3. WHAT IF...
(Ultimate Spiderman/M-day crossover)

[team finds Peter in his bed, deathly ill]

Ava: [lays a hand on his forehead] "What do you think's wrong with him?"

Danny: "I do not know Tiger. But we need to get him to Shield fast."

Luke: [picks peter up] "Take it easy big guy, I gotcha."

Sam: [jumping around nervously in the background] "He's not going to die is he? Is he? Cause I never got to pull my latest prank on him."

Aunt May: [knocks on the door and opens it] "Peter? I brought you some-" [runs to the window] "What are you doing with my boy! Come back! Peter!"

[on Shield Helicarrier]

Fury: "And just where have you- what's with him?"

Luke: "Don't know. He didn't show up at practice so we went looking for him. Found him at his house. He's nonresponsive. Nothing we've tried will wake him up."

Fury: "I was afraid of this."

Ava: "Afraid of/what/ Fury? Whatever secret you've been keeping under need-to-know protocol, we need to know it, now."

Fury: "Bring him this way. You've heard that the Avengers have disbanded temporarily…"

Ava: "Of course."

Sam: "I thought the Torch was just causing trouble again."

Fury: Unfortunately it's not Johnny this time. It was the Scarlet Witch."

Team: "The Scarlet Witch!"

Fury: "What you don't need to know it most of it. What you do need to know is that she's shut off the powers of 98% of the world's mutants."

Team: "What!"

Fury: "A lot of people are dead or dying because of this."

Ava: "Spidy."

Nova: "I still don't get it. What's this to do with Webhead? None of us are mutants."

Fury: "That's where you're wrong. Peter Parker may have gained the powers of Spiderman through a radioactive spider bite. But it appears he survived them because of a mutation triggered at time he was bitten."

Luke: "The radiation…"

[Group arrives at launch pad. Peter is loaded on a gurny and into a transport vehicle]

Fury: "Precisely."

Danny: "Where are you taking him?"

Fury: "I'm not taking him anywhere. You four are flying him to the Xavier Institute Upstate. That's the center for the survivors. I want you to go underground. Don't engage in heroics and for heavens sake if you must, do so under an alternate identity than any that have been previously connected to you and don't use your trademark powers."

Nova: "But… why?"

Danny: "We are an island of stability in an ocean of turmoil. Not all who promote peace with their words wish to calm the waters with their hands."

Nova: "Uh…?"

Ava: "We're a secret weapon. There's going to be people that want to take advantage of this and with the Avengers disbanded and X-men otherwise occupied it's the perfect time for some big badies to break their cover. We gotta make them think that they don't have to be cautious. If we can't catch them off guard more people are going to get hurt."

Fury: "Well said White Tiger. Now the coordinates are already entered. Shield's going to have its hands full but if you need us we'll send someone. Some advice? Try not to need us."

[Team Ultimate piles in. Peter's skin begins glowing as they cut through the sky towards their new home]

Frost: "Welcome Ava, Sam, Danny, Luke, to Sanctuary."

Nova: [spins around wildly and falls on his butt] "Who said that!"

Frost: "You need not fear me. My name is Emma Frost. I am a telepath. You may land your little ship through the basketball court. The tunnel is open."

Ava: [throttles controls and shoots towards the now open hole] "Hold on Dork. Help is almost here."

[Land on a narrow open runway within a hanger crowded with vehicles of all shapes and sizes parked efficiently but haphazardly across the bay. They are met by Iceman.]

Bobby: "Emma said you had a casualty."

[Ava and Sam drift to either side to reveal Luke and Danny carrying out Peter on his gurney.\

Bobby: "Oh, man. Spiderman too?!" [shakes head] "Follow me. Dr. Banner and Dr. McCoy are whipping up quick fixes as fast as they can. I'm sure they'll find something to help him as well."

[Outside the Medlab the team waits and worries. Meanwhile inside-]

Hank: "Whose next?"

Kitty: "Spiderman. He's isolated from the others because of the radioactivity."

Bruce: "Radioactivity?"

[Kitty hands him a Shield profile on Peter.]

Bruce: [Reading it] "Bit by a radioactive spider and gained subsequent spider like abilities. Suspect that healing factor is not one of such acquired abilities but a reaction to them."

Hank: "It would make sense. Many mutant genes are triggered during teenage years by some event that requires adaptation to survive."

[The two doctors work busily over the comatose Peter. His subtle glow takes on an acid hue as his skin begins flaking off.]

Hank: [looking at a series of samples of Peter's blood, skin, saliva, etc tissue] "The radioactivity is concentrated in his blood stream. He's literally poisoning himself from the inside out."

Bruce: "Maybe an infusion would help. My body adapted to the gamma rays without mutation. If-"

[A muted siren goes off as another patient is brought in]

Hank: "You got this one Bruce?"

Bruce: "Go."

[Hank hurries off and Bruce prepares the first of many blood transfusions that might, maybe, save a life before rushing off to the next victim leaving Peter's friends to watch over him through the protective radioactivity dampening windows of his sickroom.]

Ava: [leaning on Luke] "Do you think he'll make it?"

Danny: "Like a rod of iron in a wall of stone, Peter is stronger than he appears."

Sam: "Yeah, whatever. But if Webslinger dies on us I'm bringing back to have the satisfaction of killing him myself. Nothing takes down our Spiderman!"

[The fiercly optimistic declaration from the most antagonistic of them reminds them that Nova is also the youngest. And that none of them are old enough to be out of high school much less working for an international peacekeeping organization and spy operation. But here they are, all four of them having grown up under Shield's wing and then there's Peter Parker, who grew up like a normal kid and didn't have near their training or advantages and yet had more experience in what actually mattered in his little finger when they first showed up in New York than they had in their entire bodies and he gained it the hard way, in a jungle gym with no safety nets and against opponents who shot to kill. They're better now, but he's still the one they look up to, even if they'd never normally admit it. Through the distortion of the thick glass, Peter's body looks unnaturally small and pale.]

Team: [thinking] Just please, please, please be ok.

[Six months later. Midvale high.]

Ava: "Did you remember to take your shot this morning?"

Peter: "What? Don't I look green enough for you?"

Flash: "Better eat your vegetables Parker!" [hallway laughs]

Peter: [sighs. Addresses audience.] "So things haven't really changed. Sure I'm now dependent on a shot every morning to keep me alive and not radiating, not a good weakness to have, Flash has even more ammo to make my life living hell, and any injuries I acquire actually stick around, but things aren't all bad. I got to meet Hulk's other side, his 'little friend', and Dr. Banner's pretty cool himself. The X-men are on my speed-dial now, great if I need a lotta help with a little less protocol than Shield. Luke got this picture of Buckethead [flashes a picture of Magneto] "no! not that Buckethead! This one!" [shows Sam bawling his eyes out over Peter] "and best of all your friendly neighborhood Spiderman is back in Business! I'm out!"