Title: My Favorite Weakness (is You)
Summary: "I hate having a weakness, but I won't give it up."
Rating: T (for violence)
A/N: Let's finish our journey to Mr. Stark's place, shall we?
Chapter Seven: Spidey's Back
- Day 5 (continued) -
Peter swung back to the part of the city he was familiar with and headed for Stark Tower.
"Woo-hoo, Spidey's back!" Someone shouted from below, and Peter smiled, though it didn't really make sense.
He just had to get to Mr. Stark, who knew where the wizards were by now! To be honest, he hadn't really thought much when Mr. Stark had mentioned them; he kind of figured "wizard" was just an exaggeration for an evil street magician or something.
He arrived at the tower, and hoped that he wouldn't be interrupting something by showing up 20 minutes earlier than he'd said he would.
He went in the side door like before, since he was wearing his suit, and didn't take off the mask until he was in the elevator. He really needed to ask if he could keep a change of clothes in the tower if he was really going to be stopping by more often.
"FRIDAY, where's Mr. Stark?" Peter asked the air above him.
FRIDAY paused before answering, "I am taking you upstairs where Happy Hogan is waiting to meet you."
"Thanks FRIDAY;" he was okay waiting with Happy, though he knew Happy was probably not looking forward to it as much. Maybe Happy could help him find regular clothes while they waited for Mr. Stark.
The elevator doors open, and Peter walks out onto a floor he hasn't been on yet. He took a few steps forward, taking in a nice, open room with more couches and fewer windows than where he's been before with the med bay, kitchen, and workshop.
He heard a noise and turned to find Happy, standing and staring at him with an undiscernible expression on his face. Peter expected it to probably morph to annoyance anytime now.
"Hey Happy, have you seen Mr. Stark?"
Happy's face twisted to something resembling confusion; he didn't answer, so Peter went on.
"I was just patrolling on my way over and went by a different part of the city and there were these two wizard guys! I don't know if they were actually wizards, but Mr. Stark had mentioned wizards yesterday so I think it might be these guys."
"Really?" Happy started walking towards Peter, looking like he wasn't actually listening to or interested in what Peter was saying.
"Yeah. They were looking at a hologram thingy so I got closer and they shot these spark things at me, one hit me but it wasn't hot.
"Peter." Happy still looked concerned. And pale.
"No really I'm okay! I just really need to talk to Mr. Stark."
"Peter," Happy repeated.
Peter stopped and looked at him. He couldn't read Happy's paled expression, but all of a sudden got a sinking feeling in his stomach that told him he wasn't going to see Mr. Stark. He probably forgot, or more likely had more important stuff to do.
Peter wiped the disappointed look off his face and responded, "if he's busy I can come back. He asked me to come by almost an hour ago but wasn't expecting me for another ten or fifteen minutes. I can wait!"
Happy still didn't respond, and Peter got a little worried. Did something happen? Did he miss a message from Mr. Stark?
He glanced at his phone to see that he'd gotten no new messages. Happy was still looking at him - no, staring at him.
When Happy spoke next, something about it caused Peter's blood too run cold. "Peter?"
"Happy," he replied, "is Mr. Stark okay?"
Happy's eyebrows drew together, and he pulled out his phone, whispering, "yeah, kid," and dialed a number.
Peter waited, now more bewildered than anything. He swallowed the sudden panic he felt rising in his chest, reassuring himself it was an unwarranted reaction. He was fine, Mr. Stark was fine. So what was wrong with Happy? Was this just a head-of-security thing? Maybe Mr. Stark had asked not to be bothered or something.
Just then the line connected, he heard Mr. Stark's voice answer "Happy." But then Happy tapped on an earpiece, preventing Peter from hearing the other half of the conversation like he was used to doing with Happy or anyone's phone calls (not that he meant to). The earpiece must be new, Peter didn't remember seeing it before.
"Hi, uh, yeah, it was... FRIDAY was right... Yes, here, with me. uh-huh. I don't know."
Peter may have just been told that Mr. Stark was okay, but the cold, aching look Peter saw in Happy's eyes just then told him the exact opposite.
