An Arachnids Adventure
Chapter - 5- A Doctors Visit - Part 2
In Front of the Baxter Buildings Main Entrance
Ben, Reed, Johnny, and Franklin were standing in front of the buildings' main entrance; currently grasped in Ben's right hand, standing vertically straight on the ground was a cloth and pole gurney.
The group of four could be seen waiting, both patiently and impatiently for something to happen.
The sight, while not the strangest to ever have been seen on the New York streets, was still quite an attention-grabbing event, hence why almost every single walker-by would turn and look for a few seconds before going on their way.
Johnny, being the youngest of the group quickly grew embarrassed and asked his father. "Hey pops, what's going on? I thought you said some injured kid was gonna be here soon. It's been five minutes, we've been out here and nothing, kaput, zilch, nada. Nothing's happened."
"Johnny, don't underestimate New York traffic, let alone the morning grind. They'll be here soon, just hush up and stand still." Franklin spoke whilst turning his chin at Ben. "Look at Ben, he's standing there holding the Gurney up and he's not saying a word."
"Uggh, can you not compare me to that bald old man?" Johnny sassed in mock embarrassment.
"What you say, kid?" Ben, having had his attention called to the earlier conversation the moment Franklin had said his name. Barked out after Johnny's attempt at cracking wise.
"I, Said, Can, You, Not, Compare, Me, To, Some, Bald, Old, Man! I know you're getting on in years but are you already losing your hearing, sheesh I'll keep you in my prayers!"
"Why you litt-"
"Ben, enough, let it go. Besides, you have been looking older and older since you shaved your head, why did you do that again?" Reed cut in before Ben could blow his top.
"Honestly, it's a style! I think it looks good on me, and so does my girl! Which is more then I can say for you, Stretch!" Ben cut back in a lackadaisical style.
"Ben! You Traitor! Why I oughta-"
"Boy's, be quiet, the cars pulling up!" Franklin interrupted the usual gimmick the three men had gotten themselves into.
The three men stood straight and looked ahead, trying to see and tell which incoming car was the one.
In came a tan, 1992 Cadillac Deville Sedan, pulling right up and onto the curb, startling the three younger men.
Looking into the window, all four men gasped, some outwardly some inwardly.
In the driver's seat sat a fairly beautiful, yet slightly aged, middle-aged woman. Auburn hair already beginning to show the slightest signs of fading. The woman was surprisingly calm considering what or rather who was in the front passenger seat.
On the right-hand side of the vehicles' front seating row, laid a young man covered in blood. Blood seemingly seeped from his face and head, let alone some rather large and garish gashes all over his body. The boy's hands, however, looked as if they were recently pulled out of a surgery in an operation room, bare-handed, completely covered in gore, some of his fingers bent out of shape and large open lesions along his knuckles blood seeming to coagulate in those area's giving them a much darker red sheen.
His right shoulder and arm swelled and throbbed, looking horribly wounded. No doubt if one were to remove his shirt one would see his shoulder purple and red, turning a darker blackish color. His sternum and rib cage area would look purple and bruised as well.
The group of five seeing the inside of the vehicle thought for sure that this person would either be dead or dying. The only thing to disprove that thought would be the strong and steady breath's the boy was taking. His chest rising steadily and smoothly, almost as if he was asleep.
May, getting out of the car and seeing the group of men simply standing there grew impatient and walked to the passenger seat door and said. "Are you all going to make me carry him up there or what?"
The group snapping out of their daze walked forward with the gurney laying it down, and then Ben unbuckled the boy and carefully and gently laid him down on the mat. Johnny and Reed went towards the Gurneys grips towards Peters' legs and grabbed on. Ben walked over to Peters' head and grabbed the wooden grips there.
Ben shouted. "Three, two, one, Lift."
While the young men were lifting Peter up onto the Gurney, Franklin walked over to May and asked for the proper rundown of the situation.
May responded and informed Franklin of all she knew, The group of four both hearing and overhearing this, looked at Peter once more, slightly impressed and slightly fearful of what he had done and what he had gone through.
The new group of five walked into the building and entered a cargo elevator, one which led all the way up to the Penthouse.
The elevator doors opened and May was shocked by the spectacle before her, A large room with an open-style progression, with practically no walls except for those leading to different labs, labeled with the lab's names on the doors leading to them.
A den or living room area, a kitchen next to it, many Gadgets and Machines lay scattered all about. Before May could really explore the room with her eyes, she saw a beautiful young woman walk out of a Room titled X-Ray on the door, clad in a white doctor's gown with her gorgeous blond hair up in a bun.
May seeing this young woman was shocked for a few moments before she saw the young woman's gaze wander to the gurney with Peter on it, behind herself.
The girl froze and went slightly pale, quickly she ordered.
"Ben, Johnny, Reed, take him to the med-room now!"
The three young men hearing her tone dared not delay, carefully rushing to the door labeled 'Medical Aid', the girl looked towards Franklin and said.
"Dad, hurry up and get prepped we have to clean his wounds and get him sterile. Then we should check his condition as quickly as possible."
"Susan, go and get started, I have a few things to talk about with May."
Susan hearing this, showed no hesitation to rush the Med Room and prep for whatever lay ahead of her.
2 Hours Later
In the living room area of the Penthouse, there were a total of five people sitting on the Multi-Sectioned Couch.
A Middle-Aged couple and three young men.
The middle-aged couple being Ben and May Parker, the three young men being Ben, Reed, and Johnny.
Each person was anxiously awaiting news from Doctor Franklin Storm and Susan Storm, Ben Parker had arrived around thirty minutes earlier, he had managed to convince one of his co-worker's to drive him over after receiving the news. A one Carl Brock.
Ben could be seen holding May's hands, May leaning her head against his shoulder, the two seemingly inseparable.
The three young men, however, were on the other side of the couch huddled together, keeping quiet in fear of upsetting the couple in front of them.
Before long had passed, The door labeled X-Ray had opened, revealing a somewhat tired Susan Storm. Walking out of the room, not noticing the stares from the group of five on the couch. Susan's eyes never left the X-Ray diagnostic photograph in her hands, her face scrunched up in thought. All the while walking across the room towards a door labeled MRI. Susan walked through the door and some more time passed, she eventually walked through that door and then proceeded to read another Photograph as well as some paperwork that the group wasn't privy too and walked towards the door labeled Medical Aid.
