon further inquiry Misty mentioned that the suit was elevated - the roof then. He'd said it felt like the only place the two of you could get away, maybe that's what he was attempting to do.

"Hey, Bug Boy," you said gently, taking in his hunched-over form, "May is going to be just fine. She's at the hospital now and Happy is with her."

"It's all my fault."

Having already assumed that was where his thoughts would go, you had thought about what to say on the way over here, "No, no Peter. None of this is your fault, alright? May chose to be there to help, and the villains chose to turn like this. That's not your fault."

Peter wasn't convinced. You knew from experience that getting past the guilt and anger would take time. Peter was there for you when you were recovering, and you were going to be there for him as long as he would have you.

Kneeling down next to him, you wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in close. He was shaking. Pressing a kiss to his temple, you simply held him and looked out at the city.

"Peter! (Y/n)!" MJ called out, with Ned close behind her. The first thing they did was join the two of you in a tight group hug. They would never understand how much their comfort and support meant to both of you.

"We saw the news and we didn't know what to think. Is everyone okay?"

"No deaths, some injuries," you reported shortly, "Green Goblin made an appearance and turned the others while we were trying to help them."

Peter's head raised, brows furrowing in confusion.

"There's... there's some people here..."

"Who?" Peter jumped up and you followed, unsure whether or not these mysterious people who were setting Peter off so much would be a threat or not.

There were two figures at the very top of the school, and when they were noticed they easily jumped down to your level. The two looked different, but there was something about them that was uncannily similar as well.

"Wait, wait, whoa!" Peter raised his hand before either of them could come any closer.

The taller of the two stood, and that's when you noticed it. He was in a Spider-Man uniform. These two were so familiar because they were Peter, or at least, versions of Peter from within the multiverse. Unlike Norman who was identical to his counterpart in your universe, the two here only held the same base characteristics as Peter. How fascinating...

"Sorry... about May," the taller spoke.

"Yeah. Sorry. I got some understanding of what you're going through-"

"No, please don't tell me you know what I'm going through. May got hurt, she could have died, and it's all my fault."

"Peter, they might be some of the only people who know exactly what you're going through," you told him quietly.

Shaking his head, Peter held his hand out to MJ for the contained spell, "I'm gonna do what I should have done in the first place."

"Peter-"

"Please, don't. You don't belong here. Either of you, so I'm sending you home. Those other guys are from your worlds, right? So you deal with it. If they die, if you k!ll them... that's on you. It's not my problem. I don't care anymore. I'm done. I'm really sorry that I dragged you into this. But you have to go home now. Good luck."

When Peter reached for the spell again MJ pulled away, then motioned to the other two Peters with her eyes. It was impossible to beat MJ in a battle of wills, and Peter knew that, so despite his clear frustration he turned back to them.

"My Uncle Ben was killed. It was my fault," the shorter, and most likely older of the two revealed. Another similarity there.

"I lost... I lost Gwen. My... well, she was my everything. I'm never gonna be able to forgive myself for that. But I carried on. Tried to... tried to keep going. Tried to keep being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, because I know that's what she would have wanted. But at some point, I just- I stopped pulling my punches. I got rageful. I got bitter. I just don't want you to end up like me."

When Peter had thought you died during that short time after the Blip is that what he was like? You could confidently say that without Peter you would easily lose your way. Sure, you'd have your friends and family but it wouldn't be the same. He was your compass, and you'd be completely lost without him.

"The night Ben died, I hunted down the man who I thought did it. I wanted him dead. I got what I wanted. It didn't make it better. It took me a long time to learn to get through that darkness."

"I wanna kill him. I wanna tear him apart. I can still hear her voice in my head. Even after she was hurt, she said to me that we did the right thing. She told me that with great power..."

"Comes great responsibility," the other two finished.

"Wait, what? How do you know that?"

"Uncle Ben said it."

"The day he died. Maybe all of this isn't for nothing, Peter."

Turning back to the canvas bag Peter had taken from the scene, you took a look inside. Some of the devices were damaged but they'd be easily fixable with the right equipment, and you just so happened to be on top of a science-based school.

