cargojet | IC Contact

It's a thing that happened.

You seem awfully interested in something that happened months ago.

[ It actually sounds like he might be hiding something for once. ]

And you seem way too interested in making it sound like it's not all that important.

Want to prove me wrong?

What do you want me to tell you Pete? It happened, it was no big deal.

[ Still not buying it, huh? ]

We were all trapped inside our nightmares. Wanted to make us lose all hope. It's not exactly a story I like recanting.

[ Yeah, but see, that's not how this is going to work. Nathan can't just have things happen that fill people in on his life without Peter's consent. This is not okay, at least according to Peter. ]

But what did it have to do with me?

In the nightmare...

[ Nathan inhales, sighs. ]

In the nightmare, New York city started off, you know--there. It made you want to jump off rooftops, chased you up there, you know, and made it so there was nowhere else to go.

And then... Then the whole thing just exploded. That's what it has to do with you.

[ That's every kind of the last possible thing Peter wanted to hear about and yet, somehow, he's not all that surprised by it either. That doesn't make it any more pleasant, however. ]

How many people saw it?

Three, maybe four, not including me.

[ A long pause. ]

I ended up wandering the streets after going crazy. And I dug, Pete. I dug in the asphalt, dug up my own grave and found a bomb in there. Went right down to point oh seven of a second and stopped.

Because you stopped it.

[ He still gives him that much. Which is something more than nothing. ]

[ Harder. ] It was a reminder of how close I came, Pete. It was punishment.

No big deal, huh?

If you call radiation poisoning no big deal. I came back dying.

[ Oh. Well. Don't mind that momentary pause, it doens't take Peter that long to brush over. ]

You were the one who said it was no big deal, Nathan, not me.

I didn't want to get your hopes up.

Think I live off your misery?

Why'd you call me, Peter? Who told you about all this?

Just wanted to know what someone knew about me.

Honestly? You were probably more damaging than I ever was. You told people you had an ability when you got here. You were looking for others with powers, probably cause the one you had wasn't much use on a spaceship.

Damaging to who, Nathan? The only reason i'd--

[ wait...

... ]

One?

One. One power; just one.

That's right, you didn't go through any of that, did you?

Go through what.

[ Because he hasn't gone through enough already? ]

[ There's some hesitation on Nathan's end. ]

There's no point being snippy with me. Not like I didn't try to tell you, but you were so busy with your one man army bullshit that you didn't want to hear any of it.

You come to me out of nowhere, bruised to fuck, tell me Dad's alive. You'd been thrown out of an eighth story window, somehow survived it without being able to heal any more. No ability at all. Nothing. Dad took them.

I didn't believe you - couldn't, without proof - and you're not gonna believe me either, are you?

[ For this exact moment in time, Peter's just going to listen but refuse to process. Because he can do that, he's done it before -- stuff it all away until later on. Down the beaten path, when he really can't take it anymore and it'll rear its ugly head back at him and demand he give up what little of his mind he has left. But on the phone with Nathan isn't the time for it and he gets back on track after all skipping a beat or two, the tone of his voice hallowing out. ]

So how'd I get one back, exactly?

[ He knows the answer to this already, doesn't he. And god, how he doesn't want to have to hear it. ]

[ Another delay. ]

The formula. But you already knew that, didn't you?

Pinehearst manufactured it. Dad's company.

[ He is not implicating himself in this, okay. ]

The company that you take over.

[ He's this close to his limit, more than eager to hang up. ]

Burned to the ground. Took all the research, took the catalyst with it. Everything. You were the only benefactor that survived.

[ Another hesitation. ]

There's something else, Pete. My power--flying? It was synthetic too. I... I wasn't born like this, Pete. Like you. You were the special one.

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