Chapter Text
Some would call Peter Parker a genius, the whole universe surely did but for the dead man walking, that wasn't exactly what he'd describe himself as.
He was smart, sure so were a lot of people in the world and yeah, he was strong and could lift a bus with his bare hands but so could the Hulk.
He was many things, but so were a whole bunch of other people in the world.
There was nothing special about Peter Parker.
Nothing at all.
At least, that's what he'd say...
If you asked anyone else in the world, they'd say that Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man was a hero that saved the universe, who gave his life to reverse what Thanos did.
If you asked anyone in all of New York, they'd say he was their hero long before he was the universes. He'd been their hero for years before the snap, but no one had given him the recognition he deserved.
In the eyes of the City, he had always been a hero...
Well, Peter didn't feel like a hero, especially not now when he was half dead on his feat.
It had taken him almost the full two years he was given to try and reverse engineer a vaccine from his blood cells, and most of that time was spent trying to figure out a way to replicate it in mass quantities so the whole world could use it.
The only catch, the vaccine, was totally ineffective for him.
He deduced it had something to do with how the vaccine was made, how it was fabricated from his actual DNA and essentially copied the exact amount of radiation in his cells so once the shot was given and the antibodies were in his system, his white blood cells recognized the radiation as a part of him and didn't think it was harmful to his body since it had already been there for years and the blood cells never tried to fight the antibodies which in turn, didn't allow his body to naturally produce an immunity.
His body didn't recognize the cure at all since it had originated from him, meaning that the cancer that was slowly killing him day by day, couldn't be cured.
Meaning he would die at the end of his two years.
You know for a second, just for a split second he thought he could cheat the system, cheat death one more time like he had done so many other times but in the end, you couldn't win them all.
The stone, Soul had made a deal with Peter and Peter had agreed to it's, her? Terms. He knew it was too much to hope that he could cure himself, but it didn't stop him from feeling just a little bit saddened at the fact he'd die.
And never get to see Yelena again.
That, hurt the most...
Because two years without his very best friend in The world was almost worst then the cancer itself witch was killing him.
Two years without that steady presence that he had been so used to for half a decade of his life...
Gone...
She'd never remember him...
Or, she would but it would already be too late for him...
But he tended to not think about that too much.
With only time to waste, he spent an ungodly amount of time in the lab and studying his blood cells further made him realize that something else was also going on in his body.
There was this, energy within his cells, energy that under a microscope had a orange glow to it.
The power of the Soul Stone.
That was when it all became clear to the scientist, the stone was the one preventing him from curing himself.
It was the one factor that was killing him, slowly but nonetheless still killing him. It seemed that the stone had crafted a contingency in case he had wanted to cure himself.
It implemented a failsafe to stop Peter from cheating the system and skipping out on their deal.
Although he had an idea if he found a way to remove it, or embrace the power altogether then...
Then his family wouldn't have to watch him die again.
That just left the problem of getting back their memories...
It was only a matter of time though before his body shut itself down on him. One day, he'd go to bed and most likely not get back up.
One of the Avengers would walk into the lab, and find his dead ass body just laying on the couch he's basically been sleeping on for the past three months, since he's gotten too tired to move to the joint room with a bed.
He needed to find a solution and fast.
Because he would never forgive himself if he left Yelena a second time...
At the moment, Peter was sitting in his lab chair, his walking cane leaning against his work bench as he stared at the formulas for the vaccine, the cure for one of the most lethal diseases known to man.
A disease that even though he was diagnosed with, he can't cure since the universe just loves to fuck him over.
Let's just dangle the cure above your nose, let it hang there for a second and right as you're about to grab it, yank it right out of your reach...
The cure was reverse engineered from his DNA for gods sake and it was so damn ironic that he couldn't use his own generic material to fucking cure himself due to the stone's intervention.
Just his luck...
