And it was about the same time that Kasey woke up that Peter finally started to come to his senses as well.

He blinked a bit sluggish as he tried to take in his surroundings, wincing a bit at the bright lights and loud beeping from the heart monitor and the dripping from the IVs and just- everything was so loud.

Aurora had been pacing the hall, being stuck between taking off or staying with Peter. The ache in her legs didn't even bother her anymore, acting as a distraction as she walked. The whole time she had been waiting, she had been trying to keep herself from hyperventilating.

Peter had started to try to get up, only to remember what had happened and started to jerk up but Kade pushed him back down gently, putting a hand over his mouth.

"Don't." She warned him, a serious tone to her voice.

He blinked until he could focus on her and realized he wasn't wearing his mask.

She noticed the way his heart rate increased and gave a soft sigh. "I'm not going to tell anyone. I promise. And I'm sorry you didn't get a choice but we couldn't waste more time than we had." She explained.

"From what I can tell, it seems you reopened one of the cuts in your throat, thankfully not the surface one, but you pulled it pretty badly. That however, shouldn't have happened."

Peter looked confused, weakly reaching up to sign, "what do you mean?"

She sighed and leaned back. "Your healing factor should have handled the majority of it by now, or at least made it where it wouldn't be this bad. But it's looking like it's hardly healed at all. Just enough that you weren't choking on blood or bleeding out whenever you made even a small attempt at noise."

Peter frowned. "I thought it had??"

She shook her head. "Partly but here's the weird part. Your legs are in a hell of a lot better shape than your throat. Even Interweb is. Something about this injury is different... I just don't know what."

Peter looked anxious at the idea as she finally let him sit up a little bit with the bed.

"You've been out for three hours. Three hours I spent trying my damn hardest to make sure you didn't die on us. Tony had some ideas and tech that was able to help where I couldn't so you're stable but only just."

Peter frowned a bit. "I have to stay here, don't I?"

Kade nodded. "It's too risky to let you go when we don't know more of what's going on here."

Peter let out a small huff through his nose. "Where's interweb? Or my- my aunt?"

Kade tilted her head towards the door. "In the hall. Want to see them?"

"please."

Kade nodded and stepped out into the hall, locating Aurora quickly. "Hey," she greeted her. "He's awake and wants to see you if you're up for that-"

Aurora heard Kade approaching and turned towards her abruptly, basically waiting on the edge to hear what she had to say. She felt her chest constrict, and a mixture of relief and stress washed over her. On one hand, she was relieved to know he was okay, but was terrified to face him.

"I don't-" She tried to keep her breathing calm. "I can't- I don't think I can go in there-" She breathed out, running a hand through her hair nervously. It had dried by now.

Kade nodded a bit. "It's okay if you can't. I'm sure he'll understand. Just take your time, alright?" She reassured her. "Do you know where, May?" She sounded not quite sure, they had introduced themselves in a bit of a rush. "is?" She finished.

"What?" Focus on the question. Aura shook her head lightly. "Um, yeah, last I saw, she was talking with Tony near the lab. If she's not there she should be somewhere around here." She made a vague motion with her hand.

Kade nodded. "Alright, thank you. And again, just... take your time, alright?" She told her gently before heading off to find May.

She approached the lab where she heard May just chewing out Tony.

Tony was just sitting at the desk, leaning on his hand, letting May chew into him. He was too tired to even try defending himself at the moment. Too focused on finding a solution to getting Kasey home.

Aurora just gave a thumbs up in response, heading towards the balcony to get a breath of fresh air. She hadn't left the hallway since they got there.

May had been furious when they got there, and Tony seemed to be a perfect outlet. After all, she had put her whole trust into this man to keep Peter safe! And now he had been fighting for his life, again! "Tony Stark you'd better hope-" She heard someone come in and turned, relaxing slightly when she saw it was Kade.

"How's Peter?" Was the first words out of her mouth.

