Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise (and I'm borrowing a couple of things you may not recognise from sources you simply may not be familiar with); be assured I'll identify anything relevant when it comes up.

Feedback: Always appreciated

Scarlet Witch and the Three Spiders

It was the first time in what had to be months that Peter felt like he had a real sense of purpose. He'd spent so long scrambling for what he needed to rebuild his life, ranging from finding the money to get an apartment to finding some way of getting any kind of identity after all his old records were wiped, that it had taken a long time for him to feel ready to get back out into the city as Spider-Man. He'd dealt with various lower-key crimes when possible, trying to get back to the 'friendly neighbourhood' part of the job that he'd been focusing on between Tony's test and the battle on Titan, and it had been…

Well, it hadn't been bad to be helping people again, but it had also been very lonely. He hadn't really realised it before, but even when he'd been keeping his identity secret from everyone, it had been good to spend time with Ned or May when he wasn't 'in the field', or even the rest of his acquaintances at school before he'd started cutting himself off…

I don't need them.

Peter shook that thought off as he looked at his now black-clad arm, launching off another strand of the organic web that his suit was somehow able to produce. Given his budget issues since Strange's spell, he had been taking care with a few personal necessities, such as food or the chemicals needed to create his webbing, but he'd managed to keep up a good balance. Knowing that he wouldn't have to worry about webbing any more was definitely the best part of getting this new suit… last night…

He frowned as he let go of his previous strand of webbing and landed against a wall, adopting his usual squat on the wall as he looked out at the city below him. When he started thinking about it, he had to admit that it was odd how… vague his memories of last night actually were. He definitely recalled leaving Wanda Maximoff on that roof, and then he was responding to that apparent mugging, and then he… there was something

Does it matter?

Peter shook it off as he took in the new black suit. He wasn't sure where he'd actually found this thing, but did it even matter? He'd stopped that guy hurting anyone, and then… then…

You need me.

After everything he'd been through for the last few months, was it really worth analysing what had happened? He'd spent so long losing everything since the last battle with Thanos, there really didn't seem to be any point worrying when something good happened. Even without the webbing as a bonus, he already felt so much better like this… it was just so easy not to have to worry…

The sound of sirens from further down a street gave him a new sense of satisfaction.

Time to show the world what I can do now…


Sitting on the edge of the half-full café she'd found as a resting point, Wanda had no idea how she was expected to cope with this.

After confirming that literally nobody else in the city could see or hear her, she'd spent the previous night in an alley out of a lack of anywhere else to go. She'd been lucky enough that the weather last night had been fairly good, and at least her clothing was surprisingly warm, but she needed to work out other options if this invisibility was going to be a long-term problem. She had managed to find this café and grab a few bites to eat from people leaving their breakfasts half-finished, or stealing the occasional bit of sausage, toast or bacon from their plate (eggs were just too runny to grab that way), but this clearly wasn't going to work for long. She'd already had to literally steal someone's coffee to keep herself awake after spending last night fighting not to fall asleep in case some new idea occurred to her, and she still had no idea how she was meant to solve this mess when she didn't even know how she had become invisible. Wanda at least knew that she still had a physical presence, so she had some options for getting help, but she couldn't exactly contact the other Avengers even if she could find the right tools. She didn't know where Colonel Rhodes or Sam were now, writing to Tony Stark's wife would be awkward at best when they'd never really spoken before, she had never bothered to establish the postal address of Clint's farm, she had literally no idea how to send a message to Wakanda, and to say that it would be awkward to try and get back in touch with Doctor Strange was quite an understatement. Even if the former surgeon could see her and she could convince him that she had thrown off the Darkhold's influence, the rest of the sorcerers would likely still be angry at her previous attack, and had even less reason to want to help her.

Frankly, however she looked at it, it seemed as though her only real chance at finding help was to try and talk to Spider-Man again, and he had already made it clear that he wasn't interested in getting back in touch with the other Avengers after everything that had happened. As she grabbed a half-full glass of water and swallowed it down, she wondered what it said about their own roles in the team when they had received so little help from the other Avengers during their own troubles. She tried to remind herself that everyone had been dealing with a lot after Thanos's attack and the subsequent five years, but they should have made more of an effort-

The sound of police vehicles passing by prompted Wanda to look up from her seat, a hopeful smile on her face as she briefly glimpsed something flying past just above her current perspective. Hurrying out onto the street, the Sokovian smiled in relief as she saw a distinctive figure swinging down the middle of the street above the police cars chasing another vehicle. She briefly thought that it looked like Peter's costume had become darker, but decided to put that down to the shadows of the surrounding buildings and focus on catching up with him.

Reflecting that at least her current condition meant that she wouldn't shock anybody doing this, Wanda leapt into the air, her hands glowing red as she pursued her fellow former Avenger. She had no real idea what she was planning to say to him when she got there, but she knew that she had to at least try and talk to him again, particularly after what she'd learnt since they last spoke. Taking advantage of her current 'invisibility', Wanda decided to just watch him at work for a moment, smiling in approval as her fellow former Avenger pulled guns out of the criminals' hands as they tried to shoot at their pursuers. As she got closer, Wanda was surprised to see that she had been more right than she knew regarding Peter's costume, the more familiar red-and-blue colours now replaced by a black suit with a large white spider-symbol on its chest.

It reflected an unusual shift in costume design, but Wanda wasn't going to judge; if Peter really had lost so many friends and family recently, she could see how he might adopt a darker suit to reflect his sense of mourning-

Thoughts of Peter Parker's likely psychological state were given a new focus when Wanda saw him literally land on the fleeing car with an impact so powerful that it literally bent the roof in half. The car was brought to a halt by the impact, leaving the men in the car to scramble out only for Peter to catch two of them on a web-line and leave them hanging from a nearby flagpole. Wanda could accept that as a means of keeping the criminals contained, but the way that Peter kicked them both even when they were already trapped made Wanda feel somewhat uncomfortable. She chose not to focus on that thought as she turned back to Peter, who was already chasing the fleeing third crook.

Wanda wasn't sure Peter was even aware of her as he landed in front of the man and delivered a powerful punch to the face that left his opponent on the ground, clutching at his jaw and whimpering in a manner that Wanda didn't like the sound of. Wanda briefly thought about just letting Peter handle this himself and then stepping in, but when Peter stepped back to kick the man in the stomach that Wanda felt obliged to raise a shield between the two before Spider-Man did anything more serious.

"That's enough," she said, trying not to show how anxious she was about that particular moment of brutality as Peter looked up at her. She was glad to see that he was still aware of her, but that left her with the more immediate concern of what he had just been doing.

"…Right," the black-clad wall-crawler said as he dropped the crook and turned to look directly at Wanda. "I thought I said-?"

"I know, but… something has come up," Wanda decided to settle for that as an explanation for the moment. "Can we talk?"

"…Sure," the younger Avenger acknowledged, turning to fire another web-line as he leapt up to the roof of a nearby building. Channelling her energy once again, Wanda pushed herself into the air after him, landing gently beside the web-slinger as he turned to face her.

"Like I said yesterday," the young man began, looking firmly at her even as he kept his mask on, "I'm out of the Avengers-"

"Does it make any difference if you know you're literally the only one who can see and hear me now?"

"I'm what?" Spider-Man said, at least sounding more invested in the topic as he looked at her in surprise. "What does that mean?"

"If you're asking what it's like, as far as I can tell I'm still alive," Wanda began, hoping that a more jocular comment might inspire her associate to lighten up as well. "I was definitely cold and hungry last night, but I'm feeling better now; it's just that nobody else seems to even be aware of me-"

"But you can get food and find somewhere to stay, right?"

"Well… yes-"

"Great; then you're good," the web-slinger nodded at her as he turned away. "I'll just-"

"I'm not 'good'!" Wanda said, indignantly walking over and grabbing the younger hero's arm to turn him to face her. "I am dealing with something very disturbing-"

"Get the picture; life stopped making sense the day a Norse god opened a portal to an alien army above this city," Spider-Man countered, slapping Wanda's hand away with the back of his own hand and a bitter glare on his face. "You can sort it out yourself."

"What?" Wanda looked indignantly at him. "You can't just- we were-"

"Were what?" Peter glared at her, the expression somehow obvious even through his mask. "Teammates? We only fought in the same place twice, we were on opposite sides the first time and we didn't exactly hang out when we were dealing with Thanos; we're basically just acquaintances-"

"You're meant to be- you can't-" Wanda began, increasingly lost for what she was trying to say, unable to believe that the shy yet eager hero she'd glimpsed before was being so harsh to her now.

"Magic screwed up my life once already, and it sounds like you basically let it ruin yours," the web-slinger cut her off. "Sorry things aren't going well, but I have literally no idea how to help you anyway, so I've got enough crap in my own life without you dragging me into your mess."

With that, he leapt off the roof and swung away, leaving Wanda to stare after him in horror, a sinking feeling in her stomach as she processed what had just happened.

Literally the only person who apparently can see me doesn't want to bother helping me

For the next few moments, Wanda simply stared down the street that Spider-Man had swung along just moments ago, lost for any better kind of response, until she slumped to the ground, wrapped her arms around her knees, and began to sob.

She wasn't sure she'd felt this devastated even when she had lost her family both times; at least then she had been able to tell herself she had done the right thing in the end, but now? As far as Wanda could tell, she had been rejected by a good man who had dedicated his life to helping people, a man who had once basically fought alongside her to save the world, and she didn't understand how he could be so cold now