Part VIII of Pretty Much Blind.

Thanks to 25BAM50, Marvel11611, spentlizard, Akytsu Frozen, Starius Makkudo, shugokage, and ComicBookNerd for reviewing.


The radio strapped to DeWolff's hip gave a sharp squawk. Snatching it up and bringing it to her lips, the police captain spoke:

"Go for DeWolff."

"This is Electro, reporting in." A static-filled voice replied. "We've cornered the super-humans in the school library. We're heading in now."

"Alright, keep me posted."

"You got it. Over and out."

She tucked her radio back into her belt and turned to her subordinate, Johnson.

"If we're lucky, they should have this whole mess wrapped up in the next few minutes. How long until we get some fire trucks out here?"

Johnson shrugged.

"Call's been sent out, but we got no response." He said "It's like something's blocking our channels. We're stuck with local comms for the moment. The station should see the smoke though and send an engine our way."

"Hopefully."

"Yeah, hopefully."

DeWolff looked towards the glass dome that covered the roof of the laboratory, a flash of light and another plume of flame discolored the glass vividly. In the distance you could hear the shattering of glass.

"Well that doesn't look good." She muttered under her breath.

"Is there anything I can do?" Liz nervously shifted her weight from foot to foot at DeWolff's side. "Like, besides stand here like an idiot while my friends and brother duke it out?"

"Nope." DeWolff shook her head. "You're fine right where you are. If I get the sense that our team can't handle the situation, then we'll talk about what you can do to help."

An arc of lightening zipped up through the library roof, shattering more glass and frying a few nearby pigeons stupid enough to still be hanging around. Liz arched her eyebrows.

"Does that seem like they're 'handling' it well?" She asked.

"If you think this is bad, then you haven't seen nothing, kiddo."

"Really? What could be worse than this?"

DeWolff looked to the younger woman.

"What were you doing during The Green Scare?" She asked.

"Oh, geez." Liz wracked her brains. "When was that? Like two years ago? Probably working at the bar- I mean, my job."

"Well," DeWolff crossed her arms. "I was there."

"You were on the bridge?" Liz blinked in surprise. "What was it like? Was it scary? This girl from my high school died that night, you know?"

"Yeah, I… I heard about the girl. She was the only casualty, besides the Green Goblin of course." She looked back towards the school. "To answer your questions, it was worse than this and, yes, it was very scary."

DeWolff still vividly remembered the scene on the bridge, back in her early days as police captain, when she didn't know if Spider-Man was as good as she hoped he was.

She had stood at the entrance of the bridge with her officers, looking into the dense fog and seeing flashes of light among the taller towers, hearing high-pitched, demonic laughter, and then finally nothing but silence. People who were on the scene never forgot the night Gwen Stacy died.

"You know some people think that the Green Goblin isn't really dead, since no body was found." Liz continues. "Is that true?"

"I'm pretty sure he's dead."

"But how do you know?"

DeWolff contemplated for a moment.

"Just a feeling I got. As a police officer, one of your biggest strengths is your intuition."

"Sounds to me like that's a fancy way of saying: 'I guess'."

"Trust me, kid. He's about as dead as they get."

Liz opened her mouth to counter, when suddenly there was a soft whoosh, and Officer Johnson disappeared with a strangled yell. Immediately DeWolff grabbed Liz by her collar and threw her against the van, drawing her pistol and scanning the area quickly.

There was another swift breeze and Liz's breath caught in her throat. It was Speed Demon, standing right before the two women with the biggest, douchiest grin on the planet.

"Perfect." He chuckled. "Just the two ladies that I wanted to see."

DeWolff raised her gun and fired without a second thought. Speed Demon disappeared again and the bullets harmless peppered the stone wall where he was standing scant mili-seconds before.

Liz crouched between DeWolff and the van, also looking around furiously for the speedster. There was no way in hell that she was rejoining Hammerhead's circus of doom any time soon.

"We have to move." DeWolff kept her gun poised in front of her eyes. "Get into the van and- AGUH!"

Speed Demon's fist materialized against the police woman's stomach. Her eyes bulged and she folded in half over his arm like a limp towel.

"Ugh," He sighed, snatching her pistol from her weak grasp. "Why is it that this job requires me to beat up women so much? It's just not as fun as you think it would be."

Liz turned and ran. She got a total of three steps before she felt his powerful arm wrap around her neck.

