Chapter Twenty-Seven

Tony threw Dr. Strange a weird look, leave it to Strange to pick now to act all weird and mysterious as if he didn't have enough of that going on, but he would worry about it later. Especially since Strange was now hurrying towards Peter's room. Now all he needed to worry about was finding out who the hell was poisoning Peter and for what reason. What reason would they have to poison a kid? A literal child.

You idiot, a little voice inside Tony replied. They weren't attacking Peter. They were probably attacking Spiderman.

Because high school junior Peter had 0 enemies, Spiderman on the other hand. He swallowed hard not wanting to think about it. May and Pepper weren't back yet, so he thought right now it would be the perfect time to call someone who may have a list of Peter's potential enemies. Maria Hill maybe.

His thought process was interrupted when Steve, Wanda, and Natasha poured inside the waiting room each of them looking more anxious than the next and Tony couldn't blame them. Peter was basically their little brother or a treasured pet.

"How is he?" Natasha asked as she ran a hand through her red curls. "Who do we have to kill?"

"Natasha" Steve looked at the agent wearily. "Can we please not have murder as our only option?"

Her blue eyes flashed merciless, "We are talking about someone who was poisoning a child," she gave a little shrug as she watched Tony's perplexed expression. "Bruce texted me."

Before Tony could offer a response, Bruce, Dr. Cho, and Dr. Strange entered the waiting room looking grim. Dr. Cho ushered them into a private room to avoid the curious glances of the onlookers.

"We thought we give you an update first," Dr. Cho announced, her voice was soft and calm, but it only made Tony more anxious. "Especially since May Parker's boyfriend is here and I assume he doesn't know about Peter's identity."

"We also though we should break it down first so we can figure out a way not to," Dr. Strange paused, "freak her out even more."

"Peter was being slowly poisoned," Dr. Banner continued as he placed his hands in his pockets. "We don't know with what exactly, but whatever it was the poison was attacking his immune system. Ever since the spider bite Peter has had a nearly indestructible immune system. He could basically heal himself in a manner of hours with little medical help. This poison caused his immune system to break down, basically diminishing it to less than even a normal human's. That's why he fainted and why he wasn't healing from any of those accidents or fights he go into. He's quite lucky to be alive if this had continued it could have been a whole lot worse. We'll be monitoring his food and drink intake right now and Tony, Dr. Cho and I thought it would be better if Peter moved to HQ where we can safely monitor him for at least a few weeks. It's clear someone could easily get into Peter's house and school and probably damage the food."

Steve furrowed his eyebrow in confusion. "Couldn't Peter taste that something was wrong with the food? All of his senses are heightened."

"With these types of poisons, they are usually tasteless," Dr. Cho assured him. "Peter probably didn't think anything was wrong. Whoever did this was very smart, they poisoned him with a poison which is very hard to make, no to mention tasteless and slowly acting. Peter probably didn't realize anything was wrong until it was too late."

Wanda crossed her arms over her chest, "How long until the poison leaves his system?"

"A few weeks," Dr. Strange confirmed. "As long as he's no longer ingesting it, it should slowly leave his body and his immune system will perk up again. Once his Spiderman healing abilities come back it should take care of the rest. He will have to take it easy for a couple of months, but I can make some potions to make the transition easier."

Tony nodded as he tried to listen to everything they were saying. For a super genius he was having a hard time keeping up. "What should we tell May? That boyfriend of hers is still there."

"Tell him Peter has pneumonia and he has to stay in HQ to receive treatment, so he doesn't spread it around," Dr. Cho insisted. "I'll ask Pepper to get her alone and then I can tell her what's going on. Tony we would like to keep Peter in the hospital for a few days so he can rest and we can drain as much of the poison as we can. After that we'll take him to HQ, how does that sound?"

Steve had to gently elbow Tony when he didn't respond. He blushed when he saw everyone looking at him. "That's fine." He murmured. He saw May, Pepper, and Scott returning to main waiting area. "They are back, Banner and Dr. Cho could you explain the situation to May and Pepper? Strange could you separate Scott from the herd and tell the bs pneumonia story?"


After everyone had received some story, Tony decided to say goodbye to Peter before he left for the night. He would be back early the next morning, visiting hours be damned. Thanks to Tony's money and thinly veiled threats they had placed Peter in a private room in the ICU away from everyone.

Peter was heavily drugged, so he was asleep when Tony came in. He wanted to kick himself when he saw his protégé. How could he not notice something was wrong? It was basically staring at him right in the face.

Peter's thin face was pale and he looked like he had lost more than a couple of pounds. There was a slight bruise on Peter's arm and another one on his neck. When had he started becoming a walking accident?

"He didn't get that when he was fighting crime," a voice said. "The city has been dead for weeks. These are not the first bruises he's gotten, and Peter is not clumsy. At least not always."

Tony flinched as he turned around and saw Wanda in the back of the room. He hadn't noticed her. "What are you doing here?"

Wanda stood up and stared at Peter, she moved her hands in the air and he noticed the familiar red sparks. She was manipulating his mind. "Relax," she told him. "I'm giving him sweet dreams. If someone needs good dreams, it's him."

Tony relaxed. "Thanks."

"No problem, Peter deserves it." she paused. "Tony, I know it's none of my business, but that Scott's fellow there is something strange about him. He seemed. . .angry. Not at all concern over Peter whose he known for months."

"What's with everyone's obsession with Scott?" he asked. "Strange told me the same thing and he's just as cryptic."

"It's just a feeling," Wanda assured him as she approached him. "But if I'm the second person to tell you this, you might want to take a look into it."

-End of Chapter Twenty-Seven-