I stayed up till 6 AM finishing this!!! Leave a comment if you want more!
_______
The bus ride full of high school students was like any other bus ride… nosy and full of hormonal teenagers.
Of course, just like any typical American bus ride, the bus was separated into two groups, the front and back.
The back was full of what many would label as extroverts, or popular kids if you will, making up for most of the noise. While the front of the bus was much quieter, sure, you have three or four people talk once and a while but you wouldn't have to strain your ears to hear the person next to you talk.
Which was why Pete was currently glaring daggers at him all the way from the front as he sat between two very cute girls, the two girls being Gwen Stacy and Jessica Campbell.
How could he ever call himself a bro if he stopped his besto friendo from having two cute girls all to himself the whole bus ride?
Taka gave Pete a wink while throwing a thumbs up, getting an even more heated glare, before turning away when he felt someone tapping his arm to get his attention.
"He sure is glaring at you, huh? Did you do something to him?" The black haired girl who randomly decided to sit next to him asked, getting a confused look from him.
He's been meaning to memorize names and faces of everyone in school, but he's been so busy that he never got around to it, unfortunately.
Not to mention the fact that some characters, like Jessica for example who he had met yesterday, didn't even remotely look like how she usually looked in the comics.
"...I'm sorry, do I know you?" He rubbed the back of his head, trying his best to recall who she was but was coming up blank.
She giggled before bringing her hand up for a handshake which he awkwardly took with a raised brow.
"Cindy Moon, and you don't have to introduce yourself, everyone knows who you are."
She smiled up at him while he had a moment of sudden realization when hearing her name before looking her up and down, a smile growing.
Looks like Pete was going to get himself an Asian baddie!
"Nice to meetcha, Cindy! And to answer your question I just gave my best bud a little push in the right direction is all!" He told her, causing her to giggle into her hand.
"I feel like there's a double meaning to that but I'll let that slide for now."
They let a comfortable silence fall between them as they idly listened to the white noise that was the bus.
Taka leaned back in his seat, stretching his arms before glancing out the bus window, watching familiar streets slide past. After a moment, he turned back to Cindy, tilting his head with casual curiosity.
"So," he said, tapping the edge of the seat with one finger, "what made you sign up for the Oscorp trip anyway? Don't tell me you're secretly into corporate field trips."
She laughed softly, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder.
"I mean… kind of? I like science. Biochemistry, mostly, but don't get me wrong I'm not really a science geek or anything that's my dad. And Oscorp has some pretty impressive research divisions, so I figured it'd be cool to actually see a lab instead of just reading about it."
"Huh," Taka nodded, genuinely listening. "That's fair, beats staring at textbooks and pretending you understand them."
"Exactly," she said before quietly mumbling. "Plus, it gets me out of class for a day."
Which he heard.
"Now that's the real reason," Taka grinned teasingly, getting a slap on the shoulder from her.
They fell into easy small talk after that, talking about teachers who took themselves way too seriously, the cafeteria's ongoing war against edible food, which classes were survivable and which ones felt like psychological endurance tests.
Cindy had a quiet humor to her, quick with dry comments that would give Pete a run for his money.
They would be perfect together!
A few minutes passed before she glanced at him sideways, eyes thoughtful.
"So… what about you?" she turned to him, wanting to hear his answer. "What does the Bully Ass Kicker 9000 wanna do after high school?"
Ha! He knew that name was going to stick around!
Taka didn't even bother to think before answering her question.
"Get fucking rich," he said immediately with full confidence in himself and his words.
Cindy blinked at how fast that was.
"And not that lame millionaire bullshit," he continued, completely serious. "I'm talking Scrooge Mc-fuckin-Duck rich. Vault of gold coins and swim-through-my-money type rich."
His face was dead serious as he said this.
She burst out laughing, clapping a hand over her mouth as she tried, and failed, to hold it in.
"Oh my god, you're ridiculous!"
"Psh! You laugh now but you won't be laughing as I swim through my vast amount of wealth," he replied smoothly, puffing out his chest like a peacock.
