Spider-Man Homesick (Sequel to Spider-Man Homebound: Book 3)

Chapter 8: Soulless

Peter had been driving for a good while and he felt the car start to slow down and the engine started making huffing sounds. Peter looked at his gas tank and frowned.

"Well, that's just fantastic." Peter sighed and then he got out of the car and walked to the trunk and pulled out a rope. He closed the trunk and then he walked to the front of the car, and tied a rope to it. Peter then grabbed the rope with one arm and started pulling his car. Suddenly something lit up the night. Peter turned to the source and found Captain Marvel lowering to the ground.

"Need a lift?" Carol asked and Peter looked to her and saw that she was genuinely offering. She had a sympathetic look on her face.

"How did you find out?" Peter asked and Carol smirked.

"You keep track of Annie, Tony keeps track of you, and Fury keeps track of Tony, so I found out through the grape vine, and the crazy thing about all of this, is that the person I am hearing about, is nothing like you." Carol said and Peter looked to her sadly.

"You haven't seen all of this go down." Peter said as his voice shook with emotion.

"I know. But I CAN see that this has broken you down past your limits. You've put on a brave face for Annie, but have failed because you haven't been addressing the problems at hand. Peter your hurt on the inside and you need to address it or you are never going to recover." Carol lectured Peter.

"I can't fix this Carol. Annie's life has been hell and I haven't been able to stop it." Peter cried and Carol nodded in understanding.

"Yeah its been pretty bad, but last time I checked she's ok. Your not." Carol pointed out.

"I wont ever be ok." Peter admitted. "Not as long as she struggles and if Galactus is correct, her fight will never end." Peter sighed and Carol got down in front of him.

"She'll be ok." Carol insisted and Peter looked to her sadly.

"How do you know that?" Peter asked.

"Because she's your daughter. And Parkers always get back up again." Carol said and Peter knew she was right. He let several tears fall and then got up.

"Mind helping me out?" Peter asked. "You fly the car and I'll swing behind it?" Carol smirked and nodded.....

There were three men leaning against the doors of the gas station that was in the middle of nowhere when one of them saw something odd. Peter dropped down from the sky out of nowhere and one of the men screamed. Peter stood up.

"What's up guys?" Peter asked and the three men just watched and their mouths dropped slowly as Captain Marvel slowly lowered the car to the ground behind Peter. "I kind of need some gas." Peter said and one of the men nodded at him. Peter walked over and started to fill his gas tank up and saw the men staring at him like he was a ghost. Peter smiled and waved as he stood there awkwardly. Once the gas was full Peter walked over to the three men with a small ticket. "The total was $15.25. Do you prefer cash or card?" Peter asked. The three men just stared for a second and Peter was unsure of what was happening. One of them finally found the ability to speak.

"Y..y...y....you don't n...n...need to pay us." The guy said and Peter nodded.

"Thanks guys. Your awesome." Peter said and then he walked over to Carol. "You coming or are you gonna go save Mars or something?" Peter asked and Carol looked at him degradingly.

"Do you honestly think that the universe stops at the end of your puny little solar system?" Carol asked and Peter felt awkward as he stood there.

"No, I mean, I've been to Titan." Peter said and Carol raised and eyebrow.

"Yes, your knowledge of the universe is truly infinite." Carol sighed and Peter let out a short laugh. "I actually cant come though. I don't want Annie feeling self conscious. I'm still not sure how I feel about being around the Infinity Stones. I mean, its not every day that I meet someone who is more powerful than me, and I typically don't act all that polite around people in those cases. So I'll keep my distance until I'm sure I can handle the competition. I was in the military, so I'm competitive by nature." Carol replied and Peter nodded in understanding.