Queens - 2000
"You think they will come back?" A five years old Peter asked. He was sat in the edge of the bed inside the visitor's bedroom, wearing his comfortable pajamas.
May lightened the lamp besides the bed. She sat next to her nephew in the bed and looked down at him.
"Why wouldn't they?" May brushed a lock of of his hair off his forehead and to the side, gently.
Peter shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know…"
She smiled, kindly. "They will be fine, and they will back in no time to rescue you from my arms."
Peter let out an innocent chuckle. "But… I like being here, Aunt May."
She moved her arm around his shoulder. "Well… I am not sure you're still going to think that way once you eat my new meatloaf."
"Are you cooking them tomorrow?"
"Maybe. Why, Mr Parker? Are you bailing on me already?" May teased.
He laughed. "Uncle Ben told me."
"Oh… I see you're already joining your Uncle with the task of complaining about my food." She gestured for him to lay down in the bed. "I can make those cookies you like, though."
Peter lowered his head over the pillow, never wiping the smile off his lips.
She grabbed the sheets from his feet and pulled them over most of his body. "You rest now, honey. And… don't worry about that, everything will be well in the end, okay?"
Peter nodded.
May smiled, weakly. She caressed his cheek. "You've grown since the last time we met."
"You think... I will be tall?"
"Oh, I have no doubts about that."
They shared a genuine laugh together.
"What about girlfriends? Do you have one already?"
Peter giggled. "No…"
"That's right, you're too young for that. No girlfriends till you're seventeen, deal?"
"Deal." Peter nodded, enjoying the banter.
May leaned down and planted a kiss over his forehead. She returned and took one last look at him.
She spoke, "You'll turn into a very good man, honey. I can see that." She paused. "Like your father."
Peter smiled again. "Thank you, Aunt May. I'll have many books for me to read too!"
"That you will, dear." May continued, "If you need anything throughout the night, or if you just wake and want some company, go to our room, alright?"
"Okay." Peter yawned.
"Good," She pinched his nose. "Have some very nice dreams… and I'll be there with you wherever you go, Pete. Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Goodnight, Aunt May."
May 15th - 2031
New York - Presbyterian Hospital
Peter sustained his weight with both his hands that were over the support of the hospital's bed. He observed the unconscious woman hanging by her life with the help of a breather.
A white blanket went from her feet towards her stomach.
He never took his eyes off her, afraid that if by doing so, something could happen to one of the women in his life he cared the most.
She was taking another transfusion of blood. Her body wasn't capable of matching her needs by itself.
Thing is, it wasn't his blood. Despite them sharing the same type, he could never even think of putting his blood into her veins.
It would be poison.
Instead, Gwen took the role of supplying May with transfusions. They were compatible, luckily. She had been occupied with that for a few hours now, taking off small doses, despite the many warnings telling her not to.
There wasn't any other donator nearby, and there were many other patients in the same hospital that were in need of the same blood type.
Gwen insisted. Peter didn't protest either. He couldn't make any key decision, his mind was completely lost in the moment.
He felt powerless and meaningless, for the first time in ages. Past became present, and there was not a single thing he could do about it.
It was out of his reach.
Again, he failed to keep someone he loved safe from harm. They shared his burden, and that burden turned against them.
He knew that very well.
The door of the room was opened. Gwen carefully stepped inside and closed the same door.
She pressed her back against it, briefly. "Peter… I'm here."
He let go of the bed and turned over his shoulder. She looked much paler, that immediately caught his attention.
"You're not looking well, Gwen."
Gwen took a step further. "I'm fine…"
Her legs failed her by the next step she took as she threatened to stumble towards the ground, but Peter caught her with his chest and hugged her still.
He spoke, "Gwen… stop, you need to rest." He lifted her from the ground by moving an arm under her legs and the other under her back.
Gwen leaned her head against his shoulder. She answered weakly,
"May needs... all the help she can get."
"You're doing your best." Peter lowered her in the couch near the window, making her spread her body over the furniture.
He moved a pillow under head for support and placed a blanket over her slim frame.
He crouched besides the couch and next to her, caressing her cheek while meeting her now weak green eyes.
Peter smiled kindly and whispered, "Thank you, honey."
A single tear dropped off his right eye and slid down his cheek, making contact with the cold floor.
"Peter…"
Her voice was tired fragile, her eyes were barely keeping themselves open.
She slowly drifted into sleep.
Peter sighed, exhausted. He cupped her cheek and planted a kiss on her forehead, grateful for everything she had ever done for him.
He could never repay her.
Peter stood up again and approached May's bed. He felt like venting out his emotions, more than he had already done.
He inhaled deeply, before turning around and switching the light off, leaving only the light of May's monitor that kept tracking her vital signs.
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the door, closing his very fists harshly for a minute.
Peter cleared his throat. He opened the door and stepped outside. Besides the door, Ezekiel could be seen sat in his seat, waiting for him.
"Hey. How… how does it look?" Ezekiel asked after standing up to meet him.
"... it's not good, it's really not good…" Peter bit his lip in an effort to keep his tears back.
Ezekiel moved a hand over his shoulder and pulled him into a hug.
His brother from another verse didn't embrace him back, but leaned his face down against his shoulder.
"The doctors... are saying she lost a lot of blood, and that her body is not making up for it…" Peter spoke, weakly.
Ezekiel sighed. "We need to be strong now, don't give up."
"Are you… sure you can't heal her or do something?" He whispered.
"Truth to be told, Peter… I can hardly do what I used to before, the longer I stay here… the weaker I feel."
Peter parted from the hug and asked, "Is that… serious?"
"I… I don't know, Peter. But I'm handling it, you should just focus in your Aunt for the time being."
"Yeah…" Peter wiped out the water from his eyes with his sleeve. "… what did you get out of him?"
"I only know he mounted a nest in the house on the other side of the street and stood there for days, just waiting for you to arrive." Ezekiel revealed. "The police got there after you left, he was in a pretty bad shape, and was brought to… well, here."
He recalled how they had dealt with the immediate threat.
Peter held a bleeding Aunt May in his arms. He didn't know how to react. That changed when another bullet came in, landing next to them, missing the target.
Elizabeth gasped from her spot next to Flash and Mary Jane. Gwen had already dragged herself against the wall that kept her away from the gunman's view. Ezekiel crouched in the porch, if he tried to move an inch out of cover he would get shot.
Peter carefully laid May's head against the floor.
Another bullet missed the mark.
"No… more…!" Peter shouted.
He rushed outside, jumping over the porch to avoid the incoming shots. He landed next to his car and grabbed it with both hands, before spinning himself on his feet and throwing it at the old house where the shooter could be found, in the opposite side of the street.
Peter didn't think twice before bringing May to the nearest hospital. That was the more pressing issue. The car he threw didn't kill the man because he still hadn't ran out of luck despite targeting Peter Parker himself.
Back in the hospital, Peter asked, "Here…?" He felt his blood boil once Ezekiel nodded in response. He ignored the turn of events for the moment. "Why... would he try to shoot Gwen instead of me?"
"I am not too sure, Peter."
"Then someone knows about who I am…" He didn't take his eyes off Ezekiel's. "Does… does the hitman live?"
Ezekiel was taken back by such question. "... yes, he's not far from here."
Peter nodded to himself, wandering his eyes' focus towards the ground. He cleared his throat and sighed.
"I need you to stay here with them for a while, with Harry and Flash taking care of Olive at my apartment, you are the only I can trust right now."
"Of course, Peter. Anything you want." Ezekiel replied. Reluctantly, he continued, "I suppose… you are going to see him…?
Peter looked up and shook his head in response. "No, I need to find something from the past first… then,I will be here again to talk to him."
Fifty minutes later…
Outside the building, Peter crawled his way towards the window where he would find the man who harmed one of the few women he shouldn't have tried to.
Peter didn't put his suit on, instead, he wore the same clothes he entered the hospital with. He was not allowed to get inside the room, for obvious reasons.
Two police officers guarded the single entrance and making a mess to get in wasn't something he considered at all.
It wasn't the time, nor the right place.
Instead, he opted for a more silent approach, for as long as that lasted.
Peter reached for the window and got out of the night and into the bright room.
The hitman was laid over his hospital bed. He immediately jumped at the sight of someone entering his window as he tried to take off the cables off his arm in time.
He knew very well who that was, he didn't need to think twice about it.
He was about to scream for help had Peter not been faster and rushed towards him, harshly pressing his right hand against his face and mouth down in the pillow.
"Now, now… where do you think you are going?" Peter pushed the man's head harder against the pillow.
He struggled in the bed, holding Peter's arm with the intention of pushing it away, punching it with the last dose of strength he still had, but the force he was dealing with couldn't be measured.
Peter noticed how the fighting in him was beginning to ceas. He finally released him for a moment, allowing the man to take a deep and desperate breath, before grabbing his neck.
"What's your name?" He inquired, roughly.
"J-Jim…!" He felt Peter's grip on him get tighter. "Please…"
Peter narrowed his eyes at him. He began, "Here's the thing… by all rights, you do know that I should kill you. Sure, you didn't send the order, nor did you care about who might be your target, but you get the picture, right?"
"I-I…"
Peter made him raise his chin by slightly moving his hand up against his neck. "Well, I decided to save myself to the man who actually ordered the hit, you see, I don't want to waste everyone's time with you by killing you here, right now. My Aunt needs them, better than you do."
"Help…" He let out a whisper.
It was hard to form a sentence with the way Peter held him.
"You do... understand the food chain, correct… Jim?" The hitman didn't reply. "You don't? Allow me then. The food chain consists of two essential parts, the predators - which I don't think I need to explain, and there's also the prey."
Peter continued further, "Predators feed on prey, and the latter we define as something incapable of defending itself in the proportion to the attack. Let's say… a defenseless… woman… against a sniper-rifle." He tried his best in order to control his urging emotions. "Now... right now, judge who is who."
"I'll… do anything…"
"Yeah?" Peter loosened the grip. "There's two things you can do for me then. First, who ordered the hit?"
Jim replied, "... Wilson… Fisk…"
Peter closed his free hand. He felt like doing the worst in the moment. He exhaled deeply.
It sounded exactly something Fisk would want after somehow getting to know who he really was. Peter thought.
The man was in jail, but his operations were seemingly far from over.
"Okay then… now, hear me out." Peter webbed Jim's mouth. He walked away from the bed and towards the nearest switch so that he could turn the lights off.
After doing so, the entire room was taken by a deadly darkness. Jim mumbled something, but the webbing made his words impossible to read. He lost track of the invader in the darkness around him.
Peter continued from an unknown corner, "Tell everyone… tell the people you work with, tell the people in the whole world who even dare try to get another contract aimed at me… that my family is off-limits… that nobody, I mean nobody, touches them. For no reason. Ever." His voice ceased for a moment, briefly. "Make them understand… that anyone who tries moves to the bottom of the food chain and becomes the prey. And here, in this city, or wherever, the police are not the predators, neither the men with high-end guns - like you…"
Jim was pulled off the bed by his green shirt's collarbone. He met horror once again the second he was able to tell in the darkness who now held him with both hands above the ground. A Spider-Man in black, a Spider-Man with big and white curvy lenses, a Spider-Man who now had a big and fat white spider in the middle of his chest.
A Spider-Man from the past, who lacked the real component that once made him more vicious than ever, but instead was replaced with the clear meaning such suit carried through its shapes and figures.
A suit hidden for many years, for desperate times. A Spider-Man whose limits were gone.
"I am."
Elizabeth's eye shot up as she woke from her troubled sleep in her bed. She glanced the ceiling, calming her rapid and intense breath, feeling her now sweaty skin brushing against her pajamas.
She found herself having constant nightmares, often abe spent away from her the days sh
The moment when she alone had to take a stand against Warren and his men was one recurring memory she experienced in her dreams, a memory of how she struggled to put most of them down and how she had to let something uncontrollable out of herself.
She sighed heavily, before moving her head up to check the clock set in the night table besides her bed.
2:09 AM.
Elizabeth cleared her throat and sat up in her bed, closing her eyes for a brief moment as she thought of better things.
She stood up and carefully stepped into the hallway, walking through it just to stop near the guest's room half open door. She took a peek inside and saw Flash sleeping alone in the king sized bed.
He was taking care of them while her parents remained in the hospital to look over Aunt May. Harry had been with them earlier as well, but left after ordering food for dinner. Apparently, he had some things to attend to.
Elizabeth closed the door, gently. She made sure he didn't wake up by leaning her ear against the door to hear him, before closing her eyes and sigh heavily once she was sure he remained still.
So much going on, so little time to digest it.
Elizabeth returned to the hallway and reached the dark living room through the spiral stairwell, she spotted the dark haired girl sat in the couch, watching the balcony in the other end.
Ren slept besides her.
"Olive, are you alright?" Elizabeth asked, softly.
Olive looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Hey, Liz." She noticed the bandage over Elizabeth's nose bridge. "Does it still hurt?" She questioned back, concerned.
Elizabeth walked around the couch. "Just a little." She sat besides her. "Can't sleep?"
Olive nodded.
Elizabeth continued, "Me neither." She joined her eyes as they glanced the city through the large windows that separated the living room and the balcony.
"I'm glad you're back, though."
Elizabeth offered her a kind smile. "Thank you, Olive. It was... tough."
