Chapter 22: 22 Accelerated Plans Part Two

The taxi dropped me off at home and I ran up the stairwell, using my powers liberally, and made it to my floor a heck of a lot quicker than the elevator could have. It let me burn off some of my energy and I relaxed when I entered the apartment. I went right up to my room and quickly took out all of the reworked parts I had and added the ones I didn't have to change that I had made before.

I used the mechanical tools I previously made and assembled the two large watch straps that were the bases of my web shooters. I added the springs and pins to each connecting piece that would let them expand slightly and not pinch, and they all slotted together perfectly. I didn't need to use the magnifying glass stand or the padded alligator clips to hold the pieces together, and did so anyway.

I didn't want to make a mistake at this point. I didn't have a whole week to wait before I could have normal access to the mechanical lab again. The tiny hammer was a godsend as well, because it let me lightly tap in the pins without stressing them or damaging the tiny holes they had to fit through.

When I had both inner straps completed, I sat back on my little chair and admired my handiwork. The heavily modified constructed watch straps were four inches long and wide enough to fit around my wrist. Each attached center piece was an inch wide and three and a half inches long, with a snapping slot inside each for a pre-made pressurized pneumatic canister that could be filled with anything.

I took out my old backpack that was filled with web fluid and the two dozen of the small pneumatic canisters I had appropriated from the robotics lab, filled each using a small funnel and screwed on the tiny regulator cap on each. I turned on the stripped down laptop and put it into 'stupid' mode with nothing preloaded, and plugged in the USB from the robotics lab with the competition programs and designs on it.

I copied the smallest pneumatic control file and opened it, stripped out most of the superfluous programming, and then added in the proper pressure gauge settings, the control nozzle settings for changing the spray aperture depending on the pressure I applied to the pressure sensor, and then the monitoring protocols for the small canisters.

Once I had that set up properly, I plugged the pneumatic control module into it and loaded it up. When it beeped at me, I picked up the first wrist band and attached the metal ring that would act like a rotating cylinder, so I didn't have to change cartridges all the damn time.

As soon as a pressurized canister was down to under ten percent capacity, the control program would automatically rotate a new cartridge into place and there would be no interruption in web fluid being supplied. I distinctly remembered that being a constant problem for Spider-Man and I was not going to suffer the same thing.

I unplugged the web shooter from the laptop and slipped it over my hand to put it on my right wrist. It easily expanded and fit over my hand and then contracted to be tight on my wrist. It took several adjustments with a few of the small tools to get the pressure sensor in the right position and to line up the puncture mechanism with the control valve.

Once I had that done, I checked the pressure values on each small canister and then hooked up the air compressor. I set it up properly and put on the first web cartridge. It only took ten seconds to pressurize it and the compressor turned off. My spider-sense didn't activate, so I knew it was safe and snapped it into the middle spot on my web shooter.

The release valve was aligned with the control valve and puncture mechanism, so I took a single deep breath, held it, and aimed for the bare wall by the bedroom door. I pressed the pressure sensor on my palm...

*PLLLLPPPFFFF!*

The entire contents of the web cartridge blew out all at once in a massive cloud and covered the entire wall. My spider-sense hadn't gone off to warn me of danger, either. I stared at my wrist in confusion as the web shooter ring rotated and put the next slot in place, which was empty.

“What the hell was that?” I asked myself out loud.

I shook my head at the thing and went over everything, step by step. It wasn't until I went into the pneumatic control program and looked at the control valve's settings that I saw the problem. I had added commas and not semi-colons between the various pressure settings, so the dumbed-down program assumed that all of the numbers combined were the single setting to release the web fluid with.

I laughed at the simple mistake and fixed it, loaded another cartridge with the air compressor to the right internal pressure, and attached it to the empty slot. “Let's try that again.” I said and aimed at the wall... and laughed again, because it was covered with webbing and I didn't have anywhere to aim to observe the stream or how it would impact the wall.

I had to lay on the floor and I aimed up at the ceiling, because there were no other bare walls for me to practice on, not for another hour, anyway. I took aim at the bare ceiling and pushed the pressure sensor on my palm.

