Margo wasn't blind to what people thought of her.
She was the 'Cowardly Spider'. The one that didn't actually risk her life to save the world. Who hid in her room, wearing a VR headset, risking only one of many drones to fight the battles she engaged in. That where other Spiders risked their lives all she did was risk the money she spent on her gear.
She was the 'Uncle Tom'. The one that sucked up to Miguel and did whatever he said. More than one villain they had brought in had asked if 'mas'er' would give her a pat on the head and let her be a 'house slave' for all the good work she had done.
She was the 'The Spare'. Because so many other Spiders could do what she did. Her gimmick was the internet… and that wasn't really needed in the Spiderverse. So what other skills she did have… others could do better. She was only assigned her tasks because no one else could be spared at the moment.
What they didn't think about her… what they didn't know about her… was she was 'The One Who Listened'.
Because she heard it all.
She remembered.
And that didn't hurt the sting at all.
'But this time I can do something,' she thought as she swung with the others towards the Tower. 'I can keep that mob from tearing the entire city apart.'
"So," Spider-Ham said as they all landed on the roof across from the tower, staring at the group that had gathered there. "Anyone know who is leading this little party?"
"Skitter," Hobie stated. "A radical. And yeah, I'm callin' him a radical so that should tell ya how bad he is."
"Bit more information would be nice," Spider-Noir stated.
It was Spider-Shrink (or whatever Richard wanted to call himself, Margo had never really bothered to learn what he had decided on) who spoke up. "Skitter hails from a world where the Greenwood District was never destroyed in the Tulsa Race Massacre, so as a result African Americans and white Americans became far more divided than it is in most Americas. As a result Skitter tends to view non-African Americans-"
"You can say black," Margo informed him.
"Uh…"
"Nah man, its fine," Hobie said. "All in how ya say it. Black-" Hobie said it casual. Aloof. "And 'black'." That time it came out judgmental and hateful.
Gwen shuddered. "Oh… oh that made me so uncomfortable and I am a blond white girl."
"Everything is just shades of gray to me," Noir stated.
"Yellow is not fine for me," Peni informed them sternly.
Richard cleared his throat. "The point, if we can return to it, is that Skitter is mistrusting of those not of his race and believes them all to be against him. It is clear that he is using the attack upon a black Spider-Man as a reason to call for a race war, as it were."
Margo swallowed at that. Honestly that was a major reason why she had decided to get the hell out of the Society as soon as she could, only sticking around to help as many who also wanted to leave be able to do so. 'Uncle Robbie always gets real quiet when he sees the police. Freezes up. He doesn't like to talk about it…' She knew that things had happened… bad things… to her family. And just hearing bout Miles' injuries…
"We can't let them destroy the tower though," Noir stated firmly. "There might be innocent people in there."
"And they could hurt themselves," Gwen stated.
Hobie glanced at the group. "Okay… Margo, Ham, and me will go down first. You all wait."
"A smart decision," Richard said in agreement. "They will be more willing to listen to you and, hopefully, calm down with your stabilizing presence."
"First time anyone's called me a stablizin' anything," Hobie joked.
"What, why am I going?" Ham asked. "You know they say that pig is the other White Meat."
"Mate, ain't none of them gonna say that," Hobie said.
"What about Peni?"
Gwen shook her head. "The black… man, that does NOT feel right to say."
"All about the tone," Hobie reminded her.
"The… black community has historical issues with the Asian community. Peni might inflame them."
"I might?" the Japanese girl said.
Margo sighed. "Yeah, you might and probably better we split up anyway. The rest of you can make sure that Spider-Chaos and his Avengers don't roll in and cause problems."
Hobie grimaced at that. "Yeah… that might be a problem." At the others' stares he sighed. "Chris is a blonde haired, blue eyed, English-German mix. He quite literally is the Aryan's dream boat."
"So is Cap and he fights the Nazis," Noir pointed out.
"We are so getting off topic," Gwen complained. "Let's focus. Mob, invaders, Miguel, Miles. We deal with the first, draw the third out so he can't hurt Miles, find Miles, and then Hobie… takes Chris shopping for new shoes."
"…wot?"
"I don't know what guys do!" Gwen complained. "I mean, I honestly don't know what girls do… normal girls."
Margo shrugged and Peni looked about.
"Talk about boys?" Richard suggested.
"Dude, the Bechdel Test?" Gwen complained.
"What?"
"Girls can be more than fawning over guys," she complained. "Just like guys don't fawn over girls."
Richard leaned back. "Ew. I'd rather fawn over guys."
"…well, we just learned more about the shrink…" Hobie shrugged. "Enough, let's get going. We're lucky that Skitter wants to make a big show of this or he'd have broken in already." With that he fired off a webline, Margo and Ham following after. "Let me try and talk him down first, okay?"
"Right," Margo said. "Think you can?"
"I'm the face of the bloody revolution, luv. I can do it." He flung himself into a high arc and then fired off another webline to help slow his descent, Margo following after. As they drew closer she could finally hear what Skitter was saying.
"-you asked a question but were told it wasn't your concern?" the crowd rumbled at that. "Wanted to know what they were doing in there?" The rumbles grow louder. "Well, I did too! I was told that I needed to keep my mouth shut and accept that my 'betters' knew what they were talking about. And now we see how much bullshit that was!"
"They lied to us!" someone shouted.
"Damn right they did!" Skitter declared. "Canon events… maybe for us! But how do we know that they weren't savin' all the fine lily-ass white Mary Janes and letting them hide on a beach while the Shaunas and the Jacculins were allowed to die because what's one more fine ebony woman in the mass grave!"
