AN: Hey guys, we are back with another chapter of Justice Marvel, and is both something of an aftermath to the last chapter while simultaneously taking place during the War World adventure that Superman, J'onn, Green Lantern, and Hawkgirl were off on, and not only will it be introducing this story's version of a certain MARVEL hero, but also one of his regular villains as well, and a few other individuals from his side of the MARVEL universe.

Joker: Can we just get on with it, already? It's not like you've got some reviews to answer or anything.

AN: [says nothing beyond just hitting a control to send Joker catapulting into space]

Joker: BUT I DIDN'T EVEN DO ANYTHING! [disappears from view as nothing more than a star as his cries echo]

AN: As much as I'd hate to admit it, the crazy clown does have a point. I know it's only been a couple of weeks and all, but come on guys, leave something of a review for this thing. It's how I know whether I'm doing good or bad with this story, and that especially holds true in the case of this chapter, because I will want your opinions on it.

With that said, onto the story with you lot. It's time for a certain hero to swing into action.

I do not own anything from any of either of the MARVEL or DC Comics franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.


Chapter 7: Welcome to New York

The League had flown straight back to the Watchtower after they left Themyscira, and the minute that the Javelin had landed in the hangar, Diana barely said more than three words before she disappeared into her room. Knowing that the now exiled princess likely just needed some time to herself, no one really said or did anything in response to her doing so, but they were all still worried about her. It was not until after Diana ended up not coming out of her room anymore than necessary for a few days that the rest of the League began to feel a bit concerned, right to the point where Superman thought it would likely be a good idea to let her get away from the hero work for a while and spend some time in his hometown of Smallville. Of course, Steve quickly dismissed that idea, as he believed that the peace and quiet of the small farm town would probably be a little too much of a reminder of home for Diana, and then suggested that she stay with him in New York for a while, thinking that the Big Apple would be the perfect place to really help Diana at least get her mind off things for a little while. When no one argued with the super soldier, Steve wasted little time in going to Diana's room on the station and suggesting the idea to her as well, and despite the fact that she was clearly still a bit upset of her exile, she was actually rather happy to agree.

After somehow managing to evade any sort of jokes that Flash would have made in regards to Steve letting their Amazon teammate live with him for a short while, the two soon found themselves in Steve' apartment in Brooklyn as Diana settled into the guest room of the apartment. When Stark had first showed Steve the apartment even had a guest room, Steve could not help but feel like it had been a little much at the time, but now, he was very glad to have it, as it meant that Diana would have a comfortable place to sleep without feeling like she was kicking him out of his own room, because they both knew full well that Steve would have done so in a heartbeat if he had to. Though the change of scenery was indeed welcoming as opposed to the cold, almost lifeless kind that the Watchtower provided, mostly due to the fact that the station was meant to be more of a headquarters than a full-time home for anyone in general, it did not seem to do much for improving Diana's mood. She was not spending all of her time in the guest room or anything, but she rarely ever seemed to venture out of the apartment more than necessary, and that really seemed like a bit of a waste to Steve.

After a week of that had gone by, Steve figured that he had waited long enough before deciding that his friend would need a small push. So, while the two were having a small breakfast of scrambled eggs and milk, Steve looked over to the princess and said, "So Diana, do you plan on doing anything in the city today?"

"Not really," Diana mumbled as she scooped some eggs up with her fork.

Steve had been expecting that answer, and immediately replied, "Alright, then you can help me out with a small errand for Stark."

"Wait, what," Diana questioned as she diverted her attention from her food and directly onto the super soldier.

"Well I just figured that since you didn't have any plans that you wouldn't mind lending me a hand with my work today," Steve shrugged in easy admittance. "Plus, it would allow you to get out into the city, see what New York has to offer, and afterwards, we could always just do whatever you think you might enjoy."

"I…I don't know," Diana said quietly as she looked away in slight sadness. "I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be the best company right now, to be honest."

"Well it's not like any of the others will be stopping by today. Superman, J'onn, and Hawkgirl are all off in space, Green Lantern's doing something with the rest of his corps, Batman's…well doing whatever he always does in Gotham, and I have no idea what Flash is doing, but I'm pretty sure it involves either a crime in Central City or whatever girl has caught his eye the most recently," Steve pointed out with a slight joking tone at the end. He was happy to see that the last bit of his statement had actually succeeded in getting Diana to at least smile in a way that was not as sad as her smiles had been for the past week, but Steve knew that would not be enough to convince her to come along on his errand, so immediately pressed on. "I know what you're going through right now is hard Diana, believe me, but you can't just keep yourself locked up indoors all the time aside from when we need you on a mission. You need to get out there and really experience what it is we're protecting for yourself sometimes, plus we're in New York City, one of the most famous cities in the world. You can't tell me that you're not a little curious about what you can find here. Trust me, it will do you some good in adjusting."

Diana wanted to argue with Steve's point and say that she was fine just staying in, but she knew that he was right in what he said. She had been taking advantage of Steve's patience and hospitality a little for the past week, and while simply just staying in was preferred to going out and seeing a number of reminders regarding her current situation, she knew that doing so would just be running away from the problem. Exiled or not, she was still the princess of the Amazons, damn it, and she would not run from her problems like a coward. So, she took a quick minute to steel her resolve and smiled a little at Steve as she nodded, "Alright, sure. I guess it couldn't hurt to see just what sort of other things man's world has to offer. Plus, it would be nice to hear a bit more about it from someone other than Flash for once."

Steve could not help but laugh a little at that last remark, as Barry had been doing quite a bit in showing Diana some things about the world outside Themyscira since they first met, and given the scarlet speedster's approach to such things, it would be very easy to understand why it would start to wear on someone after a little while. With their plans now made, the two made to quickly finished their breakfast so that they could carry on with their day, but Steve knew that there was one other thing that they would have to take care of before they went out. He was just thankful that Miss Potts was kind enough to help him with it the other day in preparation for this.


"Are you sure this is alright," Diana asked as she tugged a bit on the sleeve of the blue jacket she was now wearing while following Steve down to his motorcycle. Since the princess would be going out, Steve had figured it would be a good idea for her to dress in something other than her Wonder Woman outfit, and thankfully, Stark's personal assistant and close friend, Pepper Potts had been able to help him find some things for Diana to wear, though Steve was not sure if he should ask how the redhead had managed to get her hands on clothes that were just the right size for Diana. That was why Diana was now dressed in white jeans, a blue jacket, and a white t-shirt while her bracelets were concealed underneath the jacket's sleeves, and the rest of her outfit was kept in a bag like the one Steve was carrying his Captain America suit in.

Somehow, the super soldier managed to keep from rolling his eyes, as Diana had been worrying about how she looked in the civilian attire ever since she stepped out of her room wearing it, and simply placed his bag and shield on one side of his motorcycle as he said, "Relax Diana, you look good."

Diana felt her cheeks grow a little warm at hearing Steve say that for a reason that she could not really explain, and simply nodded in thanks before handing Steve the bag containing the rest of her costume so he could strap it onto the other side of his bike. When Steve had finished doing so, he reached into a compartment on the bike and pulled out a spare helmet for Diana, which made the Amazon raise a questioning eyebrow as she asked, "Is that really necessary? I doubt that I would injure myself too greatly if we were in some form of accident."

"Well it's the law, and personally, I'd rather not take that chance," Steve admitted as he placed the helmet in Diana's hands before strapping on his own. Diana had to nod in acceptance of this and followed Steve's lead in placing on the headwear he had handed to her before they both climbed onto the motorcycle and raced out of the parking garage that it was parked in.

Diana was actually a bit hesitant about riding on such a vehicle though, as she had never ridden on any vehicles other than the Javelin up until now, but Steve had assured her that it was not that much different from riding a horse, just a bit faster and a little more smooth, and Diana was actually surprised to see that he was right in a way. The rush of the wind blowing through her hair that was not concealed under the helmet was much like how it was whenever she went riding on Themyscira, and she could not help but smile a little at the speed they were currently going as Steve wove through traffic with well-practiced ease. At that point, the only thing Diana had to be nervous about was holding onto Steve as they went so that she was certain she could not fall off. Steve had made it clear that he did not mind her holding on to him if she wanted to, but there was just something about holding her arms around the super soldier from behind that made Diana's stomach seem to gain a slight tingling while her heartbeat seemed to speed up a little.

