Chapter 13: Revelations
Director Fury kept a close eye on the progress of the helicarrier's ship search for Phantom. The critical areas like the engine rooms were already cleared but most of the darkened lower levels haven't been completely checked. A couple agents were attacked by the disappearing Phantom down there, but he continues to disappear into the nothing as they pressed on him.
"I think it's time we call him out of hiding, the only way he'll come to me is if I make him another offer." Fury told Agent Hill, who was standing next to him.
"What offer would work, sir?" She asked him curiously.
"I don't know. I don't blame him for acting the way he does towards me after sixteen years, but I've never once stopped believing he could be saved… I took full responsibility for what happened to him…" Fury contemplated on the past.
"Good or not, we need to find him, sir. My next suggestion would be to terminate him on contact instead of attempting to capture." Hill suggested staunchly.
"He can't be killed." Fury calmly told her, staring out into the glass pane of the bridge.
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Project Vitruvian gave Cruz a mutagen that contained strands of the Wolverine's DNA that was taken from him during Project X… the regenerative factor." Fury calmly stated. "I've confirmed this when we tested his blood a couple days ago… I had feared that he had gained the attribute and he did."
Agent Hill stared at the director in shock, "But…how… sir, then how do we stop him?"
"We can't. I don't want to admit it but the only reason I kept Phantom locked away for so long was because I knew how dangerous he was to us and to everyone else. We created an immortal being… and made way for our future projects at his expense." Fury sighed. "It'll cost us even more in the long run if we don't find stable ground with him."
"Then what should we do now, sir?"
"Keep the helicarrier on lockdown, and contact Coulson to let him know of our status. We'll wait until Phantom comes out, he has to… he's just biding his time until he finds an opportunity, just like the last time I captured him." Fury simply ordered, and she nodded and left to do what she was told.
From the corner of the bridge, the man the whole helicarrier was looking for stood in the shadows in his own cloaking. He watched, waited, and knew what was going to happen next.
You won't have to wait for long, Fury… The time is near.
Peter woke up the following morning after bashing Sam on the head for having snuck up on him and Ava the previous night. It was early in the morning, but he knew he had to get ready for what the day was planned for. He got dressed and could smell the breakfast Sam was cooking up already.
Dang… He really loves cooking, hopefully he doesn't tell the rest of the team of what he saw last night…
Peter walked out into the hallway and saw that Luke and Danny were still asleep through their rooms. He knocked on their doors to wake them up. Aunt May was talking to Sam downstairs in the kitchen and someone was taking a shower, presumably Ava. After he saw movement with both Danny and Luke getting up, he walked downstairs to the kitchen.
"Peter! Good morning!" Aunt May greeted him as he walked in. Sam's back was facing him; he was on the stove cooking eggs and bacon.
"Morning, Aunt May. Good morning, Sam."
"Morning, Pete. Just you wait until you try my breakfast this morning, bet you missed it!" Sam happily greeted him.
I'm sure I will…
"What are you guys planning to do today, Peter?" Aunt May asked him as she took a sip of her coffee.
"Eh, I think we're all going to go out somewhere, maybe to the park." Peter quickly came up with something to tell her, hoping she didn't ask to accompany them.
"Oh, well have fun! I'm going to go out with my girls to the mall in-case you all need me today." She informed him with a smile.
Oh thank god.
"Good, what are you going to buy?" Peter asked to make some conversation.
"Not sure, maybe some new gear for when we all go out to the mountains and hike, or another helmet for when we go dirt-bike racing!" Aunt May pondered with much amusement.
Man, with all the activities Aunt May does, you'd think she's still a teenager like the rest of us. Truth is, after Uncle Ben passed away, she tries to occupy her time doing something rather than staying alone in the house… I can't blame her for that.
"Morning everyone." Luke and Danny entered the kitchen, slouching, they looked tired.
"Hey! You two ready for my breakfast?" Sam asked them as he finished the bacon and placed it to the side.
