A/N: Every story of mine offers me a chapter where I'm forced to apologize for my shoddy action-writing xD I hope it's not too much of a chore- you can skim until the end and get the gist :thumbsup:

Gwen shook tensely as Matthew Murdock stepped out from the shadows, swinging his cane between a chorus of dexterous fingers, smiling with the quiet joy of a child having made some sort of discovery unknown to everybody else. His focus quickly adjusted from the masked figure he knew to the one that was foreign, leading Gwen to a quick sigh of thanks that Jessica had had the blind wherewithal to show up within the safety of her suit. Despite sharing the same powers, the same name, the two women appeared worlds different, leaving Murdock to a prolonged, appraising stare of the newcomer, much to Jessica's chagrin.

Instead of addressing the stranger directly, she turned her head to Gwen, keeping her eyes fixed on the shadow, "Who's the bowl-cut freak?"

Murdock grinned humorously enough as he stamped his cane into the rooftop before him, resting his two hands stop the bulbous jewel atop the ornate object, "So similar, you two, yet you wear different outfits and this one is far less…reserved, it seems."

"Hey, buddy," Jessica challenged lowly, "I've lived enough lives that you couldn't map your way through. Don't you dare try to figure me out during a first meeting, 'cause you'll fail miserably."

Murdock cocked his head teasingly, "You can cut the bravado. I'm not a villain; tell her, Ms. Stacy."

Jessica turned questioningly toward Gwen at the man's insistence that she answer for him, though Gwen merely wiggled her hand in the air, teetering it back and forth without commitment, "I'm, like, 74% certain he's really a villain."

Murdock's head twisted appraisingly, as if tasting her comment as it slid along his mind, shrugging, "A modest number, perhaps; though I question the villainy of any man who is willing to do what it takes to simply get things done, so long as they're not bound by the constant crossing of legal boundaries."

"He's basically Kingpin," Gwen explained, not wanting to translate Murdock's convoluted stance, "He dodges subpoenas and litigation like a virus might dodge the immune system by infecting carrier cells to do its dirty work."

He shrugged again, his teeth showing in the shadows as his lips curled divisively, "I do pretty good at it, too."

Jessica surmised suspiciously, "I thought you looked the part. You must be a Murdock."

The man raised his arms in presentation before bowing, "But of course. Pleasure, I'm sure. And you are-?"

Jessica turned her head sarcastically, crossing her arms, "Spider-Woman."

Gwen covered her face in disgust as a result of her mentor's horrible joke, though it had only made Murdock began to chuckle, which caught Gwen's attention in all the wrong ways, "Ah, but of course. Birds of a feather, right? Explains that conversation about spider-senses a moment ago.

With a dismissive stare, Jessica frowned at Gwen, "I'd like to take the chance to remind you that I came here for hotdogs, not this doofus."

Murdock chuckled again, "Trust me, I'm-"

"I wouldn't trust him," Gwen poignantly noted, though Jessica's sarcastic glare meant she probably needn't have muttered the obvious.

Continuing, Murdock simply picked up, "I'm no doofus. In fact, I'm quite the opposite, no matter how much the lady in yellow and red would like to contend that assertion. Ms. Stacy, please enlighten your cohort with a quick narrative regarding that one run-in of ours where-"

"Hey, how about speaking for your own self?" Jessica challenged easily, "I know what you're doing."

Murdock smirked, "Do you?"

"Yes. Because I did the same thing, once upon a time. And I did it a whole lot better than you ever will, mop-head," Jessica replied with a near-seething voice.

Gwen eyed her suspiciously, speaking in a whisper, "Wait, what exactly is he-"

"I see great potential in Ms. Stacy," Murdock shrugged, "And I can see the brewing tension going on beneath the surface. I can see she's your pupil of sorts, Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman of Earth-616; why are you so content with hindering her progress?"

Jessica's brow narrowed angrily, "Shut it, creep."

