A news report plays on a flickering TV in a dark room. The anchor’s voice is grim.
He knocks. Three soft taps.
"Mr. Parker?" Hector’s voice is a gravelly whisper. "It’s Delgado. From 2B."
Spider-Man thinks he’s protecting the neighborhood. But Hector sees the truth: the neighborhood is destroying him. Tu amigo y vecino Spider-Man Temporada 1 Dual 1...
Then, we hear it. Not the scrape-thump of oxygen. Not the thwip of a web.
The sound inside stops. The shaking. The quiet sobs. Everything goes dead silent.
For the first time that night, Peter Parker lets himself break. He takes the cookies. He doesn't cry. But he leans his forehead against the old man’s shoulder. Just for a second. Just long enough to remember he is human. A news report plays on a flickering TV in a dark room
Hector does something he hasn't done in months. He pulls on his frayed bathrobe. He grabs his cane, not his oxygen tank. He doesn't need the tank for what he's about to do.
A voice, cold and synthesized, whispers: "With great power… comes great liability."
Tu Amigo y Vecino Spider-Man: Temporada 1, Episodio Dual 1 – El Espectro de la Avenida de Queens Three soft taps
"No," Hector says softly. "It’s not. But I brought you something."
Peter should go down. He should ask if the old man needs help. But the weight of the suit pins him to the chair. He is a failure as Peter Parker and a butcher as Spider-Man. He puts his head in his hands and lets the scrape-thump become the metronome of his self-hatred.
Hector Delgado wakes up at 1:58 AM. The pain in his chest is a familiar animal, gnawing at his ribs. He fumbles for his oxygen. Scrape-thump. He hates that sound. It’s the sound of his own decay.
Hector remembers his own son, Mateo. How he would come home on leave. He would laugh too loud. He would sleep with a knife under his pillow. He would stare at the wall for hours. That same hollow look. The look of someone who has seen the abyss and knows the abyss is winning.
