New York, Monday evening
It had been a painfully slow day for Peter Parker. He woke up around noon, had some food, called Mary and May with updated instructions, and did a couple patrols through the neighborhood since knew that Osborn would come for him eventually. It was best for him to stay near his home because of that.
After eating some dinner, he realized there was a suspicious van outside. He walked out to it and had a nice chat with the SHIELD agents who were killing some time while on surveillance duty to protect him. When he stepped back into the house, his spider-sense told him that his hunch was right.
Peter stepped into the living room. Norman Osborn - in his human form - was sitting there, wearing a bedsheet as a toga. "Peter," he greeted. "That was a cute display back there in the city. You were trying to get me to attack you, right?"
"There are agents of SHIELD right outside this house," Peter said, doing his best to stay calm and not rip this psycho's head off right now.
"And as long as I don't use my powers, they'll stay there. But if you want me to kill them by bringing them in here, by all means, run outside and go get them."
Peter knew he was serious. "What do you want?"
"Sorry, I borrowed one of your aunt's bed sheets. Nothing you had in the house fit me."
"What. do. you. want?"
Osborn's smug look turned serious. "I want the life that I had back. I want my money. I want my son. And I'll gladly destroy Nick Fury and anyone else I can to do it."
"Well, Mister Bad Timing, Nick Fury ain't around anymore," Peter said. "Hence the fact that he hasn't disintegrated you."
"Yes, I have noticed that," Osborn said. "Where is he?"
"What do you want from me?" Peter asked. He could ignore questions too.
"Boy, you are the only proof left on the entire planet Earth that I am a genius. You're my legacy. You're my proof that I belong in the world," Osborn said.
"I was an accident!" Peter yelled.
"So was penicillin."
"You created you. That's what you created. What you did to Harry! What you did to all of my clones!" Peter yelled.
"Yes, but I'm a monster. You're a hero," Osborn said. "You're my greatest work. You're what I'll be remembered for. Especially now that you're unique again. I feel at this point, now that I've done my part and buried Fury in the press... If you, one of the great heroes of New York step forward and tell the world that I created you... If the world sees I created you and that, given the chance, I could create more... All else is forgiven."
"YOU'RE! A! MURDERER!" Peter screamed.
"After World War II, this country gladly, GLADLY, took in Nazi scientist after Nazi scientist who did things fifty thousand times worse than anything I could ever imagine," Osborn said rationally.
"Including destroying your own son," Peter said flatly.
"I was trying to protect him."
"Yeah? Good job," Peter retorted. "Listen, slappy, I'm not going to help you. You're so crazy that 'crazy' isn't even a sufficient word to describe it. I think we need to invent a new word just for you."
"I have nothing to lose, Peter," Osborn said. "You do. You have so much to lose."
"See," Peter said. "That's the kind of talk that bums everyone out about you, sunshine. And you're so threatening in a toga.
"I'm not threatening you."
"And I'm not scared of you."
The faceoff was interrupted by a knock and a note slipped under the door. "Turn on CNN," Peter read. He followed the instructions and was stunned by what he saw.
Director Danvers was at the Triskelion, standing next to Harry Osborn, Peter's friend, Norman's son. And Harry was reading a statement.
Harry: I wanted to speak to all of you. This was my idea. It's important for the people of this city to know the truth. My father is a - a liar. My father is a sick, sick man. Deluded. Um, and I know he's telling you people stories and stuff. But he, uh... He killed my mom. I have to take these medicines now just to keep from changing. He... he turned me into a monster. A goblin thing, just like him. He hurt me. He killed my mom. He's... He's a monster.
Osborn's rage was swift. He transformed into the Goblin and knocked Peter out with a sucker punch before trashing the place with his exit.
Once he came to, Peter changed into his costume and was on his way to the Triskelion.
Spider-Man noticed three issues when he arrived. First, Osborn had beaten him here and there were what sounded like very loud punches connecting as well as inhuman grunting. That meant the Goblin wasn't the only bruiser in the fight. Spider-Man feared that this meant the Goblin crap had taken Harry over again, turning him into a big orange monster.
Second, the fighty noises were coming from SHIELD's shiny new Helicarrier, which was a giant boat that hovered in the air. Because the only thing that made a fight like this even more dangerous was by putting it on a hovering platform fifty stories up.
Third, it was raining. Rain was bad for fight karma.
Spider-Man swung up to the deck of the Helicarrier just in time to see Harry - as the monstrous orange Hobgoblin he was last time Peter saw him - taking a punch from Norman. "Very disappointed in you, boy!" Spider-Man heard Norman yell. Norman had cocked his arm for another punch when a SHIELD agent yelled "LOOK!"
