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maddieautobot273 · 7 months

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Silk & Cologne (37)

A Miguel O'Hara x OC Series - Link to AO3 (X)

Chapter 37 - Compromised - previous chapter (X)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Female OC

Words: 3.8K+ words

Warnings: PG-13 for violence and fight sequences, implied torture, forced injection

Summary: Lisa ventures further into the manor in search of Harry.

//////

The hallway was quiet and cold compared to the warm and lively contrast of the ballroom on the other side of the doorway. When I didn’t see anyone else in the hall, I was tempted to go back out merely due to the ominous silence sending a wicked chill down my spine. But I willed myself to carefully and quietly shut the door behind me and ventured further down the hall.

I recalled Miguel’s training, and Spider-Noir’s advice when he popped in for a quick visit yesterday when Miguel asked him to provide some insight. Hug the wall, always check your corners. Don’t move unless you know for sure you can proceed to your target. So that’s what I did.

I followed his advice, hugging the wall and peering around the corner once I reached the end of the hall. The cost was clear. No guards in sight, much less security cameras. Odd.

Don’t overthink it. It’s not getting easier. Don’t get overconfident.

I reached into my pants pocket, pulling out a spare smoke grenade. I crouched down, pressing the trigger button before gently rolling the grenade across the floor. A soft hiss echoed from the grenade as the familiar pink, glittering smoke covered the hall. When it dispersed, I quickly realized why there weren’t any guards.

Lasers.

Not a bad trick, King Pin. I was almost impressed. He had that much confidence that no one would be stupid enough to follow him out here?

Correction; That stupid someone was me.

After making sure my smoke grenade didn’t alert anyone to come snooping around, I stepped out of my hiding spot at the corner of the hall. I studied the layout of the lasers, mapping out a route in my head. I jumped, sticking my hands and feet to the ceiling and started to crawl.

I maneuvered my way down the hall, occasionally parkouring to other sides of the walls and floor to avoid getting my uniform singed from the intense heat of the lasers. When I made it to the clearing, I jumped down to my feet, finding a switch as I flicked it with my finger and the laser grid slowly vanished.

Phew!

“I’ll take five, be right back,” A voice spoke up as a door opened.

Shit!

I pressed my back against the wall, glancing over to see a grunt walking towards me from the corner. Not King Pin or Harry, thank goodness for that. But I couldn’t exactly get compromised either.

I looked over to the door beside me, noticing that it appeared to be a broom closet. I peeked inside, making sure it was big enough for me to slip inside, and to potentially rope someone else in with me. I closed the door, but made sure to leave a small crack of an opening, allowing me to peek outside.

I listened for the grunt’s footsteps as he proceeded down the hall, passing by the door of the broom closest. He paused, pulling out his phone to shoot a text message before he glanced over to the wall, noticing the switch. The laser security switch.

“What the–?” He turned to look at the switch, noticing it was switched off. “Who shut it off–!”

I didn’t even give him time to finish his sentence as I pushed the door open, caught him with a web sling and yanked him inside the closest as the door swung shut after him. The small room was nearly pitch black as I gripped my arms around him, fighting to contain him as he tried to struggle out of my grasp.

“Hey, who the hell–!” He snarled.

I flexed my fingers, blobs of web fluid staining his body before I opened my mouth and quietly sang a soft melody.

“Ah, ah, aaaaah, ah ahhh, aaaahhhhhh~”

The webs glowed their golden hue and soon the grunts' struggles diminished as the pupils matched the webs glow. He passed out in my arms, falling asleep. I sighed in relief as the thundering flutter of my heart calmed down, the adrenaline of the moment subsiding.

“That was way too close. . .” I muttered softly as I carefully set the grunt down on the floor. “No hard feelings tough guy,”

I found a large paper towel roll, quickly adjusting the grunt’s head to place the roll under him so he could use it as a pillow. Once he was settled, I discreetly stepped out of the broom closet and shut the door behind me. I looked around the hall, and it appeared no one had heard the grunt’s sudden cry.

“I should cover my tracks,” I mumbled softly as I flicked the switch and the laser security grid turned back on.

If I needed somewhere to run and come back the way I came, I now knew where the switch was so I could quickly shut it off and make a speedy get-a-way. Maybe I could hang back and shoot some web fluid at it to turn it back on if there are some henchmen chasing me down later? Hypothetically speaking of course.

I proceed further into the hall, sneaking by the doorway the grunt had previously come out of to now draw attention to myself. When I made it to the end of the hall, I passed through the door and arrived in a grand foyer. It had the same architecture of the ballroom, more warmth in it than that asylum looking secret hallway I was just in.

