Well, this has taken a long time to come out! Sorry about that, haha! Ever since I saw Thor: The Dark World, which was a week or so ago, I've been obsessed with Loki. He rocketed up in my MCU character ranking and is now tied with Peter. Wow! I never thought a character could even get close to Peter.
ANYWAY, it was fun writing worried Tony in this chapter. :) I thought I did pretty well. A quick note for the future of this book, after this chapter, I'll be taking a break from writing it for a little while because I need to flesh out the story and plot a little more or else I'm going to get writer's block every chapter. I've already got some ideas, but not enough to keep going. I'm also still so invested in Loki stuff right now. :)
Without further ado, enjoy!
Disclaimer:
I do not own the Spiderman franchise, the Marvel franchise, or any of the characters. That all belongs to Marvel Studios. Everything to Marvel Studios. Any added dialogue, plots, or characters are mine, but nothing else. I don't own it.
Chapter Six - DNA Depleted
My fingers slither restlessly through my hair as I stare at the motionless boy on the bed, every thought locked on him.
On Peter.
I said I would protect him. I said I would keep him safe.
Only to sit back and believe that nothing would happen.
I tear my glasses off and throw them to the ground, burying my face in my hands.
A break in. Why now? Why Peter?
"Jarvis, where's Bruce?"
"He's entering the building now, sir."
A few seconds slog past.
Hands land on my back and a soft voice whispers at my ear. "He'll be all right, Tony. Bruce will fix it."
"Nothing's certain, Pep. I should have been there."
"It's not your fault– ."
"It is!" I whip around, knocking Pepper's hands away. Her startled eyes meet mine. "I told Peter that I would protect him! You should have been there when he broke down, Pepper. He was so scared… I ignored him and ended up breaking a promise– ."
Bruce bursts into the room, throwing his bags to the side. "Tell me everything."
"There was a break in at Peter's house. I flew there too late. Peter was shot. There was so much bleeding that I had to cauterize the wound before I took him to Headquarters. He was unresponsive when I got him here and that was a few hours ago."
Bruce races to Peter's side, checking his pulse. "It's too slow."
My stomach ties itself into knots.
"He's gone into hypovolemic shock."
Forcing the words past the lump in my throat, I address my AI. "Jarvis, how much blood did he lose?"
"Peter has sustained a gunshot injury that pierced the left subclavian artery. He lost twenty percent of his blood before cauterization."
A wave of nausea overcomes me and I grip the bedpost as the room spins.
Pepper grasps my shoulders, steadying me.
Bruce bites his lip, wiping sweat from his forehead as he examines Peter. "You cauterized the wound and that stopped the bleeding, but that's put Peter in high risk of serious infection. He's also got some bruises on his face and neck and a gash on the back of his head."
My heart skips a beat and I snap to attention. "Th-those should've healed by now. Peter has enhanced healing."
"From that spider bite?" Bruce glances at me through dark eyebrows.
I nod shakily.
"They're not healed. Nothing is. Not even the minor cuts."
The blood drains from my face and my voice rises to a roar. "Why aren't they healing? Bruce, what's going on?"
"Tony, I don't know!" Bruce throws his arms up in the air, glaring at me.
"Well, you should! You're a doctor!"
"I have– ."
Jarvis interrupts. "Sir, I've detected heat coming from a blister-like inflammation on the back of Peter's neck."
Bruce mutters an exclamation and pries Peter's head off the pillow with care to inspect the damage. I'm at his side at once and my eyes widen at the sight.
A ring of white surrounds a black circle of decaying flesh wrapped in pulsing, purple veins. Spots of dried blood dot the wound.
Bruce hisses a muffled curse.
I wring my hands behind my back. "Jarvis, tell us more."
"My data suggests that Peter has had this wound since Friday."
It's Sunday. That's...three days. "More."
"The puncture seems to have a striking similarity to that of a multitude of spider bites."
Silence. My heart thumps faster and faster with every second that passes. "Bruce. Bruce, get a blood sample."
"What?"
"Right now."
The minutes go by in a blur as Bruce extracts a bit of blood from Peter's arm.
"Connect it to the computer."
The doctor complies.
"Jarvis, project a DNA hologram on the wall."
The blue image extends to the far wall and the winding DNA strands appear, rotating.
Not a single bar of spider DNA.
"Where is it?" I rip myself from Pepper's hold and run to the computer, restarting the hologram display.
The same image. No spider DNA.
Frantic now, I grab the tiny canister, scrutinizing the blood. "Where is it?" My bellow bounces off the walls. "Where's the spider DNA?"
"There's no sign of any abnormal DNA traces, sir– ."
"That is not abnormal for Peter!"