"But you are tougher, Liz, and you're here now with us. We've missed you."
Elizabeth sighed. "I've missed you guys too." She paused. "I… I miss my brothers as well, the house has been quiet lately, hasn't it?"
Olive chuckled. "I hope they come back soon." She sighed, heavily. "I miss my brother, too."
Elizabeth moved her arm around Olive's shoulder and brought her closer. "I can only imagine." She paused, gathering the courage to ask Olive her next question "Do you… do you remember much of your parents?"
She shook her head in response. "Not much, their accident happened when I was very little. I wish I did, though. Everything I had of them was destroyed before your dad found me."
"We will find a way to get something from them again, anything." Elizabeth tried to cheer her up. "I promise."
"Thank you, Liz."
They remained in a peaceful silence, watching the still active buildings out in the city that never sleeps. Somehow, the sight gave Elizabeth an extra sense of freedom, she couldn't really explain in words.
"Is your Aunt going to be alright?" Olive broke the silence.
"I hope, Olive… I really hope she does." She continued, "... you know, she's not really my Aunt, but I think of her as my granny… I always did, I guess.
"But she's not your dad's mom, right?"
"Not really, I mean… not genetically, but that doesn't really matter in the end. Dad's mom also passed away when he was little…but... I guess I have three grannies."
"I see. She will be alright… your dad is going to make her well again, he's Spider-Man, Liz!"
Elizabeth chuckled, lightly. She looked back to the windows and into the city. "He's out there... I can sense him sometimes, you know?"
"He's helping people, that's what he does."
Elizabeth nodded, in agreement. "He does…"
"Will you also have a suit and help people with him?"
Elizabeth smiled. She was caught off guard by such question. "You are better asking him that, I think that's the one thing he's afraid the most regarding me, after boys… at least that's what mum told me."
They shared a quiet laugh.
The Parker girl eventually continued, "That's not all I can do, though. Do you want to see it?"
Olive nodded, excited.
Elizabeth stood up and offered her hand. "Take my hand then."
Olive complied and they headed towards the balcony, being careful to not make any noise that would wake Flash up.
Ren followed them into the balcony.
Elizabeth crouched and gestured her to climb over her back. Olive hugged her neck and wrapped her legs against her waist once her friend rose again.
"Keep hugging me tightly, okay?"
Olive replied, "Alright, Liz."
Olive wasn't heavy, at all. Elizabeth thought.
She approached the wall and moved her hands against the concrete, then her feet as she began crawling her way towards the highest level.
"Oh my God, Liz!"
They laughed again. The wind brushed against their pajamas and kept their hair in constant movement.
"Is everything okay?"
Olive leaned her head over Elizabeth's shoulder and smiled at her. "Yup." She continued, "What if someone see us through these windows?
"Well, I hope they don't. Dad would ground me for weeks." Elizabeth joked, receiving a giggle in return.
They reached the rooftop and stood besides one another as they appreciated the view they were given.
"Pretty cool, uh?" Elizabeth questioned, never taking her emerald colored eyes off the many
landmarks in her sight.
"It is… you're so lucky to be able to do this, Liz."
Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I am…"
"We could set up a tent one night and sleep here, it's so windy!"
"That would be something, but you talk to my dad about it." She teased.
Olive nodded and took her hand. "Thank you… for being my friend." She leaned her head against her arm.
"And you too, Olive." She smiled and rested the side of her head above Olive's as they took in the view.
She felt the urge to approach the border of the rooftop, a desire, but refrained herself from doing so due to her accompany. She still had to be careful, she was used to high places, Olive wasn't.
"Girls…?!"
Flash's voice called back in the balcony.
"Uh-oh," Elizabeth leaded her to the edge of the rooftop. She looked down at him. "We're coming, Uncle Flash!"
"You guys are gonna get a cold up there!"
They carefully returned back to the balcony.
Flash sighed. "It was tough watching you two coming down, never do this again, please."
"I'm sorry, Uncle Flash." Elizabeth apologized. "It was my idea."
"Oh, no. It's just that I can't get used to it, I'm sure you know what you're doing… but you're still a little baby to me even after all these years." He messed up her golden hair.
She smiled as a fringe of her hair fell over her right eye.
He continued, "You two can't sleep?"
"Yes," They answered at the same time.
"Yeah, me neither. But come inside, I will tell you girls a story about this funny bear I know."
Elizabeth inquired, "That's not the same story about the bear that turned out to be you, right, Uncle Flash?"
She had been hearing it since she was a toddler.
Ryker's Island
A shirtless Wilson Fisk could be found sat down in a seat near a white table, surrounded by two inmates that were his bodyguards inside his own particular closed courtyard in the prison.
Many other inmates walked around and talked to each other inside the area, not once batting an eye at him. Unless they were called. They just minded their business.
They knew very well that the once Kingpin should be respected. Those who dared not to, had their bodies throw to the water in the borders of the maximum security prison they were in,
A third henchmen approached him and whispered something in his left ear. He carried a metallic briefcase in his hand. The information that the shooter had executed the mission had finally arrived.
And that the hitman had been captured. It was only a matter of time now, if he wasn't there already.
"Good," Fisk answered.
The briefcase was set above Fisk's table and they opened it for him. He observed his classic white tuxedo and stick in front of his eyes.
He also noticed the visitor above him.
"You have come," Fisk didn't move his eyes off the clothes. "Faster than I expected."
Spider-Man stood above against the dark ceiling, his lenses sticking out through the shadows.
Fisk sighed and stood up, putting his clothes on as Spider-Man jumped down and landed near them. The three men walked towards the front of the table.
"It's fine." Fisk spoke as they left for the sides.
He watched him change. The many inmates, while initially surprised, began forming a large circle around the two figures. They whispered to one another, feeling uneasy at the sight of Spider-Man with such suit once again.
"All these years… and I finally brought you down, Mr Parker." Fisk adjusted the buttons in his suit, starting with his sleeves.
Spider-Man remained still, fists closed.
The crowd began calling him names.
Wilson continued, "... this is not the place I would have chosen to end our long association. At least this one comes with a very spontaneous audience, wouldn't you agree?"
He stretched his shoulders, holding his stick in his right hand, before facing the direction of his opponent.
Spider-Man barely moved.
Fisk could sense his death stare from within the mask. He felt bothered by his silence after everything that had happened.
He began, "As I look around this room, filled with garbage, like murderers, rapists, thieves, thugs… men who may once have aspired to be more than these things, but they have settled for the names they have been given… no matter how debased, perverse, crude or fallen, there's not a man here who does not look down on one particular breed of humanity."
He could hear the sound of the spandex being stretched in Spider-Man's fists as he kept them closed, tightly.
