I just want to thank everyone who has been reading my story. I honestly didn't think that anyone was going to notice it, but thank you for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. I hope that you enjoy this chapter.
I recall all of my spider drones back to the storage cylinder before following Sue out of the interview on the tour throughout the Baxter Building that she decided that I should have. I guess that she is just hurrying up the whole process of getting me in a lab and cranking out work.
"First, I should show you to the most groundbreaking department of the Baxter Foundation at the moment," Sue says as I trail in her footsteps. "While all of the department create incredible advances, these guys are producing something that could change the course of human history. This is as big as atomic fission."
"What is it?" I ask. From what I have read about the Baxter Foundation, they have not been running anything that could qualify for a description of that magnitude."
"You will see in just a second when we get to the Physics division," Sue says. I just accept her cryptic answer and keep walking. My skepticism is apparently unfounded when I see what is in the middle of the developing area.
A massive project is underway. What look like huge particle emitters are aimed at a stage where there is a small structure of sorts. It seems like a multifaceted dome, kinda reminiscent of a habitat for astronauts on another planet. People are milling around, working on bits of the project. Some are welding, others are taking measurements, and numerous more are doing systems checks with handheld computers.
Sue leads me over to a series of work tables covered in computers running simulations as well as showing models of the competed machine. Two guys were working around it and talking between each other. "Reed, Victor," she calls out.
The two guys turn around upon being called by the blonde. One of them had a distinct nerdy vibe that not even Peter ever possessed. Brown hair and pair of glasses that were also nerdier than those worn by Peter. The guy had a semi-distracted look in his eye like he was thinking about something else entirely when he was facing you. The other guy, however, embodied the classification of the suave, charming rich guy that was also intellectual. This is the kind of guy that girls loved. He captured the perfect image that guys like Harry used to aspire to be. The cool guy had black hair and an easy going smile on his face as he looked towards me and Sue.
"These are the geniuses that are leading the charge in the Physics department," Sue says. "This is Reed Richards," she says gesturing at the nerdy guy. "And this is Victor von Doom."
"Who's this, Sue?" Victor asks.
"This is a new hire," she says. "Meet Peter Parker. He is centered in chemical, mechanical, and electrical."
"What have you been up to?" Reed asks, his attention diverted between the tablet he is reading and the conversation in front of him.
"I am mainly into spiders, to be honest," I admit. "I use them as ideas for drones and chemical manufacturing."
"What kind of chemicals?" Victor asks.
"Those that produce spider silk," I say. "Do you want to see?"
"Sure, what is the best that you got?" Victor says, not expecting much.
"I don't have much on hand," I say, slyly setting up the next part of my demonstration. I activate my right watch, its components powering up for use. The trigger mechanism extend down towards the palm of my hand. I aim my hand at Reed's tablet and press my middle and ring fingers onto the trigger. A strand of webbing shoots off and latches onto Reed's device. I quickly yank on it and pull it towards me where I catch it and start reading the screen. "These numbers are intriguing. I don't exactly know what it is I am reading, but it does seem impressive as hell.
Victor is fairly surprised, Reed just looks up in confusion by my removal of his tablet from his hands, and Sue seems proud of herself for having hired me.
"Hey, what happened..." Reed says before he notices the strand of web trailing form his tablet to my wrist. "That is pretty interesting. Chemical compound capable of forming strands of adhesive material that are incredibly strong for their seemingly weak size. This is an impressive concoction."
"Thanks, Mr. Richards," I say. "That means a lot coming from you. I have to say, I read one of your papers a while back on the potential of using various subatomic particles to create a more natural bridge between dimensions by stretching a path instead of tearing one. It was pretty ingenious because although it might take more power and last for less time, it would definitely be safer in the long run because it wouldn't destabilize the dimensional fabric with multiple trips."
Reed seems to be in a state of continuous surprise at the fact that I seemed to know who he was. "You actually read the paper?" he asks with an amazed expression. "And you understood it?"
"Yeah," I say, scratching the back of my head. "I actually did a book report on it for an English class. My friend convinced me to do it as a joke. The teacher gave me an A because he couldn't even process the information well enough to grade my report. He just seemed a little dazed whenever he handed the assignment back."
Victor just laughs and pats Reed on the shoulder. "At least you're finally found a fan," he says with a grin. "Now there is one more person who actually understands what you are talking about except for me."
"Laugh it up," Reed tells him. There was a "I will" that followed as Reed turns back to me. "Thanks," Reed says. "Now, can I have my tablet back by any chance?"
"Oh, sorry," I say, releasing a little solvent from my web shooter to dissolve the web strand hanging off the handheld. "My bad." I hand back the tablet.
"It's fine, to be honest," Reed says, waving off my apology. "This has been an interesting break. Thank you." Then, he takes his tablet back and starts to type away once more as he heads back to the design table. He is a bit weird. Not in a bad way, but weird.
"And that is my queue to get back to work," Victor says. "See you around." He follows Reed back into their planning area and Sue whisks me off to the next part of the tour.
"Now, we will be passing through the Biology department," Sue says. "This is my area. I should actually introduce me to my assistant. I think that you two would really hit it off."
"Really?" I ask. "What does she do?"
"She is actually a genetics specialist like me," Sue says. "I was lucky to snag her from Oscorp after her research project ran its course."
I get a bad vibe in that moment. It is almost a premonition. But it can't be, can it?
We turn a corner so we see a biology lab. "Oh, look," Sue says. "There she is right now." I can tell that she is looking at one person in particular. A girl with blond hair, slim figure but not lacking curves, dressed in a green sweater, a black skirt, boots, and a hairband holding the hair out of her eyes. I saw the features that have haunted many a nightmare since my days in high school.
"Hey, Gwen," Sue calls our. "I have a new hire that I want you to meet."
Gwen looks over at Sue. "Oh, hey," she says. "Who?" she asks, looking around for whoever Sue was trying to introduce.
Sue actually looks around to see that Peter was long gone.
How the fuck is she here? I sprint through an assortment of halls and intersections throughout the Baxter Building. I head up and down stairs at random until I finally see an open door which I dive through. I slam the door closed behind me and lean against it. My body slides down the surface of the door as I bury my face in the palms of my hands.
"Why did this have to happen today?" I groan.
"Excuse me, I think that you have the wrong lab," a man says. I just realize that I didn't see where I entered.
I look up to see a blond guy dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans. He has the handsome slacker thing down to the slightest detail. I then realize that this is Johnny Storm. The brother of the woman that I just ran from.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me," I say.
And there goes another chapter. I hope that you all bear with me since I am moving forward in the story a little slow. I don't want to rush through to quickly and neglect to write anything actually good. I want to thank the person who made the suggestion of Silver Sable. It actually made me think of a story arc that I am interested in writing some time after I finish the origin arc and the some of the early hero chapters.