Spider-Man : The Morales Trilogy

Chapter 13

Miles had timed everything just right or at least, he hoped he had. Now, he was creeping along the hallways of Horizon High, invisible. It was even surprising that his degree of control over his newfound strength and abilities had gotten so much better, especially since his ghost conversation with his pops.

Now he was just hoping he didn't trip any silent alarms or anything as he headed to Connors's private office. He needed to check for something and make sure it was safe from the wrong hands.

Right now, he was wearing a black and read hoodie on black denim jeans on his black and red sneakers. He also had a black mask on, with most of his face covered except his eyes, nostrils and his mouth. It didn't really matter what he wore but if his invisibility failed him right now, at least no one would know who it was.

"Okay, weird spider powers. Help me," he muttered under his breath as he crept towards Connors's office. He froze when he heard voices and paused to listen.

"Think they'll find their missing scientist?" asked a voice Miles didn't recognize. It was a deep and slow voice.

"I don't know. That's not really our concern, we're just here to protect his place from being attacked."

"Shouldn't we have searched? To know what's in there that anyone would want to steal?"

"Off-limits."

"Max Modell doesn't give us orders. Thompson does."

"Well, we're in Modell territory and I don't really want issues to be escalated so let's just do our jobs for as long as Thompson wants us to then we ride back home."

"But think of how much we'd make from the things in his office. We could make fifty grand from selling just one thing."

"You're starting to sound like a criminal, Howard."

"It's 2048, isn't everyone a criminal, Mickey?" Howard replied.

"Hate to do this to you, Howard and Mickey," Miles muttered and walked towards the two of them, unseen. He felt an electric sensation coursing throughout him and red electricity sparked to life on his hands and he fired it at the two guards.

They yelled in pain and dropped to the floor, unconscious. Hopefully unconscious. Miles paused to listen for a heartbeat and was glad to know they were unconscious not dead.

Miles wasn't surprised to find the door connected to Connors's office protected by a alpha-numeric pin-based security system. He'd half-expected it and had half-expected a biometric-based security system.

Miles knew how to bypass the system. He hoped he did. And he also knew that three wrong attempts to get in would sound an alarm and it wouldn't be a silent one. He had to do it right.

First attempt: AAP – 2174 0178.

There was a beeping sound as his first attempt failed. He had to try again.

AOP – 2174 0178. This one also failed. He took a deep breath, now sure that the third attempt would work since there were only three possible codes that could bypass this system. AAP meant Admin Access Protocol and AOP was Admin Override Protocol and the numbers were just the make of this system which was scribbled beneath the keypad, nearly impossible to see but Miles's eyesight had gone from 10 to 100.

The last possible code would be Universal Security Override, USO.

So he tried it.

USO – 2174 0178

He hesitated to press enter but finally decided to do it and pushed the enter button. There was a beeping sound then a clicking sound and the door opened up slowly.

Miles smiled and pushed the door open and stepped into the office. He didn't turn the lights on. He just used his superb eyesight to navigate the darkness of the office. It smelled clean and at the same time, smelled of chemicals.

Miles didn't have to search for long before he found what he was looking for. It was in a vial on one of the counters. He identified it by the eerie glow it emitted.

The symbiote. Just swirling around in its vial, probably desiring freedom more than any other thing in the world. Miles took it and safely tucked it away into his hoodie pocket and was about to leave the office when the lights suddenly came on.

"What in the hell?" asked a slightly sleepy voice and Miles swirled around to see Sam standing there.

"Who's in here?"

"Go away!" Miles muttered under his breath, somewhat angrily. Miles didn't know why Sam was snooping around but he wanted to stick around to find out why.

Sam looked around the office then out at the unconscious guards and both his fists suddenly glowed a bright shade of blue as well as his eyes.

"I'm only going to say this one more time. Who's in here? I can sense your presence, whoever you are."

"Get the hell out of here, Sam," Miles whispered under his breath. His new trust in Sam was suddenly wavering as he found his friend now snooping around, exhibiting superhuman abilities. Was he with Shockwave? Was he also trying to steal the symbiote?

Sam swirled around and faced the spot where Miles was standing and fired a beam of blue energy at Miles. Miles managed to step aside just in time and the beam passed right by him, missing him with inches but Miles still felt the heat. It hit the wall, burning a circular shape into the wall.

Miles growled and fired an arc of red electricity at Sam. It hit Sam in the chest and blasted him backwards, out the open door. He hit the wall in the alley and fell to the ground, groaning.

"I'm just glad to see that there's someone here," Sam said and peered around in the dark, scanning for his attacker.

Miles leapt up into the air and clung to the ceiling and started crawling away, invisible. Even when he'd gotten far away from the office, he could still hear Sam's threats. Sam clearly didn't know he was long gone.

Miles finally arrived at his dorm and found the lights turned on which meant Dil must have woken up sometime after he'd gone to retrieve the symbiote.

He shut his eyes tight and focused hard on becoming visible again and his body shimmered into visibility. He took a deep breath, removed his mask and removed the symbiote vial from his pocket and stared at it.

"Miles," said Dil's voice and Miles turnedaround to see Dil staring at him, gaping. "How the fuck did you just do that?"