Fisk declared, "The chump." He continued, "... someone who believes in the greater good, who believes that good triumphs because it is good. Trusts just about anyone, the government, fellow citizens and even a billionaire behind a iron mask. A chump, who is now hunted by the people he believed in, spurned by the system he supported, abandoned by the friends he thought he had, and his dear… lovely Aunt, dying in a hospital bed because he couldn't even stand still long enough to take the one bullet that was meant for him and his lover."
Fisk wasn't able to fully anticipate in time the powerful right hook followed by a high kick in the nose by Spider-Man, a direct response to everything he had been suffering by his hand.
He stumbled backwards but remained on his feet. "... even... his usual sense of humor seems to have abandoned him... must be terribly distressing and unfortunate to have nothing left in life except the desire for revenge."
Fisk also knew about that too well. He didn't have nothing to lose anymore, the two things he had were lost to him once, with Spider-Man's indirect involvement.
He only had pure strength in his advantage.
Again. Spider-Man quickly assaulted him from each side, throwing many punches, one, two, three… he never stopped, he never moved as fast as he did, spilling lots of blood into the ground as the crowd booed him for it.
Spider-Man typically wasn't a brutal fighter, his main goal had always been to incapacitate his enemies first, but things have changed lately.
They didn't know who they were actually dealing with it. They thought it was Spider-Man himself, but it wasn't.
He retreated it, calmly. He allowed Fisk to have a moment to gather his strength once again.
Fisk stood on his knee, gasping heavily. He wiped the blood pouring from his nose with his stained sleeve.
He grunted in pain from the ground. "You move like the trap-door spider you imagine yourself to be, uh? Leaping on the pray… in hopes of wearing it out or confusing it… I had higher hopes."
Spider-Man's lenses stared directly into him, a murderous sight.
"... are we here to fight to the death, or dance? Say something, damn you!" Fisk yelled.
Fisk expected the usual Spider-Man to battle, the one he was most familiar with, not the current version encountered meters from nim.
Maybe he didn't know he held back, otherwise their encounters would have been cut short much earlier over the years, if not permanently.
He now met him in a rare form - one fueled by anger, and the taunting didn't help him at all.
He was there to end him, and slowly Fisk realized that.
The area immediately silenced.
Spider-Man relaxed his posture. He sighed, deeply. "Alright."
Fisk finally rose from the floor and stood face to face with his foe.
The vigilante continued, "What this suit stands for, what it means, is something you will never understand. It represents a promise about all the things I said I would do… and all the things I said I would never do… all the lines I would never in my life cross, because doing so would destroy everything this suit stands for."
Fisk spat blood from his lips as he paid attention to Spider-Man's response, holding his stick in his hand, his only defense.
He could see himself through his lenses.
"... and that… is why you're confused. See, I'm not here to kill you." Spider-Man brought his hands to the edge of the mask in his neck and began pulling it over his mouth.
Every eye in the room turned at his expression. The mask fell in the ground besides him, followed by the chest piece.
Peter, maskless, spoke, "You get it, now?" He ran towards him.
Fisk barely had the time to defend himself as the crowd began roaring around them once again. He didn't hear them, none of it.
Peter's knuckles landed across Fisk's mouth, sending a few pair of teeth into the air. He harshly pressed the palm of his hand against his nose, blood flew towards his chest.
Fisk was lifted from the ground by Peter and throw back at it, landing on his back.
Peter could only think of one thing, that he was crushing the man responsible for the bullets that only went past one of the women he loved the most in his life.
A kick stopped at Fisk's cheek as he tried to stand up again. With each blow, he ripped the upper part of his suit apart, followed by the blood that reached for the ground and Peter's skin.
Fisk flew away meters from him, landing near the crowd that took a few steps back to not get involved with his opponent.
Peter slowly walked towards his direction. Fisk managed to stand on his knee.
"You forgot one thing, Fisk. The one thing you wished, in this moment, that you had, and it is this." Peter stopped near him. "You should have thought about that once you decided to go after my family, you should have thought about a way out, but despite all of your money and influence, there's one thing you could never buy and that's real power. You can't do anything."
Fisk grunted heavily, keeping his hand over his nose as he fought to not stumble back to the ground.
"You are just a big, big boy with an attitude, waiting for someone to put you back to your place. And that's me."
In a moment of rage, Fisk jumped towards him with arms raised, Peter dodged each of his attacks with bare minimum effort, before raising and using both hands stuck against each other to send him backwards once again.
Fisk fell on his chest. He tried to keep the blood inside his nose and mouth with his hand. He saw Peter's feet besides him and whispered, "I… I will kill you… I… I swear…"
"Get up, Fisk."
Fisk coughed blood. "I will get up… when… I bloody can…"
Peter didn't hesitate and held him up again by grabbing the fat in his chest with one single hand, while the other slapped him once, twice, again and again, closing his left eye once a drop of blood landed near the space between his cheek and said eye.
He stopped, now using both hands to keep him lifted from the ground. "Pay attention now," He pressed his wrist that contained the web-shooter against Fisk's open mouth.
Peter continued, "I press a button and webbing is sent through your throat, your esophagus, all the way into your lungs, and the only way to remove such webbing is to surgically cut out your lungs and start from there, which would be impossible for you to survive due to the lack of oxygen…"
Fisk's eyes widened.
"... one press of a button and then... only a few seconds. You are dead."
"What…?"
Fisk was thrown around and flew away once again until he smashed the back of his body against the nearest wall.
He coughed once again, "If you're going to kill me… then do it… already."
Peter approached him. "I will, eventually. I didn't say tonight." He crouched in front of the kingpin. The people around them got closer. "You see, I've learned something from you, about cruelty and timing. I've done something far worse to Wilson Fisk than killing him… I've humiliated him."
Fisk gasped heavily.
"... and everyone in this courtyard has seen it. They will tell everyone, it will spread like a disease, Wilson Fisk took the beating of his life."
Fisk looked to his side and saw the inmates standing mouth open in disbelief to what they were watching.
"... soon the whole city will know it, then the whole country, that you're absolutely nothing. You will be done, your pride will be no more, and it will be painful to a man like you." Peter crouched and leaned closer to his face. "And if my Aunt dies… I will come to you right away, and end this. Remember this. I swear to you, on my life and her soul, you will be… dead…"
Fisk finally collapsed into the ground, a small pool of blood formed under his face.
"... for now, live this memory, the humiliation, the moment…" Peter rose and faced the crowd who retreated slightly at his stare. "... which also serves as a message to all of you, and everyone you know, if anyone get any ideas, if you even think of repeating Fisk's mistake, you're dead, you touch my family, you die… a slow and painful death."
Peter walked back to his mask and to gather the rest of his suit. He wore them again and fired a single web-cable to the ceiling.
