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.

It didn't take too long after ? left the docks before the Hand sent them a note attached to a arrow leading them to another 'file', or book in that case, but it was functionally the same. They didn't have access to 'their own files' which they'd claimed they would double check things against, but their memory was decent and they'd check things on site.

? decided to not go after Man-Wolf at first, too predictable, and instead infiltrated the supposed hideout of a gang they just vaguely recognized, Mr. Negative's 'Inner Demons'.

Stealth was one of their strong suits, especially since they bonded and got Gwen's sneaking skills together with ?'s camouflage and costume change abilities.

The Inner Demons were all dressed the same, black suits with Chinese looking demon masks covering their faces, so it was possible that they wouldn't even realize if ? just strolled around inside their hideout, but it was open enough and with so few guards patrolling that they didn't even need to use that trick.

They went through some paperwork they found in an office, and took pictures using the burner phone they'd gotten to call the cops with. Nothing too damning but if it was all a faked they'd put some considerable effort into tricking ?.

They snuck out again without leaving any traces behind.

Late that night, maybe at 1 am, they arrived at one of Man-Wolf's hideouts. Again they decided to go for the stealthy approach, using a second story window in the back to enter into the abandoned warehouse.

Man-Wolf's gang was just that, a gang. They weren't the most organized bunch and weren't by far one of the bigger players in the city, but they did robberies and some drug trafficking. Unlike Mr. Negative's bunch, they didn't have a uniform or wear masks inside so that strategy was out, but they had a lot more damning evidence displayed out in the open.

? dropped down behind some open crates, with some people not three meters away, and took a better look at the weapons inside. They noticed that some crates, but not all, had weapons with their serial-numbers filed off, which was enough for an arrest, and they were sure that the cops would find a lot more evidence once they took a look around the place.

They didn't recognize anybody though, which meant it was possible that the people in the warehouse weren't really a part of Man-Wolf's gang. They took another look around.

There were 31 people in total, 22 men, 9 women. At least 8 of them were armed with handguns, and some had assault-rifles or shotguns within reach. They all had Man-Wolf's gang symbol so they were either with him or Fisk.

? decided to take it slowly, tie up the ones furthest away from the others first then move in. After webbing in 11 of them that way the remaining twenty were all too close to each other for them to remain unnoticed while taking out more gang-members.

They crawled up a wall to the roof, got a high angle to get a better feel for how their opponents were scattered around the room. They were in three loose groups, one bigger, and another more dispersed, but the third one, a group of five, were all close together.

Without moving from their perch on the roof they webbed the group of five, reducing the number to fifteen in an instance. From there they moved quickly across the room on the walkways above.

There were two gang members there, they were webbed down since a while ago and no threat, but served to prevent their friends from firing up at ?.

? jumped down into the largest group, nine people, and quickly webbed half of them while throwing some punches. Someone outside of the group opened fire on them so ? leapt out; lashed their tongue at him, striking the gun out of his hand, and webbed him down.

Using their fists, tongue, and webs they whittled down their numbers until none remained, tied everybody up nicely, then left a note for the police. After that they called the authorities using the burner phone and left.

It was two days after Gwen's disappearance, Sunday. The two leading theories where that she either was going after Murderdock and was 'fine' or she was, at that very moment, possessed by the Symbiote that was stalking her team and was definitely not fine.

Daisy yawned. She had actually slept that night even if it didn't feel like she had, and was more or less in good enough a state to work. Some might argue that she shouldn't work on Sundays, but those were the same people who would have told her not to work on Saturday, so she was already ignoring them and wouldn't stop any time soon.

The morning had been a bust, no news about the Symbiote Doreen had named Bite-size or of Ghost-Spider, but they knew Bite-size was a shape-shifter so who really knew if someone had spotted her. Her team, who were on the lookout for anybody stalking them, also hadn't reported seeing someone.

The Secret Warriors alert flared.

"Uhh, guys?" Kamala's voice came through the comms.

"Yeah?" Daisy answered.

"I just saw Sheath. Isn't she supposed to be like, imprisoned or something?"

"She is. Hold up," Daisy checked S.H.I.E.L.D.'s records on her, "there were several prison breaks during the commotion on Friday, both Sheath and Exile escaped."

"Try to follow her covertly, Ms. Marvel," Rayshaun said, "see if she'll lead us to Exile."

Daisy sent a non-urgent back-up request on Ms. Marvel's position to the other secret warriors before she and Rayshaun headed there themselves.

? woke up in the afternoon. They'd stayed up until morning, at first because they were paranoid that Murderdock would retaliate quickly, and then because their mind kept circulating with the question of who they were, primarily if they were one or two.

Arguments in favor of 'one' were mostly about how hard it was to distinguish between traits they got from one or the other half of their being, arguments in favor of 'two' seemed to be about the fact that they did have distinct bodies, if you wanted to be pedantic, and had at some point been completely separate, so they could very well separate again in the future.

