In this chapter, Honeybee will fight Firebomb. The last chapter was leading up to it.

How will she fare against this new foe?

Can she win?

Chapter 12: Fire Is Not A Toy

As Firebomb began her crime spree, news began to travel quickly.

It seemed she was too hot for the police to handle.

"A pyromaniac is invading the city? I always worried that the Human Torch would set fire to NYC." remarked J. Jonah Jameson. Even if the rest of the Fantastic Four were keeping him in check.

Where was Smokey the Bear when they needed him? Was he hibernating?

"He would never do that!" exclaimed Betty. The Human Torch was a hero. Since when had he ever committed acts of supervillainy?

"Yeah, of course not." answered J. Jonah Jameson. But he wasn't too trusting of superheroes. Least of all Spider-Man. Though Honeybee seemed alright. She was as sweet as honey, as the name implied.

It did not take long for Honeybee to hear about this new villainess.

It seemed that evil was once again troubling New York City.

Well, she wasn't going to let evil win if she had anything to say about it.

She realized the fire was the work of a supervillainess.

"This is the fourth supervillain I've fought." noted Honeybee. Or had she lost count?

"Ah, you're the superheroine I've been hearing about. Let's fight!" exclaimed Firebomb. She was looking forward to that. It was the perfect time for her new powers.

"Sure." nodded Honeybee.

Honeybee's bees began to swarm around Firebomb, but she burned them away.

"I could become a pest exterminator." noted Firebomb. After all, it wasn't hard for her to produce smoke. Alternatively, she could become a beekeeper…if she could avoid burning the bees.

"Wouldn't that be legal?" questioned Honeybee.

"I could do legal things, but the way I see it, the law can't touch me!" shouted the fire user.

"I can touch you." pointed out MJ.

Honeybee tried to punch Firebomb, but she was too hot.

"Oww! My hand!" exclaimed Honeybee. It reminded her of the time that she made her shower too hot. Hopefully Peter Parker didn't think about her in the shower too much.

"If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen…of Firebomb!" exclaimed Firebomb.

"It looks like hand-to-hand combat will not work." noted Honeybee. Not for someone who could raise their body temperature that high, it was like punching the Sandman, only more dangerous.

"I'll build a wax shield to defend us!" shouted one of the bees.

He built a shield made out of wax.

"All done!" exclaimed a bee.

"I don't think that's going to work." pointed out Honeybee.

"Huh?" asked the bee.

Firebomb tossed a fireball, and the wax shield melted.

Unfortunately, wax was not fireproof.

"It worked for Electro!" pointed out the soldier. It was shockproof, at least.

"Well, this is an uphill battle." noted Honeybee.

How was she supposed to win?

And did she have the time to figure it out? She could think quickly, but still.

"Hahahahaha! You don't stand a chance against me! Nothing can stop me now!" shouted Firebomb. Not even Honeybee. And definitely not the fuzz.

Heck, she didn't think that Spider-Man himself could stop her.

Suddenly, it began to rain.

"I should have checked the weather channel." remarked the fiery supervillain. Sunny weather suited her perfectly, but rainy weather was another story.

Sure enough, her flames began to sizzle.

"You were saying?" asked Honeybee.

"Well, this is perfect! I can't light a fire in these conditions!" remarked Firebomb. It would be like trying to light a match underwater. You just couldn't do it.

"Note to self-when dealing with Firebomb, look for a source of water." noted Honeybee. Or maybe she could call the fire department. It would take time for them to arrive on the scene though…and since her bees couldn't see red too well, the fire truck might hit them. The first option was probably better.

The authorities came to arrest Firebomb, and put her in a cell with a sprinkler above it.

"And here I thought my powers were awesome." pouted Firebomb. They had such a crippling weakness.

So much for them.

Oddly enough, Honeybee still got credit for her capture.

She was popular before, but now that she was a superheroine she was extremely popular.

The next day, Honeybee saw Spider-Man fighting the Lizard.

"I shall destroy mankind!" exclaimed the Lizard. They sure weren't imprisoning any more reptiles in a zoo. Maybe he would make the zoo his first target today.

"Would you be so kind not to destroy man?" asked Peter.

"You won't stop me this time! I have support!" shouted the lizard. He was prepared for a fight with Spider-Man. After all, they had fought before. He remembered losing to him because he couldn't stand the cold.

As usual, he had support from reptiles. Contrary to popular belief, there were not crocodiles in the sewers. But he still knew where he could find them.

"Would you like some help?" asked Honeybee. The way she saw it, Spider-Man was kind of outnumbered. The fight would be a lot more even if she lended a hand.

Spider-Man nodded. He wasn't sure about his chances of taking the Lizard alone. He didn't see any reptile weaknesses that he could exploit.

"You might have support, but I shall still win!" exclaimed the Lizard.

The reptiles began to approach the two.

Fortunately, Honeybee's honey worked well in restraining the reptiles.

It wasn't as potent as Spider-Man's webs, but there was no danger of it running out, either.

"My reptiles! What happened?" asked the Lizard. Where had all that honey come from?

"Csn you hold him still for me? You're stronger than I am." asked Spider-Man. And he didn't want to risk dropping the antidote. He made sure to bring it with him whenever he went to fight the Lizard.

Honeybee nodded and restrained the lizardman…with her bare hands.

"You're stronger than Spider-Man!" exclaimed the Lizard.

Unfortunately, this made it over twice as hard for him to escape the grapple.

And it gave Spider-Man enough time to inject the antidote into the reptile.

He turned back to Dr. Curt Connors once again.

"Wait, is that Dr. Curt Connors?" asked Honeybee. She happened to work for him, just as Peter worked at the Daily Bugle.

