Chapter 18: Goblin Genesis Part III

Chapter Eighteen: Goblin Genesis Part Three:

The Green Goblin sat perched at the edge of town, remote control device in hand. Fisk had just a little under forty minutes to sign everything over or the Goblin would make good on his promises. He sat, watching, but his eyes caught a very familiar figure swinging in the distance.

“Intriguing,” said The Green Goblin to himself but really he was pleased in his own way. “I had assumed Spider-Man met his final demise but I guess he managed to cheat death. Not for long though.”

The Green Goblin climbed onto his glider, before he blasted forward. He saw Spider-Man swinging on the other side, before he carefully aimed a razor bat. He would cut Spider-Man out of the sky and bring him to his doom.

Spider-Man swung, spider sense tingled and he quickly leapt down, the line of webbing that he was just on sliced before he shot more webbing and swung up, right towards the glider with the Green Goblin on it who took careful aim with the pumpkin bomb and threw it, but Spider-Man dodged the attack, before he sprung up and punched the Green Goblin right in the face with all of his might. The Goblin was only staggered, before he rushed forward, as Spider-Man was on the glider. Spider-Man just narrowly dodged an attack from the Goblin as the Glider began to spin slightly out of control.

“You’re supposed to be dead!” shouted the Green Goblin as he swung a punch but Spider-Man just barely had time to block it. Another punch found his ribs and dropped him down. Spider-Man webbed the feet of the Green Goblin together, before he pulled with all of his mind. The Goblin was hanging upside down from his own Glider, but not for long, as he used one of his own razor bats to cut himself free and he landed right on a rooftop

“Sorry to disappoint you Gobby, but I’m not going down that easily,” said Spider-Man as he braced himself. “Not without a fight anyway.”

Spider-Man dropped down, wincing as he stressed a still sore joint in one of his legs. The Green Goblin was on the attack with a pumpkin bomb, but Spider-Man managed to avoid the attack. The bomb blew the sidewalk up, sending bits of gravel flying upwards.

“Bit slow in your step, aren’t we, Spider-Man?” taunted the Green Goblin as he had a pumpkin bomb in each hand and flung them. Spider-Man wrapped his webbing around them and managed to launch them up into the air, out of sight before they detonated. Goblin threw a razor bat, which nearly sliced Spider-Man’s arm. “One would think you aren’t feeling too good.”

Spider-Man leapt at the Green Goblin but the Goblin casually threw him off, causing him to land right at the edge of the roof. Goblin leapt forward and a kick caused Spider-Man to hang from his hands over the roof.

“Well don’t worry, Uncle Gobby will administer a sedative,” said the Green Goblin as he stomped the fingers of Spider-Man’s right hand before he just viciously kicked him right in the ribs, causing him great pain, blues, and agony but he somehow through the sheer force of will pulled himself up.“The last sedative you’ll ever need!”

Another stomp, this time of the left hand and Spider-Man gave a pained grunt, as he was knocked off the building. He would not be surprised if all ten of his fingers had been broken from the viciousness of the Goblin’s stomps but he managed to summon the fortitude to shoot a line of webbing around a clothesline wire.

“I’m still breathing, Goblin,” taunted Spider-Man as he pulled himself to go face to the face wth the Goblin.

“I do apologize, I’m going to have to remedy that bit soon,” said the Green Goblin as he leapt down but Spider-Man moved at the last minute. The Green Goblin nearly smashed against the wall but he adjusted his position, before he landed right to the ground gracefully on his feet and reached into his bag of tricks, but found nothing.

“What’s the matter, Goblin, out of ammo?” taunted Spider-Man as he rushed forward, but the Green Goblin hoisted him up and flipped him over, causing him to land right against a trash can. Two punches rattled Spider-Man and put him on dream street.

“Guess I’m going to do this the old fashion way,” said the Green Goblin as he picked up a pipe and swung it. He came preciously inches from caving Spider-Man’s head in but the wall crawler blocked it with all of his might. He pushed up to his feet, before he kicked the Green Goblin right in the shin. He barely felt it, but Spider-Man shoved him off, before he staggered back and wrapped his webbing around the pipe, pulling it from the Green Goblin’s grasp. Spider-Man rushed forward and punched the Goblin with all of his might.

