With the help of a certain guy from Greece I have become aware of a number of issues with this story; mostly, that the reader can make completely different assumptions than the ones I expect them to make and the story will still make complete sense. In an attempt to fix this, I've gone back and made a few changes:
Prologue:
There's a Gwen scene in the Prologue just in case you didn't think it was weird that Gwen was so pushy and awkward about making friends with a stranger.
CH11:
Fury's Examination of Alex has been edited to provide better clarity about why he's concerned about Alex.
Gwen's short scene in CH11 has a small edit to show how she's interpreting events at that time.
CH13:
Alex's assessment of the three Spiders has been tweaked to better highlight the differences in priorities and execution between them and her.
CH15:
Yukino and Belinda's scene has been re-worked so how she executed her all-out attack on crime is a bit more obvious.
Natasha's scene has been re-worked to provide better insight on Alex's hand-to-hand game.
Chapter 18
Gwen was freaking out. She sat on the edge of her bed, hands shaking as she ran them through her hair. She knew Alex was hurting, conceptually. But to actually see her crack like that was a jarring reminder that Gwen had no idea what she was doing. Peter had been hurting too and she hadn't seen it until it was too late.
"I don't think I can do this…" she whispered to herself.
Alex needed a real friend. Not… this.
"You're the only one who can help her Gwen…"
Gwen curled herself into a ball.
"You're the only one here who gets what she's going through…"
Alex's mother chose a career over her. Just as Gwen's father, until recently, chose his duty over her.
"She's important. I don't know how but… the web needs her."
"So she's one of us?" Gwen asked.
A shake of the head. "No. Maybe. I don't know. But she's relevant. She's the turning point. A key."
"The key to what?"
"I'm not sure yet."
She was tired these days. All the time!
"She doesn't need a hero Gwen. She needs a friend."
Two pats on her shoulder. "And so do you."
Gwen took a deep breath. Focus on the simple things. Alex trusted her enough to cry on her shoulder. That was a good thing. Gwen herself liked being around Alex, despite the awkwardness. That was genuine which was also good. No expectations. No victory conditions. No finish lines. Just friendship and being present.
But Peter's face was ever before her, telling her it was going to be okay. Except it wasn't okay. Because she was blind to his feelings and then he died. And then lots of people died after that. And then there was the symbiote and her version of the Kingpin and…
Deep breaths again. Just friendship.
And she was doing a fantastic job of that so far wasn't she? Why, she'd been able to stop that kidnapping really easily hadn't she? She'd sensed the coat was bugged with something and managed to get away from the kidnapper man long enough to change and come back to get Alex. Except he and his accomplices got away from her in the end. And it wasn't like Alex nearly died! Fantastic!
Gwen clutched her chest. Her breathing intensified.
She couldn't tell what the other girl was thinking half the time too. That was a sure sign of a strong bond wasn't it? She was hitting all the right moves here! And if she screwed up some "Key to the Web" or whatever was going to collapse or whatever catastrophe that was supposed to happen would happen!
The room began to feel suffocating.
And then there was Kumo! So that was two people right? Was Alex the key to Kumo? If Kumo was the Spider and Alex was the key that meant Kumo was important too right? And the worst bit was, even on principle, she couldn't just abandon the other girl either!
It was getting hot. Really hot.
Nothing ever went right! Ever! It was always problem, after problem after problem. When could she rest?! What on earth was she thinking? Why did she even agree to-
Her phone buzzed, making her jump. Gwen webbed it into her hand and read the message. It was a picture from Miles to show how he was healing. It took Gwen a moment to realize she was smiling- and that she hadn't responded. She sent a "That's great" with a smiley face and put the phone back down.
Gwen sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. She glanced at her clock. It was late right now but she could swing by Mr. Arthur's place, see if she could get any info on Kumo that would help her make sense of the other girl's behavior.
