Will leaned up against the railing of the East River Promenade. Brooklyn loomed ahead, the borrow appearing to float on the gentle waves of the East River. When he was a young boy, he'd often wondered how the mass of sky-scraping concrete didn't sink beneath the water's surface.

To his right, he could see the Manhattan Bridge, and a little father, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Alex joined him. And for a moment, they stood together, like a normal couple, taking in the view on a bright, autumn morning.

Normal. Who was he kidding? They stopped being normal after Paul…

Will pulled his coat tight around himself and balled his hands into painful fists. Sighing, he refocused on their mission, and surreptitiously eyed their target, who stood several feet away from his left.

Dr. Joshua Mason was a scientist from Georgia who was one of the new hot, young minds in AI technology. He had recently relocated to NYC on a generous grant to aid Empire State University in their research.

Dr. Mason had developed a fondness for East River Promenade, and made a habit of coming early every morning, messenger bag in tow, before heading to the university. Will made a move to approach the doctor, but Alex grabbed his arm.

"Wait," she hissed. "We can't start yet."

Alex insisted on waiting for their "backup," who was some thug she befriended from the Bar with No Name. She went almost every night. She claimed it was for the family, for Paul. But Will hated it. He hated needing the degenerates that place attracted.

"I just want to talk to him," he said, adjusting his dark sunglasses. All he needed to do was explain that they were trying to bring their son back, in any way, shape or form. Mason should listen. What kind of a monster would deny a grieving parent?

"Wait," she said again, grabbing his arm. Alex turned around, her gaze falling on a man with a long trench coat approaching them. She smiled. So this was their back up.

The man settled on a bench and gave Alex a nod, and she let go of Will's arm. Freed, he approached the doctor.

"Dr. Mason," he said standing next to the young man. He was young, in his late 20s or early 30s. He wore a crisp button-down shirt, and dark slacks.

"I'm sorry?" The doctor said, his brow creasing in confusion.

"Forgive me, let me introduce myself. I'm William Harth, and I've been closely following your research."

Dr. Mason chuckled, and held up his hand. "Look, I appreciate the interest, but I've already signed with ESU."

They must have offered him a healthy sum of money if he was so quick to turn down a prospective offer. Must be nice.

"Oh, no, I'm not here to recruit you, Doctor. I need your help."

"My help?"

"Yes. Your help. I want you to bring my son back."

"Excuse me?" Dr. Mason took a step back. "Look, if your kid is missing or something, you should call the police."

"He's dead." Will stared the doctor dead in the eye, and imagined that Mason could see himself reflected in the cool darkness of Will's sunglasses.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Dr. Mason spoke slowly as if to a toddler on the verge of tantrum. "I can't help you. Um, maybe you should talk to someone?"

Talk to someone? Talk? As if it were that simple. As if anything but Paul could ease his pain.

"No." Will squared shoulders. "I need you to recreate him, his mind, his body, him." He found himself towering over the doctor.

Mason's face contorted in confusion. "That's not how it works. I can't help you. Sorry. Really. I'm sorry about your kid." He made a move to walk away.

Will grabbed his arm, the sudden vice of his grip freezing Mason in shock.

"Dr. Mason, you misunderstand me." Will reached up with his free hand and and pulled off his sunglasses, exposing his fuchsia irises. "I'm not asking."

He felt Alex join him at his side, her goon stalking a circle around them.

"Let me go," Mason said wrenching his arm free. He backed away hastily, his eyes never leaving Will and Alex.

Will extended his left hand, and focused intensely on compressing the air behind the doctor, and he struggled to release, something, into in the compression, causing a violent shield of energy to wink into existence behind the doctor. Mason bumped into it causing a static-sounding thud. At the impact, Will was able to stretch and curve the forcefield, trapping them inside.

The signal from his spider-tracer led Spider-Man and Spinneret to the East River Promenade.

They hid high in the branches of a tall oak tree, and saw a large, almost magenta-colored dome encircling four people. He recognized the young, blond man in the long trench coat, and he wasn't surprised when the man threw off his coat, and extended his green mechanical wings with an arrogant laugh.

"Annie's gonna be bummed she missed this." He whispered, and MJ nodded. Annie had a science test this morning, and there was no way in hell she was going to miss it just to take out some Vulture-wannabe. Peter could do this in his sleep.

Now for the other three. Peter took a moment to assess. There was a couple, a man and a woman approaching a figure who was beating against the force field. He must be their civilian in need of saving.

So. One civilian. Three villains, two with an unknown power set that included fuchsia force fields. And two dashing heroes. Yeah. This was very doable.

He looked to MJ, and she smiled. They jumped into action, landing on the dome with the goal of crashing through.

