Chapter Seventeen

"Look at her! She should be ashamed of herself!" Grandma Watson waved disgustedly at the television. The morning news was on, with the top story being yesterday's string of disasters. The camera focused on me, hauling people to safety from the sinking tour boat.

"Putting all of those people at risk! Doesn't she have any conscience? Could you hand me those eggs, dear?"

"Sure, Grandma." I handed her the egg carton. We were both standing over the kitchen island, sleeves rolled up, and making french toast. I flinched every time Grandma made a remark about Spider-Girl, though I couldn't really blame her. She had every right to be angry.

Grandma and I dipped slices of bread in the bowl of egg as Benny poked his head in through the door. "Grandma, Mom's on the phone! She says-"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Grandma hastily wiped her hands on a dishtowel. "May, could you watch the toast for a moment?"

"Yes, but I want to talk to her too."

"Me too! Me too!"

"Of course, don't worry! I'll give you two the phone in a moment." Grandma hurried into the den. Benny bounced onto the sofa. "Can I change it?"

"Go ahead." I eyed the toast in the oven uneasily. "Benny, do you know if french toast is supposed to go black in the oven like this?"

Benny shrugged, his eyes already riveted on the latest episode of Batman. "If you burn it, we can just dump a lot of syrup on it."

"I appreciate your confidence." I pulled on the oven gloves and opened the door, determined to at least attempt a proper rescue of the toast.

"No problem, dearest sister. And...hey!"

"We interrupt this program to give you a special report," said a deep voice from the television.

"Awwww, come on!" Benny groaned. "It was in the good part!"

"This applies to the entire city. Hobgoblin has been sighted-"

"Yeow!" I dropped the flaming hot pan on the tile of kitchen island. Pulling off the gloves, I vaulted over the back of the sofa and landed sitting, eyes locked on the screen.

The scene switched to a newsroom, and then to a jolting, bouncing handheld shot of a green-and-orange blur jetting past overhead, leaving a thin trail of exhaust in its wake.

I gripped the edge of the sofa cushion. Harry. Starting round two of the game.

"Please do not leave your homes at this time, if at all possible. The police dpeartment has reported that the island is probably his primary target. There have been no confirmed sightings of Black Widow-"

I drew in my breath. Now. It was going to happen now. I would have to catch up with him somehow, with Doc Hiller's treatment. Now.

"Hey, where're you going? Mayday!" Benny scrambled to his feet as I dashed upstairs. Grandma glanced at me curiously from the den as I raced past. Covering the reciever with her hand, she said, "May, what happened? Are you all right? Ben, what's wrong?"

"I dunno!"

I bounded up the stairs, taking them at least five at a time. Benny stumbled after me.

"Mayday, what's wrong? What's going on?"

"Nothing! I'm okay! Just..." I made a split second decision to take the risk. "Tell Grandma that I'll be back as soon as I can. I've got to...get something fixed."

I shut my bedroom door just as Benny hollered, "Are you going to go out your window or something? What the heck is going on?"

I crossed to my dresser and wrenched open the bottom drawer. Under pairs of pajamas lay my folded costume, swept back eyes glinting dully up at me. I pulled it out and tossed it onto my bed. There, underneath, was the sealed cylinder, and the wrapped syringe. I picked it up gently, not wanting to take any chance of cracking it.

"Mayday, why are you acting so weird?" Benny shouted, so loudly that I'm sure the neighbors heard.

"Benny! Stop banging on my door!" I yelled as I changed, quickly pulling my mask down over myhead. I snatched up the tube and syringe and headed for the window. The morning was cloudless, cold, and bright.

I paused on the windowsill, the realization of what I was doing suddenly breaking over me. I would only get one shot at this. This was one mission that I couldn't mess up. Harry's life was in my hands, and I couldn't let any overconfidence or anger put him in jeopardy.

I hopped up onto the roof just as Benny pushed my door open. I heard him say, "Mayday, are you on someth--...Mayday?"

I really should have webbed that door shut, I thought with a smile. Turning, I bounded towards Manhattan, cylinder and syringe clenched in my hand, hoping that I had the skill to do what I needed to do.

Dad could have done it, I thought. He would have had no problem.

I didn't webswing. I leaped from building to building, freezing if a passerby glanced upwards. I couldn't risk being seen by Hobgoblin, or Black Widow, if she was somewhere nearby. Webswing was too noticeable.

I groaned mentally. This could take me hours. Manhattan island was huge, with innumerable hiding places. I scaled the wall of the nearest skyscraper building for a better view of the city, stopping just below the edge of the roof. It would be a matter of sheer dumb luck to find Harry in this.

"Shut up, Osborn!"

I jumped as my spider-sense suddenly exploded to life, along with the voice coming from the roof above me, out of sight.

Well, score one for sheer dumb luck.

My spider-sense faded. I shook my head. What was wrong? Hobgoblin couldn't have disappeared so quickly.

"Liar," said Harry. "Liar, liar, liar!"

I clapped a hand to my forehead as my spider-sense burst into action again. What was going on? It had never flickered on and off like this before.

"I told you to shut up!" Hobgoblin roared. "You think I don't know what you're trying to do, eh, Osborn? Trying to distract me?"

My spider-sense stopped buzzing abruptly. "You thought I'd go along with this?" Harry yelled. "How long did you think you could fool me? Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?" His voice melted into a sneer. "You really think any of this will work? It won't."

Spider-sense on. I clutched the sides of my head. If this went on much longer, I was going to fall.

"Oh? And I suppose you're going to stop me? I'm not the weakling of our little pair, Osborn. Who's the coward who's too afraid to avenge his father?" Hobgoblin sneered.

Spider-sense off. "Leave him out of it!" Harry hissed.

I could barely believe my ears. Harry had to be talking to himself, but there were two different people on that roof, hurling insults at each other. Moving quietly, I snapped off the cap of the up, and peeled off the plastic wrapping of the syringe.

Hobgoblin laughed. "Pitiful. Utterly pitiful. Where you would be without me, Osborn...I shudder to imagine."

I slowly filled the syringe, draining the entire tube. The treatment glittered wetly inside the syringe. I nearly dropped them both as my spider- sense flared on even more forcefully. What could-

"I'll admit, I've never heard an insult battle before that was quite like that," another, hissing voice spoke from the rooftop.

Black Widow! She must have scaled the other side of the skyscraper.

"A minor exchange of ideas," Hobgoblin snapped. There was no trace of Harry in his voice anymore. "Why are you here?"

I could hear the smile in Black Widow's voice. "I've held up my end of the bargain, Hobgoblin. In two days time, you will hold up yours."

"You came up here to remind me? I told you I would get it, and I will."

Get it? Get what? I strained my ears over the rushing breeze around me, and also despairing my hasty plan. How could I take on both of them at the same time? Without losing the formula?

"Procuring it will present some difficulty, even for you...what's this?"

Black Widow's voice rose to a roar. I sprang out of the way just as a massive, clawed fist smashed into the concrete wall behind me, leaving a basketball-sized crater in the concrete. Black Widow was crouching on the edge of the roof, growling viciously at me.

I webslung from my left hand and backflipped up onto the roof. Black Widow whirled and sprang from her perch, crouching and spreading six claw-tipped arms. "Don't you know that it's rude to eavesdrop, Spider-Girl?"

I struggled to keep my voice controlled. Hobgoblin was on his feet a few feet behind Black Widow, mask on, glider hovering, clenching what looked like a silvery, razored bat in his hand. "You're one to talk." I closed my fingers on my right hand, hiding the syringe behind my wrist.

This was going to come to a fight. Black Widow was talking, but I wasn't paying attention. I kept my eyes locked on Harry. I would have to pull his helmet off, and inject him in the neck. The needle would only break on his armor. But how could I get past Black Widow?

Could I distract her?

"Talk, snarl, talk, snarl. Is that all you ever do? What happened? Did some mean ol' spider bite you and put you in a bad mood?"

Black Widow threw back her head and laughed. "You have no idea how true that is, Spider-Girl."

"Aw, poor baby. Maybe you should go take a nap!" I whipped up my left arm and fired directly into Black Widow's face. With a hideous, ululating screech, she stumbled backwards, clawing at her face. Works every time, I thought.

Hobgoblin was watching Black Widow with something close to amusement when I lunged at him. I had to keep him from getting onto that glider!

"What?" Hobgoblin slammed his fist into the side of my head. White flashes exploded in my vision, put I forced my hand forward and wrenched his mask off of his head.

Hobgoblin glared, snarling like an animal. "Feeling unoriginal today, I see. Are..."

His eyes flew open wider than I had ever seen before. They flickered from my face to my right hand. As I watched, an expression of complete terror blanched his face. He had seen the formula!

