"Welcome back from your trip from Russia, Harry Osborn.
-@Screwball"
Harry Osborn, now inside what was once his Father's office, stared at the note on the table with Bernard next to him. Harry shook his head, still in disbelief that he was found out so fast. The only three people he told about his trip were Cindy, Lily, and Bernard.
"Perhaps, Harry, it's due to you using your father's name and gear?" Bernard pointed out, as going by the same name as his father wasn't exactly discrete. Despite this, Harry felt it was necessary to name himself after his father to symbolize his atonement. He also planned on telling the public regardless, in a similar fashion to Tony Stark.
"It's not the identity part that I'm worried about, I figured people would figure that out eventually. I was going to come out publicly soon anyways. I want to know how she knows about the trip. You maintained my public image via social media, so those on the outside would think I was still here. This person knows the Osborn family personallyโฆ but who?"
"Sir. You need to look at this." Bernard turned his laptop toward Harry, showing Screwball's most recent tweets.
๐๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ: The Osborn family thinks that they can just step into people's lives and take things that aren't theirs. Gentrification. Sabotage. Lies and bloodshed. Now his son, Harry Osborn, sits in his ivory tower and looks down on us with his father's blood money, reaping the benefits of his father taking advantage of us, the little guys. (1/2)
๐๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ: Harry Osborn. I know you're watching. I know what you are. I know you saw my letter. Now I leave you with another crumb of the bread trail to follow. Do you even know your father's secrets? What he's done? The only way you'll find out is if you're willing to educate yourself. (2/2)
Harry frowned upon reading her cryptic post. With his hands interlocked, holding up his chin, he continued glaring at the screen without saying a word. Bernard looked over at Harry's determined face, wanting to speak, but he could tell that Harry was deep in thought and didn't want to interrupt him.
Harry broke the silence between them, asking a hypothetical question. "This is supposed to be a riddle, right? Educate myselfโฆ" Harry thought about what those words could mean. Connecting the dots between his father and education, he realized that Screwball must mean the Osborn Academy: School for the Gifted. "My old high school. She must want me to go there, right? I think that makes sense."
Harry's expression was still that of a man on a mission, once again displaying how much he'd changed over the years. Bernard looks at him with a bittersweet gaze as Harry got up out of his seat. The cheery boy who Bernard helped raise was now gone, however, the determined man that he'd grown into was admirable, fit to lead the company and be New York's protector.
"Watch the house, Bernard. If she attacks our home, you know what to do." Harry walked out of the room clenching his fists, inadvertently showing off his new muscular and veiny arms upon exiting the room.
After suiting up and riding his glider to Osborn Academy, Harry noticed that there were multiple people wearing the same white and pink stunt suits as the ones from the bank. Just based on this, he knew he was definitely in the right place.
He tried calling Cindy for help a few times, but she wouldn't pick up. Understanding that he had to fly solo, he continued on with his mission.
Upon spotting the New Goblin flying toward the school, the young adults in costume all sprinted inside the building, hiding from Harry. As he watched through the feed of Harry's visor, Bernard spoke through Harry's earpiece, warning him of what was to come.
"This seems like a trap..." Lily spoke through Harry's earpiece, taking the role of Seer now that he was on the field. As he continued flying toward the school, he lifted up his visor to look down at the school with his own eyes. He then pressed down on his earpiece before speaking to his lover on the other side of the transmission.
"Yeah, I figured. It doesn't matter anyway, it's just a bunch of punk kids off social media. I can handle whatever they throw at me. Keep me updated if you see anything else from screwball." Just as Harry said this, he turned his board horizontally, stopping his momentum in a similar fashion to a snowboarder, before stepping off of his glider. He clicked down on his gloved palm using his thumb, which then sent the glider elsewhere, waiting to be called upon by him once more.
Slowly, he approached the dimly lit entrance of the school, noticing the phrase 'Educate Yourself!' sprayed onto it with red spray paint. The paint was still fresh, leading to the assumption that those Screwball fans must have just written it seconds ago. Beneath the single flickering light of the entrance, Harry placed a single hand on one of the door handles and began opening the door.
From the inside, a single one of the New Goblin's eyes could be seen as he slowly pulled the door while peeking inside. The look in that one eye spoke volumes, displaying his resentment for the ones inside.
Although the school was empty, due to him being summoned there in the middle of the night, messing with a place for children is off-limits.
Harry eventually found himself inside the chilling, dark interior of the school. The door shut behind him, enveloping the room in near-complete darkness. Harry could turn on his night vision on his visor, however, due to his training with Kraven, he had no need. They would often go out on nocturnal hunts, since most predators would be asleep, thus turning them into their prey for the night. Harry's natural nocturnal vision was now far greater than that of a normal human.
Not only was his vision enhanced, but so were his hearing and smell. In fact, all five of his sense were now improved due to Kraven's training. Inside the building, he could hear what sounds like at least twelve people breathing, moving, or whispering in what should be complete darkness.
The New Goblin took a step forward, and the sound of his boot resonated throughout the dark hallway, signaling to his prey that he was coming.
Underneath a table, in one of the classrooms, two youngsters wearing the white and pink Screwball uniforms were hiding while covering their mouths so as to not alert him with their shakey breathing. They weren't ready for him to arrive so soon. They were supposed to all be gone by the time he had arrived.
The New Goblin's footsteps could still be heard through the darkness, seemingly getting closer to the two wannabe social media influencers, causing both of their heartbeats to skyrocket.
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ-๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ
Suddenly, the footsteps ceased. Their heartbeats, however, continued to pump blood aggressively due to their adrenaline overwhelming them.
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ-๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ
There was a long pause.
The only sound that could be heard was the trembling breathing of one of the screwball devotees.
"AAAH!" One of them screeched as they were dragged into the abyss from beyond the underside of the table. His partner held her breath and closed her eyes, trembling alone in the cold, dark classroom, hoping her death would at least be swift when her turn would come.
The footsteps continued, getting closer and closer until they sounded as if they were inches away. The girl opened her eyes, only to see the New Goblin staring at her in the face, nearly at a kissing distance. The girl screamed, causing Harry's brows to frown in annoyance. Once she was done, Harry stared at her blankly before speaking to her as if she were a colleague.
"I don't really like hitting girls. Can you tell me what Screwball wants me to see so I can get this over with." The New Goblin's playboy past self presented himself as he spoke to her in a boyish tone.
"C-c-cafeteria." The girl pointed behind him, still shaking with fear despite his generosity in sparing her from unconsciousness.
"Thanks." The New Goblin stood back up, exited the room, and disappears into the abyss. His footsteps continued to echo throughout until they slowly faded into nothingness in the darkness.
Using both hands, the New Goblin pushed both cafeteria doors open, triggering lights to come on inside the room. Harry's eyes widened upon seeing the elaborate display.
There were children's bodies, although soon to be realized as fake, hanging by the neck from nooses attached to the ceiling. Harry slowly approaches them, disturbed by the imagery. A lunch table acted as the centerpiece, holding nothing more than another note for Harry in the middle of it.
As he approached the note, he looked up at the bodies and saw that they had words spray painted on them with red paint, just like the front door of the school. Each fake corpse had different words or phrases plastered on them.
"Gentrification."
"Broken Promises."
"Grooming."
"Torn Communities."
"Uneducated Youths."
Of course, Harry knew the definition of these words and phrases, but he had no idea what they could mean. He glanced down at the note waiting for him on the table, guessing that his inquiry would be answered very soon.
He grabbed the note, unfolded it, and began reading it in his head. His eyebrows furrowed, not out of anger, but out of disgust upon reading the contents of it.
It read as the following:
'Harry Osborn. Gentrification was one of your father's biggest sins as a man. This school used to be one of the largest and most diverse public schools in this city, hosting a ninety-five percent graduation rate. Do you want to know what happened? Norman Osborn decided to shut this school down and build his own private school on top of it for rich boys like you to attend. He didn't care about educating the youth, he only cared about money and grooming high school kids into joining his company. To circumvent any claims of having a non-diverse campus, he allowed minorities who passed an exam to enroll, even if they couldn't afford it.
Do you know where those students from the old school ended up? Many of them either dropped out or were forced to go to the schools where they 'belonged'. Now associated with gang violence, drugs, etc, these kids were no longer the bright students that once attended what was once such a great school. Without a supportive environment, they succumbed to violence. It's all your father's fault. Now you must deal with the sins of your father.'
In the distance, Harry could hear frantic footsteps followed by the sound of the front door closing repeatedly, as if people were escaping all at once. Within the same moment, Harry heard what sounded like bombs chiming as if they were ready to explode.
