The Black Spider - 4. Chapter 4: Welcome Back, Parker

Peter listened as his Aunt May started to explain what’d happened to him post charter bus. She was able to tell him about the bee sting, the shock, and the transfer between hospitals before the doctor and two nurses stepped into the room.

“Well, look who finally open his eyes.” The doctor smiled, stopping at the foot of Peter’s bed. “How are you feeling right now?”

“Weak.” Peter recited his earlier answer. “Thr..oat feels funny.”

“Yes. There is going to be some fatigue until your body get back its strength. But it should only last for few days.”

The doctor turned to the male nurse standing on her right.

“Get him some ice chip and water, please?” She requested.

The male nurse nodded and left to perform his task.

“Your throat feel funny because you have not use it to eat or drink for three days.” The doctor explained to Peter. “We start you with some ice chip to eat first, okay?”

“Okay,” Peter said.

“Let’s go ahead and do his check up,” the doctor said to the remaining nurse female, before turning her attention back to Peter. “You think you can sit up for me?”

“Ye..ah.”

Peter found he had to put more effort than usual to get his body to lift up. He was half way up when the strength in his arms gave out unexpectedly and sent him falling back against the bed. Despite being too far away to do anything to stop the fall, May, the doctor, and the female nurse all moved to try and catch him.

“Okay, not strong enough for that yet. That’s okay. That’s why we have bed that moves,” the doctor said.

Peter understood that he’d just woken up from a coma and that some things might be out of whack. But he hadn’t expected to be so weak that he couldn’t even lift his own body up. If the female nurse hadn’t already activated the device that controlled the lift and recline on the bed, he would’ve acted on his need to try sitting up on his own again.

Once the bed was in position, the checkup began with the doctor listening to Peter’s heart and lungs with her stethoscope. She reported her findings as she did her work. There was no liquid, or any other abnormal sounds, in the lungs. There were no murmurs or other abnormalities in the heart. Everything sounded good.

One portion of the checkup complete, the doctor moved on to the next.

“Can you wiggle your fingers for me?” she asked.

'Probably not since I can’t even sit up on my own,' Peter thought as he looked down at his fingers and tried to wiggle them. They responded, but not with the same speed he felt he was wiggling them at.

“Good! Okay, now let try your toes.”

Looking at his feet, which were covered by a sheet and blanket, Peter tried to wiggle them. Just like with his fingers, they responded, but not at the same speed he felt like he was wiggling them at.

“Very good!” The doctor nodded and smiled. “Do you feel any resistance when trying to move your fingers or toes?”

“No. Just li..ke they’re not mo..ving as fast as I’m mo..ving th..em,” Peter answered.

“Okay, that’s normal. It’ll get better as your body regain its strength. If you still have that problem in couple of days you tell me, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now, a few more questions before we move on to next part. What is your full name?”

“Peter Ben..jamin Parker.”

“And how old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“And who is she?” the doctor asked, pointing to May.

“My au..nt. May Par..ker.”

“Okay and who is president of United States?”

“Barak Obama.”

“And what is two plus two?”

“Four.”

“Okay, very good.” The doctor nodded. “I ask those questions because sometime when patient wake up from coma they forget some things, like their name, or family, and even how to do things like math.”

“Oh.” Peter was glad she explained that.

“So you pass that test. Now we are going to have to do two more things. First, we need to take some blood samples from you. We’re going to do that right now. Then we’re going to give you few hours before we do CT scan.”

“Wh..at’s a CT scan?”

“Like x-ray, but more in depth. We use it to make sure everything inside you is okay.”

“Oh.”

The female nurse, who’d previously been at the bed controls, had gone off during that time to the other side of the room to retrieve the necessary equipment for a blood draw. She returned to the side of the bed with a small push table that held said equipment. Peter watched as she fitted one of the vials into the syringe.

“Does getting your blood drawn make you nervous?” the doctor asked, having noticed where Peter’s attention was.

“Not ner..vous. Just don’t li..ke needles in gener..al,” Peter answered.

“Well Rosa is very good at drawing blood. You barely feel a thing.”

The male nurse stepped back into the room with a small pouring container filled with water and a small bucket of ice. Peter made him and what he was doing the center of his focus as his arm was prepared and the syringe was inserted.

Penetration of needle through skin didn’t hurt nearly as much as Peter thought it would. It was nearly painless. Still, he had no desire to watch his blood get drawn out of him, and kept his attention on the male nurse as he finished with his task of setting up the water and ice on the larger push tray for the bed.

