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Chapter Text

“Alright guys, let’s do this one more time!

“My name is Luz Noceda, I discovered a magical world full of witches and demons, was bitten by a cursed spider demon, and for the last two months I have been the one and only, Spider-Girl!

“You can probably imagine how it goes. I went through a portal chasing an owl and met Eda, the Owl Lady, who promised to help me become a real witch! While here I figured out a lost way of casting spells, met my two best friends Willow and Gus, enrolled on Hexside School and now share class with Amity Blight, who uuuh…

“Anyways! My mom found out that I never made it to camp, there was a bit of arguing, some heartbreak but in the end she ended up liking the Isles and now lets me stay here! Which is so cool .

“But I’m rambling, sorry, I do that sometimes. As I was saying, I was helping Eda out with her human items stack when I was bitten by a cursed spider demon thingie and got powers! Ever since then I’ve saved a bunch of people, just like the Good Witch Azura!

“So far I’ve stopped muggings, robberies, a few attempted murders and even stopped the Emperor’s Coven from hurting people! Which has made me a wanted vigilante, but as Eda would say, Emperor Bonehead can stay mad! Because I am a warrior of peace, and as long as I’m around, I’ll always defend the innocent and the weak!

“Because if I don’t do that, then who else will?”

Chapter Text

A figure zipped through the skyline of Bonesborough, high above the streets below. They wore a single piece body suit, a purple main body with a white spider on its chest, while the limbs and sides were colored light blue. Their face was completely covered by a mask, expressionless save for a pair of large white eyes.

Spider-Girl. The masked vigilante of Bonesborough, terror of criminals and defender of the weak. She prepared to aim another web, her enhanced abilities allowing her to instantly calculate where the web should go, when thunder clapped all of the sudden.

The superhero missed, and barely had time to course correct before she smashed herself into a brick wall. Instead, she gracefully managed to land on it, sticking to the vertical surface like her arachnid namesake, and looked up.

Great, a storm was coming, and fast. She should head home before the boiling rains came in. She sighed, and pulled out her scroll. She quickly typed her mom’s number.

“Luz? Qué pasó?” Camila’s voice almost instantly came in. Her mom was worried enough about Luz merely being in the Demon Realm, let alone actively fighting criminals. That was why she could never find out.

“Hola mami. It’s nothing, just wanted to tell you I’m staying at the Owl House. It looks like it’s gonna rain and Eda gets really tired after casting the shield spell.”

“Aún no me puedo creer que la lluvia hierva por allá” Her mom muttered on the other side of the line. “Alright mija, stay safe!”

Luz nodded. “I will, mom. Te quiero.”

“Y yo a tí.” Her mom said, then she hung up. Luz let out a sigh, looking up to the sky. 

“Okay, just gotta get to the Owl House before the rains come in! Easy!” She cheerfully said, wincing when another thunder shook the air. Better get a move on.

She jumped off the wall with a flip, diving down to the pavement below to gain momentum. Then, when it looked like she’d splatter against the ground, she pressed the center of her glove. A glyph lit up, shooting a strand of web out to a building. The teenager whooped, swinging up at high speeds before letting go of the web and catapulting herself through the air.

Luz let out a cheer out of the sheer adrenaline, expertly swinging through the city. She dodged a few witches flying with their staves, who either gawked at her in amazement or cursed her out, but she didn’t care. Sure, flying on a staff was cool, but nothing could compare to this.

Soon the towering skyscrapers transitioned into smaller buildings, and before she knew it she was swinging through the forest, jumping from tree to tree and weaving through the branches until she landed just outside the clearing, perched on a red pine.

She quickly scanned the house, trying to see if Eda had gotten home yet. It didn’t look like it, but she had to be sure before just swinging in through a window or something like that. King was probably home, but the little guy spent most of his time either sleeping or playing and never noticed her somehow getting home without using a door.

The girl let out a startled scream as Hooty, the house demon that protected the building, suddenly screamed at her off the top of his lungs right in her ear. She quickly lost her balance, uselessly flailing her arms around before plummeting into the forest below, landing on a bush

Spider-Girl groaned, taking off her mask and glaring at the house demon. Hooty quickly slithered up beside her.

“Hooty! What did I tell you about yelling like that when I’m in costume?!”

The demon frowned, metaphorical (or literal, one never knew with Hooty) gears turning. “That you want to keep your identity secret from everyone to keep them safe, because you fear people will get hurt just from associating with you?”

Luz blinked. “That’s, uh. Not what I said, but sure. Let’s go with that.”

“Understood, hoot hoot! Not to worry Luz, your secret is safe with me!”

The girl sighed, getting back up on her feet while brushing off some leaves. “Thanks, Hooty. Is Eda home?”

Hooty nodded. “Yep! She actually asked me to go and get you, but I got distracted by a beetle! We had a very enriching conversation, actually, do you wanna hear it?”

“I’d love to, really, but I can’t. Kinda in a hurry.” The girl said, retrieving her clothes from the bag she had kept hidden in the bushes. She quickly put them over her costume, shoving the mask inside the bag.

Just in time too, because she heard a plant wither away beside her after getting hit by a raindrop. She jumped with a yelp, rushing to the safety of the Owl House. Thankfully Hooty opened the door for her, letting her leap in.

“Hey kid.” Eda grumbled from up on the couch, completely nonplussed by her protege jumping in like a Grudgby player. The woman scowled, watching the crystal ball.

“Is something wrong?” Luz asked, getting up from the floor. Eda just huffed.

“That Spider-Cop is up on the news again.” She growled, “she beat up some idiots that tried to rob a bakery? Really?”

Luz frowned. She had caught a bunch of wanna be burglars planning to rob a family business (which was apparently owned by the great aunt of one of them?) and left them stuck to the wall for the Emperor’s Coven to find. Which was far from ideal, but still the best choice she had. 

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Luz finally said.

Eda shrugged. “Yeah sure, now that she’s going after actually bad guys it’s all fine and good, but lemme tell ya something kid: Whoever that gal is, she’s on a power trip. Before you realize it, she’s gonna collaborate with the Emperor’s Coven to go after honest people like me.”

King rolled his eyes from the window sill he was lying down on. “Oh please, your list of crimes is so long it could go around the Titan itself.”

“That’s precisely my point, you doofus.” Eda said. Luz made to reply, try and defend “Spider-Girl”, when thunder clapped once again. The trio jumped, and Hooty yelled at them to stop bickering and help him.

Eda rolled her eyes. “I’m coming! Jeez, calm down.” The witch said, getting up from her seat with a groan and stepping outside. Luz just watched her leave before looking at King.

“She’s really in a mood today, huh?”

The demon just shrugged. “She’s been down at her private lab all day. Something about her curse, dunno what. You know how it is.”

Luz winced. It had taken Eda a long time to open up about her curse, how someone had cursed her to slowly lose her magic over time until there was nothing left. Frankly if she hadn’t caught Luz and King rummaging through her elixirs to try and give Luz magic she probably wouldn’t have told them at all in the first place.

“Are you okay, though?” King suddenly asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Huh? Yeah, of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”

King narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been acting weird. I do not like it when my subjects are distracted.”

Luz just smiled. “I’m fine, King. No need to worry your lil’ head about it, okay?” The girl said, giving him a kiss on the skull. King just made a half-hearted attempt to look mad in response.

Then there was the sound of a magical woosh outside, and Eda walked back inside the house. “Ugh, I hate doing these things.” She said, suddenly looking like she had pulled an all-nighter. “I think I’m gonna hit the crib, you guys do whatever you want.”

And with that, the Owl Lady left, leaving both Luz and King by themselves. Silence fell on the living room for a few moments, then a smile slowly crept up Luz’s face.

“You’re thinking what I’m thinking?”

King gasped, jumping to his feet. “Luz and King comedy hour?!”

“Yes!”

Eda slammed open the door of her potions lab, grunting in pain. Her entire skin burned, and she felt the corners of her vision grow blurry. She stumbled over to her cauldron, letting out a bestial snarl.

“Not now, not now !” The Owl Lady begged, gripping the edges of a table hard enough to scratch the wood. “This has to work!”

She snatched a vial of green liquid with a heraldic wyrm for a label. She had heard of this, wyrm saliva was supposed to improve the effectiveness of elixirs and potions tenfold, and the curse had been getting worse by the day. The old elixirs wouldn’t cut it anymore, and if this kept going she’d end up hurting King and Luz. This was her last chance.

She felt the Owl Beast clawing within her, trying to break free. She suppressed a scream, taking off the cork from the vial and pouring its contents into the cauldron. The golden liquid within glowed and hissed with the new addition before turning a deep purple. Eda growled, feeling feathers poking out of her skin already.

It was the moment of truth. She grabbed a spoon and loaded it completely with the new elixir, then drank it in one go. She closed her eyes shut, praying to the Titan she had gotten it right. Moments crawled like hours as she braced herself for the Owl Beast to break out, but nothing happened.

She let out a sigh of relief. It had worked. It had actually worked! She couldn’t help the laugh that escaped from her throat. Everything was gonna be alright.

Then she felt a sudden jolt of pain, running up her entire body. It was so powerful she fell down on all fours, feeling as if she had been punched in the gut. Then her eyes widened as she realized her long nails had morphed into claws.

“No, no, no!” She begged to the nothingness, watching with horror as the transformation set in. Except it wasn’t like it was supposed to go, she realized, when a long, feathery tail erupted from her body.

She let out a howl as her body snapped and morphed, her gray mane of hair changing to a feathery coat that covered most of her body. Scales grew on her chest and stomach, and her face contorted into a long, reptilian snout filled with dagger-like teeth.

The last thing Eda saw was her reflection on the cauldron. An unholy amalgamation of a lizard and an owl stared right back at her. Then, the darkness consumed her, and The Cockatrice roared.

“Did you hear something?” Luz said, turning around. King instantly shut up, trying to hear whatever the human had heard, but there was only the rhythmic pitter-patter of the boiling rains striking the force field outside.

King shrugged. “Dunno, might have been some demon outside. Like… The Snaggleback!” The demon said, pouncing at Luz with a roar. The girl laughed, dramatically falling to the ground.

“Nooo! Please, Snaggleback, spare my life!”

King cackled. “Never! Cry for mercy all you want, you will never esca-!”

Suddenly, the lights went off and Hooty screamed. King jumped off Luz, fur bristled like a cat, while Luz herself jumped to her feet with the agility of a gymnast.

"W- What was that?” Luz said, slowly turning to the kitchen door. King chuckled nervously.

“I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably Hooty being over dramatic or something.” 

Luz shook her head. “No, something is wrong. Let’s go!” She said, running off towards the living room. King trailed her close behind, and almost ran into her leg when she came to a sudden stop.

“Luz, what are you do…ing…” 

He froze in place right behind the human, watching as a strange beast stood over Hooty, who had been ripped off his hinges. The creature looked at them and hissed, then darted off.

“Was… Was that a dinosaur?” Luz said. King frowned.

“A what?”

Luz just shook her head, her mind already racing a hundred miles an hour. This was bad. This was really bad. Eda was asleep and barely had any magic left due to the shield spell, which meant she was practically defenseless. And King was vulnerable too, but she needed to suit up somewhere safe

“King, I’m gonna go get Eda. You stay back and hide.”

“What, are you crazy?!” King said, “I’m not leaving you alone with that thing running around the house! Besides, I’m the King of Demons, I can command that creature to stop!” 

Luz chewed her lip. “King, that’s-” Then she blinked. “You know what? You’re the demon expert here, maybe you can try and find some info on what that thing might be?”

