AWOKEN
chapter one:
More Then It Seems
Peter Parker, better known as the amazing Spiderman, stood amongst the wreckage of his best friend, Harry Osborn's, Goblin lair. Machinery and glass vials lay shattered on the ground and the brick walls were smashed and crumbling. Part of the destruction was due to the fight they had had when Peter had been under the influence of Venom. But he knew that they hadn't destroyed the lair this much. Someone had come back and finished the job. Harry? Had he taken one more dose of the Goblin drug before destroying his father's old lair?
Peter frowned. That meant that after helping him defeat the Sandman and Venom... Harry had planned on leaving the darkness behind. Possibly forever?
Well, it was too late now. Harry had been dead for three days; murdered at Venom's hand with his own glider like his father before him. Killed by Venom trying to save... him. Peter squeezed his eyes shut. Harry was dead because of him. At least he had died as Harry Osborn and not the Goblin. He'd died redeemed and surrounded by friends who loved him.
The Spiderman scanned the damaged room, taking in the lost feelings left behind by the previous owners. Maybe it was an enhanced spider sense. But he could feel what Harry and his father had felt while working and scheming in this hidden room. Anger, jealousy, loss, power, abandonment, greed. Peter shuddered. And utter insanity.
Finally his eyes came to rest on on a small cupboard that sat, undamaged, and half hidden by a wooden beam. Pushing the beam aside he studied the lock on the small door. Looking around to make sure he was alone, Peter fed webbing into the lock until he heard a satisfying 'click.' He pulled the small doors open and peered inside.
Vials... more Goblin drug.
They all sat secured in holes punctured into a metal disk... but one hole was empty. Peter frowned at the empty hole. This liquid looked different. It was yellow. And it boiled of its own accord in the glass, even though it was winter outside. Had this been a new, enhanced serum that Harry's father invented before he died? Was this the last dose that Harry took before his own death?
Peter took one of the vials and walked into the normal looking office in the next room. He stopped in front of the big desk and moved the microscope there into place. He slipped a glass slide into it and then pulled out his pocket knife. Wincing as he pressed the tip into his flesh, the blade broke the skin of his thumb. Smearing the blood onto the slide he picked up the vial. The harmless looking yellow liquid none the less made his skin prickle in warning. This was what created both Harry and his father's second, insane personality. This was what had drove them to try and kill both him and Mary-Jane multiple times. This was what brought out the evil.
With a quick intake of breath Peter squared his shoulders and opened the vial. With practiced precision Peter put three drops of the drug on the slide as well. Capping the vial he quickly put his eye to the lens and peered inside.
He saw his cells, slightly tainted from the spider mutation but other than that, normal looking. But then the drug seeped into the blood. Nothing. But, then... Peter flinched as his cells started to dart around rapidly, as if trying to flee from the drug. And then, the cells turned grey and ceased to move.
It had killed his cells. Poison... it was poison!
Peter pushed away from the desk, shaken. Poison!
Then he turned back. But if it was poison, how did—? Peter quickly put his eye back to the scope again. Just in time too for his cells started changing color again. Yellow. They turned yellow and then started to vibrate. They moved with incredible speed, racing around on the slide like a rabbit stuck in a cage. The speed of the cells matched the rate of his heart beat as he watched. And then, the glass slide shattered!
Peter jumped back, his heart hammering and his blood pounding in his ears. What the hell was this?!
"Peter?"
Peter turned to see his girlfriend, Mary-Jane Watson, standing in the doorway.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
He plastered a smiled on his face before walking over to her. He placed a kiss on her cheek. "I'm fine, I just miss him."
She nodded. "Me too."
"Ready for dinner?" he asked. A smile spread across her face as she nodded and took the arm he offered.
As they walked out Peter couldn't help feeling relieved. He turned one more time to flick off the light. His eyes rested on the vial of yellow drug. Whatever that was, Harry... the Goblin. They had been much more then they seemed. That drug held properties much more complex then it seemed. Harry was dead. But the mystery was still unsolved.
Finally turning off the light, Peter left to join Mary-Jane outside.
xXx
Not far off in the New York cemetery, a storm was brewing. The headstones of the grave yard stood out bleak and depressing despite the green grass and flowers. The wind whistled through the stones like a lonely spirit sining a tune. A crow cawed and landed on a large headstone with fresh roses piled at its base. It cocked its head and cawed again, studying the clouds, as if trying to discern the best way of defeating them. Suddenly, a strange noise shattered the still air. The crow took flight in alarm as a slow, insane laughter vibrated through the wet earth.