"Alright, see you then. I won't." Happy hung up the phone and turned back to Peter.
They stared at each other for a few moments, and for the second time that day Peter felt like time was moving in slow motion. Peter looked at Happy, daring him to break the silence with a truthful explanation. All he received in return was that same, pained expression.
He hated this feeling that he was not being told something, being left out, being excluded from a secret about him.
The unexplained, intense moment was broken when the elevator door opened and they both turned to see Mr. Stark enter. Peter took in his appearance, looking for something signifying what was wrong. As far as Peter could tell from his appearance, everything was fine.
But his behavior caused Peter to frown.
Mr. Stark wordlessly walked right by Peter with another weird expression that said a lot, though it took Peter a second to name: distrust.
Peter now had no idea what was going on. Had he done something? There must have been a miscommunication. He just needed to figure out what caused it.
"Mr. Stark-" he began,
"Uh-uh," Mr. Stark cut him off. "Question. Do you know today's date?"
Peter became even more confused, but he said the date anyways. "Mr. Stark I-"
Mr. Stark held up his hand, stopping him. "Where did you come here from?"
Peter sighed, "my apartment. I was on my way here when-"
"Please," Mr. Stark interrupted again, and this time Peter felt some heat; "are you okay?"
Peter was taken aback even more. What was going on? "Yes, except you keep interrupting me!"
Mr. Stark looked him up and down. "You look thin, have you been eating?"
Peter looked down at himself, as if expecting something to have changed in the past two minutes.
"I'm fine, we literally had this discussion yesterday. Are you okay?"
Mr. Stark looked like he didn't want to answer that, and he apparently didn't, as he skipped the question; "let's go to the med bay."
"Again?" Mr. Stark and Happy shared A Look, and Peter went on. "Look, what's going on? I'm fine. You literally told me I could come here like an hour ago. Want to see the texts?" Peter pulled out his phone, ready to show proof.
Mr. Stark actually looked interested in this, and practically snatched the phone from Peter's hand. He turned it over, curiously, looking at the make and model before trying to unlock it with his own thumb. Peter laughed silently, then reached out and touched the keypad for him.
Something was very, very wrong.
Mr. Stark read through the extremely short conversation between them, then opened his contact information. He then pocketed the phone.
"Hey-" Peter protested.
"Med Bay. Now." Tony turned and walked away, leaving Happy to follow Peter out.
Peter could see Mr. Stark on his phone, but he didn't give any more attention to Peter on the way, so Peter turned to Happy instead.
"I don't understand what's going on," he said irritably.
Happy shrugged; "me neither, kid." Peter noticed Mr. Stark turn to give Happy a quick Glance.
Peter shook his head. "No, really, why are we going to the med bay?"
All he got was a shrug from Happy.
"Why did he take my phone?"
Another shrug.
"Why do you both look so worried?"
No answer this time.
"Did I do something wrong?"
No answer.
They progressed in silence down to the medical hall, where familiar sight prompted Peter to speak again. He couldn't stand this uncertainty, and made sure Mr. Stark could hear.
"I left the apartment early so I could get some patrolling done on the way. You said to 'swing over,' so I thought that was okay. I didn't get much done, and I showed up to the Tower early just because there were these two weird wizard guys I saw that I wanted to tell you about," he said, motioning to Mr. Stark;
Peter was having to take faster steps to keep up with the two men and hated the awkwardly fast speed. "I swear that's all that happened. Oh and some guy yelled 'Spidey's back' or something which didn't make sense because I was only gone for like 15 minutes."
Mr. Stark stopped, causing Peter to run into him.
He quickly jumped back, embarrassed. Mr. Stark just looked at him strangely and opened the door to his left, "we have arrived at our destination," he announced in mock grandeur.
Peter walked in ahead of him, stopping abruptly at the sight. Mr. Stark almost ran into him, but the sight that met him was too important for him to notice.
The room was definitely med-bay, but cooler, like a smaller version of the workshop, but with more medical-based tools and supplies than what he'd seen either of the times he'd been in the workshop. There was a medical reclining chair for a patient, and several more comfy chairs pushed back against the walls. There were diagrams of different weapons on the walls right next to diagrams of human anatomy.