*THHHWIP!*

The thin stream of fluid shot up to the ceiling almost instantly and I cut the flow as soon as the end hit the ceiling. It had spread out and gained purchase, possibly enough for me to climb. The problem was, did it only stick to the paint on the ceiling or did it successfully bond to the material the paint was on?

I did not pull on the thing to help me stand, because that would have been stupid to try. I grabbed a few things and tools to examine the webbing and carefully walked up the wall and checked where the webbing was stuck. I scraped some of it up, careful to not disturb the main attachment, and then I poked and prodded the thing.

It seemed solid enough, so I dropped to the floor and checked the webbing I had scraped off the ceiling by putting it under the microscope from my old chemistry set. I compared the images to my notes of how the fluid would react after being under pressure and being released. It created the proper conditions with the air mixing in and solidified the chemical re-bonding process. I sat back in my chair and smiled.

It worked. It actually worked.

I chuckled and looked over at the wall. I was pretty tempted to mix up a dissolving solution for it, considering I knew exactly what bonded the thing together to make the webbing, and shrugged. Making something that was superfluous was a waste of time, because I had much more important things to do.

I prepped the rest of the web cartridges and attached six of each to both web shooters, which filled most of the available slots. There were four left and I had plans for those. I would need to make that blind drop order first, however. There were a few things they had that were going to be quite useful to me.

I turned the web shooter half a degree and it clicked in place, and I folded the pressure sensor down into it, so no one would see it when it wasn't in use. If I wore a shirt, no one would notice I had anything on my wrists.

I took them off and they collapsed like a real watch strap would without anything inside to hold the circular shape, which made it very easy to tuck them into my work backpack with my safety equipment and I hid the laptop under my pillow. Formatting the hard drive would have to wait, because I had supper to make for May and then I had to go to work.

I smiled as I went downstairs to the kitchen and thought about what Adrian was going to say about what Liz tried to do today, especially since he had vetted me himself. If he approved of me and my motivations, what did she have to worry about? She knew I broke things off with Isabelle. Whatever she and her friends thought they were doing, it might bite Liz on the ass when her father found out.

Perhaps a bit of a show tonight for him to watch? I asked myself and chuckled as I prepared an appropriate scene in my head and gathered the ingredients I would need to make a nice macaroni casserole with a side of creamy potato salad.

*

Adrian sat at his computer and stared as he watched his newest part-time crew member completely tear apart the large chunks of concrete from the floor that the guys had left off to the sides to work on the main supporting walls.

“Addy? Why are you still... oh, sweet Jesus.” Doris whispered as she looked over her husband's shoulder. “That boy looks frustrated.”

Adrian didn't say anything as Ben finally stopped and put down the sledgehammer before he dropped to his knees. He looked a little lost and he was breathing heavily as sweat poured off of him after that workout.

“Do you know what happened?” Adrian asked her and skipped forward to see Ben devour his late lunch and then watched as he worked twice as hard as he normally did to clear out the entire floor.

Doris thought about not saying anything, then her husband turned to give her a pointed look. “Liz and her friends may have taken some ideas from you and the crew as they... tested a new crew member.”

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Adrian closed his eyes and rubbed a hand over his face. “You're being awfully delicate in your description. What actually happened?”

Doris sighed. “They got it into their heads that now Ben and Liz were starting to date officially, they needed to test his loyalty and devotion.”

Adrian just groaned and kept rubbing his face. “There's testing and then there's testing. Please tell me they didn't take it too far.”

“It's worse than going too far, I think.” Doris said and put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Ben caught them at the ruse before it went farther than Val confronting him about if he liked her or not.”

“What did he say?” Adrian asked before he could stop himself. He really didn't want to know what Ben might have said to his daughter in anger.

“He said, and I quote... there was only one answer to give. Screw you.”

Adrian groaned again. “Damn. Damn, damn, damn.”

“Honey, I'm sure it's going to be fine.” Doris said. “They're young and stupid, even though they go to a smart kid school. He'll forgive her for trying to trick him. She just wanted to see if he would be loyal.”

