Gwen enjoyed her afternoon at school. She should have been dreading the whole day after her breakup with Flash. She wasn't. Liz's suffering continued. Her tablet got hit. Then her laptop. She even got Flash's phone when she borrowed it to call her father. Gwen felt completely justified in this extended suffering. She pondered doing the same to Obadiah, but realized Stark Industries IT security was too tight. It would never work. As her Uncle Liam would say: It was locked down tighter then a nun's habit. Her Uncle Liam had many colorful sayings she would never be able to repeat in school or church.

Her justification and her hunger to watch Liz suffer started to dwindle rapidly when things took a more serious turn. Peter and Gwen were walking home when they both saw Liz's father's car die just randomly in the middle of the road. It was rearended by a school bus. Peter being Peter rushed over to help. Gwen did too. She saw the telltale message on the dash screen. Her virus warning them their data had been uploaded to a server and would be sent on the internet. She hadn't thought it could hit a car of any description but then realized it was likely running on a base operating system that would be impacted. Thankfully the worst that happened was a bunch of kids were delayed in getting home. Gwen realized this was getting out of hand. Peter looked at Gwen.

"Holy crap! How did whoever is doing this hit the car too?"

Gwen shrugged.

"I don't know but that could have ended way worse if he'd been accelerating instead of stopped. At first, I enjoyed it. Now, not so much. People could have gotten hurt."

Gwen stepped aside pulled out her phone and sent the kill command to the spider. It responded with Kill Directive Queued, Current Directives Incomplete. She tried again and received the same message. Gwen's ears started to get red.

"Fuck."

Peter looked over at her.

"What was that?"

Gwen shook her head.

"Nothing."

Gwen kept her back to Peter and quickly sent a request to the spider bot for a list of its current directives. She blinked when she saw it. She sent the request again to be sure. It came back just like the first time. Active Directives: Kill/Erase/Destroy Liz Allen. Queued Directives: Autodestruct, Autodestruct, Autodestruct. Gwen quickly sent another command to clear current directives. It refused and just added that command to the queue.

"Fuck! Fuck!"

Gwen really wasn't much for swearing but she felt this particular situation warranted the use of the word fuck. Considering somehow a bug in the spider's operation system had caused it to leave off all devices… and decided it was supposed to murder Liz. Peter was curious now and walked over.

"What is wrong Gwen?"

"Nothing. Just bad news from work. So, I'm going to go check on Liz."

Peter gave her a weary look.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Gwen was pretty sure it was a terrible idea, but she didn't have much of a choice. Her homicidal spider bot would find a way to finish the job. She selected the spider bot from the list and blocked it from her system. It wasn't listening to her anyway. That would cut it off from being able to try and attack her phone. Peter shook his head at Gwen as she walked up to Liz. Her father was swearing as his phone had gotten hit as well. Gwen approached Liz.

"Use my phone."

Liz looked at her like Gwen was about to bite her. Gwen offered her phone to Liz. Liz dialed a number. She was calling her mother to get a tow truck sorted. Liz offered the phone back to Gwen. She took it with a fake smile.

"Sorry, this is happening to you. Guess I'll need to get my phone wiped."

Gwen shut her phone off. And walked away from Liz. Her spider sense started tingling almost immediately and she reached down on her leg and snagged the murderous spider bot. She whispered.

"Got you, you little shit."

She crushed it between her fingers and put the debris in her pocket. She would have loved to pull the log apart. She pondered what Obadiah would think of a mini-murder bot that stalked is target and looked for opportunities to mess with electronics to kill them. She shook her head. Never going to happen. She was sure he'd love it. Peter and Gwen continued their walk home.

"So, what do you think is going on with her?"

Gwen shrugged. Peter put his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"Sure, is a coincidence that it is happening after Flash broke up with you and started dating her."

"Maybe I have a psychopathic guardian angel? I sure don't know how you'd make something that can hit three separate brands of phone. Three computers. A car. So that is…"

She counted on her fingers.

"Four separate operating systems? They'd have to be some form of genius. That's the kind of weapon Stark Industries would love to base a new line of cyberwarfare systems on."

Peter glanced at Gwen suspiciously.

"Then I wonder why they don't have it yet."

Gwen shrugged.