"I am tired. Breakfast will ready me for the day ahead." Danny calmly stated and held his head. "I had a bad dream last night."
Him too?
"Join the club, Danny. What was your dream about?" Peter asked him with curiosity.
"I shall tell you later my friend, it was very frightening…" Danny sighed. "I woke up in sweat and trembling, it has been a while since that has happened."
Hmm… I wonder what his dream was then… I heard the whispering effect before I fell asleep, I'm more than sure of that…
"Good, now where's Ava? She was always the last one to come to breakfast." Sam asked as he got the eggs and bacon onto the plates for everyone, it looked so good.
"I heard that." Ava walked through the kitchen doorway. She was all dressed and ready for the day, her hair still slick from her shower. "Good morning everyone!"
"Good morning, Ava, how did you sleep?" Aunt May asked her.
"Good, tired but…" she glanced at Peter. "…ready for the day to start."
I am too… I won't lie.
"Ah, finally, breakfast is ready." Sam picked up the plates and beckoned Peter to help him set up the breakfast table.
Ava, Aunt May, Luke, and Danny went to sit down on the kitchen as Peter set up the table and Sam placed all the plates to where their respective spots were and they sat down once it was all ready, they began to eat.
"So, Peter… What are you going to do today?" Sam looked at Peter then at Ava after taking a bite, and grinned from ear to ear.
I really hope he doesn't tell anyone about what he saw, that's really personal…
"I thought you five were going to go to the park." Aunt May asked.
"Oh, yeah that's right." Sam quickly shut up. "I almost forgot about that, heh."
That's right… shut up Sam.
They continued eating breakfast, talking about how their day was going to go and the new topic of this Phantom character that was shown on Daily Bugle Communications.
If you only knew who he was, Aunt May…
Aunt May left early to go out after breakfast, leaving the rest of the team ready and able to do what they planned to do. They switched into their costumes after she had left and disembarked towards the city.
"Alright, does everyone know what they need to do?" Spider-Man asked the team when they arrived.
"I'm going to go see Coulson first before I go to the helicarrier, just to check on the status before I actually have to go up there, to like… try and avoid walking into an ambush you know?" Nova informed Spider-Man.
That makes sense, good thing Nova is using his head today at least.
"Tiger and I will go investigate the whereabouts to Phantom's wife." Powerman added his part.
"Yes, I did some research on Cruz's family and found her name to be 'Maria Escobar' on the S.H.I.E.L.D. database; they had kept a close eye on her after they took Phantom away all those years ago. We'll go there." White Tiger updated them.
Good, so we have a lead on that. Hopefully that will shed some more light to Phantom and maybe solidify a reason for him to come out of hiding, if his former wife would talk to us that is.
"…and you and I will go see Dr. Strange at his manor." Iron Fist told Spider-Man.
"Good, it seems we're all set. Stay in touch, team, we'll be on the communicator. Nova, let us know once you find out what's going on with the helicarrier before you go." Spider-Man ordered Nova, and he nodded back.
"Got it."
"Good luck, everyone." Spider-Man and Iron Fist split up along with the rest of the team from there.
"I just hope the mental connection Phantom established with me is still there… hopefully we can talk to him to reason with him and figure all this out." Spider-Man told Iron Fist on the way over.
"I agree. The sooner we reason with him, the better. I only hope he does not try anything that could endanger the mission." Iron Fist contemplated.
"I'm more worried about what Taskmaster could be up to, I can't believe we let him go back in the jungle." Spidey sighed. "Stupid Taskmaster and his stupid plan…"
"Calm, my friend, we shall see this through in time." Iron Fist assured him. "Argh… my head is still hurting from this morning."
"You alright?"
"I am not certain, the nightmare I had last night has really had me in thought this morning." Iron Fist replied.
The dream…
"What happened in your dream, Iron Fist?" Spider-Man asked in a serious tone.
