Chapter Text
Ever since Norman was a child, younger than his son Harry is now, he heard voices in his head. At first these voices scared little Normie Osborn but over time they became a friend. When his father caught him crying because The Voices were scaring him, old Amberson Osborn berated him "Get over yourself, Norman!" He grabbed the boy by his hair and threw him down some stairs, spewing abuse at him. Norman clearly remembered jumping to his feet, clutching his stomach as The Change overtook him for the first time. Then his father was the one who was afraid, afraid a goblin was going to get him. Norman could never remember exactly what happened once The Change overtook him but The Voices told him, in detail if asked, they were the only friends he needed.
Harry was quite the disappointment, nothing seemed to toughen him up. Norman listened to The Voices, who had no need for names, and did as they suggested. Once, after Emily passed away, he wondered privately if he was just a voice to them but The Voices assured him they were all equally real and at his lowest, he believed them. Norman drew the line at physically attacking Harry, words have more power as far as he was concerned, after all The Voices did more good than his father's tough love ever could. When Harry disappeared while Norman was changed, the businessman finally took a look at what The Change made him instead of destroying all proof as usual. The Voices didn't like that but they held no power over him, or so he thought. The entire time he was on his computer, he had to fight himself to enter the necessary commands and then he saw it: The Goblin his father was so terrified of. He saw himself slash Harry's stomach. "He was a weakling, a disappointment," one of The Voices hissed "He needs to be toughened up if he is to be worthy of your legacy."
Another Voice disputed this "It is far too late. He cannot be changed, he is stuck. You should put him out of everyone's misery."
"No, I did not kill my father and I will not kill my son."
"What about your wife?" the second Voice laughed.
They were provoking him, he knew, and usually he would consider that for the best but not today. The first Voice spoke to him "What are you going to do? Call Stark." Amberson's greatest grievance after Norman was changed, before The Change overtook him, was how his irresponsible behavior had forced his father to depend on a rival. Everything would have been fine if not for Tony.
Norman braced his arms on the desk and bowed his head, squeezing his eyes shut. In his mind, where The Voices could unfortunately hear him, he chanted the word No, telling himself he would not give in. Not now, never again. "Oh, but you will," answered the second Voice, "You always do. This is for your own good." One of his hands grabbed the letter opener and suddenly, he was watching himself through a window, unable to fight back as the improvised weapon swung towards his throat. Survival instinct kicked in and he changed.
For the first time ever, he was conscious during The Change but he was now a prisoner in his own mind, watching the destruction he wrought. First he destroyed his computer then he went to a hidden compartment he didn't know about and got on some kind of motorized hang-glider, a sudden flashback covered the imagery and he saw himself in college building the glider, dubbing it the Goblin Glider as a joke. Crashing through the super-reinforced windows, the Goblin Glider flew towards Stark Tower, where he saw Harry sitting in Tony Stark's penthouse with his friend Peter, who was kneeling in front of him but upon seeing the Goblin, he stood and dropped the medical supplies he was holding. Peter had been treating Harry's wounds, Norman struggled to no avail and the Goblin flew away to get more speed. He was knocked off the Glider by War Machine but as the Goblin fought back, Norman took this time to double his efforts. The Voices lashed out at his attempts, subjecting Norman to excruciating pain unlike- no, not unlike any other. Norman realized that The Voices' power lie in him, in his past and his mind. Sure, they controlled The Change but, his father's words came back to him and his window was once again covered as he witnessed his father's verbal abuse, hearing him rant and rave about how Norman's irresponsibility had ruined him. That's it, The Change came from an experiment. Norman couldn't erase the past or cure himself, not while The Voices were in control but maybe he could- Norman took a shaky breath and forced himself to go further back, focusing on his father's words, on the accusation that Norman caused all his problems. The Voices stopped inflicting pain on him, giving him a brief reprieve as he relived that fateful fight. He relived the accident over and over, screaming in agony every time. Slowly, he got over it and inched forward, remembering what happened next, the doctors and the treatments (experiments), sometimes he heard his father's voice and in those memories, he also heard himself screaming at his father to make it stop.
In the real world, the proximity alarm at the Tower went off when the Goblin went after Harry. Rhodey was the first one to respond, practically throwing himself into his armor to get there first as the Goblin prepared to make a second pass. There were points when he stopped and just hovered, talking and laughing to himself, giggling and chuckling softly but he was soon picking up speed and before he could get halfway back to the Tower, War Machine crashed into him. The look on the Goblin's face almost seemed hopeful, like a tortured soul seeing the face of salvation, but the expression was warped as it/he fought the American hero. The others were close behind, Rhodey heard confirmation from Tony that Peter and Harry were guided to the Smash Room where nothing short of several seriously ticked off Hulks could hurt them. The kids were safe. Fighting together was interesting, Tony timed his departure from the suit and draped himself over the Goblin, further demonstrating to Reed the real advantage in elasticity, not even wincing as the Goblin struggled against him, trying to pull him off. Half of the heroes helped police with crowd control while the other half (Tony's half) focused on keeping the fight contained.
In Norman's mind, the second Voice told him "There is no need for this pain, we can make it all go away."
"No," Norman shouted in his mind "I won't, I can't." His younger self was currently being electrocuted, where did his father find these doctors? His screams only indicated life to them. When Norman was first hit with excruciating pain, his mind self fell to the ground in a heap but now, even as he relived the agony of his original transformation, even as his memories were overlaid on top of one another, the pain from each being pooled together- Even as he felt a lifetime's worth of a pain all at once, Norman pulled himself to his feet. He faced forward and said with conviction "No." The word echoed through his mind and came out the Goblin's mouth in Norman's voice. Norman charged the window through which he saw his past and present, breaking through and falling. His fall was broken by a Goblin Glider that morphed into a more acceptable form, the hoverboard that he originally wanted, through which he had wanted to prove his engineering mettle. He flew through his mindscape, a version of New York, and as he let his most recent memories wash over him, his imagined New York began to look more and more like the real thing as Norman flew to the site of his fight with the Avengers. Stopping above the downed Goblin, he took a deep breath and plunged into his other form. With a gasp, he broke through the surface of his mind and into the real world. "I surrender!" were the first words out of his mouth as The Change reversed, leaving Norman Osborn. For a brief moment, he pondered a rather inconsequential question, how was he always clothed when he changed back? The clothes weren't even stretched or anything, which seemed strange but there was no time to think about that, although he was sure he'd have all the time in the world later. Tony got off of him and Norman reached out to the Glider, under the watchful eyes of Earth's greatest heroes, turning it off. Slowly, he stood up from where the Goblin had crashed down and put his hands on his head, marching towards the police.
Tony got in his way, "What just happened?"
"I'm not sure as to the cause but my mind has been broken for most of my life, I just never cared to know how much or deal with the problem until today."
"What changed today?"
"I saw the change, saw what I became when I gave into the insanity and I didn't like it because it forced me to see who I really am. I suppose that is why our transformations vary so greatly, they are an embodiment of our core natures. You are endlessly flexible, physically and mentally whereas I am a monster, through and through. Now if you'll excuse me."
"We're not letting the cops take you."
"I don't understand."
"You're coming back with us. There are people out there, like General Thaddeus Ross, who have means and motive to try to weaponize you if we let the cops take you."
"Very well then." Norman crossed his wrists in front of him but Tony just shook his head and pointed to the heroes' jet before walking alongside him to board it and then locking him into his seat.