Secrets

by General Slaughter

The skies of New York city were calm. All smog and pollution seemed to have disappered for the beautiful Friday morning. The air was crisp, sky was clear and there was not a sound reaching high above the skyscrapers. Until that was shattered by the fueling motor of the Green Goblin's jetglider.

Green smoke poured from the exhaust pipe of the glider, darkening the once clear sky. Wind pushed against his face as he exceeded the speed up to dangerous measures. Norman Osborn was the Goblin's true name: a dangerously unstable man. A few months earlier he had tampered with his former partner's formula notes. The solution he got left him seething with power, and also driven him totally insane. Nevertheless Osborn was still a genuis allowing him with talent to invent weaponary up to destuctive preportions. Like other supervillains, Osborn picked a gimmick and stuck with it. His was sort of a Halloween theme gone extremely mad. With a horrific mask and demon themed arsneal Osborn seemed to have made the Amazing Spider-Man flee in terror just a few days ago.

There was no reason for Osborn to be upset, having crushed Spider-Man's self image and building up his own amongst the underworld, however he still was. His focus was not on his hated enemy, but rather a fear of what he had seen the day before. He was reviewing design notes on the Headsman(one of his failed henchmen) to see if there was anything to be done with his own weaponary. Growing bored, he locked them up in his office and when he returned they were gone. Someone must know he created the Headsman.

It was eight thirteen when Osborn was able to sneek into the private bathroom of the "Osborn Manufactring Company" and change clothes. He had many normal clothes hidden all around his hideouts in case he needed to switch identies at a moment's notice. It was eight eighteen when he reached his secratary's desk. She was a Japanese girl of about the age of 21 who had been Osborn's secratary for about a year now. They met when Osborn had a bussiness trip to Tokyo to see how the asian chemical imports from his and Stromm's company was doing. Upon his arrival he was greeted by his host's secratary Toshie Kawano who impressed Osborn with her youth, good looks and serouisness about her job. Kawano had arranged Osborn to be picked up in a limo and stay in a very classy hotel during his stay. Kawano's employer was Yuki Takase who developed a nasty drinking habit after his stocks plunged. Even though the whole meeting with Takase had been a total waste, one definate thing came out of it. The day before he went back to America, Takase had tried to get Kawano to sleep with him(despite the fact he was married)she declined, he fired her and Osborn offered her a job opening.

"Mrs. Kawono, have you found out who had acess to my office yesterday?"

"Nope."

"Then what the hell am I paying you for?!"

"Jeez Mr. Osborn...do I always need to keep tabs on your office? I'm your secratary, not your bodygaurd."

"Just try to remember anyone who was in here yesterday. Can you do that?" Kawono looked up at him with a nasty look and Osborn said "Good. Knew it wasn't that hard." and headed into his office. He noticed the bottom file drawl was open. He opened it up and saw the Headsman notes were now back in there. "Okay" he thought. "Someone with the keys to all the rooms only could have gotten in here. So that means...it must have been a security gaurd! They have keys to every room!" He wondered a little bit more. About how they could have been watching him play with his goblin arsenal when he was bored and desgin elabortate deaths for Spider-Man. But then he remebered he had made sure no cameras were in his rooms or anywhere that could expose him as the Goblin. But what he needed to know now was who saw the Headsman blueprints, stole them, copied them and did a more than sloppy job of putting them back. "Whoever did this...could sell them to a newspaper or even use them himself." Osborn thought in horror, that he could be ruined by something he made.

"Hey Toshie" Osborn called out, closing the door behind him and rolling the blueprints up so she couldn't see. "Who's our security gaurds?"

"Don't know. But I find out for you." she said has she skimmed through her records. A few moments passed before she said "Peter Wicker, Stanley Agee and Tony Conner."

"Who was working last night?"

"Errrr..." Kawono muttered looking through the file trying to find what shifts they all had. "Agee" she replided. "From 7 to 5. Bad hours eh?" she looked up with a grin.

"He works today too right?

