2013.07.25 - Those Who Come Back

The room is dark, except for the soft nightlights in the hospital room. Outside in the corridor, the nurses occasionally walk down the corridor with purposeful steps like white-clad angels of mercy, comfortable shoes quietly padding on the white floors. Somewhere, a telephone rings, and a muffled voice answers.

Inside the room, the majority of the sounds come from Keith's bed- monitors measuring out his vital signs. And Keith's breathing, which is shallow and troubled. His forehead frowning- or at least, as much as his forehead that can be seen from all of the bandages. His burns were severe and he was considered to be in a critical state, though he had fortunately regained consciousness - which was a good sign.

At present, there was a very, very quiet moaning coming from him, as if in the throes of some disturbing dream.

The news did not have much information, just that the Anomaly Killer had shown up at a concert and a group of heroes fought him off and that one of them was injured. And of all the injured it was him. The one person that Patrick knows in the world that he really and truly wants to stay safe.

Patrick, the Iron Spider, whatever you want to call him knows that the job of her a hero is not a safe one. worse, it gets progressively unsafe if your mind is not in the game. Like if the person you were living with breaks up with you.

There he is, injured and in a hospital bed, and it is Patrick's fault. The furred hero has taken on the Joker twice, and with backup on his side he got injured by this random serial killer. As far as Pat is concerned there can be only one excuse why.

Seeing him start to moan again, and move like he is in a disturbing dream the Spider comes off of his perch. He has spent the times that Keith would normally be asleep up on the ceiling with his camouflage on watching over him since he found out about the attack.

With all stealth and skill he slips over to the bed, and takes a wet hand cloth nearby and daps it gently where he can without risk of hitting a burnt spot and hopes to give some comfort to Keith in his sleep.

The young hero seems to be too deep into the dream to feel the comfort of the cloth. His face is screwed up in a hard frown, and very quiet words form in his mouth. How tense he is indicates he would probably be thrashing in his sleep by now, but the muscle relaxant and the painkillers he is on have numbed most of his reactions down... but at one point, the claws come out. Purple claws, like his fur and hair, clench slowly at the covers, tearing little holes in them.

"... show me... Patrick ...-gain..."

The words are muffled, but it is quiet enough in the room for them to be clear. A little more thrashing, and then Keith's voice changes... it is almost not even the same voice but ... different... " Do you ... wish... to end?"

Some time passes, and from the mumbling come four very distinctive words.. "So ... let .. me.... die...." if anyone could hiss in dreams, this was what it would probably sound like. Not long after saying that, and some more mumbling, the cat's limbs begin to move sluggishly, kicking at the covers (or, moving rather slowly at them), his claws gripping the mattress and agony on his face.

"... ever be!..."

Patrick frowns when he hears his name. That, is not entirely unexpected. The Sleeping mind does process what went on while it was awake and the displeasure that Keith should have with him means being in his dreams is not a surprise...although the claws coming out at that point is a little.

At the command to let him die Patrick's face hardens, he sends a small command to the suit and the mask slips off like liquid running over flesh. "No, don't Vorpal...Keith...fight." He says quietly, enough that the cat should hear him but not loud enough to wake him or have anyone outside the room hear.

In his dreams... which are more than dreams, but less than reality, Keith is fighting a losing battle, and he knows it. Wiccan... or the thing which looked like Wiccan but was not him... had sent his demon creatures after him, and he charged into the fray. He fought well, but not well enough, as he was torn limb by limb, slowly and agonizingly. Blood flowed freely and he saw parts of his own body fall before he did. And as something -he couldn't see what- pounced behind him and bore him to the ground, the side of his face smashed against the flagstones...

To stare into the lifeless eyes of Patrick, whose neck rested at an unnatural angle.

That was what, fortunately, snapped him in the dream. His consciousness rebelled and pulled him away, out of the grasp of whatever dream realm had him and shoved him back into the reality he called home. The cat's eyes open for a second, pupils still dilated, and then they slam shut as he shudders, claws releasing the covers. He begins to weep openly, in the way that one does when emerging from a horrible nighmare, unaware of surroundings or place. Normally, the crying would bring in an alert nurse, but it is weak in Keith's throat, most likely due to the painkillers.

