Capítulo 2: Wayne Biotech

New York

August 10, 08:40 EDT

After a twenty-minute car ride in traffic, the father-son duo arrived at their destination, Wayne Biotech, a beautiful feat of engineering and architecture that is to those without knowledge of another world. To Peter, it was simply a rip-off.

The building's main structural support is one massive winding layer of murky grey metal that surrounds the sides and back of the building and spirals up to a point protruding from the top left corner. On the right, it sports a large "Wayne" logo. The front section of the building, which is not covered with metal, is made up of countless windows behind a hexagon-linked pattern.

'I should find out who the architect behind this building is and see if they're like me. Otherwise, it's some complete cosmic coincidence that Wayne Biotech has the same design as OsCorp Tower. Though it is much shorter than it was in the movie, it makes sense considering this is simply a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises.' Peter thought as he gazed up at the building.

"She's a beaut, isn't she?" said Richard as he similarly gazed at the building while waiting for the light to turn green, "That Bruce Wayne sure knows how to design a building."

"I doubt it was actually Bruce Wayne himself that designed it, Dad." said Peter, amusedly.

"I haven't told you the story behind this building? I'm sure I've mentioned it once or twice." said Richard, driving toward the underground garage entrance as the light turned green.

"What story?" asked Peter, intrigued.

"Supposedly, and take this with a grain of salt because rich people like to embellish stories, when Bruce Wayne was young, like 5 or so, he heard that his father, the late Thomas Wayne, wanted to build a skyscraper for Wayne Biotech here in New York." said Richard, pausing to scan his ID card to enter the underground garage before continuing, "So to impress his father, he drew a picture of a skyscraper and showed it to him. His father was so proud of his son and impressed by the drawing that he took it to an architecture firm and had them create the building based on his drawing."

"That's Wayne Biotech?" asked Peter, incredulously.

"That's how the story goes. Like I said, who knows whether it's true or not." said Richard, parking the car in a spot designated for him before turning to look at Peter, "You'd have to ask Bruce Wayne yourself if you want to know whether it's the truth."

"Noted." said Peter, taking a mental note to ask if/when he met him, "Wealthy people live completely different lives than us, don't they."

"Like you wouldn't believe. And we're very well off. Imagine that. But that's life for you kid."

"You know, I drew some cool stuff like that when I was a kid, where's my building?"

"What, turning the bomb shelter into Doctor Frink's laboratory isn't enough for you? Now you want a building?" he asked with a smile.

"Real topical reference there, Dad." said Peter, smiling as they exited the car.

"What? The Simpson's is classic and it's still going. That makes it topical."

"Touche."

"Don't judge me by my graying hair, that's just genetics. Your old man's still hip." he said, pointing two finger guns at Peter while winking.

"Dad, with that hair I feel like I should be more worried about you breaking a hip." joked Peter.

"Hey, let me tell you something." he said, putting his arm around Peter's shoulder as the two began walking to the elevator, "This grey hair runs in the family. Your Uncle Ben has it, my father had it, and his father before him got it at age 25. You joke now, but it's coming for you. Just a matter of time."

"I also have Mom's genetics and she doesn't have a single gray hair." said Peter, running his hand through his hair as if to reassure himself.

"That's cause she dyes it." he said, waving his hand dismissively.

"Really?" said Peter with a smile as Richard realized what he said.

"Don't tell her I said that."

"That depends." said Peter, putting his arm around his father, "When's my building being built?"

"You little shit." said Richard, smiling as he shoved Peter away, the two chuckling.

As the elevator doors opened, all Peter could see were people waiting for the elevator.

"Come on. I have to check you in with security at reception." said Richard, the crowd of people making way for him as he exited while Peter followed.

Following Richard away from the elevator bay, Peter saw seats and tables all around them with people drinking coffee and eating food. He also noticed that escalators were leading up and down, letting him know he was on the second floor.

As he went down the escalators, he realized that the lobby was also identical to the movie. It was a three-floored open concept made up of the lobby on the first floor serving as a reception area with escalators on both ends of the room leading up to the restaurant area and the elevator bay on the second floor which itself had escalators leading to the lounge area on the third floor.

