Stories Focussed On Spider-Man

(USM) The Truth About Spider-Man P5

Peter couldn't sleep. He was absolutely exhausted, just completely wrecked, but he still couldn't find it in himself to sleep. He'd dealt with a nightmare a few nights ago, which compelled him to do that workout that led to playing video games with Nova. He ended up staying up late to work on his team's suits. He stayed up so late, in fact, that he was early. He quickly returned the suits before they woke up and noticed their absence, opting to work on his latest web formula. Of course, that backfired on him, but he was thankful that his friends came to check on him and rescued him from his synthetic prison. The natural decomposition time he had estimated would have left him alone with only his thoughts as entertainment for far too long. After being liberated, he ran the numbers again, succeeding in his goal on the second trial. He felt so unbelievably lucky with the quick results, but his rumbling stomach also alerted him to the fact that he had unintentionally skipped a couple of meals while procrastinating sleep. Begrudgingly, he left the lab to find something edible.

"Hey, Spider-Man," said the voice of a very intelligent man who had just gotten over his reptilian tendencies. "How're you holding up?"

The vigilante in question turned to face Dr. Kurt Conners. "I've been better, I guess. I'm kinda hungry so I was looking to grab some grub."

"Why don't we brunch together? I'm heading that way."

"Sounds good to me. How've you been? I feel like we just chat when I'm having a medical emergency!" the teen said, swiftly altering his stride to match the slightly taller man's.

"Well, the tests we've been running show that the Lizard is pretty much gone for good. The serum has been working wonderfully. We've been working on some great stuff in the labs. You should come by later if you feel up to it, you'd be a great asset to have. Everyone saw what you did with your team's suits, so we'd be excited to see what you've got."

"That sounds like fun. What've you been working on?"

"We're trying to put together an EMP to help combat Octavius without causing him neurological damage," Dr. Conners explained. "We've been experimenting with possible frequencies to run the pulse over, but it's hard to get conclusive results without a test subject."

"Now you've got someone who's actually gone toe-to-toe with the big bad to help you out! Although, I'm sure you'd eventually hit your goal without me."

"Anya," Dr. Conners greeted after brunch. "Come see who crawled out of his hole to help!"

"Hey! It's kind of nerve-wracking when you live a double-life and literally lose the ability to lie!" the wall-crawler defended indignantly.

"We're glad to have you here, Spider-Man. My name is Dr. Anya Corazon," the young woman smiled, shaking hands with the boy. She had dark, intelligent eyes, matching hair and olive skin.

"I'm Spider-Man. But, uh, you already know that, so..."

"Aren't you going to introduce me, Peter?" came Karen's audible voice from the mask.

"Dang it, I need to stop procrastinating the name protocol," he sighed. "So, uh, Karen, this is Dr. Conners and Dr. Corazon. Guys, this is my AI Karen. She only just got installed in the suit, so I still haven't quite finished all my secret identity-related stuff with her.

"I didn't realize you had an AI," Dr. Conners started, rather surprised and fairly impressed by the turn of events.

"The only working ones I've heard of are products of Tony Stark," Dr. Corazon marvelled. "How long did she take to code?"

"I was in the womb of Peter's brain for two months. He only just gave me life recently."

"Karen? What's with the weird pregnancy analogy? Who even talks like that?"

"You do."

"Do I? When?"

"It was this morning at three twenty-seven, just before you went for coffee."

"Yeah, okay that checks out. I was pretty loopy this morning."

"Are we just going to ignore that you were up that early?" Dr. Corazon fretted. "What time did you even get up to be going on a coffee run at three-thirty?" Her male coworker was quick to express a similar sentiment.

"Funnily enough, I, uh, never actually went to sleep last night," he said, anxiously wringing his hands together and not making any effort to maintain eye contact with them. It wasn't like he was missing anything in his mind. He knew that they'd be disappointed, and he would probably get scolded like some child, despite being an adult in their eyes.

In contrast to what he assumed he would have seen, he missed the understanding look that passed between the duo. They had interacted with enough seasoned heroes to have enough of a grasp as to what was going on.

"Must have gotten pretty carried away with work then," Dr. Conners chuckled.

"Next time invite me, it feels like it's been ages since my last all-nighter!" Dr. Corazon added, playing along.

"Uh, y-yeah, sure. It'll be nice to have some company." He noticed a board with the mathematics behind the new EMP all laid out. "I see what you guys are doing over here. Oof, it looks like someone took this integral wrong. It's off by twenty-three and a fifth square. Do you mind if I check this over?"

"Spider-Man," Fury greeted as he strutted in, interrupting the nerd session that was underway.

"Hey, Nick, what's up?"

"I'm just checking in. We should talk alone. Walk with me."

"Uh, okay." As Fury turned and strided out, the web-slinger scrambled to get his lab coat hung up and return the chalk he had been using. He called out a goodbye as he jogged out the door. "So..."

"I've been observing your behavior over the past few days, and I've noticed that there's a SHIELD function you haven't taken advantage of. I've been in contact with some people to double-check that this really is the right thing."

"Should I be scared or flattered that you sought a second opinion on my behalf?"

"I think you should start seeing a therapist."

The teenager froze. "Wait, what?" He didn't need a therapist. He was fine. He wasn't all screwed up yet.

"Just humor me and give it a try."

"O-okay."