Chapter Two- Shenanigans at the Genetic Research Facility
The sun was just reaching its highest point when Madison strolled up to the huge research facility, dressed in a black tank and black baggy jeans, black trench coat still in place despite the unusually humid weather, and that same, infuriating smirk hovered incessantly on her lips.
Peter gawked angrily as she passed. "You were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" He snapped, irritated beyond belief.
Madison breezed by him, not bothering to glance back. "Fashionably late," she yawned in a bored tone.
Frowning angrily, he jogged to keep up with her, stumbling to a halt as she stopped abruptly and stared, motionless, up at the huge building.
"Genetic research, huh?" She wondered aloud. "Not on people I hope."
He turned to her. "No, not on people."
"On what then?" Madison tilted her head and smiled in a childlike manner, making her appear less mature and intimidating and more like the 20 year old she was. "Do they do it on sharks, like in 'Deep Blue Sea?'" Madison giggled, a strange sound when it was coming from her.
"No," he said softly, slightly heartened by this easier side of her personality. "Actually, most of their research deals with species in the family arachnid."
Ever so slowly she turned toward him, her eyes wide. "You mean . . . spiders?" She whispered.
He shrugged. "Among others."
Her face whitened. "What's the matter?" He asked quietly.
Madison gave a barely perceptible shiver. "I really don't like spiders," she muttered. "Really, really don't like spiders."
Peter's brow creased with worry. "Will you be ok?" He asked, briefly reaching out to touch her shoulder.
It was as if that touch snapped her back to the real world. Brushing his hand off, Madison straightened up and lifted her head in a haughty manner.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said in a strong, clear voice, and then hurried away, as if ashamed by her show of emotion.
The building was cool and dark inside, the main hallway branching off in several different directions, the most prominent one straight ahead. That led to the brightly lit research area, where all of the spiders were kept. Madison shivered slightly and turned to Peter.
"You can go in there," she jerked her head towards the brightly lit chamber, "and I'll search down one of these," she pointed toward one of the long, winding hallways that arced around the side of the building. "See if there's and unguarded scientist I can catch and question." Her pad was already in her hand. "Meet back here in an hour, k?"
Madison then turned on her heel and left before he had a chance to answer, secretly congratulating herself at getting out of that sticky situation.
Peter frowned, and paused, listening to the lecture that was going on inside the testing area.
"Over the past year, the scientists here at Oscorp have made vast genetic improvements on even our most amazing 'Super Spiders.' We have been able to activate latent hormonal glands to make them bigger, stronger, and faster then before. However, these developments seem to have hindered their perception and accuracy due to their enhanced size . . ."
Peter perked up as he listened to the speech. It sounded fascinating. Curiously, he began to walk towards the testing area for the second time in his life. Maybe visiting Oscorp wouldn't be as bad as an experience as he had thought.
About halfway there he noticed a familiar face in deep conversation with a scientist. The familiar face glanced up and let out an exclamation of startled surprise.
"Peter!" Harry Osborn rushed over to his old friend, his prematurely lined face lightening.
"Harry," Peter's greeting was less enthusiastic, but Harry took no notice.
"How have you been?" He asked, smiling as he stepped back to examine his friend. "You look well."
"I've been fine, Harry, I . . . "
"And Aunt May? How is she?" He interrupted, as if he was afraid of what Peter was going to say.
"She's fine too, look, Harry . . . "
"That's good," his face saddened. "Peter, I know I haven't been around the past couple of months, after selling my fathers mansion and . . . and I've been busy. I've been working on a lot of research. I've come a long way," he glanced meaningfully at his friend. Peter felt sick inside. He knew that all of Harry's 'research' had been devoted to paying back Spiderman. If only Harry knew that . . .
"But I promise to start living my life again soon, Pete," Harry smiled, grasping his friends arm. "I don't want to lose you as my friend."
"Same here."
"So why are you here?" Harry asked conversationally. "Just doing research?"
