Alright, so current votes so far:

Peter retains powers vs Peter gets upgrades: 10 vs 12 with upgrades in the lead. Of course, people have varying definitions of upgrades - some just want wall-crawling and webswinging,others are fine without and just want him to have better gadgets other than the Hellfire knife, and of course those who just want better stealth (even though he can turn invisible already?), so it's not really a total win. Have to think about it.

Mary Jane threesome vs Mary Jane with Felicia or Matt vs Mary Jane alone: 13 vs 13 vs 8. Holy crap, we actually have a tie between threesome and Mary Jane solo romance :/ This is the Matt v. Gwen roommate vote all over again. Guess this one will come down to either a coinflip or more votes.

Also, people don't like Frog-Man :( Oh well, it's to be expected. And yes, in case anyone missed it, Daimon in this fic is a giant reference to V and Devil May Cry 5. Wasn't exactly being subtle, especially with using V's combat lines.

Anyway, these are everyone's tweeter names since I'll be making more of those segments:

Gwen - FriendlyNeighborhoodSpiderWoman

Mary Jane - ScarletSpider

Lana - StrikerNotBombshell

Eugene - EPFrog

Cindy - Spinerette (changed to SpiderCop later)

Peter - SpiderWomanMadeMeDoThis (changed to DarkSpider later at Lana's request, cause Noir can never say no to her except for what she wants most).

Norah - IKnowSupersAndICantTell

Gayle Watson - No1SpiderWomanFan


BigBertha: Anyone else thinks Spinerette's new costume is kinda lame? I mean the jacket and pants look way less cool than her old outfit.

RamonaPilgrim: Well she's Spider-Cop now. Gotta look professional, yeah?

Flatman: Anyone remember the time she ran around dressed in nothing but white web? What was that about?

BigBertha: Apparently she got attacked and didn't have time for anything else. Fans seem to like it, though. Lots of cosplay for it.

01110100101: Didn't have time for anything else and yet somehow manages to make perfect thigh gaps? Sure lol. Hot, though.

Spinerette: This is why I never check my feed.


Cindy was late.

"You're late," Masters said with that smug smile of his. Cindy didn't bother to bite something back and just shoved past him a little rougher than he was expecting. She would've been lying if she said the sight of him almost falling flat on his ass didn't make her smile, "Oof, someone's in a bad mood. What's wrong, itsy bitsy? Still reelin' from your screw-up last night?"

"Screw up?" She looked back and scowled at him.

"Yeah. You know we had to clean up the mess you and your buddies left? Couldn't even clean up after yourself, huh? Not even with those fancy guns of yours?" He gave a pointed glance to the two S.H.I.E.L.D issue pistols on her shoulder holsters. It was one of the few things she managed to keep from her time with them. It was definitely more useful than the standard issue glocks and revolvers the other officers hard.

"Aww, jealous that I have betters toys than you?" She sneered, which was sadly hidden by her scarf.

"Don't need em. See, us actual cops? We don't need laser guns or your freak buddies to help people. 'f I was there last night-

"Cut the shit, Masters." Cindy wished she'd been the one to say that, but once again it was Jean coming to the rescue. The older woman shoved Master's away, "You just found out about last night after seeing it on youwebs an hour ago, so don't act all high and mighty. And what did Captain Watanabe tell you about pissing off our on loan Mask expert? You really wanna piss her off and deal with Rhino on your own? Cause I'm sure she can work something out."

Masters muttered something unintelligible under his breath and stalked off. It wasn't surprising. Cindy had her hands tied and had to make a good impression. Jean, on the other hand, had given another cop a wedgie when he told her to 'unbunch her boxer briefs' over a year ago. Cindy had no idea how she got away with that, but she wasn't curious enough to question it.

"Thanks for that..." Cindy sighed. Masters knew she couldn't fight back, least not without alienating herself even more. Her job was hard enough as it was; she didn't need the other cops outright shunning her instead of just being awkward. Masters might have been an asshole, but he was one of them and she wasn't. It wasn't a fight she could win.

"No problem. That guy's a prick," she said, just loud enough for him (and everyone around him) to hear. She leaned in closer and whispered, "Hey, could we go somewhere private? I need to talk to you about something."

Cindy nodded and they made their way to her 'office'. As crappy as it was the glass was still one way and the room was still soundproof, so she didn't have to worry. As soon as she locked the door she lowered her scarf and sighed. It never stopped being weird going to work in full costume. This was so different from the time she agreed to attend that cosplay convention.

"Guessing this is about your side job?" Cindy asked. It never ceased to amaze her just how varied some of the backgrounds of the vigilantes she encountered were. Case in point Detective Jean De Wolf, who decided that apparently she thought breaking the law in order to serve it was a price she was all too happy to pay. Considering she tended to target the Maggia and their shark lawyers she probably had a point

So far she hadn't killed anyone, at least. Not that Cindy would've held it against her; she'd done too much and had too many off-color friends to make that call.

"Mostly." Jean tossed her a burner phone, "Got that from a Maggia goon by the name of Vito Scaletta. They're planning something, and I think it has something to do with that human trafficking bust those two kids busted." She frowned slightly at that. She made it clear she didn't like teenagers getting involved. Frank Castle might've been a former cop turned vigilante, but at least he was legal age.

"How so?"

"Ol' Vito's name popped up on that anonymous USB we got. But of course he had an alibi the night of the incident and when we got the warrant for his house there was nothing there. After some...persuasion I managed to pry something out of him." Meaning fear gas, cause apparently Scarecrow was making a killing outside of Gotham, "Apparently the Maggia have been in contact with a new player in town-"

"Lemme guess, guy going by the name of Scorpion?"

"Bingo." Cindy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew she shouldn't have taken that deal, "Apparently he's a real up and comer and making some waves by dealing with the Mauchio family. Vito's boss thinks he can use Scorpy to try and depose the other families."

"Odd. I thought la cosa nostra kept business in-house?"

"They did, but the mob's been losing ground for years now. Supervillains are all the rage these days." Right, she'd heard something about that. Cindy still couldn't believe that some people had the gall to complain that the mob was the good old days. Apparently cement shoes and murdered families were somehow better just cause a guy in a pinstriped suit was doing it.

"Right, I'll text Pete about it later." De Wolfe frowned again, "Hey, I know you have issues with him but he knows these guys better than I do. Besides, I don't think you have room to throw stones Ms. Purple Bondage Queen."

"That's even worse than Wraith." She scoffed, "Speaking of secret identities, we really should talk about yours."

"For the last time, I'm not calling myself Spider-Cop no matter how many times-"

"Not that! And I never told you to do that!" She totally did. Granted she was drunk at the time but Cindy still counted it, "Just listen. Masters started shit with you in front of everyone and no one stepped up to help you but me. You know why that is?"

"Because you're a badass with a heart of gold?" She asked, looking at the older woman with faux-starstruck eyes.

De Wolfe smirked despite her best efforts to the contrary, "Yes, but also because Masters knows one thing: you're not a cop, and as much of an asshole as he is he's known some of these guys for years. That means something."

"I know that. You think S.H.I.E.L.D was singing around a campfire for me? They didn't like the Superhero muscling in on their territory either." Nevermind that she did every assignment to her admirably. That just pissed them off even more.

"Exactly. Superhero, cause that's all you are to them." She grabbed the scarf from Cindy's neck, "None of them knew you, not really. Doubt you wore this back then, but did you even try to make friends with those agents?" Cindy kept quiet because she really didn't. Woo just soiled her to everyone except Daisy, Natasha and a few others, "That's the issue here. You don't go out to drink, don't talk about families, nothing. You're just Spinerette."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Cindy snatched her scarf back.

"It's not, but it is the reason your life's more difficult than it needs to be." Jean crossed her arms, "In this entire precint I'm the only one who knows who you are."

"Yeah, because I found out from Spider-Woman about your side-job and I felt guilty. Tit for tat." That and she figured it'd be better if she could cover for De Wolfe. Despite her solemn vows that every outing would be her last she always had a knack for coming back to the purple streamers, "The other cops aren't vigilantes on the side, last I checked."

"Why do they have to be?" De Wolfe countered, "Look, I get it if you're trying to keep your face hidden because you don't want your family hurt, but that excuse ain't gonna fly for them. They go out every day and a lot of them - even Masters - got threats. And they buckled down and kept going. Hiding behind a scarf's the last thing that's gonna get their respect."

"So what, you want me to have my coming out story here?" Cindy snarked back.

"I'm suggesting it's a possibility. If you wanna keep your family safe I understand." She didn't actually worry about that. Her evil twin had cut off contact from her family for so many years that no one even realized she had any family. Even then S.H.I.E.L.D made sure that, as far as the files were concerned, the Moon family just had the crappy luck to share a last name with that psychopath. It wasn't hard; there were a bunch of Moons in the city.

Cindy licked her lips and looked down. Cap had suggested doing a 'controlled identity exposure' and she didn't really have to worry too much about backlash: 'her' family was insured and just about everyone she knew either had enemies of their own or they could take care of themselves. Anyone that tried to kidnap her ki- er, Laura would be in for a hell of a surprise.

"Okay."

"I'll understand if you-" De Wolfe paused to just look at her, "Wait, what'd you say?"

"I said okay." She tossed the scarf at her desk, "For the record I doubt it'll help, but I'm really freaking tired of doing paperwork and making coffee runs with a scarf on my face. I feel like a kid playing bandito." Not to mention people stared at her on the lineup to Starkbucks and no, she refused to cut even if Tony Stark allowed it. She'd done a lot of horrible things, but that was sacred.

"Right...well, that was easier than I thought it'd be." Jean shrugged, "So do we gather everyone up or-"

"Don't bother. We're going to have a briefing in about 10 minutes. I'll just go in and treat it like normal. If anyone asks I'll answer, but hopefully everyone here's professional enough to focus on work instead of losing their crap like Spider-Woman's fans." She never really saw the appeal of being popular. Screw those guys who thought she was jealous of Gwen's 'superior influence'. If it meant less spam and cheap pornos made of her Gwen could keep that 'superiority'.

