daretodo | [Osborn Plot] It Begins Again. Only this time with Johnny.

Continued from here.

"Look, do you want to know or not?" I shoot back, not slowing down, not looking behind me to see if he's even still there, and not thinking about whether or not he's tired. I'm about as far from tired as it's possible to get. It's like I just downed the entire inventory of a Starbucks. I'm jittery. Wired. Paranoid. Less and less convinced by the second that I should be telling Johnny at all. Wolverine would be the smarter choice. He might be on every team ever, but he gets the whole needing to do something on your own -- even if that something includes not telling people he's dying.

Without missing a beat, I jump, catching hold of one of the lower hanging branches of the nearest sturdy looking tree, and I kick my legs in front of me, creating enough forward momentum to swing myself up and over, praying all the while that I don't get a splinter. I land in a crouch, not bothering to make any overt movement to hang on to the tree, mostly because I don't remember that I probably should. Yanno, I used to do my thinking on the top of the Empire State Building. It'd be the understatement of the year to say this is sort of a downgrade.

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"No, I mean, what do you think you're going to do? It's not like you can out him as Norman Osborn, Green Goblin and insane supervillain to everyone and have them lock him up right away."

No, what Osborn got back home for that was Tony Stark's job. It was a pretty @#%$ed up universe at the best of times.

"...like I said, I pretty much had the same thing working against me back home," I reply slowly, since that's exactly what happened. No one seems to remember Ben Urich's attempt to expose him except for me. "You honestly think going to the police even crossed my mind? With my history? Seriously?"

Had someone like Doom shown up instead, Johnny knew he wouldn't exactly have his head screwed on right himself, so he cut Pete a some slack. Just a little.

"So...what? You're gonna spend every waking minute looking like Osborn's gonna jump you? Because I gotta tell ya, Pete, paranoid is not a good look on you."

"I only found out he was here all of a few hours ago," I say through gritted teeth, grabbing hold of the branch so that I don't grab hold of his neck instead. My patience is wearing thin -- and when it comes to Johnny, I don't have much of it to begin with. "Give me a few more to come up a with plan, wouldja?"

"Yeah, sure," Johnny said magnanimously. He looked down for a moment, long enough to stretch his neck out before tilting his head back up again to look at Pete. "Whatever you decide, I've got your back."

I want to beat my head against the tree, but staying conscious is on my list of things I need to do. Frankly, I tell him, "Whatever I decide, you'll have my back from a distance. You're not getting involved in this. Any of this. Understand?"

"...yeah, right." Johnny replied, almost insulted. "No way you're dealing with any of this alone, unless you've got a death wish."

Scoffing in disbelief, I jump down from the tree, landing a few feet in front of Johnny. He's like talking to a flippin' wall, I swear. "Do I need to go over the I Don't Do Teams speech again?" I ask, eyebrows raised. "Or can I just skip to the part where I tell you that if you do try to help me, I'll make it so you physically can't?"

"Threatening someone who's trying to help, that's the way to win friends and influence people." Johnny crossed his arms, unwilling to move an inch despite knowing full well Pete's views on teamwork. "If you had your powers, I'd listen. But you don't, and you still want to take on Osborn when the guy's obviously crazy-evil enough that he terrifies you? Yeah. Right."

The urge to strangle him returns, and I know I gotta calm down, but he's pushing every damn button I have. My hands curl into fists and I draw myself up to my full height. This serves only to remind me of the fact that we're the same height. Biting back an annoyed sigh, I take a small step forward -- just enough to infringe on his personal space. "This isn't a negotiation."

Johnny knew exactly how hard he'd pushed Pete's buttons, but the problem was he didn't actually care. As far as he was concerned, Johnny was being the brains for once.

"You know how you just said we were friends? This is the part where I'm actually, you know, being one."

It very rarely happened.

If this were any other time, I'd laugh. Thing is, it's his sincerity that's making this so problematic. Maybe some people would be grateful for the help, but I'm not one of them. I'm too busy being afraid that that very same help is going to get himself killed.

"Then you have really bad timing."

"You know the only time anyone has good timing is when the world's about to end," Johnny pointed out, even though it was completely off topic. He needed the tension breaker for a moment. "I'm not going to stop telling you how stupid doing anything on your own is, and you're obviously not going to stop telling me to leave you alone, so I guess we're coming to a draw."

"A draw for the conversation, maybe." Even with the concession, I can't bring myself to relax. If anything I get more tense, get more antsy, because I already know how this is all going to play out. Leaning forward, I add, "But I swear to God, Johnny, you get in my way when the time comes? You're not going to be there for very long."

He could try.

"Physical harm if I try to help, gotcha."

"I don't think you do."

Letting that sink in for a second, I brush past him. I need to come up with a game plan, but that's not going to happen with Johnny here trying to play hero.

Johnny thought about following Pete, but he was pretty sure he'd filled up his give a damn quotient for the day -- extra points when it was thrown back in his face.

"Nice talking to ya," he muttered, wondering what to do next. His whole winning afterglow was ruined.

[Osborn Plot] It Begins Again. Only this time with Johnny.

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