She shook her head, still smiling as she looked at him while wiping away tears. "Okay, okay. Fair enough."
Then he nudged him lightly with her elbow.
"What about you, then?" he hummed, raising a delicate brow. "What's the grand plan, Miss Cindy Moon?"
She leaned back in her seat, gaze drifting toward the front of the bus as she thought about it.
"I don't know," she admitted. "Something science-related, maybe, but I don't really know… I just want to help people in a way that doesn't involve… you know, swimming in gold coins."
"Coward," Taka teased with a smirk. "I'll have you know me swimming in gold means big ass funding for anything that I find worth spending fat stacks of money on!"
She laughed again, softer this time. "Maybe, but I think I'd be happy if I could just do something that matters and be able to help people."
He hummed, nodding once, before humming twice.
"Yeah, that's fair too."
He wondered how Pete was doing on his end… probably laying down the Parker charm! That's his fucking boy right there!
_____
Gwen watched the scenery blur past the bus window, brick buildings giving way to stretches of road she'd seen a hundred times before.
Normally, she'd have her nose buried in her phone or her headphones in, but today her attention kept drifting back to the uncomfortable bubble she was currently stuck in.
Peter sat beside her, stiff as a board, glasses slightly askew from how often he'd adjusted them. His eyes, however, were very much not on the window or on either of the girls next to him.
His gaze was locked on the back of Taka's head like sheer force of will might set him on fire.
On Peter's other side was Jessica, who Peter introduced to each other earlier in a rush of nervous words and half-gestures, and since then… nothing. Not a single conversation starter. Just the three of them sitting in silence, marinating in secondhand awkwardness.
Gwen shifted slightly in her seat and glanced toward Jessica.
The girl was currently face deep in a book.
The book was currently upside down.
Jessica's eyes flicked across the page in slow, exaggerated motions, as if she were deeply invested in whatever the inverted text supposedly said.
Gwen had to bite back a smile at that. She recognized that move, please don't perceive me, I am doing a reading, and it was painfully obvious.
She glanced back at Peter, hoping, praying, that he'd finally break the ice.
He wasn't, too busy promising murder.
…Alright, fine, if no one else was going to do it…
Gwen straightened slightly and leaned forward just enough to make her presence felt.
"So," she said, voice light but deliberate, "what are you guys most excited to see at Oscorp?"
Both Peter and Jessica flinched, like the silence had shattered instead of gently cracked.
Jessica blinked as if coming back to reality, eyes widening a fraction before she looked down at her book.
Slowly, she rotated it the right way up, blushing as she hoped no one noticed.
Gwen bit the inside of her cheek to hold back from laughing.
Jessica cleared her throat and glanced up, meeting Gwen's eyes with a sheepish smile.
"Uh, right! O-Oscorp." She thought for a moment, fingers tightening around the book's spine. "I guess… the labs? I heard they've got some cutting-edge technology stuff. Way more advanced than anything everyone has."
Peter's head snapped toward her immediately.
"Same! I heard that they were experimenting with a device that uses radiation to see how it can cure genetic diseases," he excitedly said, interest bleeding into his voice before he could stop it as the two girls paid rapid attention. "I-I mean, yeah, that's, that's really cool. I'm also excited to see the… technology stuff."
Gwen hid a smile behind her hand while Jessica's eyes lit up a little as if finding gold.
Peter rubbed the back of his neck, cheeks warming at the sudden attention he was receiving.
The tension in the air was easing, slowly bit by bit, and it was all thanks to her!
She leaned back in her seat, satisfied.
Gwen glanced between them, a hint of mischief in her eyes. "So! I know Peter's thing is science, you got anything to share with the class?"
Jessica tucked a strand of short hair behind her ear, her face red as she looked away.
"K-Kinda drawing a blank," she admitted softly while looking at her. "Can I get a minute to think about it?"
"Sure! But don't feel forced to answer! I just wanted us to get to know each other a little more since Pete here thinks that just knowing each other's names is enough!"
