32 Moving Forward Part 9

-Hells Kitchen- 

"Ancient One huh, so is that like your name or a title?" Peter asked looking up at the floating woman. 

" It is both my name and my title." The woman replied, her hood still hid her face from view. 

" That's a weird name, a bit presumptuous if you ask me. What are you like a thousand years old or something." Peter's head tilted slightly to the left in interest, his hands slipping casually into his pocket after determining that this person wasn't here to harm him. 

The Ancient one smiled at the teen from beneath her hood, the lower part of her hood being the only visible part of her face. 

" Much older I'm afraid, I've had many names over the years, all either forgotten or lost. Taking my title as a name seemed much simpler. That is why I am called the Ancient One." The Ancient one spoke polity, like an elder addressing a child. 

"Well shit, Ancient One sounds like an alright name when you put it like that. But that still doesn't explain why you know who I am." Peter stated the center of the pupils of his eye's lit up with a neon blue glow. His Technopathy streaming a live search through the Internet, slipping behind every accessible database connected to it to find a possible ID on her. 

"I know a few things young Peter, finding out your name however was quite a task. If you don't want people to learn your name perhaps you and your friend shouldn't shout it out for the world to hear. Hmm." The Ancient one explained with an amused chuckle.

"Oh, you heard that did you? Yeah, it really wasn't our best moment, shit kinda got out of hand before we could do anything about it. Tell me honestly, how much of that did you hear exactly?" Peter asked, feeling an inkling of embarrassment that someone was able to escape his senses on overhearing what went down with him and Gwen. 

"I heard enough. You needn't worry, your personal lives hold no interest to me, what I've heard here won't be uttered again to another soul. It's a private matter between you and your friend. But I must say the wonders of youth never cease to amaze me. To hate, forgive, and almost kill each other all in a matter of moments. Young people these days are all hasty. " The Ancient One responded as she floated down and stood a few meters away from Peter. 

Peter studied her all the while. Pictures, articles, and files blitzed passed the edges of his vision, their contents being processed and stored in his mind. Each one showed identical matches to the figure that floated down in front of him but none provided any real clues to her true identity.

Curiously there was almost no virtual profile of her or any mentions of someone like her anywhere. 

The closest matches were some kind of monk-like monasteries with similarly dressed people located all around the world.

There was even one in New York, from the mentions of them it seemed like they were some kind of spiritual and self-healing non-profit religious organization; All about that self-discovery and the secret powers of the mind and body and all that crap.

He stored it away for later but let the search still run in case something came up.

"You're serious aren't you" Peter stated. Her bio-rhythm and conditional assessment from his technopathy showed him nothing to be suspicious of, in fact, it seemed to emphasize her sincerity. She was being incredibly honest and forthcoming with him.

"Yes, if there's something you wish to know you only need to ask me, if it is within my powers to answer I will," The Ancient one told him. The wind fluttered her robes lightly. 

" Why though?" Peter asked curiously. The Ancient One paused for a moment, she seemed to be considering how to answer the teen. 

" I want to help you." The ancient began as Peter raised an eyebrow in confusion, the action hidden by his bandage mask.

 " I've been searching for you for months and to evade me as you have is no easy feat, for you to do that without knowing is quite the achievement. It is only thanks to luck that I've found you tonight." The Ancient One continued. " Although you may not realize it yet, you're a very special being. You're very existence is a strange one, an anomaly in the omnipotence if you will and the events and the people that will surround you will only get stranger. Your destiny is tied to great things, shifts, and changes in time that alter the very fabric of not only this world but others as well. Be it the past, the present, and even the future, your actions, no matter how small hold the power to influence the fate of others. That's not something any mortal should be able to accomplish. You know why that is don't you?" 

Peter felt a sudden sense of discomfort under the Ancient One's knowing gaze, even obscured under her hood Peter could feel the intensity of it. He felt the need to check if his fool's mask was still in place. 

It was still there, he never dismissed it.

 Yet that feeling persisted. It was like she could see him as he was, like all the parts he kept hidden were just laid bare for her to see. As if she could see things about himself that even he could not. From the way she spoke, Peter suspected that she could see the future or something. Information still flowed past his vision, nothing of noteworthy yet he noted.

However this person was, she was ridiculously hard to find anywhere in the meta-verse. that said something about the woman given the current day and age.

Peter kept his curious gaze on the Ancient One, his fool's mask gave nothing away. 

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Do you always talk so mysteriously to strangers? Then again you're pretty mysterious yourself, you're looking pretty real for someone who virtually doesn't exist you know." Peter rebutted, he chose to ignore the foreboding tone of her words.

"Speak for yourself young Peter, you look quite alive for someone who's visited the other side more than once."The Ancient One retorted in a witty tone. Her statement raised a few red flags in Peter's mind, she knew more than she let on.

Maybe she could see the future. Peter wondered if she really was here to help him, she'd been nothing but sincere from the moment they met. He would have to see whether she telling the truth or not. With that in mind, Peter decided to change the subject.

This night truly was an unpredictable one. 

"Why did you call me that before?" Peter asked. "The Error of Earth 65B, why call me that?"

"It's a title, it's one of the few names you'll be known as in the coming years. I've taken a liking to it, it fits you quite well. So I've decided to address you as such. I thought it fair since you know by my title, I should address with yours." The robed woman smiled softly at Peter. There was that knowing gaze again. 

" Really?… That's actually kinda cool. I wanna ask some more but I really gotta know. The way you talk, it's weird, it's like you can see the future. Is that how you know things, you can see the future right?" Peter asked. He figured that to be the case, the way she spoke made it seem that way. 

