P2A - Chapter #5: The Bite

(The next day...)

It was a bright day and two Midtown High school buses were headed to an Oscorp lab. Inside one of the buses, the students were either chatting about whatever was trending at that moment, playing games on their smartphones, or sleeping just to pass the time. While the homeroom teacher and the Biology teacher were sitting on the front row seats, talking about their daily lives and getting to know each other.

But the same couldn't be said for Kaine and his friends. He was resting his head against the window with his hoodie on, looking outside blankly and remained silent. Beside him was Annabelle, wondering why he acted differently. It had been a month since they became friends, but this felt like something she hadn't known yet.

She turned to Peter, who was sitting alone near the window on the opposite row, with a defeated look. "Psst! Pete!" she called out to him with a whisper, gaining his attention.

Peter looked confused as Anna took out her phone and typed something, then motioned at his pocket to check his phone, which he did.

Pete, I've never seen him being... so quiet like this... What's wrong with Kaine?

He proceeded to type something as a reply.

Kaine has a problem... Well, I guess something that you already know.

I think I know what you mean.

Yeah. It's been for a long time... I tried to talk with him about it yesterday, to help him, but he refused. There's not a lot I can do...

The two teenagers glanced at each other. The girl pitied the younger Parker and looked at him sympathetically. Peter gave her a weak smile and closed in a bit, "I'm used to this. I just hope things get better for coz."

"I hope so," Anna said, "I'll try to help him too."

Peter's smile widened, like his spirit was lifted up. He was glad that Anna was in Kaine's life. A thought passed in his mind that made an infectious chuckle escape from his mouth, making Anna question him.

"What?" she asked, unable to hold back her laughter.

"Nothing, nothing," Peter covered his mouth from cracking a laughter. Nonetheless, he ended letting out a muffled laugh.

//"These two are definitely lovebirds,"// he silently snorted.

Annabelle rolled her eyes, still laughing.

Meanwhile, Kaine was hiding his laugh, thanks to the camaraderie between his friends. At the same time, he was smiling too, knowing how caring they were for him. Especially his cousin.

---

(An hour and a half later...)

Outside of Oscorp's lab building, the two buses had stopped, with students from two classes, wearing their school backpacks, being rounded up by their respective homeroom teachers and the Biology teacher.

"Whoa..." Peter was quick to fall in awe as the sight of the nine-story cubical building was reflected on his eyes. He admired its plain and simple look, yet hiding secrets behind the ordinary design. His eyes lingered, wanting to know the wonders of science inside.

"Hey, Pete! The tour guide is here," Kaine's words brought Peter back to reality.

"Wh-Wha?"

Behind Peter and Kaine, Anna was covering her mouth, snorting. This prompted the younger Parker to glance over his shoulder and gave her a sheepish smile.

The teenager then turned his eyes to the tour guide who just introduced himself to the students, listening for a bit. When his eyes roamed around just to admire Oscorp's lab's building, he saw Flash and the bullies in the line-up of the other class. Peter froze for a bit...

Kaine and Annabelle noticed Peter's reaction and looked at his direction. And of course, the older Parker averted his eyes, cursing under his breath. While the redhead looked at the jocks with dead eyes, her hand closing into a tightened fist. She decided to keep an eye on those three for the rest of the trip.

"Now, accompanying us will be none other than Professor Miles Warren himself, the lead scientist of Oscorp's Genetic Division," the tour guide introduced the scientist next to him.

Professor Warren, a greying brunette man with glasses in his late 30s, thanked the guide for the introduction and then greeted the teachers with handshakes and a smile. Afterwards, he looked at Midtown High students and welcomed them, "Good morning! I'm happy to have everyone here in this field trip. I know that some of you are still sleepy, because I can see some heavy eyes from here."

One sleepy student's eyes quickly lit up, earning laughter from others.

Miles chuckled and shook his head amusingly, "I can relate to that, so I understand. I just want to say not to take this too seriously. Try to enjoy the trip. Feel free to ask questions and we will answer them."

Everyone nodded in understanding.

The scientist's casual tone changed to a slightly serious one. "However, please be civilized. As the staff is busy working on the projects," he told them, before reverting back to his original tone, "So far... Any questions? ...No? Let's get in then!"

---

(Two hours later...)

After passing through the second and third floors, the Midtown High group took a break at the lounge on fourth floor. It was slightly noisy, filled with several scientists talking about everyday topics and eating or drinking, while the group would sit on the couches, chairs, or stand against a pillar or the wall. Professor Warren was nowhere to be seen, as he was currently attending some matters. So everyone would have to wait until he returned.

Peter was walking around, close to Kaine and Annabelle, who were sitting on a couch. He was writing down things that the tour guide and the professor had said earlier during this trip on his notebook with a black ink pen. The brunet would pause for a moment, his eyes darting from here to there at the ceiling, trying to remember what the things were. If something seemed wrong, Peter would just scratch it and made a frustrated sound.

From afar, were Flash and his fellow jocks. The blonde jock looked at the younger Parker with malice. He had seen how enthusiastic Peter was earlier–asking questions about science. And it made him grit his teeth. Deep down... he envied the teen for his curiosity and intelligence. For that, he would hurt him. But he had to wait till his friends let their guard down.

An amused smile formed on Kaine's face, as he watched his cousin making notes. For some reason, he loved seeing Peter's enthusiasm despite the fact that science was something he wasn't keen on. The more he looked at him, the more he remembered about yesterday that it caused the smile to disappear... Making him to look down at the floor blankly, sighing silently.

Anna noticed and knew what was going on in her friend's mind. "Hey, K. It's gonna be okay," she said.

The teen turned to the redhead and raised an eyebrow, their eyes meeting one another, "Huh?"

"I know what happened between you and Pete," she confessed, "And I know it's been bothering you... Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Y-yeah, I guess."

Kaine took a deep breath before telling her, while Anna's attention was on him.

"Peter... He's been like..."

A smile couldn't resist to appear as two words escaped his mouth.

"A brother... to me."

She smiled as she listened intently.

Kaine continued, "We've been close since childhood because we share some common things, like our love for pop culture. We've been there for each other. I love him... But I began to envy him when I started to hate my father. I love Peter but sometimes, I can't help but feel envious toward my cousin..."

Her smile soon disappeared. "Why do you envy him?"

"Well, he is my opposite. Like, he's what I could've been if I didn't have a bad father."

He rubbed his temple, sighing, "I hate it whenever he becomes a reminder of that. It complicates my life for years... And it's like an on and off thing."

Annabelle nodded in understanding, now getting a clear picture. After listening to all of that, she wanted to pull him into her embrace to comfort him, but she felt a little shy. So, she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"Things will get better, K," she assured him, "Are you feeling better now?"

The brunet smiled, "A bit... Thanks, Ann. I appreciate it."

"Anytime, K," the redhead smiled back as a response.

Meanwhile, Peter was about to finish making notes. But he bumped into Flash. More like, Flash bumped into him, causing the notebook and the pen to fall from Peter's hands.

The brunet gave an unimpressed look at the jock, "Really?"

The blond returned the gesture with a mocking smile and whispered, "I don't think you'll be needing this notebook."

Kaine turned his eyes to Peter after hearing the notebook and the pen dropped to the floor. He widened his eyes, "Oh shit."

"What?" Anna asked before looking at Kaine's direction, realizing that Peter was in trouble. "Oh no, you don't!"

The two rushed toward Peter's aid and faced the bullies. But they immediately backed away when they saw Annabelle closing in.

"You okay?" the older Parker asked as he picked up the fallen notebook and pen. He inspected the book to see if there was anything dirty, before giving it and the pen to Peter.

The younger one smiled and accepted those, "I am. Thanks guys."

"Don't mention it," Anna and Kaine replied in unison, causing them to glance at each other and chuckle, before eyeing the bullies with disgust.

Flash looked at Kaine with anger. Since he couldn't exact his revenge on Annabelle, he would do it on him. But not today, tomorrow would do. And from now, it was best to stay away from them and let them be separated. He then walked away with his fellow jocks.

"That guy is seriously getting to my nerves," the brunet spoke his mind out loud, "If only I could get rid of him..."

"Kaine, if I were you, I would just kick his ass and shame him, without hesitation," Annabelle responded, with her fingers itching to form a fist.

Peter turned to Anna, "But won't you get expelled?"

"That guy deserves a lesson, Pete," she replied, "I don't care. As long as he stops bothering us and others."

He sighed, "I will try to reason with him though..."

Kaine shook his head, unable to make up his mind, and decided to leave it be. Maybe later would do.

---

(Minutes later...)

"And this is our Genetic Engineering floor, where we experiment to find out how we can help mankind," the tour guide explained, "We have two labs, which you can see on the left and right, and a storage room for our subjects."

The students looked at the windows, through which they saw scientists in their lab coats and safety gear doing their tasks. Some were discussing something indistinctly, mixing fluids, holding a foil with genetic code written on it, using microscopes, or writing down notes. Their reaction was either amazed, bewildered, or simply not interested. As every student paid attention to the scientists, Anna was the only one who kept her eyes on the bullies.

While watching the inside of the laboratory, Peter widened his eyes, freaking out on the inside. He couldn't resist smiling as he recognized the laboratory appliances and systems, which earned an amused reaction from his cousin and his friend who was standing next to him. But something caught his eyes, a bunch of glass boxes containing different spider species, with labels of them on those boxes. The brunet tilted his head, wondering why Oscorp was using spiders.

"If you notice the spiders and wonder what we are trying to do, Oscorp is looking to create supersoldiers through genetically-engineered spiders. Or super spiders, if you will," Professor Miles Warren explained.

Peter, Kaine, and Annabelle were bewildered upon hearing that. They glanced at each other in disbelief, realizing that supersoldiers would exist in real-life.

The girl turned to the professor and raised her hand to ask, "Why spiders?"

"That's a good question," Miles smiled, "A spider can lift something at least several, if not hundred times its own weight. They can also regenerate and detect danger. Now, imagine those attributes in humans."

"We can have a higher rate of survivability and success on field missions. Thanks to enhanced strength, speed, agility, faster healing factor, and a sixth sense that alerts to nearby dangers," he concluded.

The students nodded in understanding.

"Now, let's go to the next floor, shall we?" the tour guide said as the teachers and students followed him and the professor.

Unbeknownst to everyone however, two glass boxes inside one of the laboratories were empty, as they were left open. One being a female black widow, from the box given a special label in big letters "IMPERFECT/AGGRESSIVE SUBJECT." The other a female red-and-blue orb weaver, from a box that wasn't given such label like others. The two spiders had escaped and latched onto two unsuspecting students, who happened to be the unfortunate Kaine and Peter Parker. The orb weaver crawled to Peter's neck, while the black widow to Kaine's hand. The spiders then lashed out by biting those two students due to stress.

Painful yelps escaped from the cousins' mouth. In a reflexive manner, they swept away whatever bit them. This caused everyone's attention to be on them.

"Guys, what's wrong?" their friend asked in a concerned tone.

"I-I don't know," Kaine groaned, feeling the itchy bite.

If only they knew, what kind of change would happen to them...

---

A/N #1: Uh oh. Now that Kaine and Peter got bitten by super spiders, their lives won't be the same. Especially Kaine himself. How does the spider bite affect each of them? Stay tune for the next two chapters ;) And a little spoiler... the demonic figure from chapter 1, a.k.a. le main antagonist? He's coming back ;) So stay tuned, y'all! Thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoy it and have a good day :D

A/N #2: I will only post the first three chapters of Part 2 because I haven't finished the remaining four. However, I need to take a break from writing for now. Because I need to focus on my college. I hope everyone understands my decision...