Spider-Man and The Esper

26. Hospital visit

A gray light slowly began to filter into the dark room from the single large window. Outside the sky is overcast with ominous clouds threatening rain. A still silence permeated the room as its only occupant inside began to stir. Breaking the silence, a rhythmic beeping ticked off the heartbeats of its patient. Various tubes and machines stemmed off from the body that lay in an immense hospital bed in the shadows of the room.

Clouded in a fog of painkillers and strong sedatives, Spider-man struggled to wake despite the lethargic condition of his body. Breaking through the heaviness of chemical induced sleep, came an echoing sound, bringing Spider-man to rouse himself out of the darkness.

Beep

'What is that noise?'

Beep

'Where am I?'

Beep

Dragging his eyelids up, Spidey blinked back the misty fog of drowsiness that clouded his vision. Fighting the urge to allow his eyes to fall shut, the feeling of disorientation overwhelmed his senses, as the room seemed to spin around him. After a minute, the room began to settle down and Spiderman looked around at his surroundings.

The machines continued to beep and hum, slightly annoying the wall crawler as he struggled to sit up in the bed. Pulling his arms beneath him, Spider-man stifled a moan as his body exploded in pain from his movements and his head swum from vertigo. Unable to summon the strength to sit, Spidey collapsed back to the pillow and painted in exhaustion.

His body felt like he had been hit head on by a semi truck. A dull ache radiated through his body as Spider-man pulled his limbs close to his body in a vain attempt to block out the pain and rolled onto his side.

Across his chest and stomach spanned a huge bandage that wrapped itself clear around his spine. Still in a haze, Spider-man gently touched the gauze uncomprehendingly.

'What's this…?' Touching the center of his body with an exploring hand, Spidey writhed as a searing pain shot through his body. As the pain subsided under the painkillers once more, the events of the previous night slowly came back to the wall crawler.

"How am I going to get out of this mess," Spidey muttered in self-pity as he rested his throbbing head on the cool cover of the pillow, facing the far wall of the room.

As he lay listening to the hypnotic whirls of the machines around him, a sudden tingle at the base of his skull jolted the web swinger out of his daze. His spider-sense tingling, he rolled onto his other side carefully to face the open door of the hospital room. Ignoring the pain that crashed over him, Spidey propped himself on an elbow and waited for the unknown danger to present itself.

A second later, a darkened silhouette filled the doorway. Spider-man prepared himself as the figure stepped into the room towards him. As the unknown person stepped up beside the bed, Spidey's muscles tensed in anticipation of a fight.

Bending over the side railing of the bed, the person's face came into view. The young face of a dark haired nurse smiled softly down at him. "So sleeping beauty decided to finally wake up," she smiled sweetly.

Suddenly aware he hadn't checked to make sure his mask was still on to hide his identity, Spider-man immediately shot a hand to his face. A wave of relief flooded over him to find his mask intact over his head. But then another thought made his stomach clench in fear. Had the doctors left his mask on while he had been out? There was no way to tell for sure. He could only pray that the doctors hadn't taken advantage of him. The red mask remained shoved up above his nose to allow for an oxygen tube to sit between his nostrils and wrap around behind his ears, but it otherwise still hid his face.