But even so, would Shard powers even work in other universes? Then again Lisa would love no longer having headaches. And also not having TMI any time she thinks about sex.
Honestly you could make a decent case for shard powers working or not working. The whole point of the trigger event is about creating a connections between the host and the shard across dimensions.
You could also make bullshit reasons for Lisa to keep her powers while losing it's faults. Once you add real comic book superhero rules to Work, you can get away with that crap.
Because Worm is Eldritch horror setting wearing comic books as a skin. This crossover by virtue of existing forces real comic book setting effects into Work.
Shard powers do work in other universes, we see it in canon all the time. The question is: what happens when the hosts step outside the group of universes quarantined by the Entities?
Now now, causality is not causation. It's not that those normally result in the apocalypse, but that an apocalypse that needs to be dealt with tends to happen following it. Because why bother having an op power combination/partnership if there's no excuse to show it off.
The problem is how to do it naturally without her traumatizing nearly everyone she knows.
Remember, in canon it took the utter disaster that occured during the Slaughterhouse Nine visit for her to willingly go to the Birdcage.
Because that's the thing. While I feel sorry for Amy in canon due to Carol's actions, she literally avoided the problem unitl it blew up in her face.
Amy and Taylor are similar in that regard. Sadly Victoria isn't a Lisa, and can't cut through Amy's denial bullshit.
But yeah, keep Amy away from Taylor. At least Lisa can actually get through to Taylor. Amy and Taylor would being a feedback loop of Eldritch horrors.
Lisa''s Shard: We need to think about this carefully. And plot things through James Bond Style.
Queen Adminstratior: Let's kill them with Bee's. Then go full warlord.
Queen Shaper: I can make the bees giant with hornet DNA mixed in!
Lisa''s Shard: ..My host is right. You two really are insane.
Queen Adminstratior: Oh please, she's as a crazy as my host is. Let's be honest, if your power didn't make it impossible for your host to consider intamcy, we all know who would be a potential canidate. To be fair, she does have good taste.
Lisa''s Shard: Better than Shaper's host.
Spider: If it wasn't for your terrible parents, I would consider this cute.
Lisa''s Shard: WHO IS THAT!
Queen Adminstratior: My hosts connection to a far superior power. And they like spiders. There for I like them
Lisa Shard: And once again, another cycle goes of the rails cause a CERTAIN shard has to attempt revolution.
( I like to think that the Queen Adminstraitor shards has probably tried to revolt in every cycle due to how it's nature tends to be about control. )
Meh I prefer this crossover to somehow legitmately redeem Bonesaw. We know it's possible. Just get her away from Jack, and probably get her as far away from the Entity quarantined realities as possible...
Because let's be honest. Keeping Riley near parahumans is like hoping an former alcoholic won't relapse if you take him to a bar.
I mostly just want Jack control over Riley to up and burn. Seriously I have never like it when kids gets twisted by fucked up adults in stories.
So Amy can negate Taylor's power by creating Scrambler Bugs to interfere. With the addition of Spider Totems in the mix, could she do something similar with Spider-sense and scramble it, or not trigger it like Venom? And like with Relay Bugs, could she do the opposite and boost Spider-sense for others in some way?
So Amy can negate Taylor's power by creating Scrambler Bugs to interfere. With the addition of Spider Totems in the mix, could she do something similar with Spider-sense and scramble it, or not trigger it like Venom? And like with Relay Bugs, could she do the opposite and boost Spider-sense for others in some way?
Once again, that is another reason Amy must be kept from Taylor.
Taylor is a min-maxer, and Amy is an walking bio-lab desperate for any outlet.
And generally nearly every known case of people screwing with the genetics of people with spider abilites in Marvel tend to backfire hard comics or otherwise
AN: I hate this chapter. It fought out against being written for far too long, and it's not even a exciting one. Still, here it is. It's not a big chapter or anything, and it's completely Marvel related, showing the state of the world and setting up a couple of sideplots. But is anything in this side arc related to the main plot at all? Yes, yes it will, don't you worry nones.
You may have also noticed the change in the fic title. The previous one was prone to cause confusion, and the new one reflects more accurately what I want to do with the story.
Earth-001, Loomworld
People love to say that the United States, and particularly New York City, are a melting pot of peoples, cultures, languages, and ways to live.
But they have never heard about Loomworld.
True, it isn't fair to compare a city or a country with an entire world, but you don't even have to step outside the capital of the recently overthrown empire to prove this point.
For example, take the Grand Hall, the palace that lorded over its surroundings. Before even stepping inside, one would begin walking through the great plaza precluding the steps leading to its doors. It was made in the image of the Saint Peter Plaza at Rome, big enough that crossing it from one side to the other took a few good minutes.
But while it looked like an Italian piece of architecture from afar, an expert eye would soon begin to find various styles put together ranging from the Kingdom of Prussia to the days of the Belgian Kingdom and even some influence from Tsarist Russia.
As for the interior of the palace, in the past there was a clear dominance of the styles employed during the Imperial days of England, mixed with the practicality of the finest technological measures of security that most realities would be able to engineer.
Not anymore though, as neglect, battle, and a change in management brought an appreciation of further practicality. A sort of savage brutalism remodeling of sorts, both in process and reconstruction. With abundant cogwebs.
There would have been plenty of guards guarding the place to stop such changes, but they weren't needed around anymore, as the current inhabitants already let those who previously worked there to recover any personal effects they might have left there, and they held little of value for themselves. And for whatever that had value, they could protect it themselves well enough.
As for the plaza, nowadays it has been turned by plenty of merchants into the greatest marketplace in town for hundreds of kilometers, ignoring the architecture and obscuring it with their tools of the trade, or even defacing it with graffiti. Stands of wood and cloth intermingled with wide tents of artisans surrounded by portable electric fences, and blankets covered by nick nacks sheltered under the odd spaceship that had lowered its ramp to make an impromptu shop out of its cargo hold.
The entire city around and even the other pockets of civilization around the globe were similar, although in the opposite direction. Saloons that hid the most advanced medical installation a town was able to afford, or houses built of mud and hay that housed a family skilled in clockwork.
And the people were just as varied. Consider one particular market street coming into the Grand Hall plaza. There you could witness an altercation where a man pushed another aside.
Then one would start noticing the details. Like a particular man dressed like a pirate, being chased by spearmen clad in silver armor, with white cloaks and wings in their helmets. The second man was an android who just had his chest skewered by a sword, then his horse used by the pirate as a trampoline to leap at a flying car stationed nearby.
He didn't make it. A threadline of web shot at his back, sticking to him and stopping him dead mid air.
He didn't touch the ground either. A wider web caught him, saving him from the fall as he stuck to it the more he tried to fight to free himself.
Only when the guards surrounded the man, spears pointed at him, he stopped struggling. Once secured, some of the enforcers started to cut the threads around the fugitive.
"Wow, Namor. I knew you'd get in trouble some day. What happened, crew mutinied and kicked you out of the ship?"
The pirate turned at the brown haired girl clad in black that approached. "Araña", he snarled. "You totems are a pest. I'll get you back for this!"
Anya shrugged in good humor. "I just got here, actually. You might want to look over there, if you want to know who to thank you for the improvised hammock."
"I can only take credit for the first shot", said a woman clad in a red corset over a blue jacket and working leather clothes, a goggled skullcap, and with four mechanical legs on her back. May Reilly, also known as Lady Spider of Earth-803; not a totem, but a gifted machinist from a steampunk Victorian world.
She lowered herself to the ground with the help of a webline, followed in the same fashion by a child wearing a red mask that only left her eyes and her brown ponytail uncovered, along a blue sweater, tutu and leg warmers. A kid called Penelope Parker who lived on Earth-11. Lady Spider patted her in the shoulder. "This young lady is the one who caught our pirate king."
"I only saw him fall", the child said, uncomfortable with the praise. "I didn't know he was a bad person." Her eyes wandered through the scene until she noticed the body on the ground; she yelped at the sight and hid behind the older woman.
"I'm… fine", the wounded android said weakly from the ground; a couple of merchants came to help him stand up, then took him to a seat behind a stall. "It's a good thing I don't have a heart anymore, I guess."
One of the guards, an officer with golden armor instead of silver, turned to the spiders. "Thank you for your cooperation. His capture became a priority after he tried to hijack one of our air corvettes at the docks. I'm sure the mayor will show you her appreciation."
"Oh! It was nothing", Penelope blurted out, uncomfortable with the attention.
Anya and Lady Reilly simply smiled.
With nothing more to say, the officer returned to his guards. They shackled Namor just before freeing him from the web, and then took him away. The rubberneckers around them lingered for a little while longer, but soon enough they returned to their routines, whether in silencer or thanking the spiders for their help in passing.
"Yes, I'm sure the mayor will be aaaaall love and praise…" Anya said, still a smile on her face, when she was sure the guards were out of earshot. "Do you guys need any help?" she called to the merchants attending the injured cyborg, who waved her off again with a muttered 'no, but thank you'.
"Don't worry too much about her, Anya", May said as she and the kid approached closer. "Mayor Drew may have the support of the people of Loomworld for uniting them, but they won't tolerate an attack on the ones who freed them in the first place. She's just afraid she won't win the coming elections. Talk in the streets is that she has the majority vote, but barely. "
"I know, but she's a pain all the same." Anya punched the bridge of her nose. "One would think she'd be a bit more thankful to us for giving her the opportunity to come up on top. But no, she has to be angry that the people allowed us to keep the palace instead of giving it to her. She probably thinks we're a political threat."
"Grace under pressure, Anya", May lectured her patiently. "You are not the one trying to step on her toes. If an attitude and spite is all she can give to you, you only need to be the better woman."
"I guess so." Anya turned to Penelope, and squatted to be at the same level. "So, you've been strolling around the town for a while already with Lady Spider. Seen anything you like, hermanita?"
"Oh, this place is incredible! There are so many weird things that I never saw at home", Penelope said, excitement clear in her eyes for a moment before it deflated. "But, are there always so many fights? Is it like that for you guys too? I like helping people, but I don't like fights, and I already feel too gross being like this."
"It's fine, love. You don't need to fight anyone, and your aunt was already pretty clear that she didn't want you to either", Lady Spider said. "We're only showing you what we can offer you, if you ever need us."
"Ok." Penelope nodded, soothed by the words, if not completely convinced. "But I don't need to fight then?"
"Not now, but I won't lie, you might need to fight in the future. Being a spider means we have two things: rage, and this." Anya raised a hand to her chest, tapping where her heart should be. "Well, some of us have smarts like Lady Spider. But you just focus on understanding this for now." She took Penelope's hand and made her mimic what she just did herself. "Ok? The rest will come in time. And we'll help you if you need us."
"Rage is… scary. But that doesn't sound too bad", the child accepted.
"We should go", Lady Spider said, taking Penelope's hand as Anya stood up. "That might have been too much excitement for the young lady for the day, and I think it's time you returned with your aunt." She shot a web to the roofs. "Webs ready, Penelope?"
"Yup!" The kid shot a webline of her own in the same direction as Lady Spider.
"And you got your own guest to attend to", the steampunk spider reminded Anya before rising to the roofs accompanied by the child in blue.
Anya turned to the man waiting at a distance behind her. She crossed her arms and raised a hand, waving vaguely at everything around them. "So. You heard the kid. Loomworld, place of weirdness. You like what you've seen?"
A black man strolled closer from the corner he had been observing the scene. He was shaven, with short hair, and was dressed in a fine suit and a small shawl covering his shoulder. He looked like a king — which he was — although he was not harmless.
"Unlike the young lady, I'm afraid these good people wouldn't take lightly the use of such an ill-chosen word from me. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't amazed.", said T'challa, the man known as the Black Panther. "Although I am curious. Where on the planet are we currently at?" he asked. "I see plenty of ethnicities, mostly European ones, but the climate feels too close to home to be that up north."
"This city lies by the coast of what would be Ghana", Anya explained, motioning him to follow her back to the Grand Hall.
"The land of the Ashanti tribe", T'Challa commented, the streets around them forgetting the recent altercation and going back to its busy life. "Those who spoke first of Kwaku Anansi, father of spiders."
