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*****
Gwen and Peter looked at each other.
"You go first," Peter said to Gwen.
Gwen hesitated for a moment, then said, "Better if you say it. I'm afraid if I speak first, you'll be so happy for me that you won't be interested in telling your own news."
Peter: "?"
That was... actually quite cute.
Peter smiled. When Luke and the other two turned their gaze toward him, he grinned and said happily, "I've gained superpowers."
The scene went silent as the four of them looked at Peter in shock.
Peter nodded with certainty. "Just yesterday!"
"A mutant ability? You're a mutant?" Luke looked at Peter in surprise, feeling a bit of joy in his heart.
Peter shook his head.
"Then are you an Inhuman?" Harry asked curiously.
Peter shook his head again, a smile spreading across his face.
"Then what on earth are you?" Mary Jane looked at Peter with envy.
If she could gain some kind of ability, she could be closer to Harry.
"I'm not an 'on earth' anything!" Peter blurted out, then his face darkened slightly as he looked at the three of them laughing. He was just about to speak when Gwen spoke up thoughtfully.
"Were you bitten by a super spider too?"
"Huh?" Peter looked at Gwen, startled. "How did you know? Wait, you said you had something to say too. Don't tell me the thing you were going to say..."
Gwen smiled and nodded. "Exactly. Just like you, I was bitten, and then I gained new abilities."
Upon hearing this, a surge of uncontrollable joy suddenly welled up in Peter's heart.
Could this be the bond between him and Gwen?
Luke, Harry, and Mary Jane stared at Gwen and Peter, their gazes blank.
Good grief, getting bitten by a super spider actually gives you superpowers?
"There's no justice in this world!" Harry wailed.
Osborn Industries had researched for so long without success, and now these two had successfully strengthened themselves just by being bitten?
Suddenly, Harry felt a wave of pity for those researchers.
"I've got it!" Luke suddenly stood up and said, "I'm going right now to let those super spiders bite me a few times!"
"I'm going too!" Harry stood up, clenching his fists.
Mary Jane pulled at the two of them, saying helplessly, "Calm down, you two."
"Stop fooling around!" Gwen looked at them speechlessly. "Do you think just anyone who gets bitten will gain abilities?"
"But two living examples are standing right in front of us!" Harry looked at the two of them excitedly.
Mary Jane and Harry both nodded.
Gwen said helplessly, "After I was bitten, I went to Planet Kent for an examination."
Peter immediately pricked up his ears.
He was still a bit afraid in his heart; hearing news from Gwen allowed him to feel much more at ease.
After a moment's reflection, Gwen said, "The super spider's venom strengthened me and fused with my genes. But if it were placed in another person, it might kill them directly. The probability of fusion is very low."
"But between you and Peter, isn't that two successes in one go?" Harry was a bit agitated.
"The two of us were lucky, but that doesn't mean you will succeed." Gwen gave Harry a flat look.
Harry pursed his lips, forcing himself to calm down quickly.
He knew Gwen was right; the risk was too great.
"Those researchers are just useless," Harry muttered, clenching his fists.
In this heroic era where superheroes were constantly appearing, having the power of superheroes was a dream every person had once had. Harry, naturally, was no exception.
And now, besides him and Mary Jane, their Titan Squad actually had three superpowered individuals. This caused a trace of envy and anxiety to appear in Harry's heart.
"Harry, you don't need to worry." Luke noticed Harry's mood and said with a grin, "You have a superpower too."
"How come I didn't know?"
"The power of money!" Luke looked at Harry earnestly.
Harry: "..."
Gee, thanks a lot!
However, since Gwen and the others could succeed, if he went back and told his father about this, perhaps he could get his father to continue the research on the super spider project.
As long as the development was successful, he would have a chance.
Furthermore, his father... if he wasn't mistaken, had also successfully completed strengthening, though it probably wasn't from a super spider.
Maybe he should find an opportunity to talk to his father.
Thinking of this, Harry's heart eased. He plopped back down and asked, "Since your strengthening was successful, what abilities do you have?"
Peter rubbed his head and said, "I've only discovered that my strength and speed have increased."
"In addition to that, there's enhanced reflexes and flexibility, as well as the ability to crawl on walls."
Hearing these abilities, Harry and Luke were practically drooling with envy, and Mary Jane also looked at the two of them with envious eyes.
Luke mused for a moment and said, "In that case, does Peter need to prepare a superhero suit?"
"Yes! That's a must!" Gwen patted Peter's shoulder with a grin and said, "From now on, I can beat up those villains together with you!"
Peter was stunned for a moment, then gave a heavy nod.
He had wanted to help Gwen for a long time.
"Then starting tomorrow, we'll begin your training!"
As she said this, Gwen's eyes sparkled slightly.
Peter cheered inwardly, nodding his head like a woodpecker.
"Regarding the new suit, I have some ideas. Peter, do you want to hear them?" Gwen asked, chin in hand.
Peter said hurriedly, "I'll leave it to you!"
Watching this scene, Mary Jane, who was watching silently from the side, felt a bit envious.
"Alright, next we can..."
"Go eat!" Luke cheered, looking at Harry.
Harry nodded and said, "We should celebrate!"
"Then let's go!" Gwen waved her hand and quickly left with her friends.
---
Night arrived as scheduled.
After celebrating at a restaurant, the group was in high spirits and decided to help someone who had asked them for assistance, while also testing Peter's abilities.
They found a mask and pulled it over Peter's head haphazardly. Thus, a 'superhero' was born in a rush.
As it turned out, Peter's performance exceeded their imagination.
Even though it was his first battle, Peter was as agile as a professional gymnast. He easily dodged the enemies' attacks while knocking them all down within a few moves.
Watching this from the shadows, Gwen and the other three were amazed by Peter's performance.
And Peter, doing this for the first time, clenched his fists in excitement.
After this event, Harry sent the others home and, yawning, had the driver drop him off at his own house.
"Is he still not back?"
Harry murmured, glancing at Norman Osborn's room. Sitting on the sofa in the living room, he decided to wait for his father to tell him about the super spider.
In the end, before his father returned, he drifted off into a daze and fell asleep.
An hour later, while Harry was sleeping soundly, a figure quietly appeared at the living room entrance.
He was wearing green armor and a demon-like mask. Like a silent demon, he looked at the sleeping Harry.
But his eyes, which were filled with coldness and madness, slowly returned to a state of calm upon seeing Harry, gradually softening with tenderness.
Taking off his mask, Norman Osborn hesitated as he went to pick up Harry, then left the living room.
"Is that Dad?"
At that moment, Harry opened his eyes blearily. Seeing the vanishing silhouette, he murmured to himself and fell back into a heavy sleep.
A moment later, Norman Osborn, having changed his clothes, walked to Harry's side. He picked up the phone that was resting on Harry's face and set it aside, then easily picked Harry up and carried him to his bedroom.
Tucking a blanket around Harry, Norman Osborn looked at him with a slight smile and turned to leave.
"Dad..." Harry woke up hazily and said, "I have something to tell you."
"Whatever it is, we'll talk tomorrow." Norman Osborn spoke indifferently and strode out of Harry's room.
Harry gave a muffled response, rolled over, and fell back asleep.
---
The next day.
After Harry woke up and remembered that he needed to tell Norman Osborn about the spider, he immediately ran to Norman Osborn's door.
But just as his hand touched the doorknob, he hesitated.
This kind of thing... what would happen if he told his father?
Gwen, because of her own power and her status as a member of the Kent family, would certainly be fine. But Peter... was just an ordinary person.
Given his father's personality, he would likely bring Peter to Osborn and study him like an experimental subject.
That was absolutely unavoidable.
Thinking of this, Harry bit his lip.
He didn't want Peter to be treated that way.
"I need to find an excuse to get Dad to continue the super spider experiments." Harry murmured, gently pushing open the door to Norman Osborn's bedroom.
"Phew!"
Seeing the empty room, Harry actually felt a sigh of relief.