"He's awake." Kade replied. "He's still a bit out of it but he's awake and requested to see you." She explained.

Tony looked at Kade and sighed softly at the news that he was awake. That was good... The kid had been in really bad condition when he had gotten there and it hurt Tony to see him that way. He never wanted this to get so out of hand and yet here he was trying to repair everything only for another piece to break everytime he fixed one.

May visibly relaxed, letting out a shaky sigh. She had been tense and upset this entire time, but to know that he was okay was a huge relief. And to know Peter wanted to see her was heartwarming. "Thank you Dr. Kade. Thank you." May told her softly, before heading towards the med room. The previous argument was either forgotten or put on hold.

Peter was quietly sitting in the room, waiting for them when the door opened and he saw May. He gave her a slight smile and small wave of his hand.

May let out a breath she had been holding for a long while now and came over to the side of the bed. "Heard you were up, you feeling any better?" Anything had to be better than him passed out on the floor.

He made a vague so-so gesture with his hand before carefully signing, a bit slower as he had to think it through. "Better but still dizzy." He explained. "Throat hurts like hell."

"Well, I want you to rest until you heal up and get an OK from the doctor. And no more flour fights for a good while after that." May said sternly. She got up and fetched him a glass of water. "This might help with your throat."

Peter gave a faint smile at the thought of the flour fight but accepted the water from her, sipping on it a bit, slightly wincing at the cool temperature running down his throat. He sighed and signed at her. "How is Aura?" He was worried about how she was taking it...

May frowned, and pulled a chair up besides the bed. She didn't plan on leaving soon anyway. "Last I saw, she was pacing the hallway. I didn't see her when I came back this way though."

Peter frowned at that. "Would you check on her please? I'm worried about her..." He signed, giving her big ol' puppy eyes.

"You know I don't like to leave you alone like this Peter..." May told him, trying to avoid the puppy dog eyes. If she looked, it was game over.

"Please, May. She's probably beating herself up over this... Just make sure she's okay-"

May sighed and stood, patting his shoulder lightly. "Alright, I'll go see if I can find her. Do you want me to bring her back here if I do?"

"Only... Only if she wants to." He replied. "Just make sure she's okay and tell her I'm not upset with her, please?"

"I'll make sure to tell her, promise." May headed towards the med bay door, pausing to turn back around. "Don't you go stressing yourself out over this either young man. You need to focus on healing." With that said, she headed out of the room.

May looked around for a bit before Friday informed her that Aurora had gone to the balcony and stepped out, spotting her. "Aura?" She called softly, tapping on the door to alert her.

Aurora flinched, her nerves still getting the best of her. She had been leaning against the balcony railing, trying to focus on the breeze. "Oh, h-hey May..."

She came over and joined her, looking out at the skyline. "He's worried about you, you know." She told her, glancing at her.

"I know." Aurora admitted. Of course he'd be worried. He was just so good. But that had been the second time she'd gotten him hurt, and there was no way he'd be able to explain that this one wasn't her fault. Her breathing spiked and she bit down on her lip. She threw that crap right in his face for crying out loud.

"Aurora," May sighed softly. "He's not upset with you." She told her, placing her hand on her shoulder. "You had no ill will in your actions. You didn't know he'd react that badly... I know you feel guilty and it's gonna feel that way unless you tell it otherwise but dwelling on it will only make it worse. Apologizing and forgiving yourself is the first steps. Peter's already forgiven you and never blamed you in the first place. You know he had found it funny too-" She pointed out.

"Please just... don't be too hard on yourself, okay? You made a mistake and you did everything you could to fix it and make it right. That's all you could do. But lingering on it and blaming yourself isn't going to help make it better."

"I know! I keep being told that I shouldn't beat myself up, or that I shouldn't blame myself. But even if I could, that wouldn't stop me from making another stupid mistake!" She spewed out the words, barely able to contain them all.

