Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise (and I'm borrowing a couple of things you may not recognise from sources you simply may not be familiar with); be assured I'll identify anything relevant when it comes up.

Feedback: Always appreciated

AN: Back to Peter-Three's Earth for a few interesting confrontations with various parties that you may recognise.

Scarlet Witch and the Three Spiders

It had been a while since Wanda had actually fought as part of a team, but the more time she spent with Peter, the more she remembered what she had liked about being part of the Avengers. She recognised that the team had experienced its difficulties over the years, and even when she had been on the team for a year she was sure she'd never actually spent any time with Colonel Rhodes in particular when it was just the two of them, but she had come to appreciate the support and security of knowing that someone else would have her back after Pietro's loss. Even when she'd spent a year or so on the run, she'd kept in contact with Steve and the others using some of the tricks Natasha had taught her, but after Vision's death…

The Snap had obviously made things complicated, and she understood the other Avengers dealing with other concerns, but she liked to think they had left her to retrieve Vision's body because they trusted her to handle herself and didn't expect SWORD to have treated him like that. After she ended the Hex, the Darkhold's influence had stopped her reaching out to the others, which left her with the frustrating sense that she couldn't be sure if the other Avengers just hadn't bothered to look for her or if the Darkhold had basically worked to stop them finding her.

Still, at least for the moment she had an ally to work with and an enemy to deal with. Wanda regretted that she didn't understand enough science to offer useful contributions when Peter was working out where the Sinister Six would set off their weapons, but as he explained his reasoning, she appreciated how he refined it to a level she could understand. She followed the reasoning that the catalyst would have to be released after the EMP had gone off, as any blast powerful enough to wipe out every electronic record in New York would almost certainly reach a plane passing overhead. Captain Stacey had some of his tech team tracking possible private planes that might be in a position to launch on short notice from nearby airports, but he, Peter and Wanda all agreed that finding the generator had to be their priority.

Working out where the Six would set off the generator had been a surprisingly complicated question to answer, based on what Wanda had been able to understand of their subsequent research. According to Peter, just setting the generator off at ground level, or even from too low a building, ran the risk that surrounding buildings could contain the resulting pulse, which meant that a high rooftop would be required. A few candidates had been considered, ranging from the Chrysler Building to the Metlife Building, but Peter had admitted to her that he had always suspected that the Empire State Building would be the final choice. Given Mysterio's sense of drama in particular, he felt that the Six would be unable to resist the temptation to mount their attack from such a famous landmark, but he didn't want to commit to that idea in case he was wrong.

Since Peter had identified the generator as their main threat, Peter had set up an alert on his phone so that he'd be aware the moment any news of the generator came through on social media, as well as Captain Stacy keeping him aware if something came up, even if he and Wanda had kept on the move in case the Six set up the generator somewhere else. Wanda had been pleased to find that Peter was actually rather fast when using his webbing to swing through the buildings, although she could tell that she'd beat him in a race if she went all-out. As it was, she kept an eye on her speed during their 'patrols' so that she didn't over-exert herself; with her powers somewhat weaker in this world than she was used to, Wanda wanted to be careful how much energy she used at a time.

Wanda wasn't sure how long they had been flying around New York, but as much as she wanted to act as though she was an unconventional tourist taking a unique look through the city, she couldn't stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. As soon as news came in that the generator had been spotted at the Empire State Building, she and Peter had made their way straight to the famous landmark. Captain Stacy was working on mobilising a police response, but from what Wanda had learned, for the most part this world had limited experience with superhuman threats even after Spider-Man had been in action for the last few years. The city just wasn't prepared for a threat on this scale, which meant that it would be up to her and Peter to hold their own.

