The next day.
It was Sunday, and instead of actually studying for my math test, I was stuck in my lab, staring at the same page for the last hour. My head wasn't on numbers, it was back on last night.
Beth somehow managed to see in the dark. She said it was "just good eyesight," but I don't buy it. My gut says mutant, like Yolanda. That's the only way it makes sense. Then there's the others, nobody seemed worried about Peter and Cindy disappearing for so long. Which tells me one thing: they know.
They know Peter and Cindy are heroes.
And maybe it's time I stop hiding too. If I tell everyone, no more excuses when I vanish. Plus, I could help Peter and Cindy with upgrades for their suits.
That's when hands slid around my neck and lips brushed my cheek. I turned. Yolanda.
"You've been staring at the same page for an hour," she teased. "What's on your mind?"
"Just… thinking," I said.
"About?" She sat next to me, eyes narrowing. "Come on, Franklin. Don't give me nothing."
I hesitated, then let it out. "I've been thinking of telling the rest of our friends. About us. About the secret."
"Okay," Yolanda said simply.
I blinked. "That's it? Just… okay?"
"Franklin, we all knew you'd tell them eventually. You don't like keeping secrets from people you care about, especially friends you've known forever."
She placed her hand over mine.
"We trust your judgment. If you think it's time, then it's time."
I stared into her eyes and, before I could stop myself, blurted, "Marry me."
Her eyes went wide. "What?"
Realizing what I'd just said, I scratched the back of my head, embarrassed. "Sorry, didn't mean to drop that. I just… love how you and Ava always have my back."
Yolanda laughed, shaking her head. "You're insane. Ask me again when we're older. And do it right, romantic."
"You got it," I grinned. I leaned in and kissed her.
Cindy B POV
"Okay… I'm jealous now," I muttered.
"What do you mean?" Courtney asked.
I pointed across the room at Franklin and Yolanda, kissing like they were in a rom-com.
Courtney's eyes went wide. She turned back to me and whisper-yelled, "You… like Franklin?"
"What? No!" I said way too fast.
"Oh, good. That would've been super awkward. The guy already has two girlfriends."
"Exactly. Obviously. I just…" I crossed my arms. "I want a relationship. Been kinda touch-starved since my last boyfriend in Blue Valley."
"Touch-starved?" Courtney raised a brow.
"What?" I asked.
"You mean you just miss the sex. Cindy, that's all you ever talked about when you mentioned Henry. You couldn't even tell me his favorite color."
"…Okay, fair. Honestly, I barely considered Henry a boyfriend. More like… a mission with perks."
Courtney wrinkled her nose. "Ew."
I smirked. "Funny, I don't remember you saying 'ew' when we—"
"Cindy. Stop." She cut me off, face going red.
"You never said stop before either," I teased, grinning. "God, you're red as a tomato right now."
Courtney covered her face with her hands while I laughed.
20 minutes later
I had gathered everyone in the base and explained what I was about to do. Surprisingly, nobody flipped out. Even Ted and Hector didn't argue, not once I told them Peter and Cindy were Spider-Man and Silk. When they asked how I knew, I just shrugged and said, "alien senses." Good enough explanation.
Now I was outside my base, waiting. Yolanda and Ava stood at my sides like loyal bodyguards, while Cindy and Courtney loitered nearby.
"How much you wanna bet they don't believe Franklin's Omni like we did?" Cindy smirked.
"That's a foolish bet," Courtney replied.
"Screw both of you," I muttered.
"We love you too," they answered together with matching smiles.
I rolled my eyes but couldn't stop the grin tugging at my mouth. Then headlights swept across the dirt, and Betty's van pulled up. The rest of the crew piled out, stretching like this was just another hangout.
"Franklin," Ned groaned, "why are we out in the middle of nowhere? If you're planning to bury someone, I'm out. Should've told us to bring shovels."
"And bleach. And plastic bags. And a saw for cutting up the body," MJ2 added casually. "Oh, and alibis. I'm good covering Peter and Ned—we were totally together before you called us."
We all turned to stare at her.
"…What?" MJ2 asked innocently.
"I already liked you before," Cindy B said, grinning, "but now I really like you."
"Okay, enough psycho energy," I cut in. "There's a reason you're all here. I'm gonna show you something. Follow me."
Confused faces, but they followed anyway. We entered the abandoned building, where I pressed my hand to a certain panel in the wall. With a hiss, it slid open, revealing a hidden stairwell.
"Whoa," the group breathed in unison.
We descended, the air shifting from dusty ruin to clean, humming tech. At the bottom was my base, training area, teleporters, suits, labs, everything.
"Oh my God," Cindy M blurted, pointing at a mannequin. "Franklin's White Tiger!"
"…Come on," I groaned.
Cindy B immediately doubled over laughing.
"What? It makes sense! The White Tiger suit is right there!" Cindy M protested.
Instead of answering, I tapped the Omnitrix, spun the dial, and slammed it down.
"FastTrack!"
Blue energy flared, and in a blink I zipped around the room, circling them at blinding speed before stopping right in front of them.
Kamala's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh… Franklin is Omni."
"You damn right," I said with a grin.
I reverted back to my regular form, and we all sat down, talking it out. I told them everything, about the Omnitrix, my adventures with the Justice League, and that I hadn't really worked with the Avengers much yet. I even dropped the bomb that I knew Peter and Cindy were Spider-Man and Silk.
They were shocked at first, but Peter and Cindy explained how the others found out. Peter got caught sneaking into his room one night, forgot he had a study session with MJ, Kamala, and Ned. Cindy M found out about Cindy B when she literally walked in on her changing into her costume.
"Man, I can't believe you worked with the Justice League and went to another reality," Ned said, shaking his head.
"I can't believe the Multiverse theory is actually real," Peter muttered.
"I can't believe his watch is from another universe and has over a million aliens in it. Are we just glazing over that fact?" MJ2 said.
"Yeah, that's pretty crazy," Betty added.
"No, what's crazy," Cindy M chimed in, "is that Franklin's done way more heroic stuff than we ever have. He saved the Multiverse. How do we even top that?"
"Oh come on, Cindy. It's not a competition," I said. "If it was, you'd be ahead of me. You guys have been in this hero game a lot longer."
"You still saved the Multiverse," Cindy M shot back.
"And worked with both the Avengers and Justice League. Don't forget saving Earth during that alien invasion," Ava reminded everyone.
"If it was a competition," MJ2 muttered, "Franklin would have more points than all of you combined."
"MJ…" Peter warned.
"What? It's true," she said, shrugging.
"Okay, enough," I said, throwing up my hands. "We're not going to sit here and measure who's the better hero."
"Because you'd win," Ned muttered.
"No, because it doesn't matter. We don't do this for fame or glory. We do it because it's right." I looked around the room, meeting each of their eyes. "So… do you all want to be a hero team?"
The room exploded with surprise.
"What?" they all said at once.
"You want us to be a team? All of us?" Peter asked.
"Yes. All of you. I can't think of anything better than starting a hero team with my friends," I said.
"That's thoughtful and all, but not all of us have powers," Betty pointed out.
"You don't need powers to be on my team. You've all got skills. And besides…" I smirked. "I've already finished a working super soldier serum."
The room erupted. "A what?!" they all yelled.
"That was my reaction too," Cindy B said casually. "My dad spent his whole life trying to crack that formula. Makes me wish he was still alive, just so I could rub it in that a teenager figured it out before him. Almost makes me wish I didn't kill him."
The room froze.
"What?!" everyone shouted.
"Right, I didn't tell you me and Courtney's backstory yet," Cindy B said, shrugging. "We'll get to that later. Point is, he was a villain trying to take over the world. He deserved to die."
"Okay, pause," Kamala said, waving her hands. "We're putting a pin in that whole murder confession, because Franklin, you made a super soldier serum? How? You can't even pass math class."
"Okay, first, hurtful. I'm not failing all my classes. And second, the watch," I said, tapping the Omnitrix. "It's got some insanely smart aliens. I whipped the serum up in a week. I built a teleporter too, and that didn't surprise you?"
"I was just about to bring up the teleporter!" Kamala muttered.
"Does the serum work like Captain America's, or is it different?" Ned asked.
"It's different but kinda similar," I explained. "You don't need a chamber or radiation blasts, just an injection. It won't bulk you up like Cap, but it'll make you stronger than him, heal faster, and even live longer. Courtney's already got it."
Everyone turned to her.
"I can lift a car," Courtney admitted. "And my skin's tougher too. We tested it, low-caliber rounds just left bruises."
Cindy B crossed her arms. "Still mad you shot yourself in the foot."
"I said I was sorry! I didn't mean to scare you," Courtney protested.
"I don't feel like having this conversation right now."
"Cindy—"
"No."
"…I'll let you be the big spoon for a month if you forgive me."
"…I forgive you," Cindy B muttered.
I whistled. "Wow. That's a cheat code right there. I'm so stealing that."
Yolanda gave me a look. "So you're planning to make us mad on purpose?"
"What? No! That's not what I—"
"That's what you implied," Ava added.
"Bad part about having two girlfriends," Cindy B smirked, "you get double-teamed… not in the fun way."
Before I could defend myself, alarms blared.
I ran to the console. Ned shouted, "What's going on?"
I shut off the alarm. "Sensors are reading a nuclear-level event, radiation and heat spikes in Chong-Mai. But it's not spreading. It's moving in a straight line. I gotta check it out."
MJ2 leaned back. "Wow, perfect excuse to ditch an awkward moment with your girlfriends."
"They're happy accidents," I muttered, suiting up. "Look, I'll explain everything later. Maybe we'll even come up with a team name while I'm gone."
"Be careful," Cindy B said softly.
"Always."
The teleporter lit up, and I stepped through.
I emerged in a scorched forest. Radiation levels spiked on my HUD. "What the hell happened here?"
Switching to XLR8, I followed the trail and froze when I found a massive robot with a flaming skull and cannon arms.
Brimstone. A failed Chong-Mai weapon turned rogue.
