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mercurydancer · 10 months

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Burning Matches Pt 5.

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“No,” Peni gasped at the sight of the warning flashing on the screen, looking from it to Pete. “No,” she repeated, and pressed the button again. At the sound of the warning chiming again, Peni had to swallow back the start of more tears.

汚染

“No!” she cried out and pushed it again, still trying to fight against the prickling burning of tears at the back of her eyes, back of her throat, under her ribs. “That’s a LIE!” Another warning beep.

汚染

“He’s not contaminated!” She pressed the button again, and a sob rasped out from deep in her chest. “Shut up!” she screamed as it blinked out:

汚染

Peni gave another sob, not sure what it meant, what it could be referring to, why it wasn’t working. She had already made sure that there was a field in place for each of them, that it could recognize their cells and what made them different and be able to work around that. Why wasn’t it working? What did it mean? Was the Lizard venomous? But it should have been able to simply take out the venom, why was it acting like…like he wasn’t even…?

Peni couldn’t even think about it, and her arm reared back as the urge came to punch a hole through the monitor that was lying, Peni’s voice coming out in a stilted scream, and Peter B was suddenly before her.

Her arm halted before it even came close to touching him. Peter B grabbed her mechanical hand in both of his, and held her tight, bringing her hand down to his level and staring up into her eyes with wide and insistent brown. There was worry in them, but also a burning resolve that fed into her a calm that she desperately needed.

“Peni, Peni, it’s okay. It’s okay, he’s still breathing, we still have time, he’s not dead yet and he won’t die in here.” Peter B kept his eyes locked on hers in her suit, his voice calm and certain. “Your machine probably just doesn’t recognize the Spider mutate. That’s fine. He’ll be fine. I’ve survived worse, he’ll survive worse, it’s going to be fine, we just…have to take him somewhere else.”

“But where?” Peni asked. “He…he was…”

“I got my back broken once, kid, and I’m walking around fine and I definitely didn’t have any access to your…weird medical stuff,” Peter B kept his eyes on hers, voice steady. “If that happened to him it might take a little longer, but I don’t doubt that he’ll be back on his feet eventually. But frankly, we don’t even know that’s what happened. Do you have a way to take an x-ray? Or anything? What did that first image show? Can you get the data off it?”

“Yes, but…”

“We’ll take him somewhere they can help. I didn’t have any fancy medical technology, and he definitely doesn’t, but we’re both still here. This isn’t the first time he’s been cut up, either…but he’s starting to bleed around the webbing, and I’m lacking some sanitary webbing. We gotta move.” Peter B’s voice was gaining urgency once Peni stopped panicking and it filled her with resolve.

Peni felt herself calm, immediately seeking to hack through the mainframe and steal what information the machine could gain before it decided that Pete wasn’t… She still didn’t know what exactly was happening or why it had blocked him out, but it was like the machine decided he wasn’t even human.

Peter took a deep breath as soon as Peni turned to her task, pressing the button that he had seen Peni use that released the odd bed. He checked the bleeding and found that while it was definitely still oozing out around the webbing, it wasn’t at life-threatening levels. Not yet at least, but it was getting to the point where it might be critical. He turned to ask for help and found three Spiders staring at him in shock.

“What?” he asked.

“That was…that was pretty amazing?” Miles managed breathlessly. “I felt calm and I wasn’t…you weren’t even talking to me.”

“Oh, well…you learn what to say, kid,” Peter finally said softly. “Lot of experience with that kinda thing. But listen, I need you all to help me move him back to Peni as soon as she has the data. We…we need to take him to Aunt May.” The slight waver in his voice hardened as he said those words, knowing that as a registered nurse, and someone that had experience with her nephew she would be the most capable. As he spoke he went over to the remains of Pete’s shredded coat, and balled it up before walking back to the man. He gestured to Porker as the smallest of them, and wadded up the coat, putting it on his wound and applying pressure to slow the blood-loss even more. Porker caught on quick, and pressed, following the conversation quietly even as he applied all of his weight on it.

