Greetings, prospective readers, and welcome to very first Spider-Man story, or rather, my very first Spider-Gwen story, as thanks to the Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 video game and my own research, I've become something of a fan, so I thought doing a retelling/reimagining of that awesome new Spider-Man game that just came out for the PS4 would be a good way to get my feet wet writing Spider-Gwen fanfiction, so to speak. Just a heads-up, this story will still draw heavily from the story of the game, so you can consider this your one and only warning. This chapter alone will draw directly from the opening of the game, and before anyone asks why Matt Murdock/The Devil's men aren't ninjas, it's because I still need them to be able to be killed by the Inner Demons, and superpowers or no, ninjas aren't exactly the easiest thing in the world to kill. That being said, I do have plans to make some alterations to the game's story, given Spider-Gwen's origin and lore, which will also have a unique spin to it. Well, I've babbled long enough, let us begin, and allow me to extend a warm welcome to Earth-497!
Chapter I: One Last Dance With The Devil
In the light of the open window of a shoddy New York apartment, a spider could be seen swinging on a thread. It made its way down past a set of pictures, one of which was that of a young woman with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing a green jacket with a black blouse underneath and pair of purple jeans, and a young man with dark skin and short black hair, while the second consisted of the same young woman with two young men, one of which had short black hair and wore taped glasses and looked to be the very definition of a nerd, while the second had short flaming red hair and wore casual clothes. The third showed the blonde manning a set of drums as part of a band apparently called The Mary Janes with a group of girls. The spider made its way onto a nearby desk where a notebook with a series of sketches of spiders and web-shooting equipment were drawn, and where a pair of black and white web-shooters sat, along with two jars that were labeled "Vacation funds," and "New laptop." Near them was a white and black mask with circuitry inside the lenses hooked up to a nearby battered laptop, which seemed to be uploading data to it.
Near this desk was a bulletin board featuring the front page of newspapers that bore the images of several supervillains that the owner of the apartment had defeated, such as the Lizard, Killerwatt, Electro, Mr. Nobody, Crazy Eight, the Rhino, and the Vulture, among others, while another front page declared that someone called White Widow was a killer responsible for the death of a kid named Peter Parker. Nearby was another front page some year-and-a-half later explaining that not only was Parker still alive, but that he was in fact the Lizard, and as such, the manhunt for the White Widow had been called off and she'd been given a pardon for any crimes she may have committed due to performing many, many acts of heroism since the manhunt had started. As for the occupant of the bed and owner of the apartment, she was currently asleep in a black sports bra and jammie pants. And when her phone went off nearby, she opened her drowsy blue eyes and pressed the notification on it, activating the phone's built in police scanner.
"-all units, Level Four mobilization. Location is Murdock Law Building," said the dispatcher over the coms frequency.
That was all Gwen Stacy needed to hear to become wide awake as she quickly sat up in her bed. "Murdock?" she said. Quick as a flash, Gwen climbed out of her bed, went over to her cupboard, grabbed a couple of pieces of toast and tossed them into the toaster, which she had rigged to operate automatically. Gwen then equipped her web shooters and picked up her nearby costume, which smelled as though it needed a wash, just as her toast popped up. Shooting a web to catch them in midair, Gwen then proceeded to cram the toast into her mouth as she put her suit on.
Am I glad I managed to create an edible variation of the web fluid. Even if it was an accident, thought Gwen as she finished her toast and pulled her mask rightside-in.
Finally, with her toast eaten and her skintight black, white, and pink suit on, Gwen Stacy pulled on her mask and pulled up her hood, and waited for her suit's onboard AI to boot up. Just as the boot process finished, an envelope that read Urgent! Final Notice! was slid under her door, which her suit detected and flashed a warning on her Heads-Up Display, telling the young woman to pay her bills.
White Widow looked back and forth between her phone and the envelope, clearly torn between the two, just as a voice on the phone said "10-85 at Murdock Law. SWAT and warrant are en route."
