We had a second to sit up when a Pumpkin Bomb was thrown through the window landing right in front of us. Exploding, with no time to move. The blast knocked us both backwards, through a brick wall. Peter hit a metal beam and fell to the ground and I smashed through more glass, landing on another pile of bricks. The Goblin jumped off his glider and landed right in front of us.
"Misery, misery, misery. That's what you both have chosen." He said walking towards us as we both groaned trying to stand. "I offered you friendship, and you spat in my face." He punched Peter, who's mask was basically torn to shreds and I could see the cuts and bruises already formed.
"No." I groaned and stood up trying to throw a punch at the Goblin. He grabbed my shoulders and quickly kneed me in the gut. I groaned and tried to stand up straight, but he punched me in the jaw hard, send me down to the floor.
"Leave her alone..." Peter said weakly.
He tried to go after the Goblin and was sucker punched under the jaw, going up in the air and backwards. He came back down hard towards the ground and Peter screeched in pain. The Green Goblin was distracted by Peter as he punched him repeatedly. I stumbled walking over and grabbed a metal beam. I swung it over my head and around like a baseball bat, knocking him away from Spider-Man. I helped him stand and we backed away as the Goblin recovered. Peter spun a web like wall in front of us trapping the Goblin inside it.
He quickly ripped it down and Peter lunged forward at the same time as me. Peter was punched in the face and I punched the Goblin. He wrapped one of his legs around the back of mine, throwing me to the ground and he kneed me in the gut as we fell down with all of his body weight. I groaned in pain. Spider-Man tried to attack him again, but was kicked backwards into a brick wall and went falling to the floor. He tried to lift his hand and shoot a web, but The Goblin stepped on his wrist.
"You've spun you're last web, Spider-Man." He looked down at Peter on the ground. "Had you not been so selfish, your little girlfriend's death would have been quick and painless. But now, that you've really pissed me off. I'm gonna finish her. Nice and Slow." He breathed out each word slowly.
He walked over towards where I laid on the floor with a small sword like blade.
"Cate and I..." He pressed a button and the blade opened turning it into three separate ones attached to the same handle. "We're gonna have a hell of a time." He held the three pronged sword over my body and forced it down towards my chest.
"NO!" Peter screamed from the ground.
I was weak, but I reacted quickly. I grabbed the base of the blades so I wouldn't cut my hands and groaned pushing back with all the strength I had left. I screamed angrily and swung my foot around. I kicked his feet from behind and he fell backwards. I jumped up and stood on my feet. Peter, quickly walked over to me and kicked the Goblin backwards as he tried to stand making him go into the brick wall behind him. When the Goblin tried to stand again, he shot out webs at his feet and we both pulled backwards making him fall to the ground. Peter shot another couple of webs up at the top of the brick wall and pulled with my help. Making it collapse on top of him. The Goblin screamed as he watched the brick wall fall.
The bricks started moving and Peter grabbed my waist shooting out a web. We stood waiting for a moment and when The Goblin fully emerged, wobbly from the bricks. We jumped up and swung at him together with our feet out, screaming a war like cry. The force pushed him backwards into another set of old bricks that formed a broken wall and he fell to the ground. We jumped down in front of him and lifted the Goblin to his feet. We each took turns brutally punching him in the gut and the face.
The Goblin fell weakly away from the wall and put his hands up in surrender.
"Peter! Cate! Stop! It's me!" The Goblin's voice changed from less raspy and evil to more high pitched. We both looked at him with fists still pulled back. Wide eyed.
"Mr. Osborn?" I said as he removed his mask.
"Cate, Peter. Thank god for you." He whined at us.
"You killed those people on the balcony." Peter said astonished.
"You killed my father, and you threatened to hurt Harry. You're own son..." I said in disbelief. Though now it all made sense.
"The Goblin killed! I had nothing to do with it!" Norman said with a shake of his head. He had a terrified look on his face. "I would never hurt, Harry. You must know that! Don't let him take me again!" He begged. "I beg you. Protect me!"
"You tried to kill Aunt May, and you tried to kill Cate." Peter snarled angrily.
"But not you. I tried to stop it. I couldn't stop it. I would never hurt you." He pressed something discreetly on his glove. "I knew from the beginning, if anything ever happened to me, it was you that I could count on." Norman said trying to sound as sweet and sincere as possible.
"Don't listen to him, Peter." I said quietly.
"It was always you, Peter Parker. You would save me, and so you have. Cate, my dear you proved me wrong. You're a great match for my son. You helped save me too. Thank god for you." He stood to his feet. "Thank god for both of you. Give me your hands." He reached out towards us. But neither of us moved. We couldn't. We were both in shock and we didn't believe him. "Believe in me as I believed in you. I've been like a father to you." Peter grabbed my hand and intertwined our fingers. "Be a son to me now." He reached his stretched out hand towards Peter a little further.
"I have a father. His name was Ben Parker." Peter said strongly and we both glared at Norman.
"God speed Spider-Man and Spider-Woman." Norman's face quickly frowned as the Goblin voice returned.
A spider-sense happened realizing the Glider was right behind us and the sharp knifes protruded from the front of the glider. As it flew at us, we both jumped into the air tucking our legs towards our bodies, hands still intertwined. Flipping over it.
"Oh." Norman said as the Glider approached him and pierced through his stomach, pinning him against the brick wall.
Peter and I both landed on our feet and with wide eyes, witnessing the suffering of our best friends father. His body leaned forward, ready to give out after grunting in pain. Blood seeped from his mouth. His head tilted up and his eyes met ours.
"Peter, Cate. Don't tell Harry." He used his last breath to make a dying wish and he collapsed forward onto the glider.
Peter held me close to his side and I put my face into his chest.
He swung us around as we both supported Norman Osborn's weight. We thought it was only right to bring him home to Harry. He deserved to bury him. We snuck in through the window of the mansion and laid him down on his couch without his Goblin suit on. We bandaged his wound. Peter held an arm around my waist as we looked at him sadly. We both turned our heads sensing someone coming. Harry walked into the room and stared at us in disbelief.
"What have you done? What have you done?!" Harry shouted.
Peter grabbed me and we swung out the window, away from the Osborn household. When Harry looked up after grabbing a gun from a nearby drawer, we were already long gone.
Harry called me shortly after I arrived home. I felt so guilty, I couldn't help but answer the call. He needed me. We attended the funeral together and after the services were done, Harry wanted some air. He walked off and stood alone. I sighed and looked to the ground, until I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"How is he?" He asked quietly.
"Not good, Peter." I shook my head gently. "He hates us." I whispered even quieter.
He gave me a sad expression and gestured his head. We walked over towards Harry as he stood brooding, looking off into the distance. We approached him slowly.
"Hey." Peter said gaining his attention. "I'm so sorry, Harry. I know what it's like to lose a father."
"Me too." I said quietly.
"I didn't lose him." Harry said sadly with a soft tone. "He was stolen from me. One day Spider-Man and Spider-Woman will pay. I swear on my father's grave they'll pay." His face scowled and he looked up at us. "Thank god for you, Peter." He turned towards me and held out and arm. "Thank god for you, Cate." I obliged and walked over to him hugging his waist. His arm wrapped around me. "You two are the only family I have."
Harry hugged me tightly and then extended an arm to Peter. The three of us hugged one another. Harry took my hand in his.
"Are you coming back with me? I could really use your company." He asked softly with a pained look.
"I'll just help get things finished up here and I'll come over later, tonight. I promise." I said touching his cheek. He leaned into it and turned his face, kissing my palm.
Harry let go and walked away to his black car, getting inside. We watched him drive away. I turned back to Peter.
"Are you back together?" Peter asked me.
