Two Weeks Ago

Peter Parker felt his hand shake as he opened the door to the laboratory. The promise of getting a chance to be on the cutting edge of scientific discovery had long been a passion of his, one he had wanted to pursue since he was a child.

The room was brightly lit and he saw several cages with animals inside them. A few lizards, some mice, a rabbit or two and a few cages with insects. He looked over each of the animals and heard his name called out.

“Peter, glad you could make it!”

Peter turned to see Doctor Curtis Connors smiling at him. He smiled back and extended his hand. Connors shook it.

“You can leave your stuff right there by the door,” he said. “Then I want you to come over here and take a look at this.”

Peter slipped the messenger bag off his shoulder and set it down a few feet away from the door, leaning it up against the wall. He followed Connors over to a computer terminal and pulled up a stool next to him.

“Did you get a chance to read over that material?” asked Connors.

“Yeah,” said Peter. “Don’t think I understood a lot of it, though.”

“The basic principle is to combine healthy human DNA with the DNA of animals,” said Connors. “You see, certain species have regenerative properties and healing capabilities that could be very beneficial to humans, possibly even help us eliminate common ailments and diseases.”

“But isn’t that creating animal/human hybrids?” asked Peter.

“Well, yes and no,” said Connors. “The potential for such a genetic combination is there, but I’m not looking to go that advanced with this research. We just combine certain elements of the DNA, so the human genome is still the dominant one. We simply slice certain genomes from animal DNA and combine them with human DNA.”

“So ESU foots the bill for all this?”

“Not entirely. I do have some funding from outside the University that’s been instrumental in this process. They’re still awaiting progress on the results, however. But in the meantime, Dean Warren has been extremely supportive of what I’m doing. In fact, he’s my first line of defense against any criticism that’s come my way.”

“How far have you gotten with this?” asked Peter.

“I’ve already begun a lot of the principle work and I’ve begun by combining human DNA with the DNA of a spider.”

“Why spiders?”

“I’m trying to see how two completely different organisms react to this system,” said Connors. “If we can succeed with this, there’s no telling how far we can go. Could you fill that syringe with the liquid from that bottle?”

Connors pointed to a shelf where a small, unlabeled bottle with a clear liquid inside sat and a syringe was beside it. Peter picked them both up and examined the bottle.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s a little cocktail my benefactors provided me with,” said Connors. “It’ll help aid in the reproduction of cells once we introduce the new combined DNA into the spider.”

“Do you know what’s in it?” asked Peter.

“Not really,” said Connors. “They’ve got several researchers working on different projects and they’re bringing that research together, I suppose.”

Peter stuck the needle into the bottle and slowly pulled the plunger back.

“Don’t fill it all the way, we only need a little bit,” said Connors.

Peter did just that, only filling about an eight of the syringe. He set the bottle down and offered the syringe to Connors.

“Okay good, now we add a bit of this,” said Connors.

He reached over and picked up a small vial from a rack filled with red liquid and handed it to his assistant. Peter did as the doctor said and stuck the needle inside, drawing in just a touch of the crimson substance.

“Perfect.” Connors took the syringe from Peter and walked over to a small cage with a spider inside it, with Peter following behind him. “Now, take a tissue and I want you to carefully take the spider out, then hold it down.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Peter.

“Well, I’m going to inject this into the spider,” said Connors. “Then we’ll examine its DNA in a week and see how it responds to the treatment.”

Peter nodded and opened the small cage. He reached his hand inside and scooped the spider in his palm. It was fairly large, although Peter didn’t know anything about what kind of species it was. He carefully set it down on the lab table and covered it with the tissue, keeping it down with his palm.

Connors slowly inserted the needle into the spider and it tried to move. Peter kept his palm firm though, preventing it from scurrying off. Connors slowly pushed the plunger down, filling the spider with the liquid.

“There we are,” said Connors. “Now let’s put the little guy back inside and we’ll check up on him later.”

Peter nodded and carefully lifted the spider. He turned back to the cage. However, he hadn’t noticed that his shoelace came loose. He stepped on it and when he tried to move again, he stumbled and fell to the ground.

“You okay?” asked Connors. He knelt down by Peter’s side. Peter noticed the spider beginning to scurry off and reached forward to grab it.

“Ow!”

He snapped his hand back and looked down at it. There was a small welt on the tip of his finger.

“What happened?” asked Connors, helping his young assistant up.

“It’s—” said Peter, looking down at his finger. He felt a bit of embarrassment at his ordeal and decided to simply put it behind him. “It’s nothing.”

“Where’d the spider go?” asked Connors. He got down on his hand and knees and started looking around the floor to see if he could spot it. There was no sign of it, though.

“I’m sorry, Professor,” said Peter. “If I wasn’t such a damn klutz—”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ve got other subjects,” said Connors. “Come on, let’s go through it again. But first, tie your shoe.”

Peter nodded and quickly did just that. He felt an overwhelming embarrassment come over him. Here it was his first day and already he had screwed up. He was surprised Connors hadn’t told him to just go home and to stop wasting the scientist’s time.

But more than that, he was beginning to feel a bit nauseous.

His stomach felt like it was doing flips inside his body. His vision kept going in and out of focus. When he stood up, he stumbled slightly and used the table to keep him from falling. Connors heard the stumble and looked at him.

“Pete, are you okay?” he asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine, just a little tired,” said Peter.

Connors looked at Peter with concern in his face. The young man was beginning to sweat and his pupils were dilated. Peter felt his mouth go dry and he wanted to throw up.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Connors. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fi—” Before Peter could finish his sentence, he bent forward and vomited on the floor. Connors stepped back as Peter vomited once more. He slowly lifted his head up and wiped his mouth. “Oh god… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Connors. “Look, you’re obviously coming down with something. Why don’t you go back to your dorm and get some rest? You have my card, just give me a call once you’re feeling better.”

“But what about—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll call the janitor to clean it up,” said Connors. “Can you make it back on your own?”

“Yeah, I’m just really sorry. I can’t believe I screwed everything up.”

“Don’t worry about it, son. Just go home and get some rest. Call me when you’re feeling better. The experiment can wait until you’re back on your feet.”

Peter nodded and shuffled his feet towards the door. He picked up his messenger back and slung it over his shoulder. When he stepped out into the hallway, he had to brace himself against the wall to keep from falling over.

WITH GREAT POWER

Part III: A Hard Day’s Night

By Dino Pollard

As soon as he stepped outside, the cool summer breeze of the night struck him hard. He leaned forward again and threw up on the concrete, then continued to stumble forward. His mind was racing and images flashed across his thoughts one after the other, without giving him a moment to process any of them. He felt like he was on a roller coaster while drunk.

He wasn’t sure where he was. He could barely see straight, and he just kept walking, relying on instinct to get him back to his dorm. Before he knew what happened, he stumbled forward and his face hit the sidewalk with a loud SMACK. He pushed himself up to his hands and knees and saw his glasses lying on the ground. One of the lenses was now cracked and the rim was bent. Before he could grab the glasses, he threw up on them.

“Whoa Parker! Who knew you were such a partier?”

Peter turned his head and saw a blurry outline in front of him. He squinted and very briefly, he saw the face of a fairly muscular guy with short, dirty blond hair. He held a plastic Solo cup in one hand and had a big smile on his face. It was his roommate. Flash walked up to Peter and helped him to his feet. He threw his roommate’s arm around his shoulder and walked him towards the house.

“C’mon buddy, the party’s in here,” he said. Peter could barely find the strength to form coherent words with his mouth and he felt like he was practically being dragged into the frat house by Flash.

Inside, loud dance music blared through the speakers. The place was wall to wall with college students drinking, dancing and smoking. Some were making out on the dance floor and Flash brought his roommate over to the keg. He took a cup from a stack and handed it to Peter.

“Here man, lemme get that for you,” he said. He pumped the keg and filled the cup with beer. “Drink it down, buddy!”

Peter looked down at the cup, then looked up at Flash with uncertainty. Flash urged him to drink it and then started chanting. “C’mon, Petey! Chug! Chug! Chug!”

Other people around heard Flash and turned to him. They started egging Peter on as well with chants of, “chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!”

Peter had no real idea what was going on or what was in the cup. He lifted it to his lips and started to drink the beer. His mouth was dry and he was dead thirsty. He dumped the beer down his throat as if it were water. Cheers of excitement and encouragement came from the students surrounding him.

“Want another, man?” asked Flash. Peter said nothing and Flash simply began to fill the cup again.

“What are you doing?”

Flash stopped and looked to see a young man with short, reddish hair push through the crowd. He looked at Peter, then looked back at Flash. He took the cup and tossed it away.

“Are you outta your mind, asshole?” asked the young man.

“Lay off, Osborn!” came the shout from one of the bystanders.

“My house, prick!” Harry Osborn shouted back. He turned his attention back to Flash and put his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “The kid can barely stand up straight and you’re feeding him more liquor?”

“Relax man, he’s my roommate,” said Flash.

“Yeah, and it looks like he got fucked over with that deal,” said Harry. “This guy needs to go home and pass out.”

“Alright, I’ll take him back to the dorm,” said Flash.

“Oh fuck no you won’t,” said Harry. “Which dorm are you in, I’ll take him myself.”

“I know.”

Harry turned around and saw a young woman with long, blonde hair standing behind him. He smiled at her.

“You can take care of him, Gwen?” he asked.

“Yeah, I can get him back,” said Gwen. “I’m his R.A.”

“I’ll drive you guys back to the dorm, don’t want him collapsing somewhere,” said Harry. He put Peter’s arm around his shoulder and Gwen did the same with Peter’s other arm. “Man, he’s heavier than he looks…”

“It’s weird,” said Gwen. “I didn’t see him at all tonight.”

“Yeah, me neither,” said Harry. “Must’ve just blended in with the crowd.”

They walked out to the street. A black TransAm was parked there. Harry opened the door and let Gwen climb in the back, then he sat Peter in the passenger seat. He moved over to the driver side.

“Freshmen…” said Harry. “Don’t know their limits.”

Today

The Lizard charged forward, attempting to slice Peter with his claws. The young college student dodged away, but the Lizard was fast. The claws caught part of Peter’s sweatshirt and tore into it. Peter bounced off the ground and backflipped until his hands and feet touched the wall of the two-story building. He remained perched there, clinging to the brick surface. He looked down at the torn sweatshirt.

“That was close, lucky he didn’t tear into me…” he said under his breath. Then he spoke up louder for the Lizard to hear him. “So why are you so pissed off, Lizzy? Did Geico fire you for a new mascot?”

The Lizard snarled in response and Peter felt a buzzing in the back of his head. It was intense, far more so than it had been in the past two weeks. He had come to learn fairly quickly it could only mean one thing—danger. He ducked as the Lizard’s tail passed over his head. But that’s when he realized he wasn’t the target—rather, the building itself was. The strength of the Lizard’s tail caused the wall to collapse.

Peter tried to leap away, but found he wasn’t quick enough. Instead, he was caught in the middle of the rubble. The Lizard, apparently satisfied, ran off. He had other plans in mind.