The Black Spider - 10. Chapter 10: A Familiar Set of Strings

“So, what’re these new weapons you came up with Mister Stark?” Peter asked, as he took a device that looked very similar to a smartwatch from Tony’s returning hand.

The device, which Peter had given the name of Starkwatch to, was what housed, activated, and powered his augmented reality suit. While the feature to activate the suit was disabled unless he was in training, Peter was able to access to the device’s smartwatch features at all times.

“Something that I think will be more useful to you than those blasters you’ve been using,” Tony answered. “They’re a good idea, but I think they’re holding you back.”

Weapons were the first thing Peter had thought about after he’d gotten a solid balance for his abilities on a physical plane. With his strength to back his fists, he hadn’t seen much need for a melee type of weapon. However, he had felt that there was plenty of room for a weapon that could be used at range. What he'd come up with was an idea for a pair of wrist mounted blasters that could fire out energy the same way Tony could from the hands of his Iron Man suit.

Although Tony hadn’t thought the weapons would be effective, he’d been curious to see how they would function without the stabilization capabilities his suit provided. He’d wanted to see if Peter’s own abilities would allow him to compensate.

Instead of creating physical versions of the weapons to interact with the augmented reality program, Tony had coded them directly into the program itself. Peter initially thought it wouldn’t be the same as having physical representations. However, being able to see the weapons through the sight of the augmented reality suit, along with being able to feel their weight on his wrists, and kickback when they fired created the perfect illusion of realness.

It was the kickback of the blasters that Peter quickly recognized as a problem. He’d learned that in order to fire them, he had to be braced. It was something that wasn’t an issue if he was on the ground or on the ceiling, and it was only a slight issue if he took a shot while sticking to a wall. Where the issue became big at was while performing aerial maneuvers. Peter found that the kickback made it awkward to fire if he was moving forward through the air, and impossible if he tried to do it while performing any acrobatics.

As he recognized and worked with the kickback issue, Peter discovered another hindrance. Before the blasters fired, they had to power up. Although it took less than a second, they made a quick, high-pitched sound as they did so. That wasn’t an issue if there was already noise. If there was no noise, however, that tiny fraction of time was enough to counter any advantages gained by using stealth.

There was also the minor issue of the blasters not being usable for any rapid fire attacks due to their two second recharge time between shots. But, Peter had accepted this, as well as the other limitations as minor cons when compared to the bigger pro. He had wrist mounted weapons that fired projectiles capable of impacting the target with the force of a cannon ball. That kind of power allowed him to use the weapons in situations where conventional firearms would be useful, as well as in a variety of situations where conventional firearms would’ve been useless. He’d felt it was a good balance to the equation.

Tony, on the other hand, had considered the weapons a flop after their first use and began toying with concepts for replacements. It had taken him months, and four scrapped concepts before he’d come up with a final something.

“Which brings us right back to my question, since you answered no parts of it,” Peter remarked, with a hint of a smirk on his lips.

He knew that whenever Tony answered his question with a lead-on instead of an answer, it meant that he was going for a suspenseful build up to the reveal. Oftentimes, Peter would go along with it. Other times he’d call Tony on his technique by teasing.

Tony responded to the tease with a mock, unamused glare at Peter. For just as the younger man was aware of the older man’s techniques, so was the older man aware of the younger man’s.

“You know what, generation impatient, why don’t you just suit up and I’ll show you,” Tony said.

“Thought you’d never ask,” Peter replied, unable to help his smirk from growing a little at Tony’s refusal to give up on the suspense.

Holding up his left wrist as if he were about to tell the time, Peter slid the Starkwatch onto it. Sensing that it was in position, the Starkwatch took up the slack on the wrist strap to create a snug fit.

Peter then pressed his right thumb against the side of the silver, circular rim at the position where the number nine would’ve been located if the face of the Starkwatch had numbers like a normal watch. At the same time, he pressed his index finger against the opposite end of the rim where the number three would’ve been located. Holding his fingers in that position for a moment, the empty, black face of the watch came to life.

Starting with the number one, the other numbers lit up in ascending numerical sequence until they reached twelve. Two white colored digital clock hands appeared inside the perimeter set up by the numbers. The long hand pointed at the nine, the short hand pointed at the three.

Keeping his fingers at their position, Peter lifted up on the silver rim of the Starkwatch. It lifted up an inch above the rest of the device before it snapped into place. Taking his fingers away from their position, he gave the rim a 180-degree clockwise turn. Instead of the two hands on the face of the Starkwatch moving like normal, they remained locked in their straight line position and moved with the rotation of the rim. The completed turn switched both the hands so that they were opposite their starting positions.

Peter removed his fingers from the rim and waited. The Starkwatch responded a moment later by flashing the two hands on its face rapidly. The raised rim lowered itself down until it was back in its normal position. The numbers and hands on the face of the Starkwatch vanished and the words: “Enter password” crawled across the face’s surface.

Peter pressed his right thumb against the surface of the Starkwatch’s face. He left it there until the device gave a quick, light vibration. Removing his thumb, the message: “Password accepted. S.K.I.N. System will engage after access verification.” crawled across the Starkwatch’s face.

S.K.I.N, which was an acronym for Synthetic Kinetic Interfacing Nanofluid was what the augmented reality suit was made from. It was technology that Tony had once looked into using for his own Iron Man suit. He’d hoped it would allow him carry the entire thing on his wrist. Unfortunately, there were certain critical parts of the suit that he couldn’t get the S.K.I.N. to recreate entirely on its own. So while it wasn’t Iron Man ready, it had found another use.

The Starkwatch beeped twice lightly, and the words “Access verified. S.K.I.N. System engaging.” crawled across its face.

From underneath the left and right sides of the Starkwatch, a black, viscous liquid began flooding out. Instead of dripping onto the ground, the liquid acted as if it was magnetically drawn to Peter’s skin and stayed attached to it. He watched as the liquid raced in two separate directions. The liquid that’d come out of the right end spread out to cover his left hand and the Starkwatch itself completely, while the liquid that’d come out of the left end moved over his left arm, underneath the rolled up sleeve of his white button up shirt, and up his shoulder.

The stream of liquid continued singularly until it reached Peter’s chest, where it split its travel into three different directions. Most of the liquid continued to travel downward toward the lower extremities of his body. Another smaller amount continued traveling across the right shoulder, before it moved down his arm to finish at his right hand. The final quantity moved upward to cover his face.

The liquid didn’t spread itself directly over his eyes, mouth, nose, or ears, but instead moved out to form four inches away from them. The liquid also did not form solidly over the eyes as it had everywhere else, it formed in a tight mesh pattern.

Peter waited as the suit continued its formation to cover the top of his head. Once it was complete, a light vibration went through the entire suit. Suddenly, the black liquid that was covering his skin changed from liquid to solid.

For just a moment, the hard-to-see-through black mesh of the suit’s eye sights went completely dark. Then, they came back to life, presenting a clear, mesh-free visual.

“Operating system has successfully loaded. S.K.I.N Suit is online. How are you today, Peter?” the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S spoke through the onboard audio system that was part of the helmet of the augmented reality suit.

“I’m good, J.A.R.V.I.S. Ready to rock and sock some bad guys. How ‘bout you?” Peter replied, as he untucked his white dress shirt and t-shirt from underneath his dress pants.

“I’m fair. Thank you for asking. I’m eager to see what you think of the new weapons.”

“I’m eager to check ‘em out. And as soon as these clothes are off, we’ll get to it.”

“I will run the suit diagnostics while you prepare.”

Peter proceeded to take off his dress shirt, t-shirt, dress pants, underwear, socks and dress shoes. His disrobing did not leave him naked, however. Even the tightest fitting of clothes could be gotten under by the S.K.I.N. Suit's liquid form. The liquid also didn't not stain or wet anything it passed over, under, or through.

Peter put his underwear, t-shirt and socks into his backpack, before he took out a plastic clothes hanger. He used that to hang his dress pants and shirt on. They received special treatment so that they wouldn’t get wrinkled, and create a situation where a certain Aunt might ask about their condition. He then took his hanged clothes, backpack, and shoes over a short distance to the control room, dropped them off, and returned to Tony.

“All right. Let’s do this,” he said.

“J.A.R.V.I.S., load up three stationary targets please,” Tony seemed to speak to thin air.

“Loading targets. Please stand by,” J.A.R.V.I.S. responded from the speaker closest to Peter and Tony.

Tony slid down his own sight apparatus, which had been resting like a pair of eyeglasses on the top of his head. A few moments later, three targets materialized thirty feet in front of him and Peter. The three targets resembled men of average height and weight. They stood completely motionless and were completely naked. Being only constructs, they lacked anatomy.

“The weapons are still wrist mounted, but they’re on the bottom of the wrist instead of the top. So, you’re gonna extend your arm out and point your wrist at your target,” Tony instructed.

Turning his right wrist over so that it was facing upward, Peter picked the target on the left and extended his arm toward it.

“These don’t activate like the wrist blasters?” he asked after a moment.

Those had the ability to be activated and deactivated on command by voice, or by holding certain poses. They would form onto his wrists when activated, and would disappear when deactivated.

“No. These are always activated, but you trigger them to act with a hand sign and a gesture. The hand sign you want to make is the “I love you” sign, and you want to flick your wrist as the gesture,” Tony answered.

Forming the “I love you” sign with his fingers, Peter flicked his wrist in an upward motion. Nothing happened.

“Wrong way,” Tony advised.

Still holding the “I love you” sign, Peter flicked his wrist in a downward motion. He was not prepared for the large, white, pill looking projectile that fired out of the center of his wrist. It shot across the thirty feet of space to strike the center target in its chest, where it splattered across it in a six inch spread, and stuck.

Though Tony hadn’t had an exact idea in mind for how he’d thought Peter would react upon using the new weapons for the first time, he definitely hadn’t expected the boy to crack up in a fit of laughter that took him to his knees.

“Okay, what’d I miss?” Tony asked.

Peter’s laughter kept him from immediately answering.

“What…” He attempted, before he fell into another quick fit of laughter. “What did I just shoot at that target?”

“That was a disabler slug which, as the name suggests, is capable of disabling a target. If you were to shoot one at a moving target’s feet, the adhesive would bind ‘em to the spot. If you were accurate enough, you could hit a target in the face and the spread would blind ‘em. I’d be careful with the nose and mouth, though, unless you want to suffocate the target.”

Recovered from his laughter, Peter nodded.

“Oh, okay. So it’s a lockdown type of weapon.”

“That’s just one of the features,” Tony confirmed. “But before we move on, what was so funny?”

It was something Peter was too embarrassed to reveal in the presence of a man he did his very best to maintain his maturity around.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. It’s nothin’.” He shrugged off.

“No. I’d really like to know what you found so humorous,” Tony pursued.

“No.” Peter shook his head. “You really don’t.”

Evading, Tony had learned, was not a technique Peter employed often. In the situations he’d witnessed it, Peter either didn’t want to share something that was on his mind, or he was too embarrassed to say or do something. Tony didn’t see any reason it could be the former.

“Yes, I really do. And we have all session, because we’re not moving forward until you tell me,” he pressed.

“Come on, Mister Stark. It’s really stupid. Let’s just move on,” Peter responded, not quite groaning or whining.

It was the not-quite-groan, not-quite-whine that confirmed to Tony that it was definitely due to embarassment that Peter was evading. He'd experienced the same not quites for the first time when Peter found out that he would need to strip naked in order for J.A.R.V.I.S. to scan in his body shape and measurements for the design of the S.K.I.N. Suit.

“Just as soon as you’re ready,” Tony invited, wanting to know what could be so embarrassing it warranted evasion.

Peter sighed, knowing there would be no escape without giving an answer. But, he also knew there was no way he was going to tell Tony that it looked like his wrist had violently ejaculated onto the target’s chest. So, instead…

“I just had a flashback to earlier today when one of the guys in the locker room made a stupid joke about one of the teachers who’s pregnant. She's an older lady, and he said that she was so old she’ll probably shoot powdered milk out of her breasts,” he answered, not at all lying.

