I woke up choking, coughing so hard I thought I might throw up. My chest heaved, and my throat burned as I spat out something that tasted like metal and spit. The first thing I noticed—besides the absolute pounding in my head—was the smell: stale bus air, mixed with the faint scent of bleach someone had probably sprayed the night before.
Blinking against the harsh sunlight streaming through the windows, I realized I wasn't in my warehouse anymore. Not in my capsule. Not in the cold glow of monitors or the hum of processors. I was… somewhere else entirely.
A dull thunk hit the back of my skull. I jerked my head back in reflex, the world tilting as I turned to see the source.
"Sleepy, Parker?"
The voice belonged to a blonde guy with a wide, cocky grin. He was leaning back with his arms draped around a red-haired girl who was laughing at his antics. The jock had that air of invincibility you only find in people who've never been challenged in their entire lives.
"That's rich," I muttered, dazed, as I tried to stand and focus. "Who the hell—"
"Whoa, check it out!" the blonde said, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at his lackeys. "Peter Parker's finally awake! Guess the nerd didn't even make it through breakfast without choking on his own spit. What a surprise."
The red-haired girl giggled. "Leave him alone, Flash."
"MJ," he said with a lazy grin. "Don't pretend you don't like watching the little guy squirm. Admit it."
I groaned and tried to push myself upright, blinking rapidly. My mind raced. My chest tightened as the realization slowly dawned: Peter Parker? Did that mean… did my machine actually work? Did I somehow transplant myself into this timeline, this body, this high school life?
I muttered a command under my breath, still thinking in terms of the program. Pause game… menu… log out…
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. Addison's voice, my interface, all my careful planning—none of it responded. The logic threads I'd built, the failsafe codes, the debug commands—they were gone.
No. This wasn't a simulation. Not anymore.
I rubbed my eyes, adjusting the heavy lenses on my face. My glasses. My own prescription. This was real—or at least, as real as a terrifyingly cruel high school could get.
The bus around me was full of students. Some chatted, some laughed, some scrolled endlessly on their phones. A few slept, leaning against the windows. And there, in the middle of all of it, was me—the same scrawny kid I'd read about, except now I was living it.
I was so distracted that I didn't hear my name called until a basketball smacked me squarely on the back of the head.
"Oi, Parker! You awake yet, or do you need a damn wake-up call every ten seconds?"
Flash. Of course.
"Hey, watch it!" I snapped, my reflexes already half-tuned to a world where muscle beats muscle, and brains are optional.
"Relax, peanut head," Flash said, grinning like a predator. "Or should I say… Spaghetti Arms? Nerdy McChoke-a-lot? Or maybe Little Miss Glasses."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. Every nickname he had seemed meticulously designed to hurt. And it was working, if I let it.
I turned, facing him squarely. "Why don't you focus on your own life for a change, Flash. Or… you know, stop paying so much attention to me, gaylord."
The laughter that erupted around him was immediate. I'd hit a nerve.
Flash's grin faltered. His hands curled into fists on his knees, knuckles white. "What did you just say?"
"You heard me," I said, calm and collected. "You spend so much time throwing yourself at me—excuse me, your basketballs at me—I figured you might like the attention. You're welcome."
The world around me seemed to tilt into silence for a moment. Then Flash roared. Not a growl, not a shout, but a full-bodied, terrifying blast of rage. "You little—!"
He lunged, standing up, trying to make the motion threatening. But before he could, the red-haired girl—MJ, I realized—grabbed him by the shoulder and yanked him back down.
"Behave," she said softly, with just enough authority that even Flash paused.
The teacher, standing at the front of the bus, cleared her throat and straightened his tie, a man who clearly wanted to be anywhere but here. "Settle down, everyone. We're about to arrive at Oscorp Industries for our tour. I expect your best behavior."
Flash grumbled, muttering under his breath as he leaned back in his seat, but the gleam of annoyance in his eyes made it clear that I hadn't heard the last of him.
The teacher droned on, reciting the usual rules—stick with your group, no touching lab equipment unless authorized, keep hands to yourselves. His voice was flat, monotone, the kind that could lull anyone into a near-comatose state. I barely heard a word. My mind was somewhere else entirely.
Oscorp.
In less than an hour, I'd be on the other side of lab glass, staring at equipment I'd only ever seen in physics journals, news articles, and scattered academic papers. Machines humming with power I couldn't yet comprehend. Experiments that defied expectation and flirted with the impossible.
In less than an hour… I'd be bitten.
Flash leaned over, whispering just loud enough for me to hear, and only making my nerves spike. "Watch your back, Parker. Last thing I need is you crying to me again."
I ignored him. Part of me wanted to snap, maybe even throw a punch, but another part of me was buzzing with anticipation. This was it. My life was about to pivot. My life as I knew it was about to end—and something else would take its place.
I scanned the bus, taking in my classmates as they drifted in their worlds. A girl in a pink hoodie, headphones over her ears, furiously tapping at a rhythm game. Beside her, an Asian girl engrossed in a thick physics tome, oblivious to the chatter and chaos. A couple of guys had succumbed to the backseat nap trap. And Flash… of course Flash, strutting as if gravity itself bent for him.
I leaned back, letting the tension drain just enough to feel my pulse. I'd survive Flash. I'd survive high school. And maybe—just maybe—this time I'd step into a world where I actually mattered. Where I could do something that left a mark, something no one else could take away.
Then I caught MJ's eye for a fraction of a second. A small, knowing smile—quiet, reassuring. Enough to say, you'll be fine, Parker. You've got this.
The bus jerked around a corner sharply, metal screeching against asphalt. Oscorp rose before us, a gleaming fortress of glass, steel, and humming power grids. The labs. The equipment. The potential energy of a thousand scientific breakthroughs pulsing within those walls.
Somewhere in that sterile, humming building, my future was waiting. Not the one my parents or teachers had mapped out for me. Not the one that followed the rules or played it safe.
No. This was my real future.
I took a deep breath, gripping the seat in front of me as the city blurred past the windows.
And I knew… the moment I stepped through those doors, nothing would ever be the same.
The bus rolled to a stop, doors hissing open. The fluorescent lights of Oscorp's lobby washed over me. Heart hammering, stomach twisting, I pushed myself up.
This was it.
And somewhere, just beyond those glass doors… a spider was waiting.