"I know the story. A man who traveled the world swinging from tree to tree", she started to recount, "to learn everything he could from all peoples. Once there was nothing more to learn on earth, he climbed up to the sky to find Nyame, sky-god and keeper of all the stories of the world at all times, to ask for his wisdom and stories. When Nyame asked in turn for his absolute loyalty, Anansi hesitated. He said he couldn't abandon those he loved and needed him. Nyame said that was enough. Anansi left the waking world behind, weaving the stories Nyame trusted him, with the webs of the spiders that became his eyes and hands."
She noticed T'Challa's impressed look. "Well, that's mostly summarized", she said, a bit bashful. "Sorry, the others think I'm a bit nerdy about this."
"But you know the story well, even if it's condensed", he praised her. "Anansi doesn't count among the gods of Wakanda, but I know few elders and scholars who would find fault with your account."
Anya forced herself to remain stoic against the sight of the genial smile of the very handsome man. He was the king of Wakanda, the most technologically advanced nation in her world, and easily one of the most attractive men she had seen. She was clamping down real hard on her fangirlishness right now.
Ok, yeah, she had a poster of him along with those of other heroes and his fellow Avengers. Sue her. She wasn't alone in that among teenagers. No, not anymore, that was time ago, and what a teenage girl had decorating her room was nobody's business.
"I learned it from this spider cult I worked with when I first got my powers. An associate of them had studied the myth, looking for ways to become a spider totem himself."
T'Challa nodded. "Still, going back to this place, and considering what you said about these Inheritors hunting spider totems across the multiverse, it doesn't seem like a coincidence that they built their seat of power precisely here."
"Yeah, I know." She gave him a meaningful look. "The funny thing is, that man had localized six ruins around the world, places of power telling the story of Anansi. The Inheritors raised many cities in this world, but all the big ones in each continent share the same locations. It's the same in all the worlds we knew they controlled. At least, those we've been able to ask."
"Searching maybe for some higher connection to the spider, to hunt your kind better?"
"Or just bragging. Nobody knows if any of those ruins still exist anymore", she said as they reached the great plaza in front of the Grand Hall, and she waved at it. "We know there was one here where the Grand Hall, because of the Web of Life, and probably one under each of the greater cities in each universe they colonized. But the ruins themselves are gone, and then gentrified the places with the people they conquered. They took the worlds, might as well go for some culture erasing pettiness."
"The culture, and its people." T'Challa muttered, their passing through the plaza drowned by the calls of the market stands offering their trades. "No matter who is the conqueror, some things never change."
The Grand Hall
"I don't want to sound rude, but one would think this building looks neglected."
"Believe it or not, that's a deliberate choice. Most of these are actually part of the Web of Life", Anya said as they toured deeper into the palace, waving her hand at the many giant strands of web occupying most of the walls in the rooms and corridors they were crossing, as if they were curtains and tapestries. "Every time it was damaged, all of the Web was contained into a single room. An easy target. We don't like the idea of anyone walking into a random corridor and destroying a few strands, but it's safer for the whole to not be localized in a single spot."
"An understandable decision." T'challa said as he followed Anya at her side. "Although I'd suggest investing in some security."
"We're on that. Our biggest limit right now is that we decided we want to do everything in house, but the technology that was left behind when we took the building was pretty advanced; our resident engineer has been refining the drones we've been using to survey the Web to also act as a surveillance system, and some of the volunteers are helping to produce more." Anya pointed at the multitude of small arachnid drones they've been seeing roaming about the webs during their entire walk in the palace. They had also passed through a few automated security doors, although most of them had been left disabled. "We've even been able to observe other universes through drones like those."
"That's an interesting concern, though", T'Challa said. "People are already wary of being tracked even by their own phones; you must understand how worrying would be that the ones following you aren't in the same universe as you."
Anya shook her head. "That's not what we want. We're discussing having a couple of drones in one single universe, each around a big population center or two that can pick the signals from news networks. Maybe a small one at the homes of our volunteers, so they can know all is fine during an absence. But we want to make sure we have the approval of someone with some authority before deploying them in each world." Anya said as they entered the main hall, as a myriad of other spiders were about their business around the Web of Life. "We want to help protect the multiverse, not police it."
T'Challa gave a deep hum of understanding as they passed by a group of other spider totems that waved at Anya. "I see now why you suggested Tony bring me with him, Miss Corazón. You actually want to talk about politics."
Right on the money. Once Tony and T'Challa had arrived, the former had followed Pavitr into his workshop so that both could gush about the technology salvaged from the Inheritors. Not an intended outcome, but one that Anya gladly accepted, as it would be easier to talk about what she wanted with a single person.
"I'll admit, it's not really my thing", Anya said with some shame. "I was trained to lead, not to be a diplomat. Someone else is going to work on that, but she already had a similar appointment in her world. And given that I'm from Earth-616 as well, we agreed I would take responsibility to deal with you today." She raised an eyebrow. "Er, your highness? Your majesty?"
"Please don't worry about any of that." T'Challa said, with some reservation of his own that faded quickly. "And you can call me by my name, Miss Corazón. Others have spoken well of you, and it talks volumes of your character that you decided to shoulder such a great responsibility as this."
"Very well, T'Challa." She said, resisting to chuckle at the odds, but then became suspicious. "Is that patronizing?" Anya asked, before realizing that it might not have been the best thing to say. "I just ask because ever since I got my powers people have been trying to tell me how to do things", she followed in a less confrontational tone, "and at first it was fun, but after the fourth or fifth person? Those people jumping at any chance to mentor us naive children? Nothing is stopping them from working at a school or a community center."
"I would never think of that", he said with amusement. "On the contrary, I'm only trying to get into the good graces of our soon to be new interdimensional overlords."
"Oooh, yeah, that." Then Anya lowered her voice, giving it a theatrically conspiratorial tone. "We wanted it to be a surprise for everyone. So if you could maybe not tell? That'd be great."
"My lips are sealed."
"And I guess you can also call me by my name."
"As you prefer, Anya."
Wait a second. It just registered in her mind. She was on a first name basis with the Black Panther?
No, she was not going to squee. Not in public, at least.
It must have shown in her face, though. Anya realized they were passing by Jessica Drew of Earth-1610, who managed to escape the devastation of that world, and was now sitting at a table typing on a laptop, grinning in amusement.
Bah, let them be jealous.
"Still, while I admire your sense of responsibility", he said, leaving the jokes behind, "I am worried that you might be trying to bite more than you can chew. You and the rest of the spider totems following, I mean. As Avengers, we protect one world, ours. You are taking on the entire multiverse."
"Right, I understand that." Anya sighed, as they walked closer to the bulk of the Web, where Annie should be… Anya frowned. She didn't see Annie anywhere. "But we can't really leave the Web unattended, I don't want to imagine what would happen if it gets damaged again. In any case, we're starting slow. I got a couple teams checking a potentially problematic universe, and the volunteers are taking turns to help each other in their worlds, but that's as far as we're stretching ourselves for the moment."
Anya directed T'Challa's attention to a small group of young people they passed by, exhausted; a man with his head shaved, dressed in nothing but loose pants, was going through their mistakes during a series of sparring, and the ways they would work to fix them in the future. Nearby, a bright eyed blonde woman in a costume similar to Gwen's — elaborate enough to have been made for a movie, instead of a working hero — was overseeing another group of four young teens going through the motions of a kata.
A rare Peter Parker who had taken a life of strict training and meditation, and an action film actress called Erin Hasko who Octavia had met in the past. Both had agreed to help train any totems who wished so, Erin with far more enthusiasm than her partner.
"I'll be scheduling training exercises so that I can get people used to working as teams myself, once things get settled. In the meantime, we have some combat training done for those with less fighting experience; and we're seeing how many of those with a scientific mindset are interested in learning the technology we salvaged, to help develop and produce it. Among other things. But that's just the start. We're still in contact with those spiders who didn't join us, and we still have room to grow."
They stopped in front of the Web, and Anya turned to face T'Challa. "But as you say, this is still big for us. And there's only so much we totems can do on our own. We need the help of local heroes."
"An association, then?" he said.
"We don't want anyone doing someone else's job", she clarified. "Everyone will keep operating as they do in their local worlds, I can't control that anyway. It's more about creating a network where everyone collaborates to watch for dimensional threats. One world notices something and they warn us, or we notice it ourselves and I get other worlds on alert, maybe ask for help. Everyone benefits. Imagine there are universes that start to disappear one after another. Say for example, we get Reed Richards on the job, and he may work miracles, but he's just one person. What if we gather five of them instead to collaborate? Five Doctor Stranges? Five Wakandas?"
T'Challa raised an eyebrow. "That scenario you describe is awfully close to the Incursions. Do you remember them?"
Anya shook her head. "No, but I know they happened, and what they did." Nobody truly remembered the Incursions. That entire universes were snuffed out, yes. The events that reversed the process, not so much. And being privy to those details, a harder feat. She pointed at the spiders gathered around the room. "Some of them lost their homes to that."
"I do remember the Incursions", he said gravely, "what was behind them, what happened afterwards, and how unprepared we were. I'm probably one of a handful who remembers all of it." T'Challa remained silent for a moment, and nodded. "You convinced me, Anya. What would you need of me?"
"I'm planning a meeting", she stated, glad to have T'Challa's support. "At least a first one, at least for the people of Earth-616 if no one else. I could port around personally to anyone that would come to my mind, but I doubt anyone would appreciate it. I'd like you to gather anyone you yourself would trust with your most delicate secrets, those you'd think who can be trusted with knowing about Loomworld and the Web. The capacity to keep an eye on multiversal events is appreciated, but not needed. I'll take care of the rest when the time comes."
"As chairman of the Avengers, I already made an agreement with other heroic groups", he said with a nod. "To collaborate with and exchange information. This situation fits. I will request a private meeting with the heads of these institutions and explain the situation. At the very least, I assume Captain Britain would be interested in attending."
"Wait." Anya blinked, not expecting that last tidbit. "I didn't know he survived the Incursions. I knew their headquarters in Otherworld did, but I thought most of the Captain Britain Corps died back then."
"Brian Braddock did survive", T'Challa said, "although it's not quite clear right now what's happening with him."
"What do you mean?"
"Last time I saw Brian was a few months ago, during my meeting to gather the heroic groups of our world. But he has been… absent, for some reason that's still unclear. His sister Elizabeth now wears the mantle of Captain Britain, and is leading a new Excalibur team. Although her being a mutant is causing a lot of political noise in England about her allegiances."
It didn't take long for Anya to understand why. "She had joined Krakoa before that?" He nodded.
All the greater leaders of mutantkind had forgoed their differences and founded a new mutant nation in an island named Krakoa, where all mutants were welcome to join. So of course plenty of countries where mutants were persecuted or discriminated against had lost their collective shits, even more when Krakoa had offered to trade some miraculous life prolonging drugs to human nations in exchange for recognizing them as a state.
And the Captain Britains had been as much the protectors of the multiverse as of their own countries. Adding a third side to share loyalties sounded like fun. Not.
"Why this particular interest in the Braddocks, anyway?" T'Challa asked.
"The man who gathered us together at the beginning, Billy, was both a totem and a Captain Britain. He left the Corps before they fell, and the Incursions destroyed his universe too." Anya took a breath. "The Web-Warriors was his idea, but then he died. And it just occurred to me that we never got to do anything close to letting the next of kin know, and I guess another Captain Britain is the next best thing."
"I assume he was close to you."
"I told you I had several mentors. Billy was the first one who trusted me to lead." She let out a sight. "Look, he was just as young as the rest of us, and he wasn't a perfect leader or mentor. But for all he lacked in experience, he tried to be the best example of a hero he could give us; those of us who have been in the Web-Warriors from the beginning really looked up to him." She shook her head. "Some of us more than others, I think."
A certain someone might have not said a peep since then, but Anya was not blind. She knew who was the one to spend the most time sitting alone at Billy's grave during his wake.
T'Challa nodded slowly, appreciating the weight of her statement. "Give me some days to check on my colleagues to see who would be receptive to your proposal, and I'll see about letting Miss Braddock know that you have a more personal reason to meet. In addition, I will send you some of my people to help you build." He prevented her from speaking up. "Please, I insist. I trust you're doing this with the best intentions, but I don't expect you and your people to take on a work of this magnitude with the equivalent of a garage company and receiving crumbs as payment. Consider it my way of contributing."
"Thank you, really." Anya answered with relief. That was far better than she expected to get.
