I woke up feeling comfortable. I looked around — I know this place, it was the first room I ever saw in the Baxter Building, the med bay. Damn it, I must have gotten knocked out.
I was still wearing my Spider-Man costume. My helmet had been removed and placed on the side table along with my web gauntlets. I got off the bed and my feet wobbled slightly; they felt heavy, like really heavy.
I put on my gauntlets and helmet and walked out of the room. I needed to find Sue — she would have some idea what was going on.
I walked down the corridor and came upon her lab. I opened the door and stepped in. "Sue, we need to talk."
"Peter?! Oh my God, you're awake!" Sue cried out as she ran up to me and hugged me. "We were all so worried! When Fury brought you in we thought you were going to die! Johnny looked like he was going to go supernova! When they told us what you did though—"
"—Sue, breathe," I chuckled.
Sue took a deep breath and let it out. She hugged me once again. "I'm glad you're alive."
I hugged her back. "So am I, Sue."
"And don't you ever do something like that again?!" she yelled, hitting me in the shoulder as hard as she could. "We all thought you were dead! What were you thinking?!"
"Ah, in my defence, there was a child's life on the line," I sighed as I removed my helmet, showing off my real face.
"And sometimes you forget that you're also a child," Sue shot back.
I grinned. "That didn't seem to stop you from checking out my ass whenever I'm in costume."
"I—I do not!" she blushed.
"It's fine, Sue. I do the same when I see you in costume," I winked.
She sighed, rubbing her temples. "You're impossible."
"Indeed," I smiled.
Sue sighed and pointed at a chair. "Sit, and take off your costume. I need a blood sample from you and I couldn't figure out how to remove it."
"Johnny didn't tell you?" I asked as I expanded my costume and shimmied out of it, sitting on the stool in nothing but my briefs.
"No, Johnny, Reed and Ben all left with Fury," Sue explained, her back towards me as she prepared a few needles to extract my blood. "Johnny wanted to help get those guys in jail, and Ben was willing to lend a hand. Reed is in Finland though — he was called to consult on some kind of secret project last week. I don't know when exactly he'll be back, but—"
She stopped mid-sentence as she turned to me. I blinked. "Sue? You okay?"
She looked down at my body, her eyes lingering on my abdomen before slowly going lower. I was about to tease her again when I felt something in the air. I could almost smell it — a different kind of scent, one I'd never encountered before. I breathed it in and blinked as I realised it was coming from Sue herself, and it smelled amazing, like warm maple syrup.
"Sue?" I asked again.
She snapped out of her daze. "W-what? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," she blushed and quickly met my eyes. "H-here, shouldn't need too much of your blood," she said as she carefully pressed the needle into my arm, drawing a full syringe.
While she did that, I stayed focused on that smell. It was stronger now, and it was coming from her. But I'd never smelled it before in my life — at least nothing like this. So how? Or rather, what was it? Did it have something to do with the gas I'd been exposed to? Had it changed me? Mutated my powers?
Sue coughed. "So, ah, Peter — tell me what happened."
I sighed. "Well, where to begin." I quickly told her about the mission and what had happened; the gas and why I thought it might have gotten to me.
"Well, we'll just see about that," Sue said as she took my blood to her workstation. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes drifting down my body again, and I immediately smelled that warm, heady maple syrup scent. "You, ah — you can put your clothes back on, Peter."
I nodded. Usually I would have just kept teasing, but now things were too strange. I needed to be serious. This was an unknown factor, and I needed to deal with it properly.
I need to be serious. This was an unknown factor — I needed to deal with it properly.
I went back to my lab and grabbed the civilian clothes I had stashed away for emergencies, then packed up my costume and put it away before returning to Sue's lab. Her monitors were filled with images of my blood and she stared at them like she couldn't make sense of what she was seeing.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing," Sue hissed. "Which is exactly the problem. Your blood is different now. Its genetic structure is…it's like it mutated." She pulled up two monitors displaying my genetic helix. "The one on the right is your blood from a week ago. The one on the left is your blood now."
I studied the two samples. The one from a week ago looked relatively normal, and so did the current one at first glance — but on closer inspection I could see certain strands were different, mutated into something else entirely.
"How?" I asked.
"I have a theory," she said. "It relates to your meta powers." I nodded, letting her continue. "I think your blood is the key to your survival. Like we worked out the first time around, your blood adapts itself to foreign invaders — so maybe this time it did the same thing."
I hummed. "Do you have the files from the lab? Do we know what this thing was?"
Sue nodded. "Yeah, just a sec." She quickly pulled up several documents on screen. "From what I understand, these geneticists were tasked with recreating some kind of method to duplicate a mutagene. This gas was based on a 'Subject-D' — someone who apparently possesses some form of special powers."
"Do we know what kind of powers she had?" I asked.
"No, her file wasn't included in the folders SHIELD gathered," Sue told me.
"Subject-D is a woman," I noted. "Okay...how about her genetic sequence? Can we figure out what's so special about her through it?"
"No, because they didn't know either."
"What? How is that possible? They were trying to recreate her powers but had no idea how they worked or even what they were?!"
"Why do you think thirty-one children died as a result?" Sue spat out. "Fucking monsters. They weren't given enough time or material to research — it's like giving a toddler a few watercolours and asking him to paint the Mona Lisa. Impossible, unless you have a genius working for them."
I sighed. "So what do we know about the gas itself? What can we tell?"
"Well, the gas was composed of certain properties I'm not entirely sure about," Sue grumbled. "It seems the scientists were given a sample of Subject-D's blood but were not allowed to examine it. So instead they had to somehow force the blood to take over the…the children's bodies." She stopped. "Children, Peter…fucking children!"
I hung my head. "I know, Sue. Believe me, I know."
"How did SHIELD not know about this?" she asked.
"They did…they just didn't have anyone to take the mission. Until me, that is," I sighed.
"I swear, next time I see Fury I'm going to strangle him!" she yelled, sending out a flash of power that pushed everything around her as she formed an invisible force field.
"Sue, calm down," I told her quickly.
"Yeah…sorry about that," she growled before turning back to her monitor.
I was about to reply when I smelled something in the air again — rusted copper, burnt and acrid. A fire? "Sue, do you smell that?"
Sue looked confused. "Smell what?"
"That," I sniffed. "Like burnt copper. Like something's burning?"
"I'm not sure," Sue groaned. She opened up the Baxter Building's security cameras. "I'm not getting any fire alarms on the top five floors, Peter."
I narrowed my eyes. I moved closer to look at her screen and immediately the scent grew stronger. It was coming from her again?
I blinked. "I—ah…forget about it."
Sue looked worried. "Peter, if you're smelling things that aren't there, maybe you have a concussion. Maybe you should rest."
I shook my head. "Not until I figure out what's wrong with me."
"Peter—"
"—Sue, please. I need to know," I pleaded.
Sue sighed. "Fine." She opened my bloodwork again. "They used radiation to try to fuse Subject-D's blood into their test subjects," she growled, and once more I caught that burnt copper scent. Was it her anger I was smelling? Could I do that now?
"So radiation, again," I sighed. "First it was an irradiated spider, now irradiated gas…wait a minute. Can we reverse-engineer my two blood samples and identify what differences have occurred?"
Sue's eyes went wide, then she smiled. "That's brilliant!" She quickly began moving around her lab. I watched as she got to work doing something I didn't even have the first clue about. What? There were limits to what Peter could be remarkable at, and genetics wasn't one of them.
"God damn it!" she cried out suddenly.
I immediately walked over. "What's wrong?"
"Your blood! That's what's wrong!" Sue yelled. "It's fucking locked!"
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
"When I tried to analyse your DNA the genomes were unreadable," she hissed, the smell of burnt copper filling the air. "It was like…like an encrypted computer. I couldn't access the changes that were made. It's like your DNA has a passcode on it — I can't decode it!"
I blinked. "How is that even possible?"
Sue sighed. "Your genes have a kind of protective enzyme layer covering them, preventing anyone from reading their structure. It's the same mechanism that allowed you to adapt to your spider bite and assimilate those powers — only now it's blocking me from looking inside it entirely. We use enzymes for genetic surgery, but the moment I introduce any enzyme, your protective layer absorbs or destroys it, preventing me from even getting in."
I thought about it for a long moment, and I supposed it made a certain kind of sense. "So when you say you need a passcode to access the DNA…"
"I mean I need a specific enzyme that can cut into your genetic material without being absorbed or destroyed."
I rubbed my head. "Fuck me."
"You're telling me," Sue sighed, leaning against her table in defeat.
"Well, look at it this way — at least now people won't be using my blood to clone an army," I chuckled.
Sue raised an eyebrow. "You think of the weirdest things, Peter."
I shrugged. "Oh please, you think there's no madman out there planning exactly that? Hell, SHIELD probably has some of my DNA already — let's just hope they can't study it either."
"Let's hope so," Sue sighed. "I'm sorry, Peter. I guess I haven't been much help today, have I?"
"Are you kidding? You've helped me more than enough," I smiled. "I know I'm not dying, so that's like, super important stuff."
Sue rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I guess. I just wish I knew what changed in you."
I shrugged. "Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll figure it out pretty soon."
I wished Sue well and quickly left for home. Luckily she had already covered for me with my aunt and uncle, telling them I was working late.
The next day I was in school like nothing had ever happened. Natasha kept giving me cautious looks during English class, but I quickly assured her everything was fine and that I'd tell her if I needed help.
After school, Felicia, MJ and I went to our favourite coffee shop for their tutoring sessions. I sat down and sighed — my body was feeling a little heavy. Did I eat too much? Maybe…something wasn't right.
"You okay, Tiger?" MJ asked as she took out her physics book. "You look a little under the weather."
"I'm fine," I sighed. "Just came home late last night. Had a lot of work to do."
"For the FF?" Felicia raised an eyebrow as she sat down next to me.
"No, for a client," I told her — our shorthand for anything Spider-Man related.
"Hmm, are you okay?" She checked my temperature with the back of her hand. "You don't have a fever."
"No, just a little…sluggish, I suppose," I sighed.
"Oh honey, do you want me to kiss it and make it better?" Felicia asked.
I smiled. "Hm, could help." She leaned in and kissed me on the lips — and immediately I was hit by the scent of warm maple syrup again. Arousal. Thank God, because if she were feeling anything else right now, that would be deeply weird.
"Do you feel up for teaching?" MJ asked, tactfully ignoring the fact that Felicia's tongue was still in my mouth.
I broke the kiss and turned to her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just…I'll be right back." I stood up, my stomach turning.
"Peter—" Felicia called out in concern.
"I'm fine, I promise," I told her, quickly heading for the washroom.
"Do you think it's some sort of virus?" MJ asked.
Felicia shook her head. "No. If it was, I'd have it too."
MJ's cheeks turned red. "Because you two are….physical."
Felicia grinned. "You could just say making out, Red."
"R-right," she stammered. "I didn't realise you guys were…there yet."
"We are," Felicia nodded.
I walked into the bathroom and reached the sink, dry heaving over it. I looked up — my face looked shaken, slowly losing colour. I quickly washed my face. Maybe it was time to call SHIELD?
But then suddenly my body stopped shaking. The upset stomach vanished. I felt normal again. I sighed. What the hell was going on?
Suddenly I felt something. My hands started to twitch. I could feel some sort of energy building inside them, growing steadily. My muscles twitched. I was curious — I held onto the feeling and slowly tried to draw out more of that energy, and then, gradually, my arms began to glow blue.
My eyes went wide. The hair on my arms stood on end from the static charge. The energy kept building and building, and then suddenly—
Boom!
The blue energy discharged from my hand. The force of it knocked me off balance and sent me onto the floor. The bolt struck the bathroom window and evaporated into the air; sparks of electricity skittered across the mirror's surface.
I stared at my hands as the glow slowly faded. I could feel more of it still inside me — but without me actively drawing it out, it would stay dormant. My logical mind took over quickly.
The energy I'd drawn out came from my own body. It glowed blue and behaved like a plasma bolt. It had no mass…it arced like electricity when it hit the mirror. Glass was a great insulator, which was why the window hadn't shattered.
"What the hell is this?" This wasn't a power Spider-Man had — at least not this version of him.
Miles Morales had something similar: bio-electricity, harnessed into a venom strike. But Miles, if he even existed in this world, would be far too young to have developed powers of his own. So it had to be someone else.
The powers came from the gas. The gas carried the DNA of Subject-D…D…Drew? Jessica Drew? Oh my God — it fit. Jessica Drew had her own form of venom blasts and the ability to detect and influence pheromones. One of which I could clearly now do.
She also shared abilities similar to Peter's, but since I already had those, there'd probably be little difference there. I knew she had a few things unique only to her, and now, apparently, so did I.
I reached back through my memory. Jessica Drew. Spider-Woman — no relation to Peter Parker. Smart, loyal, and if I remembered correctly, an Agent of HYDRA.
If Subject-D was Drew, then the people we'd caught last night were HYDRA. And if this universe mirrored the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then SHIELD was HYDRA — which was why the child kidnapping case had been dismissed and delayed for so long. HYDRA had been buying its people time.
Fury had been angry at me and assigned me a case he was never supposed to hand over. In doing so, he'd accidentally derailed HYDRA's operation — and that soldier, the one from last night, he'd been a senior member of the operation. A HYDRA operative.
I hadn't known how to tell Fury about HYDRA before. How do you explain a fifteen-year-old knowing about an agency hidden inside the most heavily guarded and secretive organisation in the world?
But now I had a reason. I just needed to get that old soldier talking first.
I took out my SHIELD-issue phone and called Natasha. It rang twice before she picked up.
"What is it, Spider?"
"The old soldier from last night — did he say anything?"
"Why? Is something wrong?"
I hesitated. Should I tell her about my new powers? No. SHIELD already had a file on me, which meant HYDRA had one too. If they ever planned to take me out, I'd need an ace up my sleeve. These new powers had to stay hidden.
"No," I lied. "I'm fine. But I was curious about the man who ordered the deaths of thirty-two children. Have you gotten him to talk yet?"
"Spider…he's dead," she said quietly.
My heart skipped a beat. "How?"
"Cyanide capsule."
"You didn't think to check for one?!" I snapped.
"We did. He had a second one. We don't know how he got it."
"Did someone on the inside give it to him?"
"You think we have a spy in SHIELD?"
"I'd be more surprised if we didn't," I hissed. "Someone delayed this case being picked up. If I hadn't pushed Fury into giving it to me, it probably never would have been touched. Something's not right, Widow."
She was silent for a long moment. "Agreed…but until we know more, we can't move. Do you understand?"
I sighed. "Yeah."
"Do everything you normally do. Don't draw attention to yourself — they could be watching."
"Yeah…I know." A wave of paranoia crept over me, but I forced it back down. Panicking wouldn't help anyone.
"Good. I won't be in for your training today — Fury has me investigating the genetics lab. Enjoy your afternoon."
"When will you be back?"
"Unknown. If it runs longer than a week I'll have someone cover your training."
"Fine. Take care, Widow."
"You too, Spider."
She hung up. I exhaled slowly. Hopefully HYDRA wouldn't take a special interest in me. Hopefully they'd assume I survived purely because of my existing powers — and not because I'd adapted and gained new ones.
I walked out of the bathroom and back to the girls. Felicia was whispering something to MJ, making the redhead blush harder and harder by the second.
"Hey," I called out.
MJ jerked upright and looked at me. Her eyes immediately flicked to my waist before darting back to my face. "H-hey," she croaked.
I blinked. A wave of maple syrup hit me — arousal, and it was coming from MJ. I raised an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?"
"Yes, Tiger," Felicia said smoothly. "Just perfect."
"Y-yeah!" MJ added.
"Okay then," I said carefully, sitting back down across from them. I'd need to test out these new powers properly — figure out exactly what I could do. But later. Not right now.