This is the ninth chapter. Hope you enjoy it. Sorry for the long-ish wait. Warning: blood scene in this chapter.
Garth walked towards the nearest zebra crossing, looked right then left, and waited for a car to start coming down the road towards him, and when he saw a truck heading rapidly towards him, he then stepped out into the road, hid left leg first, followed by his right, and a second later, the truck impacted, sending him down to the ground on his right-hand side, with his eyes squinted shut and winced his mouth with a slight hiss. He then felt immense pain in his legs and his left hand arm and side, maybe from the impact, most likely broken legs, also feeling like he was bleeding in his legs and left arm. He laid on his side as a ground of people then gathered round him, including the truck driver. Then, a few seconds later, he felt the pain quickly subside and he opened his eyes, and moved upwards to sit on his bottom. He looked down to see the bleeding in his legs and left arm had stopped, the only trace of what had happened was the blood on his sleeve and shorts, along with those few drops on the road. He then half bent his legs up into a better position, before he moved his back forwards slightly and moved his left hand to the ground, using the support to lift his body up the ground, feeling a pair of hands grabbing his shoulders, lifting him up, hoping his legs would give away and make him feel pain and he'd fall back down to the ground, but when he stopped upright on both legs, he rolled his eyes and signed in annoyance. Around him the people where muttering with shock and surprise. "I'm all right." He said in an unhappy tone, before looking rightwards to check there weren't any vehicles coming, saw none, and resumed walking across the road.
A few minutes later, Garth was on top of the 808 feet tall MetLife Building, holding a bottle of Bleach he'd just brought from a shop in his right hand. He moved it close to his face and unscrewed the lid with his left hand, moved the top of the bottle up to his mouth and then began drinking the bleach! He did not stop until he'd emptied the whole bottle, moved it away from his now closed mouth, and waited a few seconds. After a minute of waiting, he looked at the bottle, and saw it was indeed Bleach, also looking around the bottle to see it definitely had a warning label on it. Sighing in annoyance as he threw the bottle onto the roof. "There's gotta be something these powers can't heal. Just have to keep trying." He said to himself, before he then had an idea. He then walked over to the edge of the roof, turned around on the stop to have his back facing the edge, moving his arms level with his shoulders. He then closed his eyes as he then used his feet to move his body of the edge, falling back first down towards the ground. He did not like the feeling of falling several hundred feet downwards on his back towards the ground, hating the feeling of accerlaration, waiting and waiting, every second seeming so long, the fall seeming to take forever, until his ears register a splat!, indicating he'd finally landed. His body felt numb and his mind was absolutely clear, and yet somehow, he still felt the feeling of being alive. He then opened his left eye a smudge, hoping he was still alive, then a little bit more, saw blue sky, before fully opening both eyes to see a bunch of people around him bending towards to look at his face, their faces turning to shock. "I can't believe he's still alive." The woman leaning/looking directly over the left hand side of his face said. "I can't either." Garth replied, realising he could speak and somehow felt perfectly normal. He then bent his upper body upwards, look over/behind his right shoulder, to see a small pile of pile where his upper body had been lying before, also noticing on the edges of his shirt, and the section of his shirt which he could was, was absolutely covered in blood. He then got up on his feet, looked left and right at the people surrounding him, the people still shocked at his survival, then he looked ahead and down. "I give up." He said to no one in particular, before he started walking off. Among the crowd was a particular woman who was confused by what she had just seen. Not that he survived, by why he'd done it.
Later, that night....
Garth sat on a bench, taking no notice of the rain pouring down, nor of his fur getting wet. He stared at the large window pane in front of him, seeing his reflection in the glass. The something that on his mind earlier was in his mind again. "Excuse me?" He heard Girl's voice, coming besides him. The voice startled him and he reacted with a yelp, looking as he yelped leftwards to see Lily sitting besides him. He was holding up an umbrella between him and her with her right hand, and wore a white coat over a light blue shirt, with grey trousers. "Sorry to scare you, but you want some shelter?" She asked politely. "No... no thanks." He said back, trying to be polite, getting over his surprise to her out here, hoping the fur would cover the blush he was feeling, before looking forwards at the Glass again. "You should or you'll catch a cold in this rain." She said. "I'll take my chances." He replied. "Yeah. With your powers. Tell me... what on Earth made you decide to fall from a several hundred feet high skyscraper?" She asked, with only a tiny amount of aggression in her voice. "Mind your own business, Doctor. Besides, we're not even at the hospital." Garth said. "Well, I am your Doctor, and you are my patient. So, I would like an answer." She said back, her tone slightly more aggressive. "It's this." Garth replied, pointing at his face with his left index finger, still staring ahead. "If you were like this, you'd probadly be feeling the same way. Do you think I ASKED for what happened to me to happen?! That I ASKED to become all furry and stuff?! Having a long mouth and nose?! Having ears at the top of my head?! To look like THIS?!" Garth asked hot temperly. Lily didn't answer, but kept looking at him.
