Chapter 10 - The kid

"Well, the webshooters seem to be working perfectly." Gwen grinned as she watched Harry release a web line in order to grab onto a dangling chain, he swung from the chain and landed in the rafters.

"This shit is awesome," Harry commented before jumping off the beam he was standing on, the middle and ring finger on his right hand pressed down on the webshooter button and a web shot out and attached itself to the ceiling, allowing Harry to slow his fall down so he could land easily on the floor.

"I'll say," Peter smiled, not unlike how a mad scientist would.

The three of them would currently be found in a hangar at an abandoned train station a few blocks away from Peter's home, the trio would often come here for their more destructive experiments. Thankfully, everybody else usually stayed away for a few reasons. Firstly, this place was undeniably filthy, covered in rust, and looked about as safe and clean as a cave full of starving lions, and secondly, there were just so many better places to hang out.

"Alright, we should probably get onto testing my strength," Harry suggested.

"Yes," Gwen agreed as she poked Harry in the arm. "I don't think we really have the necessary equipment needed to test the full limits of your strength and your durability though."

"What do you mean?" Peter asked.

"Well, an increase in strength will naturally result in an increase in his durability, right?" Gwen reasoned. "Think about it, if he had the strength to pick something heavy up then his body would have to be able to be durable enough to...

"No, that's not what I meant," Peter cut her off. "We can test his durability perfectly fine by hitting him with a few baseball bats."

"You're not hitting me with anything." Harry's voice caused the two to look where Harry was standing, only to blink in shock when they saw that he was no longer there.

"Dude! Did you turn invisible?"

"No, I'm right behind you." The pair turned around and saw Harry a few feet away holding up an old metal box in the air with one arm, which was pretty impressive considering that the box was roughly the same height as him. "Conclusion: I'm pretty strong."

"And a bit of a show-off but we'll gloss over that," Gwen added in a casual voice, ignoring Harry's unnatural display of strength.

"Huh, look at me, back down on the ground, walking and sitting like a peasant," Harry jokingly whispered to Gwen and Peter as sat in Harry's room, eating pizza.

"Yes, us commoners are glad to be graced with your presence," Gwen rolled her eyes.

"As well you should be," Harry grinned at her

"Dude, can you moult?" Peter asked suddenly.

"I beg your 'what'?" Harry blinked as he and Gwen stared at him.

"Can you shed your skin?" Peter asked, staring at Harry with a raised eyebrow. "I've read that all spiders shed their skin, it happens more when they're young, but it can continue later in life as well. A few weeks before it sheds, the spider will start to act oddly, it might stop eating or get bald patches. You haven't shown either of those signs yet, but you never know."

"I am almost entirely positive that I will not start shedding my skin," Harry said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "But if it happens then you will be the first person I'll tell."

"Fair enough," Peter nodded appreciatively. "Oh, do you think you have venom?" Peter asked.

"do not," Harry frowned as he considered Peter's words.

"Though it might be possible.

"Alright, put that pizza down," Gwen suddenly ordered. "You're not eating anything else until we confirm that you're not going to be spitting venom everywhere."

"Can't I at least finish my pizza?" Harry protested.

"No," Gwen told him. "The last thing we need is for you to accidentally spit venom on either one of us or somebody else, can you imagine kissing your mother and accidentally hitting her in the face with venom?"

"Right, that would be bad." Harry agreed as his face paled dramatically. "Let's get to testing that."

"Glad you agree, now, I think that we should..." Gwen found herself cut off by Harry quickly shoving a pizza into his mouth, earning an unimpressed look from Gwen.

"What?!" Harry asked defensively after he had finished swallowing it. "I'm hungry!"

"In his defence," Peter began. "He has been eating a lot more since he got his spider powers."

"Thank you," Harry said appreciatively before picking up another pizza, only for it to be snatched out of his hand by Gwen.

"No more pizza until we make sure you're safe," She said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Damn it, Harry, stop making me be the responsible one, I don't like it."

"Well, Flash seemed to be happy to ignore you today," Peter said as he, Harry and Gwen walked together as they headed to the cinema after school had finished.

"Shame it took getting sued to have that happen." Harry shrugged.

Flash's family had ended up losing quite a bit of money over their attempt to sue Harry, they were in no way living off garbage and sleeping in cardboard boxes but the family had undoubtedly lost more than they would have liked. "So, anyway, what are we watching?"

"A comedy," Peter suggested. "or maybe a horror film."

"Can't we watch something with a bit of action instead?" Gwen asked

"An action-comedy it is." Harry decided. "Unless we happen to find a horror-action-comedy.

"Let's just see what's available there," Gwen shrugged. "You know I heard that they're showing a documentary on Tony Stark and how he became Iron Man."

