Miles Morales: New Spider Chapter 26.

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“Miles, are you coming?” Alicia asked. She was still sitting next to me in class, even in the 10th grade. It had been months since the invasion happened.

“Nah, I won’t be able to. I’m right on the edge of a breakthrough for my science project.”

“Yeah, yeah, we know you’re a genius. So, what exactly are you working on?” she asked.

“You’re a genius too, you know. A very pretty one,” I flirted. I knew this would make her too shy to continue asking questions or even stay.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class.

“Bye, Casanova. See you tomorrow.” There was a hint of blush on her cheeks as she hurriedly walked away.

I wasn’t blind; I had noticed that she had been getting closer to me, even laughing at my corny jokes. I had known since the ninth grade, when I overheard her friends talking about it (thanks to my super senses). My verdict was that it really couldn’t happen between us. She was 15 now, and judging by her looks, she would get prettier with age. But my point was, I didn’t want to date her. She was too young, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, as if I were manipulating her using her inexperience to my advantage.

To sum it up, I was too mature to be involved in puppy love.

“April, update on the tags.”

“They are en route to the site, Boss.”

Leaving the school grounds, I went into stealth mode, quietly tailing a school bus from Midtown High. Yep, you guessed it: Peter Parker. It had been a while since I got info on Peter, and using one of my drones to watch him (not creepy at all), I discovered that he hadn’t been bitten by the spider yet. Who says you can’t have good luck in Marvel? This gave me a chance to acquire his spider as well, making it the fifth attempt in Operation “Catch the Crawler.”

“April, I have a feeling that this will be the successful one.”

“You said that the first four times, Boss,” she remarked.

“April, you have to be positive. Miracles happen,” I intoned optimistically.

“I’m realistic, Boss. I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Have you taken a look at me?” I asked her.

“You, Boss, your case is different.”

I stood beside Peter Parker in stealth mode as he attentively listened to the scientist talk about the effects of radiation and how it was safely handled. Turning his gaze elsewhere, something caught his eye. Captivated, he approached the fully functional gamma generator, partly encased in highly reinforced Plexiglas.

“Boss, there’s a spider in there.”

“Yes, there is.”

I saw it—a tiny spider with intricate patterns and designs that matched the description of the one that escaped from Oscorp. It had been blasted with gamma radiation by the generator.

Peter was so focused he didn’t notice the spider crawling out of the machine, but the spider noticed him. It jumped off the machine, landing on his clothed upper arm and then crawling down to his bare arm. I had never seen a spider make an expression, but that little beast looked like it was about to enjoy what it was about to do.

Extending its fangs, the spider plunged them deep into Peter’s hand.

“Ah! Ouch!” Peter yelled as he flung his arm, throwing the spider into the air. Dashing toward it with my container in hand, I swiped at the spider, capturing it before it landed on a girl’s chest. A girl who I would later find out to be Cindy Moon. The wind generated from my actions blew across her face, pushing her hair back. She barely noticed as she ran towards the fallen Peter.

Peter was convulsing to the point of fainting.

The paramedics arrived within the minute, putting Peter on a stretcher and driving him to the hospital. I was seated on top of the ambulance speeding toward the nearest infirmary.

Why was I still there? To acquire Peter Parker’s blood. I knew that his parents were scientists who had died in a plane crash when he was just a child. I also knew that his blood was special because, how else would he survive a bite from an irradiated spider? The radiation alone would have killed him.

I was invisible as I made my way outside with two vials of blood in hand.

“Operation successful, Boss.”

“Heck yeah, April. Let’s head to base.”

Reaching my new primary base, a secret underground nuclear bunker in Brooklyn, I used Shield files that came in handy. Of course, I wiped the information from their database; the only ones who knew about this base were me, myself, and I. I fortified the base with numerous weapons and redundancies, all operated by April. The number of self-destruct sequences alone was staggering. If anyone managed to get past all the defenses and surveillance, they would need their own matter phase shifter. I had embedded mine directly into the doors, and without my activation, nothing would work. If they did manage to get through, they would be redirected right back out.

Using Dr. Selvig’s notes on portals and the Chitauri matter phaser, I had created a two-way portal. The portal needed to be always open on one side to maintain a connection, bridging the two ways together. As long as I had one in my base connected to any open phaser gate I opened, I could always return to base, traveling amazing distances instantly. Technology for the win!

No one was going to steal my work or tech. I had worked hard for it, and there was no way I was handing it out.

I had a project in the works to equip my base with a robot hive, each unit serving a specific purpose such as workers, combat, production, and defense—like an ant colony.

Moving along the passageway, my tools, equipment, vehicle, armors, and all other tech came into view.

My modified Quinjet proudly displayed on the left wing of the base, right below the Chitauri portal, provided another pathway for exit and entry.

The Quinjet was retrofitted with antigrav engines integrated into each side, as well as blasters, adding to its firepower. It ran on Chitauri cores, providing it with more than enough power to operate for a long time.

An ordinary white hexagonal pack, displayed in its glass casing next to my other suits, also in glass housing, proudly exhibited my suit inspired by the Superior Octopus design. It had a white and black color scheme with four thin but very powerful tentacles.

While making my masterpiece of a super suit, the Spider Armor MK 3, I was determined to up my game by adding tentacles like those of Dr. Octavius. I discovered he was in this version of the MCU, working at a university on atomics. Checking up on his other works, I was blown away by his level of accomplishments. He had so many inventions that were buried deep or not yet approved. Although he might be sometimes arrogant, he had the ability to back it up. I wanted to work with him and learn as much as I could.

OK, what was I doing wanting to work with this ticking time bomb? The man who became Spider-Man’s most iconic antagonist? The answer was that Otto Octavius was a bloody genius; it took one to know one.

In all his years fighting Spider-Man, he remained just a baseline human with absolutely no enhancements other than the tentacle harness he created from scratch.

So, I went to the university using Shield contacts, and with my genius, I impressed him enough to become his right-hand assistant—his only assistant, to be honest. It’s not like people were fighting over the position.

This version of Otto wasn’t very nice to other researchers or people in general, and they, in turn, avoided him like the plague. They even made fun of his name, calling him Dr. Octopus.

He knew but acted like it didn’t bother him, though I saw him cry secretly. His life hadn’t turned out like the one from other movies. He never married Mary, having had her fired to please his traumatized mother, who was too attached to him after her abusive husband died.

Well, he should have been happy to have his mom, right? Here’s the twist: Otto found out that his mom was secretly dating someone. He confronted her in anger, and during their argument, her heart gave out.

She died of a heart attack, devastating Otto to the point where it drastically changed his disposition. What a tragic life; it could be a hero’s origin story.