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 the 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."
"Isss that bad in some way?" Liz nervously asks, keeping herself decent in one of Susan's spandex fireproof 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 Ghost Spider 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…!"
—
Later, in a private ESU laboratory that was specially made for guest scientist lecturers…
"So far, so good," Michael nods, checking the monitor and the desk with what appears to be a vampire bat, strapped and connected to some machine with wires. "This better work… this is my final chance to become normal again…"
He then tinkers with the monitor and the vital signs of the bat before setting a countdown timer to commence the process. However, just after he started the quick timer…
"Oh no…no! The anesthesia is wearing off!" Michael hysterically notices and tries to get the bat to calm down before feeling a convulsion inside of his body that makes him stumble and fall onto the desk, probably his disease acting up again. "Argh! Ugh, oh no…"
The moment the timer finishes, electric shocks were sent down to both Dr. Morbius and his own test subject, which then causes a strange chemical reaction of merging and altering Dr. Morbius' human DNA as the shocks fry the bat into nothing but a dry blackened carcass, leaving a dazed Dr. Morbius on the floor. As he slowly regains consciousness and staggering on shaky legs, he groans and holds his head in pain before feeling some kind of mutation swelling inside of him as the accident combines his genes with that of a vampire bat. Suddenly, his muscles start to grow and enlarge abnormally as they stretch the labcoat's linen and his favorite black shirt; his hands and feet start to also grow abnormally with their nails growing longer like claws or talons. And then suddenly, he looks at his reflection in the glass window under the radiant full moon, looking at a more horrid and pale complexion with a pair of bloodred eyes; a bat-humanoid nose; and two sharp fangs that poke out under his upper lip.
"No… this can't be!" Michael whimpers from the horror he just made out of himself before feeling a deep long hunger— for blood.
Unable to restrain his instincts, Michael immediately storms out of the laboratory at a supernatural speed and then gets to the open to sense nearby prey to satisfy his hunger. As he chooses his first victim, he leaps swiftly to the nearby building before gliding and hovering over the rooftops.
—
"Aw, whoo! That was scary! I never should have taken the offer if Spider-man's freaky friends would come around," Jester pants, hiding somewhere in an alley after escaping Tricorp to avoid the night's encounter. "Huh?"
As the atmosphere feels to have turned eerily quiet, and the sounds of air being beaten pound at his heart with fear, he looks around his surroundings as the tension increases. The moment he looks back at the dark alley behind him, he spots what almost appeared to be glowing red eyes blinking in the shadows.
"W-Wh-What is that!?" Jester yelped and fell on his rear out of shock, backing away from the stranger lurking in the shadows before screaming and being dragged back into the alley by the stranger. "No, Nooo!"
The stranger's face was then partially seen under the moonlight, opening his mouth to bare his fangs.
"D-D-Doctor Morbius?! Is that—?!"
Before he could say any more, Morbius bites on the side of Jester's neck, making him squeal, squirm and scream from the pain and the sensation of having his blood sucked away.
"What's up with all the ruckus?!"
Suddenly, an old lady grumbled out loud from her apartment window, following the source of the noise and seeing Jester turn pale from the creature. Being startled by the noise, Morbius looks up and shows his horrid vampiric appearance with blood dripping from the sides of his mouth, making the old woman scream in horror before vanishing away at a supernatural speed.
"Oh dear! Oh no! Somebody! Help!" The old lady screamed before trying to dial help for an ambulance to quickly tend to Jester's condition.
—
One and a half days later, the Daily Bugle's news about Roderick Kingsley being the Hobgoblin spread like wildfire, which soon resulted in Ned Leeds' release from prison after a long while of injustice on his end. Oscorp later was being interviewed and heavily scrutinized by the public media after the Tricorp incident and tensions rose from the findings of armed weapons found littered around its compound that were branded with the name "TRASK Industries". However, what the news also later detailed was a strange incident that happened in one of ESU's private laboratories and at the same time another incident involving a man being assaulted and injured by a shadowy figure recently in the night, with the victim's name being disclosed and revealed to be Jonathan Powers, wearing the Jester's suit. And apparently the news has reached places farther from the country…
"Spider-man, again!" Harry roars out of anger, throwing a tantrum in his bedroom as he throws his phone to his king-sized bed and then staring at his family portrait mounted over his room's fireplace, looking at his father's face of intimidation and disappointment. "It's always got to be that blasted Wall-crawler's fault… I should go back, sooner or later, to rectify his crimes against my father's company, MY company…!"
