Chapter 70: Squeezing Every Last Point Out of Tony Stark
The pumpkin bomb the Green Goblin had thrown rolled to a precise stop alongside the assembled Oscorp board members.
It also rolled to a stop not far from Tony Stark.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The scene in front of Tony suddenly collapsed into Afghanistan. Back then, facing the Ten Rings missile, the distance between himself and it had been about this much.
This was the second time he had felt death this close. The first had been that time.
Tony registered what was happening and tried to move. He was already too late.
He looked at the pumpkin bomb about to detonate at his feet, and what filled his eyes was pure despair.
Then the person beside him moved first.
In the split second Tony had left, Matthew spun toward him and threw himself over Tony's body, pulling him down beneath him.
The blast detonated.
Smoke and debris tore through the air in every direction.
The Oscorp board members closest to the bomb were swallowed by fire instantly. The blast wave tore through flesh and left nothing behind but empty skeletons.
The force was large enough that even Tony, shielded beneath Matthew, felt wave after wave of heat roll over him. His face was scorched. His suit was shredded by debris.
But Tony couldn't spare any attention for the burning pain on his skin. All he could think about was what had happened to Matthew, who had thrown himself over Tony at the risk of his own life.
In the settling smoke.
The explosion passed. Tony carefully moved Matthew aside, his face full of concern and urgency.
Dark red blood was flowing steadily from beneath Matthew. The sight of it left Tony's mind completely blank.
[System: +8,000 points. Tony Stark's trust in you has increased substantially. He is internally begging you not to die.]
Matthew: All according to plan.
Faking unconsciousness on the ground, Matthew heard the System notification and had to work hard to hold down the surge of satisfaction inside him. To avoid giving himself away, he ran through every sad thing he could remember.
While Matthew was doing his level best to maintain the act, Tony had gone to pieces entirely.
"Matthew! Matthew!"
"Wake up! Wake up!" Tony kept slapping Matthew's face.
If Matthew hadn't known Tony was doing it out of genuine concern, he might have thought Tony was getting revenge for being tricked out of a hundred million.
Tap tap.
Tap tap.
Matthew: "..."
Are you enjoying that?
Unable to take the repeated slapping any longer, Matthew let his eyes flutter open and said quietly: "...Am...bu...lance."
"Right! Right! Ambulance!"
Concern, as they say, makes a fool of anyone.
Reminded of the obvious, Tony, as if it had only just occurred to him, pulled out his phone and dialed.
Outside the reception hall.
Peter Parker, who had been sent by the company to photograph the event, registered that something was wrong the moment it happened and was in his suit before the smoke had cleared, engaging the Green Goblin directly.
The Green Goblin had never fought Spider-Man before. He found himself being hit so hard and so fast that he could barely mount any response at all.
All he could do was create chaos across multiple directions, exploiting Spider-Man's instinct to save people over fighting, keeping him too stretched to focus on any one thing.
"Playing dirty, are we?" Peter's hand snapped up.
A mass of white webbing hit the Green Goblin square in the face with a wet splat.
Taking advantage of the moment while the Goblin's face was fully plastered over, Peter put his fist through the Goblin Glider's stabilizer.
Without the stabilizer, the Goblin knew immediately that things had gone badly wrong. Any thought of continuing the fight disappeared. He wheeled the glider around and wrestled it away as fast as it would go. The only thing missing was the obligatory line: "I'll be back."
With the Green Goblin gone, Peter's rescue work moved considerably faster. The location being central Manhattan helped too. Emergency response arrived quickly.
Before long, the scene was largely dealt with.
Just as Peter was concluding that he wasn't needed here anymore, the corner of his eye caught a familiar figure.
That's... Mr. Matthew Lawrence?
He looks injured. And badly.
Peter looked at the figure lying in a pool of blood, and a memory hit him suddenly: Matthew standing in sunlight at the Nursery podium, answering his question.
Then he remembered Eleanor and Matthew looking after him when he first joined Umbrella.
If not for Matthew, his life would still be a financial stretch at best. And he would never have met Angela.
A thought surfaced.
He moved.
A brief word to Stark explaining the situation, and then he hoisted Matthew onto his shoulder and dropped off the balcony.
As for why he carried him on his shoulder rather than in his arms. Peter Parker offered no explanation.
Between the high-rises.
Matthew, slung across Peter's shoulder, slowly opened his eyes.
"Cough. Cough."
Peter, hearing movement, spoke up immediately with some relief in his voice. "Mr. Lawrence, you're awake!"
Movement meant he hadn't died. That was good.
Then Matthew spoke, and what he said nearly made Peter lose his footing.
"Peter. Take me to Umbrella."
"..."
"What Peter? I'm just... a failure of a man."
"True. But in addition to being Spider-Man, you're also Peter Parker."
This time, Matthew's words cut off any thought of a second denial.
A long silence.
Peter Parker slowly spoke. "You recognized me?"
"Yes." Matthew let his voice go appropriately weak. "I remember your voice."
"You remember my voice?" Behind the mask, Peter's face showed pure shock.
He couldn't believe there were people like this in the world. Someone who could identify a person they had only met twice, from nothing but their voice.
"I had no idea that the Spider-Man in the papers was one of my own employees." Matthew's voice carried a steadiness that was somehow reassuring. "That's genuinely surprising."
"Are you going to fire me?" Peter asked, some uncertainty in the words. "Or go public with who I am?"
He didn't know what this man intended to do with the information.
"Fire you? Why would I? Because you're Spider-Man? As for going public with your identity, there's even less reason for that."
"The company doesn't deploy public resources to announce people's identities."
The words sounded impartial, but there was something underneath them that carried a quiet reassurance, and Peter heard it. He let out a long, relieved breath.
"Thank you, Mr. Lawrence."
"No need."
[System: +200 points. Peter Parker is deeply grateful that you chose not to expose his identity.]
The conversation carried no condescension, and Peter found it easy to hear. The atmosphere between them was noticeably better.
Then Peter seemed to remember something. "Sir. Are you sure you want me to take you to Umbrella? We're almost at the nearest hospital."
Matthew shook his head. "The medical facilities inside the company are better. They'll get me back on my feet faster."
"Is that right?"
"Then we'll need to change direction."
***
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