The seconds of the green-lit alarm clock stacked up as time went on, causing the seconds to click back to zeroes once more as the time struck three in the morning. Peter's eyes stung painfully as he hung upside down in the corner of his bedroom, his feet placed flat against each corner and allowing him to stick to the surface. He ran his hand through his hair, his teeth grinding in frustration from his task. The file Shining had given him was in his hands as it had been for the past five hours as he attempted to make heads or tails of the cryptic interview. The leader of the cult had identified himself as Icabod Graham but beyond that he refused to answer any questions presented to him by the police officers in the interview room. The transcript stated that he had begun to speak in some strange language after he was asked a question but every translator available at the time said the same thing: he wasn't speaking any known language. He had tried everything he could think of to try and decipher any meaning behind the words written down. The words however were the interviewer's best attempts to replicate what Icabod had said to them, with the only breakthrough he had discovered being that he kept repeating the same words over and over again. He held his breath for several seconds as his mind lit up with an idea he believed would solve the puzzle but upon testing it he quickly discovered that it was yet again a failure. His temper at an end, he threw the file across the room and growled under his breath.
"I swear, if this stupid mother f..." he hissed quietly, pressing his hands to his face and tensing his muscles as anger surged through him. After several seconds he removed his hands from his face and exhaled slowly. His anger slowly sizzling into nothing more than itching aggravation once more he spoke to himself as he often did.
"Maybe I should start swearing backwards, it would confuse people so I could..." Peter said, each word towards the end of the sentence falling slowly from his mouth. His eyes widened quickly as another idea surged through his mind. He jumped down off the wall, landing in a low crouch before gathering up all of the reports and papers and looking through them with new eyes. The attempts to create words out of the gibberish Icabod had spoken were wrong but if he could translate the words into their phonetic sounds he would be able to see if his plan worked.
"The words are backwards..." Peter stated slowly. After thinking for a second his plan hit a roadblock as he realized he hadn't got the equipment with him to translate letters into phonetics or a way to reverse it. He wracked his brains for another long minute before he found a way past it.
"If I don't have the equipment then I know someone who does" he decided, folding the papers back into the file and turning back to his bed where his black school bag sat, leaning against the wall.
Cadence snuggled into her blanket as she wrapped her arms around her husband. Their apartment living room was lit up by the changing colors of the TV they were watching. Shining had gotten home just under ten minutes ago and still hadn't changed out of his suit. He ran his finger around the loop of the red mug he held in his hands, the hot steam rising from the fresh earl grey tea Cadence had made for him as he got home.
"Anything interesting happen today?" Cadence asked. Shining's head remained focused on the TV for a second longer before turning to his wife.
"Yeah, I got a visit from the web-head asking about the interview we did with that nut-job Graham" Shining explained. Cadence eyebrow perked up as her interest was peaked.
"Are you guys getting any closer to stopping Graham and his cult?" Cadence asked. Shining sighed loudly, leaning back against the couch with his head resting on the top of the leather upholstery.
"I'm guessing that's a no?" Cadence asked.
"We hit a little issue during the interview, Graham started talking in some weird language that none of our translators could identify" Shining continued "So I let the web head take the file with the interview transcripts to see if he could figure it out"
"And do you expect him to figure it out?" Cadence asked with a smirk, rubbing her feet together under the blanket to keep them warm.
"He's helped us out so far, I figure I'd throw him a bone this time around" Shining said as he sipped from the mug. There was a loud jolt of creaking, aging metal from outside the window. Cadence nearly jumped out of her skin as her eyes locked onto the window while Shining's right hand went to the holster at his side, his thumb clicking the leather strap off the back of his handgun, placing his palm on the flat of the handle as he looked in the same direction his wife did.
"Oh hell" Shining said as he saw Spider-Man turn around and knock on the window lightly. As Shining strode over to the window he locked the strap back onto his gun and looked irritably into the orange eyes on the mask.
