The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Chapter 8

Stepping off the bus, Peter turned in the direction that the Brock residence was supposed to be. It turned out that Eddie commuted from Queens, a place all too familiar to him, having been raised there almost his whole life. Even though he had moved to Manhattan after college, Peter could still walk the streets of Forest Hills in his sleep. All it took was one glance at the address Eddie had given him earlier for him to have a solid idea of where he needed to go.

Peter was really hoping whatever Eddie's wife was making for dinner would help remove a bit of the sting of his unsuccessful Spidey outing earlier. He was still chastising himself for not going in with a better plan. Basically, all he thought to do was to go in, ask nicely, and if that didn't work (he hadn't exactly counted on it), then he would find another way to get it out of him. Unfortunately, Blackie had called his bluff before he'd even had a chance to really come up with one. Peter could count on one hand the number of times he'd ever tried to intimidate someone into giving him information, and only a couple of those times had it worked.

He'd probably gotten lucky in those instances, as they had likely just wanted to get out of spending too much time in jail. Anyone willing to take a moment to think likely knew better though: Spider-Man was not one to resort to brutalizing or torturing people to get what he wanted. Sure, he'd lost it on people before, but in the scheme of his career, it might as well have been a quick blip of time. In short, Peter was going to have to find someone with a little less spine to give him the information he needed to get his first true lead in this mysterious case.

But that was enough about that, at least for now. Peter finally came up to the house, recognizing the number he'd been told to look for. From the outside, the home appeared to be the same as most other houses in the neighborhood: a modest but still well put together two-story home, with what he guessed was at least two bedrooms, maybe three, in the upstairs area. It was a little bigger than the home Peter had grown up in with his aunt and uncle, though not by too much.

Right now, however, it still felt like a far cry from anything he could afford.

Walking up to the front door, Peter reached up, pressing the button to ring the doorbell. He took a step back, waiting patiently for someone to open it. When nobody answered after a moment, he decided to give it another try, pressing the button a second time.

"Coming!" came a woman's shout from inside. Peter could hear rapid footsteps as the individual approached the door, and it finally opened to reveal a woman with dark blond hair and brown eyes.

"Ah, you must be Peter," the woman said. "I'm Anne, Eddie's wife. Please, come in."

"Thank you," Peter responded politely, stepping into the home.

"Eddie, our guest is here!" Anne exclaimed as she moved past Peter after closing the door. "You'll have to excuse us; things have been a little crazy today. I got home late from work, so Eddie had gotten the food going, but in doing so, he missed his precious early evening workout, so he tried to squeeze it in quick before you got here. He's in the shower now, but he should be finishing up."

"It's fine," Peter assured her as he followed her into the dining room. "I understand Eddie was a great athlete in high school."

"Yep, and he's made sure to stay in shape ever since, even though he doesn't play anymore," Anne replied. "I'm pretty sure he hasn't missed a workout in at least a year."

"Wow, that's impressive," Peter said. He didn't exactly have a lot of time for hobbies like working out, but even if he did, he couldn't imagine having the discipline, much less the opportunity, to keep up such a rigorous endeavor, even with his powers.

Suddenly, some quick but hard footsteps could be heard descending down the stairs, and Peter turned to see Eddie pop out from behind him, wearing a casual pair of jeans and a New York Knicks t-shirt.