Oscorp — Day
Hammerhead had just arrived at Oscorp accompanied by the two men Tombstone had personally chosen to serve as new test subjects.
They had all been taken deep beneath the tower, far from the offices and laboratories accessible to the rest of the staff, into that secret part of the building where Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius conducted their experiments away from prying eyes.Upon discovering the numerous scientific devices surrounding them, Flint Marko looked around with a certain distrust, clearly trying to understand what he had just gotten himself into.
— “What is this place…?”
Norman calmly turned toward him.
Unlike the two men who had just arrived, he seemed perfectly comfortable in this cold and isolated environment.
— “My dear Flint… this place is a secret laboratory, where my assistant Otto Octavius and I conduct experiments designed to make people like you… stronger.”
The moment he finished his sentence, Aleksei reacted.
Much less suspicious than Flint but considerably more impulsive, he immediately interpreted Norman’s words as a provocation and turned toward him aggressively.
— “People like us? What’s that supposed to mean? Are you insulting us?!”
— “Not at all. That wasn’t my intention.”
Norman wasn’t intimidated in the slightest by his change in tone.
He maintained the same calm and measured attitude, carefully choosing his words to turn the situation to his advantage.
— “What I mean is that you’re men rejected by society, who ended up at the very bottom despite having potential no one recognized in time. You’ve had to do things you’re not necessarily proud of… but you had no choice. The world is cruel, and if you want to survive, you have to get your hands dirty. You’re in the best position to know that, aren’t you?”
The speech immediately seemed to have an effect on Aleksei.
All the aggression that had filled his face only seconds earlier gradually faded, replaced by an almost impressed expression.
He moved slightly closer to Flint and leaned toward him to speak in a low voice.
— “Hey Marko, at first I didn’t think I’d like this guy, but actually… it’s the opposite. He figured everything out without me even having to hit him. You see that?”
— “Yeah, that’s true.”
Flint gave him a brief look before turning his attention back toward Norman.
Unlike his friend, a few nice words clearly weren’t enough to make all of his doubts disappear.
More than anything, he wanted to know what this mysterious offer actually involved.
— “So… about this whole making-us-stronger thing, how exactly does it work? What are your experiments?”
Otto, who had remained silent until then, naturally prepared to give them a more precise explanation.
— “Well, actually we…”
Norman, however, subtly raised a hand in his direction, making him understand that he preferred to handle it himself.
Otto immediately stopped, while Norman continued speaking with that same perfectly controlled confidence.
— “You know what? I think actions speak louder than words. And let’s be honest: we don’t have much time. So we might as well get straight to the point. Unless, of course… you’d rather pass up the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Aleksei needed no further argument.
Already convinced by Norman’s words and, above all, attracted by the prospect of becoming more powerful, he immediately turned toward his friend.
— “Yeah, he’s right. Come on, Marko!”
Flint remained hesitant for a few more seconds.
He looked around the laboratory one last time before finally giving in.
— “Yeah… well… it’s not like I’ve got any other options anyway. Let’s do it.”
As the two men seemed ready to go through with it together, Otto immediately stepped in to stop them.
— “Wait! It’s better to do this one at a time. So… who wants to go first?”
Aleksei almost immediately raised his voice, without giving Flint time to answer.
— “Me! I’ll go first!”
A slight smile appeared on Norman’s lips at his enthusiasm.
— “I see you’re motivated, dear Aleksei.”
Otto then pointed toward the metal table installed at the center of the room reserved for experiments.
— “Very well. Lie down on that table.”
Aleksei obeyed without hesitation and lay down on the table before being securely strapped to it.
Once all the restraints had been properly fastened, Otto prepared the device and injected him with a serum containing genetically modified rhinoceros DNA.
Norman, Flint, Hammerhead and Otto then moved behind the thick armored glass separating the observation room from the experimental area, their eyes remaining fixed on Aleksei as they waited to see how his body would react to the injection.
— “So… what exactly are we waiting for?”
Norman didn’t take his eyes off Aleksei.
— “A little patience… Watch: this is the next stage of human evolution.”
A few seconds later, the first effects of the serum appeared.