Eventually, Diana could not help but notice that the drive over to Stark International seemed to be taking a bit longer than she thought it would, which quickly prompted her to ask why they had not arrived yet. Steve was glad that she could not see his face at the moment, because he was sure he would not have been able to hide his smile as he said, "Well I thought we could take a more scenic route."

Diana raised a confused eyebrow in response to this, but after glancing around her, she could see why Steve would consider this a more scenic route. It was not her first time in a big city like New York of course, having been in places like Metropolis a few times now, but it was the first time she had ever traveled through a city at such speeds without flying, and from down on the ground, she could see why Steve would consider this a more scenic route. There was not a building as far as the eye could see that did not seem to reach the heavens from where they were, and the way that the different areas of New York seemed to blend together almost seamlessly was something that she could not help but admire a little. Eventually, the two found themselves passing through Times Square, and Diana's awestruck gaze immediately grew in size as she looked around the area full of commercial ads that climbed up the buildings around them and people who were busily going about their days at a steady walking pace. It all brought a bit of an excited smile to Diana's face while making her wonder why she had not come here sooner even with everything that the League dealt with on a nearly daily basis.

Of course, the minute that Diana had started wondering such things, she quickly received her answer when one of the nearby stores suddenly exploded, forcing Steve to bring the bike to a screeching halt before they were caught up in the shockwave and fires like the vehicles ahead of them had been. What followed next was a sight unlike anything the two had seen before, because before the flames subsided, a rather massive figure came bursting out with a mad cackle, and the mere appearance of him would make anyone pause even if they did fight supervillains on a near daily basis. The individual was obviously a man, but even from a distance one could tell that he could easily tower over Superman with ease, both in height and in mass, and his eyes were a dark, evil red color, while his ears were pointed and his skin was a sickly yellow color. He was dressed in an orange and blue suit that covered most of his body, aside from some small areas of his arms and legs, while dark orange boots adorned his feet along with similarly colored gauntlets that covered all of his hands and lower arms. The thing about this beast that was probably the most terrifying was the set of orange bat-like wings that extended out of his back, but after taking a closer look, one could tell that they were not actual wings, but rather a part of the suit he wore to make him capable of flight.

"Great Hera, what is that thing," Diana gasped in honest surprise.

"Don't know, but I doubt that it's here to enjoy the tourist hot-spots," Steve replied as he grabbed his shield from where he had stored it on the side of his bike and then pulled out his usual helmet, indicating what he planned to do. Diana immediately nodded to her friend and quickly grabbed her lasso from her own bag and the two quickly went to work.

The two were a bit upset about having their peaceful day interrupted, and they made sure that this cackling, monstrous lunatic knew that when Cap tossed his shield right into the monster-man's face just before Diana managed to get her lasso around one of his large arms. The monster-man immediately looked to the direction of his attackers and immediately gave a wide grin before he grabbed onto Diana's lasso and released a powerful shock of electricity that ultimately caused the Amazon to cry out in pain before she was forced to release her hold on the indestructible rope as she dropped from the air. Thankfully, Captain America managed to catch her before she landed on the ground, for which Diana was quite thankful, and the two then immediately prepared to charge the massive man as the clear psycho shouted, "Not quite who I was hoping to run into, but I guess this would've been boring either way if some would-be hero didn't try to stop me. Or should I say two would-be heroes."

The two's charge was quickly changed into a dive for cover as the monster-man unleashed a flurry of electric blasts from his gloves along with a storm of fireballs that seem to come from both his hands and his mouth, and it was not long before the destruction started moving to the surrounding area, endangering civilians that had not managed to get away in time. Thinking quickly, Cap tossed his shield into the monster-man once more, grabbing his attention and giving Diana time to move and help out anyone that she could, whether it be by moving some rubble that had trapped some kids, or really just flying a couple to safety just before they were crushed. Eventually though, things got to the point where Captain America had to help out with rescuing civilians, and thus, the monstrous being was able to make his escape with a mad cackle echoing throughout the city, leaving the two Leaguers to immediately promise that they would get him soon enough.


"Well, not quite what I had in mind for our little outing today," Steve lightly joked with a shrug as he and Diana finished helping out with clearing the debris that had resulted from the battle that had just taken place. While the two had been assured that a group of specialists would be able to deal with such things, they just did not feel right letting others clean up something that they had a bit of a hand in and were quick to help out as best as they could.

Diana had to smile in good humor for Captain America's attempt at lightening the mood, but she found herself cut off from saying anything when another female voice said, "I'm sure that it wasn't." The two immediately turned to see a woman with short, dark hair, and dressed in a typical detective's outfit approaching them, before she finally showed them her badge and said, "I'm Police Captain Yuri Watanabe of the NYPD."

"Steve Rogers, and this is Diana," the captain replied as he exchanged a handshake with the police captain.

"Better known as Captain America and Wonder Woman. Yeah, I kinda figured that out for myself," Yuri nodded in recognition. "Just wanted to say thanks for doing what you could to help out with that mess that the Hobgoblin tried to make earlier."

"The what," Diana asked.

"The Hobgoblin," Yuri repeated. She then noticed the confused expressions that she was getting from the two heroes and said, "You two haven't been in New York that long have you?"

"I was just thawed out of ice almost a month ago, and in that time, I've been trekking all over the world or just patrolling Brooklyn, so I can't really say that I have been, personally," Steve admitted with a shrug. "Diana actually just arrived in the city a week ago, so she's really more of a New York newbie than I am."

"I figured as much," Yuri nodded in understanding. "The Hobgoblin is a local supervillain that some are thinking is possibly a successor to the mysterious Green Goblin, but that's really just a rumor out on the street and in the department. Apparently, he infused himself with a special serum that mutated him into…well, I'm sure you saw the results for yourselves. Add in the fact that he's now wearing some of the Green Goblin's old armor with a few upgrades, along with the fact that he seems to have a few abilities the original Goblin didn't have, and you can see why we consider him to be a very dangerous individual."

"Do you know who this Hobgoblin is," Diana asked.

"No, and we haven't even had one hint of the slightest lead in finding out who the man under the monster is," Yuri admitted. "We have had just as much success tracking him down too, which is rather surprising considering that this guy is pretty hard to miss out in the open, which suggests that he can either change from his goblin form to human form at will, he can only stay as such for a short time, or he's just really good at hiding. I'm not willing to bet on that last one though, considering how many heists he's been a part of."

"Where exactly have you been getting the information on Hobgoblin, anyway," Steve inquired, finding it a little strange that the police captain would know so much about someone who was supposedly a successor to a mystery criminal.

"A friendly yet rather annoying source that has tangled with both Goblins on more than one occasion," Yuri cryptically answered.

The two Leaguers shared a small look between them, clearly showing that they were both confused and a bit curious about Yuri's answer, before Diana looked back to the police captain and asked, "Do you have some way of contacting this source so we can speak to him? If this Hobgoblin is so dangerous, then we need to bring him in as soon as possible."

Yuri had to let out a humorless chuckle in response to that, much to the two's surprise, before she revealed, "If I know this particular source, he's already looking into that, assuming he's not caught up in anything else at the moment, and more importantly, you won't be able to find him. If anything, he's more likely to find and get in touch with you."

The two Leaguers exchanged a small glance of confusion between them once again before they both nodded to the police captain and prepared to leave, promising that they would do what they could to help out with the situation, which led Yuri to say, "I'm pretty sure most people don't spend their dates hunting criminals, you know. Just my personal opinion."

That caused both Steve and Diana to freeze in shock for a minute before Diana spun around and said, "We-we're not on a date."

"We're not even dating at all, really," Steve sputtered. "Not that it would be a bad thing."

