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***
Holding Gwen's hand, I struggled to suppress the moronic grin that crept onto my face. In turn, Stacey fought the blush on her cheeks and the slight discomfort. As much as I tried to make everything neat, innocent maidens are such innocent maidens.
-Hehehe...
-Sean Sullivan, stop grinning like a lunatic," Gwen clapped me on the arm and hid her smile, but her sparkling eyes gave her away, "and stop giggling, your laughing makes people move.Shaking her head in the direction of the mother and child couple, where the latter was being forcibly taken to another part of the bus, looking at us with an indignant and frightened look.
-I'm just remembering your face beautiful with pleasure, princess-.
-SHON!
Hiding her face in my chest, burning with shame, the girl continued to playfully poke and bite me, showing her displeasure but not crossing the line.
Stroking her hair behind her ear with the back of my hand, I leaned back against the glass, gripping the handrail tighter so we wouldn't both fall to the floor when the bus made a sharp turn.
Oh, public transport in America is a song that deserves a real epic. Old, dirty boxes, with uncomfortable seats and coming "strictly" on schedule. I still can't get used to it. Compared to how it was in my previous life.....
"Eh, I should stop comparing the past and the present."
My fingers burrowed deeper into Gwen's soft, fine hair. The girl's stunning hair beckoned to me, forcing me to constantly rub, twist, and just play with it. They were unruly, as I said, thin and extremely unyielding. Even an ordinary ponytail could at any moment get out of the trap, proudly making its way to freedom. And though Gwen herself was always grumbling and cursing about her hair, I was absolutely delighted with it.
So, mixing dirty jokes and jokes, we got to the Ozcorp exhibition, which was held in their main building and there was a real circus going on.
Our friends were already waiting for us at the entrance, although it would be more accurate to say at the stop, because the whole free space was filled with a large crowd, frozen in anticipation and buzzing like a disturbed beehive.
There were posters, brightly coloured signs and huge banners everywhere, on which Norman Osborne flaunted his customary smile, spouting phrases about a better future, science and the success of Ozcorp.
Here and there, security guards with company logos and sometimes employees in expensive office suits walked along with them, literally dying for their jobs. It was unbearably hot outside, and now I could not hide my emotions and felt sorry for all those poor people who had been kicked out of their cosy and cool rooms into the street.
-Guys!
-Hey, it's our mysterious beauty who won the heart of a mountain man!
-Really, MJ? You had all this time and you couldn't come up with something better?
-I'm sorry, Shawn. The tiger was driving me so hard, I couldn't think of anything better to joke about.
-M.J.! Mary! Ha-ha-ha!
The blushing teenagers chattered as the redhead and I laughed, especially at the look on Peter's face when Watson wrapped her arms around his neck.
Not many of our usual gang were gathered today. Not many people were interested in the exhibition, especially MJ's friends, but she hadn't left Parker behind and had decided to share his hobbies with us. Ned, on the other hand, came of his own accord, hoping to learn something about military contracts and developments for the army, and Billy... Well, his mum just asked him not to leave the lad on his own. Not that any of us wanted to kick him out.
-Come on, you've arrived just in time, they're about to start letting us in! -We're going to squeeze through!
-We'll squeeze in at the front of the line? -Of course!
-Of course! -Of course! As if it could be otherwise.
-Boys.
-While the boys and I were sharing gossip and discussing the likely exhibits, the girls lagged behind a couple of steps behind, following the quartet, occasionally inserting the occasional comment. But when the conversation smoothly shifted from military developments to Star Wars and the recent release of the third instalment of that universe, the ladies safely self-effaced.
-The main thing is to visit the forty-seventh floor, -when we finally reached the entrance, forming one of hundreds of small groups of tourists, Pete interrupted our heated argument with Ned about the efficiency of fighter jets, -there will be developments in the field of genetics ...
My head clicked and a slight pain rolled through my temples.
"Right. There's going to be a meeting with a spider today... I mean, not a meeting... God, my head is killing me."
-Shawn? Are you okay?
-Yeah, yeah," I shook my head and put my arm around Gwen's shoulders, "it's just a little tingle in my temples. Must be the sleep deprivation.
-Fool.
At my playful twitching of eyebrows I got another light slap on the hands, which began to slowly slide down.
-Stop flirting, it's starting!
MJ smiled understandingly and wagged her finger at us, which gave Gwen's face a new rush of blood.
And then there was the show. The doors of Ozcorp swung open to reveal a huge welcoming hall, decorated even more richly and provocatively than anything outside.
Small fountains flashed everywhere, creating a veritable maze of small passageways. The room had a pleasant aroma of moisture and a light vibe of freshener. The air, driven by air conditioners, was pleasant and cool, which made everyone who crossed the threshold sigh with relief.
-It was worth coming here just for that. Whew.
