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The Goblins hover over me like a group of mechanical Michael Myers's. They stare. They wait. They don't move. They merely survey me with a cold, calculating glare that says "You're not getting out of this one." Up until now I've been lucky. The WEB has kept me one step ahead of these beasts for the months they've been out on the streets, but even Peter knew that they would catch up with me eventually. Norman Osborn may be a blowhard, but the man is the definition of a genius. If he says something will be able to hunt me down, then that thing is absolutely going to do just that.

At least until I beat them in a fight.

The biggest problem with that thought is that I haven't really seen them in a fight. Sure, I studied the YouTube promotional videos and commercials Oscorp put out to drum up business in the international community, but that only gave me the basics. I know what kind of weaponry they have, but not how they use it or what kind of formations they work in. 

Such are the perils of having a superscientist's attention, I guess.

[color=00a651][i]"Well, well, well,"[/i][/color] a voice comes out of the green Goblin, emanating from a speaker system inside the chassis. [color=00a651][i]"We've finally got you. Will you come peacefully, Spider-Woman?"[/i][/color]

I know that voice. I've heard it many times before calling from his lab while we were playing or hanging out at Harry's house. Norman Osborn is watching me right now, probably from some control room at Oscorp.

[color=ec008c][b]"Well, according to you that's not my style,"[/b][/color] I call back, trying my best to make sure he doesn't recognize my voice. Then again, Norman's been in his own little world for as long as I've known him. I'm surprised to this day that he remembers what I look like. The chance of him making me by just hearing me is slim. [color=ec008c][b]"Maybe just this once I'll live up to what you think of me, Normie."[/b][/color]

[color=00a651][i]"You have something that belongs to my company,"[/i][/color] the voice, distorted ever so slightly by the electronics, filters through the snow. [color=00a651][i]"We know your powers came from our lab. From a spider we know escaped our labs. If you allow us to study you, you will be allowed to go free."[/i][/color]

Norman's words shock me, even though they shouldn't. Of course he knows that my powers came from that damn spider form the lab. That wouldn't be some great revelation to someone like him. But the fact he wants to make a deal tells me there's something more to the whole equation that I'm not seeing. Norman's put on a show the past few months that he wants me gone. If what he really wants is to capture me, then all my assumptions go out the window.

[color=ec008c][b]"Hmmm..,"[/b][/color] I mockingly muse over the offer. [color=ec008c][b]"Nah I think I'm good."[/b][/color]

I fire a web to one of the orange Goblin's gliders. It finds it mark, and I yank the glider sideways. The other orange one has to make a maneuver in order to get out of the way, which gives me an opportunity to run.

making a break for the opening I just created, I come sliding to a stop as a fourth orange Goblin zooms up the side of the building to cut me off. I curse myself for believing that it was going to be this easy. Of course these damn things were going to be more clever than to allow me to escape when they've finally got me cornered. Looks like I will be fighting my way out of this one, whether I like it or not.

Good. It's time to show Norman Osborn what I can really do.

The Goblin that cut me off zooms towards me, and I kick off the roof of the building and launch myself in a flip over the drone. As my head passes a few inches over it, I attach a webline to its neck, and yank hard down as I make my landing, pulling the robot off its glider. The metal body clangs onto the roof, and I manage to rope the glider. With another tug, I directed the flying machine back at its rider, causing the two to crash into one another. The sound echoes through the night like a car crash, and the severed top of the robot claws at me as I crush its head like a tin can.

[color=ec008c][b]"Well, Norm,"[/b][/color] I toss the head at the green Goblin, who catches it with mechanical precision, [color=ec008c][b]"one down. Who's next?"[/b][/color]

The two remaining orange ones come at me in tandem. I manage to corkscrew out of the way of the first, but the second clips me with its glider wing, sending me careening through the air. I hit the ground, and my spider sense starts going crazy. I roll, and three bladed projectiles smash into the roof, embedding themselves into the building.

