Capítulo 2: Powers And Planning

(A/N - For those of you who probably thought this, yes, I know that in the original movie Peter doesn't go to Oscorp on a trip with his school and that the Oscorp facility where the Oz Serum is kept is an entirely different place. Think of this as me combining the original Spider-Man with the one from 'Amazing Spider-Man' where he does indeed go to Oscorp and get bitten.)

Groggily my eyelids forced themselves open and let the light beaming through my window hit them. Instantly I closed them again, a searing pain flooding through my brain as sounds and smells I hadn't noticed before assaulted my mind.

I lay there, the memories flooding back to me for a few moments as I remembered how I got here:

The Spider Bite. After being bitten, I put the dead spider in a small vial and put it in my bag before going to the teacher and getting excused from the trip. He didn't believe me at first - and then I threw up on his and my own shoes. He should've just let me go when I asked him the first time; his shoes would've been clean and sick-free if he had.

Travelling home on foot in that state wouldn't be happening, so while the teacher was annoyed I'd thrown up on his fancy shoes, he did call me a taxi and made sure the driver got paid. The ride home was one of silence, thankfully, and I could focus on dealing with the nausea and dizziness.

When I arrived home, Uncle Ben was out at work and so was Aunt May. True to my looks, these uncle and aunt of mine were the one's from the 'Amazing Spider-Man' movies. So older than most people's parents but not grandma and grandpa age. Oddly enough, despite just being sick, I was utterly ravenous and I ate just about everything I could before making my way upstairs, entering my room and locking the door behind me...and then passing out about a foot before I reached my bed.

So close, Parker. So close.

And as I woke up, I was lying across the floor with a crick in my neck. Not just that - my entire body felt like it'd been run over by a tank. The sensory overload at least told me I'd successfully gained my powers and not died like I'd been worrying. Still, it was incredibly uncomfortable and whenever I tried to open my eyes it felt like the light of a thousand suns was being funnelled into my brain but it did give me time to get used to my hearing and sense of smell.

Not just that, I quickly figured out spidey-sense. It wasn't some psychic ability but simply all my superhuman senses working together with my impressively fast reflexes to give early warnings. Sort of like my subconscious picking up on ques my conscious mind ignored and letting me know.

But right now, it felt more like...an awareness. Of everything around me. My entire room was easy to sense and ''see'' even with my eyes shut.

Deciding to test it out, I slowly and delicately stood up from my lying position on the floor. I didn't put too much strength into any of my actions because I didn't need to repeat the mistakes I'd seen in the movies. Those other Peter Parker's were noble sacrifices and I salute them. Sadly, it wasn't as easy as just putting as little strength into my movement as possible because even a fraction of my current strength was well beyond what a normal human could produce.

As such, I felt myself get flung from the floor and for a brief second I wasn't touching anything as I flew upward. My body moved on it's own, however, saving me from hitting the ceiling. Flexibility I'd never had, explosive power I'd never had and acrobatic movements I'd never dream of doing came naturally and I twirled mid-air until I was facing the ceiling. I held my hands out and hit the ceiling with a silence that belied the utter momentum I had just moments before. When other people would fall down after this...I didn't. Stick'em powers.

I cracked my eyes open just a little bit and saw my hands and feet on the ceiling. I pulled on my hand yet it wouldn't budge and I felt like if I pulled any harder I'd just be pulling a chunk of my ceiling free rather than my hand.

...This is much more annoying than I expected.

Keeping my eyes open, letting them get used to the abundance of visual information being poured into them, I took a deep breath and focused on my hands. I wasn't sure whether I had comic-book Spider-Man stick'em powers or the movie Spider-Man version. One was all about physics and science while the other was just innumerable tiny little quills that stuck into everything they touched. One of those was much more 'body horror' esque than the other.

...God I hope I don't have the little quill things.

Pushing the thought from my mind, I focused on my hands and continue my deep breathing while thinking about not sticking to the ceiling. It was sort of like a nearly unnoticeable bit of pressure was released from my hands, one I hand't noticed until it was gone. And then one of my hands came free. Followed by the other one.

And then I was just hanging horizontally by my toes. No, I'm not mistaken - horizontally, not vertically. My body held an utterly impossible position, my toes supporting my entire body and keeping me hanging from the ceiling.

This type of strength was...breathtaking.

I did the same thing with my feet that I did with my hands and soon enough, I dropped silently to my bedroom floor. I looked to my nearby bedside table and saw the digital clock on it:

5:49 AM.

Earlier than I expected, honestly. The lack of prophetic dream about spiders told me I wasn't an avatar either, so my powers are purely physical and scientific of origin. Which is good. Means exercise can improve them. Turning to my door, I knew this was the final thing I needed to check. Looking into the mirror hanging on my door, I saw me. No spider-like features, which was good, and still only four limbs which was even better.

There had been some changes, however. Where once before my physique was wiry and unathletic, my new look was like night and day. My frame was covered in muscle, my shoulders had broadened and I think I grew a few inches taller. It wasn't the type of muscle you'd see in a bodybuilder, sure, but it was still noticeable. I'd even go as far as to call myself brawny. Like a gymnast or a sprinter.

