Tarantula (Spider-Man)

The Girl Falls From the Sky

   “Well, here it is.” Mr. Osborn presents, gesturing to a wall.

Valerie looks over, and only sees an ordinary wall until a small compartment in the wall opens up and a cylindrical pod slides out from it, containing a red and yellow suit, complete with the black finishing Hayden mentioned.

“Wow…” she awed, placing her hands against the glass casing.

“And it comes with a compact storage unit.” he presses a button on his desk and the suit jolts to life, packing itself into a thin metal case.

The glass covering opens, and Valerie picks up the case, finding it much lighter than anticipated. She slides it into her bag with her sweatshirt, “Mr. Osborn, thank you so much for this but, why are you giving this to me?”

He pauses, holding his hands in his lap, his eyes glossy and having much less energy than usual, “While my main pursuit has always been for finding a cure for myself, or at the very least prolonging my lifespan, I’ve realized in recent days I must also look ahead, for the future.” he cues up a couple of keys on his computer, before a hologram appears in the middle of the room, “Do you see this? It’s a security camera of a secret Oscorp weapons storage. I’ve been collecting these through the years. In some form, they were all meant to save my life, but when they failed they had to be put to some kind of use. So they were weaponized, but I could never find anyone right to harness them, and I certainly couldn’t sell them. And now, I add the final piece to my collection.”

With the press of a button, he pans to an empty display case, “This is where the final product will rest when it’s finished. I’ve sent the specific measurements to your partner Mr. Gull. This suit, with the combination of the built-in life support system, will save many lives.”

“Yes, yes it will.” Valerie smiles, before realizing, “Hang on...if you intend on using the suit, why are you keeping it in storage?”

Mr. Osborn chuckles, “...it’s not for me. The suit can’t support someone so far gone. Besides, my time is done, I’m sick of the constant attempts. Ever since my late teens, endless experimental drugs, surgeries, the works. I spent so much time trying to save my life I never got to enjoy it. But now, he’ll never have to experience that.”

“...he?”

“My son.” he explains, “My disease is genetic, and as soon as he begins seeing symptoms, I’ll give him access to this suit. He’ll have a full life then, free of early death or the chains of endless experiments.”

She sees him begin to droop in his chair, “Well, thank you for sharing this with me Mr. Osborn, I’m honored to be given this-”

Suddenly, VP Menken and Felicia enter, “Ms. Osborn, your vitals are dropping.”

“It’s okay fellas. I, I was just getting a little excited.” he grins, laughing a little.

“Normie, are you okay?” Felicia coos, rushing to kneel at his side and moving his hair out of his face, “Do you need anything?”

Normie? It’s a rather affectionate name to use for your boss.

“I’m fine Felicia. I was just talking to Valerie here. Could you see her out?”

She gets up and stares at Valerie, her friendly visage faltering for just a second, “I’d love to Normie.”

Valerie begins walking to the door even before Felicia forcefully pushes her the rest of the way, her singular hand being much stronger than Valerie expected,

“On a first name basis with Mr. Osborn, are we?” she questions accusingly.

“I didn’t realize you referred to Mr. Osborn as ‘Normie’.”