Osborn #2 — Nick Peron

Dec 26

Dec 26 Osborn #2

Osborn Part Two

Transferred to the Special Containment Center in an undisclosed location, Norman Osborn has a meeting with Father Culmier, the prison’s chaplain. Norman tries to get a measure of the priest by giving a long rant about the hyena. This doesn’t phase Culmier, who asks Osborn when he’s going to stop his nature documentary. Amused, Osborn decides they should get to know one another.

Meanwhile, at the Front Line, Norah Winters is on the phone with her mother when intern Sarah Saulsby brings her the mail. It includes a suspicious hand-addressed letter. Norah lets her mother go so she can open this letter. Putting on some gloves for safety, Norah opens the envelope and finds a stylized logo of the Green Goblin. Sarah thinks they should call security, but Winters convinces the intern that this is a prank. Once Sarah is gone though, Norah reads the letter. All it says is for her to meet with the sender at Pier 84 at midnight.

Back at the secret prison, Father Culmier tells Norman that he is being held in this facility pending criminal charges and can only tell him that this prison is still within the United States. He then asks the guard to give them privacy so that he can conduct the sacrament of penance. The guard warns against this, but the priest reminds him that he knew what he signed up for. Amused, Norman Osborn adds that a confession could take a while. Once they are behind closed doors, Culmier tells Norman they can talk freely as there are no microphones in the room as long as they keep their voices down. He also reveals to Norman that he is part of a group that believes that Osborn is the key to bringing about a new world. He tells Norman that the cult he is a part of is numbered in the hundred and they want to see him free as this a prison where they keep people until they are needed or until death. Osborn isn’t certain he wants their help when, suddenly, the alarm goes off and armed guards come in to restrain them. Culmier tells Norman to make up his mind quickly as things are already being set in motion.

At that moment, a guard named Marty has entered the First Wing where the Kingmaker, Xirdal, Toxic Doxie, and the Decapitator — the most deadly prisoners — are being held. The alarm is impossibly loud here and Marty tells the guards in the control room to shut it off because he can’t think straight. The whole time the four prisoners mock him. When the alarm is finally shut off, Marty has strayed too close to Ai Apaec’s cell, and the spider diety grabs the guard. Toxic Doxie then gives him an ultimatum, sends a request to either open Ai Apaec or her cell. However, she warns Marty that Ai will certainly kill him once free but suggests she might spare him. When he gives orders to open Doxie’s cell, Ai Apaec instantly kills the guard.

Meanwhile, Ben Urich gets a tip on Norman Osborn pertaining to Senator Muffoletto’s committee. He needs to find Norah Winters and charges Sarah Saulsby to find Norah and have her confirm the story by morning. Sarah then sits down at Norah’s desk and begins searching her computer for clues on where she could have gone.

Back at the prison, Norman Osborn has had enough of laying on the floor and gets up and kills the guard that is standing over them. Taking his gun, Norman then goes down to the first wing where he sees what the inmates there have done. He offers to free them while the guards are busy quelling a riot in another ring, but only if they swear loyalty to Norman Osborn. Once every one is free, the alien called Xirdal refuses to follow Norman and his band of murderers, as she only killed to protect her young. Norman doesn’t care and offers the alien the opportunity to go her own way instead.

When Xirdal tries to flee out an escape hatch, the alien quickly discovers that the prison is hidden miles underwater. When it turns to leave, Norman has already sealed the airlock and leaves Xirdal to drown in the water. Father Culmier asks how Norman figured out they were underwater he points out that it was the lack of flies in this cesspool that tipped him off.

Meanwhile, Norah Winters meets with her informant at the pier. The man refuses to give her his name and when she asks what he wants a submarine suddenly surfaces next to the pier. This mystery man tells her that answer, like their chariot, awaits.