Patrick can tell that Keith is having a bad go of it in the dreams, worse than he can know or that Keith might even know all things considered. He can't help but try to slip a hand into the feline's hand as he smoothes back the fur on his forehead trying to be comforting.

It is a good thing that Keith woke when he did. Death in dreams can be fatal in the real world, just like injuries there can, with the help of a little black magic, bleed over in part to the real world.

When the crying starts Patrick is there, his voice a little weak not knowing what to say exactly. "Shhh, its ok, youre ok. I/m sorry, I'm so sorry." He speaks debating if he should stay, or pull back and put up his camouflage again now that Keith is awake.

The voice might have gone past most people, but not someone who had ears like a cat. Stilll crying, because it is hard to control a surge of emotions coming fresh off a dream, Keith looks at the young man standing over his bed, yellow-green eyes glittering. There is incomprehension there, as if seeing something that was impossible. His attitude is cleared up by the next moment, however, when he says in a broken voice "...bu.... but I saw you die...." almost instinctively, he squeezes Patrick's hand the moment he realizes it's there, as if to keep it from fading away. "... took.. you from me... I..." Alas, the cat is experiencing that moment when it is hard to speak between sobs. He's giving it a good try, though, and his expression of disbelief might be comical, under other circumstances.

Patrick shakes his head, his own eyes showing a touch of redness from tears that may or may not have been shed. "No, it was a dream. Only a dream. I..." His own voice nearly breaks.

"I am the one that nearly lost you. Don't...don't speak." He says as he sees Keith fighting to speak between sobs. He has to get this out, if not he will chicken out and then leave, forever hating himself because then he really never would be able to return to Keiths side.

"It's my fault, you faced a killer distracted because of me and now youre hurt again. I..I can't...I can't lose you." He says dropping to his knees beside the bed placing his head down lightly where Keith's lap is.

He must still be in a dream, somehow. Or at least that is how it feels like, to have someone you had lost so recently come back. At Patrick's request, he doesn't speak, but listens, still sniffling as the crying slowly begins to subside in intensity.

As the young man puts his head on his lap, the cat reaches with his hands to run his hands through his auburn hair slowly. Fortunately his hands were the least burnt, due to the gloves he wore, only the top side of his fingers showing much damage. He doesn't understand what Patrick is saying... at least not at first. It had been Beverly's 'betrayal' that had nearly cost him his life. It hadn't really been a betrayal, the killer had used some sort of compulsion on her... it had taken him completely by surprise.

But could he argue against the claim that she took him by surprise that badly because he was emotionally distracted? He really couldn't, because seeing Patrick in his dream and here, in reality, was causing his emotions to swell again and there is a serious lump in his throat.

Patrick holds onto the one hand nearest him as he tries to muster up his own thoughts and make sense of what he wants to say. "You have fought worse odds, and I ...I know you would have been fine if it were not for what I did. I thought it was right, the best thing. I wanted to...to spare you." He has no idea what Keith went through in his dreams, or if his silence now is because he told him not to try and talk or a silent condemnation for his actions.

The cat's green eyes look at Patrick with consternation, and he tries to keep control of himself, not to cry so hard, so he can speak. Eventually, after a few breaths, he speaks in a raspy, damaged voice "...spare me... from what?"

He squeezes Patrick's hand, holds on to it fast as if he had no plans on letting go.

Patrick's voice nearly cracks a little as he answers. "Me." It is not much of an answer but it is what he can give at the moment.

It takes a second before he talks. "My mind, parts of it are missing and my judgment is flawed. It's the first sign of a clone becoming unstable. It happens all the time with clones of Super powered beings. It is why Ragnarok was half cyborg, and only one of the dozens of known Spider-Man clones survived any length of time sane."

He takes a breath and then sighs. "Human clones are easy, stable, its why they made my brothers and I from someone that had the abilities of Captain America but were 100% human. But Father...father added some of his DNA to our cloning so we would be his children...it has to be..has to be why I am showing the signs."

The crying stops, just like that. To Keith, it's like he has been struck by lightning. He sees the dream unfolding before him, and Patrick being struck down by Wiccan again.

Was this the punishment for refusing the contract?

"...P-Patrick..." Keith says in a quiet, raspy voice. "...please come closer..." by that he means closer to the head of the bed.

Patrick stands up, he can't look Keith in the eyes although he wants to. He feels something he has not ever felt before, shame over what he has done to Keith.

