Hello, my name is Dragoscilvio. This is my first fic for Ultimate Spider-man. I have many other stories that I have written for various anime, American cartoons and a movie. I hope you enjoy this story, though I cannot claim the initial plotline as my own creation.

To clarify, this takes place during the time that the team is living with Peter and Aunt May still doesn't know about Spider-man.

The plot and events that occur are ideas gleaned from the story arc concerning Morlun the spider vampire…thing, and Marvel Knight's Spider-man: The Other. If you have read that comic then you have an idea what I'm going to do just with Spidey's team along for the ride. If you haven't read it, then enjoy, because it's going to an angst ridden roller coaster full of drama goodness.

"…eter….Wa…up….PETER!"

The spider's eyes fluttered open before squinting shut once again as sharp light afflicted them, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he gave a slow heavy swallow. The young man drew in a shaky breath before releasing it in a tentative exhale. He was lying on something hard, and cold judging by the shiver that just slunk down his spine making his frame dance.

How he had gotten where he was, Peter couldn't remember. He hadn't been captured (as far as he knew) and the last thing he could recall was climbing in through his window earlier that night to catch a scant three hours of rest before tackling his day all over again. Daring another peek at the far too bright world, Peter cranked his eyelids to at least half mast while bloodshot orbs gathered information in sluggish morose. The first thing he saw was a well-known pattern of the white tile in his bathroom, signaling to his brain that he was at least somewhere familiar. Peter sighed, unhappy with the downward spiral his life had currently taken.

It all started with one particular fight.

Three and a half months earlier…

"That's the last of them,"

Spidey smirked under his mask, perfectly pleased that he had rounded up a gang of bank robbers with little to no property damage. Eyeing the three idiots who had blundered into thinking they could get away with said crime, the juvenile super-hero nodded in satisfaction at the way the trio stuck together in the web cocoon crafted specifically for them until the cops arrived.

"You little punk, just you wait until we get our hand on YOUUUU!"

The wannabe thief's words were cut short as they morphed into a girlish scream brought on by Spider-man hauling their butts into the air and securing them to a nearby streetlamp "I doubt I'll be losing any sleep over you, chubby," Spidey grunted heaving them up and holding steady long enough to knot the web.

The thief in question continued his tirade of insults, Peter ignoring him with the ease of a master long experienced in tuning out unwanted noise (a.k.a. he's gotten really good at ignoring Nova). However it was at this juncture that the spider was suddenly assaulted by the familiar, albeit loud, voice of one of his comrades.

"Spidey!" Ava a.k.a. White Tiger bellowed into their com link "A super powered baddie just cropped up out of nowhere, we need backup now!"

"On my way,"

"Sorry boys, got a hot date and it would be rude to be late," Little did he know that as Spider-man shot a web up the nearest building and swung towards his teammates' coordinates as they appeared on his S.H.I.E.L.D. wrist watch his words would prove prophetic.

That night he and the rest of his team battled against a villain whose very ability rested in feeding off the powers of super humans, and he had a particular taste for radiation laced abilities. The monster's name was Morlun, a strange interdimensional vampire thing who was hunting down Spider-man specifically, and any other spider he could find in varying dimesnions. The team worked hard to protect their leader and defeat Morlun however they quickly discovered that he was much too strong for any of them to handle.

Spider-man took most of the hits to protect his team, something for which they were both grateful and irritated. However it was the pinnacle of the battle in which the spider did something even he would later regret.

Peter was a genius, granted he acted the fool but he was a master strategist and an even better scientist. It didn't take long for him to deduce that the best way to defeat this new foe was to basically overfeed him. And so Spider-man led the man to the closest Nuclear Refinery, and then allowed Morlun to begin to feed on his powers, but not before grabbing onto a highly radioactive plutonium core, thus flooding both of their systems with limitless amounts of radiation, fatal amounts. Morlun burned up in shrieking green flames, Spider-man however, survived. Barely.

His team found him right after Morlun's defeat, the spider was writhing on the floor his fingers clawing at the cement as he sent bloodcurdling screams bouncing off the rafters. Radiation crackled and burned across his lithe frame while ragged gasps labored into a convulsing torso. If asked later, Peter would not remember the horrified gasps of his team, much less the screamed argument as they scrambled to find a way to transport their leader to the med bay. In the end it was Nova who carried Spider-man as the aura produced by his helmet protected him from the radiation being pumped out of his leader.

