Spider Man: Duty And Loss - Chapter 73

Johnny’s Jaw almost dropped to the floor as he looked at Spider-Man across from him. “Did he just? But-But how?” Peter didn’t reply and no one else did either as they were as shocked as he was. Reed Personally was running every equation and calculation that he could think of to explain how it worked.

It only took 20 seconds before the metal that was trapping Peter’s body began to super heat itself and melt under his body. It took another 10 seconds before Peter got himself free. Falling to the ground for a second, the fire went out as he let out a puff of air.

That had taken more out of Peter than he thought it would. “Ta-da” Letting that out he began to make his way over to Ben who was still shocked from what just happened. As he got closer to his restrained friend, Peter once again said Johnny’s catch phrase.

“Flame on.” But this time instead of his whole body lighting up it was only his hands. They glowed and flickered as he reached for the metal he had to turn into slag. As he was doing this he started to explain to them how this was possible.

“Now I know you’re surprised but, one of the early things I learned about Venom was the fact he could copy powers. Personally I don’t know how he does it; I haven’t been able to research it myself. But if I had to guess he somehow takes a complete copy of your DNA sequence when he bonds with a person.”

Stopping for a second Peter gestured to Johnny. “This includes all its special properties. With that DNA he is able to give those properties to someone else he is bonded with.” Peter got back to work as the information started to sink in.

With his back turned to 3 of them he gave a conclusion. “Of course he is only able to retain the DNA for a short amount of time, unless he has perfectly bonded with a person for a long period of time. Right now the only person I know that this has happened to is; myself.”

A little bit of realization appeared in Sue’s eyes. “Wait, when Venom was still a…Villain and was trying to kill you. It wasn’t just an evil person who had the same powers. It was your powers.” Peter gave a small nod as the metal finally slopped to the floor; Ben Grimm the Thing was now free!

“Yes, but as I said before, he enhanced my powers, so he was always stronger.” Ben gave him a pat on the shoulder as they both got up and moved to the other Cells. “Well I’m glad he’s a good guy again.” ‘I like this one.’ Peter nodded at Venom’s words. ‘Me two.’

*Bang* *Bang* Using two heavy hits Ben broke Johnny’s containment cell in a few seconds as Peter got to work on Sue’s. As it was reinforced because of her abilities, Peter was burning a hole through it. *Splash* The substance that surrounded Johnny fell to the floor covering Ben, but he shrugged it off as he helped Johnny out of the cell.

Avoiding the shatter, reinforced glass on the floor, Ben helped him over to Peter before he went to help Reed. Peter just finished letting Sue out when Ben brought Reed over. Half frozen and still in bad shape, frowns came to everyone’s face.

Making sure that Sue was alright Peter moved over to help, he only had Johnny’s powers for a little while, and he would use it to the best of his abilities. Peter’s arms lit up in fire as he began to help thaw Reed out.

While he was doing that Sue got to work on cleaning up Johnny, with the substance still stuck to his body he couldn’t use his powers and they would need them.

It took another 5 minutes before everyone was about ready to go. Reed still wouldn’t be able to help in a fight, but he could walk and talk again. Sue had just finished with Johnny. Reed spoke up first. “We need to find a way out of here and where Doom is keeping the vibranium. Once we find it we need a way out of here, the Fantasti-car is out of service.”

Ben nodded at the words. “Doom’s an evil genius; he must have some type of air force. We can steal one of his planes.” Johnny brushed himself down as he tested out lighting up one of his fingers. “Yeah who knows how long it will take before they find out we’ve escaped.”

Sue’s eyes went wide as she snapped her head towards the nearest camera above them. “Damn! The cameras have been on the whole time! He might come through any second!” The fantastic four stopped whatever they were doing as they also looked at the camera.

“Flame on!” Johnny burst into flames as Sue and Ben got into a fighting position, while Reed also tried to prepare himself. They all looked towards the exit door and seemed to believe that Doom would walk through any second, along with an army of droids.

Peter wished he had a camera for second before he stood in front of the group and waved his hands. “Wait Wait! I had someone deal with the cameras.” They stilled as they looked at Peter still flapping his arms about, it was Reed who first said something.

“You have someone who can hack into and disable Doom’s systems? How? His firewalls and protection are unbreakable…I’ve tried myself.” Peter gave a small chuckle. “Yeah, Crystal is the best.” Reed raised an eyebrow. “Crystal?”

Peter still wasn’t ready to tell them the full truth. “Yeah, she’s my tech support. Helps me when I’m in trouble. She is the best in the world in my opinion, though she did say she had some trouble Hacking Doom’s tech.”

Reed looked like he was still trying to process his words, as the others started to relax, though even they were having a hard time believing him. Peter looked at them as he spread his arms out. “What did you think? I spent so long in the hero game and didn’t have some type of support?”

The Storm siblings gave him a funny look as Ben just said what they were thinking. “Yes.” Peter wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, and just rolled with it. “Not only has she hacked Doom’s tech, she has access to Wakanda’s satellite, she can point us in the right direction.”

This fact caused all of them to break out in smiles. This would save them a lot of time. As everyone else was relieved, Peter turned away from them for a second as he whispered to his comms. “You can point us in the right direction, right Crystal?”

Crystals laugh came over the comm. as she replied. “Yes Peter, I have access to all of Dooms castle. Though the more I interfere, the more likely it is for Doom to notice. His security is better than I thought. Like myself it is somehow self evolving, though at a significantly reduced rate.”

Peter gave a small nod as that fact slightly concerned him, Doom really was a world class genius. Just before Peter turned back to the rest Crystal spoke once again. “Thank you for the kind words Peter; I will always support you.” Peter smiled again as he turned back, he didn’t have to say anything for Crystal to know how much he appreciated her.

Clapping his hands to grab their attention he motioned towards the exit, which was mechanically locked. “Now let’s blow this joint. Crystal could you please unlock the door.” It was only seconds later that the door let out a beep and slowly started to open.

With his back to the opened door, Peter puffed out his chest and held his hand to his mouth, as if he was smoking something, as he spoke with a rough tone. “I love it when a plan comes together!” The other looked at him in confusion as he looked back waiting….and waiting..and waiting.

Finally he couldn’t take it anymore and let his chest deflate. “Seriously?! None of you got that reference? I was sure Ben or Reed would…You know, the A-Team, no… no?” Peter desperately looked to Johnny for support. “Come on man, I know you, you must have seen it, at least the reboot… No?”

Johnny gave him an apologetic look, but spread his hands in defeat. He had no clue what Peter was talking about. Finally Peter just shook his head in defeat as the energy left from his body, he looked like a corpse walking. “…Urhg whatever, let’s get going.” Peter sulked as they started to make their way to the dungeon exit.