"Tony!" Pepper pulls me away and pushes me against the bed, laying me against the pillows. "Shhh…"
"He's not going to get better without his enchanted healing. He's– ."
Bruce stomps his foot. "Tony!"
My neck jerks to the side.
"I promise I'll do everything that I can. The bruises will heal. You stopped the bleeding already– ."
"By burning the wound shut! I caused Peter so much pain– ."
"Listen to me! You stopped the bleeding. You did. If you didn't, he would probably be dead already. The wound will probably get infected, but I can deal with that. Infections don't always lead to to death, Tony. In fact, I'll make sure it doesn't. Listen to me very carefully. Peter. Will. Recover."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
I'm not exactly sure what to make of everything when I wake up.
First, it's a gentle nudge toward awakening. The more I move in the direction of the light, the more reality sets in. I'm cold. Then hot. Then cold again. Everything aches, but my left shoulder ripples with an unrivaled agony.
I'm too close to the light now. It doesn't matter how much I want to, I can't fall back into darkness.
I struggle to the light a little longer, but I'm barely able to move my left arm.
A bed. That's what I'm lying on. Blankets drape over most of my body and the cold hits the revealed skin, draining a shiver from me. A second later the covers are lifted higher.
Finally, I pull my eyes open.
Blurriness. Blinking, then focusing. A ceiling.
"Peter." A figure leans over me.
A small grin lifts my cheeks. "Hey, Mr. Stark…"
"Hey, kiddo." He returns with a fake smile which drops quickly back down again.
I twist my head to the side, scanning the room. "Where…"
"You're at Avengers Headquarters, Pete. In your own room. Pretty neat, huh? How's that for interning with Tony Stark?"
My gaze trails back to Mr. Stark. "Why…why am I here?"
Mr. Stark averts his eyes, sighing. "I'll ask you this, kid. What do you remember?"
"I-I don't…" I try to trace my mind back, but nothing's coming. "I don't even remember what happened to get me here…"
"I'll give you a hint: Digg."
Dig? Digging a hole? What does that have to do with anything? Maybe I fell down a hole and broke my shoulder or something.
Dig. Dig?
Hold on. Dig. Not digging a hole, but…
The one who had that connection with Vulture.
Vulture. The panic attack. The argument with May. My sickness.
Digg. Guns. Break in.
I jerk upward with a gasp, however, break off with a cry of pain when my shoulder flares up.
"Hey! Lie down! You're hurt, Peter…"
I squeeze an answer through gritted teeth as I lower myself onto the pillows again. "You think?"
"So you remember now?"
"Digg broke in. He– ."
"I know what happened, Peter."
"Ned. Where's Ned? Is he okay?"
"He's fine. And so is your aunt. They're downstairs and visited you a few hours ago. Ned was the one who called me."
"You saved us."
Mr. Stark's eyes darken. "Peter, you…you were shot."
I stare at him for a few seconds. What? That's when I put the pieces together and I drop my chin to my shoulder.
"No, don't look. I was too late to stop Digg from shooting you. The bullet hit an artery and if I hadn't cauterized it shut, you would've bled out. It's gotten infected, but Bruce is working on it." His voice trembles and he refuses to make eye contact.
"It's not your fault, Mr. Stark."
"Everyone's been saying that."
"But that's not everything, is it?"
"What do you mean?"
"There's something you're not telling me."
Mr. Stark purses his lips. "Peter, what happened at school?"
"What?"
"On Friday. What happened?"
"Uh… It was just…school. Nothing– ."
"Peter, something happened!" Mr. Stark curls his hands into fists. "Something hit you on the back of the neck– ."
"How do you…know about that?"
"Jarvis found some sort of wound on your neck and Bruce took a blood sample. And you know what we found out? All of that spider DNA that's in you, Peter, is gone. Your enhanced healing, your increased metabolism, your reflexes, everything's gone."
I read his gaze for a moment longer before cocking my head. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Listen. Can you hear what's going on downstairs?"
I close my eyes and focus on the noises around me. A dull ring reverberates in my ears, but all I can pick up is the humming of the AC. "I can't hear anything but the air conditioner." Peering back up at Mr. Stark, I furrow my brow. "I used to be able…to hear things in other rooms, but…"
Mr. Stark sighs. "Do you understand the enormity of what's happened?"
"I…uh…I can't hear as well as I used to?" I bite my tongue against the pain in my shoulder.
"Peter, your powers are gone. It's not only your senses that have switched to normal, but you won't be able to sense things coming around you without seeing it. You won't heal fast. You can't climb walls. Your powers are gone. Spiderman is gone."
The more I replay the words in my head, the wider my eyes grow.
"Your powers are gone. Spiderman is gone."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Oooooh, dun dun dun! Spiderman's gone... How's he gonna get the DNA back?
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