Chapter 54
As soon as I entered the cafe, I immediately noticed John sitting at the far table in the corner with a cup of coffee in his hands. He was dressed in civilian clothes, apparently he did not want to attract unnecessary attention.
I immediately started walking towards him, not forgetting to order a coffee for myself halfway.
"Hello, Mr. Stacy. – I greeted the man, and then sat down in front of him.
- Hi Peter, we finally meet again. A soft smile appeared on John's face.
At that moment, the waitress brought my coffee, which instantly hit my receptors with its rich smell. Lifting the cup, I took a small sip, and the hot bittersweet drink instantly began to warm my body.
"It's good coffee, isn't it?" I always drink it only here. John spoke up immediately, as if he had been waiting for this.
- Yes, it's quite tasty. – I agreed with him, because the coffee was really good. But that's not what I came here for, but for a serious conversation, so I decided to move on to the main topic anyway.
"Tell Mr. Stacy," I started to say, but he interrupted me.
"Not Mr. Stacy, but Uncle John." You're not just going to play with my daughter's feelings, are you?
"H-of course not, Uncle John. Gwen and I are serious. I quickly shook my head.
"Okay, I knew you weren't like that. Then let's get to the main point of our conversation.
"Peter, I know about your alter egos with Gwen. That you're being a hero with her.
"Huh, I knew I couldn't hide it for long. A wry grin appeared on my face.
- And how long ago did you figure this out? Although I can roughly guess when and how I screwed up.
"About Gwen, I've had my suspicions about her for a while. As a policeman, I know when a person is trying to deceive me. But I was convinced of this when you saved me from that man on the flying glider.
"I only lost consciousness for a few seconds during the explosion, and when I woke up, I saw Gwen hugging your body, which was crippled by the explosion. But I didn't interfere and somehow let them know that I was conscious.
- Peter, you can't imagine what emotions I felt when you changed your costume for me a second before the explosion, which caused you to be severely injured yourself. I know you did it for Gwen. The moment I saw you, your mutilated and burned body, I felt incredibly guilty, thinking that your life was over. But then, all your wounds started to heal right in front of my eyes, taking the burden off me, but it still didn't take away my guilt.
"Don't blame yourself. Maybe I saved you at that moment. But... but I didn't want to see Gwen grieving over your death, so I didn't take the hit myself.
- Peter, not everyone can take such a step, even for the sake of their own parents, and you actually did it for a stranger, thereby showing that you truly love my daughter.
"You know, Peter. Until that moment, I considered the so-called "heroes", those who act as heroes unofficially, not like the "Avengers" to be the wreckers of society. I thought that everyone should be equal before the law, and there should be no arbitrariness. But as it turned out, I was deeply mistaken. Our society needs you like that. Therefore, Peter, know that I will not interfere in any way with your and Gwen's way of fighting crime, but I have only one request.
- Peter, my next words will be the words of a father who only wants his children to be safe. I ask you to always protect my daughter, even at the cost of your life, just as you protected me back then. I know that my words and my requests are selfish, but I know Gwen's disposition. She will never give up her career as a hero, so I can only ask you to protect her.
"Huh, Uncle John, this request of yours is unnecessary. Even without your words, I would have given anything to protect her. I smiled softly, feeling how much he loved his daughter.
"Haah, I'm glad to hear those words..." he sighed with relief.
- However, Peter, I'm still interested. How did you gain such power?
- Well, it happened by accident, at the Stark Expo. There was a spider that bit both her and me, and we got our powers from it.
- Apparently it was some kind of genetically modified sample that escaped from the laboratory.
- Hmm, so there may be more people like you.… I hope this power has not fallen into the wrong hands. John immediately frowned.
"Don't worry. I'm sure the spider didn't bite anyone else. Moreover, I caught him and destroyed him.
- What about the side effects? You should check your body for abnormalities. After all, gene modifications are dangerous. I am sure that that giant green lizard was also a man who apparently conducted experiments on himself and apparently failed.
- You are absolutely right. According to my information, it was Dr. Course Connors from our school. He inoculated himself with lizard genes in order to grow a lost arm, but as you can see, he did not succeed.
- That man in the Goblin costume, he has a similar situation. He used the super Soldier serum on himself, hoping to gain powers as "Captain America", however, the serum was defective. She gave him powers, but distorted his mind, which turned him into a brutal killer. But you don't have to worry about Gwen and me. I've checked our genes a long time ago, and I haven't found any abnormalities.
- Well, then I'm calm. I think this is the end of our conversation. I found out everything I needed to know.
- Yes, I'm glad that we were able to resolve everything quite calmly. A peaceful smile spread across my face.
- Yes, I'm glad too. By the way, Peter, I'd like to ask you to come visit sometimes. Gwen still hasn't told me that she has a boyfriend. Let her understand that I'm not against your relationship.
- Of course, I'll definitely come by one of these days. – I immediately agreed, realizing that this way I would become even closer to her.
After we finished, we paid for the coffee, and then, after shaking hands, we went our separate ways.…