Woof, feels like the end of days out there. Hopefully everyone's safe :/ Not much response last chapter, but considering current events I'm not surprised. I made most of this chapter lighter cause of it. Didn't wanna feel too heavy writing this.

I'll be asking the next chapter's events in the bottom AN so read if interested. Stay safe everyone.


TooWOKEforthisworld: Alright I just gotta say it. Spinerette, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Reply from Spinerette: Say what now?

Reply from TooWOKEforthisworld: Your behavior. Kids, mine included, look up to you and what kind of example are you showing? Going on dating apps to sleep with random men? Drinking in bars like some kind of drunken frat girl? Is this really the right example to be setting?

Reply from Spinerette: Huh, so me doing the thing that most adults do is wrong now. What next, maybe I should stop in the middle of a fight and start talking about the power of friendship? Maybe wear a chastity belt and purity ring?

Reply from TooWOKEforthisworld: There's no need to be rude, young lady! I'm just giving you some constructive criticism, that's all. People look up to you and it's your responsibility to follow that standard.

Reply from Spinerette: No, my responsibility is stopping criminals; what I do in my free time is none of anyone's business. You don't see me dictating how you should act, Ms. Mom of the year.

Reply from TooWOKEforthisworld: Please, like stopping criminals is hard when you have powers handed to you. It's much harder to be a good role model. Think on that.

Reply from Spinerette: Funny, a quick check on your profile shows that you went drinking with your 'gal pals' and your kids are nowhere in sight. How about you stop foisting the responsibility of your kids growing up on me and act like an actual parent? Even someone who's a 'three time divorcee and proud of it' should be able to do that, right? Or is lazing around all day cause you have child support your way of teaching your kids?

Reply from Spinerette: And she blocked me.

Reply from ScarletSpider: Lol.


Lana woke up feeling like absolute shit.

Her eyes parted open and she groaned softly. Her voice came out rough and dry and her throat felt like she'd swallowed bleach, "Wh-Where...?" She'd barely managed to adjust to the brightness of the lights overhead when she heard an all too familiar voice and she found herself being pulled up in a bonecrushing embrace.

"Lana! Lana, you're alive! ¡Gracias a Dios!" Aracely cried, rambling to her in a mix of English and Spanish. Lana found her throat too dry to complain that the hug wasn't helping. Instead she looked past the crying teenager to the rest of the occupants in the room. There was her mom standing next to Lily with the rest of her friends crowding around outside. Next to the bed she caught sight of Teresa standing with her arms crossed and a slight smile on her face while a doctor observed close-by.

"I think Lana would like some space, Ms. Aracely." Teresa pulled the crying girl off her gently before sitting down at the bedside and placing a hand on Lana's gut. She winced at the contact, "It still hurts?"

"Yeah..." she rasped out, "So much for that healing factor..."

"Hellfire does have a way of rendering those inert." Teresa hummed softly then stood and turned to the doctor, "She should be fine. The cleansing has removed all traces of corruption from her system. A couple of days with no strenuous activities and she should be good to go."

"Normally I'd cast some doubts on that, but the results speak for themselves." The tan man - Dr. Strange, according to his nametag - said, "Incidentally, I'd be very interested in the method you used to heal her. Chi, was it?"

"Yes, though I'm afraid it wouldn't be very practical for widespread use. It requires more than reading books to learn-"

"Where's Bullseye?" Lana stood and, before, anyone could stop her, ripped the IV needles from her right hand. The holes bled white-yellow fluid before the wound immediately healed. Least it was still working there.

"Lana, don't." Her mom was at her side immediately to try and set her down.

"Where's-"

"Spider-Woman has dealt with him." Lana stopped at that. Spider-Gwen did? "Granted I wasn't present there myself, but I saw it well enough. Lester's been incapacitated and right now he's on his way to Ryker's."

"She didn't kill him..." She let her mom push her back to the bed in a sitting position. Lily handed her a glass of water which she drank down greedily, "...You know he's going to escape, right?"

"I wasn't there, Lana, and neither was Peter. If he was I imagine that he wouldn't be breathing once again." Pete...shit, she almost forgot about him. A feeling of shame washed over her. He warned her about that bald prick and she'd brushed it off. She figured with her new powers she'd kick his ass. What could he do with her now that she could survive a shotgun exploding her head?

Well, she got her answer.

"I suggest you not worry about him for now and focus on recovery." She tapped her phone (how was she blind again?) and hummed, "I'm sorry, but I really must be going. The wound should fully heal within a couple of days but I'd suggest avoiding strenuous activities for at least a few days even after that. Hellfire damages the soul and negative thoughts will only slow your recovery."

"Yeah, I'll just take up yoga." Lana scoffed as the older woman left. She turned to her mom and Lily, "How long was I out?"

"5 days," Lily said. Lana did her best to ignore the slight redness in Lily's eyes from crying. She felt guilty enough as it was.

