Peter Parker on the Moon

Peter had thoroughly exhausted himself for the day. His chores were done. He sat against the wood of his raised bed garden and looked up at the clear dusk sky. The sun was setting behind the city in a perfect ombre glow of orange to pink. He smiled when he thought of how much his aunt used to go on and on about sunsets. She would probably say this one reminded her of cotton candy. He remembered his uncle showing him the constellation of Orion, the Greek hunter.

“You guys would have loved this. New York city, dead quiet and dark as hell.”

He sat there remembering them until the sun went down. His eyes adjusted to the change in light. With the lack of light pollution and his enhanced vision, he could clearly see the Milky Way stretching from horizon to horizon. It looked like a great big tear in the universe. And maybe it was. Maybe its heart was broken. Alone on the roof, three years after he lost his family, Peter wept.

Eventually, Peter wiped away his tears and pulled himself up with the last of his energy. He had a migraine brewing behind his eyes. He stumbled a bit back down the fire-escape to the bedroom window and made his way inside quietly. Maybe he had strained his eyes a little too hard, cried a little too intensely or he was just overly tired (probably all three, tbh). He took off his nasty sweaty clothes and set a pair of comfy pajamas on the bed, being careful not to wake up Ned.

He took a cold shower and brushed his teeth, but the migraine only got worse and worse. He started seeing those pesky light auras around the peripheral of his vision. Well, the good news is that he has a protocol for this. It happens often enough that he has also worked out the perfect combination and dosage of medication that will knock him out until morning. Essentially, letting him ‘sleep it off’.

He got changed into his comfy sweatpants and an old t-shirt of his uncles, it had a cool vintage Star Wars graphic on the front but the important thing to Peter was that it was so old that the cotton had worn soft and felt loved. Even in the darkness of his bedroom his eyes hurt, and they started to water.

He pulled the various pill bottles out of his side table drawer and started taking handfuls of them between gulps of water. He poured out handfuls of barbiturates, anti-inflammatories, beta-blockers, anti-nausea pills, Tylenol, and Benadryl and just shoved them down the hatch. It didn’t matter if normal people shouldn’t mix certain drugs or take as many as he did, his enhancements meant that his liver wouldn’t even twinge.

He would wake in the morning feeling well rested with only a slight migraine hangover. He grabbed a large blob seal stuffed animal from the middle of the bed and hugged it close to his body. He gave the picture of his aunt and uncle a kiss and went straight off to dreamland.

“

Tony sat up in bed in a confused state. There was an obnoxious alarm beeping from somewhere. He ripped the silk eye mask off his face and looked over to see Pepper beside him awake and holding her hands over her ears. Tony was dumbly staring at her as her lips moved.

“Tony (BLEEP) what (BLEEP) stupid (BLEEP) A.I.” He could hear only about every third word. She sounded angry.

“Jarvis! Stop that!” he finally blurted out when his brain came back online.

“My apologies, Sir” The noise had stopped, and Pepper flopped back on the pillow grumbling. “There seems to be an emergency situation that needs your attention.” Jarvis sounded a little flustered.

“What’s going on?” Tony lifted the silk sheets off his body and swung his legs off the bed. There were only a few situations that Tony imagined Jarvis would deem an emergency.

“Adem has alerted me of a troubling development, Sir. It seems that the survivor in Queens has been flagged for exhibiting life-threatening behavior.” Tony blue-screened again.

“Show me!” Tony froze as he watched footage taken by one of the drones. It had been hovering outside a window, monitoring the kid as he got ready for bed.

“What. The. Fuck.” Tony watched as the boy sat on the edge of a mattress, swallowing mouthfuls of random pills. He looked like he had been crying.

“Tony? What’s wrong?” Pepper was behind him and scooting closer to see the boy's projection.

“I don’t know! I . . . I don’t understand.” Tony was starting to shake. “It looks like the kid is trying to kill himself.” He jumped out of bed and started to get dressed. Pepper watched the video silently.

“Jarvis, do we know what the kid took and how much?” Pepper’s level head prevailed. Tony could barely think straight. Jarvis listed obscene amounts of drugs in a list that frankly Tony only recognized a few of.

“Ok, that’s . . . not good.” Pepper's eyes widened at Tony.

“I don’t get it. Why now?” Tony was fully dressed in something that wasn’t silk pajamas now.

“Maybe . . . because of the anniversary? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter! Tony! You need to go get the kid, make him throw up as much as you can!” Pepper’s eyes were watering. In front of them the video looped from the time the boy shoveled ungodly amounts of pills into his body to the moment he hugged a stuffed animal and fell into bed.

“The quarantine! I’ll have to take the suit and enter quarantine with him!” Tony said with a healthy amount of fear and trepidation.

“Ok, it’s ok, Tony! I’ll inform the team. We’ll have the room ready for the both of you when you get back.” He lunged at her and embraced her roughly.

“I love you Pep!” Tony moved quickly as he called for Jarvis to send his suit to the balcony.

“

Peter had a dream, a really weird dream about Tony Stark (billionaire, playboy, philanthropist) waking him up and making him take some medicine. Weird. He already took some medicine for his migraine; he didn’t need any more gross medicine.

“Lee ‘me ‘lone!” Peter slurred at the hallucination. The man would not listen and insisted that Peter drink all the medicine, or he was going to die. Strange dream. Fine. He would appease Mr. Stark then go back to bed.

“Okey kiddo, this is going to suck.” Mr. Stark said. “Here’s your bucket, buddy” That was Ned’s puke bucket. “You’re not going to like this next part very much” Mr. Stark let him lie back down in the bed but now he was rubbing his back soothingly, it felt really nice.

“Imma go . . . s’eep now” Peter informed Mr. Stark and let his eyes close.

“Oh no you don’t!” Tony lifted the boy up on some propped-up pillows before Peter’s eye popped open and he heaved. He clamped his hands over his mouth just barely stopping himself from puking. “Don’t fight it, let it out.” Peter was sitting up hunched over the bucket now while Tony continued to rub his back.

“Wha?!” Peter said before he violently puked into the bucket that Tony was holding in his lap.

“There you go. Good job, buddy” Peter looked up at Mr. Stark with watery red eyes and wondered why his psyche had decided on him instead of an image of his aunt or uncle. Maybe his brain was protecting him from the pain of a familiar face?

This migraine was a doozy. He continued to puke up half digested pills and water. Every time he let loose, the hallucination of Tony Stark would look at him with a painful smile and say nice encouraging things. Ned snored loudly on the bed beside him. At least his friend wasn’t going through this. The hallucination of Mr. Stark found the water bucket and a rag and helped Peter wipe off his face.

“Ok, buddy. I think it’s time to go now.” Tony said after the puking slowed down to occasional dry heaves and hiccups.

“Oh, . . . m‘kay M’iser S’ark. Bye.” Peter said with his eyes half closed while he listed to the side. He was happy to be done with this dream.

“Hang on, you know who I am?”

“’Course! You’re Iron-man.” Peter reached out and poked Tony’s chest; which seemed to surprise them both.

“What’s your name kiddo?

“Pe ‘er”

“Ok, Peter. I’m going to pick you up now and take you to the fire-escape so we can head to the roof where I have a jet waiting.” Tony started to man handle Peter into a position where he could lift the kid up.

“Sweet, then we could fly to the moon . . . always wanted to go to the moon.” Peter wasn’t sure he liked this dream so far but if he got to fly with Iron-man in his Quinjet to the moon at the end, it would be pretty cool.

“The moon huh? Why the moon? I myself have always wanted to take a spin around Jupiter.” Tony wanted to distract the kid so that he could continue to drag him to the window.

“Oh, did you know that the moon is rusting? Like NASA detected hematite. It’s probably going to turn red too just like Mars.” Peter rambled mostly coherently. “Wait. What about Ned?” Peter stopped himself on the windowsill and pointed to the bed. “Can Ned come to the moon too?”

“Sure thing, kid. I’ll have the Avengers come back in the morning and get everything you want to bring back to the tower, Okay?”

“Okey dokey.” Peter felt like waking Ned up would be cruel. Maybe he was having a dream about going somewhere he always wanted to go? “Imma solve the moon mystery.”

“You got it kid. I’ll do a full cheese investigation while we’re at it.” Tony was now walking Peter up the ramp into the jet. “Why don’t you lie down for a bit first” He led Peter to a gurney that was locked into the floor. Peter climbed up onto the bed with Tony’s help. Peter grumbled a bit but quickly rested his head on the mattress and fully closed his drooping eyelids.

“Jarvis, take us home.” Tony said.

“Right away, Sir.” Peter was out before the ramp closed behind them.

“

Tony gently placed the boy down in his new bed; a military grade cot made of sturdy metal and green canvas. He couldn’t believe Peter had been out there this whole time right under their noses. Peter rolled over and grabbed his pillow like it was a stuffed animal and held it close to his chest as he rolled onto his side and wiggled into a more comfortable position. He mumbled and smacked his lips as he fell right back into a deep sleep.

“Sorry I didn’t grab any of your stuffed animals, buddy.” Tony said quietly to himself. He pulled a blanket up halfway over Peter and began assessing the situation.

Most of the basement floors of the tower were built for storage and maintenance. The lowest of the lower floors was designed for containing The Hulk, just in case. This floor was only accessible by an elevator that went all the way up to the Avengers levels and required special security clearance to operate. The entire floor was a large unfinished concrete box. In the middle of that box was a clear glass walled room that was built with total isolation in mind. It was completely observable from all angles and was equipped with every basic necessity. The intercom by the door buzzed. There was no cell phone reception in the Hulk bunker. Tony made his way to where Bruce was waiting on the other side of the glass.

“Hey Tony. How’s the kid?” Bruce was still wearing pajamas.

“He’s breathing. So, pretty good, I guess. What time is it?” Tony communicated by pushing down a button on the speaker box.

“1:32 a.m. Natasha is getting Dr. Cho so she can walk you through putting in a PICC line and IV.” Bruce took off his glasses to wipe them on his T-shirt. “He’s probably dehydrated and malnourished.”

“You don't say. So, how long we gotta live in the house from 13 Ghosts?”

“At least three weeks symptom free. How did he do with the ipecac?”

“He puked his little guts out like a champ. His name is Peter by the way.”

“Pepper showed us the footage. Did he tell you anything else?”

“No, kid was barely conscious through most of it. Then he was talking about taking his favorite stuffed animal to the moon or something.” Tony chuckled at the memory.

“Well, the team is going to grab whatever was left behind in the morning.” Bruce said, “I’ll ask them to bring down some personal things for Peter.”

“Alright, make sure you run a full panel on the kid. I want to know everything.”

“Of course, Tony” Bruce leaned a shoulder against the glass. “Steve wants to have another meeting to talk about what happened in the morning.”

“While the cats away, the mice will play.” Tony deadpanned. “He better not get any wild ideas in that mummified brain of his.”

“Tony, you know as well as I do that there is nothing to do around here except maybe vote to change the official Avengers logo or something.” Bruce quickly changed the subject. “You need me to bring you anything?”

Tony looked around trying to think of anything that he needed. Pepper was a miracle worker; his espresso machine was already set up in the corner.

“Nothing. Unless you can bring my lab down with you?”

“Hmmm . . . would you settle for a circuit board and soldering iron?”

“Absolutely. Ask Harley for help tomorrow. He should know where I keep those . . . And I want to see him.”

“Alright Tones. Dr. Cho should be down to help with the blood draw soon. I’m going to bed.”

“Alright. Hey Bruce, I better not come back to comic sans Avengers.”

