"Dad!" I screamed. My eyes widened as I watched him twitch against his restraints.
His muscles spasmed and his head constantly hit his shoulder. His short brown hair nearly stood straight. My father's blue eyes almost popped out of his skull; excess spit dripped down the side of his chin and incoherent screams erupted from his throat. Soon, his jerking halted, and his body became limp. His eyes locked onto the ground and a pink substance oozed out of his ears.
I turned away from the horrid sight and to my mother, who was exhibiting the same petrified expression I was. Her mouth shut while her jaw locked in place. She blew her straight, stringy blonde hair out of her face. Mother's brown eyes fixated on me and sent me a gaze. It was the gaze she had always given me when I almost broke down. Stay strong. She had trained me to be tough, but that training wouldn't get me out of this situation.
"Now," William Stryker glided over to my mother and flicked a syringe, "it's your turn." He administered the fluid into my mother's veins. Her shrill scream filled my ears.
I shot up from my dream. I could still hear her cries ringing in my ears. Sweat beads made a trail down my face as gravity pulled them down. Memories flooded back into my mind like waves crashing on the shore. My blood pressure sky rocketed and my heart wouldn't stop racing. I wanted to break down and cry, but I knew I wouldn't be able to. I haven't been able to break down in months. Maybe it was a perk of leading the life that I do.
"Hey!" Steve whisper yelled. His hand rested on my arm as he sat down beside me. It was too dark in the room to see his face, but I knew all of his focus was on me. "What's wrong?"
My body overheated like the first day I had been tested on. Fire raced through my veins and cut my attention span in half. I squinted as my head pounded with a headache and barely cried out in pain. My heart raced faster and faster. Thump. Thump. "Rogers..."
"What's going on?" He put his hand on my arm, only to be burned by it. He retracted his hand quickly.
Thump. Thump. My eyes widened as much as they could and I choked on a scream. I knew exactly what was happening. Thump. Thump. My arm was pulsating red from the liquid inside. "How can the substance destabilize? This isn't possible!" I cried out in shock. "My powers...my body can't handle it anymore..." My muscles began to twitch and soon, I couldn't control my actions. Thump. Thump. Thump. My body jerked around as Steve tried to hold me down. I could feel the substance moving up my arm, crawling through my neck, and into my brain. Thump. Thump. Thump. It burrowed itself in between the crevices and pinched every spot it passed by. The substance electrocuted my brain as if it were inside a microwave. The pain was unbearable, but I couldn't do anything to stop it. Thump. Thump. Thu-
"Parker!" Rogers spat in my face. My eyes shot open and I struggled against Steve, who was holding me down. He was sitting on me and tightening his grip on my wrists. "Are you alright?"
I stayed silent, trying to adjust my eyes to the pitch blackness. I still shook slightly and shivered from a cold sweat. That was...a dream... Thoughts clouded my mind and I tried to weave through them. Am I still dreaming? Am I finally awake?
"Parker," Steve whispered after he got off of me.
I turned my head to him and brushed my damp hair back. I didn't have much breath and my chest heaved to get oxygen in my system. I was so entangled in my memories that I didn't even hear him speak. I managed to ask, "What?"
"What happened?" His voice was low, but had a hint of a caring tone. He moved to the side of the bed to give me some space.
I exhaled. "Just a nightmare..."
Steve snorted and put his back up against the metal headboard. "Yeah, well I could hear you from my room. You were jerking around so much that I had to hold you down before you broke something or hurt yourself."
A small chuckle pushed its way out of my throat before I could stop it, "Your room is next to mine. It's not that far." Talking to him was helping the memory fade away, but that dream...I died. My brain fried. I could feel it.
All of it.
It was like standing in an oven on extremely high while being electrocuted. Don't try that at home, kids...
"That's not important." He was silent for a moment. "What did you dream about?"
Hours of stillness felt to have settled in within the next minute. My eyes focused, but it was not enough to see Steve's features. His outline was easy to spot against the white walls, but that was it. I put my head in my hands to think for a moment. Do I tell him? He seems to care... I wiped the sweat off o my heated face and sat up. "My dad, I...uh..." my voice cracked, so I cleared my throat and continued, "I watched him die. I relived the moment."
I shared information with people willingly, unless I was undercover. Talking about this shouldn't have been difficult, but it was. I picked at the skin on my hands in a nervous manner. My intestines constricted at the memory. Steve waited patiently for the rest of the story and set his hand on my shoulder. I pushed down the bile rising in my throat. "The liquid that was injected into my system stabilized in my body. For my dad..." I paused and hung my head, "his body couldn't take it. The liquid heated up in his veins and fried his brain. Some of it even oozed out of his ears..." I trailed off. Tears weren't forming in my eyes, to my surprise. Maybe it had been so long now that I was numb to it. "I witnessed my mother go the same way. And then I dreamt that I followed in their paths..." I stared at the outline of my hands as he squeezed my shoulder in an attempt to comfort me. I could tell that he didn't know what to do.
A clueless Captain America...Huh. I wasn't used to that.
"I'm sorry. It's good that you're fighting with us and not taking revenge. Revenge is what gets most people killed."
I rolled my eyes, even if he couldn't see me do it. "I guess. Hard to take revenge when the guy that did it is already dead."
"You have a point." Steve stopped and noticed his hand lingering on my shoulder. He almost jerked it away, but rubbed my shoulder before taking it off in a not-so-freaked-out way. "Just...don't turn evil on us now, alright?"
I grinned a bit. It was too bad I couldn't see what expression he had on his face. He probably had on a sly smile. "Rogers, why are you being so nice to me?"
I heard him scratching my head and he cleared his throat. "Friendships have to start somewhere, right?"
I nodded, but then realized he couldn't see. I put my hand to my forehead and still felt like I was on the sun. I used my ice powers to emit a wave of cool air from my hand to drop my temperature. I really didn't know what else to talk about with him. We always bickered. I never thought we'd be getting along so quickly. "I don't know how I'm getting back to sleep now."
"I can try to tell you some stories about my past."
I snorted, "Yeah, complete Snoresville. That'll put me right to sleep."
Steve was taken aback and was offended, "Ouch."
I put my knees to my chest and laughed, "Just kidding! Gosh, don't you know when I use sarcasm yet?"
"Yeah, it's like a baby version of sarcasm compared to Tony's," he shot back in a playful tone.
I smacked his arm lightly and stated, "Hey, that's not nice. I thought you were supposed to be the nicest guy on the planet, Rogers."
"I don't have to be nice to you, Parker," he pointed out in a Matter-Of-Fact tone.
"It wouldn't kill you, now would it?" I questioned. His deep laugh registered in my ears. I hadn't heard him laugh like that before, so being the person that made him do that made me feel...special. Maybe it could be like this all the time. We could get along, hang out, and clearly, still bicker. It would be nice. Peaceful, even. Something in my chest heated up and my stomach started going crazy with butterflies. Oh god... My eyes closed at the thought of it. Am I liking Steve Rogers?
"Hello?" Steve nudged me a bit to get my attention.
My train of thoughts broke into shambles. "Yeah?"
He leaned forward to show I had his full attention. "Are you alright?"
I pushed my feelings aside. I didn't have time for them right now. It was just premature feelings. Nothing special. "Of course. Now, let me hear those stories."
Hours passed as we exchanged memories. Rogers told me stories of when he used to hang out with his best friend when they were growing up. They did some crazy stuff, especially after Steve became Captain America. The plans this guy had during the war was insane, but very strategic at the same time. All of it was definitely insane enough to work. He went on informing me about the prank week the Avengers had when they first built the tower.
Natasha and Clint teamed up to punk Peter. Thor put some pop tarts into the toaster, and Bruce messed with the timer to put it on its highest setting. Thor threw his cup when he realized his food was burnt to a crisp. Steve painted Clint's bow and arrows pink, while Peter aided him in dying Clint's clothes to match. When Clint saw everything, he put everything on and strutted down the hallway like a runway. He worked it. Then, he said he hated all of them and went back to his room to fix it. Tony ended up pushing Bruce down the stairs to make him angry, which completely destroyed the tenth story to the tower. That was when the fun ended.
I wanted to ask about Peggy, but it took all of my willpower not to. I knew he wouldn't feel comfortable talking about her to someone he barely knew. Plus, Steve wasn't the one to kiss and tell. I hung on to every word he said, and he did the same to me when my turn came along to tell some stories. I told him about the time Bobby and I froze all of the student's rooms in the middle of the night so they would be cold. Professor Xavier did not take that too lightly.
Logan taught me how to ride a motorcycle, but I crashed it soon after. After it was fixed, Kitty Pryde and I took it for a joy ride. We had to get out of the school. There was too much drama going on at the time. Drama was just something everyone of all species had to go through. Kitty stepped on the gas a little too much and we wiped out. She had bruises for days, but the bike was fine.
There was also a time when Wade Wilson made a few thousand pancakes over night that completely filled the cafeteria. We had leftovers for months. Not even all of the mutants in the school could finish it. Then, Wade took over a taco stand and hand made chimichangas for everyone. Talk about a giant stomach ache.
Soon, it was sunrise. The orange light coming in from the window painted itself on the white walls of my room. The black furniture seemed to regain its shine and brightened up the room. I glanced over at Steve, who was staring at me. His short blonde hair was messy on the side. His sky blue eyes twinkled in the light and a smirk formed on his lips.
Seriously? I thought to myself. I can't get all lovey dovey now. Keep it together, Parker. Sheesh. "Thanks for staying up with me," I grinned.
"It's no problem. I couldn't sleep anyway." He moved a bit before asking, "You want to help me make breakfast for everyone?"
I furrowed my brow. "I'm pretty sure they don't like waking up around five in the morning."
"That's the idea," he got off of the bed and walked towards my door. When he saw I wasn't following, he added, "You coming?"
Oh, this was going to be good.
"As long as you play your music extra loud on the speakers, I think we're going to have an amazing time."