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Chapter Seven

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You explained the plan to the others briefly and they easily agreed. While it would be easy to call Pepper and ask her for a favor, Stark Industries was already facing backlash for their continued support for Spider-Man, and adding supervillains into the equation could potentially become detrimental. You didn't wish to harm Morgan or Pepper like that so Happy's place was the next best choice.

Of course, before that, something had to be done with the contained spell. It would be too dangerous to bring it along with you and have it in easy sight and grasp of the villains around you.

"You gotta take it."

"Wait, what?"

"If something bad happens, I'll text you, and then you just push this, and then it's all over, and they'll all be gone."

"We're going with you," Ned argued.

"We're not gonna leave you."

You shook your head, "You can't come with us, it's too dangerous. We're talking about villains that have already faced Spider-Man. They're serious threats. You've already done enough."

"But we're in this together."

"I know we're in this together, Ned, but we can't do this if we know that you're in danger. Okay? So for us, take this. Please."

Fine."

Neither of them were happy about it but they did as you requested all the same.

"I swear, if I don't hear from you, I'm pressing the button."

That was completely fair and you were fine with that. Chances were if they didn't hear anything from you then you would be battling against all of them and the best option would be to send them home anyway.

"Okay."

"Agreed."

You ushered the two of them out so they could have a headstart getting somewhere safe. You reminded them that the X-Men were a call away if they needed anything or wanted to get taken to the manor to hide out. Then you returned to the undercroft with Peter.

"They're all in with the plan, for now, but some of them are more willing than others," Peter whispered to you, "I texted May and she's outside with the truck so we can transport them in there. How do you want to do this?"

"One at a time would be safest, but one of us will have to stay there after the first round so they don't escape from the truck."

You release Norman first, since at the moment he seemed to be the most docile and well-behaved, though that didn't stop you and Peter from tensing every time he so much as moved. You stayed out with the truck after that and kept watch as Peter led out the Sandman, lizard guy, Electro, and finally Doctor Octavius. When all of them were loaded in the truck you and Peter sat in the back cab with them while May drove, to keep guard and be sure they didn't attempt to escape.

When you arrived at Happy's apartment building, you carefully led the group up, being sure to avoid any civilians that may wander into whatever this was. Peter and May deactivated the alarm systems and all of you stepped inside.

"I feel kinda bad using Happy's place like this."

"No, no, no, no. He'll get over it," May waved her hand dismissively.

"Where's Dr. Conners?"

"He wanted to stay in the truck."

The villain quickly spread out to explore the place. Doctor Octavius was still the most skeptical - and moody - of the bunch and fixed the two of you with an unimpressed stare.

"So this is your plan? Mmm? No lab, no facilities, just performing miracles in a condominium? What, you're gonna cook up some churros, some frozen burritos in a microwave?"

"I could go for a burrito."

"They're gonna kill us all!"

"Well, let's hope not. You're up first, Doc."

"What? Hey, I told you. I don't need fixing. I don't need fixing! Especially by a teenager using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer."

You and Peter uncovered the fabricator Happy was storing in the back. He had full permission to use it, of course.

"What the hell is that?" Norman asked as the others crowded into the room.

"It's a fabricator. It can analyze, design, construct basically anything."

May shrugged, "I thought that was a tanning bed Happy broke."

The fabricator popped open and a loud crashing noise came from the other room, all of you jumped, and you were scared to go look at the damage. Peter resolutely ignored it, although you could see the fear in his eyes at the thought of facing Happy's wrath later that night.

"Let's um... let's get started," Peter stuttered out, pulling up the designs for Doctor Ocatvius' arms through his suit. Since they had connected earlier Peter now had access to the blueprint.

While the others wandered off, already bored and uninterested in the project, Norman stayed behind. You were hesitant to allow him to work on the project with you, but he had given you no reason to doubt him so far so you would allow it - hesitantly. Norman was a genius only slightly beneath Tony's purview, although he used his intellect to terrorize people instead of using it to improve society.

"So, the chip in the back of Doc's neck was designed to protect his brain from the A.I. system that's controlling these tentacles. But if you look here the chip is fried. So rather than him being in control of the tentacles, the tentacles are now in control of him. Which, I guess explains why he is so miserable all the time."

"It'd be almost impossible to take the old chip out, but we could make a new one to go over top to correct the fried one," you suggested.

Humming in agreement, Peter isolated the chip portion of the suit and got to work. It was relatively easy to create a new chip, the trickier part was making sure that it would interface with the old one properly without getting fried or corrupted again. But with you, Peter, and Norman working together (and admittedly Peter and Norman were the ones to build it while you focused on the biological aspects) it was done by the time the sun was setting.

"Remarkable," Norman marveled as Peter put the finishing touches on the new chip, "The technology and you. When all this is over if you need a job and you're willing to commute to another universe..."

You could have laughed. Before Norman went crazy - and subsequently died - he was trying to subtly poach Peter from Tony, and Tony was furious about it. As if Peter would ever consider leaving Stark Industries to go work for Oscorp.

The fabricator dinged, and all of you stared in happy shock at the proof and results of your hard work.

"It worked. That totally worked!" Peter grabbed the chip and ran out into the other room, "I got it. I did it! Will you send him up?"

"Yep."

May sent Doctor Octavius up to the second floor, much to his displeasure, "All of these humiliations never cease. You! Keep your science fair project away from me!"

"Hey, it will work. Have faith," Norman insisted calmly.

"Says the reckless fool who turned himself into a monster."

