Spider-Man Mayhem

[Third Person's PoV] 

Ben let out a gruff, drawing everyone's attention. "Now that you've all examined the girly's powers, can we work on me? I don't want to stay looking like a monster, you know."

"The name's Mary Jane, MJ for short," MJ interjected, not appreciating being referred to as "girly."

Reed and Peter nodded toward Ben. "Aria?" Peter called out. "Anything you can tell us about him?"

"Well... this one is a bit more complicated compared to the others," Aria began. "To state the basics and the obvious, the Cosmic Storm caused his rocky skin and enhanced his musculature, bone structure, internal organs, and soft tissues, making them significantly tougher and denser. How strong he is or how tough his defenses are isn't something I can just tell you without further testing.

However, from what I can tell, he's incredibly strong. Not just 'Daddy's strong,' lifting over 200 tons, but more like Hulk-level strong, where his strength isn't easily defined," Aria explained, before being interrupted by Johnny.

"Wait, how do you guys know the Hulk? I mean, I know you fought with him and that Abomination in Harlem, but no one knows what happened afterward. Are you saying you got along with him enough to test his strength?" Johnny asked curiously, looking around.

Reed, Susan, and even Ben looked at Peter and the others curiously.

"You guys already met the Hulk," Peter said with an amused, teasing look.

"We did?" Reed asked, confused.

Gwen shared the same expression. "Yeah, you've talked to him."

They looked at each other in confusion. Harry suppressed a laugh. "We'll give you a hint—he's in the room with us."

All their eyes widened, and as they processed the identities of everyone else in the room, they turned to the only person left.

Bruce looked away shyly. "Don't…" he pleaded, knowing what was coming.

"Come on, Hulk, say hi~" Peter encouraged.

Bruce's neck turned green as he cocked his head slightly to the side. "HELLO!" bellowed a deep, monstrous voice.

Bruce grunted. "Ugh! I hate it when you two do that!"

Peter chuckled, amused by their astonished faces.

"YOU'RE THE HULK?!" they exclaimed in disbelief.

"He's been hiding out with you guys all this time?" Reed asked in astonishment. "Have you been trying to find a way to fix him?"

"HULK DOESN'T NEED FIXING!" Bruce's neck turned green again as he retorted angrily, making Bruce growl in annoyance.

"The Hulk is almost like another entity within Bruce. Instead of getting rid of him, we're helping them coexist," Peter explained.

"I see…" Reed muttered, surprised and a bit apprehensive.

Bruce stood awkwardly, uncomfortable with being the center of attention. "Can we move on and continue with the examination?"

"Right, sorry about that. Let's continue." Reed looked up and asked hesitantly, unsure if he would be heard. "You were saying… Aria?"

"That's Ms. Aria to you, mister," Aria retorted sassily.

"Forgive me, Ms. Aria," Reed responded respectfully, making Aria feel bad for joking around.

"I'm just kidding," she sighed. "You can call me Aria. Anyways, back to Benjamin Grimm's case. He's a bit... bizarre," she muttered, almost to herself.

"Great, just what I need, to be called weird by a computer," Ben grunted roughly.

"First, I apologize if I may have offended you. I meant no disrespect. Secondly, I'm more than just a computer—I'm a highly sophisticated A.I., so have some respect," Aria huffed importantly.

Ben let out an unapologetic grunt, and Aria continued.

"As I was saying, his state is a bizarre one. Well, for starters, he's... he's practically immortal," she said slowly and carefully.

"WHAT?!" Reed, Susan, and Johnny shouted in unison. Ben was too shocked to retort immediately.

"THE HELL YOU MEAN I'M IMMORTAL?!" Ben bellowed loudly.

Reed, after calming down, quickly understood. "His skin, basically his whole body, is now composed of a rocky substance. Rocks aren't alive, so they don't age and die like normal cells do, making him... immortal. Am I correct in saying this?" Reed asked Aria.

