With a sharp intake of breath, the young hero opened one eye and slowly raised his head.
Was that a sound?
What was that sound?
"Peter."
The Queens native took a startled breath and suddenly found himself in a completely different environment.
One that was achingly familiar to him.
"Here we are."
Peter looked around and saw Uncle Ben sitting in the driver's seat of their old car.
How had he gotten here?
He couldn't tell if this was a hallucination or just his mind coping with extreme trauma, but he was experiencing it nonetheless.
"Okay, thanks Uncle Ben," Peter heard himself say as he moved to exit the vehicle.
"Hold on a minute, Peter," Ben said gently. "We need to talk."
"Can't we discuss this later?" Peter asked, somewhat impatiently.
"No, we need to talk now," Ben replied, turning off the car radio.
The teenager sighed. "Why does it have to be now?"
"Your aunt and I are starting to worry about you because we haven't really talked in a while," Uncle Ben explained. "We hardly recognize you anymore. You've been neglecting your responsibilities for weeks, isolating yourself in your room, and now I hear you're getting into fights at school."
"Hey, I didn't start that fight—you know that," Peter interrupted with a frown.
"But you finished it."
"What was I supposed to do? Just run away?"
His uncle shook his head thoughtfully.
"No, you shouldn't run away, but... Peter, listen." Ben turned to look directly at his nephew. "You're changing, and I understand that. I went through the exact same thing you're experiencing now."
"No, you really didn't," Peter said dismissively.
"Peter," Ben placed a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "I may not know or understand or even relate to the specific challenges you're facing. But what I do know is that these are the years when a boy becomes the man he'll be for the rest of his life. Just remember who you are."
"Are you afraid I'm going to become some kind of criminal or something?" Peter asked defensively.
His uncle simply shook his head. "I'm not worried about you becoming a bad person, Peter."
"Then what are you worried about? What my friends will think of me?"
"No, it's not... it's not like that, Uncle Ben," Peter said in frustration.
His uncle sighed softly.
"Peter... I know you're going to face a lot of challenges," Ben said thoughtfully. "You're incredibly intelligent, and I think that means you'll encounter more difficulties than most people. But you need to make sure you don't go down a path that leads somewhere you don't want to be."
Seeing his nephew's continued confusion, Ben shared something he'd once heard his own father tell him and Peter's late father.
"Remember, Peter—with great power comes great responsibility." His nephew looked up at his uncle as a brilliant white light began to emanate from behind them, enveloping both figures.
"Remember that."
The vision faded as reality reasserted itself.
Peter's eyelids fluttered open.
How long had he been unconscious?
It didn't take long for Peter to refocus on his dire situation.
More importantly, he remembered why he was here.
Peter craned his neck upward, spotting his discarded mask as he stared at the antidote vial that lay mere centimeters from his outstretched fingers.
Though he was looking at it, he unconsciously felt around half of his face, as if part of his mask was still there.
He then looked back at the vial and thought of Ahsoka, Barriss, Natasha, Captain Rex, and all the clone troopers waiting for their return.
He was now the only person with access to the antidote that could save them all.
But he hadn't given everything he had to complete the mission.
As he stared at the precious vial, he heard those words echoing in his mind again.
"With great power..."
"...comes great responsibility," Peter whispered to himself, breathing heavily as determination began building within him. "I remember, Uncle Ben. I remember."
He placed both hands against the metal beam pinning his body and began to push, even though his entire body immediately screamed in agony.
But he didn't relent, instead channeling all of his enhanced strength into the effort.
"Come on, Peter," he grunted through gritted teeth. "Come on! You can do this! Go, Peter! GO!"
Peter began shouting at this point as he felt every muscle fiber straining beyond its limits, but he persevered as the debris began to shift and crack above him.
Peter was roaring with effort now, giving everything he had to lift the crushing weight off his body, yelling with exertion as groaning metal echoed all around him.
Finally, with one last surge of desperate strength, he pushed the beam away from him and immediately scrambled to grab both the vial and his mask.
With trembling limbs, he crawled out of the pit that had been his tomb and emerged to see three stunned faces staring down at him.
"I... I got it," Peter said with a weak but triumphant smile, holding up the vial containing the Blue Shadow Virus antidote.
The three rescuers were still in shock, and Obi-Wan was the first to recover his composure.
"Peter, how did you—"
"There's no time to explain," Peter said weakly. "We have to get back... to Naboo..."
Peter felt himself falling forward, and Anakin immediately caught him before he could hit the ground.
"I got it," Peter whispered before losing consciousness completely.
"Do you understand how he managed that?" Anakin asked, looking at the still-stunned super soldier.
Steve just shook his head in amazement, a small smile of pride on his face.
"That kid continues to surprise me," Obi-Wan said as he moved to help his former Padawan lift Peter. "Come on, let's not waste the opportunity he's given us. We need to get back immediately."
"Agreed. Let's go save our friends."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Support me at [email protected]/goldengaruda and check out more early access chapter of this fanfic or more early access chapter of my other fanfic translation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~