The conversation had really taken place earlier. And though it was still immature, Peter felt it was a lot less immature than the truth.

Tony tried to hold back his laughter, but it broke through anyway. He managed to catch it at a chuckle.

“That is terrible,” he remarked, shaking his head.

“I told you you didn’t wanna know,” Peter said, relieved to see that his answer had been a success.

“Well, you enjoy that youth while you can. Because one day, you’re gonna be old too.”

“Yeah, but that’s a loooong time from now.”

“It’s shorter than you think. But, moving on to the second and final method of delivery the weapons have, take aim again, but instead of flicking your wrists, hold your wrist down.”

With no idea of what action he was about to see performed, Peter took aim at the target on the left again and followed the new directions. Instead of a single slug firing out, a long, thick strand shot out and struck the target in the stomach. Its impact spread wasn’t as wide as the disabler slug had been, and it remained attached to its target and the location on the wrist where it was shot from.

Whether it was because the first action had taken all of the steam from the funny or not, Peter didn’t know. But no fresh laughs were produced. Instead, he was able to see the immediate use of the second delivery system.

“It’s a tether line shooter too,” he said.

“Yep,” Tony confirmed. “When you hold your wrist instead of flicking it, it shoots the lines instead of the slugs. If you grab the line with your hand, it’ll automatically detach itself from the spinner.”

Doing so, Peter watched as the line cut itself from the spinner on his wrist.

“Now it may not look like it, but this single line is strong enough to pull an eighteen wheeler. Go ahead and give it a try,” Tony instructed.

Peter did. He was surprised when the quick tug actually pulled the target forward slightly. Repositioning so that he could use both hands, Peter pulled on the line as if he were trying to pull the target toward him. The target complied, taking staggering steps as it was pulled forward.

Putting a bit of strength behind it, Peter tugged roughly on the line. It sent the unsuspecting target sprawling forward and onto the ground. It remained there for a few moments, before it got to its feet and returned to its original, unmoving standing position.

“Where have I seen this before?” Peter thought to himself of his new weapons.

Shortly after, the memory answered.

“Wait a sec,” he began as the memory became complete. “Mister Stark, did you just virtually rip off Oscorp and their Biocable with these weapons?”

“So, he did pay attention during that field trip.” Tony thought, as a mock shocked expression crossed his face.

“First of all I am appalled that you would ever even think that I would rip off anything from Oscorp. Secondly, it wasn’t until I was almost done designing the weapons that I realized the similarities. And third, if this was a real product, the only similarity it would have to Biocable is that both of them can be used the same way. Mine wouldn’t require genetically altered spiders to create. It would also be biodegradable, and it would have a smart stick feature,” he responded verbally.

Peter chuckled.

“Mister Stark is bitin’ off of Oscorp. I’m tellin’.”

“Would you like to continue this lesson, or would you rather continue roasting me?” Tony remarked.

“Lesson. You’ll be burnt up by the time I’m finished. What did you mean by smart stick feature?”

“The Biocable you so illustriously brought up has two states in can operate in. It has a sticky state, where it can be used as a weapon, and a non-sticky state where it can be used for things like bridges or minor structures. The smart stick feature allows the tether lines to operate in both states. It knows where it needs to be sticky and where it doesn’t need to be sticky at all times.”

“So, it’s like my suit where it knows when to make the palms and feet solid or mesh.”

That was a feature that’d been added due to the fact Peter couldn’t stick to the surface of something unless his bare palms and/or feet were able to make some type of contact with it.

“Exactly.” Tony replied.

Peter tested out the feature by firing tether lines at the center and right targets. He noted how all three lines felt like they had weight and presence in his hand, but if he let them go, they would fall to the ground light as feathers. When he picked them back up, they didn’t stick to the ground.

Wanting now to test how smart the tether lines were, Peter joined the ends of three tether lines attached to the targets together and laced them between his index, middle, and ring fingers. He noted how all three strands still remained attached, but were not sticky against his fingers.

