With the threat of Cronus looming over their heads, Maleficent, Hades, and Blackheart returned to the Eminence Palace immediately to regroup. Ardyn Izunia, having nowhere else better to go, opted to come with them. Maleficent and Hades invited Ardyn to the castle lounge for tea and coffee while they discussed what to do. Grimhilde and Imperious, intrigued by the newcomer, joined them.
"Tell me your story Ardyn," Maleficent said as she poured a cup of tea and handed it to him. "If we are to be allies, I wish to understand who you are."
"Of course, m'lady, and thank you," Ardyn said as he took the tea. "Where shall I begin? I suppose at the very beginning. My home world, Eos, was ravaged by an incurable blight of darkness known as the Starscrouge that twisted men and beasts alike into horrible daemons."
"Was the scourge connected to the Heartless?" Grimhilde asked.
"Hard to say," Ardyn said with a shrug. "I suspect all darkness is connected in the end, but we're getting off topic already. You see, I possessed a certain special gift granted to me by a treacherous crystal that empowered the Lucian kings: the ability to cure the afflicted by taking the darkness into my own being. I was a savior to our people, but my jealous brother demonized and ostracized me, branding me a daemon as well. He went on to sire a dynasty of kings, whilst I was cursed to wander my world for all eternity."
"Oy vey, brothers, am I right?" Hades said with a sigh. "Can't live with 'em; can't TORCH them in their sleep or mom'll be pissed. I have a high and mighty jerk of brother too, who, coincidentally, also got to become king whilst I got made a pariah. You've got my sympathies, babe."
"Most appreciated," Ardyn said with a nod as he sipped his tea. "Now where was I? Ah yes! I wandered for centuries, longing for my revenge against my brother's bloodline, but not just any Lucian King would do. No, the end of my brother's bloodline had to come with the death of a king chosen by the same crystal that rejected me in favor of my brother. I took some waiting and arranging, but finally one came about: King Noctis. He entered the crystal and remained there for ten years, during which I waited patiently. After nine years and nine months, your Overtakers arrived on my doorstep."
"Hades told me you were lying in wait for an enemy," Maleficent said. "This... Noctis, I assume?"
"Indeed so," Ardyn nodded.
"And what became of him," Imperious asked. "Though, need I truly ask? Given where you ended up, I'd say you failed miserably."
Ardyn did not become enraged at that remark; he merely smirked. "Best not to make assumptions before the story is done. Noctis did indeed return for our final showdown: the battle of kings! After a glorious battle indeed, he sacrificed his own life to slay me and cure our world of the darkness. Even in death, I was granted my ultimate desire: the end of my brother's dynasty and the end of the power of the crystal. I had thought to remain at peace afterwards, yet Hades's gift to me was too delicious an opportunity to pass up: a world in which my hated rival is dead and I can begin anew."
"Begin anew with what, exactly?" Grimhilde asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Is it not obvious?" Ardyn asked as he propped his feet up on the coffee table. "I have been cured of the Starscourge and born anew. My brother's dynasty has come to an end. Now it's time for mine to begin. Alongside the Overtakers, of course."
"And why should any of use trust you?" Imperious asked.
"I owe my new beginning to Hades," Ardyn explained. "I'm more than happy to repay my gratitude in loyalty."
Imperious scoffed. "Don't tell me you actually trust this vagabond, Maleficent!"
"More so than I do you," Maleficent replied. "Welcome to the Overtakers, Ardyn Izunia. Your new dynasty shall begin very soon, but first we must attend to Cronus."
"Oh yes, attend to a titan king more powerful than the Master whilst we're all still catching our breath," Imperious said with a scoff. "What sound logic you have, Maleficent."
Maleficent was about to scold Imperious for his remark, when Grimhilde interrupted her before she could speak.
