Issue 41: Trials of Merlin Part XII

Peter took the time to start arguing with Fury, "You knew my parents even before you met me didn't you?"

Fury sighed, "Yeah, we were looking to hiring them before their plane crashed, in fact, you could say that S.H.I.E.L.D was responsible for their deaths in a way. We never got to meet though, they took a trip out to Europe to meet with an agent, so they could discuss their demands for coming to work for us, unfortunately, the plane crashed. There were no survivors. Look, kid, I didn't keep it from you because..."

Peter interrupted shouting, "Because of what? Because you didn't think I could handle it? You've had your eye on me for almost 2 years now Fury, and you haven't figured out my nature? These are my Parents Fury! They could still be alive and could currently be prisoners of Hydra! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE EVEN I COULD CLONE MY PARENTS BODIES AND FAKE THEIR DEATHS, IT'D BE EVEN EASIER FOR HYRDA!"

"Kid Hydra's been gone for years!" Fury replied.

"Watch the file I sent you Fury! I'll Wait!" Peter shouted. 

MJ could sense the pure anger and worry coming from him and hugged him, she placed her head against his back and said, "I'm with you, Tiger. Whatever happened to your parents, well find out together." 

Peter turned around and held her while still shaking in anger, "I don't know what to do MJ, this day just keeps getting worse. If I had bothered to investigate Eddie instead of simply taking away my parents work then those people Mayhem killed, oh god MJ what have I done?"

MJ felt his pain and held him tighter, "Use it." MJ said looking him in the eye. "Take that pain, and use it to make yourself better. Use this moment to learn from your mistakes so you can overcome them in the future."

Peter knew the pain and guilt might not end, but he would be lying if he said her words didn't numb it. 

He placed his hand on her face and leaned his head against hers, "I love you MJ. I know this might sound weird but you're the reason I can be a Hero. Not the powers, or the costume, but you, you make me a better man, a better person."

MJ felt a gush of heat overtake her as she kissed Peter, "I think you'd be a Hero even without me, but to hear that, those words that I'm needed, that's all I ever wanted."

Peter kissed her back when Fury interrupted with a loud sound of a fist slamming onto a table, "Son of a bitch! Agent Hill contact the directors, we have a problem. Peter hang on for a while, we'll send you a notice if we spot anything matching your descriptions. I'll have my best people working on the job, we'll be taking apart the Brock family history and inform you if we find anything."

MJ smiled and said, I guess that means we have some time to ourselves." Peter smiled and held her close, they stayed there all night. 

MJ stayed by him and comforted him by holding him through the night. Even when he woke up screaming, haunted by the image of the men Mayhem killed in front of him, Mary Jane was there through all of it and helped him deal with his trauma.

The next morning Peter and MJ suited up and snuck out. Making sure not to be noticed by his Aunt and Uncle, the Spider-Duo went to visit the mass funeral for the victims of the Mayhem event. 

Peter stood on a nearby branch and watched over the event. Crushing his fist with a firm grip, he couldn't help but feel waves of guilt towards the victims.

"If I had just bothered to investigate Eddie, if I hadn't acted like a know it all, and ignored what Peter Parker could accomplish instead of Spider-Man." 

MJ placed her head on his shoulder, and the two watched the ceremony from beginning to end.

During their way back to the Sanctum MJ feeling Peter's terrible mood said, "Come on Tiger, you need a break. I found a pretty good place to eat, I was saving the reveal for a special occasion, but I guess now's a good enough time as any."

Peter smiled and said, "Food huh? I could go for a bite."

The two webbed over to a small dinner called Mick's. MJ held his hand as they walked in, they sat at the bar and ordered some food. Peter could have sworn this place was familiar to him but he couldn't place his finger on where.

"I'm telling you, Pete, this place has the best French Fries in all of New York."

Peter smiled as he ordered a hamburger and some fries, a middle-aged woman with blond hair and a waitress uniform came up and wrote down their order, Peter thought that the woman looked familiar as well when MJ ordered her meal, and thanked her, "Thanks, Joan."

"Good to see you again MJ, is this the Boyfriend you've been bragging about?" Joan said as she looked back and forth between the two, MJ nodded her head up and down, before asking, "Where's Stan at, doesn't he usually handle the register."

"He's out back helping the delivery truck unpack today's food supplies," Joan commented.

Peter smiled and said. "I'll go help out."

"I would appreciate that sweety, but there's no need to worry yourself like that," Joan responded. 

MJ giggled and said, "You know, I brought you here to relax, right?"

Peter laughed, "It's just helping him carry in a few boxes." Peter gave her a kiss on the cheek before Joan told where to go and let him walk out to the back of the dinner. 

His Spidey-sense went off the very moment he stepped out into the alleyway. Out of habit, he stuck to the wall and peered around the van to see a man pointing a gun at the owner of the dinner. Peter could see the crook shaking with nerves.

"Give me everything you got and load the food into the car!"

The man known as Stan held his hands up next to the deliverymen that were only here to drop off Stan's produce. 

"Okay son, just don't do something you'll regret." Stan kept a gentle smile as he held up his hands.

He got ready to do as instructed when Peter came out holding his hands up, "Hey, couldn't help but overhear what was happening here." 

Peter looked around at the situation and noticed a kid sitting in the back of the robber's car, and the fact that he looked malnourished and sick.

