Arachnophobia

5.2

                                      Alex
"You're spine was, well, absolutely shattered I guess. I'm not even sure how you made it to the compound. You were going off of adrenaline which is cool, but whatever happened destroyed your back badly. I'm not even sure how you were talking since the tube was in your throat and will remain in there since your lungs hasn't recovered." Helen Cho said as she examined my back x-ray. "Good news is, I gave you a replacement spine. Stark Technology. It's a prototype but it's sure to work. If I just turn it on, you'll be okay to walk, but with that comes issues. Your legs will need constant assistance since the prototype isn't suited for walking. You'll be given these fancy shmancy Stark Tech braces that will help you." Stark said with a smile.

"Thanks, but where's Wanda?" I signed to Nat, which she relayed and Tony gave me a smile. It was fake. His eyes didn't wrinkle. "In her room, do you want me to get her for you?"

"Does she know I'm awake?" I signed and looked to Nat, and she shook her head no. I sighed and looked back at Tony. "Tell her to come down to say her final goodbyes and that I'm dying. Hold a meeting in here with her. I want this to work to see her reaction." I signed, and Tony gave me a smirk.

"Well then, pranksters still in ya." Nat smiled, ruffling my longer hair. "When we're done can we cut this mop of hair off? I don't like it." I signed, and Nat gave my forehead a kiss.

"When you're done in here then I can give you a cut. I think you'll like it." Nat smiled. I noticed Tony running back into the room and looked pale.

"Act asleep, Nat start crying." Tony said, huffing some. I heard slow footsteps enter the room, and a shaky gasp.

"Wanda- we're gonna have to let Parker go.. their injuries are too grave for their body to withstand and-" "Leave us." Wanda said."Please?" I heard footsteps shuffling out of the room and the door close.

"Hi Alex.. it's me. I miss you? I know you can't hear me but you can rest now.. I'll be okay." Wanda said, and I slapped her hand, earning a gasp.

I gave her a look and picked up my hand weakly. "Surprise shawty!" I signed, and was smacked. Everything went dark.

Natasha
Wanda smacked Alex and all the sudden their body went limp. "Hey hey woah Wanda!" Tony said, grabbing Wanda and dragging her away from Alex.

I quickly bent over Alex and checked their eyes. Only knocked out, giving me a sigh of relief. "Romanoff that better be a good sigh or so help me god I'll blow the brains off her!" Tony barked, and I nodded.

"Let her go. Wanda what the fuck?" I said as Tony let her go, and she started pulling at her sleeves. Anxious.

"I'm sorry- I just- I got scared and I.." A sob came out of her mouth as she covered her hands to her mouth. "Did I kill them?"

"No, Wanda. You knocked them out." I sighed, pulling her into a small hug. "It was Alex's idea to surprise-prank you."

"Classic." She grumbled, rubbing her temples. "Alex isn't dying, they'll be in here for a while though. They aren't breathing on their own, hence the oxygen tube. Once their lungs recover they'll get just a nasal one, and soon they'll go back to their room for bed rest." Helen said, giving me a sympathetic smile.

"How long will that take?" Natasha said, looking to Helen. "Could be weeks, days, months. Definitely not years since it's in the healing process."

"Could we bring Alex's whole hospital setup to their room so it's more comfortable for them?" Natasha looked to Helen, who shook her head sadly. "It's best that they stay here."

"Alright. Wanda, could you leave the room so I could talk to Mr. Stark and Agent Romanoff?" Helen said, and I nodded.

                                 Natasha
Wanda walked out and to the elevator, going up to her room or the kitchen I presume. I closed the door gently and turned to Helen.

"Alex is suffering multiple injuries besides their paralysis. Torn muscles in their back, broken nose, split lip, fractured bones, burns from the fire. Though it's been a few weeks it's still bad. Alex's.. Spider-healing isn't working clearly or efficiently enough." Helen said with a sigh, putting some x-rays out onto a hologram.

"What about to burns on Alex's back that have some pieces of their suit attached to their skin?" I said, looking to Helen. "Those will be removed when they fully recover from the other injuries besides the paralysis. I can't risk anything for now." Helen said with a soft smile.

"Thank you, Dr. Cho. Very much appreciated." Tony said with a nod, leaving just him and I in the room now as Helen exited the room. "What are we doing, Natasha?"

"I don't know. With Lagos and Alex waking up, this, this just got a whole lot more complicated. I'm happy they're awake now, well knocked out for now but you know. The whole thing is going to screw up the team even more. I don't know if we should break it to them or if we should keep it under wraps. I mean it could either do some serious damage or it could heal us a bit." I sighed.

"The only thing left for us to do is to wait and see what is happening. It's ugly out there Natasha, real ugly. Damage control was on the scene but the press got all over it in a matter of seconds of it happening. I don't know what's going to happen, but I gotta go, I have some business to attend to for now." Tony sighed, walking out the door, leaving me with the sound of monitors beeping and Alex's breathing tube.

"Oh, and do be afraid to text me updates, please." Tony said, peeking his head in just a tad bit for me to see. "Yeah, I got it." I sighed, sitting in the chair next to Alex now.

I took a hold of their injured hand, sighing and rubbing gentle patterns of shapes and numbers and what not on Alex's hand.