Chapter 2: Set Up
As the moon hung lazily in the purple sky, like a luminous pearl amidst the tranquil night, Rebecca found herself taking her usual route through Central Park. A subtle chill infused the air, and the trees stretched their skeletal limbs to touch the crescent-shaped slither of the moon above.
Rebecca welcomed the tranquility of the semi-secluded park; New York City was a ceaseless tidal wave of honking horns, chattering people, and raucous construction, rarely did the day close with stillness.
Her hands sought the comforting grip of her jade necklace hanging around her neck as she walked along the cobblestone path. There was a strange serenity lulling her into a meditative daze, until something caught her eye; a soft glow emanating from deeper within the park.
Rebecca paused, pulling herself out of her reverie as she squinted through the darkness. The gentle luminescence played a tantalizing game of hide-and-seek with the shadows, luring her closer.
"No time like the present, I guess," she murmured to herself as her spine straightened and footsteps carried her towards the mysterious light source.
A few meters on, the glow solidified into the unmistakable remnants of a crash.
Glittering fragments, akin to jagged crystal, were strewn carelessly across the earth. The eerie spectacle entwined with the night's darkness, creating an unsettling alliance. It was difficult to pinpoint their origin. Still, one thing was apparent: they appeared anything but ordinary.
"What the hell?" Rebecca whispered to herself, inching closer. Although she had faced perils before as the White Dahlia, a sense of uneasiness spread goosebumps across her skin, tightening its grip on her inquisitive mind.
With a deep breath, she stepped closer, crouching down to inspect the shards. As she brushed her gloved hand across the alien metal, it crackled beneath her touch. She jumped back, raising a hand to shield herself from the unpleasant sensation. The sound of crunching leaves signaled her presence, and her gaze shifted warily towards the encroaching trees.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" She called out, maintaining a readiness as she surveyed her surroundings. The creaking branches answered with only silence.
Rebecca sighed, closing her eyes for a moment and leaning her forehead against the cool musk of a tree trunk. An owl hooted nearby, its eerie call supplementing the chill that settled in her core. Remarkably, there seemed to be no signs of human presence, no sounds to suggest bickering enemies or intruders lurking in wait.
She had an inkling that something was amiss, but her curiosity piqued, and she found herself reluctant to abandon her search just yet.
The more Rebecca studied the remnants of the mysterious crash, the more apparent its foreign roots became. With the tips of her fingers hovering above the shards, as if hesitant, she reached forward and carefully picked up a sample.
Her pulse quickened as a faint vibration coursed through her fingertips, but the feeling was short-lived, instantly replaced by unequal measures of intrigue and caution.
"Probably not a good idea to touch that," a voice echoed from behind, causing her body to shiver instinctively.
She spun around to find Peter standing in the shadows, his eyes wide with a blend of fright and curiosity.
"Pete, when did you get here?" Rebecca asked hastily, trying to suppress the guilt of being caught off guard. She carefully placed the glowing fragment back down with her other hand extended in a shielding gesture to prevent him from getting too close.
"I got your message about some space debris you found," he said, peering around her. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in the array of otherworldly fragments scattered by their feet.
"You didn't tell me you were in the park late at night by yourself, and you definitely didn't mention this," he said, nodding towards the strange material.
Peter moved closer to examine the foreign elements as Rebecca lowered her arm protectively. She noticed that, despite his seemingly reassured presence, Peter's vigilance had intensified, shoulders tensed and spider-sense no doubt teasing him with a cacophony of dangers.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was walking into," she admitted, gently shifting her weight forward.
Peter could sense her unease, but he couldn't tamp down his own wariness, especially when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "What else have you found?" He asked, his eyes scanning the area around the crash site.
With a gloved hand, Rebecca pointed to a slightly larger piece of debris nearby, its jagged, glassy edges protruding oddly from the ground. Instinctively, Peter's eyes shot to a blurry, web-like pattern glistening on the fragment's surface.
It looked like veins, black and shiny, pulsating gently with a trace of menace. As he moved closer, he could almost sense a dark energy thrumming from deep within. Something within him stirred and shuddered involuntarily, an internal alarm that did not make itself heard often.
