Greetings and Salutations to all…ok ok. I know I've taken too long in getting this up. So put down the weapons down and call of the angry mob. I took my time with this because, again, I refuse to post nothing but my best. This chapter took me a while being the near the end. That's right True Believers this is the first of the last three chapters, I tell you this because I am taking my time on the last two so I don't disappoint any one. And if I have already disappointed, just go back a reread the chapters you like.
OK, so! In our last chapter our hero bravely sacrificed himself to Ock in order to save Gwen, who graciously repaid him immediately. Let's see if our webbed wonder can get out of this one. LIGHTS…CAMERA….action.
Chapter 10: Decisions
Midtown Manhattan Magnet High School seemed to come to a screeching halt with what had happened. Police cars littered the main gate as officers and S.W.A.T. teams received their orders.
"Alright everyone, listen up; I'm only going to say this once," stated Captain Stacy. "Ock and Rhino are at an abandoned building on the east side of the city. I need to warn you, they do have a hostage. We need to hit them fast and hard."
"What about Spider-Man?" asked Sargent Carter. "Why not let him take them down?"
"I'm not sure where Spider-Man is at the moment," the Captain admitted. "Besides, Spider-Man is always helping us. I think this one time we can help him. Ok everyone, move out!"
Every office scrambled to their vehicles. Sirens filled the air as police cars went in every direction. George looked to his car to see Gwen and Mary Jane huddled together.
"We need to find a way to help Petr,e" said Gwen quietly. "Dad said they're in a building on the east side. If we can get a cab-"
"Gwen," interrupted Mary Jane. Gwen looked at her to see a look of terror on her face. "I want to find Pete just as much as you, but…" she hesitated feeling guilt building up. "We may be in over our heads."
"What do you mean?" asked Gwen. "We can't just let him do this alone!"
"Remember what your dad said?" asked Mary Jane, trying to keep Gwen calm. "He said that if we try to help Pete, we'll just be in the way."
Gwen was starting to panic. Pete, her Pete, had once again risked his life for her and she couldn't do a thing to help him. Gwen shook her head, trying to collect herself. "There has to be something we can do," she said sternly. "I'm not about to let Pete die because of me."
"Parker is not going to die." The girls turned their heads to look at Flash. "If he can survive everything I've done to him, he can survive anything." Gwen smiled, knowing Flash had a point. "Besides, Spider-Man is going save him when he shows up to kick Ock's butt!"
And once again, Flash Thomson kills the mood. Gwen slapped her forehead in response.
"Kids," called Captain Stacy. "The school's closed, so you should probably head home." The group nodded. "Gwen, why don't you and Mary Jane go see if Peter's Aunt May needs anything."
Gwen nodded her head. "Sure."
Captain Stacy got into his car and headed for the east side of town. The group of teens began to head off when Kenny turned and handed something to Gwen.
"Here," he said giving Gwen an Osberry. "I figure Parker would want this back, ya know, if he lives."
All the color faded from Gwens face. Glory elbowed Kenny in the gut. "Kenny!" she hissed.
Gwen still looked pale as she inspected the Osberry. I thought Pete kept this in his locker? She opened it up and gasped. This caught everyone's attention.
"Gwen, are you ok?" asked Liz.
Gwen just looked at the screen in front of her. "This isn't Pete's." Liz looked at the screen, she gasped as well. On the wallpaper of the screen was a mask that bore a striking resemblance to an all too familiar goblin. In bold print, at the top of the screen read:
Welcome Back Mr. Osborn
"It's Harry's!" said Gwen a little scared.
Back across town, the Sinister Six plus Molten Man were all gathered at the abandoned building going over their plan of attack.
"According to the police, Rhino and I are the only ones here. Therefore, we will attack first to lull him into a sense of false security. Once the arachnid is distracted, Mysterio will use his special effects to confuse him while Sand Man attacks," explained Ock. The others just nodded in agreement.
Mysterio spoke up. "They are not special effects," he said angrily. "They are ILLUSIONS!"
Doc Ock just looked at him then continued. "Electro and Vulture will stand watch from the rafters above just in case Spider-Man decides to make a…tactical retreat."
"Understood," nodded Vulture.
"YEAH!" said Electro. "Let's fry us a Spider!"
"Calm yourself, Maxwel,l" said Ock in a soothing voice. "We will all get our chance."
Molten Man, who had remained silent through their whole discussion, raised his hand. "What about me?" he asked.
"You, my boy, will be guarding the prisoner," replied Ock.
"What!" shouted Molten Man. "Why do I get stuck guarding some chump?"
"Because I said so," answered Ock, trying to control his own anger. "And if you ever want to be human again, you will do as you're told." Molten Man just hung his head in defeat. Ock gave a small smile. "Don't look so down," said Ock. "I would have thought you wanted some one on one time with Mr. Parker."
Everyone, with the exception of Rhino, looked at Ock in surprise. "Parker?" asked Molten Man.
"As in, Peter Parker?" asked Electro.
"One in the same," answered Ock. Molten Man stormed off, leaving a trail of melted asphalt. Sand Man started to go after him. "And just where are you going?" asked Ock.
"What's the point in having a hostage if he's dead," retorted Sand Man. "Besides, the kid's going the wrong way." With that, he continued after Molten Man. Ock narrowed his eyes as he watched Sand Man round the corner.
The Parker residence was quiet as Mary Jane and Gwen, along with Flash and his crew, knocked on the door. They waited for a few moments and then knocked again. Still no answer.
"Anyone else feel creeped out by being here?" asked Sally.
"You're right. It's not like Aunt May to out this time of day," said Gwen.
"Not that!" yelled Sally. "I mean, being here at the home of a nerd." Everyone shot her a dirty look. Gwen went down the stairs to the small garden on the side of the house. She picked up a rock and flipped it over. On the bottom of the rock was a small door that hid an extra key. After retrieving the key, the group entered the house. Everyone continued to look for signs of where May Parker could be.
Mary Jane tried calling out "Aunt May?" But, no answer.
Flash was next to try his luck. "Mrs. Parker?" Still no answer.
Randy and Sally looked up stairs while Liz and Glory looked in the kitchen. Everything looked normal. Gwen started to get worried. "Where could she be? I hope she didn't have another heart attack."
"If she did she's in the right place for it," said Glory as she and Liz came out of the kitchen with a note.
"She's at the doctors," said Liz as Glory handed Mary Jane the note.
Peter,
Sorry for not reminding you I had a doctor's appointment today with Dr. Bromwell at 2pm. I'll be gone most of the day with Anna Watson so don't worry. We should home soon.
Love,
Aunt May
P.S. There is some pie in the fridge for you.
"All right!" exclaimed Kenny "PIE!" He ran over to the refrigerator and opened it. He found the pie and was about to eat it when he noticed everyone else was giving him a nasty look. "What?"
Gwen just huffed in exasperation as she planted herself on the couch. Now that the mystery of what happened to Aunt May was solved, Gwen was brought back to her original problem. How am I going to help Pete? she thought. She had racked her brain trying to come up with an idea, but nothing seemed to work. As she thought, Gwen closed her hand around something. She looked down to see the green Osberry still in her hand. I forgot I had this. Then an idea hit her. If Harry was who she thought, then there might be something on it that would help. Opening the Osberry, she came face to face with that goblin mask again, sending chills down her spine. Pushing those chills away, Gwen began inputting password after password in hopes of stumbling onto the right one.
"We'd better get going," said Glory.
"Yeah, my mom is going to freak when I get home," said Liz. The group of popular's started to leave. Liz turned back to Mary Jane and gave her a hug. "Don't worry, Petey will be alright." Mary Jane smiled.
"Again!"
Mary Jane's and Liz's, as well as everyone else's, attention was drawn to Gwen. "Gwen, what are you doing?" asked Glory.
"Trying to unlock Harry's Osberry," she grumbled. "There may be something on here that can help Pete." She tried again. "Revenge? Nope. Vengeance? No! Green Goblin? NO! Argh!" She threw her head back agents the couch in frustration. "This getting me no where!"
"Wow! Chill, geekette," said Sally.
