Spider-Man and Mera arrived back at the shelter, and looked for Dr. Michaels. Thankfully, he was just outside of the building and he instantly noticed the bottle of anti-serum in Spider-Man's hand.
"Is it still viable?" Spider-Man asked.
"I'll need to check. Come along." Michaels said, securing the serum and heading into the shelter. Mera glanced at Spider-Man's shoulder as they followed him inside of the shelter. It still was as gnarly as it was when Octavius first punctured his shoulder, and she noticed Spider-Man favoring that shoulder as he walked.
"Is it very painful?" Mera asked, motioning to Spider-Man's injury.
"It's fine." Spider-Man said, as they arrived in May's office. Spider-Man's gaze then rested upon May as Michaels examined the serum. He could only pray that there is enough time for him to somehow, someway save his aunt from the same fate as his parents and his uncle. Mera grasped Spider-Man's hand in comfort, not really sure what to say at the moment to calm him down.
"It's still viable." Michaels said after a minute. "But we'll need the entire sample as a base to produce more doses."
Mera and Spider-Man turned in his direction. "How long will that take?" Mera asked, just as MJ came into the room with an equally concerned facial expression at the two of them.
"A few hours. Maybe a day." Michaels said. Spider-Man then turned back to May, who was still seemingly trying to fall asleep, but failing miserably due to the coughing. He knew that she would not have that much time left before the worst happened.
"What if we use it to cure someone right now?" Spider-Man asked with hope. Both MJ and Mera looked at Michaels intently for his response.
Dr. Michaels instantly knew that he was referring to May, despite not knowing who exactly she was or why she was so important to Spider-Man. He then put on a sympathetic look as he said, "Then there won't be enough to cure the others."
Spider-Man then looked out to all the others of the shelter that were being cared for. And this was just a fraction of the number of infections spreading around in New York. And now he was left with quite possibly the hardest decision of his life. Let his own aunt die in order to save everyone else, or save his aunt, but allow everyone else in the city suffer.
Mera just glanced at Spider-Man with extreme sympathy, not knowing what to say or do at the moment. She turned to Mary Jane for support, but she seemed to be in a similar situation that she was in right now.
"I'll give you a few minutes." Michaels said, before getting up and heading towards the door to that room. He touched MJ on the arm as he passed her to follow his example. MJ looked back at Spider-Man, who was now completely focused on his aunt.
MJ then walked up to Mera and touched her shoulder. Mera needed no explanation as to what she was trying to get her to do, but she wasn't willing to do that. "He needs his time with his aunt." MJ pressed as she observed Mera's look of warning towards her.
"I'm not going to abandon him. Not now." Mera replied quietly.
"It's fine." Spider-Man said in a weak and shaky voice.
"Doesn't sound like it." Mera pressed on.
"Go. I'll.......I'll be okay for a little while." Spider-Man said. Truth be told, as much as he loved Mera, he just wanted a bit of time with his aunt, seeming as if there is so little time left to enjoy with her.
Mera's hard expression softened at Spider-Man's words. She walked up and whispered, "I'll be right outside if you need me. Just say the word and I'll be back in a nanosecond." She then gave May one last look, before following MJ outside of the room.
Spider-Man then focused his attention on May once again. "You're gonna be okay miss. I've got the cure right here." he said still in a shaky voice, holding the anti-serum in his hand. May then opened her eyes ans looked at the web head.
"Take off your mask." she said with a small smile. Spider-Man's eyes widened at her sentence. 'Does she.....?' Spider-Man said to himself. "I wanna see my nephew." she finished.
Shock was embedded onto Spider-Man's face once he digested her sentence. 'Who else knows of my secret?!' he thought to himself as he removed his mask.
"You knew?" Peter asked.
"I've known for a while." May answered.
"I never wanted you to worry." Peter explained.
"I did." May said, her smile still dominating her facial expression. "And I am so proud of you. And Ben would be too. All the people you've saved." she continued. This caused Peter to break down some more and look down at the floor.
"I don't know what to do!" he sobbed, still deciding on what he was going to to with the anti-serum.
"Yes you do." she said to him with a look of what seemed to be acceptance in her eyes. She then rolled over and coughed.
