PART 1 - Chapter 19 - The Dark Matters of Faith - Revelations
Of shepherds and flocks, protectors and victims.
WORD OF WARNING: Reminder, "The Dark Matter of Faith" is a heavier arc.
Trigger Warning for angst, deaths, drugs and manipulation of spiritual nature.
WORD OF WARNING THE SECOND: This author has STILL NOT played the new PS5 Spider-Man 2 game nor watched any "let's play", trying to keep the surprises still surprising, and probably that could be the same for many other readers, so, be considerate and avoid spoilers in the reviews, please!
Thank you!
Father Joe was a man probably in his forties, and very unlike any priest Peter Parker had ever seen. In fact, if anyone had asked Peter to describe the man prior this night, he would have called him a military man who just got back from war, mainly from the man's physique and firm gaze. Joe wore the stereotypical garments of a priest, was average height, but imposing so one could be forgiven if they mistook him as taller than he was. His walk was firm, coming out of darkness as some sort of messianic figure, giving to those who had gathered at the clearing a few words of greeting and support.
His most noticeable features were his long hair, pulled back into a bun, and a well trimmed beard, both completely white.
The men that Peter had spotted, those who had organized the assembly before, neared the crowd and started distributing water bottles and what Peter could guess were wrapped up snacks.
"Brothers and Sisters, you have no idea the joy I feel when I see you all, here, especially tonight!", he spoke loud and clear, a charismatic smile that, for the hero, did not reach his eyes. His brown eyes were fierce and focused, judging those around him. "The faithful, yes, but the skeptic and doubtful as well! Oh, I know what brought you here, and it is not just the opportunity to enjoy some cold tuna sandwich and a sermon!"
Many around Father Joe smiled and even laughed at the joke he made at his own expense, moods in high spirit and the air filled by the noises of satisfied gulping and chewing.
"Yes, the promise of some food and clean water brought many of you here tonight and before, but yet, you suspect. Yet, you fear me, and how could you not, when this is Gotham, the city where charity and kindness are as rare as water in the desert? What I see in you is much worse than empty stomachs, but also empty spirits, and that is where doubt lives!"
The man took a fruit from a basket to his side and showed it to the congregation.
"Your hearts hunger, for mine did before, and it is not the hunger for meat and fruit, but for fairness! And I know your thirst, the dryness in your throats is not for water or juice, but for justice. How much you've all begged for attention and help from the 'good' people of Gotham, just to be ignored."
Father Joe gently passed the apple to an older lady, the one called Marion, as Peter recalled, who nodded in thanks and bit onto the fruit with noticeable yearn, to the embarrassment of her colleagues.
"Don't chastise her, friends", the Father quickly defended the woman. "What I brought is to sate you, and it is enough for all of you, and unlike what this city may spare you, it is fresh and ripe, the fruit of the honest labor of the brothers and sisters that have joined us in our own piece of land, New Eden."
"New Eden? Is that a farm of yours?", someone in the audience asked, and that made the supposed priest smile.
"Mine? Only in the eyes of men and their laws. New Eden is a humble yet prosperous plot, where all of those who live there share from its production. No one owns the tree or its fruits, or the stream and its fishes", and he gave them a smile. "As God intended."
"Sounds a lot like some hippie communism, if you ask me", spoke another voice, the oldest man in the entire group.
Father Joe gave a quick laugh over the comment.
"'Communism'. 'Capitalism'. Labels created by men, men who crave power over others. Others like you", the Priest shot back, then turned to the crowd. "The Creator gave us Paradise and Harmony for free, and it was the Enemy who created strife and pride! The Children of God share what the land gives them, for their hearts are full, while the Children of Sin hoard riches because of the emptiness in their own hearts!"
It was at the moment, where Peter received his own previously referred tuna sandwich, that a very familiar sensation started crawling on the back of his head.
'This… oh, this is getting a little too weird for my taste', Peter decided, quickly putting the food in his inner jacket pocket.
The hero in disguise took some steps back, letting himself mingle with the crowd while he discreetly tried to leave.
"My children!", said the priest now, louder. "You are all the forgotten ones of Gotham City, and you are all without blame for your conditions, without fault for succumbing to vices and without choices to improve. For who else could you blame for this, but the Devil itself?"
The young hero/scientist noticed how many people started nodding to the Priest's words more fervently, mesmerized by his words.
And, in the hands of most of these people, opened bottles and torn packaged sandwiches already bitten into.
