Web of Deception: The Webbed Avenger

Chapter Four: A New Dawn

Oscorp's New York Mainland Facility

Hempstead, New York.

Yes, Claudia Stilinski took her research with her when she died, and now Norman could only hope that they could one day recreate the results she had all those years ago. That was his one hope that he could hold onto, finding that crucial element to the Cross Species Research that would save his life. He had the magical liquid, all he needed was his Arachne to answer his prayers.

Norman stepped out of the lab and into his office, looking quietly through the windows and towards the pink hue of the sky as the sun began to rise over New York that morning. He felt like this was a new dawn, and things were finally going to get better. That was all he could ever hope for, was a better dawn for his family. After the death of his dear wife Emily Osborn, the mother of his only son, Norman swore to do anything to keep his family safe and together.

He wasn't just trying to get the cure for his Retroviral Hypodysplasia, he was trying to ensure that Harry never had to deal with the same thing that he had to. The disease was hereditary, meaning that Harry could get it. Norman reached over to the desk and grasped Claudia Stilinski's file in his hand, and the photo of the scientist hung loosely by a paperclip on the outside of it.

"What did you do with your research Claudia?"

Queens, New York

It was early in the morning when sixteen year old Stiles Stilinski exited his house with his school bag hanging loosely over his shoulder. Today was the one of the few days where Stiles didn't even want to get out of bed. With the past few months he could only guess as to how the day might play out. Crime was at an all time high, with the appearance of certain super powered individuals that were spread throughout the world.

There was rumors of a man-panther running around attacking dangerous men in the country of Wakanda, or so that was what Stiles had heard. In Manhattan alone, there was that armored superhero known as Iron Man, having been seen in the news recently for large battles with Whiplash who continued to evade capture narrowly. Talks about a Hulking monster had spread around recently, and the word was the beast was last seen near the Himalayas.

Government agencies like S.H.I.E.L.D. worked to keep the super powered criminals and even heroes in check, but there was only so much they could do. For the super powered beings that were gifted with it from birth, such as mutants that gained them after hitting puberty, they were in danger of disappearing from other shady government agencies. Stiles knew a few people that had went missing in the past few months, and more than likely they were mutants.

Needless to say the list went on with these appearances from super powered individuals, but that wasn't even why Stiles didn't want to leave his house. It wasn't the people with abilities that scared him, it was the people who didn't. See, it was one thing to worry about being attacked by the unknown, but the people who went out of their way to make themselves capable of taking on the unknown, that was what scared Stiles.

Back when there was the search for a serum to create a Super Soldier, people using drugs would be on a rampage with abilities unlike any other, and now those kinds of drugs were more refined, and the ways people could gain powers were more diverse now. Surgeries, exo-suits, radiation exposure, science experiments gone awry, or armor that turned its user into a giant fireball was all something Stiles expected to be ways for that to happen.

See, Stiles wasn't worried about that, he was worried about his father. Considering that his father was a police officer, the thought of coming home and receiving a visit from police saying that his father wouldn't be coming home was something that he was terrified of. That was more than likely the only thing that he was truly scared of. His father was the only family he had left, he couldn't lose him.