Thursday evening, the Parkers were at the kitchen table, not touching the casserole that Rio Morales had brought over. Their forks simply scraped the empty space on their plates, the only thing breaking the silence between them. Miles was out with a search party from Harlem, looking for May, and he had encouraged Peter to take the night off to rest. Unable to do so, he and MJ were simply waiting for… well, anything: a call, a clue, something that could either bring May home or give her parents closure.
Finally, the doorbell rang. Peter jumped up to open it, and took a step back once he saw who was there.
"Mr. Stark." Pete cleared his throat. "This is a surprise."
"Peter, I may technically be your boss, but I think you're old enough to start calling me Tony," the newcomer corrected. Though the statement was no doubt meant to be light-hearted, there was no mirth in the man's eyes. "May I come in?"
"Of course." Pete stepped aside so Tony could walk in. "What's going on?"
"I have some news, and I thought it would be best to give it to you in person."
"What is it?" MJ asked, standing to join the conversation.
"I… well, there's no easy way to say this," Tony started, scratching the back of his head. "When I heard about your daughter, I hired some of the best divers in the world to search anywhere there might be a sign of her: in the Hudson, in the water purification system…"
"And?"
"And all they found… was this." Stark opened his closed fist, revealing a small wristband. Attached to it was some crushed machinery, only identifiable by the cracked pink spider symbol on top of what used to be a button.
"One of May's web-shooters." With shaky hands, Peter reached out to take the device from Tony.
"Oh my-" MJ shuddered, putting her hands to her mouth.
"Where?" Peter demanded.
"In a filtration channel underneath lower west Harlem," Tony explained.
"And you're sure this is it? They haven't stopped looking, have they?"
"Peter, I-"
"This doesn't mean anything. She could still be out there, all-"
"Peter, the chances of anyone, even Spider-Girl, surviving an explosion like that are about a million to one," Stark admitted. "If she were alive, wouldn't she have contacted you by now?"
"But that still means we have to find her body."
"With the way the currents have been lately, May's body could be in the middle of the Atlantic by now."
"Are you saying there's no hope?" Peter's lip began to quiver, and his fingers tightly wrapped around the remains of May's web-shooter.
"I'm saying…" Tony sighed. "I'm saying it's time to start seriously thinking about letting her go."
The room went deadly silent, as if no one in it was even breathing. No one moved. The sudden clunk of the ice-maker in the refrigerator was the only sign that time itself hadn't completely stopped.
"Thank you, Tony," Peter said, finally breaking the silence. "For everything. But I think you should go now."
"Right," Tony sighed, taking a step back towards the door. "Peter, I'm so sorry. You take all the time you need to heal. In the meantime, if you need anything…"
"I appreciate that."
"Well… I'll see you around."
Peter and MJ watched as Tony walked out. They remained silent until the door closed behind them.
"MJ…" Peter sighed.
"Oh, Peter…" MJ's voice hitched. She threw her arms around her husband, then allowed herself to sob. "I should have tried harder to stop her."
"No, no. You can't think like that; this isn't your fault."
"And it isn't yours either. As much as I want someone to blame, to be able to hate the Spiders and all the danger you put yourselves in… I know it isn't your fault, but, Peter… oh, Peter, what are we going to do? Our little girl…"
"I know," Peter said, wrapping an arm tightly around MJ. His own tears began to fall once more. "Believe me, I know."
I did not need to hear that, May thought as she climbed back out of her bedroom window. Yes, it had been a big risk, sneaking into her house to steal back her flash drive- even riskier to stand at the top of the stairs to eavesdrop when she heard Mr. Stark arrive-, but she needed all the information she could get. She had known that playing dead would break her parents' hearts, but to hear them sob for herself after Stark's somber declaration... It was harder than she ever could have imagined. She needed to end this soon so that she could make things right.
To that end, while she was in the vicinity, May could use her home network to piggy-back off of her mom's computer and search through her different databases. Someone must know something about Stephens, right? Hoping neither of her parents would enter her room for any reason in the next few minutes, she web-yanked her tablet from her desk, climbed up to the roof, and got to work.
First, I'll see if she has a criminal record, May decided. I don't think you can work with minors if you do, but it's still worth a try. Police database… Elaine Stephens… and… nothing. Disappointing, but not surprising. Civil records next.
Scouring the databases for any mention of her former figure skating coach, May came up empty in almost everything. She was about to give up when she finally got a hit: a record of legal name change. Some years prior, the name was registered as a change for a Janice Lincoln. Lincoln? May wondered. It can't be a coincidence… Sure enough, a search through archived birth announcements revealed that little Janice was the daughter of none other than Lonnie Lincoln, alias Tombstone.
This explains everything, May gasped. Coach must be trying to recreate Grave Dust so she can drug up an army to break her dad out of the Raft! This should be all the information I need against her, but would the police agree? I'm not sure. Maybe now is a good time to set up the last part of my plan.
May emailed herself screenshots of the different documents she found, then put her tablet back on her desk. As quietly as she could, she slipped back out of the house and closed her bedroom window behind her. It felt strange to know that it would be a few more nights before she would be able to sleep in her own bed again, or wake up to her father frying bacon… Bacon. She hoped he and her mother were eating well through all of this. I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. This will be over soon; I promise.
Throughout the night and the next day, May bought and placed supplies for this "last part" of her plan. As she worked, she decided to see what she could listen to.
"Friends," Don Daniel's voice suddenly rang through her ear. "This is a somber day for New York. As many of you all know, the famed Spider-Girl has been pronounced dead by not only local authorities, but by private investigators hired by our own Stark Industries. Now, some of you might think I would be glad to know that our city is down one masked menace. To an extent, that's true, but, for the most part, I am grieving like the rest of you. Behind that mask was a young girl, a real girl with a bright future and many talents; she just had the misfortune of falling victim to the dangers of misguidedly following in the footsteps of her father.
"No matter what I think of Spider-Man or his compatriots, I feel for him tonight. No man should ever go through what he is going through. And, Spider-Man? If you're listening, let me tell you this: if you find whoever did this… you give him what's coming to him. After that, it's back to normal, and I'll be doing my part to cleanse the city of you and your kind."
Wow, 4-J, May thought. That was… wow. Maybe I should "die" more often, if it makes him say nice things about us on his show. Kidding! Of course, he probably won't be so nice when it eventually comes out that I'm not dead… Let's turn on something else.
"Hey, fans," a new voice chimed. "Danika here. I think I speak for everyone in New York when I say that it's been a really hard week. Spider-Girl's loss will be felt throughout the city. Of course, no one is feeling it more than her family. On that note, I am going to share with you an exclusive interview with the OG Spider-Man himself, recorded earlier this week."
There was only a slight pause before the recording started. "Tell me, Spider-Man, how are you?"
"I guess I'm doing as well as I can be, all things considered," Spider-Man responded. Dad… May had just heard his voice hours ago, but it still stung, and she felt the hurt within it. "The other Spider-Man and I have faced loss before, but this… this hits differently."
"I don't doubt it. This was… tragic, senseless."
"Senseless is a good word for it. Her mother and I sure haven't been able to make sense out of it."
"Is there anything you would like to say while you're here on the air?" Danika asked.
"Yes," Spider-Man took an audibly deep breath. "If anyone out there knows anything about the people who did this, please say something. Tell the police, or find one of us on the streets."
"You heard it here, folks. I've placed a widget with the number for the police tip hotline on the homepage of my blog, so there is no reason not to report. Until next time, don't forget: journaling your feelings throughout the day can help improve your mental health. Bye."
I promise, Dad. This will all be over soon.
