WEB OF WONDER
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers, Spider-Man, Justice League Unlimited, or their characters.
Summary: After a devastating alien attack, Wonder Woman tries to find out more about the man she could have saved the world with. Supergirl and Batgirl are there to help her.
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The Justice League: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Jonn Jonzz, Black Canary, Vixen, Red Arrow, Hawkgirl and Black Lightning.
The Avengers: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Wasp, Black Widow, Giant Man, Hulk, Ms Marvel, Hawkeye, Moondragon, and Crystal.
Other heroes to follow.
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Chapter 2
Getting to Know Him
(The Justice League Watchtower, above DC Universe Earth)
Several members of the Justice League reservers had come to the Watchtower in order to coordinate their efforts in rebuilding their world in the wake of the Galaxian's attempted, and failed, invasion.
Superman and the others had told the other League members that they were hosting a group of heroes from another dimension to help with the rebuilding.
Supergirl (Kara Kent) dressed in her blue and red uniform, and Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) dressed in her dark blue and gray costume, had just arrived and were noticing League members Fire and Ice talking to a Hispanic man and woman named Living Lightning and Firebird.
Two archers, one dressed in green and the other in purple, were having a shooting-at-target contest, while a pair of blond women, one known as Black Canary, and the other wearing a white and blue outfit holding a metallic bo-staff, watched from the sidelines.
Kara saw her cousin, Superman, talking to a muscular man wearing blue and black armor with a winged helmet, red cape, and carrying a Norse battle hammer, and another athletic man wearing a blue costume with a white star on his chest, a white 'A' on his forehead, with red and white colors and carrying a circular shield.
Barbara noticed Jonn Jonzz and Green Lantern talking to a beautiful bald-headed woman in a green leather outfit and cape, and another woman with short brown hair, dressed in a yellow and black bodysuit, which had an almost insect-like design to it.
The pair then noticed two women heading right for Superman and the two men he was talking to. One was an athletic blond woman dressed in silver and black armor with a blue cape and carrying an ornate spear, and the other was a tough-but-attractive raven-haired woman in a red and silver outfit with a red cape and silver headdress, a sword at her hip.
"Guess these are the heroes from the other universe." Kara said to her companion.
"Yeah, must be." Barbara said. "Some of them look like they stepped out of some kind of ancient myth and legend."
"So why did Batman want us here personally?" Supergirl asked.
"He said that Queen Hippolyta was going to be sending a delegation to help with repairs, and wanted us to help them out." Batgirl answered.
"What? Why not Diana? Why isn't she heralding that?" the alien heroine asked.
"Didn't say. Something about Wonder Woman being unable to attend right now." the redhead said.
"That's strange. When are the amazons going to arrive here?"
Batgirl looked at her watch. "Two hours. He said."
"He's never wrong. So... let's go and find Diana?" Supergirl said as she flew ahead of her friend.
"What? But... Kara!" Batgirl shouted as she raced after the blond heroine.
As the pair approached Diana's room on the Watchtower, they passed an adjacent hallway, where they saw Flash talking to two other people. One was The Atom, sitting on Flash's shoulder, and the other was Aquaman.
"...she never would have agreed to it, Flash!" The Atom said.
"Yeah, I know, but it makes a kind of sense." Flash replied.
"You just wanted it to be you in Spider-Man's place." Atom stated.
"Hey, that's a hell of a deal! 'Save the world from alien invasion, by having sex with Wonder Woman!' That's the greatest deal in a millennia!" Flash laughed.
"And something they knew that Diana would never agree to!" Aquaman stated.
"Course... we never told her about it." Atom added.
The two heroines let the trio pass, looking at each other in shock at what they had just heard.
"Did I hear that right?" Kara asked.
"I don't think I did." Barbara replied. "Sex with Wonder Woman?"
"Who's Spider-Man?" Supergirl asked.
"Dunno. Let's find Diana!" Batgirl stated.
"Right!" the maid of might agreed.
The two heroines raced to the amazon princesses room, passing by one of the work out rooms where they noticed a man in a red and blue outfit going through a series of exercises on a complex jungle-gym-like tower. They noticed Vixen, the dark-skinned animal-mimic heroine of the League, and a shapely and athletic red-haired woman in a black catsuit standing off to the side, both just watching the man in the red and blue suit.
"Wonder who that is?" Batgirl asked.
"Don't know." Supergirl said.
The pair got to Diana's room on the Watchtower, Kara knocked.
"Diana?" Supergirl called out.
"Come in, Kara." the voice inside the room said.
The pair entered the room, and noticed that the Amazon princess, dressed in a red robe and slippers, was staring out across the stars from her window. Her room looked a little messy, like she was doing some kind of research project. There were newspapers everywhere on her bed, her laptop was booted up, and several books were by her desk.
"Diana?" Supergirl spoke.
"Oh. Hello, Kara." Diana Prince said to the girl.
"Is... something wrong?" the alien heroine asked.
"No. Why would you say that?" she replied.
"UH..." Supergirl said, looking around for something to spark the right question.
"We've been hearing a lot of rumors since we got to the Watchtower. About the invasion?" Batgirl asked.
"Yes. What about it?" Diana asked.
"Um... how can I ask this?" Batgirl said, looking to Supergirl.
"Is it true that you could have stopped the invasion by sleeping with some guy?" Supergirl asked, rather bluntly.
Diana sighed when she heard that, her face contorting into an uncomfortable expression, as if she had just received a headache from out of nowhere.
"What? You mean it's true? How? That doesn't make sense." Kara asked as Barbara noticed several files and news clippings on someone named Spider-Man.
"I thought so too. Until they explained it to us all." Diana said.
"Explained what?" Barbara asked.
"The Galaxians are a race of conquerors. For centuries their people have traversed the universe, conquering planet after planet as they saw fit. However, ancient tradition dictated that they give each impending planet a chance to save themselves. Specifically, they offer the planet a choice: either they attack and the planet can try to defend themselves, (in which case many would die), or... they come up with some other gambit or condition that the planet has to meet in order for the Galaxians to leave them alone. No strings, no repercussions, they just leave." Diana explained.
"So... what was the condition they challenged you with?" Supergirl asked.
"One that I was not aware of." Diana said.
"Huh?" Batgirl asked, even more confused.
"The Galaxians kidnapped a hero from another universe, someone who was not considered a paragon of virtue or honor, someone who is actually considered a criminal... and give him one day..." she said, pausing at how uncomfortable the next words made her feel. "...to make love to me."
Supergirl and Batgirl looked at each other in shock.
"They gave a complete stranger one day to sleep with you in order to cancel their invasion of Earth?" Batgirl asked.
"Yes." Diana said.
"And... considering that we had to fight off their invasion force..." Supergirl started to say.
"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that you didn't sleep with him." Batgirl stated.
"Correct. Mostly because I was not aware of this." Diana said.
"You didn't know? Why didn't you know?" Supergirl asked.
"Because no one told me." she said.
Batgirl looked at the amazon for a few seconds, her head cocked to the side in realization.
"Ah. I see." Barbara exclaimed.
"What?" Kara asked.
"Diana was part of the Galaxians choice to prevent their invasion, but she wasn't told about it, because the circumstances were too ridiculous. Which means that even if she had been told, Diana wouldn't have believed it, because it might have been just another ploy for some guy to get into her panties." Batgirl explained.
"Yeah. A lot of guys have tried to get into her panties over the years, right?" Supergirl asked.
"Dozens of different methods." Diana huffed in annoyance.
"And who was this 'less-than-noble-hero' that had to try and sleep with you to avoid this calamity?" Supergirl asked.
Diana walked over to her bed and picked up one of the newspapers and showed it to the two heroines. On the front, the headline read 'SPIDER-MAN: MENACE OF OUR TIME'.
"'Menace Of Our Time'?" Supergirl repeated the words.
"The Daily Bugle? I've never heard of that newspaper. Is this from their world?" Batgirl asked.
