40: Chapter 40 Experiment D (4)

The man's hands were trembling. Nervous? No... Peter smelled a lemon-like scent.

Fear. He was afraid.

"You don't want to do this," Peter said softly.

"Hand over all the money, kid! Hurry up!"

"Do what he says, Peter!" Mary Jane whispered.

Felicia growled, but Peter held her back. Peter stared at the robber: "This is your first time doing something like this, right?"

The robber froze: "W-what are you talking about?"

"There are a lot of Police in this area; no one would rob anyone here. You're a novice, and you're at the end of your rope." Peter took a slow step forward, "You don't want to hurt us."

"I-I have no choice!" he shouted, but the tip of the knife was slowly drooping.

"You always have a choice," Peter said, "Why? Why do you need money?"

"M-my family," he stammered, "They will starve to death."

"Alright. Then take this." Peter took out his wallet, which contained a hundred-dollar bill. He took out an old bill and wrote a string of numbers on it. He handed the money and the note to the robber, "Take the money and go feed your family. This number is for a shelter; they will take anyone in. If you can't support them, send them there. If you do this again, you'll get caught next time, and then you'll never be able to help them again."

The robber snatched the money and the note, then turned and ran. He glanced back at Peter, a flash of hesitation in his eyes, before disappearing at the end of the alley.

Peter sighed: "Poor guy."

"You should have beaten him up just now," Felicia said with dissatisfaction.

"He just wanted to feed his family, Kitten," Peter said, picking up the shopping bags, "If it were you, you would have done the same thing."

Felicia paused: "Maybe... But solve it my way next time."

"Peter, that... that was incredible." A trace of awe flashed in Mary Jane's eyes.

Peter looked at her and chuckled: "Oh, it's no big deal."

"No big deal? You were just... I don't even know what to say! You are truly unreasonable, Peter!" Mary Jane waved her hand in annoyance and walked quickly out of the alley.

Peter turned to look at Felicia: "What's wrong with her?"

Felicia chuckled: "Oh, Tiger, you still have a lot to learn."

Despite the robbery interlude, they enjoyed their meal very much. Since Peter had given all his cash to the robber, Felicia ended up paying the bill. Peter secretly made up his mind that it was time to get a debit card and enter the cashless era.

He took a taxi to take Felicia home and agreed to meet at school tomorrow. Then he took a taxi home with Mary Jane.

Along the way, Mary Jane gave him the cold shoulder.

"So... are we going to pretend you're not ignoring me?" Peter broke the silence first.

"I'm not ignoring you." She stared out the window.

"But it feels like it."

"Maybe I'm just angry that you tried to reason with a robber!"

Peter sighed: "Sorry. That was just the option with the lowest cost of violence." The taxi stopped, Mary Jane paid the fare, and the two got out.

"Peter, what you did just now was too reckless and dangerous! We should have run away!"

"Mary Jane, he just wanted to feed his family."

"So what? Is a stranger's family more important than your life?"

"I was not in any danger."

"How can you say that?"

"Because..." Peter thought of an excuse, "I've been trained. You know, I've taken self-defense classes."

"But..."

"Enough." Peter interrupted her and took a step forward, "I am certain of two things in this life. First, life is unfair; second, if you don't take the time to cultivate it, you will leave this World worse than when you arrived."

"I promise, I will never let you be in danger, Mary Jane. I will protect you."

They were too close. Peter could smell the lemon scent on Mary Jane transforming into the scent of maple syrup.

Her pupils dilated, and emotions surged within her. She leaned forward. But suddenly, the maple syrup scent turned sour. She stepped back abruptly.

Guilt.

"A-alright, Peter." She turned her head away, "See you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Peter watched her back as she left.

These abilities are really strange.

He returned home and quickly changed his old clothes for the new ones he had bought. Aunt May and Uncle Ben were shocked that he spent so much money in one day, but Peter cajoled and tricked them, finally convincing them that this was a necessary investment.

The rest of the night, he patrolled the streets as Spider-Man, then landed at the Baxter Building to find Susan Storm. She and the others were still working overtime. Susan Storm was studying his blood, while Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm were watching a movie nearby.

Peter felt embarrassed, so he swung to a nearby pizza shop to buy a few pizzas, then flew toward Felicia's apartment.

He knocked on the window twice. Felicia opened the window, wearing a shirt he had left there.

"Hey, honey. Didn't expect you to come tonight." She smiled, Peter climbed through the window, and kissed her gently.

"I actually wanted to show you something." Peter took off his wrist guards and mask, placing them on the table, "I gained new abilities."

Felicia's eyes widened: "What did you say?"

Peter spread his hands, slowly gathering bio-electricity in his palms. Blue current jumped between his hands, forming a dazzling chain of light.

Felicia gasped: "When did you steal Electro's abilities?!"

Peter chuckled: "Not his." He briefly explained the mission last night and how the gas had given him these new abilities.

"No wonder you looked sickly," Felicia realized.

"Yeah, the abilities need some time to adapt."

"Are you okay now?" She asked worriedly. Peter could smell a hint of lemon-scented fear emanating from her.

"I'm perfectly fine." Peter pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She let out a satisfied whimper against his lips, her hand reaching for the unlock key of his suit, taking it off, and stroking his chest.

"You know, I have another ability." Peter pushed her onto the bed, and a rich scent of maple syrup rushed towards him.

"Is that so?" She asked absentmindedly.

"Yes." Peter leaned into her ear and whispered, "I can smell your scent when you're aroused now."

Felicia chuckled: "Well, it's a good thing you don't have diabetes."

Peter's movements froze: "Whoa... really?"

"What? Is this joke that bad?"

"Very bad."

"Oh shut up, the jokes you tell are much worse than this."

"Hey!" Peter protested, and she pulled him into the covers with a laugh.

The two were intimate for over an hour before stopping. Peter wanted to continue, but Felicia tapped his head, reminding him that today was a school day and he had to get home before Aunt May and Uncle Ben discovered he wasn't in his room.

Peter sighed, reluctantly put on his suit, slid into the night, and left a goodnight kiss on her forehead.

He returned home quickly, and just as he was about to sleep, a thought flashed through his mind. This thought had troubled him all night, and only now did he sort it out.

Blood... radiation... adaptation... Where had he seen this setup before?

Where had he seen it... Oh, damn it.

He ran downstairs into the rarely used basement laboratory. He pried open the hidden compartment under the floor and took out a rock brought back from Harlem. It was stained with Hulk's blood.

Irradiated blood that can adapt and absorb everything. Their blood had the same characteristics.

Peter quickly put on his suit and rushed out of the house again. He swung toward the Baxter Building and walked into the lab: "Susan Storm? Johnny Storm? Ben Grimm? Is anyone here?"

"Peter?" Susan Storm's voice came from the lab, "In here."

Peter walked in. The lab was messier than last time, with sticky notes covering the walls, screens full of calculation formulas, and almost all the monitors in the building had been moved here to map the genetic profile.

"Where are Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm?"

"They went to sleep; they were exhausted today." Susan Storm stared at the screen, "What about you? Not sleeping?"

"You know, when I encounter an unsolvable mystery, I have endless energy. Why are you back so soon, Peter?"

"I think I found something that can help." Peter placed the rock on the only empty spot on the lab table.

Susan Storm looked at the bloodstains on the rock: "Whose is this?"

"Hulk's."

Susan Storm froze for a moment: "How did you get it?"

"I said, the fight between Hulk and Abomination was the first time I put on the suit. I went back and got some samples, wanting to study how it worked. I found that even after leaving the host for so long, this blood could still absorb glucose and carbohydrates. Sound familiar?"

Susan Storm's eyes widened: "Similar to your blood?"

"I don't know, I don't have a good enough microscope to observe genetic material. Maybe we should try?"

Susan Storm nodded: "Help me?"

"My pleasure." Peter took off his mask. The two immediately began to work, scraping the blood off the rock and using chemical reagents to revive it. At Peter's suggestion, they also added sugar water to let the cells absorb it and become active.

Susan Storm placed the new sample under the microscope and projected it onto the big screen.

The screen lit up, and Susan Storm's jaw dropped: "Whoa."

"You can say that again."

"There's a 70% match rate," she murmured.

"How is that possible?" Peter asked, "I'm basically a spider, and he is... Hulk!"

"Your genes themselves are completely different, but the way they behave is almost exactly the same." Susan Storm studied it carefully, "Hulk's blood and your blood function the same way?"

"Not exactly, but close enough." Susan Storm pulled up Hulk's DNA, "His genome is much more open than yours," she muttered the last sentence, "You can see how his blood mutated. He... he is more powerful than people imagine. His cells absorbed radiation, adapting and allowing the cells to charge to peak condition."

"So? He is a super battery?"

"You could say that." Susan Storm nodded, "Your blood does the same thing, absorbing radiation, but uses it to cut and paste genetic changes. It's like they are brothers, but... different."

Peter growled: "Bruce Banner... what exactly was he trying to do in that experiment?"

Susan Storm froze for a moment: "He... ah, I believe he was trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum used on Captain America Steve Rogers."

Peter blinked: "Then can the same inference be applied to me?"

Susan Storm was a bit confused: "What do you mean?"

Peter walked to the terminal and quickly entered his father's name. Several files popped up. Susan Storm scanned through them quickly: "Master's and Ph.D. in Genetic Engineering from Harvard. Graduated at 17, employed by... Unknown? Married Mary Fitzpatrick, had a son named... Peter. Is this your father?"

Peter nodded: "Yes. He died about a year after I was born. My uncle and aunt never gave a definitive answer. But he was a researcher, and a very good researcher. I think."

"Judging from these documents, you are right." Susan Storm flipped through the files, "His doctoral thesis was about... Super Soldier Serum and its potential radioactive origins?! My God!"

"So he really did it." Peter gritted his teeth.

"Peter, do you know what this means?!" Susan Storm asked excitedly.