Peter sat with his legs crossed on the floor, tightening screws and adjusting fittings on his web-shooters to try and achieve the perfect fit. In his trial run he had succeeded in creating web-shooters that functioned for travel but he hadn't considered, for some reason, extended use of said web-shooters. When he had used them for longer periods of time he had found that the cuff of the shooter had begun to rub away at his wrist and had left a very red and very sore series of scuffs on both of his wrists.

"Maybe I could add some cloth padding to the undersides of them?" Peter asked himself, looking at the inside of the shooters "No... that would get really gross whenever I started to sweat and I don't want that... maybe water pads? No, they could burst if I angle my wrist wrong or pressure gets put on them... maybe Twilight knows?" Peter took out his phone and unlocked it, preparing to dial Twilight's number for his request before he realized something.

"How... how am I gonna ask her this without telling her that I have web shooters?" Peter asked slowly "Just 'Hey Twilight, I'm just calling to ask you about how I can get my watches to stop rubbing my wrist raw when they move around repeatedly... what's that? Why are they doing that? Oh well, you know, because they just do', yeah, that'll go over real well Parker" He was going to put his phone back into his pocket before it began to vibrate loudly, the caller ID showing that it was Twilight calling.

"Huh" he said in a surprised tone "Spooky" He answered the call and placed it next to his ear while still tinkering with his web-shooters.

"Peter!?" a hysterical Twilight demanded. The loudness of the voice caused him to recoil in shock, his phone slipping away from his shoulder and dropping to the floor.

"Peter, come on, answer me!" Twilight yelled, sounding like she was sobbing.

"I'm here!" Peter called out, dropping his screwdriver and picking the phone back up again "What's wrong?"

"It's Cadance... she... she's" Twilight said, unable to speak before wailing loudly. There was the sound of the phone changing hands before Harry's voice came from the speaker.

"Pete?" he asked.

"Dude, what the fuck's happening?" Peter asked "What's wrong with Twilight... and Cadance?"

"Cadance was attacked earlier tonight, like, beaten all to hell" Harry answered.

"What?!" Peter demanded "By who?"

"We don't know, Shining found her lying nearly dead in a pool of blood and they rushed her to hospital, she's stable but she's not gonna wake up any time soon" Harry explained. Peter was silent for a brief second, his hand clenching tightly as his eyes shot to his wardrobe where his evening suit was hanging until needed.

"Do we have any idea, even a little, who did it?" he asked.

"I just said we don't know, and until Cadance waked up we're in the dark on this one" Harry sighed "Shining's been tearing this place apart and we've had to retrain him twice already"

"I can imagine..." Peter nodded, his eyes falling back down from his wardrobe, knowing he had nothing to go on "How long are you going to be there for?"

"I'm gonna stay for as long as I have to" Harry answered "This has really messed everyone up, and none of us have any why this happened" Peter stared at his web-shooters for a brief second before his eyes widened in realization.

"I think Shining might" Peter whispered.

"What d'you mean by-" Harry began before Peter hung up the call and stuffed his phone back into his pocket. He picked up his web-shooters and fastened them onto his wrists, rolling and moving his joint to see if his adjustments were good enough. He pulled on his jacket and put his shoes on before turning off his bedroom light and leaping out of the window, making his way to Midtown Hospital.

Harry sat with Twilight leaning on his arm, staring at the open window slightly down the hallway where a pair of thin drapes were blowing lightly. He heard Shining shout something at the nurses seeing to Cadance, turning his head quickly to see the large man retrain himself from throwing a table across the room by clapping his hands to his face. There was a loud squeak of rubber on the laminate flooring and Harry turned around quickly to see Peter of all people, standing up from what looked like a crouch, and rushing over to them. His usually thick and strong quiff was wind-whipped and messy now, appearing as if he'd been out in a storm, and he seemed slightly out of breath.

"Pete?" Harry asked in confusion "Where'd you come from?" Peter ignored the question and looked around for something.

"Where's Shining?" he asked over his shoulder.

"In with Cadance... but only family are allowed to-" Harry began. By the time he'd finished the second word Peter was already striding across the hall to Cadance's room. Peter opened the door and walked in, looking left to right as he saw a pair of nurses, Shining and two people he guessed were Shining's parents.

"Excuse me young man but I'm going to have to ask you to leave" the nurse said, blocking his way. He looked over the nurse at Shining who was red faced and still furious, seemingly ignoring the scene going on around him.

"I think I know what happened to Cadance" he blurted out before he was pushed out. Shining whipped around to look at Peter, his eyes red and bloodshot. He stormed over to him and glared furiously.

"You better not be fucking with me kid" Shining growled.

"I have an idea of what happened but I'm not completely-" Peter began. His sixth-sense went off as he saw Shining lunge his hands forward. Deciding to play it cool he allowed Shining to grab hold of the scruff of his shirt and push him up against the wall.

"Shining!" his mother yelled. Shining ignored him and glowered down at Peter.

"This isn't a joke Parker, my wife nearly died tonight because of this, and if you're not sure about something in your stupid mind then..." Shining said, closing a hand around his throat in pure rage "Then you better not fucking talk!" His actions made it Peter's turn to lose his temper. He looked around Shining to see his father attempt to move him back. Anger flared up in Peter's eyes as he grabbed hold of Shining's wrists and wrenching them apart before running his hands down the insides of his arms and with a push he placed his hand on Shining's chest before balling his fists around his shirt. Twilight and Peter were on their feet, watching this from the doorway as Peter used his super strength to whirl around and lift Shining off his feet, pinning him up against the wall and holding him there. Peter's heart pounded in his chest, his eyes locking with Shining's as the anger vanished from both of them. Peter dropped Shining back to his feet and backed away slowly, noting the glances of amazement in the eyes of those around him.

