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Morgan was always a charming and nice girl; she is the exact image of her parents; with fortitude and strong personality like Pepper but as caring and sensitive as Tony. I always wanted to think that I was like an older brother to her, but guilt always stood in the way of that desire. Since Tony's death, I decided to help Pepper in any way I could, but I soon realized that she´s a strong and capable woman without the need for any outside help. Morgan is a different matter. I always felt that she was hiding her own sorrow for her mother's sake.
My relationship with Morgan was never really like a lovely tale with a happy ending; at first, when she was still a little girl, she used to play with me and I tried to be a kind of guardian to her. I told to myself that it was my duty, and still is. But when she started her puberty stage, everything changed. "Peter, do you know why dad sacrificed himself for everyone?" The question surprised me, Morgan never asked questions related to her father; I gave her the typical answer that everyone wanted, "because Mr Stark is a hero and he wanted the best for everyone". She replied sharply, "That's a lie, isn't it?" After that day, we never talked about it again.
Morgan's a Stark, that's a fact. Sometimes I feel jealous of it, but then I remember that she had to live without a father role and the guilt haunts me again. She's still too young, but she's not just like any kid, she's a result from Tony and Pepper; Morgan is too clever for her age.
Each year there was a memorial, a kind of anniversary, of the death of Iron Man, of Tony Stark for his closest ones. In those days, Morgan hardly speaks. When she was younger, she used to be more outspoken and almost had the same irony as her father, but her attitude suddenly changed when he died; Mr. Stark's death greatly affected the kid. On those days, she also locked herself in her room or at the lab. She certainly didn't expect me to come and talk to her, trying to attempt to give a consolation, which I failed by the way.
"Why are you here?" she told me plainly; "Because... I can enter the lab freely? But I can leave if I´m bothering you." I expected a lot of things but not what she told me. "No, I mean, why are you here and not him? It's not fair; it's not fair that he died for you; and what about me? I'm his daughter, I share his genes. I don't get it, I keep trying to understand but still, I don't get it."
Suddenly, I paled and she started crying; an uncontrolled cry that made her look younger than she was. Her tender face showed pain and anger; she yelled at me, "It's your fault my dad is dead, he wasn't going to be involved but he did it for you. You should never have come back to life! But you did, and daddy preferred an orphan over his own biological daughter!" No excuse came out of my mouth, not even the courage to deny everything. I didn't know what to answer, so I say nothing. All I had to do was to embrace the truth.
"I'm... I'm sorry." was all I could give as a reply. I left the place without looking back.
Since that day, I haven't tried to speak with Morgan and I stopped visiting Pepper. My idea was to stay away from them; they didn't deserve to have their father's and husband's killer by their side, pretending that nothing happened. Then May told me that Pepper was concerned about my well-being since I stopped being around, but I denied any such thing. Denying it was much better than accepting it, but the pain didn´t disappear anyway.
For my birthday, I turned off my cell phone. I didn't want to talk to anyone, I didn't want gifts or good wishes, so I decided to visit Mr Stark's grave. "Hey... Mr Stark. It's been a long time since I came here, I'm sorry about that. I have no excuses, it's been difficult... but... but I think Morgan has had it worse." I started noticing my wet cheeks, I was crying again. "You know, Happy once told me... he told me that you second-guessed everything you did, but one thing you never second-guess was picking me. I doubt it.” at this point, I didn't care if someone showed up and saw me crying. “I don't know... maybe... maybe you would have doubted it if you see Morgan right now... God, Morgan... she doesn't deserve this, I- don't- I mean-...why? She’s worth it Tony, she's worth it more than me.”
Of course, I didn't get an answer.
My plan to get away from them was working. Well, almost. It was already night, I had a long day on patrol. If I thought that being a superhero and going to school was hard, I would never imagine how hard it´s being a superhero and a young adult at the same time. I got a call from Pepper. Strange, usually Happy is the only one who calls me if it's something concerning the Stark corporation, the Avengers or if the lives of the citizens are in danger. But Pepper never called me personally, so I decided to take it. “Mrs Pepper?”, “Peter! Peter, it's Morgan! I need you to come in, please.” I didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was; it didn't seem like something good.
“She was kidnapped.” No! Morgan's in danger. But I wasn't going to let anything happen to her. We intercepted a call. It was a kidnap for ransom; the criminals wanted something in return, money, maybe? It was the closest possible reason. Morgan goes to a high-security private school, and Happy always picked her up but apparently, that day he was drugged and they forcibly took her away. "I'll go. Don't worry, Pepper. I won't let you lose anyone else. I promise." And without wasting any more time, I went to the place of the exchange.
