Spider-Man and the Red Dahlia

Chapter 11

'How long has she been out?'

     'Three days now.'

     I open my eyes and see Steve and Natasha standing at the end of the bed. Steve has a very worried look on his face and Natasha turns her head to me. 'She's awake.'

     Steve immediately runs to my side and smiles at me. 'Three days? Wow, new record.' I chuckle. 'What happened?'

     'A lot.' Natasha answers after Steve stays silent. 'You slept through your first mission. Steve'll fill you in.' She turns around and leaves the room, leaving Steve and me alone.

     'You can stop staring at me now.' I tell him. 'Again, what happened?'

     'You are very awake for someone that just woke up from a three-day sleep.' He says, grabbing a chair and sitting down.

     'I feel amazing. Now, tell me what happened. Is Peter OK?'

     'Yeah, Peter's fine. He said that after you passed out, Mr. Poison did the "classic villain monologue" and told him his plan.'

     'Mr. Poison?' Is that what he calls himself? Mr. Poison? It's fitting, because he makes poisonous bullets. He must have some lame ass name. Like Smith. Or Jones.

     'That's what Peter called him. Then Scott joined in and it... kind of stuck.'

     I chuckle. 'Of course.'

     'Anyways, the guy's plan was to use the strong people to kill all the weak people and then also kill the strong people so that he could start over and create the perfect society of strong, genius humans.' He explains fastly. 'Nothing we haven't seen before.'

     'I was just about to say that sounds a lot like Ultron.'

     'Exactly. So, there was another shooting at the mall and he had a little army there and we eventually got the guy and he's arrested. He did... kill his entire army with the poison beforehand.'

     'Then why am I here?' I ask confused.

     'Stark and Banner got it out of you. They had to cut off your lower leg.'

     My eyes widen. 'What?' I throw the blanket off me and stare at the empty space that follows my knee.

     'Stark made you something.' Steve stands up and grabs the iron leg standing in the corner of the room. I sit down at the edge of the bed and Steve applies it to my leg. He takes my hand and helps me get up. I step onto the ground with my own foot first. I feel the cold floor on my skin and shiver. I expect to feel it on my other foot as well, but I just feel the iron against my knee.

     'This feels so weird.'

     'You'll get used to it soon.' Steve says. 'Don't worry about that.'

     I look up at him, a smile on my face. 'So everything's okay?'

     'As long as you are.'

     'I think I am.'

     'Good.'

     The door opens and Mr. Stark walks in. He stops as he sees me standing next to my bed, wearing the leg he made me. 'How does it fit?'

     'Perfectly.'

     'I'll call Peter, let him know you're awake. God, I almost had to drag him out of this room. He keeps texting me, asking how you're doing. It's annoying.' He gives me a slight smile. 'He'll be here in ten minutes. Oh, I also have to call your parents, but let's pretend you woke up at 3PM instead of 2, shall we?' He winks at me and then leaves the room again.

     I can't imagine how mad my father must be right now. I used my powers on him. I stopped him in his tracks and kept his mouth shut. It was actually kind of funny. I can't say I didn't thoroughly enjoy doing it.

     'Wanna go for a walk?' Steve asks.

     'Gotta walk someday, don't I?' I hold onto Steve as I take my the first step with my own leg, leaning on the iron leg.

     'It should work like a normal leg. You think of moving the toes and... they should move.'

     I look down at my feet and decide to test it. The toes on my left foot start moving, together with the once on the iron leg. 'Amazing.' I say in awe, staring down at my feet with a big smile on my face.

     I let go of Steve and start walking forward confidently. It's like walking normally, only I can't feel the bottom of my right leg. I can't feel my feet on the ground. It's a strange feeling, but I can get used to it.

     'You won't be able to tell the difference in a few days.'

     'How are my parents gonna react?' I ask concerned, the thought hitting me like a train. 'They're going to kill me.'

     'I'll handle that.' Steve says.

     I chuckle. 'What are you gonna do?'

     'I'm Captain America.' He scoffs. 'And the guy who saved their daughter from the Russians.'

     'And also the guy that allowed their daughter to be an Avenger.