Mother Goblin

the Nineteenth Tale

by Mark Bousquet

MIDGARD - THE CITY OF NEW YORK

MIDGARD STANDARD YEAR 2200 / NOVEMBER

His name was the Lynx.

He was a hero of Earth, arch nemesis of the Green Gobliness, one of the protectors of the City of New York. He'd battled the Gobliness countless times over the last decade, usually winning. Always, somehow, surviving.

Until tonight.

In a city rank with crime, pollution and corruption, a decaying city on the verge of the abyss, the Lynx was a ray of light, a man who fought for the good people that still lived somewhere in all that trash. Hope was too strong a word in these dark times, but New Yorkers would tell you that they felt at least a shimmer of strength when they looked up into the high rise towers and saw the Lynx on the prowl.

On this night, that strength was sapped.

On top of the building that was once Avengers Mansion, and was now just another building that had fallen into disrepair, the Lynx found himself nailed to a wooden X, dying for all the world to see. Blood was soaked into his pelt, drying black on the tan fur. His left eye was either swollen shut or gone, he couldn’t tell. At this point, it really didn’t matter.

As his last breaths came to him, the Lynx looked to the heavens and said a quick prayer for his wife and only child, 15 this January, to reach Wundagore Mountain safely. He looked down from his rooftop perch, knowing that the Gobliness would have this image plastered all over the city's viewscreens by now, showing a city that another of their heroes was moments away from death.

Slowly, he slipped away.

ASGARD - RESIDENCE OF EARTH AMBASSADOR

Dani Moonstar was not a happy woman as she trekked across the Golden Realm, coming to the residence of the Earth Ambassador, a hero who called himself Empire. 'Or rather,' she mused as she knocked on the front door of the three story building, 'a hero that lets himself be called Empire.' She shook her head, not really liking the fact that a hero was named 'Empire', not sure that that was the right message to be sending, but she tried not to let it affect her. From what she'd heard from the man,* he seemed like a desent man and a worthy ally.

* In AGC 17, KINGS 2200

"Dani, hi," Empire answered with a warm smile as he opened the door to let her in. "What a pleasant surprise." He had his mask pulled back off his head and she had to suppress a sigh at the sight of his face. 'All these years … and the face of America's biggest heroic icon is still square-jawed, blue-eyed and blonde-haired. Some things never change,' she mused.

"King Balder thought it would be beneficial if someone came over and saw to any needs you may have," she answered plainly. How is the moving in going?" She looked behind him to see several staff members moving furniture about and somewhere she could hear the voice of Miss Almond screaming at someone.

"Bit of a yeller when there's no need for formality, she is," Empire smiled easily. "She's not used to having to deal with Asgardian architecture. This isn't the kind of office building she's used to, I'm afraid."

"It's a former recovery residence," Dani answered somberly, remembering the dark days of True Ragnarok. "Men injured in battle were brought here for rehabilitation."

Another yell from Miss Almond had Empire ducking out the front door to join Dani on the landing. "That woman," he shook his head. "Mind if we walk?" he asked. "She's not going to take any help from anyone. Best you'll accomplish by going in there is to get her even more worked up."

Dani thought that might be a fun idea, but kept her thoughts to herself. "After you," Dani motioned out to the walk.

MIDGARD - THE CITY OF NEW YORK

Angelica Osborn stayed huddled in the shadows of Not Avengers Park, watching the world move around her. She could see an image of Lynx's demise on a large screen monitor that stood, laden with graffitti at the far end of the Park.

"What happened to him?" she asked a passing kid, no older than ten or eleven.

"Up yours lady!" he yelled at her, quickening his pace. "Mom told me never to talk to bums!"

"Bum?" Angelica asked quizically. "Hey, kid, come back here!"

"And what would you want him to do that for?" a voice from behind her said harshly. She turned to see a New York cop approaching. "You know damn well that we don't allow vagrants in the Park. Now move it! Or I'll run you in for attempting to solicit a minor!"

Angelica stood dumbstruck, "What? Sir, I'm no-"

"That's it!" he yelled and reached for her, grabbing her arm roughly. Angelica looked at him, still disbelieving this turn of events. "No woman wearing clothes like this can be anything but a blight on this city! Especially when she doesn't recognize the handiwork of the Green Gobliness," he sneered, motioning towards the image of Lynx.

"Bum? I'm a child of Asgard!" she yelled back, finally snapping out of her doldrums.

