SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 13)
12:12 pm Frederick Foswell's office…
As the door opened, Spider-Man jumped out of the window before realising he forgot to close it as he hung on the side of the Daily Bugle building and watched the pedestrians and vehicles below him.
"Shit, I forgot to shut the window…" Spider-Man thought looking back up to check and wonder if Frederick is in his office.
To Spider-Man's surprise, Ned was in the office closing the door and snooping around which made him pop up in front of the open window.
"Ned? What the hell are you doing?" Spider-Man asked startling him from the window.
"Geez! It's you… Dude…Don't scare me like that…." Ned said grasping at his heart.
"How did you get in here?" Spider-Man asked.
"I pick locked this door…" Ned explained while holding out an open paper clip.
"Right… Are you hiding anymore hidden talents from me?" Spider-Man asked while reminding him of the time he pulled out the hidden web shooter.
"I'm resourceful…" Ned replied, "Uh… Did you manage to get some things here?"
"In my USB drive…" Spider-Man said pulling out the drive-in front of Ned.
"Got everything?" Ned asked.
"A lot of things…" Spider-Man answered, "Maybe there's more…"
"Uh…If that's the case, we should get out of here." Ned said now feeling like he wasted his time.
"We got more to figure out…" Spider-Man said.
"Right…" Ned said thinking that there was more to see in the office.
"But not here…" Spider-Man assured.
"Oh…" Ned replied, "Then I guess there's no point being here."
As Ned prepared to leave, Spider-Man stopped him.
"Wait… Don't walk out the door." Spider-Man insisted.
"What?" Ned questioned.
"Trust me… You don't know who's out there." Spider-Man said, "Fred could be walking back any moment."
"And what's your plan for…" Ned was about to question before Spider-Man suggested out of the window.
"Are you serious?" Ned asked, "You want to piggyback me out of the place?"
"Or you could walk out that door and make things more complicated potentially." Spider-Man said, "I'm your one-way ticket out of here."
Ned thought about it before agreeing.
"Ugh…Okay, uh... You do whatever you can…" Ned said.
Spider-Man then let Ned piggyback on his back as the two got out the window. It took a while to get out of the window due to Ned's weight, but Spider-Man managed to get him out while also grabbing onto his hand as he climbed out too.
"Oh my god… Peter. I feel nauseous being this high." Ned said looking down at the streets below.
"I've got super strength… Hang on." Spider-Man said as he held onto his hand.
"Hurry up… I'm terrified." Ned said trying to look away.
"Alright grab onto my shoulders." Spider-Man said as he got Ned to position himself.
Afterwards, Spider-Man closed the window with his foot and crawled up the Daily Bugle building with Ned on his back. Moving at a faster pace than usual, Spider-Man got to the rooftop with Ned where they took their time to catch their breath.
"Oh my god… Why?" Ned said still shaken by the experience.
"You haven't tried web-slinging with me yet." Spider-Man replied.
"Actually, that might be something cool… Even though heights suck…" Ned said, "Speaking of which, who tried it with you?"
"Oh... Um… MJ." Spider-Man answered, "Which is a story for another time."
6:45 pm Parker residence…
Back at Peter's house, Peter and Ned examined what Peter dug up in Frederick's office on his laptop within his room.
"So…Fred is in business with this Wilson Fisk?" Ned questioned.
"Now we got that information… We've got to figure out what he writes about him overall." Peter said.
Peter and Ned examined all the articles Frederick had been writing up and the other files.
"Check this one out…" Ned said pointing onto a letter file on screen.
Peter clicked on it and opened up the document which detailed a timetable of things.
"Blackie Gaxton? Lonnie Lincoln?" Ned questioned looking at the document, "Bribery?"
"I've heard of the name, Lonnie Lincoln. That's a gangster situated in Harlem." Peter informed.
"You know who that guy is?" Ned questioned.
"Only by his reputation. Back in the day when I was figuring out my crime fighting. I keep tabs of bad people you know…" Peter said again.
"Oh? So, you're compiling a rogue's gallery, am I right?" Ned asked.
"Just some people that matter to me the most. Shocker, Chameleon… Flash Thompson." Peter said prompting Ned to laugh a little.
"Flash idolises Spider-Man, you know?" Ned said smiling.
As the two shared the joke, Aunt May opened up the door which caused Peter to jump up.
"Hi Aunt May. Is there something I can do for you?" Peter said as he attempted to hide the stuff on his computer.
"Oh, I just dropped by to… Uh… To give you two some cookies I made at work today." Aunt May said before presenting a tray of baked oat cookies.
"Oh, uh… Thanks, Mrs. Parker." Ned said grabbing one.
"Peter, would you like one too?" Aunt May asked.
"I'm fine… Actually… Sure." Peter answered before grabbing a cookie too.
"You two busy with work? I do apologize for the sudden entrance." Aunt May said.
"It's fine… Um… Thanks for the cookies." Peter said smiling.
"You okay, Peter?" Aunt May questioned raising an eyebrow, "Are you two snooping online for girl pictures again? As in… 'pornography'?"
"WHAT?!" Peter blurted out, "Oh my god… Aunt May, we're grown ups now. I mean…We've learnt our lesson before regarding this."
Aunt May chuckled remembering Peter's time as a teenager. She then switched the topic.
"I hope the journalism work you two are doing is fine… Speaking of which, I wonder if you've heard the terrible news." Aunt May said.
"About what?" Peter asked.
Beneath the cookie tray, Aunt May got out a Daily Globe paper and gave it to Peter.
NO FEAST FOR FISK
By Edward Brock
The Fisk campaign for Queens is promising major reforms; especially when it comes to law enforcement. However, the campaign to elect the borough has hit back at Wilson Fisk. Fisk had been building up an overwhelming amount of support for his vision. That was until, the people at the F.E.A.S.T. organisation had something to say.
F.E.A.S.T., which is a renowned non-profit organisation situated around New York City supporting the homeless and disadvantaged have their offices in Queens threatened to shut down in favour of Fisk promoting his own charity organisation, Fisk Foundation.
Though this organisation is designed to support the poor as well, its controversy comes at the loss of F.E.A.S.T. employees who would lose their jobs. One of the employees working at the Queens centre described the potential shutdown as 'ignorance that will tear apart the community'.
"F.E.A.S.T. has given people purpose. A safe haven. And it's sheltered us to the point where we can come back to the world anew." The employee stated, "And here is, Wilson Fisk who does not understand the struggles we have to endure to get there."
Despite the protests, Fisk had defended his choice explaining that, "I have no doubts that helping the poor is a noble cause. But what is the point when we can offer actual jobs instead of putting valuable money into an organisation that spoon feeds them?"
No word has been given from Martin Li, the founder of F.E.A.S.T. who is said to be in China doing business at the moment. So far, New Yorkers are gathering all they can to retain the organisation's status. The upcoming election between Fisk and Randall will determine the outcome of F.E.A.S.T.'s future.
"This is something…" Peter said after reading the paper.
"Yes… It is sad. Lucky that you and I don't work there anymore." Aunt May said to Peter, "I'm just baffled."
"Oh, I am baffled…Believe me." Peter said reading the newspaper carefully again.
9:03 am Professor Warren's Lab, ESU…
Miller led Anton back to chamber where Anton first received the serum injection. Miller was looking as confident as possible today with a smile on his face. Aside from his red shirt, Anton on the other hand had covered up his face over the past days to the point where he wore a cap and bandages over his face making him look like the Invisible Man.
"Don't worry…" Miller said, "You're showing remarkable change."
Anton then sat on a chair beneath a beaming light and was strapped on both arms and legs. His thoughts ran with uncertainty as Miller approached above him staring down from his glasses.
"I'll help take those off you…" Miller said taking the cap off before unwrapping the bandages off him.
Anton was stiff as possible as Miller unravelled the bandages off him. Deep down, he believed the serum given to him by Miller during the internship demonstration was wrong. But he had believed Miller's care over the past few days.
After Miller finished taking off the face bandages, he smiled at the sight of Anton's face.
"Your physiological changes are expected. But this treatment will take you to the next stage." Miller said.
Yet again, Anton could not say a word. His mouth had been sealed shut ever since there were strange hair-like features all over his face. Furthermore, his mouth had changed to a more insectoid-like mouth which had caused him much anxiety that he had been avoiding everyone lately.
Miller then got a needle syringe out with an orange coloured substance that he was preparing to inject.
"I don't suppose you feel too much pain, Mr. Rodriguez. But I'll make this quick regardless…" Miller said as he prepared to deliver the treatment.
9:34 am Empire State Coffee Club…
Gwen was sitting around with another girl, Christie she made friends with at university. It was another day at university.
"Man…This is so much better than the Coffee Bean. I don't get why people go there all the time." Gwen said taking a sip out of her cappuccino.
"I sure would have loved going there instead. But hey… This isn't bad either." Christie agreed.
"The problem with Coffee Bean is that they put too much powder into the drink." Gwen stated, "Hell some of the people there aren't that well versed in whisking their milk."
The two shared a laugh. As the two sipped their drinks, Gwen's friend began asking about the deal she made with Miller Warren.
"So… How's things going lately? Study, work… Life in general?" Christie asked.
"Well, I saw Warren again… He offered me a part in his research, and I said… I'll think about it." Gwen stated.
"Oh? You should think twice by the way. Volunteering in research projects is actually an excruciating experience at times." Christie noted.
"What's your story then?" Gwen asked.
"Sleep deprivation… Don't try it if you're not into caffeine." Christie replied.
"Well hopefully that turned out well." Gwen laughed.
"Nah…I thought it was pointless research in the end." Christie said, "Say anything else besides science?"
"Oh, sure. I've been keen on music. I've…." Gwen said before they were interrupted.
The sounds of many students and staff screaming were then heard alerting the attention of Gwen and others. A bizarre arachnid-looking creature was scurrying about with its eight legs with four of them sprouting from the back. It attacked people by spitting out webs out of its mouth and was distracted by everything around it all at once. The creature also wore what looked like red.
Gwen watched in disbelief at the creature's eyes shifted about as if it was searching for something. She watched the creature hiss and spit more web out. She was unable to figure its behaviour before the creature started darting towards the university campus café.
TO BE CONTINUED…