"I'm never going on a road trip in the future," Andrew mumbled as he and Violet waved goodbye to Claudia and Mayra.
"It wasn't that bad," Violet teased as she steadied the backpack onto her shoulder.
Andrew gave her an incredulous look, "We had to pull into a rest stop every hour. Those two decided that they wanted to sing half the time instead of listening to actual music. Claudia wouldn't let us eat in her car, and to top it all off, that Mayra girl was on the phone with her ex-boyfriend half the time arguing about the dumbest-"
Violet rolled her eyes and gave him a playful shove before he could finish his sentence. "Okay, you're right. That ride wasn't what I expected, but at least we're in New York now."
Andrew nodded.
"Okay, so since we currently have no leads on where Stryker is, we need to look for someone that he is going to be after," Violet began walking down the sidewalk.
"...and that would be?" Andrew began to follow her.
"Doctor Curt Connors," Violet turned back and smiled at him. "And I know just where to start." she plucked a rolled up newspaper off a bench and began to flip through it. Andrew crossed his arms and waited. Violet frowned and turned back to the front of the newspaper and began flipping through it again.
"Damn!" she tossed the newspaper back on the bench.
"What?" Andrew asked as Violet continued down the sidewalk.
Violet sighed loudly, "Dad told us that the first non-human he went up against was Doctor Curt Connors. Apparently the doctor worked with our grandfather at Oscorp. Connors injected himself with something in hope that it would regrow his missing arm. It backfired on him and turned him into a giant lizard. The problem is nothing in that paper said anything about giant lizards, or Spider-Man for that matter."
Andrew thought about that for a moment, "Okay. Well maybe he just hasn't been caught yet. Shouldn't we go check the guy out ourselves?"
Violet shot him a skeptical look, "And say what, 'Hey Doctor Connors, you haven't been injecting yourself with a serum that turns you into a giant lizard lately, have you?'"
"Obviously not, but we can still investigate him. It's not like we have anything else we can look into right now."
"You're right," Violet agreed with him. "And Oscorp is like..." she took a look around, "...maybe only thirty or so blocks from here. Let's get walking."
"Can't we just swing there?" Andrew questioned.
"Absolutely not!" Violet practically yelled at him. "First of all, we're in regular clothes. Second of all, we can't do that kind of stuff until the city learns about Spider-Man. At least then we could get mistaken for him."
"Calm down," Andrew snorted. "I was mostly joking anyways. Let's go," he motioned for her to start walking.
It was a quiet walk to the Oscorp building. Andrew kept thinking about what Violet had said about the newspaper. If neither the Lizard or Spider-Man was mentioned, then that meant they had no leads. He wondered how long they were going to be stuck in this time.
"Should I just go in or should we both go in?" Violet asked.
Andrew looked up from the ground. He hadn't even noticed they had arrived.
"Both of us," Andrew answered and walked into the familiar building with Violet trailing right behind him.
Another group of people entered with them as they walked in. Andrew had to hold in his laughter as a dark skinned man with a bad comb-over and glasses that didn't quite fit his face walked past him and almost tripped as he walked through the doors.
"Come on let's head up," Andrew nodded towards the elevators.
"Hold on, let me check the map so we know which direction to head in," Violet pulled him over to the wall that had a large highlighted map projection.
"Doctor Connors is probably going to be on one of the lab floors. Let's just go ask around," Andrew suggested, tugging on Violet's sleeve. She shooed his hand away as she kept looking at the map.
Someone behind them cleared their throat and Andrew turned around to face a woman with light brown hair and a black pencil skirt. He would have considered her pretty if it wasn't for the snobbish expression pasted on her face.
"Can I help you?" the woman, Andrew noted her name tag read 'Gabriela', asked.
Violet turned around at that, "Yes, actually. We're trying to find where Doctor Connor's office is located."
Gabriela smiled in an unfriendly way, "Do either of you have an appointment?"
"N-no," Violet pulled her eyebrows together. "We just need to speak with him."
"I'm sorry, you'll have to schedule an appointment. Even then, he may not have time for you. He can't just make time to talk to any kid that comes in off the street," she looked at Andrew's black zip-up hoodie with a sneer.
"Kid?" Andrew looked at his sister and back at the woman. "We're seventeen. This is important. We need to see him," he glared.
Violet slightly nudged Andrew's side and directed her eyes to her side. Two men dressed in security outfits were slowly approaching from the right side.
"I suggest you both leave the building otherwise security will be forced to remove you," Gabriela placed her hands on her hips.
For a moment, Andrew thought about using one of his powers that Stryker had given to him; fear augmentation. If he tapped into the woman and security guards' heads and made them think they were afraid to be around them, maybe they would back off. On the other hand, he could make them feel as if they were having a brain aneurysm and then run past them to get to Connors.
"Come on, let's go," Andrew felt his sister push him towards the door and he followed before he could do either of the things he was thinking about.
