Nearly every school day of Peter Parker's life, there was an occurrence that he could only describe as peculiar. For some reason, the three girls that sit in the back left corner of his class seemed to always need to visit the nurse.

It was hardly an original excuse to cut class, especially when the excuses were so obviously fictitious. Peter was shocked the teachers simply allowed them to leave the room every time. He had only been in New Tokyo for a few weeks, but he couldn't come to believe that the teachers hadn't once questioned them on their odd ailments.

Today, however, they didn't seem to be missing. In fact, they seemed to have something to do with the field trip the class was going on today. The science teacher made sure everyone knew to thank them for making the experience possible.

He had asked one of his classmates how exactly this was the case and he received his answer. Apparently, the girls volunteered part time at the Utonium Laboratory of Science, the place the bus stationed in front of the school likely had set in its GPS navigation.

Peter didn't know that it was so easy to volunteer at a science lab, though he figured it made sense that they were trying to lower expenditure. He filed away a mental note for later to find out where he could apply for a volunteer position. It was probably on their website.

"Alright students, there's no time to waste. Get on the bus and take a seat." Their teacher, Ms. Keane, ushered them forward.

Peter could hear murmuring from his classmates figuring out who they would sit next to, but he wasn't involved in them. He hadn't exactly gone out of his way to get on good terms with those around him, unless you included the teachers. While he was still new to the class, he had clearly proven himself to be competent and ahead of the curriculum. Luckily it hadn't seemed to earn him anyone's ire just yet.

He made sure to position himself towards the back of the line so he would board last, managing to claim himself a seat alone at the front of the bus. It wasn't long before the driver shut the doors and their excursion was underway.

Peter knew where the laboratory was; or to be more accurate, it was hard not to know where the lab was. It was a large round building positioned on the tallest hill in the residential district of the city. Depending on his routing, he would sometimes walk directly past it on his way to school.

He made a second mental note to ask whether he could walk himself home straight from the lab rather than having to take the bus back to school. It would save him some time that he could spend on his adhesive experiments.

His thoughts were occasionally interrupted by the excited chatter from behind him. Most of it was unintelligible, but he could assume that most were only excited to miss school rather than anything else.

It was no longer than five minutes later that they arrived at their venue for the day. The bus stationed itself in the lab's large driveway and opened its doors to free its passengers. Disembarking was messy, but there was nothing unusual about the process, and everyone made it off the bus in one piece.

The trek up the tall hill, not that Peter would admit it aloud, was mildly tiring. He wasn't exactly the most fit of the bunch, his scrawny limbs barely managing to pull him into a sprint when he needed to, let alone for recreation.

The lab itself, when viewed from afar, looked like a pristine environment for experimentation and development. Up close, however, he could see many scars upon the building's exterior, as if it had suffered damage and been repaired many times in the past. Peter filed it away as either earthquake damage or generally shoddy construction. The building did seem rather old, actually.

Waiting for them in front of the glass double sliding doors was a young boy with charcoal black hair, dressed in blue clothing covered by a white lab coat. He was accompanied by a strange looking dog.

"Welcome everyone to my dad's laboratory," the kid said, spreading his arms in reference to the building behind him. "Just so you have an idea of how this will work, we'll be splitting you into two groups for a tour, before giving you a demonstration of our most recent experiments. Is that clear?"

The class wasn't very enthusiastic in its response, a few nods and a couple verbal acknowledgements were the only thing the professor Utonium's son received in reply.

"Alright then, my name is Ken. I'm professor Utonium's son. Before you ask, I'm homeschooled by my dad. This is our robotic dog, Poochie."

Poochie gave an electronic bark of acknowledgement. That explained the dog, at least. It was an impressive piece of technology, able to respond to Ken's speech in such a way. Then again, it could have been programmed to do so to impress the students. A lot of effort to go through for such a novelty, though. Peter's train of thought was broken by Ken continuing.

"With that said, just follow me inside and we can start." The young boy turned around and led them into the large building.

The interior of the building wasn't exactly what Peter was expecting. It looked much less like a professional scientific laboratory and more a regular household living room. That is, if you ignore the supercomputers lining the walls.

Speaking of, there was another person in the room. He looked uncannily similar to Ken, just about 20 or so years older, so Peter figured it must have been his dad.

"Welcome! I'm professor Utonium, and this is my lab. We've made an opening in our schedules today to show you around the facility and demonstrate what the city's scientific funding goes towards. I'd appreciate it if you could now split yourselves into two groups."