"Asgard, huh?" the cop asked jeeringly without letting go. "Ain't that where all the whores come from?"

Something inside of her snapped, whether it was the mention of her mother or the insult to Asgard she couldn't tell and, without even realizing what she was doing, she brought her right arm down hard, chopping down on the cop's arm. "Ow!" he yelled, letting her go, just in time to get a kick to the face that sent him sprawling backwards. Blood spilled instantly from his broken nose.

When the stars cleared from his eyes, Angelica was gone. "Crazy bitch," he muttered to himself.

Angelica ran as fast as her feet would take her, out of the Park and into the City. She'd been here before, but this time it seemed darker, more menacing. Without the other Orphans - and with her mom apparently killing that hero - it wasn't hard to figure out why.

* During the Fragmented Balance storyline

She didn't know where she was running to. In truth, she hadn't figured out anything about her visit to Earth except that she wanted to find her mother and confront her. 'And say what, 'Hey mom, screw you? Take this curse and shove it?' But she had to do it, she had to face the woman that had tormented her since birth, the woman she'd been saved from.

The city was imposing, tall metal structures that rose to the Heavens. Growing up, it was the only place she knew, so nothing seemed wrong about it, but after living in Asgard, the filth and decay grated on her, made her feel dirty and unsafe. Made her look down her nose at those who chose to live here. That was elitist, she knew, but as she passed a man sleeping in a cardboard box, in front of a bank whose front window had been smashed in, she found it hard to condemn herself too much.

Still she ran deeper into the city, still not knowing what, exactly, she was doing. Only that she had to find her mother and …

'I'll figure that out when I get to her,' she thought as she approached an alley between two brick buildings. Glancing just for a second into the darkness as she passed, a cold chill tickled her spine.

Two large white eyes were watching her.

'No, don't be silly,' she shook her head, quickening her pace ever-so-slightly, 'who'd be looking for me? The other Orphans can't know I'm gone, yet. Just a local, just some homeless guy who happened to be looking out the alley way when I came by. No need to worry."

"Help me! Oh god, help me! Somebody please help me!"

Angelica froze. 'No, someone else will take care of this. One of the city's heroes will …' Her thoughts trailed off as her eyes looked up at the image of the crucified Lynx, dying for the whole city to see on every monitor in town. 'Probably nothing … someone's …'

She let the thought go as she spun around and headed back.

"No, no, no, no! Stay away! Stay the hell away from me, freak!"

"Wonderful," she said aloud, realizing the voice was coming from the same alley. She slowed, looking in but couldn't see anything. The alley was deep and dark, little light filtered in from the high roof-tops above. It was narrow, too, she discovered. As she entered, she could almost brush both buildings with her outstretched fingertips.

The screaming was coming from the back of the alley, apparently, as she could see movement there as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. The alley itself was disgusting, and she stopped counting at three after stepping in the fourth pile of something that she couldn't recognize.

Angelica approached quicker now, as she saw one figure pick up another by the collar.

"Leave me alone, man! I didn't see nuthin'!"

"Tell me what I want to know," the man doing the holding said quietly, his voice with a fuzzy tinge to it, "and you'll live. Otherwise … you know what the feeds say about me, right?"

The lower figure let the man down, so their faces were just inches apart. Angelica was now no more than ten feet away and she tensed to make her move. 'Come in quick, hard and low,' she told herself, remembering the lessons from Beta Ray Bill. 'Get him off his feet and then pounce. Use surprise and quick-"

She ducked as the screaming man was thrown directly at her head. Her eyes darted back, amazed at the strength of the man doing the throwing. 'He tossed him with the ease of Bill,' she thought alarmingly, wishing she'd kept on going. Quickly, her head snapped back around to see the attacker, but all she saw was a black, sticky substance go flying over her head, encasing the thrown man against the wall in a …

"Oh, heck," she said, closing her eyes and standing up. "Just my luck."

Angelica opened her eyes to see the attacker walking towards her slowly, assuredly. He wore a costume that was pitch black. On his face were two large, pupil-less white eyes. On his chest, the emblem of a white spider.

"Spider-Man," she whispered, her voice unable to go any higher, wishing suddenly that Ben-Vell was here with her to see how the other side of his lineage turned out.

"Your friendly, neighborhood Spider," the man-in-black spoke menacingly, jumping quickly to the right wall. "I do have an image to maintain." He crawled slowly towards Angelica, who found herself completely unable to move.

