Peter POV:
The hum of the fabricator filled the basement, low and constant, like a heartbeat. Holo screens glowed blue across my desk. Notes scrawled across half a dozen whiteboards. Equations. Protein chains. Neural interface schematics.
On one monitor, a vial spun slowly under light.
> Antidote v1.0 – Synthesized.
Function: Counteracts serum-induced reptilian DNA splicing.
It wasn't perfect. The stability hovered at 70%. But it was a start. The only thing standing between Dr. Curt Connors and full, permanent monstrosity.
And then there was the other project. One I'd been circling for weeks. On the holographic display, a silhouette rotated: sleek armored plating, honeycomb weave at the joints, powered micro-actuators aligned to Gwen's frame.
SPIDER ARMOR v0.1 – Conceptual Stage
I leaned back in my chair, rubbing tired eyes. The irony wasn't lost on me the girl who saved my life night after night, I now planned to cover in armor because her spandex wasn't enough.
Because last time, she nearly died.
Because this time, I wasn't going to let her.
Gwen POV – Morning, Promotion Ceremony
Dad looked weird in a suit.
The kind of weird where you wanted to laugh, cry and burst with pride all at once. His badge gleamed in the sunlight as the commissioner pinned the new rank onto his chest.
"Congratulations, Captain George Stacey." The commissioner said. The crowd clapped, some cheered. Dad looked down for just a second — the smallest smile when his eyes caught mine.
Beside me, Peter nudged. "Your dad's officially the scariest man in New York now. Even scarier than me."
I smirked, whispering back, "Scariest man with a curfew to enforce. Don't forget that."
He chuckled, and for a moment, everything felt… normal. Like maybe the world wasn't balanced on the edge of a knife.
Uncle Ben clapped the loudest. Aunt May teared up quietly into a tissue. Peter stood straighter than I'd ever seen him, hands in his pockets but his eyes never leaving the stage.
Family. Pride. A rare good day.
I should've known it wouldn't last.
Connors POV - Oscorp Sewer Access
Water dripped from rusted pipes above. Rats scattered at his clawed footsteps.
Curt Connors' claws scraped against the steel grate as he looked up at Oscorp Tower. His tower. His research. His betrayal.
The serum in his bloodstream was changing him. Every hour, more of his mind drowned under scales and hunger. Every second, his humanity rotted away being replaced with a twisted certainty.
But the GANALI prototype will change the entire human race.
And he would have it. Tonight.
His tail lashed the concrete, and the sewer shook.
Peter POV – Afternoon, After Ceremony
Back at the lab, I stared at the two projects on my desk:
The antidote.
The blueprint for armor that didn't exist yet.
Two lifelines. Neither finished. Neither ready.
And I couldn't shake the feeling that I was already out of time.
The city thought Captain Stacey's badge was protection. The truth was simpler, uglier.
Somewhere out there, Connors was coming.
And when he did… Gwen would be in his way. Which meant I would be too.
As the sun dipped behind Oscorp Tower, the skyline painted in orange and shadow, both predator and prey moved into position.
New York didn't know it yet. But the night was about to break.
Read 17 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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