Part Four

"HAHAHAHA!" The Green Goblin soared straight for his arachnid foe, "Heads up wall-crawler!" Norman Osborn slammed his fist against Spider-Man's head and sent the hero tumbling across the ground.

Peter, inside the mask, landed on his back. "How can he still be alive?" He said rising back to his feet, "There was an explosion." The Goblin was already on him and land landed another blow on his jaw. "Oof."

Norman spun his glider around for another pass. "Here, Spider-Man, I've gotten you a present!" He pulled out a pumpkin bomb and with glee flung it at his victim.

Peter hurtled himself across the roof avoiding the fury of the explosion by a mere two seconds. Without wasting time, Norman closed in on the young teenager. Peter winced at the blinding pain from his torso as the left wing of the glider rammed against his side.

He landed back on the floor, blood pouring from his mouth at an alarming rate. "My ribs are broken." He murmured slowly crawling across the roof trying vainly to hide his injury. "Damn it." The blood was beginning to seep through his mask.

The Goblin flew low across the rooftop and when he came within range of the wounded hero, pointed his index finger towards his target and let loose.

A volley smashed against Peter's body and singed his flesh. "Ah!" Peter tried to dodge the shots but his ribs wouldn't allow it. Another shot slammed into his chest sending him back down on his back.

"Got you!" Norman declared slowly pulling his glider up. He slowly turned back around for another pass, his eyes glowing brightly. "Glider: Deploy forward machine gun ports." He dived straight for Spider-Man and made sure to pick his target carefully. Norman didn't want to kill him, not yet. "Fire!"

The glider let loose a devastating volley of bullets. Peter clenched his teeth and ran as hard as he could. The bullets zipped all around him. "The Goblin is holding back. Why?" It seemed to make no difference. Two bullets lodged themselves into his left leg. The impacts forced him to fall to the ground shielding his injury from further attack. "No!" He said crying in pain. Peter slowly rose just in time to see the Goblin's fist collide with his face, sending him back down again. "Come on, you beat him before you can do it again!"

Peter performed a flip but clumsily landed on his feet. He found it difficult to stand due to his ribs but managed. He spotted the Goblin coming in for another pass, "Here he comes." Peter readied himself. "Once the Goblin closes in, I'll fire some webs and take him off that glider of his." He spotted a pumpkin suddenly roll to his feet, "Of course some things are easier said than done."

The pumpkin exploded and Peter was caught by the blast. Every inch of his body yelled out in pain, echoing his growing sense of despair. His costume tore and his lenses shattered. Peter crashed against the ledge with smoke pouring from the wounds along his body.

He rolled on to his back and looked at the night sky for a moment and marveled at its splendor. Then the hideous Green Goblin replaced it as he hovered above Peter on his glider.

"See what meddling in the affairs of others gets you?" The Goblin pulled out another pumpkin bomb; "There is no hope. You can't win."

Peter clenched his teeth and pounded his fist on the floor. "Screw you." He fired a burst of webbing that slammed against the side of the pumpkin and threw it into the air.

"No!" Norman barked and tried to avoid the small grenade as it flew back towards the earth. He was unsuccessful and the resulting explosion threw the Goblin onto the rooftop while his glider crashed against the side of another building but remained intact and operational.

Peter rose back up and limped across the war-torn roof until he stood over a dazed Goblin. "Now its your turn, Gobby!" He kicked the Goblin across the roof. "Your turn to feel pain!" He pressed his attack and slammed his foot against the green villain's head. "How is it Goblin, to be on the receiving end for a change?"

Norman managed to get up on his knees and face his attacker, "A good deal better than I imagine this will feel." He slammed Spider-Man in the groin with his fist. He grinned at the sight of his foe collapse to his knees in pain. "Glider: Return to user."

It did so and he quickly ascended it while Spider-Man lay on the floor, hurt. "Let me introduce you to some friends." Norman smirked and gave the glider another command before continuing to taunt his foe, "It's the Seven Dwarves: Sleepy, Angry, Happy…" He shrugged, "It seems I forgot the rest, HAHAHA!"

The Glider deployed twelve razor bats, its entire compliment. The razor-bars, small discs with two blades on each end, found their target and attacked.

Peter raised his head just in time to see the first bat attack. It came in for his blood. "Whoa!" He smashed it aside with his hand only to see eleven more.

Forgetting the agonizing pain he got back up on his feet. He swung his leg widely just in time to bring down another one. Another one passed by him but dealt no damage.

Peter swung his fist bringing down another one of the menacing attackers. Another bat came from his rear and lodged itself into his back. He screamed out in agony as the blade sliced his skin. Peter reached for it and pulled it out with ease but groaned from the loss of blood all the same.

Without delay, Peter fired a wide spray at the approaching bats and enveloped them in a bag of webbing and then smashed them against the roof with all of his might.

