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Peter knew as soon as he landed that he broke his arm. Again. And Karen confirmed it. “Peter, it appears you fractured your right ulna. I need to contact Mr. Stark.”
“No, Karen.” He rolled off the ground and looked at his arm. No bone was sticking out, nor was it bend at a weird angle, so he figured he was fine. “I need to finish moving civilians away from the battle. Besides, Mr. Stark is a bit preoccupied at the moment.” Glancing back, he saw Tony, Rhodey, and Sam fighting the robot thing in the air, while Clint shot arrows at it from a rooftop and Natasha, Scott, and Steve dealt with its smaller robots on the ground.
“Very well, Peter.”
“Can you detect any other heat signatures within the surrounding buildings?”
“Yes, there appears to be two people trapped on the ground floor of the building on the southwest corner.”
“Got it.” Peter fired off a web, and made his way over to the building as quickly as possible with only one web shooter. Stepping inside the building, he easily figured out where the civilians were. One of the smaller robots made it past the team and was currently trying to break down a door at the far end of the lobby.
The robot did not notice the vigilante yet, being too preoccupied by the people behind the door. “Karen, ready taser webs, followed by a web grenade, please.”
“Ready when you are.”
“Wall-E, over here.” Peter threw a piece of plaster off the ground to get the robot’s attention. The robot turned around and immediately whirred towards Peter. When the robot was about 15 feet away, Peter shot a web and whispered, “Karen, now.”
With a jolt of electricity, the robot shut down. As an extra precaution, he launched a web grenade. Once he double checked that the webs were holding, he sprinted towards the door. “Hey guys, it’s your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. If you would please step away from the door, I’ll break it down and get you out of here.”
A muffled ‘okay’ came through the door. “I’m going to break down the door at the count of three. One, two, three!” Peter threw his shoulder into the door, breaking it open. Huddled in the corner of the supply closet was a young woman and a boy around six or seven. He offered his hand to help guide them out of the small room.
“Thank you so much!” the woman began. “I’m Claudia and this is my nephew. We were walking back to my apartment so my sister could pick him up when the attack started. This was the closest safe area I could find for us, and I thought we were in the clear until that thing--” she pointed to the webbed robot in the corner of the lobby “decided to attack us.”
“Don’t worry, ma’am, you don’t need to concern yourself about the robot any more.” The trio were now on the street. Looking for any other rogue robots, Peter noticed that the battle shifted about half a block north. “It looks like the main battle is moving away from us. The police barrier is one block from here. You’ll be perfectly safe over there.”
They started walking towards the barricade. Peter had offered to swing them over there despite his broken arm, but Claudia declined for both of them, stating that neither liked heights and both deal with motion sickness. Instead they walked as quickly as possible.
About halfway down the block, the boy spoke, evidently over his shock. “Spiderman, do you ever get scared?”
“Yes, I do,” Peter responded instantly. “And that’s okay. Everyone feels afraid sometimes, and you don’t always have to put on a brave face. For example, something really scary happened around the time I got my powers, and I couldn’t put on a brave face even if I wanted to. But that event is how Spiderman came to be.”
To say that he was relieved when the boy switched to a lighter topic would be an understatement. “Spiderman, how did you get your powers?”
“Carlos,” Claudia cut in, “it’s not polite to ask.”
Peter waved her off. “I was bitten by a radioactive spider.”
“What’s radioactive?”
“It means that something emits radiation.”
“Does that mean Abuelo is radioactive?”
Peter was confused by the question and looked Claudia for clarification. She mouthed ‘cancer’ back at him. “I don’t think so, but I’m not a doctor.”
“Can you do anything else that’s spider-like other than shoot webs?”
“I have a ‘spidey sense’ that can warn me of danger that’s coming. I can also stick to surfaces. It allows me to climb up walls.”
“That’s so cool! I could scare my older brother by doing that.”
“Sometimes I sit on the ceiling at the Avengers Tower and spook one of the other Avengers.”
Carlos was having a full-out laugh attack. “Which Avengers have you scared?”
He pondered a moment before answering. “Thor freaked out for a second, before telling me that I looked cute in my natural habitat. Hawkeye threatened to get his arrows along with stealing all my pudding cups. Captain America jumped about two feet in the air. That was the closest I’ve ever seen him swear.”
