I just wanted to take a second to address a point brought up in a review. It was asked why I was saying the main character was an OC for a while. That is mainly due to the fact that I had originally planned for this story to go in a completely different direction with an OC for the main character. However, I decided to change my plan after a bit. Since I read the review, I have changed the story description to the main character being Peter.
The other reason that I wanted to keep the revised version of the prologue is because I wanted to have the Collector as an important component of the story in the future. This was just the best way that came to mind. If it easier for you to think, the main character is a real world doppelgänger of Peter Parker that got collected. The erased memories was just the best way to explain the Collector being an influence.
--
Me and Johnny were working on some of the upgrades for the Spider-Buggy, despite Johnny's repeated dislike of the nickname. But I know that he will be coming around soon enough. I can feel it in my heart.
We are essentially working on a web line launch capability so that the car could theoretically cross a gorge or river if there are suitable supporting structures nearby.
However, the flow of our work is interrupted by Victor and Reed coming into our lab. Victor was already ranting about something so that means we aren't getting any more work done today. Me and Johnny sigh in exasperation.
For Victor, the only thing larger than his IQ is his ego. He sees himself as greater than even he is.
This isn't helped by the fact that Victor is a member of the royal family of Latveria, literally making him a prince. This just makes him feel even more important.
So, the moment he enters a room, we have to humor him and pay attention to everything he says. If we don't, he gets even more annoying since he feels we should have been focused on him. It becomes a whole thing that we have learned to avoid. We just accept that Victor is a major drama queen. Thanks to Latveria, that description is even more true.
"What is it now?" Johnny asks. "What has sent the crown prince into such a rage?"
"We aren't going to be the first people to the other dimension," Reed says.
"I can't believe this!" Victor shouts. "After all of my work"
"Our work," Reed says cutting in.
"After all of my work, they slight me!" Victor says, reaffirming that he didn't make a mistake. "Doom will not stand for this insult!"
Oh, yeah. Victor's other personality quirk. Whenever his ego is going over time, he slips into the third person. It is as pretentious as it sounds.
"I knew it was a long shot, but I was hoping to be on the first run," Reed says. "I was even planning on flying my friend Ben up to New York to come with me. He helped me design the prototype, so I thought it would be cool to for him to be there for the real deal."
"If the machine's complete, there's no reason we can't use it," I say with a grin. "All we have to do is break into the lab in the middle of the night, use it, and be back with no one ever having a chance to stop us." I just laugh at the thought before I see Victor and Reed nodding along while Johnny has a knowing smile on his face.
"I knew you were a genius, Pete," Johnny says.
"Wait, what?" I ask. "I was joking! Of course we can't do that!"
"Why not?" Victor asks. "What's stopping us?"
"I don't know," I say. "But off of the top of my head, all of us getting fired, Johnny getting disowned, getting sued. I may have a million because of this idiot, but I don't want to waste all of that money in court fees."
"But I have diplomatic immunity," Victor says. "I can say that you are all part of the embassy staff. Diplomatic immunity..." He trails off the second time to let me think it over for myself.
"Well, it would be cool to travel to another dimension," I say. "But I am pretty sure that my girlfriend will be pissed I left this dimension without telling her."
"Peter," Victor says before he loops his arm around my shoulders. "You saved me from a wrongful death lawsuit. I think that it would be only fair that I could save you from your girlfriend's anger. After we get back, I will cover all the charges for your procession of apology gifts and dates. There will be at least one candlelit dinner at a restaurant so expensive that the bathrooms would have hundred dollar bills for you to wipe your ass."
I ponder his offer for a moment. "Stay here or travel to another dimension and let Victor foot the bill for everything I get Liz as an apology," I say. I shrug. I am definitely not smart enough to count the ways that this will go wrong. Fuck it. "When do we leave?" I ask with a grin.
--
We stayed late at the lab that night so that it would seem like we are just pulling an all-nighter, an occurrence that does happen on occasion. Luckily, Reed was able to get his buddy out to New York in time for our plan.
Ben Grimm, Reed's childhood friend was a pretty nice guy. Fairly well built with a physique that spoke of being no stranger to a hard day's work of manual labor. He got along with all of us pretty well. He had short brown hair, strong features, and a confidence from someone who could handle themselves in a fight.
Once everyone was pretty much gone, we made our way to the physics department. We slipped inside with Victor's ID card since it was closed off to everyone by the project members since it is so close to the test.
Upon gaining entrance, we start to pull on the suits designed to protect us from biological, chemical, and energy contamination while we are on the other side. They are designed with heads up displays (HUDs) on the glass faces helmets that are programmed with analysis programs to identify anything that we could come across. They were full of sensors to test the atmosphere and terrain for just about everything. An added bonus is that they have self-contained air supplies so that we didn't have to breathe the possibly dangerous air on the other side.
We had just finished putting on the suits besides the helmets when we hear someone clear their voice from the direction of the doorway. We all freeze like deer in headlights upon seeing that it is Sue. She seems to have come from home since she is currently dressed in a white t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers as opposed to her usual attire around the lab.
"I knew something was up when Victor stopped complaining about being withheld from the first trip so quickly," she said with a penetrating look that she turned to each of us in turn. "It was only after being at home for a while that I realized you must have decided to do your own little trip."
Johnny is the first person to break beneath his sister's judgement gaze. "Don't blame us," he said. "This is all Peter's idea."
"What the fuck, Johnny?" I ask. "I said it as a joke. It's not my fault you guys took it seriously. If anything, blame Victor. He is the one who assured us this was a good idea."
"Stop arguing," Sue says. "You are all going to take those suits off. Then, we will be leaving gin the building and you will all go home. If you don't, I am calling my dad."
Johnny pales at the threat. Mr. Storm might be a relatively nice guy, but he did not like people breaking rules. Such as with an inter dimensional joyride.
"Wait, Sue," I say. "Let's not be so hasty. Why don't you come with us instead? Think about it. It would the scientific voyage of the century."
"That may be," she says. "But that does not mean that I will be letting anyone go on it."
"This could be the next great exploration. Don't you want to make history?" I ask.
"What do you mean?" she asks, suspicious about where I am going to go from here.
"Think about it," I say. "Everyone remembers the first man to walk on the moon. But what if the first person to walk on another dimension is a woman. It would inspire so many young girls to reach for the stars and change the world for the better."
Sue's determination seems to waver as she thinks about my points. I don't let her have enough time to use reason to decide that this is all a bad idea.
"Come on," I say. "Men had a moon. Women should have a dimension."
Sue's resolve to stop us finally became too worn down by my words to the point it collapsed. "Hand me a suit," she says.
I just grin as I pull one out to give to her.
--
We are sitting in the control center of the habitat and Sue seems still slightly angry. "This is a horrible idea," she says. "It can only end badly."
"Sure," I say. "That is probably true. But it will probably only end badly. The section of time before that is going to be awesome though."
"I can't believe that I got talked into this," Sue says.
"You can say that I have a silver tongue," I say. "But if you ask Liz, it good for a lot more than convincing people."
Sue doesn't seem to get the intended joke for a second until understanding visibly dawns on her. "Oh my God, Pete!" Sue shouts. "What the fuck!? Why did you just pull that joke out of nowhere!?"
Once I am done laughing, I answer her. "Liz gave me the idea," I say. "She thought it would be funny if one day, out of the blue, I told a sex joke in a casual conversation with no preparation. Since I'm not someone who would do that, she thought it would be hilarious to see someone's face when it happened."
"That doesn't make up for the fact that you did it in the first place," Sue says.
"What's up?" Ben asks once the rest of the guys finished up the final checks and filed into the habitat.
"Nothing," I say. "I just told Sue a joke and she had a hell of a reaction."
"Best kind of joke," Ben says. "The geniuses say it is time to dial this thing up. Are you guys ready?"
"Definitely," I say with a grin."
--
The Collector is searching through his inventory on a digital screen to find something for the next stage of his plan.
"This has to be ready for when they get to the Negative Zone," he mutters. "No. No. Wrong dimension. Wrong time. Interesting, but no. Wait. I forgot I had that one."
He pulls up more data on the item and mulls it over for a moment. "That could work," he decides. "That will work quite well."
He turns to a viewing screen showing everyone preparing to make the trip in the habitat. "Oh, how will this story turn out?" he asks. "How indeed."