But at the end of the day, he knew this was the right thing to do, he knew that saving so many other people would be worth it in the end because there are others out there who lose loved ones everyday from this disease and if Peter could help them, help those families, then his second death would be worth it too.
If he couldn't find a way to save himself...
He may not believe in the afterlife and all that bullshit, but if there was one, he'd hope that all these deeds he has done in his short second life would make up for all the people he's killed.
But who was he kidding, if there was an afterlife he'd be going straight to hell for all the dirty shit he's done...
But back on track, the cure.
It was done, and the only thing he needed to do now was to track down Dr Foster and hand her over the notes to how to make the cure while also giving her a very special dose of the vaccine he made himself.
There was only one dose like the one he'd be giving to Dr Foster, and it was very special indeed. Like the stone suggested, he found a way to make a serum out of it by using a few certain strands of his DNA which gave him his powers.
The cure that he'd be administering to Foster would not only cure her cancer, but it would make her stronger, faster and more agile then ever before.
He knew that there was a reason that the stone suggested he did this, and he would bet the rest of his short life span that it had something to do with Foster's relationship with Thor.
He didn't know why the stone wanted Jane to be enhanced, but who was he to question a cosmic space stone?
Now though, was the easy part of this whole debacle.
Finding and locating Dr Foster...
Simple enough, he was an assassin for a good five years after all, he knows how to track and locate people better then anyone.
The hard part of that whole plan, was actually getting to Foster.
Seeing as how he could barely walk and as soon as he stepped foot out of this lab, his treacherous AI would tattle on him.
The more he thought of it though, the more he was willing to risk the wraith of the Avengers.
Jane needed this, and he couldn't wait for a damn escort.
They could scold him after he cured her all they wanted.
"ACE, find Dr Foster please. Hack world governments, by pass security protocols I don't care, just get it done." He said softly, carefully placing the syringe and serum in a protective box before shutting it and clearing his desk of the rest of his supplies.
"On it boss." The AI said with a melancholic tone of voice that Peter picked up on, but decided to ignore.
His AI has done all she can to help him as well, it wasn't just him trying to find a way to stop the Soul Stone's power from killing him. ACE has spent countless hours, days and nights trying to find a solution but in the end, she came up empty handed just like him.
The power was feeding off of his DNA, there's nothing he could do except remove it all together from his cells, or allow the Power to fully bond with the DNA because right now, it's like a parasite, feeding on his spider genetics which is why his powers are being suppressed, allowing the Cancer inside of him to tear away at his body until...
There just wasn't a feasible way to safely remove the power from him without killing him.
At least not one that they've found...
But ACE well, she's taken it pretty hard. Peter is pretty sure that she blames herself for not fixing him which is completely bizarre since it isn't her fault at all, but he doesn't think there would be anything in the word he could say to convince her otherwise.
So, most days they just pretend that everything's alright, even though things are clearly not alright...
"I got her. She's apparently been contacting a certain Dr Selvig. I can retrace the signal of their calls and find out where she's been holding up, one moment." She said and sure enough, after another moment of waiting she spoke up again, "Got her. She's holed up in an apartment under her name in London. From what I can tell, it's more of a lab though."
"Alright." He said, slowly getting up from the chair with his cane in his right hand and the box underneath his left arm, "Let's go cure cancer."
He started walking towards the hanger where he's been keeping his jet that Yelena and him used during the five years everyone was dead but ACE suddenly called out to him.
"You do know once you leave I have to inform them, right?" She said, causing Peter snort.
"I plan on it Sugarplum." He replied back, missing the sad smile that crossed his AI's face at the nickname once he left the room.
"You're gonna make it Peter, even if it's the last thing I do. I'll make sure of it." She muttered into the empty room, vowing to herself that her maker would make it to see the day where his family remembered him.
Somehow...
It was very easy to sneak into Dr Foster's apartment.
He didn't know if that was just his skill that allowed him to do so undetected, or if it was all his AI.
It was probably ACE, considering he couldn't move as fast as he once could.
