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Unraveling Lies, Disentangling Truths
“Peter Parker is Spider-Man,” a gravely voice announced.
Four words. That was all that was disclosed. They were enough to make a man stop and think. They changed his view forever.
“Wha?” Harry questioned. “No, that’s impossible.”
“Think about it, boy,” The Green Goblin ordered.
Harry turned away. Inside a lair hidden within OsCorp, he stood in silence. He received his answer when he quired why he needed to eliminate Peter Parker. He couldn’t believe it. Such a revelation was too bizarre to be true. The source itself was also questionable. The Green Goblin, a dangerous man, promised him news regarding his missing father. With that matter taunting him, he had trusted him so far. What the mysterious specter had shared were the facts—a secret location behind the janitor’s closet, a special gas that would improve his game, and weapons, massive weapons.
“How could Peter be Spider-Man?” Harry asked aloud. “Spider-Man is agile, clever, and takes down cogent lawbreakers. Peter’s got booksmarts but he’s… just a photographer.”
He shook his head. “A guy like him could never pull any of that off.”
The reflection watched the young man’s actions. He listened to his rationalism. A part of Harry persisted to view Peter as a friend. He grew disappointed. “Still defending him, are you?”
“Isn’t a man innocent until proven guilty?” Harry asked back. Brazenly, he stared at the yellow eyes. He tried to stand with backbone. But his spine was beginning to curve.
“Oh, he’s far from innocent,” the floating green head replied. “He’s been deceiving you all. I saw him with my own eyes. He keeps his costume underneath his clothes. He uses the back alleys to maintain his charade. He puts you as the fool. Are you a fool, boy?”
Harry softly growled at the insult.
“What would your father say if he knew that?” the green monster inquired. He intended to unravel the lies spun by the web-spinner.
The young Osborn didn’t respond. He thought back to his connections with the brainy brunet. He wondered how much of their bond was a ruse. Even when he sought help for his grievance, Peter pushed him away. He never understood why. Perhaps that revelation was a crucial part of the puzzle. Now all the pieces were falling into place.
His mind was a boat lost in a stormy sea of confusion. One moment, his father, Norman Osborn, was hosting his birthday celebration. The next, something exploded in the fire place. All their guests managed to scramble to safety. Firefighters had arrived at the overwhelming scene. His eyes widened and his heart raced from the harrowing scene. He yelled, worried about his trapped father. Perhaps he was more hysterical than he would like to admit. He couldn’t enter the smoky manor; Flash held him back. Everyone believed since Peter went in after Norman that he escorted him to the hospital. But no hospital recorded that the older Osborn checked in. His dad had completely vanished.
Harry was on his own. He had no contact with his mother should the news cross to her. He had no girl to express his sorrows to. OsCorp was becoming anxious without its head leader. Any problems in his personal life seemed meager. He knew what he had to do. Sitting in the shared living room of the apartment, he saw his roommate entering.
“Listen, Peter,” he called as he stood up. “I hafta go down to the police station. I need to file an official missing person report for my dad. You know, since he’s been missing awhile and… I could use a little company—”
“Sorry, Harry,” Peter hurriedly replied. “I gotta do work for The Bugle.”
He scurried to his bedroom and locked the door. Unknown to his roommate, Peter was slipping into his blue and red costume with the cobweb theme. The young Osborn was unaware of him exiting from the bedroom window to track foes he believed he created. He was also ignorant of how mentioning his father angered him.
Dismissing the incident, Harry went alone. He replayed that day over and over in his head. He dropped his heat against Peter after it burned up from the unexpected fire. On the forum that asked the last time he saw his father, he placed down his birth date.
“So Peter is Spider-Man?” Harry asked. He tried to sound unfettered. “So what? What good does that scoop do me?”
It seemed like the young heir was shaking off the skepticism. The Green Goblin noted that. He needed to wheedle out the remaining hesitation. “If you want to know where your father is, you’ll need to be rid of Parker.”
“How? Kick him out of the apartment? Threaten to take away his scholarship?”
“It’s not enough to make Parker move from the city. You’ll need to absolutely destroy him. A bomb should do the trick.”
“Plant a bomb?!” Harry shouted. He stood in shock and disbelief. His eyes spotted the weapons already assembled. “No, I can’t do that! That would make me a criminal! What would my father think? No! That’s asking too much!”
Despite the man missing, Norman’s approval was what Harry strived for. The Green Goblin planned to use that. “It’s what he needs. I was Norman’s friend. Now I want to be yours. That’s why I’m helping you.”