Violet shoved the front door open and stormed through it, "God! That lady was such a-"
"-Bitch," Andrew finished. "And to think, our father is going to own that building in a couple years from now."
Violet nodded and didn't comment further.
"We'll just have to come back at night sometime soon and sneak in," Andrew said.
"For now maybe we should focus on where we are going to stay. We have no idea how long we're going to be stuck in this time," Violet said as the both of them began walking again, in the opposite direction of the Oscorp building.
"Motel?" Andrew suggested.
"You have to be eighteen. We won't be able to get one."
It was nearly ten minutes before either of them said anything again.
"What about the guest house at the Osborn mansion?" Andrew pointed out.
"You're joking right? Harry's father still lives there and I'm sure he'd wonder why there were two random people camping out in the guest house," Violet shook her head.
"It would just be a place to sleep at. We know where one of the keys for it are, remember when Harry was surprised to see it was still in the same place after we got back from the island?"
"Okay, but what if the cleaning crew finds us there? They'll call the police on us. Or what if Norman Osborn decides to go into the guest house for some reason?"
"Vi, they're not going to be cleaning at night time. We'll be fine. Besides, what other option is there for right now?" Andrew pressed.
Violet sighed and paused on the sidewalk. "Tonight we will check it out. I want to see what time the cleaning crew shows up before we break into the guest house. That way we at least have some knowledge of what time we need to leave in the mornings. We can't have attention being brought to us right now."
"We won't be breaking in if we have the key," Andrew grinned. Violet rolled her eyes.
They began walking again for several minutes when Violet stopped in her tracks.
"What? What is it?" Andrew began looking around quickly, gaining some weird looks from people passing by them.
"It's our school," Violet pointed across the street. "Come on," she smiled and ran across the street without bothering to use the crosswalk.
"I didn't like high school too much," Andrew commented. "Couldn't concentrate on my work."
"Well with everything that happened-" Violet trailed off. "Too bad neither of us were able to finish though. This time it will be different though. We won't have to drop out sophomore year due to our mom trying to murder us," she laughed without humor.
People started to pour out of the school, chatter and laughter growing louder. The school day must have ended and people were starting to walk to their buses or walk home. Through the crowd of people, Andrew saw an oddly familiar face.
"That girl over there..." Andrew nudged Violet to point out the girl, "...the blonde one. Is that who I think it is?"
"Gwen," Violet whispered.
Andrew stared at the blonde girl who they have never truly known or met, but they had met a shifter that introduced themselves as Gwen when they were ten. Said shifter also had tried to murder them.
"She's very pretty," Violet commented. "When she's not starting buildings on fire and trying to ruin our lives."
"That wasn't actually her. The real Gwen was dead by then," Andrew said.
"I know. It's just... it's hard to see her and not think of what we went through with that shifter."
Gwen was talking with two of her friends it looked like. She was smiling and laughing, a huge pile of books in her arms.
Andrew's spider sense went off and he turned around quickly, just catching a basketball that would have hit him in the back of the head. His eyes scanned the people in the surrounding area. There was a group of four guys who were laughing. One of them, the tallest one with dark blonde hair came bounding over.
"Hey man, sorry about that, thought you were Parker," he held out a hand showing he wanted the basketball back. "Whoa, freaky eyes dude."
Andrew froze when he saw who's face it was staring back at him.
It was the first person that he had ever killed. He had only been ten years old at the time.
He obviously looked different; he wouldn't be dead for another... maybe twelve years from now. Andrew would never forget that man's face when he shot him through the heart with his arrow in that field.
"Come on, Flash!" one the guys from the group called to their friend.
"Yo, can I get that ball back?" Flash raised an eyebrow and nodded to the basketball in Andrew's hands still.
Andrew passed the ball to Flash. The blonde ran back to his friends without another word. Andrew turned back to his sister, his face pale.
"I know what you're thinking right now. And that is not your fault," Violet whispered to him. He shook his head slightly, she knew him all too well.
"I kill him in the future," Andrew sniffed. "How is that not my fault?"
"We've been over this before," Violet said patiently. "Whatever you did while you had that chip in your head you cannot be accounted for. Besides, you won't have to... do that... this time."
Andrew let out a heavy sigh. It was incredible the amount of forgiveness his family had given him after the island incident. Harry had been on that island for ten years, and had murdered dozens and dozens of people under the influence of Stryker's chip. Harry knew what it was like, to become something that you would never choose to be. He helped Andrew cope with his demons when they had arrived back in America all those years ago.
"Hey! You two!"
A somewhat chubby man with a thin brown mustache walked speedily up to them. He was obviously a teacher at the school, with the multiple binders in his arms and the briefcase.
"Can we help you?" Andrew asked, his voice laced with annoyance.
The chubby man furrowed his brow, "What is your name?"
"Osborn," Andrew said without thinking. He obviously couldn't use 'Parker', as the teachers here probably knew his father.
