"You don't understand! He kills people!" Reed almost yelled in frustration.
"And I suppose you are unable to understand that there has been no evidence against him, whatsoever." Harvey said as he rubbed his temples. "On what bases do you want me to antagonise a superhuman who can possibly make short work of my entire department and possibly sabotage myself from a big helping hand. A hand who has been actually quite effective in dealing with the never-ending waves of crime plaguing New York?"
"But that's what we do too!"
"Oh please, do you want me to list all the times you have more bad than good?" Yuri asked sarcastically as Johnny flared his nose in irritation.
"Please enlighten-Ow!" Johnny hissed as Susan elbowed him in the side.
"Not now, Johnny." Susan whispered to him sternly as Johnny just grumbled in reply.
"Look, I know we may have been on wrong terms for a while but-"
"Wrong terms is putting it lightly." Harvey said as he folded his arms. "There have been multiple accounts of your ridiculously dangerous experiments and just much harm they have caused."
"I-"
"I don't care if it's for the advancement of humanity and what not shit. Your arrogance and negligence have caused us to lose a lot of good men." Harvey hissed pointing a finger at him in accusation as Reed narrowed his eyes. "Not to mention the time Captian Stacy almost died because you were too much of a coward to neutralize mole man."
"He deserved a second chance-"
"He died last year trespassing in the premises of Stark Industries and I fear to even imagine just what he could have done if he had managed to get a hold of any of that blasted Stark's technology!" Harvey slammed his hands on the table shutting Reed up. "Hah... Look Richards, I respect you as much as I despise you because you four have in fact saved many innocent people-"
"See! That's what-"
"But it doesn't not make the innocent people that died due to your disastrous shenanigans any less tragic and jarring on my conscience." Harvey kept cutting in without mercy. "It was because of this I had been initially against Spider-Man as well."
"What changed now? If anything the doubts you had are actually true-"
"Where were you during the Maggia terrorist attacks?" Harvey asked and Reed swallowed everything he was about to say.
"I..."
"Where were you?" Harvey asked as but Reed remained silent making him turn to Susan who flinched. "What about you Ms Storm?"
"I... I was in Seoul in a meeting with Helen Cho. Ben and Johnny were with me. We rushed back when we heard just what happened, but by the time we arrived it was over."
"Spider-Man cleaned up the whole city with the help of Wolverine and another vigilante called Daredevil." Harvey said. "Where was Mr Richards?"
"I... In his lab." Susan said hesitantly as Reed looked down in shame.
"That's what I thought." Harvey took in a deep breath as he clenched his teeth. "You what I like about Spider-Man? He never claims himself to be a hero or preaches about heroism . And if anything, he is the embodiment of heroism to us here."
"Are you serious? Hero? A killer-"
"He knows what is necessary to keep what he holds dear safe and he'll go to extreme lengths to make sure of it. It's something you can't seem to understand even though you are arguably the smartest brain on the planet." Harvey sighed looking away. "Spider-Man has saved many lives and helped us avenge the ones we have lost on that fateful day. I, we owe him a lot and we will do what we can to help him."
"Even if it is killing people?" Reed asked as he stood up.
"Spider-Man has never hurt an innocent-" Yuri stepped ahead to defend Spider-Man but Harvey just raised his hands stopping her.
"Where is the evidence, Richards?" Harvey asked getting into Reed's face not backing down as Reed's eyes widened in realisation.
"You... You all are in on it." Reed whispered in shook. "You all are helping a mass murderer!"
"Where is your evidence, Richards?" Harvey asked once again but this time his tone was harsh and filled with animosity. "Captian Rogers had killed a lot of people too. He did what he did to save our country. To save his people. Are you going to hold that against him? Might as well hold it against all the soldiers on the borders and wars as well."
"You... You are making a big mistake." Reed said shoving Harvey to the side began to walk out of the room. "Disgusting. Come on you guys. There's nothing we can gain from these people."
Susan sighed which was mirrored by Ben while Johnny just looked uncomfortable. They got up to leave but stopped as Harvey opened his mouth to give Reed a last piece of advice.
"If this fight between good and bad, white versus black, then allow me to break it to you. Spider-Man is a neutral entity, a very grey personality. He will resort to any means to protect what he loves. Whether it means eliminating the 'bad' permanently or thrashing the 'good' to make sure they stay out of his way." Harvey said before turning to look at Reed. "Take my advice and stay out of his way."
"... And if I don't?"
"You will regret it. This spider isn't friendly. He is ruthless, poisonous and if you tempt him."
"He will bite."
"..."
"And when he does, you'll wish you were dead."
"... Come Susan. We have lot of work to do."
Harvey watched as Reed and his friends left his office before sighing and slumping down in his chair. Yuri closed the door and not even a moment later there was a knock on the office window which startled both of them. Snapping their heads in that direction Yuri and Harvey both sighed simultaneously as they saw Spider-Man waving at them as he hung upside down outside the window.
