Chapter 12 — Glass, Fate, and Delay
Museums pretend to be quiet places.
They aren't.
They hum.
I and peter entered the shool bus an waited to be dropd off at the museum
Air systems circulate ancient dust. Lights vibrate faintly above exhibits. Glass cases whisper under the tension of preservation, holding fragile things still long after they should have changed.
I noticed all of it the moment we stepped inside.
Peter didn't.
He was already distracted—eyes darting from display to display, absorbing information too quickly to process it all at once. His brain shifted gears the way it always did in environments like this: curiosity overriding caution.
Field trips were dangerous that way.
Arrival
The class moved in uneven clusters, teachers attempting control without expecting to achieve it. Voices echoed softly against polished floors. A guide droned on about innovation, history, progress—words that lost meaning through repetition.
Peter walked beside me, clutching the pamphlet like it mattered.
"This place is insane," he murmured. "Some of this tech is decades ahead of what we're using in class."
"Yes," I said. "And still obsolete."
He smiled faintly at that.
We stayed together—not deliberately, but naturally. Proximity had become default.
I adjusted my jacket once as we passed security.
The jar rested against my ribs.
Light.
Unassuming.
Empty.
For now.
The Exhibit
Oscorp sponsored the exhibit.
That alone confirmed probability.
Glass panels curved elegantly around displays of modified organisms, experimental materials, future-forward prototypes frozen behind transparency and disclaimers.
Peter slowed.
His body reacted before his mind did.
"Jake," he whispered, leaning closer to the glass. "Look at this—these genetic alterations, they're not just cosmetic. They're—"
"Refined," I said.
He nodded eagerly. "Exactly!"
His excitement was genuine. Untainted by fear or skepticism. He didn't see danger—only potential.
That made him predictable.
And vulnerable.
The Spider
I saw it before he did.
Small.
Out of place.
Wrong.
It clung to the underside of a display frame, legs curled unnaturally, movements too precise to be accidental. Its coloration didn't match the environment. Its presence wasn't listed on any plaque.
An anomaly.
I didn't react.
Not yet.
I tracked it.
Timing Matters
Intervening too early would alter outcomes.
I knew that.
This wasn't about morality or restraint—it was about preserving causality. Peter Parker's transformation wasn't a coincidence. It was a convergence.
Remove the bite, and the system collapsed into unknown variables.
I didn't need unknowns.
I needed after.
So I waited.
The Bite
It happened quickly.
Peter leaned closer to the glass, pointing out a detail I wasn't listening to. The spider dropped—not dramatically, not intentionally—just enough.
A brief movement.
A sharp intake of breath.
"Ah—!"
He recoiled instinctively, knocking into me slightly. His hand went to his neck, fingers brushing skin.
"What?" I asked, already knowing.
"I—I think something bit me," he said, confused more than afraid.
Teachers were already turning. Someone laughed. Someone else complained about bugs.
The spider was gone.
Not vanished.
Relocated.
I tracked it with my eyes as it scuttled along the floor toward shadow.
Peter was rubbing his neck, frowning.
"It's nothing," he muttered. "Probably just a mosquito or something."
Incorrect.
But necessary.
Containment (After)
Only once Peter was distracted—only once the moment had passed—did I move.
Not hurried.
Not cautious.
Precise.
The spider didn't resist.
It was dying.
I could see it even without instruments—the tremor in its movement, the erratic signals of a system that had completed its final function.
The jar closed around it.
Quietly.
Final.
I felt nothing.
Not triumph.
Not relief.
Just confirmation.
Peter, Unaware
Peter rejoined me moments later, still rubbing his neck.
"Probably allergic or something," he said with a laugh that didn't quite land. "I'll be fine."
"Yes," I said.
He looked at me strangely. "You sound really sure."
"I am."
He shrugged and turned back toward the exhibit, already distracted again.
The universe had moved forward.
So had I.
The Return Trip
On the bus ride back, Peter grew quiet.
Too quiet.
He stared out the window, jaw clenched slightly, fingers twitching against his knee. His breathing shifted—faster, uneven.
Change had begun.
I watched without comment.
Without interference.
The jar stayed sealed.
Internal Assessment
Peter Parker:
Elevated heart rate
Increased sensory input
Onset of biological divergence
Jake:
No emotional deviation
Objective preserved
Secondary variable acquired
Everything aligned.
End State
The spider was contained.
Peter was bitten.
The story remained intact.
And for the first time since I arrived in this universe, I possessed something the world had never planned for anyone to have:
The cause, and the effect.
Separated.
Waiting.
Status Update
Spider: Contained (post-bite)
Peter Parker: Transformation initiated
Timeline integrity: Preserved
Jake's leverage: Expanded
Risk:
We rid home on the bus
I took the jar with the spider and put it on my lab table
I started grabbing some of his blood and injected it into a mice
The mice was swelling etarting to necome bigger
I lookd at it carfuly
It exploded on the spot
1st experiment failed
I studied the spiser more closely grabbing some of its blood
And putting a micriscpo on it
I studied
It for weeks without leaving to shool or the gym
My 20 drones kept on getting me experimental supplies
On day 20
I discovered somthing
The spider had more potential then it gave peter
Its regenrating
Wallclimbling
Webs
And most importantky its danger sense
And super strenght
If i injected its blood into humonoid robots could i mass produce spidermans
I fisr injected its blood into a mice again
Its body started to swell
I waited 2 hours and finaly
The glass cracked couse he slamd its body into it
Drones kill it
60 nails flew into its body
Killing him instantly
I injected its blood into me
Mybody sweldt
It hurted like hell but i did not scream
This went one for 4 hours then it stopt
I acidentky fell and a crator was mas made into the ground
I workd on this new power
I could fire webs
Had superstrenght and danger sense
I traind it my robots shot nails at me i dodght using danger sense
And use webs to fire it back