The place was typical and ideal for these cases; a place where there are no civilians, not even a dog passing by. "Let her go, I'll give you whatever you want but don't hurt her," I said. “Look who we got here! The spiderman! Did you miss me? Because I thought of you every day since you had my father arrested." I didn't recognize his voice and the truth I had no idea what he was talking about. "Don't tell me you don't remember the Filipino man, owner of a small shop, that you had arrested in a very cool and special prison last year, or better said, my father.” Well, I still didn't remember, but it made things worse. "I mean, my father killed women and yeah he did a little mess with their bodies but they're all bitches anyway, I don't blame him. Speaking of bitches, here's one. Come on, darling, smile and say hello to Mr Red Insect.” Morgan was tied hands and legs to a chair. There was no sign of her being hit, and I sighed. “What do you want?”, “Well, in the beginning, I only wanted money; the usual, you can't live without paying the rent or buying good weed without money and I thought that the daughter of the famous Iron Man has plenty and she could give a little of it.” Well, that was predictable. “But I changed my mind when I saw you. Money is good but revenge is better.” Well, I take it back, not so predictable. "I want to see your face, and I want to see you suffer. It's not too much to ask, or is it? It may not be quick but it's a fair deal.” I couldn't freak out; I had to think about Morgan's safety. "All right, all you want but let the girl go.” "Nah, it wouldn't be fun that way. Kids like games, so let's play. I'll make you cry, spider man; if you don't die in less than three hours; I'll rape her and sell her to the black market." I looked at Morgan, she looked scared and she was even trembling a little bit. “Deal,” I said, there was nothing to hesitate about.
All of a sudden I heard her shouting “No! Please!” "Oh, I think we shall start the game." said the criminal. "I don't want you to try to be funny, so I'll give the rules of the game. First, come closer quietly and put your hands on your head. If I see a strange movement, the sweet girl will have a bullet in her skull.” So I did it. But the criminal wasn't as smart as he thought he was. Once near them, I shot my spider web at the man's face, I moved in a split second and I put up his hand holding the gun. A shot was heard but towards the roof. I squeezed his wrist, breaking it.
Morgan seemed to hold in the air, and I seemed to do the opposite. Now she was safe. The man, on the other hand, dropped the gun as he felt the terrible pain in his wrist. I fired a spider web at the gun just in case.
But not everything ends there, the man still resisted in spite of everything; luckily he had no other gun, but he did have a knife. And yes, he stabbed me. Honestly, I didn't feel the pain. My priority was still Morgan. "Peter!" she shouted. I hit the guy and he passed out.
"Morgan, are you okay? He didn't do anything to you, did he? Oh please tell me he didn't do anything to you.", “Peter! I´m ok! But you-you're wounded!”, “Yeah, nothing new. Let me untie you.”
It didn't take long for the police, the ambulance as well as Happy and Pepper to arrive at the place. Pepper hugged Morgan tightly; it seemed almost as if she was afraid that her daughter would slip out of her arms.
I watched the scene and I smiled. I was getting ready to leave but Morgan looked up at me back.
“Peter! He´s hurt!”
Oh, right. I was stabbed. I almost forgot that.
“All right, I'll rest at home and heal in two days.”, “No, of course, it's not right!" Morgan seemed serious; she reminded me of Mr Stark every time he lectured me after every case.
"It's no big deal; I'm not dead, unfortunately. I´m sorry for that though", “What?” An out-of-place comment, it slipped out of my mouth. Happy and Pepper looked at me with concerned and Morgan... Morgan seemed to be in shock. "What do you mean by that, Peter? You know I don't like black comedy but I doubt it was your intension”, “It's nothing Pepper, forget what I said. Adios.” Morgan, not pleased, said in return, "I'm sorry, it was my fault, I shouldn't have--I'm really sorry, Peter." Pepper, now somewhat pissed, said: "Okay, I'm not understanding anything, did something happen with you two?"
I decided (I was forced) to go with them and treat my wound. Once we all calmed down, Morgan and I were left alone.
“I-I don't know what happened to me that day, I shouldn't have told you that. Daddy would be upset about what I said.", “Morgan… look, maybe… well, not maybe, I mean, what you said, it wasn't a lie to me.” “No! Pet-“, “I´m sorry your dad is dead. I´m sorry I´m alive; but I don't know what to do to fix it, if I had to go back to the past, it would prevent Mr Stark from sacrificing himself or better yet! from meeting me."
First, silence. Then sobs.
Morgan, with glassy eyes, looked at me and never looked away. She told me, “I'm being serious. Forgive me, please, I beg you. I'm sorry for what I said, since that day I cannot stop thinking about how silly I was - Peter, you're a good person, I understand exactly why my dad decided that you should live again.”
I said nothing.
“Please, forgive. Please, please.”
Morgan was begging; this time she looked away and used her petite hands to rub her eyes.
cr: Tio-Trile