Chapter 2
Two
Extremis
As Peter entered the plane, a bed lowered unfolding itself from the wall and Peter made his way over to it. He deposited Tony on the bed gently. The bed was attached to the wall via a couple levers holding the weight. A few drawers opened themselves out of the wall, with a quick view over the drawers, it seemed to hold bandages and antiseptic. A portable, extensive first aid kit.
“Plug me in so I can check his vitals.” FRIDAY requested.
Peter looked along the wall and saw a cord and pulled on it and the cord kept going. He searched the injured chest cavity for an opening.
“On the left pectoral, there is a loose patch of armor. You can plug it in there.” FRIDAY helpfully commented.
Peter moved the armor piece and located the plug-in location. He firmly placed the wire into the armor.
“Reading data.” FRIDAY commented.
From what Peter saw, Mr. Stark did not look good. He didn’t want to think the worst but he hoped that he wouldn’t need surgery after. He knew that Mr. Stark had a few chest surgeries in the last few years.
“Peter.” FRIDAY’s voice was small. A lump appeared in his throat, his throat tightened. He had a bad feeling about what she was about to drop on him.
“FRIDAY.” He levelled returned.
“Peter, he won’t survive the trip to the hospital.” FRIDAY gently informs him.
Peter sank to the floor in shock. He couldn’t believe that Mr. Stark would pass away before they would get to the hospital – to get to medical professionals.
It wasn’t like he could help – he was fifteen years old!
He looked up to Mr. Stark for years. And now they were in contact with each other, which is something he didn’t ever think would happen. He was a super successful and rich inventor and engineer – he would have never expected that they would be in each other’s lives at all. But they were and now that he had – he couldn’t imagine not spending more time with the older man. He couldn’t lose it now that he just started their relationship.
Iron Man had a huge fan base – he knew that if the billionaire passed away prematurely – that almost the entire population would be absolutely heartbroken. Especially the citizens in New York.
In New York, most of the citizens had a good opinion of the billionaire. He sacrificed himself to save New York when they were invaded by the Chitauri army, he arranged cleanup with the government using the Damage Control division, Stark Industries was a huge hiring force, taking a lot of new New York graduates for their ranks, the unemployment rate was lower because of Stark Industries and Mr. Stark was the face of that company.
Even if Pepper Potts was the CEO – everyone tuned in when Tony called for a press conference, even if it was for something as mundane as a software update.
The people loved him.
His emotions were overwhelming him, imagining a life without the bright light of Tony Stark. His vision clouded, his eyes filling with tears. He tore off his mask and dropped it next to him and took off his remaining glove and wiped at his eyes.
Tears wouldn’t help him save Mr. Stark, if he even could save him, which he doubted.
“Boss allowed a protocol, if a situation arose that he was incapacitated to make the decision, someone on the approved list could contact Dr. Cho.” FRIDAY’s voice came out of the speaker above the bed.
Peter looked up at the bed holding Mr. Stark.
“Who is on the list?” Peter croaked.
“Virginia Potts, James Rhodes, Steve Rogers, Peter Parker, Harley Keener and Harold Hogan.” FRIDAY replied.
Peter knew most of those people but not a couple of them.
“What is the protocol?” Peter asked.
A video popped onto a small screen to his right, he turned his body and looked at the videos of the people getting injected with Extremis, the people screaming in pain.
A person exploded on the screen, making Peter jump.
“He wants me to inject him with that?!” Peter demanded, furious.
“He wanted someone to be able to contact Dr. Helen Cho to administer the injection. He formulated the injection to suit his personal health concerns and to temper the temperature, to make him survive.” FRIDAY responded, calmly.
Peter bit his lip and pondered the injection. Mr. Stark was quite dangerous to himself but if he wanted this injection done and it would save him, perhaps it would be a good idea.
“I’ll do it.” Peter declared.
“Opening Protocol Save Tony.” FRIDAY intoned.
A phone call started ringing.
“Cho.” The no nonsense tone made Peter nervous.
“Dr. Cho, this is FRIDAY. We have a situation.” FRIDAY stated, getting right to the point.
“What happened?” Cho demanded.
“Mr. Stark has been really hurt and won’t survive going back to the States. We are in Siberia right now.” Peter spoke really quickly.
There was a pause.
“Who is this? You sound young.”