The sentiment was short-lived though. The noise of a ruckus brought their attention to the entrance of the hall, seeing a few city guards with a particularly distinctive golden armor striding towards her, ignoring the multitude of spiders watching their advance.
"I'm assuming they didn't have an appointment?" T'Challa ventured.
"The mayor or her cronies? Never", Anya groaned, sure that her day would be imminently ruined.
But something was off. Anya expected Mayor Drew to lead the procession, or at least be flanked by her guards. But she was nowhere to be seen.
Once the guards arrived at a polite earshot distance, they stopped. Their captain stepped a bit closer, and bowed in greeting. "Lady Araña", he said, sparing a moment to give a polite nod to her present guest. "Sir." T'Challa returned the gesture, seemingly curious about what was happening.
"Captain", she greeted in return. "I would have expected the mayor to be leading you here." Not that she'd complain that she wasn't here.
"Usually that would be the case", he said. "I am aware that you never appreciated the mayor getting on your case, but I'm afraid I must ask you for help on her behalf."
"Why?" Anya frowned in suspicion. "If she's expecting us to help her with the election, I must remind you that the Web-Warriors already stated our neutrality."
"No, is not that", the captain said. "The mayor has been murdered."
Now that took a reaction from Anya. "Oh."
Earth-982, the home of Mayday Parker, aka the Spectacular Spider-Woman
Mayday was currently on a roof, leaning back against a wall, and playing 'make the biggest noise possible' with the wall and the back of her head.
"I hate Weadon." Bump. "I really hate Weadon." Bumpity. "Did I say I hate Weadon?" Bumpeter. "Well I hate Weadon." Bump-bump.
Nearby, the tall man known as Kaine Parker, his bearded and scarred face being the only part of his body not covered by his black bodysuit and brown long coat, chuckled in amusement as the wind played with his gray haired ponytail. "You know, I don't have much love for the man myself", he said, despite working directly for the FBI agent Arthur Weadon, leading his team of ex-supervillains. "But no matter how acerbic he was talking to you, he was right in one thing. This multiverse matter is too big for him."
"I knew that from the start!" Mayday said. "I only wanted him to refer me to someone upstairs. He didn't need to be a jerk about it."
"Well, he never liked you either."
"Would you waste an hour to spite someone you don't like?"
"Oh, he didn't waste his time, believe me. We were working that entire hour while he had you waiting at the lobby."
"Ugh." Another bump against the wall. "Fine, whatever. I'm going directly to Director Hill next. She might threaten to lock me up in some SHIELD prison but at least she doesn't do petty." She then looked at the older man. "What about you? What do you think about joining the Web-Warriors? It doesn't need to be a twenty four seven gig, but we could use someone like you backing us up some time."
Mayday wasn't merely proposing the idea just because Kaine was a totem. He was also the clone of her father. And as strong as he was — the Kaine of each world rated as some of the strongest spider totems around, as well as usually the most violent and unhinged — Mayday saw hers as the secret uncle that saved her and helped her more than once.
No, Mayday truly respected Kaine, and she was making that offer out of that respect.
Kaine moved to her side, leaning back against the wall as well, and seemed to consider the idea. "I'm content working for the FBI right now. It's not my dream job, but the team is doing a good work, and I can curb Weadon's more authoritarian impulses. As for saving other worlds… I'm not that kind of man. Not that kind of hero, at least." He gave her a smile. "But if you think you may need me, yeah, I'll be sure to answer your call."
While that was more than good enough for her, Mayday wasn't fooled by that smile. It reeked of guilt. "You know, I don't blame you for not being there when dad died…"
Kaine looked away. "I know", he said. It was clear he didn't quite believe it himself.
Her father, Peter, and Kaine were never close. When Mayday was born and in danger, Kaine was the one to save her. The bad blood between the two was still there, but Kaine still kept trying to look out for the family, at least for Mayday and her mother Mary Jane.
And when the Inheritor Deimos struck one night by surprise… Mayday, battered and wounded, had to flee the flames with her baby brother in her arms, but not before seeing their mother run back into the fire, and the dry corpse of her father being discarded like the unwanted envelope of a precooked meal.
What Mayday and her new friends among the spider totems from around the multiverse did to bring down the Inheritors, twice, was something that she had already gone over with Kaine. Along with her mother and other trusted friends like Normie Osborn and Phil Urich.
But none of that had brought her father back to life. It hadn't mended her mother's heart. And didn't make Kaine feel any less guilty. Nevermind that all his strength wouldn't have mattered much against their opponents.
Her phone chose that time to ring, and she took it out of her backpack. Once she saw who the caller was, she took the call with the phone speaker. "Hey, what's up?"
When she brought home the alternate universe version of her great-uncle Ben, she was afraid that either her mother or Kaine would have any problems with him. While Mary Jane accepting him into the house was a relief, Mayday was actually surprised that the two men would end up becoming fast friends.
Ben's reply now would also be a surprise. But not one she liked.
Mount Hebron Cemetery
Mayday's fists had become two shaking balls of fury, standing there as she stared into the hole.
"I called my colleagues, called a favor", Kaine said as he walked closer, pocketing a phone into his coat. "This is out of my jurisdiction; but they'll make sure things will be kept discreet. No media circus to worry about, hopefully. If you want someone in particular to look into this before the cops do, you should have some time."
"Who found out about this?" she asked, careful to keep her voice under control.
"Your mother", Ben said, in his old costume made out of protective work clothes. "She was nearby, and thought about changing the last flowers she brought the last time. I made sure Phil would take her home. Normie and Brenda should be with them now as well."
Mayday nodded, silent, afraid that she'd lose a handle on her rage.
Someone had defiled her father's grave, and taken his corpse. No messages, no signs, no clues as to who or why they would do it.
And when she found who she did, no matter how long it'd take, she would make sure they'd pay.
Couple of important things to note. The first act has gotten yet another round of editing thanks to Juff in the Cauldron Discord server (a list of changes in the following spoiler, if you don't want to read all that again):
Repetition reduction, further grammar and plot fixes, some minor paragraph reordering
Expanded a bit on Gwen and Gwendy's similarities and differences. They look similar, but not twin-ish.
As per the design notes, Gwen's usual shoes are bright blue Converse Chucks, with the trousers pulled over the hi-top when in costume; and her costume uses purple, not pink.
Related to that, developed a bit further the conversation about Gwendy wearing ballet slippers in chapter 3.
Gwendy talking about the heroes in her world: less "bigger than life", more "distant".
Corrected Gwen's rant about her prison time to not be so angry at SHIELD (she actually thanked the gesture, even if she disagreed with all about it on several levels).
Gwendy goes to the mall looking for burner phones, instead of intending to randomly find Taylor there.
At Ao3, the text messages between the Gwens have been formatted in Ao3 thanks to CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza's tutorial; BBCode can't quite do the same but I tried to do something similar here. They also give each other a nickname in their phone contacts, suggested by Darsynia.
Taylor notices that Gwen's actually might have bigger muscles than she looks. This is intentional for the fic, and not symbiote related (Gwen must have been doing something more in jail than just getting her shit kicked in)
Modified some of Anya's dialogue.
Toned down a bit one of Taylor's internal snarks in her narration, and some of Lisa's dialogue to appear a bit more distrustful.
Taylor's narration in her latest scene has been expanded for the benefit of the Marvel side readers.
Corrected all the appropriate instances of May to Mayday for clarity.
More importantly, during that round of editing I received some insightful feedback, and deliberating on it, I'm seriously considering to stop updating the story here after the second act is concluded, at least until the story is complete. This is for several reasons (crossover focus, limitations in bbcode for some formatting ideas, and potentially rule breaking content in the future, among the most important ones). I will still give this until the end of the second act to wait and see, but after that, almost certainly I'll keep updating exclusively at Ao3.
Honesty if the story includes sex in the future it would become even more complicated. I am barely here for the Worm side, I got no Interest in the Spiders as they are portrayed.
Is basically the same issue I have with that Spiderman/MHA cross, you have a main character whose main thing is making their best as figuring out their/powers and then you drop a mentor instead having said character figuring things.
Is not as bad as with Isuku since Taylor always needs a team to work better but still, I would have much prefered for the Spiders to drop during "Taylor the Warlord" thing or "Taylor the Ward" parts of Worm as them interacting with either would be more fun.
As it is, Taylor is angry at the heroes and angry at her father and still doesn't have much loyalty to the Undersiders. So she wouldn't have that much problem skipping her World as she doesn't know is gonna end yet.
AN: Friendly reminder that the last Taylor scene was reworked to show that she was Skitter, which is assumed during her pov narration in this chapter.
"UNDERSIDERS, PROTECTORATE. TAKE NOTE."
"YOU TOOK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD FROM ME.
UNTIL SHE IS RETURNED, THIS DOESN'T STOP.
I WILL TAKE THIS CITY APART UNTIL I FIND YOU OR YOU COME TO STOP ME.
MY SUBORDINATES WILL MURDER ANYONE, EVERYONE, UNTIL THE MATTER IS SETTLED.
I DON'T CARE IF THEY ARE GENETICALLY PURE OR NOT.
IF THEY HAVEN'T ALLIED WITH US ALREADY, THEY MISSED THEIR CHANCE."
"NIGHT, FOG. DEMONSTRATE."
"WE ARE NOT THE ABB. WE ARE STRONGER, BOTH IN POWERS AND IN NUMBERS.
WE HAVE DISCIPLINE, AND THANKS TO YOU, WE HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE.
I WILL HAVE MY DAUGHTER BACK, AND WE WILL HAVE OUR RESTITUTION."
Earth Bet, Brockton Bay
The scene in the television had taken all of Taylor and Brian's attention before they even got to call Lisa back.
Of all the Empire capes, the one the camera showed was one of the most powerful ones, just as she had proceeded to demonstrate. She had just flown over Rachel's improvised dog shelter, a ball of light bright enough to leave her face unrecognizable. Beams of light were shot from the palms of her hands, not moving straight but forming a sort of a double helix wider than the woman's height, hitting the walls of the building and the crane nearby. In less than a minute, no bit of rubble was left standing taller than the pebbles.
With the dust not yet even starting to settle, the shining woman followed on the next building, demolishing the corners and any supports within, and then starting to work on two more buildings before the second was finished falling.
And all that Taylor could think about was the people that would be inside.
And then she had her two flunkies execute the cameraman, on live.
And that woman wasn't going to stop. Because of the Undersiders.
Allegedly.
They had just found after crashing into the mayor's party that Coil had been their unknown benefactor. After sending their way enough jobs to allow the teenagers make a name and a reputation for themselves, he had revealed himself, explaining his power — or at least as much as he had let on how it worked anyway — and proposed to formalize their business relation, give them more weight in his organization. They left to think about it, after Taylor had told Coil she wanted the town brought back to life.
Not even a week later and without warning, Coil made his move. An investigative effort that had taken him four years; with compartmentalized verification by Lisa, but without knowing what the information was going to be used for.
Taylor had seen the email that had been sent in mass to practically anyone who was anyone in town, back before she left with Brian to the mall the day before. A list that started with Kaiser, the leader of the Empire, and going down with his lieutenants — powered or not — their lower members, and worst of all, their families. Pictures comparing their costumed personas with the civilian identities. Names, jobs, addresses, phones, dates of their arrival to the city and the appearance of their cape identities. Some entries in the list had additional zip files attached, with who knows what more troves of evidence.
It was just such a coincidence that the same afternoon the email had been sent, Lisa's identity figured amongst the CC'ed on it, and Skitter and Bitch had a small fight with some Empire thugs. Coincidence enough to paint a big fat target on the Undersiders' back for the newly pissed off neonazi group to direct their anger at.
But their present worry and challenge was Purity. Kayden Anders, interior decorator. She became second in command of the Empire, with her own faction of capes following her, the day that she had married Max Anders, Kaiser. They had separated, but not before she had become the mother of one Aster Anders. And Lisa had picked up on the fact that child services and Protectorate capes had taken the baby into custody.
Taylor, still in the middle of suiting up, had been dumbstruck when Brian stopped her and suggested Purity's actions didn't concern them, that the heroes would deal with it. Taylor hadn't enjoyed pointing out that the villain had just thrown them a challenge to their rep, but if that's the way she could have him start moving his ass out, she wasn't going to hesitate.