I'll admit, I did do a little flexing in the mirror. What? It's not every day you wake up looking like some sort of government bred super soldier, is it? Plus, that eight pack...goddamn. That'll definitely get me some attention at the beach.

Unluckily and luckily there weren't any beaches in New York, so no showing off my mysteriously and out of nowhere shredded body.

Another thing that was quite lucky was that I suspected these changes. The broadness and the height extension as well. Which is why I got myself some new clothes about a week or two ago. Big enough for my new size and baggy enough to hide my new physique. This was only a temporary thing, though, because after a few more months I could just explain it away as the result of exercise. It'd be too hard to hide it after a while as well - what am I gonna do? Wear baggy, thick clothing in summer? A t-shirt at the pool? Yeah, no.

I may still be Peter B. Parker but I have less confidence issues than before the merge. I have no problem with showing off a little - but not to an arrogant, obnoxious level. That much would never change, no matter what. I'm still Peter Parker, after all, you know?

Changes aside, I had things to test. First off, whether I have those body horror internal web spinnerets or if I need to make web-slinging equipment.

I posed in the iconic way and pressed my middle and ring finger against the space between the palm of my hand and my wrist. Low and behold, my wrist began spurting white, sticky stuff. It came out unfocused, the web I mean, and practically sprayed itself all across the wall opposite me, covering my door and mirror as well.

...What can I say? Not the first time a teenage boy's room has seen a lot of white, sticky stuff--and just like any other teenage boy, I got to cleaning that stuff up. Fast. Last thing I needed was Aunt May or, god forbid, Uncle Ben finding that stuff.

With my enhanced strength and the fact the web just didn't stick to me, I pulled all the webbing loose and bundle it up into a tightly wound ball. I halfheartedly threw the bundle/ball of web at my trashcan and earned myself a three-point swish--who said spider-sense is only useful in fights? If I were the type who wanted to become an athlete, I could easily take any sport scene by storm. Luckily for all the aspiring athletes in the world even with my sudden shredded, superhuman body, I didn't suddenly like sports and want to compete in them.

Turning around from the wall, I walked back over to my bed and sat down on it, noticing it creaking a bit more than before - well duh, Parker, taller, broader and more muscular? Definitely put on a lot of weight in bone and muscle tissue - before turning my focus back to the wall.

I brought my hand up again, pressing the same spot as before on my palm/wrist but this time, I focused and held an image on what I wanted. A rope, not a burst of net-like webbing.

The result was better than before but it'd gone from covering the entire wall to being over a smaller, tighter area. It was more like a shotgun blast of web than what I was aiming for and a groan of frustration escaped my throat.

...Why couldn't the web powers be as easy as the stick'em powers, man?

. . .

Half an hour later and I'd succeeded in getting a somewhat rope-like web to come out on command without having to concentrate too much. Oddly enough my forearm felt a bit...sore. I guess the web has to come from somewhere and my practice has somewhat dried up that well a little. It'll most likely increase in capacity the more I use it like a muscle of sorts.

With that little practice session over, however, I got dressed in a baggy hoodie and some sweatpants before deciding to head out. I had school today but I had more important things to do. With my test scores I doubt they'd even mind. There are perks to being the top student in the school, I guess.

Important things? Testing powers. I have a plan to steal the Oz Serum so I can perfect it but before that I need to get a basic proficiency with my powers. Without it, I doubt I'd be able to sneak into Oscorp like I wanted to. Sure, nothing they could throw at me would stop me as I am now but that didn't mean I wanted all that attention just as I've gained my powers. I'll stick to being a cat burglar for now, thank you very much.

And to do that, I need to get a hang on my powers. Namely my wall-crawling, flexibility and overall superhuman equilibrium. These are the three main things I'll be using, other than my new strength, to break into Oscorp. Wall-crawling for obvious reasons but my flexibility and balance will allow me to make up for my lack of experience as a thief with pure physicality.

So, I delicately opened my door, holding the doorknob with a finger and a thumb as I turned it. I really didn't wanna break anything. After that I had a quick escapade in the bathroom - brushing my teeth and washing my face, mainly - which was equally as full as delicate actions as exiting my room.

Then I left through my room's window.

...I'd have to deal with the wrath of Aunt May later on when she discovers I'd skipped school but it's all for the greater good, so I'll deal with it. It was a decent trip to the nearest abandoned warehouse and I didn't trust myself to not be seen if I webbed my way there, so I was stuck to just doing it like every other ordinary person aka walking there.

Though with my enhanced physique came enhanced stamina and endurance, which meant even after twenty or so minutes of walking I didn't even feel a slight dip in my energy. Which was nice. Better than when I first got here and I'd feel exhausted after a brief run.

Finally at the place, I looked over my new testing ground. Plenty of obstacles and plenty of stuff I could lift. Walking over to a nearby metal girder, I curiously place a hand on it, sticking to it and then lifted. The weight I knew should've been there...just wasn't there anymore. It felt like picking up a small stick. Looking over to the other rusted steel girders, I walked over to them with the one in my hand currently resting against my shoulder.

I added girder after girder to the one in my hand until I was lifting all of them with a single hand in an inhuman display of both strength and balance. About thirty of them were balanced in a very odd stack which would been I was lifting about five and a half tonnes of steel right now. With a single hand, by the way.

And I didn't even feel that strained. The weight was definitely there but it was more like holding a bag of sugar in my hand rather than thirty steel girders.

I couldn't help but wonder how strong I actually was. The only problem was that I couldn't exactly test it just yet. I'm sure I could lift a car or a bus - but anything beyond that was up for debate because I couldn't exactly find it easily. A tank? Where am I going to find a tank in New York? A plane? How am I going to go about trying to lift a plane without airport security trying to taze or shoot me? For now, I'll just have to keep testing it however I can.

Something tells me I'm stronger than I should be, though. Most likely because of the bigger spider that bit me plus the things that were added to it's genetics.

Placing the steel in my hand down to the floor and stopping my balancing act, I tore a piece of steel from one of the girders and gained myself a ragged piece of steel that looked a little like a shiv. One of the spider's apparently had a very strong carapace which gave it incredible defense. That spider was added to the genetic cocktail for the enhanced spiders...which means I should've inherited it's powers but scaled up.

Pushing the jagged edge to my arm lightly, I winced at the possible pain I'd feel if this didn't work and yet no pain came. I looked at the contact sight of the jagged steel and my skin and found my skin was pressed down but it didn't break. I pushed it a little harder. Still nothing. A little harder than that, and then the steel began to deform against my skin.

...So, it's safe to say I'm knife-proof. What about bullets? Not something I want to test out nor can I because of a lack of firearm. For safety's sake, I'll avoid bullets for now.

With strength and a simple durability test out of the way, I decided to test out my athleticism.

I did get a Jumping Spider's DNA, right? Should've made my limbs incredibly strong. Time to test out how much explosive power I have. With that in mind, I made my way over to a nearby stack of wooden pallets.

Bending down slightly, I pushed against the floor and jumped. And went straight to the roof of the warehouse, overshooting the top of the pallets by a massive margin.

See? This is why I need to test my powers out.

After that, the hours passed as I tested out my new prowess. Jumping around, doing flips and other advanced gymnastic routines - even made an impromptu obstacle course that would've been nigh-impossible for a normal human to complete. I had a few mistakes but those came from not knowing my own prowess and overshooting like I had before. In the end, my conclusion was that the extra spider DNA had given me extraordinary athletic prowess, even when compared to the memories I had.

Spider-sense helped out a lot as well, telling me how to do things and giving me a hint on what I could do and what I couldn't in any given situation. I decided not to rely on it too much though and instead tried to do everything I could without it for the most part.

Once I got the obstacle course down, I decided to start implementing my Spider-sense into the routine. I was by no means a master of any of my powers yet but I had a basic proficiency with them just like my web and stick'em powers. Problem is, this will have to do for now. If everything is as it is, Norman should be the Green Goblin by now and I have to ''appropriate'' the Oz Serum from Oscorp before he stashes it somewhere else, if he hasn't already.

Sitting down on that same stack of pallets I'd overshot before, I sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the warehouse. I was officially on the same path as so many other Peter Parkers but I knew it wasn't enough.

How many Peter's in my memories from the merger led a happy life? How many of them lost so much? Basically all of them. Both parts of me refused to let anything like that happen.

Uncle Ben's death being the main one. Tears threatened to pool from my eyes as I thought about my uncle's death but what pooled up instead was resolve. Determination. I may not be Spider-Man just yet but I'd seen the multitude of different Uncle Bens say the same thing: with great power comes great responsibility. And it's my responsibility to make sure the people dear to me are safe with this power.

What I also knew was that I couldn't just sit by while other people died. So many enemies sprung to mind: Green Goblin, Doc Ock, The Lizard, Electro, Mysterio...and many, many others. They'd kill so many people if I didn't step in, maybe even Aunt May and Uncle Ben if I just let them do what they wanted. One quote sprung to mind, 'Look, when you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.' Both parts of me agreed. Coming from a normal person, you could safely say they had a hero complex. But when you have the powers I do, sitting by and letting things happen is the same as doing the things yourself.

I'm not saying every ordinary person should step in and battle criminals, endangering their own lives. Leave that stuff to the cops. But super villains? The cops can't deal with them. As far as I know, Tony Stark is still just a playboy billionaire, Bruce Banner is off in hiding, Thor is still in Asgard, Captain America is still frozen in ice somewhere--I'm the only one who can stop these types of villains.

And both parts of me have the same opinion on this: I need to help. Not make a martyr out of myself or get killed doing it, but do what I can to help.

But for that, I need more power. The Oz Serum is my next step after the Spider-Bite I've already received. It won't be a quick power grab either - I'll need to work out the kinks of the serum so I don't go insane and I'll need to adapt it to my new superhuman physiology.

It could take weeks or months until I'm able to finish it. At least my spider powers seem better than other versions, right? I'll have to be sated with that, which I am.

Shuffling off the pallets, I fell about fifteen feet and landed without any trouble whatsoever and began walking out of the warehouse. I had planning for a heist to do. Best to get it done as soon as possible.