"I'm working on a column for the paper with my new partner." He jerked his head in the direction that Madison had gone. "I was just about to head into . . . " he paused, noticing the slightly slack look on his friends face. "Harry, are you ok?"
Harry grabbed Peter's arm and pointed down the hallway. "Who is that?" he asked in hushed tones. "She doesn't work here."
Peter turned his head and noticed Madison in one of the more secluded hallways, chatting with a scientist in white garb. "Oh, Madison?" He asked, surprised. "She's my partner."
"She's beautiful," Harry breathed, his eyes sort of glazed over.
"Uhhhh . . ." Peter glanced at her with raised eyebrows. He hadn't really thought of her as beautiful before. She wouldn't be bad looking if her face wasn't as angular and her manner was less eccentric, but Peter still thought her too strange to be considered conventionally beautiful.
Madison finished her conversation with the scientist and turned, disappearing down the hallway. Harry turned back to Peter, that dazed look still in his eyes.
"Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Peter. I'll be around, and maybe sometime you and I could get together to reminisce over old times. And you can introduce to your . . . friend." Smiling at Peter and grasping his hand, Harry turned and headed down a side hallway, whistling a soft tune that sounded suspiciously like something from 'Sleeping Beauty.' Peter just stared after him. What was that all about? He shook his head and stared in the direction Madison had gone. What had just happened?
Meanwhile, Madison was wandering deeper and deeper into the facility, soon finding herself very, very lost. Somehow she had gotten onto a business wing, full of offices and men in suits, not a white garbed figure in sight. She frowned and headed back the way she came.
Halfway down the hallway she noticed a door slightly ajar. Sighing in frustration, she flung it open, expecting to find another hallway. Instead she found herself in a beautifully furnished office, complete with a large oak desk and plush, leather backed couch and chairs.
Madison surveyed the office with interest before slowly backing out. She was just about to softly close the door when something sitting on top of the neatly ordered desk caught her eye.
It was a paperweight.
And it was shiny.
Eyes widening in childlike glee, Madison reopened the door and crept back into the office. Lifting the circular, crystal paperweight in her hands, she stared at it with interest for a moment before, without thought crossing her mind, she shoved into the folds of her black trench coat.
Unfortunately, if she had allowed a thought to cross her mind, she would have realized that the room was being closely monitored by several high tech security cameras.
Almost immediately after stepping out of the office, Madison was accosted by several men in black suits and shades. She managed a weak smile.
"Hi, boys. Anything I can do for you?" She asked, crossing her fingers inside of her trench coat.
"Yes ma'am, can you please empty the contents of your pockets?" One of the dark suited men asked, crossing his arms in an intimidating manner.
"But why, um, officer?" Madison blustered, not quiet sure what to call him. He looked like one of the men in black.
The man-in-black scowled at her, showing a large, deep scar stretching from his mouth to his chin. "We have reason to believe that you have an illegally obtained article on your person."
"Well, in that case, of course, sir, I have nothing to hide." Madison gave them her best winning smile. "I'll just have to check if I have anything in my pockets...GOOD LORD, WHAT IT THAT?" She screamed suddenly, pointing behind them with a horrified look on her face. The men spun around, hands on the guns inside of their coats.
"There's nothing there, ma'am..." The man-in-black turned back around to face her. Except this time, she wasn't there.
'Smooth move, Avenue.' Madison berated herself as she sprinted down the hallway, making random turns as she went. 'Like I'm ever going to get out of this building anyway...and even if I do get out, they have security records, they'll find me! Why couldn't I have just given them the damn paperweight???'
She made a sharp right turn and then a left before coming to a staircase. Flinging herself down it, she turned another corner just in time to see the men-in-black heading down the stairs, gaining on her.
Heading down an unfamiliar hallway, she jumped into a room and hid there, listening as the men rushed past her down the hall. Coming out, she sprinted in the opposite direction and into a brightly lit, huge circular chamber.
