Chapter 31: The Spider Tyrant
The smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing a black-clad figure landing silently beside the fallen Spider-Man.
"Peter," the figure, Talon, whispered, his voice modulated by the suit. "Don't use my name. I don't want Osborn to know who I am."
"What should I call you, then?" Spider-Man rasped, his strength spent.
"Call me... the Spider Tyrant."
The name fit. He wielded a spider's power, but with a brutal, dominating force. Spider-Man was a hero; the Spider Tyrant was a force.
"Okay... Spider Tyrant," Peter conceded weakly. "I'm done. I need to recover. He's all yours."
"Leave him to me."
Talon wanted to test the limits of his new abilities. The Green Goblin, arrogant and unhinged, was the perfect subject.
Hovering above, the Green Goblin looked down and let out a mocking cackle. "Another spider to crush!"
"I think you're the one who's about to be crushed," Talon retorted.
Before the Goblin could spit another taunt, a web line shot out, wrapping tightly around his neck. The force of the pull was immense, yanking him and his glider downward. If not for his boots being locked to the glider, he would have been ripped from it entirely.
Talon pulled harder, dragging the Goblin another meter through the air. "You mock me with such pitiful strength? You're an insult to villains everywhere."
Enraged and humiliated, the Goblin thought of a command. Two machine gun barrels emerged from the sides of his glider.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Talon released the web and leaped aside, the bullets chewing up the concrete where he'd stood. He immediately fired two more lines, both striking the Goblin's armor and pulling him into another awkward bow.
"Damn you, you black pest!" the Goblin snarled.
"The name is Spider Tyrant," Talon stated coldly, releasing the webs and dodging another burst of gunfire. He fired again with both wrists, the webs striking true once more.
"I'll blow your head off, 'Spider Tyrant'!" the Goblin screamed, losing all composure. He was being toyed with, his dignity shredded in front of the watching city.
"Then come down here!" Talon roared, putting his full strength into a final, mighty pull.
The Green Goblin was hauled out of the sky, crashing onto the street. The moment he landed, Talon was on him.
A powerful punch to the helmet snapped the Goblin's head to the side. An elbow strike to the neck elicited a choked cry. A shoulder check sent him stumbling back. Before he could fall, Talon grabbed his wrist and yanked him forward. Spinning, he executed a perfect judo throw, slamming the Goblin onto the pavement with enough force to crack it.
The Goblin lay there, groaning, temporarily stunned.
Talon placed a foot on his chest, the weight denting the advanced armor. He looked down, his voice a calm, chilling contrast to the violence. "Do you still feel like laughing?"
The Goblin's armor began its automated recovery protocols. Seizing his chance, he sent a mental command. His glider, hovering nearby, spun its guns toward Talon's back.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
But Talon was already moving, his spider-sense and foresight from the films allowing him to anticipate the betrayal. He dodged the barrage effortlessly.
The Goblin leaped back onto his glider and shot into the air. His strength wasn't in brawling; it was in his technology. He would kill this new spider from a distance.
Not letting him get away, Talon fired a web line that attached to the glider. He pulled hard, using the tension to launch himself into the air after his foe.
"Damn it!" the Goblin spat, pulling two throwing knives from his belt. He hurled one at Talon and used the other to sever the web line.
Talon, unwilling to risk the blades' poison, snagged the incoming knife with a web of his own and flicked it away. As the Goblin cut the first line, Talon fired another, pulling himself up to grab the glider's edge.
A triumphant grin spread across the Goblin's face. He sent another command. A powerful electric current surged through the glider's frame.
"Gah!" Talon convulsed, his grip locked by the electricity.
"Now you're finished!" the Goblin cackled, slowly drawing another poisoned blade, aiming for Talon's hand.
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Talon managed to fire a web line down to the street. With a final, Herculean effort, he pulled.
The sudden, unexpected weight jerked the glider violently downward, spoiling the Goblin's aim. The motion also broke Talon's contact, and he fell, landing hard on the street below.
His body smoked, his hair standing on end. "That... hurt," he growled, the pain fueling a cold, focused rage. "Now I'm angry."
Spider-Man, having caught his breath, ran over. "Spider Tyrant! Let's take him together!"
Talon shoved him back with one hand, his eyes locked on the hovering Goblin. "No. He's mine."
The Green Goblin, now at a safe altitude of a hundred meters, taunted him. "Come up and fight, if you can! Or are you just a ground-bound insect?"
"You think height is a defense?" Talon's voice was dangerously calm.
"Don't you? Catch this, then!" The Goblin laughed, launching a small, guided missile from his glider. It streaked down, its target locked on the black-clad figure standing defiantly in the street.
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