Spider-Bat: New Way Home
Chapter 18: Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Peter was hiding behind a dumpster outside of Oscorp when he called Harry to let him know he was standing out there.
Seconds later, Harry opened up a door close to the alleyway where Peter was standing. It was the same door that Carl Brock had opened up for Peter's parents several years prior.
Harry was holding a lab coat and a name badge in his hand. "Here. Put these on," he instructed, hoping the security guards wouldn't take notice of Peter if he appeared to look like one of the other lab workers.
Peter quickly did as Harry asked him to do. "Thanks for doing this," he said.
"No problem. I've been wanting to talk to you more about what happened that night you visited for the science exhibit, but then all that other stuff happened at your house, and we never really got a chance," Harry responded. "Did they ever catch the guys who broke into your home?"
"No," Peter replied. "The police are still investigating everything," he sighed.
Harry was unaware that the actual reason Peter came to Oscorp was to find out more information for himself about what happened at the manor. Harry only thought Peter was there to secretly talk more about the strange connection they had between each other and Subject P.
"Are we going to look at the spider now?" Peter asked, eager to get right to it.
"Yeah. Follow me," Harry replied, walking towards the elevator. "Just keep your head down," he added, reminding Peter about all the security cameras.
Little did the two of them know, Norman, Otto, and Karl Fiers were already watching as everything unfolded.
"When should I intercept," Karl asked Norman.
"Let them get into the lab. I am curious to see what happens when Peter gets close to Subject P," Norman replied, staring closely at the monitor.
"What do you expect will happen?" Karl asked.
Norman gave Karl a strange look as if to say he asked a dumb question. "I. Don't. Know. That's why I want to see."
As the elevator went up, Peter asked Harry, "So… have you found out anything else about this special spider? Like… where did it originate from?"
"Actually… I have," Harry replied. "I snuck into my father's personal files and discovered some cool stuff."
"Like what?"
"Well, apparently the spider was created from an alien organism that crash-landed here on Earth about fifteen years ago. My father acquired some of the samples from another well-known scientist, a scientist you highly respect, named Doctor Robert Banner."
"Doctor Banner was involved?" Peter responded, surprised.
"Yes. I believe he was the one who first discovered the alien compound before my father got a hold of it," Harry replied. "My father began experimenting with the alien DNA, splicing it with other animals and insects. Apparently, several of his test subjects became erratic and had to be put down. Subject P was his first successful offspring."
"Offspring?" Peter repeated. "Do you think that's what we are?" he gasped. "And maybe that's why we have visions of the alien's home planet?"
Harry put his head down. "I believe so. I think my father may have put some of this stuff in our mothers. It looks like there was one other test subject before us. The child's name was Eddie Brock."
"Where is he at now?"
"He disappeared a long time ago. Nobody knows where he or his parents are now."
"Do you think Doctor Banner would know?"
"I'm not sure. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all this new information myself."
After getting out of the elevator, Harry walked up to the laboratory doors and punched in a code so that they could enter the room.
Peter was eager to study Subject P a bit more closely. However, when Harry spun the glass panel around, where the spider was usually at, it wasn't there.
"Where is it?" Peter asked, looking up and down the panel.
"I don't know. It was here just a little while ago," Harry responded, just as surprised as Peter was.
Suddenly, while the two of them were looking around, Peter's head started buzzing, warning him that something dangerous was approaching. "Someone is coming," he warned.
"Shoot! It's probably my father. I didn't think he was here tonight."
"What should I do?" Peter asked, not wanting to get caught.
"Quick. Stand next to the wall. I'll spin the panel around, and you can hide in there until I leave," Harry instructed. "The code to get out is 'Petey"
Just as the wall spun around, the laboratory door opened. Standing there was Norman and Karl.
"What are you guys doing in here?" Norman asked. Then he realized Peter wasn't there with him. "Oh… I thought someone was in here with you," Norman said, though, he actually did know Peter was in there. He was just pretending he didn't know. "Who were you talking to?"
