I could do—ow—without this entire day altogether.

I had grabbed up Aunt May and Gwen into my arms as we soared away from where the Green Goblin had smashed the ground. His left horn was broken but he was angry. And…determined.

That's what scared me the most. His determination to kill me. And everyone I cared about.

My mask was off. It had been so hard to breathe since I'd been shot taken a bullet for Captain America.

Where was Captain America? Oh, he had abandoned me to die alone on that bridge. Sure, he'd said something kind to me. And, sure, the bridge had been blown up. But nobody came back for me? No one went out searching for me? This had to be covered by some media. SHIELD couldn't spare one person to help me?

I put down Aunt May and Gwen in the front yard of someone else. There was no registration that I had been in anyone's particular yard. It was just far enough away to tell them to leave. To go. To hide.

"Listen to me! Listen!" I yelled at Aunt May's face.

She just stared around. After shooting Electro and knowing that I was facing certain doom at the hands of a monster, she was not all there. I understood. It was a lot to take in. However, it didn't mean I agreed with it.

"Gwen, you listen to me, I don't care what Aunt May says—I don't care what Aunt May does—you get as far away from here as you possibly can. I don't care if you have to hit her on the head and carry her over your shoulder!" I screamed, shaking her by her shoulders. "You get her out of here!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aunt May look at her coat. My blood had been leaking out of my webbing. My bullet wound was only getting worse. And she'd noticed.

"Peter, you're—you're bleeding…"

I pushed both of them away as I saw Goblin leap over a building. "You hear what I said?! You get her out of here!"

I leaped up before either of them could say another word. Goblin and I met in mid-air and I delivered a hit to his face. Goblin hit the ground as I grabbed the lamp post.

Okay. Ow. I am bleeding bad now.

I spun a web to at least cover the wound for just a while. I needed to stay in this fight for as long as possible. And if I bled out in the middle of the fight, it would only end in Goblin's favor. I'd die. And he could kill everyone I cared about.

I can't do this—I can't do this alone. Iron Man? Captain America? Anyone? Ice Man was down. Human Torch was down. And Johnny was sitting over in the grass. Bingo.

"Hey, Norman, could you do me a favor? Just stay right here…and practice…your crazy. I'll be right…back."

"PARKER!" Goblin growled as I took off towards Johnny.

"Johnny—Johnny, I need you to wake up, pal. Spider-Man to…ugh…Human Torch."

I landed next to Johnny and shook him awake as I screamed, "Johnny Storm! WAKE UP!"

He held his head and asked groggily, "Wassgoinonnn?"

"I'm kind of in a, nnn, really bad situation. I really do need your help." I could hear Green Goblin leap over the building and flames following in the distance.

Johnny pushed me away as he said, "I remember. Get out of the way. FLAME ON!"

He lit up as I jumped away.

Wasting no time, he flew up, using his fire powers, to reach Goblin in mid-air.

"Hey, crazy! I've been wanting to do this to you, don't even want to know how long."

Johnny put his hands on Goblin and started pouring his flames into the Goblin. He was trying to burn him.

Burning. A creature that relied on flames as powers. He was just feeding his flame into the Goblin. This was only going to help Goblin.

"Come on! Burn you fucker, burn!"

Before I could tell Johnny to stop, to wait, Green Goblin lit up like a Christmas tree, blasting Johnny away. Flames leaped at my feet. I jumped back.

"Jeez..."

The light was too much for my eyes for a second, so I averted my gaze. When I looked up, Goblin had regrown his horn and Johnny had hit the ground next to me, unconscious again.

Okay, so, fire's probably the worst thing I could have thrown at him. He absorbed it all. He took it all in. All of it. So dizzy now… The power of the Human Torch sucked into the power of Green Goblin…

I stood, holding my side. Pointed right at me.

I couldn't get out of the way. He was going to kill me and that would be the end. I was too weak. Too vulnerable.

SWOOSH!

I looked over to see Iron Man raise his repulsors and blast Green Goblin to the ground. I lost my balance and fell to the ground. Iron Man looked over at me.

"Kid, go!"