"Yeah. Don't worry, Spider-Man will save Parker," said Flash. "You'll see; he'll be back in no time."
"And what if Spider-Man doesn't make it?" asked Gwen. The others were stunned. "Well, what happens then?" she asked, turning her had to face them.
May Jane sat next to Gwen as the others just looked at one another. "Gwen , I think you need to calm down," she said soothingly. "Getting worked up is not going to help anyone." Gwen nodded, knowing Mary Jane was right.
"We need to get your mind off of this whole thing," said Randy.
"Hey, I know!" said Kenny excitedly. "You can give Osborne his thing back."
This earned him an elbow to the gut from Glory and a smack upside the head from Randy and Flash. "Kenny that is the worst idea you have come up with!" yelled Glory. "Harry is the last person Gwen wants to see right now!"
"Doesn't matter," scoffed Flash. "Osborn's too busy trying to slay Spider-Man."
Gwen's eyes suddenly went wide. "Slay Spider-Man?" She looked at Flash who had backed up in case Gwen got mad. "Flash…YOU'RE A GENIUS!"
"Hun?" everyone said.
Gwen looked back at the Osberry and typed in what she prayed was the correct password, "S-P-I-D-E-R-S-L-A-Y-E-R" Gwen waited as the Osberry checked the inputted password, Gwens face lit up, "Yes, I'm in!" All the others cheered for her success. Gwen read through the files hoping something would be of help. She found a file named GOB. She clicked on it and inside was a ton of files on the Green Goblin from news reports to equipment specifications. Gwen and the others looked on in horror as the saw what was on the screen.
Randy couldn't believe his eyes. "What is all this goblin stuff doing on Osborn's Osberry?"
"Well, the creep was his dad," stated Sally flatly. "Maybe Osborn just copied all his dad's filed onto that thing."
"Or maybe…" said Mary Jane, "This is his dad's."
"It is," said Gwen as she looked through some more files. "I've seen Harry's notes. Even when he was on the green, Harry still never kept thing in order. These files are all thought out. They are all in a specific order. This Osberry had to have been Norman Osborn's personal Osberry." Gwen eye's caught site of a program labeled GLIDE. She opened the program and was fascinated by what see found.
Liz looked at the Osberry trying to figure out what was on it. "Gwen? Did you find anything?" she asked.
"I sure did," Gwen replied. "And it's just what we need! Come ON!" she said running to the door. The others followed out the door. Once Gwen relocked it, they all ran to catch a cab to the east side of the city.
Molten Man found his way to the room where Peter was being held in. He stood there, looking at the door.
"You going in or just gonna stare at it all day?" Mark turned his head to see Sand Man leaning his back against the wall.
"What do you want?" asked an irritated Mark.
"Same as before," Flint Marko replied. "Just wondering if you really have what it takes to be on this team."
"You call the Sinister Six a team?" Mark asked mockingly. "Electro and Rhino argue every two seconds. Vulture and Ock are off doing their own thing and Mysterio keeps going on and on and ON about himself."
Marko just shrugged. "Nobody's perfect." He looked at the door and then back to Mark. "So, you actually gonna guard Parker?"
Mark gave him a skeptic look. "Yeah, why?"
Marko shrugged again. "Thought you might fry the kid for braking up with your sister."
That got Mark's blood boiling. "You had to remind me, didn't you!" he shouted. Mark's hands were glowing red. "That little punk never did anything but hurt Liz."
"And you?" questioned Marko. Mark was about to throw a Lava ball when a large square shaped rock slammed into his face and onto the ground. "Go ahead kid. I've survived being turned to glass once. I can do it again."
Mark got up off the floor and glared at Marko. "So, what is it you want?"
"That's a question you should be asking yourself," replied Marko. "You can continue being the Doc's lap dog or you could serve your time and go back home."
"Home isn't an option," said Mark sadly.
"Who says?" replied Marko. Mark just stared at him confused. "Look, if you really want out of this, I know someone who can help."
"No more doctors!" said Mark. "That's what got me into this mess."
"He's not a doctor," said Marko. "He's a Colonel."
Mark still seemed apprehensive. "What do you want?"