Ned said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. The weather had really picked up, so the stark contrast was already making the first positive impressions of Ozcorp, and I'm sure there would be more of these little tricks to come.
-Welcome. Welcome!
Standing on a small podium, Norman Osborn towered over everyone in the room, happily spreading his arms out to the sides and greeting everyone. A smile was on his face, and the man was practically glowing, so happy and contented he looked. I don't know if Harry's father is such a good actor, or if he just loves the company and his business, but it just added to the pluses.
-Today we'll be holding a public exhibition, showing you all the secrets and tricks! I, and I'm sure you won't be indifferent! Welcome to Ozcorp!
At Norman's last word, thousands of balloons flew into the air, and clappers shot out from all sides. A festive atmosphere, a slight vibe of madness and anticipation of the unknown all blended together.
-Uh, come on, let's go find out Ozcorp's "secrets."
Having glanced with the guys, we went forward, straight to the huge lifts that were to take us high up, lifting us to the open laboratories and prepared halls with stands.
***
-Seriously? You can fly on this thing? Have they been watching Back to the Future?
I stood in front of one of the stands, where a small glider was hovering in the air, most likely one of the prototypes, as it was a rather weak model that could barely lift Gwen into the air, let alone a grown man.
The device obeyed commands from a dashboard mounted nearby. It could make simple commands, flew slowly, and barely kept its balance on its own. Nothing to do with my memories of flying a descendant of such a toy on another weirdo in green armour.
-Well, I think it's cute," MJ leaned against the glass and twirled her redhead around, taking a closer look at the flying board, "Maybe in the future, everyone will have one. I wouldn't mind having one.
After poking at the buttons, the girl left the glider alone and went in search of her prodigal boyfriend, who was lost to the world in this Klondike. So was most of the company. Probably only Watson and Billy were looking at the exhibits with slight interest and surprise, and not as eagerly as we were.
-I don't know, I don't know. I wouldn't risk getting up on one of those.
-And I would try it....
I look back at Gwen in surprise and pull her close to me.
-In a quiet pool, eh?
-No, no, I just-- Well, it must be fun.
-And dangerous.
-More like," Stacy slyly shot her eyes at me and pulled herself out of my entangling grip, pulling me deeper into the room, "exciting and interesting. Like skydiving.
-Oh, even so. And Daddy's quiet princess turned out to be a lot more dangerous than I thought.
-Don't you forget it, Sullivan. -Yeah.
Showing me her tongue, the satisfied girl led us further, gradually going round all the exhibits, sharing her opinions and just having a good time, while I myself was following her, only glancing at the works of Ozcorp scientists.
With the rest of the group together, we once again tried to calm Peter down by walking around the raging science fanatic. Held back on both sides by me and Watson, poor Parker was ready to howl like a wolf, wanting to linger at every trinket, to talk to the scientists who had come out of their lairs about various details, and perhaps even to start a discussion. But it was enough for us once, when he got stuck with some old man for a good hour. We had already gone round the whole floor, and Pete was just warming up, arguing furiously with a tired old man in a lab coat, struggling to fend off the attacks of a restless student.
-Let's go to the next floor, there should be-.
-Genetics! Come on, what are we waiting for!
And like a locomotive, not noticing the obstacles and our reproaches, enthusiastic Pete rushed forward, pulling us all behind him.
During all these events, chatting with friends, flirting with Gwen and Pete's teasing, I somehow forgot what was waiting for me at the Ozcorp exhibition.
Gathered around a huge aquarium with spiders, I took a long look at the bizarre creatures born in Ozcorp's test tubes, crawling about, sometimes clashing with each other and scaring the most impressionable viewers.
The spiders in the lab were unlike any of their real relatives. Fast, extremely aggressive, especially large and admittedly.... Intimidating. Painted in bizarre colours, the creatures fought fiercely for territory, constantly clawing at their neighbours with their chewing jaws. It was like nothing you'd ever see in a documentary.
Turning to Gwen, I saw one of this amazing fauna hanging from the ceiling right next to her ear. Much smaller in size, but one just like it. Waving its paws, the turd was trying to get closer to my girlfriend for a closer encounter, but definitely not on my watch! This shit is too dangerous and only brings trouble! What if he just kills Gwen, or worse, turns her into that shit with six arms and a stranger's face?! After all these years of friendship with Pete, I didn't want him to get a bite from a radioactive creature.
-Holy shit!
Without thinking long, I infused my hand with chi, knocking the spider away from Stacy. My palm flew in front of her face, so saturated with energy that it began to glow slightly. All the people were busy looking at the creepers, so I wasn't worried about my blunder.... Come on, I was so scared that I almost pissed my trousers, so I loaded my entire supply in one blow, without looking where my hand was going. And our group was standing in a tight bunch....
With a loud smack, my palm flew into Peter's face, smearing the spider across his cheek and knocking the guy to the floor.
