Caldeus ducked just in time to avoid a broken window. The Bomber aimed at him and was about to blow him to smithereens but he stopped.
"Bomber, stop. The battery isn't there. Enough playing around." An order came to his comms.
Caldeus was still running when a car pulled up near him.
"Get in." a man in the back seat said calmly.
"Who the hell are you?"
"I don't know if I'm famous in this street. I'm Norman Osborn."
*****
The car drove into Oscorp Mega building. It was a major landmark in the Big Apple, owned by Norman Osborn, who had made a lot of connections with foreign investors.
Norman, accompanied by Caldeus, entered a lab where they met Jonah J.J waiting.
"You see, today we faced an attack from the stupid criminal, the Bomber. But this time, he wasn't just randomly bombing. He works for Dexter, and they need some sort of mega battery. It'll power up a large machine called the Spider grid."
"Spider grid? What's that?"
"It's a machine that they believe can bring the dead to life."
"Why call it the Spider grid?"
"Because they want to revive the Spiderman."
"No way! That's impossible!"
" Well we can't say that for now. That's why we need to stop them. If they are successful, they'll have full control over Spiderman."
"That's why you need a new Spiderman."
"Not just Spiderman. The Superior Spiderman."
"I'm not sure -"
"Kid," Jonah J.J came in," trust me I know how you feel. But there are sometimes where we don't want to do something, but we have to. Not choice, responsibility."
"Yes Caldeus. Because with great power, comes great responsibility." Norman concluded.
Caldeus stated at his palms. He didn't know how to feel. He always loved Spiderman, but he didn't imagine he'll BE Spiderman.
He looked up at the two men and nodded.
" I'm ready."
He entered a pod after which it was locked.
Jonah and Norman exchanged nervous glances as Jonah pulled a lever that released a red coloured gas into the pod.
Soon, Caldeus began jerking terribly, which made Jonah afraid. But Norman didn't show any emotion, just an apprehensive look.
Norman watched without blinking, as some noticeable changes in Caldeus' physique appeared. From the slim young man, he became more muscular.
Jonah's eyes widened
"It's working." He muttered.
Norman grinned widely as Caldeus stopped jerking, and the pod opened.
Jonah ran to him and grabbed him before he could fall.
" Hey kid! Kid! "
"Uncle J? Am I dead?" Caldeus asked dizily.
" No my boy. How do you feel?" Jonah responded, accessing the boy's body.
"I feel....normal." Caldeus muttered, standing on his own.
Norman let out a disappointed sigh.
"Just normal?" Jonah asked.
"Yes. And that's weird. Because I never feel normal."
Norman slowly looked at him.
Caldeus suddenly jumped and touched the ceiling.
"Holy cow!" Jonah screamed in shock.
But he didn't land, he stuck himself to the ceiling.
"Yes!" Norman screamed.
Then suddenly Caldeus collapsed.
****"*****
"Ugh.... my head. What happened?" Caldeus asked.
Norman walked up to the bed he lay on.
"Well your body needed time to get used to the abilities of Spiderman. Which from the looks of things, it has."
" Wait a minute! It really worked?"
"Yes."
Just then, Jonah walked in.
"Well look who's awake. New York's very own Spiderman."
Caldeus suddenly jumped from the bed, excitement evident in his eyes. "Hey, guys hold on. I'll be right back!" He said excitedly, running out. But then he slowly walked back. "Sorry I don't know my way around Oscorp."
Norman Osborn chuckled as he walked forward tapping Jonah's shoulders lightly.
"I'll be your guide."
******
They walked quietly, occasionally receiving greetings from workers, usually directed to Norman Osborn.
"You see, Caldeus." Norman began " I never believed this would work out. I never knew that it was possible for the spider's venom to work on somebody else."
" What do you mean Mr Osborn?" Caldeus asked, a wave of unease washing over him. Norman Osborn had a dark look on his face as he looked straight ahead. "Peter Parker's father, Henry Parker and I worked on a project. He called it project Spider. No one believed it'll work, myself included. But if it did work, we would achieve groundbreaking discoveries. Cross species genetics, super human soldiers development- we could revolutionise the world! But Henry, he decided to betray me and the entire Oscorp society. He ran away with his research. We tried to reach him, to make him change his mind but to no avail. But unfortunately, he died in a plane crash. He tried to escape to Europe, who knows maybe he made a deal with some government agents. I didn't know he transferred his genes to the spiders, so the spider venom was incompatible with anyone. This made all our experiments with the remnants of his research fail. So at the end, I gave up. But then years later, Spiderman came. I had my suspicions, but his death proved it. So I thought of something different,all these years we had been injecting the spider venom, why don't the subject breathe it in?"
Caldeus frowned slightly as the atmosphere around Norman Osborn changed. "I'm sorry for boring you with my sad story. So tell me about your daily life."
" Oh um... I'm just a dude that doesn't have friends. You know, that one guy that no one ever sees. I usually feel invisible. I mean, 21 years old and no girlfriend. I didn't even bother going to college. I work for uncle J, I'm also a part time worker in a little convenience store. "
" I see . Tell me about your parents."
" Well, my mum died few years after she had me. And my dad killed himself few days after her death. "
"Oh I'm so sorry."
"Ah, it's nothing. I don't really know much about them so it doesn't bother me too much. I mean, my uncle J raised me."
Caldeus replied looking at the cyberpunk style AI woman who was saying some stuff that he wasn't listening to.
Another worker passed and greeted. That was the 32 person that had greeted now.
" The number of people working for you are quite much." Caldeus said, looking at the middle aged woman as she hurriedly walked away.
Norman Osborn chuckled slightly as he looked at Caldeus. "You are quite unique, boy. Oscorp is one of the most prominent Technological pillars in the country. I am honestly surprised that you are expecting to see few workers. I mean, you should feel intimidated by my presence but you don't seem bothered at all." Caldeus laughed as he scratched the back of his head "I don't know, maybe I just see you as the normal human you are."
Norman Osborn sighed and shook his head.
"Let's test your abilities before you do anything else."
********OSCORP'S UNDERGROUND TRAINING FACILITY*****
Jonah, Norman and Caldeus walked in, after Norman slid his ID card into the available slot.
Caldeus' eyes widened as he saw plenty superhero costumes in various pods. They all resembled Spiderman's costume but each had it's unique design.
"Oscorp had already prepared costumes incase the experiment was successful." Jonah said, rubbing his beard.
Caldeus looked at him, wondering how his uncle had become calm.
"Pick one." Norman said, typing some things into a keyboard that didn't have buttons.
Caldeus' eyes glinted excitedly. "Really? Well gee thanks!"
He looked around at the various costumes, and then his eyes got glued to one.
A smooth grin formed on his face.