Murdock lowered his head to hide his lengthening, curling grin, "She could still do good with me. With the hands I have at the Daily Bugle, online advertising; we'd have her on the cutting edge of persona resurrection. It'd be nice having a public face for once, don't you think, Ms.-"

"Web him," Jessica instructed, turning toward Gwen, who replied with a confused look, leaving Jessica to yank her arms back and forth, "I'd do it myself, but I don't have my shooters."

Gwen did as she was told, quickly throwing up her arm and tossing a web, however, with the lack of surprise, Murdock easily threw his cane up to catch the web, his grip remaining powerful while Gwen tried yanking it from his grasp, leaving her with a surprised look on her face. Jessica turned to Gwen as she tugged, wondering aloud.

"How much does he know?"

Murdock replied instead, "I know everything."

Jessica's stare turned fierce.

"By the way, how's the child?"

In a burst of fury, Jessica dove toward Murdock, though she was nearly immediately caught by a tugging force around her waist, yanking her off course and onto the frigid concrete rooftop, quickly turning to her side to find a lasso around her torso, hurriedly scouting out for the source of the rope as she jumped to her feet, only being pulled back to the ground with seething teeth.

"I told you I was no doofus," Murdock near-giddily gloated.

Jessica scowled, sharply throwing her legs around and catching the line of rope with her ankle and throwing her body up into the air, forcing the dark figure out from the shadows and falling himself to the rooftop, desperately clinging to the rope in an attempt to hold the Spider-Woman down. He grumpily slammed a fist into the ground, pointing across the rooftop in instruction.

"Ox! Go!"

Before Jessica could hit the ground and alter her momentum, a burly man dashed toward her, hoping to slam his body into her and extinguish her every breath, though a web quickly appeared just in front of his stride, catching his footing and sending him sailing to the ground with a THUD.

Unimpressed, Murdock turned to Gwen with a frown, "I expected more from you, honestly."

Gwen tilted her head with a shrug, "I literally just said you were pretty evil, dude."

Jessica hit the ground, her brain firing in a second as she crouched down, avoiding the swift kick of the third man to emerge from the shadows, his breath hanging still over his head in the cold air as he seethed through an open mouth, his ragged teeth showing off his tenacity. The three men coming into the inadequate lamplight, Murdock took the chance to take his leave, stepping back into the shadows.

"My Enforcers will happily escort the both of you to my place of residence," he muttered knowingly, "See that you don't give them too much trouble, alright?"

Gwen and Jessica shared a neutral stare toward one another, leaving Gwen to surmise with a sincerely innocent air, "Well, uh… Some training before you head home..?"

Jessica rolled her eyes, ducking out of the way as another of Montana's lassos blew through the air, though it was quickly caught by a web while Jessica blew past Gwen, jumping toward the dashing Ox and slamming a foot into his chest to push herself airborne before spinning in place, knocking a foot into his jaw. Before Fancy Dan could retaliate, Gwen had Montana mid-swing, throwing the man into Dan's body, the two joining Ox, crumpled up on the rooftop.

The two Spider-Woman stood over the heap of bodies, though it wasn't enough to keep the head of Fancy Dan from staring at them with a defiant glance, earning him the confused eyes of the both of them.

"Plan H, perhaps," he babbled with a crooked smile.

Before Gwen's brain could tingle, she caught from the corner of her eye a near limitless silverine gasp of light in the darkness, firing right at her in a blinding spee-

"LOOK OU-!"

Gwen's body went flying off the rooftop, her head spinning as she careened through the atmosphere, smashing into the pavement road, her limbs flapping wildly as her body spiraled along, finally tumbling to a stop in the middle of an empty intersection, the four bulbs from above whirling around her vision as she stared up into nothingness, barely able to retrieve her surroundings, and for a moment, her own name.

She brought a hand up to clutch her head in an attempt to soothe the pounding, sweltering crack that seemed to be at her forehead now, though in her disorientation, it fell and pressed against the concrete beside her head before she could slide it upward toward her head. Before she could recover, she heard the sound of pattering footsteps, rapidly approaching before Jessica slid onto her knees and coming to a stop at Gwen's side, reaching up to examine her head.