"I was just hanging out with Petey," Harry fibbed. "You know how he and I like to have conversations with each other."
Norman raised his eyebrow. "Well. It's late, you shouldn't be here at this time of night, especially on a school night," he pretended to scold. "I'll walk you out. Then I'll have the security guard drive you home."
"Yes, sir," Harry replied, quickly walking past his father, taking one last look back at the wall Peter was hiding behind.
As Harry walked ahead towards the elevator, Norman whispered something into Karl's ear. "As soon as I get Harry out of the building, I want you to lock all the doors. Make sure the only ones who are still in the building are you and Octavius. We're going to trap the Parker boy inside. Have Octavius get the test subject ready. When I get back, we're going to find out how much of the symbiote the boy has in him."
Minutes later, after Peter thought the coast was clear, he came out from behind the wall. He then went up to the keypad and entered in the passcode Harry told him.
After leaving the laboratory, Peter got in the elevator and pushed the button which would take him to the first floor. He figured he would just make his way back towards the door from which Harry let him in earlier. However, the elevator didn't take him to the first floor. Instead, it continued going down past the first floor, and it didn't stop until it made it down to the secret laboratory; the same laboratory where the symbiote bat broke free and bit Richard Parker. Peter was starting to get that buzzing feeling in his head again.
When the elevator door finally opened, Karl Fiers was standing on the other side of the doorway.
Peter's eyes widened. "You! You killed my parents! And you were at the funeral service!"
"That's right, kid. And now it's your turn," Karl replied, showing a gun in his hand.
THWIP! Karl fired the gun, causing a sleep dart to hit Peter in his shoulder.
Peter immediately began to feel drowsy. The last thing he saw as his body was hitting the elevator floor was a man strapped to a chair. There was also an empty chair next to him. His eyes then went black and he was now unconscious.
"Quick. Let's get him in the chair and strap him in," Norman demanded.
After strapping Peter in, Norman took out a syringe and got a sample of Peter's blood. He then squirted some of it out onto a petri dish, so that he could examine it under a microscope.
Within seconds, Norman got the information he was looking for.
"His blood has much more of the symbiote compound in it than anything I have been able to study in quite some time. The levels are nearly five times greater than my son's. Plus, the way the cells are multiplying, would suggest that his healing factor is much greater than most other human beings," Norman proclaimed.
Otto then took a look through the lens for himself. "Hmm. You're right. The cells are multiplying at a fantastic rate. Plus, they seem to have the same traits as the first symbiote."
"Yes," Norman rubbed his hands together, ecstatic about the discovery, "With this type of healing factor, we can run the Goblin Serum into our test subject without causing any of the erratic behaviors. And… if it works on him, it will work on me!" he declared.
The test subject was Banner's kidnapped lab partner, Phillip Sterns.
"Hook Peter's body up to the transfusion tubes and start transferring his blood into our test subject. Once enough of his blood is transferred, we will begin injecting the Goblin Serum.
Minutes later…
"The blood transfer is working," Otto announced. "Mr. Stern's cells are multiplying at a much greater rate than before."
"Excellent! Begin administering the serum," Norman instructed.
Otto then began injecting the Goblin Serum into Phillip's veins.
As the serum traveled through his body, they could see his veins getting larger, the same way a body builder's veins might look after working out.
However, unbeknownst to the group, a certain Subject P had traveled down on the back of Peter's collar. It then produced fangs, and bit down on the back of Peter's neck.
The spider-venom was traveling through Peter's body at a much quicker pace than the Goblin Serum was traveling through Phillip's.
And then, something else happened. The spider-venom sensed the transfusion and instantly began retracting Peter's blood back through the tubes, now only allowing the Goblin Serum to coarse through Phillip's body.
Phillip's body began to gyrate and shake uncontrollably. His face began turning a dull green.