Three vials later, the blood draw was done.

The male nurse slid the bed push tray into position in front of Peter.

“This is your control for the bed.” The male nurse showed Peter the rectangular device, which was attached to a thick white cord. “Up is the top button. Down is the bottom button.”

“Th..ank you,” Peter said, as the male nurse sat the controller down by his hand.

“You want to go ahead and try drinking some water?” the doctor asked.

“Ye..ah.”

The male nurse was on the task immediately. He poured some water from the container into a glass while the other nurse, Rosa, took her leave with the vials of blood.

Peter was about to reach for the glass when the male nurse picked up a straw and ripped its paper wrapper at its center, creating two separate halves. One by one, he pulled the paper halves off by their bottoms, making sure his fingers never touched the ends of the straw. Putting the straw into the glass, he pushed the table closer so all Peter had to do was lean forward and drink through the straw. Peter did just that, taking a small drink.

And then a thought suddenly occurred.

He didn’t know how his throat was going to react when the water touched it.

'That would’ve been nice to think about before I took the drink,' he thought to himself, as he took a cautious swallow.

The reaction was not pain. It was one of bliss. To Peter it felt like his throat hadn’t seen water in weeks versus days. And it wanted more. He obliged by taking another longer drink.

“Throat is okay? No pain?” the doctor inquired.

“No pain. It actually feels good,” Peter answered, taking another drink.

“After you finish this glass, you need to wait hour and a half before you have another one. You eat ice chip meantime, okay?”

“Okay.” Peter nodded, getting ready to take another drink when another thought crossed his mind.

If he couldn’t do so much as lift himself up, how was he going to get out of the bed to use the restroom?

“Um…” Peter thought for a moment on how to word the question. “Is it safe for me to be drin..king water if I can’t get out of bed?”

“Yes, it’s fine. You have catheter attached to you right now, so be careful down there and make sure hose does not get tangled up,” the doctor answered.

“How do I use that? Do I just…go?”

“Yes. It won’t make mess, I promise. But if you don’t want to use that, you can use bed pan, but you have to have help.”

“I think I’ll stay with the catheter.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” The doctor nodded smiled. “So what we need to do now is make sure your blood tests come back normal. When I get result, I’ll be back to tell you. Then after that we do CT Scan.”

“All right.”

“If you feel any pain or anything weird, you tell your Aunt and press call button, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Make sure you do. I know you young man and you try to be tough, but we have to watch out for things like that right now.”

“I will.”

“Okay.” The doctor nodded and smiled. “Now do either of you have any questions for me?”

Peter shook his head.

“Aunt May?” He invited.

She did have questions. Some of which she didn’t want to ask if front of her nephew. Those happened to be the most important questions. But she knew asking the doctor to step outside would only raise suspicion. So that left only one more option; advanced tactics.

“Do I need to make sure he has a glass of water every hour and a half, or just make sure if he has one an hour and a half needs to go by before he has another one?” she asked one of the lesser questions.

“He does not need to have one every hour and a half, just make sure hour and a half goes by before he has another one,” the doctor answered.

“Okay. That was my main question. But if I have any other ones who do I need to talk to that can find you? Do I find this young man here or is there somebody out there I can ask?”

“There is secretary outside at station. She knows how to get ahold of me no matter where I am. I can introduce you to her.”

“Will you be okay if I go?” May asked Peter.

“Yeah. I’ll make it somehow.” Peter pretended to be solemn.

The smile was on May’s face before she knew it and the thought that followed settled a piece of her mind. So far, Peter seemed like Peter. No deviation in his personality. She’d learned that that could happen with coma patients via his doctor.

“I’ll be right back, boy,” she said.

“I’ll be right here.” Peter smiled.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                     

Peter hadn’t been left alone. The male nurse stayed with him. Rey was his name. Peter learned that five minutes after his Aunt May and doctor left the room. He was in the process of learning that Rey – at the ripe age of 22 – was an avid gamer, when a guest stepped into the room.

For a second Peter thought he was imagining who he was seeing. He had been in a coma after all. From what he knew about coma patients, they could hallucinate. It was Rey who told him who he was seeing what not a hallucination when he greeted the guest with,

“Good morning, Mister Stark.”

“How’s it goin’, Rey?” Tony acknowledged.

“All right so far. You?”

“’Bout the same.”

Tony’s attention went to Peter.

“Well, look who’s awake,” he greeted. “How’re you feelin’ there, kid?”

The question completely bypassed Peter’s surprised brain.

“You…you’re Tony Stark!” He marveled.

