Chapter Text
“We’ve searched this entire city looking for you.” Lois says, walking up to the street light.
“After what happened at the hotel, I’ve been trying to avoid anyone with a press badge.” Spider-Woman explains, nodding at Lois’ badge. “I was going to go home tonight but Superman convinced me to come find you and though I didn’t want to but-”
“Thank you. I promise this won’t be long. We just have a few questions for you.” Lois reassures Spider-Woman, taking out her pen and pad.
“The mask stays on and I preferred if we did this somewhere people didn’t see us.” Spider-Woman declares, nodding at the people looking at them from the parking lot.
“Got anywhere in mind?” Clark asks Spider-Woman. She jumps off of the street light and grabs Lois and Clark by the back of their shirts and runs up the side of the restaurant, catching them both off guard. Lois nearly drops her notepad but she’s able to catch it while Clark tries to keep his glasses on. Once Spider-Woman gets to the rooftop, she places them down gently and backs away from them.
“A little warning would be nice next time.” Clark says, as him and Lois straighten out their clothes. Spider-Woman smiles at them sheepishly.
“Sorry.” She says in an awkward tone, looking away from them. “Anyway, can we get this over with? My aunt probably thinks I passed out in the bathroom by now.”
“Of course.” Clark answers with a nod. “Our first question is where did you come from?”
“What kind of question is that?” Spider-Woman asks, sounding surprised by the question.
“I interviewed Superman once and he turned out to be from an alien planet.” Lois interjects. “He couldn’t tell me too much about it, but you never know.”
“Makes sense, I guess. Still weird, though.”
“Just answer the question, kid. Where did you come from? Are you from another planet, an agent of some sort or-”
“I’m just a kid from Queens.” Spider-Woman interrupts with a shrug, surprising both Clark and Lois.
“Really?” Clark asks, raising an eyebrow. Spider-Woman nods.
“Yeah. I know you guys were probably expecting some big dramatic backstory or something or some ‘chosen one’ bs but the truth is, I’m just a girl that was given powers out of nowhere and decided I would do good with them.”
“Huh.” Lois says, writing in her notepad.
“How’d you get your powers?” Clark asks. Spider-Woman laughs a little and leans against the ledge.
“My name’s Spider-Woman and I can shoot webs from my wrists and climb up walls. Take a guess.” She replies with a scoff.
“Freak accident? Experiments?” Lois asks, pointing her pen at Spider-Woman.
“Spider bite?” Clark suggests.
“Bingo.” Spider-Woman responds, pointing at Clark.
“Way to kill the suspense.” Lois says sarcastically, writing down Spider-Woman’s response.
“What was I supposed to say? I was a government secret experiment that escaped captivity somehow?” Spider-Woman asks sarcastically, throwing up her arms.
“It would have been more interesting, at the very least.” Lois replies, flipping the page.
“Whatever. What else is it that you want to ask?” Spider-Woman asks, looking at her nails, even though she couldn’t see them through her suit.
“Why made you want to be a crime fighter? You helped take down the Hulk earlier tonight and with that kind of power, you could do whatever you want. Instead, you run head first into danger, knowing that any moment that something could happen to you. Why is that?” Clark asks. The smile on Spider-Woman’s face fades a little and she turns around, remembering the night Uncle Ben died, which is something she had been wishing she could get out of her head, but she unfortunately never could.
“After I got my powers, I actually kind of did use them for selfish reasons. There are these guys from my school that find it funny to pick on me and after I got my powers, I used them to embarrass those guys. Twice. The principal called one of my family members after the first incident and when he dropped me off at school, he told me with great power comes great responsibility. He believed that if you had power in a situation, then it was your responsibility to do the right thing. I got home from school later that night and we argued. I went to my room angry and right after that, I heard a gunshot and that was the last time I heard from him. I caught the guy who did it that same night and after I did, I decided I would never let what happened to me happen to anyone else.” Spider-Woman explains, not turning around. She wipes her tears that are slipping down under her mask.
Clark and Lois look at Spider-Woman, both looking surprised and hurt by what they heard. Lois takes a step closer to Spider-Woman and puts a hand on her shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look.
“Sounds like you’ve been through hell, kid. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Lois says. “If you want me to, we could leave some of this out when we write our story.”
“That’d be great.” Spider-Woman replies, nodding with a smile.
“I think it’s about time we wrap this up.” Clark declares. Lois nods, while writing a few more things down in her notepad.
“Of course. We appreciate you for doing this for us.” Lois says to Spider-Woman.
“We’re very sorry for your loss. I’m sure whoever this family member is would be very proud of what you’re doing.” Clark adds, nodding at Spider-Woman.
“Thank you.” Spider-Woman says in a shaky voice, smiling a little bit more at them now.
“Can you get us down from this rooftop, now?” Lois asks, looking down at the parking lot. Spider-Woman nods and takes both under one arm and drops down onto the pavement, right by Lois’ car. Some other people nearby watch in surprise and a few even record and take a few pictures of them.
“Thank you.” Clark says, with a nod.
“Take care, kid.” Lois adds, smiling at Spider-Woman. She smiles back.
“You too. Not doing any more interviews, by the way.” Spider-Woman responds, shooting a web at the streetlight she landed on when she got there.
“Believe me, I know, kid. Besides, I think we have everything we need for our story.” Lois assures Spider-Woman. “We thank you again.”
“No problem. By the way, thanks for not asking to take off the mask. Secret Identity and everything, you know.” Spider-Woman replies. Afterwards, she takes off swinging and heading home.
Parker Home
After Penny arrives home, she sneaks into her room and takes off her suit, changes into her night clothes and heads downstairs to eat dinner. In the dining room, May is sitting down at the table with a neutral look on her face. Penny sighs and looks down at May, knowing that there was no escaping this.
“Where were you?” May asks sternly before Penny could say anything to her. “I waited for you, only to discover that you weren’t even in the bathroom. I looked around all over for you and I even called you-”
“I had to go to a friend’s house. I left something over there, she called and told me, and I had to go her place to get it, then I had to find another way home because of the whole Hulk ordeal-”
“And, you didn’t think to tell me any of this?” May interrupts, leaning forward.
“I didn’t think I would have been gone this long or I would have told you. I swear.” Penny promises. May huffs and shakes her head at Penny.
“I don’t know what’s been going on with you, Penny. I wish I did, but I don’t. You’re always out late, you never tell me where you’re at or when you’re going to be home, and you come home all bruised up and it just worries me to death. I already lost Ben. I can’t lose you too, Penny.” May says, getting up and walking towards Penny. “So, tell me what’s going on. Please.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I just can’t!”
“WHY THE HELL NOT!?” May shouts, hitting the wall right besides, startling Penny. Penny jumps back, looking not only surprised by the action but also very scared. May, realizing what she’s done, sighs deeply.
“I’m so sorry, honey. I don’t know what came over.”
“It’s okay, May. Really. It’s my fault.” Penny pleads, pulling her Aunt into a hug. “You’ve been worrying about me and-”
“I know. Still, there was no need to lose my temper.” May replies, hugging Penny back.
“I can’t say I blame you.” Penny half quips. May chuckles and pulls away from the hug, looking Penny in the face. She brushes her brown, curly hair out of Penny’s face so she can get a better look at her.
“Whatever it is that you’re not telling me, Penny, I want you to remember that secrets have a cost. They’re not for free. Not now, not ever.” May tells her. Penny looks down at May but doesn’t say anything at all.
“Go eat. I left a plate in the microwave for you. Bed after that.”
Penny nods and backs away, walking into the kitchen. She turns around and heads towards the microwave. May watches Penny with her arms folded and with the expression of a very worried mother on her face.
Elsewhere
Slade Wilson sat on his couch, watching the news report about the fight between Spider-Woman, the Titans, and the Hulk earlier that night. The news footage shows Spider-Woman dodging Hulk’s massive fists and landing hits on him that Hulk actually felt. As the news report went on, Billy Wintergreen comes in and places a plate of food on the table with a mug of tea.
“Thank you, Wintergreen.” Slade says, not taking his eyes off of the TV, studying each of Spider-Woman’s movements.
“You’ve been very observant of that Spider-Girl since she showed up.” Billy comments, standing over Slade.
“It’s a part of the job, Wintergreen. Osborn’s giving me a big paycheck to keep an eye on her and I would be a fool to pass it up.” Slade responds, leaning forward to take a bite of his food.
“For what, exactly?”
“He hasn’t told me, and frankly, I don’t care. As long as he gets me my money, he can do whatever he wants to.” Slade explains.
“Whenever Osborn finally lets you fight her, you better let me join.” Rose Wilson demands, coming up from behind the couch. Slade looks up at her.
“You’ll join me on my quest when I decide you’re ready and not a second sooner.” Slade tells her with a stern look. Rose folds her arms at Slade while glaring at him.
“I’ve been training with you since I was 7. What the hell is it going to take for me to convince you that I’m just as capable of being a killer as you are?” Rose demands, sounding like the impatient and whiney teen she is.
“Well, an amazing amount of patience to start.” Billy says with a shrug. Rose scoffs at him but doesn’t say anything to him.
“When you can beat me in one of our training sessions without me having to let you win.” Slade responds. Rose huffs frustratedly and shakes her head.
“You’re ridiculous.” Rose groans as Slade’s phone rings. Slade picks up his phone and answers it.
“Osborn. I assume you’ve seen the news.”
“That’s why I’m calling, Mister Wilson. Hulk put our Spider friend’s capabilities to the ultimate test and I’d say she passed pretty well.” Norman begins, the tone in his voice sinister. “More than any of those crooks we’ve been sending after her these past few days.
“You want me to bring her in?”
“Exactly why I called, Mister Wilson. I think she’s proved herself a worthy asset for my company.” Norman responds.
“I’ll have her in your possession, then. Just name the time and the place.” Slade tells Norman.
Midtown High School
While Penny’s history teacher droned on about Nixon’s Watergate scandal, Penny sat at her desk, trying her absolute best to stay awake. Thanks to her fight against the Hulk the night before, she had overslept and practically had to force herself out of bed to get ready for school, and drag herself to school.
“Did you get any kind of sleep last night?” Mary Jane whispers, scooting close to her.
“A little bit. Not enough. The fight with the Hulk took a lot out of me.” Penny answers with a yawn, trying to keep her head from falling onto her desk.
“Speaking of which, I can’t believe you went after him like that. You could have gotten killed or worse.”
“Somebody had to. The Ultimates were dealing with something else, the Titans didn’t arrive until a little later, what was I supposed to do, let him tear through the city?”
“No, no, of course not. I was just scared for you, that’s all.”
“Well, let's hope that never happens again.” Penny sighs, as the teacher begins handing out worksheets in regard to the lesson. Penny sighs and puts her head down on the desk.
“You probably wouldn’t feel that way if you stood up during the lesson, Mister Parker.” The teacher chimes in, passing by them. Penny flinches at ‘mister’ and shakes her head at the teacher.
“Whatever. And it’s ‘Miss Parker. Not Mister.’” Penny corrects, her tiredness being replaced by a sudden anger.
“You’ll earn that title when you start paying attention to my class instead of using it as your nap time.” The teacher replies in a stern voice.
“Asshole.” Penny mutters under her breath, surprising not only the teacher and Mary Jane, but some of the other students, including Cassie, one of her friends, Flash, and Carl.
“Say that again.” The teacher responds, turning around to look at Penny with her eyebrows raised.
“Asshole.” Penny repeats, louder now. The teacher scoffs and points at the door, signalling for her to get out. Penny grabs her bag and gladly complies. MJ watches her leave with a mix of surprise and concern. “While you’re out, you can go tell Mister Brooks what you said during detention.”
“Whatever.” Penny replies, shaking her head and walking towards the detention room.
Detention Room
Mister Brooks sits at his desk, looking half dead, grading papers. At the students’ desks, a boy with brunette hair sits with his feet on the desk in front of him, half asleep while a girl with long, white hair and an eye patch sat at the desk beside him, scribbling on the desk with a pen.
“Take your feet off of the desk, Harry.” Brooks says in a bored sigh. Harry puts his feet down but doesn’t open his eyes back up.
“And stop drawing on the desk, Miss Wilson.” Brooks says, turning to the white haired girl. Rose puts down her pen and leans back on her chair.
“You're no fun.” Rose says, flinging her pen across the room. Mister Brook sighs and shakes his head.
“You’re not supposed to be having fun, Rose. You’re supposed to be using this time to reflect on what you did and how you’re going to do better.” He replies, not looking up.
“You know, just because you’re miserable doesn’t you have to make everyone else miserable.” Rose comments. Mister Brooks grumbles but doesn’t say anything back as the door to the room opens. Rose, Harry, and Brooks look up to see Penny Parker coming in and sitting down a few seats in front of Rose, who looked genuinely surprised to see her there.
“Oh, how the mighty has fallen.” Rose says to Penny, leaning forward. “What’re you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be a good girl? What happened?”
“Ms. Kane is what happened. She misgendered me and I called her an asshole to her face, and now, I’m here.” Penny explains.
“Did not.” Harry interjects, suddenly in the seat beside Penny, with a surprised look on his face.
“I did. To be honest, I didn’t even mean to. It just kind of slipped, but it’s whatever now. She kind of deserved it.” Penny adds.
“Kind of is an understatement.” Rose scoffs. Harry nods in agreement.
“Yeah. One time she failed me just because I turned in an assignment later in the day.” Harry says, putting his arms up.
“Later the same day?”
“Yeah. She lectured me on being on time with my work or something.”
“Kind of a shock that she hasn’t been fired yet.” Rose comments, pulling on one of Penny’s curls and letting it go to watch it bounce. Penny slaps Rose’s hand away.
“Stop.” She hisses, glaring back at Rose.
“Feisty.” Rose says, flirtatiously, smiling mischievously at Penny, who rolls her eyes at Rose.
“I swear she only got hired here only because she hates kids.” Harry mutters, folding his arms.
“So, how long do we usually stay here, exactly? Penny asks Rose and Harry.
“Usually until lunch. Then, we can go back to our normal class afterwards.” Harry answers, earning a look of relief from her.
“Oh, thank goodness.” Penny whispers, closing her eyes in relief.
“Yeah, but the school usually calls your people and lets them know what you did, so you’re probably dead when you get home.” Rose adds, shrugging.
“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” Penny groans, resting her hands in her face. “My aunt is going to kill me.”
“At least you don’t have to worry about Ms. Kane being on your ass.” Rose says casually.
“And hey, maybe if you’re lucky, you won’t have to worry about it.” Harry suggests.
“I doubt that.” Penny sighs, shaking her head at the thought.
Harry, Rose, and Penny spent the rest of detention at the dismay of Mister Brooks, who had given up on actually trying to monitor the three students at all. When the lunch bell rang, they all got up, and headed to the lunch room together. On the way there, Mary Jane stops Penny.
“You alright?” Mary Jane asks Penny, stopping in front of her, Harry, and Rose. Penny nods, even though she was still irritated by what happened in class deep down.
“I’m a little better now. Thanks for checking on me.”
“Duh, Parker. I’m your best friend. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.”
“And, who’s this?” Rose asks in a flirty voice, eyeing Mary Jane up and down.
“Rose, Harry, this is Mary Jane Watson. She’s my best friend.” Penny explains. MJ gives a small wave to both of them. “MJ, this is Rose Wilson, who I’ve met in detention before and Harry.”
“Hi.” MJ says.
“Well, isn’t she a lucky best friend?” Rose teases, elbowing Harry with a smirk. Penny rolls her eyes at Rose and folds her arms.
“Can we go to lunch before you get all weird, now?” She asks. Rose puts her arm around Penny’s shoulders.
“Of course. Lead the way, Princess. We’ll get to know your new friend while at it.” Rose says, as the group made their way to the cafeteria. When they got there, Harry and Rose went into the lines to get their lunch, while Petra and MJ sat at their table together.
“Not eating, today?” Mary Jane asks, pulling out her lunch bag, while Penny pulls a comic issue.
“No. I’m still a little pissed about what happened in class and it’s made me not want to eat.” Penny replies.
“Aww, I’m sorry hun. Ms. Kane is a fucking asshole. ” MJ says sympathetically, holding Petra’s hand.
“It’s fine. I’ll probably eat after school or something.” Penny replies, shrugging.
“Speaking of after school.” MJ starts, her voice a little nervous. Penny looks up from her book at her.
“What?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking.”
“About?”
“Remember that night we were at my place and we almost kissed but my mom kind of interrupted us?”
“You mean the most embarrassing night of my life? How could I forget?” Penny scoffs. “Why? What’s up?”
“Well, since then, we really haven’t gotten the chance to talk about or even address it in the slightest, and that’s been really bothering me because, well, I’ve started feeling something for it.”
“Really?” Penny asks softly, her cheeks heating up while her heart races faster than the Flash. MJ nods.
“Yeah. I didn’t know how to tell you at all but I had to eventually. It was just eating at me for a while, you know?”
“Yeah.”
For a moment, the two sit in awkward silence. Penny looks down at her book again, while MJ looks away, trying to come up with something to say, so they can continue the conversation.
“So… You wanna go to Ritchie’s and get burgers or something after school? That is, if your Aunt doesn’t kill you for what you said to Ms. Kane.”
“That’d be great.” Penny replies with a nod, as Harry and Rose join them at the table.
“Why are you two sitting like schoolgirls that just told each other their deepest, darkest secrets?” Rose asks, taking a fry from Harry’s plate and eating it.
“That’s oddly specific.” Penny comments, raising an eyebrow at Rose.
“We were just talking.” MJ answers casually.
“Yeah. Just that. Best friend talk is all.” Penny adds, nodding.
“Right.” Rose replies, not buying it but letting it go anyway.
After school
After Penny was done with school for the day, she usually would have gone on her usual patrol around the city as Spider-Woman, but instead, she found herself walking to Ritchie Rock’s diner with Mary Jane. Once they got to the diner, they sat at a booth together and started looking through menus.
“God, looking at all of this makes me hungrier than I already am.” Penny mutters, scanning through the menu together.
“That’s what happens when you miss out on lunch, Penny.” MJ teases, smiling at Penny from behind the menu.
“Hey! I was upset to be fair. I don’t really eat when I’m upset.” Penny defends.
“I know, I’m just teasing.” MJ replies, earning a cute little laugh from Penny.
“Can I ask you something?” MJ questions, putting her menu down to look at Penny.
“If it’s about what you should get, then I suggest the tenders. They look amazing. Maybe we could share a platter and get some fries along with it.”
“That’s sweet, but that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Oh… What is it, then?”
“How are you, really? Other than just being mad at Ms. Kane.” MJ asks, leaning in close. Penny looks away as if she asked Penny a personal question that she was too embarrassed to answer.
“Be honest.” MJ encourages, taking Penny’s hands with hers. Penny sighs and shuts her eyes.
“Remember when I said I wished I could have stayed as Peter, sometimes?”
“Penny-” MJ starts but Penny interrupts her.
“Look, I know I worked too hard to get where I am now in my transition to say that but at the same time, I don’t really feel like myself. I talked to May about this and she said it’ll take time for me to actually feel like myself but-”
“Are you two ready to order?” a waitress interrupts. Penny and MJ look up at her.
“Uh, yes ma’am. We’ll have the chicken tender platter with a side of cries.” MJ answers. The waitress nods and writes down the order.
“Anything to drink?”
“I’ll have a coke.”
“And for you, sir?” The waitress asks, turning to Penny. Penny flinches at ‘sir’ and looks away from the waitress.
“Everything okay here, sir?”
“She doesn’t like being called sir.” MJ tells her with a tight smile. The waitress looks at Penny with a very apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry, miss. It’s just that you really look like-”
“I really think you should go.” MJ tells the waitress. She nods and walks back towards the counters. After she leaves, Penny puts her face in her hands and groans into her hands.
“This is exactly what I mean.” Penny groans, trying and failing to mask her anger. MJ takes her hand and holds it.
“Hey, listen to-”
“Can we just change the fucking topic, please?” Penny asks, surprising MJ. Before she could answer, Penny’s spider sense goes off. She feels the ground beneath their feet starting to rumble. Penny looks around and sees plates and cups rattling on the table. Penny and MJ look out the window together to see. They see a guy in what seemed like a mechanized rhino suit, running through the streets, flipping cars over, and destroying smaller buildings. The other people in the diner get and scramble to an exit. Penny and MJ get up and Penny puts her hands on her shoulders and looks MJ dead in her eyes.
“I need you to find a back exit and get the hell out of here. I’ll deal with whatever that is.” Penny tells her. MJ nods and Penny kisses her on the lips for a few seconds, surprising them both before pushing her away.
“GO!” Penny shouts. MJ takes off running towards a back exit while Penny takes off running towards another exit. Once she’s outside, she takes off her clothes, revealing her Spider-Woman suit underneath and pulls on her mask. She then shoots two webs towards a stop light and swings towards the man in the rhino suit.
“Lovely. First, the big green booger gets out of control, and now this.” Spider-Woman thinks to herself with a deep sigh. She swings towards the guy in the suit and uses a web string to throw a truck at him. The truck hits him in the back and he grunts, nearly falling over.
“Who the hell did that?!” He shouts, turning around to a skinny, 5’10 teenager in a red, black, and yellow spider suit standing behind him in a fighting stance.
“Fyi buddy, I went against the Hulk last night and I landed some pretty good hits on him, so unless you want to end up like him, I’d recommend backing off.”
“You think I’m scared of some stupid child in a costume?” Rhino scoffs, taking a few steps towards her.
“This stupid child’s going to give you one last warning before she kicks your ass.” Spider-Woman tells her.
“Hulk might not have been able to finish the job, but I will!” Rhino declares, charging at Spider-Woman.
“Suit yourself.” Spider-Woman responds, leaping over Rhino’s head and landing behind him. Rhino turns around back to where Petra is standing and gets ready to charge again.
“I will crush you!” Rhino shouts, running at her. Spider-Woman webs his face, blinding him, and jumps over him again.
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Spider-Woman replies as Rhino struggles to get the web off of his face. Spider-Woman uses that as a chance to hurl an abandoned car at him. The car knocks Rhino onto his front and Spider-Woman crawls on the building alongside him.
“Ready to give up, yet?” Spider-Woman asks, tilting her head as Rhino pulls the web off of his face successfully.
“No!” Rhino snarls, throwing a punch at the wall she’s on. Spider-Woman quickly moves out of the way as Rhino punches a giant hole into the wall. Spider-Woman shoots another web at him, but Rhino grabs one of the web strings and punches her hard in the face. Spider-Woman’s head rings in pain as she lies on the floor, clutching it.
“Alright, that kind of hurt.” Spider-Woman groans as Rhino comes up from behind her.
“I hope it did!” He growls, grabbing her by the back of her suit and throwing her through several vehicles. Spider-Woman groans in pain and crawls out of the back of the sedan she’s stuck in. Despite her body screaming in protest, Spider-Woman gets up as Rhino approaches her again, and gets into a fighting stance.
“Do your worst, overgrown zoo animal.” Spider-Woman groans.
“Gladly.” Rhino responds, charging at her again. Spider-Woman moves out of the way in time and Rhino charges at her yet again. As their battle rages on, from a rooftop that’s a safe distance, Slade Wilson, otherwise known as Deathstroke, stood watching them go at it with his binoculars.
“How is she doing?” Norman asks Deathstroke.
“She’s hurt but she’s still doing pretty well. Rhino slammed her through several vehicles but she got up and she’s still putting up a good fight.”
“Excellent. When she is done Rhino, you are to engage with her immediately. Don’t kill her. Incapacitate her and bring her to me at once. We’ll talk about payment afterwards.”
“Sounds good to me.” Deathstroke says, continuing to fight Spider-Woman and Rhino fight each other. Rhino charges at her again but this time, Spider-Woman is able to punch him across the face as hard as she can.
“Lucky shot!” Rhino grunts, staggering back as Spider-Woman quips, lunging at him with her fists raised up.
“Or maybe you’re just losing your touch, big guy.” Spider-Woman replies, landing several more hits across Rhino’s face. Rhino staggers back even more, nearly falling over but he manages to keep his balance shockingly enough. After several more hits, Rhino catches Spider-Woman’s arm hand and squeezes it, nearly crushing it.
“Just like you’re going to lose your hand.” Rhino growls, as Spider-Woman tries to pull from his grasp but it proves to be quite the struggle for her since he had gigantic hands. However, it wasn’t impossible. Behind Rhino, Spider-Woman notices a sign, lying down in some rubble and vehicle scraps. Her face lights up with an idea and she shoots a web at the sign, and starts pulling it. It takes a few tugs, but Spider-Woman is able to pull it free and slam it against Rhino’s back. Rhino is stunned and falls to one knee. As a result, he lets go of Spider-Woman’s hand. Spider-Woman shook her hand in pain and quickly looked around for something at Rhino to finish him off, and spotted a nearby pickup truck. She webs it with both of her hands and pulls it at him. Before Rhino could even process what’s happening, the truck slams into him, sending crashing a truck trailer nearby. Rhino groans in pain, slowly using consciousness as Spider-Woman stands over him with her hands on her hips.
“Told you I’d kick your ass.” Spider-Woman taunts, leaning down to get in Rhino’s face. While she’s busy taunting Rhino, Deathstroke grapples towards the part of the road where Spider-Woman is standing and lands behind her once he gets there. Her spider sense tingles and she turns around to see Deathstroke standing behind her.
“Who the hell are-”
“Make this easier for both of us and just come with me.” Deathstroke warns, pointing his sword at her. Spider-Woman looks at him with an untrusting look under her mask, even though he couldn’t see it.
“Are you serious?”
“Does it sound like I’m joking?”
“Alright look guy, if you don’t get lost, you’re going to end up like this guy, so I suggest you go back to whatever hole you crawled out of.”
“Wrong answer.” Deathstroke replies, throwing a grenade at her. Spider-Woman uses a web to grab it and launch it into the sky where it harmlessly explodes midair. Deathstroke then charges at her and swings his sword at her. She blocks his strikes with one of her forearms and uses her free arm to punch him across the face. Deathstroke staggers back but is unfazed despite that. He throws a few gas grenades at her, but she dodges them before they could even explode. Once they do explode though, she jumps over and lands behind Deathstroke, webs his feet together and trips him.
“You know, I miss when I just had to fight guys that robbed banks or mugged old ladies, now I have to fight guys in rhino suits and deadly assassins, apparently.” Spider-Woman complains as Deathstroke cuts the web with his katana and gets back up.
“Welcome to the big leagues, kid.” Deathstroke replies, lunging at Spider-Woman. He throws a punch at her but she blocks the hit and counters with a kick to the head. Deathstroke counters with a headbutt and a spin kick to the chest. Spider-Woman flies back into the brick wall by the front of a building, and falls to the ground with a painful groan.
“What the hell do you want with me, anyway?” Spider-Woman asks as Deathstroke picks her back up by the front of her suit.
“It’s not me who wants you. It’s my boss.” Deathstroke answers, taking a tranquilizer dart. He gets ready to stab Spider-Woman with it, but before it can make contact with her, Spider-Woman grabs his wrist, and holds it back. She then webs Deathstroke’s face and kicks herself off him. Deathstroke swings his sword at her again but she blocks it yet again, and punches Deathstroke’s helmet hard enough to crack it. She then runs up the wall that Deathstroke kicked her into leaps off of it. Deathstroke throws a bola rope at her but she narrowly avoids it. She lands behind Deathstroke and kicks him into the wall and webs him there.
“Look, I don’t know who you are, guy or what you want with me but when your boss comes to visit you in jail, you tell him if he wants to talk to me, then he will come and get me himself.” Spider-Woman warns before swinging away before the cops could show up. Deathstroke struggles against the thick webbing for a second before finally breaking out of them and staggering forward.
“Osborn. This is Deathstroke.”
“Did you acquire the target?”
“She got away. I’ll get her next time.”
“You better. I did not put thousands of dollars into this just to see you fail.”
“She got lucky. It won’t be the case.” Deathstroke reassures Norman as he grapples away.
Parker Home
“So, there was another guy after the Rhino guy?” Mary Jane asks Penny over the phone, while Penny puts ointment on her bruises. Penny nods even though Mary Jane can’t see her.
“Yeah. He was some mercenary guy with swords, guns, and other gadgets. He also gave me a hard time, but I beat him. He’s probably sitting somewhere in a cell as we speak.” Penny replies.
“I hope so. Are you okay? Fighting both of those guys back to back must have been tiring as hell.”
“You don’t even know half of it.” Penny sighs, putting her shirt back on after her bruises are all treated. “I’m sorry, by the way.”
“For what, exactly?”
“For having to leave in the middle of our… You know?”
“Date?”
“Yeah. If you wanna call it that.”
“Pen, it’s not your fault some crazy supervillains attacked us while we were out today.”
“I know, I know, but still. You said you wanted to explore whatever it is we had and weren’t able to. So, I wanna make it up to you. Remember that girl I met at the Black Canary venue?”
“Yeah? Why?”
“Well, she asked me to hang out on Friday or Saturday and I was thinking you could come with us. I know it’s not just me and you but, I don’t know, at least it’s something.”
“That’d be great.” MJ replies softly. Penny could practically hear the smile through her smile.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Plus me and you could always hang out alone on Sunday. If you’re okay with that.”
“That’d be perfect.”
“Alright. I’ll update Mia and let her know/”
“Sounds good, tiger. I gotta go now, though. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Yeah. See you.”
MJ hangs up the phone and Penny sighs, flopping down onto her bed in exhaustion. The door to her room opens and May enters, seemingly just as exhausted.
“Guess who got a call from the school today?” May asks, folding her arms. Penny sighs and sits up.
“I can explain.”
“Please do so because there is no reason why my niece should be getting sent out for calling her teacher an asshole.” May replies, sounding upset.
“Ms. Kane misgendered me because I fell asleep in her class and when I corrected her, shouldn’t let me.”
May sighs and rubs her temples in frustration.
“She didn’t mention anything about misgendering you.”
“Of course she fucking didn’t.” Penny mutters, shaking her head.
“Language, young lady.”
“Sorry. I was upset and I let it slip and I also doubled down on it which landed me in detention.” Penny explains, sounding regretful. “If you wanna find me, then I understand why. I just thought you should know the full story.”
“I won’t ground you.” May sighs, looking down at Penny, somewhat sympathetically. “However, we will both talking to Ms. Kane about this later into the week and if you pull something like that again, I will ground you.”
“Yes ma’am.” Penny replies, nodding at her. May then walks over to Petra’s bed and kisses her on the forehead.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that, though. I’ll make sure to address Ms. Kane about it when we talk to her.”
“Thanks, May.” Penny says with a smile. May smiles back.
“You’re welcome, dear. Now, don’t let this happen again, okay?”
“I won’t. I swear.”
H.I.V.E Base
Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth enter Queen Bee’s office together, where Queen Bee stands at her desk, waiting for them to arrive.
“Did you get what I asked for?” Queen Bee asks, looking down at the three supervillains. Gizmo reaches into his bag and pulls out the blue scarab they stole from the museum they fought Spider-Woman at. He hands it to Mammoth who hands it to Queen Bee.
“Excellent. Collect the next three scarabs and all of you shall be rewarded handsomely.” Queen Bee tells them.
“That might be a bit of a problem.” Gizmo says.
“A ‘bit’ is undermining it.” Jinx comments, sounding annoyed.
“What’s the problem?” Queen Bee questions, leaning forward.
“We ran into that annoying Spider-Chick while we were getting the scarab. We got away this time but we might not be so lucky.” Gizmo explains, throwing his arms up.
“If that brat shows her face again, I’ll handle her. You just focus on getting me the rest of those scarabs.” Queen Bee responds, sounding indifferent.
“Yes ma’am.” Gizmo quips, giving her a playful salute as Queen Bee watches them walk off.
“If we run into that Spider-Brat again, I say we crush her!” Mammoth suggests, pounding his fist with his hand.
“For once, I agree with Mammoth.” Jinx says, exiting the office.