Baxter Foundation
Tim woke up on a clean bed, and that was already miles better than how his time has been going. Sure it wasn't much, but it was just him, he had running water, and even had a little mini fridge he could stock up with some form of sustenance. He didn't want to think about why that was. Didn't want to think about the implications. Instead he focused on how much better this set up would be for him to work, for him to find Jason, for him to get home.
He pulled over his bag and set out everything he had so far, the jars of samples, the camera, papers to submit to act like he lost his license, what money he had left. It allowed him to lay out his thoughts, to process where he was and what he needed to get done. All in all, he wasn't too bad off. He just… had to figure out the logistics still had to hope someone here could be useful. He also desperately needed new clothes, perhaps a thrift store after the tour of Baxter Foundation. For now he had scraped up shoes, and stolen clothes. The pants hung loosely even when tied and rolled, and the hoodie with some X logo on it practically drowned him, but it was better than pajamas, and better than his blood soaked clothes, so for now it would have to do.
He grabbed his phone from the charger, grabbed his notebook, and stuffed them back in his bag with his camera. He then grabbed the form, filled it out with the hotels address to send his “replacement” ID too, and headed back out into the streets with his Skateboard. He made a pit stop to mail the form out and at a store before he would head to meet the school he was piggy backing off of. He bought a prepaid Sim card that he hoped would work with his phone, as well as a box of protein bars, a bottle of water, and a redbull for later. A quick glance at his location and time told him he would have to take a few short cuts, but should still make it, assuming they were to arrive the same time as they did for oscorp.
Once on his board, he easily maneuvered through the busy streets, ducking and dodging around people as he shoved a protein bar in his mouth. He was almost there and making great time when some driver almost plowed him over despite being in the bike lane. He rolled on the cement before flipping them off, his adrenaline spiking as he pushed himself back up. “Hey watch where you're going!”
“Mierda, stay out of the road on that thing! Tu puta madre!” the driver looked around before hitting the steering wheel, frustration evident at this kid that just messed up his day. “Ei, lost the son of a bitch” he grumbled and adjusted his mirror before looking back at Tim, who stared back with wide eyes, caught in an adrenaline fueled panic response that evidently translated to freeze in front of the asshole with a big metal death trap.
“S-sorry” Tim finally grabbed his board, staggering back to the sidewalk as the world shifted around him.
“mierda” The driver groaned and threw on his hazards. “You hit your head?” He motioned to his own, then adjusted his hat before getting out of the car, grabbing Tim's bag and handing it over.
Tim flinched as the driver handed his bag over before quickly grabbing it to check on his camera, which was thankfully OK despite it's rather poor treatment. It gave his mind something to latch onto to ignore his shaking hands and the fuzzy mush the world was shifting into.
‘ YOU GROW SOFT ‘ Jake forced back the instinctual anger at the God that hovered over his shoulder, watching him and the kid he almost killed trying to get around the traffic to follow a lead.
“Not the time. How many fingers?” He held up three fingers and cast a glance around the crowd, most seemed to just walk by them, which was good in the sense that he wouldn't get any unnecessary attention, bad in the sense that he wanted to shove this kid onto someone else to deal with.
“Hm?” Tim slowly forced his eyes up, vision dancing as he stumbled to the side a bit. He felt like a marionette with it's strings cut. But why? The yelling? He should be better than this. Needed to be better.
“Not good, look at me?” Jake shown his phones flashlight in the kids eyes, grabbing his wrist when he winced backwards to keep him from falling. Pupils were at least equally reactive.
“Sorry… who are you?” Tim could feel the words reverberating out of him, but didn't feel in control. Didn't feel like he had a say, more like he was a vessel.
‘ YOU MUST GO, MY FIST. THIS TRAVELER WILL BE OK ‘
“You should get checked out, Nino.” Jake dropped the kids arm, taking a step back before rushing back in the car, “go to the hospital” he added before pulling back into traffic to try and find the target for Khonshu.
Tim stared after him a moment before slowly making his way down the sidewalk, letting his legs guide him while he held his board and bag to his chest. The further he got from the yelling, from the screaming, the less shaky he was feeling, the more present he was.