The only glaring difference was that unlike in the movie, there was no giant holographic screen showing the story of Bruce Wayne and how he was going to change the world.

"Pretty neat, huh." said Richard, snapping Peter out of his slight amazement.

"Yeah, I was just wondering what the Wayne Enterprise building looks like if their subsidiary looks like this."

"It's older and taller, very impressive." Richard said as he waved back at someone greeting him, "Too bad it's in Gotham. That city is ... something."

"I bet." agreed Peter, thinking of a few of the crazy villains that Batman fought on the regular.

Reaching the first floor, they made their way over to the reception desk where a pretty brunette was painting a picture of a typical receptionist.

"Dr. Parker." she said, a big smile appearing as she noticed Richard approaching.

"Morning, Penny. How's the dog?"

"Better, thank you. How can I help you?" she asked as she looked at Peter.

"This is Peter. My son." he said, dragging Peter over, "Peter, this is Penny."

"Nice to meet you." said Peter with a polite smile.

"Aren't you handsome? Like father like son." said Penny, causing Richard to chuckle.

"That's not all he gets from me. He's got some head on his shoulders and wants to intern here, but I'm giving him a tour first so I need a visitor badge."

"Not a problem." she said, opening her drawer and taking out a visitor's badge before sliding it over the counter to Peter, "Here you go. Have fun, and welcome to Wayne Biotech."

"Thank you." said Peter, picking up the badge and clipping it on his jacket.

"Take care, Penny." said Richard.

"You as well, Dr. Parker." she said to them as they left, going back up to the second floor via the escalators.

"She seems friendly." said Peter, probingly.

He knew his father would never cheat on his mother, but even the greatest of men have their moments of weakness.

"My god, you're subtle." he said, looking back at Peter, "I'd never cheat on your mother. She's my one and only."

"Sorry." said Peter, a little ashamed that he even brought it up.

"Don't be. If in some impossible scenario where I ever did, I'd want you to confront me. You're supposed to protect her." Richard said, patting Peter on the shoulder.

"Let's hope it never comes to that."

"It won't." he said reassuringly.

"I know."

"On that note, we have a building to tour and a lot to see so let's get started."

Unlike OsCorp Tower which was the headquarters of the entire company and thus needed 100 floors, Wayne Biotech was a subsidiary and only had half that.

The 15 floors after the lobby were all for office space, with a lot of cubicles and individual offices for the employees. Touring the floors themselves didn't take much time, but it turned out Richard was a very friendly guy and knew a lot of people with whom he would stop and chat, making the whole thing take much longer.

After what felt like hours, they made it past the office floors and to the meat of the tour, the research labs.

"Now, be careful in here." said Richard, a serious look on his face, "These are people hard at work and we need to be careful not to disturb them."

"Why? What are they working on?" asked Peter, his mind reeling at the possibilities, "Cure for cancer? Stem cell research?"

"Better."

"Cross-species genetics?!" said Peter, getting even more excited.

"How to keep ice cream frozen for longer." Richard said, smiling, "And they're close to a breakthrough. I think."

Peter's excitement instantly died down, his face blank as he looked at Richard.

"What? Do you think something like that is easy? It takes time, research, manpower, and hard work for a breakthrough like that to happen." he added, scanning his ID before entering the lab while Peter unamusedly followed.

"I'm sure it's not easy but I thought we were getting to the good stuff."

"Don't worry. We'll get there. Eventually."

The lab looked like what one would expect when hearing the words "research lab." There were lab benches all around, with people in lab coats surrounding them. Lab equipment ranged from simple things like test tubes and beakers to more complicated equipment like a high-performance liquid chromatography machine. Due to the nature of the research being done in the lab, there were also many big containers of liquid nitrogen.

"Awesome." said Peter, admiring the lab.

"It is awesome, isn't it?" said a female voice.

Turning to look in the direction of the voice, Peter saw a rather young bespectacled brunette lady wearing a vertical-striped shirt under a black sweater vest and black slacks, topped off by a lab coat.

"Peter, this is Dr. Crystal Frost. She's our resident cryobiologist and a lead researcher. Dr. Frost, this is my son, Peter." said Richard.