A day after he left his lab, he was finally right outside the door to where Foster has been hiding and he knew by now that one of the Avengers were definitely on his tail, but he was hoping he could give Jane the serum before they arrived.
They didn't need to know he had given Jane superpowers.
At least not yet...
Peter, without further delay walked over to the door and saw that there was a keypad on the door that no doubt needed a code. So, he raised his right hand and pressed his AI bracelet against the key pad, allowing ACE to remotely hack into the device.
He watched as numbers kept flashing across the screen until ten seconds later the code flashed onto the screen and the door clicked softly, unlocking for the man.
"Thank you baby girl." Peter whispered out loud, knowing his AI would hear him. He reached for the door, quietly pulled it open and as quickly as he could with his malfunctioning body limped his way in and shut the door.
Once he got in, he allowed his eyes to wander a bit and saw all the computers and different devices scattered across the room. There seemed to be one main room to the apartment and two doors off to the side which Peter assumed one went to a bathroom and the other a bedroom.
But, when he looked towards the main desk, he saw Foster sleeping on the couch to the right of the computers. She had a light fluffy blanket across her body with her head propped up onto two pillows and her right hand was hanging off the side of the couch.
She appeared to be fine, her face was pulled back in a semi relaxed expression but Peter was a spy, he knew how to read people and the young man could see the lines of stress around her eyes, the hidden pain she tried to hide because he saw it every time he looked at his expression in the mirror.
She looked just as weak as him...
He walked over to the couch and as quietly as he could, picked up a nearby stool and sat it down right in front of the piece of furniture. With a soft groan, he lowered himself to the stool and placed his cane up against the desk.
After he took a moment to compose himself, he purposely made some noise by banging his cane against the desk and he watched as she stirred gently against the couch.
When he saw her start to groggily open her eyes, he opened his mouth to speak, "You know, a friend of mine once said don't die, until you've put up a fight," Peter softly scoffed and shook his head while Jane tensed and tried to sit up when she saw some random person in her apartment, "I never realized how very true that statement was until years later, when I was fighting for my life, surrounded by allies on a scorched battlefield in Scotland." He laughed, "But that's a story for another time I suppose."
"Who are you? W-what are you doing here?!" Jane exclaimed as she tried to sit up from the couch, hissing in pain as she did so though. Peter watched as she tried to get up for a second longer before he gently picked up his cane and pushed it against her chest, keeping her sitting in one spot.
"Me?" He shrugged with a small smile, "I'm nobody, At least not anymore. What I can give you, is the question you should be asking." He said, reaching into his coat and taking out the syringe with the enhanced cure. "It's come to my attention that you've been trying to find a cure for your, disease correct?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he slowly pulled his cane back and loosely held it in his right hand while his left held the syringe.
Jane, still eyeing him distrustfully, scoffed, "What's it to you?" She asked, still not understanding what this man in front of her wanted.
He looked about just as sick as she was if she was being honest. He obviously needed the cane he had or he wouldn't be using it but to her, the most strange thing about him was his eyes.
They spoke of years of experience, of pain and sorrow.
Peter clicked his tongue, "You aren't the only one." He said softly, causing Jane's eyes to widen but before she could say anything, Peter lifted the syringe in his hand, "I can save you."
Foster sputtered a bit before calming herself down and after a second where she just stared at Peter, she just started shaking her head with a soft chuckle, "Very funny. I don't know what kind of sick joke this is but you need to leave, now." She said, trying to stand up but Peter quickly placed his cane back against her chest.
"This isn't a prank, I swear. There are others out there looking for a cure, I just happen to be the only one who's found it." He said, trying to make sure he conveys just how serious he is with his eyes.
He needs her to believe him, because if she doesn't then his whole plan goes out the window and then trying to stick her with a syringe is gonna be a hell of a lot harder when she's trying to fight him off.