“No,” Gwen said suddenly, shaking her head as she looked up at him with wide eyes. Peter blinked in surprise, turning back from helping Porker.

“What do you mean…?” he started.

“She already buried her nephew once, are you going to ask her to take care of him again when there’s the possibility she can’t help him in time, and she’ll have to bury another?” Gwen asked. “Why not take him to MJ?”

“MJ isn’t a registered nurse, for one, and for two she has to deal with my healing factor. She doesn’t have any experience with people that aren’t exactly like me, I don’t think she’d be completely up to the task,” Peter argued back, which was true, as much as he didn’t want to throw MJ under the bus, he knew that her medical skills were limited.

“She might be the only one who can help us, even if his healing isn’t as good as yours. Who knows, maybe the sight of him like that also might make her stop wanting kids, so you wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore,” Gwen snapped back.

Peter found himself stuck between bristling and reeling with the absolute venom in Gwen’s voice. He didn’t know what to say for a moment, various words caught in his mouth, fighting over his tongue, and then another voice:

“My mom’s a nurse,” Miles interrupted suddenly, and all attention snapped to him that could be spared, Peni still working on retrieving what information she could. “My mom’s a nurse. She could…she could help him. I know she could. She works in the trauma ward, she…she’s good at this kind of thing, she’s seen it happen all the time.”

Peter took a moment to gather his thoughts again, staring down at Miles closely, taking in the way Miles took a step back under the initial scrutiny, before squaring his shoulders and standing upright. Miles looked up at him with his expression daring him to say no, and Peter finally kneeled down before him. Peter put his hands on the oh-so-small shoulders encased in their black spandex costume and stared deeply into the kid’s eyes.

“Are you sure, kid?” Peter asked. “This is a big decision and I need to be sure that you are sure.”

“Yes,” Miles replied, and he met his gaze with all the intensity that the thirteen-year-old possessed, those shoulders squaring. “If it means that Pete’ll be okay, then I’ll do it.”

“Kid, listen closely,” Peter ordered softly, watching as Miles locked his gaze. “If you decide this is the moment when you show your parents what you’ve been doing and who you are, then alright, we’ll be with you and support you no matter what. But if you decide you are not ready then let me do the talking, okay? No matter what we have your back, but trust me, just let me do the talking.”

Miles nodded, and that was the moment when Peni finally called out, “I have it!” They immediately set to repositioning Pete. Keeping his body as steady as possible without the cocoon was a little more challenging, but still doable, even with Porker’s added weight. “Where are we going?”

“My world,” Miles said, straightening and squaring his shoulder’s defiantly. The black of Pete’s blood stained the red on his fingers. “My mom’s a nurse. She can help.”

“Okay,” Peni agreed, and immediately set to programming. A portal opened again and all of them resumed their places on the mech. Peni leapt through, that weird disorienting feeling lurching through Peter’s stomach, before they were out again. Each of them leapt to the side as Peni threw out her own web, Times Square brilliant and shining before them in the nighttime sky.

Miles took the lead and they all followed him in an odd parody of follow-the-leader throughout the city, keeping high and out of sight.

They had to adjust their pattern to make sure there wouldn’t be many people noticing as they finally made it to Miles’ neighborhood. Miles paused before making the final leap to his fire-escape and into the building, and Peter watched as Miles pulled the mask off, before looking up at him with wide eyes. Peter made eye-contact, watching the fear and the uncertainty war within the young man, before making his decision.

“Say that we need help, and then let me do the rest,” Peter said, and his voice was filled with all of the calm confidence he could inject into it. Miles continued staring at him for a moment, before nodding, and diving into his bedroom. A few moments later he rushed back to the front and began pounding on the door, his clothes changed and fear in his movements.

