Norman Osborn was dead.
Peter had all the evidence he needed to know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Osborn and the Goblin were gone forever.
He had stood next to Harry at his father's funeral, granting him a front row seat at Norman's open casket, allowing him to stare at the face of a monster as hundreds of people in attendance praised his life's work and spoke of him as a brilliant leader, an inspiring innovator and a loving friend and father. Oh how little they knew. Peter had watched as dirt was showed down upon that wooden box slowly burying it and Osborn's dark secrets forever.
And on that black night he had seen it, the mad gleam fade from the monster's eyes as he choked out one last terrible laugh. There was no denying it.
Norman Osborn was dead.
And still he haunted him.
Falling through the cool night air Spider-man couldn't help himself, he had tried to forget about it, to push it out of his mind and carry on with his life. Aunt May had told him the same thing and even those who didn't know he was Spider-man had caught on to the fact that something big had been eating away at him for the last three weeks and had tried to offer him support. But no matter what he did, Peter just couldn't block out that night, nor could he shake the feeling that despite Norman Osborn being dead and buried the nightmare wasn't over.
Stretching out his arm he fired a web line and began swinging.
The city was still quite, in the aftermath of the Green Goblin's rampage everyone from the Police, the crime families to even small time crooks had a reason to pause, reflect and rebuild.
Of course New York was a city of eight million people, so it was never going to be completely problem free and while there hadn't been any crazy chases through the city or a supervillain bank heist Spider-man still had plenty of opportunities to lend a hand. Although Peter couldn't help but think that a wild night chasing down Sandman might just be what the doctor ordered to help rid himself of this mental weight he carried.
Coming to the end of his swing, Spider-man fired another web line but this time he used his spider strength to pull himself towards his target, then as the momentum hit he let go and flew. Cutting through the air like a small blue and red missile the wall crawler shot over the rooftops of Manhattan and for a brief few seconds got to experience the incredible sensation of actually being able to fly.
Some people did yoga, others gardened and some just liked to rock out to angry sounding music to clear their heads but for Peter nothing could compare to web swinging. If he could ever find a way to make it safe for regular humans he could retire and sell it as the ultimate relaxant. The wind rushing against him, the beautiful view of the world from above and the incredible sense of weightlessness of it was beyond words.
Then as gravity started to take its hold on him, Spider-man angled himself downwards increasing the speed in which he fell. For anyone fortunate enough to catch the wall crawling hero in action they might have feared he was going to go splat as he rocketed towards the side of a large building.
But just when it appeared that the last second save wasn't coming, Spider-man aimed up with both arms and fired off two web lines at the highest point of the roof. Hitting his intended target the masked hero flipped himself around in mid-air, landing feet first against the brickwork. Then he began running up the side of the building as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Just as he reached the top Spider-man released the two web lines and leaped out into the night air once more.
He wasn't going anywhere in particular. He had no routes mapped out in his head, no areas he liked to visit more than others; Spider-man went everywhere and anywhere, helping wherever he could. Although these days the people of New York were a little more wary around him thanks to articles published by the Daily Globe and Bugle following what happened with Osborn.
They didn't have any of the facts, but speculation and the lack of any other suspects quickly saw to it that he was made into the key player in Osborn's murder. And where they really wrong too?
Peter shook his head trying to get rid of the thought before it could take root.
He really needed to stop linking everything back to that guy.
Swinging hard around a corner at such velocity that the world briefly became a multi coloured blur Spider-man released the web line and once more got a taste at flight. He spotted them as he shot over their heads.
Craning his head back Peter only caught a glimpse of shadows due to the speed in which he was hurtling away from the building. Firing a short web line to stop himself, Spider-man quickly turned himself around and began swinging back the way he had come.
Spying the tallest building in the neighbourhood, he quickly scaled it and crouched down on the rooftop and began to study his discovery.
The target was one of those brand new apartment complexes that were being built all across the city by some out of town friend of Norman Osbo- Peter scolded himself for once again allowing that man to take stage in his head.
