answers to reveiwers questions or statements:
chimera624: What's him gettin cursed by some spider being have to do with him getting dragged into things that could kill him?
Guest: No, Peter didnt really understand what the spider meant at the time and has since used his powers to make him the famous archeologist he is today. Plus the spider was being ironic, Peter wanted fame, well he's goign to get it, just not in the way he had hoped. We'll see what Peter's childhood was like after he gets on Yamatai. No, Peter has no connection of any sort with Wakanda and it's people.
Great Saiyaman54: No, he wasn't.
Spawn Hades: We'll see what Uncle Ben was to Peter soon.
Henchman213: No the characters have other reasons to dislike the man aside from his personality, like trying to sell valuable artifacts to criminals when they should have gone back to the museum or the divorce he's gone through because he slept with some 22 year old girl. That right there shows to others he's not a honest guy you want in your corner.
Cyclopz: She's a bit hesitant to actually sit down and talk with the guy because she is a little afraid that he won't meet her expectations. She used to admire Whitman until she met the man in person and destroyed any admiration she had for him with his personality alone. But having talk to him and seeing he's pretty relaxed, it's more of she's afraid she'll embarrass herself.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or Tomb Raider characters seen, mentioned or used.
They finally did it, it took six hours and a lot of yelling from Reyes but they work party had finally gotten the old engine up and running again and the Endurance continued on it's way in search for the fabled city of Yamatai... until the engine gives out again.
Peter, after taking a nice long shower had headed down to the galley to see what Jonah had made tonight. Based on the heavenly aroma Peter detected, it was particularly good.
'Okay seriously, I'm moving to the South Pacific when I retire, forget the English countryside' Peter thought with a snort as he entered the galley and quickly went to retrieve his food which was some kind of fish baked and cooked in some sort of spice with a mixture of vegetables, some garlic bread and a glass of water.
After securing his food, Peter quickly went to find a table for him to sit at. He thought of seeking out Wilt, but thought better of it. Peter only met him once and found the man to be rather dry and boring. If he wanted a less than stimulating conversation that would leave him on the verge of sleep, he'd stay home and attend his Aunt May's book club while trying to gently tell her that he doesn't want to get set up with her friend's niece.
"She makes it seem like I can't get a girlfriend on my own" Peter said with a sigh "Okay in high school and college I couldn't, but I can now!"
Granted several of the women that Peter has dated in the past were either have the to small but respectful fortune he's managed to acquire and some were a bit too extreme for his Aunt with one of them being Trinity's top field commander but that was beside the point.
Peter came to a stop and glanced around the room for an open seat, finding it a little difficult given that half the crew seemed to be in here. After a few seconds of searching, Peter found two possible seats he could use at two separate tables. One was across from Whitman and the other was next to Lara Croft.
'Man, either sit next to the attractive British girl or sit next to Whitman... tough choice' Peter thought with narrowed eyes before he made his choice.
"Hey Lara, mind if I sit here?" Peter asked as he came to stand next to the young woman.
Lara looked up from her small novel to see who was speaking to her before her eyes found Peter's. The two stared at one another for several moments before Peter frowned.
"Oh... okay, sorry" Peter said as he turned to leave before Lara spoke.
"Wait no!" she said as she placed her novel down "Sorry, sorry it's just I was a little surprised is all"
"Surprised, by what?" Peter said with a quirked brow.
"That you wanted to sit next to me is all..." Lara said a little shyly.
"Why wouldn't I?" Peter asked with confusion "What you smell or something?"
"N-No" Lara said with a blush as she discreetly checked to see that she didn't smell like half the crew here.
"Well then why wouldn't I want to sit next to you?" Peter said.
Lara was silent for a few seconds as she tired to think of an appropriate answer before she shrugged "You just didn't seem like the type..."
"Type of what?" Peter asked.
"I... I don't know" Lara said as she covered her face in embarrassment and lowly whispered "God please just kill me now and end this!"
'Yeesh that's dark' Peter thought as he sat next to Lara "Well if you can't think of a reason of why I wouldn't want to sit next to you, then I guess I'm gonna have to stay here until we come up with a good enough of reason"
"S-Sure..." Lara said as she watched Peter begin to dig into her food 'Way to go Lara, you've completely managed to make a fool of yourself for a second time in front of the man'
"So, how's your day been?" Peter asked.
"Huh?" Lara said before Peter's words registered in her brain "Oh, it's been good"
Peter nodded at this "Do anything exciting?"
Lara smiled a little at this "No, not really"
Peter chuckled at this as he took a bite of his bread "Yeah, down side to being on a ship, not much to do"
"I take it this isn't your first ship you've been on?" Lara asked.
"Well if you don't count cruises, then yeah, it'd probably count as my third" Peter said with a grin "Though it is my first research vessel, so there's that"
"Well I'm glad you've got to experience that for the first time" Lara said with a giggle.
Peter smirked at this "Yeah, plus I have a habit of making firsts always the most memorable"
Lara blushed faintly at what Peter said, causing him to look at her in confusion before he realized how that sounded and his eyes widened "That sounded better in my head"
"It's okay, I suffer from the same problem" Lara said with a small laugh "I've been trying to work on it"
"Well if you find a way to fix it, mind sharing the secret with me?" Peter said with a sheepish grin "Kinda have a bad habit of speaking before I think"
"Only if you promise to bring me on one of your expeditions" Lara said before her mind caught up with her words 'Ah shit...'
Peter blinked at Lara in surprise before he grinned and held his hand out "Deal"
Lara blinked at the outstretched hand before she took it and slowly began to shake the man's hand, faintly admiring how rough and strong the grip felt. After a few seconds of shaking one another's hand, Peter snorted as he nodded towards their still touching hands "You uh, gonna let me go Lara?"
It was than that Lara was dragged out of her thoughts and saw she was still holding Peter's hand. Blushing madly, she tore her hand from his and gave him an embarrassed grin "Sorry, hehehehe"
"It's all good" Peter said with a shrug as he took a drink of his water "Sides, you should have seen what happened when I met Nathan for the first time. Now that, that was embarrassing"
"Nathan?" Lara said as her eyes began to widen "As in the Nathan Drake?"
"Uh yeah?" Peter said with a raised brow "Why, is there another? Because if there is, there's someone I got to call to let her know that Nathan has a twin running around that she could hit up"
"What's he like?" Lara asked, internally wincing at how she sounded with her demand.
"Pretty cool guy. Bit cocky, but nice guy all around... and one lucky S.O.B." Peter said with an eye roll towards the end "Why, you a fan of his too?"
'Okay Lara, just play it cool' Croft thought with a nod "He's the reason I got into archeology, aside from my father of course"
Peter's shoulders sagged at this "And yet another one. Is it too much to ask for one person to have become an archeologist because of me?!"
At this Lara's eyes widened in fear "Wait, I didn't mean to imply-"
"Relax girl, just joking" Peter said with a laugh as he leaned back in his chair a little "Man, you need to loosen up a little Lara. I'm a big boy with a sturdy ego, no need to walk eggshells around me"
"Sorry, I'm just... I just admire what you've been able to accomplish" Lara said as she adverted her gaze from the man.
"Aww thanks, that's one of the nicest things I've ever heard" Peter said.
Lara smiled at that "Your welcome"
Petr chuckled as he took another drink of his glass, he was starting to feel a little warm for some reason "So Lara, why East Asia?"
"Excuse me?" Lara said with a blink.
"East Asia, why choose that field?" Peter asked as he set his glass down "There's Latin America, South America, Europe, Africa, and a host of other places you could have picked to major in. So, why East Asia?"
"Oh... well, it partly had to do with my father's work" Lara said a little shyly "He did a lot of digs in East Asia"
Peter hummed a this "Ah, following in parents footsteps?"
"Something like that" Lara said with a nod while thinking 'Though, I'm not exactly eager to follow exactly in his foot steps given how things ended with him'
Peter nodded at this "Same with me. Well sort of. My Uncle was one of the curators at the museum back in New York. Sometimes he'd take me to work with him and explain to me all the different things they had there. Took a real liking to the Egyptian artifacts they had and just never lost interest in them"
"Really?" Lara said with surprise at hearing how Peter got involved in archeology.
