I’m Not Becoming Spider-Man - Chapter 68: The Aftermath (Patreon)

The following morning, Peter opened the door to the couple's room, carrying breakfast.

"Morning, Dr. Connors."

"Good morning, Peter." After some much-needed rest, Martha no longer looked quite so exhausted. Having her husband beside her had eased her anxiety considerably.

"I brought sandwiches. Eat something first, and then we can talk about what to do next." Peter scratched his head.

The mess Connors had created was giving him a headache. Fortunately, the news that Connors himself was the Lizard hadn't spread very far. Only a handful of people involved in the incident knew the truth.

His greatest concern was Norma, but there was nothing he could do about her for now. They'd have to make the best of their situation.

"Connors, we need an inhibitor that works better and lasts longer. Or, ideally, you could develop something that completely reverses the effects of your experimental enhancement serum."

"B-but I can't do that now..." Connors said miserably. There was nothing left of the confident professor about him. He looked like a defeated middle-aged man who knew he'd done something terribly wrong.

The destruction he'd caused was immense. The casualty figures hadn't even been established, and the financial damages alone were more than Connors could ever afford.

"I need a laboratory. The compounds have to be prepared with great precision, and Norma will never let me back into mine. She'd already canceled my project before all this happened..."

"Then we'll have to find another way." Peter rubbed his forehead. "For now, stay here and keep your heads down. Let's see what happens once things outside settle down."

He repeatedly warned them not to act rashly before the public reaction became clear. If Norma decided to reveal Connors's identity, the entire situation would become much harder to manage.

"The inhibitor is our biggest problem," Peter continued. Connors now depended on it. Without regular doses, he could turn back into an enormous lizard at any moment.

"..."

"By the way, can you trust that student of yours, Miss Mobius?"

"What are you getting at?"

"We can't just sit here waiting for disaster. Is there anyone you trust who could help us get the materials for more inhibitor?"

"Perhaps... I could ask Otto. We're fairly close. I'd actually been planning to write letters recommending Gwen and Mobius to him," Connors admitted. "But now, with everything that's happened..."

"Why not write another letter?" Peter suggested. "You can't exactly show your face right now, but Gwen can. She could get in touch with Dr. Otto for you."

"I suppose that's our only choice..."

Asking Otto for help was embarrassing, but Connors couldn't think of a better option.

Peter went upstairs and brought Gwen down. She would have to help, so she needed to understand Connors's present condition.

Of course, she already knew perfectly well.

"Come on, Gwen. Dr. Connors is here," Peter told her.

"Oh, Dr. Connors! I'm so glad you're all right!" Gwen said. He'd certainly made a complete disaster of her lovely weekend, but at least they'd all come through it without serious harm.

Peter explained the situation and asked Gwen to take a recommendation letter to Dr. Otto. They had to secure a steady supply of inhibitor, and what little they had left wouldn't last long. If Peter had known things would turn out this way, he would have prepared more from the start.

"Why don't you come with me, Peter?" Gwen asked.

"Uh, I've got so much to do..." He hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. Dr. Connors, could you write one for me, too? By the way, will Otto recognize your handwriting?"

"My handwriting is rather distinctive. I only have one hand, after all," Connors replied.

"Right. We'll be back soon. If anything happens, call us, okay?"

Peter and Gwen gathered their belongings and headed out.

"To think I'd end up relying on two students," Connors said with a bitter smile.

"They're good kids," Martha replied. "Much better behaved than you. At least they don't go around swallowing anything they find."

"Please, Martha, don't start..."

...

"Looks like I'll have to miss school again this week. Uncle Ben's going to come charging after me any day now." Peter put on a mock-stern voice. "'Peter! Have you joined a gang? Why do you keep skipping school?'"

"That would be terrible," Gwen said with a laugh, although her own attendance record wasn't looking much better.

Neither had much spare cash, so they took public transportation to Oscorp Tower.

Dr. Otto worked for Oscorp as well, but his laboratory was underground. The recent chaos hadn't affected it in the slightest.

By now, Peter and Gwen knew their way around the building. They asked at reception for directions, rode the elevator down, and soon located Otto's lab.

"This is not a place for random visitors to wander around," Otto snapped, displeased to find two uninvited teenagers in his workspace.

"Uh, Dr. Otto, Dr. Connors sent us." Peter presented the recommendation letters.

Otto opened them with obvious irritation and read through both. His expression softened a little, but his response remained curt. "I don't need any students. Connors is going to be disappointed."

"Dr. Otto, Connors told us you're developing neural-control mechanical prosthetics," Peter said. "He called them a breakthrough. Is that true?"

"Of course it is! Are you questioning me? Look!"

Otto spread his arms toward the numerous mechanical limbs hanging around the laboratory like octopus tentacles.

"This is the work of a genius! Something magnificent that only a genius could create!"

"Are you using a BCI?" Peter asked. "And do the robotic arms use harmonic-drive reducers and distributed joint torque control?"

Otto raised an eyebrow. Peter looked far too young to know about any of those subjects, much less ask such specific questions.

He gestured for the boy to continue.

"When the connections experience dynamic loads, how does your inverse kinematics algorithm resolve internal force conflicts?" Peter asked. "That seems like a critical problem to me."

"Oh, that's simple." Otto tapped the tabletop and launched into an explanation. "I use a distributed closed-loop force control system..."

Gwen listened as Peter and Otto plunged into an increasingly technical discussion. She was getting a headache just trying to follow it. Mechanical engineering clearly wasn't her specialty, and Peter knew far more about it than she did.

Biology was still where she felt most at home.