Light & Shadow

Chapter 6

By the time the sun rises, I've walked what feels like the entire city. ARTI still refuses to give me the location of EDITH—much less where to find Beck. All he's told me is that I need to sleep and there's been a software hack uploaded into EDITH's network.

A part of me hates that his base coding is to keep me from danger, and it really doesn't help that I can hear everything being said around EDITH. The only thing that makes me feel a little bit better is the anger and fear in Beck's voice when he realizes that there's a projector missing. Of course, it's a double edged sword. Because it means it's only a matter of time before he puts the pieces together and goes after Peter.

"You know, William. One day after I've had to kill Peter Parker because of this, I hope you remember that this blood is on your hands!" Beck shouts at the man in charge of his precious drones. How all these people are stupid enough to not have seen until now that they're following a complete psychopath is beyond me.

"Don't be so sure about that, Beck," I whisper as I pull up the tracker imbedded in Karen's code. I've got to find him—and fast. Even if he can't know I'm here, it doesn't mean I can't protect him. "Because I might just kill you first, and that blood will be on you."

I decide to take the risk and meld into shadow to make it to the train station just as he does. It takes everything in me to remain out of sight. This is the closest we've been since Venice, but this time the danger makes it so much more tempting to go to him.

It's too much to fight anymore—even if he is on his way to meet Fury. I find myself pushing against the wind, fighting for every inch it takes to get closer to him. Screw the danger. He's already in too much because I played it careful—because I though it best to keep my distance.

I can't help but hesitate as I'm mere inches away. There's so many question I have, and I'm sure he has twice as many. So much time apart has only strengthened the immense worry and self doubt. As ridiculous as it sounds, I can't help but wonder how he'll react, if he'll resent me for everything that's happened, or if it will be like nothing changed at all.

My fingers brush against his shoulder, which makes me slip from the force of the wind. Peter's head snaps right toward me, but of course, he can't see me just yet. I slowly lessen my cover enough to where he'd faintly be able to see and recognize me. His eyes widen, but he quickly shakes his head, "No, focus, Peter."

I open my mouth to say something—anything to tell him I'm not a figment of his imagination—that I'm really here, but the train breaks through the tunnel and out into the wide expanse of Berlin. Peter pushes himself to his feet and runs farther down the length of the train until he finds a pole to swing from. All the while, I watch him go.

It takes me a moment to snap back to my senses. I let myself fade into shadow and search for Peter. ARTI displays the tracker location, and my body begs for a moment's rest as I push harder and harder to catch up to him. I can see him a few meters ahead of me when a black car pulls up, surrounded by drones that project the image of—of Nick Fury in the front seat.

"No, no, no." I whisper and try to make it to them, but they're gone before I can so much as blink. The ground starts to rock under my feet. Memories of the last time in Germany meld with the panic of the situation until I forget where I actually am. "Focus, Lia. He—Peter—Peter needs you right now." I try to remind myself, but it only takes more air from my lungs that I can't quite get back.

I screw my eyes shut and bury my hands in my hair. The logical part of me can't understand what's going on, but the emotional part drowns it out as it screams at me. "Last time you were here was when your life started to fall apart. Now, it's Peter's turn. Dad would be so disappointed if he saw you now. Nat probably wouldn't even look at you out of shame for how poorly you've handled all this. Maybe it's time you gave up, resign yourself to the fact that this will never end, that you'll never win this fight."