"Which it's not, but we're not, so…"

Yuri had to smile a little at the two heroes' spluttering until she finally raised her hands in defeat, told them to relax, and let them leave, but not without rolling her eyes a little as she muttered something about people being in denial as soon as their backs were turned. After waiting a few minutes though, Yuri moved off to the side and pulled out her cell phone to dial a specific number that the source she mentioned had given to her. She had to wait a minute or so, until after the third ring, someone finally answered, and she immediately said, "Hey, it's Yuri. Hobgoblin was just in Times Square, and he went a few rounds with two members of the Justice League before he got away. Namely, Captain America and Wonder Woman. They're looking for him now, so I think you might want to let our mutual, insect friend know he should have a chat with them if there's a chance you could help each other."

"Sure thing, Yuri," the person on the other end replied. "But just for the record, spiders are arachnids."


While a common thug grunted in pain, Diana barely suppressed a growl of frustration. This was now the seventh street thug that she and Captain America had spoken to since they had changed into their suits and started looking for any information they could find on Hobgoblin and his whereabouts, and they had come up with even less than what Captain Cooper had already told them, so needless to say, it was starting to get on the exiled princess's nerves. That is not to say that they were not doing some good while hunting for the criminal, seeing as the crooks they were questioning were left to be arrested by the cops, but the fact that they did not get any information that they needed was overshadowing that small good fact.

"How are we supposed to find this goblin if no one has anything to tell us we don't already know," Diana asked Steve as she dusted her hands off.

Steve could understand why Diana was so frustrated, seeing as he was starting to get a little annoyed as well, but he was at least glad that she was now focused on something other than her current status as an exile from her home. Before he could answer though, a new, somewhat young voice suddenly replied in his place, saying, "Well for starters, you could try talking to the right people, which you clearly have not been doing since your chat with Yuri."

Wonder Woman and Captain America were both quickly on their guard as they started scanning their surroundings for the source of the voice, only to find nothing in the area. This did not fool them though, because aside from hearing said voice, they could both tell that someone was there, and that was all the reasoning Diana needed to call out, "Whoever's out there, show yourself!"

"Well see, the thing is I would, but I just want to clarify something real quick," the same voice responded. "First off, if I do come out, are you guys going to try and beat me up? I'm asking because everyone I meet for the first time tends to do that. Sure, most of them are bad guys or crooks, but there are a few superheroes that have done that too. The first time I met that Green Arrow guy over in Star City, he tried to shoot me with a bunch of arrows, my buddy from Westchester, he tried to gut me, and if I were to ever venture over to Gotham, or if said city's heroes ever came here, I'm pretty sure that Batman would try to beat me up too. I'm not sure if the same would apply to Superman, you know, cause he's the big blue boy scout and all, but I'm about ninety percent sure that he would try to beat me up as well, which is something I would like to avoid at all costs, thank you."

The two had to exchange curious glances at the mysterious individual's little babble just now, wondering if he was just talking as a way to hide his nerves or if he just seemed to like hearing himself talk like Flash occasionally seemed to, but Steve was able to shake it off when he remembered something that the person had said when they first heard his voice, and he quickly called out, "I'm guessing that you're the mysterious source that Captain Cooper told us about." When he received only silence in reply, he went on to add, "We're not going to hurt you if you really want to help. We'd just rather see who we're talking to before we go any further."

"Well why didn't you say so, Cap? It's okay if I call you Cap, right," the voice asked. When Steve said nothing in reply, the voice went on to add, "Anyways, if you want to see me, then you can do what most people don't normally seem to do these days even with a bunch of guys flying all around, and look up."

When the two did as suggested, they found their eyes quickly settling on a figure that was perched on the side of a nearby wall with nothing more than his bare hands. In addition to this, the figure was wearing a red and blue suit that was just dark enough to be able to have some semblance of allowing him to hide in the shadows when stealth was necessary, yet still bright enough for people to easily spot him in the right light. The red portions of his suit had a series of web patterns over them, and a large, black spider symbol could be seen on the front of his chest, with the lower legs of the spider extending down to the middle of his stomach, while his full face mask had large, very expressive, white eyes. While Diana was in slight awe of such a person, each of the factors about the man perched on a wall easily allowed Captain America to identify this man as New York's friendly neighborhood, local hero.

"Spider-Man," Captain America identified aloud for everyone's sake.

"I get that reaction a lot," Spider-Man shrugged as he crawled down the side of the building before flipping himself around so that, while he was still sitting on the wall, he was now doing so in an upright position as opposed to being somewhat upside down while he was talking with the two.

At this point, Diana managed to shake herself out of her shock and quickly schooled her features again before she asked, "How'd you even find us?"

"I followed the trail of recently captured crooks from the last few hours since Yuri called me and a mutual friend of mine," Spider-Man revealed as he glanced over to the recently knocked out crook. "Good call on talking to the street crooks and all, but you're asking the wrong ones. All guys like him are going to tell you is the common knowledge and rumors that are flying around on the street."

"Sounds like you've been doing this for a while," Captain America noted, while feeling a bit insulted that this guy who sounded as though he were a kid was critiquing him and Wonder Woman like they were amateurs.

"Well, I have been Spider-Man since I was fifteen, Cap, so I'd like to think I know a thing or two," Spider-Man shrugged in a somewhat modest manner.

"And how old are you now," Wonder Woman inquired.

Spider-Man just waved his finger before replying, "Ah, ah, ah. Nice try, but I know that even revealing the simplest of things like age would allow someone to figure out my secret identity, even if there are a few hundred guys of similar age in New York."

The two Leaguers could not help but give a small amount of mental praise to Spider-Man, as he showed that he was very careful in guarding his secret identity, but they would discuss that topic a little more later on, and Steve quickly moved to get them back on track as he asked, "So do you know who we can talk to?"

"I might, but that actually depends on one crucial detail," Spider-Man nodded.

"Which would be what, exactly," Diana inquired, hoping that she would get a serious answer this time.

"On whether or not the guy I have in mind is still in his usual hangout," Spider-Man revealed before he tapped his left wrist, which had a red watch on it that neither of the two had noticed until now. "Silk, is our old pal Blackie still at the same old hangout?"

"Yes he is, Tiger, and I thought we agreed that I was going to be called Spider-Girl or Madame Web," a distinctly female voice replied.

"One, Madame Web is taken, and two, I distinctly remember saying that I was never going to call you Spider-Girl. Ever," Spider-Man retorted. "That would imply that I have a sidekick, and last I checked, not only do you not have spider-powers, you also don't have a costume or do stuff out here in the city like I do. And above all, Spider-Man does not have a sidekick."

"Fine, fine," the woman on the other end replied. "Then how about, Charlotte?"

"Charlotte," Spider-Man inquired, clearly just as confused as the other two.

"Yeah, you know, from Charlotte's Web," the woman clarified.

"Nope. Too confusing for anyone who would not get the reference," Spidey denied.

"Arachne," the girl then placed forward.

Spider-Man seemed to pause in consideration for a moment, until he finally nodded and said, "Okay, that'll work."

"It does seem appropriate," Diana interrupted, gaining the spider hero's attention once again. "So, do we have a location to travel to now?"

"Indeed we do," Spider-Man nodded before he turned and fired out a thin, strand of webbing. "Follow me and try to keep up. We're heading for the Big Sky Billiard Lounge Club to speak with the guy that every lowlife you'll meet will say is the man to talk to about this kind of thing: one Blackie Gaxton."


Blackie just wanted a very simple life, and when he first started out, he figured that he would get such a thing by being a bookie and running the club for one of his regular business associates from the criminal underworld, while also gaining a small side profit from the various crooks and criminals. It did not really matter to him where the money came from so long as he got whatever money he was owed. Of course, that could be part of the reason why he now has to deal with a certain web-head always showing up at his regular place of business asking questions after having to tangle with whatever fool was stupid enough to think that they could take him on.

The only difference between Spider-Man's past visits and this one was the fact that he had actually brought the one thing Blackie never thought he would see the wall-crawler bring: backup, and that was in the form of two members of the Justice League. When everyone in the joint saw Spider-Man come in with both Captain America and Wonder Woman, a lot of them quickly cleared out faster than usual, but there were still one or two who stuck around to try and take the heroes on, only to end up webbed to the ceiling or knocked out barely a minute later. When the chaos of the heroes' arrival in the club had finally ended, Blackie just barely managed to keep his eyebrow from twitching in irritation when Spider-Man leaped over onto the table he was seated at, and immediately groaned out, "Can't you ever go to someone else for info on whatever it is you're looking for?"