15 minutes later (fuck paperwork) and she was making her way to the briefing/break (they really didn't have much funding) room. As soon as she opened the door the cops who were up for the briefing after her's stopped and stared. Cindy very much tried not to feel like the girl from one of those high school coming of age films and just shuffled- er, strode confidently to her seat.

Of course Masters was the first one to see her, "Hey, who brought their kid here? This is a briefing room, not a high school!" He said loudly. For a second she thought he was making another insult before remembering she'd shucked off her jacket and holsters because of the heat (air-conditioning was busted). Did he seriously not recognize her? Ha, Gwen could take her comments about her scarf and suck it!

"Nice to see you too, Masters." She sat next to him (it was the only seat available) and crossed her arms. Masters' eyes narrowed in confusion before they suddenly widened like she'd punched him in the crotch, "What're you staring at?"

"You..forgot your scarf or somethin'?" Oh, she wished she had a camera for this.

"No, why?"

He didn't get a chance to respond before Captain Watanabe took their attention, "Alright people, focus. This is a police station, not a classroom." If she cared at all about Cindy's sudden lack of a mask (scarf) then she didn't show it. Always focused on the job, that one.

"I should start." Jean stood up and activated the power point, "We've been getting a rash of robberies from someone who witnesses claim 'flew in like a bird'." The slide showed a silhouette with large wings on their arms flying away from an Oscorp tech lab, "The sightings match the description of Adrian Toomes, alias Vulture, but considering he's in the morgue, I doubt it's him."

"Think he sold his tech to someone before Spider-Man offed him?" Ben Grimm asked. Big guy, total sweetheart, happily married with two adorable twin boys whose picture he kept on his desk. She liked him, though that was at least partly cause he was the ever-loving blue eyed Thing back home. It was nice to know that being nice transcended dimensions sometimes.

"Possible, but unlikely. Toomes' psyche profile before his death indicated someone extremely possessive of his wings and he only 'shared' with those children he 'adopted'. I'm still following up on this with a couple of witnesses."

"Who was present at the lab at the time?"

"A Dr. Elsa Brock and the owner of Oscorp, Harry Osborn."

Gobby...of course he'd be involved with it. To be perfectly fair to the guy she didn't hate him anymore. With the Lizard cured and him finally deciding to quit his vigilante redemption quest he'd actually been doing good. Last she checked he went back to working for his dad - and swallowing his pride doing so - and he was doing well. He and Gwen still hung out sometimes.

"Something to say, Spinerette?" Captain Watanabe asked.

"It's Cindy, actually. Cindy Moon." Technically Cindy Miller on her ID, but tomayto tomatoe. She didn't actually own her condo either; according to the records the owner was an old Chinese woman who lived in Denver who didn't actually exist.

"Cindy Moon? Ain't that the name of the terrorist you guys stopped?" Ben squinted and looked closer, "You look kinda alike too."

"Yeah, well, I'm her from another dimension." Masters immediately snorted, "Something to say, Masters?"

"Another dimension? You expect us to believe that crap?"

"Right, cause it's so much more insane than believing aliens and demons exist- oh wait." She gave him a flat, mocking look while his face reddened in anger, "It's the truth, but frankly I don't give a crap if you don't believe me."

"Haven't you read a single Captain America book? Alternate dimensions exist, pal," Ben said. She threw him an appreciative nod and he smiled back.

"Fine, she's from another dimension. But then how do we know we can trust her? She's some kind of copy of a fucking terrorist!"

"Ignoring the fact that I helped stop her, you mean?" Cindy snarled back, the scars peeking through her short sleeved shirt, "Like Ben said, read a Captain America comic. The same people can be completely different across dimensions. For example, I'm pretty sure that there's at least one world out there where you aren't a raging dickhead with daddy issues."

"You fucking bit-"

"Enough!" Captain Watanabe shouted. Everyone immediately shut up, "Moon, I understand your apprehension but I'd appreciate it if you didn't cuss out one of my officers. Do I make myself clear?" Cindy nodded and grit her teeth.

"Thank you, Captain-"

"You're on thin ice too, Masters." She threw him a glare, "I've warned you multiple times to avoid antagonizing her and you've failed to comply. Do you really want to take over her cases?" Masters shrunk into his seat like a reprimanded teenager, "That's what I thought. Now, I don't want to hear you antagonizing her in the workplace any longer. I hear another incident like this and you'll be suspended. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Captain..." Masters glared at her and she smiled back smarmily.

"Good. Now, you were saying, Moon?"

"Right. Well, I was actually going to say that I know one of the witnesses. Harry Osborn's an old...acquaintance." He wasn't a friend, even if they did have their benefits, "Permission to go with Jean? He might be more willing to talk to me than someone he doesn't know."

"Granted. What about your own cases?"

"Working on it." She took Jean's place and booted up her own powerpoint, "We've recently gotten evidence that the Matthews case is linked to a human trafficking ring smuggling in those who were present when the Terrigen Mist came down on New York. The people at the hospital were there to kidnap one of the victims identified only as Aracely."

"And where is this girl now?" Wilson Allan asked. He was an older guy, at least past 50, and a little more on the heavyset side with a bald head and a thick mustache. She didn't know much else about him apart from the fact that he had a teenage daughter.

"I put her in one of my safehouses." Technically not a lie. She did have a few other safehouses around the city (pretty sure she was sharing one with Moon Knight, actually) and her apartment technically counted, "Given the circumstances of what happened the night prior, I thought it'd be safer than putting her in a public area and having a repeat."

"I don't wholly disagree, but next time please run it by me," Captain Watanabe said. Cindy refrained from telling her she wasn't actually her boss and her Avengers credentials trumped the police's, "Did you get a chance to interrogate these mercenaries?"

"Not formally, but 'Pyro' did mention that they worked through intermediaries. I'll do it later after we interview Go- uh, Mr. Osborn."

The rest of the assembled cops completed their own assigned work and everyone pitched in when possible. Masters was actually pretty helpful sometimes, which was probably the reason he hadn't gotten fired yet. Still, she did pity the guy who was assigned to bust Bodega Bandit and his Banditos. Apparently even Gwen decided he wasn't worth her time.

She was barely out of the room and chatting with Jean when Masters came up to her, "Fr- Moon," he said through gritted teeth. Cindy raised her brow and waited for him to continue, "Captain Watanabe insisted that we learn to work together so I came here to...apologize." Wow, she'd never seen someone look so sick before; and she helped She-Hulk and Gwen evacuate those people from that nuclear plant meltdown. Radiation resistance had its benefits.

"Okay then, I'm waiting."

"What? That's it, I apologized-"

"No, you didn't, but to be honest I don't really care about your half-assed apology." She pushed past him and kept smiling all the way down to Jean's squad car - after taking her jacket and holster back, of course.

"You were right, talking crap to his face is much better."

"Not what I said, but okay." Jean buckled in her seatbelt, "You know Captain Watanabe's gonna lecture you about being the bigger woman."

"I should probably remind her that she's not actually my boss and that's the only reason I'm not suing for workplace harassment." She did actually like Captain Watanabe. Nice to see a professional, "You know I could just swing us over there. Probably faster than this clunker." Seriously, how old was this thing? It was probably older than Peter was.

"Yeah, I wanna keep my breakfast inside, thanks."

"Your loss."


BestCopInNYC: So...Spinerette just revealed her identity, I think?

Reply from InfinityMobius: Oh great, another one of these. Lemme guess, she has mandibles like Kitana from Immortal Konflict?

Reply from BestCopInNYC: No. Actually, she was...really young. I have a daughter her age...I think. She looked 18.

Reply from FactChannelIntern: Spinerette said she was 28 last year, so she should be 29 now.

Reply from AlsoTheBestCopInNYC: Can confirm since I was there (hey Alex!). Yeah, she looks really young for someone pushing 30. Think she lied about her age?

SpaghettiInMahPockets: Her update a few months ago said she was drinking vodka for the first time...actually, that was literally her last update. Thought she died from alcohol poisoning :0

Peralta99: -embedded image- Hey, I managed to snag a pic of her. Sexy scars, right?

CapeChaser11: Holy crap, she is young! She's like a baby!

VampyrSlayer: Think I could ask her out? I'm on the next precinct over.

TruthShallSetYouFree: Still think it's fake.

Spinerette: It's real, and I'm going to tell Amy about the nudes you have of her, Peralta99. I'm glad to know that being 29 means I still count as a baby, by the way. Also, yes, VampyrSlayer, I will go on a date with you ;)

Peralta99: Oh come on!

VampyrSlayer: Score!

EPFrog: Lucky...

FriendlyNeighborhoodSpiderWoman: Thanks for the heads up, Cin... :/

StrikerNotBombshell: Hey at least she revealed it on her own. Some of us didn't get that chance.


Lana hated it when people pointed. Especially when they were pointing at her.

The brunette groaned softly as the bruises in her face throbbed. Unlike everyone else in their rag-tag group she didn't have the benefit of healing insanely fast. Which of course meant that when she came to class looking like a cheap hooker beat up by her pimp who had mommy issues (hey, she was entitled to make those jokes) people wouldn't. stop. pointing.

She scratched at her bandaged cheek and growled under her breath. She'd been lucky enough to keep both eyes and not lose any of her teeth, but that didn't make the bruises any less sore. The painkillers she got from Cin helped.

"Mmgh." She turned to the next page of her notebook and continued to write down her math notes. Contrary to the norm, Lana actually liked Math. She'd always had a good memory and it was just remembering equations and when to use them. Definitely easier than History or English lit. Long, boring essays were the fucking worst and way too 'subjective'. Least Math was just right or wrong.

Her thoughts drifted back to Aracely. She couldn't even imagine - okay, she could, but whatever - having such a crappy couple of days. Being trapped in a cargo container, waking up with the threat of being deported and then having those fucking chuckleheads try to kidnap her. And all of that when you didn't even remember anything but your first name.

"Ugh, why does she have to go to class like that?" someone behind her whispered.

"I know! It's so embarrassing!"

Lana pressed her lips into a thin line - ow, ow, ow! - and said nothing. What was the point? They didn't like her here and, hey, she didn't like being here either. Good thing these prissy witches didn't have the balls to say shit to her face. Unlike Midtown High the girls here didn't wanna risk pissing off someone who could wreck their plastic surgeries and boob jobs.

Class finished eventually and Lana breathed a sigh of relief at the lunch bell. She and Anya didn't share lunch, so that meant sitting alone in the corner and glaring at all the normies.

"Lana!"

Or maybe not.

The brunette's bruised face lit up in a smile when she saw her, "Lily!" She accepted the hug and she laughed, "What are you doing here?"

"I heard that you got in trouble last night so I thought I'd visit." She flashed the visitor's badge with a grin, "That and I thought I'd visit my alumni. Is Mrs. Rosenberg still-"

"Yep, still playing favorites. Come on, let's eat. I'm starving."

5 minutes later and the two were sitting while a few of the other students pointed (ugh) and whispered. Some of them still didn't believe she was the 'esteemed' mayor's (bastard) daughter, "So, how's the fashon scene?" Lana spooned some of the pasta into her mouth. At least the school had fancy, world class chefs, "I heard you were working with that Agreste guy?"

"Oh, that fell through. Your brand kinda falls apart when people find out you're a Supervillain." Huh, maybe she heard something about that? Pete said something about ripping off some butterfly dude's mask and throwing him off the Eiffel tower, "I'm actually working with a local brand now. Wont be as big, but at least it means I can stay here."

"Yeah, stay in the Supervillain central of the world. Lucky you."

"It's also where my badass little sister is, so I'll take it." Lana rolled her eyes. Lily thought all those years apart meant she had to make-up by being the 'cool big sis', "So, are you okay? Your..." She gestured to her face.

"Yeah. Trust me, you should see the other guy." She didn't know Jane had such a vicious streak. If the guy didn't punch her face in she might've actually felt sorry for him, "...Actually, it's not me I'm worried about."

"Tell me."

She did. She didn't worry about being overheard - none of these pampered witches would do anything even if she confessed. Lily just sat and listened with only the occasional comment to show she was still listening.

"I dunno what to do. I mean, we can't keep her at Cin's place forever." And she still didn't know what to do about the deportation thing. Unless they magically found some papers proving she was a US citizen this wasn't going to end well.

"I could house her if you want?"

"Nah, I don't want William knowing about her." Especially considering her 'quirks'. Something told her Lily wouldn't take it well when she started floating off the bed, "It's fine. I'll handle this; I always do."

They talked until lunch ended Lana made her way to the library for study hall. Another good thing about this place: decent wi-fi. Lana logged into her account and brought up multiple Giigle pages.

"Alright, let's see if we can get something..." She typed in Aracely's name. The first name to come up was some Mexican actress she'd never heard of who looked just a bit too middle aged. A few more links led to some headbook pages and, bizarrely, one off-brand of race car, "Come on..." There had to be something. The girl had to have existed before she got shoved into damn damn crate.

She tried a reverse image search from her phone, but again no dice. Girl had no footprint, digital or otherwise.

"Fuck..." She leaned back on her chair and groaned. Would she really have to go to William? Or would Cin get her buddies to make a fake ID for her? The latter option definitely sounded better for her, but she wasn't sure if it wouldn't have its own drawbacks. Sighing, she went to the youwebs to try and take her mind off it for a bit. She loaded up the front page and raised an eyebrow when she saw one of the recommended vids.

"Spider-Man: Into the mind of a vigilante?" It wasn't shocking, exactly. Even before the Initiative came out there were wannabe psychologists and 'experts' who thought they knew what made the Masks and Freaks - cause fuck that political correct bullshit - tick. They were mostly wrong, but it was always good for a laugh. One of her favorites was when one doctor claimed Spider-Gwen was a hero because 'she was born into privelege and feels a sense of nobless oblige to help her fellow man'.

Lana snorted. Stacy wouldn't know 'nobless oblige' if it bit her in that big ass of hers.

"But Spider-Man is one individual who's really drawn my attention. Other Gifted individuals receive benefits for their heroism whether it be adoration, fame or even just cold hard cash. I don't doubt their nobility, of course. My daughter's a very big fan of the Avengers and I'm grateful they helped us when it came to crises such as the Skrull Invasion or HYDRA."

Oh, she remembered those fucking green men. She was working with MVP and Anya when they dropped that fucking Godzilla monster on the city. Thankfully Spider-Gwen stopped it, though she did nearly land on her. She really didn't want to end her hero career to end by by a buttstain.

"Which brings us back to Spider-Man; and others like him such as the enigmatic Moon Knight or this new Devil of Hell's Kitchen." Aka Matt Murdock the douchebag, "Despite my initial trepidation I do believe they wish to help people. My only doubt comes from the fact that their methods are obscene. The number they've killed is innumberable." Nope, unless you counted the ninjas who were basically braindead anyway, And those that they do leave alive are left in mangled states."

And then it went on and on and on. If they were heroes why did they have to kill people? If they were heroes why didn't they join the Initiative? And so on and so forth. Lana only half paid attention and clicked on another link. Another armchair psychologist trying to 'delve into the superhero oxymoron'.

"Now I'm not saying the heroes haven't done good." Why did they always start off with that? It was basically saying 'With all due respect, kiss my ass', "But we can't deny that these Gifted individuals have escalated a conflict that in no way needed escalation. The same way the creation of firearms revolutionized warfare, the Superheroes' existence led to the creation of the criminals they stopped."

Lana rolled her eyes. Right, cause Captain America was responsible for H.Y.D.R.A, right? Pete was probably responsible for the Hand too if they followed that logic. People found a way to nitpick fucking everything. You find the cure for cancer and people would bitch that it made their tongue dry. Everyone just wanted everything on a silver fucking platter and even then they'd still find someone to blame for something.

5 minutes of free period left. She checked tweeter and raised an eyebrow. Jane just became Spider-Gwen's sidekick and Cin apparently decided an identity reveal was in order. Great, no one ever told her anything. She left a couple of comments before shutting off the computer and rubbing her eyes. She was exhausted, but she knew she needed to do a couple of hours patrol after work at least. Wouldn't do to be lazy.

Class passed by surprisingly quick after that. Lana and Anya met up at their dorm room and she immediately began changing into her suit, "Sure you don't wanna come?" Lana asked as she put on her longcoat.

"Can't. Scholarship means I need every little percent and that means extra credit." She raised her stacks of math extras and groaned.

"Hang in there. I'll tutor you when I get back." She ruffled Anya's hair as she passed and put on her domino mask when she got to the window. Anya muttered something in Spanish under her breath and Lana jumped, propelling herself upwards. The school actually accommodated her hero work and gave her a window that led to the parking lot. Well, that and no one else wanted it.

It was actually a pretty slow day today. She ran into a few other Initiative graduates (and Frog boy) but didn't bother to team up. She'd only be in it for a couple of hours and she didn't really see the point.

The sun was just coming down when she yawned and sat on the edge of a low building. She sipped her corner store soda and tapped Pete's number to call him. No answer, "Huh, must be busy..." Not surprising. He was probably fighting a buncha demon vampire zombies or something. She yawned again and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Note to self: don't trick booze on a school night.

Her self-pity was cut off when she saw a van screeching down a road being chased by the cops, "One more..." She stood up and propelled herself ahead. She landed briefly on the ground and jumped again just as the police car careened and smacked into lamppost, "Hope they're alright." She'd check on them later. Had to stop the road ragers first before they ran over someone.

She landed on the roof of the van and knocked on the surface, "Hey, you passed a red light!" ...She really needed to work on her banter. The van swerved to the side and she almost fell entirely before she punched through the metal to create a makeshift handhold. Thank god for explosive fists.

The door opened and a guy popped out waving a machinegun. She recognized the tags on his jacket immediately: Serpent Skull. She'd ran into them more than a few times. Small time thugs who worked for bigger groups. The guy aimed for her and she immediately shot his chest. He flew off the back of the van and and landed on the road with a painful crack. That'd hurt in the morning.

Bullets whizzed past underneath her. She rolled off the right side of the red death trap and hung off the edge, "You missed, assholes!" She shimmied to the back door and punched a woman who went out to check. She joined her buddy in the ground soon after and Lana jumped inside.

Barrels. The inside was filled to the brim with white barrels, "The fuck?!" The prick at the passenger screamed and started firing a fucking shotgun at her. Lana ducked underneath the barrels and the the pellets punctured through the plastic. Reddish pink gas immediately seeped out through the holes and covered the entirety of the van till she couldn't see anything.

"You pierced the canisters! We have to-"

Lana propelled herself forward and kicked them both the drive and the passenger out before slamming on the brakes. She made sure the van had come to a complete stop before she finally stumbled out coughing, "Fuck..." She coughed harder and looked around her. Civilians, but none of them were hurt. Small victories. She looked back at the van and cringed at the gas slowly seeping out.

She was pretty sure she'd seen it before: Terrigen Mist. She wasn't in the part of the town that'd been affected before. At least she knew it'd be harmless...well, mostly. Wouldn't kill you at least.

She only managed a couple more steps before her body froze up, "Wh-What?" She looked down at her hands and gasped when blue started covering her entire body. What the fuck? She'd seen it before. The cocoons people got into before they woke up with powers. But she already had powers, the loud part of her mind screamed just before everything went black.


ButterflyTornado: Yo, Terrigen Mist spill between 1st and 3rd Wilson avenue! Anyone who wants powers get in on this!

BirdMania: And get powers like your shit turning white? No thanks. I'll stay human.

FarOut: -embedded image- Yo, Bombshell just got cocooned! Badass!

IllegalBlonde: WTF?! She already has powers! Some people get all the luck...


Lana didn't know how long she was unconscious, but as soon as she saw light she struggled and punched. Her fists hit something hard and she punched harder till she heard a large crack.

Lana fell out off the crystal cocoon and landed on the ground on all fours. She gasped and grasped her face desperately to make sure everything was still there. Both eyes, her nose, her mouth...all there. Arms and legs were there too. She looked around frantically and still found civilians either gaping or taking pictures with a few even jumping close to the van and breathing in the mist. She wasn't unconscious for long.

She stumbled to a nearby shop and checked on her reflection. No change at all, just regular old Striker.

Except for her hands.

Lana looked down at her shaking palms. The rings of light were gone, replaced by glowing arcs of energy surged from her palms and wrists all the way up the length of her arm. It didn't hurt, it just felt...weird. She already had powers, so why the fuck did that thing do anything to her? More importantly, what did it do to her? She was already a reusable suicide bomber.

Screams from behind drew her attention again. Lana looked back and growled softly when she saw two more Serpent Skull goons wearing gasp masks trying to jack the van, "Hey!" She raised a hand to blast them before another coughing fit forced her to the ground. Damn mist. Whoever made this thing she'd love to give them a kick right up their assholes.

She was so busy coughing she didn't notice the pistol aimed right for her before the bullet was right at her shoulder.

Lana screamed...for a couple of seconds. The bulled ripped through didn't go through - thank you, Melvin Potter - but it still should have hurt more. She looked down at her elbow and gaped when white energy seeped through the fabric before suddenly dying away. It didn't hurt anymore.

"What the fuck?!" The gunman screamed. Three more shots, each of them hitting her in the mid-section. Again the pain only lasted for only a couple of seconds before the energy stopped shining and she was back.

That was...useful.

Lana tried to run ahead; emphasis on tried. As soon as she made to rush towards the van she surged forward like a kid on skates and ended up bumping against the bullet-ridden side of it facefirst, "Agh, fuck!" She ended up flat on her back on the ground...and the thug, who looked just as surprised as she was, aiming a gun at her face, "...Shit."

She reached a hand out to blast him. It worked, but not in the way she wanted. A wave of energy rushed out of her palm and the guy was blown back through the air...and stayed there. The masked bastard stumbled like a drowning man and when she did finally manage to blast him with a (much smaller than she intended) explosion the guy flew and smacked against the wall of a nearby building.

That was new.

She pushed herself up and made to stop the driver only to find a shotgun aimed at her face, "Better luck next time, Baumgartner." She knew that voice. Lana barely managed a curse before Diamondback pulled the trigger and everything went black again.

Lana woke up to someone shaking her shoulder, "Striker, are you okay?!" She squeezed her eyes shut briefly before suddenly forcing them open. The sudden brightness blinded her for a few seconds before it was replaced by Frog boy's (still broken) mask, "Oh, thank god." His head sagged in relief and she looked past him to find, as expected, the van missing and that bitch Diamondback nowhere in sight.

Fuck.

"H...How long was I out?" Better question: how the fuck was she still alive? She was pretty sure she wasn't bulletproof like Spider-Gwen and Jane were. Her head should've been salsa after eating a shotgun point blank, "You see a red van full of bulletholes?"

"You were out for a few minutes. A-And yeah, it went that way." He pointed to the right, "Dunno where it went after that, though. I wanted to check on you."

"Huh...well, thanks." She smiled at him briefly before pulling herself up into a shaky stand. She almost tripped a couple of seconds in before Frog boy helped balance her, "...Why do you smell like tacos."

"I was, uh, taking a break when I heard the commotion."

"Shit, now I'm hungry for tacos." She shook her head to try and stave off the dizziness and licked her dry lips, "Fuck, my fucking head's killing me..." Despite her complaints she knew she was lucky. She'd take a migraine over not having a head.

"Y-Yeah, I saw what that villain did to you." Frog boy said, "Um...I didn't know you could heal from bullets that fast."

"Me either." The mist was gone. Good riddance, "I took a facefull of that Terrigen Mist thing. It...did something to me."

"W-Woah, that must mean you're one of the Gifted. I mean, you already were, but-"

"Could you stop talking please? Words hurt..."

And just like they always were, the police arrived way too late. Lana cringed at the loud siren as two police officers stepped out of the car. The driver, an older guy built like a rock, surveyed the scene with a frown while the younger one cursed under his breath, "The hell happened here?" Officer Brick asked.

"Serpent Skulls were carrying barrels of that Terrigen Mist thing." And she inhaled it, but they didn't need to know that.

"Shit..." Officer Brick muttered something into his radio, "This is officer Grimm. Serpent Skulls are in posession of Terrigen Mist, over."

"And, uh, where are they now, 'hero'?" Younger guy's voice was condescending as all hell.

"They're gone, as you can plainly see. Might wanna ask their pals where they went. All of em should still be breathing." Well, except maybe floaty guy, but she wasn't in control of herself then.

"Fuck, you know you freaks just make everything worse? Shoulda left this for the experts."

"Masters!" Officer Grimm glared at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, where were you guys? Oh, that's right, crashed in a fucking pole about a mile that way!" Lana scowled up at him and pried herself off Frog-Boy to stand on her own two feet. She was not in the mood for this shit, "You wanna go after these guys? Be my guest. I gotta get back anyway."

She shoved past Officer Dickface and managed to round the corner before the dizziness came back and she was forced to lean against the wall for balance. She stayed there for about a minute before Frog boy was there again, "I'm fine!" Lana growled at him. She immediately felt guilty when he shrunk back. Guy was just trying to help and she was taking it all out on him, "...Sorry, I'm just not in a good mood. I know you're just trying to help."

"I-It's cool. You need help back to your place?

"Sure. It's not too far anyway." She leaned against Frogger and they silently made it all the way back to her prison- er, place of education. Eugene dropped her off at the gate (school rules) and Lana stumbled inside and took the stairs in lieu of boosting herself up. For all she knew she'd end up shooting herself to outer space.

Lana stumbled inside her room and Anya's smile was immediately replaced with a worried look when she saw her state, "What the heck happened to you?" The other girl immediately helped steady her.

"Long story..." She stumbled to her bed only to scream when she felt something was most definitely not pillows under the blankets. Lana pulled the fabric back and groaned when she saw Aracely staring up at her with equally wide eyes, "What the fuck, Aracely?! What are you doing here?!" She turned to Anya, "And how the fuck didn't you know she was here?!"

"I was studying and thought you just bunched up your pillows! I didn't think anyone would sneak inside!" Anya shot back.

"Fuck..." Her headache was getting worse, "Aracely, how did you find me."

"I followed your voice." Right, she almost forgot that she was some kind of fucking telepath, "I...I didn't feel safe in the apartment alone." Huh, she sounded way more fluent than last night.

"How are you speaking English so well?"

"Am I? I'm just...talking." Great, another thing they had to deal with.

"What do we do with her?" Anya asked.

"Well we can't just kick her out..." Lana sighed, "...Fuck, we'll keep her here for now. William didn't pay extra for a maid so as long as we keep quiet she can stay for a few days." She turned to Aracely, "You hear me? Quiet. They find you in here and we're both expelled and they'll turn you over to the cops."

"Yes. Quiet as a mouse."

Lana breathed softly and stripped till she was in nothing but a tanktop and her undies. She'd need to call Wasp or something...tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to sleep, "Scoot over..." She pushed Aracely to the other side of the bed and practically collapsed while Anya threw up her arms and went back to studying. Sleep, beatiful and merciful mistress, take her now.

...

She looked up and glared as Aracely floated off the bed and took the entire blanket with her. Anya gaped and pointed with a silent scream while Lana covered her face with a pillow and yelled into it.


ButterflyTornado: -embedded video- Striker's new powers in action! #canshegetanystronger #isurehopeso

IllegallyBlonde: So first that bitch gets explosion powers and hangs out with celebs and now she gets even more? God really is dead.

HartManiac: Sounds like someone's a little jealous, Brooke. Salty that Lana didn't give you that shoutout you wanted :P

No1SpiderWomanFan: Holy crap, I gotta call her!


So yeah, Cindy has the most limp identity reveal in the entire story while Lana gets a Terrigenesis power boost proving that she's an Inhuman. Good for her, but considering Roxxon already being interested in her and his M.O being gathering up Inhumans, this spells bad things for her future. On the bright side she's much harder to kill now so maybe Sue won't worry as much.

For anyone who might want a basis for her new abilities, check out Fetch from Infamous: First Light. Anyway, next chapter will be Mary Jane's attempts at heroism and then either Cindy's interview with Harry or Noir's heartwarming reunion with Bullseye. We'll see.

Questions:

1. So apparently there are people shipping Matt with Karen...why? It's not like anything in that scene was shippy or anything. Ruth even saying 'she loves you' was intended to be creepy.

2. So I've been getting suggestions for MJ to have alternate LI's. Anyone have any suggestions? A friend suggested Kate as a 'stable' option and those who want Clone Saga want a Male!Gwen clone. Curious on everyone's thoughts...and no, not Norah. Pretty sure I made clear that that wasn't happening.

3. The severe lack of good bois in this story has been noted. Anyone have any suggestions for any male non anti-heroes? So far I only have Gabriel and the upcoming Iron Fist and MVP.

Review Answers:

Raymond49090rc - Having no life tends to do that.

In Brightest Day: Let those who worship evil's might. Beware my power - Green Lanter's light. As for Teresa? She was already a major character last volume and I don't know what she'd be doing now with Matt pacified.

Noisy-Cricket - An odd comment given that in the MCU, which is Marvel at its most widespread, no one has secret identities apart from Spider-Man and Daredevil; and the original ending of Homecoming was him unmasking in front of the press ala Civil War. Secret identities aren't as required when the heroes have government backing.

Also, no Devil Triggers. Trying to avoid super modes after the Lizard serum.

SpiderGod766 - Depends. Cloak and Dagger and for Cindy's side.

Cha0s4Ever - Why keep Gwen's identity secret? Other heroes prove they can function just fine with them exposed.

Jk41kiwi - Because Noir's human and can be flawed as well. He trusted Bullseye and he didn't get attacked till after he hugged him, at which point he was too close to dodge. Spider-sense only gives you a few seconds warning; it doesn't give you intent till the attack actually commences.

Titan616 - Ha, reviewed right before I was gonna update :P And I don't think you have to worry about Lana being overshadowed by Noir after this chapter...