One Month Later
July 23rd, 2002
Christina stepped out of the back right door of the limousine that had picked her up from her house, staring around herself with an amazed expression in her blue eyes. She adjusted her long black formal dress as she cleared her throat, glancing at Harry with a small smile. "Impressive," she mumbled semi-proudly before a smirk grew on her lips. "Now, where's all this money you have and where can I steal it?"
Harry jokingly rolled his eyes as a chuckle left him, shaking his head lightly. "You wish," he replied playfully. "Besides, what would you need all that money for, anyway?"
"Uh, hello?" Christina said as she looked at her best friend with wide eyes. "My apartment, bills, gas for my car, all that shit. How about that?"
"But you have a scholarship!" Harry exclaimed as he dramatically threw his hands into the air. "You got it right before graduation!"
"Barely," Christina pointed out with a smile, sighing softly. "And you're lucky I got it as well, or I would be robbing you for all that cash you have!"
"Very funny," Harry mumbled sarcastically as he turned towards where he had just gotten out of the car, all while Christina just laughed at him.
"Eh, it was pretty funny," she murmured to herself teasingly as she placed her hands on her hips.
The blonde then turned back around to stare at where she was: Times Square, and it was more beautiful than ever before; she figured it had something to do with all of the festival balloons and decorations hanging from some of the surrounding buildings. She noticed that there were already a few hundred people gathering around the stage for the event that they were all attending. Luckily for herself, Christina wouldn't have to be smothered by lots and lots of people because she was going to the tenth floor balcony of a very antique building nearly right in the middle of the popular city gathering.
The World Unity Festival; it was the third annual of its kind that Oscorp Industries was running, according to Harry, but he didn't know anything else about it. To Christina, it felt more like the annual New Year's celebrations that Times Square would hold all the time. She never personally went to them, since she much preferred staying home and watching it on the television in hers and Margaret's living room. So seeing the heart of the city up close was a rarity for the blonde nowadays.
"I swear, you two argue 24/7," a female voice mumbled from behind Christina, and the young woman chuckled as she turned to face the source of the voice.
Mary Jane was standing next to Harry as she adjusted her red dress with colorful floral printing scattered over the sleek material of the gown, along with a brighter crimson shawl to go around her arms where the elbows were and faded pink heels. Her short auburn hair was held up by a big enough hair clip to gather it all, and she had the slightest hint of makeup on, such as mascara and clear lip gloss to enhance her facial features.
Meanwhile, even though she probably regretted trying too hard, Christina had gone all out when it came to dressing up for the festival. Clad in a formal black dress with lace all down her sleeves and around the collarbone area — with the skirt fluffed out, which made it easier to walk — and her hair in elegant curls, the blonde grinned in the redhead's direction with a knowing glance.
"Oh, you know Harry Potter over here loves it when we bicker," Christina mumbled jokingly as she smirked, not ignoring the way her best friend rolled his eyes at the playful insult. "Don't you, Harry?"
"Once again, I don't attend Hogwarts, smartass," Harry replied in a mock annoyed tone, sneering at the shorter woman.
"Sure, but you don't need to look far," Christina retorted easily with a grin. "All you need is goofy glasses, a wand, and you need to change your last name to Potter. Then I can send you a Hogwarts letter!"
"Okay, that's enough, you two!" Mary Jane interrupted with a hearty giggle, placing a hand on Harry's arm to halt their argument before slipping her hand into his. "Don't we have somewhere to be?"
Christina's expression transformed into a mildly apologetic one as she nodded her head. "Yeah, sorry, M.J," she mumbled with a sheepish laugh, and she then glanced at Harry. "Lead the way, Mr. Osborn..."
Harry glared at her with slight irritation in his eyes before a smile formed on his face. "Don't call me that, Chris," he said with an annoyed tone.
"Yes, sir," Christina replied with emphasis on both words to ensure that she understood the words he said, although she was just joking.
After walking inside the, admittedly, great-looking building and being in awe of the fancy chandeliers that Christina could only dream of owning, the trio of friends gathered inside one of the elevators and Harry pressed the button for the tenth floor. Harry then broke out into a slight lecture about how Oscorp had come up with the idea of the World Unity Festival three years prior to today and how they often used the money given to them for fundraisers or to make a new product for their company.
This information dump had ended with Mary Jane cutting in and mumbling to herself, "This has been the Oscorp Industries course with professor Harry Osborn, ladies and gentlemen." This got a laugh out of all three of them when she finished saying this.
