Tidal Wave [Peter Parker]

Part 6- What Happened

Bruce came back and asked Sage if they could take a blood sample. She was fine with it. They also did a biometric scan. Once that was done Bruce left, leaving Sage and Peter alone in the lab.

Peter was still going over Mr. Stark's designs and didn't notice Sage coming up behind him. "You know, if you shorten the striking pin, it'll fire a lot faster." He jumped. "What, are your spidey senses not working?"

Peter smiled, "Well they don't necessarily work like that, it only detects threats and I don't see you as a threat."

Sage nodded and turned back to the schematics that he'd been staring at. "You should also add miniature repulsors to strengthen your taser webs."

"Taser webs?" Peter said as he turned to face the floating blue print.

"Yeah, see that right there?" she said zooming in on the holographic design. "If you cut the power of an iron man repulsor in half and miniaturized it, it would fit right there and give you," she shrugged. "About four times the shock."

"Wow," Peter said, scratching his head. "How have we never seen that before?"

Sage closed the file, "Maybe you just needed another set of eyes. Come on, I want to lay in the sun."

Peter was confused but he followed her regardless. They ended up on Sage's balcony, laying in the sunshine. She had changed into shorts and a crop top in order to get all the vitamin D that she could. After almost an hour, Sage had fallen asleep. Peter on the other hand was wide awake, curiosity tended to keep him that way. When Sage started to wake up, he leaned against the stone balcony and waited for her to do the same. She sat opposite him and rubbed her eyes. As she pulled her hair into a ponytail, he said, "Sage, I've got to ask, it seems like your powers only come out when your emotions are really high, but have you tried to control them when you're calm?"

She nodded.

"And?" Peter asked.

"And-" she stopped herself. "Well," she turned to one of the plants on her balcony, fixating on the single leaf of a small orange blossom tree. She closed her eyes and raised her hand, flexing her fingers at odd angles. Her eyes shot open and her grey irises had turned a brilliant crystal blue. The leaf started to wilt and Peter stared at it in awe, his jaw dropping. She was pulling all of the moisture out of the single leaf. It started to turn brown and crumple as a water droplet formed in the air.

Slowly, she started to return the water back to the plant and they watched at the color returned to the leaf. After a few seconds, it started to look completely normal. She dropped her hand and her eyes returned to their normal grey color. Peter kept looking from the plant to Sage. "How did you- what the? Sage?"

She shrugged, "I don't know Peter, that's why I'm here."

He was quiet for what felt like a long time. "We're going to figure this out, you know."

"Yeah," Sage said, thinking about Bruce Banner. "I know."

***

"Tony,"Bruce said. "This isn't reversible as far as I can tell. The accident has changed her molecular structure."

"How is that possible?"

Bruce sighed, "Friday, bring up a 3D rendering of the Stark family accident eight years ago."

"Yes Dr. Banner." Friday did as she was asked.

"Play the rendering from the time the bomb struck at 4:43 p.m." Bruce grabbed a pen and started gesturing to the hologram. Tony forced himself to watch. "The bomb hit your house at an angle of 37 degrees. If Sage was swimming on the ground floor indoor pool, with the chemistry lab above her, the same place where you were working on discovering Vibranium, it is entirely possible that her body absorbed the Palladium in order to combat the bomb's radiation and heat."

Tony's mind started to race, Bruce could see his wheels turning. Tony looked up, "What are you trying to tell me? That my daughter-"

"Sage has become an unstable human arc reactor."