If Only
Part #2
Written by: Cynnamon Flakes / gobby_hero@hotmail.com
Peter woke up groggily, his mind clouded. As he slowly gained consciousness, he realised that his hands were handcuffed behind his back, around a pole.
He groaned aloud. This was just perfect! He was already feeling as if a hippo has just sat on him, and now handcuffs were digging into his wrists. He didn’t even want to think about what the Goblin was going to do to him.
Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the pitch black of were he had been "stored", and looked around. The room was entirely empty (with the exception of the pole and himself). Peter shuddered. He hated this emptiness.
Peter lay there for what must have been an hour- at least- and every once or twice he would drift into a restless sleep, filled with dreams into a restless sleep, filled with dreams of what would probably happen to him, and of his uncle.
He was sleeping, snoring lightly and occasionally crying out from his dream, when a figure clad in green walked into the room, closing and locking the door behind him.
Peter let out a sharp scream, and he awoke immediately, his scream still fading away.
Before him stood the Goblin, staring down at him impassively, that annoying metal grin plastered on his face.
"What do you want?" Peter spat out, scowling from underneath his mask. The Goblin laughed.
"Relax, Webhead. I only want to talk," the Goblin paused, thinking of the correct phrase. "At least for now."
The Green Goblin looked down at Peter. He looked so vulnerable, helpless against him. The Goblin felt a surge of pleasure at the vulnerability that Spider-Man was revealing to him, but, for a moment, there was a pity. The Goblin shook his head and tried to shake the strange feeling, but although it moved into the back of his mind, it did not go away- not completely- but remained there, like an annoying spider. The Goblin chuckled; the pun was unintended.
"Why am I here?" the webhead asked, head still lowered.
The Goblin could tell that he was tired, and probably wouldn’t be able to hold out for much longer. Goblin thought it would be much more efficient if he leave the red and blue hero with something to think about while he slept, plaguing his mind, rather than force him to listen to the Goblin’s entire plan. Besides villains always made the mistake of telling the hero exactly what they were planning on doing. Well, he sure as hell wasn’t any other villain, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to make the same stupid mistake that they so often did.
"I thought I’d just- drop by- and tell you what was on my mind."
The Goblin nearly burst out with laughter. The webhead was trying to get up. How cute. He placed an armoured green hand upon Spider-Man’s rising head, and pushed him back down. Hard. Spider-Man let out a low groan, and remained sprawled, moving ever so slightly.
"I wanted to ask you something, hero." The Goblin leaned against the wall across from Spidey, and crossed his arms over his breastplate.
"Why do you do it? Why do you insist on saving the worthless trash of this city?" The Goblin’s hands moved out in a gesture that was meant to encompass the entire city of New York. The Webhead didn’t say anything. Goblin laughed.
"Spider caught your tongue?" underneath the helmet, the Goblin raised an eyebrow and smirked.
The Webhead still remained silent.
‘Well, imagine that instead of saving those ingrates. That call you a menace- you could join me, and together we could join me, an together we could show those New Yorkers what we really could do."
The Goblin walked over to Spider-Man and flicked him on the head.
"Think about it, hero."
In a flash, the Goblin had opened the door to where Spider-Man was being held, unlocked it, and then slammed the door behind him. There was a click, and Peter knew that he was once more locked in the dark room.
A heaviness came over him, and he slumped down even farther. A hard pressure clenched his skull, and threatened to break him. He was tired. So tired.
As Peter drifted into sleep once more, a dream began immediately in his mind.
---
He swung along the streets of New York City, eventually getting closer to the Daily Bugle. With a loud crash, he broke through the glass window behind J.J.’s office, and picked the reporter up by his throat.
"You thought I was a menace, Jameson?" he growled. His voice had changed drastically. It reminded him of the Goblin’s voice.
Jameson tried to say something, but Peter tightened his grip on Jameson’s throat.
"I’m talking!" Peter said, and then continued. "Well, you haven’t seen anything yet." And with that, Spider-Man snapped Jameson’s neck.
With a giddy laugh, Peter dropped Jameson’s body onto the office floor, and flying out the window he had entered from.
As he swung down the streets of New York once more, a figure followed him. He was aware of its presence, of course, but he did not acknowledge it.
The Green Goblin smiled as he followed his companion- the thing which he had created.
The two would make a wonderful team.
---
Peter awoke with a start, emitting a scream as he did so.
He was horrified at the creature in his dream, himself "gone bad". The Spider-Man in that vision had been ruthless and evil, bent on vengeance and on showing New York that he could destroy them with the blink of an eye if chose too.
Peter hated this reincarnation of himself- but somewhere, deep within himself, he was liberated by the dream, and he yearned to destroy J.J. and everyone that thought him- him the one who had been saving their asses since he became Spider-Man- was a menace, and someone to be removed from the city.
Peter curled up as much as he possibly could in his position, and drifted once more into an uncomfortable sleep, plagued by similar dreams.
---
Norman Osborn sat in his study, writing his monthly expenses down in a blank journal he kept just for the subject, when he heard the scream.
He stopped dead in his tracks, forgetting entirely what he had been doing. Hideous laughter filled him mind, and he smiled to himself.
Everything was going according to plan.
---
Norman and harry had alerted everyone. The police, the mayor, even the Daily Bugle. Although the chief of police, the mayor, and Jameson had assured them that they would do anything in their power to find peter (with a vehement "it has to be Spider-Man!", from Jameson that brought a wry smile to the senior Osborn’s lips), they had been unsuccessful so far.
‘It’s been three days, Aunt May! What are we going to do?"
May Parker hugged harry to her, partially to comfort the poor boy, and partly to comfort herself.
Norman felt terrible.
First Peter’s parents had been killed in that God-awful plane crash, and then Ben had been shot… dying in front of Peter’s eyes. And now Peter had gone missing- he felt as if the Parker feeling must be cursed.
And poor Aunt May. If Peter wasn’t found, May would be alone. He hated to think of such a wonderful woman carrying so much grief and to be so utterly alone.
He glanced past harry and May and looked over at the redhead who sat in the far corner of the room. Her hands covered her face, and she was close to tears.
"Peter’s missing." she muttered as Norman walked over to her. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"I read today that Spider-Man was missing also. No one’s seen him in three days."
Norman froze. There was something that Mary Jane had said.
He removed his hand from M.J.’s shoulder and fled from the house, calling something about business and spiders behind him as he slammed the door shut.
---
Author’s Note:
Okay, I couldn’t wait to update! I wrote this chapter all throughout school, and I edited it at home. Since I wrote it pretty quickly and edited fairly unwell, I probably have made some mistakes, but so be it.
Also, I will be leaving notes in reviews about when I’m updating and giving other information about the fic. So check it out!
~ANYA/ LUNA