A New Hero - Peter Parker (BOOK 1) | Spider-Man: Far From Home

Chapter Sixteen - The Phone Call

Clara stirred, her brow twitching as she lay on the firm bed. Peter watched nervously as he had done since returning from his conversation with Quentin Beck. A huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders and the Elementals had been defeated. Now, all he wanted to do was enjoy the rest of his vacation.

It had been hours since the fight and Clara still hadn't woken. It was around midnight, Peter was drained and he felt the need to go back to the hotel to sleep. He couldn't leave her though. "Clara Wilson." Maria Hill announced, reading off of the computer screen. "Daughter of Agent Laura Wilson and Agent John Wilson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. No prior engagements with the agency. No known aliases."

"Wilson?" Fury asked, crossing his arms over his chest, standing at the end of the bed and looking down at the sleeping form.

"Yes, Sir." Hill confirmed.

"Get in contact with them. Let them know their daughter is safe." He told her. "And ask them why the hell they hadn't informed anyone of her abilities."

"Mr Fury, Sir?" Peter asked meekly. "Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"Nothing's wrong with her, Parker. She's sleeping." Fury said, walking back to his own desk. Peter frowned and followed after him.

"No – she's unconscious." He pointed out. "She passed out four hours ago and isn't any better!"

As he rose his voice, he heard a mumbling behind him and spun to face the girl. Again, she had been talking in her sleep, a dream occupying her mind as she lay still. "Parker, she's fine. She exhausted herself by protecting you. She just needs rest."

Peter pressed his lips into a thin line, lingering for a moment longer before heading back to stand at her bedside. "How do you think she got her powers?" He said looking down at an exposed hand that held a lilac radiance around it. Clara had been doing that since she was brought here; it began when she had entered the building.

It wasn't like it was glowing, more like a wave of energy that flowed an inch or so above the upturned palm. Peter reached forwards, lightly touching his fingertips against the matter. They passed through, creating a rippling motion along the surface. It felt strange, like a static he could touch – a soft feeling like the sensation you get just before pins and needles. 

Peter looked over his shoulder, another frown working its way onto his expression. "Fury?" Before the man could begin to answer, he was cut off, a beeping, a rustle and then a clatter originating from the bed.

Clara's eyes slowly peeled open, the dim lighting in the underground space over-shadowed by the glow of devices around the room. She felt something pinching one of her fingers, and wires brushing over the tops of her arms. Her eyes widened, the events of a few hours earlier flooding back into her mind.

The strange sense of panic only heightened when she saw the different assortment of people scattered around the room, some sitting at their respective desks, others walking to and from investigative boards lining the outer space. Nick Fury sat at his desk, clearly looking at her file, a picture of herself in the corner of the computer screen. She swallowed nervously, her throat dry and scratching as she did.

With shaking hands and her heart pounding at what was likely an unhealthy rate considering the condition she was in, Clara plucked the wires from her body, tugging the one on her finger as she pinched down on the release. As soon as she did, a noise sounded, the heart monitor sending out a sharp beeping pattern, alerting those in the room that it had been disconnected.

Heaving her legs over the side of the bed, she got up, rushing to get behind the medical appliances as she disappeared from view, using the devices to create some sort of barrier, knowing she didn't have enough energy to make her own. As she did, she knocked into one to the monitors, sending it crashing to the ground. Clara winced, hoping that wasn't too expensive. "Clara?" A voice called out.

Her eyes settled on Peter Parker, his eyes searching for her. "Miss Wilson," Nick Fury began, standing up casually and making his way over, "we haven't met before, but you know who I am, don't you?" She didn't answer, instead she fixed her eyes on Peter, watching to see what he was going to do.

Peter skimmed his eyes near the fallen monitor, widening his search radius from there. He saw a gentle purple glow and felt a smile twitch at his lips. She was okay, she was awake, she was waiting. Clara's breathing hitched as she saw his eyes met hers and she shifted position, ready to run in any direction she could before he could do anything to stop her.

She felt a soft fuzzy feeling around her fingers that she hadn't noticed before and, looking down, she could see the colour moving around her hands. So that's how you can see me, Parker, she internally commended the boy, moving her hands behind her back. Clara knew that wouldn't make a difference between whether he could see them or not; it was more of a self-conscious act. "I have Agent Wilson on call, Sir. She wants to speak with you." Maria Hill informed the man.

Clara looked over to woman, and back to Peter and Fury. Tears brimmed her eyes. She wanted to speak to her mother. She wanted her mum to tell her everything was going to be okay. All her life she had been told to hide from companies like S.H.I.E.L.D. and Stark Industries; she didn't want her daughter forced to do what they had been forced into.

That hadn't been what Clara had wanted – ever. She wanted to be out there, saving the world and defeating the bad guys, but now that possibility seemed all too real. It had been just a child's fantasy, a dream that deep down she knew would never happen, and now, Clara was standing in a room full of secret agents and the main man himself.

Slowly, Clara moved out from behind the monitors, watching a Peter tracked her steps, but Fury kept his eyes fixed forwards, unaware of her departure. "Mr Fury." Peter said, unsure of what he should do. Clara moved with such tentativeness that he didn't need to see her to know she was scared. But he didn't want her to run and put herself into any more danger. The older man looked down at Peter, following his line of sight until he too saw the purple around her hands.

Nick Fury nodded once, telling her it was alright. With that Clara's footsteps could be heard rushing across the cement floor, echoing in the room and the others around the vicinity turn to look. "Mum?" Clara sobbed out, her bottom lip quivering.

"Clara, are you okay?" The familiar voice came back to her, a relived smile flashing across her mother's face.

"I'm sorry." She sniffed. "I- I had to."

Peter watched as Clara snatched the flip phone from Maria Hill's grip, the woman looking startled and instinctively reaching for a weapon, stopping when she heard the voice in front of her. The small device faded from view as Clara held it, and Peter listened with sorrow in his eyes. This is my fault, he told himself, I wasn't careful, and she had to step in.

"Don't be silly." Her mother scolded her in a gentle tone. "You did the right thing. What's important is that you're safe."

"O-Okay." She managed to force out through her tears. Peter watched in fascination, seeing the girl slowly reappear, and he wondered if she knew it was happening. He stepped forward a few paces; this had happened at the square – just before... Fury wrapped a hand around his arm, holding Peter back with a shake of his head. He didn't take his eyes off of her though, her shoulders moving up and down in jolting movements. "I want to go home, Mum."

"I know Clara, but you can't." She told her daughter, creating a fresh wave of tears. "Listen to me, okay? Everything is going to be different now. I'm going to talk to Fury, okay? Your father and I are going to try and convince him to keep this between us."

"I'm sorry." The teenager repeated, raising her free hand to burying her face in her palm. As she did she saw it rising but, in that moment, she didn't care, she just wanted to be with her parents.

"Stop doing that, Clara." Her mother chastised her. "Never apologize for saving the people you care about. We'll fix this, okay? It'll all be okay; you just need to get through this one step at a time."

"I love you, Mum." She sobbed, her chest heaving for air and she tried to calm herself down. Her mother was right; she just needed to take this one moment after the next and focus on doing the next right thing.

"I love you, too." She replied, leaving a small pause before continuing. "You need to pass the phone to Fury, now, sweetie. Can you do that for me?"

Clara nodded at her mother's words. "Y-Yes."

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