Chapter 96: Bursting at The Seams I

Wanna know the worst part about fights?

Adrenaline.

Don't get him wrong! Peter is so thankful for it, adrenaline pushed things like pain and fear, and anxiety to the background and allowed him to joke and think and fight when he needed it most.

But here's the thing…

It tends to run out.

So remember all that stuff it pushed away? All those injuries and emotions?

Well, they're hitting him now.

Hitting him like a fucking truck.

And it's not fun, not at all.

God, he wished the Lizard drowned him back there.

The world didn't really feel all that real right now, the only things he had major awareness of was that Mirko somehow brought him to the surface and that he was so, so tired.

Pain kinda overtook all that anxiety and worry and fear that came flooding in as his brain slowed down, but the tiredness and anger stayed.

It wasn't like they ever really left, though. The exhaustion was the more upfront feeling, sticking to his bones, while the anger was just there in the background.

Even before the tiredness showed up sometime into his Spider-Man career, the anger just… was.

Peter could always tell it was there, close enough to the front of his mind that he noticed yet too far back for him to really care. It was just… there, scratching at the surface at his every waking moment until he finally broke.

Guess that time was now.

Cause right now? He just felt so angry, angry at so many things that it almost felt like he was angry at everything yet nothing at all. Anger held him tight and burned hot for hours until it got bored and went back below the surface, gnawing at him until it came out again.

Peter was just so angry and tired . He wanted to limp away and go home and collapse on his bed.

Like he used to do.

Mirko was carrying him, cursing him out while calling him stupid, reckless, irresponsible, and just so many other things while sounding so angry .

Listening to that rage that underlined her every word, Peter realized he sounded like that sometimes.

Peter would think about it if it didn't hurt to think right now.

With a small huff, Mirko handed him to some first responder standing by an ambulance that Peter didn't remember getting to, his mind still reeling.

Mirko was talking loudly, yet Peter couldn't quite understand her, the blurry shape that Peter was pretty sure was her kept pointing down at him, gesturing too fast for him to keep up as the first responder laid him down in the back of an ambulance.

The woman asked her some questions while somehow taking off the top half of his suit without damaging it, dressing wounds, and stopping bleeding as she went. Mirko sometimes nodded or shrugged or moved in a way that made it look like she was yelling.

Out of somewhere, the lady pulled out a small syringe with what looked to be a golden liquid that gave off a faint glow. She said something to Mirko, probably explaining what was in the syringe, before leaning down and quickly administering it before he could move his arm away.

And all at once, everything just came back.

His senses, his energy and stamina, his lucidity and his awareness, the overwhelming feeling of pain and hurt, and just so many bad things.

Peter shook as the air quickly came back into his lungs, setting them on fire all over again, while his spider-sense screamed as if Peter couldn't feel his own body.

God, everything fucking hurt, and he wanted to go to bed and just not be here .

Suddenly, there was another prick on his arm, the feeling being followed by a wave of numbness as his muscles relaxed.

Slowly, as he took the first steady breath in what felt like hours, his mind focused on the sounds of the world around him.

From distant noises came words, with Peter finally being able to catch what the first responder was saying.

"-dministered a fast-acting painkiller into him, the dose had to be a bit bigger since you said he had increased metabolism to the point where most drugs don't have an effect." She informed Mirko, quickly pulling out some sort of scanner and tapping on it.

A quick flash appeared, the weird tablet the woman had bathing his body in bright light for less than a second.

"What the hell was in the first syringe? It just started making him spaz out."

"Oh, that? One of my coworkers can use his stamina to secrete a healing substance from his hands, calls his quirk 'Ambrosia'. It reenergizes and heals people when administered into the bloodstream, looked like it got rid of that concussion he seemed to have."

That was… convenient. Peter sometimes forgot there was always a quirk for everything.

"Shit, a concussion?"

"Oh, pretty sure that's the least of his problems. It's probably for the best that you found him when you did." The woman said, quickly pulling out a third syringe.

This one was glowing green, Peter's body felt a bit too numb for him to lean away.

With a final prick in his arm, the liquid was administered into his veins. Peter groaned as he shifted where he lay.

"What was that one for…" He slurred, words not sounding quite right to him. God, his head was killing him.

Why couldn't she give him a bigger painkiller?

Mirko's ears twitched at the sound of his voice, her shoulders tensed as she narrowed her eyes down at him.

Peter cracked an eye open, vision still blurry, but he could tell she was pissed .

Her foot had been thumping on the ground this entire time, whole body vibrating with rage while she simply waited until he was lucid enough to actually be aware of her.

Then she yelled.

"Who the fuck do you think you are!? I fucking tell you to not go after that goddamn asshole, and what do you do?! You fucking IGNORE ME!" Despite himself, Peter flinched.

The woman was barely a step behind screaming, shaking with rage as she kept yelling, taking out all her frustration and anger on him .

And as his lucidity increased and he finally began to fully process what was going on, that anger wrapped around him a bit tighter than before.

And it burned .

Why the hell was she getting mad?! Peter did the right thing here! She didn't want to go after the li-Dr. Connors, so he did! What was she gonna blame him for? Taking down a giant lizard monster before it could hurt anyone else!? She had no right!

Peter was the one who almost died! He was the one who got choked, stabbed, slammed into walls, nearly drowned, and had to fall onto water from a point where it felt like concrete!

He was the one who did that! Not Mirko! She wanted to go after him later, so Peter made a call! A call that worked .

Peter should be mad at her !

As he gritted his teeth and propped himself up on his elbows, feeling like he was suffocating as he got ready to yell back. Frustration at so many things came to the surface as Mirko paced back and forth, counting all the ways he was an irresponsible child.

Even tighter, rage and bitterness curled themselves around him in a way that felt so damn comforting and familiar . It covered his vision like a veil, focusing all his emotions on just staying mad .

And right now? Anger felt good! He wasn't gonna feel guilty for going after Dr. Connors without Mirko, and he wasn't gonna feel guilty he nearly died on her watch!

He nearly died on her watch.

That thought made him pause for a moment, regret beginning to bubble up inside him.

But Mirko wasn't done, she was nearly screaming at him about how she should've known better than to trust a vigilante to follow basic instructions.

Just like that, the anger was back.

It felt so welcoming it should probably be concerning, but Peter didn't care. He needed something to be mad at, some one .

And from the looks of it, Mirko was using him for that very same reason.

"Look at yourself! You went down there on fucking impulse, didn't you?! God, this is why I work alone! I don't have to deal with others fucking the whole thing up!" She spat, pointing down at him as the first responder stood by awkwardly.

It looked like she was about to continue and Peter was on the verge of having a screaming match in the back of this ambulance before a police officer walked up.

"Uh, M-Mirko? Sorry to… uh… bother you, but we would appreciate it if you took a moment to file out an incident report."

She spun around, making a man twice her size flinch with her continued glare. After a second, she took a breath that didn't do much to calm her down and nodded.

She turned back to the first responder. "You got enough quirks or whatever to get him healed up now?" She asked, the woman nodded. "Fucking great, come get me when he can walk."

She turned to him and scowled, Peter scowled back.

"When we get to the office, we're gonna have words ." She growled, Peter scoffed.

She walked away, Peter wanted to as well.

"Quite the temper, huh?"

...

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