"Fucker had some metal boxing gloves," she muttered in explanation, "Packed a hell of a wallop, too."

Gwen speech slurred only slightly, "I thought ya…weren't cursing…'ny more…"

Jessica frowned, "Well, at least you remember something."

She waved her hand in front of her masked face, "See that? How many fingers?"

Gwen couldn't muster a response, leaving Jessica to throw her head over her shoulder as the four men strolled into the intersection, stopping progressively until they surrounded the two Spiders, each of them stretching various joints in preparation. Fancy Dan, the martial arts expert. Ox, a man with more brawl than the animal he was named for. Montana, the life-long lassoman. Hammer Harrison, boxing legend turned thug.

Jessica eyes Harrison, his tongue sticking out brainlessly as he patted his two steel-laced boxing gloves, warming them up for the impeding battle. She quickly slid one of Gwen's web shooters from her wrist, praying it fit, only to be disappointed as it failed to slip onto her own limb, leaving Jessica with a lowly groan.

"Okay, Jess," she spoke quietly, pepping herself up, "You've got a surrogate daughter to protect, and a baby boy to get back home to. You're not gonna- You've got this. You've got-"

She shot a web a few feet behind her, throwing herself backward to avoid a sweeping kick aimed for her head, acrobatically tossing herself around and throwing an elbow into the face of another oncoming villain. She skillfully entered the furiously flurry of fists and kicks, dodging left and right, throwing web to counter the lassos threatening her limbs, webbing their legs out from under her foes when able, eventually exiting the fray with a dexterous patting of her feet.

Montana had been dispatched, knocked out by a wayward punch from his own boxing ally, and webbed to the concrete, leaving the other three panting for breaths as they watched Spider-Woman standing straight as though unfazed. Dan and Harrison, however, both began to chuckle at the sight, noticing the shaky foundation that was Spider-Woman's legs.

Suddenly, Jessica fell to one knee, a massive breath bursting from her as she immediately began to gasp for breaths, reaching for her shoulder, a recipient of one of Fancy Dan's bone-crushing kicks. She dropped her head as she opened her fist, the broken crumbles of Gwen's web shooter scattering onto the concrete.

"Heh heh," Ox grumbled happily, running a wrist across his mouth to collect the trail of blood there, "You got big problem, Spider!"

Dan nodded, correcting his cohort, "Indeed. You do have a big problem."

Jessica eyes them from her lowered head, working her way back up to her feet as she shook her head, "Oh no, no, no. I see you've lost one of your thugs. I'm still standing. and spoiler alert, I'm not going to lay down, at all."

She pointed to Gwen's still-trembling body, "That spoiler alert thing was for her."

Harrison rolled his head along his shoulders with an exasperated sigh, shaking his head, "Pfft, if I hadn't a flippin' reason to beat 'er up then, I sure got one now!"

"Wit wasted on the dumb," Jessica grumbled to herself, "You know, you should appreciate that I'm even bothering. I normally just-"

She leapt into the air as Ox charged her, using him as a launch pad to take off toward the other two, swinging a leg that narrowly missed Harrison, but managed to land into Fancy Dan's chest as he attempted to dodge, sending him barreling to the ground while Spider-Woman recovered, staying crouched in a battle stance.

She blew the stray hair from her face, "I normally just do that. No jokes."

Maybe the Earth-65 air was different as well, she thought, having taken in so much of it a moment before. She couldn't decipher it before dodging a swift throw of Harrison's gloved arm, just barely missing his wistful jab, tossing and turning herself as the man grew into a fury, swinging left and right, leaving Jessica with little choice but to continue backing away with no shooters. She kept her eyes spinning, trying to follow each punch, though her pair of eyes flew open in astonishment as she abruptly threw her back into a wall, unable to advance further.

She quickly threw her arms in front of her face, desperately trying to figure out her next course of action, her mind going blank as a terrifying blast of air advanced toward her, accompanied by the metal fist of Harrison, aiming directly at her head, hooking around her arms. She tried to dodge away, but it was too fast, her lips curling distastefully as the prospect of accepting just a bone-churning punch sent her spider-senses wi-

SCHURP!

A web shot into Jessica's vision, latching onto the man's glove and suddenly arcing it inward as Gwen tugged, sending the unstoppable fist in a launching circle, smashing into Harrison's own face, the man's momentum going wild for a brief moment before collapsing to the ground.

Jessica readied herself before examining Gwen, who'd made her way up to her knees, though was still taking in deep breaths, asking mutely while holding up two fingers, "How many?"

"One," Gwen panted, throwing her eyes toward the unconscious Harrison, "One giant metal-plated finger. or glove."

Her mentor shrugged, striding toward her, "Fair enough. Can you get up? Ox 'n the Karate Man will be back up in no time; can you-"

"I got this," Gwen assured, rising weakly to her feet, "I'll count that as two for you. I can handle these two bozos; you head on back home."

Jessica rolled her eyes, "You seriously think I'm gonna-"

"Be attentive," Gwen reminded with a grin.

Jessica scowled, "Oh please, spare me the irony, child. You haven't the faintest-"

As she spoke, Gwen had aimed her single shooter toward Jessica's wrist, firing a skillful shot from the hip to hit the portal device on her mentor's arm, leaving Jessica with a fuming expression full of anger before she gradually began to evaporate into the nether, leaving nothing but bits of blue material strewn into the atmosphere. Gwen rubbed the dirt from her glove on the black portion of her suit as she examined the battlefield, her eyes turned serious as she watched Fancy Dan and Ox both rise to their feet.

A twirling cane showed up atop one of the nearby rooftops, Matthew Murdock viewing the battle with renewed interest, now that there was only fighter for his Enforcers to focus upon. His eyes went crooked with intrigue, reaching his watch up to his mouth, communicating to both men below with an authoritatively low voice.

"Now," he mumbled quietly, "Attack her simultaneously. That's at the exact same time, Ox."

He dropped his arm, stopping his cane and readying it near his feet, balancing himself as he stood aimlessly above the rooftop, quietly going over his thoughts aloud, mulling over his words, "Experiment one. Spider-senses. Just how effective are they? Do they only work on one threat? or many?"

He crossed his arms, his cane dangling at his side while his head hung low, "Just how much effort do I want to put into this thing, I wonder."

Gwen's shoulder had sunk, leaving an arm hanging down in front of her as she turned her head either way, tracking the two men approaching her from either side. She collected some blood in her mouth, reaching up to lift her mask just enough to spit out her mouth's contents, showing a frown before throwing her mask back down, readying herself.

Ox threw a punch. She dodged.

Dan threw a punch. She dodged.

She spun around. At that moment, everything went into slow-motion as her spider-senses told her to act, forced her to act; she threw an arm out, blocking Dan's fierce chopping arm. Her eyes then trailed away, mere moments passing in minutes as her eyes widened, noticing Ox's fearsome fist approaching, her spider-senses having only alerted her to a general threat, not to the number of threats. Her eyes blared wide open as-

Gwen's body was thrown across the pavement, spinning to a stop as she slid along the street, her nails digging into the ground in a futile attempt at stopping. She lay there for only a brief moment as the two villains shared a fist-bump in their success, offering one another varying tones of chuckles as they walked on in for the kill.

Murdock frowned. So it wasn't as useful as he thought it might have been. Pity.