"Mistress, if I may," Grimhilde chimed in. "Perhaps gathering our strength is the best course of action at present. Take the power we can whilst we prepare to deal with our enemies. There is a particular target I wish to pursue, and time is of the essence. Should all go according to plan, I will be able to kill that meddlesome Sora for you in the process."
Maleficent nodded. Grimhilde's request was a reasonable one, and it would buy Maleficent time to devise a new goal to grant them control of all worlds. Maleficent, however, hated to be questioned, and the thought of letting Imperious believe he had a point infuriated her. However, desperate times called for swallowing one's pride... if only for a moment.
"Very well," Maleficent said with a nod. "We shall gather whatever power we can manage for now. The worlds require a reminder of the wrath of the Overtakers. Let us see that they get one."
Fish and Ursula arrived at the world known as Twilight Town, following the lead they received from the struggle flyer left in Morgana's cave. However, for a world known as Twilight Town, it had certainly taken a turn for the darker. The sky was no longer twilight but, rather, midnight, and the buildings that had once been painted oranges and reds to match the sunset had been done over in royal blues and sickly greens. The roads all seemed to now be covered in a sheet of black sand. Shambling undead Mamlucks patrolled the streets as something of a city watch.
To avoid drawing too much attention to themselves, Ursula had taken on her Vanessa disguise and Fish was dressed in one of her more neutral colored outfits (though it was hardly subtle, as nothing in Fish's closet qualified for that particular label). The two women strolled through the Tram Common of Market Street, where, despite the aesthetic changes, citizens were still going about their usual business. It was as if nothing had truly disrupted anyone's daily routine.
"Those are definitely Mozenrath's Mamlucks," Fish whispered to Ursula.
"Without a doubt," Ursula agreed. "My old prune of a sister must've gone running to him after the World That Never Was battle."
"Think he'll be a threat to the Overtakers?" Fish asked.
"He's gotten in our way before," Ursula said. "If he managed to conquer this world, he might just have the means to give us a run for our money."
"We should see if one of the locals could tell us something more," Fish said.
Fish scanned the crowd for an easy target and her eyes landed on a young man with slicked back blonde hair who was playing on his phone.
"Excuse me, sir," Fish said as she waved the young man down. "Hello there, my name is Maria, and this is my friend Vanessa."
"I'm Biggs," the young man said with a polite smile.
"We're from... out of town, and I'm afraid we're not very up to date on what's going on here," Fish said. "Didn't this use to be Twilight Town? What happened?"
Biggs's polite smile faded away almost instantly, and he began to talk in hushed tones. "You ladies are from outside? How'd you get past the perimeter?"
"Well...," Fish began. "You see..."
"I'm something of an amateur sorceress," Ursula whispered so that only Fish and Biggs could hear. "I teleported us here through my magic."
Biggs's eyes widened. "So does that mean... you could get people out?"
"Possibly," Ursula replied with a shrug. "But we need to know what's going on here first."
"Right, right," Biggs said. "Well, this evil wizard guy named Mozenrath showed up here with the Sorcerer's Society, a team of villains with some crazy dangerous powers. He took over everything on this side of the train tracks, and he would've taken over all of Twilight Town if Roxas and Naminé hadn't stopped him from expanding into Sunset Terrace. Most of the Sorcerer's Society are off fighting Roxas at the perimeter, but Mozenrath himself stays cooped up in the old mansion."
"Who all is on this... Sorcerer's Society?" Fish asked.
"Umm... I don't really know all their names," Biggs admitted. "There's a woman with swords, a guy with a dragon skull helmet, some flying wolves, the witch who's building herself a temple on the Sandlot, and this freaky octopus lady too!"
"Morgana," Vanessa said under her breath.
"The witch sounds like Hecate," Fish added, "and the sword woman must be Miratrix. Don't know who the man in the dragon skull could be. He must be new."
"Oh! And there's also the theater cast, the Mysterious Players" Biggs added.
"Mysterious Players?" Fish asked. "Who are the Mysterious Pl-"
A loud bell began to ring, interrupting Fish's question. Everyone on the streets seemed to be gravitating to a single area of the Tram Common.
