Chereads / SPIDER-MAN / Chapter 17 - 17) Hilliard Laboratory

Chapter 17 - 17) Hilliard Laboratory

The taxi ride home was depressing, as neither Peter nor Aunt May spoke as they were both thinking about Uncle Ben's death. Both just looked out the window, watching the people and buildings move away and the road looked like a blur. 

"Make a left, then it's the third house on the right," Peter told the taxi driver who complied. The Taxi pulled over next to their house and they opened the doors to leave after Aunt May handed over the money. They closed the doors behind them and entered their home. 

Peter walked through the hallway and looked toward the living room at the sofa Uncle Ben used to always sit on. It had a small dent from how much time he spent on that thing. 

"I'm going to check out the news," said Peter.

"Yes, you do that. I'll be in our room," replied Aunt May, going up the stairs and leaving her handbag on one of the living room chairs. 

Peter sat down while turning on the TV changing it to one of the news channels, that was currently talking about the events from last night. 

"Last Night was quite a unique one as Police officers received an anonymous call about a black market gun for hire. When they arrived at the scene they found the assassin gift-wrapped to them in a cocoon in what they believe is webbing. Joined with the cocoon was a file filled with documents of evidence against the hired gun, whose name turned out to be a French perfume worker called Emma Rein known by her codename Delilah. Along with the documents was a Post-it note telling us that this was done by someone called Spider-Man. Seems New York may have another superhero swinging around." spoke the anchorwoman. 

Peter felt a small sense of accomplishment seeing his action being presented on the news, making him happy for a while, and taking his mind off things. It didn't last for long though. 

"Next up a man called Benjamin Parker was shot outside of the city library in a carjacking after the man robbed a nearby jewelry store. Doctors say by the time they reached the scene the victim had already lost too much blood, sadly passing on. Our condolences to the family. The perpetrator Paul Crick was chased by police down to an abandoned factory where he was found unconscious in a puddle of blood. He was found with a broken arm and jaw, along with internal bleeding leading him to enter a comatose state. Officers don't know why he was like this, so an investigation is under place and we'll keep you all posted if any interesting new information is released." continued the news anchor. 

Peter turned off the TV and looked towards the ground. The news only reminded him of Uncle Ben's death and now he added the guilt of inducing a coma onto someone. Even if he was an evil person was it right for him to take justice into his own hands? He would've probably gotten the warranted sentence anyway. He almost killed someone, and during that moment he felt powerful and no sympathy. 

RING RING

Peter's phone started to ring, so he took it out of his pocket to see it was Mary Jane. Peter smiled a little before answering "Hi, What's with the sudden call?" said Peter. 

"I was just watching the news and wanted to ask if that was your Uncle on the news?" she replied.

He stayed silent for a while before replying "Yes. It was".

"I'm sorry for your loss Peter".

"Thanks" he replied.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she questioned.

"Not really, maybe another time," replied Peter.

 "Oh, fair enough. I let you be then, I wish you the best Peter. We could hang out sometime if you want, take your mind off things." Mary inquired. 

"That'd be fun. I'll contact you later when I'm feeling up for it." Peter replied.

"I'll be waiting, see you at college, ok?"

"Sure," said Peter before hanging up and heading upstairs to his room. 

HILLIARD LABORATORY 

"Son, do you have the data?" spoke a middle-aged man. He was a white bald man, with a pair of glasses on. He had a little blond goatee and wore the classic white coat of a scientist.

"Everything's here pops" replied his son, Ronald. He has short wavy blonde hair, along with bright blue eyes. Unlike his father, he didn't have a lab coat on and was wearing a classy pair of black trousers and a sleek white buttoned shirt. 

"Everything seems to be in order. We really can pull it off this time. We will become the first superhumans made from science, with this the noble prize will be ours and so will your dream, son." exclaimed the old man and hugged his son. 

"I sure hope so Dad" Ronald replied. 

"Let's get this over and done with now, we shall begin the test." replied the dad.

"Are you sure? Shouldn't we wait a little longer to make sure everything's in order? If things go wro..." pleaded Ronald before being cut off by his dad. 

"It's alright son, we've prepared all this for over 10 years and planned for every possible outcome. If things seem dangerous you can just flip the emergency switch, It'll rapidly discharge the capacitors." replied the dad while taking off his lab coat and shirt. 

He walked towards this massive machine that towered over them and slid open the door heading towards the centre after closing the door. The machine's centre was a sphere, shaped like a hamster ball connected to large electrical pillars at either side. 

"You ready Dad?" asked Ronald quite worriedly. 

"Never been more ready than now. Start the machine." the dad ordered. 

Ronald reluctantly started the machine and the sphere started to rotate. Slowly but surely the sphere picked up pace becoming faster and faster, until it started it moved so fast that it looked like it was staying still. Electricity zipped and beamed from the pillars, hitting a thin metal pole that was sticking out of the central sphere. 

"Everything seems alright for the time being" shouted Ronald, trying to make his voice louder than the screaming of electricity. He continued to keep tabs on all the readings to make sure nothing went over the limit. "Dad, the Power being produced is rising steadily over the limit. In around 1 minute it will reach critical condition!" he yelled. 

"Give another 10 seconds to see if it stabilizes if not, turn on the emergency stop." replied the dad, getting quite nervous. 

Ronald waited patiently for 10 seconds hoping that the power output would stabilise. "It's still heading towards a critical level, I'm powering down now," he replied. 

 He pulled down on a lever and the sphere began to slow down and the pylon's electrical output lessened over time. A small boom echoed across the laboratory and the right pylon continued to spark electrical energy everywhere. 

"DAD THE RIGHT PYLON ISN'T POWERING DOWN, WE NEED TO EVACUATE THE BUILDING NOW!" yelled Ronald while pressing a button causing loud alarms to roar through the building.

The dad looked scared and disappointed, beginning to run out of the sphere center. Out of his rush, he tripped over falling to the floor and twisting his ankle. 

"DAD" roared Ronald and he ran towards his dad, placing him on his shoulder, slowly helping him evacuate.

The pylon continued zapping streams of electricity, becoming more and more aggressive. "Leave me son!" demanded the dad. 

"I won't leave you Dad" replied Ronald. 

The electricity became even more violent until it exploded.