"It was very strange, I woke up in the dream and found myself fighting the training bots from the training simulator on board the helicarrier… but they were out in the streets of the city. I fought them until I looked up at the sky and saw that the helicarrier was on fire, and it was falling onto the city. You were there, along with the rest of our team… but we were bested by the bots and an unknown foe." Iron Fist explained his nightmare with a tone of fear in his voice.
Holy crap… That sounds exactly like what I dreamt…
"Iron Fist… Would it creep you out if I told you I had a dream just like that last night?"
"It would… I fear that whatever the dreams mean… it does not bid us a good future in the days ahead." Iron Fist solemnly stated. "We just have to hope that they do not come true."
"I hope they don't…"
They both arrived at the cloaked manor, standing in front of the grand door with the gargoyle statues on the sides of the gray steps. They stared into the eyes of both Spider-Man and Iron Fist as they approached the manor.
"The path to enlightenment awaits once more…" Iron Fist re-quoted himself for a third time.
"Will you always say that when we come here?" Spider-Man asked him. "Fortune cookies don't repeat themselves three times you know."
Iron Fist shook his head as they entered the front doors which always seemed open.
You'd think Dr. Strange would keep those doors locked, but I guess if you're really looking for him, he'd have his door open to anybody, complete strangers. How strange for Dr. Strange… Heh…
They walked through the empty hallways where they visited twice now; looking around for signs of Dr. Strange, but nothing was heard throughout the manor, the halls seemed to echo with every step they took.
"You sure he's back?" Spider-Man questioned.
"I am sure, I visited him last week and he had told me he would be away until this Saturday morning." Iron Fist answered him confidently.
"I see… wait, why were you here?" Spider-Man curiously asked.
"I wished to meditate with him and receive advice… However, it was then when the whispers began to bother my mind…" Iron Fist told him plainly.
"Ohhh… Wait, Iron Fist, you've heard the whispers?! The whispering effect?!" Spider-Man asked in shock. "How come you haven't told me this?!"
How the hell did he not bring this up?!
"I did not tell you because I have only heard them while I meditated, I did not think that it had come from Phantom because I did not think he had reason to… but now that you bring it up…" Iron Fist began to realize what was going on.
This just got a lot more complicated if Phantom has made a mental connection with Iron Fist…
"We need to find Dr. Strange…fast." Spider-Man stated with haste.
"Agreed, my friend."
"Hmm…" Spidey looked through one of the doors, the room where Strange had sent him into Phantom's dream-realm. It was empty. "Nothing here…"
"This was where we had meditated." Iron Fist pointed out.
"…and this was where I made contact with Phantom in the dream-realm…" Spider-Man put two and two together and realized what it meant.
"Maybe you made a connection with Phantom himself… through here." Spider-Man guessed.
I honestly don't know how but with all this dimensional science that Dr. Strange brings up all the time, it wouldn't surprise me if Iron Fist had somehow magically created a mental connection with Phantom.
"What do you think, Iron Fist..." Spider-Man turned to where Iron Fist was standing, but he wasn't there anymore. "Iron Fist?" He looked down the hallway and saw Iron Fist walking with haste through the hallways, murmuring something to himself.
What the…? Iron Fist is usually strange but…
"Iron Fist? Where are you going?" Spidey called out to him as he walked towards a large doorway.
"I hear them… the whispers. I must confront them." Iron Fist calmly told him as he continued to walk.
Oh no…
Spider-Man ran down the hallway to catch up to Iron Fist as he entered through the doorway and into another room. He stopped as he looked through it. There was a large portal-like mirror in the middle of the darkened room. It was glowing and something seemed to be in it, a shimmering image of someone or something. Iron Fist was slowly walking towards it.
"Iron Fist…Stop!" Spidey ran and tackled him down.
"The whispers, Spider-Man… I must…follow." Iron Fist struggled to get up. Spidey looked up at the mirror, and Phantom's shimmering image stood.
