Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 18 - The Ultimate Spider-Man: Part 3

No matter how hard he pulled his weight or how much distance he covered, Peter B. Parker didn't feel like he was moving fast enough through Earth 1610's New York City; every second he didn't get to where Miles was, the boy's chances of surviving were thinning drastically. As an older Spider-Man himself, he had to stay calm, to keep his head level. He could only imagine how Gwen was handling it right now, sensing the danger he was in and being unable to do anything about it... the poor girl had to be losing her mind.

When his goober buzzed, its holoscreen only confirmed what he suspected. There she was in their HQ looking more disheveled than ever, like her soul had gone through a meat grinder.

"Peter..." she spoke with frailty, "... please, tell me you're in New York 1610."

"I am!" he told her right away, which lit her up in no time, some of her colors returning. "I'm heading to where he is as fast as I can!"

"Thank God!" Her voice came out of her chest like she hadn't breathed for hours. "I can feel him... he's hurting... I'm trying to hold it together!"

"Just hang on a little longer, okay?"

Gwen nodded, her hand pressing hard into her chest. "Peni's gone to help the other spider-engineers and scientists speed up the repair."

"What even happened anyway?"

"The Goblin anomaly... he came here and... bombed the central power generator, which affected all our goobers." She shrugged her head sideways. "You can ask Peni. She knows this stuff better. She fixed our communications."

Peter smiled. "Amazing girl, that is!"

"Yeah." Gwen concurred with a half-lidded smile. "Tell Miles—"

"Tell him yourself, whatever it is!" he cut her off before winking.

Nodding assuredly, Gwen turned her screen off.

Peter accelerated tenfold in his traversal, a workout he hadn't done since his prime; his long-dormant muscles were reawakened with vigor and flowing with acid... as soon as he got his hands on the Green Goblin, he wasn't going to hold back.

"Come on, Miles... just a little longer... please."

*****

All alone and cornered, Miles engaged the Goblin in what could be described as an enclosed slugfest. Their traded blows, along with their grunts and cries, echoed in this dark chamber of a warehouse. There were no more quips, gadgets or air tricks, just unrestrained bareknuckle brawling. The only thing hampering these foes were their respective health conditions, Miles with his heart, the Goblin with his destabilizing atoms.

To Miles, this was more of a purgatory than a battle now. In his mind, the Goblin became more of an avatar than an A-list villain in Spider-Man's rogues gallery... his inner struggle against mortality externalized.

To the Goblin, this Spider was a scourge that needed to be stamped out, whatever the consequences. He, like the Spot, was a phantom itch he could never quite scratch out, no matter how deep he dug his nails in... at least if he killed him, he could die more at peace.

It didn't take long for the sick young hero to find himself on the backfoot; his heart just couldn't keep up, even when he was moving slower and absorbing more punches than necessary to compensate for it. This only worked for a while until the Goblin caught on and moved to target that weakness with his knees and feet, the dealt pain flooding his torso with acid...it burned.

"YOUR SPIDER EMBLEM MAY AS WELL BE AN X!"

For once, he agreed with this psychopath; his chest was wide open, and his bold red emblem on the black canvas of his suit made it all too easy to land blows on... if one more hit stopped his heart, he was screwed. He needed to gain distance, and fast.