Another normal day in Manhattan, New York. The traffic is backed up, the streets clogged with pedestrians, and the local bank is being robbed yet again. This time, the lucky individuals making the large withdrawal are the Gambonos, Luigi and, as a replacement for his twin brother, his niece Maria. "Alright ladies, just put the money in the bags and everyone gets out alive." Maria waits impatiently as the teller fills the bag, her shotgun pointed at the frightened woman's head. "Hurry up!" She grabs the bag from her. "Okay, let's go."
"Not so fast my young padawan." Luigi stops her, opening the bag, searching for something. "Walla. Here we are." He pulls out a small cylindrical device. "You always want to check for the dye packs otherwise you got the money for nothing. Remember that."
"Yes sir." Maria throws the bag over her shoulder as the two begin to exit. She stops as she sees a young man hiding behind a plant in the corner of the room texting on his phone. She nimbly leaps through the air right behind him. "Hello cutey. Nothing personal but I have to hurt you now before you call the cops."
"Cops aren't the ones you should be worried about." He smirks confidently as she swings the bag of stolen goods at him. Before it can connect however, it is pulled from her hands to the ceiling. Everyone inside looks up to see the friendly neighborhood Spider-girl, clinging to the surface.
"Hey, lay off. It would be a shame to let a face like that go to waist. Now yours on the other hand, that's a different story." The heroine vaults off the ceiling, nailing Maria across the face with a kick. The young acrobat quickly recovers, leaping back to her uncle. "You alright Wes?" Spider-girl whispers behind to her boyfriend. The last month and a half had been an interesting one for their relationship as the Wes had come to not only learn but accept May's identity and roll as one of the city's greatest defenders.
"Well you cut it a little close for my taste but all in all I'm good. Now go get 'em." Spider-girl leaps into action, swinging above the acrobats as the duo unload their firearms in a vain attempt to hit the illusive target.
"Come on you guys, seriously? I have a date in like fifteen minutes and I really don't want to be late." The young woman mocks the two while easily evading each shot, finally stopping and clinging to the wall.
"You're going to need an appointment with the dentist when I'm done with you." Maria gets a running start, scaling the wall with surprising speed and performs a back flip kick that knocks the spider off of her perch. May rebounds swinging across the room, launching web-balls at the acrobat, who responds with several flips to avoid the counterattack. Maria launches herself forward once more.
May easily predicts her move, evading to the side and webbing up the younger Gambono, setting her down on the bank floor. "A word to the not so wise little lady, never try the same move twice in a row. It just looks cheesy. Like button mashing in Street Fighter."
"Let her go!" Luigi shouts as Spider-girl turns to see him with his gun to the head of her boyfriend. "Help her up." she complies without argument, using one of her stingers to cut Maria loose. The girl massages her wrist and turns back to the heroine, delivering a hard punch to her stomach.
"How's that for cheesy bug?" She walks casually to rejoin her uncle as the two make their way slowly outside and to the van parked out front, where several police officers await them.
Luigi, unfazed by this, simply puts Wes in the line of fire. "Weapons down now." They begrudgingly comply as the Gambonos hop into the van with their cash and hostage, speeding off as a determined Spider-girl pursues from a distance. Having tied Wes up in the middle seat, Luigi seated on the passenger's side, slaps Maria across the face. She jerks on the wheel slightly veering to the left before regaining control. "That's for that little stunt at the bank. I told you never to go in alone. Always like we practiced."
"I could have taken her. I had everything under control." She says rubbing her cheek.
"No, don't tell me what you could have done! We work as a team. Your father would have known that."
"My dad, my dad. That's all you ever talk about. Well guess what? He's dead so it's either me or nothing." She shouts, stopping only after she realizes what she has said. "Look uncle, I'm sorry. I know you and dad were close but if we're going to be as good a team I need you to trust me like you trusted him."
Wes still sitting in between them, moving his eyes slightly to stare at each of them briefly. "Uh, this is kind of awkward for me."
"Oh right, sorry. Uncle Luigi maybe we can pick this up later."
