skyscapes | ( do we need to guess who this is for at this point )

( do we need to guess who this is for at this point )

Everyone had a threshold for dealing with shit and Harry had finally exceeded his.

Amid all the threats and not-so-accidental accidents, Octavius finally made a move. It was only thanks to an overpowered stun-gun Peter made him that Harry escaped. Octavius had gotten arrogant, moved just close enough to get in range, then ZAP. Both Octavius and the tentacles went on a fritz, throwing Harry to the ground. He was lucky to have gotten away with nothing worse than a gash on his shoulder and a mess of bruises from the encounter. But more than anything, it simply wasn't enough just to survive Octavius anymore.

Harry knew - now more than ever - that he needed to fight back. He needed to save himself from this guy. --But how? Even the stun-gun could only do so much.

And then he kept wandering into the study for long periods of time, staring at the mirror, long since replaced to hide the lair behind it once more. The serum was gone. Destroyed. But the weaponry, the materials, the blueprints... all of that was still in there. Granted, he couldn't use any of it as is. It belonged to the Goblin, and Harry wouldn't follow in those dark footsteps. If he wanted to use them, he had to become something else; he had to redesign everything.

...But could he? Harry was no genius, after all.

And yet - while that was true, he was resourceful and creative-- and he did exactly what he set out to do. Not without blunder, of course. There were plenty of mishaps and imperfections, but he had access to the programs, the blueprints, the materials his father had left behind. With them, Harry was able to create a new suit, a new glider, new weapons-- all entirely of his own design. He started out just tentatively flying around in abandoned subway tunnels, building confidence in himself and his tech. Especially trying to keep a low profile. This was just to fight Octavius, he told himself. He didn't need any attention on him; he didn't want Peter finding out until he was sure he could pull this off. And he had honestly meant to avoid heroics-- but then one day, he saw someone in trouble on his way to his makeshift training grounds. It seemed too cruel not to help.

They had been so grateful, and for the first time in a long time, Harry was proud of himself. He actually made a difference! It was an exhilarating feeling.

After that, he made more of an effort to help people before heading off to the subway tunnels. He still tried to stay low-key about it, but a new guy swooping in to save people was bound to get some attention. Today, he was even using the opportunity to test out a new gadget: a snare he'd built from razor bat scraps. It was supposed to lock onto a target and - when within range - break open and shoot out a cord that would ideally restrain said target. He was hoping to figure out a way to tie down Octavius' smart arms with it, but he figured this stupid mugger - trying to take off with some lady's purse - was as good of practice as any. The lock-on feature worked great, but the cord thing? ...Not so much. It just kind of ended up clotheslining the guy more than anything. ...Oops.

Thanks to that, Harry ended up staying behind longer than he wanted to, making sure the woman got her stuff back and that the mugger was properly restrained this time. In a hurry not to draw any more attention to himself than he already had, he was quick to return to his glider and hurtle off into the sky, hoping to get to the abandoned subway tunnels without further incident.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"My bedside manner is impeccable."

"You sure? I mean are you really sure?" He spread his hands, deceptively unprepared even as Harry put up his defenses, readied his glider. Part of Spiderman's advantage was the ability to come out of seemingly nowhere. "You tell me to stop if I come close to actually hurting you, okay? Seriously."

And then Peter's in the air, swinging over Harry's head and shooting a web at his shoulder, from behind, in an attempt to disorient. He's also quick, flighty, probably moreso than Otto, which would be good practice.

"Uh--" Regrets are being had, even as Harry knew this would be helpful to him in the long run. It was the general prospect of being up against a super-everything guy that could stick to walls - even in practice - that he found intimidating. No accidental hurting, please. "Sure thing!"

But don't worry. If Harry feels like he's in any actual danger, he will definitely let it be known. Probably with flailing and yelling.

Right off the bat, it was a strain to keep track of Spider-Man, so Harry didn't even try. If he could just keep a general idea of the guy's position, that should - hopefully - be enough. For now, Harry just focused on staying away and immediately jetted off into the opposite direction Spider-Man went, narrowly avoiding the web as he went weaving into a half-circle that would turn him around to face the superhero again.

That's assuming he wasn't already still on the move.