While trying to vent out his rage and yet restraining it to a minimum, his cell phone rings and shows the name of the caller: Baby. He then picks it up to answer the call.
'Hi Harry! Are you doing okay? I just read the news and, well, how are you feeling right now?' Asked a female voice on the other line in a concerned tone.
"Lily baby, it's fine, I've been through worse… much, much worse…" Harry assures in a heavy tone before holding and staring at the mask of his alter ego, the New Goblin. "Say babe, wanna go with me to visit New York?"
'Oh sure! I'd love to! It has been a while since we both returned, so let's go with that! Set the date yet?' The female voice gleefully replied.
"Yeah babe, I'll tell you when. Take care, I got business to do," Harry bade before quickly ending the call and then staring back at the New Goblin's mask then at his father's face in the portrait. "Time to cowboy up… dad…"
—
Meanwhile, the news also raised some concerns for Peter and the gang upon this realization.
"Ohhh mann, Powers was that cringey Jester the entire time…?" Peter repeats as he reads the newspaper in a cafe far from the campus along with the rest of the team.
"At the very least, he won't cause some problems for a while with his current condition. What do you think?" Kitty points out.
"Never liked the dude anyway. He gives me the creeps," Johnny huffed.
"Hey, isn't that a little over the top, now that he's being bedridden?" Hobie adds.
"What are you saying? He did give you a hard time when Liz was well, you know? So, why should you care?" Johnny wondered.
"I… I wonder about that myself too. Maybe it's just because I was once in his shoes, and somebody had to drag me out of the mud to make me the guy that I am now," Hobie sighed with a smile, making Peter, Kitty, and Bobby smile in response, recalling that tense moment of changing fate.
"Awww, I see, alright. But that does not change the fact that he tried hurting one of us and possibly endangered all of New York by breaking a mafia boss out of prison," Johnny shrugs and crosses his arms.
"Can't argue with that, but what's gonna happen to him now?" Liz asks out of concern.
"Well, worst case scenario, he might either be suspended and wound up in juvie, or expelled and then wind up in juvie," Gwen replied.
"Uh… bro, you okay?" Bobby asks Peter, looking intently at the newspaper at the news article on the strange incident recently.
"Oh um, sorry, I was just more curious about this story. Sounds like something out of a horror film, but not like we have not dealt with what could be considered scientifically impossible," Peter points out.
"Wait Pete, do you mean the culprit's a…?" Gwen trailed off, seeing Peter nod in response.
"It's just a hunch, but not sure if I wanna really believe that myself. For now, let's all kick back and relax from all that," Peter assures as he reclines on the banquette.
"Hiya guys! What have you all been up to?"
Calling from afar as she enters the cafe was Mary Jane, seeming to be on urgent business.
"MJ! What's up?" Peter quickly inquired, creating a tense atmosphere around their table because of now two jealous superpowered girlfriends.
"Well, I was gonna ask Liz for our group assignment in our marketing class, but you guys made it hard for me to disturb her moment," Mary Jane slyly answered with a smirk.
"Oh shoot, right! I forgot! Sorry guys, but that is urgent business alright," Liz bade before kissing Peter on his head and then took her stuff to leave their table to go with Mary Jane.
"Uh hey… if anything happens, just call us, okay?" Peter sheepishly offers, getting a kiss on his cheek from Liz.
"Gotcha, Petey. See you guys!" Liz replied back with a smile and walked beside Mary Jane and exited out of the café.
"I'll just borrow her for the day, then she's all free for the week. Bye guys, and see you later, Tiger," Mary Jane bade before leaving the cafè with Liz.
"Yeah, see you…" Peter waved back.
