Hobgoblin's Last Stand

Kori, meanwhile, hadn't let up in her pursuit of Hobgoblin, pelting him with bolts and beams whenever she saw an opportunity. She had noticed, however, that he'd shifted his focus away from her, and now he was desperately combing the storage facility. She reasoned that he was beginning to feel the effects of the antidote, and like an addict looking for a fix, was trying to find Goblin serum. Kori knew she had to keep him from finding any -- an overdose would likely have unpredictable -- and destructive -- results.

Unfortunately, even though he'd slowed down, Hobgoblin in his current state was still nearly impossible to contain. He was smashing open crates and containers, seemingly undeterred by Kori's efforts to stop him. Jean & Gwen joined Kori in short order.

"Jean -- your help is most welcome," Kori greeted the telepath.

"Kori, Gwen! Is X'ara OK?"

"She's safe," Gwen confirmed. "I called MJ and told her where to pick X'ara up. Oh, and Betsy & Donna are on their way, so we've got some backup coming."

"And everyone else...?" Kori asked.

"Busy with the rest of Kingsley's gang. Good news is that they've got the upper hand, though."

"All right then. Let's finish this," Kori said as she, Jean and Gwen charged towards Hobgoblin. He tried to ignore their attempts to stop him, continuing to rummage through Oscorp's storage facilities, but the serum coursing through his veins was slowly but surely burning out. Donna and Betsy arrived on the scene, and between Betsy & Jean's psychic ****, Kori's blazing energy bolts and the physical **** of Donna & Gwen, victory seemed all but inevitable for the heroines.

"Donna, right? I've heard a lot about you," Gwen remarked as they worked to pin the increasingly weakened Hobgoblin to the floor.

"Same here. I've really been looking forward to meet you," Donna said back. "Cassie in particular absolutely gushes over you."

Gwen briefly considered making the very obvious dirty joke about making her girlfriend gush, but decided against it for two reasons -- one, she'd only just met Donna, and wanted to make a good impression, and two, it was low-hanging fruit. Perhaps *too* low-hanging.

"And you -- purple-hair... you're Psylocke, right? The X-Men's hot ninja lady?" Gwen asked Betsy.

"Not anymore... well, um, sort of... it's a long, confusing story," Betsy explained. "The short answer is that there was a bunch of body-swapping, and I'm not in the ninja's body anymore, but I used to be--"

"--Yeah, no need to explain," Gwen interrupted. "I had a weird existential clone crisis a while back, so I kinda see where you're coming from."

Betsy sighed in relief. It was always hard to explain her mind-swapping adventures with Kwannon. "In any case, you can call me Betsy."

Hobgoblin continued to drag himself through the warehouse, his energy gradually being sapped by the continuing ****, until he finally stumbled upon a crate filled with vials of the serum. Jean attempted to slow him down using her telekinesis, as did Gwen with her webbing and Donna with her lasso, and Betsy made a last-ditch attempt to make him fall asleep. Kori, meanwhile, attempted to hit the crate with a blast. Unfortunately, Hobgoblin lunged at the crate and grabbed a bunch of the vials, drinking the serum.

Gwen winced. "Oh, that's gotta taste awful," she mused.

"Is that going to have any effect?" Donna asked. "Or do you have to inject the serum?"

"I remember that Osborn injected it," Gwen answered. "So I have no idea what's gonna happen..."

Gwen got her answer soon, as Kingsley's body and muscle mass grew massively in a short period of time. The group looked up at Kingsley, who had to stand at at least twelve feet and weigh two tons... only for the muscles to contract and his body to quickly revert to its normal size. Kingsley, now looking pale and emaciated, fell to the ground in a heap.

"Huh... looks like the antidote did it's job. So this is what it's like catching a break, huh?" Gwen remarked. "I like it."

Kori breathed a sigh of relief, smiling slightly at the sight of Hobgoblin, defeated at last. "It is over. We have done it..." she said softly. "X'ara is safe."

"I don't think I can say the same for Mr. Kingsley here," Jean noted. "We should probably get him to a hospital or something...?"

"I suppose so... not that I feel any sympathy towards him," Kori admitted.

Gwen nodded and placed a hand on Kori's shoulder. "I totally get where you're coming from. Still, letting him die... not my style."

"And that mercy is why I hold you in such high regard," Kori smiled, placing her hand on Gwen's. "Roderick Kingsley will answer for his crimes, and X'ara is safe. That is all that matters."

"Let's hand Kingsley over to the cops and get out of here," Donna suggested.

"Right behind you," Betsy agreed as the group made their exit.