"Cut me some slack! It's usually Taka who does all the talking while I piggy back off him," Peter grumbled while frowning at her.
"Spoken like someone who needs to socialize more," Gwen countered with a light elbow nudge, wagging her eyebrows.
Peter rolled his eyes. "Says you."
"Well, I guess I should go while you think about it." She shrugged. "While science is cool and all, what I'm really interested in is the acoustics~ "
Parker tilted his head quizzily before asking. "Acoustics?"
Gwen' s fingers tapped a quick rhythm on her knee before she answered with a happy smile.
"I drum."
"Wait, seriously?" Peter's surprise was evident. "I didn't know your in mar-"
"Not marching band stuff," she clarified while rolling her eyes, already knowing what he was about to say. "Like in a proper rock band kind of drums! Where we play actual music!"
Pete gave her a deadpan look at the diss she made to their school's marching band.
"That's pretty awesome," Jessica said, with genuine admiration in her voice but the admiration came with something else that Gwen couldn't quite put her finger on. "I'd trip over my own limbs trying that."
"Now that I told you mine, you mind telling me yours?" Gwen excitedly asked, leaning forward slightly to hear her better.
Jessica chewed her lip before taking a deep breath and finally answering in a slight mumble.
"B-Books, mysteries especially, the kind where everyone's hiding something and you feel personally betrayed when you miss the clues leading to the climax of the story."
Peter perked up and began nodding with a smile. "Those are the absolute worst, I always have to go back to see what I missed and facepalming at how obvious everything was."
"Hehe! Same, but I for one just enjoy the feeling of every character being a suspect and you having no idea who's guilty until the very end!" Gwen joined in giving her two cents.
"Right?" Jessica's laugh was soft but real, getting more comfortable with each passing second. "That's exactly why I love them."
As the three of them talked about their love for mysteries, the bus lurched over a pothole, making them all grab for stability.
When they settled, Gwen straightened, her face suddenly serious. This caused her two seatmates to stiffen up. "Alright, critical question time! Music preferences! This determines your entire worth as human beings."
Jessica breathed out a sigh of relief, her entire body relaxing before seriously, teasingly, saying.
"That's a lot riding on one question, you sure you wanna know?"
She responded in kind.
"I can't be friends with people with terrible taste in music, I have a reputation to maintain in the music industry after all~"
The two girls were stone faced serious for all of five seconds before falling into a giggling mess, unable to hold back their laughter for any longer.
Peter sat quietly between them and silently smiled, simply enjoying the atmosphere.
"I mostly listen to whatever my aunt plays around the house," Peter admitted after a moment of thinking. "Or whatever Taka's blasting when we work out."
Gwen stared at him flatly at his rather lame answer. "You're really going to make me work for this friendship, huh?"
"I'm worse," Jessica confessed, bringing the book up to her face so that she couldn't look them in the eye. "I basically just consume audiobooks and listen to whatever songs they play in the background."
She looked at the two of them, stunned by what she heard, this is who she called her friends?
"You're both completely hopeless," Gwen declared with an exaggerated sigh causing the other two to laugh. "...but I suppose it's my duty as your friend to properly educate you both on good proper music!"
She immediately pulled out her phone and headphones, looking at the two uneducated fools with gleaming eyes.
Parker and Campbell simply closed their eyes and accepted their fate.
_______
[Daily Chaos Gatcha is now Rolling…]
[Common Empty Pokeball]
Taka waved goodbye to Cindy as she went to join up with her friends, leaving him alone as he looked around the large crowd of students for his best mate.
He didn't have to look long seeing as he spotted his best bud pushing his way through the crowd to get to him.
The rather muscular teen grinned wide as Pete finally broke free of the crowd, looking mildly disheveled like he'd just survived a low-stakes apocalypse.
"Benji! How's it going, mate? Had a nice bus ride sitting between two cute gir—oh who am I kidding? Of course you did!"
Peter stopped short in front of him and immediately scowled at the nickname.
"Don't call me Benji and what was that yesterday? You can't just push me into people just so I can interact with them! Also why have you been avoiding me?!"
Because he's been busy getting everything ready!
"Oh relax," Taka waved him off, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "You made a friend out of it didn't ya?"
Peter shoved his hand away, cheeks already warming, refusing to admit he was right.
Taka gasped, placing a hand over his chest like he'd been mortally wounded.
"Wow! Hurtful! Here I am, giving you prime real estate, and watching you enjoy yourself while sitting between two girls, and this is the thanks I get? Ungrateful!"
"I was not-" Peter cut himself off, glancing around quickly before lowering his voice. "It wasn't like that."
"Oh?" Taka leaned in, grin sharpening as he noticed his reddening face. "Because from where I was sitting, it looked exactly like that."
Peter sighed, rubbing his face, already tired of his nonsense which was a new record!
"It was just… talking, Taka. Normal talking."
"Mhm," Taka nodded sagely. "Let me guess, it was awkward at first?"
Peter hesitated, unsure of where he was going with this, before nodding.
"Then slightly less awkward?"
Another pause.
"And then you're suddenly enjoying yourself the longer time went on?"
…
…
…
The silence was deafening, only breaking when hearing the teacher called for all students to follow him as they entered Oscorps.
"...I hate it when you're right." Pete grumbled before following the crowd.
He simply smirked before putting his arm around his best bud as they went to meet their destiny!
With Great Power Comes Great Big Booty Bitches after all!
______
The moment they stepped inside Oscorp, the noise level dropped by half.
It wasn't because the students suddenly became well-behaved, far from it, but because the building itself commanded attention.
High ceilings arched overhead, all glass and polished steel, sunlight pouring in through massive windows that made the place feel less like an office and more like a cathedral dedicated to corporate science.
Everything gleamed, even the floors looked expensive enough to judge you for scuffing them.
A woman in a crisp green-and-white blazer clapped her hands together, drawing the group's attention.
"Alright everyone, welcome to Oscorp Industries," she said, her smile practiced but not unfriendly. "I'm Dr. Reyes, and I'll be your guide for today. Please stay with the group and, yes, I will notice if you wander off."
A few students snickered, which their teacher heard as they glared at them, shutting them up.
Taka, meanwhile, was already scanning the room like a man hunting buried treasure.
Glass-walled labs lined the corridor, each one packed with equipment that looked straight out of a sci-fi movie.
Robotic arms sat idle behind safety barriers, banks of monitors scrolled through data that meant nothing to most of the students gawking at them. Scientists in lab coats moved with focused purpose, barely sparing the tour a glance.
Dr. Reyes gestured as they walked, making sure to do her job as well as any tour guide could.
"Oscorp currently operates across several divisions, biomedical research, advanced materials, applied energy solutions, and experimental technologies. What you'll see today is only a small fraction of our ongoing projects."
Some students leaned in, whispering excitedly, others were already bored, phones discreetly pulled out, thumbs moving at lightning speed.
Taka wasn't listening to a word, but he was paying attention.
"Okay," he thought, eyes darting from lab to lab. "Where are you hiding it?"
Spider or machine anything even remotely related to what turned Peter into Spider-man.
They passed a lab filled with glowing green liquid suspended in cylindrical containers and for a moment he thought he noticed something move.
Taka's head snapped toward it.
…Nothing.
Another room showcased prosthetic limbs mounted on sleek frames, wires and servos exposed.
Shit was fucking cool but it wasn't it.
"Here we have our regenerative tissue trials," Dr. Reyes continued, unaware that one student was internally vibrating. "Still in early stages, but promising."
Taka nodded enthusiastically, like he understood, while mentally screaming, "SHOW ME THE FUCKING SPIDER!!!"
They moved deeper into the facility. The air felt cooler here, more sterile, and the chatter thinned as the guide's voice echoed slightly against reinforced walls.
Then he saw it.
A large chamber sat behind reinforced glass, isolated from the others. Inside was a circular platform surrounded by articulated mechanical arms, each tipped with needles, scanners, and emitters. Thick cables ran from the arms into a central control unit pulsing with a faint blue-white glow. Warning symbols were plastered along the glass in bold red.
