Arachnoblast: I'm Fourteen This is Ridiculous

Chapter 9: The Green Goblin's Offer

Arachnoblast released a pent-up sigh that turned into a cheer as she swung through the city on patrol. Nothing made her feel more free than swinging and leaping from building to building on a bright, clear day. She paused as alarm bells started ringing in her head and her arms broke into goosebumps. She quickly turned to find the source of her discomfort: a group of five men clad in all black crowding into a small corner store. They were shifty-eyed types, a type Arachnoblast had learned to recognize to the point where she didn't need her spider sense to tell that they were up to no good. Arachnoblast swung down and calmly walked into the store.

It was a quaint little juice bar with a large lemon-shaped sign that read "Squeeze the Day." The lemon print walls had black-and-white photos and various framed newspapers on them, one bearing the clear headline, "Newsies Stop the World!" Arachnoblast grinned in excitement under her mask. She had stumbled upon a Newsies-themed juice bar. Before she could finish her personal vow to become a frequent and valuable customer, one of the shifty-eyed men pulled out a gun and pointed it at the cashier.

"Hand over the money in the register!" he shouted.

The poor cashier, a pale teenage boy with curly red hair, was about to comply when Arachnoblast loudly cleared her throat.

"My, aren't you original!" she exclaimed sarcastically when everyone in the shop turned toward her. "'Shut up and give me all your money!' Really strikes fear into my heart. You must be an expert crook." Arachnoblast smiled with satisfaction under her mask. Since the festival a few days ago, she'd been working on her quips, and now it was finally paying off.

"It's that chick with the freak powers!" one of the men in black cried. "Get her!"

"Once again, so creative," Arachnoblast said with casual sarcasm as the men rushed to attack her.

As one crook tried to bodyslam her, Arachnoblast speedily hopped onto his back and kicked him into a wall, using her momentum to slam into the next approaching crook. She forcefully dug her elbow into his gut, then, when he doubled over in pain, hugging his stomach, she webbed his head to his knees and pushed him over.

As the last three men somewhat hesitantly charged, Arachnoblast looked at the cashier and calmly suggested, "Hey, man, you might wanna dial 911 right about now. My hands are a bit full." With this last comment, she webbed the heads of two of the men and swung them to slam together into the third. "Oh, and for the record, it's Arachnoblast," Arachnoblast told the dazed crooks as she wiped her hands together in a cocky, job-well-done manner. For good measure, Arachnoblast hogtied the crooks with webs, then waved cheerily as she swung off into the city.

It felt good to save people like that. Not only because of the thrill of swinging onto the scene and fighting a bunch of men twice her size, but also because of the knowledge that a small establishment like that cute juice bar had to worry a little less about finances and the employees could feel a little safer, and she even helped Peter by posing for his camera so he could sell more pictures to the Bugle. That was why she did this. Because she could, and she was getting better. With great power comes great responsibility. Not a day went by that Kelsey didn't think of that phrase or the loss of Captain Stacy. Donning the mask and swinging in to save the day, this was a power that only Kelsey had. It was her responsibility, and she took it very seriously. Unfortunately, she seemed to be the only one taking her superpowers seriously.

Arachnoblast stopped on a rooftop and sighed as she sat down, thinking about the Green Goblin and pondering her suspicions again. Her dad had been there when Ben had said that phrase about power and responsibility. He knew that using gifts for good was important. So how could he be the Goblin? How could he cause so much destruction and murder innocent people when he had raised his own daughter on stories of morality and heroes? It just didn't add up, except for his convenient disappearances right before the Goblin's appearances, as well as the fact that the Green Goblin was clearly insane and likely not in control of his own mind, not to mention the fact that Arachnoblast had no other possible leads.