A woman stepped out a few moments later, pushing curly hair behind her ear and looking at her son. She was dressed in scrubs, looking like she had just gotten off of a shift, her body still holding all of its stress between its shoulders, and her gaze that had been sharp and almost panicked softened into a mixture of concern and surprise when she saw Miles standing there. She ducked down immediately, reaching out with both hands and taking Miles’ shoulders in her gentle, if not steady grip, and began speaking to him in worried, but mostly soothing Spanish.

Peter gave a slight nod at the sight, respect building for her already. Miles threw a glance their way, waving, and Peni slid out of SP//dr, the mech ducking low and camouflaging immediately. Peter helped her onto his shoulder in a move he knew Pete had performed first, and the other two moved into position to better hold Pete steady, Porker still applying pressure. Miles made a gesture at his own room, just as a man ran forward into view, and the other three made the leap over to Miles’ room when given permission.

“Tenemos que ayudarlo, mamá,” Peter could hear Miles saying in Spanish as he led his parents over to his room with hurried feet, the sound of a door slamming a second later, “Por favor, tenemos que ayudarlo, él... él me salvó, y está tan... está tan herido, por favor”

The door was thrown open then, that man that Peter hadn’t really had a chance to glance at before suddenly standing before them all suddenly standing before him. He was tall, broad-shouldered in a way that Peter’s physique could never pull off, particularly now (but he wasn’t thinking about that), and he was definitely the larger threat, the one that was actively going to be worried about what was being brought into his home, what was being brought near his family.

Peter could respect that intimately.

It was the reason why as soon as he knew that the man had taken a good look at the five of them, taken in their bedraggled appearance and the costumes, and had finally focused on him as being not only the tallest but the one in the costume that would be so iconic to their universe that Peter stood up slowly. Holding his hands up, Peter reached up to his head, and pulled off the mask. The man’s eyes widened in surprise at the face that was revealed to him, taking in the lines, the gray to his hair, the fact that he knew that face, and Peter took another step forward, his hands still held up. He heard Miles gasp in surprise at the sight of him taking off his mask, but he didn’t acknowledge the kid.

“Hola, mí nombre es Peter Parker…” he said in Spanish, it having been the language that he had heard as they entered in the door, and the sight of Miles’ as well as his mother and father all boggling was mildly amusing for a moment. He stepped to the side when he knew he had their attention and gestured to Pete lying still on the ground, Porker finally able to move from on top of him, taking the coat with him. “Please, we need your help,” he finished, and Miles’ mother reacted with a gasp.

They hadn’t bothered to reclothe Pete, knowing that it would eat up too much of their already limited time, and it needed to be removed anyway. It left his chest and the ugly gashes with their black blood and their white webbing visible, as well as the awful discolored bruises on his chalk-white skin. The woman dropped to her knees down next to him, her eyes as wide as possible.

”Dios mío,” she started in soft Spanish, “Why is he so white? What…what happened? Why haven’t you taken him to a hospital?” She asked finally, turning her gaze back to Peter, the questions in English, but they were almost…afterthoughts, unimportant, gesturing at her husband with her other hand in a way that he seemed to recognize immediately. Her husband immediately ran out of the room towards another deeper into the apartment, not only showing that he trusted them but also just how closely-knit their bond was. Peter’s respect grew just that much more in the way only another married couple’s could at the sight of such blatant understanding.

“Alternate dimensions,” Peter started. “He’s from one without color. Like…literally without color, it’s pretty wild. Everyone’s from an alternate dimension.” The woman reached up for his mask to pull it the rest of the way off, and Peter immediately ducked down, “Wait, wait, that’s a no-no. If he wakes up and finds his mask missing, he might think that he’s being held captive.”

She nodded, and that was when her husband returned with a downright impressive first-aid kit. He dropped it next to her and moved into position to grab whatever she wanted.

“What about the webbing, does it need to come out?” She asked.

“No, it’s biodegradable, a bit like liquid stitch, but I…ran out…” Peter blinked.

“Alright. I don’t have any staples, we need to close it the old-fashioned way, does anyone have a blood count or anything?” she asked. Her husband held out a hooked needle that had already been prepared and she took it with a nod of her head, suture thread pulled out and threaded through.

