November 5th, 2015
Peter rubbed the sleep out of his eyes while he fumbled for the Incredible Hulk alarm clock that had been beeping for the past few minutes.
"There you are," he finally grumbled, and proceded to smash it multiple times against the wall.
"Hulk SMASH!" The alarm said before finally going silent, satisfied with his display of strength.
Peter put on his glasses and got dressed, hesitating for a moment between his "Chemists have all the solutions" and his "Never trust an atom, they make up everything" hoodies, before opting for the latter.
When he came out of his room, he was surprised by the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen.
"You have time for breakfast?" his uncle Ben asked as he turned off the stove and put the pile of pancakes on the kitchen table.
"Uhhh..." Peter checked his phone. 6:12 AM. "Yeah, barely. What's this? You don't start work for another couple of hours." He sat down and started munching.
"Well I wanted to make sure you weren't going on your special field trip on an empty stomach. 'Most important meal of the day' and whatnot, right?" Ben answered with a hearty smile.
"Actually, that's been debunked. Turns out that was a-" Peter paused. "You know what, nevermind. Thanks Ben."
"So, big day huh? Visiting the Avengers Tower?" Ben sat down across from Peter and served himself a couple of pancakes before adding a drop of maple sirup.
"Yeah!" Peter answered enthusiastically. "Well, I've already been to the museum part dozens of times, but apparently we also get to visit the Research and Development Department! It's a new part of the tour, and normally it's only for university students, so we're really lucky." Peter gulped down his last bite of pancake before checking his phone again.
"Sorry I really gotta go, can't miss the bus from school." He got up, put on his winter coat and backpack and headed for the door.
"Alrighty then! Upwards and onwards you go," Ben smiled. "I got a long shift today, but May will be home when you get back."
"Okay, see you later!" Peter hurried outside and sent a text to Ned before putting his gloves on. Omw, ETA 5 minutes.
It was still dark out, but at least it hadn't snowed again, so Peter was able to jog to his rendez-vous point with Ned without getting slosh on his pants.
"Hey!" Peter managed, out of breath, when he found Ned waiting for him on the corner of 170th Street and 65th Avenue. They took a minute to do their special handshake before heading on to Midtown High.
"You know, I should totally be exhausted right now, since I woke up at like, 5 AM, but I'm just too excited!" Ned said as they approached the School Bus that would bring them to Manhattan.
"Yeah -"
"I wonder if we're gonna see anything Top Secret?" Ned continued before Peter could answer. "What if one of the Avengers is there? Do you think we could get an autograph? I hope it's Captain America. Or Black Widow. Do you think we'll see the Quinjet?" Ned blabbed on for a while like this, which always made Peter smile.
"Alright everybody, time for a head count!" said Mr Harrington. As the teachers counted everybody, Peter looked around to see how many students had actually shown up for the trip. Since it wasn't a mandatory field day, many of them had decided to skip it. He was disappointed to see that Flash had chosen to come. For some reason, that guy just loved picking on him. He spotted a few other familiar faces from the Academic Decathlon Team, but other than that it was mostly seniors. His heart jumped a beat when he noticed Liz Toomes was standing right behind him, talking to one of her friends about cheerleading practice.
"Fourty four... Fourty five... Fourty six. Okay guys, everybody on the bus, we're leaving in 5 minutes!" Mr Harrigton finally said after his 5th head count.
The bus ride from Midtown High to Manhattan took roughly a half hour, during which Ned and Peter watched a YouTube video about who would win a fight between San Goku and Thor. They were still arguing about all the things the video had gotten wrong when they got off the bus, a block away from the Avengers Tower.
"And dude, there's no way Goku is faster than Thor. He would just zap him with lightning before -"
"Ned, we're here." Peter interrupted.
No matter how many times he saw the Tower, up close, far away, it didn't matter, he would always be in awe. Sometimes he would see Iron Suits flying around it, doing who-knows-what for Tony Stark. On occasion, he would go onto the roof of his appartment building with his telescope to try and get a glimpse of them taking off. They both stopped for a second to stare at it.
"So cool." they both said under their breath.
The lobby was huge, obviously, and packed with tourists from around the world. Iron Suits and employees would greet them in all kinds of different languages, giving directions to ticket booths and informations about the Tower.
"Previously named Stark Tower, the Avengers Tower became the Headquarters to the Avengers Initiative in 2012 after the Battle of New York..." he overheard a suit reciting as the teachers guided them through security. Since they were a school group, they didn't have to go through the excutiatingly long queue Peter usually endured to get in. Even with his Premium Pass, on any given day he would have to wait in line for at least an hour.
"Alright everybody, listen up!" said Ms Warren. "Due to how large our group is, we'll be seperating into 2 groups. One group will start with the Arc Reactor Tour with Mr Cooper and I, and the other will start with the Research and Development Tour with Mr Harrington and Mr Dell. Both groups will meet up at noon for lunch at the Avengers' Museum buffet. Whichever tour you didn't do this morning, that's what you do this afternoon."
