Chapter 2: Poison

Excuse any medical errors or MCU mistakes!

"You're dealing with grownups here!" A tall bald man with a beard shouted at Peter.

"I'm a-a grownup!" Peter yelled as he webbed them all to either their van or the brick wall. He looked down from the top of the building to make sure they were all stuck before making his way down.

"You don't know what you're dealing with." One of them shouted when Peter got close to their van.

"What is this?" Peter muttered to himself when he opened the back door. He stared at the bright blue objects.

"Hey Spidey!" One of them shouted again, and Peter turned to face him but didn't have time to react when something quickly pierced his suit and hit his collarbone, making him wince as he stumbled back against the vehicle.

"What the hell!" He yelled to himself, quickly regaining his balance and shooting a web at the attacker's hand. He looked to his left to see one of the dealers with a free hand. "How'd you get free?" He turned around.

"You're messing with things beyond your understanding." The man simply said.

"Why are you here?" Peter asked, his eyes narrowing as he walked towards the man.

"I guess you'll find out." The man scoffed. One of his eyes was green and looked artificial.

"Your eye." He said simply, squinting to get a closer look.

"Too bad you won't live to see what it was." The man replied, looking away.

"What?" Peter moved back. He looked around at all of the offenders, and then texted the location to Tony like he said he would if he came stumbling upon anything "remotely weird". They'd deal with the rest, he thought, not giving the rest of this strange experience another thought.

He made his way up the wall and looked down again to make sure they wouldn't move, and then jumped over a few more buildings, climbing down the side of the building into the alleyway, grabbing his bag that he'd webbed onto the side of a trash bin. He looked around him when he heard something move, putting it off as an animal or something, jumping when his phone started buzzing in his pocket.

"Hey, May-"

"Don't 'hey, May' me, you're late, again!" She yelled through the phone, and he squinted, pulling the phone away from his ears. It seemed louder than usual.

"Yeah, I was just-"

"Hanging with Ned?"

"Yeah." He replied, putting on his jeans and hoodie on top of his suit while trying to listen out for anyone coming who could see him and keep the conversation going with May.

"I called him. And guess what was going through my head when he said you weren't there. Peter. Take a guess."

"Right...May, because, you know, I was with Ned for like five minutes afterschool, then I got called to the internship and-"

"The internship that you lost?"

"Uhh-yeah-then I got back and-long story, which I will explain to you when I get home." He closed the door to his flat behind him and then listened out for any noise out in the corridors. Nothing. He put his hood on and threw a web to the fourth floor. "Shit" He whispered when he nearly flung into the wall. Rookie mistake.

"What was that? And how long are you-" she paused, "hang on."

Peter gave an awkward smile when May opened the door with the phone to her ear. She frowned and sighed, ending the call.

"Very funny." She said, making her way back to the living room as Peter followed.

"I'm okay. I just forgot to call you." He explained, throwing his bag on the sofa and opening the fridge.

"You always forget to call. Do you realise how worried I get? What if something..." her voice trailed off in sadness.

Peter closed the fridge with a water bottle in hand, putting it on the counter and turning to face his worried Aunt. "May, I'm okay." He smiled, gently holding her arm.

"I don't always know that. And I need to always know that." She paused and tilted her head. "And are you wearing a red turtleneck under there-" she touched the red fabric that was showing under his hoodie, and he dodged her, moving down and moving her hand away.

"May, stop! Look, I'm really sorry, and I promise I'll call next time." He smiled, closing his eyes and falling back against the counter when a dizzy spell hit.

"Hey, you okay?" May moved in instantly and helped him stand.

"Yeah, dehydration probably." He grabbed the water bottle and waved it. She didn't seem convinced but nodded, moving out the way to let him go to his room.

"Take care of yourself, for my sake at least." She told him as he walked away, and he mumbled a "yeah".

He closed his door behind him and practically collapsed onto the bed, keeping the lights closed. He was getting a headache, and that confused him, because he didn't think that was possible after his whole powers thing. He squinted and turned his face to bury it in a pillow.

The buzzing of his phone in his pocket woke him up instantly. He shuffled, feeling hot from the layers he was wearing, and took the phone out.

He didn't have time to speak when he heard Tony cut in, "I've been calling for an hour. Where are you?" He asked, obviously seriously annoyed.

"What? It's like-" he got up, closing his eyes when he looked at the bright phone screen, "only 4:46, I was sleeping!" He answered in his defence, sitting up against the wall.

"Peter." It was a sympathetic tone, and that worried him. He waited for Tony to continue. "It's your Aunt May."

"What about her? She's here, should I get her and-"

"She died. Last night we got a –"

"What are you-what the hell? What's this..." he mumbled, his heart rate increasing as he jumped out of his bed and flung open his door, and then hers. And it was empty. All he could hear was the phone in his hand and someone shouting through it. "Where is she?" His voice broke as he stared at the empty bed.

"She's with us. Sorry, I'm coming to get you-"

Peter jerked awake, nearly gasping for air. He could feel tears coming, and his heart was thudding against his chest. He waited for a few seconds, scratching near his neck as he grabbed his phone from the same pocket that he did in his nightmare. 4am. Sighing shakily, he got up and nearly tripped over his shoes before turning on the light. It was dark outside, and the streets were empty.

His headache was creeping back in, and he was having trouble focusing. He sat back down on the edge of his bed. The sick feeling was also back, and this time it was accompanied by pain near his collar-bone that he'd been scratching at. He moved his head so that he could see the mirror, and pulled down his hoodie and suit from the side slightly. There were black veins moving outwards, and his eyes widened as he jumped back. He immediately stood up and went closer to the mirror to take a closer look.

"What..." he said to himself, touching his skin. It was nearing his neck. He thought back to the fight in the alley and the wound, then mentally cursed himself for not being careful enough.

He sat down again, phone in hand. The only person he could call was Tony, because no one else would know what to do. But it was 5am, and not that he found it awkward, but waking someone up to tell them about your spider-veins was an awkward thought. He thought about it for a few seconds and then dialled the number.

"Priority call from Peter Parker." An automated voice announced as the rooms dimmed lights turned on.

"Peter." Tony said in an irritated tone as sighed. "Accept."

"Mr-Mr Stark? Is that you? Or-"

"You called me, who were you expecting to answer?"

"Yeah." He laughed nervously.

"Ok Spider, it's 4am, you wanna tell me why you're calling?" Tony cut to it, keeping his voice low when he saw Pepper asleep on the sofa with papers all over her and the floor.

"Um, well. Remember the weird blue things you guys got yesterday?"

"Yes. What about them?"

"I think it hit me, and there's these-these weird black veiny things near my neck-"

"It hit you? Did it also knock out your brain? Why didn't you tell me when it happened?"

"I thought it was just a cut, and I didn't even know it was from them!" Peter defended himself.

"Ok, well? You're calling this early, what did it do?" Tony asked.

"I had a really bad-like mega headache last night, then I had a nightmare and now my neck and head both hurt. And the guy...he told me I won't 'live to see' what happens and I ignored it because-"

"Because you're an idiot!" Tony yelled as loud as he could without waking Pepper up, making his way out the room and closing the door behind him as he made his way to the main space. "Come down here." He stated, bringing up the files to his work, "on second thought, Vision's coming to get you." He finished, finding the stuff on last night.

"I am?" Vision asked, standing right behind Tony within seconds, who jumped.

"Don't do that!" Tony glared at Vision, who confusedly stepped backwards. "I need you to go get Peter, please." He continued, handing him the address and giving a little smile at the end.

"Yes. But it's my understanding that you don't even know what those items were. How can you expect to know to help him without knowing?" Vision asked.

"Vision, those are questions to be asked later down the road. Let's get him here first." Tony said, his eyes pointing to the paper.

"I know his address." Vision replied, crumpling up the piece of paper and disappearing almost instantly as Tony frowned.

8 am

"You spent a whole four hours on it, how can you not be anywhere with it yet?" Tony almost yelled, frowning as he practically pushed aside one of the tired scientists and grabbing hold of the microscope. He looked up at the clock for the hundredth time.

"It's lethal. That's all we know, and it's practically impossible to come up with a cure without the right elements." Jacobs, one of the team leaders, responded.

"Lethal. Great. Great progress, guys." He sarcastically commented, nodding and freezing when he looked up to see Peter with Vision. A scared Peter. He looked to Vision and made a "why is he here" face, and Vision uncomfortably opened his mouth to speak and then looked down.

"I'm gonna die?" Peter asked, his voice masked with fear.

"No." Tony replied immediately. "You're not dying. We have time, and you're supposed to be with the doctors." He said, looking over to him.

Peter nodded and sighed, looking around at his surroundings. Tony observed him, because he was shiftier than usual and was looking really paranoid. Then he jumped when Vision tapped his shoulder, taking a seat on one of the chairs.

Peter was listening intently to everything everyone was saying, and the lack of hope was making him feel worse. He closed his eyes and felt something in his throat, starting to cough. He looked at his shaking hand in panic, which had spots of blood on it, and then looked over to Tony, who was already looking at him with extreme concern across his face.

"Test it." He turned away and vaguely pointed to the table. Jacobs grabbed a cotton bud and got to work. Peter started coughing again, which got Tony to come over.

"You okay?" Tony asked worriedly, and Peter looked up. His eyes were bloodshot and he looked more tired than ever, but he nodded, sniffing. "That a cold?"

"No. I don't think so. It only started like an hour ago." Peter answered, and Tony just nodded in response. There was a short silence before he spoke again. "Mr Stark. If-if you don't know what it is." He stopped and his eyes watered while he fiddled with his fingers.

"I said we'll figure it out." Tony refused to let him continue.

"Yeah but-" he stopped, and sighed and looked down at the table, "could this kill me?" He finally asked, looking up to Tony, who was staring back with a distressed look.

"Yes." He said bluntly, "but you're forgetting that I have the team of the best scientists and doctors there is, so the chances of that happening are low. And you're talking to the man who literally invented a new element to save himself, so there's nothing I'm not gonna try to do the same for you." He looked at Peter.

"Okay. And could you call-" He started, cut off by a bloody cough. "Call May at 9 and tell her I'm here? She'll be worried and I promised her yesterday...I don't want her here, but..." his sentence faded away and Tony nodded, more concerned about the cough than May at that moment.

"I'll call her. Don't worry about that." He lightly squeezed Peter's shoulder before making his way over to Jacobs. "That's progress." Tony pointed to some messy scribbles on the piece of paper in front of the scientist, who looked up.

"So now you're a biologist?" Jacobs smiled, and Tony laughed a little. "We've got a little more to go on. His blood changed since the last time we tested it. Hopefully we'll get something else before his condition deteriorates."

"Peter?" Vision called, tilting his head. Tony looked over to Peter as well, who was resting his head on the table on his arms. "Peter." Vision said again, next to him. "You're bleeding, Peter." He said, and Tony quickly walked over.

"Hey, Peter, let me see." Tony said, crouching down a little.

Peter didn't respond, and Tony looked up at Vision, who paged the doctors.

"Be careful." Jacobs said, standing behind Tony.

"His heart rate is steady, but his breathing seems uneven." Vision added.

Tony held Peter's head with one hand and his chest with the other, slowly lifting his head off the table. "Get me something, it's a nosebleed!" Tony yelled, grabbing the towel from Vision and stemming the blood. "Why is he unconscious?" He asked, while three doctors rushed in and took hold of him.

"Steady pulse, he's having difficulty breathing - BP is 180/110" One of the doctors said, while the others came in with more equipment. Within seconds, he was out of the room.

"That was unexpected." Vision stated when they left. Tony looked over at the blood on the table and immediately turned away, scratching the back of his head.

Tony had been by Peter's side since his collapse an hour ago, and Pepper had joined soon after. They both sat on either side of the bed, and hadn't spoken much throughout the period.

"Tony, he'll be okay." She said finally, he'd had the same depressed face on since he sat down.

He looked up at her. "What if he's not? What if-and I haven't even told May anything about this yet, I said he's working, what a lie, 'working', sure he's -"

"Tony, stop-"

"But what do I tell her if he-Pepper, if he...May should be here..." he stopped and held his forehead with one hand.

She stood up and walked over to him, tapping his shoulder for comfort. "You have to believe he'll be fine. I mean, he has you looking out for him." She smiled and he just stared at Peter. "I'm gonna go check the lab."

"You have that important meeting today." He stated when she got up.

"I'll reschedule." She said, brushing her hand over his hair as she walked behind his chair.

"Are you sure? You said it was-"

"Tony. I'll reschedule." She repeated, walking out the door.

He looked to his left as she passed him and closed his eyes in despair. He should've tested the objects. He should've asked Peter if he got hit, he should know by then that Peter wouldn't have said anything unless he asked. Why didn't he ask?

