Spider-Man: Home Run

Chapter 3: Dr. Connors & F.E.A.S.T.

~Later in the Week~

Peter walked up to apartment #427, the address MJ gave him, and rang the doorbell.

It had taken more coaxing to convince her to let him pick her up from her place than he thought it would. In the brief time they had been dating, he had never been there before. He didn't know why, but not having visited her home made him feel as though he still did not know much about her.

He knew she lived with her Mom, but MJ had never spoken about her very much. All of this suddenly seemed to weigh on Peter; he realized just how much more he still wanted to learn about MJ. He knew who she was, but he wanted to know more about what made her that way. Finally, MJ opened the door and stepped out, gave him a quick smile and a "Hi" before closing the door behind her.

"Hey, MJ," said Peter before he whipped out a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. "Here."

She was initially surprised, but smiled at the sweet gesture, "You dork."

"So, shall we?" Peter asked. "ESU is holding that tour of Dr. Connor's lab."

"Yeah, just...let me take these up," MJ took the flowers and went back inside.

After she put the flowers away, she and Peter headed off to ESU.

They discussed various topics, like what they would be seeing at the lab; Dr. Connors' work in general, and random trivial facts about how some reptiles eat their own young (MJ provided those of course).

Finally, they arrived onto the campus of Empire State University, heading straight for the newly revamped research facility there. Everything was state of the art, brand new 2024 technology. Even so, Peter couldn't help but flashback in his mind to the last time he was there.

"Earth to Peter, you with me?" MJ snapped him out of his reminiscing and they filed into the main area with everyone as they collectively waited for the good doctor. There were only about 10 people there in total: 5 students from their respective schools and a mixture of their parents/friends.

Peter thought it was pretty cool that he was the only one to bring his girlfriend with him. Only one other girl was there anyway, and he knew MJ would be happy feeling that she was able to represent the ladies in the STEM community.

Finally, their host came out to meet them. He was a man in his mid-thirties, who was a little taller than Peter or MJ and was missing his right arm. Peter remembered reading about how he lost it: a victim of an attack by one of the alligators he had been studying, his arm had been so damaged beyond repair that the doctors were forced to amputate.

Since then, the man had gone to make numerous other advances in biology and his name had been tossed around for the Nobel prize. This was the real reason Peter admired him so much: no matter what happened to the man, he continued using his gifts, seeking to benefit others.

"Good evening! I'm sure you are already aware, but I am Dr. Curtis Connors, and I'll be your host this evening. Thank you all for coming out this evening; I look forward to showing you what I, and hopefully some of you in the not-so-distant future, will be up to. I want you to know up front that I want this to be an interactive tour, so feel free to pose any questions as we move along, and I might even test your knowledge at points. Well, let's get right to it!"

Peter liked the man's enthusiasm; he was sure this was going to be a good time.

Connors lead them around, showing them the new technology, but primarily focused on the various species of animals that were in the building. Coming to a large fish tank, Connors spoke up, "These are some of the most popular kinds of fish in the world: Teleost. Can anyone tell me some things about these fish?"