"Ahem," Gwen cleared her throat in annoyance.
"…Ahehehehe, i-is there something wrong?" Peter nervously asked.
"Nope, you just need to work on how to not show your emotions, cause your face literally gives it away," Kitty pointed out in an annoyed tone.
Just when the atmosphere has gotten tense right after Liz is gone, Peter's phone rings out of nowhere and makes him check it for a text that was sent by his usually grumpy boss J. Jonah Jameson, with the text telling that they're holding a party to celebrate the return of their colleague Ned Leeds, after he was proven innocent and framed by the CEO Roderick Kingsley, who was also the man behind the mask of the Hobgoblin.
"…Oop, that's my boss calling. Sorry guys, but I gotta go. Duty calls," Peter apologizes with a weak smile as he wears his satchel on and gets up from his seat.
"No worries bruh, just try not to be late," Bobby jokes with a grin.
"Please, I'm trying not to," Peter replied back confidently. "See you guys later!"
"Bye Pete!" Gwen and Kitty bade back in sync, making them exchange awkward looks with Johnny, Hobie, and Bobby laughing at their responses before grunting in pain from the two angry girls kicking their shins and knees.
—
In a cell located at the Ravencroft Institute of rehabilitation, where the demented redhead Cletus Kassidy lives…
"I feel it, I could feel it…! It's coming… it's coming back…! Finally, after long lasting in this dump! I will be free… I will be freeeee!" Cletus shrieks with joy, followed by a maniacal laughter.
His neighbor staying adjacent to his cell with a muffler covering her mouth was the female patient named Frances Barrison.
"Hmmm, whmt ha wmirtho, bht hat leaht its lhvely here…" Frances muttered under her muffler and strapped into a straitjacket, slumping and slouching on her bed and staring out the cell window.
Overhearing the scary monologue was none other than Eddie Brock, assistant counselor of Dr. Ashley Kafka, who was very much spooked out as he sensed an eerily familiar vibe at that moment…
"Yup, we definitely need to prepare some arsenal for safety… hope I'm just losing my marbles over this…" Eddie thought out loud and went to his superior's office to request for a short leave.
—
Finally, Peter, donning his Spidey outfit, swung his way to his workplace: the Daily Bugle, to celebrate the release and innocence of his colleague Ned Leeds, after he was framed to be the fake Hobgoblin under Roderick Kingsley's thumb. As he enters his usual changing room in the janitor's room and wears the jacket of his late Uncle Ben over his costume before putting on his cargo pants and sneakers, he leaves the janitor room quietly and inconspicuously. As the party in his workplace is now ongoing…
"Ah whew, I made it," Peter sighed in relief as he quietly entered and closed the door on his way in.
"Peter!"
"Gaagh!" Peter cried out of shock in response.
Jumping on Peter from behind was the overjoyed Betty Brant, celebrating her boyfriend's release from prison and having his innocence proven.
"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to startle you like that, Pete. Here, have some root beer!" Betty modestly apologizes and offers him a styro cup filled with root beer.
"Aw sweet! Thanks!" Peter thanked as he took the cup and sipped on it before noticing Frederick Foswell coming his way.
"Ah, Peter! You made it! And just in time for dinner! Come, there's plenty enough for everyone!" Frederick welcomes and leads Peter to a small buffet of assorted fast food from Mc's.
"Cool! Thanks!" Peter thanked and stared at all the scrumptious food.
He then gets one of those paper plates and starts getting what he wants until he feels a tap onto his shoulder.
"Heyo Pete! What's up? Feeling lonely in my absence or needing someone to keep you off the Jonah's case?" Ned smirks.
"Ned! Oh man, I'm relieved that you're back out here with the rest of us again. And trust me, I got things in the bag, you can count on it!" Peter assures with confidence, since he is the one and only spectacular Spider-man.
"Parker! Parker! Where are you little—!?"
"C-Coming! Sorry Ned," Peter apologizes before leaving his plate and cup to answer his boss' excessively loud voice. "But duty calls. And congrats on your release!"