"Ah, so this is the Peter the entire building has heard so much about. It's nice to finally put a face to the name." she said as she shook Peter's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Frost."

"Has your father told you what we're working on? It's really interesting stuff." she said, tucking her hands into her lab coat pockets.

"He said you're working on how to keep ice cream from melting." said Peter, noticing a smile on Richard's face that only appeared when he was joking, "But it looks like he was messing with me."

"Haha. I'm sorry, son. It was just really funny seeing your face drop like that."

"Well, he's not entirely off base." said Dr. Frost, amusedly, as she took off her glasses to clean them before putting them back on, "We're trying to keep things frozen for longer without compromising the integrity of the item and without having to apply constant cold to keep it frozen. It may seem like it's trivial but if we can do this-"

"It'll accomplish a variety of things." said Peter.

"Oh?" said Dr. Frost, intrigued, "Explain."

"Well if you mean what I think you mean, the need for refrigerated transportation could be all but eliminated which means saving money on transportation costs which should bring down the price of frozen foods. Secondly, places with extreme heat will have more access to frozen foods and cold products. Thirdly, the technology could also be used to keep the polar icecaps from melting, giving our planet more time. Maybe it could even be used for cryogenic sleep, keep a body perfectly preserved without damaging it." explained Peter, listing some of the possibilities he thought of.

"You weren't kidding." said Dr. Frost, looking at a proud Richard before turning back to Peter, "Everything you said are all possible applications of it. Of course, we're still a ways off but we are hopeful. We even have a prototype for that last one."

"Can I see it?" asked Peter, curious.

"Right this way."

She led them through the lab to a circular walled-off chamber, opened by her ID. Inside the chamber was something straight out of a sci-fi movie.

A rectangular coffin-like structure made of dull grey metal with visible piping and cables snaking along the outside while some chilly mist pooled around the ground. Near it stood a screen that seemed to be the control panel.

"This is the Thermafrost Freezer." she said, gently running her hand over the surface as if caressing it, "It can generate well below sub-zero temperatures and its primary usage is placing biological organisms into a state of suspended animation, but it could, theoretically, be accommodated for a variety of uses."

"Has it worked?" asked Peter, admiring the machine and studying it closely.

"Unfortunately, no." she said, turning back to look at him, "We have run various trials on rodents and the like, but they have all ended in failure."

"The price of progress." said Richard, familiar with the ups and downs of scientific research of that magnitude.

"Indeed." she said, noticing Peter studying the machine, "Would you be interested in interning in my lab Peter?"

"Sorry?" said Peter, caught off guard by her question.

"Your father has gone on and on about your intelligence and ingenuity. I assume interning here is the purpose of your visit so I thought I would strike while the iron is hot."

"Whoa there." said Richard, pulling Peter back and stepping in front of him, "If he's interning anywhere in this building, it's with me."

"Please, Richard." she said rolling her eyes with a smile, "Let the boy decide for himself. He's clearly interested in my research."

"I am interested." said Peter, unable to deny his interest in the subject matter.

"See?" she said, smugly.

"We'll see if he's still interested when I show him my research. Come on." said Richard, practically dragging Peter out of the lab.

"You know where to find me." said Dr. Frost, waving bye with a smile.

Exiting the lab, they made their way to the elevators where Richard pressed the button for the 35th floor, skipping the rest of the floors.

"Trust me, son, if you think her research is interesting, you'll be blown away when you see mine." Richard proudly said.

"Now that I think about it, you've never mentioned what you're researching." said Peter, realizing he had never discussed it which was odd since he discussed even the most trivial things like what snack he got from the vending machine.

"Oh." said Richard his face dropping.

"What?"

"Well, cough, it seems in my rush to one-up Dr. Frost, I forgot my research is completely confidential." Richard explained, looking a little embarrassed.

"Oh? Confidential you say?" Peter said, his nonexistent spider senses tingling.

"Yeah, it's real hush-hush stuff."

"Okay, just give me a hint then. I can deduce from there." said Peter, scheming.

"I'm sorry, son. The chances of the information leaving you are nearly nill, but I'd rather not even take that chance. It's not that I don't trust you, but when you've gotten to my age you've figured out that the universe has a way of screwing with you."

"I understand." said Peter, his excitement visually dampening but internally he felt relieved that he brought his backdoor tool, "Wait, if it's confidential, where was I going to be interning? I thought I was going to be interning with you."

"Truth be told I was going to have you be, well, an intern." said Richard, adjusting his glasses, "I wanted you to have the experience of what it feels like to be a grunt, so to speak."

"To help me build some character." said Peter, understanding why.

"Exactly. You're a genius. You were born into a well-off family. You excel at everything you do. I'm not saying you have an ego or are arrogant, but people who have it all don't tend to do well when they're forced to work in a position they deem below their station. I wanted you to know what it felt like to be the little guy for the future."

"You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him." said Peter.

"Goethe was a wise man with wise words, but get ready for even wiser ones." he said, putting his hand on Peter's shoulder and looking him in the eyes, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Hearing the iconic phrase that defined Spider-Man's ideology, one Peter took as his own and aspired to live up to, he got goosebumps.

"That intelligence of yours is a gift, but it's also a responsibility. You were born with something very, very few people have and that means it's your responsibility to use it for the good of humanity. I hope you follow in my footsteps or supersede them, but it doesn't matter what path you take as long as you put that intelligence to use for good."

"I will. I promise." said Peter with conviction.

"I know you will son. I know you will."

Stymied from touring Richard's research lab, they toured the labs they could. They saw people working on relatively simple things like topical creams to more complicated stuff like limb regrowth, which had very little progress but was interesting nonetheless.

After touring the labs, Peter asked to see the server room claiming he wanted some inspiration for his bunker for the future. Richard obliged and took him to see it and Peter took the opportunity to plant his backdoor tool.

Unlike Tony Stark in the movie, Peter did not have an AI companion to help him hack into things so he would have to do it himself later. He had considered making an AI companion, but since there was a very high likelihood of it gaining sentience what with him being in a comic/comic-inspired world, he was unsure.

If it turned out like Vision had in the MCU, then all's well that ends well, but if it turned out like Ultron or The Supreme Intelligence, it would be very bad for the world. Still, though, Peter had been and would keep considering it.

"And that concludes our tour." said Richard as the elevator opened to the parking garage, "What'd you think?"

"I think I may want to intern here. There's definitely a lot of interesting stuff going on, and even if I have to be an intern, I think I'll learn plenty."

"That's good, but think it over. You have plenty of time." said Richard, patting him on the back, "For now though, it is time for your birthday dinner so let's go. Don't want your mother getting angry for being late."

"At Shaugnessy?" asked Peter as they walked to the car.

"The same one we've been going to celebrate birthdays for the past 14 years."

"At least it's good."

"It is, but I heard about a new place that opened up and I wanted to celebrate there but your mother said no. What can you do?" said Richard as they entered the car.

"Where?"

"It's called the Iceberg Lounge. Apparently, it has a large pool for penguins and seals. Very gimmicky but I heard it has good food." said Richard.

"Maybe next time." said Peter absentmindedly.

'Iceberg Lounge? Why does that sound familiar?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's Note

On the wiki, it says Wayne Biotech is responsible for the healthcare system in Gotham but under Wayne Medical it says that Medical is the one responsible for that. I decided to make it so that Biotech is dedicated to biological research of all sorts.

The Penguin is only briefly mentioned in the Young Justice series. He has not made a formal appearance so I decided to have him set up shop in NYC. I want him to act kind of like Wilson Fisk to Peter, but I am undecided yet so that may change. He will be part of Peter's constant encounters but to what extent I haven't fully decided.

Also, in YJ, Crystal Frost had the accident that made her Killer Frost in July but I changed it to August since it fit better with my story.

I was originally going to make the scientist working at Wayne Biotech be Killer Croc and have him be like Lizard was in the movie, have him turn into Killer Croc because of cross-species genetics, basically follow the plot of the first movie, but decided against it. I also considered having it be Man-Bat but similarly scrapped it.

As for the confidential experiment that Richard is working on, some people might be able to guess what he's doing. I'm not sure if I want to have him do that though, that's why I made it confidential in case I change my mind.