Spider-Man : The Story of a Hero

Parker House — Peter’s Bedroom — Night

Still consumed by worry, Gwen paced back and forth across Peter’s bedroom. Ever since she had seen those videos, her heart hadn’t stopped racing. The slightest sound coming from outside made her jump, and every second that passed without any news from Peter fed the worst-case scenarios running through her mind.

Suddenly, a faint noise caught her attention near the window. Before she even had time to react, it slid open. Peter had just climbed into the room.

Gwen immediately jumped in surprise, but the moment her eyes fell on him, something made her freeze.

His suit...It was no longer the one she had made for him. The suit she knew was gone, replaced by a black-and-white one that was far darker, more intimidating...Almost unsettling.

As she looked at him more closely, she also noticed that his backpack was gone. He must have lost it...Or left it somewhere.

— ”Peter?!”

The moment he heard her voice, Peter immediately turned toward her.

For an instant, all the tension that had built up inside him over the past several hours seemed to leave his face.

— ”Gwen!”

Without thinking, they rushed toward each other and immediately embraced with almost desperate strength, as though they had both feared this moment might never come.

And yet, while they shared the same relief...Their fears had been completely different. For hours, Gwen had lived with the fear of losing Peter.

And Peter had just experienced what it felt like to believe Tombstone was about to kill Gwen.

Without even realizing it, he held her a little tighter, as though trying to reassure himself that she was truly there.

— ”I’m so glad to see you!”

— ”Me too...”

Silence gradually settled between them again. After a few moments, they finally pulled apart, but the atmosphere filling the room remained heavy...

Almost suffocating. Peter tried to appear calm. He was doing everything he could to hide the turmoil consuming him, but his eyes betrayed a nervousness he could no longer control.

He quickly scanned the room, as though making sure everything was normal, before immediately turning his attention back to Gwen.

— ”Gwen... is Aunt May home? Is she okay?”

The worry piercing through his voice was impossible to hide.

— ”Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t she be?”

Peter didn’t seem entirely reassured.

— ”And nobody came? Nobody knocked on the door? You didn’t see anything strange around the house?”

Gwen remained silent for several seconds, studying him more and more carefully. Something was wrong. She had felt it from the moment he entered the room.

It wasn’t just the new suit...Or the fact that he had disappeared for hours without any explanation. It was the way he spoke. The way he kept looking around, as though he expected someone to appear at any moment.

She was still far from imagining what he had actually been through.

— ”Peter... what’s going on? Why are you talking like that? You sound like we’re in danger...”

Peter lowered his eyes slightly. For a brief moment, he wanted to tell her everything. His capture. Wilson Fisk. Tombstone. The Terrifying Six. His identity being exposed. The threats against May and Gwen...

But the words remained trapped in his throat. Too much had happened in such a short amount of time. Too many questions still had no answers.

And above all...Too many people now risked paying the price for his mistakes.

So he chose to say nothing.

— ”N-No... no, it’s okay. Nothing happened.”

The moment those words left his mouth, Gwen shook her head. She didn’t believe him for a second.

— ”Peter, don’t lie to me. I saw videos of you where you were injured and without your mask! People were trying to film you while everyone could see your face! You can’t tell me nothing happened!”

Her voice trembled, torn between anger and a worry she could no longer contain.

Without taking her eyes off Peter, she looked him over for a long moment before her gaze finally settled on his suit.

That suit...She had never seen it before. The longer she looked at it, the stranger one detail seemed. Peter was still wearing his mask. Even after coming home...

He still hadn’t taken it off.

— ”And where did that suit come from? Why is it all black and white?”

Instinctively, Peter lowered his eyes to his suit. Even he couldn’t understand what had happened to him.

— ”I... I don’t know.”

That answer was the last straw.

Gwen’s frustration surged all at once.

— ”What do you mean, ’you don’t know’?! How can you say something like that after everything that’s happened today?! You completely lose it at the lab and attack Eddie for absolutely no reason, then you disappear until the middle of the night without giving anyone a single update. Then I find out you were injured, unmasked, looking like you’d just come back from a war... and now you’re wearing some black suit that came out of nowhere?! Where’s the one I made for you?”

Peter looked away and took a deep breath, as though trying to regain some semblance of composure.

He genuinely wanted to keep himself under control, but everything he had been through that day still weighed heavily on his shoulders.

The fear...The pain...The humiliation...The threats against the two people he loved most in the world...Not to mention the anger he had been holding back for weeks...

It was all piling up inside him without ever giving him a moment’s peace.

It felt as though every emotion was stacking on top of the last until they formed a weight he could no longer bear.

Then…

Something snapped.

He took a slight step back before exploding.

— ”I JUST NEED TO BE LEFT ALONE, OKAY?!”

The shout echoed throughout the entire bedroom before silence immediately fell again...

Brutal. Heavy. Gwen stood frozen, completely stunned. Never had Peter spoken to her like that. Never...Except for one single circumstance: When he was desperately trying to protect her.

For several long seconds, neither of them said a word. Gwen continued staring at him, unable to understand what was happening. She desperately searched for the boy she knew.

But the one standing before her now… Almost felt like a stranger. On his side, Peter slowly looked away. The anger was still burning inside him, but it was already beginning to give way to regret.

He hated himself for speaking to her in that tone.

His head slightly lowered, his breathing still uneven, he ran a hand across his face, as though trying to regain control of himself, before letting out a long breath.

— ”I... I’ve had a really shitty day today. So... I’d just like to be left alone, okay?”

The anger that had just exploded was already beginning to fade, leaving behind nothing but overwhelming exhaustion.

Gwen watched him silently for a few moments. Little by little, the expression on her face softened. Without saying a word, she slowly walked toward him.

Every step was hesitant, as though she feared he might pull away from her again. When she finally stopped in front of him, only a few inches separated their faces.

With infinite gentleness, she took both of his hands in hers. Her fingers were cold. Peter’s were still trembling slightly. And even though he was still wearing his mask, she looked straight into his eyes.

— ”Peter... talk to me. Tell me about your suit... about your condition... and about Eddie... I just want to understand what’s going on.”

She paused very briefly before continuing.

— ”When everything ended at the lab, everyone was worried about you. Eddie and I talked for a bit, and—”

The instant the words ”talked” and ”Eddie” left her lips, Peter gently pulled his hands away from hers before taking a step back.

His expression closed off almost instantly. Without him saying a single word, Gwen understood that something had changed. Peter’s anger was rising again.

Slowly...Silently. Peter was doing everything he could to keep it under control.But it was still there.

— ”Peter... can you explain what he meant by ’your moments of anger’? What was he talking about? Do you have some kind of ang—”

— ”You believe him, don’t you? You agree with what he said?”

His voice had changed. It had become cold...Ice cold. So much so that Gwen felt a chill run down her spine. For a moment, she remained silent, carefully considering every word she was about to say.

The last thing she wanted was to make his condition worse or hurt him even more.

— ”N-No... it’s not about agreeing or disagreeing... I’m just trying to understand, Peter. That’s all.”

She took a gentle breath before adding, almost in a whisper:

— ”I’m trying to understand... because I love you.”

Those words should have calmed him. Deep down, Peter knew perfectly well that she wasn’t doing anything wrong. Quite the opposite. She was only trying to understand him...To help him...To stay by his side, just as she always had.

And yet...Despite everything...A strange bitterness continued to grow inside him, without him truly understanding where it was coming from.

Or perhaps...He already knew. The image of Gwen talking with Eddie forced itself into his mind. They had talked. They had grown closer. That thought alone was enough to painfully tighten his chest, and without even realizing it...

He slowly clenched his fists.

— ”...Can you leave, please? I’d like to be alone...”

His voice had become calm again...Too calm. And that was precisely what worried Gwen. She immediately understood that there was no point in insisting. A deep disappointment filled her heart.

She wanted to understand what he was going through, to help him, and to stay by his side... But it was obviously not the right time. So she simply nodded in silence.

Before leaving, she walked over to him one last time and gently placed a tender kiss on his cheek. Then she headed toward the door without saying another word and quietly left the room.

The door closed behind her with a soft click. Silence once again filled the room. For several long seconds, Peter remained perfectly still. He seemed lost in deep thought.

As he replayed everything that had happened today, he realized he couldn’t allow himself to rest. Not even though he was exhausted. Now that he knew May and Gwen weren’t in danger...

At least, not yet...He slowly climbed back out through his window, crawled onto the roof like a spider, and settled into position.

He sat in a posture that would have been incredibly uncomfortable for most people, especially for their legs.

But for him...It was nothing. He was used to it. He remained there, watching the streets of his neighborhood. His eyes slowly swept across the surroundings, searching for the slightest suspicious detail.

Suddenly, a few tiny raindrops began to fall.

— ”I can’t sleep. Not now. Not while Aunt May and Gwen are still in danger. I have to make sure nothing happens to them.”

At that very moment, the few raindrops that had begun falling from the sky, so light at first, gradually turned into a steady downpour before, several minutes later, becoming a torrential rain.

And yet...The man in black never moved from the roof of his house. He remained perfectly still. Clad in his new suit, he continued watching the streets around him.

Then, in that very moment...A voice echoed inside Peter’s mind. It was cold. Calm...But terrifying.

And like an ordinary thought that might cross anyone’s mind during a moment as quiet as the one Peter was experiencing, a single sentence echoed within him:

— ”Kill... Tombstone. Kill... them all. Take... revenge.”

Unfortunately, so focused on his mission and so consumed by his worry for the people he loved, he never even noticed that voice...

Even though it had truly echoed inside him. He simply hadn’t realized it. For what was this thing…

that had already planted its seed within our dear hero?

TO BE CONTINUED.