Ch. 9
Spider-Man stood there, watching the small, mini-explosion. It hit him, not literally, but it hit him. The Goblin exploded right in front of his eyes. He was gone. The man that had tormented him since he could remember was gone. And yet…The Goblin's intolerable laughter lived on. His face haunted every dark corner of Spider-Man's mind. How could that much evil just die out? It couldn't. Deep down in Spider-Man's bruised gut, he knew…The Goblin lived. But that was for another day. Another time. And, hopefully, another decade or two. He wondered if he'd ever see the Green Goblin again, and, if he did, he wondered if he'd have the decency to tell how he survived. Spider-Man peeked over the edge of the building once the smoke cleared. There was no body, nothing. He had to be alive.
Spider-Man passed the Daily Bugle billboard he'd passed almost every day as he headed on home. He heard the familiar sound of a helicopter. He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. Ugh…news copters! The must have caught that entire battle on tape! Wonderful! He could just picture Jameson running through the footage, nitpicking all Spider-Man's flaws and make them look like he was teamed up with the bad guys all the time. One of the reporters stuck their head out the window. "Hey! Spider-Man!" He screamed, as if he were deaf. "Can we get a statement?" Spider-Man was so tempted to pop up the middle finger, but he just yelled back, "Go get one from Captain America, asshole!" Ah, that felt just as good.
Spider-Man webbed his way past the Daily Bugle. Jameson must have seen him pass, because he rolled his window up and called him over. "You big, son of a…" "Shut your never-ending yapper, J.J.!" Spider-Man interjected. "Go buy the Eiffel Tower!" He moaned as he spun a web on Jameson's mouth. "There! Now none of your underpaid and overworked employees can hear your complaints ever again! Okay, maybe not ever again, but for at least and hour!" Spider-Man swung away, so pleased with himself. After that long day, why should he have to listen to someone nagging him on and on about how he did things.
Spider-Man landed on a rooftop and looked at the large screen at Times Square. It was showing that footage the helicopter had been filming of him! Now, he was glad he hadn't flipped them off! He watched himself on the big screen yelling at the helicopter. He rolled his eyes at himself and made a long groan. Yelling at a helicopter. Not my finest moment. He hated those news cameras! If there was a videogame about shooting the paparazzi, he'd be the first to buy it.
As he made his route to his apartment, he couldn't get the image of the Green Goblin out of his face. Why didn't the Goblin continue to attack? Deep down, he knew why. He wanted to keep Spider-Man guessing, and keep him on his guard, and keep him wondering. Though the Goblin was gone, he was still attacking him. Hard.
Spider-Man crawled into his apartment and quickly changed into normal clothes. He hid the mask and tights in their usual hiding spot (duh) and plopped his sorry ass on the couch as he flipped on the television. No matter how hard he changed the channels, Spider-Man was all that was on. The footage of the Goblin blowing up and vanishing played in front of his eyes over and over. Then Peter read the title on the bottom of the screen. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Monsters duel to the Death" was the headline. Monsters? "Oh, come on!" He yelled at the television. Once again, not his finest moment. "Shush, sweetie! People can probably hear you from Pennsylvania!" Mary-Jane laughed as she entered the apartment. "Every time, M.J.! I try to play the hero, but no matter how hard I try, I always wind up the bad guy!" Mary-Jane started massaging his shoulders. "They don't understand what you're trying to do," She told him "But in the end, it doesn't even matter. Good won over evil! And…incase you're wondering…you're the good guy!" He told him. "Yeah, I won." He said, standing up. He walked over to the window and looked at the city before him. He felt his bruises. "I won. Good won. Spider-Man won." He said aloud, mainly to himself. Yeah, I did it. Big time super hero, staring out the window, sulking. M.J.'s right. I doesn't even matter. I won. I won...Or…did I?
The End