So I've been getting reviews asking if this fic is dead. No it's not but I've already established I'm not good at writing lighthearted romance fics so of course updates are going to be more sparse. Sorry about that but I can't help if I'm not good at it.
That and I've been dealing with stuff like new games and upcoming Thesis defense so that makes it harder to write romance. Hopefully this is enough cause until I manage to get some time this is all I can give.
Also, some people have suggested a possible harem and I'm gonna say now it ain't happening. While ship tease isn't off the table Peter/Gwen is pretty much set.
So...this was awkward.
Peter shifted from one foot to another and took an uncomfortable drink from his can of soda and looked at the two groups. After he got them to stop fighting they mutually agreed to go someplace to talk. Mr. Cage offered his club but Noir, Scarlet and Jessica immediately stamped that down. They didn't really like the idea of going a place filled with gangsters that he controlled.
Peni refused too, but it was pretty obvious that she just didn't like Mr. Cage wrecking her robot.
Eventually they agreed to go to Ms. Jones' place. Half of them were still wary going to some place they didn't know about but it was better than going in a rooftop where someone could snag a picture or listen in. Daredevil was worried too but Ms. Jones just said that she 'didn't do the whole secret identity thing so any asshole can just google where she lives'. Her words, not his.
The place was cramped. It reminded her of the old place she and May had before the blip. The walls had peeling paint and the rooms were too small for eleven people; though a lot of places would be, to be fair. The one thing that drew his attention was all the bottles of alcohol everywhere. A couple on top of the fridge, a few empty ones at the couch and a half-filled one on her desk. The entire place smelled of it and he half-expected to have a hangover tomorrow.
The two groups stuck to their own corners. Daredevil and Mr. Cage crossed their arms and didn't say anything while Ms. Jones halfheardy drank her cup of whiskey. To his right were his fellow Spiders. Peni and Mayday sat on the couch while the other Spiders sans Noir either clung to the walls or hung on the ceiling. Neither of the groups said anything but the tension was thick enough to cut with a lightsaber. Especially Peni who continuously death glared at Mr. Cage with unblinking eyes. He actually looked uncomfortable as much as he tried to hide it.
The only ones in the center were him and Iron Fist. Peter didn't know him very well but he'd agreed the most about making peace, "So..." Iron Fist clapped his hands. It was far louder than normal in the small, quiet space, "Spider-Man suggested that we all talk and try to figure out a compromise. So...let's talk."
"I dunno what's there to talk about," Mr. Cage said, "Just gimme that guy who tried to bomb my club and we all go our separate ways. Sounds fair."
"Last I checked gangsters cared more about sending a message than actually solving problems," Noir scoffed. He was leaning against the wall his arms crossed and the harsh, dim light made him look like something out of a Batman comic, "We hand him over to you and any lead we have on finding the guy pulling the strings is going down the Hudson river in cement shoes."
"Do you think I'm stupid? Someone obviously just paid off that guy and I'm not going to risk more bombings just to get rid of a hired good."
"Alright maybe I'm just being a killjoy here but you ever think maybe we just cut out the vigilante and crime lord bullshit and just hand him over to the cops?" Ms. Jones said.
"I kinda suggested that earlier..." Mayday muttered.
"We aren't exactly on friendly terms with the police here," Scarlet said, "If we just hand the guy over we can kiss any chance of a lead goodbye. We'll give him over to the cops once we get the info on him, that's it."
"Maybe it's ironic for me to say but why do any of you have to be involved?" Daredevil asked, "Unless the police are incapable of solving this crime, and we have no reason to think they aren't, leaving the witness to them seems like the best option."
"And what happens if they can't? Another place gets blown up? Not a chance," Gwen said. The mask of her eyes were narrowed and she hadn't stopped glaring at Daredevil ever since they all grouped up. He'd ask her why later, "Maybe you're fine with risking innocent people, but we're not." Peter didn't point out how she and Mayday weren't exactly fans of the whole kidnapping thing earlier.
"Hey, no one's saying we wanna risk innocent people," Iron Fist said defensively, "But there's really no point in arguing, is there? We both want the same thing."
"He's right." Peter nodded, "Maybe Mr. Cage, Noir and Scarlet made poor first impressions but we all wanna make sure there aren't any more terrorist attacks in the city." So far crime was pretty low without any new villains but Jessica said it wouldn't last. Right now people were too relieved to be alive again or sticking to small crimes like purse snatching and petty theft to get enough money to feed themselves. Once the lull past, she said, crime would come back worse than ever.
"No offense but I don't really trust the word of a crime lord. All that bullshit about being the devil you know never actually works." Scarlet scoffed. That was another thing. Apparently Mr. Cage really was a crime lord, which was...well, it was really disappointing. Even before he got blipped he heard rumors about the Hero of Harlem and wanted to meet him. Maybe they could've teamed up or something.
"I don't trust him either." Peni gave the towering man a look that could peel paint while her spider bared its fangs on her shoulder. He shifted from one foot to another and pointedly looked away.
"Well we gotta do something. If you assholes can't stop pissing on each other whoever sent that guy to bomb Harlem's paradise is gonna going going," Ms. Jones said, "We don't gotta be friends or anything. You hate each other? Fine. But if you don't stop glaring at each other you might as well drop the guy off with the cops so someone actually does do something about it."
"I agree." Jessica hopped down from the roof and landed with a small thump on the center table without managing to displace any of the empty bottles, "I've been through my fair share of left hand vs right hand and it never gets any less stupid. We're already breaking the law by kidnapping someone so working with the crime boss who doesn't want his place bombed isn't a bad idea."
"But-"
"It doesn't have to be a permanent thing," Daredevil said, cutting off Peni's protest, "We're not asking for complete trust or to be a team. We both want the same thing and have no reason to turn on one another. We only need to cooperate for as long as we find the guy pulling his strings. Sound fair?"
"Wouldn't be what I'd call it..." Gwen muttered.
"It sounds fair," Peter said before anyone else could protest, "Daredevil's right. We can work together to find this guy and it'll be better if we aren't fighting. I mean we can all agree that we don't want Harlem to turn into a crater, right?" He looked between the two groups. They all reluctantly nodded, some slower than others, "See? There's no point in fighting here. Let's save it for the actual bad guys."
"Don't forget there's an actual crime lord in the room, Tiger," Scarlet said lightly. Despite her tone Peter didn't miss the way the fingers on her right hand shifted to claws before quickly changing back.
"So we're all agreed. We work together on this till we can find out who's behind trying to bomb places," Mayday said. Her tone left no room for argument.
They all agreed with varying degrees of enthusiasm and Iron Fist spoke next, "We're gonna need places to meet. You guys - uh, Spiders - didn't wanna go to Luke's club and I doubt Jess wants us crashing her place all the time."
"I'll deal with it. Shouldn't be too hard to find any abandoned buildings, especially not after what happened to this place," Noir said, "More important we gotta find a way to keep contact. None of us here are gonna unmask and I doubt anyone here wants to give their personal 'celullar phone' numbers." Ms. Jones raised a brow. Probably cause of the way he said that.
"We can't all focus on the same leads. There's enough of us here that we can afford to branch out," Daredevil said, "Since we're going to be sharing intel I should probably tell you that Luke found an encrypted data drive a few weeks ago that might be connected to whoever supplying these bombs. The issue now is unlocking it since whoever made its security measures was very careful. Any attempt to crack it hasn't worked so far."
"Oh, then Peni might be..." Peter trailed off when she saw the death glare the younger girl was still sporting. He'd fought Thanos in Titan and he wasn't as scared then as when Peni turned to him, "Uh...I mean, only if she wants."
Mr. Cage shifted uncomfortably, "I don't think that's a good-"
"I'd be happy to help!" Peni said suddenly, giving Mr. Cage a beaming smile. Her eyes didn't match her expression.
"I'm not any good at that tech wazoo so I'll keep investigating."
"Same," Jessica said.
"Guess we'll be working together, then," Ms. Jones said. She finally set her cup of whiskey down, "Just make sure you two don't drag behind. I'm not babysitting either of you."
"We'll be fine. Just make sure you don't assault someone again before I get my next lead." Ms. Jones blinked, trying to process what the heck that meant, before Iron Fist cut in.
"I'll do some investigating too. I've been hearing rumors from the triads that there's this new player in town and that he was really into weapons smuggling. Maybe I can find something there," Iron Fist said.
"I can help with that," Peter said. So far Iron Fist seemed like he was the most reasonable. That and Peter would've been lying if he said he wasn't curious about the guy with the glowing fist.
"Count me in too. Triads sound like something right up my alley," Scarlet said.
"Guess that leaves me and Spider-Woman to work with Daredevil," Mayday said. It was clear that Gwen wasn't happy about it but she didn't say anything. Daredevil shifted his head slightly to look at her and she looked away defensively, "We can buy some burner phones by tomorrow then meet up here again so we can pass out numbers. After that we can do our own investigating. Sound fair?"
"Sure. Just don't all come in at the same time again. My landlord's gonna kick me out if we do this shit again," Ms. Jones said.
They went their separate ways after that. The rest of the Spiders went back home while and Gwen swung back home in complete silence. He didn't like it. Gwen usually had a quip or comment and made sure their swing-alongs never felt boring. Now she was swinging ahead of him and ignored his attempts to talk to her through their comms. She really wasn't happy.
They barely crawled through the window to his room and unmasked before he grabbed her hand, "Hey..." She turned around and her scowl turned to a look of guilt covered her face, "...Are you okay?"
"Yes. No. I dunno." She sighed and they both sat down on his bed, "It's just...ah, it's stupid. You'll think I'm being a moron."
"Talk to me. I promise I won't judge."
"Sure about that?" She smiled, though it was strained, "It's just...I think I know who Daredevil is."
"You do?"
"Yeah. I've been through the alternate dimension rodeo a few times. It's...I think he's Matt Murdock." Peter's brows furrowed. Matt Murdock, the former kingpin of crime who ruined Gwen's life back in her home, "Every time I go to another dimension he's always Daredevil. Like how Peter Parker is always Spider-Man." He squeezed her hand, "It's like the universe taking a dump on my cereal."
"You hate him?"
"Yeah," she said again with a nod, "And I know it's stupid. Every time I've seen Daredevil he's apparently this big time hero and a force of good and justice but I just...I can't remove it. Every time I think of him all I remember is the smug bastard who smiled when he tried to break, laughed when he told me that Rhino beat my dad into a coma and I was so busy with my own problems I couldn't be there to help him."
"Gwen..."
"And I know I'm being a big hypocrite! You're not my Peter any more than Noir is and I can accept that but with Murdock it's just-"
He pulled her into a sudden hug. It wasn't strong - she could've pushed him away easily if she wanted - but she leaned into the embrace and pressed her face against the crook of his neck, "It's alright, Gwen." He rubbed soothing circles against the small of her back the same way Uncle Ben did when he was a kid, "I don't blame you for hating the guy after everything he did to you. Just...please try to remember that this Daredevil wasn't the one who did all those things."
"...Okay." She nodded and closed her eyes, "Sorry for ruining the mood."
"You didn't." He pulled back slightly and smiled at her, "Remember, if you ever need to talk to me you just have to ask. I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you so if you need someone to vent to then I'm always here. Okay?"
"Sure." She smiled, and this time it was genuine. He smiled back, "I'm just being a drama queen, I guess. I'll cool it when I meet up with him next time." She looked at the clock on the wall. A few minutes past 10 pm. He really needed to sleep; he still had school tomorrow, "Hey...you mind if I crash here for the night? May said that she was gonna be doing Salvation Army stuff and wasn't coming back."
The invitation was clear as day. If he was stronger he might've told her he needed to really turn in or that May told them to tone down any R18 stuff while they were still living together.
"Sure. Totally. No problem."
He wasn't a strong person.
By the time he woke up the sun was high in the sky and someone was knocking on his door, "Bwuh?" He looked up slightly from his face down position and blinked out the blurriness in his eyes. Next to him Gwen was still sleeping with the blanket covering her body. They were both naked and their clothes were scattered around the bed and floor in messy heaps.
Before he could tell whoever it was on the other side to wait a second the door suddenly opened and Ned stepped through, "Hey dude, we really gotta- woah!" The scream was enough to jolt Gwen awake. She slipped off the bed and landed on her feet in battle ready position.
For a second there was nothing but quiet. Gwen and Ned just looked at each other, eyes wide, till Ned's eyes looked down just a bit and Gwen remembered she was still in the buff, "Bit of privacy, please!" she shouted. Ned rushed out and closed the door behind him, shouting apologies all the while. Again an awkward quiet settled over the two of them and Gwen winced, "This is a first."
"Yeah..." Peter rubbed the back of his head and quickly got some clothes from the nearby closet for the both of them. Gwen wasn't much of a Star Wars fan but she didn't complain when he handed her the bright blue printed shirt, "I'll...talk to Ned. He won't say anyithing to May." He somehow managed to keep the whole Spider thing under wraps, "I'll see you later?"
"Definitely."
They shared a quick kiss then changed clothes. Peter was out of the room in under a minute and found Ned at the couch looking down at his ipad with a very forced expression of 'I didn't just see Spider-Woman naked', "...Hey." His head snapped up at Peter's greeting and the tablet fell to the ground. Peter shot a webline before it could make impact and pulled it towards him, "Careful. Don't wanna break it again."
"Yeah, thanks..." Ned took it back and looked down at his shoes, "So...you and Spider-Woman are-"
"Could we not talk about it?" Peter said quickly.
"Huh? O-Oh, yeah, sure! I just wanted to apologize. Didn't think I'd walk in on you two...you know."
"It happens." Not to him, but it did happen. He shook his head, "Look, why did you wanna come over anyway?"
"Huh? Oh, this." They both left to go to school while Gwen pulled up a drawing on the ipad's screen, "See remember when were talking about the nanomachines in your suit and how we could improve it?"
"Sure. What about it?"
"So I was chatting with Karen - she's really nice, by the way - and we were actually thinking that maybe we can use the nanos for something besides buffing up the suit. Remember when Iron Man had the Iron Legion? Think Spider Legion! You make a bunch of other Spider-Men with the nanomachines and Karen can control them. You can be, like, a one man army! Total Mantorok from Beast Slayer vibe!"
"That's...awesome!" he yelled. A few people turned to look at him and he lowered his voice, "Yeah, that'll be really cool! Like I go fight the bad guys while the Spider clone goes and helps people or calls the police. Definitely make things easier."
"Yep. It's still just planning stuff but if the three of us work on it then we can totally get this Spider Legion thing going."
They chatted excitedly all the way to school. Lessons passed by in a blur and before he knew it lunchtime came. He and Ned looked through the crowded halls for anywhere to sit until a hand waved through the air, "Hey losers, over here," Michelle called. Peter looked and barely held back a grimace when he saw her and the other Gwen sitting across one another. There was nowhere else to sit.
"Hey, Peter." Gwen smiled. God, it felt weird calling her that, even though it shouldn't be.
"H-Hey." He tried to smile back. Judging by the way she blinked owlishly at him it probably didn't look too good, "So, uh...Gwen, Ned said you already signed up for the decathlon team?"
"Yep! MJ said she was gonna introduce me to the rest of the team after classes finish." MJ already? That was fast. It took them years before they got to the nickname stage, "I'm actually kinda nervous. Any advice for the newbie?"
"Nothing really. They're all pretty cool." Except Flash. He didn't hate the guy but he wasn't exactly going to be shedding tears if he had to move away to Alaska or something, "Actually, my advice is plug your ears whenever Flash talks. Your brain cells will thank you later."
"I'll keep that in mind." Gwen II laughed under her breath. Michelle gave him a look and Peter ignored her.
Introducing Gwen to the rest of the decathlon went pretty well. Everyone, even Flash, was happy to have a new member and they accepted her with open arms. They all separated into their own little study corners with Gwen joining him and Ned. He had to admit, identity awkwardness aside Stacy (it was better than calling her Gwen II) was cool to talk to. And pretty good with history, which was useful. He was always pretty bad at it.
"So let's make a deal. You help me get my Physics up to an A+ and I'll cover you for history. Deal?" she asked with a grin. He tried to ignore how similar it looked to Gwen despite them looking completely different.
"Deal." They shook hands and got to work. As long as they were just focusing on the books the awkwardness from yesterday went away.
They'd exchanged tips for an hour when another voice cut in, "Hey, loser." Peter grimaced as Flash walked towards them with a grin. Five years being blipped didn't change him much, "Trying to cozy up to the new girl already? Try not to be so desperate, huh?"
"Flash, would you just-"
"Screw off, dude." Stacy said. Flash's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sudden backlash, "You're not big man on campus and no one cares that you have a better car than the rest of us. It doesn't change the fact that you have a tiny dick and that no one here likes you." Her lips quirked up in a sickly sweet smile while Flash, Peter and Ned gaped. Where the hell did that come from?"
"Hey I was just-"
"No one cares. Just leave us alone so we can get some actual studying done. Not all of us can afford to have our parents pay to let us in here."
Flash's face went beet red with anger and he looked like he was about to shout something before thinking better of it and stomping off. Gwen looked at him and Ned and blinked, "What?"
"That was...kinda harsh," Ned said.
"Not really? I've seen how he hassles Peter and some of the other students and I heard about the whole Penis Parker thing." Peter winced, "See? I figured that guy needed a taste of his own medicine. I dunno how you guys deal with him."
"He kinda grows on you. Like a fungus," Peter snarked.
"Ha. Yeah...I hate bullies. Old friend I had back in France dropped out of school because this girl wouldn't stop hassling her. So if that Flash turd starts talking crap then I'm not just gonna 'live with it'." She tapped her book with a grin, "Now can we finish the lesson? I promised my dad I'd get a better grade on my next test."
Another half hour of learning passed. He and Gwen exchanged numbers and he almost typed her in as 'Gwen' in the contacts before remembering to change it. No need to be confused, "So I'll see you around?" Gwen asked, adjusting the straps of her backpack. Like the rest of her style it was instricately designed with the purple surface covered in a mess of pins and a sharpie drawing.
"Sure. Just gimme a heads up if you need anything." His smile came easy this time.
Peter walked to his lockers and stuffed a few books in when foosteps came from his right, "Hey." MJ leaned against the locker with his arms crossed.
"Hey...?"
"Looks like you and Gwen are getting along," she said with a smirk.
"Yeah. She's cool."
"Familiar, maybe?" Peter pointedly pursed his lips and didn't say anything. Michelle held her hands up, "I'm just saying. Anyway. how was your thing yesterday?"
"My thing? ...Oh, yeah, that." He'd almost forgotten Michelle saw after everything that happened, "It was nothing. May just needed help with some of the Salvation Army stuff. They've been pretty busy lately." It was a good enough excuse. Technically he did help May a bunch as Spider-Man.
"Oh? Coulda sworn I heard Spider in there somewhere."
'Yeah...there was a big spider in the office."
"And she called you to get rid of it?"
"Yes."
She just looked at him flatly while he shifted from one foot to another. Most people had gone home already so the hallway was deserted except for the two of them, "Right...well, I just wanted to give you something. You dropped it in chem class."
She tossed him a capped vial that he caught automatically. He looked down at the glass on his palm and his heart practically jumped to his throat when he saw the thick, white web fluid inside. Did she...no, she couldn't have known. Without the webshooter mechanisms it was thick and sticky but nothing that couldn't be chalked up to a chemistry mistake.
"Uh...thanks. But you know you could've just tossed it. It's just something I messed up in chem class."
"Really? What were you trying to make?"
"It a while ago. Don't even remember." Peter shut his locker, "So listen, I really gotta go. I have something to do."
"More spiders?" Her smirk widened.
"Uh...no. Gotta help prepare dinner." He gripped his backpack tightly and fastwalked out of school. Okay, she was definitely suspicious. Did she think he was Spider-Man? No, wouldn't make sense. As far as everyone knew he was blipped and spent the first couple of weeks trying to adjust to the world like the rest of them. Maybe she thought he knew Spider-Man, then? That would make sense.
He ducked into an alley and changed into his suit. He agreed to meet up with Scarlet before they went to Ms. Jones' place.
Scarlet was crouched over a high building's roof with her mask off. She didn't look up when he landed behind her, "Sup." She waved slightly but kept looking down at the afternoon view. Peter crouched down next to her and hummed. Even after being Spider-Man for a few years there were times he stopped at high places and just looked at the view. Really reminded him of why he put on the suit.
"Something on your mind?"
"Just feeling homesick." She turned slightly to look at him and he was reminded of the Mary Jane back in Gwen's dimension. They looked almost identical but there was an edge to Scarlet that the Mary Jane he knew didn't have, "I mean no offense to your dimension, Tiger, but there really is no place like home."
"Yeah, I get that." He nodded. As much as he enjoyed spending time with Gwen in her home he couldn't ignore the longing feeling of going back to his New York, "And...I'm sorry that you're stuck here."
"It's not your fault. All of us decided we wanted in on saving a whole dimension and it does make me feel better about myself." Because she killed people. Peter tried his best not to but Mr. Stark taught him that sometimes it was necessary. Scarlet, Noir, Jessica, and even Peni weren't afraid to kill, "Anyway we should really go to that Jones place. Crimson's getting antsy to deal with some Triads."
"You're not gonna go too far...right?"
"Depends on what they did."
She let herself fall and swung away before he could respond. With a sigh, Peter followed her lead.
Defenders team-up underway. For those who want a full list of who's teaming up with who:
Jessica Jones - Jessica Drew and Noir
Matt Murdock - Gwen and Mayday
Iron Fist - Peter and Scarlet
Luke Cage - Peni Parker
Gwen with Daredevil seemed like a no-brainer and Peni's with Luke mostly for the hilarity of her being really pissy at him for wrecking her mech and somehow intimidating a guy when she barely comes up to his waist. Jones is with Drew and Noir cause of the detective angle while Iron Fist and MCU Peter fit with being good bois while Scarlet gives them a bit of an edge to work with.
This also means interacting with the side characters like Noir and Drew talking with Malcolm or Gwen and Mayday talking with Foggy and Karen Page.
Questions:
1. I put a poll up to see if people wanna tackle the EDITH plot or change Mysterio's motivation for something non-Stark related. Please vote there on your thoughts.
2. Which pairs do you wanna see first in the next chapter? Pick any of the four above.
Review Answers:
corbinskydragon1 - Peter's probably keeping his distance from Starktech for a bit while mourning Tony. As for patents, that takes a while and none of them really have legal identities. That and they already do jobs. Even outside of that Peni's mentioned to be mining coins so that's a fallback fund if needed.
Dragon Rider 66 - Mayday might complain but Ultimate Jessica actually is a lesbian so she wouldn't mind Peter's excuse.
Cross-Z Magma - Yeah I wanted to avoid hero v. hero fights.