Now, which way did they go? Up the stairs or through the grand oak wood doors on the other end of the room?

“Hey, you!”

I froze instantly. Shit!

I turned around to see three henchmen approach me. I was so focused on figuring out which direction King Pin may have taken Harry, I didn’t notice these guys guarding the room. If I make it out of this Miguel was going to kill me for letting my guard down. I had to think of something quick.

“What are you doing out here?” One of the guards questioned me. “All service workers for the gala are to remain at the event,”

“Oh, uh, my boss said that Mr. King Pin had requested drinks for him and some of his guests and, uh–” I tried to stay calm as my brain fumbled for an excuse, fiddling with my fingers behind my back. “Sent me to check what they wanted,”

“I haven’t heard anything like that from the boss,” The leader of the trio shook his head as he glanced at his partners. “Have ya’ll heard anything?”

They both shrugged, looking at each other in confusion.

Their leader gave me a hard stare as he pulled out a walkie talkie. My heart sank into my stomach, thankful that it wasn’t a weapon he brought out. “Mind if I call to confirm?”

A faint drop of sweat streaked down my forehead as I managed a polite smile. “Not at all,”

He nodded before he glanced over at his partners, motioning his head towards me. “Keep an eye on her, aight?”

The pair nodded as they stepped forward, circling me like hawks as they covered my flanks on either side of me. Their leader turned his back to me, the static of the walkie talkie going off as he pressed a button to activate it.

“Yo, Marco, can you check with Antonio if the boss requested drinks for his meeting? I got one of the servers here saying she was sent to take an order for the boss,”

I couldn’t pick up the full sentence that came out of the radio and it’s horrendous frequency, but I at least picked up the phrase, One second. That bought me some time, although I had no idea how long.

The four of us stood around in awkward silence. Although from their perspective, I was certainly the awkward one. I kept telling myself I was just playing an act. The role of an innocent bystander just trying to do their job and not wanting to cause any trouble. I repeated that story over and over again in my mind to try and calm my nerves as I could feel my palms start to sweat.

The walkie talkie went off again, the static sparking through the speaker as a response came out.

“Say again?” The leader of the henchmen asked for clarification.

The static went off and I could feel the gaze on me coming from the two flanking henchmen hardening. More sweat dripped down my forehead. The jig was up.

“We didn’t hear anything about the boss wanting– AH!” As the leader of the henchmen was turning to further prove his claim, I flexed my hand out, shooting a ball of web fluid into his face.

He recoiled, screaming as he fell to the floor. He frantically clawed at the web fluid, pulling the sticky substance off his face as his buddies squared up. My shoulders tensed as I shifted my gaze between the pair, waiting to see who would react first.

The one on my right moved in first, charging me. I swerved out of the way of the charge, my body spinning as I bashed my knee into his back. He bulldozed into his friend who took the brunt of the hit and they both collapsed to the floor, their skid marks staining the expensive red carpet

A snarl caught my ear as I turned, facing their leader who was at least free of the mess I threw at his face. He reached for his back again, whipping out a black baton. I could feel my knees start to buckle, but I didn’t budge.

Remember what Miguel taught you. It’s the brutes you’ve got to watch out for.

I quickly evaluate my options, glancing around us. I see an opening as he charges. I shoot two web slings upward and once they stick to my target, I pull on them hard with as much strength as I can muster. My arm and bicep muscles twitch and burn as I yank down the chandelier from the ceiling and it lands on top of the henchmen with a loud ‘CRASH’ as I leap out of the way of the debris.

When the smoke cleared from the impact and the glittering jewels on the lights stop shaking, the brute is alive and well, merely shaken up as he realizes that he’s trapped within the inside of the chandelier and is too big to squeeze past the iron bars. His walkie talkie is smashed as well.

“Sorry, like I said, got a job to do!” I chuckled softly, offering the brute a showful bow before taking off up the grand stairway to the second floor.

I had no idea if I was even going the right way, but I needed to put some distance between myself and that mess downstairs. But if others go looking for their friends, they’d tell them what I’d look like. Thankfully I’m packing more than one costume.

As I pushed open a doorway and continued running down the hall, I felt a sharp buzz in my head. My spider-sense. Something was wrong.

I could see it coming as someone whipped their arm out, attempting to neck slam me. But I fell to my knees, sliding across the floor and under the arm before my body sprang up and whipped around to meet my advisory.

A tall man chuckled darkly as he stepped in front of me. He wore a dark navy blue suit with a black button up dress shirt, had pale white skin on his hands but as far as his face goes, I could make out his brown eyes. The rest of his face was covered with a white metal mask.

“We meet again, Miss Lisa,” the man greeted me with a thick Russian accent.

“Do I know you?” I raised a brow at the man as I kept a good distance away from him.

The man shook his head and I could see the playful glimmer in his eyes through the mask as he fixed his cufflinks. “Surely you remember me? It’s me,” He spoke almost gently before his lips twitched and curled into a devilish smile, and his voice changed. “Mi vida,” - my dear

My jaw dropped to the floor. My heart dropped to my stomach as I felt like I was going to collapse right there and then. It was him. Not my Miguel.

“You!” I snarled, my teeth grinding as I squared my fingers into tight fists. “You’re the imposter that attacked me!”

He applauded me, the playful glimmer in his eyes never fading. “Very good, Lisa,” his voice shifted back into a Russian accent. “I take it by now you know who I am? Who I truly am?”

“You’re the Chameleon,” I glared at him, piercing daggers into his very soul.

“Please, after what we both went through together, I believe we’re on a first name basis now,” I could hear his grin from under the mask as he offered me a bow, “Call me Dmitri,”

“Like hell I will,” I growled. I fired a burst of web fluid, sticking his body to the nearby wall. “Stay away from me,”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Chameleon clicked his tongue in a disapproving manner. “Don’t be so hasty now, I was just on my way to fetch you,”

I watched as Chameleon’s fingers glazed through my webs like they were nothing. Tearing them apart like they were paper and his fingers were as sharp as scissors. My eyes widened at the sight, taking a step back.

“I didn’t just duplicate Miguel’s voice, you know,” He purred, daring a step closer towards me.

I took another step back. Followed by a hard hit to the back of the head. I collapsed to the floor, my body screaming at me to stand as I zoned in and out of consciousness, black and white spots covering my vision. I struggled to push myself up right as I glanced over, seeing Chameleon take a few steps towards me, kneeling beside me.

He cupped my chin with his fingers, studying me with a sultry grin before glancing up at whoever knocked me down. “Take her to the boss,”

////////

Miguel’s P.O.V.

The gala was bustling with lively people as chatter and live music filled the space. Miguel adjusted his tie with one hand while with the other he held a sleek glass of champagne. He glanced over, his eyes scanning the crowd. He spotted Jessica wearing a beautiful glistening red dress that hugged her baby bump just right, with a fur coat overtop her shoulders.

Their eyes met briefly. They had to pretend they didn’t know each other for the sake of their cover. Miguel was reaching for his ear to effortlessly adjust his earpiece communicator when he heard Jessica’s voice.

“Hanging in there?”

Not through the earpiece, but through his mind.

Miguel’s hidden power as he called it. He wasn’t aware he possessed such an ability until started recruiting more Spiders into the Society. The ones he became relatively close with, or tolerated as he called it, somehow developed a psychic bond that allowed them to communicate telepathically if they were close enough.

So far he had developed this connection with Jessica, Peter B., and there was a brief flicker of a connection with Gwen when they were fighting the Vulture anomaly in her dimension just over a month ago. No one else has managed to connect to his bond, not even cute little Mayday Parker, much to his chagrin, although he’d never admit it to him.

How that mixed in with the DNA splicing, he had no idea, and didn’t have the time to properly look into it. This ability had saved his skin many times, so he figured if he could use it to his advantage, he wouldn’t budge on it. There were more important things at stake.

“Trying to,” He sighed deeply, taking a sip of the champagne to try and keep himself calm and distracted.

“She would have said she needed back up. You know this,” Jessica spoke through the bond with a calming tone while physically she was laughing at another guest's horrible joke as she mingled with a small group, meanwhile Miguel had to politely turn down multiple flirty advances on him. She was always the more social one between the pair. “Trust her to find Harry,”

Miguel’s fingers tightened their grip on the champagne glass ever so slightly. “I do trust her. I’m just. . . anxious. It’s been a while since her last message,”

“I believe the phrase the youngsters use nowadays is ‘hot minute’, though it’s actually been about 10 minutes or so, give or take,” Peter B.’s voice suddenly filled the space of Miguel’s mind, and the Spider-Society leader willed himself not to snarl in annoyance.

“Peter. . .”

Of course he would hear us and chime in. Well. . . it would be more discreet than the communicators.

“Cat’s not out of the bag yet. King Pin’s goons haven’t stormed the joint. Until we hear back from her, all we can do is wait. Maybe we’ll find something else of use while we’re here,” Peter B. reasoned before it sounded like he was stuffing his face at the buffet table. Again. “Use that big brain of yours, Miguel!”

Miguel rolled his eyes before venturing elsewhere in the crowd, glancing over towards the stage as the audience applauded the band as they wrapped up their current song and adjusted for a new set.

