(Goblins and Fire Starters)

Spectacular Webhead 11: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I definitely enjoyed showing off how much Mikey's matured, and honestly the Star Wars reference is fairly accurate. Though I do owe that to a certain reviewer.

Jebest4781: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

Gamelover41592: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it.

Godzillaboy2021: Yeah, truth be told I was a bit hesitant about going that way with Tiger Claw, but I do have a plan for that in mind later on. You'll see in the coming chapters.

TheIrishman1999: Yep, I had a feeling that was going to get a few laughs, and it's actually true when you stop to think about it. And yes, Tiger Claw did leave the Foot in a way very similar to how Dreadwing left the Decepticons. Truth be told, that was what inspired me to go that route to begin with. As for who will take his place, you'll see in due time. Silver Samurai definitely isn't a good fit for the Foot Clan though, for a few reasons. And don't worry, it won't be much longer now until Peter gets brought back.

MercWithaMouth1: Okay truth be told, I don't really watch death battles. But aside from that, I did mention that Super Samurai cooperated with Shredder mainly because it gave him a chance to fight Wolverine.

Spiral-Voltron-Zero0Q1: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it so much. I know how you feel, the Black Cat mission was pretty kickass.

Guest: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. I'm trying to go my own route with Tiger Claw, and his departure from the Foot will make room for something I have planned later on. Black Cat is out of the story for the time being, but I have plans for her later on, so don't worry. The same goes for most of Peter's class from Midtown. As for Karai, you'll see with her in time.

Colacheunion: Yeah truth be told, I have to wonder if Tiger Claw knew about the Foot being involved with the Kraang when Shredder recruited him. And yeah, it's pretty well established by this point that Shredder is a hypocrite.

GTA Godfather: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. The idea of Tiger Claw being a mutant crime lord does sound pretty interesting (though I've never seen the Mandalorian), but I have my own direction I plan to go with him. You'll see soon enough.

Doomkrusher0v3l0rd: I've only watched about the first two episodes.

Shakespeare RZA: I appreciate the input. Don't worry, I'll do my best with Karai's redemption arc when the time comes.

C.S. Allen: Thanks, I'm glad to see you liked it. It only seemed right to make a tribute to the great Toriyama after his passing, but we'll never forget him. Truth be told, the idea of Timothy working with FEAST isn't actually a bad one. I'll keep it in mind for the future, and that's a good message to go with it. Yeah, I can imagine Shredder bringing in Silver Samurai and Tiger Claw leaving the Foot would catch some readers by surprise, but I like to make sure my writing isn't TOO predictable. Nice job catching the Venom reference too. And don't worry, this isn't the last we've seen of Black Cat.

Pikachu345: Funny you mention that… give it a few chapters.

Guest: Nice job catching the Transformers Prime reference. Truth be told I didn't really get into the Transformers stuff until fairly recently when a friend got me to watch the show (in exchange for getting him to watch Naruto), and it gave me some really cool ideas for my stories. And yeah, I wanted to go a different route with Tiger Claw, and him leaving the Foot so soon leaves room for something else I have in mind not too far down the line. I'm always up for people offering suggestions and jokes, but in the end I alone have to decide whether or not I can use them in my stories.

Guest: Interesting idea. We'll see if it pans out.

Frosty Wolf: Yep, I can imagine a lot of people didn't see that coming. Now that Tiger Claw is out of the Foot, not only will he be taking a different path, but it opens up the chance for a very special someone to take his place at Shredder's side. I get what you're saying about Black Cat, but I feel like they mostly finished her story in the first game, and I did have to make some room for everything I've got planned. As for Wong, I have a few ideas for how that may work out in the near future. We'll see soon enough, though as far as the game goes, don't discount the chance of a DLC cameo yet. And yeah, a few reviewers made the comparison of Leo and Karai to Luke and Leia, and while I'm not really a Star Wars guy, I have to admit they aren't wrong. The sad thing with Logan's lovelife is that it really isn't meant to be, at least not with Mariko. Also yes, RIP to Akira Toriyama. He impacted millions of lives, possibly even billions (more than likely an exaggeration, but you get my point).

5FingerDeathFist: You know it's funny you mention that. It's an interesting idea, but things between Eddie and the Symbiote may fall apart sooner than you think. As for the introduction of a certain psychopath killer, we'll see soon enough. And yeah, Kasady is a lot more unhinged than the Goblin. At least the Goblin is a planner, Kasady just does it on instinct. But yeah, it was pretty much confirmed that Kasady was the Flame. For the record though, I thought Harrelson did a pretty good job as Carnage, showing off the more unhinged side of him. But yeah, you more or less have the idea of Kasady down. And yes, I remember the idea you pitched me. I may include it at some point further down the line, but I've got enough to work with right now, and the last thing I want is to overstuff this fic.

Lyoko2003: Truth be told it's been awhile since I actually watched Young Justice, and I've never heard of Black Spider. But don't count on Spider-Man joining the Foot or anytihng like that in this story.

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Another night came, and in contrast to others, it was actually relatively calm.

'Okay, let's see what we've got here…' Ghost Spider sat on a high rooftop overlooking the city, writing in a notebook she held in her lap 'So as far as I can tell, the Goblin Nation has the likes of the Jackal as one of the higher ups, along with god only knows how many men, and the Scarlet Spider I've heard so much about from Eddie and Leo. They did have the likes of Mysterio, Slash and Sandman, but it's safe to say Slash won't go back to them after they were using mind control on him, and Mysterio was arrested after the Rat King incident. Black Cat managed to get away too. Plus we freed Sandman after that fight on the Brother Island. But they still have Beetle and Snakeweed with them after that prison transport, and that's just the ones that we know about right now. Not to mention that with Tiger Claw apparently out there somewhere now, he might be considered a target too. The same can probably be said for some of the other suppevillains too, like Shocker or Tombstone. And that's just the ones we know of. So the question is, who are they going after next.' her musings were cut short by the sound of ringing, prompting her to tap on the ear piece embedded into her mask "Hello?"

"Hey kid."

"Oh hey Uncle Mac, what's up?"

"Dealing with some work stuff, and I heard something you might wanna look into. Head over to Coney Island."

"Why? What's going on there?"

"Word is that there's something big going down there sometime tonight, no idea what but I think you're gonna wanna check it out."

"At this point I'll take any leads I can get. Thanks for the input."

"No problem kid. Just remember to keep an eye out, if not for the whole supervillain gang thing them for the rom com BS."

"What do you mean?"

"What do you think? I know teens from your school like going there, and frankly it's only a matter of time before you deal with some teenage drama crap around there. Law of averages, bound to happen eventually right?"

"Fair enough I guess. But I have bigger fish to fry, so I'll worry about that after I make sure that nothing bad is happening at the park." so with that in mind, Ghost Spider hung up and swung her way in the direction of Coney Island.

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One quick trip to Coney Island and changing session later…

'Okay, no sign of anything so far.' Gwen cast an uneasy look around as she slowly made her way through the various crowds 'I'd say take a closer look, but I have no idea what the heck I have to be looking for. Maybe I should call Uncle Mac again and see if-'

"Gwen?" a certain familiar voice caused her to stop in her tracks.

'...If I can avoid whatever this is about to turn into.' Gwen slowly turned around to find a certain redheaded young man standing before her "Harry, hi. It uh… it's been awihle."

"Yeah, it has." Harry swallowed a lump in his throat "So uh… how have you been? It must have been a lot after Pete… you know."

"I've been… okay I guess, just trying to keep busy. How about you?"

"Same, more or less."

"Good, that… that's good. there was a pause that lasted what felt like an eternity, until Gwen finally found the courage to speak again "So Harry, I-"

"Hi Gwen." it was at this moment that a familiar brunette female made her way towards the two of them, with a brunette male.

"Liz, hey. And Mark, good to see you."

"Stacy." Mark gave her a simple nod.

"You know Liz, at first I kinda thought you and Harry were on a date, but…"

"Well truth be told, that was the original plan at first." Liz gave a small smile as she slipped her hand into Harry's "But Mark recently finished his new Gamblers Anonymous program, and we wanted to take him out to give him a little fresh air and celebrate."

"Gamblers anonymous?"

"It's part of the deal Mr Murdock helped me cut to get me marole." Mark breathed a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head "Backsliding on my gambling habit is what got me into that whole mess with Warren in the first place, so we pretty much agreed that I gotta kick myself of that habit, for real this time, to make sure something like that doesn't happen again. Besides, not too long ago someone pretty smart told me that I shouldn't gamble my life away. I think it's about time for me to start listening."

"Sounds like someone worth listening to." Liz's grin grew a little wider.

"Yeah she's smart, could stand to be a little less full of herself." Mark let out a chuckle at the dirty look she sent him "It's actually a pretty good thing, run by this one cop with a gambling thing himself, I think his name was Holt or something."

"You mean Raymond Holt?" Gwen raised an eyebrow.

"I think that's it. You know the guy?"

"I know the name at least, he acted as sort of a mentor for my dad. I heard he got appointed to Deputy Commisioner awhile ago too."

"Hm. Good for him. Anyway he kinda talked me through his own problems with the stuff, like how he went through it and relapsed, but some good friends helped him through it. I figured I'd give that a shot myself. Also he put a lot of emphasis on making sure the stalls are empty when you. His exact words were, always check for poopers."

"Yeah, my dad actually put a lot of emphasis on that lesson with me too." Gwen let out a small chuckle at the memory, but then she ended up locking gazes with Harry again, and she had to suppress a cringe "Anyway I don't want to get in the way of what you've got going on, I was just looking around. Have a good time."

"You sure you don't wanna stick around?" Liz offered "We have no problem with it, and it might not hurt to have a little extra company around here."

"Thanks for the offer, but there's something I really have to do. It was good seeing you guys, see you in school on Monday." and so Gwen quickly took her leave of the scene, letting out a sigh full of exhaustion as she did so 'Note to self, next time Uncle Mac says there's gonna be rom com drama, stay as far away from it as you can. Maybe I should've taken up Mikey's offer and just stayed in the sewers LARPing like the guys did. Or do whatever Casey is up to right now.'

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Meanwhile, with the start of the B plot…

"Looks like the coast is clear." a group of thugs wearing a familiar set of pumpkin masks made their way through the isolated streets, using crow bars to pry open a garage door and giving them access to what lay inside "Alright we're in, now get your hyde over here newbie."

"Keep your shirt on Tom, I'm coming." another figure made her way out of the shadows, a young girl with hair dyed purple and pulled back in a ponytail, and piercings on her eyes and one eyebrow, clad in a hoody and jeans "So what do I have to do?"

"What do you think? It's clutch time for you Angel, so time to put out." one of the pumpkin man handed her a brick "You think you got what it takes to be one of us?"

"This right here answer your question?" the girl, now identified as Angel, threw the brick at the window in front of her.

"I'm taking that as a yes, now let's get the good shit boys!" and so the pumpkin soldiers made their way into the electronics store and get their hands on just about anything they wanted, be it merchandise or just wrecking the register to get the money inside, with one of them shooting a smirk of approval at Angel, albeit without noticing the look of concern she had "Nice work kid, you're gonna fit in just fine around here."

"Yeah, that uh… that works for me." Angel quickly hid the concern and gave a scowl filled with indifference "So what, is that it?"

"Not yet, there's one more test and you're in for real." the soldier tossed a bag of money to her, and the group made their way out of the store through the back, carefully making their way into the alley, until…

"Hey." a voice drew the attention of one of them, right before a hulking blue figure clad in a blue bodysuit and mask (Ox) dealt the soldier an uppercut to the jaw hard enough to send him hurtling back across the alley and crashing into some of the others "Found them."

"Nice work partner." it was at this moment that Shocker came out of the shadows, with a third figure clad in a green suit and mask (Ricochet) coming up alongside them "Like I told ya boys, ya never know what kind of fun you're gonna find when you're out on patrol. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding the idiots dumb enough to try and make a buck on the Big Man's turf."

"Turns out there's a lot of guys stupid enough to do that these days." Ricochet noted dryly, then crouched down towards the ground "Wanna use them to get a quick workout in too?"

"No arguments here partner. Go for it."

"Get these freaks!" the pumpkin soldiers weren't deteered as they drew their weapons and charged at the New Enforcers.

"Big surprise, they're too stupid to know a lost cause when they see one." Ricochet let out a scoff as he began bouncing off the various walls of the alley.

"We live in New York pal, nobody ever accused anyone here of being too smart." Shocker let loose a green energy blast from one of his gauntlets.

"Me either." Ox just watched as a couple of them tried to strike him down with clubs, only for him to grab them in his giant hands and slam them into a few other soldiers, then into the ground with a loud bang.

'Fighting off a pack of freaks in costumes that shoot off stuff like Dragon Ball? That ain't what I signed up for.' the sight of the New Enforcers beating down the pumpkin soldiers was more than enough to make Angel take off running, hopping the fence at the end of the alley and moving to make her way down the street, until…

"Hey!" a familiar metal hocket stick tripped her legs out from under her and made her fall flat on her face, courtesy of a certain figure in a black and white hockey mask "You going somewhere runt?"

"What the hell do you want freak?"

"I'm about to show you why it's a dumb idea to try and run around with lowlife scum, especially when I'm around." he closed in on her as he drew a metal stick off his back, only to freeze when he got a good look at her face "Wait a sec… Angel?"

"How the hell do you know my name?" Angel leapt up and tried to kick the figure in the face, only for her leg to be caught with ease.

"Will you relax already you little brat? It's me." the figure pulled up his mask, revealing the face of Casey Jones underneath "It's just me."

"Casey? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Apparently stopping my little sister from making the biggest mistake of her life by hanging out with those freaking Halloweentown rejects."

"What, you mean the Goblin Nation boys?" Angel let out a scoff "No way man, those guys are my posse, my family."

"The hell does that make me? I'm your brother."