Tim barely made it in time to slip in with the class. He was still feeling a bit out of it, but he had to pull himself together. Had to be better. He couldn't afford to be a mess, couldn't afford to loose this opportunity. Not when he had read up on the Baxter Foundations work in Quantum Physics, specifically their theory around Quantum Flux Acceleration. It was just what he was looking for, and as long as they had the tech available to back their theory, it meant he shouldn't be here much longer. Even if they did not have the tech for it, if they had the blueprints chances were Stark Industries would have the tech side.
“Oh hey! Didn't think we would see you again new kid” Tim forced his eyes up to the brown haired boy from Oscorp, trying to connect that tether again.
“Hm?” Tim watched him a moment, blinking as he tried to focus on him.
“You all good there? Oh that's a sick scar, what's it from?” Ned popped over, while MJ hovered, bridging their group to the main one in a way that she could keep her eye on this most definitely a villain in the making. There was no other explanation, really. Not for a kid that she has never before met, who came in not on their bus, who disappeared last tour than skipped one.
Tim moved his fingers up, numb fingers barely touching the faint scar that curved up from his mouth on one side of his face. “Oh” he breathed out, forcing his eyes back to the group. “Sorry, what did you ask?”
“The scar-ow!” Ned groaned as Peter elbowed him in the ribs.
“Scar?” Tim blinked slowly at them.
“Did you get hurt on your way here?” Peter asked instead, shushing his voice as Sue Storm took the stage, her baby strapped to her chest as she welcomed the teens and explained the different departments they could check out.
“I'm ok” Tim finally settled on once he managed to stay present enough to make that decision. His hand, elbows, and knees burned, but not enough to ground him fully, so probably only scrapes. He lifted his hands to look at the red flesh before blinking back over to the group, eyes eventually landing on Peter, the unofficial leader as it would seem. “I think… I just scraped my hands?”
Peter anxiously looked back at the group, before directing his attention back to them. “Did you wipe out? They have a medical wing here too, I'm sure they won't mind us popping in?”
“Peter” MJ looked over at her friend, exasperation evident.
“No… I should…” Tim looked down at his hands, why did they hurt again? Oh right, he wiped out. But that memory was so fuzzy. Did he hit his head? No, his head didn't hurt… when did he wipe out? Wasn't that yesterday? Shit he needed to get these cleaned up before they got infected. “Bathroom” he finally managed and turned around, ignoring the hushed argument behind him until Peter popped back up at his side.
“Come on, I've been here a couple of times so they won't mind” Peter offered with a soft smile as he guided Tim away from the crowd and towards the elevator where he swiped a card that the group most definitely did not get.
Once the doors opened, a small robot greeted them and the elevator started moving up.
“Hey HERBIE, mind taking us up to Med?” with a series of beeps Peter seemed to relax minutely. “Thank you. Now you, what's your name? Because I know your not part of my class, and I know you aren't ill intentioned, so what are you up too?”
Tim stared at him a moment, blinking slowly. He felt like his consciousness was shoved in a pool of molasses. Is this what it felt like to be in the molasses flood of 1919? Slowly being crushed and torn apart? OK, they definitely had it worse, all his limbs were at least attached, even if they didn't feel like it. Wait, he was asked a question. What was it again? “Sorry, what did you ask?”
Peter stared at him a moment back before biting his lip and letting out a small noise from his throat. “Ok, Name? What's your name?”
“Name…” What was his name again?
“Do you know what year it is?”
“Uh… 20… 2009? No wait… 2010?” Peter watched as the person furrowed their eyebrows in thought. But it didn't really matter, because both were wrong. Time travel maybe? Or some serious head wound that meant the other teen was probably about to keel over with a brain bleed.
“Alright, HERBIE, can you inform Mr. Richard's that he has a patient, exhibiting confusion? Possible head injury?” With an affirmative beep the elevator finally stopped. Peter led the other teen into the Med bay.
“Whats this? Couldn't come like a normal student?” Johnny spun his chair around a few times before stopping in front of the duo. “You know, you could have just came up and said hi if you missed us so much”
“Not a social call, one of my classmates got hurt on his way over, think he wiped out on his Skateboard. Mild abrasions but I think hit his head? Confused, doesn't know his name or the year, exhibited issues with short term memory” Peter pushed Tim down onto one of the metal tables, digging around to find a little flashlight.
