Chapter 147: Truth Revealed
"First, Valeria." He knelt down and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Congratulations. You have been promoted from human to metahuman, or what you know as mutants and Inhumans."
"What?!" Valeria and Franklin shouted together.
"You have superpowers. To awaken them, you need either a strong emotional trigger or to mature naturally. The first option is not exactly recommended, while the second means waiting until you are older. Fortunately, there is a third option, which is the one I am going to use now."
He said this while taking several chemicals and mixing them with other substances before placing the resulting compound inside a machine and waiting.
Throughout the process, he remained aware of Valeria, who was still in shock. When the machine finished, he took the freshly made red pill and approached her.
"Take this. It will accelerate the awakening of your powers."
He handed the pill to Valeria, and she swallowed it almost automatically.
"You might have them tomorrow, if not within today."
"Thank you," she murmured before hugging him tightly, with Franklin quickly joining her.
"You are welcome," he said, returning the hug. "Well, second piece of news. You no longer need to keep planning or trying to gain Richards’ affection or approval."
"And why do you say that?" Franklin asked.
"Because that is related to the third piece of news. But first, who usually performs the tests on you?"
"A robot made by Dad, or sometimes Dad himself, and very rarely Mom."
Reed, you son of a bitch. You are lucky you are not here.
"So what is the third great piece of news?"
"Congratulations, children. You have ascended from Franklin Benjamin Richards Storm and Valeria Meghan Richards Storm to Franklin Benjamin Parker Storm and Valeria Meghan Parker Storm."
His words left both children in complete shock.
"Come here. Take these."
He extended several sheets toward them, and each child took one with trembling hands and began to read. As they did, tears slowly began flowing from their eyes.
"I always had this question whenever I saw the two of you in different dimensions alongside Peter. You both looked far too similar."
He carefully and honestly explained why he believed they were Peter’s children rather than Reed’s.
"Franklin, when I look at you, I see the impulsive and adventurous side of both me and Peter, along with my addiction to action, adventure, and video games. Not to mention that, even in this short amount of time, I have noticed certain facial and physical features of Peter in you. How do I know this? Because I already know Peter."
Not forgetting that I sometimes get glimpses of other Peters when I sleep.
"Valeria, I see a lot of Susan in you, and that is fantastic."
He ruffled Franklin’s hair, making the boy smile and laugh, then gently wiped away Valeria’s tears with his thumb.
"When I look at you, I see several things that remind me of my Susan. And from what May told me about me when he was a child, you resemble him quite a bit at that age.
In one of the many dimensions I observed, there was even one where you lived with Peter and Susan as a family. That was where my theory began...that you could be Peter’s children. Across a large number of dimensions, different versions of Valeria and Franklin shared similar traits. Some had dark hair, others brown, but the resemblance remained."
"Thank you. This is the best gift we have ever received," Franklin said before hugging him again.
Valeria immediately did the same.
"Even though I would like to continue this hug, we have to stick to the plan. Keep the papers and give them to your mother later. That could set things in motion for a much better future. Also, tell her that Reed was the one performing the tests."
He mentioned this, making the children finally realize why he had asked that question earlier. Franklin’s hands immediately began to glow with anger.
"RICHAAAAARD!"
Maybe it is just me, but I swear I heard someone shout from several floors away.
"Calm down and let us continue with the plan. Then you can deal with the Plastic-cum-Elastic Man."
"Okay," they said with barely concealed fury.
"What is next?" Franklin asked, a little calmer.
"Tell me, Link. Are there any recordings of the other Peter? The dangerous version?"
"Yes."
"Show me."
Franklin brought up several recordings. For the next five minutes, Peter watched footage of Otto, carefully analyzing his speech patterns, mannerisms, rhythm, and everything else.
"Why are you doing that?" Franklin asked.
"Analyzing his speech patterns for the next part of the plan."
"Why are you doing it?" Valeria corrected.
"I plan to make a live recording claiming that I came back to life by taking control of a clone. Well, I will not say exactly that. I will say something else."
"Was there a clone?"
"Yes, but I already took care of it. There is no possibility of Otto coming back."
"Well, that is good, is it not?"
"It is. Let us go to the video room."
They left the lab and walked toward the video room.
"The plan is to have me pretend to be Otto and reveal that he was Spider-Man all along, making everyone believe it because of the mind-swap theory Peter was already discussing."
"Oh. I understand," Valeria said.
"I originally planned to do only that, but I also discovered that the clone possessed Peter’s memories, so I changed the plan slightly to accommodate this new development."
"In what way?" Franklin asked as they entered the video room.
"Well, I plan to show several fragments of Peter’s life. I edited some of them so that his name and face cannot be heard or seen. I will show the world just how powerful and capable Spider-Man truly is, so that everyone who treated him like a weakling and a buffoon will be forced to see him from a very different perspective."
"It might not work because of a certain mustachioed journalist," Valeria said.
"I already took care of him too."
"That sounds like you killed him," Franklin said.
"I do not kill in places that are not mine," he replied with a small white lie. "I framed him for buying drugs."
"WHAT?!" Valeria and Franklin shouted together.
"Do not worry. That is the least of your concerns. The man is hiding the fact that he was connected to a suicide. Tomorrow, everything will become public, and he will finally face the consequences."
"That sounds a little better."
"A little. Just a little," Valeria agreed.
"Getting back to the topic of memories, how strong do you think your father is?"
"We know he is strong, but not that...."
"Strong like Hulk or Thor," Franklin finished.
"That is where you are wrong. In one of the memories, Peter fought Hulk until he turned him back into Banner using nothing but willpower, ingenuity, cunning, and strength."
"WHAT?!" they shouted in disbelief.
"Yes. Now tell me, how much do two train cars weigh?"
"Well, a train car can weigh between 30 and 80 tons," Valeria said.
"Two would be between 60 and 160 tons, but with cargo...." Franklin added.
"Possibly between 90 and 180 tons," Valeria concluded.
"Well, that is what Peter carried at one point in his life. Not to mention that he also supported a 42-story building by himself," he said, making both children’s mouths fall open in surprise.
"He also faced Juggernaut, who had defeated him before, and the Sinister Six, a group of villains capable of threatening teams far above normal street level."
"One of the memories even showed Peter lifting Mjolnir and accidentally firing a blast that struck Stark’s minibar. It was fortunate no one was in the tower that day and that nothing caught fire or exploded. After that, Peter stayed away from Mjolnir for everyone’s safety."
"Dad was able to lift Thor’s hammer?"
"Yes. Which makes him a future candidate for consideration by Asgard."
Maybe that will attract certain interesting parties to Peter.
"God. That is a lot of information," Valeria said.
"And you do not even know that Peter once stopped a moving jet."
"We need a little time to process everything," Franklin said while massaging his forehead.
"Relax. I have some things to do, so take all the time you need."
He said this while beginning his work in the video room.
After the children calmed down, they started helping him prepare everything. By the time they finished, the final recording was set to run for approximately thirty minutes.
"Okay. Let us get started."
He put on the mask.
The camera began recording.
....