The Black Spider - 2. Chapter 2: Along Came a Spider

“I think it’s some bullshit how you R.W.L kids get to go on class trips and the rest of us can’t,” Mary-Jane remarked with slight bitterness after seeing the two charter buses parked in front of the school behind the line of regular school busses.

“Don’t be made at us. Be mad at our junior class for going to the Getty and settin’ it off.” Peter reminded.

Indeed they had.

The junior class trip to the J. Paul Getty museum was in the now defunct top three of best class trips students got to go on. It was “now defunct” because certain members of the junior class had gone and ruined it for everyone else when they took the trip earlier in the year.

Starting off the list of incidents, a small group of students made the bizarre decision to first steal then take a joyride in a security cart around the grounds of the Getty. The Getty had been exceptionally nice, not letting a small group spoil it for everyone, and simply requested that the students responsible be removed. That’d meant an unscheduled trip back to the school then back to the Getty.

Second on the incident list happened after the visit was over and all the students were back on the bus. Roll call was taken and it was discovered that six students were missing. The Getty had been nice once again. Security did a full sweep of the grounds, but turned up nothing. That’d taken almost two hours, leaving no time to stay while security reviewed their tapes for the day. The missing students were considered AWOL and the classes returned to the school.

The next day started with a message to the school principal from the Getty. After completing the review of their security tapes, they were happy to report that the cameras had recorded the six missing students as each of them ditched the tour at select points, met up at one of the Getty’s parking structures, and left the site. They were unhappy, however, to report incident number three. The cameras also recorded twelve students stealing from the shops on the Getty site. While charges could’ve been pressed, the Getty was instead banning the school indefinitely from taking class trips to their museum.

Hot on the heels of that message, the school principal got news of incident four via phone call from the school district. Two of the students who’d ditched the tour were caught by the school bus camera having sex on the bus before they’d left the grounds. The school district had also received a call from the Getty earlier in the day informing them of incidents one, two, and three, plus the school ban. No parts of the incidents flew well with them. They called for the expulsion of all students involved in the incidents, and the end of class trips for everyone else until further notice.

Glen shook his head.

“Still wanna know what possessed those fools to go down there and do that,” he said.

“Well we know why Eric and his crew ditched. They went to go hit that pipe.” Peter made a smoking gesture with his fingers.

“I wonder if they know everybody can tell when they’re on that stuff,” Mary-Jane remarked.

“Probably. But they know the school policy. You can walk in so high that you're floatin’ a foot off the ground, but as long as you don’t set off those metal detectors, the teachers and security could care less.” Glen jeered, as he pulled into the student parking lot.

“Yeah.” Mary-Jane nodded. “And I don’t understand that either. Just like I don’t understand how ya’ll still get to go on class trips.”

“Because you forgot who runs and funds the R.W.L program.” Peter reminded.

“Money shouldn’t have nothin’ to do with it, though.”

Peter gave Mary-Jane a look.

“Now you know it ain’t got nothin’ to do with his money.” He reminded.

Mary-Jane opened her mouth to respond, paused, then,

“I always forget that part.” She shook her head.

“Don’t worry.” Glen pulled into his usual parking space near the end of the student parking lot. “Not every school program is run by a superhero.”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

The three had arrived with ten minutes remaining before first period started. With the student parking lot being on the opposite side of the campus where their first period classes were located, Peter, Glen, and Mary-Jane used the time to make their trip. As usual they talked along the way. Conversation had found its way back to the Marvin Gaye album they’d listened to earlier. Peter was in the middle of his statement when another student bumped rudely into him.

“Sorry, Parker. Didn’t see you there.” The student apologized with zero sincerity in his voice.

Peter already knew who it was the moment the bump happened.

'Then you need to go see a eye doctor,' he thought hotly, but didn’t intend on saying a word. That was exactly what the student who bumped into him wanted.

“You don’t never take a day off, do you Flash?” Mary Jane shook her head at the student, who’s real name was Eugene Thompson. Flash was the nickname he’d acquired from his football buddies way back in the seventh grade.

“I might be persuaded to for the right reason.” He shrugged.

Mary-Jane chuckled and shook her head again.

“When are you going to let that go?” she asked.

“Soon as you quit resisting.” Flash grinned arrogantly.

“Okay, Flash…that was in the fifth grade, for half a day, and only because Liz dared me to.”

“That was one of the best half days of my life.” Flash’s grin broadened.

Mary-Jane had to fight not to roll her eyes.

“Well, I’m glad I made a good impression, but you know I didn’t like you like that then, and I don’t like you like that now,” she told him.

“Well, like I said, when you quit resisting…” Flash winked his eye. “I’ll be here.”

“Please don’t hold your breath.”

“On second thought…” Peter remarked under his own.

Glen overheard and chuckled quietly. Flash and Mary-Jane overheard too. Flash’s arrogant grin pulled in the other direction and became an angry grimace.

“Got somethin’ you wanna say, Parker?” He hissed, stepping up to Peter so that they were almost chest to chest.

“Flash! Let’s go before we’re late to class, man!” one of Flash’s friends, who was standing further down the way, called out to him.

Flash looked over his shoulder.

“Yeah! I’m comin’!” he responded.

He turned back to face Peter.

“You better watch that mouth of yours. Next time, I’ll answer it with my fist.” He growled.

Not even bothering to wait for Peter’s response, Flash turned his attention to Mary-Jane.

“See ya, beautiful.” He waved at her, before leaving to join his waiting friend.

Mary-Jane, Peter, and Glen watched them go, before Mary-Jane let loose the eye roll she’d been holding back.

“We ain’t never gonna get rid of him, are we?” she sighed, putting her hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Not unless they finally come up with a cure for herpes,” Peter answered, making both Mary-Jane and Glen laugh.

“Never should’ve scored that touchdown on him in the seventh grade,” Glen said to Peter.

“If I knew he was gonna hold a grudge, and that he’d hold it for this long, I wouldn’t have.” Peter shrugged. “But I’m laughin’ at how he acted like you weren’t even there.”

“Oh, he ain’t got nothin’ to say to me. He’s pissed ‘cuz my Dad gave him a speeding ticket last night.” Glen revealed.

“For real?” both Peter and Mary-Jane said in near unison.

Glen nodded.

“And it was his second one –”

The five minute warning bell rang, halting the conversation. It also worked as a notice indicator to all three that Flash’s interruption had stopped them right at the point where they usually split up to go to their classes.

“All right, I’ll see you later,” Mary-Jane said to Glen. “And I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said to Peter.

“Later, M.J.” Both Peter and Glen waved goodbye, as they started to their classroom and Mary-Jane to hers.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

First period started differently than usual. It began with a speech from the instructor about how class trips, especially this one, were a privilege and not a right. It was an honor to be invited to take a tour of the new Oscorp building a full month and a half before they were open to the public. That was why there was a zero tolerance rule for the repeating of, or capitalizing on the behavior shown at the Getty. Any student in violation of the rule faced expulsion from school and permanent removal from the R.W.L program.

Next, Oscorp visitor passes were handed out. Each one was made custom for each student by featuring their name and picture. It was mandatory that visitor passes always be visible and worn by their owners for the duration of the trip. There was to be no swapping of passes between students and any lost passes were to be reported to an instructor immediately.

All electronic devices, purses, and backpacks, were prohibited on the trip. Notebooks, pens, and/or pencils were the only things allowed. Everything else would be locked up safely in the classroom.

Finally, the four instructors taking their classes on the trip ushered their students outside where the two charter buses were waiting. Once everyone was onboard, roll call was taken again to make sure all students found their way. When it was confirmed that all students were still present, the buses started up, and the trip to Oscorp began.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *

Constructed from the ground up over the course of two years, the Oscorp Los Angeles Tower was the most state of the art building in the world. To start, it was the world’s first fully functioning “green” facility. For the Los Angeles Tower, the brilliant minds at Oscorp had come together to create the next evolution of the solar panel system. Dubbed the Dual Panel System, or D.P.S, it was able to draw in solar energy during the day and stellar energy at night. Through this process, the Oscorp Los Angeles Tower did not pull power from the city’s power grid; it actually gave power back, while being able to continuously and comfortably maintain the power requirements of the facility’s one hundred and eight floors.

