I haven't said this yet, but thank you to those of you who have reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You're all amazing! *hugs*
Still don't own them
But there's one thing I know
And I know it for sure.
This disease that we've got
Has got no ready cure;
And I'm certain
Life is terribly hard
When your life's a facade.
Norman Osborn walked into the OSCORP building, much the surprise of the few lab techs and the building safety team inside.
"Mr. Osborn," one of the lab techs said as they saw their boss walking through the building. "Should you be here? Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine," Osborn snarled. The tech backed off, looking startled. While Norman Osborn wasn't the most patient of men, or the most polite, he was usually at least cordial. The tech watched as the CEO got onto the elevator, but when the doors closed on the owner of the company, the tech simply shook his head, putting his boss out of his mind as he continued to supervise the cleanup crew. While it had only been the top few floors that really were damaged in the blast, OSCORP wasn't taking any chances, and they were having building experts come in and check out the rest of the building to make sure it was okay.
The entity that had taken over Osborn's consciousness rode the elevator silently. He had access to all of Osborn's memories and thoughts, so he knew exactly where to go to get what they'd come to OSCORP for. When the elevator doors slid open, Osborn observed the scene of destruction in front of him. The lab was completely black with soot and ash, and there was glass all over the floor, though Osborn didn't pay attention to that. He strode purposefully towards the back of the lab, heading for the section of wall he knew was hiding the equipment. No one besides Osborn and a select few other scientists had access to this lab, so Osborn was confident that the glider and exoskeleton would still be there, and when the panel slid open, he wasn't disappointed.
"Beautiful," Osborn said with a cackle. "Absolutely beautiful."
0-0-0
Dr. Groff was staring at the charts in his hands, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Norman Osborn's blood was still mutating, at a much more rapid pace than before. He had kept the test results to himself, not wanting to start a panic, especially if it was simply contained to Osborn. He was also confident that if he'd be able to get more blood from the CEO, he'd be able to concoct a cure; if he could do that, he would go down in history as the doctor who'd found a cure for DNA mutation. He only hoped that whatever was attacking Osborn's DNA hadn't yet begun to affect the CEO.
Still lost in his thoughts as he walked down the hallway towards his office, he barely took a moment to glance out the window at the lovely view of the city. Turning around to sit down, the doctor tapped his computer keyboard, waking it up so that he could log on and continue studying different simulations for the cure. While he was typing his password into the login bar, a reflection on his screen caught his attention.
Whirling around in a slight panic, the doctor held up his hands and screamed as something crashed through the window. Alarms immediately began blaring, but the...the thing on the hovering machine didn't seem to mind, or even notice.
"I'm going to ask you one time," the thing said in a sickly sweet voice. "Give me all the files you have on Norman Osborn's blood."
"I...I...I can't!" the doctor yelled, covering his face with his hands.
The attacker flashed a cruel grin at the cowering doctor. "Pity," he responded, though something told Groff that the attacker had been hoping he'd say that.
0-0-0
The screams were the first thing to alert Peter that something was seriously wrong. He had Karen's sensors set to pick up distressed sounds for a mile radius around him, and usually there were one or two screams; this was different. This time, there were dozens of people screaming, and Peter knew that was never good.
"Karen, can you pin down where the trouble is?" Peter asked as he stepped off the building he had been perched on, falling a few stories before finally firing a web, pulling himself up in the air before he hit the ground.
"The place of panic seems to be coming from Empirical Hospital," Karen replied. Peter's stomach dropped. What could be causing such a riot at a hospital, and why? It only took the teeanger a couple minutes to get to the hospital, but by the time he arrived, the amount of destruction floored him.
A portion of the wall looked like it had been blown up, and Peter figured that was as good a place as any to start searching for either the cause of the drama, or any victims. The blown out wall was only four stories up, and Peter made it up there in record time as he webbed right next to the destroyed window, pulling himself up. He crawled through the window, but he stopped in shock as he was greeted by the sight of a completely trashed office, with papers strewn everywhere and broken computer fragments littering the floor. Then he looked up, and the sight of who was in the room made him feel like he'd been punched in the stomach.
For a moment, he thought the figure floating in the air with his back towards the high schooler was the Vulture, but Peter soon realized that this man was using some sort of...floating hoverboard, or a glider, instead of the wings like Toomes had. The figure was also wearing what almost looked like Iron Man armor, though it was painted with different shades of green instead of red and gold.