Before swinging away, he spoke one last time, "You ordered her death, Fisk. It's only appropriate that your life ends when her does, so... I would start praying right away to convince God to give her every possible second of life."
Inside the bathroom within May's room, Gwen splashed the cold water coming from the sink against the skin of her face after waking up from her sleep.
She took the towel from the wall and wiped the traces of water off her, taking a moment to observe her expression through the mirror above the sink.
She looked tired, it wasn't even due to waking so early in the morning, before the sun even came out, but because she felt exhausted due to everything they had been living during the last couple of days.
She couldn't recall a day in her life where she felt the same as she did now. Maybe when Peter underwent many surgeries after fighting the six for hours.
Or maybe the days after the passing of her father, George.
She exhaled deeply, before wrapping her hair around her blue ponytail.
Gwen stepped out of the bathroom and carefully closed the door behind her, hearing the beeping coming from the cardiac monitor besides May's bed.
The sun still hadn't come out outside the windows of the room.
She approached May and took her hand gently, caressing it with her thumb. "Get well, May… please. We all miss you so much… Peter is waiting for you."
She sighed again, before slowly letting go of May's hand and turning over her shoulder to walk towards the door.
Now in the corridor, Gwen found Mary Jane talking to the doctor that was taking care of Aunt May.
Gwen approached them. "Hey." She greeted the pair.
"How are your doing, Mrs Parker?" The doctor asked.
"I'm slightly better, thank you." Gwen continued, "What can you tell me about May, Doctor?"
"I'm afraid I have nothing good… like I said to your husband, the bullet didn't went through any crucial organ, but nonetheless she's struggling to produce the needed blood in acceptable amounts, her body isn't working in the capacity she requires… there's many reasons for that, the most clear one being that May is a woman of age."
MJ took her friend's hand in hers.
Gwen reacted, "So take my blood then, at least until she gets better…"
"I can't let you do that, Mrs Parker. You have already donated more than one is allowed to, your own body needs to recover the amount lost. I've arranged some vials for May, you did more than enough." He explained, respectfully.
"... so what now?"
He began sympathetically,"My suggestion is that May's beloved ones spare a moment of their day to be with her in the incoming hours… she might not have long now, we'll do our best to keep her comfortable, our thoughts are with May. We will be doing our best."
Gwen was left without words. She couldn't digest what she had just heard.
MJ nodded at him. "Thank you, Doc."
He nodded back at them, before walking away so that the two women could have a moment alone.
MJ led her towards the seats besides May's door and made her sat down, joining her seconds after.
"Tell me this isn't real, MJ."
She hugged her blonde friend. Gwen set her face against MJ's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Gwendy." MJ closed her eyes in their embrace and caressed the back of Gwen's head. She continued gently, "But we shouldn't give up now… May's a strong woman, she's still fighting for her life. You know how you Parkers are."
They broke the embrace and faced each other in the seats.
Gwen looked down at the floor. "I wish… I wish could… take her place instead…"
MJ was caught off guard by her affirmation. "Don't speak of such things, Gwen." She replied, softly.
She continued somberly, "Peter went through so much… in his life. May means a lot to him. They deserve so much better."
"And you also mean just as much if not more to him, Gwen." MJ moved both her hands against each of Gwen's cheek. "Hey you, you were his girlfriend and now his wife, you're also the mother of his children, you're the world to him… if you were gone he wouldn't be able to handle it, we can't control these things, Gwen. We can only hope for things to get better, we all need to endure and not lose hope, ever."
Gwen met her friend's eyes, taking in her words for a second. They leaned their foreheads against each other's.
"Thank you… for everything, MJ. All these years… and you're still with me despite everything we drag you into."
"There's no Watson with her Stacy." MJ lightened the moment, managing to receive a tiny small from her in return.
Will you also have a suit and help people with him?
Elizabeth opened the locks of her father's suitcase that she had pulled from inside her parent's wardrobe.
She found herself sat on her knees and over the rug in front of the bed, with the suitcase set in the ground.
She couldn't sleep. Flash and Olive had finally managed to, but she didn't. Her head was filled with thoughts, doubts and regret.
Anger.
Her grandmother laid in a hospital bed because she got herself in trouble and suddenly everyone's attention was directed towards her.
Bad people got her there. The same kind of people that kidnapped her mother and hunted her father.
They got her brothers off the country. And maybe soon she would as well if her parents decided too.
She couldn't. How could she leave them alone? What if her father needed her? Or her mother? Anyone…?
Elizabeth opened the suitcase and was greeted to the sight of her father's iconic red and blue folded suit, with the mask placed over the spider symbol.
There was something to such image that impacted her, she felt sheltered by it.
She wondered why he wasn't wearing it now. He always had a backup suit and this was supposed to be one after she saw the damage done to the former.
He created an idea that everyone could be their own Spider-Man in their lives, and help spread the good to the ones around them.
And that they could always count on him, even when they thought they don't have to anymore.
Spider-Man himself was just an embodiment of such thought. There was so much weight into it. He was too important.
Elizabeth felt the lenses of the mask staring deep into her soul. She felt anxiety build inside of her.
Elizabeth closed the suitcase and moved herself a few inches back in the ground and away from the object, keeping her knees close to her chest.
She didn't take her eyes off the now closed suitcase. Eventually, she once again approached it, allowing herself to observe the suit once again.
Underneath it, she found the two old web-shooters her father had hidden from her once again. She analyzed them in her hands, only to notice a photo in the space she freed by taking the two devices.
She dropped them in the ground besides her and took the photo in her left hand. It was from her father's 30th birthday.
It showed him and her mother standing in front of May's window inside her living room, they both carried each newborn twin in their arms, while she stood between them.
Peter had a birthday hat over his head, and he smiled like he was the happiest man alive at the time, and he probably was.
Elizabeth smiled as well.
Behind the picture, she found the mark of kiss, sustained by a red lipstick, with a message written next to it.
To the man with the best smile I have ever know in my life, you are becoming one handsome old man. - GS
Elizabeth giggled at the message. She remembered the day, she had helped May make the cookies he always loved since he was a child. He had kept the photo next to his heart. They were both connected to each other. She put the photo back inside and held the mask in front of her very eyes, watching her expression through the lenses.
She thought she understood it now.
Spider-Man landed near the edge of the building's rooftop, almost crushing the concrete under his feet.
He watched the now not-so distant Times Squares from afar, thinking in the back of his head of any solutions that could help May with her situation.
A large wrap screen showcasing an sports advertisement could be seen in the building besides him, the screen's colors reflected against his black suit, filling him over with a red palette.
He checked on his bandaged hand that was covered by the suit. It still hurt a lot, yet had he not absorbed Venom's attack with his hand he would probably be underneath the earth at this very moment.