It was like a science lab and a doctor's office had a baby.
The light was on, because someone had gotten there before him. It must have been dusty because there was a guy wiping down the counter beneath an illumination suspended in midair.
He did a double-take on the person in the room, taking only a quick moment before he recognized him.
"Dr. Bruce Banner?" he asked, in awe, and continued slowly into the room, Mr. Stark and Happy trailing behind him.
"Why didn't we use this room the other day?" he asked, and turned back to Mr. Stark, who just shook his head while wearing a Very Bewildered look.
Dr. Banner looked nervous, more than anything, but at least he greeted Peter like a normal human being.
"Hi, Peter," his eyes didn't quite stay with Peter's, and he wasn't sure if Dr. Banner was nervous about something of if it was just his mannerism. "Take a seat," Dr. Banner motioned to the patient's chair in the center of the room, next to the table.
Peter obeyed; Happy went to sit in one of the comfy chairs along the wall; Tony went and stood behind the table, his face hidden from Peter's sight behind the floating holographic illustration.
Dr. Banner began his assessment, or something of the sort; Peter obliged, still confused. It was Dr. Banner, after all. A Dr. Banner who knew his name.
"You know my name?" He asked, incredulously.
Dr. Banner smiled, "yes, Tony told me you were coming. Please excuse the dust, it's been s while since we've used this room."
Peter leaned forward so he could make eye contact with Mr. Stark, and he pointed up at Dr. Banner. Mr. Stark shrugged his shoulders. That's Doctor Banner, Peter mouthed silently. Mr. Stark just nodded in affirmation, though Peter thought he caught a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Dr. Banner," he repeated.
Dr. Banner looked at him again, as if mentally rethinking something. He took a step back and leaned against the table of which Mr. Stark was on the other side.
He hesitated before answering Peter's question. "Yes, That's me." Then, "May I ask, what do you remember about me?"
Peter squirmed in his seat from excitement. "Well, I've read all of your work, I'm particularly interested in your research on gene splicing and mutation through conjoining."
Dr. Banner nodded, folding his arms. "And how recent was this?"
Peter shrugged. "I- I don't know, just over the past few years, I guess."
Dr. Banner nodded, like that was what he'd expected. "And can you remember what you've been doing more recently, say, over the past couple months?"
Peter furrowed his brow. What kind of question was that?
"Um, yeah. Just... normal stuff. School, spending time with my aunt, decathlon practice, hanging out with my friends."
"Ned and MJ?" Mr. Stark's voice startled him; he wondered how he knew their names, but nodded.
"Mostly Ned, outside of school."
Mr. Stark nodded and looked away again.
Peter held on to Mr. Stark's attention, but when it left he turned back to Dr. Banner.
"And then there's a new virus so the hospital called my aunt in to work full time, but this time she had to stay away for two weeks. She works as-"
"-A nurse," Dr. Banner supplied, "Yes I remember."
This confused Peter even more, but he went on; "Yeah, that's why she contacted Mr. Stark. And why I've spent the last two days at the Tower, not counting the day I was in the med bay." He smiled.
Mr. Stark and Dr. Banner gave no initial reaction.
"And why were you in the med bay?" Dr. Banner asked.
Peter grinned, sheepishly, "I sorta got stabbed."
Dr. Banner looked worried, but nodded.
Peter looked over at Mr. Stark, and his smiled faded from his face. Mr. Stark was shaking his head, as if disappointed.
That was it. Peter snapped. He stood up and walked to face Mr. Stark, who kept his eyes down.
"What?!" he asked sharply, "what is it? What's your problem? Do you not remember? Am I crazy? Did I do something wrong? I mean, it must've been bad, you brought in Dr. Bruce Banner for goodness sake! None of this is making any sense, so please, am I not okay? Dr. Banner am I crazy?"
"No," Mr. Stark finally spoke and looked up.
He stood and confronted Peter.
"No," he repeated;
"You're dead."
A/N: No comment. o.O (but I'd love to hear yours!)