She stood up and willed her symbiote to transform into her clothes into her suit. She headed for her window and dove out.
xXx
Wade Wilson walked up to the wardrobe of his dingy apartment whistling. The place was a mess, covered in old pizza boxes, dirty clothing and questionable substances.
He opened the wardrobe to reveal a cache of weapons: Knives and guns mainly. He reached in and started examining them one by one. He examined the picture planted in the middle of the cache.
"Aright, Kumo…" Wade pointed one of his guns, "Time to die."
xXx
Mr. Arthur was resting on the fire escape outside his window observing the streets when Gwen found him. This was how they'd met the first time when he'd put out the word that he wanted to see her. And she knew he was Alex's father so she'd agreed when she would otherwise have said no and passed him on to Peter or Miles. She made sure he could see her coming and he shifted to make room for her to land next to him. She landed on the railing instead.
"Evening, Mr. Arthur."
He looked torn between being surprised and amused, "Good evening, Ghost Spider."
Gwen found herself waiting for a snipe about how the name sucked and when Mr. Arthur only raised an eyebrow in confusion she apologized and sat down on the railing. Between Alex and Kumo she was picking up weird habits…
"Your mildly concerning choice of seating aside, what brings you this evening?" the man asked.
Gwen blushed- not that he could see it. "Uhhh…"
A very elegant response.
Mr. Arthur laughed. As he moved, Gwen realized he was holding a drink in his hand. Was he getting buzzed?
"I came because of Kumo actually…" Gwen said.
Mr. Arthur's smile waned and he looked back across the street, "I see… What would you like to know?"
"She had a fight with Spider-man," Gwen said, watching Mr. Arthur carefully. "She threatened to cripple him and she wouldn't hear a word from anyone otherwise."
"Did she do it?"
Gwen shook her head, "No. But I couldn't get a word in. She said she was completely okay with it if we all hated her. She wouldn't change her mind."
Mr. Arthur sighed.
"You're not surprised," Gwen said.
"No," the man admitted, swirling the drink in his hand. "The seeds for that were sown long ago."
"I…" Gwen hesitated, "I want to help. But I don't know how. It feels like anything I might say would just make things worse."
Mr. Arthur sipped his drink and then looked up to the sky, thinking. Gwen watched him, balancing easily on the railing.
"What do you know about Kumo?" the man asked eventually.
"She's a recent Spider trying to protect her friends and family. Namely, you and Alex. That's about it."
"That's it?"
Gwen thought for a moment, "I mean… yeah. Unless you're asking me something else?"
Mr. Arthur paused again. He was just like Alex, Gwen realized. Slow and deliberate when confronted with something he was not prepared for.
"How does her behavior strike you?"
It was Gwen's turn to think now, "She seems… dutiful. Dedicated. Likes to poke a bit of fun here and there." Gwen frowned. "The anger seems so out of place. I have no idea where it comes from or why. And the fight she tried to have with Al- your wife, supposedly because of your daughter. That felt weird too."
Mr. Arthur nodded, "Kumo is a student of Hanzo Kisaragi." He paused. "Or should that be Kisaragi Hanzo?"
"They do family names first," he explained when Gwen looked confused. "Kisaragi, being the family name. Means the cold temperatures signaling the arrival of spring."
"Oddly specific," Gwen couldn't help saying.
Mr. Arthur laughed, "That's what I said."
"Anyway," he continued. "Hanzo was Alex's grandfather. He died sometime after Alex turned 12. His wife followed him shortly after. We had no real reason to stay in Japan after that. I took my next transfer out of the country. I worked for a bigger company back then."
"You said Kumo was his student? You mean school or…?"
"I'm not sure what it was exactly. But it was some type of martial art. People would come in to the space he had in the back to train at nearly all times."
Was that where Alex got her fighting skills from, Gwen wondered.
"And Kumo was one of them," Gwen said.
"Yes, she was one of them. And one of the best at it." Was that pride in his voice just now?
So… the best student of Alex's grandfather. It made the relationship between Kumo and Alex make more sense especially if Kumo was close to Hanzo. But none of that answered the question of where her brutality came from.
"Was everyone trained by Hanzo so violent?" Gwen asked.
Mr. Arthur closed his eyes, visibly pained, "No. That is uniquely Kumo's problem."
Gwen waited for Mr. Arthur to speak again.
"She is… used to being ignored, overlooked and mistreated by others," the man said. "She struggles with something that few seem to relate to. Even I don't understand it fully. There was encouragement at first. Encouragement coloured by frustration became neglect. Neglect became mockery. Mockery became apathy."
Gwen felt uncomfortable. Angry too. "What about her family?"
Mr. Arthur inclined his head toward her and raised his glass. "She got support from them- most of them anyway. But from everyone else? Not so much. She loves her family fiercely… but when it comes to other people, her heart is closed."
Closed was under-selling it. To decide to cripple someone so easily was crazy. Kumo didn't seem concerned about who she might hurt as she fought sometimes. It was such a sharp contrast between when she started and now.
"When I first started helping her learn to use her powers, she seemed really concerned about how hard she was hitting people," Gwen said, not really sure what she was getting at herself.
"That was not out of concern for the people," Mr. Arthur said, sighing. "That was out of concern for her precision."
Gwen recoiled, "You can't be serious."
"Oh I'm sure she cares about how much harm she may cause someone," he sounded way too certain about that to be a casual bystander, "but precision was the priority."
"She's not-"
"Violent?" Mr. Arthur interrupted.
"I was going to say evil…"
"She isn't evil, no," Mr. Arthur said. "She treats people fairly and is largely content to leave them alone. Despite having every reason not to take the lessons to heart, she understands why she must treat others with respect." He took a sip of his drink and eyed Gwen, "That does not mean she has to like them and her patience only goes so far at the best of times."
Mr. Arthur took a deep breath and let it out, "There is a certain base level of consideration that people extend to each other. Under Hanzo's tutelage I saw many people of all kinds of backgrounds hesitate when asked to attack him or each other with intent to kill. Even if it was just for a demonstration and the moves were practiced beforehand, they would always be nervous."
"But not Kumo," Gwen guessed.
"Not Kumo," he agreed, "There was only one person that would make her hesitate." Mr. Arthur chuckled, clearly remembering the scene himself, "She would even argue with him about a demonstration if she felt it was not required."
"Who was that?" Gwen asked.
"Hanzo himself."
Gwen chewed on all this mentally before a question occurred to her. "How do you know all this?"
"I was there when it began," Mr. Arthur said. "My family and I lived with Hanzo at the time. He had everyone in the same house. It was big enough for all of us."
"That's how she knows Alex."
"Yes."
Gwen considered her next question, "If she only cared about Hanzo, how come she cares so much about you and Alex? Why does she hate Yukino so much?"
That was two questions.
"I'm not so sure she hates Yukino," Mr. Arthur was pensive.
Gwen was incredulous, "She tried to hospitalize her!"
"I'm aware," the man sounded tired.
Gwen realized that she hadn't stopped to think about what he was dealing with. How it felt to know that your wife was playing with fire and didn't care if you or your daughter got burned. How long had he been playing this game? Was Kumo's story simply an extension of something he'd been dealing with for a long time?
"Kumo cares about Alex because she and Alex share the same pain," Mr. Arthur said, closing his eyes again. "And Kumo is willing to hurt Yukino, because Yukino has proven time and time again- against the warnings of her father and myself- that she does not care for Alex. As far as Kumo is concerned, that makes her fair game."
How could a mother just not care about her own child? Gwen asked as much.
Here, Mr. Arthur had no answers. "I'm as lost as you are," he said, making a helpless gesture with the drink in his hand. "It's been on my mind for years. Never in my life did I think she could become… whatever she's become."
They talked for a little while longer about how Kumo was doing. About how Gwen herself was doing, surprisingly. She wasn't expecting Mr. Arthur to ask her that. And he was genuinely listening too, not just interested in hearing the glamorous life of a super-hero. It was… nice.
