MAB86: That he is. You'll find out about them soon enough. That she will.

The Story's Shadow: It's fine. Sorry, I meant to say him. Yeah, Dark Web is a fun villain to write. You should hear it, it's quite well done. You'll find out who they are soon enough.

Noble Six: Thanks. They might do.

Avengers Tower

Back in the Avengers main base, Iron Man was currently receiving the recent news about the latest encounter with the Gliders from Hawkeye.

"And that's pretty much what happened," Hawkeye informed Stark as he had his arms crossed. "They managed to get away with some of what they needed. Whatever it is."

"At least they didn't get everything they needed." Falcon said as he looked over some of the leftover tech that was left behind. "Hopefully with this, we can find out what their attempting to build." Sam said.

"Yeah, and something tells me it's not gonna be an intergalactic theatre or something." Scott Lang said as he was currently in his shrunken form, looking over the tech with Sam, looking for any clues that might have been left.

"Nah, bad guys are focused on conquest then fun." Tony remarked to Lang. He then turned to Hawkeye. "So how'd it went with the junior heroes? I imagine they might have given you a bit of grief." Tony said with an amused look towards the archer.

Clint rolled his eyes at him. "Well, I'm not gonna lie, there were a few who were more...confrontational than most." Clint said as he crossed his arms. "That Scarlet kid really has an edge to him, doesn't get along with anyone and is a pain in the ass," Clint listed off.

"Remind you of anyone?" Falcon said with a smirk, causing Scott to chuckle under his breath as Clint sent an annoyed glare at the pair.

"But yeah, I gotta admit, they were pretty great out there." Clint said. "I'd almost say they'd be good candidates for future Avengers...almost." Clint said.

"Glad to see you so modest, Clint." Tony smirked. "I knew you were a softie underneath that attitude." Tony remarked.

"Don't get used to it." Clint said as he turned around and headed for the elevator. "I'm heading out to meet up with Nat for patrol." Clint said. "Good luck with trying to find out where those gilders are." Clint said as he went inside of the lift and the doors closed behind him.

"Let's hope we do." Tony thought to himself as he turned around to where Sam and Scott were. "So then boys, what have we got so far?" The Iron Avenger asked his fellow Avengers.

Falcon sighed in response. "Nothing yet, so far, we haven't been able to find out why these Gilders are using these types of tech."

"So do we have any idea on what these guys want?" Ant-Man asked, hoping for an answer so they would have a clue to beat them.

"At the moment, no." Iron Man responded as he walked over to the holo-table. "But with that these Gilders are stealing, I got a pretty good guess."

"What was Roxxon even doing with this type of tech?" Falcon asked as he held up some of said tech in his hands. "These are way too much for people like Roxxon." Falcon said.

"A question we'll have to figure out for another time," Tony said as he walked over to the bench with the remaining equipment on it and looked over it. "Roxxon isn't the only place these guys have stolen from. There have also been reports of stolen tech and equipment from either old Hydra bases or abandoned AIM facilities." Tony listed off.

"What do you think they could be building." Scott asked.

"Something bad, it always is." Tony said as he picked up a wrench. "Now then, let's get to work." Tony said as he Sam and Scott got back to learning this tech and learned what the Gilders intentions are with them.

Lounge Room

In the lounge room of Avengers Tower, the young heroes that went with Widow and Hawkeye on the latest patrol were just telling their fellow heroes of what happened on their mission and how they beat the gilders.

"Wow," Dagger said, impressed by the recent events. "It sounds like those gilders gave you a hard time."

"Believe me, they did." Miles said as he scratched the back of his head. "But we managed to pull through and beat those guys."

Power Man nodded in response. "Yeah, but I just wished that we could've been able to take those guys all in one go."

"Patience, Luke," Danny said in a calm tone as he was sitting on the floor in a meditative position. "In time, our enemy will reveal themselves once more. Like a leaf in the wind, we must not fight against the flow of it, less we diverge on a destructive path." Danny said as his fellow team members gave the Iron Fist a few odd looks.

"It's someone he does. You will get used to it," Cage shrugged.

"Hey, where's Scarlet?" Dagger asked as she looked around and saw that he wasn't here with them. "I thought he was with you guys during the patrol?"

"He was." Miles answered. "But he left for somewhere else, didn't tell me where though."

"Ah, he's probably off brooding somewhere." Agent Venom casually dismissed. "Being a total pain, that sort of thing."

"What do you think that guy's problem is?" Dagger asked. "He doesn't seem very...well," Dagger tried to find the right word to say.

"A jerk?" Luke suggested.

"Very rude?" Danny added.

"A complete ass?" Agent Venom finished.

"Um...yes, I guess." Dagger said in an unsure tone.

"To be fair, he's spent most of his time in the underground sewers of New York," Iron Spider said. "You can't exactly blame him for being a little...anti social."

Flash scoffed. "Doesn't mean he ain't a jerk."

"At least Ava manages to rein him in from causing any fights." Luke said.

"That's just the type of persona Ava is," Iron Fist said. "Stern yet fair."

"Hey has anyone even seen Ava?" Miles asked his fellow heroes.

"I haven't." Flash admitted.

"I think I saw her head into the training room." Iron Spider said. "She said she wanted time to herself."

"She's still feeling down?" Luke asked as he crossed his arms.

Dagger nodded in response. "Yeah, she's been keeping to herself and doesn't really want to talk about Spidey."

"I know, every time I try and bring it up she either tells me not to talk about it or tells me to focus on the task at hand." Miles said.

"Man, she's pretty upset." Luke said.

"It's not surprising." Iron Spider said. "She's the one who misses Peter the most."

"Yeah because of her...feelings about him?" Miles whispered to the group.

"Why are you whispering?" Dagger asked.

"I want to be careful in case she hears me." Miles said.

"She doesn't have super hearing, Miles." Luke said.

"I don't wanna take that risk, just in case." Miles stated.

Gym Room

In the Gym Room of Avengers Tower was Ava Ayala, still in her suit, sans mask. After she came back from her mission with Avengers and the New Warriors, she decided she needed time to train and hone her skills. She wanted to be prepped and ready for the next fight that came from the Gilders. She needed to be on point for next time.

Right now the feline heroine was currently punching a heavy bag, putting in all of her strength on the bag.

"Gotta be ready...for when they come back again." Ava muttered to herself as she kept punching the bag again and again, letting loose all of her strength on the punching bag to try and hone her skills. Her encounter with The Gilders showed her that she needed room for improvement.

But while she tried to keep herself distracted with training, this couldn't shake away the thoughts of worry she had for her leader, teammate and friend, Spider-Man, or rather Peter Parker. It had been a long while, or at least to her, since she had seen him, since when the portal first appeared, The Gilders arrived and that older version of Peter came onto the scene and took her...their version of Peter off with him.

Before all of this started, she wanted to tell Peter something, something very important that she needed to get off her chest. And she had hoped that after they took down AIM and Hydra on that day that feels like almost a lifetime to her, she wanted to tell Peter how much she meant to her.

When she first saw him, she wasn't impressed, she thought he was sloppy and reckless and wondered why Fury chose him of all people to lead. But she trusted Fury, even if she still had her doubts about Peter. But ever since then, he had proved her wrong and showed that he was more than capable of leading not just her and the old team, but even the New Warriors and even his own spider squad, even if one of the spiders was in fact a jackass on how he acted towards the others.

She had even grown quite fond of Peter, she found him to be quite...respectable, admirable and even...well, charming. And over time as she got to know him more she...liked him in a different way than anyone expected. But she didn't wanna let her teammates know, the teasing from Nova would be endless no matter how many times she would threaten him.

But now...she was worried. Worried that she may not see Peter in a long time. Who knows how long it would take to form a spider-army. She's been told before that the Multiverse is infinite and it made her wonder if he was ever going to come back.

"You okay there, Miss Ayala?" A voice spoke to the feline heroine, who perked up and turned to see Captain America standing there by the door.

"Oh! Um, y-yes Captain...sir!" White Tiger briefly stuttered before she regained her composure, caught off guard by the sudden presence of the First Avenger.

"No need to be so formal, Miss Ayala." Steve said, causing Ava to nod in respect in response. "Don't let me stop you from training." Steve said as he gestured to the punching bag. "Even though you might need a new one."

Ava was confused until she turned to see the bag hand a few hole marks through it and the sand was pouring out of it. "Oh, sorry." Ava sheepishly apologized.

Cap shook his head in response. "No worries," Steve said as he went towards a door handle and opened, revealing a closet filled with punching bags. Cap causally picked one up with one hand. "We go through these things very easily." Cap said as he replaced the beaten down bag with the new one.

"You need someone to keep a hold of it?" Cap offered.

"Thanks, it'd be really great." Ava said. Cap smiled and went to the other side of the bag and kept a tight hold of it and Ava began punching the bag once more.

"I heard that you and your fellow Warriors did well on your recent patrol," Cap commented as Ava continued to train. "You did real good work out there,"

Ava smiled at the compliment, "Thank you, Cap, but it would've been better if we had gotten all of the Gilders, then maybe we could've stopped them from stealing that equipment."

"I've learned that you gotta take the victories where you can get them, Miss Ayala," Steve said. "You still did good in taking down a number of them, and over time, we'll get them all."

"Thank you, Cap." Ava smiled at the Captain and still kept punching the bag.

"Not a problem," Steve nodded. "I also heard from Nat that you've been missing your leader," Steve said to Ava, causing her to stop hitting the punching bag.

"Yeah..." Ava responded in a somewhat downed down, but quickly regained her focus and continued hitting the bag. "But I can't afford to let my emotions get the better of me. I have to focus on the Gilders invading."

"Understandable," Steve said. "But it's perfectly fine if you miss him. It has been a long while and no one would blame you if you missed him." Steve said. "And I can tell that you're worried as well."

Ava looked at the Avenger and sighed in response as she stopped hitting the bag and spoke. "It's been weeks since he left with Drifter and I'm worried that..." Ava couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence.

"That he might not come back." Steve finished, to which Ava nodded in response and went back to punching the bag.

"You mentioned that when this invasion started, there was a man by the name of Drifter that came along as well," Steve asked. "And that this Drifter was an alternative version of Spider-Man."

"Yes, he was, sir." Ava spoke with respect.

"What was he like?" Steve asked.

Ava looked at the Captain with a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I admit, I'm not much of a science guy, most of what Tony says sometimes goes over my head, but he mentioned that sometimes people from the Multiverse are different from ourselves." Steve said. "Was this Drifter any different from the Spider-Man you know?"

Ava thought about what Cap said. When Drifter came onto the scene, he acted very differently from the Spidey she knew. Drifter was far more focused and serious than Peter was, he didn't even crack a single joke once. And when he unmasked, there was something about his face. It looked like a mixture of tiredness, seriousness and something else she couldn't explain.

"He was...he was like Spidey, but older, more skilled and...different." Ava said. "Like, there was something about him, it was clear that he's been around for a while or something like that. He seemed...I don't know but, he was definitely Spider-Man."

"Well if that's the case, then Spider-Man, our Spider-Man, should be fine." Cap said.

Ava was slightly confused by this." What do you mean?"

"What I'm saying is, Miss Ayala, is that if this Drifter is anything like the Spider-Man you know, then the Spider-Man you know should be in safe hands." Steve said.

"But if you ask me, I think he's fine where he is and what he's doing." Cap said. "From what I've seen from him, Spider-Man is the bravest and noblest person to fight for the world he cares for. Trust me, I've seen it before." Steve said. "And I know it can be difficult at times, worrying if he'll ever be back. But I'll say this, Spider-Man seems like the type of person to come back to the people he cares about." Steve said as Ava looked at him, stunned. "Am I right?" Steve asked.

"Yeah...Yeah, your right." Ava nodded, a small smile forming under her mask.

"Good," Steve nodded and smiled. "I'm glad we could clear that up." Steve said as he walked back to the exit door of the gym. "I wish I could help continue training, but I'm gonna sort out another patrol squad to see if any of those Gilders haven't left a trail we could follow, you coming?" Steve asked.

"No, sir," Ava said. "I think I'll stay here for a little bit longer, but when I'm ready, then I'll join." Ava said.

"Good to hear, see you soon," Steve said as he turned and exited the room, leaving Ava a new found feeling to hold onto.

"He's right," Ava thought to herself. "I gotta have faith in Peter and believe he'll come back to us." Ava thought to herself. "He put his faith in me to protect this city and lead the team. So that's what I'll do, to make him proud and to make sure that not a single Gilder will accomplish their goal. I'll make sure of it." Ava thought as she went back to her training routine, vowing to herself that she'd be here to protect her city until Peter came back and she knew...then when he did, he'd know he'd put his faith in the right person, a person that cared for him more than anyone else.

Thanks for reading this chapter of the story.

I know this was a little short, but I'd figured I'd showed a chapter showing how Ava and the rest of the heroes were doing back on Earth. Things will escalate between her and the Gilders soon enough I can promise you that.

Next chapter, tensions rise in the spider team as Sheriff-Spider confronts Drifter on his secrecy and his dealings with the Chameleon. But they might not even get a chance to hash things out before they're confronted by the sinister mutations sent by Dark Web. And unlike before, they are far tougher and far more dangerous than any gilder could be.

Thanks and see you around!