Chapter 110: Hulked Out
Pain splits my skull like lightning as consciousness crawls back to me. My eyelids feel weighted with lead, but I force them open anyway, blinking against harsh fluorescent light that sends fresh daggers through my brain.
I'm lying on something soft, my head cradled against warm skin. Not just any skin, Ellie's skin. My vision clears enough to realize I'm using her bare chest as a pillow, her heartbeat steady beneath my ear. We're in some kind of medical room, sleek and sterile, with equipment I don't recognize humming softly around us. Clear tubes snake from my arms to machines displaying vital signs I can't interpret.
"Ellie?" My voice comes out as a croak, barely audible even to my own ears.
Her body tenses beneath me, then her eyes fly open, those intense blue eyes I'd know anywhere, wide with shock and relief.
"Oh my god, fucking finally," she breathes, her hands immediately flying to my face. She cups my cheeks, tilting my head up to examine me before peppering my face with frantic kisses, forehead, cheeks, nose, chin, each touch featherlight yet desperate. It tickles, and despite everything, a weak laugh escapes me.
"Where are we?" I manage to ask between her barrage of affection.
"Baxter Building," she says, her voice rough with emotion. "Medical wing. You've been out for three days, Shane."
Three days? The information hits me like a physical blow. Memories flood back in disjointed flashes, Piper's penthouse, the restraints, the violation, my desperate escape, and finally, Susan Storm's intervention. My stomach lurches violently, bile rising in my throat.
Ellie must notice the change in my expression because her hands still against my face, her eyes darkening with concern. "Hey, stay with me. You're safe now."
The symbiote ripples across her skin where my hands touch her, responding to my distress like a living security blanket. I focus on that sensation, anchoring myself to the present.
"What happened?" I ask, my voice steadier now. "After Susan showed up, I mean."
Ellie's jaw tightens, the muscles in her neck standing out like cords. "I was looking for you everywhere. When you didn't show up home, I knew something was wrong." Her fingers brush against my bandaged hand, so gently it almost doesn't register. "I tracked your scent to the classroom, then nothing. Like you'd just vanished."
She shifts slightly, adjusting our position so I'm cradled more securely against her. "I was tearing the city apart when Susan contacted me. Said she found you in some penthouse, fighting with Spider-Woman."
The door to the medical room slides open, and Susan walks in with a steaming mug in her hand.
"You're finally awake, Shane," she says, relief evident in her voice.
I sigh heavily, the weight of my real name on her lips is distressing.
"It was difficult keeping your identity under wraps," Ellie adds, her fingers gently stroking my hair. "Especially after your transformation left you completely naked in the penthouse."
I blink, suddenly aware of the hospital gown I'm wearing. My gaze drops to my hands, and shock fills me. My finger, the one I'd bitten off in desperate rage, is there. Completely intact, as if nothing had happened.
"How...?" I touch it with my other hand, feeling the warmth, the wholeness. "My finger. It's back."
Susan sets the mug down on a nearby table. "Your girlfriend wouldn't leave your side for a moment. When we checked on her the second night, we thought she was..." she pauses, searching for a delicate way to phrase it, "...consuming you. Gave us quite a scare."
"The symbiote was healing you like it always does," Ellie explains, the black substance rippling across her skin in what almost looks like pride. "I didn't exactly ask permission."
"We thought she was eating you," Susan clarifies with a slight grimace. "But she was actually rebuilding your tissue, regulating your body functions."
"Fascinating process, really," comes a new voice from the doorway. Rita Richards steps into the room, her analytical gaze sweeping over me before settling on my restored finger. "To regrow bone completely is quite a remarkable feat. The cellular regeneration required is extraordinarily complex."
I look up at Ellie. The symbiote bounces slightly across her shoulders, almost preening at the acknowledgment.
"Ellie is remarkable," I say simply, meaning every word. My throat tightens with emotion as I reach for her hand.
My gaze shifts from Ellie to Susan, a question burning in my throat that I'm almost afraid to ask. I swallow hard, then look back at Ellie.
"What happened to Piper?" I ask quietly, my eyes conveying the unspoken question I can't bring myself to voice aloud, Did you kill her?
Ellie's jaw tightens.
"I didn't explain anything to Ellie until she was with you," Susan says, her voice carefully measured. "And by then, I had this medical wing completely locked down."
