Chapter Four: Shifting
The morning light spilling through the half-closed blinds, the smell of bacon filling the air, and a strange sound from the family bathroom combined forced Benji's eyes to drift open. Pulling into a great big stretch, he yawned widely before dropping to the ground, his feet barely making any noise as he did so.
He yawned again as he tiredly pulled his clothes off, grimacing at the sheer amount of sweat soaked them. Benji scratched his head, slowly waking up as he remembered the events of last night.
Blinking the final bit of sleep from his eyes, he webbed the outfit he had prepared for today off of his dresser, starting to put them on before he suddenly paused.
Immediately, he took in his situation again now that he had the clarity of mind to do so, and what he found made no sense at all. Standing there, one foot in the air about to put a sock on, his other was firmly planted on the wall...
He was standing on the wall.
"...What. The. Fuck?!"
A soft knocking from his door caught his attention, Aunt May's voice sounding out as the door started to open. Filled with panic, the world seemed to slow down as Benji's mind spun rapidly.
I have two options: Block the door and prevent her from entering, or try to hide on the ceiling. If I try to act normal, she'll see me drop at a weird angle, and I'm not as good at coming up with stories as Pete... He made his decision.
One moment he was on the opposite wall, beside his bed, and the next he was in front of the door, fingertips lightly pressing onto the door, blocking its progress.
"Benji? What's blocking the door?" In her confusion, May thought that whatever was blocking the door was too solid and unforgiving to be Benji, deciding he'd accidentally blocked the door with one of his projects.
Letting his anxiety show in his voice to sound genuine, Benji explained himself. "Sorry, Aunt May, I was getting dressed."
"O-Oh, it's all right. I just wanted to tell you breakfast is ready."
Benji let out an imperceptible sigh. "Thanks, I'll be out after a quick shower."
"Good. You boys should look as presentable as possible for your Stark Internships," she said happily before closing the door.
Sighing again, Benji, while gathering what he needed for his shower and taking off the one sock he'd managed to put on, mentally went through everything that had happened to him.
Wall climbing, superhuman agility, some strange webs from my wrist... He thought, looking at the small holes in each of his wrists. ...Is this a result of the spider bite?
The bathroom filled with steam as Benji stepped into it, though he did manage to see the new cracks around the edge of the sink, and the outline of freshly wiped toothpaste on the mirror. "Seems Peter was bitten too, and had similar problems upon waking," he mumbled to himself.
Eventually, when he reemerged from the shower now fully dressed and ready for work, he had a plan in motion: speak with Peter, and experiment with every little facet of these abilities.
The subway ride into Manhattan was quiet. Peter scrolled through articles on his phone while Benji stared out the window, watching the city blur past.
"You feel... off?" Peter finally asked, his voice low.
Benji didn't look away. "I feel alive. You?"
Peter gave a tight nod. "Same. We'll talk more after. Just—act normal."
They exited onto the busy sidewalk, blending into the sea of morning commuters, and soon enough stood at the base of Stark Tower. Sleek, looming, and humming faintly with energy, the building stood like a monument to progress.
Benji exhaled, steadying himself. "Here we go."
Inside, after signing in and being given temporary intern badges, they were separated. Peter headed to the bio-lab floors while Benji was led deeper into the R&D engineering sector. For the first time all morning, the twins didn't share a glance—they had their own paths to follow.
Peter's lab was sterile, quiet, and filled with the hum of high-tech equipment. A lead researcher named Dr. Connors greeted him with a clipped smile and a handshake that lingered just a second too long.
"You're the Parker kid with an eye for molecular biology, right?"
Peter gave a sheepish grin. "That's the one."
"Good. We're doing some comparative DNA sequencing today—see how fast you can catch on."
Peter did more than catch on. In minutes, he was navigating the systems like he'd built them, identifying patterns and even suggesting a more efficient sequence to isolate a protein marker.
Dr. Connors raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
Meanwhile, something under Peter's skin itched. His vision would occasionally zoom in unnaturally, and once he caught the scent of metal from across the lab.
He didn't mention it.
Benji, on the other hand, was in heaven.
The engineering floor buzzed with the sound of prototypes being tested, holograms flickering, and AI diagnostics chirping. His assigned supervisor, a tech designer named Tessa, handed him a control pad.
"Think you can calibrate this drone's flight system?"
Benji didn't just calibrate it. He rewrote the entire guidance algorithm in under an hour, bypassing three redundancies and boosting its reactivity tenfold.
Tessa leaned over his shoulder. "You've done this before?"
Benji smiled faintly. "Not exactly. I'm just... good at puzzles."
Later, while helping align a mechanical arm, Benji accidentally brushed a live wire. There was a pop of electricity—but no pain. No damage. Just a pulse of energy up his arm that left his fingertips tingling.
He pocketed that detail.
By late afternoon, the twins regrouped in the building's lobby. They didn't speak at first.
But eventually, Peter broke the silence. "...Strength?"
Benji nodded. "Among other things. We need to see what's happening to us."
A grin grew across Peter's face as an idea came to him. "I think I know just the place!"