Grateful Hero 3: The Legacy of the Goblin

[Alexia Dark]

Peter swung with a graceful, almost hesitent ease toward the bridge where Harry stood. He couldn't believe it had come to this. If he'd had any choice, he wouldn't have come, but he had forced himself to, afraid that ignoring the challenge would result in a public battle that would put more lives at risk.

He saw Harry hover a bit higher as he neared, and Peter tried to read his body language. He looked about ready to pounce, hunching forward a bit with his arms slightly in front of him, but he seemed to relax a little as Peter landed before him.

"You're early," Harry said, almost casually.

"Harry, why has it come to this? What do you want?," Peter asked.

"I want my father here beside me. I want MJ to understand me. I want to be able to close my eyes without ghosts screaming at me. I want my life back," Harry said honestly. "But let's face it. That'll never happen. Maybe once this is all over, I'll finally get some of that back. But until then, I'll be satisfied with letting you burn in hell for what you've done to me."

"Done to you? Harry, I'm your friend-"

"Like hell you are. You've stolen everything from me. You're the reason I'm like this."

"I never tried to hurt you, Harry. I never meant for things to be like this. But ever since that night, you've changed. Can't you see it, Harry? You're not well-"

Peter ws interupted as his spider-sense warned him of Harry's arm moving, but the thought didn't reach his brain fast enough, and Harry's fist slammed into his face. He stumbled, hesitent to fight back. It was a mistake.

"I'm a lot better than you'll be by the time the day is over," Harry said, grabbing Peter's arm and launching the glider upward.

Peter wrenched his arm out of Harry's grip, sticking to the glider. Harry flew toward the opposite end of the bridge, toward Roosevelt Island, and Peter saw with vague amusement the ironic place that Harry was taking him; the abandonned building where he and Norman had fought over two years ago.

Peter detached himself from the glider directly on top of the building, landing on the roof, and Harry circled back around. There was nowhere Peter could go as Harry shot a missile at the base of the building. The missile was made of the same things that the pumpkin bombs were, designed to maximize the dammage without setting fire to the area surrounding the target.

The building collapsed, its roof landing on the ruins, surprisingly intact except for large cracks around the sides. Peter tumbled down as the blast shook under him with the force of a powerful earthquake. Dust flew up around him, clouding his vision, and he couldn't see Harry until it was too late.

Jumping off the glider, Harry kicked Peter in the face as he rose to his knees, knocking him down again. Impatient, Harry yanked him to his feet and head-butted him violently, then followed up with a punch to the face.

"Harry, listen to me," Peter said.

"Shut up!," Harry yelled, backhanding him. Peter stumbled slightly, unable to bring himself to fight back. Harry noticed this hesitation, becoming angry. Doubt began to form in the back of his mind.

"Why won't you fight me!?," he asked loudly.

"Stop this, Harry. I want to help you. I'm your friend-"

"You're a liar! You lied to me for years. About my father-"

"What should I have done, Harry? What would you have done with the truth? Would it have taken away the pain? Or would it have made it worse?"

The Goblin paniced at this truth, and a shot of extreme fury flowed through Harry. He charged at Peter, who attempted to move out of the way too late. Harry's mind was a whirlwind of emotions as he viciously pummeled Peter in the stomach. Peter finally tried to block him, but was unsuccessful, and Harry watched as Peter became increasingly clumsey, wearing down.

He began to fall, and Harry hit him in an upper-cut which sent him flying backward. Peter groaned, struggling to get up. This was far too familiar. Too slow, too weak, too distracted again... Harry walked toward him again, flooded with emotions. It was anger. It was pain. It was madness. It was power.

He kicked Peter in the stomach while he was down, then in the face, and Peter rolled onto his back. Harry stood over him, then lowered himself and began punching him with full force. Peter tried to stop him, but it was no use. He was starting to loose consciousness, and Harry got up, deciding to let Peter recover for a moment while he took out the dagger.

Amazingly, Peter began to lift himself up, breathing heavily, leaning on one hand. Harry grabbed him by the throat and pulled him the rest of the way up, smashing him into a brick pillar that had broken through the roof. Then he raised the dagger and moved to strike. Desperate, Peter grabbed his hand, stopping the blade 2 inches from his neck. Already he could feel himself wearing out. Milimetre by milimetre, Harry pushed forward, and Peter knew it was useless. Any second now, it would be over. Far, far too familiar...

Despite the the hand clamped over his windpipe, Peter struggled to speak.

"I only wanted to help you... whatever voice you hear inside, it's wrong. This isn't you, Harry. If this is your idea of living up to your father's legacy... I only hope that one day, you'll see that... and you'll be free."

Free.

In that moment, something changed. Harry remembered the night when he found out about Peter and his father...

"You swore to make Spider-Man pay? Now make him pay."

"But Pete's my best friend..."

"And I'm your father. You're weak. You were always weak. You'll always be weak until you take control. Now you know the truth about Peter. Be strong, Harry. Avenge me."

"I... can't..."

Avenge me!

No!

"No!," Harry cried, shoving Peter away, shaking his head. Peter crashed into the pillar, and it crumbled. He fell, coughing as he barely caught himself with one hand. Had he gotten through to Harry? He'd turned away, his movements confused. Peter pulled his mask off. When Harry turned back, he braced himself for another attack, but Harry had changed somehow. Looking into Peter's eyes, Harry removed his own mask. He was crying.

"Peter... ," he said, looking like his old self, regret in his eyes.

He reached toward Peter, who visibly flinched. As he recoiled, Peter almost tripped on a peice of debris, and cried out in pain. Harry put a hand on Peter's shoulder gently.

"I'm sorry... Peter, I'm so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing. Well, I did, but... I couldn't stop. I'm sorry... "

Peter closed his eyes, aching as the adreneline slowly left his system.

"You were right. This isn't me. This never wanted this... I can't explain... I'm so sorry," Harry repeated. Peter opened his eyes and saw the regret and concern in Harry's, pleading for understanding.

"It's... okay," Peter said weakly, attempting to step forward. Harry moved to help him, turning to let Peter lean on him, when they both looked up.

A dark figure hovered close to their side of the bridge, watching. And it had someone with them: Mary Jane.

 

[Swordmaster]

F**king awesome

 

[zer00]

****in aye

 

[Alexia Dark]

Stupid slow SHH!

 

[Alexia Dark]

Stupid, stupid slow SHH!

 

[Alexia Dark]

Quadruple-post .

 

[Alexia Dark]

Thanks, guys .

Ok, this next little series of mini-chapters explains how everyone else who will be in the fight got there. Bare with me for the delay...

Oh, and read closely. There will be a few cameos. Myself, Chris (Cconn), and someone else...

 

[zer00]

....okay I got it.

 

[Alexia Dark]

"Number six?," the secretary asked.

Mary Jane looked up as the next girl on the numbered list got up and walked to the door. She was in a movie audition waiting room, bored out of her mind. Peter had asked her to stay in public places where Harry wouldn't expect her to be, and although an audition seemed predictable, given the probability of around 30 auditions occuring at any one time, MJ figured that this was safe enough.

"He's pretty hot," said a black-haired, almost gothic-looking teenage girl to her guy-friend, pointing to a picture in the Daily Bugle.

"For all you know, he's got eight eyes," said the slightly more colorful friend.

MJ fiegned indifference as she began to listen to the conversation.

"Of course he doesn't. If he had eight eyes, why would there be only two eye-peices in his mask?," the gothic one pointed out. The friend shrugged.

"I wonder who will win."

"I really hope that Spidey does. We'll know soon, I think. The fight is supposed to start-"

"What fight?," MJ interupted. The gothic one closed the nawspaper and showed her the front page: 'The Green Goblin Challenges Spider-Man'.

"You haven't heard?," the friend asked. "It's all over the-"

"Hey!," the gothic one protested as MJ snatched the paper out of her hands and opened it.

While the Goblin wouldn't elaborate as to the actual location where the fight is to take place, he told that Spider-Man would: 'The place where his girlfriend almost died'. He has demanded that Spider-Man meet him at the aforementioned site approximately 6:00 tonight.

It was 5:10.

Dropping the paper, MJ hurried out of the building. Dark clouds hovered overhead as she stepped onto the sidewalk. A business man was getting out of a taxi in front of her. MJ rudely squeezed past him into the car.

"I need to get to Queensboro Bridge, now," she said urgently.

"Sure, lady," said the driver, and drove off.

THey were almost a block away from the bridge when when they heard a bomb explode. Cars skidded to a hault, crammed bumper to bumper. Angry citizens got out of their cars, calling the police.

"Go!," MJ said.

"Are you nuts? I can't get through this!," the driver said.

MJ flung open the door, throwing two tenties at the driver, and franticly began to run through the traffic toward the bridge. She looked up, but Peter and Harry were nowhere to be seen. The blast had definitely come from Roosevelt Island. She looked at the traffic, frustrated. She needed to get over there. Whatever was happening, it was bad.

MJ assumed that the explosion had been Harry's doing, and knew that she had to stop the fight before one of them died. But even if she ran across the bridge, it would take far too long. It might even already be too late...

The problem was tragicly solved as MJ turned at the sound of screams and gasps from those behind her.

The Green Goblin hovered for a moment, watching as Harry angrily punched Peter in the ribs repeatedly. Norman knew he should have expected interference from Harry, but he hadn't counted on him being early and fighting Peter already. Then, looking down at the bridge, he spotted the red-haired girl, Mary-Jane, in the middle of the traffic, and got an idea.

Surely, the presense of the woman they loved would stop them from fighting until Norman could convince Harry to let him kill Peter. He swooped down as she turned and grabbed her by the throat. He was amused as she let out a short scream, but otherwise just glared at him with defiant eyes as they flew toward the ruins of the abandoned building.

 

[SpideyLad]

Mag-****ing-nificent

 

[Alexia Dark]

Devon swore as a bomb exploded, and he was forced to stop a few blocks away from the bridge. What had happened? The fight wasn't supposed to start for another 20 minutes, and terrorists wouldn't have attacked Roosevelt Island.

Confused and furious, Devon got out of his car just in time to see the Green Goblin swoop down and grab a girl off the end of the bridge and fly toward toward where the explosion had happened.

"Son of a *****," Devon said.

He had to get over to Roosevelt Island, fast. He saw a young man on a motorcycle, and pulled out his gun, aiming at him.

"I need your bike," Devon demanded.

"What the hell, man?," the guy said, getting off the bike.

Not even bothering to take the guy's helmut, Devon mounted the bike and revved the engine, driving back around the brdige to the pedestrian walkway. There was no way he would lose his chance to kill the bastard who had ruined so many lives. He sped down the bridge toward the other end, and his destiny.

**********

Alexia cursed her luck as she landed on building overlooking the bridge, watching as the Green Goblin kidnapped MJ yet again. She was confused, realizing that he couldn't have caused the blast; he was too far away. Then she noticed that his costume was different than the one she remembered.

If he hadn't caused the explosion, who had? Where was Peter? The Goblin took off toward Rosevelt Island where the explosion had been, and Alexia knew she had no choice but to follow.

Then she heard yells of protest below, and saw something that caused her to panic: Devon was riding a motorcycle illegally down ther pedestrian walkway on the bridge, following the Goblin.

"Help!," someone called.

Alexia looked toward the voice and saw that two cars near the beginning of the bridge had fish-tailed into each other. Reluctantly, Alexia leaped down into the street to see what was happening. Of all of Peter's attributes that had rubbed off on her, why did selfless responsibility have to be one of them?

She estimated that it would take Devon at least a few minutes to get to the other side and find the Goblin, and whatever problem was happening here, it couldn't take much time. She decided to help.

The woman by the cars looked relieved when she saw Alexia coming toward her.

"My daughter's stuck in the back, and her seatbelt is jammed," she explained.

Alexia looked in and saw the frightened girl, then reached in. Finding the seat buckle, she tugged sharply on it, and it broke. She lifted the girl out of the car and set her down. But as the mother went to her, she stepped in something: a puddle of oil that had leaked from the other car.

Alexia looked around hurriedly. With this kind of traffic jam, if the car exploded, it could cause a chain reaction along the entire bridge. She prayed to every God she could think of that she could reach Devon in time after this, and climbed on top of the car.

"Everybody, off the bridge!," she yelled.

A few people backed up, but most just looked at her, unmoving. The owner of the other car, a med student about her age, said, "Why should we listen to you? Go get a job, you stupid-"

A mouthful of webbing abruptly shut her up. There was no time to explain the situation. Alexia had to do two things; save these people from getting themselves blown up, and get to Devon. Time was a luxury she did not have.

Her spider-sense began to vibrate slightly as she he walked over to the girl, and impatiantly lifted up the car. The people stared as she held it over her head a moment, then tossed it over the side of the bridge. It exploded just as it hit the water. Alexia turned toward the people.