They were fancy stuff according to Mary Jane's little synopsis of them, a variety of spacious apartments coming in all sizes equipped with all the best features. But the fun didn't stop there; the building contained everything a wealthy tenant might need, a personal gym, a spa and even some sporting facilities. If they didn't charge more per month than Peter made in a year he might have been tempted to have a little peek inside.
It was the perfect place to stay for the rich and powerful and a beacon for thieves.
There were six of them in total, each trying their hardest to be completely inconspicuous while ticking every box on the suspicious character checklist. They were all wearing dark colours, they all had their hoods up or were wearing balaclavas and they moved cautiously, constantly checking over their shoulders for anyone watching them from one of the neighbouring buildings windows.
Oh and one of them was twirling what appeared to be a large crowbar.
Definitely not the night crew all taking a group smoke break.
Alpha, armed with the crowbar, set to work on the rooftop hatch. Beta got his back with one hand shoved deep into his hoodie's single pocket at the front. Peter had enough experience to know that someone was carrying a nasty surprise.
Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta, each carrying a large duffle bag over the shoulders, spread themselves out over the rooftop acting as lookouts, but despite being native criminals to New York their eyes were aimed downwards towards the streets or at the buildings surrounding them. None of them thought to look up and scan the city skylines for any heroes in bright costumes.
Taking a few more seconds to make sure he wasn't missing any important details Spider-man quickly got to work.
His first target was Zeta, who at this moment was watching a patrol car slowly make its way down the block. Knowing his attention was elsewhere, Peter attached a strong web anchor to the rooftop he was sitting on, then weaving a line for himself he silently stepped off the roof. Hanging upside down Spider-man slowly lowered himself down the tall building until he was only a floor or so above the opposing rooftop with the gang of criminals.
Knowing he would only get one shot at this, Peter waited, watching as Beta was quickly getting nervous.
"Come on." He hissed looking away from the rest of the group, his hand never leaving his pocket, and turned to Alpha who was still going at the hatch door with his crowbar. "What's taking so long?"
"The trick is to be quiet and not lead a load of evidence. Just let me work."
Beta did a double take. "Evidence? We're doing a smash and grab here, we don't have time to worry about all that."
"A few minutes more." Alpha promised.
"Hey, what's taking so long?" Epsilon asked, moving from his lookout position and began walking towards the duo near the hatch. The rest of the group seeing the huddle that was being formed dropped their tasks and began to move in thinking it was time.
Only Zeta remained his eyes never leaving the police car until it had vanished out of sight, but before he had a chance to turn around and join up with the others a small glob of webbing struck him right on the mouth.
The sensation of being hit by a small and sticky object traveling at quite the speed was enough to cause Zeta to yelp, except the noise he made was almost completely muffled by the webbing coating his mouth. A second later two powerful web lines latched onto Zeta's jacket then the man was pulled with inhuman strength clean from the rooftop, his muted screams going unheard by his fellows.
Catching Zeta with ease, Spider-man emptied the last of his web cartridges by wrapping the lookout in a tough cocoon, then attaching him to the web line he'd anchored onto the rooftop Peter left Zeta to dangle.
"I'll be back in a minute." He promised the wide eyed man who had gone bright red as he continued to try and scream at his predicament. "Try not to wriggle around too much or you might…" Peter ended this sentence by looking down at the eight story drop below them. Zeta followed his gaze and whimpered.
Then while he still had the element of surprise Spider-man pushed off from the building he was on and landed on the apartment complex where the gang was starting to get into a heated argument.
"Go and do your job!"
"All I wanna know is why is this taking so long, you said in and out."
"It will be five minutes more guys, just please let me concentrate."
"Five minutes to bust open a door? What the hell?"
"Keep it down!"
"No, I wanna know why we're painting a big target on our backs and just standing here while he messes around and-"
Spider-man watched the group of men argue back and forth and found himself wishing that he had the time, and resources, to build that web bomb he'd thought up last year. One shot and boom they would all be covered in heavy sticky webbing and would probably be all tied together in such a way that the moment one of them moved, the entire group would fall over and become stuck for anywhere up to an hour. He would definitely need to look into it next payday.
