I sat in Liz’s apartment, foot tapping restlessly. Somehow, she’d still agreed to go to the ball with me. She’d left a strangely calm voicemail and told me to show up to hers for six so we could get ready. She didn’t seem outwardly angry, but she hadn’t said a word, just handed me things to get changed into and started getting ready. It was probably a sign that things might be nearing their end, but I was at least going to use this as a chance to try and win her trust back. If that was even possible anymore.
Still, I was nervous about this. From my fight with Max yesterday, I couldn’t tell whether something was going to happen. I couldn’t just suddenly tell Liz that we couldn’t go, without pretty much ending our relationship on the spot, but we needed to be in and out fast. It was a big event, and even though it wasn’t at Oscorp tower, if Max’s cousin or whoever was there, then I’d be putting Liz in danger as well. If something happened… I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. I tugged at my collar, the costume underneath slightly uncomfortable. I was wearing the suit with slightly padded armouring under the outer layer. It was all I’d been able to get prepared. Even if they were close to completion, I hadn’t managed to finish any of the spy bots or the counter measures for Max I’d have to make do without them tonight. The best I’d been able to do was give George a call and let him know that Electro was targeting Oscorp, and more specifically his own cousin. They’d probably have MDA protection at the event if they were smart. But it was Oscorp so who knew…
My attention drifted as Liz stepped out of her bedroom, walking into the living space, wearing a beautiful sparkly black dress.
“Wow” I said. The corners of her mouth tugged up in a smug smile at my comment, but she quickly stilled her face and shot me a glare.
“Are you ready?”
“Y-yeah” I said, standing. Liz stepped forward and straightened my tie, before brushing lint off my suit.
“There. Did you book the Uber?”
“Oh, no, Harry’s picking us up” I said. Liz frowned.
“You didn’t think to tell me that earlier?” she said.
“I thought I- sorry” I said. Liz clicked her tongue, glancing at the clock on the far wall.
“What time’s he coming?”
“Seven-ish? So about ten minutes” I said. She sighed and we stood awkwardly staring at each other. I looked over the dress she wore again. Man, she really did it justice.
“Don’t check me out, I’m mad at you” she said curtly.
“Oh, sorry” I said, guiltily, turning to face away from her. Dammit. We hadn’t even left yet, and I was already floundering.
“So… you excited?” I asked, chuckling awkwardly.
“… maybe” she mumbled. One-word answers. Ok. Not the best start but, I could work with that.
“Maybe? They’ll probably have fancy seafood there. Does that change things?”
She made a non-committal hum.
“Well, if you’re not excited for seafood then what about dancing? I know it’s not much, but it’s a bit of the quality time you’ve been wanting. I’ve got two left feet though, so you’d have to take lead”
Her lips twisted into a smile that disappeared as fast as it came, then she turned to me, crossing her arms.
“Stop trying to butter me up. There’s no point talking unless your going to tell me what you’re hiding” she said, putting her foot down. My shoulders sagged, all hope leaving me. Why had she decided to still go together if we weren’t going to talk to each other? To keep up appearances? Did she just want to get a good look at the hall? She could’ve gone without me if she really wanted to. I’m sure I could’ve convinced Harry.
Or maybe this was her plan to guilt me into telling her. Probably that, actually.
“Well?” she said, indignant. I guess if there ever was a chance, then this was it. But I still didn’t know whether it was the right thing to do. It couldn’t lie to her anymore though, that was for sure. I looked up at her, heart beating wildly.
“Liz I-“ I stopped, interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing. My regular phone. I pulled it out of my pocket, checking the caller ID.
“Hey Pete. If I got the address right, we’re outside” Harry said. I made my way over to the window and looked into the street. A sleek black limousine sat idle outside.
“Pete?”
“Come on Liz. Harry’s outside”
-
We sat inside the limousine passing by cars and skyscrapers, the ride effortlessly smooth. In the winter darkness, the lights of everything around us illuminated the car, giving it an air of gravitas. The outfits, the limo, the atmosphere- it felt like I was in a tv drama. Harry sat opposite Liz and I, a blonde at his side. They wore matching silver rings, no doubt expensive.
