Let me tell you something about Super-Heros. No matter how cocky we are, how much we tease the villain. The costumes tend to give these unbeleivable wedgies. Just ask the Fantastic Four. They know how I feel. How cool are you if your running around beating up Super-Villains with a wedgie. Not very cool.
Well my story begins quite some time ago. I was young. I was full of angst. But most of all.. I wasnt wearing a costume that was one giant wedgie! I mean before the spider that is. Ya. That changed pretty quickly. Chem class is just no fun when your ass hurts that bad. Anyway... I was what you would call um... mildly unsocial... ya, that sounds pretty right.
Peter Parker sat at a lunch table alone, picking away at some potatoes. His lonelieness felt unrivaled... little acne here. Glasses there. Cant forget the geekishly lame outfit. His Aunt May was quite an old foggie about things like that. She still felt that a young man should wear dress shoes, and bow ties to school. Hell. There were gay kids who were less persecuted than Pete. And in an age full of homo-phobes, that was quite something. He was a laughing stock. A mulligan*.
An apple managed to somehow soar its way over to his head, and splattered in his neatly combed hair, staining his plad hand me down shirt from his Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben was a good man, sometimes a little stylishly neglective of Pete, but still a wonderful man. "PARKER! WHAT THE HELL! YOU RUINED MY APPLE! I NEED COMPENSATION! PAY UP! 5 BUCKS!" A deep, unintelectual voice bellowed from behind him. "Oh boy. Not today. Please." He muttered. "Did you hear me Parker!?" Lou Jenkins grabbed him by the back of the collar. His bow tie strangled him a little. "Lou come on please... Don't do this anymore. Just away. I have no more money." Lou laughed. Like the idiot he was. "Dont worry. I Aint taking your money Parker" He picked up Peters lucnh plate. "This will hafta do." And with lightning speed, Lou dumped the the food on Petes head. Potatoes, and gravy streaming down his face and on his clothes. He wanted to cry. But no. If he did. Then, they would just hassle him some more. It was a relentless, and cruel cycle. He couldnt hold it back. He had to release it somehow.
'ARRRG!' Peter Parker jumped to his feet, stumbling a little on his nicely polished dress shoes. FWOOSH! He swung at Lou. And made a direct connection with his face. The football players thick skull though, seemed to leave him unharmed. Pete began to shake. Now he was definately gonna cry. Lou appeared very angry. Parker wet his pants. Never was a sadder scene. 'Im gonna enjoy this one Parker.' Last thing Peter remembered was the fist.
*Mulligan - A mulligan is traditionally known as a golfing term. In this particular author created definition it is in fact a person no one likes, and is usually ostricised and taunted by others for various reasons including excessive strangeness, or even extreme uncleanliness ( or stench).
Ok so mildly unsocial isn't exactly the word I was looking for.
"You ok Petey?" Asked his Aunt May, wrapping her arm around him. She placed an ice pack over his eye. "It'll be okay bud." His uncle Ben told him, with a smile. "Don't worry. It's only a suspension. Might do you some good to miss school just once." Pete sobbed. "It wasnt my fault though... he started it. They always do. Why do I get in trouble." NOw he WAS ready to cry. "It'll be fine sweetheart," his Aunt May ruffled his hair a bit. "NO its not. IM SICK OF THIS!." Tears began to stream down his face. His Aunt and Uncle sighed, deep heart felt sighs. "What can we do to help Peter? Just tell us and we'll try." His UNcle Ben said. Peter wiped a few tears and sniffled. He was a Sophmore in High SChool for chrissakes and he was crying like a five year old with a scraped knee. "I want to fit in. Could we maybe find me some new clothes? just a little? I know things are tight, but..." His Aunt May chimed in. "But Pete. You know how I feel about you wearing -" "May stop being an old fogie. Get with the times. We cant make the boy wear this stuff. Times have changed. Peter start wearing your casual clothes to school. And in the meantime. We'll find you a new wardrobe, if you want to fit in so bad we'll give it our best shot. Kay?" His nephew nodded, without energy.