Replacing his spent web cartridges with fresh ones Peter looked up towards Zeta, he was still there, silently watching and trying his hardest not to move. Putting a finger up to his lips Spider-man silently crawled into a better position.
"If this takes any longer we're gonna have to go before we've even started."
"If we rush in we'll trigger an alarm."
"Man, this is a waste of my time."
"I'm almost; jus- just give me a few more minutes."
"Oh come on!"
Losing his patience Epsilon pushed past Beta and tried to wrestle the crowbar from Alpha's hands. The other members of the group tried to separate them causing any and all stealth to fly right out of the window when Epsilon threw a punch at Alpha who got caught under the chin.
Falling to the ground hard, Alpha let out a string of angry curses promoting Epsilon to try and go for him but was stopped by Gamma and Delta. In seconds the group was a mass of bodies, shouting and struggling limbs.
Clearing his throat Spider-man stepped out of the shadows. "Hey guys, did you lose your keys too?"
It might have been funny, if anyone had heard him over the struggling group members.
"You bastard!"
"You are gonna get us all caught you dense mothe-"
"Guys?" Spider-man asked stepping a little closer.
"Piss off!"
Glad that he no longer had to take picture of his heroics for the Bugle, Peter could imagine Jameson having a field day with the image of Spider-man being ignored by New York's common garden variety thieves.
Gamma, who had been holding tightly onto one of Epsilon's arms in an effort to restrain him felt something hit his back, a second later he was yanked away from the group brawl and landed four feet away. As the group turned to stare at the spectacle Gamma was stuck to the rooftop by several rapid fire globs of webbing.
"Hey guys, did you lose your ke-"
"Get him!" Beta roared and the group charged.
"Really?" Peter muttered before leaping into battle.
Delta, reached Spider-man first but the punch he threw, while fast, lacked any of the precision or power found in most of Peter Parker's rouges gallery, before the hooded thug's fist had a chance to land Delta had his legs taken out from under him by a sweeping kick by the wall crawling hero.
Half a second later and Spider-man rolled away to avoid a clumsy swing from Alpha and his crowbar. Springing to his feet New York's number one web swinger caught the crook once again under the chin but unlike Epsilon's hit this one was strong enough to put Alpha down for good.
A sharp tingling at the back of Peter's head alerted him to the danger from Beta; the man's hand was once again deep in his hoodie's pocket. Firing two shots of webbing Spider-man managed to pin the arm that was clutching the hidden gun to the man's chest. Following this up, Peter then shot a web line around Beta's legs and with a swift tug he had the man crashing onto his back.
Springing into the air Spider-man secured the man with several more shots of webbing removing him from the fight. All that was left now was a staggered Delta and Epsilon who was slowly moving away from the wall crawler and towards the fire escape.
"Help me." Delta pleaded, struggling to comprehend on how quickly the group had been taken down and how little a chance he had of escaping on his own.
Epsilon turned and ran.
In desperation Delta reached down and picked up Alpha's crowbar, then holding it above his head he slowly inched forward. "You stay away from me freak!"
Raising both his hands Peter tried to use his words. "I don't want to hurt you, but you need to put that down and come quietly okay?"
Delta darter forward then immediately backtracked, his eyes growing wide with fear. "I said stay away." He did a wild swing, hitting only air as he tried to circle around Spider-man.
Looking over his shoulder Peter learnt that Epsilon was now out of sight and probably moving with all speed towards the ground. Seeing this Delta ran forward with a war cry and swung the iron bar at Spider-man's head.
Peter's hand caught the crowbar before it landed and for a second Delta struggled with all the strength he could muster against Spider-man's singular arm and divided attention.
After a few seconds of failing to even budge Spider-man, Delta released the bar and simply tried to run past the masked hero. Dropping the criminal's tool Peter tackled Delta to the ground causing him to shriek in genuine horror.
"Please don't kill me." He wailed.
Pinning the man's arms behind his back, Peter secured them with a quick burst of webbing. Climbing off the struggling Delta Spider-man tried to fix what the local papers had ruined these past three weeks.
"Despite what you've heard I'm not a killer, but you're going to sit there quietly until the police show up okay?"
