When George finished speaking, Alex froze.
For a moment, his mind completely shut down as he tried to process how it was even possible for someone to be that shameless.
"I know you don't have much say here, but I wanted your help to convince your mom… a-and I can even pay Gwen's rent to stay here if needed. It's just… you're the only person I can rely on right now. Leaving her with another officer is risky—I don't even know if any of them are on their payroll."
Hearing that, Alex almost said something about how insane this was.
But then—
He stopped.
If he had a daughter… and didn't have his powers…
He would probably do the exact same thing.
Realizing what he was getting himself into, Alex let out a long sigh, already feeling the headache forming.
"Sigh… fine, George. I'll help you. But seriously—you're going to owe me a huge favor after this."
"THANK YOU SO MUCH, ALEX! YOU JUST SAVED ME!"
George almost shouted as he spoke, pulling Alex into a tight hug before stepping back, still holding onto his arms since he couldn't quite reach his shoulders.
"But Alex… just so you know—if you try anything funny with my daughter… I'll put a bounty on your head."
A brief pause.
"I'm serious."
George said it with a cold, completely serious expression—almost like he was actually going to kill him. Then, just a few seconds later, his face softened, and he burst into laughter.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding—it was a joke, alright? Hahaha." (A/N: He's not.)
He kept laughing, and after a moment, Alex let out a slightly nervous laugh along with him. Not long after, the apartment door opened, revealing his mother dressed casually in a loose dark top and gray sweatpants, her hair—usually tied in a ponytail—now down and slightly messy.
"Oh, Mr. George, what are you doing here at this hour? Come in, please."
As soon as the door opened, George stepped inside without hesitation, with Alex following behind, lowering his head slightly to pass through the doorway.
Some time later, sitting at the living room table—
"You want Gwen to live here?"
George blushed slightly when he heard that and spoke with embarrassment.
"Y-Yeah… I know it's complicated, and it would be another mouth for you to feed, so I can pay for her stay if needed."
"Oh, come on, George. You know how much you've already helped us. You don't need to do that."
Alex said, trying to see if his mother would just go along with it—but instead, she fell into deep thought.
"I don't know, George… I have a teenage boy in the house, and you know how kids are. If you let them, they'll come back with thirty kids and tell you to take care of them."
"Ah, come on, it's not like that—"
"Yes, I know, Nora… but I trust your judgment not to let something like that happen. And I'll pay rent for her—food and housing included. What do you think?"
Alex was completely ignored as the two continued talking, almost treating him like some kind of troublemaker. Every time he tried to defend himself when they implied something might happen between him and Gwen, he was cut off as if he didn't even exist.
"Alright, George… I accept. But only because you've helped Alex so much before, especially when he was detained as a suspect without having done anything."
"AHH, thank you so much, Nora! I'd be lost without you."
Alex looked at both of them with a bit of disbelief. His mother hadn't even considered the fact that he wasn't like that—that he wouldn't do something like that.
But…
Teenagers were full of hormones.
And pretty good at making bad decisions.
Even if he had never once thought about doing something like that.
'Now that I think about it… why have I never had acne? And why hasn't my voice cracked even once since I hit puberty?'
While George and Nora kept talking, Alex grew curious and turned to his mother.
"Mom, where are my medical records about my body?"
Nora looked confused for a moment before understanding.
"Oh, right, Alex. I understand your doubts. I left them in my wardrobe—go ahead and take a look."
Alex nodded, leaving them in the living room as he walked into his mother's room. After searching through the wardrobe, he found a folder at the back and took it to his own room, where he began going through it.
The first thing—
He had two stomachs.
One for each mouth on his body.
Then came the two hearts.
And, for some reason, two fully functional and enhanced livers. The reports emphasized that word—enhanced—since even as a baby, it took triple the normal dosage of medication to affect him, and enough to cause an overdose in an adult.
Next—
His lungs were enormous and far more durable.
His kidneys were literally twice as efficient, and from the looks of it, even if he lost one, the other could handle everything on its own without any problem.
But then—
Things got absurd.
His bones were five times stronger than those of a normal human, making them comparable to ballistic ceramic.
And then—
The most insane part.
Alex had two organs that humans simply didn't have.
The first was an extra section of his brain.
According to the medical notes, it was "inactive," but no one had any idea what it was for. One of the doctors had even left a note:
'I have absolutely no idea what this part of his brain is for, but I suspect it may be related to processing or supporting the amount of information his new organs provide.'
The second—
Was located near his salivary glands.
Identified as a powerful pheromone-producing organ.
'What the hell… pheromones?'
Alex read that part.
Then read it again.
And still couldn't understand how the hell he had pheromones.
He kept reading, trying to figure out what it actually did.
"From what we've observed, this pheromone appears to be similar to that of certain ants used for communication. However, the difference is that it behaves like a universal language—any species that inhales it will feel an overwhelming sense of fear and will instinctively try to stay as far away from the patient as possible. For some reason, this effect only works once per individual.
Additionally, the patient produces extremely small amounts of this pheromone. The quantity we were able to extract was minimal, and the production rate is very slow. Over the course of five months, we were only able to collect 5 ml, which severely limited our testing.
