Spider-Man: Marvel Knight

Chapter 4-A Change of Fate

Peter walked down the stairs from his room, obviously feeling a little anxious and nervous. This was the first time he was doing something by himself. There would be no Gwen, no MJ, and no Harry to protect him... Nobody but himself.
Ben and May were sat at the table as always, with his nose in his paper and May with her coffee. "Morning, champ," Ben said, not looking up from his paper.
"Morning," Peter responded downheartedly.
His aunt and uncle could hear the desperation in his voice. May looked up at Peter, who was still walking down the stairs. "Peter, sweetheart, what's the matter?"
He shook himself out of his dreary state. "It's nothing... I'm fine... Hey, unc, is there any way that you take me to the science fair?"
Ben put his paper down. "Sure, but isn't it just a couple blocks away?" he asked.
"Yeah, it's just..." Peter started, "I think that I'll feel safer in a car while I'm going there." He began to feel a lump in his throat, but he held back his tears.
Ben looked at May for some womanly wisdom, but she just looked back at him with confusion. It wasn't very often that they saw their nephew like this. He turned to Peter. "Sure, bud. Of course."
They got into the car and Ben drove a couple blocks until they arrived at the science building. The short car trip was completely silent except for the radio playing silently in the background. Ben wanted to have a conversation with his nephew but Peter looked too...troubled. He didn't move when they pulled in front of the building, either. Pete was so scared that he was completely frozen. Ben nudged his nephew's shoulder. "Hey, Pete. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Peter said quickly, trying to snap out of his silent anxiety attack.
Ben studied his nephew's face. "Peter," he started, "you know you can talk to me about anything, right? And I mean anything."
"Really, Uncle Ben, I'm fine." Peter could feel another lump in his throat. He held back his tears, though.
Ben, still concerned about Peter, reluctantly unlocked the car door. "Okay, well, have a great time, Pete."
"Yep," Peter said while exiting the car. Ben felt like he needed to say something else, but at the same time, he felt like it wouldn't do any good. With that, he drove back home.
Peter waited outside the building for a couple of minutes, and then a familiar face poked through the door. "Dr. Connors?" Peter smiled and said.
"Peter Parker, my God!" Kurt exclaimed. Kurt Connors was an old friend of Ben, Norman, and Peter's dad. Not only were they good friends, but all geniuses in their own right. Science was always a big thing with the Parkers. "It's been too long, son. How's your old uncle?"
"Oh, you know. He's great," Peter replied. He certainly was feeling better, now that someone he knew was going to be with him during the tour.
"You're the only one?" Kurt asked as he looked around Peter. It was strange but not alarming when there was only one person there. No one really liked science stuff anymore.
"Yeah, I guess so," Peter responded. He kept thinking about his friends that weren't there. Slowly, his feelings toward them began to get more and more negative.
Kurt nodded and said, "Alright, Pete, follow me."
They entered the large science building. My, was it impressive. There were labs in almost every corner, people working hard on experiments in every room.
"How's Dr. Octavius?" Peter asked.
"Oh, he's fine. I think that he's working in the radiation department today." Kurt said. "He's been working on some great prosthetic machinery. But I'm sure you don't want to learn about that today, do you?"
"Eh," Peter said, "not really my thing."
"Good answer. Boring stuff," he replied jokingly, shaking his nub of an arm to keep the joke going. "There's two things I want to show you that I think you'll find pretty interesting."
They walked into a lab where spiders were crawling in plastic enclosures. "Norman told me about your little project with continuing his nanotechnology research in biomesh cable. That's impressive for someone your age," Kurt said with an impressed smile. "You might be a genius yet, kid. You like spiders, Peter?"
"Sure," Peter said sarcastically, "they're great." He had studied spiders in biology, and had gone into extensive research about how different venom has different effects on the human body for chemistry.
Kurt showed Peter the plastic cages full of the black arachnids. "These are genetically modified spiders."
Pete looked into the cage very intrigued. "What are they modified for," he asked.
"We're breeding them for their ntivenom," Kurt said, moving to a whiteboard. "One tiny drop of it can give strength and good health to anyone with a huge sickness. With a few more tests, it could cure cancer, but we're not so sure yet."
"So, it's venom is mutated to be, like, prescription steroids mixed with minor pain killer properties?" Peter asked while looking at the spiders.
Kurt adjusted his glasses. "Yes, you could say that, but it's far from ready. The mice that we gave it began to be almost unstoppable until they died of cardiac arrest. Luckily, it's not dangerous for humans or we would all be in trouble."
Peter adjusted his own glasses to better see the specimens. "That's amazing...how many spiders did you engineer?""
"Twelve," Kurt said.
Peter counted the spiders in the container. "Um, doc, there's only eleven in here."
"Hmm," Kurt responded. He moved over to the cage and counted as well. "That's strange. I don't know how one could've gotten out. Nothing to worry about, though. Like I said, it's bite is not deadly."
"Well that's good," Peter said, "because I really don't want to go to the hospital today if I get bitten."
Kurt chuckled and began to exit the spider lab. "Now follow me. I think you'll find this very intriguing." They entered a room where two antennas were pointed towards each other. "Look familiar?"
Peter could recognize it right off. Dr. Connors and Dr. Octavius had dedicated their entire lives to it. "This is your green energy radiation emitter. It works?"
"Almost," Kurt said. "The radiation is still too strong. And it's hard to build the device with one arm." Peter kept forgetting that the doc had only one arm. Kurt was always in good spirits, so you could never tell he was physically handicapped. Peter began to put the pieces together with why Octavius was building prosthetics.
"I'm sure nothing stops you, doc," Peter said.
"Nothing ever stops him, Peter Parker," a voice said from a room in the lab there. Soon, Peter saw who the voice belonged to as he walked out. It was Otto Octavius, Kurt's business partner and fellow genius.
"Doctor Octavius," Peter greeted. "It's been a while." He shook the doctor's hand and looked at the project that he was working on. "The heck are those?"
Otto looked at the the mechanical wonders that he had been working on. "Well, when they're finished, they'll help me with this whole radiation project. Maybe you can come and show me some of the nanotechnology that you're working on. It could help with the tech that I'm using on them currently."
"Well I..." Peter began to feel a tingling sensation on his hand. He looked down to see none other than the missing spider crawling on him. Before he could say anything, the spider bit him with a powerful sting. Peter shouted in pain from the heat that began entering his bloodstream.
Kurt and Otto saw the spider drop from Peter's hand and they finally realized what had happened. "Peter! Are you okay?" Kurt
Peter began to feel lightheaded and nauseous. He fought through it as to not worry the doctors. "I'm fine," Peter said. "It just hurt."
Otto took a look at the red, swollen bite on Peter's hand. "I think that the tour should stop here, huh?"
"Yeah," Peter said chuckling through the sickening feeling. "I guess so."
Kurt and Otto led him to the front doors. "Put some ice on that and take some benadryl. You should be fine," Kurt said.
"Thanks, doc," Peter responded, wincing at the throbbing, stinging pain that was coursing through his veins. "Other than this part, the tour was pretty cool."
"You'll be fine in the morning. It'll just be best to sleep it off," Kurt said. "Good to see you, Peter. Say hi to your uncle for me."
"Me too," Otto said.
"Will do," Peter said almost passing out. He left the building running so he wouldn't fall out. Not deadly? he thought to himself. Peter ran so fast that he forgot that he had to cross a street to get to his house. All he heard was a honking horn... And something else. There was a cold tingle that ran down his spine, and it made a sound to him. A sound that almost felt like something was telling him to...
Watch Out!
He saw the car suddenly stop in front of him, and the first thing he could think of was to jump. Not only did he jump, but he jumped over the car entirely and ended up on the other side of the street.
People that were nearby started talking.
"...wow, that had to be a twenty foot jump..."
"...must be a track runner..."
"...probably a metahuman with the avengers..."
Peter realized what he just did, and kept running to his house. He didn't want to look back...only ahead where he could be safe and alone
He got home and decided to slow himself down, which was a bad idea right out of the gate. He felt nauseous as soon as he walked through the door. Ben and May were watching TV and they turned around to see their nephew.
"Peter, back already?" May asked confused. She looked at her watch.
"Yeah, felt sick," Peter said. "I'll be upstairs."
"You okay, son?" Ben asked worried. "Do we need to take you to the doctor? You look kinda sick."
"No, I'll just sleep it off." With that he rushed to the upstairs bathroom. Ben and May looked at each other. "Poor child," May said.
"I don't know what's wrong with him," Ben said. "He's had a rough day. I hope that nothing happened today."
Peter's stomach was beginning to turn. He rushed to the toilet and hurled his guts.
"God..." he said spitting out more vomit. "What's happening to me?" After flushing the toilet, he went into his room. Pete decided that it was best to sleep it off. He laid down on his bed and threw his shirt and bed cover off, because he was burning up. He went to sleep pretty quickly.
Peter then began to have a nightmare. He was in school and he saw his friends. They didn't talk to him or notice him. They just looked at his way and laughed.
We never liked you, peter. The fake Gwen said.
We hate you. Mj said while spitting on him.
Harry punched him and started kicking him. You like this, nerd?!? Huh?!?! This is how I felt!!! Trying to protect you!!!! I knew leaving you by yourself at the science fair was the best idea! Now you're gonna die! You hear me!?!??! YOURE GONNA DIE!!!!!!!
Peter jumped out of bed but caught himself. He felt a lot better than he had. After a few moments, he noticed what he had caught on his jump out of the bed: the ceiling. Peter was basically squatting on the ceiling. "What the--" he murmured to himself. He pulled his feet away and then his finger tips. He came down onto the floor with a crash. "What just happened?"
He rushed to the bathroom and went to the sink to splash some cold water on his face. After patting himself dry with a towel, he looked in the mirror to see something strange: muscles. Peter had abs. His pecs were more defined and his arms were bigger in muscle mass. Sure he was still sort of slim, but it sure was a big change.
"Okay... Somethings definitely wrong with me."