His father wasn't there, so he didn't have to come up with an excuse about the super spider or lie to his father right now.
"I'll take this time to think about a way to tell Dad about the super spider." Harry whispered and quickly turned to leave.
He still had classes.
Over the next few days, Harry didn't see his father at all. It was as if his father had vanished; even the calls he made went unanswered.
When he asked the butler, the butler only told him that his father was busy conducting an experiment.
Harry was somewhat helpless.
He had finally thought of a good excuse to tell his father about the super spider, but now he couldn't even see the man...
Out of necessity, Harry could only decide to go to the Osborn Building to find his father in the laboratory.
However, when he arrived at the building and was using a stall in the restroom, he overheard some strange talk.
"Dead again!"
"Yeah! That's already the third one!"
"If this keeps up, the company's major shareholders..."
"Shh! Don't talk nonsense. If someone hears you..."
"I'm just talking. Didn't you see the police came to investigate? They've been coming for several days in a row!"
"Mr. Osborn is also a person of interest."
"Everyone who stands to profit from the death of these few shareholders is a person of interest!"
"True, but I heard a very crucial piece of footage was captured yesterday."
"What footage? Tell me quickly!"
"They say a blurry image of the criminal was captured. Although the criminal's face couldn't be seen clearly, through the blurry image, it looked like a... green devil."
"Haha! What devil! In this world... there really might be devils!"
As if remembering something, that person's expression changed, and he quickly shut his mouth, leaving with his colleague.
Harry pushed open the door, fanned his nose, turned back to flush away the 'gold nuggets,' and rushed out of the restroom.
For fear that the sound of flushing would alert the two people talking, he had nearly been choked to death by the stench of his own business.
"Three shareholders dead in a row? A green devil?"
Harry murmured. For some reason, he suddenly remembered his father's silhouette he had seen in his daze that night.
He had vaguely seen a silhouette wearing green armor.
At the time, being half-asleep, he thought he had seen wrong.
Green armor?
No, it couldn't be!
Harry's expression changed.
But thinking about it, if these shareholders died, his father would indeed gain a significant amount of benefit.
Most importantly, with his father's own strengthened power paired with some tools manufactured by Osborn, he could easily accomplish this.
Harry bit his lip and muttered softly, "It can't be."
He said it again and hurried toward his father's office.
But his father wasn't there. After asking his father's secretary, he learned that his father had been called to the police station early this morning to assist in the investigation.
Feeling helpless, Harry could only ask the secretary to call him the moment his father returned.
"Let's go look at those spiders first." Harry whispered and walked toward the superhero laboratory.
But when he reached the lab, he froze in his tracks.
"Where are the spiders?"
Looking at the empty laboratory, Harry let out a cry of shock and rushed back to his father's office. There, he received a piece of news from the secretary that left him feeling utterly helpless.
Because the research progress of the super spider project had been stagnant for a long time, and Norman Osborn had already found the possibility of a successful strengthening serum through other avenues, the super spider project had been unceremoniously axed.
Aside from leaving behind some research data, the remaining dozen or so super spiders had been turned into specimens.
Specimens!
Harry felt his vision go dark.
If they were specimens, how could they bite anyone? How could the research continue?
He returned home in a trance, waiting for his father to come back.
The matter of the deceased directors, his father being called to the police station to assist in the investigation, the image of the green armor that kept surfacing in his mind, and the discarded super spiders...
All these things flashed through his head incessantly.
"Aaargh!"
In a fit of rage, Harry hurled his phone away.
Smash!
With a crisp sound, a decorative colored mirror was shattered to pieces.
But as Harry looked toward the damage, he froze.
There, hidden behind it, was an electronic door secured with a passcode.
Why was there such a thing in their home?
An idea that terrified even himself involuntarily surfaced in Harry's mind.
He hurried over, stared at the fingerprint and passcode lock for a moment, and then entered a series of numbers.
His own birthday.
The door opened. As Harry looked at the contents inside, he was rooted to the spot.
(End of Chapter)