“I have the information!” Peni called out and waved her small stack of paper that she had brought with her. She spread it out next to the woman and began talking to her as the woman started her sutures. As her attention turned to that, her husband’s attention turned to them, but ultimately stuck to Peter. Peter did his best to square his shoulders and stand up straight, doing his best not to squirm under the taller man’s scrutiny. He could do this.

“Who are you?” he asked, squaring his shoulders further and using all of his intimidating height to loom over him. It would probably be more intimidating if Peter hadn’t faced down the Goblin.

“Peter Parker of an alternate universe.” Peter responded, “Can I…ask your name or are you the one going to be asking the questions?”

The man paused, taking him in before finally giving a brusque, “Jefferson Davis. If you’re from an alternate universe how did you get here?”

“Kingpin.” Peter watched the sudden flash of understanding on Davis’ face. “A while back he linked everything up and we all got dragged here. On one hand it was the worst because we were being physically torn apart, on the other…it brought us together, and that was…kind of amazing.” Peter looked to the other Spiders, his expression fonder than he wanted to admit. “We fought to come back together and in particular to get back here because…we had to leave before we were able to help your Spider-Man before we could turn off the collider.”

“You were there? Why did you…why did you have to leave?” Davis took a step forward, his eyes flashing with some odd mixture between anger and concern, and Peter knew that Davis had obviously bonded with the newest Spider. “Do you know what you left him to? Why didn’t you finish the job?”

“Because we were literally falling apart. Our cells were rebelling against being in your world and our bodies were…less than happy about it. We left because we were being more of a hindrance than a help, and because…he wanted us to. Because he knew he could stop Kingpin, and we trusted in that. We trusted in him.” Peter saw the way that Miles was staring at him, the wide dark eyes and the awe written on his face and he didn’t say anything more.

Davis paused, taking in that answer, and finally giving a heavy sigh. “Alright. Alright, I can…I can accept that. But why did you come back?”

“Because we wanted to be sure, and because learning how to be Spider-Man? It can be pretty tough on your own and believe me, I would know. I started at 15 and let me tell you what, balancing homework and saving the world was a pretty tough gig. I owed him a better lesson.” Peter hesitated. “We all saw what happened to your world’s Peter Parker. We’re trying to stick together more so…so what happened to him doesn’t happen to the others that put on the mask. Or at least…if it does, there’s a support-system in place.”

Davis paused, obviously thinking, his head lowering as he took a step back. “Alright. Then what…what happened to him?” he gestured at Pete and Peter took a breath.

“It was a…bad time. We jumped into the wrong spot at the wrong time and...without that warning he wasn’t able to compensate. We were looking for your Spider-Man, but we found your kid instead. Or he found us. When he saw what happened to him and how he was hurt he told us about his mom and about her being a nurse. We…couldn’t take him to a hospital. We couldn’t think of a way to explain the black and white thing, and we can’t exactly be taking off masks everywhere, and…when he promised us it wouldn’t be an intrusion, that you’d help us…we took him up on it.” Peter met Davis’ eyes directly, trying to convey everything, the stress, the worry, and beneath it all the overwhelming gratitude. “I’m very sorry for barging in on you like this, and for asking all of this from you, but…I’m grateful that you were so quick to help us. It means a lot.”

Peter watched as Davis huffed out a sigh and took another step back and felt a bubble of satisfaction rise in his chest.

Still got it.

“Alright, alright. I’m sorry for looming and…I trust you. Miles is a good kid, I’m glad he was there when you needed him, though he shouldn't have been anywhere out and about.” Davis turned to look at his son with a frown, and a look that said they would talk later.

“I'm glad that he was there, as well,” Peter agreed without hesitation, turning the conversation and the attention back to him.

“How old did you say you were?” Davis asked him.

“I didn’t, but I’m thirty-seven. Been Spider-Man 22 years, so I’ve got a bit of experience.” He smirked slightly. “Gotta whip these kids into shape.” Just like that, Davis gives a brief huff of a laugh, and a smile slowly spread across his face.