He took off the glove and the bandages as well, there was still a scar in the middle of his hand that reached the other side, a dark stain could be seen right in the middle, he wasn't sure what it could be, it didn't look like anything he had seen before with his track of gathering many marks in his body since earning his gifts.
He just hoped the pain could eventually go away, otherwise he would have to live with some chronic pain for the rest of his life, another one. He sighed, May was still having much worse.
The doctors were already putting a death sentence over her. There has to be something he could do for her.
Peter thought to himself.
There was an option, but that required a call to a powerful man who he once considered a very close friend, and he truly was, for a time.
At least he thought.
He wore the glove again and took his cellphone from a hidden compartment in his pants, before wiping it open with his thumb to check the contact list until the name he was looking for appeared on sight.
Spider-Man ceased any movement once he found what he was looking for, hesitating to go forward with his intentions caused by his desperation.
Tony Stark…
They weren't in the best terms, his men almost got him killed, thankfully the iron suit kept him alive a little longer.
Aunt May was dying instead, and Tony could maybe help her with all his knowledge, anything would be enough.
He had to put their grudge aside for the moment.
Peter began calling him, but the only response he had was from the service lady telling him the number was no longer available.
Tony must have changed it, for obvious reasons. The Stark Tower was recently sold after the Avengers fell apart, he could be anywhere. There was no way to reach him.
Peter tightened his grip over the phone, almost crushing it with a single hand, before stopping himself from doing so.
"What do I do…? What do I do, Ben…?"
He whispered to himself, looking up to the dark sky.
Peter sighed heavily. He focused in his phone once again and called Gwen's mother, bringing the device against his masked ear.
Once the call was picked, he spoke, "Hello?"
"Hi, daddy." Aiden greeted from the other end. "Daddy!" David followed him afterwards.
Peter relaxed at the sound of their voices. He felt less apprehensive for the first time in many hours. "Hey, guys, hey. How are you two doing?"
"Good."
"Okay, I guess."
"Okay? Who said okay, was that you David?"
"Yeah," David continued, "We miss you, dad… and mom too. When are we coming home?"
Peter inhaled deeply, thinking of the best response he could give. "... not for a while, Dave."
"Why?"
He sighed again. "... dad told you before, we are busy with work so we won't have time to take care of you boys."
"... is Elizabeth with you, dad?" Aiden changed the subject.
"Aunt May didn't call us last night like she said she would." David affirmed.
"They…" Peter brought his free to the back of his head. "... they are both fine at home… I guess she didn't have the time, Dave."
They silenced for a brief moment.
"... listen, dad loves you, the two of you… and so does mom, Liz and everyone else. You will be back in no time."
"Do you promise?" David asked.
Peter hesitated at first, but he nodded to himself. "I promise."
Later on, the call eventually ended, the same couldn't be said about Peter's frustration.
He had placed his twins in the same situation his own father once put him on.
He now felt in his skin what his parents may have felt as well. He left them with Gwen's mom, their grandmother, at the airport, and he walked away from them.
Ironic… He thought.
The screen in the building besides him turned darker and a voice spoke from it,
"The Amazing Spider-Man… once Stark's most trusted associate… you're a wanted man… Mr Parker."
Spider-Man looked over his shoulder and saw the hooded figure deep within the darkness around him through the digital screen.
The green, where his eyes were supposed to be found, popped out from inside the hood.
Spider-Man was initially alarmed by being called by his real name. "So you somehow got to know who I am… but who might you be?"
"I'm the one articulating the effort to put your kind in their deserved place… as for who I really am, don't you remember? We've met last met in a fallen subway, many years ago."
"Forgive me if my memory fails me." Peter noticed how deep his voice sounded, it reminded him of someone's description Gwen once told him days ago. "... you… you kidnapped my wife and almost had her killed!"
"She did not. How... how is she... may I ask?"
Peter closed his fists. "I swear… if you… had anything to do with May..."
"I gave your true identity to Wilson Fisk. I had to pay an old debt. What he did with such information was none of my business."
Spider-Man took a step closer towards the border so that he could face the screen from the building he stood over. "Do you have any idea what you have caused to my family by doing that? What do you even want of me?"
"I would respond you by saying that it's nothing personal, that your kind spread savagery… and that you would die in the same way, but at this rate, I don't think I can stand by that, Mr Parker."
"Well... I can assure you that we all… are going to die."
"Your threats... can't reach me. I know what you're capable of, I know how strong you are and how easy you can end me without making an effort, but that can only get you through part of the road, not the whole way, as you can see with your Aunt."
"Don't… talk of her. Don't you dare."
"As for you new suit, you know the real deal is out there, I would focus on recovering that, you never know when the beast will finally take over the man, you know that very well." He paused. "Trust me, I don't have anything against your family, but you? We will meet again, and then we will put an end to this story… when the time comes, go to where it all began. Everything will come to a full circle... Mr Parker."
The transmission ended and resumed the previous advertisement that were being show before, leaving Spider-Man alone once again as he faced the screen, closing his fists and streching the spandex in his hands as hard as he could.
Harry checked the folder in his laptop which contained many pictures of his life of the course of the years. Thanks to Oscorp's database, where his father had locked some of them inside.
He found himself sat in a dinner table inside the small coffee shop that was always open 24 hours a day.
Besides his shoulder, a continuous window gave him a view of the street.
He wanted some time alone after everything that had just happened in the last hours, and after getting Flash and the children some food, he found a good spot to himself.
Harry opened one of the pictures and observed the image he was given.
A six years old version of himself stood besides Peter in the entrance of May's porch, Ben and May were seen behind them and all they all smiled to the camera.
A camera that was being handled by his own father, at the time, when he still cared to appear there and before he was sent away to boarding school.
Harry sighed, heavily. Much simpler times, despite everything. If only the fate of his mother could have been different, maybe everything would have turned out differently, for everyone involved with his family.
Both May and Ben treated him as one of them their own, he spent more time with them, in their house, than anywhere else.
They both deserved far better.
"Here's your coffee, Mr…?"
Harry looked up to the young waitress standing besides his table. She carried his cup of coffee and a pen in her free hand, waiting to write down his name in it.
"Um… Harry - I mean… Ben."
It had been years since he used his real name to anything. People knew about the things Oscorp's brief CEO had a long time ago. He couldn't risk it.
It was Peter's suggestion to adopt the Ben Reilly name.
She raised an eyebrow, playfully. "Okay… Harry Ben."
Harry cleared his throat. "Y-Yeah…"
She wrote down his name against the plastic that kept the liquid warm. "Here you go."
Harry took it from her hand, gently. "Thank you a lot." He noticed the smiley draw under his name.
She smiled at him, and wandered away to resume her other duties.