"Yeah well, who the hell asked you loser? If I wanna run around with a pumpkin on my head then it ain't any of your damn business."

"Not if it means my kid sister tries to turn into a criminal. Now it's my business." Casey reached towards one of the metal sticks on his back,

"Big whoop, what are you a freaking cop now? I don't see no badge on you."

"And I'm not seeing a pumpkin head on you. Not yet." Casey's gaze softened as he stowed away one of his sticks "This isn't what dad wants for you, it ain't what mom would've wanted for you either, and I think you know it. It ain't too late to back out of this."

"Why the hell should I back out? Tonight was just my first test, and tomorrow I'm gonna pass the real initiation, and I'm gonna show all of those freaks why you don't wanna screw around with me." she started walking away.

"Stuff like that comes with a price Angel, you don't have a damn clue what you're getting mixed up in with them."

"Yeah… maybe I don't…" Angel stopped and turned around… and immediately grabbed used the bag of money she held to smack Casey across the face "But I can still take care of myself. It ain't like you bother acting like a big bro anyway." and then she took off running.

"Angel wait!" Casey tried to call after her as he picked himself up, only for it to fall on deaf ears, to which he let out a sigh as he picked himself up and pulled his mask back down 'So much for big brother of the year…'

"Kid sister getting in with the pumpkin heads huh?"

Casey whipped around to find Shocker and the rest of the New Enforcers standing before him, prompting him to draw out one of his metal sticks "So what if she is? I don't care if you guys tangled with Spider-Man or fought off the freaking Hulk, you ain't touching her."

"You didn't answer the question kid." Ricochet crossed his arms and shot a glare at Casey "Is she with them or not?"

"Not if I got a say in it. But like I said, as long as I'm around you ain't touching her, not if you don't wanna get a couple dozen hockey pucks shoved down your throat."

"Is that right?" Shocker levelled his own glare at Casey as he began charging an energy blast from one of his gauntlets… but then he put down his arm as it dissipated "In that case, you had better go make sure of it."

"...Okay then." despite being momentarily put off, Casey quickly shook off the feeling and took off running down the street after Angel 'Maybe I ain't big brother of the year, but I promised that I was gonna look out for you kid, and that's what I'm doing. You ain't gonna be lumped in with those punks, not if I can help it.

"Let's see if this kid has what it takes to bite as much as he barks."

"So that's it? Seriously?" Ricochet glanced over at Shocker with a raised eyebrow "You're really just gonna let the kid walk after he mouthed off to you like that?"

"The kid's got guts if nothing else, and I respect that. You know how I operate Ricochet. If a man's a man then he has to honor his responsibilities. I know what mine are, and clearly that girl is one of his. Plus if we play our cards right, we might be able to use it to get the pumpkin heads out of the Big Man's turf for good."

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

'Maybe this is just me being petty.' Gwen breathed a sigh as she leaned over the railing in front of the go kart tracks, glancing up at the ferrish wheel and catching sight of Harry and Liz in one of the pods, embracing each other as they watched the fireworks in the skies above 'I feel like I should be happy for them, but…'

"Let me guess, you're having a hard time wrapping your head around it too?"

Gwen looked over to see Mark leaning against the railing next to her "Um… What makes you say that?"

"The look of constipation mixed with a little bit of resentment. Don't think I don't get it. Mostly cause I'm not exactly Osborn's number one fan."

"Really? How come?"

"What do you think? Pretty much everyone knows about what he did to, when word got out about that it went through whatever rep he had like a hot knife through butter. Pretty sure most of the people at school still think he's scum."

"Are you one of them?"

"At this point, kinda depends on the day." Mark gave a shrug "First off when I heard about how he used you, I thought it was pretty messed up, like just about everyone else. Then I saw Liz start hanging around him, at least before the whole Death Star thing happened. I thought he was just gonna end up using her to make himself feel better, like he was her second choice. Of course I wasn't gonna stand for that, I was totally prepared to go up to him and chew him out like I did with Parker. Then I got to seeing them together, and… I don't know, it kind of just died in my throat. We talked after that, she told me how she noticed how lonely he looked and how miserable he was. Plus after that I got a look at the two of them together, at Liz at least, and I noticed… she actually looked happy. Happier than I had seen her in awhile. At first it seemed a little like a spur of the moment thing, knowing how my sister can be, so I figured I'd let it run its course. Then the whole Death Star thing happened and his mom died, along with… other stuff around that time, and it just kinda… kept going."

"Oh. Well that makes sense, I guess." Gwen looked away, her expression still solemn.

"So what, you don't wanna be around him either?"

"Honestly… I don't know. Truth be told, I haven't had a real conversation with Harry since we broke up. I did try to reach out to him at his mom's funeral, but he wasn't really all there. At this point… I don't know. It's not like I want to hurt him back or anything, I'm not that vindictive, but I don't know if I can bring myself to forgive him, and even if I did, would I be able to trust him again?"

"No idea, you're looking at the wrong guy for relationship advice." Mark gave another shrug, earning a raised eyebrow from Gwen "Hey you're the one who started pouring your heart out to me over go karts. Anyway all I've really got is, go with your gut and if you wanna give him another chance then do it, if you don't then don't."

"That's… actually probably the only thing anyone could say to help me at this point. I should get going, but… thanks for the talk."

"Sure thing. You go ahead and do what you want, if you need me I'll be watching my sister and her new boyfriend be cute on the ferris wheel and probably big out on kettle corn so I don't feel like a third wheel." Mark waved Gwen off as he watched her take her leave, then let out a sigh as he cast a glance up at the night sky 'Friendship forever ruined or not, at least she's got some kind of direction with her social life. Most of my old friends won't even talk to me nowadays, since they apparently don't like being associated with jailbirds, and MJ and I broke up. Can't fault her for that one, the last thing she needs is to get dragged down cause of my stupid choices. And yet look where I am now. Yep, I'm officially screwed."

"Actually that remains to be seen." a familiar voice caused Mark to freeze on the spot "It more depends on how you proceed from here on out."

'That voice… I know that voice…' Mark whipped around and found a familiar figure with a thick moustache and glasses clad in a white lab coat standing before him, his expression twisting into fury at the sight "You!"

"I happen to have a name you know. Granted I actually have two I go by these days, but the main principle is still the same." Warren let out a chuckle as he casually raised a hand to block the fist that Mark aimed at his face "Don't be so quick to dismiss Mr Allan. I'm here because I have a small proposition for you, if you're still all in as you like to say."

"There's only one thing I'm interested in with you, and it's me getting to beat your ass into a bloody paste!" Mark tried to aim another fist at Warren, only for his other arm to be caught by the wrist in a grip tight enough to result in a sickening crack, and for Mark himself to be thrown to the ground "Now now, no need for an pointless melodrama."

"Pointless?!" Mark let out a snarl as he spat out some blood "You made me into some goddamn monster out of Fire Force, you ruined my freaking life! You said I'd be able to control that stuff with my mind, but it made me into a puppet for a freaking Goblin!"

"It was nothing personal my boy, just a little experiment in the name of science. Telling you it was in your power was the only way to keep you from raging out of control."

"Bullshit! You just wanted to turn me into a freaking puppet!"

"Think what you will, but remember that a puppet always has strings." Warren gave a smirk as he pulled something out of his pocket… a small remote control, the sight of which left Mark in pure horror "And it just so happens that I have your string right here."

"Wait no, don't-" but Mark's please fell on deaf ears as his body was instantly enveloped in a golden colored armor that radiated heat around him.

"And just like that, the famous Molten Man once again stands before us." Warren's smirk only grew wider as the surrounding civilians began running away screaming, and he was surrounded by a number of pumpkin soldiers armed to the brim with guns, batons and other weapons.

'No, not this again…'

"Mark what's going on?!" Liz glanced down at the scene unfolding from her and Harry's ferris wheel pod.

"LIZ STAY AWAY!" Molten Man leapt to his feet as his body began generating even greater amounts of heat, and the soldiers began to close in on him, until…

"HEY!" this was when Ghost Spider suddenly leapt down onto the scene, quickly using a webline to hurl one pumpkin soldier into two others, sending all of them crashing to the ground, and then she got a good look at Molten Man 'Wait, superheated armor… Is that Mark? And then there's Warren… Oh don't tell me…'

"This isn't what I want, I can't get it off, I swear I don't wanna-"

"It's alright I know, just relax. I can help you figure out a way to turn it off, but right now we have to deal with the rest of these guys. Just stay back for now." Ghost Spider then shot a glare aimed at the pumpkin soldiers as she webbed two more of them together "So going after a bunch of supervillains wasn't enough, you have to go after innocent kids now too?"

"Don't let the spider bitch get in our way, take her the hell out already!" the soldiers with the rifles wasted no time in firing at Ghost Spider.

"Get back!" thinking quick, Molten Man rushed in front of Ghost Spider and took the bullets for himself… only for them to bounce off of him and back at the soldiers, striking a few of them and leaving them to fall to the ground, while he remained unharmed "Woah…"

"Quite the remarkable display isn't it? Your armor grants you a display of super strength, heat generation and enhanced durability greater than even I had anticipated. Yes, you'll make a very fine addition to our ranks." Warren let out a chuckle as he stepped forward, his skin covering itself in green fur and his body growing in height as he transformed into the Jackal "Now to give you a proper initiation."

"How about I initiated this stuff on your head!" Molten Man pounced at the Jackal in a rage and wasted no time in hurling a ball of fire at him, sending him hurtling through the air in a literal blaze, and then he turned to Ghost Spider "Take care of the other freaks in the pumpkins, I've got this one. It's time I settle an old score."

"...Alright, but don't do anything too risky." Ghost Spider gave him a single nod, and then she swung off towards the next group of pumpkin soldiers preparing to fire at her 'If that display is anything to go by then I think Mark can handle himself, at least for now. In the meantime, I have to make sure they don't hurt anyone that hasn't gotten out of the park yet. Oh god, what about Liz and Harry?!'

"MARK!" once a certain ferrish wheel pod hit the ground, Liz bolted out of it and took off running towards Molten Man as fast as she could, only to be stopped in her tracks by Harry grabbing her by the arm "Harry let me go!"

"I can't, we have to get you out of here." Harry told her firmly.

"My brother is being hunted by a bunch of guys with guns and a freaking werewolf Hulk!"

"I know but you see him fighting right now, he can take care of himself. Right now we have to get you out of here."

"But-"

"If they're after him then they might be after you too, I'm not letting that happen. Let's get you out of here and then I'll come back and help him, okay?" and so Harry began dragging Liz out of the park without another word.

'Okay good, at least both of them are safe.' Ghost Spider breathed a small sigh just in time to block a blow from a pumpkin soldier holding a baton, going on to fight her way through several more of them with a swift series of blows to each of them, leaving them unconscious on the ground but alive 'Okay, now where's the rest of-'

"Get the fire kid, if you got rifles go for the spider bitch!" two fully armed vans came bursting onto the scene, with pumpkin soldiers practically pouring out of them.

'Of course there's more of them, and they're closing in on where Mark was fighting the Jackal and that other group! That armor makes him tough, but there's no chance he's ready for a fight like this!' with that in mind, Ghost Spider quickly rushed her way back over towards the go kart raceway and began fighting off several armed pumpkin soldiers.

"Now this is what I'm talking about." one soldier gave a smirk as she loaded her rifle and moved to fire it "I knew they were gonna be here at one point."

"You talking about the spider or the molten kid?" another soldier gave a raised eyebrow.

"On a good way it was gonna be both!" and then she fired.

'Crap!' Ghost Spider managed to dodge the bullets, albeit receiving a gash on her leg from a dagger used by another soldier, but she dealt him a sharp kick to the face and knocked him out cold, which gave her a chance to tap her ear piece "Come on, come on…"

"Gwen?"

"Dad! Goblin Nation! Pumpkin soldiers at Coney Island, and Miles Warren!"

"I'm sending officers there right now, just hang in there!"

"Got it!" Ghost Spider hung up just in time to avoid another series of bullets, but another soldier managed to bash her in the temple with a baton, sending her staggering back, giving two soldiers a chance to try and strike her simultaneously, though she defeated both of them with a quick split kick, albeit clutching her head in pain at the same time, then latched onto one with a web and used him as a makeshift wrecking ball to knock out the others, as she looked over to see Molten Man still fighting the Jackal 'These guys are stronger than they look, and heavily armed. At the very least, it looks like Mark seems to be holding his own with the Jackal."

"Good news Gobbies, reinforcements have arrived!" it was at this moment that two helicopters descended onto the scene.

"Oh for the love of- Is there any chance you guys could come back later? Because now is really not a good time!" Ghost Spider was forced to dodge a series of net projectiles being shot at her from one of the helicopters, until one of them managed to ensnare her and leave her to hit the ground with a thud.

"The Spider is down, time to get Molten Man!" the remaining helicopter's doors opened to reveal a large group of soldiers armed with net blasters that promptly leapt to the ground and advanced towards the battle in question.

"Alright, I think we have enough data on that." the Jackal promptly pushed the button on a certain remote just as Molten Man was about to come charging at him again, causing his armor to disappear and for him to turn back into Mark Allan, giving Jackal the chance to grab him by the leg and slam him against the ground repeatedly, only stopping when it left a small crater from the impact, allowing a pumpkin soldier to trap him with a series of nets, prompting the Jackal himself to transform back into Miles Warren, albeit shirtless and covered in visible burns "Good, our objective has been secured."

"Go ahead and head back sir, we can handle this."

"That was my intention. Honestly I do enjoy the benefits of the transformation, but they do have a certain cost. Do you know how hard it is to find lab coats in my size and in the material that I like? Honestly." Warren rolled his eyes as he pressed a button on his wrist, causing a familiar purple doorway to open up behind him, which he stepped through before it closed, leaving the soldiers to close in on Mark.

"Hold on, I'm coming!" Ghost Spider gritted her teeth as she forced the net off of her and leapt towards Mark, punching her way through any of the pumpkin soldiers in front of her 'Those nets are no joke, it's like their gear is getting better.' she forced her way forward, dodging as many projectils and weapons as she could and taking out many pumpkin soldiers on the way, albeit taking a fair bit of battle damage as she did so.

"Oh god, my head…" Mark let out a pained groan as he opened his eyes, only to find himself trapped by the net "Okay, what the hell?"

"I've got these guys, just focus on trying to find a way out of that net!"

"Got it." Mark quickly tried to force himself free of the net, during which he watched as Ghost Spider fought off one pumpkin soldier after another "Gotta admit it's kinda weird, I didn't think I'd see a Spider fighting to save my life after… well, the last time I met one of you."

"Relax, we know the handiwork of a Goblin or a mad scientist when we see one." she waved him off as she continue fighting and attempting to dodge the soldiers and weapons "Besides, these guys are the real problem here. If these guys and their boss are after you, then that means this Goblin King wants to make you part of this army he's been building."

"So I'm guessing that means he isn't open to a call from my parole officer about how I turned my life around?"

"Considering he already beat down the Beetle and forced him to join, and tried to clone Sandman and kidnap god only knows how many others, I'm going to go ahead and say no." Ghost Spider continued fighting off the soldiers, dodging and weaving around every attack she could and using her Impact Webs to pin down as many as she could, though received a number of attacks from them in the process, and then she turned back to Mark 'Okay, assuming more of them are on the way I have to hurry and-'

"Draw the Spider away now!" this was when another van came hurtling onto the scene… only to end up crashing straight into the ferris wheel, causing it to start tipping over towards the roller coaster.

'Crap, crap, crap! I'm sorry about this Mark, really I am and I do wanna help you, I swear I'll be back as soon as I can!" Ghost Spider wasted no time in launching herself upwards just as the ferris wheel came crashing down onto the roller coaster, ripping the track apart just as the coaster itself came up to the top, forcing her to use her webs to stop it in its tracks, allowing her to get the passengers out of the first car just before the coaster itself went over, to which she latched onto it with a web and pulled it upwards with all of her strength until she could keep it from falling with another webline, allowing him to web the back and get the people in the last car out safely "Don't worry guys, I've got you!" with that coaster secured for the moment, she leapt down onto the second coaster and prepared to stop it, only to be distracted by a pumpkin soldier firing a rocket at her from a perch, forcing her to leap upwards to stop the projectile and hurl it back at the soldiers, then return to the second coaster, using her webs to slow it down as much as she could, but failing to prevent it from colliding with the first one that dangled over the tracks, the collision causing the track to give out and the coaster to start falling, forcing her to latch onto it with another webline "HANG ON! Please for the love of god, just hang on!"

"Please, I… I don't wanna die…" one passenger looked up at Ghost Spider with pure fear in her eyes "Just get us out of here!"

"I will, I just need to-" Ghost Spider was cut short when part of the ferris wheel came crashing onto the first coaster, causing it to fall and forcing her to latch onto it with another webline, using all of her strength to pull on them as hard as she could over a pit of flames "This… This is the last stop, time for everyone to get out!"

"R-Right!" one by one, a few of the passengers climbed out of their cars and onto a platform that let them get away from the coaster safely.

'Okay, now the rest of them can just-' Ghost Spider's thoughts were cut short when her Spider Sense began going off 'God dammit!'

"That's one target down." the pumpkin soldiers stuffed Mark's bound form into the back of their van while one of them aimed a rocket launcher, until…

"Hey!" a fist suddenly slammed into the soldier's cheek, sending him crashing to the ground out cold, courtesy of none other than a certain figure wearing a pair of sunglasses, who then looked over to see the van speeding away from the scene, but then his attention was directed back towards the coaster by the sound of a loud crack.

'No, no no…' Ghost Spider struggled to keep her grip on the coasters even as the ground under her began to give way, only for the support frame of the ferris wheel to crash down on top of the coaster, forcing her to use one hand to keep it off herself and hold onto the two coasters with a singel hand "Everybody get off! NOW!"

"I-I'm trying!" one woman, along with a few others, tried lifting the bar in her car to get out, only to find that it wouldn't budge "It won't go up! HELP!"

'My grip… is slipping… I… I'm sorry…" Ghost Spider pulled as hard as she could, but the web was slipping out of her grip, leaving her to close her eyes and anticipate a crash, until…

"I've got you!" it was at this moment that the figure with the sunglasses suddenly leapt up onto the platform Ghost Spider was on and held up the support frame of the ferris wheel, keeping it crushing her, gritting his teeth furiously as he did so "Come on, come on…"

"Wait a second… that voice, those clothes…" Ghost Spider started for a moment, until it seemed to click in her mind "Harry?!"

"How do you know-" Harry cut himself short as he looked at her "Gwen?! You're- You're the spider!"

"And you're lifting literal tons!"

"Yeah but-" Harry was cut off by the sound of screaming, and he looked down at the coaster below them "Go get them, I've got this!"

"R-Right! Hang on!" with both arms freem, Ghost Spider snapped herself out of her stupor and pulled the coasters up with all of the strength she was able to muster, allowing her to grab the remaining passengers and pull them out of the coasters before they fell to the ground with a mighty bang, and she returned them safely to the ground, before returning to Harry "Okay, all of them are safe."

"Good, so… About this thing, it's REALLY heavy…"

"Right, just hold it still." Ghost Spider quickly bound the support frame to the coaster tracks with multiple giant shots of webbing "Okay, I think we're good… But if you're here, then where the heck is Liz?"

"She should be safe, she's-" Harry cut himself short when he looked down at the ground… only to see Warren smirking at them from down below, holding an unconscious Liz over his shoulder before disappearing into a purple doorway "LIZ! FUCK!"

"I… I know…" Ghost Spider clenched both of her fists tightly to the point where a bit of blood trickled from her gloves "Let's go, we… we gotta get off of this thing. It's not safe. And I think we need to talk. A lot."

"Yeah, that… that sounds about right." Harry allowed Ghost Spider to hoist him up by one of her arms, and the two of them quickly swung away from the scene.

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

'Well so much for calling in the backup.' having dropped his vigilante makeup, mask and most of his gear, Casey slunk his way through an abandoned street while following a certain group of thugs 'Seriously, the one time you wanna call in Raph and his bros for extra backup and none of them are answering their freaking phones. Same with April. Well too bad, cause rolling on my own is just how Casey Jones likes it.' he watched as the group of thugs came up to a warehouse that was supposedly abandoned, giving a three finger salute to the guard before making their way inside, prompting Casey go to go up to the guard and give the same symbol "Sup?"

"You're fine, just get in there dude." the guard jerked a thumb at the entrance.

"Works for me." Casey promptly made his way inside, finding a boxing ring inside with two thugs going at it, and stands full of spectators and punks cheering them on, until one of them got knockd out of the ring and carried away 'Well now we know how these guys get their kicks when they ain't blowing shit up. Now to find Angel and drag her the hell out of here.'

"What a stunning knockout! Now the question remains, is the new initiate worthy of being part of the Goblin Nation? Well we'll find out soon enough, and for now it's time to bring on the next initiate! Let's give it up for Angel Jones! Time to find out if she's got what it takes to stand with the rest of the Goblin Nation!"

'...Aw crapbaskets.'

"Hell yeah, time to do this!" Angel gave a smirk full of confidence as she leapt into the ring, only to be met with two hulking thugs staring down at her, though this did little to deter as she leapt up and kicked one of them in the face before jabbing the other one with an elbow, though she didn't seem to notice the first one rebound and pull out a crowbar.

"That's it, these punks are going down! Angel he's behind you!" Casey didn't hesitate to strap on his mask and leap into the ring, pulling out a metal club to bash the thug in the face and knock him out cold.

"Son of a-" Angel kicked the second thug in the face and shot a glare at Casey "What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

"In case you didn't notice, one of your new buddies was about to bash your skull into a bloody paste! Time to return the favor and show them what we're made of!" Casey turned around to several more thugs closing in on the two of them them… only to be distracted by the sound of a loud crash, and then before he knew it, something strong and pointed rammd straight into him

a hulking figure with a horn rammed straight into him, resulting in a loud crack right before he was sent flying out of the ring and into the wall, where he fell to the ground in a heap.

"Show me what you're made of huh?" a hulking figure with a horn (the Rhino) stomped out of the ring and over to Casey, and gave a smirk as he picked him up by the head "Nice try punk, nobody's taking the Rhino down. Ain't nobody around here bigger or stronger than me, and I'm about to show you what happens when you try to play with a big dog like me."

"Yeah, big words… Go ahead and try it ya goddamn Furry!" Casey gritted his teeth as he aimed a club at Rhino's face, the blow sending him stumbling back and forcing him to let go, Casey being left to hit the ground and rebound, slamming his metal club straight into Rhino's chest… only for the strike to do absolutely nothing.

"Nice try punk." Rhino rubbed his face and easily bent the metal club Casey was holding, amidst cheers from the bystanders but failing to notice a horrified looking Angel take off running as he threw Casey's unconscious form to the ground "Now to make good work of this trash."

"Come now Rhino, I don't think that's going to be necessary." it was at this moment that none other than Warren made his way onto the scene through a purple doorway, Liz's unconscious form still slung over his shoulder "He'll be more valuable to us if left alive, if for nothing more than information. Besides, if you dispose of him now then you won't be able to use him as a sufficient punching bag later on."

"...Fine." Rhino let out a snort as he turned a few thugs "Go ahead and lock him up in a cage or something, we'll play more with him later."

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

"I think we should be okay here." Ghost Spider touched down on a rooftop a short distance away from Coney Island, allowing her to set Harry down and for her to sit on the ledge "But for now, I think it's safe to say we've got a lot of talking to do. And by we, I mostly mean you."

"Yeah, that uh… that's one way to put it." Harry took a moment to compose himself, then shot a look at her "But to be fair, I'm not the only one who's got some explaining to do right about now Spider-Woman. Spider-Girl. Arachnette. I don't know what you call yourself."

"Actually we went with Ghost Spider, it's more original. I got it from a spider bite a few months ago. But enough about that, I've got questions of my own." Ghost Spider's gaze hardened as she pulled off her mask, revealing the face of Gwen Stacy "Like I don't remember you being able to bench press an entire ferris wheel."

"And I don't remember you being able to climb up walls, I think we're even so-" Harry was cut off by Gwen gripping him by the shoulders and giving him the Look hard enough to freeze him in place.

"Harry this isn't the time for snark, and I'm not joking around. Be straight with me… Are you on the Green again?"

"...Not in the way you think." Harry let out a sigh as he sat on the ledge of the rooftop, which prompted Gwen to do the same "What I'm gonna tell you is… pretty sensitive, so you gotta keep this to yourself, alright?"

"Fine." Gwen crossed her arms and motioned for him to begin, so he did.

"Around the time of those blue lights falling from the sky and people started going missing, I know it was because of these glowing canisters full of some weird ooze. I know because one of them almost hit me. When it did, Liz managed to stop it, but… but she awakened some kind of ability when she did."

"Ability?" Gwen frowned in thought for a moment, until it dawned on her "You mean…"

"Yeah. She's a mutant. After that a bunch of guys in suits came and tried to take her, I think they would've too if Turtle Titan and that guy with the claws hadn't shown up when they did. We got out of it alright, aside from getting my ass kicked… but I hated it. She was the only person that I had left then, the only real good thing in my life, and when she needed me I couldn't do anything to help her. I lost my mom, I couldn't lose her too. I had to do something… and then I found what I could do to change that."

"You mean…"

"It was pretty much by chance, but… I found the chamber that my dad was using to use the Green on himself. It had a bunch of vials of Green, weapons, and a flash drive on his usage of the stuff… Apparently he found a way to negate the side effects."

"In what regard exactly?"

"According to his notes, he found a way to add all of the good parts of the Green, maybe even boost their effects but without the loss of control or blackouts. I tested it. On myself."

"Harry!"

"I know, I know. I knew what had happened last time, and I knew the risks… but I also knew I couldn't let those guys hurt Liz if they came after her again, so… I thought that was a risk worth taking. And based on tonight, I think it paid off."

"Harry, that…"

"Was a bad idea? Maybe, but it was mine to make. And frankly if you wanna rip off my head about it then do it later, we gotta go after that freaky werewolf scientist guy and the pumpkin guys, and get Liz and her brother back."

"I know, and we will save them but… I want to run some tests first."

"And by that you mean run tests on me." Harry was met with another Look from Gwen, to which he let out a sigh "We can do it back at my place. There isn't anyone there, my butler is gone for the night so it should be just the two of us."

"Fine. Grab onto me and we can swing by there."

"Got it." so Harry wrapped his arms around Gwen's waist, but then paused looked at her "Wait, swing by? How many time so you say that now and mean it literally?"

"Enough to the point where it stopped being funny awhile ago." Gwen pulled her Ghost Spider mask back down and webbed a line, and the two of them swung away into the night.

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

"Listen up asshats, it's gonna take a lot more than chains and whatever you've got if you wanna take Casey Jones out of the action!" Casey was far from deterred as he tried to force his way out of the chains that bound him in his cell, albeit with little success "You hear me? I ain't giving up until every one of you creeps has your skull bashed in or you're rotting in a cell!"

"Big words little man." Rhino gave a smirk as he made his way through the giant doorway and loomed over Casey "Too bad you ain't got the stuff to back it up. Probably just some sad little mama's boy trying to play it tough."

"At least I had a mom, I don't know what the hell you had that made you wanna turn yourself into a freak like this." Casey was met with Rhino grabbing him by the neck and throwing him back into the wall.

"Go ahead and laugh while you can punk. Give it a few hours and tonight the pumpkin heads are gonna have a little contest to see you gets to cave your skull in, the big shot kid who thinks he's tough enough to get into the big leagues.. Here's a hint, I'm gonna win the whole thing myself and get a little thing to decorate my horn." Rhino's smirk widened as he turned around and left the room, the giant door slamming behind him.

'Great, so much for big brother of the year.' Casey let out a groan as he picked himself up off the ground "Might as well make it official, I'm screwed."

"Not if we can get you the hell out of here."

Casey looked over to see Angel slip in through the back door "Angel, what the hell are you doing in here?"

"I heard the whole thing that idiot was spewing about. I… I'm sorry Casey, this is all my fault. I didn't mean to get you dragged into all of this." Angel pulled out a hair pin and tried to use it to pick the lock on the cell door, only for it to break on her "Dammit! Just give me a minute and I'll get you out, I've got another one of these things somewhere."

"Listen it's alright, don't get so jacked up about it." Casey's gaze softened as he knelt down to meet Angel at eye level "It's gonna be alright okay? We'll figure something out. I know a few guys that can help us."

"You mean like how you keep bragging about how the Nightwatcher and Turtle Titan and their brothers are your sidekicks?"

"Yeah but they- Wait, how do you know about that?"

"The walls at home are pretty thin and you ain't exactly super quiet when you're gloating in the shower."

"...Huh. Gonna have to make a note of that for later." Casey winced at the thought, but quickly shook it off "Anyway I've been trying to get ahold of them all night, they haven't been picking up. They're probalby dealing with some other big thing."

"You still have your phone with you?"

"The rhino guy might be big, but he ain't too bright. Look just head over to the rooftop of the Wolf Hotel and wait for my guy to show up, he'll meet you there. But you gotta hurry, and be careful."

"Right." Angel steeled herself, and then she took off running out the back at full speed.

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

"Okay, here we are." Ghost Spider landed on the roof of a certain building, with Harry still having his arms wrapped around her waist "Just give me a second to get down to the balcony and you can-"

"Actually, I think I've got this." Harry suddenly let go of Ghost Spider and let himself fall to the terrace, only to flip in mid-air and land with surprising gracefulness "Now if only I could've done that when I had to climb the rope in gym class."

"Are you okay?" Ghost Spider leapt down next to him and shot him an incredulous look as she pulled off her mask to reveal the face of Gwen Stacy.

"Actually yeah, I feel great. Alright come on, let's go inside."

"Fine." Gwen followed Harry into the penthouse, closing the doors to the balcony behind her, and then she spoke again "So… exactly how much of th Green have you taken? And how long have you been doing it?"

"According to my dad's notes, using it in the way he was got rid of the blackouts and loss of any control, but they were more delicate and couldn't be overdone. I've only been taking it for about six weeks or so and one dose a week, so… yeah." Harry paused, then looked over at Gwen "So, it uh… it looks I haven't been the only one that's been busy the past few weeks… Ghost Spider. I get that right?"

"Yeah. To say that a lot has happened over the past few weeks would be the understatement of the century."

"No kidding. What's next, you're gonna tell me that Peter is Spider-Man?" Harry was met with silence, and then it seemed to dawn on him "Holy crapbaskets… Are you kidding me?! Peter is freaking Spider-Man and-" he was silenced by Gwen slapping a hand over his mouth.

"Okay listen Harry, I get that this is a big shock for you, but I'm not going to stand around and let you go on a tangent about blaming Peter for killing your dad. I've heard it from him a bunch of times myself, what happened at the end of their fight was an accident and the guilt has been eating away at him ever since. Understand?"

"...Alright. I get it." Harry removed her hand from his mouth and let out a sigh "I know that. I have for awhile. I guess it just… maybe it was easier for me to blame him than accept that my dad was… well, you know. Plus as my therapist put it a few times, blame is another sign of grieving. At least he didn't put a bullet through his skull and pull a disappearing act. The same thing can't be said for the guy who killed my mom. Speaking of which… I don't suppose you have any idea who did that?"

"Last I heard from my dad was that they pulled some security footage of the last time your mom was seen on camera before she died. The Oscorb building was falling apart during the whole thing with the Technodrome-"

"Techno-what now?"

"The Death Star thing. Anyway the footage shows her getting pulled away by Donald Menken, but other sources confirm he was somewhere else. As far as we know, that can only really mean one thing…"

"The Chameleon pulled the imposter act and snuck up on my mom to kill him? It wouldn't be the first time he got involved in my family's stuff…" Harry gritted his teeth and clenched his fist to the point where it started bleeding "When I get my hands on that son of a-"

"Harry, stop. I know what you're thinking, but we need to focus. We have no idea where the Chameleon is right now or how to find him, and we have bigger problems right now."

"I… I know." Harry took a breath to compose himself, then paused and looked down at the floor beneath him "I know a lot of things now that I probably should've… Not just about the whole revenge thing or blaming other people for my problems… I know what I gotta take the blame for. Stuff that really is my fault. Like how things ended with us before."

"...Oh great, we're doing this now." Gwen let out a sigh as she sat on the couch and pinched the bridge of her nose "Harry-"

"Look Gwen, maybe I don't deserve to be heard out after that but… just let me get this out there, okay?" Harry was met with silence, and so he continued "I knew you were gonna break up so you could be with Pete. I was mad, and kinda hurt, and my dad told me that in order to get what I wanted out of life, so… I did the only thing I thought I could. I know it was messed up, but I did it anyway. I screwed up, I get that now."

"Oh. Okay… "Oh. Okay… I wasn't really expecting that."

"I know. It's the sort of thing that happens when two friends aren't on speaking terms for a few months at a time. It gives you a lot of time to think about stuff.

Anyway give me a second. Open Osborn 12/13 Omega." there was a pause, and then a door opened up from within the wall, to which he made his way inside, with Gwen right behind him as he led her to the room with the gas chamber, the walls still lined with dozens of razor bats and pumpkin bombs "This is where the magic happens."

"So you've been coming in here for weeks drinking the Green and you haven't had any bad side effects? No blackouts or mood swings?"

"No, but I haven't been drinking it this time. My dad's notes said that he used this chamber to douse himself in small gaseous doses. He started doing it after the Vulture attacked him, and it increased his strength, agility and intelligence without the side effects." he made his way over to the monitor and pulled a small device out of the back, then handed it to Gwen "You can look over the specs for yourself if you want."

"Alright." Gwen accepted the flash drive and plugged it into her cell phone, to which she began looking over the contents "So what exactly have you been doing with these new skills since you started using the green? And does anyone else know?"

"More than anything else, just trying to figure out how to control it. Long story short, when you break the back of a chair off trying to pull it out for a girl… and accidentally set down a tray on a table hard enough to shatter its legs… you tend to pull back a little and try to figure out how to control it."

"Okay… fair point I guess." a few moments passed before Gwen stowed away her cell phone and looked up at Harry "So far it checks out, supposedly… But I'm gonna keep a close eye on you while we're doing this."

"Fair, I guess. We've got bigger things to worry about right now." Harry's gaze hardened with clear anger "Like tracking down the creep that took Liz and her brother."

"We'd have to find out where they took them before we can do anything, but I put a few texts in to some of my… let's go with contacts. I haven't heard anything yet."

"We can't just wait around and do something, Liz needs me!"

"I know, but what are we supposed to do, go around blindlny knocking on doors until those guys in the pumpkin masks show up? It's not like someone is going to just randomly call me out of the blue with a lead." it was at this moment that Gwen's attention was grabbed by the sound of her cell phone ringing "Okay, never mind I guess. Hello?"

"Sup girlfriend, I've got a little something for you. Head over to this location."

"Wait, Black Cat? Is that you?"

"You know anyone else that oozes sex appeal over a phone call?"

"Um…"

"Well I mean, you've heard Mary Jane talk." Harry muttered not quietly enough, earning a quick Look from Gwen.

"You said you had something?"

"Yep. I heard a little bit of chatter about the Steele Foundary in Williamsburg over this radio that I'd swiped from those Halloween rejects in the chopper. Apparently two kids with fire powers are being held around there and could use a little rescue right about now."

"That… That's actually a huge help. Thanks." Gwen breathed a sigh of relief "And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're okay. So did you make it to Paris in time?"

"With time to spare, and put to good use. I figured I'd offer up a little thank you present, from one badass girl to another. The same goes for the OG Spider, even if he couldn't really show up at the time."

"Hey-"

"Relax I'm screwing with you, no need for the explanation. I moved on from that. He is a good one though. Make sure to look out for him when you find him, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that. And thanks for the tip. Truth be told, I don't know if I'd be able to find them in time without your help. Just make sure to take care of yourself over there, okay?"

"Trust me girlfriend, those fashion school rejects aren't gonna be getting the drop on me like that again. See you around." and then the line cut off.

"...Huh. Well that's convenient." Gwen pocketed her phone and looked over at Harry "Stay here, I'll head over there and get them out, maybe call some backup on the way."

"Not a chance." Harry went over to the back wall and picked up what lookd like the metal hilt of a sword, but with no blade "I'm not going to sit around on my ass doing nothing while Liz is out there in danger. I'm going with you."

"Harry, I'm not going to argue with you about this."

"Then don't. The whole reason I took the Green again in the first place was to make sure I could keep her safe from guys like this. You're not talking me out of this." the two of them stared each other down for a moment.

"...Fine." Gwen breathed a sigh as she pulled down her Ghost Spider mask "But if it looks like things are getting too dangerous, you're pulling out, no arguments. Also considering the kind of weapons the pumpkins have, you're probably going to need something a little more protective than a sweater vest."

"Actually, I might have something for that. Turns out my dad was hiding more than just a gas chamber and weapons in here." Harry pushed a button on the computer, causing a compartment to open up in the wall at the end of the room, revealing a metal chamber "This oughta do the job well enough."

"Okay, so that's one problem down."

"There's another?"

"More of a personal grievance, but I'm not sure how I feel about you going around dressed up as the next Green Goblin."

"Truth be told, I actually kinda felt the same way. Especially after last Halloween. It's why I made a few modifications into something… a little more to my liking." Harry gave a smirk as he pushed a button on the chamber, opening it up to reveal its contents "Truth be told, I actually like orange and blue a lot more than green and purple. I grew up with Goku from Dragon Ball after all." he was met with silence, and looked out the window to see Ghost Spider already swinging away into the night 'Okay, don't bother waiting or anything. Then again we're on a time crunch to save Liz and her brother, so that might be for the best.'

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

'Okay, I think this is the place.' Angel stopped to catch her breath once she reached the top of the Wolf Hotel, panting slightly from all of the running 'So where the hell is this guy, Casey said to meet him here right?'

"I take it you're the one that our mutual friend was referring to?"

Angel whipped around at the sound of the new voice to find Daredevil standing on the edge of the rooftop "Wait, Daredevil? As in the guy with the devil horns that-"

"That would be me, yes. And my associates." Daredevil gestured to where Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist appeared alongside him "So I take it you need our help with something? Well then we're all ears."

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One quick explanation and pulling around a van later…

"Okay you know what, I'm just gonna say it." Angel glanced over at the Defenders as they rode through the streets in their van "I knew my brother liked hanging out with some weird dudes, but this is a whole new level of freaky."

"Try hanging around the guy covered in a black blob of snot with a white spider on his chest, then talk about freaky again." Jessica Jones told her dryly without looking away from the driver seat.

"No idea what the hell you're talking about, but I'm just gonna talk your word for it."

"You think that dude was weird?" Luke Cage let out a snort from where he was changing into a long sleeve hoodie to replace his usual sleeveless one "Try fighting the reject clones of that one redheaded chick and having it explode all over you. I'm still cleaning that thing off of me."

"I don't even wanna know."

"Trust me when I say, you really don't." Iron Fist let out a chuckle as he pulled off his mask and pulled out his own set of clothes, mainly a hoodie and a pair of jeans "And I have to admit, it will feel nice to wear something a little less skin tight for once, if you take my meaning."

"We do and it's already TMI." was Jessica's dry input.

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

'Well, it looks like this is the right place.' Ghost Spider cast a look around as she landed on a rooftop near the abandoned steele foundry, finding a number of pumpkin soldiers stationed on guard at various points with rifles and guns in hand 'You know for a foundry that's supposed to be abandoned, this place definitely has a lot of activity.'

"Hey give it a rest man, I don't like this any more than you do." one particular soldier was talking into an ear piece as he wandered around a section of the foundry "They decided to take a lot of extra precautions, these two might just be teenagers but they're a lot to handle. Hey don't blame me, you guys are the ones that decided to take care of two with lava and fire powers at a freaking foundry. Work out the BS with the higher ups if you gotta." and then he hung up and continued on his way, unaware of Ghost Spider watching him from her perch.

'Well if nothing else that explains why there's so many of them, but either way I'll need to clear out the pumpkin soldiers and find a way inside.'

"Here I thought this was gonna be boring."

Ghost Spider glanced over to the side to see Wolverine climb onto the perch next to her "Trust me when I say that if there's one place that's never boring, for better or for worse, it would have to be New York."

"No arguments here." Wolverine took a quick sniff and looked around, giving a smirk at the sight of so many soldiers "Almost like these punks knew we were coming, truth be told part of me thinks that I should be honored."

"That's not exactly the word I'd use for it." Ghost Spider launched a webline connecting their perch to one of the towers overlooking the foundry, with two soldiers guarding the area directly underneath it "Anyway we have other problems, the two of them that got taken at the carnival are somewhere inside here."

"What about that ginger friend of yours? You said he had some kinda thing in this."

"You mean Harry? That's… a lot more complicated, but he's gonna be heading this way before too long. It'll make sense when he gets here, and if not ."

"I'll take your word for it. Now in the meantime." Wolverine rushed across the webline and leapt down onto the platform where the two soldiers were stationed, quickly knocking one out with a chop to the neck before he had time to scream, and then the other one with a fist to the face, leaving both of them sprawled out and allowing Ghost Spider to pin them down with webs "That oughta make things a little easier."

"Only as long as we manage to take care of the others without causing a big scene. Like this for example." Ghost Spider leapt down onto another platform and snuck up behind a soldier, quietly kicking his legs out from under him and webbing him to the ground in seconds "Trust me when I say that things have gotten A LOT more complicated for me in the past few hours."

"So what, next you're gonna be the Spider Pals or something?" Wolverine gave a smirk as he leapt to the ground below the platform and knocked out a soldier with a jap to his temple.

"First of all, he doesn't have spider powers." Ghost Spider looked over the edge of the platform and used a webline to grab another soldier and bind him to a wall with a shot of Impact Webs.

"Ya didn't think this thought that much did you? What were you planning to call yourself and the other Spider when he got turned back, the Spider Lovers or something? Seriously, that sounds like the start of a crappy porno."

"Do you really have to make it sound like that?"

"Everything sounds like that when you look at it in a certain way. I'd know, trust me."

"I'm gonna choose not to ask." Ghost Spider rolled her eyes underneath her mask as she leapt to a higher perch and looked around at the remaining soldiers "We're going to need a clear exit in order to get Liz and Mark out of here safely. We'd better get all of the soldiers out of the way before we go inside. Powers or not, I'm pretty sure bullets still hurt."

"Hurt, yeah. Lasting damage, kinda varies. Depends on who it is I guess." Wolverine gave a shrug, then leapt down onto a platform containing another soldier and slammd his head against a railing, knocking him out cold, and then he cast a glance over at her "You know if my history of fighting groups of mutant hating jackasses is anything to go by here, they're probably gonna get suspicious of people not reporting in. We're gonna wanna do this fast."

"In that case hold that thought." Ghost Spider shot an Impact Web toward where a pumpkin soldier was rushing across a walkway, sending him flying and binding him to a wall before he had a chanc to react, then latched onto two more lackeys on the ground with two simultaneous weblines and bound them to each other "How many do you think there are left?"

"Only picking up the scent of one more. Hang tight kid, I've got this." Wolverine leapt to the ground and land a sucker punch to the last pumpkin soldier, knocknig him out cold before he hit the ground, allowing Ghost Spider to land safely beside him "And then there were none, now how the hell do we get in there anyway?"

"I think that smokestack over there is the key to getting inside." Ghost Spider wrapped one arm around Wolverine and webbed a line that took them to the top of the smokestack, then opened up the hatch at the top, allowing the two of them to slip inside 'No turning back now. Liz, Mark, I'm coming, so please just hang in there for a little bit longer.'

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

"Okay this is the place, just follow my lead and keep your cools." once the group reached the hideout, Angel was quick to lead them inside, giving the same hand signal to the guard, with the Defenders (all of them in hoodies to conceal themselves) following her lead until they made it inside, finding the place still packed with pumpkin soldiers and armed thugs "This is it."

"Well damn." Jessica let out a low whistle "Feels like we walked into a warehouse full of ugly dumbasses and crappy life choices. And trust me, I'd know what that's like."

"Just remember to keep it down." Iron Fist told her "Remember that we gotta blend in here, at least for now."

"Easy way to blend in with these idiots, go out and start blowing stuff up, only to get your ass handed to you by a superhuman who's taller, smarter and better looking."

"I hear that." Luke caught her in a quick fist bump.

"Okay enough with the banter, I think it's time to get down to business." Daredevil turned to face the rest of the group "We have exits on the East and West sides of the building, with a number of guards posted around the perimeter and everyone is pretty heavily armed. If things break out into an all out brawl it could turn out ugly. So can we actually try to avoid getting into an all out fist fight for once?" he was met with blank looks from the others.

"...Dude." was all Iron Fist said.

"Yeah I know, I had to try." Daredevil's gaze snapped up and he turned around to see a cage being lowered over the arena.

"Alright people, time to listen up!" this was when the Rhino rose up from a compartment within the stage… or more like two compartments at the same time "Guess what, the next championship cage match is gonna show who gets to shove their horn up the ass of the street punk who's been beating on us for weeks, thinking he's got what it takes to stand up to the big leagues!" he pointed to where Casey was being suspended in mid-air on an apparatus with his hockey mask on, resulting in an uproar from the pumpkin soldiers present.

'Right in the middle of the cage. Not surprisingly, also not good.'

"Please, if this Madagascar reject wants to see a real street punk, then he's about to get that wish granted." Luke cracked his knuckles and moved to step up to the ring, only to quickly be stopped by Daredevil holding out a hand to him "Seriously, you're stopping me from going into a fight? I can tank a literal tank dude."

"Of course I know that, but we don't want to blow our cover just yet."

"Well how about it folks? Who's ready to battle it out for the honor of getting their shot in at this vigilante wannabe? Come on come on, there's gotta be so many more takers than that! The pride of the Goblin Nation is at stake here!'

"Daredevil's right, even if we can tank anything these punks throw at us we want to get the kid out of there unharmed." Iron Fist glanced over at the others "Which raises the question: How do we get him down from there unharmed?"

"I know how to get you guys to the catwalk." Angel spoke up.

"So we have a plan then."

"We'll have to split up." Daredevil glanced over at Iron Fist "You and I will go with her and cut him loose without drawing too much attention."

"And the two of us?" Jessica glanced over at the cage, specifically the spotlight roaming around the warehouse "I say Luke and I make sure the spotlight stays on the cage, by giving it a couple of things to watch."

"Agreed. Be careful, and good luck." with that being said, Daredevil and Iron Fist quickly took their leave of the main floor, following Angel towards the catwalk.

"Last chance to step up and rage in the cage! Do we have any takers who have the guts to step up and do what needs to be done?"

"You got a few right here big guy." Luke and Jessica made their way towards the cage, during which the former cast a glance over at the latter "You really think this is gonna work?"

"If you got a better way to buy time then I'm all ears." Jessica gave a shrug as they made their way into the cage "Besides, I figured you'd want the chance to bash a few pumpkins into paste for fun."

"Hey don't put words in my mouth, of course I do."

"Just like that, two new initiates have entered the competition! I think it's time to show them how the Goblin Nation likes to treat newbies!"

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

"Okay, this is definitely the place." Ghost Spider crawled her way down through the smokestack and into one of the main buildings of the steele foundry, with Wolverine leaping down next to her, only for her to stop when she pulled out her phone and let out a groan "Oh boy."

"Something up?" Wolverine gave a raised eyebrow.

"Harry texted, he wanted to confirm I'm at the steele foundry."

"Figured you'd be happy to have some backup."

"I would be if it were just about anyone else, but Harry is, well you know."

"Your ex?"

"No. Well yeah, but he's also taking the Green again. Last time that happened he basically went off the deep end and had to spend months abroad in rehab. Ever since I've been terrified by what might happen if he started on it again, and he knows this. It led to all sorts of drama in the first place. Now that he's back on it…"

"You don't want history to repeat itself."

"In a few ways." she was met with a sigh and Wolverine gripping his shoulder.

"How that goes is your call, but right now we got bigger problems to focus on."

"I know, I know. We have to find Mark and Liz before the Jackal and the rest of them do god only knows what to-"

"Hold that thought, listen." the two of them crouched down on a steel girder to listen to what the soldiers were saying below.

"We lost communication with the guys guarding the outside. They want us to tighten security around the Allen kids, and call reinforcements."

"Calling reinforcements." Ghost Spider cursed under her breath as she webbed a line connecting to the opposite wall "That's never good."

"Just play it quick and quiet, all goes well they won't know we're here." Wolverine leapt down in front of two soldiers on guard and bashed their heads together, knocking them out cold in an instant "You got those quick shot webs or whatever right? Make good use of them."

"Way ahead of you." Ghost Spider leapt off the wall and shot out a few impact webs at the nearby guards, pinning them to walls or the ground before they had time to react, and glanced over as Wolverine stealthily took out the last few of them on his own "Nice job. So is that the last of the guards?"

"The ones out here at least, but I'm pretty sure we've got more incoming."

"Picking up the scents of others?"

"Nope, just gut instinct and speaking from personal experience."

"Very astute observation." a purple doorway opened up, and out stepped Warren himself, the confident smirk ever present across his face "I suppose shouldn't be surprised, given the history associated with you Weapon X. Though I believe Wolverine is the name you prefer. The marvel with the adamantium skeleton. Yes, you'll make a fascinating study."

"And be a lab rat for a hack like you? I'm gonna pass on that, already did it once and not going down that road again." Wolverine summoned his claws and pointed them at Warren, with Ghost Spider reloading her web shooters at the same time.

"Ah the ever present belief you have a choice, it never ceases to be amusing. Of course I'd love to see what you're capable of for myself, but I'm a busy man, so I'll be letting my associate, the newest recruit to the Goblin Nation, take care of you myself. Of course with him it runs the risk of frying your entire body, but as the old saying goes, you can't make an omelett without having to break a few eggs. I'll be leaving you to it then. As my way of saying farewell, allow me to reintroduce the aforementioned newest member of the Goblin Nation: Molten Man!" Warren let out a chuckle as he stepped back through the doorway.

"Wait, Molten Man?" Ghost Spider shared a look with Wolverine 'Why do I have a really bad feeling about this? That's the name they gave to-

"Well what do we have here?" before the doorway closed, out from the purple void stepped none other than Mark Allen, his body coated in a gold-colored coating, radiating intense heat with every step he took, and a certain blinkding light on the back of his neck "Just the Spider and metal-covered freak I needed to see."

"Mark listen, I know you don't want to do this. Warren is just manipulating you again, but I know people that can help you get back to-" Ghost Spider was cut short she was yanked out of the way of a giant lava ball by Wolverine, leaving it to melt a gaping hole in the wall behind them.

"Help me with what? Go back to being a pathetic nobody?" Molten Man cracked his knuckles and gave a smirk "Like hell that's gonna happen. Now that I'm with the Goblin Nation, I finally got what I've always wanted: a shot at the big leagues. Now even an insect like you can't hold a candle to me. Now there ain't anyone who can take what I can dish out."

"I think we'll see about that." Ghost Spider dropped into a stance, with Wolverine doing the same beside her as they braced for Molten Man's next attack, until…

"HEY!" this was when another figure (clad in a blue and orange suit with a metal mask over his face, and riding a familiar-looking glider) burst through the ceiling of the building and hurled a familiar pumpkin-shaped projectile at Molten Man, resulting in an explosion that released a cloud of green smoke and sent Molten Man tumbling back a distance. With that done, at least for the moment, the figure leapt off the glider and landed on the ground next to Ghost Spider "So what do you think?"

"If nothing else I give you a 7/10 on the entrance." Ghost Spider told him dryly "Not really the time for showing off though Harry."

Sure enough, the figure lifted up the faceplace he wore, revealing the face of Harry Osborn "Not really the best place to use my real name Ghosty, especially since you took off without waiting for me to armor up. Not that I don't get the reason why, I'm just kind of annoyed by it. You're welcome for the save by the way."

"Fair enough I guess. So what, we call you the New Green Goblin or something?"

"I thought about it, but I wanted to do something a little different. It's why I went with this color in the first place. I'm going with… the new Hobgoblin."

"Huh. Interesting take, but it's at least kind of original if-" Ghost Spider was cut short by a ball of lava being hurled at the group, and she looked over to see Molten Man pulling himself back onto his feet "Right, him again. Crapbaskets."

"Guess I'm not starting off with something easy, huh?"

"To be fair, the first guy I fought when I took up this gig was a mercenary who's gone to to toe with the Avengers before, but what better way to learn than training on the job I guess."

"Good to know, but I don't wanna screw around or pick fights. I just wanna rescue Liz."

"In that case, don't waste any time." Ghost Spider cast a glance at Wolverine "You still have a trace of her scent right?"

"I picked it up as soon as we got inside." Wolverine took a sniff and turned towards a set of large metal doors on the other side of the room "She's in there, but it's pretty faint, a lot of molten stuff screwing with the scent. She's definitely in there though."

"In that case, you guys hurry in there and rescue Liz. I'll stay here and deal with Molten Man and any of the other soldiers that try to get past."

"Sounds like a plan, just don't do anything stupid."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"And just make sure to get out in one piece." Harry lowered the Hobgoblin mask back over his face as he stepped onto his glider, with Wolverine getting on next to him, and he hurled a single pumpkin bomb at the large metal doors, blowing them off and allowing them to make their way through.

'And then there was one.' Ghost Spider turned her attention back to Molten Man, just in time to dodge another lava ball being thrown her way.

"Too bad the others left so soon.." Molten Man gave a smirk as he cracked his neck and prepared to advance "I was hoping this wouldn't be too easy."

"Here's an idea, how about you chill out and we just talk about this." Ghost Spider leapt back onto a wall reached into her belt and pulled out a small sphere, which she promptly threw at Molten Man, covering him in a thick coating of webs… which he promptly melted through within seconds.

"You just told the wrong guy to chill!" Molten Man pounced at Ghost Spider, burning a gaping hole through the wall, narrowly missing Ghost Spider but still grazing her leg, burning off a part of her suit.

"What did he promise you?" Ghost Spider gritted her teeth as she landed on the ground and clutched her leg in pain "He said he'd get rid of your powers if you did what he said? He's not going to keep his word, he's a pathological liar."

"I don't need any promises from him. He just showed me how great it feels to be on the side that wins, and to burn the flesh off of annoying bugs like you!" Molten Man let out a snarl as he fired off a barrage of smaller fireballs from his fingertips, only for him to narrowly miss, prompting him to charge at Ghost Spider and let a fist fly.

'Crap!' Ghost Spider narrowly leapt over the flaming fist, only for Molten Man to grab her by the leg and slam her into the ground, causing her to cry out in pain, both from the impact and the burns on her leg.

"Anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't play with fire?" Molten Man grabbed Ghost Spider by the same leg, spun her around and sent her crashing into a wall with a loud bang.

'D-Dammit…' Ghost Spider lifted up the bottom of her mask and spat out some blood as she pulled herself back to her feet 'Here's hoping that the others are fairing better in their missions than I am right now.'

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Meanwhile, with the others question…

"Figured you'd be at your limit by this point." Wolverine cast a glance over at Hobgoblin as the two of them stepped over the unconscious bodies of various pumpkin soldiers and advanced towards a set of large metal doors "Just gonna throw this out there kid, if you're out of your depth then step back now. These ain't the kind of guys that let you call it quits."

"Like hell I'm gonna call it quits at this point. Not when Liz is in danger. Besides, I've still got this to show off." Hobgoblin gave a smirk as he pushed a button on his glider and a compartment opened up to reveal a metal hilt, which he gripped, revealing a blade made of pure flames "The hard part was making sure it was user friendly."

"Meaning you turned it into a weapon."

"You got a problem with that wolf guy?"

"At the moment, no. But make sure you're careful about who you point it at. Try using it on the wrong people and I'v got no problems with kicking your ass."

"Yeah well, I say worry about that after we bust in there and rescue the only consistently good thing in my life right now."

"Good for you maybe, but I doubt it's the same for her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. In my experience, if guys like thse wanna get their hands on a mutant, they're gonna try again. Take a look at the alien brain things.

"And you think I'm not gonna be able to protect her on my own?" Harry didn't receive a verbal response, which was all the answer he needed "So what the hell do you think I'm supposed to do, just let them take her?"

"Don't put words in my mouth kid, there's a third option. Remember that offer I made to your girl the first time they came for her? I know a place, people that can keep her safe, and teach her to use her powers."

"What, like a school or something?"

"Pretty much." Wolverine reached into his suit and pulled out a card "Look it up for yourself if you don't believe me."

"...Maybe later. Let's just get Liz out of there."

"Works for me. You wanna do the honors?"

"As if you had to ask." Harry wasted no time in ripping through the metal doors with his flame sword, allowing him and Wolverine to venture inside, immediately being met with rockets and gunfire from multiple directions… and then he looked up to see Liz being imprisoned in a giant metal cage "There she is! LIZ!"

"Get the hell down!" Wolverine yanked Hobgoblin to the ground just in time to avoid a rocket being hurled at them, and he cut through it with a quick sweep of his claws "Looks like we found the Sleeping Beauty knockoff. So what's our plan?"

"What the hell do you mean plan? We go up there and get her out!"

"What the fu-" Wolverine was cut short by a set of doors being flung open, and then several more pumpkin soldiers emerged, armed with rocket launchers and rifles "Here I thought I'd be getting away from the teenage romcom BS. Fine, I'll distract the Halloweentown rejects, you get up there and get the girl free."

"I'm on it." Hobgoblin leapt back onto his glider and began flying up through the chaos in the direction of where Liz was being held.

'Yep, young and in love. Glad that bullshit is over with.'

"Get the hell away from her!" Hobgoblin launched himself over towards the cage where Liz was being held, using his flame sword to slice through the rocket launchers of the two pumpkin soldiers guarding the cage and hurling a pumpkin bomb to the ground in front of them, the ensuing explosion sending both of them flying across the room. With them out of the way, he turned towards Liz "Okay I think that's all of them, you okay?"

"I think so, but how do-" Liz cut herself short as she studied the Hobgoblin for a moment, and then the realization seemed to dawn on her "Wait a minute… Harry?"

"Oh yeah, hold on a second." Hobgoblin lifted up his mask to reveal the face of Harry Osborn, and he let out a small chuckle "Sorry about that, not really the kind of thing you expected from the guy here to save you right?"

"What did you- How did you- Where did you- Okay, you're gonna have to help me out here a little bit."

"I'll give you the full story later. For now just stand back a bit, I'm gonna break you out of this thing."

"You can't, they have this whole thing rigged."

"In that case, I'll just have to de-rig it." so Harry lowered his Hobgoblin mask and rode his glider up to the top of the cage, where he began slashing away at a panel and the wiring underneath via his flame sword… which ended up triggering a series of explosions along the electrics within the room, resulting in an ocean of molten steel starting to flood the room "Um… crapbaskets."

"I told you the thing was rigged!"

"I'm new at this stuff, cut me some slack!"

"Slack doesn't mean much when you're about to get your head blown off!" Wolverine barked at him from where he was fighting off the pumpkin soldiers, some bigger than others, which prompted the Hobgoblin to fly back over to him and join the fight "Plus I think these guys are getting bigger."

"Are they gonna be a problem for you?"

"Never said that, just making an observation."

"Fair enough. Big or not, it won't mean much against these." Hobgoblin quickly threw out a barrage of razor bats, ripping through the rifles in the hands of numerous soldiers and forcing them to retreat, or else get cut down themselves.

"Not a bad shot kid. So, one more time into the fire?"

"I thought making jokes was Spider-Man's thing."

"You learn to deal with this shit how you can. You knew what you were getting into when you showed up here. Now figure out how the hell to work it out."

"I know what I'm getting into. I just wish I knew where the hell these guys kept coming from, they're worse than internet trolls!" Hobgoblin continued fighting off one pumpkin soldier after another via his flaming sword, only for more of them to keep coming "We have to turn off the furnace!"

"Any advice on how the hell to do that? That suit and glider of yours have an Idiot's Guide to blowing up a steel plant?"

"Nope, but the stuff that gave me the skills did give me a hell of a boost in brain power, so now I get these kinds of things a lot easier. The machine should shut down if we can overload it with a coolant." with that in mind, Hobgoblin flew his way over to the control panel, with Wolverine joining him once the last soldiers had been taken down, and he began typing away at it "There, I think that's it."

"So it's done?"

"If I did it right then this should-" Hobgoblin was cut short by an explosion erupting from one of the pipelines along the wall, which sent rubble and debris flying everywhere"

"Should kill everyone here."

"Not exactly the plan I was aiming for!"

"You weren't exactly aiming away from it either." Wolverine paused and took a sniff, then gave a scowl as he glanced over to see even more pumpkin soldiers arrive on the scene "Never thought I'd see the day, something that actually has higher numbers than internet trolls. Pretty much as determined though, those freaks never quit."

"Yeah well, the same goes for me right now." Hobgoblin tightened his grip on his flame sword as he charged.

"You ain't the only one kid." Wolverine leapt down towards the pumpkin soldiers with his claws barred, and they began laying into the enemy group "Let's just do this fast, it's getting hot in here and the last thing I need is to sweat through the suit."

"I haven't really noticed. Apparently this suit has a pretty effective AC unit."

"Well whoop de freaking do for you kid." Wolverine rolled his eyes as he cut through a group of rocket launchers, shredding them to pieces with ease "In case you forgot, pretty sure we're on a time crunch here!"

"So what the hell do we do?"

"You got bombs, razor blade things and a freaking fire sword! USE THEM!"

"That I can do! But seriously though we've gotta get Liz out of there, maybe we can weaken the cage or something?"

"Not a genius like Stark or Richards, you're gonna have to spit it out already."

"Try taking out the supports, see if we can bring it down!"

"Note to all the genius types, quit blathering about the why of it and just say what to do and how to do it!"

"About time someone said it!" and so Hobgoblin leapt over to one of the supports of the cage, dodging enemy fire along the way and promptly cut through it with his flame sword, leaving the metal to fall into the molten steel below, before doing the same to another one "There's two more of them, we need to bring all of them down!"

"Kinda have a lot going on kid, this place is coming apart!"

"Not to mention that it's not working!" Liz called out to them from within the cage.

"We're working on it kid, just hang in there! We gotta take the supports out right? Then give me a second." Wolverine let out a snarl as he charged forward with his claws barred, cutting through the last two support beams in a single charge, only to be met with the room continuing the collapse around them "Well shit, that ain't good."

"No kidding, this whole place is coming down!" Hobgoblin hurled a razor bat to cut through a large chunk of debris "We have to do something!"

"You have any other bright ideas kid?

"I got one. It's gonna suck for sure, but it's an idea. We might have to get in there through the furnace."

"Forget it kid, your suit isn't fire proof. You ain't gonna last."

"Maybe not the suit, but I'm tougher than I look. Besides, part of the whole vigilante thing is making tough calls right?" Hobgoblin flew up to the hole that led to the furnace, then leapt off his glider and into the flames within.

'Huh. Well the kid's got guts if nothing else, I'll give him that.' Wolverine leapt up towards the furnace and prepared to follow Hobgoblin inside, only for a small explosion to blow him back to the ground, leaving him to pick himself up "Shit. So much for the healing factor saving the day every time."

"So what do we do now?" askd Liz.

"Give it a second, we just gotta wait."

"Wait for what?"

"I got it!" Hobgoblin leapt out of the flames inside the furnace and down into the cage, landing right next to Liz "Now let's move, we can get out through-" he didn't get to finish before part of the building caved in on him, leaving him trapped under a pile of debris.

"Harry!" a horrified Liz was quick to rush over to his side, trying to push the rubble off to free him, during which her hair turned golden and a burst of flames shot out of her hands, which provd powerful enough to burn through the rubble and let Hobgoblin stand back up "Are you okay?"

"I uh… I've been worse. Except I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding under here."

"Yeah good for you, now let's get you out of there." Wolverine barred his claws and stabbed them right into the door to the cage, with Hobgoblin stabbing it on the other side with the blade of his flame sword "Come on kid, keep pushing!"

"I'm trying, this thing can only put out so much!"

"I think I can do this, just… stand back a little bit." Liz held out a hand to motion for Hobgoblin to get back, which he did, albeit with confusion. With that out of the way, she took a breath as she stopped towards the cage and held out her hands 'Okay, just concentrate… Let the energy build until it has nowhere to go but out… NOW!' she let out a scream, and a powerful surge of flames erupted from her arms, resulting in an explosion that burnt clear through the door to the cage, allowing her and Hobgoblin to step out.

"Huh. Looks like someone's been practicing." Wolverine gave a smirk of approval as he dusted some of the soot off the front of his suit "Remember, it's a gift or a curse, mostly depends on how you look at it. Looks like for you it's a gift, and you're doing a decent job with it, at least up to this point."

"I think the constant setting stuff on fire begs to differ." Liz gave a nervous chuckle as the flames of her hair subsided, turning it back to its natural brunette color "So um…"

"Talk later, for now we try not to die. Let's move!" Wolverine led the charge as they rushed out of the building as the room finally gave out around them.

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

"Well these guys are officially boring." Jessica rolled her eyes as she leapt over one thug that was charging at her and threw him to the ground, eventually finding herself back to back with Luke as the remaining thugs closed in on them "Here I thought we were gonna get to have a little bit of fun for once."

"Pretty sure you don't get the whole thing about buying time in a fight." Luke rolled his eyes as he backhanded a thug trying to come at him from behind "We still gotta leave a few of these idiots standing."

"Yeah, remind me why we gotta do that again? Pretty sure Danny and Matt have the kid up there freed by now, and these guys can't take a punch to save their lives. Why do you think there are so many of them?"

"...Good point. Let's bust some heads." and so they charged into separate corners of the ring and began beating on more of the nameless pumpkin soldiers.

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Meanwhile, with the other half of the Defenders…

"Alright, this is the place." it didn't take long for Daredevil and Iron Fist, led by Angel, to reach the catwalk and find two pumpkin soldiers manning the apparatus Casey was strapped to "Now we just have to take out those two thugs without drawing too much attention."

"So what then, do you have any bright ideas?" Iron Fist shot him a raised eyebrow, earning a grin in response.

"As a matter of fact, I think I do." Daredevil gestured to the spotlight shining over the arena "A fairly bright idea in fact. Any volunteers?"

"I think I've got this one myself. Hey guys, lights on!" Angel grabbed hold of the spotlight and shined it in the faces of the pumpkin soldiers, causing them to yelp and recoil.

"And now it's lights out. Permanently in my case." Daredevil wasted no time in swooping in on the two thugs while they were distracted, beating them down with a series of swift blows, which allowed him and the others to make their way over to where Casey was being held "It's nice to finally meet you in person, Casey Jones I believe your name was? Even if the circumstances aren't exactly ideal."

"Oh yeah, you're that horny guy Raph was talking about. Daredevil right?" Casey glanced down at him "Raph and the guys weren't picking up so I went with the hairy wolf guy, I kinda figured it was gonna be him."

"I take it you're referring to Wolverine. He has another commitment to take care of at the moment, so he forwarded your message to me and my teammates here."

"Huh. Alright, I can work with that." Casey then turned towards Angel and gave a smirk "About time you decided to drop by, and with a little company."

"Well what's a kid sister supposed to do when her dumbass big brother gets strung up like a pinata by a bunch of Hallowen rejects?" Angel gave a smirk as she pulled a lever, the apparatus being lowered until it reached the catwalk, with Casey being released from his restraints as he fell to the ground with a thud "You gonna get up?"

"Yeah, just… give me a minute… Blood's rushing to my head pretty bad."

"Well when you're ready, I stopped by the Turtles' Lair. They themselves weren't home, but I did find a few of your belongings in Donatello's lab." Daredevil knelt down and stuck a familiar metal stick at Casey's side, along with a few metal projectiles, earning a large grin from him in response.

"Yep… just taking a minute, and then we're gonna kick some ass."

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

'Crap!' a loud bang erupted as Ghost Spider was sent crashing into a pillar, leaving the front of but she managed to rebound in time to avoid a ball of flames being lobbed at her "Molten Man I need you to listen, your sister is being held somewhere in this foundry."

"You really think I'm stupid enough to fall for that trick?" Molten Man gave a smirk as he made his way towards Ghost Spider, ripping through anything in his path as he charged forward, with her being forced to retreat to a higher perch.

"Will you just listen? I don't want to hurt you!"

"Funny thing about that, I don't really feel the same." Molten Man grabbed hold of a nearby large metal pole and prepared to bring it down on Ghost Spider, forcing her to dodge it, only to use it to propel himself up towards her, allowing him to catch her in a bear hug, burning through the stomach of her suit.

"You think… You think Liz would really want to see you like this…?" Ghost Spider spat out some blood from underneath her mask.

"You really oughta learn to keep your trap shut. You're just as bad as the other Spider, it's no wonder why they want you dead." Molten Man tightened his grip on Ghost Spider's waist and then threw her to the ground "Plus you got your little boy toy Spider to thank for me being like this, the only reason they gave me power is because they wanted him dead! The Spiders ruin everything for everyone, like with me!"

"Yeah well, he's not the one that made your sister cry." Ghost Spider staggered back to her feet as she levelled a glare at Molten Man, only to see him left in a stunned silence "You already made her cry once. Are you really okay with doing it again?"

"Liz, I… No, I don't want…" Molten Man seemed conflicted for a moment… only for this to stop when a high pitched whirring began ringing throughout the building, causing him to scream in pain as he clutched at his head.

This also proved to be enough for Ghost Spider to catch onto something 'Okay, starting to piece this together, but is this… Oh god, Warren is using mind control again isn't he? How did I not see this sooner? Molten Man… Mark… I know you're in there, you have to fight this! For Liz!"

"I… I…" Molten Man continued clutching at his head until the whirring died down, but then his gaze hardened as he levelled a glare at Ghost Spider "The only thing I have to do is take you out, then everything works out. It's a lock."

"When has it being a lock ever worked out for you?"

"I don't need to listen to your crap, I'm all in."

"If that's the case… then so am I." with a burst of speed, Ghost Spider launched herself towards Molten Man and landed a swift and powerful kick directly to his face, sending him staggering back and allowing her to fire a few shots of electric webbing, enveloping Molten Man in a large surge of electricity, causing him to scream in pain and then eventually fall to the ground in a smoldering unconscious heap. With the battle over, she used a webline to flip him over onto his back, revealing the blinking light on the back of his neck, which she gently pulled out of there and examined 'So I was right, Warren stuck him with a Kraang mind control device, like the one he used when he sicked Kraven on me. Well at least now it's over, and maybe I can figure out how to help him with-'

"Die Spider bitch!" it was at this moment that a truck full of pumpkin soldiers burst through a set of metal doors with a flamethrower and gattling gun mounted on top, both of which started firing at her, forcing her to go on the evasive.

'And they have a flamethrower because of course they do. Webbing it up isn't going to work with that one, so I'll have to find a way to shoot it down.' her mind racing, Ghost Spider leapt around the interior of the building, firing one shot of impact webbling after another while avoiding the gunfire being aimed at her from multiple angels, during which she caught sight of a doorway at the back of the building 'The back balcony, that's gotta be the way into where Liz is being held by these guys.' so she leapt over the gunfire and towards the back balcony, when…

"Hey Spider bitch, how about this one?!" another group of pumpkin soldiers showed up on the scene armed with rocket launchers, forcing her to go back on the evasive.

'Great, rocket launchers in addition to the gattling gun and the flamethrower. I'm gonna need a plan of some kind.' Ghost Spider continued looking around frantically amidst the incoming enemy fire, until her gaze fell on a vat suspended in mid-air 'And inspiration had struck.' so she launched herself towards the vat in question, firing as many webs as she could at the gattling gun being aimed at her, and once she reached the vat she latched onto the support beam with two simultaneous weblines and yanked on it as hard as she could, leaving it to fall onto the top of the truck with a mighty bang, during which she latched the unconsicous form of Molten Man and managed to yank him up onto a higher platform with a webline just before it melted 'Okay, so I guess that worked. Flamethrower and gattling gun down, still rifles and rocket launchers left to go. At least Mark is taken care of, the only problem is figuring out how to turn off his sub-dermal armor. Now to go help Harry and Wolverine get Liz out of here.' so with that in mind, she made her way over the debris and other vats into the next area of the foundry… only to find numerous more armed pumpkin soldiers patrolling the place, and almost immediately locking onto her with their rifles and rocket launches 'Oh crapbaskets.'

"This spider bitch is getting turned into a goddamn pelt!" one guy fired at rocket at Ghost Spider, only for her to stop it with a webline and throw it to the ground, resulting in a loud crash.

"Okay as much as I appreciate the enthusiasm, I think that the main idea is to work smarter, not harder."

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Meanwhile, with the B plot…

"You'd think they were gonna run out of these dumbasss at some point." Jessica leapt overhead two thugs trying to charge at her from opposite sides, leaving them to crash into each other, which earned her a series of boos from the various spectators "But nope, these idiots just keep on coming."

"Who the hell do you think you're kidding, they're never gonna run out of stupid people. They never do." Luke let out a snort as he tanked one of the thugs attempting to slam a knice nto his chest "Two words kid: unbreakable skin." and then he slammed a fist into the kid's face and sent him crashing into the cage wall, only to look down and see his hoodie shredded "Aw dammit, I just got this thing." and so he ripped off his hoodie, revealing his face to the present crowd and resulted in an uproar.

"Ah screw it, the more the merrier I guess." Jessica gave a shrug as she ripped off her own hoodie, earning even more of an uproar "Truth be told, I'm kinda surprised that lasted as long as it did."

"Same, but I think we got bigger things to think about right now."

"Like what?"

"Hey freaks!" this was when the Rhino came charging into the cage and landed in the ring with a mighty crash, and he looked only slightly less pissed than he usually did "You punks made a big mistake showing up here."

"Big words. Pretty obvious you're compensating for something." Jessica gave a smirk as she cracked her knuckles "This oughta be fun."

"Try and tough talk before I shove my horn through your skull lady. I fought that pain in the ass Spider-Man, I can take on the rest of you freaks no problem!"

"Really? Because from what I heard you got your ass handed to him every time you went up agianst Spider-Man, and getting the jungle look on your head hasn't changed that."

"Yeah well… shut up!" Rhino let out a snarl as he charged at the two of them, only for Jessica to land a fist directly on his face, causing him to cry out and stagger backwards, but not without him being able to grab her by the leg and slam her into the ground repeatedly, before throwing her into the wall of the cage.

"Hey watch it reject, there's only one guy that gets to throw her to the ground and you're looking at him, but for totally different reasons!" Luke was the next one to charge at Rhino, receiving a horn to his chest in an attempt to pierce it… but all it did was make him stagger back "Like I told the other punks, it's called unbreakable skin for a reason."

"Oh yeah? Well I bet I don't need to break your skin to break you!" Rhino grabbed Luke by the throat and threw him into the wall of the cage, just as more pumpkin soldiers began grabbing their weapons and charging into the ring to join the fray.

"And I think that's our cue to finally join the fray." Iron Fist and Daredevil leapt down off the catwalk to meet the thugs in the middle of their charge towards the ring "Sorry about this guys, but Comic Con isn't for another few weeks. You're dangerously out of style here."

"Then again, I think it's safe to say that's never stopped them before." Daredevil brandished his Devil's Horn as the thugs came charging forward, and he and Iron Fist met their charge and began ripping through one of them after another with ease.

"...Alright, that oughta keep those idiots busy." Luke picked himself up off the ground and cast a glance over to see Jessica ripping off the cage door and smacking Rhino over the head with it, then turned to where Daredevil was beating two thugs to the ground with a single "About time you guys came down to back us up."

"It's part of being a team. I take it things are going well on your end." Daredevil gave him a raised eyebrow.

"We ain't taking any damage, not surprising, but this guy's tougher than he looks. Every time we hit him he keeps coming back for more. Probably not that big of a surprise, but we ain't used to that sort of thing. What's this guy's deal anyway?"

"To give you the short version, he's one of Spider-Man's enemies. He's not particularly smart as I'm sure you've already discovered, but he's strong and durable with the titanium resin coating his body, not to mention he's determined."

"Can't be that tough if that kid took him down so many times."

"As far as I know, he's never actually managed to do it with brute force. He's mainly defeated him by getting creative."

"Meaning?"

"Knockout gas, leading him onto a frozen lake, usually along those lines. Also according to the testimony of a police captain that witnessed them fighting once, using enemy fire on him."

"What kind of enemy fire?"

"To my understanding, a combination of electricity and shockwave blasts of pressurized air out of a gauntlet. And the closest thing we have to that is… Iron Fist, I think it's time for us to step into the ring and help out the others."

"I heard, and I'm way ahead of you." Iron Fist dealt one last pumpkin soldier a kick to the face and leapt into the ring, with Daredevil jumping in right beside him "This may actually prove to be fairly interesting."

"That's IT! I've had it with you costumed freaks!" Rhino quickly lost whatever cool he had left and charged at the two newcomers in a rage.

"And on behalf of all of us I say, the feeling is mutual." Iron Fist waited as the Rhino charged at him, and once he got close enough he leapt over Rhino's assault, his fist coated in crimson chi, and he dealt Rhino a swift yet brutal uppercut, sending him hurtling into the air and crashing to the ground on the edge of the ring, leaving him sprawled out and unconsicous in a crater, with the part of his armor now sporting a large gaping hole over where it should've been covering his chin. Iron Fist himself on the other hand, was now clutching his hand in pain "Okay, if I didn't believe the whole impenetrable hide thing before, I definitely do now. And apparently hitting a guy with the Iron Fist doesn't negate pain. Good to know."

"Hate to break it to you Danny, but we got other problems!" Luke swooped in to grab Iron Fist and shielded him with his back just as the remaining walls of the cage came crashing down on top of them. Once the debris stopped falling, Luke pushed the remnants of the cage walls off of him and shot a dry look down at Iron Fist "Yeah piece of advice Danny, next time try to make sure you don't bring the whole place down on top of us."

"Normally that isn't a problem, but I'll take it under advisement."

"As much as I'd like for us to be able to relax, we have other problems." Daredevil directed their attention to where a group of the remaining pumpkin soldiers were advancing on them with weapons drawn, ready to fight, until…

"GOONGALA!" this was when Casey leapt down off the catwalk and lobbed a series of metal pucks at the group of soldiers, resulting in a powerful electrical current that stunned the soldiers, and then left them to fall to the groud in unconscious heaps "Oh hell yeah, now these punks get that Casey Jones is back!"

"And we're glad for it, now we just need to find a way out of here without turning this into an all out blood bath."

"Actually, I think we already got it."

"How so?"

"GOONGALA!" this was when the Defenders' van came bursting through the wall and scared off a number of the remaining thugs and spectators… with Angel in the driver's seat.

"...Okay on the one hand, I'm grateful for the getaway ride. On the other hand, I have a lawyer friend who would be able to think of so many things wrong with putting your underate sister in the driver's seat."

"I ain't telling if you don't, now shut your trap and get in. I'll be there as soon as I take care of one other thing." with that said, Casey grabbed a metal stick and made his way over to where the Rhino lay unconscious among the debris "This one is for dragging my little sister into any of your bullshit." he prepared to bring it down, until…

"Hold it!" Angel leapt out of the truck and grabbed hold of the metal stick before Casey could bring it down, taking him by surprise.

"Angel what the hell are you doing?"

"Apparently stopping my big brother from making the biggest mistake of his life."

"...Well shit, where the hell have I heard that before?" Casey gave a small smirk as he put away his metal stick "Thanks for that squirt."

"Meh, just doing my job." the two of them shared a fist bump as they climbed into the Defenders van, and they all drove away from the scene and out onto the streets of New York.

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Meanwhile, with the A plot…

'Okay, I think it's safe to say this isn't making much progress.' Ghost Spider cast a look around at the unconscious pumpkin soldiers lying sprawled out on the ground, only to be forced back onto the evasiv as more soldiers showed up and began firing at her via rifles, dodging as many of them as she was able to, albeit receiving a graze along her arm at one point, until…

"Hey Ghost Spider, think you're pretty slick? Give this one a try!" one soldier fired a rocket launcher at her from one of the upper decks.

'Crap!' Ghost Spider barely had time to leap out of the way before the projectile collided with the ground and exploded, the force of the blast sending her crashing through a wall, leaving her to land on a giant conveyer belt, pinned under lots of debrist… and she looked ahead to see it hurtling towards a pit of molten steel 'Damn… I have to get out of here, I have to do something, but I… I can't move…' she watched as the pit of molten steel drew ever closer, until…

"Get ready to web a line!"

'What?!' Ghost Spider's eyes snapped open just in time to see a golden figure grab her by her hood, leap off the conveyer belt and out onto another neary platform, and she looked down to see the burning footprints on the ground behind them, then up at her savior "Ma-Molten Man?"

Sure enough, Molten Man stood before her, holding onto her by the hood of her costume, but he just as quickly released his grip before it could burst into flames "You good?"

"Depends on whether or not I get a tan out of this." Ghost Spider let out a chuckle, but then lifted up the bottom of her mask to cough up blood, only for her to quickly stop when they noticed a drone flying overhead, causing both of them to freeze place.

"So… is this one of those things where they won't see us if we don't move?"

"Only one way to find out I guess." Ghost Spider was immediately met with the sound of an alarm blaring "And apparently it was wishful thinking."

"There they are!" and then another large group of pumpkin soldiers showed up armed to the brim with guns "Take out the spider and subdue Molten Man, Warren is gonna want to fix that one once we get him back!"

"Great, more of the usual. They want me dead and to covert you to their side." Ghost Spider let out a sigh as she pulled down her hood and dropped into a stance, during which she cast a quick glance over at Molten Man "Any chance you're up for helping?"

"If by that you mean getting some payback on the SOBs who tried to make me into a goddamn puppet, then yeah." Molten Man cracked his knuckles as the soldiers came charging at him, and he quickly met their charge by punching each of them across the pumpkins covering their faces, leaving all of them sprawled out on the ground with most of their pumpkin heads melted away, and he fired lava balls at the ones with the rocket launchers, forcing them to drop the launchers and let them get melted "Seriously though, what the hell? First they got guns, rockets, knives, freaking tanks and now they have drones?!"

"Not to mention the army of supervillains and mutants." Ghost Spider leapt over a series of bullets being aimed at her face, their conversation continuing even as they beat down one pumpkin soldier after another "Not just regular mutants, I mean both kinds."

"What the hell do you mean both kinds?"

"Well there's the regular mutants with the X-gene, then you have- You know what, this is a conversation for later."

"Good freaking god, what the hell is gonna try and kill us next?"

"How about we worry about that later, and right now try to focus on not getting our faces blown off!" Ghost Spider dealt one of the soldiers an uppercut and another a roundhouse kick, both of them being left sprawled out on the ground "Is that all of them?"

"Nope." Molten Man jerked a thumb at where two more pumpkin soldiers burst through a set of doors with rocket launchers in hand, along with another small group of soldiers "More of those things, cause why not?"

"Just stay calm and take them down one at a time, but don't burn their faces off or anything like that. No lethal force."

"Fine, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna make it hurt." Molten Man advanced on the soldiers with the rocket launchers as they fired, only for him to grab both of the rockets in his hands and hurled both of them to the ground, creating a small explosion that threw both of the soldiers off their feet "How many of these guys do we have to fight through before it starts getting really annoying?"

"We passed that threshold ages ago." Ghost Spider launched a series of impact webs as the last of the soldiers, sending them flying into walls and pinning them there.

"Fair. Next question, where the hell are these freaks keeping my sister?"

"We can't be too far away, and I've got two people already on it."

"And who the hell are they?"

"Well-" Ghost Spider was cut short by a sizable explosion going off in another part of the building, blowing the two of them off their feet, but she managed to pick herself up and drag Molten Man through a set of doors, the entire plant collapsing around them as they continued running.

"Okay what the hell, is this kind of thing always so freaking stressful for you?"

"Yoga and meditation can do wonders for your mental health." Ghost Spider leapt over a set of scorched debris and melted girders as they continued running through the halls "We just have to figure out how the heck to get out of here."

"To hell with that, they've got Liz somewhere in here!"

"We can't save her if we get buried alive or go up in flames!" Ghost Spider webbed a line to launch herself over a chasm of molten steel, using a webline to yank Molten Man across with her before it melted, as the building continued collapsing from above them, until the two of them dove underneath a large pile of debris right before it collapsed on top of them, allowing them to get out of the foundry and into an abandoned courtyard as the building finally fell apart. With that out of the way, she took a moment to catch her breath "Are… Are you okay?"

"Am I- Forget about me, my sister is still in there and-" Molten Man was cut short by the sound of an explosion going off where the foundry used to stand, leaving a large cloud of smoke that enveloped the entire area "LIZ!"

"Dammit kid, would it kill you to not scream?" Wolverine let out a groan as he made his way out of the smoke, with Hobgoblin by his side holding Liz in his arms "Would've been here a little bit sooner, but we had to make sure we didn't get followed by those freaks."

"Liz, is she…?"

"She's okay." Hobgoblin paused and lookd down at Liz, seeing her covered in soot and a few small burn marks and bruises "At least more okay than any of us."

"Yeah, I… kind of noticed." Molten Man paused for a moment, and then his face fell as he turned to face all of them "I… I'm sorry. For all of this. I saw everything I was doing in there, but I couldn't stop myself. I just…"

"Get real kid." Wolverine let out a snort "You think you're the first one to get roped into some kind of mind control batshit? That was all on the Jackal, you ain't the one to blame."

"Maybe not like that… but I'm the one who's causing all of this. Look at me. The only reason I have these powers in the first place is cause I didn't quit while I was ahead, I got myself turned into a lab rat and my life pretty much went down the toilet. Now I'm stuck with this stuff for th rest of my life." he gestured to the armor covering himself "It's official, I'm screwed."

"Kid, you don't know the meaning of the word. But cause I'm not a prick, me and a couple of my coworkers figured out a way to help you out." Wolverine dug into his suit and pulled out a small object, which he promptly tossed over to Molten Man.

"It's… a watch. That doesn't melt when I touch it?"

"That's part of the charm to it. Not going into too much detail, but I know a fuzzy blue kid that I work with upstate who's got a problem kinda similar to yours. Talked to the professor, got him to whip up a new model, now turn it on and see what happens."

"Alright?" still unconvinced, Molten Man pushed the button on the watch… and the heated armor engulfing him disappeared, leaving only Mark Allen in his place, allowing him to look at his own hands in awe "I… don't believe it… I'm normal again… I'm back to-"

"Mark!" Liz wasted no time in wrapping her arms around Mark and pulling him into a tight hug, which also caused his face to turn slightly blue, but she pulled away after a moment and her gaze softened.

"Liz, I… I'm sorry…" Mark wrapped his arms around her in turn "This whole thing is… It's just crazy…"

"Trust me, you haven't seen anything yet." Ghost Spider let out a sigh as she wiped away some blood from one of the many cuts she sported "I'm just glad that we managed to get to the two of you in time. I've seen some of the others that haven't been so lucky."

"I kinda figured. But the Allens aren't quitters, if we gotta go down then we go down fighting, or burning holes in guys' skulls in this case."

"That's… a positive image, I guess."

"Call it what you want, doesn't really matter. I heard the Jackal mention that they were waiting for their boss to show up, this Goblin King, whoever the hell that is."

"Still working on that on our end. In the meantime, do the two of you have place safe to go? If they tried to get you once, I can't guarantee they won't again."

"I… I don't know."

"I think we might." Liz glance at Wolverine, then back at Mark "Listen Mark, this has been… a lot. But guys like him and his friends, they want to help me. I trust him."

"Yeah. I know. And after this… I'm a little more open to it at least." Mark turned his gaze over towards Wolverine "I think we got a couple of things to talk about."

"We definitely do. But I'm thinking we shouldn't do it here." Wolverine jerked a thumb at the burning remains of the foundry around the corner "For a couple of reasons."

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Meanwhile, with the wrap up of the B plot…

"Looks like things are wrapping up." Jessica glanced through the windshield of the Defenders' van at a certain household in front of them "We kicked some ass and it turns out we got what it takes to beat the crap out of a Rhino dude. That's a good day in my book."

"I'm more inclined to focus on the fact that nobody died." Daredevil pointed out dryly, only to cut the conversation short when they noticed Casey making his way out of the building towards the van "I take it things worked out on your end?"

"For the most part. Got Angel home safe and my dad has no idea what happened. The only thing he's freaked about is the freaky guys in the van parked across the street." Casey told him dryly, then gave a small smirk "But real talk, thanks for backing me up in there."

"We're just glad that you and your sister made it out alright, and that we managed to stop a new recruit from joining the Goblin Nation." Daredevil then frowned in thought "But still, it is at least a bit worrisome that they have so many members at their disposal, not to mention ones as powerful as they have. I think it's safe to say that nobody in this city is going to be truly safe until they and all of their allies, including the Kraang, have been taken down for good. We need to be ready when the time comes."

"Trust me on this one guys, Casey Jones is always up for a fight. Point me in the right direction and I'll start kicking ass and taking names."

"Spoken like a real Defender kid." Luke shot him a smirk "Hey tell me something, you ever think about signing up? We ain't saying no to new members after Black Cat bailed on us."

"Depends, is this one of those 18 or older deals?" Casey was met with silence, then just gave a shrug "Doesn't matter, I ain't really the team player type. Casey Jones is a solo vigilante of the night, a mysterious lone hero in a world full of evil."

"...You got a rich fantasy life, don't you kid?"

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Meanwhile, with the wrap up to the A plot…

'So this is what it's like.' Harry, still clad in his Hobgoblin suit but without his mask, sat on the roof of his penthouse looking up the night sky 'I wonder if dad ever discovered this view back when he was flying around the city. Oh yeah, dad… Crap, I have to-'

"Hey."

'-put that off until later.' Harry glanced down to see Liz standing on the penthouse deck, and he leapt down to meet her "Hey. Everything go okay?"

"More or less. My brother is happy to finally be back to some kind of normal, at least as far as his powers go. Plus he gets to keep them now without being someone's puppet."

"Yeah, that uh… That's good for him, but…" Harry's face fell slightly "I meant with that guy and his offer."

"Oh. That. Well I mean, it's great that there's someone who wants to help me with my powers and all, but that would mean having to leave the city. Leave school just a few months before graduate. And leave you."

"Ah. So then… Are you going to take it?"

"I… I don't know." Liz breathed a sigh "I mean you've known about this… change since the first time it came up, longer than anyon else in my life. Except Hobie."

"That's because he knows everything."

"So I've heard. So I just wanted to ask… What do you think I should do? And be honest."

"You want me to be completely honest?" Harry took a breath and lookd her in eye "What I think is… I think you should take the offer and go."

"Really?"

"Gw- Ghost Spider was right, there's no guarantee that those guys won't try and come for you again. If you go with him then you'll be out of the city, and that should mean they'll leave you alone. At least for now."

"Maybe, but… I don't want to leave everyone. Especially not you."

"I don't want you to leave either. Believe me, I don't… But my dad once told me that in life, you have to cowboy up and do what you have to do. And if you leaving means you'll be safe… Then that's good enough for me." he gritted his teeth as a single tear fell down his cheek, the same thing happening with Liz.

"Even if I am safe, I just… I don't want to lose you."

"I don't want to lose you either. But this won't be forever. I'll do everything I can to make sure these Goblin Nation guys are taken care of for good. All goes well, then you'll be back where you belong in time for graduation. And Liz, I…" he tried to finish his sentence, but couldn't force the word out… at least not before he was met with Liz wrapping her arms around him and pressing her lips against his, only breaking away after a few moments passed.

"I know. Me to. Goodbye Harry." Liz gave him a small smile, then turned around and made her way towards the penthouse elevator without another word.

"Bye Liz." Harry watched as she left, refusing to tear his eyes away until the elevator doors were completely closed, and then he turned towards the balcony and wiped away a few tears 'I'll keep you safe if it's the last thing I do, I swear it.'

"I'm sorry. That must have been hard."

Harry looked up to see Ghost Spider perched on the wall above him "Yeah. But again, cowboy up and do what we have to do right?"

"More or less." Ghost Spider leapt down in front of him and took off her mask, revealing the face of Gwen Stacy "On a less somber note, you did a good job tonight."

"Really? I pretty much brought down a burning building on all of us. I thought that would count as a huge screwup."

"Maybe, but it worked out in our favor. We all got out and no one died. Maybe we do work well together like this. Which kind of brings me to why I came back here." Gwen breathed a heavy sigh "We have some baggage to work through. A lot of baggage. But we want the same thing, to make sure the Goblin Nation doesn't hurt anyone else. So maybe… the two of us could try and be on the same side again? Put all the drama stuff off until later?" she held out her hand.

"Yeah, that uh… That works for me." Harry accepted the hand "So then… Spider superhero stuff huh? I gotta wonder how the hell Pete deals with all of this." there was a pause, and then he visibly cringed "Right, Pete. So is he…"

"Yeah. The night those canisters fell across the city, Pete got hit with one of them and turned into this giant Man-Spider. We're still working on a retro-mutagen to turn him back. We're close, but we'll have to find him before we can use it."

"So… rescue mission then?"

"More or less."

"Got it. I'll keep an eye out and let you know what I find."

"Fair, and once we finish the retro-mutagen I'll give you a call. And Harry… it feels kind of nice being on the same side again." Gwen gave him a small smile bfor she pulled down her Ghost Spider mask and swung away into the night.

"Yeah. Same side." Harry watched Ghost Spider disappear into the New York skyline, but once she was gone his gaze hardened with suppressed fury as he pulled his cell phone out of his suit and dialed a number.

"...I was beginning to wonder when you would call."

"I figured you'd make the first move. That's usually your style."

"You can't win every game by being predictable. Sometimes you have to shake things up just a tad." there was a pause, and then the voice softened, if only slightly "It's always sad when you have to see someone go, isn't it?"

"Yeah… first mom, now Liz."

"You don't have to worry Harry. You won't be alone. Not as long as you have me. Which brings me to a proposition I have for you. One that I think will give you exactly what you want."

"I think I already have a good idea of what it is. And before I give you any kind of answer, or do anything for you, then you need to know that I have one really important condition. And in the way like best, it's non-negotiable."

"Is that so? Well this should prove to be very interesting."

A/N:

Well this is long overdue, but we finally see Harry return to this story, stronger and smarter than ever, but also in control, at least as far as we know. But just because he's in control doesn't mean that he doesn't have his own agenda at work, or the agenda of someone working in the shadows, as Ghost Spider is bound to find out soon enough.

Also yes, Harry has taken up the mantle of the new Hobgoblin, instead of following in Norman's footsteps as the next Green Goblin. Truth be told I owe the idea to Crystalias on Deviantart. He shows particular fondness for the version of Harry that becomes the Hobgoblin, which really drew my interest to it. Combine that with his adaptation in the 2017 Spider-Man series (one of the better things to come out of that series), and I decided to go a little different route than what one would probably expect.

As for the B plot, it's giving focus to Casey Jones by adapting the Falling Angel episode from the 2003 series, in which he's trying to help out a girl named Angel (who's his little sister in this version) by stopping her from joining the ranks of the Goblin Nation, as well as showing off some of their muscle: the Rhino. I did mention once before that he's with them, and now it's time to give him a little something to do, and show how he stacks against the likes of the Defenders.

Oh and in case it wasn't clear, the reason the Turtles and April are absent from this chapter is because it takes place during the events of Mazes and Mutants, so they got trapped in the illusion maze by the mutant pigeon wizard guy.

Also just throwing this out there while I get the chance, tell me if you guys figured out the Brooklyn 99 reference I included in the chapter, which was meant to be a tribute of sorts to Andre Braugher. RIP, he was a great man who left behind a legacy that will last a lifetime. Also, for those of you who have seen Brooklyn 99: BONE!