"Guess that's more lessons I'll have to catch up on." She grabbed the side of the bed and pushed herself up. Again her mom was at her side to help her keep balance. Lana smiled wryly at her, "...This really isn't how I wanted to see you again, mom."

"Heh, same." Her mom tried to smile but it only lasted for a few seconds before the frown returned, "Listen, kiddo, we need to talk."

"About what?" The side of her mouth twitched at the nickname.

"Not here. I'd prefer if we were alone." She gave a pointed glance Lily's way and Lana sighed. Her mom didn't trust William, which was all well and good cause he was human garbage, but that same distrust extended to Lily despite the latter's efforts to try and mend bridges. Lana got why, though, so she didn't try too hard to change her mind. The last time she tried that they got into an argument and didn't talk to each other for a week.

"Oh...should I leave the room?"

"No, you don't have-"

"Actually, I'd suggest you all leave the room," Dr. Strange cut in, "Despite your...odd recovery it's customary that I do a final round of checkups to ensure your health. You can all continue your conversation afterwards."

"But-"

"It's fine, Aracely. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Lana smiled at the younger girl. She frowned and, after a few seconds of silence, eventually nodded and followed her mom and Lily out of the room.

Dr. Strange did the usual - heartbeat, eyesight, checking if everything was where it should be. Thanks to her powers she didn't have any wounds on her except for the nasty scar in her gut. She took off the gown as soon as she was behind the divider and pressed her fingertips against the marred skin, "Tch..." Still stung, but less than before. Figured she'd lose the shotgun scars just to get another mark. God really didn't her to wear swimsuits again.

She changed into the clothes - a white blouse, dark skirt and peach flats - on autopilot. She was so tired that she didn't even bother complaining that it wasn't something she'd wear if she had a choice; anything was better than that damn gown. She put the flats on last and looked at her reflection in the nearby mirror. Apart from the fact that she looked like she was poorly copying Sue she looked fine. Not at all like someone who spent a week in a coma.

"Bullseye..." Energy surged through her clenched right hand and she breathed out softly. First that bastard Murderdock was still running around and now Bullseye was even more of a psychopath than he already was. At this rate she expected Punisher to come out as a pacifist.

Her friends greeted her happily when she was out. It was all hugs and kisses and all that sappy shit. Lana smiled slightly and tried not to feel too awkward with all the attention. As much as she hated to admit it she knew she had abandonment issues - came with the whole 'bastard daughter of a human shitstain' thing she had going. Despite that she didn't like being the center of attention. She was fine with knowing the people she loved were there and she could reach them if she wanted.

"Guys, as nice as this is I gotta talk to my mom first, okay? I'll meet you all outside."

She followed her mom to the hospital food court and she ordered practically everything on the menu. So sue her, she hadn't eaten in a week, "What did you wanna talk about?" She dug into the cup noodles and sighed in relief. Nothing like cheap, dollar store crap to remind her she was alive.

"It's about your Initiative thing." Lana paused mid-bite and looked up at her mom with a raised brow, "I'll be straight with you, Lana. Ever since you got your powers I've had my doubts about you doing the whole hero business."

"Uh...what the fuck happened to you encouraging me to be a hero? You remember that?" Lana couldn't stop the bitterness from seeping into her tone. It was a bittersweet memory. The first time her mom told her to be a hero was the same time she had to leave the city to avoid being targeted.

"That was before I saw the news." She pursed her lips, "Do you know how it felt turning on the TV and finding out you got kidnapped by some pumpkin head murderer? Or how about the fact that I couldn't even visit you because you still thought that I'd get my head blown off the second I got into city limits."

"We were fighting the Kingpin, mom. Could you blame me for being worried?"

"That's another thing: you getting dragged into that fight that had nothing to do with you." Lana's eyes narrowed in a glare. Her mom didn't care, "It was bad enough when you got injured or that fucker William using you as his own personal mascot, but then you got caught up with that group of psychopaths and you were branded a criminal. You were barely 16, Lana. You were too young to get involved in that shit."

"Pete was 18 when it happened." Besides, she doubted anyone could be old enough to fight a fucking demon.

"Spider-Man's another story entirely. Listen, kiddo-"

"Don't call me a kid!" Lana snapped. She slammed her hands on the table and stood up to glare down at her mom. Her calm composure finally dropped and she looked up at her with wide eyes, "I'm sick and fucking tired of people calling me that. Yeah, I was the youngest in that group of assholes, but so what? I helped fight a fucking devil! I pulled my weight even if I fucked up sometimes!"

"Lana-"

"You don't think I feel bad enough that asshole Bullseye laid me up? Cause I do." She was vaguely aware that people were staring at her but she was too pissed to care, "But guess what? I'm not gonna let that fucker scare me to hiding in my room. He ain't the worst I've fought and he won't be the last. So no, I'm not going to stop being a hero cause I got put in the hospital. It's gonna happen and I'll deal with it. I always do."

Her mom didn't say anything. Lana let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and sat back down, trying to ignore the stares and whispers from the people around her. Maybe she was too hard on her, but fuck it. She was tired of being treated like a kid, like someone the grown ups had to keep away cause she was too young to handle it. She thought she'd done enough to prove herself.