"Hey!" Peter called out, making the hovering man turn around. Spider-Man took a step back as he took was now able to see the front of the man. He was wearing a mask, shaped like something one would see at Halloween, like a ghoul, or a goblin. What really shocked Peter though was seeing a doctor in the clutches of the masked man. He hadn't realized that the hovering man was actually holding someone, and Peter's stomach fell when he saw the red stain spreading across the doctor's abdomen.
"Okay, let's just put the nice doctor down," Peter suggested as he walked forward cautiously, not wanting to upset the bad guy. The doctor was frighteningly limp, and Peter wondered if he was even still alive. "I've heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, if well-aimed," Peter said. "There's no need to come in and terrorize the hospital staff, Mr., uh…"
"You can call me the Green Goblin," snapped the man holding the doctor.
"Okay, Mr. Goblin," Peter said, rolling his eyes at the names that some of the people he fought came up with. "I'm sure there's a peaceful way to settle...whatever this is, if you want to just set the doctor down gently-"
"Sorry," snarled the Goblin. "Gotta fly!" With that, the Goblin dropped the man in his hands and whirled his glider around, flying straight at Peter's head. The high schooler's eyes widened, and he ducked out of the way of the glider, barely avoiding decapitation. As the Goblin had been flying at him, Peter could have sworn the man was carrying what looked like patient files. He turned around and was about to jump out after the Goblin, but froze as he remembered the injured doctor. Struggling between the decision to chase after the bad guy, or help save the doctor, Peter chose to let the Goblin go for the moment as he hurried over to the fallen medical practitioner.
"Oh gosh," Peter said as he knelt down next to the injured man, taking in the full extent of his injuries. The red stain was spreading further and further, getting faster by the second. Peter knew that if he wanted to save the man's life, he needed to act quickly. The doctor stirred and groaned as Peter lifted his shirt, blanching slightly at the wound underneath. Knowing he didn't have much time for finesse, the young teenager simply began webbing the top of the wound, hoping that the sticky material would clog the wound long enough for the doctor to get help.
Once he got the bleeding mostly stopped, Peter looked around. He noticed that the doorknob looked like it had been melted, keeping the door shut against the people pounding on it outside. The high schooler jumped to his feet, rushing over to the door and pulling it off it's hinges, revealing the worried nurses and security guards outside.
"Spider-Man?" asked one of the nurses, clearly shocked to see the web slinger inside the hospital office.
"This guy needs help," the hero stated, not bothering to take the time to explain his presence. Still looking surprised, the nurses peered past Peter, and their looks of surprise turned to ones of horror and dismay. They hurried in, calling out for someone to bring a gurney while Peter explained to the security guards what he had walked in on.
"A man on a glider?" one of the guards asked, somewhat dubiously.
"Yes!" Peter insisted, frustrated that the guards didn't believe him. "Check security footage; there's gotta be something on them!"
The guard he had been talking to still looked skeptical, but he didn't argue with the Spider anymore. Peter was brushed to the side of the room as EMTs hurried in, carrying a flat board that they loaded the doctor onto. Once he was securely strapped down, they stood up and backed out of the room. Now that Spider-Man was sure the doctor was getting the best help possible, he lunged for the blown-out window, hoping that he'd still be able to catch the Goblin. However, when he got outside and began climbing up the side of the building, he wasn't surprised to see that there was no sign of the flying man anywhere.
Letting out a growl of disappointment and frustration, Peter turned back to face the building, planning to climb up and swing to the next closest thing he could, but he paused when he looked in the window he was adhered to.
A little girl was inside the room, staring at him with wide, excited eyes, and when she saw him looking at her, she gave him an enthusiastic wave. The look on her face helped Peter feel a little bit better, and he waved back at her. Her grin got wider than Peter would have believed possible, and just seeing the pure joy on her face lifted his heart. He waved one last time at her before he climbed further up the wall and swung to one of the buildings next to the hospital. While the thought of the little girl's excitement did do wonders for Peter's feelings, he was still concerned about what he'd swung in on.
"Where'd that guy come from?" Peter muttered to himself as he crouched on the roof of a business building. "And why attack the hospital?" More and more questions kept flowing into his head, and soon he couldn't focus on one train of thought without making his head hurt. He fired a web at a nearby crane, figuring that a swing through the city might help clear his head.
0-0-0
"So close," the Goblin hissed angrily. Norman Osborn woke with a start as he heard his companion's frustrated remark; he looked around him and realized that he was back in his bed, though he had no recollection of getting there. He glanced at his clock, shocked to see that the device read 10:30 am; the alarming thing was, the last time he remembered talking to the Goblin, it had been past noon the day before. Whatever had taken place had taken almost twenty-four hours away from him.
His head began pounding, and he put his hand to his forehead, trying to remember what happened. The last thing he recalled was standing in his bedroom, trying to decide if he was going crazy or not for hearing voices in his head.
"My head is killing me," he muttered. "What...what happened?"
"We were so close," repeated the voice. "We got the samples and test results for your blood, but before we could find out what room your two scientists were in, and even before we could properly dispose of the meddlesome doctor, someone showed up."
Memories suddenly began playing once again through Osborn's mind, and he felt physically sick as he watched the events that had gone down. "What did you do?" he asked incredulously, feeling the color drain from his face as he saw them terrorizing Dr. Groff at the hospital.
"I did what you didn't have the guts to do to keep you out of prison," snarled the Goblin. "And don't bother telling me you didn't enjoy the rush of power that you felt when I was in control; I know your thoughts, and I know you liked it. You crave; you need it."
"No, no, no," Osborn muttered, closing his eyes and falling back into the plush chair he had in his room. "I...the power...I can live without it," he insisted, though he knew that it wasn't true. The Goblin was right; he had enjoyed the feeling of power. It was like a high that he desperately needed again. He tried to push that thought away as he continued arguing with the Goblin about his methods. "I thought...when you said you were going to help, I thought you meant you were just going to steal the blood and test results back; you didn't say anything about killing or hurting anyone!"
"Even if we have the blood and the tests, eye-witness statements and firsthand accounts can still land you behind bars," the Goblin pointed out. Out of the many memories flashing through Osborn's mind, there was one that he paused on; one of a certain red-and-blue clad hero.
"Spider-Man," he muttered. "Did he find out who we were?"
The Goblin sounded almost hurt as he responded to Osborn's question. "I'm not that careless."
"No, but apparently you don't mind starting situations that could attract Spider-Man to us," retorted Osborn, frustrated with the voice in his mind. At the Goblin's next words, Norman felt a chill run down his spine.
"Normy, Normy, Normy," it cooed. "You said it yourself: 'For advances to be made, risks must be taken.'"
"No more," Osborn stated, starting to feel slightly panicky. "I can't let you hurt anyone else."
He doubled over with a groan as he felt a sharp pain in his head, and his panic began to increase as he felt himself slowly losing control over his mind.
"Just one more time," coaxed the voice. "We just need to take care of a few loose ends, and then I'm gone."
"No!" Osborn shouted, getting up and pounding his fist on the table in his room. "I won't let you come back! Your time is done!"
A loud knock sounded on Osborn's bedroom door, distracting Osborn enough that he felt the last bit of himself give way to the Goblin's demand.
"Mr. Osborn, are you alright?" someone called from outside. The Goblin, now possessing Norman's body, strode forward and yanked the door open.
"I'm fine," he snarled.
The butler took a step back, clearly alarmed. "Mr. Cogan just called, he wanted to know if you were going to make an appearance at the groundbreaking?"
The Goblin probed Osborn's memories, trying to figure out what the butler was talking about, and suddenly it clicked. "No," he snapped. "I want to be left alone; no one is to disturb me until I give permission, do you understand?"
The butler looked startled, and the Goblin grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him close.
"I said," he whispered ominously. "Do you understand?"
"Y-y-yes, sir," the butler stuttered, shocked at the sudden change in his employer. Mr. Osborn was never an extremely patient man, but this was a whole new level, even for the CEO.
Osborn pushed the butler away from him in satisfaction. "Good," he said. "Make sure everyone knows it, too." With that, the CEO of OSCORP slammed the door in his butler's face.
"Now," the Goblin muttered as he walked over past the bed and stared out the window. "We need to show dear Normy what happens when he disagrees with the Green Goblin."
Thoughts?