“And why not call the hospital? I'm sure they are perfectly equipped”
“Because he wasn't my classmate until two days ago” Peter added as he shone the flashlight in their eyes, frowning as they didn't react poorly. “No sign of concussion based upon pupillary response.
“Peter, what are you doing up here? Aren't you supposed to be down with your school?” Reed asked as the elevator opened and he headed into the room, immediately getting to work on checking his patient over.
“Yeah yeah. But I had to keep things interesting. God Jason's going to tease me forever about this, he told me I had to be more cautious” Peter sunk back and joined Johnny, leaving Reed to look over the teen. He occasionally tries to peak around, chewing his bottom lip as he waited for a verdict.
“Well, I don't believe there is any brain damage, I do believe your friend is just dissociating. Has he done this before?”
“Uh… new friend? Ow” Peter frowned as he looked over at Johnny, who kicked his leg. “Fine, just met him the other day, actually. But hey, he seemed like he could use a hand? I mean he has one of the school provided x-men hoodies so he is a mutant of some kind, and they usually don't get treated too well” Peter defended as he crawled up onto the desk, anxiously bouncing on his feet.
“I can contact Professor Xavier, see if he is missing a student” Reed looked back over at the teen. “You go back to your school group, I have Sue and Ben watching over two separate groups, it is your choice which one you go with”
“But-”
“Peter”
“Fine” Peter looked back at the other teen before heading to the elevator begrudgingly. He didn't want to leave, wanted to make sure that the other was safe. If he was a mutant then it was possible he was attacked, which just put Peter on edge.
Reed turned to call the professor when suddenly the teen gasped out and Reed watched as he flashed on the table, a colorful array of pixels flooding him before he crashed onto the ground. The teen shakily pushed themselves under the table, hands wrapping around themselves.
“What the hell?” Johnny explained as he jumped out of his chair.
“Oh, how fascinating” Reed grabbed one of his notebooks, quickly righting down in it. “Johnny, Switch off with Sue, Please”
“Fine, but I expect am explanation later”
___
JJ didn't know what was going on, except for the fact that he was electrocuted again, he was even on those cursed metal beds that froze him, but! They forgot to strap him down, they started the torture but forgot the most important part, so he threw himself under the table and grabbed on for dear life as he shook, the metallic taste of electricity still fresh under his skin. “Please no” he begged, he didn't see daddy, maybe he wasn't around? Maybe he could get out! “I'm sorry” he tried again as he tried to claw at the table, trying to get a better grip but his fingers kept shaking.
“Sorry, that must not have been pleasant” The male with white streaks commented as he set down his book. It must be their log of his reactions, daddy kept one too, especially when he was trying new chemicals. It made panic build and build until JJ thought that maybe he was going to burst. Like all this shaking was going to shake him apart at the seems.
“N-no” he finally managed out, sniffling past the tears in his eyes. He hated this, hated that someone kept finding them, kept hurting them.
“I am sorry about that, do you mind if I get your name? My name is Reed Richards”
JJ Rolled that name around in his brain, he liked that it had alliteration like his own. And it tasted like soft baby blues with little bursts of white. Like light reflecting off of water. It was warm and fuzzy, and he liked that more then the gross lady from last time. “Reed Richard's” he parroted back, smiling as the little bursts danced across his brain. “RR, Like my name! Oh I'm JJ, or Junior, or Joker Junior, wait you probably knew that” JJ hesitated. He wanted to be polite, but under the table felt safe, felt like he had a layer of protection at least.
“I did not know that, thank you for sharing. Can you tell me how you got here?” Reed Shifted to sit down, placing his notepad on his lap as he waited, because if there was a hole in the multiverse they had to go patch it, and if it was intentional they had to figure out why, and if intentional why they came without stabilizing tech.
“You… you didn't bring me here?” JJ looked out from under his table, looking around the room. It was definitely a lab, maybe this person was in danger too! “Did they get you too?” JJ Reached out, grabbing Reed And swiftly pulling him down with him. “We can share my hiding place. But if Daddy comes back it's better to listen, I can… I can distract him for you to get out” JJ nodded as he settled his resolve. He would take Reed Richard's punishment. He could protect him too. He needed to. He could be brave! Robin told him so!