If she needed me, she’d call.

She’d call.

////////

Lisa’s P.O.V.

"Boss, we caught this one lurking around,"

I could feel myself coming to again. My vision cleared and I found myself in a secluded room, on my knees with rope tightly knotted, keeping my wrists tied together and pressed to my lower back. My disguise was gone and I was stuck wearing my spider-suit. Two henchmen were at either side of me, and out of the corner of my eye I could make out Chameleon leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, looking at me.

But my focus wasn’t on him. It was on the two most powerful men in the room.

King Pin was a large man with an intimidating stare. He gripped his cane tightly as he lounged on his luxurious sofa chair. Beside him, Harry Osborne stood up from his seat, hands stuffed into his suit pockets as he stared at me down.

Now that I got an actual good look at him, Harry looked to be about the same age as Miguel, late twenties, early thirties, maybe a tad older than him by a year or so. I couldn’t deny it, Harry Osborn was quite handsome, like a cross between Chris Hemsworth and Robbie Amell. In a villainous billionaire sort of way.

In between us was a small table with an open briefcase. Inside the briefcase I could just barely catch what looked like to be metal collars? They were a sleek gunmetal gray with green fluorescent glowing lights.

I could see the look on Harry’s face as he studied me. Recognition. His lips curled into a smile. “Lisa Kendrick, at last we finally meet face to face. Although I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon,”

“Harry,” I uttered his name, growling in greeting.

"She one of the other Spider's you were talkin about?" King Pin looks over at Harry, a stern yet intriguing look on his face.

“The very same,” Harry mused with a nod of his head.

“She made a mess in your foyer, King Pin,” Chameleon shook his head like he was disciplining a child. “Ruined a perfectly good chandelier,”

“Eh, I’ve seen prettier,” I shrugged my shoulders, trying to nudge the henchmen away from me but they gripped my shoulders tightly with their fingers. “What’s your endgame, Harry? Why are you siding with scum like King Pin?”

“If I told you that, then that would ruin the surprise, now would it?” Harry leaned forward, his wicked grin sending a chill down my spine.

“If you’re here, then I assume more of your other spider friends are lurking around in my manor as well?” King Pin surmised as he tilted his head, lighting a cigar.

I didn’t give him an answer.

"It would appear I have been made," Harry sighs as he pulls something out from his pocket. "As much as I want to bring you in now, the stage is not set quite yet, my dear, at least not my stage,"

It’s not until he starts walking towards me when I notice what he’s holding in his hand. A syringe. The pointy end of it flashed in the low lighting of the room as I tried to shuffle back, but the guards kept me still as the CEO of Oscorp came before me.

“Get your hands off me!” I growled.

Miguel warned me. He warned me that something like this would happen and I still insisted on doing this. Have you forgotten already that Harry could still be seeking you out for your powers?

“Now, now, I’m not going to hurt you, Spider-Muse,” Harry chuckled as he knelt beside me, his fingers gripping and brushing the neck sleeve of my spider-suit down to expose my neck.

Harry injected the syringe into the crock of my neck, forcing a blood sample from me. I felt the prick of the needle and hissed as the tiny metal tip pulled out from my body. I recoiled out of his touch, baring my teeth at him.

"I'll have need of you later,” Harry spoke as he stood back up to his feet, handing the syringe to Chameleon who put the medical device in a case, locking it. Harry glanced over towards King Pin. “In the meantime, I'll leave her in your capable hands. Feel free to use my gifts as a token of our partnership,"

“Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Osborne,” King Pin chuckled as he blew a whiff of his cigar, the dark smoke fluttering in the air.

“What are you talking about?” I sent an accusing glare towards Harry.

He ignored my question as his gaze briefly went to the contents inside the briefcase before he gave me a wink. He motioned over to Chameleon. “Let’s move along, Dmitri, we’re done here,”

He’s not going to. . . use that thing on me is he?!

Harry pressed a button on his watch and I watched in awe as his own inter-dimensional portal appeared. This one was blue and purple compared to the orange and red contrast of the portals used by the Spider-Society.

“See you later, Prekrasnyy,” Chameleon snickered. - Lovely

“Until we meet again,” Harry waved at me before he and Chameleon stepped through the portal and disappeared from the room, from this dimension.

The portal closed and within seconds, King Pin snapped his thick fingers, grinning at me. “Prep her,” He commanded.

The next thing I knew, I got smacked into the back of my head again. Darkness quickly followed.

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spacecadet-ticklesinspace · 18 days

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Pretty Fly for a Firefly

Summary: Peter 1 introduces Harry to his new nickname :)

(Based of the Anon prompt sent in about Peter 2's Harry getting a nickname ❤️ :) Firefly was such a sweet nickname suggestion with the meaning behind it ❤️🥹 If you guys think of any others, we can give Harry more nicknames 😁❤️ Each of the Peters could have one and myabe Norman could have one too? Or Otto? ❤️:) Hope you enjoy Anon ❤️😁)

"I got it!"

Harry grunted as Peter 1 ran into his back. He set down his water and ruffled the curls peeking out over his shoulder. "Gohot what itty-bitty?"

"Your nickname!"

Harry turned in his seat so he could see the youngest Peter. "You finally thought of one?"

One bounced up on to his toes. "Uh-huh! And it's perfect!"

Two chuckled. "Leave it toho Unoho. He and Three are thehe masteherminds ohof nicknames."

Three held up his hands. "I did not help him with this ohone!"

"So it's an Peter 1 original?" Peter 2 teased.

"Yep!" One bounced up onto his toes.

Harry grinned. "Lay it on me itty-bitty."

The youngest beamed. "Firefly!"

"Firefly?"

"Yeah!"

"Soundd rihight fohor Uno." Two pointed to himself and then Three. "We're animal nicknames too."

"Yeah, but Bear and Giraffee make sense." Harry also pointed to the older two. "You're cuddly and you're tall. But as fabulous as it may look, my butt does not sparkle."

Peter 3 wheezed at the comment while Two snorted and buried his face into his hands.

One playfully shoved his older friend. "I didn't give it to you because of yohour butt!"

"I hope nohot."

"No!"

Three wiped a tear from his eye. "Wehell why thehen?"

"Because!" The youngest wrapped his arms back around Harry's shoulders. "You knohow hohow fireflies light up the dahark?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah."

"Wehell, when we have dark parts in ohour lihife, Harry seems to light them uhup. Just like a firefly!"

The older two Peters both melted while Harry blushed.

One's smile faltered at the quiet response. "D-do you really like it?"

"Like it?" Harry reached an arm around behind him so he could pull the youngest close enough to ruffle his curls. "I love it you little sahap."

Peter 1 squirmed in his older friend's hold, but he couldn't hide the smile beaming across his face.

Three leaned forward. "Hope you realize I'm planning on using this as an excuse to call you Flyguy, right?"

"Like Skyguy in The Clone Wars!" Two exclaimed.

Harry smirked at the middle Peter as he released Peter 1. "Whatever you sahay Snihips."

One bounced back up on to his toes. "Soho you do like ihit?"

"Absolutely itty-bitty." Harry grinned at him. "I'll treasure it forever."

"With a smile like that, hehe's dehefinitely our Firefly," Two teased.

Harry playfully kicked him under the table. "Huhush yohou!"

But even with all of the teases, Harry couldn't keep the smile off of his face or stamp out the swelling of his heart from all of the love that he felt from one little word.

Sap, he thought to himself.

#peter 1 #peter 2 #peter 3 #harry osborne #fluff

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kyndaris · 2 months

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Heal the World

Despite being nominated for several categories at the 2023 The Game Awards, Spider-Man 2 did not manage to win any of the prestigious trophies. A fact that has been both lambasted and poked fun of on the internet. But when you consider the sheer quantity, as well as the quality, of games that came out, the fact Spider-Man 2 was even nominated is proof of its greatness. Especially when it was going up against heavy-weights Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Final Fantasy XVI, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Super Mario Bros: Wonder.

2023, it should be noted, was a game of big releases.

Following on from several strategy role-playing games I was stuck playing, it was only in the latter half of the year I was able to play catch-up on many of the triple-A titles. Even now, though, I have yet to tackle Final Fantasy XVI, Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3 and Alan Wake 2.

To be fair, I've bought all the titles. They are, unfortunately, just sitting around waiting for me to devote the necessary time to make the adventure worthwhile.

Once I do, of course, be sure to see posts pop up throughout the year. Even as I try to balance work, my writing hobbies, the books I read, shows I watch (at time of writing, I've gotten into Blue Eye Samurai), and whatever travel I also have planned. In fact, I should hopefully be publishing the sequel to Wild Child soon. After pounding out the chapters during a period where everything has gone back to normal, taking the time out to write a full-length novel is very time-consuming. Not to mention the editing I'm doing (which would probably be better if I had an actual editor and at least one beta reader) to polish up a few things.

