Moments later I was in costume, crouching on the edge of the roof of the
Millenium Hotel and scanning the streets of Times Square below. It was
absolute pandemonium. People were streaming away from the square, running
into the street and between cars, looking like ants among pebbles.
Times Square. Early November. The same as it was seven years ago. From this distance, I could see the flashing advertisements, garish against the sunlight. The news was streaming across the facade of NBC Studios, reflecting on the figure perched aboard his glider.
He was only a man in a suit, right? Just a maniac who happened to have a glider and a few grenades. I could tackle him, drag him down off his glider, and hand him over to the cops in less than five minutes. He was just another criminal, albeit an airborne one.
I tensed my legs and sprang from the roof, webslinging from my left wrist and bracing my right arm to grab him from behind. The streets leaped up at me and swooped away again as the web line snapped taut, swinging me upwards towards the figure who hovered with his back towards me, head thrown back, practically giggling at the mayhem he had caused.
Just ten more feet...five...get ready...
WHAM!
"Oh my god! Did you see that? He hit her!"
"Spider-Girl! Get up!"
"Wha...what?" I wheezed. People were gaping at me, mouths open, still keeping their distance. I was on the ground! Dizzily I stared around, my head aching. The wall beside me was dented. Particles of dust streaming from inch-wide cracks in the concrete.
I staggered to my feet, swaying as I tried to keep my balance. He had hit me. Just as I was swinging up to tackle him, he had spun around and punched me in the solar plexus, faster than I could see. One punch had sent me flying twenty feet, hard enough to crack a concrete wall.
Mayday, you idiot, I thought. Why would Dad have had so much trouble from an average criminal?
The world was spinning around me, but I caught a vague glimpse of people suddenly sprinting away from me in all directions. Without thinking, I sprang into the air, just as the ground exploded beneath me into a flash of light and shattered concrete. A grenade!
As I scrambled up the nearest wall, the truth finally hit me. That grenade was meant for me. He wanted me dead. He was trying to kill me. Someone was actually trying to kill me!
The figure on the glider rocked with laughter, hugging himself with glee. He spread his hands and made a mocking little bow. "Try again!"
"If you insist!" I bounded from the wall and caught hold of the crossbar of a streetamp. Flipping over it, I landed, whipped up both arms, fired two web lines and wrenched with all of my strength.
The Goblin shouted as the glider flew out from under him, soaring over my head and straining against the two cord-thick web lines that I gripped in my hands. I let go just as the webs pulled tight, and the glider shot off on its own, tumbling end over end in the air.
I whirled around. Behind me was the Goblin, jerkily climbing to his feet. Up close, the features of his mask seemed even more twisted and grotesque, frozen in a hideous parody of a grin. A reddish line slashed diagonally across the face of his helmet.
"Even I know that all you need to fix that rust problem of yours is a can of WD-40," I cracked as he finally straightened.
"You're going to need more than that to fix this!" Another blinding flash of light seared my eyes, sending me backward, clutching at my face. Bright spots blanked out everything around me. I couldn't see!
Before I could even gasp another breath I was under a hail of sledgehammer blows, pounding me from every direction. Half-blind, off-balance, I swung wildly and felt my knuckles connect solidly with armor.
"Oof!"
I staggered backwards, clutching at my face, blinking rapidly behind my mask. My vision was finally clearing, but just moving my eyes made me wince in pain. Where had he gone? I had hit him, hadn't I?
The wail of sirens and screeching tires assailed my ears as I stared painfully around. The Goblin was on his feet again, wavering unsteadily. Flickering red and blue lights whirled around as at least twenty police officers clambered out to surround him, cocking revolvers and taking dead aim at his chest.
I leaped back up to the streetlamp, battered, bruised, and embarrassed. That was definetly one performance that I wasn't proud of. I had rushed in, completely overconfident, and made a complete fool of myself. Not to mention endangering the lives of everyone in that square! It didn't matter now, anyway. The police would handle him now. My job was over.
From my perch on top of the streetlamp, I could see five of the policemen creeping forward, guns ready, reaching out to grab the Goblin. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could sense the expression of sneering amusement that must have been plastered all over his face.
