A Small Clue… A Bigger Problem
"He's so bad at lying… I still don't get how his aunt hasn't figured it out," Owen said, shaking his head in disapproval as he lay back on a large couch. Most of his body was still wrapped in bandages. He made a slight motion to get up, but before he could, a red aura wrapped around him; it didn't last long, though, as his resistance to magic shattered it almost instantly.
Still, for his own sake, he leaned back again, settling comfortably, knowing she'd stop him anyway if he tried.
Not far away, Wanda approached with a faint smile, carrying a tray with soup. She was the one who stopped him.
"You should stay still. You heard Dr. Helen. Complete rest until your bones heal properly, no matter if you can move or not. You should trust Peter a bit more… and give him some credit. Without meaning to, he actually helped the agents a lot by discovering that place. Kam helped too. Both you and Tony always look at them with those critical eyes… and they're still young. Even Mr. Nathaniel looked pretty proud of them," she said, looking at him as she sat down beside him.
"I'd like to. But if he gets hurt…"
"You're too overprotective. Sometimes kids need to learn on their own. Peter will know when it's time to call the adults. Besides, I think they get more hurt because of your training," she added with a soft smile.
"They still have a long way to go," he said, his tone dropping slightly as he frowned just a bit.
"We all do. Otherwise, you wouldn't be lying there covered in bandages. And this is the third time. Every time you go out to fight someone, are you planning to come back like this?" she said, though her gaze turned slightly dangerous for a moment.
"Touché," Owen replied, letting out a forced smile.
"You're great with them, and I'm sure they appreciate it, but you need to give them some space to spread their wings. Especially Peter, he's at that age. And you should start worrying a bit more about when Kamala reaches that same stage… which makes me wonder how you'll be with our kids," she said, changing the topic with a smile.
"Wow… did our relationship move that fast already?" Owen said, sounding amused.
Wanda gave him a serious look and raised a finger, silently showing the engagement ring.
"Still… I think someone's been putting ideas in your head. Probably Pietro and Nicolás… or maybe the old man," Owen added, amused by her reaction.
"You were the first one to bring it up, remember?" she replied, shaking her head slightly.
"I guess that's fair… alright, go ahead," he said, letting himself sink fully into the couch like he couldn't move at all with those injuries.
Wanda let out a small laugh at his act, gave him a light hit, and stood up.
"You'd better eat your soup. Every meal you're getting right now costs a fortune just to restore your nutrients while you recover."
"I'd prefer if they spent a bit more on improving the taste," Owen commented with a slight smile as he sat up, staring at the bowl of soup, whose color was… questionable. And not exactly appetizing.
The downside of enhanced senses… was that taste came with it. He could taste every altered drop passing over his tongue with each bite.
"By the way… I need you to do me a favor. Something only the Scarlet Witch could pull off," Owen said, setting aside the joking tone for a moment as his voice turned more serious.
Wanda stopped, turning her head slightly to look at him more closely.
…
"Peter… we're all going to visit the Washington Monument, aren't you coming?" Ned asked with a big smile, while the cheers of their classmates filled the air. They were just getting off the school bus, carrying a trophy, just as excited. "Everyone wants to celebrate, we won thanks to you," he added, pointing outside where the others were calling them.
"No… I… I've got something to do," Peter replied softly.
"Oh, right… the spy spider," Ned said, looking at him.
Peter reacted immediately, raising a finger to his lips.
"Shhh."
"The spy spider," Ned repeated, this time in a lower voice.
He seemed like he wanted to stay, but glanced outside again, where their classmates were still celebrating.
"You go ahead. Something's interfering with the GPS signal… but I can still hear what they're saying. And right now, it's nothing interesting… they're just yelling at each other for messing up their heist," Peter said in a reassuring tone.
Ned nodded, clearly torn between staying and leaving.
"Oh… right. Just remember to tell me everything you find out. You know… I'm the guy in the chair," he said before getting off the bus.
He joined the group, throwing out a quick excuse about Peter being afraid of heights or something like that.
Peter let out a small laugh at the terrible… but effective excuse, watching him leave through the window.
Then he sat down at the back of the bus and lightly tapped his smartwatch.
Immediately, several voices started coming through.
"Damn it… how the hell did that guy find us? And who the hell was he?" one voice snapped, full of anger.
"He just showed up… and from the way he looked, he might be that guy who got popular a while back… the spider kid?" another voice said, sounding a bit nervous.
"Spider-Man," Peter muttered under his breath, slightly annoyed.
"No, no, no… I heard about that guy. Didn't he get arrested by that hero hunter, The Soldier? He should be locked up in the super prison with the rest of them," a third voice said.
"Maybe it's just a copycat. Wouldn't be weird with all these freaks showing up lately," a fourth added.
"What's our inventory looking like?" the first voice spoke again; clearly the leader of the group.
"Well… I can finish the next order. But without the new materials from the trailer… it's impossible," the second voice replied.
"Damn it… we still have enough for the deal with Mac Gargan, right?" the boss asked, irritated.
"Yeah, but just that. And we need to deliver, because without him we wouldn't be able to make half the stuff we've been producing," the second replied again, sounding like the group's engineer.
"Gargan…" Peter repeated quietly, pulling out a small notebook and writing the name down, along with other details he kept noting as he listened.
Silence settled for a moment.
Until the engineer spoke again.
"We could… you know… do that job."
"Don't start with that," the boss replied, his tone serious.
"We'd only need that one… and that's it."
"No," the boss said firmly, in a tone that left no room for discussion.
Peter frowned as he listened, wanting to know more about that supposed job. But it seemed they wouldn't bring it up again.
Just in case, he wrote it down too, circling it and adding a few question marks.
"Eight years… damn eight years. And nothing from the feds… nothing from those VITAE agents either. Even when they were on our trail, we always lost them thanks to your tech. Not even those idiots dressed like it's Halloween… and then one day some little guy with a girl's voice shows up and thinks he can ruin everything I've built… Fine. I'll kill him. I'll find him… and I'll tear him apart piece by piece… while he begs for mercy," the boss said in such a calm tone that it was more unsettling than if he had been shouting.
Peter swallowed.
The sound was almost audible.
That alone made him tense up. He tapped his smartwatch twice.
In response, a small robotic spider, nearly invisible, attached to one of the men's clothes, quickly moved, hiding deeper in the fabric before shutting down completely.
Just in case.
Peter took a slow breath.
His face had gone a little pale.
Then he decided to stand up and go for a walk.
At least… he had something.
The name of one of the buyers. And that was enough.