"I've known something was not right for a while, that my judgment was flawed but...not until I met with Spider-Man did I realize..that has to be it." He speaks softly while moving to the head of the bed.

"I wanted to spare you seeing me go insane, of seeing me fall apart on a cellular level..."

Considering he's hopped up on enough pain medication to knock out an elephant, Keith's hands move with surprising celerity. He grabs a hold of Patrick's face, on either side, and forces him to look at the cat.

Keith's eyes have a piercing, focused expression. He is fighting the fog of the sedatives.

"...I ... I understand why it is that you did what you did, Patrick." he begins, his voice trembling under barely contained... rage? sorrow? a little of both, maybe. "... you ... you little shit." He blinks back tears. "... no... you're not a little shit. you're..."

He bites his tongue, then takes a deep, deeep breath. "... you're the man I love, Patrick. I want you to think about what that means."

"It means that I would rather... rather deal with... with what you might have to go through than let you go through it alone. It means I would selll my soul to John Constantine just to find you again- and I would. I would have found you eventually-- and then I would have found out that you had died from something you were hiding from me..." He pulls Patrick's face down closer to his own.

"... I can't fault you for doing what you did... even though it hurt. I didn't want to face you after I was gone for three days, after the Joker won. I /know/ what it's like to want to hide suffering from someone you love... but that night when you came to look for me, you taught me that it should be to the other person to decide what it is they want to deal with." A breath, and he lets go of one of Patrick's cheeks for a moment to wipe his eyes "... I want to stay with you. I want to be with you, by your side. I want to fight this with you, maybe try to find a cure... and if there is none..." the cat's voice sounds on the verge of breaking "...to be with you through it all. Because I fucking love you, you goddamned idiot."

Patrick has trouble meeting Keiths eyes even when his face is grabbed and he is forced to. There is a deep shame there and not the slightest rebellion in his face as he is cursed at. He deserves it and worse after all.

"You don't understand. I don't want to hurt you, to lose myself in a delusion or rages that put you in danger or...or..." Given the body count of the clones he knows of that did go wrong he did not want to risk Keith.

"You would not have known if I found my way home. I...I have not been trying as hard as I could and...did not want to risk leaving you before. If I could have found the way...you would gt over me, think I went on and lived there and found someone worth you here."

"I would never get over you." Keith snaps, and looks at Patrick. "And you're not running away on me. I love you, but you'll never be deadlier than the Joker. If he didn't kill me, you won't. And are you forgetting that I have a back door to one of the greatest geniuses in the world? No, check, that TWO of the greatest geniuses in the world? I sat down with Pepper Fricking Potts up in Asgard and we read stories to Thor. I could get her to see if Tony Stark could help us. And Sue Storm? Reed Richards is already working on your dimension of origin, the man is a goddamned mad scientist for good, if I tell him my boyfriend is dying, he might help!"

The cat reaches over and strokes Patrick's cheek, barely contained anger and concerned mixed in his expression. "... you're giving up and I'm not going to let you. We're going to fight or is our love not worth fighting for, Patrick?"

Patrick closes his eyes and can't breathe for a second. "I am not, I'm just a clone a copy and...and a defective one at that. The only thing worth fighting for is you."

He sighs and takes the anger, he would rather that than things like pity or being looked at like the broken thing that he is. "For you I would fight death himself."

"You're not a copy. You are yourself, and you're the man I love... you are worth it all." the cat says, the anger difussing. "And I want to fight. Don't -ever- say you're not worth fighting for, or I swear I will slap you silly. If you weren't worth it, I wouldn't even have bothered. If you weren't worth it, it wouldn't have felt like my goddamned heart was being ripped out of me when you walked out on me. If you weren't worth it... ... I wouldn't have considered signing a demonic pact to give up my powers and my shape, so that you could come back." And that is all he says on that... for now. "--- do you want to know how much you're worth it? I would be willing to propose to you right here and now, so that even if we couldn't find a cure for you... you'd remain and always would be the man I chose."%r

He looks at Patrick, tears streaming down his cheeks, sniffling. "If you weren't worth anything, you wouldn't be who you are."

Patrick's eyes are closed for most of Keth's speach. Every word is a knife making his shame at his actions that much deeper...right up until he says something that gets the clone's attention. "Wait...demonic Pact?"

Tears on his cheeks he looks up at Vorpal both worried and curious. "What are you talking about, demonic pact?"

"Later. No souls are being bargained, negotiations broke down." Keith cuts in, and looks at Patrick's expression. Finally seeing through the fog of anger, he sees the shame on Patrick's face and immediately feels sorry for how harsh he was. Reaching out to touch the man's face gently, he says "... Patrick... don't. Don't be ashamed, don't be sorry... everybody makes mistakes. And if you think you're not worth it... I want you to think about the fact that even if you made a mistake, you made it with the intent not to hurt me, because you loved me." He calms down visibly now, looking at him. "That mistake is more dear to me, more valuable than a hundred insincere protests of affection. You were giving up your happiness because you thought it was the right thing to do. And yet you still think you're worthless? You're worth more than most men are worth. No matter what... I am fortunate beyond measure to have you in my life. Please," he pleads, "stay with me. Let's fight this together, as the couple that we are."

Patrick looks away, almost flinch like as the hand caresses his face. Worse than the anger he deserves, the forgiveness he does not comes to him. After a second he shakes his head. "I'll stay, for you."

After a second his clothing shifts and becomes his normal civilian garb. He is not planning on leaving the hospital room again until Keith does, and it would not do to be found in the morning there are Iron Spider.

"But..tell me what happened. Not the fight, i have read everything on it in the police and the hospital's computers. About the Demonic Pact stuff. Tell me what happened." He does not have the infamous Spider Senses but Patrick can tell when something is off, and between the odd voice Vorpal had before he asked to be left to die in his dream and a mention of demons then something is very much not right.

Keith looks at him. "Not until we agree on what we're going to do. You're not going to run away, and I'm calling Sue Storm first thing in the morning, and Pepper Potts second thing in the morning. And we'll both go and plead our case to each, or whomever is willing to see us. Understood?" he says, trying to control his emotions. He needed to state the terms of business. He understood why Patrick left. He needed to make it very plain that it was better to work for a solution than to run away, no matter how seemingly hopeless...

Patrick nods his head. "I am not leaving here, not without you. I am not leaving you again. I promise." It was a stupid thing to do, and it only hurt Keith far worse than he ever wanted to see him. "You can call them, but first you are going to tell me what happened, then you are going to go back to sleep. If you wake up then you can call them in the morning but not till you have had all the sleep your body needs."

"I... somethign visited me in my dreams. Something that -looked- like Billy Kaplan, but it wasn't him. He convinced me that you had left me because I was... a freak. Because I couldn't be normal enough for you. He .. he got me to the point of signing a contract... he'd make me normal... if I gave him my powers." Now it is Keith's turn to look ashamed. He looks down.

Patrick blinks and watches Keith for a good long moment. He reaches out and touches the furred man's chin and lifts his head so that he can look him in the eyes. "You could not doubt ever that you are worth it, and that I love you. You are not a freak, merely different. This Billy Kaplan...how do you know him? What do you know about him?"

"He helped me take down some cultists in Central Park some weeks ago..." he says quietly as he looks into Patrick's eyes. "He was a very sweet kid... he even asked me for my autograph... he wasn't like that at all. He could do magic... I think something chaos, because I went off all over the place when he healed some injuries with his magic... but I refuse to believe that he was the same who showed up in my dream. I.. I wanted to call Amanda and ask her, but the magical stone she gave me was in my uniform... and it got burnt to a crisp along with me." Keith looks back at Patrick and reaches up with a bandaged hand to touch the other's hand. "... I love you, too."

Patrick hmms and frowns a little. "If it was not him in your dreams, do you know who it was? Did it say anything that could help figure that out?" He asks Keith worried about something invading his lover's dreams. "And if something not him is using his image...do you have any way to contact him or someone that might know him and find out why they might be doing that?"

"He gave me his card.. it should be in my book in the apartment... no... he told me nothing, except that his 'Armies were marching' and that soon he would retake everything that belonged to him. So, in a way... it could be literally a million kinds of beings that Superman and the other heroes have fought... I don't think he will try again. Not with me, at least... he was counting on you being gone..."

He pauses. "Actually... when I refused him at the end, he..." and suddenly the emotion comes back, causing Keith's voice to sound strained "... he broke your neck and killed you in front of me. And then he made his demons try to kill me.. I was dying... then something sent me back." A pause for several beats as he thinks, and then says "... I swear... I think I could have died if ..."

