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Peter POV:
School ended, but the whispers hadn't. Everywhere I walked, I could feel the eyes on me, following the faint glow of the Sandevistan through my T-shirt. It was weird being the center of attention, I wasn't used to it and I didn't like it. Gwen, of course handled it better, casually flipping her hair like none of it mattered. Of course, she's been popular her entire life but me not much.
When we walked out the front doors, a black-and-white NYPD cruiser pulled up to the curb. Lieutenant George Stacy leaned across the passenger seat, motioning us over.
"Kids. Ride's waiting. Don't make me hit the siren."
Gwen groaned. "Dad, seriously? Couldn't you just wait at home like a normal parent?"
"Normal parents don't pick up their daughter and her glowing… friend." He said, squinting at me as I climbed in the back seat.
The car hummed with silence for a moment before Lieutenant Stacy glanced at me in the rearview mirror.
"So, Parker." He started, eyes narrowing, " You mind telling me what that weird, glowy thing latched onto your back is? Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like something that crawled out of Area 51."
I kept my tone light. "It's a medical implant. Helps me walk. Nothing alien, nothing dangerous. Definitely not radioactive."
" Yeah right. If that's a harmless medical implant then my gun's a squirt gun." He muttered. "It pulses like a nightclub sign. You sure you didn't get abducted by little green men and forget to mention it?"
Gwen facepalmed. "Dad…"
He ignored her. "Could be Stark tech, maybe. Or Oscorp. Hell, maybe Parker's secretly working as a sidekick. I wouldn't put it past this city."
"Trust me, Lieutenant," I said, fighting a grin, "if I was working as a sidekick, you'd already be captured by Spider-Woman for excessive dad jokes."
That earned a sharp elbow in my ribs from Gwen. "Shut up." She hissed under her breath.
But her dad kept going, like a train without brakes. "Speaking of which, Spider-Woman… I'm this close—" He pinched his fingers together dramatically, "—this close to catching her. Just a matter of time. She swings around my district like she owns the place. Rookie mistake."
Gwen slouched lower in her seat. "Dad, please don't."
"She's either a gymnast, an acrobat or possibly an alien spider hybrid." He continued. "Maybe a failed Oscorp experiment. Or hear me out three kids in a trench coat using high-tension wires."
"Or maybe," I said innocently, " you really don't know just how close you are to catching her."
WHAM. Gwen's elbow met my ribs again. Harder this time. I wheezed but tried not to laugh.
Lieutenant Stacy frowned at me through the mirror. "What's that supposed to mean, Parker?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," I said quickly, rubbing my side. "Just… sounded like a fun line. Don't read into it."
Gwen glared at me. Her cheeks were red, but her lips twitched like she was trying not to smile.
The cruiser rolled on through the noisy streets of New York, the air thick with awkward silence and the faint hum of my Sandevistan.
Cutaway
Far from the warmth of the bustling city, in the damp belly of the New York sewers, Dr. Curt Connors stood over a cracked lab bench cobbled from scavenged equipment. Vials glimmered faint green under the weak light of a hanging bulb.
His voice trembled as he recorded notes.
"Trial six. Serum bonding efficiency: forty-seven percent. Genetic rejection: unstable. But… progress. Always progress."
He rolled up his sleeve, revealing the scarred stump where his right arm used to be. His hand shook as he held the injector.
"One more test. Just one more."
The needle plunged. The serum burned through his veins like fire. His breathing grew ragged. Fingernails dug into the bench until the wood cracked.
Scales rippled faintly along his neck. His pupils narrowed to thin slits.
Dr. Connors gritted his teeth, sweat pouring down his forehead. "For science… for wholeness… for me."
Somewhere in the darkness of the sewers, the water stirred.
Back in the Cruiser
Lieutenant Stacy pulled up to the curb outside the Parker house. "Alright, kids. Out. And Parker… don't let that glowing spine of yours start shooting lasers in my precinct."
"Wouldn't dream of it, chief." I said.
As Gwen and I climbed out, she leaned close, whispering, "You're lucky he didn't catch on."
I grinned. "Lucky or just good at playing dumb."
She elbowed me one last time, but softer this time. "Don't push it, cyber-dork."
And we walked up the steps, both of us pretending the world wasn't about to get a lot more complicated.
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