Norman looked.
Norman got two fists in his face from a guy who had a lot of momentum from swinging up to a giant floating battleship. He was dazed enough that Spider-Man was able to jump on his back and apply a classic wrestling sleeperhold. "I'm not letting go, Norman! Just go night night because I'm going to let-- AAGGH!" Spider-Man's badass moment was interrupted by the fact that Norman had managed to set his back on fire, which in turn set Spider-Man on fire. He let go and dropped to the ground, rolling to put the flames out. "I didn't know you could do that."
"STOP!" Harry yelled, decking Norman from behind to buy Spider-Man a chance to recover. Norman punched Harry hard in the chest, knocking him down.
Seeing how poorly this was all going, Danvers gave the order to fire at will. Lasers and rockets flew past a leaping Spider-Man, hitting Norman square in the chest and launching him across the deck with a massive explosion.
Peter took a moment to check in on his old friend. "Harry?"
"Heeeyy, Pete," Harry gasped in his gravelly Hobgoblin voice.
"Are you okay?"
Harry tried getting to his feet. "Nnnnnoot really."
Norman bellowed as he collected himself and started to walk out of the inferno on the deck where he had landed. He leaped into the air and shot a massive blast of fire at the collected SHIELD agents. As the agents scrambled, Norman began shooting more flames, adding even more agents to his body count.
"Man," Spider-Man yelled, webbing Norman's face to buy a few seconds. "You really have a way with people, don't you?" He started jumping around, smothering some of the flames with webbing. "You are all kinds of crazy! You're crazy plus! You're twenty-first century crazy! You're new, improved crazy! You're award-worthy crazy! In fact," he said, turning his attention to webbing Norman again," c'mere and get your crazy award."
The webline hit Norman on the arm, which he used to yank Spider-Man towards him. "But don't use this acceptance speech time to get political," Spider-Man quipped as he angled himself to punch Norman repeatedly when he was pulled in close enough. "That would just be tacky!"
His spider-sense - which was in overdrive to begin with - started blaring. It took him a second to realize that a SHIELD agent had taken Norman's distraction at being punched as an opportunity to fire another rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket was on them in that second. Spider-Man managed to dodge, but the force of the explosion sent him over the edge of the Helicarrier.
He heard Harry yell "nooo!" He heard the sounds of gunshots and punches being thrown. He managed to snag the Helicarrier with a webline and climbed as quickly as he could back to the deck. "I'M YOUR FATHER HAROLD!" he heard before the sound of Harry's screams.
There was more punching. "THIS IS HOW YOU HONOR ME!" The punches sounded like small explosions. "THIS!!??" Peter was almost to the deck when he heard a terrifying crunch and then silence.
Peter got his hands on the deck and hesitated as he took in the scene. Harry had transformed back into his human form and was covered in blood. He wasn't moving. The Goblin stood still above Harry's body, his back to Director Danvers. Norman reverted back to his human form, hung his head, and didn't move as Danvers shot him at point-blank range. It looked like Norman was horrified by his killing of Harry and requested death as punishment.
Peter came the rest of the way onto the deck and rushed over to Harry's body. It was surreal. Harry's blood was everywhere, but it was diluted by the rain. As Peter held the body of one of the few people who was decent to him throughout his youth, he was surrounded by the armed men and women who had completely failed to help him. And this wouldn't have happened if one of them hadn't blasted him off the Helicarrier. Tears ran down Peter's face as it fully sank in that he had lost yet another friend to the insane legacy of the accident that gave him his powers. He needed a moment of silence or he might break down.
"I'm truly sorry," Danvers said, interrupting that moment. Peter put Harry back down and rushed over to grab Danvers by her armor, his fingers digging into the metal. "Hey! I didn't do this!"
"My friend is dead!" Peter yelled. His spider-sense was telling him that he had a couple dozen guns pointed at him. That was one of the few reasons why he only pushed Danvers back instead of punching her. "You stay away from me. You get me? You're not Fury and I don't know you. From here on out, you stay the hell away from me!"
He walked down the length of the Helicarrier, staring at his feet. He was going to go home, call May and Mary Jane to let them know it was safe to come back, then cry for a few days. He just wasn't sure how much more he could take.
[OOC: NFI, NFB, OOC OK, etc. Blatantly stolen from Ultimate Spider-Man 116 and 117. Fortunately, I'm now out of things to steal!