"Alright, Mr. Arthur, thanks for talking with me. I've gotta go now."
Miles was mostly on his feet now. That meant she was going back to school.
"Goodnight Ghost Spider."
Gwen stood up on the railing and prepared to jump off…
"Ghost Spider…"
Gwen turned around to see Mr. Arthur staring at her. His eyes were watery.
"Kumo is…" He paused as if struggling for the words, "She has a lot of anger and a lot of power. She was dangerous even before she awakened her new powers. You should be cautious."
Gwen wanted to reassure him that Kumo couldn't take her down but somehow she felt that wasn't what he was saying.
"But… if you really want to help her… and my daughter. Just… be kind," Mr. Arthur said. He was looking her right in the eye as he said it. There was a lot of pain there. "Be kind…" He repeated, "Even if she doesn't deserve it. Especially if she doesn't deserve it. She… Alex… They've only got a few examples of that left. Despite my best efforts... maybe only one."
Gwen stared at the dark skinned man with the unkempt hair and beard, dressed in one of those long bathrobe thingies with a drink in his hand and water in his eyes and Gwen remembered one of the few times she saw Alex genuinely smile.
Gee, I like my father.
Gwen knew then who that final example was. She knew why Kumo would go so far as to attack Yukino. It wasn't just a choice between destroying Yukino and not destroying Yukino. It was a choice between potentially losing this man or removing Yukino from the equation. And that was no contest at all.
Words she spoke to her own father surfaced in her mind. I tried so hard to wear this mask the way you wear your badge!
Gwen bowed her head. "You got it Mr. Arthur. Good night."
She left before he could say anything else. Before she also cracked in front of him.
xXx
I was in the middle of a dive when my sixth sense went off.
[Metal. Streak.]
I flipped backwards just as something shot past me and yanked myself to the roof below with a web line. I slammed into the rooftop on both feet and stared at the position the shot came from. A few rooftops away a figure in red and black waved at me and then raised their rifle back up to take aim.
I slipped their sights, rushing in and out of cover, then cleared the final gap in one leap. Rifle man tracked my final jump but I yanked the weapon out of his hands before he could shoot. Without missing a beat, he drew two swords and slashed at me. I blocked the slashes with his gun, bracing against his swing to flip myself around behind him.
"You're so evil," he said, as he spun out of my range and filled the distance between us with a slash.
I stepped in, blocking it with his gun again, then lifted my foot up to drive a kick in his guts. He spun around the kick, going for an upward slash this time. "Stop using Nessie as a shield!"
I threw the gun in his face. It smacked his head upward. I sank low, stepped in and punched. With a dull thoom, the man folded around my fist and went sailing to the next rooftop where he crashed down with a cry of pain. I was already landing next to him when he got up, avoiding two slashes and returning two punches across the jaw for his trouble.
His swords flew out of his hands as he went crashing to the ground again. I considered following up as he shakily crawled away from me. Then I decided that I had to figure out why he was attacking me at some point.
Might as well ask. "Who are you?"
The man paused to turn and point at me, "I… am Deadpool. The man who is going to bust a cap in your ass."
"Why?"
He blinked at me, "Because I'm bored and I need money."
I stared, "What?"
"And there's a bounty on your head," he clarifed. "In that order."
I found myself tensing as… nothing happened. I… wasn't mad.
[Sword. Flash.]
I ducked as Deadpool's sword swung above me, the second one coming for my head. He'd anticipated me. I twisted on my toes, hooked my other leg around his legs and rolled. In a matter of seconds, I had him on the ground with his legs wrapped within mine.
"Who put the bounty on my head?" I asked.
Deadpool struggled to break the hold for about three seconds and then gave up, "I don't know. Don't care."
[A bullet flashed toward my head.]