"Now why would I do that when we've already got so much history, Blackie," Spider-Man quipped in reply. He then became a little more serious and asked, "So, any chance you could tell us anything about the newest member of the Goblin family, like where he's believed to be hiding and such?"

"I might be willing to, assuming I did know, but what would I gain from telling you that," Blackie inquired.

"How about the fact that we don't run you in for your illegal gambling ring for starters," Captain America suggested.

"You really think I'm worried about that, Captain," Blackie asked. "I've got plenty of favors and the numbers of some of the best lawyers at my beck and call."

"Alright then, how about you avoid a trip to the hospital," Wonder Woman growled before she lifted Blackie out of his chair by the front of his shirt.

That drew more of a reaction from Spider-Man than it did from Blackie, as the web-head was instantly over to Wonder Woman's side and grabbing her arm as he cried out, "Whoa, hold up there, Wonder Woman! Let's not go all Amazon warrior on him like that! We don't do that kind of thing."

"Speak for yourself," Wonder Woman spat, though it was more due to Spider-Man inadvertently bringing up the topic of her Amazon heritage than anything else, as that had led her to remember her status as an exile once again, and considering how things had been going that day, she felt more inclined to lash out in fury about it than she did crying about it.

"Wonder Woman, stand down," Captain America ordered, having recognized the signs that indicated what his teammate was thinking, and that proved to be enough to get Wonder Woman to back off and drop Blackie back into his seat, with the bookie grumbling a bit under his breath about crazy bitches and something that Spider-Man would never, in good conscious ever repeat around anyone. After a minute or so, Steve looked to Spider-Man as if to silently ask if he could handle this, and when the web-head nodded in reply to the unasked question, Steve turned to follow Diana outside to see how she was doing.

Diana had sensed Steve's approach, of course, but she was a bit preoccupied with the various feelings that she was currently wrapped up in to acknowledge the super soldier until he was standing right next to her. "Maybe it was a mistake for me to go out like this again," Diana finally said after another minute of silence. "I'm clearly still not over what happened back at home…assuming I should even call it that now that I've been exiled, and if what happened back there is any indication, I would probably be better off only coming out when the League needs me."

"Stow that talk, soldier," Steve gently ordered his friend. "If you just stay indoors all day crying over what happened, then you're not dealing with it, you're just hiding from it. More importantly, you can't really say that you're helping protect the world if you don't know just what it is you're protecting. What you're going through right now is actually pretty normal."

"How," Diana asked. "How is this normal, Steve? No matter where I go in the world now, I'm an outsider. Even in my own home, I'm an outsider because of my exile. I just wanted to go and speak with my mother about my decision to leave and help the rest of the world without telling her, and then…a situation like this whole Hobgoblin madness happened. What's the point in doing anything when you feel like you don't belong anywhere."

Steve was silent throughout Diana's entire rant, and when she finally finished, he did not hesitate to place a hand on her shoulder and give it a comforting rub as he said, "You know, you're not the only outsider here. In a way, I've also been exiled from my home. Sure I can still live in New York, but it's not the same New York I knew growing up. Everything's changed so much that it's like I'm living in a whole new world, and I can never hope to return to my old one. The thing is, I'm lucky to have friends like you and the rest of the League to help me remember just what I'm doing here, and I'm sure that I'll be able to do the same for you along with the others, if you'll let us."

Diana took a few minutes to let Steve's words sink in, until she finally gave him a small, tearful smile as she placed her hand over his in a show of thanks, not realizing for a minute how she was losing herself in the intense, passionate gaze of his eyes. In fact, she was not even sure what had prompted her to do so, but after staring into his eyes for a minute, she found herself slowly leaning closer to him, while he was doing the same, until a certain web-head's voice suddenly interrupted the moment, causing them to jerk back before anything more could happen. "Sorry to interrupt you two, but Blackie had something that seems solid," Spider-Man called out after he had swung himself out of the club and atop a nearby street post.

"Right. Let's get moving," Steve nodded, thankful that he was able to school his voice enough to keep anyone from noticing how he stuttered a little for a moment.

Diana's only response was to nod in agreement, and after Steve had climbed onto his motorcycle once again, the three were off to the location Blackie said that Hobgoblin was likely to be, with Spider-Man leading the way. As she flew after the arachnid themed hero, Diana cast a few, nervous glances towards Steve and could not help but wonder what had just happened right then. Eventually, she figured that it would be better not to dwell on it at the moment and brought her focus forward so that she would be ready for the upcoming confrontation with the hideous, bestial criminal.


After traveling across New York for a few hours, the three were soon situated on a rooftop that was overlooking an abandoned, Oscorp warehouse, which Spider-Man reported was used to store a lot of technology that Oscorp had created back in the day when its founder and CEO, Norman Osborn was still alive for one reason or another. From the way that Spider-Man had explained that information though, Steve could not help but wonder if Spidey knew exactly the reason why that technology was stored in this particular warehouse before it was shut down, a fact that he quickly pointed out. Spider-Man then went on to explain that a lot of the technology stored in warehouses like this one was actually the technology that had been used by the Green Goblin during his reign of terror on the city, which seemed to raise a few flags for both the super soldier and the exiled Amazon. Still, it did not detract from one specific fact.

"How can you be so sure that Hobgoblin is here," Captain America finally asked.

"I know how Goblins tend to think, for starters," Spider-Man said in a tone that, on the surface seemed to boast of confidence, yet still had an undercurrent of sadness to it. "Green Goblin had a tendency to be unpredictable, which is part of the reason why he was hard to pin down, but Hobgoblin is a bit easier to figure out. For one thing, he does a lot of work as either a hired gun or muscle for various individuals, most of which are good at covering their tracks so that nothing done can be traced back to them, and second of all, when he's just looting various businesses for his own personal gain, it tends to be in areas like this one, which are close to the places where the original Goby stockpiled his equipment. Though out of all those areas, this is the one that Hobgoblin is seen in the most, at least, according to Blackie and what he had heard. After that, Arachne just needed to analyze and confirm that information, along with his various flight paths, and after that, it was just a matter of expert computer magic to track it back here."

"You're welcome, by the way," Arachne's voice added over the comm. in Spider-Man's watch.

"So now the question is how do we stop him," Wonder Woman pointed out, as while there would not likely be any civilians for Hobgoblin to use this time, there was no denying that the Goblin was certainly a competent fighter in his own right.

"I've already got that covered," Spider-Man revealed as he reached into a belt that was concealed beneath the shirt of his suit. "When Yuri called us, I was actually just about to head out, so I was able to pick up a few vials of the Goblin Cure that Arachne and I were able to synthesize with help from a couple of mutual friends that had been doing research on the original Goblin Serum that created the original Green Goblin back when he was first around."

"So we just need to inject the Hobgoblin with this serum, and he'll return to his normal state," Captain America inquired, hoping he was understanding all of this correctly.

"Well…not exactly," Spider-Man admitted. "If this was the original flavor of Goblin, then yeah, that would be it, but sadly, Hobgoblin's skin is a lot thicker than Green Goblin's, which makes it impossible to inject him with this stuff as though it were a flu shot, so we're going to need to figure out a way to make him drink it."

"In that case, I think I might have a plan," Captain America then said. "But it will require having both Diana and I each taking the vials of Goblin Cure for safe measure, keeping the fight inside that warehouse, and a good distraction."

The minute Captain America had said those last words, both he and Wonder Woman found their gaze turning to Spider-Man, and this was an action that the web-head did not miss at all. "What," Spider-Man asked, unsure why they were looking at him like that, until it suddenly clicked for him. "Oh come on! First Team Arrow does this and now you guys too? Why is it that every time I do a superhero team-up, I somehow end up being bait for the bad guys?"

"Perhaps it's because you wear an outfit that typically sticks out like a sore thumb and you clearly have a tendency to talk a lot," Diana suggested in a light joking tone.

"Really," Spider-Man asked. "Not only are you hating on my sense of humor, but do you really want to go there when it comes to superhero wardrobe?"

