Previously, Peter Parker took a road trip to L.A. to reconcile with his wife, Mary Jane. While Peter was gone, he left New York in the hands of his clone, Ben Reilly. But when an emergency came up and Ben couldn’t make it, Peter’s student A.J. Michaels stepped up, ‘borrowed’ one of Peter’s Spider-Man suits, and went to save the day.

A.J.’s ruse worked, for the most part but, A.J. left the scene before finding out that his brother, Drew, had been shot saving May Parker’s life. And now, to make things worse, the Hobgoblin thinks that A.J. is the real Spider-Man and is out for blood…

A GOBLIN’S TALE

By Tobias Christopher

The Hobgoblin hovered over A.J. on his goblin glider, his laugh echoing through the alley. A.J. was wearing the black Spider-Man costume, having had to pretend to be Spider-Man in order to save a group of people being held hostage.

My name is Rhett Carson and I swore I’d never kill someone, so why am I willing to kill Spider-Man lately? Maybe it’s the goblin serum that Norman Osborn injected me with. Ever since I underwent that experiment, I’ve been finding myself filled with rage that I’m barely able to control.

A.J. tried to pick himself up and fire a few balls of impacted webbing at the Hobgoblin, but found that the cartridges were empty. “Damn.” He felt one of his stitches had popped, which would be the first of many if he didn’t get out of that alley. He tried to run as the Hobgoblin tossed several pumpkin bombs in front of him. They exploded, sending A.J. flying back.

I wasn’t always like this. This new life is just a result of a series of extremely stupid decisions. In fact, I can remember the decision that triggered all of this…

Several Years Earlier

14 year old Rhett Carson sat in the back of the van between his older brother Ryan and his younger brother Richie. There was a three year age difference between all the brothers, who were on a hunting trip with their father.

Our family was never really very rich, but Dad always found a way to afford our yearly hunting trip. It was going to be Richie’s first year going out with us, all the Carson men, together at last in the family tradition. Richie looked up to me, just like I looked up to Ryan. Yeah, we fought and had our differences, but what brothers didn’t?

“Ryan and I are going to scout the area and set up the deer bait,” their father said as he looked at Rhett. “Keep an eye on Richie until we get back.”

As the two headed off, Rhett smiled at his younger brother. “Come on, let’s get started setting up.”

Shortly, the two had gotten the supplies out and set up the best they could. Richie pulled out his rifle and looked at it. “When do I get to use this?”

“You heard what Dad said,” Rhett told him. “When we’re ready to start hunting and not before.”

“Think I’ll bag a big deer?” asked Ryan as he held up his rifle and looked through the scope.

“All this time and Ryan’s the only one who’s ever really bagged a deer,” replied Rhett as he sighed, watching his younger brother holding the gun. He stood behind Richie and helped him aim.”Here, hold it like this, but be careful; your gun has a hair trigger. It’s the same one Ryan and I used on our first trips, but Dad never got it fixed.”

“Rhett, I see something!” shouted Richie as he continued to look through the scope. “I see a deer! I have a clear shot.”

“Ryan, you do not have a clear shot, no one has a clear shot their first time,” replied Rhett with a laugh as he looked with his binoculars. He saw something moving that looked like deer antlers. “I–I think that is a deer, but we need to wait for Dad to–”

BANG!

Rhett looked over, seeing Richie had fired off the gun. “It was an accident, I swear! I barely even touched the trigger!”

A screaming was heard in the field and, soon after, the boy’s father came running to them, holding Ryan’s body in his arms. Their father was covered in blood and Ryan was unmoving.

“Fight back, damn you!” shouted the Hobgoblin as he punched A.J., sending him flying into the wall. “Fight!”

A.J. just felt his second stitch pop. His body was already sore and he could barely stand as it was but, if he gave up, he’d surely be killed. He tried to use the last of his energy to toss a garbage can lid at the Hobgoblin, who laughed off his attempts.

“Is that your only trick, Spider-Lame?” asked Hobgoblin as he pulled out another pumpkin bomb. “I’m disappointed…I thought this would be much more fun.”

The goblin serum had to be what’s making me do this. I’ve never wanted to kill anyone. I swore that I never would, not after that day…

14-year old Rhett was sitting in the police station, having told everyone what had happened.

“I did it,” Rhett told the officers. “I shot Ryan. It was an accident. I thought I saw the deer antlers and–I didn’t know!”

Rhett had forced Richie into keeping the secret. As far as the world, and especially their family, was concerned, Rhett had killed Ryan.

If everyone thought Richie had killed Ryan, they’d never let him be. He’d be under constant scrutiny and they’d probably even want to lock him away. I wasn’t going to let them do that to my little brother. I decided that day that it would be better if I took the blame for Ryan’s death. Richie begged me to let them know the truth but I made him promise that he’d never tell anyone that he was the one who killed Ryan. Even if that meant that my parents stopped loving me, which is pretty much what happened…

Dad stopped talking to me completely, and Mom…you could tell that losing her oldest son was eating away at her. This was what I had to spare Richie from. He quickly became the favorite son. I spent four years being ignored and forced into therapy sessions, constantly being barraged with hatred and insults over what had happened, all the while trying my best to get into a far away college. I wasn’t the brightest student but I had to get away from this life…

Hobgoblin was about to attack A.J. again with the pumpkin bomb when he was slammed from behind by the Scarlet Spider, sending him flying toward the ground.

“What’s the matter, Hobgoblin, can’t tell the difference between the real spiders and the civilians?” asked Scarlet Spider as he stuck to the wall.

“Two spiders against one? I like those odds,” said Hobgoblin as his glider flew down and retrieved him. “Don’t worry…I’ve got more than enough bombs for you both!”

“Rhett, get out of there,” Osborn ordered over the earpiece. “Go back to May! That’s an order.”

“But I can take them!” shouted Hobgoblin.

“I said get out of there,” replied Osborn. “Don’t make me tell you again.”

“Who’s he talking to?” asked Scarlet Spider as he shot several balls of webbing at Hobgoblin, which he dodged. Pulling out a smoke bomb, he tossed it to the ground, laughing as he disappeared into the smoke.

“This fight isn’t over,” said Hobgoblin as he got ready to disappear into the sewers.

“Oh, no you don’t,” said Scarlet Spider as he shot a spider tracer into the smoke, hoping it would hit its mark. By the time the smoke cleared, Hobgoblin was gone. A.J. was trying to pick himself up when Scarlet Spider webbed his feet to the ground so he couldn’t run away. “Stay put, I want to have a talk with you.”

You know what the best part of starting over in a whole new town is? No one knows you’re an accused murderer who’s been covering for his little brother. When I got to New York to start college, separated from my family by several states, I started to feel like things might finally start looking up for me. Plus, with me gone, there would be nothing to stop Richie from having a normal life.

And for a while, it did. I was going to school, making friends, even joined a fraternity. But it was during initiation that I made another mistake I’d end up paying for to this day…

Rhett climbed down into the manhole of the sewer system in nothing but his boxers. His task was to spend the night there with nothing but a flashlight. Looking around the dirty, slimy, surroundings, Rhett made his way around, hoping there weren’t any rats or alligators down there with him.

Getting nervous about his initiation, Rhett thought about giving up and going back topside but just then he saw it up ahead. It was a radioactive green light that seemed to be calling to him. Wandering toward it, Rhett arrived at what appeared to be a solid wall. Putting his hand on it, the wall slid open, revealing a hidden room.

Inside was a large cache of weapons, gadgets and equipment. Hanging on the wall were several yellow and orange costumes and, in the center of the room, hung a glider.

“What the hell is all of this?” asked Rhett as he felt the intense cold of the room getting to him. Grabbing one of the costumes and cloaks and putting it around his body to keep warm, Rhett started looking around the room. He saw the pumpkin bombs on the wall and slowly reached out to touch one. As he picked one up, he was grabbed from behind and slammed up against the wall by his throat.

“Who are you?” asked Roderick Kingsley, the previous Hobgoblin, as he squeezed Rhett’s throat tighter “How did you find this place? What’s the matter, Goblin got your tongue?”

Kingsley cackled wickedly as Rhett struggled to breathe. He pushed the button on the pumpkin bomb in his hand and shoved it down Kingsley’s shirt. It detonated and blew Kingsley back against the wall where the other pumpkin bombs were stashed. They fell to the ground and started exploding around him, setting the rest of the lair on fire quickly.

Rhett saw that there was now no way out but up. Jumping onto the glider, he quickly figured out how to get it to rise. As he headed upward, he saw Kingsley was still alive but buried under the debris of the destroyed lair.

“I’ll kill you boy!” shouted Kingsley. “Do you hear me!? I’ll find you and your family, and I’ll rip your organs out! No one does this to the Hobgoblin!”

Once again, I’d screwed things up. Now I had a homicidal maniac after me and I had no one to turn to. That is until I was packing my things to get out of town. I was going to go into hiding where no one could find me and hope that, if I disappeared, my family would stay safe. As I was packing my roommate told me of a group of people who could help me if I could find them.

The Pride. I didn’t know who they were or what they did, and I didn’t really care as long as they could keep me and my family safe, so I made a deal. I’d work for them and round up their kids who’d run away or something. Like I said, I didn’t care. My only rule was that I didn’t have to kill anyone.

But these kids were a lot tougher than I thought and I failed. Because I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain, the Pride cut me loose. After that, it didn’t take Kingsley too long to find me. I guess the Pride let him know where I was because he got me less than two days after they told me I was no longer needed.

Kingsley tortured me relentlessly for days. He kept me trapped in a tiny cage with no food, water or toilet. Then there were the beatings…sometimes they’d last for a few minutes, others for hours on end. It got to the point where I just wished he’d kill me, but death never came.

Just when I thought things were never going to get better…they did… slightly. Norman Osborn rescued me and offered me a sweet deal, including free room, board and education, and he’d keep Kingsley off my back. All I had to do was occasionally fight Spider-Man and a few other tasks. As long as he doesn’t ask me to kill someone, things will be great.

But the serum he injected me with…it’s like it makes my rage stronger whenever I get mad. I was able to control it at first, but lately…it’s getting harder and harder to resist the urge to kill, especially when I’m fighting Spider-Man. I don’t know how much longer I can control this.

May heard moaning and walked back into the supply closet and found Rhett.

“What are you doing back here?” asked May as she rushed to him.

“Looking for some aspirin or something,” moaned Rhett as he lay against the wall.

“I’m taking you to the hospital,” replied May as she put an arm around him. “The ambulance is outside waiting. Come on.”

For some reason, this sweet old lady seems to calm me down. I really like being around her and, if I can get rid of her nephews, I’ll have her all to myself…

Meanwhile, Ben and A.J. were sitting on the top of a nearby building, both having unmasked as they talked.

“What was going through your mind, kid?” asked Ben as he looked over at the young man, who was still wearing the black suit. “You could have been killed.”

“I just–I just wanted to help,” replied A.J. as he stared down at the street below. “Drew’s all I have. If I lost him…”

“And what would happen if he lost you?” asked Ben as he put a hand on A.J.’s shoulder. “Peter’s told me a lot of good things about you, kid. You have a good heart but sometimes thinking with it isn’t the best decision. You need to leave the hero thing to me and Peter.”

A tear fell down A.J.’s face. “I’m sorry. You’re going to tell Mr. Parker, aren’t you? Then he’s going to hate me for borrowing his costume.”

“Pete’s not going to hate you because I’m not going to tell him,” replied Ben. “I’ll tell him it was me that borrowed the suit. But you have to promise me that you’ll never do this kind of thing again. I can tell why Pete likes you so much, and neither of us wants to see you die.”

“What’s the difference in how I die? If I didn’t die tonight, the cancer will probably end up killing me at some point, anyway,” said A.J. in a low tone.

“Stop talking like that,” ordered Ben as made A.J. face him. “Damnit, kid, you just faced down three armed men and got your ass handed to you by the Hobgoblin! Are you telling me that you’re going to let something like cancer beat you after this?”

“I don’t–” A.J. started to say as Ben cut him off.

“No excuses, kid, if you’re good enough to play hero, you’re good enough to kick cancer’s ass,” replied Ben as he sighed while rubbing the back of his head as he made a decision he knew he’d regret. “Look…you gotta promise not to tell Peter, but…if you swear you’ll never go out and put yourself in the line of fire… I’ll teach you to work the webshooters, maybe even rig you up a pair for protection purposes, like Pete gave to his wife. But you can never–EVER–pull this kind of stunt again. Promise?”

“I–I promise,” replied A.J. as he perked up. “Thanks, Mr. Reilly.”

“The ‘Mr.’ is reserved for your teacher, you can call me Ben,” Ben told him with a smile. “Now come on, I’ll take you home before I drop off the costume back at Pete’s.”

Osborn was staring out the window of his penthouse when he got the phone call.

“That was quick,” replied Osborn in a flat tone. “I like your initiative. What did you find out?”

Turning on his computer, he opened the e-mail containing the security footage of the alleyway where A.J. had changed out of his street clothes. “You’ll be well rewarded for this. Erase every copy of this tape; I want no one knowing what I know.”

Hanging up, Osborn looked at the screen. “Young man, you’ve just signed up to help me destroy Peter Parker.”

Ben was sitting on the couch of Flash’s apartment while A.J. was changing out of the costume in the bathroom. He turned on the news report of the crisis at the F.E.A.S.T. Center earlier that evening.

“Of the two victims that were shot, Rhett Carson, only turned out to have been grazed by the bullet. However, the other victim, Drew Michaels, is in extremely critical condition after being shot in the back of the head while protecting an elderly woman from the bullet.”

“Oh my God,” said Ben as A.J. exited the bathroom wearing his street clothes. The costume was in a bag along with the webshooters.

“Everything’s here,” said A.J. as he saw the expression on Ben’s face.”The cartridges are empty, though, I guess I used them up on the robbers. Ben, what’s wrong?”

“A.J., sit down,” said Ben as he tried to stay calm. “It was just on the news…it’s about Drew.”

From outside of Flash’s apartment, A.J.’s anguished cries were heard moments before Ben pulled him into a comforting hug so he could have a shoulder to cry on.

To Be Continued…When Peter & the gang return from L.A. in a few issues!