Aleksei’s body suddenly began to contract beneath the straps holding him down, before his muscles started growing at an astonishing speed.
His limbs thickened, his build gradually became more imposing and his skin hardened as his transformation progressed.
The pain tore several screams from Aleksei while his body continued to deform under the attentive eyes of those watching him from behind the glass.
The table broke beneath his weight, then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the transformation stopped.
And when Aleksei stood back up, he had now become a massive creature with the appearance of a humanoid rhinoceros.
Aleksei spent a few moments staring at his new body before his gaze fell upon his reflection.
His eyes immediately widened and, far from being horrified by what he had become, he instead seemed completely amazed by his transformation.
— “Wooo… I… I turned into a FUCKING RHINO! You see this, Marko?! I’ve even got a horn!”
Flint, on the other hand, didn’t exactly share the same enthusiasm.
Eyes wide, he stared at his friend in disbelief, still unable to believe that a simple injection could have caused such a radical transformation.
— “Holy shit… this is insane…!”
Norman, meanwhile, seemed more fascinated than ever.
His eyes gleamed at the result of the experiment, and his voice almost betrayed the obsession he felt toward the possibilities offered by his research.
— “And that’s not all, my dear Aleksei! From now on, you possess the strength and durability of a rhinoceros. Do you understand? You’ve become far stronger. You are superior to man!”
At those words, Aleksei lowered his eyes toward his massive arms and slightly flexed his new muscles.
The idea of immediately discovering the extent of his power then seemed to take hold of him.
— “Oh hell yeah… fuck, yeah! I gotta test this!”
Carried away by his excitement, Aleksei already began looking around for something on which to test his new strength.
Immediately understanding what he intended to do, Otto hurriedly stepped in before he could attack any of the equipment.
— “NO, NO! DO NOT BREAK THE EQUIPMENT!”
Aleksei froze, surprised by the scientist’s sudden panic.
Otto, meanwhile, felt his heart pounding at the thought of what the laboratory might look like if a creature that powerful actually decided to test its strength on the facilities.
He took a few seconds to regain his composure before continuing in a more measured tone, although a certain concern remained noticeable in his voice.
— “Everything in here is essential! If you break everything, we won’t be able to make your friend more powerful. You can test your new abilities afterward!”
Hammerhead stepped in as well, clearly far less worried than Otto about Aleksei’s destructive enthusiasm.
— “Exactly. Be patient, Aleksei. Once Flint is ready, you’ll have a mission for the Big Boss. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to test your new powers.”
That prospect seemed to be enough to calm Aleksei down.
Norman then turned his attention back to Flint, since the success of this first transformation meant they could now move on to the second experiment.
— “Now that we’re done with Aleksei, let’s move on to the next one. Otto, I’ll give you ten minutes to prepare Flint’s setup.”
Otto nodded slightly, uncomfortable, and already ready to get back to work.
— “Uh… yes, sir.”
Flint, however, continued staring at Aleksei and his new appearance with some hesitation.
Now that he had seen with his own eyes what Oscorp’s experiments could cause, a question naturally came to mind.
— “Uh, by the way… am I gonna turn into a rhino too? Because honestly… I’m not a fan.”
An enigmatic smile appeared on Norman’s face.
He knew perfectly well what was waiting for Flint, but clearly had no intention of ruining the surprise for him.
— “Oh no, no. Yours will be something else. You’ll find out soon enough. But one thing is certain: you will be extremely powerful. That, you can be sure of.”
New York — The Corner Café — Terrace — Day
Peter remained completely frozen in front of Gwen, unable to answer immediately.
Out of all the questions he had imagined while she had been drawing out the suspense a few seconds earlier, this was probably the last one he had expected.
For a moment, he almost searched her face for some sign that she was joking, but his friend’s serious expression showed nothing of the sort.
— “She… did she really just ask me if I’m Spider-Man…? No… she can’t be serious. She has to be joking…”
Caught completely off guard and not knowing how else to react, Peter suddenly burst out laughing.
Yet there was nothing natural about that laugh: it was mostly an awkward reflex meant to hide the discomfort that had just taken hold of him.
— “Me? Spider-Man? Very funny, Gwen.”
But the more Peter tried to laugh off the situation, the more he realized that Gwen had absolutely no intention of doing the same.
She wasn’t smiling and she wasn’t even looking away.
Her gaze remained fixed on him with a seriousness that gradually made Peter’s smile disappear.
— “I’m not joking, Peter. I’m seriously asking you.”
Peter’s laughter died completely.
He immediately felt the tension return, but forced himself not to show anything and adopted a defensive attitude, as though the very idea that Gwen could suspect him seemed completely absurd.
— “Wait… do you realize what you’re saying? You seriously think I fly through the air shooting webs?!”
Despite his apparent disbelief, Peter could already feel his mind racing.
He had to be careful with every reaction, because he knew that the slightest suspicious behavior could strengthen Gwen’s doubts.
— “Breathe. Act natural.”
— “Looking at you, you’d never guess it, I’ll give you that. But I know you, Peter. We’ve known each other forever, and I didn’t start having this doubt right away. It’s since Spider-Man showed up that I noticed you changing. The others might not have noticed it the way I did, but it clearly wasn’t normal. You changed physically and in the way you act. I had this feeling that something was off, without being able to explain it.”
Peter listened carefully without interrupting her.
So far, nothing she had said actually counted as proof.
Gwen had simply noticed certain changes in him and connected them to Spider-Man’s appearance.
He tried to hold on to that thought to calm the nervousness rising inside him.
— “Okay… it’s fine. They’re just assumptions…”
Gwen, however, leaned slightly toward him, as though she had anticipated exactly what he might be thinking.
— “And that’s not all…!”
At those few words, the little relief Peter had just felt immediately disappeared.
— “…Shit.”
— “One day, Spider-Man saved me and told me I had a nice smile. At the time, I remembered that you had told me the same thing, in the exact same way. And when I saw you in class, you had injuries on your hand similar to the ones Spider-Man had when he helped me. And you disappear without ever explaining where you’re going. Harry eventually gave up on it, but I couldn’t. Ever since the recent incident, my doubts have only gotten stronger.”
This time, Peter could no longer simply dismiss Gwen’s suspicions as a theory built around some vague coincidence.
Without even realizing it, he had left behind an accumulation of small clues that, taken separately, probably meant nothing, but once put together by someone who knew him as well as she did, were beginning to form a much more worrying picture.
— “Okay… maybe I was careless at times. But for her to figure all of this out… that’s terrifying.”
Gwen’s gaze softened slightly.
Behind her curiosity, Peter could now see something much more sincere: concern.
— “You know, you can trust me. I won’t tell anyone. It’s just that I can’t get this idea out of my head and I’m worried about you. Before, we used to tell each other everything… but now, I feel like you’re hiding something from me.”
— “Should I tell her? No… I can’t. It would put her in danger.”
Gwen waited another moment, clearly hoping to get an answer.
Faced with Peter’s silence, she finally decided to ask him the question again.
— “Peter… I’m asking you again. Are you…”
However, she didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence.
A sudden vibration from Peter’s phone interrupted the conversation.
He instinctively looked down at the screen and discovered an alert picked up from the police frequencies.
His expression changed immediately.
Something was happening in the city and, as uncomfortable as the timing was, he knew he couldn’t simply ignore it.
— “Saved by the timing! I feel bad leaving Gwen but… I have to go.”
Peter looked back up at her, visibly uncomfortable with what he was about to do.
— “Gwen, I…”
— “You have to go, don’t you?”
Peter lowered his head awkwardly.
— “…Yeah.”
The disappointment was visible on Gwen’s face, but she didn’t try to stop him.
— “Okay. Go.”
Peter remained in front of her for another brief moment.
After the day they had just spent together and especially the conversation he was abandoning halfway through, leaving like this made him feel as though he were confirming every suspicion she had just laid out to him.
— “…Sorry.”
He eventually stood up from his chair and walked away from the terrace.
After a few steps, he gradually picked up his pace before blending into the bustle of the street and disappearing among the crowd.
Gwen remained alone at their table, her drink in front of her and her gaze fixed in the direction he had gone.
Peter’s lack of an answer had only fueled her questions even further, but beyond her suspicions, what hurt her most was the distance that seemed to be slowly growing between them.
— “Peter… why won’t you tell me the truth…?”
New York — New York Central Bank — Day
Peter arrived at the scene as quickly as he could and discovered a street completely sealed off by law enforcement.
Several police cars formed a wide security perimeter around the bank while the officers, positioned behind their vehicles, remained on alert because of the threat located a little farther away.
The tension was palpable, but Peter quickly spotted a now-familiar figure among the police officers: Captain George Stacy.
Without wasting a second, he discreetly approached before slipping behind the police car where Gwen’s father had taken cover.
— “Mr. Stacy!”
George immediately turned his head in his direction and his expression relaxed slightly when he recognized the masked hero.
— “Ah, there you are! Always showing up when needed, huh?”
— “Gotta support my teammate! So what do we have today?”
George quickly became serious again and gestured with his head toward the street stretching out in front of them, where the ones responsible for all the chaos were still waiting.
— “Well… a rhinoceros man and a guy who manipulates sand, apparently.”
For a few seconds, Spider-Man remained silent, convinced he had misheard because the description sounded absurd, even to him.
— “Huh…? No, seriously?!”
— “I’m very serious. And on top of that, they’re looking for you.”
At that detail, Peter immediately understood what all of this could mean and let out a deeply annoyed sigh.
— “I don’t believe this…”
George gave him a questioning look.
— “What? What’s wrong?”
— “I bet it’s Tombstone again. That guy wants my head, and every time he fails, he creates more monsters to come after me.”
As if to confirm his suspicions, an extremely powerful voice suddenly rang out in the distance and echoed throughout the entire street, loud enough to immediately attract the attention of every police officer present.
— “SPIDER-MAAAAAN! WHERE ARE YOUUUUU?!”
Peter closed his eyes for a moment beneath his mask, already feeling his patience running out even though he hadn’t even seen his new opponents yet.
He growled in annoyance.
George, meanwhile, didn’t let himself get distracted and immediately resumed his professional attitude.
He knew his men probably wouldn’t be able to face individuals with abilities like these on their own, but he had no intention of letting Spider-Man fight without support.
— “Go. My men and I will cover your back. If things go bad, we’ll be there.”
Spider-Man turned his head slightly toward him.
— “That’s reassuring. Thank you, Mr. Stacy.”
— “Don’t thank me, Peter. It’s just my job.”
Peter immediately tensed and instinctively looked around to make sure none of the nearby police officers had heard what George had just said.
— “Uh… please avoid saying my name when I’m wearing the suit.”
George immediately realized his mistake and gave a small embarrassed smile.
— “Oh right, damn! Sorry!”
A little farther away, one of the two criminals was clearly beginning to lose patience.
His body, made entirely of sand, stood in the middle of the damage caused throughout the street while he searched for their target.
— “Alright, where is this Spider-Man?”
A voice answered him almost immediately from the other side of the perimeter.
— “Right here!”
Everyone turned toward him as Spider-Man left the protection of the police vehicles and slowly advanced toward his opponents.
Despite the situation and the clearly abnormal abilities of the two criminals, he maintained his usual attitude and walked toward them with almost provocative confidence.
— “You can also call me Web-Head, the Web-Slinger or the—”
He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence.
Without warning, the sandman’s arm suddenly changed shape and a huge mass formed at its end until it took the appearance of a gigantic hammer.
The improvised weapon immediately came crashing down on Spider-Man, who felt his Spider-Sense warn him and jumped aside just before the hammer pulverized the ground where he had been standing.
— “A sand hammer?! This is insane!”
The sandman, however, gave him no time to breathe and immediately continued his attack.
His enormous hammer-shaped arm slammed down repeatedly around Spider-Man, each impact striking the pavement hard enough to crack it.
Peter chained together dodges, using his agility to stay out of reach, but while he focused all of his attention on the barrage of attacks, his opponent suddenly used his other arm to grab him.
The sandy matter closed around his body before he could escape, holding him firmly in place.
— “Shit!”
Now that he had their target, the sandman immediately turned his head toward his partner and yelled at him to attack.
— “Go, man, your turn! Charge!”
Rhino had clearly been waiting for that.
The gigantic brute positioned himself in front of Spider-Man before planting his feet against the ground, ready to charge with all the power of his new body.
— “Here we go! I’m gonna make a spider kebab out of him!”
He launched himself straight ahead and quickly picked up speed, each of his steps making the pavement tremble slightly as he charged directly toward Spider-Man, who was still trapped in the sandman’s grip.
Seeing the brute getting dangerously close, George immediately understood that he couldn’t wait any longer and ordered his men to intervene.
— “Everyone! Fire!”
The police officers immediately came out from behind their cover and opened fire in unison.
A rain of bullets struck both criminals, hitting Rhino during his charge as well as his sand partner who was still holding Spider-Man prisoner, while the brute kept charging straight toward them anyway.
— “You dare shoot me?! Me?! The great Rhino?!”
The brute’s charge stopped almost immediately.
Clearly far more offended that the police had dared open fire on him than actually affected by their bullets, Rhino turned toward them with a deeply indignant expression.
— “Rhino, forget it! They can’t do anything to us! Focus on the mission!”
— “But they shot me!”
— “Who gives a shit?! Your skin is invulnerable, did you forget?!”
Rhino remained silent for a brief second, as though he had only just remembered that very important detail.
— “Oh yeah, that’s true…!”
Still trapped by Marko’s sandy arm, Spider-Man watched their exchange with some disbelief before using their distraction to discreetly begin freeing himself.
— “You two really talk a lot, you know that?”
While the two criminals were busy arguing, Peter finally managed to free his right arm from the sandman’s grip.
Without wasting a second, he raised his web-shooter and fired directly at Rhino.
The web struck him right in the face and immediately covered his eyes, completely blinding him.
Peter then turned his wrist toward a fire hydrant located right beside Marko, attached another web to it and pulled with all his strength until it suddenly broke loose.
A powerful jet of water immediately burst out and struck the sandman head-on.
Soaked within seconds, his body began losing density and the grip holding Peter weakened enough for him to break free.
Spider-Man immediately went on the offensive and threw himself at Marko, taking advantage of his condition to land several successive blows without giving him time to regain a solid enough form to fight back.
— “And to finish this… take that!”
Peter ended his combo with one final particularly powerful strike that sent Marko flying directly onto the damaged fire hydrant.
The stream of water then continued spraying him without interruption, completely soaking his sandy body until his structure became unstable.
Marko tried to get back up and regain a solid appearance, but his matter kept deforming under the effect of the water and prevented him from properly regaining control of his body.
— “Nooo! Seriously, is this a joke?!”
Spider-Man stepped back slightly when he realized his opponent was now unable to continue fighting.
— “Alright… he’s dealt with.”
However, the very moment he thought he could catch his breath for a few seconds, his Spider-Sense suddenly went off.
Peter barely had time to understand where the danger was coming from before Rhino came charging from behind and slammed into him with phenomenal force.
The impact ripped Spider-Man off the ground and sent him flying through the bank’s doors, which he smashed through before crashing heavily inside the building, directly onto a massive pile of cash.
Still slightly dazed, Peter pushed himself up in the middle of the impressive amount of money and couldn’t stop his gaze from lingering for a few moments on the stacks surrounding him.
— “All this money… damn, I could buy so much stuff with this…!”
Rhino’s thunderous voice suddenly echoed from the entrance of the bank and immediately snapped Peter out of his thoughts.
— “Still alive?! Here I come!”
The brute launched into another charge and rushed straight toward him.
Peter immediately rolled to the side to avoid the impact, then jumped against a wall before propelling himself up to the ceiling, where he clung just as Rhino tore through the spot where he had been standing only seconds earlier.
Carried forward by his momentum, Rhino continued for several meters before slowing down and looking around, unable to understand where his target had disappeared to.
— “Huh? Where the hell did you go?!”
Still clinging to the ceiling directly above him, Spider-Man leaned slightly down to get his attention.
— “I’m right here! Helloooooo…!”
Rhino immediately looked up and his expression twisted into a frustrated grimace when he spotted the spider hanging above him.
