"Go get ready, ok? It's time to finish this."
The crowd cheered again as Peter swung off, Aura following behind, and I rushed into the crowd, attempting to blend in as much as I could.
If they - the EMT's - saw me here, and they were the same people who'd helped me any of the other times I'd been in an ambulance, they might start to get suspicious. And with everything going on, I couldn't handle anything more pressing than a supervillain kidnapping his own son, whom I was friends with and maybe dating?
We hadn't discussed labels yet.
I made it home in about fifteen minutes, and found Peter waiting in my room, window open and shades pushed aside. My hair, no longer in its 'messy' bun, practically fell out when I turned from climbing inside.
"Aura's outside we need to hurry, what happened?" several questions spilled out of Peter as I hastily pulled off my jacket.
I dug my Black Cat costume out from inside my laundry basket and tossed it onto my bed, adjusting the shades so no one could see in.
"I went over to Harry's because Aura called me and said he found out who the Goblin was." I explained, tugging my shirt over my head.
Peter turned away, opting to stare at the wall two inches from his face than me in a bra.
Had I more time I would've laughed, or poked a little fun at Peter, but I didn't, or more accurately, Harry didn't. "I went over and he was freaking out. He was worried he'd turn out like his father, so I comforted him, and calmed him down." I continued, sitting back on my bed to kick my pants off.
Stepping into the black bodysuit, I zipped up the front, tugging it all the way up to my collar bone, a.k.a, as far as it would go. Pulling on the black boots that seemed to meld with the rest of the costume, I did a quick stretch to make sure everything was nice and comfortable. Grabbing the gloves with claws out from under my bed, I regretted not having them the last few fights.
"Alright I'm changed." I said lightly, picking the mask up and fixing it to my face. "Anyways, we were making omelettes when Norman showed up. I went to get the door and he was there - tossed some kind of green smoke bomb into the room that messed with my senses." I pulled back the blinds and followed Peter out the window, jumping up from fire escape to fire escape until I crouched on the roof.
As soon as I was standing, Peter engulfed me in a hug which I relaxed into until Aura coughed loudly.
"Harry's place, now! Let's go!!" she said anxiously, and the three of us swung off.
"Aura, are you alright? We need to go into this fight with clear minds." I said, and she shook her head, the blonde bun on her head swaying aggressively.
"He's my best friend. I can't lose him." she said, and I nodded.
"We won't let that happen." Peter assured her, and Aura nodded, taking several calming breaths before she nodded again, seeming more calm this time.
Since neither Peter nor I had been to Harry's penthouse apartment, Aura led the way.
Although the apartment was mostly windows, and took up the top two floors of the building, we couldn't see inside, some kind of fancy rich person tint on the windows. Opting not to smash through the glass to get in, and risk sending showers of glass shards down onto the many bystanders below, we decided on a more tactical approach: entering through the lobby.
Apparently word had spread about what had happened, as there was a crowd waiting for us when we arrived. A cheer rose, and that definitely seemed to help lift Aura's spirits as we pushed open the glass doors and walked inside.
"How did they know where to go?" Peter wondered as we stepped into one of the elevators.
"Your guess is as good as mine - top floor." Aura said, leaning over to push the button.
The elevator stopped a little below two floors down at Aura's behest, and we climbed out the top to stand next to the cable. Peter and Aura scaled the walls on either side, leaving me to climb the cables to catch up.
"Peter, Gwen, can you pry open the doors so I can get through? I can press the elevator button and try to stall while you get there." Aura proposed, and though Peter and I both felt sceptical of her plan, we agreed.
Prying open the doors took a lot of arm strength, and left my arms burning, even more so after the climb.
Making the second perilous leap back to the cables - the first had resulted in a bruise-to-be on my upper arm and a near fall - I adjusted my grip on the cable and slid back down to the top of the elevator.
For a moment after my feet touched the top of the elevator, I continued to stare solemnly up at the doors leading to Harry's apartment.
Keep it calm; you need to be in a clear state of mind.
Peter landed lightly next to me, placing a momentarily comforting hand on my shoulder, "We need to get back in the elevator." he said, and I nodded. Taking a few steps forward and dropping easily into the elevator, I stood lithely and gracefully, as my clone reflected in the metal wall copied everything I didq.
Peter dropped in with the same amount of grace, though his landing was more practised than mine.
I was always surprised by how gracefulI could be, and today didn't change that. I stared for just a moment, and then kicked my leg up onto the rail to do some stretches. Peter did the same, not the same stretch, but he clearly had the same idea as I did, twisting back and forth at the waist, arms held away from his torso.
With one heel still up on the handrail I leaned back as far as I could so I was balanced at a 180° angle, fingers brushing the emergency stop button. Stretching out I could just barely push the button to turn off the emergency stop.
Standing up, I took my leg down from the handrail and rolled my shoulders.
"Show off," Peter laughed, and I gave him a large fake smile - backed by real mirth of course - and struck a pose.
That did well to lighten the mood, at least until the elevator started moving with a sudden lurch.
We sobered up instantly, laughter dying in our throats as we turned to stare at the soon to open doors. We arrived at Harry's flat with a melodic ding, and the doors slid open smoothly. Noise flooded into the eleavtor, of Aura yelling, Norman too, pumpkin bombs exploding, and the occasional shattering of an object; glass or other breakable substances.
Racing into the apartment Peter and I found Aura fighting in the mess that was the Osborn apartment. She was swinging from windowed wall to windowed wall, webbing pumpkin bombs and sending them back Norman's way.
"Norman, Harry's your son, don't do this to him!!"
"To him? I'm doing this-"
"For him? yeah right. Less talky talky more fighty fighty!" I interjected, drawing Norman's attention.
"Nice of you to finally join us, Black Cat, Spider Man." the Goblin mocked, and I grimaced.
"Peter, find Harry, Aura and I have this in the bag." I nodded, and Peter ran off. The Goblin growled, and threw a pumpkin bomb in Peter's direction. Lunging for it, I swatted it out of the way, and it blew up a nice looking sofa.
Running toward the railing I jumped up, and propelled myself into the air, tackling the Goblin off his glider. He only stopped when he hit the window, and barely missed a kick from Aura by rolling to the side. The window cracked where her foot hit, but we paid it no mind.
The Goblin moved for his glider but Aura webbed his ankle and I kicked him in the back. Working together, we managed to chase him in circles, keeping him away from the Glider as long as we could. A well thrown pumpkin bomb however ended that, and the Glider floated over to him as Aura and I recovered.
We'd only been fighting for around five minutes, but Aura and I were already growing weary, and then we heard Peter's yell: "I found him!"
Aura and I turned to the other room, and then to the Goblin, standing on his glider, knees slightly bent floating just above our heads. Aura thrust her arm out and webbed the glider, pulling her arm back toward her, throwing the Goblin off balance.
"Gwen, the window!" Aura hollered, and I ran to the window, slamming my fist into the cracked spot Aura had created. More cracks spider webbed up from that point until they touched the edges of the glass. Using the web as leverage, Aura put her entire body weight and strength into swinging the glider at the window, and it shattered.
The glider, now spewing smoke, spiralled down about five floors before the Goblin regained control.
"Shit, Aura! The glass!" I yelled, and Aura understood, catapulting herself out the window, anchoring webs to the window frames and her suit as she dove thirty floors to get to the glass before it killed someone. Harry ran out of the depths of his apartment, closely followed by a still masked Peter.
"Harry!" I yelled, and we slammed into each other, meeting in the centre of his living room. "We can have a proper reunion later, but for now we need to stop your father." I said, and Harry nodded, clutching my arms as I held his shoulders.
"You have to stay here, Harry please." I said, and after a moment of consideration and struggling, he nodded.
"Fine... just, please... be careful." he pleaded, and I pulled him in for a quick and awkward peck on the lips.
"When am I not careful?" I teased, and saluted Harry before I turned and jumped out the window.
Careful. Right.
Peter jumped out the window soon after, bidding Harry farewell. Aura caught up with us right away, joining us in our pursuit of the Goblin, who seemed to be leading us to the docks.
"Any idea what this means?" Aura shouted, flipping through the air like a gymnast.
"Maybe he's set something up?" Peter put in, and an idea occurred to me.
"Wait! Wait, guys stop!"
Landing on the roof of a nearby building the three of us watched our Green clad foe vanish into the shattered glass roof of a dilapidated building.
"Let me go in first." I declared, and turned to face Aura and Peter.
Both took a protesting step forward but I held up my hand.
"Stop. I know what you're going to say. My bad luck can give me the most protection against any traps." I reasoned, and the both of them seemed to realise protesting was futile.
"Fine, but if you don't send some kind of signal within the first few minutes we're coming in." Aura argued, and Peter nodded.
"Sounds fair." I agreed, and swung off into the building. I landed with one leg stretched out to the side, and one tucked under, using my palm to balance myself while the other was flung out dramatically behind me in a classic superhero landing pose.
I laughed at myself, looking around for any visible traps. Taking a step forward, I felt something - taught fishing line perhaps - snap under my foot and two bombs dropped down in front of me. Two swift kicks sent them flying into the darkness around me and they exploded into green gass, drifting out with the wind. Another bomb dropped down under my next step, and this one I flung high into the air above me as my signal to Aura and Peter. Crouching down, I moved around, trying to see the trip wires from any angle I could. I finally found a good angle in which the light from street lamps, the moon and stars reflected perfectly on the fishing lines used to rig the place.
The entire floor was covered with fishing line, or in other words, the floor was rigged to blow.
Carefully, ever so carefully, I shifted, reaching for my belt.
I swung one of my cords out and pulled the sharp end through the wires, watching them all snap at once, sending a cacophony of bombs of all uses into the room around me. I kicked as many away as I could before sprinting to the back wall and waiting. The slow, steady beeping of the pumpkin bombs laster a moment longer before they all exploded, launching gas and cement rubble into the sky above. It came down in a rain landing everywhere except where I was sitting. A quick glance up showed that I was sitting under the only spot of solid roof left.
I stood up, and brushed the dust off my outfit, and not moments later Aura and Peter landed next to me.
"Norman! We know you're in here!" Aura yelled, and her words bounced back at us.
Then, out of the darkness, "Norman isn't here right now..."
"Can you put him on the phone?" I asked, and the signature Green Goblin laugh we'd come to know - and hate - echoed through the empty building.
"Unfortunately, no." he said, and then several pumpkin bombs flew toward us, bouncing across the floor and latching onto the cement.
Leaping away from the bombs we, watched as they continued beeping, sitting tamely on the floor.
"Nice try-!" Aura began, before one by one, the bombs went off, sending cracks through the floor below us.
"It's a trap! Weaver! Cat! Go!" Peter yelled but the floor was already crumbling, and before we could do anything, we were falling.
I tried in vain to grab onto something as we fell past each of the seven floors to land painfully in a heap of rubble on the bottom floor.
I rolled to the side, avoiding the last few pieces of rubble that followed us down. Standing up, I helped Peter and Aura to their feet, glancing around the lowest floor for any sign of traps. We were all covered in a thin layer of dust, and Aura's bun had come undone.
"Gimme a sec to redo this." Aura said, and something pricked at my ears. I could hear something. Far off but growing closer.
"Wait, wait guys, quiet for a sec please." I said, not unkindly, and Aura nodded, redoing her hair in silence.
When I finally picked up the noise again, I recognised it right away. Beeping. The beeping of pumpkin bombs.
"I can hear pumpkin bombs beeping." I said, and Peter turned to look at me. "Where?"
"That's the problem, I don't know." I said, and we began to peer into the darkness on the floor around us.
"Uh, guys." Aura said, staring up at the many floors above us. "I found the beeping."
Peter and I walked over to stand at the very edge of the rubble pile where Aura was, craning our necks to look up.
"It's a trap." Peter croaked. On every floor above us, tiny pinpricks of red light showed pumpkin bombs on each and every floor above us.
"There has to be thousands of them..." I said, feeling my blood run cold. "He's gonna bury us." I said hoarsely.
"Norman! Come down here and fight us, you coward!" Aura yelled, and after a terrifying moment of silence in which I was sure things were going to start exploding, before, from the darkness above, the Green Goblin dropped down.
Jumping off his glider, Norman lunged at Aura, sending the glider flying at Peter and I.
We dove out of the way as the glider chased us around, sharp points gleaming eerily in the little light there was.
"We have to help Aura!" I yelled, and dropped down twisting around as the glider passed over my head. Grabbing onto the glider, I awkwardly pulled myself up onto it, using arm strength to steer it where I wanted it to go.
"Peter! Web the engines!" I hollered, as Norman manoeuvred the glider as wildly as possible while still fighting Aura.
Digging my fingers under one of the looser pieces of metal, I managed to pry it loose exposing the wiring. Pulling as much as I could lose, the glider started to spin out of control, and I jumped off, landing next to Peter.
He webbed the glider and spun it in circles before smashing it into the wall.
"We need to help Aura!" Peter yelled, and I nodded, running across the room to help her.
Even without his glider Norman Oborn in the Green Goblin mindset was dangerous. As we neared, we noticed something new about the green goblin getup, three long knives protruded from each wrist.
"We need to get those knives off him!" I shouted, and the Goblin laughed.
"Have fun trying!" he cackled.
"The detonator is more important!" Aura yelled, "Spidey get the knives," with a grunt, she took a kick to the gut. "Cat and I'll get the detonator!"
"Good luck, Black Cat!" he said mockingly, swinging his left arm at me. I ducked under them, popping up and punching him in the side of the mask, turning his head.
Peter webbed the goblin's hand and knives, pulling to try and separate the two, while Aura held off his other hand, and I moved in to get his bag. Cutting the strap easily, I rummaged through the pumpkin bombs, looking for the remote detonator.
I heard Aura's webs snap and looked up to see the Goblin slice a deep gash into Aura's arm, cutting the web holding his other hand. A swift kick to Peter's ribs sent him tumbling backwards.
"Weaver?" I yelled, hurling the bag into the Goblin's face. Rushing in to kick him in the gut, I swatted his arm away. His other arm came around, attempting to punch holes in my gut. I dodged to the side and kicked him in the gut.
"'M fine," she grunted, holding her arm.
Peter ran back over, sliding under my arm and popping back up delivering the Goblin a punch to the face. Swatting his arm away I punched the elbow joint, and then snapped off one of the three knives with my palm.
"Detonator isn't on him! It has to be on one of the other floors!" I shouted. "Weaver, check the glider! Spidey, you've got the webs, I've got this guy," I paused to duck a swipe from the Goblin, before singing; "let's make lots of money!"
Aura cackled, rummaging through the wreckage of the glider.
Bringing my shoulder down I rammed into the Goblin's gut, knocking him off balance and then grabbing his right arm and snapping off the other two blades.
"Not on this one!" Peter hollered, and the Goblin grinned under his mask.
Growing nervous, I slapped one arm away only to feel the slice of cold metal along my right side. Hissing, I punched his other arm away, bringing both my hands up to his head and slamming it down into my knee, shattering his mask. Staggering back, he sneered, and looked up at the opening in the floor above him.
"Not this one!" Peter yelled, making quick work of the second floor, and the Goblin's smile grew wild.
"Shit.... Weaver, is the detonator on the glider?!" I hollered, and to my dismay, Norman reached his hand behind his back, looking more crazed than ever.
"No," he said lightly. "It isn't. It's right here." bringing his hand out in front of him, the Goblin grinned madly, as if before had just been a suspicious looking smile. From across the room, Aura shot a web, and just barely missed the detonator, instead using the web to pull the wall Norman was next to down. Sneering, he jumped back, and I followed him, tackling him to the hard cement. We rolled two feet, and the detonator flew from Norman's grasp, rolling across the room.
"Weaver! Get it!" I yelled, scrambling to my feet.
"On it!" Aura hollered, and I put myself between her and the Goblin.
The Goblin lunged for the detonator behind me, and I grabbed his arm, spinning him in a circle. All I had to do was keep him away from Aura while she got the detonator, and then we could put Norman somewhere he could get the help he needed.
When he tried again, I punched him. He threw his own punch, and I blocked it, swinging my leg up to kick him in the head. He stumbled, and then swung again. I blocked his next punch, and the next, and the next. I swung my fist up into his chin and shoved him back, dancing him in circles, keeping him away from Aura.
"Got the detonator!" Aura cheered, and made a mad dash for the other side of the building, heading for the opening in the floor.
"Spidey! Get the Weaver out of here-!" I yelled, and Peter dropped down.
"No way! We stand a better chance fighting him together!" he argued, and ran over, webbing the ceiling and kicking Norman in the face. Behind us both, Aura shot a web up into the darkness, attaching the detonator to the other end and letting it fly up to one of the other floors.
Pressing a button on his suit, Norman grinned, and in the far corner, the glider sputtered to life, flying fast and low across the room. Norman crouched as if to jump, but when the glider got close enough, he ducked down instead, letting the glider pick up speed and slam full force into me, sending me flying across the room. With a crunch, I slammed into the wall, and I felt my shoulder pop out of place. I let out a pained, strangled yell and my head went fuzzy from the pain. Getting to my feet, I ran back into the fight. I was instantly rewarded with two punches, one to the ribs, and one to the face. I returned the favour, no matter how painful it was to use my left arm, blocking the next few punches with gritted teeth.
It stayed like that for a few minutes, Peter, Aura and I trading blows with the Goblin - who was holding his own very well - before things took a turn. All the Goblin did was land a punch to Aura's injured arm, and kick Peter off balance. Then that was it. He was flying across the room, hellbent on getting to the detonator before any of us.
"I'll take care of him, you two get to the detonator, should be near the top!" Aura said, and I sprinted after the Goblin.
"Goooooin' up!" Peter yelled, swinging me toward the Goblin, and I used his glider to push off, grabbing onto the edge of the fourth floor and pulling myself up.
He and Peter soared past, webs flying back down as Peter tried to deter the Goblin - with Aura's help.
The clusters of blinking red lights on each level were pumpkin bombs, so I looked for anything out of the ordinary. I peered around each pillar, searching the floor for any sign of the detonator. Over by the opening, I saw Peter drop past, landing on a lower level to check things out. Soon after, the Goblin shot past, and then Aura in a blaze of webs and smarmy quips.
"Clear!" I hollered, and then ran over to the opening, going up two levels - Peter had checked it before heading down again. Standing up on the second floor to the top, I turned and peered down into the darkness below where I could hear Aura and the Goblin fighting. Looking up, I froze. There, on the opposite edge of the floor above, was the detonator, balanced precariously.
Turning, I backed up a few feet to get a running start. Launching myself across the hole in the floor, I grabbed onto the edge of the crevasse, and one hand closed around the detonator. Pulling myself up, I wound the piece of web still attached to the detonator around it and closed the top. I attached the detonator to my belt and grabbed a pumpkin bomb from one of the clusters.
Waving it over the edge, I shouted "I found it!!"
Below, three pairs of eyes found me, and three figures shot out of the darkness. The first one to reach me was Peter, landing next to me as I handed him the detonator.
Then it was the Goblin, glider trailing smoke - Aura not far behind.
As he passed, he grabbed the detonator from Peter's hands, and time slowed.
Peter, Aura and I reacted in the same second. Peter, Aura and I raised our hands, all reaching for the detonator as the Goblin pressed the button. The resulting explosion sent the three of us flying back. My back hit a pillar and I groaned, all the air leaving my lungs.
The blast from the bomb sent Norman flying too, Glider spiralling back down to one of the lower levels.
Getting wearily to our feet, we slowly made our way to the enclosed roof, to see Norman standing there, sans mask, swaying on his feet.
Moving to surround him, Peter Aura and I got ready to fight if we had to.
"Aura..." was he Norman again? "It- it's me, Norman..." he said weakly, holding his hands up. "Where's my son? What happened?" he asked, and the three of us relaxed a little.
"Mr Osborn, is that really you?" Aura asked, sceptically, and he frowned.
"Why wouldn't it be?"
His eyes focused on something behind us, and I turned.
"Weaver!" I yelled, and Peter tackled Aura out of the way. Lunging forward, I shoved Norman down, and the glider sailed overhead, smashing into the wall and destroying itself in the process.
Rolling off Norman, I punched him, hard enough to knock him out, and then relaxed back onto the cold hard cement. Aura dropped down next to me,
"It's done..." Aura said wearily.
"It's finally done."
000
"Breaking News. Tonight, after the Green Goblin publicly challenged New York's Friendly Neighbourhood Superheroes Spider-Man, the Black Cat, and the Weaver to a fight, he was found 'webbed up' in a warehouse by the wharf. The clear winners of this fight: the good guys. The Green Goblin was found out to be Norman Osborn, which makes this story even more interesting - the person he kidnapped: his own son. Harry Osborn could not be reached for comment about his fathers impending imprisonment in a mental hospital, where hopefully, Mr Osborn can be cured."