ASGARD

"This place is amazing," Empire gushed. "Is that really Mjolnir?"

"Aye," Dani said proudly as they approached Tooth-Gnasher and Tooth-Grinder, the two goats of Thor who stood in eternal vigil over their former masters' hammer.

"Wow, that's amazing … I can’t believe you just let it sit out here in the open," Empire said disbelievingly. "I only met Thor once, about fifteen years ago when I was just starting out. He'd come to Earth because the Great Beast Kolomaq was tearing up North Dakota. I basically sat there and watched him handle it." He smiled easily at Dani. "Not all of us hate you heroes that left during the Abandonment Era, you know." His voice was calm, reassuring. "The average person on the street does. And if you had to live every day on that planet, you'd understand it, too," he said quickly. "They can't comprehend a threat like Thanos. Heck, most people outside of New York couldn't understand what all the fuss was about Dr. Octopus or Count Nefaria threatening to do this or that. They just saw the results on the evening news about Captain America saving the day or Iron Man stopping some crisis from taking place."

"Until the villains decided to spread out around the country," Dani remembered. "God, that must've been … it was after Reed and Sue left for space for good, 2005? 2006? I'll never forget those days, the world suddenly turned darker."

"That was the start of the decline, really," Empire shook his head. "At least, that's the way it looks from the history books and vids. And folks on Earth now have two full centuries of hate and anger directed towards the Marvels. Especially since the odd bit of news about you or Captain America or Thor has filtered in through the eras. Some folks think you're rubbing everyone's nose in it by living. But when the FF was no longer the FF … well, that was it for a lot of people."

"Yeah, it was," Dani assured him her eyes looking far away into the Asgardian night. "We'd stop the Red Skull from destroying Milwaukee, only to go home and find out that Ultron had levelled San Francisco. And then within, what, twenty years, the Eternal War was up and raging and many heroes left Earth for good to deal with bigger threats."

They stood in silence for a few moments, letting the sounds of the night wash over them. Thinking too hard about the past always made Dani long for Steve's embrace and she wondered where he was at this moment.* Empire let the new sounds in, wondering if he was doing the right thing by agreeing to be the Earth Ambassador to the Council,** but knowing he didn't really have a choice. The United Nations had asked him and he had no choice but to accept.

* Last seen crash landing into the surface of Ondur'ra in AGC 18, Avengers Without Consent.

** In AGC 17, KINGS 2200

"Still can't believe you leave the hammer out here in the open," Empire laughed. "Bit Arthurian, isn't it? What happens if someone comes along and picks it up?"

"Then we know we are in our darkest hour," Dani said somberly, "and a hero has arisen to aid us."

"Why doesn't Captain America just pick it up? Or Beta Ray Bill?"

Dani shook her head, "The Prophecies of Grey state that it shall be a new hero who will claim Mjolnir. That Mjolnir can only be grasped by one who will rise to meet their destiny, not one that has already embraced theirs."

"Prophecies of Grey?" Empire laughed. "C'mon, Moonstar, you’re an Earth girl deep down. You can't believe in Prophecies, can you?"

Dani looked at him seriously, "When it comes to the Prohecies of Grey, I most certainly do." She turned and started to walk away, "In time, perhaps, you shall, too."

MIDGARD - THE CITY OF NEW YORK

"I should save you the trouble and drop you."

Angelica didn't respond as she clung tightly to The Spider. He swung hurriedly across the city on web-lines that shot from his wrists, making their way towards Avengers Mansion to check on the Lynx.

"The daughter of the Gobliness. We wondered what happened to you," he shook his head, causing Angelica to grip onto him a little tighter. "Don't worry, I won't drop you."

"I thought you said dropping me would be a good idea," she let out, trying not to look down. Somehow, though, looking out across the top of the city's skyline as it bobbed up and down was even worse.

"Please, if I did half the things the Buglefeed accused me of, I'd have been hunted down and put in jail - or worse - years ago."

"I … I don't know why I even told you who I was, but … but it was important, I guess. I'm trying to confront who I am and what the Goblin Legacy means."

The Spider let out a short grunt, "What it means?" They dropped suddenly from the sky and Angelica felt her stomach in her throat. "What it means?" he asked again as they landed on a roof-top. "It means death." He took a step back and pointed across the roof-top to where the Lynx was nailed to the wodden X.

"Oh …" Angelica's breath was cut short as she looked at the hero's battered and bloodied body. Death was never easy for her, no matter who the victim was.