Phantom! Holy crap… this is getting very weird!
"Spider-Man, don't let him enter that portal." He heard a familiar voice inside the room. Dr. Strange emerged from the shadows.
Convenient timing, Doc!
"Doctor! Where were you?!" Spider-Man continued to hold down Iron Fist.
"I've just returned from business with some of my cohorts in the country, it seems Iron Fist has been influenced by the mirror." Dr. Strange stood in front of it, between them and the mirror.
"He's hearing the whispers I was hearing weeks ago, doctor!" Spider-Man told him in shock.
"The Phantom?"
Spidey nodded.
I'm glad he remembers it!
"I see… I sense you've returned to me so that you can establish another connection to the enigmatic dream-walker known as Phantom." Strange began to pace around the mirror, looking into the shimmering image of Phantom.
"How did you know?" Spidey asked curiously.
"The Phantom appears before you in the mirror, even I can see that." Strange pointed out.
"Does that mean he's like…seeing all this right now?" Spidey asked him.
"No, it means that the whispering effect is beckoning Iron Fist to enter the portal." Dr. Strange ushered them to follow him back into the hallway. "We must trace the connection back to Phantom…"
Spider-Man picked up Iron Fist by webbing his arms together and dragging him back away to keep him from running to the portal. "Let…go." Iron Fist argued calmly.
"What is that thing?" Spider-Man asked about the mirror to Dr. Strange as he walked down the hallway.
"An ancient relic that acts as a gateway from the different dimensions, it has a life of its own…" Strange briefly explained. "…But no time for that, the situation has changed, Spider-Man."
"How so?"
"Both you and Iron Fist will enter the realm this time; since the Phantom has created a connection to Iron Fist it seems…" Strange shook his head. "…I shouldn't have let him meditate in the room where I helped you connect to Phantom the first time…"
"The whispering…" Iron Fist murmured.
"Will he be all right?" Spider-Man worriedly asked him.
"I would hope so." Strange calmly replied.
Of course… But Phantom had told me he severed the connection with me… maybe he kept it up? I had hoped so, at least then I could speak to him!
Strange led them back to the room where Spider-Man had connected with Phantom the first time around, and had Iron Fist sit on the chaise lounge. He was starting to complain about the whispers, and his head was throbbing with pain as he grabbed it and shook it around.
"The whispers!" Iron Fist stated loudly.
"Spider-Man, take a seat next to Iron Fist." Strange was ready to make the connection.
In the case that this next visit to Phantom kills me, I would just like to point out how much I hate being a superhero sometimes… It's a bit of a drag when you have to face a guy who can enter your mind.
"Here goes nothing once again." Spidey sat down next to the troubled Iron Fist and felt Dr. Strange place his hand on his head along with Iron Fist's.
"Hope this works!" Dr. Strange stated loudly.
Spider-Man began to hear the whispering effect once more as the magic was being channeled between both their minds, and within seconds… he felt his mind being pulled back to the reaches of the channel and was blacked out… both Iron Fist and Spider-Man did.
"Just have to… hold the channel…" Strange grunted as he kept the bridge between both their minds and Phantom's open.
They both felt the blackness of the dark reach of the channel flow through their minds as they slowly woke up with the coarse feeling of the sand of Phantom's recognizable island. Spider-Man sat up, feeling the tidal waves violently crash on him. The thunderstorm that was far away the last time he was there now surrounded the island, an opening in the clouds kept the blue sky still shining over the island… but it was apparent the storm was about to hit. He looked beside him and Iron Fist laid flat on his face, not moving.
"Iron Fist!" Spider-Man got up and ran towards his friend, he turned him over and Iron Fist was murmuring something.
"The…whispers… the whispers…" he was delusional.
"We're on the dream island, Iron Fist, Phantom's mind, come on!" Spider-Man tried to slap Iron Fist awake but couldn't get him to come back to consciousness.
"Come on, Iron Fist… snap out of it!"