In continued compliance with the strict requirements to be considered a “green” building, The Oscorp Los Angeles Tower housed a state of the art water treatment and recycling facility, which allowed the building to reduce its water usage by over eighty percent and waste water output by fifty percent. …And before anyone asked, no, the employees did not drink toilet water. That system and the drinking water system were completely separate.

The Oscorp Los Angeles Tower was also looking into other things that could be done to reduce its footprint on the environment. Currently it was blazing a new path in the form of Bioelectrogenesis. There were living organisms in the world that, as a defense mechanism, generated and used electricity to fend off their prey. Imagine if the entire Oscorp Los Angeles Tower was being powered by colonies of electric eels. Now imagine entire cities being powered through Bioelectrogenesis. The impact it would have on the environment would be nothing short of significant.

Being green was just one of the things Oscorp as a company was all about, however. They were also part of the vanguard in the defensive and biomedical fields.

In the area of defense, Oscorp was inspired by Mother Nature herself. The result was the creation of a cutting edge material known as Biocable. Stronger than any material in existence so far and ten times tougher than Kevlar, Biocable was already being tested out in the field by the military. It could be used for something as light as creating a zip-line from one point to another, or something as heavy as constructing a bridge to allow fully armed and manned Humvees across. Biocable could also be used as a non-lethal weapon to not only subdue, but contain a hostile target.

In the biomedical field, Oscorp was looking at the future of the people as the first and only in the world working in the field of cross species genetics. Through cross species genetics, the Biomedical Unit could take any ability from a living organism and place it into another. For example, a zebra fish has the ability to regenerate cells on command. By giving that ability to an Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s patient, they’d be able to make full recoveries from their conditions with no chance of relapse, side-effects, or medicines to take afterward. Once this new tool was honed, there wouldn’t be just a way for bringing an end to things like cancer and AIDS. There would be a way to bring an end to any disease or ailment that affected a human being.

These were just some of the projects being handled exclusively at the Oscorp Los Angeles Tower. And without further adieu, it was time to see some of these projects in action.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

The first project on the list to see took everyone to the basement. On one side was the water treatment and recycling facility. On the other side was the D.P.S power conversion facility. The technology employed by both facilities and the way they functioned had notebooks open and pencils inscribing without instructors ever having to give the word.

Next, the tour went upstairs to the twelfth floor. This was where the creators of the Biocable were housed in a large enclosed laboratory. Everyone was able to look through the wide viewing window to see the large circular structure beyond. It was filled with what seemed like hundreds of honeycomb styled cells. In each cell was a single spider going about the business of spinning its web.

Each spider was no ordinary spider. They were a one of a kind genetically altered species of spider that possessed the ability to build the strongest and thickest web, while being able to build with a minimal amount of down time. These “super-spiders” had an average life span, but due to a special enzyme they needed to be fed, could only exist outside their cell for six hours before they would die.

Notebooks were closed and pencils were away for this stop. The genetic alteration process was a company secret and it wasn’t known by anyone outside the departments that worked with it.

A quick rest break came next. Having not gone since before leaving the school, Peter was leader of the pack into the men’s restroom. What he and the other boys found upon entering the restroom almost made them forget what they’d walked in for. There were no urinals in the bathroom. There was a waterfall that ran almost the full length of the wall. Dividers that were made to look like rock were set up, creating private sections for ten individual users. Across the wall between the waterfall urinals and the sinks was a large window made with one way glass, offering a pretty nice look out at the city. The toilets were located around the corner on the opposite side of the waterfall urinals.

'Wow,' Peter thought to himself. 'And I thought the bathroom at Stark Enterprises was cool.'

He was curious to see if the toilets looked different too, but the need to go led him instead to a spot at the waterfall urinal to handle business.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Up above Peter, watching him through eight glassy eyes, was a spider. It would’ve stood out like a sore thumb on the ceiling if its entire body wasn’t a shiny shade of black. The spider had been sitting in its current location for almost thirty minutes. It understood something was wrong with it. It knew it needed to get something. Needed to have it in order to survive. But what was it? The spider did not know.

