Peter stared at his birth certificate, this being the first time he has ever actually seen it. Growing up this hadn't really been an issue and Peter had never been interested in seeing it or the papers uncle Ben had to sign when he took him in. But here was both of them in his hands, and his birth certificate confirmed what he had just been told. That he was born on the fourteenth of October in 1917 to Mary and Richard Parker. It even had the exact time of his birth and how much he weighed much to his surprise. It also told him that he had a twin sister named Teresa, a sister who was now sitting on the couch watching Peter anxiously along with May as he simply stood there. Finally he looked up from the papers at them and slowly sat down on a chair, his brain still struggling to accept what he had just been told.
"I'm going to need some help here aunt May." Peter said after about a minute of silence. "Because I'm struggling to understand why you never told me I had a sister."
"I wanted to tell you Peter. I truly did, but your uncle didn't want me to." May explained slowly while sounding like she could burst into tears at any moment. "He was just so ashamed about all of it and the longer things went on the worst he felt about keeping a secret, but he also became more scared about how you would react when you found out."
"Uncle Ben was...scared?" Peter responded with a struggle, as that was not a concept that had ever occurred to him before. Growing up Ben had always been a figure of strength to Peter, never showing fear even when things were at their worst. Peter knew that Ben had probably confessed his worries to May when Peter wasn't around, but still he found it hard to believe that the man had ever been scared of anything let alone how Peter would react to this news.
"Why didn't he tell Peter?" Teresa suddenly asked before fidgeting nervously when two sets of eyes focused on her. "I mean, my parents didn't tell me because they were afraid I would get some romanticized idea of my biological family and they would lose me. Did your husband have the same reason with Peter?"
"No, well, something like that." May answered with some thought as she tried to find the best way to explain the truth, before looking back at Peter. "You do remember the orphanage don't you? I mean we did tell you about but you used to say you could remember a little of it."
Indeed he could and it wasn't something he liked to remember, though he still wondered if he was remembering it accurately or if some of it had been exaggerated due to being a child at the time. He remembered it being cold and frightening, with adults who never smiled and other children who either cried throughout the night or like him stayed awake listening to others cry to forget their own feelings. He couldn't exactly remember first meeting Ben but he did remember being nervous when Ben took him home and being a little intimidated by the man.
"Well Ben always told you that the reason you were there until you were five was because it took a long time to convince the orphanage to let him adopt you." May continued after Peter nodded. "The truth is that it was not that hard to adopt you Peter. After the war and losing your father, Ben just couldn't handle the idea of raising you."
Peter and Teresa stared at May, completely captivated as she revealed a completely new side to the man Peter had admired for so long. "Ben only told me a little about those years but Ben couldn't stop drinking, spending everything he earned just to try and numb his pain. He lost friends in the war but worst of all he saw your father die in front of him. So when he got home and learned that your mother passed away only a few months after the two of you were born, he knew he had a responsibility to look after you two. It was the right thing to do, the responsible thing, but he couldn't. He couldn't look after himself much less two children, and thought that you would be better off where you were and you would hopefully be adopted."
"He told me that every night he would struggle to sleep because of the guilt of just abandoning you two, and it was because if that that he finally stopped drinking. That he saved his money to afford a good place to live, cleaned himself up so that he looked respectable and swore to never drink a drop ever again." May told them with a proud smile on her lips, though that quickly vanished when she moved onto the next part of her story. "But when he went to the orphanage only you were still there Peter. Teresa had already been adopted when Ben had been struggling to recover from the war. He told me that he did everything he could but whoever adopted Teresa paid a lot of money so that nobody could go looking for her."
"That's why he never told you Peter, that's why he was ashamed." May said as she looked Peter straight in the eyes for the first time since she began telling the story, hints of tears forming. "He was too ashamed to tell you that because he couldn't find the strength to look after you when you should, Teresa was taken away and he was unable to find her."
The silence was deafening as Peter tried to come to terms with what he had been told, and his mouth was open slightly as he struggled to find the words to describe how he felt. He didn't really know what he wanted to say or what he wanted to do while multiple feelings clashed inside of him. He looked towards Teresa who seemed just as lost about what to say if not more, and he felt a tinge of anger over her role in all of this. Things had been fine and then she just came knocking on their door and revealing all of this, and in that moment he wanted to do nothing more than yell at her to leave. But that moment quickly passed and felt a wave of shame over take him as he remembered that Teresa wasn't to blame for any of this and for the idea of blaming her to even enter his mind made him a lesser man. She was just a sixteen year old girl who had the courage to come and see complete strangers in the hope of finding some sort of connection, and regardless of how he felt about Ben right now he shouldn't be angry with her.