"Likely they don't know it exists. I hope it destroyed itself, so it doesn't get into the wrong hands. I'm more curious how they got it to follow her around. Because if I was responsible as you were implying, I would have no way of knowing which computer she was at because when she destroyed the last two in coding class I was talking to the principle."

She glanced at Peter.

"Totally something you could do. You know like the files you erased from the NCIC… To get Miles off?"

Peter focused firmly on his feet and the sidewalk ahead.

"How do you know about that?"

"I'm paying for Miles's lawyer."

Peter looked at her in surprise.

"He must be costing you a fortune."

Gwen hmmed and hawed.

"More than I'd like, less than you think. Stark Industries uses that law firm, so Pepper made a call for me. It's totally worth it so I don't have to see you moping around. So, no more breaking the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and obstruction, okay? Besides, I have a friend working on it."

Gwen winced. Spider-Woman was a sore subject between the two. Peter scowled.

"She put him there, now you think she's going to help him get out?"

Gwen sighed.

"She is not as bad as you think Peter."

Peter kicked a rock.

"She got Uncle Ben killed. She blew up an entire shipping container at the docks. She's a terrorist in pajamas, just like J. Jonah Jameson says."

Gwen frowned.

"He also says homosexuality and transsexualism is the epidemic we should be finding a vaccination for, Peter. Seriously he is a shock news guy who uses whatever conservative talking points he can to get clicks and advertising. How can you even listen to him? You're gay. We've known this since you were nine."

Peter fixed his glasses and stewed as they walked.

"Well maybe, I was brainwashed by liberal media, like he says."

Gwen rolled her eyes.

"Is that why you spend more time looking at Flash's abs, than my boobs? Sure, seems like your brain is wired the way it is and that is all it is."

Peter gagged.

"You're like my sister so even if I was into girls… I am into girls I'm just trying to figure things out. Really."

Gwen was truly starting to get concerned now. Not that she needed Peter to be gay. She just knew some people were born certain ways and that was fine.

"Peter, like Uncle Ben used to say: You can tell yourself that every hour of the day, but it's not going to make it true."

Peter glared at her.

"You just can't handle I'm not your gay best friend anymore, can you? What do you know about it anyway, you've never doubted what you liked. I'm still figuring it out. Like J. Jonah Jameson says. I'm too young to know what I want, that's why subjects like this shouldn't be discussed openly, especially in schools. It makes kids question themselves."

Gwen's heart ached listening to all the homophobia Peter had been internalizing.

"Look, Peter, I don't care if you are sexually attracted to clouds, streetlights and trees. I just want you to be comfortable with yourself and in your own skin because I don't want to see you… hate yourself for things you cannot control."

Peter frowned.

"Look MJ and I are doing great. I was wrong about it; I haven't broken up with Miles because he's got enough going on right now. I'm not planning on continuing that. I like girls."

Gwen just went silent. It was a pointless circular argument. She knew that was destined for heartbreak and she felt the slightest bit guilty for not telling Mary Jane Watson that Peter was a repressed and closeted gay teenager who was using her to try and make himself normal. If she did, she'd be betraying Peter. She was between a rock and a hard place. The pair walked in silence the rest of the way to their Aunt May's house.

May smiled at them when they came in and already had cookies and tea out for them. Gwen felt sorry for her aunt. She seemed so, lonely and lost since Ben died. Gwen hadn't planned on staying long. She had wanted to go check on the progress of her Data Spider. The sooner she got the information to SHIELD the sooner Miles would be out. Then she could wash her hands of it and let them deal with the weapons and cartel. The cartel which was likely in the midst of an IT hell the likes of which would make most sysadmins cry themselves to sleep and rethink their life choices. Gwen had her snack and started to get up. Aunt May looked at Gwen.

"Not staying for supper?"

Gwen shook her head.

"Sorry Auntie May. I need to go home. My phone is probably infected with a nasty virus, so I need to wipe it."

Gwen put her hand on Peter's shoulder then she kissed Aunt May on the cheek. Gwen made her way to her lair. She stopped for some take out shawarma and a six pack of energy drinks.

Once inside the old subway station she started devouring the shawarma and cracked one of the energy drinks open as she sat down at her makeshift command center. The Data Spider had finished spinning its web of contacts. The cartel had contacts all over the world.