"In a way, I can view possible futures and the past. It helps sometimes." The older woman replied. 

"Is that how you knew about Spider-woman, how you knew that she'd come back safely?" Peter asked, his thoughts wandering back to his friend?, he wasn't sure what they were at the moment. 

 "Yes, Your friend will be fine. She'll be back by the day after tomorrow at the latest. Where she went is somewhere you and I can't go to, at least not yet. You will though, someday soon." The woman told Peter. 

"More ominous future stuff I don't know about, You're really serious about helping me a bit aren't you?" Peter asked. 

"Yes, I am." With a wave of her hand, a thin object appeared in between Peter's fingers that were tucked away in his pockets. 

*Shatter*

The card simply vanished the moment it appeared like it stopped existing altogether. 

The sound of glass shattering alerted Peter as he felt something occur, one of his abilities had just been used- imagine breaker passive ability took effect due to the supernatural nature of the

Ancient One's actions, he took his hand out and looked back at the Ancient One with an accusatory gaze. He didn't feel any hostility from the action but it was better to be safe than sorry. The ancient one merely tilted her head in curiosity. 

"How curious… You have some form of magic resistance it seems, a rather rare and useful ability to have." the older woman spoke as she reached into her robe and pulled out a card. It was an elegant-looking paper card with intricate gold designs around the edges. She tossed it to Peter who caught it. On it was written:

'Master's of the Mystic Arts 

New York Sanctum

177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village, New York City, New York.'

"It's a card, it serves as an invitation. If you have any more questions or require someone to talk to come seek me out, our door is always open to you young Peter. We will neither judge you nor shy away from you regardless of the path you choose to take. We will even teach you our ways if knowledge of the mystic arts is something you wish to learn. Use it well, I rarely ever hand out invitations. Now, I must leave you. I am a very busy woman and evil hardly sleeps. My purpose here for tonight was to make contact with you and I have done that."

The ancient one waved her fingers behind her swiftly. Sparks glittered to life, a ring made of light formed in the air, cutting through space as it expended. 

The place in the ring of light was a courtyard paved with tiles and wooden dummies. A training yard Peter realized. And it seemed like it was in the middle of the day too as he could see the clouds in the sky and feel the warm breeze that blew by him from the ring. It was a portal Peter realized. 

"Cool" he muttered to himself." Wait that's it. You're just gonna leave?" Peter asked. He was pleasantly surprised. What a strange woman this person was. She was honest and forthcoming, mysterious and sincere.

Why weren't all heroes like this? Or was she something else...

She said nothing as she waved her hands again. Something shot to her from the incomplete building wrapped in glowing magic circular magic glyphs. 

It was daredevil's beaten body. 

"Oh my, you sure did a number on him." She said as she walked into the portal. The floating body of Daredevil followed her through. The Ancient one waved her hand as she turned and walked into the portal. 

"Until next time young Peter, do drop by at your leisure, I'll save you a cup of my special brand of tea, it's world-changing or so I'm told ".

The Portal closed immediately after. 

"…." 

Peter was left standing there bluffed for a few minutes. His technopathy's search proved unfruitful as there was nothing on the Ancient One in the Meta-Verse.

"OK, sure just leave after all that buildup, why not…what to do now?" he spoke with an exasperated sigh looking at the card in his hand. 

"Master's of the Mystic Arts huh…" 

He turned to look out into hell's kitchen and walked over to the edges of the crane, taking in the sight of the city at night. 

"What to do now?" he repeated. After a while, he decided to go home. He really was done for the night, or should he say morning. Techno (his AI-Self) informed him that it was two am already. 

He shot past the buildings with relative ease, his speed and movements would be no different than a flickering shadow to the human eye. 

Home it is, but not before stopping by his hideout for a bath and to freshen up, can't track blood all over the house now can he?

He had enough surprises for one night. 

....

- a couple of minutes later at Peter's hide out-

Peter dropped down onto the hard cement without a sound. It was in a metal scrap yard filled with large shipping containers, abandoned cars, and other metallic objects. In the center at hidden behind all the scrap was the warehouse that served as his base of operations. 

Inside was empty other than useless junk stacked around that made it seem like the building was still in use for storage, his hideout was beneath the warehouse. 

He made his way in before a secret metallic door that looked no different than a wall chimed to let him in, sliding to the side.

There was no handle, the only way in was with his technopathy, it was perfect for him and him alone to enter. The only other way in was through the sewers. He had yet to install a door there aside from sealing it up with a metal slab for the moment. 

He made his way down as the lights to his underground lair switched on. 

Peter abruptly stiffened when his eyes caught sight of something in the center of the room facing him. His eyes widened in surprise as his muscles tensed in preparation. 

There sitting in the center of the room, wet all over, dirty with the stench of sewerage, dressed in nothing but a light blue hospital gown was one Yuri Watanabe. Her short hair was scuffled and out of place, some rubbish stuck to it here and there, she held her hands on her lap as she watched Peter silently, her eyes wide, pupils dilated and focused on Peter. 

There was a slightly reddish-orange glow in there that bled into her brown iris and seemed to intensify in both color and brightness the longer she stared at Peter. Her breathing was slow and uneven as if she was desperately trying to control herself. 

She made no sudden moves if any at all, only choosing to sit there in silence watching him. 

"Well, shit." Peter cursed aloud, he blamed his Parker luck in times like this. 

This world just loved to fuck with him. 

Here he thought the surprises were over for the night but no, obviously not, it wouldn't ever be that easy. 

'Where's all this misfortunate luck coming from? It's like lady luck has it out for me tonight ' Peter thought solemnly before residing himself to his fate.

Damn, Parker luck. 

-Chapter End-

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