Capítulo 19: The Desperate Fight
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Chapter 19: The desperate fight.
(Brian's P.O.V)
Things… weren't going as planned. A bone spike almost skewered me if it wasn't for the timely intervention of a spider web. The Goblin pulled at the webbing and with it, Spiderman flew towards him from the side delivering a devasting punch to the cheek of our opponent. The Goblin stumbled back and I utilized the opening to send a knee towards his solar plexus.
The ribs cracked from the full strength and a breath of air escaped his lungs. I twisted and held his humongous hands behind him.
"Now!"
I shouted and Peter wasted no time webs started shooting onto the Goblin's face fully encasing it. The plan was to suffocate him. He buckled in desperate struggle and I shouted at the effort it took to hold his hands behind him. He threw his head back, flattening my nose, the pain was monumental but I held on and dodged the next blow from his head.
His leg muscles tightened and he threw himself back aiming to loosen my grip once my back came into contact with the wall of the building behind us. A little fear worked it's way inside my heart because I knew that if I loosened my grip then it was game over. He was already stronger than me and my ki was down to a tenth of it's full reserves.
Luckily, instead of the pain I was expecting, my back met with a stretchy material that I attributed to Peter's webbing. We bounced back and I redoubled my efforts to hold him down. But I was going to have to do something to stop him from trying that again.
" Spidey! His legs!"
Peter got the message and delivered 2 bone breaking blows to the giant's knees. A shudder of pain and rage ran through the Goblin's body and I tensed my muscles, using the little bit of Ki left to stand my ground.
After what felt like hours he lost his strength and finally, I let go. His body crumpled to the ground and Peter and I breathed out a sigh of relief. I was breathing hard and fast, the toll of the monumental task I had undertaken finally making itself known to my body.
"That was…not fun. Let's never do it again."
Spiderman shot a few more webs, binding the Goblin in a material that was crazy durable. At the end, the huge guy looked as if he was in a cocoon.
We didn't speak. There was a somberness around us that was attributed to the wrecked street, debris and death around us. Instantly the weight of the whole thing hit us both. Peter swallowed a few sobs and a bitter taste appeared in my mouth. This was the consequences of the existence of vigilantes. People died. Property was lost and the ones who survive would be haunted by the reality of almost dying in the hands of a supernatural being.
"We need…to go Spidey."
I heard the telltale sounds of a tank before I saw them. A news chopper drew near and circled us. There was also an army helicopter in the air, a huge spotlight shining below. Spidey was still in shock and I decided to go talk to the officer approaching us. We needed to discuss what to do with the Goblin. There was no way I was going to let them take him if it wasn't to execute him or put him in a place where he would never escape.
"Valiant." He nodded to me in greeting. Although his heart was beating super fast, his face betrayed no emotions. The fear was there but well hidden.
"I'm colonel James Hartwood. What is the status of the monster, you and Spiderman were fighting?"
He asked.
I took a minute to study him before answering. Colonel Hartwood looked like a man in his early 50s. He had grey hair, strong arms and the beginning of a belly. He fit his uniform perfectly and with the short hair, square jaw and sharp eyes he cast an intimidating figure. How ironic that such a guy was actually scared of me.
"He's down." I told him and his brows stopped tightening in anxiety. He was worried for his soldiers, having seen the Goblin kill a few just by being near him. He knew they had stood no chance. A small smile worked it's way onto his face.
"You saved lives today, both you and your friend. On behalf of the U.S.A I want to…"his words were cut off as he brought his finger to the earpiece on his ears. His eyes quickly widened.
"What! General with all due respect…That is suicide! Valiant and Spiderman saved us. We couldn't have done it without them!…I beg you to reconsider sir!"
His hands shook. And the soldiers behind him looked on in confusion.
"I'm sorry Sir but I'm going with my gut on this one."
He finished and removed the earpiece, pocketing it. He then turned to his soldiers.
"We're pulling out. Prepare to fall back."
I knew something was up already but I was reluctant to fight with my nation's army.
"They want us to bring you in forcefully. If you resist we've been ordered to open fire…so leave. Get out of here before I change my mind."
"Thank you."
I said to him as he walked off.
"Spidey…"
I rounded to him before my danger sense warned me of impending doom. A missile was launched unexpectedly and to the shock of all present at the prone body of the Goblin. Normally that would be commendable of the US military if it wasn't for 2 things. One, the helicopter that shot at us didn't care that we were in range of the missile. Luckily the soldiers were a bit further away.
And 2…their target wasn't your run of the mill Supervillain. He was a charged up Goblin with an innate ability to adapt to any significant bodily harm inflicted on him. And with that strike, The military doomed us. Spiderman had jumped away and I ducked behind an overturned bus and weathered the shockwaves. It seemed like an hour when it had only been a few seconds.
I heard the familiar twang! of Spiderman's web and immediately felt an impact on the side of the bus. I jumped and landed before him. He rose a finger and pointed at the middle of the burning crater. Then his hand went limp and he passed out. What could have hit him that hard? I was afraid of the answer. Footsteps started coming towards us.
"Rest Pete. Let me take over now. It's better this way because you won't have to see what I'll do. It's high time I delivered on my promise."
The smoke was blown away and…huh…he wasn't…huge anymore. If anything he looked about my height and size. The only supernatural thing about him was the spikes on his knees, heels, elbows and shoulders. His body was also completely grey and was covered by an exo-skeleton. His face was completely blank. No hints of a nose, eyes, mouth or anything human. He was like a mannequin. The difference was the 2 chins jutting out from his jaw.
The hands were also very long and the fingers looked more like spikes with very point ends. No trace of the damage if any from the missile. The change in size was probably to decrease his visible large form which stood out as a walking target. The missile was no doubt responsible for that. I bet his armoured body was also pretty resilient to shockwaves and fire.
The blank face plate was a direct consequence of suffocating him. I bet he didn't breath through the nose anymore. For all I knew his body could contain miniscule pores that took in air. All in all this was going to be the most desperate fight I had ever had. The fate of a lot rested on my shoulders and it was either kill him or die with him. No other alternatives. I couldn't afford them.
He brought up a hand almost methodically. An action that was completely alien because of how smooth the motion was. The fingers danced in the air. The ends glinting menacingly.
"What a fine… vessel. I feel Invincible."
The voice of one Norman Osborn escaped the Being's non-existent mouth.
So… he's back. His brain is no longer muddled by a desire to destroy. His danger factor just went up from zero to a hundred real quick. I breathed out and stretched my body. The spikes on his body are especially bad. One accidental hit and I would be skewered.
But that was the problem wasn't it? My self- made style relied on devastating counter attacks which meant I would have to tank more blows than I was comfortable with. That wasn't an option any longer. He was stronger, faster and probably more durable than me. Just to be sure…I activated True Reveal and my eyes widened a fraction before I shut it down.
I wasn't going to win this.
However losing was not an option, so I'm going in with everything I got. How did Lee from my dojo days do it? His technique was the basis of my Echo skill. Swift and gentle movements associated with Tai-chi paired up with an energy control technique that disrupted the opponent's concentration. This made them see illusions. Let's see if I can copy it.
Whoosh! I blurred forward and stopped. Then I guided the energy in the air to leave an imprint of my form from my last position. It was unrefined. Looking almost like a mirage. I appeared onto his left throwing a foot to his ribs. His forearm came up to block the attack but I ducked, twisted and swept his legs under him. He flipped with an unnatural grace that gave Spiderman a run for his money and sped towards me, slashing out with his hands.
I dodged around the slashes, widening my eyes when they left groves under me and the bus from before was slashed apart. Luckily Peter was unarmed. I added a bit of Ki I'd recovered to the technique giving the illusions a bit of substance. A wide sweep destroyed the illusion and a huge pipe almost dug it's way onto The Goblin's neck. He evaded it at the last time and stomped his leg onto the ground.
The ground trembled, which unbalanced me and caused me to jump away or else suffer the fate of a devastating fist that further destroyed where I had been standing on. I reinforced the pipe and threw it accurately, using the cover of dust and stones to hit him then started running towards him too. There was a screech of metal and the pipe which I had sheared off into a sharp point veered off to the side.
I targeted the belly first and my kick landed with a discharge of air. All 100+ tons of weight concentrated into a single point. There was a boom! and the Goblin shot off, spearing through 4 buildings before landing on a street a couple of blocks away. I winced at the damage and followed. The streets where we had been fighting had already been cordoned off at a range of roughly 500 meters.
We had gone beyond that. Screams of desperate people made me anxious to take the battle some place where civilian casualties weren't. The Goblin got up, looking unharmed.
"You protect these people despite the fact that most wouldn't even look at you when in need. All that power. And potential. Wasted on a fruitless endeavor."
Osborn said.
'This is good', I thought. ' By letting him rattle on, it will give everyone a chance to run away. God knows I don't want the blood of innocent people in my hands.'
"It's not wasted. I use my power to save those who can't save themselves."
I responded.
He tilted his head in something akin to confusion. As if he couldn't relate at all.
"You're a god! That comes with the responsibility to rule. Your power demands it! It's the role of those weaker to serve the strong. Don't tell me, you don't get frustrated at times confining yourself to morals and rules that are meant for the common man."
Wow. He was getting more impassioned. However despite the trace of truth in his words, I knew myself. I'd been raised well and although I was very selfish, I wouldn't go out of my way to be cruel.
No matter what Osborn would say, my will was my own. My decisions my own and no one was going to change me.
Everyone had cleared the streets. Good. It's time to end this fight.
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