I’d completely forgotten Harry had a fiancée. Well not completely forgotten, but it’d been something far in the back of my mind. Something that I only vaguely remembered talking about on the phone, where he joked that his dad was setting him up on a few dates to find a fiancée. He never had really mentioned how the dates had gone outside of the fact he’d gone on multiple dates with the only woman who’d seemed nice. Or maybe he had. I must’ve been too focused on Spider-Man stuff. Had I been fighting Rhino? Or was it that big sewage lizard? I vaguely remembered making an effort to stop collateral damage more than usual.
“Right, that’s enough awkwardness, time for introductions” Harry said, turning off his phone. “Pete, my fiancée Lauren, Lauren, my best friend, Pete and his girlfriend Liz”
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Lauren reached out a hand to Liz, then to me.
“I thought it was Peter?” she asked.
“Everybody calls me Pete”
“Alright. Pete… Harry tells me a lot about you” she said, glancing at him. “You’re an amazing scientist I hear”
“Well, I wouldn’t call myself amazing” I said, chuckling awkwardly. “Moreso lucky”
“Oh, come off it, Pete. He’s brilliant. A downright genius. Even my dad thinks so, which is more than rare. I’m sure you agree Liz, no?”
“He’s definitely dedicated” Liz said, politely. A flicker of a frown crossed Harry’s face but before he could say anything a small tap came from the separator.
“Yes?” Harry said.
“We’ll be arriving shortly Master Harrison.”
“Thanks Mitchell” he said. He turned back to the rest of us grinning. “You guys ready to have some fun?”
-
The gala was anything but fun. There was no dancing area, no food until after the announcement, and the average age of the attendees was at least higher than Aunt May’s. I thought Liz and I sharing stories with Harry and Lauren would be fun, but We’d been with Harry for all but two minutes before he and Lauren had been whisked off by Harry’s brother. Victor had said something about them needing to parade around their engagement to a bunch of businessmen and rich people. I’d expected them to be gone for a few minutes, but it had been half an hour, and they still weren’t back. I guess they were talking to a lot of people. I glanced at Liz. At least she was enjoying the hall’s interior design.
I looked around again. I recognised a few people here. Other scientists, people that had worked for the BRC before… the incident. I guess that made sense. Oscorp had offered a lot of jobs after the clean-up, and while a few businessmen . I kept looking around the room. There were military guys here too. I’d seen them in a corner at one point, talking amongst themselves. They were gone now, probably waiting for the announcement in some private backroom. That told me everything I needed to know about the announcement. Norman Osborne had secured a military contract. It was probably for the production of negative energy bombs. They’d been working on it for two years now. I didn’t think they’d be able to pull it off without Otto, but now that the middle man that was the BRC was gone, I guess they didn’t have anyone to interfere with where they allocated resources. I frowned. Otto. I still hadn’t been able to get a hold of him. He’d dropped off the map after he’d been fired. I thought he’d taken a long holiday, finally gone on a trip around the world, but now… now I wasn’t sure. I mean I’d have no way to know if he’d done something stupid. He wasn’t that type of person. He wouldn’t… he couldn’t…
“Petey?” Liz said.
“Huh?”
“You’re holding me a bit tight”
“Oh, sorry” I said guiltily, letting her go.
“What’s wrong?”
“I… nothing”
“Just tell me”
“…I was thinking about Otto again”
“Oh. I’m sure he’s ok”
“Yeah… you’re probably right” I responded. Liz rested her head against my shoulder and clutched my hand tighter. I squeezed hers back lightly in response and rested my head. We stood in silence for a few seconds, looking out over the crowd. I closed my eyes, letting everything fade into the background as I enjoyed the moment of peace.
Suddenly a chorus of gasps flooded the hall, and Liz jolted slightly. My eyes shot open. Image of Max flashed through my mind. Idiot. I was a fucking idiot. We should never have come. I should’ve just told Harry I was sick. The fact that I couldn’t even bring myself to tell Liz why, just to keep up the lie was more than telling. God dammit. God dammit!
I pulled Liz close, all my senses dialled to eleven, as I shuffled away from our corner to the nearest exit. My spider sense gave off a low buzz, a sense of danger permeating the room.
“Petey?” Liz said. I stayed quiet, speeding up to the exit as I pulled Liz along. I needed to get her out of here fast. That meant leaving the crowd alone for a few moments. That was dangerous, but Liz was my priority. Would it be better if I shouted out to everyone, telling them to run? But that would draw attention, and I didn’t want to do that with Liz in tow. Dammit. I needed to change as well. My costume was underneath, but I still had to take my suit off somewhere isolated. How did I convince Liz to run without me? Shit, I was wasting time.
“Pete, stop” Liz said.
“No, we have to-” I flinched as the lights reilluminated the room. My heart leapt, thudding loudly in my chest as I clutched Liz tightly, scanning the lights confused.
“It wouldn’t be an Oscorp gala without a few technical difficulties, eh?” someone joked loudly. Bouts of laughter permeated the room, as the guests looked around in amusement. I frowned. It had just been trouble with the lights?
“Petey, look at me” she said. I turned to look at Liz, her face a mixture of concern and fear, that only grew once she saw my expression.
“W-what’s wrong? Why’re you making that face?” she asked.
“The lights, I thought…” I trailed off, breathless.
“Hey, hey. It’s ok. It’s ok” she said, putting a hand on my cheek. My shoulders relaxed and the low buzz of my spider sense faded into nothing. My ears rung loudly, as I took a few seconds to process what had just happened. I glanced up at the ceiling. It’d just been a damn power cut. Relief washed over me, and I hunched over resting my hands on my knees. Thank god.
“Peter, what’s wrong? What happened?” Liz said, placing a hand on my back.
“I’ll explain after this” I said, putting it off for later. I needed to tell her. But I was just so damn scared. I straightened out, slightly lightheaded. The announcement hadn’t happened yet, but it was probably best to leave now. I went to tell Liz when a familiar voice rung out from behind.
“Oh wow. What a lovely couple”
I turned around to see Harry’s younger sister, Susanna, grinning at me.
“Susanna, I- it’s great to see you” I said. She stepped forward pulling Liz and I into a quick hug, before pulling away. A blonde stood at her side, watching us closely. Susanna glanced between the three of us, her smile growing wider.
“Ah right, introductions. Felicia, this is Peter and Liz. Harry’s best friend and his girlfriend. Liz, Peter, this Felicia, my partner” Susanna said, cheerily. That was new. Felicia offered her hand, her voice smooth.
“It’s nice to meet you” she said.
“It’s nice to meet you as well” I responded. Liz shook her hand too and Susanna struck up conversation again.
“Sorry we took so long to greet you, Harry only thought to tell us you’d come a few moments ago”
“It’s fine” I responded. ”It’s good to see you’re doing well. Last time we saw you was at Harry’s 25th right?”
“Yes, yes. That was quite fun, wasn’t it?” Susanna said. I nodded, like always caught off guard by her accent, a strange mix of posh English and American.
“So, what have you been up to?” Liz asked.
“I’d love to talk at length now, but – unfortunately, my father wants to have a word with Peter now. Preferably alone” she said.
“I… uh… ok” I said, glancing at Liz.
“I’ll be fine. Go talk to him. It’s why we came anyway, isn’t it” she said. I nodded and turned back to Susanna.
“Father’s always had a bit of a flare for the theatrical so he’s waiting for you, on the balcony overlooking the city upstairs”
“I… how do I get there?”
“First left when you leave by that exit” she said, putting to the closest one. “Just make your way up those stairs and you can’t miss it”
“Thanks” I said.
“No problem. And good luck” Susanna said. I gave Liz a quick kiss then made my way out of the main hall and up a flight of stairs my heart hammering. I didn’t feel good about leaving Liz alone, but I could tell not talking to Mr Osborne would be worse. Plus, if Max showed up, I only had to get away from Mr Osborne to change. I reached the top of the stairs and stepped through a door into a lounge, lit with dim overhead lights. It was colder in here. I slowed, taking in the fancy décor and furniture, before my attention was drawn to a man standing beyond the lounge, on the balcony, looking out over the city. I made my way over to the set of open glass doors, stepping onto the balcony.
“Mr Osborne?” I asked, tentatively.
“Please Peter, call me Norman” he said, turning around with a smile.