The Spider of Gotham

Summary-
Peter Parker, born and raised in Gotham. A different take on Spider-Man in Gotham.

1.

Peter wanted to be excited for the field trip, but even his love of science could only take him so far. Ace Technologies, formerly Ace Chemicals, was trying to re-brand itself. Their old factory had been boarded up and a shiny new building had appeared in its place. This was Gotham, no one wanted a rogue discarded chemical plant, so they decided to use it as a basement rather than flatten it. They reached out to local schools to offer tours to get a nice little boost of PR. Of course, the invites started with the private academies, then higher end districts before they reached Mid-Town. Field Trips had to be thoroughly vetted in Gotham, which meant that they were usually boring by the time things were cleared.

The tour guide was going on about new department goals, recruitment bonuses for potential staff, and another round of environmental safety policies. They hadn't been allowed to walk through any of the labs and had been stuck in a glorified lobby, at least they had Air Conditioning.

Peter found himself wondering around the room looking at historical pictures of the company through the ages that were on display. The obligatory 'ground-breaking' photo, then the first factory, some old awards, the addition of an automated system, and a few others that he pretended to care about.

"Hey, Parker," the all-too familiar voice of Flash Thompson said.

He turned to see the tall jock striding over to him like he owned the place. Luckily, there weren't any lockers around. Who still stuffed people in lockers? That was something that only happened in bad teen movies. Flash thought it was hilarious.

"What Flash?" Peter groaned.

"Aw, what's wrong, Parker? I thought you loved this stuff?" Flash sneered.

"I love science," Peter sighed. "This isn't science."

"Oh," Flash said it like he understood. "I've got something you might like then."

On any other day Peter would have found a way out. There was no doubt in his mind that Flash was going to try something. It was a testament to how boring this tour was that Peter thought that whatever was about to happen would be better than sitting through another self-important speech about the company.

"Sure," he shrugged. "Lead the way."

Flash flinched at the words, almost like he couldn't believe Peter hadn't put up some sort of resistance.

"Uh, yeah," Flash shook off the shock. "Follow me."

Flash led him into a side hallway that smelled like mildew and forgotten dreams. The lights weren't as bright. Even the shine on the tiles faded. There was a door marked 'Employees Only' in faded stencil. There was some miscoloring along the edges as well. Suddenly, this wasn't as interesting as it had been a minute ago. A heavy hand clamped onto his shoulder before Peter could turn around. The familiar sensation of being yanked off his feet followed a moment later. There was a brief spark of hope that the door would stay shut, that he'd simply bounce off while Flash laughed.

That hope was smashed when the door opened easily. He tumbled along the floor before skidding to a stop. The familiar sound of a door slamming sealed his fate. Well, it was better than a locker and definitely more interesting than that excuse of a tour. His glasses had somehow remained intact, which was a rare win. The positives of the situation were vastly outweighed by reality. He could feel spider-webs tangled in his hair. Wherever he was smelled even worse than the hallway. There was an unusual humidity with thick patches that had formed into small clouds.

Peter brushed himself off as he stood. His eyes adjusted to the low light after a couple of seconds. The only illumination came from an old emergency bulb and a strip from under the door. He turned in a slow circle. The room was too big to be a closet, but it kind of felt like the janitor closet at school. He had spent more time than he wanted to admit locked in there.

The light switch was easy to find. It was a long stretch with four big ones that looked like they belonged on the dashboard of an old airplane. He toggled the switches to find the room was filled with industrial barrels. Each one was covered in multi-colored warning stickers that he recognized as very bad news.

Peter carefully removed the webs from his hair. He told himself the tingles along his arm were simply his imagination. That lie died when he felt a sharp pinch on his wrist. He smacked the spot on instinct and felt something squish on impact. The body of a spider that was way too big for his liking dropped to the floor. He leaned forward for a better look at it, hoping to identify it. It wasn't any sort of spider that he recognized. The coloring was weird, it was too big, and the shape of it was wrong.

"Peter," Mister Angle snapped. "What the hell are you doing?"

He turned to find the tall man in the doorway. Peter didn't bother to answer. Flash wasn't exactly a star athlete, but he was on a couple teams. It was enough to make the teachers ignore any complaints Peter made.

Peter started to feel weird as they loaded onto the bus. His hearing went in and out on the ride back to the school. The rest of the day bled into one wiggly blur. Somehow, he made his way home and to his room.

~

Peter woke up covered in an old layer of sweat. Even considering that, he felt great. It was beyond that. He felt amazing. Spectacular.

It wasn't until he got out of the shower that he noticed other changes. For one, he had forgotten his glasses but could see better without them. The changes to his body didn't stop there. He looked like a professional athlete. There was another change to his body as well. His member had gained a good couple of inches in length and at least that in girth. He wasn't going to take thing in hand after taking a shower, that felt wrong.

He found his Aunt waiting for him in his bedroom.

"Ah!" Peter wrapped a towel tightly around his body.

"Oh please," May rolled her eyes. "You used to run around in your underwear for hours."

"I was six," he scoffed.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "Now, get out. I need to get ready for school."

"It's Saturday," she clarified.

"It's Thursday," he countered.

"Saturday," she shook her head. "You slept for nearly two days. I was going to take you to the hospital today if you weren't awake."

"Oh," Peter took a deep breath and let it out. "Wow."

"What happened?" May asked.

"Just got sick, I guess," he answered with a shrug.

"Ok," she sighed. "Come down for breakfast when you're ready."

"Thanks, Aunt May," he smiled at her.

She finally left allowing him to get dressed.

Peter took a step back; his heel came down hard on a sharp piece of plastic. It wasn't enough to hurt, but it did give him a shock. He jumped at the unexpected contact only to find himself on the ceiling. His heart thumped hard in his chest and his eyes were wide in shock. Slowly, he was able to detach himself from the ceiling. He studied his hands and arms. Everything looked normal, aside from the new muscle. The spider-bite from the other day had shifted to a weird cluster of freckles.

A bite from a mutated spider that had lived in a defunct chemical storage, two days of sleep, now he had the body of a profession athlete, and could stick to walls. Strange things happened in Gotham all the time. He just never expected one of them to happen to him. Peter could only hope that he didn't suddenly grow another set of arms and some more eyes in the next two days.

For now, he needed to have some breakfast and figure out what other surprises his body had in store. He had already survived puberty, short of turning into a monster, this should be easy.