poisoned 🕷️ peter parker [1]

1

Jessica woke up to a beeping sound. Once the light came back to her eyes, she realised the noise was tracking her heartbeat. Slowly, she was finally able to contemplate the hospital room where she was. It wasn't a regular hospital room. This one was isolated. She didn't remember anything, just the voice of her father screaming her name and then all she'd got was black. She was expecting at least a headache or the feeling of a bruise on her body, but she felt perfectly fine. As she reincorporated herself in the bed, she locked eyes with a man standing in her left and staring directly at her.

She first wondered who he was and for how long had he been there. Then she thought he looked slightly familiar, she had definitely seen his beard.

"That was a long nap." He said.

Jessica decided not to pay attention to that comment. "What happened?"

"You've been out for more than 24 hours, that's what's happened." What he said made her roll her eyes. It was obvious she had been unconscious.

"I mean why did that happen. Why have I been out for so long? What happened in the lab?" She began her questioning. "And who are you?"

"An X-RAY machine in your father's laboratory malfunctioned and you were exposed to the radiation. What I want to know is how the hell are you here?"

Worried, the teenager wanted more information. "Why wouldn't I? What type of radiation was I exposed to?"

"Gamma radiation."

Jessica was in shock. She shouldn't be there. Actually, she should be dead. The human body is not made to be exposed to gamma radiation. She felt absolutely fine. Like nothing had happened. Not even sickness or a slight sign of headache. Now she understood why the man before her was trying to figure out how she was alive. What she still didn't understand was why was this particular man in her hospital room. Why him and not her father?

"And why are you here?"

"Because I know that the last person who survived gamma radiation turned into a green mass of anger." Something clicked in the girl's head. She knew she had seen him somewhere before. Heck, she knew exactly who he was. "I'm here to know what the radiation has done to you."

"You're Tony Stark, right?"

"Pleasure to meet you, blondie." 

That took her by surprise. She'd always had dark brown hair and she loved it. She had never considered dying it. A strong tone of disbelief was noticeable in her voice.

"What? Last time I checked I wasn't blonde."

"Then you turned old real fast."

It was almost comical, but the only thing that could show her her reflection has the stainless steel of the bedpan Mr. Stark was handing her. After two seconds, she grasped the object and looked at the platinum blonde hair the reflection in the steel was showing. 

"What the... I used to have brown hair! I mean... I have brown hair! My eyes..." She realized her brown eyes were clear blue now, almost grey. She felt outraged. "What's happened to me?! Can radiation do this?!"

"It seems like." The billionaire simply said. Then he moved closer to her bed. "Don't worry, you'll be moving in with me and the rest of the team, that way we'll be able to see up close your mutation and-"

How dared him call her a mutant. 

"I am not a mutant!" She yelled offended. "And I am most certainly not moving in with you! I have a home and a father and a life!" His facial expression changed halfway her sentence. That made her worry. "What?"

"I don't know if I am supposed to tell you the news..." He mumbled, almost inaudible. "Just... calm down first."

It just made her worry even more.

"What news? Where's my dad?"

"He..." Mr. Stark started talking, hesitant. "He jumped in the room to save you but-"

"The radiation killed him." Jessica felt a sharp pain in her chest as she finished his sentence. "Just like it should have killed me." The pain extended to her throat as a knot that broke her voice and finally it hit her eyes as tears. "I should have died with him."

"But you didn't." Tony sat in the bed. "And if you didn't it's because of something. Listen to me, Jessica." He called her by her name to get the attention of the brokenhearted girl. "If you are alive it's because your life is valuable."

"B-but what will I do now? I have nobody, nowhere to go. I even haven't finished school. I-"

"You can come with me. You can stay with the rest of the team. And I will take care of your needs and education."

She didn't even paid attention to the whole 'living with the team' thing and everything that implied.

"I cannot let you do that. It's too much to ask." She couldn't let him just basically take her like that. She would feel so bad if that happened. But she thought that wasn't going to happen. It all felt surreal. It felt too good to be true, but too bad to be true at the same time. She didn't believe her father was dead, or that she didn't look as she usually did, or that Tony Stark was sitting next to her asking her to live with the Avengers.

"It is not, really."

She stared at him for a few seconds, in complete silence, as she tried to put everything together. Was this actually happening?

"So, if I go with you..." She especially emphasised the if clause. "Will that imply me becoming an Avenger?" She said the last three words with long pauses in between the words. It was a hard sentence to pronounce. Especially because she most definitely didn't want anything to do with that lifestyle.

"Potentially, yes."

"Oh, well then." Her voice pitch got higher as she let a incredulous laugh out. "My answer is: heck no." 

"That's not for you to decide. I cannot leave an enhanced teenage girl, who most possibly has superhuman abilities, unsupervised." His tone was serious now. Jessica kept denying herself that anything he said could be true. 

The girl did not answer. She had heard about the Sokovia accords and she knew that the United Nations were involved. 

"We're leaving right now." Mr. Stark took her silence as her surrender. He knew he was right and she wasn't replying. He stood up. "Do you need help getting up?"

"No, it's alright." She said, giving up and accepting what was coming for her. As if her life wasn't hard enough. She incorporated herself and sat up in the bed, ready to turn and jump out of it.

Even though she had ensured the billionaire that she needn't help, he had offered her hand. Not wanting to leave him hanging, she held it as she let her legs hang out of the bed. 

Suddenly, Tony left out a groan that sounded in pain. Almost immediately, the both of them looked at their hands as they let go. Jessicas veins all the way up to her arm were completely black. Tony's, whereas, were slowing turning a darker shape. He then fell to the floor. 

"Tony?! Tony, are you okay?!" He tried to talk but he couldn't. "Please, somebody help!" His breathing got heavier as he laid on the room's floor. Jessica, shocked and afraid of what had just happened, took her now dark hands to cover her mouth. "Oh my God, what did I do?"

Jessica knew that, if Tony managed to make it out alive, she would have to go with him for the sake of the world.