The story which follows is a crossover between the movie Alpha and Omega and the Green Goblin comic book series which ran from 1995 to 1996. As most people reading this will probably be A&O fans, and since this incarnation of the Green Goblin is pretty obscure anyway, I thought I'd start off with a basic introduction to the character.

Most people will probably know the Green Goblin as Spider-Man's diabolical arch-nemesis. The Green Goblin series completely shook this up by having happy-go-lucky college dropout Philip Urich stumble upon the Goblin's secret hideout and assume the Goblin identity. The character stood out from his predecessors in that he chose to act as a super hero instead of a villain. He was naturally shy and insecure, though possessed with a strong sense of humor, and his Goblin was prone to foolish and embarrassing missteps – yet somehow always managed (with a few exceptions) to outthink and outfight his foes. Though he was moderately successful as a super hero, Philip lost his powers in a climatic final battle at the end of the series and decided to return to college and move on with his life.

Various Marvel comics have already shown Philip readopting some version of the Goblin identity as both a hero and a villain. But this story takes place right after he quits being the heroic Goblin at the end of the comic series, so I am not getting into those. In the comic series, Philip narrated the stories from the first person, so everything from his perspective will be first person point-of-view. To avoid confusion, everyone else's perspective is written in third person.

And finally – I neither own nor claim copyright over these characters (except the few of my own creation), or the original stories. All others are property of Marvel, Lionsgate, Disney, etc., etc. Now, on with the story:

The Wolves of "Alpha and Omega"

meet

The Green Goblin

in

Only Wolves and Madmen

"If you find a man by himself alone in nature, he must either be a devil or a saint."

- Aristotle, Poetics

A bright new sun shined over the early morning mists of Jasper Park. It was another beautiful day in the midst of one of Canada's foremost nature preserves. Kate stretched herself out as she walked into the warm rays of the sun. The long, slender she-wolf with golden-brown fur and a short brown mane smiled as the early morning wind hit her face. Not long after her came Humphrey, her mate. He was a lanky, gangly wolf, white and grey, with icy blue eyes. He tugged on Kate's ear playfully. She smiled at him and pulled it away, equally playfully.

"So, what should we do today, Kate?" Humphrey asked.

"Humphrey, you know Garth and I have to lead the hunt today," Kate said. "But maybe later we can do something… special."

"Hey, I'm all for that, but I don't know why we have to wait." He nuzzled Kate's neck. "I mean, I think Garth would agree. He wouldn't want to leave Lilly on any account!"

"You're right," Garth said, coming up behind them with Lilly beside him. He was a red wolf with certain cream markings, tall and muscular and proud, his green eyes with a haughty, almost arrogant look. She stood beside him, a white little thing with hair falling down over one of her large purple eyes. She smiled and laughed a little as she blew it away.

Garth continued, "But I have to go. We all need food. That is ultimately more important to the pack then my personal happiness."

"Oh, and aren't you going to ask your future mate about that?" Humphrey joked. "I think she might be upset."

"I'm fine with it," Lilly said, sounding slightly upset, "as long as it's for the good of the pack. I'm fine, really."

"It was a joke."

"Oh."

"We're Omegas, that's what we do."

"I know, I was just… distracted."

Humphrey shrugged. Kate nodded to Garth. "We had better get going if we want to lead the hunt. We don't want the Betas to leave without us, do we?"

"Hardly!" And they both took off down the mountain.

Humphrey and Lilly watched them go. "So, what do you want to do today?" Lilly asked.

"I don't know," Humphrey replied. "How about we go eat some of those bitter berries?'

Lilly smiled, though with a trace of sadness. "Okay, bitter berries…"

Ah man! I can't believe the camper broke down! Now how are we ever supposed to get out of this – what is it, wilderness? I really don't know. Oh, but Jenny's got everything under control. Good ol' take-charge Jenny. In many ways, she's the girl of my dreams; tall, attractive, long red hair, large clear eyes. She's got everything. I came up here to get away from everything after me and Merry broke up, but it seems like no matter how I try to get away from the love-bug, it always manages to find me again. Well, no need to be worried there. Jenny's definitely an out-doorsy type, someone who likes her men rough and rugged. Unfortunately I'm none of those things.

Y'see, I'm just plain old Philip Benjamin Urich,, a straight-up Mister Average with nothing special or remarkable about him at all. Well, except that, for a while, I was the Green Goblin.

Yeah, the Green Goblin. You know, that kelly-colored maniac you always read about in the Daily Bugle giving Spider-Man a hard time? Except, I was different. I was, like, a super hero instead of a super psycho. But that didn't go down too well, so here I am, regular ol' Philip Urich again. Yeah, just another guy with absolutely no clue about how to survive in the outdoors…

How I wish I had my powers now! This hiking is going to be killer on my legs. Oh well, nothing I can do about it. Mind as well mosey on over and pretend to be doing something useful.

I pick up my dark green duffle-bag, army sort, as I pass the end of the camper. I pick it up and almost collapse from the weight. Funny, this stuff never seemed so heavy before! I look inside to make sure nothing's amiss. No, it's all there. My Goblin gear, the costume with the busted-out mask, the exploding pumpkins, the razor bats, and those gas-ghost things. Man, I don't know why I even kept this. I clearly remember taking it all down to the street and throwing it in the nearest trash can. I swore to myself that it was time to put my toys away and be a real man. So I walked out of there and left it all behind me just like that. And then… I just had to run back and pull it all out again! Not that I've ever been able to find another use for it but, you know, just in case. But now is one time when I wish that I hadn't. I lug the heavy thing over to where Jenny is, trying desperately to fix the car's engine. I love a girl who's good with fixing things. Kinda wish I was. Good at fixing things, I mean, not a girl.

Jenny picks her head up from under the hood and studies me. "I see you've already got the general idea," she says. "There's no way I can fix this. We're going to have to walk somewhere and get help. Though I'm sure you can leave that heavy bag behind. I don't think anybody's going to take it. What do you even keep in there anyway?"

I clam up. "Stuff…" I mumble. Dork! "I keep all my camping stuff in here. I really wouldn't feel very good about leaving it all alone out here. It might be useful if we can't find any towns." Yeah, right!

But Jenny seems to get it. She nods and dashes around the side of the car. Soon she's back, with her (much smaller) bag under her shoulder. Without saying another word to me, she goes off in a random direction and I have to run after her to keep up. Don't get me wrong, she wasn't jogging or anything, but she takes such big footsteps. Anyway, she's darting from here to there and everywhere, behind this tree and that, like she must really be getting into this or something. Yeah, or something.

Me? Well, not so much. I try to keep up as best I can, but with each twist and turn I manage to fall much farther behind. Before I know it, I've lost sight of her completely.

"Jenny!" I call out. "Jenny, where are you?"

No answer.

So what the heck am I supposed to do now?

Kate and Garth were leading the pack, chasing down a large herd of caribou. One seemed to fall behind the rest and was soon isolated. Kate seized the opportunity and leapt into the air, coming down hard on this creature. Suddenly, however, she herself was knocked down. Jumping to her feet, she growled fiercely as she looked for the culprit.

It was someone she did not recognize. A small wolf, though evidently not without power, was biting at the caribou. He looked completely undernourished, but that must have been deceptive, for he had kept up his strength. But not enough to prevent Kate from knocking him to the ground as she reclaimed her place over the caribou.

This sickly-pale furred wolf growled, showing off his very sharp and rigid fangs. "Back off, sister," he said. "This here meat's ours."

"Yours?" she responded. "Sorry, but we're the ones who caught it. It's ours!"

"You gonna make something of it?"

"If you won't let us take what's rightfully ours, then yeah."

The small wolf smiled. "Then who's to say what's rightfully yours? I got a few friends here who would beg to disagree."

Out of the shadows stepped two more wolves. One was black and of average build, though slightly on the muscular side. He had an arrogant smile. No trouble there, but the other was much more disconcerting. He was a brown and seemed not so much a wolf as a boar, for so large and savage was he. Even his mane and fur bristled like that of the boar and the fire of the boar was in his eyes.

Garth stepped forward. "Look, I don't know who you people are, but we aren't looking for trouble. Just let us take our meat and we can all leave in one piece."

"I'll show you leaving in one piece!" shouted the boar. He then charged at Garth. Even the Alpha's firm strength could not prevent him from being thrown to the ground. Kate instinctively rushed to aid against the foe but she soon fell beside Garth.

"The only way you two are leaving in one piece is in coffins!" the big wolf grunted, prompting laughter from his companions.

I don't know how long I've been walking. It feels like hours have passed. I look at my watch to check. What? Only thirty minutes? Whatever, I never much trusted this one, anyway. But I keep going, calling out for Jenny. Like with most of my life, I get nowhere. Finally, I decide to resign myself to despair, at least until this pain in my legs stops. What? All this walking is hard work!

As I sit upon the stump of an old tree, I suddenly hear something. Could it be… voices? Jenny? No, not Jenny. There are more than one… and it sounds like they're arguing! They could be our ticket out of here! Or… they could be psychos who are just looking for a fight! (If I were still you-know-who, we'd probably get along fine!) Suddenly, I find myself torn between going toward them and getting outta Dodge while I still have the chance.