RADIATION HAZARD.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
His heart skipped a beat.
Oh… Holy shit that was it!
He didn't know how he knew, just that he did. The size was right, the setup was right, and the ominous "this will definitely ruin someone's life" energy was absolutely right.
His grin stretched so wide it almost hurt.
Dr. Reyes stopped the group just short of the chamber.
"And here," she said, clearly proud, "is one of Oscorp's more advanced experimental platforms."
"YES," Taka thought, barely containing himself.
"This system is designed to expose biological samples to controlled levels of radiation," the guide continued, "allowing us to observe accelerated mutation, cellular adaptation, and—"
Taka leaned forward, pressing his hands lightly against the glass, eyes scanning every inch of the room.
No spider.
Not yet.
But he didn't care.
Because the machine was here which meant the spider would also be here as well.
"That thing looks dangerous," someone whispered to their friend looking at the machine with nervous eyes.
"That's because it is," Dr. Reyes replied calmly but her tone was completely serious. "Which is why it's currently inactive. Safety protocols are our highest priority."
Taka's eyes twitched.
Inactive, she said.
For now, his brain supplied gleefully.
He glanced over his shoulder instinctively, spotting Pete a few steps back standing beside Gwen and Jessica, listening intently.
"T-minus however long until destiny," Taka thought with a smile.
Dr. Reyes gestured toward the control unit. "This machine has applications in medicine, genetics, and long-term human resilience studies. While we are far from human trials—"
Sure you are.
Taka rocked subtly on his heels, practically buzzing. Every instinct screamed at him that this was the place. The sacred nonsense science shrine where one nerdy boy would eventually get bitten and rewrite reality.
He just had to fucking wait which fucking sucked!
Dr. Reyes stopped in front of the reinforced glass, gesturing toward the massive apparatus inside with clear pride.
"This," Dr. Reyes said, letting the pause do some of the work, "is the Isotope Genome Accelerator."
The name hit him like a brick, not a vague prototype, not a random radiation box. No, this was the machine. The thing that took one unlucky spider and turned it into a life-altering nightmare-slash-blessing.
His hands clenched at his sides to keep from pointing like a madman and fanboying like crazy.
Dr. Reyes continued to explain what the machine does, unaware she was standing in front of destiny itself.
"The Isotope Genome Accelerator allows us to expose biological specimens to precisely calibrated radiation isotopes. Unlike older irradiation systems, this platform lets us control dosage, duration, and genomic targeting down to the cellular level."
He scanned the chamber again, slower this time. The recessed containment trays along the edges. Glass canisters lined the far wall, most of them empty… but a few held small, sealed enclosures.
"This system has shown promising results in accelerated mutation and adaptive resilience," Dr. Reyes went on. "While it's currently limited to non-human samples, the data we're collecting could revolutionize how we treat genetic disorders in the future."
Peter stood a few steps back, listening intently, eyes wide behind his glasses. He looked impressed and fascinated. Completely unaware that he was standing a few meters away from his future origin story.
Taka glanced at him, then back at the machine.
"Buddy," he thought fondly, "you have no idea how close you are to becoming a walking Marvel Wiki entry."
Peter's hand shot up, fingers trembling as though his brain had beaten them to the punch. The sterile fluorescent lights glared down on him, and his quiet "Um, excuse me?" cracked, hanging in the metallic hum of the lab.
A ripple went through the circle of curious faces. Dr. Reyes paused mid-sentence, her dark eyes bright with encouragement.
"Yes?"
Peter pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, heart hammering against his ribs. "I was just wondering… i-if you could maybe turn the machine on? Just a demo? Not full power, just something to show us a small demonstration."
A couple of students snickered while others glared annoyed.
"What a nerd," someone muttered to the person standing beside them. "Of course he wants the cancer machine to turn on."
Before the taunt could sink deeper or more could follow, Taka's head whipped around to the person. No words were needed, his glare was an ice pick through the whispering.
Conversations died mid-breath; one kid gulped and looked at the floor, unable to meet his eyes as he shook.