Maybe it was paranoia that made her glance back at the doorway. Maybe it was fate. Either way, her head was turned back to the doorway she had just come from as she ran blindly through the testing area. Running full speed, she finally swiveled her head back around to watch where she was going, and found herself headed straight for the huge, plastic stack of spider cages.
Madison made a desperate attempt to stop, but it was too late. She skidded right into the cages, arms and legs flailing, knocking them over like so many stacked bowling pins.
Immediately realizing where she was, Madison let out a shriek and jumped up, doing a strange sort of dance as she flung her hands around, trying to brush off nonexistent spiders.
"Get them off me, get them off me!" She screamed in hysterics. "Where are they? Get them off me!" She jumped up and down frantically. "GET THEM OFF OF ME!!!!!!"
"Miss, Miss..." a scientist rushed over to Madison and grabbed her arms in an attempt to get them to stop flailing. "Miss!"
Madison stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, her face a mask of fear. The scientist spoke to her in a low, comforting voice.
"Miss, these cages are secure. There is no way they could have gotten out. THERE ARE NO SPIDERS ON YOU."
Madison's voice shook in relief. "There aren't?" She asked in a small voice.
"None," he smiled at her, understanding her fear. "Look, this isn't really a big deal." That was a lie, normally they would sue for something like this, but she looked so scared and helpless. Also, it was obviously an accident, though he wondered why she was running. "Why don't you just go home and try to get some rest. We'll clean this up and forget all about it, ok?" He spoke as if to a young child. "Just don't let it happen again."
Madison nodded tearily, wishing she had a Kleenex. "Ok," she muttered. After a slight push from the scientist, she headed for the main hallway, where Peter was waiting with a worried look on his face.
"Did something just happen in there?" He asked as she walked past him and headed for the exit. "I could have sworn I heard someone yelling," he didn't add that he was sure he had heard someone screaming, but had been reluctant to become Spiderman here at Oscorp.
Madison's voice shook only slightly as they exited the building. "No, nothing happened. Nothing at all."
Neither one of them noticed the small, blue and red striped spider that clung to the collar of her trench coat.
Review, please and thank you!
The sun was just reaching its highest point when Madison strolled up to the huge research facility, dressed in a black tank and black baggy jeans, black trench coat still in place despite the unusually humid weather, and that same, infuriating smirk hovered incessantly on her lips.
Peter gawked angrily as she passed. "You were supposed to be here half an hour ago!" He snapped, irritated beyond belief.
Madison breezed by him, not bothering to glance back. "Fashionably late," she yawned in a bored tone.
Frowning angrily, he jogged to keep up with her, stumbling to a halt as she stopped abruptly and stared, motionless, up at the huge building.
"Genetic research, huh?" She wondered aloud. "Not on people I hope."
He turned to her. "No, not on people."
"On what then?" Madison tilted her head and smiled in a childlike manner, making her appear less mature and intimidating and more like the 20 year old she was. "Do they do it on sharks, like in 'Deep Blue Sea?'" Madison giggled, a strange sound when it was coming from her.
"No," he said softly, slightly heartened by this easier side of her personality. "Actually, most of their research deals with species in the family arachnid."
Ever so slowly she turned toward him, her eyes wide. "You mean . . . spiders?" She whispered.
He shrugged. "Among others."
Her face whitened. "What's the matter?" He asked quietly.
Madison gave a barely perceptible shiver. "I really don't like spiders," she muttered. "Really, really don't like spiders."
Peter's brow creased with worry. "Will you be ok?" He asked, briefly reaching out to touch her shoulder.
It was as if that touch snapped her back to the real world. Brushing his hand off, Madison straightened up and lifted her head in a haughty manner.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said in a strong, clear voice, and then hurried away, as if ashamed by her show of emotion.
The building was cool and dark inside, the main hallway branching off in several different directions, the most prominent one straight ahead. That led to the brightly lit research area, where all of the spiders were kept. Madison shivered slightly and turned to Peter.
"You can go in there," she jerked her head towards the brightly lit chamber, "and I'll search down one of these," she pointed toward one of the long, winding hallways that arced around the side of the building. "See if there's and unguarded scientist I can catch and question." Her pad was already in her hand. "Meet back here in an hour, k?"
