Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter! I know it's been a few months since I last updated. I'm gonna try to post more often from now on. I've just been caught up with work and writer's block, not to mention I have like three other stories I'm trying to write right now, so it's been kind of a struggle, haha.
I wanted to address a couple things about the plot of this story. First of all, by no means am I a comic book expert, meaning there may be some details of the Spider-Man comics that I will leave out or alter to fit the story better. I've done a bit of research on some of the villains and characters in the Spider-Man comics, more specifically Oscorp and Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn. In my story, Harry Osborn will hardly be mentioned, since he's not a vital character to my plot, personally, and Norman Osborn has not become The Goblin at this point in time. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
I also want to address the fact that Spider-Man: Homecoming never explained the circumstances in which Peter was bitten by the radioactive spider. Therefore, to fit my story's purposes, Spider-Man is basically unaware of how he got his powers. All he knows is that something bit him and he gained powers. As one can imagine, I've found it kind of difficult to find a good balance between universes because I'm trying to incorporate some elements of McGuire's and Garfield's Spider-Man(Men?) in the story, but also keep the setting in Tom Holland's Marvel Spider-Man universe. So bear with me, I guess. So far, I think I've done a pretty good job of keeping him true to character, but I just wanted to let my readers know ahead of time.
So now, with that long disclaimer out of the way, enjoy!
"Thanks for coming in, Mr. Spider-Man," a man's voice said as he led Peter, who was now dressed as Spider-Man, through the various departments at Oscorp Industries.
"Oh no, the pleasure's all mine, Mr. Osborn," Spider-Man said, observing the activity going on around him.
From the hero's point of view, everything appeared to be business as usual. On every side of him, people were mindlessly bustling around, carrying out their daily duties as employees of the massive corporation. There was not a single individual who appeared to be resting, or even taking a break for that matter. They were all too busy trying to complete their assigned tasks that all they could muster was a slight nod of acknowledgement to their superior as they darted past Mr. Osborn and him.
It was like he didn't exist to any of them. And he certainly stood out, with his vibrant red and blue costume and all.
"Everyone seems really busy," he remarked, watching the workers whizz by.
Mr. Osborn nodded. "There's much to be done," he said, leading Peter through a sliding glass door.
Once the hero stepped inside, he was awestruck at how futuristic the room looked, as if it was straight out of a science fiction movie. Every square foot of the place was taken up by equipment, including machines with blinking colored lights, test tubes, flasks, microscopes-basically anything remotely related to science was in that room. A chemist's playground.
"This is where the real magic happens," Mr. Osborn explained, motioning towards different areas of the room.
"Wow," Spider-Man whistled, taking in the scene before him.
"Impressive, isn't it?" the older man asked, smirking proudly at the young hero's astonishment. "It took years for the company to look like this, but there's no question that the wait was worth it."
In the midst of the CEO's monologue, Spider-Man's gaze moved towards one area of the room in particular. There, near the left side of the room, surrounded by different kinds of equipment, stood a large glass case. But there was something in particular about the case that had caught his eye. He could've sworn he was seeing movement inside the case.
Without thinking, Spider-Man began to approach the case, with Mr. Osborn studying him curiously.
When he got close enough, the sight of what was actually in the case made the young hero freeze. Encased in their glass chamber were hundreds, if not thousands of tiny spiders.
"What is that?" Spider-Man asked, his expression of bewilderment and disgust.
"Ah, yes. This, Mr. Spider-Man is our latest, and probably our most greatest project to date," Mr. Osborn replied. "As I mentioned before, the serum, which contains both artificial and naturally-derived components, was created by extracting DNA from different organisms, and was designed to increase an individual's speed, strength and stamina. A glorified steroid, perhaps."
"Like spiders?" Spider-Man asked, curiously pressing his forehead to the glass to peer closer at the arachnids. Though, there was something different about these spiders. Once every few seconds Spider-Man would see a tiny spark emanate from a spider's body, as though they were supercharged or something.
Mr. Osborn nodded. "We used a variety of organisms, however, arachnids have been our greatest success so far. In fact, we have tested prototypes of the serum, made with spider DNA, and have injected it into the spiders themselves. The result? Super-spiders."
"So they're like me then," Spider-Man mused, talking more to himself than Mr. Osborn. "Hey little guys, bet you didn't know you take after a superhero, huh?"
He wasn't sure what had triggered the thought, whether it was hearing the words out loud or the sight of the tiny enhanced arachnids, but the young hero's adulation of the spiders immediately ceased as the realization dawned on him that maybe, just maybe, he had encountered these spiders before. More specifically, these were the spiders that had bitten him and had given him his superhuman abilities in the first place.
He hadn't actually seen the spider bite him, but he knew from the bite mark on his hand that it had been a spider. And just how an ordinary spider could've given him superpowers had been unexplainable by him and Ned until now.
This was only further confirmed by the young hero as Mr. Osborn took his silence as an opportunity to divulge more information about the history of his latest project.
"We used to keep the spiders in a simple aquarium. However, a couple years ago we had an incident where we believed some had been released into the wild on accident. Thankfully, we haven't heard any stories of anyone running into them on the streets. Who knows what might've happened if someone had been bitten by these things?"
"Yeah..." Spider-Man trailed off, feeling a sickening knot tighten in his stomach. "...good thing."
Wait 'til Ned hears about this, he thought.
"Anyways," the CEO continued. "The serum that was stolen is only in its early stages, and in wrong hands, could be dangerous."
The mention of danger made Peter's head snap away from the glass and meet the older man's ominous gaze.
"How dangerous?"
Mr. Osborn's eyes darkened. "Extremely dangerous," he answered. "Now, I'm not one to get involved with the superhero crowd, per say, but we could be looking at people's lives here. Not to mention the amount of money we'll be sued for if something goes awry. I'm putting my faith in you, Spider-Man, that you will find whoever's responsible and get that serum."
The young hero nodded. "Yes sir," he said, giving the CEO a small salute. "You picked the right person for the job."
"So, mind explaining why you were late to school again this morning?" Aunt May asked as she and Peter sat at the dinner table in their cozy apartment. Since the middle-aged woman's cooking skills were less-than-stellar, she had opted for a microwave meal. While she had selected a Slim Pickin's dish for her dinner, Peter's had chosen microwave mac-n-cheese.
He almost wished that they had gone out to eat for dinner, so his aunt wouldn't have been able to interrogate him so freely as she could now.
"Um, the bus stopped working?" Peter offered lamely, though she could see right through his excuse.
"Peter, this is the fourth time this year you've been late to school this year because of the whole Spider-Man thing. I know it's your junior year and you're still trying to balance your real life and your superhero life with Tony Stark, but school comes first."
"I know, I know," Peter said, boredly stirring his mac-n-cheese with his spoon. "But today was important. I had a meeting with Mr. Osborn, the guy from Oscorp."
Aunt May tilted her head curiously. "Is this about the thing that was stolen from Oscorp a couple days ago?"
"Yeah," Peter answered, his eyes flickering with enthusiasm. "Apparently the thing was a serum that can increase a person's speed, stamina and strength."
His guardian cocked a brow skeptically. "Really? I thought that kind of thing only happened in movies."
"I did too, but Mr. Osborn showed me all the machines and stuff they used to make it. It's legit."
"Interesting."
"Yeah, and I also found out how I got my powers. Apparently I was bitten by some decked-out spider that was made by the company."
"That's comforting to hear," the petite older woman responded dryly, shaking her head. "I don't know, Peter. Sounds kinda risky to be poking your nose in there."
"Don't worry, Aunt May, I know what I'm getting into," he insisted, though his voice verged on the higher side, reminding his aunt that he was still just a kid. "I'll be really careful, I promise."
An uncomfortable silence fell upon the dinner table, mainly for Peter, who awkwardly shifted in his seat, internally begging for his aunt to say something. Instead, she continued to eye him curiously, no doubt sizing him up for the huge undertaking he so desperately wanted to bear.
A good minute passed before she let out a small sigh, meeting her nephew's gaze.
"Just promise me you'll graduate on time, 'kay?"
"I will," he answered softly, his brown orbs pleading. "Trust me, I don't wanna be there longer than I have to either."