May and Ben left Peter be. To think on his own. He sat in front of his mirror. Staring at his reflection. His thick rimmed glasses had shattered and broke. He had a tremendous blackened eye, but most of all he looked like a nerd. Peter undressed himself and looked in the mirror. NOthing special. He was in fact a little flabby. Possibly a little obese. Pete always did have a pit of a pot belly. It was not fair to him. He had always tried to be accepted. But people were just far to judgemental, and he was the opposite of social. He pushed his hair about. He was thinking about a makeover. And with summer approaching. It was perhaps the best time to do so. He peered out his window and noticed Gwen Stacy walking down the street with her friends, and boyfriend Flash Thompson. Only in Queens, Peter felt, would he ever see someone as breathe taking as Gwen. Her golden locks. Her perfect body. Everything about her seemed to make him tingle.
Basically, Gwen was what you would call... umm... perfect? And it sure wasn't my spider-sense that tingled around her. But, I'd rather not get into tangents about unrequited love...
A few weeks passed. And now Peter was becoming more of a blend in with the rest of the crowd. Of course, this only fueled the others to pick on him more excessively. Unbeknownst to Pete, he would soon meet someone who would play a key role in his life, and complicated things beyond all belief, but still become one of his closest and dearest friends. Of course at the time he would be his only friend.
"Okay we have a transfer student to our school class," Mrs. Boule bellowed in her annoyingly loud voice. Even Peter never liked her. And of course he was the biggest teachers pet of them all. "His name is Harry Osbourne." A young man stepped into the room. The least bit timid or shy. In fact he was quite confident and had the athletic physique to back it. He took a seat next to Peter. Eye balled him for a minute. And then looked ahead of the class. "As some of you may know. Harries father is owner and CEO of Osbourne Industries. Leader in scientific, and military research for the past 15 years." Harry leaned over and whispered to Peter "she sounds like an advertisement." Peter chuckled and smiled at Harry, who despite seeming like a jock, was one of the only students who took time to actually say something humane to Pete.
"In fact class. In Two weeks we will be making a visit to Osbourne industries to take part in a demonstration on Gamma radiation at its affect on living cells." A hand shot up in the class. "What Flash." The teacher sputtered rolling her eyes. "Is it true that, that guy in like Utah or Kansas or something was exposed to gamma rays and lived?" Mrs. Boule rolled here eyes. "Flash, please dont tell me your talking about that Doctor Banner again. They still have no solid proof-" He cut her off quick. "BUT MY COUSIN SAW HIM! HE SAID HE BECAME THIS GIANT GREEN MONSTER!" The class chuckled, and the bell let out.
Bruce Banner could have so kicked her ass. Oh wait. Im getting a little off topic aren't I? Ya.
"Your Pete right?" Harry approached Parker in the halls. "Uh ya. I guess so." He replied, in somewhat of an awakward manner. "You guess? Thats not very confident of you. I mean... it is a yes or no question." Peter shrugged. "I... kinda... I have no social etiquet." Harry stopped for a minute. "Well if you gonna use words like 'etiquet', it makes a lot more sense why you don't have a social life." They both kind of laughed. Osbourne looked at him. "Seriously though. I was wondering if you coudl give me a bit of a hand with my science work. I'm not exactly a mathematician or anything." Peter laughed. "Umm... Mathematicians... do Math." Harry cringed. "Oh ya. Just forget I said that will ya? So are ya gonna help me or what, I have no clue what I'm doing in that class and I really don't wanna look like a goon?" Peter chewed his lip for a minute. "Ya I guess I could give you a hand. ." Harry nodded. "GRREAT I HEAR YOUR A WHIZ! Ill find you after school and we can go to my place. Study there."
Now please. Do explain to me. How is it that a SOPHMORE placed in advanced chem has, in no way, any idea as to what hes doing? Can you say bribary...
The gamma rays burned and flared. The mouse being subjected to them, schreeched in agony. Norman Osbourne chewed on the corner of his mouth. Work damn it, work. He thought, as he watched the mouse squirm. Suddenly the creature exploded. Green blood splattering all over the cylinder it was in. "GOD DAMN IT! SON OF A BITCH! HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO HUMAN TESTING IF I CANT KEEP A FUCKING MOUSE ALIVE!!" he threw a note pad on the ground and collected blood samples from the mouse.