After seeing Susan go through this little exercise, the group waited some more, doing their best not to disturb her work.
Some five minutes later, the Medical Aid door opened and out walked Franklin and Susan, both looking quite consternated, though for differing reasons. Susan in confusion and Franklin in bitter yet reluctant acceptance.
Franklin finally looked up and saw the group of five on the couch looking at Susan and him in concern, Ben and May even more so.
Franklin sighed and said. "Good news and Bad news...I wish I could say something different to you two, but seeing as how things are, it wouldn't be right of me to lie." The group of five felt their hearts clench in nervousness. "Good news is; Peter's gonna be fine."
May and Ben hearing this let loose a deep breath of relaxation...the three young men also visibly relaxed quite a bit.
Franklin not continuing his report looked towards Ben, Reed, and Johnny and said.
"You three, thank you for all of your help and as much as I don't like saying this, this next part is a quiet and private doctor to family affair, if I could ask you three to leave the room?"
The three had no hesitation and stood up to leave, after all, it already felt a bit improper to have listened in as much as they had.
Susan seeing this was about to leave the room as well however, Franklin spoke up stopping her.
"Susan, I said this was a doctor to family situation, stay here as well."
"What? But I'm not the boy's physician?"
"You helped him today with your skill, besides after seeing what you have today, there are some things I have to explain to you as well...or do you mean to tell me you aren't curious, after seeing what you have?"
Susan, hearing her father stayed put and thought to herself.
Ben having heard Franklin's words stopped and put on a concerned expression. Franklin seeing this explained. "Susan is my daughter and while maybe not a licensed doctor, is one of the best doctors out there, trained in every field that I am, with much steadier hands than mine, accursed old age. Everything that she has seen and heard will stay between us, you have my word."
Ben hearing this relaxed his shoulders and May took a deep breath.
"Susan...sit down, you'll need to take things in slowly." Susan hearing her father's serious tone sat down on the couch a few feet away from Ben and May.
"Haaaaah, this...while it may be taken as good news, it also presents many potential problems for Peter. Ben, I'm assuming you've already told May, about the 'special' circumstances surrounding Peter's birth?"
Ben held mays hands and May held his. Before Ben could respond May spoke up. "He has, Doctor, why? Does the current news you have...have anything to do with that?"
May didn't know it but her words just confirmed Franklin's thoughts, after all, seeing the situation when she arrived it wouldn't have been strange if she were a crying, sobbing mess, however, she wasn't. She seemed calm, almost as if expecting Peter's wounds to not be anything serious.
"Sigh. Yes, yes it does." Franklin uttered, looking all the more his age.
The Middle-Aged couple both visibly tensed, after receiving this news.
Susan put on an even more curious face, looking to be further and further put off by the flow of the conversation.
"Ben, May, you two have brought Peter to my office many a time over the years, after all with Peter's condition...if any ordinary doctor was to discover the abnormalities in Peter's blood...whether that doctor realized it or not they would be terribly interested in finding out the source of Peter's 'Abilities'...this would be disastrous for Peter...after all it would only be a certain small amount of time before 'they', or any other 'powers' would either be able to put two and two together...or just be downright interested in what makes Peter tick."
Ben and May hearing this, nodded.
"In fact, if Ben hadn't contacted me after my visit to your home all those years ago, I would've reached out to you two myself. The situation at hand is simply far too risky, thus my involvement...after all as the man who abled this to happen, I believe it my responsibility to safe keep Peters safety, it's the least I owe his parents."
Susan hearing this conversation was beginning to see a pattern of sorts...after all, unlike her brother Johnny, Susan had always shown an interest in the medical field, whether due to her father's profession or not is something that never interested her. But seeing that, Her father always made sure to involve her in his work. Thus, everything he ever worked on always somehow came back to her ear...this conversation was ringing a few too many alarm bells...but seeing as how the two strangers were in front of her, Susan kept her lips sealed tight. Remembering to question her father later at a different time.
"Ben, May, allow me to give you two the original prognosis, our first look at things right after Peter arrived...after cleaning all the blood from Peters body, we found a total of 36 open lesions along Peters body, 28 of these were from glass shards embedding themselves within Peter's skin, 8 of these from aggravated wooden splinters. There were many more sore and scarred tissue areas along Peter's body, however, we found these scars and bruises to be quickly healing. We also found two major areas of Bruising, along Peters sternum and right shoulder leading down to his bicep. Seeing this situation, we immediately applied the necessary blood supplement fluids to make sure Peter's blood levels returned to the average norm, we then proceeded to remove any shards of glass and wooden splinters, doing our utmost to make sure there were none left within his skin.
From there, seeing no more surface injuries or potential loss of blood, we turned to Peters internals using an ultrasound machine first then moving forward to an MRI followed by an X-Ray scan. What we found wasn't necessarily the best news, however, considering the circumstances we saw him brought in here with, it could also be said to be the best-case scenario.
We found no organ injury or internal bleeding present, his skeletal structure, however, was in a rather horrid condition. Around his right Shoulder, we saw signs of a recent dislocation, it seemed to have been pushed back into place somehow, however, whoever pushed it back into place did a shoddy job of it, seeing this we had to re-dislocate his shoulder joint and re-locate it in the correct and best position so that it can heal appropriately.
Further down his right arm, we located many a hairline fracture surrounding a large fracture in his Humerus bone, there was also some slight fracture damage to his Radius and Ulna bones, in other words, his upper arm being the Humerus, and his forearm being the Radius and the Ulna bones. This leads us to believe that Peter may have received some form of Blunt force impact, the Center of impact being his upper arm, the resulting damage being a dislocation and much fracture damage. Surprisingly enough, however, is the fact that his bicep muscle and surrounding muscles seemed to be perfectly fine, quite healthy in fact.
His ribcage seemed to be in a rather similar situation, muscle and organs were completely fine, some slight outer bruising, yet his bones, his ribcage to be exact, were fractured yet not all the way broken.
Seeing this situation brought one thought to mind...however, instead of simply jumping the gun I had Susan run some of the tests once more, what we saw only confirmed my beliefs...it seems that the immense amount of bodily stress awoke 'something' in Peter…"
"Doctor, Richard once told me that the tests you were once performing had shown some results... those results being an increase in the subject's natural regenerative abilities and slight increased cognitive functions. Isn't that the case?" Ben asked confused.
