Believer [Peter Parker]

03 - The Spark

Luke has become suspicious of his niece's nighttime activities. He knows that she's doing something potentially dangerous. She's always coming home with some form of injury. There are bruises and cuts everywhere on her body. What she's doing, he has no idea, all he knows is that she's getting herself hurt. 

"The Spark is at it again," Luke said while fixing Hannah's cut on her face.

"Yeah," she agreed.

"I wonder who she is," Luke said. 

"Yeah, me too," Hannah agreed.

"What happened this time?" Luke asked his niece once he finished fixing her cut.

"Nothing," she lied. 

"Hannah," he said, "please, tell me."

"I don't want you to worry," Hannah said. "If I tell..."

"Hannah, I'm your uncle," Luke reminded her. "I always worry."

"I know, but if I tell you what's been happening, you'll worry even more."

Luke sighed. "Will you ever tell me?"

"I don't know," she said.

Luke looked at the TV. They were talking about Spark's identity.

"You know, Spark looks a lot like you," Luke said. 

"Really?" Hannah's heart began to beat pretty quick.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "Didn't realize it until now."

"Huh," Hannah laughed nervously.

Luke didn't say anything for a few moments. Hannah watched him as his expression began to change.

"Hannah?"

"Yeah?" Hannah asked, terrified.

"Are you the Spark?" he asked, looking at her.

Luke's usual smile was gone. Her entire life, Hannah has always seen her uncle with a smile on his face. He always cracked jokes and would try to make the people around him smile even when they're not in the best of moods. She only saw his smile gone once and that was at her parents' funeral last year. 

Hannah couldn't bring herself to answer her uncle. She tried to answer him, but she couldn't. Her silence gave her uncle his answer.

"You are Spark," he said, he looked down. "Why didn't you tell me?" he looked at his niece. 

"I didn't want you to worry," Hannah's voice was shaking. "You might not let me continue if I told you."

"How did you get your powers?"

"I don't know," she said. "I think I was born with it."

"Why?" Luke asked. "Why did you start?"

"After - after what happened to Mom and Dad, I felt guilty," she said. Her tears threatened to fall. "I felt like I could've d - done something to save them, but I couldn't. A few months after we had to lay them to rest, I created the suit and - and I started. It's the only way I could cope and feel like I'm d - doing something to help others."

"Hannah, you have nothing to feel guilty about," Luke said. "Your parents died trying to protect you and everyone else in this city."

"I know, but still," Hannah said. 

"Hannah, I will worry about you even more now," Luke said, "but I'll support you."

"You won't make me stop?"

"No," he shook his head. "Even if I tried, I know I can't. People need more heroes like you. The bigger threats, let the Avengers deal with them. But the smaller stuff like robberies, you can handle it."

Hannah smiled. 

"Now that I know what you've been doing, this explains a lot," Luke said. "I'm guessing half the time you said you were at the library, you weren't at the library, were you?"

"No, I wasn't," Hannah said.

"Where do you keep all the first aid kit? I've seen your room and I've cleaned it when you weren't able to and I never saw a First Aid Kit, or the suit."

"I have a place where I hide it," Hannah said.

"Oh, really? Where?"

"Near 7/11," she said. "There's this abandoned building next to 7/11 where I keep my things."

"Huh."

"Uncle Luke, are you sure you're okay with this?" Hannah asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure."