Author's Note: If you've previously read this story (before this major edit during my hiatus) then you should know that what used to be chapter 1 is now chapters 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3. What used to be chapter 6 is chapter 5.3/6.1, 6.2, and 6.3.

Gwen and her team finally entered their base. She wouldn't say that she was exhausted exactly but they had spent a few hours trying to beat the Shocker. He wasn't robbing banks this time; he was holding the city hostage with some big machine he'd built, which meant they had needed to do a lot more than just punching the guy out to save the day. Riri had clutched it in the end but the real MVP was Daisy who, as always, made them all perform at their best.

Before the elevator was done descending Gwen web-slung her way over to the TV and planted herself on the roof with her legs crossed. She web-grabbed one of the game controllers, turned on the system and selected a good game from their library.

Daisy went straight to the OPS room, while the others filed into the lounge area.

"Who wants a victory nut-bar?"

Everyone there did, except Rayshaun, who was allergic. When they had all gotten theirs Doreen quickly checked with Daisy if she wanted the last one, but she said no.

"Guess this bar goes to Riri, for saving the day with her wicked computer hacking skills," Doreen said.

"Aww thanks."

"Well you deserve it," Kamala said as she patted her shoulder, "we would have been screwed without you."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Well... I think Doreen might have been able to do it, or maybe America could have smashed it, but sure, she did great."

"She saved the day, Ghost-Spider, let her have her moment." Patriot said. He only really called her Ghost-Spider in their HQ if he was scolding her, and it was getting on her nerves.

"She turned off Shocker's thingy, Daisy saved the day."

"Daisy? What did she do?" Kamala asked.

"Coordinated us, saved Inferno that one time, helped me take down Scorpio, and just generally was the most effective person there. None of you are even close to as good as Daisy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rayshaun glared at her like if she'd just insulted his whole extended family.

"Yeah, chika, no offense to Daisy but I'm practically indestructible, I can fly, and I'm the strongest one here."

"Yeah, you're good but you lack experience. Without Daisy leading us you wouldn't be half as useful in the field as you are."

"I have experience," Rayshaun said. "I was even trained by captain America! I'm just as good as her when it comes to strategy."

"But you lack powers. You're good enough to be on par with superheroes, sure, but you aren't as versatile as Daisy. Plus I wouldn't say 'just as good'. You're okay, but there's a reason she was picked as leader." Gwen was already getting annoyed by the back-talk. Like, how could Rayshaun, her former partner, not understand just how awesome Daisy really was?

"Kamala's great too, so is Riri, and me! And let's not forget that time Tippy defeated you." Tippy jumped up on Doreen's shoulder looking far too proud of herself.

"Tippy did not defeat me. I didn't want to hurt her, and even webbing her to a wall could have broken some bones. Plus, she didn't do any damage, just stopped me from leaving." And embarrassed her to no end.

"Hey, don't underestimate me and Tippy!"

Gwen was, at this point, very frustrated. It shouldn't be that big a blow to their ego, after all: Daisy was really amazing, but for whatever reason they kept acting like they had something to prove.

"Whatever! Daisy's still just the best, okay. I'm going to my band practice now, I don't need this shit." She stormed out.

Honestly she still had a while before she needed to get going, time she'd planned on using by playing video-games with whoever wanted to join, but she supposed she could kill it by just web-slinging around in the city for a while.

When Gwen stormed away America could have sworn that if she didn't have her mask on they'd be able to see a faint blush.

"I can't believe that she'd write us all of for lacking experience!" Doreen said.

"I don't know about you guys but she's definitely right to write me off." Dante said.

"What, no. Dante please, don't say things like that." Kamala looked hurt, almost like he'd insulted her rather than himself; though knowing her she wouldn't have looked half as hurt if he had insulted her. She was adorable, really.

"No, it's true. Whenever we spar she beats me in half a minute flat. And the only reason it isn't ten seconds anymore is because I've gotten better at running from her."

Kamala fussed around him, unsure of how to comfort the red haired boy. "But that's because your powers aren't good against her. Her super-senses make your fire-blasts ineffective and her super-strength gives her an edge in close combat. That's all."

"Either way, I don't think Gwen's attitude was very conducive to teamwork, maybe we should talk with Daisy about it." Rayshaun suggested,

America didn't know how, but she should probably stop him. "I don't think that that's necessary, she probably didn't mean it that way."

"And what way did she mean it then." Ray was being stubborn. "Because if she did mean it the way I think she did, that's a dangerous attitude to have in the field."

"Think about it. First time we met her she wasn't really a fan of this teamwork idea, then she and Daisy teamed up and she changed her tune. It's synergy, that's what she's talking about. Even if she doesn't realize it." She had pulled the excuse out of her ass, but it sounded plausible.

"Synergy?" Dante asked.

"Makes sense," Riri said, letting America breathe a sigh of relief. "Gwen's one of our best fighters, with her battle intuition and a good mid to close range power set, and if she judges our battle capacity in the field by how well we do when we team up with her, thinking Daisy's the best isn't really all that strange.

"With how well they work together even teaming up with America isn't as efficient. Then, based on that, she concludes that Daisy's the most useful in battle."

"Exactly." America hadn't followed what Riri just said, but if agreeing meant they'd drop it that was good enough.

"You sure that's all she meant?" Doreen certainly had a knack for seeing through people, and her snooping skills weren't too bad either. If America didn't stop her now, Gwen's secret might be blown before she was ready.

"Yes, Doreen, that's all there's too it." She wasn't really a master of subtlety so she hadn't bothered with it, instead aiming for a threatening tone and a good enough excuse. Going by their reactions she was fairly certain they'd just let it be. For now.

Gwen landed, just a few blocks from MJ's garage where the band usually practiced, in an alleyway where she kept her clothes stashed. She pulled on a sweater, some jeans, and a pair of slightly too big seekers over her super-suit, then made her way to MJ's garage.

"What's going on, tiger?"

"Nothing, MJ." She turned her back to her friend as she pulled off not only her sweater but also the top half of her super-suit, then replaced it with a t-shirt.

"Then why were you smiling like that?"

"I wasn't." Gwen steeled her face before turning back around. She hopped onto her chair behind the drum set and picked up the sticks. "Now can we start or what?"

"Betty's not here yet, you're actually early for once." Glory said.

"Oh."

Since she had the time, Gwen decided to read (skim) through some files on various super criminals, including ones she had already had the displeasure of fighting. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files were thorough but most of it wasn't very useful, and some of it was redacted.

Who needed to know exactly what glue the trapper used, or the addresses of his closest relatives? (Which, to be fair, was redacted.) You just had to punch the guy a bit and leave him tied up for the authorities to handle. Same went for most of the villains they had a lot on.

Of course there were exceptions like Arcade, were any detail might help escape his 'Murderworld', but for most of the threats, the real threats, their long files only really had one or two useful details beside the very basics about their fighting style and training.

Then there were the ones that S.H.I.E.L.D. had next to nothing, those were the ones you couldn't just beat up and leave for the cops, you'd have to actually prove that they were guilty of something.

When Betty walked in she scanned the room then suddenly stopped, staring at Gwen. "Gwendolyn Stacy what are you doing here already? Don't you have to save the world today?"

"What can I say, been a slow week. Could be that something big is happening soon, tends to be that other villains who get wind plan their crimes at the same time so the heroes will all be too distracted with the big thing to worry about all the smaller stuff."

"For real?" Glory asked.

"Kinda?" Gwen nodded

"Aww, crud. Sounds like we'll have to get ready to evacuate the city every time you come to practice on time." Betty said with a frown.

"Not always, sometimes I can just leave it to other heroes once I clock out, and sometimes a slow spell doesn't mean anything, or some heroes stop the big thing before it goes down."

At the end of practice, before MJ and Betty had had time to put away their instruments, Glory kissed MJ on the cheek. "You sang really well today, sweetie." Gwen's brain froze.

"Awww, thanks hon." MJ returned the kiss with another one on the lips.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Gwen said. "Since when are you two dating and why haven't we celebrated it yet?" she asked.

"Uh... since a week and a half ago? And we told you after band practice last week." MJ said with a, possibly, put on smile.

"Yeah, I remember you almost showed up on time for the first time in like, ever, and didn't even need to run right after. You should have heard it." Betty didn't try to hide her disapproval, and Gwen couldn't help but agree with her.

She was being an awful friend.

"I... I guess I must have been distracted with something."