Except they didn't. They landed on the dome with a loud thump! That got everyone's attention. The encased four tilted their heads up, unabashed in their surprise. Spider-Man waved. The woman said something, and Baby Vulture sneered at the civilian, who actually looked very familiar to Peter for some reason.

Then the guy with the woman jerked forward, and a second before the force field disappeared, Peter's Spider-Sense went off, and he and MJ fell through the empty air already braced for their landing. Back to back, they stood ready for action. Peter saw the bearded man had the same eye color as the force field, which was unsettling to say the least. He was most likely the one on dome duty.

The civilian tried to make a run for it, but Baby Vulture grabbed him and jumped into the sky. Spider-Man thwipped a strand of web, hoping to snag the civilian and pull him down back to earth. But his web, instead, was intercepted by a flash of purple, and then he was incased in a dome of purply-pink.

"Nice trick," he said to the bearded one, as MJ thwipped a strand, aiming for the crook's face. The poor bastard got it right in the eyes. And it worked. The Bearded One yelped, hands flying to his eyes, and the dome winked out of existence. "Good one, Hon!," he said, and Spinneret smiled.

"Will!" The mysterious woman cried. Now for what she could do, he was sure they were about to find out.

MJ crouched, ready to spring into action. Her masked eyes locked with the lady's. "Get the Vulture," she whispered to didn't need to ask him twice.

"Yes Ma'am" He knew without looking she was rolling her eyes beneath her mask. MJ had really taken to being a superhero. Peter had spent most of his web swinging days as a solo act. But now, he couldn't even imagine doing this without MJ and, when there wasn't a science test, Annie. It was wild how life could change.

With a powerful jump, Spider-Man flew high into the sky.

Peter was gone in a flash. MJ made a mental note to whack him for calling her "ma'am," and then focused on the woman standing across from her.

She was short, thin, and had a bleach blonde pixie cut, and dark, black eyes. MJ was alert and aware of the guy behind her, Will, the woman had said, grunting as he tried to claw the webbing off of his face. His powers seemed to be limited to the shield creating variety. She knew what to expect, and that knowledge, with her spider-sense, made her confident that she could take him.

But the woman? MJ had no clue. They locked eyes, and then her Spider Sense went off.

Instinctively, she dodged to her right, and saw that Will had shot out a compression of magenta, and, because she had dodged out of the way, the compressed magenta hit her blonde adversary.

"Alex!" Will cried. So she now had a name. Alex and Will. It was strange seeing people so careless with their secret identities, and she wondered if they understood the threat it posed. They, overall, felt very amateur.

Will rushed over to Alex, and MJ intercepted. She dodged a few more attacks, and kept hers coming, punches and kicks as she twisted this way and that, avoiding his own. Alex joined the fray, and tried a couple of clumsy swings herself. But none of them landed. They ended up getting in each other's way more than anything. And as they fought, Alex began backing away, likely realizing she was way out of her league.

MJ sensed Will was slowing ever so slightly. She brought her fist back, her goal to knock him on his ass, web him, and call the police. Alex would be a piece of cake after, although MJ sensed she'd likely try to run. Which was no big deal.

MJ twisted at the hips, her fist connecting with his jaw, and she immediately twisted the other way, thrusting both open hands forward into his chest, effectively knocking him backwards onto his ass.

She aimed her webshooters at him, ready to cocoon him to the ground, but a pressure hit her shoulder and she stepped forward, moving with the push, and then an icy electric rush flooded out of her body. It didn't hurt, but she felt weak and wobbly, as if she had sweated out half her fluids after a day of drinking nothing but coffee.

MJ gasped when she saw the three dimensional shadow standing before her, thin white lines pulsing in the dark like some sort of electric circulatory system. The figure was exactly her size and it moved with her, always orienting itself in front of her.

Alex rushed to Will. MJ needed to face this shadow-thing, before Bonnie and Clyde got away. She fired a quick jab, her fist connecting with shadow-jaw, and then she fell backwards, reeling from the force and pain of the blow. Her hand went to her own jaw, and she felt no sign of injury. Based on the sharp pain, one that made her see stars, she had expected some damage, but it felt fine, it wasn't broken and the pain was starting to subside.

As she had fallen back, the shadow-thing moved with her, but remained upright, suggesting some sort of link between them. And then she had felt something actually leave her body when the shadow thing burst into existence. MJ deduced that whatever stood before her, had come from her body. So, she stood up, and charged it, slamming into the form and bracing herself herself for the harmless, albeit excruciating pain.

And it worked. After the searing slam, her body absorbed? the shadow thing.

The pain was beginning to subside, although her body still stung, and she felt whole again. She saw that Alex and Will had split, each running in opposite directions, with Vulture in the sky, toting the civilian, with Peter following not far behind.

MJ decided to go after Alex first because, one, that was creepy as hell; and two, her spider-sense did not warn her of Alex's attack.