Not This Time

1

"Norman?" Otto called out, his eyes tracing over the dark water below.

The remnants of a battle faded as the spell was reversed, broken scaffolding and jagged rocks morphing into their home universe's untouched Statue of Liberty.

The midnight moon did nothing helpful except illuminate the harsh shadows cast by the waves.

Within seconds Otto surmised that since he had appeared exactly where he had been in the other Peter's universe, Norman was-

"Norman!" Otto called again, somehow spotting a small disturbance in the already choppy water.

The actuators made short work of scaling down the side of the (now cracked) statue, their frantic pace set by the echoes of panic in Otto's mind.

"Norman!" He called out again, grimacing against the icy rush as two arms plunged after the dark shape just below the surface of the water.

Norman's bony figure emerged from the water, hanging limply from the actuator's grip.

"Hey... wake up." Otto kneeled behind him to support as the actuators tried, and failed, to get Norman to sit on his own.

A fresh wave of panic gripped Otto as he shoved his wrist into Norman's abdomen. "Breathe, please-"

Norman spluttered for a second before retching up the salt water he had inhaled... following it up with violent coughing.

Otto sighed in relief, nearly missing Norman's raspy voice, rough from the salt.

"Come again?"

"You should have left me." Norman coughed softly, a faraway look in his eyes. His hair dripped freezing water onto the pale green of his armor.  "He was just a boy, and the way he looked at me-"

"Norman, no."

"After everything I've done-"

"It wasn't you." Otto interjected, placing his hand on Norman's shoulder and squeezing gently.

"Wasn't it? Wasn't he?" Norman wouldn't turn his head to meet Otto's eyes and instead stared off into the distance. "I don't even know what I did to Peter."

Otto briefly rose to his feet and settled in front of the smaller man, his hand never leaving his shoulder.

He was not about to dig into the philosophy of where Osborn stopped and the Goblin began.

"No." Otto tilted his head to catch the others' eyes before he could turn away again. "You would never do the things he's done."

"So it was horrible then." Norman let out a soft disappointed sigh as he stood. "As I said before-"

"Absolutely not."

The dim light of a handheld lantern crept over the grassy hills just as Norman opened his mouth to retaliate.

"Who's there?" A voice interrupted the silence. "I'll call the police!"

Otto gave a quick look over to Norman before an actuator wrapped securely around his waist.

"Time to go."