However, we discovered that when injected into the skin, it causes deep and intense irritation. If injected directly into the bloodstream, it acts as a powerful aphrodisiac…"
"Great… I'm basically a walking drug factory… FUCK."
'Damn… every inch of my body is a weapon. Where the hell do you even find two livers that are basically immune to poison?'
Alex slowly sat down on the floor, his face filled with defeat.
After a moment, his eyes drifted toward his law book resting on top of his desk.
With nothing better to do—and needing to clear his head—
He got up, sat in his chair—
And started studying.
While he was "studying"—if that's what it could even be called—every second Alex spent reading, his mind was actually racing through dozens of different thoughts at once.
'So many problems… so few short-term solutions. I need to protect Peter, figure out the limits of my body and powers, study to pass an exam, become a night vigilante… and stay hidden from those guys who were after me.'
After a while, Alex suddenly stopped reading.
Instead, he started moving his mouth, trying to locate that so-called pheromone gland. But just by touching around, he couldn't feel anything—and had no idea how the hell it was supposed to work.
"Looks like I've got another mysterious thing I don't understand or know how to use… let's add it to the long list of weird stuff about Alex."
He leaned back in his room, glancing toward the window.
It was already night.
Letting out a small breath, Alex got up, went to have dinner, took a shower, and eventually went to bed.
________________
Meanwhile—
While all of that was happening—
Gwen was in her room, finishing her Spider-Woman suit—or, as she preferred to call it, Ghost-Spider.
She still had no idea who came up with that horrible name, but she didn't really care… though she did hold a bit of resentment.
After sewing for a while longer, Gwen finally finished.
In front of her—
A suit of white, black, and pink.
With a beautifully detailed white mask and hood.
"Who would've thought all those sewing classes with mom would actually be useful someday."
Gwen still remembered the panic she felt when she was forced to attend those mother-daughter sewing classes. It had been a complete nightmare—the pain in her fingers until she learned how to do a proper cross stitch made her shiver just thinking about it.
With the suit finished, Gwen carefully hid it behind her wardrobe, inside a shoebox.
Well hidden—
At least, for her standards.
But with a police officer as a father who practically searched the house every week, it was the best she could do.
Even so—
She knew it was a terrible hiding spot.
Just temporary.
At least until she found something better—preferably somewhere outside the house.
Glancing at the time, Gwen realized her father still hadn't come back. He was probably on duty again.
But that was nothing new.
So she and her mother had dinner alone and got ready for bed.
But when Gwen lay down—
Her thoughts drifted back to Alex.
The way he acted earlier…
That aggressive.
Dominant.
She wouldn't deny it—
She liked it.
Just a little.
And that scared her.
Because Alex wasn't like that.
He was shy.
Reserved.
Someone who rarely lost control…
Okay, maybe when he did, he could get a little dangerous. A little volatile.
But still—
The Alex she knew…
Her Alex…
He was kind.
Nice.
A good friend.
'Not that that change didn't make him more attractive but—'
Realizing what she was thinking, Gwen immediately slapped herself lightly and forced her mind away from it, focusing instead on going to sleep.
In her dream—
Gwen found herself in the middle of a completely destroyed New York.
Ruins everywhere.
Smoke.
Silence.
And yet—
She wasn't alone.
She could see the X-Men, the mutant group known for opposing the Brotherhood… the Avengers… and many other heroes.
All of them—
Gathered around a single person.
Alex.
But older.
Dressed in strange, loose Japanese clothing.
And despite being surrounded—
He looked completely calm.
The heroes were shouting something at him—
But Gwen couldn't hear a single word.
And the more she looked at him—
The more her chest hurt.
A crushing guilt began to consume her.
"Ha… do you really think you can kill me? Or that I even have a chance at 'redemption'? HA… you're a joke. Just because you destroyed my army doesn't mean you can stand against me."
Two of Alex's arms came together, forming a strange hand sign.
A terrifying energy filled the air.
"I'll show you what I developed recently."
"Domain Expansion: Sanctuary—"
But before Gwen could see what happened next—
Everything went dark.
And a gentle feminine voice echoed.
"Don't abandon him… he needs you."
Gwen woke up the next morning—
Startled.
Sweating.
Her heart racing.
Filled with fear—
Even though she didn't understand why.
_____________________
HEY GUYS! Just like I promised, here's another chapter—and I'm already coming in with a bit of bad news.
Over the next few days, I might start posting chapters every other day. It's just so I can finish something I've been preparing.
But don't worry—I'm not abandoning you. I'll always be here with you guys.
…Okay, no sad author notes allowed.
Let's keep it positive.
Just to share something funny—the pheromones Alex has come with a pretty amusing detail. At first, I was only going to keep things "normal," but then I had a ridiculously funny idea (at least to me): I added an aphrodisiac effect.
Which means…
I can officially call Alex—
The walking pharmacy.
As always, if you enjoyed it, please send power stones or rate my work—that already helps a lot. And if you have any constructive criticism or anything that could help me improve, feel free to say it, I always read everything.
And just so you know, I love reading your messages—it really makes me happy to see that people are enjoying it.
Good night.