"The Devil is all around us, and I can see the ones here that scoff at my words, but heed them for it truly is the Devil! Not a man in a red cape and horns, no, the Devil wears uniform and badge and hit the poor who just want to eat!"
Some people cheered in agreement to the man's words.
"The Devil has many faces and can bodies, all so easy to recognise! They wear ties and dresses and gorge themselves on extravagant meals and fine wine while your bellies rumble, and they look down on you from their mighty towers while you have to sleep without a blanket or a roof atop your heads!"
More people joined in their loud support.
"It is easy to point at the monsters that roam this city and say, 'there, Father Joe, there is the Devil, with his half deformed face, or a maniac grin or horrible scales!', but I will remind you, though they are demons, they are always lurking because the Devil lets them! The Devils that promise us they will deal with the Joker, Two-Face and Killer Croc, and yet! And yet these demons always go back to killing and hurting the blameless! The innocent! You!"
Peter managed to reach the darker portion of the woods and started cursing to himself.
'What the hell is going on? What did you get yourself into, Barney?! I had half expected maybe something less obvious, maybe gang activity or some extortion scheme, but this? Seriously?! Can Gotham City be a little less on the nose? Spooky nursery rhymes, secret societies, a Clockwork Purge gang and now drugged up cult meetings in the middle of the night?'
He opened up his jacket, eyeing the 'snack' he had smuggled off. 'I need to get a sample of this analyzed as-'
"Yo, 'Ben'!"
"If these doctors and policemen and politicians and so called super-heroes really wanted to protect the people, why do they fail to do so? All of us say, enough! Enough with quack doctors in charge of a joke of an asylum! Enough with officers who abuse their power instead of using it to protect and serve! Enough with the lying, the incompetent and the corrupt that others put into office and who care only for themselves!"
"And enough with the ones that want us to worship them for their actions, false gods performing false miracles. They wear mask and capes, hide themselves in the darkness and prey on the innocent just like their villains, calling themselves heroes, when the true heroes are here!"
"You, my friends, are the heroes, who face the Hell that is Gotham City every day!"
Peter cursed himself, he had been so distracted that he had completely missed the approaching men from behind.
But not the sarcasm on the man's voice, or his identity.
"You leaving early, man?", Ratface asked. "You didn't stay to eat or anything."
Peter did not turn back to the man and his silent companions, because there were at least four of them besides Ratface, unless his hearing was wrong.
"Sorry, Jenner. Not hungry.", Peter closed off his jacket and pulled the zipper up.
"Well, that's a pity", he heard the man, not sounding sad at all. "If you are not gonna eat that, you should give it back, man. Lots of hungry people, you understand?"
"No kidding, I saw those folks back there, just 'eating up' everything the good Father was saying." Peter fixed his gloves in place one last time, and there was a low but still audible - at least for him - question of "Cop?", which another replied with an even more incriminating "Nah, they're paid off".
Carefully, Peter raised his hand, grabbing the lower part of his cap and pulling it down, covering his head as it was revealed to be a mask, all along.
"The Martha Wayne Foundation", he scoffed. "For those who don't know me, I used to work in one of their community centers, their houses of 'charity', selling their promises of a better life, a better tomorrow. Sounds heavenly, no? I trusted their vision, the Wayne Promise, until I woke up and saw it!"
"I witnessed Gotham City, like many of you did, my brothers and sisters, this city showed me the true face under its mask, and I realized, Gotham is nothing but Hell, and how can Hell become Heaven?"
Peter pressed a button on his belt, a small wave of energy and sparks spreading through the fabric of the outer piece of clothing he was wearing.
'Project: W.O.L.F.'.
After having to improvise with the Bumblebee jacket, days before, Peter had invested his time on a new idea: what if he could be wearing a suit at all times without the need to get changed?
Jacket, gloves, pants, mask, even the tennis shoes he was wearing, they were all covered with his latest invention, W.O.L.F., the Woven Omnidensochromatic Layer Fabric. At the right amount of electric stimulation, the suit would change both color - through the entire spectrum - and density - light as cloth then suddenly tough as kevlar.
'Fashion meets function, and out with the black and dark brown, and in with my true colors'
The hero turned around, electricity finally running its course. "Sorry, guys, but I'm definitely not a cop, because you see, I'm…"
"Would God look upon Gotham and see Heaven?! God sees it for what it is, what all of us truly see! Gotham City is another Babylon, and just as the Bible tells us, Babylon will fall and be broken!"
