Chapter Text
It was the middle of the night at the Sunnyside trainyard. During this time it would be quiet. That is if it weren’t for two souls traveling through the place on foot. A scrawny teenage boy with a little girl.
“You said you were going too take me home.” She moans as they creep through the trainyard.
“I know Mo, but we have to cross through here to get to the police station.” He quietly tells her as they crouch down in a ditch.
“I’m scared.” She whimpers.
“I know, but I need you to be brave ok? Just for a little while longer.” He tells her.
He knows he’s asking a lot out of her. And who can blame her for being scared out of her mind. Especially given how she’s been put through the past few weeks.
But that’s nothing in comparison to her older companion. But he doesn’t keep tabs. He just knows that he needs to get her home, so she doesn’t experience his hardships.
The silence and darkness that once surrounded them are being interrupted by threatening voices with flashlights. Not far behind.
“Where are you kid? I know you’re here somewhere.” The voice taunts.
The girl quietly whimpers as the boy tries to sooth her as best he can.
“It’s ok. I got you.” He tells her. “But we have to be quiet.”
She tries her best, but she’s still very afraid of what’s happening.
“DON’T THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM US!..... WE’LL FIND YOU!!” The voice shouts as it gets closer.
The boy checks above the ditch to make sure the coast is clear. Unfortunately the group that’s following them are closing in from different directions. Narrowing their options.
He looks ahead desperately and sees an opportunity. It was a very small window. But it’s the best he’s got.
He turns his attention back to the four year old.
“Mo. Listen to me. I need you to hold onto me very tight and close your eyes. Do not open them until I say it’s ok.” He tells her.
She nods as he picks her up. She plants her face into his shoulder.
He jumps up from the ditch and locks eyes onto his intended target. And makes a run for it.
“AFTER THEM!!!” The voice shouts.
Peter tunes them out as he dashes ahead. The window gets smaller by the millisecond as a freight train is coming on the track ahead at full speed. One misstep. One miscalculation and the two kids are flat as pancakes.
He hears guns going off, but he keeps running without hesitation. Even with Mo crying in fear, he keeps running. He can’t stop. He won’t stop.
He uses whatever strength he still has to make a leap of fate. A jump that sends him and Mo flying over the tracks. Just before the train surges past.
If it were normal circumstances, Peter would be cheering internally over obtaining such a feat. He can’t believe that it actually worked.
But his jump was a little too successful as it sent them past a few more tracks and towards the river.
By the time the hunting pack finally gets past the train and makes it to the edge of the train tracks, they couldn’t see or find any sign of the two kids. Which might as well draw one conclusion.
The leader of the pack scoffs
“Call the boss. Let him know that we have two drowned subjects.” He instructs one of the other members.
“He’s not going to be happy about this.” One of them mutters
“Shouldn’t we look for their bodies?” Another asks.
“With the sun rising in the next hour, do you want to risk being spotted?” He asks in a mocking manner. “Even if the police find the bodies first, it will only likely be ruled as an accidental drowning. Let’s get out of here. Let it be the city’s mess to clean up.” He says before leaving
The rest follow silently in agreement.
The conclusion that the kids had drowned would have been an accurate one had they been average children with no outstanding abilities to disclose.
But as fate would have it, at least one of them did have something up his sleeve. Or rather in his finger tips.
Minutes later, the boy pops his head over the edge to make sure the coast was cleared before using his sticky fingers, that were attached to the iron fencing, to climb the rest of the way up. He was so glad that none of the goons thought to look down. Otherwise he and Mo would have been given away.
He pants as he looks down the tracks and sees a service road nearby and from what he recalls, it should take them to the police station.
He sets down a shakened Mo to the ground..
“Let’s go, Morgan.” He tells her, grabbing her hand.
“Ok Peter.” She says as she lets him lead the way.
The two kids continue down the service road in the silence of night.
“Peter?” Morgan asks. “How much farther is it?”
“Uh… shouldn’t be too much farther Mo.” He says.
“I hope mom and dad are ok.” She says.
Peter chuckles a little, “I think once they see you, they’re going to be more than ok.”
