Chapter 22: Surprise, Motherf*cker! part 1

It's not hard to guess why Osborne is here — Connors' hand. After all, my antiserum that returned it to normal had no effect whatsoever on the arm that had already been restored. I mean, it's science, not magic! Even if Connors lost her ability to regenerate, her arm isn't going anywhere. *

Karen was obviously in no hurry to divulge this staggering fact, but she couldn't hide the information from OzCorp. In fact, it's not that Osborne was wrong about the situation. Regenerating a long-lost limb is an incredible breakthrough for medicine around the world. Not the "humanity without flaws" that Karen dreamed of, but still a world-class discovery. Except that Norma doesn't know about the side effects, or simply doesn't consider them important, which is quite in her spirit. Setting aside the memories of the Goblin's past world actions... at this point Norma Osborne is, by and large, not even to be blamed, except, of course, for her excessive impulsiveness. But she needs to be watched. If she's already used the Oz serum on herself... this woman is dangerous.

"And yet we're bad timing," Gwen observes.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I reply. "Professor Connors, sorry to come unannounced, we wanted to check on you, see if everything is all right."

We are finally spotted by the owners of the house. But Jack is the first to react to our appearance. As soon as he has recovered his senses and is on his feet, he turns to me and says:

"Who the hell are you? Wha..."

"Jack!" Karen shushes her husband. "This is Gwen and Peter! Gwen is my student and Peter is the one who saved my life. I told you about them!"

"Hey, I don't remember dressing up in a spandex suit and jumping on a spider web and flying to bring good and justice to the city!" I could feel Gwen's disgruntled look on my skin. I even thought she was about to be outraged out loud, but the girl held back.

Karen smiled at the edge of her lips, a rare gesture for her, and shook her head and objected:

"I know it was you who synthesized the cure. I'm afraid to imagine how it would have ended if it hadn't been for your intervention. Thank you, Peter. Besides, you shouldn't be so prejudiced against the Spiderwoman, you've cooperated with her yourself," Karen said in a mentoring tone.

I get thanked a lot around here... I'd get used to it. But then Jack, who had calmed down by this time, decided to save me from an awkward situation:

"Oh, yes, sorry for that little tantrum," the man said embarrassedly, "I'm a little nervous after all that happened. So much going on in just a couple of days. The breakdown in the lab, Karen going missing, then Spiderwoman and the whole unbelievable story, and now this..."

I won't point out to him that Karen's the one who's had most of the shit. And if anyone has a right to be nervous and throw tantrums, it's her.

Finally the exchange of pleasantries ended, and the Connors invited us to their house. I hadn't inquired about it beforehand, but there was absolutely no sign of anyone else in the house except Karen and Jack. Although the Connors' dwelling was clearly designed for a large family. That's not normal in this world, is it?

Jack made tea for everyone, after which we discussed what had happened with the professor at the dinner table. From her husband, Karen made no secrets about what had happened to her. Well, Gwen and I were already aware of the main events, especially since the basis for the experiment was my serum.

Judging by the woman's story, Venom's appearance in the lab made Gwen's task somewhat easier. After her encounter with the symbiote, the Reptile had more pressing concerns, and she was in no hurry to carry out her plan to turn the city's population into her own kind.

While Karen herself was happy to have her arm back, she was in a quandary: The woman deemed the serum too dangerous, with so many unpredictable side effects. But it's hard to explain that to someone like Osborne. And soon she has to go back to work and answer uncomfortable questions. And she's not even counting the attention of the secret service. I'm sure the Shield and Hydra agents will soon be interested in her case.

"Well, you can chalk it up to an accident," Gwen suggests. "You know... a mess in the lab got a bunch of drugs mixed up and stuff like that."

"A tepid story," I object, "no better than if she'd said she'd been bitten by a radioactive lizard."

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Gwen looked at me strangely, but refrained from commenting.

"Can't we do without the lies?" Jack asked. "Can't you explain the truth to people?"

"You saw Norma," Karen answers, sighing sadly. "If you tell everyone that I know the formula, the demand to make it public and continue the work will be inevitable."

"You can send the likes of Osborne, but sooner or later government officials will show up on your doorstep. Your serum has enormous potential as a weapon and as a cure. You see how much trouble Tony Stark has made for herself by refusing to give her technology to the government. If you don't want to find yourself in a similar situation or work for the secret service, convince everyone that you don't know the formula."

The woman chuckles.

"It's not that far from the truth. I'm not sure I can reconstruct from memory the data you brought in the first day, let alone the serum Gwen found," Karen perks up somewhat, "by the way, you never said where you got that sample."

Everyone looks at Stacy expectantly. The Connorses are curious about the truth, and I'm curious about what the girl has to say.

"Oh... that," the girl bluffs, trying to come up with a believable lie. "Well, it's better not to tell anybody about that. I was asked to find out what it is, Spiderwoman."

Having said that, Gwen lowers her head, only glancing from behind her blond bangs at those around her to see how the others took her lie.

"Wow," Jack asks with a gasp, "so you know Spiderwoman?"

From what I can see, it's the men who have made Spiderwoman especially popular for her appearances on TV shows. I can't blame them for that.

"Well, it's more accurate to say that she knows about me from somewhere," Gwen shrugged as indifferently as possible.

Soon we left the Connors' house, leaving the couple to discuss their future plans. Just one last thing, I asked Karen for a blood sample to make sure there were no side effects and that Reptile wasn't coming back. The woman didn't object, only demanded that I let her know right away if I found any reason for concern.

On the way back, I asked Gwen about Karen's husband, or rather, why they were living alone. It turned out that Jack was infertile. He didn't know it yet when he got married, but even when the truth came out, Karen didn't file for divorce and seek a better deal. Thus, a small but quite happy family came into the world. However, Connors' decision was undoubtedly influenced by the fact that she was disabled, and now she is healthy again... Jack, it turns out, has another reason to worry - Karen is young and wealthy enough to try to find a better match.

After convincing Gwen that there was no need to walk me home or call me a cab, I parted ways with Stacy. I could have sworn I heard the rustling of cobwebs a few seconds after she disappeared around the corner. How careless of her to waste a valuable limited resource. I hadn't given her any replacement cartridges, nor had I given her any formula for renewing her fluid supply! Perhaps I should expect another visit from the Spiderwoman in the near future.

Before I went to bed, I had to undergo an impromptu text interrogation. From her window, Mary Jane could see when I returned. Neighborhood with my girlfriend has, in addition to the positives, also negative aspects: you can't hide anything from her. I also warned her not to expect me in the morning. There are more important things to do than school.

Note:

*Peter's thoughts on Connors' arm regeneration are a disservice to the comic book writers, who somehow have Kurt's already regenerated limb fall off after the self-healing ability is lost. I have no idea how to explain this, except as a convenience for the writers.

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