I guess I had fallen asleep at some stage, because one moment it was quiet and the next it was so loud and noisy that I would have plugged my ears if I could.

There were screams, shouts of surprise and people's shoes squeaking against tile as they ran for their life. Behind them was the echoing bang of guns.

I tilted my head, glancing at the camera still trained at me. Its red light blinked at me ominously. Then, at the door.

Was I being rescued? Or was this just another bunch of villains and goons waiting to get there hands on me? Knowing my luck, it was more goons. I hoped they would feed me, at least.

There was a pause in noise before the footsteps got closer and closer to me. And then whoever it was was right outside my door.

I could hardly breathe. Out of fear or excitement, I didn't know.

The door slammed open, followed by a shout of "hands up!" In rushed a team of police officers, guns trained to fire at any moment. They had masks obscuring their faces and big heavy bullet-proof vests on. They had come here expecting the worst, and I didn't blame them.

There was a small pause as they looked at me, and I stared at them.

"We've got Spider-man, I repeat, we have Spider-man." One of the police officers said into his walkie-talkie, walking towards me. Some of the officers behind this guy moved out of the room, leaving only him and one other behind.

"Are you guys here to rescue me?" I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

The second one nodded, coming up beside me to inspect the chains. "Yes. Can you get out of those chains?"

I shook my head, "No. Buildings integrity... or something. Gotta cut me out. Sorry."

The first officer went over to the camera and turned it off. I felt myself relax. "Where'd the video go?" I slurred.

The two officers looked between each other. The first one finally spoke up. "You'll be informed later. Our first priority is getting you out of here."

I let my head sag back down. That either meant everyone or select groups. I was too tired to care at this point. My throat was protesting all the talking viciously, so I just nodded.

The second police officer radioed someone about firefighters and bolt cutters. I straightened myself as much as I could in my uncomfortable position. Which wasn't much.

It would all be over soon.

Less than ten minutes later a team of firefighters were inside, along with some paramedics. It took awhile to get me out of the chains around my arm since the metal was attached so close to my skin. There was barely any budge room.

The first came off with an ear-splitting screech of the metal, the pressure finally releasing. They had grabbed my arms to keep them as still as possible during the whole process. When they finally let go, I pulled my arm to my nose and scratched it.

"Been annoying me for days," I murmured, earning myself some amused looks.

My right arm got the same treatment, barely bearable noise before freedom at last. I finally had both arms back. And man did it hurt! It hurt because they were so stiff, every movement left aching muscles in their wake.

I really hoped that my arms would heal pretty quickly. In general I hoped I would heal pretty quickly from all of this.

Then it was time for my legs. I had to lay down for them to get the best angle, but I did cushion my face with my arms. Even if that hurt too. Everything hurt, really, so what else was new?

"Ready?" One of the firefighters asked by my head. I gave them a solid thumbs up.

I was both looking forward to getting out of the metal around my legs, and dreading it. I had been in one position so long that I was sure my muscles were a bit messed up from it. But I was getting free, and that was the main thing.

Five minutes later, I was free. The firefighters, with their jobs done for now, made room for the paramedics. They gave me a check over, asked me some questions - after giving me a small drink of water, and then helped hoist me to my feet and into a ambulance bed.

"Never been in one of these before," I commented idly.

"And you should stay out of them, too," the first ambulance officer, Katie, said.

I grinned, "Believe me, I'd love to not be here."

They began wheeling me out, which gave me the perfect chance to discover the carnage left behind. Papers were everywhere, some coffee cups were shattered, I could see some sort of machine fizzing out. There were a couple of police officers hanging around, going through the data I presumed.

"One big operation," I whispered. Brian, the second ambulance officer, huffed.

"Oh believe me, you should have seen it all. It's pretty impressive," he said, giving me a crooked grin.

It surprisingly didn't take long before we were out of the building. I almost expected it to be light out, but only the moon shone down on us. And also the lights of a dozen vehicles.

Ambulance cars, fire trucks, two ambulances, and news vans, all surrounding the entrance way of what turned out to be a three story, quiet office building.

I wasn't sure what I had been expecting, but it wasn't really this.

Even as I was put in the back of one of the ambulance's, I felt like I really wasn't prepared for whatever was coming.

"News has just come in that the second Spider-man, revealed to be none other than fifteen year old Miles Morales who goes to Visions Academy, has been admitted to Brooklyn Hospital following his alleged kidnapping. We'll now go to our reporter at the site of the hospital. How are things looking Sam?"

"Well we're not quite sure, Annie. So far the hospital staff have been very tight lipped on his state. As we saw in the footage captured of him leaving the now cordoned off Jack and Son's last night at around ten pm, he was visibly very skinny. We still have no insight into what took place this past month and a half, but needless to say, his state alone doesn't paint a pretty picture."

"Do you think he'll be out of there any time soon?"

"Unfortunately, we have no idea at current. Rest assured, we'll be keeping everyone at home updated with the freshest news."

I blinked awake, staring up at the ceiling. It was starkly white and clean, jarring almost. I peered to the side, finding an empty room with empty seats. I was alone.

I rubbed at my eyes and sat up, ignoring my stiffness. I was in a clean hospital bed, the sheets were warm and it felt… weird. I didn't have my costume on either, I was in hospital gowns.

To my sides were various machines with information pouring from it that I didn't understand. Except for the heart monitor, which was sitting at about ninety heartbeats a minute.

I also had a fluid bag hanging from a pole attached to me via a needle in my arm. Huh.

Now that I was a bit more awake, memories of the night before came flooding forth. Being rescued, going to the hospital, being checked, but my memories got fuzzy from there. I might have passed out mid-way through.

And now, here I was.

In the corner of the room an ancient looking tv was playing the news. My face was all over it, various pictures of me coming up on screen before going back to the news hosts. At this point I couldn't be bothered to focus on the words. I could worry about what came next later.

I'm sure the hawks known as journalists had picked everything about me apart.

There was a quiet knock on the door before Mum stepped in, eyes red rimmed and handkerchief in her hand. Of course she was here, she worked here after all.

A part of me relaxed, relief leaving my hands shaking like I was coming down from an adrenaline rush. Just seeing her put to rest the fears that had stirred in my mind like a caged animal, pacing up and down, wondering if she and Dad were ok.

The rest of me tensed in anticipation. I had been lying to them for so long...

We locked eyes and she rushed forward, barely below a sprint. But she stopped just before she hugged me, looking me up and down before nodding to herself and enveloping me.

I hugged her back, leaning my head into her shoulders. I held on to her like a lifeline. It was so warm, like a blanket on a rainy day. I thought that I might never get to feel this again.

Eventually, she pulled back and I reluctantly let go. Mum wiped at my cheeks and I realised I had been crying. I hadn't even realised.

"I was so scared, Miles, I thought you were dead," she whispered.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, no, don't be sorry. Your father and I are so proud of you. You can tell us the how's and why's later, but right now we're just glad you're safe," she said, still holding me like I would disappear the moment she let go.

The words got locked in my throat. I wanted to explain, I wanted to tell her everything that had happened, but I choked on my words. I couldn't. Not right now, not when it was so fresh.

Instead I asked, "Where's Dad?"

"At home. He got here as soon as he could, last night. I sent him home when I got here, the poor thing was exhausted," she explained, lightly squeezing my hand.

I nodded, looking down at my lap. "How's he taking it?"

She sighed, "Not well. But he just wants the best for you and loves you."

"Doesn't sound good," I said with a strained grin.

"Finding out your son has superpowers isn't exactly a walk in the park. Give him some time, he'll understand," she reassured.

"Ok…" I sat up straighter, and Mum promptly fluffed the pillows back up. "You guys ok? No one's come after you?"

She laughed, "Unless you mean the paparazzi's, no. They stationed some police at our house and there's some just outside this door. Everyone knows the sort of enemies you've made."

"Not just me," I argued, though I had no real heat behind it, "Peter made more, I'm just picking up where he left off."

"Rest his soul, but yes he made as many as he could it seems." She bit her lip, seemingly pondering something before finally looking me in the eyes. "Did you meet him?"

What could I really say to that but a simple, "yeah." I should have pulled him out of that rubble before Fisk had gotten to him. Maybe I would have never been in this mess if he was still around. I definitely wouldn't have been kidnapped if I hadn't gotten bitten.

But even if I hadn't started fighting crime, if anyone had discovered I was bitten people still probably would have come after me. It was just the way things went.

Mum leaned forward, kissing my forehead. "I'm sorry Miles, I would love to keep on talking but I still have to work. I promise all the nurses are keeping an eye on you and if you need me just ask for me. Are you feeling ok?"

"Tired, hungry, but good," I whispered.

She smiled, "Well that is something I can fix. I'll be back with some food soon. When your father next comes around he'll have some of your stuff. We might be here for a week or so."

I squeezed her arm lightly, and she squeezed back. She got up and walked out, although she hesitated at the door for a long moment before shutting it behind her with a small click.

True to her word, another nurse came by with some juice less than ten minutes later. He had explained that with my lost weight and starvation they needed to watch my weight carefully for a bit and work back up to bigger meals. Otherwise, there was some disorder or other that I would suffer from.

The most important thing was, I had something sitting in my stomach. It felt pretty good, the cramps had eased off. But, keeping the nurses words in mind, I sipped it down slowly.

But then, I was bored. Like, really bored. The juice gave me just that bit more energy that I fidgeted for something to do. Like, I almost wished I was in a room with multiple other people so at least I had someone to talk to.

Yeah, there was the tv. But it was ancient and I really couldn't avoid my face. I guess I was famous now? Maybe? I wonder what my instagram looked like at the moment.

I snorted, I bet everyone was telling me to do a flip in the comments.

But I wasn't going to watch them speculate on me. It felt really weird. I would rather do anything else. Unfortunately, because it was so ancient, there were also no other good shows on.

I glanced over at the window, which surprisingly led out to a view of some greenery. A park was right outside. I snagged the bag on a rack and dragged it along with me as I meandered over to the window. Birds were singing, people were walking around with their kids or dogs. It was just a normal day at a normal park.

And then I spotted the people with cameras.

I sighed, scrubbing at my face. Vultures, the lot of them.

As long as they didn't notice me-

"Look!" I heard one of them shout, before there was a rush to get over to my window and get a shot of me. I let out a frustrated sigh. At the very least, I was two stories up, so they couldn't bang on the windows like demented demons.

I probably shouldn't give them the finger either. That would be plastered all over the media like a bad smell in a airtight room. Didn't want to give anyone the wrong impression or anything, but these people were just… sad. Like, of all the things to do with your day, hanging out waiting for one glimpse of some teenager was definitely not a job to be proud of.

Should I… wave? Maybe I should wave. Wait, do I even want to acknowledge them at all? Well, no, probably not. I didn't want to give them anything. Especially if they had been digging in our trash like racoons or something.

So I couldn't give them the finger, I couldn't wave, maybe I would just stare off into the distance like I'm trying to impersonate the Great Gatsby?

So that's what I did. Completely ignoring them, I peacefully watched the going on's of the city.

It was nice.

"What are you doing out of bed?" A familiar voice chastised me. I turned my head and there was Dad, no police uniform on, just him and a bag over his shoulder.

I shrugged, "Got bored. Didn't want to watch tv. The paparazzi have been going wild beneath me, 's kinda funny."

He huffed out a relculant laugh. "I can imagine. But come back to bed, you've gotta get your strength back kiddo."

I reluctantly got up and hobbled the few steps back to my bed, dragging the fluid bag thing with me. Dad even tucked me in, which he hadn't done in years.

"Uh, how've you been?" I asked after an awkward pause. The Look he gave was enough for me to fiddle with my hands. "Besides the whole Spider-man and kidnapping thing."

"When I said I saw a spark in you, I didn't think this was the spark," he said quietly, putting the bag down and pulling his own chair over to me. He grabbed my hand. "It's… a lot to process. But you're ok, and that's the main thing."

I smiled, "I can do cool back flips too. Y'know, a bonus."

His lips quirked up, and I counted it as a victory. "Back flips, huh? I'm sure that's all you can do. Guess you'll have to prove me wrong - when you have more meat on your bones."

"You'll get a back flip bonanza, a full show, just for you and Mum. And maybe Ganke, depending on how I feel."

He laughed, "Talking about that friend of yours, he's been blowing up your phone. It was driving your Mum mad." He reached down into my bag and pulled out my phone, passing it over to me.

"Huh," I murmured.

"I'm sure you can figure out what to do with it. Just don't give out too much information on what happened, ok? It's an ongoing investigation, so it's protocol," Dad explained, leaning back in his seat. "Anything else? Fair game."

I admit, this conversation was going nothing like I had expected it to. I expected more disappointed looks and 'you lied to us's. "I bet your colleagues were surprised that I'm Spider-man 2.0."

That pulled his smile down a bit, and I regretted bringing it up. "Yeah, lots of surprises to go all around. At least it explains why you're vigilantism is a bit more legal than your predecessor."

"You're not going to… stop me being Spider-man, are you?" I asked, the question bursting forth before I could stop it. I winced and looked down at my lap, avoiding Dad's searching gaze.

"We're going to have a talk about it later, when you're better. Just not right now," he said. "But you're not in trouble. Just because I'm a police officer doesn't magically mean I'm not your Dad either. I remember my teenager years-"

"Back in my day..." I teased automatically.

His laughter boomed, "I'll have you know, mister, I have more experience than you do."

"Next thing you know, you'll be shaking your finger at all the kids on your lawn," I mused.

He scruffed up my hair, "Sure thing, kiddo, I'll do it just for you."