"Let's finish this discussion later, shall we," Steve suggested before they could go any further. "You'd better head down there and see if Hobgoblin's home. We'll be right behind you, sticking to the shadows in case he is and starts attacking you."

"Aye-aye, Captain, but I'm going to be expecting a few Scooby Snacks when this is over," Spider-Man replied.

"What Snacks," Captain America asked in confusion.

"Never mind," Spider-Man sighed before he finally jumped off the building to swing over to the warehouse, which he disappeared into a few seconds later. Steve just looked at Diana for a minute, still confused by Spider-Man's previous quip, until the Amazon princess finally just shrugged and flew after their new acquaintance with Steve doing the same a few seconds later.


Almost instantly after he had entered the warehouse, Spider-Man was greeted with the sight of the various different weapons and tools that Green Goblin and now Hobgoblin used in their escapades during his numerous encounters with them. In all honesty, Spider-Man had hoped that after Norman Osborn's passing, he had seen the last of any variety of Goblins, period, and yet, barely half a year later, this new guy called the Hobgoblin had shown up and started causing problems for both him and everyone else in New York ever since. Sure, Spidey had managed to stop him once or twice, but the guy always managed to slip away before he could be brought in by either the cops or anyone else who could actually detain someone like Hobgoblin. This time would be different though, because not only would he be able to stop the Hobgoblin, he would also expose the man beneath the Goblin mutation for good, assuming the cure worked on him as well as it did on Osborn.

After another minute of looking around at the area and crawling along the ceiling, Spider-Man figured he had waited long enough before doing what he needed to, and called out, "Well, this place looks like a Goblin hideout, is stockpiled with enough of the various tools of the trade for a Goblin hideout, and even smells like a Goblin hideout. At this point, the only thing that seems to be missing is the actual Goblin for said Goblin hideout."

"Oh, I think I can fix that easily enough," Hobgoblin's voice shouted out, and at that point, Spidey's ever helpful Spider-Sense started tingling, warning him to get off the ceiling right away, and it was good thing that it did, because no sooner had he picked up on the warning, the Hobgoblin had thrown a number of fireballs right at the spot where he had previously been. "Come into my parlor, said the goblin to the spider," the successor to Norman Osborn's insanity cackled as he flew around over Spider-Man like a vulture circling its prey.

"I'm pretty sure I've already done that. Right now, I'm just wondering when you started being able to throw fire. Seriously, I am so due for a power upgrade," Spider-Man quipped in reply before he sprang forward and flipped into action. Sadly, that was really all Spider-Man found himself able to do, as despite the fact that he had a slight advantage over Hobgoblin in an enclosed space like the warehouse, Hobgoblin still had the advantage of being able to fly, and was thus easily able to outmaneuver Spidey at almost every turn before retaliating in whatever way that he could.

Eventually, Hobgoblin managed to land a solid hit on the web-swinger, which sent Spidey flying into a number of crates that were packed with some of the old pumpkin bombs that Green Goblin had used in the days gone by. The only good thing to come out of said collision was that the bombs were not armed in any way that would have caused them to go off the minute he hit the crates, but that small silver lining did little to keep Spider-Man from groaning both due to the pain he was already feeling and from the headache he had that was only getting worse due to Hobgoblin's maniacal laughter. "Did you really think it would be that easy for you to beat me on my own turf," Hobgoblin laughed.

At that point, Spider-Man could not keep the smirk off his face even if he wanted to, and a part of him was a little disappointed that Hobgoblin could not see it behind his mask, even as he revealed, "To be honest, I wasn't really trying."

Hobgoblin's laughter immediately came to an end when he heard that, and he soon found himself replacing said laughter with a loud grunt of pain as someone dropped down on him from behind and then wrapped their arms around his neck in a strong hold before he could properly recover. Looking over his shoulder allowed Hobgoblin to see that Captain America was the one responsible, and the super soldier's grip did not seem to let up in the slightest, save for when Cap removed one arm to reach into his belt and pull out a vial of Goblin Cure, which he quickly uncapped and started moving towards the Hobgoblin's mouth. "Time to take your medicine, psycho," Captain America stated.

"Oh but you're about to need it more than I do, along with a hospital," Hobgoblin retorted, and he quickly flew straight up before slamming his back into the ceiling, and since Steve was still hanging onto him from behind, the super soldier ended up taking the majority of the blow and the injuries that ensued. Steve was not really sure how, but he somehow managed to shake off the pain from said attack, and unfortunately, that was all Hobgoblin needed to see before he flew down and slammed both his back and the super soldier into another wall, forcing Steve to weaken his grip just enough for the mad villain to rip the World War II veteran from where he was in order to send a powerful jolt of electricity straight into Cap's body. After enjoying the sound of Captain America crying out in pain for another minute or so, Hobgoblin ceased his electric assault and tossed the captain into another pile of crates that were full of Goblin related items, where Steve promptly passed out.

Seeing that he had managed to beat Captain America made the Hobgoblin pause for a minute, almost as though he were considering if he should just kill the super soldier or take a picture of this as proof that he had managed to take down Captain America at all, and that proved to be all the distraction that Spider-Man needed to fire a volley of webs into the Hobgoblin that either disoriented or somehow managed to tie up the monstrous criminal. Hobgoblin was naturally annoyed by this sudden assault from the web-head, but he was unable to retaliate, as he soon found his arms pinned to his sides by Wonder Woman's lasso, as the Amazon princess herself pulled back to keep the Goblin from moving so much as an inch towards either of her companions while she made sure that the glare she leveled on the Hobgoblin showed just how furious she was with the criminal.

"I won't allow you to hurt anyone else today, vile monster," Wonder Woman roared as she gave her lasso a hard tug that ended up pulling Hobgoblin over to her. Diana then allowed the supervillain to sail past her and into the wall, where Spider-Man immediately aimed his web-shooters so that he could web the Goblin in place, and once the sticky, white substance had secured Hobgoblin where he was, Diana immediately dashed over with a vial of the Goblin Cure in hand and already opened, and shoved the vial down the villain's throat.

When Hobgoblin realized what Wonder Woman had done, his eyes quickly widened in horror, and he was soon crying out in protest as his body shrank down, his ears became less pointed, and his bald head started to grow a few strands of hair, until he had changed completely back into a human being again. When he had, the man behind the Goblin was revealed to be a dark skinned man with white-blonde hair and dark colored eyes, which Spider-Man and Wonder Woman only glimpsed before the man passed out. After another minute of staring at the mystery man in silence, Wonder Woman finally asked, "Do you know who this is?"

"Yeah, I recognize him," Spider-Man nodded. "His name's Roderick Kingsley. I remember seeing him dealing with a couple of big time crime boss underlings during a time when the city was nearly swept up in a gang war between two of its biggest crime bosses at the time. Wasn't really sure why he wanted what they were auctioning for at the time, still don't know to be honest, but considering what we've found out tonight, I get the feeling that it wasn't to help his perfume company."

Wonder Woman just nodded in response and let Spider-Man call Arachne so that she could notify the police of their location in order to pick up the exposed Hobgoblin, until her gaze settled on Captain America's still unconscious form. Fear immediately seemed to grip Diana's entire body as she raced over and lifted anything that was on top of Steve off of him, and she quickly breathed a quick sigh of relief when she realized he was still breathing, but it was still clear that he was seriously hurt. Recognizing this, Wonder Woman immediately called Spider-Man over, hoping that he could help her get Steve to the nearest hospital, but the web-head had a better idea.

"We're a lot closer to my place than we are to a hospital, and I've got a friend who's had to stitch me up quite a few times. He'll be a better option if you don't want to start a media circus," Spider-Man revealed, and seeing that he had a point, Diana found that she could do nothing but nod as she gently lifted Steve up into her arms, being as mindful as she could be of his injuries, at least in terms of the ones she could see. As soon as she had started to get a firm hold on him, Spider-Man suddenly made his way over and offered, "I can take him over for you if you want to get his bike."

Diana shook her head as she revealed, "His motorcycle has an autopilot that can follow a tracking signal in his suit. It'll be fine. Besides, I don't know how to drive a motorcycle."

