Franklin POV
I'd been in the lab for hours.
Cures lined the worktables, data screens, stabilized samples, and finalized formulas. I'd already finished several of them.
Breast cancer.
Brain cancer.
Colon cancer.
Lung cancer.
Pancreatic cancer.
Prostate cancer.
And that was just the beginning.
I wasn't done yet. There were countless variations, subtypes, and mutations; cancer wasn't just one thing. But making the cures? That part was easy.
The hard part was everything that came after.
Distribution.
Even as a hero, I knew how this would look. A guy with a watch claiming he'd cured cancer overnight. People wouldn't line up; they'd hesitate. Question it. Worry about side effects. About being test subjects.
That's why I said I might need the Justice League.
They had trust. Credibility. Faces the world already believed in. With their help, I could get the cures out safely, publicly, and for free. Obviously.
But then there was the other problem.
The government.
Not all of it, just the parts that mattered. The corrupt pieces. The ones tied to insurance companies and healthcare giants. The ones that made obscene amounts of money off people staying sick.
They weren't going to like this.
Free cancer cures didn't fit their business model.
And I had a feeling… once this went public, things were going to get complicated fast.
Most likely, they'd want to seize it and sell it at whatever price they decided.
"Franklin, can you please come to the main room?" Ava's voice came over the intercom, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Okay, I'm on my way," I replied.
I stood up and headed for the main room, already annoyed. I swear, if there are any new people in the base, I'm losing it.
When I walked in, everyone was crowded around MJ2.
As I got closer, I saw it, a white, sludge-like head connected to her, floating just above her shoulder. I immediately knew what it was.
"A symbiote?" I said, loud enough for the room to hear.
"See?" MJ2 said smugly to Ned. "Told you he'd know."
Ned groaned and handed her twenty bucks, clearly disappointed.
I stepped closer. "Yeah. I know the species, and I know how dangerous they can be." I looked directly at MJ. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Yes? Why wouldn't I be?" MJ2 asked.
"Because," I said, eyes never leaving the symbiote, "symbiotes can take control of their hosts. They mess with emotions, thoughts, and rewrite who you are."
I was standing directly in front of her now… and the symbiote.
"And I really hope, for its sake, it isn't hurting my friend," I continued, my voice dropping, losing its warmth. "Because that's a very, very dangerous thing to do in my presence."
I know not all symbiotes are evil, but I do not recognize this one at all, so it can very well be like Carnage or Riot.
I hadn't noticed the room go completely still until I saw Ava and Yolanda staring at me.
"Whoa, whoa, chill," MJ2 said quickly. "Crystal's cool. Seriously. Lose the scary face, you're actually freaking me out."
"What?" I frowned. "I don't have a scary face."
"Oh, thank God, he's back to normal," Kamala said with visible relief. "I haven't seen that face in forever. It actually surprised me."
"Yeah," Ned added. "The only other time I remember was when Flash got into that fight. What was that about again?"
Betty didn't even hesitate.
"Flash was messing with some new students," she said, way too pleased to explain. "They don't go to our school anymore, but their names were Andy and Lauren. Andy was quiet, crazy good at art. Lauren was popular. One day, Flash started picking on her brother. She stepped in, and Flash turned on her. Nothing physical, just insults."
She looked right at me.
Franklin heard about it. Since he was friends with Andy, he snapped. The fight was worse than any of the others. Flash went to the hospital, and Franklin walked away with bloody fists and a face that was just… pure anger."
I sighed. "You are really enjoying this, super brain, aren't you?"
"You have no idea," Betty said, smiling.
"Well, we can come back to whether or not I have a scary face later," I said.
"You do," everyone replied instantly.
I sighed. "Regardless, I want to head to the medical wing and run some tests on you, MJ, just to make sure Crystal isn't doing anything she's not supposed to."
I glanced at the symbiote. "And if I find anything I don't like, Crystal's getting evicted. I promise it'll hurt you," I nodded at the symbiote," But MJ won't feel a thing."
The symbiote's eyes widened.
Definitely fear.
"Scary face again," Peter muttered.
"Let's just go," I said.
We moved as a group to the medical wing. Once inside, I had MJ lie back on one of the tables and ran a full scan over her body.
To my surprise and relief, Crystal wasn't doing anything harmful.
If anything, it was making MJ stronger.
"Do you feel anything different?" I asked. "Besides the strength?"
"Well… not really," MJ said. "But I am way hungrier than usual. And I've got this weird craving for chocolate."
"That tracks," I said. "Crystal's boosting your body, which means you're burning more energy. More calories needed." I paused. "As for the chocolate, phenethylamine."
Everyone stared at me.
"It's a chemical found in chocolate," I continued. "Symbiotes crave it during early-stage bonding." I sighed. "I'll synthesize something with higher levels. Just to be safe."
"Safe from what?" MJ asked.
"I don't want you developing a craving for brains."
"What?" MJ said.
"Phenethylamine is also found in brains," Peter added helpfully.
"Oh," MJ said slowly. "Uh-oh."
The room went quiet.
"'Uh-oh?'" I asked. "What do you mean uh-oh?"
"Crystal just told me something important," MJ said carefully. "One of the symbiotes that came with her is… technically a child. It probably doesn't know any better. So unless it finds a good host, someone stable, it's very likely to start eating people's heads."
The room froze.
"…Wait," I said slowly. "You said one of them. How many came with her?"
"Not counting Crystal?" MJ replied. "Three."
