Chapter Forty-Two: The Invitation

"What are you laughing at?" Michael sounded a little frustrated.

"You really are silly," Gwen replied, gently patting Michael’s head before planting a kiss on his cheek.

Michael smiled, touching his forehead lightly to Gwen’s. They held each other for a while, before Gwen finally remembered the wings on Michael’s back.

"What about these wings?" she asked, running her hand along them, feeling their soft, smooth texture. She couldn’t help but think how comfortable they would be as a mattress.

"They can retract," Michael replied.

Before Gwen could react, his wings snapped back into his body like rubber bands.

"Gwen, let’s test your physical abilities," Michael suggested.

"Alright."

After testing, they found Gwen’s single-arm strength was between fifteen and twenty tons. In addition, she possessed spider-sense, spider physiology (strength, speed, agility, endurance, durability, balance, and jumping ability), electrostatic adhesion, a healing factor, and a powerful immune system.

Gwen’s healing factor meant that even after suffering severe injuries, she would recover overnight. While her regeneration didn’t compare to overpowered types like Wolverine or Deadpool, it was still far beyond that of ordinary people. Michael categorized her healing as the primary stage.

The most remarkable ability was her wall-crawling. Unlike the original Spider-Man who grew tiny barbs on his fingers, Gwen adhered to walls through static electricity generated by her hands and feet.

Michael’s raw strength was between twenty and thirty tons. Other than the Hulk and Juggernaut, few could rival his power. Besides that, he had teleportation, enhanced dynamic vision, telekinetic flight, invisibility, a bat-like constitution, a healing factor, echolocation, and an advanced immune system.

Their tests showed that Michael’s invisibility only worked in low-light conditions, but in terms of physique, he was indeed superior to Gwen.

His healing was stronger too; a stab wound would heal in minutes—though still not quite at Wolverine’s level.

Michael’s teleportation was more akin to transforming himself into fluid, allowing him to ignore air resistance and pressure for ultra-fast movement, leaving behind a trail of black smoke.

"Gwen, you could actually inject the super serum and angel serum to further enhance your abilities," Michael suggested.

Keisha had proposed this, saying that Gwen met the selection criteria for an angel candidate and could be evaluated as a trainee.

"Me?" Gwen hesitated.

Michael continued, "Don’t you want to defeat the Green Goblin? With wings, it’ll be much easier."

"Alright," Gwen agreed.

They busied themselves again and soon prepared for the next experiment. Since Gwen had already mutated once, the fusion with the serum went extremely smoothly, with hardly any pain.

In just half an hour, Gwen’s body had fully integrated the serum.

There was an unexpected side effect: her bra snapped under the pressure of her new wings.

Noticing Michael’s mischievous look, she punched him squarely, making him realize that with some girls, he needed to be more patient.

Gwen’s strength increased modestly, now between eighteen and twenty-five tons—still less than Michael’s. Her other abilities grew slightly as well. More interestingly, she gained two new powers: invisibility and bioelectric shock.

Unlike Michael’s shadow-based invisibility, Gwen’s ability was closer to environmental assimilation, similar to a lizard’s mimicry, and much stronger in effectiveness.

Her bioelectric shock evolved from her static adhesion; she could now discharge bioelectricity through her hands to stun opponents.

Her wings could also channel electricity—when rapidly flapped, they generated powerful surges, striking like lightning.

Michael speculated that his telekinesis allowed him to manipulate air currents through his wings, while Gwen’s static and electric abilities meant her wings could control lightning.

"What about my suit?" Gwen asked, holding up her Spider suit. Using her wings would surely destroy it, just as it had her bra.

Michael considered and replied, "Remove the parachute and design two special internal seams that can open from inside. Use an inner lining for the chest."

"But Gwen, I don’t really like you in that suit. Let me design you an Iron suit instead."

Gwen couldn’t help but laugh at Michael’s jealous expression.

"Alright, but it has to be light and simple. I still prefer flexible suits."

"Deal."

"But I should get going, or Helen will worry," Gwen said.

"Okay," Michael replied.

Gwen kissed him and then turned to leave.

After sending the healing serum to the patients, Michael returned home.

No sooner had he entered than he saw his family huddled around something.

"Hey, Jack, Martha, what are you looking at?"

They turned towards Michael.

Martha was the first to notice something different about him. She walked over, touching his arms and shoulders with a look of wonder.

"My goodness, Michael, you’ve become so much more muscular in just one day!"

Michael smiled. The serum’s greatest effect was perfect height and muscle gain, though the process was a bit painful.

"I’m healthy again, Martha," he declared, his spirits high as he embraced her.

Martha hugged him back, delighted. "Wow, that’s wonderful! Congratulations, Michael."

Jack, on the other hand, looked uneasy. Unlike Martha, his motives for adopting Michael had always included some self-interest. Michael’s attitude towards him over the years had been lukewarm, and their relationship lacked real warmth. Now that Michael was healthy, Jack worried he’d be harder to control.

"Congratulations, Michael," Jack said, forcing out the words.

Michael pulled him into a hearty hug, nearly squeezing the breath out of him.

Susie shot Michael a glare and turned to leave. She’d never liked him—he was always the golden child in everyone’s eyes. Ever since Michael joined their family, Jack’s favorite line had become, "If only you were half as talented as Michael." Jack had never been satisfied with a daughter, and now he found fault with her intelligence too. Worst of all, Michael was an insurmountable wall. She used to mock him for being disabled, but now she didn’t even have the advantage of being healthy.

Watching Susie’s retreating figure, Jack and Martha exchanged awkward glances. All they could do was sigh and say, "Kids..."

If they’d known Michael could actually heal himself, perhaps they would have tried to pair the two together.

Jack still felt a pang of regret.

"What’s this?" he asked, unable to hide a hint of jealousy. "It’s an invitation from Stark Industries, and two bottles of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti."

Martha picked up the invitation, handing it to Michael gently. "This is a great opportunity—you’ll meet some very important people. You should get ready, Michael."

Jack eyed the invitation longingly.

"There will be a lot of big names at the banquet. Michael, do you need someone to guide you?"

"No need. By the way, you can have one of the wines," Michael replied, picking up a bottle and a wine glass before heading to his room.