The team watched as the med bay scientists rushed Peter into a chamber that would syphon the radiation safely from his body. They gripped each other, knuckles turning white as the machine powered up eliciting agonized shrieks from their friend. Tears streamed down their faces when finally the process finished leaving a sobbing, hoarse and hyperventilating teenager in the place of the usually strong Spider-man. Finally Peter fell unconscious, no doubt from the sensory overload, and unfortunately fell promptly into a coma for a week.

How his Aunt never found out about Peter being in a coma was a mystery to the young hero, he only knew that Fury was somehow able to cover for him with Aunt May using all his skills as a spy and the technology afforded to him. How Fury even got away with making his Aunt think that her nephew won a last minute trip to a special science camp given only to students who show particular genius, Peter didn't know. However after a week in a coma, the boy finally awoke and was then confined to the closest thing to bedrest that his alter ego could afford. A month down the road he was allowed to once again suit up as Spider-man, mostly because Peter literally parked himself inside Fury's office and sat in an epic staring contest that lasted the entire day until the older man relented and gave his permission to take Peter off the bench.

Peter had no memory of the coma, but even after returning home he sometimes would have nightmares of a cold dark place where he couldn't move, couldn't speak, he couldn't even breathe on his own. Peter always woke from those dreams with a silent scream before wilting into a round of sobbing his entire body shaking in terror, leaving the team to console their leader multiple times over the course of the following months. Their worry was palpable, and Peter hated the amount of weakness that he had no control over. Not even Nova had the nerve to tease the Spider over waking them up for what seemed like the millionth time with yet another nightmare of burning alive or falling into terrifying darkness.

Unfortunately, as it so often did for Peter, Life decided the boy hadn't suffered enough and yet another curve ball was thrown the Spider's way. Thus why he was waking up on the bathroom floor after apparently fainting. Peter grit his teeth in aggravation, the symptoms that were at first merely annoying, were growing steadily worse.

Nausea, dizziness, sudden and random fainting spells followed by epic migraines were only the tip of the ice burg. He felt his spider strength slowly slipping away, and sometimes Peter would find himself crippled by a ripping pain that doubled him in half and caused the spider hybrid to bite back screams of agony. Peter was scared to put it bluntly, but he wasn't ready to tell his team, let alone Fury, that he was having problems. How he had even kept them a secret for this long without his team finding out was a miracle in itself.

"Peter, you've been in there for an hour, we need to leave for school and I haven't even brushed my teeth yet!"

The Spider winced at Ava's, understandable, tirade. If he wanted to keep this charade going and not let the cat out of the bag just yet to his team he needed to take more precautions not to alert or worry them by acting out of the ordinary. Epic bathroom visits included. So picking himself up off the floor, Peter once again pasted on his signature smirk, and proceeded to open the door to greet the young hero.

"Sorry Ava," he apologized sheepishly "I was brushing my teeth and lost track of time surfing Facebook on my phone."

The girl shook her head, but a fond glint shone behind her somewhat stern gaze "I knew I should never have helped you make an account," she sighed "granted it made life easier on us while you were out of commission, but now it's just annoying."

Peter shrugged, he had been using his supposed addiction to the social website as a cover for his fainting spells, and thankfully the team had fallen for it. "Yeah, I know, I'll try to get better at not being sucked in,"

Ava graced him with a smile before waving her hand "Whatever, just get out of the bathroom, we're late as it is and I still need to brush my teeth."

"No kidding," Peter joked, "I can smell your dragon breath from here,"

Ava glared at her leader, but Peter had already danced past her and down the stairs, hopefully a piece of toast will help him to start his day in the most normal fashion possible without anyone being the wiser about his current issues. And if luck was on his side for once, the symptoms were merely weird side effects that would eventually wear off, at least he hoped so. Peter sighed as he sat down at the breakfast table with his normal sarcasm and wit towards his teammates, he just needed to take this one day at a time, surely things couldn't get worse…right?