He watched her from his table, briefly, until she disappeared into the kitchen. He finally took a sip of his coffee and closed his eyes in satisfaction.
"That's some really good coffee…" He shook his head and placed the cup back to the table and besides the laptop.
That's when caught the greenish stains I'm the skin of his extended right arm. They had been coming back recently. Probably due to the stress.
He almost got himself killed when Venom visited him at his apartment. He apparently wanted to clean the dirt he still hadn't yet, after Harry found it.
He sighed again. He had the luck of getting the disease much earlier than his father ever did. The damned disease he still knew so little about it.
The spider venom only made things even more problematic. It backfired against him and only accelerated the disease to its final form.
Thankfully the suit kept him alive until now, it put him slightly together again and slowed down the progress of the disease, considerably.
He wondered how many years he still had left.
Turning his attention back to the screen, he opened his emails, expecting to see a response from Felicia.
They had been exchanging emails for years at this point. She didn't always reply right away, sometimes it took her weeks, but she eventually did.
She reminded him of something good he didn't know he had back then. Another person he could trust, but he only realized that many years later down the road.
Well… keep waiting, Harry.
Harry closed his laptop and moved the electronic inside his backpack. He grabbed his coffee and walked towards the register, finding the same waitress behind the counter.
"Hey," Harry smiled, searching for some pennies in his jean's pocket.
"Hey yourself. Is it good?"
"What? Oh, yes. It is." He smiled, awkwardly. "Here." He placed the pennies over the counter.
"Well, I've made it myself." She revealed, holding back a grin as she opened the register to gather his change.
"It's probably the best coffee I ever had, Miss…" He inspected her attire and found the badge that contained her name in her chest. "... Elena."
She blushed, slightly.
Harry's smile only lasted for a second once he raised his chin and spotted the old television stuck above in the wall behind her.
Footage of Spider-Man was being broadcasted.
They were showing footage of the mobilization that took place days ago in order to arrest him. The damage done in the sewer, and bits of his suit being recovered everywhere in the scene.
It was also mentioned some high powered individuals leaving the area after a small explosion took place, allowing him to escape with Ezekiel.
The people interviewed were shocked at that, some spoke about how they never expected things to go that south and the treatment their once vigilante was having by authorities.
He was only an example of a broader problem.
Public opinion seemed to be going everywhere now.
Harry got to see a pictures of his friend back with the dark suit, a manufactured copy, thankfully. Peter was show to be lifting the cars around so that the people inside could leave them after a traffic accident earlier in the night.
And another where Spider-Man helped an old woman cross the street before the nearby authorities tried to arrest him as they waited for him to help her out.
He just swung away when his task done.
"It's a pity what we've been doing to Spider-Man, for all we know he could be just one of us." Elena spoke and regained his attention.
"Yeah… he could." Harry sighed. "Well, keep the change, Elena."
"Oh… thank you, Harry Ben." She teased.
He chuckled, shortly. "See you around, I guess." He smiled at her and headed for the door.
She followed him with her gaze. "I'll hold you on that."
Gwen hugged herself as she felt the cold wind brush against her clothes. She stood in silence near the edge of the Hospital's rooftop, next to the helipad.
The orange ball of light slowly rose in the horizon away from her, sending a warm ray of light that touched and warmed her creamy skin.
She waited for her husband to finally appear in her sight and then land next to her.
And so he did. He swung towards the hospital, keeping a steady pace, wearing his dark suit that contrasted firmly with the sun behind him.
She knew very well what such suit meant whenever he put it on. He had been out for the entire night, but she knew where he had went to, and she didn't mind, not this time.
Spider-Man released the web-line from his hand and let the momentum carry him through the air and towards his wife, landing on his feet and besides her.
"Hey," He greeted, placing both hands in her waist.
Gwen noticed some portions of darker stains over the already dark suit he wore. She moved her own hands to each of his shoulders.
"Hi."
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. You were out for the entire night, weren't you?" She asked, gently. "Are you okay?"
"I… well, I paid a visit to Fisk, after digging this suit up again." Peter answered. He sighed. "He lives… for now."
"Peter…"
"These people can't do whatever they want to without suffering the consequences, Gwen, it's that or do nothing and wait for another shot at our door."
Gwen silenced. Maybe it wasn't the best time to get into an argument with him, even if he had a point, somewhat.
Peter continued, carefully, "... I think I've also met that one man you described to me, the one that talked to you when you were away."
"How…?"
He explained, "He came to me… through those screens near Times Square." Peter paused. "He's also … possibly connected to everything, to the guys that chased me in the sewer, to the special forces in the streets, to… Venom as well."
"You mean… Eddie?"
Peter sighed. "I'm not sure there's anything left of him inside that suit, Gwen. I've tried… I don't think I should hold on to hope at this point. I'm just… tired. This burden… these things happening again… I thought I had things under control, finally."
"Honey, I…"
He tightened his grip over her while still being gentle. "I thought about this… and maybe we should… maybe leave, all of us. We could take the money I made as an Avenger and buy a farm and get out of here, we could have some chickens… or maybe we could finally build our own pizzaria somewhere else, I'll cook and you write down the orders, I don't know… anything."
Gwen paid attention to his words, never ceasing the eye contact with the mask's lenses.
He never spoke of something as radical before. "Why's that, Pete?"
"Maybe it's time I take you guys out of this life, while I still… can."
Gwen laid her head against his chest. "Peter… everything you said sounds… amazing, but… I'm not sure that you're able to make such decisions right now, at this very moment, honey." She paused, before looking up to his lenses. "... what about Spider-Man?"
Peter silenced. He knew the power his alter-ego had over the many people's lives in the city. "I… I don't know…"
"Peter, I would love for you to spend more time with us, I would love to know that later in the night, you would lying by my side in our bedroom, or that you're stuck in traffic after picking Liz at her school… I would, really. It's just that… you're who you are, I can't take that away from you, nobody can, it's you who should decide, but I want you focus in your Aunt first, not anything else. Please."
She took his hand and moved it against her cheek, dropping her head slightly against the spandex in his hand, but his touch made her feel better.
Peter caressed her cheek. "How's… how's Aunt May?"
Gwen began delicately, "There hasn't been much progress, Peter. The doctors are saying we should stay by her side in the incoming hours… and prepare for the worst."
Peter sighed and dropped his chin, clearing his throat.
Gwen bit her lower lip as she felt a tear threatening to leave her right eye after watching his reaction. "Peter… hey…"
Somehow, seeing her husband, Spider-Man of all people, drop his chin like that brought her spirits to a new low.
It was tough.
Gwen continued, "Hey, baby…" She lifted part of his mask just below his nose so that his mouth could come out.
She noticed the drop of a tear down his cheek the moment she did so. She leaned in and kissed him, reassuringly.
