"You feeling better?" MJ asked.
"Yeah, just an upset stomach. I'm fine now," I told them. "By the way, Kitten — my boss just called. I don't have to go in today, so if you want, we can spend some time together."
Felicia immediately brightened. "Really?! That's great! What do you want to do?"
I shrugged. "Anything, babe. I'm all yours today."
"Well," she looked me up and down, "maybe…shopping!"
"Shopping?" I asked.
"Yup! It's about time I bought you something decent, Peter!" she hissed. "You have such an amazing body but you keep hiding it in those big, clunky clothes!"
I looked down. She had a point. I'd been meaning to update Peter's wardrobe for a while now, but I'd never had the time or the money. I supposed I did now.
"Okay, Kitten. Let's go shopping," I smiled.
"Yes!" Felicia beamed.
"After we finish studying," I told her.
"Oh, come on — we already know this stuff!" Felicia whined. "You taught us this weeks ago! We're basically just reviewing everything, right?"
"Well…I suppose," I hummed.
"That settles it — we're going shopping! Now!" Felicia slammed her books shut and packed them away.
I sighed and turned to MJ. "Sorry, MJ, but I think we're calling it early today."
MJ nodded. "It's fine, Tiger. I get it. Enjoy your date, you two." She moved to leave when Felicia stopped her.
"Where do you think you're going, Red?" Felicia said. "You're coming with us."
"I am?"
"She is?" I asked, surprised.
"Isn't this like…a boyfriend-girlfriend thing?" MJ asked.
"Yeah, but I need your help. You think he'll just sit there and let me try on clothes all day?" Felicia huffed. "Peter is a two-woman job, so you're going to help me pick his clothes, and then you can leave."
I honestly didn't mind. MJ and I hadn't spoken much lately, and I just shrugged. MJ looked at Felicia, then at me, then nodded. "Okay, sounds fun."
We left the café almost immediately and caught a cab that dropped us off at a mall a few blocks down. Felicia practically dragged MJ and me inside. Her first stop: underwear.
"Here," she tossed several packages of briefs into our shopping bag. "Very important."
I raised an eyebrow, looking them over. Red, blue, black…pink? "Ah, Kitten, I have plenty of underwear."
"And I am tired of seeing only white!" Felicia glared as MJ blushed.
I glanced at MJ and groaned. "Felicia!"
"What? She'll get used to it," she said, waving off MJ's embarrassment. "Now, let's see what we can do with you."
What followed was two hours of what felt like Purgatory. I was dragged from store to store and made to try on clothes like a doll in one of those dress-up phone games. I felt utterly humiliated and nearly faked a heart attack to escape. Nearly.
In the end I did manage to get a few things I actually liked: a leather jacket, a decent pair of trousers, and even a great shirt with Tony Stark's arc reactor printed on it — one that actually glowed.
But MJ and Felicia also loaded me up with a mountain of other clothes I would never have chosen in a thousand years. They made me look like a pompous prat, like Harry. I managed to redirect their attention and quietly ditch the worst offenders, but I still walked out with an entirely new wardrobe full of flashy, expensive-looking things.
After shopping we decided to grab an early dinner at a restaurant two blocks down.
"This way," MJ said, pointing down an alleyway. "It's a shortcut."
Felicia and I shrugged and followed. I ended up carrying all the bags — though thanks to my spider strength I barely felt them.
"So, Tiger, what's the plan for the evening?" Felicia asked.
"Well, I have to be at the Baxter Building after dinner — Sue needs to run some more tests on a project she's working on. I'm assisting her." Felicia raised an eyebrow, and I waved it off, mouthing 'later'.
"It's so cool that you work with the FF, Tiger," MJ sighed wistfully. "Hey, does Johnny Storm really sleep naked?"
I blinked. "No — why would you think that? And more importantly, why would you think I'd know if he did?"
"Well, wouldn't he burn his clothes in his sleep?" MJ asked. "So I don't know, it would make sense if he just slept naked."
"Yeah, it would," Felicia nodded. "And what about the Thing? Does he have — you know — or is it, like, covered up by the rocks?"
"And can Mr. Fantastic increase the size of any part of his body?" MJ asked.
I blinked. "You know what…I genuinely don't know. Huh. I should ask them."
"Ha — yeah, you should," Felicia snorted.
Just then a figure jumped out from behind a dumpster and planted himself in front of us. He had his hood up and flashed a knife. "Cash. Now!"
MJ screamed and jumped back. Felicia moved to act, but I stopped her — pushing both her and MJ behind me. She was skilled, but she didn't have superpowers. I looked at her and shook my head. She hesitated, then stood down.
"I said cash, now!" the man yelled.
I studied him. I could take him without using my powers, easily — but something was off. His hands were shaking. Not nerves exactly. I caught a scent: sharp and lemony. I connected it instantly with the feeling of dread that sat behind it.
Fear. He was afraid.
"You don't want to do this," I told him quietly.
"Give me all your money, kid! Now! No one gets hurt!"
"Do as he says, Peter!" MJ whispered.
Felicia snarled but I kept my hand on her arm. I kept my eyes on the man. "This is your first time doing this, isn't it?"
The man froze. "W-what?"
"People don't mug people in this part of town — too many cops. You're new to this, and you're desperate." I moved slowly towards him. "You don't want to hurt anyone."
"I can't — I don't have a choice!" he yelled. But the knife was drifting downward.
"You always have a choice," I told him. "Why? Why do you need the cash?"
"M-my family," he stammered. "They'll starve."
"Okay…then here." I took out my wallet. There was a hundred-dollar note inside. I also took out a receipt and wrote a number on the back. I held both out to him. "Take the cash. Feed your family. The number I wrote down is for a homeless shelter — they'll take in anyone. If you really can't keep them fed, take them there. But if you do this again, you might get caught, and then you won't be able to help them at all."
The man snatched the money and the note and ran. He looked back at me once — hesitation clear in his eyes — before he kept going.
I sighed. "Poor guy."
"You should have just kicked his ass," Felicia argued.
"He was just trying to feed his family, Kitten," I said, picking up the shopping bags. "Don't pretend you wouldn't do the same."
Felicia paused. "Maybe…but still. Next time, we do it my way."
"Peter, that was…that was amazing," MJ said quietly, a look of faint awe on her face.
I looked at her and chuckled. "Oh, it was nothing."
"Nothing?! You just — I can't even — ARGH! You are impossible, Peter Parker!" MJ threw her hands up in frustration and stormed out of the alley.
I turned to Felicia. "What's her problem?"
Felicia chuckled. "Oh, Tiger. You have so much to learn."
We ended up having a lovely early dinner despite the mugging. Felicia had to pay, given that I no longer had any cash — I really should get a debit card, go fully cashless. I sent her home in a cab after, promising to see her at school tomorrow.
MJ and I took another cab back home, and the entire ride she gave me the silent treatment.
"So…are we going to keep pretending you're not ignoring me?" I asked.
"I'm not ignoring you," she replied.
"It kind of feels like you are," I said.
"Maybe I'm just upset that you tried to reason with the man who was holding a knife on us!"
I sighed. "Sorry. It just seemed like the path of least violence."
The cab pulled up. MJ paid and we climbed out.
"Peter, what you did was reckless and dangerous! We should have just run!"
"MJ, he was just trying to feed his family."
"And? A stranger's family matters more than your own life?"
"I was never really in any danger."
"How can you say that?"
"Because," I stopped, thinking of an excuse, "I have training. I do take self-defence classes, you know."
"Yeah, but—"
"Enough." I closed the distance between us to just a few inches. "There are two things I know for certain in this life. One: life isn't fair. Two: unless you take the time to give a damn, you'll leave this world worse than you found it. I don't plan on doing that. I refuse to be a footnote."
She was very close now. "I promise I'll never put you in danger, MJ. I will protect you."
The lemon scent of her wariness shifted — slowly bleeding into maple syrup. Arousal. Her pupils widened, and I could feel the conflict raging behind her eyes. She leaned forward just a fraction of an inch — then the maple syrup curdled into something sour. Guilt, I thought. She pulled back sharply.
"A-alright, Peter," she said, turning away. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yeah. See you," I replied, watching her go.
These powers were strange, all right.
I went home and swapped most of my old clothes for the new ones. Ben and May were horrified by how much I'd spent in a single day, but I managed to convince them it was worth it.
