Kate looked out into the bright sunshine. Her head still pounded furiously, but otherwise she was feeling nearly her old self. But Eve had absolutely forbidden her to go out. She understood her mother's concern, but Kate was never one to sit on the sidelines while there were things to do. And now, with the pack in even greater danger than ever before, she felt that she could just not lay around idle.

Something else had invaded her territory. First, Hotshot and his thugs, then the human Urich, and now this thing responsible for the blow to her head. The valley was suddenly becoming a very popular destination for mysterious and shady characters. Kate wanted to know why. There were many things she wanted to know. What had happened to Razor? What would Hotshot and Turk think about their friend being ambushed? Did they even know? And what was that green creature anyway? Surely, it wasn't one of Hotshot's tricks; if it had been, it would not have attacked Razor. But why would it save her? And – this more than anything peaked her interest – how was it able to actually outpace her in terms of athletic ability? That, and not the injury to the head, was what really hurt her pride.

But, she couldn't answer those questions right now. She just wasn't in the proper shape. Even though Eve was not currently around, Kate was smart enough to know that she could not simply go twirling and bounding around the valley with a serious head-wound.

But then, she remembered that there was one mystery she could solve. She had heard that Philip Urich had left his den to go on a walk with Lilly. She realized that it would be the perfect opportunity to discover what he was hiding. Though she knew that Urich could have no connection to that green thing, which would have scared the clumsy and uncoordinated human out of his wits, she thought that maybe he knew more about Hotshot and his gang than he was telling.

So, she picked herself up and headed out. She was careful to avoid anyone on the road down from the den. She knew that nobody other than her parents would question her decision to get up and walk around, but she didn't want anybody to get a whiff of her true motives. She was on a mission and she so hated to be distracted from her missions.

Finally, she arrived at the formerly-abandoned den. There was no Alpha posted on duty as Philip was not there. So much the better for her, Kate thought. She could already see the green duffle bag, just right there in the middle of the den. She couldn't help but laugh. It seemed too easy. She was tempted to give up. Would someone with something to hide really be so sloppy at hiding it?

Then she thought about Philip. The answer was a resounding, 'Yes.'

She ventured in, speeding up as she now knew that she was out of prying eyes. She would, of course, have sensed if the lanky human was anywhere around, so she knew that she had time to spare. If did not take an Alpha to track his clumsy movements.

But, why waste time? If she was not hasty, it was not because of overconfidence. No, she valued precision on any job and she was going to be very precise about how she did this.

She gripped the zipper of the duffle bag with one paw and pulled backward. She smiled furtively as the bag opened to reveal…

A ratty old bathrobe, a toothbrush, and a flashlight. Under that were a few shirts and pants, which explained how Phil could occasionally change into new clothes every so often. But other than that, nothing mysterious. Kate still wasn't sure what "jammies" were, but from what she saw, they mustn't be anything too exciting.

She laughed. "Maybe you were right, Humphrey," she whispered as she turned away from the bag. "Humans are just weird. Maybe there isn't any further explanation than that."

As she walked out of the cave, Kate reflected that despite being weird, humans weren't so different from wolves, at least in some ways. There were, apparently, Alphas and Omegas in the human world too. And Philip was definitely an Omega. She chuckled to think of some of his antics. Actually, she could see why he was so taken with Lilly; they were a lot alike. There were some people, like her, who are just cut out for responsibility and leadership, and then there are others, like Lilly and Phil, who aren't.

Yep, Kate reflected, there was no way her sister was ever going to be the leader she was technically supposed to be. Which was fine, it just wasn't in her. Everybody had always known it. There was no reason to think that that would suddenly change just because Lilly and Garth's marriage would unite the packs. Humphrey, now he might have promise, but Lilly was always just going to be the quiet wolf in the corner, even when it came to leadership. Kate just knew it.