"Not so fast, fire cracker." He chuckled in her ear. "You left without your severance package. I'm afraid you'll have to come back into the office."

"Like hell I will!" Liz erupted into flames, blasting Speed Demon away and knocking the nearby police van onto its side.

When she got the chance, Liz would appreciate the impressive shockwave she'd just created, but at that moment, she wasn't concerned with anything but burning Speed Demon to a tiny, stupid, little crisp. She turned, floating a good foot of the ground, and found him lying on the ground a dozen yards away with an unconscious DeWolff still in his arms.

"Wow," He groaned, rolling onto his back. "Quite a move, sister. Did your new super buddies teach you that?"

"Nope." Liz raised her hand, spawning a large flame in her palm. "I've always been more of a 'learn as I go' type of gal. I hope you're boss likes barbeque, because that's what you're going to be in a moment."

"Nice one, but if you're gonna put on the hero duds, you're gonna need some better banter." He zipped to his feet, holding the police captain in front of him like shield. "And some better aim."

Liz cursed mentally. He was right. There was no way that she could pop him with a fire ball from this distance without risking DeWolff, but then again, she really wanted to hurt Speed Demon.

"How upset would Parker be if I fried his police friend." She wondered. "Oh well, you know what they say, ask for forgiveness and not permission, right?"

Speed Demon's eyes widened to the size of saucers as Liz hurled a fireball in his direction. At the last second, he disappeared, but not before getting a little singe for his troubles. He ran then, with DeWolff still in his arms, leaving a trail of barely perceptible smoke in his wake.

Liz watched a trash can down the street get bowled over apparently by nothing and decided to give chase. She tiled her head forward and focused, flying herself forward and after Speed Demon.

It was pretty fruitless though, even with the added speed her flight afforded her, he was still long gone before she could even blink. He wasn't called the fastest man in the world for nothing, after all.

She gave up quickly and floated above the street, scanning the sidewalks for any more signs of his presence. There was nothing though. He was gone.

Behind her, the library erupted with more lights and flame, drawing her attention back to the fray within.

"Welp." She said, flying towards it. "I guess there's not much else to do now."


Spider-Man opened the library door as quietly as he could, allowing both Black Cat and Electro to slide under his arm before entering himself. Electro just finished giving an update to DeWolff and was clipping his radio back to his belt. The Black Cat tapped a finger to her goggles.

"One warm body near the back." She whispered. "That's probably Molten Man. No sign of the others though."

"Yeah I doubt you'll pick any of the others up on thermal." Spider-Man scanned the main entrance and saw that the information desk had been overturned along with several selves of books. Apparently the Exterminators didn't care much for the literary arts. "Alright, listen up. You two head down the middle, I'll get up to the ceiling and…"

He trailed off when Electro tapped him on the shoulder. When Spider-Man looked to his partner, the electric man just pointed up to where the Black Cat was quickly ascending to the second floor balcony.

"Fuh." Spider-Man groaned. "Fine, Electro go up the middle. If you see anything just call out."

"Got it." Electro started towards the array of bookshelves, leaving Spider-Man to leap up to the second floor railing.

"Hey." Spider-Man hissed, following Felicia through the upper floor's collection of books. "Cat, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm trying to find the bad guys." She replied.

"Well yeah, but we have to work together. You can't just run off on your own."

"Oh, yeah?" She turned to face him, hands on her hips. "And why not?"

"Because it's hella dangerous, obviously." He shot back.

"Give me a break, Spider. We've worked together before, you know how I operate."

"Yeah," He followed her around a collection of study tables and into another maze of shelves. "But I also know what typically happens when we work together, usually we screw up somehow."

"You can't deny that we've done just fine in the pass."

"But how many close calls have we had."

"Does it matter?" She asked. "They were just that, Peter, close calls. Our dynamic makes for a good team. You go be the hero, and I'll be the badass. Let's not try to shake the boat, okay?"

He rolled his eyes, quickly growing annoyed with her nonchalance.

"If our dynamic was so good," Peter blurted before he could stop himself. "Then why'd you break up with me?"

Her step faltered, but she recovered quickly. Felicia turned around to glare at Peter.

"Isn't it obvious?" She sneered. "You and Ginger needed some room to sow your seeds. I'm not stupid enough to think that I can fit into that picture."

Peter shook his head.