"Hmmmmmm...yeah." "Son of a bitch" Osborn thought to himself. "Thanks Toshie" he said walking toward the elevator. When he reached the next floor down he dashed out of the elevator walking down the hallway that led into the camera room, swung it open and yelled "Which one of you is Stanley Agee?!" There were two men in there, one rather short, about 5'8 with short black hair and glasses. He was about in his late thirties something Osborn figured. The other man was a little taller, about 5'10 with bright red hair and alot younger too. Around twenty six.

"I am...sir" answered the red haired man."What seems to be the problem?" Osborn motioned that the other officer step outside, and once he did Osborn through the blueprints in his face.

"And what's this you cocksucker!?" Osborn screamed.

"What do ya mean?" Agee asked and seemed really surprised.

"Read it" He did and once he was through, looked up at Osborn with a look of concern on his face.

"What is this all about sir? Is this some kinda joke?"

"Stop the act Agee. I know you must have planted this thing in my file cabnet." Osborn lied through his teeth trying to through Agee.

"I'm sorry sir, but I have no idea what your-"

"You lying little fuck!" Osborn cut him off."You followed me didn't you? And now you want my money,right? Forget it. Norman Osborn doesn't take shit from pathetic two-bit greedy thugs like you. Remember that" he said. He was about to open the door when he said "Oh yeah, your fired. Get your sorry ass out of here now" With that, Osborn walked out leaving Agee alone still recovering over what had just happened. Osborn made his way back up to his office, took out the whole Headsman file, struck a match and left it to burn in his trashcan. -----------------------------------------------------------------

It was six thrity when Osborn left. Agee had long well packed his things at left. Osborn had put a tracer on Agee during their confrintaion so he could find out where he was going. He pretty much tracked Agee from his office the rest of the day, not leaving due to arrousing suspicions. Once Osborn had finally left he instantly ducked in an alley, put on his costume, summoned his glider and headed out for Agee.

"Must be cool, calm..." Osborn thought to himself climbing higher into the sky."Have to find Agee. He knows I created the Headsman. Better shut him up for good." He opened his satchel and pulled at the transmitter. He had served in Vietnam and was very fimilar with radar enabling him to create his tracer devices. "Hmmm, he seems to be heading for the other side of Manhatten...shit. Gonna have to waste almost all my fuel trailing the bastard." Osborn pressed for more speed on his engines. He was going about 75ph now, not wanting to go dangerously fast(he may have been crazy, but not stupid) and he knew a full 90 mph would kill him instantly if he lost control and rammed into something.

Out of nowhere Osborn saw a red and blue streak flying across the sky. A streak he knew all too well. "Spider-Man!" thought Osborn. "Why not kill him and Agee too? It'd make the day even better!" With that he followed the red and blue streak who was ducking into a nearby alley to change.

"Dang, it's just not fair. First Aunt May's in the hospital. Second, everyone thinks I'm a coward and-" Spidey was right about to take off his mask when he felt a strong tingle in the back of his head warning him of impending danger. Spidey leaped onto the wall before seeing a orange ball explode when hitting the pavement. "A pumpkin bomb" he thought. "Only Gobby uses them". He looked up at the sky seeing the green and purple figure of Osborn's demonic suit and shouted "Hey Greeny! Been waiting to pay you back ever since that "Spider-Man fan club" run in!"

Osborn laughed in that high pitched, snide voice of his. "Last time you ran like a coward...this time I won't let you embarss yourself and just destroy you quickly!" Osborn let out a sparkle blast nearly missing Spidey.

"I know this looks bad. Okay very bad. But if I can beat him it'll help me two ways. I can use the pics to sell to Jameson, therefore helping me pay Aunt May's medical bill and I can show the world I took down the Goblin!" Spidey thought dodging Osborn's lethal razor bats.

"Die you pathetic little insect!" Osborn screamed reaching for another pumpkin bomb. "This'll fix him" Osborn thought. He was about to throw it when Spidey's webbing knocked it off his hand, pinning it to a wall.

"If it's allright with you GG, I'd rather not."

"Drat, I've wasted too much time with this pest. I can destroy him whenever I please. Agee is a different matter." he thought. "We'll finish this another time insect. I have to attend to more important affairs." Osborn then turned around and started to fly off.