Harry shook his head. He tried to cast aside the specter. “Spider-Man—Peter—went against you. You kidnapped all those OsCorp board members. Including my father!”
“I’m not the bad guy here,” the man sternly claimed. “Remember! They were the ones intending to vote your father from OsCorp. Outta his own company! Your father was simply doing what he could. What he needed to do.”
He was losing his temper. No one else could see him. No one else could hear him. He couldn’t permit his only opportunity to slip through his grasp. “I’m the only one who knows where your father is. If you want that, you’ll need to do me an incentive.”
Once he was sure the web-head was defeated, he could guide his son in bringing him out. He was eager to escape the limbo he was trapped in. He had a crime wave to continue.
Harry had no other leads in finding his parent. What The Green Goblin had said disentangled all the lies spouted by Peter. There was one piece of information Harry did have. He thought back to what he found: Spider-Man’s mask in Peter’s dresser. His mind couldn’t fathom any explanation. Peter wasn’t the type to stage his photos. He was a good guy.
At least, that was what Harry thought…. until Peter stole Mary Jane away from him.
Harry impatiently waited by the phone. Standing alone in his cozy living room, his mind still buzzed from that unexpected kidnapping. However, he had something of greater importance to focus on. He stared at the ring held in his palm. The ceiling lights glowed against the gold, sparkled on the rock. Such an exquisite piece of jewelry wasn’t cheap. He couldn’t propose with his own parents’ rings. They had divorced. He also didn’t know where that ring went. Despite his efforts, his redheaded fiancée returned the ring. He awaited her explanation.
He wanted to hear her out. Though she initially rejected his advances, she finally accepted. He believed all was going well for them. Their dates went unblemished. He had saved her from that grotesque spider-like beast. She even got along with his father, a man difficult to please. He grew confused to what changed her mind. But a part of him was already aware of her reason.
The phone didn’t need to ring a second time. “Mary Jane?”
“Harry,” the other line said. “About us… It’s not gonna work out.”
He felt his heart race, gripping with fear and dread. “How can you say that?! You’re my fiancée!”
“I can’t be that anymore. We’re two different people. We want different things. You’re a great guy. You’ll make any other girl happy. As for me… there are circumstances….”
He heard her account. He carried his suspicions. His eyes narrowed. Clutching the phone, his tone darkened. “It’s Peter, isn’t it?”
Silence was his answer. And it was all he needed to confirm it.
“Harry, please,” she begged. “Don’t do this. He’s your best friend—”
“Best friend?! Ha! Harold Theopolis Osborn has none!”
“Harry, listen—”
“You know what? Fine! Have fun dating that bookworm! I hope you two have your happily ever after!”
He slammed down the phone on its hooks. Embittered, he stared at the ring. An item fashioned to symbolize a cycle of love had broken for them. He thought he had found happiness. He had only come across more misery. Misery and betrayal. Betrayal done by those he thought were his friends. Shutting his angered eyes, he yelled. He tossed it, not caring where it landed. He stormed out of the room.
He was unaware of his father eavesdropping.
The young Osborn’s body began to tense. He felt crossed. The one he proposed to rejected him. She was happy to be in the arms of someone else. She tried to dissuade his grudge. He threw back her answer, a lie if she didn’t feel the same way. He was unaware of how powerful the green gas was influencing his paranoia.
The Green Goblin knew what the young man was thinking. “Your father did what he could to protect you.”
“He would work late…” Harry muttered, succumbing to his own Goblin side. “To keep me clothed… and fed.”
“To send you to a good school… Allow you to be roommates with that atrocious fiend Peter Parker.”
The name was starting to rub Harry the wrong way. He never wanted to see that face again.
“Peter is the enemy,” The Green Goblin coaxed.
“Peter is the enemy,” Harry repeated.
The reflection grinned. He was glad to see the young Osborn carrying out his destiny. The same formula now ran through him. Though Harry didn’t know it yet, a greater connection existed between father and son.
“Go to where I tell you,” the man commanded. “Assemble the bomb and place it on Parker’s door handle. When he places in his key and unlocks the door…It’ll be the end of him.”
“Because Peter… is Spider-Man….”
There was no one there for Harry. The only one he could trust was The Green Goblin. While following the mad criminal could lead him to Norman, reluctant as he was, it involved a heinous plot: Destroying Spider-Man. The arachnid hero was his so-called best friend. Harry would be eliminating Peter. But that might be a small price to pay in order to find his missing father.
The End