Spider-Man nodded in acceptance of this while breathing a quick sigh of relief, seeing as he did not even have a learner's permit of his own. Hey, he lived in New York and he normally gets around by web-swinging, which typically allowed him to move faster than a speeding car, so why would he really need a car? After helping Diana carry the unconscious Captain America out of the warehouse, Spider-Man tapped his watch and said, "Arachne, call Doc Connors and tell him that we're going to need his help with a medical matter."

"You do know that Connors can start to get tired of always patching you up if you keep calling him like this, right," Arachne asked.

"Not for me. It's for Captain America."

That seemed to put a stop to his female partner's sarcastic and witty remarks, as evidenced by how her voice was completely serious the next time she spoke. "I'm calling him now."


Steve could not help but wonder how he always seemed to wake up in places he did not recognize whenever he was unconscious, because he could tell just from the faint sounds of traffic that were probably coming through an open window that he was certainly not in the warehouse that they were in when he blacked out. Thankfully, experience had taught him to not just react on instinct and attack everyone in sight like he had on the Watchtower, so he simply went the cliché route and asked the one question that everyone always asks when they wake up in a place they do not recognize. "Where am I," Steve asked, only to wince a little in pain a moment later, which drew his gaze to the person who was tending to whatever wounds he currently had. The man in question was Caucasian with blonde hair, wore a black t-shirt, dress slacks, and a white lab coat, and from what Steve could tell, the individual in question also possessed a prosthetic arm in place of his right arm. After studying the man for another minute, Steve went on to ask, "Who're you?"

The blonde man said nothing for a minute, opting to focus on what he was doing instead, until he finally replied with one word. "Spider-Man."

Steve looked the man up and down for a minute, and eventually had to smirk and say, "I don't think so."

"Just once I'd like someone to believe that," the man smiled in good humor, indicating that he was joking a little when he said he was Spider-Man. "Doctor Curt Connors, Captain. I'm a mutual friend of our city's local web-swinger, one who owes him a great deal, actually. He and his tech support friend called me up and told me what had happened, and I was more than happy to provide whatever medical aid that I could, which is considerable given that I am a former military doctor." Connors then took a small flashlight and shined it in Steve's eyes for a minute before he set it down and smiled once again as he reported, "Well, you'll be happy to know that not only have you avoided suffering a concussion, you also do not seem to have suffered any very serious injuries, no doubt thanks to the protection that your suit provides, but I would recommend avoiding anymore Mad Goblin rides for a while if you don't want that to change."

Steve immediately stood up from the bed he was lying back on at that point, and accepted his shield when he saw Connors offering it to him. "Thank you Doctor."

"Please, call me Curt. Any friend of Spider-Man's is a friend of mine," Connors insisted before he moved aside, allowing Steve to take a minute to observe his surroundings.

All-in-all, the place was actually rather impressive, and it actually reminded him a little of the S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City in a way, what with the small lab setup it had and the various computers that were placed in a central hub in the middle of the room. On one of the lab tables, Steve was able to spot a variety of tools and equipment that were all focused around a number of small, wrist devices, while a chemistry set of some type sat on the opposite end of the table, along with various capsules that seemed to like they were capable of being inserted into the wrist devices. On the table sitting against the opposite wall, Steve could see an array of various notes and other tools that all served some scientific purpose, along with a number of other various devices, including a few small, red and blue colored devices that were in the shape of a spider, which reminded him a little of the tracers that Batman tended to slip onto a criminal without said criminal knowing when he needed to track someone. Looking around to another end of the room allowed Steve to see a set of large, tinted windows, which gave a rather impressive view of the New York skyline that was now enshrouded in the colors of sunset, but it was the final thing that his gaze found that really caught his attention.

There, in a number of display cases, were a variety of different outfits similar to the one that Spider-Man wore. The first was obviously something that was thrown together, as it consisted of a dark brown jacket, dark blue shirt and pants, a red mask, gold tinted sunglasses and a beanie, while the suit next to it was a bit closer to the one that Spider-Man currently wore, except for the fact that it had a bit more blue in it than the current one, and the eyes on the mask were a little more narrow and had the same gold color that the sunglasses the previous suit had. What followed after that was a rather surprising suit, as it was nothing like any of the suits he had seen Spider-Man wearing up until now. The suit in question was all black, save for the large white eyes, a large, white spider symbol that spread across the chest and connected to the one on the back, and a pair of white patches on the back of the hands. Seeing these various versions of Spider-Man's costume on display like this though, only served to further confirm just where Steve had ended up.

"Step into our parlor said Arachne to the captain," the tell-tale voice of Arachne suddenly announced, drawing Steve's attention away from the Spider-Suits to the mystery woman in question. When his eyes found said woman, Steve a bit surprised to see a rather beautiful young woman with long, red hair and green eyes, who wore a dark green hoodie over a grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and a black jacket. "Or to put it more simply, welcome to the Spider-Parlor."

"We do not call it that," Spider-Man's voice called out as he entered the room along with Diana, who quickly shot Steve a bright smile as a show of how glad she was he was alright.

"Well it's either that or Spider-Cave, which doesn't work since, last I checked, a place like this had to be in an underground-like location to be considered a cave," Arachne retorted.

"Okay, we are never calling this place Spider-Cave. Ever," Spider-Man stated in a tone that clearly said that there would be no arguments at all. "Secondly, don't you think you should at least be wearing a mask?"

"Why? Most people never see me when you're out doing your thing, so what's the point in my wearing a mask at all," the redhead asked in disbelief. "Besides, I'm getting the feeling that you plan on telling them your secret identity anyway, so why even bother trying to hide my face? Plus, considering how many people you know that they've met by now, it'd be a miracle if they couldn't eventually figure it out themselves."

Spider-Man was now clearly giving the redhead a look through the lenses of his mask before he turned to face Captain America and Wonder Woman while muttering aloud, "Well to be fair, if you can't trust either of the two people who might as well have just saved your life, or at the very least Captain America, something must be wrong with you. That or you're Batman." A minute later, the web-swinger had removed his mask to reveal a young man who appeared to be in his early to mid-twenties, with brown hair and eyes and a small smile on his face that Steve recognized as a smile that people wore whenever they had lost a lot more than they should have in their lives. "Captain America, Wonder Woman, my name is Peter Parker, and I have been Spider-Man since I was fifteen years old. The smart-alec redhead over here is Mary Jane Watson, my best friend for years, better known as Arachne."

"You forgot to mention that I'm also your ex-girlfriend," Mary Jane pointed out.

"Okay, to be fair, it's not like we really went out for very long, and part of it was just after…well, you know," Peter pointed out as his tone became a little more subdued near the end. When she noticed this, Mary Jane's teasing smile fell a little, and she had to give a small nod in conceit of this point, knowing full well what Peter was referring to.

Steve had taken notice of this small exchange that had slightly changed the atmosphere for a moment, but he eventually had to smile a little in response to the fact that the young man in front of him and Diana was so willing to trust them with his secret before he stepped forward and extended his hand as he said, "A pleasure to meet you, Peter, and please, just call me Steve."

Peter just beamed in response as he eagerly accepted the super soldier's offered handshake, and he then looked towards Diana, who had taken to stare at him with a rather shocked expression that almost seemed frozen on her face. Now some would probably think that Diana's shock was due to the fact that Spider-Man was so willing to trust her with his secret identity, but in reality, it was more due to the fact that he looked so young. Really, from Diana's perspective, he looked like he was not even that much older than her younger sister. Eventually, Diana found her voice again, and ended up saying, "Why would someone who's as young as you are be so willing to go out and be a hero every day in the way that you do?"

Peter's face immediately fell into a serious expression as he revealed, "Because in the words of one of the wisest men I've ever known, with great power, comes great responsibility. I ignored the responsibility that my powers came with once, and my Uncle Ben, who had raised me like his own son since I was just a small child, ended up paying the price for it. My uncle died because I looked the other way when I could have done something to help, and ever since, I've made sure that I would do whatever I could to use my powers to defend the city I call home and everyone that I can to the best of my abilities, while making sure that I keep living up to the responsibility that my powers come with as the sensational Spider-Man."