"I want to forgive myself, I do. But I can't. It's always there. The little what if in the back of my mind." She crossed her arms on the railing and pressed her face against them, squeezing her eyes shut. She prayed the dark would help the ache in her chest to go away, or to stop the racing thoughts in her mind.

Suddenly May was holding her tight in a hug, a soft sigh coming from her. "Aurora, honey... you're human, just like everyone else. Everyone makes mistakes,"

She pulled back a little to look at her. "I know that doesn't make it magically better, but Aurora... You don't have to be perfect... You are allowed to make mistakes..." she told her, just holding her in a hug.

Aurora flinched in surprise, having not expected the hug. It was almost a shock, really. Enough to make her pause, and bring tears to her eyes. She didn't respond for a moment, just letting May's words sink in. "Thank you..."

May gave her a smile. "Of course... Do you think if I was with you that you'd be able to see him or do you want to wait out here?" She offered. "He said you don't have to come if you don't feel you can."

Aurora ran her hands over her face, trying to wipe away any signs of her distress. She let out a huff and clapped her hands together, to amp herself up. "Yeah. I think I can go in now."

May smiled. "Good. Come on," she led her back inside and towards the med bay.

Aurora took a deep breath and stepped back inside the tower. The nerves were still there, but less now.

May stepped back inside the med bay, Peter looking up when she did and looked relieved to see Aurora with her.

Aurora brought over another chair on the side opposite of the first, and took a seat. Honestly, she was glad for it. "Hey... glad to see you're up."

He smiled a bit at that. "As am I." He lightly joked as he signed. "Kade said I'd have to stay here for a bit... something about the injury not healing as fast as it should or something..." He explained.

Aura knitted her brow in worry. She didn't know if it was from the flour incident, or the original wound. "Not healing? I thought the healing factor would've kicked in by now." She frowned, leaning forward in her chair.

"That's the thing. It did." He explained. "She says my legs have healed a lot but my throat seems to have only healed enough that I'm not bleeding out..."

"So it's just centered to that one area?" She asked, wondering why it was just his throat that wasn't healing. "Then again, we're up against people who's sole purpose seems to be making our lives difficult."

"I mean that is true... and the toxin seemed to slow it down for you and Kase..." He noted. "But it doesn't seem like that's the situation here..."

"It's like it straight up stopped the enhanced healing. At least in that one area." She muttered in thought. She still had the blades they used on her, maybe she'd give them to Tony, see if they were similar enough to determine what the one used on Peter did. "Why can't they just leave us alone..?" Its like they were being punished just for existing differently.

Peter shrugged a bit. "They..." He hesitated. "They're after us, Aura... they want us specifically... so they can perfect they're spider serum or whatever..." He shifted a bit, glancing away.

Aurora frowned, watching his reaction. This had to be hard for him especially, considering he was the original spider-person. "We'll they won't get us. Not again. We know a few of their tricks, so we can at least prepare for those." She nodded decidedly. "And no more splitting up until this is all dealt with."

Peter nodded a little at that. "No more splitting up." He agreed. "But they're getting more willing to risk just straight up coming at us..."

"Then we'll just have to stay prepared." It was going to be rough, staying on their toes at all times. Although she wondered if their new persistence had any connection to Tony's freak out over trying to send Kasey home...

—

Tony was waiting in the lab when his phone rang. He startled a little bit and turned to see who was calling him and stared in confusion when he saw it was Matt.

He hesitated for a minute before answering. "Hello?"

Matt pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling stressed out of his mind. "You know I wouldn't call if it wasn't important Tony. I think what you were so worried about is starting to happen. It's not exactly a paradox, per se, but some sort of glitch."

Matt paused, giving Tony a moment. "I'm not saying that you should come get her or send her back, but I think we should focus our efforts on stabilizing her."

Tony's eyes widened when he heard that, his kind starting to race. "Shit. Is she okay?" He asked him as he grabbed a note book and started scribbling down ideas, circling the work stabilize a few times and stared at it for a minute.

