章 81: Harry the Hunter (Harry)
After the death of Spider-Man, a metaphorical shockwave struck New York and the citizens within it. Crime rates skyrocketed since the main threat to all criminals was no longer looming. Although Silk and the New Goblin were around and did a decent job at sending prisoners back to Rikers, they didn't provide the same amount of protection throughout the city as their late leader.
Harry Osborn, his best friend, and behind-the-scenes aid, took Spider-Man's death to heart. He blamed himself for everything that happened.
For a while, he didn't believe that Eren was actually dead, he thought that maybe he was still out there somewhere and was waiting to be rescued. He spent months looking for Eren's body, but couldn't find even a single scrap of his costume.
He began obsessing over what went wrong with the serum and why his father's body reacted in the way that it did, but he could never find the answer. The phrase "I'm leaving the city to you." repeated in his brain over and over again, the weight of responsibility suffocated him.
He wanted to fill in the role of his friend and become the new protector of the city, but he was scared. He wanted to take the new serum that he created, but he feared the results that would happen if he did. Would he lose his mind like his father? Would he explode too? Those questions replayed in his mind and he couldn't find the answer.
Shortly after Spider-Man's death, Harry ended up reopening Oscorp for business, rebranding it, and creating a tech industry that focused on helping people and preventing the Rikers incident from happening again. He donated a lot of his fortune to repairing the city and creating greater defensive measures at Rikers prison.
The officers became equipped with power-dampening weapons, as well as the bullets he used to take down his father. Along with those things, they were equipped with armor that his father developed and now the entirety of all cell blocks are equipped with power-dampening technology that covered every last inch of each block, even if the inmates escaped from their cells.
However, donating money and technology wasn't enough. That wouldn't fix the problem of violence running rampant throughout the city. Cindy seemingly retired from being a hero after the death of her partner. She kept up the heroism for a short time before inevitably calling it quits due to having developed a sort of mental instability.
Cindy and Harry didn't talk much afterward despite Eren's wishes. Harry still kept tabs on her to make sure she was okay, but their friendship and partnership as heroes struggled without their leader as the glue to keep them together.
As he was reopening Oscorp, he stumbled upon one of his father's contacts. The name of the contact was Kraven the Hunter. He did his own research and found out that this man is one of the greatest fighters and hunters in the world. Rather than taking the serum and suffering from possible side effects, he decided to contact the man and train under him.
The man refused at first until Harry offered him an almost unfathomable amount of money, which caused the man to change his mind in almost an instant. Oscorp would remain operational and run by Bernard, Harry's butler, while Harry maintained contact with him from across the world. For the next year, Harry would train under Kraven the Hunter and learn how to fight without the help of any artificial serums.
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On the day that the two men agreed to meet, Harry landed in a helicopter in a remote forest area in Russia. Being in a forest in the middle of nowhere, all Harry could see for miles were trees and mountains
Harry stepped off the helicopter, wearing a white t-shirt and tan shorts, and began looking around until he spotted Kraven the Hunter near the landing area.
Harry was shocked at the physique of the famous hunter. Kaven towered over him with his fur coat and tiger-printed pants. The man had a smirk on his face, staring down at Harry with a devious expression. The man spoke to him in a heavy Russian accent as the two shook hands. "So, child of Osborn, you've come here to become great fighter like Kraven the Hunter, eh? What makes you want to become fighter?"
"I used to work for Spider-Man. Have you heard of him?"
"Yes, I've heard of spider. I've always wanted to hunt him for myself but never had chance. Your friend was killed by your father, right? That is good origin story I must say." Kraven laughed as he said this, but stopped due to Harry's cold glare. Of course, a simple glare didn't scare Kraven, but it did intrigue him. It let him know that this rich boy was very serious about this.
"Yeah. He told me that I needed to protect the city while he was gone. I want to respect his wishes. I also want to clear the Osborn name and atone for what my father did. I dreaded being an Osborn my whole life, but I realized recently that being an Osborn doesn't mean I have to be like my father. I want to change what being an Osborn really means. I want to change my city and the world."
Kraven glared at Harry with his arms crossed and a look of interest on his face. "Quite big aspirations, pretty boy. Learning to fight will get you all of this? Son of Osborn?"
"No, but it will allow me to do the things that money can't fix. I can donate to all the organizations I want, but unless someone brings these guys down in the only language they know, which is violence, then I can't change anything." Harry's continuous look of determination continued to intrigue the hunter. Through his few meetings with Norman, he didn't expect this from his heir.
"Interesting. I will have you know that my training is going to be hardest thing you will do in your life? Is this something you are prepared for?"
"Yes, sir. I've been useless my whole life. I understand how hard this will be, but I am ready." Harry was confident, however, he truly didn't know the grueling tests ahead of him.
"Okay, we will start first test now. Follow me." Kraven gestured toward his new student before walking deep into the forest. As the two walked for what felt like hours, Harry kept asking how much longer it will take until they'd get to where they needed to be, but Kraven refused to answer.
Eventually, the sun set, causing the forest to become completely dark. As Harry followed behind the confident stride of Kraven the Hunter, he began to hear the sounds of animals lurking within the forest, stalking them like prey.
"Here." Kraven handed the scared boy a spear of his own and a torch. "You see that mountain over there? You shall climb. This is first test. Pass and I train you." Kraven pointed over toward a mountaintop in the distance. At the top of the mountain, illuminated by moonlight, there was a skull-shaped cave, most likely being Kraven's training grounds or headquarters.
After Harry looked over at the mountain, he glanced back over at his trainer. However, Kraven the Hunter was gone.
"Hello!? Kraven!? Hello!?" Harry began to frantically run through the forest in an attempt to catch up with Kraven, however, he had no clue where the hunter went. This was all part of Kraven's training, he intentionally left Harry there while he was distracted to test his determination. If Harry could make it to the mountaintop by himself, he would prove himself worthy of Kraven the Hunter's training.
Once Harry realized he is alone he stopped in his tracks and sat down on the floor. He began to stare at the ground lifelessly, lost in thought. 'I didn't think he was just going to throw me at the wolves immediately. How the hell am I going to make it there without any type of training.' As he sat on the ground, nearly defeated, he heard something in the trees above him.
He looked up into the darkness, seeing nothing. He could feel his heartbeat begin to speed up. His fight or flight was starting to activate. Knowing this was something dangerous, he gripped his spear tightly as he continued to scan the trees above him.
There was nothing but silence, a very brief silence that felt like an eternity in Harry's head.
To his left, Harry heard the sounds of ruffling in one of the trees. He quickly shifted his body to face it, spear in hand, and made eye contact with a Lynx on one of the branches.
'Ho-ly shit.' Harry's entire body began to feel an overwhelming amount of fear. He wanted to run away, but he thought of Eren at the moment. 'You wanna be a hero or not? Now's your chance.' Eren's voice told him. Knowing the only answer, Harry planted his feet and pointed the spear at the Lynx.
"Come on! Attack me!" He screamed, taunting the Lynx to come at him. He was scared to death at this moment, but his body was seemingly acting on its own. He once again found himself feeling what Eren and Cindy talked about.
The hungry feline stared back at him. It hadn't eaten a full meal in a day and it had just found the perfect feast in front of him. Taking his challenge, the Lynx lunged down at him from the tree branch, extending its claws and opening its mouth in an attempt to rip out his throat.
Harry's body acted on its own, clumsily dodging the strike and allowing him to counterattack. As the beast landed, he stabbed down toward it, but it was too fast for him. The cat lunged at him once more, going for another attempt at a killing strike.
Harry blocked this attack with his spear, placing it between the teeth of the beast as it continued to try and devour his face with its sharp teeth.
The beast's claws began to scratch his chest, causing him to yell in agony as it ripped his t-shirt apart. He extended his arm forward, no longer allowing the beast to claw at him as it simple-mindedly continued the strategy of trying to bite through the spear.
In a bind, Harry couldn't move without risking his face getting chewed off by the Lynx. He checked his surroundings and sighted the torch on the ground that Kraven gave him, still lit.
With his foot, he reached out to the torch, accidentally kicking it even further. 'You fucking idiot!' His inner voice scolded him as he continued to try and reach for it while holding back the beast. Eventually, his foot reached the torch and he began dragging it back toward his body.
Knowing he only had one shot at this, he gripped the center of the spear with his left hand, allowing the beast's teeth to gnaw on his fingers. He grabbed the torch with the other and stabbed the Lynx in the face with it. He continues to press the torch into the Lynx's face, causing it to cry out in anguish. As he burned the Lynx's face off, he stabbed the Lynx in the body repeatedly with his spear.
"Ragh! Ah! Die, you bastard! Fuck you!" Harry screamed as he continued to stab the feline, losing himself in the moment, taking the life of something larger than a bug for the first time in his life.
Kraven, silently standing on a nearby tree, watched the boy with a smirk on his face. 'It seems the son of Osborn does have the spirit of warrior.' After he watched the boy stare down at his dinner, he leapt from the tree and headed toward the skull mountain where he would wait for the boy to complete his task.
After two days of fighting forest predators and doing his best to survive on his own in the wilderness, Harry found himself beneath the mountaintop cave. His clothes on his body were rags, and the remnants of his shirt hung off of his shoulder, flowing in the wind as it revealed what was underneath.
His body was wrapped in a makeshift bandage, presumably made from the ripped pieces of his shirt. His face and body had dry blood and cuts all over them. Knowing that this was his last test, he clenched his fist and began climbing the mountain.
Using his spear to stab into the soft dirt spots on the mountain, he climbed using the last bit of energy he had left. He hasn't eaten in twelve hours, but he knew his trainer must have something for him at the top. Using ropes and rocks that were extending from the mountain, he kept climbing until he found himself hundreds of feet in the air.
He looked down at the fatal fall beneath him, causing his heart to sink to the depths of his body. Despite his fear, the boy continued to climb. He'd come too far to quit now.
By the time he was nearing the top with only a few feet to go, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. 'Be calm. This is just like Shadow of the Colossus. You've played it fifty times.' He climbed the last few feet before he placed his hand at the top of the mountain and began pulling himself up.
His weight then caused the part he was holding to collapse, causing him to lose his balance and begin to fall from the mountain. Before he could begin his descent, Kraven reached out to him and grabbed his hand, smirking at the boy from above.
"You've passed the first test. Now we start real training." He pulled Harry up the cliff and gestured toward the rest of the dimly lit cave, only being illuminated by torches going along the walls. There were statues of tigers at the end of a cave as well, brightened by more torches.
There was a mat on the ground, presumably made out of what looked like leopard skin, with a small table near the statues. Kraven led Harry over to it and the two knelt face to face. Kraven handed over a bowl of some sort of liquid as he sipped from his own bowl before speaking. "I didn't think you would make it this far. I thought you'd curl into ball and cry like the other rich boys in an unknown place."
"What's this? No food?" Harry stared into the bowl in disappointment, looking at his own depressed face through the reflection in the liquid.
"Herbs. They make you strong. Like me. They'll give you all the nutrients you need. If you want food, you'll have to hunt yourself." Kraven continues to drink the herbs as he speaks. Harry was skeptical, but he drinks from the bowl regardless.
It tasted like shit, but he was craving any sort of sustenance that his body could take in at that moment, so he consumed the entire thing. Little did he know, these special herbs would make him stronger and faster than any regular human.
These herbs were similar to the Heart Shaped Herbs of Wakanda in that they grant the user strength and agility. However, it wasn't a one-time thing like the Wakandan herb, these needed to be placed into one's daily diet in order for the effect to take place. If he continued taking these herbs for decades, as Kraven has, he'd be able to match his strength.
For the next year, Harry Osborn trained harder than he'd ever trained for anything in his life. His whole life all he ever cared about was girls, partying, and hanging out with his friends. He never had a true passion until the moment his best friend died in front of him.
Every single day, Harry had to hunt for food for both himself and Kraven, learning how to use his senses to properly stalk his prey. He started small with rabbits and other small game before he was able to kill larger beasts such as tigers and bears toward the end of his training.
Along with hunting, he was forced to spar with Kraven daily. Kraven made sure to do anything it took to best Harry, even if the tactics were dirty. Throwing dirt in Harry's eyes, teasing him, bringing up his personal shortcomings, and things of that nature were all used to show him that fights are never fair. "The winner of the fight is not always the one who is best fighter. It is the one who does what it takes to win." This was the quote that Kraven recited each time Harry lost, followed by himself gloating. "Unless you are me of course. Then you are always best fighter."
With each fight, Harry could feel himself growing stronger. Due to his training and the special herb diet changing his body, he was slowly coming closer to the strength of his teacher.
After the training had been completed, he only had one thing left. He had to fight Kraven and prove himself worthy to go back to his country. Kraven usually held back when training Harry, but for the final test, he claimed that he'd use his full strength. Of course, Kraven was far stronger than Harry, so he would secretly hold back during their fight, he just wanted to make sure Harry was giving his all.
On the day of Harry's final test, the two men stood shirtless in ankle-deep water, face to face in front of a waterfall. They both were holding nothing else but a spear in both hands.
Harry looked like a completely new man. His now scarred body was covered in muscle, a far cry from the scrawny playboy that once stepped foot in the Russian jungle. He wore fur clothing below his waist from the skin of the animals that he had killed during his training. His confident and happy-go-lucky expression that used to be plastered on his face was now gone. He was serious about this fight, this was his ticket to finally going back home to New York.
He missed his girlfriend, Lily Hollister. He missed the food, clean water, and air conditioning. Even though he and Cindy didn't talk much after Eren's death, he missed her too.
"Son of Osborn. Are you prepared for real battle with me?" Kraven asked him. He was serious as well, wanting to truly test Harry before he returned home.
Harry truly surprised him over this last year. He thought he would quit within the first day, but Harry was a formidable hunter, worthy of being considered his student.
"I'm ready." Harry gripped his spear tightly, intending on winning this fight. He wasn't aware that Kraven would hold back, so to him, this is a fight against the legendary hunter to his fullest.
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