The corridors of Oscorp felt colder than usual.
I walked past the labs that once sparked my imagination—now just reminders of what I'd lost. I wasn't supposed to be here. Not after Norman fired me. But something kept pulling me back.
Ever since Uncle Ben's death, my instincts had sharpened. I could feel something was wrong at Oscorp—something beyond the spider bite. And after seeing some encrypted files left on my lab computer, I had more questions than answers.
I slipped into Lab 3B, once mine, and logged in with the credentials Norman forgot to disable. The system resisted at first, but with a little coding trick I'd learned while debugging Oscorp's AI project, I broke through the firewall. The files opened.
Subject: Project Chimera. Status: Active.
Chimera wasn't just about spiders. It was about gene-splicing—combining traits from different species to create biological superweapons.
Scrolling further, I found something that made my blood run cold: Patient X – Harry Osborn. Experimental Trial Underway.
"No… Harry?"
I stared at the monitor, my mind racing. Norman hadn't just been trying to save Harry. He had been experimenting on him.
The symptoms: cellular instability, increased aggression, mood swings.
Suddenly, I remembered Mary Jane's worried face when I told her Harry was sick. I thought he was home, recovering. But the records said otherwise. Harry wasn't at home—he was here, somewhere in the building.
The lights in the hallway flickered.
I quickly downloaded the files onto a drive and stepped out of the lab, only to hear the unmistakable whir of security drones activating. My heart pounded. Someone knew I was here.
"Not good. Not good."
I sprinted down the back corridor and into a stairwell. As I reached the next floor, I stopped. A dim blue glow seeped from under a door labeled: Restricted – Level 5 Clearance Only.
The lock looked secure, but my enhanced strength was stronger.
With one pull, the door gave way, and I slipped inside.
What I saw froze me in place.
Large pods lined the room, each filled with fluid and shadows of half-formed creatures—mutations. Not just spiders. Lizards. Scorpions. Bats. Every predator imaginable, warped and modified with human DNA.
At the center, a massive containment tank shimmered. And floating inside was Harry.
Tubes connected to his arms. His eyes were shut. He didn't look hurt—but he didn't look human either.
"What did they do to you, Harry?"
Just then, the tank lights flared red, and a warning sounded.
"Specimen X – Activity Level Critical. Prepare for Emergency Protocol."
The fluid around Harry bubbled violently. His eyes shot open—and locked onto mine.
"Peter?"
His voice echoed in my head.
"You shouldn't have come here."
Then the glass exploded.
The shattering of the containment glass echoed like a gunshot.
Fluid and steam spilled across the floor, and from the wreckage emerged Harry—only, it wasn't just Harry anymore. His skin was pale and veined with green. His eyes glowed faintly. His body was leaner but stronger, twitching with unstable power.
"Harry…" I whispered, stunned.
He stepped forward, staggering. "Pete… it hurts."
He clutched his head, and I could see the tremors in his muscles—like every cell was fighting itself. He dropped to his knees, breathing heavily.
I rushed to him. "I'm here, Harry. You're okay now."
"No, I'm not." His voice cracked. "They said it would save me. My dad said it was the only way. But I can feel it—I'm changing. It's eating me from the inside."
Behind us, alarms wailed louder. Steel shutters began to fall across the lab. We didn't have long.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked, gripping his shoulders. "We could've figured this out together."
"I wanted to, but… Dad said you'd just slow it down. He needed results. He—he thought I could be stronger than you."
I froze. "Than me?"
Harry coughed hard—blood and bile hit the floor. "You were the first success. The spider worked. But it was never meant for you. It was meant for me."
I looked into his eyes—my best friend, drowning in pain. "Harry, I'm sorry. I should've seen it. I should've stopped it."
His breathing grew shallow.
"I didn't want this," he whispered. "I just wanted to live. I didn't want to turn into… into this thing."
His limbs began to shake uncontrollably. Bones cracked under his skin. His voice grew faint. "Pete… promise me… you'll stop him. Don't let him do this to anyone else. Not Mary Jane… not anyone."
I pulled him into my arms as he began to collapse, his body weak from the breakdown.
"No, no—stay with me," I begged. "Harry—don't leave me. You're gonna be okay."
Tears welled in my eyes. I could feel his heartbeat—uneven, fading.
"I'm scared," Harry whispered.
"I've got you," I said, my voice trembling. "You're not alone."
He gave a slight smile. "Always wanted to be the hero…"
His eyes fluttered closed.