Iron Fist didn't respond clearly, and so there was nothing Spider-Man could do for him.
"I'm going to punch you with my fist when we wake back up, come on." Spider-Man picked up Iron Fist and carried him on his back, the dream environment made Iron Fist feel extremely light.
Spider-Man trekked up the beach and through the rocky stone that separated the hill from the sand, once he carefully traversed the stones; he was walking up the grassy hill to the pillar that beamed the radiant light into the opening in the blue sky.
Once he arrived to the pillar, he looked around, but Phantom was nowhere in sight. He slowly placed the delusional Iron Fist on the ground and scouted around the area, but nobody was there.
"Phantom! Where are you?!" Spider-Man called out into the dream-realm, but not even the ambient whispers answered him.
Crap… Well this was for nothing.
"The… whisper…" Iron Fist murmured once more, but this time he pointed at something. Spider-Man looked towards the direction Iron Fist had pointed at and saw a shimmering image of two people…
The shimmering memory of Maria stood in front of a shimmering memory of Phantom, in his costume. But it wasn't the young and beautiful Maria that Spider-Man saw in Phantom's last dream… she had grown older… and Phantom didn't have his mask or hood on. Maria had tears rolling down her eyes.
"Alejandro… I…I'm married and…" Maria said to Phantom while looking down at the ground in tears. Phantom's expression turned grim.
"I…You had promised me…" he told her in a sad tone.
"Alejandro, I thought you were dead! We all did!" She reached for his hands, but he kept them away from hers. "If I knew you were still alive…" she tried to caress his cheek but he kept her from doing that as well.
"I…I suffered sixteen years to see you again…to be with you again…and…" he began to cry.
This…this seems recent… Phantom… spoke to his wife?!
"I…I must go." He seemed to have swallowed the sadness and turned it to aggression.
"No! Please! Don't leave! Not again!" Tears were streaming from her at this point.
Phantom took out a locket, a dull golden locket, and reached for her hand, placing it in her hand. "I don't want it back!" She cried to him, trying to give it back to him.
"This locket…kept me from losing my mind for sixteen years…kept me from ending my own life out of misery for sixteen years… To return only to find out you're no longer mine… This is something that belongs only in your family." Phantom fought back his tears.
Phantom… No…
Phantom took a step away from Maria and slowly put his mask back on his face.
"They…they never cured you, did they?" She sadly asked, and he slowly shook his head as he put his hood on.
"Alejandro…I'm…I'm so sorry!" She cried to him.
"Who told you I was dead?" He asked her in a serious tone.
"It was…it was that man with the eye patch that took you that day. He visited me a year later to tell me you had died…and…I…" she covered her face with her hands and looked back up.
No… Nick told her that Phantom was dead?! Why… he… he already knew Phantom was still alive! Why would he do that?!
"Please don't leave, Alejandro, I mourned you once already, please don't leave! God returned you safely to me! Let me… let me help you!" She begged Phantom, but he shook his head.
"Thank you for being the only hope when there was none for me… I will always love you." It was all he could say before turning around to walk away from her.
"No!" she ran after him but the two memories had faded.
Fury was the one who told her he was dead… She re-married because she thought he was dead! But she also had a daughter!
Two other shimmering memories appeared before Spider-Man, one was of Taskmaster and Phantom.
Now we're getting to the bottom of things…
"Join me in what I'm about to create as a plot to bring down S.H.I.E.L.D. once and for all… and since you have access to the helicarrier… that will play to our advantage… Phantom, if you help me do this, I will make sure you are cured, and I will make sure everything is amended in your name. Far more than what S.H.I.E.L.D. can promise you." Taskmaster offered to Phantom.
Holy crap…if Nick knew about this…
"What about Spider-Man and his team?" Phantom then asked with concern.
Yeah! What about my team and me!?
"What about them? We eliminate them too!" Taskmaster answered furiously.
