Sorry it took so long for this chapter. I had a little case of writers block but I got over it. Enjoy! (I know you will)
Zim leaned up against the off-white wall in the hallway and sighed. He really couldn't take much more of this place full of sick humans and…germs. Zim cringed at the thought.
"How much longer is she going to be in there?" Zim asked Harry.
Harry stood across from Zim, examining Venom, but looked up when he heard Zim's question then replied, "I don't know. It depends on how much he wants to tell her."
Zim held back a growl and mumbled, "Who knew telling your aunt that you're Spider-Man could take so long?"
Harry ignored Zim's impatient remark then almost jumped when the door to Peter's hospital room opened. Venom instantly went up Harry's sleeve to avoid being seen and Harry sighed with relief that it was just Peter's Aunt May.
"I'm going to go get you some clean clothes, Peter. I'll be back in a couple of hours," she said to Peter before closing the door and walked down the hallway, past Harry and Zim.
Zim noticed that her eyes were red from crying and that she was shaking a bit as she walked. He then walked into Peter's hospital room after Harry and finally noticed a tension between Peter and Harry. They wouldn't even look at each other and neither of them spoke.
"So…are you in trouble for being Spider-Man?" Zim asked awkwardly.
"Sort of. I'm supposed to tell her when and why I leave the house now and I'm grounded for a month, which won't matter with me being in the hospital and all that."
"Okay." Zim then looked down at his wrist as if he was wearing a watch and said, "Oh, I need to go take care of something. I'll see you later."
By the end of his sentence Zim was out through the door, then it was just Harry and Peter again. Suddenly the door burst open, a few seconds after Zim left, and Mary Jane entered the room. She was panting like she had just finished the 50 yard dash and she walked over to Peter's side.
"MJ?! What are you doing here?" Peter asked.
"I came to see you. Your aunt called me before she came down here and I got here as soon as I could. Are you alright? What happened to you?"
Peter smiled and replied, "I'm fine, to an extent, and it's an extremely complicated story."
"I'll try my best to understand it."
"First I need to tell you something, and you probably won't believe me at first."
"What is it, Peter?"
Peter grabbed both of Mary Jane's hands, looked her straight in the eyes and hesitantly said, "I…I'm Spider-Man."
MJ smiled for a second, thinking it was a joke, but soon realized that Peter was being serious. She then realized that it all made sense.
"So every time you left to go get help you were the help? It all makes sense now, but you're not as athletic or as strong as Spider-Man."
"I pretend to be weak in gym class so people won't get suspicious. Sometimes it's hard to balance being Peter Parker and Spider-Man."
"I'm sure it is. Doing homework and fighting super villains all in the same night. It must be stressful."
Peter sat up straighter and said, "It is, oh and what happened to me? I was attacked at school by Ve-"
"It was me! I attacked him," Harry interrupted.
MJ was shocked and let go of Peter's hands. "What? Why would you attack him? How would you attack him?" MJ spat.
"I attacked him when I found out that he was Spider-Man. I was mad that he never told me even though I told him I was…Venom."
Harry's arm was then consumed by the black symbiote and MJ gasped.
Harry continued, "I didn't mean to hurt him this badly, though. I was just going to throw one punch but…it became a stab."
"You STABBED him!? Harry, he's your best friend."
"MJ, he saved me too. Right after he hurt me he used the symbiote to keep me alive," Peter interjected.
MJ started to cry and Peter put his arms around her to comfort her.
"Aren't you mad at him?" she whispered.
"No, it was an accident. I know he never meant to put me in the hospital. I should have told him, no, both of you sooner," Peter whispered back.
"I'm just glad you're both okay," MJ said with a small smile.
Harry sighed quietly and began to walk over to the door. He looked back at Peter and MJ in each others' arms and no longer desired to be with MJ. He knew she would never like him that way and he didn't want to hurt Peter anymore. He just needed some time to himself so he walked out of the room and through the hallway, off to who knows where.
"How long do you think it will take for him to recover?" Fury asked one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. doctors.
"Probably a month or two, possibly a few weeks if he's lucky," the female doctor replied.
"I was afraid you would say that. That means-"
"You'll need a replacement," said a brown haired man walking into the room.
"Agent Coulson, yes we will need a temporary replacement for Spider-Man. It's just a matter of who."
"I've already made a file of possible replacements, sir. I'll put them up on the screen," Coulson stated.
Suddenly pictures of various super heroes showed up on the giant screen, adjacent to the wall, with a list of their traits, skills, etc. to the right of each of their pictures. Coulson tapped the first picture and began to explain why he thought this person was a good candidate.
"The first candidate I chose was Dead Pool. Despite his murderous tendencies, him and Spider-Man share some qualities. They have a similar build, like to make jokes during their battles, and don't always follow orders. But Dead Pool isn't nearly as responsible as Spider-Man and he might be a bit too mentally unstable."
Coulson pulled up another picture, this one was of Iron Fist.
"Another possible candidate would be Iron Fist. He's posed as Spider-Man before, though it was only for a few minutes. Though he's not as funny as Spider-Man and the villains might find that weird, he is responsible and also has a similar build to Spider-Man."
Coulson continued on with an extremely long list of possible candidates and by the end of his spiel Fury was about to fall asleep. That is until someone brought him some coffee with a lot of caffeine. This made Fury very happy and awake. It was cool.
"So, Fury, who do you think is the most suitable replacement for Spider-Man?"
Fury finished the last sip of his coffee and replied, "Let's try Iron Fist and see how that works out."
"And if he doesn't?"
"We'll try some other candidates…except for Dead Pool. We don't need a murderous, mentally unstable guy replacing Spider-Man. Spider-Man already gets a bad rap as it is. We don't need to add 'homicidal maniac' to the list."
"Alright, sir, I'll go tell Iron Fist."
Dib paced back and forth outside Midtown High, holding a very expensive looking camera. It was really cold outside, but he had his trusty trench coat on that kept him warm. Some snow crunched under his black boots as he continued meaninglessly pacing.
"Where is he? School has been out for almost an hour now and he still hasn't come out…unless he never went in in the first place. No, I saw him go in there-"
"Who are you talking to?" a voice from behind him interrupted.
Dib quickly spun around on his heels and came face to face with Zim. Dib's eyes narrowed into a glare as he put himself into a fighting stance. Zim stayed perfectly still except for the corners of his mouth forming a sadistic smile.
"I knew you'd be here, Dib. You're so predictable. Did you really think I'd just come waltzing out of school completely oblivious to your existence?"
"No, I knew that you would know I was out here. I just didn't think you'd leave school early. Why did you leave early anyways?"
"I had important business to attend to obviously. What do you plan on doing with that camera?" Zim replied a little nervously.
Dib smirked and said, "I'm glad you asked, Zim." He then rose up the camera until it was at eye level and continued, "I'll give you till the count of three to run. One…"
Zim instantly bat the camera out of Dib's hands and took off running behind Dib. Dib caught his camera before it hit the ground then ran after Zim, completely forsaking his countdown to three.
After taking some twists and turns every few blocks Zim looked around and didn't see Dib anywhere. Once he was sure he had lost Dib he started walking towards home. Dib followed at a safe distance to make sure Zim wouldn't notice him.
Dib followed Zim for about half an hour until they reached a neighborhood and Zim entered one of the houses. Dib smiled and took a series of pictures of Zim entering the house, then a picture of the houses' address.
"I've got you now, space-boy. You lead me right to your new home."
Satisfied with himself, Dib walked all the way back to his hotel with a big smile on his face. It had been a while since he felt this accomplished. If only he knew what was to happen next.
Dun dun dun. Cue dramatic music!