Just as a warning, there is serious violence and both on-screen and implied death in this post. Also, stylized images in icon form featuring destruction, dead people and a fair amount of blood, so this probably isn't work safe.]
After eating some dinner, he realized there was a suspicious van outside. He walked out to it and had a nice chat with the SHIELD agents who were killing some time while on surveillance duty to protect him. When he stepped back into the house, his spider-sense told him that his hunch was right.
Peter stepped into the living room. Norman Osborn - in his human form - was sitting there, wearing a bedsheet as a toga. "Peter," he greeted. "That was a cute display back there in the city. You were trying to get me to attack you, right?"
"There are agents of SHIELD right outside this house," Peter said, doing his best to stay calm and not rip this psycho's head off right now.
"And as long as I don't use my powers, they'll stay there. But if you want me to kill them by bringing them in here, by all means, run outside and go get them."
Peter knew he was serious. "What do you want?"
"Sorry, I borrowed one of your aunt's bed sheets. Nothing you had in the house fit me."
"What. do. you. want?"
Osborn's smug look turned serious. "I want the life that I had back. I want my money. I want my son. And I'll gladly destroy Nick Fury and anyone else I can to do it."
"Well, Mister Bad Timing, Nick Fury ain't around anymore," Peter said. "Hence the fact that he hasn't disintegrated you."
"Yes, I have noticed that," Osborn said. "Where is he?"
"What do you want from me?" Peter asked. He could ignore questions too.
"Boy, you are the only proof left on the entire planet Earth that I am a genius. You're my legacy. You're my proof that I belong in the world," Osborn said.
"I was an accident!" Peter yelled.
"So was penicillin."
"You created you. That's what you created. What you did to Harry! What you did to all of my clones!" Peter yelled.
"Yes, but I'm a monster. You're a hero," Osborn said. "You're my greatest work. You're what I'll be remembered for. Especially now that you're unique again. I feel at this point, now that I've done my part and buried Fury in the press... If you, one of the great heroes of New York step forward and tell the world that I created you... If the world sees I created you and that, given the chance, I could create more... All else is forgiven."
"YOU'RE! A! MURDERER!" Peter screamed.
"After World War II, this country gladly, GLADLY, took in Nazi scientist after Nazi scientist who did things fifty thousand times worse than anything I could ever imagine," Osborn said rationally.
"Including destroying your own son," Peter said flatly.
"I was trying to protect him."
"Yeah? Good job," Peter retorted. "Listen, slappy, I'm not going to help you. You're so crazy that 'crazy' isn't even a sufficient word to describe it. I think we need to invent a new word just for you."
"I have nothing to lose, Peter," Osborn said. "You do. You have so much to lose."
"See," Peter said. "That's the kind of talk that bums everyone out about you, sunshine. And you're so threatening in a toga.
"I'm not threatening you."
"And I'm not scared of you."
The faceoff was interrupted by a knock and a note slipped under the door. "Turn on CNN," Peter read. He followed the instructions and was stunned by what he saw.
Director Danvers was at the Triskelion, standing next to Harry Osborn, Peter's friend, Norman's son. And Harry was reading a statement.
Harry: I wanted to speak to all of you. This was my idea. It's important for the people of this city to know the truth. My father is a - a liar. My father is a sick, sick man. Deluded. Um, and I know he's telling you people stories and stuff. But he, uh... He killed my mom. I have to take these medicines now just to keep from changing. He... he turned me into a monster. A goblin thing, just like him. He hurt me. He killed my mom. He's... He's a monster.
Osborn's rage was swift. He transformed into the Goblin and knocked Peter out with a sucker punch before trashing the place with his exit.
Once he came to, Peter changed into his costume and was on his way to the Triskelion.
Spider-Man noticed three issues when he arrived. First, Osborn had beaten him here and there were what sounded like very loud punches connecting as well as inhuman grunting. That meant the Goblin wasn't the only bruiser in the fight. Spider-Man feared that this meant the Goblin crap had taken Harry over again, turning him into a big orange monster.
Second, the fighty noises were coming from SHIELD's shiny new Helicarrier, which was a giant boat that hovered in the air. Because the only thing that made a fight like this even more dangerous was by putting it on a hovering platform fifty stories up.
Third, it was raining. Rain was bad for fight karma.
Spider-Man swung up to the deck of the Helicarrier just in time to see Harry - as the monstrous orange Hobgoblin he was last time Peter saw him - taking a punch from Norman. "Very disappointed in you, boy!" Spider-Man heard Norman yell. Norman had cocked his arm for another punch when a SHIELD agent yelled "LOOK!"