"Blasted web-slinger!" Norman remarked at the sight of his razor-bats destroyed. He powered his glider back up, "He's putting up a much better fight than I thought he would."

Peter slowly made his way for the ledge. He needed to get his ass out of here on the double, before the Goblin finished him off. Pushing off the roof he was airborne.

Before he could even fire a web-line off, the Goblin appeared like a flash of green and grabbed his head. "You're not leaving so soon. We're just getting going."

This is going to hurt on so many levels and in so many ways. Peter clenched his teeth and prepared for the worst.

Norman smashed Peter straight through one of the buildings and into an apartment. "Glider: Auto-pilot pattern: Two-Three!" He leaped off the glider in pursuit of his foe.

"Get out of my house!" An old man said to Peter as he lay on the floor of his living room. "Get out!"

Peter shook his hand, "I know you want to help but I can't allow it." He said sarcastically moments before the Goblin was standing right behind him. "Hi."

Norman smirked, "Hello, Spider-Man." He grimaced and brought his foot down on Spider-Man's skull and began to apply all the pressure he could muster.

"Ah!" Peter could feel blood vessels bursting and knew he only had a few seconds. Relying more on instinct than anything else, he fired a burst of webs that covered the Goblin's eyes. "How's that for a sight for sore eyes?"

Norman grunted and took a step back. "You're proving extremely resourceful. However, you're only delaying the inevitable." He tore off the webbing and immediately cast a scornful look across the room. He felt a tap on his shoulders and turned around only to be slugged across the face.

"Hi." Peter said hitting the Goblin across the face a second time. "Those were for hitting me with that laser trick." Peter hit the Goblin through the wall and followed him into the bedroom. "This was for the pumpkin bomb." He landed an uppercut against the monster's jaw. Blood sprayed across the room from Norman's mouth. "This one is for shooting me." He hit Norman in the gut and then a spinning sidekick.

The battle spilled into the hallway as both titans smashed through the walls. "This one's for not getting a better costume." Peter head-butted the Goblin through another wall.

Shocked onlookers made their way through the rubble to steal a glance at the battle.

Norman took a breath of air between the blows and realized his face was a bloody mess. "No more games, Spider-Man!" He flung one of his deadly pumpkin bombs straight for the hero.

The explosion blew both fighters in opposite directions, each of them were hurt badly. Peter slowly got back up and looked down the row of holes through walls to see a truly terrifying sight. The Goblin atop his glider tackled Peter and both figures crashed through the ceiling and ended up on top of yet another roof.

He talked to the same void that he had spoken to earlier tonight as he lay on the rooftop, bleeding, "If this is your way of keeping me in this job, I would have accepted a less painful sign."

The Goblin allowed no rest and flung another pumpkin bomb. The force of the blast pushed Peter across the length of the roof. He ended up against the ledge, beaten and without any drive to fight left in him.

Peter was breathing hard as slowly felt the life drain out of him. The lower half of his mask was torn off and he could see the blood trickling from his face. He noticed that the Goblin was hovering above him by just a dozen or so feet, "How about we call it even."

Osborn couldn't help but laugh at his wounded opponent, at last put in his proper place, "Its over Spider-Man, you're finished."

"If you're going to kill me, get it over with." Peter said readying himself for the end.

"No." The Goblin replied, his features more terrifying than ever.

Peter frowned, "What?" He gazed across the roof, "Is there something I'm missing? Haven't you been trying to kill me all night, here?"

Norman shook his head, "No, you fool. If I wanted you dead, you would be so already." He stretched out his arms, "Can you feel it, Spider-Man? The power between us, ready to spill out and devastate this entire city." He could feel the Goblin mystique empower him. "We are very much alike."

"Whatever." Peter said bluntly. "Doesn't change the fact that you're insane."

"And you're not?" Norman asked somewhat annoyed, "Don't be so short-sighted, boy. We're both men dressed in colorful costumes with an immense power in each one of our hands. You just choose to foolishly use it to help others, who don't deserve your protection, while I help myself."

Peter frowned, "If you're not going to kill me, what was this attack all about?" He adjusted his position slightly as felt blood seeping out of the wound on his back.

Norman clenched his fist, "In our first encounter you made a fool of me Spider-Man, a clown."

"You seemed to a decent job on your own." Replied Peter.

"Shut up." Norman said dryly, "Now that I have your undivided attention I want to tell you something. Tonight was just a warning, Spider-Man. I wanted you to know that I will take apart your life, person-by-person. I'll reveal your secret to the world and make you beg for death by the end. But before I kill you, I will humiliate you like you did to me." He powered up his glider, "The end of your pitiful life is coming. I suggest you savor every short moment that is left."

With those fateful words, the Goblin powered up his glider and ascended quietly into the darkness. Behind him he left, Spider-Man, beaten and defeated.

To Be Continued…