Spider-Man Mayhem

[Third Person's PoV] 

"Alright, everyone, you know what to do," Spider-Man said through their comms.

"Yeah, yeah," Felicia sighed. "We'll be sure to stay sneaky so all the attention's on the Fantastic Four."

"You guys made sure to destroy their machinery, right?" Spider-Man asked.

"Yeah, don't worry," Nightwing replied. "Ben and I took care of the excavation units, and Johnny melted the rest for good measure."

"The reporters are gathered near the sinkhole that the earthquake created. The Fantastic Four needs to come up with the guy responsible. It'll boost your image for your debut," Spider-Man explained.

"I really don't like this," Susan grumbled. "We weren't even the ones who took him down. It feels wrong taking someone else's credit."

"You're not taking my credit if I'm willingly giving it to you," Spider-Man countered lightly.

"Alright, alright... I'm about to lift everyone up now," Susan said with a sigh.

She glanced up toward the hole in the ceiling where sunlight poured in. The other three stood nearby, with Ben hoisting the unconscious Mole Man over his shoulder.

Susan narrowed her eyes in concentration. A force field shimmered into existence in front of her, the spherical bubble flattening into a solid platform.

"Alright, everyone, get on," she instructed, her voice strained as she stepped onto the platform.

Ben tested it cautiously with one foot. When he felt it hold his weight, he climbed on, followed by Johnny and Reed.

Susan lifted her hand, and the platform began to rise. Johnny swayed side to side, humming what sounded like elevator music.

"Johnny, if you're trying to hum elevator music, you're doing it wrong. That's Jeopardy," Spider-Man's voice crackled through the comm.

"Eh? Seriously?" Johnny replied, mid-hum.

"You two… please," Susan gritted out, beads of sweat forming on her brow. "If you distract me, I might drop all of you."

Reed shot Susan a worried glance, then looked up to see they were halfway to the surface. "You're doing great. We're almost there."

Susan's hands trembled under the pressure. Sweat trickled down her face, and a thin line of blood began to seep from her nose.

"I… I don't know how much longer I can hold this!" she gasped.

"Just a few more seconds! We're almost there!" Reed encouraged.

As they neared the surface, the force field beneath them flickered, becoming unstable. The moment the platform broke through the hole, Ben and the others jumped off just as the construct dissipated.

Susan's legs buckled, but Reed caught her before she hit the ground. She was hunched over, gasping for air, as she wiped the blood from her nose.

"Look over there!" a female reporter shouted, pointing at them. "Are you getting this, Tom?! Four individuals just emerged from the sinkhole! Let's see if we can get closer and ask some questions."

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Martha? One of them's a rock monster, and the other is literally on fire. They might be from the center of the Earth!"

"Well, we won't know unless we ask. Now come on!" Martha said enthusiastically, dragging her cameraman along.

"Excuse me, you four! Would you mind answering a few questions—"

"Why, certainly!" Johnny said, flying forward and extinguishing his flames to reveal his smirking face. "What do you want to know, beautiful? My phone number? Or perhaps you want to skip the pleasantries and go on a date?"

Martha blushed at his forwardness but quickly regained her composure. "No, I have questions about what happened here! What can you tell us?" She thrust the microphone toward him.

Johnny snatched the mic and grinned at the camera. "Well, you see, we were hanging out with our good friend Spider-Man and his team when we heard about this massive earthquake. Knowing people were in danger, my team and I jumped into action alongside Spidey to handle the situation."

Martha snatched the microphone back, giving him a look. "So, you're friends with Spider-Man? Does that mean you're superheroes too, working with his team?"

Johnny snatched the mic again, undeterred. "Even though Spider-Man and I are best buds—To the point he even considers me his mentor—we're an independent group. We're not officially tied to Spidey and his crew."

"Mentor?" Spider-Man muttered under his breath. "I'm so going to kill him when this is over."

Spider-Man could hear his team cackling with laughter through the comms.

Martha snatched her microphone back with a glare. "I see, I see... And may I ask for your names, then? And the name of that... thing?" She hesitated, glancing nervously at Ben.

"THING?! A THING?! WHY DON'T I SHOW YOU A THING OR TWO!!" Ben roared, his rocky fists clenching as he took a step forward.