"I'll tell you like I'll tell everybody else, I don't do house calls" Shining growled "You want to talk, you make an appointment"
"I know this is a bad time and I'm sorry, but dude, there's a whole gang of seagulls out here that have been eyeing me up since fifth avenue" Spider-Man said "This costume isn't machine washable"
"Or machine fashionable either" Shining said, rolling his eyes as he pulled the window up and allowed the web head inside. Spider-Man ducked inside quickly before thanking Shining with a quick nod. He swung his black back off his shoulder and set it down on the floor.
"I think I might have something on your mysterious language Captain" Spider-Man said, taking out the brown file along with the notes he had made on the phonetics of his work. As he stood up straight he noticed Cadence looking at him with a critical gaze. Remembering the last contact he had with her he kept his mind focused on his work to try and keep some of the guilt off his chest.
"So what did you figure out?" Shining asked, setting down his drink and walking over to Spider-Man. Shining was silent for a long second before his detective's eye noticed something in the confines of the black bag.
"Hold up a minute there" he said, grabbing hold of the bag away in the blink of an eye. But Spider-Man's speed was still faster than Shining's and his fingers caught on the bag and the eyes of the two locked as Shining narrowed his eyes.
"You've got school books in here" Shining stated slowly "Twelfth grade stuff if I'm guessing right... that means you're no older than my little sister... you know a kid named Parker?" Spider-Man's breath caught in his throat briefly as he saw Cadence standing up behind him and walking closer. He knew he was cornered at that moment and if he stuttered so much as once when making an excuse his game was up and they would figure out who he was in a second. So he decided to go with an ancient excuse: no, that's not me, he's a friend of mine.
"Parker, Peter Parker?" Spider-Man asked, looking back and forth between Cadence and Shining with the best lying attitude he could muster "The kid from Midtown High in Manehattan... yeah I know him, I used to talk to the kid every time I ran into him, let him get a few photos to impress some of his friends... why?" Cadence's eyes locked onto her husband's who merely stared at Spider-Man for a second longer and so the web-head decided to continue.
"What about him?" he asked "He's not in trouble or something is he... wait, how do you guys even know about him?" There was a moment of silence once more, invading the room and joining with the heart-wrenching tension. Spider-Man's heart was pounding as Shining remained stone-faced for well over ten seconds before finally releasing his grip on the bag and allowing Spider-Man take it back. Spider-Man released a silent sigh of relief before slinging the bag back onto his shoulder, looking away from Shining slowly.
"Right... now what did you say you'd got?" he asked.
"Alright, try hitting the button and see if we've finally got something" Shining said. After forty minutes of rewrites, voice acting and cups of coffee the two men believed they had finally got the correct words said backwards for them to complete the verse of whatever it was Icabod had said. Spider-Man nodded, clicking the mouse to activate the voice program and for the first time they heard words that were discernible, a triumphant smile breaking out onto Shining's face.
"If you wish to find where our domain lays, take yourselves to the grave of our first leader, Jeanne Samaur, and upon her awakening she shall lead you to your final destination"
"Well, it looks like we got ourselves a lead" Shining said, clapping Spider-Man on the back with a chuckle "I'll get a team of officers to track down which graveyard this chick is buried in before going in there and finding out what we're looking for" Spider-Man nodded slowly before looking up at the clock seeing that it had gone past four in the morning.
"You gonna be there tomorrow?" Spider-Man asked as he folded his arms.
"Nope" Shining laughed quietly "It's my dad off tomorrow and I'm going to spend it with my family"
"Alright then, I'll catch you later" Spider-Man said with a shrug, heading back towards the window.
"Yeah, good luck with school kid" Shining said as Spider-Man climbed out onto the fire escape "Try not to get expelled" Spider-Man turned around and looked at him for a long second before pulling the window down with a loud whooshing noise. He cracked his neck before back-flipping off the fire escape and dropping into the dark city below.