Spider-Bat: New Way Home
Chapter Three: Born to Run
It was well after midnight when Mary and Richard finally made it to Wayne Manor. The outer perimeter was surrounded by large concrete walls, and at the main entrance of the driveway stood a tall, locked iron gate.
Richard began ringing the buzzer on the security box. Nobody answered at first. But after buzzing it a few more times, someone with a British accent finally did answer the call- and he didn't seem very happy. "What in the bloody hell are you doing ringing the buzzer at this time of night? Go away! Come back when it gets light outside… like normal people would do!" Alfred demanded.
"Please, sir… This is an emergency!" Richard pleaded. "My name is Richard Parker. I went to college with Thomas Wayne. I am here with my wife, Mary. We are on the run from a maniac named Norman Osborn and there is nowhere else for us to go. We were attacked earlier today and I believe Thomas may be the only one who can help us at this time. I urge you to wake him up!"
…A few seconds went by before Alfred finally answered back. "I've always hated that Prick, Norman Osborn," he declared, pushing a button, allowing the giant iron gate to open.
Alfred greeted them at the front door. After allowing the two of them to enter the home, Alfred went upstairs to wake Thomas.
Moments later, Thomas came strolling down the staircase in his robe. He was surprised to see Richard standing in the foyer. He even had to rub his eyes a couple times in order to make sure he wasn't still dreaming. Then, after letting out a slight yawn… "It has been quite a long time since I've seen you, Richard. Alfred told me that you guys were attacked by Norman Osborn. What happened?"
"We messed up pretty bad, Thomas. My wife and I were desperate to have a child, but my wife has a condition that won't allow her to get pregnant. Norman had a cure in his lab, but he refused to allow her to take it. So… with the help of a co-worker, we tried breaking into his lab and stealing the formula. But when we did, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. A giant bat attacked us, and in all the confusion the test-tube containing the cure had gotten destroyed. Norman found out it was us who had broken in, and then he ambushed us while we were sleeping. However, when he realized we didn't have the formula with us, a masked man, who was working for him, rendered us unconscious and then burned our house down… with us inside it."
"How did the two of you make it out if you were rendered unconscious?" Thomas asked, puzzled, noticing neither of them had any sort of burn marks on their bodies.
"We don't know. We suddenly woke up hours later in an abandoned warehouse. We thought that maybe the co-worker who helped us break into the lab might have saved us, but there was no evidence to support that theory."
"How did you get here?" Thomas continued asking.
"We…" Richard paused for a second, looking at Mary, her face having a look of shame on it. "We stole a car," he finished. "It ran out of gas about two miles down the road. We hoofed it the rest of the way here. But don't worry… We rolled the vehicle off into a wooded area and covered it up with several branches. We weren't followed, and nobody knew we were coming here."
"I see," Thomas replied. "I will have Alfred properly dispose of it in the morning." He then offered Mary and Richard a seat on the couch. "Now… How is it you believe I will be able to help?"
"We just need a place to hide out until we can figure out what to do next."
Just as Richard said that, Thomas's wife, Martha came down the staircase. She was holding a little baby in her arms. "What is going on down here? The baby woke up and I didn't see you in our bed. Who are these people?" She continued asking.
"Sorry if we woke you, dear." Thomas apologized. "This is an old colleague of mine. His name is Richard Parker. And this is his wife, Mary. They are in a little bit of trouble and they could use our help."
"What kind of trouble?" She asked.
"Norman Osborn kind of trouble."
"Hmph," Martha gestured. "I've always hated that prick. Sorry for the terrible language," she said, looking down at the baby in her arms.
Mary stood up, and then walked closer to Martha, her eyes in awe of the precious child. "What is his name?" she quietly asked.
"Bruce," Martha answered. "Bruce Thomas Wayne. He is six months old."
Just then, Alfred interrupted. "Ahem… It is awful late… Should I ready the guest-room for the two of them?"
"Yes. Please do, Alfred." Thomas replied. He then looked towards Richard and Mary. "We'll talk more about all this after we get a good night's rest. You two are welcome to stay for as long as you need to."
Martha gripped baby Bruce a little tighter. Mary could see the concern on Martha's face, and she felt bad for putting the Wayne family in such a bad predicament. "I'm sure we won't stay long," Mary assured her.
"Don't be ridiculous," Martha played it off as if everything was fine. "There is plenty of room at the manor. Besides… It would be nice to have some company for a change."
"Thank you for your hospitality. We'll see you in the morning." Mary replied, looking down and smiling, "Goodnight, little Bruce," she whispered as she began walking up the steps.
The two of them did stay for a longer period of time than they originally intended to. Especially after the authorities never found Richard and Mary's bodies in the burned down house. This meant Norman would surely be trying to find them. Soon there would be a missing-persons report, which meant their faces would be plastered all over the metropolitan area; and they knew for sure Norman would be sharing their pictures with every hitman he possibly knew. They couldn't go to the police because they figured Norman had a few officers on his payroll; especially after he hinted about having access to all the street cameras within a three mile radius of Oscorp. Whenever Richard or Mary left the house they would have to wear disguises so that nobody could recognize them. Thomas even had a hidden driveway in a wooded area behind the manor for them to pull their vehicle into when they got back. In order for them to make money, Mary would help Alfred around the house, or she babysat Bruce; and Richard would help design projects for Wayne Industries. Thomas made it easy by allowing Richard the opportunity to work from the manor in a secret bunker below the study, where he had a full laboratory to work with.
Within a month of them living there, Mary suddenly began to notice that her stomach was showing a baby bump; plus she had been feeling more nauseous as of late. She wasn't even sure how that was possible because she never took the cure at Oscorp. Even though she and Richard wanted to have a baby, she thought now wasn't the best time due to the fact that they were in hiding from Norman's thugs. Thomas, being a medical doctor, suggested that she could've even possibly been two months along due to how much she was already showing. He also suggested the possibility that maybe she was always capable of getting pregnant and she was simply given the wrong diagnosis from her other doctors. Either way, he concurred that she most certainly was pregnant… And only four months later, she had already gone into labor.
This was quite an anomaly, even for someone as medically advanced as Thomas. On one hand, Mary wasn't even in her third trimester yet; On the other hand, the ultrasound pictures revealed a healthy, normal sized child as if it was in the nine month stage already. With little time to prepare, Thomas did what he could to get ready for the delivery by having Mary lay down on the bed, having Richard stand by her side for support, and instructing Martha and Alfred to get towels, washcloths, and blankets ready… And within another twenty minutes after that, a baby boy was born. Despite the desperate times, Mary and Richard were still very happy to finally get to hold their new child.
"What are you going to name him?" Martha asked, smiling down at the baby the same way Mary did when she first saw little Bruce.
Mary looked at Richard and smiled. "We were thinking about naming him Peter," she replied. "Kind of like Saint Peter. His full name will be Peter Benjamin Parker."
Now it was time for Thomas to remove the amniotic sac. But when he did, the amniotic fluid was completely black, and the amniotic sac looked more like a black larva. He hadn't ever seen anything like that before in his life. Though he also hadn't seen a pregnancy quite like that one in his lifetime either. "Those two have some splainin' to do," he thought to himself. He figured it would be best to keep the amniotic… larva… preserved so that they could do more studies of it in his laboratory.
Richard and Mary had only got to spend a few weeks with their new child, when-
There was a knock on the door of Wayne Manor- yes- the front door. When Alfred answered it, there stood a middle-aged man with brown hair, slightly graying, and combed back. He was wearing a gray, three-piece suit.
"Who in bloody blazes are you? And how did you get past the security gate?" Alfred demanded to know.
The gentleman pulled out a badge. "My name is Karl Fiers, and I am with the CIA. We had been following a suspect, and they might have ended up in your neck of the woods," he explained. He then proceeded to pull out a picture of Richard and Mary. "Have you seen these t–"
–NO!" Alfred interrupted, still acting as if he was mad at the gentleman's breach of the security gate. "Now, please leave… I'm trying to prepare supper," he added, attempting to close the door. But– before he could, Mr. Fiers put his foot in the way of the door to keep it open. He could usually tell when someone was lying, but Alfred was doing a pretty good job at fooling him. "How many people are you preparing supper for," he quickly interjected. "The woman in the picture might be pregnant," he added.
