OSCORP JULY 4TH 2017
The lab was perfectly white with bright panel lights glowing towards the floor. On the also perfectly white tables that stood in the middle of the room test tubes in their racks with flasks with a wide range of chemicals everywhere with small bottles containing metals like Titanium and Scandium mixed with them with epoxy sinks stationed at regular intervals across. Everything was spotless and shining, not a spec of dust was in the laboratory. Draws and cabinets stood on the right side of the room with labels written on them and on the other side stood a large white shelf with hundreds of terrariums placed also with labels written with names of spider species like T. blondi.
Stationed throughout the lab five scientists dressed in the usual white robes, rubber gloves, lab spectacles, and ID badges around their necks. Some were performing some distillations and basic lab tests while the other two looked at the terraiums one by one taking notes on the clipboard and paper.
Outside the lab was a white desk with a young secretary lying in the back on her black office chair scrolling through Instagram.
Trodding down the corridor with confidence and the quiet clicking of her heels was a middle-aged woman also dressed in lab gear with short black hair with an ID badge with Dr Foster written on it. "Afternoon Juillet," Foster spoke with a stern voice.
"Afternoon Dr Foster" Juillet replied and quickly placed her phone done and straightened herself. "Busy day?"
"When is it not?" Foster replied with slight annoyance while she leaned downwards and scanned her ID badge on its scanner opening a glass door leading into a small corridor. White smoke engulfed the room for a few seconds and like a robot, Foster walked toward the next door and entered the code. 1962. The keypad shined a bright green and you hear the door with a small window around eye-level unlock. Dr. Foster strode into the lab and walked towards one of the men at the terrariums.
The man looked up from his clipboard and looked at Dr Foster as she walked towards him "Afternoon Dr Foster." he spoke with a slight Finnish accent
"Afternoon Dr. Kavanagh. How are the tests proceeding?"
"Most of the subjects seem to have no change at all but three of them have undergone some clear change good and bad" Replied Dr. Kavanagh
"Give me a report on the three please Dr." Replied Dr. Foster clasping her hands and slightly smiling.
They walked slightly towards the left "Subject #29 species named Araneus quadratus has seen an exponential increase in the size of its abdomen resulting in it being pretty much paralyzed and unable to move. However, its silk showed some promise with it being around twelve times stronger than normal." The terrarium had small ferns placed on the top with a large orb web plastered across all of it. In the middle stood a spider with an abdomen flattening its body with its legs desperately trying to move but with little to no avail.
"Reduce the growth hormones by around 25% and don't change anything else for the time being, let's see if we can solve that growth problem first before we try to change anything else. Kill it and bring in another specimen for testing." Replied Dr. Foster while writing notes on her clipboard and showing it to another scientist.
"Dr. Toma, please work on that right away." Spoke Dr. Kavanagh
"Yes, sir" Dr. Toma walked away toward her station
"Next up we have subject #87 species named Latrodectus mactans" Dr. Kavanagh spoke while walking Dr. Foster towards the terrarium labeled #87 "has undergone a color change from its natural black and red hourglass to a spontaneous pattern of blue and red. We're not sure why this has happened yet and if it has any side effects. None have been observed so far and it seems to remain healthy and there have been no changes in its behavior patterns. Its silk and been the most impressive ever in the history of this project being almost a hundred times stronger than normal. We believe it may be strong enough to stop tests altogether but we still need to observe it to make sure no dangerous side effects are present before concluding testing" He looked deeper through the glass and squinted. "That's strange it doesn't appear to be in view." He questioned and tapped the glass with his finger.
"Do a scan for living organisms to make sure it hasn't escaped. We can't risk it escaping the lab." Dr. Foster ordered in a quick and angry tone.
Dr Kavanagh ran towards the side turned on a screen that was implanted on the wall and pressed a button on it. "234 Life forms detected Foster." He glanced at her with a worried look in his eyes.
"Shit it's gone" Dr. Foster quickly hurried towards the door and pushed a red button. The once-white room was now consumed by a dark red light and alarm sound. "EVERYONE, QUICKLY STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING, TURN OFF ALL EQUIPMENT AND CLOSE ANY OPEN FLASKS AND CALMLY EXIT THE ROOM. SOON THE LAB WILL GO INTO LOCKDOWN." The scientists quickly hurried through the decontamination and walked out into the corridor with the secretary. After around thirty seconds the dial-pad flashed a red colour.
A group of guards hurried down the corridor with black uniforms and a handgun planted on their right hip. and one yelled "Guard the entrance and make sure only people with level 3 clearance can enter. Escort these scientists outside except for Dr. Foster."
A while later a man started to hurriedly walk towards the lab and went past the guards after showing them his pass. "Dr. Foster please tell me what happened" He was slightly out of breath. He was a middle-aged man with short brown hair tipped to his right with a freshly shaved beard. He also wore a white robe and had a clear blue shirt and red tie showing underneath with a pair of black glasses and his left arm was clearly missing.
"Dr. Conners. Subject #87 has escaped" She looked directly at him slightly ashamed
"Dam. I have to report this to the higher-ups." He began to rub his slight beard rapidly "Outside of its terrarium how long can the specimen survive?"
"You'll have to ask Dr. Kavanagh, he handles all the data and information about the spiders, I just get the data and use it to alter the DNA" replied Foster
"It's not adapted to live outside of its space and outside of its usual habitat as well, I doubt it could survive for more than a month" stepped in Dr. Kavanagh.
"That's not that bad. Right, I need to go and warn the boss about this incident and request a search and kill on the escaped specimen. I'll be back, we can discuss the consequences at a later date" He speed-walked back down the corridor while wiping his forehead.
In the lobby of OSCORP near the roof of the building, a small spider painted red and blue scurried up to the ceiling and began to sling its web making its dwelling.