By this time, they reached the police barrier. Before Claudia and Carlos went behind it, the boy ran up to Peter, who quickly knelt down and gave him a hug. “You’re my favorite superhero! Thanks for saving the day.” He then rejoined his aunt and walked through the barrier.
As they melded into the civilian crowd, Peter called out to them, “I hope you have a great, safe, rest of your weekend!” After waving at them, he swung back towards the action.
“Do you guys need anything else from me?” he asked over the comms. “I’ve cleared out all the civilians in a five block radius.”
“You’re doing great, Underoos! Go help on the ground.”
“Got it!” Peter swung towards Steve, Natasha, and Scott.
“You’re really good with children,” Clint states.
“Yeah! Maybe you could watch Cassie sometime!” Scott chimes in.
“Or you can watch Cooper, Lila, and Nathaniel for me.”
“Guys, just because I’m a teenager does not mean I’m a babysitter.”
“Did you hear that?” Tony asked. “Spiderling has finally acknowledged that he is still a minor!”
“Mr. Stark! 18 and 19 year olds are considered both teens and adults!”
“I’ll give you that one. You have at least recognized that you are young.”
“Hey! Wanda’s also young!”
Before Tony could retort, Rhodey interrupted them. “Batman and Robin, stop bickering. In case you forgot, we are still in the middle of a battle. Peter, I see you’ve arrived on the ground. Ask Steve where you’re needed.”
“On it!” Peter jogged towards the battle. “Where do you need me?”
Steve glanced over his shoulder. “Start rounding up the robots we’ve deactivated. They should all go in one spot so the clean up is easier.”
Peter dutifully started moving random robots towards what appeared to be an already-begun pile. At first, he was surprised at how heavy they were, as he witnessed them whirring around pretty quickly. Or maybe they just felt heavy since he was only using his left arm to drag them.
Rhodey, Tony, Clint, and Sam defeated the large robot as Peter dragged the last robot in the street onto what was now a small hill. He watched it fall towards the ground, his spider sense telling him to run, which he did on instinct. The instant that it crashed, he felt an explosion behind him. He was not far enough away to avoid the shock wave.
Peter tumbled to the ground, bracing himself with his arms. On impact with the asphalt, he remembered he had a broken arm. The pain zinged up his arm, and he realized he could not hear a thing, save a loud ringing. On instinct, he curled up into a ball, holding his right arm against his chest while the left one protected his head as debris began to rain down around him.
Even after most of the debris fell to the ground, Peter remained curled up. His right arm was positively throbbing; it was definitely worse than the last time he broke it, and he knew moving it would only cause him more pain. Only when he felt a metal hand on his shoulder did he remove his arm from the back of his head, turning to look at Tony.
Tony, who was obviously trying to talk to him. His lips were moving, but all Peter could hear was the high pitched ringing that seemed to surround him. In what he hoped was a loud enough voice, he said, “Can’t hear. Ringing.”
Peter must have talked loud, because Tony instantly stopped. Turning towards Steve, they spoke for a few seconds before he left, leaving Tony and him alone. Once again, he was speaking. At first, Peter did not understand why, as the ringing did not disappear yet. As soon as Tony finished speaking, a text box appeared on his HUD.
Since you can’t hear right now, I linked FRIDAY up to Karen. Anything I say will appear on your screen, while you can verbalize your answer. Sound good, Kiddo?
“Yes.”
Are you hurt?
“Yes.”
Where?
“My right arm is definitely broken, my ribs hurt a lot, and I think the have some scrapes and burns.”
Okay. We can work with this. We need to get you to Helen. Before we can do that, however, you need to get on your feet. You ready to leave your ball state?”
“Yes.” Peter was not ready, but knew that his adrenaline was rapidly disappearing. He rather be upright when the full extent of the pain hit him.
Okay. You sit up, then I’ll help you to your feet.
He followed the instructions before being pulled to his feet with Tony gripping his left hand. Peter stumbled as he took a step. Everything felt off and his ears hurt. He was so used to hearing everything that the quiet was a bit unnerving.
Are you sure you didn’t bump your head? You could have a concussion.
“I didn’t black out.” They started walking towards the jet, Tony keeping a firm grasp on his arm.
You didn’t black out last time you had a concussion. I’ll have Helen run the test just to be sure.
Peter groaned, and when a witty retort did not appear on his screen, he glanced at Tony, who was staring at something on him. Following his mentor’s gaze, he looked down at his arm that clutched his chest. There was a noticeable bump in what should have been a straight arm.
