Stand By Me》Avengers

Norman Osborn

I wasn't sure how long I'd been asleep. It felt like it was maybe three hours when my phone rang. I made the biggest mistake of answering it without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" I yawned as I sat up groggily.

"Oh, I didn't mean to wake you," Peter said on the other line. "I'll just let you go back to -"

"Too late, I'm already up. What do you want, Parker?"

I could hear him slightly wince on the other end because of how snappy I sounded, but I didn't care at that moment. I'm still pissed off at him.

"May found another guy," Peter rushed out as I heard a whooshing sound coming from his head. He was probably web-slinging.

"Good for her. Too bad for Happy," I retorted.

"No, I mean, she found one of the guys from another universe. Actually, it's more like he came to her and -"

I rolled my eyes. "Why are you calling me?"

"Look, I can't tell you how sorry I am for what I said. It was a dick move. But I really need your help right now! I don't know how strong this guy is and if things go south, I want you to take May somewhere safe! Please!"

I quickly got out of bed and grabbed my cloak. When I wrapped it around my shoulders, my outfit changed from my pajamas to my superhero wear. Using my free hand, I conjured up a portal toward the shelter May volunteers at. "I'm on my way."

The moment I stepped through the portal, I was met up with Peter. He stopped in front of me and I could still see him smile even though he had his mask on. "Thank you."

I shook my head. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for May."

Peter nodded before running inside as I strolled on in. He took off his mask and looked around frantically for her. "May? Where's May?" One of the volunteers pointed ahead of us. "Thank you!" Peter dashed through the kitchen. "May!"

"Hey, here he is," May said as I finally entered the kitchen. "Good, you brought Raven, too." She looked at the older gentleman. "Norman, this is my nephew and his girlfriend."

Peter walked closer to me as a way to shield me from Norman. I mentally rolled my eyes and crossed my arms as he looked at Norman with a skeptical gaze and said, "Norman Osborn? I thought that you were -"

"I saw Spider-Man in an ad for this place," Norman cut him off. "And I thought he could help me. But you're not him." 

He looked at me but, for some reason, it sent chills down my spine. It wasn't a stare like when you get introduced to someone new that was already in the room or those who are you stares. The way Norman was looking at me felt like he was inspecting me.

"Wait, so you want Spider-Man's help?" Peter questioned.

"He just wandered in," May said.

"I didn't know where else to go," Norman muttered. He looked lost, sad, confused. Well, who wouldn't be if you were portaled to a strange place? "Someone's living in my house. Oscorp doesn't exist. My son..." He trailed off. As touching as this story is, something seems off. Maybe it's from past experience or maybe I'm being paranoid, but my gut instinct is telling me not to trust Norman. "Sometimes I'm not myself. I'm...someone else. And every time he's in control, I can't remember."

Multiple personalities? Why does that sound familiar?

"Who's in control?" May wondered.

Norman ignored her question. "And now I'm here -"

"Who's in control?"

"I don't know what's going on."

I walked over toward them and slammed my hand on the table. May and Norman jumped back, but my gaze never left his. "Norma, who is in control?" I asked so dangerously low that my voice almost came out demonic.

May rest her hand on my shoulder. "Raven, it's ok," she whispered. She motioned me to follow her. I let out a breath as we made our way to Peter. I decided to stand further away and let May be between us, which she noticed. "He's lost. And I don't mean just in the cosmos. I mean, in his mind. Are they all like this?"

"One has mechanical tentacles on his back, one is a life-size lizard, there's the Sandman - not in the childhood story kinda way, but he's nicer than the rest - a guy who absorbs electricity, and three murderous brothers that are hellbent on killing me," I listed. I pointed a finger at Norman. "But none of them are like him."

May looked between me and Peter. "Did you two get into a fight?"

Peter's eyes widened at the sudden change of topic. "May!" We looked at Norman, who snatched a muffin from the box and hid it. "Can we not discuss this right now? Especially with him here."

"No, this is a perfect time to discuss this," she said as she grabbed my arm and yanked me next to Peter. "Look, you two have been through a lot. But with all these guys showing up...this isn't the right time to argue with each other. Now, how bad is this fight? Are we talking about leaving the toilet seat up kind of bad or a possible break-up?"

I shut my eyes in annoyance and sighed. She didn't just ask us that, did she?

"No, it's not one of those fights," Peter rushed out. "We're not breaking up." He looked at me. "We're not breaking up, are we?"

"No," I assured him. "A few things were said -"

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, but you don't understand that you were given your powers. I was born with mine. And I told you why I left the team, yet you want to throw it in my face -"

"I was upset ok, because you got accepted into MIT and then I ruined the spell -"

"You didn't ruin the spell," I said, my anger slowly dimming. "You were upset that everything isn't going as planned because people know you're Spider-Man. So, now, we've got all these new villains popping left and right, which could be a handful. Believe me."

Peter's lips curved to a smile as he opened his arms. May grinned and took a step back so Peter could pull me into him. One arm wrapped behind my neck with his hand cradling my head while the other encircled around my waist. A smile tugged at my lips when I felt Peter kiss the side of my head.

"See? You two just needed to talk things out," May said before hitting my arm. "And why didn't you tell me you got accepted into MIT?"

"Peter didn't know either if that makes you feel better," I said as I turned so I was next to Peter with his arm around my shoulders. "I told Strange and Pepper not to say anything."

"Now, can we please get back to the guys who all have their own mental or physical issues?" Peter pleaded.

May nodded and looked at Norman, who was looking at the entire exchange in fascination for some reason. "Oh, well, he needs help and maybe they all do."

"Wait, you don't mean -" Peter started to guess May's idea. He shook his head. "No, May, this isn't my problem."

"Peter, not your problem?"

"May, their chance of getting help is way better back where they came from."

"And we don't know when in their timeline they were poofed out of," I piped up. "For all we know, they could have been fighting with their Spider-Man or their Spider-Man was trying to help them. Sending them home is the best thing we can do for them."

"For them? Or for yourselves?" May questioned. "Look around. This is what we do. We help people."

"This is what's best for them," Peter argued. "Trust me."

"And what if they don't want our help?" I couldn't help but wonder. "You can't just force someone to accept our help if they don't want it." May tilted her head while giving us a look. It said you wouldn't know unless you try, so please try. I looked at Peter, who was already looking at me. We came to a silent agreement. "Fine, we'll try to help him."

Who knows, it might work.

》》》》

A/N: In case I haven't said this before, but this will be the last book for Peter and Raven. And I'll try to make the chapters longer.