“What are you talking about?” Reed looked out as he slowly sank under the table. His knees would feel that later, but for now it was probably best to play along with whatever delusion the teen had. At least it would allow him to get an idea about where they came from and why? Or maybe figure out more about this father who honestly was sounding quite abusive at this point.
The elevator dinged before Sue called out “Reed Honey?”.
JJ Shifted to be in front of Reed, protecting him despite how shaky he still was or how wet his cheeks were.
“That is my wife, Sue Storm-Richard's” Reed informed the teen as he shifted to take some of the pressure off his knees, stretching a hand out to wave her over.
“Sue Storm” JJ parroted, her name tasted like a fluffy blue with bursts of yellow, “SS, but wait you ruined it” he pouted as he looked back at Reed. “SSR sounds more like a ship” he pointed out before poking his head out, looking over the table before seeing her and the Baby strapped to her chest. “A baby!” He practically bounced out and nearly tripped rushing over to her. “He's so tiny! Was Tim this tiny! Not even Timmy is this tiny!” he fluttered his hands at his sides as he wiggled in his spot, wide eyes watching Sue with Franklin. He then remembered he wasn't supposed to do that and tried to tamper down the wide smile and pressed his hand back to his thighs, trying to stop them from moving.
“Oh! Hello there? This is Franklin, my son” Sue explained as she helped her husband up from the ground and bounced the baby slightly.
“Sue, love. This is JJ, he is visiting from a different universe apparently” he tried to fill her in as he flipped his book around to her. “He is worried his father will be coming back”
“No! Joker is my Daddy. Bruce is… Bruce, but sometimes dad. Dami calls him father though” JJ pointed out as he started to walk around, wide eyes taking in the room. “this doesn't look like his room with the electric parties, but the table is the same” he pointed out before turning back to them, having used the moment to focus himself back in. “Oh babies are so cute! Does he play?” JJ shifted to be closer, trying to get a look at the baby who was napping peacefully.
“Right now is his nap time, can you answer a few questions for us JJ? Before… before anyone comes back?”
“Hm I guess” JJ shifted to pick at the skin around his nails, fluttering around the two as he looked around again.
“How old are you?”
“he came with the school” Reed pointed out, frowning when his wife held a finger up to him and kept her attention on the teen.
“School? Oh Tim used to hate school, said it was boring and easy. It's why he left, well it's why Carrie said we left” JJ shifted away from the table, peaking at the two adults through a glowing tube and giggling at how it distorted them, oh it was like a fun house mirror! He wondered if he could take tube's like it and set them up around their home. Maybe just there room. “Carrie is my mom, oh she would love the baby! Or maybe hate the baby? No no she would love him. He's so squishy!”
“JJ?” Sue prompted, placing a hand on the Franklin's back. “can we try to focus back?”
“oh! Sorry, Hi, I'm JJ, or Junior, or Joker Junior, I'm 10, and your Sue Storm ruined by Richard's, and uh… oh 30? Yeah you must be 30, you look older than Carrie even when she's at her oldest, and 30 is sooo old” Junior tapped his fingers against the glass, smiling widely at the little tune it played.
“10? Unless there was a time dilation-” Reed pulled back over his notebook, starting to write again and Sue rolled her eyes despite her fond smile at him. “I apologize, my husband can be a bit dense sometimes, honey put the book away” She watched him until he listened. “I do believe JJ here is part of a system. You mentioned a Carrie, whose age slides, am I correct?”
“Yeah! Carrie Kelly! Though I think she spelled it wrong, she could have been a CC, like a TV. She's all of our moms, well, maybe not as much Robin's, they have Batman. But she's so nice, she is younger when she is out to play, but older in the nest so she can take good care of us all” he reached for the tube, wanting to feel it's texture but Reed pulled It away, earning a huff before he moved on to the next table. “But it's fine, Robin is still my sibling, they also change but it's more drastic. Like sometimes their not much older than me, and sometimes their Tim's age”
“Oh” was all Reed managed as he set the Tube of chemicals up higher.
“Then there's Timmy but he doesn't play. I saw her a lot before Tim's parents died. Their suuuuper quiet” JJ frowned as another cool tube was pulled away. “I haven't seen him in a super long time, but I guess that's good?”.
