Osborn Is Also Ben

Could someone want Norman Osborn dead?

Benny was a little puzzled.

But then he realized there were far too many people who wanted Osborn dead.

Osborn really was an old unlucky bastard.

In almost every version, Osborn faced the crisis of being kicked out of his own company by the Board of Directors. Otherwise, he became the Green Goblin, or died...

Or he became the Green Goblin first, then died.

One Norman dying wasn't enough. His son Harry would follow in his footsteps, become Green Goblin II, and then die right before Spider-Man's eyes.

Spider-Man having no Ben was a curse.

But who could say Osborn wasn't Ben too?

Even in the original 6160 Universe, where there had been no Spider-Man, Norman still couldn't escape the fate of death.

"I remember Osborn has a hereditary disease, with its root cause being a genetic defect in the Osborn family?" Benny pondered.

If that was the case, then the Little Broken Watch might be able to cure Norman and Harry.

He had hardly considered the possibility of simply letting Norman die, even if Norman might become the Green Goblin.

To him, Harry was his friend. The fact that Harry had been willing to put up so much money to support him despite not understanding any of it was enough to show how loyal he was.

Although Norman had his own motives, he also cared about Benny and Peter like an elder.

No matter which way he looked at it, Benny would not let Norman and Harry die because of this.

As for the Green Goblin, that was outside Benny's considerations.

Honestly, if Norman had not been kicked out of Osborn and the genetic defect had been cured, it was hard to say whether the Green Goblin would even be born.

The true villains of this world had never been limited to the Green Goblin or Lizard.

They seemed brutal and vicious, but they were merely the outward manifestations of evil, fruits borne by evil's tree.

The true root had never been any one supervillain, but the devils and systems that drove them down the path of evil.

Just like how Super Heroes defeated enemy after enemy, yet new enemies would always emerge again.

Without Lizard Man, there would be Vulture, Electro, Sandman. Kill one Green Goblin, and there would still be Little Green Goblin... And astonishingly, they always seemed so similar—

The research results they had spent more than a decade developing were casually stripped away, and they were discarded like garbage; the companies they had built from scratch were taken over by others, while they, the founders, were kicked out instead...

Spider-Man defeated them and thought that meant victory, but he did not understand that he had never truly won.

Because new evil would continue to grow from evil soil.

He merely tirelessly wiped the dust from the city's surface, never realizing that in those dark corners, the truly foul filth had long seeped into the entire city, even the country!

They stood high above, yet spread through every patch of soil. Beneath that soil, rotten roots would always bear poisonous fruit after poisonous fruit.

Of course, Benny did not care.

He did not really care whether Norman or Harry would become the Green Goblin.

Who said the Green Goblin had to be a villain?

Benny thought.

In some universes, the Green Goblin might even be a Super Hero.

Of course, he did not immediately propose treating Norman Osborn.

He still could not reveal the Little Broken Watch's secret. The treatment could wait until the laboratory had been built, when he could use the lab equipment as cover. The more urgent matter was the internal problems within Osborn Corporation.

Norman did not stay long. After taking a phone call, he left in a Rolls Royce with a grave expression.

Harry apologized as he interrupted Benny's thoughts.

"Sorry, Benny. I didn't mean for my dad to find out."

"It's fine. At least the result was good." Benny naturally would not blame him. "The money's in the account now, so we can start preparing the laboratory."

"I really don't know why Dad won't just let us use the laboratories at Osborn Corporation. The equipment there is all top-of-the-line." Harry complained.

"If we really used Osborn's equipment, who would the inventions we made belong to?" Benny asked. "I doubt the Board of Directors would pass up any chance to make a huge profit, would they?"

"You're right."

Harry nodded, then raised another question.

"When should we tell Peter about this?"

Peter walked into Osborn Tower.

What puzzled him was that the building, which had once been bustling with people, was completely empty today. Even the reception desk was unattended.

Yet the front doors were open.

The empty central hall made Peter feel a little creeped out. He jumped over the security checkpoint and headed toward Connors's laboratory.

"Connors, are you there?"

He called out. His voice echoed through the corridor, but there was no response. Peter instinctively tightened his grip on his backpack strap. He was somewhat tense, but what reassured him was that his "Peter Tingle" had not gone off.

"At least I don't have to worry about some giant lizard jumping out and tearing me to pieces."

After making that quip, Peter realized he had reached Connors's office.

He pushed open the door and walked inside.

The place was almost a complete mess.

He froze for a moment.

Just a week ago, he had been here working through equations with Connors. Back then, everything had been orderly. But now?

The test tubes containing chemical reagents had been smashed across the floor. The laboratory's precision equipment had all vanished. The place looked like it had been ransacked in a robbery, with only the desks left behind.

"Connors?"

A bad feeling suddenly rose in Peter's heart.

He continued walking inward. At that moment, a shadow appeared in a dark corner of the laboratory.

Peter immediately became wary.

"Peter?"

It was Connors.

It was just that Connors was not wearing his usual white lab coat today.

Peter breathed a sigh of relief.

"Doctor, what happened here...?"

Connors was surprised by Peter's appearance, but he did not show anything unusual. "I gave everyone a week off."

He greatly admired Peter's intelligence.

But he found Peter's frail body rather pitiful.

(Spider-Man: Say that again?)

Peter did not suspect anything, nor had he forgotten why he had come. "Doctor, generally speaking, how do predators find reptiles?"

Connors seemed to have heard a joke. He found it amusing, yet somewhat angering.

"Predators? Hmph."

"There are no predators. Reptiles are at the top of the food chain. They are the rulers to begin with!"

"But they should have weaknesses too, right?"

Peter still would not give up, but his persistent questioning aroused Connors's suspicion. He turned around and looked at Peter seriously. Under the dim light, his skin seemed to give off a green glow.

"Why are you asking that, Parker?"

he asked coldly.