Wowza, I'm so sorry for the long update between chapters. Lost motivation for a bit, and found this chapter harder than expected to write.
But good news, I finally started working on my scripts again! Bad news, the scriptwriting program I've been using is closing down, so now I get to go pay lotsa money to get another software ... *annoyed side-glance*
Peter may have been given 'spidey senses' when the spider bit him, but May had always had a 'Peter sense,' and at that moment, those bells were ringing louder than St. Matthew's on Christmas day. It probably had something to do with the fact that her nephew suddenly looked at her with wide eyes after he answered his phone.
"Peter," she warned, but she couldn't even attempt to stop the teenager because he immediately bolted for the elevator. "Peter!"
"I gotta get back. Shuri, she said she found something!"
"Peter!"
Unfortunately, the elevator was slower than May, and she reached her nephew before the mechanical doors opened. Pepper and Harley followed close behind, though neither of them tried to interfere. The teenager turned to his aunt.
"May, I have to. Please."
May pressed her lips together so tightly it was hard to tell she had a mouth anymore. Finally, right as the elevator doors opened, she blew out a long breath of air.
"As soon as we figure this out, you're going back to bed for a week. At least."
Peter didn't doubt his aunt would at least try to stick to that threat, but at the moment he was too preoccupied with getting on the elevator and getting back to Shuri.
The ride back to Shuri's floor took way too long. Peter fidgeted and shifted his weight the whole way up, which made Harley anxious. May kept a close eye on her nephew, determined to swoop in at the first sign of weakness, which Peter was determined not to show. Pepper seemed calm and composed, at least on the outside. Inside, she fought back all her emotions. Being in a relationship with Tony the last ten years helped her remain calm in tense situations, but this whole ordeal tested her to an extent she hadn't felt before. She wanted to believe the teenage princess had been able to figure out a way to save Tony. More than wanted, actually. She needed it to be true.
Basically, the elevator ride was tense. As soon as the doors slid open, the occupants spilled out. Peter made a beeline for Shuri's room, not waiting for the rest of his group. As if she knew exactly when he reached the door, the young Wakandan opened the door right as Peter reached for the handle.
"See?" She immediately shoved a tablet into his hand, and Peter scanned the file she had pulled up. "I knew this looked familiar!"
Peter stared at the words in front of him, hoping he'd suddenly understand them, like Shuri, but much to his frustration, nothing clicked. Almost as if she'd expected that reaction, Shuri grabbed the tablet back.
"I knew the code looked familiar, but I didn't recognize it at first because it was Americanized. The element Tony created was Vibranium!"
That, Peter understood. And his jaw dropped to the floor.
"Wait … vibranium? As in … as in the stuff Cap's shield is made out of?"
"Exactly."
May cut in. "Isn't that stuff super rare?" Even with her insistence that her nephew go to bed, she was clearly intrigued by the breakthrough.
Shuri smiled. "Not at all. And I know where to get some."
0-0-0
"Dr. Cho, it's good to see you again," Banner greeted as he walked into the room where the doctor had set up shop.
Without even a hint of a prolonged stare at the large green man, Cho continued working on the machine in front of her. "Good to see you too, Dr. Banner. I just wish it were under better circumstances."
Bruce didn't answer, but more talking wasn't necessary. They sat in silence for a few more moments, Bruce just watching as the other doctor prepped the cradle.
"You're sure this will work, even after such a long period of … um …" Bruce paused, realizing most people would probably be touchy on the subject of being dusted. Thankfully, Dr. Cho seemed to have a thick skin.
"After five years of no use? Yes, I'm sure. I'll run more tests before we begin the procedure, but I can assure you, it will work."
"Sorry," Bruce said, feeling bad about his apparent callousness towards the snap victims. His priorities were just a little more urgent at the moment, but he made a promise to himself to be more considerate. "I trust you, I do. I remember what you did with Clint."
Dr. Cho finally looked up and smiled. "Bruce. This is going to work. Trust me."
"I do. I do." The hesitation in his voice made it sound like he was trying to convince himself just as much as the other doctor.
Cho looked back down at her work. "How about instead of telling me how much you trust me, you just show me? It's almost time to bring Tony in."
0-0-0
Peter wanted to watch. He needed to see Mr. Stark getting fixed up. He needed to know that something he did went right. Unfortunately, May had a different idea, and it involved getting her nephew in a bed and forcing him to stay there as long as she could. And this time, Pepper agreed with May. Peter couldn't fight against both of them, so he found himself back in the room, pinned down by May's stare.
"What if something goes wrong?" the teenager asked in a last desperate attempt to stay out of bed. Pepper had already left, being one of the few people allowed to watch the procedure in person.
"If something goes wrong, someone will take care of it. They're professionals, Peter," May reminded him. The teenager sank further into the bed, frustrated that he couldn't be there for his mentor.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. It hadn't been closed after Pepper left, so Shuri simply knocked out of politeness before sticking her head in without waiting for an answer.
"Is it alright if I wait here? T'Challa kicked me out of the procedure."
May looked between Peter and Shuri, wondering what kind of shenanigans they could get up to together. One look at her nephew though, and she figured it couldn't hurt.
"Sure, why not?"
Shuri was already in the room and pulling up a chair next to Peter's bed.
"Do you know what's going on? Have they started yet? What are they going to do first, his arm or your bracelet?"
"Are you going to stop asking questions and give me a chance to answer the ones you've already asked?" Shuri raised her eyebrows at Peter. The young man quickly shut his mouth and stared at the princess expectantly. "Well … to answer your questions, I don't know. I don't know anything about what they're doing. They would not tell me anything. They simply asked for my research on Tony's notes, took the bracelet, and then T'Challa told me to leave."
"What?" Peter was shocked. He didn't think the princess would have given up so easily.
"Don't worry," Shuri said, noting the surprise and slight panic in her friend's voice. "They can't keep me out of anything." She tapped a bead on her bracelet, and a camera feed of the procedure room pulled up.
"How did you do that?" May asked, coming around Shuri's other side and staring at the camera feed.
"A camera and me in the same building? That's practically asking for me to watch what you are doing," Shuri stated. Peter's eyes widened slightly, and he glanced up at the camera in the corner of his room. Shuri caught his gaze and followed it to what he was staring at. Waggling her eyebrows did nothing to make Peter feel better. Apparently Shuri noticed.
"Calm down, Peter. I have no reason to spy on you. On them? Yes."
"I don't think this is a good idea," May interrupted, though she was watching the pirated camera feed as well, and made absolutely no move to turn the video off.
Stark lay in the cradle, and someone Peter hadn't met before began tapping on a screen, inputting orders and directions.
"Alright," the stranger said. Her voice rang out with crystal clarity, and Peter sat in impressed silence and admiration at the quality of the hijacked feed. "Commencing deep tissue and muscular reconstruction."
Peter, Shuri, and May sat and watched for several minutes, fascinated by the rapidly-moving lasers apparently reconstructing Tony's arm. After close to ten minutes though, May sat back in her chair and pulled out her phone, pretending to scroll through it, though Peter could feel her gaze on him almost constantly. Shuri and Peter continued watching the feed, for almost another thirty minutes. To Peter, it felt like he was watching a puzzle being put together. The lasers focused on one section, then moved to the next, and with how much time had passed, and how much work had already gone on, Peter felt like the whole arm should already be fixed. Unfortunately, when he took a mental step back and looked at the whole arm, he realized they'd only completed a small portion of the arm, and there was still so much left to go. Those realizations happened more than Peter wanted to admit, and each time he did realize it, he felt his hope, not to mention his patience, slipping away a little more.
Shuri could feel Peter getting more and more discouraged. His face fell each time they began fixing another part of Stark's arm, and the mood in the room got heavier with each moment. Hoping she could ease some of the tension, she turned to her fellow teenager.
"Peter, don't worry. It's working."
Peter's expression didn't change, so Shuri tried again. "This will probably take a few hours. I am going to order some food. Do either of you want anything?"
Once again, Peter seemed too focused on the video to respond. Shuri looked to May for an answer.
"Uh, yeah. We'll both take a burger, I guess."
Using one of the other beads on her bracelet, Shuri ordered three burger combos from the closest place possible, then went back to watching the procedure with Peter, who still looked constipated.
"Peter, you have got to relax," Shuri said after another few minutes. "You're making me nervous."