Gwen wiped her hands off on her hoodie and walked over to the touch TV and swiped until she found Afghanistan. She zoomed in. The spider bot she'd tossed on Obadiah had filled in a lot of the missing data. Shipment info times, dates, ship names. She saw the head of a pyramid of something called Ten Rings. She tapped his picture. Raza. He was a nasty piece of work that was suspected in numerous atrocities and terrorist attacks. The Data Spider had connected Raza to Obadiah Stane with multiple different data strands. Gwen frowned.

She sighed and pressed her finger on the screen for a menu. She tapped the US only file. She swept it to a large portable drive she'd saved for this. The Data Spider flashed on screen giving her a two-hour countdown for the encryption and copying. She shrugged and grabbed more shawarma and plopped down on her couch with an energy drink. She turned on her television and put her feet up on her makeshift table. She doomscrolled through her various social media apps while sipping her energy drink. One story caught her attention. A F-35 had crashed in a training accident in Afghanistan near Gulmira. Gulmira sounded familiar. Gwen finished her shawarma while reading the story.

She wiped her hands off and moved to her large touch screen. Raza was headquartered in Gulmira. She shrugged and made her way back to the television. She started streaming a random anime while she waited for the data to get prepared for delivery to SHIELD. She glanced at her various burners and then shook her head. The less time SHIELD had to prepare for her the better. The two hours seemed to pass relatively quickly for her. She grabbed one of her burners and put a sim card in it then dialed Phil Coulsin's number.

"Hello, Agent Coulsin speaking."

Gwen made her voice sound deeper.

"Phil? Can I call you Phil?"

Agent Coulsin sounded just as pleasant as usual. Gwen wasn't sure why that annoyed her so much.

"Who is this?

"Your friendly neighborhood Spider-Woman."

"I was told you would have some information for us?"

Gwen looked at the disk she'd put on her table.

"A tiny bit."

She could hear the smile in his voice.

"Excellent. Please meet m-"

"No. That is not how this is going to work. I'll give you a location and you show up. You can bring your partner if you have one, but no one else. I see any signs you're trying to take me into custody the deal is off, and SHIELD is on my naughty list. I'll be in touch. Just so you know this isn't a wild goose chase I'll send you proof."

Gwen hung up at that point. She walked to her touch screen tv and snapped a picture. The phone was an older flip phone so resolution would be low. They wouldn't be able to make out extreme detail, but they would see the network she'd uncovered in the United States. She pulled on her costume and slipped out of the other exit of her lair.

Gwen had already decided the location would be the roof of the One World Trade Center. It would be easy for her since she could just climb up the side. It would be a real challenge for SHIELD to bring any real force to bear on her. Once she reached the top, she pulled the same burner she'd called Coulsin on and texted him her location. She left it active so they could trace her location and verify the phone was where she'd texted from. She started walking along the edge of the building while listening to music with one of her earbuds. It seemed like it was taking them forever. So, she got bored and was singing along to a song when she heard someone clear their throat.

"Running around robbing banks all whacked on the Scooby snacks."

She was blushing profusely under her mask so cleared her throat and hopped down. Agent Coulsin had brought someone else with him. He was an older black man with an eye patch. He looked… cranky. He was wearing a trench coat and giving Coulsin the stink eye.

"Coulsin, I said you could bring your partner. Not a pirate."

The black man raised his one good eyebrow.

"You aren't half as funny as you think you are."

Spider-Woman reached into her courier pouch and pulled out the drive. She offered it to Coulsin.

"So, Miles Morales gets out of juvie, his criminal record gets erased, in exchange for this, right?"

Spider-Woman snatched it back suddenly.

"Oh, and Gwen Stacy gets immunity for any crimes you think she may have committed against the computer fraud and abuse act, and any other crimes."

The black man stepped forward.

"Fine. Lets see if you can back up your promises."

Spider-Woman handed the disk to Coulsin. Agent Coulsin put the disk down, pulled out a laptop and connected it to the disk. He tried to access it and received an error. He looked at Spider-Woman.

"This is encrypted."

Spider-Woman reached into her pouch and pulled out a piece of paper. Coulsin looked at the text and typed the string of characters into the laptop. A bar started across the screen. While he waited the man accompanying Coulsin stepped closer to her.