"Move your foot!" Alfred scolded, though he was secretly taken aback when the man brought up the fact about Mary's pregnancy.
Mr. Fiers became irate because he could tell Alfred knew something. "I AM WITH THE CIA GODDAMMIT!" he declared, forcefully pushing the door open, causing Alfred to stumble backwards a bit. "I HAVE A RIGHT TO SEE IF THESE TWO PEOPLE ARE HERE!" he barked, trying to get a glimpse of anything he could.
Alfred then stood his ground by putting his arms out, not allowing Mr. Fiers the chance to go any further inside the manor. "I believe I will just have to call the police, and let them come down here and handle this!"
Mr. Fiers seized up, putting his hands in the air as if to show he was giving in. "Okay… Okay… It doesn't look like anyone else is here… I'll leave ya alone- to go back to making supper," he mocked.
Alfred then tried to shut the door again, but once again, Mr. Fiers put his foot in the door to try and keep it open. "If you do see these two- be sure to give me a call," he instructed, tossing a business card with his name on it directly at Alfred's chest.
"Pfft!" Alfred scoffed, kicking the man's foot out of the way, and finally shutting the door.
Alfred watched as the man tried looking into a couple windows before scaling back over the iron gate and finally leaving the premises. Alfred was shocked to see how easily the gentleman managed to scale the gate. He assumed the man must've had plenty of military training. "I keep telling Master Wayne that we need to make that gate electric."
As soon as Mr. Fiers was out of sight, Alfred immediately went below the study and informed Richard and Mary that someone had come looking for the two of them. Alfred then informed them that the man was wearing a gray, three-piece suit, calling himself Karl Fiers from the CIA.
"Gray, three-piece suit?" Mary blurted, shaking with fear. "That is the hitman who is working for Osborn. The one who was hired to kill us."
"How could he have found us?" Richard asked, puzzled by the new revelation.
"He didn't say." Alfred replied. "Perhaps someone followed you and you weren't aware of it."
"Thomas and Martha entered the secret shelter. "What is going on?" Thomas asked. He could see Mary's eyes beginning to tear up.
Mary couldn't hold it in any longer. The stress of having to go on the run had finally caught up with her. "I'm so sorry. We shouldn't have ever gotten you guys involved in all this," she sobbed uncontrollably.
Martha went to Mary's side. "It's okay. You haven't gotten us into anything." She tried comforting her. "Now please, tell us what happened."
Richard spoke up. "The man who tried killing us just showed up at your doorstep. He found us, somehow."
"That's not all." Alfred quickly interjected. "The gentleman also seemed to think that you might be pregnant."
"Wha-?" Richard blurted. BUT HOW?"
"He didn't say." Alfred replied.
"What are we going to do now?" Mary cried.
"I own a private plane." Thomas quickly replied. "I could have the three of you on it by tonight."
"Where would we go?"
"I know a really nice place in Point Hope, Alaska. Nobody would ever find you there. It's an island, and the only way on or off of the island is by boat or plane."
"What kind of life would that be for Peter?" Mary asked with a frown. "We can't go on the run forever. They will find us eventually."
Richard gave Mary a hug. "It will be alright, darling."
Mary reciprocated by hugging him back. But then she raised her head and sadly looked up at Richard. "We can't bring him with us," she muttered.
"What?" Richard asked, though he already knew what she said.
Mary then looked towards Thomas and Martha. "Alfred said the man thought I was pregnant. We last encountered the hitman less than six months ago, and most pregnancies take at least nine months before giving birth. That means he doesn't know I've had the baby yet. You guys could keep Peter here… for just a little while… just until we know we are safe."
"I don't know," Martha shook her head.
"Please," Mary begged. "It will just be for a little while, and then we will take him back."
"What would we say if people ask us about him?"
"You can say you adopted him. You can say anything you want. But for right now, I just need you to say… yes," Mary continued pleading.
Martha turned to look at Thomas, hoping to get any sort of response from him. All he could do was shrug his shoulders.
"It's settled," Mary piped up. "Call your pilot. We are leaving for Alaska tonight."