I'm Sure You've All Heard This By Now...
His feet hardly touched the floor as he ran. He flew past corridors and labs. His spider-sense helped him dodge the people around the halls. He heard a few frightened yelps as he swerved between the small groups of people crowding the hall. But, he didn’t look back. He just shouted a vague apology and continued. Why was Stark Tower so huge? He was always late…
He was sure the emergency meeting was about what he saw on the news. Well, what May had seen on the news and instantly told Peter about.
His shoes squeaked loudly against the freshly polished floor as Peter turned the corner. His spider-sense flared a bit too late as he crashed into someone. She somehow caught herself on the wall. Peter wasn’t so lucky. He landed flat on his ass.
“Oh my god. Are you okay?” The girl asked. She looked about Peter’s age. She had electric blonde hair and circular glasses. She was pretty. Peter had never seen her before.
“Yea, sorry I’m just really late,” He pulled himself up and dusted his pants off even though the floor was spotless.
“I’ve seen you around here before… What’s your name again?” She asked as if he hadn’t just said he was late.
“Peter Parker,” He said. He was itching to continue running. He was so so late.
“I’m Gwen Stacey,” She said with a small smile. “You should probably get going…”
“Right,” Peter said and continued running.
“Just be more careful!” She shouted after him.
Peter would’ve laughed if he wasn’t running as fast as he could. He slid to a stop and almost fell again when he ran right past the door. He quickly caught himself and pushed the door in. The Avengers were already sitting at the oval table. Nick had clearly just been talking. They started without him. He was so dead.
Everyone looked up at him panting. “Sorry,” He said sliding into the closest chair and catching his breath.
“As I was saying,” Nick began talking. “I’m sure you’ve all seen it on the news by now. But, we have a bit more information that wasn’t released to the public.”
Peter’s stomach dropped. He couldn't help but think of the look on May’s face as she told him. It made him want to puke.
“In case some of you haven’t heard, I’ll explain. Hydra has a biological weapon. It’s a disease they created to attack enhanced individuals. It won’t do anything to non-enhanced though. They didn’t offer any ransom. As of the moment, we don’t know why they even told us. We’re not sure how long it’ll take to spread.”
“So what wasn’t released to the public?” Steve asked.
“They’ve already released it. They weren’t threatening us… They were taking credit for it. We know what it does too. First, it starts off with a fever and coughing. Then, the infected will be unable to control their powers. Then, they die.” He stared at the floor.
“How do we stop it?” Tony asked.
“First, we have to find out if it’ll affect people who weren’t born with their abilities. People who got their powers either by experiment or by accident. Then, we can start working on a cure.”
“If it’s alright we’d like to take some blood samples from each of you,” Bruce said from across the table.
“Dismissed,” Nick said.
Peter’s heart began beating faster and faster. He didn’t know the virus was already out there. The pit in his stomach grew deeper and deeper. Thousands of people would die if they couldn’t get the cure soon.
A tap on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts. Peter looked around to see the room was empty except for him and Mr. Stark.
“You alright?” Mr. Stark asked. His tone was nonchalant but his face had a tiny hint of worry.
“Uh... Yea. Yea.” Peter said, finally collecting himself.
The two made their way down to the lab to join the others. Bruce was pulling the needle out of Steve’s arm just as the elevator doors opened. He ushered Peter to the chair and began collecting the blood. Peter was used to it. Being treated like a lab rat was one of the few cons of being Spider-Man. That and criminals constantly trying to kill him.
Once his blood had been collected in a gross little bag, Peter was free to leave. He hopped out of the chair and began his long journey down the elevator. But, just before he reached the 40th floor, his spider-sense flared up. He quickly pressed the 40th button and the elevator slowed to a halt. The door slid open and there stood Gwen. She was sitting alone in a lab. Peter stepped out of the elevator and into the lab. Gwen looked up at him and smiled.
“Are you following me, Peter Parker?” She asked. Her tone didn’t match the words. She didn’t sound creeped out at all. More flattered.
“No, I just saw you alone… What are you doing?”
“Homework. I’m not great at physics. Biology is more my thing.”
“Yea I had a hard time with physics.”
“Then what? It just suddenly hit you?”
“No, I watched youtube videos about it,” There was an awkward pause. Peter really wasn’t good at talking to people.
“Do you work here?” Gwen asked.
“Uh, yea I’m just an intern though. Do you?” He asked.
“Yea I have this school thing that lets me work here for credits.”
“So you must be like crazy smart then,” It was more of an assumption than a question.
“It’s just a school thing,” She shrugged.
“What school do you go to?”
“I did go to midtown tech. But, once this program was offered I took full-time work experience. I mean this is where the action is. I mean I still have homework but, maybe one day it could lead to a real job here.”
“That would be cool.” Yikes. He was really really bad at talking to people.
“Do you go to midtown too?”
“Uh, yeah. But, I’m just an intern here. Not doing it for credits.”
Gwen’s phone buzzed after yet another awkward pause. She cringed and shut her textbook. “I gotta get going. I’ll see you later Peter.”
“Yea see ya.”
The minute she was out of sight he buried his face in his hands. He really screwed that up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gwen rushed down the hall (careful not to smack into anyone unlike someone she knew). She walked through the isles of lab doors and tinted windows. She pressed the button for the south elevator but froze when she heard voices. Mostly one particular voice. Tony Stark. She subtly inched closer to it. He was in his private lab. The door hung open just slightly. She took a slow quiet breath and pressed her ear against the wall.