“Thank you for telling me all about your family JJ, they sound wonderful. Do you think we could speak with any of them?” Sue asked as she handed over an empty tube for JJ to look through.
“mmm… I don't know. I don't feel any of them and I need to stay in case we get hurt again” JJ sat down and kicked his legs out, causing the chair to roll some as he repeated the motion. “Sue Storm Sue Storm” he giggled as he closed his eyes, wiggling with the bursts that filled his vision with her name. “you have such a pretty name” he added, remembering that he was supposed to be nice and polite.
“Why thank you. Do you have a number we can call?”
“Oh” realization slowly dawned, they wanted to call someone like Bruce to come get him. But if Bruce came then he was going to get hurt again, they were going to realize he wasn't gone and try to get rid of him. “Sorry” he added, casting his eyes down as his tummy twisted up and his fingers twisted into the loose material he wore. He must have been annoying his new friends. Were they with the last one? Did they trick him to get information about his family? Was it secretly them who electrocuted him? Who drugged him? This wasn't very funny, not at all, but he couldn't help the little broken laugh that forced it's way past his lips before his hand could clasp over them. Even worse, what if they were looking for daddies number? What if they were hoping to sell the information to his daddy and then dump him on him? He quickly scurried under a desk, squeezing His eyes closed tightly as he curled up. No, this wasn't very funny at all. He didn't like this one bit!
No no they were mean too! But their names felt so nice in his brain and they had the cute baby! Was Franklin even safe with them? What if he had to take him to protect him! He couldn't be a daddy yet!
“JJ? Can you look at me?” Sue tried to guide the child back to her, back from under the desk he had shoved himself under. Franklin gave a little whine and she contemplated how bad it would be to hand him off to his uncle with a group of highschoolers. “Sweety, it's ok” she added and offered out a hand, frowning when he flinched back.
“I contacted Charles to see, but Sue, love, he is from another universe. We have to figure out if there is a tear somewhere and fix it”
“Reed, darling, we have a program to run, why don't you do that while I make sure our guest is ok?” Sue gave Reed a gentle peck on the cheek before moving back and sitting on the ground. “Junior, I'm sorry we scared you” Sue offered, an olive branch of sorts.
“I'm sorry” JJ pushed out, but his mouth felt like it was grating on rocks and his throat choking on the words. He remembered Dick once telling him it was called going non-verbal, but he couldn't do that right now! Not when they wanted to get daddy! “I'm sorry… I-I can behave, I promise I promise, please” he pressed his wrists into the hardwood, rubbing them against it as he tried to calm himself down with the pressure and the rhythmic movements. He needed to get out, needed to escape before anything happened.
___
Peter followed his group around, absently taking note of some things. He already knew where he wanted to go, what he wanted to do. He was to continue at Stark Industries, where eventually he and Harley would take it over. But it was still normally interesting to see what the other science heads were up to. He was excited for the Baxter Foundation initially because he could tease Johnny and maybe show off a bit, but now he anxiously fiddled and kept glancing to the elevator. He didn't know what was up with that other teen, didn't even have a name for him.
And when Mrs Storm-Richards switched off with her brother, who he knew they normally kept locked away during these, it made his heart race and his palms twitch with adrenaline, with nowhere to focus that energy into he was left bouncing and moving around erratically. Because if they needed Sue and Reed, then something had to be wrong, right?
Once they parted for a small break, allowing time for the students to write questions or talk more one on one with some employees, Peter all but sprinted up the stairs. Once he pushed open the doors, he was almost immediately tackled by the other teen, the only reason he didn't fall down the stairs was because of his enhanced abilities.
“Please don't let them take me” The other teen cried out, entire frame shaking, black hair an absolute mess, and blue eyes red with tears. Blue eyes that reminded him so much of his newest brother, Jason's. With in a blink Peter had the teen held to his chest and he was up in a corner, shooting a web at both Sue and Reeds feet while a low hiss rumbled out of his chest.
“JJ I promise we aren't going to hurt you” Sue tried to call out.
“What happened?” Peter asked as he supported the teen, JJ he supposed his name was. That would at least give him a starting point to find out who they are.
“I'm sorry I'm sorry, I can be good. I promise. Don't make me go back, please. I can be good” and oh how that did not sit right with Peter one bit. He turned his glare back at the adults and rumbled out a small purr to try and calm JJ down while keeping his glare set on the others.