"No." I shook my head and shuffled my feet. "He wants to be. But, I told him right now, he needed me more as a friend than as a girlfriend. He was upset, but he's just so sad and angry about everything else... He got over it pretty quickly. Mostly, because he said he'd never stop fighting for me..." I said looking up into Peter's eyes, hoping he'd say the same. He only looked down to the ground sadly. "Peter, there's something I need to tell you..." I grasped his cheeks and made him look at me. "When I was up there and I thought I was gonna die there was only one person that I was thinking of. It was you, Pete. It's always been you."
"Really?" He said with a small smile and he leaned into my touch. I stepped closer to him and our bodies pressed together.
"There's only ever been one person who's ever given me the time of day my entire life. Treated me the right way, cared for me no matter how I looked, or what I'd been through. One person who's always been there for me. Someone who makes me feel like I can be more than I ever thought I was capable of... That I'm just me, no matter, which way only you see me. And that's okay. Because the truth is that I love you, Peter Parker..."
We both leaned forward and I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands pulled my waist as close to him as possible. Our lips touched and the fireworks that I loved feeling feeling with him were spouting off like cannon fire. We kissed and our lips moved in perfect sync together. When we separated I looked at Peter's face expecting to see a smile, or some kind of warm greeting. But it was a look of confliction. I could see it in his eyes.
"When I look into your eyes, and you're looking back into mine. Everything feel's not quite normal, because I feel stronger and weaker at the same time. I feel excited and at the same time terrified. You make me know, what kind of man I want to be. It's always been you. The truth is that I love you too, Cate..." Peter said finishing off his sentence with that sound like a but was coming. "But, we can't."
"We can't what?" I watched his face carefully, not moving myself from around his neck or my body away from his.
"Be together, like this." He gestured between us. "I need you to know that I will always be there for you. I will always be there to care for you to protect you and fight beside you. I promise you that. I will always be your best friend..."
"Peter..." I sighed.
"Cate, this showed me exactly what could happen if we get involved romantically. I can't risk putting you in harm's way like that, every time we fight a new villain that comes along. I won't do it." Peter said seriously.
I stepped away from him and looked at him in disbelief.
"Peter Parker, we weren't even romantically involved this time! What makes you think that's going to change how a villain see's us? No matter what label we put on it, we are still partner's, superhero's, We. Work. Together. There's always going to be a villain that going to target us. Finding out our identity's or not. Whether we are together or not. So in my eyes, why put a stop to something that could be everything?" I asked sincerely.
"I won't lose you, too. I've lost enough people on my own account." Peter sighed.
"Peter, Ben's death wasn't your fault..." I place my hands on his shoulders lightly. "That man could have chosen a hundred different people to shoot that day. Uncle Ben just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if you're going to keep blaming yourself then you better start blaming me too. Because I'm just as equally at fault. He drove both of us to the library, promised to pick us both up. We both let that man go. This isn't all on you. You can't hold onto this burden alone Peter so... Please, please. Stop blaming yourself." I begged.
"Okay." He sighed.
"Now are you going to fight for me or not?" I asked quietly stepping towards him. My arms wrapped around his neck again. "Do you feel the same thing I do? When we touch and when we kiss?"
"It's like sparks fly?" He said like a question and I chuckled with a nod.
"Yes. So? Are we a superhero power couple?" I asked playfully putting one hand on his cheek.
"Is this you asking me to be your boyfriend? Shouldn't I be asking you?" He said playfully back.
"Well, then hopefully you'll ask away." I said with a tilt of my head and a smile.
"Will you, Spider-Woman/Cate Barrett, be my girlfriend?" He asked quietly tucking hair behind my ear.
"I would be honored, Spider-Man/Peter Parker." I chuckled and we leaned in kissing each other. "I love you, Peter."
"I love you too, Cate."
Whatever life holds in store for us, we will never forget these words. With great power comes great responsibility. This is our gift, our curse. We are stronger together. Who are we? Spider-Woman and Spider-Man.