"Who the hell? No matter you help him load the boxes into the car," The robber ordered.

"I can see your situation isn't good, but is this the example you want to set for your son? Is this how a good man, a good father behaves?"

Peter pointed to the car, the man looked back and shouted, "Stay down Jimmy!"

Peter took the chance to move closer to him, "Look you don't have to do this."

The robber pointed his gun at Peter and shouted, "Stay back! What would you know? I lost everything in the invasion, my Job, my wife, house. Everything!"

Peter walked closer to him and said, "A bunch of people lost a lot during the invasion, but doing this won't make it right. Is this what you want to show your child, to rob what you need instead of earning it?"

Peter placed his hand over the gun and said, "Please stop there is a better way, there has to be so please."

The man lowered his gun and started crying, Peter pulled out around 4 thousand dollars, all the cash he had on him and said, "Take this, and get some place to sleep and eat, there are shelters for this kind of thing, I can give you the names of a few good ones. They can help you get a job, and maybe help your life back on track."

Peter talked with the guy for a while and gave him the name of a few good shelters. When the adrenalin finally wore off, and the man realized just what his child must think of him. He started crying before falling to his knees.

He continually thanked Peter through his sobs, but still forced himself to get back in his car. After the man left, Peter let out a sigh of relief when he suddenly felt that a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"You did good kid." Peter turned around and almost fell over.

In front of him was middle-aged Stan Lee and his wife was Joan Lee, the woman who just took his order earlier.

Peter shook his hand with an excited expression, he knew it wasn't the same Stan Lee from his universe, but none the less 'a' Stan Lee was in front of him.

"It's not a big deal, the guy was just down on his luck is all," Peter commented.

"But you know you're out 4 grand? That's a lot of money to just give away kid. You alright?" Stan asked when Peter saw the deliverymen relax and wipe the sweat from their foreheads.

"It's just money, besides, he needed it more than I do, and this way no one had to get hurt."

Stan smiled and said, "That's a nice way of thinking, they don't have too many people like you nowadays, what's your name kid?"

"Peter Parker, I actually came out here to offer a hand taking in the supplies," Peter answered.

"Well, thanks for that too. Tell you what, you can count that 4 grand towards meals eaten here, but don't abuse it, or I'll cut you off." Stan moved over to the boxes and started picking up a few. 

Peter came by and helped as well, "Pretty strong, aren't you?" Stan asked seeing Peter pick up around eight of the boxes.

"I work out," Peter replied. 

As he walked back into the dinner and set them down, Stan looked at him and asked, "What's bothering you son? You don't look like someone who just saved the day."

"Well, to be honest, I messed something up a while back and it's been eating away at me, not to mention, my usual method of dealing with those kinds of guys was a black eye. I really think I need to change," Peter replied.

"Oh, and what did you mess up?" Stan asked.

Peter sighed as he went back out and picked up a few more boxes, "I had the chance to stop something from happing, but I chose to ignore someone because I didn't want the trouble, some people got hurt."

"That's a tough one, well are you doing anything about it now?" Stan asked.

"Yeah," Peter responded.

"Then aren't you taking responsibility for your actions? Humans aren't infallible, they're not omnipotent, omnipresent, nor omniscient, they make mistakes all the time, what matters is what you do next. Are you going to let that mistake define you, or are you going to correct your mistake? It kind of reminds me of this old saying, Success is not final, nor is failure fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts. If you gave your all, then who can blame you?"

"Winston Churchill, right?" Peter said with a grin on his face.

"Yeah, that's it! Good philosopher that one," Stan commented.

Peter smiled and finished helping them unpack. Once the truck drove away, he walked back inside the dinner and sat next to MJ.

"Something happen?" Mary Jane noticed his expression.

"Nah, just helped out the owner, and now we get to eat here for free for a while." Peter said smiling. 

"Really what happened?" 

Peter explained what happened. After he finished giving her the cliff notes, she gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "See, you can do just as much good as Peter Parker. It isn't... you know who...he isn't the hero. It's always been you Pete."

He placed his head against hers and laughed, "You always know how to make me feel better, babe."

They were brought their food and chowed down, "Oh my god! This is great! You were right MJ this place has the best Fries in the city, and the burgers are damn good too. My compliments to the chef, I just might make you regret giving me a free meal pass just yet, Mr.Lee."

"HAH! You can try but remember I said I'd cut you off if you bite off more than we let you chew," Stan replied.

Peter after they finished their meals, said their farewells to Stan and Joan and headed out back to the Sanctum to continue their training. When they arrived, they saw Strange using the same magic he used on their Symbiote. He create a copy of Gwen's personality and morals, then transferred it into the Symbiote. With the Symbiote's new understanding of the human mind, it became far safer for her to wear.

Peter then pulled out a pen and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. While he handed it over with a vial of what looked like black powder, he looked Gwen in the eyes and said, "This is our martial arts teacher's address and our contact numbers. If you run into any problems, just give us a call. I also managed to make you some Unstable Molecules for your Symbiote to absorb,"

"I can't stay with you guys?" Gwen asked with pleading eyes. 

"Not untrained, you can't. Once Shang Chi says you're ready, then you can patrol on your own, or with us." Peter said while crossing his arms that gave off an air of authority.