Web of Deception: The Webbed Avenger

Chapter Twenty-nine: Revelation

EPISODE THREE: PSYCHOPATH

So, here we are.  The day I have foreseen coming for months... the day that Mieczyslaw Stilinski died.  Some might be in agonizing pain to find out that the teenager has perished, but as they say, death is only the beginning.  I did not tell the complete truth as to what I saw.  I did not just see Mieczyslaw die at the hands of Norman Osborn.  No, I saw that while Mieczyslaw would die, his death would be the birth of someone new, someone stronger.  I saw a hero rise from Mieczyslaw Stilinski's grave.

He has the pieces to solve a mystery, but he doesn't realize it.  By the time this wall-crawling hero awakens, he will know the secret that has been eluding him for nearly two weeks.  He will know the secret that New York desperately wants to know...

Stiles... Stilinski will be reborn, and when he is, he will know who the Identity Thief is.

Derek sat quietly on Laura's couch, staring blankly at the wall.  Something had been going on with him ever since he and Laura left Stiles at the Tower the other night.  Laura had seen it, the strange sheen in his eyes and how he was on autopilot, not really being there mentally.  The alpha werewolf didn't know what was wrong with her brother, but there was something off with him and she didn't like it.

"Derek, are you okay?" Laura asked as she stepped beside Derek, poking him on the shoulder.  The werewolf lightly turned his head towards her, with a blank stare.

"Yeah... I'm okay." his voice was weak, almost like he was guilty.  When Laura didn't respond to him, Derek said it again.  "Yeah... I'm okay."

"O-okay." Laura sighed, backing away and sitting down in the kitchen, eyeing her brother suspiciously, unsure of what was going on with him.

Derek turned back to the wall as the disembodied voice spoke once more to him.  Good, do exactly as I say, and everything will turn out okay.  Bring it to me... Bring all of it to me.

As Stiles laid lifeless on the floor in Oscorp Tower, across the city, Erica Reyes quietly walked towards her house only a few blocks away from Midtown High.  She couldn't help but feel like she was being watched, a sensation that had been overwhelming her very being for weeks now.  Ever since she broke up with Stiles, she had been fearful for her life.  Not because she was afraid of Stiles, but because she was afraid of the reason she broke up with him.

Erica turned a corner into an alley, picking her pace up when out of nowhere a hand grabbed her by the shoulder.  She turned to find the hooded man, whose eyes were soft, yet still that of a monster.

"No..." she gasped lightly.

"Do this easily... I don't want to hurt you more than I have to."  the Identity Thief sighed, as Erica lowered her head with tears in her eyes.  "Did you tell him who I am?"

"No, he has no idea who you really are..."

"Good, because I don't need him getting in the way, and by the time he finds out who I am, it'll be far too late for him to do anything."

Erica's will to fight back was gone, as she sighed, and went willingly with the Identity Thief.

Find me, Stiles.

So, dying gives a guy a lot of time to think.  It's kind of hard to explain, but it might just be a few seconds from the moment I saw nothing to this point, but it feels like it's been years.  I don't know why, but I completely gave up any possibility of fighting to the bitter end.  Isn't that what I was supposed to do, not just give up?

I promised to save Erica and Cora from the Identity Thief, and I just gave up when I found out today I was going to die.  I might not be able to do anything, but with what time I have left, might just be minutes in my head, or just a couple seconds in real time, I need to see if I can figure out who the Identity Thief is.  

I'm seeing every single bit of my life go by me.  I see my mother, how she deteriorated mentally... how I fell in love with Lydia.  Every fight with my Dad, every heartwarming moment.  I see every beating I got, every time I failed.  I also see how I became friends with Scott, and Harry.  I see what I did the past week with my powers, how I looked like a hero.  I see Lydia's scared eyes after she kissed me, falling asleep in my arms.  I'm seeing everything.  It's like everything is so slow, yet flying by me all the same.

So, I paid attention.  Somehow, the information just comes rushing to me.  I don't know what the difference was, maybe it's because my mind was otherwise preoccupied, or whatever it might have been.  All I know is , I begin figuring it out.  I see the talk between Tracy and me, and in the background behind Tracy, there's a person.  It couldn't be him, right?  It had to be a coincidence.

Then, it just fell into place.  My talk with Tracy, the murders, Erica's fear, how the Identity Thief knew me and taunted me, how Jackson was targeted with Tracy's necklace, and most importantly, the connection to Cletus Kasady.

It was so clear, yet how did I miss it?  Was it, was it because I didn't want it to be true?  Whatever the reason, I feel everything start to slip as I hear one sentence.

"Wake up, Stiles."

And so, I opened my eyes.

Hey guys, just wanted to step into the view for a moment and give you a heads up as to the "death" of Stiles.

When I write something, I try to give it meaning.  It's not just there to be there, there's a reason.  So, here's something you need to think about when you finish reading this.  I wanted the events of last chapter to connect back to Chapter One: The Tale of the Spinstress.  It's about the tale of Athena and Arachne.  How Arachne hung herself, and Athena made her come back to life as a spider.  It's in a weaker sense of the form, because Norman didn't make Stiles come back to life, no... but he gave him "the magic liquid" that changed him from human to spider.  Of course, this is a bit different because Stiles never turned into a legit spider.  It's all a philosophical viewpoint in a sense.  So, weak, puny Mieczyslaw Stilinski (The Human version of Stiles) died at the hands of Norman Osborn, but from that death "Stiles" Stilinski will be born and along with him, Spider-Man.

It's also in a way something to do with spiders themselves.  Tarantulas shed their skin, so in a way you can say that they are reborn.

Basically I laid this out in a few different ways.  In Chapter Nineteen I started laying it out, hoping some of you would figure it out.  So, I had the little tease of the Spidey suit.  Then I had Derek mention how Stiles seemed like a different person.  There's a few other tiny things but at the moment I'm writing this at like midnight, so I'm extremely tired. 

It's a tiny chapter, yes... but I didn't want to reveal who he was right off the bat.  I think the next chapter will be the reveal you want, because it's just, intense, I might as well say.

So, before the reveal next chapter: WHO DO YOU THINK THE IDENTITY THIEF IS?!

And until then, I will see you all later.