Sol grabbed the two guards with his symbiote and flung them to the wall. Their bodies crashed with a loud thud, quickly losing consciousness.
Felicia smiled as she saw this, running past. "I'll meet up with you later!"
Sol nodded as he went to the lower floor. There were a few more people left.
...
After Sol dealt with the remaining people, he once again left everything to the authorities before he exited the building.
It had been quite easy as Felicia had paralysed about half of them.
Once he also dealt with the men stationed outside and webbed them up, he quickly fled the scene.
After he travelled a good distance away, he climbed up a building before resting on a balcony.
As Sol rested on the balcony, the sound of raindrops splattering against the concrete filled the air.
His body relaxed, but his senses remained sharp. He had no doubt Felicia would show up soon. She had a knack for appearing when you least expect it — and sure enough, after only a few moments, a shadow flickered and a figure showed up behind him.
"Miss me, Spider?" Felicia teased as she stepped out from the shadows.
She stood next to him, close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating from her body despite the cold rain.
Sol gave her a sideways glance. "How did it go?"
Felicia twirled the flash drive between her fingers, grinning. "Oh, you know... easy as ever." She wiggled the flash drive in front of him, as if showing off a prized possession.
"Right." Sol smirked slightly. "So what's on it?"
"Top-secret stuff," she replied in a playful tone, leaning in a little closer. "Well, I'll tell you as thanks for your help. Alchemax has been working on this little drug."
"Drug? The improved SPF serum?"
Felicia chuckled. "You already know? Oh, you did take down Silas, that makes sense. Haha, he's really unlucky. In two days, he got robbed by me and shortly after got his ass kicked by you."
She continued as she said, "But yes. It's the improved one that could potentially plunge this city in chaos. It's quite the dangerous stuff."
"Yeah..." Sol mumbled in a low voice, deep in thought. He was quite troubled by this.
He didn't really know how he was going to stop it.
Seeing Sol's troubled look, Felicia said, "Well, this drive has some more things inside it. It should reveal where this transaction will be taking place. And it's highly likely that Tombstone himself will be overseeing it."
"We can probably just go crash it. I'm almost finish in my preparations anyways. And I was quite shocked by your abilities, Spider. It's really strange and bizzare." She said, interested in the black substance that he could control.
"Regardless, those abilities of yours will be very helpful in taking down Tombstone. You still want to team-up?" She flashed a smile, already expecting his answer.
Sol looked at her for a moment.
Despite her playful attitude, he could sense how much this meant to her.
"Of course." he said, glancing toward the city.
"I don't want this city to be ruled by some villainous dude that would gladly kill anyone if it meant he would benefit out of it."
Sol sighed as he laughed softly. "If Tombstone finds out we stole it, he's definitely not going to be happy. This is probably the first time in years that people are actually going against him. He'll definitely use all his means to target us..." Sol spoke with some seriousness.
Felicia smirked, leaning closer. "Aww, Spider, are you worried about me?"
"Worried you'll make more trouble for me? Definitely."
She chuckled lightly, showing a fake pout.
"Well, I guess this is where we part from eachother. I'll tell you the contents in the drive tomorrow."
Sol nodded as he watched her fade into the darkness and disappear from his sight.
"I guess I should head home now, too." Sol mumbled as he shot a web out.
...
Once Sol arrived back at his house, he quickly cleaned himself up and headed to his room. He glanced at the bits of wire and materials scattered across his desk and smiled.
Before he got his powers, he had been focused on creating some useful gadgets, nothing too grand at the moment. However, he had big plans. With knowledge from his past life, he knew of trends and ideas that could be successful in this world.
He had been toying with the idea of developing a wearable health monitoring device. Inspired by advancements in technology in his past life. He envisioned a gadget that could track vital health metrics in real-time.
This idea could be incredibly profitable, especially given society's growing interest in personal health and fitness.
Though... he had been getting quite sidetracked with his new powers.
'If these ideas don't work out, I could always learn to draw and create comics or even dive into game development.' Sol chuckled to himself.
After a moment, he grabbed a book off his shelf and settled onto his bed. It was a textbook on quantum physics, a subject that fascinated him long before he gained his powers.
And how Sera revealed how he managed to create a literal dimension severing device by himself, he was even more intrigued. If he was even at all similar to his alternate self, he should also be smart enough to make one.
But usually with such law breaking inventions, it was gonna be a lot of trial and error. He didn't even know where to begin.
A while later, he was jolted out of his focus by the sound of his mom calling from downstairs.
"Sol! Dinner's ready!"
He put the book down and made his way to the kitchen.
"Smells great." he said, the aroma was very pleasant. He sat down at the table.
They quickly dished up and ate together.
As they ate, they chatted about their day. Sol told her about his latest projects, and how he had been spending time with his new acquaintance, Felicia.
Of course, he didn't mention anything about the infiltrating stuff.
"Oh? Another girl? I didn't know my son was such a playboy~ " She teased.
Sol gave her a blank expression, causing her to laugh.
"So, what about you? Anything interesting?" Sol asked, taking a bite of his dinner and trying to change the subject.
"Not much, just the usual. Oh! I almost forgot to tell you," she said suddenly, setting her fork down as she got up to get something.
"You received an invitation to Oscorp. They're selecting the top twenty students from your school for this special opportunity."
Sol's eyebrows shot up. "Oscorp? What do they want with me?"
His mom smiled, clearly excited. "It's a chance to meet some of the leading scientists in the field and see their latest innovations. I think it's a fantastic opportunity!"
He hesitated, considering the implications. If he didn't have his powers, he'd be quite keen, but now, not so much.
"What's the catch?" he asked, trying to keep his skepticism in check.
"No catch that I can see. They want to inspire the next generation of innovators. And you're one of the best students in your class. This could lead to something great for your future!"
Sol contemplated, processing her words.
'Seraph... was this when I got bitten by you?' Sol asked in his mind.
[It should be.]
'I see...'
"Do you think I should go?" he asked, glancing back at the invitation on the table.
"I definitely think you should," she said with encouragement. "It's not every day you get invited to something like this. Plus, who knows what kind of connections you could make?"
He nodded slowly.
His mom smiled, pleased with his decision. "Well, I'm not forcing you. Think about it for a few days. It'll be happening on Thursday."
As he finished dinner, his thoughts were a bit complicated.
Once they cleared the table and washed the dishes together, Sol returned to his room.
'Seraph, if I get bit again by the same Spider... what happens? Do I become 2 times stronger?'
[Not exactly. Nothing will likely happen. You might not even get bitten as you would be of a similar species to it due to your gene mutation. The spider will probably have a sense of familiarity around you.]
'Then, if that alternate version of you dies, would there be any weird paradox like you fading to oblivion?' Sol asked, a little concerned.
[No. Like I said, this version of earth is a little different to my original one. There are minor deviances so there shouldn't be any issues. Moreover, I have the essence of the multiverse, so I'm not bound by those laws.]
'Hm. That makes sense I guess.'
Sol had a thoughtful expression.
'So this was the start of my origins as Spider-Man before I could travel to different worlds. How interesting...'
He could guess how the original timeline would have went. As an ordinary person that knew of Oscorp due to his past life, he'd probably accept the invitation in a heart beat and try finding that radioactive spider.
His original self would probably get bitten willingly. Who wouldn't want superpowers?
He found it amusing. His past self probably regretted it. The burden of Spider-Man is really tough.
And he would've repeated that same painful cycle had it not been Sera travelling through space-time and changing his fate.
In these few days, he already went through a lot...