|Towards the Endgame|

•Chapter 140• Mystery Solved

She touched him. She was there. He had smelled her, and he could hear her heart beating in her chest. How could she be dead? Or not real. All of this was so confusing. He can't grab hold of reality, so it feels. He has read over the message a hundred times already, and the words still haven't fully settled into his mind. He does not understand. He reads the words, he knows that they mean, but the message doesn't mean anything. A full explanation with pictures of important files attached was not enough to convince him. He wished he could talk to May about this. His aunt would make sense of it all, like she always does. Peter stared at his phone, shaking his head, and walked out of his bedroom. He prays that this is some big misunderstanding. S.H.I.E.L.D. Official file doesn't usually lie, does it? Maybe it does. What if it's not real? Y/n said Harley checked it out. It's legit. That still doesn't explain how she was able to trick him. Hardy. He doesn't recognize that name. "Hey, May!" Peter called. He bent down to put on his shoes. "I need to drop by Ned's and then I'm heading to the Starks to check on Y/n." That was his first initiative. Now, there is so much more to talk about. Y/n is most likely already making plans to join her father and Natasha on their field trip. Meanwhile, Peter is still having trouble letting it sink in. May said something from the kitchen, but he did not hear her over his own thoughts. Before he could ask her what she said, there was a knock on the front door of their apartment. "Peter, could you get that?" He was already on his way.

"Bruce- uh, Doctor- Doctor Banner, hi." He stood eye to eye with a man he admired so much. Every time he met him, he did not think immediately of the Incredible Hulk like everybody else did. He saw Doctor Bruce Banner. The man who has multiple PhDs in nuclear physics and biochemistry. Not just that, but he is also a man who saves lives. He is a real hero. He really has to keep himself from freaking out and asking him thousands of questions. He knows that he taught Y/n a lot; he was practically her teacher, which he is very jealous of. Bruce smiled at the boy politely. "Can I come in?" He stepped aside to let him into their home. Suddenly, very aware of the mess that was around the house. He and May wanted to clean. It's not in desperate need of cleaning or anything like that, but he was so aware of it. Bruce walked straight toward the couch and looked around. He has never been to Peter's home before. Somehow, this is exactly what he imagined it would look like. "What are you doing here?" Peter asked him. "I need to talk to you, Pete." Gestures toward the couch and sits down. Peter follows his movements a little shyly. This was his house, his couch, and why did he feel like this? He didn't even realize his aunt had entered the room as well. Her hair was tied in a messy bun on top of her head, her glasses sliding off her nose because of the sweat. Her cheeks flushed red. Peter was not sure whether that was because of Bruce or because she was busy in the kitchen. "Oh... Hi!" She ruffled her hair. "Hello, Ma'am." Bruce extends his hand to May and politely shakes it. "Doctor Bruce Banner." He formally introduced himself to the woman. "May Parker. Did Peter do anything wrong?"

Bruce shook his head with another gentle and polite smile. He must have prepared outside to interact with his aunt. "No, definitely not." He looked at the boy again, taking a deep breath. "It's about Y/n, Peter." A great deal of concern shot through him again. Whenever Y/n is mentioned nowadays, he is always worried. "Is she okay?" He asked. Bruce had promised himself not to beat around the bush or lie about it. "No, she's not." He said honestly. When he saw her this morning, he could tell that she was not doing any better, actually worse. "She's lying about it. She's in a lot of pain." She doesn't want to worry anyone, and he can't admire her any longer for that. "In pain? Can't you... do something about that? You know, anything." God, he must have sounded so stupid. Bruce shakes his head sadly and does not say anything about Peter's tone or what he said. "We did another scan today. Her heart is not healing the way it should. There is tissue that does not move flexibly and therefore makes it more difficult to keep beating. It's like those pieces are almost burned. Completely stuck. I can't fix it or mend it, and Strange, talented as he is, can't either." When he saw that on the scan, he asked Strange to do another check. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. How she managed to keep breathing does not make sense to him. She does it, though. It seemed hopeless. He saw that tissue, white and colorless from the blood that was being drained from it – he never saw anything like it before. "What are you saying? What does that mean?" Peter asked him. He imagined his girlfriend dying. He could lose her forever. The thought stuck him harder than it ever had before. He could never speak to her again or see her smile. Nothing would ever be the same.