Spider Gwen: Bushido Chapter4: THE CUBAN CONNECTION (Patreon)

For a few seconds, Gwen simply stood still, looking at the floor, both shocked and ashamed. She hasn’t spoken with many of her friends since The Outbreak and the aftermath of her final battle with Carnage. Liz was one of them and now the inevitable happened, they finally met. She then slowly raised her head and looked at Liz, startling her after she saw how she looked now.

“Oh, my God! Gwen, what happened to you? Where have you been all this time? I haven’t heard from you in a while.” said Liz as she slowly approached Gwen. On instinct, she raised her hand after seeing something suspicious on her face and slowly moved part of her hair aside, exposing her scar and white eye. Giving out a loud gasp, she took one step back “W-what happened to your face?!”

“I…I don’t know how to explain it…” replied Gwen, as she lowered her head, letting a tear from her white eye roll down her cheek eventually falling on the floor.

“You look pale and… oh my God! Your teeth!” said Liz as she got more shocked after catching a glimpse of her razor-sharp teeth. At this point, Gwen made a gesture with her hand, pleading with her to be quiet and not attract attention. It wasn’t just because she didn’t want people to stare at her and notice those features, but also out of fear that the Hand ninjas might still be around looking for her.

“Stop…please stop. Y-you’re not helping...” whispered Gwen as she was close to breaking down in front of her friend. Despite somewhat getting used to these changes, it was still painful to be reminded of her permanent new facial features.

“I-I am sorry… Please don’t cry, I didn’t want to make you feel sad...” replied Liz, as she placed her hand on Gwen’s shoulder and both shared a long warm hug. Gwen couldn’t hold it anymore as she started to sob a bit, Liz trying her best to give some comfort, until a certain discrete growling sound gave up that it was time for a snack. “Ummmm… How about some coffee and a bagel? There’s a nice store over there.” At this point, Gwen simply nodded a bit while trying to wipe off her tears, walking with her friend out of the platform area and heading deeper into the station towards the shops.

Half an hour later, both Gwen and Liz were enjoying some quiet time in a cozy café away from the crowded areas. A hot coffee and a nice ham and cheese bagel did make the situation a bit better, not to mention seeing that this was the perfect place to lay down for a while until the Ninjas finally gave up. For her, it was now safe to get back, retrieve her backpack and get to Midtown and investigate the construction site where Murder INC was stationed.

“So… what happened?” asked Liz, as she was taking a sip from her coffee mug, trying to ease off the tension and start the conversation. She was still a bit unsettled over her friend’s appearance, but now she was more curious than concerned.

“It’s… weird, even for me. You remember The Outbreak? All the chaos that some weird virus or whatever it was, infected most of the population and turned Manhattan into Hell on Earth?” replied Gwen as she simply played with her mug, slowly rotating the spoon in the coffee.

“I remember, I saw the news from my grandparent’s house in Florida. Glad I wasn’t there at the time it happened, I heard the government was close to nuking New York….”

“Yeah… I saw all that, close and personal. I can still remember all the screams and sounds the infected made. People were hurt… countess died…” replied Gwen as she kept looking at her coffee, not raising her head one inch.

“But how did you end up with… well, this? Not to mention, you weren’t this… tall and buff. Well, you were quite athletic before but now it is like you have been inside a gym for a year without stopping.”

“All this happened because… I got infected too. And during that time, I might have ended up attacked or in a fight, hence the injury, but I cannot remember…and I think it’s better that I don’t know the things I did when I was like the other infected...”

“What!? You too? But when that heroine Wasp stopped The Outbreak, everyone reverted to normal! How come you ended like this?” asked Liz, as she got more curious “Didn’t that heroine find out a way to cure you as well? As far as I know, people who got infected didn’t end up with all… of this.”

“So far, nothing. She said it’s very likely I will look like this forever...”

“I’m sorry to hear about this. I… I shouldn’t have asked.” replied Liz as she felt some embarrassment over pushing it in order to get some answers.

“It’s ok. I should have come forward earlier, but I was afraid of your reaction when you saw me. Thought you might be too terrified to be friends with me anymore.” said Gwen as she finally took a sip from her coffee, but at this time it turned out a bit cold.