"I'm sorry if I'm being a little rude at the moment, but you break into my apartment, tell me there's a way to, to cure this disease that's going to kill me! And you, you just sit here like you own the place!" Jane glared at him and pushed the cane away from her before pulling herself up from the couch to stand over Peter who was still sitting calming in the chair.
"You've got some nerve..." Before she could even finish her sentence, a voice rang out behind the two people, a voice that made Peter stiffen.
He thought he'd have more time...
"I'm sorry for my friend here Dr Foster, he means well but sometimes he forgets he can't just barge into people's homes anymore. At least not without a good reason." Natasha Romanoff said as she casually leaned her side against the doorframe, sparing a raised eyebrow towards Peter before she turned her attention back to Jane.
"Mr Parker here forgets that he doesn't have that kind of jurisdiction anymore." She said offhandedly with a too innocent look across her face.
As soon as the words came out of her mouth Jane gasped in shock and Peter turned his ire towards the other spy in the room, "You did that on purpose." He said, causing Natasha to smirk at him a moment before shrugging her shoulders, uncrossing her arms across her chest and subtly winking at him.
"Did what? Tell her who you are? I think you owed her that much considering you broke and entered into her apartment." Nat said.
"She didn't need to know my name." He insisted, "In case you forgot I'm a walking corpse Natasha." Peter snapped before closing his eyes and exhaling a breath, trying to calm himself down and missing the concern that flashed in the spy's eyes.
Peter was never one to lose his cool like that, even in the short amount of time she's known him.
Things were getting worse, and she didn't know how to fix them...
After a moment of silence from every party, Peter shook his head and opened his eyes, turning to the other doctor in the room, "Let's try this again. My name is Dr Peter Parker, now that that's out in the open," He turned to pass a quick glare at Natasha, "It's a pleasure to meet you Foster." He said, getting up from the stool and offering the still shocked doctor his hand.
"Like, P-Peter Parker? The, Peter Parker? The one that sacrificed his life to bring back the other half of the universe. Spider-Man?" She asked, still not raising her hand to shake his hand.
Peter sighed and lowered his hand, "Yup, that's me."
She shook her head, "How? They said you, gave your life for one of the stones right? How are you here? And why do you look like your knocking on deaths door?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Peter huffed, "That's, not far off but also a long story...I wasn't lying about that cure though." He said, looking to steer the subject back to why he came here to begin with.
Jane sucked in a breath before exhaling and scanning him over with her eyes, trying to find any part of him that was lying.
But he wasn't...
"Why?"
Peter titled his head, "Why what?"
"Why me?" She clarified, "There are so many others who have Cancer. So many other doctors you could've gone to, why me?"
Peter sighed and rubbed a hand over his face before answering her, using his cane to help him as he started to pace in front of the two women.
"I'm gonna be frank with you Doctor, I'm on borrowed time." He admitted, coming to rest near a counter which was probably apart of the old kitchen, "I need someone who's smart enough to finish my work when I'm gone. Someone who I know will distribute it equally to whomever needs it. It's also icing on top of the cake I get to cure you before," He swallowed thickly before continuing, "Before kicking the bucket myself."
If he still had his enhanced hearing, if the Soul stone wasn't suppressing his powers he would've heard how Natasha's heart sped up as she inhaled softly at his words.
She had to believe there was still some hope for her sisters best friend.
Even if her sister didn't remember him, she knew how important this young man was to Yelena.
Since the two years he's been back, the people who have forgotten about Peter have definitely taken a toll, even if they don't remember why.
The Starks are a shell of their former shelves, always plagued by nightmares. From what she's been told, it's always about a faceless young man, a man who she remembers as Peter but to them, they can't seem to place his face.
It either ends with him cursing them to damnation or dying in front of them...
Even Morgan has been getting nightmares about this faceless boy...
Happy and May have been in the same boat as the Starks and where she may not be in contact with Peter's old school friends, she's heard from Bucky who has been keeping tabs that they don't look as good as they did two years ago.