"Well that and I had a crush on one of the archeologists that worked there who specialized in Egyptian history, soo..." Peter said with a sheepish grin "Yeah"
Lara giggled at this "So it was your uncle and apparently a hot archeologist that got led to you becoming one of the foremost experts in ancient Egyptian culture"
"Yeah, but I think I'll keep that out of my autobiography" Peter said with a snort "Maybe replace it with something cliché like 'I saw a mummy for the first time and became all fascinated with it and it's history'"
"I don't know, makes you sound more human, a little more relatable" Lara said with a simple shrug.
"No, the relatable part will be me getting my butt shoved into a locker in high school and being forced to do the school's top quarterback's homework for him because he's too dumb to do it himself" Peter said with a shake of his head "And then swirlies, oh god!"
Lara broke out into a laugh at this, causing Peter to laugh as well "Yeah, yeah, laugh at the bullied nerd, everyone did"
"You, a nerd?" Lara said with a disbelieving smile "You don't strike me as the type"
"Oh I was a nerd alright, pocket protector and everything" Peter said with a scoff "I was such a nerd that the water boy for the football team could pick on me"
"They were probably just jealous you made being a nerd cute" Lara teased.
"Cute huh?" Peter said with a smirk, causing Lara to blush.
"Well... I assumed you'd be... yeah" she said as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
"Your the second woman to ever say I was a cute nerd" Peter said with a grin.
"Second?" Lara asked with a grin.
"Well, my first was my Aunt but she was by obligation supposed to tell me that I was cute" Peter said with a chuckle "It's got even worse now. She's trying to set me up with her friend's niece"
"Aww" Lara cooed.
"No, not aww, that's the very opposite of 'aww'" Peter said with a shake of his head.
"Have you seen a picture of the girl?" Lara asked.
"No, but I was told her profession" Peter said as he took another drink of his water 'Damn, is the air conditioning off or something? It feels like I'm in a sauna'
"What was it?" Lara asked as she rested her elbows on the table.
"A model" Peter said dryly.
"Oh..." Lara said with wide eyes.
"Yeah, oh" Peter said with a snicker "But in all seriousness, I'm not really looking for a girlfriend, or as my Aunt would put it, future miss Parker"
"Focus more on your career?" Lara asked.
"Something like that" Peter said with a snort 'That, and I'm pretty sure my ex will hunt down and kill whoever that girl would be'
Sable could be a mean, petty and vicious bitch when she wanted to be. Even people like Konstantine did will to stay out of her way when she was on the warpath or risk either ending up dead or close enough to it.
Peter laughed at the grim thought for a few seconds before he began to feel a faint tightening in his chest. The famed archeologist's laughter died down a bit as he went to reach for his water, thinking it might be heartburn or he simply swallowed too much before the feeling in his chest intensified.
'What the fuck?' Peter thought with wide eyes as it suddenly became harder to breath, like someone was sitting on his chest while holding a pillow on his face.
Lara noticed Peter's expression and grew concerned as she saw sweat beginning to build on his forehead "Peter, are you-"
"I'm good" Peter said with a strained voice as he stood up suddenly, jostling the table slightly and causing his glass to spill on to it's surface "Just uh, bathroom!"
Peter didn't wait for a reply as he quickly walked out of the galley, leaving a confused Lara sitting there.
...
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." Peter muttered as he struggled to race back to his room and resisting the urge to literally tear through any crewmen that got in his way.
The feeling in his chest had dulled to a painful ache, every intake of air felt like his ribs were broken and already his arms and legs were beginning to fell like they were on fire. The worst however were both of his sides, just under his rib cage. It felt like something was starting to come through the skin, magnifying his fears. Peter's face was now a bright red, and drenched heavily in sweat as he tore into his room and made a straight beeline to his duffle bag, just barely remembering to shut the door. Peter's vision began to grow blurry and everything was starting to become disorienting, causing him to pause as he struggled to regain his focus.
After several deep and very painful breaths, Peter's fingers finally came into contact with a small metal case at the bottom of his bag. He quickly tore it out and opened it to reveal several syringes, each filled with a clear blue liquid. Peter didn't hesitate to grab on of the syringes, pop the cap off and jam the needle into his chest.
"GAAAGGHHH!" Peter gritted his teeth to the point he heard several of his molars actually crack from the force he bit down on.
The liquid shot into Peter's body like a rocket and after a moment, a cold refreshing feeling began to wash through Peter's chest and down into his arms and legs. His breathing became easier and he could start to see clearly again. The pain in his sides faded and Peter quickly made his way to the sink as he felt bile rise up in his throat.