They swung around aimlessly, hoping that Murderdock would reach out to them sooner rather than later. They thought about what he would threaten, what he would leverage, tried to plan for every contingency, but it was ultimately futile. They knew that no matter what they tried they couldn't plan for everything, and no matter what contingencies they planned for Murderdock excelled at leveraging even Gwen's personality against her, so their only hope was that their personality was different enough to make them unpredictable.

As the minutes went by without even a hint of Murderdock they grew increasingly anxious and worried. By that point Murderdock should have already been looking for them for several hours, or if not him at least Man-Wolf, but so far they hadn't seen a hint of either. They could have gone after ?'s friends instead, but that thought didn't really comfort them so they tried to ignore that particular fear.

There was a commotion a few blocks further ahead so they swung that way, though they were careful not to be spotted by any potential enemy just yet. What they saw as they peaked around the corner, was her friends fighting Sheath, Exile and some new guy they'd never seen before, who seemed to be able to turn intangible.

? felt comfortable looking at them, felt like they were with their friends as they watched the fight. It was calming.

Their team seemed to have a handle on the situation so ? kept their distance, as they had been doing ever since they escaped from Iron Heart. Using their color shift they blended in with the wall slightly, but not enough for it to be anywhere near invisibility. They could have pushed it further, but the idea of tipping their hand so early didn't sit right with them, so they didn't.

Sheath was sitting down, cuffed and waiting for the prisoner transport. Exile had escaped at the end with their new ally, Hollow, but they'd get them eventually.

America could have sworn she'd hit him hard enough for a knockout but it seemed to only have incapacitated Exile, which of course meant he'd escaped immediately, the coward. Not that she held it against him, retreating when you can't win is the right choice, but he always ran away. It had gotten old real quick first time they hunted him and it was still just as annoying.

"Hey, on my four o'clock." Doreen said.

America looked behind Doreen, where she'd said, but didn't really see anything.

"Is that Bite-size?" Dante asked.

Looking a bit closer, and higher up, America saw Bite-size's hooded head sticking out, in a color halfway between her usual black and the red of the brick wall.

"Should I go for her?" she asked.

"Better be careful. Iron Heart, fly over that way then loop around to cut off her escape route, Inferno, you go with her, Symbiotes are weak to fire so you should be very useful if she decides to fight back. The moment they're ready you can go for it Chavez." Daisy said.

"You do know that Gwen beats me in like no time, right?"

"You'll have me and America with you, three on one shouldn't be a problem." Riri said as she flew off, with Dante soon following behind her.

"Are we really sure that we want to fight her?" Kamala asked. "She did help during the chaos of Friday, she might be good."

"Good guys don't usually stalk other good guys, Ms. Marvel," Rayshaun said.

"Squirrel Girl once pulled me along as she followed Captain Marvel all over the city; I think that might count as stalking."

"Let's not get into that argument again, okay? I just wanted to see what an Avenger does during a normal day and figured if anybody would be down it'd be her biggest fan."

Kamala's face turned slightly red from embarrassment.

"In position." Riri's voice said over their comms.

America launched at Bite-size.

? jumped from the wall, swinging towards a more crowded area. They didn't know why their friend had suddenly decided to chase them, but they still weren't ready to talk so they ran.

America was fast, not much faster than them, but fast enough that she'd catch up to them eventually. They took a sharp turn to the left, sensed Iron Heart, and barely dodged below her.

Iron Heart might not be able to hit as hard, and she had a harder time with sharp turns, but she was faster than either of them in a straight line.

They rounded a corner, hoping to escape her friend's view for long enough to hide, but Iron Heart was too close.

If their memory served Mr. Negative had a base nearby, it was risky but... They really hoped it wasn't a trap.

? used the same tricks they'd used last time, quick turns and a change in elevation most flyers weren't used to, to buy some time as they moved towards the criminal's hideout.

They kicked in a window, causing a large commotion as Negative's goons prepared for combat. America followed and was greeted by assault rifles while Iron Heart, who had hesitated, stayed outside.

? hurried down the staircase, with a few goons following them, out of the base and into some company's office, entered a bathroom and hid in a stall. There they changed their surface to civilian clothes.

The goons, busted in, kicked the stall door open, saw them acting scared and moved on. After flushing they walked out the front door wearing black pants, a red leather jacket and what they hoped looked like convincing brown hair.

As they walked away they noticed Inferno hanging around the building, on the opposite side to Iron Heart.

After their successful escape they went back to where the fight had been. They kept their disguise on, hoped they wouldn't be noticed again, but that might have been a tad too optimistic.

Not that they were discovered immediately or anything, but they were spying on S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, it couldn't last long. Still, they still wanted to see Daisy again, even if it was only for a moment, so they stayed.

They followed her friends for a bit after S.H.I.E.L.D. had picked up Sheath. When the team split up, possibly to look for Exile and his intangible ally, they kept following Daisy.

They even kept following Daisy on the way back to their base, and when they lost her, they preempted her destination and waited outside of their hide-out.