Peter groaned, and Tony looked up instantly, getting up and hovering over him. "Peter." He said quietly. He looked horrible. He was on a ventilator, and he was begin to shiver. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." He said, and it was clear he was having difficulty talking. "My chest." He stated, squinting and grabbing the ventilator.

Tony grabbed his hand "That's there to help! It's helping, you nearly-" Tony cut himself off from saying the word. "I'll find a way to save you." He said, his eyes red.

"Ok." Peter whispered. He stared at the ceiling with a frown and clear discomfort.

Tony noticed. "You're a superhuman, there's not much I can give you to help with the pain." He explained, and Peter nodded. "

Tony sat back down, and about ten minutes passed in silence, before Peter moved. His eyes were shut tightly and he clawed at his neck, wincing in pain.

"What's wrong?" Tony stood up to take a look.

"I-I don't know." Peter replied, "it hurts, a lot." He squinted again and there were tears in his eyes. He pushed his head back into the pillow and practically screamed. "My head! It's-" he brought up his hands to his head and held on tightly.

"It's-" Tony was cut off by a stream of doctors that came in. He clenched his jaw, moving backwards while watching them fiddle around with the machines and his ventilator until there was nothing.

"Is he alright?" A voice startled Tony and he turned to see Vision.

"Ye-no. No. I-I don't know." He said, stopping himself from talking before he started crying. And he wasn't going to do that in front of all these people.

Vision looked around uncomfortably, unsure of what to say or do in the situation. "Tony-"

"I have to go-I have to do something. Important, I...yeah I'll be-I'll be back," he vaguely pointed to the door and made his way out while Vision watched.

He walked into the main room and looked around. The sun was up and it was lighter, which dramatically changed the atmosphere which had been depressing and dull just hours before. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass, pouring himself some water and taking a sip. He put the glass down on the counter and stared at the black marble top for a few seconds, clenching his jaw and closing his eyes. A minute passed, and he threw the glass aside, sending it smashing on the floor with a loud crash.

He looked over at the broken pieces and then leaned against the counter. They hadn't made much progress, and Peter was only getting worse.

He was about to head back to the lab when he heard something coming from the back exit. "Rhodey!" He called. He'd gone out an hour ago to find anything he could on the objects. He stared towards the direction for a few more seconds before heading towards it, his iron bracelet ready to go.

He frowned, letting go of his bracelet when he saw the guard on the floor and Natasha in the doorway with the door wide open. His eyes narrowed and he lightly scoffed.

"Tony." She stated, picking up her baton and tucking it away before standing up straight.

Tony looked down at his guard again, and then to her. "How'd you get in?" He asked.

She scoffed, "you know full well I can get in wherever I want."

"Yeah-" he gave a sarcastic laugh, "sure. Is that what you're here to do? Show off? Because I haven't got time for games. And aren't you supposed to be chilling on some island – rumours and all?" His voice came off harsher than he intended, and she looked away from him in clear discomfort.

"I'm not the villain here." She stated, walking over to him.

"Ok, stop right there." He lifted up his hand and she stopped. "You told me I needed to watch my back, and that's what I'm doing."

"Don't twist my words." She said, "I know about your Spider boy-"

"Spider-Man." He corrected, and she looked up in slight annoyance and confusion. "He likes to be called Spider-Man. No one calls him 'Spider-Boy', don't you read the news?." He finished.

"That's not...not the point. I have some information on what he was attacked by."

He nodded and scratched the back of his head, "did you have him targeted." He asked, and she immediately scoffed and nodded her head.

"Seriously?"

"Well, Steve tried to kill him last time. Maybe you did something and now you feel-"

"I'm not Steve and that's not even what happened." She said, and sighed, "look, I've been following these guys for a few months now. I have what you need to cure him, I saw that they do."

"You have what I need, of course you do." Tony repeated with sarcasm. "What's the price."

"No price." She broke the gaze again, "we're still on the same side. He's a child."

"No. We're not, and I don't think we ever were."

"You can't say that, we've gone through too much together. You brought Peter-"

"Are you trying to guilt-trip me?" He tilted his head and she clenched her jaw.

"Is that what you think I-"

"-because I've got a dying kid in there, whose relying on me to save him when I don't think I can. So it'll be easy for you-"

"Tony!" She nearly yelled, looking around herself when she did. "Take it. Why can't you just take it? Consider it good faith." She nodded in disappointment, bending down and rolling a small vial towards him.