"Don't worry about it. You're a superhero you have more important things to think about." Glory said.

"What!?" Gwen felt angry on her friends' behalf. "Of course I don't, why would you even say that? Two of my best friends started dating and I didn't even realize when you told me, I'm the worst!"

"You're right. But we still love you." MJ smirked.

"Well I'm gonna have to step up my friendship game, starting with a celebration, my treat. So long as we stay within a college-broke-budget."

"But we're not even going to college yet," Glory said, which was true but only for three more months and it couldn't hurt to budget accordingly.

"And you have a job," Betty added. "Don't they pay you?"

"Not really, super-heroics are volunteer work only. Unless you're an Avenger, which are privately funded by Tony Stark."

"Right, okay. To the doughnut shop I guess."

"Celebratory doughnuts, I like where your heads at, Hon." MJ said as she followed her girlfriend out of her garage.

"You coming Betty?" Gwen asked while picking up her backpack which had contained her change of clothes.

"Heck yeah I am. But are you paying for me too, Gwen?"

"Sure, my budget can afford six or eight doughnuts."

Betty grinned. "Awesome."

They had all finished their first doughnut and had gotten seconds, or in Glory's case a third, when Gwen's Spider-Sense went off. Far as she could tell the place wasn't about to explode, and no out-of-control truck was coming their way, but something still made the whole area dangerous.

She faked getting a phone call, putting the device against her ear.

"What's up? ... Oh, more work? ... Yeah I'm close by, I'll be there soon." She put her phone away.

"So 'work' called." MJ eyed her skeptically.

"Yep. Sorry ladies, gonna have to cut this celebration short." She'd decided to act in case someone else was watching, because that was a distinct possibility, but hoped that her friends would catch on.

"No problem, guess we'll just go home?" Glory had made it a question, which meant she'd probably caught on.

"Why don't you head to, uh..." She thought on it. Judging by her Spider-Sense, the danger was all around, so no one direction was better, but they should all stay together just to be on the safe side. "Why don't we make it a sleep-over celebration? I'll join you when I'm done with work."

"Alright ladies, we're going back to MJ's." Betty said.

"Why my place?"

"Cause it's close and big enough for all of us, obviously."

Gwen focused on her Spider-Sense as her friends left, and decided to move in the opposite direction. If the danger didn't change it wasn't targeting any of them, if it followed her friends, or if it split up to follow both she'd be in trouble, and if it followed her... that might just be the worst option, depending on her luck.

After a while the danger moved, following her, and worse still, she couldn't see or hear any change around her. She hoped, prayed, that it didn't mean what she thought it meant, because she really, really, didn't want to have to deal with him ever again. Ever.

As she came closer to an alleyway, her Spider-Sense went off again, much stronger than before, coming from the other end. She tried to just hurry past, pretend she hadn't noticed anything, because if she was wrong, if her prayers had been answered just for once, she might get away with that.

"Hello Miss Stacey." Webs. The man, the one she'd hoped to never see again after the Hand had chased him off, who she had secretly hoped the Hand would kill even as she knew she shouldn't, stepped towards her. The man, who wore a red suit with pitch black sunglasses and a walking stick, the blind man with brown hair and a smile that would haunt her nightmares for years to come, was looking at her.

Well, not looking really, he did it with his ears, but that wasn't much of a difference with this one. "Well well well, seems you aren't even dressed properly yet. Why don't you meet me on that roof; I have some business to discuss with you."

"I don't play your games anymore, Murderdock."

The man in red chuckled. "I always liked that nickname you gave me. Even if it sounds like you've assigned me a doctorate in murder, though I suppose Hand training isn't that far off from it.

"But I digress. You don't exactly have a choice on whether or not you go up there you know. That's where my men are supposed to gather and if you don't come up soon, I'll just have to occupy them with your friends who just left." She was surprised he still had men, considering he was the former Hand regional chief. The same Hand who had chased him off after he betrayed them.

The group of killer ninjas would rather kill half of their members than let any of their secrets slip away, and both he and any ninjas who had left with him would have known quite a number of those same secrets. Though if he'd somehow managed to get back into their fold...

"Fine."

"Excellent, my dear Gwendolyn. Seems you'll dance to my tune yet again, this'll be most productive."