“It ends now Goblin,” said Spider-Man but Goblin had remotely recalled his Goblin Glider.

“On the contrary, Spider-Man, I’m just getting warmed up,” said the Green Goblin, gleeful with the fact that he was rearmed and he threw three pumpkin bombs down towards Spider-Man in quick succession but Spider-Man dodged. He collapsed against the wall, out of breath and nearly got blitzed by a fourth pumpkin bomb. “You don’t have anything left, better put you out of my misery.”

“Still standing, Gobby,” managed Spider-Man as he shot two thick lines of webbing right towards the Green Goblin but the Goblin gave a swift pull with his arms, pulling Spider-Man up so they were face to face.

“Say good night, Parker,” declared the Green Goblin in the most sadistic voice he could manage, but Spider-Man kicked off, before he swung around, kicking the back of the glider, knocking the Green Goblin right into the city.

“So you do know who I am,” muttered Spider-Man as the Green Goblin turned forward, before he held up the remote control device, taunting Spider-Man with it. He had to get it away from the Goblin somehow, before he did something insane.

“I would love to chat, Spider-Man, but I have an appointment to keep,” said the Green Goblin as he held two pumpkin bombs, dangling them, before he threw them right towards an obviously occupied building with no remorse.

“Not this time, Goblin!” yelled Spider-Man as he threw himself down, it would be close but he would be damned if he would let more innocent people get caught in the wayside. The pumpkin bombs dropped to the ground and Spider-Man waited for the explosion but none came as the Green Goblin’s laughter taunted him.

“Duds,” thought Spider-Man desperately before it struck him. “That wasn’t an accident either, he knew I would try to go after them, after what happened last time, everything he does is sadistically planned to the last intricate detail. This time, I’m going to get him, I can see him, just barely but I better get swinging, that Glider can get some good distance.”

-

Wilson Fisk sat as Harry Osborn was right beside him. Hidden in the bushes and behind a brick wall was a number of armed men, ready to take the Green Goblin out.

“Are you sure this will work?” asked Harry in a skeptical voice.

“I’m sure you want to see who has been stealing the technology from what is now your company, Harry,” said Fisk smoothly and the young Osborn just nodded, before he looked into the sky, as Fisk held the briefcase. He hoped it would fool the Goblin long enough to shoot him out of the sky and unmask him. “Right on schedule, five minutes until deadline.”

“Naturally I’m on schedule,” said the Green Goblin as he dropped down, before he held up two sonic toads and flung them into the bushes. There were screams as the armed men exited, before three more came behind the wall and the Green Goblin flung two pumpkin bombs right towards them before they could shoot. They screamed as the Goblin watched the shower of blood in the air with a sadistic look on his face. “Now, Wilson, that wasn’t very nice of you, trying to kill me. Well, a deal’s a deal, say farewell to the city and everyone in it.”

The Green Goblin prepared to do the deed taking a few minutes to watch the Kingpin sweat, but a line of webbing shout out and pulled the remote control device out of his hand. The remote was in the hands of Spider-Man as the Green Goblin turned around before a look of utter rage appeared underneath his mask and his blood began boiling in fury when it registered with him what had just happened.

“YOU!” shouted the Green Goblin before he raised his hands and green blasts shot down but Spider-Man dodged them and the Green Goblin dove down, in an attempt to reclaim his remote control device but Spider-Man shot a line of webbing right onto the side of the building, pulling himself up and swinging to the side.

“Catch me if you can, Gobby!” shouted Spider-Man as he swung around in an attempt to evade the Goblin. “Come on, follow me, if you think you can get to me in time before I disable your little toy.”

