We Might Be Radioactive
Chapter 8

Traveling via Hulk wasn't the smoothest ride ever, but it certainly beat swinging across the city on an injured shoulder. Peter kept close against Hulk's back as they raced from rooftop to rooftop, trying not to think too hard on what had just happened. Bruce was the Hulk - Bruce was the giant green rage monster that had helped drive back an alien invasion. Peter wondered if he should have seen it coming somehow and quickly realized, no, who could have? It was absolutely insane.

Hulk skidded to a halt on the top of a hotel, and as he turned about, getting his bearings, Tony in his Iron Man armor flew past. Hulk moved to the edge to get a better view of the situation while Peter put his hand over his earpiece. "Ms. Potts? Can you hear me? We've found them."

"Good. I'll patch you through to Tony."

There was a burst of static that made Peter wince, and then his earpiece filled with the background hum of whirring engines. "Mr. Stark?" he asked hesitantly.

"That you, Spider-boy?"

Hulk jarred to life once more, and Peter had to make a quick grab for his shoulder. "I'm here with Bruce. He gave me a sedative to try and use on Steve, but I'll have to get in close. I don't think it'll have much range."

Hulk leapt to the next building, and finally Peter was able to spot Steve: a mass of hard black skin and long limbs was crawling up the side of a bank, to the horror of the onlookers below. Tony was headed for the roof to intercept. "I'll try to pin him down for you," said Tony. "But be careful with that stuff - it'd knock out a whale if it had the chance."

"Okay - whoa!" Peter had to wrap his arms around Hulk's neck as another tremendous jump threatened to toss him. Within seconds Hulk was scaling the bank, and once they reached the roof Peter leapt clear. He touched his sleeve to make sure the sedative was still secure and then faced their unlikely target.

Steve had grown since leaving the tower. His back was hunched and his bones stuck out all over at odd angles. There was still something eerily human and tortured in his grotesque face, and his eyes, black and glossy, swiveled in their sockets between Hulk and Tony.

"Stay away from me!" Steve shrieked.

"Rogers?" Tony held his hands up and stepped slowly closer. "You still in there?"

Steve shrank back, twitching and chattering. The tiny hairs covering his body stood on end. "Stay away from me," he repeated, but his voice was halting, as if parroting the words rather than truly speaking them.

"Captain Rogers," Peter tried anyway. "It's all right - we're not going to hurt you." He dropped to all fours and edged closer. "We're here to help."

Steve hissed at him, and when Peter got too close he abruptly charged. Peter leapt out of the way as Hulk rose to meet him. The two giants crashed together, cracking the roof as they wrestled and struck at each other with their oversized fists. Hulk had weight on his side but Steve was quicker, and his clawed appendages drew long welts in Hulk's shoulders and back as they twisted together.

Peter pulled the vial out of his sleeve. The pair was putting up a monumental fight but he watched closely in case an opening presented itself. When he tensed, ready to enter the fray, Tony quickly spoke up in his ear.

"Don't. You don't want to get in the middle of that."

"But they could kill each other!" Peter jumped back when Hulk was tossed free, only to accept Steve's angry pounce against his chest a moment later. "We have to stop them."

"Just wait," Tony insisted. "Neither of them is going down that easy, but you will if you take a hit from either of them."

Hulk caught Steve around the torso and heaved, sending him clear off the side of the building. With a curse Peter gave chase. Cars screeched and people screamed as Steve crashed into the middle of the street, cracking it. Thinking it his only chance, Peter darted forward. Steve was struggling to get up, and in his disorientation Peter was able to leap onto his chest. He pulled back his arm.

Steve stared up at him, and his already alien face twisted in a look of horror that Peter hadn't expected. He was terrified. His twitching was actually trembling and his breath was rapid with panic.

"Captain." He looked so stricken that Peter felt guilty threatening him with even just a sedative. "It's okay," he said. "You're gonna be all right."

"Stay away from me," Steve hissed.

He slammed Peter in the back and sent him flying into the next lane. Peter landed flat on his stomach, but it was the vial slipping out of his fist that made his chest constrict. He leapt after it, and when that wasn't enough resorted to lassoing it with a shot of webbing. As he skidded to a halt he was so relieved to have saved his trump card that he didn't notice the car headlights until they were almost on him.

A pair of hug green legs appeared in the way. Peter ducked his head and cringed as the car hit, its breaks squealing, but the impact didn't seem to move Hulk at all. With a snort of irritation Hulk shoved the car back several meters and then looked down.

Peter glanced around him and saw the driver struggling out from under the airbag; he seemed all right, at least. "Thanks," Peter said. Hulk only grunted.

Peter hopped to his feet. Steve was still in the middle of the street, this time scraping and clawing at Tony. A shot from Tony's repulsors knocked him to the ground, and when he tried to make a run for it Hulk grabbed him from behind and managed to pin one of his arms. Tony joined in, grabbing Steve's other arm with both of his. "Kid, get over here!" he shouted.

Steve howled, and before Peter could reach him his entire body gave a shudder and began to creak. His legs wrapped around Tony and his knees cracked, splitting his thighs apart. A second pair of legs spread from the first and twisted upward to grab Tony's mask.

"Jesus!" Tony let go of Steve's arm to yank at the claws on his face. Metal squealed, and in desperation Tony fired off his repulsors. The impact separated them and then Hulk twisted, heaving Steve to the road.

Steve landed on four feet, and as he hissed and cowered his arms ripped apart as well, until they were facing down an eight-legged monstrosity with that same twisted, terrified face. "Away!" Steve shrieked as he again turned to flee, cars blaring and swerving out of his way.

Tony tried to adjust his skewed helmet. "That is some damn powerful venom," he said, rocketing after him with Hulk only a step behind.

"Mr. Stark-" Peter yanked the webbing off the vial of sedative and shoved it back in his sleeve. Before the chase could continue too far ahead of him he shot a pair of webs at Hulk's back and sling-shotted himself back into place. His shoulder throbbed at the rough landing but he managed to stick, and once there felt better with a broad, strong body supporting him.

Up ahead, Steve leapt, clawing with his eight limbs up a concrete pillar to the Williamsburg Bridge. Incoming traffic swerved and braked, and in an effort to avoid them Steve jumped onto the metal support struts. He looked more like a spider than ever as he scuttled horizontally across the beams. It only took one powerful jump for Hulk to reach the bridge, but with his greater bulk and Peter clinging to his back he didn't have nearly so easy a time following Steve's route. Grunting in frustration, he jumped instead to the pedestrian walkway above.

Peter looked behind him and saw flashing lights; they were still far away, but it wouldn't be long before the cavalry had mobilized. Already he could see a helicopter headed in their direction. "By the time we get to the end of the bridge, the Brooklyn side will be swarming with cops," he said. "We have to stop him before then or they'll shoot him apart."

"It's the police that have to be worried about him," said Tony, following along the bridge. "But I hear you."

Peter shook his head. "He doesn't want to hurt anyone - he's scared. He's heading home, to Brooklyn."

"Either way, we need to end this fast."

They were coming out over the water. Peter leaned down, close to Hulk's ear. "Are you all right?" He had no idea what being a Hulk entailed or if Bruce was another one they had to look out for. When Hulk only rolled his shoulders and ran faster, Peter fell quiet again.

"Looks like there's a break in the traffic up ahead," said Tony. "I'm going in."

Tony banked, and when he caught up to Steve he grabbed him around the waist and yanked them both to the street. Peter winced at the cracks they left - it was going to take a while longer before he was used to battling superheroes. When Hulk leapt down to join them Peter lassoed a support beam and swung clear. His wounded side throbbed but he ignored it, bracing himself up on the wall as he watched Hulk pounce onto Steve's back. They grappled like B-movie monsters, howling and thrashing, and whenever one of Steve's flailing limbs looked to be getting the upper hand Tony intervened with a shot from his repulsors, or a well-timed dive attack. It looked like something straight from the alien battle only weeks ago, and on both sides of the bridge men and women got out of their cars to gape from what they thought was a safe distance.

"This is nuts," Peter said under his breath.

Hulk's fist caught Steve full across the jaw and sent him crashing again to the ground. He grasped at the concrete, trying to drag himself away from his pursuers. Seeing him so panicked only made Peter more sure of himself: Steve wasn't trying to hurt anyone, he was trying to get away. Part of him understood what was happening to him. Peter shuddered with guilt and was more determined than ever to put an end to it. He leapt down from his perch, and before Hulk could get close enough to resume their frantic sparring, he pulled the vial out of his sleeve and heaved it straight for the ground next to Steve's face.

