While Clark was still lost in thought, Norman kept right on talking.
There was obvious pride and enthusiasm in his voice. This was Norman Osborn before the Green Goblin, still a capable businessman, a serious scientist, and even, in his own way, a decent father.
"Every single one in here is a one-of-a-kind biological miracle..."
Peter and Cindy were completely captivated by now. Both of them had practically pressed themselves up against the enclosure.
"Incredible..." Peter murmured, eyes fixed entirely on the simulated rainforest habitat.
"Look at that one..." Cindy said too, pointing at one of the marked spiders.
Harry stood off to the side, already bored by his father's familiar speech. What interested him more was watching his new friends.
He saw Peter and Cindy's near-fanatical excitement.
He saw the admiration in Mary Jane's eyes as she watched Peter when he got like this, fully focused and glowing with enthusiasm.
And he also saw...
the silent disaster zone behind him.
Felicia really was like a cat, all fluid movement and no bones. Once again, she slipped up close to Clark without making a sound.
Her attention was barely on the spiders at all. This kind of thing was not really her style. If the display had been diamonds or stacks of cash, maybe she would have cared.
But with Clark right here, she had no interest in the exhibit.
Teasing an innocent big guy was much more fun.
Her lips were so close to his ear they nearly brushed it. Her breath alone was enough to make Clark's face go red, every hair on his body standing on end as he recoiled.
This was scarier than criminals.
"Clark," she murmured, voice full of lazy temptation, her hand drifting toward his arm, "if a person got bitten by one of these, do you think they'd end up strong like you...?"
"Uh... upperclassman, maybe we should keep a little personal space here. We're not exactly at that stage yet." Clark instantly sidestepped, trying to put some distance between them.
But the moment he moved away, another force yanked him right back.
Gwen wore a sweet smile, but there was lightning in her eyes. She forcefully wedged herself between Clark and Felicia.
"Felicia, Mr. Osborn is still explaining things. We should really be paying attention, shouldn't we?" Gwen's tone was flawlessly polite, but the edge in her words was sharp enough for everyone to hear.
There was so much jealousy in the air that even Harry could practically smell it.
Caught between them, Clark felt his temples pounding.
This was unbearable.
It gave him more of a headache than listening to the whole world at once.
His senses were far sharper than anyone else's in the room. So in this lab, beneath Norman's voice, the breathing and heartbeats of the people around him, and the invisible sparks flying between the two girls, he heard something else.
Above them.
Inside the ventilation shaft.
It was a faint sound. Clark glanced up instinctively, but the lead-lined ceiling blocked his vision. He saw nothing and did not think much of it.
Probably just something loose.
Then Cindy, who had been watching seriously the whole time, suddenly raised her hand and interrupted Norman.
"Mr. Osborn, I have a question." Cindy looked genuinely puzzled. "You said there were fifteen spiders total, right? But I counted several times, and there are only thirteen in the enclosure."
That shut everyone up instantly.
The air went dead silent.
Norman looked like he was about to count them himself, and then he did.
She was right.
Two were missing.
His face darkened on the spot, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop with it.
He immediately grabbed the intercom. "Security, lock down Test Sector Seven immediately. Then begin a full lab-wide life-sign scan. I want those spiders found now."
But it was already too late.
At the exact same moment Norman gave the order, Clark had already found the two missing spiders.
The vent cover had loosened where the screws had slipped, leaving a narrow gap.
No one else understood what was happening.
Clark did.
For him, any disaster that had not fully happened yet was still something that could be stopped.
In that instant, time stretched.
Like the speedsters from the comics, he could see every tiny detail with perfect clarity.
The two spiders were falling.
The first one was the very spider Peter had been staring at most intently a moment ago, the one with the vivid red-and-blue markings across its back.
Its landing point was frighteningly precise, almost as if it had been calculated.
It dropped straight onto the back of Peter's raised hand, the hand he had just lifted to jot down notes.
"Ah!"
Pain shot through Peter's nerves instantly. He did not even see what had hurt him before he flung his hand away on reflex.
The spider went flying, tracing a perfect arc through the air toward Cindy.
Clark watched it the whole time.
He could have crossed the room in an instant and crushed it to dust between his fingers.
But he did not move.
A single thought surfaced in his mind, while the little angel and devil in his head started beating each other senseless over it.
The angel's view was simple: Clark alone could protect everyone. There was no need to create more superheroes. He could still stop all of this.
The devil's view was different: this world was too dangerous. There were hidden organizations everywhere, aliens might one day arrive, and closer at hand there was Kingpin in New York, a criminal who acted without restraint. Clark could not protect everyone forever.
This was a risk.
But it was also... an opportunity.
He could not make choices for other people.
But he did not want to interfere either.
This time, the devil won outright, standing over the flattened angel and laughing wildly.
By the time Clark finished thinking it through, the spider had already reached Cindy.
She had turned toward Peter in alarm at his cry, completely unaware of the danger.
The spider landed on her ankle and, without hesitation, bit down.
Peter had not even finished yelling before Cindy cried out too.
At the same time, the second spider, white with black striping, had originally been falling toward Felicia beside Clark.
But fate had a sense of humor.
The moment Gwen saw Felicia using the confusion as an excuse to press closer to Clark again, she instinctively shoved her way over and shoulder-checked Felicia aside.
"Watch it!" Felicia stumbled a step and shot her an annoyed glare.
But Gwen did not even have time to answer.
Because she was bitten too.
The spider sank its fangs into the back of Gwen's neck.
"Hss!" Gwen gasped as pain lanced through her.
In less than three seconds, the whole group had dissolved into total chaos.
Only then, after confirming that all three had been bitten, did Clark finally "react."
He could not let those dangerous things bite Harry or Mary Jane too.
"Watch out!"
But before he could move, Felicia beat him to it.
She snatched up the spider and dropped it neatly back into a specimen container.
Then she turned and winked at Clark, looking almost playfully pleased with herself.