Patrick's heart breaks, not only did Keith end up in the hospital because things went wrong in a fight right after he broke up with him, but that also left him open to be attacked by something that got at him in his dreams. Something that made him think he had been killed before sending demons after him.

He slips his hand into Keiths and gives it a squeeze. He is not going again, and if this person whomever they are ever thinks of coming for Keith again he is going to make sure they experience the bits of his programming that Pat has never told even Keith about.

"Do you remember what the demons looked like, or did he mention what kind they were? I...what I know about supernatural threats is not a lot but there are dozens of demon types and if we could identify them it might help."

Keith concentrates for a second... and then, before him, is a small representation of one of the creatures. Slightly blurry, and losing detail quickly because the painkillers are bllunting his edge. The image vanishes quickly, but it at least showed what he meant.

"That's...what they looked like."

Patrick blinks and then puts his hand on Ketih's shoudler. "Don't strain yourself. I got it." He says after catching int image in his computer. IT is fuzzy but there is enough detail he can at least do a search on it. "Do you know anyone else that might know this Billy, who could answer questions about him? If not I...when you sleep I can use the suit to do some digging and see if I can find anything."

Looking at Patrick's eyes, and how red they seem, probably like his own, the cat frowns. "Maybe Doctor Fate knows him... but you can't go where he is, he's in Oblivion and only magical folk can get there... I ... I remember when I first saw him now. He was talking with me and Amanda Sefton... maybe Amanda knows of him? I'm not sure... I should have ask---" And suddenly, he remembers...

' "Really? My best friend is Thor's son and you're going to threaten me? With Lightning? My own favorite element?'

"EDDIE. Eddie knows of him!" suddenly it all clicks together "... Eddie Resilver, Thor's adoptive son? He's his best friend. His contact information should be in my book, too..." he exhales, suddenly glad that his brain decided to work. And then he looks at Patrick.

"You're going to do nothing while I sleep. Except sleep here with me. You haven't been sleeping much, have you?" he asks, probingly.

Patrickpurses his lips a little and looks at Keith. "I am not going to lie to you." He says before sighing a little. "I am going to sit right here...or more."

He moves over to a chair in the room and picks it up to carry over so he can set it right next to Keith's bed. "I will sit right here all night."

Of course he is not going to admit he has not slept since Keith was injured, or said he was going to, or agreed not to do any research at all. He just said he would not lie to Keith.

The cat gives him a look. "... why do you need to stay up? I'm here... everything is alright..."

Everything was not alright, his burns were severe enough to put him under critical watch. The only reason he wasn't screaming with pain was the well-regulated stream of painkillers. It was a tribute to his willpower that he managed to be conscious at all.

Patrick looks at Keith very obviously not believing him as he says everything is alright. "I said, I have read everything the hospital computers have about what happened to you. I know exactly how many painkillers you are on. I know how bad you were burnt. You are going to sleep, and I am going to watch over you. Then, in the morning while you stay asleep I am going to contact every person I can find in your contacts and mine that might know someone with healing powers."

Keith sighs a little, and realizes this is a fight he can't win. Besides, his own body was shutting down from the emotional rollercoaster and he was starting to move towards slumbering. "Fine... you win." he says. And then he sits up a little, holding out his bandaged arms to Patrick.

Patrick nods at Keith as he sighs. This is a fight that the cat would not win if he were healed and not on enough drugs to knock out Patrick. Besides, the clone has only been up for about 24 hours straight, he has another 48 before he even starts to feel tired like a normal human would. One of the perks of being an all natural Super Soldier. Patrick leans in and hugs the cat as the man holds out his arms obviously wanting a hug. "Of course I win. I always win."

Keith hugs back carefully. For all his protestations that he's fine, he is very aware of his condition, and does not want to make it worse. He does, however, give him a small kiss on the cheek.

"I love you..." he says drowsily, and lays back on the bed, breathing slowly. Soon, his eyes are closing and he starts to drift off.

Patrick kisses Keith's cheek as well. "I love you." He says before he straightens up and makes sure that Keith is lying back and comfortable.

Silently he sits down and puts his hand in Keith's. "And I am going to stay here, and make sure whatever supernatural thing got into your head never gets close to you again."