"Let me inform my husband that you've come." Mrs Connors smiled and walked towards a room with glass walls. But interestingly enough, all of the curtains were pulled and no light seemed to be on.
Inside of the dark room, Dr Curt Connors, the one armed scientist, injected himself with a green serum. The color itself didn't look safe, and the secrecy didn't look like any good news.
"Curt, stop hiding in the office." His wife called out to him. He fixed his coat quickly, covering his prosthetic arm before he walked out with a professional smile "Peter, Gwen, this is ESU's resident genius. My husband, Curt."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dr Connors." Peter and Gwen said at the same time. As they looked at each other, they smiled before Peter shook hands with the scientist.
Dr Connors smiled "Pleasure to meet you both as well. You look familiar, son. Weren't you the boy that was bitten by the radioactive spider? How are you doing?"
"The one and only. Hahahaha, that little guy gave me one heck of a fever that night. But I'm good now, thanks for asking. Where are the little guys, by the way? I can't see them anywhere, even though they seemed to be important."
'This is, like, 70% of why I came to this place. I have to get my hands on those spiders. Just one made Peter so powerful, just imagine what all 15 of them could do!'
"Oh, them. Haaah, unfortunately, the experiments didn't lead anywhere, even proved lethal in some cases. That's why the project was cancelled. But Oscorp seems to have taken an interest in the project, so they asked us to sell the radioactive spiders to them instead of terminating them."
'Shit, barely in this universe and I already got in trouble with Oscorp. This can get troublesome if Oscorp has already got their hands on the spiders.'
"I see. At least all that effort didn't go to waste. You got some benefits out of it."
"Hahahaha, that's the nature of science, son. You go to many lengths, spend great effort and time on research, but some things are just fated to meet a dead end."
"I guess I can't see the little guys for one last time, huh? The last time didn't exactly go smoothly."
"Hahahaha, unfortunately. But luckily for you, they're still here. The transfer will happen tonight, so you still have time to take a good look at them."
'Yes! The timing couldn't be any more perfect! After we're done here, I'll come and keep a close eye on them. And when Oscorp is taking the spiders, I'll just drop by and say hello on their way.'
He hid his mischievous smile behind an excited one "Oh, thank you so much, Dr Connors! I never thought I would see them again!"
"Hahahaha, no worries, son. You're welcome. Just treat it as a welcome gift for joining us. Now follow me."
As Connors led the way, Mrs Connors spoke up "Now, we won't overdo it the first day. Eddie will show you around the lab, but the real work can start tomorrow."
They listened carefully while looking around, amazed at all the stuff and the small animals in their glass containers. Finally, Peter reached the containers that had given him his fate.
"Here they are." Connors presented with a smile "The 15 super spiders that we had been researching for a long time."
Stepping closer, he looked at them with awe. Along with Gwen, who had realized just how special they truly were. She just thought of them as cool the first time she saw them. But now, as she glanced at Peter and the spiders, she was truly amazed.
Peter was even more affected. Especially when he looked at the red and blue spider who was resting on its web 'The radioactive spider. The one who gave birth to Spider-Man. Honestly, it wouldn't be weird if I said that it's an honor to meet it. After all, this guy is a celebrity of its own. It's probably more well-known than most superheroes of any fiction. And now, it's time for it to come back to papa.'
"Unfortunately though, that time was for nothing." Mrs Connors sighed regretfully, but Connors still smiled "But that's the beauty of science, Martha. You can't expect all the projects to succeed.
That's why when they do, it gives us such an amazing feeling of accomplishment. And besides, we have both good and bad memories with these guys, so let's send them off with a smile, shall we?"
Taking their moment of distraction as a chance, a small tendril, barely the size of a needle, was shot towards the small containers. When it reached them, it turned into 15 smaller tendrils and snuck into each of the containers. Once inside, each tendril bonded with one of the spiders.
'This'll help me keep track of where they are. Even if I lose them today, I can always find them again.'
"Huh, I guess you're right." Mrs Connors smiled back, recalling all the times they had spent with the little bugs. Peter and Gwen spent some more time in the lab, getting used to the stuff before they were dismissed.
"Then we will see you tomorrow, kids." Martha bid farewell at the door, waving as they walked out. "See you tomorrow, Dr Connors." They waved back and walked off. But as they were, Peter's Spider-Sense went off lightly. Barely a tingle in the back of his mind.
He grew confused when he didn't see anything dangerous nearby. Even when he reactivated his full body sensory system, turning his entire body into eyes, he didn't see any attacks. Just Eddie running at them from behind. 'Oh, is that it? But he doesn't have any malicious intent though. Weird.'
"Gotcha-" Eddie grinned as he tried to lock Peter's head under his arm. But was shocked when he weaved to the side smoothly and took his head under his arm instead with a grin "In your dreams, pal."
"Ugh, what the?" Eddie tried to free himself, but Peter had an iron grip on him "Since when did you get so strong?!"
Letting go of him, he dusted off his hands "Since I started working out."
Eddie rubbed his neck, raising an eyebrow "Is that how you beat up Flash and his bum ass friends? You still haven't told me what happened."
"Ooh, right. I completely forgot."
- (One explanation later)
"Seriously?!" Eddie's eyes were wide open as they sat on a bench "You took out Flash and that fatso in just a couple of hits?!"
Gwen "One for Flash, and two for Kenny, to be exact."
Eddie "How?! You couldn't even look them in the eyes back then! Now you're one hit KO-ing them?!"
Gwen "That's what I said."
Peter "Heh, results of finally working out on myself."
Eddie rolled his eyes "Oh, please. How much could working out for one or two months- what in the world?!" But when Peter rolled up his sleeve to flex his fit, veiny, swimmer-style bicep, his eyes bulged out in shock.
"...Peter, you're not taking any drugs, are you?"
"Nope, I'm all natty. And besides, where could I get the money for steroids anyway? I just have a talent for this, I guess." Gwen side eyed him as he smiled smugly. Eddie scratched his head in shock before smiling "Damn, guess I don't need to worry about your school life, huh? I should be worried about Flash now, hahahaha."
"Ooh, definitely." He smirked. Eddie tapped his shoulder with a smile as he got up "Well, glad to hear that you're not getting beat up when I'm not around, Pete. In fact, I should probably call you now if I get into any trouble."
"You already know it."
"I should get going now. I still need to be in the lab." He shook their hands "See you tomorrow, guys. Take care of yourselves. And Gwen, make sure he doesn't turn into a bully himself."
Gwen smiled helplessly "And how am I supposed to do that? Give him a beating if he gets out of hand?"
"Oh, please." He smiled teasingly "Just one kiss from you and he'll be obedient as a puppy." And walked off, laughing as Gwen blushed "E-Eddie!"
She sighed as he disappeared into the building, blushing charmingly. It was quiet for a moment, before Peter smirked "Guess I gotta get into bullying now."
"You!!" She pinched his side harshly, making him wince but laugh as her blush grew "YOU have teased me more than enough today! So you better stop, or you'll be in big trouble, mister!"
"Okay, okay! Hahahaha, I'm sorry!" He rubbed his side as she let go. As they started walking, seeing that she was grumpy, he gently nudged her "Alright, I'll stop teasing you today. So don't be mad, okay?"
"Really?" She eyed him suspiciously. He nodded "Yup. I'll stop for today. I'll do it again tomorrow instead."
Her eyes widened as he started running while laughing. "Peter!!!" She ran after him, ready to give him a piece of her mind when she got her hands on him.
-
"Am I forgiven yet?" He smiled cutely as she licked her ice cream. To apologize for all of the teasing today, he had treated her to an ice cream. Gwen scoffed softly and side eyed him. He smiled helplessly "Guess not."
They enjoyed their ice creams in silence, all the sound of the busy city just background sound as they enjoyed each other's company. Neither of them could lie, even though talking and laughing together felt amazing, just enjoying each other's presence in silence was amazing too.
"So what are you planning?" Gwen asked as she licked her vanilla ice cream. Peter licked his own chocolate one "Whatcha mean?"
"I'm talking about the spiders. You had that look in your eyes that you always have when planning something. And most of the time, it's something stupid."
"Heh, I guess it is. I'm planning to steal them."
"What?!" Her eyes widened.
"Just think about it, Gwen." He explained calmly "Because of just a single spider, I can now lift nearly 20 tons and run fast enough to leave afterimages. Think about what I could do if I harnessed the power of 15 different spiders."
"B-but you can't steal them. That's illegal." She whispered, looking around to make sure no one was listening "You can't use your powers for something like that, Peter."
"I have to, Gwen. I have to have them. You have no idea how I felt when I saw those spiders. It felt like I found the long lost missing pieces of myself. I felt them calling me. I felt something deep inside of me calling them. I barely stopped myself from just breaking those containers and taking them right there and then. I have to have them. And I will. Tonight."
"But still..." She still didn't seem fully convinced. So, with a smile, he hugged her shoulder "Come on, Gwen, just think about what I could do with that power. The lives that I could save that the old Spider-Man couldn't.
The people that I could help and the supervillains that I could defeat that the original spider powers couldn't. I can already help so many people! Imagine what I could do after getting all of those super spiders!"
"I... I don't know, Peter..." She mumbled. She was silent for a moment, deep in her thought before sighing "But... I guess you have a point. You using those spiders to save lives and fight crime is better than letting them get used for experiments that don't seem to bear any results.
I already agreed to help you, so I won't stop you. But you can steal only this time, alright?" She looked at him with a strict gaze "You can't go around stealing again. Otherwise, you will just end up like any other criminal after a while of making it a habit. Understood?"
"Do you have that little faith in me?" He smiled helplessly. Gwen's strict expression turned into a gentle smile "Of course not. I already know what kind of an amazing and kind person you are. I just wanted to remind you. So, promise?"
"Promise."
"Then we'll move at night." She put one leg over the other, turning serious "We have to keep a close eye on the ESU. Once Oscorp takes the spiders, we have to find a way to keep track of them.
Then find the best place to steal the cargo quietly and in a place where Spider-Man won't be seen. We don't want people to know that you stole the spiders, after all. We could get in real big trouble if that happened."
Peter was speechless. But he couldn't hold back his grin "Damn, you're really into this now, huh? Partners in crime?"
Gwen smirked back as they fist bumped "Partners in crime."