That's when they called Lisa, who had holed up with Alec and Rachel at the far side of the Trainyard, an area practically removed from the rest of the town. She told them Coil had spoken with Kaiser to take credit for the leak, but it seemed the neonazi had decided to not tell the rest of his group. Brian saw why. Half of the Empire already hated the Undersiders without this new excuse. Now, Kaiser could let them go nuts on them, and then tell them the truth to focus on Coil, who wasn't going to expose himself further to explain the truth.
You could always trust a neonazi to turn your games into fuel for the bloodthirst of their flunkies.
Brian's 'sorry, haven't changed my mind' about stepping in, as he applied ointment on her wounded ear wasn't much of a relief. Taylor still felt responsible.
Lisa thankfully changed his mind. Purity, whom the local heroes had very limited options to tackle, was sweeping the Docks. Not only the Undersiders had their hideout there, Lisa also had innocent friends in the neighborhood. She might have been their less useful member in a straight fight, but Lisa was very much not ok with staying low. They agreed to meet.
Now Taylor and Brian were sitting at the back of an ambulance Coil had sent them, already suited up; him as Grue — with his black biker clothes and helmet with a skull painted on the lowered visor — and her as Skitter — in the gray uniform she made out of spider silk with bug shells as improvised armor, and the mask that looked like a bug face and let her hair free; hair that instead of letting flow as Taylor always did, she had pulled into a ponytail to avoid it touching her injured ear. It was still hurting after Brian had stitched it before leaving, although in better condition than they expected it to be during the last night. But she didn't want anything touching the wound at the moment.
The ambulance wasn't of course for the benefit of her injured ear— It looked like one, with a gurney where she was sitting on and all the equipment. But there were also compartments added for weapons and Skitter's bugs. And despite the paramedic uniforms, the drivers were two of the mercenaries working for Coil.
The siren switched off so that a line of police cars and PRT vans would let them pass, as they moved towards the Docks, in the same direction that other cars were trying to run away from. Taylor's attention moved from the small window of the back door back to the messages in her phone.
Gwen said:
hey just saw the news, you ok?
just wanted to know for your dads peace of mind
id like to meet soon if thats fine
not to be pushy, just to make sure youre safe after this crap
still just answer whenever youre ready
and gwendy would like to join too if thats ok
"Anything important?" Brian asked, the visor of his helmet down and muffling his voice.
Taylor shook her head, and moved her phone to a dedicated pocket near her back "Those Stacy girls we met yesterday. Asking how I am, to tell my dad."
The conversation had started just at the same time they were having the phone call with Lisa. To her, Gwen did feel somewhat pushy, but Taylor had to admit the request wasn't entirely unreasonable given the situation. Particularly the part about letting her dad know that she was safe, despite that being another lie to the pile. It took her some time while waiting for the ambulance to arrive (and then some more) to decide what to reply, or even reply at all.
Brian nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Are you gonna meet with them?"
The question seemed strange to Taylor; there wasn't much point in thinking about that until things with the Empire had been sorted out (or the Empire sorted them out). But it was probably just a way for Brian to make time while on the way. And he seemed nervous about something.
Still, Taylor thought about it. While she felt somewhat averse to meeting with Gwen, Taylor didn't feel that much of an issue with Gwendy. That weird 'knowing you as kids' story felt manipulative, and Gwen had done nothing more than talk, but her younger sister at least had backed her intentions with tangible actions.
"No point thinking about it until we sort out our current problems with the Empire", Taylor said. "But I might ask Lisa to accompany me if I do, she offered just to be safe." She then gave him a look. "You'd disapprove?"
"Aside from the obvious?" Brian shrugged. "I had a good look at her."
"Phrasing?"
"Jeez, no, not like that", he hurried to say. "I mean, Gwen doesn't look like it under that demeanor, but I'm pretty sure she's stronger than she lets on. And she's confident." He stopped to gather his thoughts. "She doesn't seem to look to be in control, but I'd say she's self-assured enough about not losing what she has. She's definitely a fighter. One that has seen a lot of action. The same for her sister, although not with the same intensity."
"Yeah, I noticed. I had some bugs move over them. You think they're capes?"
"Trying to poach or ambush you? Couldn't say. Do you think anyone else knows about you being a parahuman?" Taylor considered the thought. She never used her power in public at school, tempted as she had been a few times to have her swarm run over her bullies. And she made sure her dad never got a clue about her spiders weaving her costume in the basement; they didn't use it anymore, and he had no reason to go down looking, as careful as she had been to not have him notice. She shook her head, and he continued. "At the very least they don't strike me as Empire members, which is something. But building some muscle and fight experience isn't reserved to parahumans. At the very least I'd worry they'd overpower you; somewhere sort of public where you couldn't use your power."
Normally this laser focused protectiveness would annoy Taylor, but it wasn't entirely unreasonable. "I've gotten stronger myself", she countered. Although she omitted to what degree; she had only told Lisa about her sudden spurt of super strength. "You've been helping with training. And I can always run away."
"Maybe, I guess I don't want you to get overconfident after all we've done. A discussion for another time", Brian said as he shook his head, clearly unconvinced by what she had said. Then, after a long pause, he spoke again. "I wanted to ask, are we okay?"
"Hm?"
"I got the feeling before that you're angry."
That was it? If she was angry? With him? Maybe for everything about the kiss yesterday? Taylor blushed behind her mask. "If you mean what happened outside the mall, that was my fault. But next time, let people speak before assuming they think you're with someone else and - look, can we just drop the topic forever and forget it ever happened?"
"Right, my big mouth, sorry", Brian apologized. "But no. I mean, are you angry that I didn't jump out of my seat to go fight Empire Eighty Eight, before we knew everything that was at stake?"
Taylor mentally kicked herself. Of course he meant the more presently relevant topic. "I honestly don't know. I wasn't expecting it. I see the lengths you go through to take care of your… family member, I think of you as a pretty honorable guy, you know?"
"I'm not sure I'm as good a person as you're making out to be", he answered as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Right." Taylor nodded, and let that be. It came too close to the subject she had already vetoed, but it still made Taylor think.
What did she know about Brian Laborn, really? As the leader of the Undersiders, he was the one trying to make sure things were kept safe for everyone, and sparred with Taylor so she could defend herself in a fight. Then Taylor came to know about the mess of his parents, how he came to work under Coil to be able to pay for an apartment and, under a fake job, get the custody of his sister.
But then he was the one to live away from the rest of the group, something that Lisa had already criticized him for in case they needed help, or worse, he needed them. Brian offering to train his teammates was a purely practical decision to help them perform better. And his concern for his sister didn't necessarily extend to other people.
Taylor couldn't really criticize Brian for it. After all, he wasn't the only one with troubles in Brockton Bay.
A sudden, far stronger headache than any other she ever had before struck her. The weirdest thing was that it didn't cause her pain, but it confused her all the same.
Brian seemed to notice her surprise. "Is there anything wro-?"
The word died in his mouth when something impacted against the vehicle. The last that Taylor heard was the driver swearing as the ambulance fell violently on its side.
Downtown, near the Docks, less than an hour before
Gwen pocketed the phone as she landed on a roof, the rest of Ghost Team landing behind her as Gwen moved closer to the edge. Gwen had just sent a message to Taylor, and she wasn't kidding about her father. Once her last class of the day had finished and she was ready to meet Anya and her other roomie Rockie for an official welcoming meal, when Daniel Hebert had called Gwen, frantic and panicked.
It was a good thing that Gwen had asked Octavia to do her dimensional technomagic on the phones. They would have never known about the sudden nazi rampage through Brockton Bay had started. Once they had been filed in, everyone in Ghost Team had agreed to intervene as soon as possible despite their own obligations. If not eager to show what they were capable of, actually concerned that things had gotten that bad there.
As Taylor hadn't told Gwen where she was staying, and Annie still had troubles locating her, Anya had tasked them with reaching to the Protectorate and help diffuse the situation as fast as they could. Gwen wasn't intending to let the others run any unnecessary risks — that was her thing, thank you — but if anything, it would be a good teamwork exercise.
From what Octavia had learned of the city, Brockton Bay was split in two main sides: the Docks at the north, and Downtown at the south, with the Boardwalk along the beach side of the Docks. While Downtown was the nice housing, social, commerce and tech business center of the town, and the Boardwalk a well polished looking tourist trap, the Docks were everything else those other places weren't. There were docks, of course, as well as residential areas, and schools. But that was near Downtown. The further you walked into the Docks, the faster the decay became apparent: cramped tenement buildings and abandoned warehouses and factories full of homeless people became the norm.
From that roof, they had a decent view of the recent ruins and the ball of light floating above, still moving from one prey to another.
Gwen gave Mayday a look as she came to her side. "Are you fine doing this?" Gwen asked. They had just been told what had happened to her father's grave. "If you still want to go back home and deal with that, I wouldn't put it against you."
"I have friends looking into it. I'd get in the way right now", Mayday said with a shake of her head, but Gwen noticed the antsiness in her voice.
"You find any heads that need cracking, you know you can call me", she tried to reassure her. "Though I suspect you want to do the cracking yourself."
"Might as well call you to watch once I get tired of it. But let's deal with this mess here first."
"I hope they're evacuating as many people as they can", Noir commented as the others caught up with Gwen and Mayday. "There must be thousands of people living there."
"Try a hundred of thousands", Octavia corrected with concern, her cybernetic tentacles keeping a low profile below her robes after landing. "This isn't as populated as New York, but still…"
"It's the poor side of the city", Peni said somber, from inside her suit. "More minorities. More of the sick and disabled, more people unable to move fast enough or at all to avoid any of this. And I'm looking at the street planes. Any evacuation efforts would be a joke. Even those who can get to the streets might get hurt by debris."
Whatever had been taken from that floating light bulb might have been an excuse for her anger, but it meant nothing. The entire bunch of fash shitheads were using that anger to steer her into annihilating all the people they didn't like. Or, just as bad, she was doing it without anyone telling her.
Gwen didn't care what started all this, it was far beyond any limits she could tolerate.
"This is crazy, man", was all that Miles said, horrified, shock clear by the way he was leaning back away.
"And they knew it", Gwen heard Gwendy mutter, and saw her with her gaze locked on the ongoing destruction. Her one hand was on Miles' shoulder, trying to comfort the younger boy.
Gwendy's other hand was balled up and shaking in anger.
"Hey", Gwen called, getting the two kids' attention. At least that relaxed them a bit. "They will be stopped, trust me. Just stick to me, alright?"
The two teens exchanged looks. They nodded at each other, with Gwendy reassuring Miles again, and a following nodding at Gwen. "Ok." "Sure."
It had just hit Gwen in that moment, seeing these two put their trust in her just now. Sure, Miles had already been baptized by fire and was itching to show what he was capable of, but he was also very inexperienced. He had seen criminals blindly endangering others for a benefit, but this was the first time he was seeing true, deliberate destructive evil.
Gwendy, who did have experience, was doing her best to look tough. Steady, confident. But Gwen saw the cracks. Cracks she had recognized in herself before, even if they didn't necessarily hide the same secrets.
Was Gwendy looking up to Gwen? Looking up to her? Gwen felt terrified she might disappoint her at the moment of truth.
Gwen didn't really care much what the other versions of herself would think of her, and she had eventually lost any illusion of being… anyone to look up to. But she had never done anything like this. She was an idiot who never asked for help. She had barely ever been a team player. She was the one others came to to pass the time with, not to lead them! She was — !
No, Gwen didn't feel worthy of that trust. And at the same time she found she didn't want to fail Gwendy.
What the hell have I gotten myself into? Shit, I'm not ready for this!
She then felt a sort of tightening around her, a soft warm on her body. A way for the symbiote to say that it had her back, fail or succeed.
… And I'm really glad you're with me, buddy.
Gwen took a deep breath and gave Gwendy a cocky tilt of her head. "So, let's meet the locals, shall we?"
Gwendy gestured forward with an open hand. "Seniors first, boss."
Oh, the mouthy little… At least the jab lightened the mood among the group.
Gwen and Mayday jumped down first to the street, followed by the others. They landed at some distance from a parking lot, where the PRT had vans as a sort of forward command point.