"Ben! Stop!" Reed and Susan both grabbed his arms, holding him back as Martha and Tom recoiled in fear, stumbling a few steps away.

Seizing the opportunity, Johnny snatched the microphone from Martha's trembling hands with a cheeky grin.

"Would you stop doing that!" Martha snapped, her irritation quickly overpowering her fear.

"I'll do the honors of introducing us!" Johnny declared, puffing out his chest with pride.

"Flame on!" With a fiery whoosh, Johnny ignited, flames dancing across his body—but carefully avoiding the microphone, which he subconsciously kept cool.

"I am known as The Human Torch! Remember it well! Ladies—and only ladies—may call me just Torch~," he added with a playful wink, acting as if he were hosting his own talk show.

Striding over to Susan, he gestured grandly. "And this right here is my sister... The Invisible Girl!"

"Girl?" Susan repeated, narrowing her eyes dangerously. "And when exactly did we agree on these names? We never had a debrief about this."

Completely ignoring her, Johnny marched over to Reed. "This genius is the brain and leader of our team, the man who made all of this possible—Mr. Fantastic!"

Then, turning to Ben with exaggerated jazz hands, Johnny announced, "And you got his name right in one, beautiful! Meet The Thing!!!"

"Dammit, Johnny!!" Ben growled, his rocky face contorting in frustration. "If that name sticks, I'm snuffing you out like a candle, you hear me?!"

Waving dismissively towards Ben, Johnny quipped, "Don't mind him. He may look like that, but underneath all that rock and anger, he's just a lovable teddy bear!"

"Now then, as I said, we're a team independent from Spider-Man and his crew. We are... The Fantastic Four!" Johnny proclaimed dramatically.

With a final flourish, Johnny handed the microphone back to Martha and blasted into the sky, leaving a trail of flames behind. Tom quickly tilted his camera upwards, capturing Johnny as he traced a massive number "4" in the sky before swooping back down, extinguishing his flames as he landed gracefully in front of them.

Martha blinked, recovering from the spectacle, and moved past Johnny with purpose. "Now then, Mr. Fantastic, may we ask if you know the cause of this sudden earthquake that struck New York?"

Reed's expression turned serious as he nodded. "We do. The earthquake was man-made—by that man over there." He pointed toward Ben, who still carried the unconscious Mole Man over his shoulder.

Ben carefully set Mole Man down on the ground, and Tom zoomed in with his camera, focusing on the villain's battered form.

"Man-made?!" Martha repeated in shock. "Do you know what his goals were? What he was trying to achieve?"

"Yes," Susan interjected softly. All eyes turned to her. As the camera and microphone pointed in her direction, she grew self-conscious—and vanished.

Gasps echoed around them as Susan's voice, still audible, continued. "He called himself Mole Man. His plan was to plunge this city—and possibly the whole world—into darkness. He believed that in the absence of light, only he would thrive, ruling over us all."

While the Fantastic Four remained under the media's spotlight, none of the reporters noticed four shadowy figures emerging from the sinkhole behind them. Silent and undetected, Nightwing and the rest of the team slipped away to rendezvous with Spider-Man, who waited nearby.

"Aria, have you contacted—" Spider-Man began, but Bruce cut him off.

"Don't worry. I've already informed the FBI and special forces. They should be arriving any minute," Bruce replied.

With everyone accounted for, Spider-Man said, "I'll be back soon," before vanishing into thin air.

"What? Where are you going?" Gwen asked, but he was already gone.

"Father is retrieving the bodies lost underground," Aria explained quietly.

---

Later...

The Fantastic Four watched as the Mole Man was restrained, shackled, and tossed into the back of a black van emblazoned with FBI on the side.

But before the agents could turn to question them, a familiar humming filled the air. The Weaver materialized near the sinkhole, its sleek hatch opening to reveal Nightwing.

"Come on! Get in, now!" Nightwing called out.

Without hesitation, the Fantastic Four scrambled aboard. As soon as they were inside, the hatch sealed shut, and The Weaver rocketed into the sky, vanishing into the clouds.

"Hey, look! What's that?" Tom asked, pointing toward the sinkhole.

Martha followed his gaze as Tom zoomed in with his camera. Just beyond the sinkhole's edge, wrapped in silky, web-like cocoons, were the bodies of the deceased—mummified in spider silk.

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