Spiderman Legacy

Chapter 4

     Pete grimaced and rubbed the bandaged crook of his elbow. "You're cruel, you know that?" He asked as he slid off the aluminium table full of instruments. "And resourceful, apparently." He faced Gracie's smug smile as she placed the vial of Pete's blood into the 'awaiting testing' rack on the counter. "How did you ever schedule a session in the blood lab? This place is booked!" Gracie chuckled contently, starting to say something. However, it was at that time that a tardy Jesse burst in, singing at the top of his lungs: "SPIDERMAN! SPIDERMAN!! MY BEST FRIEND'S GONNA BE SPIDERMAN!!!" To the tune of the little song a few THC-filled New Yorker teens had turned into a viral video.
     Pete sighed, walking up to him and patting his cheeks. "I am not Spiderman." "Yet!" He shouted back in Pete's face. "Ever. Steve Rogers son, remember? Being the son of the third or so supersoldier, who knows what sort of mutations could have occurred during gene splicing in meiosis? Just one little adenine atom could send the Spiderman formula spiralling into insane abnormalities." Jesse held up a finger, breathing in, then put it back down as he sputtered out "I'm just gonna pretend like I understood that." He grimaced and brushed past.
     Pete glanced back at the others, turning and clapping his hands. "We are done here, are we not?" Gracie and Joseph nodded in sync, brushing past Jesse in the same manner as they followed Pete out the door.
     Jesse turned on his heels, taking in another confused breath and holding another confused finger pointed at the ceiling. He let both down and out slowly, tapping his leg as he hopped out of the room chasing the others. "So I show up and the party's over?!" He shouted down the hall. "I see how it is!"                                                                                                                                                                            Joseph chuckled and glanced back at Jesse, who had finally caught up and was trying to squeeze in between Peter and Grace. Grace shoved him gently, laughing as he fell over. He recovered quickly, hurrying to catch up again. "C'mon, guys! I just got here! we've gotta do something sciency!" Pete sighed and stepped aside to allow Jesse to walk beside him, which awkwardly put him centimeters from the wall on his right.                                                                                       "The blood sample will be in testing in an hour. Hopefully. Like I said, that place is booked." "When did you --" "Right before you burst in with that stupid song," Joseph cut in. "Anyway," Pete continued as they exited the tight corridor and stepped into a large machine room, "Since we've run the crap out of all of the theoretical simulations and computational  qualitative precursor theoretical tests and have basically nothing left to do but wait for my red blood cells to run through the gene splicer and electro-impulse diode chromosomal mapper, I suggest we occupy our time with some leisurely entertainment."                                                                                                 Jesse glared almost sinisterly at Peter. "You know how much I hate it when you use big words." Pete grinned. "I could've used acronyms, but it's much more fun to watch you struggle." "I hate you." Pete's grin widened. Jesse sprinted towards him, but he dodged in the nick of time, taking off towards the door. "Better hope your feet work faster than your brain!" he tossed over his shoulder. The two boys burst from the shop at terminal velocity, Grace and Joseph laughing as they followed close behind.                                                                                                                                              Pete took a step up the concrete wall outside, turning his momentum into a flip. He landed behind Jesse and grabbed him under his arms, swinging him around to face the giggly stragglers. He hit the ground running, and stumbled full-speed into Grace, catching Joseph with his arm as they all tumbled to the pavement. Grace and Joseph turned over, laughing uncontrollably, and Jesse sat up, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in his mirth. He finally relented as Pete walked over, hiccuping from fits of chuckles and guffaws. He helped Jesse to his feet, and swooped Grace off the ground as Jesse pulled Joseph up. He set her down and they all stood there for about five minutes, desperately trying to calm their laughter.                                                 After the last chuckle subsided, Pete waved them after him as he started for his car. "C'mon. I've got Dragon Hunt Three loaded in my Playstation at home."