Happy New Years! I wanted to do this before the new year hit where I live but I got lazy. Oh well, New Years Day is good enough. As per the votes this chapter will focus on the groups of Mayday/Gwen/Daredevil and Peni/Luke. Next chapter will be Scarlet/IronFist/MCU Peter and Jessica/Jessica/Noir.
Also, votes for Original Plot vs EDITH plot is perfectly equal currently with 14 votes each. Guess some people really do want Mysterio to be a non-Iron Man villain.
This chapter is for Nerdman3000. Hopefully you enjoy :)
Well...this was awkward.
Mayday shifted from one foot to another and crossed her arms. She agreed to meet up with Gwen and Daredevil but so far their third addition was late and with every minute that passed Gwen's mood only worsened.
She looked at the other Spider pacing left and right in front of her. It started off with just a few mumbled words under her breath and tapping her foot impatiently. Now she was walking like clockwork with her hands clenching and unclenching into tight, shaky fists.
This was a bad idea. She knew Gwen had issues with Daredevil because of her own experiences but it'd slipped her mind when she first volunteered them. She asked her earlier if she wanted to skip out, told her that she could handle it on her own, but Gwen insisted that she could be cool. Anything to help Peter, she said. A sweet thought but it was really obvious that it was easier said than done.
"Where the hell is he?" Gwen muttered. The sun was down and the lights of the city that never sleeps shined bright against Gwen's back. This New York was different from her's and Gwen's. She still remembered the neon lights and advertisements from Gwen's dimension. Gave her a headache the first couple of times she went and she'd joked with Gwen about how she lived in a bad cyberpunk comic.
Here everything felt...she didn't know how to describe it. It was pretty close to Mayday's own New York but it was clear the Richards family hadn't boosted up tech yet. Reminded her of the pictures her dad showed when he was just a teenager. Except for flip phones. Her dimension still had those while every other one she'd been to always used those weird, flat smartphones. She didn't see what was so smart about them.
"Chill, Gwen. He'll be here," Mayday said.
"How do you know?" Gwen stopped pacing and looked at her with narrowed eyes, "You don't know who this guy is-"
"And neither do you." Mayday interrupted firmly. As much as she hated being the nagging hero sometimes it was necessary. Teaming up with people like Darkdevil or Buzz meant she had to do it more than she would've liked, "I get that you have issues with your Daredevil but he hasn't given us a reason to not trust him. Remember, he was the first one to agree with Spider-Man that we needed to stop fighting."
Gwen crossed her arms and looked away, the mask of her eyes narrowed. Even without seeing her face Mayday could see the frown clear as day, "...Fine." Gwen sat atop the nearby ventilation fan and crossed her right leg over her right, foot bobbing up and down restlessly. Mayday sighed. She really should've just kept her mouth shut about volunteering them both. Or maybe taken someone else. Noir might've been a jerk but he usually kept his thoughts to himself.
Another fifteen minutes passed before Daredevil's red streaked figure eventually landed a short distance away. From what she remembered of her dad's stories Daredevil never actually had any powers; and he was blind on top of it. There was a reason they called him the Man Without Fear.
"Sorry for being late. Something came up," he said. Mayday heard the slight strain in his breath and furrowed her brows worriedly, "Heard stories about an old...acquaintance that's come back to town."
"We were waiting," Gwen said flatly.
"Sorry again." He let out a tired breath and and looked out to the city. Mayday had to remind herself that he was (most likely) blind. The way he carried himself wasn't close to any other kind of blind man, "If it helps, my...acquaintance put me on the track for a lead we could follow. While Luke and your friend are searching for who created such a high yield explosive we might be able to track who's actually distributing it around the streets. Or at least sold it to this specific crime boss."
"Uh-huh. This distributor got a name?" Gwen asked.
"Guy by the name of Turk Barret. Familiar to either of you?" She and Gwen looked at one another. Mayday shook her head while Gwen shrugged, "Thought so. He's made a bit of a name for himself in some circles but the reason he's survived for so long is because he knows to keep his head down."
"We're kind new to this place. Not really sure who the big names are." Mayday said carefully. She wasn't exactly keen on telling anyone outside the group about the whole 'came here from another dimension' thing.