No one wanted the Taka Special.
Dr. Reyes chuckled, tapping the sleek control panel. "Actually, that's a great question. We normally don't activate it for tours, but we can do a low-output visualization, just energy flow through the containment field."
Taka let his attention drift as he waited for THE moment to come… until something on the upper rail caught his eye.
At first it was a shifting shadow, then it moved with horrifying purpose, he would've missed it if it wasn't for his enhanced eye sight.
Invisible against the cold steel, impossibly large, a spider, no, a monster of a spider clung upside-down. Its body was the size of Taka's head, legs bristling like broken metal wires.
His breath hitched as he looked at that thing in utter disbelief.
"What the actual fuck? Is it supposed to be that fucking size?!"
The machine hummed to life, lights dancing across the chamber walls. A low-thrum vibrated through the floor.
The spider jerked, panicked, not expecting the machine to turn on so suddenly, its limbs blurring as it bolted along the support beam, toward the center of the room, directly into the path of the activation pulse.
He watched in stunned silence before letting out a quiet, "Oh shit!"
A searing blue-white wave exploded from the core, bathing the lab in harsh light. Students oohed; Dr. Reyes shouted something lost in the surge. Taka saw in that sick heartbeat as the radiation pulse slammed the creature. Its huge form convulsed, back arching in a grotesque silhouette, then, like it was nothing, it shook itself off.
"What. The. Fuck!"
That spider was cold as fuck! It's definitely going to become his pet after this!
The spider lunged at the reinforced glass with bone-crunch force akin to that of a bullet. The pane didn't hold, it detonated outward in a thunderous spray of shards. Alarms screamed, a metal cacophony. Students screamed as glass clinked across the floor like cruel rain. The faculty shouted over the chaos.
Taka's instincts kicked in before his mind could catch up. He slammed the emergency shutdown, lights dimmed, hum cut off, the machine's glow dying.
Then fucking chaos happened in a matter of mere seconds.
In that instant, the spider dropped from the wreckage, landing with a sick thud on Peter's outstretched hand that was shielding him from the glass.
Peter's gasp of pain was cut short, scaring Jessica and Gwen, as the spider's fangs sank into his hand in a panicked attack.
"Pete what's wrong!" Gwen panickily asked as she took a step towards him in worry with Jessica doing the same.
"Fuc-Ow! Something just bit me!" His best bud cried out while holding his now bleeding hand before it spring-boarded onto Gwen.
YE– wait, what? Gwen?
Her scream was sharp and high-pitched as the beast bit again, attacking anything that moved and was close enough to bite.
"Gwen!" Peter and Jessica cried out as they rushed to her side, their eyes widening when they saw the same bite mark as Peter's.
The spider then whipped itself free and fell to the ground, skittering across the smooth floor.
And it was heading right to… Cindy.
The spider lunged again, and a foot crashed down in front of it which it responded by using the move BITE and flesh met chitin.
Taka watched it all unfold, awe and joy tangling in his chest with every spider bit.
But of course, all good things must come to an end.
"Nope." His hand forward as the creature launched itself at Harry Osborn's face. He caught it mid-leap, his hand tightly grabbing hold of it with all the strength he could muster before it could tear into the boy's face.
The spider thrashed with brutal strength, legs whipping, mandibles grinding against Taka's skin. He felt the rasp of its fangs, ineffective against his skin, but the primal urge to scream like a little bitch made his stomach flip.
"Not today, you beautiful son of a fucking bitch!" Taka snarled with a smile while Harry looked at him in pure confusion as he talked to his seemingly empty hand. "You're mine!"
He bolted for the nearest bathroom, ignoring the chaos that was happening around to get to a private place, and slamming the door open before yanking the lock into place.
Thankfully no one was inside.
The spider shrieked, an awful, wet rasp, fighting every inch of the way to get out of his hold but he held on tight.
In one fluid motion, Taka pulled up his inventory and found what he was looking for, he's been saving it for this specific day after all!
