You were so preoccupied with the sudden appearance of Hammerhead and Tombstone that the Rhino succeeded in taking advantage of the distraction. Only at the last second did you realise that his fist was fast approaching your face, and by then you were flying through the air. Except this time, you had no control over where you were going.
Landing where the railing met the very edge of the platform, lava bubbling below, you contemplated how close to death you had been only a few hours ago and scuttled forwards.
Tombstone tipped a non-existent hat to Jessica and Sable and smiled at them both.
Tombstone: Miss Jones. Miss…Sable. It's been a while.
Jessica: Not long enough.
Sable: You two shouldn't have come. This is not your fight and you won't make a difference to it.
Sable sounded confident, but you weren't as assured, and Felicia had a look in her eyes that conveyed a similar belief.
Hammerhead: We're not planning to. See, my friend and I are here on business.
Tombstone adjusted his tie as a gesture of agreement.
Hammerhead: Business that some of you here would know about. Isn't that right, Kingpin?
At that revelation, the fight dwindled to a standstill, and everyone stopped what they were doing to follow the look Hammerhead shot at not the Hobgoblin, not Norman Osborn, but the man in chains next to him. Wilson Fisk.
Your mouth hung open, jaw unable to be closed. Wilson Fisk was the Kingpin. The same Wilson Fisk you had taken a limo ride with, broken bread with, saw as a symbol of hope for the city and a man to idolize, was the Kingpin. The illusion had shattered, and you found yourself struggling to comprehend it.
For what was in reality a few seconds, but felt like ages, Fisk did not respond. He cleared his throat with a dry swallow, and then said, in a cold voice not like the Wilson Fisk you knew at all:
Kingpin: I cannot help you now.
Hammerhead: What?
A vein broke out along his forehead, his anger reaching a boiling point in the span of a few seconds.
Kingpin: I'm sorry, Joseph.
Hammerhead: After everything I've done for you, all my years of service, this is the thanks you give me?
The Kingpin said nothing, just hung his head until it collided with his neck.
Hammerhead: Fine. I guess I'll tell you why we're here.
You, along with everyone but Mysterio, followed his story as he explained how long he had worked for Fisk – twelve years – before the Hobgoblin came along and, in his words, messed up what they had going on.
Hammerhead: Over and over again, I told him he wasn't worth keeping around, that he was a loose cannon, couldn't be trusted. But he was too stubborn to agree.
He then went on to explain, with the occasional point from Tombstone, that despite this difference in opinion they still remained loyal to any tasks that Fisk gave out.
One of Hammerhead's was to keep a close eye on you.
Suddenly the room did not seem extremely hot, but had frozen over, and you had a vivid enough sense of touch to feel each individual goosebump standing on end along your arms.
Tombstone's was to retrieve the Super Soldier Serum from Alias Investigations and kill Jessica.
Jessica: Didn't do a very good job of that, did you?
Tombstone: Luckily for you, Miss Jones, no. I failed my mission.
Baring his full set of fangs, he turned his attention to you.
Tombstone: Hammerhead did not.
Finding out that the Kingpin and Mayor Fisk were one in the same was already difficult to comprehend, but you ran your mind back across the weeks, all the times where you had been out in the open. Not once did you remember seeing Hammerhead.
You liked to think that you were an alert person, aware of your surroundings most of the time. Someone with a silhouette like Hammerhead's certainly stuck out, so it made even less sense how he slipped your focus.
Felicia: How?
Felicia thought out loud, asking the question for you.
Felicia: More why than how, actually. We both know Fisk has cameras everywhere. Why would he need your help?
Hammerhead: He can't see everything at once. He also can't be the Kingpin 24/7. When he's off playing mayor, that's where I come in.
That response may have satisfied Felicia, but it left you with more questions than answers.
What exactly did he know about? Your date with Gwen? Your night on the rooftop with Felicia?
