Aaron wonders when killing some novice spiderman became so difficult, he can't help but be a bit bitter about it, but he finally has him, the pain his ass that has been taking him all around the city. As he stalks closer to the arachnid themes hero, it's clear the vigilante is realized he's bitten off more than he can chew.
Aaron has no idea how someone like that managed to become spiderman, someone so unprepared and unrefined, but he isn't being paid to rationalize.
No.
He's being paid to kill spiderman.
Again.
He finds himself half a foot in front of spiderman, hand gripping his neck, slowly tightening preparing get it over with, when all of a sudden, Spiderman's hands fly to his mask.
And soon, Aaron is looking into hazel eyes.
It's like he's been thrown off his axis
.
He's is reminded of big, innocent, hazel eyes that once looked up at him like his arms were the safest place in the world to be.
Aaron's own eyes widen.
He can't believe what he's seeing. Because this isn't how things were supposed to play out. This wasn't what he signed up for. He's sure he can hear his heart beating, the blood rushing.
"No. No, no, no." He finds himself repeating in fear and disbelief, and before he can tell Miles- because that's who's looking back at him right now, it's Miles, his nephew, the boy Aaron loves more than anything.
Sensing his hesitation, KingPin begins speaking, "What are you doing, kill him!" His boss says through Aaron's ear piece.
Kill him?
He's supposed to kill Miles?
How could he even think of doing that? This isn't just him being paid to kill spiderman anymore, this is him being paid to kill his nephew. The kid who's like a son to him.
The kid Aaron wanted to protect, to keep safe.
The kid who was the only person to look at Aaron and see someone reliable and safe.
He's spiderman, the person he's been hired to kill. The person he's been hunting and chasing after this entire time. But he's so much more than that to Aaron.
"No." He whispers, barely loud enough for KingPin to hear through the earpiece.
He knows no one is close enough to see Miles's face, so Aaron quickly puts Miles's mask back down, ensuring his identity stay hidden.
Before he can tell Miles to run, to run and not look back, to somehow get as far away from here as possible, something is flying through the air.
He feels the bullet after it's already exited the other side of his body.
Despite the fatal wound he's been given, he can't help but look to Miles with worry.
Time begins moving in slow motion, the world tilting, and Aaron suddenly realizes he is falling.
Before he can hit the ground, he's scooped up into arms, arms that are still thin, still small, but not as weak as Aaron remembers.
He remembers picking Miles up by his arms and swinging him back and forth. It always managed to get a laugh out of him.
Arms that are now holding him in one and swinging from building to building with the other. He can feel the protective way the arm grips around him.
He remembers a time when he had to hold Miles that way. They had been walking on the sidewalk when Mikes had accidentally bumped into some guy. The guy started yelling like crazy, talking about how Miles needed to watch where he was going. Aaron wrapped one arm around Miles protectively and focused on getting the guy to leave. He remembers how Miles looked at him like he was some hero
He had been so scared, not for himself, but for Miles.
It's like time sped up and jumped around, because the next thing Aaron knows, he's on the floor of a dingy alleyway, laying on his back and looking at Miles.
He looks into Miles 's eyes and suddenly, his life starts flashing before his eyes.
Him and Jeff are running in the back alleys, laughing to each other as they adjust their grip on their backpacks until the make it to a wall that's relatively hidden.
They're excitedly whispering to each other as they reach into their backpacks and pull out their paint cans.
Aaron sees the tears forming in Miles's eyes.
His memory jumps to the time where Jeff officially became a cop. He can't help but feel something bitter in his chest when Jeff says that now that he's a cop, he can't be breaking the law just because Aaron wants to hang out. He says that he can't be doing what Aaron does.
Time passes, and Aaron doesn't get any phone calls from Jeff.
"I'm sorry." Aaron starts.
His memory jumps again to the time where Jeff called him and told him about the baby Rio just had. His nephew. Miles.
"I wanted you to look up to me."
He's in their home. He's in their home and it's awkward. He can't help but miss the times when it wasn't.
"I let you down, man. I let you down."
It's him and Miles in his apartment. The kid is small and energetic, for some reason. He still doesn't get why his brother is so obsessed with watching over Miles instead of letting him do it for a bit.
(That's not true. He knows it's just because Jeff doesn't want Miles to turn out like him.)
But then Miles is looking at him like he's worth something. Like he's more than the lazy bum who vandalizes walls in the city.
And suddenly, it's like the puzzle pieces finally fell into place.
Because he's looking at this kid, and all he wants to do is keep him safe.
"You're the best of all of us, Miles "
And he is. He's such a good kid. All he wants to do is make his parents proud and hang with his uncle. Something his own dad, his brother, hasn't done for a long time.
He's walking around his apartment, doodling in a notebook that he gently places on his countertop. He gently flips through the pages, looking at all the sketches and designs he came up with to work on with Miles.
"You're on your way."
It's getting colder, and his eyes feel heavy.
Aaron picks up a call from Miles, and he sounds so excited just to be talking to him.
But then the sight of Miles unmasking himself to Aaron begins to overlap with the image of Miles smiling at him. Miles must have been so scared.
He knew Aaron was the prowler. That Aaron was the guy who had been chasing him all this time. There's no other explanation for why Miles took of his mask. He had to have known that the Prowler was someone who wouldn't want to hurt him.
He's ways been to smart for his own good. Smarter than Aaron could've ever hoped to be.
The look of genuine fear on Miles's face is etched into his memory.
No matter what, Aaron knows that Mikes is a good kid. And he hopes nothing ever changes that.
"Just keep going." He finishes, his strength to speak fading away.
His eyes close and his breathing stops.
The clouds were gray and the wind was calm.
Miles hugged Aaron's body, tears spilling from his eyes.
On that day, brother of Jeff Davis, brother-in-law to Rio Morales, and uncle to Miles Morales died.
He died, and the world kept going.
Because no one is going to mourn a no name street artist.
No one except for the people who knew he was more than that, who knew they wasted their time keeping their distance, and people who will have been the only living person to have heard his final words.