"I want to help," Marko said. "Some wise guy once told me…with great power comes great responsibility. At first, I thought it was just a bunch of bull, but after I helped save those guys from that oil tanker. I was noticed by some pretty important people."
"Who?" asked Mark.
"You want to know?" asked Marko. He pointed to the door holding Pete. "Then let the kid out."
Pete had his ear to the door as Sand Man and Molten Man talked. "Great. First I con Ock into taking me instead of Gwen, now Marko is coning Mark into taking me somewhere else." Pete sighed, "This is not my day." Pete jumped back when the doorknob began to turn. He got behind the desk in case he needed a shield. Molten Man entered the room. Pete couldn't tell from his stoic face what he had planned. "Hey, Mark," greeted Pete nervously. "Long time no see. How've you been?"
Mark stayed silent as he looked at Pete. "You," he pointed at Pete. "OUT!" he said harshly. This earned him a confused look from Pete. Quickly becoming irritated, and therefore rising the temperature in the room, Mark said, "You only have one shot at this. You want out? Then get out!"
"I would, but you're kind of blocking the door," said Pete. Mark snapped out of his anger and stepped aside. Pete walked past him to the door where he stopped, waiting to see if Sand Man made a move.
Marko gave small smile. "Sorry to disappoint you kid, but I'm not going hurt you."
"Then, what are you going to do?" asked Pete.
"Keep Ock and his goons busy till you get out and warn the Spider," he said in a more serious tone.
Pete gave both of them a confused expression. "But, aren't you all on the same side?"
Marko shook his head. "I may hate the Web-Head for putting me away, but he was right about one thing. I need to start helping people instead of myself." Pete felt a sense of pride knowing that what he told Marko had sunk in. Pete nodded his head and then turned to run when sirens started to fill the air. The trio made their way to the closest window, or to the hole in the wall where a window should have been, and looked out to see the entire police force and SWAT team surrounding the side of the building.
"If they're on this side, they're probably on the other as well," said Pete.
"Guess it pays to date a police captain's daughter," said Marko. Pete just looked at him in shock and surprise. "What, bad guys can't gossip?" Pete just slapped his hand on his forehead and shook his head.
"This is just what we need," said Mark a little panicked. "Parker will never get out of here without the others noticing now!"
"Sure he will," said Marko with confidence. "We'll just start the fun earlier then planed." With that, Marko turned his body to sand and headed down the hall. Mark and Pete looked at each other for a split second. They nodded to each other and then ran after Sand Man.
As police surrounded the building, one would think the villains inside would start to worry. Wrong. Ock saw this as a golden opportunity.
"The arachnid only think Rhino and myself are here," he stated to his associates, "So he will be quite surprised to see the rest of you here. And then, we will crush him."
"Let's get into positions," said Vulture. He began to rise from the floor to the rafters only to be slammed down by a large amount of sand. The others just stared in shock. Vulture was able to dig his way out as Sand Man reformed himself. "What on earth were you doing!" he shouted.
"The Spider!" replied Sand Man. "He's here already! He ambushed us and then grabbed the kid. Molten Man went after him."
"Where is he!" hissed Doc Ock.
"They went to the south side of the building," answered Sand Man.
The six villains ran to the south end of the building. If any of them bothered to look up, they would have seen the hole that Sand Man fell through. Looking down was Molten Man and Peter. Seeing the Sinister Six heading off was the signal for Pete to leave.
"Ok, Parker, now's your chance," said Molten Man as he pointed to the window. "Just climb down the fire escape and head for the cops. Sand Man and I will take care of Ock and his crew."
"What about you two?" asked Pete with a hint of actual worry. Hey, just because they were the bad guys doesn't mean Pete wanted to see them hurt. "There's five of them and two of you!"
"Don't worry about us," said Molten Man with a smirk. "We'll give them a fight they won't soon forget." With just a nod, Pete climbed onto the fire escape and started to make his way down. He had been held on the seventh floor of the building. Pete was three floors away from street level when his Spider-Sense went off. The sound of a jet engine could be heard in the distance.
