Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 11: Confined

(1 Month later)

It had been one month since Peter met the Fantastic Four. They had gone on to help some people in disaster regions around the world. Reed had created some type of hover car that let them travel the globe. Of course they still said they weren't heroes, but ever newspaper was screaming their praise.

They were gaining just as much popularity as the Avengers, who usually did missions that couldn't be disclosed to the public. Most of their missions weren't very public. At this time Peter was laying on his bench staring at the sky.

After a huge night of crime fighting he was tired. He didn't wake up till 9am that day and when he did, if it wasn't for Crystal he wouldn't have remembered. It was his birthday. Yes he had nearly forgotten his birthday. So a rare occurrence happened today, he didn't go out on patrol by 12pm. His days had been consisting of, 12pm - 6am patrolling, 6am -9am of sleep, 9am-12pm for cleaning and free time.

Of course some of the times may have varied, but he generally always went on patrol on time, most of the time earlier. Peter had fully thrown himself into being Spider-man all the time. But not today, today he would have a little break.

Well Peter thought that, but if there was a crime happening and he was nearby he knew he would go and help them. But some higher being must have answered his prayers and given him a day off, because by 4pm the same day nothing had caught his attention. It was like crime decided to take the day off. Peter was honestly gob smacked that he didn't have to suit up at all.

Reaching 4pm and not having talked to anyone for the day, Natasha was off on another contract; Peter decided to grab something to eat and go visit and old friend. Well maybe friend was a bit of a stretch, more like enemy. Peters face turned somber as he thought about who he was going to visit.

Walking up to a hot dog vendor and using what little money he had, he got a small cup of water and 2 hot dogs. He would spoil himself today with the extra dog. Done with that he started his long trek to near the outskirts of the city.

The part of town he found himself in wasn't nice, most people wouldn't live around the area because of the lack of security and mostly hooligans would hang out around the area. It was also a hot spot of drug deals and other violence.

Now if it was before Peter was homeless he might have to have been more careful, but with the get up he was wearing, anyone that would eye him for money or valuables would give up. His tattered clothes and skinny appearance tipped people off that he wasn't well off. No one batted an eye when a homeless person like him walked in their neighborhood.

Peter munched on his dog slowly as he made his way towards an abandoned warehouse. He wanted to savor the taste of the meal, so he ate slowly. The roof of the building had been blown off and rain would easily pour into the building deterring people from living inside. There were only small parts of the place that were covered and could protect a person from wet weather. Not to mention the cold that would instantly spread around the place.

Anyone dumb enough to stay inside would be assaulted by a cold chill that got worse thanks to the steel used to build the building and concrete floor. It was because of that reason that Peter could be sure no one would stay for long periods in the place.

Making sure that not many people were looking as he walked in, he opened one of the rusted doors and forced it a jar. Walking into the area that was getting darker as the sun was getting lower; he walked in a certain direction.

The floor was made of cement and very sturdy albeit cold, if a person was to walk in the warehouse they would notice that one part of the floor looked brighter than the other. While one part would look darker as if aged by years, the other was cleaner, brighter, as if only done a year ago.

Sitting down with the food still in hand Peter sat right in the middle of the new concrete. The ground he sat on was uneven as if the concrete wasn't done by a professional and was done sloppily, drying too fast. Peter reached down as he placed his second dog next to him. Moving his now free hand he knocked on the concrete.

"I would be surprised if you could hear me, I never did study you much. Maybe you can sense my presence; we were bonded for quite a while." Peter started to talk to himself while still eating. His hand knocked subconsciously as he used Morse code to send small vibrations. "I'm sorry I never tried to understand you, but after what happened between us, and then Eddie. This was the only way."

Peters face turned sad as he thought of one of his closest friends, a brother even, who was now dead. "No one should be alone on their birthday." Peter gave a depreciating smile. "Do you have a birthday? I have no idea." By this time he was about to start on his second dog.

If Peter was able to look under the hardened cement he would have seen the jar he had placed inside. In the dark it was hard to make out the substance inside the jar, but if one strained their eyes you could just make out that the black tar inside moved slightly and turned towards where Peter was sitting.

Just as he was about to bite into the next Dog a sound rang out inside the warehouse. *Bang* Crash* Something had just destroyed one of the windows and entered the building. Peter stopped and stared at the new figure.

Chapter end