"Marvel: Tomorrow Initiative"
Chapter 9: "Alter Egos and Superegos"
Disclaimer: The universe depicted here is a future version of the universe depicted in titles published by Marvel Comics and as such, technically belongs to Marvel Comics. However, the story idea is mine and so are many of the characters, although they're based on archetypes of existing Marvel superheroes. I don't make money off this story; my profit comes from your reviews.
Author's note: Things seem to be a mess for Audrey right now. She feels betrayed by someone she once idolized, and maybe she was. Then there's the CSA scheming to frame her for a crime and thus derail everything the Knights are trying to accomplish. Will the CSA succeed? Will the Knights figure out a way to turn the tables? What will come of Karin's alliance with Tony Stark? For the answers to these questions and more, read on.
Fearless rode with Arachne back to the Knights' clock tower, Arachne holding Fearless tightly and leaning close to the older girl. Once they were back at the clock tower, they went up to where the other Knights were congregated, only to find the room empty. Fearless clicked the computer on, finding a message from Winter Soldier.
"We've gone to do our thing. Crime won't stop for us, so we'll make it stop. We're all headed for our own separate corners of the city, and if the SHRU tries to pick a fight . . . If you're hearing this, Arachne, we hope you're all right. Winter Soldier out."
Fearless removed her mask, revealing Karin Kusanagi's face. Arachne deactivated her costume, revealing Audrey Hopkins beneath. Audrey removed the wristwatch containing her costume and set it down.
"I'm going to need a new costume," Audrey whispered. "I can't wear that. Not anymore."
"I understand," Karin answered. "I know someone who can make you a new costume. A better one."
"Who?"
"Tony Stark."
"Stark? Stark?"
"Yeah. He wants to see this nightmare end as much as we do."
"How is he alive after all this time?"
"Extremis gave him a healing factor . . . and healing factors are rather infamous for granting greater longevity. Just look at Wolverine, X-23, and Spider-Man."
Audrey visibly winced at the mention of Spider-Man. Karin gently placed a hand on Audrey's shoulder and went on. "Anyway, he wants to help us. It's his way of finding absolution for what he helped bring about. Not that he'll find it. Maybe he can find a way to live with himself, but he'll never find absolution. Never."
"Thanks," Audrey whispered.
"For what?" Karin asked.
"For being there for me," Audrey answered, placing her hand over Karin's.
"You're welcome," Karin whispered, leaning closer to Audrey. Audrey leaned closer to Karin, tilting her head up to look at the older girl. She rose on her tiptoes, stretching as far as she could go to reach Karin. Fortunately, she was more flexible than she used to be and so she could do that. Karin tilted her head down to meet Audrey, so close now she could virtually taste the younger girl's breath.
Their lips finally met, in what amounted to a first kiss for both. Audrey blushed, almost unwilling to believe that she was kissing someone. She, Audrey, the shy little mouse who wore shapeless sweatsuits as normal attire, was kissing someone. And not just someone, a vision of dark, fearless beauty was kissing her.
Karin never imagined that she would have let Audrey in as much as she had, but it was almost inevitable. They were so much alike, in their own ways. Like her, Audrey had been granted powers beyond description and been thrust into a living nightmare. Like her, Audrey had been forced to endure things no teenage girl should have to. The difference between them . . . was that Audrey still had her innocence. Karin had lost that a long time ago.
Just then, Tsukikishi came in. Karin knew it was him by the scent of adamantium-weave armor and the sound of his footsteps. If those things weren't enough, he cemented it by speaking. "Don't mind me. Not like I care what you two do. Good luck, though."
Audrey pulled away, embarrassed. "Um, Karin . . ."
"Yeah?"
"I can't believe we did that."
"I can. You wanted to. Your heartbeat and breathing quickened as we neared each other. Your body gave off all the cues of physical desire. And I wanted to. I've wanted to for a long time."
"You have?" Audrey looked stunned that anyone would want to kiss her.
"I memorized the shampoo you use, just by the scent of your hair," Karin answered with a slow smile. "I know what mouthwash you use, just by the scent of your breath."
