The man's hand was trembling. Nerves? No... Peter smelled something lemony.
Fear. He was afraid.
"You don't want to do this," Peter said softly.
"Hand over all your money, kid! Now!"
"Do what he says, Peter!" Mary Jane said under her breath.
Felicia let out a low growl, but Peter held her back. He stared at the robber. "This is your first time doing this, isn't it?"
The robber froze. "W-what did you say?"
"There are a lot of cops around here. Nobody robs people here. You're new at this, and you're out of options." Peter slowly took a step forward. "You don't want to hurt us."
"I-I don't have a choice!" he shouted, but the tip of his dagger slowly drooped.
"You always have a choice," Peter said. "Why? Why do you need money?"
"M-my family," he stammered. "They're going to starve."
"Okay. Then take this." Peter took out his wallet. There was a hundred-dollar bill inside. He also took out an old bill and wrote a number on it. He held the money and note out to the robber. "Take the money and feed your family. This is the number for a shelter. They'll take anyone in. If you can't feed 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."
The robber snatched the money and note and ran. He glanced back at Peter, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes, then disappeared around the mouth of the alley.
Peter sighed. "Poor guy."
"You should've beaten him up," Felicia said unhappily.
"He just wanted to feed his family, Xiaomaomi." Peter picked up the shopping bags. "You would've done the same in his place."
Felicia paused. "Maybe... but next time, we do it my way."
"Peter, that... that was incredible." A hint of awe flashed through Mary Jane's eyes.
Peter looked at her and chuckled. "Oh, it was no big deal."
"No big deal? You were just... I don't even know what to say! You're impossible, Peter!" Mary Jane waved a hand in frustration and strode out of the alley.
Peter turned to Felicia. "What's wrong with her?"
Felicia chuckled. "Oh, Laohu, you still have a lot to learn."
Despite the robbery incident, they enjoyed their early dinner. Since Peter had given all his cash to the robber, Felicia ended up paying. Peter silently resolved that it was time to get a debit card and enter the cashless age.
He took a cab to drop Felicia home, agreeing to see her at school tomorrow. Then he took a cab home with Mary Jane.
Mary Jane gave him the silent treatment the whole way.
"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.
"Sure feels like it."
"Maybe I'm just angry that you tried to reason with a robber!"
Peter sighed. "Sorry. That was just the option that involved the least violence." The taxi stopped, Mary Jane paid the fare, and they both got out.
"Peter, what you did was reckless and dangerous! We should've run!"
"Mary Jane, he just wanted to feed his family."
"So what? Is some stranger's family more important than your life?"
"I wasn't in danger."
"How can you say that?"
"Because..." Peter thought of an excuse. "I've had training. You know, I've taken self-defense classes."
"But..."
"Enough." Peter cut her off, stepping closer. "There are two things I'm sure of in this life. First, life isn't fair. Second, unless you take the time to work on it, you'll leave this world worse than you found it."
"I promise I'll never put you in danger, Mary Jane. I'll protect you."
They were too close. Peter could smell the lemon scent on Mary Jane turning into maple syrup.
Her pupils dilated, emotions churning inside her. She leaned forward slightly. But suddenly, the maple syrup soured. She abruptly stepped back.
Guilt.
"O-okay, Peter." She turned her head. "See you tomorrow."
"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Peter watched her walk away.
These powers were seriously weird.
He returned home and quickly changed out of his old clothes into his new ones. Aunt May and Uncle Ben were shocked that he had spent so much money in a day, but with a mixture of coaxing and fibs, Peter finally convinced them it was a necessary investment.
He spent the rest of the evening patrolling the streets as Spider-Man, then landed at the Baxter Building to see Susan. She and the others were still working late. Susan was studying his blood, while Johnny and Ben watched a movie nearby.
Feeling bad, Peter swung to a nearby pizza place and bought a few pizzas, then headed for Felicia's apartment.
He knocked twice on the window. Felicia opened it, wearing a shirt he had left there.
"Hey, honey. I didn't expect you to come over tonight." She smiled, and Peter climbed through the window and kissed her gently.
"I actually wanted to show you something." Peter took off his wrist guards and mask and put them on the table. "I got new powers."
Felicia's eyes widened. "What?"
Peter held out his hands, slowly gathering bioelectricity in his palms. Blue currents leaped between his hands, forming a dazzling chain of light.
Felicia gasped. "When did you steal Electro's powers?!"
Peter chuckled. "Not from him." He briefly explained last night's mission and how the gas had given him these new powers.
"No wonder you looked sick." Understanding dawned on Felicia.
"Yeah, the powers take some getting used to."
"You're okay now, right?" she asked worriedly. Peter could smell a faint trace of lemon-scented fear coming from her.
"I'm perfectly fine." Peter pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She gave a satisfied whimper against his lips, reached for the suit's release, peeled it off, and stroked his chest.
"You know, I have another power, too." Peter pushed her onto the bed, and a rich maple syrup scent washed over him.
"Really?" she asked distractedly.
"Yes." Peter leaned close to her ear and whispered, "I can smell it when you're turned on now."
Felicia chuckled. "Good thing you don't have diabetes, then."
Peter froze. "Wow... seriously?"
"What? Was that a bad joke?"
"Terrible."
"Oh, shut up. Your jokes are way worse."
"Hey!" Peter protested as she laughed and pulled him under the covers.
They only stopped after more than an hour. Peter wanted to keep going, but Felicia knocked him on the head and reminded him that it was a school day and he had to get home before Aunt May and Uncle Ben noticed he wasn't in his room.
Peter sighed, reluctantly put on his suit, and slipped into the night, leaving a goodnight kiss on her forehead.
He quickly returned home and was just about to go to sleep when a thought flashed through his mind. It had been bothering him all evening, and only now had he sorted it out.
Blood... radiation... adaptation... where had I seen that setup before?
Where had I seen it... oh, damn.
He ran downstairs into the rarely used basement laboratory. Prying open a hidden compartment beneath the floor, he took out a rock he had brought back from Harlem. Hulk's blood was on it.
Irradiated blood, able to adapt and absorb anything. Their blood shared the same properties.
Peter quickly put on his suit and rushed out of the house again. He swung to the Baxter Building and entered the laboratory. "Susan? Johnny? Ben? Anyone here?"
"Peter?" Susan's voice came from inside the laboratory. "In here."
Peter walked in. The laboratory was even messier than last time. Sticky notes covered the walls, the screens were full of equations, and nearly every monitor in the building had been brought in to map genes.
"Where are Ben and Johnny?"
"They went to bed. They were exhausted today." Susan stared at the screen. "What about you? Aren't you sleeping?"
"You know how it is. When there's a mystery I can't solve, I have endless energy. What brought you back so soon, Peter?"
"I think I found something that could help." Peter placed the rock on the only empty spot on the lab bench.
Susan looked at the bloodstain on the rock. "Whose is this?"
"Hulk's."
Susan paused. "How did you get it?"
"I told you, Hulk's fight with Abomination was the first time I wore the suit. I went back to get some samples so I could study how it worked. I discovered that even after all this time outside its host, the blood can still absorb glucose and carbohydrates. Sound familiar?"
Susan's eyes widened. "Like your blood?"
"I don't know. I don't have a microscope good enough to examine the genetic material. Maybe we should give it a try?"
Susan nodded. "Help me?"
"My pleasure." Peter took off his mask. They immediately got to work, scraping the blood off the rock and reviving it with chemical reagents. At Peter's suggestion, they also added sugar water for the cells to absorb and become active.
Susan placed the new sample under the microscope and projected it onto the big screen.
The image lit up, and Susan's jaw dropped. "Wow."
"You can say that again."
"It's a seventy-percent match," she murmured.
"How is that possible?" Peter asked. "I'm basically a spider, and he's... Hulk!"
"Your genes themselves are completely different, but they behave almost identically." Susan studied them closely. "Hulk's blood works the same way yours does?"
"Not exactly, but close." Susan brought up Hulk's DNA. "His genome is much more open than yours," she muttered that last part quietly. "You can see how his blood mutated. He's... he's more powerful than people think. His cells absorbed radiation, adapted, and charged themselves to peak condition."
"So? He's a super battery?"
"You could say that." Susan nodded. "Your blood did the same thing, absorbing radiation, but using it to cut and paste genetic changes. It's like they're brothers, but... different."
Peter let out a low growl. "Bruce Banner... what exactly was he trying to do in that experiment?"
Susan paused. "He... ah, I believe he was trying to recreate the Super Soldier Serum used on Captain America, Steve Rogers."
Peter blinked. "Could the same reasoning apply to me?"
Susan looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Peter walked over to the terminal and quickly typed in his father's name. Several files popped up. Susan skimmed them. "Master's and doctorate in genetic engineering from Harvard University. Graduated at seventeen, employed by... unknown? Married Mary Fitzpatrick and had a son named... Peter. This is your father?"
Peter nodded. "Yes. He died about a year after I was born. My aunt and uncle never gave me a definite answer. But he was a researcher, and a very good one. I think."
"Judging by these records, you're right." Susan browsed the files. "His doctoral dissertation was on... the 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 asked excitedly.