"Hurry!" shouted Molten Man. Suddenly there were three explosions around Molten Man. The old rusted metal couldn't take the vibration from the explosions, it started to creak and break, falling down on top of Pete. "MARK!" he shouted, but his voice was lost due to the collapsing structure. Acting quickly, Pete jumped through a broken window to avoid getting crushed. Pete stood up to find the building shaking. Mark must be ok, he thought, otherwise Hobby would have stopped throwing bombs. Pete looked at his surrounding. This is as good a place as any, thought Pete as he pulled out his web shooters from his bag.
Molten Man dived out of the way as three pumpkin bombs exploded. He got off the floor as the dust and smoke cleared ane figure could be seen. Molten Man's hands started to glow red as the Hobgoblin came into view and did not look pleased.
"It would seem that I have a traitor in my group," he said with an evil glare. "Don't you remember our deal? You follow me and your family stays alive."
"I remember," said Molten Man. "I just decided I was done following orders." He launched two small lava balls at Hobgoblin. Hobgoblin dodged the attack, but due to the condition of the building he had a hard time. Hobgoblin threw another pumpkin bomb causing Molten Man to start running.
"Running off so soon?" mocked Hobgoblin as he threw some pumpkin blades. "I'm just getting started!" he snarled.
Molten Man continued to run, dodging bombs and blades as he rounded corners of the old office building. Coming to a halt at a dead end, he thrust his hands into the wall and melted a hole. He turned around and saw Hobgoblin coming towards him. He threw small, baseball-sized lava balls. Even in the limited space, Hobgoblin was still able to evade all the attacks.
Hobgoblin shifted his foot to press a button on his glider. A blade came out of the glider's mouth. Hobgoblin laughed as he increased his speed. He planned on impaling his former flunky. Molten Man smiled as he jumped out of the way just as the glider flew by. Hobgoblin had no time to react as his glider hit the wall. He flew through the hole Molten Man had made. Hobgoblin crashed onto the floor as his glider bashed through another wall and stalled out.
Hobgoblin shook his head as he tried to get up. He was able to get on to his knees before his whole body was lifted off the floor. He was able to get a quick glance at Doc Ock before he was thrown into a wall…or what he thought was a wall before two arms began crushing him. Hobgoblin looked up to see Rhino smiling back at him. Hobgoblin was about to push a button on his wrist guards to call back his glider, but he found he could not move in the vice grip he was currently in.
"Well, well, well," said Doc Ock. "This is quite the surprise. I didn't expect you to get here so fast."
Hobgoblin tried breaking free, but nothing was going to make Rhino let go. "When I heard that you were having a party without me, I thought I'd just crash it."
"Actually, I meant the time it took you to get from school to OsCorp," replied Ock with a smirk.
"What are you talking about?" asked Hobgoblin a bit nervously.
Ock gave a malicious smile as one of his tentacles made its way to hobgoblin face. "Come now, did you really think I wouldn't figure out who you are?" he asked. "All you wanted us to do is kill Spider-Man. All of your tech came from OsCorp and you literally threw money at us to help." His tentacle grabbed part of Hobgoblin's face. "Put it all together and you get…" He pulled at the mask that was Hobgoblin's face to reveal the face of an African-American man with balding white hair. "Roderick Kingly?"
"You were expecting someone else?" he asked in anger.
"Where is Osborn's Brat?" Ock barked. "He's the one who should be here, not you!"
"Well, it looks like your ego is bigger than your brain, Ock."
All the villains look up in shock. "SPIDER-MAN!"
"You forgot "Friendly Neighborhood"," he replied. "I have to admit, this saves me some trouble. So, are you all going to come quietly or do I have to beat you all again?" Spider-Man's spider-sense blared and he jumped from the beam he was on just as four pumpkin blades imbedded themselves into it.
"No one is going anywhere," said a voice Spidy was all too familiar with. He whipped his head around and his eyes widened in shock. "Long time no see Spider-Man. Did you miss your old friend …The Green Goblin?"
OK, did not see that coming…ok may be I saw that coming. Looks like Spider-Man has some back up on the way. Looks like the Sinister Six had some falling out, has Spider-Man gained some new allies, guess we'll find out. Don't forget to review.