✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

THE LOCKS ON the apartment's door unlocked the moment Peter slid the door open, standing by the side as he allowed the others to pass right before him. May and (Y/N) were the last to get inside, and Peter stopped them before they could walk any further into the place.

"Where's Connors?" he asked.

"He told me he wants to stay in the truck," May explained.

"Okay," Peter closed the door behind him and heard how the automatic voice announced that the alarm system was deactivated now that they were inside.

"Hey," Peter moved back from the door and called back to the two women in the apartment.

"Yeah?" (Y/N) hummed.

"I feel bad using Happy's place like this," he said in a low tone.

May shook her head and placed her bag on the floor. No, no, no. He'll get over it."

Max turned the TV on by pointing one of his fingers at it, letting out a strange flashing sound in the process. Flint sat back on the couch and accidentally covered the entire seat with sand.

He brushed it with his hands but it only seemed to gather up more. "Oh, sorry."

"So this is your plan, Peter?" Otto questioned, the annoyance being noticiable behind his glasses. "No lab, no facilites? Just performing miracles in a condominium? What, you gonna cook us some cures and some frozen burritos in a microwave?"

"I could go for a burrito," Norman blurted out from his place besides the kitchen table, where he was staring at DUM-E with surprised eyes.

"They're gonna kill us all," Otto sneered.

"Well, with that attitude, I hope so," (Y/N) crossed her arms.

"Let's hope not," Peter cleared his throat before anyone could say anything. He offered a small smile before walking up to Otto to pat him in the shoulder. "You're up first, Doc."

"What? Hey, I told you, I don't need fixing," Otto raised his voice and tried to call out for Peter and (Y/N), who began walking away to one of the condo's rooms.

"I don't need fixing!" He yelled out. "Especially by some teenagers using scraps from a bachelor's junk drawer."

"Nah, nah, nah. He got something back there," (Y/N) heard Max say. "I can feel it. That weird energy."

Peter removed the white sheet off the fabricator at the same time that May, Norman and Max walked into the room. (Y/N) searched for the case with her gold bracelet since she knew she'd need it for now. The logo on both the fabricator and the bracelet was still the same, and it brought (Y/N) a hint of nostalgia.

"What the hell is that?" Norman inspected it with his eyes.

"It's a fabricator," Peter pressed a button and it began to open by itself. "It can analyze, design, construct basically anything."

"I thought that was the tanning bed Happy broke," May confessed.

Max's eyes lingered on the arc reactor in the center of the fabricator and an electric glint passed through his eyes. "Look at that."

The back of the fabricator broke through the wall and cracked the marble design in the kitchen, breaking plates in the process and dust fell into the ground. The sound alerted Otto, who was still in the kitchen before he stared back at the crack.

"They're gonna kill us all."

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

"SO, the chip in the back of Doc's neck was designed to protect his brain from the AI system that's controlling these tentacles, but if you look here. . ." Peter said to (Y/N) and Norman as he rotated the hologram and held it in his palm. "The chip is fried."

"So rather than him being the one in charge of the tentacles, the tentacles are the ones in charge of him," (Y/N) added, tapping on a small version of the hologram in her bracelet. "Hey, that's probably why he gets so snarky all the time."

Norman and Peter cracked up at the joke, and they continued working for a small amount of time before Norman offered to go back in the kitchen for glasses of water. During the time, Peter kept distracting himself in watching how (Y/N) worked by her own, watching how she clenched her jaw when she found something confusing.

(Y/N) was too busy staring down at the fabricator that she didn't feel a pair of hands sneaking over her waist until two strong arms wrapped themselves around her, pulling her back to collide with Peter's chest. He rested his chin on her shoulder and placed a short kiss to her cheek.

"You're distracting me," (Y/N) muttered, knowing he could hear her pretty well. "You should go and see how are the others."

"Well, what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't get to distract my own girlfriend with my presence?" Peter teased, pulling her even closer.

"Oh, please," (Y/N) shook her head. "Go to the others while I finish this."

"Let me stay," Peter pleaded, offering her the biggest set of puppy eyes he could manage to stay back with her. "Please?"

"Fine," she sighed and dragged her words on, smiling when she heard the faint 'yay' of celebration coming from Peter behind her.

She turned her head to the side to give him a side look and gave Peter a smile with her nose scrunching as she did so. "Might as well help me, you know?"