"You're about to find out," Biggs said. "It's the mandatory daily theater show. Don't let the Mamlucks catch you skipping. They'll throw you in the jail for a week."
Biggs led Fish and Ursula over to a large outdoor amphitheater. The stage area had a large banner overhead with big green bold letters that read:
THE QUENTIN BECK ARENA OF EXTRAVAGANZA
"Quentin Beck?" Ursula said out loud. "Why does that name sound familiar?"
Fish shrugged. "No clue. I've never heard of him."
Twin spotlights scanned over the crowds as a deep announcer voice boomed through the loud speakers.
"Welcome to the Quentin Beck Arena of Extravaganza! Thank you for joining us today for the mandatory daily performance of the Mysterious Players! Please silence your cellphones and absolutely NO flash photography. And now, without further ado... The Mysterious Players!"
In a plume of smoke, seven figures appeared, all dressed in identical clothing: green body armor, purple capes, and silver fish bowl esque helmets. Fish and Ursula's jaws dropped as they realized exactly where they'd heard Quentin Beck's name before.
"Did you even notice that Mysterio was missing?" Fish asked.
"Honestly, I forgot all about him," Ursula admitted.
The seven illusions of Mysterio all held out their arms, gesturing to center stage. The twin spotlights locked on the location that the illusions were gesturing towards as the booming announcer voice spoke back up.
"And now, please give a warm welcome to your host with the most, QUENTIN BECK!"
A plume of smoke erupted center stage as Quentin Beck appeared to the sound of raucous applause that didn't seem to be coming from anyone in the audience. Beck, unlike his backup illusions, was not dressed as Mysterio. Instead, Beck was sporting a green and purple spiral patterned sequins suit and his black hair spiked up with green and purple streaks dyed into it.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Beck said as he bowed to his "adoring" public. "Your undying love and support truly means the world to me! But then again... who could blame you? I'm simply the most WONDERFUL thing that has ever graced your boring town with my presence. But now, I want you all to give a great big hand to the SECOND most wonderful thing to grace your boring town: my lovely assistant, MADAME FROU FROU!"
Again applause came from nowhere as a second plume of smoke deposited Madame Frou Frou next to Beck. Even from the back row, Fish could tell that "Madame" Frou Frou was a man in drag, but no one in the audience seemed to notice or mind. If anything, they all seemed bored and thoroughly uninterested. Frou Frou was sporting a gown that matched Beck, but hers was more muted and less sparkly so as to not upstage the attention whore-in-chief.
"And now, Twilight Town," Beck said as he slipped on a pair of golden rimmed sunglasses. "I bid you all welcome... to the Greatest Show!"
Music suddenly began to play, and the Mysterio backup performers began to sing with drawn out "woahs."
"Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for," Beck began to sing.
"You've been searching in the dark," Madame Frou Frou sang along with a thick accent that seemed to be a strange bastardization of French and Hungarian. "Your sweat soaking through the floor."
"And buried in your bones is an ache that you can't ignore," Beck sang. "Takin' your breath."
"Stealing your mind," Frou Frou added.
"And all that was real is left behind!" the two sang in harmony.
"Don't fight it, it's comin' for you, runnin' at ya," Beck sang as he ran across the stage.
"It's only this moment, don't care what comes after," Frou Frou sang with a wag of her finger.
"Your fever dream, can't you see it gettin' closer?" Beck said as his illusions morphed into some strange monster that could only have been imagined during a fever dream.
"Just surrender 'cause you feel the feeling taking over!" Frou Frou sang with an intense glare at the audience as if it were an order.
Beck slid back to center stage from the next verse. "It's fire!" A jet of green flames burst next to him at the music's beat. "It's freedom!" The illusion of a giant chain breaking in the background. "It's floodin' open!" A jet water seemed to propel Beck into the air.
