SPIDER-MAN: ALL ALONE (CHAPTER 8)
OSCORP ROBOTICS DIVISION…
Norman arranged for a meeting with Spencer Symthe himself, the man behind the robot designs created and manufactured exclusively at Oscorp. Surrounding himself with a group of other inspectors whilst wearing their occupational safety gear, Norman talked sternly with Spencer regarding the incident at Oscorp Expo.
"The rest of the week has been shut down and I want to know why one of our robots decided to go aggro." Norman stated.
Spencer was a frail old man in the face of his boss and his nerves got the best of him whenever he talked to Norman. All because his work had constantly been overlooked across Oscorp and rarely received any noteworthy recognition in comparison to the other projects.
"Well, I did find a small hole on the back of the robot…" Spencer stated.
"A small hole?! You cut the thing open now, Spencer. How is there a small hole for us to see?" Norman asked.
The robot that had gone haywire and destroyed by Spider-Woman laid bare on the ground and bisected apart to expose the damaged workings inside.
"We-we…Scanned the model before cut up." Spencer explained before showing Norman a picture on a tablet Spencer was holding.
Norman and the others looked over to see Spencer's picture and analysing what appeared to be a small drill hole on the robot's back.
"Was this a design flaw?" Norman glaringly asked.
"N-no! Something got through and worked itself into the system! That's why we cut it open to see where exactly did the robot trip." Spencer said, "Take a closer look."
Spencer then brought Norman's attention to the inside parts of the robot that allow it to function. He zoomed the screen onto a connected chip that had its wires cut off from the rest of the system.
"And what does that mean?" Norman eagerly wanted to know.
"Um… This is the chip that allows interconnection with the Living Brain network. To accelerate the functionality of the robots in performing their tasks." Spencer explained.
"No…Not the robot." Norman replied after examining the picture.
"What?" Spencer curiously asked.
"Whoever did this was not looking to hijack the robots." Norman said, "They wanted something more. They were looking to hack the Living Brain. Gain control of Oscorp."
"But my robot…" Spencer tried to say.
"It's not the damn robots, Spencer. You know what this means? People are looking to hack into our computer systems." Norman demanded, "From now on, your projects will be put on hold until further notice for security. From now on, IT will take the lead and see what potential risks our system is facing."
Norman stormed off with the rest of the staff following him leaving Spencer feeling dejected and undervalued. After the talk, Norman was greeted by Donna who wanted to drag Norman back into the board meetings.
"Donna." Norman remarked.
"Yes, Norman?" Donna replied.
"It's time to let HR do an inspection sweep on our employees here." Norman ordered, "We are going to protect every ounce of integrity here at Oscorp."
OLD ELECTORAL OFFICE, MANHATTAN…
Marty Defalco sat in the office chair that once belonged to Wilson Fisk during his early rise to power at Hell's Kitchen. He was relaxing in the office chair and chewing gum whilst waiting to meet Adrian.
"Ah, there you are. Old man." Marty commented as Adrian slowly opened the door.
"My folks and I tested the waters. We can steal blueprints of data from their system and monopolise on them." Adrian reported as he hobbled to the seat.
"Adrian, how many times do I have to tell you? Take that backpack off you." Marty said noticing the flight gear hunch beneath his coat.
"It helps me walk." Adrian scoffed.
"Just don't accidently spread your wings here." Marty replied, "Anyway, so your little mumbo jumbo at the Expo didn't really steal anything there. You couldn't have done that more quietly, huh?"
"I did what I had. I tear down Oscorp little by little so you can build it back whilst I have the opportunity to start my business the way it should be run." Adrian replied.
"And you sure this stint isn't going to be pinned on me?" Marty asked.
"Why do you insist I'm a double-crosser? I'm not my former business partner. I want fair business and common values." Adrian argued.
"Hmph." Marty said before spitting the gum into the bin near him, "Well, as your benefactor… I'll like to see something different now compared to scavenging. It's time to improve our smart work instead of our hard work. We wouldn't want to draw the cops, Oscorp and Spider-Woman into our circle altogether, would we?"
"All three I can handle." Adrian said, "Now if you excuse me, I think I gotta fly and meet my own folks."
"Tell them it's their last scavenge." Marty ordered.
Adrian was unsure about the demand as that would be career-ending for the people leaving him an increasing sense of uneasiness in working with Marty. It was clear that the man was doing things for himself and that there was no cut from him that was going to help him out of his troubles that easily.
Before Adrian could open the door for himself, the door opened with a blonde 14-year-old boy wearing a brown suit walked right in. He had a bruise on his face as he walked in while covering it with an ice pack.
"Aw, Nicky. What the hell happened?" Marty asked.
"There was this customer down at the car repairs complaining and he's all pissed and stuff." The boy replied sniffing.
"It's okay, son." Marty said getting up to embrace him.
Adrian rolled his eyes before Marty introduced the boy to him.
"This is Nicky Lewis Jr here, you'd probably know his father, Snr. Snr used to run errands around New York before the Kingpin had him gunned down. Now poor little Nicky is an orphan." Marty said, "If you can't reach me then talk to this kid."
"A kid? This is the level of hierarchy that you run?" Adrian questioned.
"Whoa, Adrian. Don't make Nicky cry harder." Marty retorted, "He's the next top dog for sure. Where's the guy now, Nicky? Let's go find him."
Marty continued to comfort Nicky before Adrian took his leave.