"Now I know you aren't believing that," Hobie said as he landed.
"Well, who would have thought it," Skitter declared. "The House Negro shows up to tell us to be quiet and go back to picking cotton."
"Mate, I might be a lot of things but I am NOT some white-supportin' traitor," Hobie charged.
Skitter though was having none of that, slowly walking around Hobie, Margo feeling her body tremble in revulsion at how he was staring at her. It was like he was weighing her up to determine if she would be allowed to keep living or be sent to the slaughter house. It made her feel itchy and… wrong. She was used to people not trusting her but it was another to have them so openly despise her.
"You want me to believe that jail bait bitch Gwen wiggles her finger her way and you ain't on your hands and knees kissing her toes?" Hobie narrowed his eyes at that while the crowd murmured. "We all know where your alliances lie, 'mate'. And they ain't with your kind!"
"There is no 'your kind' here!" Margo called out. "Just people wanting justice for what happened to Miles."
"Oh, and you want that?" Skitter demanded.
"I didn't go chasing after him," she pointed out. "Hobie didn't either. Nor did Ham."
"What are we listening to him?" someone called out. "He's the other White Meat!"
"I told you!" Ham complained. "No one listened to me but-"
Margo cut off his ranting. "We didn't hurt Miles. We didn't chase after him. Hobie helped him escape and I was no where near him and… and I hope I would have helped him as well."
"And I'm not even part of your society because you are racist against pigs!" Ham declared. "You are Anti-Pigite!"
"I am not an Anti-Pigite!" someone whined in the crowd.
"You're a raging Anti-Pigite!" Ham charged.
Skitter, Hobie, and Margo all shared a look.
"…we wanted to help Miles," Margo said.
"Like Jessica Drew did?" Skitter charged. "We all saw the footage… have you? She slammed her motorcycle into that boy's spine! Would have shattered it if he were on the ground! Wonder how many other brothers and sisters she's crippled to please her white master."
"Miguel is half Mexican, you know," Ham pointed out.
"The other half's Irish!" Skitter charged.
"Is that really any better?" Hobie asked only for Margo to shoot him a dark look. "Oi! None of that! Them Irish know what they did!"
Margo took a deep breath, counted to five, and said, "But you agree we didn't hurt Miles Morales."
"Didn't help him either," Skitter said.
"Did you?" Hobie charged. "I don't remember hearin' 'bout the great Skitter swinging in ta rescue that boy! Seems that you are willing to stir up trouble but in the face of if you turn tail and hide."
"The fuck did you just say?" Skitter snarled.
"You heard me. Ease ta form a lynch mob but harder ta actually stand up for your 'brother'… brother."
Skitter fell into a fighting stance, Hobie doing the same.
"Oh, this is going about as well as I thought…" Ham muttered as Margo prepared for a fight.
"Oh guys!"
Everyone stopped at the new voice that called out and Margo slowly turned…
…and stared at Spider-Chaos who was waving at them.
He was standing next to some garbage cans, one hand hidden behind them. And he was staring down the mob like he didn't have a care in the world. In fact from the way he sounded she could tell that he was smiling.
"Look what I have here!" He pulled up a glowering Miguel. "…say the line."
"I never agreed to say the line."
"It's a fucking classic. Blazing Saddles… god what is wrong with you? Did that Spider give you a giant stick up your ass?" He sighed and turned to the mob. "So… it looks like all of you storming that tower is for naught because I have your friend right here. And I'm sorry to say he's gonna stay with me for the time being. My prisoner and all that. No offense but you don't look like you are in the mood to care for him properly."
"I thought you were on my side," Miguel hissed only for Spider-Chaos to shoot him with… something… that made him freeze up.
"No one is on your side, Miguel, except your deluded little cultists. I am on the side of peace and order."
"You… invaded…" Miguel managed to ground out.
"We came to protect the child you and your cult attacked and bring stability back to this world. We have not harmed anyone unless they attacked us. The Avengers, the Z-Men, and all the rest that came with me have made contact with Nueva York's police and fire/rescue teams to ensure that no harm comes to a single civilian. Meanwhile, we arrived to find Spiders fighting each other. Including you and another Spider from what I saw. And now there is a mob at your door… that one literally has a rope!" He pointed to one civilian who awkwardly put their rope behind their back. "No… no don't hide it. Let everyone see the rope. Come on… come on…" the man slowly revealed the rope. "There we go. I doubt he's gonna make a tire swing, Miguel." He shoved the man and he fell to the ground, face scrapping against the pavement. "So… I'm on only one side: mine."
"Then maybe you should consult with yourself and hand over O'Hara," Skitter said. "You know… before you get hurt."
"Let me consult with my group. AVENGERS!"
And at once there was a shimmer and Margo started with hundreds of Skrulls, all dressed in asian-style robes, suddenly appeared around the mob. And with them were different heroes. A woman wearing a rock look. A magician in a fine suit. A woman in Samurai armor with a bunch of… raccoons?... holding onto a bruised and blooded but also conscious Peter Parker. A garish looking Deadpool. A knight bearing the sigil of the Nova Corps. And others. So many others.
"Mine's bigger than yours," Spider-Chaos teased. Skitter looked around, clearly deciding on his odds. "Oh… someone wants to fight, doesn't he? Cause some damage? Try it and I will put you down."
"We want to do right by Miles."
"Then why don't you ask me what I want?"
Everyone turned… and stared as the crowd parted to reveal Miles Morales himself, standing there with the Superior Spider-Man and what Margo realized was the Superior Six.