Susan Storm: Lady Anti-Venom

All throughout the city, New York had become afflicted by a retroviral plague that had turned most of the populace into human sized arachnids. A plot derived by the co-ordinated attempts of one Adriana Soria, the self-proclaimed Spider Queen, and Miles Warren the Jackal. With his help, the madwoman had introduced a viral mutagen into the drinking water supply of the city, one that would have turned everyone into giant spiders. Suffice it to say, it did not take long to turn the island of Manhattan into a spider infested nightmare. It took the combined efforts of Spider-Man, the Avengers and Fantastic Four to find a cure. And with luck, a cure WAS found and distributed by air to spread across the entire island.

Reed Richards had used the anti-venom symbiote acquired from Eddie Brock to create said cure, setting it up in an aerosol launcher to be fired from the highest building in New York. The moment the device was activated, the effects were spectacular. In the span of mere minutes everyone had returned to normal. the Spider Queen, now a massive, bloated spider the size of an elephant had fallen to her and the Jackal had made his escape. Leaving the heroes to pick up the pieces. Staring at the news feeds of their part in saving the city, Reed smiled and brushed his hands clean.

“Well then, looks like it was a complete success.”

“I’ll say, Stretch.” Chuckled the Thing, smirking up at the reporter trying to get her dishevelled hair back in place as she reported the city returning to normal. “No more creepy crawlies scurrying up the building.”

“I hope Spider-Man is okay, that woman REALLY had it in for him.” Worried Susan, her arms crossed as she listened to the news feed. Showing the photograph of Adriana Soria… And what she turned into after Agent Venom finished her off. NOW? Now she was being carted away with a flatbed truck, her van sized corpse strapped down to keep her many legs bound and the truck not to rock back and forth taking the massive arachnid away to be disposed of.

A thump at the living room window drew the attention of the Fantastic Four, finding said Wall Crawler battered and bruised but relatively okay, holding the vaccine disperser slung under his arm while waving at the family to let him in.

“I think he’s good sis.”

Heading to the window and undoing the skylight, the red and blue wall crawler scurried up through the window and up the ceiling to dangle upside down from a web line.

“Hey there guys, I brought back your thing-a-majig.” Spidey coughed, shaking his head as he dropped the device to the ground with the same grace as dropping a duffle bag. “Don’t worry I’m fine, just got a sore throat… And back, and arms, and legs, and… Well, everything really.”

Stretching his arms and neck out to observe the distribution device he created, Reed inspected the storage container and found it empty. “Thank you, Spider-Man, is there anything left of the symbiote? It would be a tragedy if we didn’t have a sample to study further.”

“Probably for the best Reed. Those things are too much trouble.” Crawling up his web line and making his way back to the window, Spider-Man stayed just long enough to look back over his shoulder. “Take it from a guy who had one of those on for a while. Oh SURE, parasitic clothing sure looks fashionable. But just like mood ringworms… They fall out of fashion. See ya later.”

Jumping from the window, spider-man reaching out and swung away from the building, leaving the Four to watch as he made his exit.

“So, what’s we gonna do about that? Now that its empty.” Ben pointed to the device, seeing Susan hoist it up using her powers to create a forcefield bubble around it.

“Everyone is cured of the spider virus, so that’s good, it’s a shame none of the symbiote survived, it would have been insightful to study such an oddity of their species. Still, one must make do with what one is given.” Sighed Reed, retracting his neck and limbs back to normal. “Though, we can still use the device, for the next time we’ll need it in the foreseeable future.”

“Leave that to me dear, you’ve had a long night.” Smiled Susan, making her way down the hall with the device floating behind her.

Stepping into the lab and bringing the device down to rest on the worktable, Susan let the forcefield slip so the object could sit where she left it. Looking the table over, the Invisible Woman made a face with her hands at her sides, finding it cluttered and messy from her husband’s efforts to make the device. She looked arou8nd for anywhere else that would have been better… But the whole place was a mess.

“The trials and joys of having a genius for a husband, he can fix anything, but damn does he leave a mess behind him.”

Heading out to leave, Susan tapped her finger over her lower lip, thinking on what to make for dinner now that the crisis was over, but as soon as she reached the threshold of the door, a crash behind her snapped her attention around to find the device she brought in had fallen off the table and its container smashed open, leaving shards of glass everywhere.

“DAMMIT Reed…” She cursed to herself, looking around for a broom to clean up all the shards of glass. “Would it kill you to clean up in here?”

Finding gloves at a nearby table, Susan began the meticulous task of picking up the larger chunks of broken glass to be put in the bin while her hand reached out for a broom to sweep up the rest. Gathering what she could, to make sure no one would step on anything sharp, she was sure she got all the shards of glass and got a bin to dump It in.

“Next time I should just put the thing on the floor, at least that way nothing is sure to… Huh.”

Picking up one chunk of glass, the woman found what looked like a droplet of white paint on the inside curve of the glass. Scratching her glove covered finger over it, it didn’t yield to the touch, indicating it likely was dried out some time ago. Looking down at the machine it came from, it was rather makeshift. The glass container was probably from a previous project he cannibalised to make this.

“Suzie? Are you alright in there? We heard a crash.”

“Sorry Reed, I think the device broke.” She called out from the open door, her attention away from her findings as she called out to her husband. With her back turned, she never spotted the white droplet begin to sluggishly squirm its way down the surface of the glass and over the gloved finger.

“Really? Well, that’s disappointing, but at least it served its purpose, what do you say to HERBIE making dinner tonight?”

Smiling, Susan called out again, oblivious to the droplet make its way down her wrist all the way to the hem of her sleeve and merge with her bare skin.

“Just so long as YOU aren’t cooking Reed, I know you mean well, but you burn cereal if left to fend for yourself.”

“It was only that one-time Suzie.”

Giggling to herself, she turned back to the glass in her hand and found the droplet gone. Not thinking too much on it, she tossed it into the bin with the rest of the broken glass and bagged it to be disposed by HERBIE when garbage day was ready. Taking the gloves off and making her way out of the lab, Susan rubbed the top of her hand with her thumb, feeling an itch that left her mind once she was with her family again in the living room, still watching the news and the events of damage control out in the city.

Finding Reed on the couch with Ben and Johnny nearby, Susan came up from behind the man to wrap her arms around his shoulders and bend at the waist to kiss him on the cheek.

“So, what are you thinking sweetheart? Chicken? Beef?” Reed asked, smiling as Susan pressed her cheek against his and intensified her hug.

“Can always go with pizza.” She offered, leaning in so only he could hear her. “Meat lovers! And maybe a plate of some chocolate brownies? I’ve suddenly got a sweet tooth tonight.”

Wrapping an arm around hers, Reed nodded. “Sure, why not? Tonight’s a night to celebrate. Meat lover’s pizza and brownies for dessert.”

“Yeah!” Cheered Johnny. “It’s not often you save the city from a crazy bug lady.”