I rolled off him just as Deadpool fired where my head had just been. I hadn't seen him switch the weapon in his left hand. He rolled to his feet, shooting at me while circling around with a sword in his other hand. I weaved around the bullets and drew close, side-stepping the counter-stab and stopping his arm before he could turn it into a slash. I swept his feet out before he could aim his gun at me, then snapped both his wrists.
Deadpool howled and started rolling around cursing.
I stood up and watched him thoughtfully. I was still a little off-guard truthfully. Here was another man after my head in the name of money and comfort. I should've been furious. I knew that if this was just a few days ago I would have been. I'd have beat him down far more brutally than I was doing now. But when I searched for that anger it just… wasn't there. If anything I felt… tired.
I looked up just in time to see Deadpool aiming two pistols at me.
What the-
I dove aside as he started firing and laughing.
Three times now, I thought as I made my way towards him, flipping, twisting and ducking along the way. Three times he's nearly gotten the drop on me.
If I didn't have these powers there was no question I'd be dead. I juked around two more shots, then slammed a kick into his neck that knocked him sprawling. Deadpool popped up in a roll, drew both his swords and then rushed in to meet me. He slashed three times.
Weave. Weave. Weave. Four hand combination.
Deadpool slammed into the ground again. I rolled him over with a kick.
"Damn that was clean!" He cackled. Or maybe he was doing something else. There was a lot of gurgling. "I had you pegged right!"
I cocked my head, "Sorry?"
"Left Jab to intercept, right hook to stagger, short upper cut to bring my chin low, then overhand right for a knockout!" He sounded excited.
"And you should not be this conscious afterward," I said, eyeing him carefully.
Nor should he have been shooting at me right after I broke his wrists.
[Sword swinging upwards]
I leaned backwards as Deadpool shot upwards in a blur of steel. I punched him. He flew backwards and rolled to his feet with guns out. "Where'd ya learn?"
I fired two chunks of web into his gun barrels before he could shoot. Lucky shot but I'll take it.
He tossed the guns aside and rushed me again. I dodged his slashes observing closely. He kept doing things I didn't expect, attacking when I thought he was down, switching weapons while I was looking right at him and getting up from blows that should have downed him.
And then I understood.
I dodged a slash and stopped him from swinging again with my other hand. I stomped on his knee, kicked the other sword out of his hand and then hammered him to the ground again.
"All the chatter is a weak attempt at perception manipulation," I said, "Am I wrong?"
Deadpool paused, "You don't have to say it like that. I'm hurt."
I kicked him.
"Ow. You've got a real fancy way of referring to distractions."
I frowned, Is he playing dumb? No. I was looking right at him when he first drew a gun on me and I never saw him switch the sword out. There's no way he doesn't know.
[Blade.]
I jumped back just as Deadpool's sword scythed beneath me.
All those punches to the head and he's not even dazed.
The man stood up and pointed his sword at me, "If you really must know, sometimes people are so pleased by the sound of my marvelous voice that they let me get away with things."
He lunged. I grounded myself and stopped his dual slash with my finger tips.
"Now stay still and let Daddy Wade cut you."
I yanked his arms down and hammered him in the guts again. This time he landed on his back right on the edge of the roof. There was a loud crack and he screamed. I winced. I started walking toward him, watching him closely. Then I stopped drawing closer. His screaming intensified.
"Someone with a broken spine shouldn't be thrashing like that," I informed him.
"Oh." He stood up. "My bad."
"Uh-huh..."
We stood there, staring at each other. And then he slowly, deliberately, drew a pistol I know I had filled with webbing and watched him throw away.
It was weird. I should be mad. But this guy…
I started to laugh.
He was good. Really good. He was playing the fool but he was absolutely dangerous, even to people stronger than he was. And I could tell throughout this exchange that he was superhuman. Not to my level but no regular human could tussle with this guy, I was sure of it. He had speed and power for certain. And he could heal- the wrists I broke, the absence of a decrease in dexterity due to head trauma and now the spine. Highly skilled too. Every movement lined up into neat chains of energy.
"So you do know the principle," I said.
All the chat and the flailing was to give me things to look at. Give me things to pay attention to, all so he could make moves where I wasn't paying attention. It didn't matter how fast you were if you had no idea you were supposed to be dodging something.
And the worst thing was, he was also doing it mentally. Here I was laughing about a man who had just tried to kill me. How far gone was I? How deep was I in his mind games? How much of it was me? How much of it was him?
I sighed, "Look, Deadpool-"
"Daddy Wade."
"I am not calling you that-"
I slammed him into the rooftop by his head. I tossed his gun away and stepped on his sword hand until he dropped it.
"That was smooth," I complimented him. "You almost got me."
He gurgled.
"I'm going to let you up." Against my better judgement. "Let's keep things civil this time."
I let go of him and backed away. He sat up mumbling rubbish for a while before shaking his head. He stared up at me and then stood up again, rubbing his neck.
"The next one is going to knock me out isn't it?" he asked.
I didn't know whether to be impressed, amused or surprised. "You noticed?"
"Of course I noticed," he said. "I built my whole plan around letting you hit me."
"Why would you do that-"
"-I regenerate-"
"-Never mind," I continued smoothly.
He sighed, "Well, this is a bust."
"I'm sorry?"
He burst into tears. "Do you have any idea how much it costs to maintain my armoury? All you had to do was let me un-alive you."
"Uh, huh. Listen, Deadpool…"
He looked at me.
"This bounty you mentioned. Who put it up?"
"Dunno. It was on the board today so I took it."
"The board."
"Yeah all the bounties get posted. You take them. Shoot someone. Get paid. Whoever wanted the target dead gets what they want."
Ah, so it was a middle-man thing. Got it.
"Where's the board at?"
"I do not reveal my sources. I, Deadpool, am a source of the greatest integrity-"
"Put the gun down."
He put it down. "I'm still not telling you where it is."
I was getting nowhere with this guy. He had no reason to tell me anything. I could theoretically try to hurt him so bad that he would squeal, especially since he would regenerate. I had no clue how far his regeneration went but I was fairly certain nothing I was willing to do would put him down. I'd been testing his durability throughout this fight so I had a pretty good gauge of how much abuse he could take. I could knock him out in one hit at this point. But I had no way to stop him from coming after me again. Without killing him that is.
"You just going to stare at me or what?" Deadpool said.
Would he blackmail me if I asked him to leave me alone? Is that even an option?
"If I had the cash I could've set up some nice mines for you, maybe an electric tripwire scattered around the rooftops-"
"I can't think of any way to deal with you that isn't extreme," I interrupted.
"Kinky."
I ignored him. The decision I was about to make made me a lot more uncomfortable than anything he could say to me.
"I'm going to let you go, Deadpool-"
"Daddy Wade."
"Deadpool," I repeated. "But if you come after me again the gloves come off. I will do whatever it takes to make sure you don't get another chance. Do you understand?"
If this man had shown up before I got my powers, he'd have killed me. If he hurt my dad, the Kanzaki's or Gwen while trying to hunt me I didn't know what I was going to do. I considered stressing the point further and but decided to let it go. I'd made my point.
"I dunno… the money sounds pretty nice… And I do need new weapons..."
And there I felt the familiar anger once more. Simmering.
I didn't speak. I just glared at him. Deadpool looked at the fist I had stopped just an inch from his face. He had seen me coming. He was looking right at me. But he had also seen nothing at all until I stopped my own attack.
"Sneaky…" he said.
I retracted my arm and stepped past him. "Get your money somewhere else."
xXx
Wade watched Kumo swinging away. He'd figured she was just some "hero" like Frank Castle but she hadn't gone for the neck like he knew she could- like she had seemed to with Spider-man. He couldn't go after the other Spiders too because they were heroes… and Wade loved heroes.
He scratched his head thoughtfully for a while.
"Your banter is trash," he shouted after her.