BULLSEYE - Kate Bishop

4. Word on the Street

WAKING UP the next morning, Richie groaned as his eyes fluttered open. He assumed that last night was all just a dream, and today he would be back to his lame, quiet, weak self. Except, when he did a whole body stretch Rich noticed the fullness of his forearms, and the definition of his quads. This was real. He had changed.

"Good morning, you two. It's actually quarter after 7, i've let you guys sleep in. Up! Up! Lets go!" May had opened the door and tried to usher Peter and Richie out of bed. She was still totally baffled from what had happened last night, but she figured Richie had been a test dummie at Oscorp, and was now seeing the results.

"We'll be up... thanks Aunt May." Peter spoke groggily, rising into a sitting position on his bunk.

"Better be." She nodded, directing her comment at Richie before closing the door. He didn't realize she has closed it, but luckily she did because Rich sent her a wave of dismissal which made something extract out of himself. Looking up with a face of confusion, both Parker Brothers looked at the door handle that seemed to have a newly spawned spider-web on it. Except this looked way thicker and sturdier than a normal one, considering it was tightly strung against the knob.

"Did that just come out of you?" Peter asked, not taking his eyes off of the web.

"Uh.. I hate to say it, but I think so.." Richie looked at his hand, to see no alterations. Flipping to his wrist, a small white patch that looked similar to the web on the door covered the usual vein that would be seen. What the hell was in that spider?

"Did I miss something yesterday? I mean, you get this crazy body transformation and now you're shooting stuff out of you?"

"I don't know how or why, and I don't know how to do it again. Please, Pete whatever you do, Don't tell Aunt May." Richie jumped down from his bunk, making his downstairs neighbors hit their ceiling with a broom. "Sorry, Eugene!"

"Okay, dude, did you start taking steroids or something? Y'know, I heard they actually shrink your peni-" Peter rambled, chuckling at his own fact.

"Peter! I'm not taking anything! Okay- I didn't think it was a big deal, but I got bit by one of those super-spider things." Rich sighed, taking out a long sleeve shirt for himself out of his dresser.

"Richie!" Pete exclaimed, standing up as his brother shushed him. "Do you know what could happen? No wonder your body is changing. Their attributes could mutate a gorilla it's so strong. If you're shooting webs like a spider.." Peter drew out in thought. "Then you're a successful test of cross species genetics!"

"Okay. That's great," Richie slipped the shirt over his head. "But what am I supposed to do? I can't tell Dr. Connors this happened, it was an accident. What if they turn me into a lab rat?"

"They're not.. okay they might run some tests, but it would be ground-breaking for the world of science! You gotta tell someone."

"I told you." Shrugged Richie, who opened their bedroom door. "And if you tell anyone, especially May, i'll kill you." He turned around to see just the person Peter was supposed to tell looking at him expectantly.

"Tell me what?"

"Uh- nothing!" Richie exclaimed, causing his voice to crack slightly. "I just- I was.. doing boy things.." Rich chuckled nervously, slipping past her to get into the bathroom. May just gave Peter a weird look.

"Is he acting weird, or is it just me?"

"He's always weird, Aunt May."

•••

The parker twins took the same route to school every day. And evidently, right now they were walking up the stairs to the school parking lot. To their left, a very expensive car, a Royale blue Audi to be specific, had pulled up a few feet away from them. Richie's eyes widened when he recognized that Kate was sitting in the passenger seat, next to someone he could only guess was her mom.