Chereads / THE AMAZING SPIDER-BAT / Chapter 34 - CREATURE OF THE NIGHT

Chapter 34 - CREATURE OF THE NIGHT

One day, a Parker Industries jet lands in New York City. A man with a crutch who works for Parker Industries, named Morbius Langstrom walks steps out with his wife, Martine. Morbius takes a deep breath and smiles.

"It's good to be back. Especially after making a breakthrough."

Martine kisses Morbius.

"You're about to change lives, my love."

Morbius holds his wife's hand and smiles.

"I hope so." He says.

They then get into a car and head to Parker Industries.

One morning, Peter is working out in the Batcave after a long night of patrolling New York. After he finishes up Ben enters the cave and hands Peter a towel for his sweat from his face.

"Thanks Ben." Peter says with a smile.

"Looks like you're handling Ms. Kyle's departure quite well, sir."

Peter sarcastically smirks at his friend. The young man then gets a message

"Looks like Doctor Langstrom is back from doing research on degenerative blood disease." Peter says.

"My word it's been a long time. His research has been going on since your father was running the company."

"Yeah, I wanted to give him free range just like dad did, since this project is so personal to him. I should go see him, hear what he found."

"Good idea, sir. It'll be nice for Peter Parker to make an appearance in the outside world."

Peter smiles.

"Very funny." Peter says.

Later on, Peter enters Parker Industries and then hears a familiar voice behind him.

"It's been a long time, Pete." The voice says.

Peter turns around and sees Jill Stacy, the Cousin of Gwen Stacy.

"Jill? Hey, it's been awhile." Peter says, hugging her.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you since- Well you know."

Peter nods, remembering Gwen Stacy's funeral.

"So what brings you to town?"

"I'm actually taking a job at the New York City Public Library. Putting that PhD in Library Science to good use."

"That's amazing. Well I have to go, but we should definitely catch lunch."

"Definitely. Mickey's Diner?"

"Be there, or be square."

Jill laughs.

"Glad to see the fancy suits and the multi-billion dollar company hasn't changed you, Pete." She says, leaving the building.

Peter smiles, feeling good about seeing an old friend, then takes the elevator up to the lab.

When he makes it up to the lab, he sees Morbius and Martine working on a machine. Morbius sees Peter and smiles at him.

"Mr. Parker. Welcome to the future." Doctor Langstrom says, slowly making his way towards Peter.

"Hello Dr. Langstrom, Martine. Looks like you two been busy." Peter says, shaking Langstroms hand.

Peter then looks over and sees multiple vampire bats in a tank.

"Is that- a lot of bats?" Peter asks.

"Oh, I'm sorry Peter. Richard told me about your- experience with bats." Morbius says, quickly pressing a button that covers the tank.

"Oh its alright, gotta get past my- crippling fear eventually, right? So what's with the bats anyway?" Peter asks.

"Just some friends I brought back from Costa Rica. These are the only mammals on earth that have evolved to feed exclusively on blood. So in order to drink it, these bats produce saliva that contains unique anticoagulants." Dr. Langstrom explains.

"So your theory is, you can successfully splice vampire genes into someone's DNA, it would allow the body to produce those same anticoagulants?"

Morbius smirks.

"Yes. It would be a cure."

Peter looks on with concern.

"But at what cost? This seems too risky." Peter says.

Morbius sighs.

"Peter, we have to push the boundaries. Without risks- there is no science. No medicine. No breakthroughs."

Peter thinks for a moment.

"Look, I know how personal this is to you. But- this is just too unpredictable. Let's just give this a little more time."

Morbius stares at Peter for a moment.

"I don't have anymore time."

Peter puts his hand on his shoulder.

"Just a few more days. We'll run tests, make sure this is one hundred percent safe."

Morbius thinks for a moment.

"Alright. We'll run more tests."

"Good, I promise we'll keep working on this and come up with the results as soon as possible."

Doctor Langstrom nods as Peter leaves. Martine walks over to her husband's side.

"We're not going to wait- are we?" She asks.

"The boys still young. He doesn't understand... We move forward with the experiment. Tonight."

Martine nods, giving her husband a kiss.

Later that night, Peter and Jill sit together at Mickey's Diner and talk.

"So- you seeing anyone, Peter?"

Peter chuckles.

"Umm, no- just haven't worked out for me lately."

"Well lucky for you, I have a friend that would be perfect for you. She's a model, slash actress."

Peter rubs the back of his neck with uncertainty.

"I don't know if I'm up for a blind date, Jill."

"Come on Pete, you gotta get out there again. Find someone, settle down, be one of those annoying famous couples on social media."

Peter thinks for a moment, remembering how things ended with Felicia and especially Gwen.

"You know, I'm- starting to think that maybe I'm supposed to be alone. I mean, maybe I'm one of those people who aren't supposed to settle down." Peter says.

Jill frowns.

"I don't believe that, and neither do you. You deserve to be happy."

Peter silently disagrees, doubting that he can be happy while being Spider-Bat.

Meanwhile, Morbius Langstrom is creating a serum that is a cure for his condition. He stares at the serum for a moment.

"Well- here we go." He says.

He then turns to his wife and holds her hand.

"I'm glad you're here with me."

Martine kisses her husband's hand.

"I love you."

Morbius smiles.

"Love you too."

The scientist then takes a deep breath and drink the serum. After a few minutes of anticipation, the serum starts to take affect as Morbius starts to cough and fall to the ground.

"Morbius? Are you alright." Martine

Morbius doesn't reply, as his body begins to change. His bones begin to shift, skin turns pale white, claws and fangs begin to grow, and his eyes turn blood red. As Martine watches in horror, Morbius let's out a loud scream of agony.

Back with Peter, he gets a message. from Ben about something happening at Parker Industries.

"Sorry Jill, I have to check on something back at Parker Industries."

"Ok, but we're not done with this conversation." Jill says.

Peter chuckles.

"Of course not." Peter says as he leaves the diner.

When Peter makes it to the lab, he sees that the entire room is destroyed.

"What the hell happened here?" Peter asks himself.

As he walks through the lab, he sees a giant hole in the ceiling. He then looks over and sees Martine on the ground, unconscious. He runs over to her side.

"Martine? Martine, are you alright?"

Peter notices two small holes on her neck and how pale she is, realizing that she has lost a lot of blood. When he sees the wasted serum on the ground, he makes the realization that Dr. Langstrom went through with the experiment and something went horribly wrong.