“This is one of the fifteen-year old’s that was on the approval list so I could make this call. His name is Peter Parker and Boss has recently been in touch with.”
Dr. Cho sighed audibly.
“You are all extremely lucky that I am at a conference in Novosibirsk. Come to the hospital there. Do you have a copy of the serum?”
“Yes.” FRIDAY answered.
“Okay. Looks like there will be an emergency surgery. I’ll see you soon.”
“Another young superhero. Of course.” Peter imagined she was rubbing her head.
“What is his chance of survival without this orange stuff?” Peter asked, quietly.
“The survival without Extremis is seven percent.” FRIDAY intones, her voice sad. It pulled at Peter’s heartstrings.
“What is it with Extemis?” Peter asked.
“Eighty nine percent.” FRIDAY replied.
“You are all extremely lucky that I am at a conference in Novosibirsk. Come to the hospital there. Do you have a copy of the serum?”
“Yes.” FRIDAY answered.
“Okay. Looks like there will be an emergency surgery. I’ll see you soon.” Dr. Cho disconnected the call.
“On route to Novosibirsk Hospital. ETA one hour.” FRIDAY stated as the plane started taking off. Peter scrambled to get into the seat and buckled in.
“Does he still have a chance of survival if we get to Dr. Cho?” He asked.
“Yes. The percentage change is negligible. Dr. Cho worked with Boss on this serum and she will be the best person for the job.”
“Okay, good.”
“Once it is administered and run a few basic tests, he should be able to return to New York with us and focus on healing.”
“Extra good.”
“Indeed.” FRIDAY said warmly.
As soon as the plane touched down, an Asian woman in a white coat ran up the ramp. She clucked her tongue when she saw the state of him. She grabbed the walkie attached to her shoulder, pressing the button. “I got an emergency. Tony Stark, injured from two supersoldiers. Clearance?”
“Go.”
As if there were any other decision. The hospital could be granted a lot of goodwill for helping to heal Tony Stark and everyone knew it. They would never refuse.
She turned and let the staff pick up his body and put it on the stretcher to bring him into the emergency ward. Dr. Cho met the young man she talked to on the phone.
“Are you hurt?”
“Uh, no ma’am.”
“Hmph.” She grunted, looking him over. “No obvious signs of bruising, broken seams on uniform…Might hold true.”
“I have super healing.” He stated proudly.
“Eugh.” Dr. Cho groused. “We’ll need to run lots of tests to make sure you’re healthy from whatever freak accident made you suddenly well.”
“Uh, how’d you know I was not so healthy before?” Peter gaped at her.
“You’re holding your old inhaler that you no longer need because you’re nervous.”
Son of … He thought as he looked down. He totally was. Didn’t even register that he still had that habit.
“Um.”
“Remind me when this crisis has passed.”
“Uh, sure!” He said with a falsely bright tone. He would NOT be reminding her, thank you very much. He hated doctors. Plus, she smelled weird. Was making his senses go berserk.
After that short conversation, Peter was shoved into the waiting room. Dr. Cho would not allow Peter into the room, no matter how much he begged or used his puppy eyes.
He growled, frustrated. He thought he could distract himself with a magazine but all of it was in Russian! He huffed as he sat down and crossed his arms. He was still in full Spider-Man regalia, no indicator of his true identity.
Four hours later, the door opened up and Peter leapt to his feet.
Dr. Cho walked out.
“It was successful. Let’s see if both of us can get his eyes open. After that, I’ll run an EKG, brain scan and see how his wounds are healing. Then you can go back to New York so Stark can handle the shitstorm coming his way. Good luck to him, he’s going to need it.” She snorted with absolutely zero sympathy.
Peter tried not to get annoyed at her in Tony’s defense. She did save his life after all.
He didn’t say a word though, following her dutifully.
Peter jumped when Mr. Stark’s eyes snapped open right as he got to the bed. Peter placed a hand on his chest, trying to slow his heart from the scare he had. Of course, it regulated itself quickly enough, thanks to his powers.
“Oh good.” Cho shined a light into his eyes and hummed happily at the rate of dilation, making a note on her clipboard.
But Mr. Stark’s eyes were not the usual warm brown, but bright orange.
Then the orange faded to the brown color and he reached up, his hand reaching his chest.
He then sighed and fell back into a natural sleep, his chest rising and falling with a higher amount of oxygen it seemed.
“Boss has fallen into a natural state of sleep. Extremis integration is complete. We thank you for your assistance, Peter Parker.” FRIDAY’s happy announcement came through the speakers.
“Oh…um, you’re welcome, FRIDAY. Anything for Mr. Stark.” Peter bashfully responded. “Miss FRIDAY, I saw on the video that the Extremis affected people a lot quicker than how long it took Mr. Stark’s to acclimate.”
“Yes, Boss tried to have the Extremis release a little bit over time, so he wouldn’t explode. Seems that it worked to his benefit as he would be very upset if he hurt you in any way.” FRIDAY explained.
Peter tried to ignore the warm feeling in his chest.
Seemed that his affection for Mr. Stark perhaps wasn’t as one sided as he thought.
But he didn’t dare say that out loud, that might make someone make him feel stupid for even thinking that.
“Alright, about three hours and he should be good to go. I need his consent so we’re going to have to wake him up.” Cho sighed. Why was it always her who had to piss off people to get them to wake up. She took a scalpel and jammed it into his chest.
“Hey, lady!” Peter cried out and shoved her back, going to reach for the scalpel when Mr. Stark jack-knifed up and his orange eyes glared at the Doctor.
“Need tests.”
“Fine.” Mr. Stark growled. “Don’t stab me next time.”
“Whatever.”
Peter looked back and forth between the two but Tony and Peter didn’t get a chance to barely say a work when he was shuffled off to test after test.
Peter returned to the waiting room with a sigh. He opened another magazine, thinking he could teach himself Russian. Update: he could not.
“The test results are satisfactory. He will be able to leave on schedule.” FRIDAY spoke into his mask.
“Good.”
It seemed like the whole go to Siberia and then the hospital scenario took days but in reality, it was only eighteen hours. Peter felt a lot of highs and lows and he was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted. He felt an exhaustion setting in that he didn’t usually feel. The spider bite cured him of a lot of things: asthma, his weak stamina and weak muscles. But he got a lot of side effects that weren’t that awesome. Read: insomnia, accidentally breaking almost everything he touches, leaving his backpacks everywhere when he stops a crime and changes…
But sooner than he expected he returned to the plane with Mr. Stark in plain clothes and sedated.
“Is he like alright?” Peter asked worriedly.
“He’s fine. He needs sleep.” One of the nurses told him gently.
“Him and me both.” Peter muttered.
“Well, tell him I said good luck on his health journey.” She said as she left the plane.
FRIDAY and Peter sat in silence as the doors closed.
“So, like where did his suit go?” Peter asked.
“It was always an option that the suit would disappear into his hallows of his bones, providing a defense that he would always have. We weren’t hopeful for it but I am grateful Boss has another layer of protection.”
“Yeah, that is handy.”
“Well, settle in Peter. Setting route to Avengers Tower. Estimated transportation time – thirteen hours.” FRIDAY informed him.
“Jeez, that’s a long time.” Peter slouched in the chair as they started taking off into the air.
The next few hours passed by slowly, Peter was dozing slightly.
The Captain America fight tired him out and then going against the Falcon and Winter Soldier was a lot. Even for him.
His age showed, he was clearly stronger than any of the people he went up against, but his battle instincts weren’t as sharp as the people he went up against.
He should look into improving that.
Peter leaned his head back and sighed.
Sure, he was helping but was he really doing a lot? Was he just as big of a loser as Flash always said he was?
Peter wasn’t sure.
He knew he was doing something great by helping the people of Queens. But he also felt the guilt of his Uncle Ben quite heavily. He felt it at every success, at every failure.
He knew he had to keep doing extremely well in school so he could qualify for a scholarship that only the upper GPA students were entitled to and even then, May worked overtime to afford him going to that school.
And that wasn’t even mentioning the backpacks he kept losing, the books he had to replace, the suit parts he had to steal from the garbage.
“Would I be able to watch something?” Peter asked, bored to tears.
“Of course.” FRIDAY pulled up a blank screen on the screen that previously displayed the Extremis videos. “What would you like to watch?”
“Star Wars: A New Hope.” Peter sighed as he made himself comfortable in front of the screen, watching the movie, hoping to pass the time.
He watched a couple more movies as the hours crawled by, half watching the movie and half dozing.
He wasn’t overly fond of planes.
His parents were killed in an airplane accident when he was four and he was then carted off to Queens, to live with his aunt and uncle. He barely remembered his parents, but apparently his father was a geneticist and his mother a scientist. Guess that’s where he gets a lot of his intelligence from. He grew up in a happy home, his aunt and uncle weren’t rich but they were happy. They didn’t have a lot of money but they always gave him what he needed.
Uncle Ben worked overtime in order to afford tickets to a Stark Expo that was happening shortly after Mr. Stark’s return to the States after Afghanistan. He put on his Iron Man costume and fake repulsors that he made himself and faced off against one of Hammer’s drones that thought he was Iron Man.
He got scolded by both Aunt May and Uncle Ben for that. But that didn’t matter to him. Nice job, kid. He had commended him. Him! Just some kid at his expo.
It started a hero worship but never went into a direction where he was super obvious about it.
He researched Mr. Stark and all that he had done and he was astonished what he found out. Graduated college at fifteen, built a v8 engine when he was super young, made super advanced weapons… It was practically unheard of to have a CEO that young and for him to keep churning new products out left and right.
He told himself that he should emulate Mr. Stark’s dedication to his chosen field, but he definitely didn’t want to create weapons, no way. But he did want to be an engineer. He wanted to honor his birth parents and try and achieve what Uncle Ben and Aunt May always thought he could. A doctorate. Well, at least a master’s.
His aunt and uncle were always encouraging him to get into as many advanced courses as he could, from a young age. He could have skipped grades, not unlike Mr. Stark, but his aunt and uncle didn’t want to interrupt his social growth. Well, jokes on them because he was super weird and a loser at school and only had a couple friends. Even at a super smart school like Midtown.
But he aced all his advanced courses and he was on track to get into a really good college.
Then his uncle died. Right after he got bit by the blue and red colored spider. He was heartbroken. This man did so much for Peter and he never even got to see his awards and accolades or even him graduate.
But May was still there. She was working super hard to keep their apartment they always had with Uncle Ben and he knew there was struggles with money, but she never let it spill. But he stopped asking for more Lego sets to build with Ned or extra lunch money, always accepting the apple as he walked out of the door.
He heard her cry as she went to sleep more than once. He saw her card decline more than once and she quietly put what she wanted back, embarrassed but keeping what Peter needed on the conveyer belt.
When he got hit with the spider bite and then Uncle Ben’s death, he never let his grades slip. They stayed the same and even when he started patrolling, he didn’t let his grades slip.
He wanted to make sure he used his power responsibly. Helping the little people in his neighborhood. Stopping thieves, bank robbers, helping old ladies across the street, helping kittens get out of trees, just normal friendly neighborhood Spider-Man things.
He was so excited when Mr. Stark asked him to come along to Germany to help talk to Captain America. Like, he was going to meet the Avengers! Like the ones on TV!
But then he realized that he was going into a battle, two adult males who had strength but differing viewpoints, who collided in their justification. And people got hurt. Colonel Rhodes might be paralyzed, Ant-Man got into Mr. Stark’s suit and could have caused serious damage to it, Captain America dropped an airport hallway thing on him, Scarlet Witch dropped cars on Mr. Stark and threw Black Widow into a truck.
He was in way over his head. He was warring with himself. On one hand, he was like he could handle it! He was Spider-Man, he had these freaky powers and he could withstand a lot of pain, a lot of fights… But on the other hand, look at Mr. Stark – his chest was significantly damaged, Colonel Rhodes might be disabled… It wasn’t a joke, it wasn’t an easy thing to want to be a superhero.
He knows that he should, as he could help a lot of people with these powers but on the other hand, people he loved could get hurt. People could come after him.
He had a lot to think about if he wanted to do this for real…
And he had not even begun to explore the rest of his powers yet. So many things yet to be discovered.
He supposed that would come with training. If he could even get training. Does anyone else have any spider powers that he could talk to? He sighed. This superhero thing was so complicated.
He turned to the side and saw the a glimmer of red on the other side of the silver shield that they recovered in Siberia. He got up and looked at it when he turned it around.
Captain America.
Peter’s fist clenched as he looked at the sleeping form of Mr. Stark.
Peter thought that Captain America and Iron Man were friends.
Not anymore, apparently.