Lost in Reality

08

We made our way back to the apartment in an uncomfortable van. I was pressed between octopus man and Norman. I kept sneaking small glances at him, the resemblance was uncanny. I silently wondered if the man next to me was my father in any way. I felt the hope rising up within me, and I began to feel the grief I had felt when I found out my father had passed.

My father was always a kind man, smart too. He was brilliant, but the cancer had taken a toll on his body and mind. He was fired by his corporation not long after his diagnosis. The chemo was doing a number on him. He worked relentlessly trying to find a cure for his disease, desperate to buy more time with me. I remember our last conversation as if it were yesterday.

-5 years prior-

I walked throughout our apartment, hearing my dad talk on a his little recorder he kept for his experiments. I knocked on his lab door three times before entering. I walked into a madhouse, papers and tubes of strange liquid littered the tables and floor. I cleared a stool and took a seat.

My father finally turned away from his experiment, acknowledging me.

"Makayla, I have made an astounding breakthrough!" He proclaimed, taking off his glasses.

I let out a small sigh. "Dad, you are working yourself to the bone. Maybe you should rest." I said.

"You don't understand, I think I've done it." My father said. "While I haven't been able to completely cure the tumors, I have developed a serum to stop further progression of the cancer spreading."

I smiled. "That's great, dad. I'm proud."

"If I can tweak it enough, I'm sure I can make it so the serum eradicated the cancerous cells completely." He said, picking up some papers.

"Dad, you've done so much." I say. "Please, have faith in the chemo. It's working, I need you to stay healthy. Working yourself to death isn't helping."

He sighs, walking over to me. "I'm trying, Makayla." He says. "But I'm not doing this for me. I can't leave you."

I feel tears well up in my eyes. "You're not going anywhere, you're here. I'd like to enjoy whatever time we have left rather than you stay here, experimenting on something that may never work."

"I know, I know." He says, pulling me up into a hug.  I embrace his thinning body, feeling every prominent bone stage my muscles. "But I have to try. I have resources most people don't have. I love you too much not to try." He pulls back and smiles at me. "You are the best thing in my life. Your mother and I had to go through unspeakable things to get you, I won't let some stupid cell mutations get in my way of having a long, happy life as your father."

By this point, I feel the tears streaming down my face. "I love you dad."

He wipes the tears from my eyes. "Please, don't cry. Like you said, I'm right here. I'm not planning to go anywhere, they'll probably have to drag my body from this lab before I quit."

"I know, dad. But let's take a break every once in awhile." I say. He nods in agreement. Suddenly, I have an idea. "Tell you what, I'll set up the living room for some movies and I'll let you pick what we watch, I'll even let you pick the snacks."

He smiles. "I'd like that."

I embrace him one last time. "Then it's settled. I'll go get everything ready."

I exit the lab, preparing the living room for the movie night. I get some popcorn, gummy snacks, and some chips and lay them on our couch. I then pick up all of my dad's favorite movie disks from the den and place them on the end table. I was sitting on the couch, waiting for him to arrive, when I felt my body began to tingle. That was the last thing I remember before arriving back to an empty apartment five years later. I can't imagine the look on his face when he saw I wasn't there. I wondered if he thought I'd abandoned him. I wondered if he looked for me. He must've known what happened about the snap. I wondered if he tried to bring me back.

"Are you okay?" Norman asks, placing a hand on my knee. "You seem deep in thought, tell me, what troubles you?"

I shake my head. "Nothing, it's just odd being so close to someone who so closely resembles my father."

He nods in understanding. "I see."

"Dr.Osborn, I need you in here." Peter says in another room.

Norman and I follow his voice to what looks to be another bedroom within the apartment. We stand next to him as he uncovers a large box with the words Stark Industries written on it in big, important letters.

"What's that?" Norman asks.

"It's an arc reactor." Peter says, turning to him. "Now, let's work on fixing you guys and sending you back to where you all came from."

A/N

I hope you all are having an amazing holiday wherever you celebrate in the world. I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, please leave feedback in the comments, it helps out a lot.

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Love you all 3,000 <3