Crap…
"They're innocent; they're not even part of S.H.I.E.L.D.!" Phantom argued to Taskmaster.
"They don't trust you, and they'll do everything they can to stand in your way if given the chance. Do you want to be considered Fury's slave, or a true master of your own power?" Taskmaster extended his gloved hand towards Phantom with his other hand ready at his pistol. "I'm only offering this once, Phantom, are you in or not?"
Don't do it Phantom! Don't do it!
The memory of Phantom stared out at the sea before looking back at Taskmaster, and shaking his hand. The memories faded away from view shortly after.
No! So he didestablish an alliance with Taskmaster! That…that explains it all!
"Come on, Iron Fist! Wake up!" Spider-Man ran back to Iron Fist, who was still lying down. But he was fully unconscious now. Just then, two more memories appeared for one last time, it was of Deadpool and Phantom.
"Heheh…did Taskmaster make his offer yet?" Deadpool asked Phantom.
"He did…and I've reluctantly accepted. The entire helicarrier is on lockdown, looking for me right now…" Phantom responded to him.
This is happening now?!
"Ooooh, what a good strategy! You do know the plan, right?!" Deadpool then asked.
"What plan?" Phantom looked confused.
"Tomorrow, Taskmaster will attack the helicarrier as a diversion to get me out of here!" Deadpool filled him in.
I got to tell Fury! If this is set to happen tomorrow!
"An attack? To get you to escape?" Phantom reiterated it.
"Yep! It's a minor setback! I didn't expect to lose to you so easily! But back then you were with Fury! Things changed now! I miss that sword you got there!" Deadpool provoked Phantom at that point, he grabbed Deadpool by the collar.
"Nobody…touches…my sword. Not even Spider-Man." Phantom's memory angrily told Deadpool before it faded away for good, it was the last memory.
Greatly noted that nobody touches his sword!
Suddenly, the horizon started to turn into a pitch black darkness… and it was enveloping the sea as it grew closer to the island.
"The…channel…is closing." Iron Fist murmured.
Crap! We better get out of here! But how did I get out last time?!
Spider-Man looked up at the beam of light. "That's it! Come on Iron Fist! We're getting the hell out of this place!" He grabbed Iron Fist and lifted him on his back once more as he webslung to the top of the pillar. The darkness had reached the stony rocks and closing in quickly.
Spider-Man jumped into the beam with Iron Fist and the beam slung them up into the sky right as the darkness enveloped the pillar, they blacked out as they travelled up through the mental bridge.
After the team had split up, White Tiger and Powerman followed the lead of Maria Escobar.
"Okay, Tiger, so I have to ask, you and Spidey... going on a date tonight?" Powerman asked Tiger curiously as they jumped through town.
"It's not a date… we're going on a training session, Powerman." Tiger tried to clarify.
"I don't know Tiger; you two have been acting really strange these past few weeks. You know it's okay to admit you two have a thing going on, nobody is going to judge." Powerman tried to reason with her on the whole situation.
"Powerman, Spider-Man and I do not have anything going on, really." She assured him sternly.
"Alright, if you say so Tiger." Powerman dropped the subject, they both stopped on a rooftop in Gramercy.
"What did we stop for?" Powerman asked.
"The log that S.H.I.E.L.D. had on Phantom's wife said she lived here in Gramercy… but I'm trying to figure out something…" She began to ponder. "… Do you think Phantom already visited her?"
Powerman shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it would explain why he's acting the way he is."
"Maria Escobar… She re-married didn't she? Gosh…" Tiger led Powerman down to the street level in an alleyway to scout out a closer look at the buildings. "I don't think Phantom would've taken that well."
"Where does she live? Which building?" Powerman looked around as they reached the street.
"Over there." Tiger pointed at one of the residential buildings. "I doubt the front desk would let us in costumed like this though…"
"She knows about S.H.I.E.L.D., right?" Powerman asked Tiger.
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, that means it wouldn't be bad to go in without our costumes." Powerman assured her.