Steve's second pair of arms twisted around and caught it before it hit. Peter was still processing the miss when Steve rolled and threw the vial directly into Tony's face.

The glass shattered. The liquid inside immediately produced a burst of yellow gas, and Tony rocketed backwards, trying to avoid it, but the cracks in his helmet had already given it a path directly to him. His heels clipped the edge of the bridge and he dropped like a stone.

"Shit-" Peter snared Tony with his web, and he had to duck under the continuation of Hulk and Steve's brawl as he was dragged to the edge of the bridge. The thought of having his shoulder snapped again woke him before the line could pull taut. He dove around a support beam, winding the web tight just in time. Even when it seemed secure he added another two just to be sure.

"Mr. Stark!" Peter hooked a line for himself and swung down. "Mr. Stark! Can you hear me? Oh shit, please don't be in a coma."

He waved his hand in front of the mask. Tony's arc was still glowing brightly and he could hear tiny motors whirling inside, but he got no response. Peter shook his head in disbelief. "Can this night get any worse?"

"Peter?" Pepper asked over the comm. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Stark took a face-full of knockout gas," said Peter.

"Oh my god. Is he all right? Other than being unconscious?"

Peter gave the lines a tug. "He's safe for now. What should I do? Bruce said-"

"There's a counteragent," said Pepper. "Tony showed me how to administer it." He could hear her rushing about. "I'm on my way down there, but it's going to take a while. Please just make sure he's out of harm's way."

"He's okay. He's not going anywhere." Peter started back up to the bridge. "I just have no idea what to do now."

Hulk and Steve were back at it. They'd already traveled a dozen meters, forcing many of the bystanders to abandon their cars as roofs and hoods became sparring ground. Neither seemed to even be slowing. Peter groaned as he jumped again onto the support struts and hurried after them. Every hit made him wince, but it was when Hulk grabbed an industrial tool box out of the back of a truck and cracked it against the back of Steve's shoulders that he picked up his pace. And just in time - when the tool box wasn't enough, Hulk started to pick up the truck.

"Whoa - whoa!" Peter webbed the truck's bumper and fastened it to the bridge wall, so that when Hulk tried to swing it, the frame slipped right out of his hands. The truck smacked loudly onto the bridge. "Bruce!" Peter shouted as he jumped onto a nearby Sedan. "Don't get carried away!"

Hulk scowled at him and turned. Steve was trying to get away again, and Hulk grabbed him by two of his feet, slinging him into the pavement. Steve struggled but he was finally showing the effects of the fight. He lashed out, clawing at Hulk's chest and arms and drawing blood from his snarling lips. In a blur of black and green they rolled to the edge and warped the railings.

Peter watched helplessly. "It's like freaking Godzilla," he muttered, and suddenly he was hit by inspiration. He pulled down his sleeve and ejected his spare cartridges, finding the one he'd marked with a black X. "All or nothing," he said as he popped it into his left shooter.

Steve had two legs wrapped up in the supports, and when Hulk came at him again he latched onto the whirling green fists with all his remaining limbs. With a sharp twist of his body he ripped Hulk off his feet. His face was twitching and he lurched forward, jabbing at Hulk's face and chest with his clawed appendages. Hulk fought back but the hands were everywhere, pulling his hair back to expose his throat. With an inhuman snarl Steve lunged, fangs bared.

Peter leapt at him. He shot the special webbing at the side of Steve's face and pulled, drawing him off course. The loud clap of his jaws snapping shut gave Peter a start, but he shot again, this time at Steve's claws. The solution was as thick and sticky as when they'd first used it, and it went quickly to work, fusing together two of Steve's arms. Steve shrieked and swung, but Peter dodged back and forth, dragging the gooey lines around his ankles and wrists.

"I've got him," said Peter, aiming another shot at Steve's feet to be sure he couldn't try to run again. "I've got him-"

Hulk pushed to his feet and charged. Peter barely had time to get out of the way let alone try to stop him, and could only stare as Hulk smashed into the trapped Steve and sent them both hurdling off the bridge. Peter leapt to the edge but by then he could already hear the splash.

