New York
August 17, 18:35 EDT
Peter's first reaction to the news of Dr. Frost's death was remorse. In the very little time he had known and talked to her, he could tell that she was passionate about her research and wanted to make an impact on the world with it. The fact that such a talented scientist was taken in the prime of her life was a loss for all of humanity.
His second reaction, however, was that his comic senses started tingling after hearing that Dr. Frost died in the machine she had dedicated so much time and research to. It was nearly as typical of an origin story cliche as the radioactive sludge was; Electro's origin in Amazing Spider-Man 2 was exactly that trope.
He quickly reeled himself in before his mind could go down the comic rabbit hole. He reminded himself he wasn't flipping through pages and reading a story anymore. This world was his reality now, and the fact remained that a brilliant scientist had died in an accident, and if his father said she died, it meant they had done a preliminary check-up on her, and they were positive. There was no gaining of powers or origin story; it was just a person taken too soon.
"Oh, God." said Mary, doing the sign of the cross as she went to be by Richard's side.
"They're sure it was an accident?" asked Peter.
"No signs of foul play. Initial investigations suggest it was an accident, but they're going to do a thorough investigation." said Richard. "She was so young and full of promise."
"Was it at least painless?" asked Mary.
"No way to know, but most likely." said Richard, putting his glasses back on. "The Thermafrost Freezer's purpose was to place biological organisms into a state of suspended animation, so the sub-zero temperatures it could reach were ... dangerous. It's usually done gradually to minimize the harm to the subject, but they said judging by the state her body was in, it must've frozen her instantly."
"At least she didn't suffer." said Mary.
"Did she have any family?" asked Peter.
"No. It was just her."
~
After the quieter-than-usual dinner, Peter headed to his lab. During dinner, he was contemplating taking a night swing to Wayne Biotech to check out the scene of the accident. That's when he remembered he had placed a backdoor on the Wayne Biotech servers when he toured the place on his birthday. With everything that had happened since then, it had completely slipped his mind until Dr. Frost's accident reminded him.
He was going to use the backdoor to hack into the servers and see for himself what happened. If she had been a victim of foul play, he wanted to help catch whoever it was, and he couldn't wait around until the official investigation concluded.
"Meow." Dexter said, nuzzling Peter's cheek and snapping him out of his thoughts.
Dexter had been insistent on following him to his lab, going so far as to climb him and not let go. He figured it must be because Dexter could see he was feeling down and wanted to cheer him up, which he appreciated.
"Thanks, buddy." he said, rubbing Dexter's head. "Have to move you, though. Need space to work."
"Meow." said Dexter, giving him a small lick before hopping down from his shoulder and lying down far enough to give him space.
'Here's hoping Batman's security isn't too advanced for me.' he thought as he booted up his custom PC made from scavenged parts and launched the software.
Unlike his previous life, where hacking was a lot different from what it was in fiction, hacking in this life was like it was in fiction; lots of furious typing. Though there were ways to make it a lot easier, like planting a backdoor directly on the servers, or creating a good enough software that did all the hacking. He had done both.
After half an hour of waiting for his program to finish, time he spent making extra web fluid and sewing a Spider-Cat mask for Dexter, he saw the progress bar disappear, causing him to sit up in his chair.
"30 minutes, not bad." he mumbled as he began searching for what he was looking for.
It didn't take long for him to find the backup security camera footage saved on the server. As he looked through the folder, he noticed there was already a spliced video labeled Dr. Frost Incident, which he played.
The beginning of the video was sped up footage from the moment the last person left the day before to the moment the first person, Dr. Frost, entered the morning of the incident. After that, it went back to normal speed, where it showed that Dr. Frost was going about her business until she approached the Thermafrost Freezer.
She was fiddling with the computer attached to it and checking something inside the compartment when it looked like she slipped, the door slamming shut behind her. Unfortunately, the video had sound, and for a minute, only banging could be heard until the freezer turned on and the banging immediately stopped.
The footage continued, ending when a researcher who seemed to have noticed something wrong with the freezer opened it, screaming and falling backward in shock at the discovery.
"Damn." said Peter, clenching his fist in frustration.
He knew there was no way for him to know something would happen to her and no way for him to prevent it; it was nothing more than a freak accident. Yet, he still felt guilty that he couldn't save her.
He quickly realized that his overbearing sense of responsibility was one of the many traits that made Peter Parker so likeable, relatable, and down-to-earth. Yet it was also one of the traits that burdened him the most. Anytime something bad happened that could be remotely traced back to him, he felt guilty.
'Looks like along with the good stuff came the less good stuff. I know it's not my fault, and yet.'
Even talking himself through it, telling himself there was nothing he could do, didn't help assuage the guilt, so he decided to put his focus on creating a stockpile of web fluid and sewing the Spider-Cat mask.
'This is definitely something I'll need to figure out how to minimize.' he thought as he began working. 'I wonder if there's a psychiatrist for heroes.'
~~~
AN
Very short and meh chapter, but I didn't want to tack on something extra, and I felt it was a good place to end it.
His sense of responsibility isn't as strong as Peter's in the comics because it's mostly tied to Uncle Ben's death, but he does have it. That's not to say those feelings are only tied to his powers; that's also part of who he is, but the powers have certainly exacerbated them, ala the Super Soldier Serum.
Also, feel free to check out my other book, "Burning a Hole in my Brain," where I'll upload any stories that I've suddenly felt like writing. Truth be told, I was originally going to upload this one on there, but I did so much research and planning that I chose to just upload it on its own instead.