"...I'm just worried about you," her mom said softly, "I...I was never the best mom, but I always thought I did a decent enough job keeping you from danger. Now I can't do anything while you're getting shot at, put in the hospital, put on the run..."

"That's not your fault, mom." Lana sighed again, "Sue had this talk with me a couple of weeks ago, believe it or not. I'll you the same thing I told her: it's just part of my life now. Spider-Girl and MVP do the same thing, that's the reason we went through that Initiative training. Hell, MVP's got it even worse than I do since he doesn't even have powers but he doesn't let that stop him."

"You sure I can't convince you to at least take it easy for a while?"

"Maybe for a few days while I'm healing up from Bullseye's little present, but I'll be out there soon enough. It's either that or I do some more ribbon cutting with William and I'd honestly prefer getting shot." The only time she stomached it was when the charity appearances actually made those fatcats (another word she got from Pete) open up their wallets. Least then it felt worthwhile.

"Yeah..." Her mom actually smiled at that. Success, "I just...I want you to be safe. That's not wrong, is it?"

"No, but I can't just stop being Striker. I don't like being in danger either, just so you know. Just comes with the territory."

"Yeah...well, I've said my piece. It's your choice in the end."

"I know. Thanks, mom."

After promising she wouldn't do anything dangerous for the rest of the day her mom and Lily allowed her to go out with her friends. It was nice being out of the hospital with her friends again. Sure they were all still worried about her, especially Sue (worrywart) and Aracely, but for the most part things felt normal again. It was enough to almost make her forget about what happened a week ago.

They were at a pizza place munching on the buffet deal (she was hungry) when Anya got a call on her phone, "Hello- huh? How did you? Okay, okay, here she is! Rude..." She offered Lana the phone and the latter took it without a word.

"Hello?"

"Lana." She nearly jumped out of her seat at the all too familiar voice.

"Hey, Pete..." She couldn't stop herself from smiling dopily. Across from her Anya snickered behind her hand and Lana gave her the middle finger, "You sound...normal. Finally back to your usual, grouchy self?"

"Very funny." She caught his slight laugh, "Yeah, Teresa fixed me before she got to you. Just got told you were awake so I thought I'd call. Sorry I couldn't be there. I'm with Cin right now and we're doing some investigating."

"Yeah, I figured you were doing something like that. I really wanna help you out but my jailers here really wanna make sure I don't do anything." She stuck her tongue out at Sue. The blonde looked offended for a second before she gave a raspberry in turn. Rude, "Just make sure you take care of yourself. I won't be there to bail you out if you get in trouble and Cin's got enough on her plate."

"So she tells me."

"Hey...you heard that Bullseye got caught by Spider-Woman? Teresa told me he's on his way to the raft," she said the next part in a whisper.

"...She didn't tell me. I'll talk to Teresa about sharing news when I catch up with her." Oops, looks like she got her in trouble. Oh well, "Just take care of yourself. We can talk when we finish up here."

"Sure." She cut the call and handed the phone back to a smirking Anya. She didn't like that look on her face, "...What?"

"I thought you were over your crush?"

"I am."

"Didn't sound like it."

"...MVP, Anya had a wet dream about you a week ago!" The Spider started sputtering at the sudden declaration. Lana ignored Anya's attempts at an explanation and turned to Sue and Gabriel, "Speaking of crushes, how're you two doing? You finally went out on a date?"

"Ah...no. We haven't exactly been able to do much since we were so worried about you," Gabe said.

"Aw, come on. I just got stabbed and put in a coma. No big deal, right?"

"That's not funny, Lana..." Sue whispered. The rest of the table suddenly grew quiet too, "Gabriel's right, we were all sick with worry for you. When we brought you to the hospital and the wounds didn't stop we...I thought that you'd..."

"...Okay, bad joke." Lana winced and rubbed the back of her head awkwardly, "Look, could we just...not make a big deal out of this?"

"How could we not?" MVP looked at her worriedly, "You got attacked by that Bullseye guy with some kind of knife that stopped you from healing."

"Yeah, and before that I got my head blown up with a shotgun." Sue and Gabriel winced at that. Aracely just looked confused, "Could we just...not turn this into a worryfest? I got enough of that from mom and Lily. Yeah, I got careless and let that crazy asshole stab me, but I'm still around and he's going to jail. And if he gets out again then I'll be ready next time."

"You mean we'll be ready next time," Anya said, "The only reason you got caught is cause you insisted on staying behind. The lone wolf crap is cool but it's not so good when you need someone to watch your back. Next time something happens don't go all Sauron with that 'You shall not pass' shit. Let us help you."

"Fine, fine! I promise I won't do things on my own next time!" A pause, "...Except Sue and Gabe. They can run."

"No arguments there," Gabe said.

"Offended, but agreed." Sue nodded.

"Does that mean I can fight too?" Aracely seemed weirdly excited about that, "Will you teach me how to fight? I think I can learn quickly because of my powers."

"Let's deal with that later, 'kay? Right now I'm still trying to walk around without feeling like I got punched in the gut."

Their afternoon hangout was interrupted when a squad of police cars passed by, sirens blaring, "...That's not a good sign." Lana said.

"Hmm, according to this there's a new Supervillain out." Gabriel set his Upad on the table to show footage of a guy in a full body suit spewing ice everywhere, "Apparently he's calling himself Blizzard."

"How original." Anya rolled her eyes and stood, "Come on then, Michael, let's deal with this."

"Got it."

"I'll come with-"

"No." Anya stared down at her pointedly, "I see you anywhere near there I'll sign you up for an appearance on the save the frog foundation."

"...You wouldn't."

"I have their number. Don't test me." She looked to Sue, "Make sure she gets back to the dorm, would you? It's the weekend so we can have visitors over and even if they don't...well, you're Sue Storm. They'll let you in."

"Good to know that's good for something." Sue laughed.

"Guess that's it for our hangout." Lana sighed while MVP and Anya rushed out. Technically Anya hadn't revealed her identity yet but nowadays she hadn't done much to hide it either. Maybe she just didn't care anymore. Shaking her head, she reached across the table and clapped Gabriel on the shoulder, "Could you make sure Aracely makes it back, too? I wanna make sure she doesn't wander off again."

"I only did that once..." Aracely pouted.

"If by once you mean once a day for a whole week then yes, but even that's being generous." She smirked, "Come on, Sue, let's head back to my cell."

The walk back felt like she really was going to prison. If there was one bright side about being in the hospital it was that she wasn't at this place. Thankfully most of the prissy little witches were out for the day so she didn't cause a scene when she came in with Sue Storm in tow. Those fucking harpies would've swarmed them asking for selfies and tweeter follows if they saw Sue.

"So this is where you live?" Sue looked around the dorm room with a soft hum.

"Yeah, it does the job." Lana sat on the bed and tossed the flats away without a care. Her gut was still pounding but apart from that she was good. She tried not too think too much about what she and her mom talked about. It wasn't like she didn't get why she worried, but they'd both have to live with it. Being a hero wasn't easy and unlike what Frog-Boy and millions of starstruck teenagers thought it wasn't all fun and games. She'd already made peace with the fact that there was a good chance her luck would run out one day and she'd end up like Bullseye did.

Hopefully no one would bring her back as a fucked up zombie when it did.

She grabbed for the packet of cigarettes and lighter she hid between the mattress and headboard. Sue didn't say anything when she lit the cancer stick and took a slow drag. Yes she quit a year ago, but she'd bought a pack just out of nostalgia before she got stabbed in the gut. Now her gut was pounding and she needed something to take her mind off it. If Spider-Gwen and the rest of these prissy princesses didn't like it then tough shit.

Sue stood awkwardly, hands wringing together and looking at everywhere but Lana. Lana sighed and flopped down on her back, still smoking idly. Of course Sue would still be weird. She'd heard the stories before but it was the first time she'd been there in the thick of it. She was surprised the blonde was as calm as she was. Before this the worst she'd had to deal with was that stalker Gabe dealt with.

She needed to fill the noise.

"So when are you asking Gabe out for real?"

The blonde's cheeks reddened slightly. Sue took a deep breath and sat next to Lana, copying her flop so they both stared up at the ceiling. It felt like the sleepovers she and Lily had when she was younger, "...I'm not sure I will," she said eventually, "I know you told him to try us going out but I can tell he still likes you."

"That's just cause he only just found out you liked him. He's intimidated. I mean think about it. A year ago he was the worst weed dealer in the entire city and now he's got America's Sweetheart crushing on him."

"I'm not sure. Gabriel always treated me like I was just Sue. He didn't fanboy or act like he wanted an autograph even when we first met. It's one of the things I like about." She smiled that picture perfect smile of hers. Lana was tempted to take a pic and send it to Gabe; that'd make him fall in love in a second, "And...he said he was worried about how badly it'd blow back on me. The people celebrities go out with tend to get a lot of attention, especially if they're not another celeb. People get curious."

"Don't I know it." Lana rolled her eyes. She'd seen the assholes who thought she and Sue were secretly an item, cause apparently two girls couldn't be just friends nowadays. It had to be cause they wanted to eat each other out. Even some of her classmates thought so.

"...Why didn't you go out with him? I can tell you think highly of him." There she went with that fancy way of speaking. Did her parents raise her a monastery or something?

"I already told you." Lana sighed and took another drag. She didn't like dwelling on this, "Look, Anya's right. I'm not completely over Pete yet and I don't wanna make him or MVP or anyone else 'wait for me'. Besides, I think you two look cute."

"You're just saying that." She actually giggled at that.

Lana grinned in turn and grabbed Sue's right hand with her left and raised it, "Nah, I can just-"

That was when she heard it. An explosion, soft but definitely unmistakable. At first she was tempted to just blow it off as a chemistry experiment gone wrong before she saw the all too familiar pink mist outside her window, "...Shit." She stood up suddenly and looked outside, "Peanut mist is back."

"You mean the terrigen mist?"

"Yeah, dunno what it's doing here though..." She got rid of the cigarette and turned back to Sue, "We should probably get you and everyone else outta here. Unless you wanna stay behind and take a gamble on getting superpowers?"

"I'll stay away, thanks."

Lana led Sue to the back entrance after knocking on everyone's door to warn them. It wasn't really dangerous, per se. Either nothing happened to you or you got a power that had a 99% chance of being useless. Still, better safe than sorry, "Might wanna cover your nose." Lana told Sue. The blonde nodded and covered the lower half of your face as a touch of the mist swept over them before they managed to make it out.

They were out of school bounds by the time they talked, "You alright?" Lana asked.

"Yes. I breathed a little in but apart from a peanut smell nothing dangerous."

"Right. I'm gonna go back and check in on what happened. You go home."

"See you around." They shared their secret handshake and Sue went the opposite direction, calling an Ooper on her phone to take her back to her penthouse. The smell of the mist lingered in her nostrils and she coughed, "Superpowers...heh, right." She shook her head in amusement and placed her phone back in her pocket, unaware of the device briefly turning invisible at her touch.


"Here."

"Thanks."

Peter handed Cindy the cup of (way too sugary) coffee and they started walking towards the address of one Raymond Burns - or, as he was known around the community, Ol' Dickless. It wasn't a euphemism. There weren't too many eunuchs nowadays (comparing to the normal populace, at least), especially not a criminal in New York. For a lot of them the size of their pecker was as valuable as the other kind of heat they were packing.

Wouldn't take too much to interrogate him. Sure blowing his gun off wasn't an option anymore but there were a lot of other things he could take if asking nicely wasn't enough. Cindy suggested a bribe - apparently Ol' Dickless wasn't doing too well and he'd do anything for money - but Peter wasn't much inclined to it. He was one of the hired goods who tried to murder Ben and May. He was lucky to still be alive.

He lit a cigarette and quickened his pace a bit to catch up to Cindy's quick strides. Without his powers he'd quickly realized just how much slower he was. Everything felt...normal now from the slight heaviness in his eyes to the way the nicotine burned his lungs. He coughed after the second deep inhale and waved a hand through the smoke in front of his face. Felt...better without the numbing the Spider-God usually did.

Cindy looked back and slowed her steps till they were walking side-by-side again. Peter didn't say anything and just nodded to her in thanks. A part of of him felt bad for slowing her down but he knew that if she found out he felt that way she'd flick him in the forehead for being an idiot. Cindy was always like that. She hated when people put themselves down, especially the people she liked.

Peter eyed his partner idly. She looked different and all too similar. A light green longcoat, a dark red sweater, black jean leggings, high heeled boots and gloves covering the entirety of her hands. The same outfit she wore when they met 'her' family a year prior, the same kind of style her mad scientist counterpart usually wore. Cindy said she didn't wanna look like Spinerette and this was the way she did it.

Not that she didn't stuck out in a place like this. Yancy Street wasn't wasn't as bad as Hell's Kitchen - nothing in this city could match that cesspool - but that wasn't much of a compliment. You couldn't go past a street without running into a bum with a sob story and every car that they passed was an old beater that looked a decade too late for its last checkup.

Peter dropped a ten dollar bill on a bum who didn't have a left arm. Wouldn't help him much, but the other Spider-Man's lessons socialism stuck around, "Could I ask some directions." He flashed another twenty and the bum nodded eagerly, "This is the way to Brookhaven apartments, yeah?"

"Yessir. Just another couple a' blocks down then take a right. Can't miss."

"Thanks."

He dropped the twenty and caught up to Cindy. She raised a brow when they were side by side again, "You know I could've just looked up a map on phone, right? Phones have everything nowadays."

"Word gets around neighborhoods like this. A guy in a suit with deep pockets is someone you wanna make friends with. That'll be useful later."

"You just wanted to give that guy money, no need to hide it." Cindy grinned slightly and bumped her right shoulder to his left, "You know, it's been a while since we hung out just the two of us."

"This is hardly us 'hanging out', Cin. Not unless you have some really deranged ideas of fun."

"Ten years in a bunker, Pete. Messes up the mind." He rolled his eyes. She always used that excuse.

"You know, I remember you not being as thoroughly messed up when we first got out of your twin's butcher house. Remember when you thought it was disturbing when me and Osborn interrogated that guy?"

"Oh yeah, our first team-up. Before I realized just how much of a fucked up guy Gobby was and kinda still is." She laughed under her breath, "Yeah, I remember. S.H.I.E.L.D's training has a way of really hardening you. Made me remember all of the training Ezekiel had to make me into his perfect 'Hunter'. Then I found out about what they did with the Carnage Killer's symbiote and I just stopped caring."

"Well, I think you scare Gwen."

"Funny considering she was the one who fought Godzilla a few months ago. You know she almost stepped on me?" She put her hands in her coat pockets, "But hey, if you wanna find something more normal to do there are a bunch of decent movies coming out that aren't just Superhero rehashes. We could go on a date. Technically you and Gwen are broken up now." She winked.

"I wouldn't dare try to compete with your legion of admirers. Tell me, how many flowers have you gotten since you showed your face?"

"You don't wanna know." Her shoulders sagged exaggeratedly and she kicked a loose pebble down the street, "Guys I went on one crappy date with or unmatched me suddenly came back saying 'I just had to give them a chance'. Back when I was just Cindy Moon people swiped left all the time but now that they think they can get with an actual Avenger suddenly it's a match made in heaven. That isn't even getting to the women are convinced I'm gay cause someone decided to spread a rumor for internet points. I'm thinking of deleting my account."

"What did you expect? It wasn't a bed of roses when people found out who I was..." He still felt bitter about it. Least Jack was crippled and stuck in Rykers.

"I figured it'd make things simpler and Jean suckered me into it. Kinda regretting it now." She suddenly swiped the cigarette from his hand and took a quick drag. Her eyes widened and she immediately started coughing, "God, what the hell? How can you smoke this?"

"Why did you take it?" He snatched it back.

"Just wanted to see what the big deal was. You go through like ten packs a day and my mom did it back home. Figured there had to be something about it."

"Just stick to your tequila shots. You'll live longer." He finished off the coffin nail and tucked it to his portable ashtray before grabbing another. Cindy's phone suddenly buzzed, "You gonna get that?"

She tapped the screen and sighed with a frown when she saw the message, "Not this guy again." She deleted the message without even reading.

"Friend of yours?"

"A particularly persistent douche. He swiped left cause 'I was just a 7 out of 10 and I only date 9's'." She said it in an exaggerated, mocking baritone, "Bullet dodged. But then I told people who I was and suddenly he goes back saying it was 'a misunderstanding'. I told him to piss off and he's been stalking me ever since. Thinks if he whines enough I'll have to see he's Mr. Right. Cause nothing says romance more than a guy telling me he's a gentleman for asking consent first and not 'just taking what he wants'."

"Should we deal with him?"

"Nah, he's just a blowhard. Trust me, I've got more things to worry about than some angry douche." She suddenly grinned, "Besides, it's not like your luck is any better. You ever check yourself online."

"Not particularly."

"You really should. It's always good for a laugh." A few more clicks and a newspaper popped up on the screen with a 30 something woman front and center, "Meet Katherine Dare, the woman who claims to be Spider-Man's true lover. Apparently she's convinced that her baby is yours and the only reason you haven't come out is you wanted to keep them safe. She's gone into overdrive ever since you and Gwen broke up and she's trying to legally change her name to Mrs. Spider-Woman."

"...There's a reason I stay away from this particular web." He shoved the phone away. The sheer anonymity allowed people's worst characters to come out. Say what you will about the 30's but it was much harder to hide back then.

"And of course there are the people convinced we're together." Another few clicks and now there were a row of videos, each of them with pictures of him and Cindy at the forefront, "Apparently the two of us fighting back to back during that hospital crapstorm means we're secretly screwing and the real reason you and Gwen broke up is because you just couldn't stand it anymore and we just had to be together." She laughed at his completely unamused look.

"...I hate this city."

"We should be flattered. There are entire sites theorizing all about our secret, forbidden love." She made mocking kiss sounds. Peter grabbed the lower half of her face and pushed her away while she held up her hands in surrender.

"You done?"

"Depends. Have you cheered up?" He opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off, "You're feeling down, I can tell. I dunno if it's cause of what happened between Bullseye and Lana or something else but being down won't help. If you need someone to talk to or watch your back then you know you can count on us, right? The whole loner thing doesn't really work when you have all of us on speed dial."

"...I'm fine, Cin." He smiled, small but genuine, "We've got our ups and downs, but I'll deal with it."

"If you say so." She tossed her empty cup to a trash can twenty feet away - which got her at least a few stares - and looked up at the shabby brick building, "This is the place. So, I play bad cop and you play worse cop?"

"Fine with me. Let's do this."


Up above, Raymond hissed as the piss went down the bowl, "God fucking..." He cleaned up the mess and pulled up his boxers. Fucking doctors and their damn surgery. We can't salvage your member, they said, but we can ensure that you are still a fully functioning member of society.

Yeah, fully functioning his ass! He was a fucking joke. To everyone who knew him he was the guy whose nuts got blown off by Spider-Man. Nevermind that he was the only one who survived the damn thing when even Owlsley ended up in the pavement. Oh no, apparently him dying back there would've been less embarrassing than what he was now. The no-bone wonder, the man without a sausage.

Fuck, maybe they were right.

He trudged through to the cupboard and wiped his hands on his tanktop. Nothing but old cans of dog food greeted him. He sighed and opened it with a muffled curse. Whatever, wasn't like he cared what he put in his gut. He couldn't be picky, not since last year. Back then he'd eat steak Denise cooked him. Now? Now he was chowing on dog food that probably expired months ago.

He dug into the food and just stewed. No job, no nothing. No one in this part of the city would hire him since last year and last job he had was a janitor a couple months ago. Even that was gone, so now he just sat here waiting for the dog food to run out. He'd probably blow his brains out before it got to that point, though. Wasn't like he had anything else to look forward to.

There was a knock on the door, "Fuck off!" he shouted. Probably the kid from across the hall. Little shit always made fun then ran back to his dad when he got pissed off enough to stand.

Another knock. He was about to scream again when the door was kicked down with a loud crash, "Shit!" He grabbed a broken bottle from the table before someone rushed to him and grabbed his hand, "Wouldn't do that if I were you." A woman's voice hissed. She squeezed his wrist till he dropped the bottle to the floor before she tossed him back to the couch.

"What the fu-"

"We've got some questions." Another voice, a guy, said. He looked past the woman with the green coat and saw a guy in a black suit walk past the smashed door, "We're only gonna ask this once: where's your old gang hiding?

"Who the fuck are you?" He tried to stand and the woman shove him down with one hand. Even now the part of his brain that hadn't been blown off like his gun was could only think it'd been months since a woman touched him, especially one that looked like her.

"You don't recognize me? Funny, thought you'd remember the people whose parents you tried to kill."

It only took a second for the words to register. But when it did... "You son of a bitch!" He tried to stand, tried to reach a hand out to strangle his scrawny little neck, but his girlfriend kicked him in the chest back to the couch. Before he could do anything else she pressed her boot against his neck, pushing the back of his head against the wall, hard enough to choke.

"Wouldn't do that if I were you," his side piece said.

"Answer the question and we'll get out of your hair."

"Why the fuck should I?!" he managed to snarl, "You ain't done me any favors, you little shit!"

"You wanna go for a second round?" He pulled out a pistol from his pocket and aimed it at his face.

"What, you think I'm scared to die?! Go ahead! It's been shit since what you did to me! So come on, fucking pull the trigger! I dare ya!"

"I know you ain't scared to die, but it won't be quick." The side piece stepped back and now Spider-Man was on him, one arm pressed his neck against the wall while the other held a gun under his stomach, "That pain from when I blew your pecker off? It'll be child's play when I'm done with you. I can make that hurt last for days, Burns. I'll keep you alive through it all just to make sure you feel all of it."

"You fucking..."

"I'm counting to 3 then I'm pulling the trigger. You know what happens if I shoot here? Your guts'll fill up with shit and you'll die of blood poisoning. It'll take a couple of days and you'll feel all of it. But that'll just be the start. I'll make sure you survive that then go for the next thing. Then again and again and again till you tell me what I want. Are we clear?"

"F-Fuck you-"

"1."

"I...I-"

"2."

"Fuck!" He screamed and cried. He wanted to goad him to do it, but at the end of the day he was scared. He couldn't do it. This wasn't a shot to the brainpan and lights out. This crazy bastard was gonna torture him till there was nothing left, "Th-They hang out at the back of Lafayette Family apartment! Leader's the meathead called Bruce! That's all I know!"

There was a moment of silence and, for just a second, Raymond thought he'd shoot anyway. But then he suddenly pulled back and put his gun out of sight, "Thanks for the information." And just like that he turned to leave. Raymond grit his teeth and grabbed the discarded bottle. This smug motherfucker! He was going to-

He turned around and punched him straight in the neck. He dropped the bottle and held both hands to his throat when the side piece spun and kicked him straight in the head, knocking him out.

Cindy looked down at the knocked out, former gangster and frowned, "I kinda feel sorry for him." She eyed the dog food and the shabby state of the apartment. Maybe it was weird for her to think that. She'd read up on his file on the way here. Before his fight, if you could even call it that, with Peter he was just another nasty piece of work. The kind of guy who smiled when his boss buried people alive and beat in an old lady's face when she couldn't pay the protection money.

"You can feel sorry all you want. I don't care about self-pitying mooks." He nudged his head, "Come on, let's go crash that joint before sun's out."

"You actually have a plan?"

"Yeah. Follow my lead."

His 'lead' ended up barging into the place and getting a gun pointed at his face, 'God damn it, Pete...' She resisted the urge to facepalm. To her right was Peter who was currently staring down the barrel of a gun just inches from touching skin. In front of him was Bruce, a man in his 40's with a hairstyle and beard that looked like it belonged to one of those survivalists, while the rest of his gang eyed them both from behind their leader.

"We just came here to talk," Peter said, acting like there wasn't a gun aimed right at his nose.

"Heh, yeah, talk." The leader sneered, "Ain't nothing good when a guy in a suit comes in." Her spider-sense rang and, just before he pulled the trigger, she grabbed his hand and twisted it up. The would-be survivalist's eyes widened before Peter grabbed the gun from his palm, twisted and elbowed the guy hard in the chest. Cindy let go of him before Peter grabbed his arm and flipped him to the ground.

The rest of the goons went for their guns but Peter was already pointing the revolver at the leader's head. Cindy unholstered her own pistols and aimed at the two closest gang members, "I said I just wanted to talk," Peter sneered back and stepped hard on the guy's neck, "If you actually listened I think we can help each other out. Not unless you boys are willing to die for the guy who overdosed your buddy Tim."

The name made them pause. Peter stepped off the larger man and, after making sure all the bullets were removed, dropped the revolver to the ground, "...How the hell do you know Tim?" the leader stood with a cough and signaled for the rest of the men to lower their guns with Cindy reluctantly following their lead.

"Personally? I don't. All I know is he suddenly overdosed in the middle of an interrogation and I get the feeling it wasn't you boys that did it. There's nothing normal about how he died so I'm guessing one of the bosses you hire yourself out for had something to do with it. You tell us who it is and we'll be out of your hair."

"Hah, yeah. That simple, is it?"

"I feel like I should point out that you were the one who started pointing guns." Cindy crossed her arms, "We just wanna find out what happened to your friend. You can either help us or decide it's worth defending a guy who'll OD you on heroin as soon as he gets paranoid. Your call."

There was half a minute of absolute silence that followed. Cindy kept her arms close to her holsters just in case when eventually the the leader growled, "Yeah, I know him. He came in here with that fancy fucking suit of his and said he had a real opportunity. We didn't trust him, but Tim thought it was easy money. And it was, till we started hearin' rumors about how he got rid of loose ends."

"Overdosing?" Cindy asked.

"Yeah. Just rumors, no one really believed it. Whoever heard of a guy who can make you OD without touchin' ya? Looks like they were tellin' the truth."

"Who is he?" Peter asked.

"No one knows his real name, so everyone just calls him Mr. Brownstone. Apparently he thinks it's a real man of the people thing." He clicked his tongue, "And before you ask, I dunno where he is. He don't exactly advertise."

"He's a 'man of the people'. He has to appear somewhere," Peter said.

"Heard a rumor that he attends parties of the bigwigs in this place. Dunno if I believe it, but local bigshot by the name a' Samwell Roth's hosting a shindig at his place in a couple of days. Might show up there if you trust them rumors."

"It's the only lead we've got," Cindy muttered. They slowly walked back to the side of the building, making sure the gang didn't make any sudden movements, before they finally rounded the corner back to the busy streets. Most people didn't even look twice at the sound of gunshots here.

"...That went well," Peter said eventually.

"Did it? Do you know how close you were to being shot?" Cindy looked at him flatly.

"I trusted you to watch my back." Oh, how flattering, "At least we've got a lead now. Let's look up this Roth guy address then meet up when he holds that party."

"Yeah..." Cindy shook her head. Hopefully things didn't get worse.


MississippiRogue: Hey Spinerette? You said once that there was a Spider-Man in your world, but that he acted like the Spider-Woman of our world? What exactly did his outfit look like? Was it just a genderbent Spider-Woman outfit?

Reply from Spinerette: Weird question, but why do you want to know?

Reply from MississippiRogue: Well it's a bit of a long story, but my friend FireworkJubeLee and I are into making cosplay, and we wanted to try something unique and maybe make an alternate universe Spider-Man suit for our other friend IceManDrake to try out for an upcoming costume party. I mean, who else can say they dressed up as a superhero from a different universe?

Reply from Spinerette: Huh, well that's something. As for your question, you remember that Spider-Girl dressed in red and blue that showed up from a different universe a while back before leaving? From what I can tell based on the similarities between her universe and mine, her dad was probably another version of the same Spider-Man from my universe and her outfit, while not 100% exact, is pretty similar. So basically, just make a dude version of that.

Reply from MississippiRogue: Cool! Thank you so much! I can't wait to see what Bobby looks like in his costume!

Reply from Spinerette: Your welcome, I guess. Be sure to send a pic. I'm kind of curious how it'll look.


So I've gotten some comments indicating that the story feels a bit too tense ie characters jump from plot to plot with next to no downtime chapters to show them just hanging out and having fun in-between all the plot or that Noir and Gwen never really go on dates and do couple-y stuff outside of them referring to sex. So I decided to focus on that next.

I'll suggest four 'fun' chapters and you guys decide which of these you wanna see most next chapter. Think of it as a sort of breaktime chapter. Pick which of the four you want to see the most:

1. Peter and Gwen going on a date and just being happy; maybe even them touring ESU to practice for campus life. Might also have a segment of Noir exorcising a demon since people seem to be curious about that.

2. Lana hanging out with her friends and family/her going through a normal school day and classes.

3. Cindy going out on two separate dates with Silver Sablinova and Scott Lang while being a mom to Laura. This one's my preferred since I can get some romance practice in.

4. Mary Jane going on her modelling gig and her attempts to be a normal college student now that she's in a better mental space. Also the awkwardness of spending time with Matt and/or Felicia.

Like I said pick among the four above which you guys want. Might make a poll as well but those seem to not get many votes nowadays.