Symbiotic Boots, Part 2: Boot Information Acquired

Symbiotic Boots
Part 2: Boot Information Acquired
by Boofka

The symbiote flew through the air duct, latching on its metal surrounding as fast as it could, with only one thought on its mind: freedom. The problem was it couldn't tell which exit was the right one. It traveled further and further down the vent, but couldn't see a way out. However, it did eventually come upon a deserted office in the Oscorp building. And best of all, it was facing a window.

The symbiote dropped down, and moved slowly towards the window. It pressed itself against the slightest crack in the window, and after some time, it was completely outside the Oscorp building, sticking to the window, and 80 stories up.

Slowly but surely, in the dead of night in Manhattan, it made it's way down the building. When it reached the bottom, it positioned itself in a alleyway next to the Oscorp building. It hid behind a trash dumpster, and began to contemplate its next move.

Several hours later...

The rain had started early that morning in New York. As it peaked out from behind the dumpster, the symbiote could see the regular rush of people in the city, particularly next to the bustling Oscorp building. Most people had an umbrella, or at the very least, either a poncho or a raincoat. The symbiote noticed many girls in their late teens or 20s were wearing rubber rain boots. It was then that the symbiote knew what it had to do.

The symbiote then moved to a manhole cover, and allowed itself to form on the other side. It slowly creeped on the top of the sewer, allowing it to position itself in an ideal point to begin its plan.

It seeped through the top of the manhole, and it was in the middle of busy sidewalk across from the Oscorp building.

It took a look around when it saw what it wanted. A girl of about 17, wearing rain boots.

***

Mandy was walking in front of her mom. She was dressed in a pink rain coat, and a pair of Hunter Gloss rain boots, which were pink, to match. She didn't even notice stepping on a black tar-like substance that began to stick themselves to the bottom of her boot.

Mandy looked behind her, and saw her mom motioning her to come back. Sighing, Mandy walked towards her mom.

***
The symbiote was on the bottom of Mandy's left boot, and was gathering all the information it could on it. The texture, the material it was made out of, how Mandy's foot fit in it. It slowly creeped upward on the left boot, while shooting tendrils over to Mandy's right boot.

It slowly kept on creeping upwards until it had reached the top of both boots, Mandy still unaware as to what was happening on her own two feet.

***
Mandy walked up to her mom. "Yes, mom, whatdya want?" she said, exasperated.

Mandy's mom pulled out the map of Manhattan they had gotten earlier. "Well, it says we should be near the Empire State Building, but this... this is the Oscorp building." She then looked over to see the giant Oscorp logo on the building.

Mandy's mom folded up the map. "I think I know where it is. Oh well. A little bit of walking won't kill us. You're lucky you brought your Hunter..." Mandy's mom looked down at Mandy's feet.

"Umm, Mandy?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"Aren't those boots supposed to be black?"

Mandy looked down, startled. Sure enough, her bright pink Hunter gloss wellies were pitch black, and appeared to be made up of a goopy liquid of some sort.

"Ew, what the hell?" she said.

"Language, young lady!" her mom responded.

Mandy bent down. She tried to scrap whatever it was off of her boots, but every time she did, the black liquid-like substance just vibrated and stayed, stubbornly not coming off.

Suddenly, two police car sirens turned onto the street in front of the Oscorp building. Mandy was temporarily distracted enough to cover her ears from the loud sirens as the cop cars zoomed past her on the lane closest to the sidewalk where she was.

She took her hands off her ears, and looked back down at her boots. The black liquid was gone, and her shiny pink wellies looked as colorful and flawless as ever.

"Huh." she said to herself.

Her mom looked down and then said, "It must have been some mud or something you stepped in. You wiped it off, right?"

Mandy hesitantly said "Uh... sure. Yeah. That's what I did."

Mandy and her mom walked away, while Mandy was still puzzled about what had just happened.

***

The symbiote, sensitive to sound, had bailed when it heard the loud sirens of the police cars. It was now back under the manhole, hanging on with its sticky tendrils. Regardless, it had gotten the information it needed.

It briefly reformed above the sewer to take a look around. It happened to observe a window with many rain boots in the display case a block away and on the same side of the street. Excited about its own luck as a hostless symbiote can be, the symbiote continued to crawl under the sewer until it reached the manhole in front of the shop it had spotted earlier.

As quick as it could without anyone noticing, it reformed on top of the manhole and made its way into the shop and hid under a bench. It began to form boots like Mandy's from the information it gathered. The symbiote split itself in two, and began forming two tall rubber boots under the bench. The symbiote was even clever enough to add a personal touch to the boots: a white spider adorned both boots. Shortly after the symbiote was done making itself into two tall rubber boots, a manager came over and noticed them under the bench.

"Goddamn kids don't pick up after themselves." he muttered to no one in particular.

He picked them up, but not seeing a box around in which to put them, put them instead in a recently clear space in the window display.

***
Mary Jane Watson hated the rain. She was never properly prepared for it. And now, hiking from one part of town to the other in order to make an audition, drenched, she hated it more than ever.

Worst of all, her footwear of choice for the rain were flipflops. She had never found a pair of rain boots she liked. However, she did remember there was a little shoe shop across from the Oscorp building that she knew sold rain boots. She looked at her watch. She actually had underestimated how fast she was walking, and had 30 minutes to kill. She decided that it was at least worth a look, and at the very best, maybe she'd actually find a pair of boots she'd actually like this time...

When she got to the shop, she looked at the window display. One pair of boots immediately caught her eye. They were tall, glossy, and looked incredibly comfortable. But what caught her attention was the white spider designed that adorned the boots.

"Peter won't even believe it..." she murmured to herself as she walked into the shop.