"Gwen?" Andi tore her eyes away from the sky, finally tired of looking up at the clouds. She looked over at Gwen, her friends' blue eyes seeming to hold the whole sky in them all on their own. Andi grit her teeth and focused on a beetle walking along the grass just above Gwen's head.

"Yeah, Andi?" Gwen didn't take her eyes off the sky, certain she'd seen the Blackbird flying overhead.

"Everything we do is part of a comic book as far as you know, right?"

"Yup! We're almost twenty issues in now. Super cool, huh?" Gwen looked over to Andi, catching her eyes before her friend looked away, arms crossed over her chest. She looked back up into the sky, trying to find the jet black shape she was sure had been heading south through a large cloud shaped like Captain America's shield.

"So… couldn't you just… read ahead. And find out what's coming… And warn us?" Mania almost chuckled at that, knowing where this line of questioning was going. Andi rolled her eyes and fed the symbiote another square of chocolate to shut her up.

"Nope. Can't see any issues that aren't in print. And if they are in print then we've already experienced them. The most I can do is flip to the last page of the current issue," she explained nonchalantly. She tried to find the path the Blackbird was taking through the cloud, looking for the exit in hopes she could see it again.

"Oh… So... you can read everything that's already happened, then?" Mania made a noise halfway between a laugh and a cough and Andi's icy glare was hardly enough to keep her quiet.

"Usually," Gwen answered with a shrug.

"Usually?"

"If it's something plot related I might not be able to find it unless I'm specifically looking for it… And if it's critical information to another hero's plot I might not see it at all until the plot's already resolved… Unless I get locked out of that story… or I'm meant to be in it somehow, in which case me seeing it would just be part of that plot. Like this one time I ended up in a Spider-Man and Deadpool crossover. That was pretty freaky." Gwen spoke as much with her hands as she did her voice, painting a picture Andi was positive no comic book could ever capture.

"I thought your power was literally just knowing everything?" Andi thought back to the first time Gwen told her about her powers. About her belief that the entire universe was a comic book. If she thought about her trips through The Gutter too much it made her squeamish.

"Not technically, no. Well, not anymore. Back before I started manipulating reality it used to be knowing everything. But the longer I was here the more I was bound by comic book rules. If I had certain pieces of information I could mess with entire story arcs in ways that'd be bad for sales but good for everyone living here. Like stopping Skrull invasions." Gwen finally gave up on her search for the jet, looking back over at Andi. She'd been thinking about her powers for a while now. Losing her reality manipulation powers during her tenure with the West Coast Avengers but getting them back for this run forced her to consider a few possibilities she hadn't thought of before.

"Skrull invasions?" Andi met her friend's gaze again, eyebrows raised at the thought.

"Don't worry about it, the Avengers solved it. But if I'd known about that plot before it happened I could've interrupted. I could've pointed out every single hero who was being impersonated and stopped the whole invasion before it started. Instead, I didn't know what was going on until I read about it in the Gutter. I'd be way too OP if I had this level of reality altering powers and was also omniscient. Totally not fair to Molecule Man or the One Above All."

"The One Above All? Does she mean god? That exists?!" Whenever Gwen spoke like this it made Andi's head hurt and she almost regretted asking these kinds of questions altogether.

"… you say some really weird shit sometimes, Gwen," Andi said with a loud sigh.

"Sorry! Sorry… I just-"

"No, no… I get it. There are rules to your powers." Andi tried to steer the conversation back on course, not wanting to get lost on another existential tangent.

"Exactly! Sometimes the writers even do things that trick me into doing what they want when I normally would've done the opposite. Looking at you Kocher-Not-Bendis." Gwen's eyes narrowed as she stared up at the sky, her voice taking on a harsher tone that Andi let dissipate for a few moments before continuing.

"So... if I wanted to keep a secret from you…" Andi wished she hadn't asked before the words had finished leaving her mouth.

"I wouldn't look, anyway," Gwen said with a shrug, hardly taking a moment to think.

"Huh?"

"I wouldn't look. If you're keeping a secret from me, it's probably important." She kept her eyes focused on the sky as she looked for a new cloud to follow. "I trust you, Andi." She shrugged again before turning back over to her friend.

