The Goblin

The day after the Doom incident, I went back to the Baxter building to talk to the Four and make sure they were OK, I was also hoping to see if I could take Doom and keep him in Oscorp.

Keep friends close and keep enemies locked in negative 100 degree freezers, wasn't that how the saying went?

Shrugging those thoughts off, I head inside the building and try to find the Four.

Logically I went to Reed's Lab first and found them there.

"How did Vic do that Reed?" Johnny was asking Reed. "And who was that Goblin guy?"

"I may be able to help you with both of those questions Mr. Storm." I say, startling them.

"Mr. Osborn! What are you doing here?" Sue asked.

"I just bought this place, Once I heard there was an attack, I wanted to make sure there were no problems." I shrug. "Anyway Johnny, in reference to your Goblin question… How do I explain him best… Goblin came around New York about a year ago. He was supposedly the person to stop the Green Goblin's reign of terror. There are a lot of rumors about him though, some serious, some ridiculous."

Pulling up a few files I had on myself, (What? I need my Goblin Persona and my Alex Osborn Persona's to stay separate, how better to do that than by acting like someone who respects yet somewhat distrusts the Goblin?) I show the team a few blurry images of myself flying through town and a few articles.

"One rumor claims he was the Green Goblin's son and that by killing him, he took over the Goblin mantle as a way to bring redemption to his father's name. I think it's just a load of crap, and he is just a vigilante who is trying to do what he can to help, the Goblin persona is probably because he found the Green Goblins stash or something." I shrug, trying not to laugh at them.

"As to Victor's Powers, he was on the same trip you were on right? The space trip? Anyway, he probably got his powers the same way you all did and simply didn't show any visible effects till later and he attempted to fight you."

The four were staring at me in shock. I knew I was only 19 in this universe, but was it really that unbelievable that I was a scientist?

Sighing in disbelief, I answer their unasked questions.

"I got six doctorates by the time I was seventeen in a variety of fields. Medicine, Chemistry, Robotics, Business, Physics, and Radiology, I know what I am talking about." I say.

Reed was the first to snap out of it as I grab a scanner from my bag.

"Oh, of course… What is that?" he asks, pointing to the scanner.

"A scanner." Is my simple reply as I scan the four.

"What does it scan?" Ben asks.

"Energy signatures." I reply as I finish my scans and plug the hand held machine into my computer. "Each of you produces a faint energy signature that is unique to you from being bathed in those cosmic waves. Personally, I want to find out how Doom can do wat he does and why you were each given different powers. By scanning you four first, I can differentiate between your energy signatures and either develop a cure for Doom, and by extension, you four, or find a way to keep him permanently trapped as a living statue."

"Don't waste your time, the only time I was able to reverse our powers successfully was when Ben turned back human. And it wasn't even me who did it, it was Victor!" Reed says.

"So what? Just because your experiment was only partially successful doesn't mean it can't be completely successful at a later date. Give me a few months. If I haven't made any progress then you can say I've told you so."

You may be wondering why I am so intent on finding a cure/weakness for the four.

Call me paranoid, but in case you haven't noticed, I am trying to find weaknesses and strengths for every hero and villain I come in contact with. If I can do that then I have a chance to actually beat them and win. With all the hero battles and civil wars in comics and then in the movies, then how many hero's actually turn evil, I want to be prepared to fight them and win.

After uploading the information from the scanner to the computer, I ask them the big question.

"I was wondering, would it be possible for me to take the bad doctor back to Oscorp? Hopefully I will be able to find a cure faster that way."

"Are you sure? He is our responsibility now that he has been defeated… I feel like his fall to evil was somewhat my fault." Reed replies, hanging his head.

"Stop guilt tripping yourself Richards, he turned bad because he was jealous of your accomplishments and his business was going bankrupt, now that they are out of a CEO, I was going to actually buy it and use their resources to further my own company. Anyway, his drop to supervillainy isn't your fault, but by letting my scientists look him over, I may be able to cure him."

He looked at the rest of the four for a moment, almost silently asking them what he should do before turning to me.

"Alright, but be careful. He can be extremely dangerous if he ever gets free. And just so you know… Thank you for everything you ae doing…" He says.

"Don't worry about it." I shrug it off. "I would hope you would do the same for me."

Looks like my plans are working out pretty well.

After asking a few more questions and getting a bit more information, I left the Baxter building and headed back to Oscorp. Time to make a few more purchases and get Doom over to my scientists.

