Capítulo 38: **Chapter 39: Pure [Defense] Masterpiece**
Even if Harry shouted, "Jojo! I'm no longer human!", it would still depend on the context.
Clearly, the Lizardman wasn't human.
Dr. Connors, with his mindless rampages and killings, hardly resembled a scientist.
What about Spider-Man?
No one had seen the true faces of the two Spider-Men, but at least it was clear they maintained human forms and retained their sanity.
The key was that the mutant spider involved was created by Oscorp's "non-existent department."
Harry was devouring the records, starved for information.
This was his lifeline, his only salvation!
He was so obsessed with his own survival that he ignored many things, like his father's subordinates. The scheming Norman was still around, easily keeping those cunning shareholders and underlings in check.
But young and headstrong, Harry took over and immediately demoted all his father's top executives, forcing them to answer to... his father's former secretary.
Even the calmest person has their limits, let alone high-ranking executives who once held immense power.
This humiliation planted the seeds of Harry's future downfall.
But at that moment, Harry was using Oscorp's surveillance cameras scattered across New York to track down the two Spider-Men.
The exaggerated camera 4ngles switched rapidly, and using facial recognition to find two people in str4nge costumes wasn't all that difficult.
Fortunately, in the U.S., privacy is highly valued, so there weren't cameras everywhere. Harry was limited to the cameras from Oscorp's various subsidiaries throughout the city. Otherwise, he would have easily uncovered the whereabouts of a certain web-slinger.
After an entire day of searching and constantly tweaking the data models, Harry was thrilled.
"I found you!"
It was two short clips.
In the footage, the female Spider-Man, recently renamed *Ghost-Spider*, called out to Peter, who was walking down the street with his backpack. They turned into an alley and had a brief conversation before parting ways.
If it had happened once, Harry wouldn't have been so certain, but the cameras had captured similar footage twice.
Harry had an idea.
Just then, his butler knocked on the door.
"Sir, a Mr. Peter Parker is here to see you. He claims to be your childhood friend."
"Yes! Let him in!" Harry was overjoyed.
Inside the grand entryway of the mansion, with its massive three-meter-tall doors, Peter stood awkwardly, rubbing his hands together. Despite knowing Harry's family was wealthy, he couldn't help but feel nervous in the lavish Osborn mansion.
As Harry descended the near-artistic European wooden staircase, Peter smiled faintly.
"I saw the news about your father. I just wanted to say... I'm sorry to hear that. Harry, my condolences. I don't know how else to help, but this is the least I could do."
But Harry's reaction was str4nge—no, overly enthusiastic.
"The least you can do? No! No! No! Forget that cursed man. He left me nothing but a curse—" Harry suddenly grew agitated, grabbing Peter's hand and forcing him to touch the swollen growth on his neck.
"What is this…" Peter was confused.
"The greatest gift my father left me—a cursed genetic disease!" Harry quickly explained what *Retroviral Hyperplasia* was.
Peter was stunned.
"Yes! My dear friend! I'm dying, following in my father's footsteps. The only thing that can save me is Spider-Man's blood. And you, you're my salvation!"
At this point, Peter's pupils dilated.
His heart raced, unsure of how to respond to his childhood friend.
But Harry wasn't going to let him off the hook: "Don't play dumb! I know you're Spider-Man's... informant!"
Spider-Man's senses were sharp, and the moment Harry mentioned the name *Spider-Man*, Peter braced himself for the worst. He could no longer pretend. He had to come clean.
But Harry's words gave Peter a sliver of hope.
Especially when Harry showed him the evidence—playing the video clip on a tablet of Gwen, dressed as Ghost-Spider, talking to Peter—Peter felt some relief.
"I-I'm just an admirer of Ghost-Spider. I can contact her, but I can't guarantee she'd be willing to provide her blood."
Peter barely remembered how he left the Osborn mansion, his mind buzzing. After all, he was just a high school kid.
Not long after getting home, he noticed the light was on next door.
In this life, Gwen was his neighbor, and one of their bedroom windows faced each other, just over a meter apart—a classic handshake-distance setup.
"Hey, Gwen! I know you're there."
A few seconds later, Gwen, clearly annoyed, opened her window. "What do you want, Mr. Busy Parker?"
Peter lowered his voice, telling her about what happened at Harry's house.
Gwen frowned. This time, she hadn't been careful and didn't avoid the cameras.
No matter how sharp her senses were, she couldn't detect a camera over a hundred meters away.
But this was something she had to deal with personally; otherwise, Peter would be in d4nger.
-
Lowering her voice with a bit of anxiety, she said, "Giving him blood? Are you crazy? What if he says it's not enough and takes me to a lab for dissection? Remember Dr. Connors' body? It was sliced into twenty thousand pieces by Oscorp for research."
The timeline had twisted. Originally, Dr. Connors might have been redeemed, but someone had taken him out, leaving him unable to even rest in peace.
Both Spider-Men shuddered.
"What should we do?" Peter asked. "Harry's dying."
Gwen frowned, "He has unimaginable wealth and power. Dying people tend to go mad. This isn't going to be easy."
"So... should I give him my blood?" Peter hesitated.
"Are you kidding? Do you think we're safe? There's no evidence we won't turn into spider monsters ourselves. If we lose control of our powers, we'd be New York's next disaster. Two ticking time bombs are enough; we don't need a third."
Peter fell silent.
They might look human, but with retractable claws on their fingers and toes, the ability to shoot webs from their wrists, enhanced agility, and superhuman strength—they hardly seemed human at all.
What if they turned into monsters and lost their sanity? Who's to say they wouldn't become the next Dr. Connors?
The two eventually agreed that Gwen would refuse Harry, and they'd take it one step at a time.
As expected, when Gwen got the chance to meet Harry alone and reject him, he lost it.
"What kind of hero are you? Am I not an innocent citizen? Isn't my life worth saving? Why can you save those low-life slum dwellers but not me? One vial of blood is all I need!" Harry screamed hysterically, the growing boil on his neck making him look monstrous.
"Wait! My blood isn't safe. What if you turn into... Dr. Connors?"
"I don't care! Even if I stop being human, it's better than dying!" Harry, in a frenzy, lunged at Gwen, syringe in hand.
Seeing her childhood friend losing his mind, Gwen didn't hold back. With a swift move, she dodged and fled.
This sent Harry into a full-blown meltdown.
Meanwhile, a downtrodden electrical engineer named Max, working at Oscorp, was having the worst birthday ever—forced to work overtime and accidentally electrocuted when he fell into a pool with mutant electric eels.
His old name no longer mattered.
From that moment on, he became known as *Electro*.
Some heroes are unbeatable from the moment they're born.
But some heroes are targeted before they even enter the scene.
In a secret chamber of his mansion, Atreus was being fitted with his second Kratos suit by the Lance sisters. This new suit, crafted by Tony Stark himself, no longer had the bio-muscles and was made of purely insulated materials, with even the zipper made from non-metal components.
In the past, losing that 12-point strength boost would've troubled Atreus.
But ever since defeating Dr. Connors, strength was no longer his weakness.
After putting on the suit, the system notified him: *Host is immune to all electric shocks below 50,000 volts.*
Looking at the imposing figure of Kratos in the mirror, Atreus smiled. "I guess this suit is what you'd call the ultimate [Defense] masterpiece."
(Chapter End)
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