Anthea... Thea... my child, wake up.

Open your eyes and see. See what you are. See what I made you become.

Anthea...

Anthea...

THEA!

~~~~

Thea groaned in pain. Her entire body was aching. Her muscles were tight and pulsing. Thea hissed as she struggled to open her eyes, the harsh bright light attacking her eyes. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the light shining on her. Using her weak muscles, Thea slowly pushed herself on the crisp white bed she was laying on. With her eyes newly adjusted to the sharp lights, she began to notice her surroundings. To the right of her bed was a simple window with blinds pulled open, letting sunlight in. Directly ahead of Thea was a stand that, on top of it, held a vase filled with flowers and a tv adjacent to it.

Thea pulled back the covers that kept her warm and with a ragged breath, she placed both of her feet on the cold hard tile. Thea first wiggled her toes to make sure she still retained feeling in them. She then gripped the side of the bed, facing the window and looked out it. All Thea could see was green grass. With shaky hands, she slowly pushed herself up into a standing position.

Her back ached and screamed from the new position it was being forced into, but she pushed through it. Thea's legs began to shutter from the weight that had now been forced upon them. She inhaled a deep breath and bent her knee, preparing to take a step forward. The beeping that was coming from the monitor was growing louder and faster; it knew her heart rate was increasing at a rapid pace. She turned her head over her shoulder to glare at the source of the noise. Thea furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the wires coming out of the machine. She followed their trail to her arm. An IV was placed in her right arm, pumping vital fluids to her. Another wire was connected to her fingertip with a clasp over it, the one checking her heart rate.

Thea raised her left hand steadily and ripped off the heart rate clasp, the constant beeping now transformed into a low steady buzz. She then tore off the last remaining wire that constricted her, the IV that was connected directly to her veins. Ripping off this one might have been the wrong choice because as soon as she did, a small but steady flow of blood began to trickle out of the hole it left.

Her hand immediately went to grasp the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. While Thea did so, a loud 'bang', the sound of a door opening made her jump. With her hand still holding her other, Thea turned around on wobbling knees to see Tony, disheveled and looking worse for wear, panting while holding open the door. Through bag ridden eyes he looked up at her and sighed in relief.

"Oh thank god, thank god," He said in a low voice. With broad strides, he came around the bed and stood right in front of Thea. Both Tony and her were illuminated by the sunlight shining through the window next to them. He stood there, silently, for a moment before he opened his arms wide and hugged her in a choking grip.

"Ow, ow, you're hurting me."

"Oh I'm so sorry kiddo," Tony said while loosening up his grip on her completely, his hands laying on his side, limp.

Thea smiled at him and he smiled back.

"So..." Thea paused thinking of something to say, "What happened while I was asleep?"

Tony too, stayed silent and moved his eye contact to the floor. He sighed and brought a hand up to rub his eyes and then looked back up at Thea.

"You missed a lot while you were in a coma for a week."

Thea raised her eyebrows and her eyes grew, "A week?! I've been in a coma for a whole week?" She took a step back towards the bed behind her, her leg knocking into the side of it.

"You weren't in the coma by chance... I had to make the decision to put you in a medically induced coma." Tony replied. He pivoted on a foot and turned to look at Thea.

She sat down on the bed, it now creaking under the sudden weight. Thea placed a hand on her forehead and then brushed away the remaining hairs that were obscuring her view of the floor.

"It wasn't an easy decision for me to make, but I knew it was the best one," Tony answered, looking down at her.

She finally looked back up at him, her hair thrashing all over.

"What, just like it was the right thing to sign those accords? Look where that got us!" Thea yelled out at him. Her throat felt like it had been torn in half after doing this. She hadn't used her voice in a week and coming straight out of the coma yelling wasn't the best idea.

In response to this Thea immediately coughed out. She hacked out coughs for what seemed like forever, her hand came to a stop right in front of her mouth and held it there while she coughed out.

Tony stood idly by, his hand outstretched at her.

After a couple more coughs, her chest came to a halt on the shaking. But in her hand, Thea could feel a slight tickle fall from her mouth. Trying to cover up her hand from Tony's view, she glanced down at her palm to see a small splatter of crimson blood on it. Tony tried to peer over at what Thea was seeing but she quickly clamped her hand shut, effectively stopping Tony's viewing on it.

Tony's hand, which was previously outstretched towards Thea, was now resting on her shoulder.

As quickly as it came to rest on her shoulder, Thea slapped it off of her and stated in a clear voice. "Get out." She stared Tony straight in the eyes and repeated herself when he didn't budge. "Get out."

All Tony did in response was take a step back towards the window.

She glanced away from him and could feel small tears begin to form in her eyes.

"I swear to god Stark. If you don't get out of this room—"

Without missing a beat, Tony looked down at her one final time and walked out the door.

Thea blinked and looked down at the floor, her bare feet resting on it. A single tear fell freely from her eye and she watched it fall rapidly to the ground, where it splattered against the cool tile. Thea looked up at the window and watched as a Quinjet flew overhead. She braced her hands on the bed and scooted herself further onto the bed. She looked to the left of the bed and peered down at a tableside that held a phone, a remote and a water bottle.

Thea reached over and picked up the remote that lay there. She looked straight ahead at the TV monitor that showed a black screen. She glanced back down at the remote and clicked the red power button. The TV came to life immediately after. The channel was the local news, and the story they were currently on was none other than the Avengers.

The well-dressed news lady said that the damage inflicted at the German airport was being taken care of by the Stark Relief Foundation. Thea rolled her eyes and she was about to change the channel when the lady suddenly mentioned Steve's name. Thea took her finger off the button and placed the remote back down to her side.

"Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, is still on the run, along with who we now know is the Winter Soldier."

Thea relaxed her shoulders, which had been tensed.

"But in better news, the others that were a part of the resistance team, led by Captain America, were all placed into immediate lock up. Only one other, that was a part of this team, has yet to be located. The name Dark Matter should be familiar to all those who witnessed the 2012 attack. She is the one who is held accountable for—"

Before she could finish her sentence, Thea quickly shut off the TV and threw herself against the pillow that lay directly behind her. Thea tossed the remote to the side, aiming for the table next to her, but the remote missed its target by a few inches and it crashed into the ground. The hard tile causing the plastic of the remote to break and crack. Thea sighed in response and pulled up the blankets at her ankles.

~ Author's Note ~

All rights to Spider-Man and original plot goes to the Marvel franchise and their fantastic movies and comics. I own new story lines and new characters, like Thea Quinton.

It's on the shorter end compared to my other chapters, but I'm kinda proud of the writing in this one.
My writing is usually pretty basic but I feel like in this chapter it was more detailed than usual.

Also, sorry for the lack of Peter but next chapter will be worth it.......and it's coming soon if you know what I mean.......*wink, wink*
Peter and Thea sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

How are you liking the story so far? What are your theories? I would like to know.