Today is going to be a long day…

Watching TV later that afternoon, I can only grin as news of Tony Stark's return and his subsequent step back from the weapons industry floods every news station on the planet.

This however does cause a few of my plans to speed up. Stark's entry into the Super hero world jump starts everything in the Avengers. After him will be Hulk, Thor, Captain America getting found, and eventually… The Avengers.

Right now it is just time to step back and watch the fireworks between Stane and Stark unfold.

This should be interesting.

/

Flying through the city that never sleeps later that night, I search for crime. Tonight is surprisingly quiet, only one attempted car robbery and three muggings.

"HELP M-…!

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything?

Flying to where the person screamed, I see two girls (A brunette and a blonde) surrounded by about twelve armed thugs, backed up against the wall and a third girl knocked out(A ginger); she must have been the one to scream.

"Please don't hurt us…" one of the girls whimpered glancing around at all the thugs.

They just grinned at them in a very creepy manner.

Jumping off my Glider, I land right in front of the girls in a crouch. Standing up slowly I try intimidating them.

"If you want to leave the alley in one piece, you will leave the girls alone." I growl.

"HA!" their leader laughs. "Like hell we'll run you freak! GET HIM!"

Why do they need to make things difficult?

As soon as the leader ordered them to attack, I immediately went into action. Catching one of the thugs punches, I swing him in the way of one of the others punches. Ducking under another thugs punch, I make a quick jab into his ribs causing him to double over in pain before I threw him into another thug.

Suddenly I was alerted to a phone call in my helmet.

What? The only people who know this line are Peter and Bernard, my butler…

"Hello?" I answer as I leap over another thug, striking him in the shoulder and making him collapse to the ground in pain.

"Umm… Goblin? I have a bit of a situation…"

Knocking another thug backwards, I toss a couple Razorbats at the leader, pinning him to the wall.

"What's the situation Spider-Man?" I sigh. I swear if it's because his suit rides up a bit in the crotch, I will kill him.

"You remember Ned right? Vice president of the coding club, member of the chess team?" he asks, nervousness lacing his voice.

All that was left was four of the thugs, one with a baseball bat, one with a crowbar, one with brass knuckles, and one without any weapons at all.

"Yes Spidey, I remember Ned. What is this call about?" Thank goodness people can't hear me while the phone is on…

"Well… he kinda figured out I'm Peter Parker…"

"He what!?!" I snap as I catch the crow bar being swung at me before I yank it out of the thugs grasp and punch him in the c.h.e.s.t. "How?"

Tossing the crowbar aside, I dash forward and kick the guy without weapons aside before leaping over the other two.

"Well… I just got home and I forgot I promised him that I'd help him build the Lego Death Star and when I swung in I may or may not have forgotten that he would be there…" In the background I could hear Ned yelling about how awesome it was that his best friend was Spider-Man and how his best friend knew the Goblin

Knocking the last two thugs out with well-placed punches, I turn to the women I had just saved.

"Pete… Give me about five minutes?"

"Umm OK?"

Crouching next to the one who was knocked out, I check her pulse before looking at the other two.

"She is alive, Do you know why they were going to attack you?"

One of the girls, the Blonde, simply shook her head in response.

"Th-they said they were going to get paid top dollar for us… They laughed and said their boss was going to enjoy our company…" She shivered at the thought of what could have happened.

"Get your friend and call the cops, You don't want to be here while I get our mutual…Friend to answer my questions." I tell her.

She just nods and with the help of the brunette, gets their knocked out friend and leaves the alley.

Picking up the call again I get Peter's attention.

"Look Pete, if you trust him, then give him some information. Right now I am on the trail of something very big. I'm sure you can figure it out."

Hanging up, I stalk forward to the leader of the thugs while taking out a couple of Razorbats.

"Now… You can talk, or I can make you talk… your choice." I say to the leader.

"Hah! You can't hurt me, you're a hero!"

Stabbing a Razorbat through his shoulder, he screams as I get up close in his face.

"Want to bet? Now tell me, what did you want with those girls?"

"I won't tell you nothing." He growls as he spits at my feet.

Looking him dead in the eye, I grin under my mask.

"Want to bet?" I repeat.

(About 3 minutes later)

"-And he wants us to take them to the pier, Warehouse 129! Just please let me go!"

Dropping the beaten, bruised, and bleeding thug to the ground, I summon my glider. As I fly away, I hear the familiar sound of sirens in the distance.

