章 87: The Sins of... (Harry)
With urgency, Harry Osborn flew through the New York skyline with his glider, dodging and weaving past buildings as he made his way to the abandoned hospital across the city. As he raced to his destination, he hoped that he could somehow run into Screwball and her goons before they finished their setup so he could get to the bottom of this.
After a few minutes of flying, Harry Osborn found himself nearing the hospital. As he closed in, he could see that the top floor of the hospital somehow seemed to be lit up, despite the building having been abandoned for years.
From the inside, Screwball, wearing a white and pink jumpsuit and goggles, and her goons could see the New Goblin gliding toward the building at a high speed with his hoverboard. "How the fuck did he find us!?" Screwball screamed as she pulled on her pink hair out of frustration. "We aren't done with the setup! Who snitched!" She began to scold her crew, but they all remained silent with their hands up as if they were surrendering.
Just as the New Goblin was about to burst through the window, Screwball looked to her crew before scanning the room and spotting a window on the ceiling. Taking a grappling hook from her hip, she shot it through the glass and looked at her minions. "Keep him busy."
𝘾𝙍𝘼𝙎𝙃!
The New Goblin lept off of his board and crashed through the window with his arms in a cross formation. Landing on one knee, he looked up to see Screwball flying up through the ceiling and out of the building.
'Found you.' Harry proclaimed in his head as he glared at the Screwball supporters in front of him. Unlike the thugs from the school, these minions immediately ran toward Harry in an attempt to attack him. Their weapons were of the lethal variety, ranging from machetes to spiked bats, and one of them even had a gun.
Immediately, Harry dashes over toward the gun wielder, grabbing their hand just as a bullet shot out of the barrel. The shot nearly clipped Harry in the ear as he crushed the gunman's hand.
The gunman shrieked in agony just before Harry punched him in the gut twice, followed by a powerful uppercut to the jaw, sending the thug flying into a hospital bed. 'Fitting.' Harry thought to himself
The rest of the room was stunned at how fast the young billionaire was able to move, causing them all to stand frozen in fear. One of the minions snapped out of it and sprinted toward Harry as she attempted to swing her machete down at him.
As she attacked, Harry swiftly dodged to the side before sending a punch to her liver, immediately immobilizing her. Harry winced under his mask upon delivering this blow, knowing he may have not held back enough on that punch. 'Sorry lady, I really don't like hitting girls but you gave me no choice.'
Just as the machete-wielding girl was downed, the last two goons attempted to attack Harry simultaneously with horizontal strikes using spiked bats, both coming from opposite sides. With ease, the Osborn heir grabbed both bats, stopping them in their tracks as if their attacks had zero force behind them.
Both of the goons' eyes widened as they watched the Goblin begin to bend their bats until they snapped in half. The two of them immediately fell on their asses like the dumb blonde in a horror movie and began crawling back in fear.
The Goblin's eyes pierced their souls before his gaze shifted to the broken glass above him. He would continue the beatdown, however, Screwball was priority number one, and these guys were no real threat to anyone at the moment.
With his enhanced strength, he jumped through the ceiling window and landed on the roof, scanning the area for Screwball. Eventually, his eyes spotted her as she parkoured across rooftops using her impressive speed and grapple hook to distance herself from her pursuer.
Without a second thought, Harry began sprinting toward the end of the rooftop before leaping off of it and skydiving toward the earth. He then clicked his glove, summoning his glider to curve around the hospital and land beneath him.
Shifting his weight, Harry extended his feet outward and lands on the board before catching his balance and boosting toward Screwball. Although the girl was fast, her speed was no match for the Goblin's board. In just a few seconds, he caught up to her and grabbed her by her pigtails, lifting her up in the air as he looked down at her.
"Let. Go of me. You bastard!" Screwball attempted to break herself free by prying his fingers open, but unlucky for her, Harry's grip was too powerful to even budge. As if he was scolding a child, he began speaking to her from above.
"You are in a lot of trouble, lady. First off, you reveal my identity to the world. Then you send some teenagers to blow up a high school, so that's a terrorism charge. After that, you had more of your goons attack me in a very creepy-looking hospital. You're lucky no one got hurt or else I wouldn't be so kind to you. Why did you do all that?"
"I told you why. You read the notes, didn't you? I knew Norman's son was an idiot but don't tell me you can't read." Screwball continued to squirm as she mocked the Osborn boy, causing him to tighten his grip on her pink hair.
"I didn't read the note because I was chasing your ass." Harry, using one arm, lifted the girl up to face level as they float in the air. At this point, Screwball was reaching her pain tolerance, so she said something that she knows will throw the boy off.
"Is this any way to treat your older sister, Harry?" Using this as a one-second distraction, Screwball pulled out a knife and cut her hair off, freeing herself from her 'brother's' grasp before landing on her knee on the rooftop below.
Screwball giggled slightly, teasing the boy as she looked up at him holding her pink locs. Harry was stunned. His father never mentioned any other siblings and he knew for a fact that he was his mother's only kid. Convinced that this was all just a ruse, he denied her claims. "I have no sister. I'm an only child."
