章 12: Chapter 12
The next few days pass, and he spends most of his time patrolling. Edith downloads a few games and set up an online account to earn money. It's not a lot, but it's better than nothing. The money trickles in slowly but surely, and he hopes it will be enough to buy more than just fast food. He has finished the ration bars on his third day, and even though he's trying to eat only what's necessary, his stomach is constantly rumbling.
Tomorrow, he plans to grab some bread and cheese from Kamar Taj. Although the Ancient One has told him he's a guest, he doesn't want to take advantage of her kindness. Edith helps him locate another mugging near his location, which distracts him from his hunger. When he's done with that, she tells him about the responses of the perplexed police officers and the rumors that have been circulating since he started his vigilante career in this world.
A day ago, they finished with the data they obtained from the base where they saved Wade. It doesn't reflect well on the US government, but he cannot hide it just because of that.
So he tells Edith to send some of the files, heavily edited to hide the places and people on them, to the most important newspapers of the US and to the site he created for this case and other similar ones he's sure he'll get caught into. As the Avengers are not yet a thing, he can only send the whole file to the UN. He could have sent it to SHIELD, but he doesn't want to make them wary when the invasion has not yet happened.
Besides, there's the HYDRA problem to think about. If he gives them a hint of what it is, who knows what they will do with the information? It's better to catch them with their pants down when it becomes public.
After seven hours of constant patrolling, he accepts the reward of cookies from an old lady he helped cross the street. They are not warm, but they are still delicious.
"So, how was the Fantastic Four's trip off-world?" he asks as he sees something suspicious and not Iron Man-like flying (or trying to, at least) in the air.
"It went as other worlds did. They've been in a Californian hospital for four days, or at least that's what the government is saying, officially." He winces. He does feel bad for letting them go through that, but after a couple of talks with the Ancient One about time and its changes, he's learned to help when he can without worrying too much about it. He cannot change something as official as their trip was, so he told Edith to monitor but wait to give him updates until he asks for them.
"Are they…?"
"They've shown signs of change. The government has unofficially quarantined them until further news."
"So they're in California, then."
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" he asks with a smile. He sees the fire person in the air turning on and off as they fall. There are a quiet couple of seconds during which he can almost feel Edith thinking.
"Johnathan Storm was last seen two hours ago escaping from the quarantined facility."
He activates his mask as he swings towards the falling person. "Yeah, I can see him, I think. He's the only flammable superhero I know."
"Not a superhero."
"Yet," he adds, if only to be contrary. He's been curious about the Human Torch since he saw one a couple of worlds after the beginning of his trip that looked exactly like the Steve Rogers of his world.
Seeing a young and not serious Steve Rogers look-alike was weird, even more so when he started flirting with him. It certainly didn't help with his awkward teenage hormones, but at least he made it through without stuttering more than a few times. Luckily, he hadn't been the one with the flame powers, or he would have burned everything around him whenever he received a smile from Johnny.
He shakes his head as he approaches the falling figure, who keeps turning himself more times than he would like. His webs would be useless, so he could not build anything to save him. That only leaves the riskier option, likely to end with him being burned.
With a resigned sigh, he approaches and grabs him by the wrist when he's not on fire. Before he can become fiery, he throws him up, thanking his Spider-sense because as soon as he lets go, he's again on fire in the next second.
"I'm trying to help!" Peter shouts. "Can you stop turning on fire for a second?!"
"I can't!" he receives a panicked shout back. "How can I do it?"
He sincerely doesn't know, so he tries the same way his stickiness works with him. "Try to relax!"
"I'm on fire; how can I do that?!"
He wants to ask him why he would leave a perfect, safe environment he hopes he was in before if he still doesn't know how to deal with his powers, but he refrains from doing so. The Human Torch needs help. Wait, not. He's still not yet a superhero. It's Johnny Storm who needs help.
"Edith, Show me a map of the nearest places we could land. Please choose the less flammable ones."
Soon enough, while he keeps throwing Johnny up whenever he's not on fire, he finds the perfect spot. He points that way. "Can you try to go to that place?!"
"Which one?!" The man says, looking around. "And be gentler, or I think I might vomit!"
"Go to your left, at your eight!"
"Okay!"
They continue like that, with Johnny trying and failing to go in a straight line, while Peter grabs him and throws him up whenever he goes under what he thinks is advisable height. When they're near the building, he builds a web to at least lessen the fall and then proceeds to tell him that he's going to tackle him over there and to try to relax. Then, hoping he doesn't burn too much, he does as he said and tackles Johnny to the rooftop, making sure to fall on top of the web he created.
It does help lessen the fall—for a whole two seconds. Then Johnny is on fire again, and they fall through it harshly. Peter's suit feels like boiling, but he still manages to turn them around so that Johnny falls on top of him.
His back hurts, but at least he's more resistant than Storm to falls—not so much to fire. He groans at the heat, and luckily, Johnny takes that as his cue to stand up and move away from him.
Peter sits up, and Edith, knowing what to do, wills the Spider suit away from the parts that touched the fire and into the watch. The movements of the nanobots hurt, but at least the cool air touching his skin is nice to feel. Unfortunately, that leaves him in a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of shorts with his mask on, which is honestly embarrassing but at least no more than the naked guy on fire.
"Are you okay?" Peter asks the distressed man as he stands up.
"Am I okay?! What about you, dude?!" He seemingly wants to approach but thinks better, which is good because he's still on fire. He deflates as he looks at his hands, the heat seemingly increasing in his panic.
Ignoring the heat, Peter approaches as much as he can without boiling inside out and speaks in what he hopes is a soothing voice. "Hey, look at me."
He has to repeat that a couple of times before the guy finally snaps his gaze back at him, his breathing quickening. Shit. "Okay, great. Now, continue to look at me and follow my breathing pattern."
He exaggerates his breathing to get the guy to follow him easily, doing the same exercises Aunt May had to do with him after Uncle Ben's death. It takes Johnny more than five minutes to try to follow the pattern and another ten more for him to calm down, but eventually, he has a naked, bright, orangish man in front of him. "Better?"
The man nods silently and continues to breathe as Peter taught him until he's now a normal-skin-toned person. Also, he's still naked because that's important, considering how ripped he is. At least he doesn't look like Captain America, for which he is so grateful. He doesn't think his heart will be able to take that again.
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