"Makes sense," Harry hummed. "That documentary on Steve

Rogers ended up being pretty good, so I imagine one on a modern hero would do just as good."

"'d reallv love to take a look at his armour," Peter grinned. "Say what you want about the guy but he's a tech genius."

"Yeah, well...Oscorp is better at bio-tech and chemistry." Harry declared.

"As far as films go, that wasn't bad," Gwen said later as they left

the cinema.

"Hmm," Peter hummed thoughtfully. "I think it's a seven out of ten."

"Hmm, seven and a half," Harry replied. "The start was a bit boring.

Though, if I'm honest, I'm just glad that I was able to keep my hearing in check throughout the film."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that part," Peter admitted. "You had it under control?"

"Yeah, l've pretty much got it under control, even though I slip sometimes," Harry answered. "It's really weird though. Like, right now, if I focus on it then I can hear just a ton of stuff. Like, I can hear the birds on that rooftop over there, I can hear one woman yelling at someone a block away and I..." Harry suddenly stopped, causing Gwen and Peter to stop as well. The two stared at Harry, watching as his eyes widened and his face paled significantly.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Gwen asked, staring at him with concern.

"Kid, the kid's in trouble," Harry muttered, his voice barely loud enough to be heard by Gwen and Peter.

"Kid? What kid?" Gwen frowned.

"Are you okay, buddy?" Peter asked. " think that..."

"Don't have time, move." Harry pushed past his friends and walked into the alleyway on his left, Gwen and Peter stared at each other for a moment before they chased off after Harry who was powerwalking through the alley.

"Harry, what's going on?!" Gwen hissed as they caught up to him.

"I...

"Shush!" Harry shushed them before he suddenly started sprinting forwards and performing a massive jump. He soared through the air before landing halfway up the wall of a five-storey building, he stuck to the wall upon landing and he quickly started crawling up it, barely remembering to avoid the windows. Soon he reached the top windows, he crawled to the window on his right and stared through the window at the room inside, seeing what looked like an ordinary bedroom with a bed, desk and even a clothes cupboard.

Harry tilted his head to the side, allowing his ear to be closer to the window, he was positive that his senses weren't lying.

Harry placed a hand on the window and gently pushed it up, thankfully it was already unlocked. Once the window was open, Harry climbed into the room, slowly and carefully, making sure to try and make as little noise as possible. He slowly crept to the cupboard, his hands grabbed the door handles just as brief images of his own cupboard under the stairs flashed into his mind. Harry took a deep breath before he opened the door, the first thing he saw was a bunch of clothes hanging from a rail as one would expect to see from a clothes cupboard, but then Harry looked down at the small figure that was sitting in the corner, trying to make himself look as small as possible.

The boy had uncared for brown hair and blue eyes, dressed in a simple white T-shirt and blue jeans, his face was quite pale and Harry couldn't help but notice a bruise on his right cheek and on his arms, nor could he avoid noticing the bloodstain on the boy's shirt. The boy looked to be about four years old, but given how malnourished he looked, Harry couldn't be sure.

The boy's eyes widened considerably upon seeing Harry, he opened his mouth but Harry quickly raised his own hand and made a shushing noise as he placed one finger over his own lips, thankfully, the boy understood and stayed quiet. Harry gave him a short nod before he slowly kneeled down on the floor so he was staring directly at the boy instead of looking down at him.

"What's your name?" Harry asked in a quiet voice.

"R...Ryan." The boy whispered.

"Hi, Ryan, I'm Harry," Harry whispered back. "I heard somebody hitting you a few seconds ago, was it your dad?" He asked in a soft voice.

"N...not my real dad," Ryan replied, looking ashamed for some reason. "I'm adopted."

"Why did he hit you?" Harry asked.

"He always does, every day," Ryan mumbled.

"Have you told anyone?" Harry asked despite already having a good guess about what the answer would be.

"No," Ryan shook his head, looking at Harry as if he was mad.

"Do you want to get out of here?" Harry asked.

"You mean run away? W...with you?" Ryan blinked, staring at Harry with wide and watery eyes.

"No, I…I'll call someone, they can get you away from here, get you somewhere safe where you won't get hurt every day, is that what you want?" He asked, doing his best to not cringe at the sight of another kid in a cupboard.

"Yes please," Ryan mumbled, looking like he couldn't believe that he was even able to receive such an offer.

"Good boy," Harry sent him a warm smile. "Stay here, I'll go and phone somebody and hopefully you'll get out of here today.'

"What if they don't take me? What if I have to stay here?" Ryan asked, looking quite worried.

"I…well. we'll see what happens," Harry coughed. "Stay in here and stay quiet, I'll try to get help as soon as possible." Harry gently closed the doors before he turned and headed to the window, he climbed out, closing it as he did so. He crawled down the building for dew seconds before he dropped down from the second floor and easily landed on his feet.

"Harry!" Gwen hissed as she and Peter rushed over to him. "What happened in there?! Did you...

"No time, I need to find a payphone." Harry decided, not wanting to use his own phone and increase the risk of getting himself involved more than he needed to be. He rushed past the two who once again rushed after him, the two ran after Harry until he stopped by a payphone and began dialling a number.

"What are you doing?" Peter panted as he and Gwen stopped next to him.

"Give me a sec," Harry whispered before he heard a voice on the phone. "Hello, I wish to make an anonymous report, l've discovered a child that's being abused and he needs help as soon as possible."

"He'll be okay, the kid will be okay." Harry chanted to himself as he laid back in his bed, he tried to sleep but he found himself unable as his mind insisted on replaying his meeting with Ryan. "He'll be okay, the kid will be okay. How do I know that?" Harry wondered as he kicked the duvet off of himself and stood up before he began pacing around the room.

" should have done more, should have done more.' He thought to himself. 'But I did enough, didn't I? I contacted the authorities, that's what you're supposed to do. But I don't know if they helped the kid properly.' He paused and ran a hand through his hair.

"No," He whispered to himself. "I'm done playing hero, I did my part, it's not my business anymore. The kid will be fine, now go to sleep, damn you."

"Are you okay, Harry?" Emily asked as the Osborn family sat together for dinner. "You're looking quite tired."

"I've not slept at all," Harry rubbed his eyes tiredly as he answered.

"Is there a problem son?" Norman asked, raising a single eyebrow.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Harry shook his head slightly.

"Well, we can't help you if you don't tell us," Emily pointed out,

"And from the looks of things, you look like you need to tell us."

'I don't want to get into specifics but I did something to help somebody and I feel bad because I keep telling myself that I should have done more," Harry explained, sounding quite tired.

"Could you have done more?" Emily asked.

"I don't know, maybe," Harry sighed. "I did everything I feel like I could have done at the time."

"Then that's good enough," Norman responded. "There is no point in torturing yourself over what could be, if you feel happy that you did everything you could have done then let the matter end there.

I don't really see why you're troubled over this if you think that vou had done what you needed to do.'

"Peter's uncle Ben told us about this code that he and Peter's father apparently lived with, that with great power, comes great responsibility," Harry began. "I don't agree with that line, but I'm wondering if he was right."

"I don't agree with it either," Norman sniffed. "I won't deny that with great power there should be more responsibility but the world is not that simple, plenty of people with power have abused that power in some way or the other, and finding people who don't is becoming increasingly rare. Here is what I believe, with great power comes great consequences. My father once told me that the only thing that matters in life is what you can do and what you can't do."

"Harry," Emily spoke up. "You can't live your whole life over a single code, you're a good kid with your own morals and a good heart, live life by that. Like your father said, life is not so simple that you could live through it by hanging from a single line. The burden of great power comes with the responsibility of making hard choices, you're a good kid, Power is power, what you do with it is what defines who you are."

"Hmm." Harry hummed, staring down at his plate, considering his parent's words. His father's words sounded somewhat similar to Voldemort's with his 'there is only power' line, but Harry couldn't deny that both of them were at least partially right. Those with power had more they could do, but like Harry's father said, that just meant greater consequences. Often times Harry wished he could simply be like Voldemort and ignore the consequences so long as he gets what he wants, but unfortunately that wasn't him.

His mother's words sounded nice as well, he couldn't help but be reminded of something he had heard in his previous life, something that he suspected he would never be able to forget even if he tried.

'We've all got both light and dark inside us.' Sirius Black, Harry's sworn godfather, had told him. 'What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are'.

Later that night Harry was lying comfortably on his bed, his head sinking into the pillow and his body into the mattress. He felt a lot better than the night before, and felt like today he could actually be able to go to sleep. Unfortunately, it was not to be, Harry had barely been about to fall asleep when suddenly his phone began ringing. Harry let out a small groan before he picked up his phone and saw that Gwen was calling him.

"Gwen?" Harry asked as he answered the phone. "What's up?" He yawned. "I was just about to fall asleep...

"Harry!" Gwen cut him off, sounding quite worried. "Listen to me!"

"What's going on?" Harry asked, suddenly more alert as Gwen's tone had made it quite clear to him just how serious this situation was.

"I asked my dad about the kid from earlier," Gwen continued, still sounding very serious. "The guy who adopted him was a mutant."

"A mutant?" Harry repeated.

"Yes, but listen to me," Gwen said quickly. "My dad just told me that he had escaped from police custody."