I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far!

I still don't own these guys, at least last time I checked...

The ladies an' gents here before you

Which none of 'em ever admits

May 'ave saintly looks

But they're sinners and crooks

Hypocrites

Hypocrites!

By Monday morning, Peter's ankle had stopped throbbing, and the discoloration was all but gone. He walked through the halls of his high school, stopping by his locker to grab his books. As the metal door swung open, Peter felt someone walking up behind him.

"You're looking a lot better than you did on Friday," Harry observed. Peter turned around to face his friend, a smile on his face.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "It wasn't hurt as bad as May and I thought, and it barely hurts now."

Harry nodded, trying to look interested, but Peter could tell the young Osborn was distracted. "Harry?" Peter prodded. "What's wrong?"

Osborn shook his head. "I dunno, man. It's just...I heard...well, people talk, and the rumor going around the school is...do you really know Spider-Man?" he finally asked. Peter's blood ran cold for a minute.

"Ehm, uh, well...I mean, I used to have this uh, internship with Tony Stark, and uh, yeah. Yeah, I met Spider-Man a few times," he said. "Why?"

"I just...I get the feeling that dad's hiding something. Hiding something big," Harry clarified. "I guess I was just wondering if you could maybe ask Spider-Man if he'd be willing to stop by OSCORP and see if everything's okay," he finished, going red as he realized how silly and immature his request sounded.

"Um…" Peter cleared his throat, not quite sure how to respond to his friend. He'd been at the Osborn's when Norman had come down the stairs on Saturday, and the older man had seemed rather off.

"Sorry, it's fine," Harry said quickly. "I get that he's busy, and I'm just being paranoid anyway," he tried, turning around and preparing to walk away.

"No, no," Peter said, grabbing his friend's arm before he could move. "I can see if I can get ahold of him," he said. Harry's face lit up, and he let out a relieved breath, clapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Thanks, man. I really appreciate it."

"What makes you think your dad is hiding something?" Peter asked as the two of them walked to class.

"I dunno. It's just this feeling I have," Harry said. "Before the accident at OSCORP, he was normal. At least, normal by his standards. After the explosion though, he's been getting more and more distant. Stanley, our butler, even said that dad got physical with him a few days ago when Stanley went up to see if everything was alright," Harry explained. "He's been spending more and more time in his room recently, and uh...this is just staying between us and Spider-Man, right?" Harry asked, suddenly worried that Peter was going to go tell all of his friends that Norman Osborn was having some sort of breakdown.

"Don't worry," Peter assured his friend. "I'm not gonna tell anyone."

Harry looked relieved, and continued talking. "Well, when he's in his room, I...I can sometimes hear him, uh...talking to himself," he said, looking down. "I know it sounds stupid, but it's like he's having a conversation with someone, but whenever we go to check on him, he's the only one there."

"Can you hear what they're talking about?" Peter asked. Harry shook his head.

"No. I can hear his voice and someone else's, but I can't tell what they're saying. Anyway. You know how he ran out on Saturday?"

"Yeah?" Peter confirmed, not sure why the conversation had taken this turn.

"He hasn't come home since then," Harry said. "We checked and we know he's at OSCORP, but he barely answers our calls, and when he does, he snaps at whoever is on the phone," Harry said. "I'm...I'm really worried about him," he confessed, looking down at his shoes as if he were ashamed for feeling concern for his father.

"Hey, it's all good, man," Peter assured his friend. "I'll see if I can get ahold of Spider-Man. He's all about helping everyone, right? He should be willing to go see your dad. He's still at OSCORP?" Peter double checked.

"Yeah. He's been there since Saturday night," Harry repeated.

"Okay," Peter said. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks man," Harry said, surprising Peter by giving him a hug. "I really owe you one."

"Oh, uh...I mean, that's what friends do for each other," Peter said, slightly awkwardly.

"Well, you're the best friend I've had," Harry said, pulling away from Peter and giving him a dead serious look. "Seriously, man. Thank you."

The bell rang, signaling students had five minutes to get to classes, and the two boys looked at each other.

"Guess I'd better get to class," Harry said, turning around and walking the other way towards his first class of the day. Peter continued towards his first class as well, confused by the recent behavior of Norman Osborn.

"At least you know exactly where you're headed once school gets out," Peter muttered to himself as he sat down at his desk.

0-0-0

"Nooorman."

"No. Not yet. You can't come back yet," Osborn thought desperately to himself.

"Norman. Let me out, Norman."

"I can't! You're going to hurt more people!"

"You can't stop me, Norman. You know I'm stronger than you're ever going to be."

"I'm...strong enough...to stop you for...a little while longer," panted the CEO as he struggled against the entity in his mind.

"You're making me angry, Osborn."

"So what else is new?" Norman snapped.

"When I get out, Normy, you're not going to like what I'm going to do. The people I'll terrorize, the havoc I'll bring down on the city, and all of it's going to be on your head."

"No, it'll be on your head."

"But I am you, Norman. You know that whatever I do is only going to come back to bite you."

Osborn was about to respond, but he heard a new voice calling out to him, and the CEO visibly jumped; who was there, and how did they get in without him knowing?

"Who's there?" he asked, trying to quell the panic in his voice. He looked over frantically and saw that he'd left a window open to let in a breeze, and Spider-Man had crawled in.

"Looks like we've got a bug infestation," the Goblin hissed quietly so that the hero couldn't hear. Norman felt himself reaching for a few vials on the counter, and he briefly remembered what was in the small containers.

"Leave him alone," Osborn insisted. He could start to feel the control he had slipping away, and he fought against it as hard as he could.

0-0-0

"Mr. Osborn?" Spider-Man called out as he crawled through the open window at OSCORP.

"Who's there?" came a panicked-sounding voice. Peter slowly made his way over to where the voice had come from.

"It's uh...it's Spider-Man," Peter replied. "Your son Harry asked me to come. He's worried about you."

"Please go away!" Osborn replied after a moment of silence. "I'm doing this for Harry."

Peter didn't like the sound of that, so he walked along carefully, listening to his spider senses to alert him to any danger. "Doing what for Harry, Mr. Osborn?"

A growl came from Peter's left, and the high schooler prepared to fire his webs if he needed to. "You wouldn't understand. No one will understand!"

Peter snuck forward, getting closer to the voice as he responded, hoping his voice would mask the sound of his footsteps. "I can try to understand, Norman, but you have to tell me what's going on."

His senses alerted him that something was coming, and he easily dodged the glass beaker flung at his head. The glass shattered against the wall behind Peter, and the teenager peered into the darkness. "Mr. Osborn, I'm just trying to help. Let me help you."

"You have to leave," Osborn growled again. "I can't control it much longer, and I don't want to hurt you!"

"Mr. Osborn, what are you talking about?" Peter asked, feeling slightly more worried than he had been before. "What can't you control?"

There was no answer from the CEO, and Peter decided that he'd had enough games. It was dark in the ruined lab, but he simply turned on the flashlight on his web shooters that Stark had installed, shining the bright light into the darkness where he'd heard Osborn's voice coming from. "Mr. Osborn?" Peter asked again, worry for the CEO pushing him forward into the blackness. "Let me help you. What is it that you can't control?"

It was at that moment that Peter's senses screamed at him to get out of the way, which he did, backflipping out of the darkness as a figure came at him.

"He can't control me!" Osborn cackled as he took several swings at Spider-Man, who dodged them easily.

"Mr. Osborn, what are you doing? What are you talking about?" Peter asked, surprised by the speed and the force of the man attacking him. He wouldn't have pegged Osborn as someone who'd be this agile or fit.

"Norman can't come to the phone right now," cackled Osborn. Peter's eyes suddenly widened under the mask as things began falling into place, making sense.

"You?" he asked in shock. "You're the Green Goblin?"

"Give the boy a prize!" Osborn cackled as he continued his assault on Peter. The young man wanted to fight back, and even though he knew it wasn't really Osborn that he was fighting, it was still his friend's father, and Peter couldn't shake himself out of his shocked state before a desk was lifted up and thrown at him. Peter's reflexes tried to kick in, but he was too slow, and the desk rammed into him, pinning the young hero against the ground.

"Bye bye, Spider!" Osborn, or the Goblin, called out. As Peter pushed the desk off of himself, he saw the Goblin hit a button on a band around his wrist before running and jumping out the window.

"NO!" Peter shouted, shoving the desk the rest of the way off himself and lunging for the Harry's father, though he knew he was too late. He looked down the side of the building, getting ready to fire a web at the falling CEO, but to his surprise, he didn't see anyone. Suddenly, a cackle sounded above him, and when Peter looked up, he saw the Goblin flying away on his glider, just putting the last piece of his armor on, which happened to be the mask.

Grunting, Peter jumped out the window and began climbing the side of the OSCORP building after the Goblin, determined not to let him get away again. He got to the top of the building and began running towards the end of the roof, firing a web at a closeby building as he began falling. As he swung through the air, Peter was surprised to find that he was actually able to keep up with the Goblin fairly easily, which made him wonder if the Goblin was trying his hardest to get away. Ignoring his instincts that this was all a setup, Peter pushed on, swinging through the streets after the armor-clad Osborn.

Pretty soon, the buildings began to get shorter and shorter, so Peter was forced to run on the roofs and along the sides of buildings, giving him flashbacks to when he was chasing Vulture's men. Ahead of him, Peter was grateful to see a cellphone tower, which he immediately began climbing as soon as he reached it. He reached the top and saw that the Goblin was just a short ways ahead of him, easily within webbing distance, so that's exactly what Peter did. He fired a web at the retreating figure and pulled hard, bracing himself against the telephone pole to avoid being pulled through the sky again.

He heard the Goblin's startled yell as the glider jerked backwards, and Peter knew it was now or never. Drawing in a deep breath and counting down from three, Peter prepared himself for his attack, waiting for the perfect moment to jump. He finally threw himself off the tower, arms outstretched as he reached for the masked man, trying to get the advantage. The Goblin seemed to sense him coming from behind, though, and he whirled around in mid-air, catching Peter by the wrists and gripping hard.

Spider-Man let out a surprised grunt of pain as he struggled against the Goblin's hold. He tried pulling his hands away, but that did little good. While Peter knew Osborn was strong, he got the feeling that the strength that he was gripping Peter's wrists with belonged to whoever was controlling the CEO, and it felt almost superhuman. Peter felt a surge of panic when he heard and felt his web shooters begin cracking. He kicked his legs up, ramming them into the Goblin's chest and stomach, but it didn't do any good. The man's grip just continued to tighten more and more, until Peter felt like his wrists were on the verge of breaking as well.

Suddenly, the Goblin began rotating his wrists until the tops of his hands were facing up instead of sideways, twisting Peter's arms inward in the process. The teenager couldn't help the pained groan that escaped his throat as his wrists and arms were turned in ways that they weren't meant to turn in. He tried forcing his hands back the way they used to be, but a sickly green gas began pouring out of the Goblin's wristbands, flowing straight into Spider-Man's face.

Though he knew he shouldn't, the young man instinctively inhaled, immediately feeling the effects of the gas. He became dizzy and lightheaded, and his attempts to pull away from the Goblin became weaker and weaker. "Come with me, Spider-Man," the goblin cackled as the hero went limp in his arms. "We need to have a little talk."

Peter could do nothing as he felt the Goblin toss him over his shoulder; he'd lost all control over his body, and after a few moments of feeling the Goblin fly through the air with him in tow, the young hero dropped into unconsciousness.