"Hey wait! Uhmmm… tell uh, Spider-man I said thank you. I know we kinda got off on the wrong foot and with my job and all, but without him, I would've stayed in jail for a longer time and left my girl out there alone, shouldering everything," Ned thanked with deep appreciation before looking at the happy smile on Betty's face from afar, despite knowing that getting Spider-man's identity is one of his pending jobs.
"Ummm, sure, yeah! Will do! See ya Ned!" Peter assures before running off to meet with his boss Jameson.
"There you are son, you're late! I got another job for ya, and it shouldn't be late before midnight tonight!" Jameson yelled out and heavily pats Peter's shoulder.
"Agh, roger! Tell me what you need and you got 'em!" Peter assures.
"Don't push your luck, anyways! I need you to go check the scene in that university lab where a madness happened. I heard that you go to that place to study, and that's all the more easier for ya! Right after we're done here, get out there and get me those photos ASAP before anyone else can, otherwise—!"
"Got it! I won't let you down, sir!" Peter repeats with a playful salute.
"Righto! But before you get out there, it's time to celebrate, who's with me!?" Jameson rallied with his fist raised up, rousing excitement and joy once more for Ned's return.
—
"Okay wait, you want to massss-produccce my gene cleanssser formula?"
After Eddie rushed out of his shift in Ravencroft and traveled to the ESU laboratory, he planned to make an urgent request in his former workplace and with his former superiors, namely the Connors'.
"Not exactly mass-producing them, doc. We just need a steady number to use in case trouble happens in the institute, especially after that whole fiasco with Cletus and the symbiote, well, also me for safety reasons," Eddie nervously asks, recalling the time when Venom and Carnage nearly wreaked havoc around all of Manhattan a long time ago.
"Curt, what do you think?" Martha whimpered, wondering how her husband would answer.
"...Hmmmm, I believe that could be arranged, but we jussst need the date and time for their appointed arrival," Lizard pondered and asked for clarification.
"Can you make them sooner? We need them to be ready for anything, in case things happen to protect normal guys like me from super-powered maniacs. Uhm, no offense, doc," Eddie replies and apologizes.
"Huhum, none taken. It'sss normal to have that feeling. You could try to expect a batch within the week if we're fassst enough. Isss that alright, dear?" Lizard wonders.
"It's doable," Martha replied with a smile and nodded in agreement.
"Man, you guys are awesome, especially you, doc! You sure seem to get the hang of things, being someone straight out of a fantasy book," Eddie comments.
"Hehe, well, thissss form doesss have itss ussesss," Lizard laughed back before getting his mug full of water from a far table with his tail and gulps it down easily with his lizard-like snout.
"W-Whoa, no kidding," Eddie chuckles nervously.
"If there's anything else you need from us, feel free to come or just give us a call," Martha kindly assures.
"Thank you, doc. Really appreciate that and I love to stick around, but I got some other stuff to do," Eddie nervously replies and slowly makes his way to the door.
"Wait, didn't you say that you dropped your shift for the day?" Martha asked and wondered.
"Oh um, yeah, but I probably left some of my stuff back in Ravencroft. Take care you guys!" Eddie nervously replied before bolting out of the laboratory.
'Ahhhh, young love, as always…' Martha and Lizard sighed and thought to themselves in nostalgia, grinning from Eddie losing his composure and confusing their son Billy from their reactions.
After a moment of nostalgia, a lurking worry crept up to the back of his mind, regarding his missing colleague Dr. Michael Morbius, having noticed him missing over the past few days, taking his place in his lectures and classes in his absence, but then brushes it off to believe that the police and others could handle the issue in due time.
—
Soon enough, it's sundown upon all of Manhattan, and at the far side of the coasts near the sea, in a dry unused sewer canal…
"No… must...ergh—control…!"
Occupying the unused canal for quite some time, the newly mutated Michael Morbius groans in pain, losing his will in fighting against his new animalistic instincts as he tries to maintain his humanity to avoid repeating the horror he just did. He tries to redirect his bloodlust like some vampire bat, later succumbing to his new second nature and looks into the night sky with his bright red eyes.
"I...mussst...feeeed…!" Michael growls as his batlike nature slowly takes over his mind.
He stands out in the opening before spreading out his strangely formed wings that flapped underneath his arm and stretches down to near his waistline. And thanks to his new superhuman body, he could easily jump up high into the air to glide and hover around the darkness, looking for his next prey before a part of his humanity unexpectedly led him straight back into his workplace and the source of his accident: Empire State University.
—
"Whew! Never thought the party would take that long!" Spider-man thought out loud while swinging his way back to ESU after the party in the Daily Bugle. "Man I'm beat, but I'm glad that Ned is back in the game, Betty's getting better. But I still gotta get some photos for the big news or else—"
Suddenly, his Spider-sense was triggered out of nowhere, which shocked him as he looked around for whatever triggered him before looking up to see a winged silhouette gliding over him under the moonlit night sky.
"Whoa hey, Toomes!? Is that you!? I thought we're already through with this—"
"Hraaaagh!" Michael roars towards Spider-man, catching him off guard before diving to pounce onto him and grab him by his waist.
"Yikes, nevermind!" Spider-man yelped as he struggled against his attacker.
Despite being scared, Spider-man then tries putting up a fight against the assailant in midair before he kicks Spider-man to roughly crashland onto a nearby building turbine.
"Ughhhhhh…! Okay buster, one, it's very late for a halloween costume party! And two— hey wait, can you even understand me!" Spider-man yelled in pain as he got up back on his feet before confronting the dark figure with gleaming blood red eyes, who gave no response except panting before showing his face shown under the moonlight once more. Horrified with eyes wide opened upon recognizing the person. "Waitaminute, no way… Doctor Morbius!? Is that you!?"
"Hraaaaaagh! I….urgh—am…. Morbius!" Michael roars and grunt in pain, fighting against his mutant nature inside of aching his mind before succumbing to it once again and then glares at Spider-man.
Without hesitation, he bares his fangs and lunges to pounce onto Spider-man, who quickly tries dodging out of his direction, only to be caught by his ankle and then slammed to the rooftop like a ragdoll.
"Ohhhh mannnn, don't tell me you got another strange potion from the Jack—whoa!" Spider-man screamed halfway before looking into Morbius' red eyes and averting his gaze out of reflex before seeing him look in another direction.
"I smell…sweet… scented… blood…!" Morbius sniffed and grinned.
For some reason, Morbius then hurls Spider-man to another nearby turbine so hard that it dazes him upon impact before spreading out his wings and glides over the buildings as he lets the winds keep him afloat in midair.
"Ughhhh, that is so not cool! Not by a long shot…!" Spider-man groans in pain and gets back onto his feet before noticing his attacker fleeing towards a certain direction. "Wait, is he just gonna leave me here? Hold on waitaminute, that direction is— oh no...!"
—
"Liz, mind if I ask you something privy? Girl-to-girl?" Mary Jane modestly asks as she hands Liz a can of soda from a nearby vending machine, sitting beside Liz on a concrete bench that's close to the university's women's dormitory.
"Oh sure, anything, you name it!" Liz gladly responds.
After they manage to finish their group task for their marketing class, the cool redhead decides to hold a little private conversation with the gleeful Latina on matters regarding relationships—subtly concerned however of her relationship with Peter in particular.
"So um, you and Pete are still a thing right?" Mary Jane asked.
"Well yeah, and although we got through some ups and downs in one way or the other, we can make it… I think?" Liz replied with a nervous tone in the last bit.
"Really now? Then uhm, what is it with Gwen getting in between you guys?" Mary Jane asks out of a mix of curiosity and concern.
"…Oh uh, about that, we're on good terms actually, and no hard feelings. But then we agreed on certain things and there our relationship escalated to something that's a little bit complicated to explain," Liz nervously answers before sipping on her soda.
"And does that include getting to share Peter by any chance?" Mary Jane straightforwardly gunned her answer at Liz, startling her to the point she choked on her drink.
"Ugh, uhmmm, about that, eheheh. Huh? What's that?" Liz unintentionally changes the subject, pointing at the sky.
"What's what?" Mary Jane responds and then looks up behind her to see a gliding shadow from afar, drawing closer as it seems to get bigger.
"Duck!" Liz yells and tackles Mary Jane away into the nearby shrubs, avoiding the shadow safely before popping out to check their surroundings. "Oh man, MJ, you okay?"
"Gratefully yes, and what exactly was that thing!?" Mary Jane thanks as she patts leaves off of her clothes.
"You tell me?! Huh?" Liz screamed back before noticing glowing red eyes above Mary Jane from under the tree's shadow and took her hand in a rush. "Time to boogie!"
"Ow hey! Wait!" Mary Jane winced from the sudden pulling while trying to follow Liz's pacing before seeing the shadow's silhouette in their direction. "Liz! Stop!"
As they both stop in their tracks, the stranger reveals himself to be the mutated doctor Michael Morbius, in his vampiric form.
"Ohhhh this is bad…!" Liz thought out loud before looking at Mary Jane taking something out of her bag. 'Hey! What are you doing!?'
"Get behind me!" Mary Jane urges as she out in front of Liz and pulls out a stun gun before aiming it at Morbius. "Stay back! Or I will fry you! I'm telling you! I will!"
Despite her warning, Morbius crept up close to the redhead, who accidentally fired out of fear and missed him because of his fast reflexes. With her single-use stun gun used up, Morbius saw the chance to pounce onto her and took it, baring his fangs on her.
"Noooo!" Liz, out of a desire to protect like her boyfriend of a hero, swiftly rushes over to shield Mary Jane with her body, only to have a sudden bursting flare of flames ignite from her back, burning both a portion of her top clothes and Morbius in the process.
"Aghhhh!" Morbius cried from the pain, but soon quickly regenerated and healed at an alarmingly fast rate.
"Hu-Huh!? L-Liz!? W-What just—happened!? Your back! Your clothes!?" Mary Jane screamed as she looked around and saw Liz almost half-naked in scorched clothes.
"I—I dunno! But… that was pretty…wicked …!" Liz smiles as she stares at her hands with excitement before noticing Morbius preparing to pounce onto them again. "Oh come on! HowdoIdothis, howdoIdothis!"
"Hraaaagh!" Morbius growls, rushing towards the girls again.
"Stay back!" Liz nervously screams and tries to push back Morbius with her two hands, accidentally pushing him with the small blast like a flamethrower. "H-Huh!?"
"Hrrrngh!" Morbius growled as he blew off the flames that scorched his lab coat into ashes.
"Whoa! L-Liz… how did you do that?!" Mary Jane asked again out of concern.
"I—I dunno! I just—"
"Lookout!" Mary Jane warned.
However, they were too slow to react and ended up getting caught in Morbius' enlarged hands, getting grabbed by their necks and lifted inches up from the ground.
"Musssst… feeeed!" Morbius growled as he stared right into the two struggling girls' eyes.
"Then chew on this!"
Coming down with a swift kick from behind Morbius was Spider-man, who slingshotted himself from afar after swinging his way down to the university, immediately spotting both Liz and Mary Jane in trouble and saving them just in time.
"Spider-man!" Both Liz and Mary Jane exclaimed with relief from his arrival.
"You girls oh… Holy macaroni…!" Spider-man muttered from a "spectacular" view with eyes wide open while trying to restrain Morbius.
"Uhm Spidey, what's with the stupid face?" Liz asked before getting embarrassed after noticing her top being exposed and left with her partially scorched sports bra to cover herself, screaming out of embarrassment. "Heyyyy! Tell me instead of ogling at me, 'kay?! Geez!"
"R-Right, but before that, evacuate!" Spider-man snapped back and urged the girls to leave before being overpowered by Morbius as he caught his head and then slammed him to the concrete ground.
"Let's go!" Mary Jane urges as she covers Liz with her denim jacket and then leaves the premises with their stuff, going to the women's dorms.
"Kick his butt, Spidey!" Liz exclaims as she runs away with Mary Jane.