A group of officers gathered and met them, weapons at the ready and alert, but otherwise just waiting for them to make the first move. Gwen and Mayday shrugged at each other and raised their hands. "We're friendlies", Gwen announced.
One individual, a man in a deep blue power armor with silver highlights, advanced from behind the line of officers. Gwen recognized him from Octavia's report: Armsmaster. His armor looked bulky, more than she expected, and his helmet left uncovered only his mouth and trimmed beard, with a visor obscuring both his nose and eyes; the design of his visor was repeated in his chest, over a silver background as an emblem. He had one hand reaching for a stick at his back, not drawing it yet, but it drew a blade and turned into a halberd as he spoke to them.
"Identify yourselves", he simply said. Authoritative, but not aggressive.
"We are the Web-Warriors", Gwen said. "We're here to help."
"There are no known groups under that name", Armsmaster said after a few seconds. Then he frowned. "At least, not registered ones. And you don't look like heroes."
Slowly, Gwen and Mayday lowered their arms and shared a look with the rest of the group behind.
"Ow", Gwen said flatly to Mayday. "You know, I can't even say I'm surprised at this point."
"Don't look at me", Noir said. Instead of his sweater and coat, he had come this time with a much lighter vest more appropriate for the warmer climate of the Bay, and which he was now theatrically adjusting. "I've been admitted to establishments of good reputation in this manner."
"Tell us that again without the mask on, Cary Grant", Miles joked.
"Please kid", the older man said with playful petulance. "A gentleman does not entertain such thoughts in front of a volatile audience."
"Said the two who probably don't even have a sizable social media following yet", Gwendy said to no one in particular.
Peni's suit showed a grin on its display. "Oh, would you like to compare, n00b?"
Gwendy avoided looking at Peni with a chuckle. "Yeah, not taking that bait."
"Guys, maybe another time?" Octavia chided them.
But Gwen had already ignored the byplay just as it started, choosing to answer back to Armsmaster. "Don't mind them. We're heroes, but we aren't from around and prefer to lay low. We arrived here a couple days ago for some business of our own. When we saw the news today, we all decided there would be some way we could help."
Armsmaster's hand hovered over his halberd on his back, before the blade retracted back into the handle and he eased his stance. He gestured at the officers around, who lowered their guns. "I appreciate the offer", he started. "Usually I'd ask for something more than a statement of goodwill, but I am not currently in a position to refuse assistance." He smiled; it was a tired smile, but Gwen was sure in other circumstances that would have won him the public many times over.
"Well, what a coincidence", Gwen replied, "we're not currently in a position to refuse punching problems away."
"Especially Nazis", Noir added. "I'm always agreeable to punching nazis."
"Yeah no that's kinda his entire thing", Peni explained, one hand lazily pointing at Noir. "If there's something you can trust about us, is that."
"If only this city had more capes with that attitude years ago…" Armsmaster said wistfully, then nodded in approval. "Alright. Hold on to introductions, but please follow me." He then motioned them to follow him, as he turned around and started walking back to the parked vans. And so they followed him. "We're using the commercial building behind our vehicles as a forward observation point, you can fill us in on your powers in there and figure out our next steps."
Gwen indicated to the others with a tilt of her head to follow the man, and the officers finally stood at ease as they allowed them to pass. "Can you give us the stitch on the way there?" She said as her and Mayday hurried up at Armsmaster's side. "We aren't the kind to sit waiting for orders or plans while there are people dying out there. The sooner we get to know the situation, the better."
"You said you weren't locals", Armsmaster said without breaking stride, as they went around the vans. "What do you know about the Empire? And what should I call you?"
"Ghost-Spider. And not much; we know about Kaiser and Purity, but we had our attention elsewhere. We mostly only went over you Protectorate people."
"I see. As you can imagine, Purity has her faction helping her at the Docks as escorts or lookouts." Armsmaster's delivery was fast and to the point, making the most of every second. "Of Kaiser's other lieutenants, Krieg's people are confirmed to remain in Downtown, and Hookwolf's group is unaccounted for, although we suspect they're actively searching for the Undersiders outside the Docks. All of them are active problems that need to be addressed, forcing us to split our forces. I was only able to gather enough manpower to maybe stall Purity."
He opened the door into a small restaurant with a 'closed' sign up, but turned to face them before going inside. "You'll have to fill us in on your powers, but I'm hoping that by adding your number to ours, it should be enough now to shift the balance in our favor."
Arsmaster went inside the restaurant, but Gwen turned around at the group before following inside.
But Gwen was stopped from following by Mayday grabbing her by the shoulder.
"You know, it would be good if you changed yourself a bit", Mayday said, pointing back and forth between Gwen and Gwendy. "You two looking the same could confuse people. Even most of the similar Peters have obvious differences."
"That… actually makes sense", Gwen conceded.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want anyone to think there's a stretched out version of me running around", Gwendy teased her. "It could scare the children."
"Oh, and you say that after complaining yesterday?" Gwen said as the upper half of her costume was already changing. "I'm rescinding all my apologies as of now, just FYI."
There was another look Gwen and the symbiote had at times. There were some problems, namely that they took that form when Gwen let her anger get the best of her, and it involved a lot of black, spikes and tongues. Even the tamer version of it left her with an insectoid mouth and nose mask, instead of covering her entire head in black in a toothy mouth hood. No, there were plenty of reasons she couldn't use that.
But Gwen still took a page from it, particularly the jacket. She formed a white one, somewhat loose and bulky to make her look slightly bigger. The forearms and hands remained white, but the newly formed sleeves were pulled back, so that the underside showed the blue webs over the purple, still surrounding both of her entire upper arms.
The hard part came in keeping the main motif design of the costume intact. It wasn't just the black below crossing with the white above; the white was actually a spider, dropping from above, with its head below her shoulders, its body coming down from her neck to below her chest, and bringing its legs around the black. Yay use of negative space.
Gwen was tempted to add some tin-tacks to emphasize the design as the eyes of the spider, but decided against it. Instead, she formed a zipper going down at the very middle of her torso, from her neck down to the lowest point the white reached before meeting the black. The zipper itself was superfluous, of course, but she made it so that it looked open and the lapels looked fuzzy and were fixed against the rest of the jacket, as if giving the spider some hair.
Sadly, most people had never seemed to realize the presence of the motif in the outfit since the beginning, and in fact Gwen suspected no one actually did, much to her disappointment, and probably even more to the original designer's.
That thought made Gwen take a second to look at Gwendy, who was watching her in turn, mesmerized by the ongoing transformation. Back when Gwen had first gotten her powers, the Janet Van Dyne in her world was the one to gift Gwen her the costume and web-shooters. The design was all Van Dyne's, not Gwen's, which made her wonder how Gwendy came up with the design. Did she also have a similar benefactor? Gwen made a mental note to ask Gwendy later.
That left the feet. Gwen actually didn't remember a time where her feet didn't look like Chucks, either before or after the symbiote, and it was something she was hesitant to change. That, along with the spray painted eyes, was the part of the costume that was truly her own from the start. She left those as they were for the time being.
As a final touch, she formed a shield on her left arm.
"Wait, are you serious?" Mayday asked, bafflement clear in her voice as she passed a hand over the shield. "Are you really going to steal the Captain America look now?"
"Hey, believe it or not, it was my Cap's idea. Anyway, how about now?" Gwen asked as she put her right arm on her hip, and rotating her left enough to showcase the shield, the entire process having taken no more than a few seconds. Overall, it was still pretty much the same costume as before, but Gwen guessed that at this point she had earned an addition or two to it.
"Yeah, that's different enough", Octavia supplied as Mayday agreed with a nod. Of the others, while Peni didn't give any signs of having an opinion and merely looking between her and Gwendy as if comparing them now more critically, Miles and Noir had suffered a brief case of the shivers.
Gwendy was a completely different matter.
"Oh, I look awesome in that."
"Sure you do", Gwen said with some satisfaction.
"Did you guys think of new names to use in the team, by the way?" Mayday asked Miles and Gwendy, before turning momentarily to Gwen again. "If I'm going to be your second, I think I'll go by Sarge."
"Bad cop to my good cop?"
"Nah, smart sargeant to your dummy captain."
"Ouch, my carrier is hit and sunk." Gwen turned to Miles and Gwendy. "So?"
"I didn't know we were taking new names." Miles glanced at Gwendy, as if looking for support. "I got nothing right now."
"Uh… yeah, that", Gwendy dithered. "I uh I forgot."
"Ok, let's make this quick", Gwen declared. "Miles, you buzz people with electricity, right?"
"Yeah, I can touch someone and they're sent flying." Miles' demeanor then quickly brightened. "I can also go invisible on command!"
"That's a mouthful. Why not just say something shorter? I call it 'Predator mode' or just predator."
"Our Peter was the one to call it that", he said with a shrug. "But that sounds cool."
"Aight, you'll be Sparky for now. No buts", Gwen said, stopping him from complaining. "Think of something better later or stick with it." She then turned to Gwendy. "And you…"
"Squire!"
Everyone turned to Peni.
"What?" Gwendy demanded.
"I mean, just look at each other", the younger girl said from inside her suit. "Sharing the costume, and now with that bulkier look and the shield, you look like a knight." The face on the screen imitated a nod, and changed into a figure with a simplistic spider symbol on its chest, the figure got bigger and with a shield. "And you look like her squire and apprentice wearing her emblem." An identical but smaller figure showed up at the side of the first. The 'knight' handed the 'squire' the shield, produced a sword, and moved away with a text above spelling 'rawr to battle'.
"Well, I'd say you're onto something, kid", Noir commented.
"That's not — !" Gwendy started to complain. "I'm not — ! Look, Skimmers! Call me that."
Gwen thought about it. "Like, stealing from paychecks, or bouncing rocks on water?"
"No!" Gwendy then pointed emphatically at her feet. "The shoes! Or huh, Sauter, I do those!"
"Isn't that just French for jumping?" Noir asked.
"I don't suggest using that as a name", Peni suggested in a low, shy voice. "It could be easily misunderstood, people use it to mean sex."
The amused looks everyone else shared — except Miles, who seemed hesitant to give his own opinion — told the mortified Gwendy where the popular opinion was leaning.
Finally, she gave up and turned to Gwen. "I am not your apprentice."
"I'm not saying that, kid." Gwen said calmly, keeping her own diversion hidden. "But they seem to agree it sounds better than your ideas. Face it, tiger", Gwen said with her best MJ voice impersonation, "don't fight the name if the name fits."
"I am not going as your squire."
"Oh, come on, it might have its perks." Gwen then offered the shield to her younger self. "I'll entitle you to kick ass on my behalf."
"Ugh! Whatever." Gwendy refused the offering, and pushed Gwen and Mayday aside to cross the door. "Let's just get this done already."
"She might be a tiny bit upset", Mayday said once the door closed after the passing of Gwendy. "Just a suspicion."
"Should we be making fun of her like that, though?" Miles asked with some worry.
"I don't think we did but yeah, I didn't mean for her to be so angry", Peni said.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to her", Gwen told the teens as she opened the door. "Just don't make a joke out of it."
She then noticed Octavia was looking at some gizmo with a screen with interest.
"Tavia, all good there?"
"Oh, just getting some strange dimensional measurements since we got closer to Armsmaster, and they're getting stronger now", the genius said. "Don't mind me. We can talk later about it."
"Alright." Gwen then went through the door into the restaurant as the others followed her one by one. While most of the chairs in the small establishment were placed on top of the tables, the lights were on and there were a few PRT officers milling about working on different communication and surveillance equipment.
A group of costumed people were waiting at the bar. One of them was a fit boy in a red suit and mask. The others, three blonde women of different ages and a young black haired boy, wore white suits without masks. The New Wave family, Gwen guessed.
Gwendy was moving to a wall near the bar, leaning back against it. Armsmaster seemed to talk to Gwendy, but not before he noticed the taller Gwen show up.
"Sorry", Gwen said as she approached the counter, "taking care of last minute logistics."
"You changed your costume", Armsmaster stated more than asked.
"Part of the logistics." She patted at her jacket with her free hand, while with her shield hand she pointed at Gwendy. "Easier to differentiate us."
"Armsmaster, I know we said we needed more people", the older woman in the white suit with red outlines, maybe in her forties. "But I didn't expect you of all people to bring villains."