"What are you looking at?" Lily asked then him, wanting to know why he was staring at himself in the window. "Are you... are you superstitious?" Garth asked quietly. "No. Why?" Lily asked. "When I graduated university, my late parents gave me a small model of an animal as a well done present. Do you know what animal that was?" Garth asked her. "A Wolf?" Lily shrugged/asked. "A Wolf." Garth answered. "What happened to your parents?" Lily asked. "Don't like to talk about it, eh?" Garth replied, before tilting his eyes leftwards to see Lily clear her threat and put a stern look on her face, a kind of 'tell me' look. "They died in a skiing trip in the Canadian Rockies." Garth answered. "I'm sorry." Lily spoke, Garth giving a small but noticeable nod."Hey, you know what I see?" She asked him. Garth shrugged. "A guy, a really nice handsome guy, who lost his parents, thinks he has nothing left to live for, had something unexpected happen to him in space, the result of which made him different." She explained, and Garth felt a little happy he called him nice and handsome. "Hey, being different isn't always a bad thing." She spoke, pointing at her white hair with her left index finger. "Besides, you still have things to live for. Your life, yourself. Your team. The Fantastic Five. Your friends. And maybe a girlfriend." She said. "Don't have one." Garth replied, not exactly sure if he'd call the other his friends yet. "I'm sure you'll find one." She said, which made Garth turn his head leftwards to fully face her, his eyes slightly widening. "You really think a girl would go out with someone looking like this, eh?" He asked her. "If you meet the right girl, then I think yes. Goodnight, Garth." She said before she then stood up and walked away, leaving Garth in the lessening rain, sitting still on the bench, staring at her. A few minutes later, Garth then stood up and walked back to the Baxter Building. He wasn't sure why he was heading back there, but there was something in his gut that was telling him to. Soon he arrived at the entrance, seeing Sue and Reed (who wore his blue suit) also walk in through the doors. "Hey, Garth. Where have you.. been?" Sue asked, noticed the blood on his clothes. "Trust me, you don't wanna know." Garth replied as he followed her through the doors then into the lift. Once they reached the top, barely listening to Sue and Reed talking about stuff, he walked out of the lift behind and in between themthem to see Ben sitting on a Bunch of boxes in the main room, which now had a grey circular machine connected to a large white machine with two doors on the front, which Garth had been told was the machine to cure them, a rather aggressive look on his Stone face, which made the two of them stop talking and the three of them stop.
"Yeah. I have that effect on people." Ben said to them. "Ben." Reed spoke as he started walking forwards then stopped. "Oh! So you remember my name now, do ya?" Ben asked as he stood up and walked closer to him. "Well, do you also remember what you swore to do with every breath in your body?" Ben asked again, his voice full of sarcasm. "We're working as hard as we can." Reed said back. "Yeah, I can tell. Victor was right." Ben said, which made Garth tilt his head in confusion. "Victor?" Reed asked in confusion. "Ben, I don't know if this thing will change us back or make us worse. I need you to be patient for a little while longer." Reed then said as he walked past Ben, who turned around, pointing at the large white machine. "REED, LOOK AT ME!" Been shouted. "I am looking! That's why I can't make a mistake! I gotta get it right, and it's not right yet! We need to test it" Reed yelled back, before Ben shoved him in the left shoulder twice with his right hand. "I spent my whole life protecting you, and for what? So you could play Twister with your girlfriend while I'm the Freak of the Week?!" Ben asked, pointing at Sue, before he shoved Reed forwards with both hands, making him crash into a trolley with books on it, then fall to the ground. "Ben, stop it!" Sue said. "You stay out of this, Susie." Ben said to her. "Stop it, or I will." Sue said again. "Yeah, that's enough!" Garth (having moved to Sue's left) added, not wanting someone to get hurt. Reed then suddenly jumped onto Ben's back and stretched his arms out across Ben's arms. "Get off me, rubber boy!" Ben cried, before Reed stretched his legs around Bens mid-section. "You guys, quit it! Ben!" Sue begged, but to no avail, as Ben moved backwards to hit Reed against the machine. Ben then grabbed Reed and threw his upper body upwards, which stretched and allowed Reed to grab the railing above. But his body then retracted back like elastic, making him let go, and he impacted Ben's front. Ben tried to throw him off to his right, buy Reed then stretched himself around his back and stretched his arms around Ben's arms. "Calm down! Calm down!" Reed said as Ben grabbed his head, but her stretched himself again, moved around a bit, before he grabbed Ben's head with both hands, with his feet touching the wall of the machine and the floor, and made Ben move his arms outwards with a grunt and a growl. This made Garth do a 'hmm' with wide eyes an a nod. "Good thing your flexible enough to watch your own back, cause I ain't doin' it no more. You two are on your own." Ben said as Reed let him good and walked a few steps away. He then turned to Garth. "And you, got anything to say?" Ben asked him. "Uh..." Garth said, looking down slightly as he wasn't sure. "Yeah. I knew it. Your having seconds thoughts because of what it did to you, and your...condition." Ben spoke, which Garth look at him with his mouth gaping open slightly and his eyes widened. Sure, he had been having seconds thoughts for a while, but hadn't really been dwelling on them. "What condition?" Reed asked. "So you haven't told them your little secret? Well, Garth, how's your chance to confess. Tell them the truth." Garth said to him coldly. Garth had actually been expecting this for a bit, so he then decided to just get it out, as looked down, even if Johnny wasn't there. "Lung Cancer. I felt that going into space with you would be a good thing, one last good thing I could do before this got worse." He answered, still staring down as he refused to see Reed and Sue's reactions.
"You powers cured your Cancer? Wow." He heard Reed say. "Hope that makes you feel better." Ben spoke before he then started walking out. Garth then looked up and in Reeds direction. "I'm with him." He said, pointing his right hand over his shoulder, before he turned around and went after Ben. Eventually, at the reception, he saw Johnny walking up with something in his hands. "Hey, look what the marketing guys gave me. Look. Check it out. Listen. You'll love this." He said excitedly, as Garth saw Johnny was holding a small toy imitation of Ben. "It's clobberin' time!" The toy then said, and Garth couldn't help but chuckle as it was a bit funny. "It's catchy. Right? Isn't that right?" Johnny asked with a laugh. Ben stepped up to Johnny, grabbed the toy, shoved johnny into the wall and then shoved the toy into the wall left of his face, Garth taking a step back. "That was the prototype!" Johnny moaned. Ben just grumbled before he walked out.Sue then stepped into the area. "Ben! Johnny, Garth, have you seen Ben?" She asked as she came up to them, while Johnny started walking to the doors. "Yeah. Sunshine just left. Look, Sue, I'm sorry. I can't stay in this freak show. I gotta get back to the real world." Johnny answered. "Your calling that the real world?" Sue asked incredulously, as Garth stepped up to her right again, also looking at him in a confused way. "Sue, stop. Your not Mom. Sont talk to me like I'm a little boy, okay?" Johnny asked back, stopping and turning around. "Maybe I would if you stopped acting like one. Do you even hear yourself? Who do you think you are?" Sue asked, stepping closer. "Why is ever one on my ass? If you guys are jealous, that's fine. I didn't expect it to come from you, though." Johnny shot back. "Your really think those people out there care about you? Your just a fad to them, Johnny." Sue said to him. "Your sister's right, Johnny. Your just another celebrity for them to hassle." Garth added. "Let's try something new. You live your life, I live mine. Sound good?" Johnny asked her, as if he'd barely heard Garth, her as he stepped backwards towards the doors. "Oh, and just for the record, thhey love me!" Johnny cried, pointing both index fingers at himself, before he then went out of the building. Sue then turned around to face Garth, who just stood there, before he signed, huffed and then walked towards the door and walked out of it.
No that's the ninth chapter done. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope the bit with Lily was okay. The bit where Garth fell off the building was inspired by a scene from "Deadpool 2" (2018). And the superstitious/Wolf bit was inspired by a part from an episode of a series I watch on Netflix called "Sweet Tooth", and how Garth's parents died was inspired by "Jumamji" (1995). So Garth's condition is finally revealed: Lung Cancer! Nasty. Anyway, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out, so please be patient.