"…Alright, doc, time for our appointment!" Spider-man quipped as he headbutts Morbius in the face to daze him and tries restraining him in his webs again, who easily tore them into shreds with his talonlike nails. "Oh you've got to be kidding me…!"
"Mussst, feed!" Morbius growls out of desperation and tries to lacerate the Wall-crawler with his sharp nails.
"Whoa! Watch it! Hey! It's annoying to redo the costume!" Spider-man complains as he barely dodges every one of his swift attacks before webbing his hands together. "Heh, now what, doc? Got something better in— uh oh!"
Morbius then swings his webbed up hands towards Spider-man like a double hammering uppercut, who manages to barely block it before being launched up high in the air and then fall into the campus' fountain after realizing that his web shooters are emptied out, again.
"Ptew, ugh, what a horrible time to run out of web fluid!" Spider-man groaned and spat before getting out of the fountain in his drenched costume and confronting the flying Morbius, gliding and hovering around in the air. "Great, just when I thought Vulture and Beetle were already annoying enough, now I have to deal with a real life vampire!"
"You've annoyed me for the last time, now, you shall compensate for it… with your own life!" Morbius roared as he pounced and corners him to the fountain and then grabs him by his neck to dip his head into the water.
"Mmrmph mrrrm mrrrphm!" Spider-man mumbles in the water as he tries struggling against Morbius with his other free hand before trying to grapple him with his legs, but realizes that they were footplanted by Morbius.
"It iss futile to resist, little Spider! Soon... your blood is mine to devour!" Morbius grins before sensing hostility coming from his left.
Suddenly, he quickly dodges what seemed to be a green whipping tail and breaks away from drowning the hero. As Spider-man gets his head out of the water and gasps for air, he turns to see the Lizard, appearing to come to his aid.
"Dr. Connors!?" Spider-man shrieked out of shock before coughing out water from entering his throat. "Wha-What are you—!"
"I had heard from a pair of female ssstudentss that you were in trouble around here, and here I am," Lizard hissed before seeing Morbius growling at them. "Sso, thiss isss where you have been all thiss time, Michael."
"Hraaagh! Urghhhh! Hrngh!" Morbius groaned as he held his head in pain and fell to his knees.
"Quick! While he's down!" Spider-man urges as he goes to fight him before being blocked by Lizard's tail. "Hey what gives!?"
"Wait, ssomething'sss different," Lizard proposes as they watch Morbius groan in pain.
There, Morbius looks to them with his eyes no longer glowing bright in a red color, but turned back to his normal eyes and pupils.
"Dr. Michael Morbiuss," Lizard called out.
"Agh— Connors? Is-Is that you? Urgh!" Michael responded while internally fighting himself.
"Doc! Are you there!" Spider-man called out.
"Who? Urgh! Oghhh the pain— the hunger!" Michael groaned, feeling his vampiric instincts returning again.
"Doc, you gotta fight it! Don't let it take over you!" Spider-man urged.
"I… can't… hold it— much longer!" Michael twitched and restrained himself in pain before his eyes started glowing bright red again.
"Hmmm, thiss ssseemss like the perfect moment to test out my new gene cleanser formula. I wasss partially hoping to tesst it on mysself in private, but thiss iss another great opportunity to do it," Lizard thought out loud as he took and popped a small light-greenish vial out from his pocket.
"Wait, what are you doing!?" Spider-man noticed.
Lizard then immediately chugs on the vial quickly before throwing it away and wiping his snouted mouth clean. He then rushes over to Morbius, who succumbs to his hunger and pounces on the Lizard. There he bares his fangs and bites his neck, making the Lizard roar and growl while trying to endure getting his blood sucked.
"Doctor Connors! Doctor Morbius!" Spider-man tries to help but is halted by the Lizard's thrashing of his tail.
After a while of struggling between the two monsters, Morbius suddenly latches off of the Lizard and twitches in pain, slowly showing gradual effects of the gene cleanser curing him of his mutated condition, along with the Lizard slowly reverting back to his one-armed human form.
"Uggngh, oghhh…!" Michael groaned and fainted on the ground from the process.
"Aghh, ow, my neck. That really hurts," Curtis groaned and held his scabbing neck as the residue from his form's fast regenerative nature.
"Curt! Oh Curt!"
Running to the scene frantically with anxiety was Dr. Martha Connors, followed by Billy, Liz, and Mary Jane. She goes over to Curtis and helps him sit up.
"Curt! Are you alright? Speak to me, please!" Martha asked anxiously, watching him groan and open his eyes in response to her voice.
"Martha? Dear? The formula worked…! I'm cured again," Curtis replied, yet not in an excited tone before being helped back on his feet. "Never thought I'd go back to being old normal me again."
"Dad!" Billy exclaims and tackles his father into a hug. "You're okay!"
"Yes, Billy, thanks. Now um…" Curtis trailed off before noticing Mary Jane and Liz huddling around Spider-man. "Ahem, sorry, we should probably go."
Meanwhile, on Spider-man's end…
"Awgh man, I so deserve a license as a vampire slayer now, don't I?" Spider-man groans humorously as he stretches his aching wrists and neck.
"Well, it pretty much shows how you've outdid yourself by facing tougher creeps like him," Mary Jane complimented with a smile.
"Y-You think so?" Spider-man nervously asks before getting hit on his side by Liz's elbow.
"Ummm, hello? Forgetting something?" Liz hissed with a jealous and nasty glare at him, covering herself by wearing Mary Jane's denim jacket.
"Oh, right! You did great doing what you had to do. Awesome job out there," Spider-man complimented, making the Latina blush and grin in response.
"Ah-hem," Mary Jane cleared her throat, getting their attention with her thoughts popping around her mind. "Okay, first of all, have you two known each other for a long time? And second, how long exactly did you—?"
"Ohhh boy, look at the time, gotta go do some late night city patrolling. Take care, future people of Manhattan!" Spider-man panics as he refills his web shooters before swinging away from the scene and makes a huge U-turn at a side to get his satchel from behind the men's dorms and change into his red t-shirt and brown cargo pants— plus his sneakers.
"What was that all about? And hey, just how long were you hanging around the great hero of Manhattan? Time to spill the beans, girl," Mary Jane demands with a smirk, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows.
"Oh uh, ehehe, funny story really. About that—"
"Liz! Whoa, Doctor Connors? And whoa, Doctor Morbius!?" Peter exclaimed, stopping in his tracks from out of the dorm and checking out the ongoing scene.
"Petey! You're back! Oh wait! No hugs!" Liz kept her distance, just as soon as she was about to embrace Peter.
"Uhmmm, okay, but, what exactly just happened here?" Peter asked nervously, trying to keep his composure.
"Oh nothing much. You missed one heck of a fight scene though for the Bugle," Mary Jane casually points out and shrugs her shoulders.
"Oh it's cool, I was just coming back from my thing in the Daily Bugle and was going to check out the scene of the incident here, but uh, guess I kinda missed out lots of things today," Peter nervously replied back, scratching the back of his head.
"Um, pardon us please, but if you don't mind, we will be excusing ourselves now, and we'll be taking Dr. Morbius with us to the hospital for urgent medical attention. Goodnight, students," Martha bade as she along with her husband and son returned to their vehicle with the unconscious Michael supported over their shoulders.
"Be careful out there," Peter bade as he and the two girls let them leave the scene.
—
'No… freaking… way…!'
In one of the women's dorm apartments, where Liz, Sally, Janice, Sha Shan, and Glory occupy.
'Liz… just what exactly have you been hiding from me—the whole time…' Sally hysterically thought to herself after witnessing the entire incident through their open window out of curiosity and then quietly fell on her knees to hold down her voice and tears from the soft blow of betrayal from her own childhood friend upon this revelation. 'Please, please! Tell me I'm just seeing things! Why!'
—To be continued
A/N:
Yass! 21st chapter done!
Thanks guys for your patience!
Hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.
More to come soon.
I do apologize for the long wait cause I have midterms coming up and juggled pretty well lol.
Take care guys, God bless, and thanks for sticking around!