(Y/N) stopped when she felt Peter's eyes linger on her face with a smile and frowned. "What?"

"That," Peter said, as if that cleared everything out. "That's another thing I like about you."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when you asked me that a few days ago?" At the question, (Y/N) nodded and Peter continued. "Well, let's add another thing to the list. That adorable nose scrunch."

"I can literally make you see your worse nightmare," (Y/N) deadpanned, trying to act intimidating when she was a blushing mess on the inside.

"So adorable," Peter leaned forward to press his lips against hers until someone cleared their throat from their spot on the door and the couple jumped out of the other's arms in surprise.

"Maybe we should focus on the task and then you can finish this later," Norman suggested with a sly smirk. "You two used to do this all the time back where I come from."

Peter cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his feet while (Y/N) easily regained her posture, offering Norman to start on the cure once again after he placed the glasses of water in the table.

After a long time, they managed to finish the majority of the work, and (Y/N) had finished her glass of water and went back to get her usual cup of coffee for the evening while they continued adding the final details.

"Remarkable," Norman breathed out when he saw Peter slowly place the chip together in the fabricator with (Y/N)'s assistance.  "The technology and you two. When all this is over, if you both need a job and you're willing to commute to another universe. . ."

Peter placed the last part and shifted backwards when the fabricator made a whirling sound and it didn't cause any other difficulties. He removed the glasses off his face. "It worked. That totally worked!"

Peter grabbed the chip and ran out of the room and (Y/N) was already behind him, nearly sliding on the floor because of her speed and enthusiasm. "I got it. We did it. Will you send him up?"

"Here we go," May tapped on the hologram that controlled Otto's tentacles to remove the grip one of them had around his body.

"Hold on, Doc," May said.

The tentacles took Otto in the air and (Y/N) climbed up the stairs of the condo to get a better view to replace the chip with Peter's help. The claws of the arms adjusted a grip on the railing of the second floor to secure their grip and get him in a better angle.

"Oh, will these humiliations never cease?" Otto said. "You, keep your science-fair project away from me!"

"It'll work. Have faith," Norman spoke from below.

"Says the reckless fool who turned himself into a monster," Otto snapped and an unreadable look passed through Norman's eyes.

Otto struggled against the grip that (Y/N) had on him with one of her hands, "Quit moving your head."

"Hold still," Peter added, having the chip in hand and searched for the right place to put it.

"Don't you dare," Otto grunted and panted when Peter pulled on his hair. "I swear, when I get out of this, we're gonna rip you a new — "

His words were cut short when Peter replaced the chip, causing Otto's head to drop limp to the side. (Y/N) gasped when this happened, turning back to Peter with raised eyebrows while he looked absolutely terrified. "Doc?"

The room became too quiet that it was getting uncomfortable and eerie. "Doc? Doc?"

"Dr. Octav — " Peter began.

Otto gasped for breath and his head snapped forward, heavy breathing filling the air as beads of sweat fell down his temples and his eyes looked around. "It's so quiet. Those voices inside my head. . .I'd almost forgotten."

"Otto," Norman creaked out.

"Yes. Norman," Otto lowered himself back to the first floor of the condo with a genuine smile on his face. "It's me."

Peter jumped down from the second floor and (Y/N) calmly walked down the stairs, smiling in triumph at the success.

"Would you look at that?" Flint said.

Peter freed his control of the tentacles and this allowed Otto to move them at his will, moving one claw towards Peter chest to return the nanotechnology back to its original place, forming a hybrid suit with golden details.

"I'm grateful, dear boy. Truly," Otto extended his hand.

"Yeah, you're welcome," Peter shook his hand.

"How can I help?"

✧─── ･ ｡ﾟ★: *.✦ .* :★. ───✧

AFTER WORKING ON the rest of the cures, (Y/N) stayed back with May in the kitchen while Peter was inside the room with Norman and Otto helping him with the last details. He was peacefully working on his own thing when the familiar ringing in his ears returned.

Without another word, he stood up from his chair abruptly, alerting Norman and Otto, who called his name. "Peter?"

"What's wrong?" Norman asked.

Peter didn't reply and walked out of the room with his eyes fixed forward, trying to figure out what the ringing meant. "I don't know. (Y/N)? May?"

May frowned. "What is it, Peter?"

