Part Four
Peter saw the bridge in the distance and already his spider-sense pleaded with him to turn back, warned him of the danger that was waiting, but there was no choice. She was all he had now, he couldn't afford to fail.
Swinging along the cables of the bridge, Peter maneuvered himself up to the higher regions; he could see the green figure that awaited him. It was a dangerous ascent, a mere misstep and he'd slice his flesh against the steel but there was no more time for caution, he had to give this everything he had.
The cackling became louder; it seemed to be driving a nail into his skull reminding him of the evil he was dealing with. Firing another web-line he impressively soared over the steel beams, over the very top of the bridge and landed on the roof of the central platform only to see the Goblin before him.
"Parker, you made it!" Norman Osborn declared eagerly, "It seems you proved too much of a match for the good doctor. All the better I suppose that it would come down to us, mentor verses pupil, adopted father against adopted son. Imagine, what historians will think decades from now when they realize that this was the moment that the Green Goblin finally overcame the last obstacle in his path to attain true greatness! Now shall we deal with the woman who has seemed to cause so much of a headache in all of our lives?" He gestured towards the gagged and bound Mary Jane, her eyes full of tears but loss.
"You've got what you wanted, Osborn." Peter stated; his tone far from confident, "I'm here, I'm yours; you don't need her anymore."
Norman cackled, "Don't be a simpleton, Spider-Man. You know that she is as responsible for Harry's demise as you."
Peter grimaced, "Harry's death?" He scoffed at the claim, "Why don't you look in the mirror, Osborn, you were never there for him and in the end you twisted everything he was into some kind of mockery. Harry wasn't killed in an explosion; he was dead a long time before that stray grenade finished what was left of him off."
"Don't you dare, Parker, don't you dare try to weasel out of your role in my son's death." Norman's very face formed a fearsome scowl, "I know what happened and I know who is responsible and they are now both going to suffer before my very eyes." He got onto his glider and started it up so that he hovered gently off the ground. "And suffer they will indeed." He exclaimed grabbing Mary Jane's wrist
Peter took an aggressive step forward to which Norman gripped Mary Jane in his arms, "Don't you touch her." He insisted.
A devious smirk spread across the Goblin's ugly face and the intensity of the glow of his eyes became stronger than ever, "It's too late for that…isn't it, Mary Jane?" Norman asked her maliciously.
"What have you done?" Peter demanded.
The Goblin laughed, "Why don't you ask her?" Norman raised Mary Jane up over his head, "Ask her in death!" And in a sheer moment full of maliciousness and madness he flung her off the bridge.
"No!" Peter sprinted off the bridge and went into a suicidal dive. He couldn't fire a line; at this speed the force could snap her neck.
Their descent made him feel as if he was plunging into Hell itself. Just a few more inches and he'd have her but after another frantic second passed he realized the horrible truth. I can't reach her! She was already too far ahead of him, she'd hit the water in just a few seconds. He had to take the chance; she'd die if he didn't.
Peter fired a web-line that connected with her ankle and pulled it back towards him. He grabbed her in his arms and fired another line that connected with the bridge. Be alive, please be alive!
He swung them up to the street and looked at her in his arms, "MJ?" He waited for a reply of life but none came. "No." Peter removed her gag and the rope holding her hands and feet together. "Mary Jane, wake up, come on, I saved you." Still nothing she seemed lifeless…gone.
"I…I saved you…" He held her head closely to his chest, "Please, God, please, I-I can't lose her." Peter pleaded his eyes full of tears staring into her face, "I need her."
Then, miraculously, as if waking up from a long slumber her eyes fluttered open, "Peter?" She said as if waking from a long dream, "You're here. Oh my God, Peter, you made it, I knew you would make it, I never doubted it for a second."
"Mary Jane, you're alive! Oh God, you're alive!" He screamed joyfully, "I can't believe it." Peter pressed his lips against her own appreciating every moment of it, "You're alive, you're alive, oh MJ, I was afraid; I was so…" He spotted the red bloodstains on her shirt and pants. "What did he do?" An old familiar sinking sensation was now setting in his stomach forcing knots to become tighter and tighter.
She frowned, her face almost overtaken with sorrow, "Peter…he brought me to a room in the penthouse…I tried to stop him!" MJ clutched him tightly almost unable to speak with tears running down her face, "I tried so hard but he was too strong." She managed to spit out the words even as her sobbing became louder, "He was too strong."
Peter fell back, his world becoming dizzy, "The baby?" He asked horrified.
"I don't know." She replied.
The sound of the Goblin's glider powering itself up gripped Peter's heart, not with fear but fury, an anger that shook the very foundations of his soul. He rose back up, "Get out of here."
"Peter, don't, please, we can run." MJ pleaded, "I don't want him taking you too. Please, don't do this."
His clenched his fist angrily, "I'm tired of running, I'm tired running from people like him doing whatever they want, thinking that suffering is a toy to inflict on other people. This is ending, now, man-to-man." Peter's breathing became cold, focused, "It's time to make a stand."
"What the hell is going on up there?" A taxi driver asked, "Why isn't traffic moving for Christ's sakes."
A person in their car beside the taxi overhead him and answered promptly, "Some girl fell off the bridge and then they saw Spider-Man up there!"
The taxi driver frowned, "That's it! Come on people unless it's the end of the world, let's get moving!" Suddenly the sky was full of explosions, "Well then, I guess that's that."
The Green Goblin struggled with Parker who had latched onto him aboard his own glider, "Get away from you freak!" He screamed as he tried to force Spider-Man away. Peter landed two punches across Norman's jaw before the latter elbowed him in the face forcing him off. "Hey, Parker, should we try again with the redhead or how about we give another person a go and see what happens?" He exclaimed flying back towards the city.
Peter fired a web-line that connected with Osborn's glider, "You're not leaving my sight, Norman! You're going to pay for what you've done!"
"Don't be foolish! Remember all is fair in love and war, my good boy." Norman flew towards the heart of Manhattan; they were already reaching the tallest skyscrapers, "Now, let's see if you're ready to back up those threats of yours for once!"
Holding onto the line was dangerous; he was being towed by Norman's glider while he dangled in the air about fifteen feet behind the Goblin.
Norman spotted an office building, "Hold on this could get bumpy!" He put the glider up at the last moment just avoiding the edge of the building while Peter smashed into the side and was scraped across the wall violently.
Shards of glass tore away at him, cutting his shoulder badly but still he held on. The Goblin's lips formed a snarl, "Fine, let's try something more aggressive."
He weaved in and out of streets, slamming Peter into the side of a building every so often. Norman grinned spotting a billboard and flew just over it, the second he himself had passed it dived back down so that Peter instead came crashing through the board.
"I can't hold on much longer." Spider-Man whispered to himself, "It's now or never." Peter tugged on the line like a bungee cord and flew through the air like a missile. He tackled the goblin in his torso and gripped him tightly.
"You're very resourceful, Parker." He gripped Peter in a headlock and flung him over to the front of the glider, "It's a shame you weren't born an Osborn, then I wouldn't have to waste such potential." He said punching Spider-Man across the jaw, "And I wouldn't have had to deal with that uncle of yours."
Peter gripped his hands tightly around Norman's neck and began to squeeze away with everything he had, "You killed people I care about! People that were decent, caring good-hearted, things you can never be!" Norman punched him in the face again with everything he had, Peter's nose began to bleed, it was broken he could feel it. Another blow shattered his right lens revealing a swollen eye underneath. Nevertheless, Peter refused to loosen his grip, "There's nothing to you; deep down you're just rotten! You're an egotistical lunatic!" He exclaimed elbowing Norman in the jaw forcing him to spit a tooth out.
As the Goblin took a second to collect his senses they both looked forward for a mere instant only to see an office building directly ahead of them. Each braced themselves. Smashing through the glass wasn't the bad part, ramming into every single computer, cubicle and water cooler was the bad part.
Emerging from the other side of the building, each man looked as if they'd been through hell. Norman brushed away a keyboard that had smacked across his face, "That's enough, Parker!" He began to push his arachnid enemy away, "I said that's enough!" He smacked Peter away with a hit to the gut and cackled at the fall of his foe.
Pulling his glider around, Norman suddenly loss sight of Spider-Man, "Did he smash into the street?" He asked looking for a stain of some sort. "Where is that web-head?" He pushed his glider into an acceleration; flying past buildings looking in vain for his foe. "I must have gotten him. That was disappointing." He marked irately. Then his eyes picked up a strand of webbing running in between two buildings just a few yards away, "Now that's more like it, Parker!"
Spider-Man ran across the line like an acrobat but the grace of his movements had been replaced with power. He jumped off the line and landed a blow across Norman's jaw sending him into a spiral while Peter fired another line.
"So what if your uncle died?" Norman flung a pumpkin bomb through the air. Spider-Man dodged it by a few mere feet as it exploded creating a lethal inferno. "He was an old fool anyway, a useless relic that could barely see two feet ahead of him, much less your potential or how to properly utilize it."
"You're a maniac, Osborn." Peter declared swinging by avoiding another pumpkin bomb, "I don't know what you did to yourself to give yourself such a healthy tint of green but that was just the icing on the cake. Deep down this is who you are, a powered-up sociopath!"
Norman grimaced, "Never again judge me, Spider-Man!" He advanced on Peter flinging another pumpkin, "You know nothing of me, you know nothing of what it's like to be forced to scratch and fight for every penny you've ever earned while everyone else milks you for all you're worth."
Peter laughed loudly running along the side of a building while Norman failed in an attempt to nail him in the head with a razor-bat he had thrown. "You're breaking my heart, Norman and let me guess all you ever needed was a hug and you'd have been alright."
"You think I'm the Goblin for kicks?" Norman flew past Spider-Man covering him in smoke and dropping off a pumpkin bomb. The explosion threw Peter clear of the smoke to which Norman clipped him across the chest as he zipped by, "All I've ever worked for was a chance to fulfill my potential, redeem the stain my father's failure and suicide left on the family and help Harry carry on the legacy that I was creating for him and as simply Norman Osborn that could never be done, I needed to go beyond the law, beyond the world's outdated limits and accomplish my own destiny as I always have no matter the odds!"
"Nobody beats the odds forever, Osborn, you should know that." Peter fired another line and came around with everything he had. He landed both feet across Norman's face throwing him off his glider.
As Osborn fell he clasped Peter's ankle bringing him down as well. They both tumbled helplessly down back into the city. Peter struggled against Norman's hold but failed to shake the Goblin off. He had only a single chance; even if it meant saving them both. He fired a web-line swinging through the air trying to compensate for Osborn's weight.
As they came to the apex of their swing, Norman let go suddenly, shocking Peter but soon he realized why. The Green Goblin landed directly on top of his glider, which seemed designed to return to its order upon separation and after slipping his feet into the appropriate slots began to cackle proudly, "What was it you said about nobody beating the odds?"
The Goblin soared away from the battle forcing Peter into pursuit. He couldn't let him escape not after what he had done, not with what he could do.