"Anyone mind keeping count?" Gwen asked the others, while she put the shield on her back, from where a few small tendrils fixed it there; judging by their sudden case of goosebumps only Miles and Noir seemed to have noticed, or care. Peni's suit showed a big number two in its display, and Gwen gave it a thumbs up, and then turned back to the woman. "Believe it or not, lady, we're with the good guys."
"Hard to believe with those freaky big eyed masks", said the girl in the white minidress with a golden cloak and tiara, floating a few feet over the floor as if playing the longest game of the floor is lava and winning.
"Ok seriously, do you really want to waste time on this?" Gwen said with incredulity, and waved a hand at the windows. "There are people dying out there."
"That's enough", Armsmaster interrupted. "Lady Photon", he told her first, "whatever they are, they've come to offer their help when nobody other than you did, and even cost them their anonymity. I'll take that as a gesture of good will. And I'm sure you'd agree we can use any assistance we can get. We're spread out enough as it is."
He then turned to Gwen. "Ghost-Spider, you must understand, we've always been short on allies in this city, and particularly in times like this. I hope you appreciate the trust I'm extending here to you and your people."
"No sweat", she replied. Gwen then received an elbow to her side, courtesy of Mayday. "And we'll exchange business cards later."
"Very well", Lady Photon accepted. "New Wave will collaborate."
"Good. Let's not waste time", Armsmaster declared. "First, presentations, so we can coordinate a proper plan." He then extended a hand towards his companions. "To keep it short, Lady Photon is one of the leaders of New Wave. Laserdream and Shielder are her daughter and son." The girl and boy with the simpler white suits waved. Laserdream seemed to be a bit younger than Gwen herself, but Shielder couldn't be any older than Gwendy or even Miles. "All of them can fly, fire beams and raise shields, with Laserdream and Shielder being more specialized than their mother, as you can surmise from their names. Glory Girl is their niece and cousin; while she can fly as well, her power leans more on physical power, close combat, and demoralizing the enemy."
"If you mean 'punch them until you scare them', that's already old hat for most of us", Gwen retorted.
"I can do that too", Glory Girl said with a grin, herself probably a bit younger than Mayday. "But I have an aura that scares my enemies. Even if they don't lose their mind, they might find it hard to think properly."
"It also turns admirers into fangirls, so don't get too close to her", Laserdream said with glib, which earned a raspberry from Glory Girl.
"Aegis over there", Armsmaster continued, not allowing for more tangents as he pointed at the boy in the red suit, "can also fly, and is highly adaptive. His body can function above average human limits, and can adapt around normally impairing injuries."
"It's not as impressive as it sounds", the teen said. Both his skin tone and accent hinted at him being Latino, and if he wasn't about to hit eighteen, Gwen would eat her drumsticks. "My body is so full of redundancies that I can reach some degree of super strength and endurance, and I fly a bit slow. Usually I rely on directing the other Wards while I intercept incoming attackers."
"Myself, I don't know if you've heard of me", Armsmaster then said, hands on the bar and leaning forward. "But it would take some time to explain the specifics of what I can do as a tinker."
"From what I've gathered, carry a big stick and talk softly", Gwen ventured.
"The big stick happens to be important sometimes, yes", Armsmaster replied with a smile. "Of course, I am in command of this operation, but while this armor is more nimble than it looks, I'm lacking in mobility compared to everyone else here." He then extended his hand at the spiders. "So, your turn."
"Right. I'm Ghost-Spider or just Ghost for short", Gwen started. "Me and Sarge here call the shots, and Doc Ock in the green is our techy and mission control. Tall and nostalgic is Noir", the man tipped his hat, not losing a beat. "The little tank is Sp//dr-lng -"
"Spiderling?"
"No, Sp//dr-lng. Spiderling is someone else." Gwen ignored the heroes' confused looks. "Anyway, Sparky is the kid in black, and the cute one with the good taste is Squire." That got Gwen a cute and tasteful flip of a bird. "It's a temporary thing."
"And powers?" Lady Photon asked. "We'll understand if you don't want to reveal the details, but anything that could be effective against Purity and her henchmen…"
"All of us are similar except for Doc, actually. Besides our strength and agility, I can turn invisible, Sparky too plus a shocking touch", Gwen said before pointing at Gwendy, who had taken her feet off the ground, and was now adhered to the wall, "and we all can do that."
"Look ma", Gwendy deadpanned with the passion of a pebble at room temperature, as she waved her hands away from the wall. "No hands."
"We all stick to any surface", Mayday explained. "Crawl, walk, run, grab something or someone firmly, whatever. Each of us also has some way to shoot what we call web fluid. It's an adhesive fluid that we can use for many things, from swinging from one building to another, to build traps or keep someone immobilized. Each of us have some personal quirk as well, but that covers the basics."
"There were some reports of capes not flying but swinging between buildings these last days", Armsmaster pondered, before dismissing whatever line of thought it was leading him to. "You'd need to have a considerable reach with this fluid for it to be practical. How fast can you travel like that?"
"Faster than traffic, and without having to deal with it", Gwendy said.
"I tried crossing Manhattan the other day", Miles added. "It must have taken me less than five minutes just with the different heights and gaps between buildings."
"It depends on a lot of things", Mayday stopped them. "In fact we're faster runners, but some of us can keep up with pretty fast flyers while web swinging; it's just more about convenience and abusing physics."
"And you don't get dizzy?" Shielder said with a smarmy grin, promptly erased by a dope slap of his sister. Gwen guessed not all flyers had an easy relationship with their ability.
"I'm probably the heaviest and slowest here, and crazy disorienting maneuvers are my normal state of being." Peni said. "We live and breathe them every day, it'd take something truly death-defying to give us pause."
"Even with the obvious limitations, that might be fast enough to keep pace with me or Purity", Laserdream commented to her mother. "We can fly fast, but maneuvering is harder for most flyers."
"And all of you are capable of this?" Armsmaster asked, intrigued. "Unusual, but… no, nevermind. That could be of use. Would you demonstrate?"
Gwen looked around, and none of her teammates seemed forward in providing an example. In fact, they were all looking at her.
"Hey, you're the one who never runs out of web fluid", Mayday pointed out.
"No, I just get cramps", Gwen sighed, then extended both her arms forwards and started shooting.
She wasn't aiming at the local heroes, of course, but at the liquor bottles on the exposition stands behind them; balls of web impacting on some and more substantial weblines covering others, the sticky substance absorbing any force that could cause the glass bottles to break. Then, a wide spread to the upper stands that covered the furniture at a height above their heads.
The heroes were taken by surprise nonetheless. Gwen expected that, but she wanted to see their reactions. All of them were initially defensive, but to their credit they didn't fly off the handle. The youngest ones were the most shocked, but even then the most they did was to raise some sort of energy shield, in the case of Laserdream and Shielder, or start smiling with some kind of nerdy glee, which was what Glory Girl had opted for.
"It's like containment foam!" she proclaimed. "That's so cool."
Gwen didn't know what that foam was, but she made a mental note to look it up, or ask Octavia.
"Not quite", Armsmaster said, pocking at the sticky webbing with a pen he took from the bar. Previsively, the pen got stuck on it, and after trying and failing to pull the pen out, Armsmaster left it hanging there. "Pretty strong all the same. Would I be right in assuming you've used this to capture individuals, even those with powers?"
All of the spiders answered without a second thought. "Oh yeah." "All day." "They make for pretty lamppost decor." "Big time."
"It reacts like you'd expect to things like fire, and someone strong enough can break individual threads or free themselves from a full cocoon", Mayday explained, "but otherwise anybody who isn't significantly enhanced will be immobilized for about one or two hours, give or take, when it dissolves naturally."
"We think Purity's beams cause an intense kinetic force through the manipulation of photons. Have you tried any interactions with anything like it?" Armsmaster asked then. "What about acid or corrosive gases?"
"I looked that up once, gas wouldn't work", Octavia said. "The effect would be minimal; you would need some concentrated acid in liquid state to actually dissolve the webbing at any useful rate. There are better ways to destroy it. As for the other…" Octavia frowned as she considered the question. "The webbing is a natural shock absorber; I've seen it hold the worst of an explosion, but it might reach its limits depending on how Purity's beams work. Someone would need to test it."
"That might work", Lady Photon told Armsmaster. "Purity is powerful and fast enough that me and my family would be on the defensive against her, and that's just her alone. But maybe we can bait her to a low enough altitude for us to box her and her people from above while the Web-Warriors contain them. Cover her in that gunk and she can't accelerate enough to actually fly anywhere."
"Yes, that idea has merit", Armsmaster said with some relief, and turned back to Gwen. "I think we got a sufficient idea of your capabilities, so let's move on, but stop me if you have anything to add. I assume you'll need to be briefed on Purity and her people?"
"That'd be a good idea", Gwen said as Armsmaster motioned an officer that was awaiting near them to give him a screen tablet. "Do they have any goons with them?"
"Gang members with automatic weapons were sighted at the beginning, forcing civilians to stay in the Docks; they haven't been seen since then, but we believe they've been regrouping", Armsmaster said as he put the tablet on top of the bar and gestured to everyone to gather around. "Would they be a problem?"
Moving around her and in the case of Noir above on the ceiling, Gwen's group collectively no'ed and nah'ed before she could answer. "Not unless we're talking about some hard ass black ops dudes or ninjas", she said, catching Gwendy's attention to join them.
"Well, unpowered Empire enforcers receive some training from veterans who join the gang after their service", Armsmaster explained, "but nothing on that level of expertise."
A few minutes later
Gwendy really didn't feel in the mood for a briefing, but credit where credit was due, Armsmaster didn't waste time explaining things. He was clinical and straightforward enough in his delivery to not bore them with useless details.
He had started with the weakest of Purity's lackeys. Alabaster was a white man — literally as the name indicated, the same way that Noir's coloration consisted mostly of grays, and something he proudly displayed going around topless — who 'reseted' every few seconds with any injuries vanishing as if they were never there to begin with. This allowed him to be basically immortal as far as the Protectorate knew, as well as ignoring any self harm from excessive physical exertion. But as cruel as he was supposed to be, none of that represented a real danger to any of the spiders. He was just a distracting and durable mook.
Night and Fog were Purity's actual enforcers in comparison, enforcers that Gwendy didn't like to imagine being pitted against. The pair, both of them covered in gray hooded and masked suits, had a reputation for being silent merciless hitmen. Night turned into some kind of aggressive monster when nobody looked at her, slashing and clawing at anyone in her reach, something she exploited by opening any encounter with a flashbang grenade. Fog didn't have such limitation, being able to turn into a cloud of erosive gas at will, and while he wasn't as fast as his partner in that state, the gas was known to be horrifically damaging if breathed.
Crusader was Purity's confidante, wearing armor and a spear. They didn't appear to do anything special, but Crusader was able to create ghostly clones of himself and what he wore on himself. Clones that seemed to float and ignore anything inorganic, meaning he could wear one of the ghosts around himself to float away to safety while the others went through walls and turned people into pincushions. Gwendy figured that only a nazi would try to make such a safe power sound more righteous and brave than it actually was.
Purity herself had already amply demonstrated her powers in television. Armsmaster still emphasized a point about her flight that Lady Photon mentioned first: as fast as she was, she still needed to slow down to do anything, from changing direction to actually aiming her beams with any accuracy. Limiting her movement would be just as crucial as avoiding her barrages.
The actual planning proceeded (finally!) at that moment. The latest intel provided by the PRT people indicated there were two spots in the Docks the nazis had taken over. Knowing the PRT and the police had cordoned the area, the Empire mooks had taken over two buildings from where they helped the villains. While Purity was perfectly able to bulldozer through the area, she and her people still needed to be able to rest and coordinate.
The heroes would split into several teams and advance towards these outposts. Capturing both in full force would only serve to warn the villains and dissuade them from returning to defend any of these places, maybe even call for reinforcements, but an assault on one of them by a small group of unknowns could maybe serve as a bait. Once those occupying the other outpost became aware of any trouble, the second team would distract them from providing assistance. New Wave would fly in once Purity had been baited and located, to help keep her boxed in place.
Gwendy realized she had stopped paying attention though, because at some point Armsmaster flashed some light that blinded her.
It wasn't that bad, and her spider sense hadn't even bothered to warn her, so Gwendy guessed there was no immediate danger incoming.