"What's wrong?" (Y/N) slowly walked up to him, reaching out to place her hand on his shoulder to ease him down.

"What's happening?" Flint questioned.

Everyone was gathered in the living room of the condo, and a chill ran down (Y/N)'s spine in an abrupt moment. She noticed how Peter's breath grew heavy and he stared around in confusion.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Max's expression deepened.

Peter closed his eyes for a second and (Y/N) was about to say something to calm him down when he aimed a web directly at Norman's hand, restraining him on DUM-E.

"That's some neat trick, that sense of yours," Norman's voice was heavy and raspy, the innocent look behind his eyes being completely gone.

"Norman?" Otto called.

"Norman's on sabbatical, honey."

"The hell?" Max looked around.

"The Goblin," Peter and (Y/N) whispered at the same time when the realization hit them.

(Y/N) twirled her fingers behind her back to form blue mist while Peter locked eyes with May, silently sharing a thought. When (Y/N) noticed this, she used her other hand to grab onto Peter's to give it a short squeeze.

"'No more darker half'? Did you really think that I'd let that happen?" Norman challenged. "That I'd let you take away my power just because you're blind to what true power can bring you?"

"You don't know me," Peter glared at him.

"Don't I?" Norman taunted. "I saw how she trapped you, fighting her holy moral mission. We don't need you to save us. We don't need to be fixed. These are not curses. They're gifts. You and I both know you understand me, dear girl."

(Y/N) swallowed deeply and took a slow step back to not make it noticiable, not responding to what he had said when he felt eyes on her.

"Norman, no," Otto pleaded.

"Quiet, lapdog."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Peter said.

"I've watched you from deep behind Norman's cowardly eyes. Struggling to have everything you want while the world tries to make you choose."

The noise of the device in Max's chest beeped again, this time only having one last green light to blink so that he was back to normal.

"Gods don't have to choose," Norman's smirk turned into a mischievous grin. "We take."

"May, run."

May didn't wait for any other instruction and rushed towards the door of the condo with the bag of the cures secured in her hands. Max removed the device off his chest and Norman snapped the web that held his hand back.

Max shot an electric ray towards the fabricator, dragging in the arc reactor with him as Norman threw Peter back with a single punch. Flint's form dissolved into sand and fled from the scene, all while Otto stared on the side.

"Oh, my God," he said. "What have you done?"

"I liked you better before," Max raised his hand and directed an electric ray directly at (Y/N), but Otto reacted quickly and placed himself in front of her before it hit her, throwing him back to the wall and crumbling through it.

(Y/N)'s gown appeared in a second and she raised one hand to follow after Max as his body disappeared and dispersed among the cloud of sand that Flint was making in the front of the building, leaving Peter alone with Norman.

(Y/N) levitated in the air and held her hands in front of her as two spheres of energy formed in her hands to stop the cloud of sand from dispersing out of her side, not paying attention to the approaching helicopters of the Daily Bugle.

Her breath was ragged and the electricity amongst the cloud was making the task difficult until her eyes glowed blue and opened her arms widely, breaking the tornado in two and the electricity to disperse in the air.

She panted and could hear the sounds of the building's walls breaking through, and a thought came to her head. "Peter." (Y/N) thrusted her hands to the side and flew towards the direction of the noises.

(Y/N) crashed through the window and saw Peter's barely conscious form laying in the ground with debris all around him. He coughed and held an arm close to his stomach, battling in standing up.

"Hey, hey, come on," (Y/N) lowered her voice, watching her movements to not cause him any more pain. "Get up. We gotta go."

Peter's eyes seemed to widen when he realized she'd put herself back in danger, his eyes begging at her to leave. "You need to leave."

"No," she declined firmly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying."

(Y/N) used one hand to treat Peter's injury in his stomach, too concentrated in doing so that she didn't realize that the Lizard was sneaking in towards them until Peter pushed her back to receive the punch.

"I told you, there'd be consequences!" the Lizard yelled out and tossed Peter to the side.

Norman came back and instead of grabbing onto Peter, he grabbed (Y/N)'s arm and threw her back against the wall harshly. (Y/N) regained her footing in a second and dodged the attack that Norman tried to aim at her, using blue mist to redirect every single move he attempted.