Ellie scoffs, the sound rumbling through her chest beneath my ear. "It's not like I tried anything," she mutters, but there's a defensive edge to her voice that tells me otherwise.
Susan raises an eyebrow. "You tried to tear the blast door down to get to Piper," she counters flatly. "But once you calmed down a little, you refused to leave Shane's side."
The image of Ellie throwing herself against reinforced doors, the symbiote wild with rage, flashes through my mind. I reach for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.
"So where's Piper now?" I ask, turning back to Susan and Rita. "Is she... fixed?"
Rita steps closer, her lanky frame casting a shadow across the bed.
"We're working on it," she says, her voice clinically detached. "I've been trying to reverse the personality transfer, but it's not going well. The neural pathways are extraordinarily complex, and Octavius has integrated herself remarkably thoroughly."
A chill runs through me at her words. "Is she secured, at least?"
"Yes," Rita nods, her eyes already drifting back to some calculation only she can see. "We've got her in containment three levels down. And Professor Xavier is on her way."
"Thank god," I breathe out, relief washing through me at the news that Professor X is on her way.
But another thought piques my mind, and I push myself up slightly against Ellie's chest, wincing at the effort.
"Wait, how the hell did you figure out where I was, Susan?"
"We had a drone watching Piper."
"A drone?" I echo, my eyebrows shooting up.
She nods. "After your accusations about Doc Ock taking over, I decided to take initiative. Thought I might as well have a look."
Rita crosses her arms, giving Susan a disapproving glance. "Though normally I despise surveillance, especially on private citizens," she says pointedly, the look she gives her wife speaking volumes, "I'm grateful everything ended without any fatalities."
Ellie's arms tighten around me protectively. The symbiote bubbles across her skin in agitation, but she keeps it under control, barely.
"You don't seem to have much control over your demon form, Shane," Susan observes, her tone frustratingly clinical.
My breath catches in my throat, memories flooding back with painful clarity. I almost killed Piper…
"She raped me," I say, the words falling from my lips like stones.
The room goes deathly quiet. Ellie's entire body goes rigid beneath me, the symbiote suddenly still as death.
"Invisible Woman," Ellie growls, her voice dropping to a dangerous register that makes the hair on my arms stand up, "I hope you're not blaming Shane for…"
"Shield is concerned," Rita interjects quickly, stepping between Susan and the bed, her hands raised in a placating gesture. "No one is blaming Shane for anything."
"I'm not like the Hulk," I say, meeting Susan's gaze directly. "That's what you're getting at, right? I have control over it."
Susan tilts her head slightly, her expression unreadable. "Are you sure about that?"
I blink, the question hitting me harder than I expected. Flashes of memory. my clawed hands around Piper's throat, the blind rage consuming me, flash through my mind. But that was different. I pulled back on my own.
"It's under control," I insist, my voice steadier than I feel.
Rita sighs, pushing her glasses up her nose with one finger. "Regardless, we want you to stay here for a few days so you can properly recuperate."
My heart rate spikes, the monitor beside me beeping faster in response. "You want to run tests on me?"
"Well..." Rita shifts uncomfortably.
"No." I push myself up straighter, ignoring the dull ache that radiates through my body. "Ellie and I will be leaving right now."
Susan opens her mouth, clearly ready to argue, but Rita raises her hand, cutting her off.
"He's not our prisoner, Susan."
Susan shoots Rita a dirty look, her lips pressing into a thin line of disapproval.
Ellie doesn't wait for further discussion. She gently disentangles herself from me and stands, the symbiote flowing across her body to form a simple black t-shirt and jeans. She moves efficiently around the room, gathering the few possessions that must have been brought with her, my phone, wallet, and a small duffel bag I recognize as mine.
As she collects my things, she pauses by the bedside table, picking up a familiar silver band. My stomach lurches at the sight.
"Hey, is this yours by the way?" she asks, holding up the Mysterium ring.
"Get that ring the fuck away from me," I snap, my voice sharper than intended.
Ellie's eyebrows shoot up, but she immediately sets it back down. "Oh, alright."
I turn to Rita, my heart still hammering. "I don't know where Octavius got that thing, but analyze that instead of me."
Rita nods, her expression softening slightly. "Alright."