Did he know, when the mask was pulled off, the bravado stripped away, who you really were?
Hammerhead: Anyways,
Hammerhead continued, leaving you in the dark.
Hammerhead: I'm here- we're here to tell you Fisk, that we won't be working for you no more. But we'll be taking our payment for that last job.
With Tombstone alongside him, Hammerhead started down the stairs towards…Fisk? Kingpin?
Luke gauged Jessica for a reaction, who, equally confused, merely shrugged her shoulders.
Sable: (whispering) What do we do?
Iron Fist: (whispering back) We wait. That's all we can do.
While you were prepared to see how things went, Doctor Octopus seemed to have other ideas and walked ahead to block Hammerhead's path
Hammerhead: Get out of my way.
Already he had curled up one hand into a fist.
Doctor Octopus: So sorry, but we were kind of in the middle of something here. Could you, oh I don't know, settle your petty money problems later?
Hammerhead: I won't ask you again, lady. Get out of my way.
Doctor Octopus: The name is Doctor Octopus, and I'm afraid I can't do that.
He attempted to muscle his way past, charging her with his shoulder, only for her to seize him by the waist with two of her tentacles. They squeezed around his midsection, her grip tightening until his face turned a bright red. This, knowing that she held Hammerhead's life in her hands, must have brought her some kind of sordid pleasure, as you could see her smile twisting and turning as the tentacles did the same.
Shocker charged up one of his gauntlets and pointed it at her.
Shocker: Let's not do anything too drastic, doc.
She looked back at him, slowly craning her neck in his direction.
Doctor Octopus: And what if I did? Who's going to stop me?
Shocker: I will.
Tombstone: And so will I.
Titania: Bring it, bitch.
What started out as Shocker launching one of his vibrational blasts turned into a full-on brawl with every villain for themselves; Tombstone wailing on Doctor Octopus, with the Absorbing Man failing to hold back Titania from knocking blood out of her mouth.
Daredevil watched in horror, able to make out every punch, every violent impact the force of their blows had. In your case, it was only a confirmation of a truth you knew for certain, and the Absorbing Man had even said as much.
There was no honour among thieves.
For that reason, when the Hobgoblin started to run away with his cape flailing behind him, you didn't think of it as cowardice. No, instead, he had sensed a losing battle and returned to form.
With the villains still at each other's throats, and your teammates not in a position to do anything about it, you decided to fly after the Hobgoblin.
Iron Fist: Wait! What are you doing?
Iron Fist called out, broken from his daze.
Y/N: Hobgoblin just ran away, I'm going after-
Your words faltered, voice almost silent, with the shadow of the Rhino swamping you.
Y/N: ₕᵢₘ.
His hand reached down, but as always, Rhino was sluggish, and had left himself open. You flew through the space between his legs, leaving Jessica and the others to fight the villains. If they ever stopped fighting themselves.
Past the stairs was a corridor that, like the one on the upper floors, seemed like it could go on for a hundred miles and the Hobgoblin would still be running. There were no lights to speak of, the corridor completely, oppressively, dark. The only details that indicated any movement were the grunts and shouts from the boiler room moving further and further away.
Y/N: No point trying to run, Hobgoblin. It's over!
Hobgoblin: Just don't know when to give up, do you? Fine. Maybe this will convince you.
He pulled something out – exactly what it was you couldn't tell, until it burst across the corridor in a flash of light. You ducked under the energy bullet from his pistol, and a moment later, it struck the ceiling hard enough to create debris. A few more shots were fired in the same vein, but they all missed, ricocheting or smashing against the walls.
The Hobgoblin turned, opening a door, and you followed him. It glowed an eerie yellow, not unlike something from a science fiction film, with buttons and levers everywhere. Attached to the wall at the very end of the room were three large vials, filled by a green substance that had no label or indication as to what its purpose was.
Once you stepped inside, the Hobgoblin did his best to retreat, moving away. It did not take long for him to be backed into a corner, the three vials above his head.
It only took a few steps for the distance between you and him to close. Both of you, you liked to believe, understood what had to happen. He did not pretend to look for a pumpkin bomb, or bluff with an empty pistol.
Hobgoblin: Don't worry. There aren't any last minute tricks.
He said in a gasping breath, trying to laugh but not having the energy. As he put up his fists, you put up yours. His lack of a human face made it difficult to discern whether or not he really did have no options. Maybe that was part of the bluff.
Before you had the chance to think it through much further, the Hobgoblin leaned over and threw the first punch. And the second. And the third. But for all the gadgets he had at his disposal, he had very little in the way of prowess when it came to actual fighting. Not even the Rhino's moves were as easy to predict. Sweat flew from your forehead, broke out across your body, as you weaved left and right. It must have been as hot as in the boiler room, or even hotter, the air around you vibrating.
Around the point of the fifth or sixth punch, something clicked in your brain. The Hobgoblin stood no chance of winning, and yet he did what most rational people would call stupid and continued fighting anyway. There was something relatable about that, something human, that assured you of the strength of his convictions - just as you wound your fist back, aiming for his face this time.
Already in an uneven stance, he was sent to the ground by your punch. His mask, somehow, slipped off in the process, the eyelids disturbingly long and the mouth in a permanent state of gaping horror.
Hobgoblin: No!
You attempted, while looking away, to pick it up, but he only slapped your hand away while saying my mask, my mask, as if weeping. Gloved hands fumbled in his self-imposed darkness, slapping around in vain.
While trying to lift himself up and rise to his feet, he grazed a panel with a large red button on it. Blindly, his hand slammed down on it and by the time you recognised what was happening the damage had already been done.
SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED. ENGAGING IN THIRTY-FIVE SECONDS.
Even while blaring through a speaker, the warning failed to convey the power behind that statement. Oscorp, a name that for a long time had been the future of science, would be destroyed and nothing would be left of it.
Hobgoblin: I guess I lied.
Muffled laughter rumbled through the floor. There would be something left of the Hobgoblin, if you had any say in it, and you reached out a hand, the olive branch from one human to another. Maybe you were naive, too forgiving, but Black Cat changed with her second chance. He was just as deserving of redemption.
The Hobgoblin held out his hand in return, and a smile began to flicker across your face. It dimmed when you saw what he was holding. A pumpkin bomb, seconds away from exploding.
Y/N: Hobgoblin! Don't-
You cried, tears falling down. It couldn't end like this.
Hobgoblin: It's been fun, but I'm afraid this is it. Goodbye.
A pumpkin bomb, seconds away from exploding. The self-destruct sequence still ticking down. You forced yourself away. Eyes shut, squeezing out tears, the last thing you heard was an explosion – but you never found out if it was from the pumpkin bomb.
More explosions, in your ear, above you, all over the complex as you flew down the corridor. When you reached the boiler room you only had fifteen seconds to spare, and with the villains still fighting each other, Titania with her fists bloodied, Shocker holding a bruised nose, you screamed at the top of your lungs:
Y/N: We have to get out of here!
You added, with all the authority you could muster:
Y/N: NOW!
There was little confusion after that. You stormed out of Oscorp with everyone running behind you, except Jessica, who could fly and did so, with an urgency as if they had not been fighting for the past few hours. Hammerhead asked where the Hobgoblin was. No one answered.
You and the others made it out as the speaker blared one. The last few supporting structures gave way and the entire building caved in on itself like a great mountain. Just like that, Oscorp was no more. Nothing left of its legacy except for rubble.
All of you, Jessica, Luke, Iron Fist, Daredevil, Gwen, Sable, and Felicia, turned to look at each other.
Felicia: It's over.
She said, trembling, shaking.
Felicia: It's finally over.
Osborn: Gone...It's all gone…
NEXT: Epilogue.