As she finally reached the famous tower, Wanda winced as she saw a man with metallic tentacles sticking out of his back climbing the wall, carrying a large grey object that put Wanda in mind of a large metal orb in some kind of cage. She guessed that the orb-thing was the generator that Peter was so concerned about, and from the stories he'd told her about the Sinister Six the tentacled man was almost certainly Doctor Otto Octavius, generally known as 'Doctor Octopus'. Based on Peter's tales this man was apparently quite a threat in a fight, but for the moment the tentacles were focused on climbing the building and holding the generator, so Wanda turned her attention to the three people still standing on the ground below the tentacled man. Once again, even when Wanda hadn't met any of them herself, the three were easy enough to identify based on Peter's description of his enemies. The Hulk-sized figure in rhinoceros-themed armour was obvious, as was the green armoured figure with a scorpion-esque tail, while the figure in a padded yellow costume matched the appearance of the Shocker (who apparently used vibration rather than electricity as a weapon, so she wondered why he called himself that).

Peter glanced back at Wanda to confirm that she had seen the figures on the ground, but as soon as Wanda gave a confirming nod he swung down to face those three opponents. Wanda briefly wished that she could go after her new friend to help him directly, but she reminded herself of the plan they had come up with. So far the Six's only experience of her was that brief encounter with one of Mysterio's drones, and she'd been fairly careful when going around the city since then, so it was possible they weren't fully aware of her abilities and her active alliance with Spider-Man. If the Six didn't know about her, she could step in at the right moment and take them by surprise when they thought they were about to win, and if they did know about her they might still get cocky if they thought Peter was on his own.

It was still hard watching Doctor Octopus carry the large generator up the side of the building without moving to stop him, but as Peter had explained to her, without knowing what they might have done to the generator it was best to wait for the Six to set it up. If it was allowed to fall off the building, it was possible that it could blow up and trigger the EMP they were trying to stop, and even if the buildings could contain the blast that would still leave them with some serious damage to deal with. Wanda held herself back to be sure that she could see where the tentacle man was going, but she wasn't surprised to see the man literally tear his way through the frames around the famous viewing platform and move into position.

She waited for a moment or two to let her target get into position before she flew upwards herself, taking in the three men gathered around the generator. Aside from Doctor Octopus, she recognised the winged man as the Vulture from the projection that had attacked her and Peter during their first meeting, which meant that the man with the strange orb on his head was almost certainly Mysterio. The other two men had apparently already brought their own equipment to the viewing platform and were assembling something that seemed to be attached to the generator. Judging by a few pieces of what Wanda vaguely recognised as more of Mysterio's drones lying around, she guessed that some of these pieces had been brought here by drones ahead of Octavius, and it seemed like a good guess that the Vulture had brought some parts on his own, but she wouldn't be surprised if Mysterio hadn't managed to smuggle a few pieces onto the tower by himself. After all, if Natasha could sneak around secure locations with all her weapons without getting caught using only her skills, a man who prided himself on his ability to use illusions to deceive others should be able to smuggle some equipment into a secure location.

The question Wanda had now was what they were going to do with that equipment. She had her theories that she was looking at whatever they were going to use to actually turn this thing on, but she had to be sure that stopping them wouldn't cause more problems later on, such as if the device was just set to 'go off' once it reached a certain point. The last thing she wanted was to cause another Lagos because she acted on instinct and didn't take time to confirm what she was dealing with…

"You're sure we couldn't have just charged up Dillon again?" the Vulture said, wings folded up against his back as he attached the latest component. Close up, Wanda was surprised to see that the man's face under his helmet was very lined and withered, suggesting that he was far older than she would have expected an active criminal to be.

"It took a lot of effort for our backer to find where he'd gone, and he made it clear that Dillon has no interest in regaining his powers," Doctor Octopus affirmed, his tentacles moving and adjusting the position of other pieces of equipment. "Apparently he made it clear that he'll keep quiet, but Dillon gave the impression that he's staying out of it because he was sure we'd get caught anyway."

"He did have that warped 'hero-worship' for the insect before everything changed…" the bubble-headed man observed with a shake of his head as his fingers tapped away at some kind of electronic screen. "Still, this should get the job done."

"And you're certain you can do this?" the tentacled man looked critically at Mysterio. "We are channelling a considerable amount of power-"

"Who studied the building schematics extensively as a hobby years before anyone thought of doing this?" Mysterio countered with a mocking tone to his voice. "I get that you're the better overall scientist, but I know what this structure can take. If our colleagues can trigger the right connections down below when we give the signal, all we have to do is channel that power here at the right moment, and the city will be powerless."

"Leaving us at full strength thanks to these," the winged criminal said, indicating a small device on his chest that put Wanda in mind of the arc reactors Stark used for his suits, except it was larger, square and glowed red rather than blue. "Everyone's shields-?"

"Are in position, Toomes," Doctor Octopus shook his head as he glared briefly at his teammate. "You don't have to keep reminding us who created the shield devices; we're all aware that you came up with them first."

"First?" Toomes' eyes narrowed under his green helmet as he looked at the other man. "Considering your own track record when it comes to technology-"

"These arms are mine, remember?"

"And you got them permanently stuck during your first outing; that doesn't say much for your expertise, does it?"

"Can we get on with this?" Mysterio said with a grim tone to his voice. "I'm fairly sure the wall-crawler is down there-"

"And his new partner is up here," Wanda cut in, raising herself up as she looked down at the trio.

"What?" all three men yelled, looking up at her in shock that swiftly shifted to outrage as they lashed out. Doctor Octopus's metal tentacles were the first things to almost make contact, but even with her reduced powers all Wanda had to do was wave her hands and the tentacles were sent flying to either side, her powers pinning the tentacles into the floor before they could reach her. Wanda didn't doubt that the man could pull the tentacles out eventually, but she had forced the tentacles down firmly enough that she hoped he would be stuck for a few moments.

Vulture moved forward next, displaying the edged blades that made Wanda think of a more twisted version of Sam's; her old teammate's retractable wings gave the impression that he flew because he enjoyed flying, whereas this man's wing-suit seemed to be designed as a weapon before anything else. The technology was obviously different, but after training with Sam for the months between Ultron and Lagos, she was prepared to confront an airborne opponent. The green-winged man only just managed to get off the ground before Wanda launched another blast that forced him back to the ground, the displaced Avenger following it up by launching herself down to land on the man's chest. Spotting the glowing red device on his chest, Wanda reached out with her power and pulled the device off the Vulture, turning around to repeat the move for Doctor Octopus as the man strained to remove his tentacles from the floor, yanking the shield away-

A sudden impact to her back sent Wanda staggering, but she remembered advice from Natasha and turned her fall forward into a roll that allowed her to move away from her attacker and turn around as she got back up. She cursed herself for forgetting Mysterio when she saw the bubble-headed man standing behind her, in a combat stance that put her in mind of some of Natasha's attempts to train her; this man looked like he might actually know what to do in a fight-

Wanda was thrown for a moment when a blazing door opened up on the wall next to her, but even with her abilities basically cut down from what they were, she had enough awareness of other-worldly energies to realise that she was looking at an illusion. Remembering what Peter had told her about this man's technical abilities, she tried to ignore the illusionary demons leaping out of the door to focus on the bubble-headed man as he charged towards her. Even with her experience fighting alongside the other Avengers, Wanda instinctively stepped back and raised her arms in a defensive pose before she could try and attack with her powers. Straining against his arms, Wanda thought about lashing out with her powers, but something about this man being at close quarters inspired her to try something Natasha had shown her. Stepping back just enough to put her opponent off-balance, Wanda was able to lash out with a powerful kick between Mysterio's legs, sending him staggering back before she delivered a more precise blow to his head with her powers, simultaneously pulling the shield device off his chest.

After taking a moment to confirm that all three villains were down and immobilised, Wanda turned around to face the generator, tearing away a few key components, particularly the cables linking the device to the building. She wasn't sure what these specific components were for, but taking it apart didn't require Tony Stark to do the job. Satisfied that the generator was powerless, she turned around and leapt off the edge of the building, using her powers to slow her descent as she approached the ground. She was relieved to see that Peter was still holding his own as he leapt around the street, evading attacks from the other three villains, but it was clear that they still had the advantage in terms of numbers. Wanda privately wondered if the Peter Parker in her world would have been capable of doing this, but reminded herself that as far as she knew he'd always been fighting as a team when dealing with multiple villains, so it wasn't fair to judge him for a situation he hadn't faced.

Even if Peter was holding his own, she was sure that he wouldn't mind if she helped out. Once she was close enough to see the blue glow of the shield devices on their chests, she lashed out with a new series of energy blasts that struck all three devices and knocked the men off-balance into the bargain. The man in the rhino suit was too large for Wanda's attack to do much to him, but the other two were sent into the air, allowing Wanda to grab them both more properly and slam the criminals together with a powerful telekinetic force. The three hit the ground as Wanda touched down alongside Spider-Man, smiling over at her new friend.

"Generator's down," she said.

"You're sure?" Peter asked.

"I tore the extra parts off and destroyed the connecting cables; they're not going to fix that any time soon."

"And what about-?" Peter began, before he grabbed her and leapt to the side as metallic green feathers slammed into the ground where they had just been standing. Looking up, she cursed as she saw the three she'd just fought heading down towards them, tentacles slamming into the side of the building while the Vulture flew down and Mysterio seemed to be levitating on some kind of glowing green cloud (Wanda guessed he had some kind of repulsors like Stark's suits).

"I had trapped them!" Wanda yelled defensively as she and Peter landed on the ground again.

"They're good at getting out of things; don't blame yourself," Peter said, releasing his grip on her and turning back to the three on the ground. "I'll take the three down here; can you tackle the ones up there?"

Wanda had just raised her hands to launch another blast at the descending trio when a blue-clad fist literally shot out from behind her to strike the tentacled man in the face before he could reach the ground or move his arms to defend himself. At the same time, a large figure that Wanda could only compare to a rock-covered Hulk charged past Wanda and Peter to strike at the Rhino, sending the armoured criminal flying backwards with a powerful punch. As though responding to some unseen cue, the Vulture fell to the ground screaming as his wings were suddenly on fire, and Mysterio suddenly seemed to be doing a strange impression of a mime artist, his descent to the ground halted by some kind of invisible wall.

Hoping that she wasn't making a mistake, Wanda turned around to the remaining two criminals and launched a telekinetic blast at the Scorpion, throwing him down the street

Wanda had to keep most of her attention on the tail-wielding villain as she threw him around the street, waiting for him to finally give up the fight, which left Peter to focus his attention on Shocker as he fired his webbing at the yellow-clad man's gauntlets. The move was so quick that by the time Shocker realised what his opponent was doing and tried to trigger his weapons there was too much webbing around them for him to even reach the triggers. The man was left to raise his arms and call out his surrender as Wanda brought the Scorpion to a stop beside him, followed soon after by the rest of the of the Six dropping to the ground around their associates.

As Wanda took in the street, she realised that she and Peter had been joined by a group of four new arrivals, three of them wearing a dark blue suit of some kind while the fourth still made Wanda think of a Hulk made of orangeish rock. The shorter man with dark hair and pale skin had metal bands of some sort around his arms, while the dark-skinned man had extra padding around his chest and arms, although the blonde woman was just wearing a tight blue outfit that put Wanda in mind of some of Natasha's uniforms when they were in the field.

"Doctor Richards?" Peter said, walking up to the shorter man and holding out his hand. "Uh… wasn't expecting to see you here, but thanks for the help-"

"We're not here to help you stop these criminals, Spider-Man," the man who was apparently Doctor Richards said, looking over Peter's shoulder to fix a firm glare on Wanda. "We're here to take custody of the dimensional anomaly that's been active in New York over the last few days."

"Ah," Wanda said, taking in the firm glares on the faces of these new arrivals, all looking at her in a manner that made it clear they had plans that she wasn't going to like.

And why do I have a feeling that this man's counterpart was part of that group I fought before coming here…?