The man squinted his eyes at the both of them and jutted out his lower jaw, "I suggest you both leave now. This is school property and neither of you are students here."
Andrew fought the urge to roll his eyes as the man folded his arms together.
"All right, all right. We're leaving," Andrew said coolly as he and Violet began to walk away from the school.
"Geez, we keep getting kicked out of every place we go today," Violet complained. "I don't know about checking out the Osborn guest house tonight, Andrew. We're just having bad luck."
"Hey, third time's a charm," Andrew grinned.
Andrew moved over slightly as he heard a skateboarder roll up from behind them. Instead of skating past them, the guy in the layered hoodie and green cargo jacket stopped in front of them, blocking their path. He flipped his skateboard up into his hands and looked right at Andrew.
"Did I hear you use the name 'Osborn' back there?" the guy asked them.
"No. Way." Violet whispered next to him, just loud enough for Andrew to hear.
The messy haired brunette waited expectantly for an answer. A camera was dangling around his neck.
"Okay..." he trailed off. "It's just that I heard Flash use my name and then I saw you two. Mr. Sisson asked you your name, and I swear you said Osborn. I wasn't going to ask you about it until I heard you mention the name a second time," he rambled on awkwardly as Violet and Andrew stared at him.
"Uh- um..." Andrew had no idea what to say.
What is there to say when you've just met your father several years before you've even been born yet?
"Where are they!?" Scarlet shrieked loudly, staring in the spot that the twins had been in just seconds before.
Normie covered his ears as Scarlet's shrieks filled the room.
He tried not to look at the many pieces of ice that were shattered across the room. He tried not to think that Scarlet had just murdered his father. That Andrew and Violet had just abandoned him here in this room. He knew what they had to do, but he wasn't ready to die. He hoped that they would fix whatever they had to soon.
"Where. Are. They." Scarlet repeated, flashing across the room in an unnatural speed.
Her eyes went pitch black as she looked around the room, seemingly hoping the twins would randomly show up again.
"They're gone," Normie told her. "Th-they're going to fix you. They're going to fix everything that has happened."
"FIX ME!?" Scarlet screeched loudly, causing Normie to cover his ears again.
In his peripheral vision, there was a small movement across the room where Normie had seen Scarlet throw Peter. He didn't dare look over there, in fear that Scarlet would switch her attention back to Peter, if he wasn't already dead yet.
"There is nothing to fix. I am immortal. I am a God now," Scarlet said to him, power radiating from her voice.
Normie's eyes darted to the ice shards on the floor again.
Don't think about it, he repeated to himself.
"What is that?" Scarlet pointed to the white cube on the table.
"I- I don't know," Normie whispered.
"LIAR!"
Normie found himself being hoisted up from the ground by the neck. He placed his hands on Scarlet's arm to try to relieve some of the pressure so he could try to catch his breath.
"You know that I know when people are lying, Normie. Now tell me, what does that white box do?" Scarlet said slowly.
"I can't," he said through ragged breaths.
Suddenly, Scarlet's eyes went back to normal, all of the black fading. She dropped Normie and he struggled to breathe.
"Maybe you can't tell me where they are, but do you know when they are?" Scarlet smiled deviously.
Normie's face fell flat.
"Come on Normie, you told me they wanted to fix everything. They disappeared in less than a second. Parker wouldn't have risked coming out of hiding if there wasn't a damn good reason."
He frowned, "I can't tell you. I'm sorry."
Scarlet conjured up a ball of ice in her hand and swiftly threw it towards Normie. It collided against his chest and he let out a gasp of air.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" she remarked. "It will freeze your internal organs within minutes and your body will shut down. The pain will be gone soon and you won't feel a thing. You'll die peacefully. Unless... unless you decide to tell me about this white box and how it will get me to them," Scarlet said impatiently.
Normie grabbed his chest, he could already feel the ice slowly making its way through his body.
"Don't you understand, Normie? The only way for them to 'fix everything' as you say is to make sure that Mary Jane never goes to that island to become what I am now. Do you understand what that means for you?" she said seriously.
Normie though about this for a moment.
"I won't exist," he said out loud.
"No, you won't," she shook her head sadly. "But, if you help me, if you help me find where they went, I will make sure you stay alive. I already have the speed that I need, I do not need your powers."
Normie wiped away a tear that he didn't notice had already slid down his cheek.
"I can reverse this," Scarlet pointed to the ice on his chest. "Help me and I will help you, Normie. You don't have to die."
He was starting to feel weak. He could feel himself slowly slipping away. He didn't want to die. He had just turned twelve a couple weeks ago.
"Make it stop," Normie whispered. "Please."
Scarlet's mouth twitched up in a smile and she nodded. She placed one hand on his chest and the ice slowly began to retreat, and a warming sensation replaced it.
When the ice was completely gone, Scarlet stood up and walked over to the table. She placed the white cube in one hand and walked back over to Normie.
"Let's catch some spiders," she smiled as her eyes went completely black again.