"We, the sinless ones, would have helped Gotham, but she cannot be helped. Let us leave her, then, and go to our own land, for her sentence came from the skies themselves, it rises as high as the clouds!"
"I bring you all the news, we must flee, flee from Babylon, Brothers and Sisters! Away from Gotham! And I'll tell the same to all those who want to defend her sinners, 'run for your lives'! 'Do not be destroyed because of Gotham's sins'. It is time for vengeance, Divine vengeance, and it is up to us to make Gotham pay what she deserves."
"White?"
The hero stared down, at his clothes, jacket, pants, gloves and, he guessed, his own mask, all pale white, an 'Error' message popped inside his mask over the inner HUD screen.
'Oh great', Spider-Man thought to himself, the still visible bright lens contracting in annoyance.
"So, hm… who is this guy supposed to be?", asked one of the men that had followed Ratface along to the group's leader.
The hero facepalmed, the inner reading from his mask's systems showing that, aside from the color-changing fiasco, everything else was running as it should.
"You know what, just call me 'Moon Knight' or something. Heaven knows this is getting ridiculous enough as it is…"
The 'Pirate' had been the one closest to him and the first to strike with a rather large switchblade, and, to the hero's surprise, almost managed to slash across his chest, his previously noticeable limp completely gone.
'The hell?!', Spider-Man barely had time to avoid the attack, then Pirate slashed again, backhanded, this time dangerously close to his neck, the hero only avoiding it by bending his body backward and, taking advantage of his position, pushed both feet up and mule kicked the aggressor on his chest, sending the eyepatched man several feet back, into the darkness.
Barely having the time to flip back into a standing position, Spider-Man took his surroundings and frowned. 'Zombie' and some new guy took position on opposite sides, Ratface and a burly man in the front, the four remaining men in a semi-circle formation.
"So, I'm going to hazard a guess and say you are not the typical dollar-store thugs you find in this city."
Zombie pulled out two switchblades, similar to the Pirate's.
Crooked Nose, the new guy, uncoiled a long thin chain wrapped around his torso, under his shirt.
Ratface produced a small exotic knife from the back of his shirt, the handle barely fitting inside his hand while the blade was curved forward, pointing down.
While the Burly man… cracked his knuckles.
"You know, I'm usually more talkative and less confrontational, but, frankly, what I saw you guys doing tonight was… disgusting. So, what I offer is this: everybody surrenders right now and you'll end up in jail barely tenderized."
Nobody spoke, their eyes cold and firm on the hero.
"Well then, so much for the civil approach!", and Spider-Man moved.
Burly got a flying kick to his face that barely made the large man flinch, while the hero could recognize the sound of metal hitting the ground he had been standing on not a second earlier, probably a chain if he could guess.
Burly smiled, "Is that all-" he asked, before Spider-Man spun, still mid-air, and hit him with his other foot, this time managing to topple the much larger man to the side.
Two silver flashes from the side, a white gloved hand slapped one attack away, white masked head turning sideways at the last instant and avoiding a strike to the eyes. Before Zombie had time to try attacking again, Spider-Man rolled forward, front flip kicking the man and hammering him down.
Ratface rushed forward, hand holding the knife back in a clear punching move, and Peter would have focused on the obvious attack, if the familiar tingle hadn't made him realize Crooked Nose's silent approach from the other direction, chain spinning and poised to strike.
Spider-Man flipped to the side, and his left shoulder flared in pain.
The hero groaned, as he took advantage of the small distance to notice the bleeding spreading on his left side. 'When? Who?', he wondered before realizing the return of Pirate. 'He took the chance and tossed his knife while I focused on the other two.'
"Sneaky", Spider-Man commended. The eyepatched man joined the other two still standing, while the hero could spot Burly recovering to the side. "So, you lot are some kind of skilled, well armed team of professional cult thugs?"
The Hero sprayed some web over his wound, quickly sealing it.
"That's good, because I got some aggression to work off and you guys are just the kind of punching bags I've been needing."
The time it took for the words to register, Spider-man was already above them, legs crouched and arm extended, fingers flexed in his long-established gesture.
The group avoided the web-shot, which worked into the hero's favor, as he pulled the string formed and got in range of Ratface, a left hook to the face took Jenner out of the equation. "So, here's what I'm thinking…"
The strong arm of Burly tried reaching for the hero, but Spider-Man used the momentum from the punch to roll his body towards the larger man, effectively shielding him from a swipe of Crooked Nose's chain.