I spent the rest of the evening patrolling as Spider-Man before dropping in on Sue at the Baxter Building. She was still working late, still hunched over my bloodwork, while Johnny and Ben seemed perfectly content watching a movie. I felt guilty she was losing sleep over my problem, so I swung over to the nearest pizza place, bought enough pies for everyone, and dropped them off before heading on to Felicia's.
I knocked on her window twice. She opened it dressed in one of my shirts — one I kept there for quick changes.
"Hey, lover. Didn't think I'd see you tonight," she smiled as I stepped inside, kissing her gently.
"I actually wanted to show you something," I said, setting my gauntlets and mask on her table. "I got new powers."
Felicia's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry?"
I smiled and held my hands apart, slowly summoning bio-electricity into my palms and letting the current travel between them — a soft blue chain of crackling light.
Felicia gasped. "When did you rip off Electro's power?!"
I chuckled. "Not him." I explained what had happened: the group of scientists forced to experiment on children, the gas, the aftermath.
"So that's why you looked sick," Felicia murmured.
I nodded. "Yeah. The powers needed a little getting used to."
"Are you alright now?" she asked, concern clear in her voice. I could smell the sharp lemon edge of fear drifting off her.
"I'm perfect, in fact." I pulled her close and kissed her. She moaned softly, pressing her hands against my chest, her fingers finding the release panel on my suit and pulling it open.
"You know," I whispered against her, "I got another power too."
"Yeah?" she asked, her mind not fully in the conversation anymore.
"Yeah." I leaned close and murmured into her ear. "I can now smell when you're turned on. You smell like maple syrup."
Felicia laughed. "Well, it's a good thing you're not diabetic."
I stopped and blinked. "Wow…really?"
"What? Was that bad?"
"Yes."
"Oh, shut it — you make worse jokes than that."
"Hey!" I protested, laughing as she pulled me into bed and threw the covers over us.
We were there for well over an hour. I wanted to go again, but Felicia smacked me over the head and reminded me it was a school night — I needed to get home before May and Ben noticed I wasn't in my room.
I sighed, reluctantly pulled on my costume, and slipped out into the night, pressing a quiet goodnight kiss to her forehead.
I got home quickly and was nearly in bed when something nagged at me — a thought I'd been carrying all evening, turning over and over until it finally clicked into place.
Blood…radiation…adapting…where had I heard that before? Where had I seen that before?
Oh. Fuck.
I ran downstairs to the basement lab I rarely used anymore, opened the hidden compartment under the floorboard, and pulled out the stone I'd retrieved from Harlem after the Hulk's battle with Abomination — Bruce Banner's irradiated blood still dried on its surface. Irradiated blood that adapts and can absorb almost anything. We had the same kind of blood.
I pulled on my costume and was out the door again.
I swung to the Baxter Building and let myself in. "Sue? Johnny? Ben? Anyone?"
"Peter?" Sue's voice came from inside her lab. "In here."
I walked in quickly. The place was a mess compared to when I'd last seen it — post-it notes covered every surface, screens filled with calculations, and practically every monitor in the building had been pulled in to map out genome sequences.
"Where are Ben and Johnny?" I asked.
"In bed. They had a long day," she replied, eyes fixed on the monitors.
"And you? No sleep?"
"Oh, you know how it is — find a mystery you can't solve and suddenly you have all the energy in the world. Why are you back so soon, Peter?"
"I think I found something that can help." I placed the rock on the only clear surface left in the lab.
Sue looked at the dried blood. "Whose is it?"
"The Hulk's," I told her.
She blinked. "How did you get it?"
"I told you — the Hulk's fight with Abomination was the first time I ever suited up. I went back and collected this as a kind of soil sample; I was curious how it worked. What I found out was that this blood, even having been outside its host's body for so long, can still absorb glucose and carbohydrates into itself." I met her eyes. "Sound familiar?"
Sue's eyes went wide. "It's similar to your blood?"
"I don't know — I didn't have a powerful enough microscope to look into the genetic material," I said. "But maybe we should try?"
Sue nodded. "Help me?"
"With pleasure."
I took off my mask and set it aside. We got to work immediately, scraping the blood from the rock and revitalising it with a series of chemicals to reactivate the cells. On my recommendation we added a sugar solution as well, giving the cells something to absorb and bringing them fully active.
