"Ellie? Come on, Ellie, get up."

Ellie tried to open her eyes, but was half-blinded by a familiar white light from above her. "Don't tell me what to do." She mumbled pointedly back at the voice, which, in her stupor, she couldn't recognize.

The mysterious speaker breathed a sigh of relief. "Jesus, Ellie."

Immediately Ellie knew who it was. Her eyes snapped wide open to take in her surroundings. She was at… She was at Oscorp. Why would she be here? The familiar plasma T.V from Harry's living room stared back at her, showing a blank blue screen. Sunlight still filtered in from the windows. Ellie felt around her, to which the cool leather of the sofa met her fingertips.

Great, so she was in Harry's penthouse again – a place she hoped she wouldn't have to be for a while. Not after the drama that had occurred the previous night, at least. Ellie sat up on the sofa and hissed as her left ankle screamed in protest at the movement. "Crap," Ellie seethed, throwing her hands to her leg.

Suddenly Harry was there, running a hand through his hair and looking as smug as he'd ever been, as if he hadn't ever shown Ellie how vulnerable he could be. "Your ankle is sprained." Harry's expression turned sour, the corners of his lips pulling down into a frown. "At least, that's what he said."

Ellie raised an eyebrow in confusion as she massaged as close to her ankle as she could get. "Who? What happened?"

"Spiderman." Harry didn't look exactly ecstatic that she'd made him say the name. It looked as if he would've rolled his eyes had the situation been any different.

"You spoke to Spiderman?" Ellie asked. "How did I get here? Where's Sarah?"

"Your friend? She's at the cafeteria." Harry answered.

Ellie nodded, but waited for an explanation from Harry, something he was refraining from providing. Harry met her eyes and gave in. "You almost got hit by a car, Ellie. Are you dumb?!" He basically exploded like a human time-bomb, throwing his hands up in the air for effect. "It's basic knowledge you look both ways before crossing the street. And to think I leave you in charge of important files and documents! I knew you weren't the brightest, but seriously."

Ellie would've laughed at the irony of his outburst if her ankle weren't in screaming pain. Instead, she let out a shaky laugh of disbelief. "I almost got hit by a car?"

Harry ran a frustrated hand through his hair as his blue eyes glared into Ellie's. "Yeah, almost."

"I don't understand why you're so angry," Ellie justified. She used the sofa's arm as leverage to help herself up. "I'm not dead, at least."

Harry almost exploded right in front of her face. The tips of his ears turned a startling red, his eyes sparking up like blue electricity. He raised a pointed finger at Ellie, like he was lecturing a small child. "How can you say that? You're the only one who car-" He began, but he stopped himself. He shut his mouth tight, took a few breaths through his nose, and separated his lips once again. His eyes blazed ferociously, like he was obviously holding something back that he wasn't happy about. "You're in charge of my appointments. You can't die."

"Neither can you," Ellie replied, though she bit back the urge to give Harry a lecture of his own. Sure, she wasn't dead, but it wasn't like he was any healthier. He couldn't give her a speech about not dying when he couldn't be any less of a hypocrite about it.

Harry kept his mouth shut shortly after that, which Ellie knew he wasn't particularly happy about. Ellie couldn't reign over him, he owned her, not the other way around. She served him, he was Harry Osborn, he was the heir of Oscorp, he was a popular media target, he was a male model in his spare time, there was no possible way she could shut him up just like that.

It seemed like ages had passed since that had been true. Like a millennia ago, maybe, Harry had been the one to smugly order her around, laugh evilly at her own clumsiness and knotted, messy hair and tangled appearance.

Now it seemed that they were both at a neutral time where neither was above anyone anymore. It wasn't until then that Ellie realized that it was possibly because they were friends now, not falling victims to the social hierarchy.

Harry finally spoke, the words coming out like a displeased grunt. "If you can walk, your friend is at the cafeteria with Peter. There are crutches if you can't."

Ellie nodded, ignoring the last part of his words. She wasn't in the mood to make herself an even clumsier fool by using crutches. The last time she'd done that, she'd whacked a guy in his manhood with them in the school hallway, receiving a life-time full of hateful looks from the poor guy afterwards.

She limped her way over to the door, trying her very best to ignore the slight burning pain that came with each twinge of pressure on her left foot. Ellie wrapped her hand around the handle, but paused and looked back towards Harry, who was now resting on the sofa with his head falling back to gaze at the ceiling. "You're not coming?"

Harry barely looked at her, nor made any move to indicate he'd heard her besides the slight shake of his head. Ellie's stomach dropped slightly at the answer, but she ignored it and tried to find her way to the cafeteria without ending up lost.

She found Sarah sitting at a cafeteria table. The back of Peter Parker's head caught Ellie's attention the most, though. For all she knew, Sarah and Peter didn't even know each other. They seemed to be laughing, though, something that made Ellie narrow her eyes in suspicion. When Ellie had limped close enough for Sarah to peer around Peter and notice her, she squealed. "Ellie! Hey!" Sarah quickly got up from her chair and rushed to aid Ellie in walking. "Have my chair." Sarah offered, pulling the chair out for Ellie to sit on.

Sarah brought another chair over and sat down on it herself.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked curiously, looking pointedly between both Sarah and Peter. As far as Ellie was sure, Peter and Sarah had never even introduced themselves to each other, and Ellie knew she'd never mentioned him to Sarah before.

"Oh," Sarah laughed. "Well, Peter got here a bit after Spiderman, uh, left. He wanted to know how you were doing."

Ellie groaned at the realization that Spiderman had been here and she wasn't even conscious to see it. Curiously, she raised a brow at Sarah. "'How I was doing'? I don't even know what I'm doing here." Ellie leaned onto the table to rest her head on her folded arms. "All I know is that my ankle is pretty messed up and my neck hurts like a bitch."