And as for Phil, he was a nice enough guy but Kate could tell that he had never experienced the thrill of the hunt, the fast-paced excitement of leaping out of danger at the last moment. And he may have a noble streak in him, but Phil wasn't the type who could handle responsibility, who could come through when other people were depending on him. All in all, she concluded, there was simply no way Philip Urich could ever be a great man…


Hmm, nothing seems to be missing. That's good. Not that I thought toothpaste or an old bathrobe would net much on the lupine black market, but still. I've seen stranger things. I've been stranger things…

On that note, I'm sure you're wondering by now why I'm not worried about the costume or about the several tons of C-4 laced pumpkins that are clearly not in my duffle bag any longer. But trust me, you don't need to worry about any of that. What, did you really think that I'm a big enough dork that I'd just leave my Goblin gear lying around even though I knew that every wolf in the pack is on high alert for any clues concerning the Goblin's sudden reappearance?

Don't answer that…

No, as it turns out, when I got back from my little adventure (the one where Kate unwilling tried out a new red hair-color), I was looking for somewhere to store my Goblin gear, knowing that the heat would really be on me now. So, I looked around the cave until I found this little cubby-hole behind a rock at the far end of the wall. I don't know what it's doing there or even if it's natural or man-made. (Wolf-made?) Could even be one of those secret shafts smugglers hid whiskey in during Prohibition. Wait, they had Prohibition in Canada, right? I knew I should have paid more attention in history class!

Anyway, I stored all my Goblin goodies in there, figuring that if no one had mentioned it to me and the den's been abandoned for years, that there was a good chance that nobody else knew about this hiding-space. And it looks like I was right to hide my stuff, too! 'Cause somebody's definitely been here and, like I said, I don't think they were after my old pairs of pants. Betcha still don't think I'm a dork anymore, do you?

Don't answer that…

I go over to the rock, pull it back and breathe a sigh of relief as I see Old Gruesome grinning back at me. Well, I'm glad somebody think's it's a real laugh riot. If only he could have seen me today, then he would have had something to grin about!

So, I'm treating my mask like it's another person now. Oookayyy….

"Phil, just the man I wanted to see."

I jump and hurriedly throw my back against the rock, pushing it back over my goodies.

And, as I pray that I haven't given myself away, I see Humphrey standing there. Strange, he never meets me in my den.

"Hey, Humphrey," I say, "you looking for something to do now that Kate's out of action?"

Humphrey doesn't answer me. Instead, he starts talking, with his voice kinda cracked, about today's adventure. "So, I hear you and Lilly almost got killed today. Well, that's… that's something. It's like everybody's getting… you know… that's something."

He's apparently worried. And he probably should be. His blissful existence has been upset by all these new dangers. Me, I'm too busy trying to wrap my mind around everything to worry much. And it's not like I haven't been proactive on the 'confronting danger' front.

"But hey," he says at last, "what's like without a little risk, right? I mean, if life wasn't risky, we'd be just sitting around bored all day. And then we'd all probably end up hating each other." He was obviously trying to lighten the mood with a joke. I can't help but smile. It is better than what I'd probably come up with in this situation.

"Yeah," I say, "like, I can tell you're one big happy family when the conflict passes. I mean, there's just so much tension in the air even on a quiet day. Boy, you must need stuff like this to keep you from killing each other!"

Humphrey shrugs. "Really, it's not that bad. Most days are quiet, and nice, and peaceful. And then we Omegas manage to get into something and ruin all of that tranquility!"

I laugh a little. Humphrey flinches. Oops.

"But… what I really came here for was to see if you wanted to do any more log-sledding with me and the guys," he says. "Since you're such a natural and all."

"Don't you guys ever do anything but log-sledding?" I say. He seems a bit hurt, so I clarify. "Not that there's something wrong with it, it's just that I don't think I could top the sheer insanity of my debut run. At least not without getting maimed and killed in some unbelievably brutal and violent way. So, I've decided to retire while my log-sledding career is still at its height. That way, people will always remember me at the top of my log-game."

Humphrey laughs. "Okay, but since you're retired, I guess we'll have to put you on the old-folks' log. It only goes two miles-per-hour."