"Ugh… yeah you're right." Tiger ran back to the alleyway to take off her costume.
Luke and Ava stood in the elevator in the building, waiting for it to land on the floor they needed to get to.
"I wonder what she'll tell us." Ava told Luke. "I just hope we find the answers we're looking for."
The elevator stopped and they got off to look for her room number, Ava had written down the exact address to Maria Escobar's apartment, and at last… they found it. Powerman softly knocked on the door. They heard someone walk to the door. A young teenage girl opened. "Yes…?"
Ava and Luke looked at each other, "Uhm… Hi, we're looking for Maria Escobar, is she home?" Ava asked the girl. The teenager nodded back.
"Who's asking?" The girl asked Ava.
"… Tell Maria that agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are asking." Luke answered for her.
"Okay." The girl gave a confused look and called for her mother. An older looking woman came to the door, she looked older than what Ava had remember seeing on her profile, she was dressed casually and looked like she had been up all night.
"Hello, is there something I can help you with? Are you one of my clients?" Maria asked Ava politely.
"Mom, they said they're from S.H.I.E.L.D. or something." The girl told Maria, who gave them a frozen look… she knew who they were.
"…S.H.I.E.L.D… Is this about…Alejandro?" Maria nervously asked.
"Yes, ma'am… we were hoping to ask you about Agent Cruz." Luke told her.
"Please, come in." Maria let them through the door into a beautiful medium-sized living room with grand furnishings and ornaments, and a pretty fair sized television. Maria sat down on one of the sofas and Ava and Luke sat down across from her, the girl sat next to Maria.
There was a brief silence between the two, knowing what this was about.
"Is…Alejandro okay?" Maria asked.
"He's… well, we came here hoping to find out about him." Ava answered. "He's disappeared and has been evading us for more than 24 hours now…"
"I see…" Maria's hands were shaking. "He…came to visit me, not too long ago."
Ava looked at Luke, confirming her suspicion.
"What happened, ma'am?" Luke asked her cautiously.
"Please, call me Maria…" Maria assured the two of them that she felt comfortable talking to them. "He came to my door a couple nights ago, at first, I didn't recognize him, I thought he was a strangely dressed man coming to me for legal assistance…"
"I didn't think much of it until he showed me this golden locket… a locket that had belonged to my grandmother… it had a picture of me, and I gave it to him before they took him away that… that night." Maria's eyes watered up. "I'm sorry… It's just… after burying a man you loved all your teenage life only to find out one night after sixteen years that he was still alive all along… it's… it's the hardest feeling in the world."
"It's all right, Maria… What else happened?" Ava took out her notepad and started jotting down notes.
"I had told him, that I had re-married… and he got so upset… upset at the fact I didn't wait for him and… It was all my fault…. I… I shouldn't have… but…" she glanced over at her daughter. "I didn't have a choice."
The girl looked solemn in the face… she was around the same age both Ava and Luke were… but she looked a lot like her mother, only much younger.
"I'm sorry, this is my daughter, Selena… she's…" Maria introduced her daughter.
"…Cruz's daughter." Luke finished it for her. Maria nodded.
Selena looked at Ava then Luke, she was very quiet, as if trying to find the words to express her stolid feelings, but she couldn't.
"I raised her on memories of who her real father was, I always wanted her to know who he was…" Maria told them.
"But the files we had on you said that her last name was Escobar…" Ava brought up.
"I did that so that people didn't try to connect Alejandro to us… to keep us safe from the enemies Alejandro had made…" Maria explained the reason as to why it was like that. "But Selena always knew about her father…"
"What about your husband? How does he feel about Cruz?" Luke asked her.
"Fernand? Bless his soul, he's very understanding of the situation. I've been up day and night since Alejandro came to my door to try and find him, seek help for him… I just… I don't want him to hurt anymore… not after being gone for so long." Maria answered him. "Fernand's been helping me ever since to try and locate him…"
"Where is he now?" Ava asked.
"He's at his work right now, probably brokering more stocks…" Maria told her. "I love him… but even he has to understand Alejandro was my first love… even if we can't be together anymore, I want to make sure he can be helped… I want to be there for him…"
"I see…" Ava wrote down more notes, while flipping back to notes she had taken on Phantom's file. "How did you find out about Cruz's death?"
Maria wiped away the tears to gather herself, and try to remember the memory of it. "A dark skinned man with an eye patch came to my porch almost a year after the very same man took him away to figure out a cure for what they did to him…He told me that Alejandro had accidentally died in the curing process, and that the body was burned."
But Maria's tears returned. "He gave me a pile of ashes and a million unanswered questions as to what happened… I had Selena, who was still only a baby… and nobody I could turn to for help… I had left my family to marry Alejandro… they never took me back in… it wasn't until six years later when I met Fernand while working at the coffee shop down the street from Wall Street when my life began to turn for better… to raise her."
"We visited the grave they buried the ashes in every year…" Selena finally spoke out.
"Yes… and for him to have returned… I don't know what to think now." Maria added. Luke looked at Ava.
"Fury told her that Alejandro was dead? How…? When he knew that he was still alive?" Luke whispered to Ava. She just shook her head.
Maria then leaned forward, and asked, "Please tell me Alejandro is okay…please."
Ava didn't know what to tell her. "I don't know… We've been trying to locate him for hours now but we fear there may be more going on than we suspect…"
"Please… if you find him… please tell him that I still love him, and that I'll be here until he returns." She asked of Ava. "Please tell him that."
"I will." Ava assured her.
They continued to talk more about Maria's history with Cruz and how she had met him after he left active duty service in the Marines. He had joined up with S.H.I.E.L.D. after Fury had taken an interest in his skills and offered him a well-paying job with the organization. It was to help pay for their wedding and to provide for them a future. The conversation continued until Maria had no more to say about Cruz, Ava and Luke had decided they found out all they needed.
"Wait…" Maria got up and walked into the hallway of the apartment, she shortly returned with a dull golden locket. "Promise to give this back to him when you find him."
She slowly handed it to Ava, and Ava clutched it in her hand. "I promise, I just hope he's willing to take it back."
"He has to. He must." Maria was confident.
They bid her goodbye as they left the apartment, and Ava looked at Luke in shock. "So according to her, Fury told her that Cruz was dead…when really that wasn't the case!"
"There has to be more to that, I don't believe he'd be that deceptive." Luke told her.
"You're right; maybe we should contact Peter and Danny and see if they've made any progress."
Ava put away her notepad and walked into the alleyway to put her costume back on, Luke switched back after her, they headed on out to the school where Coulson was to report what they discovered…and to contact everyone.
"So I said to him, hand it over and I'll only partially unalive you! Ha ha!" Deadpool knocked a joke out referencing his previous encounter with Spider-Man in his cell over to Electro who still couldn't hear what he was saying. "Boy that Spider really gets me going! I could never unalive him!"
Suddenly, he heard something thud behind him. Deadpool looked behind him and saw a sword hanging in mid-air, Phantom appeared before him, being the one who was holding the sword the entire time. He threw the sword down at Deadpool's feet.
"It's almost time, be ready." Phantom coldly told him.
"My sword!" Deadpool picked it up and embraced the hilt with much love. "Thank you, Phanty! When will Taskmaster come here?"
"…by nightfall."
"Ah, good! We should probably drop a goodbye to Fury before we leave for good!" Deadpool grinned.
"Perhaps we should." Phantom agreed with him.
Hope you guys like this chapter! It was going to be longer and have Deadpool actually escape in this one but I figured revealing the plot to Spider-Man and the team would've tied in a lot better right before the escape!:) Next, Deadpool Escapes!:) As always, reviews are appreciated! Thanks and stay posted for the next chapter!