Seeing it for the first time made it all too real, and the pain came back in full force. Peter audibly gasped, and Tony held his gaze as he carefully mouthed You’ll be okay. But he noticed that the pace towards the jet picked up a bit.
“Was anyone else hurt?”
Sam needs a few stitches and Clint has a large burn on his arm, so they will be joining us in the MedBay. Steve wasn’t injured but he’ll also be joining us.
“Why?”
He’s going to help reset your arm.
“Oh.” They walked into the quinjet.
For now, you can use this sling to keep your arm steady during the flight. Tony showed Peter the sling before helping him into it. Once his arm was settled inside, his HUD displayed a new message. Let me help you buckle up. He was led to some seats a bit away from the others, and Tony guided him into one before strapping him in.
Peter was grateful that they were away from the others. He couldn’t really communicate with any of them, except for Clint. Maybe. He could finger spell most of the alphabet, and knew some basic ASL signs, but not enough to keep up a conversation. At least he could have a conversation with Tony.
The ringing in his ears was starting to die down, but he still could not hear anything else. He voiced that thought to Tony. “It’s so weird not being able to hear. The last time it was this quiet was before the bite.”His mentor did not respond, so they sat side-by-side in their own thoughts.
Peter was not aware of the jet landing until he felt the slight jostle of wheels touching the ground. A sharp breath was sucked in as he felt two bits of bone grind against each other. He waited for the others to start getting up before unbuckling himself. Tony grabbed his good arm and gestured for him to follow him to the MedBay.
Dr. Cho must have been informed of Peter’s current hearing loss, as she only waved hello before leading them to an exam room. It was a standard hospital room, save for the holographic screen in front of the bed. It had the same set up as his HUD display did during his conversation with Tony earlier. There was already a message on the screen:
Please take off the sling and deactivate your suit so Dr. Cho can look at your arm.
“Mr. Stark, can you help me with the sling?”
He nodded, assisting Peter right away. It was not difficult to remove, but the suit was. After it was deactivated, Peter easily slipped his left arm out. Getting the fingers of his right hand out of the arm proved to be more difficult. Tony ended up helping him with that too.
Five minutes later, both arms were free and Peter’s suit was crumpled around his waist. His right arm was swollen and an ugly shade of mauve, and his chest a swath of red violet bruises. When Dr.Cho came into view, the text changed on the display.
I’m now going to look over your arm, just like last time. Since this is a worse break, my manipulations will most likely hurt more. I’ll be as gentle as I possibly can. After that, we’ll take a few x-rays. Okay?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” A pillow was placed on Peter’s lap. Slowly, he settled his injured arm on it, the throbbing increasing as he uncurled his arm from his chest.
Once his arm was situated for a few seconds, Dr. Cho carefully picked it up, probing around to gain a sense of where the bone broke. Peter hissed when she lightly touched the bump, and she mouthed ‘sorry.’
He continued to stare at Dr. Cho moving his arm around. To take his mind off the pain, Peter began to do something he knows best: ramble. “Hey, Dr. Cho, do you know ASL? I was just wondering because I know how to finger spell along with some basic signs. It might be a little awkward since I’ll be signing with my left hand, but I’ll make it work… If you do know ASL, then I was thinking that you could sign to me if you wanted to know or tell me something really quickly. Plus, I would still be able to communicate if I couldn’t read the screen...Oh! Do you think that Clint--” He cut off due to the tapping on his shoulder. Glancing back, he saw Mr. Stark pointing at Dr. Cho.
Once she had Peter’s attention, she signed: Know A-S-L. A longer response was on the screen, but he ignored it as she fingerspelled X-R-A-Y.
Peter nodded, but waited as she spoke with Tony. When she was done, she gestured for him to follow her out of the room. Everyone could tell his arm was broken, but how bad would show up on the x-ray.
15 long minutes later, Peter returned to the exam room. Although Tony leaned casually against the wall as if he had not left the entire time he was gone, it was obvious he did. A bottle of water and a little cup he assumed held pain pills were on top of the side table next to the bed. And on the bed itself laid one of his science pun t-shirts, some sweatpants, and a pair of Iron Man slippers he had never seen before.
“Thanks, Mr. Stark!” The older man waved him off before pointing to the screen.
As you can see, you have a new set of clothes. You can change after you have a cast on. Please take the medication on the table. I’m going to grab what we need so we can reset your bone and put it in a cast. Do you still want blue and red?
“Just red, please. The permanent marker didn’t show up as well on the blue.”
Helen nodded and left the room. Tony stood up from where he was leaning against the wall and sat down next to Peter on the bed. He wordlessly handed the bottle of water and pills over to the teen.
“Thanks.” He swallowed the medicine before speaking again. “I think I my hearing is starting to come back. Or at least the ringing has pretty much disappeared. I’m pretty sure that I can hear people whispering.”
“Are you sure?” A new voice entered the room, and Peter looked up to see who it was.
“Hi, Mr. Steve!” He waved before turning to Tony. “I heard that, Mr. Stark. It was really quiet, but I heard it!” The teen looked back to the Captain. “How loud were you speaking?”
“Above my normal speaking voice, but below yelling, I would say,” he responded as he leaned against the counter. Tony nodded in agreement.
Peter did not like how Steve was staring at him. “Geez, your giving me the same look Mr. Stark didI tripped and scraped my knee. I didn’t even do anything wrong this time when I broke it.”
“This time? He’s broken his arm before?”
Tony sighed like he had the same conversation with multiple people. “Yes. But he wasn’t Spidermanning at the time. The consensus is that he either broke it tripping on the sidewalk or playing soccer.” He pointed at Peter, “And are you seriously referring to your horribly bruised knee to a scrape? Honestly, I’m surprised May doesn’t put you in bubble wrap every time you go outside!” He paused, musing. “Actually, that’s a good protocol idea.”
Before Peter could retort, Helen walked into the room with a tray of things. “Why are you guys talking so loud? I could hear you down the hall.”
“It’s so Peter can hear us.” Steve answered.
“Good to know your hearing is returning. The screen will still be up if you need it.” She waited for Peter to nod in understanding before motioning Steven over. After giving him some instructions, more text appeared on the screen below Peter’s x-rays.
Before I can reset your arm, I need to give you a hematoma block, which numbs the area and blocks your nerves from sending pain signals to the brain. I need to inject it into your wrist. It will feel weird, but you have to keep your arm and wrist still. Steve will hold your arm while I inject it. After that, I will reset the bone and put it in a cast. Sound good?
Peter nodded and watched as Helen directed Steve where to place his hands as to not hurt him as much. Once he saw her grabbing the needle, his turned his head away buried it into Tony’s chest.
It did feel weird, but it was quickly over. Helen took Steve’s place and held Peter’s arm, while Steve took the teen’s other hand out of Tony’s. “My hand is way less likely to break when he uses his super strength,” he stated before either could argue.
In a louder-than normal voice, Helen declared, “On the count of three, I’m going to reset your ulna. One… Two…”
Peter’s bone was reset in place. He wished to never feel his arm move that way ever again. He was grateful for his temporary hearing loss, however, as he did not care to hear what it sounded like. Tony’s face was enough to tell him it was horrible.
He met Helen’s eyes. Thanks.
She laughed. “I think you’re the only person I’ve met that thanks me after resetting their bone.” She grabbed the white bandages and started wrapping them around Peter’s arm.
“I would probably give the bird.”
“Language.” Steve said half-heartedly.
“I don’t believe that is ASL, Mr. Stark.”
*****
15 minutes later, Peter had a red cast on his right arm, wore a new set of clothes, and his hearing was slowing returning. Tony and him were sitting cross-legged on the bed, waiting for Helen to officially let him leave.
“Your bedside manner is great. Five out of five. Would definitely recommend.”
“Seriously, kid?”
“You should be happy. That’s a 100% satisfaction rate. Very few things have that rating.”
Remembering how Peter was when he was invited over his house for dinner a few weeks ago, Tony decided to roll with it. “Thank you so much. It’s such an honor.”
“I knew you would appreciate that distinction.”
It was obvious to Tony that Peter wanted to leave, seeing as he was trying to get rid of his excess energy by tapping his uncasted hand against his leg. “Do you have somewhere else you need to be?”
“Isn’t Shuri supposed to arrive today with King T’Challa?”
Between the last minute mission and Peter re-breaking his arm, it had slipped his mind. But with that question, it was brought back to the forefront. “You’re correct. They should be here in about,” he checked his watch, “half an hour. We should be able to bust out of here before then.”
Peter’s eyes lit up and his fingers began to dance even faster along his leg. “I’m so excited! I can’t wait to ask Shuri about all the projects she’s working on!”