"Get off. The ****ing. Bridge!," she repeated, and this time, they ran.

 

[Alexia Dark]

Pay close attention to the following:

Green Goblin: Take this, Batman!

 

[CConn]

With every chapter I can't wait to read the next.

...and I wanna know what Batman means.

 

[zer00]

...and I wanna know what Batman means.

It means a special time between a boy and his rifle

 

[JLBats]

Damn Alexia, I'm jealous of your writing skills.

 

[Alexia Dark]

Damn Alexia, I'm jealous of your writing skills.

Thanks .

More to come soon...

 

[Alexia Dark]

Harry stared up at his father, astounded at seeing him as he was, holding MJ almost at arm's length beside him. Peter was frantic at the sight, remembering all too well a similar situation. His heart raced as their eyes met through the darkness, but even the sight of her could not give Peter enough strength to have any sort of confidence; he knew he was too injured to fight. He had no idea what to do. He waited for Harry.

"Dad? Why did you bring her here?," Harry asked, confused. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Really?," Norman replied.

He flew the glider toward the roof and landed in front of them, then stepped off the glider, all but dragging MJ with him.

"Isn't she the reason all of this happened? Isn't she the one you love?," he continued.

Harry looked at Peter, who was looking at MJ, and Harry could see the love in their eyes.

"Yeah," Harry admitted. "But she doesn't love me. I've accepted that. Why do you keep trying to hurt her? What did she do to you?"

"You don't remember? She hurt you. That day when you saw them together. I said that I would make it up to you, how I'd failed as a father... "

"So you tried to kill her? Dad, what were you thinking?! Are you crazy?!," Harry said, getting angry.

"Depends on your point of view," Norman said, and the startling reality began to settle in for Harry.

"Let her go, Dad."

Norman hesitated, and the Goblin refused.

"Forget about her. Come back to me, Harry."

Harry saw the hesitation in his father's eyes, and something occured to him.

"You have it too, don't you? The voice... it tells you what to do, doesn't it? You can beat it, Dad."

"No. Why would I want to? Listen to me, Harry. You don't have to settle for this life anymore. You don't have to accept failure or rejection. You deserve so much more than that," Norman said, comforting.

For a moment, Harry almost thought that if his father hadn't been wearing the mask, he would have truely believed what he was saying.

"Come back to me, Harry. We may not have had the best relationship, but we're still family. You can't let anyone get in the way of that. Isn't that what you want, Harry? To be part of a family again? It can happen."

Harry wanted to believe so much, but it had to be a trap of some sort, didn't it? Nothing the Goblin did had ever been with good intentions. Norman looked at Harry purposefully.

"But there's something that has to be done first. Step aside, son."

A rush of adreneline filled Peter, who had remained silent, afraid that interupting would hurt MJ. He knew that he was still too weak to fight, not even sure if he was capable of walking on his own. Carefully, he stepped back. Harry looked at him, then back at his father.

"No. Let Mary-Jane go," he said.

"As soon as I've taken care of Peter. When he's gone, we can-"

"No. Peter's my friend. I won't let you hurt him," Harry said firmly. The Goblin became impatient.

"Out of my way, boy. He has to pay for what he's done."

"And what's that? Trying to stop you from killing innocent people? Trying to help me when I was going nuts? Leave him alone, Dad. He doesn't deserve this," Harry responded, stepping in front of Peter.

Harry could swear that just for a second, he could see the pain in his father's eyes behind the mask. Then Norman shoved Harry to the side, out of the way.

"Peter," MJ cried, short of breath.

Norman tossed her toward him. She fell, and Peter fell with her. He reached out and clasped his hand over hers. Norman lifted an arm up, and a series of 4-inch long spikes sprang up out of the armor on his forearm. They curved slighlt to the right, deisnged for climbing and blocking. They could also easily cut and shred flesh.

He reached down and yanked Peter up, forcing him to let go of Mary Jane's hand. His gaze remained on MJ, and he said a silent goodbye. He hoped that at least, Norman might leave MJ alone. Norman raised his arm, preparing to strike.

"Dad, no!," Harry dried, flinging himself in front of Peter.

He knew that he was too late. As the arm swung downward, he knew that he had made the right decision. Peter deserved to live far more than he did. He stumbled a little as the blades pierced his chest in a diagonal line. Three of the spikes had sunk all the way in, and the tip of the second had pierced his heart. He could feel the blood flowing out of him.