The Spider leapt across the roof in one jump to land next to the Lynx. "Hey, Lynx, buddy, you okay?" he asked, lightly slapping the cat-man's face.

There was no response.

"Damn!" The Spider swore and turned with a vengeance to the camera that was mounted a few steps away that was sending this image out across the New York night. "No more, Gobliness!" A strand of thick webbing shot out from his right wrist and enveloped the camera. He yanked it backwards hard, ripping it from it's perch and catching it in his hands. With little effort he crumpled it in his hands.

"Feel better?" Angelica asked.

"Yeah, a bit of melodrama always cheers me up," the Spider replied, turning back to the Lynx. He was nailed to the wooden X with long metal spikes, easy enough to extract. Within moments he had the Lynx off the cross and onto his back on the roof-top. To keep the bleeding to a minimum, he webbed up the Lynx's body tightly. "I didn't get a pulse. He's gone."

"I'm sorry," Angelica said, bowing her head.

"You're really her daughter?" the Spider asked, kinder.

"Yeah, I am," Angelica spoke quietly, coming to stand over the body of the Lynx.

"You're going to try to kill me someday, you know," the Spider said. Angelica looked at his mask, trying to read the person beneath the black suit, but she couldn't.

"Why?"

"It's what Osborns and Parkers do. All the way back to the first Green Goblin and the first Spider-Man. All the days from then until now. Do you know all Osborn females are named after ex-girlfriends, ex-lovers and former wives of any of the various Spider-Men? And the males are named for the same for the several Spider-Girls and Spider-Women? Even you."

"Me?" Angelica said, taken aback, not knowing this. "Who?"

"A woman from the 20^th century. A hero named Firestar," the Spider spoke, looking at her with his white, pupil-less eyes. "From what I can tell, there was more rumor there than actual fact - nothing in any history file I know has ever shown Spider-Man, Firestar and Iceman living together - but history has a way of creating stories that work when reality fails."

"I didn't know that," she sighed. "I'm not ready for this." Her eyes drifted back to the lifeless body on the roof-top.

"What? Confronting your mother?" The Spider asked, a bit of bitterness creeping back into his voice. "Who is? We don't confront her because we want to, Angelica. We do it because we have to. I see no reason for you to have anything to do with her. Go back to Asgard and hide some more."

Angelica's head snapped up. "Hide? I'm not hiding! Asgardians don't hide!"

The Spider didn't back down, "Of course you're hiding. Up there," he jerked his hand skyward, "living in 'the Golden Realm' while the rest of us toil away down here. What's it like, living in Paradise?"

"Para- you've no idea," Angelica replied testily. "No idea. We're in a War for the fate of the Everything-"

"Hey, I've saved the universe twice in the last year. Don't hear me bragging," the Spider retorted, bending down to getnly pick the Lynx up.

"I was there, on Olympus, when Franklin Richards returned to life!"

"Big deal, I was on Broadway when the subway arrived on time last week and left without anyone trying to rob anyone else."

"You mock, but the fate of the Everything can be changed by Franklin."

"Mock you?" the Spider shot back angrily, his voice taking on a raspier, more menacing quality that it first had when she discovered him in the alley way. "Lady, I don’t care. Thanos, Franklin Richards, the Eternal War … that doesn't mean anything to me. I've got friends dying of diseases that can be cured with one shot, but they don't have any money to pay for it, so they rot away. I know children who don't go to school because their parents are afraid they won't make it through the day alive. I've seen the monorail bombed so many times that no one even thinks about using it anymore. I see people living under this city because they prefer fighting for food with rats instead of their neighbors. Fate of the Everything? I couldn't care less." He turned to go, walking quickly to the other side of the roof-top.

"Wait …" Angelica said weakly.

The Spider spoke without turning around, "This building you're standing on is Avengers Mansion. Did you know that? The Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Eight years ago they left. All of them. Not just those on duty but those who were reserves, from all over the world, from all walks of life. Eight years ago, they left without explanation. They've never come back. This building is a ghost house now. No one comes here. Nieghborhood kids treat it as an urban legend - telling anyone younger than them that no one has ever spent a night here and come out alive.

"They were something to give hope to people. We'd see them flying overhead and we'd know that somewhere, some villain was going down and someone would make it through that night alive that wouldn't have. Now, they don't make it through the night alive. They die." His voice got bitter, "With the heavy hitters gone, folks like your mother run rampant across the city. There isn't a night that goes by without someone dying from her hand. Eight years ago, as bad as things were … it's worse now." He turned to look at Angelica, standing across the roof-top from him, "Go back to Asgard, little girl, and save your Everything."

