I stumbled through the main doors and into the open hall of the BRI. I earned a few stares, but I didn’t care. I walked with purpose towards into the food court and towards the staff only doors. I stumbled and crashed into someone, falling to the ground. I winced in pain clutching my side as I tried to stand up.
“Sorry about that. Are you ok?” a familiar voice asked. I glanced up. It was Peter, the guy who’d visited the lab with Harry Osborne.
“I’m… fine” I wheezed.
He helped me up and held me steady as I regained my footing.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked. I nodded and walked towards the staff doors before he could say anymore. One of the guards by the entrance stopped me.
“Where’s your pass kid?” he asked. Shit.
“I need to get through. I have to talk to Ric- Dr Gonzales. It’s urgent” I said.
“You’ve got no pass, so we can’t let you through” the other guard said.
“Please” I said, my voice shaking.
“Sorry kid”
I felt my hands start to tremble and my breaths grow quicker.
“Please. I just need to talk to him. Call him down here or something” I said, grabbing his arm.
“What the? Get off!” he said slamming his gun into my sternum. I stumbled backwards and the guard raised his weapon slightly.
“Woah, woah, woah. Calm down. He’s with me” I heard behind me. I glanced. It was Peter.
“No pass and he doesn’t get in” the guard said lowering his weapon. Peter pulled a pass out of his pocket and draped it around my neck. The guards glanced at each other, and I felt a wave of relief as one reluctantly opened the doors to let us through.
“Thanks”
“No problem. Your name was... Lucas?”
“Yeah, you were Peter, right?”
“Yeah. You heading up to Dr Gonzales for volunteer stuff?” he asked. I nodded.
“Let me walk with you, I was just about to head over their anyway” he said.
We walked past some guards, less than before, and he opened the door to the walkway. I peered through the window, glancing over the various scientists working away. I turned back to Peter who was looking down too, smiling softly. He was looking down at Gwen. I looked away, feeling like I was invading his privacy. We carried on walking, the silence carrying for a few seconds before he spoke up.
“So… you enjoying the volunteer work?” he asked.
“I… yeah” I muttered.
“You ok?” he said. I went to nod again but stopped myself.
“I had an argument with my friend” I said. “I don’t think she ever wants to talk to me again”
“…oh”
There was another moment of silence.
“Why do you work here?” I asked.
“Uhhh… I like science” he chuckled. “Plus it pays the bills” I frowned.
“Do you not like working here?”
“I used to like it a bit more. Felt like I was giving more to society but there was a whole fiasco with my mentor an-“
“Dr Octavius?” I asked.
“Yeah. I hit a bit of a rough patch after he got fired, but that’s no reason not to tough it out, right?” he said with a slightly forced chuckle.
We exited the other side of the walkway and walked into the elevator. I felt my side throb as it started to ascend. I winced slightly, watching as everything became small beneath us.
“Do you think this project is going to help people?” I asked, surprising myself.
“Huh?” Peter replied.
“This project… will it help people?”
“No doubt. It might take a few years before we see real results, but the moment we see real human application, this project is going to change the world.”
“That’s… good” I said. I felt my spirits lift; a bud of hope blossoming.
We stepped out the lift. There weren’t any guards on the top floor today. Weird. We walked down the hall in silence, reaching the lab door. Peter knocked twice but was met with silence. He frowned and knocked again harder. Nothing.
“Wait, I might still have access” he said. He swiped his card, and the panel flashed green. He pushed open the door slightly and glanced inside.
“No one’s in” he said stepping out. Weird, there was usually always someone here at this time.
“They might’ve gone out for lunch?” I said. Peter shrugged.
“Do you want to w-” Peter was interrupted by the sound of glass smashing from inside the lab. We both glanced at each other then back at the lab door.
“Hello?” Peter called out, stepping towards the door cautious. He pushed it open slightly and I peered inside behind him.
The lab looked normal apart from the smashed beaker that lay close to the door. It lay in the middle of the room, nowhere close to any of the lab’s tables.
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“What the-“ My spider sense roared. Instinctively I grabbed Peter, fired a web and yanked us backwards. It didn’t matter. Black tendrils shot out from the open doorway and grabbed us, yanking us back inside. We crashed to the floor, rolling through the glass. I looked up just in time to see a hulking pitch-black monster flying towards me with it’s mouth agape. I flipped out of the way, landing on the wall as it screeched at me.
Peter scrambled backwards as the monster turned to looked at me.
“Lucasssss… you shouldn’t have come” it said gleefully licking its red stained teeth with a long tongue. Chills went down my spine. I recognised the voice. It was distorted but I recognised it.
“Ricardo?!” I said, feeling panic starting to set in.
“Yes Lucasss. I finally succeeded. I mean look at me!” he said, standing tall with glee.
“What did you do?!” I shouted.
“Didn’t you hear me? I succeeded! What happened to you was near impossible to replicate, but we tried. We really did. But it was foolish to try and change humans on a fundamental level. Fortunately, we had you! We stumbled across the happy little accident that is this power!” he yelled raising a fist.
“What are you talking about?!” I said my voice trembling. “What about the cure?”
“Cure?! Boy don’t you understand what you’ve been gifted! Pure unadulterated POWER!!” he shouted, slamming his fist through a table. Shards of glass, plastic and metal sprayed across the room as I stared at him, still in shock.
“No! Y-you said you could cure me!” I shouted back, tears in my eyes.
“WHO CARES?!!!” he shouted, slamming me against the wall with tendrils of the black gel. The force knocked the wind out of me and the edges of my vision grew dim. Peter threw a glass at him and it smashed harmlessly against the back of his head. He glanced at Peter grinning, then turned to me as I struggled pointlessly.
“It’s not perfect though. This power, it isn’t stable. It needs negative energy and blood. It hungers for it” he said, licking me, leaving the horrible smell of blood and ooze.
“It wasn’t supposed to go like this, but we had to eat Lindon. He’d spent so much time in here his body was basically radiating with the energy. If I'd listened to he whenever he droned on about safety he might've lived! Gods he was delicious. And you will be too. Once I eat you, I’ll eat the girl. And then I’ll hunt down every last one of the people the insects and altered and eat them alive. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy every second of it” he said grinning.
I felt my world shatter, all the feelings of hope I’d had vanish in an instant. All fight went out of me as Ricardo opened his mouth hideously large and went to eat me. Suddenly I was on the floor as Ricardo screamed, his form shifting wildly. Wisps of smoke sizzled on his back as Peter grabbed me, pulling me for the door. I stumbled to my feet and felt my spider sense buzz. I grabbed Peter and jumped upwards as tendrils slammed against the floor where we’d been.
Ricardo roared and lunged at us, but I webbed one of the lab tables, yanking it up and slamming it into his face. I turned to dive for the door and felt something grab my leg. I dropped Peter as I was yanked backwards my spider sense ringing in my ears. I spun around to see Ricardo’s mouth open inhumanly wide. I webbed, covering it, and bounced off the webbing as Ricardo fumbled.
“The acid!” I heard Peter shout behind me. I webbed the beakers of acid and whipped them around, slamming them into Ricardo’s face. He roared again, stumbling into one of the machines. I watched as he stumbled, writhing in pain as parts of his gel-like body bubbled and popped, and I felt a surge of anger. It had all been a lie. He’d never been trying to cure me. Because of him, I’d ruined my relationship with Amy. He was the reason I’d felt okay with not trying to be a hero. He was the reason I’d rationalised it to myself, the reason I’d given into my anger, the reason all of this bad stuff had happened in the first place.
“YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO CURE ME!!” I shouted with a newfound anger.
“I worked years to reach this position, all for this! And you want to just throw away your power! You’re pathetic!!! Just like your parents!!” he shouted.
I was on top of him before I realised what was happening, my claws out. I screeched violently as I stabbed my claws into him, raking them across his body. He roared back, grabbing me and chucking me across the room. I slammed into a machine, but got right back up, my body burning with fury. Ricardo dived towards me and I webbed him, yanking myself across the room and kneeing him in the face.
I hit him hard, with all the power I could muster, and he slammed into one of the machines, almost collapsing it completely. I dived on top of him and rained a hail of blows down, the floor shaking underfoot. He was shouting, trying to talk to me, probably pleading for his life, but I didn’t listen. He roared and grabbed me by the neck trying to force me back, but I sunk my claws deep into it, feeling an arm. I tore it off, screeching as I did. He cried out in pain and threw me across the room. I slammed into the far wall and stood up, stumbling as more waves of pain shot through my body. Peter was already lifting me up. He was trying to say something, shouting actually but I couldn’t hear him. My ears were ringing loudly. No, it wasn’t my ears, it was something else. The room suddenly grew bright, and I turned to see one of the machines glowing with energy. I felt my spider sense reverberate throughout my being. I grabbed Peter and dived behind a table as Ricardo screeched and lun-
-
I felt myself start to stir. I coughed a few times, my side burning with pain. I opened my eyes but couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. I tried to move but felt something heavy pushing down on top of me. My eyes adjusted and I realised I was looking at rubble, with streams of light weaving through it and tons of dust. I heard a slow breathing next to me, and glanced to see a heavily bleeding Peter, sitting down next to me his leg trapped.
“Peter?” I mumbled.
“Lucas? Thank God, you’re alive” he said groggily, relief filling his face as he continued breathing heavily. I looked at the piece of rubble on top of me. It was a beam that lay across my chest. That’s why it was difficult to breathe. I winced and took a quick sharp breath. I pressed off the floor with my back and felt the beam shift slightly. I slipped my arm out from underneath, and hoisted the beam up a bit further. There was a creaking and the sound of rubble moving elsewhere, and I paused. My spider sense wasn’t going off. I pushed the beam a bit higher and freed my other arm. I pushed it up just a bit further and yanked myself out with a web. The beam slammed to the ground, the sound reverberating all around us as.
I glanced at Peter. He’d passed out. I lifted the rubble off his legs and hoisted him onto my shoulder. I looked around and started making my way through the rubble. What the hell had happened? Had the floor to the room fallen? No that wouldn’t explain this much damage. An explosion? That would explain the smell of smoke. I felt a shiver pass down my spine as I saw a patch of blood and a severed leg lying on the floor. I looked away not wanting to throw up.
I carried on climbing through the rubble, hearing sirens in the distance. There were shouts and screams and voices closer. I emerged from some rubble, finding myself in part of the main lobby. It was chaos. People were being evacuated by security as others stood and stared at the rubble. People stood looking on with shocked faces, some people covered in cuts and bruises. Dust filled the air. Some people rushed over to me, grabbing me as I fell and taking Peter off my back. They stood over me asking questions, but I could only stare at the rubble.
Had my fight with Ricardo I caused this? I looked at the ground horrified. No. No way. This couldn’t be happening. I felt tears start to trickle down my cheeks as I brought my hand to my face. I felt sick. No, worse than sick. I felt filthy. I’d killed people again.
I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I slapped it away, breathing heavily. The crowd looked at me with worried expressions. There were too many people here. I stood up and stumbled away. The people tried to stop me, but I just forced them out the way heading for the doors. I couldn’t stay here. My stumbling turned to a faster walk as I exited the building, people giving me stares at all the dust and blood that covered my clothes. My clothes. I glanced down. They were in a bad way, but only a small bit of the suit peeked through a hole in my jacket. I covered it with my hand as I quickly made my way through the crowd going down the steps.
I reached the bottom of the steps, moving through the crowd that stood still, looking on aghast. I didn’t dare look back, not wanting to feel even more sick than I already did. It didn’t matter. Just thinking about what had happened and seeing all the people around me was starting to make me feel worse. I started shoving people out the way, frantically pushing people. I burst out of the crowd and onto a street. A car braked sharply, honking it’s horn at me. I broke into a run, ignoring the hot pain that shot through my shoulder and side. I needed to get away. I needed to get far away.
-
I slipped through the open window, panting heavily as I slumped on the floor. I dry heaved before clamping my hand over my mouth. I slammed the window shut, and drew the blinds, not wanting to look at the plume of smoke that reached high into the air. I could still hear the sound of sirens in the distance. God dammit. God dammit!
“Why me? Why is this happening to me?” I said, trembling as I struggled not to cry on the floor. I tore my hoodie off and stared at the spiderman costume underneath. I grabbed at it and started tearing it off of me, sobbing as I did so. When I was finished, the room was a mess, with bits of the suit strewn everywhere. I breathed heavily, wheezing, then stood up and trudged into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and sat in there for a while, washing off the dirt. It didn’t matter. I still felt filthy.