"Oh no you don't" Spidey said to himself throwing a tracer on Osborn's glider. He then watched as Osborn faded from view and said "Damn. Now I guess I gotta catch that weirdo. And I should be with Aunt May rather than dressing up in my underwear fighting a guy who's a little too in to Halloween." With that Spidey shot a webline and began following the Green Goblin.

"Now that I think about it...that was a mistake to attack Spider-Man. Could have done away with Agee instead of that hollow fight." Osborn thought. With a deep sigh he then said "Too late for that now." and reopened his satchel and pulled out his transmitter. Osborn laughed and gleefully said "He's close! He's very close!" He was only a few miles from where Agee was. He could be there in only a few minutes. "I almost feel sorry for him! He's as good as dead! HAHA!" Osborn said growing closer to his target.

I was seven o' clock when Osborn finally reached his destintation. He had been lead to a closed building that he owned and was being torn down. "Hmmm, this is a research lab Stromm and I once used." he said flying into an opened window on the second floor. "I think it's being demolished sometime next week." he jumped off his goblin glider and began looking around. Osborn scrapped his finger on some equipment covered in dust. "Well, at least no ones been using any of this. Still have to get this place cleared out. Wonder where the hell Agee is?"

Osborn walked over to the door and noticing it was locked, poured electricty from his glove making it acessable once again. He heard voices coming from the floor below him. Osborn knew this place, and knew to hide in the shadows when he was done walking through the short hallway. Osborn was above a flight of stairs and below it was Agee. He was with five other men, four just common thugs but one was one of Lucky Lobo's top men-Josef Frienz. Until he seperated from Lobo to gain more power. Osborn knew he was a loose cannon and thretaned his chances at being the king of crime.

"Agee, what do you have for me?" Frienz said lighting a cigeratte. He then looked up at Agee with an cold but curious stare.

"Yes, well I've learned that Norman Osborn was responsible for all the Headsman's weaponry. Now can I have the money?"

"Norman Osborn" Frienz said trying to recall the name. "Oh yeah, doesn't he own that chemical plant?"

"Yes...and he fired me for the info I just told you. So please can I have the cash now?!"

Above in the shadows Osborn pondered "Agee seems to have some really important need for that money."

"Don't get bitchy with me Agee. I know you need the money for your wife and all but...there's one more thing we must discuss"

"What?! I've done everything you wanted!"

"Yes...but now that you know what I'm going to do with that information, you can't live."

"What?! No...y-you can't! Please!"

"Boys, take care of him." The other four men came closer to Agee with knives and guns in their hands and Agee knew his fate was sealed. He closed his eyes and prepared for an agony he couldn't imagine. He reopened them when he heard the window shatter and the figure of Spider-Man came out of the darkness.

"What the hell? Why're you here wall-crawler!?"Frienz screamed in disblief.

"Just goblin hunting pal. And call me Spidey, all my friends do."

"I'll call you dead! Kill him!" Frienz said signiling his men to attack.

"Oh please...this is just sad" Spidey said avoiding the shots being fired at him. "I've dealt with Dr. Doom, Dr. Octopus, a giant Lizard, a guy made outta sad and even an electric guy and all you guys do is shoot at me? Like I said...sad." Spidey mocked them while webbing up one man's face. He disabled all their guns and began for a full assult. Agee finally summed up enough courage to move and headed for the door with Frinez screaming. Meanwhile, Osborn watched from above.

"Heheheh...this might work out after all. I don't have to waste my time on those idiots with Spider-Man doing the work for me and I can deal with Agee! But first...I must wrap up one loose end" Osborn thought to himself. He then opened his satchel, pulling out a timed pumpkin bomb and placed it near the stairway. "Although, I wonder how he found me." Osborn whispered to himself calling for his glider. Hopping onto it he relized the Spider tracer on the base, snatched it up and broke it in his hand. He smiled then flew out a nearby window.

"Okay you little fuck, you ain't gonna wreck my chances now!" Frienz said reaching for a gun. "Your ass is fucke-" Frinez was cut off by webbing being sprayed over his mouth.

