Chapter 5: The Day After

The MCU is ripe with possibilities and I'm just letting the ideas flow here.

Ned had a way with words, Michelle was realizing, and by words she meant computer code.

She ended up spending the night at Mrs. Parker's place for safety. Michelle hadn't truly believed it at first. She assumed she was being kept here to make sure she didn't reveal Peter's secrets before proper NDAs were signed, but then she quickly began noticing the odd pieces of tech around the house, and she realized that Ned wasn't lying when he said Stark outfitted this place with the latest security system.

Once she knew she was actually welcome, Michelle was oddly excited to witness how these people reacted. But her parents were an issue. Michelle knew that she couldn't simply text her parents with 'hey, was attacked by crazy magic man. Made new friends. Can I stay at a superhero's place for the night?'. That was where Ned came in. He routed some texts through her father's number. Her moms had a good relationship with her biological father and had happily agreed to let him see his biological daughter often. He lived near here, so Ned made it seem like Michelle was staying at his place. It wasn't uncommon enough to raise suspicion, and she knew he would agree to whatever cover story she came up with after the fact. He was sort of her partner in crime, the one who encouraged her overly curious nature and fascination with morbidity. If she told him she had stumbled onto an incredible truth, he would believe her and trust her to make the right decisions.

So she spent the night there, sleeping on the couch while Ned slept in the bunk in Peter's room. She hadn't really expected to sleep at all, honestly. The image of the portal kept flashing in her mind, and she knew the man could probably teleport in without raising any alarms. However, she was exhausted, and she soon found herself waking up to a sunny morning with no memory of anything past midnight.

"Oh good, you're up." Mrs. Parker came over from the kitchen wearing an apron. "I need to ask, do you have any food restrictions? I'm making breakfast for everyone."

"Sesame," Michelle answered automatically. "Just sesame."

"Gotcha. I'll call you when it's done. In the meantime, make yourself comfortable. We're going to be driven up to the Avenger's Compound later. Then hopefully we'll know how Peter's doing and if you're still in danger. Chances are you'll be fine though." Mrs. Parker paused in the doorway. "Actually, chances are that Peter is alive thanks to you. I don't think I properly thanked you last night."

Michelle shrugged. "I didn't do much. Just provided a small distraction."

Mrs. Parker made a compassionate face. "Peter is the type of person who will put his life on the line for others. You may not be very close, but I'm glad there's another person out there willing to help him in return."

Michelle didn't know what to say to that. She hadn't really considered it some sort of good deed. She had just noticed something was off and followed Peter out of the desire to know what was going on. She didn't know why she had jumped in so suddenly, but she was pretty sure it wasn't any sort of heroism. So she just nodded and offered a small smile. Mrs. Parker smiled in return and went back to the kitchen.

Soon after, Ned came into the living room with a laptop under his arm. He looked worried. Normally, Michelle would just continue watching him to try to figure it out, but now she could simply ask. "What's up?"

Ned looked at her, obviously considering how much to say. "Remember how I said I'm Pete's Guy in the Chair?" he asked.

Michelle nodded. She had paid close attention to everything he explained last night.

"Well, I have most of the same access Stark does to Peter's biometrics, but mostly when he's in the suit. Yesterday he only had his web shooters on. Those are what alerted Stark to the attack yesterday."

Ah, so that's how he'd gotten there so fast. Michelle had wondered about that.

"So I checked how he's doing today," Ned continued, "and everything is lit up in green to signify that it's stable. Because it's not like I'm a biology expert. I don't know the normal range of every biometric. But these . . . the numbers aren't right. They're not the norm for him. I look at these every day, and these aren't the same." Ned looked at her intently. "Did it sound like the magic dude cursed Peter or something? Was something else going on that might be affecting him still?"

Michelle racked her brain for an exact account of the exchange. "I don't know. I don't know what spells and curses are supposed to sound like. But he never really said spells out loud. The magic just happened without any incantations, so I can't know what he did exactly."

Ned frowned, but accepted the information. "I guess we'll have to wait to see what the doctor says later."

Michelle frowned too. Maybe she hadn't helped Peter after all.

Peter forced his eyes open. The light hurt his eyes, but he was fine so long as he didn't look directly at it. He felt so tired. So weak. But also safe. He looked around. Ah, that was why. He was in the Med Bay, and Mr. Stark was snoring on the guest chair nearby. Sometimes Peter felt uneasy in these hospital-like rooms, but not when Mr. Stark was here.

Except . . . why was Peter here?

He looked down at himself, hoping for a clue as to what injury had landed him in here this time, though he was mostly covered in blankets. Thick blankets, not the typical thin sheets given to patients. He vaguely remembered feeling cold. Was it blood loss, then? That would also explain why he was so tired. And also the blood generator. He had only needed it a few times, but he knew it instantly from the warning label on the side:

FOR SPIDER BABY ONLY!

Peter rolled his eyes at the sign. He had mixed feelings about the embarrassing things Mr. Stark did and said. Sometimes they made him feel loved, and other times they made him feel like disappearring from the face of the earth. Ned had told him those were normal things to feel with a parent. Peter had to keep reminding him that Mr. Stark wasn't his dad.

Even if Peter maybe really super duper wanted him to be.

Now that he knew part of why he was in the Med Bay, Peter began trying to pull up memories as to how he'd gotten blood loss at all. He didn't remember going on patrol recently. Wasn't he taking a break from patrol for a day? Yes, for his anniversary. He and Ned were supposed to celebrate, and Peter was in charge of snacks. But then Michelle had appeared and then another Michelle appeared . . .

He remembered . . . well, there wasn't much to remember after that, was there? The first Michelle . . . exploded? And then he remembered his head hurting, and then nothing. Nothing except . . . a call? A welcome party? He was supposed to meet someone. Maybe? No, that was cancelled, wasn't it? Because he'd been hurt. Nobody expected him to go out when he was badly injured.

Peter sat there in his thoughts for a few more moments, but soon he noticed how dry his throat was, and the feeling only got worse once he was aware of it. He tried reaching for the cup at his bedside, but the blankets were wrapped around his arms too, and he felt needles tugging at his skin if he made any progress. Reluctantly, he stopped and cleared his throat. "Um—Mr. Stark?" he asked, voice hoarse. He coughed slightly.

Mr. Stark didn't stir right away, but a few seconds later Peter could hear his Stark Watch vibrate. Friday was helping him wake up. Peter smiled up at the ceiling in thanks.

Mr. Stark started, eyes flying open. "Huh—wha—?" He stretched his neck up and winced. "Pete, you awake?"

"Yeah. I'm thirsty."

Mr. Stark stood, knees and back cracking. Then he grabbed the cup with the long twirly straw in it. He held it up to Peter's lips, and Peter sucked in the gloriously cool water. He always got so thirsty after major blood loss.

"Okay," Mr. Stark said with a yawn as he watched Peter drink. "You're awake, you're stable, and your eyes are back to normal. That's good." He released a breath of air. "You really had me worried last night, kid."

Peter's brow furrowed. He let go of the straw. "What happened? I don't remember anything except two of the same person from my Acadec team? And—what do you mean about my eyes?" Had his eyes gotten hurt? He could see just fine, but they had predicted that his healing factor should in theory be able to heal his eyes from most types of injury. Had it finally been accidentally tested?

Mr. Stark let out an even longer breath, blowing it out through his cheeks. He set down the cup. "That's quite the story, actually. But can I ask if you remember saying anything about the 'Weaver' last night?"

"I don't remember last night at all, really," Peter admitted. "But a weaver? It kind of rings a bell, but I don't really know."

"You mentioned something about having to go meet this Weaver."

"Oh, is that the person I wanted to meet?" That was odd. Peter didn't think he knew of anyone who went by that name or title. "But they cancelled, so . . ."

Mr. Stark blinked at him. "They cancelled. I see. Sure. That makes sense. Yeah. So how are you feeling?"

"Fine. A bit tired. How long was out? How much longer do I need to be here?"

"It happened after school yesterday so . . . Friday, how many hours is that?"

"Sixteen hours, Boss."

Peter's eyes widened. That was a lot. Now that was starting to scare him. "Whoa, so what happened? I seriously don't remember."

"Hold on, how do your arms feel? And your head?" Mr. Stark asked instead.

Peter frowned up at him but focused on his body for a second. "A little sore, but fine. Why? I know I lost blood. How did it happen?"

"You did lose a lot of blood. Luckily, we got you here in time. Let me see, I think you should be replenished now. I'll have Dr. Cho remove the needles soon. Then you just need some time to finish recovering."

"Recovering from what? Mr. Stark, what happened?" Peter knew he was sounding whiny and petulant at this point, but he was very afraid now, and he could hear Mr. Stark's heartrate picking up too which added on to his own anxiety.

It wasn't entirely unusual for him to wake up in the Med Bay with little recollection of how he'd ended up there, but Mr. Stark always immediately provided some video evidence from the suit to jog his memory. This lack of information was concerning, especially since he was sure now that he hadn't been in the suit at the time. Whatever had happened must have occurred to his civilian self.

Mr. Stark sighed deeply, sat back down, and finally began explaining yesterday's events, the attack. Peter only grew more horrified at the thought that this caped man had targeted him as Peter Parker, and that Michelle had been forced to hold her own against this unknown threat. Peter was sure that she wouldn't want to talk to him after that, not if it meant she was in danger.

He'd been severely overpowered within seconds, his identity was in danger, he might never speak to his crush again, and Peter couldn't remember the details for himself. He felt tears come to his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay." Mr. Stark leaned forward, patting Peter's shoulder consolingly. How about I call in Dr. Cho now? Once you can move your arms freely again you might feel a bit better. And your aunt and Ted are coming by soon with Michelle. Let's pause here and we can go over some of the other details then."

Peter nodded. He didn't know what other details there could be. Probably health ones. And safety ones. Would he be allowed back home? Back to school?

Dr. Cho came as promised. She ran some tests on him, focusing on his eyes an odd amount, which reminded him of the odd statement Mr. Stark had made about his eyes being back to normal, though he hadn't yet received an explanation for what had been wrong with them. He opened his mouth to ask again, but was distracted when she shone her little pen light in his eyes and it burned. He gasped and covered them immediately.

"Severe light sensitivity," Dr. Cho mumbled under her breath. "Friday, turn off the lights."

"The other lights weren't bothering me. Much. I've just been a little sensitive since the spider bite."

"Open your eyes," the doctor demanded.

Making a face, Peter uncovered his eyes and blinked at her. He could see her. He could see everything. He'd had some level of night vision since the bite, but nothing like this. "I can see," he reported, shocked.

"I can see that," Mr. Stark retorted, equally shocked. Peter turned to him, noticing how surprised he looked too, though Mr. Stark wasn't looking exactly his way.

"Wh—what do you mean? Why can I see in the dark now?"

"Previously," Dr. Cho began to explain, "Your vision was merely enhanced, which gave you the ability to see in the presence of less light than typical, but not to the level of true night vision. However, after last night's incident, your eyes have gained a tapetum lucidum."

Peter knew the phrase. It had been one of the starting biology questions at Acadec last year. "You mean there's a reflective layer in my eyes?! Can you see it?"

Mr. Stark nodded. "Yup. Friday, take a pic so we can show him."

"Yes, Boss. Picture taken. Shall I increase the brightness to 50%?"

"That sounds like a good place to start. Pete, just ask Friday to lower it if you need."

Friday brought the lights up gradually. By the time they reached the determined brightness, Peter was already squinting his eyes. He insisted he was fine, and within moments he felt better adjusted.

"So . . . um, what caused this?" Peter asked meekly.

Dr. Cho gave Mr. Stark an unimpressed look. Mr. Stark shrugged back.

"I'm going to remove the blood infusion machine," Dr. Cho said firmly. "And then we can answer your questions."

"Okay . . ." Peter looked away as she ripped the medical tape off his arms, the needles leaving his skin soon after. Only after he felt the gentle compression of the gauze did he face them again. Dr. Cho instructed Mr. Stark to hold the gauze in place while she bandaged him.

Now that the covers were off of him, he could see his arms had been stitched up, though the original wound was nothing but a scar now. Those stitches would need to be removed too, but after he got some answers. Gosh, those were a lot of stitches though. And the area looked bruised purple. And when the gauze was saturated, it turned purple too . . .

"Um . . ." Peter looked up questioningly at Mr. Stark, who stared comfortingly back.

"Just be patient for a few more minutes, okay, Bambino? We want to make sure you're healthy first."

Peter nodded, suddenly feeling rather weak, not from yesterday's injuries, but from the fear of the unknown.

What was happening to him?