"Something is wrong!" Otto declared.
"What is it?" Norman demanded answers.
"Peter's body is no longer sending blood to Phillip. Instead, it is repelling Phillip's blood and retracting Peter's."
"That's impossible! It can only travel one way! We need to speed up the Goblin Serum!" Norman declared, slamming the plunger down, causing the Goblin Serum to be fully injected into Phillip's body.
"No! You can't do that! Without Peter's blood, Phillip's body won't be able to heal fast enough to handle the serum!"
"Sacrifices have to be made!" Norman declared. "I've waited long enough!"
Within seconds, Phillip's heart monitor was beeping sporadically. Until finally, it was completely flatlined. And Phillip was dead.
"No! This can't be!" Norman yelled. "I'm going to use the defibrillators! My Frankenstein Monster isn't dying on me now!"
Norman then hit Phillip in his chest with the defibrillators.
Suddenly, Phillip's eyes opened up. They were pure green.
And then-
"RAHHH!" Phillip screamed, tearing right through one of the restraints which were keeping his arms tied down. He then reached over and tried to rip the other restraint away from his wrist.
Otto attempted to grab Phillip's arm, hoping to keep him from breaking free.
Phillip swung his arm around, throwing Otto several feet into the air, causing Otto to slam into one of the computer stations, in turn causing sparks to fly from out of the busted monitor.
Phillip then ripped the other restraint off, and then pulled the transfusion tubes out of his body.
"RAHHH!" Phillip was unhinged, tossing the chair he had just been sitting in at Norman.
Norman quickly ducked out of the way. But that wasn't stopping Phillip as he charged at Norman.
Just then-
THWIP!-THWIP!-THWIP!-THWIP! Karl unloaded four sleeping darts into Phillip's back.
At first Phillip struggled to stay up, but then, he fell over like a sack of potatoes.
Within all the skirmish, the three men completely forgot about Peter.
That's when Peter's eyes suddenly opened. He felt a huge rush of adrenalin flow through his body, and he instantly snapped through both of his restraints.
Karl turned the gun towards Peter.
THWIP!-THWIP!-THWIP!-THWIP! He fired.
Somehow, Peter's body instinctively dodged out of the way of every blast.
Karl tried to fire again, but within a split-second, Peter was right in front of him, and he karate chopped the gun out of Karl's hand. Bones could be heard snapping from how hard Peter chopped down, causing Karl to grab his wrist in pain.
Norman quickly picked up the gun. "I recognize that motion! I haven't seen you bounce around like that since you were in the test-tube your mother stole from me!" he declared.
THWIP!-THWIP! CLICK-CLICK-CLICK. The gun was empty.
Peter wanted to tear all of them from limb to limb, but before he could, Phillip woke back up.
Norman tried reloading the gun. Before he could get a shot off, Peter hopped into the elevator, but he didn't try to push any of the buttons which would allow the doors to close. Instead, he leapt straight up, busting through the ceiling of the elevator, and quickly began scaling his way up the cables.
Norman ran over to the elevator, hoping to get a shot off, but when he looked up, the only thing he managed to get a glimpse of was Peter's shoe as he was exiting the elevator shaft onto the main floor.
Meanwhile, a fire had started in the secret laboratory. Norman didn't have time to try and put it out because he had to contend with an unstable monster in Phillip.
Before he knew it, the blaze was growing out of control, and Phillip wasn't about to stop his rampage, continuing to throw anything he could get his hands on. He had become a complete Madman.
After Peter made it to the main floor, he noticed the security guard pulling up in his car outside. He had just gotten back from taking Harry home.
Peter took hold of the entire security desk, ripped it out of the ground, and then flung it through the lobby's glass doors. The security officer ducked down into his driver's seat as the desk crashed into his windshield.
When the security guard finally looked up, the only thing he saw was the silhouette of someone scaling the side of the building.
And then, Peter was gone.