Pointe Shoes and Spider Webs

69. Origin

Warning! A character in this chapter describes the murder of someone close to them. If you are sensitive to this, please be mindful. <3

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Steve and Bucky rush past the entrance gates towards the Tropic Zone while Sam takes care of Tao. They accelerated the second they heard Daphne yell for her father through their earpieces. David had found Derek and from what the super soldiers could tell; the man was being chased. Steve opens the glass doors into the habitat and they rush through the clear PVC barrier that helps keep the animals inside. Natasha informs them that they lost contact with Derek, but that they were able to inform him not to touch David and not to move when David grabs him, before he dropped the phone.

They take a left turn and Bucky groans, rolling the shoulder that holds his metal arm.
"My arm really doesn't like this humidity."
"Thought that arm's indestructible," Steve quips back.
"Oh, it is." Bucky shrugs. "It just tends to respond a little slower." Steve raises his eyebrows.
"Thanks for telling me this before we walked into humid paradise." Bucky jogs past him and waves with one hand.
"We'll be fiiiine."
"Oh, we? It's your arm, Buck," Steve follows Bucky to the other side of the Tropic Zone, where they spot their target and his hostage.

...

"Daph, I think it's better if you leave the room for a bit." Tony places a hand on her shoulder and starts applying pressure to push her towards the elevator. She whips around to face him and he blinks when her hair hits him in the face.
"No fucking way."
"I'm not asking." He gives her a stern look and raises one eyebrow. "Peter, get her out of here." Peter freezes at the command for a second but suddenly nods, understanding why Tony wants her elsewhere. He shuffles towards Daphne.

The oxygen seems to have disappeared out of the room. Daphne gives Peter a look of betrayal and turns back to Tony, stomping her foot like a child.
"That's my  dad out there! I deserve to be here!"
"I know- but if anything goes wrong, I don't want you to see it. So, out." He waves at the elevator and the tears burn in her eyes when the doors open at Tony's distant command. "You did well, kid. Please, let us handle this." Daphne pulls away from Tony, seething. The first tear starts running down her cheek.
"No!"

"No offense, but everyone with an earpiece can hear this argument and it's distracting." Natasha clicks her tongue, not looking away from the screens. Daphne ignores her and stands defiantly opposite Tony. She doesn't care who he is. What he's capable of. The amount of money he has. She deserves to be here. She deserves to know what's going to happen next.
"I'm not leaving him," she says through gritted teeth, not breaking eye contact with Tony. The stand off doesn't take long, though, as Daphne feels a soft hand tugging at her arm.

"Please, Daph," Peter says, his voice cracking. "This is better for you." She turns to him with no idea what she should be feeling right now. White specks cover her eyesight. "Believe me."
"This is not about what's better for me, Parker!" Peter stares at her wide-eyed. She's never called him by his last name before and it stung somehow. He takes a breath, almost certain he's going to regret his next move. He bends down and quickly grabs her by the waist, hoisting her over his shoulder and making his way to the elevator. "Peter!" She yelps and struggles and punches and kicks. But it's not affecting him. At least not physically. "Let go of me!"

"25 tons," he mumbles, hoping that would be enough for her to give up the useless fight. But she doesn't. She keeps jolting and striking and... sobbing. Peter's heart shatters into a million pieces as he carries her into the elevator. She yells for her father one last time before the doors close. The inflection of the word shooting through everyone listening as if it were a lightning strike, splitting them in two.

...

The elevator starts moving and Peter finally puts Daphne down. She immediately pushes herself away from him and makes her way into the corner, hugging herself.
"How could you?!" She shouts. Her eyes are pressed closed and her head is angled down. "How could you?!" She repeats.
"Daph, please, just-"
"He's going to get hurt, isn't he?!" She pushes out each and every word, having difficulty speaking through her sobs. Peter holds his hands up in front of him, unsure of what to do next.
"We don't know that yet, it's just... he might..." Daphne finally looks up at Peter.
"He might what?!" Her face is completely red and her cheeks are puffed. He takes a step towards her to hug her but she punches him in the chest. For real this time. Not as a joke. And it hurts, somehow. Inside.