"Turk's hardly a big name. He's an opportunist, plain and simple. Usually prefers to stick to small times arms deals where he doesn't put himself at risk. Whatever his buyer was offering it must've been big enough that he decided to put his head out again." His mouth curled in an annoyed frown. Seemed like this Turk was someone personal for him, "Good news is that it means he shouldn't be that hard to find."
"Your friend tell you where he is?"
"He's not a friend, and no. But he did give me somewhere to start. Heard tell of another arms deal taking place in a half hour, and if what I was given is right then the one doing it is working for Turk. We...convince him to tell us where his boss is then we'll see just how much Turk knows. With any luck he can give us a name and we can work from there."
"I'm not beating someone down just to get information, FYI," Mayday said. She didn't care what Darkdevil and Uncle Kaine told her, there was always a better option than being a thug.
"I don't expect you to. I think threats'll be good enough." Mayday nodded with a slight hum. Threats she could work with. Daredevil turned his head to Gwen, "And you, Spider-Woman? Sorry, if I'm remembering correctly you're both Spider-Woman, right?"
"Yeah, we're...kinda dealing with it." Mayday sighed. There were only so many Spider themed nicknames you could have before things started to overlap, "Know what, just call me Spider-Girl for now. It's what I went with before switching up." Her way of dealing after her dad died. Even after he came back the name stuck. Made sense; she was 17 years old, hardly a 'girl' anymore.
"If you say. Spider-Woman, do you agree?"
"Sure, whatever. Not like I've got any other plan."
Daredevil tilted his head head slightly, "I'm sorry, did I do something to offend you?"
The mask on Gwen's eyes narrowed again, "No, I'm just in a bad mood." Mayday didn't bother telling her that Daredevil could probably hear her heartbeat. She already knew, "Let's just get this over with, okay? I've got other places to be."
"Fine then."
It didn't take them long to get what they needed. They found their guy, a needly man by the name of Clive Donovan, and whatever lip he gave them lasted only till Daredevil dangled him off the side of a building and threatened to let his head go splat if he didn't tell them what they wanted. To his credit he was convincing enough that almost thought he would drop the guy off the building.
Instead Daredevil dragged him back and smacked the side of his head with the butt of his escrima stick hard enough to knock the guy out, "Should we call the cops?" Gwen asked. She webbed the buyer to the wall while he and Mayday interrogated the dealer. One thing she learned from her years of crimefighting, best to keep a witness on hand to make sure the cops had someone to question. And she doubted the guy wouldn't snitch on Donovan if it meant avoiding jailtime.
"Mm, but we can't stay too long. Rather not let Turk get the chance to run if this guy doesn't call in."
They dialed 911 and waited till they heard sirens down the street before they booked it out of there. According to their recent arrestee, Turk Barret was hanging out of the back of an old fortune teller's. Who'd look at the back of a fortuneteller palace, Donovan said. Mayday had to admit the guy had a point. As far as supervillain lairs went it was pretty unique. Though it couldn't beat the guy who 'hid' on one of New York's premiere penthouses. Made him easy to track, at least.
"So we just bust in there and do the same thing we did with that Donovan guy?" Gwen asked.
"Yeah. Turk is a coward, not the type to go for the sacrifice play. Only reason he's survived as long as he has is he knows when to cut his losses."
"Guess blabbers get stabbered isn't a thing in this dimension," Gwen said.
Mayday was about to make a crack about how literally no other dimension said it like that when Daredevil suddenly asked, "Dimension? What do you mean by that?"
Gwen froze for just a second before she responded in the same clipped tone as before, "It's how people my age say cities. You'd know that if you kept up with the times, old timer."
For a second Mayday thought he'd call her out on it. Instead his lips curled in a mock pout and he said, "...I'm not even 40." Gwen's mask lenses blinked and he finally smiled for the first time that night, "Come on, let's get this over with."
Gwen couldn't say anything and just followed after him. Mayday trailed after them both, torn between laughing and clapping Gwen's shoulder sympathetically. She wasn't really sure what Daredevil was like aside from being a good guy. She's asked her dad once, mostly trying to understand what made Darkdevil tick, but he was pretty vague on the details. Apparently Matt Murdock was 'warm but closed off', if that made any sense.
They got to the door and, surprise surprise, it was locked, "Hmm, maybe we should find another-" Gwen stepped past him and kicked it down without a word, "-or we could just do that. I guess the rumors about how strong you were weren't exaggerated."
Gwen didn't respond and just rushed inside with the pair following. There were three doors and they each took a single one to make sure there wasn't anyone else hiding. Mayday opened hers and frowned when she saw the dingy bathroom on the other side, "Yo, what the fuck?!" An unfamiliar voice screamed behind her. Mayday turned and groaned when she looked past Daredevil and saw the room.
Turk Barret was exactly how Daredevil described him. A tall guy with dark skin, a messy beard and not a single hair on his scalp. And he wasn't alone. A pretty woman with red hair who looked like she was in her twenties was next to him on the bed. Judging by her clothes, or lack of them, it was clear she was a...lady of the night, to use the polite term.
"What the hell?! You-" Turk's eyes were as wide as saucers when he saw just who exactly at his door, "Oh fuck this! Ain't doin' this shit again!" He scrambled for his side cabinet, completely ignoring the fact that he was naked and Mr. Johnson was flapping in the wind, and pulled out a revolver. The woman screamed as the would-be arms dealer took aim and Mayday moved to yank the gun away when Gwen shot a line of webbing and pulled the gun with a powerful tug.
Daredevil moved and quickly pinned Turk to the floor while Mayday grabbed the woman and quickly rushed her out the door, "Sorry about this." She webbed the guy's wallet from the cabinet and handed it to her gingerly, "Consider it a tip?" The redhead looked between Mayday, Turk and the wallet in her hand before she took the wallet and hotfooted it out of there.
"'Ey, my wallet! What the fu-"
"Quiet." Turk held up his hands in surrender as Daredevil pressed the tip of the escrima stick against his neck. Mayday and Gwen mostly tried to ignore the guy being in his birthday suit, "I know you've been supplying weapons again."
"What?! I ain't-"
"Don't lie to me." He pressed the escrima stick down harder right where his adams apple was. Turk looked past Daredevil to the both of them with a pleading look in his eyes. Gwen just crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes while Mayday leaned against the wall without a word. She kinda felt bad for the guy but that didn't mean she was going to bail him out, "Your man Donovan talked."
"Donovan?! Don't know anyone like that!"
"Dude, even without super senses I can tell that's a load of bull." Gwen scoffed, "Seriously, just tell us what we wanna know. This isn't pleasant for any of us."
"Where did you get the weapons from?" Daredevil growled. He was really reminding her of Darkdevil right now, "Explosives and guns like that don't come cheap. Give us your source or I start breaking bones!"
"Alright, alright! Fuck!" Daredevil let him go and he tried to cover himself up with the ratty blanket, "Shit, I...I was just tryin' to make a little bread here, ya know?"
"We weren't asking for your reasons, buddy. Start talking," Mayday said.
"Fine. Maybe ya don't know it, devilman, but this shit's your fault." To his credit Daredevil didn't rise to the bait. He just looked down at Turk with his covered eyes, "Ever since you took down Fisk again it's been dog eat dog out in the streets. Ya think the shit he did just goes away? Nah man. All the guns, drugs and money don't just disappear. It's like a pinata, everyone's trying to get a piece."
"Fisk? What's he talking about?" Gwen asked.
"Ya don't know? This guy here put Fisk behind bars twice. And guess what? All that happens is everything turns into a damn free-for-all. What'd ya think'd happen when you put the fatman back in the cage, huh? That everything just goes back to normal, happy endin'? Nah, you ain't that stupid. Everyone's runnin' around with their asses out, even me."
"You're getting off track," Mayday said again, "Tell us where you got those weapons you were peddling. We're not gonna ask again." She was never good at the whole interrogation thing. This was more Noir and Jessica's thing.
"Hell if I know, man! You think I buy this shit straight from the source? I knew a guy who knew a guy. This shit's all tangled up. Don't buy all my stuff from the same guy. That's just askin' to get your ass pinched."
"Give us a list of names. And tell us who you sold any high yield explosives."
"Explosives? Shit, that's all you wanted?!"
"That's not 'all'!" Gwen snapped, "You have any idea how many people could've died if my friends weren't there?" She clenched her fists, "Now spill or else we're gonna chuck you out the window."
"Fine, fine! Twitchy motherfucker, looked like he was on somethin'. Goin' on and on about how his boss was gonna be the big man and if he fucked this up he'd have his balls hangin' over the Empire State."
"Was it this guy?" Mayday pulled out the picture of the would-be bomber from her suit and showed it to him.
"Nah. Older guy, gray in his hair, porn stache." So the guy really was just a hired mercenary. Made sense. Mayday got the feeling the guy wasn't meant to come back considering what he was doing, "Like I said, twitchy son of a bitch. He was...don't think he knew I heard him, but he was mutterin' somethin' under his breath. Something about a Scorpion."
"Scorpion? Sound familiar?" Mayday asked Daredevil.
"No. It's probably a codename of sorts." Daredevil shook his head, "We'll deal with it later. Just give us that list, Turk."
Mayday waited by the entrance as Daredevil and Gwen watched the naked arms dealer write down the names along with a list of addresses. It'd keep them busy for the next couple of days...assuming the guy didn't snitch.
"Tell them anything and we'll know," Daredevil said roughly. Turk nodded quickly and Mayday had to bite her tongue to keep from suggesting a call to the police. A small time dealer was fine but if this Turk guy went down before they checked these places out they'd definitely cut and run. Especially if this guy was as much a snitch as Daredevil said he was.
Gwen was the first to speak when they climbed up to a nearby rooftop, "What did he mean by that? You stopping Fisk, I mean?"
"Didn't see it on the news? I almost forgot, another 'dimension', right?" He smiled slightly. Gwen's eyes narrowed and she just looked at him, "It's...a long story. Wilson Fisk, a man who claimed he was some kind of Kingpin of Crime. We dealt with him, he was put in prison, he made a plea to escape and went back to his old habits. I proved what he did and he's back in prison. Permanently."
"Sure it wasn't a turf war?"
"Spider-Woman..." Mayday said slowly.
"I get the feeling that you don't like me very much. Curious why, I never did anything to you. Even our last fight was due to a misunderstanding."
"...I have my own reasons."
"Which I doubt you're going to tell me. Same as the truth about that dimension slip?" Again Gwen didn't say a word, "Fine with me. Like I said before, we don't have to be friends. As long as we can work together to ensure this Scorpion isn't sending any more suicide bombers across the city you can hate me as you want."
"So should we check out that list?" Mayday said quickly, mostly to try and change the subject.
"Tomorrow. Turk won't tell any of them, too scared of risking his own life, so we should have time. And I have my own things to do. We'll meet in the same place as before. Agreed?"
"Fine with me." Mayday said. Gwen just grunted and nodded without a word. Mayday waited till Daredevil was out of sight - really out of sight considering that super hearing of his - before she turned to Gwen, "I thought you were gonna be cool?"
"What?" she asked back defensively.
"Gwen, that was absolutely the opposite of cool. Daredevil didn't do anything wrong. Heck, you heard that Turk guy. He stopped the Kingpin, like he did in my and a bunch of other universes. He's not the same guy who-"
"I know that!" Gwen snapped. The anger in her voice made Mayday pause, "I know I was being a huge jerk, but...god, I can't just pretend, okay? I can't just pretend that when I hear his fucking voice I don't hear the guy who insulted me after he had Rhino beat my dad to a coma. He was the reason I went to prison getting my shit kicked in for an entire year. And now I'm supposed to just, what, act like everything's cool?"
"You already beat your Murdock. You don't have to dig him up again. That's just what he wants."
They looked at one another without a word. The silence lasted for half a minute before the older Spider sighed and she walked past Mayday to lean across the roof's barrier, "...I'll apologize when we meet up with him tomorrow," she said eventually, "Dunno if I can be cool with him, but I won't start shit. Fair?"
"Fair." Mayday joined her. No matter the dimension the lights of New York was always a constant. It was always the city that never sleeps, "We gotta find whoever this Scorpion guy is and make sure he can't do anything again."
Peni liked Earth-199999. Sure it was as technologically backwards as every other universe she'd been to but it was nice to wake up knowing she didn't have to fight another kaiju or deal with crazy fanboys like Mysterio. Being here felt like an extended vacation. Hey, it wasn't her fault this dimension's Tony Stark wrecked the dimensional gateways saving the world. She didn't ask to be trapped here any more than Scarlet, Noir or Jessica did.
It didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy it, though. Think of it like an unplanned vacation.
Peni hummed softly as she typed on the laptop Mr. Cage had given her. Apparently it was bleeding edge as far as this time period was concerned. Nevermind that it had no holographic projectors, no datajacks to log into and she had actually physically type things out with her fingers. SP/ /dr's keyboard was more of a mental exercise than anything. She didn't actually need to type anything on the holographic keys, but moving her muscles allowed her mind to synch her thoughts with the chassis faster.
Oh well, she was getting used to it. Even if it did feel like Dr. Erica Takahashi using an abacus to solve abstract equations.
Her best friend skittered on her shoulder. The two of them were given their own little corner of Harlem's Paradise to give them some room to decode the encryption on the USB. It was...embarrassingly easy. Biggest pain now was waiting for the program she made to decrypt the program while she hacked everything else in the club. The eletronic protection of everything here was disgustingly simple. In 30 minutes she'd tracked down every customer's IP address, backed up some naughty emails to Cloud storage and even tapped into the club's camera system.
And the encryption program still wasn't done.
She tapped through the the various security feeds lazily. Nothing interesting. A few briefcases full of cash exchanged (she wondered how long it'd take this universe to make credsticks and transfer to electronic currency) and a few people getting frisky, but apart from that it was pretty tame. She heard that Mr. Cage took over the club make sure crime was kept away from Harlem so she guessed it made sense.
Made it pretty boring, though.
Loud, measured footsteps came close. Peni looked up with a sickly sweet smile and saw Mr. Cage looking down at her with a forced neutral expression. Her best friend twisted his mandibles and hissed, "Something wrong, Mr. Cage?" she asked, keeping up her smile. She did not forgive him, not at all, but she would bide her time. Then she'd make that stupid, muscly man pay for hurting SP/ /dr. And it would be glorious.
"Just...Just checking in, making sure that everything's alright," he said awkwardly. He felt bad about damaging her mech. Did she feel sorry for him? Heck no. It took her weeks to get even that much done with 21st century technology and then he and his stupid bulletproof hands ruined it. Revenge would be hers and it would be sweet and gratifying. Whoever said revenge was a bad idea clearly never actually did it.
"Totally cool! It should be done in a few minutes." She discreetly shut down all the other taps till the decryption bar was the only one left, "Once we're done with this I can hopefully do a data trace and see if I can find something that'll lead us to whoever's making these."
"Good. That's good." He shifted from one foot to another. Peni's smile hadn't dropped an inch, "Uh, so...that robot you had."
"SP/ /dr."
"Yeah, that. I'm real sorry about that whole thing." Wrecking the chassis after she finally got it working again? Oh, it was no big deal. Like she was pretty sure it'd be no big deal if she leaked those emails of that woman giving him some really gushy nicknames like Harlem's Hercules, "And if, uh, if there's anything I can do to make up for it then don't be afraid to tell me, alright?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I ain't a tech wizard or anything but if you need help then I'm sure there's something I can do."
"Huh. Can you give me back the two weeks I spent fixing up the chassis without any of my proper tools?" Her tone was as cheery as always but the words cut through his bulletproof skin like an adamantium knife, "Cause lemme tell you, it was super frustrating. You know what it feels like repairing tech that's a thousand years more advanced than anything else around here? Cause it's like repairing a computer by banging rocks into it."
"Huh...well, that's something."
"Sure is!" SP/ /dr crawled down her shoulder and stopped when he was on top of her right hand. Mr. Cage eyed him warily, "Don't worry about it. I'll just fix it again." The progress bar beeped softly and she looked back down at the screen, "Ooh, it's finished!"
She scooted to give Mr. Cage space to sit next to her and did a quick scan of the USB's contents. The tension between them was briefly forgotten as she pored over the contents. As much as she wanted to continue being a hero came first. That was one of the first things Uncle Ben and Aunt May taught her. And big sis, too. She hoped she was doing alright being solo while she was stuck here.
"Any names listed there?"
"Mmm, not that I can see." She tapped a few more files, "No names, but there are components here from different sources. Scarlet told me that the bomb was super high yield so I guess they made it from scratch?"
"Makes sense. Be easier to smuggle in the parts separately and make it themselves instead of risking getting caught with high yield explosives." He scanned the list next to her, "Some of this stuff ain't exactly easy to find. Hmm, maybe I can put some feelers out on the street, see who's selling these things.
Peni nodded and was about to close the files when something else caught her eye, "Chitauri...?" She opened up the image and saw something that looked far more advanced than most other tech she'd seen in this universe. It looked like a weapon of some kind, something like the railgun she had on one of SP/ /dr's more combat heavy frames. It was made of a sleek gray metal with purple energy at the core.
Mr. Cage's eyes narrowed and he shifted in his seat.
"What is this?" Peni asked.
"Don't know it? Guess it makes sense. You were probably too young to remember it." She'd ignore that crack about her age. She hated being treated like a kid, "Ten years ago there was an alien invasion. Government called em Chitauri, but it didn't matter none to us. All we knew was it was a day like any other when this giant hole in the sky opens up and suddenly we've got these crazy things pouring out blasting."
"Hmm." It wasn't like aliens were rare or anything back home. There were a few invasions like the Kree Conflict of 2567 or the Great Badoon Incursion of 2384, but those were long before her time. Nowadays most aliens had free transit and vice-versa. She still remembered their vacation to the Skrull homeworld when she was 10. Shapechangers definitely had the best circuses.
"The Avengers dealt with them and the government scooped up all of the alien stuff that was left. Or at least they tried." His face pinched and he rubbed his shoulder briefly, "That much tech layin' around, obvious someone would take advantage. Got tangled up with someone who used em to make bullets and I even heard rumors about a flying birdman who was selling them on the street."
"If it's on this file then do you think that means the guy who made these bombs has this too?"
"Might be, but if they do then it makes things more complicated. No offense, but no matter how advanced that robot of yours is any one of these things'll blast it to the moon, no doubt."
"Happen to you too?"
"Mhm." He rubbed his shoulder again before standing up, "Come on, I'll walk you back to the station."
"I'm fine by myself." Even without SP/ /dr she was taught self-defense. They didn't want her helpless without a mech.
"I don't doubt it but I'm still coming with." He smiled down at her. For a second she almost forgot to be mad at him for ruining all her hard work. Almost, "Don't worry, I know you wanna keep where you're living a secret. I respect that. Just wanna make sure you don't get mugged on the way to the train."
"A-Alright then..." She stuffed the laptop into her backpack (he said she could keep it for research and she already checked it for any tracking apps) and walked with him to the station. They made an odd pair. Harlem's premier crime boss and a teenager who barely came up to his waist. Whatever, it wasn't like it was the first time. She got stares whenever she visited Benjamin too...though that might've been because she was the only one with actual color in that universe.
Spider sat atop her head and continued to hiss at Luke all the way to the train station. Peni said her goodbyes and opened the laptop again as soon as she took a seat. Chitauri...never heard of them before, but names did have a habit of changing across dimensions. Still, it was giving her ideas. She'd ask Peter if he knew anything about this. Alien tech was always so fascinating.
Done. Peni's segments went through some changes. Originally she was much more vitriolic and reminiscent of Kaguya-sama with how she spitefully cursed and insulted Luke in her thoughts. I decided to make her much calmer but also a tad more spiteful up until the end where Luke temporarily manages to make her forget about her undying rage.
Like I said above the next chapter will be with the remaining two groups.
Questions:
1. Who do you guys want to have the POV for each segment? MCU Peter or Scarlet for their segment? Jessica Drew or Noir for their segment? No Defenders POV since this is a Spider based story.
2. Should I keep up the pace of giving alternate Spiders the POV or cut down and focus more on just MCU Peter and Gwen. I know a lot of people came here to read about those two and might not care for the other trapped Spiders.
Review Answers:
Dragon Rider 66 - Gwen and Peter need to learn to lock the door to avoid interruptions. As for Spider Legion...we'll see.
Ykomat - Presumably he could use the EDITH drones? Clearly they're capable of handling threats.
RedHood001 - No problem adding Morgan but I never watched Iron Man 2 so I have no idea who Harley is outside of a kid Tony befriended. And yes, Peter is a weak, weak man who needs stronger willpower.