Spider-Man and His Spectacular Friends

Season 4 Chapter 8: A Gift Or A Curse?

"...How is she, Reed?" Johnny asks out of concern.

Not long after that incident on the same night, they all changed their plans by heading to his place instead of returning to the dorms. And now, in a huge laboratory of the famous Baxter Building...

"Well, I have already checked her vitals, and so far, what I have found is a foreign mutagen in her bloodstream. What happened to her?" Reed asks after checking her vital signs on the monitor with the help of his girlfriend, now fiancee, Susan Storm, Johnny's elder sister.

"She was injected with some sort of formula or mutagen by some psycho scientist that I know of," Spider-man answered.

"Oh. I see, well, at the very least, it is not life-threatening," Reed assures, relieving everyone's worries. "However, what I could tell you all is that it may have altered or tampered with her genetic code."

"I-Is it that bad in some way?" Liz nervously asks, keeping herself decent in one of Susan's spandex special uniforms.

"That depends on how you see it. I mean, practically speaking, I myself have been through similar situations, like Johnny here," Reed assures, showing off his power to stretch out his limbs like rubber as he reaches for his coffee mug on the other table that's far apart from them before sipping on some cappuccino.

"Whoa, guess this explains how you're so used to seeing weirdos, huh, Johnny?" Gwen, unmasked from her hoodie while in her Mania outfit, deadpans in realization.

"Well, you kids can get used to this, right?"

Grunting from behind and towering over the young heroes was the stone-skinned friend of Johnny named Ben Grimm, scaring them in the process that Spider-man almost shot him with his web shooters.

"Ah Ben, meet my gang! And as you can see, I'm not alone," Johnny brags, nudging his stony side.

"Uh huh, but since when were you leader material?" Ben playfully deadpans, lightly tapping his back but almost injuring him as he pushes him off his feet and down to the floor. "Oops."

"Yikes," Spider-man cringed in fear along with the others from the pain on his face.

"So um, does this mean I'm stuck with whatever's in me?" Liz asks out of curiosity and concern.

"Well, if you wanna really go back to normal, I do not exactly have the material and resources to help you at the moment," Reed admits.

"Don't worry," Spider-man assures, walking up behind Liz and places his hand on his shoulder to assure her. "Once we head back to ESU, we could cook up some gene cleanser to cure it. That is— if that's what you really want?"

"Oh, is that so? Then that makes things more convenient. But if complications occur, don't hesitate to ask us," Reed kindly smiles back before facing Johnny and the rest of the team. "To be honest, I am quite surprised that there are more of you like Johnny here. From the bottom of my heart, and Sue's, we are grateful."

"Yeah well, this hothead is not that well-tempered, but I can guarantee that he's a good kid," Ben teases.

"Hey!" Johnny barked back, making everyone in the room laugh.

"Johnny," Spider-man called out for his attention and stretched his hand out to him. "Thanks for helping us out on the fly. Although, I was hesitant at first..."

"Easy peazy, bro. We have each others' back, as weirdos," Johnny gladly replies back and shakes his hand, playfully burning his hand and burns Spider-man's hand in the process.

"Hot! Youch! Sonuva biscuit! Youch!" Spider-man yelped as he quickly pulled his hand away and then took Iceman's hand. "Phew...!"

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