Tony stared at the tiny bottle and looked up at Natasha, who was already walking out the door. "Good faith." He repeated, and she kept walking. "I can't ever tell when you're being serious. Or maybe I'm not the only one feeling guilty." He said a little louder, and she stopped.

"Maybe your right." She replied, her back to Tony as she slightly turned her head to her left, before walking out.

He watched her leave, and then bent down to pick up the vial, shaking it a little. It was a clear liquid, and there wasn't a lot of it. He looked up again and the door was wide open - she was gone.

He walked, or power-walked towards the labs, when Pepper appeared down the hall.

"Tony-he stopped breathing." She told him – fear all over her face.

He stopped walking, his eyes widening. "Is he-is he...", he couldn't even say it.

"He's alive. They said-"

"I don't need to hear what they said." Tony replied at the risk of sounding uncaring. He left Pepper standing and turned to the left towards the labs, as much as he wanted to see her and Peter.

He entered the labs where the scientists were still discussing and arguing. "I've got what you need." He stated, and they looked up collectively.

"Got what we need? What is that?" Jacobs asked when Tony lifted up the tiny tube.

"Someone dropped it off. Test it." He said, carefully handing it to him. Jacobs nodded and got to work.

Tony leaned against the table for a few minutes, waiting to hear the update. This was their last chance. He was about to go check on Peter when the scientist 'corner' cheered.

"We got it, Stark!" One of them yelled, and Tony sighed in relief, smiling for a second and leaning back. For the fist time in hours he didn't feel that feeling of something weighing him down.

"So, like 4 hours?" Tony asked.

"No! I-I don't know, Tony! I can't give you a time, I told you. I mean he's a fast healer, it won't be long. He'll be perfect when he does wake up." The doctor explained.

He nodded, "right. Right, so probably a day at most-"

"Seriously?"

"No? So a few hours, then! Great, that's all I'm asking, Lyla-"

"Yes. Okay? Probably a few hours, I can't believe you sometimes." Lyla sighed, walking out from under the room's door frame with her clipboard in hand. Tony grinned as he watched her leave and then looked inside the room. He didn't really want to go in.

"He's okay now." Pepper said from behind, and he turned around to see her walking towards him. "Go in." She said, or ordered.

He turned back towards the room and walked in, Peter's mask in his right hand. He sat down on the chair and pulled in closer next to the bed. He leaned his arm on the side of the chair and covered the lower half of his face with his hand, closing his eyes.

"Tony." A voice said, and his elbow slipped off the rest and her jerked awake. "He's waking up." Tony looked up to see Pepper smiling at Peter. Tony looked to him to see Peter's face scrunched up.

"How long was I asleep?" He asked, fidgeting in the chair.

"Like 4 hours-Tony I'll be back, I have-"

"Pepper!" Rhodey yelled from outside the room somewhere. "Pepper there's-oh great-now I'm-Pepper!", he shouted again, and Pepper practically rolled her eyes while Tony looked out the door in confusion. She muttered under her breath and made her way out.

"Yeah I told you I'm coming, Rhodey, this is it? No..." her voice trailed off as she left, and he could here the two of them arguing about something.

He turned back to Peter. "Feeling okay?"

"Hmmm." Was all Peter 'said', his eyes fluttering. "I'm okay." He said, taking off the breathing mask and breathing properly for the first time in ages. "Oh sh-did you tell May? She's gonna kill me-"

"Easy! I told her, she thinks you're working." Tony reassured him.

"I should've told her, Mr Stark, I mean what would she have done if I...if I died?" He asked, his eyes narrowing as he sat up in the bed.

"You didn't."

"I could've, you don't know-"

"But you didn't. You don't have to worry about it, because you know-it didn't happen." Tony replied, throwing Peter his mask.

Peter caught it and looked at it, gently setting it aside. "Ok, yeah, I guess you're right there." He said then looked up at Tony like he'd said something he shouldn't have said, "not that you're ever wrong, no, you're usually always right, in fact I can't think of a time with me-"

"Okay, that's enough talking." Tony laughed.

"Right. Listen, Mr Stark, thank you for-"

"Saving your life is the one thing you don't need to thank me for. Now go put your aunt at ease." Tony said, and Peter smiled and nodded, slipping out of the bed and grabbing his hoodie from the chair next to it. He zipped up and smiled, before shooting a web out of the room window and swinging out.

"I'll see ya." Tony said as he left. He smiled and made his way out of the room.