The nearest policeman, a young man in his twenties, sweating profusely, said, "You're under arrest for-"
"Don't start counting the charges until I'm through," sneered the Goblin. Then he reached over, seized the policeman by his collar and hurled him into his colleagues, knocking them over like dominoes.
Move!
I sprang into the air, flipping over backwards just as the glider blew past just under me, weaving around chunks of crushed road and twisted signs as if it had a life of its own. The glider swerved wildly over the crowd of police officers and paused smoothly in front of its owner, hovering a foot above the ground. The Goblin hopped lightly aboard and the glider shot straight up into the air.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
The police officers were firing, both hands clenched around the handles of their guns, teeth gritted. The Goblin simply hovered on his glider, snickering as the bullets richocheted off his armor in all directions.
I couldn't get to him now without being shot! Thinking quickly, I webslung up onto the wall of the NBC Studios, sprinted across the edge of the billboard and fired web again, this time connecting with the wall of the skyscraper oppsite. I jumped, swung around, and slammed feetfirst into the Goblin's back, trying to send us both to the ground.
The Goblin yelled as the glider rocked forwards, yawing wildly in the air. The ground and sky pitched backwards and forwards dizzingly when the Goblin reached over his shoulder, clamped a fist around my throat, and flung me off over his head.
This was impossible! I couldn't tackle him while he was in the air, and the whole situation was made doubly difficult because of the police officers dashing around beneath me trying to fire at the hovering Goblin.
Wait! I couldn't drag him down, I wasn't nearly heavy enough. But if there was something that was...
"Had enough, Spider-Girl? Would you like for me to end this now and spare you further humiliation? Or-" The Goblin stopped in mid-sentence, just as I heaved the nearest patrol car over my head by the front bumper. I felt guilty about destroying public property, but it was all I could do to get this lunatic under control. I tossed it lightly into the air and caught it to adjust my grip.
"My humiliation? I don't think so," I shouted. I braced my legs, leaned back, and heaved with all my strength.
The car arced upwards just as the Goblin dropped downwards to avoid being crushed, just as I'd anticipated. The patrol car smashed onto the sidewalk with a screech of twisting metal ten feet away. Now all I had to do was leap for the glider, disable it, and-
Thwipp! Thwipp! Thwipp!
Something splattered against my back. My feet left the ground and I was hurtling backwards, away from the Goblin, away from the streets. What the...?
Cold, gritty concrete slammed against my back and knocked the air out of my lungs with a whoosh. Stunned, I twisted around, trying to figure out what had just happened, and why I was suddenly halfway up the wall of a skyscraper. Something clenched around my throat and smashed me into the wall again, choking me with inhuman strength. I clamped my hands around the arm that held me, straining to force it away from my throat.
Thwipp! Thwippthwippthwippthwipp!
In an airless haze, I got the impression of a black shape, with many arms whirling with blinding speed. Then, the chokehold on my neck was gone, and the black shape shot upwards out of my range of vision. Dazedly, in a split second, I caught a glimpse of the Goblin, fifty feet below, standing perfectly still on his glider, with such an air of astonishment that it was almost funny. Then, as if regaining his senses, he kicked the glider upwards and jetted away over the skyline.
I was still on the wall, but neither the palms of my hands or the soles of my feet were holding me aloft. I was pinned there by something. It felt like thin strands of cord or wire...
I wrenched my right arm upwards and heard the thing tear loose from the wall. Whatever had dragged me upwards, pinned me to the wall, stopped me from catching the Goblin...
It had used webbing.
I tore at the strands wrapped around me, ripping the ends from the wall. Webbing. Definetly webbing. But with strands a little thicker than mine.
I kicked loose of the last strands and wallcrawled up to the roof, whether to look for the Goblin or the second attacker I wasn't sure. The skyline was empty.
Finally, exhausted, wrenched, and aching, I swung down to head back for the alley where I had dropped my outer clothes. As I bounded down a fire escape and webslung over the street, I somehow picked up the voice of a man standing on the corner, camera dangling from his neck and shouting into a cell phone.
"Boss, I'm serious! Yeah! Right now! There were two of them! One was the Goblin guy, and the other one...crap, I don't know! It looked like a...a giant spider or something! Yeah, they're all gone now. That first guy isn't the Green Goblin, Mr. Jameson. I know he looks like him, but that's not the same guy. Name? I don't know his name, boss! What? Alliteration? Okay...like the Green Goblin, but not the Green Goblin. How about 'Hobgoblin'?"
Times Square. Early November. The same as it was seven years ago. From this distance, I could see the flashing advertisements, garish against the sunlight. The news was streaming across the facade of NBC Studios, reflecting on the figure perched aboard his glider.
He was only a man in a suit, right? Just a maniac who happened to have a glider and a few grenades. I could tackle him, drag him down off his glider, and hand him over to the cops in less than five minutes. He was just another criminal, albeit an airborne one.
I tensed my legs and sprang from the roof, webslinging from my left wrist and bracing my right arm to grab him from behind. The streets leaped up at me and swooped away again as the web line snapped taut, swinging me upwards towards the figure who hovered with his back towards me, head thrown back, practically giggling at the mayhem he had caused.
Just ten more feet...five...get ready...
WHAM!
"Oh my god! Did you see that? He hit her!"
"Spider-Girl! Get up!"
"Wha...what?" I wheezed. People were gaping at me, mouths open, still keeping their distance. I was on the ground! Dizzily I stared around, my head aching. The wall beside me was dented. Particles of dust streaming from inch-wide cracks in the concrete.
I staggered to my feet, swaying as I tried to keep my balance. He had hit me. Just as I was swinging up to tackle him, he had spun around and punched me in the solar plexus, faster than I could see. One punch had sent me flying twenty feet, hard enough to crack a concrete wall.
Mayday, you idiot, I thought. Why would Dad have had so much trouble from an average criminal?
The world was spinning around me, but I caught a vague glimpse of people suddenly sprinting away from me in all directions. Without thinking, I sprang into the air, just as the ground exploded beneath me into a flash of light and shattered concrete. A grenade!
As I scrambled up the nearest wall, the truth finally hit me. That grenade was meant for me. He wanted me dead. He was trying to kill me. Someone was actually trying to kill me!
The figure on the glider rocked with laughter, hugging himself with glee. He spread his hands and made a mocking little bow. "Try again!"
"If you insist!" I bounded from the wall and caught hold of the crossbar of a streetamp. Flipping over it, I landed, whipped up both arms, fired two web lines and wrenched with all of my strength.
The Goblin shouted as the glider flew out from under him, soaring over my head and straining against the two cord-thick web lines that I gripped in my hands. I let go just as the webs pulled tight, and the glider shot off on its own, tumbling end over end in the air.
I whirled around. Behind me was the Goblin, jerkily climbing to his feet. Up close, the features of his mask seemed even more twisted and grotesque, frozen in a hideous parody of a grin. A reddish line slashed diagonally across the face of his helmet.
"Even I know that all you need to fix that rust problem of yours is a can of WD-40," I cracked as he finally straightened.
"You're going to need more than that to fix this!" Another blinding flash of light seared my eyes, sending me backward, clutching at my face. Bright spots blanked out everything around me. I couldn't see!
Before I could even gasp another breath I was under a hail of sledgehammer blows, pounding me from every direction. Half-blind, off-balance, I swung wildly and felt my knuckles connect solidly with armor.
"Oof!"
I staggered backwards, clutching at my face, blinking rapidly behind my mask. My vision was finally clearing, but just moving my eyes made me wince in pain. Where had he gone? I had hit him, hadn't I?
The wail of sirens and screeching tires assailed my ears as I stared painfully around. The Goblin was on his feet again, wavering unsteadily. Flickering red and blue lights whirled around as at least twenty police officers clambered out to surround him, cocking revolvers and taking dead aim at his chest.
I leaped back up to the streetlamp, battered, bruised, and embarrassed. That was definetly one performance that I wasn't proud of. I had rushed in, completely overconfident, and made a complete fool of myself. Not to mention endangering the lives of everyone in that square! It didn't matter now, anyway. The police would handle him now. My job was over.
From my perch on top of the streetlamp, I could see five of the policemen creeping forward, guns ready, reaching out to grab the Goblin. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could sense the expression of sneering amusement that must have been plastered all over his face.
The nearest policeman, a young man in his twenties, sweating profusely, said, "You're under arrest for-"
"Don't start counting the charges until I'm through," sneered the Goblin. Then he reached over, seized the policeman by his collar and hurled him into his colleagues, knocking them over like dominoes.