"It's a preacher in the pulpit," Frou Frou sang as the Mysterio illusions all took on the appearance of nuns behind her, "and your blind devotion."
"There's somethin' breakin' at the brick of every wall," Beck sang as the illusion of a brick wall crumbled behind him.
"It's holdin' all that you know," Frou Frou sang.
"So tell me do you wanna GO?" they sang in unison.
Now both of them sang together with the Mysterio backup singers singing along with them.
"Where it's covered in all the colored lights." The entire stage began to look like a bowl full of skittles. "Where the runaways are runnin' the night. Impossible comes true; it's takin' over you."
"Oh, this is the greatest show!" the Mysterio singers proclaimed by themselves.
"We light it up, we won't come down," Beck and Frou Frou jumped back in as the illusion of a giant sun appeared over them and quickly faded out. "And the sun can't stop us now! Watchin' it come true; it's takin' over you..."
"Oh, this is the greatest show!" the Mysterio singers repeated over and over until Beck and Frou Frou jumped back in for one final echo and fireworks went off behind them to commemorate the end of the musical number.
The audience burst into applause... or at least, the illusion of them doing so did. Beck and Frou Frou blew kisses to their "fans" as the illusions of flowers being thrown on stage showered them to feed their egos.
Fish leaned over to Ursula and whispered, "I think we've seen enough. Let's get out of here before they do an encore."
Jafar's hourglass revealed the identity of the thief who had beaten them to the Treasure Sphere containing Maui's fish hook. That was why Jafar and Hook now found themselves traversing the bioluminescent wonderland of Lalotai, the realm of monsters in the Sea of Te Fiti, the very world in which the fish hook originated.
"There's so many wonderous colors down here," Hook remarked. "In all my years of voyaging, I've never gazed upon anything so prismatic."
"The colors are a trap," Jafar warned. "A useful tool to draw unsuspecting prey into an early grave. Do be sure not to touch anything."
Jafar pressed onward, and Hook followed after him. However, after walking several paces down the selected path, something caught Hook's eye. Sitting there, just off the beaten path, was a beautifully decorated treasure chest painted with pinks and blues and brilliant golds. Hook glanced up at the ocean water overhead and figured that such wonderous treasure must've been lost overboard from a ship. Hook shrugged, figuring that their loss was his gain, and knelt down to pry open the lock.
However, as he did, something tall and stringy that he'd assumed was merely more seaweed struck down at him. Hook barely managed to roll away before the stingers could paralyze him. Hook drew his sword as the sand around the chest shook itself off and a giant blue and yellow monstrous catfish emerged from it's hiding place. The "seaweed" that had lashed out was the creature's antennae, and the beautiful chest seemed to melt right into the beast's nose. The catfish roared and lunged at Hook, but before it could make a dinner of the captain, it was frozen in midair, encased in a block of solid ice.
"I warned you not to touch anything," Jafar hissed as he lowered his staff.
Hook sheathed his sword and let out a deep sigh. "My apologies, mate. Thank you for saving me... truly."
Jafar scoffed and proceeded onward. "See to it that it doesn't become a regular occurrence. I rather loathe allies who cannot fend for themselves."
The sorcerer and the pirate finally made their way to their destination: a large spiraling hermit crab shell that acted as the lair of the thief who stole the cache out from under them. The two Overtakers peered into the lair to see a giant mountain of treasure. Gold and jewels of every sort, presumably pilfered from the Treasure Sphere, were piled up in excess. Yet one treasure was not there: the fish hook that Jafar sought.
"Have we come all this way for nothing?" Jafar spat.
"I'd hardly call a king's ransom nothing," Hook said, practically drooling as he walked towards the mountain of gold. "How much do you think we could carry back to the ship?"
"Take whatever you want," Jafar said with a pout. "It's of no use to me."