Slowly, Gwen weakly pushed herself up, just able to catch herself with her knee to keep from collapsing to the ground once again. Her teeth tightened mightily as she bore down upon them angrily, unable to accept defeat. She had people to protect. She had memories to protect. If she wasn't alive to remember Peter, then who would-

Her hand curled into a fist, pushing herself up to her feet, though she wavered there for a moment, reaching up to run a finger along the torn bit of fabric that ran along the side of her head. Her arms readied, her one shooter primed to fire. The two men jumped at her simultaneously, Gwen throwing one hand up to block one, aiming her shooter at the other, firing at Ox's chest, trying to slow his momentum as she turned to Dan, working to counter a vicious kick, grabbing his leg and hurdling atop it, turning to-

Ox grappled her arm with his hand, yanking her backward, nearly dislocating her shoulder, before tossing her to the pavement, sending her sliding across the street on all fours, raising a leg to stop herself as she gave the two men a fierce glare. Ox nearly hacked up a lung as he chortled, accepting direction from Dan as the leader of the two told him where to put himself, allowing them to continue pelting Spider-Woman from opposite sides. Gwen grit her teeth once more, slamming a fist into the ground, trying to well up some unknown will within her, bracing herself as both men rushed her once again.

Her spider-senses flared up, tickling the edges of her brain as she instinctively took hold of Dan's kick, quickly orienting herself to Ox's punch with a much slower personal speed, though, in that very moment, a crackling appearing along the opposite edge of her mind, throwing her arm up in a simultaneously instinctual motion as she grappled Ox's hand, throwing herself into a somersault, narrowed eyes directing her two hands to bring the two men's attacks together, a kick and a punch.

Bones crackled in the darkness as Ox cried out in severe pain, grasping his broken hand and pulling it into his chest, crying out, "OW! OOW! Y-YOU HIT ME!"

"The fuck I did!" Dan complained, stamping his numb foot into the asphalt below.

Gwen hopped in place as she spun around to meet the two men, sending a furious string of web at both men, incapacitating them against a nearby wall, leaving her to reach up to massage her head, a barrage of conflicting pulses leaving her with a headache. She backed up against the adjacent wall, not worrying further about her dirt-addled suit, sliding down to sit as she nursed her migraine, reaching for her phone for a text.

"Anonymous tip. Fifth and Washington."

It didn't take much time for her father to reply.

"I'll look into it. Love you, s-h. Be safe."

She slid her phone back into her pocket, shaking her head in dismay, knowing she'd just put herself on a timer to recover and leave. She sighed to herself as she incessant grumblings of the two remaining Enforcers kept her company, though she suddenly realized that she hadn't much time to catch up on what the hell had touched her mind in such a way to act as a sort of 'second' spider-sense within her brain.

Immediately looking around, she worked her way back to her feet, hobbling away, examining her surroundings before curiously aiming for a nearby alleyway, wondering what must have taken her mind for such a ride. Perhaps it was the same thing her senses were subconsciously…protecting her from? Still, in this instance, it seemed to save her skin, leaving her with little less than an intense curiosity as she worked her way into the shadows.

Murdock had turned to leave, surmising Spider-Woman's calling the police. Still, oddly enough, he couldn't manage to release the smirk that had appeared on his face at what he'd just seen.

"It seems to evolve…" he muttered quietly to himself, "Definitely worth looking into."

Gwen practically dragged herself on her two legs through the alleyway, keeping close watch on every nook and cranny, knowing she was in absolutely no condition for another fight. She remained cautious as she wandered slowly, her eyes jumping from one wall to another, realizing gradually enough that the alleyway lead only to a dead end. Coming to a stop, she kept close watch on the darker portions of the tiny inlet of brick and mortar, feeling her energy waning more and more, knowing she needed to conserve enough to get home and recover.

She slowly backstepped away, her eyes wandering toward her wrist as she began tinkering with her web slinger, hoping it hadn't gotten damaged enough to not get her home, her body spinning to allow her to step normally out from the alley when a sudden CRASH broke the air behind her, forcing her to whip her head around. In that instant, however, she went light headed, her body slowly teetering into the wall where she just caught herself, unable to remain balanced as she slid down, just barely aiming herself to sit down there. Her fuzzy eyes peered upward, catching the shape of a man approaching her in a panicked motion, leaving Spider-Woman to speak weakly with just as much confusion as relief.

"N-Nick?"