"You were always jealous of her. I have no idea why."

"Take a wild guess then." Felicia peeked over the railing, looking down to the first floor and seeing the area to be clear for the moment. "How about you talking about her non-stop, thinking about her non-stop, having her around the apartment non-stop. It was obvious even to me, with all of my social ineptness, that you were ass over elbow for that girl. Hell, you still are."

He considered her words for a moment and the truth behind them. Had he really been like that whilst with Felicia? He couldn't imagine what it would be like to love someone and watch them love someone else at the same time.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Yeah. Well, don't be."

"I wasn't a very good boyfriend to you, was I?"

"Relatively speaking," She chuckled. "I would have spent the rest of my life with you though. In a way, it's sort of good we broke up. Can you imagine us married?"

"Nope." Peter smiled. "Our kids would probably be the most screwed up little brats ever."

"We wouldn't have kids."

"Why not?"

Felicia shrugged.

"I don't like them. They're gross and loud and you have to take care of them all the time. You can't just… leave them outside or whatever."

"True, true." Peter laughed lightly. "I'd want kids though."

"Well then I guess we aren't meant to be."

"No."

Felicia slowed to a stop, somewhere between the encyclopedias and autobiographies. Peter watched her shoulders slump, and then she turned to face him. Her cold, blue eyes were hidden behind her goggles, but he could still tell that she was staring at him with a fierce intensity.

"Congrats, Peter." She said evenly. "You finally got the girl of your dreams. I'm sure you and Mary-Jane will be very happy together."

"Thanks."

Their conversation was broken short when a bolt of lightning erupted from the lower floor and punched a hole through the glass ceiling. Razor sharp shards descended to shatter over the bookshelves below, showering the ground in glistening sand.

"Come on." Spider-Man grabbed the Black Cat's arm and pulled her towards the balcony.

Together they leapt over the railing and touched down with a loud crunch to the ground below.

"Max?" Spider-Man charged down an aisle.

"Over here." Came the reply.

Peter and Felicia raced around a corner to find Electro very unharmed in the heart of the library. He waved to them a little sheepishly.

"Saw a mouse." He chuckled. "Scared the shit out me."

"What kind of library has mice in it?" Felicia asked.

"A bad one." Peter answered with a sigh. He didn't take advantage of the campus resources very often. "Come on, let's spread out and try to find these guys sometime before morning."

No sooner were the words out of his mouth then something very hard and very wet slammed into his back, driving him forward and headfirst through the nearest bookshelf.

"Damn." The Black Cat cursed and twisted towards Hydro-Man, who had appeared out of nowhere. A glint of silver flicked from her nimble fingers, but the throwing knife was useless against his amorphous body.

He responded with another quick geyser of water that narrowly missed her ear as she dived out of the way. Under a pile of books, Spider-Man was quickly regaining his senses and experiencing a moment of clarity.

"This is my life." He realized, forcing his way to his feet. "If I ever reach middle age, it'll be a miracle."

Hydro-Man was pelting the desk that Felicia was hiding behind with twin jets of water from his arms. Therefore he didn't see Spider-Man bearing down on him until it was too late to react. A desk chair, thrown by the hero, slammed into his head and completely shattered his skull with a dull sploosh.

Knowing full well that his attack had done little more than to piss Hydro-Man off, Peter acted fast. He leapt to the villain's side and delivered a dozen quick jabs to his torso. Flecks of water soon soaked his suit and the carpet through, as Hydro-Man's body crumbled under the assault and flopped over to splash onto the floor.

Behind him somewhere, Spider-Man could hear a struggle as Electro clashed with Sandman. The air was filled with an electric charge that sent a tingle down Peter's spine. A loud bang followed by a flash of light, which also lit up the interior of the library, informing him that Felicia was also holding her own, most likely against the Molten Man.

He was half tempted to go to her aid, when suddenly Hydro-Man's body began to fold back together on itself, quickly reforming Morrie Bench. Peter wasn't surprised by this, although that didn't stop the twinge of disappointment in his gut.

"Is there any way to kill you guys?" He asked with a sigh.

"Nope." Bench growled and fired a burst of water in his direction. Spider-Man leapt into the air to avoid it. "I thought here's didn't kill anyways."

"We don't." Bouncing off a stone column, Spider-Man ricocheted back towards Hydro-Man. "But a guy can dream, right?"