“On most days.” Tony nodded.

“What’re you doing here?”

“I came to check on you, actually.”

Peter felt his marvel being invaded by surprise.

“You did?” he asked.

“I did,” Tony answered.

Peter felt logic working its way through the surprise. Tony Stark was the head of the R.W.L program. A student going into anaphylactic shock on the way back from a field trip and needing to go to the hospital would more than likely be brought to his attention.

“So, you heard about what happened to me?” Peter asked, wanting to see if he was right.

Tony nodded.

“You’ll have to watch out for those bees from now on,” he said.

“Yeah…” Peter noticed Tony was the second person to say that. “I guess I will.”

“So. What’s it like to be asleep for three days?”

“Like it never happened. One second I was on the bus, next second I woke up here.”

“Yeah…that’s about what my experience was like.” Tony recalled the long ago trip to Afghanistan that changed his life forever and made him into the Ironman he was today. “But you feel like yourself, right? Normal?”

“Feels like it. I’m just weak. Can’t even sit up all the way by myself.”

“Ah, that’ll pass.”

“Good morning, Tony,” the doctor greeted as herself and May returned from their trip. “You have good timing. Peter just woke up not too long ago.”

“Oh?” Tony seemed surprised. “And people say I’m never on time for anything.”

Both women laughed.

“How are you, May?” Tony greeted her.

“Blessed.” May smiled. “And…”

“Aunt May you know him?” Peter’s surprise blinded him to the fact that he was interrupting.

“Since a little while after you went into the first hospital,” May answered, excusing the interruption.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was about to when Doctor Wu walked in.”

“And now Doctor Wu has to walk out,” she announced. “If you will all excuse me, I need to get to lab.”

“Of course.” Tony nodded.

“Thank you, Doctor Wu,” May added.

“You’re very welcome. I’ll be back as soon as we have result.”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Tony stayed with Peter and May for the hour and five minutes it took for the lab results to come in. Doctor Wu was happy to report that most everything was moving back into normal range. While all traces of the venom had left Peter’s body, and all other levels were good, his immune system was running at a higher level. This higher level was understood, since his immune system was still in fight mode, but the level would continue to be monitored to make sure it fell back into normal range again. If it stayed in its heightened state for too long, there was a chance it could begin to attack the body itself.

Business called Tony away as Peter went for his MRI. Because a scan of his entire body was needed, he was going to have to spend almost two hours in the machine’s enclosed tunnel-like scanning area. He pretended to be slightly annoyed, but in truth he was thankful for the alone time. It would give him time to think about things.

And the first thing up for thought was Tony.

It’d taken every ounce of self-control to keep from geeking out the second he’d seen the man in his room. Then to find out Tony had personally become involved in his care and recovery? Peter knew if he would’ve died at that moment, he would’ve died absolutely complete. Because it was one thing to say to everyone that a billionaire like Norman Osborn had personally stepped into the ring to make sure he was taken care of. It was another thing to say that Ironman, an actual superhero, had done it.

'I can’t wait ‘til Glen and the girls find out,' Peter thought, knowing the looks on their faces were going to be priceless.

This took him on to the next thing. The fact that everyone, including Doctor Wu, believed a bee had stung him. Contrary to popular belief, he had been stung by a bee before. He remembered how it’d felt. And what’d gotten him in the bathroom hadn’t felt a thing like that. What’d remained on his hand after smashing and killing it hadn’t looked a thing like a bee either. And his body hadn’t reacted to the bee sting in the same way it had to what’d gotten him in the bathroom.

'Maybe they made a mistake,' he thought.

It was possible Doctor Wu could’ve made a mistake in his diagnosis and misclassified his reaction. Doctors, despite being very disciplined, were people. And people weren’t perfect.

'Guess I’ll never know,' He sighed.

While Peter knew he could say something, he also knew the end of the day scenario. Who was everyone going to listen to; a trained and practiced professional, or a sixteen year old kid?

He moved on to the next item.

What was it that’d taken a bite out of him?

His heart was still set on spider.

'Must’ve been a black widow.' He figured.

It was the only spider he knew of that was black and had venom powerful enough venom to be hazardous to a humans.

…Or was it?

Peter found his mind traveling back to the tour at Oscorp, when everyone got to meet the spiders responsible for the creation of the Biocable. If he remembered correctly each and every one of those spiders had been black.

'No.' He disagreed internally with the idea. 'Didn’t they say those spiders couldn’t live outside of those cells?'