— “Damn it, what the hell are you doing up there?! Get down here!”
Instead of obeying him, Peter pushed off from the ceiling and suddenly launched himself in his direction.
— “Awesome, rodeo time! YEEHAAAAA!”
He landed directly on Rhino’s back and firmly grabbed onto his horns before the brute had time to react.
Furious, Rhino immediately started running in every direction in an attempt to throw him off, but Spider-Man instead used his strength and movements to gradually steer his trajectory.
Unable to stop once he had reached full speed, Rhino smashed through several walls under Peter’s forced guidance until Spider-Man finally managed to direct him straight toward the bank vault.
The brute violently burst through the entrance and, by the time he realized where Spider-Man had led him, Peter had already jumped off his back.
He rushed toward the massive armored door and used all his strength to close it before Rhino could get back out, permanently trapping the brute inside the vault.
— “AAAAHHH, LET ME THE FUCK OUT!”
The moment the armored door closed, extremely violent blows began echoing from inside the vault.
Rhino was striking with all the power he had, making the heavy structure tremble slightly with every impact, but without the momentum needed to fully use his strength, he was unable to break through a door designed to withstand attacks far more powerful than a simple point-blank strike.
— “You might be a rhino, but without momentum, good luck breaking through that door!”
Satisfied that his plan was working, Spider-Man didn’t waste any more time inside the bank and quickly left the building.
Once outside, he found George Stacy in the middle of the security perimeter, where several police officers were already beginning to regain control of the situation after the chaos caused by the two criminals.
— “Alright, the two idiots are out of commission. Well… one of them is locked inside the vault, so uh… by the way, how are you planning to keep them imprisoned? I mean, size-wise… they’re pretty impressive.”
George quickly glanced toward the bank before thinking for a few moments.
With abilities as abnormal as theirs, it was obvious that ordinary cells wouldn’t be enough to hold individuals like the ones they had just fought.
— “We’re sending them to Ryker. It’s clearly the prison with the best chance of containing people like them. We’ll just have to… build cells specifically for them.”
Peter remained silent for a moment.
After already seeing Shocker mysteriously escape an arrest, the idea of trusting a prison with these two new opponents wasn’t entirely reassuring.
— “Hopefully that actually keeps them locked up…”
Now that the threat had been neutralized, George seemed to relax slightly and his attention shifted away from work for a few seconds.
A small smile appeared on his face when he remembered what Gwen had told him the day before.
— “So, how did your outing with Gwen go? She told me you invited her out, just the two of you.”
Caught off guard by the sudden change of subject, Peter stiffened slightly beneath his suit.
— “Oh, that…”
The events of the afternoon immediately came back to him.
He thought about the time he had spent with Gwen, their trip to the movie theater, but especially that conversation on the terrace and the question she had asked him just before his phone vibrated.
The memory of his sudden departure was enough to erase the smile he’d had only a few minutes earlier.
— “It was… good. But I had to leave suddenly to come here. I kind of feel like I let her down…”
George immediately understood what was bothering Peter and his expression softened.
His tone momentarily lost all the authority of a police captain and became almost that of a father simply trying to reassure a teenager.
— “Peter, you just stopped two criminals from causing chaos. Don’t feel guilty. Gwen is smart and she knows you. She knows that if you left like that, it must’ve been important.”
— “Yeah… well, about that…”
Peter was about to explain what had happened between Gwen and him when a female police officer hurried toward them, interrupting their conversation before he could go any further.
— “Captain Stacy!”
George immediately turned toward her, instantly returning to his professional attitude.
— “Yes? What is it?”
— “There’s a call for you. Yuri Watanabe wants to speak with you about a case… It has something to do with someone called the ‘Big Boss’, or ‘Tombstone’, I think.”
The moment that name was spoken, every other concern disappeared from Peter’s mind.
He immediately straightened up and turned all his attention toward the police officer, surprised that a new lead concerning the man he had been searching for since their first encounter had appeared so suddenly.
— “Tombstone…?! You found information on him?!”
George turned his head toward Spider-Man and, faced with his obvious eagerness, a slight smile appeared on his face.
— “Not me… but my colleague did!”
TO BE CONTINUED.