Peter struggled with Doctor Octavius for a few moments before he was finally able to attach the new chip. Immediately, Doctor Octavius seemed to shut down. Praying to whatever deity was actually listened to that you didn't just accidentally kill the man you were trying so hard to help.

"Doc? Doc? Doc? Doctor Octavius?"

Doctor Octavius' head shot up, and the look on his face made you smile. He seemed to be at peace, versus the rest of your time with him when he was constantly irritated and dealing with chaos in his own mind.

"It's so quiet... Those voices... Inside my head... I'd almost forgotten..."

"Otto."

"Yes. Norman. It's me. Would you look at that? I'm grateful, you two, truly."

Smiling, you nudged Peter's arm and received a relieved look in return. This plan of yours that you honestly thought had a 50/50 success rate could actually end up working. Doctor Octavius gently pressed the end of one of his arms against Peter's chest and returned the nanotech he had absorbed on the bridge.

Now that Doctor Octavius was no longer fighting against his body modifications, he was more than willing to help you with the rest of your projects - which made things go much faster than before. Between the four of you, it was easy to make designs for each of the villains outside that would take away their powers and hopefully return them to a stable mental state as well.

"I'm gonna go take this out and try it," Peter held up the device meant for Max, "Do you mind keeping an eye on things in here?"

"Go ahead, these are almost done anyway," you motioned to the final three projects that were being worked on simultaneously.

"How does it feel, Norman? You're about to become whole again. No more darker half. Just you."

"Just me."

The air in the room shifted. You glanced up from Doctor Connor's cure and glanced at Norman and Otto. Both of them were smiling, and everything seemed fine. But something was still off. There was no fighting coming from the other room, nothing here... what was it?

Stepping out to check on Peter, you were relieved to confirm that everything was going just fine. May was waving incense and you couldn't help but chuckle. Clearing the bad energy, of course, that was something she would do.

"Peter," you stepped over to him and lowered your voice, "Something is wrong."

Eyebrows furrowing, Peter glanced around the room and stiffened. He looked around again, and again, walking forward as if on autopilot.

"May?" Peter called.

"What is it, Peter?"

Peter looked around the room for the fourth time.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Without warning, Peter shot out a web at Norman, sticking his hand to DUM-E. In mere seconds his entire demeanor changed, and a wide grin spread across his face. You knew exactly who you were speaking to now, and who had been in control for a couple of minutes at least - if not this entire time.

"That's some neat trick. That sense of yours."

"Norman?" Otto asked hesitantly.

"Norman's on sabbatical, honey."

"Green Goblin," you whispered, fear tingling up your spine. He wasn't the worst villain you had faced, but his actions certainly had one of the largest impacts on your life, and your friends, and your family.

"No more darker half? Did you really think that I'd let that happen? That I'd let you take away my power just because you're blind to what true power can bring you?"

"You don't know me," Peter practically hissed out, because this Norman didn't. He wasn't the almost-father-figure that your universe's Norman once was.

"Don't I? I saw how she trapped you, fighting her holy moral mission," Goblin was talking about May, and when you looked over you saw her grabbing the contraptions you had built and stuffing them into a bag- then turned his dark gaze onto you, "And you. You turned once, I can see it in your eyes when you look at us. Disgust, fear, and recognition. You have up everything you could have been in favor of weakness. We don't need you to save us. We don't need to be fixed. These are not curses. They're gifts."

Otto stepped forward, "Norman, no-"

"Quiet, lapdog!"

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I watched you from deep behind Norman's cowardly eyes. Struggling, to have everything you want, while the world tries to make you choose. Gods don't have to choose. We take."

"May, run!" You ordered, following her to the door without turning your back to make sure she made it out of the apartment safely.

Max ripped the device off his chest just before the final light blinked. He summoned the arc reactor from the fabricator in the other room. His eyes lit up with power. Green Goblin hit Peter so hard he went flying back into the staircase, leaving a sizable dent when he hit. Marco was gone in seconds, dust - or rather sand - in the wind.

"Oh, my God. What have you done?"

"I liked you better before."

When Otto tried to help he was quickly thrown out the window by Max. Releasing water from your stores, you wrapped it around Max in an attempt to contain him. Water was a conduit, so you had to be careful about how you reacted and how you used your powers.

Only Max didn't seem to wilt under the electricity that now surrounded him, if anything it only made him stronger - which you should have guessed would have happened. You had hoped-

A large bolt of electricity came your way and you were forced to duck. Right, there was no time for going over your ideas and theories. Max walked over to the window and looked outside. He looked back at you, smirked, and disappeared.

Running to the window, you groaned when you saw news vans outside and civilians lined up watching the show. God, people could be so stupid.

Looking down, you sucked in a deep breath and stepped out. Free-falling for a few moments, you lifted water up to catch you before you hit the ground.

"Riptide, can you explain what is going on here? Has Spider-Man finally gone rogue and teamed up with villains?" J. Jonah Jameson was on you as soon as you touched the ground, with a camera and mic in your face.

"Spider-Man and I are handling the situation currently, stay back!" Knowing they wouldn't listen you drew as much moisture from the air as you could and raised a thick barrier of ice that would prevent them from getting through and potentially getting harmed, "Misty, how is Peter doing?"

"Karen reports several injuries and an elevated heart rate and blood pressure."

"Shit."

Sprinting back into the building, you jumped back when Peter and the Green Goblin crashed through the floor. While it already seemed like the plan had failed, this was when things truly went to shit.