A/N: Hello to all you Spidey fans out there. This is the first fan fiction that I've written, so go easy on me. This is sort of a tribute to my favorite super hero ever, but with a whole new way of looking at him.
Chapter One: It All Begins
Part One: The Field Trip
In a universe not too different from our own, a young 15 year old boy in the city of Atlanta, Georgia was in his room getting ready for school when he heard his Aunt May call to him from the kitchen down the hall. "Peter! Hurry up and get some breakfast! We're already late!" he heard her shout.
"I'm coming! I'm coming! Just one minute!" he yelled back as he scrambled to get his glasses. He ran down the hall as fast as he could without hitting a wall in their small, old house. As Peter reached the kitchen, his aunt May was already headed out the door. So Peter had to just grab his toaster waffles and go. "Peter!" Aunt May called again. As Peter ran out the door he heard his uncle Ben back in the kitchen.
"You don't want to be late today kiddo! You've got that field trip to go to!" he said just before Peter shut the door. Then May and Peter headed to school, unaware of the events that were about to unfold.
When Peter arrived at school, he sprinted through the doors and up the steps. When he got to his locker he had to look around and make sure that no one was watching him before he opened it in his own special way. He turned the dial to a particular sweet spot between 30 and 31, lifted the latch as far as it would allow without the full combination, slammed side of his fist just above it, and then pulled the door open. He threw his books in his locker and grabbed his gym bag before running to P.E.
That morning in the locker room, Peter heard less insults about his glasses and scrawny, muscle less appearance, and more complaints about today's science field trip. "This is so lame! When they do stuff like this to make science more interesting it only makes me hate it even more," he heard the new kid, Matt Murdock complaining, "I mean seriously, the only thing anyone wants to learn about insects is how to kill them."
"I don't know guys," Peter chimed in, "It might be kind of fun. You never know." He immediately wished he hadn't. The next thing he knew, Peter was on his back.
"Says the loser who reads his physics book when he's board in class." Matt leaned over Peter and slapped him in the face for good measure. See Matt was a new kid in town who was trying to hold onto his title of being in charge and head jock. But right now Matt was the least of Peter's worries. Just then Flash Thomson walked over to join the fun.
"Hey, Murdock! Get your own punching bag. This one's been mine since elementary school." Flash said with an evil grin the Joker would be proud of.
Peter just couldn't stop himself, "'Elementary' Flash? Wow, four syllables, I'm impressed." Peter bolted before Flash could react, but he would get Peter back later like he always did.
After first period, the freshmen got ready for their trip to a newly built genetics lab downtown that specialized in animal and insect study. As they all piled onto the tour bus (their school didn't have school buses) Peter found Felicia and plopped down into the seat next to her. "What's up?" he greeted her.
When Felicia saw him she grinned her amazing grin. "Hey!" she said with a little laugh as she always had, her blue eyes sparkling, her pure white hair reflecting the sun so it looked like her head was glowing, and her glasses giving of some of the glare. "You exited?"
"You know I am." Peter told her, now smiling himself. Felicia Hardy was the one and only real friend that Peter had. He first met her back in third grade when Flash had started his bullying carrier, he didn't quite know how to do it right, if that's even possible. She and Peter met when Flash was trying to shove her into a cubby box since they didn't have lockers yet. Not knowing what he was getting himself into, Peter tried to stop Flash and help Felicia. Flash just saw an opportunity and crammed Peter in with her. The two of them ended up getting stuck and the teacher had to call the principle, who had to call the grounds keeper for a drill, who had to go home to get the drill. He ended up not having the drill so he had to get a saw to cut the boards, which took about an hour for him to do so he didn't cut the two kids. In all, they were stuck in a very small space meant for backpacks for over three hours. Some how though, they became best friends, and haven't separated since.
"I heard you got into trouble with Flash and Murdock already today, both in first period, at the same time." Felicia told Peter a few minutes later.
"Word travels faster than I thought." He said grimly.
"Look at you go! Mr. over achiever!" Felicia laughed, "Its almost like you want them to kill you." She just kept on laughing for at least a minute before she regained her composure.
"I don't get why I'm such a target for them." Peter complained.
Felicia tried to comfort him some, "Probably because their jealous that your smarter than the two of them combined." He looked at her with a grateful expression. "Just keep it on the down low for a while since they're both after you."
"Thanks." Peter said sarcastically. "And while I'm at it, I can fail all my tests from here on out too." The two of them burst out laughing.
When they got to the lab, all the students were already talking about lunch. The day was spent mostly looking at weird animals and even weirder insects. A lot of the creatures they saw looked like multiple animals all rolled into one, but the guide never addressed that odd feature. No one asked about it so it was ether all in Peter's head or no really cared. The second one was more likely.
The tour itself was boring. But as they went through the different labs, one of the scientists stood out. Every time Peter saw her, he caught her starring at either him or Felicia. She gave Peter the creeps.
"Who can tell me something about bats?" One of the guides asked as the students were going through a small lab dedicated to the creatures.
"They're blind?" Flash guessed.
"No you idiot. They see using that radar thing" Matt tried to explain as he starred at one of the winged mammals.
"Both technically wrong I'm afraid. Anyone else?'
"Bats aren't blind, but they do see better in the dark." Felicia started, "Although it wouldn't really matter if they didn't ever have to travel long distances. They use what's called echolocation, or bio sonar, to navigate and forage, often in total darkness." She looked at Peter, signaling for him to join in on the nerd fest.
