Spider-Man: Duty and Loss Chapter 17: Unexpected

"See ya Laura. I'll visit sometime tomorrow." Peter left those words and a brilliant smile as he slowly made his way out the warehouse. Laura frowned as she watched him leave. Peter had been acting weird the whole time today, and he had stayed pretty late.

Laura cast her glance up towards the sky and figured that it was about 11pm. Peter usually left earlier than that. Something wasn't right. Once that though entered her mind she started to worry. Not having had a real friend before, she was still very distrustful of Peter.

She had been thinking about it for a while now, but this was as good a time as any. Getting up quickly and sniffing the air, Laura identified the scent that Peter carried. Something that she inherited in her DNA, she was able to distinguish what people smell like and track their scent. Something extremely useful to the people that use to control her.

Because Peter didn't use any type of deodorant, because he couldn't afford any, she was easily able to pick up his scent. Sometimes deodorant threw her nose off, when many people used the same one.

Silently leaving the warehouse she used her training to scale one of the nearby fire escapes. Getting to the roof and finding the right direction, she set off. Peter had only left a few minutes ago so she caught up quickly. Peering over the side of the building, she kept low and in the shadows as she confirmed that she could see him.

He was walking slowly towards a certain direction. She shadowed him making sure to leave no traces. It wasn't long before he walked into a flower shop. Laura stopped on top of the building just across from the place, deciding to think to herself while she waited.

She had been planning to follow Peter for some time. It was too much of a coincidence that they met and became friends, and she had to make sure 'they' weren't behind this. Maybe it was another one of their sick games, or tests they liked to put her through, she wasn't sure. But after so much time she wanted to make sure.

Maybe they wanted him to get close to her, before they dumped some trigger scent on his body and sent him her way. She didn't want to go through that all over again. She felt her rage start to build as she thought of the last time the trigger scent was used. *Snikt* Laura's claws popped on instinct, but after a while they slowly retracted.

She really hoped her worst fears weren't realized as she waited for Peter to leave the building. Not long after he finally walked out of the shop with a small bundle of flowers. Their scent was overwhelming even from a distance and Laura smiled slightly. It would be easy to track him now.

Shadowing him once again as he left the area, she watched him expertly dodge anybody that was walking on the streets. She tensed every now and then when some thugs or hooligans walked by him, but they didn't do anything.

'Lucky them' Laura thought that quietly as she craved to see the blood of someone who tried. She stopped herself for a second after that thought came and went. That was an unusual reaction. Before she could think about it more, she bounded over to another building and realized they had reached their destination.

They were at a cemetery. Laura's face turned sober as she realized that this trip was personal. Thoughts of her own mother popped to her mind as she realized why he might have been acting weird the whole day. Today was either the death or the birth of someone close.

She watched as he walked towards a set of graves before placing the roses on one of them. Staying there and talking for a while, Laura didn't ease drop on the conversation; she would give him some privacy. Spending a good hour there, he didn't leave until it was 12:30.

Wondering if she should still trail after him, Laura looked at his departing back that looked desolate and lonely and decided she would see this too the end. She had always wondered where he was staying at. If he didn't stay at the warehouse he had to stay some place better.

Maybe a rundown home, or someplace warm, possibly even a homeless shelter. Now that she thought about it, even though he was so talkative, he never really talked about himself. He talked about his job and the adventures he went on to get the perfect picture of Spider-Man, which in Laura's opinion was cool.

Listening to stories about the enemies he had seen over the last few years that Spider-Man was active, truly got her mind wandering to what the fights were like. She would love to have a crack at some of the super villains described.

But through all of that he didn't talk much about himself. She realized as she watched him walk towards what she assumed was his home, where he stayed, that she knew next to nothing about him. Not what he did before he was on the streets or of his family beforehand.

But she stopped herself there, that information was something she didn't have to know, something that wasn't easily shared, she knew that she wouldn't give that information to him, nor tell him of what happened while she was growing up. 'Maybe', she thought, 'am I the reason that he doesn't open up. Do we both have to open up for there to be a dialog between us on such a level?'

Finally after what felt like another few hours but was only a short 30 minute walk, Peter finally stopped at his destination. Laura had to drop down from the top of a building to continue to follow him as he had walked into a park. Relatively big, she used the shadows and trees to hide herself as she followed his scent. She might have lost him if it wasn't for her nose.

Waiting for a few minutes and noticing that he wasn't moving further through to the other side and instead stopped, she waited quietly. After 10 minutes she continued on her way and located him. Standing behind a tree Laura peeked out as Peter sat on a bench and talked to himself for a few minutes.

Her brows furrowed as she waited for him to get up and leave. This wasn't what she was expecting. He should have had at least had a roof above his head. Or someplace warm to stay. This bench was no better than the warehouse where she set up shop.

Actually scratch that, it was a lot worse. With nothing to defense himself against the environment he would feel the cold wind whenever the temperature dropped. There were only trees around to stop rain and an insane amount of bugs flapping about. Definitely not something you wanted when you were looking for a place to sleep.

But as she continued to watch, Laura realized that this was Peter's home. He stared at the lake for a short while and Laura could smell the salt tears that he had been crying, before he laid down on the bench and started to doze off.

Waiting another few minutes Laura slowly came out from behind the tree and stealthily walked over to Peters sleeping body. Looking down at his sleeping face she noticed the puffy eyes and gaunt cheeks. She didn't remember him looking like this when they first met.

After standing there for some time Laura finally started to make her way back to the warehouse. The frown didn't leave her face as she looked at the area one more time. She couldn't understand it, this wasn't nearly as good as the warehouse, why Peter would keep coming out here every night to sleep, didn't make sense to her.

Not to mention it was out in the open and highly exposed. She felt a slight pain in her chest when she looked at the area but didn't know why. She continued to be bogged in her thoughts as she left the bench and the sleeping man on top of it.

Chapter end