This was it.
Caleb gently took a vial of bright gold liquid into his hands, his tired eyes staring at it as if it was the most precious thing in the world.
He had spent so many nights and so many days looking over formulas of the future and the past, even having to bring out instruments from so many years ago just to get this right.
The antidote to Hunter. His precious boy that had been turned into a violent psychopath by some mysterious villain.
Caleb quickly put the antidote into a syringe and then began to speed-walk out of his lab and into the 'prison' his workers had made to contain Hunter.
He hated calling it that. He hated that everytime he wanted to see his son, he would have to see him behind a cell and wanting to kill their city's one and only superhero.
Eventually, he went through the door and came face to face with his son still in his cell and with the wooden cardinal that Willow had gifted him, but it was now sloppily painted red and black like an actual cardinal.
"What's on the schedule for today, Flapjack?" Hunter asked with a grin.
Of course, Flapjack said nothing due to being an inanimate object.
"Oh? Someone's here, buddy?" Hunter asked with a sinister grin before he stood up and turned around. "Oh, why if it isn't Dear Old Dad! Here to cry some more?"
Caleb walked over, his heart clenching. "Hunter-"
"Save the speech, old man." Hunter chuckled. "Although, gotta thank you for the paint. Flapjack was getting bored of being so...bland. Isn't that right, buddy?"
Caleb took a deep breath and then pulled out the antidote. "...Hunter, I'm sorry."
Hunter quickly noticed the antidote and his eyes widened when Caleb started opening the cell. And the moment the cell door opened, he lunged at his father, slamming him against the wall.
Caleb cried out in pain, dropping the antidote on the floor.
"You think you could just walk in and get rid of me?!?" The Golden Goblin exclaimed before he grabbed his father by his shirt and tossed him down onto the floor. "With this little needle? Fat chance..."
Hunter then prepared to step on it, ready to shatter his only cure into pieces...until suddenly, two men in black suits rushed into the room and tackled him to the ground.
Caleb groaned as he got up, but quickly rushed over and grabbed the antidote, trying to find Hunter's arm or neck so he could properly inject it.
But then, Hunter suddenly threw the two men off him with his super strength and lunged once again at his father, who dodged and then ran out the door.
"CAN'T ESCAPE THAT EASILY, POPS!!!" Golden Goblin grinned as he chased him right onto the stairway, which he grabbed the railing of and leapt down to land right in front of his father.
Caleb's eyes widened and he backed up a bit, with Hunter's grin only growing wider and more sinister.
"Give me that cure and my armor, and I'll be on my merry way." Hunter smirked.
Caleb then noticed that Hunter still had Flapjack in his hands and his eyes narrowed a bit. "You are getting this cure..."
He then suddenly hit his son's arm, grabbing his wrist and forcing him to let go of Flapjack.
Hunter's golden eyes widened. "FLAPJA-!"
Caleb then inserted the syringe's needle into Hunter's neck, quickly injecting the antidote into him.
Hunter's eyes widened and he quickly swatted his father away as he ripped out the needle, covering his neck. "NO...NO!!!"
The Golden Goblin breathed heavily as his legs suddenly began to wobble and he slammed himself against the wall, trying to grip onto it to keep himself on his feet. But eventually, he slid down and fell right onto the staircase, his eyes beginning to shut.
Then, moments later, Hunter had passed out.
Hunter's eyes slowly opened and he groaned, feeling like he just had the longest sleep in his entire life. Everything was so fuzzy and he began to look around.
He was in his room.
Hunter slowly sat up in his bed, holding his head which was practically pounding. It felt like his very brain was trying to bash itself out of his own skull. He could hardly think.
He groaned again and laid back down, just trying to wait off the headache. When it finally did fade, his vision also started to clear and he sat back up again. "...what happened...?"
But then, his eyes widened and he suddenly began getting flashes of what had happened, all of them showing in his head like a slideshow.
A green tentacle of some kind injecting him with his father's serum, a voice in his head laughing everytime it took over, him working with the owner of the tentacles to steal technology from his father, being handed a strange owl mask, and then doing battle with Spider-Witch.
Shortly after the memory of Spider-Witch came into his head, all their battles had quickly settled back into his brain. The chaos and destruction he had caused.
The people he could've killed...
...did he kill anyone?
Hunter gripped his hair, his eyes wide in horror as he felt his breathing begin to quicken. "O...oh god...no, no, no, no-"
But then, the door opened and Hunter backed up into his bed, as if thinking that either Golden Goblin himself or the man that did this to him was at the door...but instead?
It was his father, whose eyes quickly went as wide as his son's the moment he saw him.
"...Hunter?"
"D-D-Dad...?" Hunter breathed, quickly recalling how he had just attacked his own father. "S-stay back...I...I-I don't wanna hurt you...!"
Caleb wanted to rush over and pull his boy into his arms, but he quickly noticed that Hunter was fully ready to enter a panic attack. He held up his hands. "Hunter...Hunter, look at me and breathe."
Hunter did breathe, but much too fast. "I-I'm a m-monster. I-I could've killed s-somebody! B-blood could be on my hands! I-I-I-!"
"Hunter." Caleb said gently. "Please...please, just look at me." He said before holding out Flapjack and then carefully setting the wooden cardinal on Hunter's bed.
Hunter's breathing began to slow as he quickly swiped Flapjack, clutching it tightly as he looked at his father.
"Now...just breathe, son...slowly." Caleb encouraged as he began to inhale and exhale slowly to try and give his panicked son an example. "Inhale...count to 10...and then exhale..."
Hunter began to copy his father, inhaling, counting to 10, and then exhaling. He repeated this process until he began to feel the panic slowly fade.
Caleb then walked over to his son, very gently and slowly pulling him into a hug.
Hunter was quiet before he set Flapjack down and hugged his father back tightly, gripping his shirt and beginning to cry, the tears spewing down his face as he buried it into his father's shoulder.
Caleb just held his son closer, feeling his own tears. "It's okay, Hunter...it's okay..."
"D-D-Dad...I'm s-s-so sor-!"
"Shhh..." Caleb whispered. "It's okay...it's all going to be okay..."