Part Two

"Look, there she is." Harry Osborn managed to brave a glance at the beautiful blond sitting several rows ahead of their own seat. Harry was wearing a dull green sweater and it somehow managed to allow him to blend with the seat that they were sitting on.

Peter Parker took a deep breath and rose slightly from his seat and stand despite the movement of the bus. He glanced at the blond surrounded by jocks and cheerleaders. "Gwen Stacy." He whispered beneath his breath. "She sure is something."
"Something?" Harry asked as if in disbelief, "She's everything, Pete! Sexy, smart and popular." He smirked, "Just the sort of girl your dad can be proud of."

"Yep." Peter responded sheepishly, "Why don't you go over there and ask her?"

Harry frowned somewhat annoyed at Peter's challenge, "Because I'm waiting for when she's alone. What's your excuse?" He asked accusingly.

Peter became silent and turned his head away from Harry back towards the aisle at the center of the base. People could be seen talking to one another or playing around. Suddenly, Peter felt a light touch against his neck. He frowned and turned around to find nothing. Peter realized there was a ball of paper resting on his shoulder.

He frowned and leaned back into the chair. Another paper landed on his shoulder, followed by another a few moments later. He could chuckles and whispers. Peter knew who was responsible: Flash Thompson.

Another paper landed on Peter's neck. He glanced a look at Harry who was oblivious and remained silent. The bus slowly pulled up into a parking lot and came to a stop after a few moments.

The teacher signaled it was time to leave and the students began an exodus towards the door. Peter had the unfortunate luck of getting caught in front of Flash Thompson himself as they began to move out of the bus.

Flash began to push Peter hard as they moved towards the exit. Peter frowned and clenched his teeth angrily. "Stop that!" Peter demanded.

"Or what?" Flash arrogantly demanded before pushing Peter once again. Eventually, Peter managed to get off the bus and gain some distance on Flash as he joined Harry who was already off the bus.

The teacher a large man with a great big beard addressed the class now outside of the bus, "Welcome to Arachnid Research Center. Inside we'll see all sorts of things and I'm sure many of us will be distracted by the sights and sounds, but it is vitally important we stay together. Okay, follow me."

The teacher began to lead the class towards the center, a large and very complex-looking building. Unbeknownst to Peter, Flash Thompson wasn't done, yet.

"Spiders are amazing creatures." The fat and balding scientist said with some fascination in his voice. He raised an eye curiously at the television screen showing several nondescript images of the arachnids going about their daily lives. "No creature is quite like them, even their cousin, the scorpion does not display the same splendor or grace that a spider does."

The bored faces of the class as they looked at the wide screen television that played in this dark room was evident but somehow went unnoticed by the scientist.

"Here at the center we have been experiment with the genetics of spiders and have found amazing results."

Images of several sterile labs played across the television. The scientist gazed at the screen for a moment before continuing his presentation, "Inside, you'll find those results. Now please stay with the group as this building is quite massive and it's easy to get lost in. Believe me, I know." He said with a nervous chuckle.

Another door opened up and the scientist began to lead them through a corridor.

Peter turned to Harry as they made their way down the narrow passage, "So, what did you think of the presentation?"

"Boring." Harry responded before yawning loudly.

"What?" Peter inquired as if surprised, "I thought it was promising."

Harry nodded, "Yeah, well, you would."

The class lead by the fat scientist entered a large and expansive room full of scientist going about their business. The scientist turned to them, "Now, first before we begin, I'd like to show you some of the equipment we use to experiment and monitor the spiders here with."

Norman signed his signature on the document and moved it into the "done" pile. He raised both his eyes towards a picture of Harry resting on his table.

There was an awkward silence for a moment as if the picture was demanding him to say something and he couldn't find the words.

"Stop staring at me." Norman demanded quietly and put the picture face down on the table. He shook his head angrily and commented, "Maybe now I can get some work done."

A phone at the edge of his sparkling table rang. Norman's hand reached across it and picked up the phone and placed the receiver against his ear, "Hello?"

"Mr. Osborn." His secretary on the other line said respectfully, "The glider has just arrived in lab seven."

Norman nodded, "Good, tell them to proceed as they see fit and hand over the results to Larrison." The flight glider had been in development for months and would soon be ready. Norman wondered why he was excited at the idea considering that he'd probably not live long enough to see it.

"There's one more thing."

"Yes, Ms. Banks." Norman replied.

"Dr. Stromm said he needs to speak with you on the double."

"Hey, Peter." A young woman whispered from behind one of the doors leading out of the main hall.

He turned towards her and recognized her as one of the cheerleaders. She seemed to be gesturing to him to come closer towards her, maybe even past the door.

Peter made sure that nobody was took several cautious steps towards her. She slipped past the doors out of his sight and Peter, like a lost puppy followed.

Once he was past the doors he found himself in a long corridor with numerous doors on each side leading to labs and all sorts of rooms. He frowned at the sudden vanishing act and was about to return to the main hall and join the class when he heard some noise, like footsteps, behind the door to his right.

Peter was silent for a moment, wondering what he should do. Eventually he decided to pursue the noise and opened the door. The results were immediately catastrophic.

Two men burst out of the door, a third from another room along with the cheerleader and tackled Peter against the wall. Flash Thompson quickly emerged as the leader of the group.