Screwball laughed once again as she playfully walked backward to give the Goblin some space to land in front of her, luring him to speak with her about the matter. "Oh, little brother how foolish you are. Of course, we have different mothers, but we both come from that man."
Harry stepped off of his board and glared at Screwball's face, she was smiling as if it were a game to her, which pissed him off. He clenched his fist, thinking about all of the people who could have possibly been hurt by this whole fiasco. "Is this all a game to you? What if someone was killed!?"
"Unlike OUR father, I don't kill innocent people. I just wanted the world and you to know the truth, I didn't expect the bumbling idiot, Harry Osborn, to actually disrupt my grand plan." She spoke to him as if he was beneath her as she scanned for an escape route.
"What truth? You don't need to tell the world, just tell me right here." Harry is clearly fed up. He isn't sure if he should believe a word that's coming from the girl's mouth, however, she may know something of use to him so he plays along.
"Why should I tell just you? That wouldn't be very fun would it?" She continued to speak to him as if he were a dog, knowing she was getting on his nerves.
"So I can fix it and-" Harry attempted to reason with her rhetoric, however, these words triggered her and caused her to cut him off with a serious tone for the first time during their conversation.
"Fix? What, you going on vacation for a year is fixing? You Osborns are all the same. Claiming that you're fixing the world when in reality you're doing nothing in your ivory tower." Screwball sat down on a vent, crossing her arms as she spoke to the boy. She wanted to run, but she knew that the boy and his board were too fast for her to outrun.
"You saw the news, right? What happened to 'our' father and Spider-Man? We were friends, Screwball. He sacrificed himself to save everyone and left everything to me and Silk. I wanted to make up for him being gone. I wanted to become strong and atone for everything that Norman did."
"And how's that going for you? Silk's been doing all the work while you were gone, and even then, she sat on her ass up until the whole city was in danger after that fishbowl helmet guy gassed us all. Do you wanna know what my dream was?"
Since Harry wasn't there for the dream gas, he had no clue what the girl was talking about. He frowned, assuming this was another one of her games before playing along. "What dream?"
"When Dr. Quentin Beck attacked the city with his Adam Gas, the whole city dreamed for weeks. Funny enough, I dreamed about you. I dreamed about what it would've been like to be accepted by the Osborn family, being your sister, being happy for once. I don't know why I dreamed about that, but I did." She has a bitter grin on her face, recollecting the events of that dream in her head. This led to Harry to believe what she was saying about being an Osborn, but he still didn't understand her motives.
'So she's serious? I have a sister and Norman never told me? He just left her all alone?
Harry didn't speak for a few moments, thinking about what he should do in this situation. He realized that she was doing what she was doing purely for attention, not because she was necessarily evil or a bad person. Deducing that perhaps with sympathy and using his words like the yellow-haired ninja he saw in an anime, he could convince her to stop this whole mess.
After the long silence, Harry changed his body language to a less aggressive one, lowering his shoulders and unclenching his fists. He began speaking to her once again, not as the New Goblin, but as her brother. "Let me help you. Please tell me what happened."
She was reluctant at first, however, she decided to go ahead and outright say it. "He's the reason my mother is dead, Harry. There's nothing you can do to 'help' me. She was a patient at that hospital that we were just at, but it got shut down after what happened to the man funding it. Those people you just beat up? The same thing happened to them. Do you know why?" Screwball looked up at Harry as she asks her rhetoric, he shook his head in response.
"They were close to finding the cure for cancer. My mom and I chose that hospital because they had the best treatment, up until the made-up scandal that he cheated on his wife. Isn't that ironic, Harry? The cheater exposed a cheater?" She laughed slightly upon saying those last few words before going back to speaking seriously with a bitter smirk.
"Funny, the doctor killed himself after. He hanged himself, or so they say. Do you get what I'm getting at, Harry?" Harry knew the answer now, but he allowed her to finish.
"Your father and his associates killed that man so they can steal his research and claim it for themselves. He and Conrad Marcus, the man who's running for Mayor tonight, are responsible for my mother's and millions of other people's deaths. Rather than letting someone send out a free cure, he wanted to monetize it." This information caused Harry's heart to sink to the bottom of his stomach. He knew his father was fucked up, but this was on a whole new level of disgust.
"And if you're wondering why no one told you about me, it's because Norman coerced my mother into a deal to tell no one so he can avoid a cheating scandal with his wife. Knowing the deal no longer mattered, my mother told me my real name is Liz Allan-Osborn, she even told me where to go to see the proof. I thought about jumping from a building upon hearing the news, but I instead chose to get in contact with him.
Whether it was through guilt or to save face, Norman took me under his wing privately after she died. Recently, I even stayed with him for a bit while you were staying at the dorms. He told me a lot about you and how you're a disappointment to him. He said that if you received the family business, you'd ruin it.