King hummed in thought. “I think it looked like a cockatrice. Never seen one like that before though.” He sighed. “Okay, fine, I’ll get my Demon Book, but you stay safe!”

Luz nodded. “I promise.” And with that, she ran off to the stairs, leaving King alone. He shuddered, feeling his fur stand on end.

Okay, now he just had to get his book, then he and Luz could help Eda get rid of that demon. Easy peasy. He quickly ran off to one of the book shelves, climbing it up with a grunt and running through the books.

“Potions 101, The Weird Case of Dr Jerry and Mr Hide, Unauthorized History of the Boiling Isles… The Book of Demons!” He quickly grabbed the book, inspecting the cover. “Hmm… First or second edition?”

A roar shook the house, and all concerns about editions vanished from his mind. “Luz!”

He jumped off the bookshelf, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. He reached the staircase, and climbed them two steps at a time on all fours, book held in his mouth as if he were a dog.

His mind quickly went to Eda’s room. He needed to get Eda and Luz now . He kept turning around the seemingly endless corners of the Owl House, every creak of the wood making him jump in terror.

Everything was fine. Luz was probably with Eda, trying to wake her up. Everything was going to be okay. There was nothing to worry about. He finally reached Eda’s room, and shoved the door open. Then he felt his heart drop.

The room was empty. Luz and Eda weren’t there. He took a step back, feeling his breath starting to speed up. Luz and Eda were gone, the monster had gotten them. He could feel pounding in his skull. Was he hyperventilating?

Suddenly, a hiss pierced the air, and King felt something wet hit his skull, a single drop of water. He slowly lifted his gaze, feeling a shiver up his spine and dreading what he would find. Lightning flashed, and he saw the beast, sticking to the ceiling.

A humanoid beast, covered in feathers save for a snake-like belly. It had five-fingered hands, with only three claws on each one. Small wings adorned the arms, clearly not big enough for flight. Its legs ended in sharp talons with three clawed toes, while a long, reptilian tail swung behind it, covered in short feathers. 

But the worst part was its head, like an owl had sprouted the snout of a lizard. And two dark eyes were looking at him. King screamed, and the monster roared in kind. He bolted out of the room, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, but he could hear the demon catching up behind him.

He turned a sharp corner, hoping to lose it, but the monster just walked against the wall to turn, easily catching ground. King let out a terrified scream as his tiny legs betrayed him, tripping over himself and falling down against the wooden floor.

He turned around and whimpered, finding himself face to face with the monster. It flickered a snake-like tongue and hissed, inching closer towards him. It opened its mouth, and King couldn’t help but stare at the dagger-like teeth.

Then the beast stopped and hissed, seemingly recoiling back in pain. It grumbled and thrashed, gripping its head in pain. King frowned. Wha-

“Hey, missing link!” A voice suddenly yelled. Suddenly there was a blur, and a figure kicked the monster right in the jaw before landing between him and the creature with a flip as the monster roared in surprise, crashing against a cupboard. “Why don’t you fight someone your own size?”

King blinked, then rubbed his eyes and blinked again. Because standing right there, was the one and only Spider-Girl. Wha-?

“You okay there, little guy?” King just nodded wordlessly. “Good. Don’t worry, I’ll take it from here.”

King had a million questions, all ready to burst. Where did she come from? Why was she here? Did she find Luz and Eda? Where were they? But instead, he settled for: “Look out!”

Spider-Girl’s eyes widened, and suddenly did a backflip, perfectly evading the monster’s tail. The beast roared at her as she landed with a crouch. “What’s the matter, big guy? Never punched in your weight class before?”

The Cockatrice (because King was about 70% sure it was some sort of Cockatrice) lashed out, clawing at Spider-Girl. The superhero quickly jumped, the beast’s claws leaving three claw marks on the wall as Spider-Girl ran on the ceiling and dropped down on it, sitting on its shoulders.

The Cockatrice roared, trying to snap her, but she fired her webs and shut its jaws closed. “Woah there, easy!” She said, now riding the monster as if it were merely a horse demon. True to that, the Cockatrice hissed and grunted, trying to buckle her off.

“Come on boy, calm down! Easy no- Uff!” The cockatrice slammed Spider-Girl against the wall, making it cave in with the force of the impact. Spider-Girl fell to the floor with a wheeze as the Cockatrice ripped the webs off its snout and roared.

The girl barely had time to react before the monster lashed out, stomping her back and biting into her shoulder. Spider-Girl screamed as the monster thrashed, the purple fabric gaining a red tint.

King anxiously tapped his feet, his mind conflicting on what to do. Help Spider-Girl? Run and hide? Try to find Luz? But how?! He looked at the Cockatrice, its deep, black eyes savagely focused on its enemy.

Wait… Black eyes…Of course! Light! That thing was nocturnal!

“Spider-Girl!” King called out. “Use a light spell!”

He heard her grumble something but didn’t quite understand what she was saying. Then she lifted one of her hands… And shot webbing at the floor. King’s mind screeched to a halt. What. 

Spider-Girl kept shooting her webs, barely able to hold her aim as the Cockatrice dug into her shoulder. Then she stopped, and King’s eyes widened.

“A light glyph?”

Spider-Girl all but slammed her hand on the glyph, activating it. There was a flash of light and the cockatrice roared in pain. He recoiled, blinded by the light, and with a final hiss it ran away, back into the shadows.

Spider-Girl groaned, propping herself up. King slowly walked towards the masked figure as she sat against the wall with a hiss.

“...Luz?”

Spider-Girl froze. She sat there in silence for a few moments, and then she… Deflated. With a sigh, the hero took her mask off, revealing none other than Luz Noceda.

“...Hey King.”

King took a step back. “You… You are Spider-Girl?! W- Wha- How?! Why?!”

Luz winced. “I’m sorry.” Was all she said. Then there was a crash far off inside the house, and she stood up with a grunt. “I’ll explain everything to you, I promise. But I need to find Eda and stop that thing. She wasn’t in her room when I went to check, and I’ve been looking for her everywhere.”

She can’t be dead. No way . Luz thought, but left that unsaid. She put her mask back on and crouched, ready to jump off down the hallway.

“Wait!” King suddenly said. Luz turned towards the demon, who looked like he had just seen a ghost. “I… I think I might have an idea of where Eda is.”

“Really? Where?”

King seemed unsure for a moment, then sighed. “I think… I think that thing might be Eda. Think about it. It kinda looks like an owl, Eda never told us what her curse was beyond draining her magic, and… Well, it showed up as soon as Eda disappeared. Plus, something weird happened when it tried to attack me. Like… Something was stopping it from doing that.”

Luz frowned. “You think she’d hide something like this from us?” King just gave her a pointed look, and Luz sighed. “Okay, that’s fair. Let’s check out her lab, see what we can find.”

King nodded, hopping on Spider-Girl… Luz’s uninjured shoulder. “Hang on tight!” The girl said, then shot out two webs to the walls of the hallway. She hissed a bit in pain as she leaned back, the webs tensing as she did so, then catapulted herself down the hall. She stuck the landing against a corner and quickly crawled up to the ceiling, King holding on for dear life.

They reached the laboratory pretty quickly, fortunately not stumbling on the now-dubbed Cockatrice. Luz dropped down from the ceiling, finding the door was slightly ajar. King and her looked at each other, then nodded in unison. 

Luz opened the door as carefully as she could, and found herself in Eda’s laboratory, thankfully no cursed witch to be seen. The duo sighed in relief, and got to work, trying to find any evidence of what might have happened.

It didn’t take long though, as they soon saw scattered books all around the room, along with a cauldron filled with a strange purple liquid and a spoon dropped on the floor, purple drops of liquid splattered around it.

Luz saw an empty vial of something, with a wyrm drawing as its only marker. “I think I found our culprit.” She said. King quickly ran over and took the vial, taking a sniff. Then he coughed.

“Titan, where did Eda even get this thing?!”

“What is it?”

“Smells like wyrm spit. It’s some really powerful stuff” King said, “Eda must have mixed it with her elixir to make it stronger or something.”

Luz bit her lip under her mask. “But it mutated her instead.”

The girl whimpered, calling upon all of the knowledge her few months attending Hexside had given her about potions. Wyrm spit was a draconic product, which were generally used for enhancements and boosting potions, which tracked with what Eda had tried. There was a way to counter it, which was…

“Dragonsbane!” Luz suddenly yelled, making King jump. She winced. “Sorry. Dragonsbane, we need Dragonsbane to counteract the elixir.” She repeated, lowering her volume. “See if Eda has any.”

King dutifully nodded, and the duo started looking through all of Eda’s alchemical ingredients. Fortunately the witch was much more organized with potions stuff than her human garbage, or the actual kitchen, so all everything was labeled.

“Got it!” King suddenly hissed, hopping off the shelf with a flask filled with flowers. Luz nodded, taking one of the flowers and grinding it down to dust before pouring it on the cauldron. She mixed it with the old elixir, and the liquid turned into a more pale yellow.

Luz then took a small vial and filled it with the liquid, then sealed it with a cork. “Alright, let’s just hope this works.”

“Uh. Luz? How are you planning to make her drink that?”

Luz blinked. “Good question! To which I have an answer for!”

“You didn’t think this far ahead, huh?” King deadpanned.

The human just rolled her eyes behind her mask. “I do. You said it earlier, she’s a nocturnal demon, bright lights hurt her. So, if I can make a big enough glyph, then that means it’ll knock her out and we can give her the elixir! Easy!”

King narrowed his eyes. “And how do you plan to lure her to the giant glyph?” Complete silence. “Oh no. Oh no, no. In your dreams, sister!”

The Cockatrice prowled the living room, flickering her tongue around as she inspected her surroundings. She stopped at a book showcasing the anatomy of the average witch. The Cockatrice flickered her tongue, then cocked her head with curiosity, looking over the diagram.

However, her attention was completely sidetracked by a new sound. Footsteps?

“Hey!” A high pitched voice said. The Cockatrice’s head whirled around, her gaze falling instantly on the tiny demon standing on the doorway. The monster roared and pounced at King, who barely managed to scamper away.

The tiny demon ran down a hallway, the Cockatrice hot on his heels, when he suddenly took a sharp turn. The monster tried to follow, but found herself slipping on a bunch of papers scattered on the floor and crashing down the hall.

A blanket fell over her and she thrashed around with a snarl, trying to get rid of it. Finally she removed it, only to find herself face to face with an enormous light glyph painted on the wall, Spider-Girl sticking next to it.

“I’m sorry Eda, but this is for your own good!” The girl then closed her eyes, and slapped the glyph with all of her might. The entire house shook as the glyph lit up into a blinding white light that consumed everything. Then as soon as it started, it stopped.

Luz opened her eyes, expecting to see the transformed Eda knocked out… But found the cockatrice just standing there, shielding her eyes with the blanket. Then it grinned .

“Niccce… Try…”

Luz almost fell off the wall. Did… Did it just talk?

“What?” Luz mumbled, barely processing what was happening. “E-Eda?”

The monster’s lips curled, seemingly amused. “Not… Giving… Body.” She hissed. It was warbled, and incredibly broken… But English all the same. “Mine… Now.”

Luz clenched her fist. “Alright then, no more Miss Nice Spider.”

She shot out twin webs, launching herself off the wall and hitting the Cockatrice with a drop kick. The beast stumbled back with a hiss before getting a roundhouse kick to the face. The Cockatrice roared in rage, catching a punch from Spider-Girl and throwing her against a wall.

Luz went through it with a yelp, completely smashing the wall as if it were made of cardboard and falling hard against the grass outside. Her vision swam, the hissing pitter-patter of the boiling rains hitting the shield above her feeling like a sledgehammer hitting her skull.

Then her Spider-sense flared up, and she barely rolled out of the way before the Cockatrice clawed her face off, ignoring the way her injured shoulder screamed at her. She quickly jumped up to her feet.

“Look, I get you’re mad because you got rejected for that role in Jurassic Park, but- Woah!” She barely had time to somersault out of another claw swipe, but upon landing the Cockatrice whipped her tail, constricting her with it.

“Really, prehensile tail too?!” Luz grunted, struggling to break free. “If you weren’t trying to kill me I’d say this is the coolest thing I’ve seen!”

The Cockatrice just growled, grabbing Spider-Girl’s mask and taking it off. Luz glared up at her. “Hey, that’s just rude!”

The Cockatrice’s eyes widened, and her grip on the girl loosened. “Luz?”

The girl blinked, because that was clearly Eda’s voice. Suddenly, the Cockatrice dropped her, hissing in pain as it clutched its head. “No!” She roared, back to the bestial growl from before. “Back! Back in!” She roared, at apparently nothing.

Luz blinked, watching as the Cockatrice struggled with herself. But she shook her head and jumped towards the monster instead, jumping on her shoulders while she was confused. The Cockatrice suddenly snapped her head up to her and roared, which proved to be her fatal mistake.

Luz quickly put out the new elixir and opened the vial, pouring its contents on the struggling monster. The Cockatrice’s eyes widened and shook her off. Luz landed on her feet, and watched as the Cockatrice gripped her head while wildly thrashing around.

“No! No! No go back! Body mine now! No!” It roared, struggling as the elixir took effect. Then, she finally morphed, all of the bestial features falling back to reveal Eda once more, who swayed dangerously before falling.

Luz quickly jumped to her, catching the witch before she hit the ground.

“Eda?”

Eda groaned, slowly blinking her eyes open. “Kid? Ugh, what happened?”

Luz bit her lip. “Eda… You… You transformed.”

Eda’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh no, kid, I- Wait, where’s King?!” She suddenly said, sitting up.

“He’s inside the house. He’s okay, no one got hurt. Well, except Hooty.” Luz reassured the witch, who sighed in relief.

“Oh thank Titan. If anything happened to either of you, I wouldn’t… Know…” Eda said before trailing off, as she took Luz in. Truly took Luz in, bleeding from her shoulder and looking beaten up. And wearing Spider-Girl’s costume.

Luz just gulped, doing jazz hands. “Surprise!” She said, her voice strained. Eda just blinked. Her proteege was Spider-Girl. Her proteege was a superhero , and she had just fought her transformation and cured her.

Eda couldn’t help it. She laughed. Luz just blinked, confused, as her mentor wiped tears away from her eyes.

“Eda?”

The woman just shook her head. “Oh man, I’m sorry. I just-” She let out another snort. “Oh, this is ridiculous. I’ve been ranting about Spider-Girl for months, and she was right under my nose!”

“You... Aren’t mad at me?”

Eda shrugged. “Part of me tells me I should be but… I’m really not in any place to criticize someone for having secrets, am I? Then she sighed, looking up at the force field. 

“I’m… Sorry for keeping you guys in the dark. I thought I had everything under control but… The curse has been getting worse lately. I thought I had found a way to fix it, but it looks like I made it worse.” Then she frowned. “I remember turning into some weird bird-lizard hybrid. That’s not what’s supposed to happen. I really messed up.”

“Eda!” King suddenly said, running off the hole on the wall and latching himself onto the witch like a koala. “You’re okay! Don’t you ever do that again! I command you!”

Eda just chuckled, patting his head. “Okay, I’ll try.” Then she got up with a groan, and looked at Luz. “Come on. Let’s fix this mess and get you patched up, Spider-Girl.”

Luz blinked at her mentor, then smiled. “Sure, Owl Lady. And no more secrets?”

Eda froze for a moment, then nodded. “No more secrets.”

And so as the rains started to calm, the trio walked back inside the house. But as Eda got to work on her shoulder, Luz’s mind wandered back to the fight. Most importantly, at how the Cockatrice had talked . There was something going on there, and she didn’t like it.

Chapter Text

Luz woke up with a groan, the alarm pounding on her skull and completely ruining her sleep. She instinctively went to slap it, but fortunately realized she was strong enough to lift a car over her head with one hand before she completely pulverized it, giving it a gentle tap instead.

Usually Luz was a morning person, because after all if you woke up early that meant you had all day to enjoy! But unfortunately, she had stayed way up late patrolling Bonesborough. Which was worth it, seeing as she had saved a Wild Witch from being imprisoned by the Emperor’s Coven, but still.

She got up with a hiss, her injured shoulder stinging her to remind her of the previous Friday. Eda’s magic along with her own healing factor (which she had just discovered during Eda’s checkup) meant she was recovering much faster than one would expect, but it still hurt.

And so she changed into her school uniform with a grunt and made her way downstairs. The kitchen was deserted so she had breakfast fairly quickly and then moved to the living room, where she found everyone else.

“Hey guys.” 

King waved at her while Eda barely lifted her gaze from her cards with a hum. Owlbert hooted at her, not even shifting his gaze from his own cards at all .

“I really think you guys have a problem with Hexes Hold‘em.”

Eda scoffed. “You’re being overdramatic.”

“You’re playing against an owl.”

“Correction, I’m winning against an owl.” Eda told her apprentice, slamming down her wild card and ending the match almost instantly. Owlbert just glared at her before bowing, making Eda snort.

Luz just fondly rolled her eyes. “Can you fly me to school now please?”

Eda just tilted her head. “Oh really? Can’t you just spider your way there?”

“Eda, secret identity.” Luz said. “Besides, flying is still really cool” She mumbled under her breath. Eda evidently heard, chuckling a little.

“Ah I’m just messin’ with ya. C’mon, let’s go” Eda said, waving Luz off as she got up from the couch. Owlbert turned back into a staff, and human and witch hopped on and took to the skies.

“Soooo… Do Goops and Glasses know?” Eda suddenly asked. Luz stiffened.

“I… No. No one knew before you and King. Well, except Hooty but that’s because he’s the house .” Luz said. “It’s just… The less people the better.”

Eda hummed. “Yeah that’s fair, less of a chance someone will rat you out to the Emperor’s Coven.”

“Less of a chance someone will get hurt because of me.” Luz retorted, her voice momentarily losing its cheer. Eda frowned, but before she could say anything they were flying over Hexside’s entrance.

“Have fun at school, kid!” Eda said as Luz jumped off. “Even though I can’t understand how .”

Luz just chuckled and waved her mentor off as she took off to the skies. The girl briefly watched her mentor fly away before running to the school, quickly spotting two figures chatting to each other.

“Hey guys!” She said, running up to her two friends. Willow and Gus, illusion magic prodigy and abominations-to-plant magic transfer, probably her two oldest friends in the Isles. “Wait, you two look glum. What’s wrong? Who hurt my babies?”

Willow just sighed. “Oh nothing, it’s just Boscha invited everyone to the next Banshees’ game but us.”

Gus summoned his scroll, opening Penstagram. “She’s been posting about it all weekend now. ‘No half-witches allowed’.” The boy explained with a frown. That made Luz sneer.

Luz sneered. Boscha, the queen bee of Hexside and local bully, although those two usually came hand in hand, really. She’d been tormenting Willow forever, but now that the plant witch had gotten more popular after the transfer, she was starting to get insufferable.

There was a tiny part of Luz that wanted to challenge Boscha to a duel, but that wouldn’t end well. Mostly for Boscha, of course, but also for her secret identity. Ugh, superheroing.

“You know what? We’ll just go on our own!” Luz declared. “I bet if I talk to Eda she can get us tickets to go watch them play.”

 The duo perked up almost instantly. “Really?!”

“Yup! We’re going to that game, Scout’s Honor!”

“...Are you an Emperor’s Coven scout?”

Luz blinked. “What? No, that’s- It’s just a human expression, nevermind.” The girl explained, shaking her head. Gus hummed with fascination, quickly summoning a notepad and writing it down.

Suddenly the bell screamed, and Luz almost felt her heart jump out of her throat. It had been months , and still she wasn’t used to that. She waved goodbye to her friends, quickly heading for the Abominations class.

It was ironic, really. When she had first met WIllow she tried to pass herself off as an abomination to help her new friend get a good grade and got caught almost immediately by Principal Bump, and now here she was, officially attending that very same class! Shame the professor didn’t really like her because of that, though.

She shook her head, quickly moving over to her seat. The place was almost empty, and she probably  would have been the first person to arrive at the classroom if it hadn’t been for the girl already sitting at the front of the class.

She was a witch with dyed green hair and bright golden eyes, sitting straight with an air of perfection one would expect from a princess. She was diligently writing down something on her notebook, and Luz could see her mumble something under her breath.

Amity Blight, the class’ top student. The girl kept on whispering under her breath, probably looking over some abomination formula when suddenly she stopped. Amity’s left ear twitched (which Luz totally didn’t find absolutely adorable),and suddenly she turned around to look at Luz.

The human barely contained an embarrassed squeak, and quickly started taking out books from her bag. Through the corner of her she saw Amity just shrug and go back to her notes, closing them as soon as the stream of students started pouring in for the class. Last but not least, Professor Hermonculus was carried in by his pinkish abomination.

Hermonculus started to drone on about sludge formula, and Luz’s attention was instantly grabbed by the magic lessons. If anyone asked, she never stole any glances at Amity. No sir. Fortunately school passed in a blur. 

After Abominations she had Beast Keeping, where she had found some real affinity for the spider demons, which they reciprocated. She had to wonder if there was something there with her powers. After that it was Plant Magic with Willow which was always fun, Oracle magic which still kinda creeped her out and finally history, grinding the excitement to a halt.

After that, she was home free. She waved goodbye to Willow and Gus and ran off to the Owl House. She briefly considered changing to her costume, before realizing she hadn’t actually brought it to school just in case. Better safe than sorry.

It took her longer than she had gotten useful when swinging, but soon enough she reached the forest clearing where the Owl House stood.

“Hiya Luz! You have visitooors!” 

Luz blinked at Hooty as she opened the door. “Visitors?”

“Hola mija.”

Luz’s head snapped to the direction of the voice. Sitting there on the couch was her mom, Camila Noceda. “Mamá!” She said, instantly perking up. “You didn’t tell me you were gonna come visit!”

Camila just chuckled. “Well, I can come visit my daughter while she’s on her ‘vacation’, can’t I?” The woman said, opening her arms to catch Luz in a hug.

“Yeah, we thought we’d give you a surprise.” Eda suddenly said, coming in from the kitchen with a mug of steaming… Something.

“So, how has school been? It feels kinda strange not getting calls from your principal every other week.” Camila joked, letting her daughter sit beside her. The girl excitedly went on a tirade about how great and exciting it was, from abominations to potions to even history!

“History? I remember you were kinda on the fence on that one back home.” Camila said, quirking her eyebrow. Luz just shrugged.

“Well, if George Washington had tamed a dragon maybe I’d had paid more attention.”

Camila just chuckled. “That’s fair, I guess. How have Willow and Gus been?”

Luz beamed at the mention of her friends. Her mom had met them pretty soon after discovering where Luz was, and the two witches had instantly made a really positive impression on Camila. Certainly more than Eda had. In fact, Luz was almost sure they had been a big part of why her mom had let her stay.

“Well, they’ve been doing good. Gus is still a genius as always and invited me for a Human Appreciation Society meeting, and Willow has been turning really popular ever since she changed tracks!” Suddenly Luz’s eyes widened, “oh man, I almost forgot! Eda, you wouldn’t happen to have any tickets for the Banshees game this evening?”

Eda frowned. “I think I stole a few from a sucker at the market. Why?”

Luz ignored her mom’s glare at the casual theft and sighed. “It’s just… Boscha invited the entire class except for Willow, Gus and me. I think she’s mad because Willow is getting more confident and she can’t get away with bullying her so easily anymore.”

Eda sneered. “The Triclops girl? Ugh, someone needs to give that kid a lesson.”

“Please don’t attack a child.” Camila quickly said, although she sounded more resigned than anything. Eda shook her head.

“Nah, then she’ll go harder on them.” She turned to Luz and summoned the tickets “Alright kid, here ya go. Have fun!”

Luz quickly snatched the tickets as if they were made of gold. “Thank you so much, Eda! You’re the best!” She said, hugging the witch tight. Then she turned to her mom. “I feel kinda bad for leaving when you came all the way here.”

Camila just waved her off. “Are you kidding? A few months ago I would have given anything to see you hang out with friends. Go ahead and have fun, okay?”

Luz let out a squeal. “Thank you, thank you!” She said, hugging her mom, then Eda again for good measure, and she ran up the stairs two steps at a time. She went inside her room to change, but stopped for a second looking at the chest where she kept her Spider-Girl suit. She shrugged, she had time to do a quick patrol before the game.

She put on the suit and then put on her regular clothes on top of it before heading out of the front door, waving goodbye to Eda and her mom. After she made sure she had put a good distance between her and the Owl House, she changed back to her Spider-Girl suit, webbing her clothes to the top of a tree.

And so, off she was. The forest soon made way for the bustling city, and Luz swung between the metropolis’ skyscrapers with a cheer. This was definitely the best part of being Spider-Girl, Luz thought. The sheer adrenaline of the weightlessness as she zipped through the air, plummeting to the streets down below before shooting off a web and gaining height once more.

Then she heard something coming from a dark alley, and she quickly broke her trajectory towards the sound. She perched herself on a wall, looking over the alley. A group of masked witches and demons were standing on a circle, a bag filled with something laid in the center.

“So, what do you think?” One said, with a deep voice. “Construction Coven magic glyphs, completely new and at full power. Will turn anyone into a powerhouse!”

“I don’t know, man.” Another voice said, this one more feminine. “This is Kingpin’s territory! You know how they are with people working in their turf!”

“Bah, you’re being too paranoid! Ya really think they’re gonna care about us selling some contraband glyphs?” A third voice said, although it was echoing. A two-headed demon for sure.

Luz frowned. Kingpin? Who was that? She hadn’t heard that name before, had she? Maybe she had at some point, it felt familiar. Some gang boss maybe?

“Oh, I think they will care alright.” A new voice suddenly said. A deep, booming voice that rattled Luz to her bones, like a bestial growl straight from the pits of Hell. The dealers all jumped in fright, looking all around the alley to try and find the intruder.

Suddenly, there was a purple blur, and one of the witches fell completely limp. A pool of blood started to form under the fallen criminal, and Luz had to stop herself from gagging.

The criminals all looked at their fallen comrade, then their sights all slowly went to the cause of it: An enormous, hulking figure made entirely out of purplish black skin that looked almost goo-like was standing there, blood dripping from its clawed hands. It was easily over 8 feet tall, and had shoulders to boot. But what was most disturbing was its face.

It had two enormous white eyes without pupils that looked somewhat like the ones in Luz’s mask, except longer and twisted. The other only feature on its face was the huge mouth, field with sharp, predatory teeth that naturally gave it a Cheshire grin.

The dealers finally broke out of their stupor, and they all started firing spells at the new demon. Lightning bolts hit its skin, but it just stood there without even a flinch. Sharp rocks shot towards it, but they bounced off its skin. Suddenly, a fireball shot out, and the monster finally reacted.

It jumped out of the way, landing on a wall with enough strength to crack it and smash its bricks. It jumped again to another wall almost instantly, evading the spells, and fell on the largest person in the group.

It grabbed the thug by the throat and lifted them up like they were made out of cardboard, making everyone stop attacking out of shock. The thug whimpered as the monster opened its mouth, and a disgustingly long tongue came out of it, licking the thug’s face with a growl.

“Eyes, lungs, bile sac…” The figure said. “So many snacks, so little time…” 

Suddenly a web shot out, hitting the monster’s face and completely covering its maws. It dropped the thug, who scrambled out of the way as fast as he could.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Spider-Girl said, dropping from her perch and landing with a crouch in front of the monster. “I appreciate helping out against crime fighting, but eating people is taking a bit far, don’t ya think?”

The monster ripped the web off its maws, opening its mouth with a hiss. “A, Spider-Girl. We’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

Luz frowned “We?” She looked around, but found the alley had become completely deserted. “Who’s we?”

Suddenly the monster snatched her by the throat, lifting her up in the air. “We are Venom.” The creature growled.

“Weird pronouns, but okay” Luz quipped with a wheeze, then she shot another web straight at Venom’s eyes. They roared in surprise, dropping her and stumbling back. Luz took her chance, hitting them with a roundhouse kick in the side.

Venom stumbled, hitting the wall with a growl. “You’re strong!” They said with a grin. “No, I’m not enjoying this too much” They suddenly snapped, looking to the side. Luz just cocked her head.

“You okay there?”

Venom hissed. “Whatever.” Then they turned back to Luz, and their arm turned into a tendril that shot out in Luz’s direction. The superhero didn’t even have time to react, getting completely snared by the strange goo. Then she was swung into one of the walls of the alley hard enough to crack it, then to the other and back to the first again before being slammed into the ground.

Luz groaned, her entire body screaming in pain. Then her eyes widened, and barely had enough time to roll out of the way of a punch that cracked the ground. 

“If I had a nickel for every time I had to fight a super powerful monster that talks in the last few days I’d have two nickels!” Luz said, sticking to the wall. “Which isn’t a lot, but it’s really weird that it happened twice! I swear to Titan if you end up being someone I know!”

She quickly rolled over to the side when Venom pounced at her, sticking to the wall too. “Hey! Don’t steal my moves!” She quipped, jumping off the wall before shooting two webs to it and using them to propel a flying kick, hitting Venom square in the face.

Venom’s head got smashed against the wall with the impact, then fell to the ground like dead weight. Luz gracefully landed next to them.

“Uh oh. Please tell me I didn’t kill them.” She said, standing over the limp… Demon? She wasn’t quite sure.

Suddenly, a dozen tendrils shot out of their back, completely snaring her. Luz let out a yelp, but anything else was completely cut out as they started to constrict her. The tendrils then started to grow and twist, slowly moving her to a position where she was being held face to face with Venom.

“Not quite.” The creature said, its booming voice rattling her entire body. “Now, what should we do with you? Tear you apart, limb by limb? Or perhaps simply bite your head off? I’m sure the Kingpin will find any option a fitting end for the witch that has been screwing up their business.”

Luz just let out a whimper, struggling in vain against the tendrils holding her. This was it, she was gonna die. Because she had been an idiot who jumped into the first chance she had to act out her idiotic fantasy dream.

And the worst part was that no one would know what happened to her. Her mom would never learn what happened to her daughter. Eda, King, her friends…

Suddenly Venom scoffed. “You’re no fun.” They said to the void once again. “Ugh, fine. But if the Kingpin comes asking why she’s still alive, you explain!”

Their attention then snapped back at Luz, and that toothy grin came back. “We’ll meet again, Spider-Girl.”

Then they punched her, and everything went dark.

Luz woke up with a groan. She felt like she had been run over by a truck, every single inch of her body burned with pain. She slowly woke up, her vision swimming with the pain. What had happened?

She slowly sat up, hissing in pain. Then she looked around, realizing she was lying down in an abandoned alley. Right. She had tried to stop some glyph dealers, when that thing had shown up…

Venom. Their name was Venom. And they had beaten the everloving crap out of her. “Ugh, I might need to ask Eda for some fighting tips.” She said with a groan, wobbly getting up to her feet. She rested against one of the alley’s walls, taking a deep breath.

Which immediately stung to hell and back. She cursed under her breath, had she broken a rib? She just rested her head against the wall with a sigh. Kingpin. The name started floating around in her mind. Who was that?

Her first thought was some criminal boss of sorts, but something was not right. She had heard of big fish before, and they had never been spoken of like that. Or employed demons like Venom. If Venom was even a demon.

She just looked up at the sky, trying to clear her thoughts. She had gotten into some real trouble now. She spotted a few witches fly by on their staffs, weaving around the tall buildings of the city like birds.

Then her eyes widened. The sky was orange . “Oh no, Willow and Gus!”

She climbed up the wall as fast as she could, ignoring the pain, and swung out of the city to get her clothes. She put them on, and made it to Willow’s home as fast as she could. She rang the bell, anxiously shifting her weight from feet to feet. Luckily it was Willow herself who opened the door.

“Willow! I’m so sorry for being late, I-”

“Luz? What happened to you?!” Willow suddenly said, cutting her off. Luz just blinked.

“What do you mean?” Luz asked. Her friend had gone pale, and was quickly ushering her inside.

“You look terrible! What happened?! Did someone attack you?” Willow asked again, guiding the human to the living room and sitting her down on a couch. Luz just blinked.

“Uh…” Then she spotted herself on the crystal ball, and sucked in a breath. She had a black eye, her upper lip was split, and overall she looked like… She had fought a giant cannibal monster. Crap. “I uh… I had to do a potion delivery for Eda and the client was a bit… You know.” She quickly said. Nailed it.

“Titan, Luz, Gus and I were so worried! You got to talk to Eda about this!” Willow chastised her. “And you come here apologizing for the game?! You’re unbelievable.” She continued, ever the mom friend. “I’ll get my dads’ healing supplies and tell Gus, just wait here, okay?”

Luz just numbly nodded, watching her friend disappear off the hallway. She sighed, bonelessly collapsing onto the couch.

Yep, this superhero business had definitely gotten a lot more complicated.

Chapter Text

A convoy marched forward up the road connecting Bonesborough and the Conformatorium, at least three carts flanked by dozens of Coven scouts and guards, all walking in perfect unison as their boots pounded the ground. A faceless, emotionless army. No one said a word.

No one except a single figure, who chuckled with malice. Easily towering over the others, the hulking form of Warden Wrath walked down one of the wagons that made up the convoy, peering into it. Six wild witches were huddled into a corner, restrained with enchanted shackles to stop their magic.

Wrath grinned under his mask, basking in the despair of his prisoners. The raid tonight had been successful. All of the wild witches congregating in that tavern had been apprehended and were being brought to the Conformatorium to pay for their crimes. And best of all, that damned Spider-Girl hadn’t even showed up!

“Phew, I was worried I would miss the parade! Can’t you guys lighten up a bit though?”

Speak of the devil. Wrath’s head snapped to the roof of the cart, and found the vigilante casually perched on it. “Hi Steve! How’s Matt?” Spider-Girl asked one of the guards, who shrugged.

“Eh, you know how it is. St. Epiderm is rough .”

Spider-Girl hissed. “Yeah, I’ve heard.”

Wrath just blinked behind his mask, utterly speechless. Then he looked at the rest of the guards, who were shifting uneasily. “WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?! TAKE HER !” 

“Or you could free the wild witches! How about that?” Spider-Girl cheerfully offered, only to be met by several spears pointed at her. “Guess not, huh?” Suddenly she somersaulted off the cart, soaring above the weapons while catching them with her webs. Then she landed on top of a second wagon, and stuck the spears to the roof of the vehicle.

“I mean really , aren’t you guys tired of being faceless goons following orders?” Spider-Girl asked with a shrug. The scouts just looked at each other.

“I kinda am.”

“Shut up, Severine.” Wrath growled, shoving the scout of the way and stomping towards Spider-Girl. “Fine, if none of you idiots can catch one witch , then I will!”

Then he leapt towards the vigilante with a roar, arms raised to smash her to bits. Rather than stand still and be beaten to a pulp, Spider-Girl just jumped out of the way, causing Wrath to smash right through the cart. Suddenly, his hands were webbed against the ground.

“Whew, that’s probably gonna come out of your paycheck!” Spider-Girl said, hanging upside down from a nearby tree. Wrath roared and tried to turn around, but found his hands were completely stuck. “Wait, does Phylip even pay you guys?”

“WHY YOU LITTLE-” A bigger web that covered his entire face cut him off, stopping him from even trying to take his mask off. Spider-Girl jumped on his back and crawled all over him, tangling him up into a web cocoon.

Then she jumped off to the ground and turned to the scouts, who were completely frozen in place. “So, what do you guys say we call it a day?”

The scouts looked at her, then at their leader, then at Spider-Girl. They raised up their arms almost in unison. “We’re good.” And then proceeded to high tail it out of there.

“Nice.” Spider-Girl said, then walked over Wrath and took a set of keys, getting a furious growl in response. Then she walked over to one of the shackled wild witches and undid their restraints.

“There ya go. Here, free the others. Gotta bounce.” She said, handing the witch the keys before jumping off to the forest around the road and swinging away. 

What the witch didn’t get to see was Spider-Girl cursing under her breath, swinging so fast she barely had time to dodge all the tree branches and demon birds in her way. Finally she landed on Hexside’s roof, praying she hadn’t been spotted by any witch flying in by staff.

Luz took off her mask, panting from the race to the school, when suddenly the bell screamed, making her jump.

“Oh crud!” She yelled to no one, quickly opening the bag she had hidden a while prior in the roof and putting on her uniform over her Spider-Girl suit, accidentally putting her tunic the wrong way and having to twist inside it.

After quickly peeking down to make sure there was no one to see her, she leapt off the roof and landed in front of the school’s gates, then threw the door open and sprinted for the Abominations wing.

She could still make it, she could still make it, she-

Professor Hermonculus’ abomination closed the door, and Luz barely had time to stop before slamming face first into it. 

“Sorry I’m late!” She said, throwing the door open. Everyone turned to look at her, expressions ranging from apathy to annoyance and culminating with Hermonculus’ furious face.

“Miss Noceda!” The professor said, making her wince. “This is the fifth time this month you are late!”

“I’m so sorry, I-”

“Spare me your excuses. Go to your seat, we’ll speak after class.”

Luz just deflated. “Yes, sir.” She said, walking over to her seat. She heard the other students whisper to each other, but chose to ignore it. She felt a shiver up her spine when she passed by Amity, but pointedly chose to ignore that .

Warden Wrath kneeled, not daring to lift his gaze. The Titan’s green heart beat with the might of a dragon, pounding his skull and rattling his bones. And it was beating fast, as if the Titan himself was furious at him.

But no, it wasn’t the Titan. It was perhaps someone worse. Emperor Phylip stared down at him from his throne, surrounded by the Golden Guard and head coveness Lilith Clawthorne. The dark holes of the Emperor’s mask stared into Wrath’s very soul. “You’ve failed to deliver a group of Wild Witches to justice. Again.” Phylip growled, his gauntleted hand gripping the throne’s armrest to the point of scratching them. Wrath gulped.

“We had them captured, your grace! We would have taken them to the Conformatorium, if it weren’t for-”

“Spider-Girl, I know.” Phylip said, cutting Wrath off. “It is always your excuse. Always bested by a single witch. I do not know if I should chalk this up to incompetence or just sheer idiocy.”

“Your grace-”

“Silence” . Now Phylip stood up from his seat, the gargantuan heartbeats reaching a crescendo. “Perhaps you do not understand the direness of the situation. In just the two months since Spider-Girl appeared, our successful roundups of wild witches have plummeted, while violent criminal apprehensions have risen to unprecedented levels.

“The people love Spider-Girl, see her a hero of the people. And just by her existence alone, doubt has been cast over the Emperor’s Coven. The Children of the Isles are turning their back on us, and the fear of wild magic is slowly disappearing. If this continues, we may just plummet into the Savage Ages once more.”

A tense silence fell over the throne room, no one present even daring to say a word. Finally, after what felt like hours, the Emperor spoke once more.

“However, one thing is for certain: We must adapt to this new threat. And for atonement for your failures, you shall be the first to do so, Wrath.”

The Warden lowered his gaze. “Yes, your grace. It’ll be an honor.”

The Abominations class was a slog to get through, which was a first. The night patrols were getting to Luz, seeing as she had had to blink the sleep away several times. And Hermonculus had noticed, judging by the stink eye he had given her.

But then, finally, finally the bell screamed. The other students immediately started to gather their things and run off to their next class, but Luz stayed put. Surprisingly, she noticed that Amity didn’t move either.

“Miss Noceda.” Hermonculus said, immediately getting her attention. “This tardiness of yours is starting to become a problem. I do not know the reasons for it, and frankly that’s none of my concern, but other professors have mentioned similar issues with you.

“Not only that, but you’ve started to lag behind in class. While I understand practical lessons are beyond your reach due to your nature, you’ve gone from excelling at all theoretical classes to not even being caught up on material from two weeks ago!”

Luz winced at that, and Hermonculus continued. “I want to be clear here, I am not trying to imply you’re lazy, or insulting your intelligence. All of the track coordinators agree that you’re a brilliant student, despite your circumstances, and it pains us to see you fall behind now.

“While the drop hasn’t been so pronounced in other tracks, your performance in the Abominations track has suffered the most. That is why I’ve assigned you a personal tutor.” The professor turned to look at Amity. “Miss Blight has offered herself to help you with your studies after class.”

Luz blinked, turning to Amity. “Oh! Uh. Thanks for helping out…?” The girl awkwardly said, not really knowing how to respond. The Blight just shrugged.

“It’s no problem. As top student, ensuring Hexside’s students all remain at the top of their game is my duty. The extra credit won’t hurt either.”

Hermonculus nodded. “That’s right, now off you go! Don’t want your other professors to send me complaints about tardiness.”

“Yes, professor.” Both girls said, quickly heading for the door. Luz could have sworn she felt Amity’s eyes on her until she bent the hallway corner.

Hunter stood perfectly still, flanking his uncle. They were in a large chamber down in the bowels of the Comformatorium, a restricted area shut off to most of the palace staff which very few people knew of.

The Emperor silently stood in front of a reinforced glass panel, Hunter to his left and another masked figure to his right. They wore a purple helmet that completely obscured their face, matching the purple cape that fell down their back. The rest of their uniform was dark green light armor, with the exception of their gauntleted hands. The Prowler.

Hunter ignored the mysterious figure, choosing to look through the glass panel instead. Standing there, inside of what looked like a supersized toy mold, was Warden Wrath. The mold connected to two tanks filled with some strange gray liquid above it through two tubes that converged into one.

“Uncle, is this… Safe?”

Phylip just hummed. “As safe as we could make it. If not… Well, we can always find another Warden.” The Emperor said with a shrug. Then he leaned over to a control panel, pressing a button. “Alright, Wrath. We shall begin your transformation now. Stay still.”

The Emperor pulled a lever, and Hunter winced behind his mask as the liquid poured down from the tanks and into the mold. Wrath started to scream as the liquid touched his skin, but was completely unable to move due to his restraints.

Soon enough, the mold was completely filled with the liquid, save for the Warden’s face. The substance started to solidify, forming a suit of armor that looked like…

“Is that… A unicorn?”

Phylip chuckled. “Not quite. It is a rhinoceros, a beast from the Human Realm. Known for its might, it will strike fear in the hearts of criminals. Or should I say… Spider-Girl.”

“Rhinoceros, huh?” Wrath said on the other side of the panel. “I like how that sounds…”

Phylip just ignored that comment. “You shall be sent back to your post. We will dispatch you the next time Spider-Girl attempts to interfere with a raid.”

Wrath turned pensive for a moment, then grinned. “Nah, I don’t think so.”

Suddenly, the Warden shattered the mold, breaking out of his restraints. Then he completely turned around, facing a wall, and ran straight at it. The stone completely shattered under the enhanced armor’s power, allowing Wrath to run through it as if it had been made of butter.

“Because the Rhino isn’t gonna keep Spider-Girl waiting!” He roared, charging off the hallway.

Hunter just stared at the now destroyed room, completely speechless. “Should… Should we contain him?”

Phylip shook his head. “Not yet. Let’s see what he’s capable of first.”

Luz sighed, kicking a pebble. She had agreed to meet Amity at the library for her tutoring sessions after school, which had caused both distrust and teasing from Willow and Gus. Especially Willow. The way Willow managed to be wary of Amity due to their past while teasing Luz about her supposed crush (which she TOTALLY didn’t have) was worthy of studying.

Speaking of studying, her mentor had also offered to teach her herself on account of being Luz’s mentor, but instantly backtracked the moment she realized it was magical theory .

And it wasn’t like Luz didn’t want to learn! It was just that private classes didn’t exactly mash well with having a secret identity as a superhero. That and she didn’t really know what to make of Amity just yet. She did get that weird tingle around the girl.

Plus there still was all that Kingpin stuff…

Suddenly, she started to feel a strange vibration. She stopped dead in her tracks with all the other passersby. She looked down at the pavement, noticing all of the pebbles starting to bounce, as if a train was about to come through. But that was impossible, there were no trains in Bonesborough.

Suddenly an entire cart flew right across an intersection, smashing to pieces once it hit a building.  Panic broke in an instant, with everyone in the street screaming and trying to get out of there as soon as possible.

Luz took to an alley instead, quickly changing into her Spider-Girl suit. Once she was done the girl quickly climbed up the building to get a good look of what was going on. That’s when she saw the culprit: A huge, muscular demon wearing a… Rhino suit? Luz frowned. That was weird.

“Spider-Girl!” The demon roared, “show yourself, coward!” And with that, he stomped on the pavement hard enough to tear a chunk the size of a demon off, before tossing it wildly.

Luz sucked in a breath once she saw the debris was flying straight to some poor Hexside student trying to high tail it out of there. She quickly leapt off the building, and landed just in time to catch the debris on her back before it hit the teenager.

The student fell on their back, looking at her with wide eyes. “I got this, get to safety!”

That was enough to break the teen out of their stupor, scrambling out of there while dishing out a thousand thank yous. Luz let out a breath she had been holding dropping the debris on the ground

“So, you finally show yourself!” The demon said. Luz turned around to face her opponent.

“Yeah, I feel like I shouldn’t be rewarding a tantrum- Wait, Warden Wrath? Is that you?”

Wrath just chuckled at the masked hero. “Warden Wrath was weak! He’s been replaced by a new, improved version! Say hello to… The Rhino!”

Luz shrugged. “Bit of a weird rebranding.” Then, she leapt into action, throwing a flying kick at Rhino… And bouncing right off him as if she had been a beach ball.

Spider-Girl bonelessly crumpled on the ground with a groan. Wrath grinned. “Not so cocky now, are we?!”

Then he grabbed her by the ankle, smashing her against the ground hard enough to crack the street before punching her right in the gut, sending her flying against a building.

Luz let out a yelp, barely managing to stick herself to the wall before smashing right against it. She barely had time to catch her breath before having to leap away, evading Rhino’s charge. Which she was extremely grateful for, seeing as Rhino had just completely run through it as if it had been tissue paper.

“Okay, I get it, you got strong!” The girl said, landing on her feet. “Maybe we can talk this through?”

“The only thing I’m gonna go through is your skull!” Wrath roared, throwing a brick at her. Luz snatched it with a web, giving it a swing before throwing it back. It crumbled against Rhino, who just grunted.

Then the former Warden charged at Luz again, this time opting to throw a punch. The superhero ducked under it, using her momentum to jump on his shoulders. “Okay big guy, it’s nap time!”

Then she started webbing him up, just as she had done the previous night. Soon she had him completely wrapped in a cocoon. She jumped off her opponent, taking in the view.

“Ah, there’s nothing like a job well do-”

Suddenly, Wrath just tore the webs apart by opening his arms. The demon grinned. “You were saying?”

He rushed Spider-Girl, taking advantage of her surprise, and grabbed her by the head. The girl yelped, struggling to break free to no avail before being smashed against the pavement once, twice, three times. Then, she was sent flying straight to a street light, which bent with the impact.

Luz groaned, slowly getting up from the ground. “Okay, looks like brute force isn’t gonna cut it.” She mused, looking as the Warden made his way towards her. Wrath opened his mouth, getting ready to use his fire breath.

Now that made Luz’s eyes widen. She had completely forgotten about that! The girl quickly shot webbing on the ground and smacked it. A pillar of ice emerged just in time, smashing right into Wrath’s mouth and smothering his fire breath.

Rhino finally recoiled in pain, clutching his mouth.

“What’s wrong, Rhino?! Got a brain freeze?!”

“I’ll squash you!” Wrath roared, charging straight for Spider-Girl in a blind range. So blind, in fact, that he didn’t notice Luz had drawn another pair of glyphs on the ground, creating a layer of ice.

The demon yelped, sliding out of control and right past Spider-Girl. He crashed against another wall, which crumbled around him and buried him in the rubble. Luz quickly froze the rubble, creating a thick layer of ice to trap the Warden.

It didn’t hold for long however, as he used his fire breath again to completely melt the ice. He jumped back to his feet with a furious roar, glaring at Spider-Girl. “You think some ice can stop me?!”

“I mean… Kinda?”

Rhino answered with another fist, which Luz barely had time to dodge. The demon kept throwing a flurry of punches at her, which she barely managed to evade. Then he used his fire breath again, which hit Spider-Girl straight in the chest.

Luz fell on her back with a hiss, smacking her suit to set off the fire. Wrath loomed over her, taking her by the neck and lifting her off her feet. Luz squirmed in his grip, much to his enjoyment.

“Oh, you can’t imagine how much I’ve wished to do this.” Wrath said with a grin, bringing Luz close to his face. And that’s when she saw it. The corners of his suit’s face opening were melting . Luz’s eyes widened. Of course, the suit was some kind of Abomination!

And if there was anything Abominations were weak to, it was fire.

In a flash, Luz shot her webbing at Wrath’s face. The demon yelped in surprise, dropping her as he recoiled from the surprise. Luz leapt to a street light before he could rip the webs off, getting out of his range.

“C’mon big boy! Let’s play follow the leader!” She said, swinging away just as Rhino broke free from the webbing. The demon grinned, chasing her.

“Where are you going, coward?!” He yelled, hot on Luz’s trail. The girl just ignored him, looking around for a deserted alley while double checking there weren’t any people in Rhino’s way.

Fortunately it seemed they had all taken notice of their fight and fled the area, leaving the streets deserted. Not even the Emperor’s Coven was around now that she noticed, which was definitely strange. Had Phylip really sent Wrath after her like that? It wasn’t their style to cause so much collateral damage. He had to keep the image of a benevolent ruler intact and all.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. With a quick maneuver she turned a sharp corner, which Wrath completely ran past due to his momentum. Then, she got to work.

She started drawing fire glyphs with her webbing on every inch of wall and ground she could get, zipping all over the alley. She was finishing up the last glyph right when Rhino walked in.

“There you are, bug!” He said with a grin. “And cornered yourself just for me!”

“Do not underestimate me, Rhino, For I am Spider-Girl, warrior of peace!” Luz suddenly declared, striking a heroic pose. That made Wrath pause, confused. There was a split second where the superhero just stood there.

“Now eat this, sucker!” She said, kneeling on a glyph. She leapt away just in time to avoid getting blasted by the fire, which hit Wrath instead. The demon roared in surprise as the glyphs activated all at once, turning the alley into a pit of fire.

Luz perched herself on top of the building, watching with trepidation as the fires raged on. After what felt like an eternity, they finally died down. Luz sighed in relief when she saw that the heat had completely hardened the suit, leaving Wrath unable to move.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure the Coven scouts will find you soon enough!” She said before swinging away. She quickly made her way back to the alley where she had changed, putting back on her civilian clothes.

Once she made sure the coast was clear, she walked out of the alley. She quickly made her way to the library, mentally chastising herself for being late. She spotted Amity there, standing right in front of the library gates and scrolling through her Penstagram. She seemed… Oddly invested in her social media.

“Hey, I’m so sorry for being late!” Luz said, quickly climbing up the stairs. “It’s just- There was this HUGE fight between Spider-Girl and some dude in a rhinoceros suit!”

Amity just quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah, I saw on Pensta. Glad to see you’re okay.”

Luz shrugged. “Yeah, I’m tougher than I look!”

That actually made Amity chuckle, which totally didn’t make Luz feel anything at all. “Very well tough girl, let’s see how good you are at Abominations.”

“Your suit failed .” Phylip said. He was sitting on his desk, in his private chambers. In front of him was a crystal ball, the person on the other end completely obscured.

“Yes, I know. A minor setback, I assure you. My team is already working on an improved formula.”

Phylip just glared daggers at the device. “They better be. I have tolerated your presence so far, but don’t forget who is truly in charge here.”

“Of course, my liege.” The other person replied. “I would never dream of going against your wishes. After all, being actually persecuted by the Emperor’s Coven would be bad for business. Our next project shall be a success.”

Phylip narrowed his eyes. “It better be, Kingpin. Or I might have to take matters by my own hand.”

Chapter Text

A platoon of Emperor’s Coven scouts trudged on, making their way through the Isles’ forests under the light of the full moon. “Ugh, I don’t understand why we have to do this.” A scout said, just in time to get slapped by a tree branch.

“Yeah, isn’t this kinda stuff supposed to be Beast Keeping jurisdiction?!” Another one complained. The Captain of the platoon just sighed.

“Guys, I know this isn’t all that cool, but that Elebat gotta go, and Beast Keepers aren’t powerful enough to stop it.” Steve said, cutting through the undergrowth.

“I mean, it could be fun?” Another scout said, although she didn’t sound too sure of that.

“Oh shut up, Severine. Just because you got a lucky shot after interning at the Tiny Cat Coven of all things doesn’t mean we wanna stoop that low!” The first scout said, earning a whimper from Severine.

“Hey, cut it out or you’re getting office duty!” Steve snapped, making the entire platoon instantly shut up. “We should be almost there.” The captain added, lifting up his wrist to see an illusory map tracking the demon.

Sure enough, the platoon reached a clearing where they found their prey. A large bat the size of a witch, with golden fur and glowing yellow eyes. Electricity cackled around it, with bolts occasionally shooting out of its fur and skin.

Steve narrowed his eyes, inspecting the beast. “Okay, first things first: We need to restrain it. Severine, you’re the one with the most experience with beast keeping, you’re up.” The captain said, turning to Severine.

“I don’t know sir, electric demons can usually-”

“Oh, just get on with it!” One of the scouts suddenly yelled, pushing Severine into the clearing. The Elebat quickly snapped its head towards the scout, fur standing on end as electricity cracked. The beast’s lips curled into a hiss, showing off its fangs.

Severine gulped, frozen in place. She knew one wrong move would cause the creature to attack. This was bad. Titan , this was really bad.  “H…Hey there.” Severine shyly said, not daring to move a muscle. The elebat just snarled in response.

Then a branch snapped behind her, no doubt one of her fellow scouts had moved. It all happened in a flash, one moment everything was perfectly still, and the next Severine found herself casting a binding spell just as the elebat launched itself into the air and charged its electricity.

A rope of pure magical light shot out of Severine’s hands, wrapping itself around the beast. It screeched in surprise, falling down into the ground. Then every nerve in Severine’s body felt like it was on fire.

Golden lightning crackled up the magical lasso, connecting straight with the scout’s body. The night sky lit up with horrible golden light as Severine screamed in agony, electricity coursing through her body unimpeded. Steve called out orders to move and help her, but Severine never heard them.

By the time the rest of her platoon acted, Severine fell bonelessly into the ground, her muscles spasming on their own.

“Maximus, I need a vitals reading!” Steve barked out, rushing towards his fallen comrade. “Everyone else, get that beast out of here!”

The scouts all moved in an instant. Steve just kneeled beside Severine as Maximus rushed to them, drawing a spell circle.

“She lives, sir.”

Steve sighed in relief. “We need to get her to a Healer, ASAP.” Then he looked back to Severine. “Just hang on, Severine.”

Eda climbed the stairs of the Owl House, heading for Luz’s room. The girl had arrived from school a couple of hours earlier, and hadn’t left in that entire time. Eda hadn’t minded at first, enjoying some peace and quiet, but as the minutes stretched she started to worry. The house had never been this quiet ever since Luz first stepped into the Isles, even King was getting concerned, in his own way.

Eda knocked on Luz’s door, and got a muffled “come in!” in response. The witch slowly opened the door. “Hey kid, everything alright? You’ve been awfully- Woah.”

Eda blinked as she laid her eyes upon the most impressive conspiracy board she had seen. Every single crook, scammer and crime boss was plastered on Luz’s wall, with red string tying all of them in some insane logic. Apart from the main mass were a sketch of a strange purple demon with solid white eyes and a photo of Warden Wrath.

“Uh, kid? What’s… This?”

Luz perked up. “Oh, it’s a Spider-Girl thing.” The girl explained, “I’ve been trying to hunt down a pretty big crime boss for a while now, but I just can’t figure it out!”

Eda blinked, worryingly looking at the conspiracy board. “Uh, which crime boss exactly?”

Luz shrugged “Some guy that calls themselves the Kingpin, I-”

“You are going after the Kingpin?! ” Eda suddenly yelled, making Luz jump.

“Wait, you know them?”

The witch shook her head. “Kid, even the pettiest thief knows about the Kingpin! They’re the most powerful crime lord in the Boiling Isles, not even I mess with them!” Eda explained, walking over to the photos. “Who’s this guy? Venom?” She asked, reading the name beneath the sketch of the purple demon.

Luz frowned. “Remember a couple weeks ago when I came back from Willow’s place all beat up and asked you for some fighting tips?”

Eda whistled. “Damn kid, you fought that thing?”

Luz shrugged. “More like I got the snot beaten out of me.” She then moved over to the chest she used to store her clothes, digging through it until she got to her Spider-Girl suit, buried deep beneath everything else. “It’s why I’ve made a few tweaks to my suit!” The girl said, showing off the suit’s gloves to Eda.

The witch raised an eyebrow, seeing that now each finger had a glyph sewed into it. “Huh, this way you can cast spells without paper. Clever.”

“Yup! Plus, this way it hides my identity better. Not a lot of people around casting magic with glyphs.” Luz said with a shrug.

“Right.” Eda said, her eyes drifting back to the conspiracy board. “Say, kid, I heard there’s a carnival in town. Think you could go there with King? I feel like you gotta relax a bit.”

“I’m fine, Eda, really.”

Eda just raised an eyebrow. “Kid, when was the last time you’ve done anything that wasn’t related to either school or swingin’ around?”

Luz opened her mouth, but nothing came. Eda smirked. “See? Titan, I can’t even remember when was the last time you had Goops and Plant over.” Then, her face softened. “I get why you do what you do, but you gotta have some me time too. The Isles survived for thousands of years without you, they can take an afternoon.”

Luz sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I can even call Willow and Gus, see if they wanna tag along. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Severine awoke with the worst headache she had ever felt. She groaned as she blinked away the spots in her vision, bringing a hand to her head. “Ugh, wha-” Then she realized she wasn’t touching her head at all . The scout froze, slowly peeling her hand away and lowering it to her line of vision.

She was wearing some sort of golden gauntlet.

“Severine? Oh thank Titan you woke up.” A voice suddenly spoke up, making her turn to her room, a Healer’s room she noticed. What was going on?

“Captain?” She asked, looking down at herself. She was wearing some sort of full body armor, painted green with more golden accents that almost looked like… Lightning? “What happened?”

Steve remained quiet for a moment. “We were sent after an elebat. There was an… Accident. The healers said the electric current reached your vile and affected your very sac. The suit was made to contain it.”

Severine frowned. An accident? That didn’t seem right. “Does that mean that I’m stuck like this?”

The silence that followed stretched for too long.

“...Captain?”

“Emperor Phylip has declared that your newfound abilities are too valuable for the Empire to go to waste.” Steve said, averting his gaze. 

“ What?!” Severine roared, sitting up on her bed. Electricity charged the air, Steve could taste it.

“Look, I- I know it sounds bad, but-”

“Bad? Bad?! You’re telling me I’m just stuck like this?! And no one is even gonna bother to try and help me?!” Severine said, her voice cracking with both emotion and static. The medical machinery hooked to her started to warble as sparks flew from them, and even the few non-magical lights in the room started to act up.

“Severine-”

“And you set me up! You and those idiots in the platoon! And Wrath, and the entire Coven, and Spider-Girl” The scout continued, ignoring her superior. “It’s your FAULT!” She roared, pointing an accusatory finger at her boss.

And all hell broke loose.

Lightning shot out from her fingertip, striking Steve square in the chest. The captain was sent flying across the room and hit the wall hard, falling to the ground with a groan. Severine, who was completely blindsided by her own attack, was sent flying off the bed from the force, smashing straight through the wall.

Then she was falling. Severine cried out as she was shot away from the building, plummeting down to the streets below. In a panic, she shot down her lightning to the ground. She heard the people below scream in panic and scatter, but her brain focused on the fact that she wasn’t falling anymore.

She slowly lowered herself down to the ground, looking at her hands with wonder. Then she looked up to where she had fallen, at least five stories. Severine blinked. “Holy shit.”

She stood there for what felt like hours, and was only snapped out of it when she started to hear commotion coming from other streets, no doubt the Emperor’s Coven. She looked back up to the hole she had made in her healer’s room, and then ran.

“Man, the Boiling Isles carnival looks wild!” Luz said, as she, Willow, Gus and King walked among all the different stands and rides. “I’m so glad Eda talked me into coming here.”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since we met up!” Gus said, “you’re so busy lately!”

“Oh don’t be so hard on her, I’m sure she just really needs to spend a lot of time with Amity for those tutoring sessions.” Willow told him, a smirk on her face which only grew bigger at Luz’s ears reddening a bit.

“What? That’s purely academic.” Luz quickly said, waving Willow off. “I mean, it wasn’t even my idea! It was Professor Hermonculus!” Besides, it’s not like she had that much time with being a superhero, but she kept that to herself. Then she turned her gaze to a pretty strange ride.

It looked like a giant pool of purple liquid with a canoe lazily floating in it, glowing with an ethereal glow that made her spider-sense tingle ever so slightly. It just felt… Wrong. “What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s a Styx Pool!” Gus explained, “it shows you a reflection of your future! The longer you stay the farther in time it goes.” The boy said. “Plus sometimes one of the spirits might snatch you and try to drown you. Fun!”

Luz grimaced. “Yeah, I think I’m gonna pass.”

“Oh, enough talking!” King suddenly declared, climbing Luz up like a tree until he rested himself on her shoulder. “Onwards my noble steed, to adventure!”

Luz smiled at the little demon. “To adventure!”

And so the group of four took off, making their way through all the different stands and rides. First they went through all the different stands, during which King used everything Eda had taught him about scamming suckers to figure out every trick and cheat the carnies had come up with to rig their games, which combined with Luz’s powers and Willow and Gus’ magical proficiency earned them the highest prices.

Then they went on the Roller Ghoster, during which they found out neither Willow nor King could handle high speeds like those the hard way. Luz was forever grateful she was wearing enough layers over her Spider-Girl suit to avoid it getting hit directly, but it was gonna smell for a while.

After that, they made their way to a high striker operated by a smug, one eyed frog demon.

“Step right up, everyone! Prove your strength in the ultimate test!” He loudly announced, trying to attract any customers. King snickered from where he was perched on Luz’s shoulder.

“You should try it, Luz!” The little demon said, earning a glare from his human friend. “Teach them a lesson!”

“With my weak nerd arms ?” Luz said, her glare at King intensifying. “No way! I’m not strong enough for that.”

“Oh come on, don’t cut yourself short!” Willow said. “I’ve seen you carry pots with huge carnivorous plants back at school! You can totally beat that game!”

Luz tensed for a second. Crap, she had to be more careful!

“Yeah girl, show them what a human can do!” Gus added, cheering her on. Luz looked at her witch friends, then at King and sighed.

“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll do it!” Luz said with a slight smile. “But don’t be surprised when I fail horribly!” The human said, stepping up. The carny grinned once he saw her approach.

“Oh, I guess we have a brave warrior today! Tell me kid, what’s your name?”

“It’s Luz, sir.”

The frog demon’s grin grew. “Very well, Luz… The human?” He said, noticing Luz’s ears. “Interesting development! 

Luz just shrugged, taking the mallet from the carny. She eyed it carefully, looking for any tricks or cheats on it while pretending to be weighing it. Then she lifted it over her head, ready to hit the target while controlling her strength.

Suddenly her Spider-sense went off, and a large city guard crashed against one of the stands. Luz smashed the target with all her might from the shock, making the bell go flying, but no one noticed. The crowd quickly started moving, reactions going from fleeing in a panic to moving to help the guard and everything in between.

Luz moved back with her friends, who were looking at the guard in concern. “What happened? Did you guys see anything?” The human asked. The other three shook their heads.

“No, the guy just came flying from over there!” Gus said, pointing over to where the entrance of the carnival was, obscured by rides and stands. Luz frowned. If someone was fighting city guards like that it could be a wild witch trying to evade capture. Even if it wasn’t that, people could still get hurt. She needed to step in.

“I’ll go check out what’s going on, you guys stay here.”

“What?! No way we’re letting you do that!” Willow said, earning a nod from Gus.

“Yeah, you could get hurt!”

Luz bit her lip, then made her choice. “Guys, I’ll be fine, don’t worry!” The girl said, running off towards the commotion. The two witches made to go after her, but King put himself between them.

“King? What are you doing?” Willow asked, making King shrug.

“Don’t worry, she’s fine! She’s done way more dangerous delivery runs for Eda!” The little demon said, trying to buy Luz time to disappear and change into her Spider-Girl suit.

And so she did, ducking between some tents out of sight before quickly swinging out again as Spider-Girl. She quickly found the issue, and it was definitely something she wasn’t expecting.

A tall, thin demon was standing a few feet from the carnival’s entrance, wearing what looked like heavy green armor adorned with golden lightning and gold gauntlets. They didn’t wear a helmet, showing off a long spiked neck and a round head with a fanged mouth and twin horns, which had lightning pulsing between them like a tesla coil. 

Around her were three of those huge city guards, all knocked out and with scorch marks in their chest. Luz winced, this was gonna be hard. She had to take this easy, they looked shaken.

“Hiya!” Luz called out, perched on a stand. The demon’s head snapped in her direction, eyes widening in fear. “Woah, woah, hey! Easy, buddy! I’m not gonna hurt you!” Luz said, hopping off the stand.

The demon shifted, their entire body tensing. Luz raised her arms. “Look, I’m serious! Pinky promise! Nice job with those guards by the way, Titan knows they can be a handful. Are you a wild witch?” Luz snarked, nodding to one of the fallen guards, who groaned. 

The demon glared at her, the electricity between their horns crackling. Okay, maybe not.

“No? Hey, that’s cool! Sorry if it offended you?” Luz said, cringing at herself. God, she was horrible at this. “What’s your name?”

The demon froze, seemingly confused. But before they could say anything, a third voice came in.

“Severine!”

The demon turned to the entrance, where a coven scout platoon appeared. The leader raised their hand. Steve. “Severine, listen–”

“No! You set me up!” The demon said, wildly looking between the scouts and Spider-Girl, who took a step back. “You used her as a distraction, didn’t you?!”

“Woah, hey, I’m not-” Spider-Girl tried to say, raising her hands defensively.

“Shut up!” Severine roared, turning to the superhero. “This is your fault! You’re the reason everyone hated me! Every time we failed to get you, they put it on me! You are the reason they turned me into this!”

Then she turned to the scouts, sparks flying all over her body as her eyes lit up. The scouts took a step back, clearly terrified. “And you don’t get to call me that! Not anymore! Severine is dead, and you all killed her!” The demon declared, slowly beginning to float up in the air. “I am now… Electro!”

The demon declared, her voice distorted with pure energy. Then she shot golden lightning at the scouts, the pavement practically exploding with the force. The coven members were thrown back with a scream, landing against the pebbled ground.

Electro then turned to Spider-Girl. “And today is the day the spider gets squashed!”

Before Spider-Girl could react Electro zapped towards her, slamming against the superhero’s torso. Luz felt all the air leave her lungs as Electro tackled her through several stands, smashing them into pieces, and then she was dropped against the pavement.

Luz rolled several feet before coming to a stop, groaning in pain. “Severine, listen-” 

Electro roared, enraged, and she fired electricity at her opponent. Spider-Girl screamed in pain, her body convulsing against her will from the sudden shock. Electro grit her teeth. “I said, do not call me that! ”

Suddenly, vines and bark sprouted from the ground, enveloping Electro completely and stopping her onslaught. Spider-Girl wheezed, smoke coming out of her as if she were a grilled chicken.

“Spider-Girl!” A familiar voice called out. Before Luz knew it, she was being hoisted back to her feet by strong, calloused hands. The superhero blinked, looking at her savior. Willow? “Spider-Girl, are you okay? What’s happening?!”

Luz coughed, taking a step away from her friend. “I’m okay, kid. Thanks for the assist.” Luz said, taking her voice down a pitch or two. “But you really gotta go, it isn’t safe here.”

Willow shook her head. “No, my friend is out there! I’m not leaving without her!”

Luz winced under her mask. “Uh, how did that friend of yours look?”

“She’s a human! You couldn’t have missed her!” Willow all but begged, desperation clear in her eyes. Luz sighed.

“Yeah I… I saw her! She, uh, she was the one that told me to come here, in fact! She saw me swinging around and told me there was trouble at the carnival! She’s safe, don’t worry.”

Willow immediately relaxed, making Luz sigh in relief. That was one crisis averted. Then her Spider-sense flared up, and without even thinking she slammed her hands on the ground, activating her gloves’ glyphs. A wall of bark and ice rose from the ground just in the tick of time to stop a powerful electricity blast.

“She also told me to keep you guys safe!” Luz shouted, holding the barrier as best as she could. “Go, go!”

Willow seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then ran. Luz relaxed for a second, then quickly climbed up the ice-wood wall she had created until she perched herself on top.

“Severine, listen to me! Can’t you see what you’re doing?! You could hurt people! Innocent people! Didn’t you join the Emperor’s Coven to help?!”

Severine just roared in reply, sending another blast of electricity her way. This time Luz jumped out of the way.

“Shut up! Don’t pretend you know anything about me!” Electro roared in rage. “You beat me up and mocked me for doing my job! You turned me into the laughing stock of the Emperor’s Coven!” She screamed, still trying to blast Luz away. “Just like everybody else! No one cares about me but myself!”

And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Electro disappeared and reappeared right next to Luz. The superhero let out a yelp of surprise right before getting a punch square in the jaw that sent her flying.

Electro looked at her hands in shock for a moment, but then she grinned. Before Luz could even react, Electro zapped herself right next to her again and decked her in the face.

Luz tried to kick her back, but Electro teleported again and kicked her instead, then finished it with a strike of lightning that sent Spider-Girl crashing against the ground, practically forming a crater.

Electro slowly lowered herself back to the ground with a grin on her face. “What’s wrong, Spider-Girl? No jokes for me today?”

Spider-Girl coughed, stumbling back to her feet. “Severine, please-”

“I said, do not call me that!” Electro roared, blasting Spider-Girl again with lightning. The hero jumped over it, shooting her webs at Electro. Luz landed on her feet, and tossed Electro over her head using her webs, sending the electric demon flying against a stand.

Electro crashed against it, smashing it to pieces, and got her hands webbed to the ground before she could even attempt to move. “Listen, I know you’re hurt, and scared, and angry, but I can help you, if you let me.”

“For Titan’s sake, will you shut up!” Electro yelled, her eyes glowing with an electric gold. There was a pulse of energy, and the webs holding her down exploded. She shot forwards once more, but this time Spider-Girl dodged her.

Electro kept throwing punches and kicks at her, but Luz kept dodging them and jumping over them. Electro grit her teeth, lightning bolts shooting out of her body with each failed hit and striking the ground, tents and stands around them, and Luz could hear people screaming and running not too far from them. The fight was bringing them back to where the people were.

“Okay, I think that’s enough messing around!” The girl declared, shooting webs at Electro’s face. The demon yelped in surprise, suddenly blinded, when suddenly Spider-Girl punched her in return. Electro stumbled back, trying to tear the webbing away when she got another punch to the jaw, followed by another one to the gut and finished with a roundhouse kick to the face.

Electro fell to the ground hard enough to crack the pavement, making Luz wince. She hadn’t met to hit her that hard. The electric demon growled. “You… You will pay for that!”

Then she blinded fired at Luz’s direction, hitting her square in the chest and sending her flying to a ride. More specifically a hall of mirrors. Luz groaned, getting up with a wheeze.

“Man, this is not how I wanted my carnival day to… Go…” She said, looking around her. It was a hall of mirrors alright, but it was definitely Boiling Isles flavored. Looking back at her were all kinds of different Luces. One looked just like her, except with a scar over her left eye and wearing what looked like a Good Witch Azura cosplay. Another one had black eyes with golden irises, a witch’s hat with horns sprouting out of it and looked a lot like King. Another one was also wearing a Spider-Girl suit, but this one was completely purple with a larger spider insignia, and another was wearing the Golden Guard armor.

And then there were some weird ones. In one she was a humanoid dog, in another she was a living skeleton, and in yet another there was just a giant three headed dragon. And there was another one where she… Wasn’t herself at all. A young man was looking back at her, with brown hair and chestnut eyes, wearing his own Spider suit, except this one was red and blue.

“Spider-Girl!” Electro roared from right outside the entrance, making Luz break out of her trance. “Prepare to die!” She said, her entire body charging up with energy. Luz turned to her, eyes wide with horror.

“Wait, no-!”

Too late. Electro shot a massive blast of electricity right at Spider-Girl. She barely managed to get out of the way, but it was for naught. The lightning hit a mirror behind her, making it bounce right back at her and split. Luz cried out in pain, falling limp to the ground as the lightning kept bouncing off all the mirrors.

One stray bolt went right back to Electro, hitting her square in the chest and making her shoot backwards with a yelp, overloading with energy. Most other bolts hit the ground and different tents and stands, but one made Luz’s eyes almost bulge out of her skull. It went straight to the ferris wheel, which still had people inside, and struck right at its joint.

The crowd around it froze as the lightning bolt struck with enough force to carve off a chunk of the wheel. Time seemed to come to a stop as everyone stared at it. Then there was a metallic groan, and the wheel started to fall .

“NO!” Luz cried out, getting up on her feet with a hiss. She sprinted as fast as her legs could carry her, running faster than any human could possibly have run. Everyone screamed with horror as the ride slowly started to fall over, running for her lives. The people stuck in the ride cried out, desperately gripping their seats’ restraints or holding on to the people seated next to them. In the crowd Luz could spot Willow with Gus, who was carrying King, but the poor teenagers were being thrown around by the frenzied mass of witches and demons. There were some coven scouts trying to get people out of the area, but they were being completely ignored

Luz didn’t have time to think, she needed to act . The girl shot out her webs at the ferris wheel, as many as she could, and gripping the bundle of webs in her hands she pulled .

Every muscle in her body screamed at her, her entire body feeling as if she was being lit in fire from the effort. Luz grit her teeth, pulling as hard as she could as she dug her heels on the pavement. The rock ground cracked and broke into pieces as the girl was dragged by the ferris wheel, creating a trench on the ground.

The wheel was now falling much more slowly, the metal groaning from the strain of being pulled in two directions. But it wasn’t enough, it was still falling. Luz let out a roar as she mustered up all the strength she had, feeling as if her arms were about to come right out of their sockets.

Then the wheel stopped falling. Luz blinked, feeling the weight had lightened. She looked around her, and gasped with what she saw. Standing right next to her was Willow, her eyes glowing with pure green magic as sweat ran down her face. Twin spell circles were around her wrists, with several large vines shooting out to wrap themselves around the ferris wheel. And she wasn’t the only one.

Around her several coven scouts and other witches were there with her, doing their part with plant, abomination and construction magic to hold the wheel in place while other scouts got the people trapped to safety.

“We got this.” A new voice said to her left. Luz turned her head, and saw Steve using construction magic to hold the wheel. “Go!”

Spider-Girl seemed to hesitate, but the sound of thunder not too far made her make up her mind. The superhero nodded, letting go of the webs holding the wheel and running off to where Electro was.

She needed to think of a plan, and fast. What did you do to stop someone who was made of electricity? She racked her brain, desperately trying to come up with a solution… Then a part of her drifted to electric types being weak to water types.

Luz stopped dead on her tracks, frowning under her mask. Was Pokémon logic really to be trusted? She shrugged, that was the best she had, and she knew exactly where to find enough water.

First she went to Electro, who was easy to find, given she had seemingly recovered from her self-inflicted blast and was calling out for Spider-Girl to face her. She swung up to a tent’s pole, sticking to it.

“Hey, lightning-butt! Over here!” Spider-Girl called out, getting Electro’s attention. The demon let out a frustrated yell, using her electricity to launch herself towards Spider-Girl. 

Luz dodged out of the way, landing on another tent. “Come on Electro, you can do better than this!” She called out, enraged Electro even more. And so the chase began, with Electro chasing after Spider-Girl as she kept dodging her blasts and punches, although there was one that almost got her.

Then, she finally saw her objective: the Styx Pool. She easily leapt over it, landing on a tent on the other side of the pool. “Come on, Electro! Let’s finish this!”

Electro grinned. “I’ll finish you alright!” She declared, leaping over the pool and towards Spider-Girl. Suddenly, the superhero jumped towards her, soaring above the demon. Severine looked up in confusion, when suddenly Spider-Girl clapped her hands, and shot out a pillar of ice.

Electro yelped before being smashed by the ice pillar, hurling down towards the Styx Pool. The moment she fell in the water, the entire pool lit up with electricity. Electro screamed as her electricity overcharged the water of the pool, short circuiting her. Spider-Girl watched on from outside the pool, seeing the spirits flee the water as it evaporated, leaving an unconscious Electro behind.

Luz sighed, finally relaxing. She limped away from the pool before sitting down against an abandoned stand, the events of the day finally catching up with her. Oh she was so, so tired.

“Spider-Girl.” A voice said. Luz groaned, looking over to a Coven scout. Steve, and he had the rest of his platoon with him.

“Oh come on, can’t a girl catch her breath?” Luz said, annoyance clear in her voice. She tried to get up to fight, but hissed and collapsed back on the ground. Steve just looked at the other scouts, then back at Spider-Girl.

“Well, such a shame. Looks like Spider-Girl fled the scene before we could catch her.” Steve said, looking at the superhero. Luz blinked, what? “Did any of you see where she went?” The captain asked, turning to the other scouts.

They hesitantly looked at each other, seemingly not sure of what to do. Then, one of them spoke up. “No, sir. I was busy getting a demonling out of the ferris wheel.”

“Me neither, sir. I was too focused on keeping the wheel from falling.” A second scout said. And so, one by one, every scout gave their explanation of why they hadn’t seen Spider-Girl flee the scene, much to Luz’s shock.

Steve nodded. “Very well. Then let’s get Severine out of here, and hope to get her some help.” Then, he turned back to Spider-Girl. “A lot of lives could have been lost today.”

Luz sighed, relaxing. “Thanks, Steve.”

Steve just nodded, then left the scene for Severine, leaving Luz to catch her breath.

A figure watched the fight go down, perched from a rooftop next to the carnival area. They closely followed Spider-Girl and Electro across the carnival, their eyes narrowed at the events.

Then Spider-Girl dunked Electro on the Styx Pool, and disappeared in the mist from the evaporated water. The figure frowned.

“Prowler, what’s the situation?” A voice asked them, coming in through an oracle magic stone embedded on their chest armor.

“Target has been neutralized, sir. By Spider-Girl.” The Prowler replied. “Spider-Girl has fled the scene, scouts are moving in to contain the target. It seems she’s weak to large amounts of water.”

There was a hum on the other side of the line. “Understood. Make sure the target is moved to the same location as the Rhino.”

Prowler shook their head. “Negative, my liege. With all due respect, the target seems to be too mentally unstable. I advise mental healers to be hired, otherwise she’s as much of a threat to us as she is to Spider-Girl.”

There was silence from the other end of the line that stretched for a bit too long, putting the Prowler on edge. “You raise a valid point. Very well, I’ll forgive your impertinence this time .” The Emperor said, the last two words laced with venom.

“I am forever grateful, my liege. Prowler, out.”