But Yelena...
She's never seen her sister look so broken before. She barely sleeps at night, doesn't eat, barely drinks and only gets out of her room when Natasha forces her sister to.
She knows she lost something, but she can't remember that it was her partner, the man she called her best friend and confidant for those five years of pain they went through.
Together...
It's broken her heart to see her sister like that. So lost and alone that even she can't reach her from the confines of her mind she's buried herself in. It was actually Melina and Alexei though that brought Yelena back to her at the compound.
They had gotten concerned with Yelena's lack of focus and had finally said enough was enough when she had gotten shot on a mission for not paying attention.
Ever since then, she's never left the compound property unless Natasha forces her to do so.
And even then, she barely talks when out in the city. Ever since the second outing though, when her sister had had a full blown panic attack she's always made sure to stick close to her.
If she went to the gym, Yelena did.
If she went to the living area, Yelena did.
If she went to bed, so did Yelena.
She can't stand the thought of her sister never recovering.
She knew If Peter died, Yelena wouldn't survive the heartbreak again, the grief when she remembered him.
She'd lose her baby sister because of some stupid fucking space stone and she didn't know what to do about it...
She was brought back to the present when Peter pulled out a small book from his coat pocket, "This is the formula for the cure. It's how I made it, my process and how I reverse engineered the thing. It was tricky, since it used my DNA, but I eventually found a way." He said, throwing the book towards Jane which she caught.
"Your DNA? Wouldn't that mean we need you to make the cure? If you die..." She said, leaving the sentence unfinished.
Peter though, shook his head, "My Powers came from a radioactive Spider's venom Doctor. During testing I found out it's not necessarily my DNA, rather it's the radioactivity inside of my cells. I found the exact formula to replicate that amount of radiation. Now mix it with the other components and boom, cure for Cancer." He shrugged.
"So, you're essentially attacking radiation with your radiation, yes?" She asked with a curious tilt to her head as she stared down at the book in her hands.
Peter smirked, "Essentially? Yes. The radiation that I replicated is exactly like the spider venom that was introduced to my system. When I first got my powers, it hurt like a bitch, but after I felt better because the radiation in my body had altered my cells. It changed them and attacked things that were harming my body. I've found a way to replicate that, minus the powers."
"So, there's no possible way for someone to make a super soldier serum from this cure right?" She asked with a worried tone in her voice.
Peter though shook his head, "You'd need my full genetic makeup to even remotely get close to that. And the only place where that exists is in my body, or in my lab where I have blood bags I use for study purposes." He smiled gently at her, "I promise, it's perfectly safe."
Jane bit her lip before looking between Peter and Natasha. After a moment of thought though, she sighed, "What do I have to do?" She asked.
"All you need to do is inject the cure in your arm. It'll take a little while to go through your body and you might feel uncomfortable for a day or two but after that you'll get better. It'll be like any other sickness. You don't instantly get better once you take the medicine, it takes a few days." He said confidently.
Jane nodded her head and after a second she outstretched her hand for the syringe, "Okay, I'll take it." She said as Peter could see the excitement in her gaze, the happiness and the relief.
He nodded his head and handed her the syringe but before she could pull away, he also handed her a flash drive that contained more information and a certain video explaining the little difference between her cure and the others.
"After you inject that cure, watch the video on that drive labeled CureXR. It'll explain a little more about the cure. There's also more information that you might need on those files." He said quietly so Natasha would have to strain to hear what he was saying.
He didn't need her to be asking anymore questions.
Jane nodded, "Thank you." She said softly.
Peter nodded, "No problem. I'll get out of your hair now. Sorry for the, breaking and entering I did. I guess old habits die hard." He shrugged, not really sorry but at the same time he guessed he could've knocked.
"Oh well, think nothing of it. It was...really great to met you Dr Parker." She smiled.
"You too Dr Foster."
"Really?"
