"Turn around."

As much as he didn't want to, especially to this guy, Hobie complied, lowering the device to his side as he slowly turned to face their masked opponent, who had a gun drawn on them.

"Well, well, well: if it isn't one Mr. Hobie Brown," the man spoke up. "A.K.A. the big bad Prowler. You never call, you never write... what's the matter, you don't have time for your friends anymore?"

"I wouldn't call someone my friend who set me up with a rigged power source so I could be a slave to Fisk," Hobie challenged, clenching his gloved fist in frustration. Of all the Goblin's men they could run into, it just had to be THIS guy...

"You knew what you were getting into the moment you called me," the man said. "But it seems now you really are trying to play hero. What's that you got in your hand, anyway?"

It's the thing that's finally going to put you where you belong," Hobie insisted. This only prompted a loud, booming laugh from his old friend.

"Man, you've lost it!" the guy shouted. "But you know what, since you and I have such a long history together, we'll make this multiple choice. Option number one: you destroy that device in your hand and come with me. I'll hook you up, my friend; you'll be part of the Goblin family."

"Let me guess: option two is where you kill us all?" Hobie questioned.

"You always were smart, Hobie," the man insisted. "Don't go proving me wrong now."

"Right, like the smart choice is working for an unstable green psychopath who flies around on a glorified version of a broomstick," Hobie countered.

"The smart choice is picking the winning side," the man challenged. "If Spider-Man's luck hasn't run out already, it will soon, and if you don't want to end up like him, you better make the smart choice. So, what's it going to be, my friend? Oh, and you have ten seconds to decide before I shoot the girls instead."

The man then rotated the gun, Mary Jane and Deb backing up in concern.

"Stop!" Hobie shouted. "Alright! Whatever you say man, just don't hurt them!"

"Drop the device," the man said, gesturing his head towards the dispenser in Hobie's hand. "Crush it underneath your boot."

Hobie's mind raced as he set the dispenser on the ground, trying to come up with any way out of this. He simply couldn't destroy it, but he also couldn't let the girls die on his watch either. As he slowly stood back up, he made up his mind what he was going to do. It was risky, but pretty much anything in this situation would be so outside of compliance, and even that carried little certainty in his mind. He clenched his fist, slowly rotating it up behind his leg as it elevated, hopefully giving the impression that he intended to follow through with his instructions.

Then, as soon as his leg was high enough, he fired a cable just underneath it from his right gauntlet that knocked the weapon out of his enemy's hands before he could even react. Mary Jane then fired one of the electrical blasts from her wrist device; though their opponent was in evident pain, he fought it as he tried to advance towards them, but Hobie wasted no time, lunging forward and grabbing his old friend by the throat, hoisting him up into the air before slamming him down against the concrete. He then proceeded to lay into the man with a few gauntlet-enhanced blows, the fourth punch finally knocking his opponent out, his body going limp.

Letting out a few breaths built up from the tense nature of the moment, Hobie stood up.

"Sorry, Art, but you were the one on the wrong side."

He then walked back over to the girls.

"You two okay?" he asked as he scooped the dispenser back up.

"Just add that to the list of things I'm going to need therapy for once this is over," Deb replied, producing a light chuckle out of him.

"Alright," he said. "Let's finish this."

He then walked back up to the building, holding the device up to the wall. Almost instantly, it latched onto it, with Mary Jane pressing the button to arm it.

"Peter," she spoke up through the comms, "the last one is ready. Do you hear me? The last antidote dispenser is armed and ready!"

"Got it!" Peter shouted back, overjoyed at the news that this was FINALLY about to be over. He took out the detonation device as he replied further: "just give me one second and this will all be..."

His spider sense then went off sharply, but unfortunately even its warning didn't give him enough time to avoid the incoming blow by the Goblin, who'd circled back around faster than he'd expected and suddenly ended up in front of him. The hard strike to his face halted his momentum completely, but Peter's opponent had also left a trail of pumpkin bombs in his wake that detonated instantly. The blast sent him crashing through the window and tumbling through a nearby building before smashing through the window on the other side of the room as well.

It was then that Peter saw it: the antiserum detonation device right out in front of him, the blast having caused him to accidentally let go of it. He attempted to grab it, but his swipe only knocked it further away. Quickly changing tactics, he fired a web that latched itself to the device. Before he could yank it to himself, however, he was snagged by one of the Goblin's men. He held tightly to the web as he suddenly rocketed upward.

"Peter! What's happening? Are you okay?"

Normally, Mary Jane's voice was soothing to him, but right now, the last thing he needed was a distraction even from her.

"Just... working on it!" he shouted back as he slammed his elbow into the side of his opponent's head, stunning him enough that he released his grip on him. Descending towards the device, Peter yanked it back up to himself, only to be just in time for another few enemies to come his way. Keeping a tighter hold on the all-important device, he leapt, flipped and dodged out of the way of their attacks before once again coming face to face with the Goblin himself, his nemesis having returned to the picture. Peter's opponent fired multiple electrical blasts from his gloved fingers, one of them finally striking him in the back and stunning him enough to cause him to crash onto a nearby rooftop, the Goblin immediately making his way over to him.

"Ooh, what have we here!?" Peter's enemy said, clearly taking notice of the antidote detonator. He grabbed at it and tried to pry it from Peter's hands, but he held fast to it even as they both lifted off into the Manhattan night sky once more.

Struggling to even get his feet to a stable position on the glider, Peter wrestled with his enemy for the device, the glider's path growing erratic as they fought, only narrowly missing several buildings. Finally, Peter managed to at least get his feet on the glider's underside near the front. He then pulled hard, hoping gravity being on his side would finally be enough.

"Give it to me!" the Goblin shouted.

"How about you take this instead!" Peter fired back, freeing one hand and firing a small batch of webbing at his opponent's eyes. Though the Goblin would still hold on to the detonator with one hand, his sudden blindness and resulting struggles to get it off himself only caused the glider's flight path to grow even more chaotic as they began descending as well. Its side then struck the corner of a building, causing it to spin out of control and speed up their fall. Losing all sense of direction, Peter's spider sense was all that warned him of the glider's impending crash through a building. Pulling with one last burst of strength, he finally managed to yank the device free, pulling the Goblin off the glider as a result. He would land gracefully on his feet, while his opponent crashed hard to the ground.

Rising to his feet, Peter was greeted by another surprise: he'd happened to land almost right in front of Mary Jane, Deb and Hobie. He barely had time to acknowledge them however due to his opponent grumbling as he worked to get to his feet, prompting him to turn around, remaining in between his loved ones and his arch enemy.

"You... you just don't know when to give up, do you?" the Goblin muttered angrily as he finally rose to his feet. "Have you not already seen that this city belongs to me now? It's over!"

"Yeah," Peter replied, holding up the detonation device. "It is."

Almost as soon as he pressed the button, a clear gas filled the air around them. Soon, Manhattan's entire atmosphere was saturated with the stuff, and the Goblin was soon coughing as well, staggering back.

"Guys, is it working?" Peter asked over the com link. "Do you see anything that's indicating the antidote is working?"

There was silence over the channel for a moment before the voice Jonah Jameson came through:

"I'm seeing a few of his men surrendering to the police now."

The sound of a glider could then be heard overhead, though it sounded similarly erratic to what the Goblin's own had when it was spinning out of control. Sure enough, one of the men suddenly appeared, bailing off his glider and tumbling to the ground. As soon as he stood up, he eyed Peter, immediately throwing a punch his way. He stopped it easily, the same way he would a normal criminal's punch.

It had worked; others of his allies were calling in sightings of criminals surrendering or otherwise appearing normal as well. The criminal in the goblin mask seemed to know it too; even though Peter couldn't see his expression, his body language was enough to convey how stunned he was that the power he'd likely come to enjoy had been taken from him. The guy tried to make a break for it, before Peter fired a web that tied his legs together, causing him to crash against the pavement. The remnants of the antiserum vapor finally starting to dissipate, Peter turned to the group, eyeing Deb specifically.

"Nice job," he said.

"Thanks," she said, seemingly stunned but no less grateful by the success of the formula. He then made eye contact with Mary Jane, who silently mouthed three words:

"I love you."

Peter nodded; he would have taken his mask off so he could give her a proper reply, but right now, there was one last loose end that needed his attention. He turned, finding the Goblin down on one knee a distance away from them. He approached him slowly, his steps soft as he tried to be prepared for anything. As he drew near, he could see a stunned, wide-eyed expression in his enemy's mask. The Goblin then slowly looked up at him.

"Peter?"

It wasn't the high-pitched, harsh voice of the Green Goblin... it was the sturdier but concerned voice of Norman Osborn.

Squatting down, he addressed the man.

"It's okay," he said. "It's over. You're free."

"I'm free," the man said, his eyes still seeming far off. "I... Harry, where is Harry!?"

"He's okay," Peter assured him. "I cured him too; he still has a long way to go, but we're going to get him the help he needs. He's safe."

"I... oh my... the things I had done to him..."

Norman sank to the ground, crying out in anguish as Peter grabbed hold of him. The man then began sobbing in his mask, his heart clearly deeply regretful.

"It's okay," he said. "You and Harry are going to be okay. You're free now."

Peter's words appeared to do little to console the broken man, who only continued sobbing. After a moment though, something in his weeping began to change, as Norman's sounds became wheezier in nature, then steadier, and then... laughter.

Peter's spider sense went haywire almost as soon as he realized what was happening.

"FREE?!" the Goblin cried out. "HE WILL NEVER BE FREE!"

Peter's opponent then unleashed several subsequent blasts from his fingers once again, pushing him back. The Goblin then tapped a button on his gauntlet, and the glider came roaring back out of the building, but not towards its rider, heading straight for Peter and his allies instead.

"Look out!"

Peter turned and lunged for Mary Jane, but the ensuing blasts the glider dished out scattered the group and sent him slamming hard into the corner of a building. He clutched at his back, as if his touch would cure the sharp pain he felt.

"HAHAHAHA!"

The sound of the Goblin's laughter drew his attention, so Peter looked up... only to find the Goblin hovering over them all on his glider, with Mary Jane in his arms. If she was afraid, she wasn't showing it, resisting her captor, though her efforts were futile.

"Did you really think I'd be foolish enough to give them an EXACT copy of the source of my power!?" the Goblin shouted; though his intent appeared to be to mock, his rage was clear in his tone and his expression.

"Let her go!" Peter shouted, his back pain seemingly dissipating as he quickly stood to his feet.

"I'm afraid that's now how trades work, Spider-Man!" the Goblin taunted. "You just took away everything I ever had, so now, you'll get to see what that feels like. Catch me if you can!"

The Goblin then turned and rocketed off, and Peter didn't hesitate to fire a web in pursuit. Pulling hard, he fought with everything he had, every ounce of energy that remained in his body to catch up to them. No matter what happened, no matter what he had to do, he wasn't about to let his enemy take one more life from this world...

... especially not hers.

Hope you're still enjoying as we near the finish line!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"When Jesus spoke again, He said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" John 8:12