Chapitre 1231: 20
Chapter 20: I'm a human and I've made a few mistakesNotes:
1) Going back to weekly posting now that break is over!
2) Check out my USM x MCU crossover:
bruised being, healing heart
3) Enjoy the chapter and leave a kudos and comment!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
His eyes fluttered open and his senses started to come back to him. The harsh antiseptic smell that covered the medbay greeted his nose sharply but his mouth tasted like something had died inside of it. An oxygen mask pressed against his face as he inhaled and exhaled in rhythm with the heart monitor.
The lights partially blinded him and he blinked rapidly as he attempted to adjust to his surroundings, weakly lifting his head so he could see who else was in the room. Tony sat in one of the chairs on his left, his head in his hands as he probably drowned in guilt.
This…this was his first time in the medbay in his new timeline. He hadn't been hospitalised after Vulture or Shocker and had gone to someone he trusted instead. It was the first time Tony had seen him as badly injured as he was and now he was bound for a lecture.
Well, that wasn't the greatest way to place his priorities.
Tony had left him to do whatever he wanted that was within reason since he hadn't been so badly injured that he had collapsed and called him. It would have scared the shit out of him if Tony collapsed for no reason and little indication of what went wrong and it was vice versa with what had happened to him.
He needed to explain what happened before both of their guilt complexes decided to take charge.
"Tony…" He whispered hoarsely, weakly smiling when Tony lifted his head and his eyes widened when he realised he was awake.
"You're finally awake," Tony sighed, though the relief in his voice was palpable. "Do you need water?" He nodded. "Okay."
Tense silence settled between them as Tony returned with a plastic cup filled with water. He shuffled up against his pillows so he was sat upright before he drank the water with a shaking hand, a few seconds of bliss washing over him as the chilled water soothed his dry throat.
"What happened to the two guys?" He asked, hoarseness lacing his voice as he spoke. The smoke must have had some nasty chemicals in it if it left him with side effects hours after he had breathed it in.
"Both were arrested," Tony replied curtly. "What the hell were you doing in Brooklyn? That's pretty out of range for your friendly 'neighbourhood' Spider-Man," he said as he used his fingers to mime quotation marks at the word 'neighbourhood'.
He huffed, frowning as self-loathing burned inside his chest. "It wasn't meant to go as badly as it did and the house I went into was on the edge of Queens."
"Don't be a smartass with me when I have to ward Fisk and Ross off," Tony warned, anger flaring in his eyes as he pulled the chair closer to the bed. "Both of them are keeping an eye on you and so far your luck has kept you out of their reach. Turns out Shifter was employed for Fisk and hunted you down for a bounty."
Shit.
Somewhere deep in his memories, he remembered Fisk and Toomes had kept a deal for a few years until he had arrested Toomes and Fisk's weapons usage had decreased exponentially.
Since Shocker had been arrested on the same night as Toomes, neither of the leaders of the alien tech operations had been around to continue it and Scorpion had gone into hiding until the Blip. He and Fisk had capitalised on the chaos until everyone had returned and he and Daredevil had cracked down on the crime.
"I stopped Dmitri Smerdyakov from selling drugs to a guy in an alleyway about a week ago. I thought the officers had taken him to a holding cell but he had escaped and committed more crimes including shooting someone in a robbery." Gory images of blood and Uncle Ben's body flashed in his mind as he continued explaining. "I found his location at the housing estate and it led to an underground safehouse with weapons and three guys including him – Dmitri, Volkov and Alexi. They betrayed Volkov and had a plan to go to Russia and after Alexi left -he was caught in one of my traps after- I fought Dmitri and he used some sort of smoke bomb on me."
"Still doesn't explain why you went after him. Couldn't you have tipped off the police and let them do it?"
"Right, because they would have found the underground safehouse." He rolled his eyes, apologising when Tony glared. "They would've had to get a warrant from Fisk and that's already impossible. Then they would've had to get the right house with one of the ladders under the stairs. The guys would've been in Russia by then."
"And how do you know that?"
"Why would they have taken my word? They would've needed proof and to disregard their dislike for me."
"So you take your own word and value above the law?"
Technically he broke the laws of biology by existing, whatever governmental laws existed just by being a vigilante who hadn't signed the Accords and then the laws of the universe with time travel, but he doubted saying any of that to Tony would help his case.
"Okay, I admit I shouldn't have done something like that without giving you a heads up. I really am sorry about that, I should've told you." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before his guilt came back. "I shouldn't have been that weak though. Dmitri is gone now…" he murmured.
Maybe he or Ned could hack into the cameras in that area and trace Dmitri to see if he had fled the country by now. Alexi had mentioned him meeting someone called Kraven…
"The surrounding states have been warned to keep an eye on this Dmitri guy based off of the footage I've given them," Tony said as he sensed his worry.
"What if that isn't enough? He would've escaped to Russia and it's not like I can track him."
"Leave the authorities to do their part. They'll be on alert until they find him."
For some reason that didn't reassure him at all. Maybe the guilt churning in his stomach or the shame plaguing him for every second he was conscious stopped him from feeling comfortable. Maybe it was the sense of failure after he had failed to apprehend a villain after beating him once then finding him in his hideout before failing to beat him and nearly dying in the process.
He was meant to be better than that.
Another month passed with no sign of Dmitri no matter how much he patrolled. There were no signs on police radios or from the authorities in airports but Tony had assured him Dmitri hadn't left the country. He wasn't sure if he believed his mentor but it was the only reassurance he had and he would take it.
Unfortunately, his worrying added to his pre-exam stress. Finals had crept up on him after the numerous months spent chasing villains and keeping the crime rate around Queens lower than he had last time, mainly because he was expending any nervous energy flitting through his system.
It wasn't like his years at Midtown were spent normally. 2016 had been filled with grief, fighting the Avengers in Berlin and fending off Toomes and Shockers weapons dealing. 2017 consisted of juggling his responsibilities as Spider-Man and Peter Parker and 2018…well he had been dusted alongside most of his year group and hadn't returned until 2023. Then his disaster trip to Europe had happened and his senior year had been spent fending off the paparazzi and the multiverse disaster.
School had easily been placed on the backburner considering how disastrous his life had been. Now he had to study vigorously for his final exams and nothing was going into his head. Or maybe he was being overdramatic and his anxiety was screwing with his head.
"This should be much easier than it is," he muttered, irritation seeping into his words as he glared disdainfully at the English essay in front of him. A marking grid and a sheet filled with quotes from the author of the book he was analysing were skewed across his designated space on Ned's table.
Daylight streamed through the open windows and his half-filled water bottle was to his left; Ned was on the opposite side of the table and trying to answer the same question after they had spent half an hour meticulously planning the points and conclusion.
"Were we meant to start with an overview of the plot and themes?" His stomach dropped at Ned's question.
"Holy shit, you're right." He slumped, banging his head against the table and immediately regretting it when light-headedness washed over him and the room tilted slightly, but he didn't bring it up to Ned. "We should've asked MJ for her essay structure before she went."
Feeling Ned's disheartened gaze stay on him when he didn't automatically lift his head off of the table to carry on answering the question, he turned his head to the side as he stared at the mark scheme like it had personally offended him as he clutched the edges of his seat as he tried to ground himself.
Focusing wasn't his speciality right now, especially when his stomach rumbled like it hadn't been fed in weeks. It wasn't completely wrong; he hadn't stuck to a proper eating schedule with how much studying he had been doing, simply choosing to eat one of the special protein bars whenever he remembered to. Unfortunately, that was not often and he only remembered when the pounding in his head became too much.
"We need a break. We've been at this for an hour and a half with no progress," Ned said. He perked up at that, sitting up and placing his sheets into one neat pile before rifling through his bag for some other work.
"What are we moving onto now?" He asked, grimacing when he saw the folder of history notes at the back of his bag. He would prefer to avoid essay subjects for a bit, especially when his sight blurred for a couple of minutes. (He ignored the part of his brain that screamed that was not healthy and he probably needed to see Doctor Cho.)
"Spanish flashcards?"
"Sure."
They spent the next half an hour quizzing each other on whatever terminology they knew they struggled with before doing a listening practice and grading each other's tests. Thankfully, the work kept his mind off of Dmitri until his phone started to buzz towards the end of their study session.
"You go deal with that, I'll get some snacks," Ned said as he waved off his apology for disrupting the peaceful atmosphere they had sunken into.
As he picked up the call, his stomach growled and he realised he hadn't eaten a substantial meal in about a week.
May had picked up lots of shifts to earn some more money for the holidays -he had a small hunch she had started saving up for her birthday so she could do something nice- so he hadn't noticed how time flew by and often ate whatever leftovers were in the fridge whenever he returned from patrol.
Sometimes people would offer to buy him snacks when he patrolled during the evenings but a multitude of snacks didn't count as a substantial meal. Combine that with waking up late for school because he had spent a few more hours revising into the early morning and no one to keep him to a strict eating schedule at home and he hadn't eaten properly in a while.
The build-up to exams always kept him busy and he didn't manage his time well.
"Hey Spidey, I have big news for you," Aaron exclaimed over the phone. Guessing from how much noise was in the background, he must be somewhere busy, maybe a shopping centre. Cars roared in the background and lots of voices were around him. "I heard that there's gonna be a fight at Times Square."
"What, right now?" He asked.
"It's in 45 minutes and a few junkies who you haven't caught is gonna turn up. They've been planning it for months but the word spread a few minutes ago in case their weapons weren't enough to cause destruction. They're on their way now."
"Oh crap, okay! I'm on my way!" He replied as Ned walked into the room with some crisps, a puzzled look on his face as Aaron hung up on him. "It's a major Spidey thing, apparently anyone who has alien tech is going to attack Times Square."
"What the- shouldn't you tell someone? Maybe alert the cops so they can evacuate people?" Ned exclaimed, placing the crisps on the table and rushing to his laptop as Peter grabbed his suit from his bag and started sprinting to the bathroom to change.
"I'll do it once I leave!"
The wind roared in his ears as he swung past a market and he pressed his lips together as he regretted not buying some food when he had been on his way to Ned's earlier that day. What he would give to have a few minutes to buy a sandwich frankly was ridiculous but he didn't have time to lose.
He had kept his promise and told Tony about how he was rushing to Times Square to hopefully stop, if not prevent, a massive fight breaking out and endangering thousands of people. If Aaron's claims were right, he had five minutes until people with alien tech started attacking Times Square for whatever reason they had come up with, although he doubted it was a good reason.
Who the hell decided attacking a massive tourist location on a Saturday afternoon was a good idea? Apparently, psychopaths with nothing else to do.
Shakily breathing out as he swung over a billboard, he hoped he would make it on time.
The world started to spin around him as he carried on swinging, everything blurring into a mass of colours for a few seconds, but he could not stop. Getting to Times Square before a fight broke out was the most pressing thing and if his health came seconds then so be it.
Well, at least until it weakened him so much that he couldn't fight anymore. Then he would be screwed. Regretting not asking Ned for one of his protein bars, he carried on swinging as the electronic billboards came into his view.
Daylight was still prominent and the sun beat down on him as he nearly slammed into a billboard, somehow saving himself by clinging onto the edge and slowing down his momentum so he could drop onto the top of a building.
A couple of police vehicles were in view but no one was actively evacuating the civilians from the area. Swathes of people were crossing the road as cars waited for the lights to turn green, taxi cabs honking at those who didn't get to the pavement fast enough.
His stomach dropped as he saw a man stop in front of the taxi that had honked at the people crossing the road and raise an object that glinted in the sunlight at the windshield. Pushing himself off of the building, he shot a web at the object and pulled it in his direction at the same time the man pulled the trigger.
Bang!
A scarlet blast shot into the billboard he had just jumped off of. Panting, he stared at the criminal as screams erupted around him and people started to flee in all directions. Chaos had emerged all from one blast, which, in all fairness, was an appropriate reaction.
Police sirens blared as the man cursed at him. Adrenaline surged through him as the man -he was going to call him Sparky because his hair was bright blonde- raised his silver gun at him.
Dodging the second he heard the unmistakeable click of the trigger, he winced when a bin behind exploded in a flair of sparks and smoke. He prayed that wouldn't hit any living thing in the area whether it was a human or an animal.
"You picked the wrong day to fight me," Sparky laughed as a few more people stalked towards them, some of them raising their guns at whatever car dared to get in their way, all the drivers having common sense to run once they realised what was going on.
"If anything it makes the fight more exciting! Couldn't see anything good happening with you when you have that embarrassing undercut," he snarked as he tensed up, waiting for the ball to drop.
Sparky bristled, nodding at the woman who had strolled to his side and held her gun loosely. The second Sparky was distracted…
"Mel, you wanna deal with him?" Sparky asked, smirking when Mel -a woman with some ridiculous neon green highlights in her hair- grinned at him.
Were these people being paid to look stupid? Everyone left in Times Square had something embarrassing to do with their hair or clothing. It was dyed hair or some overly saturated top. Was the group meant to be a clown cult or something?
"I'd rather not be obliterated by someone who looks like they should work at a circus," he cheerfully said as he shot a web at the gun in Mel's hand, yanking the gun towards him as his Spidey-sense screamed in his head.
He backflipped over an incoming blast, smirking at the anguished moan that came from Mel as she saw her weapon shatter against the ground once he threw it against the concrete.
"Those things really don't have a good warranty!" He called out as he dodged another crimson blast before his Spidey-sense buzzed and he ducked behind a car, his eyes widening when it started levitating.
Somebody had brought an Anti-Gravity gun to the party.
Suddenly he was a lot more grateful that he had needed to face a dozen of the same gun before. All he needed to do was take it from his attacker and web it somewhere out of reach so they couldn't fire it.
Glancing at the lady with pink hair -he named her Pinkie from My Little Pony- who had the Anti-Gravity gun, he sprinted towards her, throwing himself to the side when an electric blue blast came from the gun and hit another bin.
Twisting as he jumped to avoid another scarlet blast, he shot a web-line at the floating bin and pulled it towards him, gaining momentum until he let go and it soared towards Sparky.
Barely registering the panicked yell that came from the man, he dropped towards the floor and kicked Pinkie's feet out from under her, smirking as the gun clattered against the ground. He webbed her limbs to the concrete before picking up the gun and throwing it at a nearby wall and webbing it up there.
His Spidey-sense buzzed and he dodged another blast from Sparky, staggering to the side as his world tilted. He couldn't get dizzy now!
Ignoring how his sight blurred into colours again, he sprinted towards the blonde blob in front of him, jumped and twisted over another blast before landing and shooting webs at the gun.
His sight cleared and he noticed his webs had landed on the side of the gun instead of the nozzle but beggars can't be choosers. Was that the saying? He was too lightheaded to correct himself.
Red and blue lights flashed in his peripherals as police sirens deafened him but he was so close to finishing up the fight that he didn't understand whatever came out of the officer's loudspeaker as he jerked the gun towards him and smashed it into the concrete.
The glowing Chitauri core rolled on the ground, the violet pulsing in the core until it calmed down a couple of seconds later. He guessed that was some sort of cooldown after weapons usage or some alien stuff he didn't understand yet.
Sparky had fallen onto his back and scrambled backwards as Peter approached him silently, his head tilted as Sparky's whimpers grew louder and louder.
"Okay, okay! I'm sorry, please don't beat me up!" He pleaded, his hands in front of his face as he looked completely vulnerable and a bit incompetent for the act he had just pulled. He could have killed someone!
Sighing, his shoulders slumped in exhaustion as he decided what he would do. Pulling Sparky into a standing position, he forced both of his hands together before webbing them up and forcing him to walk towards the police with Mel and Pinkie in tow.
"Dude, I can't believe only three of them showed up in Times Square. All that just for a few minutes of fighting and a life sentence in prison?" Ned exclaimed as he stuffed all of his revision materials into his rucksack.
Golden sunbeams shone through the gap in the curtains and he squinted as he crossed the table to get his bottle, his head pounding as he put everything away.
As exhausted as he was, he had needed to go back to Ned's to collect his stuff before. His hands shook and he was thankful Ned had not commented on how pale he had become but he hoped he didn't pass out in the middle of the street.
Anxiety crawled in his stomach and joined the weak sense of nausea that had been churning for a few minutes as he debated catching a bus. It would be quicker and save him a lot of time and exertion but…
He cringed at the thought of standing with people surrounding him and compacting him into one tiny corner as the bus hit every pothole on the road and the chatter mixed in with humming lights and overwhelmed him.
Yeah, he did not want to have a panic attack today.
"Peter?" Ned asked, pulling him out of his spiral.
"Yeah?" He half-heartedly replied, finally realising his folder was only halfway into his bag before he renewed his attempts to fit everything into his bag.
"You sure you're okay? You've been off ever since this morning." Irritation flared at Ned's pitying tone before he snapped out of it and picked up the concern in his best friend's voice. It wouldn't do either of them any good if he snapped for no reason.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied through his teeth, making a triumphant noise when he zipped his bag shut.
Tugging at it, he frowned when he realised it was heavier than it felt this morning, but he knew he had packed the same things that he had brought. Or maybe his body had finally given in and his metabolism was biting him in the ass after he hadn't taken care of it for weeks. Yeah, that would make more sense.
"Hey, dude, where do you keep the protein bars?" He asked, panic flickering in his chest when his sight blurred again. What was wrong with him?
The few times his blood sugar had been so low he had passed out had been in the previous timeline. He had been pretty good with keeping on top of his calorie intake but to fail so suddenly after letting someone escape…
"Uh…I think they're in my room," Ned replied, his eyes focused on whatever he was typing on his computer. "You want one?"
His knees buckled.
"…yeah…" He collapsed, black spots swirling in his vision as he clung onto the chair for a few seconds to soften his landing against the wooden floor. Footsteps echoed as Ned rushed over to him but he was too far gone, darkness closing in from his peripherals as tiredness swept over him.
"Peter? Peter! Stay awake!" Ned shook him gently but he groaned in pain as his muscles protested, everything aching as his heart sped up.
His blood roared in his ears as Ned propped him up against…something soft? The sofa?
His eyes fluttered shut and time stretched as the ringing in his ears grew louder and louder and he succumbed to the tiredness plaguing him relentlessly.
Notes:
Anyone have any ideas for what Peter would do in Wakanda besides make cool science stuff with Shuri?
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone