The alarms rang loudly a few blocks from where Spider-Woman sat perched on the edge of a rooftop, soon followed by police sirens. She stood up as the cars passed under her, diving into the traffic and swinging after them. She landed on a flagpole as the police cars pulled up in front of a bank, the street already crowded with S.W.A.T. trucks, ambulances, and curious onlookers.
"Haven't seen you in a while," said someone nearby. She looked up to see Spider-Man on the rooftop above her.
"Well, it's not that often that someone's stupid enough to rob a bank in broad daylight, or we might see each other more often," she replied.
They both turned toward the bank as they heard the sound of gunfire. They exchanged a 'look', which because they were wearing masks, was prortrayed through body language. As Spider-Man prepared to jump, Alexia held onto the flagpole and swung on it like an acrobat, gaining momentum, then let go. Both of them swung around to the back of the bank, hoping that the robbers hadn't seen them. The back door was made of enforced steel and didn't have a door handle. Spider-Man studied it.
"Maybe if I can get my fingers around the edges...," he thought out loud.
Spider-Woman backed up a few steps, and with super-humen strength and speed, shouldered the door. It nearly collapsed on itself, and she ripped it from it's hinges, creating a loud screeching sound.
"Think you could have made more noise," Spider-Man teased as she set it against the wall. She shrugged and went inside. Spider-Man followed.
They were standing in the loading area behind the bank vault. Alexia stepped beside the doorway and peeked inside. Two men were bent over, stuffing money into duffel bags, their backs turned.
"I think they've got some gold coins stashed in the back room. I'm going to look for them," said one of them.
Both spider-people flattened themselves against the walls on either side of the door, waiting. Alexia pointed to herself as if to say 'mine', and Peter nodded. As the thief walked into the room, Alexia pulled him to the side and pushed him into the wall, firing two web-lines; one at his mouth to keep him quiet, and one to stick him to the wall.
"Hey, Jack, they've got gold bars in here. I'm gonna need some help with this," called the other thief. Jack grunted in frustration.
"Jack," the thief repeated. He stepped out of the vault, and Spider-Man repeated what Alexia had done.
They entered the vault carefully, looking into the lobby. Seven armed robbers were holding people hostage. One of them stood in the doorway with one of the bank tellers, making sure that the cops couldn't get in. Alexia looked at Peter, and held up her hand, silently counting to three with her fingers.
At the count of three, they ran into the room, taking the thieves by surprise. Alexia kicked one of them in the back as Peter pulled the guns out of two of the thieve's hands with web-lines, punched one of them in the face and flipped the other one over the teller's counter. Alexia back-flipped out of the way as two them shot at her, and knocked their heads together as she jumped over them. Peter dodged an attack and delivered a kick to the robber's face. The last gunman, in the doorway, reluctantly turned to see what was going on. Alexia kicked the gun out of his hand, and the hostage ran to the police. The thief swung at her. She ducked and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying into the nearest police car. The cops surrounded him and put him in hand cuffs. When they turned back, Peter and Alexia were gone.
On a rooftop a few buildings away, Alexia crossed her arms and leaned against a wall.
"We make a pretty good team, don't we," Spider-Man said.
"We're a regular two-person S.W.A.T. team. Well, minus the 'regular' part," she responded. Peter chuckled.
"What's so funny," she asked.
"You. You remind me so much of myslef, it's strange," he said with an unguarded tone.
"I'll take that as a compliment,"Alexia said.
Peter sat on the high ledge of the roof, looking at her with amusment.
"That's quite an outfit," he commented.
"Says the man in red and blue spandex," Aleixa countered.
"It's not spandex!" He paused. "It's a lyrca blend."
Alexia laughed at this, and Peter joined her.
"So, what's your story? How'd you end up here," Peter asked.
Alexia decided to answer him truthfully. He didn't know about the accident, and couldn't make any connections.
"I was out shopping one day, and the guy in front of me dropped something. It was a ticket to the Columbia University Science Fair. I went to give it back to him, but he'd already felt. I had nothing better to do, so I went to the fair. While I was there, somene broke into the research labs. I followed them, looking for security. He attacked me and injected me with something from the lab. The next thing I knew, I was in the fair washroom. I went home, wondering if I should go to the hospital. I'd gotten a clear look at the label on the syringe, and looked it up. I'd been injected with a Black Widow's DNA. I wasn't about to go to the hospital after that and become a human test subject. I learned about my powers soon after and... well, some red and black lycra blend later, here I am."
"That's... interesting. I wonder what the thief was looking for."
"Probably something top-secret, or CNN would have said what it was."
Alexia suddenly pulled off one of her gloves to check her watch.
"I have to go. I have a non-life-threatening obligation to attend to," she said as she slipped the glove back on. She had to meet Devon, the Bugle reporter, in half an hour. She walked to the edge of the roof.
"I guess I'll see you next time there's a huge, life-threatening disaster," Peter said.
"Guess so," Alexia said. She jumped off of the building and disappeared around the corner.
Back in his civilian clothing, Peter walked into a phone booth and dialed Harry's number. The answering machine picked up.
"Harry, it's Peter. I need to talk to you. I know that you probably don't want to talk to me, but MJ and I are worried about you. There are some things that... well, that we both nees to deal with. I'm coming over tomorrow. If you're there when I get there, maybe we can talk about what happened. If you're not there... I guess that'll mean that you're not ready to talk yet. I'll be there around seven o'clock at night."
He hung up and started to head back home.