Harry dodges his first attack, which makes Peter smile. Whatever solo training he'd been doing had certainly paid off. Peter launched himself at Harry again, this time shooting several globs of webbing in an attempt to either a) get Harry to swerve towards Peter or b) hit him with some webbing. Or perhaps the glider was agile enough to let Harry through unscathed; it'd be a good test, to see.

"Not half bad," Peter's on Harry's right, swinging off the wall, feet first, towards him.

Thinking on the fly was something fairly new to Harry. The glider is remarkable agile, but it still depended on Harry's piloting skills to put it to good use and there was plenty of room to improve. He'd have vocally appreciated the compliment if he weren't so preoccupied. Instinct told him to swerve, so he swerved and actually managed to dodge the first couple of globs. Not quite so lucky with the others. He flew straight into two of them, which knocked him off-kilter when they thumped him square in the chest.

So distracted by trying to maintain his balance, Harry almost didn't see Spider-Man flying towards him from the right. He cried out in surprise and ended up tipping forward, almost immediately dropping out of the air to swerve underneath Spider-Man's feet. He was able to quickly right himself with some arm flailing before pulling back up to a reasonable height, but he was a far cry from being stable.

If Spider-Man was quick to follow up, Harry would most likely either fall off or crash into something.

The problem is, if Peter was Otto? Those globs of webbing could have been bombs, or claws. And with Harry off balance - well, that was the time to strike. Harry narrowly dodged him, and Peter shot another web to keep his momentum going, using it to backflip and reverse direction. How did Otto get around? Was his mode of transportation as flexible as Peter's, or a little more structured, like Harry's?

Peter came at him again, this time from above. Alternating direction was one of his tactics for distraction and disorientation. If the enemy couldn't guess where you'd be coming from, they couldn't prepare.

He also hasn't factored in Harry falling. That's a worst case scenario that would probably end in Peter diving to save him, for obvious reasons.

If this was Spider-Man holding back, Harry'd hate to see him actually trying to take someone down. The distraction worked like a charm. He wasn't used to having to track someone else. Muggers were nothing compared to this, and he hadn't seen Octavius in action enough for it to be much help.

He knew he screwed up when he couldn't correct himself and Spider-Man was already coming at him again. It had to be a split-second decision, and the only thing he could do to get out of the way in time was push the glider into going faster. It would have been a lot safer just to crash into Spider-Man, he belatedly realized when he promptly crashed into a chain. "Whoa--!" The glider shot out from under him as he clutched to the chain, but it soon compensated. With its pilot gone, it began beeping and blinking red, tracking Harry until it was hovering underneath him.

Even with the glider poised to catch him, Harry just... dangled on the chain for a minute, sucking in a deep breath. "This is not how I imagined this would go." It was something of an eye-opener, too. This was a lot harder than he thought it would be. Don't mind him while he tries to shimmy down the chain, because he's too afraid to jump off and hope the glider will catch him. He wiggled his feet when he got close to the bottom, searching for the footholds on the glider before slowly letting go.

"Okay..." He held his hands out, steadying himself. "It's fine. I'm good."

The chains bolted to the warehouse ceilings were pretty sturdy, all things considered. They were used to lift cargo, back when the warehouse was still in use. Peter had swung on them a billion times, so when Harry caught the chain - well, Peter was certainly ready to swoop in and catch him, but his heart didn't drop all the way into his stomach, at the very least. Still, it was nerve-wracking to perch on the opposite wall and watch Harry get his footing back on the glider.

"It's really not bad," Peter admitted, staring at Harry warily, anticipating the worst. "Held on longer than I thought, if we're being honest. The keepaway game is really key, but we're also going to have to work on counter attacks. Dodging only buys you time."

"This next time, I want you to try and hit me back. Just fists, though, or if you have any non-blood-drawing weapons. Just patched the suit."

"So you were expecting me to fail right off the bat?" Harry questioned half-teasingly. It's not like Harry could blame him. Even when he'd been by himself, there was a lot of tripping up, falling, and crashing. He didn't have the benefit of superhuman reflexes or strength, after all.

Spider-Man's next instructions get some incredulousness. "Counterattack? I can barely keep track of you! How am I supposed to counterattack?"

All Harry had on him were blades, blades, and more blades. Even on his glider. It was kind of overkill, honestly, but that's how you knew Harry designed it. "Fists it is then," he replied nervously, crouching a bit on the glider in preparation again.

