Chapter 214 Visiting the Graves

Flush~

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"Karen!"

Thump!

"Ouch." Karen rubbed her head as she pulled herself off the floor to face her mother. "What do you need?"

"Do you know where your father is?" Cortana asked. "He was not with us when we woke up. We checked the training room, the bedrooms.....nothing. Not even a note."

"Yes. I know where he is."

Cortana sighed in relief. "Good. We were starting to think he had been pulled into another dimension or reality. Some strange event in your father’s life."

She crossed her arms. "So.....where is he?"

Instead of answering, Karen looked up toward a dark corner of the cave ceiling. Cortana followed her gaze and found a large cocoon of organic spider-silk suspended from the rock.

"He is resting," Karen said.

Cortana studied the cocoon and raised an eyebrow. "He is not in there."

"Yes, he is. I checked the cocoon a few minutes ago. There was a heat signature inside."

Cortana picked up a weapon from a nearby workbench and fired a single shot into the cocoon.

Nothing came out. No blood. No movement. The cocoon was empty.

Karen blinked. "What?"

"Your father is a master of stealth," Cortana said flatly. "Do not be so surprised."

She walked to the main computer and stopped abruptly when she looked at the keyboard. The standard letters had been replaced with symbols she could not decipher.

"What is this?"

"Father changed several systems in the cave," Karen explained. "That keyboard uses a cipher only he understands. He has not taught it to me yet."

Karen disconnected from her synthetic body and entered the network, granting Cortana access to the security recordings.

They watched together as Peter silently emerged from the cocoon hours earlier, walking past Karen.....who had been engrossed in a file and completely failed to notice him.

Both women tracked his path through the cameras. He entered the garage, took the 1969 Mustang GT, and drove to a florist.

When the cameras showed his final destination, Cortana understood immediately.

"I think that is enough," she said quietly. "Leave the lab for now."

Karen accepted the order without question. They left together.

----------

Peter parked the Mustang and walked through the cemetery gates carrying several bouquets. His first stop was a modest gravestone near the western edge.

Three graves. Side by side.

He read the inscription and sighed.

"Ben Parker. Beloved husband, son, father, friend, and brother."

"Mary Fitzpatrick. Beloved daughter, mother, and friend."

"Richard Parker. Beloved son, father, friend, and brother."

He placed wallflowers on Ben’s grave and velvet on Mary and Richard’s.

"I am sorry for all the trouble.....and for this."

He gestured at himself. "I did not want any of this to happen. But it did. I only regret your son’s actions, and that no one could stop him."

He straightened. "I hope you are happy by his side. You deserve it. I promise to take care of what little remains of your family and leave your legacy at the top. The Parker name will live on in history. And I swear I will find a way to avenge the three of you."

He looked up. "I hope you are happy up there."

He stared at the graves for a long time.

Then the sound of sirens.....police and fire.....broke the silence. He was not planning to intervene. But his watch vibrated. A single number filled the screen: 86%.

"I apologize for my abrupt departure," he told the graves, "but this city needs its Dark Knight."

He turned toward the car. Before he reached it, he glanced back one last time.....and for a single, impossible second, he saw three translucent figures standing beside the headstones. Smiling at him.

"What the hell?" He blinked several times, then shook his head with an amused exhale. "I am losing my mind."

The figures remained after he looked away.

"He is a good boy," Mary said.

"He is. But the road ahead is difficult," Richard replied.

"Just like everyone else’s," Ben added.

"He reminds me of myself," Richard said.

"Except he is more handsome," Mary countered.

"Hey. That is genuinely offensive."

"Not even death could save him from their arguments," Ben sighed.

------

Peter touched the Mustang’s hood. "Go home," he said.

The car started itself, generated a holographic projection of a driver, and pulled away at speed.

He pressed a button on his watch. Nanobots swarmed from the casing and covered his body in seconds, forming the Spider-Man suit.

"This saves entirely too much time," he murmured.

He fired a web and launched himself into the city.

Karen illuminated his HUD with a constellation of red dots scattered across New York.

"Today will be busy," he said, swinging toward the nearest one.

He found a burning apartment building. Firefighters held back a hysterical crowd while flames consumed the upper floors.

"Please! My baby is in there!" a woman screamed.

"My daughter is in there!"

"You cannot go through," a firefighter ordered. "The roof will collapse any second."

Spider-Man crashed through a window without hesitation.

When the building exploded moments later, the crowd screamed. Then a figure launched from the inferno, trailing smoke and ash.

"Here is your baby," Spider-Man said, handing the infant to the first woman.

"My baby! God bless you, Spider-Man!"

The second woman was already in tears. "My daughter.....!"

"She is right here." He turned, revealing a web-wrapped bundle on his back. Inside was an unconscious young girl clutching a small dog.

"Take her to a hospital. She inhaled too much smoke. And get the dog to a vet."

"Thank you! Thank you, Spider-Man!" The woman hugged him so tightly his ribs creaked, then pulled her daughter from the webbing.

He nodded to the fire captain. "No one else inside."

Then he was gone.