Spider-Woman

Chapter 3

I lied on the bed just watching the still wooden ceiling for several minutes.  Then I sat up, glancing over to my cell phone, which was sitting on a nightstand.  Peter wanted me to text him.  What would I say? 

I sighed, picking up my phone.  I tapped his picture, my favorite, with his wide smile and bright shining eyes, and the keyboard appeared on my screen.  Our recent texts flashed above it, and I was shaking, about to burst into tears.  No.  I'm not going to cry.  Not again.  I can do this.  I'm stronger than this.

"Hey, Peter!  I made it to Oxford!"  I tapped send.  Seconds later, there was a reply.

"Great!  How is it?"  I smiled, my eyes getting wet.  I wiped away tears, refusing to let any more come.

I thought hard, trying to imagine what I would be thinking if I was actually in England.  Finally, I replied.

"It's really nice here, but it's so strange being around so many people when none of them share my accent."

"Well, you are in an entirely different country..."

"I have a feeling I'll be speaking in a different accent when I get back!"

"Just make sure I still know who you are!"  I stared at the text for what felt like eternity.  Am I really the same person, after all I've done within the past twenty-four hours?  Will I remain the same person when--if--this is all over?

"Yeah. Well, I've got to go! I have to do some research...already!"  I couldn't take it anymore.  I had to end the conversation.

"Okay. Text me back when you can."

"I will. Love you!"  I did love him.  More than anything.  After all I was doing, if nothing was ever the same again, I wanted him to know that.  At least that.

"Love you too!"

I changed clothes, but into something very casual and comfortable.  I rummaged through my purse for a spare hairbrush, when my fingers brushed cool metal.  As I lifted the object out of my bag, my stomach lurched.  It was a coin that Peter had given me:  A gold ring surrounding a silver circle.  There were several more buried deep in my purse; he'd given me a handful.  I gasped, the missing puzzle pieces of my plan finally fitting into place.

---

The abandoned subway was dark and eerie.  Train tracks ran ahead until the darkness swallowed them up.  I was surprised to have found it so quickly; Peter had only given me a small, brief description.

I only had the coins in case of an emergency.  Like, for example, if something serious happened to Peter that had ties with his parents, and I was all he had left to prove everyone wrong about his father. 

I held out my cell phone and turned on my flashlight app.  I squinted my eyes from the sudden bright light, then shuffled over to the cement walls.  The name "Roosevelt was engraved in a metal plate.  Dust particles floated around in all different directions, and I sneezed when they filled my nostrils.

I found the coin slot in between a couple of turnstyles that Peter had mentioned.  I dropped a coin inside, my heart rate quickening as I did so.  Nothing happened.  I dropped one more in, then waited a bit longer.

A deep creak echoed throughout.  Suddenly, the train tracks folded away, and a train car appeared through clouds of dirt and smoke.  Lights flashed in the car, and the door swung open.  An old computer turned itself on, and I found myself panting.  Peter had said it was shocking, but this was unreal. 

I stepped inside, surrounded by a lifetime's supply of hidden research.  The computer blinked, showing a video that Peter had watched during his visit.  Of course, he'd told me about what happened in the video, but I couldn't help but watch it myself.  I pressed the spacebar and it began to play.  Richard Parker's face appeared through a smudge of pixels.  I swallowed hard, imagining Peter in this same situation.

"Test..."  He began.  "My name is Richard Parker.  Whatever lies may be told about me, I would like the world to know the truth. 

"Oscorp was already a leader in genetic research when Norman Osborn made a deal with a foreign military organization to continue funding my research, and I then discovered what they were going to use it for.  Weapons.  Biological weapons, of course.  So, I refused, and now, to eliminate me from the picture, Norman Osborn has falsified evidence against me in order to take control of my work.  But, it doesn't matter, because there's something else that Norman doesn't know.  The human DNA that I implanted in the spiders was my own, which means, without me, without my bloodline, Oscorp can never replicate or continue my expirements.  I have destroyed as much as possible from the archives, but I didn't have time to kill all of the spiders, so, as a scientist, my choice is very clear now.  I have to disappear...I have to get as far away from here as I can.  But, as a father, it means I may not see my boy again, and, uh, nothing is as important to me as my son, Peter.  Nothing in this world.  But, I have a responsibility to protect the world from what I've created and to protect him from what I know Osborn is capable of. 

"People will say I'm a monster for what I've done.  Maybe they're right.  I always thought that I'd have more...time." 

"Dad?"  A child's voice was audible from the background.  Peter's.  Richard's head whipped around behind him faster than the speed of light.  "DAD!"  He looked back at the screen. 

"Sorry."  The screen pixelated and went black. 

I choked on the gallons of tears that were gushing down my face.  I couldn't imagine what this was like for Peter.  His parents abandoning him, and he didn't even know why.  Then, suddenly, he received answers about how Richard was being selfish with his research, hurting Peter like nothing else.  Finally, he discovered Roosevelt and the truth, probably drowning in his own tears like I was. 

Peter's father had wanted to protect him, that's it.  It had costed him and his wife's life.  If Peter wasn't related to Richard, getting bitten by that spider could have killed him, or worse.  Like Harry.  I shivered.

I remembered my father, and how protective he was over me.  He had asked Peter to stay away from me.  Peter's father left him with no explanation to save his life.  How would Peter live with himself if I ever tried to be with him again? 

I looked around the train car.  Richard's research was posted everywhere, and it was all I needed.  I knew how I could be back with Peter with no hard feelings.  What if I could protect myself?

What if I was just like him?