Move!
I sprang into the air, flipping over backwards just as the glider blew past just under me, weaving around chunks of crushed road and twisted signs as if it had a life of its own. The glider swerved wildly over the crowd of police officers and paused smoothly in front of its owner, hovering a foot above the ground. The Goblin hopped lightly aboard and the glider shot straight up into the air.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
The police officers were firing, both hands clenched around the handles of their guns, teeth gritted. The Goblin simply hovered on his glider, snickering as the bullets richocheted off his armor in all directions.
I couldn't get to him now without being shot! Thinking quickly, I webslung up onto the wall of the NBC Studios, sprinted across the edge of the billboard and fired web again, this time connecting with the wall of the skyscraper oppsite. I jumped, swung around, and slammed feetfirst into the Goblin's back, trying to send us both to the ground.
The Goblin yelled as the glider rocked forwards, yawing wildly in the air. The ground and sky pitched backwards and forwards dizzingly when the Goblin reached over his shoulder, clamped a fist around my throat, and flung me off over his head.
This was impossible! I couldn't tackle him while he was in the air, and the whole situation was made doubly difficult because of the police officers dashing around beneath me trying to fire at the hovering Goblin.
Wait! I couldn't drag him down, I wasn't nearly heavy enough. But if there was something that was...
"Had enough, Spider-Girl? Would you like for me to end this now and spare you further humiliation? Or-" The Goblin stopped in mid-sentence, just as I heaved the nearest patrol car over my head by the front bumper. I felt guilty about destroying public property, but it was all I could do to get this lunatic under control. I tossed it lightly into the air and caught it to adjust my grip.
"My humiliation? I don't think so," I shouted. I braced my legs, leaned back, and heaved with all my strength.
The car arced upwards just as the Goblin dropped downwards to avoid being crushed, just as I'd anticipated. The patrol car smashed onto the sidewalk with a screech of twisting metal ten feet away. Now all I had to do was leap for the glider, disable it, and-
Thwipp! Thwipp! Thwipp!
Something splattered against my back. My feet left the ground and I was hurtling backwards, away from the Goblin, away from the streets. What the...?
Cold, gritty concrete slammed against my back and knocked the air out of my lungs with a whoosh. Stunned, I twisted around, trying to figure out what had just happened, and why I was suddenly halfway up the wall of a skyscraper. Something clenched around my throat and smashed me into the wall again, choking me with inhuman strength. I clamped my hands around the arm that held me, straining to force it away from my throat.
Thwipp! Thwippthwippthwippthwipp!
In an airless haze, I got the impression of a black shape, with many arms whirling with blinding speed. Then, the chokehold on my neck was gone, and the black shape shot upwards out of my range of vision. Dazedly, in a split second, I caught a glimpse of the Goblin, fifty feet below, standing perfectly still on his glider, with such an air of astonishment that it was almost funny. Then, as if regaining his senses, he kicked the glider upwards and jetted away over the skyline.
I was still on the wall, but neither the palms of my hands or the soles of my feet were holding me aloft. I was pinned there by something. It felt like thin strands of cord or wire...
I wrenched my right arm upwards and heard the thing tear loose from the wall. Whatever had dragged me upwards, pinned me to the wall, stopped me from catching the Goblin...
It had used webbing.
I tore at the strands wrapped around me, ripping the ends from the wall. Webbing. Definetly webbing. But with strands a little thicker than mine.
I kicked loose of the last strands and wallcrawled up to the roof, whether to look for the Goblin or the second attacker I wasn't sure. The skyline was empty.
Finally, exhausted, wrenched, and aching, I swung down to head back for the alley where I had dropped my outer clothes. As I bounded down a fire escape and webslung over the street, I somehow picked up the voice of a man standing on the corner, camera dangling from his neck and shouting into a cell phone.
"Boss, I'm serious! Yeah! Right now! There were two of them! One was the Goblin guy, and the other one...crap, I don't know! It looked like a...a giant spider or something! Yeah, they're all gone now. That first guy isn't the Green Goblin, Mr. Jameson. I know he looks like him, but that's not the same guy. Name? I don't know his name, boss! What? Alliteration? Okay...like the Green Goblin, but not the Green Goblin. How about 'Hobgoblin'?"