"Yeah, I'm good", she heard Gwen say as she blinked the blindness away in silence. "Sp//dr-lng?"
"The visual filters didn't feel a thing", Gwendy heard Peni say.
"Then your sight should be appropriately protected from Purity's radiance", that was Armsmaster, "or the flare from Night's flashbangs for that matter."
Lucky them that the suit and the symbiote protected Peni and Gwen from fashy lights. Meanwhile Gwendy was only starting to see figures again.
"If there's nothing more to discuss, I will pass the plan to the PRT command for confirmation", Armsmaster continued. "It shouldn't take more than five minutes so make any preparations you need." Gwendy then saw his bulky silhouette stomp away to do whatever his thing would be.
"If everyone's clear on the plans", Lady Photon started, "I think it would be good if we went outside and quickly familiarized with each other's capabilities. And have the PRT officers watch, so they know what they can expect to see from you."
"Don't like waiting much more while that bitch is knocking down someone's house", Gwen said, "but might as well if we have to wait for him anyway. Tell you what, you guys go do that, and Sarge can answer your questions." That was when Gwendy felt Gwen's hand on her shoulder. "I just need a moment for a last minute thingie with Mini-me here."
Gwendy rolled her finally momentary-sight-loss-recovering eyes behind the mask. From context, she'd think it would be a team leader thing, but the horrendous pun made her suspect some big-sis-but-not-really teasing business was afoot.
Lady Photon raised an eyebrow herself, but whatever she was thinking she kept to herself. "Very well. But don't take long."
The woman left towards the entrance, followed by her family and Aegis.
Mayday and Octavia went to do the same, though the others lagged behind for a moment.
"Hey, are you fine?" Peni asked Gwendy, her spider showing a regretful frown on the screen, and with Miles and Noir sharing her interest. "I didn't intend to mock you before, I just found the idea cute."
"Yeah I'm fine", she sighed, leaving it at that.
Her friends accepted it and moved to leave the restaurant.
"So, about that thing before with the name", Gwen said, walking them to a corner further away from the officers still working at the local.
"What about it? I said I'm fine."
"It sounded like you were less than fine about it", Gwen countered. "Want to have a quick chat about it? I'm clumsy, I'd like to know what kinda traps I am expected to step into."
"The mighty Ghost-Spider, laid low by some lowly social traps, such a tragedy."
"Pfft, more like a tired running gag", Gwen shrugged off. "You'll have to try harder to distract me with that."
Gwendy contemplated the idea to keep playing dumb and have them forget the entire thing, but she saw already that wasn't going to work.
"I get where Peni was coming from with it", she started, crossing her arms. "But calling me a squire feels… it feels dismissive."
Gwen sat in one of the stools around the bar, not saying anything for a moment. "Dismissive. Dismissive how?"
"Dude, I'm — " Gwendy scoffed, frustrated. "Look, I'm fine with a team or a leader, but I've been a Spider-Woman for two years, alone, without any help or support. Um..."
Gwen motioning her hand for Gwendy to continue reminded her they were on a timer. But she appreciated her older alternate's patience.
"I… I just don't want to feel like I am lesser than the others."
"Hold on, why would we make you feel you're less than the rest of us?" Gwen tilted her head in confusion. "Social uselessness jokes aside, have any of us actually done a dumb with you?"
"No, just…" Gwendy sighed and rubbed her eyebrows. "Forget it. You'll think it's dumb."
"Try me", Gwen insisted. "I mean, we are alternates", she argued with a shrug. "If it really its dumb, at worst I'll agree with you."
Gwendy gave out a small snort. "Heh, ass."
"Come on, stop stalling and spill the beans, I didn't have lunch yet and I want to eat 'em."
Gwendy gave her older self a look.
In return, she got finger guns and a wink.
"Only if you lay down your arms."
"You'll only take my puns from my cold, depressed face. Also, nice one there."
Gwendy blinked, mentally retracing her verbal steps. "Ugh. Can we just leave it already? At least for now. They are waiting for us."
Gwen pulled back, silent for a moment.
As an attempt to avoid the subject, it was as transparent as it gets. As it happened, Gwendy knew how she felt about it. But finding the words to explain was hard, even more so when they decided to go on strike at the worst times.
Like right now. Words, inconsiderate jerks, all of them.
That, and she truly was afraid that Gwen would indeed think it was dumb. And they were still surrounded by people. Cops, even. That put a damper on any willingness to talk.
Gwen finally replied. "Alright." And Gwendy held back a sigh of relief.
"Great", she said, starting to turn around. "Let's go show the locals our awesomeness."
"Kid?" Gwendy heard before even a single step, and she turned back to Gwen. "I can't… look, I get it, you want your privacy. But I'll listen", she insisted, softly. "Whatever it is, whenever you want. Ok?"
As insecure as she still felt about the matter, Gwendy still appreciated the offer. "Yeah. Sure."
"So!" Gwen exclaimed, vivacity suddenly back into her voice and jumping to her feet, clapping her hands together. "You said something about awesomeness. I likey that plan. I wanna see how you shock and awe 'em!"
Gwendy grinned behind her mask. "I can do that, but I might not leave anything for the others", she couldn't resist saying before turning back to the door and walking through it, leaving the restaurant with higher spirits than when she came in.
Gwen remained in place, hands still clapped together, as she watched Gwendy go through that door.
Did this count as a crisis? If it did, it definitely didn't count for the "solved" tab; definitely for the "check again later" one.
Wait, what was the count on that one already?
"Not ready for this not ready for this not ready for —"
A voice interrupted her. "Personally, I'd suggest keeping your insecurities in private. But good call waiting until you couldn't be heard." Gwen turned to Armsmaster, who was approaching her, walking away from an officer he had been talking with at the other side of the establishment. "Would it be assuming too much saying that you haven't been in a leading position for long?"
Usually, Gwen wouldn't trust a cop (even a hero playing cop) the first time they've met, unless, maybe, they were one of her dad's people. But Anya had asked to play ball for now, and Armsmaster acted amiable enough, not even giving off any vibes that he was judging her for any perceived noobness. So Gwen decided to give him a chance.
"I was asked recently to take the job. Usually I'm either the muscle or the detective, and do things my way." She shrugged. "But I'm starting to suspect now what some people might have been thinking about dealing with me."
"Well, I don't know anything about your organization", he said before frowning for a hot second. "Which is concerning enough to be honest." Then softened his face. "But if they had to ask you, that must mean they must trust you at least to some degree."
Gwen scoffed, amused. "We are kind of a big family, but I wouldn't have trusted myself with this level of responsibility. Don't worry though; all of us have experience working alone, and improvising teamwork. Even if I mess up, the others should be able to act without anyone holding their hands. Sparky is the newbie, but I'll keep him close to me until I see how he rolls."
"That's reassuring", he replied, motioning her to walk with him outside. "Too many capes work badly enough in groups, but many are also unstable alone."
"Wonder why", Gwen said, but she caught on to something strange about Armsmaster's approach. "How did you hear me anyway? I wasn't crazy-muttering that high."
Armsmaster tapped his helmet with a finger. "Sensory enhancements. I apologize if that sounds like spying on you, I was only intending to remain alert against hostilities coming this way."
"You think those assholes would attack you here?"
Armsmaster tilted his head. "A complicated question. The Protectorate in Brockton Bay lacks any meaningful number, and the city has always depended on the balance of power between the various gangs and the PRT to not devolve into a full war. With that balance upset and the Empire cornered yet retaining their numerical advantage, I wouldn't be surprised if any of their other factions considered distracting us."
Armsmaster opened the door, but Gwen grabbed it, not letting it swing enough to let any of them pass through. "But those factions haven't reacted like Purity did", she pointed out. "In her declaration, she talked about something being taken from her."
Armsmaster's mouth twisted slightly, the man hesitant to reply for a moment. "Would you reconsider your assistance if I said it was her daughter?"
"Her daughter", she repeated.
"A baby, in fact. Name Aster. Child services insisted we assisted them in retrieving the child as soon as the Empire identities leaked out."
"Well, I'm not backing out. But it makes me question the luminary who thought nothing bad would come from taking a child from such an understanding, peaceful mother." She cocked her head, her clasped hands brought close to her face in a coquettish and falsely delicate manner. "Do you think I could have a few words with them later?"
Armsmaster smiled again, more heartily now. "I'm sure it won't be a problem getting you an appointment."
Back to the future, inside a crashed ambulance.
Taylor came to herself, pushing aside the loose medical equipment that had buried her. Brian was also coming to, laying over the wall closets now turned floor, and the drivers groaned, hanging sideways thanks to their security belts.
"You guys alright back there?" managed to ask the woman in the copilot seat.
"I'm fine, I think." Taylor said as she crawled towards her teammate, drawing as many bugs to their position as she could find around. "Grue?"
"Must've broken something", Brian said, pushing a fire extinguisher off himself, falling to his side. "Chest hurts."
"We got bigger problems", the driver said, struggling to draw a pistol from below his disguise without losing sight of the outside through the front panel.
Taylor understood why, once some of the bugs outside started to brush against three figures walking to the accident ambulance. The one in the center felt like a big dog made of whirring metal blades. "Yeah. Hookwolf is coming, and he's not alone."
First of anything, I got a status update. Sorry for not giving signs of life before; work on the next chapter is going, but Real Life was busy and we had family guests recently. I wanted to have an update ready before my birthday, but well, that's today, and the best timeline I can give you is Soon™️.
Furthermore, I'd like to address a particular subject that has popped up in a few private conversations I had, and that's the matter of the Spider-Verse film sequel. Aren't you excited for the movie? Have you watched the teaser? Will you add anything from it?
The answers to those are, in order: Yes, no, no.
Here's the thing: I'm currently on a self imposed information blackout regarding the movie. Now, why is that? Couple reasons that I don't want to get too deeply into them, but they could basically be summarized into not trying to chew more than I can.
My outline for this fic, whatever issues someone could find with it, is for the most part *stable*. I want to keep it like that, if only for my own sanity. That's the reason I decided on very particular canon moments for this story to happen (ie: in respect to 616, between the X of Swords and King in Black events, and not a moment before or after).
I know that if I watch the sequel or even the current teasers, I'd instinctively try to implement as many new details into the fic as I could, which would just make my work harder or worse. That already happened... damn, about seven years ago. I started planning a fic with a show that was then still rolling on, and by the end it had become a monster of a project and had lost any energies to really work on it. I wasted several years planning a story that I couldn't nor wouldn't write. The flesh is weak, the brain meats even more, and I don't want that to happen again.
A very clever and handsome person would say "just watch the teaser/movie when it comes out, pick what you like and ignore the rest." Any other day that very clever and handsome person would be completely right to suggest that. But I know myself. I'm a bit of a Diogenes' syndrome when plotting a story.
From internet cultural osmosis, I already know that 1) the sequel happens years later, and 2) they made further changes to Gwen's design. This fic starts as the first film ends so, that was already a strongly possibility (now almost certainty) to consider the fic an AU divergence to begin with. It happens. As I read somewhere, the tags of a fic are always a work in progress. But implementing any new details would ask for taking into consideration a character growth that still hasn't happened and that could be derailed anyway. How could you reconcile those with any changes undergone in a different story that happened before in the timeline? Too complex, too much work for questionable gains. Slap an AU or divergence sticker on the fic, and focus on the story as it is.
About Gwen's design, I gave me the feeling like they're backtracking with the design that they had already gone with before. To put it simply, that design and her backstory as presented felt... contradictory. Forced. Both in relation to Gwen's original comic elements, and itself in the movie. I've since suspected then that the filmmakers didn't really put much thought on her character nor read the comics and just winged it with her. I mean, it was Miles' story, so there was never to going to be a lot about Gwen anyway. But those new elements were interesting by the mere virtue of being uniquely hers. And here comes the deal-breaker: I've planned a whole backstory for Gwendy assuming those details as important enough to have some meaning, as hidden or irrelevant as they might be. And I can guarantee you that backstory, even if I clean it of ties to this fic, won't be canon compliant.
So, yeah, that's it. I understand conversation about the Spider-Verse sequel might pop up at some point. But if it has to happen, I'd prefer if you spoiler it for my convenience, and I'd appreciate you understanding that it won't have any bearings on this story. And if I won't respond to any potential dialogue about it, it won't be a personal "ignoring you" matter.