"It seems Richard told you quite a bit...yes it's true, however, that slight regenerative effect should have been nowhere near this level, recovering from a slight cold or some bruising more quickly than normal. That's the level we should have been expecting….let alone the strength possible to do what May told me he did...that shouldn't be possible for a boy his age, with that kind of muscle mass...unless he wasn't a normal child."
Ben and May went quiet...thinking of the possible repercussions of the news that just hit them.
Susan now had no doubts...she knew exactly why the things she saw had happened, she saw straight through to the heart of the matter...thinking of the things she had just heard. Susan felt a fit of righteous anger swell up in her chest, a fury so great she had never felt anything like it, thinking that her father, her own flesh and blood had experimented on a child, a baby no doubt. It drove her to her breaking point, Susan couldn't take it anymore. She rose from her seat on the couch, looked her father in the eyes and swore.
"Dad! You, you of all people! I never thought that you would do something like this! How could you, how could you experiment on a child like this!"
Franklin, hearing this, was shocked for a moment, soon he thought through his daughter's words and then he chuckled; thinking to himself, 'It's been a while since I've seen Sue's righteous side like this. it really reminds me of her mother.'
Susan saw her father smiling at her, she grew even more uncomfortable thinking all the worst things.
'What if this isn't the first time he's done something like this. What if-what if Johnny and I were experimented on too.'
Before Susan could get further swallowed by her delusions Franklin spoke up.
"I didn't."
Susan hearing this blanked out, then said.
"But you just said-"
"Um, young miss, Your Father really didn't do this, it was my foolish brother who has to take this burden. You see-" Ben having explained the entirety of the matter to Susan, sat down thinking back on her sudden outburst and how she shocked both May and himself into silence for a while. Ben began to think better of this young woman and her strong conscious, turning on even her own father, thinking he had something to do with human experimentation.
"But-but he just said he had some results in his research...and that the subject had increased regenerative and cognitive functions..?"
"Lab rats...lab rats, Susan. My subjects were lab rats…" Franklin exasperatedly explained.
Susan hearing her father's words blanked out before an embarrassed flush rose from her neck all the way up to her ears, looking like some sort of old styled thermometer, she sat down quite swiftly and kept quiet.
"May, Ben, I'm sorry about that, my daughter has quite the righteous side to her."
"Haha, it's quite alright, at least now I know her heart is in the right place."
May responded quite happily, turning to look at Susan, a strange gleam in her eyes.
Susan and Franklin seeing this thought to themselves, 'Is there something wrong with her eyes, maybe there's a glare of light in the room.'
Ben, however, saw the light in her eyes and felt fearful, he knew this look...after all, it was the same way she would look at MJ, almost as if she was appraising a future daughter-in-law...this was concerning, to say the least, this Susan Storm was at least a few years older then Peter.
Before he could redirect Mays' attention elsewhere he heard May ask.
"Darling, how old are you?"
"Um, I'm eighteen this year...why?"
"Oh, no particular reason." May looked back at Franklin, seeming to go back to normal.
Ben, hearing this, released a breath of relief, thinking to himself. 'It's good she asked, this way she'll be able to put these thoughts to rest. After all, a six-year age gap at their current ages is the same sort of distance between the hills in Central Park and Mount Everest.'
Little did Ben know, May was thinking. 'An older woman isn't so bad, it means she'll be able to take better care of Peter in life. She's also a doctor...Hmmm, it seems MJ has some competition.' May thought as such, without the slightest concern to Peter's opinion on the matter.
Ben asked Franklin. "So what does this mean then, doctor?"
"It means that the serum has been in a dormant state for a good many years, we have no idea what this could mean. It may mean that this is all that will happen, a slight increase in Peters Regenerative abilities maybe even an increase in his cognitive functions. Or it could mean Peter may even awaken to strengths as powerful as Steve Rogers, maybe lesser. In the end, we simply don't know. One thing I'm sure of is that if Richard implanted the entirety of the serum into the baby Peters I.V, then there's the possibility that he might one day equal "the" 'Captain America's' abilities, however, he most likely won't ever exceed them."
Ben and May, for what felt like the tenth time today visibly untensed their shoulders.
"Now, I'd like to discuss the possible future. I'm sure you two can tell...but I'm not exactly getting any younger here...so that's why I would like to take the time to ask the two of you for your opinion on something."
Ben and May hearing the topic of conversation straightened themselves out once more and listened attentively.
"Susan, come here for a second please."
Susan came to her father's side, somewhat expecting his words and dreading them as well.
"As I said earlier, this here is my daughter and I've taught her everything I've known about the medical field. Not only that, she's an absolute genius when it comes to her field of expertise. The bio-medical field, regardless of her young age she's one of the leading figures in the science community today. This building you stand in today is also my gift to her and my son as well. This 'Baxter Building' will one day be a place where intellectuals gather, to discuss, disprove and make scientific discoveries to change this world. I would like the two of you to allow me to pass my position of Peter's main physician on to her, it is my genuine belief that Susan will not only be able to help Peter work his way through the challenges his body presents but also help him control them."
Franklin having finished his sentence looked towards Ben and May, then towards Susan and waited for all of the three's responses.
"We accept." May said shocking all the people in the room.
Ben, hearing his wife accept immediately, without asking his opinion looked at her strangely.
"What? Do you disagree? This young lady has already worked on Peter today, she also already knows about his 'condition' and she even has the right conscientious frame of mind. If we can't trust her, then what other choice do we have?"
"...I guess you're right." Ben, seeing that May had a point, had no choice but to agree.
"Of course you do." May said proudly.
Franklin, hearing May's and Ben's words was pleasantly surprised. He thought for sure it would take some smooth talking to get the two to agree.
At this point, Ben, May, and Franklin were now all looking at Susan in anticipation.
Susan seeing all the elders in the room looking at her like so, began to get more accustomed to the idea.
"..If you'll have me, then I'll do my best, but I'd like to make it clear that I can only do what's possible, I'm no miracle worker…"
"I'm sure you'll do just fine." May said as she stood up and grabbed Susan's hands in her own, gently.
"May, I think you should go to the Police station to give your report on things now, they've already been patient enough as is." Ben advised.
"But I don't want to leave Peters side, how will I know of Peter's situation if I'm gone? Besides they want Peter's statement as well."