Time passed like nothing to him. Not only did Norman own and run the company, but he also worked for himself as a researcher. And now he was frustrated. He began to think,and mess with a formula after thoroughly investigating the blood. "EUREKA! I THINK I HAVE IT!"
Peter was in science nerd heaven. "Oh my god Harry. You father has so much cool stuff. He... wow this is unbeleivable.If i had this type of equipment I would ... I would just die." The drool practically dripped from Peters lips. "Calm down man. I don't understand what you people see in this stuff. It bores the hell out of me. " Harry commented. "Well Harry. Its nice to know you want to take on teh family business." Norman Osbournes voice bellowed from behind some equipment, where he was mixxing chemicals. Harry cringed. "I'm sorry dad... but you know.. this stuff just isnt my thing." Osbourne laughed at his son. "Well apparently I might have to leave the business to your frined over here. We seem to share the same interests." For a moment there was silence at Harry and Norman looked into eachothers eyes. The joking stopped. Time seemed to stop, and the looks in their eyes seemed to bear somewhat of a grudge with eachother. It was evident that in some way they barely tolerated one another. Time resumed and Norman looked at Pete, placing his mixture on a table and extending a hand. "Norman Osboure." Peter stuck his hand out. "Its a pleasure to meet you Mr. Osbourne. Ive read all your books." Norman grinned widely. "ALL my books? Thats quite some literature for a high school student." "Well Peter is sort of a science brain dad. He's in my Advanced Chem class." Harry busted in, pointing at Pete rather proudly. "Advanced Chem?" Norman looked at Parker, not displeased. "Well Mr. Osbourne.. I'm required to take it if I want to be accepted into Honors Physics next year.... its a pre-requisite.. I have been taking some classes at the community college though. Of course... I sort of sneak in." Norman laughed and shook Petes hand excitedly. "With a little work you could become the next me. And please just call me Norman." They laughed and Peter nodded, taking his hand back, "Ok. Norman."
Harry coughed loudly signifying that he wanted to get the studying on with. Norman peeked at his son and then at Pete. "In fact I have an experiment I'm working on involving gamma radiation and living cells. Would you like to give me a hand? You can join to Harry..." Petes eyes lit up and he looked at Harry. Harry sighed. "I'm out. I'll just go to my room. Pete you go. How often do you get to do science experiments with someone like Norman Osbourne. We'll study another night." Harry turned and began walking away quite a bit disgruntled at the fact that his father had screwed him out of his study partner. "Harry. Wait. Are you sure? I mean-" Pete was cut off by Norman placing his hand on his shoulder and speaking out. "Don't worry. Harrys very out spoken. If he wasnt sure he wouldn't say it. Let's go." The two began to walk towards the back of Normans lab. As Harry went up the stairs to head back into the main household. He peeked over his shoulder and noticed his father looking at him with a sly look in his eyes. That same fiery rivalry burned between their glares.
Norman showed Parker around the lab. Pete could hardly keep his tongue in his mouth. Before the question came to him. "Wait a minute. Mr. Osbourne-" "Norman Peter. Call me Norman." Osbourne smiled a smile that seemed to hide a darker persona beneath it. One he had yet to release. "I'm sorry. Norman. You said this was going to be a gamma test right?" Pete asked with interest in his eyes. Norman nodded. "Well. What about Osbourne industries previous involvement in gamma testing? Led by Dr. Banner?" Something sparked in Normans eyes. "Dr. Banner is no longer acknowledged as an employee of Osbourne Industries." Peter bit his lip. "What about the accide-" He was cut off. "That information is private and unfortunately I can not disclose it to you." It was deathly obvious Norman was covering up the accident, that had transformed Doctor Banner. The accident that had created the infamous Hulk. Yet, that was another story.