With the approximate speed of a freight train, Spider-Man collided with Hydro-Man. Morrie Bench focused every single one of his molecules into not dissipating like before, but into holding together. As Peter passed his way through the watery form of Bench, he abruptly found himself coming to a halt mid-way though.

"Shit." Spider-Man tried to punch and kick his way free, but to no avail. "Should have seen this coming. Thanks for nothing spider-sense."

The water crowded around Peter's mask, attempting to force it's way though the fabric and into his lungs. With both Felicia and Max preoccupied at the moment, it seemed unlikely that anyone would come to his aid. Then the water in front of his lenses began to bubble and heat in front of his eyes.

As the temperature quickly rose around him, Peter truly began to panic. His first thought was that Hydro-Man was no longer satisfied with drowning him, but wanted to boil him too. He kicked and punched and fired lines of web desperately towards the surface. His vision filled with red and just when he thought his last moments were upon him, the water disappeared with a sharp hisssss.

Collapsing to the ground in a coughing fit, Peter was vaguely aware of who his rescuer was.

"Oh my god." Liz gasped. "I think I just evaporated that guy…"

"Yeah," Peter choked. "I guess you did. Thanks, by the way."

"No problem." She was once again covered with flames, albeit with more of a semblance of control.

Liz was less of an inferno now and more of brilliant flame, floating feet off the ground and looking at Peter with concern.

"Am I going to get in trouble for that?" She asked.

"Not with me." Spider-Man straightened up. "DeWolff might have a few words though."

"I don't think she'll be having any words with anyone anytime soon. She was just captured by Speed Demon."

"Fuuhhhhhhhhhh." Peter groaned and pressed his palm to his face. "Wonderful. Just absolutely perfect. And here I was thinking that things were starting to go well."

"Look on the bright side." Liz grinned. "We're down one mutant, right?"

"Right."

"I totally evaporated the hell out of that guy."

"That you did."

The whole building shook, cutting off their conversation and rattling the ground beneath the feet with a deafening boom. Spider-Man turned and leapt towards the disturbance, with Liz hot on his heels. On the other side of the building, they found an enormous hole opening out to the university courtyard.

"Cat?" Spider-Man called, peering through the hole.

"Over here." She was lying on her back just outside the new library entrance. "If I peed my pants would you pretend it was from the rain?"

"It's not raining." Peter chuckled, moving over to help her to her feet.

"Oh."

"What happened?"

"Those assholes saw their buddy get melted and just decided to split." Felicia cradled her head. "You should have seen the sandy one. He grew to at least three times his size and punched his way through the wall. The wall, Spider."

"Yeah I figured that. Where's Electro?"

She pointed over his shoulder to where Electro was climbing to his feet, shaking off a hard blow as well. As Peter went over to help his friend, Felicia caught sight of her own.

"Hey there, hot stuff." Felicia grinned. "I'm glad you decided to join us."

"Oh yeah, so far it's been a blast." Liz floated down to ground. "Did you see me evaporate that guy?"

"You bet, Sister. If you weren't on fire and super naked right now, I'd totally give you a high five."

"Rain check?"

"Rain check."

Out of the building, Spider-Man and Electro came to join the two women outside. Scanning the surrounding area, Peter quickly decided that the remaining two Exterminators had effectively made their exit. If they didn't act fast, it would be back to the drawing board for the newborn team.

"Alright, Revengers Reconvene!" Spider-Man cried and thrust his fist into the air.

Electro, the Black Cat, and Firestar all exchanged looks.

"Try again, Partner." Felicia smirked.

"I'm telling you guys," Liz said. "The Defenders is a good name. It's totally available too."

"I vote we call ourselves: Electro and the Electrolytes." Max added. "I'll be Electro and you all can be the Electrolytes."

"Shut up and get over here!" Once everyone grouped around him, Peter continued. "Here's the situation for those unawares. DeWolff has been taken by Speed Demon, probably to Hammerhead himself. They must consider her a high enough ranking official to hold for ransom. With Sandman and Molten Man still out here, now would be the perfect time to assault their base of operations."

"Yeah, with their base unprotected it would be a cake walk, but should we leave the rest of the Exterminators to roam the city?" Felicia asked.

"No. That's why we got to split up." Spider-Man answered. "If I go after the Exterminators now, I should be able to catch up with them. I can hold them off while you and Electro track down DeWolff. We can end this tonight."