I rubbed my face. "Does she know where they are?"
"No. They all split up to find hosts. I honestly can't tell you their locations."
"Okay," I said, forcing myself to stay calm. "That's fine. I can work with that. I'll build a tracker, something that scans specifically for symbiote biology. Give me a little time and I'll—"
The alarms blared.
"Seriously?" I muttered. "Can I deal with one crisis at a time, please?"
I turned to my console and pulled up the alert. Every major news outlet was already covering it.
Avengers Tower.
A blue energy portal hovered above it, crackling with power.
"Okay," I said, reading the data. "There's a blue spatial portal over Avengers Tower. It's been there for a while, and the energy output is… high." I exhaled. "But it's the Avengers. I'm sure they can handle it. I need to deal with this first."
"Are you sure?" Beth asked. "The Avengers did need your help with the whole Ultron situation."
I looked at her. "Trust me, I'd love to help. But they've been doing this longer than I have. And we've got our own problem right here."
I glanced at MJ… then at Crystal.
"No offense," I said, "but symbiotes are extremely dangerous. They can kill dozens of people if they want to. And one of them is a child, a kid that doesn't know right from wrong, doesn't understand limits, and is running around with no idea who its host is."
I clenched my fist.
"That's not something I can ignore."
"But you do know you don't have to do this alone, right?" Betty said.
I looked at her.
"You told all of us your secret so we could be a team," she continued. "A lot of us already have powers, or know magic. You can go help the Avengers while I build the device. We'll find the symbiotes and figure out who the hosts are. You don't have to carry everything by yourself."
I thought it over.
Then I looked around the room, everyone nodding, already on board.
She was right.
We needed to start acting like a team. And I needed to actually lean on them instead of trying to do everything alone.
"Thank you, Betty," I said. "You're right."
I activated my armor.
"I've got a feeling I'm going to hear that a lot from now on," Betty said with a small smile.
"Alright," I said, shifting into leader mode. "Here's the plan. Betty builds the tracker and locks onto the symbiotes. Peter and Cindy track them down and identify the hosts. Once they're confirmed, Ned and Beth will run background checks on the host to make sure they are stable."
Everyone nodded.
"Good plan," Kamala said, pumping a fist. "Let's go, Secret Avengers!"
"NO!" half of us shouted at the same time.
"Let's call ourselves Young Justice," Ned said.
"NO," the other half of the room answered immediately.
I sighed. "Okay… I know how this usually goes. Where's Cindy B? She helped us deal with this kind of problem last time."
The room went quiet.
Too quiet.
"Cindy and Courtney are… taking a little break from the team," Yolanda said carefully.
"What?" I frowned. "Why?"
"It's kind of private," Ava added quickly. "And a really long story. Just let us handle it."
I looked between the two of them, still confused… but I had a pretty good idea what was going on.
"We'll talk later," I said.
Then I turned and headed straight for the teleporter.
Tony Stark POV
"Anything yet?" Nat asked.
"Sorry, no," I said, eyes locked on my screens. "Same readings as before. I still don't know what this thing is or why it showed up out of nowhere." I frowned. "And whatever it is, its power signature is getting stronger."
"Alright," Steve said. "I'm ordering an evacuation of the tower and the surrounding area."
"Probably for the best," I muttered.
I stared at the data again, annoyed. Bruce, Hank, and I had been studying this thing for hours, and we still had no idea what we were dealing with. A massive blue energy portal is hovering over Avengers Tower, defying every model we ran.
It was frustrating as hell.
Then, a green portal snapped open in the middle of the lab.
Out stepped Omni.
"Hey, guys," he said casually. "Heard you might need some help."
"Hey, Omni. Long time no see," I said dryly. "Unless you can explain why a giant wormhole-looking portal popped out of nowhere, I don't think you can help us."
"Okay," Omni said calmly. "Give me a second."
"What—" I started.
Before I could finish, Omni activated the Omnitrix and slammed the dial.
A green flash burst through the lab and vanished just as fast.
Standing where Omni had been was now a tall, blue humanoid alien with an oversized head, a strange suit, a cape, and absurdly long shoulder pads. The Omnitrix symbol glowed on his chest.
"Big Brain!" he shouted.
Image here
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered.
"Not my smartest alien," Omni said quickly, "but he'll do."
He marched straight over, pushed past me like I wasn't there, and took over the monitors. His fingers flew across the keys.
Every computer in the lab suddenly lit up, code scrolling, systems syncing. Somehow, he'd networked all of them at once.
A few seconds later, he looked up.
"Okay," he said. "This isn't an ordinary portal. This phenomenon didn't originate in this universe; it's from another multiverse. The reason it's growing stronger is that it's charging up."
"Charging up for what?" Clint asked.
"To pull things in," Omni replied. "Once it reaches peak energy, the portal should destabilize and disperse."
Clint frowned. "Pull things in… like the people of New York?"
"On a smaller scale," Omni said thoughtfully. "Most likely the highest concentration of energy near it, so the top floors."
He paused.
"…Which means us."
Before anyone could react, a deep, thunderous boom echoed through the tower.
The portal flared.
I looked down just in time to see my hands breaking apart, turning into blue particles of light.
"What the—"
It wasn't just me.
All of us were dissolving, bodies unraveling into glowing fragments, yanked upward by an invisible force.
No time to fight it. No time to think.
In a blink, we were torn free from Avengers Tower and dragged screaming into the massive blue portal.