Over an hour later, they were gathered at the balcony railing and were surrounded by official employees of Norman Osborn's business, and Christina was feeling ever so slightly self-conscious of how she looked in front of the people of high authority. In her mind, she was still a teenager, technically; it didn't matter that she would be twenty in six months, she was still a kid to all of the professional adults that surrounded her and her friends. She only had the privilege of being up here to begin with because she was Harry's best friend and, while she was delighted to have that honor, she only wanted it to be temporary. Despite her overconfidence, Christina wasn't really a fan of having all eyes being on her at all times; well, unless it was over something that really mattered to her.
And, well, this didn't really matter to her, did it? Being here with two of her friends and getting time with them before college was the only important thing to her today.
By this time, there were at least fifteen hundred to two thousand people gathered just a hundred feet below the balcony Christina was standing on. They all surrounded the blue barriers that the police had put up in front of the grand singing stage, where a bunch of artists from different genres of music would be performing live for all of the citizens. The blonde had already seen Avril Lavigne and Britney Spears on stage to sing a song or two before they both went their own ways away from the crowd.
For at least a minute or two, all Christina could hear was the chattering of so many different people, and she kind of zoned out briefly. She stared at the hundreds of decorations strewn onto the walls of the tall buildings they were provided for, becoming mesmerized by how beautiful Times Square looked. It was like a dream she was stuck in, but she didn't want to get out; at least, for a little while.
"For those that have just arrived..." a male voice cut in on a loud microphone from the stage, drawing the blonde's attention over to the sound. "...welcome to Oscorp Industries Unity Day Festival! Let's hear it for Macy Gray!"
Just then, about a hundred cheers broke out throughout the crowd, bringing a small smile to Christina's face as Macy Gray walked up onto the stage and began singing; My Nutmeg Phantasy, she believed the song was called. She wasn't sure, since she wasn't the biggest fan of her songs. Regardless, she softly bobbed her head to the music in order to give herself something to do.
She could faintly hear a few of the conversations that the Oscorp employees were having with one another, but she only had to assume that it was all about their business... something she, frankly, wasn't interested in at all.
But one conversation made her tilt her head in that specific direction.
"M.J..." Harry mumbled, looking down at the red dress that Mary Jane was wearing. "Why didn't you wear the black dress?"
Mary Jane simply blinked at this question, not really knowing the best way to respond to her boyfriend. It felt weird thinking that in her mind. She never thought that she would refer to Harry Osborn as someone she was in a romantic relationship with, but one thing had led to another, and she had now been with him for almost two months. She couldn't deny that he was a rather nice person despite the Osborn name being attached to him; she really expected him to be kind of a prick, based on the simple fact that he and his father were rich.
But, after taking some time to really get to know him and risking one look at his and Christina's friendship, she saw that Harry was actually a down to earth and kind young man, which she appreciated. It was a hell of a lot better than being with Flash in high school, that was for sure.
At the moment, however, the redhead was ever so slightly dumbfounded at Harry's question. She even opened her mouth to answer, but not a single word left her lips.
Harry, quickly catching onto the fact that he could have accidentally offended his girlfriend, immediately covered for what he said. "Just, I wanted to impress my father," he mumbled sheepishly as he looked at the redhead. "He loves black."
"Well, maybe he'll be impressed no matter what," Mary Jane pointed out and, based on a glance at Christina's expression, she knew that she was making logical sense. Her eyes then locked with Harry's again as she smiled softly. "You think I'm pretty," she added in a simple tone.
"I think you're beautiful," Harry smoothly corrected her, smiling widely at her.
Meanwhile, Christina was inwardly cringing at the couple's antics, especially when Harry attempted to kiss Mary Jane on the lips; she tried to hide an amused chuckle when the redhead turned away from her boyfriend at the last second and Harry ended up kissing her on the cheek instead.
Fuck, that looks awkward, the blonde thought to herself.
"What about me, Harry?" she butted in with a soft giggle. "Am I not just beautiful?!"
Harry turned around to glance at his best friend, secretly rolling his eyes at Christina's teasing as he smirked at her. "Sure, Chris!" he replied dramatically. "You're obviously the most beautiful woman in existence... second only to M.J."
Christina sucked air through her gritted teeth as she chuckled at the joking remark, playfully putting a hand on her heart. "That hurts, Harry Potter," she replied sarcastically as she grinned at him. But she knew that what he had said was true; to her, at least. She had always found Mary Jane to be way prettier than she herself was... it may have been the reason why she had a temporary crush on the redhead when she was in elementary school.