And just like that, he was gone.
The room was silent except for the distant pounding of boots—Oscorp security closing in. But I couldn't move. I just held him.
This wasn't supposed to happen. I had powers. I was supposed to save people. But today… I couldn't even save my best friend.
I lowered him gently to the ground.
"You didn't deserve this, Harry. I swear… I'll make it right."
Then I slipped out before the guards arrived.
The city lights glowed dim outside the tower. And inside my chest, a storm began to rise.
I didn't sleep that night.
Harry's last words haunted me, clinging to my skin like cold rain. I sat on the rooftop across from Oscorp, watching the tower like it was some kind of living thing—breathing, scheming.
The world kept moving below. Cars. Sirens. Neon lights. But up here, all I could hear was silence and guilt.
He died because of me.
Because I wasn't fast enough.
Because I didn't stop Norman.
The next morning, I walked through Oscorp's front doors like a ghost. No stealth. No sneaking. Just purpose.
Guards tried to stop me, but I didn't let them.
I climbed walls. I broke locks. I avoided cameras.
I wasn't Peter Parker right now. I was something else.
Norman's office was at the top floor. Clean, cold, and cruel—like the man himself.
He was waiting when I arrived, hands folded behind his back, staring out the floor-to-ceiling window.
"I wondered how long it would take," he said, not turning around. "Did you come to cry, or just to point fingers?"
"You knew," I said quietly.
He chuckled. "Of course I knew. I planned it."
I took a step forward. "He begged me to stop you with his dying breath."
At that, Norman finally turned. His face was unreadable—somewhere between grief and mockery.
"You're blaming me? You broke protocol. You let that spider loose. You killed it. You sabotaged the project."
"No. You used your own son as a test subject."
Norman's expression shifted. "You don't understand. Harry was sick. Dying. I did what any father would do—anything to save him."
I shook my head. "That wasn't saving. That was sacrificing."
Norman's jaw tightened.
"You think you're innocent in all this, Peter? You think you were just some bystander who stumbled into greatness?" He took a step toward me, eyes blazing. "You killed the last viable spider. The one that had perfect genetic compatibility. After that, I had no choice but to accelerate the Chimera Project."
"You made that choice," I snapped. "You didn't care who paid for it, as long as you got what you wanted."
"And what I wanted," he hissed, "was for my son to live. But you… you ruined that."
I could feel the anger boiling under my skin.
"He died in my arms," I said through clenched teeth. "Because you filled his body with things it wasn't meant to carry."
"Oh, spare me the dramatics," Norman scoffed. "You're just upset because you weren't the only one with powers anymore. You couldn't handle sharing the spotlight."
I stepped forward. "You're gaslighting me. You know this is your fault."
He didn't flinch. "Do I? Because when I look at the data, Peter… it all starts with you. The bite. The mutation. The chain reaction. You set everything in motion."
"It's always been you."
I reached into my jacket and pulled out the flash drive—the one I downloaded from the lab. I tossed it on his desk.
"What's this?" he asked, picking it up.
"Proof," I said. "That Harry wasn't the end of it. You weren't just trying to save him. You were preparing him for something else."
His eyes flickered. "You went into the lower chambers."
"There was a file. SYMB-X," I said. "And a prototype container labeled 'Symbiote Housing Unit.' You weren't curing him. You were preparing him to bond with something."
Norman was silent.
"So what was it?" I pressed. "What was the plan? Stick your son in an alien suit and hope it made him stronger?"
He laughed, slow and bitter. "It wasn't just alien. It was perfect. A living weapon. Adaptable. Indestructible."
"Alive," I said. "And dangerous."
Norman's voice dropped low. "You don't know what it's like to watch your child fall apart in front of you. When the spider failed, I had one last option—the symbiote. I believed it could repair him. Reinforce him. Save him."
I stared at him.
"You were going to let it possess him."
He stepped closer, face darkening. "And if I could bring him back right now with it… I would."
I stood still for a moment, absorbing it all.
"You're not a grieving father," I said. "You're a scientist who lost his experiment. And you're too much of a coward to admit it."
His lip twitched.
"You're no hero, Peter," he said softly. "You're just a boy playing with fire."
"And you," I replied, turning to leave, "are about to burn with everything you built."
As the elevator doors closed, I saw Norman's reflection—just a man now. A man haunted by his own shadow.
But I knew this wasn't the end.
Something was still inside Oscorp.
The symbiote was still here.
And it wasn't finished.