Ready to put his test to action, Peter took one good, sharp tug on all three lines. The lines did not separate as he’d thought they would. Instead, they stayed unified, and worked as if they had all originally been one unit to begin with. The result was that all three targets were sent toppling forward and onto the ground at the same time.

“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. The ground is still standing.” Peter joked, as the three targets got to their feet once again, returned to their positions, and stood motionless.

The targets would visit the ground again multiple times over the next thirty minutes, as Peter performed further testing. Along with visits to the ground, the targets also experienced being tied up, lassoed, getting snatched off their own two feet in a variety of fun ways, being pulled here, being dragged there, and ultimately being incapacitated completely.

“I think we might have some potential here, Mister Stark,” Peter gave his evaluation of the new weapons. “What made you think these up?”

“Do you remember when I said weapons are used to make up for a shortcoming?” Tony answered.

“Yes.”

“Well, your last two sessions helped me see what yours were.”

Peter recalled the highlights and follies of his last two sessions.

“You’re thinking about when all those guys cornered me and tried to swarm me, huh?”

“That time, and the time before that when you lost your suspect because you were busy dealing with the other three men, and you had no way to lock any of them down.”

“I still think that guy clipped through the wall instead of going through the door. I was locked on both times I shot at him and I still missed.”

“That was due to the kickback from the two shots you fired that put you off your target, young sir. I assure you it was not because of clipping issues,” J.A.R.V.I.S. advised.

“You sure about that, J.A.R.V.I.S.? I have yet to meet a computer that didn’t cheat by allowing the enemies to do all sorts of junk they have no business doing.”

“Yes, I’m sure. I would never resort to such tactics. Cheating wouldn’t help you improve.”

“It’s too bad your video game brothers and sisters don’t believe in that philosophy.”

“Perhaps one day that will change.”

“I’m looking forward to that day. But right now, I think I’m ready to test these new weapons out in a scenario.”

“You done with target practice already?” Tony asked.

“Really, aside from the wrist orientation, and the lack of kickback, using these is just like using the blasters.”

“All right then, hotshot. Which scenario are you thinking about?”

“The Tunnel. I owe that messenger some payback.”

“You heard the man, J.A.R.V.I.S.”

“Initiating setup for The Tunnel scenario. Please step into any of the safety areas, and I will begin construction.”

Most of the safety areas changed depending on which scenario was being set up. The only one that didn’t was the small control room, where the simulation could be observed and monitored. It was this room that Tony took his residence, while Peter walked over to a stretch of space that was close to the front end of the warehouse, and indicated by a green light that J.A.R.V.I.S. shined down on all safety areas.

Once Peter and Tony were in the safety areas, J.A.R.V.I.S. began the process of moving the walls, stairways, and ceilings to their appropriate locations. Peter couldn’t see the entire warehouse as it reshaped itself. One of the walls set itself up seven feet in front of him to create a ten foot wide hallway, with spaces at the extreme left and right ends. J.A.R.V.I.S. moved two of the collapsible stairs into these spaces and raised them.

As this happened on the ground, the ceiling panels above lowered down and into position to create the various floors.

All of the activity in the warehouse should’ve created enough noise that people three full blocks away could hear it. Due to the soundproofing that the warehouse and the machines within it had undergone, the most a person on the outside could hear was the very low rumble of the machines as they worked.

Peter waited, getting more and more psyched with each second. Finally, all of the sounds began to wind down, as J.A.R.V.I.S. made the final preparations. Then, the entire room fell silent.

“Physical construction of The Tunnel scenario is now complete. Activating augmented reality overlay,” J.A.R.V.I.S. announced

All the lights in the warehouse suddenly went out, drowning everything in a sea of blackness. When the warehouse came back to life with light a moment later, Peter was no longer standing in a warehouse with a moveable wall in front of him and stairways at its extreme end. He was now in a dimly lit, old wooden walled, underground passageway. The two stairways at the end were also old and wooden, and the ground had become dirt.

“Augmented reality overlay is complete. You may begin whenever you are ready, young sir.” J.A.R.V.I.S said to Peter, speaking to him through the onboard audio system instead of the warehouse speakers.

“All right.” Peter nodded. “Showtime!”

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