I make out a female voice and then a male one. The female sounds fine but that guy… I don't like his tone. Another guy steps in, sounds like he's on the side of the girl. Guess chivalry isn't dead, after all.

Wait, now I hear a different voice! And I really don't like the sound of this one! It doesn't even sound human!

And then it sounds like a fight breaks out. Instinctively, I run toward the noise. Oh man, this past year in the Goblin gig has given me a seriously inconvenient sense of responsibility! I still don't see anything, but the voices are getting closer. Finally, it's like I'm right there.

And then I hear that… thing say, "The only way you two are leaving in one piece is in coffins!"

You don't need to be an investigative reporter like my Uncle Ben to figure out the meaning of that!

What do I do? What do I do? Again, I act on instinct. I grab at my large duffle bag – I'm still carrying the thing? – and pull back the zipper. My hand fumbles inside until – bingo!

Out comes a giant jack-o'-latern with a serious attitude problem. I push in the little stem on top and smoke begins seeping from the evil eyes and the fanged grin, soon followed by red and orange flames. Winding up, I give my best straight-ball, sending the pumpkin head flying straight into... the trees?

I must be the world's biggest dork!

The boar-wolf advanced on Kate and Garth as both tried to struggle to their feet. His large jaws pulled back into a fiendish grin, as though he was looking at two pieces of meat he would now devour. Neither Kate nor Garth was willing to give up and resign themselves to that fate. But it did not seem that they would be able to get up on their feet soon enough to prevent it.

Hutch and Can-do jumped in front of them but each was easily knocked aside. The two beta wolves would have advanced again but the small wolf and the black one smashed into them from the side and rendered them unconscious. Turk focused once again on Kate and Garth and seemed to be readying himself for the big pounce which would spell the end of both of them.

And then, the din of an explosion rang through the wilderness.

"What was that?" the small wolf said, practically shivering with anxiety.

"Relax, Razor," said the black wolf. "It was probably just some kids blowing off firecrackers or something."

"Firecrackers? But this is supposed to be a protected park!" Kate said.

"Like I care," the black wolf snapped. "The important thing is that it doesn't concern us. Turk, get back to finishing off these two while Razor and I take care of this caribou."

Turk continued his slow advance. He was very obviously playing with them, hoping that some glimmer of fear would appear in their eyes before he made his final move. Garth glanced nervously toward Kate, who merely bared her teeth toward Turk. Whatever happened, she was not going to go down without a fight.

And another explosion. This one closer.

"Did you hear that?" Razor screamed. "Did you hear that?"

"Relax," the black wolf said.

"But, Hotshot, that was really close! I mean, they could be right on top of us!"

"Don't be silly–"

Hotshot's words were interrupted by another boom, this time coming from just to the right of them, as evidenced by the flames shooting up a nearby tree.

"Maybe you're right," Hotshot said, attempting to maintain a veneer of calmness. "Let's get out of here! Turk, leave them for another day!"

Turk seemed dejected, about as dejected as a monster could seem. "We will finish this," he said to Kate and Garth before turning and following the other two. Without much hesitation, as the fire disappeared in a cloud of smoke, the three ran off deep into the forest.

Kate and Garth looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief. But the ordeal was not over. They both heard the sound of footsteps cracking twigs behind the formerly-burning tree. Together, they prepared to pounce on this new foe.

Finally, three pumpkin bombs later and it seems like it's got those people's attention. I just heard them running off into the woods. And it only took my completely poor aim and three potential wildfires to do it! Luckily, I still have a few gas-releasing ghosts, which were able to choke the flames. It's an old trick from my green period. After all, as Smokey says, only I can prevent forest fires. Yeah, right…

And then it occurs to me that there may still be people there. They may be injured and need help! As much as I want to conclude that my work here is done and bag it for the nearest sign of civilization, I know I have to stay and at least make sure that nobody's too badly injured.

As I'm about to walk into full view, I step on a twig.

"Did you hear that?" the man goes.

"Yeah. It could be another threat," the woman answered.

A threat? Moi? Who do they think they're foolin'?

"We have to be ready to face it," she says.

"Are you up to it?" he goes. "You took a pretty bad hit."

"So did you… but we still have to defend ourselves and our home! Whatever comes through there, we'll be ready to pounce!"

Pounce? On me? I'm starting to wonder if this was such a good idea. Well, I'm already in this mess, so I might as well try to keep them from pounding me into the dirt. My only hope is to win them over with my boyish good looks and winning personality.

I am so doomed!

But I've got no other choice. So I say, "Don't pounce on me! I'm here to help!"

And I step into the glade.