Spider-X: A Spider-Man Story

Chapter 28: ...

Water drips on his forehead.

When Peter opens his eyes he's staring at a stone ceiling. He can only focus on it for a second before his head swims and a wave of nausea hits him.

But he's alive.

He opens his eyes again, aware that he's alive this time. There's a pounding in his head so hard his ears ring and every couple of seconds his vision blurs.

When he tries to sit up, he involuntarily lets out a strangled cry at the pain that seizes his ribs. He's broken his ribs before and this is definitely that, but worse. Goblin broke two of his ribs, so if he had to guess, at least six are broken right now.

The pain is so stifling he can't catch his breath. Maybe eight broken ribs.

He slowly becomes aware of something other than just ringing in his ears. Someone is talking to him.

Jean's face comes into view above his. Jean. She's alive too. He tries to say something but another strangled cry comes out when he takes a breath.

"Easy, tiger," she says gently, "you're pretty banged up."

She should look in a mirror, Peter thinks. The left side of her face is bruised, and she still has a cut on her temple, though it's not bleeding anymore. She also has a nasty scrape from the top of her neck to her collar bone. Her shirt is ripped at the shoulder, and as Peter looks her over, she's holding her wrist like it's injured.

"Your arm," he finally rasps out. It's bent at an awkward angle. He tries to get a better look but Jean puts one hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"You really shouldn't move, Pete, okay? I'm fine. A broken arm is nothing considering we fell down a clock tower."

Broken arm... but she's alive. They're both alive. "We're okay," he breathes out as gently as he can, because breathing really hurts right now.

Jean nods. "Me more than you I'm afraid. You hit the ground pretty hard. I heard the doctor talking and none of it is life threatening right now though, so that's a positive! On the negative, you do have nine broken ribs, a skull fracture, and a small crack in your pelvis."

Peter's eyes droop, already exhausted from being awake. "Where are we?" He murmurs.

He closes his eyes and feels Jean's fingers gently stroking his hairline a second later, "don't worry about that. Just rest."

He drifts off with the knowledge that he kept them both alive.

**

When he opens his eyes again, bright lights blind him. His vision is unfocused, ears still ringing. Above him, shapes blur in and out, and Peter realizes there are people standing over him.

"Sir, he's waking up-"

Peter groans and turns his head, squeezing his eyes shut. As he's coming into consciousness, so does his pain. He can't move. But not because of his busted body. When he tries to reach for his head, he finds his wrists are restrained. So are his ankles.

A light shines in his eyes and fingers keep his head still.

"Remarkable..."

Peter doesn't recognize the voice. He lets out another groan as hands paw at his ribs, pain lancing up with every touch.

"Remarkable," the voice repeats, "only six broken ribs today, plus two cracked ones, but the ninth is completely healed."

Hands move his head to the side. The sudden movement makes the world move too fast for Peter, and he feels like throwing up from the dizziness