SUFFERING

After dealing with the Black Panther's would-be assassins, as well as the recklessness of the Thunderbolts, the exhausted Spidey swung through the city until finally stopped and perched on the edge of a nearby church. Even at this moment, however, the Web-Head found no relief. "Score another point for the typical Parker luck," the frustrated Web-Head said to himself as he reached inside his sewn-in pocket and pulled out his cellphone, which miraculously, survived the battle. "Now I need to think of a much better excuse to give to Aunt May on why I was late." Just as he was about to dial the house number, Spidey looked at the display screen and saw the number of one of his friends, Mary-Jane Watson, was on the 'missed call' list and that she had called five times. "Huh? What would MJ be calling me this many...?" Suddenly, the curious Web-Silnger's cellphone started to ring, and thus quickly pulls up the lower part of his mask and answers placed it on his ear. "Hello?" he answered, his voice not being so muffled thanks to his mask not covering his mouth.

Sure enough, on the other line, the beautiful redhead herself, Mary-Jane Watson, was calling from her cellphone in the waiting room of Manhattan General Hospital, where she and her Aunt Anna were sitting and waiting for an update on May Parker, who collapsed on her floor. "Pete!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to look at her, and thus turned around and held the phone closer so she can whisper into it. "Where are you?! I've been trying to call you, but no answer!"

Peter hated to lie to his friends, especially Mary-Jane, who had always been greatest friend around, but he still had a secret identity to keep. "Sorry, I've just had a rough night," he said half-truthfully. "In fact, I was just about to give Aunt May a call and let her know that I was coming home."

At this point, Mary-Jane couldn't believe what she just heard. True, she knew that Peter's timing was the worse, but with his aunt having a health emergency, that was just too much. "Well, don't bother!" she told him as if scolding him, unknowingly saying it a little too loud, causing some people to look at her. So much so, it was enough for her Aunt Anna to give her a 'shush' sign as a way to tell her to lower her voice, and thus to a moment to breath in, calm herself, and respond with a much gentler tone. "Peter...you aunt is in the hospital again."

This news was more than enough to scare Spidey out of his exhaustion. "WHAT?!" he shouted loudly, scaring away the nearby pigeons, and after taking a moment to calm himself, he continued with the conversation. "Well okay, are you there at Manhattan General with her?" he asked Mary-Jane with urgency in his voice, then hears her say that she and her aunt Anna were indeed at Manhattan General, albeit their waiting room. "Okay, I'm on my way!" After ending the call and placing the cellphone back in his pocket, Spidey pulled his mask back down over his mouth, then held up his hand to shoot a web-line and soon swung off in a rush to the hospital to be at his ailing aunt's side. While swinging, however, Spidey suddenly heard the beeping of his Avengers I.D. card in the other sewn in pocket that he just recently made, and after letting out an aggravated grunt, he used his left hand to pull out the card while using his right hand to shoot and swing off another web-line.

Sure enough, the Wasp's picture is shown on the corner, indicating that she is the one making the call. "Hey Spidey, just wanted to call and say thanks for helping us with..."

"No problem!" replied the now panicky Web-Slinger. "Sorry, emergency! Call you back! Bye-bye!" Just as it looked that the surprised Wasp was going to say something pressed the card back into his pocket, and used his now free left hand to shoot another web-line to continue his way to the hospital.

Meanwhile, up high in the S.H.I.E.L.D. helocarrier, the Iron Patriot is standing on the helm of the bridge, with his armor hooked up to a circular dashboard and the surrounded by holographic images of other superheroes, locations, etc. As he continued to stare at the images, he is soon joined by Citizen V and Maria Hill, both of whom walk into the bridge in front of the armored leader of the Thunderbolt. "Well, Citizen V, I understand that you and your teammates made a mess of things on your mission.

Though Citizen V took offense to this, he nonetheless stayed calm and vigilant in giving his answer. "Yes, well, you can blame the Avengers for getting in our way. Speaking of which, they said no to your offer to join us...not that you or I wanted them to anyway."

"No," replied Iron Patriot, still focused at the screens. "But we still need to maintain a positive image for the media. One that's now in jeopardy because of how you dealt with the Taskmaster."

Naturally, Citizen V did not take kindly to the Iron Patriot's words, but for the sake of gaining what he wants out of this partnership, he held his tongue...for now.

As for the Patriot himself, he still keeps his eyes on the screens before him, though still not at all being happy with his fellow Thunderbolt. "Well, no mater. We can easily make up a story that can back up your 'accident' claim." At one point, the Patriot turned his attention to one giant image with the first left half showing the picture of Bruce Banner, and the other showing his giant, green-skinned alter ego, the Hulk. "Besides, it's time to stare with the next phase of the plan." The calm and determined leader of the Thunderbolts looked over his shoulder to address Maria. "Hill, you know what to do."

"Yes sir!" replied the stone-faced Maria, but in a strange, unemotional almost robotic tone, then walked away to carry out her task.

After witnessing Hill leaving the bridge, the Patriot turned back to the screens, more specifically, the one that showed Banner. "Now, let's just proceed without further complications, shall we, V?" he told his caped teammate. "That way, we'll all get what we want. And in your case...you get the person you want."

At this point, Citizen V only smiled behind his mask when he heard the Patriot make reference to his person of interest. As such, he caught a small glimpse of one of the digital images that the armored Thunderbolt was looking at, more accurately, the image of Captain America. "That's quite fine with me."

