With a flick of his wrist and a swift tapping of his fingers Peter activated the newly christened web-shooters and the seventeenth attempt of a web fluid formula was blasted out in a sputtering, watery mess that flew two feet before landing in a white puddle on the floor.

"Oh for fuck's sake" Peter growled, hitting a button on the inner wrist of the web-shooters that ejected the cartridges. He had been working on the web fluid formula for several days now and the supplies he'd liberated from the Manhattan High's science store room were beginning to run out. He figured he had less than two more attempts at this before he'd have to go on another revolutionary war against another tyrannical science closet in order to get more chemicals to mix. Being close to scrapping the whole idea of webbing entirely he disposed of the aluminium cartridges he had fashioned in a make-shift incinerator. They exploded with a brief pop before the contents burned away to nothing.

"How the fuck am I gonna get this to work now?" Peter sighed, sitting down on a stool with a notebook in his hand, reading through his formulae and trying to work out the problems "Either the liquid remains as just a liquid or it solidifies into a pipe that doesn't stick to anything... Christ Parker, you're supposed to be smarter than this" Peter's defeatist attitude had him sow rapped up in self-pity that he almost didn't notice his phone vibrating in his pocket.l Upon feeling the buzzing next to his leg he took his phone out and checked the caller I.D.

"Twilight?" he asked himself "I wonder what she needs..." He accepted the call and put the phone to his ear, hearing Twilight's friendly greeting.

"Hey Peter, how're you holding up?" she asked softly.

"I'm good thanks Twilight, what about you?" Peter responded.

"I'm doing great, I'm out shopping with Harry and we were thinking of picking you something up as a present" she said. Peter could faintly hear Harry on the other end of the call, using the usual persona he did when he had been dragged shopping.

"Peter, help me, I'm losing the will to live right now" he heard Harry call.

"Behave will you Harry, people are staring at us" Twilight scolded.

"As they should, a man as beautiful as myself deserves attention" Harry said in a faux-snooty tone.

"And here I thought they were attracted to me and my gorgeous rear" Twilight snickered.

"Girl please, if anybody's got the killer ass here it has to be me" Harry said. Peter chuckled as he heard a faint smacking sound, presumably as Harry patted himself on the rear to emphasise his mock point.

"Right" Twilight sniggered before returning to the conversation "Do you want us to get you anything while we're here?"

"Yeah, he wants to get me a taxi back home" Harry called.

Shush" Twilight said scornfully "Or you're going on the naughty step when we get home"

"You can't make me... you're not my Mom" Harry said in a pouting tone.

"You're right, I'm not your Mom" Twilight agreed "I can hit you, she can't. Now are you gonna behave yourself from now on?"

"Yes Ma'am" Harry moped.

"Good boy, now, what did you say Peter?" Twilight asked.

"I said I'm good thanks... but can I ask you a quick science question?" Peter asked, looking down at the web-shooter on his arm.

"Sure, what for?" Twilight asked.

"It's for a science competition online" Peter lied "It wants me to write an essay detailing the best way to make a synthetic material that's adhesive and extremely durable that can be stored in a liquid form that solidifies on exposure to air... any ideas?" Twilight was quiet for a long moment before she began to speak.

"If you ask me I think they're thinking about this the wrong way" Twilight asked "I'd do it the other way around" Peter blinked blankly for a moment, confused as to what Twilight was getting at.

"Le what?" Peter asked in confusion.

What I mean is they're asking for a liquid that turns to a solid when exposed to air, I'd do it the other way around by making a solid that turns into a liquid" Twilight explained. Peter nodded slowly as she spoke, beginning to grasp her meaning.

"You mean something that turns a solid into a liquid-" Peter began before realizing that it had to be cartridge-based "Oh, it also says that it needs to be able to fit into a small area, like, compressed"

"So then we need to think of something that can change the thickness of that solid's liquid form..." Twilight added "Nothing springs to mind just yet..."

"I've got it!" Peter said, clicking his fingers in a eureka moment "Shear thinning!" Twilight was silent for a second before she made an affirmative grunting sound.

"If I can shear thin the liquid state then I can change the viscosity so that it can be compressed down to an extremely compact state-" Peter said, scribbling the idea down on the notebook before the idea escaped him "And then I can add in an extra compound or two that'll make the liquid revert back to its solid state when its exposed to air again!"

"Wait, I thought you said this was for a science quiz, when will you be doing this?" Twilight asked in a puzzled tone.

"Speaking figuratively, sorry Twilight" Peter said, trying to cover his tracks quickly "Thanks Twilight, you're a genius!"

"Um... you're welcome?" she said quizzically "You're not gonna win anything if you answer this question correctly are you... and I thought we figured out an alternative version of the question, I never helped you answer the actual one-"

"Talk to you guys later, bye!" Peter said. With that he hung up the phone and stuffed it back into his pocket, jumping up about of the chair he was in and rushing back over to the desk he was working on, taking the different chemicals he had been using and emptying the testing apparatus he'd used, preparing to start working from a whole new angle.

"Get ready New York, the Arachna-Man will be on the job soon enough!" Peter exclaimed before realizing what name he had just used "Wow... that one sucked even more than the first name I thought of, holy shit I'm bad at this" Next Chapter: Maybe Spider-Man... yeah, Spider-Man. Estimated time remaining: 15 Hours, 31 Minutes