“Gwen, I wouldn’t have done that. You might look different and at first you… well, spooked me out a bit but I wouldn’t do something like that. You know, if you look at the bright side, at least you won’t need to hit the gym for the next few years. You will be getting all the attention on a beach from now on. I might need daily workout sessions for at least a couple of years to have your physique.” replied Liz, trying to lift Gwen’s spirits and judging from her friend’s giggle, it seemed to be working. They kept joking and talking about random topics, catching up all the time they hadn't spoken. For Gwen, this was a relief. Not just of the fact that Liz didn’t reject her friendship after seeing her new look, but also for being able to tell a half truth and keeping her secret identity safe. In some way, Gwen really wished that she could just forget the things she did back during the Outbreak, sometimes being hard for her to sleep at night thinking about it, as the screams and shrieks of the population during that event kept creeping in her mind at some points.

After what seemed to be an hour, Gwen and Liz decided to call it a day, both happy on how everything turned out. Much better than their last encounters, either nearly eaten alive by Symbiote Parker or nearly run over by a train in the hands of a corrupt former FBI agent. For Gwen however, this was a bit of sunshine on a very cloudy day, as she felt like she might have made a mistake hiding herself from her friends. She was seriously considering reconnecting with May and Ben Parker as well; if Liz accepted her as she is now, then the people who cared for her as much as they did for their nephew will very likely be as accepting. She still had to be careful not to give up her secret identity, but it seems the excuse she gave to Liz paid off.

After parting ways, her daydreaming came to an end as she heard the announcement about the next train for Midtown arriving shortly. Focusing back on her mission, she retrieved her backpack from the bathroom and boarded the train. As she waited to arrive in Midtown Manhattan, the heroine began searching the map on her phone to see what sites were in the area and narrow her search in order to find out the construction site that could be Murder INC's front. After an extensive search by using her detective skills, she did find what she was looking for: a skyscraper at the edge of Bryant Park that was formerly owned by Wilson Fisk and currently undergoing some remodeling, by Fisk Construction Company. After he went to jail, Matt Murdoch went to great lengths to have that site as the one of the first properties to be managed by him. From the looks of it, several legal technicalities were exploited by Murdoch’s office in order to deliberately stall the site from advancing too much and keep all permits valid all this time. Made sense from a criminal standpoint, as it was a perfect spot to stash anything under the radar among all those materials and equipment in plain sight.

Arriving at her destination, Gwen walked the busy streets of Midtown Manhattan as she was close to Bryant Park, discreetly scoping out her surroundings, just in case any of those ninjas might be lurking nearby. She knew from her act of espionage that some might be stationed around as extra security and she wasn’t taking any chances this time. For now, doing surveillance in her civilian identity was the best option, as she was less conspicuous.

Nothing seemed suspicious, not even one small clue. From the outside, the massive skyscraper looked like just one that was under renovations: regular fences surrounding the premises, construction workers that looked to be working on small things or slacking off, barely any security at the gate and lots of construction materials laying around, not to mention all the equipment. At some point, two trucks that seemed to be from a wood floorboards factory exited the premises and drove past her. Despite having an eye scarred her sight was still superior to regular humans, helping her catch a glimpse of the drivers and already saw one red flag: both didn’t resemble regular delivery drivers at all. They looked similar, like they were brothers, except one had a mustache and goatee and the other wore a guerilla-like fedora hat. Both were dressed in camo outfits, something a regular delivery driver wouldn’t wear, unless the delivery location would be a conflict zone in the Amazonian region. The trucks had their beds completely covered, making it impossible to look at what they really were carrying, but those wooden pallets were still looking suspicious, especially after one of them hit a speed bump, letting out some metallic sounds, like metal clattering against each other.

“Ok, I’ve seen enough on the outside, let’s see what goes on behind closed doors…” whispered Gwen after looking around to make sure nobody might see before leaping high in the air, sticking to the wall of the neighboring building. There was a small hideout nearby on the fifth floor, one of the many small hiding places around the city that she used to change clothes or stash supplies she might need in case of emergency, making it easy for her to blend with the crowd or lie down for a bit if things become too intense.