"Yes. I asked The Avengers to bring me as much information on Spider-Man as they could. The ones that deal with... propaganda." Diana said.
"I see." Barbara said as she looked at another newspaper on Diana's bed. "This newspaper seems particularly bias, especially in regards to this Spider-Man."
"You haven't seen the scrapbook yet. Or the computer files." Diana said.
"There's a scrapbook?" Supergirl asked.
"And a computer file?" Batgirl asked.
Diana took the scrapbook, which was sitting on the floor by the bed, having fallen off the bed, and pointed to her laptop.
Supergirl took the scrapbook while Batgirl looked at the laptop.
(Twenty minutes later)
"Unbelievable!" Kara said as she shut the book. "There's not one positive article about Spider-Man being a hero! I'm starting to believe this guy's a menace."
"That's what the editor of that paper wanted." Diana said.
"This... J. Jonah Jameson?" she asked, searching for the name.
"Yes. The Avengers had this scrapbook at their headquarters, which was filled by Spider-Man himself." Diana said.
"You mean Spider-Man collects negative news articles about himself?" Supergirl asked.
"Yes." Diana replied.
"Weird." the alien heroine stated.
"Barbara?" Diana spoke, noticing that the redhead was rubbing her eyes intently, her mask off at the moment.
"Does the phrase 'bad news is good news' mean anything to you two?" Barbara asked.
"Kinda. Why?" Supergirl asked.
"The articles about Spider-Man being a menace make more money than any other news article that are listed. And all of them are very negative." Barbara said.
"People apparently respond to bad news better, because they expect the worst of people, so apparently super heroes are not exempt as well." Diana said.
"Who gave you this drive?" Barbara asked.
"The Avengers tech expert, Iron Man. Apparently he had compiled a complete report on Jameson and his business dealings, which clearly shows Jameson is making money by defaming Spider-Man." Diana answered.
"I still don't get why you're upset about this." Kara said to the amazon.
"Spider-Man originally indicated to me that he knew about the Galaxians challenge, but did not inform me about this because he thought I would never believe him. While I did agree with him, I was upset that no one had informed me of this." Diana said.
"But you wouldn't have slept with him, because you thought he would have been lying about the alien invasion. Or was there something else?" Supergirl asked.
"You've read the articles. What do you think?" Diana asked.
The girls looked at the computer and the news articles spread around the room.
"That this Spider-Man is a criminal." Supergirl said.
"Exactly. But he isn't. The Avengers vouch for him, and having fought along side him myself, I find that he isn't what this newspaper says he is. Far, far from it, in fact." Diana stated.
"But... that's not all of it, is it?" Barbara asked from the desk.
Diana sighed. Barbara was quite intuitive.
"No, Barbara. It isn't. I... Spider-Man gave several reasons why I would not agree to sleep with him, and... one reason that has been bothering me for some time." she said.
"And what was this one reason?" Barbara asked.
"He said that... even if I knew the truth, what was at stake, I would never sleep with him. I think he meant the 'whole truth', about him, his reputation and character. Even stating that I would rather sleep with a super villain, like Grodd, than he himself. But I tended to think that he considered me some kind of elitist snob, who would put my own self-respect before the safety of others."
Kara and Barbara looked at each other for several seconds, which earned them a curious stare from Diana.
"What?" she asked the pair.
"Well... I can understand why he would think that." Supergirl said.
"You would? Why would you?" she asked, more curious.
"Because you're royalty, Diana. You're a princess, daughter of the Queen of Themyscira." Kara said.
"Kara's right, Diana. We've known you for years, and we consider you a friend. As far as the League goes, you're like family. Like the big sister we never had." Barbara said.
"But?" Diana asked.
"But... to anyone else who doesn't know you, has never talked to you..." Barbara started to say.
"Like someone from another dimension..." Kara added.
"...you're like the Warrior Princess of our world. Royalty from a different time and place than ourselves. It's... kind of a status thing." Barbara said.
"And royalty doesn't mix well with commoners." Diana said, realizing where she was going with this.
"That's what he might assume." Supergirl said.
"But how did Spider-Man assume that you were like that?" Batgirl asked.
"Apparently the Galaxians gave him a file on me when they brought him to our world and gave him 24 hours to seek me out and sleep with me to prevent their invasion of Earth." Diana said.
"A file that you didn't see?" Barbara added.
"No. I didn't." she replied.
"So... it probably wasn't filled with 'accurate' information?" the redhead wondered.
Diana looked at the Dark Angel for several seconds.
"What do you mean?" Diana asked.
"Without seeing the file myself, I couldn't agree that what was in it was accurate of who you are. I mean, you didn't even see it." Barbara said.
"True, but..."
"Diana, you can't tell me something like that and just say that Spider-Man knew everything about you to not tell you what would have happened if he had approached you about saving the world." she said, theorizing more and more.
"Spider-Man said that he received and read the file on me, that the Galaxians gave him. He then went to Superman and Batman, and formed a strategy to recruit the Justice League and the Avengers, in a joint effort to take down the Galaxians." Diana said.
"So... Clark and Bruce might have seen this file?" Kara asked.
"I... never asked them." Diana said, her eyes widening in realization.
The possibility that the Galaxians challenge had been a set-up for failure.
"Have you seen this?" Batgirl asked, calling the pair over to the desk.
"Seen what?" Supergirl asked.
"This." she said, pointing to a file named 'Spider-Man Rogues Gallery'. "Bruce used to say, a man is defined by his enemies."
"Oh, this should be interesting. Open it." Kara said.
The trio looked at the file as Barbara opened it, a list of names coming up.
Venom, Carnage, Toxin, Scream, Anti-Venom, Phage, Agony, Riot, Lasher, Dr Octopus, Stunner, Dr Octopus II, Delilah, The Rose, The Kingpin, Vermin, Hobgoblin, Sandman, Hydroman, Vulture, Shocker, Scorpion, Scorpia, Kraven the Hunter, The Lizard, Rhino, Electro, The Spider Queen, Alister Smythe, Calypso, The Headmen, The Enforcers, The Spider Slayers (5 known), Kaine, Mysterio, The Looter, The Professional, Man-Wolf, Michael Morbius, Puma, Mister Negative, Shriek, Spider-Doppleganger, Carrion, Demogoblin, The Jackal, Tombstone, Silvermane, Leap-Frog, White Rabbit, Walrus, Hammerhead, Ringmaster and The Circus of Crime, Chameleon, Spidercide, and The Green Goblin.
"Incredible!" Wonder Woman gasped at the list of names.
"And these are all HIS enemies?" Supergirl asked, astonished by the extensive list.
"Yeah. They've apparently fought him more than any other villain." Barbara said.
There was a small summary of who each person was below a picture of each villain. Some of them looked rather terrifying.
"Some of these guys and girls don't seem all that special." the Maid of Might said.
"What do you mean?" Wonder Woman asked.
"The Looter? The Walrus? Leap-Frog? The Circus of Crime?" Supergirl recited the names.
"They must be more dangerous than they sound." Wonder Woman said.
"It would be their only saving grace." Supergirl snarked.
"There's another file here." Barbara said.
"What is it?" Diana asked.
"It's labeled, 'Other Rogues'." Barbara said.
"Other Rogues?" Kara asked.
"Yeah. It appears to be a list of other villains that Spider-Man has fought that aren't his regular foes. They're the enemies of other heroes." she stated as she opened the file, another longer list of names coming up.
HYDRA, AIM, ULTIMATUM, The Secret Empire, The Hand Ninjas, The Red Skull, Viper, Sin, Flag Smasher, Crossbones, Magneto, Dr Doom, Titanium Man, Apocalypse, The Juggernaut, Sabertooth, Toad, Blob, Pyro, Dragoness, The Mad Thinker, The Leader, Abomination, Ultron, Nitro the human bomb, Attuma, Loki, Amora the Enchantress, Frost Giants, Rock Trolls, Dark Elves, Absorbing Man, Titania, Volcana, Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, Bulldozer, Bullseye, MODOK, Baron Zemo, Dracula, Nightmare, Vapor, Ironclad, X-Ray, Vector, Grim Reaper, Sauron, Stegron, The High Evolutionary, Mr Sinister, Thanos the Titan, Nebula, Ronan the Accuser, Mephisto, Blackheart, Dormammu, Baron Mordo, The Hood, The Griffin, Moleman, Kang the Conqueror, Death Web, Militant, Hammer, Tactical Force, Bowman, The Sentinels, Grey Gargoyle, Bora, Quicksand, The Beetle, Ulysses Klaw, Man-Ape, Sebastian Shaw, The Black Queen, Whiplash, Mandrill, Crimson Dynamo, Arnim Zola, Taskmaster, The Owl, Lady Bullseye, Typhoid Mary, Stilt Man, Aura, Override, Madam Masque, The Controller, Whirlwind, Blacklash, Blizzard, and Fin Fang Foom.
"Where do they get these names?" Wonder Woman gasped as she went through the list.
"I know, right?" Supergirl said, laughing at some of the names.
Barbara, however, was going through the list, mentally categorizing everything she saw.
Below each name was a small summary of who and what they were. For a more extensive history and list of abilities she would have to use the Arrow-Key to click on the name.
"My God! He's fought just about everything under the sun! Street punks, crime bosses, foreign and domestic terrorists, mutants, mutated humans, demons, dragons, extra-dimensional beings, dinosaurs, dinosaur men, mad scientists, aliens, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, shape shifters, evil gods, cosmic space tyrants, pirates, sorcerers, assassins, ninjas, immortals, cyborgs, robots, monsters of every shape and size, not to mention every possible super villain his world has to offer!" Barbara stated.
"All this, and this nutcase editor Jameson dares to call him a menace?" Supergirl asked.
"Of course he does. He makes money off of it." Barbara said.
"Ruining a heroes reputation for profit is neither honorable nor truthful." Diana said.
"Free speech is the right of the people, whether it's the truth or personal opinion. Democracy in action. I think the Greeks invented that." Supergirl smirked.
The pair looked at the amazon, who looked confused.
"What? The Amazon Nation had no hand in helping with that. We didn't even have a voice in that era, so I wouldn't call it a real democracy." Diana said.
It was then that Kara noticed a rather thoughtful look on Barbara's face.
"What?" Supergirl asked her redheaded companion.
"I was just thinking... after reading all this, seeing the kinds of bad guys and monsters that Spider-Man has faced and is still alive... I would have been willing to sleep with him." the redhead said.
"Barbara!" Diana chided her friend for her sudden statement.
"What?! Have you read through this list? He's faced villains and monsters that could tear through more than half the League in seconds. He's faced everything from the ordinary, to the extraordinary, to the supernatural, to the extra-terrestrial, to the divine. He's got a bad reputation only because of some newspaper editor who's into sensationalism. I mean, I would love to read more about what happened, every detail possible, but I don't think we've got that much time before the Amazon delegation arrives." Barbara said.
"Agreed. We... I need to talk to him." Diana said as she threw off her robe and quickly dressed in her Wonder Woman outfit. A minute later she was out the door.
The pair looked at each other and followed the Amazon princess out of her room.
"Diana? What's up?" Supergirl asked, flying ahead to catch up to the Amazon.
"One of the Avengers, Captain America, said that if I knew anything about Spider-Man's life, I would understand why he said what he said. I do not know everything, but I know more than I did before. And I think it's time I knew everything."
Supergirl and Batgirl weren't sure where she was going with this, but it was obvious that it would definitely be interesting.
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Authors Notes:
I had been planning this for some time, but this second chapter didn't turn out like I thought it would.
I was going for a Spider-Man/Wonder Woman interaction chapter, but this turned out more like a Wonder Woman doing research about Spider-Man to get to know him better.
And to that end, I just helped it along by adding Batgirl and Supergirl to the chapter.
The next chapter will have more Spider-Man/Wonder Woman in it.