Ultra Ball
The sphere materialized in his palm, humming with potential. He slammed it into the spider and red energy flared, curling around the spider's bulk until it vanished with a crisp click.
The Ultra Ball hit the floor and trembled.
Shake…
Shake…
Shake…
Then a soft click.
"FUCK YEAH!!!" He pumped a fist as he picked up the Ultra Ball. "YEEESSSS BITCH!!!"
This took a span of thirty whole seconds.
He dropped the ball back into his inventory and burst out into the corridor to check on his best mate and his girls, Pete was finally becoming Spider-Man!!!
Greatest day ever!!!
The hallway hit Taka like a wall of noise and motion the second he burst back out of the bathroom.
Alarms wailed overhead, shrill, relentless, the kind of sound that made your teeth itch. Red emergency lights strobed along the ceiling, painting everything in frantic pulses that turned faces into flickering masks.
Somewhere down the corridor, a security shutter began to grind shut, metal screaming against metal. Somewhere else, a scientist was shouting into a radio, voice cracking as she repeated the same words over and over like if she said them enough times reality would rewind.
"Containment breach! containment breach!"
Students were everywhere.
A stampede of backpacks and panic.
Kids shoved past each other, slipping on glittering shards of shattered glass that crunched underfoot like ice. Someone was crying loudly, ugly, hiccuping sobs.
Someone else was laughing in that hysterical, broken way people did when their brain couldn't process what the hell just happened.
Teachers tried to calm everyone down and were failing miserably.
Dr. Reyes was in the middle of it all, hands up, her professional smile completely gone, eyes wide and wild.
"Everyone stay calm!" she shouted.
No one stayed calm.
Two security guards rushed by, one of them holding a stun baton like it was going to help against whatever just ripped through reinforced glass. A lab tech stumbled past carrying a first aid kit, blood on her sleeve, face pale as paper.
His heart was still hammering from adrenaline and triumph and sheer exciteme-
And then his eyes found Peter.
Everything else blurred out.
Pete was a few yards ahead, half-kneeling in the middle of the chaos like the world had cracked open and he was the only one who hadn't run.
He was holding Gwen.
One arm was hooked under her shoulders, the other braced her legs, but his grip kept shifting like he was terrified she'd slip away if he loosened even a fraction.
Gwen's head lolled against his chest, hair spilling over his arm, face slack and pale under the flashing red lights.
One of her hands hung limp, and even from here Taka could see the fresh bite mark on it, angry and swollen, and was still bleeding
Pete had wrapped her hand with the ripped off edge of his shirt, makeshift and clumsy, but red still seeped through the fabric. His knuckles were shaking, his shoulders were shaking, his whole body looked like it was one wrong breath away from collapsing.
Jessica stood tight at his side like a guard dog that didn't know what to do except stay. Her face was white, eyes wide and glassy, hands hovering near Gwen like she wanted to help but didn't know how without making it worse.
Cindy was on the floor a few feet away, slumped against the wall, unconscious, a teacher crouched beside her checking her pulse with trembling fingers.
But Peter…
He wasn't looking at the glass shards or the scientists or the guards or the screaming kids.
He was staring down at Gwen's limp body with the kind of fear that didn't belong on his face.
His eyes were huge behind his glasses, and for once there was no awkwardness there, no sarcasm, no shy muttering.
Just pure paralyzing terror at the thought of Gwen dying in his arms.
Then he saw Taka.
It was instant.
Peter's breath hitched, shoulders sagging a fraction, and the fear in his eyes vanished. It loosened because Taka was here, because Taka had always helped him through the darkest moments in his life, because Taka always made things right.
"Taka…" Peter rasped, voice raw like he'd swallowed sand.
He tried to stand fully with Gwen still in his arms and almost stumbled. Jessica caught his elbow automatically, steadying him, but Peter didn't even look at her.
His gaze was locked on Taka like a drowning man seeing land.
"H-Help," Peter begged, it was a plea that ripped something straight out of him. "Please, w-what do I do?"
Taka's smile from his earlier triumph was completely and utterly gone.