Making her decision, White Widow leapt out the window and began swinging through the city streets, heading in the direction of the building formerly known as Fisk Tower, but had since become the Murdock Law Firm when corrupt lawyer Matt Murdock had taken over Wilson Fisk's criminal operations when the Kingpin of Crime had been locked away by White Widow's father.
As she swung through the city streets, White Widow used her suit's built-in phone feature to call a certain contact of hers on the police force.
"Captain Stacy," said a gruff male voice on the other end of the line.
"Hi, Dad. Did you take him down yet?" White Widow asked her father.
Captain Stacy chuckled. "Figured you'd be swinging your way here when the call came in. Not yet, Gwen. We're still waiting on SWAT and the warrant," he said.
"Mind if I join in on the action?"
"Not at all. Right now, though, head to Times Square. Sounds like some of Murdock's men are keeping my backup from reaching the scene."
"You got it, Dad!" said White Widow as she adjusted course and headed in the direction of Times Square. As she swung through the air, she received an incoming call from her day job. "Yello?"
"Stacy? Where are you? We must run through the demonstration before the grant committee arrives," said the male voice of Gwen's boss.
"Yeah, I'm uh, dealing with a personal issue. I'll be there soon," said White Widow before the call ended. Gotta deal with this fast, and then get over to my real job, thought White Widow as she swung her way to Times Square, a small swarm of police cruisers zipping away underneath her as she did. Looks like Dad called in the calvary, thought White Widow as she perched on a nearby building and surveyed the action in Times Square, where a small squadron of men wearing bulletproof vests with red shirts with the word "MURDOCK" stitched into them were unleashing a storm of gunfire on several kevlar-clad NYPD officers, who were hiding behind their car doors for cover.
One of Murdock's thugs, seeing that this firefight wasn't getting them anywhere, pressed the mic button on his earpiece. "Bring in the hammer," he said.
As the gunfire came to a screeching halt, the cops looked at one another, wondering what the "hammer" could possibly be. However, they wouldn't have to wait long for an answer as a hijacked oil truck came careening through the frightened police officers who dove out of the way as the driver jumped out of the vehicle before it hit the wall and the oil tank tipped over and exploded in a fiery blast.
As Murdock's men slowly advanced on the battered and injured officers, one in particular seemed especially frightened as a thug advanced on him with his machine gun, a cold and merciless look on his face.
Before any of the Devil's men could open fire, they had their weapons yanked away from them by what was unmistakably webbing as White Widow landed in front of them. "Morning, boys! Who's ready for their hot fresh cup of punch, cause I'm feeling" said White Widow as she fired a webline that pulled her towards the thug she'd hit, before slugging him in the face, staggering the goon. "punchy today,"
Mere moments later, White Widow's Spider Sense warned her of a punch thrown by a thug, and swiftly dodged out of the way of the attack. It wasn't long afterwards that White Widow easily rendered the thugs unconscious, only to find another truck pulling up with more of the Devil's goons riding on the side.
Oh, great, more of them. Murdock sure has a lot of guys on his payroll. There must be a website or something, thought White Widow before she webbed one of the thugs to the side of the truck, effectively putting him out of action before turning her attention to the remainder of the group. As White Widow fought her enemies, a call came in on her suit's systems.
"White Widow! Warrant's just arrived, and we're about to go in! What's your status?!" asked Captain Stacy.
"Almost done here! I'll be there soon! Can't wait to see you slap the cuffs on Murdock like Fisk before him!" said White Widow as she knocked out another thug. It wasn't long afterward that his co-workers joined him in unconsciousness.
"Okay, Dad, I'm all finished up here-" said White Widow before a large explosion in the direction of Murdock Law cut her off and filled her with a sense of panic. "Dad!" yelled White Widow as she leapt into the air and started swinging towards Murdock Law as fast as her webs would take her as several police cruisers weaved their way beneath her as White Widow growled to herself, "I shoulda known Murdock wouldn't go down without a fight."