A little while later in the lower floors of the building, one of the construction workers was walking around, apparently doing security work instead of what he was supposed to pretend to be doing: installing drywall and sanding down the rough edges. Another giveaway of his true assignment was the weapon that he was holding in his hands an AKS-74u carbine with a suppressor and a flashlight, using it to light up any dark corner in case an intruder would be hiding there. However, he was unaware that Spider Woman was right above his head, constantly moving as he was patrolling, watching him in order to find a window of opportunity to advance further in the building,

“Damn, same guns…” whispered Spider Woman in her mind for a moment, remembering how the goons who attacked both her and She Hulk at that Chinese shop were using guns that had similar features. At some point, he passed a light that was turned on and saw the shadow of a silhouette clinging to the ceiling above him. Cocking his gun, he looked up, ready to shoot, but before he could fully look up, Spider Woman darted with extreme speed and kicked him in the chest, sending him crashing against the wall with force, falling on a few scattered concrete bags, knocking him out. She was able to harness some of the symbiote‘s abilities, giving herself a boost of her superhuman speed. However, she couldn’t abuse too much of this out of fear she might accidentally trigger the Symbiote to transform and potentially lose control again.

“You know, you could use a normal drill to put holes in drywalls. I know this city is dangerous, but bringing an AK to work is total overkill.” said Spider Woman in a joking manner as she searched him, discovering another handgun with a silencer and flashlight attached, a combat knife and one of those weird phones she saw Aleksei had, but it got smashed when he landed on the concrete bags, rendering it unusable, much to her annoyance.

“You sure as shit ain’t no construction worker. If the rest of your friends in this building got stuff like this in their toolboxes, then this will be a problem.” said the heroine as she picked him up and tried to hide him behind a few crates in order to hide him as much as she could. However, much to her shock, in a wooden crate hidden near the bags the goon fell on was open and she was able to see several AK rifles that had metal collapsible stocks, a few machine pistols, carbine rifles and even RPG launchers, all stacked up and ready to be shipped. Picking up some of the weaponry and inspecting them, she saw these guns were brand new and from the writing engraved in the metal, they originated from the town of Cugir, Romania’s main place where its military industry resided. Out of curiosity, she opened a few other crates and as expected, found more stuff that wasn’t supposed to be in a construction site: stacks of body armor, grenades, enough explosives to level up the entire square and stocks of ammunition that would put the National Guard to shame. All from the same town in Romania.

“F*ck! It's like you weren’t dismantled at all… All these raids, Operation Hellfire… all for nothing!” said Spider Woman, punching one of the concrete bags out of frustration until something caught her eye: a blinking red dot near the concrete bags close to where the weapons were hidden. It was a security camera recording live, hanging by its wire after falling off its mounting spot when she kicked the goon she knocked out. Moments later, speakers all over the building began sounding the alarm, along with a familiar voice.

“You bugged us for the last time, little spider. Kill her and feed her to the dogs!” shouted Systevich through the speakers, a clear indication she just blew the element of surprise. Moments later, she could hear people coming via the staircase and the side elevator in an obvious attempt to surround her, leaving her nowhere to run.

“You all want to try and lay me down? Alright then, let’s rumble.” Said Spider Woman, getting ready to face the Murder INC hitmen that were creeping on her position. She thought she could dispatch them quickly and then get to Aleksei talking about who the new boss was. From what she saw so far, the Russian mobster was more like second in command, Ernesto’s “smokescreen”. However, what she didn’t expect was his men to be better prepared for her, in both arsenal and tactics.

Seconds later, instead of expecting the goons to bust through the doors and blast her, she felt something tapping her foot. Her spider sense went off immediately as she looked at the source, noticing the flashbang that was laying next to her. She quickly closed her eyes and dashed backwards, moments before it went off, letting out a loud bang and a blinding light. Her quick thinking prevented her from being blinded, but the sound made her scream in pain and grab her head as the symbiote reacted to the extremely loud sound, flaring up on her shoulders and then settling back inside her body. After her hearing returned, she heard another set of cans rolling on the ground, this time being smoke bombs, filling the entire floor quickly with thick smoke, making it extremely difficult to see what was happening.

“What the…? F*cking hell!” exclaimed Spider Woman as she was coughing like crazy. That was because the smoke was also combined with tear gas, making her throat and lungs feel like they were on fire. Suddenly, she heard footsteps all around her and shadows appearing or disappearing in front of her, as she could see the laser sights from their guns. Everything looked like something from a game of laser tag, only this one will put her out of the game permanently if she’s hit.

Leaping into the air, she stuck to the ceiling and began to look around and assess the situation. It was extremely hard for her to see how many opponents she had to face. At the very least, her mask helped her shield her eyes from the gas, but breathing was becoming an issue. All these goons were dressed as construction workers and all were wearing gas masks so they could breathe through the smoke and tear gas. They carried machine pistols and assault rifles, all equipped with laser sights, silencers and flashlights, all their beams could be seen through the thick atmosphere as they kept searching the area for the heroine.

“She’s here somewhere! Kill her and get the body upstairs! Ernesto will call back soon, so he better be able to see her corpse!” said a familiar voice. Crawling on the ceiling, Spider Woman immediately recognized the team leader as Vincent, guiding the rest through the unfinished rooms, keeping his finger on the trigger as well.

“Don’t underestimate this bitch! As far as we know, she took down The Soldier and that psycho was controlling his own little army.” said Aleksei via the headsets. The team couldn’t see Spider Woman and the cameras were pretty much blind in the thick smoke, therefore she still had an element of surprise and from what she could see, Vincent looked quite nervous and from his twitchy moves, quite prone to accidentally fire a loose shot.

“Alright, Vinnie… time to see those nerves of steel you supposed to have…” whispered Spider Woman as she slowly crawled above him in order to avoid detection. With a mischievous smile underneath her mask, an idea came to her, with Vincent part of the equation. Feeling the symbiote’s rush as the muscles of her legs tensed and clenched, she darted across the room at incredible speed, catching Vincent’s attention when he saw her silhouette right near one of his friends, who was unaware she was nearby.

Without hesitating, he immediately pointed the gun at the silhouette and pulled the trigger. The gun didn’t make much noise due to the silencer, but he knew he hit someone when he heard a groan of pain and someone falling on the floor. Much to his dismay, it wasn’t the heroine, but one of his partners.

“Vincent, you idiot! You shot Miroslav!” said one of the goons via the headset, having a strong Eastern European accent. Immediately one of them went to check on the injured thug, only for him to be thrown with force through the window, landing in a dumpster two floors above on top of several wooden and cardboard crates, knocking him out, then the injured Miroslav ending up quickly webbed to the floor.

“Where are ya, you little shi-” mumbled Vincent as he kept searching the area through the smoke, visibly annoyed over the fact he accidentally shot one of their best marksmen and got another knocked out. Two were out of the game, but they were still outnumbering the webslinger. He was unaware that Spider Woman was right above him, ready to confuse him again into firing a loose shot. But she had to move quickly. She could hold her breath more than any human being, but she still needed to breathe eventually and inhaling tear gas would blow her cover as it was impossible for her to not to cough like a smoker once the gas entered her lungs. At least the mask helped her prevent her eyes from getting irritated, one window was broken, so fresh air was blowing in. She needed to find a way to break another window in order to dissipate the smoke.

Seconds later, Vincent’s nerves were put to the test after feeling a quick wind passing behind him, like something or someone ran behind him at inhuman speed. Turning around, he pointed his gun frantically but couldn’t see a thing. He then suddenly heard a ghostly girly laughter right behind him, making him turn around again only to see nobody behind. He then heard a rather creepy hiss near his right ear, making him turn around and fire another shot after being startled. Just like the last one, he hit another of his friends by accident, this time the bullet going through the crook’s leg and the glass behind him, shattering another window.

“Govno yedno, Vincent! Been through wars and conflicts just to get shot by some američki idiot??!” yelled the goon in the same Eastern European accent as Miroslav, laying on the ground and grabbing his injured leg, groaning in pain. Out of anger and pain over his injury, he simply threw his pistol at Vincent, nearly hitting him, but before he could say some more AO rated words at him, something grabbed him from behind, dragging him with enough force to send him crashing straight into a stack of wooden crates. Moments later, before the injured could react, the crates fell on him like an avalanche, trapping him in place.

“It will take more than that to scare me, you kučko!“ yelled one of the goons before being himself tossed against a window, completely breaking in it due to force of the impact, as the façade shattered. Seconds later, a loud crashing sound indicated he joined his comrade in the dumpster outside.

“For f*ck’s sake! Now Goran and Dragan too? That spider is playing with you all! Vince, get your shit together and watch your aim. If Ernesto finds out we shot his friends, we’ll be dead bodies floating in the Hudson River!” said Aleksei via their headsets while looking at the cameras in order to catch a glimpse of Spider Woman, as the smokescreen started to thin up after wind got through the shattered façade and windows, ventilating the entire floor. Almost immediately every camera in the area focused on one spot, right next to a knocked-out member. Aiming their guns at that spot, they began to see Spider Woman as she was quickly webbing him, the smoke almost completely vanished from the fresh air entering via the broken glass.

“There she is! Fire! Deal with this pest!” echoed Aleksei’s voice via the speakers, startling Spider Woman. Her head start, the element of surprise was over and now she had to deal with the rest of the squad. Immediately, her spider sense made everything run in slow motion for her, seeing each bullet exiting the barrels of the rifles, heading towards her. On instinct, she performed several backflips, retreating behind one of the building’s main pillars, forced to stay behind cover, as her foes seemed to be very well trained in tactics and firearms, as half of the squad laying down suppressant fire, covering the other half that was reloading and vice versa afterwards. So far, she was unable to leave cover or advance, but she knew she will be cornered, as the squad began to slowly disperse, attempting to circle her location and move in for the kill, firing occasional shots every time she stuck her head a bit to evaluate the situation.

“Better find a way to turn the tables or I’m toast…” whispered Spider Woman as she could hear the footsteps getting closer and closer. She was literally in a corner, right between several oil barrels and cement bags, but much to her relief, it was a blind spot for Aleksei’s cameras. As the attackers got closer, she got one idea. It was a longshot and possibly out of desperation, but hoped she could neutralize them all in one shot.

Meanwhile, the remaining squad members were closing in on the heroine’s position. Vincent began to make hand gestures while holding his gun, signaling his men to get ready for the final attack. After everyone reloading and cocking their weapons, they pounced on Spider Woman’s “hideout”, lightly squeezing their triggers, ready to fire, only to be left disappointed after being met with an empty space, like she completely vanished.

“What the-? Where is she?” asked Vincent as he looked around, lowering his gun in astonishment. Also, to amplify their confusion, the attackers saw several thin lines of web all over the room, all tensed to the max and connected to several barrels, bags and even the portable cement mixer nearby.

“Heads up!” shouted a voice right above them. Quickly raising their heads, the squad members saw more web lines going all the way up and Spider Woman sticking to the ceiling while holding all these lines in her hands. Pulling as hard and quick as she could, all the tensed wires snapped and several ones that were placed by her pulled all these oil barrels, cement bags and the mixer itself towards the shooters, hitting them all in one go, knocking them out cold. Out of all the clatter and dust, Vincent alongside two other goons were able to emerge, barely stumbling, nearly coughing their lungs out, covered in cement dust and oil and barely able to hold their guns.

“God… damn it!” cursed Vincent alongside his remaining team mates, until they spotted Spider Woman at the other end of the room, stuck to the wall ready to strike again. Moments later, she propelled herself like a rocket at inhuman speed towards the group who barely could react, sticking two of the goons with her web, using the momentum to pull them across the room, sticking them to the other side of the room.

Getting desperate, he started to shoot at Spider Woman, who immediately took cover behind a corner, only for Vincent to quickly empty his clip. He desperately tossed the empty mag away as Spider Woman slowly creeped out from the corner. By the time he was able to reload, the webslinger was already in front of him. By reflex, he tried to hit her with his gun, but it was futile, as Spider Woman was able to intercept the attack, grab the gun and break it in two with her knee. He then tried to use his sidearm, but his opponent was able to disarm him and push him several feet backwards, mimicking a simple move she learned from Marc’s lessons.

“Enough of this…” said Spider Woman, almost growling, as she fired a line of web and swiftly pulled Vincent towards her, grabbing him by the collar. “Where is Aleksei!? Talk now before you will need a dentist… and a doctor.” Out of nowhere, she felt her spider sense suddenly going off like crazy. As she saw Vincent’s expression in full panic. Moments later, a barrage of bullets came from behind. Spider Woman was able to dodge the hail of lead in time, but Vincent wasn’t so lucky as he ended up on the floor in a pool of his own blood, badly injured as he took quite a chunk of the bullets fired at her.