Norman stared in shock for a moment, then snapped the blades back into his armor. Harry fell, coughing on his own blood. Peter knelt beside him, as did MJ. Norman looked away, almost unbelieving, trying not to see what he had just done. Peter put a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry looked at him.

"Why?," was all that Peter could think of to say. Harry smiled weakly.

"What else could I do? You're my best friend," he replied.

He looked at MJ, the blood beginning to spread to the roof beneath him. Then he coughed, and closed his eyes. He was gone.

Everything was silent for a moment, and Norman finally looked at his son. He was dead. Dead because he had protected Peter. He hadn't even been able to say goodbye. Norman shook, filling with rage.

"You did this!," he yelled, pointing at Peter, beginning to weep. "If only you had died when you were supposed to! Oh... Harry... "

Peter stood warily. He knew that there was nothing he could say that the Goblin wouldn't call a lie.

"If it weren't for you, he'd still be alive. You're going to burn in hell for this!"

The blades snapped out again, and he dove at Peter. They both landed a few feet behind Harry, and cold terror filed Peter as the blades rose again.

"Send my love to Harry," Norman asked sadly, and pressed the blades to Peter's neck. Peter closed his eyes, bracing himself for the pain.

"Ahh!," Norman cried, confused, as he found himself flying backwards, landing hard on his back.

Peter opened his eyes, looking past Norman to the person who had just saved his life: Alexia.

 

[zer00]

Encore and so forth.

 

[SpideyLad]

....................

Totally......Awesome!

This is great, as is your writing!!!!!!!!

 

[htbthomas]

I read the first part of this story at FFN, but was happy to find the continuation of it here! Great job!

 

[Alexia Dark]

I thought your username looked familiar! Thanks. I'm just far too lazy to update everything at the same time, so you never know when my stories will be up...

 

[pyras]

Alexia, I want to say that not only are you an wesome writer, but you can analyaze this well too. I only read some of this, and I've got to tell ou that you've captured the characters very well, especially Harry! I give kudos both to you and to this fanfic, no, piece of art!

 

[Alexia Dark]

Alexia dropped the webline that she had used to yank Norman back, and they all looked at her. She glared at Norman with disgust and anger, and Peter suddenly realized how glad he was that she was on his side.

MJ crawled over to him, putting a hand on his cheek, comforting. He began to lift himself up as Norman stood, fury in his eyes as he looked at Alexia. Alexia felt slightly sick as she stole a glance at Harry, lifeless and bleeding. How ignorant Norman had been, that he had killed his own son because he was so obsessed with revenge.

"What are you doing here?," Norman demanded.

He'd heard of her, of course, but because she'd had so little public interaction with Peter in costume, he'd had no reason to think that she would be here.

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be dead," Alexia said, almost amused. She'd already dealt with the surprise, and knew confusion would be useless.

"I was," he replied emotionlessly, then turned toward Peter.

"Don't even think about it," Alexia hissed, ready to jump between them.

"What are you going to do about it?," Norman said in a tone that would have caused most people to shiver.

"Whatever I have to, to stop a psychopath like you," she replied coldly.

With that, Norman laughed menacingly, then charged at her suddenly. Alexia could hear the whistle of the blades missing as she dodged under his arm, turning and elbowing him in the stomach, then stepped back outward and kicked him. He stumbled and struck with the blades again, just missing her throat, then circled around her.

Angered by the second attempt to kill her, Alexia slugged him in the face with full force, causing an eye-peice to shatter and the metal structure of the right side of the mask to collapse inward. Norman cried our in frustration at this annoyance, leaving him barely able to see, and tore the mask off. Alexia thought dryly that the face beneath wasn't much of an improvement from the mask.

Norman threw the battered mask at her, distracting her just long enough that he managed to kick her in the stomach. Grunting in pain, she failed to dodge a blow that caught her on the mouth. She rubbed her hand over the place where he had hit her, furious at the bit of blood she had wiped off.

She did a backward hand-spring to gain distance, but Norman easily caught up to her. They glared at each other a moment, then both of them moved to strike. They stopped just before attacking as both of them heard the distinct click of the safety being taken off a gun.

 

[zer00]

Bravo

 

[SpideyLad]

An update.....At last!!!!!!!!!!

Excellent work, once again