As I walked into school from the bus one morning, Harry came up to me, then leaned down and spoke in my ear.

"Yo, I heard Octavius is out today."

"That's a little weird. It's not like him to miss things."

Harry shrugged. "It's only been, like, a month of school. We don't know what he's like."

"Fair enough."

We walked to class together, and sure enough, there was a substitute teacher. He put some slideshow on the projector and said Dr. Octavius wanted us to design something we would want to see at Oscorp.

"Psst. Peter!" Harry whispered to me. I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows to show I was listening. "You should come over to my place later, so we can work on this."

I nodded, then texted my aunt and uncle to ask.

They said yes, of course.

When I got to the mansion Harry called home, his butler, Bernard, let me in with a smile.

"Hi, Bernard!"

"Hello, Peter. What brings you by this evening?"

"Harry and I have a science project to work on."

"Ah, you'll be wanting into his bedroom, then. Come on in, then." Bernard gave that grandfather's smile of his and opened the door wide for me.

I smiled back and went past him up the stairs to Harry's bedroom.

"Harry, will your dad be home soon?"

"Not sure, he always arrives home late. To be honest, Bernard is here more than he is. "

"At least he's making a living, though. Right?"

Harry shook his head. "I'd rather have my dad be there for me than all this money, you know?"

I nodded. "At least you have a dad… Anyways, let's get to work, shall we?"

Harry blinked a couple times, then nodded. "Okay, so, the sub said Dr. Octavius wants us to make what we'd like to see at Oscorp or something. So, I'm thinking…." As he was talking, I tried to think up something I could do that I hadn't already done.

Harry's face brightened. "I've got it! What if we make some type of cure? Some type of medicine, something that'll cure… I dunno, something."

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Well… I don't know." Harry flopped down onto his bed. As we thought of more ideas, Norman Osborn walked in.

"Peter? What are you doing here so late?" Mr. Osborn smiled at me.

"Oh, I'm just here to work on a science project with Harry. Dr. Octavius wants to make something we'd like to see at Oscorp." Mr. Osborn looked at me with a raised eyebrow, he didn't seem happy. "Dr. Octavius? His first name wouldn't happen to be Otto, would it?"

I nodded. "I believe it is, yes. Why?"

Harry's dad ignored my question. "Hmm." He stared off into space for a couple of moments, then smiled abruptly at us. "Well, you two have fun designing your experiments." He left, shutting the door behind him.

I looked at Harry. "That was a little weird."

Harry gave a slight nod. He seemed… melancholy. "That's my dad for you. C'mon, let's get to work."

We couldn't think of anything, so after a while I went home. I asked Harry to call me if he had any ideas, but I didn't expect him to. That's nothing against him; I was blanking, too. When I got home, I turned on my laptop and navigated to the Oscorp website, where videos of previous experiments were shown. Maybe these could give me some ideas?

My eye was caught by one with Dr. Octavius tagged on it. I clicked on it, and was met with an error message. I went back to the home page, but the video was no longer there.

With some elbow grease and a hefty amount of Googling, I managed to make the video come up again, and this time it played.

Dr. Octavius spoke to the camera. "This is the greatest example of innovation in the modern era! It will revolutionize everything!" I was startled by the cackle that followed; it didn't sound like the Dr. Octavius I knew. I kept watching.

He turned, picked up the camera, and made a sweeping motion with his hand to reveal… a man being suspended by his wrists and ankles and a large transparent tank. The man groaned in pain, but Octavius just laughed. "Let's see what my lab assistant over here can do, shall we?" He flipped a lever on the table, the hair on the back of my neck stood up as I watched a man be electrocuted before my very eyes.

Lighting filled the tank, and I almost couldn't see the poor man in it, but every time he screamed with pain, thunder roared and the lightning grew tenfold. The Octavius in the video laughed and shouted over the sounds, "He's charging the electrical grid for all of New York! I just don't know how he's still alive!" Evidently, Doctor Octavius found this hilarious, as he nearly doubled over with laughter.