“Did they hurt you?” He wanted to believe they wouldn't, but he also did not know them as well as other groups he has teamed up with.
JJ choked on shaky breathes as he burrowed his face into Peter's shoulder, it was a bit more awkward holding the teen compared to Jason, but not hard in the slightest. Peter rumbled out another purr before hissing at Reed who tried to step closer.
“We didn't hurt him, we just need to figure out if he opened a wormhole or not”
“ I trusted you, he was injured and I thought you would help but nope” Peter shifted to look at JJ's scraped up hands, “you didn't even clean and disinfect his wounds?” He asked in disbelief before using his webbing to create a little hammock for the teen and climbing down to grab some first aid supplies. “I'll do it myself, you guys are ridiculous” he added before joining JJ back up in the corner, who at least looked more intrigued now than panicked. Peter hummed out another little rumble, watching the light of excitement return to those blue eyes. “Can I see your hands, JJ?”
“Yeah, you're like a cat?” JJ looked at the web, thought for a moment, but continued on. “Like a spider cat? My brother would absolutely hate you, he's terrified of bugs. But this is so cool! Did you know that spider silk is stronger than steel? Oh do you have blue blood like a spider does” he grabbed Peter's hand, holding it close like he could see from here. “A spider has blue blood because their oxygen binds to copper instead of iron like a normal humans” he dropped his hand and continued on, plucking at one of the webs. “Did you know that in ancient Greece, there was a woman named Ariadne who was known to be the best spinner and weaver. She was renowned for her talent and skill and one day someone said that she could even outspin and outweave the goddess Athena. Then when Athena heard this and came down from Mount Olympus to meet this challenge, they each wove a tapestry and Athena won the contest. As punishment, Athena turned Ariadne into the first spider and cursed her and her offspring to forever spin and weave.” JJ continued on, shaking his hands out to dispel some of the excitement before getting distracted with his webs again and plucking at some of the strands.
Peter stared for a moment before looking back down at the two heroes with a sharp glare. “You scared him? He's so precious” he added, directing back to JJ. “I'm going to clean your hands, ok? It's going to hurt, but I promise you are safe up here”
“I don't want to hurt anymore. Why can't I ever just have fun” JJ grumbled but held his hands out, keeping his eyes cast away from Peter while he braced for the pain.
“Do you have good vision like a jumping spider? Or bad vision? Do you see in vibrations? Do you see in color?” JJ asked as Peter cleaned his hands, it didn't hurt that much, thankfully, a small burn, nothing he hadn't dealt with before. Besides, he still had so many spider questions. Maybe he should start watching cat documentaries to figure out which one Peter was more like.
“I actually see better then a normal human, I need special lenses to help filter out some of the spectrum when I'm out and about. But uh… maybe don't tell anyone about this? I know you are pretty open about mutations up at X mansion. But I have a secret identity separate from mine.
“Oh like Robin? I can keep that secret!” JJ tried to tamper down his smile again, not wanting to anger his new friend. “Oh crap! I never got your name. I'm JJ, or Junior, what's yours?”
“Peter”
“Peter….”
“He loves alliteration, so you might as well tell him, might help out here” Sue pointed out as she tried to pull free from the webs.
“Parker” Peter hesitated, but figured JJ probably would access the information easily given their knowledge of their class already.
“Peter Parker” JJ Rolled the name around, it felt like a burst of hope, like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. It prickled like green grass swaying under a warm sun, translating to spikes of green over warm hues of pink and orange, It was pleasant and if he could purr like Peter he would be right about now. “We have JJ, like me, RR like railroad, SSR like the ship, because she had to ruin it, and PP, like… like” JJ clasped a hand over their mouth, trying to stifle the laughter as he kicked his feet out, but the giggles pushed their way past until there face hurt from trying to hold them in.
“JJ is 10” Sue pointed out, finally getting one foot free just for Peter to reweb her. “Peter, please. We were trying to help” she huffed and looked at her husband, both could use there powers to get JJ back down rather easily, buy neither wanted to scare him, or upset the very angry and protective mutate.
“Oh?” Peter furrowed his brows as he thought for a moment, trying to put together the information. “Well, you were very brave JJ, may I wrap your hands now?”