A brief moment of silence passed between the three of them, in which Christina glanced back out into the crowd again, able to see several groups of families gently dancing to the music and having a great time. She then peered up at the sky and saw the several clouds hanging in the abyss of blue, which kind of worried her because she feared that it would rain, despite the forecast saying this morning that it would be partly sunny and that there would be no rain.
Briefly hearing Harry asking Mary Jane if she would go inside with him for a second because he forgot his drink, Christina flicked her eyes in their direction out of slight confusion. After all, Harry hadn't even grabbed a drink before they went out onto the balcony in the first place, so why did it look like he was hurrying to get inside?
"Would you care to join us, Chris?" Mary Jane politely asked her friend with a soft smile on her face.
A moment passed in which the blonde slightly hesitated to answer that question, but she eventually shook her head. "No, thanks, M.J," she replied gently, smiling back at her. "I think I'll just hang out here, enjoy the view."
About five seconds after Christina had said this, a sudden instinct in her heart told her to turn her head around, and she trusted her gut. Swerving her head around at the random noise she focused on out of the several she could hear, she caught a peculiar sight in the sky.
Cutting across the sky behind one of the taller buildings of Times Square, Christina was able to see a funny looking object that looked like it was flying into the area of the city with a grand entrance of some sort. For some reason, the blonde was reminded of an airplane in the daytime sky, with the way smoke billowed behind whatever the figure was flying around on. At first, it seemed very far away to the point that it was practically unrecognizable to her or to anyone else that could have possibly seen it. But, after just under ten seconds, she swore that the figure was starting to get closer to where all of the citizens were.
What on God's green earth is that thing? she asked herself, even though she knew that she wouldn't have a proper answer for that.
Once the figure was close enough to see easier, Christina pointed out the sickly bright green color the person wore and what looked to be an automatic electric version of a hang glider that people always flew around with in the sky whenever they took trips to God knows where. She couldn't quite get a good look at the person's face, since it seemed to be obscured with some sort of mask that reminded her of Frankenstein's monster.
"That's our glider!" one of the Oscorp employees -- Henry Balkan, Christina remembered his name being -- shouted, and she briefly saw him lowering binoculars that someone had given him to see whatever this thing was better.
She would never forget the look of pure panic in his aged eyes.
The figure on whatever this 'glider' was flew right past the balcony and Christina, for just a split second, about had a heart attack when she noticed the yellow eyes of whatever the fuck kind of mask that was directly lock with hers.
"What the hell was that?" she could hear Harry mumbling from behind her, and she instinctively went closer to him and Mary Jane, still feeling uneasy about the way the eyes of that mask had stared at her for two to three full seconds. She couldn't look anywhere else but wherever this person on the glider was headed, which was around one of the buildings. But she never knew. Maybe the person was just flying around to show off his impeccable skills, or it could have been for the festival itself and he was just performing for the live audience, including Christina and her friends.
But something deep down told her to keep her guard up.
And she would end up thanking her instincts.
After the person on the glider circled around the building, a sound went off that slightly shook the balcony that Christina was standing on. From a distance away, it faintly sounded like a shotgun blast going off to signal a race of sorts beginning somewhere. But, to the blonde, it sounded like a loud crash of thunder in a terrifying storm.
She then vaguely heard a gasp coming from her left and she glanced at Mary Jane, who was now staring in the direction of this mysterious figure, and she could see that the redhead's eyes were wide and that she was visibly shaken by what she was seeing. This made Christina slowly turn her head back in the opposite direction and —
Wait, was the glider headed right back towards them...? And was it flying faster than before?!
The blonde almost immediately began to step away from the balcony railing, and she tentatively placed a hand on Mary Jane's arm. "I think we should go back inside," she murmured to the couple next to her.
It seemed as though Harry and Mary Jane were already listening to their friend, since they also began to take a few steps back as the figure on the glider kept coming closer... and closer... and closer.
But they weren't fast enough.
Not even aware that Macy Gray had stopped singing her song and that all of the citizens below her had also directed their attention to who would later become known as the Green Goblin, Christina felt her heart sink to the neverending pit of her stomach as the figure began speeding up on the glider and he was headed straight for her and the almost four dozen people surrounding her.
Just as she grabbed both Mary Jane's and Harry's arms to frantically pull them back into the, presumably, safety of the building's interior, she heard something else over the sound of the glider's engine.
The person attached to the glider began... laughing. Much to the blonde's puzzlement, the figure was cackling hysterically, and she was eerily reminded of Tim Curry whenever he portrayed Pennywise the Dancing Clown in the It miniseries from the nineties. For a straight five seconds, this person was literally howling with laughter but, unfortunately, Christina didn't miss the object that he had thrown in their direction. She tried to open her mouth to warn the other people around her, but nothing was able to escape.
Christina didn't know where the object landed, but that hardly mattered after she was wondering.
In less than a minute, the entirety of Times Square was under pandemonium and had become complete chaos.
It all started when the floor right below the balcony was completely destroyed in a massive explosion, and Christina was surprised that she and the other people didn't die from the impact alone. Instead, the ground beneath her violently started shaking and a piece of debris rebounded from the bomb that had been thrown towards them, cutting the blonde across her left cheek, making her cry out.
"Fuck!" she shouted in slight agony, clutching where she had been cut just as she heard Mary Jane scream at the top of her lungs out of complete fear.
The first explosion was soon followed by two more, rocking the balcony even further and sending Christina to the floor as she fell. She grunted with the pain it brought to her slightly scraped arms, but she instinctively covered her head to prevent any large chunk of rubble from hitting her and potentially damaging her skull. She couldn't even scream from the utter terror she felt in her body since she more so felt paralyzed and unable to move from the shock, and she had never been so terrified in her nineteen years of living in that one moment.
Almost everyone else around her was yelling regardless of this. She could feel the presence of several people jumping over her body to retreat into the building where it was potentially safe, and she just prayed to the Lord above (despite not being that religious) that she wouldn't get trampled to death.
After a full five minutes of absolute mayhem surrounding Christina, she finally dared to look up once she was sure that the explosions had died down. Despite being able to smell smoke filling the air and being covered head to toe in soot and dust, she gingerly scrambled to her feet, feeling slightly wobbly from how disoriented she felt. Her vision was slightly blurry and her ears were just starting to get over the after effects of the explosions since they had been painfully ringing for several minutes.
"HARRY!" she screamed, hoping that he was nearby and completely safe. "MARY JANE!"
"We're over here, Chris!" Harry shouted in response before coming into her line of vision and helping her stabilize herself. "Are you alright?!"
Christina weakly nodded her head before brushing a strand of her tangled blonde hair out of her face. "Yeah," she responded in a hoarse voice before clearing her throat. She then glanced over at Mary Jane, who appeared to be in a state of despair and there were a few tears streaming down her face.
"Hey, hey, hey..." the blonde mumbled before going over to the redhead, putting her hands on her shoulders to comfort her. "Look at me, M.J. Okay? We need to get out of here, do you understand?"
"All those people..." Mary Jane whimpered in distress, referring to the people who had perished in the explosions on the floor below them.
"I know, I know," Christina murmured soothingly, pulling Mary Jane into a hug. "I know, it's horrible, but we need to focus on —"
Before she could even finish, Mary Jane let out a hysterical scream of surprise when the balcony began to break apart, throwing all three of them off balance and onto the ground. While Christina and Harry landed in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Mary Jane spiraled in the opposite direction and her back hit the balcony's railing. Just her fucking luck, the chunk of balcony she landed on began splitting away from where her friends were, making her scream more and more for help.
Much to Christina's outrage, not a single person that remained with them even attempted to help her best friend.
"OH, MY GOD!" Mary Jane cried out in fear, her eyes desperately darting in the blonde's and Harry's direction. "CHRISTINA! HARRY!"
"M.J!" they both shouted before struggling to their feet, Harry quickly grabbing onto Christina's arms to help her further up.
Unlike Harry and everyone else on the balcony surrounding them, Christina did not even hesitate to make her next move... even if there was a possibility of her dying in the process.
Diving forward, Christina grabbed onto Mary Jane's quivering hand and attempted to pull her to the other side of the gap between them. Unfortunately for both of them, however, the broken piece of the railing began to widen the gap even further and Mary Jane was pulled further away from the blonde. This hardly fazed Christina, however, since she refused to let go of her friend's hand and she ended up being pulled along with her. Luckily, she managed to use her other hand to grab onto the part of the railing that was not broken so she wouldn't fall.
Seconds later, Christina then heard the dreaded sound of the glider coming close to her again and she urgently looked upward to see the figure attached to the machine. She was able to get a better look at the person's mask as he cackled at all of them and flew around: it looked like a monster's face straight out of a horror movie, almost like one of those disgusting little creatures from the movie Gremlins.
Only this gremlin was far more disturbing to her....
Hearing Mary Jane's gasp from next to her, she briefly made eye contact with her and they were both thinking the same thing: Do you believe this shit?!
"OUT, AM I?" the clearly male voice bellowed in a very amused manner before throwing an object in Christina's direction.
She was able to get a single peek at what it was: it was yet another bomb.
