"Peter..."
He was about to take out the next sentry when everything just stopped; and darkness entered his mind. What the hell...?
"Peter..."
Peter just stopped everything he was doing and collapsed the suit. He knew the voice instantly. He just didn't wanna believe it. Not only because it was a dead person but also because Mephisto too had appeared as him.
"Uncle Ben?"
Indeed uncle Ben appeared from the darkness. "Yes Pete; it's me." Peter frowned as his murdered uncle walked up to him. "I'm not Mephisto Pete. Trust your gut."
Pete did. It "was" uncle Ben. He didn't know how it was; but it was.
Ben stopped before him. "Your aunt sends her love. As does your mom and dad." Waves of emotion just hit Peter right then and there. What is this?
"I'm...an angel of sorts now Pete. God, the one above all, whatever you wanna call the big guy, sent me; to protect and guide you. Just like I did when you were a boy..."
Peter cried a little. "Uncle Ben; I'm so sorry." They hugged. "I know Pete. I know. It's like your aunt told you years ago: we loved each other. We always will." "I wanna be with you all so bad." "I know. So do we. But, you have a different destiny."
Peter pulled back. "Destiny?" "They say man thinks and God laughs. Well, maybe so. I don't mean any of this in a bad way." "I don't understand uncle Ben."
Ben exhaled. "God has chosen you as creation's champion. Now, I can't tell you all that that means; but I can tell you that you will always be agent Spider-Man one way or another. Agent of shield Heaven good or whatever. You are destined for greatness. Your aunt and I knew that before we died. You have a hulluva road still to walk. A lot is gonna happen."
"Pete, think of this journey as being like an epic rock song that has many meanings. It has a core but can branch out into many other things. Your journey is gonna be both very philosophical and spiritual. You'll see."
"What about Teresa?" "Save your sister and our niece Pete. That's just the next step. And remember son, we're always with you. Always."
"I love you uncle Ben." "We love you too Peter. Now go and be who you're meant to be."
Ben Parker and the void vanished. He was back... on earth or something? Part of him thought he'd been hallucinating. But no. It had really happened. He'd read about kairos once and thought it something of that nature.
Peter was a man of faith and science together. He chose to take what he'd just experienced at face value leave it at that and next proceeded with what was needed and evident: saving his sister.
He was back in the fight again.
Xxx
Peter Benjamin Parker/Agent Spider-Man/Dork of York...
Okay folks. Time for a change. Yep; fourth wall moment time. Our "prose comic book" will continue very soon. Still gotta lot to do after all. Saving family and all that superhero jazz. But for a while now it will be in first person from yours truly... Likely for the dc crossover series too. We'll see. I am the acrobatic (not at the moment!) improviser after all...
Was that really "the" uncle Ben there? Yeah. First time Mephisto second time God or whoever. I know. Confusing. This whole thing is that too. And then there's infinite Peter Parkers out there too in this multiverse. I'm just one of many others. Obviously earth 616 is the main guy; Spider-Man prime if you will. I'm just an alternate dork doing his thing. Although like the blues brothers I can now say I'm on a mission from God... whatever the hell (or Heaven) that means beyond the obvious I couldn't tell you.
All right. Back to the action.
Uncle Ben's ghost or whatever coming to me just then was well timed I think; even though it did reek of random. My anger was getting the better of me. I was getting to be like the gun toting mister p there. But it was understandable. And I was still gonna do whatever it took to save my sister.
Uncle Ben wasn't condemning my anger I don't think. I think he was addressing what was underlying it: soul fatigue. But he seriously gave me a spiritual second wind if you will. Is that another reason for this random POV change? Maybe. Who knows.
Anyway, I still had a sister to save. I'd already taken down that first guard; and taken him out out. My being a former shield agent was increasing my sense of ruthlessness it now seemed.
But it didn't really matter in a setup like this. Remember my top baddie, a demon hell lord, can restore the dead better than a cylon resurrection hub can. So my sort of no killing policy wasn't such a moral issue anymore.
Even so, it was just about getting the job done. I was at the second guard next and pounded him down with suit strength from behind. He too fell dead. This was war; objectively speaking; a spiritual war now too apparently; and there was gonna be a lot more of it before all was said and done.
I still had stealth and surprise for the moment. I went to a crouch. "Friday, refresh interior scans." "Working." She updated my HUD to show the enemy positions in the target structure. She also showed Teresa's position too.
All right sis. Hang in there... "boss; trouble." What? The baddies were moving quickly. Only one explanation was possible: alarm was sounded. Great job dork. Now you're gonna bring down the house atop you like the witch in oz!
My stealth field then just failed. Oh crap. Vibranium jamming tech... "there he is!" I was spotted. Time for tech spider agility now.
I deployed my suit spider arms and went at them. "Set to instant kill." I leaped at them and my suit arms jabbed right into them to nail them. More came out. I punched kicked away a few more.
A baddie hit me with some kind of vibranium energy cannon. I crashed into an old building and landed hard. The breath was knocked from my lungs. The suit had taken some damage. I was still in the fight.
They converged. Come on Pete! Get up! I was gonna be surrounded very soon... and as ya might have guessed that wouldn't be good!