"Not fail but - I never actually grabbed you, Harry, that's something." No, he really doesn't. That's why it's all the more imperative that they strengthen his skills; it would give him something to build upon when practicing with the actual tech.

"You don't need to keep track of me. Let me come to you - it's always better to be the chased rather than the chaser. At least, in my experience. Being the aggressor puts you at a disadvantage." Most of the time, anyway.

"I'll make it fair. No web globs," Peter held up his hand in a girl scout's sign. "Scout's honor."

"No, 'cause I was too busy crashing into everything but you," Harry managed a self-deprecating laugh.

"Try telling that to past me in high school," Harry grumbled. It seemed like counterproductive advice, but then-- this was Spider-Man. He knew what he was doing better than Harry did. He was just going to have to trust him, even as he was about 95% positive he was about to get his butt handed to him.

He smiled beneath his mask, but shook his head. "No... Octavius isn't gonna play fair. Just do what you think is best, okay? I'll figure it out."

But you avoided me!" It's a key point, you can't downplay it to Peter, Harry.

"Well, you gotta know where to lead. If I'm chasing you, you control which direction we move in. Use it to your advantage."

Peter sighed, shaking his head. "No, come at me with your weapons then. Hand to hand is only useful when the other person doesn't have a huge tech advantage on you - we'll have to practice both."

At last, Spider-Man's advice finally seemed to click to some degree with Harry; that made a lot more sense to him. "So, like... maybe I could lead him into a trap?" Because so far, all of Harry's planning had been aggressively offensive. He hadn't really been focusing on much else.

Jerking up, Harry's back immediately straightened in surprise. The mask retracted back again; Harry looked genuinely concerned. "What? No way! These weapons are--" Well, he built them to be lethal. It's less that Harry thought of himself as a threat to Spider-Man and more-- "I don't wanna accidentally hurt you." He would probably never forgive himself. "We can figure out a different way to practice."

"Exactly. When you're the aggressor, you naturally get a little more sloppy. You're constantly a step behind. Let your opponent come to you; half the time I lead someone, literally, into my webbing, and stall them long enough to mount my own attack. Play it smarter, not stronger." And Harry was plenty smart, more than enough to keep up where he might not be able to against super strength.

"No, you don't. If you hurt me, I'd rather it be on purpose." Well there's one good thing - if Harry knew it was Peter under that mask he definitely wouldn't do it. "You need practice, and I'll heal. Trust me, I know how to deflect a knife. Just don't go for anything that'll kill me."

"Huh... I never thought of it that way." Harry considered that for a moment. "I mean... Octavius already has a... pretty low opinion of me. The last thing he'd probably expect is for me to have a plan like that. Might be to my advantage?" And if not for Spider-Man, Octavius wouldn't have been wrong about Harry not having a real plan.

"But--!" Absolutely not. Harry'd rather get his butt kicked than turn a blade on Peter. "Except this isn't a knife!" He gestured to the sword on his back. "Remember? Electroshock sword?" If it actually works, it'd pack a punch. Enough to disable at least one of Octavius's smart arms if he could pierce them. The wicked-looking blades on his arm weren't much better. He looked totally unsure; he didn't trust himself enough not to screw this up somehow. "I really don't wanna take the chance."

"Well he's wrong. You'll be handing him his ass in no time." And Peter would be there to help. If that meant tailing Harry as Spiderman...well, Peter wasn't above it, if it meant his relative safety.

"Okay, electric sword, come on, Harry, how are you meant to get better if you don't practice?" Hence the totally-not-telling-him. "How do you know I don't have a few tricks up my sleeve for electricity, anyway?" The webbing didn't conduct, a byproduct of his run-in with Electro. Gwen's doing, really. "And I do. Seriously, I've healed from a lot worse."

"I'd better," Harry remarked wryly. The alternative wasn't really a thing Harry wanted to think about. After all, the whole point of this was Harry trying to take control of the situation so he didn't have to live in fear.

"I don't know, but I wasn't planning on using this thing on a living person that wasn't Octavius!" Which is a good thing, really. "That doesn't exactly help with the--" Harry paused to jab his fingers in the air to signify 'stabbing'. A few seconds passed before Harry sighed, arms hanging at his sides in defeat. "That doesn't make me feel better, 'cause I don't want to hurt you at all."

A huff and then: "You're really stubborn, you know that?"

"Your concerns have been noted." Stop being an asshole, Peter. "How do you even know you can wield that thing well enough to draw blood? You don't. You need to practice." So he's offering himself up as a punching bag. It's so Peter, honestly. "And I'm touched, really. Nice to know you care. Look, we'll stop before it's bad, I promise."

"It's one of my many talents, right next to annoying cops."

"Ugh!" Just arguing with Spider-Man made Harry want to take a swing at him a little bit, so congratulations. "You're annoying, alright." Harry rubbed his face, grumbling into his hands for a minute before holding them up in surrender. "Fine. I've never met anyone in my life who's been so gung-ho about someone swinging a sword at them."

He fixed another glare on Spider-Man to show he still really didn't want to do this, but he needed the training. Mask: back up again, and this time, Harry reached back to retrieve the sword. It was a long, slender blade that hummed to life and glowed a vibrant green once charged.

"Oh my god, just shut up and hit me," Peter couldn't help but grin at Harry's glare. It was a natural instinct, okay? The sword did give him pause, though, and for the briefest second Peter wondered if he'd made a mistake but -

Well, the blade glowed green.

"Are you kidding me? Dude, we have to talk about the motif. That green lightsaber bullshit is a little overkill, don't you think?"

If the mask weren't in the way, Spider-Man would be getting the most exasperated look Harry could muster. It was probably telling enough when Harry didn't even bother giving a response beyond an agitated growl and finally decided to oblige Spider-Man's first request without further objection.

He shot forward with a burst of speed from the glider, coming around in a mostly clean arc to swing the blade and try to chase Spider-Man off his perch on the wall.

"Olé!" Welcome to the wonderful world of Peter running his mouth the entire fight. Usually made people just want to kick his ass more, which, they did, but then they got sloppy. He couldn't help it, though.

It worked, sending Peter up to the ceiling, but Harry's arc was too big, allowing Peter the chance to escape with a fair amount of ease. "You can’t win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine!" Then Peter's throwing himself down at Harry, aiming to land on his back.

No one can say it's not effective, and Harry was - unfortunately - the kind of guy who got easily frustrated and could be goaded into acting on impulse. A fact he aptly demonstrated when Spider-Man wouldn't let up on his teasing.

"Would you just shut up about the-- augh!"

So distracted by his own complaining, Harry failed to see which direction Spider-Man was coming from in time enough to do anything about it. The sword jumped out of his hand on impact, sparking when the blade struck the wall on the way down, with Harry teetering forward and trying very hard not to follow it.

Has he mentioned that he's bad at this?

"Never!"

Peter tightened his legs around Harry's shoulders, holding on even as he swerved and tried to regain his balance. Which wasn't very easy with Peter clinging to his back.

"This is the part where I would punch you," Peter explained, wrapping his arms around Harry's neck like a strange version of a piggyback ride. Instead, he's going to let Harry try to shake him off, or, if he can't regain footing, they'll just go crashing to the ground. "Onward, noble steed!"

Hell no, it wasn't.

Maintaining balance on the glider was hard enough with just his own weight, but with another person on his shoulders, Harry was pretty much floundering. It never occurred to him how much he was actually lacking in physical strength until now, because he always thought he'd been in pretty decent shape.

Spider-Man's quips did nothing to help. "I'm starting to realize why no one likes you!"

To Harry's credit, he kept them from crashing into a wall on his own this time, but in the process ended up swerving too hard to the left and irreparably throwing himself off balance. And of course, he only made it worse when he lurched forward with his hands grasping at Spider-Man's arms to pry them from around his neck while he tried to flip Spider-Man over his head. Instead, he mostly just ended up throwing himself off the front of the glider with a cry and sending them both hurtling to the floor.

"What are you talking about? I'm frickin' fantastic."

Peter's pretty amused, watching Harry flail. It wasn't terribly difficult to hold on, sticking his hands to Harry's chestplate and letting him try his best. Yeah, Harry, sorry - superhuman strength. On the bright side, at least Spiderman is on your side, offering to help fight against Otto?

"Woah there - " Peter let go with one hand to shoot a web, leaving them dangling from the ceiling, barely avoiding smashing into the ground. The web twanged, pulled taut with the weight, and Peter slowly lowered them to the ground, untangling their limbs. "You okay?"

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