“I know you are, Underoos, but before we can greet our guests, you need to debrief from the mission. I’ll have FRIDAY record everything, that way you don’t have to attend the larger debriefing. Does that sound good?”
“Yep! What do you need to know?”
“How did you find out about the mission.”
“I was at the Tower with the other Avengers when the call came through. I was told to suit up and come with.”
“And once you arrived at the scene, what did you do.”
“I was told to evacuate all civilians from the battle area. I started doing that, going from building to building and taking anyone I found behind the police barricade.” Here, Peter noticeably paused before continuing.
“I didn’t run into any of the robots until I was clearing the last building. One was inside, trying to break into a storage closet. I webbed the robot up and escorted them to safety. Everyone heard that on the comms.
“After that, I went to where Captain America, Ant-Man, and Black Widow were stationed on the ground. I was placed on clean up duty, and started piling all of the robots together to make it easier for the clean up crew. I just finished putting the last robot on the pile when my spider sense warned me to run. Not even five seconds later, the pile blew up, throwing me onto the ground.”
His hand stilled and he sat up straight. “Wait! Mr. Stark, I didn’t place the robot from the last building I cleared into the pile. It could have knocked that building down! This is not good! How can--”
Tony stopped him before he could work himself up into a panic. “That robot didn’t blow up. The fact that the explosion occurred as we finished defeating the main one was a complete coincidence. SHIELD investigated and determined that the explosion was caused by something leaking from the robots reacting with oxygen in the air.”
“Thank you to our lord and savior Shaggy Rogers. He has powers like no other.”
Tony had no idea what the teen meant, but knew better than to question it. “Thanks for telling me all of that. Now, if you could tell me the full story, I would appreciate it.” Tony crossed his arms and stared Peter down.
“What? I-I don’t know what you mean. I...I told you everything.”
“You are the worst liar ever. I don’t understand how you manage to keep your secret identity.” He paused, but the teen refused to admit he lied. “While you were getting your x-rays, I looked at the Karen app. It showed that you broke your arm right before you rescued the last two civilians. Care to explain how that happened and why I wasn’t notified?”
“First of all, Karen said I fractured my ulna. I didn’t break it. Second of all, bold of you to assume I’d let a broken limb stop me from helping people.”
“Oh yes, heaven forbid you look out for yourself,” Tony sarcastically muttered.
“See, I knew you’d understand!” Peter either missed or ignored the tone of his mentor’s voice.
“Honestly, I should have seen this coming; you refused to admit you broke your arm last time.” He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “So, care to explain how you fractured your wrist and why I wasn’t notified?”
“It was a freak accident. My web shooter jammed so I fell a few stories and injured my arm when I used it to help break my fall. Karen didn’t force call you after it happened, so I figured I was fine. Plus, there were still people who needed to be saved.”
“You need to take care of yourself, or else you won’t be able to help others. If you had told me about your arm earlier, then you would not have needed to have your bone cracked back into place! Instead, it would’ve been like last time.” Tony’s voice sharpened and raised. “Don’t you see! Because you didn’t admit you were hurt, you became even more injured!”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark! I’ll do better.” Peter sounded close to tears.
“Come here.” Tony stated softly, the teen crashing into his open arms for a hug. “I didn’t mean to sound so upset. I worry about you, and injury hiding appears to be a recurring theme with you.”
Peter nodded into the older man’s shoulder, remaining there in silence until Helen told them they could leave.
“Ready to meet the King and Princess of Wakanda?” Tony asked as they walked into the elevator.”
“The Wakandans have arrived and are on the main common floor.”
“Thank you for the update, FRIDAY. Please take us there.”
“Right away, Sir.”
A few seconds later, the elevator doors opened to the common floor. T’Challa had his back turned away from the door, in deep conversation with Steve. Shuri, however, bounded over as Peter and Tony stepped out.
Peter pretended to stumble before shouting, “You almost made me drop my web shooters!”
Shuri fired right back. “You know what? I’m going to say it. I don’t care that you broke your elbow.”
Both teens burst out in laughter while most of the adults in the room looked at them in bewilderment. The teens, meanwhile paid them no attention as they continued there conversation down the hall.
“I have a video of Tony drinking a motor-oil-infused smoothie that his robot, DUM-E made for him.”
“Oh, I think this one I have of my brother testing out his Black Panther suit is even better…”
T’Challa walked up to Tony. “This isn’t going to end well.”
“Not for us,” Tony agreed.