A few moments later, with the assistance of Ms. Keane, the crowd began to divide down the middle forming two groups of similar sizes. Peter found himself in the smaller of the two groups, located on the left side of the room.

"Perfect. This group," the professor began, gesturing to the group Peter was not in. "You guys get to come with me. Ken can head the other group."

Ken nodded at his father's direction and motioned for the group to follow him. Ms. Keane followed along as well, most likely for supervision.

"As you might have already figured out, this lab isn't just a research facility. It doubles as a living space for my father and I."

Peter absentmindedly followed along with what the boy was saying, wondering where his mother was. There was no way he could have possibly been adopted with the stellar resemblance, right?

The tour itself lasted about an hour and a half. They saw most of the rooms in the laboratory, minus some exceptions like their bedrooms. Unlike the living room, there were some spaces dedicated specifically to research, where some older experiments were demonstrated for them. Some of their research extended into everyday technology, like smartphone batteries and catalytic converters.

Afterwards, the two groups of students met back up in the large grass yard outside the building for lunch. Peter saw Ken sitting on a park bench by himself with his robot dog. They had an hour of free time before the final demonstration of the day, so Peter decided to pick his brain a little. He wanted to see if he was as smart as the lab coat made him look.

"Ken, right?" Peter asked, approaching him and sitting beside him. "I've been experimenting with chemical adhesives in my spare time, but I can't seem to increase its strength anymore. Got any ideas?"

Ken pondered the question for a few seconds before giving his answer.

"I can't be sure without seeing your work in person, but I can think of a few things. The most straightforward way to make a strong adhesive would be to create polymer chains between the two surfaces you want to bind. Think nylon holding your hands together; that'd be pretty tough to break."

"Right, that makes sense. The only issue is that all the polymers I manage to create on the fly break apart after only a few hours at most." Peter stopped in his tracks, realising he skipped a step. "I'm Peter, by the way. Peter Parker."

"I'm Ken Kitazawa. It's good to know some of you guys are actually interested in the process of science rather than the results."

Peter scratched the back of his neck, not sure what to say in return. He then recalled the reason they had this field trip in the first place.

"What about those three girls?" Peter probed, pointing to where the three had set themselves on the grass. "Aren't they interning here or something like that?"

Ken laughed at his question, bringing Poochie into his lap.

"In a sense they are, but that's a special case. They're more… test subjects… rather than assistants. I can't exactly say much more for confidentiality reasons."

Peter wasn't sure what to think of that vague answer, but it's not like he'd force some guy he just met into revealing contractual information, so he decided to drop the subject. Aunt May had packed him a hearty lunch for today and he wasn't going to miss out on eating it.

Little conversation was made between the two for the rest of their lunch break, they just made occasional small talk to pass the time. Peter didn't exactly have the expertise in the fields Ken and professor Utonium studied, so he couldn't ask many noteworthy questions.

Before either of them knew it, Ms. Keane began calling the students back towards the entrance of the laboratory. Both Peter and Ken got up and headed towards the building.

"You know, Peter, if you're interested in science you could ask the professor about an internship. He's never had one before, unless you count me, so I think he might like the idea."

"You think so? Maybe I'll ask him after the final demonstration."

It wasn't long before the entire class was huddled around a machine of some kind. A sheet of protective reinforced glass sat between the class and what seemed to be where the experiment was taking place. Professor Utonium stood in front of an electrical panel with a few analogue dials on its face and briefed the students on what would be taking place.

"As you would know if you paid attention during the tour earlier, for the past three years Ken and I have been researching Chemical Z. It's a strange and unique chemical, and it produces unusual reactions when exposed to certain conditions."

The professor turned a dial on his panel and a small beam of light shot out from one side of the machine to the other, illuminating the darkened room and glittering off the marks on the reinforced glass. As he wound the dial more, the intensity of the beam grew. As it grew in strength it also began to shudder. Slowly, the shuddering turned into crackling. It was almost like a perpetual bolt of lightning linking the two sides of the machine.

Unbeknownst to the onlookers, a small spider descended from the ceiling along a webline. It seemed to be unperturbed by the light, or perhaps even drawn to it. It made contact with the crackling beam and was drawn into its centre for a brief moment, after which it was propelled parabolically towards the students.

Sailing over the reinforced glass sheet, the spider, now completely white in appearance, dropped towards one particular brown-haired boy.

Peter Parker watched as the demonstration continued, as the professor began exposing the bolt of Chemical Z to various stimuli. The machine procured a metallic sphere and drew it towards the white beam. Before Peter could see its reaction to the foreign object, he felt a sharp pain on his right hand.

A white spider had bitten him on the backside of his hand. He went to swat it off, but the spider began to rapidly darken in colour until it was jet black, at which point it fell from his hand on its own.

From that point onwards, the rest of Peter's day was a blur. He vaguely recalled asking Ms. Keane if he could head straight home from the lab, then stumbling through the streets like an electron's drunken walk, before getting home and passing out on his bed.

His unconsciousness wasn't any calmer. Peter writhed in his sleep, tossing and turning, sweating and shivering. His arms and legs buzzed and his eyes rapidly oscillated in their sockets. His teeth chattered together so hard his gums started bleeding.

But then there was nothing. All of a sudden, Peter had ceased motion, lying still in a semi-peaceful slumber. He remained this way for the next few hours until the sun rose into the sky once more. Rays of sunlight streamed over his lidded eyes, rousing him from his troubled slumber.

Instantly, Peter knew something was off. For one, his sheets were soaked in sweat–Hardly a normal occurrence. He filed the oddity away as the previous night being hot and pulled himself from his bed. His muscles ached as he did so, almost as if he had deadlifted a 747 the previous day. Twice.

He went to reach for his glasses, before realising another oddity. It seemed like he didn't need them anymore. He could see just fine without them, from what he could tell. The text on a poster at the far side of his room was crystal clear; clearer than any book he had ever read before.

Peter figured he should keep this to himself, for now at least. The strangeness of his vision miraculously correcting itself in his sleep was just too great for him to expect anyone to believe him. It was more likely that the spider bite from yesterday was causing him to hallucinate.

Wait, the bite. Could that have actually been the cause for this? It had changed colour and died after it bit him, so it definitely wasn't a normal spider. Had it been venomous? No, surely not. What kind of spider improves its prey's eyesight? It had to be some kind of hallucination.

Regardless of what it was, Peter still had to get ready for school. It was a Friday, after all. After dressing himself, he pocketed his glasses in case he needed them later. His bag was still mostly filled from yesterday. All he had to do was substitute his lunch and head out.

He decided not to route himself close to the lab on his walk to school today. He didn't want to think too hard about what could possibly be happening to him and hoped it was only his eyesight getting better. He gradually began to feel his full strength coming back to him as he walked, and his bag began to feel nearly weightless on his shoulder.

But as soon as he thought his negative symptoms were starting to dissipate, he suddenly felt a migraine growing at the base of his skull. Its intensity fluctuated, though it seemed to be at its strongest when he was nearest to the cacophony of car engines in the rush hour traffic.

Peter reached into his bag and procured a small bottle of water, pouring half of its contents into his mouth, before continuing down the street. An irritation grew on his hands, fingers, and feet, similar to the fabric of socks sticking to your feet when wet, just without the water.

He trudged along the footpath, eventually finding himself approaching school grounds. He let out a breath he hadn't even realised he was holding and made way for his classroom.

It was at times like these that Peter missed his friends back home. Heck, he'd even take Flash Thompson at this point. They hadn't exactly been on best terms all their life, but circumstances had forced Flash to seek his help with schoolwork. He had begrudgingly accepted, and they had managed to come to a sort of mutual understanding.

Peter hoped the guy wasn't struggling too much without his help. He wasn't as confident as he usually seemed, especially so with academics. Liz would probably be able to help him stay above water now that he was up to date on the content.

Peter finally reached his classroom. The door was already ajar, with those three girls sitting in the back corner chatting to themselves. They paused and looked at him when he entered, before going back to chatting, though at a lower volume. Despite this, Peter still could hear what they were saying, clear as crystal, from across the room.

"Isn't that him?" The black haired one asked, obviously referring to Peter.

"Yeah, it is," the blonde one–Miyako–replied. Peter had heard her name being thrown around a few times before. "Ken said he was looking a little green after the Chemical Z demonstration."

"Well he looks fine now, so I guess there's nothing to worry about," the redhead finalised. "He's always keeping to himself, maybe the light show just made him a little queasy."

It seemed like they definitely did spend time at the lab, they must've spoken with Ken. On that note, wasn't he supposed to speak with the professor about a possible internship after the demonstration? That's probably why Ken was so worried about him.

