Chapter 52 : Four vs many

Hello everyone ! Hope you're having a good time. I'm not working today so, I am ! Having a good time, I mean. It'd be even better if I was at home, but hey, can't have it all, right ?

The publicity for today is the book série Kingkiller Chronicles. I've only read the first 3 books a while ago but I loved it. Especially since it's a recounting made by the MC of his youthful adventures in a fantasy setting. I found it really novel and original. Again, since it's been a while, I can't really give you a better synopsis but I highly recommend it !

Now, as usual, I'm a taker for any review, power stone and comment ! And, if you like what I'm writing, you can find more on my Patréon page. Search for Cathbel on their website. Advanced chapters, other stories etc… look it up and consider donating if you can afford it ! Thank you for your time and enjoy !

============

As soon as my words fall, things become chaotic. For one thing, 6 out of the 20 hostage takers finds themselves covered in dark chains almost instantly, with their weapons getting a hundred times heavier and falling to the ground.

Then, with a 'thwip', 'thwip' sounds, several more lose their weapons to the rafters before a feral, animal-like woman falls on them and start attacking. And of course, Quake uses the confusion to blast her powers into a group of three. With a jump and another blast toward the ground, she lands alongside Squirrel Girl and the two of them start fighting the goons while Spider-Man and I disarm the mercenaries.

Meanwhile, Norman Osborn isn't doing nothing : his gliders breaks through the gym's windows to approach him. With a spring and a deft bound, Green Goblin gets on it and start to take to the rafters, after his prey.

Spitting more ink, I will another dark cloud around the rest of the mercenaries. Thanks to my tattoo, Doreen and Cory can see perfectly well but it's not the case for the goons. Idly, I think it's a good thing we disarmed them first, otherwise, they might have shot up the place in panic. Instead, the three of us can see them swing haymakers in the air. Squirrel Girl unnatural agility and reflexes makes it easy for her to read her opponents and avoid their punches even in better condition. Quake on the other hand is a bit worse. Not completely bad. But since she's never really fought before mom and dad started training her, she lacks experience.

As for me… I have been trained for longer. However, I usually to fight in this form. I haven't trained much in close quarter combat with it, after all. The few sessions at Xavier's mansion were too few for me to really get comfortable with it. So, I fight like a caster : out of range and blasting my spells.

I ensnare another two mercenaries before our little skirmish ends. The remaining fighters have been taken care of by Cory and Doreen with a mix of powers, and physical exertions. Seeing Doreen fight in particular is always awe-inspiring. It's funny how she was basically kind of a joke character in the marvel comics and yet… She still defeated some of the most powerful villains : Doom, for instance. I don't know enough about her to name more…

Once more, Cory, while less effective and impressive, remains strong in her own right. The nature of her power actually makes her a powerhouse. But also, a potential disaster. Using her quakes inside a building in particular, doesn't seem like such a good idea… She might weaken the structure and cause to fall on all our heads. Hence why she's only using weak, short range blasts.

I look up and see Spider-Man weaving between the beams of the rafters, dodging and countering the attacks of the Green Goblin… Another possible disaster. The guy's using the guns on his gliders, as well as throwing his pumpkin bombs with no regard for the hostages, or anyone else for that matter. Currently, the only thing he is focused on is killing Spider-Man it seems. Oh ! And he's laughing like a madman all the while.

« Okay, I think it's time to help the web-head… » I mutter.

Let's try something new. Throwing another few globs of ink in the air, I use them to grab a couple of bombs thrown toward the webslinger… and erase them, along with my ink. I nod, satisfied that it works and continue to do the same.

Squirrel Girl tells Quake to evacuate the civilians before she jumps up toward the world and climbs to join the fight. I ignore as people start to run me by and continue my interferences. Meanwhile, Squirrel Girl joins Spider-Man and the two start to take advantage in the fight.

Norman is a good fighter, no doubt about it. His serum enhances his physical talents to peak human, or even a bit beyond. And he also obviously has been taught martial arts of some kind. Even on his glider, restricted in his footwork as he is, he manages to hold his own. Still, little by little, he is overwhelmed…

At this point, I half expect him to do something crazy to reverse the situation or permit his retreat… So, I'm not entirely surprised when he does do something unexpected. What he does, on the other hand… That does take me by surprise.

With a angry shout, his hands lit up and he starts throwing fireballs like some kind of sorcerer. His physique also starts to bulk up and tear his clothes to shreds. Soon, even his mask cracks and falls, replaced by a bigger and about as ugly green head with horns.

My mind and body halts for a moment as I consider this new form of Norman. Until now, because of his costume and equipment, I expected him to be the Green Goblin from Earth-616 or the one from the original Spider-Man movies… Using his tech to fight and kill his enemies. His sudden transformation however, paint another picture, another origin story… That of the Green Goblin from the Ultimate universe, or Earth-1610.

The sight of this version of Green Goblin has me frozen in fear at the possible implications. The Ultimate universe is a total cluster-fuck of epic proportion in comparison to what little I know of the mainstream Marvel reality. While a lot of heroes and villains tend to die or disappear in the comics, I don't remember much events like the ones I know of the Ultimate comics… Mainly the events of the Ultimatum are the worse, in my opinion. A world-encompassing disaster event artificially created by a mad with grief Magneto who lost his daughter…

Millions, if not billions of people die. Even heroes and characters like Doctor Strange, Xavier, Wolverine, Magneto himself…

There's also Black Widow's betrayal of the Ultimates and S.H.I.E.L.D…

I shake my head to dispel those thoughts. This reality's different ! And I can't just freeze because I'm afraid of what might happen… It's a sure way of getting myself killed !

I re-focus on the fight up there, my neck feeling the burn of looking up for so long. Let's deal with this, for now !