"I'll leave you with the boy. Besides, I have a level of restraint when it comes to dealing with people like him." Adrian said as he walked away.
After going down the staircase, he heard Marty's voice talk to him again.
"You know people like him are destined to last longer than either of us." Marty stated.
CONNORS LABORATORY…
Peter came back into the lab during the evening but for a different reason instead of continuing his studies. As he walked inside, he noticed Curt sitting by himself at a table reading. Walking over quietly, he saw Curt had science articles from journals such as the Lancet sprawled on the table. Relevant to their recent endeavour was an Oscorp Scientific one as well.
"Fascinating…" Curt murmured, "A mixture of my own serum…"
Peter peered over to see Curt reading an article headline labelled, 'BLOOD TRANSFUSION OR SERUM TRANSFUSION'. After getting a good look, Curt turned around startled by Peter standing there.
"Goodness, Peter. What brings you here at this hour?" Curt asked.
"I-uh… Forgot some notes after I finished collecting the data from the computer. You mind if I get those so I can progress my thesis fruitfully?" Peter asked.
"Time is short, Parker. Remember how precious these minutes are." Curt replied before trying to focus on reading.
"If you don't mind me asking…, What are you reading?" Peter asked.
"Oh this? It's just some follow-up from our excursion to the Oscorp Expo. Admittedly, it's not actually that relevant to what we are doing in this lab." Curt explained holding up the Oscorp Scientific magazine.
"So, you're still trying to find a way to…Have real arms instead of fake ones?" Peter asked.
"Yes." Curt said while nodding.
"Cool. I hope it can work out." Peter said, "Let me know some of your ideas when you're ready. I'd love to help if I can."
"Sure, when the timing is right, I will." Curt replied as he continued to focus.
"I'm just going to do what I came here to do." Peter said back, "And maybe help clean up the lab if I can."
"Well, okay… I need to concentrate unless there's a serious accident here…" Curt said.
With that said, Curt was occupied with his work whilst Peter came to search for what he really came to do which was find ingredients for his webs.
"1,6-diaminohexane…" Peter muttered as he tried to remember the chemical name.
Walking to the storage room where the chemicals were stored, Peter went through the different levels of safety to find the right chemical. Reading the labels on each bottle, Peter used his knowledge of a safety data sheet to see where the chemical was stored.
"We do have it." Peter said after being sure of finding the right bottle.
Looking around, he made sure Curt would not catch him in the act before grabbing out some safety gloves and a pair of safety glasses to extract the chemical liquid of 1,6-diaminohexane stored.
"Carefully…" Peter whispered as he caught droplets of the chemical into a tiny test tube he carried.
After getting enough volumes of the chemical, he took off the safety gear and threw it in the bin and left the storage room safely.
"Alright, Dr. Connors. I'm leaving." Peter said with a smile.
"Have a safe return home and uh… Thank you for believing in my goals." Curt said turning around.
"No problem, faith is flowing through us." Peter said with a nod and an okay hand gesture.
OSBORN LOFT…
Norman was worn out from today. His wife was not present in the place and it was the best time for him to enjoy his own privacy. However, instead of leisure, he went ahead with work on his own terms.
Turning the television on, he wanted to investigate something during Oscorp Expo. Norman looked into the replay footage regarding the other day of Spider-Woman fighting against the robot. His mind was still fascinated by the way she fought.
"First, a Spider-Man and then a Spider-Woman." Norman said with curiosity as he sat down on the couch.
He then decided to look into the former more with reminders that this was a hero his son had always looked up to in a way. Scrolling through the internet online on the television, Norman revisited Spider-Man's past endeavours and carefully studied on the gear and fighting style that the vigilante would embody.
"Seems to be the same thing; different dressing." Norman asked himself and scratching his chin.
As he fixated on the images, another thought crossed his mind.
"Wait a second, Harry had a best friend… What was his name again?" Norman asked himself again.
PARKER RESIDENCE…
Instead of returning to his apartment room, Peter decided to take the trip all the way back to Forest Hills where his old house was. On the porch of the door, King greeted Peter with a meow.
"Hey, buddy." Peter said giving the cat a bit of a scratch before opening the door and letting the cat in.
As he walked in, he noticed the television was on with a sitcom on mute that he did not recognise. Aunt May was also sitting still on the couch prompting Peter to come over and check on her. To his relief, May was only asleep.
"Never seen May fall asleep like this in a while." Peter noted before turning the television off.
Afterwards, the house was silent even with King scratching the floor nearby. Quietly, Peter left the two other members of the house alone as he went to his room. He opened up the door to be greeted by nostalgia.
"Same as it was…" Peter said observing his old bedroom before walking to his closet and opening it.
Peter grabbed a box out of the closet and swiped the dust off. He then opened the box to see his untouched gear that he had left behind. The mask's eye-lens staring right back at him as if it was waiting.
Touching the cloth, Peter felt the silky texture of the suit and grabbed it. He then gripped the mask first and put it over his head. Soon, he was seeing things again with the eye-lens again.
"Wow." Peter said before slowly trying on the rest of the costume.
After slipping into the costume, he stretched every inch of cloth to ensure he had not changed too much since the last time.
"It feels…Surreal again." Peter said looking around and checking himself out.
Putting the rest of the box back into the closet, he faced his bedroom window.
"Now what's my first venture?" Spider-Man asked himself.
TO BE CONTINUED…