A few more students trickled into the room as time went on, and just as with the girls he could hear each and every word they said.

"I still can't believe we lost that game last weekend. Maybe if I hadn't struck out in the third, we would've beaten them." Baseball, or possibly softball, was at least a sport he was familiar with. It reminded him of home, and he occasionally caught himself glancing towards the diamond on the school grounds during his downtime in class.

"Did you hear about how the Powerpuff Girls Z beat up Mojo last night? I saw it myself! The fight only lasted a few seconds, though." The Powerpuff Girls Z were… definitely something. Peter would say it reminded him of all the heroes back in the Big Apple, but he'd be lying. They were the weirdest batch of superheroes he knew of, and that's saying something.

For starters, their name. What even is a Powerpuff? It seemed pretty childish for a group of young adult superheroes. And he had to wonder, does the Z refer to Chemical Z?

Secondly, their weapons. The only one of them with a reasonable weapon was Powered Buttercup, and she uses a hammer so it's not exactly saying much. Rolling Bubbles' bubble wand at least seems to provide versatility in battle, from what he had seen on the news, at least. But Hyper Blossom's yo-yo was beyond him. Sure, she could use it to grapple onto objects, but that was hardly useful when she can fly. Maybe she can use it as a shield if she spins it? He'd seen that concept somewhere before.

"What do you think of this absolutely glamorous dress? It cost my father a fortune to have made."

Oh great, it was her. By this point, most of the students had arrived at the classroom. Peter spun his pen around his thumb to help pass the time before Ms. Keane arrived.

The bell signalling the beginning of class sounded, marking everyone who wasn't in the classroom by this point either late or absent. Ms. Keane must've decided that that was the perfect time to enter the room, and the class began as usual.

He got through all the questions she had assigned for today's class within the first half hour, and as he unconsciously rotated his head towards the baseball diamond he was suddenly overwhelmed by a severe sense of nausea. He heard three repeating beeps in unison coming from the back of the room; a sound he had never actively noticed before, but then fell face first into his desk.

By the time he came to, the environment around him had completely changed. He was in the nurse's office, he assumed. He had never been here before, so he took a quick look around.

It was definitely better funded than the nurse's offices back in the States. There seemed to be a few medical beds with curtains laid out in the room for students to rest in, and the nurse actually seemed like she had more medical training than just putting a band-aid on the cut.

"What… happened?" Peter asked her, pulling her out of her work on her computer.

"Oh, you're up," the nurse realised aloud. "About an hour and a half ago three girls brought you in here after you passed out at your desk in class. How are you feeling now? Do you think you can return to class?"

Peter looked down at his hands, which were still providing him some irritation, but decided he was well enough to head back to class.

"Yeah… thanks."

"Just remember to stay hydrated, okay?" The nurse smiled at him as he got up and left the room.

He nodded and made for the exit. As he slid the door behind him, Peter pondered the things that had been happening to him lately. First the aching and his eyesight, then the nausea and migraines, now completely passing out? He hoped this was the end of his symptoms. He at least felt a little better now.

He reached his classroom and quietly slid the door open. It seemed like they were just doing some consolidation on the fundamentals of calculus, so he hadn't missed anything especially important. He got a few strange looks as he returned to his seat but otherwise everything was completely normal.

"He's back already?" Again, Peter could hear the whispers around the classroom. It was almost as if they were speaking right into his ear.

"What kinda weirdo faints in class like that?"

He wasn't exactly surprised at that comment. It was strange that he just passed out with no prior warning. Well, it would have been strange, had he not been experiencing weirdness all day. He just wanted the day to be over already.

The rest of Peter's classes mixed into a blur. He wasn't really paying attention to any of them, it wasn't like they were teaching anything imperative. And even if they were, it was pretty much just stuff he'd learned on his own already.

The final bell sounded, allowing everyone to be dismissed for the day. Peter slung his bag over his shoulder and headed for the door. He tried to keep his distance from everyone to avoid bumping into them, but the world clearly had different plans for him.

"Hey."

8

Peter felt a hand grasp his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He turned, finding the source of the obstruction to be the black-haired tomboy. She had donned a green baseball cap, despite their current position inside the building.

"I'm gonna level with you here. I don't really care about you. But Ken does. You cool, man?" She lowered her hand, obviously realising Peter wasn't going to try to run off.

"Ken's worried about me?" Peter acted oblivious. It wouldn't reflect on him well if anyone were to find out he was listening in on everyone's private conversations today. "Well you can tell him I'm fine. Just a little under the weather is all. I'll speak to him myself when I'm feeling a little better."

The tomboy, whose name still eluded his memory, seemed to be satisfied by the answer and turned to leave the classroom. The other two girls followed her, almost like an entourage or a clique would.

Peter sighed, before following suit. He passed through the hallways in his quest for the exit, weaving his way through the crowd of students doing much the same. The gates of the school grounds passed behind him and he began on his way home.

"Wait! Come back!" Peter's calm walk home was interrupted when he heard a younger boy yelling from behind him. He was about to turn to see why the kid was yelling before he felt a strange sensation at the base of his skull.

It was similar to the feeling from before he passed out, only less intense. It was almost like it was telling him to…

Peter's body reflexively jerked to his right, his left arm extending. He was shocked at his body's movement, both the speed it had happened and that he had suddenly moved at all. Before he could properly process what had happened, he felt his hand grasping onto what seemed to be a leash.

The dog it was attached to was quite large, probably a mixed breed of some kind, and it had run straight through where he had been standing just a moment ago. The canine's momentum continued forwards, almost pulling Peter along with it. He twisted his body, planting his right foot in front of him, and pulled the dog back until it came to a stop.

When the boy that had been chasing the dog managed to catch up, his hands fell to his knees and his breathing was deep. He'd clearly been running for a while.

"Is this your dog?" Peter asked, looking at the boy. The dog turned around and walked up to him and sat down, panting.

"Yes… Thanks," the boy huffed, clearly out of energy. He took a few moments to steady his breathing. "That was amazing! You just reached out and caught him by his lead, without even looking!"

"It was nothing, really. I impressed myself, guess it was just a fluke." Peter had seriously impressed himself. There should have been no way that was possible–not for him. The dog should have pulled him straight off his feet. "Uh, I should be going now. Take care of this guy."

Peter handed the boy back the leash and continued on his previous heading. He looked at his left hand as he went, seeing the slight abrasion the texture of the leash had left on his hand when he grabbed it. Something was definitely different. What had that spider done to him?

He needed to work through this logically, starting with figuring out everything that had happened so far.

First was his eyesight. He had needed glasses for as long as he could remember, but suddenly he could see everything with sharper detail than any pair of glasses could grant him.

Next was his strength and stamina. His bag had felt impossibly light today, even with the number of books that had been loaded into it. He even had his clunker of a laptop weighing it down, but today it felt like nothing. And over his entire walk to school he hadn't broken a single drop of sweat!

His hearing had also improved. He could clearly make out whispers from across his classroom. It was harder to not pay attention to them when they're so crystal clear.

And then that strange feeling he got at the base of his skull. It first appeared when he was in the classroom, and it was probably what caused him to pass out. The next time it appeared was with the dog, and it was almost like he knew it was coming at him before he saw or heard it. He couldn't be sure what exactly it was, yet. He'd need to see what else triggered it.

There was one thing he could test easily, though. His strength and stamina. Peter had never been a star athlete, so even a minor improvement to his physical prowess would be pretty noticeable. And it just so happened he was passing the perfect place to test it.

Peter had just arrived at one of the local parks. This one had clearly been designed with sports in mind, with a multi-purpose field set out for different kinds of ball sports. That wasn't why he was interested in it, though. There was a concrete path surrounding the whole field, creating a capsule-shaped loop. This was where he'd test his stamina.

He started with a light jog. Previously, he would only be able to jog like this for a few minutes at best, but now he felt like he could go all day. The taps of his feet against the pavement created a sort of rhythm to follow as he went.

This was too easy. He decided to increase the pace. The force of his feet against the pavement increased gradually, increasing his speed. He kept his speed gradient fairly constant as he went, trying to find his limits. He kept getting faster, to the point where he began to wonder if he would ever stop.

He had now far surpassed any speed he had run before. He was probably running faster than everyone in the track and field club, not that he'd ever really gone to check it out.

He was finally beginning to feel like he was exerting himself, so he began to slow down. It would have been strange for onlookers to see him running any faster than he currently was, especially for as long as he was doing it. He had lapped the field a few dozen times already.

This definitely confirmed it, something had completely changed inside him. Luckily, he knew the perfect place to go to have it checked out. Back to where the change had started, the Utonium Lab.