Chapter I: Tangled Beginnings

Date: January 11th, 2031

Time: 11:28 PM

Gwen perched atop the gargoyle, gazing down upon the bustling city with an appreciative look of fascination; She would never really get used to this feeling. Up here, with the sunlight shining against her face and the wind rustling through her hair as the civilians below hustled about looking suspiciously like ants, she felt powerful. More than that, she felt free. Free to do what, she wasn't certain. Free to live? Yes, cliché as it might sound, there was more than a grain of truth hidden in that statement. Up here, she felt alive.

While this train of thought ran down the tracks in her head, it suddenly derailed with the arrival of a vague tingling sensation in her temples. Mere moments later, sirens ran down below her as an entire squad of police cars gave chase to a van that was clearly breaking every speed limit and traffic code known to man. A smile crept onto her face and she quickly tapped a button on her watch, leaping off the building as a million nanobots poured out of the device and covered her body, solidifying into a fabric-like suit that covered her entire body. The nanobots just finished their activation process when she quickly extended a hand and fired a line of very sticky material from a gauntlet attached to her wrist, using the line as a pendulum to swing over the cityscape at momentous velocity. Any New Yorker would instantly recognize her as easily as they would any other hero in this city, or from any city for that matter. After all, who wouldn't recognize Spider-Girl?

She quickly twisted her body in midair and fired another webline from her left-hand gauntlet, altering her course to give chase to the fleeing vehicle. She quickly gained on the perpetrators, easily maneuvering through the streets and flipping through the air to land directly on top of the van. Leaning over the edge, she quickly peered into the window, only to have the tingling sensation in her temples return and immediately pulled herself up, a bullet firing straight through the space her head had occupied a moment before.

"Well that was rude," She complained. "And to think I was just going to ask if I could borrow a cup of sugar." Immediately she lunged with all her strength, grabbing hold of the side of the van and turning in midair to crash through the window, feet-first, and kick the gunner square in the jaw. Immediately she took his gun, backhanding him into unconsciousness with her free hand, and hurled the gun at the criminal in the passenger seat in front of her, knocking him out as well. She then ducked as the driver fired back at her with a pistol, using the rearview mirror to aim as he continued driving. Immediately she fired a quick burst of webbing, a pellet of the sticky conglomeration ripping the weapon from his grasp as she leapt over and slammed his head against the steering wheel before lunging through the window she's already crashed through and firing two separate weblines at the vehicle, pulling it to a halt with a massive surge of force. The driver stumbled out of the vehicle, dazed to say the least, and drew a knife, taking a fighting stance as he stared her down, only to collapse backwards a split second later, a sleeping dart embedded in his chest.

Gwen groaned, immediately turning to look behind her, already fairly certain who had fired it but feeling the need to check anyway. Her suspicions were confirmed as she noted a girl of her own age a few yards away, blowgun still in hand.

"Come on, I had that one!" she whined, gesturing to the man on the ground. The girl only rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm sure you did, but I took care of him for you. You're welcome by the way," the girl responded, walking over as she placed the blowgun in a holster on her belt. "We all know how much you hate small knives."

"Oh they're, like, my one weakness," Gwen responded dryly, glaring at the new arrival, who did little more than glower back in silence. This staring contest continued a few moments longer before both immediately burst out laughing and quickly hugged each other as the police came to a stop behind them. Several of them immediately ran past them toward the vehicle to apprehend the would-be escapees, but none of them seemed to give the two costumed vigilantes much notice. To them, this was just business as usual.

"It's good to see you Rachel," she continued, completely ignoring the NYPD officers filing past them. "But, I thought you were in Detroit investigating some kind of Drug Cartel? When you filled me in over the phone, it sounded pretty serious."

Rachel only shook her head at the inquiry. "The cartel job was a dead end. Two months of undercover work and nothing to show for it."

Gwen grimaced, although she knew full well no one could tell through her mask. "Sounds rough," she surmised, unsure of what else to say. Rachel only laughed in agreement.

"Believe me, it was, but it is what it is. Come on, let's get a bite to eat, I'll fill you in while we do."

Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You wanna change first? Believe me, I get where you're coming from, if I had such a stylish outfit I'd want to flaunt it as well, but with you showing up completely out of the blue again, the press would have a field day." As if to prove her point, several cameras began flashing from bystanders on the sidewalk, the shock over the car chase they had just witnessed now replaced by the buzz of what they hoped to be the latest gossip. Rachel looked around curiously, as if just noticing they were in public, and then nodded in agreement, the two immediately heading down an alleyway and heading to an old warehouse where they quickly donned their civilian clothes. For Gwen, this was as simple as deactivating the nanobots and letting them retreat back into the watch, her civilian clothes already on underneath. For Rachel, however, a little more privacy was needed.

"I still don't think it's fair that most of us have to go into dirty alleyways and store our clothes behind old dumpsters with the hobos, but you just press a button and 'voila!' you're ready for the day," Rachel grumbled through the door.

"Not everyone is as lucky as I am," she snickered, fully aware of the eye roll she was probably receiving on the other end of the door. She heard faint sounds of rustling from inside for a few more seconds before the door opened and Rachel stepped out, looking like a regular, non-crime fighting sixteen year-old girl. Gwen examined her a bit closer, looking her over to see if she had changed any in the past two months that she had been gone. All in all, she seemed to be much the same, though Gwen really wasn't sure what else she expected.

Her chestnut-colored hair ran down just past her shoulders, straight as it had always been when they were kids. Her eyes were exactly the same shade of blue they had always been, sparkling in a color not unlike that of an Aquamarine. Evidently she hadn't been out in the sun too often, because her skin was still a pale, milky white color that Rachel never seemed to be able to darken. Trial and error had often proven that a tanning Rachel resulted in a sun-burned Rachel and little more, much to her eternal dismay. Her body was that of a lithe, highly athletic girl with a great amount of tone but not a multitude of muscle mass. Rachel's fighting style was heavily reliant on stealth, weaponry, and acrobatics, and as such she was built far more like a gymnast than a weight lifter.

Gwen, on the other hand, looked quite a bit like her mother: Mary Jane Watson. Her hair was a fiery red color, and her eyes a striking emerald Green. In comparison to Rachel, Gwen appeared rather dainty and vulnerable in regards to build, looking every bit the fragile, princess-like damsel in distress type that one would probably mistake her for when not aware of her abilities. What with her supernatural limits of strength, she never really got a workout from physical exertion in a fight, at least not often in terms of lifting things, and as such no muscle really ever needed to develop. Her limbs were long, as were her fingers, and they carried with them an appearance of grace that made any kind of acrobatics she did while in costume appear as effortless as they in fact were.

"So, what happened with the Detroit case?" she inquired curiously, snapping back to reality. "You seemed so sure about that job…"

"I was sure about it, that's the thing. I'm there for two months, undercover around the clock, and all of a sudden someone tips the guy off just before the deal goes down. He vanishes without a trace and I lose two months' worth of effort just like that," she responded, a definite edge of bitterness and disappointment to her voice. She sighed a moment longer, frowning at the memory before she returned to her usual self. "At least I got to come back home though," she noted. "I missed you guys way too much to stay any longer."

"I missed you too," Gwen admitted. "Frankly, it's been pretty lonely here without you, everybody's been laying pretty low for some reason. Things have been strangely quiet crime-wise, and I guess most of them figured they didn't want to waste their own time until something showed up that was worth patrolling for."

Rachel nodded in understanding. "Especially around the holiday season I'm sure…"

Gwen's mood visibly darkened at that, her shoulders slumping slightly as a slight frown emerged on her typically infectiously-optimistic face. For Rachel, this was all she needed to realize she had brought up the wrong subject. "Oh crap Gwen, I'm so sorry. I didn't even think about-"

"It's fine," she interrupted softly, her tone indicating that while the situation might in fact be 'fine', and the conversation was 'fine', she was very much not 'fine', and that was not a fine situation to be in.

"I didn't even think… oh gosh that must've been awful…" Rachel mused, laying a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. Holidays were never an easy time for Gwen, but it just now became apparent that with Rachel gone they must've been nearly unbearable. "Are you… okay?"

Gwen was silent for a moment, contemplating how to respond. She didn't blame Rachel for doing what she needed to do, so of course she wasn't angry. At the same time, that didn't erase the loneliness that had inevitably come as a result, so she couldn't exactly say she was happy either. "I'll live. It's not like it was anything you could control." She went silent again for several moments before sighing and forcing a sad half-smile. "At least I got to stay home for the holidays."

Rachel gazed at her worriedly, trying to read her expression for any sort of indication as to what she was thinking. "What about Michael and Lucy?"

"Michael had his own family to worry about, and Lucy was locked up in her shop all week. There was no way I was going to be able to get in touch with her," she stated flatly, turning away to mask the pain. Just because Rachel could tell what she was feeling didn't mean she was altogether keen on showing it, and she didn't particularly want to continue on with this conversation as it was. "It was far from my first Christmas alone Rach, honestly. I've been through worse. Let's just move onto something else okay?"

"Alright…" Rachel yielded reluctantly, wishing she could do more to help, but also noticing the emotional strain this was causing her friend. She'd find a way to make it up to her later. Maybe she'd ask Michael and Lucy if they had anything in mind. In the meantime though, she was still hungry. "So… how about we get that lunch?"