Madison then turned on her heel and left before he had a chance to answer, secretly congratulating herself at getting out of that sticky situation.
Peter frowned, and paused, listening to the lecture that was going on inside the testing area.
"Over the past year, the scientists here at Oscorp have made vast genetic improvements on even our most amazing 'Super Spiders.' We have been able to activate latent hormonal glands to make them bigger, stronger, and faster then before. However, these developments seem to have hindered their perception and accuracy due to their enhanced size . . ."
Peter perked up as he listened to the speech. It sounded fascinating. Curiously, he began to walk towards the testing area for the second time in his life. Maybe visiting Oscorp wouldn't be as bad as an experience as he had thought.
About halfway there he noticed a familiar face in deep conversation with a scientist. The familiar face glanced up and let out an exclamation of startled surprise.
"Peter!" Harry Osborn rushed over to his old friend, his prematurely lined face lightening.
"Harry," Peter's greeting was less enthusiastic, but Harry took no notice.
"How have you been?" He asked, smiling as he stepped back to examine his friend. "You look well."
"I've been fine, Harry, I . . . "
"And Aunt May? How is she?" He interrupted, as if he was afraid of what Peter was going to say.
"She's fine too, look, Harry . . . "
"That's good," his face saddened. "Peter, I know I haven't been around the past couple of months, after selling my fathers mansion and . . . and I've been busy. I've been working on a lot of research. I've come a long way," he glanced meaningfully at his friend. Peter felt sick inside. He knew that all of Harry's 'research' had been devoted to paying back Spiderman. If only Harry knew that . . .
"But I promise to start living my life again soon, Pete," Harry smiled, grasping his friends arm. "I don't want to lose you as my friend."
"Same here."
"So why are you here?" Harry asked conversationally. "Just doing research?"
"I'm working on a column for the paper with my new partner." He jerked his head in the direction that Madison had gone. "I was just about to head into . . . " he paused, noticing the slightly slack look on his friends face. "Harry, are you ok?"
Harry grabbed Peter's arm and pointed down the hallway. "Who is that?" he asked in hushed tones. "She doesn't work here."
Peter turned his head and noticed Madison in one of the more secluded hallways, chatting with a scientist in white garb. "Oh, Madison?" He asked, surprised. "She's my partner."
"She's beautiful," Harry breathed, his eyes sort of glazed over.
"Uhhhh . . ." Peter glanced at her with raised eyebrows. He hadn't really thought of her as beautiful before. She wouldn't be bad looking if her face wasn't as angular and her manner was less eccentric, but Peter still thought her too strange to be considered conventionally beautiful.
Madison finished her conversation with the scientist and turned, disappearing down the hallway. Harry turned back to Peter, that dazed look still in his eyes.
"Anyway, it was nice talking to you, Peter. I'll be around, and maybe sometime you and I could get together to reminisce over old times. And you can introduce to your . . . friend." Smiling at Peter and grasping his hand, Harry turned and headed down a side hallway, whistling a soft tune that sounded suspiciously like something from 'Sleeping Beauty.' Peter just stared after him. What was that all about? He shook his head and stared in the direction Madison had gone. What had just happened?
Meanwhile, Madison was wandering deeper and deeper into the facility, soon finding herself very, very lost. Somehow she had gotten onto a business wing, full of offices and men in suits, not a white garbed figure in sight. She frowned and headed back the way she came.
Halfway down the hallway she noticed a door slightly ajar. Sighing in frustration, she flung it open, expecting to find another hallway. Instead she found herself in a beautifully furnished office, complete with a large oak desk and plush, leather backed couch and chairs.
Madison surveyed the office with interest before slowly backing out. She was just about to softly close the door when something sitting on top of the neatly ordered desk caught her eye.
It was a paperweight.
And it was shiny.
Eyes widening in childlike glee, Madison reopened the door and crept back into the office. Lifting the circular, crystal paperweight in her hands, she stared at it with interest for a moment before, without thought crossing her mind, she shoved into the folds of her black trench coat.
Unfortunately, if she had allowed a thought to cross her mind, she would have realized that the room was being closely monitored by several high tech security cameras.
Almost immediately after stepping out of the office, Madison was accosted by several men in black suits and shades. She managed a weak smile.
"Hi, boys. Anything I can do for you?" She asked, crossing her fingers inside of her trench coat.
"Yes ma'am, can you please empty the contents of your pockets?" One of the dark suited men asked, crossing his arms in an intimidating manner.
"But why, um, officer?" Madison blustered, not quiet sure what to call him. He looked like one of the men in black.
The man-in-black scowled at her, showing a large, deep scar stretching from his mouth to his chin. "We have reason to believe that you have an illegally obtained article on your person."
"Well, in that case, of course, sir, I have nothing to hide." Madison gave them her best winning smile. "I'll just have to check if I have anything in my pockets...GOOD LORD, WHAT IT THAT?" She screamed suddenly, pointing behind them with a horrified look on her face. The men spun around, hands on the guns inside of their coats.
"There's nothing there, ma'am..." The man-in-black turned back around to face her. Except this time, she wasn't there.
'Smooth move, Avenue.' Madison berated herself as she sprinted down the hallway, making random turns as she went. 'Like I'm ever going to get out of this building anyway...and even if I do get out, they have security records, they'll find me! Why couldn't I have just given them the damn paperweight???'
She made a sharp right turn and then a left before coming to a staircase. Flinging herself down it, she turned another corner just in time to see the men-in-black heading down the stairs, gaining on her.
Heading down an unfamiliar hallway, she jumped into a room and hid there, listening as the men rushed past her down the hall. Coming out, she sprinted in the opposite direction and into a brightly lit, huge circular chamber.
Maybe it was paranoia that made her glance back at the doorway. Maybe it was fate. Either way, her head was turned back to the doorway she had just come from as she ran blindly through the testing area. Running full speed, she finally swiveled her head back around to watch where she was going, and found herself headed straight for the huge, plastic stack of spider cages.
Madison made a desperate attempt to stop, but it was too late. She skidded right into the cages, arms and legs flailing, knocking them over like so many stacked bowling pins.
Immediately realizing where she was, Madison let out a shriek and jumped up, doing a strange sort of dance as she flung her hands around, trying to brush off nonexistent spiders.
"Get them off me, get them off me!" She screamed in hysterics. "Where are they? Get them off me!" She jumped up and down frantically. "GET THEM OFF OF ME!!!!!!"
"Miss, Miss..." a scientist rushed over to Madison and grabbed her arms in an attempt to get them to stop flailing. "Miss!"
Madison stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, her face a mask of fear. The scientist spoke to her in a low, comforting voice.
"Miss, these cages are secure. There is no way they could have gotten out. THERE ARE NO SPIDERS ON YOU."
Madison's voice shook in relief. "There aren't?" She asked in a small voice.
"None," he smiled at her, understanding her fear. "Look, this isn't really a big deal." That was a lie, normally they would sue for something like this, but she looked so scared and helpless. Also, it was obviously an accident, though he wondered why she was running. "Why don't you just go home and try to get some rest. We'll clean this up and forget all about it, ok?" He spoke as if to a young child. "Just don't let it happen again."
Madison nodded tearily, wishing she had a Kleenex. "Ok," she muttered. After a slight push from the scientist, she headed for the main hallway, where Peter was waiting with a worried look on his face.
"Did something just happen in there?" He asked as she walked past him and headed for the exit. "I could have sworn I heard someone yelling," he didn't add that he was sure he had heard someone screaming, but had been reluctant to become Spiderman here at Oscorp.
Madison's voice shook only slightly as they exited the building. "No, nothing happened. Nothing at all."
Neither one of them noticed the small, blue and red striped spider that clung to the collar of her trench coat.
Review, please and thank you!