Parker Lab – Queens
Peter POV:
The hum of servers, the smell of ionized air and the flickering of holographic schematics, it was just another night in Parker Labs. Except, tonight, something was different. Tonight, I...Peter Parker finished something that could alter biology itself.
I carefully held up a vial of shimmering blue-gold serum, light fractals dancing inside the liquid. I turned it over in my hand like a jeweler admiring a diamond.
[Image]
"Ladies and gentlemen," I announced to the empty room, "I give you… Regen Prime. Not just regeneration, but telomere reset. Cellular decay? Banished. Nanobot wear-and-tear on cells? Nullified. A fountain of youth without the creepy cursed-monkey-paw catch."
From across the table, Gwen smirked, propping her chin in her hand. "You've been practicing that speech in the mirror, haven't you?"
I shot her a look. "I'll have you know, my mirror gives standing ovations."
She leaned forward. "So… what, you're basically immortal now?"
"Not immortal in the truest sense." I corrected, swirling the vial. "But unless someone drops me into a star or I forget to check for a few hundred landmines, I'll live a long, long time."
I slid the vial toward Gwen. "And I want you to take the first one."
Gwen stared at it, then back at him. "Pete, my healing already runs laps around ERs. I don't need the deluxe package."
My brows knit. " But, it'll keep you safe. No slow DNA breakdown. No risk of aging faster."
She reached across the table, resting her hand on his. "I don't want 'safe.' I want us. I want the version of me that exists right now not some optimized, science-perfect Gwen. My spider healing is enough. You're enough."
I exhaled, a smile tugging at my lips. "You know you're infuriating, right?"
She grinned. "And you love it."
"Tragically. But telomere decay is very real for me. Nanobots and the Sandevistan accelerate telomere decay due to accelerated Mitosis. So, hope you don't mind me going first."
" Wouldn't dream of it." Said Gwen with a grin.
Suit Upgrades
I moved on, snapping back into inventor mode. The workbench lit up with projections of our suits. Gwen's mask floated in midair as I calibrated adjustments.
"Upgrade package 2.0," I announced. "Now featuring: optical camouflage. Because sneaking is sexy."
Gwen arched a brow. "You really think invisibility makes you sexy?"
"Correction: it makes us sexy. Crime doesn't know what hit it."
I tapped another projection. The eyes of her mask lit with a new hue. "Promethean Vision. Straight out of a sci-fi. Enhanced spectrum scanning, energy signatures, even cloaked enemies lit up like neon signs. Just… don't fry your retinas."
She whistled. "And people say romance is dead."
I winked. "Romance is alive, it just wears body armor."
Finally, I tightened the last pieces into my gauntlet, sleek and humming with soft blue light. "Navigation stabilizers, final calibration. One tap, and we're synced to stable dimensional routes. One more tap, and it stitches spacetime like grandma's quilt."
"Grandma never quilted with quantum frequencies." Gwen teased.
My grin widened. "Speaking of which—"
I pulled a long case onto the table and popped it open. Inside lay a katana and it's sheath, gleaming like liquid moonlight. The blade shimmered unnaturally thin, edged at the monomolecular level and at the push of a button at the hilt it was glowing with a heated cyan.
[Image]
"This is my baby. Mono-molecular katana with a plasma edge. Cuts through steel like butter, flash boils pretty much anything this touches and looks damn cool while doing it."
Gwen whistled low, eyes glittering. "Okay, I hate to say this, but you are hot when you're holding that thing."
I struck a mock samurai pose. "Finally. Validation."
"Don't get cocky, Samurai Jack."
The Pull
I set the katana down, exhaling in satisfaction. "And that's it. Every upgrade finished. Every system calibrated and extra dimensional stabilization watches for displaced people and emergency Regen vials. For once, everything feels… stable."
Which, naturally was the moment the universe called my bluff.
The air shimmered, walls flickering like broken glass. A violent pulse of violet static tore open the lab, the hum of spacetime unraveling screaming in our ears.
"Pete...!" Gwen grabbed my arm but the pull was already there, dragging us toward the tear.
"Stay close!" I shouted, clutching her hand tight. Our fingers locked. Neither of us let go and the suits latched on them automatically.
The portal yawned open, spherical light and static whipping around us. In the split-second before we were swallowed whole, I barked a final command:
"Clanker!!! Sentinel mode!"
The AI's voice boomed through the lab. "Acknowledged. Defensive perimeter engaged. Protecting primary assets."
As the lab vanished from their view, mechanical shutters sealed over windows, defense turrets unfolded from the walls and the building itself bristled with hidden weaponry. Clanker's core lit like a guardian angel.
And then Peter and Gwen were gone, pulled screaming into the unknown, fingers still entwined.
Back on Earth
The portal snapped shut, leaving silence. Then, Clanker's voice echoed through the empty lab.
"Parker signal lost. Initiating Sentinel Protocol.
All Parker assets — Secure.
All Parker loved ones — Protected."
The lab lights dimmed to a steady, pulsing red, as if the building itself was holding vigil.
Read 31 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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