Peter hugged her back and locked the tiny kiss.
"I love you, Peter. I always did, I always will…" She whispered after they parted, slightly.
"I love you too, Gwen." He whispered back. "The moment… I saw you at school I couldn't think of anything else I wanted in my life at the moment. You made me forget about all the other things that haunted me back then… thank you."
Gwen smiled, weakly.
She too recalled the many times she got lost in her daydreaming in her bed after getting to know him better, and getting deeper into his own world didn't exactly come as a surprise, she had lived her entire childhood and youth before him.
It initially scared her, not for her safety, but Peter's. It was too much tension to not know if her, at the time, date, would ever climb her stairs once again. She already suffered the same thing due to her father's occupation.
Yet they've found a way. Despite the many arguments, break ups, enemies and dangerous moments in their lives.
They kept themselves warm in each other's embrace for what felt an eternity, hesitating to part ways once again.
He spoke lowly, "Someone's arriving through the stairs."
She hugged him even harder. "... you should go, it's better to avoid being seen here… Spider-Man."
He nodded and let his wife go and stood near the edge with his back facing the streets under them.
Spider-Man pulled his mask down and slowly dropped his weight behind him, letting gravity push him towards the air.
Gwen watched him descend towards ground level, the pair never taking the eyes off each other for as long as they could, before Spider-Man had to turn himself towards the fall and fire a web-cable.
She hugged herself again, and watched him swing around the building until he was out of sight.
The door was open.
"Miss, is everything okay? Um… may I ask you leave the edge?"
Gwen looked over her shoulder. "Oh, it's alright. I just wanted to see how tall the hospital really is." She took a few steps back into the helipad.
The staff from the hospital spoke, "It's just dangerous to stay where you are. Safety protocols."
"You don't need to worry, since marrying this… parachutist, I got used to these high heights."
Spider-Man felt the rubbles crush the many muscles of his body. He found himself inside a hole between the thousands of debris that had crashed above him.
He could barely see anything through them. He didn't know how deep he could be.
His strength failed him, he was tired, and his suit entirely ruined, a shadow of his former self.
His right eye was exposed due to the now shattered lense found in his mask.
"You are… fine, Parker." He spoke to himself.
Peter made an effort to pull his right arm out of the rubble, he grunted in pain, but failed to accomplish his goal.
He dropped his head back against the concrete once again and sighed heavily. He had taken too much of a beating to just stand up once again like it was nothing.
Sometimes he had to take a moment to catch his breath, even as Spider-Man, specially as Spider-Man.
Maybe he wouldn't ever stand up once again, not this time.
He calmed himself, accepting the fact that he would remain alone there for as long as he could before more rubble fell over him.
I'm sorry, guys… I won't be getting up this time...
Peter accepted his fate. He knew it would come, eventually. He led a dangerous life, his body had been set up together too many times already, and it wouldn't hold itself together for much longer.
He still hoped Gwen could move on in time after she receives the news, and that she didn't suffer much nor blame herself.
She had done more than enough for him in a lifetime, and she didn't have to, at all.
Nobody did. But that was the life of someone around Spider-Man, and he initially wanted her to stay away from that.
How wrong he was.
Peter closed his eyes, and allowed his mind to slowly drift away into sleep as he began feeling lighter than her ever did.
But then he heard the noise of rubble being moved above him. A source of powerful light almost blinded him after a hole above him was made.
He couldn't see anything past the hole, just the powerful light. Maybe he was now one step closer to his death.
He spotted a shadow of a hand reaching for the hole and towards him.
"Peter…"
His chest rose in the comfy chair he was laid against inside May's room. He looked over his shoulders to check the surroundings.
He was alone inside May's room. Everyone else were back at home for an hour so that they could rest. He had been frequenting the room for half a week already, still believing in a miracle to take place there.
"Peter…"
Again.
His eyes finally landed at May's bed, there she was, struggling to keep her left hand up in the air and towards him from her bed.
She was finally awake after days. And she now called for him.
"Aunt May…"
Peter rose from the chair and immediately approached her, taking her hand on his own while leaning his torso over the bed so that she could look straight at him without any considerable effort from her part.
"Hey, hey, I'm here..." Peter smiled, a tear dropped from his right eye and slid down his cheek. He kissed the palm of her hand.
"My… my son…" She spoke, weakly.
He nodded and gave her another smile. "Yes, I am your son, May."
She slowly moved her hand towards his cheek, cleaning the trace of water with the tip of her finger before observing the details of his face, his eyes, his nose, his hair and everything that made him unique in her eyes.
"You've… turned into a beautiful grown man, Peter…"
Another tear left his eye. He chuckled shortly, "Those eggs you kept asking me for made me strong, Aunt May." He continued, "... I would love to eat those omelettes you make once you are back at home."
She smiled back. She then noticed the black suit found under his jacket. She focused on his eyes once again and cupped his cheek.
He leaned his forehead against hers, gently.
She whispered, "Don't… stray from the path, Peter. You are… a good man, the best kind there is. I've... raised you well."
Peter cleared his throat, allowing his emotions to come out. He replied weakly, "You did…".
May's breath turned slower, she briefly closed her eyes and opened them again so that she could see her nephew just a little longer.
Her mouth was slightly open, gathering small amounts of fresh air into her lungs.
"I'm… I am proud… of you, Peter. Ben and I… we both are."
Peter dropped a single tear that landed in the sheets over her stomach. He cleared his throat again, holding her hand firmly on his own.
May now didn't resist the urge of closing her eyes, filling her lungs one last time with a deep inhale as her chest gradually ceased movement.
Peter felt her hand weight slightly heavier in his grip. "May…?"
"Aunt May….?"
The machines that tracked her heart rate stopped and the haunting beeping took place and kept kept ringing next to Peter.
He dropped on his knees, still holding her hand, and rested his head over the bed and besides her left leg, sobbing uncontrollably.
The medical staff opened the doors and rushed inside, moving around him.
A/N : Sighs. That was probably one of the hardest chapters I had to write here. The final bit was something I had to take my time with it because after recently losing my grandfather, it got tough to picture the whole thing in my head and write it down. Nonetheless, this chapter is May's farewell in the story, a crucial character in the Spider-Man mythos, and I gave my best to respect her. The chapter also grew in scope as I wrote it so that's why it took slighly longer to come out, I still wanted to put more flashbacks but that would mean taking even longer, I also got distracted recently with other stuff and I kept writing bits of something else. Also, I took direct inspiration from the Back in Black storyline for some parts. I want to thank everyone for reading it as we finally reach the last part of the story, I am giving attention to most important characters in the story so that the conclusion can be satisfying to you patient lot. Thank you for the reviews, it gives me a extra boost, thank you for everything. I will keep posting updates in my bio. Have a great one.