⎯⎯⎯ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐎𝐏𝐄
in which a self made genius
begins to get visions of the
future and calls for the help
of the stupidly, ridiculous
looking spider-b...
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WHEN IMANE MORRIS WOKE UP with a sharp inhale, she was laying on her side on the hardwood floor of her apartment in the shaky arms of her uncle. Salty wet tears spilled against her cream colored button up and her limbs felt like they were stuck in a cramp for hours. The second her vision cleared itself and made visible the two people in front of her, she gasped and attempted to sit up.
"Max?" She breathed out, her eyes flickering to the side. "Gwen? What's going on? What happened?" Her uncle lifted her into a sitting position and let her relax into his arms to avoid putting pressure on her muscles, his breaths were too uneven to even form a word, let alone a sentence.
"You had a seizure." Gwen spoke up. "After the school incident you said you had to get something from your room. You were gone for so long that I came upstairs and your uncle didn't know where you were either. Do you...remember anything that happened before that?"
Imane shook her head, instantly regretting it as pain shot up the sides of her head. "No, I...I...I don't know there were these flashes of...images. These...these tragedies and deaths..." As her brain tried to slide the puzzle pieces together, Imane looked up from the floor to meet Gwen's eyes, fear snaking around her chest. "The antidote." She realized.
Despite her weak legs, Imane willed herself to stand up and used her bed as a crutch, forcing her legs to do their job and pull her up to stand. Her Uncle hesitantly hovered over her each second, tears still lingering on his wide framed glasses.
"The what?" He questioned
Imane and Gwen shared an awkward side eye.
"Uh...i-it's too much to explain right now, but I have to go." Imane said, her words jumbled as she tried to collect her thoughts and belongings at the same.
Max shook his head and waved his hands in front of him. "Woah, woah, woah, calm down." He placed his hands on his nieces shoulders to stop her frantic movements. "You're not going anywhere, Imane, you just had a seizure."
"No, you don't understand-"
"No, I don't think you understand, Imane." Max snapped, pleading with his eyes to the young woman. "If your head had been even a millimeter closer to your desk, you would've died. The only reason you aren't in an ambulance is because I was-" he stopped himself, the lump in his throat causing him to take a deep breath and try again. "You could've died..." he whispered.
Imane swallowed and pulled her Uncle into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Uncle Max." She pulled away and looked at him, sadness enveloping her features. "But more people will die if we don't do something about this."
Maxwell took a deep breath, "Is...Is there anything I can do to help? I mean-"
Imane went to shake her head but was interrupted by Gwen. "Actually, there is." She grabbed the key card Imane had been trying to get before the seizure and held it up next to her face. "Mind driving over to Oscorp before the giant lizard gets there first?"
Maxwell Dillion looked at her in disbelief, in the apartment and on the drive over there. His eyes flickered between the upper hand mirror and the filled roads of Manhattan, silently questioning his circumstance at the moment. Imane, however, stared intently at the ground in front of her, her mind replaying the same image over and over again. She blinked and raised her dark eyes that bore into the side of Gwen Stacy's face.
When her big blue eyes met Imane's, she felt her heart breaking all over again.
"What?" Gwen asked.
The words slipped Imane's tongue and left the darkskin girl staring at the blonde in a deep pit of guilt Gwen would not yet understand.
"Gwen-"
"Damn it." Maxwell hissed under his breath as he stepped on the brakes sharply, nearly sending the two teenage girls straight into the seats in front of them. "Too much traffic, I can't get you in front."
"That's okay, Mr. Dillion. Thank you for the ride, I couldn't be more grateful." Gwen thanked him profusely and stepped out of the car, taking Imane's hand in her and pulling her out behind her.
The taller girl leaned down to the driver's side window, giving her uncle a genuine smile. "Thank you, really."
He sighed but returned the smile, "Don't make me regret it."
Imane nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning around and allowed Gwen to hold her hand as they raced towards the large building where they both worked. The two girls shouted out an excuse to the front desk lady and debated between the elevator or the stairs.
Gwen voted stairs because it was an emergency.
Imane voted elevator because she was tired of running.
Slipping her hand into Gwen's, Imane won.
"Okay I'll put in the antidote, make sure nobody walks in and gets us fired." Imane instructed, hurriedly setting everything up.
"I think we're already on the way." The blonde joked nervously.
Although silence grew in the empty room, the pair of teenagers were much too caught up in their thoughts to notice the silence, mention of even break it. Their thoughts were stuck on the same person and the outcome of each scenario.
While one girl played back different scenarios where everyone in New York was turned into a lizard, one where her father caught her in the act and made her leave before the antidote was finished, and one where Spider-Man did what Spider-Man does and saves the day and afterwards she can give Peter a big ol' hug and encourage him to ask Imane out on a date.
The other girl was hyper locked into thoughts of her best friend dying a brutal death at the hands of this god-forsaken lizard who happened to be her mentor. Imane's mind replayed the flashes of horror she experienced in such a short time, causing her to momentarily halt her movements, her eyes drifting over to a fidgety Gwen Stacy standing in front of the door.
If there was one thought replaying more than Peter's death, it was Captain Stacy's.
The ring of a phone almost sent Gwen out of her skin. "Hi."
"Hey, where are you? Where's Imane? I've been calling her cell for like-" Peter responds on the other end, very clearly freaking out in classic Peter Parker fashion.
"Yeah, she's with me, she's fine."
"And where are you guys?"
"Oscorp."
"You have to get out there right now."
"The antidote is cooking, uh, Imane, how much longer?!" Gwen called out over her shoulder
"No, no, Conners is on his way. He's coming now. He needs the dispersment device. He's gonna infect the whole city." Peter ranted
"There's eight minutes left!"Imane answered back from a distance.
"There's eight minutes left." Gwen repeated back to Peter.
"You're gonna wait eight minutes after what I just told you? You two are gonna leave right now. So help me God, if you get my future girlfriend killed, Gwen Stacy, I will personally haunt your grave, are you listening to me? This is an order."
"I'm gonna get everyone out and drop the roses down at your wedding, sorry, Peter."
"Did you hear-?"
She hung up and reached over to pull the emergency evacuation alarm. Gwen ran over to Imane's side, looking at the enormous machine that had the potential to make or break their lives, alongside the lives of everyone in New York.