Steve and Diana both had to smile at Peter's words, both very impressed with Peter's maturity and dedication to what he does as Spider-Man, and after a few more minutes of talking and promising the group that they would keep Peter's secret safe, Captain America and Wonder Woman departed through the large windows, to the street below, where Cap quickly spotted his motorcycle, knowing that Diana had likely used his signaling device to call it here after they had arrived. Once Steve had made sure everything on his bike was as it should be, he immediately started it up, and the two began to make their way back to Steve's apartment, eager for a long night's rest.


Shortly after returning to Brooklyn, Diana found she could not contain herself for very long, because the minute they were walking up the stairs to Steve's apartment, she immediately slapped him on the arm, but the smile on her face showed that there was likely very little ill intent behind it. "What was that for," Steve asked as he rubbed the offended arm.

"For lying to me about why you wanted to go out," Diana revealed as she landed a few more light slaps on the super soldier's arm and shoulder.

"What? I have no idea what you're talking about," Steve quickly disputed, even though he did know full well what she had been referring to.

Clearly this was not missed by Diana, as her smile did not fade for a second, even as she placed her hands on her hips to make it seem like she was making an effort to be angry with him when she clarified, "You never had an errand to run for Stark at all."

Steve's poker face immediately fell before a sheepish smile replaced it while he rubbed the back of his neck in slight nervousness, knowing that he had been found out. "When did you figure it out," Steve inquired.

"Sometime after we had gone with Spider-Man to speak with the bookie at that club," Diana revealed with a knowing smile.

"So…you're not mad, are you," Steve asked in an effort to make sure he was not misreading the signals that he was being sent.

Diana said nothing in reply, but instead just stepped a little closer to Steve and planted a small kiss on his cheek, surprising the super soldier once she had, and then whispered, "How could I be mad at someone who was looking out for me?"

All sense of speech had abandoned Steve at that point, and he quickly found that he was just barely able to keep walking forward at a pace that would allow him to match Diana's, which led his eyes to study her figure from behind as she continued on to his apartment while his mind started leading to a variety of thoughts pertaining to said Amazon. When he realized what he was doing, Steve quickly gave himself a hard, mental shake to snap himself out of it and quickly picked up his pace, not minding the fact that a very broad smile had now planted itself on his face when his mind wandered back to the kiss Diana had just given him. Glancing over at Diana, Steve could not help but smile a little more when he saw that for the first time since they had returned from Themyscira, Diana was smiling with a true happiness in the way that only she was able to, and that just made everything that much better.

Their shared smiles quickly turned to surprised looks when they were finally close enough to see the door to Steve's apartment and the fact that someone they had not expected at all was standing right outside it. "I was beginning to wonder if you planned on returning home," Hippolyta lightly joked when she saw the two approaching, no doubt partially due to the fact that she found the stunned looks on their faces to be a little humorous.

"Mother? What're you doing here," Diana gasped in honest shock.

"Two reasons really: first is that while I may have been forced to exile you from Themyscira, I did not say anything about exiling you from my life all together," Hippolyta replied as she opened her arms wide in a silent request for a hug, which Diana happily granted.

Steve was honestly still confused about a variety of things, but before he could ask any of those things, a new, younger voice suddenly asked, "Hey, what about me? Don't I get a hug? I mean, you didn't even bother to say hi the last time you were home, so that's the least you owe me, big sister."

The two Leaguers' attention was soon directed right onto a young girl who seemed to be around the same age as Peter, and who looked a lot like Diana. She also wore an outfit that was similar to Diana's Wonder Woman suit, except for the fact that it was all red and left only her arms bare, while black boots were on her feet. Aside from the white stars that went up the length of her legs to the chest of her suit, the only other deviations from the red coloring of her outfit was the yellow belt with a "W" on the buckle and the silver bracelets on her wrists. The large, beaming smile she was currently flashing at the two, but mostly towards Diana, showed a series of pearly white teeth while giving Steve something of an idea of how Diana's smile probably looked at the age of this girl. After another minute of staring in shock, Diana was soon smiling just as brightly as she immediately wrapped the younger girl in what seemed to Steve to be a bone-crushing hug while she happily exclaimed, "Donna! It's so good to see you little sister!"

At that point, Steve finally found his voice again and he quickly said, "Okay, I've got a few questions: first off, Diana, when you called her your sister, do you mean as in your actual sister or…"

Diana could not help but chuckle a little, knowing full well why Steve was confused, and quickly replied, "Yes, she is my little sister by blood. Steve, this is Donna Troy. Donna, this is Steve Rogers, known better to man's world as Captain America."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Captain," Donna said with a small, polite bow.

"Likewise," Steve nodded in return before he looked to Diana's mother. "Next, how'd you even get here?"

"We Amazons may have lived on Themyscira for centuries, Captain, but we do have many ways of getting off the island," Hippolyta answered, cryptically. "As for how we got here, specifically, your friend Superman was kind enough to tell us where we might find you."

Steve nodded in acceptance of that, knowing that Superman likely had a good reason to send Diana's mother out this way, and then went on to say, "Well, whatever else there is to discuss, I'm sure we'd all prefer to not do so out in the hallway, so…shall we?"

The three Amazons immediately nodded in thanks to Steve's hospitality as he offered to lead them into his apartment, and not a few minutes later, the three women were all seated in what served as Steve's living room while the super soldier had gone to his room to change out of his suit before preparing a few drinks for everyone. Eventually, Diana felt that she could not wait for their host, and soon asked, "You said there was another reason why you were here, Mother. Would it be alright if I asked what that reason is?"

Hippolyta just smiled in response to her daughter's question before she said, "Diana, I may be your mother and your queen, but I highly doubt that you really need to stand on ceremony with me at the moment. To answer your question though, yes, there was another reason I am here. It's a matter regarding your exile."

"What do you mean," Diana asked, immediately feeling a little nervous as to what this could possibly be.

Hippolyta easily understood her daughter's concern, and immediately raised a calming hand in order to try and ease Diana's nerves as she elaborated, "What I mean is that it is a way for you to right the wrong you had committed, seeing as you had only done so in order to save us. The gods are more than able to recognize such things, and so am I, but really, you have your friend in the other room to really thank for this."

"How do you mean, your highness," Steve asked as he finally came to join the three with some iced mochas in hand, which he quickly passed out. Barry had told him that Diana had really liked the drink when she first tried it, so Steve was hoping that the same would hold true for her family as well.

"You were the one who had proposed that I try and find a way for Diana to make things right, and I had been pondering on such things ever since your departure. I now believe I have found a solution," Hippolyta clarified. She then looked directly at her daughter and stated, "Diana, it is quite clear that we have cut ourselves off from man's world for much longer than we realized, and we can all now acknowledge that there are some things about it that affect us as much as it does everyone outside of our island. That is why, I have decided to appoint you as Themyscira's representative to man's world, and among its government. Superman has already helped me to make all the arrangements so that it is official."

Diana's eyes had quickly become as wide as saucers when she heard this news, because while she may have been royalty, this would actually be the first time she had ever become fully involved with politics. She was honored of course, but she was still confused with what this had to do with her exile, since her mother had not yet mentioned that detail, specifically, and that was a fact that she did not hesitate to point out. Hippolyta seemed to smile a little more at her daughter's observation, and immediately elaborated, "If you are able to serve our home faithfully, then your exile shall be ended, and to make sure that you do so, you will be observed by someone from our home."

Diana's eyes immediately locked onto Donna when she heard that last part, having a feeling that she already knew the observer's identity, and Donna immediately smiled in response to the unasked question as she revealed, "That's right, big sister. I'm going to be the one babysitting you now!"

At another time, Diana would likely have had some sort of witty comeback in response to her little sister's jab, but at the moment, she was too happy at this news to really care, so instead she just jumped up from her seat and wrapped both her mother and sister in a tight hug while thanking her mother at least a million times over. This action brought a smile to Hippolyta's face as she returned said hug, and Steve was soon smiling as well at seeing that the family of Amazons seemed to have a stronger chance of getting back together again someday. Seeing this immediately reminded him of the last thing Diana had said to her mother before they left Themyscira, and Steve immediately thought to himself that Diana was wrong to think that the fates were against her family, because it seemed that they were most definitely in her favor now.