Audrey stepped back a bit. "That's a bit of an overshare. I didn't know you knew that much about me, and it's actually kinda scary. Are you some kind of stalker?"
Karin chuckled and shook her head. "No. You wouldn't believe how much you can learn about someone when all of your senses are better than the human norm."
"I suppose," Audrey uttered hesitantly. "Uh, I think I'd better go home, before my parents get hernias."
"Sure. I'll take you there. Just let me change." Karin moved away from Audrey and entered the antigrav lift, descending to the changing room. It didn't take long for her to come back, dressed in a leather jacket over a tight black T-shirt and black jeans with motorcycle boots and gloves. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah," Audrey replied, following Karin into the antigrav lift and down to the garage. Once there, they walked to Karin's civilian motorcycle and Karin got on, Audrey behind her and holding her tightly. Karin passed a spare helmet to Audrey, who donned it gratefully while Karin put on her own. Karin started the motorcycle and rode out into the streets. As she rode, Audrey held her, and Karin found that she liked the physical contact.
It didn't take too much time before Karin made it to Audrey's home. Audrey got off the motorcycle and took off the spare helmet, placing it in the holder built into the motorcycle's chassis. "Thanks, Karin. I'll see you tomorrow."
"You're welcome," Karin replied, winking at her beneath the visor of the helmet. "Say hi to your parents for me."
"I will," Audrey answered, jogging up the stairs and letting herself inside the house with the key her parents had given her. Once inside, she looked around to see if her parents were still awake. Seeing that they weren't, she went up to her room and changed into her pajamas. After brushing her teeth, she went to sleep, dreaming of spiders crawling under her flesh and manipulating every movement of her body. She woke up with a start and never quite managed to sleep again that night.
The next morning, she climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom, brushing her teeth and then showering briefly. Once those things were over with, she went to her room and dressed herself in a sweatshirt and loose jeans. She tied the laces of her sneakers and put on an ordinary wristwatch, jogging down the stairs to greet her parents at the dining table.
"Sit down, please, Audrey," Mrs. Hopkins said.
Audrey sat down. "What's wrong, Mom?"
"You stayed out late again last night," Mrs. Hopkins replied. "Where were you?"
"With Karin," Audrey answered. "We were studying."
"You seem to be with Karin a lot these days," Mr. Hopkins observed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Audrey asked defensively.
"Nothing," Mr. Hopkins replied, "but the fact that you just got so defensive makes me suspect that there's something going on between you two girls. More than just studying, for that matter." He paused at the stricken look on Audrey's face. "No, I'm not insinuating that you two are up to anything illegal, but we're just worried for you. In fact, we'd like to meet Karin sometime."
Audrey breathed out a sigh of relief. "When?"
"At her earliest convenience," Mrs. Hopkins answered. "In the meantime, you better hurry up and eat that breakfast before you're late for school."
Audrey finished her breakfast and slung her backpack onto her shoulders, rushing out the door. "Bye, Mom, bye, Dad!"
At school, she sought out Karin, who was just packing her things into her locker. "Hi."
"Hi," Karin answered. "Something's up."
"Huh?"
"It's in your heartbeat, your breathing, and your body language. Super-senses, remember?"
"No getting past you, is there?"
"Not in most instances, if any."
"My parents are starting to get suspicious. Fortunately, they're not that suspicious. Not yet, anyway. They just want to meet you."
"Hmm." Karin considered that for a moment. "Doesn't sound too bad."
"As long as they don't decide to interrogate you," Audrey quipped.
Karin chuckled. "We'd better get to homeroom."
A few hours later, it was lunchtime and Audrey had just been spotted by a tall, broad-shouldered brunet boy named Troy Castro, who was now walking toward her table. Audrey didn't even seem to notice him until his shadow was obstructing her light. "Hi," she greeted.
"Um, I kinda need your help," Troy said.
"With?" Audrey asked.
"I can't tell Iron Man from War Machine," Troy replied. "And you're the superhero historian here, so I was figuring you could help me distinguish them from each other."
"It's not that hard," Audrey said. "Iron Man is the guy in red and gold. War Machine is the guy in black and white and with more weapons."
"And that's the stuff I need to know," Troy said. "But actually, I'd like to know more about Spider-Man. And he's your area of expertise. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were in love with the Web-Head."
"Sure," Audrey answered hesitantly. "I can help you there."
"Thanks," Troy responded. "By the way, you're pretty cute without glasses. Contacts?"
"Yeah," Audrey lied. In truth, her vision had sharpened since her transformation into Arachne. It was probably a little sharper than average, but then again, she hadn't had her eyes checked out yet.
"When can I see you?" Troy asked.
"Meet me at my locker after school and we'll go to the library," Audrey replied.
"Thanks," Troy said, jetting off to join his buddies.
"He's nice," Karin remarked. "A little too eager for my tastes, but nice."
"Huh?" Audrey asked.
"He likes you," Jenna replied.
"Huh?" Audrey repeated.
"You know, you are pretty cute," Jenna said. "With or without the glasses. In fact, with the proper style and the right set of glasses, you can totally work the 'intellectual babe' look."
Audrey blushed. Karin scowled. "Did I say something wrong?" Jenna asked bewilderedly.
"No," Audrey replied slightly bashfully.
When school was out for the day, Audrey found Troy waiting by her locker. "Hey," she greeted him.
"Hey, yourself," Troy answered.
"Ready for the library?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
At the library, Audrey was on the computer with Troy looking over her shoulder as she looked up archival articles on Spider-Man. "Why did the Daily Bugle hate Spider-Man so much?" Troy asked.
"It wasn't the Daily Bugle who hated Spider-Man," Audrey amended. "It was the publisher, J. Jonah Jameson. He thought of Spider-Man as a glory hound at best and a criminal at worst and made sure the Daily Bugle headlines reflected his opinion."
"He must have been pretty steamed when he found out that Spider-Man had been selling him photos of himself all those years," Troy quipped.
"Yeah, he was," Audrey answered. "He even tried to sue Parker for it. Of course, with Parker becoming a fugitive . . . he never was able to collect on that."
"Well, Spider-Man was pretty photogenic." He pointed to one particular picture of Spider-Man. "And check out that pose. Awesome photography right there, even if it was staged."
"Heh, yeah."
"Which costume did you like best?" Troy asked. "Original red and blue, big spider red and blue, black, or red and gold?"
"Original red and blue," Audrey replied.
"I like the black outfit. Wish he'd have stuck with it." Troy had a giddy expression on his face.
Audrey shrugged. "It's not bad. Still, the red and blue was good. So was the big spider version."
Troy eyed Audrey with a curious expression. "Speaking of Spiders, what do you think of the Spider-Women?"
"What do you think?" Audrey giggled coyly.
"My favorite was the first one. I mean, whoa . . ." He whistled. "Smoking."
Audrey chuckled slightly and looked out at the window before turning back to Troy. "I'm kinda partial toward the second one."
"You mean the one with the thigh-high boots?" Troy chuckled. "I learn new things every day."
Audrey playfully slugged him in the arm, holding back immensely so that she didn't break or crack the bones. "Perv."
"What? My weakness is a woman in thigh-high boots." Troy's smile was disarming, and Audrey could feel herself almost go weak in the knees. Fortunately, she was sitting, so it wasn't like she had to worry about falling. "Speaking of Spider-Women, I heard something this morning. On the news."
"Heard what?"
"The new Spider-Woman, the one who saved you from that porter, she killed someone."
Audrey gasped, visibly disturbed by that. Who would claim that she would kill someone? "Who? Who did they say she killed?"
"That Power Broker guy, the one who was giving crooks powers. From what I heard, she sneaked into his holding cell and suffocated him in a web cocoon."
Audrey would have collapsed if she hadn't been sitting, so stunned she was. "What? You sure?"
"Yeah." His expression was grim.
Audrey stood up. "I . . . I gotta go." She quickly leaned to log herself out and then turned to walk away. Troy gently but firmly grabbed her wrist. He wasn't nearly strong enough to hold her, not if she really wanted out. Still, it made her pause. "Troy?"