"Why?" There was a lump in Andi's throat, and a weird, slimy, uncomfortable feeling that wasn't at all related to the alien clothing she was wearing.

"Huh?"

"Why trust me? I'm just a comic book character written by… whoever. Why trust me? I could just be doing all of this to… I don't know… Kill you or something. You wouldn't be the first dead Gwenpool I've seen."

"You made me promise not to bring up the Poisonverse Me again," Gwen said curiously. Alternate versions of her was another sore spot for Andi. She wasn't really sure why, but she did her best to be considerate of her friend.

"Gwen, why do you trust me so much? You barely knew me before we started classes but you apparently know everything about me and you… Why?" She wanted to scream and shout and tear things apart. It didn't make any sense. She took a deep breath as Mania morphed from the top Andi had selected that morning to a looser hoodie, but the tight feeling in Andi's chest didn't go away.

"Why would I trust a hero? You realize that's kind of a dumb question, right," Gwen asked playfully, still not recognizing the odd tone in her friend's voice.

"Gwen, I'm serious. I just admitted I'm hiding something from you and you-"

"Look, Andi. Everyone hides things from their friends. That's just kinda how friendships work. I hid all that stuff about my powers from you for weeks because I knew it'd upset you-"

"Ugh, that's not the same thing," Andi shouted angrily, finally sitting up and looking down at her friend.

"Andi. The fact that you're stressing out about hiding something from me this much kinda proves my case. Bad guys don't think twice about manipulating people… Don't worry about hiding stuff from me. You've got no idea how normal it makes me feel," Gwen said with a sigh. It'd been a really long time since she actually felt like she'd had friends. High school in her home universe hadn't exactly been the 'best years of her life' she'd been expecting them to be and making actual friendships with superheroes in this universe was difficult at best. Andi had always been a breath of fresh air to her.

"So you're just gonna trust me?"

"Yeah, Andi. That's how friendships work. I trust you. I trust you the same way you trust Mania." Gwen's tone didn't leave much room for debate. Andi sighed and stared down at her shoes, nudging a rock into the dirt.

"I'm not gonna let you down, Gwen," she promised.

"I know you won't. You're pretty stubborn," Gwen laughed, playfully nudging her friend. They sat in silence for a while before Andi spoke again.

"Gwen? I-"

"Andi you don't have to tell me the secret now," she said, turning to catch Andi's violet gaze with hers. She shook her head, trying to emphasize her point but only managing to startle the little beetle that quickly ran away.

"No, Gwen, it's… it's not that," Andi started.

"Andi-"

"Gwen, I need to tell you. I… I think I l-"

"Hey guys! Smoothies?" Himawari walked over, all smiles and exposed midriff as she joined her friends on the grass.

"Hima-chan," Gwen said excitedly, smiling up at their friend as she reached up for the smoothies.

"Gwen, I'll purposely spill yours," Himawari said with a roll of her eyes.

"One blackberry twist for Andi, one strawberry and vanilla for Gwen… this one's mine." She handed the two their drinks before sitting down in front of them, legs crossed as she sipped her own drink.

"Thanks," Andi said softly, stirring her drink with the straw.

"Arigatou goziamusu," Gwen said thankfully.

"It's just 'doumo,' Gwen. You're talking to me, not a stranger," Himawari groaned. She'd been teaching Gwen some phrases at her request, and usually very much regretted it.

"A couple more months of this and I'll be able to mingle with all my Japanese fans," Gwen said excitedly, taking a sip of her drink. Andi looked from one to the other, anxiously trying to find the right way to ask her roommate to leave for just another minute! But the two were already in some conversation about Japanese artists and fans… Opportunity lost. Andi sighed, hugging her knees to her chest with one arm as she sipped her smoothie in defeat.

"Getting interrupted means it's not the right time," Gwen said softly.

"What?"

"It's not the right time. Tell me when you're actually ready."

"... yeah… right."

"Gwen, we have to work on our image. You cause a lot of collateral damage and people think I'm terrifying." Mania kept swinging as she spoke, making sure she was seen by the public. If it worked for Spider-Man it could work for her.

"No more hiding. We're heroes. We don't need to hide."

"I'm not arguing that, I'm just saying we're not exactly the 'help kittens out of trees' kind of heroes," Gwenpool sighed, handing the clerk forty dollars for a police scanner. She shoved the machine into her shark backpack, not bothering to explain to the bemused man how the large frame tucked neatly away into the smaller backpack. She left the store with a shrug, just glad to get out of the stuffy room.

"Gwen. Please. We know MonStar's in New York right now- it was all over the news. It's the only safe time we have to do this kind of hero stuff before she's hunting us down again." Mania released her line mid-swing and back-flipped as she fell, snatching a balloon out the air. She let gravity take hold, landing on the balls of her feet about a foot in front of the young father and daughter. The four year old hid behind her father the second she saw Mania, and the dad wasn't impressed by the hero's acrobatics, quickly snatching the balloon from her and ushering his child away. Mania sighed as she shot a line back up to the nearest rooftop.

"We really shouldn't have to be afraid of her. You beat her up while I was gone-"

"You know that's not what happened," she hissed, perching on the head of a gargoyle as she looked down over the city, trying to spot Gwenpool's costume in the crowds.

"Yeah, well, someone's gonna write a fanfiction piece to fix that. Maybe even have you two make out during the fight," Gwenpool chuckled, easily spotting the small black blob of her friend on the roof of a nearby bank.

"Please stop talking."

"Uh, Mania-"

"No, Gwenpool. You know that bothers me. You know how weird it is that people just write stories-"

"Mania!"

"What!"

BRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The alarms were painfully loud under normal circumstances. Squatting a foot in front of one was enough to force the symbiote to screech in pain, the shock knocking Andi off her feet as she struggled for control over her writhing symbiote. She plummeted towards the ground, screaming and clawing at the air as Mania lost control.

"This has to work! I just need to think of more things. Captain America's ass. Some Star Wars reference, maybe about those weird chicken walker things. [REDACTED] wait, no, he's owned by Warner Brothers, I don't think I can say that. Planet of the Apes? Yeah that works now! Big hairy apes are always in comics, what if they do a cross-"

Mania's fall was cut short as she landed on Gwenpool's thought bubble. Her weight crushed the words inside until it finally popped with a loud bang, landing on all fours in the middle of the street… where she was immediately hit by a Mack truck as it barreled into the side of the bank.

"Oof! Alright, I take zero responsibility for that," Gwenpool sighed, pushing against the fleeing crowd as she made her way towards the bank. She ran as fast as she could, doing her best to outpace the police cars racing to close off the scene before anyone could get hurt.

"Hey! Get away from there," an officer shouted.

"Don't worry! I'm a hero," she responded, throwing up a playful peace sign as she cleared the last throng of fleeing civilians and ran towards the bank.

RRRREEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUGH

The back doors slammed open and about a dozen people clad in black bodysuits and armed with all kinds of advanced weaponry poured out of the truck, desperate to escape… something. Two of the men didn't make it out in time, thrown off their feet back into the truck as the whole trailer shifted towards its front. The heavy doors swung shut as the truck lifted off its wheels, a loud, feral roar coming from underneath the vehicle. The truck groaned under its own weight as Mania hoisted it high over her head, dozens of razor sharp teeth bared, symbiote distorting her body in weird shapes and angles as it healed horribly broken bones while still supporting her body to lift the truck. She pulled the front cab of the truck out of the bank and threw the entire vehicle halfway down the empty street, tearing up asphalt as it crashed to the ground.

"Uh… she's a hero too..."

"What the # (* is that thing! OPEN FIRE!" The thieves shouted as they trained their weapons on Mania, unloading everything they had on the woman. Still reeling from the exertion of lifting the truck and the exhaustion of the rapid healing from her symbiote, Mania was completely at their mercy, screaming in pain as bullets pounded into her.

Gwenpool sprung into action to defend her partner. Approaching from behind, she snuck up on two of the men and dispatched them with a swipe of her katanas each. They fell to the ground, no longer able to hold their weapons as they bled on the ground, clutching at their stumps. Snatching one of the guns off the ground, she emptied the clip into three of the men, riddling them with bullets before they realized what was happening.

"It's one of those heroes," one of the men shouted, turning to face Gwenpool, electric batons ready to strike.

"Just finish her, it's not the lizard bitch," another man shouted, firing a couple rounds of his handgun at Gwenpool. She jumped and dodged the first bullet before deflecting the second into the vest of the man who'd obstructed her path. Her arm stung as the blade vibrated from the impact, but she was confident the man was in way more pain than she was.

"Lizard girl? You guys were trying to fight MonStar? Wanna compare notes," she chuckled at her quip as she kicked a smaller woman in the chest and knocked her over. Gwenpool was feeling good about her work, all that time training in K'un-Lun clearly hadn't gone to waste and she easily dispatched three more of the guys as she worked. Almost immediately there was fire in her blood, her skin too tight around her muscles. She screamed out in agony, falling to her knees and she was quickly kicked in the stomach by a man who'd snuck up on her wielding a taser.

"Dammit!" With most of the people who'd been shooting at her now either incapacitated or focused on Gwenpool, Mania was free to heal and recover. In moments she'd gathered herself and darted towards the group that'd surrounded her partner, her symbiote swallowing the dozens of bullets that pelted her and letting them drop to the ground behind her. A shot of her own webbing connected with the handgun wielding man, knocking him to the ground and sticking his weapon to the floor before he could aim at her teammate. She then threw herself at the remaining men, grabbing one by the ankle and throwing him at the man wielding the taser. A powerful punch, flip, kick and blast of webbing downed the rest of the men as Gwenpool steadied herself, wiping the side of her mouth.

"Yeah, getting tased? ...Feels really weird," Gwenpool spat, taking a moment to catch her breath.

"Looks like it hurts," Mania offered her friend a hand, helping her up off the ground.

"Eh… not exactly." What was visible of Gwenpool's cheeks were nearly as pink as the lenses of her mask. Mania would've questioned her further but her friend roughly shoved her to the ground. That familiar sense of danger only pricked at the back of her mind when she saw the men reach for the triggers of their flamethrowers. Gwenpool's bright pink pistols were already at work, firing one then two shots into the men. The first shot hit the man on the left in the chest, but the second lodged itself into the fuel tank of the man on the right.

Danger sense pricking at her skin like thousands of white hot needles, it was Mania's turn to jump and defend Gwenpool. She quickly threw herself between the billowing explosion and her friend. The shockwave threw them both nearly a dozen feet from the truck, far enough away that Andi's symbiote was able to reform over her after the harsh heat exposure in the second between the first and second explosions. That was when the screaming began. The downed men were showered in burning fuel, screaming in pain as the flames ate through their bodysuits and singed their flesh.

"Oh, ████," Gwenpool said worriedly, crawling backwards away from the truck as fast as she could. Mania's danger sense flared again and she grabbed her friend, throwing themselves out of the way as the truck exploded next, taking the entire front wall of the bank with it. The stone cracked and crumbled away, falling towards the ground and pelting the concrete below. The perps that hadn't been cooked in the explosion were crushed under the falling debris. The two heroes looked at the scene they'd created, realizing that their little outing had done the exact opposite of what they'd been trying to do to their image.

"We… need to go." Gwenpool nudged her friend, trying to snap her out of her shock.

"We can't just-"

"Gwenpool!" Mania turned and noticed one of the officers pulling herself away from the rest. Short, dark hair and brown eyes and skin, she carried herself differently from the rest of the officers as she walked towards the two.

"Oh boy," Gwenpool sighed, grabbing on to Mania.

"You know her," Mania asked hopefully.

"I'll tell you about it later, just please get us out of here," Gwenpool begged, tugging on Mania's arm.

"Maybe we can just explain-"

"Freeze!"

"Dammit," Mania sighed, white eye lenses narrowing in defeat.

"Now can we go?"

MonStar sat with her feet kicked up on the table, arms crossed over her chest as she listened to Captain Marvel's lecture. She'd only agreed to this meeting if Miss Marvel would join- the young girl sitting on a table behind her mentor clearly uncomfortable being in the room. If it hadn't been for the younger hero, Star couldn't have guaranteed she wouldn't have started the conversation with a punch to the gut. Her scales glowed faintly as her emotions got the better of her, her armor working to keep her cooled down as she wore her discontent on her sleeve. She raised a brow as the Captain excused herself, answering a call from her communicator. From the sound of things, the Captain was still discussing her.

"We were just alerted to something… not great. This just happened a few moments ago in your hometown." Captain Marvel laid her communicator on the table, the screen projecting a hologram.

"- alleged vigilantes Gwenpool and Mania violently murdered nearly half of the would-be thieves, leaving the rest in critical condition. Incredible damage was also caused to The First National Bank. It is unknown whether or not enough of the building's original structure remains to be rebuilt-" Captain Marvel cut the stream short, arms crossed as she looked expectantly across the table at MonStar.

"I… I'm working on them, I-"

"You've been 'working on them' for weeks. What's the delay?" Her voice made it clear it wasn't exactly a question. It was an accusation, and it was everything Star could do to keep from shouting.

"We have no intel on their base- if they even have one- they have no pattern to their operations and work at random. The heroes on your end who have experience working with them refuse to give us anything on them- big thanks to Agent Anti-Venom and both Hawkeyes! And you guys are constantly hounding me for ridiculous tests to make sure I'm not emitting radiation every other day! Half the time they don't even work together-"

"And yet when you're up against one of them alone you still couldn't bring them in," Marvel said pointedly.

"Don't do that. Shocker was there too, I would've had her if it wasn't for him," she growled angrily, her hands balled into fists, her tail angrily thumping on the chair beneath her.

"Star, you're still green. You'll get the experience but we just can't leave a hero as inexperienced as you alone in a city like Philadelphia," Carol tried her best to be diplomatic, but it was obvious Star wasn't the only one who'd rather be somewhere else at the moment.

"I'm not agreeing to a babysitter," Star growled, a puff of smoke pouring from her mouth as she huffed in anger.

"Star, you're not being reasonable," Marvel said frustratedly.

"No, Danvers. Phili's my city. I can take care of it myself, I don't need backup and I don't need help. Yeah, I'm new at this- I've been in the field for a couple of months! Since then overall crime has dropped thirteen percent-"

"That can't be entirely attributed to you. Your briefing on the Jack incident detailed you'd arrived after-"

"We were late by minutes! The judge was delayed in signing the warrant, we couldn't proceed without that!" It took every effort for her to stay seated, but she'd gone into the meeting knowing she had to keep her feelings under control. She took a deep breath, letting that familiar voice in the back of her mind calm her down.

"Star, we're trying to help you. If you can't get your jurisdiction under control, we-"

"Who reprimands you when you fail to recognize a diversion and get yourself trapped off planet during a fascist takeover?" Her voice was finally calm, a small grin on her face as she spoke.

"Excuse me?!"

"No one. Or what about when you wanted to snatch people off the street before they'd even committed crimes and call it justice? Using information that you knew wasn't always accurate! What consequences did you face then? Disappointed glares from your protégé? Don't talk to me about the consequences for failing to keep my jurisdiction perfectly clean when you can barely handle your own." Star rolled her eyes, proud of herself despite the embarrassed grumbling at the back of her mind.

"You are out of line!" Carol's golden hair glowed for a few moments before Miss Marvel coughed softly, bringing them both back to their senses.

"Yeah, yeah... Keep your resources out of my city. Phili isn't Manhattan. We don't need a hero on every block. Crime's been dropping and it'll keep dropping as long as I'm around. That's all you people care about anyway, isn't it?" Star finally got up from her seat, glaring up into the Captain's blue eyes for any sign of resistance.

"Star, you won't receive new radioactive material if you continue to fail at this. We'll cut you off. You're not only S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore-"

"Yeah, well, I'm definitely not Alpha Flight. If you'll excuse me, I've got a mess to clean up," Star shrugged and walked out of the room, practically jumping at the chance to get off the space station.

"Well she's, uh… feisty." Miss Marvel hopped off the table and stretched her legs, glad the two women hadn't come to blows in front of her.

"I'd give the order to bench her right now if we had bodies to spare to send to Philadelphia," Carol grumbled, rubbing her temples as she fought to relax after the ordeal.

"Give her a chance… She's scared and frustrated. She knows if she can't do this she loses her powers, right? She's just a lizard girl without eating radioactive stuff, not the dragon she prides herself on being… That's gotta be scary, right?" Miss Marvel had a way of empathizing with almost anyone, and Carol was glad to have her around. "And she's only been active for a couple months. I'd already been shot two months into being me," she joked.

"You think I was being hard on her?"

"You were definitely harder on her than you were on me," Kamala admitted.

"At least you keep me honest… Come on, time to wrap up. You've got school in the morning," the Captain reminded her after glancing at the time.

"And you've got a date," Miss Marvel teased.

"How do you know about that," Carol hissed.

"I've been getting better at investigating. You've been really anxious about the timing of this meeting for three days, you got a haircut yesterday, your nails done today, and you've been checking your phone a lot more when you think no one's looking," she said smugly.

"You're getting good, kid," the woman placed a supportive hand on her protege's shoulder.

"I've been learning from the best."

"Cute. Now keep it between us," the Captain said sternly, already knowing the young girl could be trusted but wanting to make sure she understood she wasn't yet ready for this information to get out.

"I'm really good with classified information!"

Carol Danvers wasn't the kind of woman who was often late. A military upbringing drilled timeliness into everyone who made it through. Unfortunately her optimistic planning had fallen through and she was currently nearly ten minutes late, tightly gripping onto the seat of the cab she was in. As the car pulled up to the restaurant, she threw her cash at the driver and kicked open the door before it'd even come to a complete stop, spotting her date waiting patiently in front of the restaurant. Straight, jet black hair framed her face and contrasted strikingly with her pale skin. She was wearing an eye-catching dress, inspired by intricate patterns of a traditional kimono, slit down the side of her leg to reveal toned thighs that Carol could hardly take her eyes off of. The hero walked as quickly as she could without running, desperate to make up for lost time.

"Sorry I'm late. I had a meeting that ran over time, I thought I'd-"

"Don't worry about it! I figured most eveningwear wouldn't fly that well," Himawari chuckled, reaching a hand out for her date. She took Carol's hand and playfully kissed the older woman's knuckles as she gazed up into her eyes. "I'm just glad you came," she said, soft brown eyes meeting the hero's baby blue, instantly making the older woman's heart melt.

"You look amazing," Carol said with a sigh, moving to caress her date's cheek with the hand she'd kissed.

"You're glowing!"

"Thanks," Carol almost blushed at that. It wasn't often she was complimented like that and-

"No, like, you're actually glowing," Himawari giggled. "Your hair," she reached up as far as she could, tucking a glowing lock of hair behind her date's ear to hide it from any sharp-eyed pedestrians.

"Sorry! Sorry. God, that's embarrassing," Carol groaned. She hadn't lost control of her powers like that in years.

"You do look pretty good yourself, Miss Danvers," Himawari said playfully, nuzzling into the calloused hand at her cheek. Carol's large, rough hands were nearly the size of her face, and Himawari gently kissed her palms. She could feel Carol's breath hitch and did her best to hide a giggle at that.

"Wanna head inside? These fancy restaurants wouldn't mind cancelling our reservations and taking our money," the hero said softly.

"Uh, you head in. I have to call a couple friends. Let them know I'm safe and you're here and you haven't tried to kidnap me yet… Regular stuff," Himawari sighed, finally pulling away from Carol's touch as she reached for her handbag.

"Right… Meet me inside." A touch of uncertainty colored her voice. As if the obvious penalty for being late would be being stood up by the younger woman.

"See you in a minute, Captain," blowing a kiss at the hero as she finally walked inside. Himawari opened her bag and reached for her phone.

"Tokage? You're reporting?"

"No, I just… needed a little pep talk," the woman sighed, holding her head in her free hand as she spoke.

"Himawari, I know you're not entirely comfortable with this assignment but you're the only asset with a skillset where this could be possible," the voice reminded her.

"I know, I know. I just… I can do this," she said, taking a deep, steadying breath.

"We know you can. I'm guessing your other half's meeting with Captain Marvel didn't go as well," a feminine voice this time.

"Yeah… Star's not as much of a fan," Himawari said with a laugh and roll of her eyes.

"Mhmm… just make sure you both keep track of your individual missions."

"Be careful," both voices in unison this time.

"Don't worry, Doyle, Kimball. Star and I have both got more than enough experience keeping our lives separate," Himawari said confidently, quickly ending the call and walking into the restaurant with an excited smile.