“Will your parents be ok too?” She asks.
His smile falls into a solemn expression, “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them in a while.”
He wonders if they would even want him at this point. Beyond recognition from the innocent child that he once was.
Morgan suddenly announces “When I get home, I’m going to have a million cheeseburgers.” She smiles.
“A whole million! That’s a lot of cheeseburgers!” He exclaims.
“Not a literal million! I’m just hungry!” She argues which makes him laugh.
“Me too.” He agrees. He could down an extra large pepperoni pizza if he had the chance. That’s the one food he missed having more than anything.
But tonight had more pressing matters.
He made a promise to himself. And to Morgan. That he needed to get her home at all costs.
Whatever happens after that doesn’t matter.
Rain starts to pour hard by the time they get to the police station. Soaking them to the bone. But nevertheless Peter catches his breath for the first time this whole night. He was glad that he made it. And Morgan was unharmed.
The two of them walk up the steps to the station doors and Peter kneels down Morgan’s level.
“Alright Mo, you need to listen to me. I can only take you as far as these doors but you need to find the nearest adult in there. Then explain to them who you are and that you need help.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” She asks nervously.
“I told you that I would bring you somewhere to get you home, but you’ve got to do this part on your own.” He tells her.
She shakes her head in fear.
“I know you’re scared but you’re safe now. You don’t need me anymore.” He tells her.
“Please come with me.” He pleads with him.
“I can’t…..” he says and he knows why.
A kid like him with his background could get a place in a group home at best. Though he’s likely to end up in a juvenile prison. Like the rest of troublemakers would go. At worst, he’s going to end up on the Raft if they ever find out about his abilities.
That’s simply a chance he was not going to take.
He kneels down to her level.
“Mo. I’ll let you in on a secret. You are amazing and you’re going to do amazing things one day. And your mom and dad miss you more than you possibly know. I can’t be the one to hold you back. So please. Go inside for me, so they can be with you again. You need to do that. Ok?”
She nods reluctantly.
He smiles softly at her and beckons her to go inside. “Go on.”
She pulls open the doors and walks inside. Peter stands back up and lets out a sigh of relief.
She’s going to be fine. She’s going to go home to her parents. Grow up. Become somebody. And….. forget him. And that’s how it should be.
He backs down the steps of the station. Where is he going to go? He has no idea. Heck! He doesn’t care if the people chasing him come back and get him in the end. He did what he had to do. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Except what happens about a minute later when the little girl rushes out the doors like a lightning bolt back towards him.
“Morgan. No!” Peter whisper shouts as she runs back over to him and hugs him tightly.
“Mo. Please go back inside.” He begs before a loud voice shouts
“Hey!” The cop gruffly shouts as he follows behind.
Peter is tempted to run. But between being anchored by the four year old and the fear. He stands there petrified as several cops come running out.
“Who do you kids think you are being out this late?!” He demands as Morgan tightens her grip around Peter.
“I….I w-was just trying to get her to go into the station.” He tries to explain himself. “She n-needed help. She said her name was Morgan.”
“Morgan?” His eyes goes wide as he looks down at the frightened girl. Instantly recognizing her.
“Young lady are you Morgan Stark?” He asks with anticipation.
She nods frivolously.
He turns to another cop by the doors.
“Murph. Contact Stark. Tell him we found his daughter. Alive and well.” He announces.
One of the younger cops rushes back in.
The cop turns his attention back to the kids.
“Ok Morgan. One of our officer friends is going to bring you inside and get you a nice hot chocolate. Ok?” He tells her in a friendly tone.
“I want to stay with Peter.” She says frightened.
“I know but I need to ask him a few questions and I promise Officer Friedman is the nicest. Ok?” He says as a woman comes up to her.
“Go with her.” Peter tells her. “Everything will be ok.” He promises.
She reluctantly lets go of him and goes with the detective.
The officer's voice turns stern, “Alright son. I’m going to need to come with me to answer a few questions. But first I need you to turn around so we can pat you down for weapons.
Peter reluctantly complies as the cop pats down his weather-beaten clothes. Thinking nothing of it. But he realizes too late that he recalled hiding a stolen knife in his left shoe before taking off with Morgan.