And he shouldn't be angry at May who was no longer looking at Peter and was holding back tears, and the teenager approached his aunt and knelt down. He gently took her hands into his which made her look up, at which point he smiled at her reassuringly before speaking. "It's alright May. This is very shocking and I won't lie that I'm hurt that you and a Ben didn't tell me, but I'm not angry at you."
"Do you mean it?" May asked slowly while Peter saw her hope clash with her disbelief in her eyes.
"Of course I mean it. This is great news, I have a sister now. There's nothing bad about that." he told her calmly while looking to Teresa, smiling calmly to show he was genuine. And now that Peter was thinking about it, this actually was great news and he was getting excited.
May hugged Peter tightly which Peter returned, and the two stayed like that for a few moments before remembering that they had a guest. Teresa was smiling slightly though it was clear that she found this situation awkward which was understandable. As Peter stood up his aunt turned to Teresa and put in her most welcoming smile.
"Sorry about that dear. Why don't you tell us more about yourself? I could make us some food and..." May trailed off as she began to realise something very important. "Wait, I can't. I have to get to the centre, its going to be really busy and we have a lot of things to move."
"And I have to get my photos to Jameson." Peter added with a sigh while also remembering the book hidden in his room that he needs to investigate for Felicia. But he didn't want to just send Teresa away, who was looking at both of them with sadness at the idea she would just have to leave after meeting them. "I have an idea, why don't you come with me? I just need to drop off the photos, and I can then show you where I work and we can talk. After I dropped them off I could take you home."
"That sounds great. I would love to do that." Teresa told him as her smile returned.
"That's great. I'm going to be busy all day, but you can come tomorrow and I can make dinner. Mary Jane might join us, she would love to meet you." May told Teresa as she got up with the young girl joining her, while Peter went off to grab his coat. "Oh, I'm so glad you here. You can come tomorrow can't you?"
"Maybe." Teresa responded reluctantly, which made a concerned Peter look to her as he put his coat on. "It's just, my mother and father don't know I'm here. I'm not sure that they will be happy that I snuck out to meet you both."
"Well tell them I would like to meet them. I want to know you Teresa, we're family. So I would like to know the people who raised you." May told her as she touched her shoulder reassuringly.
"They're nice people right? They wouldn't do anything bad?" Peter asked as he stood waiting for Teresa, who looked at him in surprise and shook her head.
"No, they wouldn't hurt me. They would just be hurt and upset with me."
"Don't worry, I'm sure they will understand." May told her while leading to the door. "Now you two get going. I'm sure you have a lot to talk about."
In truth they said little as they left the apartment, Peter keeping a watchful eye out for anyone who would try to attack them for anything Teresa might have. He had plenty of things he wanted to ask her but he couldn't think of the right words because he became overwhelmed the fact she was even here. He wanted to know everything about her and tell her almost everything about himself, and because of hi inability to do so all he could do was ignore her and be angry with himself. He could tell from how she looked at him she was nervous to say anything and was clearly relying on him to say something, making him feel like he was already failing to be a brother. It was only when the Daily Bugle was in sight that he noticed something around her neck that made him speak in surprise.
"You're wearing a cross." he said like an idiot as he frowned a little.
"Oh, yes I am." Teresa replied quickly with a small smile, oblivious to why it bothered Peter and instead continued to talk thinking he was trying to start a conversation. "I'm not a very religious person, but my mother is very dedicated to the church and it's nice to be part of a warm community. What about you, do you go to church often?"
"I'm Jewish." Peter answered simply while trying his hardest to not be too loud, watching with a little amusement as Teresa's eyes widened. "So is May, and pretty much everyone in our family was as well. Not that there's many of them anymore, the only one I really know of is a second cousin who lives in the Bronx. But we don't really talk to him."
"Oh." Teresa said simply, her tone practically screaming how awkward she felt as she looked down briefly at the cross around her neck. "So do you and May hide that your...you know?"
"No. I mean we don't go announcing it but if someone asks we don't lie. It's not as big of a problem as you might think since pretty much everyone in the neighbourhood likes us. And those that don't hate us for other reasons." Peter explained as they reached the doors of the Daily Bugle.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh its nothing." he told her while opening the door, not sure how the clearly wealthy Teresa would feel about his and May's communist sympathies. "Come on, I'll show you where I work and the people there. Except for Jameson they're really nice."
Thankfully nobody was that busy and Peter enjoyed introducing Teresa to Betty along with the more polite men like Abe, Ted and Nick. Teresa clearly enjoyed speaking to them all, especially Betty with their conversation quickly becoming about clothing. He was simply waiting for Jameson to be done when everyone in the office heard his voice rise, causing everyone to get back to work much to Teresa's surprise. Before she could ask what was happening, the door to Jameson's office opened and Lance came rushing out while Jameson followed.
"Get out of here! Take your photos and leave. The Bugle doesn't print lies!" Jameson told Lance who looked around in embarrassment, everybody pretending to not observing this with interest. Lance wasn't exactly popular and people have said he would wrestle his own mother for a good story even if it wasn't true which was an opinion Peter shared.
"But I'm not lying. Spider-Man was seen helping the Moon Man stealing priceless diamonds a few days ago and killing innocents. You've seen the pictures." Lance desperately tried to defend himself, though Jameson's glare did not vanish like Lance had hoped.
"I must have been really drunk the day I hired you." Jameson eventually said. "First of all the Spider-Man doesn't burn a symbol onto people he's killed, the Spider is the one who does that. Secondly only Daily Globe idiots make mistakes like that so maybe you should go and beg them for a job. And thirdly, the Moon Man was robbing from people with confirmed ties to Fisk so I think they're both heroes. Now I won't say it a third time, take your photos and leave. And Parker, you get in here and you better have something good."
"Don't worry. Underneath all that anger...is more anger." Peter told her, pausing momentarily when it occurred to him that he's never seen Jameson show compassion. All he did know about his boss was that he was lucky he supported Spider-Man because Peter wouldn't bet on himself to survive the horrors Jameson would unleash.
Peter shut the door behind him and began showing Jameson his photos, the sight of them bringing pain to Peter. He had seen them many times but no matter what happens he doubts he could ever truly harden his heart to such suffering. The sight of a man beaten half to death because of a bad bet, a woman selling herself to feed her starving children, the orphans nobody seemed to care about. It was a constant reminder to Peter that for all his power there are somethings he can't change and one of those things is humanity's apathy.
"Terrible, crap, really terrible. You should be doing better than this Parker." Jameson muttered though Peter knew he was just being him. He had finally mastered how to speak his language, and with practice people can tell from his tone whether he was really angry or not no matter what he said.
"Go and give these to Hoffman. See if there's anyone who needs you." Jameson told him simple while handing the photos back.
"Actually Mr Jameson, there's a story I would like to pursue." Peter told him though he flinched when his boss gave him a sudden look.
"A story?"
"Yes. Sir." Peter replied awkwardly, adding on the sir out of irrational fear. Well maybe not completely irrational since Jameson could easily fire him.
"And what story is this?" he asked as he leaned back into his chair while his eyes remained focus on the teenager.
"I have a source," Peter flinched at how unconvincing he made that sound when he already didn't look like the sort to have a source, "that there have been multiple disappearances at the Black Cat. You know, the club?"
"I've heard of it."
"Well I've heard that its been employees and customers, and I know what you're thinking. But none of it shows signs of anyone being killed as everyone says they acted normal before vanishing, and there were never any signs of forced entry in their homes."
"And why are you so concerned about it Parker? Do you have some sort of stake in it?"
"No sir. But I know that none of the disappearances have been reported to the police, and I wanted to do show that there are normal people who just work at these places. Not bad people who've lived sinful lives, normal people who get caught in the cross fire. We tend to focus on people who don't work for crooks and clubs like the Black Cat, so I felt this would be a good reminder."
Peter had spent all this morning thinking through his little speech to Jameson, even while dealing with this morning's surprising revelation. He has found that people are less willing to talk to Spider-Man and he wasn't going to attack an innocent, but it focused to him that Peter Parker might have some success. And even if he doesn't he could always change back into his costumed identity of he finds something suspicious.
Peter watched Jameson in anticipation for his answer, and it was obvious that he was dragging this out on purpose. Eventually Jameson focused his eyes on Peter and presumably seeing something that satisfied him he sighed before nodding.
"Fine, you can investigate the story. But I want you back here by the end of the week with something interesting, or you won't get get another chance to prove yourself. Now get out of here and tell Hoffman I want him in here." Jameson told Peter while gesturing for him to leave and Peter nodded gratefully before leaving.
He returned to see that Teresa was still talking with Betty and when he closed the door behind him, she looked up with a smile that only dampened a little when he gestured for her to give him a minute. He went over to where Ted was working who looked up when he heard Peter approach.
"Hey Ted, Jameson wants you in his office. Sorry."
"There's no reason to say that Peter, I have a pretty good story for Jameson about the Spider-Man." Ted replied with a grin as he stood up. "Apparently he took down a guy who turned himself invisible last night, a scientist called Boddy. He'll probably like to name this one like he did with the Scarf or Gadgeteer."
"And by name them, you mean steal the credit from you?" Peter asked while resisting the urge to laugh, about to turn and leave before Ted coughed awkwardly to get Peter's attention.
"Look Peter, its not any of my business and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But I know how you feel about this and she said you've just met, so I think you should know now instead of later." Ted said while looking at Teresa, who was still happily chatting with Betty.
"What are you talking about?" Peter asked in confusion.
"Your sister hates masked heroes. Says they're all criminals who stand in the way of the police who actually help people." Ted told him and Peter could only stare in surprise until Ted shrugged. "I just thought I should tell you, in case you didn't know."
Peter watched Ted enter Jameson's office before making his way towards Teresa and pushing down his surprise. Like Ted said, everyone has a right to an opinion and there have been a few masked individuals who haven't made it easy for the public to trust those who actually wanted to help. And she came from an entirely different background from him and he doubted the rich would see any of the good heroes like him have done.
"Is everything ok?" Teresa asked when he approached and he forced a smile.
"Yeah, everything's fine. Let's get you home, and hope your parents aren't too angry." Peter told her as he led her to the elevator which was luckily empty.
As he pressed the button for the ground flop he noticed that the two of them had again fallen into an awkward silence. Peter knew he hadn't been that great but while he knew he wanted to talk to her he had no idea on how to do that. How do you casually talk to a sister you've never met and who was so obviously different from you?
"Are you..." Teresa suddenly began, trailing off as she visibly gathered her courage. "Are you really happy that I came today? Or did you only say that to make your aunt happy?"
"No! I mean, no I didn't just say it to make May happy." Peter replied quickly before forcing himself to speak more calmly. "I know I haven't been a great conversationalist, but it's hard to find something to talk about. We're very different people."
"Do you think that we're too different?"
"No and I'm not just saying that to be polite. I won't lie it might be difficult and it might take awhile, and we might argue about a few thing, but we can be a family as long as we put the effort in." Peter told her reassuringly before becoming nervous himself. "You do want to be family right?"
"Yes, I would like that." she answered with a smile and Peter smiled back, the elevator doors then opening to let them out. As they walked to the front doors of the Bugle Teresa slowed down in surprise which Peter noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"That man outside. That's my father's bodyguard Carl." she explained and Peter followed her eyes to see a man who at a guess looked to be in his early forties who was waiting outside. "How did he know I was here?"
"I don't know, but let's go ask him." Peter answered as they headed towards the doors.
"Miss Durand, your mother and father want to speak with you about you running away." the bodyguard said once they were outside.
"How did you even know I was here Carl?" Teresa asked him.
"Your father has a friend in the Bugle who recognized you when you came in and he called him, and he told me to come and get you. Now get in the car." he explained while pointing to a car near them.
"Hey Carl, I'm Peter." the teenager butted in, not enjoying how the man was talking to Teresa at all. "I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but it wouldn't hurt to b a bit more polite."
"It's Mr King to you kid, and I think you should mind your own business." King told him as he glared down at Peter, the threat impossible to miss which is why Teresa forced herself in front of Peter.
"It's ok Peter. I'll see you and May tomorrow ok?"
Peter didn't like it but he eventually nodded in agreement and watched Teresa be led to the car by King. He watched them drive away and was tempted to follow, but knew that there was no reason to think she was in danger. Like she said he will see her again tomorrow and until then he might as well as follow the new story he's got.
I know not a lot happened but I'm trying to set stuff up and most of the action will happen later. So I'm a huge fan of pulp heroes which is why I mention a few in this chapter, which is why I love Spider-Man Noir since he's basically what you would have gotten if Spider-Man had been a pulp hero.