In any case, the story of my journey with Spider-Man 2 began not when I popped the disc into my PlayStation 5. Nay, the story begins with the day I purchased the game at a store in the heart of Sydney CBD. I was catching up with a high school friend and had just seen a Facebook post about an exhibit in Barangaroo. After dinner, off we trotted - after much convincing on my part that a walk down to Barangaroo would be for the best - to take in the flipped truck suspended by spider webs and New York policemen milling about telling everyone within earshot that, "There was nothing to see here." The trip, capped off with a photo of the truck, was made memorable when I muttered under my breath how the hired actors were pretending to be NPCs. Only, of course, to be remonstrated by my friend for saying such a thing.

And honestly, it it is true that I shouldn't be calling the people I see only in passing as NPCs. After all, in their own mind, they're the main character and I'm the NPC lurking in the background of their story. Which only serves to drive home the disconnection we have with the people around us or who might share the daily commute with us.

Still, what a thing to say to dismiss another person.

I'm reminded of a scene in the book Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, which my workplace bookclub read, where Sam called his best friend, Max, an NPC right to his face. I know Max didn't take it to heart but what a cruel and heartless thing to say to someone who has supported you throughout your game developing journey and is then ruthlessly gunned down on the pretense he was you by angry gamers.

Anyways, back to Spider-Man 2. The game follows on from Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Ten months on from the last game, we see Peter Parker and Miles Morales working together to keep New York safe. And though the Avengers seem to exist in the world - what with Avenger Tower jutting up above the New York skyline - we never see these other superheroes once during the struggles Peter and Miles face. Nor do we see cameos from the likes of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist or Luke Cage.

Which is such a shame.

But it also highlights the problem of having so many comic-book superheroes call New York home.

Spider-Man 2 starts with Peter taking on a job as a physics teacher at Brooklyn Visions, the school Miles attends. As he's teaching them about surface tension, Sandman attacks. Torn between his responsibilities as civilian Peter and that of Spider-Man, Peter joins up with Miles to take down Flint Marko in an epic showdown that saves the city. Unfortunately, due to dereliction of duty as a teacher, Peter is fired. A side-effect of being a superhero who keeps his identity hidden (although given how often his friends have since said his name during the game, I'm surprised it's still a secret).

From there, the game introduces us to Kraven, a man who seeks his death in glorious combat with a mighty opponent. As such, he captures Mister Negative and Scorpion while the two were being transported from the Raft. He even administers a high dose of Lizard serum into Dr Curt Connors to face up against a worthwhile opponent.

It is only when Peter acquires the symbiote that excitement enters Kraven's eyes. In the latter chapters, he fights against Peter and demands that our erstwhile hero stop holding back even showing off a battered Miles. Before Peter can kill him, Miles intervenes and Peter is then freed from the symbiote's control.

Of course, Spider-Man 2 is not content to have Kraven as the big bad for this game. Oh no.

As many know, once you've introduced the symbiote, you've also introduced Venom. But instead of Eddie Brock taking on the mantle of our favourite anti-hero, it is instead Harry Osborn.

Though Harry was only mentioned briefly in the first game, in Spider-Man 2, Harry returns from a long sabbatical in Europe and supposedly cured from his terminal illness. Harry is introduced early, hiring Peter to work at his environmental technology startup called the Emily-May foundation where the pair can pursue their childhood dream of "healing the world." Unfortunately, during the events of Spider-Man 2, with Peter taking on the symbiote, Harry's health - both physical and mental - deteriorates. Desperate to return to a semblance of normality, Harry reclaims the symbiote and is then transformed into the Venom we all know and love.

He is later stopped by the combined efforts of Miles, Peter and MJ. The final battle leaves Harry comatose and our heroes shattered once again by the sacrifices they had to make in order to save the city they call home.

What I liked most about Spider-Man 2, however, as a criminology major in university, was its focus on rehabilitation. Many of the supervillains that Spider-Man fans have come to know and love have been reformed in some way or another. Be that Tombstone to Mysterio. Many of these villains have chosen to turn over a new leaf and assimilate back into society. The most tragic and most human is the story of Sandman. Threatened by Kraven's hunters, fearing for his daughter and not being heard by those in power, he resorts to the only thing he knows in order to garner attention: attacking the city.

It is a tale as old as time.

And helps support the tenets of strain theory in crime sociology.

Of course, there are a myriad reasons why people turn to crime.

But these glimpses are so important to understand the complexities of why someone might resort to doing something illegal. And it's a far better exploration of redemption than what Spider-Man: No Way Home attempted. As I've stated before, change takes time. While No Way Home plucked our villains during their final showdown with the various Spider-Man across the multiverse, Spider-Man 2 shows the results of Mysterio and Sandman having served their time and seeking to mend their ways.

This all culminates in the interactions with Mister Negative and Miles Morales. And while Miles cannot bring himself to forgive what Mister Negative did, he is able to move past the anger.

The other message in Spider-Man 2, of course, is that some burdens cannot be taken on alone. The tagline for the game is: 'Be Greater. Together.' Something I wish more people would take to heart. When a community comes together, there is so much more that can be done. Unfortunately, the Western world prefers to champion individualistic effort over those of a collective.

Capitalism seems to forget that if you don't have your workers or people who can afford to purchase your goods, then what's the whole point? And if you're curious where this odd segue came from, I'm currently playing through Octopath Traveler 2 and Partitio's story is very much of a big-hearted merchant who looks out for his town. His dream, funnily enough, is to destroy the devil known as poverty. Something our modern world still has not been able to solve (but could. If there was any profit to it. But who are we kidding? There isn't.)

From a combat perspective, Spider-Man 2 changes things up a little by introducing a parry mechanism as well as a few other new abilities for the Spider-Men to enjoy. While this kept the game lively, it annoyed me that I needed a full Focus bar in order to heal. This was especially difficult in the latter boss battles against Scream and Venom. I'm not sure if the reason why I struggled through them was because I hadn't topped up my Focus bars prior to the mission or if it was simply me not gelling with Peter's abilities.

What I do know was that I hated how the attack you couldn't dodge, but had to parry, was highlighted in red and that the unblockable attack was blue. Especially when the game had trained you early on with managing a perfect dodge when the spider sense was red. It also didn't help that in the battles with Scream and Venom, these indicators didn't last for very long and I couldn't cancel an animation if I was already mid-dodge to parry an attack.

At least the checkpointing was generous!

As for other gameplay moments, I had to say the swinging was smooth as butter and the web wings added some great diversity to travel. Especially with the wind tunnels all around the city to help one get from Point A to Point B.

And because of these quality-of-life improvements, I didn't feel like the new map, which now included Queens and Brooklyn, was that much larger than the original Spider-Man game or as time-consuming to get through like a map in the open-world Assassin's Creed titles.

So, while Spider-Man 2 didn't win at The Game Awards, it certainly won my heart as the second last game I played in the year 2023. And I'm certainly excited to see what Insomniac cooks up next, despite the hack. The studio is great at nailing story, gameplay and world while serving up side-dishes of heart. Best of all, it didn't have me chasing after pigeons!

In a year teeming with big titles, Spider-Man 2 was everything I wanted in an open-world game without overstaying its welcome.

Thank you Insomniac and here's hoping Spider-Man 3 brings on the Green Goblin in all his glory! Oh, and Silk. I'm curious to how they'll insert that comic storyline into the game.

#video games #spider-man 2 #peter parker #miles morales #mary jane watson #harry osborne #venom #kraven #rehabilitation vs deterrence

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murdockmeta · 11 months

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are yall serious right now

those last two panels are literally the same flashback referenced in two separate issues btw

#this is literally like 3 issues apart #they wasted NO time w the whitewashing wtf #anyway e65 harry is black #cause i SAID SO #earth 65 #spider gwen #harry osborne #ren rereads

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animentality · 1 year

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You know when Harry Osborne tried to kill Peter Parker in spider man 3?

I don't think he really meant it. Just guys being guys, you know. Boys being boys. Friends to arch enemies to lovers, stage 2.

#spider man 3 #spider man #harry osborne

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mk-wizard · 1 year

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Spider-Man 2017: It COULD have been perfect

Now that I have calmed down today... I want to make it clear that I don’t hate the 2017 Spider-Man cartoon (which I will call 2017-Spidey for simplicity). In fact, I do like it. I just don’t love it. What I hate is how it being FA (for all ages) ruined it. If it had been allowed to be mature, take itself seriously and really be superhero show instead of a kid’s show, it could have raised the bar and no, I am not exaggerating. And to prove my point, I am going to list its best point of being rated FA ruined each of them. Note that I will not waste my time talking about the bad points. Period.

I will also give a heads up that there will be a spoilers ahead.

1- It had fresh new ideas that worked. - This show tried to do a lot of things differently which I have to admit wound up working really well. To be very honest, I liked that 2017-Spidey’s Harry Osborne rose out of his father’s shadow and not only became the Hobgoblin, but also a hero who stood up to his dad (which is a moment all Harry fans were waiting for) and found peace with himself for a change. It was a nice surprise and the way Harry’s characters development progressed was actually pretty decent. In fact, Harry’s my favourite character in the show for that reason. I even liked that for once, Dr. Conners was a bad guy because this version of him worked in the story being told. His motives made sense and watching him be bad was entertaining. Truth be told, him selfishly testing on himself was always a not so virtuous motive anyway.