"Yeah, it is. I'm afraid one of his experiments went terribly wrong." explained Spider-Man. He tried to regrow his arm, but he ended up doing more than that.

"Oh dear." spoke MJ. At least she had undone his transformation.

"Can you keep this a secret? He's very sensitive about being a monster." asked Spidey. Some of the time, anyway.

"I have a secret identity, so yes!" answered Honeybee.

One of the bees seemed worried about something.

"What's wrong?" questioned the superheroine.

"Whenever we see Spider-Man fighting one of his villains, a new villain is added to our rogues gallery!" exclaimed a bee. They already had Psychotic, Professor Squid, and now Firebomb.

"You're right. We need to be prepared for a similar villain showing up. We weren't prepared the last time." pointed out Honeybee.

Though if she encountered Firebomb again, she would know how to fight her.

"What should we do?" asked a bee.

"We don't know whether it will be another reptile or not, so the best thing we can do is train." suggested Honeybee. Perhaps they could hit the gym.

"We're going to ride a train?" questioned the bug.

"Well, we might someday. But I was thinking about working out." explained the bee. The treadmill sounded nice, though she would have to be careful not to break it.

Why not see if she could increase her strength?

"Oh. Ok!" exclaimed the bee.

Shortly after being turned back to normal, Dr. Curt Connors returned to his work.

It was unfortunate that he shapeshifted into a monster, but at least he had someone that could help him if that happened.

"Can you help us, Doctor? Our daughter suffers from muscle atrophy in her legs. She wishes to walk like her peers." asked a young woman.

Her name was Mrs. Goldblum.

It would be a dream come true for her. No longer would she have to live a life dependent from others. Now she could be independent.

"I would love that." said the daughter. Walking was something people took for granted. Her name was Bonnie.

"I'm not sure. The last time I did an experiment it didn't turn out so well." pointed out Doctor Connors. It had resulted in a threat to mankind itself.

"Please? Well make you rich!" exclaimed the woman. She happened to be part of a rich family. Though no amount of money could make up for her husband's death. She appreciated the life insurance company being so generous though.

Since he didn't want to risk creating another dangerous reptile, he decided he would not use his research on reptiles to cure the muscle atrophy.

So he turned to his mammal research instead.

He had been studying bears. He knew how strong they were.

So he decided he was going to make a bear serum.

He considered testing it on himself, but he wasn't sure how it would react to his lizard DNA. And a lizard and bear hybrid could be potentially unstoppable, even for Spider-Man.

And he wasn't going to use one of his peers as guinea pigs. That would be wrong. At least, not without their permission. And without knowing the risks involved.

He decided to tell Mrs. Goldblum the good news.

"Mrs. Goodblum! I have good news! I managed to finish the serum! However-" exclaimed Dr. Connors.

"That's fantastic! I'll take it!" shouted Mrs. Goodblum. At long last, her daughter's woes were over. She could leave the wheelchair behind.

Dr. Connors sighed. He was about to tell her it wasn't tested yet. Though he wasn't sure who he should test it on. Spider-Man was off the table given that he already had arachnid DNA in his veins.

And so was Honeybee, for a similar reason.

Bonnie and her mother arrived at the lab in two shakes of a lamb's tail. Perhaps not even Honeybee herself would have gotten there that fast.

On the lighter side, Bonnie loved the taste of the serum.

"It tastes like honey!" exclaimed Bonnie. She wasn't expecting that, but she didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

She had always been fond of honey.

MJ quickly noticed that Bonnie was walking once again, shortly after she went to school.

Kylie had teased her for being in a wheelchair. Whenever she found an opportunity to insult people, she took it.

It was a pleasant surprise to see her on her feet.

MJ suspected that Kylie was Psychotic. They both had the same personality.

For a while, it seemed like everything was fine.

But as the days went by, Bonnie started to act strange.

She started developing a craving for fish.

And she started going on nature walks…though to be honest, she didn't mind nature to begin with.

And for some reason, she felt sleeping in a cave was very comfortable.

What was going on?

She was about to find out.

One day, when she went to the store to get some delicious honey, she suddenly began to transform.

You guessed it, she was turning into a bear.

A sentient one.

If you were wondering what bear she was turning into, it was a grizzly bear. The most well-known one, possibly.

Though if she lived in a cold climate or in China, things might be different. The serum was adaptive to a degree.

"Humanity has hunted bears for too long! Now they shall have their revenge!" exclaimed Bonnie, who was now….The Bear. No longer was it going to be bear hunting season. Now it was human hunting season.

At his office, Dr. Connors began to feel very bad. Though he wasn't changing into a monster this time.

"Why do I get the feeling I created another monster?" asked Dr. Curt Connors. History had a habit of repeating itself. He heard that a scientist had become Professor Squid, just as Otto Octavius had become Doctor Octopus. Wasn't his name Edward Squilliam?

Sure, he was rich now, but money didn't buy happiness. Not when his science was causing chaos.

Well, he did his best not to create another beast.

Just in case, he would create an antidote to the serum.

If the experiment had gone wrong, Honeybee would want to use it.

Or maybe Spider-Man if he was available.

When it was ready, he would let Honeybee know.

Oh no! It looks like Curt Connors has created a monster! Again!

Well, maybe he can help our heroes reverse it.

If Connor's transformation is reversible, why not Bonnie's?

And yes, the reason why Honeybee didn't do well against Firebomb is because I didn't want to make an invincible heroine.

People do enjoy Honeybee, though. I could probably write for Marvel comics myself. But I can't speak to Stan Lee from beyond the grave.

Oddly enough Invisible Woman once had the opposite problem. But Stan Lee fixed that. Did I fix Honeybee?