"Pardon my intrusion." Spider-Man said as he entered the room and closed the window behind him. He looked out of the window to see Reed and his gang arguing right outside the Police Station before he turned the blinders turning towards Harvey. "That was really a flattering and quite accurate speech thingy that you just did."
"Oh god." Harvey groaned as he tried to melt into his chair. "Please don't."
"What? I'm just saying I'm really flattered that you think so highly of me." Spider-Man joked in a half-assed manner.
"I take it you also heard by I was so weary of you before?"
"Yeah I think I know now but still, it doesn't change the fact that you were a total dick and douchebag about it and to my face before." Spider-Man said shrugged his shoulders. "You manage to scrub off most of the grudge I had for you. But I still want to kick you in the balls."
"Fair enough." Harvey replied. "But I think you might what to restrain yourself for doing that since you wouldn't like explained to people how the NYPD head wound up dead with busted nuts."
"Fair enough." Spider-Man nodded.
"Do you have any news?" Harvey asked as Spider-Man's sat on the couch with Yuri taking the seat next to him.
"Not any good ones." Spider-Man sighed. "He was already in a Glider so there wasn't any visible trail aside from the smell of the light smell of the thrusters in Goblin's gliders but I lost the track once I passed through the industrial sector."
"Damn it." Harvey grumbled.
"I'm having the area city scanned for any image that CCTV camera might have picked up on." Spider-Man said and jolted as a video clip popped up on his HUD. "Ah fuck no..."
"What happened?" Yuri asked in worry as Spider-Man stood up to explain but Trish busted in panting in alarm.
"G-Green Goblin! He kidnapped Dr Connors!"
Spider-Man clenched his fists as the footage displayed some men wearing black masks carrying out a knocked out Dr Connors out of his home before a busted looking Goblin showed up and the men handed it to him before he took off. The footage cut to black as a henchman's gaze landed on the camera and shot it cutting off the connection.
"I think my problems just got multiplied."
------
"Ugh... W-What happened?" Curtis groaned as he regained his consciousness. He opened his eyes and as his vision became steady he found himself strapped to a table in an unfamiliar laboratory. "W-Where am I?! Who did this?!"
"Hello, Dr Connors." Curtis felt goosebumps all over his body as he heard a low growling voice greet him from the side. Slowly turning his head towards the sound he felt sweat forming on his face as he was met with a tall and demonic silhouette. The menacing figure turned towards him and Connors' face turned pale as the half-torn face of the Green Goblin came into the dark. "I am sorry for... This."
"W-Who are you?" Connors stuttered out as the ugly abomination walked towards him before kneeling as he began transforming back to his human form. Connors gasped to himself in disbelief as the monster turned into his very own boss. Norman leaned down to his face level as Connors tried to shrink back.
"O-Osborn?!"
"Hello, Curtis." Normal greeted once again with a smirk. He had retained the injuries and due to that, there was still a good chunk of his face missing which exposed a loss of his bare flesh and cheekbone.
"W-What happened to you?!"
"Spider-Man!" Norman hissed as he pulled away and turned towards the table he was tinkering with. "He has been a thorn in my side since that fucking insect appeared! Always poking his nose where it does not belong! Ruining my plans! Ruining everything! Everything single fucking thing!"
"..." Connors stayed silent as he tried to pry himself out of his restraints.
"But not anymore... Spider-Man is all but an inconvenience. I will deal with him accordingly. But first..." Norman paused turning towards him with a blue vial in his hand and injecting machining in other. "I'll have to ask you to join me. Together, we will conquer New York. Take over the Maggia! The Hand! Dispose of any of the pesky bugs that might get in our way and soon... The whole world will be in the palm of my hand!"
"You... You are insane! That formula is far from perfect! Injecting it right now might heal your face but it will cause you to mutate into something unpredictable and possibly something insidious!" Connors tried to explain and reason with Norman who just grinned evilly as he put the vile in the injector and approached Connors whose eyes widened in horror as he realised what he was going to do.
"Oh... I'm actually counting at that." Norman began cackling as he grabbed the trashing Connors and injected him with the serum.
"No no no no! You can't do this! You can't do this to me! No no no no... No... No." Connors started screaming in thrashing which made Norman only take more pleasure as he did the job grinning to himself sadistically. Connors stopped thrashing as he felt his heartbeat begin dropping. Connors skin began to itch as his eyes rolled in the confines of his skull. His skin began to turn green with scales as his face began turning into a maw. He began growing his restrains becoming too small for him and then they weren't able to hold him in any longer. "Ahhhhhhhhh!"
"Nice. Very nice." Norman grinned to himself evilly as he watched Connors transform into a lizard-like monstrosity.
"Very, very nice."
------
Alternate Titles:
- Hail NYPD
- Parker Luck
- Premonition
------
So, shit just for real, huh? Well, how do you think it's going to play out? Lemme know.
I'll see you in the next one.