As the sun sank below the skyline, every shadow in the city stretched long and thin, clinging to walls and crawling across the pavement like living things.
In Queens, less than twenty kilometers from Osborn Manor, a pedestrian street slowly filled with the weary rhythm of evening commuters. Office workers hurried home, street vendors packed up their stalls, and neon signs flickered to life one by one.
Among them walked a man who did not belong.
Norman Osborn wrapped himself in a stolen dark-gray bedsheet, using it as a crude cloak to hide the Green Goblin battle suit beneath. His shoulders were hunched, his head lowered. From time to time, he reached out and snatched a piece of fruit from a stall, barely pausing before moving on.
No one stopped him.
He looked like just another homeless vagrant.
But his mind was unraveling.
The night before last, Batman had invaded the hidden room in his study. The escape had been desperate, humiliating. Since then, Norman had been hiding in an attic that wasn't his, surviving on stolen food and fear.
"How long do you plan to live like this?"
The voice whispered beside his ear.
Norman froze.
His breath caught in his throat.
He turned wildly, eyes darting, but saw no one. Trembling, he slowly knelt beside a puddle on the ground, his gaze drawn downward as if by instinct.
The reflection staring back at him was not his own.
It was the Green Goblin mask.
Yellow eyes gleamed with sick amusement.
"Poor Norman," the reflection crooned. "You can't go home. You can't show your face at the company. Do you really think you can keep hiding forever?"
Norman's teeth chattered. He couldn't bring himself to meet those eyes directly.
"You're the one who ruined me," he whispered. "If you hadn't done those things on the third basement level… if you hadn't killed the Spencer family… Batman wouldn't have come!"
"I'm staying away to protect Harry," Norman said desperately. "And I won't go back to the company because I don't want anyone else to get hurt!"
A shrill laugh echoed nearby.
Norman looked up in terror.
In the reflection of a shop window across the street, the Green Goblin stood tall, pointing at him and laughing so hard his body shook.
"You don't want to hurt Harry?" the Goblin mocked. "You don't want to hurt anyone?"
"Then tell me," the Goblin sneered, "why didn't you stop me in the secret room the night before last?"
"When I aimed the missile at the pumpkin bomb—why didn't you stop me?"
Norman opened his mouth.
No words came out.
"You don't want to go back to the company," the Goblin continued, "but have you seen the evening paper?"
The Goblin's face now appeared in the reflection of a passing woman's watch.
Before Norman could follow it, an evening edition of the Daily Bugle drifted down in front of him, carried by an unseen breeze.
He picked it up with shaking hands.
The headline screamed at him.
Kingpin, the gang leader of Hell's Kitchen, had attempted to seize absolute control of Osborn Group. A vote had been proposed to remove Norman Osborn from the board.
Below it, another headline:
Batman clashed with Kingpin in the Osborn Group conference room.
"This… this…"
Norman collapsed to his knees, spreading the newspaper on the ground, reading every word as if his life depended on it.
People passed by without stopping. Shoes stepped on the paper. Someone stepped on his hand.
Norman didn't feel it.
His eyes were locked on the line describing how close he had come to losing everything he built.
"One day," the Goblin whispered in his ear, "just one day away, and your empire was almost stolen."
"Harry is useless," the Goblin continued softly. "You need me, Norman. Only I can protect what's yours."
"You need me."
Norman's fingers clenched.
"Are you willing to live like this?" the Goblin pressed. "Letting Bat invade your home? Letting outsiders take your company?"
"No!" Norman suddenly shouted.
Anger flared through his fear.
"I won't accept this!" he snarled. "Kingpin is gone. The only one left is Batman!"
The Goblin's face reappeared in the puddle, the metal mask gleaming coldly.
"Then we hunt him," the Goblin said. "Start with those closest to him."
"We end him slowly."
Norman swallowed.
"Track him…" he murmured.
"Track who?"
The Goblin vanished.
A new voice spoke behind him.
Flat.
Cold.
Emotionless.
Norman spun around.
At some point, the crowd had pulled back. People stood dozens of meters away, whispering, pointing.
Less than three meters in front of him stood Batman.
The last light of dusk burned behind Batman's head, golden rays framing the sharp points of his ears. The sight made Norman instinctively step back.
The evening breeze brushed past.
And then Norman saw it.
A cape.
A dark bat-shaped cloak flowed behind Batman, moving gently with the wind, as if it were alive.
"Norman Osborn," Batman said, his voice deep and steady. "You're coming with me."
Before coming to Queens, Batman had gone to Parker Industries. Using the newly produced secondary materials, he had made a new cape.
Only then had he come.
"Ho… ho…"
A familiar, twisted laugh escaped Norman's mouth.
He reached beneath the gray sheet, pulled out the Green Goblin mask, and snapped it onto his face.
His greatest fear was being ambushed.
But now Batman stood in front of him.
There was no ambush.
Which meant he still had a chance.
This wasn't his usual glider—but it was armed. Missiles. Bullets. A hidden green blade in his suit.
And there were civilians everywhere.
One hostage was all he needed.
Just a few seconds.
Just until his glider arrived—
"Don't bother stalling."
Batman didn't move.
"The software in your battle suit," he said calmly, "has already been hacked."
Norman's heart dropped.
Plan B.
Batman's Plan B.
Complete system override.
Norman tried to summon his glider.
Nothing happened.
He tried to activate the suit's power boost.
Nothing.
The suit still protected him—but everything else was dead.
The Goblin's grin vanished.
Woo-wah—woo-wah—
Police sirens cut through the air.
Queens Police flooded the street, forcing civilians back as patrol cars blocked every exit. A dozen guns were raised, all aimed at the Green Goblin.
"Hands up!"
"You're surrounded!"
Norman's mind raced.
Disabled suit.
Police everywhere.
Batman watching.
He chose to run.
With a thunderous leap, Norman launched himself upward. Even without the suit's power systems, the Super Soldier Serum made him far stronger than any normal man.
He scaled the side of a building, fingers digging into cracks, sometimes tearing directly into the wall.
New York's buildings became his path.
He leaped.
Climbed.
Ran.
But the grin never returned.
Because Batman was there.
Always.
The cape spread wide, slicing through the air.
Like a shadow.
Like death.
No matter where Norman went, Batman followed—never rushing, never falling behind.
A hunter conserving energy.
Waiting.
Only when full night fell did Norman realize something was wrong.
The streets below were empty.
Silent.
He had been guided without knowing it.
Ahead lay the dark water of the East River.
No crowds.
No cover.
Just open space and cold silence.
Norman Osborn stood at the edge.
And behind him—
The bat cloak fluttered softly.
Like a shadow that had finally caught up.
--------------------------------------------------
110+ chapters available in patreon🔥🔥🔥🔥
patreon.com/Dragonscribe31
----------------------------------------------------- .