"What?" Peter asked as he limped his way down the hall, Natasha following right besides him.
"Did you have to break in?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No."
"You do know that's illegal right?"
Peter scoffed.
"Okay, fair. You look like shit." She said, changing the subject so fast it basically gave him whiplash.
God Yelena was the exact same way when she got going...
"Yeah well that's what death does to a man Romanoff." He scoffed and pushed the down button when he got to the elevator.
"You're not dead." She said with a certain edge to her voice.
He shook his head, "Please, not now Nat."
She raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"You know what I mean. Let's just, pretend that nothing is wrong okay? Everything is fine, Jane is gonna find a way to get the formula out to the masses and save so many people. Go team! Now it's time to go home and rest."
It was Natasha's time to scoff, "Oh you mean pretend like we've been doing for the past two years? Forget that you're slowly dying and wilting away into a shell of what you used to be? If you wanna go home so badly that's fine, I'll take you to the compound. That's where your family is."
"It'll only be more painful for everyone..." She didn't even allow him to finish.
"It's where Yelena is." She insisted.
Peter closed his eyes and swallowed thickly but before he could respond to Nat the elevator dinged and the doors opened, allowing both of them to walk into the small metal cage.
Peter pressed the ground floor button with his cane and leaned back against the wall of the elevator, closing his eyes to try and stop the tears threatening to leak from his eyes.
Now was not the time for sorrow, not yet anyway...
"You're not only hurting yourself, but you're hurting everyone by staying away. She hasn't slept more then three hours for two years Peter, two years! Do you think I wanna see my sister like that?" She exclaimed before taking a breath to calm down, "I know she doesn't remember you, but maybe if you stayed for a weekend, just a weekend she'd feel something. Something that wasn't grief." She finished softly.
"Natasha..."
"No, listen. There's a party that's being held at the compound this weekend. A two year anniversary celebration of everyone coming back. It's only gonna be us, family. Everyone will be there." She emphasized, "It would be great if you came along."
"Nat..."
"Even the guardians are showing up. Carol and all of the space Avengers. You should make an appearance." She finished, trying to look at him but Peter keep this gaze forward, not daring to stare into the spy's eyes.
"We have no idea how long I have left Nat." He said, trying to save himself the hurt of staring into the eyes of his family, only for them to stare blankly back at him.
He didn't need that...
"Exactly, which is why you should come to the party." She spoke firmly. Natasha finally had enough of his attitude though and slipped her hand under his chin to turn his face to look at her.
What he saw was visible concern on Natasha Romanoff's face...
"Please Peter, please promise me you'll be there." She said with a desperation he's never heard from her in the two years he's known her.
Open concern and desperation?
Coming from Natasha Romanoff?
Things must be worse then she's letting on...
Peter, after a second of silence swallowed, "Okay." He rasped out before clearing his throat and blinking away the wetness behind his gaze, "I'll be there." He said.
She smiled at him and just then, the door to the elevator opened and luckily, when the doors slid open no one was waiting to enter.
She rested her hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently, "Do you need any help getting back?" She asked.
Peter scoffed and rolled his eyes but there was a fondness in his voice when he spoke, "No Nat, I can still walk."
She smirked, "Barley." She replied before walking out the doors and turning left towards where the garages were, not bothering to say another word to the young man.
Peter shook his head at her departure before he re-gripped his cane and continued out of the elevator, tuning right where it would bring him out the front doors.
He wasn't even a few feet out of the elevator though, when he heard it...
The call.
It was a slight buzz in the back of his head that reminded him of his spider sense, but it wasn't warning him of any danger.
It was calling out to him, trying to lead him to a place where it would help him.
Help him with what? He didn't know.
At least not yet.
But it washed over him like a breeze, making all his hair on his arms stand up straight, his spine tingling like a bolt of electricity had just jolted him.
It only lasted a few seconds before he shook himself from the feeling, exhaling sharply when he was back in his right of mind.
How curious...