Immediately, he began pressing buttons on his palm as he sprinted out of the cafeteria. From outside, his glider crashed through one of the windows, allowing him to hop onto it and ride it through the hallways of the school.
Just as he was about to exit, he saw two of the Screwball fanatics attempting to escape. Knowing that they won't make it out in time, he grabbed their arms and dragged them behind him as he continued to ride through the halls of his old high school.
Just as the bombs exploded, Harry and the two thugs continued flying through the final hallway, bursting through the entrance as flames followed behind them.
As Harry flew through the explosion, the teens outside cheered at the school being reduced to ash and rubble. They all scattered like cockroaches, escaping into different corners of the night. Harry wasn't too worried about them, since he had two victims to interrogate in his arms already. He flew his board up to a nearby rooftop, tossing both Screwball followers onto it to interrogate them.
Before beginning his interrogation, Harry took a rope from his tool belt, and looped it in one of his belt loops, before proceeding to take the two ends and looping them around the two screwball kids' legs.
He tossed the two of them off the building, holding them up with his body's strength as they cried for their lives. Harry spoke to them, erasing his rich boy voice and replacing it with that of a vengeful warrior.
"I want answers. Speak. Whoever gives me the answer is the one that lives. Go!" Immediately after his bluff, the two began competing for their lives and speaking over each other. Harry couldn't understand a word of what they were saying. He facepalmed before interrupting them, pointing at the bigger one of the two boys.
"Chubby one. You speak first. What's the story here? Why did you fucks blow up the school?" Harry continued to speak with a more aggressive tone.
"Because! We were students before your father-"
"My father? She told you!?"
"Well, yeah she told us. Plus it says it on the note and she tweeted it before you got here. She said something about the New Goblin is Harry Osborn, attempting to atone for his father's sins. I don't know!"
'Right, obviously. Guess being an anonymous hero is out of the window. I'm more of a Tony Stark than a Moon Knight anyway.'
"Wait- You guys were the students?" Harry backtracked, originally ignoring that point due to not being used to his identity being known.
"Yes! I'm sorry, please!" The chubby one attempted to apologize, but Harry shook his head before speaking with a more friendly tone to the boy.
"No, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, seriously. Here." Harry's eyes appeared solemn, his father ruined the lives of these kids, just as the note said. If it wasn't for his father's actions, these kids wouldn't be spending their time blowing up schools or doing whatever crimes Screwball manipulated them to commit.
Harry then pulled both of the former students up before untying them, allowing them to sit up freely. This confused them. His voice, his body language. It was all completely different than it was before. The skinnier boy, rubbing his ankle, looked up at Harry before speaking. "Why did you help us?"
"I got my answers, I understand what's going on here. I wasn't gonna seriously kill you guys. Especially with some college-aged kids." Harry then crouched down to get to their level before speaking to them once more.
"Listen. You have no reason to believe me, but I want to make this right. Do you guys have any documentation of all of the students that went there? I will do anything in my power to help all of you. Please let me fix this."
Harry's sympathetic tone, along with his genuine expression, spoke volumes at that moment. He was right, they had no reason to believe in the words of some playboy billionaire twenty-year-old, however, the chubby one trusted him. "I do. We have a yearbook from the year prior. That's how Screwball found us all. I can show you it."
Harry smiled under his mask, grabbing the boy by the shoulder before thanking him. "Thank you. I want you to e-mail the yearbook list to me so I can get in contact with everyone. You can look it up and find it on the Oscorp website. I will fix what my dad broke. Just promise me that you guys will stop all this, alright?"
Harry extended both hands to both boys, inviting them to shake his hand. They both shook his hands as they nodded. The skinny one had a guilty expression on his face, clearly hiding something from Harry.
"Hey, what is it?" Harry asked him, reading the guilty consciousness in the boy as if he were a book.
"The hospital." The boy muttered.
"Hospital?" Harry mimics back in response.
"The next target is the abandoned hospital. You know, the one where the man who founded it had that scandal and it shut down? She's going to tweet it soon, but you can have a head start. We'll call this incentive for actually keeping your word. She said it was something about sabotage." The boy couldn't stand to look up at Harry at this moment, showing Harry everything he needed to know about him. Neither of these two boys was inherently bad or evil, they were just put on the wrong path.
Harry looked at them sadly for a moment before summoning his glider beside him and stepping onto it. "Thank you." He told the two of them before slowly rising in the air and riding off into the night.