"Sheesh...such fowl language! I just hope that webbing will wash your filthy mouth out!" Spidey mocked as he disabled Frienz of his gun. Then he poured out his webbing and Frienz was trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey and tossed with his webbed up employees. With a deep sigh Spidey said "Looks like that about does it. But where'd that red head go?"

Osborn was a about 50 yards above the building when he pulled out the detonator. Inside Spidey felt his Spider-Sense react so violently it almost hurt. And before Spidey knew what happened, the bomb went off.

"HAHAHAHA! He's dead! Nobody could have survived that explosion! At last, Spider-Man has been destroyed by his superior in every way! HAHAHAHAHA!" Osborn gloated to the world flying insanly and doing loops with his glider. Then he remebered Agee. Once again, he reached for his transmitter and began trailing Agee. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Agee was running through the streets of Manhatten at that time constantly looking over his shoulder. "Oh God please don't let Spidey-Man find me! Oh please God! I swear I'll do anything..." he muttered loudly enough to hear as he backed into an alleyway.

"Don't worry" a high pitched, cruel sounding voice from overhead said. "He'll never find you." Agee looked up in horror as he saw an actual demon riding a bat float down silently and pick him up. Agee could only stare at Osborn's demonic mask, seeminly hypontized. Once high enough Osborn landed near a stone gargoyle looking as fearsome and as souless as Osborn's mask. "Now..." he said never taking his eyes off Agee "why did you meet with the now late Josef Frinez?"

"Oh God...what have you sent to punish me?" Agee said slightly above a whisper so Osborn could hear it.

"Maybe I should be a little less...intimidating." With that Osborn lifted his mask enough for Agee the true face of the Green Goblin. Agee went wide eyed and spat out

"Mr. Osborn?! Y-your the G-g-green Goblin?" Osborn pulled it back down and demanded again why he was with Frienz. Agee stared at the mask's yellow eyes for a few moments before he summed up enough courage to talk. "I did it fer my wife...a few years ago she got really sick. Doctor said he'd have to put her with the best medical attention he could find. She did get better and I love her so much..." Agee then looked away from Osborn with a look of deep and utter despair.

Osborn wasn't impressed. "And?" he demanded.

"Oh y-yeah" He said looking back at Osborn. "She did get well, but I had to borrow money from Frienz to pay off the medical bills. He said all I had ta do is do a lil' favor for him when he asked." Agee went silent for a few minutes until Osborn once again demanded what happened next. "He wanted to know how to gain real power. So I thought I could get some biological weapons and give to him but I found something better."

"The Headsman armor and weapon blueprints?" Osborn interupted

"Yeah! He could have used them to make armor for his men. Then you fired me and h-here we are. But please Mr. Osborn I only did it fer my wife! Please, she doesn't know about any of this, bless her heart. I really only did it for her!" Agee pleaded with Osborn hoping to withdraw any passion from him.

Osborn just looked at him with cold and seemingly lifeless face and replied "Sad." With that, Osborn dropped Agee from the 10 story building. The last thing Agee saw before he hit the ground was the stone gargoyle, looking every bit as gruesome as Osborn. Osborn watched as Agee hit the ground in the alley. He thought he could even hear Agee's neck snapped as he looked up with huge pleading eyes. With Agee dead, Osborn started his glider, smiled and flew away.

The next morning Osborn was a little distracted. He was reading the morning paper, eating breakfast when his son Harry came in.

"Morning dad!" Harry shouted at his father while opening fridge to get some milk.

Osborn never looked up at his son but muttered "Hello Harry" while still reading the paper. "Won't you be late for school? You'd better get going." Osborn said trying to get his son to leave.

"Noooo...it's Saturday."

"Oh. I knew that." Osborn went back to reading the story titled "Spidey survives explosion!"And written in small lettering was "However five others weren't that lucky." Osborn cleched his hand into a fist and thought "Next time I'll pack an H-Bomb. That'll get rid of him!"

At that very time Mrs. Stanley Agee was going to answer the door. Much to her surprise, it was a Police Officer.

"Why, hello officer. What seems to be the problem?" she asked innocently.

The officer started to speak with "Mrs. Agee...I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

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