"Bingo." I smirked smugly when I saw a familiar last name on the list.
I had been thinking in the wrong direction. The spider's target might not have been one of my classmates. Besides the field trip participants, there was also the support staff. And there, in the list of college students who had helped organize the science exhibition, I found a familiar last name and initials. G. M. Stacy.
Not bad at all. In the end, Gwen wasn't the kind of person who would use her powers to hurt people. As for appearing on TV shows, that was her right. I had made plenty of mistakes myself before becoming who I was. I tried to use my powers in underground fights. Then, out of guilt, I rejected any way of making money from my talents and lived a miserable existence, selling pictures of Spider Man for pennies to my worst hater, J. Jonah Jameson. But that was kind of fun in its own way. Looking back, many of the problems from that period of my life were caused by lack of money, disorganization, and indecisiveness in matters unrelated to my superhero life.
Then all of that faded into the background. Reed and I had to become part of many UN and SHIELD secret projects. Even fighting the increased number of criminals stopped being my headache. It turned out that in the event of a global threat and the need to mobilize all state resources, the government could handle it. They just needed harsher measures. Surprisingly, having a stern boss like Fury and UN representatives in my life helped me solve my personal problems. That was when Mary Jane and I got married, although our happiness together didn't last long. After the accident that took my love away, the decision to freeze myself came easily.
But that didn't matter now. I wasn't the same person I used to be. I wouldn't make the same mistakes. Besides, I was young again, full of energy, and Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy were alive. That meant only one thing. Life goes on, and I had to appreciate that.
Although, I might have exaggerated about being full of energy. I was dead tired. I needed a long, ten hour sleep. And when I woke up, I would be different, not just psychologically, but physically as well.
I closed the university database, which I had to hack to get access to the lists. Actually, the university website wasn't just unprotected. It was practically begging to be broken. There were so many vulnerabilities in the code that any kid who had read a few online hacking articles could have exploited them. Wait, that was exactly what had happened.
Setting up an IV and securing my right arm, I injected the prepared solution containing the serum. There was no point in putting unnecessary strain on my body. Everything would go smoothly, easily, and painlessly. The solution and the serum concentration had been chosen so that the changes would happen over ten hours of healthy sleep.
*
*
*
The sleeping Peter couldn't see or hear the window in the abandoned laboratory on the second floor of his house open, or an intruder slip inside. Notably, the stranger moved by sticking to the walls with her hands and descended headfirst, as if it were perfectly natural. Once inside, the intruder in the distinctive black and white tight suit closed the window again.
Not long ago, Gwen Stacy's life had changed dramatically. Gwen was an ordinary girl, a student at Midtown College, and a loving daughter. But the science exhibition she had helped organize to work off a debt became the most important event of her life.
All because of that strange spider that had bitten her wrist so unexpectedly.
You know the rest. Since then, Gwen had noticed changes in herself. She was stronger, more flexible, more durable. She could stick to and walk on vertical surfaces. Her senses were sharper, and her balance was better than any cat's. Finally, a special sixth sense had manifested. Gwen hadn't fully mastered it yet, but it helped her sense danger and always choose secure footholds during extreme gymnastics and parkour. She sewed herself a stylish, stunning costume and debuted on a talent show, demonstrating her phenomenal agility and grace. She became the one and only Spider Woman.
However, two days ago, her sixth sense had started giving her completely unusual signals. Signals that Gwen couldn't yet interpret. The strange sensations were caused by Connors's new acquaintance, a high school boy with an unusual aptitude for science.
First, Gwen thought the guy was simply dangerous, as absurd as that might sound. She had encountered that before. But soon she realized it was something else. Peter wasn't a drug addict, a terrorist, or a radical male chauvinist. He stood out from other guys, especially his peers, with his hard work and atypical behavior. Just the fact that he had asked her out himself. Wait, don't get distracted, Gwen. That wasn't why you were here.
Today, the feeling had intensified when Gwen found Parker in the lab with the sleeping Connors. He was doing something in secret from the professor. That raised new suspicions for the girl. Suspicions that were only confirmed by the boy's reluctance to show what had been processing in the centrifuge.
This greatly interested the curious girl. So much so that she decided to follow the suspicious boy home. But she didn't find any answers there. Whatever Parker was preparing, he was doing it for himself. Gwen wasn't sure what to do. On one hand, it seemed right to stop the process and make Peter tell Connors everything. On the other hand, what if there was no Stans, and the medicine he claimed to be preparing for her was actually meant for Peter himself? Connors hadn't interfered with Parker using her lab, and she hadn't questioned him when he said that some Stans was recovering. That meant she believed in his good judgment and reliability for some reason.
Fortunately for Parker, Gwen had overlooked the fact that her trusted authority, Dr. Karen Connors, had been too excited about the breakthrough in her research lately to pay much attention to Peter's actions.
On Parker's arm, Gwen noticed a strange looking bracelet device. It had a simple control panel with no explanations. The exact same device was on his other arm. Very strange, but still unclear.
Searching for more information, Stacy decided to search Peter's room. Like any child of the digital age, she started with his computer. But it was password protected. Gwen didn't want to leave any traces, but she didn't know any way to access someone else's computer without resetting the password. However, she couldn't do it. Something hissed inside the PC case, and two seconds later, the screen went dark.
"Great," Gwen exclaimed happily. "Now he'll definitely know someone was messing with his computer. What am I supposed to do now?"
She asked Parker, but he didn't answer. He was busy. The Wicked Queen was up to her old tricks, staging a coup in Wonderland.
"Oh well." Not finding a better solution, Gwen drew some fluid from the IV bag into a syringe she found in Parker's house and decided to leave, leaving Peter a gift in the form of a broken computer.
Maybe Connors could figure out what the boy had mixed into his own blood. Opening the shutters, she jumped out the window with a grace no human or animal could match, disappearing into the night.
*
*
*
I woke up shivering. The soaked sheets and my clothes were stuck to my body. My stomach was twisted with hunger. Pulling the IV needle out of my arm and pressing a piece of cotton to the wound, I stared in disbelief at the open window.
"What the hell?" There was no way I had left it open. "Someone was in my house while I was sleeping."
"Great." I discovered that the intruder had broken my computer by triggering a primitive defense system consisting of a fifty dollar flash drive killer and a couple of simple scripts controlling the forced shutdown of the USB ports. "Bitch. I don't even have money for a new computer."
I searched the house. Nothing was missing. So it wasn't a thief. Someone wanted to snoop through my PC, but they failed. Or maybe they bypassed the protection and then gave themselves away to make it look like they found nothing. No, nonsense. I decided to assume the self destruct had worked as intended.
Who could it have been? There were too many possibilities, from Gwen playing detective to Cindy's people somehow tracking me down. Even Stans, waking up from her coma, could have pulled something like this, especially if she found out I was continuing her research. I removed the cotton and moved my hand. The blood clotted almost instantly, and the wound was nearly healed. At least the serum had worked as intended.
Of course, it wouldn't give me a significant immediate boost in physical strength like the super soldier serum. But my reaction speed would be pushed to the peak, and even slightly above, human limits. By the way, I wasn't wearing my glasses. How wonderful it was to have perfect vision again.
I stretched my whole body, happily noting the increased elasticity of my muscles and my overall flexibility. Now I needed to focus on physical training. Finding my phone, I first noticed five missed calls from Mary Jane, then the date. I had slept for more than ten hours, much more, almost forty. This could be the work of the night visitor. But who would want me unconscious for the past day?
No. I couldn't think of anyone.
Alright, let's try a different approach. How could they have done it? Inject me with extra sleeping drugs? I needed a blood test. I would find out what had been slipped into me, and at the same time, check how the serum was working. Wait. What if they had just reduced the amount of solution? Then the changes in my body would have slowed down, and I would have kept sleeping until the process finished or I was woken by an external stimulus, like a draft or hunger. Rushing back to my room and looking around again, I noticed something I had missed before. A syringe was missing. They had drained solution from the IV bag. Bitches. Damn. Now an unknown person had a working sample of the Longevity Formula. Although deciphering the formula itself wouldn't be easy.
Alright, I would deal with that later. I needed to shower and eat. After my shower, while I was making breakfast, I decided to call MJ. She answered immediately and bombarded me with questions. But when she found out I was okay, she calmed down. Soon, she invited herself over. I didn't object. What could be nicer than the attention of a girl you loved?
Meeting Mary Jane on my doorstep, I was rewarded with a sweet kiss from a hot redhead.
"I was worried. Where did you disappear to?" she asked, not letting go of me.
"I was working with Professor Connors, then sleeping," I answered honestly, not specifying that the second had taken much longer. "Come in. I'm just about to have breakfast."
"Inviting me to your place," MJ said playfully. "Brave boy."
"Were you doubting me?" I smirked.
"It's so... empty in here," she noticed, looking around the living room. "There isn't even a TV."
"Yeah, I don't really watch TV," I said absently, setting the table. The old Peter really hadn't been interested in anything. And I hadn't had time to buy a TV in the first few days. "Coffee?"
"Yes, thanks." Mary Jane sat down at the table. "Wait, if you don't have a TV and you've been working or sleeping all the time, then you don't even know what's been happening?" she suddenly exclaimed, making me tense up.
Trying not to show my concern, I asked casually, "Something important?"
"Are you serious? So much has been going on the last couple of days. Damn, you need to see this. Do you have internet? You must have."
I unlocked my phone and tossed it to Mary Jane. She quickly typed something into a video hosting site, pulled her chair close to me, and shoved the phone under my nose.
"Look," she said excitedly. She was beaming, like she was sharing a favorite song or video. She put her arm around my shoulder and pressed close to look at the screen.
I only had time to see her search query.
On shaky iPhone footage, presumably filmed by a random passerby, there was a fight between two supers.
In the middle of the road, surrounded by overturned cars, a huge black monster with sleek, bulging muscles was attacking a nimble figure in a red bodysuit. The monster's mouth, full of razor sharp teeth, let out threatening roars. Its long pink tongue writhed in front of its face.
Venom.
But he shouldn't be here. Where had he come from if Richard had never worked on that project?
This version of the symbiote was different from the one I knew. It had female proportions and more graceful movements. Just lovely. A female Venom was the last thing I needed.
Suddenly, the opponent in the bright red suit failed to dodge a blow from the monster's mighty paw and flew into a nearby car, crushing its interior. Poor thing.
The creature roared in fury, turned toward the crowd of onlookers, then lunged forward, freezing in a threatening pose over a random victim. Its long tongue reached out to a trembling woman in an open dress and slapped wetly across her face, diving into her cleavage.
"So appetizing. I'm a little tired," the creature rumbled in its terrifying voice.
But Venom was wrong. The woman in red wasn't done yet. Apparently, the symbiote was meeting the Bottomless Gullet, the Talkative Mercenary, also known as Lady Deadpool, for the first time.
The swordswoman, who had peeled herself off the car and was creeping up on the distracted monster, approached and then...
"Fuck," escaped my lips.
Venom let out a terrible scream of pain, her whole body arching.
"Oh, believe me, I know how much that hurts," Deadpool said as Venom went silent. She immediately jumped back, leaving both of her sword hilts sticking out of the monster's ass.
The video ended there.
"And this is happening in our city?" I asked.
"Yeah, but that's not all." Mary Jane pulled up the next video.
This time, a professional news camera captured a broken skyscraper window. A woman in office clothes flew out of it, screaming, and fell. Since the video was on a platform with strict censorship policies, I knew she probably wouldn't die. But I wasn't prepared for who saved her. Spider Woman. Gwen caught the falling woman mid air, seemingly out of nowhere, and landed fairly softly on the roof of a news van with her burden. That wasn't a metaphor. Stacy had literally appeared out of thin air.
"Spider Woman," a reporter immediately appeared in the frame. "Can you explain what's happening?"
But then, a battered body in a red suit fell onto the asphalt right next to her. The woman screamed in fear and fell on her ass. Deadpool, groaning and grumbling, got to her feet.
"I broke all my nails. Fuck. Damn skyscrapers. Hey, stop screaming." The mercenary kicked the reporter, with remarkable results.
"Lady Deadpool," the woman said in a hysterical but demanding voice. "Did you push that woman out the window?"
Wow. That was what I called professional dedication.
But Deadpool wouldn't be Deadpool if she hadn't come up with an answer, even in a situation like this.
"You know, it's not the first time people have committed suicide in my presence. And this one even threw herself out a window. What bad luck," the mercenary sighed mournfully.
"Try to make sure they don't do that anymore," Gwen exclaimed, throwing Deadpool some device. "I had to drain it to save her."
"Such a waste." Deadpool shook her head, attaching the device to her belt. Then she looked into the camera and addressed an unknown viewer. "I'm putting this on your tab. Just so you know."
That video ended too. Something inside me clenched with a bad feeling. Gwen was trying to fight Venom without the skills or even webbing.
"Where did he even come from?" I asked myself.
But I got an unexpected answer.
"Who? That black tentacle thing?" Mary Jane, still excited, answered. "People on the forums say it's an alien or a secret military weapon that got out of control."
Right. Aliens. Sure. Black slime people. If aliens had found this planet, Earth would know what an age of crisis was. The universe was a dark forest, full of hidden hunters, each ready to kill the other.
"They say," Mary Jane continued, "it bit off the heads of a whole platoon of soldiers right in the city hospital."
Damn. The hospital. Stans. This couldn't be a coincidence.
"I've missed a lot," I said, finishing my coffee and thinking about what to do.
"Yeah, the whole city is going crazy," Mary Jane confirmed. "It all started with a riot at the university and rumors of a green tailed monster. That's probably where this monster came from. The witness just got the details wrong in his fear."
Seriously? The Lizard too?