[Happy Hogan's Condo. The Living Room.]
The condo was a buzz of science and anxiety.
The Fabricator—a Stark Industries 3D printer—whirred, printing a replacement inhibitor chip.
"It fits," Peter Parker (Tom Holland) said, snapping the new chip onto the back of Doc Ock's neck.
The nanotech tentacles stopped glowing red. They turned a calm white.
Otto Octavius blinked. The voices in his head were gone.
"It's... quiet," Otto whispered. He looked at Peter. "Peter? You're all grown up."
"It worked," Peter grinned. He looked at Sebastian. "See? We can save them."
Sebastian stood by the window, arms crossed. "One down. Four to go. Do not celebrate yet, Master Parker."
[The Turn]
Peter moved to cure Electro next.
"Max," Peter held up a device. "This will drain the excess electricity. You'll be normal again."
"Normal?" Max hesitated.
In the back of the room, Norman Osborn stood up. He wasn't looking at Peter. He was looking at the Fabricator.
"That's impressive," Norman said, his voice dropping into a guttural growl. "But I don't think I want to be fixed."
Sebastian's head snapped toward him. He smelled the chemical shift. The serum boiling in the blood.
"Peter," Sebastian warned, stepping away from the window. "Step away from him."
"What?" Peter asked.
"The passenger has taken the wheel," Sebastian's eyes flashed fuchsia.
Norman grinned. It was a rictus of pure insanity. "The demon smells it! He smells the power!"
"Norman?" Peter asked.
"Norman's on sabbatical, honey!" The Goblin shrieked.
[The Fight: Demon vs. Monster]
Goblin lunged. He didn't aim for Peter. He aimed for the Fabricator. He wanted to destroy the hope.
CRASH.
Sebastian intercepted him.
It wasn't even close. Sebastian moved faster than the eye could follow. He caught the Goblin's fist mid-air.
Goblin's eyes widened. He possessed the strength of ten men. He had crushed skulls with this hand. But Sebastian was holding it like it was a child's toy.
"You are strong," Sebastian whispered, his face inches from Goblin's. "For a lab experiment."
Sebastian twisted his wrist.
SNAP.
Goblin howled, but he didn't retreat. He laughed. "Finally! A challenge!"
Goblin swung with his other hand. Sebastian ducked, delivering a palm strike to Goblin's chest that sent the super-soldier flying backward through a drywall partition.
"Peter! Secure the cures!" Sebastian ordered, not breaking his stance. "I will handle the pest."
"Max!" Goblin yelled from the rubble. "Do you want to go back to being a nobody? Or do you want to be a GOD?"
Electro looked at the device in Peter's hand. He looked at the power flowing through him.
"I like the new me," Electro decided.
He ripped the device off his chest.
BOOM.
A massive blast of yellow electricity exploded outward.
Sebastian was about to finish Goblin, but he saw the lightning arc toward Aunt May.
"No!" Sebastian pivoted.
He leaped in front of May, taking the full force of Electro's blast.
ZZZZZT.
It was like being hit by a star. Sebastian's coat disintegrated. His skin smoked. But he didn't move. He absorbed the voltage, grounding it through his demonic durability.
"Go!" Sebastian yelled to May. "Run!"
[The Glider]
While Sebastian was tanking Electro's lightning, the Green Goblin recovered. He whistled.
Outside the window, the Glider engines roared.
"The Butler is occupied!" Goblin cackled.
The Glider smashed through the glass. It wasn't aiming for Sebastian. It was aiming for the fray.
Doc Ock tried to grab it, but Electro blasted him out of the window.
Peter was fighting the Lizard.
Sebastian shook off the lightning. He grabbed Electro by the throat and slammed him into the floor.
"Stay down!" Sebastian roared.
But behind him, the Goblin hopped onto his Glider. He pulled a Pumpkin Bomb.
"Peter!" Goblin yelled.
He threw the bomb. Not at Peter. Not at Sebastian.
At the Fabricator.
"NO!" Peter dove to save the machine.
The bomb exploded. Smoke filled the room.
In the confusion, Goblin flew his Glider low. He scooped up a Pumpkin Bomb and looked at May, who was running for the door.
"Poor Peter," Goblin whispered. "Too weak to do what needs to be done."
He threw the bomb.
Sebastian saw it. He was across the room, holding down Electro. He was too far. He threw a silver knife, trying to deflect the bomb mid-air.
Clang.
The knife hit the bomb, knocking it off course.
It didn't hit May directly. It hit the floor next to her.
BOOM.
The floor collapsed. May fell into the rubble of the lobby below.
"MAY!" Peter screamed.
[The Escape]
Goblin laughed. "Gods don't choose! We take!"
He flew out the window. Electro flew out after him. Sandman turned into a dust storm and fled.
Sebastian stood in the ruined condo. He was burned, his clothes in tatters, but he was standing.
He walked to the hole in the floor.
He saw Peter holding May in the rubble downstairs.
Sebastian closed his eyes. He had won the fight. He had beaten the Goblin. He had tanked the lightning.
But the Master's aunt was still down.
He leaped down to the lobby.
Peter was crying. "May? May?"
May opened her eyes. She looked fine. She dusted herself off. "I'm okay. I'm okay, Peter. Just a scratch."
Sebastian sniffed the air.
He smelled internal bleeding. Massive organ failure.
"Master Parker," Sebastian said softly, stepping closer. "She is... not okay."
"I'm fine," May insisted, standing up. "Peter... you did the right thing. Trying to help them."
"I should have sent them back," Peter sobbed.
"No," May grabbed his hand. "With great power... there must also come great responsibility."
She smiled.
And then she collapsed.
"May?" Peter caught her. "May?!"
Sebastian took off his ruined tailcoat. He draped it over her body as the life faded from her eyes.
He stood guard as the S.W.A.T. team sirens wailed in the distance. He didn't run. He just watched the boy lose his world.
"I am sorry, Peter," Sebastian whispered. "I could stop the monster. But I could not stop the tragedy."
[End of Chapter 61]
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