"May, if I may, I'd like to go to the Police station as well, I'll give them a forged copy of Peter's medical report as well. Susan can stay here while you, Ben, and I go to get things taken care of. Susan has my cell phone number so she can give us a call if Peter wakes up while we're gone." Franklin spoke up.
May hearing this had no choice but to accept.
Susan seeing all this happen, finally had no choice but to just ask. "I'm sorry but no ones told me how Peter even got these injuries, would someone please fill me in?"
The three hearing this were stumped, thinking that this girl just went with the flow for so long while remaining unaware of the general situation.
Ben spoke up and clarified this up for the poor girl. After hearing all that had to be said and thinking about the things this little twelve-year-old boy went through. Susan was truly shocked to her core.
One Hour Later
Baxter Building, Recovery Room.
Susan could be seen sitting in a chair beside a medical bed, atop this bed laid a fairly tall and handsome, boy of the age of twelve. This boy's brownish-auburn locks were of a rich and vibrant shade, yet whilst remaining not too voluminous.
There was so much she knew about this boy, yet so much more that she didn't. Things even he might not know...and yet...she didn't even know what color his eyes were. She knew he had the courage and audacity to stand in front of a madman with a weapon to protect those he loves. Yet she didn't know if he was afraid of the dark.
She didn't truly know this boy and yet she was bound to him for life. His doctor for as long as he needed her. This very thought confused her quite a bit. Made it all seem so strangely romantic. Then she remembered his age...and the thought was immediately put out of her mind. shoved straight into the very recesses of her conscious, she imagined a door that led to her mind as she pushed said thought out of it and into the freezing cold. So cold it seemed as if a blizzard had just passed through and left behind an all too hostile winter wonderland. Below zero to say the least.
Before Susan could think any more on the mater, she heard a mumble emerge from the bed. Then a shifting of covers could be seen and heard both.
"mmm...MJ…"
Susan hearing this mumble, had a strange look come over her face. Thinking of teenage boys, dreams and a young man calling out a girl's name during sleep. Having thought this far ahead, Susan grew an adorable shade of pink...lucky for her no one was here to see her innocent slip-up.
After having calmed down, she listened a bit further to hear Peter's tone mellow out into one of concern, not eroticism.
Thinking of what she had heard of from this boy's Uncle. How he put himself in front of danger for his friend...this girl who was his age...Susan felt a helpless expression climb onto her face.
"Wake up, lover boy." Susan gently whispered.
Peter, in his slumber, heard an almost angelic soft voice though he couldn't make out the words.
"Wh-who's there?" Peter called out, awakening from his sleep.
"Who wants to know?" Asked a coyly smiling and amused Susan.
"Whaa?"
"Get up, Peter."
Peter, hearing his name being called opened his sore eyes. Looking around himself Peter saw a white room in his surroundings with a sparse few machines running by his bedside. Seeing the room look a slight sparse in furniture or other aesthetically pleasing decors, Peter quickly put out the thought that this room was that of an average hospital ward's.
Peter looked to his left, in search of the voice that called out to him earlier.
To his left was a chair-cum-sofa seat, in this seat sat an elegant young woman. One of the most beautiful Peter had ever seen. Up there with MJ, Gwen, Jean, and Cindy; only far more mature than any of those priorly mentioned. Blond hair and blue eyes, a real killer combo. This girl was sitting with her back all the way to the back of the cushion of the chair, her knee's up and bent letting her feet rest on the end of the chair's cushion. Her arms wrapped around her knees, she was wearing a white overcoat over a white button-up blouse and a pair of long shorts under her knee-length, skin-tight skirt. Due to her holding her legs closed, nothing untoward could be seen, however, it was still a plenty revealing position.
Peter getting a good look at this girl, no this young woman, he half expected her to fix her position quickly afterward, yet she didn't. She simply sat there, her eyes staring into his. Seemingly lost in their depths. Peter seeing that this staring contest couldn't last forever, decided to speak up first.
"Umm-uh, I'm not sure who you are but I'm pretty sure you wanna put your legs down soon." Peter, after finishing his sentence looked away quickly.
Susan, having been startled by Peter's words, looked down and saw the state she was in and quickly blushed and brought her feet off the cushion. She thought to herself, 'I can't believe I did that! I got lost in this brat's eyes and spaced out! Crap now he's gonna think I'm weird, great first meeting, this one. Hi, I'm your new doctor, a pervert who spaces out a lot. Ughhh.'
"Umm, sorry about this, but who are you? And where am I?" Asked a confused and slightly concerned Peter.
Susan once again snapped out of her daze, looked to Peter, calmed herself down and began explaining. "Hi Peter, my name is Doctor Susan Storm, you're currently in the Baxter Building, you don't know me but I'm fairly sure you're acquainted with my father Franklin Storm."
"Susan storm...I know that name from somewhere….where was it again?"
Susan, hearing Peter's mumbles was startled, thinking to herself that while she was somewhat known in the scientific circle. Only the majority of her credentials were pasted under her more senior scientists as a sign of respect...hence the reason she wasn't a household name like Tony Stark. Susan couldn't think of a reason for Peter to know of her name.
"Oh! That's it! Susan Storm's the name written in all of my textbooks-er my 'borrowed' textbooks.." Peter uttered in delight before finishing in slight shame for calling his borrowed textbooks, 'his'.
"Ah, that's right Dad lent all my old textbooks out to you didn't he?" Susan replied in sudden understanding.
"So you're the mysterious Susan Storm! For you to have all those first edition textbooks under your name, you must be quite the scholar!" Peter quickly responded in the hopes of moving past his slight faux-pas.
Peter beside his embarrassment, was quite excited by the idea of having an actual scientist for an acquaintance. Thus he'd quickly forgotten his current circumstances.
"You're telling me that? Then what are you supposed to be? A twelve-year-old boy genius?" Susan quirked in humor.
"...eh, no, no way! I'm still making my way up to the foundations of Physics, still making my way up through all the textbooks, I've only barely begun to crack open 'Advanced Calculus'.." Peter began to shyly push away any praise.
Before either person knew it, they had begun an hour-long discussion, speaking at length of their many thoughts, theories, and work...Susan mainly cleared up any doubts Peter had. Although there was the occasional viewpoint that helped Susan see things from a different and less constrained viewpoint. Further enlightening Susan on a different path she had yet to tread.
By the end of the discussion, Susan no longer saw Peter as a little boy with grand aspirations but as a potential future scientist on not only her own level but even possibly Reed's...this being the highest praise she could give, for Reed was the most intelligent person she knew.
As the two were beginning to advance from calculus and the occasional Quantum or Bio-Medical discussion, onto what Peter was truly beginning to struggle with, Trigonometry. After all, Trigonometry was the study of Triangles and all their distinct uses in Mathematics, providing the thought process that all equations that can be graphed out into shapes can be simplified with the usage of Triangles. This thought process baffled the young man's mind and in some cases went against the knowledge that calculus had built up in Peter's still adolescent mind.
"I understand the basic theory and practice behind Trigonometry, but it still confuses me at times...I'm pretty sure that if I were to take a problem and take the calculus approach it could be proven that way, so why would I take the Trigonometry route?"
"Peter, you're thinking of it all wrong, it's not one way or another, let me use an example to explain. Say you were on the way to the theatre with your family, the route you normally take isn't viable because of a traffic jam. Wouldn't you take a different route to get there? Would you just give up without a second thought of going to the theatre?"
Peter shook his head.
"Right? Listen, Peter, just because there's one way of doing things doesn't mean that, that is the only way to do it. We have multiple branches of mathematics so that we check if our math is correct, both ways are accurate, and both methods are valid."
"I...see."
"Peter, Calculus, in my opinion, is one of the greatest tools we scientists and mathematicians have. It can help us analyze things in our work, in ways never thought of possible prior to its existence. The basis of Calculus is to, expand a small amount of information more than often described as a derivative of a function, and lets us analyze their properties and integration. Essentially it lets us, better understand a subject which is normally only given the barest of understandings, as long as its fairly detailed, this small strip of understanding can be further extended and explained better through the use of Calculus. I don't particularly think one of the branches is greater than the other, I simply believe that they both have their uses and that they can 'sometimes' be used to proof check each other. Do you understand now?"
"Yeah! I've been trying to understand all this on my own for so long that I sometimes get it all mixed up. Haha."
"You learned all this by yourself?" Susan asked incredulously.
"Well for the most part, after all, my Aunt May could only teach me what she knew and remembered. Although I am enrolled in a Pre-Calculus class at school." Peter finished, curious as to why Susan had asked her question.
"..." Susan was impressed by both Peter's will to learn and his ingenious nature to pull through alone as he has done until now.
"What's wrong?" Peter took to satiating his curiosity.
"Nothing, just surprised is all."
"Surprised? About what-"
Before the two could continue their conversation, The door opened and a total of five people walked in, only three of whom Peter could recognize.
His Uncle Ben and his Aunt May as well as his doctor, Franklin Storm.
The other two were, in fact, Johnny Storm, and N.Y.P.D. Captain, George Stacy.
Of the group of people who walked in four out of the five were surprised to see Peter awake.
"Susan, I told you to call me if Peter ever woke up." Said a stern, Franklin.
"Uh-Dad I got-"
Not letting Susan finish Peter interrupted her. "I'm sorry Doctor Storm, I was asking her questions, it's my fault she got so caught up." Peter came forth and explained.
Franklin's expression softened up and he said. "Ah, I see, I'm sure you would have had questions."
Johnny on the side thought to himself,
'Yeah, he was asking questions alright, though I'm not sure how many were about his condition.'
Johnny had come to check up on his sister earlier and had peeked his head through the door, into the room. What he saw though was no doubt a strange sight, his sister and the patient were conversing about math and science. Things Johnny had no interest in, as long as it didn't have a direct connection to mechanics that is...having seen this, Johnny walked out of the room and didn't come back to check again.
"Peter, I'm sure you're a bit blurry right now but I'd like you to introduce you to this Police officer, Mister George Stacy, he's here to take your statement about what happened earlier today...do you remember anything?" Explained Ben.
"Oh...um- a little yeah." Peter looked towards the tall and somewhat imposing Police Officer and hesitantly responded.
"I'm sorry to be such a bother, son. But I've got to get this done as quickly as possible. I'm sure you want that man locked up as quickly as possible don't you?"
Peter, hearing George mention that man, had a scowl come over his face.
"Yes sir, anyway I can help, though I have a few questions of my own I'd like to ask."
"Of course, as long as it's not private case info, I'll tell you all I can."
"Mmm, thank you, Officer...uh-Stacy was it?"
"Yes." George smirked, having an idea as to what Peter was going to ask next.
"Um, officer Stacy, are you perhaps related to a one Gwen Stacy?"
George hearing this young man mention his daughter with a slightly awkward look on his face, smirked even deeper and said. "She's my daughter...so yes."
"Ah, I thought you would be re-...Dau-Daughter.."
"Yes, why…" George leaned forward slightly.
"No-no reason...I just thought you two would be related due to your same last name and hair color." Peter quickly muttered.
"I see...well let's get on with the questions, shall we. If I could have the room please?" George decided to let things lie as they were, not wanting to startle the freshly injured young man any further.
The group all quickly scattered. May giggling all the while. Ben shaking his head. Johnny and Susan snickering at Peter's misfortune, all of them overthinking the current relationship between Peter and 'Gwen'.
"Sir, if you would please.." Peter faux-calmly uttered.
"First, start off with what you remember happening, then I'll ask you some questions to try and rekindle any memories."
"Well, I remember waking up and hearing a yelling coming from my window. I didn't think too much of it, New York and all. I proceeded to do my morning chores, taking out the trash and when I was heading back inside, I heard a woman scream. I noticed it sounded familiar, then it hit me. That was Auntie Anna's voice." Peter felt true calm spread over his being, no longer nervous. Slightly upset but calm. " Before I knew it, I was in my house's side yard looking across the street, what I saw scared me half to death. A man was standing outside MJ's house-er Anna's house." Peter flinched at his verbal misstep.
"MJ...is that Miss Watson's niece?" George spoke whilst writing in his notepad. Something he hadn't had to use in a good few years, seeing his new position as Captain of the N.Y.P.D.
"...yes, Her name is Mary-Jane Watson, MJ for short." Peter filled George in.
"Are you and she, close?" George asked, his intentions not entirely true to his position as an interviewer and more as a father.
Peter heard the question and the tone it was asked in and he started to falter, before long he answered honestly.
"...yes, she and I are childhood friends...she's important to me…" Once more Peter felt calm at the thought of confirming his thoughts in verbal form. Thus, when he answered it was uttered with both conviction and passing, if albeit broken once.
George hearing Peter's serious response turned serious in turn. "I see..continue." George thought that his daughter had some serious competition. George knew his daughter well, in some cases better than even she knew herself...even if she had yet to realize her feelings for this Peter just yet, he imagined it wouldn't take her long. Remembering the look she had on her face when she heard that the blood covering her friend was Peters...George could only sigh at the upcoming storm...
"I don't really know all too much beyond that point, it gets all blurry, I kinda remember running across the street and seeing MJ covered in blood...and then something...a heat in the pit of my stomach...then nothing...I remember waking up on that man's body...fists bloody, his face unrecognizable….and then MJ hugging me..crying...and then nothing, just waking up here."
"I see, I'm sorry to try and bring up anything unpleasant, but I'll be asking you a few questions…."
"..."
"..."
"..."
A few minutes later, George walked out of the room, Seeing before him a group of four people, consisting of Ben, May, Susan, and Franklin.
"Captain Stacy, anything?" Asked Franklin.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, his story fits all the other reports, he seems to have entered some sort of emotion-fueled rage, his increased strength can only be chalked up to an adrenaline rush, however, he had a particularly strong reaction to hearing who the invaders identity was...I'm sorry, but Miss Storm, what exactly was it that he asked after waking up?"
Susan, hearing this immediately lightly blushed. It quickly disappeared soon after, almost as if it didn't exist and she said.
"At first he asked who I was and where he was, after informing him, he recognized my name, and we soon began a discussion...in the beginning, I was just doing my best to calm his nerves...however" Susan reaching this part of the discussion, grew red in the face once again and continued. "I soon was dragged into the discussion and became too engrossed...and forgot to call my father…"
George, hearing this grew a strange facial expression and muttered. "..I...see."
Franklin, hearing this, realized his earlier assumption had to have been wrong and grew unsettled then questioned. "...for how long?"
Susan remained quiet and from down the hall a lazy voice laden with schadenfreude called out. "For about an hour or so."
Everyone in the hall heard this and the looked at the source of the voice, a one Johnny Storm leaning against the wall, reveling in his sister's self-inflicted misery, then towards Susan who had shrunk her neck and blushed.
Franklin shook his head and sighed. Ben grew perplexed and May smiled and nodded with half-lidded eyes, the portion of her eyes that showed, had a familiar gleam flash through. George thought to himself, 'This Peter, he has quite a way with women it seems...should I forbid Gwen from seeing him?..no she wouldn't listen and her mother would kill me, after all, our girl is finally showing interest in a boy. How troublesome…'
Susan spoke in her own defense. "Peter's actually a great conversationalist, and-and he's a truly brilliant mind, don't let his age fool you, he's already begun studies on advanced Calculus and Trigonometry!"
Once more the people in the surroundings had a different thought,
Ben thought to himself, 'Poor girl, doesn't she know the more you deny something the more guilty it makes you seem?'
May nodded even harder as if to imply, 'that's true, that's true'. The gleam in her eyes returned brighter than ever, thinking. 'So this girl can help Peter with his studies...perfect…'
George, on the other hand, was impressed with Peter's academic growth, after all, his daughter had informed him that Peter was struggling with Pre-Calculus when the school year started yet now he's already advanced beyond that point.
Franklin, having heard this, had a brilliant thought occur in his mind. Not waiting to put it into action, he spoke his mind. "Susan, didn't you say you were stuck on a project as of late?"
Susan hearing her father's words was struck silent, before coming back to her senses and replying. "Yes, why?"
"Why don't you help tutor Peter?" Franklin asked with a seemingly innocent smile so wide his eyes closed. Good enough for him as it were. For if his eyes were open, the people in his immediate surroundings would immediately be able to tell he was up to no good.
"What? What does that have to do with my work?" Susan asked, bewildered.
"I've always found that reviewing my lessons has helped me work through mental blocks like this. Earlier you said you spoke with Peter on the subjects Calculus and Trigonometry. Did doing that help spin any cogs in your mind?"
"..Well it's true he did give me some ideas.."
"See? Doing that isn't so bad...why not give it a try, besides do you mean to tell me you aren't curious about Peters academic limits? I know I was, that's why I lent him all your old textbooks." Franklin interrupted Susan and struck while the iron was hot.
May, hearing this decided to dawn her proverbial Blacksmiths' apron and strike as well. "Oh I just know that Peter would love that, Oh little Sue won't you help my Peter, ever since he's moved beyond my level of education he's been struggling to make moves by his lonesome, won't you help an old woman out?" Said a scheming May.
Ben after hearing these two foxes silver tongues ring out and seeing these two adults tricking the little woman into doing their bidding, realized that this world was unfair...and that he had married a frightful woman.
At this point Susan felt she had no choice but to accept, there's also the fact that Peter could very well help her in her work as well. Whether accidentally or not made no difference….besides she didn't mind spending more time with Peter. "Well, alright.."
" "Splendid!" " Both May and Franklin called out. Each for their own 'Nefarious' purposes.
May for the obvious, and Franklin, because he doesn't like all the time his daughter was spending with Richards as of late. As far as he was concerned that man was too old for his daughter, and he genuinely didn't consider Peter a 'man' or a threat to his daughter's future happiness...yet.
George seeing the flow of events decided to excuse himself, but before leaving, he said. "Doctor, is Peter well enough for any visitors?"
"Susan, what are your thoughts on this?" Franklin asked Susan.
"He should be just fine, truth be told he isn't all that damaged, it was mainly the psychological pressure that weighed down on him that kept him out. He even has a safe bill of health, ready to check out at any time"
"I see, Mister and Misses Parker, if I may, My daughter is quite a good friend of Peter's, she found out about Peters Doctors visit and the circumstances that led up to it and has been worried sick all day, I was wondering if it would be acceptable for her to come over and check up on him once he's home."
Ben was about to respond that Peter should have some downtime, however, May was just quick enough to beat him to the punch."Oh Dear, I think Peter would enjoy your 'daughters' company quite a bit."
"I see, then once school is out, I'll drop her by?" George asked for confirmation.
"Yes, yes that sounds wonderful." May responded joyfully.
George seeing nothing else to do here proceeded to excuse himself.
Ben and May, asked if they could help Peter out the building.
Franklin, of course, agreed and sought to help them, Susan did as well. Johnny offered to help guide Peter to the elevator and into the car, however, Ben and May declined, simply stating that they'd like to spend some time with Peter themselves.
