The Amazing Spider-Man 3

Chapter 18

Peter raced into the hospital, zooming past the front desk. His mind was racing even faster than his body was as he pondered what the news could be. The doctor hadn't said much over the phone outside of the fact that he finally had news for him and May. However, the thing that kept coming back to Peter's mind was the tone he said it in. It was calm and poised, but there had been just a hint of disappointment in it as well.

Finding the right room, Peter trotted inside, marching right up to May.

"Hey May, are you alright?" he asked. She didn't look any different from what he could see, but given there was an update, part of him had wondered if there had been some obvious change.

"I'm a little tired, but I'm fine, at least for now," May said. That last part stuck in Peter's mind like discarded gum on the street.

The two of them then turned to the doctor.

"So, doc, what's the news?" Peter asked.

The doctor directed them to some images that were up on a board that appeared to be scans of May's brain.

"A couple days ago, we started noticing your aunt would struggle a little when it came to reading, and her memory on certain details was a little fuzzy here and there, so we concentrated our focus on that in particular," the doctor answered. "Just today, we were finally able to pick up on something."

The doctor gestured to one picture specifically.

"Are either of you familiar with the topmost part of the brain?" he asked.

"Yeah," Peter answered, "the cerebrum is what allows for the performing of intellectual activities, like reading or planning."

"Exactly," the doctor replied, "and it is split into two halves, with the two sides communicating through a bunch of nerve fibers."

"So, are the two sides s-struggling to c-communicate or something?" May asked. Her sudden stuttering did not go unnoticed by Peter. She tried to play it off as nothing, but he could see the cracks in the sturdy expression she was trying to put on.

"Kind of," the doctor replied. "The chemical combination you were exposed to has actually been putting a pressure on the cerebrum's abilities, kind of like when a computer struggles as it begins to amass too much data."

"So, she's suffering from some kind of information overload?" Peter asked.

"You could say that," the doctor replied, "or at least her brain thinks that. Really, the chemicals are just inhibiting the cerebrum's ability to perform its tasks and communicate across both sides."

"But the damage is at least contained to just that part, right?" May asked.

"For now, yes," the doctor replied, gesturing back to the pictures. "But, if you look at these pictures from a couple of days ago versus today, you can see that the problem is slowly starting to spread, so it won't be long before it moves onto the other parts as well and, well... your brain shuts down completely."

For a moment, there was a collective silence in the room, as the end result of all this started to sink in.

"How long do I have, Greg?" May asked.

"My best estimate is about a month," the doctor replied.

"So, what, we're just giving up?" Peter said as he looked back and forth at both May and the doctor. "We're just going to quit? No, there has to be something we can do, some kind of treatment we can get, or..."

"No clinically established treatment exists for this kind of unique case," the doctor cut him off, "However, there is one possibility, but it won't be easy to get."