After letting the three finish their little family moment, Hippolyta seemed like she was about to get ready to leave, until Steve quickly stopped her and said, "I understand that you have an entire island to take care of as its queen, ma'am, but I would feel like a very poor host if I did not offer you to stay a little longer for dinner."

Hippolyta seemed to consider this for a moment, but since she knew this would allow her to spend a little more time with her daughters, she found that the decision was easily made, and she gladly accepted the super soldier's offer. As Donna and Hippolyta moved to try their drinks, which they both found most enjoyable, Diana pulled Steve aside and whispered, "Do you really think that you have time or even enough food to cook a meal for myself and my family?"

"Honestly? No, that's why I ordered pizza," Steve revealed just as someone knocked on the door. Steve could not help but smirk a little at Diana's surprised look when he elaborated, "Hey, you didn't really think I was just changing into civilian attire earlier, did you?"

Diana smiled in response to this as she let Steve go to answer the door and pay the pizza deliveryman while she walked back over to her mother and sister. When she reached them though, she noticed that Donna had a mischievous look on her face, and despite the fact that she probably would not like the answer, Diana felt that she had to ask, "What're you smiling about?"

"Oh nothing," Donna replied in a sing-song tone. "I was just thinking that Steve Rogers seems cute. Are you in a relationship with him?"

"I must admit, I was wondering that myself as well," Hippolyta admitted with a smile that matched her youngest daughter's.

Diana immediately gained a brilliant blush as she stuttered, "Mother! Donna! We're just friends and we work together on the Justice League…and…and…"

"And you're currently living together as well," Donna pointed out.

"He…he offered to let me stay here a while back as a way of helping me to feel a little better while I was still feeling sad about my exile. We're not living together; I'm just a guest," Diana protested in defense.

While Hippolyta would not deny watching Diana acting like this was entertaining, she did have enough sense to tell Donna to drop it for now, even though she knew that the youngest Amazon of her family was not likely to let it go for a while. Thankfully for Diana, they had done so right when Steve had returned with the pizza and they all politely waited for the super soldier to pass out plates with at least one slice of the delicacy for each of them, and it was at that point, Hippolyta felt that she had to ask, "So what has been your impression of man's world since you first came here, Diana?"

Diana had to pause for a minute so that she could think back on all that she had encountered since she had first ventured outside the boundaries of her island home, including what she had seen and experienced today as well, before she finally replied, "While it does seem that there are a few individuals that fit the image we were taught as children, I am happy to say that I've met a few good people who are not like the beings we were raised to believe that all mankind were like. Steve is actually just one example of such people, and just today, the two of us met a young man who had been fighting for justice since he was just a child, and he did not seem like he was that much older than you, Donna. Though his attire is very strange, he seems determined to throw himself into any sort of fires for the sake of others and not ask for anything in return, because he lives by a philosophy that someone very close to him had once taught him."

"And what philosophy is that," Donna asked, admittedly quite curious about this person that Diana was telling them about.

"That with great power, comes great responsibility," Diana revealed, repeating the words that Spider-Man had said to them earlier.

The other two Amazons had to smile at hearing this, both happy to hear that a person who lived by such a philosophy existed in man's world, and they all then went on to continue their meal in at a simple pace, only pausing for a moment when Hippolyta and Donna felt the need to praise Steve's choice of food for their meal when they found that they actually liked the pizza a lot, and the entire time, Diana continued to tell her family some of the stories of things she had encountered since coming into man's world, all the while leading everyone to think that things were certainly looking up a little for all of them.


AN: Well that's that. Now before you all go off thinking that Spider-Man and his pals are all really OOC, I just want to make it clear that this is my interpretation of how Spider-Man would be in this story's continuity. Well actually, that's not entirely accurate. This is actually my interpretation of Spider-Man as he would be in both this story and in the Arrow-verse, you know the continuity that we get from The Flash and Arrow. I'd like to think that it kinda blends the feel of both of those two together while giving it that old Spidey flare, in the sense that the place is set up in a manner similar to S.T.A.R. Labs in The Flash, yet at the same time it kinda features a team that's similar to team Arrow. Basically, MJ is Felicity and Connors is kinda a combination of Diggle and Roy, because, in case it isn't obvious, yes he has been Lizard before now, and he did in fact serve as a military medic in the past. Look it up if you don't believe me.

I hope you all were able to recognize the various Spider-Man related items that were in the Spider-Parlor, and yes we will be calling it that, despite Spider-Man's protests, but in case you didn't, I'm gonna go ahead and clue you in: in order, we saw various versions of Spidey's web-shooters and the stuff he uses to make web fluid, the spider-tracers, and finally, some of Spider-Man's past suits, at least in this continuity. In case it was unclear, the first two were the suits that the web-head wore in The Amazing Spider-Man, identified in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 video game as "Vigilante" and...well, "The Amazing Spider-Man (2012 Movie)". And if you really can't recognize the last one, something must be wrong with you, because really, how many of Spidey's suits are all black save for the white spider symbol and eyes?

As for Mary Jane's code-name being Arachne, I am well aware that there has been a hero in MARVEL comics that has used that code-name in the past, but like Spidey said, the name Madame Web was taken, they were not going to call her Spider-Girl, as that would imply that she has spider powers as well, and Charlotte would be too confusing for anyone who would be unable to get the reference. Arachne just seemed appropriate since that is the name of the spider goddess and all that.

Next item is the matter of Hobgoblin. Admittedly, I couldn't help but feel that the guy had not really been getting the attention he deserved in recent years, because really, the last time we saw the Hobgoblin outside of the comics was in Spider-Man: The Animated Series, you know, the one from the 90's. If you have a hard time picturing his appearance as Hobgoblin, then just think of the Green Goblin in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon and recolor it with Hobgoblin's colors as I had specified, and give then give him the wings that Hobgoblin 2099 had in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.

Another thing I want to mention, is that both Gwen and Captain Stacy have already died in this continuity, and that's part of the reason why Carlie Cooper is now NYPD police captain in this story, and also why Peter and MJ's mood fell a little earlier when they were talking with Connors, Cap, and Diana in the Spider-Parlor. I know that Carlie was technically never in such a position in the comics, but I didn't want to go with someone like Jean De Wolfe like everyone else seems to when it comes to fanfics with Spider-Man in them.

Finally, the introduction of Donna Troy, aka the original Wonder Girl, and Diana becoming a government representative for her people. I'll admit, that was not really an original idea. I got it from another fanfic I read a while back, but the idea just worked so well that I had to go with it. Besides, you didn't really think that I was going to just leave things as they were between Diana and her family after last chapter, did you? And yeah, that little bit at the end there between Donna and her big sister was necessary. How often do you not hear of siblings teasing each other about their feelings towards a potential love interest like that? Plus, Cap had to deal with that last chapter, so this time, it was Diana's turn.

Now next chapter is going to keep things pretty original, as we see Cap head off on another adventure in the world of one of his fellow Leaguers, or should I say universe. Don't take my word for it though, just move Onto the Preview!...

What started out as a rather peaceful day for Captain America, soon turns into a journey that even he had never expected to take when John's Green Lantern ring suddenly appears before him and drags him off to the homeworld of the Green Lantern Corp. Shortly afterwards, Steve finds himself among some of the best Lanterns as he joins them in discovering what had become of his fellow Leaguer, leading to an adventure that allows him to see just how great a responsibility and how vast a world John is part of. Discover the universe that lies beyond Earth next time in…Chapter 8: In Brightest Day.

That's right, Cap's off on an adventure into the universe of the Green Lanterns! Who's excited?

Oh, and by the way, if anyone wants me to do a little more elaboration on an Arrow-verse version of Spider-Man, please say so in the reviews, because I can't deny that the idea has a lot of merit, and it would allow you all to get a better idea of what this story's Spider-Man is like.

Now, with that said...

Please read and review, and I'll see you all next time, hero believers!

*Edit From 11/15/2018. I'm sure some of you probably already figured this out, but I replaced Carlie with Yuri Watanabe in this chapter. This is partly because after playing through Insomniac's Spider-Man a few times, I've really grown to like Yuri, so I just had to change that up to her. She's definitely a character that you just can't help but love.*