Daphne starts struggling again as he grabs her wrists. "Pe-heter, stop! Please, let me go back up, I beg you, ple—eh!" She can't finish her sentence as he wraps his arms around her in a forced hug. Her shoulders jolt against him and she eventually stops pushing. He's unsure if she stopped because she gave up, or if she simply needed the hug. He doesn't dare to pick which is the truth. She doesn't stop crying and makes herself small in Peter's embrace, pulling in her arms against her chest. F.R.I.D.A.Y. moves the elevator down slowly, probably according to Tony's commands. He bites the inside of his cheek. He's never seen Daphne in this much distress before and her sobs chill him to the bone. His lip trembles as he finally starts speaking.

"I watched my uncle get shot," Peter says quietly. He doesn't know if she's actually listening through her tears, but he continues anyways. "Every day of my life I regret not stopping the people that killed him." She sniffs and shuffles tighter against him. "I'd only just gotten my powers, but I didn't want anything to do with them. So, I started ignoring what was happening around me. I even started ignoring the people I would've helped without my powers, like the old lady I still regularly help cross the street. I stopped helping people altogether." Daphne's breathing is still erratic, but she's calming down slightly. She's listening.

"It was late and I was getting some snacks from the 24-hour shop when two shoplifters walked in. Threatened the owner with a gun. I was hiding." Peter pauses to take a breath. "They ran off with the contents of the till and I pretended nothing had happened. Paid for my food. Told the shop owner I was sorry about what happened. And I walked out, not waiting for the police to arrive." Daphne's arms start creeping around his torso to hug him back. "My uncle had seen the shoplifters run out from the other side of the road. He was on his way home from work. He went after them. I'd had a fight with him the day before. Don't even remember what it was about anymore. It was that stupid," he scoffs. "He ended the fight by saying he loved me. I didn't say it back. I wish I had."

Daphne turns her head to face out, placing her ear against his chest. His heart's beating fast. So is hers.
"I followed my uncle, in his pursuit of the thugs. I wanted to stop him. Tell him it wasn't worth it. And just when I went around the corner into the alleyway, I heard the gunshot. And I saw my uncle. I saw the bullet pushing through his body. Ricocheting off the wall and disappearing out of sight. I saw the shoplifters making a break for it as my uncle crumpled to the ground. He fell in a puddle. It turned red. I felt like I couldn't do anything. All I did was scream for help as his muscles lost tension. As he died."

It's dead silent in the elevator. The only noise interrupting it, is F.R.I.D.A.Y. announcing each floor they pass. Daphne is shaking in Peter's arms, trying to process his words. His story. His <em>origin</em>.
"That's why I became Spider-Man." He rests his cheek on her hair and frowns, holding back the tears. "Because I don't want anyone else to see a loved one get hurt." He half-laughs at himself. "Boy, do I think I'm sad." She squeezes him softly. "My uncle always said: 'with great power comes great responsibility.'" His shoulders droop. "When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, then the bad things-"
"-happen because of you..." Daphne finishes the sentence he's told her so many times now.

He slowly pushes her away from him and holds her face, wiping her tears away with his thumbs. He sighs and gives her a worried look.
"I wish I never saw him die. Every time I dream, I see it happen all over again. And again. And again. And I know what's going to happen. I know I want to stop it. But I can't. It just plays out like a movie that I already know the ending of. And it always ends the same. Because of me." She stares up at him, her shoulders jolting again as she takes a short breath. "I don't want you to go through what I have to go through nearly every night." He presses a long kiss on her forehead. "You don't deserve that." He presses his forehead against hers and they both close their eyes.
"I'm sorry..." Daphne whispers. "For everything..."
"S'okay..." They stand in the moving elevator in silence for a little while longer. Peter can practically hear her brain process everything.
"Do you think he's going to get hurt?" Her voice is soft, frail almost.
"I don't know," he answers honestly. "We'll have to wait."