Spiderman Bites Back

Power

When Peter opened his eyes he could have sworn that he was in a weird hospital bed with Wanda leaning facedown on the side.

Peter jerked up into a sitting position as everything flooded back to the forefront of his mind. The Vulture, the collapse, and then...nothing. His eyes widened as he realized that Wanda knew who he was now. He had to get out of here before she woke up!

He reached over to get up but found himself unable to move. His skin was shrouded in a glowing red mist.

"Peter, I know you're scared. But you need to stay calm."

He looked around to see Wanda using her powers on him.

Seeing that reminded him of something else from the fight. "I felt you in my mind. If my senses hadn't tipped me off you'd be..."

She looked guilty, but didn't avert her gaze. "I'm not going to hurt you, Peter. I know, I know all of it. Just calm down and we'll talk."

Realizing that he didn't have much of a choice, Peter untensed his muscles. The red mist dissipated and he felt less constrained.

"Okay...what do you want to talk about?" he asked, tentatively.

Wanda furrowed her brow. "Lots of things. But I'll just settle for the truth."

"Really?" he laughed. "You're talking to me about truth?" her face fell and despite the truth of his words Peter felt a little bad about saying it. "Look, I know that I can probably trust you. If you wanted me dead you'd have just left me pinned under that building. So why don't you just tell me what's really going on?"

Wanda took a deep breath, staring at her shoes. "The Avengers asked me to find Spiderman. But I was also going to school because I needed to have something that wasn't all about them. When I met you I did try to read your mind but didn't complete it. I wasn't just talking to you because you're Spiderman. Until yesterday I had no idea who you were" she chuckled dryly. "I guess that fate has a sense of humor."

"So what are you going to do with me?" he asked.

Wanda looked down at him intently. "Nothing. I know that you're innocent."

Peter blinked away a tear. It was so hard to hear that. "I'm not innocent."

"I'm not going to argue with you. But one thing I know? Spiderman isn't part of Hydra. The Avengers have that wrong. I saw it for myself. But I don't think they'll believe me since technically I'm ex-Hydra."

Peter paused, thinking over what she'd said. "Then they don't know about- me?"

She shook her head. "They still don't know who you really are. I was thorough in tampering with any blood work they did on you. So no DNA evidence that you're anything but human."

Before he could speak Wanda held up a hand. "We can talk more later. But right now Natasha is coming down the hall. She's probably been watching the security cameras and knows that you're awake. Just play along and I'll help guide you in your mind if I have to."

Seconds later, Natasha walked in. She gave Peter a onceover and smirked slightly.

"Well don't let me interrupt. I'm just here to make sure Wanda's new boyfriend didn't get a crush in the wrong way."

Both of them turned beet-red. Natasha was using tactics to throw them off balance. She knew that there was something going on here and wanted to know what it was. Because there was no way that Wanda, a closed off girl fresh from losing her only family and then a boyfriend would latch onto some random kid like he was a teddy bear she needed to protect.

"So, how are you feeling, Mr. Parker?"

Peter had never been called Mr. Parker before. It felt weird.