The Edge | Peter Parker

Chapter Eighteen

"Norman Osborn, GR-27 research log. The whole project has gone to hell. GR-27 is a CURE not a disease. But try telling that to the evening news. Somehow, they've picked up the technicians' morbid nickname, Devil's Breath, and are using it to stoke hysteria. They have no idea what it's really capable of. A cure for cancer, genetic disorders, birth defects... With just a little more research, I KNOW we could perfect it. Instead, I'll spend the next 18 months on PR mop up. What a waste of time..." Holland almost couldn't believe that a disease so bad is an attempt at a cure so incredible. How ironic life can be sometimes. She continued to look around, then saw some spiders. What was he doing with spiders? Was he trying to reverse-engineer Peter's abilities? She read the labels on the cages: bio-electrokinesis, optical camouflage. What the hell was he trying to create? She continued to look around to find out as much as she could and locate the lab. She spotted some weird, round, purple mechanisms. They were prototype handgrenades. He had a real mad scientist vibe going on. She saw a large table in the middle of the room and pressed a button. A 3D map popped up when she did. He was tracking the movement of all his doctors, the locations of Oscorp Buildings— records, defense, commercial—, and Sable Patrols— Alpha Patrol, Bravo Patrol. Dr. Michaels leads the Devil's Breath team, so wherever he goes, the antiserum is. It must've been an Oscorp property with a ton of Sable protection, frequented by Dr. Michaels. She just needed to find the right combination of things to find the right location. It would definitely be a records facility over all the different types of Oscorp buildings. There were none with Alpha Patrol, though. She switched to Bravo Control and clicked on one to the right. It read GR-27. This was it! 10th and Cathedral. Wait, wasn't that...

She stepped over to the computer and began examining the map. 10th and Cathedral. Oscorp's records department. Perfect place to hide a secret biotech facility. She pulled up the records and saw a subtitle. Martin Li Incident. She clicked on it and pulled it up. It was a video from 1986, a 3rd clinical trial. "And, we are rolling. I will be right next door. Just relax, and let the medicine do its work."

Li's mother was next to him, holding his hand and speaking to him in a different language gently, probably comforting him as he was scared. His father was doing the same. All of a sudden, things started going very wrong. Both Norman and Otto were there. They were trying to get Li out of the chair, but they couldn't. All at once, a burst of a familiar white and black energy exploded from his body. His parents were knocked back onto the floor, obviously dead. Li was in the chair, now black and white like an inverted colors image. Just like he looked now, as Mister Negative. Otto was there with Norman. "What have you done?"

"Oh my God..." Holland whispered out, not even sure what to think after watching that awful video. She knew one thing, though. "Norman and Otto, they started all this. They created Li." She stuck a flash drive into the computer and began uploading the files to it. She looked over at the cage on the desk. It was a spider. It jumped onto the glass at her, making her jump back. She knocked into the table behind her, making another cage fall off and the glass shatter. She knew she was in trouble now because of how loud of a noise it made.

"Who's there?" She heard Silver Sable. Oh no, this wasn't good... She had to think of something, and fast. She had to get that video of Li. It was almost finished. As soon as it finished, she grabbed the drive and ran for cover. Silver Sable walked in just as she did. As she sat there, Silver Sable directly next to her, she glanced over and saw the spider on her shoulder. It crawled closer towards her neck. That was the most intense moment of panic she'd ever felt. She slowly leaned her neck further away, cringing as the spider continued to crawl on her. Who knows what that thing could do to her. She definitely doesn't want Peter's abilities, but she doesn't want to get caught, either. Silver Sable thinks no one's in here, and as soon as she walks out, she can knock the spider off of her and kill it. She walked out and Holland stood up quickly, wiping herself off rapidly. She'd never been more scared than at that moment. She had to tough it out and get out of there. She didn't come this far to get caught.