C274 Spider-Man (Patreon)

“I found this in the Collectors collection, and based on your expression, I’d say it’s real, isn’t it?” Peter looked at her expectantly.

“...” The Ancient One remained silent.

“Because if it is real...” Peter says as he picks the lamp up and starts to play with it. “...then you wouldn’t mind if I summoned the Djinn?”

“!” Acting quickly, the Ancient One reaches forward and pulled the lamp into her hands. “Please think before you-“

Suddenly, the lamp in her hands turned to sand, which fell through her fingers and pooled in her lap.

Of course, Peter wouldn’t play around with a Djinns lamp like that, nor would he give it to the Ancient One so easily.

“You think I’m that stupid?” Peter asks with a victorious smirk. “Now, tell me about Djinns so I can figure out how to get my wishes...”

“I can’t talk you out of this, can I?” She asks with an annoyed sigh.

“No, it’s literally a genie.” Peter says matter of factly. “Unless everything I know is wrong, and they don’t grant three wishes?”

“They grant wishes alright...” She says with a far-off look, remembering some sort of past experience. “It just depends on your genie's alignment.”

“Like good and evil?” Peter asks in interest.

“Sort of.” The Ancient One says as an old book appears on the table.

With a wave of her hand, the book flipped open to a page with a portrait of a pitcher black humanoid demon.

It had large hands, a protruding stomach, three long horns, and the face of a wild beast with sharp tiger-like teeth.

Meanwhile, on the opposite page was a much less threatening figure. It looked almost human except for the bluish skin tone and lack of legs and feet.

In fact, both portraits lacked a lower body, as if they were some sort of disembodied ghosts.

“Djinn, commonly known as Genies, are a powerful race of wish-granting beings made of pure energy. They’re gifted with phenomenal cosmic powers that allow them to bend the rules of the world and take on any form they desire.”

“It didn’t take long for Genies to be seen as highly desirable slaves due to their great powers, as such their entire race was slowly captured one by one until none remained free. Masters of the mystic arts and other energy users bottled them up in lamps or any other containers, which forced them into never-ending servitude.” She continues.

“Were you alive when they were turned into slaves?” Peter asks curiously.

“No, I’m not that old.” She replies with a roll of her eyes. “My Master was though and he always felt bad for what happened to the Genie. Well, most of them.”

“What do you mean by that?” Peter asked.

“Not all Genies were good-natured or neutral existences. In fact, the start of their enslavement was due to a rotten bunch that unleashed terrible and contagious plagues upon the world, among other catastrophes.”

The Ancient One pointed to the demon on the page as she spoke.

“From what my master told me, once the Genies found out about their brother's horrendous actions, they sealed them away in random containers.”

“So the Genies sparked the craze for their own enslavement?” Peter asked.

“Yes.” The Ancient One nodded. “They unknowingly started the downfall of their race. Masters experimented on the sealed Genie and found a way to capture more of them, though that wasn’t all. They also bound the Genie to a master.”

“So, basic genie stuff. I activate the lamp, a genie comes out, and I get three wishes.” Peter sums up the rest. “Does it just return to the lamp afterward?”

“That depends on what type of container it is.” The Ancient One shrugs unknowingly. “You’d have to study the lamp and figure out its enchantments, though I can’t emphasize enough how careful you should be.”

“Why?” Peter asks.

Of course, he was planning to be careful in the first place, but the seriousness in her voice made him a bit nervous.

“Genies are an enslaved race of people and none of them are bound to be happy about it, not even the good-natured ones.” She explains with a pointed stare.

“So what? If they're forced to grant me wishes, then what could possibly go wrong?” Peter asks in confusion.

“They are forced to grant you wishes, but give them the slightest loophole or stray thought and they will pounce on it, twisting your wish for wealth into a theft leading back to you, or your desire for love into a curse of endless fanatical suitors.” The Ancient One warned seriously.

“So be careful what you wish for...” Peter muttered in understanding.

“Yes, that exact phrase was coined soon after the Genie were enslaved. Remember it and be extremely careful.” The Ancient one emphasized as she slammed the book shut. “I would rather you just forget about this genie business, but-”

“Yeah, no way.” Peter shook his head as The Ancient One sighed tiredly. “This is a wish-granting Genie we’re talking about. I’ve watched Aladdin far too many times to pass this up.”

——————————————

After hearing a few more warnings from his bald teacher, Peter returned home just in time for Lily to get out of school.