The scene at the Murdock Law Firm was nothing short of ripped directly out of a war movie where the heroes were laying siege to an enemy fortress. Murdock's men were spraying armor-piercing rounds like weed killer as the police attempted to fire back as Captain George Stacy spoke into his radio.
"Get more backup! And lock down the airspace!" said Stacy as a soft thump sounded nearby, causing the police captain to turn and find his daughter attached to the armored prison truck that he was taking cover behind.
"You okay?" White Widow asked her father.
"If Murdock makes it out of that building, we're gonna lose him," said Captain Stacy.
"I'm gonna go, uh…" said White Widow, pointing in the direction of the battlefield behind them.
Captain Stacy sighed before he nodded. "Go do your thing," he said.
"Yes!" said White Widow before she leaped over the APC and swung towards the large window directly above the building's front entrance. "Today's the day, Murdock!" said White Widow as she webbed up several thugs with machine guns, taking them out of the fight while swinging towards the last one, who gave White Widow one frightened look before running directly towards the window behind him.
"Aw, where you goin'?" asked White Widow before grabbing the guy from behind and throwing through the window and perching on a small platform for a moment. "I'll clear a path! Follow me!" White Widow called out to the cops engaged in an all-out shootout with Murdock's men as she leapt into action.
"Get outta here, Widow! We got this!" said one of the cops as White Widow began fighting Murdock's men.
"Hate to break it you ya, pal, but you do not got this," said White Widow as she continued fighting Murdock's men, none of which were happy to see her.
"Aw, man! What's White Widow doing here!? She's gonna mess everything up!" said one of the Devil's thugs before White Widow promptly knocked him out cold. Within five minutes, the rest of Murdock's thugs were down on the ground as well.
After dealing with gunmen on the balcony above, the police joined White Widow at the main entrance elevator doors, only to find them disabled.
"Take the stairs!" one of the cops shouted before he and the rest of his squad made their way up a nearby stairwell.
"Yeah, I prefer a direct approach," said White Widow before she pulled open the elevator doors and began climbing up the side of the shaft just as her father called.
"Gwen, status," said Captain Stacy.
"I'm heading to the upper floors, and seriously hoping no one turns on the elevators," said White Widow.
"Our choppers are taking a beating. Murdock's got armed men on every floor."
"The Devil sounds desperate."
"And he's throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us."
"I gotta find him and end this once and for all!" said White Widow as she found her path blocked and entered a nearby vent and crawled through it.
"Not just yet, Gwen. We've picked up some radio chatter. Murdock's men are wiping all their data servers. We need that evidence if we want to keep Murdock in the same cell as Fisk," said Captain Stacy.
"All right, server room it is," said White Widow before another call came in. It's MJ. Better answer, thought White Widow before she answered. "Hey, MJ."
"What in the world is all that noise?" asked Mary Jane Watson, who was the lead singer of her and Gwen's band, The Mary Janes.
"Um, watching a superhero movie," lied White Widow as she popped out of the vent and began fighting Murdock's goons. "What's up?"
"Oh, I just wanted to make sure you were still coming to dinner with me and the rest of the band tomorrow night. Ms. Morales is paying for us," said MJ.
"Uh, yeah, totally. Listen, I gotta go, I'm running late for work," said White Widow.
"Okay, bye."
"Bye!" said White Widow as she kicked the last thug in the face, knocking him out cold. Okay, now that that's taken care of, I gotta find the Server Room before there's no evidence left, thought White Widow before spotting the incredibly obvious Server Room entrance directly on floor up, and used her webbing to get there.
Hmm, if I go in through the front, they'll destroy all the evidence. What to do… thought White Widow before spotting a vent nearby. Bingo.
Using her webbing to enter the vent, White Widow couldn't help but smirk as she crawled through the vent. You know, for such a dirty criminal, Murdock has remarkably clean air vents, White Widow before pulling an unsuspecting thug up into the vent with her webbing and trapping him there.
"They're so adorable when they're oblivious," White Widow whispered to herself as she continued crawling through the vent until she reached the end before dropping into the midst of Murdock's men. Despite there only being two minutes left on the deletion timer, White Widow was able to drop her attackers within seconds before dashing up to the console and stopping the deletion.
"Okay, Murdock, let's see just how good your security is," muttered White Widow as her hands began dancing across the keyboards. "Aw, you guys forgot the latest kernel patch. Tsk, tsk, tsk…"
"Well, well," said voice of Matt Murdock aka the Devil as his image appeared on the massive monitor overhead. He had short brown hair and wore red tinted sunglasses and a black and red Italian suit, and was twirling a diamond-tipped cane that White Widow had learned the hard way was more than it seemed. "Hiding the server room, White Widow? Even for you, that's cowardly."
"Says the guy frantically erasing his search history," retorted White Widow.
"To think, after all these years, you're still just an ignorant little girl playing dress-up," snarled Devil.
"Maybe, but that's part of my charm, isn't it?" said White Widow as her download finished and something beeped on the Devil's computer.
"You little…! Get that damn door down now!" snarled Devil as more of his goons entered the server room. "Get past her! Destroy everything!"
As White Widow fought his men, The Devil continued his boasting. "Look around you. I did this. What have you ever done that truly mattered? Outside of stopping a few costumed lunatics, of course."
"Well, there was that one time I locked up Manhattan's biggest crime boss before breakfast," said White Widow, knocking a thug unconscious as she spoke.
"You really don't see the big picture, do you? Without me, the scum I've kept in check will run rampant. It'll be chaos in the streets, and it'll be your fault," said The Devil.
"It's been a long, tough road, Murdock. I'm almost sad to see it end," said White Widow.
"Mere prelude," said The Devil dismissively.
"Well, then get ready for the climax!" said White Widow, knocking the last thug unconscious.
No sooner had the words left her mouth than a violent explosion ripped through the building. White Widow immediately called her dad as she zipped through the newly-made hole in the ceiling and began fighting Murdock's goons. "Dad, an explosion just-"
"I saw it. Murdock could have the entire building rigged to blow. I've already sent in a bomb unit," said Captain Stacy.
"Good, I'll make sure no one gets in their way," said White Widow as she finished off the last thug and zipped to the upper floor, just as the bomb unit came in through a nearby door.
"It's clear! Move up!" the leader of the bomb squad said as White Widow perched in front of them.
"Hey, guys," said White Widow as another explosion ripped through the building. "Looks like bombs are part of Murdock's getaway plan."
Just then, another explosion went off, followed swiftly by screaming and cries for help.
"Sounds like they're trapped," said White Widow.
"You go after them. We'll look for the bombs," said the leader of the bomb squad.
With a nod, White Widow zipped up to the upper floor where the screaming was coming from.
"Get clear! Evacuate the building!" yelled White Widow as the frightened workers ran past her. Finding her path forward blocked, White Widow used her webbing to pull aside a large concrete pillar blocking not only her path, but trapping a couple of workers.
"I think there are more people back that way," one of the workers told White Widow.
"I'll find them," said White Widow as she made her way towards the next room, only to find that there was only enough space to crawl, as well as two more workers that were pinned down. White Widow quickly crawled her way towards them and began to lift the large concrete slabs that were pinning them down. A task that was only made more difficult when another massive concrete slab fell on top of the ones she was already trying to lift. Gritting her teeth, White Widow lifted the massive chunks of concrete high enough and for long enough that the workers trapped underneath them were able to get out.
Dropping the concrete and dodging out of the way, White Widow found her way back blocked, leaving only one way to go: forward. Spotting a nearby vent, White Widow entered it just as she received an incoming call from her father.
"Gwen, status," said Captain Stacy.
"Almost to Murdock's office. How are you holding up out there?" asked White Widow as she crawled through the vents.
"We could be better. Our choppers took a helluva beating. As a matter of fact, we just had to ground our last one. If Murdock calls in a chopper, we have no way to keep it from landing," said Captain Stacy.
"And there's no one to chase after him if he flies away," said White Widow.
