Catch Me // Spider-Man (BOOK 1)

Chapter 15 - A gift

After Gwen hesitantly left to alert her Dad of the goings on, I began making my way up the stairs and towards the roof access. From the crashing and destruction I could hear up above it was obvious that some kind of fight was already underway. There was only one person that could be a match for Connors in his current form, only one person who stood any chance of stopping him. Spider-Man, Peter.

Clutching tightly to the antidote and pulling myself up each flight, it became clear that the lizard doctor had struggled to make it up the narrow steps without causing a crazy amount of debris to fall. The further up I got, the more I had to climb over. Seriously, did I not have enough obstacles already?

Eventually I found the door which led to the roof space, and it was then as I pressed my face up to the small window pane within it that I caught my first glimpse of the battle going on just a metre or so away from me. My ragged breathing suddenly caught in my throat at the sight. Spider-Man was in some serious trouble.

Connors was flinging Pete in every direction. He threw him around as if he weighed no more than grain of sand. At one point Peter disappeared over the side of the building, going out of view for only a few seconds before he came climbing over again.

I knew I had to time my entrance into the middle of it all perfectly. If I went out too soon, I'd distract Peter from what he was trying to do, catch Connors attention and then cause a million more metaphorical headaches. Right now Peter had 99 problems and this bitch was not gonna be one of them. I always knew Jay-Z was a wise man.

On the other hand, I had the antidote and if I went out too late, then it would spell disaster for everybody in the city, not just us. Everyone would be infected, walking around like Connors. We couldn't deal with one mutant lizard never mind the whole of New York City as well. No, this had to stop.

Knowing I didn't have much time, I surveyed the area through the window once more, working out the best route and where I needed to go. Before long I spotted the Denali device attached to the antenna, just as predicted. Connors neon green serum had already been initialized within it. It was only a matter of seconds, 2 minutes tops before it would be dispersed into the air.

"Shit, shit, shit," I mouthed quietly to myself, knowing it was now or never. I might not get out of this alive. Pete might not get out of it either. If we were gonna go down, then we were gonna go down together. That's the way it should be.

I knew what I had to do now. I had to get the antidote to Pete. That was the best way. There was no way I'd be able to reach the top of the antenna before it detonated, no way I could get up there without being seen. Once Peter-Man had it in his possession it would only take one swing to get it up there where it needed to go.

Looking for an opportunity to get out there without causing the most problems, I found the best chance yet when once again Spider-Parker was caught off guard. Connors had thrown a barrel of liquid nitrogen right at him as Peter was making an attempt to get the device. Pete reacted to the nitrogen explosion too late and he went plummeting towards the ground, hitting the concrete with an almighty thud. It knocked the wind out of him but nothing more than that.

In those few seconds when Peter was disorientated by the fall, I took my chance. It was the first time he was far enough away from Connors for me to get to him without being stopped.

I kept my eyes on Connors as I opened the metal door as quietly as possible. He was up the antenna, balancing on a platform and checking that the explosion he'd caused hadn't affected the device. This was my opportunity.

Running as quickly as I could, I made my over to where Peter was still laying, moaning and grunting in pain. Maybe he was hurt more than he let on. Luckily the rumbling noise from the device and the contraptions installed on the roof space shielded the sound of my footsteps and the tense words that were about to follow. Pete wasn't aware that I was there until I literally threw myself on top of him.