Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 9 - Hail Mary

Impossible... where did this Green Goblin come from?

Miguel was transfixed, almost unable to believe what he was seeing. How did this anomaly slip through their fingers... his fingers? He also couldn't recognize which dimension this one possibly came from.

"LYLA," he turned to his AI companion, "profile, asap!"

"Err... okay!"

The Goblin wasted no time; he chucked another pumpkin bomb at the 2099 Spider-Man. This time, he was able to dodge off the platform with a front flip and linked another red web-line to this foe's glider.

"HEY!" barked the Goblin. "NO FREELOADERS ALLOWED!"

He thrashed with his glider, attempting to shake off this annoying arachnid, and then took off at full speed towards the old New York, Miguel gripping on for dear life.

"LYLA!" cried Miguel. "Anything!?"

"Nothing yet!"

He groaned loudly, having to now dodge buildings, lampposts, and antique cars in the streets. He then skidded on the road, attempting to leash down this threat from the air, but without much success. The Goblin unsheathed a silver sparkling blade and severed his thread.

With a devilish cackle, the Green Goblin proceeded to rain more bombs on the innocent shellshocked civilians below. "CAN YOU CATCH THEM ALL!?"

"No!" cried Miguel, and he launched himself into the air again, his accelerated vision increasing tenfold. Anticipating what would happen, he acted.

With his superhuman agility, he swooped low and grabbed a family of three, one with an infant, and cleared them from a sidewalk before one of his explosives could obliterate them as it did to all its other surroundings.

Next, he scaled up a building, sprinting along its side for a better vantage point, and leapt off with a corkscrew. He webbed two of the Goblin's explosives, his last ones, and with a gravity-defying twirl, hurled them right back at the green menace... and made a direct hit.

"NO!" shrieked the Green Goblin. "HOW DARE YOU!?"

Before this crazed villain realized it, the blue Spider-Man was now on his glider. They wrestled in the air, exchanging blows. The Goblin, in his fury, tried to slash him with his blade, but Miguel dodged and weaved those attacks, angering him even further.

LYLA appeared again. "Can I call for backup now?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Yes, fine!" Miguel grunted. "Just do it!"

Just as quickly, she blipped out of sight, leaving them to take their battle to the sky.

"YOU HAVE HELPERS NOW, HUH?" The Goblin angled his eyebrows.

"Just shut up!" yelled Miguel. "Who... are you?" He fought for balance. "Where... did you... come from?" He grabbed his enemy by the throat in a last-ditch effort. "And how... did you get here?"

"WHO CARES?" answered the Goblin with sick glee. "I'M HAVING TOO MUCH FUN!"

Regaining control, he made a sudden dive with his glider towards a trainyard, and with a violent spin, flung Miguel through several stationary coaches. The Goblin hovered low, glaring at his enemy through their self-made tunnel, and laughed again.

Miguel was slumped against the last coach, disoriented. Through his hazy vision, he saw the Green Goblin hop off his glider and stalk towards him menacingly, climbing through each hole-punched carriage.

"LYLA..." he moaned, "... any intel on this guy?"

"No."

"What do you mean... no?"