-What the fuck?! Shawn, what the hell are you doing?!
-There was a spider in there!
-What spider? Fuck you," MJ crouched down next to a dazed Parker, who had grabbed my slap, and started shaking the guy, trying to bring him to his senses. It was a close call, but he'd been hit hard, so Pete could barely keep his eyes together," What are your hands made of? His cheek was swollen. Ugh, what is this shit?
Gently poking her long fingernails into Pete's cheek, Watson tried to scrape away the still-living spider. The little creature flicked its chelicerae and slid its paws around, smearing its own insides all over Pete's face.
"What a tenacious creature!"
The stray thought flashed through my mind, taking up all my attention, and I somehow lost sight of Gwen crouched beside me, reaching out with her handkerchief towards my best friend's face. Blinking and cursing, Stacey began briskly wiping the remnants of the spider off Parker's face. Rushing forward, I was about to pull the girl away, but....
"Fate, you unprincipled bitch."
-Aw! Fuck, it hurts," Gwen threw away the napkin with the spider's remains and grabbed her limb, rubbing her bloody finger. Her face instantly turned pale, and she was uttering the kind of mumbles typical of dockworkers," Sean, crush it!
At the end of her speech, I was able to make out the main point of Gwen's words, and then, without thinking, I put my foot down on the bloody napkin, pressing the residue with all my weight into the floor. The shoe slid, and green residue oozed out from underneath it. I could hear the fleshy chitin crunching unhappily.
It seems I had used Qi to pierce through its armour and was only now able to kill it. I'm afraid to imagine how to get rid of this thing without superpowers or a good flamethrower.
-Pete, Pete?!
-Young people, are you all right?
There was an open space around us, and the stern guards were already there, glaring at Stacy and me. Most of them had already crouched down next to Parker, pointing fingers at my unfortunate friend and demanding to know their exact number. And others had circled us, demanding answers.
-It was just a spider hanging from the ceiling and-.
I didn't even know what to say to the raised eyebrow. Here I am, handsome, athletic, and just a cool guy. Parker is lying on the floor with MJ clucking around him, and Gwen is lying next to him, cursing Ozcorp, the spiders, and me for not being able to kill the biting turd at once. To top it off, Ned and Billy are standing nearby, munching on some stinky chips and watching the show from the front row.
The whole explanation took almost half an hour, during which time they even brought in a doctor from Ozcorp to examine Parker, concluding that the guy had a mild concussion, but he refused to go near Gwen. The girl was reacting so violently and aggressively to everything around her that I didn't even blame the poor guy for his concerns. Especially when he found out she was the daughter of a police captain.
That's right, we had to call George in just to get out of the whole mess. Pulled on his day off, the ever-so-tidy and charismatic Stacey Sr. arrived instantly, quickly settling the conflict and taking us into his arms.
His promising gaze was on me the whole way as the tired captain drove the kids home, leaving only me behind.
It was an unpleasant conversation, but, thank God, George had more sense than feelings. So after a full explanation of what had happened and a little lie about my mistaking an ordinary spider for one of the aquarium's creatures, he let me out of the car.
Because of the confusion, so many events, and the too rapid resolution of problems, as soon as I left the car, I stood there, staring tiredly at the car as it drove away.
My head felt empty, no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, it was as if my thoughts were slipping by. Gwen had been bitten, and maybe Peter had been clawed.... Although the latter wasn't certain. I'd hit him in the face so hard it would be swollen, not like a spider bite.
-Shit," I rounded the corner, hitting the rubbish bin with all my might, crushing the wretched tank. The blows came one after another as I took out my anger, -shit, shit, shit, shit!
What to do now? These events are pivotal in Spider's fate. Scraps of memories flashed through my mind that each of them had suffered constantly, paying the price for their powers and abilities. Lost loved ones, friends, relatives and loved ones, remaining alone, forever guarding the peace of the city.Having been in the skin of a hero, I had seen enough of the dangers and I didn't want the important to me intelligent people to experience the same. This isn't a comic book, a game or a film. One stray bullet, a grenade, or another psycho like Schultz, and that's it.... Spider's dead.
-No, ewww. -Uh. Stop, stop.
I pat myself on the cheeks, running the rest of my Qi through my body, helping myself calm down.
-They won't be alone. I'm kind of a hero myself," I said, suppressing a hysterical laugh and straightening the tank, putting the unfortunate container back in place, "I'll help them. I'll cover them and protect them if they get a pain in the arse.
And I had no doubt it would. Parker with his Uncle Ben upbringing, Gwen with her police captain's daughter. They're gonna put on tight spandex and go save people.
-Although. I'd like to see Gwen's arse in that outfit. Right, we've got to deal with problems as they arise. Once you've screwed up, you don't just whinge, you do it.
***
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