Or so she thought....
Instinctively, she shut her eyes tightly and turned away from the blinking and beeping timer on the orangish-colored bomb.
She then heard a sound that sounded straight out of the depths of hell, but she knew she wasn't dead since she could still feel her heart beating. So, hesitantly, she opened her eyes again and glanced in the direction of where the bomb had landed.
In half a second, she put two and two together and realized that the Oscorp employees that had once stood there — very much alive — were no longer there. She then peered downward and was able to see a bunch of bones and skeletons scattered on the dusty floor. That was no normal bomb, she thought. These people were fucking vaporized!
"What the fuck?!" she whimpered weakly, gagging and covering her mouth with her free arm.
"MARY JANE! CHRISTINA!" Harry shouted as he struggled to get up again, and he began running towards the two women. Right as he reached them, however, a large chunk of the explosion's damage struck him on the head and knocked him out cold.
"HARRY!" both girls cried out, seeing his limp and unconscious body slump over onto the ground.
Not having enough time to tend to her friend, Christina quickly spun her head back around to face the redhead as she gripped her hand tighter. "M.J, I'm gonna need you to use my hand to pull yourself back over here," she instructed her as calmly as she could, but there was an obvious tremble in her voice. "You need to pull yourself over or you'll —"
But Mary Jane wasn't even looking at Christina anymore; instead, she was looking upward with pure petrification in her blue eyes.
"Hello, my dears..." came a gravelly and menacing voice from in front of the blonde.
Just as Mary Jane let out the most heart-wrenching scream imaginable upon seeing the Green Goblin just three to four feet away from them, Christina slowly lifted her head up and her heart almost stopped at seeing this... monster up close. She felt as though she was living through a real-life nightmare, but she knew she couldn't wake up. She opened her mouth to say something — possibly something snarky or witty — but nothing would slip past her lips other than a terrified croak.
This was it... she was going to die. And she would forever blame herself for not saving her best friends....
Just as the Green Goblin reached for the two women, he then halted his movements and suddenly jerked his head over to his right, which made Christina look in the same direction he was.
It all happened in a blur.
A figure in a red and blue spandex suit swung across the blonde's line of vision and violently kicked the Green Goblin off of his glider, causing an annoyed and shocked scream to leave the monstrous human as he descended towards the top of one of the decorative tents ten floors down from where the two women currently were. Meanwhile, the glider, now not having its owner attached to it, went completely haywire and directed itself in all sorts of different directions across Times Square.
As the red and blue figure landed on the wall twenty feet up from the balcony, Christina looked upward and a relieved chuckle left her lips.
Just in damn time, Spider-Man! she thought.
Knowing that his interference was buying the blonde some time to get her friend to safety, she directed her attention back to Mary Jane, who visibly looked less scared than before. "Alright, try to pull yourself up, M.J!" Christina shouted to her, her voice way less shaky now as a new surge of confidence entered her soul.
"I don't think I can do it!" Mary Jane said in a hesitant tone, worry filling her eyes as she glanced at Christina.
"Well, I'm not coming over there to get you!" Christina yelled back, resisting the urge to roll her eyes into the back of her head.
"But I'm scared!" Mary Jane snapped at the blonde as she glared at her.
"Look, do you want to see another day or not?!"
"Yes!"
"Then pull yourself across, damn it!" Christina screamed at the redhead, obviously feeling bad for having such an attitude with Mary Jane, but she would apologize later. She was in the middle of saving her fucking life and she certainly wasn't about to let her friend and herself die while doing so.
Feeling extremely relieved that the hailing gunfire wasn't directed towards her and Mary Jane — although her worry grew when she was barely able to see Spider-Man sprinting away from the bullets ricocheting towards him — she chose to play a part in attempting to pull her friend across the gap and, with the help of the redhead, she actually made significant progress in getting her closer and she even praised her friend for listening carefully to her.
But, just their luck, a deafening crack filled their ears and the balcony split apart even further, making Mary Jane fall further away from Christina. Panic building in her body and not knowing what else to do, the blonde began desperately searching her surroundings for help, her bright blue eyes wide with concern. A few seconds later, she spotted a figure swinging himself onto one of the gigantic balloons about a hundred feet away from her in order to seek a temporary break from being chased by his nemesis, which made a wave of hope wash over her.
"SPIDER-MAN!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, just praying that the infamous hero would hear her urgent call for assistance.
Not knowing that the friendly masked man shouted her own name in return, she was barely able to spot him spinning around on the balloon, which meant that she had his attention. Smiling insanely with slight relaxation, she didn't waste a single second in waving her temporarily free hand.