"Why do I get the feeling that's what he was planning all along?"
"Because it probably was," said White Widow as she dropped out of the vent and saw several officers down, bleeding out from gunshot wounds. "Damn. Get EMTs up here, now, we got multiple officers down."
"We're trying," said Captain Stacy as White Widow perched on a railing in the next room and caught sight of a Murdock thug getting ready to fire a rocket launcher at her.
"Uh-oh. INCOMING!" White Widow yelled as she dodged the RPG and laid the smack down on the thug who launched it. Not even a moment later, White Widow's Spider Sense flared up again, alerting her to two more rocket launcher-toting thugs on the upper level.
"Seriously, guys? More rockets? That's just a touch overkill, don't you think?" yelled White Widow as she dodged the projectiles and defeated thugs who launched them, only to learn there was yet another directly across from her.
"Oh, come on! Did someone make it National Rocket Day and forget to tell me?" said White Widow as she avoided the RPG and knocked out the thug carrying the weapon in a single punch.
As White Widow continued to fight her way through the building, she couldn't help but wonder how the bomb squad guys were able to make it through all of the carnage she saw. It wasn't long, however, before she finally found the bomb squad right outside The Devil's office.
"White Widow, glad you're here. We were just about to call for backup," said the leader of the bomb squad.
"Looks like I'm it," said White Widow.
"Lead the way. We'll be right behind you," said the bomb squad leader. As White Widow walked ahead of the bomb squad, the leader pressed the button on his radio. "Heads up, boss," he muttered as one of his squadmates raised his rifle to fire at White Widow, unwittingly triggering her Spider-Sense.
Before the dirty cop could open fire, White Widow backflipped high into the air and grabbed the weapon before slamming it into the dirty cop's skull, knocking him out. White Widow then shot a web to try to attack another dirty cop, only to be blocked by his ballistic shield. Thinking quickly, White Widow then slid beneath him and launched him into the air before knocking him out cold.
"So, you guys were in bed with Murdock all along? Oh, great, now I'll never get that image out of my head!" groaned White Widow as she engaged her remaining enemies in combat. "In any case, it looks like your plan failed on a count of Spider-Sense. So, I guess it's on to plan B: getting your asses kicked by a girl."
Not long after White Widow uttered these words, the last of the dirty cops was knocked unconscious. Her enemies down, White Widow called her father. "Hey, Dad, looks like some of your men were on Murdock's payroll. The good news is they were his last line of defense, I'm right outside his office."
"Take him down. Now," said Captain Stacy.
"With pleasure."
Inside the Devil's Office…
Matt Murdock was busy filing paperwork, apparently untroubled by the full-fledged open warfare raging inside and outside his own office building.
"Writing your memoirs? Don't forget to capitalize 'White' and 'Widow.'"
Devil looked up and heaved a sigh at the sight of White Widow perched on the wall. Pressing the mic button on his intercom, Devil said, "Get the chopper ready. I won't be long."
Standing up from his desk, Devil walked toward a sand garden that was directly behind him. "You know, I really shouldn't be surprised you made it this far, and yet, somehow I am," said Murdock as he pulled out a remote from his suit pocket. "But, your foolishness ends now."
With a press of a button, a bulletproof shield lowered to protect Devil as White Widow got off the wall.
"Uh, Matt? You are aware that I can still see you, right?" said White Widow.
"Eight years of this insolence… why did I ever think I could bring you to my side as my apprentice and successor?" said Devil before he pressed another button on his remote. This time, two massive turrets appeared from the two pillars that stood beside The Devil's desk, causing White Widow to feel slightly worried.
"Aw, for me? You shouldn't have!" said White Widow before the turrets opened fire, forcing the young heroine to start dodging as best she could, although a few bullets did manage to graze her before the gunfire abruptly stopped as the turrets made a wiring sound.
They're reloading! thought White Widow before she unleashed a barrage of webbing before firing a webline and slamming the turret into Murdock's shield.
"Argh! What do you think you're doing?!" demanded Devil as his shield cracked, only for it to be shattered completely when the second turret hit it. "How is this happening?!"
"Aw, what's wrong, Murdock? You seem angry…" teased White Widow.
"I'm gonna kill you, bitch!" snarled Devil, his diamond tipped cane glowing with red energy as he leapt into the air and slammed the cane into his desk before throwing one of the larger pieces at White Widow, only for White Widow to catch it with her webbing and throw it back at him, dizzying The Devil and allowing White Widow to land a few solid hits on him before he slammed the end of his cane into ground, knocking her backwards with a powerful shockwave.
For the better part of fifteen minutes, White Widow and The Devil did battle, trading blows, energy blasts, and webbing. Until, finally, a charged-up blast from Devil sent White Widow flying through a wall and crashing into a pipe. Although his first follow-up blast was a clean miss, the second sent White Widow flying through another wall and out into the area just outside his office.
The Kingpin stepped through the hole in the wall, a look a sheer rage evident on his face. "YOU ARE EVERYTHING THAT'S WRONG WITH THIS CITY!" Devil snarled at White Widow.
"Tha… that's funny…" said White Widow as she pulled herself back on her feet as Murdock's goons surrounded her. "Because I was gonna say the same thing to you."
"You don't get it, do you?! Every single person like you thinks they can galavant all around the globe, doing whatever you want! The real world is nothing like the game you morons make it out to be! You know what to do, men!" snarled The Devil.
At that point, the true fight began. Despite their initial interference, it wasn't long before Devil's goons were out cold, leaving only the White Widow and the Devil himself standing as they traded several solid shots and blows with one another, before a lucky blow from Devil gave him the opening he needed to hoist White Widow into the air before bring her down on his knee. The Devil then tried to beat her with his energy-charged cane, only for White Widow to move out of the way, thus causing the floor beneath them to break, causing them both to fall. White Widow fired a couple of webs just as Devil landed on a walkway and stomped him in the chest before Devil knocked her off the walkway.
White Widow swung her way around the walkway and landed on the far wall before shooting a web and knocking the Devil off the walkway. The two bitter enemies traded blows as they smashed their way through the ground and fell into the building's main entryway. Thinking fast, White Widow fired a web at The Devil, binding him like a cocoon suspended by his ankles to the ceiling as White Widow slowly descended in what had come to be known as the "Yo-Yo" position to face him.
"So, shall we kiss now?" White Widow teased the defeated crime lord as he struggled against his bindings as the cops moved in. "Eh, maybe later. Like, a week from never."
A Short While Later…
The defeated Matthew Murdock, bound in handcuffs, was being led to the waiting armored prison truck as several bystanders looked on. White Widow landed on on the roof of the armored vehicle.
"So, you're finally off to Ryker's Island. You know, now that I think about it, you might actually have more enemies in there than I do. And that's saying something," said White Widow.
"If you actually think this will be nothing more than a minor inconvenience-" snarled Devil, a look of cold fury on his face before White Widow interrupted him.
"Yeeeeaaaahhhh… your goon platoon engaged in open warfare with the NYPD, with your name stitched onto their clothing. I honestly fail to see the 'minor inconvenience' in that."
"Let's see, they were trying to break into my law firm before they had the proper paperwork, it's not my fault when the idiots Fisk left me chose to open fire!"
"Tell it to the judge. Anyways, gotta go, muggers to stop, thieves to catch. Good luck at Ryker's, Murdock. You're gonna need it," said White Widow before she fired a webline and started to swing away.
"STUPID GIRL! I'M THE ONE WHO KEPT ORDER IN THIS CITY!" yelled Matthew Murdock as he was lead into the truck. "ONE MONTH, WIDOW! IN ONE MONTH YOU'LL WISH YOU HAD ME BACK!"
At last, she is, finito! So yeah, as you can clearly see, I've got some fun things planned. Anyways, stay tuned for more Spider-Gwen/White Widow action, and make sure you fav, follow, and review while you're at it, and we'll see you next time!