"What about me?" Liz asked.

"You'll be going with Spider-Man, of course." Felicia looked her friend up and down. "After we've gotten you decent."

"I dunno if…" Peter began.

"That's a good idea?" Electro finished. "Well we're out of options. You can't take on Sandman and Molten Man by yourself."

"I'd figure something out."

"We'd all feel better if you didn't go in alone, Spider."

"She'd be in danger though."

"I'm already in danger!" Liz cut in. "So let me help, you stubborn idiot!"

Peter exhaled deeply and squeezed the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

"Fine." He breathed. "Electro. Where can we get her a spare suit?"

"There should be some in the van."

"Alright then." Spider-Man raised his fist again. "Defender, disassemble!"

As the team moved quickly towards the van, putting their hastily constructed plan into motion, Felicia leaned in close next to Peter.

"Eh," She said with a wink. "It's a little better than the 'Revengers' at least."

Officer Johnson was staggering around weakly next to the overturned van when they arrived. Electro crossed directly to the rear doors and climbed inside in pursuit of a spare, fire-proof suit. Spider-Man approached Johnson.

"Easy there, big guy." He said, grabbing him by the arm. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh yeah," The policeman's eyes were widened and heavily dilated. "Just- getting my legs back."

"DeWolff's been taken." Peter explained, getting straight to the point. "Is there anything we could use to track her down?"

Johnson thought for a moment, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

"Radio." He eventually said. "If she still has her radio on her, then you can use the CV to get her location."

"Brilliant. That's a stroke of luck if I've ever seen one." Spider-Man half carried, half steered Johnson over to the curb and sat him down.

Electro emerged from the back of the van with a duffle bag under his arm.

"Here you go, kid." He said, dropping the bag next to Liz. "Try not to put any holes in it. These things are pretty expensive."

"Yeah, yeah." She brushed him off. "Everyone turn around. I'm gonna stop being on fire now."

As Liz quickly darted into the rear of the van to change, Spider-Man motioned the Black Cat and Electro back over to him.

"Her radio." Peter explained. "Johnson says you can like, triangulate her position or whatever with that. Find her and the mayor, and bring Hammerhead down. Look out for Speed Demon too. That guys a slippery bastard."

"You don't need to tell me." Felicia said. "So after we save DeWolff and you apprehend Sandman and Molten Man, we'll all be meeting up for dinner, right?"

"I could sure use a drink." Max admitted with a distant stare. "A long island ice tea. Jesus I haven't been to a bar in ages."

"If we all get out of this in one piece, I'll buy you as much booze as you want." Spider-Man slapped Electro on the arm.

"I'll hold you to that."

Liz emerged from the van, wonderfully clothed in the season's latest fashion of pitch black super suits.

"Be honest, Cat." She said, twisting her hips. "Does this work on me or not?"

"If I wasn't such a dirty straight, I'd totally tap that." Felicia responded with a laugh. "Are you ready to go?"

"About as ready as I'll ever be." Liz positioned herself next to Peter. "Did I hear something about long island ice teas?"

"Later." Peter answered. "Right now let's track down that brother of yours."

Firestar gave a small nod and closed her eyes. In a flash of light, she erupted into flames once more.

"Try and keep up, bug boy." She said before streaking into the sky.

Peter watched her fly upwards and turned to Felicia one last time.

"Take care of yourself, okay?" He said.

"Yeah, yeah." She nodded. "Just, uh… you too."

With a final wave towards Electro, Spider-Man turned and fired a web-line into the sky. The ground fell away from underneath him and Firestar steadily grew closer, as the web snapped with elasticity. Together the old hero and new hero set their sights on the streets below.

"Any idea where they would have gone?" He called to her.

"I dunno." She answered, flying in a lazy spiral. "But I'd follow those screams for a start."


I should have this arc wrapped up in two more chapters. Maybe more, if I get a little long winded. I did reach fifty chapters last time, so I guess that's a milestone, maybe? Either way, I'm excited to have a story last this long and to have people still reading it. Makes me curl up in my bed at night, all warm and cozy, with a smug- ass smile on my face.

It was really cool to hear what kind of super heroes you guys were into. I have to say though, I'm pretty disappointed in the lack of Aquaman fans. (not really, fuck that guy)

Thanks for reading.

- Mike