“Alright. I…I have some questions I want to ask you later, but…for now I think I’m good.”

“Good,” Peter returned the grin with one of his own, “Who’s the one helping my buddy?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, that’s my wife, Rio Morales,” Davis introduced. “She’s good, you won’t need to worry about your friend.” Mrs. Morales looked up from looking at the information Peni gave her just enough to give them a nod before going back to reading.

“I’m Gwen Stacy,” Gwen said suddenly, pulling her own mask off and looking up at Jefferson. “I…I’m also grateful for you guy’s helping us.”

“Peni Parker,” Peni said then looking up with her wide and shimmering eyes. “Thank you for this.”

“Peter Porker,” Porker introduced, pulling off his own mask and holding up a hand that…wasn’t wet, Peter saw with a brief flash of annoyance. “Nice to meet you.”

Davis stared down the pig for a moment, before finally reaching out and taking the other’s hand, giving a brief shake. “Um…yeah…? Nice to…um, meet you too?”

Took it like a champ, Peter grinned. He liked these people. Kind of made him feel bad about lying through his teeth, but it was all for Miles. At that thought he finally risked a glance at the teen, catching eyes that were so round and so…amazed they made him feel like he had just moved a mountain, and that was all the confirmation he needed to know that he had truly done good. God, he had missed that feeling.

“I’ve done all I can for him,” Mrs. Morales finally said, looking up at them, brushing her hair back with a black-stained hand. Pete’s chest had been wrapped in gauze, which matched the color of his skin almost perfectly. It was a very discomforting sight, and Peter shifted slightly. “He has cracked ribs, a great deal of bruising, and has lost a lot of blood, on top of what is likely one hell of a concussion, but he’ll live. Judging from the charts Peni printed, he’ll likely be out of it for another few hours at least, but all that leather he seems to be wearing protected him from anything worse. He was lucky." The gaze that she flashed them all was intense, her mouth in a fine line.

The relief that ran through everyone was staggering, Peter finding himself sitting before he even realized what was happening, the other Spider’s dropping into a similar stance.

“Thank @#%&!” Porker shouted out, his hands over his blue eyes, that blond tuft of hair on his head whipping. “I was gonna have to kill him if he died!”

The exclamation broke a scattered laugh out of them, something half-hysterical and half-genuine.

“Watch your language,” Davis scolded, with a slight frown, but he looked happy as well. Mrs. Morales made a sound suddenly, her eyes locked on Gwen's leg.

"You didn't mention anyone else was injured..." she frowned, and they stiffened slightly. What began was more mothering than Peter B could remember happening in a long time. The fight with Lizard had been hard on everyone.

These were good people, Peter finally decided. He was happy that Miles’ had parents like them. When they invited them all to stay with them for as long as it took for their friend to be up and moving, as well as their own injuries to be healed, it solidified that warmth and made Peter hopeful that Miles would be able to open up to his parents sooner rather than later. Peter didn’t really feel bad about lying, but he knew that the longer it took…the worse the fallout would potentially get.

Either way, the rest of the Spiders were there for him, and he promised himself that he’d be there, too.

For now...they would wait for Pete to wake up, and hope that he would forgive them for what had happened.

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fluffypotatey · 1 year

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You know what I wish we'd seen?

More positive actively involved magic users.

Like, we know the Druids support Emrys, though they seem more like a pacifist, non-combatant party (aside from some outliers like Kara, Mordred, Alvarr), and other magic users/beings like Anhora, Grettir, Mab, they all seem to be neutral. They acknowledge Emrys as a superior power, but they don't seem to actively participate for better or worse. And all other sorcerers are usually antagonistic. But why can't we have the other side? I'm sure there has to be some who decide to take Merlin's side. Maybe they don't entirely trust Arthur, maybe they aren't too certain of a Pendragon, but dude, it's fucking Emrys. If Emrys is supporting him, there's gotta be something to him, right?