Pete swallowed hard. He decided it would be better to change the topic. And then he saw the spider. It was in a glass container. Somehow he felt as if that spider was watching him, as if it knew what was to become of it. That somehow, if it looked deep down into Peters soul. Pete might be willing to release him. Of course once Petes eyes met his, their destinies suddenly intertwined, and would later combine in ways neither had imagined possible.
It is impossible to describe what I felt. Or what I saw in that spiders eyes. As well, it is also impossible to tell what that spider was thinking. Or even if it WAS thinking. In some way though, staring into its cold, sad eyes I could see my destiny without the realization of what I was seeing.
Norman slapped Pete on the back. "Parker? You ready? Us and that spider have a date with some gamma rays. Pete shook off the chilling stare of the spider and put his book bag down ont he floor and looked at Norman. "Lets get started." They both smiled and leapt to work.
The chemical mixture Osbourne was putting together worked as a stabalizer for the living cells that would be affected by the gamma. In turn the rays would be able to, in theory, speed up the evolutionary process in the DNA of whatever it was being used on, without killing the test subject. For instance the "mutant" or "X" gene inherent in most human beings, could be accelerated to awaken from its dormancy. Of course at this point in the test phase, it was not exactly sure what would happen to the subject if this gene was to be accelerated. In Bruce Banners case, his "X" gene was "awakened" to reveal an excessively violent and uncontrollable Hulk, due to his own personal anguish and surpressed anger issues. This mixture was then applied to the spider, with the aid of Peter, followed by intense gamma exposure. The end result? At first, it seemed as if nothing had happened. But after a little observation on the Part of Peter and Norman, they found that the spider had become faster, stronger, more agile, show signs of what seemed like precognition. While some spiders have shown mild signs that they may potentially posses precognent abilities, this spider appeared to view the world from many directions, and appeared as if it knew what would happen up to several seconds later. It was remarkable, and it was a scientific breakthrough.
"Congratulations Peter." Osbourne patted the teenager on the back. "You've just helped me with a scientific breaththrough." A massive smile spread across his face. "If you don't mind. I must make a phone call. Watch the spider." And with that Norman ran off. The experiment had gone successful, in fact. It was so successful that people all over the world would pay millions for the secret. Norman Osbourne had at last cracked the mystery, that Bruce Banner had taken to the grave with him*.
*The Death of Bruce Banner - This involves a re-telling of the Hulk mythos currently in production. Look on my story list for this fic in the future.
Pete examined the spider inside of its glass. It seemed remarkably adept now that it had spent a little time with its enhanced abilities. Its movement were so quick, and agile. It was amazing. Then the spider stopped moving. It twitched slightly. Pete raised an eyebrow. The spider looked into his eyes. And that same feeling of fate meeting up with him came over him once more. Then his mouth dropped open. The spider began to rear back. Somehow Parker had, had a feeling what was going to happen. He shoved back his chair knocking it over. "NORMAN! HARRY!" Pete spun around. To turn to run. "MR OSBOUR-" The glass shattered as the spider burst through its encasing. It was quick. Almost to quick to see. Norman swung the door open. "Pete whats the matter!?" He began down the steps. The spider lept up onto Parkers back. Sticking and climbing. "HELP! THE SPIDER!" Osbourne saw the smash in the glass containment. "HOLYSHIT!" A fiery pain burned in Peter Parkers neck. Everything turned to black. Tears welled in his eyes as all around him faded. The spider leapt from him. Landing on a nearby wall, and dissapearing. Petes legs buckled, his glasses fell off and broke under one foot. He could hear still. All of his sense were shutting down one at a time. "OH GOD PARKER! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT!? PETE SPEAK TO ME!!
End of Origins Part 1. Please do excuse spelling and grammar errors. Also note that some of the writing may sound a wee bit corny, or the dialogue a little chopy. I still have not gotten into my groove with this story. Unfortunately. When I do though, I may come back and re-do this story so please be patient with me. As far as feedback goes. Say what you will. Just be bluntly honest.
Disclaimer: I Do not . Never have, and probably never will own any of the characters mentioned above or in any other Marvel based stories. I am in no way affiliated with the Marvel company and am not profitting from these stories, except just a little bit in the ego department.