And of course, the cop finds it.
He pulls out the knife and asks, “What was this going to be used on?” In a suspicious tone.
Peter stiffens at this. Which the cop picks up on.
“I think you need to come with us, son.” He tells him in a hardened tone.
Just his luck.
He paces back and forth as he contemplates about how he got to this point in his life. Of all the scenarios he thought of when he decided to risk his life and safety for a little girl, he didn't account for the possibility of being held up in the ‘interview room’
Knowing well enough to know that it’s used more for interrogation.
The door opens to find a man and a woman in suits approaching him.
“Peter, I’m Detective Noble and this is my partner Detective Mattheus. We need you to answer some questions.”
“Is Morgan ok?” He blurts out.
This stops the detectives for a second. They look at each other for a few seconds before agreeing to answer, “Officer Friedman’s with her. She’s fine and will remain so.” Mattheus says.
He lets out a sigh of relief. “I was just so worried about her. She’s had a rough time.”
The lead detective gestures to the chair, “Sit down, son. And let’s cut to the chase.”
Peter sits down and looks nervously at them.
“Exactly how did you come by Morgan Stark?” Detective Noble asks.
Peter clams up immediately. He doesn't know how he can answer something like this in a way that seems plausible to many.
“I was…..in the neighborhood.” He lies. But not in a good way.
“Did you kidnap her?” Mattheus demands.
“What?! No! No no!” He frantically answers. “I would never take an innocent kid like he would!”
“And who exactly is ‘he?” Noble asks.
He tightens up at this. Crap. He slipped up.
He clams up again and looks down at the floor.
“Son. We’re trying to help you but we need answers…..
“Am I under arrest?” He blatantly cuts him off.
Noble stands up and says calmly. “Not yet. But Mr. Stark is going to be here any minute and he’s going to want answers as to how a scrawny kid like you was able to save his only child. And everyone knows he’s not just a regular man to ignore.”
Peter continues to look at the floor in defiance.
“Kid, you’re making this worse for yourself if you don’t start talking now.” Mattheus says.
“I want a lawyer!” He yelps on impulse.
“Mattheus let’s ease up on him.” He says before turning to Peter, “Son, we’re not looking to get you in trouble. We’re just looking for answers. You seem like a good kid with good intentions. You just brought in a little girl that was kidnapped and that was the right thing. So we’re just asking you to help us understand how you got here.” He tells him.
Peter clenches his fists as he struggles with deciding on whether he can trust these people.
And a detective with Noble’s experience can tell.
“Let’s… start simply. Can you tell us who you are, kid?” He asks.
“Does it really matter?” Peter mutters.
“It does.” Noble says. “People want to know the boy who saved Morgan Stark from her captors.”
“No!” He says panicking. “I don’t want anyone to know! Please just let me go!”
“Son, I can’t let you go on the basis that you’re an unaccompanied minor yourself.” Noble explains. “I need a name so we can contact your parents at least.”
Peter collapses back in the chair in defeat as he drops his head in his hands.
“Is there something you’re afraid of?” Mattheus asks.
Peter looks up with a tearstained face. Not answering, but his body language says it all.
“Son. We can’t protect you if you don’t tell us who you are. That’s how it works.” Noble tells him in a frank manner.
“Don’t you get it! I don’t care about myself!” He tells him.
“Then how about Morgan then. You care enough to get her here. I bet my last dollar that you care enough to want to make sure she’s protected. Am I right?” Noble asks.
Peter bites his lower lip and nods.
“Ok. Then tell us your name, kid.” Mattheus says.
Peter breathes heavily and finally mutters, “I know my first name is Peter. And I think……my last name is Parker.”
“You think?” Noble asks in confusion before a thought comes to his mind.
A thought that may provide more context.
“Peter…….Did the people who took Morgan, take you too?” He asks.
Peter remains silent as he refuses to make eye contact. But after a minute, he slowly nods.
He turns to Mattheus.
“Tell Murph to contact the database for Missing and Exploited Children. I think we have a serial kidnapper on our hands.” He whispers.