There had been a lot of times when their Spider Senses would alert them to impending danger. A sixth sense that seemed to slow time and enhance their reflexes to insane levels. Almost like adrenaline but much more potent.
Guns were the most common occurrence, Peter and Gwen had learned the hard way that their durability only really mattered towards blunt damage. Luckily, if they were at the very least aware of a firearm present, the two were fast enough to avoid the bullets fired.
Thrown objects was another thing. Their little dynamic duo had gotten rather adept in the art of 'return-to-sender'.
The last thing the senses gave them were warnings that something was happening that probably should involve them.
However, even with the debacle of dealing with Dr. Connors, Dr. Octavius, or…Osbourne…the duo hadn't known they were the 'Big Bads' until they had actually turned hostile towards them.
Not with this…guy…
It was a routine patrol but as soon as they crossed Central Park into the East side of Manhattan, their Spider Senses went into overdrive, that had caused them to stumble mid-swing and nearly faceplant into the side of a building.
Something that happened back in the Battle of New York when the duo had fought aliens and were doing their best to keep the people out of harms way.
It wasn't the aliens that had sent their senses into overdrive.
No, it was that calm before the storm. Peter felt the hair on his body stand on end. He felt his muscles coiling and he was already in the air alongside Gwen, atop one of the many rooftops of the New York Skyline, watching as dark clouds loomed over them and all the water raining from the air and on the ground, still before rising.
Even the water in their suits had been pulled and sent upwards, joining the ominous clouds and drying them in the process.
His instincts and senses were telling him to seek cover and hide but his and Gwen's curiosity had won out.
Peter was not religious. Not after losing his Uncle Ben and even before he and his girlfriend received their spider bite and supernatural powers, his own intellect and pursuit of innovation had seen him move away from it.
What happened next could only be described as biblical.
Hundreds of spouts of torrential water descended upon the city and killed every single alien that was present. A web of lightning arced across the sky that day. Unnaturally so, as it struck everything not native to Earth from the sky as if smiting them.
A trio of those spouts had even landed near them, churning in their watery tornadoes and lashing out with tendrils of ice and water. If not for their increased reaction speeds and their senses, the Spiders would have been pulled into those cyclones if they hadn't let go of the aliens they had been grappling with.
Still, the next time that they had known something was wrong was when they had found the Lady Valkyrie. The Asgardian woman seemed to be more of a tourist and sightsee-er more than anything if her rather haphazard intervention of car theft was anything to go by.
It reminded him of the Spiders' first outings when they had gotten their powers.
It was only chance that they had stumbled on the Asgardian Valkyrie. They heard the noise of the burglar and went to deal with it only to find themselves watching Valkyrie cut an imposing figure with her hackles raised, feathers poofed up and everything. An oddly similar display to other avians and their displays of intimidation. Though neither Gwen nor Peter were all that familiar with the field of ornithology and the information they knew was whatever was on Nat Geo.
Whatever the Asgardian Valkyrie was paled in comparison to the Golden Warrior or…Apollyon, as some of the more religious nutcases of the media had coined him as (which had apparently stuck), his and Gwen's senses went into overdrive before the guy had even showed up.
And it wasn't the good kind of warning they got either. It wasn't 'You should move.' It was, 'You need to move.'
When he appeared, the warning hadn't lessened or increased, it was just the mantra on repeat and a constant buzzing.
The Spiders didn't stay long to observe, discounting SHIELD, the Golden Warrior guy was an Avenger-Level threat to deal with, not something the Spiders could involve themselves in, even if they wanted to.
But this…guy…, the Spiders didn't know what to make of him. He was giving off the same vibes as Apollyon. Whether it was him or not, neither of the Spiders knew. Even with their superhuman senses, they never really got a good look at him.
Right now, he was just a normal dude, on what looked to be a date or something. Greaser get-up aside, the dude was seemingly normal.
So why was their sense telling them something was wrong?
"We've been following this guy for ages!" Gwen's repeated complaints were responded to with an eye roll of his own.
"This was your idea." Peter reminded her through the earpiece.
"Your head was going ballistic too." Peter could imagine a childish tongue sticking out at him.
Contrary to what the dynamic duo publicly portrayed themselves as, Spider Man and Spider Woman; Brain and Brawn respectively, they were both on an even playing field when it came to their ability and prowess. Their training bouts attested to their equal footing and of course, neither were willing to go all out on the other.
Gwen just had a lot more utility when it came to what she got from that spider bite. As she got organic electricity and active camouflage of all things, who wouldn't think that she was the stronger of the duo?
Plus, it was rather neat that the two powers she got, complemented her skillset decently. Gwen had a tendency to stick her nose where others didn't want it and be able to go invisible was dialing her inquisitive nature to the nth degree.
Though it was to be expected, it wasn't public knowledge that Peter was the one that designed and made their suits…their web shooters…and their web fluid…tactics…training…Peter was the application to Gwen's theorizing.
They really didn't have a way to measure their strength, being broke college students put a tight budget on them and Peter had resorted to mixing their web fluid in the school labs and pilfering what they could from abandoned OsCorps' warehouses when the company had went under six years ago.
Even then, most of OsCorps' inventory went to the government when they were liquidated. Turns out the US military doesn't mess around when their investments ended up in the news and was blowing up Mid-Town, being piloted by a deranged CEO.
While OsCorp was mostly okay, even if they were blacklisted from government contracts. It was the Battle of New York that was the nail in the coffin for the company. All the damages to their property, the loss of several board members adding onto the bad media attention, made the company go bankrupt not long after.
It wasn't theft. As Gwen so eloquently put it, 'you can't steal what nobody owns.'
Peter remarked that she had spent too much time hanging out with Felicia and Gwen had scowled. She really didn't like the thief.
And not because she was a thief. It didn't help that it was the Black Cat that got them into the warehouses in the first place.
The less said about old flames the better.
Regardless, and speaking of the Cat, the duo were well out of the City that Never Sleeps already and were loosely trailing the guy out towards the Hamptons.
"Why is it always the rich pricks that give us the heebie jeebies?" Gwen, once more, lamented. "Can't we just sick Felicia on him?"
"This might be more than the cat can handle." Peter quipped as he swung after her. "Besides, we agreed we're just here to get a bead on the guy. Who knows? Maybe we're just being paranoid."
"Yeah, yeah I know."
The duo continued to follow the rider. It was a good thing it was night, otherwise the two spiders would've stuck out like sore thumbs.
Well, Peter would've. Gwen had her active camouflage.
Peter was not jealous. He had all these years to get over it. And over it he was.
It was harder to follow though. Skyscrapers had long given way to shorter townhouses and apartment blocks before further deteriorating into suburbia and then into parks and forest. There was a good portion of the journey where Gwen was leaping from container trucks in her invisibility just to keep up and Peter had been relegated to swinging from alongside the highway.
Still, trees weren't ideal. Their senses were good and their web lines strong, but that didn't matter if the tree branches the swung from couldn't take the sudden force and weight.
While the rider had slowed considerably, (who would've thought that their danger sense went off for a law-abiding citizen), the duo had resorted to their athleticism and acrobatic skills to maneuver through the trees. It was much easier to just do that than face planting in the snow again.
It was a more than a little cold. It was mid-January, and while the overcast had taken some time to appear, it did so nonetheless. A weak snowfall began.
Peter would have to work on something for their suits. They weren't designed to keep them warm for long periods of time. It was usually their constant movement and activity that kept them warm during the winter nights of their patrols. They still had to go back home after all. They had looted a couple crates of composite cloth polymers aka military spandex from OsCorp warehouses.
Those were not meant to keep someone warm. At least the variety made by OsCorp. It was strong, stretchy, and above all, light so it was perfect for the normally agile and acrobatic Spiders but as with all things, it did have its downsides. It offered some protection from the elements but not enough to be considered something that was worn exclusively.
Swinging in the snow in the middle of the night in January was not all that appealing.
Oh well…it comes with the territory of being New York's Friendly Neighborhood Spiders.
It was deep into the night when they spied the rider going into a long and near isolated access road that had peeled away from the main road. The trees were growing thicker, both in their sizes and in their numbers. Peter felt something on his mind. Did he leave something important back home? He should probably check on Aunt May.
No…he finished all the studying he needed to do already. Anymore and he'd probably have an aneurysm. Other students liked to mock both Gwen and him for their academic prowess, but even the two had their limits when it came to hitting the books.
Wait a second…Aunt May was working at FEAST today. That was why he and Gwen went on their patrol tonight together.
He shook his head, divesting himself of those thoughts. Peter shivered as something cool washed over him, and he steeled himself. He looked to his partner. If Gwen's own hesitant steps and glancing about was indication it looked like she had her own doubts as well. Gwen shivered but the determined way she resolved herself seemed to shake her from those lingering thoughts.
Both the Spiders stopped following the rider just within the treeline and they watched as the glow of the headlight grow dimmer and dimmer.
"Should we follow him?" Gwen peered further into a rather dark forest, leaning forward as she visored her eyes with a hand as if saluting. The ground was white with a blanket of soft powder snow. It was thick enough that their feet sank a little. "It is getting cold."
Peter's thoughts mirrored hers as he also looked into the darkness, that headlight glow shrinking evermore.
"Let's go." Peter determined, stepping forward and raising his wrist to launch a web, only to stop just before he did so. That same buzzing hummed in his mind. A warning, cautioning him on bad ideas. He felt something wash over him.
It wasn't often his spider powers gave him that blaring instinct.
"What's wrong?" Gwen asked tilting her head and inspecting his hand. "You did bring those extra canisters right?"
Peter lowered his arm and the warning went away. What the hell was this place?
"We're walking."
"What?!" Gwen near-exclaimed, whisper-yelled. She raised her arm up and then promptly brought it back down. "I guess we're walking." She groused as she easily matched his stride. "We definitely need to make some warmer suits."
If it wasn't for their previous workout of following the rider and their Spider physique that came with seemed to have come with an extremely minor resistance to the cold. Luckily, it wasn't windy or snowing too harshly. It was only a light fall if that with few snowflakes flitting about, but that only seemed to make it that much more encompassing and ominous.
Hopefully, this wouldn't take long.
The duo's journey was almost silent as they went in the direction of where the rider was. Save for their occasional jabs at each other for being all the way out here in the cold and their padding through the soft snow on the ground. In any other case, it could've been mistaken for a date, a walk in the park actually.
Peter and Gwen had definitely needed it. He could tell that Gwen was enjoying their little walk, like he was. It could do without the cold though and it could be day as well. While he wasn't one for scenery, having lived and breathed the hustle and bustle of New York since forever, it was nice to just enjoy the quietness and peacefulness of nature.
He could just imagine it. Light just breaking the canopy and him and Gwen strolling the park just enjoying the atmosphere. Peter could see the appeal of someone wanting the peace and quiet.
The duo were on a mission though and he was brought from his musing when he felt his mind tingle.
He looked around, Gwen doing the same as they stopped in place. Both ready to launch themselves into the air and into the trees if necessary even if their danger senses told them it would be a bad idea.
There was nothing. Just snow, thick trees and darkness.
Much too dark for to be natural…
Something moved just outside their vision. Both Gwen and Peter let loose a web burst at whatever had moved.
They heard something hit, something that sounded like a surprised feminine yelp, a thud in the snow and then nothing.
Both Spiders rushed over to the source.
Only to find a thick tree covered in two distinct nets of web. The snow looked to have been disturbed likely by whatever had been knocked over by their webs…
That didn't make sense…whatever their webs hit knocked them down…he…they had heard the yelp of someone hitting the ground from their webs connecting…
So where were they? Their webs were now stuck to this tree and if both Peter and Gwen were sure about anything, their webbing fluid was strong. It had to be to handle the tension and weight of the Spiders and of anything several times their weight. Not only that, it was designed to stop high speed objects like cars and, had been field tested on a runaway train of all things. No one got out of the webs unless either Gwen or Peter applied the counter-solution or if it dissolved on its own…
"Is this place haunted?" Gwen whispered to him. The little bit of humor in her voice was masked by its seriousness. "Are we sure this is even worth it?"
Peter wasn't sure either but his gut feeling was telling him to get ahead of whoever this guy was.
"We should keep moving. The faster we're finished here, the better."
"Any plans for when we get to this guy's house? This isn't just raiding a gang leader's house you know?" Gwen pointed out as they set off once again, the both of them keeping their heads on a swivel. There other shadows that they nearly jumped at. Flurries of snow…dry swirls of dead leaves…the sounds of twisting branches and bark. It felt like someone was watching them.
She made a great point. What was the plan? Look for incriminating evidence? Of what exactly? All the guy was guilty of was raising their hackles up like Apollyon did…
What if this guy is the one the world over is looking for?
Peter nearly laughed at the thought. Why would someone that fought with the Avengers, could summon biblical storms and fight an army of aliens like it was nothing be doing out in the New York countryside?
They continued on, at a more hurried pace before the stopped just short of a clearing and just beyond a walled estate rested, a few warm golden glows spotted around the walls. It was a good hundred or so meters of a snowy field between them the house. Off to the side, in the middle of the clearing there was something covered by a thick blanket, Peter guessed it to be a tree of some sort but it was short and probably still a sapling.
That was when their senses went into overdrive and blared into their mind. Move! Move! Move!
A dark silhouette that wasn't there before was now standing just before the walls of the estate. Even this distance, they could see the glinting of gold and the pair of glowing green orbs looking right at them.
Not a word needed to be said as both Spiders made to turn around. Only for their path to be blocked. It hadn't made a single sound, or if it did neither of the Spiders had noticed the towering wall of ice that had risen to bar their escape.
Both Spiders simultaneously had the bright idea of punching their way out. Both cocked their fists and sent them flying. The ice cracked but didn't give and those cracks were rapidly restored.
They looked to either side, of them and could see the ice rising further down and it only grew further.
If they couldn't go through or around, then they would go over. It was a testament to their time together that they thought of that simultaneously as well. They began climbing only for the ice to immediately melt into water and started roiling as if it was in the middle of a sea storm.
The Spider duo could climb a lot surfaces. Stormy water was not one of them apparently.
They fell with heavy thuds to the cold ground, kicking up flurries of snow as they landed.
"I thought there was something following me." Both Peter and Gwen stilled as the words were spoken. In that pause they could feel the snow crunch beneath the man's boots as he shifted in place. They both looked up to glowing, murderous green eyes. "The last time I fought a spider I had to drag her to hell with me." There was a tired sigh from him that was almost missed by the fear-stricken Spiders. "I don't suppose you'll do me a favor and die a little easier would you?"
"Protect your territory; your dreams, goals, interests, family, friends, everything that in some way have become your essence, protect and nurture it through the good and the bad times. Give no one the power to decide who what's in or out. Make your territory yours. Mark in linings of brimming coals if you may. If it's your own place of uncompromised peace and happiness, if its your place of growth, own that shit, and watch everyone rest with their opinions."
-Chinonye J. Chidolue
Don't worry they're not going to die.
There were a couple reasons as to why the long wait for the chapter. Holidays for one, I usually take a break from posting during the Oct-Dec months. Work and real life are my priority at the moment, still settling into my new position. Also, I wanted to take my time with the banter of the Spiders and how that would play out, I wanted to get it right and also set up their background. They won't be main characters but we'll see them from time to time.
A little shorter chapter than I liked but one that further paves the way for the next arc rather well. We have a couple more interlude chapters before we move onto the next major part of the story. The next chapter is near completion as it leads off directly after this one. I estimate that it will be released late February, early March. No promises.
With that said, let me know what you think. I did have some trouble getting it the way I wanted. No current update schedule for any stories just FYI. I try to update what I can, when I can.
On that note, (and as always), you can find me on the Emerald Library Discord! It's a fantastic place to interact with other writers and readers where we just chill and chat about ideas, future works and generally just have a good time!
The link to that is on my profile!