Chapter 84: Spider Sense and Side Effects

About two hours later, Peter Parker awoke.

He did not launch into the usual philosophical questions: Who am I? Where am I? Who hit me?

The moment he opened his eyes, he found Luke’s curious face peering closely at him.

“Luke, what happened to me… what’s going on?” Peter sat up, looking around in confusion.

“Did you forget, buddy? You got bitten by a spider,” Luke replied.

“A spider! Where, where is it?”

Peter was terrified of spiders. He sprang from the bed in fright, and, to his own astonishment, leapt over two meters high, crashing his head into the ceiling.

“Ow—” Peter clutched his head, staring up at the ceiling in disbelief.

He forgot about the pain, gaping at the ceiling in utter amazement. He had jumped that high?!

It seemed the experiment had succeeded.

Luke’s lips curled into a smile at the sight.

The past two hours had left him uneasy. Little Parker had lain unconscious on his bed, burning with fever, as if suffering from a raging illness.

Even knowing it was the spider’s venom rewriting Peter Parker’s genes, Luke had still worried.

If the little spider hadn’t woken up within another half hour, he was prepared to force-feed him the antidote.

Fortunately, Peter Parker did not let him down.

A Spider-Man with short arms and legs had been born!

A seven-year-old Spider-Man!

Luke thought he should be called Spider-Boy.

He feigned appropriate surprise: “My god, that spider must have been something special, buddy! Try jumping again. Come on, let’s go outside.”

Passing through the dining room, Luke’s foster mother, Karen, was preparing dinner. She glanced at the two little rascals dashing outside and called after them, “Don’t go too far, honey, it’s almost dinner time.”

“Got it!” Luke called back.

The two boys stepped into the yard, and Peter wasted no time—he jumped on the spot.

“Wow! Cool!!” he cried out, overjoyed to find he was nearly flying. With a single leap, he could practically see the roof of Luke’s house.

Luke looked quickly around.

Luckily, dusk had fallen and, with the sparse American population, no one was likely to call 911 as they would at home.

Landing, Peter’s face flushed with excitement. “I can jump this high? I feel so light!”

He had finally realized his dream, and it thrilled him beyond words.

The spider’s strength magnified in human form, he mistook it for a sense of lightness.

Luke thought to himself, thank goodness it was the stout-hearted Peter Parker—any other child would have been scared out of their wits by now…

“Buddy, looks like that spider gave you spider powers. I don’t think jumping is all you can do—you’re capable of much more. Don’t worry, I’ll help you figure it out. I’ll teach you how to control your powers. Trust me, I have experience,” he said.

Thus, the seven-year-old Spider-Man was successfully born.

Now came the next step: teaching the little spider how to use his powers. He had a duty to train him.

“Can I learn Chinese kung fu from you?” Peter asked eagerly.

He’d long wanted to pick up the moves Luke used to handle the trio of bullies.

“No problem!” Luke agreed readily. “But, buddy, you mustn’t tell anyone about this. I mean, the fact that you have superpowers.”

“Of course, buddy! This is my biggest secret!” Peter said excitedly. “I’ve seen your secret, now you’ve seen mine. We’re even!”

“You’re right. We have to guard our secrets together,” Luke nodded.

He thought to himself, this must never get back to the Director.

“Oh no! It’s gotten dark—I have to go! If I’m late, Aunt May won’t be happy,” Peter said, glancing at the sky.

“Remember, don’t show your powers in front of anyone,” Luke reminded, uneasy that his Spider-Boy was only seven.

“Got it, buddy. See you at school tomorrow!”

With that, Peter Parker headed home, elated.

…

After seeing off the little spider, Luke returned to his room and immediately urged the system to display the skills he had copied from Spider-Man.

Sure enough, all the skills were unlocked!

“Great, select Spider-Sense!” Luke said, eyes shining.

In an instant, a refreshing current of warmth rushed through him, so delightful he wanted to shiver a thousand times over.

It was as if some new connection had formed between his body and the world outside.

The sensation was remarkable; a certain intuition told him this was Spider-Sense!

Luke felt every hair on his body become more sensitive than ever before.

He could almost feel the air around him moving in subtle currents…

“Do you know what cool really means, Lotus? This is it! Ha! Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense usually warns him of danger before it strikes. In this state, Spider-Man can sense time flowing more slowly than most people, and his perception is off the charts, right? With this ability, I feel instantly safer, right? Whether it’s before the Chitauri attack or when Thanos snaps his fingers, I’ll get advance warning. Of course, if it’s the head of the Family Planning Bureau snapping their fingers, even with a warning it’s useless—either I end up in the surviving fifty percent or I have to find a way to stop Thanos. Hmm, I could start with the Cosmic Cube and the Aether, keep Thanos from collecting all the Infinity Stones. But that’s ten years away, a bit early to worry about that now. Judging from the way Spider-Man acts when his Spider-Sense triggers in the movies, I suppose I should feel nervous or on edge when it activates. Well, right now everything feels great, the air is fresh, my mood is bright, so nothing’s wrong, which means I’m perfectly safe…”

Luke’s monologue suddenly halted.

He paused in confusion, realizing he had just rattled off an extraordinary string of words without noticing. That wasn’t like him at all.

A sudden realization flashed through his mind—Skill: Super Talker.

His eyes widened at once. “What the hell! What’s happening to me? What’s going on!? I didn’t choose ‘motormouth’—I definitely didn’t—so why am I suddenly running my mouth!? Lotus, what’s happening? Tell me what’s happening?!”

“Ahem.” Lotus cleared her throat and replied unhurriedly, “This is likely a… side effect of the copied skill.”

“Side effect?!”

Luke immediately jumped up in outrage. “Why didn’t you tell me there’d be side effects?! You should have told me, you should have told me, you should have told me!”

“I didn’t? I thought I did,” Lotus hummed.

“You didn’t, I’m certain you didn’t—if you had, I’d remember it, and I don’t remember at all, so you definitely didn’t!”

“Well, I forgot,” Lotus said calmly, closing her eyes.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Luke was about to lose it. How could he be so unlucky—copying a skill and getting a side effect!

Did that mean every skill he copied in the future would come with side effects?

He still wanted to copy the Hulk’s rage!

But now, faced with this situation, he began to reconsider. What if he turned green?

“Don’t worry, the side effects will fade over time,” Lotus said, opening one small eye to glance at him.

“Really, they’ll disappear? How long, how long, how long? I don’t want to babble all day! I hate chatterboxes, let me tell you!” Luke said, words tumbling out one after another.

Lotus spread her two octopus-like arms, grinning mischievously. “No idea. At least for a while.”

“For a while? ‘A while’ could mean an hour or a day—are you saying it could be a month? Hey, Lotus, are you even listening to me? If this doesn’t wear off, you’ll be sorry! Red-cooked, steamed, sweet-and-sour, cold-dressed, you pick. You hear me? Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Say something, say something, say something!”

…

Meanwhile, at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

The Director had just returned from the Arctic.

At that moment, the Director and Black Widow, along with a few others, were embroiled in a heated debate about the perennial headache caused by a certain troublesome child.