It took a second to register what he was trying to say. He was about to repeat himself but Goblin brought him to the ground. Iron Man tried to hit Goblin with his repulsor blasts but Goblin had managed to pin his arms, sending the blasts too far to the right or left.

I jumped over and brought Goblin to the ground. My wound was bleeding through my webbing again. There was nothing I could do.

"Osborn, just…stay…down…"

He grabbed one of my arms that I was about to slug him with and threw me into a house. The lady had been cowering in the corner of her house. She screamed.

"Have—have you called the ambulance?" I asked.

She nodded slowly.

"Good," I lowered my hand to my arm. "I'm—I'm not doing so well. God."

Iron Man had taken advantage of the opportunity I'd given him and was blasting Goblin away. I raised my hand and started to crawl towards the window. I needed to help him. I couldn't leave Iron Man to fight my battles, no matter how injured I was.

"Hey Norman!" I yelled. "Come here boy!"

Iron Man looked over at me. He shook his head when Goblin jumped onto him. Goblin went at it and started tearing his armor off, piece by piece.

I used my webbing and pulled Goblin over to me.

"Bad! Bad Norman!" I scolded. "Over here boy!"

Goblin turned pulling me out with his momentum. I was almost directly under him when he tried to bring his foot down. I caught it.

"Ew. Dude, you ever hear of those fungus removing places? I think you might want to make an appointment."

"KILL—YOU!"

He grabbed my head and threw me out from under him. I hit a moving car, causing the car to veer to the side, onto the sidewalk. I bounced off the car onto the driveway behind the sidewalk.

"Ow," I whispered.

I didn't know how much more I could take. I was exhausted. Taking a bullet, surprisingly, takes a lot of my strength away. And I was hurting. Really bad.

Goblin jumped over to me when Iron Man blasted him out of the air. Stark, with his leg plates and helmet torn off, was moving toward him, blasting him with both repulsors.

I propped myself onto my elbows, almost prepared to do an army crawl. The man whose car I'd hit came out and put his hands under his arms.

"Peter? Are you okay?"

It was my English teacher.

"Never—better. Listen. Could you call the police? Or SHIELD? Or whoever? And then leave? Run. Go!"

"Peter, you're hurt."

"RUN!"

Goblin started to gain strength again. He wasn't taking Stark's repulsor rays anymore with an ounce of pain. He had grown used to them and was too strong not to be able to finally kill Stark.

"Norman! Come here you freaking asshole!" I screamed and I spun a web to pull Goblin away from his current path towards Stark. Goblin saw my English teacher's car and he threw it at me. I pushed my English teacher out of the way, onto the grass. Then, I pulled myself forward onto the sidewalk. The car went right into the garage.

"I—I can't."

My strength was failing me. There was nothing else I could do. It was all over. Iron Man started to hit Goblin with his repulsors again. This time, though, I didn't have the strength to save him. I could only crawl towards Goblin, dragging my blood across the concrete.

"It's time to finally end this," Goblin said.

A van ran into Goblin and Goblin fell over. Stark jumped back, yelling. He was clearly startled.

I looked up as the van nearly did a flipover. I webbed the van's bumper and pulled it back down before it did so. Inside, I saw a red-head girl.

Mary Jane.

Goblin was down under the wreckage of the front of the van and underneath the front bumper. I grabbed my wound and stumbled over to the van to see Mary Jane. I punched through the glass and pulled her out.

"Did I get him?" she asked.

"You're insane," I told her. "Did you steal this van?"

"It was just there."

"You stole a van?" I asked, incredulously.

"You're welcome," she replied.

We kissed. Afraid this would be our last kiss, I put more into it than I normally would. However, I couldn't kiss her forever. So, I did the only thing I could do to get her out of there.

"Now get the hell out of here!" I yelled, tossing her up into the air. She screamed as she soared through the air, taken by surprise.

I spun a web between two posts and she landed between it. I breathed a sigh of relief and Stark started firing upon the Goblin who was getting out from underneath the truck. Goblin threw a chunk of the truck and hit Stark in the head. Goblin, then, pulled out to face me.

"This is the day of reckoning, Parker," he growled, smugly. "I'm delivering God's message. God wants this to happen."

I was so done with this guy. He'd killed his son. He'd killed his wife. He'd ruined his own life. And blamed it all on me. Now, he wanted me dead? And everyone in my family. That was it.

I picked up the van. I enjoyed the small moment when Goblin's mouth opened in awe. I threw it down on top of Goblin.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, as it smashed into his body.

Weakly, he still spoke, "I will destroy your family like you destroyed mine! I will kill everyone you know!"

"Could you do it"—I punctuated the next word with another hit from the entire van MJ had run into him—"quietly?!"

Stark looked up, holding his head. I held my side, backing up. Stark looked at something by the van and put his hand to the road, blasting his repulsor.

I looked up at him as I said, "Ow!"

And, as Tony grabbed me and we went into the grass, the truck exploded into fireworks. People jumped back, shocked. I grabbed my wound as I was lying on the grass with Tony rolling off of me.

I started to fade into unconsciousness but I stayed awake. I had just accidentally killed Goblin. I think. I wasn't sure. I didn't want to be a killer but I had to protect my family. And I'd finally done just that. I'd found redemption.

"Kid!" Tony yelled.

"Mister Stark," I spoke quietly. "I think—I think I got him."

"You did," he said, finding something I thought was pride in his voice. "You got him."

"Why are you here?" I asked.

Tony got a little apprehensive and just said, "We dealt with the guy. We—reached an understanding."

I nodded. "Good…good."

"Kid, stay with us," Tony said. "I'll get some immediate help. Don't worry."

"I'm not—worrying."

He frowned at me but motioned towards someone to bring him his helmet. Once he put it on, he called for help from Danvers or somebody. I had once again started to fade.

People were starting to crowd around me. However, Aunt May was the one that broke through and found me in the center. That woke me up again.

"What did you do, boy?" she asked. "What did you do?"

Mary Jane came over and stood over me with Gwen in her arms. I smiled a wry smile as blood trickled into my mouth from my nose.

"It's okay. I—I did it."

"Just—just hold on. The ambulance is…"

"The people from the Traskelion will be here first," Stark said. "It's okay, May. We got him."

"Don't you see…it's okay. I did it." I grabbed her by her coat. "I couldn't save him. Uncle Ben. I couldn't save him…No matter what I did. But I saved you. I did it. I did…"

My voice faded and I started to go unconscious. My hands dropped down to my sides. And everything went dark.

"He's waking up," I heard a voice.

Light leaked into my eyes. It was from a light that was shining on me from a hospital room. This definitely wasn't heaven.

"Wassgoinonnnn?" I asked.

"Oh thank God!" Aunt May ran over and hugged me.

"Ah!" I screamed. My wound still hurt really bad. I didn't know how long I'd been out.

She pulled back. "Is he still hurt?"

Fury stepped into the light. "These wounds, even with his healing factor, take time to heal."

"He's had three days," she pointed out.

"Three days?" I asked. "Was that how long I was out?"

Aunt May turned to me and nodded. "We were really worried. You had stopped breathing. But SHIELD got there quick enough to stabilize you."

I nodded. "Great."

"Kid," Fury walked forward.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be…weren't you going against SHIELD?" I asked.

"We—had an understanding," he said.

"Whatever," I said. "So what is new in the world of SHIELD besides your make up with it."

"Johnny and Bobby had to get out of dodge," Fury said. "They went off with Pryde to form a new team. Anti-mutant sentiment has hit the fan. And Jameson can no longer protect you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Everyone knows who you are," Fury continued. "Even all the enemies you've made. They know who you are. So, you are going to need to make a decision."

"Which is?" I asked.

"To join SHIELD and let us protect you or to go with your friends to rally and gather a new movement. Either way, we protect your family. There just isn't a guarantee to keep you safe anymore if you go with the X-Men."

I sat, mouth agape.

Fury nodded. "I'll let you think about it. May and I have some details to talk about anyway. Let us know whenever you're ready. Until then, just stay here under our protection."

I sat there in silence for a bit as the door closed behind my aunt and the reinstated director of SHIELD (still confused on how that happened). And I sat, thinking about what had happened exactly. And what I was going to do next.