Let Merlin have people helping him, other sorcerers who slip him spells that are too powerful for them, maybe he can do something with it, passing him information about plots they've heard through the sorcerers' grapevine, even helping him thwart some of the ambushes and traps. Maybe they aren't brave enough to live in Camelot 24/7 like Merlin, but they take turns bringing him messages and supplies, and to get their "marching orders," such as they are.

Also, imagine the look on Arthur's face when he finds out he has a magic Praetorian Guard that answers to his manservant.

yeah see, that's one of the big issues that's always bothered me. like we (the audience) are told that magic is not evil but rather is something as integral as nature. but more often than not, a lot of the antagonist we meet are magic users and most of the time they are power hungry people. i mean, i totally understand the sorcerers who seek out revenge for Uther and by proxy Camelot, but we only either get these types of sorcerers or the sorcerers whom the show portrays as only evil.

it is, frankly, impossible for the magic community to be full of only evil and vengeful sorcerers. there's got to be more diversity than that, bbc 🙄 you're telling me that there are no somewhat powerful magic users living in Albion helping others anyway they can and don't seek to help aid Merlin in anyway. and i mean aid him since s1. by s5 it looked like he was actually getting some help, but they were still sorcerers who fell a little bit in the gray area or just never interacted with anyone other than Merlin.

maybe have Lancelot befriend another sorcerer while he was away from Camelot and sort of sneak him in to help save the kingdom from Morgana and Morgause in s3. maybe Elyan, who had left Camelot pre-s1, have some magic friends that we meet in s4.

tbh, my big issue is that with how much the show tells us, the audience, that magic does have positive impacts and isn't evil, none of the characters besides Gaius, Merlin, and Lancelot actually know that (as far as i'm aware). literally any time Arthur considers that maybe magic isn't what his father claimed it to be, he ends up going back to those prejudices and ideas Uther propagated because "magic killed my father," "magic killed my mother" (still super salty), "magic corrupted morgana," "magic wants me dead." when in reality, that's far from the truth, and Merlin then has to continue to hide a part of himself from people he cares for and loves dearly because all they've ever known and seen is "evil magic people."

just....bbc, explain to me how Arthur was supposed to bring the so-called "Golden Age" to Albion where there's peace between magic users and non-magic users alike if he, himself, believed magic was inherently evil???? how is Arthur the Once and Future King if he never repealed the ban on magic or began working with sorcerers? and i'm saying this as someone who loves the character, but why did we, the audience, not get a chance to really see Arthur break away from his father's prejudices on magic until the series finale?

it just bugs me. there are so many moments where it looks like maybe Merlin has an ally that's pro-magic and pro-unity and wants to help fulfill the prophecy, but then they either become one-time side characters or fucking die. never seen or heard from again. maybe i just want a character or two to stick and maybe give Merlin the support group he needs?

por favor, bbc

#don't get me wrong i love the show but the fact that we barely get morally good sorcerers upsets me #idk seemed like an oversight #yeah i could maybe go on and talk about gilli and how he could have been a great character later down the line to be an ally for Merlin #i could go on about freya and how maybe we could have gotten more lady of the lake stuff or mentions of her (maybe by lancelot since he has #a connection to the the lady of the lake already in the legends. like his last name is literal Du Lac: of the lake. like hello????)#i could point out a lot #but i am prob not the first to do so #i understand that at the end of the day the show ends in tragedy; arthur dies in cammlan. merlin loses his best friend. gwen loses her love #camelot loses their king. and other very sad tragic stuff in s5 finale #but i think we could have still gotten the tragedy of the series finale with the inclusion of more positive sorcerers in the show #maybe that's wishful thinking but idk #we could have it be mid-s4 to s5 that arthur does begin the process of repeal decades of anti-magic laws but there's a lot of pushback #and/or bureaucratic political nonsense they have to do to finalize everything but it happens!#sigh #anyway #bbc merlin #long post #idk if this counts as #merlin meta #but just in case #asks #more of a merlin rant(?)#lol but yeah

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