JJ pushed his hands back out towards his new friend. “See we all know each other's names now so we can be friends?”
“Of course” Peter started wrapping his hands up. “Are you injured anywhere else?”
JJ pulled up his pant legs, showing off the inflamed knees that he scraped up on the first day.
“Oh yikes, those might be infected” Peter carefully got to work cleaning those too.
“Oh yikes” JJ repeated back a few times till the words felt like they were melting off his tongue. “Oh yeah! Right, Carrie said we have to be extra careful because we don't have a spleen anymore. Actually, I wonder if that's why my brother doesn't like spiders? I think they took it right out. Not very funny if you ask me” he huffed before reaching across to pluck Peter's web again.
Peter was going to classify that away in the concerning information tab he was mentally starting. Yeah, Jason was going to tease him about this one, but he feels like maybe he made the right call here. “Oh? That must have been scary”
“I wasn't there for it, I was in our Nest, but it's weird because that sounds painful. I wonder if it was a bunch of Itty bitty spiders or really big ones. Oh like in That cartoon when Billy accidentally adopts a spider bigger than he is! His name was Jeff which is icky, but he was so beautiful! Purple and green with red, just like daddy and me! Though… actually maybe that's why he was so scared if he reminded him of daddy” Another pluck. “I like spiders though, actually I like deep ocean fish more” another pluck, “Did you know that Anglerfish males bite the females when they are mating, their tiny bodies morph Into hers and they form a parasitic bond, fusing into her where they loose all their organs except for their testes. Also, depending on sub-genis, they can have up to 8 males per female”
“You're just full of knowledge, aren't you?” Peter slowly climbed out of his nest, holding his hands up to JJ. “Let's get you out of there, OK? You're all patched up now. I think you should follow up with a doctor on your knees, Get some antibiotics”
“I can… leave?” JJ scrunches up their face and looks between the two adults and the teen.
“Yeah, of course. I would like to check on you later? Maybe walk you home?” Peter offers, after all they couldn't exactly kidnap him, even if everything in Peter screamed at him to protect, to horde, to comfort.
“Peter, we need-” Reed started, eyes darting between JJ and Peter.
“You can figure it out without traumatizing someone more” Peter bared his little fangs at the hero, anger immediately bubbling up again.
“Ok… um… ok” JJ looked towards the stairs. This could be a trick. False hope just to watch it burn out. Or a test, to see if he would behave. But he liked Peter, he was his new friend. But his other new friends were mean and wanted to hurt him. But Peter was a fun spider meta, and he wanted to ask him so many more questions.
“Reed, love. Let it go. We can figure out the rest” Sue offered.
“Can… I say goodbye to the baby?” JJ shifted to look back at the baby that was now blinking bleary eyes open. “Oh he is going to have the cutest smile ever, squishy squishy” JJ pinched his fingers together as he hummed to himself.
“I think it is best for you to go, Franklin will need to be fed and he gets fiesta after naps” Sue added, placing her hand on her infant again and bouncing him slightly before reaching over, grabbing a piece of tech off the shelf and handing it to Peter. "This should help stabilize his cells, but it will have to be calibrated. I recommend putting it into something wearable, like a watch"
“Awe ok. But if you hurt him, I'll know” he narrowed his eyes at her before finally following Peter down the stairs.
“So JJ, what did you want from here?” Peter needed to make sure he wasn't aiding a criminal.
“Oh to protect my family, when they get hurt or need a break, or when something funny happens and I can't help it” He shrugged slightly as he scuffed his shoes on the ground. “I like seeing other people happy, but Dad doesn't like me, I remind him too much of daddy I think, so I try to stay away except when I'm needed” he kicked a rock once out of the building, watching it tumble away. “Which isn't fair, but I get it. Carrie said it's my job, to hold that pain so my brother's don't have to” he kicked the rock again.
“That sounds rough, I'm sorry kiddo” Peter reached over to give JJ a consolation pat, but he flinched so hard he almost fell over. “Which way is home?” He wasn't sure if they were here with any of the other x-men. Though he almost hoped he was because he wanted to meet them. Wade always talked so much about the group but they were a bit further away and thus interactions were limited.
“Um… I don't know? A hotel I think?”
Peter was getting the feeling this was going to be a very long night.