Adrian stopped rubbing her face and gave her a sad look. “Ben's not that stupid.”

“Wh-what?” Doris asked, surprised.

“I'm friends with the janitorial staff after I helped clean up after the state football game last year. We actually filled the back of one of the dump trucks with trash.” Adrian said.

“That's your secret source of information at Midtown High?”

Adrian chuckled. “I know a lot that's going on there, especially the gossip.”

“Oh.” Doris said and turned away slightly as she realized what he meant. “Oh, dear.”

“Ben said that she was his first serious girlfriend, which meant he had not-serious ones that he gave up.” Adrian said and his wife sighed again. “How do you think it makes him feel when the first thing they do is try to get him to cheat on the daughter of his boss?”

Doris turned back to watch the footage on the screen. “What are you going to do?”

Adrian sighed this time and turned off the laptop. “I'm going to sincerely hope that he doesn't decide to quit over this.”

Doris gasped and stared at his face.

“He's been a bigger help to me than you realize.” Adrian said. “The guys on the crew are actually enjoying themselves, because they don't have to worry about the time consuming clean-up. They just have to tear things down, which is a lot of fun, and Ben has the place practically spotless the next day.”

“I... maybe I should talk to Liz and...”

Adrian shook his head. “This is her mess. If she can clean it up herself, great. If they break up, I won't hold it against Ben, even though it will hurt Liz.”

Doris opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and nodded. The two of them went to bed and neither of them felt even a little bit frisky. They went to sleep with teenage problems on their minds, even though it had been almost two decades since they had been in high school themselves.

*

“Adhesion and distance test three.” I said out loud, for no reason, and shot a webline across the abandoned building's basement and it hit the far wall. I had to arc the shot slightly, even with the excessive pressure that the web canister had. I would need to adjust my aim for both gravity and air resistance, even if I was up higher and shooting downwards.

I grabbed the end of the web before it slipped past my hand and tugged on it. It was a solid hold and I applied more tension as I pulled. It stayed and stretched out by almost 30 percent. It didn't break, though. I nodded and wrote down the results and went over to the wall where there were six other much shorter weblines attached.

The latest one had a much larger splash area and I would need to adjust the calculations for web fluid consumption when used at a significant distance. It also worked through paint, which was a huge relief. I wouldn't want to be swinging anywhere or trying to stop something from falling, then have the web pull off part of a coating of paint instead.

I finished recording the numbers and slight adjustments that the formula could use, both to enhance the strength and stretch ability of a webline. They weren't necessary at the moment, though. The current formula was working well and held up just fine.

I ended the experiments and crawled up the elevator shaft to leave the building. I reached the 'top' and realized I couldn't really use the building for experiments anymore. Once another floor or two were taken down, it would barely hide any of my movements or stop anyone nearby from seeing me leaving.

I held in my sigh at losing a great hiding place and hopped over to the next building and climbed up instead of down. I wasn't going to try webswinging yet, though. I wasn't dressed for it and I also had my backpack with the safety gear inside. The extra weight wouldn't matter, it was the danger of damaging it that I didn't want to chance. I would wait until I made that special order.

That reminded me I needed to hunt down a cell phone from somewhere, so I hopped from one building's roof to the next and started running. I felt a bit free as I hopped over vents and leapt from rooftop to rooftop. I let my senses guide me and I picked up the pace. I wasn't surprised that I made better time than the bus route as I approached the area near several outdoor cafes and bars.

I slowed down and crept along the building's edge and peered over the side to see a crowd talking and drinking not far below. It looked like a lot of fun was being had and I had to smile at that. The more fun they had, the less attention they paid to their tables and the things on them. I used my enhanced eyesight to quickly pick out six cell phones on various tables and each was within easy webline range.

I couldn't just snag it from across the street, though. There were too many people with sightlines scattered all over the area. So, it meant going incognito. Or in my case, a tired construction worker that was late going home.

I crawled back across the roof and down the back side of the building to the alley there, took off my dark outer clothes, and put on the safety strap harness and hung the breath mask around my neck. I left off the hat, because someone would probably take it as a joke and I didn't want to cause a bigger scene than I was about to.

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