Hook didn't need to be told twice. He immediately began to shovel as much gold as he could from the mountain into his satchel. However, as he began to do so, the entire mountain of treasure began to shake. Learning from his experience with the catfish, the second the shaking began, Hook ran away from the treasure mound and back to Jafar. The two watched as the treasure mound itself stood up, revealing an enormous purple and pink coconut crab missing one of his legs.
"Who dares steal from Tamatoa?" the crab bellowed. "I mean, really, it's so not polite. I only just got myself turned back upright, and now I've got to deal with more thieves. I really need better security."
Tamatoa's left eye spotted them before his right.
"Agh! Humans!" Tamatoa spat.
"You were the one who stole Maui's fish hook from the Treasure Sphere!" Jafar shouted accusingly.
"Of course I did," Tamatoa said. "No way I was passing up that treasure... well, okay, until Maui and his little girlfriend stole it back from me. So I'm not about to let you two steal any more of my treasure!"
"I think now would be an excellent time to open a Corridor of Darkness out of here," Hook said. "The hook obviously isn't here any more."
"Quite right," Jafar nodded. "I shall-"
But Jafar stopped short when he noticed something amongst Tamatoa's treasures: a golden oil lamp not unlike a certain lamp he'd held in his own two hands once.
"A lamp!" Jafar proclaimed. "GET ME THAT LAMP!"
"A lamp?" Hook asked. "I'll buy you one at the Radiant Garden marketplace with fringe along the shade. Let's go!"
"NO! I NEED THAT LAMP!" Jafar roared.
"Oh, so now you're sizing up more of my shiny treasure to steal?" Tamatoa said with outrage dripping from his words. "I will eat you both for such insolence!"
Tamatoa's giant claw descended upon the two Overtakers, but Jafar simply blasted it away with magic from his snake staff. Tamatoa recoiled and shook his claw in pain.
"Ooh, that really smarts, you know?" Tamatoa complained. "You dare to strike me with your... your... your very shiny staff. With so much power too. I must have it!"
"You'll not have my staff, you worthless crustacean," Jafar roared.
"Jafar, I don't think antagonizing him is the best idea right now," Hook urged.
"Question, what's better than a song?" Tamatoa posited before answering. "The REPRISE of a song!"
Music began to echo throughout the chamber as the exit sealed itself off. Tamatoa lunged towards the two Overtakers and swatted Hook out of the way, sending him tumbling clear across the cave.
"I'm gonna be SHINY!" Tamatoa began to sing. "I'm the sunrise on the surface of the sea!"
Jafar fired more blasts of energy from his staff at the approaching crab, but they barely seemed to phase the brute this time.
"Look at me, you see I'm so SHINY!" Tamatoa continued as he knocked Jafar over, sending the staff tumbling away from him. "Monsters'll see my weaponry and flee."
Tamatoa attempted to snatch up the staff, but Hook beat him to it. Hook rolled out of the way with the staff and tossed it back to Jafar.
"C'est la vie," Tamatoa shrugged. "Don't ya know?"
Jafar hoisted up his staff and summoned up a storm of poison rain over Tamatoa. The crab, however, simply shook his body happily as if he were enjoying a pleasant bath.
"I will shine, shine, shine like a rainbow after showers," Tamatoa boasted before lunging for the staff once more. "Your powers..."
Tamatoa snagged the staff, and though Jafar and Hook both attempted to pull it free of the crab's grip, his superior strength yanked it away.
"Will be mine, mine, mine!" Tamatoa boasted as he lifted up the staff and fired bolts of red lightning at his opponents from the scepter. "They'll be mourning you for hours! Bring flowers!"
Hook began attempting to climb up Tamatoa's back legs, a difficult feat with only one hand and a constantly dancing and moving crab. Jafar, however, was through playing games and transformed himself into the giant red genie. The genie attempted to physically tackle the powerful crab, almost knocking Hook off the creature's leg in the process.
"Call me selfish," Tamatoa shrugged as he pushed against Jafar. "Call me shellfish."
