16) A Vow
The armed man rushed up the stairs to the second floor, gasping for breath. He placed himself next to the window, to see and hear the police warning him to come out and surrender. He believed it was already too late, his life was over once he got caught. His only option now was to go on the run.
"Fuck" he whimpered. He looked at the gun held in his hand and banged his head on the stone wall he leaned on. "I'm so dam stupid," he told himself repeatedly. After a while, he finally stopped and headed toward the other side of the room, rubbing his eyes.
Peter slightly hung from the ceiling supporting his weight with his web as the man walked past. He slowly descended and quietly planted his feet on the floor. You couldn't see it through his mask, but he was angry beyond belief. His hands were clenched and shivering due to the force he was using.
The man looked outside the window trying to find a possible escape route, unaware that Peter was right behind him. Peter could hear the man mumbling to himself but couldn't hear what he was saying.
As the man turned around he saw a man covered in darkness standing there, glaring at him. "WHAT THE FUCK" the man exclaimed before being met with a punch right at his chest and the sound of bones cracking, instantly falling to his knee. He yelled in pain and curled in a ball holding the place where he was hit while crying.
"Get up," Peter told the man.
The man complied slowly pulling himself back up. "Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?" he said trying to make sense of what was happening.
"You hurt someone close to me" Peter replied.
"I'm sorry! Just please let me go" the man begged while pushing himself backward until he reached the wall.
"You're not getting away with it so easy" Peter responded while crouching downwards.
The man pointed his gun at Peter and took a shot. Peter dodged by slightly moving his head out of the way and webbed the gun, yanking it out of his hand.
He walked towards him and threw a punch right on his jaw, causing it to break. He tried to scream and beg but his voice became muffled, so not even he could understand what he was saying. Blood leaked out of his while also coughing up even more. Tears leaked out of his eyes and his face held nothing but despair. Some of his teeth were missing, in a small puddle of blood.
He slowly got back to his feet and threw a wild punch at Peter, he knew it was going to work but he still hoped by some miracle he could knock him out. Peter grabbed his hand and bent his arm upright, breaking it. The man fell to his knees, staring at the floor at a complete loss. He vomited a puddle of blood onto the floor right on Peter's feet before slumping onto the floor unconscious.
Police started to run up the stairs pointing their guns and the masked man. Peter quickly jumped out the window and swung himself towards the nearby buildings before the officers could even fire their weapons. One of them walked towards the man on the floor before dispatching for an ambulance.
Peter swung down a couple of blocks before stopping on a rooftop to rest. He took off his mask letting it fall to the floor and stared at his hands. He focused on drops of blood on them before looking at his blood-drenched feet.
"What have I done?" he said to himself, realizing what he just did. He beat a person close to death, maybe he even actually killed him. How could he do such a thing, thought to himself about what Uncle Ben had told him. Great Power comes with great responsibility, and he just used his to beat a man to the brink of death.
He shook his head to try and get his mind off it and swung towards the hospital making a small detour to retrieve his bag since it had all his normal clothes.
When he reached the hospital he ran to see the doctor and Aunt May standing outside.
"How is he?" Peter questioned, hoping it would all be alright.
"We've done everything we could, but by the time we could do anything he already lost too much blood. He doesn't have long left. I suggest you bring in the family as quickly as you can, we don't think he'll survive for tomorrow." stated the doctor before leaving and giving her condolences.
Aunt May couldn't hold it in and bursted into tears in the hallway. Peter couldn't believe what he heard and could only stare into the distance confused. It took him a while to process what he was told and he too started to cry and held Aunt May to try and comfort her and himself.
THE NEXT DAY
Peter woke up to the sounds of the machines beeping and Uncle Ben breathing through life support. It was a miracle he even survived the night, but Peter knew he didn't have long left.
The hospital door slid open and Harry and his father walked into the room. "I'm so sorry Peter," he told Peter and hugged him before taking a seat.
"I also give my condolences. I didn't talk too much, but I could tell he was an amazing man," said Norman. He only stayed for around five minutes before heading off to work, leaving a bouquet of white and yellow lilies.
Harry stayed with Peter trying to comfort him, even if it wasn't working. Peter was still zoned out glaring at the ground. It still wasn't computing for him. Out of everyone in the world, why did it have to be Uncle Ben?
The three stood beside his hospital bed while the heartbeat monitor jumped, trying its best to live, slowly flatlined. Aunt May started to cry again leaning on Peter's shoulder, who held her in his arms.
Peter also started to tear up but tried to hold back a little longer so he could say one last thing to him. "I promise to make you proud," he said, vowing to become a great man like Uncle Ben hoped he would, before crying.