Meanwhile, inside one of the rooms at Manhattan General Hospital, May Parker laid unconscious in a hospital bed. And though she appeared to be stable, her skin was pale and her veins were visible in an unhealthy bluish color. A split second later, the Web-Slinging Spidey had now changed back into his street clothing and entered the room as the grief-stricken Peter Parker, who rushed to his sickly aunt's side, with Mary-Jane and her Aunt Anna and Dr. Bromwell not far behind. "Aunt May!" he exclaimed and despair, as well as baffled by her pale complexion, causing him to turn Dr. Bromwell. "What's wrong with her?"

"Well, we're not exactly sure," said the doctor, earning him shocked looks from Peter, Mary-Jane, and Anna. "At first, we thought it was cardiac arrest, but once we got her in, the discoloration and vein swelling began to occur. We still need to run a few tests...but we're doing what we can."

A disappointed and heartbroken Peter gave the well-meaning doctor a nod, then turned back to his sleeping and visibly ill aunt.

The equally saddened doctor to turn to the worried Mary-Jane and Anna. "Let's give them some time alone."

Though they were both reluctant to leave, both Mary-Jane and Anna nodded in agreement and allowed Dr. Bromwell to escort them outside.

As for Peter himself, he watched over the comatose May with his eyes beginning to tear up. "I should've been there for her!" he thought as he lets his sadness turn to anger, and channeled it to himself. "With great power comes great responsibility? Sure! Why is it that I have no problem using my powers responsibly, but I'm the worst when it comes to taking care of my family, the greatest responsibility of all?!" At one point, Peter reached into his jeans, and more specifically, his tights to which he was wearing underneath his pants and pulled out the Avenger ID card, but hold it with his hand cupped in case of cameras in the room. "And if that wasn't enough, I made the genius move of subbing the Wasp when she called and thanked me for helping out. I bet she and the Avengers thinking I'm the biggest jerk on the planet by now."

Meanwhile, back inside the Avengers Quinjet, the Wasp had just informed her teammates that the Web-Head 'hanging up' on them she made the called to thank him. And though they were initially stunned by this, it is Hawkeye who seemed to be the most offended, as he did not hesitate to make his feelings known throughout the whole jet. "HE DID WHAT?!"

Naturally, the Wasp held her hands to try and calm the archer down, despite her, as well as the rest of her teammates, felt her ears ringing from his screaming. "Hawkeye, chill out!"

"Chill out?!" Hawkeye asked, completely irate. "That web-spewing punk hung up on US! The Avengers, the big boys on the block in the superhero business! If anything, WE should be hanging on him, and more importantly, he should be kissing our-"

Suddenly, it is Iron Man who stops Hawkeye's tirade. "He had to help his aunt," said the Armored Avenger as he looked at a hologram which showed the signal Spidey's ID card was giving out, as well as showing the image of Manhattan General.

This nonetheless succeeded in stop Hawkeye's rant, but this also caused the Wasp to looked at the Shellhead completely confused and worried. "His aunt?"

"Yeah," said Iron Man, who then used his armor to project a large hologram of the hospital, as well as a signal of Spidey's I.D. card. "I gave him an I.D. card when we gave him reserve membership, remember? It'll allow my armor to track him wherever he goes. More importantly, lives in Queens with a woman named May Parker, who unfortunately has had a reported heart attack to which she has fully recovered. She's the aunt of our Web-Swinging boy whose real name is Peter Parker, the Daily Bugle's photographer."

Hawkeye remembered that name but still couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait, wait! The ten-year-old that followed Cap around with during the mess with the Serpent Society? That little shrimp is Spider-Man?!" the babbled archer couldn't help but scoff. "You've gotta be-"

It was here that Wasp jumped into Spidey's defense. "Hey lay off, Clint! That 'little shrimp' just helped us kicked some villain butt back there."

Moments later, the Panther, who watched Spidey's fighting and quick thinking first hand, joined in. "And for a teenager, he has displayed some impressive skills."

Hawkeye let out an annoyed grunt, feeling that his teammates were now out of their minds for phrasing a teenager. "Okay yeah, the kid ain't bad, but he's still a kid!"

At this point, Iron Man had grown sick of the archer's protest and thus looked over his shoulder to address him. "Okay Clint, if it'll make you feel any better, we'll have a team meeting in regards to Spider-Man's reserve membership. Happy?"

Hawkeye looks at the Shellhead with a smug demeanor and with his arms crossed. "Fine," he replied, still not sounding the tiniest bit pleased.

As for Yellowjacket, he still remained silent throughout this whole ordeal, though he personally thought Spidey had the potential to be a great hero, he was far more focused on the villains he just fought. "Well, now that the baby's got his bottle," he said in reference to Hawkeye, earning him an angry glare from the archer. "What about these C-listers who tried to off T'Challa?"

"Still working on that," replied Iron Man, turning back to appear to look straight ahead at the jet's windshield, but in reality, was looking through a series of serial numbers behind the eye lenses of his helmet. "S.H.I.E.L.D.'s data banks are tricky to hack. Which is weird, because they've always been easy to do in the past. I'm guessing it's because of those new Thunderbolts that Hill's cuddled up with."

Cap, while still flying the jet, heard Iron Man's answer and grew worried, despite looking relatively calm. "Well, keep trying Tony," said the Super Soldier, trying to keep the jet steady and was just now getting the hang of it. However, he still felt troubled, for not only was there another fight on the horizon but even in seeing Spidey's skills first hand, he may realize that he placed a teenager in harm's way, just like Bucky all those years ago. All in which was making him question whether or not he did the right thing.