Norman looked.
Norman got two fists in his face from a guy who had a lot of momentum from swinging up to a giant floating battleship. He was dazed enough that Spider-Man was able to jump on his back and apply a classic wrestling sleeperhold. "I'm not letting go, Norman! Just go night night because I'm going to let-- AAGGH!" Spider-Man's badass moment was interrupted by the fact that Norman had managed to set his back on fire, which in turn set Spider-Man on fire. He let go and dropped to the ground, rolling to put the flames out. "I didn't know you could do that."
"STOP!" Harry yelled, decking Norman from behind to buy Spider-Man a chance to recover. Norman punched Harry hard in the chest, knocking him down.
Seeing how poorly this was all going, Danvers gave the order to fire at will. Lasers and rockets flew past a leaping Spider-Man, hitting Norman square in the chest and launching him across the deck with a massive explosion.
Peter took a moment to check in on his old friend. "Harry?"
"Heeeyy, Pete," Harry gasped in his gravelly Hobgoblin voice.
"Are you okay?"
Harry tried getting to his feet. "Nnnnnoot really."
Norman bellowed as he collected himself and started to walk out of the inferno on the deck where he had landed. He leaped into the air and shot a massive blast of fire at the collected SHIELD agents. As the agents scrambled, Norman began shooting more flames, adding even more agents to his body count.
"Man," Spider-Man yelled, webbing Norman's face to buy a few seconds. "You really have a way with people, don't you?" He started jumping around, smothering some of the flames with webbing. "You are all kinds of crazy! You're crazy plus! You're twenty-first century crazy! You're new, improved crazy! You're award-worthy crazy! In fact," he said, turning his attention to webbing Norman again," c'mere and get your crazy award."
The webline hit Norman on the arm, which he used to yank Spider-Man towards him. "But don't use this acceptance speech time to get political," Spider-Man quipped as he angled himself to punch Norman repeatedly when he was pulled in close enough. "That would just be tacky!"
His spider-sense - which was in overdrive to begin with - started blaring. It took him a second to realize that a SHIELD agent had taken Norman's distraction at being punched as an opportunity to fire another rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket was on them in that second. Spider-Man managed to dodge, but the force of the explosion sent him over the edge of the Helicarrier.
He heard Harry yell "nooo!" He heard the sounds of gunshots and punches being thrown. He managed to snag the Helicarrier with a webline and climbed as quickly as he could back to the deck. "I'M YOUR FATHER HAROLD!" he heard before the sound of Harry's screams.
There was more punching. "THIS IS HOW YOU HONOR ME!" The punches sounded like small explosions. "THIS!!??" Peter was almost to the deck when he heard a terrifying crunch and then silence.
Peter got his hands on the deck and hesitated as he took in the scene. Harry had transformed back into his human form and was covered in blood. He wasn't moving. The Goblin stood still above Harry's body, his back to Director Danvers. Norman reverted back to his human form, hung his head, and didn't move as Danvers shot him at point-blank range. It looked like Norman was horrified by his killing of Harry and requested death as punishment.
Peter came the rest of the way onto the deck and rushed over to Harry's body. It was surreal. Harry's blood was everywhere, but it was diluted by the rain. As Peter held the body of one of the few people who was decent to him throughout his youth, he was surrounded by the armed men and women who had completely failed to help him. And this wouldn't have happened if one of them hadn't blasted him off the Helicarrier. Tears ran down Peter's face as it fully sank in that he had lost yet another friend to the insane legacy of the accident that gave him his powers. He needed a moment of silence or he might break down.
"I'm truly sorry," Danvers said, interrupting that moment. Peter put Harry back down and rushed over to grab Danvers by her armor, his fingers digging into the metal. "Hey! I didn't do this!"
"My friend is dead!" Peter yelled. His spider-sense was telling him that he had a couple dozen guns pointed at him. That was one of the few reasons why he only pushed Danvers back instead of punching her. "You stay away from me. You get me? You're not Fury and I don't know you. From here on out, you stay the hell away from me!"
He walked down the length of the Helicarrier, staring at his feet. He was going to go home, call May and Mary Jane to let them know it was safe to come back, then cry for a few days. He just wasn't sure how much more he could take.
[OOC: NFI, NFB, OOC OK, etc. Blatantly stolen from Ultimate Spider-Man 116 and 117. Fortunately, I'm now out of things to steal!
Just as a warning, there is serious violence and both on-screen and implied death in this post. Also, stylized images in icon form featuring destruction, dead people and a fair amount of blood, so this probably isn't work safe.]