Sliding out of the way of three more, I see the bladed, bat-looking flyers coming from slots in the robots wrists. I contort and flip as more and more come my way, barely keeping away from their sharp strikes. 

There's just too many of them, however, and two slice across my left leg and right arm. I feel the searing hot pain as metal cuts cleanly through skin and muscle. I keep myself from crying out, not wanting to give Osborn the satisfaction of knowing he's hurt me. Looking down, I see the drops of blood changing the thin layer of pure white snow. First to a deep red, then, as the blood things, into a sickly pink slurry. 

One thing is for sure. If I'm going to get out of this one, I'm going to need to even the odds and quick. They're going to tear me apart if it stays 3-on-1.

[color=00a651][i]"Give up yet, Spider-Woman?"[/i][/color] Norman muses from the green unit.

I don't pay attention to him at all. Instead, I focus on the weapons that have already been fired at me, [color=ec008c][b]"You know, Norm, I think Batman may have a solid case of copyright infringement against you for these. Bat weapons are kind of his thing, no?"[/b][/color]

The only response from the Goblins is another volley of the little projectiles. Unfortunately for Osborn, he gave me a breather, and an opening to go on the offensive. If he had kept up with the offensive, he could have driven me into the ground.

Instead, I snag two of the weapons right out of the air, flipping, and flinging them back at the orange Goblins that sent them my way. The blades strike true, slicing clean through the heads of the robots. The bodies seize, before the gliders take a nose dive towards the street below.

There's no time to celebrate, however. The green one is on me in a blink, leaping off its glider and coming at me with its fists. Now I understand why this one is considered the matrix for its battle group. Its faster. Its stronger. It has me on my heels almost instantly. My injured arm and leg aren't helping things. Each time I try to block a strike or maneuver away from one, they scream with pain and protest. The glider swoops at me every time I try and escape.

An energy blade extends from the hand of the Goblin's right arm, and I gasp, [color=ec008c][b]"You invented lightsabers and you're using them for evil!"[/b][/color]

[color=00a651][i]"Enough games, Spider-Woman,"[/i][/color] the voice coming through is angry and embarrassed. Norman doesn't like the fact that I just took out three of his prize projects in the span of a few seconds. Not a very good selling point, if I were to bet. He doesn't just want to know why I am the way I am. He wants to use my capture to sell even more Goblins. Sorry that I'm gonna have to disappoint him on that end. [color=00a651][i]"It's time for you to come with me."[/i][/color]

[color=ec008c][b]"Hard pass, Osoborn,"[/b][/color] I growl back at the robot. [color=ec008c][b]"I'm gonna warn you. I've seen a lot of Star Wars movies, and I am pretty sure using a lightsaber almost always leads to losing your hand. I mean, you've lost so much money tonight already. I'd hate to wreck a whole Goblin group."[/b][/color]

That's enough taunting. The Goblin comes at me again, swinging the sword with precision. It backs me towards the edge of the roof, and I can feel the glider behind me, pinning me in. Good. That's how I want it. When I feel my heel reach the very edge of the building, I kick off it. The glider flies at me to knock me back towards the roof, and the Gobline slices at me with the sword. Instead, the energy blade rips the glider in two, and I land on the other side of the Goblin. With a swift kick to the back, I send the robot tumbling off the roof and watch as it smashes into the pavement.

I take a sigh of relief, and use some webbing to bind my wounds up.

Before I can really relax, Dad's voice comes over the comm, [color=7bcdc8]"Are you okay? I heard all of that."[/color]

[color=ec008c][b]"Yea, I'm good,"[/b][/color] I lie.

[color=7bcdc8]"I managed to follow the robber,"[/color] he responds. [color=7bcdc8]"I found where they're hanging out. Are you up for some more action."[/color]

Oh right. The robber. The whole reason I was out here tonight. Probably shouldn't have forgotten about him, huh? A girl's job is never done, especially when that girl has the proportional strength of a spider.

[color=ec008c][b]"Yea. Yea, I'm good. I'll be there soon."[/b][/color]