“I’ll take that challenge!” shouted the Green Goblin as he dove forward, slicing the blade at the end of his glider right through the webbing, as Spider-Man was sent spiraling right towards the ground but at the last minute, he hooked onto the bottom of the glider. He still held the remote control device as the Green Goblin threw a pumpkin bomb right down towards him but Spider-Man swung around, as the weapon blew up an unoccupied car, as the Green Goblin bent down, hacking away at the webbing with one of his razor bats, but Spider-Man leapt off quickly, the remote control device in hand but the Goblin continued to dive right towards his enemy. “I’ll take that!”

The Green Goblin grabbed the remote control device, but Spider-Man had mounted the Glider with the battle going on high above, as Fisk and Harry watched.

“Should we help them?” asked Harry.

“Not unless it’s needed,” said Fisk, who would sooner just have Spider-Man and the Goblin wipe each other out. It would save him all kinds of headaches.

The Green Goblin went for a punch, but Spider-Man ducked and he smashed the control console on the Glider, causing it to spin out of control. The Green Goblin grabbed Spider-Man, one hand around his throat, squeezing with all of his strength, as he held the remote control device in the other hand, waving in Spider-Man’s face, taunting him.

“Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but…” stated Spider-Man but the Goblin taunted his grip, before he realized the Glider was dangerously close to crashing into the ground.

“See you on the other side, Spider-Man,” said the Green Goblin as he leapt off at the last possible second, but Spider-Man also made his movement. He dove right behind a dumpster, as the glider landed right on the street, detonating several pumpkin bombs on it. The explosions went off, filling the city with green smoke but it was obvious the Goblin had grabbed a few in the chaos, as one was flung right towards the web slinger. He dodged the attack, as a hole was blown right in the street. Spider-Man sprung up and managed to pull the other pumpkin bombs from the Goblin’s grasp, but with expert agility and quickness, the Green Goblin was already out of reach, even without his Glider. Spider-Man moved forward but the Goblin held up the remote control device. “One more step Spider-Man and the entire city goes up.”

“You’re completely insane!” shouted Spider-Man and the Goblin nodded in stoic agreement. “You’re blown yourself up as well.”

“Well at least I’ve got the satisfaction of knowing that I took you and the rest of the people who tried to ruin my life along with me!” cried the Goblin, but Spider-Man moved forward, to do the one thing the Goblin would not expect. He took several steps backwards. “That’s right, Spider-Man, I hold all the cards now, including the one’s for your demise. You know what, I’m just going to push the button after all.”

Spider-Man leapt forward, shooting the web lines right at the Green Goblin, wrapping both of them around the Goblin’s right hand and tugged. The remote control device flew out of his hands and Spider-Man quickly caught it before he dropped it down a sewer grate. The Green Goblin’s eyes widened, before he blasted Spider-Man right in the chest point blank. Spider-Man was lifted off the ground and landed with a thud. The Green Goblin pulled Spider-Man up and threw him down to the ground. The Goblin rushed forward and grabbed Spider-Man once again, before he was flipped over onto his back. Without another word, the Green Goblin stood on Spider-Man’s chest, exerting an insane amount of pressure. Spider-Man struggled with all of his might, as Goblin continued to put the pressure on, grinding the soles of his feet right in Spider-Man’s chest. It was becoming difficult, no impossible to breath.

“Admit it, Spider-Man, admit it that there is no way you could beat me,” said the Green Goblin before he knelt down, feet grinding into the ribs of Spider-Man as Goblin reached down to choke the life out of him. “Admit it…Parker.”

The last word was issued in a taunting whisper that only they could hear as Spider-Man tried to push up but he could not. He had truly met his match, the Green Goblin had defeated the web slinger.

“Yes, Goblin, I do, I was an idiot for thinking I could beat you,” gasped Spider-Man as he saw right above the Green Goblin, a large stone gargoyle. Perhaps if he timed it just right. “It was hopeless.”

“Now, I’m going to remove that mask right now and this time, the entire world is going to see who you really are,” said the Green Goblin as he released his grip to get in the proper position to remove the mask but Spider-Man’s arms rose up. Webbing wrapped around the gargoyle and with all of his strength, Spider-Man tugged. The gargoyle crumbled slightly before it came crashing down. The Green Goblin turned around, as the gargoyle partially smashed over him. Dust was sent over him, as Spider-Man pulled himself to his feet and rocked the Green Goblin with a punch. He dropped down, wincing as he was still sore. The Green Goblin remained on his feet and rushed forward, with a crazed expression.

“Not going to win, not this time, Goblin,” said Spider-Man in a pained, but determined voice, as he flipped right over the Green Goblin. The Goblin spun around quickly just as Spider-Man landed on his feet. Spider-Man wrapped webbing around the legs of the Green Goblin and pulled with all of his might. The Green Goblin landed right on the ground with a thud, with Spider-Man pulling himself up and swinging forward. Both feet connected right in the chest of the Green Goblin and the wind was knocked completely out of him, but the Green Goblin smirked when he had spotted a discarded pumpkin bomb on the ground and he threw it with all of his mind but Spider-Man turned his web shooter and wrapped webbing around the pumpkin bomb. With a swing, he launched the pumpkin bomb into the air.

“Missed!” cheered the Green Goblin as he raised his hand but the ledge above him exploded, causing a large amount of rubble to fall down. The Green Goblin held up the rubble with his superior strength but Spider-Man leapt forward, slamming both of his feet into the Green Goblin’s chest. Once, twice, three times before he webbed the Green Goblin’s legs together and caused them to collapse, the rubble landing right on top of him, with Spider-Man standing right on top of it, as the Goblin nearly freed himself but deflated from the attempt.

“No I didn’t,” said Spider-Man as the Green Goblin struggled, but Spider-Man shot lines of webbing, forcing the large piece of rubble down on right on the Green Goblin, trapping him. His arms and legs still thrashed, forcing Spider-Man to expend the rest of his webbing in both cartridges. “There, that should hold you, Gobs.”

“When I get out of here,” said the Green Goblin as he trailed off, breathing heavily. The battle had taken its toll on him as well, the super adrenaline caused by his powers was beginning to taper off and the pain had set in, before he blacked off. He was still breathing, but it was shallow, as Spider-Man pulled the rubble off of him, ready to disable him should he wake up.

“Yeah, you’ll make me regret the day I’ve been born, you and every other super powered villain I’ve ever met,” muttered Spider-Man as he slumped forward, but morbid curiosity got the better of him.

“This could be the end of the secret identity thing, he knows I’m Peter Parker, whoever he is,” thought Spider-Man desperately. “But it’s a perfect opportunity to know who he is.”

“You actually defeated him?” asked Harry causing Spider-Man to spin around in surprise.

“Yes, I did, for what it’s worth,” said Spider-Man and he did not give a chance for Harry to ask what Spider-Man meant by those cryptic comments. “Now to find out who the Goblin is.”

The mask was slipped off to reveal a very familiar and unconscious face and Spider-Man jumped up in shock, eyes widened if he could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

“Norman Osborn!” shouted Spider-Man in surprise just as Harry shouted “Dad”. Spider-Man backed off. “It’s impossible though, it can’t be…he was…”

“The explosion,” muttered Harry but he refused to speak a second more but those words had given Spider-Man all the evidence he needed.

“The explosion was planned, Harry was right all along, nothing Osborn does is an accident, he planned that explosion to turn him into the Green Goblin but why?” thought Spider-Man.

“The Kingpin,” murmured Norman, as greenish ooze splattered from his mouth, which caused Spider-Man to recoil in horror and even Harry looked sickened.

“The Kingpin?” asked Harry in confusion but the sirens went off, as the police arrived, along with officials from the Ravencroft Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

“A very powerful mob boss,” said Spider-Man who was racked in pain. He would need to get back to the Baxter Building soon for some more medical attention and perhaps an earful as well. He looked at Harry, who looked at his father, who he had believed to be dead all these weeks, now surfaced as the Green Goblin. “Look, I’m really sorry…”

“Don’t be, Spider-Man, it is my father who brought this onto himself,” said Harry as he watched the body of Norman Osborn strapped to a gurney, offering no signs of life other than shallow breathing. His eyes were open without blinking in a rather catatonic state. “Maybe he’ll get the help he needs but…I know he killed Peter.”

“Parker is alive,” said Spider-Man and Harry looked at him with a look of confusion. “I got him out of there in time, just in time, he had to get medical attention at the same place I did and he’s on the mend. Obviously takes a bit longer for him to heal, but he’s on the mend and he should make a full recovery any time now. Of course, someone needs to have a talk with him about not taking photographs in such risky places, but that’s not my place really and I doubt someone like that would listen.”

“You seem to have a pretty good measure of Pete,” muttered Harry but his mind was on his father. Even after he got his treatment, Harry wondered if he would ever be the same again. Perhaps the treatment that he needed would be for the better, but any thoughts of keeping this quiet was extinguished when the news media crowded around, getting a good look at the unmasked Green Goblin. Norman Osborn’s face was broadcasted all over the world.

Using the confusion of the news media arriving, Spider-Man swung off, wincing as the webbing caused stress on his shoulder. He had just narrowly defeated one of his toughest enemies but the back of his mind was buzzing with pure paranoia. When Norman recovered, would he remember what he learned as the Green Goblin? It was a terrifying thought, not for himself, but for his loved ones.

-

May Parker sat right in the kitchen of her house, eyes darting to the window absent mindedly.. She had gotten a phone call just earlier that day, fearing the worst but it was good news. Peter had not been killed in the explosion as feared, but it was a close call, all too close but the fact her nephew was completely safe and would make a recovery after some rest. He needed some specialized medical attention but Spider-Man had ensured that her nephew had gotten everything he needed and for that she was grateful. Still she could not sleep even one wink until she saw that her nephew was returned to her safely.

“Gwen, I can walk you know,” protested Peter from outside of the house, which caused May’s expression to brighten.

“I’m aware you can walk, but I promised your aunt that I would get you home safely and in one piece,” said Gwen.

“I’m just a bit sore, that’s all,” said Peter.

“Still think you’re lucky with that one,” replied Gwen and there was a brief muttering. “Don’t you dare roll your eyes at me, Peter!”

“Sorry, Gwen,” said Peter in an apologetic voice as he reached up to knock on the door but Aunt May had already reached the door. “Hey, Aunt May.”

“Peter, I was so worried,” said Aunt May. “Caught in a battle between Spider-Man and that awful Green Goblin person, I saw the news, I can’t believe he was Harry’s father.”

“Neither can we, Mrs. Parker,” responded Gwen dryly as she watched Peter sit down, just barely able to collapse.

“Are you are you’re okay Peter?” asked Aunt May. “You look dreadfully pale.”

“He’ll be fine when he rests,” said Gwen as she looked at Peter with a warning look.

“Yes, Peter, you look like you could use some rest, you haven’t looked like you’ve slept in days,” said May and Peter winced, that was not far off. “Thankfully that science camp of yours isn’t for another couple of weeks, it will give you plenty of time to take it easy.”

May turned to Gwen.

“Thanks for getting him home in one piece, Gwen,” said Aunt May. “I’m glad Peter has a bright young girl like you to look out for his best interests when I’m not around. I know it’s silly, but I worry so much time, taking photos of Spider-Man, some of the people that he fights, not exactly the most mentally stable.”

“Believe me, it’s not silly,” said Gwen. “It’s getting late, I better head on home.”

“Of course dear, you wouldn’t want your father to worry,” said May.

“Bye, Peter, I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Gwen as they exchanged a goodnight kiss, before Gwen turned, walking for the door.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” said Peter as he laid back.

“I think some dinner is order for you, young man and then a good night’s sleep,” said May.

“Not exactly the way I wanted to start off my summer vacation,” said Peter as he tried to relax, but thoughts on what the Green Goblin knew plagued him.

-

Norman Osborn sat in a cell in Ravencroft. While others made screams and other noises of discontent, he sat quiet and rather catatonic, as two doctors moved outside of his room to check in.