Sue placed the new sample under the microscope and put the results on the display. She started the analysis, and her jaw dropped. "Woah."
"You can say that again," I replied.
"It's a seventy percent match," she whispered.
"But how?" I asked. "I'm basically a spider-human hybrid and he's…well. The Hulk."
"Your genes themselves are completely different, yes," Sue began, studying the readouts closely, "but the way they behave — it's nearly identical." She pulled up the Hulk's full DNA profile. "His genome is much more open to analysis, unlike yours." She muttered that last part. "You can see how his blood has mutated. He's…he's more powerful than most people think. His cells absorbed the radiation and used it to adapt, supercharging his biology to peak performance."
"So what, he's like a souped-up battery?"
"In a sense, yes," Sue nodded. "And your blood did the same — it absorbed the radiation, then used it to splice and rewrite genetic changes. It's like they're from the same family tree, but completely different branches."
I groaned. "Bruce Banner…what was he actually trying to do with that experiment?"
Sue thought for a moment. "He was…trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum. The one used on Steve Rogers."
I went very still. "So the same could be said about me?"
Sue blinked. "What do you mean?"
I stepped up to her monitor and typed in Richard Parker's name. Several case files opened. Sue looked through them quickly. "Master's and doctorate in genetic engineering from Harvard. Graduated at seventeen. Employed by…unknown." She paused. "Married Mary Fitzpatrick. One son, Peter." She looked at me. "This is your father?"
I nodded. "Yeah. He died about a year after I was born — I think. I never got a straight answer from my aunt and uncle. But he was a researcher. A very good one."
"From what I'm reading, you're right," Sue said, scrolling through the files. "He wrote his doctorate on…the Super Soldier Serum and its potential radioactive origins?! Oh my God."
"So he did do it," I said quietly.
"Peter, do you know what this means?!" Sue asked.
I nodded slowly. "Yeah. My father is the reason I have my powers. His experiments…they were what allowed me to adapt. To evolve."
"Oh, Peter. I'm so sorry." Sue wrapped her arms around me. I caught the scent of watermelon coming from her — sadness.
I hugged her back. Honestly, I didn't feel as bad as I probably should have. Any normal kid would be devastated or furious to learn their father had done something like this to them. But Richard Parker wasn't really my father, was he?
"It's fine, Sue," I told her, breaking the hug and turning back to the monitor. "I just need to know — where did he work? He had to have had someone backing him, someone with funding. Where did this come from?"
Sue moved to the terminal and started working through it. But every lead hit a wall — dead end after dead end, every trail going cold before it went anywhere.
She stepped back and sighed. "I'm sorry, Pete. This is way above anything we've dealt with before."
I hummed. Someone obsessed with obtaining the Super Soldier Serum…that sounded like HYDRA. Maybe Richard Parker had been tricked into working for them, the same way those scientists last night were forced into their work. Maybe, when he realised what he was part of and refused to continue, HYDRA had him and his wife killed.
I sighed. "This is all kinds of fucked up," I muttered, rubbing my temples.
"I'm sorry, Peter," Sue said quietly.
"It's not your fault," I replied, sitting down. "But…what do I do now?"
Sue sat down beside me. "I suppose you keep doing what you do. Save lives. Be the hero."
I sighed. "Yeah…Sue, please — don't tell anyone what we found today. Not SHIELD, not Reed, no one. I'm not telling anyone. I just…I don't want people to know."
"I promise, Pete. I won't tell a soul," she nodded.
"Thanks. And keep everything about my blood off the servers — SHIELD can hack those. If they ever found a way to clone me and use my blood to recreate the Super Soldier Serum…"
"…it could start a war," Sue finished quietly. "Yeah. I know."
I stared at the screen. My blood…it really could trigger an arms race. I was lucky — Richard Parker had encrypted it. No one could decipher how it worked. But cloning was still a possibility, even without understanding the mechanism.
I needed to keep my eyes open. Maybe it was time to properly explore what I could do with these new powers. Work on my tech a little more. The Chitauri were coming — the invasion was on the horizon, and I needed to be ready.
And maybe, just maybe, it was time I finally got started on recreating Otto Octavius's arms.