It leveled a cannon at fleeing civilians and fired. I shifted into Feedback just in time to absorb the blast. Electricity surged through me, but Brimstone kept firing. I absorbed and absorbed, still standing, but the civilians were trapped behind a collapsed bridge. If the blasts didn't kill them, the radiation would.
Suddenly, a glowing green bridge appeared. Civilians dashed across, terrified but alive. At the same time, an energy blast staggered Brimstone. Seizing the chance, I released all the power I'd stored into him… and nothing happened.
"…Okay, that usually works," I muttered.
Brimstone re-aimed. I shifted again. "Phoenix!"
image here
Flames erupted across my body as wings and talons sprouted. I soared upward, flinging fireballs to drag him away from the people.
Captain Marvel appeared beside me.
"Omni, stop!" she shouted. "You're making it worse—"
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The ground shook. Massive footsteps approached.
Three more giants emerged, built like Brimstone but specialized:
One coated in frost, cannons rimed in ice.
One blazing like a living spotlight.
One glowing sickly green—pure gamma energy.
They raised their cannons. Brimstone joined them.
"Aw, hell," I muttered, dodging as fire, ice, light, and radiation ripped through the forest. My Phoenix form struggled to keep ahead. They weren't just shooting—they were learning how I moved.
Then a metallic grip clamped my torso. Captain Atom dragged me out of the kill zone at high speed. The robots ignored us, lumbering away.
He dropped me near the other heroes: Supergirl, Green Lantern, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Captain America. I shifted back to my regular form.
I gave Atom a nod. "Can't believe I'm saying this, but… thanks for the save."
His expression wasn't relief. It was fury.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Atom snapped. "You ruined our entire plan. Now we have to start over!"
I folded my arms. "Okay, first off, you did save my butt, so I'll ignore the yelling, and not backhand you into a mountain. Second, I didn't know you even had a plan. All I saw were civilians about to be vaporized, so I acted. Sorry if saving lives messed up your strategy."
"You think you can take me?" Captain Atom stepped forward, energy crackling around him.
I met his glare. "I don't think, I know. And unless you want a taste of Atomix, quit being an ass."
Before it escalated, Captain America shoved himself between us. "That's enough." His tone was ironclad.
"The plan was already ruined when the civilians didn't evacuate. Omni saved lives. Get that stick out of your ass long enough to see that."
Iron Man, mask open up. "Sup, Omni. Still pissed you stuck me babysitting that psycho, by the way."
I smirked. "What's up, Tony. I had bigger things to handle, but you did good, I heard he's locked up tight. Now, someone wanna tell me what's going on?"
Tony gestured back at the smoking horizon. "Those four walking nightmares? Supposed to be protectors of this country. Instead, they glitched out and are tearing through everything in their path."
"All of them at once? Doesn't sound like a coincidence," I said.
"You'd think." He shrugged. "Fire-skull went rogue first. Its signal infected the others. Now they're marching to wake up the last one."
I raised a brow. "And that one does what, shoots glitter?"
"Lightning," Tony said. His voice dropped serious. "And if all five sync up? Their cores combine into one chain reaction that could level this entire country."
I blinked. "Who the hell designs that into their system? What's the point?"
"Because people are idiots," Tony muttered.
I folded my arms. "Fine. So how do we shut them down?"
"Each core's different," Carol Danvers cut in. "Fire one needs to be cooled. Ice one's core has to be melted. The pure energy unit? I'm the only one who can drain it. Gamma core… we were counting on Atom to absorb it, but even he might not handle that load."
"I can." I stepped forward without hesitation. "I'll take the fire, ice, and energy units. You handle the gamma."
Everyone stared at me, except Green Lantern, who just gave a knowing nod.
Carol frowned. "Confidence is one thing. Overconfidence gets people killed."
"I'm not overconfident," I said firmly. "I have aliens built for this. I can do it." I turned to her. "You can handle the gamma unit, right?"
She nodded, still wary. "I can. But I still don't like letting you take on three by yourself."
"Carol, don't worry," GL said. "He can handle it. Trust me."
Captain Atom snapped. "You can't be serious! Letting this kid run wild could get us all killed."
GL's gaze hardened. "That 'kid' saved the Multiverse. He can handle three robots."
Supergirl blinked. "Wait, he did what?"
"Long story," I said, waving it off. "Multiverse travel. Real messy. Not important right now."
Tony's jaw actually dropped. "So… Multiverse theory's real. Huh. I'll file that for later."
"Later is right," I cut in. "I've been tracking the bots, they're closing in on the last one. We're out of time."
Cap didn't hesitate. "Then it's settled. Omni takes fire, ice, and energy. Carol, you handle gamma. Everyone else, keep civilians and soldiers safe. Move out."
We all nodded. I slammed the dial, shifting into Jetray. "Let's go."
We launched into the sky, streaking toward the thunder of metal footsteps.
______________________________________________________________
AN:
I hope everything is better now. I just reposted the chapter
also on my screen the chapter look normal to me.
Also, I decided to make my Patreon free if anyone is interested in seeing it.