Chapter 3
Year – 2008
That morning, Petunia knocked on the door of Harry's cupboard as usual, "Get up and make breakfast. Be quick about it."
Harry groaned as he sat upon his bed inside of the cupboard and pulled a spider free from his hair. He was used to spiders under the staircase. They roam about all over his body. Frankly speaking, he felt more kinship with the spiders than he did with the Dursleys.
Shaking the sleep off of his eyes, he put on his glasses and got out of the cupboard. It was a Saturday morning; thus Vernon didn't need to be up but Harry was surprised to see the disguised hippo had already parked himself before the blaring television set. Dudley though was still absent. Harry was sure that the baby hippo would descend upon them the moment the smell of sizzling bacon reached his nose.
He opened the fridge and took out the stuff to make breakfast. He needed to be quicker than usual this morning. Even though it was the weekend, there was a school trip that he was looking forward to. It would start earlier than the regular school time. With practised ease, Harry began to make food for a battalion of an army, or two obese Dursleys. Although, a battalion would eat less, thought Harry.
Vernon stomped in and sat in his chair at the kitchen table. The poor thing squeaked and creaked underneath his weight. Vernon grunted as Harry put a plate of food before him but other than switching on the kitchen television, he didn't say anything. The Dursleys have installed this telly recently, due to Dudley's tantrum. He wanted to see his favourite shows while he was stuffing his face in the kitchen. His parents gave in to his demand and it resulted in Dudley's increased frequency in the kitchen for the duration of the time he could be found at home.
"Anything interesting, dear?" Petunia asked her husband as she poured tea for him.
"Some yank got himself kidnapped in Afghanistan." Vernon spoke in between shoving food in his mouth.
"Oh, how dreadful." Petunia shook her head.
Harry almost snorted out at that. His aunt pretended to be interested in world news but in truth, she much more preferred to know what went on inside of her neighbours' houses. But she tried to read the headlines and catch a news telecast or two, only to appear knowledgeable at her tea parties.
Harry stole a glance at the telly while he placed a similar laden plate for his cousin. Dudley thundered in just a moment ago, and Harry was waiting for him to enter. If Dudley saw him carrying his food, he wouldn't trip him, because if he did so, his mouth would be bereaved of food for the time it would take the 'freak' to whip up another plate for him. Harry knew how his cousin's brain worked and took advantage of it. He didn't need the grief that morning. He wanted to be out of the house as soon as he could.
He stood at the counter with his meagre portion and inhaled it while keeping an ear out for the telly. The newsreader was speaking about some rich American, who went to Afghanistan for some demonstration and got kidnapped by some group. Since the man was the owner of a huge company, the anchor had an expert on the call to discuss the impact this situation would cause on the economic and political maps of the world. He discreetly finished with his food and washed the plate. He looked at the clock in the kitchen to see that there was very little time for him to go out. He sidled over to where Petunia was sitting and stood patiently.
His aunt gave him a questioning look, he, with his head lowered as was the norm in Dursley residence, muttered, "I need to go and get ready for the excursion."
A disdainful sniff was all the permission he got. Petunia couldn't keep him at home even she wanted to, because it was a school thing. She would be driving Dudley along in a while herself.
Harry almost bolted from the house and hurried his way to the Parkers'. He knew Peter was getting impatient for every minute he was late. Soon, he was standing before their door and ringing.
"Good morning, Harry. Come, come." Uncle Ben had a wide, genuine smile on his face seeing the little boy, "Peter is about ready to tear his hair off."
Harry chuckled as he passed the man and headed straight towards the kitchen. He knew Aunt May would never let Peter get out of the house without a proper breakfast. The woman also gave him a bright smile.
"Morning, Harry. Come, sit."
Harry dropped down on the chair beside Peter, his friend was busy spooning up the cereal from his bowl.
"Here," May put a plate before him, on it was a couple of toast and a few bacon strips with a healthy amount of scrambled egg. "Eat up, it is still warm."
Harry, although he was mortified the first time he was treated this way by the kind woman, had become used to her mothering, but still put up the token protest, "I already ate, Aunt May."
She waved off his protest by saying, "Of course you did, but I am sure you could eat a little more. You are a growing boy after all. And besides that, Pete may feel a little shame that his friend can eat his fill while he keeps himself on a bird's ration." The aforementioned boy scowled at her and poked his tongue out to the sniggering jerk of a friend beside him.
