Spider-Man: Black and Blue (AU) Chapter 4: Oscorp Field Trip

[Third Person's PoV] 


The students filed out of the school bus and gathered on the sidewalk in front of a towering skyscraper. Bold purple letters gleamed overhead, spelling out:


OSCORP


Damon tilted his head back to take in the scale of the building. It loomed above them, sleek and modern, humming with quiet energy. The class followed Mr. Warren up the front steps and through the massive glass doors into the main lobby.


The interior was just as impressive—high ceilings, polished floors, and state-of-the-art displays embedded in the walls. As the students looked around in awe, Mr. Warren made his way to the receptionist desk. A few moments later, he returned with a tray full of guest passes.


“Take one and pass them down,” Mr. Warren instructed. “Our tour guide will be here shortly. Please be mindful and respectful—some of what you learn today may show up on your next test.”


Damon took a pass and looped it around his neck, passing the tray down the line. As he adjusted the lanyard, a blonde man with a prosthetic arm approached the group, accompanied by two women in lab coats.


“Good morning, students,” the man greeted them. “I’m Dr. Curt Connors, head of the biological sciences division here at Oscorp. Beside me is my work partner and wife, Dr. Martha Connors.”


The ginger-haired woman gave a polite smile and nod. “Hello, everyone. It’s a pleasure to have you here.”


“And with us today,” Dr. Connors added, “is someone I’m sure most of you will recognize—Gwen Stacy. She began her internship with us not too long ago. Hopefully, having a familiar face around will make this tour a bit more comfortable.”


Heads turned in surprise as Gwen offered a small, slightly awkward wave. She wore her lab coat loosely over her clothes, the Oscorp badge clipped near her shoulder.


Damon blinked, caught completely off guard. Gwen met his gaze, and her faint smile grew when she saw his stunned expression.


“I won’t keep you waiting,” Dr. Connors continued. “Let’s begin our tour.”


As he turned and began walking down the corridor with the rest of the group following, Gwen slipped to the back and joined Damon and Richard.


“You didn’t tell me you had an internship here,” Damon said, eyebrows raised. “Oscorp, of all places?”


“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Gwen replied with a grin.


“How’d you even get the gig?” Richard asked, still surprised.


“Thanks to a recommendation from Mr. Warren,” Gwen said proudly, glancing at their teacher walking up ahead.


“Well, I’m not shocked,” Damon said, nodding in approval. “Only someone with your brain could land an internship here.”


Gwen’s cheeks flushed with a faint pink, and she looked away with a smile. Richard gave Damon a side glance and rolled his eyes.


“Please,” he muttered, “get a room.”


Damon elbowed him lightly in the ribs.


The group followed Dr. Connors and his team through the gleaming corridors of Oscorp. Everywhere they looked, there was cutting-edge technology on display behind transparent walls—robotics labs, gene-editing stations, holographic research projections, and even small drone testing arenas.


“This floor houses some of our applied sciences and engineering departments,” Dr. Connors explained. “Oscorp is constantly innovating in areas like prosthetics, energy solutions, and bioengineering.”


“Some of this stuff looks like it came straight out of a sci-fi movie,” Richard whispered to Damon, wide-eyed as they passed a drone that reassembled itself midair after being damaged.


Gwen walked beside them, clearly familiar with the layout and personnel. “Most of this is real-world application research. They’re not just inventing things for the sake of it—everything here is designed to solve a real problem.”


Dr. Martha Connors added, “We encourage interdisciplinary work. Many of our departments share data freely, leading to remarkable collaborations.”


The tour paused at a large reinforced door marked “RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT - AUTHORIZED ACCESS ONLY.” After a brief scan of Dr. Connors' ID, the door slid open with a soft hiss.


Inside, the room buzzed with mechanical whirring. Sleek arms, shaped like tentacles, moved fluidly over a workbench. Their movements were precise and calculated, lifting heavy metal plates and delicately soldering intricate circuits all at once.


At the center of it all stood a broad-shouldered man with short, slightly messy dark hair and round-tinted goggles. He was entirely focused on his work—adjusting a small energy core being slotted into a mechanical limb.


“Students,” Dr. Connors announced, “I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Otto Octavius, head of Oscorp’s R&D division.”


Dr. Octavius looked up at the mention of his name. He gave a brief nod and pushed his goggles up onto his forehead.


“I trust you’re not just here to gawk,” he said with a dry smirk. “This is the heart of Oscorp’s innovation. The arms you see here—my ‘tentacles,’ as people like to call them—are part of a neural-linked exosuit project. Designed to extend human precision and strength far beyond natural limits.”


One of the mechanical limbs reached out to gently shake hands with Mr. Warren, prompting a few laughs and startled reactions.


“Neural-linked?” Richard echoed. “So… you control them with your mind?”


“Exactly,” Dr. Octavius said with pride. “Once calibrated, they become an extension of your body. Faster, stronger, and steadier than human hands could ever be.”


“Why not just make robots that do it for you?” Richard asked curiously.


“Because we should still be the ones building the future,” Otto said sharply. “These arms don't replace human ingenuity—they empower it.”


The group was both impressed and slightly uneasy as the tentacles retracted. Dr. Connors thanked Otto for the demonstration, and the tour continued.



---


Later…


The group reached the final corridor. Dr. Connors stopped in front of a sealed glass chamber, dimly lit with green-tinted lights. Inside were rows of glass containers stacked in neat lines. Within each, small spiders crawled over web structures and artificial branches.


“This is one of our more sensitive research areas,” Dr. Connors said. “What you’re seeing are genetically modified spiders—we’ve been exploring gene editing for increased silk production, regenerative healing properties, and enhanced neuromuscular strength.”


Damon leaned closer to the glass, watching a particular red-and-black spider skitter rapidly across its web with unnatural speed.


“Why spiders?” Liz asked, cringing as she took a step back.


“Spiders are one of nature’s most efficient engineers,” Gwen explained. “Their silk is stronger than steel by weight, and their unique biology gives us a great model for genetic adaptability.”


“They’ve even experimented with cross-species genetics,” Dr. Martha Connors added carefully. “Some of these specimens are spliced with other arthropod traits for research purposes.”


“That sounds safe…” Richard muttered sarcastically.


As the students took notes and peered into the tanks, Damon’s attention lingered on a particular glass case near the end—empty.


He blinked. “Hey… was something supposed to be in that one?”


Gwen followed his gaze. A slight frown crossed her face. “Huh… there was. That one's usually reserved for Specimen 42. Maybe they’re running tests on it right now.”


Dr. Connors glanced over but said nothing.


Mr. Warren clapped his hands, “Alright everyone, let’s wrap it up. We’ve got ten minutes before we need to be back on the bus.”


As the class began to shuffle out, Damon lingered for one last look at the spider tanks. From the ceiling a single thread lowered itself down on it was a black and blue spider. The spider released the thread and landed right inside Damon’s hood