Burly did not understand what had just happened, one moment the white clad fighter was in front of him, then the next second he was gone. "This is not just some scheme, is it?" The large man finally realized Spider-Man had snuck behind his back. "No, whatever is going on, it's much bigger than that", Spider-Man continued, shielded from sight by the large assailant's physique.
Instead of turning around, Burly, with a speed that did not match a man of his size at all, kicked behind himself, a practically perfect extended back kick with enough strength to break a normal man's spine like a twig.
And yet, he hit nothing.
"It's frustrating, isn't it?", Spider-Man quipped, perched on top of the extended leg. "When you don't have all the pieces of the puzzle."
Before the larger man could react, Spider-Man moved ahead, hands grabbing onto Burly's shoulders, a quick flip and the man's world was suddenly upside-down, an almost seven foot man being impossibly chucked forward as if he weighed nothing at all.
"A midnight meeting. All those snacks and water bottles. You guys."
Crooked Nose and Pirate combined their efforts, the metal chain swiping low from one side, while the eyepatched man aimed a high kick to Spider-Man's head.
The hero quickly took a sidestep, avoiding Crooked Nose's attack, then grabbed onto Pirate's extended leg and, using said grab, spun the man into the air before tossing him away.
"The sandwich!" Spider-Man's lenses suddenly widened as he stared at the one man still left standing. "That's what this is about!"
A high swing that the hero easily dodged. "It's not just any mind-altering drugs."
A feint, followed by a lash out from the right, effortlessly evaded. "It's something else"
The end of the chain whipped up, but missed his chin completely. "Something… more devious."
One last lash and the chain collided with something, but, to the Crooked Nose's surprise, that something had been Spider-Man's open palm, which closed and held firm onto the weapon.
The man, instinctively, tried forcing the chain back, not realizing his mistake until it was too late, getting easily pulled towards the hero by the same chain and swiftly knocked out by a snap kick.
Spider-Man tossed the weapon to his side and checked the state of the men he had just beaten up. "Well, this is awkward", he commented. "You guys were good, but honestly, it almost felt like a…"
'Oh no!', the hero straighten up and, with barely another thought, left the group behind, jumping into the darkness, barely taking a minute to reach back the meeting place…
"… a distraction!", he shouted, as there were only a few remaining people left in the clearing - and no sign of Barney either.
In fact, almost all the equipment and structures were already gone, and so was Father Joe and the rest of his crew, and so were most of the vehicles, with the exception of one pickup truck, doors open and a man inside, hunching down.
Spider-Man quickly reached into the vehicle and pulled out the hiding person, revealing a man not much older than himself, wearing dirty clothes and holding what appeared to be the truck's recently removed CB radio.
"Hey, what gives?!", yelled the homeless man.
"Where did they go?", asked the white clad hero, already suspecting what the answer would be.
"What do you mean? They're gone! And they took almost everything away in a hurry, including the food and water", said the man, trying in vain to pull himself away from the never-before-seen hero.
Spider-Man just let the man go, who promptly fell down, still holding onto his loot. "And you what, just decided to dismantle the car for parts?"
"Hey, if they left something behind, it's because they didn't care about it, right?"
'Nothing to do, then', Peter concluded. 'I lost Barney's trail, lost the creepy priest… I will have to get whatever I can from Ratface and friends.'
The first hint that things had gone from bad to worse was the smell.
An awfully familiar smell, especially to someone as experienced as he was in crime fighting.
Even more after the events of last night.
"No! No, no, no, no!", Spider-Man ran, but the nature and intensity of the smell painted a clear picture of what he would find.
The second hint was the billowing cloud he could see amongst the trees, and the bright light coming just ahead.
The place where he had fought five men barely minutes before now was the scene of a huge flaming pyre, its intense light piercing the darkness of the night and the foul smell of burning gasoline filling the air.
That and the smell of burning flesh.
'...if they left something behind, it's because they didn't care about it, right?'
To Be Continued!
Author's Notes
Thanks again for the support and the patience!
More bad news, I'm afraid, I will have to travel to the USA for a family situation over there, so... from New Year's Eve until the end of January, I won't be able to update this story.
Which means, expect the next chapter around Christmas' Eve and then... see you next year!
Next chapter: investigations, deductions, recriminations and Peter's secret discovered!