Peter stood up with difficulty but saw how Norman was now attacking (Y/N) and he swore he saw red, not hesitating in pushing Norman back with all his strength to remove his grip on her. Since Peter had charged Norman back with speed, the impact of the fall was too strong that it broke through every floor of the building, debris and concrete falling in between the two.

(Y/N) rolled on the ground and jumped down behind them with two spheres of blue mist in her hands, seeing how Norman now had Peter pinned to the floor of the lobby with his hands around his neck.

"Your weakness, Peter, is morality," Norman sneered. "It's choking you. Can't you feel it?"

Peter let out strangled yells of pain and (Y/N) noticed how May was sneaking in behind the pair and locked eyes with (Y/N), sharing a thought. At the same moment, (Y/N) hurled a blast directly at Norman to remove him from above Peter, and May used this as an opportunity to stab the cure onto his neck.

Norman groaned when he rolled sideways from the blast and removed the empty bottle of the cure with his hand, throwing it to the side. "It didn't work. Norman was right. He got it from you, that pathetic sickness."

He pressed a foot on Peter's back and pushed him back to the ground with a thud, his forehead hitting against a piece of concrete. (Y/N) tilted her head to the side at this, her eyes glowing dangerously blue at Norman's actions.

"You tried to fix me," Norman held him by the hair. "Ah, ah, (Y/N). One more move and he dies."

"(Y/N), May, go," Peter choked out.

"Now I'm gonna fix you."

"(Y/N), May, run. Please."

May held the iron rod in one hand and the bag in the other, standing on (Y/N)'s side, neither of them noticing the glider flying close by. May flicked her gaze from the girl to her nephew when she got to notice the slightest part of the glider heading towards (Y/N)'s back and took the matter in her own hands.

May pushed (Y/N) out of the way to receive the hit of the glider in the back, crying out in pain while (Y/N) grunted as she collapsed on the ground a few feet away, with Peter yelling their names in desperation.

Norman jumped on the glider and circled back in the air. "Peter, Peter, Peter. No good deed goes unpunished. You can thank me later."

(Y/N) coughed and got on her knees to perfectly see how Norman pressed a button on one of his bombs before throwing it towards her and May's direction, and she raised her weak hand in the air to form a dome around herself and May at the exact time it blew up, throwing Peter back.

The smoke and fire had died out, she dropped the dome around her and May, using one hand to help her up. Peter grunted and sat up, instantly searching the place for his girls.

"(Y/N)? May?"

"Peter."

"I'm here. I'm here."

(Y/N) helped May to walk over to Peter, and the three of them met in the middle of the rubble in a hug. (Y/N) winced when Peter accidentally touched part of her injuries, but she didn't want to say anything about it to worry him even more.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Peter asked and pulled away to stare back at the two. "It's okay. We're fine, right?"

"Yeah. Just a few bruises," (Y/N) nodded.

"Knocked on my ass," May chuckled drily. "That's all."

"Yeah, me too," Peter panted and groaned when he touched the side of his stomach. "I think I broke my ribs."

(Y/N) moved back to softly caress Peter's arm to reassure herself that he was standing right next to her as he reached out to grab her hands and lift them up to his lips. "We're all right."

"Yeah," (Y/N) said, her voice shaking when she saw the color leaving May's face and she understood at that very moment. She knew what she had to do. "I'm going outside."

"What?" May grabbed her hand.

"They're outside," (Y/N) stared at her in the eye, eyes growing cloudy. "I'll have to hold them off while I can. Buy you time to. . .you know."

"It's okay, (Y/N)," May placed a hand on her cheek. "It will all be okay."

"I know," (Y/N) sniffed to stop Peter from hearing her cries and made her way outside, already knowing how this was going to end.

(Y/N) walked out of the building and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, wishing to be back to console Peter, but she knew that in that moment he probably needed his space with her, just like she did.

The police and the rest of the Department of Damage Control were already waiting on the entrance with their guns out, pointing them directly at the building but the laser immediately directed towards her chest when she came to view. The anger was evident in her eyes, and (Y/N) formed a sphere of energy in her hands.

Without any other word, (Y/N) raised her hand in the air and flicked her wrist, causing the eyes and the temples of all of the armed men to turn into a blue shade and point their guns towards each other to buy her time.

(Y/N) knew the effect wouldn't last long so she looked back one last time with a heavy heart before she flicked her wrist again, making her disappear into thin air and out of the Daily Bugle's reach.