Part Six

The Green Goblin charged straight for Spider-Man, his cackle serving as some sort of war cry. Peter leaped off the building and fired a web-line that connected with another tower of steel.

Norman grimaced as his foe swung away, "I'm going to enjoy breaking this kid's neck." He powered up his glider and pulled a pumpkin bomb out from his satchel. "Heads up web-head!"

The orange grenade spiraled through the air. Peter broke hold of his web-line and fired off another one changing direction. The pumpkin exploded creating a fireball that Peter only narrowly escaped. "This guy has a nasty bag of tricks." Peter fired another web-line and swung across an entire street.

"Where you're going, web-head?" The Goblin cackled, "Aren't you having fun?" He smirked, "Glider: Fire forward machine guns!" The small barrels emerged from their hiding spot and let loose.

Peter clenched his teeth and twisted his body to avoid the bullets zipping through the air. "This guy doesn't give up." Peter performed a flip through the air and landed on a nearby rooftop. The moment he touched down he began a mad dash across the roof towards the ledge.

Norman closed in, his guns blazing. The rooftop was literally alight with gunfire. He maneuvered his glider and performed a strafing run on Spider-Man. He turned his head around and snarled to find he had inflicted no damage to his opponent.

Peter kept his pace up and leaped off the ledge. He outstretched his arms in both directions and fired a burst of webbing. He created two web-lines in opposite directions and for a moment he was suspended in air.

The Goblin immediately emerged directly above him unwilling to lose his prey. Using both web-lines like a bungee cord, Peter soared directly towards him and with his fist outstretched smash straight through the glider.

"No!" Norman barked as Spider-Man burst through the front of his glider. He backed away as the wall-crawler fired another web-line and landed on a nearby roof anxious to see what his attack had done. "Glider: Damage report."

The dull mechanical voice complied immediately, "Machine Gun ports: disabled. Gyro-balancers: down to eighteen percent. Forward Thruster: down to four percent."

Norman clenched his teeth and gazed directly at Spider-Man, "No way I'm backing out of this fight." He pushed his glider as hard as it would go.

Just as the distance between the Green Goblin and Spider-Man closed to a mere few feet, Norman leaped off his glider and crashed directly into Peter. Both fighters fell onto the floor but the Goblin went on the offensive without delay

"What's wrong?" Norman began to pound his fist against Peter's head; "You've been cracking jokes since we started, out of punch-lines?"

Peter kneed Norman in the gut and threw the Goblin off of him, "For you? Never."

Norman opened fire with his zap gloves but Peter's superior reflexes kept him ahead of every one. "To hell with this!" Norman closed in on Peter and then their fists collided.

The opening volley was fierce, a right hook from Peter, then a sidekick from Osborn.

Norman slammed his foot into Peter's mouth. The blow sent Spider-Man rolling across the floor. "Ha!" He pointed his finger towards the downed hero and fired a burst of energy from his gloves.
"Ah!" Peter took the blow right to his side. His skin was hot from the electrical surge that the blast resulted in. He slowly began to get up but the Goblin quickly kicked him in his ribs. He clenched his teeth and rolled over.

"Be careful, Spider-Man. We are high above the streets, here let me make sure you don't fall." Norman put his foot on Peter's chest and began to apply pressure.

Peter clenched as the Goblin's foot began to press harder into his chest. The cackling began to drown out all other noises. He closed his eyes as the pain worsened and struggled vainly. How could this be happening? Peter wondered. He had become so sure that there was nobody he couldn't beat. Peter had dodged bullets and overcome the impossible, and now he found himself being killed on this rooftop. Blood spurted out from his lips and splashed against the fabric of the mask. All the arrogance and never-ending confidence in his abilities faded. All the claims of his own invincibility were washed away. The Goblin was showing Peter how all too human he really was.

"That's it." Norman exclaimed, "Just give up and let death come for you."

"Give up?" Peter whispered only to see Aunt May's face sweep across his eyes, "No!" He exclaimed and grabbed the Goblin's foot. Using every ounce of his strength under his command he flung the monster across the roof and slowly rose to his feet.

Norman frowned, "What? You can't still believe you'll win."

Peter clenched his fists, "No, but I'll be damned if I go down without a fight."

"You'll be sorry." Norman said as he pulled another pumpkin bomb out from his satchel. He frowned as he realized it was his last, he panicked for a moment; he was about to exhaust nearly the last bit of his arsenal.

He gazed down at the floor beneath him and smiled, "This elevator's going down web-head." He threw the pumpkin to the floor. It exploded and blew away a chunk of the roof taking the Goblin with it.

Peter watched his foe vanish, "No." He followed in pursuit and leaped through the smoke and down the hole. Once he landed he found himself in one of the floors of a massive office building. All around his were cubicles, a maze of workstations. The workers looked at this red and blue figure with a great degree of shock.

"You're fired, Spider-Man!" Norman yelled from behind Peter as he let loose with a zap from his gloves.

The blast made contact and smashed Peter in the back. He fell back but Peter managed to gain some control and clumsily landed on his feet. He turned to face the Goblin despite the pain, "Don't do this."

"Why not?" Norman asked sadistically.

"They're people here, this is between you and me." Peter replied.

"People?" The Goblin grinned, "Don't you know, web-head, they're here for the show!" He charged on foot for his opponent and once again they fought furiously.

Peter slammed an uppercut into Norman's gut and followed up with a sidekick. The Goblin grunted and picked Peter up by his waist and started to squeeze the life out of him, "If only you're spine was as flexible as the rest of you!"

"Why don't you go bake some cookies? I'm sure the Keebler elves are missing you right now!" He smashed both his hands down on the Goblin forcing the monster to loose his hold on Peter.

The Goblin backed away in pain, "The results of this fight are starting to become doubtful." He said nervously looking at the blood on his hands.

Peter immediately went on the offensive and began to pound Norman with kicks and punches. The fight moved across the floor as the workers watched in both horror and delight. This spectacle reminded Peter of his fight with Crusher on the night he lost May, and there was a sense of hopelessness about his battle because of that.

Finally, Peter pulled together all his remaining strength and slammed his fist into Norman's jaw. The Goblin flew upwards and smashed through the ceiling to land on the roof once again. Peter, his breath hard and hands shaking, followed.

He jumped through the hole that the Goblin had made and landed gracefully on the roof. His immediate thought was to duck but it came too late. The Goblin blitzed Peter with a massive assault. Norman grabbed both of Peter's wrists and applied as much pressure as he could muster.

Peter screamed under the Goblin's attack. He managed to land a kick to Norman's chest, breaking free, and landed on his knees.

The Goblin cackled and like kicking a football slammed his foot into Peter's head. "Touchdown!"

Peter fell off the roof due to the force of the Goblin's kick. He attempted to fire a web-line but was met with only the noise of damaged machinery trying to do its job. The Goblin mounted his glider and went off in pursuit of his foe. "Oh no." Peter said as he plummeted towards the street, "He's damaged my web-shooters!" He glanced at the street below and the Goblin above.

Norman cackled as he witnessed the fall of the wall-crawler, "What an ironic way to go, isn't it Spider-Man!"