As he turned away again and tensed his legs to jump, Angelica had no legs to move, but she had a voice to speak with, "They died during Ragnarok. All of them. They gave their life to the cause. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything to you, but don't speak ill of them for dying in battle. No Avengers returned to Earth because there wasn't any of them left to come back."

The Spider relaxed his legs, and his voice took on a softer tone, "All of them?"

"All of them. As dead as that hero you hold in your arms."

Silence fell on them, two people with centuries of history pressing down on their shoulders. The sounds of the city seemed far away to Angelica at that moment, staring at the back of the Spider, who still carried the Lynx on his shoulder. "You know I'm cursed with the Goblin Legacy," she spoke, whispering, but loud enough for her voice to carry across the roof-top. "My whole life I've run from my mother, from the curse that runs in my blood. I'm tired of running, Spider. Tired of hiding who I am and what I may become. I came to Midgar- to Earth, to confront my mother. I didn't know what I was going to say or do, but I wanted her to know that her little girl wasn't running anymore. Maybe it sounds silly to you, maybe it doesn't, but confronting her, I see, isn't just walking up to her and looking at her in the face. It's confronting who she is by the actions she's taken. She killed the Lynx, right? You say she terrorizes the city every night." Angelica took a symbolic step towards the Spider. "Show me. Show me everything she is so that I may know what I can become."

The Spider said nothing for a few moments, "Why should I?"

"Who else can?"

Before Angelica could say another word, the Spider shot a line of webbing out to the nearest building and swung away, leaving Angelica alone. She watched him go, thinking of Ben-Vell. Ben was a Parker, too, but ignored his Spider-Man and Earthly heritage for his Kree, Mar-Vell past. She wondered how much of that was his decision and how much was the decision of Odin and the Council. They needed a hero in the coming days and Ben-Vell was annointed that hero at birth, but what if they were wrong?

She waited there on the top of Avengers Mansion, not moving save to look around at the city around her. To her left, she could see into the backyard of the Avengers grounds. It was overgrown with weeds and trees, statues to fallen comrades either broken or grown over. Though she knew these Avengers only briefly, she still felt saddened at the sight.

Ten minutes later, the Spider returned. His voice was low and somber, "This will not be easy for you."

"I'm ready," she answered, thinking of her time with the Man-Thing.*

The Spider didn't answer, but, for some reason, Angelica doubted he believed her.

* Last issue

ONDUR'RA

Captain America lay sleeping in a cave, his body recovering from it's fall to Ondur'ra's surface after the attack from Ikaris. He groaned on occaision and ran a fever, but he was in no further danger. The herbs that she burned in the fire would help him recover, physically and mentally.

The woman that sat and watched over him would make sure of that. This was her new mission. The Cosmic Protector would not die under her care.

She was a Ronin.

Only one wishing for death would confront her.

Welcome everyone. Feels good to be back on schedule with this tale. I hope time allows me to keep a steady pace on this book. Issue 20 is already done and work on 21 has begun. Lots of fun stuff coming up, so I hope you stick around.

A review this month fromWill Short, on the mv1talk list:

-All God's Children, "Avengers Without Consent"
Created and Written by Mark "Biscuit" Bousquet

Overview: Mark is one of my favorite MV1 authors, and his creation, "All God's Children", is one of my favorite titles we have. He is obviously very comfortable with it, since it is an alternate reality and he created it, so the stories are narrated quite easily. The appearance by the Man-Thing was unexpected and I was happy to see him. Mark's portrayal of the creature is, although not the focus of the story, one of my favorite parts. He writes the Man-Thing better alone and as a supporting character than I do with him as the main character and with two other major characters. This story sets up the AGC reality well for those who don't know the continuity, and it is neither confusing nor displeasing to get a set-up like this. Despite the narration-heavy text, the dialogue is still perfect for the characters and demonstrates their personalities with precision. There are reasons that Mark is considered an MV1 legend...this title is one of them, and this story is another great addition to the mythos of AGC.

Quick Opinion: One of MV1's best writers on a title (another one of the best) that he made. Almost perfect...except sometimes the narration may drag on a tiny bit for some readers.

Over-All Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Shorties

Thanks kindly, Will.

Next Issue, ONDUR'RA: