It's finally here. The chapter about the man, the myth, the legend himself: Frog-Man! I know you've all been waiting for this and just forced yourself through those boring Noir and Gwen chapters, so savor this!

...

Alright, being serious now. This chapter is pure, unadulterated cringe. Somewhat different from the last Frog-Man chapter cringe, but still cringe nonetheless. Eugene's just kinda sad and pathetic in this chapter since now heroes are an expected part of life in V2 and yet he's still stuck being the wannabe. This leads to him coming across as more pathetic than ever.

He also has a bit of an inflated ego. This is actually pretty close to canon since in his latest appearance he legit compared himself to Hawkeye (one of the earliest Avengers) and fully believed he was good enough to be Captain Marvel's (Ms. Marvel back then) partner. He even said he'd be calling her Carol soon enough. So yeah, this does kinda reflect negatively on him.

On the bright side it does allow me to tie him into the story rather than him having his own 'adventures'. I also toned down some stuff in the interest of making him more sympathetic.


"Hey Eugene. I'll have the usual."

Eugene looked up from his phone to find Gwen Stacy with her usual smile, "Oh, sure." He rang up her order practically on autopilot. She always ordered the same thing for her and her friends - caramel for herself, strawberry for the redhead, chocolate chip for the brunette with the glasses and and plain vanilla for Gloria (he shared a class with her). She always paid for all of them and let him keep the change, so she was probably loaded or something.

This time she had a guy friend with her. The guy looked kinda emo: bangs that covered his eyes and a hood pulled up to block almost all of his face from view. He looked really out of place next to her, but Eugene didn't say anything while she grinned and flirted with him. It was none of his business.

She grabbed three of the cups while her boyfriend(?) took the last two and they sat outside to wait for the remaining three members of their group. He recognized them, vaguely. They were the opening show for one of Spider-Woman's charity shows over a year ago. For a while there the band was running high until...nothing. They stopped taking gigs and everyone just forgot about them. Life.

Still, he had to admit they were all lookers. ESU wasn't exactly lacking in that department, but even then a redhead stuck out. He once read a study that red hair was the rarest hair color in the world, especially a darker shade like hers. His red hair was more like something Ron Malfoy had and it didn't help much to make him stick out from the crowd.

He sighed boredly and looked around the cafe. It was the same stuff as usual: couples in corners making out, wannabe directors typing up screenplays and a few college students catching up on their homework. He yawned and looked outside again. It looked like Gwen and the emo guy were having an argument, but again he paid it no mind. Probably just relationship stuff.

Being a barista wasn't as exciting as those sitcoms made you think. There weren't girls who came up to flirt with you and since he was the new guy most of the actual coffee stuff was handled by the senior staff. That was pretty boring too, if the almost dead way they prepared the drinks and pastries was any indication. At least there weren't any fights or anything. It was more or less an unspoken agreement that they just needed the money and getting into pissing matches wouldn't help anyone, meaning they more or less pretended the others didn't exist unless needed.

Sighing again, he told the other person on the counter he was taking his break and trudged to the backroom. So far college hadn't been what he expected. There weren't any wild parties or new thrills for the newcomer from the suburbs. Instead it was a whole lot of studying, making sure he had enough money for his part of the rent and arguing with his dad about whether an engineering track was the right course for him.

He tapped into the (slow) cafe wifi and began browsing the net. There was a new Spider-Woman and Hawkeye vid out, which he bookmarked for later. It was basically just go-pro footage edited just a bit to show off what a normal patrol was like. Supposedly it was for accountability, but he doubted the million plus viewers for every vid really cared about that. It was just way cooler to see Spider-Woman take down some bank robbers for real instead of hearing about it after the fact or from some shaky cam.

Sadly it always ended pretty quickly. 10 to 30 minute vids at most after being uploaded, and despite everyone's best best attempts there were definitely no hints of Spider-Woman's identity or anything outside of the crime being stopped since the vids always ended after the last takedown or after she went out to meet the cops. It was probably why the upcoming Spider-Woman movie (two weeks left!) was so popular; they'd finally get to see the woman behind the mask...more or less.

Eugene did his usual rounds. First going to #justspiderthings (used to be #justspiderwomanthings before people started adding Spider-Girl, Spider-Man and Spinerette stuff in) and then to some of the other hero boards. There wasn't anything new. A few shitposts and sightings, and while there were a few links to some NSFW images and sites he didn't dare open them when anyone could just walk in on him.

As usual, he found his mind wandering. Ever since the Avengers popped up they'd been doing more and more amazing stuff: stopping that superpowered terrorist, defeating H.Y.D.R.A, and even leading the Initiative against and honest to God alien invasion. It was a common joke in the forums that before the year was out they'd either counter invade the Skrulls or stop a demonic invasion.

Speaking of demons...

He went to the spidernews reddit and clicked the top post. It was a blurry picture of Spider-Man on a rooftop dangling someone dressed in a devil costume off the edge. It'd been a year since it happened but the fight between the Defenders and that ape demon thing in Times Square still made the rounds sometimes. After all, it wasn't every day a group of vigilantes ended up killing an actual devil.

That caused a lot of religious debates when it came out, especially when the Asgardians came. The Church of Asgard was growing by the day and it hadn't even been a week since the Defenders disbanded(?) before there were people screaming about how it totally wasn't a demon in Times Square. Good thing he wasn't too focused on that religious stuff.

He was kinda bummed that he couldn't help out at any point. He was back home when the Avengers (sans Cap and She-Hulk) fought the terrorist and when the Defenders beat that demon and his suit was ruined when the Skrulls invaded. He could've helped.

Still, the pic definitely got his attention. Was Spider-Man fighting devil worshipers now? He'd been all over the place the past year. Fighting with superheroes in France, helping take down a warlord in South Africa and even getting into a brawl with ninjas over in Shibuya. It was clear he'd been busy the past 12 months and people definitely took notice. He checked on the responses.

BIGMAN: Yo, so it's confirmed the true hero's back?! YUSSS!

LittleBigBeard: Hero? Lol keep dreaming. Guy's just a supervill and Imma laugh when you guys finally see that.

BIGMAN: You're just salty he's got a better ass than you, Todd.

penman: speaking of do you guys think Spider-Man's still together with spiderwoman?

ABCD: Should be, right? She didn't say anything about breaking up.

He decided to comment.

EPFrog: Dunno didn't see them together at all since he came back. Maybe they've broken up?

It wasn't like he wanted them to break up or anything. It was just...well, a year was a long time to be on a break, so realistically it made sense, right? Spider-Woman would be a free agent and would be open to anyone.

And it wasn't like he didn't think Spider-Man was a cool guy - he was - but if he was in his place he wouldn't have left for a whole year doing the long distance thing with someone like Spider-Woman. Besides, Eugene always thought the guy looked better with Spinerette. The two seemed to be good friends judging by some of her comments during interviews.

SpiritusDude: Dude, she would've said something if there was a break-up. Every time someone asked about him the whole year she basically says they're still together. Cellphones are a thing, ya know?

EPFrog: Just saying they could have broken up without telling anyone.

Manclaw: even if they did she's probably dating hawkeye or spinerette or something

He'd definitely considered that. Spider-Woman had mentioned in one of her first interviews that she swung for both teams, which a lot of fanfic writers and horny teenage boys were very happy with. Eugene couldn't say he hadn't stayed up at night thinking about her with Hawkeye or Spinerette. It really helped that Hawkeye admitted she had a major crush on Spider-Woman even before she knew who she was under the mask. It made sense - someone like Kate Bishop would definitely know an heiress, assuming the theory on Spider-Woman storyboarding her own comic origin story was right.

He was about to respond before his coworker Steve popped his head into the break room, "Yo, break time's over!"

"Y-Yeah, coming!"

Work passed by in a boring haze. It was 5 in the afternoon by the time his shift ended and he made his way back to his rented place. The place was decently sized, but considering there were three of them there it still felt cramped.

His roommate, Judge, was reading the living room table and he didn't look up. They weren't friends or enemies; the only reason he even knew the guy's name was cause his name was on the lease. For the most part they ignored each other and the only times they talked was if they needed the other to pay their part of the rent.

The other tenant was Gabriel, the guy he met over at the M&M game. He was friendlier than Judge, though he spent a lot of time out and most nights he didn't even bother coming back. Eugene didn't pay too much attention to it. The guy was nice, sure, but he doubted he got up to anything exciting. He was just Striker's old schoolmate.

Eugene opened the door to his room and turned on the laptop as he took the suit from underneath the bed. College classes meant he only got a few hours at best to do his thing depending on just how much homework the profs loaded him with, "Come on..." He laid the suit down and tapped the touchpad. The damn thing was old, but it was the best he could afford considering his job.

He looked through the bookmarked pages and sighed at the numbers on the screen. 7 subscribers on the youwebs (it was 11 just a couple days ago), 9 tweeter followers, the same number on swiftpound and 2 dollars worth of donations on his adveocate page (even though he'd seen more on just reaction channels..). His recent Frog-Man vid just barely trickled past the double digits and so far he hadn't gotten a response on monetization.

There were links to other, more successful pages. He was was he tapped the screen to close the tab and was accidentally redirected to the tweeter of Michael Van Patrick, better known as MVP. Everyone knew who he was - the new generation's Captain America, an all natural good boy who got to where he was through strict dieting and training. In a lot of ways he was more inspiring than the original. Training and dieting beat a serum; made people think it could be them wearing the red, white and blues one day and being the face of the Initiative.

He wasn't jealous or anything, it was just...kinda annoying - they both didn't have powers and neither did Hawkeye, why couldn't he get to their level? He'd tried to get into the Initiative but he didn't last through the basics and they kicked him out soon after. They did offer to buy the spring boots as a consolation, which his dad was all too happy to accept, so now he wasn't even special for having them. Last he checked some firefighters and construction workers were already getting training for em.

There were a few other tweeter pages - Hawkeye, Striker, Spider-Girl and Spinerette - but of course he was drawn towards Spider-Woman's. Easily over ten million followers - nearing 15 at this point - even though she didn't update much and only occasionally posted a few comments or pics. The last post was from a few days ago: 'Spider-Man's back in town! About time...' and nothing else. That got a lot of likes and retweets.

Eugene shut off the laptop and put on his costume. He could maybe get a couple of hours of patrolling done if he was lucky. He put on the helmet and walked out. Judge looked up from his book, rolled his eyes with a scoff and quickly went back to reading. He didn't say anything, but Eugene was pretty sure the guy didn't approve. Maybe he was worried that villains would come for payback while he was in? He didn't keep his secret identity hidden, after all.

He taped the go-pro to his mask as soon as he was outside and he jumped. He'd gotten way better at using the springs, though he did still have the occasional hiccup. He thought at least the footage of the jumps would get some views, but apparently people were much more interested on Spider-Woman's swinging or Hawkeye's parkour rather than him.

Patrol was...uneventful, which was a (sadly) common thing. He tended to keep his patrols pretty close to campus, so there was little chance of him running into a Supervill of some kind most days - and the few times he did someone else usually stopped them before he could psyche himself up to join in. So far he'd gotten to talk to a few of the Initiative graduates like that guy Xorn, but not Spider-Woman, oddly enough.

His mind wandered again. Spider-Woman...they hadn't talked since she joined them on patrol with the rest of the (now disbanded) Protectors. Cypher graduated and got a job, Slyde went back to being a villain (if you could even call him that), Tarot was too busy with school and Eye Scream split off because he thought he could be more popular as a solo hero.

He saw her around the city sometimes, but she was always out of sight before he could say anything. Trying to message her on tweeter never got him a response. He wasn't surprised; she probably got thousands of people trying to message her every day. It was still disappointing, though. All he said was he wanted to see if she was willing to team up again now that he was solo.

The sun was almost gone when he saw it. A couple of teenagers trying to break into a car. They didn't look armed so, with a deep breath to psyche himself up, Eugene jumped down, "Hey!" Both of them turned towards him and he continued before they could say anything, "You know it's not nice to steal, so just give up if you know what's good for you!" He did his best to make his voice deep and menacing.

It didn't get the reaction he wanted.

The teenager to the left, some guy in a brown hoodie who looked as pale as a sheet, started laughing. The teenager to the right, not as pale but far more lanky and wearing a red t-shirt, just turned to friend and gestured towards Eugene, "Uh, this guy serious?"

"I-I'm very serious!" Eugene screamed, "Some guy worked hard to get that car, so you don't have any right to steal it!"

Pale dude finally stopped laughing, "Man, fuck off! We know all about the heroes on this block and you ain't one of em! Get outta here before you get hurt, Frog boy!" Okay, he had to admit that hurt. So what if he wasn't a member of the Initiative? Spider-Man wasn't and criminals wouldn't talk shit to him. Eugene took a deep breath and stepped closer with his head held high.

Lanky guy rolled his eyes, "Really, dude, fuck off. We ain't got time to deal with wannabe assholes."

Eugene threw the first punch. It did make lanky guy stumble back a bit, but it didn't take long for him and pale dude to hit back. A minute later and Eugene was on the ground getting the hell (and his lunch) stomped out of him. The suit muffled their blows at least slightly, but he was still screaming and groaning in pain from the hits. At the back of his mind he could only think about how familiar this all was.

Lanky guy stopped kicking him and turned to his head, "Hey, you sure he ain't one of them heroes? I don't want any revenge trips from his buddies."

Right, the 'unspoken rules'. Ever since the Initiative Program kicked into high gear and heroes became a more accepted part of life criminals wised up. Initiative Heroes were encouraged not to kill criminals unless the circumstances were dire, so that meant most law breakers tried to avoid killing the heroes in turn or roughing them up too badly. Crippling or, god forbid, killing an Initiative Hero meant their cheesed off buddies put the killswitch up and most people didn't want to deal with a superhero once they didn't care if they broke your neck.

Unfortunately for Eugene, that didn't apply to him.

"Nah, I looked at the list. Ain't no loser in a frog suit on it." Pale dude reared his leg back and Eugene shut his eyes as he braced himself for the hit.

*Thwip*

Pale dude screamed and when Eugene opened his eyes again he found him hanging upside down from a nearby lightpost, "Shit!" Lanky guy's eyes were wide and he turned to run to the alley, leaving his friend behind. He didn't get far before a barrage of webbing hit him in the back and pinned him to the floor till there was nothing he could do but struggle and scream against the ground.

"Wh-Wha-"

"You alright?" Eugene looked up to the source of the voice and almost scrambled back when he Spider-Woman looking down at him. This wasn't how he wanted to meet her again! God, this was embarassing... "Uh, can you stand or do you need me to take you to a hospital?" She tilted her head slightly (damn, it looked cute) and offered him a hand, "Cause I can totally swing us over if-"

"I-I'm good!" Eugene gratefully accepted the offered hand and she pulled him up effortlessly.

"You sure? By the time I got here it looks like they've been beating on you for a while."

"N-Nah, it was...I'm okay." His nose was bleeding, he was pretty sure, and there'd be bruises for the next couple weeks, but he was still standing.

"Alright, well, I should probably-"

"W-Wait!" He cried out suddenly, "D-Don't you need my, like, statement or something? For what they did."

"Huh? I could just call the cops-"

"B-But you're already here and you can do it." Did he sound too desperate? Hopefully not.

"O...kay. Well, I guess it'd save the boys in blue some time. Sure, let's do it. " She laughed softly. He'd never heard her laugh before, "But if you insist on staying we should probably get you some ice, at least. Come on, I know a store near here."

They (she) bought an icepack, tissues and a couple of sodas at the nearby convenience store. The cashier's eyes were wide and she immediately asked Spider-Woman for a selfie...and basically pretended like he didn't exist when he asked if she wanted one with him too. Ouch, but he expected that with Spider-Woman in the room. Anyone would've been an extra if they were in the same room as her.

"Can you jump? I'd rather not talk about it on street level." She gestured to the staring citizens.

"I-I'm not sure. Maybe they broke something?"

"You asking or telling me?" She waved a hair through the air casually before offering that same hand towards him, "Grab on. I can take us up."

He took her hand in a shaky grip and before he knew it they were flying through the air. Eugene didn't really have enough time to process it - one second they were on the ground and the next they were on a rooftop far high enough that people could video them, "Should be good here." She sat on a vent and put the assorted stuff to her right, "Might wanna take off your mask. It's...kinda busted."

Eugene took the mask off and groaned at the left eye that had popped right out, "Dang it." His dad definitely wouldn't fix it; he didn't like the idea of him doing this. Sighing, Eugene sat on the vent next to the plastic bag and dabbed at his nose with one hand while the other held an ice pack to his eye. Spider-Woman just waited and texted on her phone, though she made sure the screen was out of sight...not that he was going to peek or anything.

Eventually the bleeding stopped and she pocketed the phone...somehow, "Here." She handed him one of the cans of soda and raised her mask halfway up to her nose so she could take a drink. He was kinda disappointed she didn't take it off all the way, "You're staring. Got something on my face?" She smiled lightly. Her lips were wet and glistening from the soda and his mind wandered to where else they could be-

"Ah, no! Just...nothing." He tentatively sipped at his own soda and stared down at the can. God, why was he such a loser? This was just like when he (and Spider-Man) visited him (technically his dad) a year ago.

"Right...so, your statement?" She tapped the side of her mask. Was she recording?

"Oh!" He self-conscious wiped his upper lip, "Yeah...uh, those guys down there were trying to steal that car. I-I tried to tell them to stop and they just-" Laughed in his face, "-uh, they didn't stop. So I got closer and it turned into a fight."

She tapped the side of her mask again, "Carjackers, huh? Guess you can't beat the classics." She finished off her soda and set it between them, "Well, I dropped off a call earlier so I'll drop the recording on the police station when I head home."

"Oh, cool!" Ugh...kill him now, "So...hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"How do you..." He paused, trying to find the words, "You mentioned before that you were in college, right?" It still amazed him that someone like her was basically the same age as him. She should've been 22 now, he thought. She said she was 21 in the interview last year.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Like...how do you the normal stuff? Like, fighting crime and doing tests at the same time."

"It's...a bit of a struggle sometimes." She put a leg up put her head on the knee, "It's better now that there are more Initiative heroes running around. During the training program it was really hard keeping things balanced. Actually I almost failed one of my classes." She laughed again, "But eventually I got through it. Dad and...mom helped out when they could."

"Why are in college anyway? You're already an Avenger." And she made a buttload of cash in merch. The constant donations under various charities proved that and last he checked the Avengers were being bankrolled by both Starktech and Dynecorp.

"Why not?" She grinned, "I always wanted to see what college was like and I think I deserve a little bit of normal. Besides, the stuff I'm learning could help me out. Not the supervill class, those are inaccurate as hell, but the criminal psychology stuff's good."

"Huh..." Least she knew what she wanted.

She lowered her mask back down, "Well, I gotta go. Take care of-"

He didn't know what made him ask his next question. It was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

"Are you and Spider-Man still going out?"

The eyes of her mask shifted to copy a raised eyebrow, "Uh...yeah? Why?"

"Ah, that's..." He gulped nervously. He didn't know the why of it, he just asked, "I...I'm just wondering. Cause, ya know, he took off for like a year and I thought that maybe he's just-"

"I love him." His rambling died off as she sat next to him again, "We've been through a lot. I can honestly say that there's no one else I'd rather be with and I'm sure he feels the same. Did I like him leaving for a whole year? Of course not, but I understand why he did it and he's here now. Do I really have to advertise that we love each other just so people can stop asking about it?" Annoyance seeped into her tone at the end.

"N-No, it's just...did you ever think about going with anyone else? Besides Spider-Man?"

"I don't like thinking in what-ifs; always leaves me second guessing myself. Point is he's here now, I'm together with him and for the first time in a long while we're happy. It's as simple as that." She sighed and pulled up her hood, "Look, I really should go. I gotta talk to my dad about something big."

"Oh, sure..." He looked down at can of soda and swallowed, "Hey, could we team up again? You know, just a couple of heroes going on patrol."

"Uh...sure, I guess." She fished out a card from her pocket and handed it to him, "Here's my prioricard number. Just tap it if you really need help and I'll come swinging, guaranteed." She gave him an (oddly dorky) thumbs up.

"Yeah, cool." He rubbed the card between his fingers, "Thanks for this, it's really cool. But um...could I...have your number? You know, just to keep in contact," he said casually.

She was quiet for a moment before she suddenly breathed out, "...Look, let's not do this."

"What are you-"

"You like me." He opened his mouth to protest and she cut him off, "Look, I'm not dumb. You've got every sign of someone with a hero crush. On the one hand it's cute, on the other I really need to tell you that you should move on. I'm happy with Peter, and honestly I'm tired of getting messages from needy, entitled people ranting about how I should just 'give them a chance' or that 'Spider-Man's no good for you'. What I do with my personal time is my business, not theirs."

"B-But I do like you! It's not just a hero crush!"

She looked at him without a word and then asked, "Alright, tell me one thing about me that you didn't just pick up off from an interview. Just one."

"What? Uh...I dunno, um..."

"If you saw me without my mask would you even know who I was?"

"Well...no, cause I've never seen you without a mask."

"Exactly. Another question then: who do you think I am?"

"Huh? Well...you're Spider-Woman."

"And I guess you think I really own a mansion and I'm a model, right?" Well...not exactly. He doubted it was true, but she must've had an awesome life even outside the mask. Just look at Felicia Hardy or Kate Bishop; a popstar and an heiress turned superheroes even without powers, "Eugene, I'm not this...flawless hero people love to prop me up as. Those first two years were utter hell and sometimes I couldn't even get out of bed cause of how depressed I was. People are in love with the idea of Spider-Woman, that's it. They don't care about who I am under the mask."

"But-"

"All you've seen is Spider-Woman and that's not all who I am, the same way Peter's not just Spider-Man the vigilante with the guns. We've talked, what, three times in total? How could you have more than a hero crush on someone when all you know about them is what you've seen on interviews?"

Eugene didn't - couldn't - say anything.

"I'm sorry if I'm being harsh, but I've dealt with this before and I'm dealing with it now from one of my best friend's little sis, so I'm not in the mood for another swing around. Find someone else, maybe a friend you're hanging out with." She paused, "Oh, and go to the hospital, please? That beating looked kinda nasty."

She swung away. Eugene just looked down at the prioricard and didn't say a word. A part of him knew that she was right, but another part felt a little resentful. Of course he didn't know her- he never got the chance to. He was over there in stepford suburbia getting crapped on cause his dad tried to rob a diner in a stupid frog suit and Spider-Woman stopped him. If he was here he could've helped her out...

He pocketed the card and put the mask back on. The go-pro was banged up but still working but who'd want to see a video of him getting his butt kicked? "Damn it..." He stood and tried to ignore the lingering soreness. This entire thing was a wash. Not only did he get his ass beat but he mad a complete turd of himself in front of Spider-Woman. A shitty way to end a shitty day.

He walked around aimlessly. A few people turned to stare at first but eventually they stopped paying attention him; probably thought he was a mascot doing a promotion or something. A part of him wanted to just go back to the apartment, but another larger one just wanted to find some way to forget the past quarter of an hour and re-do everything.

Eventually he noticed that people were stopping to stare and point at something above. He turned to follow and gaped when he saw it: a figure in a red and dark blue costume with long red hair whipping in the wind. Eyecatching enough on her own, but the fact that she was crouched on the side of a building made sure that everyone who saw her couldn't take their eyes away.

And then she jumped.

She rushed down to the ground and, for a brief moment, he thought that she'd crash into the pavement. He prepared himself to jump and catch her when she suddenly turned around mid-fall and shot two lines of blood red webbing towards the building. She propelled upwards and flew towards one of the main roads. She shot another line of webbing and swung away.

Eugene followed. He had no idea why; his body was practically moving on autopilot. She was still swinging through the road, jumping on the roofs of cars and trucks and even using flagpoles to propel herself upwards. Eugene jumped as high as he could and watched as she jumped between the walls of two buildings and ran along the windows of a nearby office building before swinging out of sight.

"Wow..." That was Scarlet Spider, right? Different costume, but who else could it have been? He sat at the edge of the building and just thought about it. There were a lot of Spiders coming out recently, so someone must've been making them, right? Maybe he could call Spider-Woman's prioricard and ask her? She said it was a radioactive spider and it didn't work anymore, but maybe there was something else. With that thought in his head, he stood up and nodded.

And then he heard an explosion.

It was far enough that he was safe, but he couldn't stop himself from following the sound. When he got to the mostly deserted street he found himself in front of an office building with a huge chunk of rubble at the front.

"What the heck?"

Three figures jumped out. The first one - Spider-Man, he realized blankly - shot a line of white webbing behind him so he could slow his descent. The other one, a woman who looked like a Halloween scarecrow ninja, stabbed a sword to the and used it to slide down while her other hand held onto a guy in a devil costume like he didn't even weigh anything.

Spider-Man landed first with the ninja following soon afterwards. He stood up from his crouch and looked back at the burning floor, "Damn it, should've known Gao would set the place to blow..." He growled and looked towards the crowd (and him). Most of them had the bright idea to run, though at least a couple stayed to either gape or take pictures and video, "Show's over, folks."

The ninja slung Devil Dude over her shoulder and nudged her head. Spider-Man growled again, "Well what do you want me to do? Can't exactly take him to the hospital."

"Maggie's church..." Devil Dude said weakly.

"And just how are we supposed to..." He looked back to Eugene and when he looked around he found that everyone else had finally decided to leave. It was just the four of them now, "Patillio, I said show's over. Get outta here."

"D-Do you need help?" They looked like they needed help. Devil Dude was bleeding and they were covered head to toe in dust and flecks of blood.

"Not unless you're a doctor."

"I-I could call an ooper for you guys. You need to get somewhere, right?"

"...Fine, but we should probably get outta here before the cops come. ...And thanks."

He called his preferred driver and he got there in record time. They all piled in, though Eugene was forced to sit in front because of the size of his costume. Eugene looked up at the to the rear view mirror. Spider-Man was poring through some papers at the rightmost seat while Devil Dude leaned against the window and pressed an arm against his bleeding neck. Ninja lady looked down until her head suddenly jerked up to meet his gaze on the mirror. Eugene promptly looked away.

Francis (the ooper driver) paid them no mind. Apparently he wasn't paid enough to deal with 'superhero shit' and said he'd keep his mouth shut if they gave him a five star review. Spider-Man gave him an extra 100 hundred dollars just in case.

They were close to the church when Spider-man finally spoke up, "Thought you said you could take care of yourself?" he said to Devil Dude.

"We all have our limits. After all, I'm only human." He laughed at that. Spider-Man clicked his tongue and looked back out to the dark window.

"That's still debatable." He scoffed, "Who the hell did that to you, anyway?"

"Oh, are you worried about my safety, Peter? You do care about me!" He grinned despite the blood.

"You know what, I don't care. Whoever it was I owe him a drink." He got the feeling Spider-Man didn't like Devil Dude, which didn't seem to be reciprocated given how DD kept smiling.

"If you wish." DD shrugged with one shoulder and nudged his head to lady ninja, "Still, you are full of surprises, aren't you? "

"What the hell are you talking about? She's with you."

"Oh? I thought she was with you. I don't have any domain over the Black Sky. Not anymore, at least." Eugene looked up at the rear view mirror again. Black Sky? Sounded like some kind of perfume, "Though, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You always did have a knack for inspiring loyalty even in the unlikeliest of individuals."

"Tch..."

They got to the church. Eugene took off his mask and got out shakily followed by Spider-Man and the others. Spider-Man let out a slow, tired breath while black sky ninja lady slung Devil Dude's arm around her shoulder.. She hadn't said a word the entire time and it was pretty creepy, "Back room..." Devil Dude pointed a shaky finger to the church, "Maggie will ensure I don't bleed out."

"Come on then."

Eugene awkwardly followed them inside. The place looked worn out and not really someone he'd leave a person bleeding out. They were halfway through the large room when he asked, "Hey, so isn't this that guy's place? Uh, Mr. Negative-"

"Don't call him that." Spider-Man's sudden snarl made Eugene shrink back. It was kinda silly. If he did the math right then they were the same age, so why did he feel like a kid next to him? They weren't that different. They both put on costumes and went out to try and help people. Heck, if he had powers too he was pretty sure he could do most of the same stuff he did.

"S-Sorry..." Eugene mumbled.

"...It's fine. Sorry for snapping at you." He sighed, "Come on, let's get this over with."

Ninja lady handed DD over to Spider-Man and, after some obvious annoyance, he took him to the back room while she stood guard outside. Eugene made to follow them inside before she suddenly shoved him back, "H-Hey, what's the big idea?" She crossed her arms and didn't say a word. Eugene tried to step past her again and she shoved him back harder this time.

What the heck?

"I'm just trying to-" He stepped forward and she suddenly unsheathed her sword and pressed the edge of it right up against his neck. Eugene's blood ran cold and he put his hands up in a panic, "Hey, hey! Woah! T-T-Take it easy!" She still didn't say anything and the patchwork mask with noticeable stitches only added to how scary the entire thing was. She could slit his throat and he wouldn't be able to do anything.

Spider-Man stepped out of the backroom and stopped when he saw them, "The hell are you doing?" She turned towards him and pressed the blade harder against Eugene's neck. He stopped breathing; didn't want to risk it, "He's not a threat."

She made the smallest sound - some kind of grunt - before she pulled the sword away and put it back on its sheath, "...Sorry about that. Still trying to figure out what her deal is." Spider-Man said. He faced her, "You gonna stay here?"

She nodded and and knelt down in a meditation pose with her head faced downwards. Spider-Man sighed and nudged his head to the entrance and Eugene followed, heart still ringing in his ears. That was way too close.

Spider-Man handed him some bills when they got to the entrance, "Here, for the driver and helping us out. Take care of yourself."

He turned and began to walk away. Eugene shouted, "H-Hey wait." He turned back and looked at him, his expression unreadable underneath the mask, "Wh-What happens now?"

"Now? 'Daredevil' has to make sure he doesn't bleed out and I got some files to give to a friend." He shook a USB stick, "After that, who knows."

"So that's it? What am I supposed to do?"

"Uh...what the hell are you talking about?" He tilted his head slightly.

"I mean, I'm in it now, right? I should help."

"Ain't looking to make another team, Patillio." He scoffed, "You helped us out, yeah, so thanks for that, but this ain't an audition. Best you get home if you know what's good for you."

"Hey, come on!" Eugene stepped in front of him to block his way, "Just give me a chance, man! I know I don't have any powers but Black Cat and Moon Knight didn't have any either and-"

"Are you ready to die?" He still couldn't see his expression, but Eugene could feel the harshness of the other teenager's gaze. He shrunk back, "Answer the question. Are you ready to die?"

"W-Well...that's not..."

"This isn't a game, Patillio. I lost a friend to these bastards and they don't play by the rules you think they do. That woman inside? She was one of them. You think she's one of the good guys and she nearly slit your throat without even thinking about it. This ain't the adventure you're looking for."

"But you do it..." And so did Striker and she was younger than he was.

"I don't do it for fun. You think it was flawless for me? I got the hell beat out of me more times than I can count, I watched one of my closest friends die in front of me when all I could do was beg...I died, Patillio. Wasn't exactly a fun time for any of us." He still remembered that vid. Spider-Woman holding and hugging him and begging him not to go, "Trust me, you don't want in this."

"I just..." He just wanted to help. He could help. He and Spider-Man - Peter Parker - weren't that different. Both of them were unpopular geeks who got bullied and then put on a mask afterward. Sure some details in-between were different, but Spider-Man wasn't any better than him. If Spider-Man could do it then he could too, right? Powers weren't everything.

"Go home, and hope you never run into any of us again."

He rounded the corner out of sight. Eugene chased after him only to find nothing but an empty street, "But I can..." He sighed and called another ooper to pick him up to take him back home.

By the time he got there Judge was gone, probably asleep in his room, "Home sweet home..." He sat down on the couch costume and all and closed his eyes. Should he call Spider-Woman? No, too soon. He didn't wanna come across as too desperate. He could ask her for a team-up once he fixed his costume and then maybe just slip it into conversation that he was interested in getting Spider powers. She'd give him a heads up, right?

A sudden ringing on the table jolted him out of his thoughts. He looked down and gaped like a fish when he saw the name 'Striker' on the screen followed by a picture of a grinning Striker herself making a peace sign. He hadn't seen that picture before - she wasn't even in her costume - so where did Gabriel get it?

Gabriel stumbled out of the bathroom and grabbed it just as Eugene was about to reach out, "Shit, sorry for the noise!" He smiled at him apologetically and answered the phone. A few words were exchanged (he couldn't hear Striker's end) and soon enough he cut the call, "Sorry about that again. Didn't mean to interrupt your sleep."

"It's...It's cool." Eugene said, "So, uh, you're friends with Striker?"

"With Lana? Y-Yeah, I guess." He smiled slightly, "Speaking of, she said Spinerette called us over. Something about the girl she and Spider-Girl rescued a couple of days ago." Oh yeah, he saw that on the news. Mayor Hollister was so proud that his daughter stopped those human traffickers.

"Sp-Spinerette? But, why did they call you too?"

"Uh...can you keep a secret?" Eugene could only nod blankly, "Right, so I kinda-sorta snuck into some place I shouldn't have and got some info on where that deal was that Lana and Spider-Girl crashed." Eugene still didn't say a word, "So now I guess Spinerette wants to see if I know anything else? Dunno why her, though. There weren't any Supervillains there from what Lana told me..."

Eugene was still stunned silent. Gabriel Reyes, the guy who didn't even have a costume, was on a first name basis with Striker and helped her out in her hero work? Why didn't he say anything before? He could've helped her out too!

"So I really gotta go. Sorry again for the noise." Gabriel grabbed his backpack and was out the door before he could say anything. Eugene didn't even have to think before he put on his mask again and followed Gabriel out. He didn't have any luck with Spider-Woman or Spider-Man, but Striker he could definitely help. She wasn't much more experienced than him so she couldn't turn away the help.


Yeah, cringe. This was actually somewhat hard for me to write since writing egotistical weaklings who are still supposed to be sympathetic/not completely hated is pretty new to me. Matt is far simpler despite his twisted character because I'm not worrying whether he's sympathetic or not, which is relaxing.

And like I said before I toned down some stuff. Most notably I removed Eugene's daydreams of him being in the middle of a harem consisting of Gwen, Lana, Spinerette etc etc or him rubbing one out to NSFW Spider-Woman fanart. It wouldn't be odd for a hormonal young man to think these thoughts or do those things, but I figured it'd be too much and just make the audience think he was a creep.

...Oh, and MJ's having her own version of What's up Danger now that she has a new costume :P Can't wait to get back to her.

Questions:

1. What do you guys think of Cindy being Laura's 'mom'? That was totally unplanned and I only put it in there cause people kept asking about Laura and Shadowcat and I wonder how well it came across given that Cindy never interacted with them the previous volume.

Following up on that, do you guys want more focus on these segments? I can do that but this means losing new characters Jean De Wolfe and Ben Grimm since Laura and Shadowcat would take their screentime.

2. Should I make Cindy less gun focused? A friend pointed out how odd it was that someone as strong as pre-Venomized Gwen defaults to guns rather than melee like you'd think.

3. I know some people have said it, but would you guys actually be interested in a Murdock/Mary Jane kind of thing? I personally don't care for it but as a writer I could definitely see the plot potential. Bonus points if I add Felicia gunning for MJ for the most fucked up love triangle in the story. I don't like romance, but the sheer dysfunction of this would be pretty hilarious.

Review Answers:

Eudera - Couldn't be revived by the Beast. The Hand are searching for other ways to resurrect.

SpiderGod766 - Matt's already been obsessed with Peter from day one and he (technically) was the one to free him from the Beast. And yes, Sleeper has nacho cheese sauce so I'm not using it.

Raymond49090rc - Matt's behavior and character are still pretty...off. He's a sadist, for example, which doesn't bode well.

Bagration - Matt's the good guy in this scenario, though, so why support Bullseye?

Brave2000 - If you mean if Bullseye's still a cheery psychopath or not, then yes, he's still cheery. Think of him more like 616 Bullseye.

Noisy-Cricket - How did he make it awkward? Is flirting with Peter any different than when they had that steamy dinner? ;)

Chaos4Ever - Huh...maybe Eugene should hang around Peter more - it might end with him becoming a legitimate hero. I mean freaking Gabriel ended up turning into a Watch Dogs hero, for freak's sake. As for the symbiote's food choice, that comes later.