Chương 90: With Great Power...
"NYC Health... Queens." Those words leaving Eren Parker's mouth sent a shudder through his entire body as he found himself on the ground in front of a far too familiar hospital.
Slowly, the boy rose to his feet and began walking toward the hospital. 'No...' he thought to himself.
It was as if his body was magnetically drawn to that place, as if he were merely a spectator looking through the eyes of his own body, having no control over his own actions. As he observed his body's movement's from behind his own eyes, he walked past a vehicle, glaring at the license plate and the sticker on the top right corner of it.
'2007...' the boy read the date in his head, continuing to walk toward the hospital. Eventually, he made his way to the automatic doors, walking through them before making eye contact with the receptionist.
"Welcome to NYC Health, how may I assist you?" the woman spoke with a polite voice, however, her face couldn't hide the fact that she could almost feel the boy's anguish seeping out from his cold eyes.
Eren said nothing, continuing to walk toward her until he was close enough to place both hands on the front desk and speak in a tired, broken voice. "Is-" the boy couldn't speak, he began choking up at just the thought of it. "Is Richard Parker here? I'm his son, Eren Parker." he told the woman.
The look on her face was that of pure empathy, the boy's glassy eyes and stone-cold glare sending a jolt through her heart. "Let me search that up for you. Okay?"
The nurse began typing away, looking up at the massive, white monitor used in the mid-2000s. It only took a few seconds, maybe five or six, but those five or six seconds of waiting felt like an eternity for Eren Parker.
'Please...' he thought to himself, hoping that by some fated chance, he landed at the perfect period of time.
"Your dad is in room 962. On the ninth floor, go down the hall and turn right."
Eren Parker could feel his heart stop for a moment.
This is what he wanted, but it still horrified him.
To his understanding, if he were to interact with his father at this point in time, there would be little impact on that Eren's timeline as long as he still passed on as he was supposed to.
"Thank you." he told her, letting a single tear stream down his face before yet again walking away as if he were being pulled magnetically.
Like a machine, the boy walked to the elevator, pressed the call button, and waited. Again, it felt like he was waiting for an eternity in front of those metal, retracting doors, but they opened soon enough.
Cautiously, he stepped into the metal box, pressing the ninth-floor button and mashing the button that closes the elevator door. 'C'mon.' he thought, pressing the button as fast as he could until finally, the door began to close.
He rode the elevator upward, feeling his heart rate increase with every passing moment. The thumping of his heart was so potent, he was almost certain that if he weren't alone in that elevator, it could've been heard by whoever was accompanying him.
Once he reached the top floor, the panel made a single beeping chime, before the doors slowly opened. As Eren began to step out, he nearly ran into a woman who was trying to board the elevator.
Eren quickly stepped out of the way, turning his body to look at her as she passed by. "I'm sorry-" as he apologized, he realized that this wasn't just any woman, it was his mother, Mary Parker.
She didn't say anything, she was just staring at the ground with a saddened glare, only looking up before the doors closed. The two of them made eye contact for the briefest of moments. Eren looked at his mother with wide eyes, as if he'd seen a ghost and his mother looked back at him with curious ones.
'He looks just like Richard... Weird clothes.' she thought, however, she brushed it off as nothing more than a coincidence as the doors closed in front of her.
Eren turned back around, facing the road ahead before once again being pulled in the direction of his father. Each step was slow, and rhythmic until the boy began to speed up, taking sporadic steps as he began sprinting to his father.
"920."
"932."
"940."
"949."
"954."
Eren came to a sudden stop, his shoes squeaking on the sterile white tile of the hospital. "962..." he whispered, standing at the door frame with a single hand resting on it, breathing heavier than usual.
On the bed, he could see the man he was looking for.
He saw his father, Richard Parker.
"Dad..." he whispered, prompting the sickly man to slowly open his eyes and look at his son, something Eren hadn't seen in over twelve years.
"Eren?" his father spoke with a weak, raspy voice. He was certain of it, that was his son in front of him. Richard smiled, looking forward with his yellowish, eyes. His gaze wasn't very focused, it was as if he was looking right through his son into the hallway behind him. "I knew it..." Richard began to chuckle ever so slightly, that chuckle turning into a cough.
Eren sprinted over, grabbing his father by the hand and getting on one knee beside his father's bed. "I'm here! I'm here!" Eren told him, trying his best to comfort his father.
"I knew it was possible..." his father told him, still smiling softly at his son whom he was looking at with his deteriorating gaze.
"Knew what was possible?" Eren gripped his father's hand tighter as tears began streaming down his face more aggressively.
"Time travel. How did you figure it out?" Richard asked, still being the man he always was, caring more about science than his own life.
Eren laughed through his tears, finding it funny how even on his deathbed, his father was still science obsessed. "You haven't changed." Eren told him, still holding onto his father's hand tightly.
"Well, I am the same old Richard Parker from before... but you, Eren, you're all grown up. How old are you? Seventeen? Eighteen?"
"I'm nineteen, Dad. I'm nineteen years old. I left my timeline right when the clock hit my birthday." Eren still smiled, thinking about how fast time truly does fly. It felt like not too long ago, he was just a little boy making memories with his father. Now, however, he was a man.
"Nineteen... Well, Happy Birthday, Eren." These were words that Eren wasn't able to hear for so long, he smiled softly, blinking and releasing a few tears down his face.
"Thank you, Dad."
"What are you majoring in?" His father asked him.
Eren let out a soft laugh, his father already knew the answer as he was part of the reason why Eren chose that major. "Biophysics, Dad. Like I told you when I learned what biophysics was. I'm gonna make Parker Industries, I promise."
His father let out a nearly breathless laugh, looking down at his son's odd choice of clothing, his Spider-Man costume. "With that space suit, I'd think you'd already made it. Is that just how they dress in... 2019?"
"No, Dad." Eren smiled softly, sniffling and wiping his tears with one arm."I'm a superhero, or at least, I was. Like your buddy, Reed. You know, I joined the Fantastic Four for a bit."
"What was your hero name?"
"It was Spider-Man. With a hyphen in between Spider and Man."
"That's a great name son..." His father had a soft smile on his face, thinking the name was perfect for his son.
"Thank you, I think so too." Eren said with a soft chuckle.
"How did it happen, getting your powers?"
"I was bitten by a spider and I got spider powers. Climbing walls, agility, super strength. I even have an alarm that senses danger. I also fell into Nuform and got super speed. That's how I traveled here."
"That's great, Son. You said that you 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 a hero, what happened? Don't tell me you quit."
"Well... being a hero seems pointless after having some time to think about it. I created more monsters by being Spider-Man. Since they wanted to hurt me, they started hurting others. Their blood is on my hands."
"Eren, you can't blame yourself for another man's actions. How long have you had these powers?"
"Since I was seventeen..."
"And how many people did you save?"
"I don't know..."
"You don't know? What, you lost count?"
"Well, yeah, I-"
"If you lost count already, then you must've been doing a damn good job, Spider-Man."
"It doesn't matter. An older version of myself from an alternate timeline already spoiled what happens at the end of the Eren Parker story. I die, my friends die, and the world ends. I saw it with my own eyes. It's pointless-"
"Alternate timeline... that was the missing piece this entire time. I can't believe I was thinking of it so linearly... Of course, time wouldn't be just a single straight line that doesn't even make sense now that you say it-" His father had a big smile on his face, realizing his life's work had been solved by simply looking at the concept a bit more abstractly. He too thought time travel would affect one's own timeline, that concept is where his research stagnated. However, he now fully understood it.
"Dad, are you even listening to me?"
"Of course I am, Eren. You said that a you from an alternate timeline spoke to you about 𝘩𝘪𝘴 future. What's that gotta do with you, hm? You're in a new timeline, Eren. It's up to you to choose how that story ends."
"But so many of me failed before..."
"Trial and error, Eren. If you don't succeed, try and try again. That's how it works."
"I've heard that one already, Dad."
"How about this then..." Richard leaned up, using all of his strength while holding onto his son's hand and looking right into his eyes with a serious expression. For the first time, his gaze was focused. He was looking right into his son's soul.
"At just the age of seven, I could tell that you had an incredibly brilliant mind, and you were destined for greatness. Even though you let your emotions take over sometimes, I knew you'd be someone great. I also know you like to doubt yourself and that holds you back.
I know this because you're like me, Eren. I doubted myself all the time before I obtained my doctorate. I didn't think I could do it. I didn't think I could achieve my goal of becoming a scientist who could change the world in a world full of guys with superpowers. You're around the same age as I was when my self-doubting was at its peak.
We are merely men. Sure, you have superhuman strength, super speed, and wall-crawling, but you and I have one superpower in common. The mind. That is your power, Eren. That is our power. You need to use our power, your power, to do what's right. I know that sometimes you might feel like your powers are a curse, I know I did at times, but it's truly a gift.
Mental fortitude, Eren. That is the path to becoming great. That is how you'll change the world. You have to believe that you can do it before you can achieve your goal. I know it sounds silly, I know it sounds like some fairytale plot but it is the truth. I believe in you, Son. Your mother believes in you. Your friends believe in you.
Promise me, Eren. Promise me that you won't give up."
"I-"
"Promise me... please, Eren. Give me this one final wish." Tears began falling from his father's face. He was so proud of his son, knowing that he was passing on the torch after his death. All he wanted was for that torch to continue to be passed the second time.
"Okay, Dad. I'll keep being Spider-Man." Eren told him, choking up with each word.
"Eren, if there's one thing that you'll remember out of all the things I've ever told you, remember this next thing well: With great power, comes great responsibility. I love you, Son." With those final words leaving his mouth, Richard Parker leaned back in his death bed and began to finally let go.
He was holding on for so long, almost as if something was telling him to. He realized that this was why, this was his fate, to be there for his son when he needed him the most.
Eren could feel his father's grip loosen, as his heartbeat monitor began to decline. His father had a smile on his face, one that remained up until his heartbeat ceased.
Eren stood up on his own two feet, looking down at his father with a solemn smile one last time. "I love you too, Dad. Thank you."
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