Susan Storm, known as the Invisible Woman, sat in her destroyed room in the Baxter Building, half of which had turned to rubble.
Each time she looked around the room, she recalled the old memories-those memories that were dear to her and that she still held in her heart to this day.
But memories were just memories-anchors we use to cling to lost hope, and an ugly way for the past to haunt us even in our present and future.
And the past is what shapes the present in many ways, as it also largely controls the future.
Susan Storm was still suffering from the mistakes of the past to this day, ever since Peter Parker disappeared five years ago.
Each time the memories crossed her mind, she would wonder if she had told Peter about her feelings.
Would he have stayed?
If she had told him one of her biggest secrets that concerned her.
Would he have stayed?
If she hadn't agreed to that stupid vacation Reed had offered her to one of Stark's resorts in Hawaii and stayed.
Would he have stayed?
If she had doubted, even slightly, that Reed was planning something, because the man never truly cared about his family, and suddenly he comes smiling and says, "Hey Susan, you and the kids need some rest to clear out negative thoughts. Take these tickets-they're for Stark's resort in Hawaii, one of the best."
Damn, even his words were overly polished. She would always lament her naivety and how she didn't suspect Reed, but she had a small hope that he had finally decided to care about his children... or at least Franklin, since Valeria wasn't his daughter, and apparently, he already knew that.
But she never doubted him, maybe because Peter was behaving very strangely at that time, due to Otto's control over his body, which she didn't know.
It greatly affected the children, especially Valeria, as her little daughter always adored Peter as the father Reed was not... if only she had known.
Imagine her shock when she returned and discovered everything that had happened to Peter and how the damn hero community treated him like a plague, saying he was lying and telling them that Otto, the dead man, had taken control of his body.
Susan didn't think twice and went searching for him, because if Peter said Otto had taken control of his body and that it wasn't him who committed all the atrocities during her suspicious vacation, then that's exactly what happened.
She knew well that Peter was terrible at lying to the point that he couldn't make up a real lie like this, even if he were the smartest man on the planet, which everyone seemed not to know, as they continued to treat him like a foolish germ.
No matter how long she searched for him, she found no trace. She did everything in her power to find even a small clue to his whereabouts, but she found nothing. The last place he was in, according to Baxter's satellites, was one of the buildings, and after that-nothing.
She asked everyone. Some mocked her efforts; others didn't care, but when she reached Julia... oh, that woman. After what she told her, Susan wanted to trap her between two force fields and crush her to dust.
But she held back because she found that Julia was suffering herself, and her condition wasn't well either. She seemed to be in a slight state of shock.
She also told her that her position as Madame Web had been taken by the original Madame Web, who cursed her with all the pain Peter had endured since the day he became Spider-Man, and now she bore Earth-616 within her heart.
If she succumbed to the pain and died, Earth-616 would die with her.
She also told her that the original Madame Web had sent Peter to another world, far from their universe's control.
This made her even sadder because she couldn't reach the father of her child and the man she loved. It hurt her because he was always by her side.
But what made her rage to an immeasurable degree was what Julia told her in the end-that Peter considered her and her children nothing to him because he believed she was one of the many people who turned their backs on him.
Susan rejected this notion, holding her head as tears streamed down her blue eyes. Julia told her she knew that, and the reason Peter thought she and her children turned their backs on him was because Reed, after sending them on that vacation, created a hologram resembling her and the kids.
After Peter regained control of his body and wanted to explain what happened, the hologram Reed programmed threw him out of the building. Reed was there to ensure Peter couldn't touch the hologram and discover they weren't really there.
She also told her that Reed was one of four people who knew from the start that Peter wasn't himself, thanks to the brain scan they obtained, but they didn't tell anyone.
These people were Reed, Charles, Tony, and Black Bolt, the leader of the Inhumans, as they were founding members of the Illuminati-a group seeking to control the world from the shadows under the pretense of protecting it.
Reed didn't tell anyone because it was his chance to keep Peter away from her and the kids, as he knew about her feelings and that Valeria was Peter's daughter, not his.
Tony knew well that Peter was incredibly intelligent and had the ability to push his intellect further if only Peter decided to continue his studies, learn more, and focus on developing his intelligence.
He feared Peter might surpass him, as Tony's only distinction was his intelligence and nothing more; he had no combat training, no superpowers-nothing. If someone smarter and stronger came along, his value, fame, and glory would diminish.
Charles didn't care to help Peter because he saw him as just a human unworthy of his assistance, despite reluctantly working with Stark, solely for mutant protection. Despite this, he didn't acknowledge that Peter was the only hero who helped mutants, whether it was the X-Men or the young mutants facing persecution, scorn, and being hunted to be killed. He would save them and guide them to the island himself.
As for Black Bolt, he held a grudge against Peter because his wife had fallen for the spider for reasons Susan didn't yet understand.