"Jack, can you lend me a towel? The one here is torn," Gwen's voice came from behind the bathroom door.
"Oh, okay, sure." He wondered briefly how a towel even tears, then grabbed a spare one and passed it through the gap in the door.
A few minutes later, the door opened. Gwen stepped out wrapped in the towel.
Jack glanced past her shoulder at the bathroom — broken tiles scattered across the floor, a bent pipe where the showerhead used to be, water still dripping down the walls.
It looked like a fight had happened in there.
"Looks like there was a war in here," Jack said before he could stop himself.
Gwen's face went red.
"I don't know — the water pipe just broke suddenly," she said, her expression guilty.
Jack looked at the bent pipe again. A water pipe didn't just bend like that on its own. Something with a much stronger grip than normal had done that.
He put it together quickly. It was probably the effect of the sudden strength she'd gained — she just didn't have control over it yet.
Better keep my distance from her for a day or she'll break my bones without meaning to.
He glanced at her and, for a moment, genuinely felt a little unsafe.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Gwen asked, shifting uncomfortably.
"Nothing, don't worry about it. I'll fix it later," he said.
"Okay."
"I'll pay for it," Gwen added.
"No need, it's a small thing."
She looked like she was about to insist, so he changed the subject.
"Did your dress get wet?"
"Yes — it got dirty and wet. Do you have any extra clothes I could borrow?"
"I don't have any women's clothes, but you can use mine," Jack said, and handed her a spare set.
Gwen held it up and looked at it. "It's a little big for me."
"I don't have anything smaller. It'll have to do for now."
"I'll be waiting in the hall." Jack stepped out and closed the door behind him so she could change.
"Master, there is a small issue," Red Queen's voice came through his phone as he walked toward the hall.
"What happened?"
"Master, since the two spiders from the Osborn company bit Peter and Gwen, I have been monitoring Osborn's security. According to my calculations, two missing experiment subjects will definitely trigger an internal search. They are currently reviewing security footage. I need your permission to modify the recordings."
Jack stopped walking. He had completely forgotten to wipe the footage — if Osborn's people saw it clearly, it would lead straight back to him.
"Good job, Red. Even I forgot about it, but you were able to think independently. You've grown faster than I expected."
Hearing her master's praise—
"I am your top assistant, Master," Red Queen replied, her tone carrying a hint of pride.
"Red, modify the footage cleanly without them finding out it was edited. Then keep watching them and update me on what's happening there."
"Yes, Master."
A few minutes later, Gwen came down the stairs.
"Even in men's clothes, you look good," Jack said when he saw her.
Gwen gave a small smile. "It's not bad."
He checked the time. Past eight at night.
"I'll drop you home — it's getting late," Jack told her.
Gwen looked like she wanted to say something but held it back. She glanced down at her hands for just a moment, then looked away without a word.
The two of them left the house.
At the same time, inside Osborn Laboratories—
The lab floor was quieter than usual, but the tension sat heavy in the air. Rows of equipment hummed softly, screens flickering with data no one was paying attention to. In the middle of it all, a scientist stood rigid, his expression tight as he turned toward the two junior staff in front of him.
"Where are the new experiment subjects — numbers 201 through 225?" he snapped, his voice cutting through the room.
The two exchanged a quick glance before one of them spoke. "Sorry, sir. We couldn't find them anywhere."
The scientist didn't respond immediately. His eyes lingered on them for a second, sharp, measuring. "Anywhere?" he repeated, slower this time.
"We checked the storage units, the transfer logs… even the backup holding areas," the other added, a little too quickly. "They're not there."
The scientist's face turned ugly. He looked past them at one of the nearby monitors.
"Did you check the camera footage?"
"We did," the first one said. "But it looks like they moved outside the camera's coverage. There's a gap near the service corridor. After that, there's nothing. We can't track them."
The room fell quiet again.
The scientist didn't like that answer.
He stood still for a moment, fingers tapping lightly against the edge of the console beside him — just enough to show he was thinking. Running through possibilities. Calculating how bad this could get.
Then he exhaled, slow and controlled, and said, "If the people above find out about this, not only I but you both will have to be responsible for it."
The two juniors straightened slightly. Neither of them spoke.
He stepped closer, just enough to make them shift their weight without realizing it.
"Stage a lab accident," he said. "Something believable. Equipment failure, containment breach — use whatever fits the records." His eyes moved between them, making sure they understood. "Forge evidence that they died there."
There was a brief pause.
"Do it cleanly."
The words hung there for a second longer than necessary.
The two juniors looked at each other again — quicker this time. One gave a small nod. The other followed.
"Yes, sir."
"Good." The scientist's tone returned to normal, as if the decision had already been filed away and resolved. "Do it fast. And I don't want to hear a single word of this leaking out."
They both nodded again, more firmly.
Without another glance, the scientist turned and walked off, his footsteps echoing faintly against the polished floor before fading into the background noise of the lab.
For a moment, the two juniors stayed where they were.
Then one of them let out a quiet breath he'd been holding.
"We should get started," he muttered.
"Yeah," the other replied, already turning toward the nearest terminal.
What neither of them knew was that Red Queen had been watching the entire exchange through a connected terminal, silently recording everything.
A/N:
Update Notice:
I'll be moving to a 5-chapters-per-week schedule.
This will help me maintain better quality and keep the story enjoyable.
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