Sadly, compared to what I've been cruising with lately, that might just be an improvement.

"I'm sure we can find something else fun to do," Humphrey says. "Let's just get out of here before we waste any more daylight."

Why not? It's not like I've got any more pressing engagements planned. "Sure," I say.

And then me and Humphrey set out. But something's not quite right. As soon as I step out of the den, I hear shouting.

"What's that?" I say, looking upward in the direction of Winston and Eve's den.

"Oh, nothing," Humphrey says. "I'm sure Winston and Tony are just having an argument about which of the packs gets first dibs on the next caribou again. It's nothing to worry about."

He's lying. I can tell in his voice that he's lying. He's worried, scared, and he doesn't want me to know about it. Fine, but I've just got to see what's up there.

"But Humphrey," I say as a smirk starts to form on my face. "I thought you said that the purpose of uniting the packs was so you didn't have to fight over caribou anymore."

He's floored by my logic but I don't wait for him to recover and hit me with the inevitable witty retort. Instead, I take off up the mountain path. I can hear Humphrey chasing after me with calls of "Wait, Phil!" but I don't listen. He's eventually able to pass me up, being a wolf and all, but even without my Goblin powers I'm able to weave around him. Finally, he just tries to stretch himself around the whole of the pathway, blocking my way. So, I jump, hoping that my Goblin agility kicks in and I clear over him. I'm not so lucky, as I end up crashing right into him and we both tumble to the ground. But at least now I'm near the cliff, right near Winston and Eve's place. So I extricate myself from the tangled mess we've become and get the rest of the way up before Humphrey can stop me.

"I told you it was a bad idea, Winston," Tony says, "to let Alphas marry Omegas! If Kate would have just married my son Garth, we wouldn't be having any of this trouble!" As usual, he brings a ray of sunshine to even the darkest occasions!

"Tony, there's no need to go there," Winston says, once again trying to put the cool on his opposite number's temper. Lilly's cowering behind her father as Eve and Kate look on, both looking positively livid at Tony. Garth stands with his father, and the look on his face is none too kind either.

"Yes, there is, Winston," Tony responds, with just a hint of a growl. "We decided to let Garth marry your Alpha school reject of a daughter. And because of that, she started getting delusions of grandeur, aspiring above her station as an Omega, and nearly got herself killed and who knows what else! If we let this keep going on, it'll be the end of both our packs!"

"If you've got a problem with my daughter," Eve says, stepping forward and putting her face in Tony's, "why don't you say it to my face and see how long I let you live!"

Tony takes a few small steps back (probably to avoid being so close to Eve's fangs) but otherwise he stands firm. When he talks again, he very purposefully ignores Eve. "Winston, there's still time to make this right. Garth and the Omega haven't married yet, and neither has Kate. We can still have them marry each other and settle this once and for all!"

From what I've gotten from Lilly, Tony was the one who was so big on pushing Kate and Garth's marriage the first time around. Guy's like a broken record, isn't he?

Kate and Garth have looks of absolute disgust on their faces. "As if," Kate says. "We know who we want to marry and we'll marry who we choose!"

"Then, they'll be another war!" Tony says.

Kate smiles. Not because she's particularly happy with her boorish almost-father-in-law but because she knows she's got the upper hand of the argument. "Please! Since you and my parents allowed us to marry, the whole pack – eastern and western – has really embraced the idea! No one wants to fight over it any more, no one even thinks it should be just Alphas with Alphas and Omegas with Omegas. If you tried to make war over it now, no one would follow you!"

She does make a good point. And I'm not just saying that because I still feel guilty about busting her head open.

I notice Lilly's trying to sulk away without being seen. Poor kid, having a whole war almost start because of her. I really can't think of a less fun thing than that.

Well, maybe going up against the Steel Slammer, but I digress.

"They'll follow me if I tell them to!" Tony yells.

"You're supposed to be retired, old wolf!" Kate yells back. And I can't help but chuckle at that.

The whole group flinches. Oops again! Now they know I'm here. Garth immediately rounds on me.

"No need to talk of me marrying Kate," he says, "because Lilly isn't to blame for this. No, it's all Phil's fault!"

"Humphrey, I thought I told you to keep Phil away from here," Winston says.

"I tried but he got away from me," Humphrey replies, for the first time nearly at a loss for words.

I'd love to add something fresh to this conversation but before I can say anything, I'm on my back. Garth has, for the second time today, pounced on me. You know, I must have some residual Goblin endurance or something, because my body really should have collapsed in on itself from the pressure the first time.

But now he's got his snout in my face and I carefully count the number of big, shiny teeth he's showing off. I wonder how to forestall getting better acquainted with them.

"What are you doing to her!" He barks in my face. "Tell me, what are you doing?"

"Garth, stop!" Kate says as she runs over. Garth gets off of me and walks toward her. "Kate, you said it yourself. Ever since Phil arrived, things have been getting strange around here. Especially with regard to Lilly. We have to figure out what he's up to!"

"He's not up to anything!" Kate says. And I never thought I'd hear her defending me. "I checked his bag today, and there was nothing in there!" Oh, that explains that mystery. I probably should have figured that one out on my own. But I never said I was an ace detective!

I start to stand up, but then Garth all of a sudden comes barreling toward me again. "No, he's doing something to her! He's hurting her! And I'm going to stop him!"

And a second later, I hit the rock-wall at a particularly bad angle. That never would have happened if I had my Goblin reflexes, but I don't, so there you go.

As I pick myself up, I feel the pain of three large scratches going through my shoulder. It's just too much for me to handle. I fall down and I think I cry out in pain. At least I don't actually, you know, cry tears. Like, that would be sooooo embarrassing…

So, what are my options here? Well, my powers aren't coming in, so I can't hope to go toe-to-toe with Garth. I do always have my old reliable, the Lunatic Laugh. Yeah, I could tear Garth's air-drums to pieces in a second – along with everybody else here. Not a good idea. Besides, that would just give away who I am. Well, I guess I'll just have to rely on one of the wolves to step in and save me.

"That's it, son!" Tony shouts. "Do what we should have done in the first place!"

Okay, scratch that idea. I am going to die.

And then Garth puts his head under my arm and flips me over, so that I'm lying flat on my back. And, who knows, something may be broken, 'cause I've lost all feeling in my arms and legs. But Garth ain't done with me yet. Despite all the shouts and orders from my friends (like, I am so not considering Tony a friend after this), he doesn't stop. It looks like I really am dead.

And then Lilly jumps in front of me, her speed causing her hair to go flying out of her left eye. "Garth, get back!" she says. And I think everybody's surprised by the commanding tone in her voice.

"Get out of the way, Lilly," Garth says.

"No, you go calm down! Phil hasn't done anything to hurt me! There's no reason to do this to him!"

"Lilly, get out of the way! That's an order!"

Lilly looks more determined than ever. "No, Garth, you will not order me around! You may be an Alpha and I may be an Omega, but I'm also your future mate. As far as I'm concerned, even though you may still be several ranks higher than me, our marriage alone makes us equals! So, you will not order me to do anything!"

You go, Lilly! Girl power! Er, Omega power! Girl Omega power? Whatever.

Seeing that his better half (Literally!) ain't gonna budge, Garth finally begins to settle down. "Okay, Lilly, fine," he says. "I'll cool off, sure. If that's what you want, fine."

Phew! Saved again! How do I always manage to survive these near-death situations? I must have a guardian angel somewhere. And today that guardian angel just happens to be a heaven-white little she-wolf named Lilly!

I begin to get up as Eve comes to look at my battle-scars. It's the first non-hostile action she's shown to me the whole time I've been here! Who knows, this could be the start of a beautiful relationship! A mutually-psychotic, beautiful relationship!

"Besides, we'll finish this later," Garth says as Tony looks on, beaming with pride. Funny, where have I met this family before? Somehow I think that maybe they're the ones who should be flying around in green Halloween costumes and giving out exploding pumpkins!

I don't particularly like the threat, but then what Garth says next really gets to me. "I mean, I can get what I want to know out of Phil any time! He's, after all, just a puny, pathetic, weak, little human who couldn't even defend himself from a spider!"

A spider! Moi? Unable to defeat a spider? If he had said anything else, anything at all, I might have let it pass. But, as it is, with this I just completely lose control.

"I mean, look at him!" he continues. "That's the sort of thing we did for play in Alpha school and it's completely knocked him out! What a loser!"

That's it, buddy! I've had enough!

"I can see why he's hanging out here! The humans couldn't even find a use for him! He might as well not even exist!"

Nobody disses the Green Goblin!

I jump to my feet and push Lilly out of the way. I run toward Garth with all my might and he turns just in time to see my fist coming in for a wild haymaker! It sends him flying back into the rock-wall and he plows several inches into it without stopping. And I start to giggle a little. It's all I can do to keep from a full blown Lunatic Laugh.

And then I notice that everybody's staring at me. Everybody. They're all watching me, shocked, confused, maybe a little scared. Unflappable Kate looks like she's about to be flapped. Eve for the first time has a look in her eye other than her two favorite choices; protective and homicidal. Winston looks deeply pained and Tony just stands there, his mouth hanging open. Humphrey, well, his face is about the same as Tony's, except his eyes look a little frightened.

And then there's Lilly. She's positively frozen. She doesn't even notice that the fur has fallen over her one eye again. Her mouth hangs open, not wide like Humphrey's and Tony's, but somehow it looks more shocked than either of them. There's something in her eyes. Fear? No, not fear. No, she looks… hurt? She looks hurt and angry and I think all that pain and anger is directed toward… me!

You know, I think I might have just made a big mistake.

"Phil," Lilly says quietly. "How… could you?"

She then runs over to Garth, who is slowly unpeeling himself from the new cavern he's created. She licks his face as he gets down and whispers into his ear. And I'm feeling really great about myself right now…

I must be the world's biggest dork!

Winston starts to walk toward me. "Philip…" he says.

But he can bag that noise for all I care! I am out of here! I don't need any more of this awkward silence to know it would be better if I was someplace else! So I just turn and bang out of there before anyone can stop me. Nobody even tries.

I head back down toward my cave. I must look like a man on a mission, because all the wolves I come across just get out of my way. Once I'm there, I pull the blanket back from my makeshift glider. I hop aboard and let the thing carry me out into the open air. I really don't care who sees me at this stage, but the mountain and valley seem deserted when I hit the sky. And I just head off for the far side of the valley.

So what the heck am I supposed to do now? I don't know! Should I scrap my Goblin gear and my glider together and bag this whole scene for the town and Jenny? Should I just try and ride out the consequences of my actions no matter what happens? I don't know. Right now, I just want to get some air and try and sort myself out.

I mean, why did I do it? Why did I hit Garth? Because he was talking about jumping me later and he was mocking me? Now I'm sure he'll think twice before he does that again. But still, I could have forgot all that, but then he mentioned about that spider.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few years, you know Goblins and Spiders don't mix. What drove Norman and Harry Osborn to play around in their green and purple tights for so long after it had lost any practical benefit? They're obsessive hatred of Spider-Man. And what killed them both? That same hatred of that one person; Spider-Man.

Now me, I don't got anything against the wall-crawler. In fact, we didn't make such a bad team (not a great team, but not bad) when we actually met up that one time. But, I guess it's just a professional thing. As a self-respecting Goblin with an image to maintain, I don't like being so unflatteringly compared to any of those Spider-guys. Spider-Man, Scarlet Spider, doesn't matter. I know Garth wasn't referring to those Spiders, but I guess something in me just… just snapped!

Well, I guess my cover's pretty much blown by now. I mean, that was text-book Super-Goblin Strength. And to add to it, once I've sent Garth flying, I just stand there with a dopey smile on my face and offer up some Lunatic Giggles. You don't get more obvious than that!

I spend some time wallowing in a healthy dose of self-pity as I glide to parts unknown. And then, suddenly, my glider starts to backfire! The thing's kicking and sputtering like it's never done before. Suddenly, it starts to take a nose-dive and there's nothing I can do to stop it! My only hope is to jump off and pray that I don't break anything too vital. So, as we start to near the ground I jump and as I'm about to meet the forest floor, I tuck my head in and roll out of the glider's path. This is why Norman Osborn didn't build his glider out of used car-parts in the first place. I guess five miles-per-hour was just pushing the thing too hard.

Yeah, I'm a real daredevil, ain't I? No, not that Daredevil! Please…

As I get off, the glider completes its arc to the ground and starts swerving off into the forest. Oookaayyy… At least it didn't blow up! But, being the conscientious and responsible person I am (What? There's a first time for everything!), I decide to go after it and make sure it doesn't brutally maim someone or start a fire or something. I know it's remote out here, but I don't want to take the chance! Like, if there's a tribe of talking wolves in these parts, who knows what else is out there, just wanting revenge for being harmed by a seriously mean car-part glider? Me, I don't particularly want to find out...


Everybody sat in silence on the edge of the cliff. Nobody knew quite what to say. After all, what was there to say after the great scene which had just presented itself? Humphrey, remembering his duty as an Omega, took it upon himself to offer up something.

"So, he he, what about this weather we're having, huh? All blue and sunny, I mean, what's up with that? When are we going to get some rain-clouds or something, he he?"

"Garth, what on Earth is wrong with you?" Eve said to her future son-in-law.

"Okay, not the response I was expecting," Humphrey said. He had broken the ice, but not in the way he wanted.

Tony now confronted Eve. "What do you mean what's wrong with my son? What's wrong with your daughter? She should have just let him finish off the human when he had the chance! It would have saved us a lot of trouble!"

"Because murder by one of the future head Alphas would look so good in our pack's history," Kate said. "Garth, what got into you? Weren't you trained to keep your emotions in check?"

"Says the Alpha who nearly drove the pack to war because she was in love with an Omega," Tony mumbled.

"Hey, come on, guys," Humphrey said, trying to regain the moment. "Really, why is it always sunny here? I for one could use with a good bath every so often!"

Garth and Lilly were huddled in a corner.

"Are you alright?" Lilly said. "You took a bad hit there."

Garth looked into her eyes. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I don't know what came over me. It's just that, with everything that's been happening, I just can't think straight anymore."

He got up and walked over to his father and his future in-laws. "I'm sorry, I've brought disgrace to the pack through my actions. I'll take whatever punishment you see fit."

"Son, you're a future Head Alpha, you don't need to take anything from anybody!" Tony said.

"Dad, I want to face punishment for my actions. It will show the pack that nobody is above our law and that we cannot tolerate such blatant infractions from any one, especially when they result in danger to others."

Tony nods in understanding. "Of course, you're right, Garth. I never thought the day would come when my son would have to correct me on pack law. But, you're right. Winston, Eve, and I will have to decide a suitable punishment."

Garth nodded and began to walk away. As he did so, Humphrey walked over and studied the Garth-shaped hole in the wall. "Wow, Phil really slugged Garth good, didn't he?"

Kate gave her future mate a 'not now' look but Garth did not seem to be paying attention. He and Lilly disappeared down the path, heading for their den. Kate now stepped beside Humphrey.

"I just… I just didn't think Phil could hit like that," Humphrey whispered.

"Probably Garth's fault more than Phil's," Kate answered. "He was definitely not prepared for an attack, and I think his weight and size did the rest."

Kate looked over her shoulder to see her parents coming close to Tony. They all seemed solemn as they talked in whispered tones. Kate got the hint.

"Come on, Humphrey, let's go for a walk."

"But Kate, your head!"

"It's just a walk, Humphrey! Come on!"

Humphrey shrugged as he followed her down the path, leaving the three leaders in peace.