What that thug told me wasn't much, apparently he was hired to kidnap girls and bring them to a un-named benefactor who would do who knows what to them.

Looks like another sleepless night for the Goblin…

/

Flying up to Warehouse 129, I look inside one of the windows. There on the ground were about thirty girls, ranging from around twelve to twenty, tied up and surrounded by a group of about twenty thugs wielding Automatic weapons.

Now how the hell am I going to do this without getting the girls hurt… Maybe my knockout gas?

Before I could do anything though, some idiot decided it would be a wise decisions to blow open the door and start shooting the place up.

"Damn it!" I growl as I bust in through the window, tossing three knockout canisters towards the thugs (And the girls) and tackling the idiot. Grabbing him and flying up to the rafters, I tie him up before he even realizes what the heck is going on.

Flying down, I hop off my Glider and knock out any stragglers that somehow stayed awake in spite of my knock out gas.

Checking the girls, I release a sigh of relief. Thank god that idiot didn't accidentally shoot any of them by mistake. Checking the thugs next, I count thirteen killed and the rest wounded. Patching up the wounded ones that needed medical attention, I look up at where I stuck the idiot only to see him struggling to escape his bonds.

Now to find out who the hell this guy is.

Hopping on my Glider, I fly up to him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I say in a cold voice.

"F.u.c.k you." Was the response.

Cutting the wire that kept him from falling thirty feet to the ground, I catch him by the back of the shirt and fly away, calling the cops to come get the thugs on my way out.

/

Once we get back into the city, I toss the idiot onto a rooftop and hop off my glider.

Stalking towards him, I see him groan as he stands up.

What I saw on his shirt though stopped me cold.

Standing in front of me in a familiar black army gear, infamous Skull symbol spray painted on the front, stood Frank Castle.

Better known as the Punisher.

"Well Shit…" is all I can say to this.

This'll be fun.

/

Standing in shock at seeing THE Punisher, I didn't block the right hook that he threw at me. It was only due to my armor and enhanced durability and strength that I didn't get knocked over.

Catching his follow up left jab, I toss him back to the ground.

"So you are the Infamous Frank Castle huh? Not what I was expecting." I say as I watch him get back up.

"What were you expecting? A demon from hell or something?" he replies as he tries Throwing a few punches at me.

Ducking and dodging, I can tell he has had training, though considering he is an ex-Seal, I should have expected it.

"No, I was just expecting you to be taller." I quipped. "You do realize that when you burst in there, guns blazing that you could have severely harmed some of the civilians in there?"

Dodging another kick, I try to spin around him only to get slammed in the c.h.e.s.t and getting knocked back, I realize I am outclassed. I may be stronger and faster, but he is more skilled in combat. He is no thug; he was trained to take down anybody as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The only reason I am not on my a.s.s with him holding a gun over me is due to my armor giving me an edge.

If I get out of this then I will definitely focus on training a bit more.

"If they were smart, they would have gotten out of the way." He simply said as he tried to follow up with a kick to my ribs while I was down.

Catching his foot, I twist it causing a very loud crack to be heard.

Shockingly, he barely made a sound at the pain in his now broken ankle. He simply rolled backwards to grab one of his guns that I had stupidly let him keep.

Tossing a Razorbat, I knock the pistol he had grabbed out of his hand and charged forward, grabbing him by the shirt, I toss him to the ground on his back.

"Oomph.."

"Look, you may think you are helping Castle, but you are just part of the problem. What if one of your bullets hit one of the girls? Then what? A father would have lost a daughter, a someone would have lost a sister, a daughter may have lost a mother. And who would have been the one to do that Castle?" I ask as I walk towards him. "You would be no better that the Idiots that killed your family. Is that what your family would have wanted? I don't give a damn that you go kill Murderers or Rapists. Go punish your heart out, but when you start harming civilians because they are in your way? There is a line you need to stop at Castle… and you almost walked right past it."

As soon as I mentioned his family, he froze up.

"How do you know about them?"

"I know a lot of things, I know your name is Frank Castle but you go by the Punisher when wearing that fancy little costume. I know some group of idiots killed your family because they were in the way. I know you will do anything to completely destroy crime, and personally? I don't blame you."

When I said all that, he seemed to simply deflate. Apparently my words were actually getting to him.

"Now, We can either work together or we can keep fighting until one of us gets a lucky shot. I already broke your ankle, I really don't want to have to do anything more to you."