"P-Pete... what the hell was that?" Harry asked, looking at his friend in shock.

"Never mind" peter said, shaking his head and turning around, avoiding the eyes of those looking at him "I think I know what happened to Cadance... why it happened at least" Shining straightened his shirt and cleared his throat.

"Go... go on" he said, unwilling to speak or apologize about what had just happened.

"You told me when my Uncle was killed that his killer had been blown up in an attack on the crime scene and forensics officers right?" Peter asked.

"Yes" Shining nodded.

"They did it because they thought you were going to be there..." Peter continued slowly "And when that failed they decided to go after Cadance instead"

"As a warning" Shining mumbled, clenching his fists angrily.

"Exactly" Peter nodded, turning to look at Cadance's battered form, hooked up to breathing apparatus and life support machines. It hit him for the first time just how badly beaten she'd been. He'd seen police reports and read comics where the hero's love interest or best friend had been attacked in an alley but they'd walked out with a swollen lip, black eye and a stitch on their forehead. This wasn't like that. Cadance had been ravaged, her face was swollen, bruised. There were stitches, bandages and casts all over her in an attempt to keep this once goddess-like figure in one piece. He could still see her beauty, buried underneath the pain and agony she'd had inflicted on her that night. It was only when a hand touched his shoulder he realized that he'd been shaking violently.

"I think you need to leave young man" a woman's voice said, presumably Shining's mother "This is something you shouldn't see at your age" Peter nodded and numbly allowed himself to be steered out of the room. The middle-aged woman closed the door with her soft hands and placed a gentle one on Peter's back, guiding him back to where Harry and Twilight had sat down again. Peter sat down as the woman crouched in front of him, a soft smile on her face. She was a woman that looked just like Twilight but with lighter purple eyes, and white streaks in her hair that had been tied up into a bun.

"Are you alright?" she asked in a kind, caring tone.

"Y-Yeah" Peter nodded, regaining himself slightly, enough to smile weakly at her.

"What's your name young man?"

"Uh, Peter, Peter Parker" he answered. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow before nodding her head.

"You wouldn't happen to be May Parker's nephew would you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am..." Peter said in a confused tone "How do you know her?"

"We went to high school together, we were close friends from the minute we met, us and another woman named Anna Watson" she answered "When my family moved back to New York I found out we worked at the same hospital together, we're both nurses" she explained.

"Right" Peter nodded, staring blankly once more.

"I heard about what happened to your uncle Ben" she said with a sad expression "I'm sorry"

"Thanks" Peter nodded "You're Twilight's mother aren't you?"

"Yes, my name is Twilight Velvet" she nodded "My daughter's Twilight Junior"

"I think he knows that Mom" Twilight said, sniffling into Harry's shoulder.

"I know dear... are you alright now?" Mrs Velvet asked her daughter.

"I'm getting better Mom, thanks" she nodded.

"Harry?" Velvet queried.

"I'm good thanks Mrs V" Harry nodded.

"That's good to hear, I'm sorry about what Shining did Peter" she said, turning to face Peter again.

"He was angry, I don't blame him" Peter shrugged, feeling a little more life come back to him as the minutes went by. He sat back in his seat and sighed loudly, rubbing his eyes before taking off his jacket and setting it on the seat behind him. The second he set the jacket down he nearly punched himself in the face. He had just exposed his web-shooters to everyone in front of him and he prayed to God that no one would notice them. He clicked the triggers back into their slots, an edition he was thankful he'd added earlier, and kept praying no one saw them.

God apparently hates Peter Parker

"Nice watches Peter" Twilight said, eyeing up the silver wrist bands with suspicion.

"Uh... thanks Twilight" Peter said, trying to keep his nervousness suppressed. Harry looked down at them and scoffed loudly, looking at his friend with a smug face.

"Where did you dig those old things out from Peter?" Harry asked "The old Stark-Silver-Bands, I remember that my Dad had them when they first came out in the nineties, the versions you've got are the ones they made before they even did anything" Peter sung praises to any other gods he could think of for having Harry mistake them for something else, deciding to play along with it.

"Hey, I don't have a multi-billion dollar bank account to buy new things Harry, I found them in a yard sale and liked the look of them, they were only ten bucks" Peter said, feigning an offended appearance.

"You could've at least looked for the newer versions that have a stop-watch or a regular watch in them, the ones you've got are just boring fashion accessories" Harry said, rolling up his sleeve and revealing a stained-black silver band with a fancy time piece in the centre "Now these are the better ones and they only set me back about four hundred bucks" Peter looked at his friend with a bemused expression before sighing loudly.

"I have never heard you sound so stuck up in my entire life before now" he chuckled.

"Sorry, everyone has to slip now and again" Harry chuckled, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"Good to see everyone's feeling alright" Mrs Velvet nodded "I think you should head home now and get some rest, you've all got school tomorrow"

"Right, I'll call for a ride from one of my drivers" Harry said.

"I think I'll walk home thanks" Peter said, standing up and grabbing his jacket, pulling it back on and hiding the web-shooters, thankful that Harry had confused them for something else.

"Are you sure?" Velvet asked "It can be dangerous at there at night"

"I'm fine thank you, I can handle myself" Peter nodded. walking off down the corridor after waving goodbye to his friends. Next Chapter: Recovery Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 4 Minutes