Delta didn't say anything instead he tried to rise onto his knees and continue his escape. Shaking his head, Spider-man webbed up his legs then bending his knee's he launched himself into the air after Epsilon, leaving Delta to flop around on the rooftop like a helpless fish.
The final would be thief had actually managed to climb down the entire fire escape and was slowly jogging out of the alleyway and towards the main street, his loud breathing alerted Spider-man to the fact that he wasn't going to surprising him with any sudden bursts of speed.
Landing a few feet behind the final gang member, Spider-man once again saw a fear he didn't like in Epsilon's eyes. This wasn't like before when criminals would treat him like an annoyance as he disrupted their hard day's work with webbing, jokes and inhuman agility. The criminal element had always hated him but now, now they were uncertain, causing them to become afraid.
They were actually starting to buy into the idea that Spider-man might have killed Norman Osborn.
"Can you please be a good boy and come quietly?" Epsilon looked towards the mouth of the alley then back to Spider-man. He knew he wasn't going to make it. With reluctant movements he raised his hands slowly above his head, took a step backwards and then reached for the bag he was carrying. "Nice and easy." Peter instructed.
"Okay." Epsilon nodded. Removing the bag's strap from over his shoulder he held it in front of him and slowly began to lower it to the ground.
The sharp tingling feeling returned and Spider-man moved on reflex, raising his arms he aimed, fired and hit Epsilon with one glob of webbing. The second shot had narrowly missed its target causing Peter to wince. That was embarrassing.
Not suffering from complete upper body immobility Epsilon staggered backwards away from the duffle bag and tried to steady himself while clutching something tight in his hand.
Peter was about to fire some more webbing when he caught the sight of the orange sphere and his mind flew back to the Green Goblin. For a second he froze, arguing with himself that what was being held in Epsilon's hand had no relation to the weapons used by his greatest enemy. But as Epsilon pulled back his arms, Peter's spider sense confirmed the truth.
It was a pumpkin bomb.
"Eat it freak." Epsilon yelled throwing the orange explosive. As the weapon left the man's hand it activated. The jack-o lantern face began to flash bright neon green as it sailed through the air.
Peter had seconds to think.
He could dodge the bomb easily, but an explosion in such a small alleyway could cause plenty of damage to both buildings. He had in the past, managed to catch pumpkin bombs with his webbing and hurl them away but in those situations Spider-man had primarily been fighting above the city, minimising any potential bystanders. As the only place he would have to throw it would be upwards there were a lot of apartments in that direction potentially filled with innocents.
And Peter was all too aware of the damage a stray pumpkin blast could do.
Time was running out.
Praying he had enough web fluid left to pull this off, Spider-man aimed both his arms and fired. The webbing hit the bomb mid-flight and thankfully didn't cause it to detonate. Standing his ground, Peter poured a continuing steam of the sticky substance over the bomb, quickly consuming it from view. But it wasn't enough. The bomb was almost upon him.
Leaping over the now web covered explosive; Spider-man dived towards Epsilon knocking him to the ground. Placing his hands over his head Peter waited.
Pumpkin bombs didn't explode with loud bangs; instead they screamed. It was unknown if this was by design, or a happy accident that the Goblin discovered when he first started creating his weapons. Either way despite hearing the sound to many times to count the cries would still rattle him.
The bomb detonated, its scream muffled by the layers of webbing surrounding it, but the cushion could only try and contain the blast, not stop it.
Looking behind him Spider-man was relieved to see that the alleyway didn't look terrible. The brickwork was scorched black, probably forever, and there was several concerning cracks defacing the walls, but at least the buildings hadn't gained massive holes in their sides and were at risk of collapsing.
He'd need to leave an anonymous tip with the property safety committee and have them give the two buildings a proper check-up, but all in all it could have been a lot worse.
Epsilon let out a moan as he tried to pick himself up from the ground. A short second later he was pulled to his feet and slammed hard against the alleyway wall.
"Where did you get that?" Peter yelled. The criminal didn't answer instead he reached for the wall crawlers hands and tried to pry them lose. Giving him a hard shake Spider-man tried to reign in his temper. It wasn't easy.
Pumpkin bombs were dangerous weapons in the hands of the Green Goblin who had the money and resources necessary to make a near infinite amount. Peter had hoped that once their master died the weapon would too. Now some common street thug had just pulled one out on him, was it just a fluke? A one in a million chance? Or could someone have found a Goblin weapon stash and had started selling old gear?
The thought of that chilled Peter more than any winter wind ever could.
Once more he tried. "Where did you get that pumpkin bomb?"
"Let go." Epsilon demanded giving Spider-man a weak push. The wall crawlers grip on the man's jacket only tightened and for a brief moment Peter thought about beating an answer out of him.
"The bomb, where did you get it?"
"I found it." Epsilon smirked, finding new confidence.
The approaching wail of sirens caused them both to pause, and then begin acting with haste. Epsilon gave a stronger push which failed to budge the wall crawler. He then once again tried to pry Peter's hands off him. Realising he didn't have long Spider-man needed answers quickly if he was planning to get any sleep for the foreseeable future.
Desperate times, desperate measures.
Ignoring how Epsilon was trying to dig his dirty nails into his wrists Spider-man took two steps backwards still holding onto the would be thief. He then threw him eight feet into the air. The shocked scream let Peter know that the second the police arrived they would be told by passers-by that the alleyway was their first port of call but Spider-man planned to be long gone before that happened.
Jumping up after the criminal, Peter snatched him out of the air, held on tight, landed then threw Epsilon up once again. This time he flew higher and screamed louder.
Spider-man caught him once again before he had a chance to hit the ground.
"Tell me where you got that bomb or next time I'm going to let you go splat!"
Praying the bluff would work, Peter squared his shoulder and bent his knee's as if preparing to throw again. The last of Epsilon's resistance broke.
"Okay, okay don't kill me please."
"The bomb." Peter almost shouted. The sirens were right on top of them now, and the flashing lights could be seen in the buildings across the street from the alleyway. He had second left.
"The Goblin sold it to me." Epsilon wailed, afraid for his life. "About three days ago, I'm sorry I didn't know it wo-"
Spider-man had no time to care what Epsilon did or didn't think a pumpkin bomb could do. Right now the world was falling out from under his feet and he didn't have a second more to spare.
"Hey it's Spider-man!" The first police officer yelled as he entered the alleyway's mouth.
Throwing Epsilon against the wall Peter fired three quick shots of web to ensure the police would have an easy arrest, and then he jumped from one wall to the other until he cleared the building and vanished out of sight while half a dozen officers raced into the alley.
Safe among the rooftops Peter didn't leave the crime scene until he was certain that all of the thieves had been bagged. The police would find Zeta, safe and secure sitting by the hood of one of their squad cars.
After that the wall crawler decided to call it a night.
Right now, no amount of web swinging was going to clear the cycle of thoughts occupying his head. Epsilon had said the Goblin had sold the pumpkin bomb to him three days ago.
But Norman Osborn had been dead for three weeks.
Had Epsilon lied? Unlikely, given his predicament.
But then what?
Was someone running around in a copycat getup selling weapons that they found?
What if this new Goblin tried to bring the Pumpkin heads back and follow in Osborn's footsteps?
The city had only just started healing from the last onslaught by the Goblin, it couldn't stand another.
Shaking his head, Spider-man put all these thoughts in the maybe draw. Right now it was all speculation, and he could simply be jumping to the worst possible conclusion. Hopefully in the morning things would be clearer.
One thing was for certain.
Whoever was selling pumpkin bombs couldn't be the real Green Goblin. Because Norman Osborn was dead.
Right?
Thank you all for reading. If you have any feedback or ideas you want to share please leave a review.
Decided to go with the Greek alphabet for labelling thugs. I will do do this again later on in the fic but they will not be the same guys.
For those wondering when Felicia will show up it's probably going to be around chapter 4 or 5 as once she's here she's going to stay front and centre so I want to set up a little more about where Peter is in his life, how things are, and what skeletons he's got in his closet before Black Cat comes along and starts changing things up, for better or for worse.