What it did know was that it was beginning to discover something. The human spawn beneath it was giving off a scent that it recognized. It was the same scent that would show up often in its former home. A scent it had come to associate with reinvigoration. Like food but much better. The spider realized that it had not smelled the scent in a while. Longer than usual. It began wonder if that was what was wrong with it. Its little mind reasoned there was no time like the present to test the theory. Creating an anchor to the ceiling, the spider began its rapid descent toward its target.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

Since the spider was coming down behind him, Peter never saw it. He didn’t feel it when it landed without a whisper on the collar of his shirt. Turning itself around, the spider stared at the exposed brown skin on Peter’s neck. With lips that would’ve been smacking it if had them, the spider struck.

“Ow! Shit!” Peter cried out, as the spider’s fangs stabbed into his flesh and released venom.

Powered by instinct, his free hand whipped around and slapped hard against the source of the pain. The spider’s death was instant. Snatching his hand – and the cause of the pain – away from his neck, Peter flung the thing he could feel on his fingers forward. The majority of the crushed remains flew off his fingers and into the waterfall urinal. Unfortunately, the urinal was done in the same shade of black as the ceiling. So to Peter, it looked like he hadn’t flung anything.Taking a look at his hand, he saw that some of the spider’s guts remained and one of its thin, long legs. Having only that to go on, Peter had about four ideas on what could’ve bitten him.

“Need some help over there, man?” one of the students from a spot further down inquired by tease.

“Nah, I’m just fine, thank you,” Peter replied, with ten percent sharpness. “Something bit me.”

“You need to go get that looked at, Parker. Nobody in here wants your bush lice.” another student remarked.

Some of the other boys chuckled.

'Yeah, you would know all about S.T.D’s wouldn’t you?' Peter thought, having recognized the voice of the other student.

He knew the rumors about the other student. It was the supposed reason why he was one of four guys on the football team that didn’t have a girlfriend. Boy had Chlamydia. No girl in her right mind would want to be anywhere near that.

But that, Peter decided, was none of his business.

So he chose not to respond and instead looked for a spot to wipe his fingers off.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                     

The tour resumed ten minutes later, taking its guests further upward to just a few floors beneath the top of the building. This was where the second half of the D.P.S system was located and was known as the D.P.S control facility. Concept and use of stellar energy opened the presentation. The students were so enthralled that the instructors had to remind them to take notes. The presenter was nice enough to start over so everything could be gotten.

Most of the students were still buzzing about stellar energy as lunch took them back downstairs to the closest of the ten onsite cafeterias. Free of charge, the students and instructors were allowed to order whatever was on the day’s menu. They spent the lunch hour with awesome food and an awesome view to eat it by.

When the tour resumed, it returned everyone to the first floor where things began with the video presentation. This time, a presentation by various department heads awaited. Peter thought the presentation was going to be a repeat of the one he’d already seen, just from actual people instead of a movie screen. It turned out to be quite the opposite.

The first person to speak was a man named Curtis Connors. He was the head of the herpetology – study of reptiles – division in the biomedical team, where his expertise was helping his team and Oscorp make breakthroughs in the area of cross-species genetics. His division had successfully taken the regenerative abilities from a lizard and put it into lab mice. The mice, which were born three legged, were able to regrow their missing legs with full function.

Unfortunately the process was not yet perfected. There was a lot more research and development to be done before it was ready for human testing. Curtis looked forward to that day. It would mean the restoration of his own right hand and forearm, which had been taken from him in an accident when he was just a teenager.

Curtis took ten minutes to answer questions from students and instructors, before he gave the floor to another man named Otto Octavius. He was the head of the Bioenergy team, which had not only designed the Los Angeles Tower’s D.P.S, but was also spearheading the research in bioelectrogenesis. Already his team had succeeded in harnessing the electricity from electric eels. However, it would take four aquariums the size of football stadiums just to power the first floor in the Oscorp Los Angeles Tower. To solve this problem Otto and his team planned to employ genetic alteration to create electric eels that could generate a vast amount of electricity. A single aquarium the size of a football field was much better than four.