Peter still seemed hesitant, and you didn't want to push him but you knew he needed it, so you spoke up, "Peter, we still have a chance to change things. Can't we at least try?"

Lips thinning, Peter looked down at the bag in your hands, "Yeah, okay."

It was easy to pick the lock for the closest lab with the needed equipment. Setting the bag on a table, you pulled out all the cures you, Peter, and Norman had made together.

"Connors, Marko, Dillon, and Osborn," you called out, hesitating on Osborn, unsure if simply hearing the name would be too much for Peter, "Peter and I can handle Dillon and Marko pretty easily.

Tall Peter - and they really needed codenames or something - picked up Connors' device, "Well, I got Connors. I've already cured him once, so no big deal... what? It's no big deal."

"That's great. I think I can make an antiserum for Doctor Osborn. Been thinking about it a long time," noticing the look on Peter's face, Older Peter patted him on the shoulder, "Gotta cure all of them. Right? That's what we do."

Peter took Dillon and so you took Marko. Since he had fallen into a super collider, the original device was meant to return his cells to his natural state before the accident. The damage to the device wasn't terrible, and therefore it was easy to put the pieces back together in the right order.

"How you faring over there?" You asked Peter, who was working right next to you. He'd barely said a word since you started.

"It's going fine. The damage isn't that bad here, either. Just some wires out of place... are we doing the right thing?"

Shrugging, you closed up the final panel for your piece, "It's hard to say, Peter. I don't know if anything I've ever done was the right thing, but I made those choices anyway, didn't I? What mattered was how I reacted to the result of my choices. This might be a mistake, or we might be saving a lot of people's lives. That's what hero work is."

Peter reached out and grabbed your hand, drawing your attention to him fully, "Thank you. I haven't said that yet."

"For what?"

"You saved May's life. And you probably aren't feeling great right now either. Did you take in too much?" Peter's hand slipped down and brushed over your waist, where May's injury was.

"I know my limits, Bug-Boy, don't worry. And even then I would have done anything I could to save May. I don't know where we'd be without her."

"Peter!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

"Oh, sorry. You mean..."

"You meant-"

"Peter-Peter," Ned tried.

"We're all called Peter, Ned."

"Peter? Peter Parker?"

"We're all Peter Parker."

Finally giving up, next just called out, "The computer!"

Swinging around the desk, Peter looked over the program sequence on the computer, "Oh, I'm ready."

"Yeah, me too."

"Me third."

"Okay, so... now, all we gotta do is lure these guys someplace, right? Try to cure them, while they try to kill us, and then, send them home."

"Using a magic box?"

"Well, that's the plan."

Tall Peter turned to Old Peter, "So are you gonna go into battle dressed as a cool, youth pastor, or do you have your suit?"

Snorting, you found that having three Peter's in the same place was actually a lot of fun. The same sense of humor and sarcasm just constantly bounced around between them.

Old Peter pulled down his shirt to reveal the edge of his suit. Right, always prepared they are.

MJ stepped up to Peter and held out several small containers, "Here's your web cartridges."

"Thanks, MJ."

"What's that for?" Old Peter asked.

"It's my web fluid. It's for my web shooters. Why?"

In response, Old Peter revealed his bare wrist and shot out a web. All of you stared in silent shock.

"That came out of you!" Ned exclaimed excitedly/

"Yeah. You can't do that, huh?"

"No!"

"How on earth is that... anyway, we're getting sidetracked," Peter pulled up a picture of the new Statue of Liberty, "Look, this is where we're gonna do this, okay? It's isolated, so no one should get hurt. We draw them there with the box, it's the one thing they all want. All we have to do is figure out how we're gonna get there."

"Well, you do have a partner who can control water."

"Or I can portal you there."

Wait... what?

"What?"

Ned seemed more than happy to share the absolute bombshell, that yeah, he could in fact do magic now, "Dude, I got Doctor Strange magic."

"Ned, that's awesome!"

"Yeah! And I promise you... I won't turn into a supervillain and try to k!ll you."

Awkward silence befell the ground, "Okay... thank you? So, here goes nothing. MJ, what's that thing you always say? If you expect disappointment-"

"No, no, no... We gotta kick some ass."

"Cure. Cure some ass."

"Cure that ass."