The Process of Gaining Powers Through Science...Which Quickly Became Mystical

Taking off my glasses, I looked down at the blurry object now in my hand, "Guess I won't be needing these after this? Thank God," I muttered before folding them and putting them down on a nearby table. "Karen, prepare the Abalone injections," I heard her beep in reply and I began to undress myself.

I was about to get in a tub of liquid, after all. Don't wanna get these clothes wet.

Once I was stark naked, I walked over to where I'd built two arms that could be controlled by Karen. Not arms with hands but rather arms that had needles and vials at the end of it. A mechanical arm. Like the type you see putting car pieces together in those massive factories.

Despite everything looking blurry, I spent most of my time in my lab anyway, so it's layout was practically burned into my brain. So I didn't bump or trip on anything and soon made it to the arms.

Standing facing away from them, I heard them whir to life before they began jabbing me all over.

Every major and minor muscle group got a jab and an injection of the Abalone DNA and serum for the Burstein Process to work correctly. Once that was done, I felt tingly all over and could tell that I'd entered the first stage of my superpower gaining process.

The tingles.

"Prepare the nutrient bath, Karen, and prep the needles in the 'bed'," I said as I felt my muscle contracting and relaxing randomly. It made standing up straight quite the task but I managed.

After a few seconds, Karen spoke up, [All done, boss,] she said and I thanked all the Gods I could think of as I shakily walked toward the steel tube I called a bath. Reaching into it, I pulled out the oxygen mask and affixed it over my head. Taking a few test breathes, I confirmed that it was working and using the handle for the bath to help stabilize myself as I stepped into the vaguely greenish goop inside it.

This green liquid is extremely concentrated and highly nutrient rich...nutrients. A drop of this stuff would actually seriously hurt someone's health if they ingested it. It's that concentrated that you need to dilute it about 100 times with water to actually get a liquid you can then ingest without outright being put into the hospital.

This is here in the tank because what I'm about to do is no doubt going to require a lot of nutrients and energy. Upon rigorous testing, I found a way to activate this liquid gel and absorb the nutrients without having to ingest it but through the skin. Now, this is even more risky because if your cells aren't robust or hungry enough, they'll explode.

Which means you'll explode.

Pretty gruesome sight, honestly. Poor mice.

Anyway, I got into the pool and pulled the hatch down onto the tube-like bath. Lying down, I submerged myself and the remainder of the space in the bath quickly filled up with even more nutrient liquid.

"Begin the process, Karen," I mumbled through the breathing gear which I'd installed a microphone in for convenience.

Instantly, dozens and dozens of needles suddenly pierced into my body from all around me. Mainly into major and minor muscle groups, my blood vessels and heart, and into my skeleton and bone marrow.

That last one really hurt. Really, really hurt.

My vision went white for a second and I really wished I'd found a way to include anesthetic into the process but as it was unless I wanted to be permanently numb after the serums, I couldn't risk it.

Didn't mean I didn't scream out in pain and regret when I felt the serum being pumped into my body like liquid magma mixed with the worst acid imagine. Corrosive acid or drug acid? Yes. Just yes.

I was kept still my cuffs that came up and locked me down to the metal table in the tube but that didn't stop me from convulsing. Luckily, the needles had deposited all the Spider-Oz Serum into me and had retracted back into their slots otherwise my spasming and convulsing would've broken them off inside of me. Urgh. Just imagining it is making this experience all the more painful.

I had to wait 10 more seconds before I could have both the serum ravaging inside of me activated fully and have the nutrient gel activated as well. Oh yeah, they're activated in the same way.

What way is that? Electricity, obviously.

But for the next few seconds, I had to feel the horrifying feeling of my cells being destroyed and turned to mush. So, uh, I'm in incredible amounts of pain and I'm now speaking to myself in my head. Is this what Deadpool went through or something? Worse? Probably. I really don't know. Kinda getting hard to think, honestly.

Seconds felt like hours before my 'salvation' arrived. Only that 'salvation' also caused a lot of fucking pain. The currents and arcs of electricity shot through the liquid, super-heating it and activating it before shooting into my body and making me go as tense as my muscles could.

I faintly saw the green liquid around me brighten before I felt like the pores on my body opened up and began to greedily suck in all the energy of the gel surrounding me.

Then everything went white. Then red. And then finally black.

All before I woke up.

"Jesus Christ...Karen, what...happened...Ah," I exclaimed softly as I found myself in what would probably be an arachnophobes worst nightmare. A cave, covered in web and--Ah, man-sized spiders.

Well. Isn't this just peachy?

Suddenly, from all around me, a voice boomed, [Hello...child...] each of the words it said came out with difficulty and an odd chittering that sounded nothing like lips making words. Which is when I realized the voice wasn't coming from all around me but rather, it was originating from inside my head.

"Uh, hey?" I answered while looking around - I was pretty sure I was being summoned by one of the Totems...but the question is, where are they?

I heard a dark chuckling harshly sounding off in my head before the voice spoke, [Above you...child...]

Feeling an odd amount of terror, I looked up and found myself frozen in instinctive horror.

I wasn't scared of spiders. Never seen the point in being scared of something that's so much smaller than me and weaker. Even venomous spiders aren't that scary because it's not like they go out of their way to bite humans.

But right now, I was feeling what I assumed every person with arachnophobia had to deal with.

A body so big it made skyscrapers look small in comparison, with eight legs the size of massive bridges spanning out from the thorax and embedding themselves in the web-covered rock surrounding it, holding up it's colossal body. It gave off a sense of power. Of utter, terrifying power. I felt like a fly trapped in a spider's web.

This thought caused the voice to chuckle again, [A surprisingly...apt...description,] it's voice came out in my head, accompanied by it's real voice's hiss and the slight clicking of it's mandibles tapping against one another, sounding more like metal clashing than anything biological in nature. [But, Peter...my child...do not think yourself...a fly. You...are...a spider, like all of us...here. I wish...to give you...an offer,] the difficulty of it speaking to me was obvious by the pauses it took but it seemed more like a limit to it's telepathy than it's actual understanding of English.

"An offer?" I questioned after a slightly comical sounding gulp, "Power and becoming your avatar, I assume?" I posed a second question, knowing that the Totem wouldn't kill me after bringing me here. Not unless I was incredibly disrespectful or dismissive of it.

And I had no such idea of doing something so stupid.

[Yessss...] his voice, even telepathically, came as a sort of hiss, [You are...unlike the Peter Parker of the...main Earth. You...look for more...powerrr. This is something...I need...in an Avatar...] the Totem spoke with a sort of respect that surprised me. I was sure they'd treat me as something inconsequential or useless. Once again reading my mind, it would seem, the Totem spoke, [Why...would I see...you as...useless? You would be...a worthy Avatar of...me. Such a thing...is hard...to come by...Power...greed...ruthlessness...these are traits that I too...possesssss...]

His voice ended with a rather evil chuckle and I let out an uneasy chuckle of my own, "You make us sound like the bad guys, you know?" I quipped, feeling a bit of that Peter Parker nervousness break through the cracks of my more usual dominant personality.

[Good...bad...neither matter,] the voice turned heavy as the Totem's gigantic legs began to release the rocky cavern they were embedded in, [Only...power...matters...!] it's voice picked up in intensity as one by one, it's gigantic legs slammed into the ground around me, shaking it like I was in the middle of a tumultuous earthquake. [Tell me...Peter Parker,] it put emphasis on my name, it's body lowering down to my level and truly showing off how big it was and how small I was in turn, [Do you...accept my...blessing?]

Holding down that instinctive fear with all my training and willpower, I stared up at the skyscraper-sized arachnid Totem. The totem stared back with eight blood red eyes.

We stared at one another for a few more seconds before I spoke, "...What does your blessing entail? What kind of benefits would I be getting from it?"

[You would be...empowered even further. Physically...mentally...you would also have access to my Dimension and it's energy...I believe this should be...enticing enough?] the Totem said, leaning in ever closer, giving me an even closer (and more uncomfortable) look at it's hairy mandibles.

But I kept my mind on track. Being empowered is already good enough. Especially mentally seeing as the Oz Serum would do that anyway. Plus the Totem's empowerment and I'd be even better off mentally. I'd assume the empowerment comes with a form of telepathy negation or just straight up telepathy itself as well...Good.

Yet it gets even better with the access to the Totem's Dimension and the energy inside it. If I learn how to harness this energy, I could become even more powerful.

...Welp, I guess I've gotta go and learn Sorcery from the Ancient One. I personally didn't want to because I was fine with having Spidey powers to start off with but if it helps me figure out and control this energy better, then I'll do it. More power to me, I guess. Literally.

"...I agree to accepting your blessing," I said with a somewhat fearless smile, emboldened by my experience with the Totem so far.

A deep laugh echoed through my head, accompanied by the rapid tapping of it's mandibles together, [Good...! Good! Then, Peter Parker,] it put emphasis on my name again, the two words booming in my head, [I welcome you as my new Avatar! The Avatar of the Other! The Webs next Warrior to defend it, is born!] the voice roared in time with the actual spider's roar-like hiss that shook and rumbled through the colossal cavern.

...The Other? Ah, well, I should've guessed. Gotta not make the mistakes the original Peter made in the comics - Don't regret my Spider side. Accept it. Otherwise the Other would be forced to act and nobody wants that.

Anyway, looking up at the Other, it's fangs fully showed themselves; thick, black and sharp beyond belief. They shook in tune before a speck was produced from either. One speck was black and the other red and once merged it looked oddly...like the Spider-Oz Serum.

"So that's why the Spider-Oz Serum was black and red? Figures," I muttered to myself but as you'd guess, I got a reply anyway.

Chuckling, the Other spoke, [A small amount...of meddling to make sure you...gained the empowerment...necessary for you to have been chosen to be my...Avatar. A...worthy expenditure of power...if I do say so...myself.]

The deep and heavy chuckling continued before finally the merged substance floated down in front of me. Looking at it, I figured that I'd made my bed and now had to sleep in it, so I looked up at the Other, "To a productive partnership and to a long one. Let us evolve or die together, Other," I gave a smile before bringing the venom to my mouth and drinking it. It was about the size of a basketball and it burned at it poured down my throat but that burning was nothing compared to the pain I felt when it reached my stomach.

But I didn't stop drinking and finished it all just in time to hear the Other speak up in a jovial tone that sounded odd with his deep and slow voice, [I knew...I would like you...Peter Parker...Yes...! Let us evolve or die...!] it shouted and roared once more, shaking the cavern and unsettling the surrounding spiders even more than the first one, [But...a friendly warning...if you will...Beware the other Totems...they have picked their Avatars...and New York will be the Kingdom...of which the battles to decide...the Apex...will take place...Show them the power...of the Spider, Peter Parker!]

It continued roaring, it's legs lifting up and down to stamp the ground in a rhythmic way that almost sounded like war drums being played.

And then the pain intensified a hundred fold and my vision went white. To red. And finally back to black again.