"Aw, don't stop this emotional moment just yet. I get the feeling you two were making some real progress." All three look over to see Spider-girl leaning into the driver's side window. "Btw, I have something courtesy of the NYPD." she hurls a canister into the van that quickly releases a cloud of tear gas as she webs Wes out of the seat and over her shoulder. She swings he and herself away from the now out of control vehicle, setting the young man down before continuing the pursuit. She races back to the van as it continues out of control. She swings ahead spraying and emptying several cartridges of webbing, forming a net that stops the Gambonos in their tracks. She perches on atop the now immobilized getaway vehicle, knocking on the driver's side window.
"Knock knock." she says playfully. The door swings open violently, slamming her I the face as she falls to the ground.
Feet first, Maria leaps out of the van and onto the pavement over her dazed target as Luigi emerges from the other side. "Oh I'm sorry. You'll have to come back later. We're currently getting away with the cash." The duo make a mad dash away from the scene only for the web-slinger to snatch away the bags with her remaining webs. "You just don't know when to call it quits, do you?"
"I've been told it's one of my most endearing qualities." Spider-girl says as the two acrobats rush her in an attempt to retrieve their stolen goods. The coordination of the uncle and niece team catches May completely by surprise as their rolls, flips, and leaps force her o the defensive. "And to think I used to pay to see this kind of entertainment at the circus."
"Yes except our show includes a butt kicking free with admission." Luigi mocks as he flips over his niece, kicking the heroine in the face and sending her stumbling backwards. "Let's go!"
"But uncle Luigi." Maria begins to protest.
"We came for the money not the hero. Next time." Luigi shouts. After a quick thought she follows behind as the two run down an alleyway and disappear from a still stunned Spider-girl's sight.
May gets her senses about her and looks in the direction of the fleeing robbers. "Brilliant May. What would dad say about you getting beat by two Cirque de Soleil rejects?" She rushes after them, running along the alley walls, jumping around the corner only to find the two already restrained by ropes and unconscious. "Then again I might get a break for catching the bad guys without even looking. Darkdevil? Ladyhawk? American Dream?" She waits for a reply that never comes. "Thanks whoever you are. Great teamwork. Let's do this more often." She grabs the duo and escorts them to the waiting arms of the police.
"Thanks Spider-girl. We'll hand these two over to S.H.I.E.L.D. They've been looking for these jokers for months." The thankful officer says as the heroine watches the Gambonos loaded into a police van.
"It was no trouble, really."
"Oh, before you go, I have something for you from an old acquaintance. I was to deliver it to you personally." He hands her an envelope before departing with the other officers.
As the NYPD depart, the Gambonos sit quietly, looking across the vehicle as a lone officer keeps watch. They feel the van jerk suddenly and after a few minutes it comes to a complete halt. The officer stands and pulls out a set of keys, unlocking their shackles. "What gives?" Maria asks as she flexes her wrist.
"My employer has assigned me to contact you for a specific assignment."
The duo look across to one another then back to their liberator. "We're in."
May, unaware of what has transpired, has changed back into her civilian clothing and reunited with Wes. "So, be honest. On a scale from one to ten how do you rate that rescue?"
"Well from the standpoint of the rescued I'd have to give you a five. Though factoring in that my girlfriend is the rescuer, I think I can bump you up to a respectable eight."
May chuckles, punching him playfully in the arm. "Eight? Really?"
"In my scores defense, I was kidnapped by those circus yahoos for a good while."
"Still, it was a pretty cool rescue with some nice repartee thrown in. You've got to give me that at least."
"Okay you've got me there. The thing is if you didn't take those two down than who did?"
The couple stop at a coffee shop and grab some well deserved refreshments and alone time in the corner of the establishment. "So many heroes in the city it could have been anyone." May pauses, taking a sip of her beverage. "thing is, recently it feels like someone's been watching me. Seems like every time I go out to fight it's like I can feel them looming over my shoulder, breathing down my neck."
Wes can see how this particular topic is affecting her and decides to change the subject. "So...you said some guy handed you some kind of package?"
"Oh yeah. I almost forgot." She pulls the envelope out and, tearing it open begins to read the paper inside. "Hmm. Uh-huh. Interesting." She slowly slides it back into the envelope and places it softly on the table with a somewhat serious expression on her face.
"What is it? Did something bad happen? Is it a a world crisis or something?"
She ends the suspenseful moment with a few simple words. "You wanna be my plus one?"