"This is unbelievable!"
Peter had finally recovered from the sensation of his skin crawling and nerves buzzing. The moment his thoughts cleared, excitement filled his eyes. He practically leapt to his feet. "I am telling you, something is definitely wrong at Oscorp. Let me use your computer."
Before Bant could stop him, Peter was already sitting at his desk, waking up the old, heavy, practically prehistoric desktop computer. The machine whined as if its internal fan were running on pure exhaustion.
"Brrrrrmm."
The tower rattled like it might fall apart at any moment. Peter typed rapidly, opening browser windows. Images of spiders filled the screen.
"Look here. Oscorp has been researching spiders for years, but they are definitely not just developing synthetic webbing." Peter spoke with certainty, tapping the monitor.
"You are planning to investigate Oscorp directly?" Bant asked.
"Do you not want to know how we mutated? What if there are side effects?" Peter shot back.
Bant watched him quietly.
Peter had been changed by a spider chosen by cosmic chance, by something ancient and mystical that Bant understood far more deeply than Peter did. Bant, on the other hand, had been altered because the Omnitrix had protected him and overwritten the uncontrolled mutation.
Between the two of them, Bant knew far more.
But he simply shook his head. "I have no interest in digging into Oscorp."
Oscorp may not be on Stark Industries' level yet, but it was still one of the most powerful corporations in New York. In a society where capital dictated influence, opposing them would only bring endless trouble.
Bant had seen enough to know this clearly. Many of Spider-Man's most dangerous enemies were tied to Oscorp in one way or another.
He did not intend to become a superhero. He did not plan to jump headfirst into danger.
Instead, Bant looked at his life, his future, his home.
Aunt May and Uncle Ben were doing everything they could to give him a stable life. Money was tight. Bills were always close to overdue. Their house was warm, but it was a warmth built on sacrifice.
He did not want to be a hero for the city.
He wanted to be a hero for his family.
Which meant money mattered. Which meant power should be used wisely.
Which meant he needed to start building something of his own.
His gaze drifted down to the Omnitrix on his wrist. The soft hum inside it felt almost like a whisper calling him.
A spark lit in his eyes.
He could invent things. Create technology. Slowly build resources. Maybe, in time, even start his own company.
He briefly thought of naming it Parker Industries.
Then immediately shook his head.
That name was curses and tragedy waiting to happen.
Instead, he murmured, "Primus Tech. Yes. That sounds better."
"What is Primus Tech?" Peter asked without looking away from the screen.
"The company I am going to found," Bant replied. "You will probably work for me someday."
"Funny," Peter muttered absentmindedly, clearly not listening. He clicked again and brought up another webpage. This time it displayed a blond man.
"Look. Curt Connors. A leading biologist. He used to work with my father. Now he works for Oscorp."
"So you suspect he knows something?" Bant leaned slightly over Peter's shoulder.
Of course Bant knew him. The infamous Lizard. That story was practically iconic.
"I want to talk to him," Peter said. His voice was earnest, determined, and tinged with something deeper. He clearly did not just want answers about the mutation. He wanted a link to his parents. A piece of the past he had lost.
There was nothing wrong with yearning for that.
But Bant saw the danger.
No matter how much Peter searched, his parents were not coming back. That kind of longing could eat a person alive. It already had. His arguments with Uncle Ben had grown sharper lately. Aunt May was worried every day.
"You go ahead," Bant said. "But I will not be joining you."
He had no blood tie to Peter's parents. He had been adopted first, and Peter had come afterward. For Bant, family was defined by who stayed and who cared. Aunt May and Uncle Ben had saved him. He would protect them in return.
Spider-Man could lose Uncle Ben and still rise as a hero.
Bant could not.
If a world full of spider-totems and destiny and cosmic predators came calling, he would choose family every time. If one day a Spider-Man stronger than any other tried to threaten this house, Bant would not hesitate to turn into Four Arms and knock his jaw loose.
"You really do not care about what is happening to your body?" Peter demanded, stunned. "This could affect us for our entire lives. We could become superheroes or... or monsters."
Bant calmly placed a hand on Peter's shoulder. His grip was firm. Effortless. He lifted Peter into the air the way someone might casually pick up a sack of potatoes.
"What are you doing?!" Peter flailed.
Spider-Man strength did not arrive fully formed the moment it awakened. It needed time, training, instinct. Peter had only just begun to change. He was still just a skinny teenager.
Bant, meanwhile, had the Omnitrix.
"I am asking you to leave," Bant said, as if stating something perfectly ordinary. "I did not invite you into my room."
He tossed Peter out the door and shut it before Peter could react. The lock clicked.
The Omnitrix was something Bant needed to keep quiet about. Not because of Peter, but because of something far more dangerous.
SHIELD.
The moment they saw it, the moment they understood what it was, Bant would never be free again.
"First, let's see if I can bypass the Omnitrix's security," Bant murmured.
He raised his wrist. The dial popped up. He rotated until he saw the small frog-like silhouette. He pressed the core.
Green light filled the room.
In the next instant, his body shrank down to palm-sized, skin shifting into smooth gray. His eyes became large and reflective, pupils horizontal, fingers slim but dexterous. A creature that looked like a tiny upright amphibian.
Grey Matter.
"I can feel so much mechanical knowledge suddenly accessible in my mind." Bant whispered in awe.
Becoming Grey Matter did not just make him smarter. It unlocked knowledge encoded into the Galvan species' DNA. Concepts far beyond modern Earth engineering blossomed in his thoughts like unfolding flowers.
"Does this mean Galvan technology is heritable? Remarkable."
But the Omnitrix's protections were designed by Azmuth, the greatest mind in the universe. The moment Bant reached behind himself, he realized the core module sat on Grey Matter's back, positioned exactly where his arms could not comfortably reach.
Azmuth had planned for this. The creator had anticipated that even Galvan intelligence would try to bypass the lock.
Bant frowned thoughtfully.
"So I need a mechanical arm to operate the core for me."
The problem was not the idea itself. It was the materials. The precision. The tools. Grey Matter was brilliant, but brilliance did not magically produce industrial equipment.
Even Einstein would be helpless if handed alien technology and told to assemble a spaceship with kitchen tools.
Bant sighed, then brightened.
"I should start with something achievable."
He raised a tiny fist and tapped it into his palm.
"Let's do my homework."
He climbed onto the desk. The physics textbook was larger than he was. The ballpoint pen was practically a spear. Bant bit his lip, studying the first set of problems.
"Calculate the minimum magnetic induction and the corresponding rotational velocity of the sphere?"
He stared.
"Earth children study this? Impossible. Galvan children exceed this level at birth."
He wrote the correct equations and answers effortlessly, solving the entire worksheet in minutes. Problems that normally took him hours were now trivial. Like filling in simple arithmetic.
Once he finished, Bant turned toward the computer monitor.
The glowing screen reflected in Grey Matter's large eyes.
He raised both arms as if preparing to conduct an orchestra.
"Alright. Now, time for some real work."