"Come on, Flash." Peter pleaded with the jock, "Not again." Remembering being in such a spot many times before he knew his pockets would soon be empty. "I didn't do anything to you!"

"That's wonderful, Parker." Flash responded with a carefree attitude, "How much do you have on you?"

Peter sighed annoyed that he had fallen into this trap with such ease, "Ten bucks in my left pocket."

Flash grinned, "Thanks. You're going to be putting me through college, did you know that Pete."

One of the other jocks, Jay responded to Thompson's comment, "Don't you have a football scholarship?"

"Oh, yeah." Flash grinned as he leaned over to take the money, "I guess I'll be able to get that jeep I wanted by graduation after all."

Peter didn't know what he'd say to his uncle this time. Flash had managed to steal close to a hundred dollars from Peter so far over the course of a few months and every time his uncle asked why he was burning through the money they gave him he always had some sort of excuse. It wasn't going to hold water for much longer. They always bothered him around this time of the week. They targeted him because it was known through the entire school that Parker never talked, no matter what.

Then, something happened. For the first time in his life, Peter just lost control. He couldn't take this life anymore, day-in and day-out being pushed around, being afraid. It was too much to bear, so for the first time he was impulsive.

He kneed Flash Thompson's jaw and sent the jock falling to the floor. Taking advantage of the rest of the group's confusion he broke free of their grasp and started a mad dash down the long corridor.

The scientist continued his presentation to the class, "These spiders have all been granted unbelievable gifts, some are stronger, some are faster, and others possess reflexes and agility far beyond any creature on this planet."

A redhead raised her head, "Is there a bathroom I can use?"

The scientist nodded, "Yes, take those stairs to the second floor and make a right down the hallway. You can't miss it."

Peter turned down the hallway, his legs pumping hard to keep ahead of Flash Thompson and his friends. Keep moving, Peter! You can't let them catch you now!

"There he is!" Flash yelled as he turned the corner, "Kick his ass!"

Peter bumped into a technician as he ran down the dark hallway, "Sorry!"

"Watch where you're going!" He demanded only to have Flash and the others slam into him as well, "What the hell?"

Peter saw a doorway at end of the hall and made a run for it. He could already hear Flash and the others beginning to gain on him. He slammed the door open and found himself in a stairwell. "Down or up?" He had no time to decide and picked up the staircase leading up with no idea of where it led.

He reached the next floor and burst through the door on the next floor. Sweat was pouring down his head and his heart was beating loudly but he couldn't stop. Already Flash's group could be heard making their way up the stairs, fueled by a desire for revenge.

"Where am I going?" He asked himself aware of how aimless his escape was. He ran down the hallway knowing what would happen if they caught him.

Peter turned a hallway and found himself in an intersection. Suddenly he heard a noise, a toilet flushing, from one of the doors. A young redhead emerged and gazed at him curiously, "What are you doing here?"
He took no time to answer he question and gazed down each corridor trying to see which one would give him the best chances of escape.

"Peter Parker?" The redhead said trying to recall his name. She frowned as she heard the angry voices of Flash Thompson and his friends becoming louder. She gazed at Peter, suddenly realizing what was happening. "Go that way." She stated urgently pointing to the left corridor.

"Are you sure?" Peter asked of the redhead.

"Yes, now go!" The redhead proclaimed.

Peter sprinted down that hallway and turned the first corner he could find and vanished from sight.

Just as he did Flash and the other jocks emerged. They approached the redhead, whom they knew, "Mary Jane, where'd Parker go?"

Mary Jane Watson brushed away a strand of red hair that hunger in front of her face and pointed down the right corridor, "He went that way."

"Thanks." Flash proclaimed and led the others in the opposite direction that Per had gone.

Two technicians emerged from another door and began to walk down the hallway with an angry pace. "Do you believe it?" One of them yelled out loudly, "Some idiot left the containers for one of the spiders open and it escaped! If it gets outside this building you know how many law suits could be flying around!"

Mary Jane glanced down the left corridor and took a deep breath, "You better run your ass off, tiger."

Peter ran into a storage room and closed the door behind him. He leaned against the opposite wall and hid in the dark shadows. His heart was beating hard and he was only now beginning to understand what had happened.

He rubbed the sweat off his head and scolded himself, "Good job, Peter. Now they can beat you up twice as bad next time they catch you." He shook his head and lowered his head in anger.

He was so tired of this dance he went through. He was a science whiz a good student and a quiet guy and that just opened him up to this every day. The fact that he never went and complained to a dean or teacher about it didn't help either. Sometimes, he wished something in his life would change, that he would change. Anything was preferable to being plain old Peter Parker.

Above Peter, a small spider crawled through the vent near the roof. It had escaped from an open container in one of the labs and was causing quite a ruckus among the staff. The spider began to spin a web and descended from the vent down towards the young student who it saw as a safe perch for the time being.

It made a frantic leap down and landed on his finger. Peter immediately noticed the small arachnid and screamed out of surprise. The spider was startled itself and reacted as its instincts dictated, by biting deep into his flesh.

Peter swiped the spider off and it safely landed on the floor and vanished underneath some boxes. "Damn it." He gazed at the two small puncture marks on his index finger. He shook his head and decided it was time to rejoin the class. He slipped out of the door unaware that the spider that had bit him had just granted him one of the greatest gifts ever given to somebody.