Harry noticed that Uncle Ben was also watching the news, the same one that Vernon was watching. Now they were showing some clippings of the abducted man. Apparently, he was quite famous like the big-name actors for various reasons.
"Vernon was watching the news about him too." Harry spoke out.
Ben nodded his head but kept his eyes on the telly, "I am not surprised that he was. Tony Stark is a big name in the world. In fact, the company where I am working is a subsidiary of the Stark International."
"Ah, ok." Harry peered into the screen, "What was he doing over there? It's not like he is a fighter or anything…"
Ben turned away from the telly to face the table, "Stark International is the foremost among the weapon manufacturers of the world. Tony Stark's father, the late Howard Stark, was a brilliant mind and worked with the allied forces in WWII. I don't know for sure, but rumour has it that he was even involved with the experiments that gave us Captain America.
Anyway, Tony Stark is also a brilliant man like his father. He has designed most of the new ballistic missiles himself that the armies all over the world are using now. He went to Afghanistan to give a demonstration on a new weapon he was working on. On the return trip, their convoy was ambushed and Stark went missing. So far, everyone is hoping that he is kidnapped and not killed." Ben shrugged and returned to the telly.
"Come on, Harry," Peter scrambled out of his chair, "We are gonna be late…"
Harry shoved the last spoonful of egg in his mouth and chewed, he took a big gulp of the milk from his glass to wash it down and jumped up on his feet. "I am ready."
May chuckled at the boys' antics. "Slow down, boys. There is no need to hurry. Ben will get you to school with time to spare." Uncle Ben put down his cup as May spoke and got up from his chair.
"And I will do the exact thing. Come on, boys, a day of science awaits." He bent down to kiss his wife on the cheek and chuckled at the disgusted looks his nephew and pseudo nephew gave him for the display of affection.
[WoW]
The school trip was actually Stark International's pet project. Rumours in the company vines were that Tony Stark wanted to bring Stark Expo to back life. The upper echelon of his management wanted to test the market – to say it mildly – by dipping their toes in lesser ventures. Thus, prominent branches of the corporation were instructed to have an open house day where school children could come for a day trip to learn about the latest in the scientific horizon.
The SI, London, was relatively newer than its sister subsidies. During the time of Howard Stark, the London branch worked primarily as the research wing of the now-defunct SSR (Strategic Scientific Research), the predecessor of Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.). It was rumoured that this was the division that was commissioned to make the shield of Captain America. Although, they never knew about it when they were making that shield and numerous others. The late Howard Stark was a pragmatist and invested in finding a way to keep the men at the frontier as safe as he could. But it was a reason for this lot to be proud and smug when it came to light that they had provided the shield for Captain America.
Despite their huge success in the past, the London branch fell into negligence in the aftermath of Howard Stark's passing. With Tony being still at college, Obadiah Stein had taken little to no interest in this branch and relegated it into an additional branch to process parts of weaponry. It was in recent times when Tony took a front seat in his company's running, that this branch was reintroduced to the prestige it once had and the new Medical Research wing was opened. The day trip for children would be serving dual purposes of laying the bricks for the Stark Expo as well as announcing to the wider world that SI was delving into the medical sphere as well.
Peter and Harry never knew all these and frankly, they never even wanted to. For them, it was a chance to see what was waiting for them once they are done with their studies. Both friends had a conversation where they envisioned working side by side for the betterment of the world. Uncle Ben once told them, after seeing their report card where both boys scored at the top of the class, that they ought to use their genius for people in need when they grew up. He called it a duty for mankind, not a privilege. With great power, comes great responsibility – was his favourite saying. Both the boys had taken it to be their mantra in life. So, the friends, brothers in all but blood, was adamant that they would make their uncle proud.
The bus trip from school to SI was a mixture of emotions. On one hand, Peter and Harry were excited to go and see all the amazing research that they had only dreamt of, on the other hand, they could have done without the incessant irritation that was Dudley and his gang. If it was not kicking the back of their seats, it was pelting them with bits of their food and mocking them for being, in their words – boring and freaky eggheads. The teacher in charge of supervision was already overwhelmed with the avalanche of questions that came her way from overexcited children, thus she didn't notice the torment our favourite duo were going through. Then again, by an untold edict by the Principal, who was a close personal friend of Vernon Dursley, little Dudley Dursley was the epitome of civility and innocence. Whatever misdeeds happened around him must be caused by his unnaturally quiet cousin, Harry Potter. And if anyone to befriend such a troublemaker, then they were sure to birds of a feather too. So, Peter Parker wasn't that far off to be known as another weird child. It certainly didn't matter for the greater aspect of life that both the children were constantly on the top of the school result. It only mattered who one knew to have any effect in their environment.