"Oh no you won't!" Hobgoblin drew back his arm and hurled the razored bat at me.

"Aah!" I leaped into the air. The bat blew past my face in slow motion, missing by a fraction of an inch. Still in that state of slowed time, I reached behind my head, I twisted in midair and clenched my fingers around the bat, ignoring the searing pain in my hand. I squeezed. The shards of the metal bat clattered to the rooftop as I landed. I shot a webline at Hobgoblin's chest and wrenched, jerking Hobgoblin off his feet before he could even blink. I slammed him into the railing.

"No! You can't kill me! I have a right to live as much as Osborn does!" Hobgoblin shrieked.

"No, you don't! You're not real! All you are is a collection of Harry's anger! That's all you'll ever be!"

"Oh?" Hobgoblin shoved his face into mine, eyes stretched wide, teeth bared in an insane snarl. "Go ahead," he whispered softly. "I know what you have. Go ahead. Take your revenge. I'll never be gone. Osborn will never be rid of me. And do you kow what else?"

Hobgoblin hissed, "Do you know what this makes you, Spider-Girl?" His voice thickened with unimaginable venom. "This makes you just like me!"

This makes you just like me.

I froze, horrified. No, it couldn't be true, could it? I was trying to save Harry, not-

"Now here's my little trick, Spider-Girl!" Black Widow's voice erupted from directly behind me. Before I could turn, or even realize-

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

A scream burst from my throat as I felt five claws tear into my back, shredding cloth and skin. Almost in reflex, I pushed the syringe into Harry's neck and squeezed.

"Noooooo!" Hobgoblin screamed.

A pair of huge hands gripped my shoulders and hurled me to the side, slamming me into the gritty asphalt rooftop. I screamed again as my back hit the roof, gasping for breath, eyes squeezed shut. The pain was burning, slicing. I reached over my shoulder and nearly screamed again as my fingers brushed my back. My hand came away wet with blood.

She had clawed me, from my right shoulder to my left side. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, only choke and gasp. Bleeding. I was bleeding. Blood was soaking the shredded back of my costume.

Black Widow began to laugh.

"So easy. So pitifully, pitifully easy. I thought you were going to be a challenge, Spider-Girl. A worthy foe. But what do I see before me now? A little girl. Not even fit to compare with Spider-Man."

I stumbled to my feet. I had to get out of here, webswing, anything...distantly, I heard Black Widow mutter to Hobgoblin. "What's wrong with you?"

I couldn't see. I had to get away. I had to get help. I had to...

I staggered to the edge of the roof, air wheezing in my lungs. I tried to aim, but the buildings wavered around me as if they were underwater. I pulled my middle and ring fingers in slowly, feeling a sharp, shooting pain as the web line fired and connected the the opposite skyscraper.

"Run away, Spider-Girl, it doesn't matter! My venom works quickly! Within an hour you'll see for yourself!" Laughter. "If you're still alive!"

I fell, clutching the webline with all of my strength. The world was dissolving into a shimmering blur. Through my muddled conciousness, between flashes of agony, I knew one fact: I had to get to the alley. Where I kept the spare clothes. I couldn't let anyone find out, not even now...

"Spider-Girl! Wait!"

Voices. I was hearing voices...or one voice...I couldn't tell...

I swung again and again, mechanically, nearly fainting from the searing slashes in my back. There...there it was...I had to get to that alley...

"Spider-Girl!"

I clipped the corner of the building and spun out of control, crashing into the rusty fire escape and tumbling down to the ground.

Backpack...under boxes...had to...

Blood, my blood ran down my back, dotting the ground. There, the backpack I had left. Behind the pile of boxes, I blindly tore off the shreds of my costume, pulling on a sweatshirt and jeans.

I had to...I had to...couldn't think...

I stumbled forwards, heading doggedly for the square of light at the end of the alley. I heard a loud humming, from somewhere above.

"Spider-Girl? Is that you?"

Voice...behind me...familiar...who...

"Spider-Girl! I'm going to get you help, just-"

Two hands took hold of my shoulders and spun me around. I heard a disbelieving gasp.

"Mayday?"

Who was it...couldn't see...couldn't...hurts...so tired...

"Mayday, it's me. It's me! Stay with me, Mayday! Stay awake! Mayday! Mayday!"

Voice...pain...blood...

My knees buckled and I fell into a swirling, bottomless darkness.