"I MIGHT NEED SOME HELP OVER HERE, PLEASE!" she called out, her eyes wider than they had ever been.
Letting go of the railing had proved to be a huge mistake for Christina....
The moment her hand had torn itself free from its safe haven, the right arm of the stone figure holding the section of balcony the two women were trapped on shattered, causing the broken balcony to surge forward. Before Christina could find her footing, a terrified scream finally slipped past her lips as she toppled forward and right past where Mary Jane was; she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the inevitable fall that would end her life.
But, before that was able to happen, Mary Jane prevented her friend's death by using the hand she was using to already grip Christina's to hold her up and away and away from the ground, interfering with the blonde's fall. The force of Christina slipping past her and dangling beneath her made it much more difficult to hold onto her, but she didn't dare let go.
"Oh, fuck! Oh, fuck!" Christina yelled out of fear, her legs crumpling upward to try to avoid falling even further. Out of curiosity, she looked down -- she noticed that her black slip-on shoes had lost their grip on her feet and they were tumbling down to the ground that seemed an infinite distance away. Her eyes were swimming with both tears of pure fear and dizziness and she began to feel lightheaded, her arm that Mary Jane was holding onto growing sore with the effort.
"I got you, Chris!" Mary Jane shouted down to her, making the blonde glance up at her with a dazed look in her now scared eyes. "I'm not gonna let go, I promise!" She had completely forgotten about how horrified she herself was, and she had abandoned the concept of screaming for help. Now she was focused on keeping her friend safe because her life wasn't worth saving more than Christina's. She then peered up in this so-called 'Spider-Man's' direction, just praying that he would jump or swing in their direction and bring Christina to safety before coming back for her.
Save her, not me, the redhead thought. Save her, not me!
It seemed as though luck was finally on the women's side for once, since Spider-Man did not hesitate to start jumping from balloon to balloon, desperate to get to the two people currently in danger. The man behind the mask was specifically looking towards the dangling blonde woman in the black dress that the redhead was holding up from the ground, just hoping he would get to Christina in time before she slipped and plummeted towards the ground.
Meanwhile, Christina's entire world was spinning as she refused to look anywhere else but the person interfering with Death's plan to take her away into the black abyss. She held on as tightly as she could, not even thinking about glancing around herself so she wasn't sure if either Spider-Man or the Green Goblin was headed in her direction or if anyone was going to attempt to save her. She cried out in a panic when her hand began to slip and she could feel her palms sweating like crazy at this point, but she was aware of Mary Jane gripping her hand even tighter in order to keep her safer for just a little bit longer.
Just when she thought she would fall, Christina could feel an arm quickly snaking itself around her waist as she was lifted up from where she was dangling and she was safely carried towards the undamaged part of the balcony. Sighing with relief, she quickly glanced at the masked hero that had just played a part in saving her life; but her eyes then widened with horror and she shouted, "BEHIND YOU!" when she saw the green figure rushing towards them at about a hundred miles an hour.
Spider-Man made sure to quickly drop Christina down onto the platform below with only half a second to spare, since he was quickly swept towards one of the antique windows above all of them. Luckily, the blonde landed safely on her now bare feet right as the hero almost went through one of the windows.
The glass shattering from the impact of the Green Goblin trying to kill Spider-Man briefly distracted Christina from going back to helping a now crying Mary Jane, who whimpered when the glass went plummeting towards them. The blonde gasped as she raised her arms to cover her face, inhaling sharply and groaning through her teeth when a particularly large shard of glass slashed her left arm, leaving behind a huge cut that began bleeding almost immediately.
Ignoring how much her now bleeding arm was killing her, she tried to go right back to her failed goal: pulling Mary Jane Watson to safety. As the hero and villain began punching and kicking one another, Christina attempted to step back onto the broken part of the balcony, but it creaked and shifted under her weight and she glanced at the redhead.
Mary Jane was staring in the blonde's direction with an expression of dread in her eyes, alarm bells going off in her head. She frantically began shaking her head at Christina as if to say: Don't you dare try to get me again! She didn't want to have to repeat the process of almost losing her friend to a horrible demise, so she was making the smart decision of not begging for help this time and not screaming her head off.
Christina, reading the look in Mary Jane's eyes, simply nodded her head and went back to the other side of the balcony. Glancing upward for a small moment, she was able to get a glimpse of Spider-Man getting punched off of the Goblin's glider, causing him to fall down next to the blonde and he landed painfully on his back. Becoming worried, she rushed over to him and put a hand on his arm.
"Are you okay?!" she asked him in a concerned tone.
"I'm fine," Spider-Man replied before quickly getting up and spinning to his right to look down in Mary Jane's direction. "HOLD ON!" he shouted down to her, not missing her nodding her head.
Just moments later, Christina could hear that haunting cackle of the Green Goblin clear as day, which made her turn around and see him breaking his glider free from the outside wall of the building; she then noticed him locking the yellow eyes of his mask with hers for just a brief second.
"WATCH OUT!" Mary Jane screeched up at the two, holding out her right hand as a warning gesture to move out of the way.
For half a second, Christina was able to see a few mechanics sliding outward from the glider and aim right at her, and she was just able to notice that these were the things that Green Goblin was using to shoot at Spider-Man just minutes prior.
But, before she could expect the worst, she felt the masked hero put his arms around her and move her to where she was shielded from the guns of the glider. Half a second later, she could faintly hear a weird sound coming from inches from her right ear.
"WOAH!" came the cry of confusion from the Green Goblin and Christina peeked over Spider-Man's shoulder to see that he had shot a web right onto the Goblin's mask, preventing him from seeing a thing as he tried to desperately rip it off in time.
Just then, the broken part of the balcony groaned from the effort of keeping itself attached as it moved further away from Christina. Mary Jane let out a shriek of startlement as she stared at what was evolving in front of her, somewhat amazed at it all.
Christina, hearing Mary Jane's shriek, tore herself away from Spider-Man and leaned her head around the railing. "Hold on, he's gonna help you!" she yelled down to her and the redhead frantically nodded as she smiled with slight relief.
I hope so, at least, Christina thought sarcastically.
Behind her, Spider-Man instantly jumped up and thrusted his fist into one of the engines of the glider, yanking out several of the wires operating it in order to disengage it and temporarily defeat whatever the hell this creature was.
The Green Goblin, aware that he had been beaten – for now – chose to fly away from all of the chaos and accept defeat. But he knew that he would get Spider-man back for this, he had to. He was so close to having those two little brats gone for good, especially the blonde one that kept getting in the way, and he was incredibly pissed off that he didn't get his way.
"WE'LL MEET AGAIN, SPIDER-MAN!" the Green Goblin bellowed out as he awkwardly flew away from Times Square on his wobbly glider.
Just as Christina saw the monster finally vanish around the corner, a feeling of apprehension fully hit her as her heart dropped.
The broken part of the balcony had finally had its due as it tilted the furthest away from her possible, and Mary Jane couldn't hold on anymore.
She slipped off of the railing and went plunging towards the ground as she cried out hysterically.
Instinctively, Christina ran forward, having the unbelievably stupid idea of jumping after Mary Jane. Spider-Man grabbed her by the hand right before she did and she glanced at him with an incredulous expression in her bright blue eyes.
"Stay there!" he told her in a semi-stern tone before directing his attention back to the falling redhead. "HANG ON, MARY JANE!" he yelled before diving down in the woman's direction.
How in the hell does he know her name?! Christina thought to herself. And why does his voice sound familiar?!
Christina sprinted over to the railing and peered down towards the direction of the now falling Mary Jane, faintly hearing her continuous scream of pure terror. But she was able to spot Spider-Man descending towards her as well and he was seemingly getting closer. Just as they were ten feet from the ground, he had an arm wrapped securely around Mary Jane's waist, but the blonde thought they wouldn't be able to land safely and she winced at the idea of it.
But something seemed to have stopped that from happening because, just as Spider-Man and Mary Jane were inches away from a painful landing as people were scattering about in all sort of ways, they rebounded smoothly away from the ground and the hero was calmly swinging away from the pandemonium with the redhead safely in his arms.
As Christina heard the comforted cheers of hundreds of people as the two figures got further and further away from Times Square, she sank to her knees as a sob of relaxation left her throat. Mary Jane was perfectly fine, albeit pretty shaken up from what had happened; the blonde felt pretty guilty for not being the one to save her life, but she was relieved that her friend was alive and safe. She felt as if she could finally breathe again, her rattling hands covering her tear-covered face as she cried from all of the stress she had endured.
_____
Ten minutes after her emotional breakdown, Christina finally got herself back together as she turned to look at the still unconscious Harry. She quickly ran inside and shouted for someone to help assist her with getting her friend down to the ground level where ambulances were parked out front. Luckily, a kind citizen walked outside and helped her carry Harry down the elevator and over to the ambulance closest to the entrance of the Empire Grand. There, the young man was placed onto a stretcher where he was gently being awoken by paramedics.
Christina, in the meantime, was carefully walked over to another ambulance as the adrenaline in her veins began to wear off. The pain on her face and arm hit her with full force and she could feel how badly they were burning because the cut open skin was bleeding. Luckily, it wasn't anything too terrible, which relieved her. Unfortunately, however, she was in some sort of shock after everything that had happened, since it took her more than a few minutes to answer the questions a patient police officer was asking her.
But, after a little while, the shock slowly subsided and she was able to answer each question, albeit with a shaking voice.
The minor cut on her cheek was cleaned up and her left arm was bandaged, the kind male paramedic advising that she be careful using that arm for the next day or so. Nodding her head, she politely thanked him for his help before hopping off of the back steps of the ambulance vehicle. She glanced at her now ruined black dress and the soot covering the rest of her arms and legs and she chuckled to herself, thinking that she seriously needed a shower after all of this shit.
"Are you okay, ma'am?"
Hearing the somewhat familiar voice, Christina spun around and was met with a person she wasn't quite expecting.
Spider-Man was now standing directly in front of her, his mask still over his face so as to not reveal his identity, which didn't bother Christina too much. What she didn't know was that the dark blue eyes behind the mask held a bunch of concern in them and that the man was tempted to hug her to make her feel safe.
"I'm okay, I guess," she answered, the shakiness in her voice still there. "What about M.J? Is she alright?"
"She's safe, don't worry," the hero told her with a slight nod. "She might be a little rattled from all of that but she's physically okay, at least."
Christina, for the third time that day, sighed to herself with relief and she truly smiled in the hero's direction. "Thank God," she mumbled. "I was so scared for her, but you saved her, luckily...."
"Actually, we saved her," Spider-Man smoothly corrected her with an impressed tone.
"I'm sorry?" Christina replied with the slightest hint of puzzlement as she chuckled softly.
"We saved her, ma'am," he told her, a smile clearly in his voice. "You didn't really have to help out but, thanks to you, you bought her enough time for me to get to her."
Christina pondered over what the masked man had told her and it seemed as though he was proud of how she had helped him. But she thought that she didn't really deserve the credit and praise, and that it should have all gone to him. She was only trying to help Mary Jane because of how much she cared, not to look cool or anything like that. But she knew that she had to reply with the correct words instead of refusing to take the credit from, arguably, the most famous person of New York City.
Jameson said that Spider-Man would become infamous, not famous, Christina thought. But fuck that.
"Well... thanks, I guess..." she replied a little sheepishly, awkwardly rubbing her neck as she giggled. "I appreciate it. I was only trying to do the right thing." Then, feeling stupid, she reached out her uninjured hand towards the hero. "I'm Christina, by the way."
He politely reached out his hand to shake hers as well, despite already knowing who this woman was. "Pleasure to meet you, Christina," he said kindly as he firmly but gently shook her hand.
Christina smiled softly as she nodded a little before pulling her hand away. "It's nice to finally meet you, Spider-Man," she said genuinely, curious about the fact that this superhero was acting like any regular person in New York, just a nicer version.
Spider-Man, on the other hand, softened a little at how this woman was viewing him: as a normal human being. He had noticed countless girls in Manhattan seemingly having undying crushes on him for his heroic antics, but here was this woman that he had just saved and she was talking to him as if it were just a regular conversation. Behind the mask, whoever the person was felt his heart swoop with more affection towards Christina than ever due to her bravery earlier, especially when she had checked on him despite him just saving her life!
"By the way," he began, about to point out a part of what he was thinking, "you did really well up there."
Christina blinked. "I did?"
"You really did, it was impressive," Spider-Man complimented her, and Christina could have sworn that her stomach flipped ever so slightly.
"Thanks," she said with a bigger smile, feeling a little more confident in herself and it was her overconfidence this time.
"No problem. See you around, Christina," he replied in a cheery voice before hopping into the air and shooting a web to a much taller building to swing away.
As his silhouette got smaller and smaller, Christina stared after him with an expression of curiosity in her now tear-ridden eyes. She was right and she had been after all; Jameson was dead wrong, and she was correct. Maybe Spider-Man wasn't so bad after all.
And here was literal proof that he was actually a good person.
A/N: and here we have it! the world unity festival scene, as well as the true introduction of Spider-Man and the green goblin! i hope you all enjoyed it, since it was my longest chapter yet!
what did you think of how chaotic the chapter became over time? let me know!
what about the interactions between christina and spider-man?
any predictions for the next chapter?! let me know!
be looking forward to the next chapter whenever it gets posted!
-denbroughswife