Soon, their bus had reached the Centre and the children, abuzz with excitement, lined up under the close inspection of their teacher. Peter and Harry managed to make their way to the front of the line, away from Dudley and his friends, who were busy stuffing their faces with the rest of the food to notice that their preys were no longer within their vicinity.
"Now, remember children, you are to behave properly. If anyone puts a toe outside of the line, you will only hope that I inform your guardians. The Principal wants to have a detailed report of this trip, and you don't want to get in trouble with him." Her eyes lingered on Peter and Harry more than they did on the others, it was an unsaid message to them as the children labelled to be troublemakers, despite their otherwise appearances.
The boys rolled their eyes discreetly, this was not the first time they had experienced such blatant unprofessionalism on a teacher's part. Peter once told Harry to say something about it to Uncle Ben, but Harry begged him not to. He was afraid of what the Dursleys would do to him if Uncle Ben raised a fuss. It was only Peter's friendship with him that dissuaded his so-called relatives to reign in their innate Dursley-ness, and Harry was thankful for that. He tried to repay it by being a shield between Peter and the others whenever there was a confrontation. Though both boys were fast on their feet and managed to evade the gang of miniature zoo animals most of the days, it was the days that they were trapped that Harry used to shove Peter out of the way or made him hide while he bore the result of their torments. Peter, due to his loyalty towards his only friend, never told anything to his uncle and aunt, just watched helplessly as the bullies beat Harry to a pulp and helped him to the washroom afterwards to clean him up.
A man in a white lab coat was standing in front of the large glass doors of the research facilities. He had a warm smile on his face as he greeted the group.
"Welcome, children. My name is Dr Matthews and I am to be your guide and your very own version of Wikipedia for the day." He nodded his head as only a few chuckled at his joke, Harry and Peter among them. "Now, we have a very busy, but fun-filled day for the quest of knowledge ahead of us. So, without further ado, allow me to welcome you all to the Medical Science Centre, a division of Stark International."
Dr Matthews turned to his left and motioned for them to follow.
"If you please form a line right here before these gentlemen and women, you will be handed your very own ID Card. Keep it secure on your person as you will be needing it throughout the day."
The children shoved and pushed each other to be the first to get their ID Cards. Harry and Peter chose to stay away from the madness and found themselves to be situated in the middle of the line by the time the teacher, Miss Anderson intervened. Soon enough, they all had received their ID Cards and Dr Matthews led them towards the lab that had been cleared for their visit.
Even though the Centre now focused mostly on medicinal research, remnants of its weapon manufacturing times could be seen at certain intervals. A scaled model here, a blueprint of a prototype missile carrier there – it was unmistakable. Dr Matthews was speaking excitedly as he pointed out various of those old-timey research projects. Following the man, the brainy duo caught sight of something that drew them a little apart from the group. From behind a set of see-through doors and walls, they could see a rather stocky man was working with what appeared to look like a backpack. But the interesting thing was that tentacle-like things were coming out of the backpack thing. Peter almost touched the door when a voice behind them made them jump in surprise.
"Ah, I see you have found our Carbonadium lab." Dr Matthews spoke genially, but there was a certain strain in his voice, "But I am afraid that lab is not a part of this tour. Dr Octavius is rather…sentimental of his works and doesn't approve any unauthorized person in what is, by all means, his kingdom." He chuckled to cover his unease.
"Come along, you two, do not stray away from the group." Said Miss Anderson in a voice that promised them retribution if the duo caused any further refraction of her rules.
The boys nodded their heads obediently and fell in line once again. But before Dr Matthews could take up his speech again, Peter stopped him –
"Excuse me, Dr Matthews, but what is Carbonadium?"
"Ah, an excellent question." The doctor gave him a beaming smile, "In a nutshell, it is a resilient, radioactive metal made by the Soviets for an answer to Adamantium. Before you ask, Adamantium is a very rare alloy. It is but one of the strongest and durable metals in existence and can be compared with only Vibranium, another of the rare metal alloys. But Carbonadium is cheaper to make than Adamantium and much more available than Vibranium. Also, compared to those metals, Carbonadium is more malleable. Understand?"
Peter nodded his head. A snicker could be heard from the part of the school group where Dudley was standing with his cronies. A whisper of 'eggheaded freaks' could also be heard from there.
Soon, the group reached the labs that were cleared for the tour. They were regaled by Dr Matthews about the scientists who were working to create a more sustainable grain. Some were researching the healing factors of the herbs that were used in old days to poultice the suffering and wounded. He made jokes about the witches of old tales who could be the unsung heroes of biochemistry. He glossed over the Centre's one of the future projects – re-growing of severed limbs. He told them that so far it was only at a planning stage, the scientist in charge had not have taken to put their theory into action.
"Ah, here we are." Dr Matthews stood before a set of doors with a proud look on his face. "Tell me children, who here knows about Captain America?" All of the hands rose high in the air. "Good, good. Then you will be glad to know that here we are trying to find or recreate what the brilliant mind of Dr Emile Erskine did in the forties. He had achieved the pinnacle of medical science with his serum that managed to unlock the ultimate potential of a human being. Sad that such a brilliant mind ended so early in his life. If only he was alive…" He shook his head.
"Only one man in recent times came relatively close to recreate Dr Erskine's formula, and he was the foremost expert in Gamma radiation. But unfortunately, he…ahem…encountered quite a large setback." He clapped his hand once excitedly, "And now, with the backing of Stark International, here we are. Dabbling our hands with recreating legend. What you see before you, children is Mr Stark's pet project – Project Marvel."
The doctor enthusiastically showed them around the lab. Almost every research procedure that could be conceived, seemed to be conducted within the lab. From cloning to try and create life in a controlled environment which was the state of the world after the Big Bang – everything was there. Most of these things were too complicated for children to understand, even when they were little geniuses like Peter. Dr Matthews in his invigorated speech failed to notice that the children were drifting off in boredom. Peter and Harry found themselves standing in front of a glass habitat that housed a few interesting looking spiders. Harry, who had regularly encountered the creatures inside of his cupboard, and developed somewhat of a fascination about them, dragged Peter with him nearer the habitat.
"It says that they have created these spiders in this lab." Peter said with wonder in his voice.
"Huh?" Harry wasn't paying attention to his friend, he almost had his face plastered against the glass wall, looking at the spiders.
Peter impatiently indicated towards the display board beside the habitat, "It says in it. The scientists created these spiders."
"Wow!" Harry breathed out after reading the board. As Peter said, the scientists indeed had managed to create this new species of spider by splicing the genes of several spiders that they found all over the world. Some could jump to an immense height to catch their prey. Some could move at terrific speed. A species with the added tensile strength to its webbing. Normally, a spider web was as strong as a stainless steel wire of the same breadth and width, but this webbing was far stronger than that. There was even a species of spider in the mix that could discern immediate threats to their vicinity and act accordingly, their ingrained ability was so quick that it appeared as if they have a precognitive ability.
"How did they manage to keep these things alive? Won't having all of these put together in one of those tiny bodies…I don't know…explode or something?" Harry was once again standing in front of the habitats watching the spiders fleet about.
"If I knew that, I would have been working here already." Peter poked him at his side, making them both snicker.
"Well, looky here, mates…" A whiney, nasal voice from behind made both the boys go stiff, Dudley and his gang had found them, "The freaks are trying to make friends with those creepy spiders."
Harry and Peter turned around slowly to find themselves surrounded by the gang, with unholy glee etched on their faces.
"You wanna see those spiders real close, Parker, Potter?" Exclaimed Pierce Polkiss from Dudley's side. "Why don't we dump these two inside that glass jar, Dudley?"
Dudley's beady, little eyes were gleaming with the prospect of tormenting his freak of a cousin and his equally freaky friend some more. He nodded his head in agreement as they advanced towards the cowering boys.
Harry felt a cold sweat of dread dripping down his back as he took a half step in front of Peter, trying to keep him protected for as long as he could. He cast his eyes around for anything that could help them out of this predicament. Luckily, Dr Matthews, still engrossed in his heartfelt speech, had slowly come closer to where they were. Relief flooded through his little body as Harry called out for the good doctor –
"Excuse me, Dr Matthews?" He was glad to see that Dudley and his gang stopped to look back and slowly moved away to appear innocent.
"Yes?" Dr Matthews didn't seem to be irritated to be disturbed in the middle of his flow.
"Could you tell us about these spiders, please?"