"You are. You see, Benjamin Grimm's rocks aren't just a shell or an exoskeleton—it's his skin. The cosmic storm mutated his skin to turn into, well, rocks. However, it wasn't just his skin; as I previously stated, his insides are also strengthened," Aria explained.

"Well, could I at least return to normal?! If I could, why haven't I?" Ben pushed past the fact that he was immortal, not wanting to think about the implications.

"Well, no, you can't—" Aria replied softly, a hint of pity in her voice, but before she could explain further, Ben bellowed loudly.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T?! JOHNNY HERE CAN LITERALLY TURN INTO FLAMES, YET HE'S ABLE TO TURN IT OFF! WHY ISN'T HE ON FIRE 24/7 THEN?!"

"The thing is, it's because of how your bodies mutated when faced with the cosmic storm. Johnny's cells were mutated to store energy and access that energy. Your cells, however, were mutated to be what they are now. Your cells weren't made to store your rocks like Johnny's were made to store plasma. If Johnny's cells were specifically mutated to become plasma energy, then he wouldn't have been able to turn off his flames…" Aria explained as best she could.

She then added with some pity, "I'm sorry to say, but you were just... unlucky."

"UNLUCKY?! I'M STUCK AS A MONSTER, AND THE BEST YOU CAN TELL ME IS THAT I'M UNLUCKY?!" Ben shouted with rage.

"Ben... I'm sure we'll be able to come up with a cure, a way to fix—" Reed began, trying to reassure him.

"You better!" Ben growled. "Because if I have to remain in this form for the rest of my life and be viewed as a monster, it will have been all your fault!"

"Ben, I understand that you're angry, but you can't just blame Reed—" Susan began, jumping to Reed's defense.

"Can't I?! Then tell me who it was that wanted to explore another dimension! He wasn't happy with this one, so he decided to focus on an unknown one, and now I'm stuck as a monster! So don't tell me I can't blame Reed because he's the only one responsible for this!" Ben roared angrily.

Peter then felt a hand on his shoulder and saw MJ looking at him softly. "You don't need to feel remorse; it wasn't your fault—"

"I never—" Peter interjected, but MJ cut him off.

"Peter, there's no need to lie to me. I know how you're feeling… You're blaming yourself as well. I don't need to read your mind to know. It's not your fault," MJ said softly.

Peter didn't say anything else on the matter, knowing he felt responsible for what had happened to Ben. He had known what was going to happen but didn't stop it, making him feel just as much to blame as Reed.

Ben, hearing this, froze. He turned towards Peter and, surprisingly, spoke in a softer tone than he had to either Reed or Susan. "There's no need to blame yourself, kid, because that's just what you are… a kid. Reed here is the adult who needs to take responsibility for his actions. You didn't know any better, and that's alright—you're not supposed to. That's the job of us adults," he said, emphasizing the last word loudly as he turned to Reed.

Reed opened his mouth to say something, but Ben shook his head. "If the next words out of your mouth aren't one of your super-genius solutions, I don't want to hear it," he grumbled before walking away.

"Ben," Peter called out to him with a serious expression.

"Hm?" Ben stopped to look at Peter.

"I promise to find a solution for you. You have my word—it'll fix your immortality as well. So don't overthink it," Peter said reassuringly.

"Like I said, this is the responsibility of us adults. Don't you worry about it," Ben said as he resumed walking away. However, the grimace on his face softened a bit.

"I'll go talk to him," Bruce said, handing the tablet to Reed.

"No, like Ben said, this is my fault. I need to talk to him," Reed said with a tired sigh.

Bruce shook his head. "No, you wouldn't understand. You wouldn't know what it's like to be known as, and refer to yourself as, a monster. I think out of everyone here, I'm the only one who truly understands how he feels and what he's going through."

Reed stared at Bruce, then closed his eyes and let out another sigh, this one filled with resignation. "Very well. And thank you for looking out for him."

Bruce didn't respond as he calmly walked in the direction Ben had gone.

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