"F.u.c.k you." Is all he says as he gets to a sitting position.

"Can I at least bring you somewhere, a secret base maybe? I doubt you want to go to a hospital."

He simply ignores me.

"Fine, Have fun getting down from here with a broken ankle jackass." I say as I hop on my Glider.

As I fly off, I have a bad feeling that we will meet again.

/

Landing my glider on the balcony of my building, I bring it inside and set it on its stand before taking off my armor.

I would have been trying to find out more about the kidnappings, but a certain gun wielding maniac kind of botched up any chance of that happening.

Setting at my desk, I pull up the various cameras in the building. Harry has recently been going missing for hours at a time after school, and while I don't want to intrude, I would prefer to know so I can keep him safe. He may be a Comic book character, but he is my brother.

Pulling up the camera of his room, I watch him… Is he sewing?

Looking closer, I can see him making what looks like a costume. A vigilante costume.

You have got to be kidding me.

From what I can tell, his costume is rather simple in its design, Black leather jacket, jeans, Green shirt with what looked like pads sewn in for protection and a half face mask that covers his mouth and nose while a pair of green tinted goggles cover his eyes.

No way am I letting him get away with this.

Getting up, I turn off the live feed and walk to his room.

Knocking on the door to his room, I hear a bunch of shuffling and scrambling before he opened the door looking really stressed.

"Umm… Hi?"

"Hey Harry, do you mind if I come in?" I ask him as I slide into his room anyway.

"Umm… sure, I guess." He says as he nervously glances at his closet.

Bingo.

"So, We haven't talked in a while, how've you been?" I ask as I sit on his bed.

"Oh, I'm good… how are you?" he nervously asks. Wow, he is a horrible secret keeper.

"I'm good, are you ok? You keep looking at your closet. Is there something in there you don't want me to see?" I ask as I act like I am getting up from my seat.

"NO!" He yells as he nearly jumps in front of the closet.

"OK…? If it's that Superhero costume you are making, don't worry. I already know about it." I say, smirking at his shocked face.

"WHAT!?!" he yells at me. "HOW!?!"

"Bernard." I simply say. It may be a lie, but I doubt he would appreciate a camera in his bedroom.

"Bern- Seriously!?" He yells. Again.

"Yeah, Bernard told me. Claims that after school you take about an hour or two longer than you used to get back home."

He just sighs as he collapses on his bed.

"Are you going to stop me from going out and being a superhero?" he asks, head in his hands.

"Yep. Sorry Harry, but being a hero is too dangerous. You would have to deal with psychos with guns, crazy Super powered villains, and so much more. Why not let people like the Goblin or Spider-Man deal with it?"

"Because I have to! Dad died because a Supervillain killed him, if I can train and become a hero, I can help others and stop other people from going through what we did Alex."

You have to admit, his heart is in the right place.

"I'm sorry Harry, but it is too dangerous. What if someone gets a lucky shot? What if some idiot with a gun shoots you? I would never be able to forgive myself for letting you go out and get killed."

"But Alex, I can help people. Pete's uncle died because of some mugger, our dad died because of some Psycho. I need to do this!"

"No Harry, I can't let you do this. It is too dangerous. Besides, Spider-Man and Goblin already got this."

"What if they can't? What if they miss someone? They can't be everywhere! I need to help, Please let me!"

"No Harry, that is final." I said, damn he is stubborn.

"No, it isn't, I will do this, I have to help people. If I don't who will?"

"I don't know, Maybe people with training and better tech?"

"I can get better! You can help me!"

"Harry, I said no!" I yelled.

He suddenly stopped and looked at me in shock. I almost never yell at him, I hated yelling at him…

"Look… Harry…" I say as I collapse on his bed. "I know you want to help, and that is admirable, but you can't. You're sixteen, you don't have any fighting skills, you have next to no tech, and you can't even throw a proper punch! Any thug on the street could kick your a.s.s faster than you could blink. I get you want to help, but please… Don't."

"… Fine."

"Thank you… You can make the costume, I can even help you if you want, but no superheroing… I couldn't forgive myself if you got killed doing it."

Walking out of his room, I sigh in exhaustion.

If I know him though, he will still do it, so I need to track him and find out where he is going after school.

But that can wait till morning.

Maybe I should just turn in for the night…

As I get ready for bed though, I look at the TV and see a familiar sight of Iron Man in the Middle East fighting members of the Ten Rings.

Looks like things are moving smoothly… Ish.