“He hasn’t moved since he got here, Dr. Hamilton?” asked a voice.

“No he hasn’t,” stated Dr. Barton Hamilton, the chief psychiatrist at Ravencroft. “A model prisoner really, most people when they get here babble and it’s interesting to find out exactly what makes them tick. Mr. Osborn on the other end is quiet, almost in stoic acceptance in his defeat. The blood work we’ve done answered far more questions about his condition than anything else.”

“Why’s that?” asked the unnamed doctor.

“The explosion that was believed to kill him doused him with an experimental formula increasing his strength, agility, endurance, intelligence, and tolerance to pain, with the cost of warping his mind,” explained Dr. Hamilton. “It will always be there, but without constant reinforcement, it will be mostly inactive with few side effects. Still, the serum allowed him to survive a battle with Spider-Man where he should have been killed from the injuries many times over.”

“Remarkable,” said the unnamed doctor.

“Just as remarkable as Spider-Man, he survived a lesser, but still inhumane amount of punishment,” said Dr. Hamilton. “My diagnosis is that he is driven by similar enhanced means but also a desire to amend some past wrong. Perhaps the death of a loved one that he feels he could prevented. The Goblin on the other end, is driven by an obsessive compulsive control, to prevent a different kind of loss. Driven by the need to protect possessions rather than people he is close to, in fact, I daresay Norman Osborn is incapable of feeling any kind of love towards any human being, besides twisted unhealthy obsession based off of some kind of childhood trauma but this is just from what I’ve been able to find out from merely observing the news media footage involving the battles between the two. Without interviewing them, it will be hard to determine exactly what drives these remarkable and quite odd super powered human beings.”

The two doctors left, as a spider crawled right beside Norman on the bed he was sitting. Raising his fist, he smashed the spider to a pulp. An arranged bout of amnesia once he came out of his catatonic state would be all he needed to lure the Kingpin, Spider-Man, and the rest into a false sense of security until the Green Goblin would make his return.

Timing was everything.

-

“I tried to talk to Harry earlier but he didn’t answer his phone,” remarked Peter to Gwen over the cell phone. He had been confined to the house for the next couple of days to rest, by Aunt May and he hoped there would be no crime to speak of. He did send the photos he managed to get of the first battle with the Green Goblin to Jameson, hoping that would pacify the publisher. “Have you had any luck with him?”

“Much of the same I’m afraid,” said Gwen. “Tried to swing by to visit him in person but the media is everywhere. Not only that but movie producers.”

“Movie producers?” asked Peter in confusion.

“Yeah, they want to buy the rights to the story of the life and tragic downfall of Norman Osborn into the Green Goblin or some such nonsense like that, I can just imagine what Harry’s going through,” said Gwen. “It should have been obvious.”

“The more I think about it, I agree,” said Peter but he thought, wondering what would happen now. Not only because of his identity, but because of Harry and the fact that his father was the Green Goblin. He would not get a moment of peace.

“We’re going to have to be supportive for Harry,” said Gwen.

“I know and I will be,” said Peter firmly, his obsession with taking the Green Goblin down had nearly cost him everything but also on the other side of the choice, it was the same obsession that had given him just enough strength.

“We will be,” amended Gwen.

“Right and I’ll talk to you later, see if I can get in touch with Harry,” said Peter.

“Right bye, Peter,” said Gwen.

“Bye, Gwen,” said Peter and seconds later, he tried Harry. Once again, no response and Peter tried to relax, even though it felt like there was a million thoughts going through his mind at the same time.

-

In his secret laboratory in an underwater cave, Otto Octavius, alias Doctor Octopus was in the middle of making plans to gain his revenge on the Kingpin and perhaps Spider-Man as well. It had been months since he had gone under ground to avoid detection and arrest, looking for the proper time to strike. Looking at a flier for Youth Science Camp, a two week event that was sponsored partially by one Wilson Fisk, Octavius began to piece together a plan for his revenge on the Kingpin.

An interesting item that would be on display caught the good doctor’s eye and he carefully made plans to accomplish two goals with one fell


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