Yes, Peter suddenly recalled. Yes, they could. There was a six hour window in which the spiders could live outside of the cells before they died. Six hours was more than enough time for one of those spiders to find its way into the bathroom had one in fact escaped.

'Too bad a black widow never bit me,' he thought.

Then he would have something to compare it to the same way he could with the bee sting. Without that, however, he was at a loss for a definite answer.

'Guess it doesn’t matter as long as I’m still alive.' He reasoned.

But he made the decision to keep watch on himself until all results for all tests came back normal.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

Peter found his next three days in the hospital an interesting sort of vacation. He didn’t have to move if he didn’t want to. People brought him food and drink. He was able to watch whatever he wanted to on television when he wanted to. He didn’t even have to get up to go to the bathroom.

That perk didn’t last too long.

It ended on the second day just before noon, when May called Peter out on it. By then it was clear to her that he’d regained more than enough strength to get up and go to the bathroom like a normal person.

As a funny concept, Peter thought about seeing if he could somehow sneak a catheter home. It would be cool not having to walk away from a gaming session just to pee.

Guests visited on each of the days. The first was the most intense. Since it was the first time everyone else got to see Peter while he was awake, emotions were higher than when everyone first got to see him while in the coma.

Mary-Jane and her mother had been the last to arrive after George, Glen, Anna, and the kids. The younger lady had forgotten all formalities after stepping in the door and seeing Peter. She’d gone straight to him and wrapped him in a hug.

“Thank god you’re awake. I was so scared you were never gonna wake up,” she’d said to him, before emotion took over and she’d started to cry.

That’d triggered it for everyone else. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room for the fifteen minutes that followed.

Awhile after that, the adults decided to give the teenagers some time to themselves. Tre immediately objected.

“It’s okay, Aunt May. They can stay,” Peter had told her, trying to quell the scene his little foster brother was starting to cause.

“No, baby, it’s fine. They can come on like they were told,” May had said.

“But…” Tre had begun.

“Trejon Stuart-Parker. What did you just hear me say?”

Wanting to argue further, but knowing the repercussions would far outweigh any benefit, Tre sighed and hung his head in defeat.

“Yes, ma’am,” he’d said.

Five minutes later, while alone with his friends, Peter spilled the news about Tony. Neither Glen, or Mary-Jane, believed it until the adults returned and May was asked. Once she’d given confirmation, Peter was rewarded with not just priceless looks, but priceless reactions from his friends.

The evening concluded with everyone leaving and May returning, after heading home to take a shower and grab some clothes, to spend the night with Peter.

The second day brought more visiting time, the results from the MRI, and status on Peter’s immune system.

The MRI revealed that the venom had not done any damage to Peter’s body, muscles, or organs. Everything had checked out in the green.

Peter’s immune system had also checked out in the green. It’d tuned itself back down to a regular level of operation and was holding steady.

On top of this good news, Doctor Wu revealed that if Peter continued his progress in the same upward direction, he would be able to go home in the next couple of days.

All of this good news had Peter thinking he’d be good enough to stay on his own and that his Aunt May wouldn’t have to spend the night with him. He was surprised to find out she was she was comfortable enough with the idea when he’d brought it up.

This led to a change in operations on the third day. After making sure everything was good with Peter that morning, May went on to work. Peter had been absolutely fine with the decision and even used it to his advantage. He hadn’t been able to use his cell phone to make calls, but he had been able to use it to send texts. He’d sent one to Glen letting him know the situation. Glen had immediately decided to ditch lunch to come and see him.

Both the boys knew, however, that Glen would not be able to come alone.

Mary-Jane would be looking for Glen at lunch time. If she found out he’d gone to see Peter without her, they knew Glen would wind up in the room next to Peter’s. So when Glen ditched lunch to go see Peter, Mary-Jane went with him.

The three only got to spend twenty-five minutes with each other, but they made the most of it. Peter and Glen even managed to sneak a quick moment for themselves when Mary-Jane had to step into the restroom. After making sure the coast was clear, Glen took Peter’s hand and the two shared a kiss. When the kiss was over, Glen held his position with his forehead touching Peter’s.

“Don’t you ever in life do somethin’ like this again,” Glen said.

“Oh why not? Comas are in this year. If you wanna keep up with the Parkers’, you better act quick,” Peter remarked.

The remark made Glen laugh. Peter did as well.

“The Parkers’ can have it. ‘Cuz I ain’t got no desire to experience a coma.” Glen assured.

“Aw come on. It’ll put hair on your chest!” Peter continued to joke.

“I’d like you to put somethin’ else on my chest.”

Peter raised his eyebrow.

“Oh really?”

“I’d like to put somethin’ on yours too.” Glen leered slyly.

“Dude, you better stop talkin’ like that, before M.J walks out to a two tent sale.”

Mary-Jane chose that moment to announce she was about to be on her way out of the restroom.

“I’m takin’ one more for the road,” Glen said, stealing a final kiss from Peter, before returning to the chair he’d been sitting in.

The rest of the guest lineup for the third day included the usual visitors, plus Liz, who’d finally recovered from her bout with the flu, and her parents.

While all guests were present, Doctor Wu stepped into the room with good news. Peter had made a sufficient enough recovery to be released the next day. But he wasn’t completely out of the woods yet. He would need to stay home for three days after his release and would need to return to the hospital twice a week for bloodwork for the next couple of weeks.

Peter was absolutely fine with the arrangement. Even though he enjoyed the service and the perks at the hospital, he’d started to miss home.

Work and school schedules prevented most from being present the fourth day when Peter was released. Those in attendance were May, Tre, Zeyna, Anna, and an unexpected but welcome guest, Tony.

Peter hadn’t been the only one expecting his foster siblings to lose all self-control in meeting Tony in person. May had already talked with the two of them during their trip home on the second night. Both the children were on their best behavior, with Tre being the only one who pushed the envelope by asking if Tony would transform into Ironman just once for them. Tony had told them that he only transformed into Ironman when Ironman was needed. Otherwise, he’d be transforming all the time.

Tony was invited to attend the small homecoming party for Peter being held later that evening. He’d promised to attend. And he had, marking for Peter one of the best nights in his young life. He knew Tony could’ve declined the invitation straight out. He knew Tony could’ve accepted and then had something come up and not attend. But he hadn’t. So to Peter, it’d meant that Tony’s concern about him was genuine. And that he’d wanted to be there to celebrate the recovery just like everyone else.

Then, there was what he’d done for Tre and Zeyna.

Tre’s inquiry of being able to see what Tony looked like when he transformed into Ironman had refueled his fire for a little something he’d been working on, but had put away. It was a holographic imaging device that was capable of showing what one of his transformations looked like. Tony had been able to make the minor tweaks and adjustments to it in order to have it ready to bring with him.

“All right. You two ready?” Tony asked Tre and Zeyna when the time had come to reveal the surprise.

“Yeah!” Both the kids cheered.

“Here we go!”

Tony activated the device. It created the illusion of what looked like a medium sized, metallic, red and silver suitcase in his hand.

That alone had gotten gasps of awe from not just children, but everyone.

Tony sat the suitcase down on the ground on its side, with the handle facing the audience. With his right foot, he gave the center of the suitcase a push. The two halves of the suitcase came open, as the top left and right halves of the suitcase pushed out and turned outward slightly.

Putting his foot back next to the right, Tony watched with everyone else as the suitcase flipped itself right-side up, courtesy of the bottom left and right halves which had also pushed out. Then, the entire suitcase expanded out and opened up.

What was inside definitely wasn’t clothes. It was a strange configuration that was hard to describe, save for what looked like the top half of two metallic gloves attached across from each other in the center. On the metallic glove halves were handles big enough to be gripped by an adults hand. Tony reached for those handles with his hands, took hold of them, and turned them. The metallic glove halves turned along with the handles until they stood side by side. With them in this position, Tony slid his hands and the handles into the glove halves. A few parts of the suitcase reconfigured themselves, before Tony picked up the suitcase and sat it on his chest.

The suitcase was no longer shaped like one. Its transformation had turned it into the chest plate, shoulders, and arms of the Ironman suit. Tony extended his arms, as if welcoming someone, pulling the handles that he was still holding on to as he did so. This spread what looked like a metallic frame across both arms, which ended at the hands.

Then, the real show started.

The rest of the suit began to build itself.

All spectators watched as the suit did its work. It was remarkably fast in its assembly. Had anyone been timing it, it’d taken ten seconds from the moment Tony activated the suitcase, before he was standing there in front of everyone as his superhero alter ego.

And everyone applauded.

Kids and teenagers present cheered along with their applause.

“Thank you. Thank you.” Tony bowed a couple of times, before deactivating the hologram.

That was still on Peter’s mind as he laid down in his own bed for the first time in over a week and drifted off to sleep. Forgotten was the thought of the conflicting report when it came to what had bitten/stung him. But it was still there, plotting what it knew would be its triumphant return.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *