Disclaimer:
Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Spider-Ham, Norman Osborn, et. al. are properties of Marvel Comics. Any reference to an actual person or location is strictly coincidental.
Chapter One - Cleaning up the Pieces
Wind whipped through her hair. Sun highlighting the dark crimson bodysuit she wore, a stylized spider emblazoned in white across her chest, its hind legs curling around her hips to meet in the small of her back. At the top of her arcing path, she let go of the line, her body falling backwards, tucking her legs in to roll. The city flipped past her view once, then twice before she straightened. Spreading her legs wide for balance, she reached out and fired more web-lines from her fingertips.
The sunny weather was a sharp contrast to the mood of the city. Only a day had passed since Kitty Pryde had distracted the gigantic, inter-dimensional devourer of worlds called Galactus. The bitch-slap seen across the globe had allowed Tony Stark and Reed Richards to open a portal and banish the terror into the negative zone. But before their eventual victory, sacrifices had been made.
Steve Rogers, Captain America, had died. Thor, the Asgardian God, was lost with Galactus.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians had been killed.
New Jersey was gone.
As bright as the sun was, Jessica Drew, the Amazing Spider-Woman's mood was dark. Debris from Galactus' brief battle with Kitty was spread across New York, littering the city. The remnants of SHIELD and the Ultimates were trying to clean it up, trying to keep it out of the hands of curious civilians that might come to more harm. And even with the loss of so many lives, in the shadow of near extinction, man tried to prey on man.
"…." came a soft sound on the wind. Jessica turned her head trying to catch the sound she thought she heard.
"…" it came again, louder, more determined. Jessica let go of her line and fell into a swan dive, dropping 20 floors as she listened.
"….eelp….eeeeee…." the cry came. Jessica fired a web-line to the nearest building, pulling out of her descent. Spying an alley, Jessica reached over and shot out two more lines, tugging hard once they caught a building, changing her trajectory. Swinging over the alleyway, she looked down and saw a woman being pressed against the dirty brick wall by a man, a knife to her throat.
Jessica let go of the lines she was using to sail over the alley, firing fresh webbing to pull her to the wall above the woman and her apparent assailant. Sticking to the brick wall Jessica climbed down quickly, assessing the situation.
"Look, you stupid bitch," the man growled, his stained plaid overcoat and frayed jeans signaling a distant relationship with prosperity. "Give me what I want, and I won't hurtcha more," he said, pressing the blade of the knife harder against her throat.
Frowning inside her mask for a brief moment, Jessica fired a single web line to the knife blade. "Shame, shame," Jessica said, yanking hard and pulling the knife out of the mugger's hand. "I'm going to have to report you to Santa and have you put on the naughty list this year. Mugger's don't even get coal." Another quick web line pinned the knife to the wall, far out of reach of the mugger.
Springing down from the wall, Jessica grabbed the man's shoulders as she tucked into a somersault behind him. Rolling on the ground, Jessica threw the man away from the woman he had accosted. Even as he smashed to the ground, Jessica was on her feet again, turning and firing web lines from every finger, cocooning him. "Really, I would love to stay and chat, but, ya' know, if you hadn't noticed, we were all nearly snack chips for a giant. And he made a mess of the place when we kicked his ass."
Turning back to the woman, Jessica bowed slightly and smirked under her mask. "Thank you for choosing Spider-Woman for your 'Fair Maiden in Distress' rescuing needs. If you would take a few moments to answer the SHIELD satisfaction questionnaire when they call…" she quipped, web-lines already pulling her up into the air and away from the mugging.
Two quick taps on the transceiver in her right ear activated the device connecting her to the small, dedicated group of surviving SHIELD dispatch officers. "This is SHIELD; Agent Laws speaking. Identify yourself and the nature of your report," came the tinny, feminine voice.
"Mary! Thank, God, you made it!" Jessica almost squealed in response, more web lines pulling her further from the mugging. Calming herself for a moment, Jessica continued, "This is Agent Drew, codename Spider-Woman. I have a mugger webbed up at the alley southeast of 7th Ave and 17th Street. Can you please send pick-up?"
"Spider-Woman," came the voice back to her ear, "please confirm identity with your counter-sign. 'The man who tried to kill me; he's a stuffed-shirt'."
Another set of web-lines and Jessica was another 2 blocks closer to Midtown. "'Who is Nick Fury?'" Jessica answered over the wind.
"Counter-sign confirmed. It's good to hear you again, Jess. I was afraid we lost you when the Tricarrier went down. We'll send pick-up, but you're needed in Battery Park. Spider-Man has called for a priority one evacuation of the area. He's fighting something down there."
At the top of her arc, Jessica twisted and shot webs in a new direction, pulling herself south. "Anything else you can tell me? she asked.
"Sorry, Jess. All I know is that he sounded serious about clearing the area. Good luck!"
"Thanks, Mary," Jessica said swinging quickly towards the park, "I still owe you dinner after all this calms down. Spider-Woman out."
Whipping through the air, Jessica thought to herself, 'I hope this is just the new kid being cautious. New York really doesn't need another emergency, even a small one.'
Minutes later, Jessica swung into the open desolation that used to be Battery Park. Debris from both Galactus' machine and the Tricarrier was strewn across the formerly green fields. Now, much of the grass and most of the trees were charred and black. Jessica was forced to slow since there were no tall buildings for her to swing from. And soon she was leaping from debris pile to tree and back to debris, making inhumanly long jumps. As she leapt further into the park she felt increasingly uneasy.
And then she saw him.
Jessica froze, perched between leaps and stared. It shouldn't be possible, but there was Norman Osborn, in his goblin form fighting Miles Morales, the new Spider-Man.
For a full minute, Jessica did nothing but stare.
Hate and rage mixed together within her, bubbling up as righteous fury. When the Goblin struck Miles, knocking him to the ground Jessica started running to the fight. As the Goblin placed his foot on Miles' head, she leapt forward, screaming, "NNnnnnnooooooo!"
She pushed herself; running faster, leaping further than she had since she first fled the lab where she was "born". Covering the last 400 meters of broken ground in a few short seconds. Jessica leapt at the last moment, spinning, kicking out with her right heel and striking Osborn in the back of the head.
He staggered and Jessica leapt back, dropping to a crouch. Turning away from Spider-Man, the Goblin grinned a toothy, maniacal smile at her. "Peter… Parker," he said, his voice the sound gravel grinding under tires, "I get to kill you again."
Jessica frowned under her mask, "I am not Peter." She kept her eyes on Osborn, trusting that Miles was looking for a way to help slow or stop Osborn.
"Of course you are," the Goblin said. He took a swift, overhand swing at Jessica which she dodged, her spider-sense warning her. "Miss Webb… The CIA psychic copied your brain into this body. Such lovely torture they had planned for you." The Goblin punched at Jessica again, and she kept up, over his fist. "And I have been chosen to kill you again."
Jessica shot webbing from her fingertips, latching onto the Goblin's shoulders. A hard yank on the webs, and Jessica was kicking him in the face again. She was angry. Pissed that Norman had gone after Peter's family. Pissed that just as she was finally putting herself together, knowing who she could be, Norman was trying to tie her to Peter again. Pissed that after all the people Norman had killed, he still lived.
Dropping to the ground, Jessica punched him hard in the gut. "I am not," she grunted, sending another blow to his ribcage. A third to his jaw, huffing, "Peter". Jessica had no thoughts of mercy as she pushed back and kicked again, hissing, "Parker." Looking past the Goblin, she saw that Miles was still breathing. Norman swung, all power and little control behind his fist, and Jessica dodged easily. Another swing and Jessica dodged it, stepping back. Jessica directed a high kick to his face, only to have the Goblin grab her ankle. He turned, spinning, pulling Jessica up. And then she was flying backwards. Coming to a stop by crashing painfully into some larger bits of Galactus' machine.
Reaching behind her, Jessica grasped a rod from the wreckage. As the Goblin approached her, Jessica swung the rod at him with all her might. Just before it smashed against the Goblin, Jessica's mind noted that the rod was made from some sort of amethyst colored crystal.
It shattered when it struck the Goblin, flashing with a brilliant light.
Her spider-sense screamed with no time to escape.
Everything tasted purple.