So I played the role of the model eldest daughter to him, earning the role of the heir of the company. But YOU and your spider friends ruined everything! You were never supposed to inherit the company! It was me!" Screwball screams passionately at her brother, truly believing the manipulative words of their dead father.
"Do you really believe that? He didn't even care about you until he was afraid that his reputation would be tarnished. I did some digging, he was going to sell Oscorp off once he retired. He was already taking bids. He lied to me too, Liz."
"You're just saying that because you're the one who got it! Because of you, I can't die with satisfaction anymore. I can't end this bloodline." Harry, realizing what she meant by this, spoke to her in a sympathetic tone.
"Once you got your revenge, you were going to kill yourself, weren't you?" Realizing she'd been read like a book, Screwball scoffed and looked to the side.
"..."
"My existence is nothing more than a scandal."
"That's not true Liz. You and I can work together to fix what our father has done to this city. Come home, Liz. Let's stop this." Harry began walking toward his sister, prompting her to stand up and begin walking away from him.
"You're lying! You just want to use me, just like Norman did." She continued to walk backward until she felt herself nearing the edge of the building. She looked down to see that the drop would be fatal. She considered jumping, without her hook, since her plan had now been ruined and she had nothing left to live for.
"No, Liz." Harry shook his head, continuing to approach her slowly as she continued inching toward the edge.
"Get away from me. I'll jump!" Now nearing the edge, Screwball prepared to do as she said. Before she could do so, Harry lunged at her, prompting her to close her eyes in fear of the incoming attack.
However, all she could feel was Harry embracing her at the edge of the building. She didn't hug him back as she was shocked at the gesture. Harry began speaking over her shoulder apologetically.
"I'm so sorry. If I knew about you, I would've done everything I could to help you, Liz. I swear I will do everything in my power to help you and everyone else that my father screwed over. Please, stop doing this. You can stay at the house with us. You don't need to do any of this for attention anymore. I can help you find your reason to live, Liz."
This broke Screwball, releasing her from the fake personality that she formed for herself. She didn't want any of this, she really just wanted attention and to be accepted. She realized then, even though it was far too late, that she took things too far.
"It's too late. Conrad Marcus will be assassinated at his speech today. I tweeted it on my private account. Two hundred Screwball fans follow that account and the ones who took it seriously are on their way there now. I'm sorry Harry." Liz began to weep on his shoulder, realizing the big mistake that she had just made.
Upon receiving this shocking information, Harry's eyebrows raised before he spoke calmly to her once again. "Can you make them stop?"
"You think they'll stop, Harry? These guys, unlike the other ones who did the small jobs like painting some mannequins, are serious. He and his supporters will all die tonight in a mass shooting at Madison Square Garden." Just as Screwball said this, Harry's board floated behind him.
"You better hope that I can stop them before it happens. If I can't stop them in time..." Harry didn't even finish his sentence. Still looking at his sister, Harry jumped on his board and immediately blasted off into the night toward the stadium. On his way there, he began spamming Cindy with messages in hopes that she'd miraculously reply, but it resulted in no response. 'I guess I'm on my own then. Unlike my sister, these guys will not get any sympathy from me.'
At Madison Square Garden after somehow bypassing security, there were about fifty people standing outside of the building wearing the signature pink and white color scheme of Screwball. Each person was also wearing a strange, lifelike mask as they looked at each other and the building.
Without saying a word, they all nodded to one another before a few of them shot grapple hooks onto the roof of the stadium. With duffle bags full of weapons on their backs, the Screwball supporters begin to silently climb the arena, ready to cause havoc once they reached the top.
After about twenty minutes, the entirety of the Screwball army was at the top of the stadium. At the center of the rooftop, there were small slits that the army could see through, showing them the people below. They were all waiting for Conrad Marcus's rally to begin, so at the moment, everything was still being set up.
Little did the people below know, that in about ten minutes, both they and Conrad Marcus would be gunned down from above.
As a few of the Screwball cultists placed bombs on support beams, the New Goblin landed on the stadium rooftop.
"Hey!" He screamed, catching the attention of all fifty-plus members, prompting them to all face him with their firearms.
On one side, there were fifty men and women holding various weapons, glaring at the New Goblin as if he were their prey.
On the other side, the true hunter, Harry Osborn, stood with his glider in his hand as he gazed at the terrorists coldly. In his head, he no longer doubted himself. The only thing on his mind was stopping the attack from happening, no matter what it takes.
"I'm giving you all a choice right now to run." A slot opened up beneath his glider, revealing a retractable spear. "You all know my buddy, Spider-Man, and may he rest in peace. He held back against guys like you." Harry grabbed the spear before sending his glider to float in front of him. "Although I'm not as strong as him, I'm letting you all know that I will not share that same compassion."
Harry flipped the spear in his hand and pointed it toward his enemies before continuing his speech. "You might think I'm bluffing, but feel free to stay and call it out. I'll give you all five seconds. Those who choose to stay, well, we'll see how strong I really am."
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