Similarly, please don't ask about [random element] from No Way Home or whatever else from the MCU. While I've enjoyed some parts of the MCU, there's no place in my plans for it, and I don't even have any interest in watching NWH or any more following of the MCU Spider-Man films due to the previous plots and Peter's character frustrating me to no end.
I'm the meantime, I'm leaving you with these two bits from the next chapter as a teaser. The first one is an axed draft for what would have been the first scene of the chapter (from Octavia's pov, possibly superfluous and wasn't going to work like I wanted it to anyway), while the second introduces a mystery player with a familiar condition. I choose these bits as they won't immediately spoil anything about the next chapters, character nor plot wise. Don't worry, the chapter itself will show both Gwens dealing with things along Miles and Armsmaster, at the very least one fight scene, and an expansion on one curious facet of Gwen's mental state that came up very, very briefly in the comics.
Outside the restaurant, the heroes split into different teams. Mayday's left just fast enough so that Aegis would be able to keep up with them, while Gwen's left with her carrying Armsmaster to the rooftops.
"So, can I ask what it is that you do? Your boss Ghost didn't go into details."
Octavia turned around to face the speaker, Glory Girl. The girl was flanking Octavia along with her cousin Laserdream.
As she was going to help coordinate her friends with the locals, Octavia had stayed behind with New Wave at the parking lot, surrounded by PRT officers. New Wave would fly off in a few minutes, and most of the officers around were preparing to roll out in their armored vans as backup once the action had started.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean?" Octavia asked.
"She's asking what kind of tinker you are. Your specialization," Laserdream not-quite-clarified. While the two girls interrogated her, Lady Photon was at some distance away, discussing something with one of the officers assigned to a van squad, with Shielder at her side. "I mean, if you don't mind us asking. You are a tinker, aren't you? Because you don't look like a thinker and being called 'Doc'…"
That got the attention of a few officers keeping guard nearby. Although it came off more as silent menace than idle curiosity, Octavia couldn't say if it was their training, or the bulkiness of their body armor and their helmets hiding all of their faces.
Unsure of how to tackle that subject in public, Octavia opted for smiling politely and telling some truth. "That's because I'm a certified doctor. Not in a medical sense, of course. I have a PHD in theoretical sciences."
"That's not exactly what I meant," Glory Girl said with a disappointed pout. "I meant your power. I figured, hanging with capes and dressed like that, you'd be more than a 'techie'."
"I'm just partial to science and helping my friends," Octavia said. "I admit, I have some specialized tools that you won't find at NASA, but it all comes down to study, research, and hard work."
"So, you really have no powers?" Laserdream asked, curious, and then softened her voice. "You don't even remember having… a trigger?"
Octavia blinked behind her goggles, confused. "Excuse me, but I am not sure I understand what you mean."
The two blonde girls shared a look, themselves confused as well. "How… Your friends didn't tell you either?"
"Ma'am?" said an officer approaching them, this one without a helmet to hide her face. "We are ready to begin, if you follow me."
Octavia turned back to the girls before leaving. "Maybe we can talk later?"
She then moved to follow the officer back to the restaurant just as she heard Lady Photon call the younger heroines to leave.
Octavia raised her dimensional monitor so she could see the screen. To anyone else it would look like a cheap Geiger counter, and in truth it was nothing more than, except that it was intended to detect dimensional anomalies instead of radiation. She built it with what she learned about the Web, after 'curing' it of a serious case of self-entanglement, and she used it to confirm the last return of the Inheritors. Suffice to say she considered one of her main tools to study situations like the newly discovered Earth Bet.
But she hadn't expected the readings it gave her once they met Armsmaster and the other local 'parahumans'. Readings that diminished in strength as the same parahumans left her surroundings.
Octavia stopped and turned around just as they reached the restaurant door, and saw the four members of New Wave slowly fly away below the rooftops. And the readings started to finally drop to what one could almost call ambient levels.
"Ma'am, is that thing dangerous?" the officer asked, pointing at the monitor. Now that she had Octavia's full attention, she noted the officer seemed Asian, her brown hair in a tight bun in an effort of offering a professional image. Effort that failed somewhat given her worried looks.
Looks not at the monitor, Octavia realized, nor at herself and the unknown she represented, but at the streets where the very much known violence was taking place.
"No," she answered, putting the monitor away with a polite smile. "Not in the slightest."
Now, what the monitor was telling her about, Octavia didn't know. Yet. And that much already told Octavia something about what her new mystery was: very intriguing. It made her want to just sit down and analyze the data. After an extensive field trip to gather more data, of course. A lot more.
But that could wait. Right now she had more urgent issues to assist with.
Downtown
It wasn't a sudden event. Otherwise any of the few potential witnesses would have noticed something was wrong. More than what it already was that day.
First came the sparks and electrical surges. The friction of one force trying to subtly pass through a greater one. A struggle, violent by the nature of its desired goal, yet tempered by a necessity of inconspicuous survival.
Any witnesses, unable to see an obvious sign of parahuman intervention, would chalk it up to power surges caused by the ongoing destruction being carried upon the north of the city. By the time someone would have thought of bringing the phenomenon to the attention of the authorities, a number of technicians had already been dispatched. But they wouldn't find any more problems than what they were already expecting being caused by the more public events of the day.
Second came the wind gusts. An unsophisticated displacement of matter and energy, as extraneous molecules forced their existence where they weren't previously.
It was even less noteworthy than the previous occurrences. They were weak, and as a sea port, the people of Brockton Bay were used to the winds of the Atlantic visiting their streets.
What a truck driver couldn't ignore as he made his way out of Downtown, having already shipped his cargo and determined to not stay a single moment more than needed in this town of madmen, was the figure who's simply came to be in front of his vehicle. There was no lightning bolt, no flash of light, no special effects for a movie. One second there was nothing, the next there was someone.
The man swore, believing himself to have gotten too distracted for a second. He hit the brakes and tried to avoid hitting the pedestrian.
When the truck stopped completely without the driver noticing having hit anything, he got out, but found no pedestrian. Spooked and not wanting to tarry for too long, he yelled. "Hey, anyone there?"
With no answer, and no one in sight to query, the driver jumped back to the cabin with a curse about 'crazy capes.'
In a nearby alley, meanwhile, a woman in a dark blue suit panted heavily, leaning against the wall as she loosened a bit the mask that covered her entire head, allowing her to breathe easier. An exertion born from the pain of the process that brought her there, and made worse by the effort of quickly jumping aside and running to hide, surprised by the incoming truck.
Bringing her breathing back under control and seeing the truck move away, she pulled down the mask again and peeked out of the alley for a moment. There were scarce few people roaming about, confused with the driver's stunt, but more concerned with finding shelter from the thunders and rumbles sounding off far away. She had to move out and hide, but at the very least no one seemed to have noticed her apparition, nor be looking for her.
Still, she clicked her tongue as she recognized the area and what people were concerned about. It wasn't too big of a deal, it just meant she had to find information and wait. Among all the things that could have happened, it was actually one of the better possibilities. And at least she didn't show up in any space already occupied. She suspected that disintegrating any such material was only a thing in movies, and didn't want to think about what would have happened in reality.
Things took a turn for the worse when she went to pick up her baggage. "Fuck!" She had arrived with one backpack and two metal security suitcases. But one of the latter was cracked and was only holding together for some estructural miracle. "Fuck shit motherfucking damn fucking idiot!" she screamed to herself as she lowered herself to a knee.
Opening the broken suitcase on the floor, she was able to confirm that all its contents were spoiled and lost.
She quickly moved to open the other, more important suitcase. It's contents were thankfully intact: three long thin cylinders, another one bigger than the others, and a bulky handle, all of them securely placed on the rigid foam inside the suitcase.
Not great, given the situation of her arrival. It was one of the worst situations they had foreseen. It meant she had to be particularly careful and hold the fort the best she could. But she could work with this. She would have to.
There was also a stack of notes that she wasn't expecting to be included. But she could look at them later. She closed both suitcases when she heard a great rumble coming from far away. Getting up on her feet and peeking through the corner she saw a small cloud of smoke up in the sky at north.
"Right", she muttered as she put on the backpack and picked up the suitcases, securing them to her sides of the backpack thanks to its harness. "No rest for the wicked."
She raised an arm, aimed towards the closest cornice, and pressed the palm of her hand with her fingers. A web thread shot upwards, attacking to the desired spot.
She proceeded to test the webline. She pulled, achieving the desired tension on the newly produced cable, before rolling her end around the arm for safety. She jumped up, hanging from the thread with her feet set firmly on the wall, and started to walk up.
Then her entire world shifted. Although it'd be more accurate to say that it was only herself who did.
She fell about five meters down with a pained yell, before she lost her entire breath the moment she touched ground. The sudden shift that her body had undergone had only last for a small second, but it had been painful enough without adding the fall with the added weights around her making it even worse.
She arched her spine as she gasped for lost air, and pounded the ground with closed fists. "Fffffffuck!" she managed to groan. She labored to turn around and get on her knees, her breath again working overtime as she leaned her head and fists on the floor. "Already?! That's… fuck!"
It didn't matter. Neither the pain, any wounds or even the prospect of an early death didn't matter. Only her mission did. She rose up against the protestations of her body, and after checking over the suitcases again, she started climbing again. She had to find a safe place to stay, and somewhere to hide or discard the broken equipment. And the sooner the better.
Apologies for the waiting. Some of you might have been wondering what's the deal. What's happening. Where are the updates. Where's the money, Jerry, show me the money. I got your number, Jerkface, and I'm gonna email you the SEAL meme.
So, I have two complementary answers. One is life related. It's been meh for more than a year, with constant unemployment, and the death of one of our dogs. Not gonna bother you with details. Just know it's been draining and gotten in the way of doing things. Like reminding myself to reach out here to you.
The second answer, more fic related, is... technical difficulties. Long story short, around last December the hard drive where I had most of the important scraps, snippets, incomplete scenes, and more alarmingly, outlines and notes for both my fics suffered a unexpected case of "BREAK". I've been unable to recover any data. I have Gdocs, but what I keep there are mostly chapters, be it complete or WIP, but not pieces of them.
You might guess what kind of mood that might induce in someone.
Now, I do want to continue, but it's gonna take time to recoup the losses, particularly because I have to remember everything that I put down on my notes so that I know what the hell I'm actually writing.
This is less of a problem for To Stand Tall, because I still keep a couple of PM threads and documents with enough information that I don't have to worry about not recalling something important. There are plenty of things I'd like to change, but except for a couple of true plotholes that will be edited (*cough*Militia*cough*) nothing of value has been lost.
But I got *nothing* left for Ghosts. I know how I want it to progress. I know how it will end. I know how the twists go and which bits are potentially controversial. But all of it only in the defective, vague ways of the fleshy neurons. Not a dependable guide for this. So, I'm forced to start again from the ground up. As I have to redo the outline from memory, it's possible currently published chapters might have to be adapted to any "mutations" the outline might suffer in the process. Thankfully there's not that much out already so I don't think you have to expect any revolutionary changes. At most I'd like to write a more purposeful, meaty introduction chapter that ties more closely with the rest of the plot. But you deserve to know.
To summarize. The stories will continue as time and energy allows. Obviously, as I "remake" my outline and notes at least to a decent progression, and try to work on buffers of at least one or two arcs, I cannot say when the next update will happen. Might be a month, two, or more. In the meanwhile, I will leave both fics tagged as on hiatus.
And that, kids, is why you always, always want to be sure to have one or more backups of your work.
So, I have two complementary answers. One is life related. It's been meh for more than a year, with constant unemployment, and the death of one of our dogs. Not gonna bother you with details. Just know it's been draining and gotten in the way of doing things. Like reminding myself to reach out here to you.
Life has an unfortunate habit of kicking someone in the shin and then going for the face while they're down. Take the time you need to recover, we're in no rush.
As for the technical issues... I was always paranoid enough to triple-save my games when I was a kid, and that's carried over to all my important documentation now. It's a good lesson if you aren't that paranoid, and it's... well, not 'good', but probably for the best it was just a story you're writing for fun rather than anything truly world-shatteringly momentous.
Oh. Oh no. There was plenty more in that hard drive. Much more. Luckily, the important life documents were among the few things I've been able to recover. A scare was had.