Peter and Ned were sorted into Mr Harrington's group, as long as Flash and his fan club, while Liz, Betty Brant and most of the seniors were sent off with Ms Warren.
Their tour guide introduced himself right after that. Mr Williams, a tall, serious looking man with short black hair, tiny square glasses, and a tablet tucked under his arm.
"Sweeeeeet!" squealed Ned. "We get to start with the R&D! Man i'm so pumped."
"Oh man I've been waiting for this for so long!" Peter said.
"Title of your sex tape! Like, in thirty years." Flash retorted, giving Peter a shove that knocked his glasses askew as he walked towards the tour guide for their group. The rest of the students snickered, as they usually did to Flash's quips.
Peter blushed and put his glasses back on correctly before falling in line with the rest of the tour group.
"Man, why can't he leave me alone..." Peter complained to Ned in a whisper.
"I don't know dude, just ignore him, maybe he'll get tired of it one day."
Peter sighed, but as soon as they walked through the R&D Dept. doors, he forgot about Flash completely. There was so much going on he could barely focus. The doors opened onto a platform that looked over the entire department. There were people in lab coats everywhere, so busy with their work that they hardly noticed the twenty highschoolers who had just entered. The department was seperated into labs of different sizes, but all the walls and cielings were made of glass, so from where they were standing, they could see everything that was going on. This must be what fish in an aquarium feel like, Peter thought to himself.
Looking to his right, Peter saw researchers moving holograms around and writing down equations on whiteboards. On the left, he saw test tubes and erlenmeyers filled with solutions of all different colors. In the back, he saw a lab filled to the cieling with plants. He felt like Mr Jack discovering Christmas. What's this? What's this? There's color everywhere!
"If you'll follow me, we'll start with the Chemistry department," the tour guide started as he showed them down the stairs to their left. "As you probably already know, all this has only recently been opened to the public. There's nothing Top Secret going on in these labs, and most of the research is open sourced." Mr Williams paused. "That means you're allowed to take photos."
Everybody immediately rushed to take out their phones (including Mr Harrington and Mr Dell) and started snapping shots of just about everything.
"Now only a few weeks ago, this entire floor was off limits to the public," the tour guide continued. "and some very, very Top Secret research was going on..." he smiled at the effect that information had on the students, who all raised their hands. "And that I obviously can't talk to you about." The hands lowered. "Anyway, all the equipment has been moved to a secure site at another Avengers facility, and we can now proudly present more 'public friendly' aspects of our work here." He opened the door to the first lab, right at the bottom of the stairs. "Such as Doctor Wang's work on new, low density, high resistance synthetic fibers. Doctor Wang, would you care to explain more about your team's research?"
Peter listened astutely as Dr Wang explained how they were trying to create a synthetic material with the physical properties of spider silk on an industrial scale. It was rivetting.
"All of this research is open sourced, so anybody across the world can have access to what we've discovered, and potentially start their own research on the subject. One of the perks of not needing funding..."
Peter took photos of everything. The whiteboard, the colorful test tubes, the heat resistance test equipment, Dr Wang's empty cup of coffee... He was so caught up in capturing every detail he possibly could, he didn't notice the tour guide had moved on to the next lab.
"Stop being a dweeb, Parker!" Flash said as he shoved his way past him, knocking Peter's phone out of his hands. Peter cursed as he watched the phone slide under a shelf filled with chemistry equipment.
"Come on Peter!" Ned called from the hall "The next lab is doing research on tomatoes the size of pumpkins!"
"Uh yeah, be right there!" Peter got on his knees to fetch his phone from under the shelf, but couldn't see where it was. He blindly reached under the shelf, waving his arm around until he finally felt it.
"Ow!" Peter pulled his hand back, holding his phone. He looked where he had been hurt, and saw a small spider running up his hand towards his forearm.
"Ahh! Go away!" Peter smacked the arachnid, which dropped to the floor, apparently dead. Then something strange happened. The spider glowed blue, and disappeared for a second.
"What the hell?" Peter slammed his foot down on it for good measure, unsure of what he had just witnessed, then turned towards Dr Wang who was busy on his computer.
"Dr Wang, do you use actual spiders in your research?" He asked anxiously while he pocketed his phone.
"No, no, of course not," Dr Wang answered, looking up from his screen. "Everything we make in this lab is entirely synthetic. When we started, we studied the molecular structure of spider silk, but we're past that now."
"Okay, thanks... I uh, I think I..." Peter stuttered. "You know what, nevermind, I got to catch up with the rest of the group. Thanks again!" And he rushed off to join Ned in the lab with abnormally huge vegetables growing everywhere.
Peter checked his hand, which had started to feel sore, and noticed a colorful bite on his thumb. The sight of it made him feel woozy, and as he approached Ned, his vision started to blur.
"Woah, are you okay?" Ned asked with concern. "You don't look so good man."
Peter didn't want to miss out on a single minute of the visit, so he stood up strait, rubbed his eyes, and tried to focus. "Yeah, yeah I'm... I'm fine..." he managed.
The room around him started to swirl, and as he lost his balance, he grabbed the closest thing to avoid collapsing. Unfortunately, it happened to be a tomato plant that, despite its size, could not bear Peter's weight, and he smashed face first onto the floor.
Peter opened his eyes. He didn't recognize his surroundings. Everything was envelopped in a blue haze. He tried moving, but couldn't. He heard noises coming from outside, but couldn't make out what they were.
Where am I?
Suddenly, everything sharpened. He was standing on the leaf of a potted plant in an empty office. And he was a spider. Looking outside the window, he saw he was maybe 80 stories high. And outside, a sight he thought he'd never see again.
Oh my god, it's the Chitauri! They're back!
Right above him, the giant blue laser beam that had terrorized millions of people several years ago was ripping through the sky. Chitauri soldiers zoomed by, shooting their destructive lasers everywhere. A Leviathan floated by, unleashing havoc on the streets below.
Suddenly, a blast of blue light. The laser was gone, and so were Peter's surroundings.
A new scene appeared. Once again, it took a few moments before Peter could focus. This time he was inside a giant glass cube... Or rather, the spider was inside a terrarium. Around him, men and women in lab coats were fiddling with sophisticated electronic devices.
Wait... this is the Avengers lab!
Still unable to control his actions, Peter the spider focused on the desk a few feet away, before... Pop! He teleported against the glass wall. Peter felt like he should have gone further, but something was blocking him.
"Subjet 43B's known abilities so far consist of teleportation, quantum phasing, and small bursts of psychokinetic energy. The containment module is perfectly functional."
Peter saw a stout bald man with a bushy mustache talking into a dictaphone on the other side the the glass. As he studied the man's face, his surroundings dissolved once more.
"Alright people let's get going! Label it, box it, move it!"
Peter was still inside his terrarium, which had not changed at all. Outside of it however, most of the devices from his previous vision had disappeared, and people with brown vests were carrying metal boxes of various shapes and sizes towards the far end of the lab. Suddenly the floor beneath his eight legs shook as a giant hand picked up his "containment module" and placed it on a cart.
Peter the spider hesitated for a second, then focused on a spot on the ground a few feet away before... Pop! This time he didn't hit the glass, and appeared on the exact spot on the floor where he had focused. Without a second to lose, the eight-legged creature hurried through a small crack between two desks, and into darkness.
Peter opened his eyes once more, and immediately blocked out the neon lights above him.
My hand... Great, I'm human again! What the hell was that?
He sat up and looked around briefly before concluding that he was in some sort of infirmary. At that moment, the door opened, and in came his aunt May, followed by Mr Harrington and a tall blonde woman in a lab coat.
"Peter! Are you okay?" May rushed to his side and took him in her arms. "The school called me and said you had fainted during your field trip! We have to get you to the hospital right away!"
"Woah, hold on May, I'm not... I'm fine, really..." Peter stuttered, still squinting because of the stark neon lighting in the room. He looked at the doctor standing in the doorway. "Right doc? It was just all the emotion... Nothing to worry about?"
The doctor took a look at her clipboard before nodding in his direction. "Nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell from these results. You were out for a solid hour, and your aunt gave us permission to run some blood tests before she arrived," she explained.
"Right..." Peter sighed. "See May, I'm fine! I bet I can go right back in and -"
"Oh certainly not, Mr Parker!" interrupted Mr Harrington. "I don't care how much better you feel, I'm not letting you scare me like that again. You go home and get some rest." Peter had never heard him talk in such a stern voice before, and didn't dare argue.
"He's right," said May. "I'm bringing you home. Sorry Peter."
Peter suppressed a groan, because he knew they were right. Even though it meant missing out on the most amazing field trip of his life, he had to get home and figure out what had happened to him. He checked his hand and noticed the bite mark had disappeared. Seriously. What. The. Hell.
May filled out some forms before leading him outside. It was only when he saw a hotdog stand on the corner that he noticed how famished he was. After ordering four hotdogs in front of a wide-eyed aunt May, they made their way to her car, and she drove them back home. Peter had to switch between reassuring May, who still wasn't convinced he was fine, and reassuing Ned, who had left him roughly a hundred texts, clearly in a state of utter panic for his friend's well-being.
When they finally got home, Peter felt exhausted again, and was kind of glad he was going to spend the rest of the day resting. He thanked May once more before heading to his room and throwing himself on his bed with a thud. But before closing his eyes, he recovered his journal from under his matress, and started writing.
November 5th, 2015
Man, I have no idea what happened today, but it was wayyy weird...
Alright! That's my take on how Peter got bit... This time not by a "radioactive spider", but by a tesseract infused one! I felt it made more sense. Stay tuned for what happens next! And don't forget to leave a comment, I love feedback :) Cheers!