"It's ok. If you wanna talk . . ."
"I would, but not right now. Thanks, anyway. Sorry I'm flaking like this." She gently freed herself and briskly walked out of the library.
Once out of the library, she took the antigrav rail back to her house and ran inside, where she picked up her phone and called Karin. It only took two rings for Karin to pick up. "Audrey?" Karin asked.
"They're saying I killed the Power Broker!" Audrey exclaimed frantically. "I didn't! I know I didn't! We apprehended him and that was it!"
"I know," Karin answered. "Obviously, this is the CSA trying to frame you and in doing so discredit everything we're trying to accomplish."
"How'd they do it?" Audrey asked.
"We're going to have to check out Milton Labs. They might not have stopped the Spider-Man program just because the wrong person got the spider-powers."
"Sure, but I don't have a costume anymore."
"Sure you do."
"I'm not using it. Not after what he did to me with it."
"Not the costume I was talking about. I mentioned to Stark last night that you needed a new suit and he was more than happy to build one for you."
"It doesn't have any kind of interface tech that's going to allow him to hack in and take over my body, does it?"
"We'll check it out before you put it on. He's definitely sincere about wanting to make amends, but he's infamous for being a manipulative son of a bitch. Any gift horses we get from him should be looked in the mouth."
Audrey chuckled. "Thanks, Karin."
"You're welcome. See you tonight." Karin hung up.
Audrey grinned and hung up. "See you tonight."
That night, Karin came by to Audrey's house on her motorcycle. She rang the bell and was swiftly answered by Audrey. "Hi, Karin. Wanna come in for a while?"
"Sure," Karin answered.
Audrey let Karin in and Audrey's parents quickly took note of the older girl. A leather jacket hung well on her shoulders, zipped up to her neck. Covering her legs were tight black jeans along with knee-high black leather boots. Motorcycle gloves covered her hands, while her face was about the only skin left exposed by her attire.
"You must be Karin," Mr. Hopkins greeted. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise, Mr. Hopkins," Karin answered amiably. She removed her gloves and placed them in her jacket pockets, reaching out to shake Mr. Hopkins's hand with her now-bare one. Mr. Hopkins took her hand and shook it.
"Gonna be staying long?" Mrs. Hopkins asked.
"No, which bites, because I'd like to stick around and get to know you," Karin replied. "However, Audrey and I have a study party to go to. I just came to pick her up."
"Ok," Mrs. Hopkins said. "As long as you bring her home at a reasonable hour."
"I'll try," Karin responded.
"Get your jacket, Audrey," Mr. Hopkins advised. "It's slightly chilly out."
Audrey jogged upstairs to get her denim jacket and then came downstairs in it. "Bye, Mom, bye, Dad." She kissed her father on the cheek before departing from the house with Karin.
"You're gonna flip when you see your present," Karin whispered to Audrey as they got on Karin's motorcycle. Karin passed the spare helmet to Audrey while donning her own. She started up the motorcycle and rode away while Audrey held on to her.
It didn't take them too long to make it to the underground garage of the clock tower where the Knights congregated. Karin parked the motorcycle and extricated herself from it with Audrey. They put their helmets aside and took the antigrav lift to the nexus room of the clock tower. Stepping into the nexus room, they were greeted by the other Knights.
"We heard the news today," Iron Cage said. "It's B.S. Total frame job."
"We know that," Winter Soldier growled. "Arachne wouldn't kill a fly."
"How do we prove that, though?" Tsukikishi asked.
"We find out who's impersonating Spider-Lady and kick their ass!" Nightshade replied vehemently.
"It's not going to be as easy as you make it sound," Artemis cautioned. "However, it is obvious that the CSA didn't stop its Spider-Man program. It's someone else. Someone else with spider-powers of some kind they cooked up to kill the Power Broker before he could reveal any nasty secrets to the D.A. to save his own skin."
"Could have been Venom," Audrey suggested.
"Venom?" Iron Fist echoed.
"Yeah," Audrey replied. "I fought the Thunderbolts last night. One of their members was a woman who had powers like mine, but she had a symbiotic costume like Venom's."
"Could have been her," Karin said. "Symbiotes are notorious for being able to shape-shift. It shouldn't have been too hard for Venom to change her costume's appearance to look like your costume and then do the deed. Still, we can't jump to conclusions just yet. I think it's time we checked out Milton Labs."
"What about my costume?" Audrey asked.
"Oh, yeah!" Nightshade chirped excitedly, teleporting out and coming back with a human-shaped suit of black fabric with a silver spider emblem on the torso. "This is it, right?"
"Yeah," Karin replied.
"Is that my new costume?" Audrey asked.
"Yeah," Karin replied.
"Who made it?" Winter Soldier asked.
"A new friend, who wants to remain anonymous," Karin answered.
Winter Soldier scowled, but said nothing as Audrey took the costume and departed to change. When she came back, she was wearing the new costume, which clung to her body like a second skin. The spider symbol was designed somewhat unusually, the top two legs on either side of the spider's body connected by bars that extended into stripes that ran down her arms and stopped at arrow-pads on the backs of her hands. The bottom two pairs of legs were designed in curving patterns that ended in sharp points, like four krises.
"What is this?" Audrey asked.
"Smart stealth liquid nanotech," Karin replied. "It can camouflage itself by refracting light, disguise itself as street clothes, and even hide itself beneath your skin. Of course, it's also invisible to electronic surveillance."
"Wouldn't that last part make her naked?" Iron Cage asked.
"Saves her the trouble of taking the suit off if she has to hide it beneath her clothes when she's in school," Karin replied before departing to change her clothes. When she came back, she was in her Fearless gear sans the mask, which she put on last. "Audrey and I are going to check out Milton Labs. The rest of you monitor the situation from here and be ready to come in if we need help."
"Sure," Winter Soldier answered.
"Let's go," Fearless said to Arachne.
Soon enough, Arachne was swinging from web-line to web-line while Fearless jumped and somersaulted from rooftop to rooftop, occasionally using her energy grapple to help her close the distance. Arachne's spider-sense went off, time shifting around her, and she dropped her web-line just before a spinning red-and-white shield sliced it. She swung up on another web-line and watched as the shield returned to the hand of Captain America.
Captain America wasn't alone. He was flanked by his fellow Avengers, all of whom looked ready for a fight. Fortunately for Arachne, she wasn't alone, either, as proven when Fearless leaped across the street. Daredevil's unofficial successor used the energy grapple to help her close the distance and land safely on the rooftop occupied by the Avengers. Arachne had landed beside her, and the two girls were ready to give the Avengers the fight they seemed to be looking for.
"We don't want to fight," Captain America said. "Just surrender peacefully."
"I didn't do it," Arachne said. "I was framed."
"Even if you didn't do it, which I doubt, you're still an unlicensed vigilante," Warbird answered. "And so are you, Fearless, or do we call you Aya Gallo?"
Arachne looked at Fearless briefly and Fearless could read the surprise in Arachne's body language. "I'll explain later," Fearless replied. "In the meantime, we kick ass."
"We'll win, you know," Iron Man warned.
"In your dreams," Fearless spat.
"Ooh, cocky, aren't we?" the Hulk remarked. "I like that in a girl."
"Prepare to like it a lot less," Fearless snarled, snapping both batons out and activating the energy blades on both.
"Avengers – attack," Captain America answered, leading the charge.
End Notes: Good point to end it. I like cliffhangers, you know. And I know you do, too, even if you claim you hate them. Cliffhangers stoke people for what's going to come in the next chapter and what's coming in the next chapter is a lot of action. It's Knights versus Avengers, a showdown that some of you could probably guess was coming from the moment the Knights debuted. Will the Knights discover who framed Arachne for the Power Broker's murder? Will the Avengers realize that maybe they're fighting on the wrong side? How will Audrey and Karin's relationship develop now that they've seemingly moved beyond mere friendship? For the answers to those questions and others, read the next chapter and let me know what you think of this one.