Panic started coursing through Peter as he realized that his time was just about up. He glanced at the bag of fluid beside May's bed and lifted the bottle to one of the nozzles. This was it. All he had to do was lift it a couple more inches and May would be cured! He could save her, he could cure her!
But he then thought about all of the victims that would suffer to due to his selfishness. And what if others got infected too? What if Mera or MJ or Miles got infected? With all of those thoughts in mind, and with every ounce of will in his body pulled the anti-serum away from the bag of fluid.
Tears welled in Peter's eyes as he set the serum on the side table. Now he had to deal with the heartbreaking loss that he had chosen. He kneeled down next to May's bed, placed his head on the bed, face down and started letting the tears fall. He grasped May's hand as he just listened to the heart monitor beeping.
Soon enough, the short beeps just turned into one long beep. She was gone.
Peter then sobbed uncontrollably as a result. Mera, who in truth had been listening to the entire conversation, dashed right back into the room with hot tears of her own blinding her vision. She rushed to Peter's side and hugged him tightly.
For a while, they said nothing to each other. They just sobbed together in complete silence. They failed to notice that Dr. Michaels and MJ ad come back into the room as well. MJ's face had tears streaming down her face as she observed the scene. Even Dr. Michaels bowed his head in respect for the tragic moment.
He then saw the back of Peter's head and realized that Spider-Man had taken his mask off. He just swiftly turned away from them and walked into the next room. For he did not want to see the face of the web head since he hides his identity for a reason.
"I'm so sorry." Mera whispered in Peter's ear as she held him. Peter only continued to sob as he was too emotional at the moment to return her comment.
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Peter soon changed into his casual clothes and sat in the hallway outside of the kitchen.
He always had the best memories with May in the kitchen since the shelter was opened. He was just trying to cheer up the best he could. It wasn't working all that much, but still......
"Peter?" Called a voice from the other side of the shelter. Peter looked up and saw his red-headed beauty across the shelter. No doubt she was looking for him.
Soon enough though, Mera turned in his direction and instantly walked towards him as he continued to wipe away his tears. "There you are." Mera said, sitting down next to him. "I was getting so worried about you."
"Sorry." Peter said, sniffling a little. Mera pouted at the sadness in Peter's eyes, and kissed his cheek before wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"I'm really sorry Peter." Mera whispered for what seemed like the thousandth time today. "I wish there was something I could do to make this pain go away."
"Me too sweetie. Me too." Peter said, hugging Mera back. At least he still had her to hold now. They spent the next few minutes in silence, staring at all the infected people in the shelter. If any good is coming out of this moment, it's that the anti-serum will be used to save millions from the same fate that May had. A thought then came into Peter's head. "So.......how'd it go?" he asked.
Mera looked up at him in confusion. "How did what go?" she asked.
"The conference. What happened?" Peter asked.
"Oh!" Mera said with a slightly more cheerful tone of voice. "Well we decided that we are indeed going to reveal ourselves to the rest of the world." she answered. Peter put on a small smile at hearing this.
"Mera that's terrific!" Peter said, hugging Mera even tighter now.
"Yes.......I think so too. We've been hiding for far too long. Time for some change." she said.
The sun started to shine light through the window above them. Throughout these last few days, the weather has been overcast, with non-stop rain. Now that Peter thought about it, it was kinda symbolic of the whole situation going on around New York. It was nice to see a bit of daylight after all this time.
Dr. Michaels came by and saw the two sitting in the hallway. He looked exhausted, but relieved. "Morning you two." he said to the couple. "Where's Spider-Man?" he asked.
"Umm..........." Peter hesitated at the question.
"He had to leave. More criminals were driving a car and shooting at people." came MJ's voice as she strolled over towards them. She winked at Peter when he gave her a look of appreciation. Dr. Michaels glanced at MJ, before looking back at the couple in front of him.
"Oh, I see." Michaels said. "I'm sure he will be glad to know that the new doses of the anti-serum are now ready."
Mera and MJ gasped at the news and Peter grinned widely at the doctor. "Excellent! Finally, this nightmare is over." Mera said.
"Let's get rid of this plague." Michaels said, motioning the three of them to follow him into another part of the shelter.
For Peter, it was a bittersweet day. He may have lost his aunt, but at the very least he was able to help develop the cure for the Devil's Breath. He just grasped Mera's hand tightly and followed Michaels, with MJ trailing behind them.