“

Peter woke up again. This time Tony was stabbing his arm. Ok, he was shushing Peter now. Not cool hallucination Tony, not cool. He tried to fall asleep again.

“Stop it!” Peter finally managed to make coherent words come out. Wait, why was he in some kind of hospital. This dream blows.

“Hold still Peter. I’m almost done. . .” Fake Mr. Stark was trying to hold Peter still now while extracting a full vial of Peter’s blood. Okey, that is totally Not Cool.

“Wha?!” Peter was fully aware now and starting to panic. This seemed like maybe real life and not a dream actually. He swung his arm away from Fake/Real Tony and flung himself off the other side of the cot he was lying on.

“Whoa Buddy!” Tony yelped as the needle came out of Peters arm. He stood up from the stool he was sitting on. “It’s ok Peter, you're okay.” He was holding his hands up but still holding the PICC line used to take blood from Peter. He quickly put it down on the metal cart beside him and held his hands back up empty this time but with blue vinal gloves on.

“Wha!? Where am I?” Peter stood up and started to back away from the bed. He had a hard time making sense of his surroundings. The room looked like a mix between a hospital room, a greenhouse and a prison cell, and he didn’t like any of those things.

“You are safe. That’s all that matters.” Tony said. Peter didn’t agree.

“Where am I!? Where’s Ned!?” Peter looked down at the blood running down his arm from what he recognized as a wound left by an IV port. He saw several vials of blood on the metal cart. “Why did you take my blood!?”

“It’s going to be ok. I need you to calm down so we can talk this out, yeah? How ‘bout we take some deep breaths?” Mr. Stark started to walk around the cot.

Peter remembered. He remembered that Mr. Stark hadn’t been a dream at all. He came and took him from his room. He made him drink something and he got sick. He . . . took him back . . . where?

“Where did you take me?” Peter was starting to feel cornered; he backed up with every step that Tony took forward.

“I brought you back to my home, Stark Tower in Manhattan. Have you heard about it? It’s where my family survived with The Avengers.” Tony took a few more tentative steps.

“I . . . yeah. I wrote a paper about sustainability in 5th grade.” Peter pressed himself up against the corner of the room now. “I . . . did my research on the arc reactor.”

“Oh, that’s cool.” Tony took a deep breath. “Why don’t you come back to the bed, and you can tell me all about it.” Tony was within range and made the mistake of reaching out to take Peter’s arm.

He wasn’t ready to be touched. He didn’t even think about it, he just pressed his fingers back against the wall and lifted his feet up and crab-walked up until he reached the top. The spider part of Peter felt safer in this position.

“What. The. Fuck.” Tony .exe had stopped working.

“

“Ja-Jarvis. . . uh, um. Alert, uh. Alert the team!” Tony stared at the boy who was now perched in the upper corner of the glass room staring back down at him.

“Of course, Sir.” Jarvis’s voice rang out from a central speaker in the ceiling.

“Who the hell is that?” Peter was trying to look through the glass panels to the room beyond for the source of the voice.

“That was my A.I. Jarvis.” Tony wasn't sure how to address the demon possessed child in the room. “How are you doing that?” Tony’s head was rebooting.

“Where’s Ned? What did you do to Ned?” Peter was so very confused.

“Kid, I think you should come down now. Your arm is still bleeding.” Tony started to remember something. He needed to sit down.

“Not until you tell me where Ned is.” The kid said petulantly.

Tony made his way over to the door where the intercom was and sat down keeping his eye on the kid in the corner. He remembered seeing something like this before. In ‘The Before’ before. A little over three years ago, before the end of the world, there was a new vigilante on the scene. He was a kid, probably a teenager by the way he spent most of his time helping old ladies cross the street and pulling cats down from trees. He called himself Spider-Man.

“OH! Oh my gosh! I didn't see him before. How’s he still sleeping!?” The kid pointed to the other cot in the room and started to crawl along the ceiling toward it. Tony looked over at the other cot in confusion.

“Ned! What the heck dude!” Peter said. Tony watched as the kid dropped down and sat on the other cot across the room. “I thought they did something to you!” Peter wrapped his arms around himself like he needed a hug.

Tony watched as the boy held eye contact with a ghost.

There was no one there.

“Kid, who you talking to?” Tony said as calmly as he could. It felt like all the air in the room was gone.

“Oh, this is my best friend, Ned!” The kids' demeanor had changed completely. He was smiling and breathing steadily. “Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” Peter turned his attention back to ‘Ned’. Tony felt like he might be the one on various drugs.

The intercom by the door buzzed. Tony was in a daze and jumped at the noise. He had to pry his eyes off the boy who was now gesticulating and speaking in rushed whispers to a hallucination. He saw Dr. Cho, Pepper and Steve behind the glass. Tony realized that Dr. Cho must have been there the whole time, she was waiting for him to bring her the blood samples. He must have forgotten. Pepper and Steve looked like they ran the entire way from their beds.

“Tony, I saw everything.” The voice of Dr. Cho was a touchstone. Tony started to return to his body and reality. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I think . . . I think that kid is Spider-Man."

“The enhanced vigilante from three years ago?” Dr. Cho said.

“Well, it’s either that or the kid is possessed, and we should book an exorcism, stat.” Tony joked but didn’t laugh.

“That could explain how he survived the virus, Tony!” Helen Cho sounded a little too excited for once. “He could have a genetic mutation that protects him.” Dr. Cho was thinking about the implications. “I’ll need to do more tests, but this could be a breakthrough.”

“Ok Helen, reign it in a little.” Tony knew he needed to redirect the flow of conversation. “Should we be concerned that he is currently having a conversation with himself?”

“Well, that depends.” Dr. Cho sighed. “It’s not really my area of expertise, Tony. It could be hallucinations left over from the various drugs that got into his bloodstream.”

“It could also be a trauma response?” Pepper pitched in.

“I guess so.” Tony remembered the kid also mentioning a ‘Ned’ when he was barely coherent before.

“Either way, I recommend that you play along tonight. Let’s deal with one thing at a time. Get the boy to settle back into bed, bandage the arm, we have enough blood samples for now.” Dr. Cho was a professional for a reason. “We’ll reconvene in the morning; see if he’s ...doing better.”

“Ok, I can do that.” Tony said with confidence but dragged his palms down his face.

“Hang on, Tony.” Steve was taking control of the intercom. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Tony groaned with annoyance. “How can you trust a traumatized enhanced teen that is emotionally or mentally unstable . . .” Steve droned on with his lecture. The kid was still in conversation with the imaginary friend on the cot. He was moving his hands emphatically and then stopped to laugh at something imaginary Ned had said.

“He’s fine Steve!” Tony interrupted his speech. “The kids harmless. He’s more afraid of us then we are of him.” Tony grimaced at the skinny kid in the Star Wars t-shirt and sweatpants.

“Tony, I really think we should talk about this.” Steve said in his ‘I’m the captain now’ voice.

“Maybe tomorrow, Cap.” Tony yawned for emphasis. “I’m tired, the kids tired. I’m putting the samples in the box and going to bed.” Tony collected the vials and placed them in the antechamber for decontamination. “Now get out of here so I can say goodnight to my lovely wife in private.”

“Are you sure about this, Tony?” Pepper whispered into the mic. “What if he becomes violent?” The room was now cleared of prying eyes and Tony had Jarvis shut down any recording.

“I don't think he will, but I wouldn’t be opposed if you or Harley snuck my watch down tomorrow.” Tony knew that Pepper understood. He would wear his gauntlet watch just in case he needed to defend himself, but he would be diplomatic about it.

“Goodnight, Pep. I love you.” He put his palm against the glass, then felt like it was a little too 'prison scene’ so he switched to a ‘Live Long and Prosper’ sign instead.

“Goodnight you big nerd.” she said lovingly.