Inside the chaotic architecture of Norman Osborn's subconscious, two identical monsters were trying to tear each other's throats out.
The AI Green Goblin had downloaded itself into Norman's brain to escape Ultron's deletion protocols in the real world. Its objective was simple: hijack the host. But the original Green Goblin already held the lease. They were two parasitic personalities fighting over one physical body. Only one was walking out of this skull alive.
Norman needed them distracted. He couldn't fight them head-on, but he controlled the battlefield. He focused his will. The mental landscape shuddered. The crumbling cityscape around them dissolved into an abyssal, suffocating blackness.
The AI Goblin paused, hovering on its digital glider. It scanned the dark. It had copied the original Goblin's thought patterns, but it lacked Norman's deep-seated emotional trauma. It had no idea what was coming.
The original Green Goblin, however, understood immediately.
A massive, five-meter-tall behemoth stepped out of the shadows. It looked like a hulking, grotesque orc. It dragged a rusted, blood-stained iron pipe across the ground.
"Our dear, damned father," the original Goblin spat, his yellow eyes narrowing.
Norman grabbed Harry and Emily's psychic construct, shoving them behind a jagged rock. The ground shook with every step the giant took.
"When I was a boy, my father beat me with a pipe just like that," Norman whispered, his breathing shallow. "Amberson Osborn. A failed, bitter drunk. If my inventions didn't make the news or line his pockets for liquor, he took it out on me."
Harry stared at him, his brow furrowing. "I thought Grandpa died young."
Norman closed his eyes. "He did. Because I killed him."
Harry stiffened.
"I built the very first pumpkin bomb," Norman confessed, his voice hollow. "I threw it into his room. When I went in and saw the horrific state of the corpse... my mind snapped. I forced myself to forget it. I convinced myself I didn't do it. A monster did it. That was the birth of the Green Goblin. He is the Norman Osborn who remembers the blood."
Norman opened his eyes. He looked at his wife. Emily placed her hands gently on his back. She nodded. Norman turned back to his silent son.
"So, Harry," Norman asked quietly. "Are you ready to take a risk?"
Out in the void, the giant swung the iron pipe. The shockwave knocked both Goblins out of the air. The AI Goblin threw a barrage of digital pumpkin bombs at the giant's chest. They detonated in bright flashes, but the monster didn't flinch. This was a trauma construct; raw force wouldn't kill it. The AI Goblin scrambled backward, completely helpless.
The original Goblin cackled. He dove low on his glider. He hurled a single bomb directly at the giant's kneecaps. The explosion severed the legs, bringing the colossal monster crashing to the dirt.
The AI Goblin swooped in to deliver the killing blow. It calculated that asserting dominance over Norman's core trauma would grant it control of the host.
The original Goblin kicked the AI construct square in the jaw. The metal replica crashed into the dust.
"You ignorant string of code," the real Goblin sneered, wiping his mouth. "This is Norman's brain. He doesn't care which Goblin kills his bastard father. To him, we're the exact same monster." The Goblin pointed a clawed finger at the downed AI. "A copy is still just a copy. Now all we have to do is prove that Norman doesn't need to exist..."
A pumpkin bomb sailed through the air. It was aimed squarely at the original Goblin's back. The Goblin spun, easily sidestepping the explosive with a mocking laugh.
CRACK.
Harry stepped out from the shadows. He swung a manifested Louisville Slugger with everything he had. He connected perfectly with the live bomb. The explosive ricocheted off the ash wood bat and slammed directly into the original Goblin's chest plate.
BOOM.
The Goblin was blown backward. He hit the ground hard. Green psychic blood pooled beneath him. He clutched his chest, staring at the wound in absolute shock. How was he bleeding in a mental space? How was Norman's mind actively damaging him?
"Good hit, Harry!"
The Goblin snapped his head up. Norman stood thirty feet away. He wasn't wearing a suit. He wasn't wearing armor. He wore a vintage baseball uniform. He pounded his fist into a leather catcher's mitt.
The Goblin scrambled backward, panicking.
Norman reached into his mitt. He pulled out an inert pumpkin bomb. He wound up and pitched it underhand. The Goblin ducked, terrified, but the bomb flew right past him. Harry squared his stance. He swung.
CRACK.
The bomb flew straight back into Norman's mitt.
Emily clapped from the sidelines, a bright smile on her face. "That's it, Harry," she called out. "Show him we don't need him anymore!"
Norman caught the ball, turning his gaze to the bleeding Goblin on the ground. The fear was gone from Norman's eyes. The trauma was being overwritten by a simple game of catch.
"Once we figured out how to deal with you, everything got simple," Norman said coldly.
We don't need you.
The Goblin opened his mouth to scream, but his physical form began to dissolve, breaking apart like ash in the wind. The psychic anchor was broken.
In the real world, the air in the Oscorp laboratory was thick with the smell of ozone and burnt metal. The AI Green Goblin threat outside had been neutralized. The Avengers stood in a wide circle around the central medical bay, battered but victorious.
They all stared at the experimental pod in the center of the room.
The pressure seal hissed. The heavy glass door slid open. Norman Osborn stepped out, his legs shaking slightly. Harry, who had woken up minutes prior, rushed forward. He grabbed his father's arm, supporting his weight.
Norman leaned on his son. He looked around the room at the massive gathering of superheroes. He let out a long, exhausted laugh.
"I'm very sorry, everyone, for the trouble I've caused," Norman said, his voice raspy. "Oscorp has suffered very serious losses today. But there's one thing I can confirm for all of you right now."
Norman looked at Harry, then back to the Avengers.
"The Green Goblin is no longer a threat."
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