He just barely managed to get his head over the sink bowl before a black tar like substance with the clear blue liquid mixed in was expelled from his body. Peter's body shook as he spat the vile out of his mouth before he took several dee breaths to try and calm his heart rate. He then glanced back up at his reflection and winced at what he saw looking back at him.
His skin was pale and his veins were black but slowly turning blue as the liquid he ejected himself with flowed through his body. But the most notable change was his eyes. Instead of a warm brown, he was greeted to dark red eyes and there were four 'tears' on his forehead, two on each side just above his eyes that began to move to the back of his head.
"Shit..." Peter breathed heavily as he reached up and touched the small tears and winced when blood began to pour from them.
Peter gripped the sink bowl as he let the blood drain from the tears for several moments before the red liquid began to turn to a clear blue. Peter reached for a towel and gently began to wipe away the blood and liquid as gently as he could. He wasn't going to bother trying to place a band aid on them or even use any thread to sew them close, they'd be closed in a few hours with how shallow they were.
'Though I shouldn't have to be worrying about it' Peter thought worriedly as he quickly back tracked his duffle bag and pulled out his satellite phone and began to punch in a specific number.
The phone rang for a few seconds before it was answered by a male with a elderly voice.
"Hello, this is Doctor Connors, how-"
"Curt, it's me" Peter said with a exhausted voice.
"Peter?" Curt said in surprise "What's wrong, you sound exhausted"
"Yeah..." Peter said with a laugh as he wiped the sweat from his forehead "I just uh... I just nearly lost it at dinner a few minutes ago"
Curt was silent for a few moments before he spoke "But it's only been five months, you aren't due for another four weeks-"
"Yeah, I noticed" Peter said in a clipped tone before he sighed "Sorry, just a little on edge is all"
"It's quite alright" Curt waved off Peter's apology "But the serum I made you, did it work?"
"Yeah, though it took a little longer to get through my system compared to last time" Peter said as he glanced down at his arm to see the veins were bright blue before they began to fade "Might need a stronger dose now. My body's starting to fight it"
"Likely a result of your increasing use of them" Curt theorized with a sigh "Add to the fact that your body's unnatural abilities are slowly growing more powerful with every passing year-"
"Eventually their stop working" Peter said with a frown as he pinched the ridge of his nose.
"Yes... assuming you don't 'change' because you couldn't get to your serum in time" Curt said worriedly as sounds of shuffling on the other end could be heard "I'm going to need you to come in so I can run some more tests. With your 'event' happening a full month ahead of schedule, I'm going to have to make a whole new schedule for you and increase the potency of the serum as well"
"Might be a little bit of a problem Doc, I'm currently out" Peter said with a grim chuckle.
Curt sighed at this "Well then tell your handler to extract you and bring you back"
"I'm on a boat in the middle of the ocean doc, won't be that easy and people will know I'm missing pretty quick" Peter said as he rubbed the back of his head as he paced his room "Trying to keep a low profile here"
"Yes, well you can forget about keeping a low profile when you change into a monstrous spider and proceeded to tear apart everyone around you" Curt said in a angered tone "Whose your handler this time? Is it Konstantine?
"No, it's some random dude" Peter said with a sigh.
"Well I want to know who it is so I know who to call" Curt said as more shuffling was heard on his end "Trinity can't afford to lose you. Your it's most valuable asset, in terms of being a field agent at least"
"Nice to know it's my usefulness in the field that Trinity values" Peter said sarcastically "Look, it's not a big issue, really. If my time table has dropped to four months instead of five, I have plenty of serum to last me. Sure it's a little weakened than what I probably will need from now on, but it'll work. Plus the expedition I'm on probably wont even last that long. I give it another three weeks before it's scrapped and we head back to port"
"If your a hundred percent positive" Curt said, his tone indicating he was still unconvinced and would much rather hear that peter was on his way back now then in a month.
"I am" Peter said as he glanced out the window to see the moon shining above the dark, calm sea "I mean, what's the worse that can happen on this trip? We pull a castaway and I have to make a friend out of a volleyball?"
...
And done.
Next chapter, The documentary of Yamatai, scene one...