Take Care of My Heart

Chapter 14 - Bad News

Dr. Jonathan Onn, formerly the Spot, relaxed in his prison bed with his hands behind his back when the soft surface beneath him suddenly vanished. When he found himself falling, he figured that it was one of those dreams that he would kick out of, but squinting above, his ceiling shrank into a small rough-edged circle that was floating in the sky.

The next thing he knew, an icy hand clasped around his throat, stifling his screams, as it brought him face-to-face with a snarling green monstrosity.

"What...!?" He saw his feet dangling high above the city and started to panic. "What's going on!?"

"YOU DID THIS TO ME!" growled the Green Goblin. "HOW DO I FIX THIS!?"

"Slow down, slow down!" Onn waved his hands in front of him defensively. "What did I do!?"

The Goblin brought their faces closer. "HOW DO I STOP THESE GLITCHES!?"

"G-Glitches...?" Confused at first, it then clicked. "You're... my Hail Mary!"

"I DON'T CARE WHAT THAT IS!" he spat, furious. "I JUST SAW THE VISIONS! YOU GAVE ME THESE SIDE-EFFECTS, AND YOU BETTER TELL ME THAT THERE'S A SOLUTION!"

"F-First..." stammered the former scientist, gagging for air, "... you need to let me breathe."

With a humph, the green supervillain flipped the man so that he was dangling upside down from his ankle. "THAT BETTER!?"

"Y-Yeah..." he lied.

"WELL... WHAT'S THE SOLUTION!?" asked the Goblin, jerking him.

Onn hesitated, feeling dizzy, as he answered. "Obviously... I don't have my powers anymore, so..." he held his breath, his mind racing for a satisfactory reply, "... we don't have anymore supercolliders, as far as I... oh!" An answer then came to him. "Maybe you can... go back to your dimension... as a suggestion?" He winced, hoping he wouldn't be misunderstood.

"I ALREADY TRIED THAT!" spat the Goblin.

"Y-You did?"

The Green Goblin gave him a stern look; he didn't have to clarify.

Onn let out a shuddered sigh, covering his face. "That... is bad news." His voice was soaked in dread.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN!?" shrieked the Goblin, raising him higher; his hand holding his foot was trembling now. "ARE YOU TELLING ME I'M GOING TO DIE!?"

The man's voice got high-pitched, whimpering. "You're... an anomaly."

The Goblin stared down this pathetic man before he sighed then grinned despondently... and for the first time, he spoke in a calm voice. "Oh, Johnny... you poor fool... do you have any idea what this means?"

Jonathan's whole body froze, the realization of what was about to happen sinking in. "I think I know the answer... but I don't wanna say it."

"It means..." the Goblin outstretched his arm, the one holding him, "... YOU'RE UTTERLY USELESS!"

Before this former scientist, once a supervillain himself, had a second to protest or beg for his life, he began his plummet through the chilling air, screaming all the way down until he vanished into a mere speck from the Green Goblin's bird view.

"SO MUCH FOR A VILLAIN OF THE WEEK!"

Straightening his back, he howled in laughter, which rang through the open air... when another glitch had him hurling more blood. He sputtered, wiping the red stickiness from his face.