"Rebecca, I think we should leave this alone," Peter stated firmly, but his friend's intrigue overshadowed her caution.
"Just a second," she muttered, her eyes locked onto the mysterious, web-like pattern on the fragment. She leaned in for a closer look, unaware of the electric tension that stole over Peter.
Her proximity triggered a sudden, unnerving sensation in him, as if the air pressure had dropped significantly and the atmosphere was crackling with a strange energy. A voice in his head screamed at him to run, to leave, but something primal deep within kept him rooted to the spot.
"Hurry up," Peter relented, "MJ didn't even want me here right now." His voice softened as he said this, concern etching its lines on his face.
Rebecca focused her attention back on Peter, who was shifting his weight from side to side with a growing, barely contained restlessness. She knew that deep down he too sensed an impending danger, but his compulsion to protect propelled him to stand firm.
"Alright, Pete," Rebecca responded, finally stepping back from the glowing shrapnel.
Her mind swam with a whirl of questions and hypotheses as she watched him poke around for any indication of what may have caused the disturbance.
They were both too lost in thought to notice that each of them had a different tiny little tendril quietly slipping up their legs and beneath their skin.
With excruciating slowness, the tendrils made their way up, wrapping around muscles and probing into new areas of their hosts' flesh. But they didn't register it, too preoccupied with the mystery before them.
"So, what do we do about this?" Rebecca asked, running her gloved hand along the edge of the glass-like shard.
Peter turned to her, opening and closing his mouth a few times as if struggling for an appropriate answer.
"We call Stark, he probably knows someone who can deal with this."
Rebecca nodded, recognizing the prudency in Peter's suggestion. While she prided herself on her ability to navigate challenges and face adversaries, she knew better than to tackle something for which she wasn't prepared. Even with her strength as the White Dahlia, she was still human and thus no match for the otherworldly shard and accompanying phenomenon.
"Alright," she conceded, reluctantly stepping away from the fragments. Her hands began to tremble, a mixture of exhaustion and frustration seeping into her bones.
"Okay, okay. I'm going now," she assured him, and turned to leave, when an abrupt shift in the air sent an icy shiver down her spine.
Peter muttered something under his breath, as though reading her thoughts. "Be careful out there."
Rebecca smirked. "Oh, me? Never." She finished with a grin, and then disappeared into the shadows. Peter let out a relieved sigh, watching her leave, but the feeling lingered just beyond his grasp. His spider-sense blared in his skull, screaming about unseen danger that none but him could detect. When Rebecca had touched the glass-like shards, an alien static had buzzed through his senses so loudly it was almost unbearable. It radiated pure malice, tendrils reaching out to her with sinister intent, but as he looked back down, everything appeared normal.
Peter let out a resigned sigh, a mixture of relief and a lingering sense of unease surging through his veins. A whirlwind of questions swarmed in his mind like a hive of restless hornets, and he found himself wrestling with the gnawing desire to follow Rebecca through the shadows. He couldn't shake off the disquietude that coiled around his heart, for he knew that something had shifted; he just couldn't pinpoint what.
As Peter turned around, he caught a glimpse of a shadow flitting through the trees. His instincts screamed at him to give chase, to ensure that Rebecca made it back home safely.
However, something deep within held him back. Was it the pained look in MJ's eyes when he left, or perhaps the gnawing worry for Aunt May's killer still on the loose? Whatever it was, it lodged in his chest, rendering him frozen in place.
Suddenly, an agonizing pain lanced through his skull, and his vision blurred.
Peter doubled over, gripping his head with both hands as the shrieking cacophony in his brain threatened to detonate inside his skull. The world swam around him, and for a terrifying moment, he was certain he was losing consciousness. But the pain subsided as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind a bitter taste of dread on his tongue.
"I probably need to get some sleep."
Peter mumbled to himself, as he began swinging home.
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As she walked into her house, Rebecca felt like something very bad was about to happen.
She shook off the sensation and tried to convince herself that it was her imagination playing tricks on her. But the niggling feeling persisted, gnawing at her insides like an infection.
She her finger hover over Peter's contact for a moment, before turning off her phone.
"What am I doing," Rebecca muttered, dropping her phone on the table. "Maybe I'll take a break soon."