The crab hit a panel on the wall, and suddenly the entire cave went dark, with the only light coming from the bioluminescent algae. In this lighting, Tamatoa's golden treasure sparkled a bright cyan, and his face was lined with face paint markings.
"Far from the ones who looked down you," Tamatoa taunted as he knocked Jafar back, "chasing the power of magic to make yourself braver."
That seemed to strike a nerve with Jafar. The evil genie lashed out with a stream of fire that Tamatoa quickly doused by activating a water geyser between himself and the flames.
"It's never enough," Tamatoa taunted. "Love yourself, get your armor up."
Tamatoa then snagged Jafar's genie tail and began to spin him around the room, an act that made Hook, who had finally reached the treasure heap on Tamatoa's back, rather dizzy.
"We can see," Tamatoa said, "your heart is a vacancy!"
Tamatoa let go, causing Jafar to crash into the cave walls. Hook, meanwhile, finally steadied himself atop the treasure trove and stuffed the lamp that Jafar wanted into his satchel. While stuffing the lamp in the bag, he saw he also had a few crude gunpowder bombs that he'd crafted back on Neverland to keep the Lost Boys away from his supplies. If ever there was a time to use them, it was now.
"So why not be SHINY?" Tamatoa asked as Jafar shrunk back to human size. "Watch me dazzle like a diamond in the rough. Strut my stuff."
Jafar gritted his teeth at Tamatoa's reference to a "diamond in the rough." Hook hopped down from the crab's back and ran over to his injured comrade.
"My stuff is so SHINY!" Tamatoa sang.
Jafar, biting through the pain, summoned up four bandit Heartless to attack the crab on his behalf.
"Send your armies but they'll never be enough!" Tamatoa declared as he crushed the Heartless in a single blow. "My shell's too tough, little men!"
"Bloody Hell, just let us go with our lives and you can keep the staff!" Hook cried out.
"NO!" Jafar protested.
Tamatoa threw his head back and laughed. "You could try, try, try, but I hate negotiations, prostrations."
Tamatoa's claws struck forward again, but Hook swiped them back with his sword and a few waves of dark energy that he hadn't tapped into since his battle with Luxord. They seemed to send Tamatoa scurrying back, but Hook knew he wouldn't be stopped for long.
"You will die, die, die!" Tamatoa threatened. "Never test a big crustacean's impatience!"
Hook ran back over to Jafar and hoisted Jafar's arm over his shoulders.
"Unless you have something SHINY!" Tamatoa added. "Unless you have something SHIIINYYYYY!"
And just as Tamatoa held out his last note, Hook's crude bobs that he wedged under Tamatoa's shell went off. The giant crab cried out in agony and stumbled about trying to free himself of the source of the terrible pain. Tamatoa flailed about so much, that he dropped Jafar's staff. Hook quickly darted over to it and shoved the staff back into Jafar's hands.
"Now open a bloody Corridor of Darkness!" Hook ordered.
"Not without my lamp!" Jafar hissed.
"DO IT NOW!" Hook shouted, taking Jafar off guard.
The sorcerer, however, obeyed and swept himself and his lover away into the darkness as Tamatoa continued to flail about in pain.
It had taken some convincing, but eventually Steve and Daken had managed to win Kingpin over to their side. Smythe remained skeptical, but even he started to seem open to their proposition, which Daken figured was about as good as anyone was going to get with him. They'd even managed to talk Kingpin into getting Steve a change of clothes so that he wouldn't just be sitting around in ripped jeans with his privates hanging out.
"Here they come," Smythe announced when he saw the goblins flying in from the horizon. "Are you certain this will work?"
"No, but you don't have a better alternative to get rid of them," Daken pointed out.
"This will work!" Kingpin declared. "There is no reason to doubt the brilliance of the Kingpin!"
Smythe shot Steve and Daken a look that conveyed the message that there were a plethora of reasons to doubt his associate's "brilliance." Daken and Steve moved into position, crouching in the rafters. Kingpin and Smythe, meanwhile, tried to act natural, though their jittery anticipation was obvious to Daken looking down.
"We're baaaaaack!" the Green Goblin announced with a laugh as he and the Hobgoblin flew into the room, still riding their gliders.
"Ah, yes, welcome back, gentleman," Kingpin said. "I'm afraid there are matters we must discuss. It is high time we face the simple fact: Spider-Carnage isn't coming back."
"Oh ye of the little faith!" Hobgoblin scolded. "Our prisoners are going to lead us right to him!"
"I'm afraid not," Kingpin said. "I am have conducted an open and honest interrogation of Daken Akihiro and Steve Newlin, and I can assure you, they are a dead end lead. We must now focus on the future rather than the past."
"We don't work for you, Kingpin," the Green Goblin reminded him. "If what you say is true, then you've just given up your one chance to survive this. You've been left alive because Spider-Carnage needed you. If that's no longer true? Well then, it's time for you to pay for your sins against Norman Osborn!"
"I think not," Kingpin said. "NOW!"
On Kingpin's signal, Daken and Steve dropped from the rafters and knocked the goblins off their gliders. The two goblins tumbled to the floor as their gliders spiraled off in different directions. Daken extended his claws and ran towards the Green Goblin, but the goblin was swift and threw a pumpkin bomb directly at his opponent that exploded less than a foot away from Daken's face. The blast seared Daken's skin and knocked him backwards. Though the burns began to heal immediately, the pain certainly wasn't any less.
The Green Goblin scrambled to his feet and hopped back onto the glider, eagerly trying to regain altitude. Smythe, meanwhile, had taken to his cybernetic hover chair and flown into the fray. Smythe targeted the goblin with his chair's weapons system and launched a small compact missile at the glider. The Green Goblin barely managed to roll in midair out of the way, allowing the missile to collide with the wall and blow a hole in it.
The Green Goblin fired another pumpkin bomb from his glider, this time aiming directly for Smythe. Smythe's chair was clunkier and harder to maneuver than the Green Goblin's glider, and so Smythe did the only thing he could do and jumped free of the exploding chair. The goblin laughed as Smythe tumbled back down to Daken's side.
"I warned you he was practically invincible on that flying wing of his," Smythe said.
"Even gods bleed," Daken said with determination. "I'll keep him busy. You ground him!"
The Green Goblin swooped down upon Daken and Smythe. Smythe dashed off to the side while Daken continued to run directly in front of the glider's path, practically daring the goblin to pursue him. The Green Goblin dropped countless bombs as he cackled maniacally, with Daken barely able to stay ahead of the blast radius. With his focus so locked onto Daken, the Green Goblin had left Smythe unattended.
Smythe knew that he had one shot, and it had to be perfect. He charged the fins protruding from his shoulders with energy and unleashed them both, aiming for the steering mechanism on the underside of the glider. The laser blasts connected, and immediately the goblin seemed to wobble about aimlessly. It wasn't long before the Green Goblin crashed directly into the wall, causing the bombs in his glider to all detonate at once. Despite the heavy blast, the Green Goblin tumbled down to the ground, still alive and in one piece.
As the goblin struggled to get to his feet and reoriented himself, Daken ran up behind him and stabbed his claws through his opponent's back. The goblin cried out in pain and tried to squirm free, but Daken had made sure that his claws would pierce directly through the Green Goblin's heart... or whatever there was that was left of it. Finally, the goblin went limp, and Daken threw the supervillain's corpse down onto the floor, exposing his bloodied claws.
Smythe knelt down to the Green Goblin's corpse and pulled off the madman's mask, exposing Norman Osborn's face.
"I knew it," Smythe said.
"I've always wanted to do that to Osborn," Daken declared.
"As have I," Smythe agreed with a nod. "I suppose my father has now truly been avenged."
"And how does it feel?" Daken asked.
Smythe smiled. "Quite pleasant."
Whilst Daken and Smythe dispatched the Green Goblin, Kingpin and Steve Newlin had taken to battling the Hobgoblin. The Hobgoblin caused his two opponents to scatter with a well aimed pumpkin bomb in their direction. Just like the Green Goblin, the Hobgoblin knew he was infinitely more powerful atop his glider, and he scrambled towards it. Steve Newlin, with a burst of vampiric speed, dashed over to tackle the Hobgoblin before he could re-mount the glider.
It was only after Steve was rolling on the ground with the Hobgoblin that the young vampire realized that his vampiric strength had waned yet again. Though the Hobgoblin had no superhuman strength aside from armor that strengthened his muscles, he was easily able to get the upper hand over Steve who, prior to becoming a vampire, had barely been able to bench press the bar when working out. The Hobgoblin cackled as he pinned Steve down and pulled out a razor bat to slice the vampire's throat. With his powers waning, Steve doubted that he'd be able to heal from this.
Hobgoblin, however, found himself blasted off from on top of Steve. Kingpin held his diamond tipped cane threateningly as it smoked from the laser blast that he'd fired from it. Kingpin ran over to Steve and helped his comrade to his feet.
"Thanks for that," Steve said.
"This blasted pest has been a thorn in my side for some time!" Kingpin declared. "I was more than happy to do so!"
"Oh Kingpin, I'm hurt by your words," Hobgoblin said with a mocking sense of betrayal. "We've had some good times, haven't we? Remember that time I took over your empire? I'll have to do that again once I destroy you once and for all!"
"That will NOT happen!" Kingpin said with an angry roar as he hurled a nearby coffee table at the Hobgoblin.
The Hobgoblin rolled out of the way of the crashing table and tried to get to his feet. However, Kingpin was coming for him now, cane in hand. With strength unmatched by ordinary men, Kingpin brought down his cane on the Hobgoblin's shoulder. The goblin yelled out in pain and anger as he could feel the shoulder dislocating. Hobgoblin's only option was to keep Kingpin off of him by delivering the crime boss a well place kick to the knees.
Kingpin stumbled at the kick, and with his balance upset by the kick, he tumbled to the floor just long enough for Hobgoblin to get back up. The Hobgoblin drew a laser pistol from his holster and began to fire upon Kingpin. Kingpin scrambled to dodge the blasts and run for cover behind the desk. Steve saw his chance. While the Hobgoblin's attention was focused on Kingpin, he could wrestle the gun away.
Steve dashed up and grabbed onto the gun, forcing Hobgoblin to cease firing on the Kingpin. The Hobgoblin, however, did not relent the weapon. The two men tugged on the gun and struggled to wrest it free of the other man's grasp. Steve, however, became so focused on getting the pistol out of the Hobgoblin's hands that he did not notice where the barrel of the gun was pointing. The Hobgoblin pulled the trigger, and Steve screamed as the laser beam shot right through his side.
Steve doubled down in pain, and, just as he'd suspected, he wasn't healing. Steve looked up to see what the Hobgoblin was doing now, only to find the barrel of the gun in his face.
"Wasn't really a challenge," Hobgoblin said. "You're off your game, kid. Spider-Man is a bigger challenge than you, and you can die knowing just how pathetic your attempt at a fight was."
Steve closed his eyes and prepared for the worst. He heard a squishing and snapping noise that didn't sound like any gunfire that Steve had ever heard. He opened his eyes to see the Hobgoblin's headless corpse laying in front of him. The location of the Hobgoblin's head, however, was of far greater interest to Steve.
"Did you miss me?" Russell asked with a grin as he used the supervillain's severed head as a hand puppet to mouth the question.
Steve jumped into Russell's arms at what had to be vampiric speeds, causing his boyfriend to drop the severed head onto the ground.
"FUCK YES!" Steve said, practically crying as he pressed his mouth against Russell's.
And for that moment, nothing else mattered.