Ultimate Avenging Alliance Chapter 5 Comparing Notes
Matt stumbled and righted himself as he was pushed back into the cell. Peter was still unconscious, but at least their captors had taken the time to drop him on the blanket pile. The teen appeared to have burrowed into the cloth unconsciously, if the near-constant whisper of shifting fabric was anything to go by.
Matt shuffled over to the pile and slid down the wall. He'd been given a sheaf of papers for Peter's research file, and he set them down while he waited for Peter to wake. He had some success reading handwriting with his fingertips, and depending on the ink could sometimes read printed words, but he couldn't this time. Mind you, it was probably too technical for him to understand anyway. He discarded the half-formed notion of requesting it in Braille. He started to meditate.
Maybe an hour later, Peter started making little whimpering noises, bringing Matt back to the cell. "Easy, Spidey," he murmured.
"'Devil?" the teen mumbled. "Are you- are we-?"
"It's okay," Matt reassured him, hearing the jingle of Peter automatically pulling against his ankle-chain. "I'm fine, you've been sleeping, we seem to be being left alone right now."
"Not sure sleeping's the right word," Peter grumbled. He sat up, the blankets pooling in his lap, heartbeat settling into its usual slightly jerky beat. "You really fine? No nauseating serums or anything?"
"We mostly just talked," Matt frowned. "The guy I'm pretty sure is Suit asked about my sense. I threatened not to cooperate and he threatened to keep me locked up indefinitely. Then he offered me extra…abilities, powers, whatever you want to call 'em. He said it was in his best interests to keep me cooperative. He wasn't lying."
Peter exhaled. "He told me that if I cooperated, he wouldn't give me any serums my spidey sense thought would be fatal."
"Effective," Matt muttered. "He had me describe how my senses work to give me my perception, I showed off a little, he got me to identify things by touch or smell. Oh, and he promised nicer clothes and better food."
"But it was just talking?" Peter asked, voice taking a confused tone.
"Surprisingly non-invasive," Matt agreed. "By the way, you've got some more reading." He passed over the papers.
They fell silent, but for the rustling papers. Matt went over all the talk, dissecting it, putting together any hints. This was lawyer work; let Peter deal with the science.
"They're planning on kidnapping Captain America," he announced. "Maybe Thor, and possibly other Avengers as well. They seem to understand our goals to keep the city safe, and I think they support it, but they're a little…uncertain regarding how moral or otherwise the things they do in pursuit of their goals. I reckon they want to create superhuman, possibly for benevolent purposes, and they feel that end justifies quite a lot of means."
Peter put down his research. "Explain?"
"The restraints on the bed. They were made to withstand Captain America. They offered me his strength and Thor's lightening. If they're planning on kidnapping those two, it's not too hard to guess they might take more Avengers." Matt exhaled and leaned back. "Suit offered to help me keep the city safe. That's how he phrased letting him experiment on me, but…I think he liked the idea of his research being used like that. If he's trying to give me powers, it stands to reason he wants to give non-powered people powers. Considering that he seems to like his work doing good, and he gets a little pleased when we tell him we want something he can provide and sad when he can't, I think he has benevolent intentions."
Peter whistled. "If I ever end up on vigilantism charges, would you defend me?"
"I'll even do it pro bono," Matt smirked. "As long as you promise that if I ever end up with powers going haywire, you'll do the sciency bit to sort it out."
Peter chuckled. "We'll see. This-" he tapped the papers "-is about you. They reckon that it's not actually your senses that are enhanced."
Matt frowned. "Run that one by me again?"
"Right, well, there was your accident," Peter said. "Radioactive goop in your eyes. There were two effects. The chemicals partially eroded the corneas, hence the milky film look-"
"What milky film?" Matt frowned.
"Your eyes look like they're covered with a milky film. It's because the corneas are roughened – like frosted glass? Caused by not-smooth-ness."
"I think I follow you," Matt nodded. "What else?"
"It appears the goop seeped around your eyeballs and destroyed your optic nerves," Peter continued. "Sorry, I know it sounds awful-"
"Go on," Matt said, trying to stay objective. Just…pretend it was someone else.
"There's no signs that the goop ever interacted with your ears, or nose, and it didn't bathe the entirety of your skin," Peter hurried on. "There's insufficient data from the time of the accident to be sure, but judging by the radiation in the brain scans they did and the side effects you have observed, there's a working hypothesis that your brain started automatically rewiring to compensate – all blind people do, just not like you – and the radiation boosted it. Your sensory nerves didn't improve, just your brain's ability to experience them."
Matt thought about it. "In practical terms, what does that mean?"
The air shifted as Peter shrugged. "Nothing really. Unless you get a brain transplant…"
Matt grimaced.
AN: Right, so, as I may have mentioned earlier, all science is me trying to work out what makes the most sense. I know TV!Matt has normal looking eyes, but a) I always visualise him as the comics portray him and b) the idea that the goop destroyed his optic nerves but there was no surface damage? Bit farfetched.
Anyway, also updating today is Jason and the Argonauts, Black and Red, and Ultimate Writing Adventure. Little Bird's Vengeance is still stalled, but I'm working on it. Promise.
Next update will have JA, BR, UAA and UWA, and I'll try to scrounge up some LBV.
As always, reviews make the fics go round, so please be generous.
'Til next time,
Katara