Peter's eyes squeezed tightly against the glaring rays that pierced through his flimsy curtains as he pushed himself off the bed. He wobbled on his feet and, against every lazy bone in his body, swept the curtains wide open and let the unforgiving light from the sun bathe his body.
"Ughh…" he groaned as he forced his eyes wide open through the sun's sting, letting the rest of his body know that he was fully awake.
He groaned again, this time in satisfaction as he gave his body a few twists and felt some joints pop good.
He went down to the living room and made his way to their little kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. He noticed the sticker on the fridge and winced when he saw the few words on it.
He looked at the old reliable clock hung on the far side of the living room and saw that the time was a good minute past eleven. "Come on." He berated himself weakly.
He was supposed to go to the market with Aunt May today but she had let him sleep in when she saw how tired he was.
"I forgot to set the alarm." He hit himself softly on the head. He had been too tired by the time he snuck in last night that he could only take off his suit and stuff it under his closet before he crashed into the bed and fell asleep.
With Aunt May not around, he found that his morning had been freed up. He looked at the clock again and sighed. The morning was already gone.
He went back to his room and took a long bath to wash away the lingering dizziness in his body. His phone rang as soon as he walked out and when he picked it up, he saw that it was Gwen.
"Hey," he put the phone on speaker and left it on his bed as he wore his clothes.
"Hey you, let me guess: you woke up late." Gwen's peppy voice said through the phone, causing Peter to groan as he put on his pants.
"I forgot to set my alarm." He grumbled. She knew about his morning plans with his aunt and in her usual Gwen fashion, she'd warned him to cut in last night's patrol early so that he could be well rested. She couldn't go back-to-back late hours like him so she usually clocked out around midnight, and she'd gone to bed early last night so she couldn't remind him.
Most people would be a little irritated at how she had a knack for being right most of the time and her vocal 'I told you sos', but not him. He just appreciated that he had someone like her to call him out on his stupid.
"Ah, that would do it." She didn't rub this one in his face and he couldn't help but smile softly at how understanding she was. "You gonna call her?"
"She left a note, but yeah I'm gonna call her and see if she needs the extra arm." He said as he threw his top on before picking up his phone. "I'll doubt she'll want to, and she should be on her way home by now."
"Okay, that's good." He could hear faint scribbling from her end which was most likely her doing her assignments early. "My dad ran out early this morning. Did anything happen last night?"
"Not really. A few muggers and a truck that broke down in the middle of the road." He replied as he sat behind his desk. They spoke about random things as they both went through their homework.
He was still on his, while Gwen had finished hers, when she asked, "Are we still on for later today?"
The swerve of his pen paused briefly before continuing on smoothly. "Yeah." He simply replied.
He hadn't been to Isaac's shop in two weeks but he couldn't push it further any more. The Green Goblin was evolving at an alarming rate and he was showing signs of developing new abilities on top of the new ones he already had.
Countering the Nightmare Gas and the other toxins the Goblin used was easy enough after buying the antidote and Peter using his own batch of chemicals to make more after figuring it out.
The main problem was the jump in strength the Goblin now showed and how scarily smart he had become. It was like he had his own version of spider sense with how crazy his reaction time had become. It was like he had some super physique or insane regeneration with how he pretty much ignored the punches that Peter could get on him.
This could not go on any longer. He could see that whatever the Goblin was doing was making him lose it, and it was getting very intense in the few times they've fought. He needed to put a stop to the Goblin and he had finally acquired what he needed to do so. So yes, he couldn't put off going to the shop any more.
"Good. We'll meet at Fred's by three. Sounds good?"
"Yeah." He had the sinking suspicion that the Goblin already knew his secret identity, and even now he didn't know what he'd do if the Goblin suddenly showed up at his house one day with his mad laugh. "Yeah, that sounds good."
.
...
.
[Oscorp]
"NOOOOOOO!" An angry shout and the sound of things shattering on the floor resounded loudly in Norman's private lab. The once pristine scientific space was now a mess of broken glass, spilled fluids, scattered notes, broken boards, and a deeply frustrated man who looked angry and unkempt.
Norman Osborn looked like a well fed starved man that couldn't eat the food he just cooked up. It was the lack of sense it made that was frustrating him. He had everything for an exquisite meal only to find out that he was terminally allergic to whatever the finished product was. It made no sense.
"Shut up!" He punched through a beeping monitor. "It was supposed to work." He muttered to himself in a faraway tone.
He stared blankly at the overhead screen showing a string of red letters and the words 'FAILED' in bold text. There were webs of black veins around his eyes that looked like he was death-staring the words to change.
His watch started beeping, knocking him out of his suspended daze, but that only made him more mad judging by the way he snarled.
He noted and recorded the time and then compared it with previous data and the results were nothing he could draw satisfaction from.
The NZT-48 effective duration was at a rapid decline. That in itself was not a huge problem as it was cheaply procured, what however was was the addiction it came with. He wasn't close to cracking the NZT-48 or the V-1, not only because he had cracked the Mirakuru and was working on a way to sell it, but also because of the lack of time he had.
Turns out that having hundreds of millions – which was a huge percentage of his liquidated finances – mysteriously disappearing from his accounts warranted multiple meetings from the board and major shareholders. His net worth was a little over 2 billion and losing that much started giving a lot of these shareholders ideas. He had outlined numerous ways to completely take back his company but for it to be successful a little bit of time was needed. That time frame was the expiration date of a lot of those clowns.
Most of the time he had was spent on cracking the NZT-48 and Compound V. The raging dementia he could handle easily enough. The lack of NZT-48 in his system, not so much.
Other than the biological immortality and enhancement that the Compound V and V-1 granted him, it also gave him the ability to empower himself from negative emotions, especially fear, and pain. Exponentially.
A few bombs down the streets and he had enough juice to wrangle out little Peter by his webs.
But nothing could compare to the strength of the fear and hate he got from poor Peter. The screams of a hundred terrified maggots could barely match it. The stronger the person he was inducing those emotions in, the stronger the enhancement he got – that hadn't been hard to figure out.
Along with cracking the NZT-48 and the Compound V, he also needed to find a way to make the enhancements permanent. And he was running out of time to do so.
Time? We have all the time we have! You're so boring, Green, almost as boring as Normie. We could splice both formulas together and shoot it into earth's atmosphere and have everyone infected in days! Days, Green, days!
"Why?" He snarled.
Just think of how many will die in the first few seconds of breathing in synthesized Compound V. Billions! BILLIONS! BILLIONS!
He swiped the red letters away and picked up his notes while the new voice in his head laughed out like a demon.
And then the NZT kicks in. Oh imagine the chaos! Imagine those who will die of constant NZT flooding their system. Those who will die from their berserk rampage. Who will police who? Imagine the FEAR! THE PAIN! THE DEATH! BILLIONS OF DEATH!!!
ALL FOR US! ALL FOR ONE!
He couldn't deny the temptation when he saw the dark smile on the face of his red-tinted reflection.
.
...
.
Peter and Gwen turned around the small corner that led down to the shop with their schoolbags strapped to their backs while Gwen petered Peter with a few questions to make sure that he packed all he needed, and also to last-minute brainstorm about what they needed.
"He definitely knows you're Spider-Man, doesn't he?" Gwen stopped Peter with a hand on his chest as they arrived at the shop.
Her boyfriend sputtered, looked confused and bewildered, and then shook his head vehemently. "No… no, I don't think so. Why would he suspect?"
He winced when he saw the deadpan on her face, already knowing what was coming.
"You sold him all your old suits and webshooters. And you buy those red and blue fabrics from him. That's gotta be a few steps below obvious, if anything."
Peter rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly in a show of how uncomfortable the insinuation made him.
"I mean, maybe… I don't know." He shifted slightly on his foot and adjusted the bag on his back. "Even if he does, I trust Mr. Isaac. I don't believe he would tell anyone if he knew."
Gwen could only sigh with a shrug. There was nothing that could be done about it now. Peter couldn't help but feel the way his shoulders loosened the tension in them as they both entered the pawnshop.
"It feels like it's been months since I've last been here." It was only a few weeks but it felt longer. "Everything looks the same… well except for the arrangement, but that's normal."
"Peter, what a pleasant surprise. It feels like it's been months since I last saw you. How have you been?"
He scratched his head in embarrassment at the sincere words from Mr. Isaac as soon as he saw him.
"Evening, Mr. Isaac. It's uh… I've been busy… for a while." The excuse felt clumsy and like a poorly executed lie, but the shopkeeper seemed to accept it well enough.
"And you came with him today, Gwen. That's nice."
"Yeah," Gwen nodded happily. "School has been extra hectic these past few weeks."
"That it can be. That it can be." Isaac said with a good-natured smile. "So what can I do for you kids today?"
Peter looked at Gwen who gave him an assured nod and turned to the ever patient man behind the counter.
He pulled off his bag and set it on the counter with a soft thud, zipped it open and pushed it towards Isaac.
"Oh?" Mr. Isaac's smile now looked more focused and interested.
"I need a few things." Peter said. This was it. This was the first step of many.
"Of course." He nodded. "What can Junk 'N Stuff help you with, today?"
––––––
.
Patreøn*com/1stDepth
.
––––––