Osborn #4
Osborn Part Four
Norah Winters has come to the Special Containment Facility to get the scoop on Norman Osborn’s incarceration. Instead, she has found herself taken prisoner after Norman seized control of the prison. Her life flashes before her eyes and she thinks about how her grandmother put the fear of God in her. As she grew up she considered God a boogeyman until she outgrew her fear of a divine creator. She stopped believing in the supernatural and didn’t think devils existed until she first encountered Norman Osborn.[1] Now, with her life in Osborn’s hands, Norah finds herself suddenly rediscovering her faith and praying to get out of this alive.
Osborn is amazed to hear that Norah intentionally came down here at the behest of an unknown benefactor to get a story. Norman is so impressed he orders his new followers to find Norah a pad and pen so she can take down what he’s calling the story of the century. He then addresses his fellow prisoners with an impassioned speech about how he became to be like them. He talks about the rose high enough that the destruction of his enemies insight when he was brought down low. He believes that his suffering was done for their sake. Now, like the rest of them, he has been locked away in this secret prison without due process and that he will see them all free or they will burn this prison to the ground.
Getting down from his makeshift pulpit, Norman takes a look at Norah’s notes and is not amused when he sees that all she wrote was “crazy talk”. He leaves Ai Apec and Kingmaker behind while he brings Father Coulmier, Toxic Doxie, and Norah up to the observation deck of the second wing. They find no trace of the man who brought Norah down here. Still, Norman thinks this is a start as they can work on whistleblowing the existence of this prison from the world. When questioning Norah for the identity of the man who brought her here, he learns that she was arranged to meet him with a letter that bore the Green Goblin tattoo his followers wear. She was investigating who visited with Norman Osborn before he was transferred to the Raft. According to her, the records only listed Senator Sondra Muffoletto and nobody else. This makes Norman realize who was responsible.
Still, Norah points out that he can’t use this to his advantage because the government knows all about this secret prison. She also points out that she is the only way the public is going to know what is going on down here. When Norman tries to convince her that he’s starting a movement, Norah calls Norman on this, saying that he only cares about himself. When he threatens her, this only proves her point. She also says that nobody down below respects him, they’re all afraid and once the President finds out about this attempted break-out he’ll just kill them all and cover it up. When she points out the phones don’t work anyway, Father Coulmier says there is a code to make them work. Norman tells the priest to punch in the code and tells Doxie to get Norah out of his face.
Norman uses the phone to call Senator Sondra Muffoletto. He demands that she return him to the Raft and give him a trial. He offers Norah Winters in exchange, promising to have Kingmaker erase all her memories and leave her to think she spent the past few days home nursing a cold. The Senator cracks and tells Norman about an escape pod that he can use to escape. Getting off the phone, Father Coulmier asks how they can trust him not to walk away, Osborn admits that they can’t. Once the Senator is off the phone with Norman, she makes another call and asks to be connected to the Pentagon.
Back in the prison, Norman decides to find out Father Coulmier’s motivations. He explains that the Green Goblin cult has been started by an organization that believes he is the Anti-Christ and want to elevate him into a position of power. Norman finds this hilarious and decides that it’s time for the Father to test his faith. Norman then rejoins the rest of his fellow prisoners and tells them they are going on a little trip. Instead of going to the escape pod, they go to the submarine dock where they find the sub that brought Norah Winters down to the prison. They are joined by her mysterious benefactor who turns out to be Carney Rives, the inmate that used to live in the cell that was given to Norman Osborn. As it turns out, this was all part of Norman Osborn’s scheme to escape.
As they leave in the manned sub, Father Coulmier uses the escape pod. As planned, the Navy has been deployed and when they detect the escape pod leaves the undersea prison they blow it out of the water.
Recurring Characters
Norman Osborn, Kingmaker, Toxic Doxie, Decapitator, Father Coulmier, Norah Winters, Sondra Muffoletto, William Morrison, Carney Rives
Continuity Notes
This flashback features a scene where Norah is spying on Norman Osborn’s American Son program. This program was in operation when Norman was still top-cop in America. Not long after this, Osborn fell from grace after a failed coup of Asgard. See Amazing Spider-Man #695-699 and Siege #1-4.