Peter adjusted his position in his seat and butted in, his brown eyes meeting Ellie's nervously, like he felt she was seeing through him. "You, uh, suffered from minor whiplash - nothing too serious, but… you might have stretched a few tendons in your neck." He sounded grave and guilty, like he'd personally done it himself.

Sarah's eyes lit up with realization after he'd spoken, gasping as her fists banged the table once. "If Spiderman hadn't gotten to you before that…" She didn't finish, but gave Ellie a sad look.

Ellie looked back incredulously. "Ialmost died."

"Luckily it was just whiplash and… and not… well, you know." Peter stammered back. "You were lucky he was, uh, there."

Ellie's jaw dropped. "Spiderman saved me." She spoke aloud to herself disbelievingly. Ellie stared blankly at both Peter and Sarah. "Spiderman saved me?" She asked, pointing a finger to her chest. Both Peter and Sarah nodded.

Ellie let out a quick breath of amazement and leaned back in her seat. "I almost died." She repeated once more skeptically.

"You could've died," Sarah corrected.

Ellie ignored Sarah's comment and looked back towards Peter, eyebrows knitting together in suspicion. "Why are you here?"

"Wha- Me?" Peter jabbed a finger at his own chest as he stuttered out an answer. His dark eyes seemed to be searching for something to rest on other than Ellie. "I was just… I was- I was passing through."

Ellie rubbed at her sore neck tenderly and sighed. "Of all places, why was I taken to Oscorp? Are they trying to tie me here forever?"

Peter chuckled, though it sounded like a release of breath. "It was the closest medical facility. Well, somewhat of a medical facility."

"How long was I passed out?"

"An hour and a half tops, maybe." Peter answered. "It's only five."

Ellie breathed a silent thank you to whatever God there was. She had already left her mother in a somewhat nerve-wracking position with no answers, so she didn't want to worry her any further. Ellie wasn't dead, so there was no need to give her mother grey hairs. Harry and Ellie both couldn't be in bad health positions.

A silence fell over the three while Ellie thought for a moment. She'd woken up in Harry's penthouse – but why? Why not a medical room or division? Had Spiderman left her there, in Harry's hands? Why would he do that, exactly? Surely that wouldn't have had been safe.

Ellie thought back to Harry and how he'd looked when she last saw him previously. He didn't look very happy, and whether that was because of Spiderman's presence or Ellie's disobeying of road safety, she didn't know. Of course, he looked the same as he always did now; dim, yet bright blue eyes and dark circles that made them stand out even more, pale and sickly skin – all of which made him slightly resemble a… goblin.

Suddenly, an epiphany hit her like a block of cement. After days of metaphorically walking around aimlessly, trying her best to ignore the problem at hand, Ellie knew how to help Harry.

Ellie turned her eyes onto Peter, who was staring down at his own, oversized hands with a determined frown. "How's Harry?" She already knew how Harry was, but wanted to hear it from the perspective of one of his other, closer, friends. She hoped she wasn't alone in this battle.

Peter's head snapped up at the mention of him, his brown eyes wide and clouded in confusion. "What- Why are you… Why are you asking?"

Ellie could almost hear the confused thoughts in his head scrambling around – why would she want to know when she was with him not even ten minutes ago? She sucked in a breath and tried to get her own fuzzy thoughts to take shape. "What's his deal with Spiderman?"

Sarah had leaned in closer to listen more intently, but at Ellie's warning glare she backed off, understanding this wasn't any of her concern. "I'll just go get something to eat," Sarah excused herself, the chair scraping the floor as she got up and left.

Ellie returned her gaze to Peter, whose lips were parted in uncertainty. Peter furrowed his brows. "I don't know." He blatantly lied.

"Listen, Peter," Ellie sighed. "This isn't the best time for this conversation, I know. But… Harry's dying." It wasn't news to either of them, but the words made them both visibly wince. "A few days ago, he was telling me about Spiderman. About his blood."

Peter looked like he didn't want to be having this conversation. Not now, nor ever. He pushed his chair closer to the table, so that he and Ellie could talk in hushed tones. "I-I don't know what you're talking about." Peter said again.

Ellie pulled at the hem of her shirt in frustration. If Peter wasn't going to cooperate, she had to convince him. "You're basically a genius, Peter. I know you know about Spiderman and his genetic mutation, you have to. His blood could help him – I'm not sure how, but it has to."

"It's dangerous," Peter argued in a strained tone. "He could- He could die."

"He's already dying!" Ellie bit back a shout.

Peter closed his eyes and took deep breaths through his nose. "I know. My- Spiderman's blood… it could kill him quicker. Complications could occur…"

Ellie looked down at her own hands, trembling slightly from anger and frustration. She needed to help Harry, because he couldn't just die. There had to be something she could do. She couldn't sit around helpless while he threw up and passed out and became sicker and sicker every day. "I need to find a cure."

Peter stared at her, an incredulous look in his eyes. "Ellie, this isn't your fault-"

Ellie sent him a glare, shutting him up. "I know that! I know. But you have to help me, Peter. Please."

Uncertainty was writing across every aspect of Peter's face. At first, he looked like he was about to refuse, but then he slumped his shoulders and gave in. He gave Ellie a curt nod. "Okay."

They were going to find a cure.

[A/N]: Almost two weeks later and I'm back! Thank you guys for all the lovely support! I hope this chapter, although still short, turned out better than the last! The actual movie plot should start to come in about two/three chapters, so look forward to that! :) /includingmorehallie

Also, if you guys have any fanart or anything feel free to share it with me! I love what you guys create so much ahhhhhhh :')