-But it tried too many new things at once, so the good new ideas got drowned out. - Due to being FA, instead of concentrating on the three new good ideas it had (Harry-Hobgoblin and Villain Conners were two of them) and making them great, it was fixated on novelty. There was always a new character, a new villain of the day, a new version of an existing character and a new something which is a formula used in cartoons for preschoolers and younger. The show became disorganized and episodic format would constantly get broken. It started to feel like a borderline toy commercial like an outdated 80s Saturday morning cartoon. Most of the episodes could be classified as empty filler.

2- It gave an origin story to Dr. Octopus and showed his progression towards villainy. - One of my favourite character arcs in Batman the Animated Series was Two-Face’s in which we saw him start off as Harvey Dent to becoming the iconic villain. When I heard that 2017-Spidey was going to do this with my favourite Spider-Man villain Dr. Octopus, I was elated. Seeing him be Peter Parker’s teacher in the beginning of the series, so that the two of them form a bond and then have become the villain of Spider-Man yet still have that kindness towards Peter Parker would have been one for the ages.

- But he along with his story arc were reinvented, rushed and crashed. - I know I said this in another article, but I will say it again here. They aged him down to be 19 and in doing so, diminished his character into that of a rude, arrogant and unkind egoist. Unlike the reinvention of Harry Osborn into a heroic Hobgoblin, the reinvention of Otto Octavious as a young, mean-spirited sadist doesn’t work because part of what makes Dr. Octopus special as a villain IS his age and life experience. He needs to be an adult the same way Harry needs to be Norman’s son. Without his adulthood, maturity and lingering humanity, he’s just a generic villain not complex nor sympathetic. Young Otto would have worked better as a flashback version where he is that mean smart kid in the beginning, but then finds his compassion and patience as a teacher while the current day version of the doctor would be a kindly adult man with haunting trauma.

3- It finally brought Miles Morales to television. - This is the third new good idea in my opinion. Miles Morales is one of Marvel’s best new heroes because he is humble, he is his own man, and he is a genuinely good person. Also, his mentor-student relationship with Peter Parker is heartwarming. They have a big brother and little brother dynamic. His story arcs are worth telling and have shaped him as a Marvel hero. At this point, he should appear regularly in the media.

- But he was held back. - I also said this in another article that Miles needs to be younger than Peter in order for his character and their dynamic to make sense. If they’re the same age, Peter comes across as condescending and a know-it-all especially when Miles gets labeled as “Kid-Arachnid” and plays as second fiddle. Officially, Peter and Miles have eight years difference at least in the comics, so if Peter is a teen here, Miles should be a child. If it means not giving him his powers yet, so be it. It is ok to foreshadow instead. Miles is not “less than” Peter Parker nor is he just another Spider in some Spider-Themed-Fantastic-Four (there was really no need for Ghost-Spider or Spider-Girl). He’s the next Spider-Man. That merits respect and recognition in every media.

4- It had interesting story arcs that could have been very badass. - While some story arcs just came out of nowhere like the Maximum Venom final arc, some arcs were actually really great. The Jackal saga was my favourite and made me a Jackal fan, so was the goblin saga and even the spider-island story had great bones and truly chilling premises. There were bio-engineered horrors, super robots, the mob, a pandemic and cultism.

- But they were diluted in order to be “for all ages”. - These sophisticated story arcs were turned immature with an art style was too cute, too much comic relief, progressing too fast and not letting the characters act serious or realistic in the situations they were put in. These arcs became forgettable, dumbed down, unenjoyable and went just as soon as they came. Since I also brought up comedy, I have to be blunt as someone who has been reading Spider-Man comics for years, Spider-Man is NOT a comedy, and the titular hero is not a clown. The Spider-Man comics touch a lot of serious topics which it handles with care, it has action scenes that can get very brutal, and Spider-Man is constantly making tough decisions that always have consequences for better or worse. His quips actually reinforce how dark and stressful his life is. He is always joking, so he doesn’t have a breakdown and sometimes, he still has one anyway. In a way, Spider-Man is Marvel’s Batman except his element is light. Everything got kickstarted due to the death of Uncle Ben after all.

And this is why 2017-Spidey was only an ok cartoon. Being rated FA roadblocked it from being a perfect modern Spider-Man cartoon and I really hope that Marvel learns from this. FA does not work.

Thanks for reading and as always, stay safe.

-Mary

PS: I heard a rumor that Spider-Man: Freshman Year is being cancelled and to be very honest, after seeing how and why 2017-Spidey flopped, maybe it is for the best. I feel very bad for people who may lose jobs but shows that bomb will cause you to lose your job anyway and keep you from getting rehired in that same field. Perhaps Marvel should take a break. If it means that its next cartoon will not be for small children, but it will be great, I can wait.

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