The water below rippled outward, and Peter leaned down, scanning each wave for some sign of the pair. It wasn't until he started to feel dizzy that he realized he was holding his breath. The inside of his mask still tasted like blood and it brought to life a hundred terrifying thoughts: that he had killed Tony Stark, stopped his heart with military grade knockout gas; that he had trapped Steve and Bruce in a web that couldn't be torn or dissolved and left them to drown. His selfishness and carelessness had killed half a team of invincible superheroes, and he shivered against the concrete, fighting back a swell of tears.

"God damn it, Bruce," he whispered. "I said I had him."

For what felt like hours, nothing stirred. Then the water parted, and from it sprang a wide green hand. Peter's hand shot forward almost without him and fired off a strand of his normal webbing. It caught Hulk's open palm, and then Hulk rotated his wrist, getting enough of a grip that he could pull his head above the water. He gasped, shaking his wet hair out of his face, and at last shoved a second body up: Steve, as small and fleshy as he had ever been, his eyes closed.

Peter secured his web to the bridge and then fired another, sticking to the goo already tangled around Steve's now human body. Using a beam as leverage he began to pull Steve up while Hulk used the first to climb. The pain in Peter's shoulder faded to the back of his mind as he put everything he had into each yank of the line. Finally, Steve was topside. The water had dulled the stick of the special webbing enough that Peter was able to drag him away from the edge without getting stuck himself, and he stretched Steve gently out on the road.

"Captain?" Peter yanked one of his gloves off and cupped it over Steve's nose and mouth. The soft breath against his palm almost reduced him to tears. "Ms. Pepper - er, Ms. Potts. It's Steve - he's back to normal. He's unconscious but he's okay."

"Thank god. What about Bruce?"

Peter lifted his head. Hulk pulled himself onto the bridge and blinked back and forth, looking dazed but, thankfully, out of angry steam. "He's okay, too," said Peter. "He's okay. I think it's over."

Peter sagged, and he started when he was halted by Hulk's broad hand against his back. He looked up and couldn't help but laugh, he was so damn exhausted. "It's over, right?"

Hulk smiled down at him. It was strange seeing Bruce's warmest expression on such a large countenance, but Peter would have recognized it anywhere. Despite the rough ride, they had done it. For a moment Peter forgot that he had been the cause and he beamed, proud of them both. It was a very different sensation than his first major victory at the top of Oscorp, cowering next to the body of Captain Stacey. They had worked as a team and they had won. The spectators watching from up and down the bridge could see Spider-Man being welcomed by one of the heroes that had saved the world.

The moment didn't last long. Hulk suddenly lifted his head and stared out over the water. He growled.

"What?" Peter used Hulk's arm to stand up and looked for himself. A jet was coming up the bay, dark and sleek and without markings. He cringed. "Whoa. That looks...decidedly unfriendly."

"What?" asked Pepper urgently. "What's wrong?"

"It's a jet." Peter hopped up on the rail for a better look. "A big one, coming this way."

Hulk stood up. "Run," he said.

The sound of his voice startled Peter into turning. "What is it?"

"Run," Hulk said again. He ushered Peter away from the edge and pointed up into the bridge's maze-like structure of beams. "Run away."

Peter glanced behind him, but he wasn't inclined to argue. "Okay." He nodded, and though he would have liked to curl up against Hulk's back again for a slower ride home, he replaced his glove and then followed the instructions up into hiding. Once he was a dozen meters away and safely obscured by the bridge itself, he turned back to look.

The jet stopped overhead and hovered. Peter watched, awestruck and a little frightened, as its back opened up and several soldiers in combat gear appeared. He ached to go back, but when he lowered his gaze he saw that Hulk wasn't just surrendering to them, he was shrinking. With every second that passed he grew smaller and paler, until there was only Bruce, collapsing into unconsciousness just before the men and women repelled down to him.

"I sure hope those are the good guys," said Peter.

"Peter?" Pepper was still in his ear. "Peter, it's okay. I've just heard from SHIELD. They're on the scene and they'll handle the rest. Are you still there?"

Another figured repelled down from the jet: a woman with brilliant red hair in less formal combat attire. Peter leaned forward to get a good look and pulled back just as quickly when she seemed to glance his way. Hulk's warning rang in his ears and he retreated further down the bridge. "I'm here," he said. "I'm okay. I'll leave the rest to them." He slipped the earpiece out of his hood and flicked it off. Though it was probably dangerous to stay on the scene, he remained, watching until Steve and Bruce had both been secured in stretchers and flown away.