I shut my laptop, not willing to believe what I just saw. As Octavius's laughter echoed in my mind, I swore to find out what really happened, and make things right.

The following morning was a Saturday. I thought the spider man should pay Dr. Octavius a visit, to get his side of the story. I would have gone as Peter, but it would have been a little strange.

As New York's very own vigilante illegally entered his favorite teacher's home, I made sure to stay silent until I was ready to confront him. But he found me first.

I was briefly blinded by the sudden lights he switched on, but when I dropped to the floor he simply stared at me. I cleared my throat and said, "Doctor Otto Octavius?"

He blinked himself out of his stupor and said, with surprising dignity for a man in a pink bathrobe, "Speaking. And you are?"

"I'm— I'm the spider man. Don't play dumb with me, old man, I saw the Oscorp video. I know what you really are."

He shook his head in disbelief. "Really? How did you even— I thought I—" He sighed. "Never mind. I assume you want an explanation?" When I nodded, he waved me through to his study, and I followed cautiously behind him.

He sat down in an office chair and began the video I had seen the previous night. He paused it right before the electrocution started, and turned to me. "I assume, boy, that you know who I am. Well then, you must know that behavior is much unlike my own. And there is a very good reason why." He pressed four buttons on his keyboard, then clicked the frozen image of himself, and it melted away into… Norman Osborn?

"What are you trying to say, old man?" That my best friend's dad tortured a man and laughed about it? And then framed you but hid the evidence of you doing it?

"What I'm trying to say is that with Norman Osborn, not all is as it seems. Ever. Don't trust me? Ask him yourself."

All this was leaving me with more questions than answers, so after assuring the doctor that I'd be back, I hopped through his window— and landed on the outside of a fourth-floor window of a nearby skyscraper. I looked back at Dr. Octavius's house, which now has a rather large hole in one wall, and felt bad… but simultaneously I was learning more about my powers and the hidden events taking place around Oscorp.

Now to pay a visit to Norman Osborn.

He'd have armed bodyguards everywhere, except at home. So I found my way over to the Osborn family mansion, and let myself in. I climbed up to Norman's bedroom, and knocked three times, slowly and loudly.

He answered the door, and looked every direction but up, so I decided now was the time to test Gwen's webs. I didn't like the way my hand went, but it worked. I shot a web onto the ceiling, and it barely made a sound. I tested its strength by pulling on it, and it didn't give. Then I sucked in my breath and hung from it, eventually settling upside-down with my feet flat on the string. Then I slowly let out more fluid, lowering myself, and… there. Eye-level with Norman.

As he looked around, eventually he turned and screamed when he saw me, but I quickly put my hand over his mouth. "Shh…" I said. "I'm not here to hurt you, but I need answers. Got that, Norman?" A little bit of the fear faded from his eyes and he nodded, so I took my gloved hand off of his face. "Good." I cut the connection from my web-shooters to the string and dropped down, doing half a roll in the air and the other half on the floor, then sprung up.

"Why are you here?"

"Octavius. I found the video."

"I didn't hide that video."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know, but it wasn't me. Have you asked the doctor?"

"He says you framed him for it."

"Does he?"

"He does. What do you say?"

"I say I know nothing about this."

"I say you're lying."

"Why would you say a thing like that?"

"You're sweating."

"You broke into my home."

"You knew too quickly."

He didn't have a response.

"What did you do?"

"I-"

I crossed my arms over my chest, remaining silent and waiting for him to answer.

"I didn't do anything."

"Then explain the recording."

He paused. "No, I don't think I will."

"Then it's going to the cops and you're going to jail."

"Go ahead and try it."

"Alright, then. It was nice doing business with you, Mr. Osborn."

He wasn't showing it, but I knew he was afraid. His hands were shivering, then quivering, and by the time I got to the window his whole body was shaking.

"Help! There's an intruder!"

Not only did the guards come, but Harry came out of his room and saw what was going on.

Not good.

I climbed out the window before Norman's guards got to me and jumped away. I landed in an alleyway in Queens, put on Peter Parker's clothes, and headed home.