Valerie takes the full force of the feral animal as it slams into her, throwing her to the ground. The large cat-like creature on top of her, she slides under it to escape, but not before one of the animal’s paws snags her dress, but she slides through anyway, tearing the dresses bottom half off. She gets up, her long dress now ripped up to her knees,
“Damnit, I liked that dress!”
The cat swivels around, and prepares to pounce again, but Spider-Man leaps onto it from behind,
“Giddy up!” he shoots a web around the animal’s neck and pulls it back.
The wild creature starts running around the gym, with Spider-Man in tow. As the cat reaches a wall, Spidey pulls the web leash and slams the animal into the wall. The animal thrusts up, throwing Spider-Man off of him, launching him into the air and causing him to crash into the bleachers. Valerie prepares to fight the beast, but it struggles to lift itself up, and collapses onto the floor.
The creature’s wild brown hair begins to shrink and shed, its enhanced muscles and elongated claws retracting into a human form. The man, completely naked except for a pair of ripped shorts, looks up at the two, “...help...help me…” before passing out completely.
Spider-Man brings the man up to a nearby rooftop, laying him down on his back. The night is still active, with only the many lights of New York City to illuminate them. A newly dressed Tarantula jumps up on top of the roof.
“So, you have any idea what’s wrong with this guy?” Spider-Man asks.
“No, but I’ve got some hair and skin samples I’ll take over to the Oscorp lab though, maybe I can find something out there.” she figures.
The man begins to stir, “Ugh...wha...what happened?”
Spidey scratches his head, “Uhm...well, you were at a rager party, and you had one too many-”
Tarantula smacks Spidey on the head, “What’s your name, sir?”
“T-Thomas. Thomas Fireheart.”
“Thomas, this may be hard to hear, but you attacked Midtown High. Do you know anything about that?”
“I...I did? But...I...I live around there. And, where are we? Spi-Spider-Man, and Tarantula...how…?” Thomas starts jerking and twitching violently, and the two back off as he stands, his eyes turning from a brown to pitch black. There’s several cracking sounds of bone and cartilage as his muscles expand, and the hair and claws return to his body. He bars his teeth, his canines sharp and extending past normal limits,
“Stay away from me!” he growls in a low, grizzly tone.
Spider-Man waves his arms in front of him, “Woah, woah, slow down Animal Man, we’re here to help you, you just gotta...relax…”
The beast lunges at Spider-Man, but Tarantula grabs him and pulls him out of the way just in time. They roll across the concrete roof, tangled in each others’ arms, coming to a stop at the edge of the roof, with Spider-Man on top,
“Hehe...well, this is awkward-”
“Look out!” Tarantula cries, pointing behind him.
He turns around to see Thomas bounding at them. Stretching out her hand, she shoots a burst of webbing that latches to his face, obscuring his vision. He starts to slow down, and Spider-Man and Tarantula scurry past him. Tearing off the webbing, Thomas grabs a nearby satellite dish and rips it off of its support.
“We can’t hurt him, he’s innocent, and I don’t think he can control his powers.” Spidey exclaims.
“Clearly, but if not that, what do we do?” Tarantula replies.
Thomas charges at them, swinging the satellite dish left and right. They both jump out of the way, and he comes to a stop at the edge of the roof. Spidey darts his head around, and he spots two large air conditioning units adjacent from one another, “I’ve got an idea.” he points to the units and Tarantula nods.
Tarantula jumps ahead while Spider-Man confronts Thomas, “Hey, big and ugly!” he calls out to get his attention.
Thomas tears after Spider-Man, who leads him toward the vents. Just as Spider-Man is about to reach the units, he jumps up over Thomas, bounding over him. Getting out of the way, he reveals that Tarantula has crafted a net of webs that he slams right into. She jumps out from behind one of the vents and fires a bio-blast that knocks him out cold.
Returning to his human form, Spider-Man kicks him gently, making sure he’s out for sure. Tarantula holds up a small vial,
“I’ll take these samples to Oscorp. Could you take care of Thomas while I’m gone?”
He nods, “Sure...not sure how I’ll be able to hide this from Aunt May though.”
“You’ll figure something out, I’m sure.” she figures, before putting the vial away and diving off of the roof.
Spidey scratches his head, “Yeah...sure…”
Valerie checks into the mostly empty Oscorp building. Checking the directory, she discovers that most of the labs are held on a higher floor than the SapphireTech workshop. Riding the elevator up, she looks out the glass elevator, looking out at the colorful city lights. With the whole Tarantula business, she realizes she looks at the city differently now. She’s always on the watch for danger, for a chance for Tarantula to jump into the action. Is this healthy?
In one of the labs, she procures an unused microscope and some slides, puts on a lab coat and gloves, and prepares the samples for the slides. Once she has the slides ready, she slips them under the microscope, and watches through the lense as the cells mutate, tripling in size, but then retreating, shrinking back to their original size as soon as they’d grown. What causes this?
She pulls out her slides and pockets them as she hears footsteps. Hiding under the table, she patiently waits for the footsteps to pass.
“And why should I care? It’s not like it’s going to help me in the slightest.” Valerie’s ears perk up, she recognizes that voice, it’s Harry’s.
Coming of out her hiding spot, she darts to the lab entrance, and, hidden in the shadows, watches him wander through the deserted hallways of the Oscorp labs, still in his Halloween costume. What is he doing here?
“...Harry?” she asks aloud.
He turns around, “Oh...hello Valerie. What’re you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the dance?”
“There...was a disturbance, the dance ended early, remember?”
He shakes his head, his movements loose and uncontrolled, “Nope. I left long before anything like that happened.”
“Oh, really? I didn’t see you leave.”
He scoffs, approaching her, “Of course you didn’t. You were too busy with that Eddie guy, right?”
She smiles, “Hey, I thought you were pretty occupied with all of those other girls. And besides, who else would’ve backed Eddie up on that chicken dance he was doing?”
“Those girls mean nothing,” he states bluntly, “it’s clear from the start: they only want my money. The way they compliment my clothing, my hair, say I’m so funny or charming when I didn’t even say anything.”
Valerie leans against the glass wall, crossing her arms, “C’mon, not all of the girls at Midtown are like that-”
“Would you...could you come up to my apartment? It’s accessible from this part of the building.” he asks, twisting around and facing opposite her.
She scrunches her eyebrows. Why?
“Uhm...okay.”
He smiles weakly, “Thanks.”
She follows him back to the elevator, guess those slides will have to wait. The elevator closes, and Harry reveals a personalized key card which he inserts into the control panel. The display screen shows an extra option, which Harry presses,
“I should give you access to my apartment. In case you, you know, ever need to crash during the long work hours.”
“Oh...thanks,” Valerie mumbles, getting a very uneasy feeling from the whole situation, “uhm, if I may ask, why are we heading to your apartment?”
He turns to her, his eyes blank and inexpressive, “Oh, I don’t really need to go to my apartment specifically, I just needed to get you alone.”
“Wha-” but before Valerie can protest, Harry grabs her shoulders, closing his eyes, and pulls her into a kiss, Valerie closing her eyes soon after.