"I'd have to run some tests and things with her but I don't-..." He sighed. "I don't want to add to the stress more than I already have. Especially if that's happening."

He leaned back in his chair, head in his hands. "Damn it... everything's just going to shit, isn't it?"

"I don't know if she's alright or not. She ran off to the bathroom and got sick after the last glitch. It was different than before. Claire described it as a sort of lag, where she was in one spot at the start, and glitched to another spot a couple feet away." Matt explained.

Tony swore again. "That bad?? Shit, I thought I had more time-" He ran his hand through his hair. "Do... are you alright with it if I come over? I need to get some more info for tests to try to find someway to keep her stable," He explained.

Matt turned his head towards the bathroom, listening for Kasey. "I'll have to see if she's okay with that. I need you to send a voice message, telling her you won't take her. I don't want to make it worse, and she needs to hear it from you."

Tony sighed but nodded. "Alright. I can do that. Just keep me posted, alright? I'll see if I can come up with something."

"Yeah I'll let you know if anything happens, and what Kasey decides." Matt told him, feeling exhausted. He hung up to check on Kasey.

Tony gathered some stuff to take with him to help him run some tests and hesitated before stepping into the med bay.

He saw Peter was awake and that eased him a little bit but he had to focus on Kasey. He moved to gather some stuff, carefully packing it all up.

He didn't say anything, knowing they were still upset with him.

Aurora leaned against the bed, stealing small glances at Tony. She had fallen into the next stage of anger, where she used silence against the person she was irritated with.

Tony sighed as he got everything and secured the bag on his person before heading back out, stopping briefly.

He sighed and turned to them. "Is there anything either of you want me to take to Kasey?" He asked them, unsure of how they'd react.

Aurora snapped her head towards him, suspicion etched on her face. Looked like the silent stage was over then. "Why are you going to see Kasey? I thought you gave them a week."

"Something came up and Matt asked me to come over." He explained loosely.

Peter looked uncertain if he fully believed that.

"Yeah cause that explains a lot." Aurora shot back sharply.

"What came up?" May followed. While it wasn't as accusatory, it was still a way to get a deeper explanation.

"I-... She got sick..." He explained. "They aren't sure why and need me to come try to help."

Aurora's expression softened, and she was worried for her friend. "Sick..?"

He nodded. "He thinks it might just be the stress but said she's been acting a bit weird too so I'm just making sure it's nothing serious."

Peter frowned, hesitating. Did this have to do with the folder?

Aurora shared a nervous look with Peter. After all, they weren't even supposed to break into that safe, let alone know what was in that folder.

May watched him for a moment before nodding. "Then you'd best be on your way. Don't want her to get worse."

He nodded at that and started to leave. "Anything you want to send to her?" He asked them one more time. "Or want me to tell her?"

Aurora shook her head softly. "Just let her know what's going on on our end."

Tony nodded and left the tower.

Aurora let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Why do I have a feeling we're gonna hear about something bad that happened over there?"

"Probably because something bad did happen over there." Peter signed back.

"Fair." Aura sighed out. "You think it had to do with that... thing, we found?"

He gave a small nod. "Probably..."

"Dammit." She groaned.

"You could... you could go check on them?" He suggested.

"You want me to like... tail Tony?" After all, he had told them they were to stay out of Hell's Kitchen. But also, she wanted to be there in case anything happened. Like the flatline. She tried to brush that thought to the side.

"Don't have to if you don't want to but we might get to know more..."

"I think I will. Then I can report back and all that." Aura nodded decidedly, pushing herself up from the chair. She didn't have her new full body suit done yet, but she had her mask and that would have to work.

"Be safe, please." Peter told her.

"Yes, be safe, Aura. Let us know what's going on." May agreed.

"I'll try. Keep your phone nearby, I'll send out updates as I go." She pulled her mask out, slipping it over her head comfortably. Before she knew it, she was out the door and jumping off the balcony.

Peter took a deep breath. Be safe, Aura...