Quickly texting the family group chat that he would pick her up, he grabbed his keys and rushed out of the door.

Pulling up to the school in his old rust bucket, which only needed some cosmetic upgrade at this point, Peter heard the bell ring and watched as the children started pouring out of the doors in waves.

*beep beep...*

Peter honked the horn as he saw his daughter walk out with two children on each side of her.

One of them was obviously Miles, who has quickly become Lily’s best friend, while the other was someone that Peter hasn’t met before.

A girl about the same age as Lily with short blonde hair talked animatedly with them as she followed along.

[Insert picture of Gwen Stacy here]

“!?” The group looked up as they heard the beeping and found Peter in his rust bucket.

“That’s my dad.” Lily explained to Gwen, who looked confused.

“Oh, I thought your mom was picking us up?” Gwen asked as they all planned to go to Lily’s house after school.

Lily just shrugged as she walked over to the car and hopped in, followed by her friend filling up the backseat.

“Your friends are coming over?” Peter asks as Lily nods and motions back to her newest friend.

“That’s Gwen. She came over yesterday too, but you weren’t home.” She introduces.

“?” Peter looked back at the blonde girl for a moment. ‘What’s with my daughter and befriending future spider heroes?’

First Miles Morales and now Gwen Stacy. It’s like she’s building her own superhero group.

“It’s nice to meet you, Gwen.”

...

While the kids were eating pizza and playing some LEGO game on the Xbox in the living room, Peter left them alone and locked himself in his bedroom.

He pulled the Genies lamp out of nowhere and placed it on his desk, where he sat down and simply stared at it in awe for a moment.

‘I need to study this and then come up with some airtight wishes... Maybe I should write them down like a contract and have some lawyers look it over for any loopholes?’ Peter wondered as he got to work.

Snapping his fingers, the Lamp floated up to eye level as a nexus of golden spell lines surrounded the thing, scanning it meticulously.

“Now, what kind of enchantments are keeping you locked away?” Peter muttered as he started getting some information.

First, the lamp has a very intricate and complex prison enchantment, which seemed to be the main purpose of the container.

Once he found that out, Peter started looking for how to summon the genie, as the Collector tried and failed to do so for a year.

Of course, he wouldn’t be activating just yet...

...

Almost an hour after Peter started his research, the door flung open and MJ came storming in.

“Do you know-” The wind instantly left her sails as she caught sight of the floating lamp. “What is that?”

“A Genies lamp.” Peter says plainly. “What’s with the grand entrance?”

“A Genie?” She muttered in shock before shaking her head. “You know what? I’m going to ignore that for now. Do you know what your daughter was doing downstairs when I got home?”

“No idea, but since she’s only my daughter for this scenario I’d say it wasn’t good.” Peter says with a small laugh.

“She was...” MJ pauses to peek out of the door before closing it. “She and Gwen were taking turns kissing Miles. One would peck him on the lips and the other would go next-”

“I’m going to kill that little sh*t!” Peter exclaims and he sprung out of his chair.

(A/N: I have an 8-year-old niece who told me some kids in her class kissed, so I thought that this would be an interesting development and a good reason for Peter to get p*ssed off. Lol, it can’t always be Fury.)

-Downstairs-

“Do you think we’re in trouble?” Gwen asked worriedly.

“I don’t know... I don’t think Lily’s mom was mad.” Miles shrugged unknowingly.

“The kids did it at school, so I don’t see the problem...” Lily muttered in confusion.

“I’m going to kill that little sh*t!” Peter's voice carried through the house to the living room.

“!?” Gwen and Miles both jumped out of their seats in fright.

-Upstairs-

“Calm down!” MJ yells in a hushed tone as she pushes Peter back into his seat. “It’s normal for kids to experiment like this and you won’t be killing anyone. They probably don’t even know what they're doing!”

“Can I at least beat him?” Peter asked with a dangerous glint in his eye.

“No, they’re children!” MJ swatted him upside the head. “I shouldn’t have come to you for this...”

MJ instantly started regretting bringing this issue to Peter. Lily’s grandmothers would have been a much better choice.

“Now, stay here while I talk to the kids.” MJ sighs in frustration as she goes for the door, preparing herself for the awkward conversation.

As she opened the door, MJ turned back to Peter with a piercing glare.

“If you leave this room and cause trouble, I won’t sleep with you for a year...”

A/N: 1754 words :)