"While we're waiting, I have a proposal for you. I'm looking for unique individuals for what I call the Avengers initiative."

Spider-Woman leaned her head to the side.

"Is this some Suicide Squad thing? Cause I don't want a bomb in my brain."

He shook his head, and by the look on his face really thought she might be crazy.

"There are threats out there that most of humanity is not equipped to deal with. Things you don't know about because SHIELD keeps the world at large in the dark. Based on your abilities I would like you to consider joining."

Spider-Woman tapped her chin.

"How's the medical insurance? Do you cover physio? You would not believe the strain swinging around puts on your arms."

He took a measured deep breath.

"Are you incapable of taking anything seriously?"

Spider-Woman shrugged.

"You can't take life too seriously; You'll never get out alive. Besides I don't know you."

"I am Nick Fury, the Director of SHIELD."

"Erm, so you're the boss?"

Nick Fury nodded.

"Yes."

Spider-Woman shook her head.

"You should really start an initiative to do something about that name. It's a mouthful and when you call it SHIELD it sounds… I donno, lame."

Nick Fury rubbed his forehead and was likely pondering if recruiting her was really worth it by this point. Spider-Woman realized she was pressing her luck.

"So, like, that would mean you'd keep the police off my very attractive butt?"

"In a limited fashion. You did almost beat a man to death."

Spider-Woman pondered for a few moments.

"Okay, I guess since you asked so nicely."

Nick still looked dubious about inviting her but continued anyway.

"Before it is a done deal, we need a few things from you. What is the source of your abilities, and how do we contact you?"

Spider-Woman blinked in disbelief under her mask.

"Wait, you're asking me for help, and I have to give you a few things? This deal is sounding pretty bad."

Nick Fury rubbed his forehead again.

"I'm offering you a chance to serve humanity as a whole. I need to make sure you're not some alien under that mask."

"Alien? Are you guys… erm. Whatever, my powers come from a genetically unstable spider, a massive dose of the Steven Rogers super soldier serum, and finally a gamma ray burst. I know it sounds like a stretch. Let me tell you no one was more surprised than me."

Agent Coulsin looked over at the mention of Steve Rogers. Nick Fury got a look in his one good eye that showed she had really sparked his interest now. He seemed to let it drop.

"How do we contact you?"

Spider-Woman pointed up.

"How about a big spotlight with a spider symbol on it?"

She heard a sigh escape Nick Fury's lip.

"How about less sixties camp, and more twenty-first century?"

Spider-Woman decided it was best to stop being flippant at this point. As much as she wanted to keep up her attitude this was an amazing opportunity. She held up her hands briefly in surrender.

"Alright, alright, you can speak to Gwen Stacy, she will usually know how to reach me in ten or fifteen minutes."

Phil Coulsin was still staring at his screen when Nick Fury looked back at it. He turned his attention back to Spider-Woman.

"What is the nature of your relationship to Gwen Stacy? Some of my agents of raised concerns over her safety."

"What? She's never in danger. She is my gadget supplier. She's a kid. It would be stupid to put her in danger."

Coulsin spoke up.

"It's done sir, but the decryption seems to have been in two parts."

Nick Fury moved over to the computer. Coulsin opened the one node in the digital web that was accessible. Both men looked surprised at the available data.

"You did this?"

Spider-Woman nodded.

"Well technically I got the data taps in place so Gwen Stacy could do it. That's why I asked to get her immunity since technically what she did was illegal. And she did it… oh thousands of times. You'll get the encryption key for the rest when I know Miles is out of juvie and his record has been erased. I would hurry if I were you. My cyberattack on them will only slow them down for so long."

Nick turned to her.

"Cyberattack?"

"Yes. I didn't want them to know how much data was stolen. Don't worry, it's all on the drive. parsed and ready to be abused to crush the cartel. Of course, the intel is already two days old so… tick tock on getting Miles out of jail."

Nick Fury looked at her with his one good eye. He frowned and nodded to Coulsin.

"Miles Morales will be out by morning. Coulsin has Gwen Stacy's contact information. He will make sure Miles reaches out. Do not screw me. I will take it very badly."

Spider-Woman gave a small two-finger salute and jumped off the building. This caused both Coulsin and Fury to rush to the edge only to see her swinging around on a web to jump towards another building.