Living With Secrets

The Child

Wade and Peter made their way to the door of the cell. Peter, who was feeling much stronger now, was leaning on Wade. He was unsteady on his leg, unused to balancing on just one.

The door of the cell was thick. Wade tried punching through it, pounding it with his knuckles long after they were bloodied, broken, and bruised.

"Wade, stop- STOP! Oh, my God, stop!" Peter put a hand over Wade's hand, effectively stopping him. "Stop."

Wade put his forehead against the wall of glass in front of the two. Peter guided his friend down to the ground, pulling him next to him. "I'm sorry," Wade whispered.

"Don't be sorry, we can get out. We can get out another way, don't ruin your hands."

Wade and Peter sat there in silence, watching the skin on Wade's knuckles stitch itself back together. The bones under the new skin snapped back into place. Wade hissed slightly. Regenerating was not easy, or comfortable, but it was better than dying and dealing with the pain of broken hands.

Wade didn't remember falling asleep, but Peter became aware of his friend's head on his shoulder a few minutes after his hand had stopped healing. It was probably the best for Wade, seeing as Peter doubted he'd slept much since they were taken, especially if he had known it was Doc Ock.

Peter drifted off as well, his own head lolling against his friend's. The two teens slept for a while, only to fall backwards in alarm as the door to the cell started to open. Peter scrambled to stand, and Wade quickly got his bearings and helped the shorter teen up. "What the-"

"Hello again, Wade! I see you cleaned up your little friend, I comment you on your abilities of healing. I'm moving you to another room. I want to see how you and your roommate do with my newest triumph. You'll love him, Wade. He's more impressive than even you yourself."

The two teens were ambushed by men in suits and dragged to another room down the hall. They entered, noticing as they did so that it was dark and cold. Peter was instantly back in the cell with Lix, and his breath, which he was desperate to keep even, hitched. The men in suits dropped the two, and Wade instantly supported Peter.

Not now, Peter, focus, the teen coached himself in his mind. The last thing he and Wade needed to deal with right now was a panic attack. Despite his best efforts, Peter felt his heart rate quicken, and his vision began to blur slightly. Everything was cold, his sides hurt again, everything was painful.

The sound of sniffles pulled Peter out of his spiral. Someone was in the new cell with him and Wade.

The door behind the two slammed shut and lights flooded the room suddenly. Peter and Wade both squinted in the harsh and unexpected brightness.

"Jesus Christ," Wade mumbled, letting Peter slide out of his grasp as he instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes. Peter crumpled to the floor, catching himself with his hands.

"Welcome to the Black Hole," the mechanical voice that had been following the two teens cackled to life. "I build it special for you. Let see how my greatest experiment, the Golden Stark heir, and my newest creation shape up against each other."

The voice faded away, and the speakers' static made Peter's ear ring. There was a little box above the cell where men in lab coats watched the teens below, but Peter and Wade only got a glimpse of it before the lights dimmed and the boys were thrust back into darkness. Neither one had seen anyone else in the cell with them, but clearly there was something else there.

"Where-" Wade started talking, only to fall silent at the sound of crying. "Hello?"

The crying became quieter, eventually falling completely silent. "No, no, no, I don't wanna."