It was around a week after Peter and MJ gained their powers and everyone was at the shop doing homework. After Milly and the others finished, Jean stood up and said, "I have something to say…"
Jean first looked at Peter and MJ for a few moments before she glanced at Theo as she said, "After the car accident, I said something happened to me. But I never really explained what happened because I wasn't sure how to do it..."
"I also told you all I had to take special classes each day, but I didn't tell you what they were about…" Jean said as she glanced back over Peter, MJ and finally Theo.
Theo started to feel slightly uncomfortable as Jean said, "The truth is, I awakened powers when I witnessed the car accident and that's why I passed out."
"Powers?" A couple people asked at the same time.
Jean nodded as she stepped back from the table and raised her arms to each side before she floated in the air. Everyone gasped in shock before Milly excitedly asked, "You can fly?!?"
Jean slowly floated back to the ground as she said, "Not yet, but once I gain more experience I'll be able to fly."
"That's so cool! What else can you do?!?" Milly asked as she grabbed Jean by the shoulders and shook her slightly.
Jean blushed slightly as she said, "Well my powers are kind of complicated, but I'll be able to do a lot of things once I master them…"
Jean glanced at everyone for a moment before she focused on Peter, MJ and Theo again as she apologetically said, "One of my main powers is telepathy…"
The uneasy feeling in Theo's stomach increased as Jean added, "Part of that power involves mind reading and it's also the easiest power to train…"
"Really? What am I thinking about?" Milly asked as she scrunched her eyes shut and concentrated really hard.
Even though Theo was feeling uneasy he still said, "Anyone who knows you can tell what you're thinking because you have a bad case of cake brain."
"I do not!" Milly said as she shot a glare at Theo as she put her hands on her hips.
"Actually, you were just thinking about a double layer chocolate cake with vanilla frosting outside and inner filling." Jean said with a hint of a smile as Milly whipped around and said, "You can read minds!"
Theo shook his head as some of the others laughed before Jean turned towards Peter and MJ as she said, "It's also why I know about both of you…"
Jean then turned towards Theo and his heart dropped as she added, "And you too."
Jean held up her hands as she said towards Peter and MJ, "I didn't mean to find out! It just sort of happened because both of you were projecting your thoughts so loudly it was like you were both screaming about your new powers. I'm sorry, please don't hate me!"
Peter nervously glanced around the room before his gaze landed on MJ who was staring back at him. Jean looked ready to cry as she stared at Peter and MJ who were studying each other as everyone else watched. MJ broke the silence first as she glanced at Jean and said, "I don't hate you, you're my best friend…"
"Yeah, you're my friend, I would never hate you…" Peter said as his voice trailed off before he flushed crimson as he quickly asked in concern, "You. You didn't read my whole mind… Did you?"
Jean quickly waved her hands back and forth as she shook her head and said, "No, no, I would never do that…"
Jean blushed slightly as she added, "It's just that people's surface thoughts are like radio waves to me. So every time someone is thinking hard about something I can easily hear it… Like the compliments you never say to me or MJ."
Peter buried his head in his hands as he let out a groan of embarrassment before MJ asked, "What kinda compliments?"
Jean smiled towards Peter who was peeking at her through his hands before she said in a teasing tone, "Oh, just how he loves our red hair and thinks it's beautiful… Or how we look…"
"Please don't!"
"Fine, I won't embarrass you in front of everyone." Jean said before she winked at MJ and mouthed, 'When we leave.'
Teresa smiled at Peter and elbowed him as she said, "If you like someone just say it."
Theo, trying to keep the topic changed added, "Yeah, it's no big deal if you like Jean or MJ or both of them…"
Milly who was still next to Jean asking her random questions about her powers finally turned towards Peter and MJ as she asked, "She told us her powers, what do you have? Can you shoot cakes out of your hands?"
Theo rolled his eyes at that comment as Peter glanced towards MJ and asked, "Do you want to go first?"
"Umm, I'm not really sure how to describe my powers…"
"So you can't shoot cakes out of your hands?" Milly asked in a disappointed tone.
Both MJ and Peter shook their heads before Peter said, "Well I guess I'll go first since I know what I have… Actually, I'll be right back, I need to grab something."
