"What are you talking about?!"

"You're dying. Exactly what I said."

"I don't think I am, I think I would have noticed."

"You haven't noticed anything weird, any malfunctions or your spider sense, like it going completely haywire at the littlest thing? How about your healing? Or your metabolism being even faster than normal?"

Peter thought back through the past couple of weeks. His trip to Europe, his time hiding out at Avengers Tower where he had fled after Mysterio's message. His spidersense had cut out for a little while after the Blip, but it had come back when he was fighting Mysterio, and it was better than ever, in fact. "No, nothing's seemed out of the ordinary. In fact, it's seemed better than ever. Besides, I already technically died once, I don't think I'm doing it again."

Her brows creased. "Hmm," was all she said. She seemed to be studying him. "I could have sworn the scans said..." she trailed off. "But you said it's been better than normal, that could be..." She trailed off again. Peter just looked at her. He was really confused, and she was lost in thought and didn't seem inclined to do much sharing any time soon.

After a few long minutes of her muttering and flipping through an electronic tablet, she snapped out if it. "Sorry. I zoned out. I was so sure I was right that I kinda forgot you were still here."

"Oh. It's okay."

"Do you mind if I...?" She reached a hand out toward him and pulled off his mask. Peter started to protest, but stopped. The while world already knew his secret identity anyway, so there was no point. And besides, she didn't seem interested in hurting him. She could have done that a while back if she really wanted to.

"Wow, you're so young. Like obviously I knew who you were, but still! You're what? 16?"

"Yeah."

"You've sure seen a lot of stuff for a 16 year old." Her voice held something like pity. Her hand touched the side of his face and moved it slightly. She peered into his eyes. "Hmm," she said again.

"What are you doing?"

"Examining you. I don't think I am wrong. I think your body is beginning to show the first signs. Have you had Strange or Banner look at you since you got back from Europe?"

"Uh no. I heal myself, remember? So I don't really need a doctor."

She just raised her eyebrows. "Right, sure." She shook her head, "It doesn't matter, they wouldn't have known to look for this anyway."

"Look for what!? Will you please tell me what the HELL is going on?!"

"You got bitten by a radioactive spider. It only makes sense that the radioactivity would stay in your cells. It's slowly killing you from the inside out. The snap didn't help that. You're growing closer to collapse every day, but you don't want to admit it. But I can help reverse it, I can engineer your cells so that you keep your powers but you don't have the disease growing inside of you."

Fear blossomed in Peter now. Not just fear, but full on terror. He had been feeling slightly...off since his fight with Mysterio, but he hadn't paid attention to it. He figured it was just discomfort and fear since he had been painted as a supervillain. Since then, he had mostly stayed holed up in Avengers Tower, only sneaking out at night and doing vigilante activities where he knew he would not be seen as Spider-Man. When he did go out, his powers had been seeming to be kicked into hyperdrive, but Peter had thought it was just from lack of use. It had always faded after a few minutes, so it couldn't be that big of a deal, right? But still, her words triggered something in him.

"Are you positive you're right?"

She hesitated. "Not completely. That's the other reason I brought you here. I wondered if you'd want to find out?"

"I'm really not sure whether I do or not. If you are right... well, it changes things."

"So yes or no? If you do want to know, just come over here. If you don't want to know, just leave and try to forget everything I said." Her tone was cool, hinting at the answer they both knew he was going to give.

Peter took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I want to know. Just one problem..."

She turned back around. "Oh. Right. Sorry. Authorize Peter Parker." And instantly he could move again. Part of him wanted to run at her, grab her and shake her, another part of him wanted to run, but he forced down his fight or flight instincts. He forced his feet to move toward the back of the dimly lit room toward where Tamaira was standing. As he walked, the overhead lights came on and he flinched against the sudden brightness.

"Sorry," she said again. "I like the dimness, but I'm going to need light for what's next."

"You say sorry a lot."

"Yeah." She clamped her lips together, and Peter could just tell she was holding back another 'sorry,'

"I get it. I say sorry a lot too. Like with my uncle, and the snap, and... and Tony." He blinked hard to keep the tears that threatened to spill out. "Like it just feels like it has to be your fault for surviving, and even if you don't, well then you know people will be worried and then you feel bad about that." Peter shut his lips. He was rambling, like he always did when he was nervous about something. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be telling you any of this. I like kinda tend to ramble when I'm nervous about stuff and..." He clapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm doing it again, aren't I. I'm so sorry, like—"

"Peter." He stopped talking. "It's alright. You've been through a lot lately. None of this is your fault, and I'm going to help you make it all better. We're going to stop my father, and then we're going to find a way to  Mysterio's message . We're going to get you your life back, and we're going to protect the people close to you. Tony is proud of you, I'm sure of it. He has to be, you're so...good. You always do what's right."

"No, no, I don't! I did kill Mysterio, so maybe he's right! He was trying to fool people and hurt people, but it was an illusion, and I just fought back. I did kill him so I can't be good!"

"He would have killed you if you hadn't killed him."

"Maybe I should have let him. Then I wouldn't be in this mess." He sat down heavily on the table behind him and put his head in his hands.

"No, Peter. The world needs you. MJ needs you. If you had died, Mysterio's evil plan would have gone even farther. Now, are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself, or are you going to be Spider-Man?"