"I can't," Peter replied, trying his best not to snap. "We're so close, and that's always when things go sideways."
"Peter, you can't spend your whole life waiting for the other shoe to drop," May interjected, looking up from her phone. "You're never going to be able to live or enjoy anything if you're constantly waiting for the next bad thing."
"She's right," Shuri said. "That is an awful way to live." Shuri stared at Peter, who was still watching the screen with a scary amount of intensity. The princess knew Peter wasn't listening, and she decided to have some fun. "Plus, why wait for the other shoe to drop when the next bad thing is right here? It's me. I'm the next threat. Wakanda is too small-town for me; I figure I should try for something bigger. New York is ripe for the taking, is it not?"
Once again, Peter remained silent. Shuri looked at May, who caught on to what the princess was doing.
"You know, Peter, I'm thinking that it's time for me to get back out in the dating life. In fact, there's this one guy that I met, I really like him. His name's also Peter, but that won't be a problem right? I'll just use your childhood nickname when you're both at the apartment."
"Oooh, Peter had a childhood nickname?" Shuri was now hooked on May's lie as well. She needed a new name for Peter in her contacts.
"Oh yeah. Peter's nickname as a kid was …" May tapered off before saying the name, and she stared at her nephew in frustration. Shuri waited eagerly for the nickname. "Peter!" May exclaimed. The teenager jumped and looked at his aunt. He noticed Shuri having some sort of spasm off to the side, and briefly wondered what that was about, but he focused on his aunt for the moment.
"You didn't listen to a single word we just said, did you?"
"I … you … yeah, I mean … of course I did!"
"No you didn't, otherwise you would have tried to stop me from saying your childhood nickname out loud!"
Peter's eyes widened, and he looked at Shuri. "You told her my … why would you do that?!"
"If you'd paid attention, you'd know I didn't actually say it. We were just trying to get you to listen to us."
"Please tell me what it was," Shuri asked, holding her hands up in a pleading gesture.
"No, no. No. No, we're not doing that," Peter interrupted as May opened her mouth.
"Oh, come on, it's just a little name," May cajoled.
"I won't do anything too bad with it," Shuri promised, though Peter definitely didn't trust the gleam in the princess's eyes.
"Oh, ow! My ribs, my ribs are hurting," claimed Peter, rolling around on his bed and grasping at his practically-healed ribs. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that by doing so, it would sell the act.
"Stop, you're just trying to stop me from saying -"
"Ooooow, ow ow ow ow! Someone get a doctor I think I'm dying!" Peter cracked one eye open, and when he saw his aunt smiling at him with an exasperated look you only get with a family member, he gave her his best innocent smile.
"Okay, okay, fine. My lips are sealed."
As soon as the promise left his aunt's lips, Peter sat up straighter in bed, feeling lighter than he'd felt since they'd started working on Mr. Stark. Shuri let out a disappointed breath.
"I will find out your nickname, Peter," she promised. "I'm willing to fight for it."
"I'll fight back harder."
Shuri stared down her opponent for a moment, then shrugged. "Anyway. You missed my whole plot to take over New York," she said with a sniff. "Aren't superheroes supposed to listen when the villain monologues?"
"Sure, dumb ones," Peter replied, completely avoiding the fact that he had, on several occasions, listened to the villain monologue.
"Well, just don't be surprised when I come back with my evil plot, and you don't know how to stop me because you didn't listen to my plan."
Peter was about to crack back with a witty retort, but suddenly his phone, which was sitting on the table next to his bed, began ringing. Hardly daring to hope, Peter picked up the phone and saw one of the faces he'd been wanting to see since he'd come back from being dusted.
"Sorry, uh … hold on," he said to Shuri. Quickly, he accepted the call.
"Ned?"
Sorry, I know. Weird place to leave off. And no, I'm not planning on having Ned make a physical appearance, but I figured he and Peter probably talked before they met up at the high school, so now was as good a time as any.
What do you guys think? Is the other shoe gonna drop? Is something gonna happen?
I'm honestly not sure how I want to continue this story, but I think it's coming to a close. This is definitely one of my longer stories, if not the longest (though I think I have a MacGyver one that is longer).
Anyway. Lemme know what you guys think!