"Ah, the spiders. Truly wondrous things they are. We were quite lucky that we managed to keep them alive." Dr Matthews approached the habitat and put a hand on the glass with a soft caress, almost like a father to his child.
Peter also had the time to recollect himself as he stepped alongside his friend, "Um, yes, they look wicked. But how do you keep them alive? We have read their description here and Harry thinks that nobody could put together so much stuff in those tiny bodies or they will explode."
Dr Matthews had a good laugh hearing that. "I can assure you, young man, that these spiders are not going to…as you put it…explode. They are well taken care of and thriving in the habitat we built for them. As for keeping them alive, well, we treat them regularly with bursts of Gamma radiation. The first generation of these spiders needed constant radiation to live, or their body started to deteriorate rather rapidly. So in a sense, you were right about them exploding." He winked at Harry.
He continued his lecture on the spiders, "Our findings state that since their genome structure was modified to contain so many innate biological make-ups, they needed a constant source of energy to keep their cells active. Gamma radiation helped with that. But sadly, they also succumbed rather easily due to the radiation. What you are seeing here is the fourth generation of mutated spiders. By the third generation, their rapid ageing was slowed and now in their fourth generation, they seemed to have developed an immunity so that they don't require the constant radiation bursts and also prolonged their cycles to the likes of fruit flies."
Harry frowned hearing that, he looked back at those tiny red-blue-black patterned creatures.
"You mean to say that they live for only two weeks?"
"You know your entomology, lad." Dr Matthews looked very impressed.
Harry had gone mute by his praise, so Peter took up the responsibility of answering, "Um, we like to read…a lot…"
"Good, good. I hope you continue with that habit. We always need new blood with their new ideas within these walls here." He ruffled Peter's hair before continuing, "As I was saying, we are not trying to see if we could prolong their cycle to that of a normal spider, which is two years for most species. Or else, we will have to declare that we have developed completely lab bred new species of spiders who only live for two weeks instead of two years. Quite disappointing, I know."
Another man in a white lab coat approached the habitat while Dr Matthews was speaking and took one of the spiders in a glass apparatus he carried with him.
"Ah, well, there you are. We are about to see the application of radiation bursts on the spiders. Do not worry, Ms Anderson, it will happen in a clean room, so none here will be contaminated."
The man carried the spider to a different room quite far away from the main lab floor. He locked the door on his way out and indicated to the people who were controlling the room's machinery. They turned on some switches and fiddled with some knobs and a low humming could be heard from inside of the room. One of the pronged looking things glowed bright green and a ray of the same colour came from that thing and alighted the spider. It was skittering around the glass jar it was kept in, but after it was treated with the radiation, it stood still.
"It is not dead if you are going to ask. They get, um, let us say inebriated, for a while when they were infused with the excess energy. It takes them about fifteen minutes to get lively again."
"What will happen to it now?" Peter asked, not taking his eyes off of the spider.
"Now, it will be taken back to the habitat but will be kept behind a partition. Only to keep it apart from the other non-radiated spiders. Once, we are done with all of them, the partition will be removed. It is a slow process, but hey, you can't hurry up progress." He once again chuckled at his own joke, he was the only one this time.
Harry was following all of these while keeping a close watch on Dudley and his friends, because he knew his cousin better than the others, even his parents. You see, Dudley was like a dog with a bone, he won't rest until he got what he wanted. He wanted to hurt Harry and Peter but was stopped by the intervention of Dr Matthews. Harry could feel it in his bones that his cousin was up to something. And true to the form, he saw Dudley mutter something in Pierce's ears. Harry slowly moved without making the others aware and placed himself between his cousin and Peter to move him away from Dudley's line of sight. He didn't care if he was hurt, he wouldn't let Peter come in harm.
It all happened as if in slow motion. Everybody had their eyes on the scientist who was bringing the spider back from the room. Dudley and Pierce moved fast, their target was Peter. Ms Anderson saw the movement by the corner of her eyes, and on instinct, she reached out and grabbed Pierce by his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks, but Dudley advanced unhindered. Ms Anderson could only shout out his name after him. The moment Dudley was about to make contact with Peter's back with his opened palms, Harry stepped in. Dudley shoved him and he went flying towards the oncoming spider carrying man. The startled man could do nothing to stop the falling glass jar containing the spider. Somebody screamed.
After what felt like a century, Dr Matthews yelled, "Nobody move! Jenkins, see if the boy is bleeding! McGregor, search for the loose specimen! Aldrin, prepare the shower! Move, people!" He turned towards Ms Anderson who was white and trembling, even Dudley was too shocked to gloat. "Ms Anderson, I will have to order you to remove your class from the lab, minus the boy. He needs to go through the process of decontamination. And that was if he wasn't bleeding or came in direct contact with the specimen. Wait in the lobby for further instruction, and I do hope for your sake that you can keep them civil there."
People were already hurrying about to carry out their emergency protocol. Some were helping Ms Anderson to corral her charges and ushering them out of the lab. The man who was tending to the spider, helped Harry up on his feet while another ran some sort of scanner over his body.
Peter looked towards the previously amiable Dr Matthews and asked him with fear in his voice, "Is Harry going to be okay?"
Dr Matthews was about to snap back at him when he recalled Peter to be the other one of the polite and bright boys who seemed to be genuinely interested out of the lot. He sighed and shook his head, "I can't say for sure, my boy. We have to find the specimen first as it was recently irradiated. If it came in contact with his skin…"
"Found the specimen!" Yelled the man with the scanner, "It was on his clothes!"
"Is it alive?"
"Can't say for sure, it's not moving still."
"Is the boy bleeding anywhere?"
"Swellings on the head and right hand, from the impact is my estimation. No visible puncture wound."
"Good, get him to the shower immediately. Burn everything he has on him. Run another set of tests after he is decontaminated." Dr Matthews rapid-fired his commands. But before turning away he once again addressed Peter, "Go and wait with your teacher, you will know about your friend soon enough."
[WoW]
Harry was feeling quite rotten. His head was hurting badly, he did hit the ground hard. But he didn't understand why his right hand was giving him so much trouble. As far as he could remember, he didn't hit it when he crashed on the floor. He did recall a certain pain, almost like an injection shot, but it could be his mind playing tricks on him, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that the bump on his head was throbbing badly and his right hand was irritating him, it seemed to be on fire and it was only slowly moving upwards towards the rest of his body.
He was led from the lab to a room with only one sliding door. He couldn't see anything as they had stripped him down to his skin, even took away his glasses. Then, he was left in the room and high pressured jet of water washed him from head to toe. He was led back out and after drying himself, was given a set of clothes to wear. He could only make out that they were sweats and quite big for his size, so normal for his apparent appearance.
Once again, they ran a plethora of tests and scans on him after he was allowed to join Peter and the others out in the lobby. They didn't ask him any questions if he was feeling sick or anything. It seemed to him that they were trying to hurry him out of the place as quickly as they could.
"Harry! Are you alright?" Peter rushed at him, he could only make out the blurry shape of his friend without his glasses.
Before he could answer, Ms Anderson hurried them along to the waiting school bus. She was fuming to herself and giving Dudley and his friends the stare all the while. She saw them trying and succeeding to push Parker or Potter. She couldn't deny her own eyes this time. She would be having a conversation with the Principal about his friend's son.
"I can't see anything…they took my glasses…" Harry cried under his breath.
"Here, lemme help you." Peter grabbed his hand and directed him towards their seats.
"Uncle Vernon will kill me if he finds out that I lost my glasses." Harry muttered to himself.
"Don't worry. I will ask Uncle Ben about your glasses."
"Pete, I can't…"
Peter cut him off, "You sure can. I know that Dudley was aiming for me and as usual you got in the way to protect me. At least let me help you with the glasses, Harry."
Harry tried to argue some more, but the sick feeling had returned once again. The burning sensation by then had moved to his chest and now slowly moving towards his head. He could only nod to Peter and laid his head back to get some rest.
[WoW]
Dudley was furious. The freak once again spoiled his fun. And what was worse, he got blamed by the teacher for getting caught red-handed. He couldn't lie his way out of it this time. He could only hope that his mum and dad would set the teacher straight. But all in all, the freak and his freak friend were asking for a beating. How dare they made him look like a loon. He would get his revenge.
[WoW]
At the school, Ms Anderson couldn't be any faster to usher the kids off the bus and out of the school premises. She didn't even stop the Potter child to ask if he was feeling alright. The MSC lot was quicker the get them off of their hair so none could even think about the word 'lawsuit'. She didn't want the threat of one hanging over her head either. Besides, the Potter boy was an orphan, but his relatives, the Dursleys were people she wasn't so sure about. They could sue her on behalf of their delinquent of a nephew. But the boy didn't look any worse for the wear than he normally appeared to be. But she will be having words about the Dursley boy, she was humiliated by his behaviours.
Harry stumbled on while keeping a hold on Peter's shoulder. He was feeling as if a fever was coming. His borrowed clothes were clammy with sweat and he was feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the weather. Peter kept looking at his friend with concerned eyes as he led him towards the Parker house.
"There they are! Let's get those freaks!" A shout came from behind them.
Peter gulped as he looked over his shoulder. And sure as the day, Dudley and his gang were charging towards them.
"Harry! We have to run!"
They started to run away from their would-be tormentors but they were not as fast as they usually were. Peter was supporting a feverish and near-blind Harry, and Harry was stumbling on with only Peter's help. Thankfully, apart from Pierce, none of Dudley's friends could run very fast and the rat-faced boy was too much of a coward to leave the protection of his larger friends.
They were panting as they evaded the gang for a few lanes and by-lanes. Peter was wheezing as he kept on running, Harry could understand that his asthma was acting up.
"Leave me and run, Peter. They will stop running after you if they get to beat me."
"I am not leaving you, Harry!" Peter spoke through gritted teeth.
In their bid to run away, the duo didn't notice that they had left the residential area and had reached the main road with moderate traffic at that time of the day. They skidded to a stop at a sidewalk, narrowly avoiding stepping on the road in the oncoming traffic. Pedestrians walked around them while giving them weird eyes. They reached the crosswalk and waiting for the signal to cross the road when they heard the hated nasal grunt once more.
"Aha, got you, freaks!"
They could only watch as Dudley charged at them like a rampaging rhino and shoved them with his full momentum. Both the skinny boys were thrown off their feet and landed right smack down the middle of the road.
The driver was horrified as he watched two little boys being pushed right in front of his car. He slammed the brakes as hard as he could but his car still rammed into the boys. The poor things were flung away once again. The entire traffic came to a halt.
Harry could feel the numerous broken bones of his body. He was intimately familiar with that pain. He knew he was bleeding too. He couldn't see or feel Peter near him anymore. Slowly, the world started to turn dark around his eyes.
Before he submitted to the darkness entirely, he could utter only one word, "Peter…"
[WoW]
Far away, beyond the sight and knowledge of normal human beings, right in the middle of the cosmos that houses the multiverse, there was a structure that spread about like a spider's web. It was a mystical force called Web of Life and Destiny. In the middle of the web, sat the being that was once known as Anansi. Now, they were called the Great Weaver. They were in charge of granting the mystical power of the Web to the avatars who were chosen by the Other.
The Great Weaver seemed to have woken up from a stupor as they felt an unusual tremor in the Web. Curious, they took a closer look at the spot that was ringing in a different rhythm. There, another chosen avatar or totem of the Other who was destined to receive the blessing. But what was the reason for the otherworldly rhythm, the being wondered? They took a more closer look at the juncture. The chosen had so many resonances in other realities. One where he was almost grown-up when he received the blessing. After that, was the one where the time runs a little slower than its predecessor. Another where time was more than five decades slower. Another in what the humans call medieval times. Was that…a pig? Stranger and stranger things the Weaver got to experience, thanks to the web. But this resonance, it was nothing like the others. What was the cause of it?
It was a world where two realities that were not meant to exist together, did so. Could it be another whim of the Beyonder? Or was it something else? The chosen was very young when he was to receive the blessing. It was weaved to cause by an accident as was the Other's norm. But the Bride had introduced her own brand of chaos in the knot. An individual, who had no reason to be anywhere near the web was now destined to become an avatar. Well, it would be different altogether – mused the Weaver.
"Harry Potter, the Wizard of Web. It will be interesting to watch how your rhythm resonates with the Web."
A.N. - Thank you all for taking the pain of leaving a word or two in your reviews. Each and every one of them was very much appreciated.
N. A. Wennerholm - I agree with your points, but if there was no conflict, then there cannot be a superhero story. I cannot put forth a story that is a crossover between HP universe and the MCU if I am to save Harry from the sufferings I showed in this story. Believe me, I do not condone child abuse or abuse of any kind, but for the sake of this story, I am unable to do anything about those. But it will not be for long, that I can assure you.
Also, I am neither a British nor an American citizen, therefore, I have no idea how the systems work over there. Please excuse my ignorance.
The next chapter of this story is already posted on my pa-tre-on page. The link is in my profile.