"Oh, Susan dear; When is a good time for you to have a study session with Peter?" May asked, curious and anxious to set things up.
"I'm free most weekends, Is that okay?'
"Yes dear that's lovely, does every Sunday sound good?"
"Yes, that works for me."
"Good, good, We'll contact you via your father."
"No need, here's my cell phone number."
Susan reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card with her credentials and information on it.
May took it and kept it in her purse.
At the Parker Residence
Peter was sat in his bed, a Trigonometry textbook in his hands, taking a moment to rest his eyes and smoothen the upturned corners of his mouth. Peter thought to himself.
'Susan really does teach really well, this is all so easy now.'
Peter to no knowledge of the others around him, heard the conversation that took place outside his door at the Baxter Building. For some reason ever since waking up Peter could tell that his senses were heightened, his sense of hearing and scent especially so, he was able to overhear the conversation earlier that day, and thus knew for a fact that Susan would be his new tutor of a sorts. Peter, excited at the prospect, could hardly wait to meet Susan again.
Peter in his newfound senses could, in fact, overhear all the noises going on in his home right now, the television running, his Aunt May humming in the kitchen with the sink running, probably doing dishes.
Peter could smell a whole new variety of scents as well, some amazing, others horrendous...for example the new stew that his Aunt May had just put on the stove, beginning to brew and cook, letting loose aromas both familiar to Peter and foreign, for example, the almost putrid scent of the fat and grease in the Beef being roasted in the liquid, or the scintillating aroma of the spices and the vegetables being cooked in the broth.
From across the street, Peter could smell a scent so horrible Peter could immediately place it as manure. Peter remembered Anna telling his Aunt May that she had just installed a miniature greenhouse in her backyard, concrete plot and that it was going to take a lot of upkeep if she wanted to raise anything in it.
Peter doing his best to redirect his attention elsewhere, remembered the conversation that took place earlier at the Baxter Building. He knew that Gwen would be coming over after school, remembering so looked towards his alarm clock, seeing the time [3:31 PM], he figured it was about time she got here.
Peter thinking on his own, was soon blown away by a ridiculously attractive scent that soon approached his front door. Peter was taken aback by this new smell, he soon heard the sound of two pairs of footsteps walking up to his front door.
Soon a knocking noise transferred over, and behind what he assumed to be the front door, he heard a very oh so familiar voice call out.
"Aunt Anna, are you sure it's ok to come over?"
"You heard George, he said Peter was in much better condition than previously thought...I'm sure he wants to see you too."
The sound of a door opening and his Uncle greeting their newfound guests rang out. Peter hearing all this felt his heartbeat speeding up, as he heard a pair of some quiet and almost hesitant footsteps walk up the stairs.
[Click]
Peter's bedroom door opened and in walked MJ, looking somewhat hesitant and nervous.
Afraid to see if Peter still looked as bad as he did earlier in the day. She walked in fully and saw the state Peter was in, MJ sighed in relief.
Peter seeing this and hearing her heart beat at a mile a minute, smiled and said. "Hey, MJ."
MJ seeing and hearing this, soon started to bawl once more, she rushed up to Peter and jumped on his bed, pushing Peter down on the bed, showing once more that she was still a twelve-year-old child.
Peter seeing this, brought his arms up and rubbed her back in comfort, speaking words of comfort.
"Shhhh, it's okay, he can't hurt you anymore...it'll be alright. I'm here, I'm right here...you aren't alone...not while I still live and breath…"
After a few minutes of releasing the majority of her pent-up emotions. MJ sat up on Peter's bed, looked at him, realized she was on Peter's lap, blushed and hurried to get off of him.
Peter seeing this laughed and pointed to the chair beside his desk.
MJ, seeing this, pouted and looked to where he was pointing, walked over to the desk and pulled the chair over to the bedside.
"Its-its been a while since I've been in your room…"
"Yeah, it has, things have changed quite a bit haven't they?"
"Mmm, no more puzzles everywhere."
"Yup, haha."
MJ saw the books all over Peter's desk, looked at the one on his nightside table and asked.
"Really, Tiger, 'Tryg' already?"
Peter hearing MJ call him this blanked out for a moment and didn't respond.
MJ was confused at the sight and thought. 'Did I say something?...hmm, I don't think so-' then it clicked, she had called him 'Tiger', she called him that all the time in her mind, but she had never actually done and said it aloud before, it always seemed a bit too promiscuous...and yet she just did it.
"You, what did you call me?"
"What?I-I just called you what I always do, Pete.."
"...No, you didn't...you called me Tiger…"
"S-so what, I can call you that, right, I-I mean you call me MJ all the time."
"True but that's different, after all, you already call me Pete."
"So what, your Uncle Ben calls you Tiger all the time, what's so special, are you saying you don't want me to call you Tiger?"
MJ at this point in time grew indignant about her little slip-up and began to reverse the flow of the conversation.
"Well, no I don't mind per se, but it just surprised me is all."
Peter, having said this, decided to let it drop.
"Hmph, that's good then."
Peter, hearing her sulk, shook his head and then he heard a certain noise, the noise of a car approaching his home. A flurry of new scents, each equally as pleasant as MJ's, one among them, however, did not share that pleasant scent, instead, it reeked of cigarettes and winter mint gum.
Peter soon heard another knock upon his door, Peter did his best to move on from these distractions and did his best to pay attention to his conversation with MJ.
Not long later, a knock on his bedroom door was heard, Peter and MJ looked to each other. Peter doing his absolute best to look unaware.
Peter answered his door. "Come in."
His bedroom door opened once again, and in walked a total of three girls..surprising even Peter.
Peter was under the impression that Gwen and only Gwen was coming over.
The three young women who walked into his bedroom were, in fact, Gwen Stacy, Cindy Moon, and Liz Allen. Peter could understand Cindy coming over after hearing the news, Liz was, in fact, a large surprise to Peter.
While it's true that MJ and Liz got along quite well, to the point where she would sit with Peter, Gwen, MJ, and Cindy for lunch. Peter wasn't aware of how deep the connection between the girls had grown in recent months.
Even though the girls didn't have much in common, what with Cindy's interest in Hockey or Gwen's in science, or MJ's in the Theatre and acting, and Liz's in Cheerleading and shopping. It still didn't affect their overall support of the other's decisions.
"You guys, what are you doing here?" Asked a bewildered Peter.
The girls hearing Peter's words each had their own reactions.
Gwen looked at Peter with a conflicted and slightly blaming look in her eyes, not saying a word.
Cindy looked at Peter for a few moments before her eyes turned red and irritated, she charged forth and gave Peter a good wallop on the top of his head.
Liz, however, had the strangest reaction. She slowly began to tear up and walked towards Peter's bedside looked at him in the eyes, watched him rub his head, due to Cindy's smack then let loose a ragged breath and said. "It's good that you're alright."
Her words and actions brought great confusion to Peter. Leaving him very confused...as far as Peter could recall Liz and he were never really that close, thus her actions truly dumbfounded him.
Gwen seeing his state spoke up. "You wouldn't know it, but the moment Liz and Cindy heard you were hurt, they were almost inconsolable, wanting to leave school immediately."
Peter, hearing this truly began to think back on his interactions with both of these girls. He truly thought on what it meant for him to be with them...and what he meant to them, he could barely understand Cindy acting like this but Liz's reaction truly off-put him.
He thought back to how he had treated her, and the way she, him.
Realizing he hadn't been the best of friends with her, he felt...guilty, guilty for not reciprocating her feelings. For leaving her to feel this agonized while he was out cold.
Peter wasn't the only one to realize how each of these girls treasured him.
MJ looked on all of these girls' faces, all of her friend's faces...and she realized, she understood them because she too went through all of these emotions earlier today.
The other girls had realizations of their own.
And May who was standing outside the door soon realized this as well...A gleam soon shot through her eyes, much stronger than any before, and a smirk found it's way to her lips.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters.
In Nick Fury's office, Fury could be seen with his hands folded, fingers interlocked, together in front of his face, his elbows standing on top of his desk. In front of his desk stood a fairly common-looking man with no discernable features.
Currently, this man was giving a verbal report, explaining the day's matters in length to Fury.
"Sir, it was then that I made to interfere in the scuffle, seeing as the boy was soon to enter harm's way. However, before I could make it in time, the man charged the boy, it was then that I noticed something strange, the boy was emitting a fierce killing intent, the kind only senior officers who have seen battle should be able to emit. Seeing this and while still under your orders to observe, I stood back and watched the proceeding fight...Sir...it was a slaughter, the convict was no threat to the boy, he had no chance…"
Fury, hearing this report and looking down at the Report on his desk. Said report was filed under, "P. Pkr.", after hearing the full extent of the report, Fury said.
"You are excused, you may continue your duties, however, you may see some increased men on patrol, do not alert them, keep yourself hidden, while you can see them, they cannot see you...am I clear, we might also send backup your way, your mission now entails keeping the family safe."
"Understood sir."
Fury watched his trusted man leave his office and picked up his phone and proceeded to dial a number.
"Natasha, report to my office."
Not waiting for a response Fury hung up and waited.
Soon his door was knocked upon, Fury called out.
"Come in."
In walked Natasha Romanov, looking even more beautiful and grown than prior, her body filling out more, now at the age of eighteen and looking it. Budding and glowing in a way no woman, not of the age can.
"Sir."
Fury stood up and grabbed the papers on his desk and walked over to her, then handed the report over.
"Read it." Fury finishing this, walked back to his desk, then behind it and looked out the window. No longer sitting.
Natasha, reading the report saw what it contained, and became mildly shocked.
"Sir, if this report is true...then this boy could be of great use to the agency."
"Mmm, that he could...but what if I told you I've been with-holding all information on the boy from the agency…"
Natasha grew quiet.
"What if I told you he was the son of two of this agency's greatest agents."
"Then I would say you've done the right thing."
Fury hearing this turned around and looked at Natasha.
"And why is that?"
"Because if the agency, no, any agency got their hands on him..it would spell his death."
"True...and what if I told you he was the son Agents Eagle and Widow, the woman who's code name you've inherited."
"..."
"...Well?"
"I would ask you to tell me more."
In the Astral Realm
"Brother, it seems your past power has awoken something within the 'Champion'."
"Yes sister Weaver, not only that, I can feel that the 'Champion' has attached to a fraction of the 'Titans' divinity."
"Sigh, I know, this is why another one of my Tethers of Protection has broken and come loose…"
"I'm sorry sister.."
"Don't be, for all we know, this was destined to happen, the 'Champion' may even be the one to conquer that negative power. At the very least, should he be able to conquer it, it would give him a fighting chance against the Phoenix Force should it ever decide to turn against him…"
"You speak the truth Sister."
"Go, return to your duties brother, all is as well as can be now."
"Aye Sister, Aye."
*Authors Note*
Okay, a lot to talk about here,
Yes, Sue Storm has been properly introduced.
Yes, Aunt May, wants her boy to have many 'options'.
Yes, there is probably a lot of typos or misspellings and misuse of grammar.
Yes, The super-soldier serum has 'awoken', from its dormant state.
Yes, The Titans' power has awoken as well, however, this won't play a major focus until later in the story.
Yes, the next chapter will be a major time skip, one in which Peter will get his bite. This also means that we can expect the flow of the story to change.
Yes, Things are a little rocky here on my end, so maybe expect some delays in chapters and please don't hate me for them.
I would also like to say this, It's quite important so please forgive the bold, I'm considering making a fairly large narrative change, and I would like all of your opinions on this, whenever Peter is the main focus of my writing I would like to write in first person, whenever Peter isn't I would like to write in third person, for example when describing fight scenes or doing my best to explain surrounding's or giving the readers a better shot at understanding other characters thoughts, whether they be friend or foe.
I understand this is a big change and thus will wait for you guys, my reader's opinions on this before writing the next chapter.
That doesn't mean a weeks worth of time but more like a few days of downtime, if you are somehow reading this in the future, know that you were too late. I'll create a poll and paste the link on here. Just delete the spaces,
www . strawpoll . me / 16809324
Just in case any of you are wondering, this Fantastic four is based on the Original 'Fantastic Four' movies, 'Fantastic Four', and 'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Siver Surfer', Just a heads up the four and Victor Von Doom will be much younger versions of themselves, also considering Chris Evans acts as both the 'Human Torch' and 'Captain America', I'll be changing Johnny Storms looks a bit, for continuity reasons.
Please do not confuse them with the 2016 or 2015 version of the 'Fantastic Four' as that movie was shit...in my opinion.