Otto took his ten minutes to answer questions from the audience, before he gave the floor to some unexpected special guests. Joining via satellite from Oscorp’s New York Tower was the head of Oscorp itself, Norman Osborn. With him was his only son, and child, sixteen year old Harry Osborn.

The senior Osborn welcomed students and instructors to the facility and apologized for his not being there to greet them personally. He talked a bit more about the company and its goals, before he opened up the floor for questions.

Some questions were intelligent, such as one a student’s question about why Oscorp didn’t use hydroelectricity along with the D.P.S. Some questions were much edgier, such as a student who wondered if genetic alteration of any species was moral. Others were in jest, such as the student who asked Harry if he wore boxers or briefs. Luckily, the intelligent questions outweighed the other two for the duration of the thirty minute session. When it came to a close, both Norman and Harry said their goodbyes. As a P.S, Norman informed all students and instructors that the Los Angeles Tower would also employ the summer intern program that the New York Tower did. Any student interested was welcome to apply. After all, Stark Enterprises wasn’t the only game in town anymore.

With that, the class trip to Oscorp Los Angeles Tower was concluded. All students and instructors were given pamphlets advertising the summer internship program as they turned in their visitor badges upon exiting the building.

Roll call was taken again once all the students were back on the busses. When it was confirmed that everyone was present, the vehicles started up and prepared to return to the school. Peter was just starting to check out his pamphlet when,

“Goddamn! What bit the hell outta you?” Glen asked.

“What do you mean?” Peter had already forgotten about the biting incident in the bathroom. It hadn’t given him any problems after the spider behind it was crushed and flung. It hadn’t even itched once.

“It looks like something bit you on the back of your neck,” Glen answered, looking at the knot that stood out on Peter’s neck like one hell of a mosquito had gotten him.

Peter remembered.

He reached back with his hand to inspect. His fingers easily felt the raised, knotted skin. But something was weird. Peter noticed he couldn’t feel his fingers touching the skin surrounding the bite. He also felt no pain from the bite. And there was still no itch.

“Something did when I was in the bathroom earlier. Couldn’t tell what it was after I smashed the hell out of it.” Peter continued to trace the bite with his fingers.

“Does it hurt?” Glen inquired.

“No. As the matter of fact it doesn’t feel like anything.”

“What do you mean? Like is it numb?”

“Yeah…” Peter started to nod, before a light wave of nausea rode through him.

He waited to see if it would subside.

It did.

“What?” Glen noticed Peter’s wait.

“Felt like I was about to throw up for a minute,” Peter answered, “Does the bite look nasty like it’s infected?”

“No. It just looks like a big mosquito bite. That’s what probably bit you. You know they got that stuff in their saliva that deadens the skin so you don’t feel the bite.”

“Oh, I felt this bite…” Peter was interrupted this time by a sudden tremble that hit his entire body at once. One second it felt like every muscle was tense. The next, they were relaxed.

“What was that?” Glen saw the tremble.

“I don’t know. I…”

Another unexpected tremble hit. It lasted longer than the previous before it let him go.

Glen gave Peter a disbelieving look.

“All right, Pete, stop playin,’” he said.

“…I’m not…” Was all Peter got out before another tremble struck. This one hit harder and lasted longer.

Glen’s look softened a little.

“For real, now. Stop playin’,” he said.

“I…” Was all Peter got out before his entire body seemed to turn against him.

His muscles couldn’t decide if they wanted to contract or relax. His stomach didn’t know if it wanted to be sick or not. Eyesight didn’t know if it wanted to see or not. Hearing didn’t know if it wanted to hear anymore or not.

Speaking was impossible. Every time he got ready to try it, another tremble – which had become a tremor – would tear through him. They happened one right after another, never giving him time to recover. Never giving him time to stop himself from falling out of his seat and onto the floor.

It was this that erased all doubt from Glen’s mind that Peter was clowning around.

Peter was not aware of the scene he was causing on the bus. He never felt when Glen reached out to stop him from his nasty, uncontrolled spill onto the floor. He couldn’t see the students as they turned to find out what was going on. All he knew was his heartbeat. It’d become the only thing he could hear. Beating faster and faster, filling him with its thumping pulse.

And then…

Peter was not aware of anything at all.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *