"Daddy…?"
Peter overheard the voice of a child calling him from upstairs. He closed the fridge and placed the bottle of milk on the counter. He then made his way to the second floor and reached for the child's bedroom.
The girl was laid in her bed. Her window was open. The sheets of her bed ended near her neckline.
She had brown eyes and hair.
Peter stood beside the edge of the door. "Yes, dear?"
"I want to see mommy. I miss her."
"She's sleeping." He approached the bed and sat on the edge of it. He looked down at the child.
"I wish I could have met her…"
Peter raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You know her, sweetheart."
She remained silent.
He continued, "It's Gwen… Gwen Stacy Parker. "
"... Gwen?"
Peter nodded.
"I like it, it's pretty."
"I know." Peter agreed. "But why are you asking me this? You know that already."
"I never met her, daddy." She added, "You told me she's up there… in the skies." She pointed to the dark sky outside her window.
"I… I never said that, Liz."
"That someone hurt mummy before I could know her."
"No, I-I saved her." Peter started to panic. "Stay here." He kissed her forehead and turned on his back to face the door of the bedroom. He instantly spotted a man wearing his black Spider-Man suit. The person stood still in the middle of the room.
"Liz… stay behind me." Peter changed to a defensive standing. He faced the visitor. "Stay away!"
The figure looked around the room. It eventually looked up to Peter again. Sharp teeth took shape where its mouth was supposed to be. The white and curvy eyes appeared right away. It shrieked at Peter. It was about to leap forward and towards him.
"No...!" Peter quickly grabbed the symbiote on both his hands and jumped towards the opposite wall with it in his arms. They crashed through the wall and landed in his room.
The monster pinned Peter against the floor by locking both its hands on Peter's neck. It then bit him in the shoulder, harshly. Peter growled in pain and tried to resist. His opponent was just too strong. He looked up to the bed and noticed that Gwen wasn't present. A single picture of him and Gwen during their high school graduation was found on the nightstand.
No...
"Daddy?!" Elizabeth appeared close to the hole in the wall. She held a teddy bear in her arms.
"... honey, stay away!" Peter ordered as his enemy started to merge itself with him. "Call your Aunt..." He couldn't finish his sentence since his entire figure was overwhelmed by the symbiote.
He had failed, again.
May 20th - 2019
France - Paris
Peter opened his eyes desperately, shaking lightly and covered in sweat. He performed the same routine after having that kind of nightmare: checking his surroundings for any possible threats before checking the woman next to him. Gwen was still asleep. She had her head resting on his chest. He laid his head back to the pillow and looked up to the ceiling. He sighed heavily.
He never had dreamed of something like it before, having a child and raising her without Gwen. It felt so real and painful at the same time. A shock of reality was what he felt, He was still trying to make sense of what was that thing. It looked like his suit.
Peter rubbed the sleep away from his eyes and turned on the bed to face his wife. He gently slipped from Gwen's arms and received a discontent low moan in return.
He walked to their suite's bathroom. They had been on honeymoon for a couple of days. He then splashed some cold water from the sink on his face and glanced at himself through the mirror.
It only gets worse...
He eventually left the bathroom and stepped onto the balcony. He could watch over most of the city. The sun was starting to appear. Unexpectedly, Peter felt thin arms move around his chest before gently caressing his toned abdomen.
"Good morning," Gwen greeted. She wore a blueish nightgown.
"Hey…"
Peter turned on Gwen's grip and wrapped his arms around her waist. He brought her closer to him. He felt at ease in her arms. He kissed her on the lips.
She noticed that his body was tense. They parted. "Is everything alright?"
"Of course."
"You're such a terrible liar." She added, "You don't usually leave me alone in the bed before waking me up, especially when the suit isn't involved."
"That's… a good observation," Peter replied, surprised. "You also do a lot of that cute nose rub."
"When it's an allergic season… yes." Gwen pinched him softly in the nose. "... don't change the subject."
"You really want to know?" Peter tightened his grip around her. She nodded. "It was just a dream, nothing I can't handle.
She led Peter back to the room before having him sit on the edge of their bed. "Talk to me."
He sighed heavily. "Well, I saw… our daughter."
"Our daughter...?"
He nodded.
"How did she look?" Peter described her to Gwen. She smiled and spoke, "She seems to look like you."
"I think so, yes. She then asked me about you because you weren't there… I-I mean alive." He cleared his throat.
"I was… dead?" He nodded. She cupped his cheekbones. "Anything else?"
Peter explained the rest of his dream, including the end of it.
Gwen sighed. "It was just a dream, honey. It's nothing more than that."
"I know, it's just… rough. I'll manage."
"You can always talk to me, it'll help." She added, "You don't need to keep any more secrets from me."
He smiled. "I suppose there's no point doing that again."
"No." Gwen caressed the back of his neck. She sighed heavily. "...I love you."
"I love you too." He reached down and carried his wife in his arms. She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Let's get back to bed."
"... and what should we do there?!"
"... the unspeakable."
Harry took a sip of whiskey. He placed the bottle over the table he was sitting in front of. The surface of the table was made of glass and showed the files he had been going through in the last couple of hours.
Adjustable Military Suit - Healthy Care (Abandoned).
Cross-Species Genetics (Abandoned).
Enchanted Suit Skeleton (Abandoned).
Cloning Research (In Progress).
Parker's Surveillance (In Progress).
"... what's this?" He opened the last file. Pictures of Peter's childhood appeared right away. The last batch of pictures also featured Gwen Stacy.
"VI, what's the last entry?"