"Although, since the 1970s there has been an ongoing controversy among researchers as to whether bats use a form of processing known from radar termed coherent cross-correlation." Peter broke in, "and for those who don't know, coherence means that the phase of the echolocation signals is used by the bats, while cross-correlation just implies that the outgoing signal is compared with the returning echoes in a running process."
The guides looked impressed and were about to move on, but the duo was just warming up. They began to go into a rant, finishing each others sentences and taking turns explaining the echolocation science.
"At any rate," Felicia began, "when searching for prey they produce sounds at a low rate."
Peter continued, "About 10 to 20 clicks per second."
"During the search phase the sound emission is coupled to respiration,"
"Which is again coupled to the wing beat."
"This coupling appears to dramatically conserve energy as there is little to no additional energetic cost of echolocation to flying bats."
"After detecting a potential prey item, the bats increase the rate of pulses,"
"Ending with the terminal buzz, at rates as high as 200 clicks per second."
"During approach to a detected target, the duration of the sounds is gradually decreased, as is the energy of the sound." Peter finished, and the two smiled at each other and at the impressed staff who had overheard the conversation and gathered around them.
"Show offs." Matt scoffed, still starring down the bat. Out of the corner of his eye, Peter caught sight of the same lady who had been stalking them this whole time. She looked at them with a huge smile on her face and nodded, obviously impressed. Then she slowly slipped out of the room without a word.
Later on, Peter and Felicia talked about what they'd seen in some of the labs over lunch in the buildings cafeteria. "Did you see that turtle in there?" Peter asked her. He was obviously creped out. "I swear I saw the shell change colors."
Felicia looked at him like he was crazy. "There was no turtle in there Peter. Just some snakes, lizards, and a chameleon."
Peter was confused, "I never saw a chameleon, but the turtle was in the case by the door."
"That's the one that had the chameleon in it."
"Are you sure? I swear it was a turtle."
"Are your glasses fogging up? There was no turtle."
"I guaranty you there was a turtle."
"This place is so weird."
"That's for sure. I saw a beetle stand up on its back legs, an octopus wave at me, and an iguana try to attack me."
"I told you not to get that close to the glass." Felicia teased him and giggled.
"Not to mention the bat that had a staring contest with Matt. That was really weird. I think that I would drop dead if I looked into his eyes for that long."
They were startled suddenly by a third voice. "You two are the first to recognize these qualities in our experiments." The voice had come from one of the geneticist. It was the same one that had been following them all day. She was hovering over them, a small grin appearing at the corners of her mouth. It made Peter uncomfortable. "Can you two come with me please? I'd like to show you both something very few people outside our staff get to see," She pushed her glasses back up onto the bridge of her nose, and hesitated before she said the next bit, "our Arachnid research and genetic manipulation lab."
Peter's face lit up with fear and shock. "I've been hearing about that since this place was built! Is it true what they say about it? Are you really splicing spider DNA and creating new species?"
"All will be discussed when we are inside," she said reassuringly, "But first I need to speak with your teachers to let them know were you are." She walked away to speak with the chaperones.
"I don't like this." Peter said once the woman was out of ear shot. "I don't like this one little bit."
Felicia looked at Peter in shock. "Really? I thought you would be exited. I mean it's practically all you've been talking about since you found out that we would be coming here. Not to mention the amount of research you've done on the rumored projects. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Because they actually want us to see it. Even though they have been denying the projects even exist. And that same woman has been following the two of us all day. Every time I turn around, she's either looking at me or you."
"Ok, that I have noticed. I do find it a little strange, but I still don't think that…."
"Plus, I don't trust any one in a lab coat. Not since what happened in chemistry class last year."
Felicia laughed, recalling the incident. Last year, Felicia and Peter were chemistry lab partners. During one of the projects, their teacher, who always wore a lab coat as a joke, attempted to help. Misunderstanding that she and Peter had already put the wrong chemical in a particular mixture, he placed the correct one in, thinking the two of them didn't know witch chemical to add. The new mixture abruptly exploded in Peter's face as he attempted to shield Felicia from the blast. The attempt was successful, but at a cost. Peter's safety goggles had apparently been defective and let some of the chemicals threw, causing his eyesight to be permanently damaged, and caused him to become blind temporarily. Peter hasn't trusted Pharmacists ever since. She hadn't realized how bad it was until, as a joke, she wore a lab coat to school since it was close to Halloween. He wouldn't talk to her for a week.
"I don't know. It could be cool looking at what they do in there." Felicia said, just as the woman was coming back. This time with some papers in her hands.
"Before you go in, we need you to sign these." She said as she walked up, pen in her hand.
"What are they for?" Peter asked skeptically.
She sighed. She knew the question was coming. "It's just a form that states that you can not legally share anything you see in the lab with anyone but each other, unless a related life threatening accident occurs while you are inside."
Peter had already grabbed the pen. As he passed the pen to Felicia, he saw the confusion in her eyes, obviously puzzled at Peters quick signing. He did always have a fickle nature. "What? If the only catch is that we can't tell anyone what we see, I'm all in." He told her, but secretly he had his own personal reasons why he wanted to get in.
They followed the woman to an off-limits, guarded section of the building. She held up her badge for the guards to see. "And these two are with me." She said, noticing their glaring in the kid's direction. "And they already signed the papers." Reluctantly, the guards let them pass, making sure that they didn't have any cameras with them before they went in. Then they entered the Lab not knowing what they were about to see or what terrors were to come.
A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. My plan is to have multiple parts to all the chapters to make a better over all story. I will be posting new parts and chapters soon.