Hamartia [Peter Parker]

Chapter 11 - Double Helix

Peter sucks in a breath while Shiloh stands up, offering him a hand to help him stand up. He's holding her hand, using her and the wall to get him to his feet, wincing with the pain in his leg and his side. Sure, he's in physical pain but that doesn't really matter right now because he's got Shiloh's hand in his leading him to Bruce and he's gonna find out exactly what's wrong with him. It's terrifying and he knows Shiloh will be there with him through every step of the way and that makes him feel better. It's just hard for him to start looking on the bright side of things so quick and soon. Shiloh can hold the optimism for him, he'll just squeeze her hand and listen to Bruce.

Shiloh and Peter enter the room where Bruce is sat in a flannel, sleeves rolled up a little, glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose as he looks at the computer screen. He seems to be in deep thought and Peter and Shiloh are both feeling like they're going to explode with anxiety.

Shiloh clears her throat. "Uh, Dr. Banner?"

Bruce immediately looks to the two of them, paying no attention to their still connected hands while a smile comes to his face. "You're here." He says, pushing his seat back and grabbing a tablet. "Do you want to step out?" Bruce asks, walking up the two of them, his eyes on Shiloh.

She looks to Peter, expecting him to have changed his mind already but he doesn't. He squeezes her hand, a silent plea for her to just stay there. "S-she can stay." Peter says with a shallow breath and a nervous but faint smile. "What, uh, what'd you f-find?"

"Are you sure?" Bruce asks, hesitance in his voice as he looks between the two of them, making sure this is Peter's decision given his insistence on Shiloh not being in the room the night before.

Peter nods. "Y-yeah, yeah. I asked her." Peter says, his grip tightening around Shiloh's hand, almost cutting off her circulation before he realizes he's squeezing too hard, his grip loosening once more but Shiloh doesn't even budge. Her eyes stay on Bruce, waiting.

"Right," Bruce says, looking at the tablet before switching it around to show Peter and Shiloh. "So, you're blood and DNA was mutated with the bite of the radioactive spider, thus giving you these powers and your healing ability. This is what your DNA looked like when we drew your blood for your leg."

Bruce shows them the digital double helix, something they've both seen a hundred times before in the testing that's been done with Peter to understand his powers. It has the usual color-coded strands that show which parts are his, that make him just Peter Parker, and which parts are actually from the spider. Purple, indicating the spider, bleeds onto the red backbone and blue backbone of the opposite side. The bars in between the backbones being greens and yellows, blotches of purple decorating each one.

"And this is what it looks like now."

He swaps the screens, showing Peter's DNA and this time, instead of it being completely intact and color-coded like Bruce has it, it's turning grey where the purple usually is. Spots of the backbone are deteriorating but are coating with another layer, the color turning blue and red like on the previous diagram.