The intelligence replied, "Last entry… three days ago."
Harry frowned. Oscorp had been spying on Peter for a long time. They didn't stop now. His father was probably involved considering his whole story with Richard. Fiers never told him about such a subject, for some reason.
"Location?" Harry attempted to locate who had been accessing and altering the files.
"Unable to track it."
Harry buried his face in his hands. His father spent more time spying on Peter than actually seeing his son. What was his goal? Peter was never involved with Oscorp until recently.
He sighed. "... it gets better."
"Thank you." Gwen licked the leftovers of the ice cream off her lips. She held Peter's free hand on her own as they wandered through the city of Paris.
"You're most welcome." Peter held the ice cream in his hand, proudly. "You know, something came back to me recently."
"What?"
"It has been bugging me for years. I always forget to ask you about it." He licked the ice cream.
"Okay…? Then tell me. You're making me anxious."
He chuckled, "Well, how did you manage to steal that police car?"
"Oh… that?" Gwen laughed. "Well… that officer got distracted. A lot was going on in that street. I took that to my advantage."
"He never contacted you after that night?"
"Of course he did, my face was in every possible camera. I just said that I was the only one that could deal with the schematics so they let me go." Gwen giggled. "But yeah, that single day where we didn't text? I was arrested, I think. For a little while."
"I'm glad because I would have to break you out of jail."
"You never know with me. Maybe I do have my own secret identity that you are not aware of."
He chuckled and eventually changed to a more severe expression. "You know that can't happen anymore, right?"
"We talked about this, Pete."
"I appreciate what you did for me; you saved my life more than once, but yours is more important than mine, and I don't want to risk losing you again." He added, "Okay? I swear I will stay on my knees and beg.
"Okay… okay."
"It will be fine, don't worry."
"That's impossible when living with you"
"Sorry."
"Don't be." Gwen leaned closer. "It's what I want, being with you."
The doorbell of Aunt May's house was pressed.
"I'm coming!" She shouted and eventually made her way to the door. She saw who seemed to be a young man wearing a dark coat and glasses standing still on her porch. "How can I help you?"
"Is… Peter Parker home?"
I don't know what I am doing...
"No, he's on his honeymoon right now." She was puzzled at the man's look. He seemed familiar."
"Oh… honeymoon?" Harry cleared his throat. He had missed a lot of things recently. "Sure, send him my regards."
"May I know your name so that I can tell him when he comes back?"
"There's no need. We'll meet again, eventually. Thank you." He turned on his shoulder and walked away with his hands inside the pockets of his coat.
Eiffel Tower
"We could get up there." Peter gestured to the visitor area up in Eiffel Tower. The visiting hour was already expired. The site was already empty besides one guard in the small security tower at the entrance. He was watching something on his phone.
"... but it's closed," Gwen argued.
"Well..." Peter turned to face Gwen and smiled brightly.
Realization eventually took place within her mind. Gwen shook her head. "No… no way, Peter."
"Yes…" He placed both hands on her waist. "... yes." He leaned in to capture kisses from her.
"Come on, Gwen."
"It's illegal, Peter," Gwen protested. "And how are you going to bring me there without your web-shooters?" She asked.
He smiled.
A couple of minutes later, Peter could be found wearing his black suit while Gwen embraced him closely. He had been retracting the dark webbing that had reached for the highest section of the tower. They slowly gained height as the webbing pulled them up.
"I told you I wouldn't need my web-shooters anymore. The suit does the trick."
"Did you take a look at it? This whole thing with this suit… it just feels weird." She held herself very tightly on his neck and waist.
"Of course, don't worry." He questioned, "Everything alright so far?"
"Yes..." Gwen sighed. She could watch over the entire city.
"Here we go." Peter climbed the rails and stepped on the metallic floor.
Gwen let go of her husband and took a moment to absorb the sight in front of her. "It's… so beautiful." Peter wrapped his arms around her and from behind. He planted a kiss on top of the back of her head. "We could be here forever and I wouldn't get bored." .
"Maybe we can." Peter leaned down and captured Gwen's lips in a deep kiss. Gwen moaned contently and wrapped her arms around his neck, relishing at the moment.
Max Dillon stood at the edge of a rooftop. He looked down at the intense traffic taking place in the streets below him. He still had to tackle some unfinished business from his past. His list wasn't long, but important to him nonetheless.
He's there...
He glanced at the sports car getting close to his location but stopping again due to the intense traffic ahead of it. Max disintegrated his body and traveled through the air. The car approached his position and he instantly merged himself with it
Inside the car, Alistair Smythe sighed heavily. He despised getting stuck in traffic. There was no audible sound coming off it.
"Really...?"
Smithe raised an eyebrow and touched the screen, trying to make it work. His finger then got slightly burnt due to the sparkle that appeared briefly in the panel. "Ouch!"
More electricity started to come off from the radio and the velocity on the panel turned directionless.
"Hello, Smithe." Max's face appeared on the front window. "Do you miss me?"
"... Max?" He cleared his throat. "How? You… you are dead"
"Surprise, surprise."
An electric-shaped hand came from the window and held on to his neck. Max suffocated Smithe while channeling energy off his hand and into his body, killing him as the car exploded in the middle of the street.
He could cross one name off his list.
A/N: This was a brief chapter. I wanted to cover this moment of their lives while still moving the story forward.
10/11/21 - The chapter was trimmed quite considerably. I felt like there were scenes that were not needed, even if they were mostly "fluff". It flows better this way, I think. The pacing was improved considerably. The dialogues suffered changes too. Many mistakes were fixed.