["Mr. Osborn!" In the Oscorp building, a sudden shout startled Harry awake from where he was lying on the sofa. He shook his groggy head, scanning the room, but saw no one.]
["Look up!" Peter's voice echoed, and Harry immediately tilted his head upward.]
[Descending gracefully from the ceiling on a web, Peter—clad in his Spider-Man suit—landed softly on a chair. "Were you looking for me?" he asked, his voice calm and steady.]
[Harry's eyes widened with disbelief and excitement. "This is unbelievable... Spider-Man!" Despite his bloodshot eyes from a restless night, his face lit up with joy at the sight.]
["I was hoping you'd come!" Harry exclaimed, rising from the sofa to sit in the chair beside Peter. As he poured himself a drink, he added, "Have you... talked to Peter?"]
["Yeah," Peter replied, his voice altered to conceal his identity. Harry couldn't believe Peter had actually contacted Spider-Man. He took a sip of wine, trying to suppress the surge of hope swelling in his chest.]
["I want to help you, Mr. Osborn. I really do," Peter said carefully. "But I can't give you my blood. At least, not right now."]
["What do you mean?" Harry's confusion deepened, his hopeful expression faltering.]
["It's too dangerous," Peter explained. "If our blood types don't match, it could kill you."]
["I'm already dying!" Harry snapped. The infection spreading from his neck was severe. What had started as a small puncture was now an angry, festering blotch across his skin.]
["But the risks could be even worse," Peter insisted. He didn't know the full extent of Harry's condition, but he feared that his blood could accelerate Harry's demise.]
[Harry misread Peter's hesitation as greed. Narrowing his eyes, he asked sharply, "Alright, how much do you want?"]
["How much?" Peter echoed, momentarily baffled.]
["Name your price! A yacht? A private jet? Just tell me! How much do you want?" Harry's desperation dripped from every word, convinced Spider-Man was after wealth rather than genuinely concerned.]
["I don't want your money," Peter replied firmly. The idea of trading his blood—especially when it might kill his best friend—was unthinkable.]
["Come on! Everyone wants my money!" Harry's composure shattered. He leapt from his chair, shouting. In his mind, Spider-Man's blood was his last chance at survival.]
["I don't want it!" Peter's voice was steady, but his heart ached.]
[Harry stared at him, stunned. "I thought... I thought you were a hero. I thought you saved people in danger. Are you just going to stand there and watch me die?"]
[Peter rose from his seat, his mask hiding the pain in his eyes. "I am trying to protect you."]
[But Harry couldn't hear him. The rejection cut deeper than the infection ravaging his body. "No! You're not protecting me. You're just protecting yourself!"]
["Listen, we need time to figure this out," Peter pleaded, trying to find a way to make Harry understand.]
["I don't have time!" Harry roared, his voice raw with anguish. In a fit of rage, he hurled his wine glass across the room.]
[Peter instinctively dodged, the glass shattering against the wall behind him. A sharp shard ricocheted, slicing Harry's cheek. Clutching the wound, Harry glared at Peter, his eyes burning with betrayal.]
["I'm sorry," Peter whispered, his voice barely audible. Without another word, he leapt out of the open window, swinging away into the night.]
[Harry rushed to the window, shouting after him, but Peter was already gone. With a furious scream, Harry punched the railing, his knuckles splitting open.]
["You liar! Spider-Man!!! AHHH!" he bellowed, overturning the table in a blind fury before collapsing onto the sofa, hatred festering in his heart.]
[Outside the window, Peter lingered, hidden in the shadows. He heard every anguished sound from within. His chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, the weight of his decision suffocating him.]
"Harry... you were right," Peter admitted quietly, sitting across from Harry in a dimly lit room. Dr. Connors was seated beside them, his expression somber.
"I ran experiments before even considering giving you my blood," Peter confessed.
"What? What did you find?" Harry's surprise was genuine. Before Peter could elaborate, the mysterious screen flickered to life, drawing their attention.
"It was horrifying, Harry," Peter continued, his voice low. "Death was the best possible outcome. The worst... people turned into monsters. Dr. Connors can confirm that."
Connors nodded grimly. The simulations were more terrifying than his own transformation into the Lizard, as shown on the screen.
"If the experiment had worked, my arm would've grown back," Connors said, glancing at his missing limb with deep regret. "But it didn't."
"There's still hope, Doc," Peter encouraged, offering a small, reassuring smile.
"Good luck to you, Peter," Connors replied, though his tone lacked conviction. The regeneration experiment had been shelved indefinitely. His focus now was on perfecting the Decay Rate Algorithm and finding the right genetic balance. But without the opportunity to restart the experiments, all he could do was wait.
Harry touched the infected area on his neck, about to speak, when a knock at the door interrupted.
"Come in!" Harry called out.
Felicia entered gracefully, followed by several stern-looking investigators.
"Mr. Osborn, these agents have some questions regarding the spider-human experiments," Felicia explained, her tone professional.
"Just ask," Harry said, gesturing for them to proceed. He glanced at Peter, silently inviting him to stay. There were no more secrets between them.
"Spider-human experiments?" Peter's heart skipped a beat at the words.
"I'll explain later," Harry said quickly. "Rajit was doing things behind our backs."
One of the investigators stepped forward. "Mr. Osborn, we suspect that Rajit Ratha may not have been the only one that involve in this. We need to know—can Oscorp's files be deleted or hidden in a way that they wouldn't appear in the system logs?"
Harry frowned. "What?"
"You have the highest authority in the company," the investigator continued. "No one can override your access without breaking the law. We need your help to check if the logs have been tampered with. If they've been deleted, can they be recovered?"
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