Peter ran out of the room before anyone could respond and a moment later Teresa said, "I guess his power has to do with being fast?"
Peter returned with a small piece of scrap metal in his hands before he said, "One of my powers is strength based."
Peter easily bent the two inch thick piece of metal like paper and then showed it to everyone. MJ jumped up from her seat as she said, "I think I can do that too."
Peter handed her the piece of metal and she easily bent it too before he said, "Wow, we kinda have the same power…"
"Can you do this?" Peter asked as he jumped up and touched the roof a few feet above them and stuck to it before he pulled himself up and stuck to it with his hands and feet.
He crawled across it for a moment before he looked at MJ who quickly did the same thing as Peter. Peter then dropped off the ceiling and flipped easily onto his feet as he asked, "Wow, it's like we almost have the same powers… What else can you do?"
Over the next few minutes as everyone watched, Peter and MJ went back and forth doing the same things as everyone watched and Milly excitedly clapped. Once they finished Peter asked, "When did you first discover your powers?"
"It was right after I was sick with a fever a week ago."
"Really? Me too!" Peter said excitedly before he asked, "If that's the case, then I wonder what caused it and why we were the only ones who got sick."
"And gained cool powers." Milly said with a pout.
Isaac and Teresa nodded in agreement before Jean added, "Yeah, your powers are kinda like a spider…"
"I thought the same thing, but I'm not sure how… Wait!" Peter said before he ran out of the room and was quickly followed by everyone else into the spider containment area of the lab.
Peter started to flip through the paper logs his dad liked to use and found the entry for when the spiders were placed in their containers. It clearly noted a spider being in the empty container he found before he got sick. As Peter looked through the logs, Theo asked, "What are you looking for?"
"I just thought of something but needed to confirm it…" Peter said as he pointed at the empty container and said, "I thought I just awakened my powers randomly, but with MJ getting the exact same powers. I think we were bitten by this missing spider."
Everyone looked at the empty container for a few minutes before Milly asked in a curious tone, "So all we have to do is get bitten by a spider and…"
Theo clamped a hand onto Milly's shoulder as he said, "Don't even think about it… The fact it didn't kill them or turn them into some kind of genetic monster is a miracle in itself."
Milly nodded solemnly as she said, "Okay…"
Isaac shared a glance with Teresa and Milly as Peter pulled the other's attention and said, "We need to tell my parents! They'll need to check us over and make sure there aren't any issues."
MJ was a little pale as she asked, "You think something could be wrong with us?"
Peter shrugged as he said, "No idea, but it would be best to figure it out now."
Peter moved towards his parents office with everyone else and after entering he cautiously said, "Mom, Dad… Me and MJ were bitten by one of the research spiders."
Both his parents quickly turned to look at the kids before Richard moved towards Peter as he asked, "Where at? Does it hurt?"
Peter shook his head as he said, "That's the thing, we don't know… It probably happened the same day MJ and I got sick last week."
Mary nodded as she checked over Peter and said, "You were bed ridden with that terrible fever for a few days, but you've been completely fine since then."
Richard studied Peter and MJ for a few moments before he asked, "How sure are you that you were bitten by one of the spiders?"
Peter jumped up and stuck to the ceiling with just his finger tips before MJ copied him. Richard and Mary stared at them with their mouths open for a few moments before Richard pointed towards the test lab and said in a frantic tone, "Both of you to the lab, now!"
Everyone followed along and watched as Richard and Mary started running tests on both Peter and MJ. Theo watched cautiously and couldn't help but glance at Jean and hoped everyone would forget she singled him out early too. While he could probably lock the memory away…
He really didn't want to mess with Jean's mind and fuck something up like Xavier would. He also didn't want to mess with his family's mind either. Sure he would use a simple genjutsu to sneak food for Hela, but altering their memories…
He didn't want to do anything like that to his family.
It took almost an hour for the first tests to finish and Theo was lost in his head for most of it trying to think of how Jean even figured out he had powers and what to do about it. Richard turned towards Peter and MJ as he said, "How could a simple spider bite do so much…"
"What's wrong dad?" Peter asked with a hint of fear in his voice while MJ paled slightly.
Richard gave a reassuring smile as he said, "It's… Not that serious. It's just both you and MJ are now part spider."
"I'm part spider?!?" MJ asked in a horrified tone.
Mary quickly put a calming hand on MJ's shoulder as she said, "It's okay, you're still mostly human."
MJ's eyes were wide as she asked in a panicked tone, "But I'm part spider! What if I grow spider legs or eyes?!?"
"Don't worry, you won't. Whatever changes happened to your body were completed while you were sick. Besides, it's not like humans don't share DNA with other species, in fact chimpanzees are our closest relatives and over ninety five percent of our DNA is in common with them. Now both of you just have a little more in common with spider DNA than other people." Richard said in a reassuring tone.
Mary gently patted MJ to calm her down more as she said, "Don't worry, we'll run a full battery of tests over the next few days to make sure you two are completely okay."
MJ slowly nodded in agreement before she said, "Could we not tell my parents? I really don't want them to freak out about this."
"They should be informed… But I understand and will keep it secret for now. But after we confirm everything with tests, you should tell them yourself or we will." Mary said as she shared a look with Richard who nodded in agreement.
Richard glanced up at the clock as he asked, "How about we call it a night for now and we'll take you kids to go eat dinner?"
Theo let out a silent sigh of relief before Mary asked, "Where did the others go?"
Theo glanced around for a moment as Jean said, "They each said they had to go to the restroom. But that was a while ago…"
Theo instantly bolted for the door as he said, "Those idiots better not be doing what I think they're doing!"
"Doing what?" Richard asked before Peter jumped up and rushed towards the door as he said, "They know we got our powers from a spider bite…"
Richard and Mary dropped the charts in their hands as they ran out of the room too, quickly followed by Jean and MJ. Theo entered the containment room first and found Milly, Isaac, Teresa and Dylan all standing with their hands together laughing like idiots. He took one glance at them before he asked in a voice filled with anger, "Did you idiots let one of the spiders bite you?"
All four of them hid their hands behind their backs as they looked at Theo and said in a very unconvincing voice, "Nooooo."
Peter busted into the room a moment later followed by everyone else before Richard asked, "Did any of you let a spider bite you?"
Milly shared a glance with the others before they each showed their hands and the tiny red mark each one now had on it. Richard frowned as he looked at each one before he asked, "How long ago?"
Milly shrugged as she said, "A few minutes ago after we got Dylan from upstairs."
"Did you all get bit by the same spider?" Mary asked as she examined their hands with Richard.
They each shook their heads as they pointed at different spiders before Richard said, "Alright, all of you to the main lab now! We need to run tests to see what's happening and if we can stop it."
"No!" They all said at the same time before Milly added, "We want cool powers too, just like everyone else!"
Teresa, Isaac and Dylan nodded in agreement before Milly pointed at Theo and said, "Even Te-o has powers, but hasn't told us what they are yet!"
Theo quickly shook his head as he said, "I don't have any powers… And stop trying to change the subject! All of you get to the lab now so we can make sure you're not gonna die!"
"What? We can die?!? You didn't say anything about that!" Dylan yelled out, his voice filled with betrayal as he stared at Milly with widened eyes.
Milly waved off the concern as she pointed towards Peter and said, "It'll be fine, both Peter and MJ already did it and they're still alive… And now they have cool powers."
Dylan slowly nodded in agreement like it made sense as Milly turned her attention towards Theo and placed her hands on her hips as she said, "You're the one changing the subject! Now spill it, what cool powers do you have?!?"
Everyone turned to look at Theo who frowned as he pointed towards the door and said, "I don't have powers, now go to the lab!"
"No! Tell us your powers!"
"You really wanna know what my power is?" Theo asked as he stared back at Milly who nodded.
"Fine, I'll show you…" Theo said as he pulled out the cellphone his parents gave him and pushed speed dial number one before Milly asked in a concerned tone, "What are you doing?"
"Showing you my power…" Theo said with a sinister smile as the call connected and Daniel asked, "Is something wrong Theo?"
Theo smiled as Milly's eyes widened in fear as she shook her head before Theo locked eyes with her and said, "As a matter of fact, there is a problem. It will take a while to explain, you should come to Uncle Richard's lab…"