There was an eerie silence as the heroine stood in utter shock after seeing Vincent on the ground, bleeding badly, as she simply let him be gunned down after avoiding the attack. It made her feel extreme guilt over possibly letting him die despite him being a criminal, especially since those bullets were fired at her and she wasn’t able to pull him out of harm’s way. This will also deal a massive blow to the investigation, as all he knows is a gold mine. If he dies, anything he said won’t matter in court. Suddenly, she heard some heavy footsteps, making her turn around. Behind her stood Aleksei Systevich himself, this time ditching the business suit for a military grade armor plated suit, complete with knee and elbow pads, gloves, boots, a helmet, and a face mask. He was wielding a PKM Light Machine Gun, a high caliber weapon capable of immense fire power and piercing bullets.

“Sorry Vince, but in this line of business, there is no honor among thieves…” said Aleksei, his voice being distorted by a scrambler from his mask, making it sound twisted and borderline creepy. He then aimed his gun at his partner, who was looking at him with a mix of disbelief, anger and desperation as he was unable to move, let alone to speak, then he looked at Spider Woman, his expression almost talking like he was pleading her to save his life.” … nothing personal.”

Before he could pull the trigger, Spider Woman shot two lines of web from both wrists and immediately pulled the badly injured Vincent, just in time, as the floor where he was laying down, got filled with holes from Aleksei’s gun. With all her speed, she quickly dragged Vincent, threw him in a safe spot and webbed him quickly, more to cover his wounds, as it was unlikely he would be able to try and escape.

“We meet again… Systevich.” whispered Spider Woman, almost making a low growl as she focused now on her opponent after knowing Vincent was out of harm’s way. She felt both anger and disgust by how he betrayed his subordinate, not only that, but also reminded her how he nearly killed her father in that faithful assassination attempt that she managed to stop in the nick of time.

“You stuck your pesky little nose in our business for the last time, little girl…” said Aleksei in a menacing tone. His head was covered by an armored helmet with a full-face mask and goggles that looked like the one the military use for night vision. The built-in voice disruptor also twisted his voice, making it sound rather disturbing. He then aimed his LMG at Spider Woman and cocked it “Time to die!”

“Bring it on!” replied Spider Woman, trying to taunt him, only to see everything run in slow motion, as her spider sense kicked in. A barrage of bullets came right at her as Aleksei pulled the trigger. With her sense, she was able to even see the bullets exiting the barrel glowing red hot as they came right at her. Due to her superhuman reflexes, she was able to dodge the bullets, but the webslinger could see how the bullets penetrated some of the building’s walls and other structures. It will take only one bullet to hit her and it will be game over. Dashing out of Systevich’s sight, Spider Woman was able to put enough distance between them, hiding behind a thick main support pillar. Luckily, bullets weren’t able to penetrate reinforced concrete that thick, but that was a temporary break. She still needed to come up with a plan or strategy. One thing she immediately saw was due to the fact that he was carrying a Light Machine Gun, added with the armor’s weight, Aleksei was slow but advancing at a steady pace. His aim was good but not accurate since he was firing from the hip, unable to use the iron sights of the weapon, as he was laying at times the “spray and pray” way. These were some things that helped a bit, but not good enough, as there was still no way to get close to him and knock him out. He was pretty much like a tank.

Suddenly, she felt something tapping her leg. Much to her shock, it was a frag grenade, ready to explode. She desperately leaped out of cover just time before it went off, however it was not good enough, as she got caught in the blast, sending he rolling down the stairs to the floor below, crashing at the bottom, all bruised and with several concussions, but surprisingly, her suit still intact, just full of dust and grime.

“Did you really think I will give you time to catch your breath!? Start praying! You got five seconds left.” said Aleksei as he was slowly but surely advancing towards her, his heavy armored boots giving out loud thumping sounds as he was coming down the stairs.

Aleksei’s voice rang in her head as the heroine barely managed to stand up. She was coughing heavily and her body was all bruised and beaten after the blow she received, not to mention rolling down the stairs like a ragdoll.

“Goddamn… I can’t keep up like this.” she cursed while she tried to catch her breath after leaning against a nearby wall. This quickly descended into a predator vs prey type of situation, where she became the prey.

“You can run, but you can’t hide, little girl! You know eventually I will find you and then I will kill you!” echoed Aleksei’s scrambled voice as he was coming down the stairs, forcing her to resume running and hide in the false ceiling above some office cubicles. Seconds later, he kicked the doors open and began searching the area, until he locked his sights on the ceiling right above him.

“You’re making this too easy…” said the goon giving out a hysterical laughter, his voice scrambler making it sound even twisted and creepier. He then aimed the gun at the ceiling and began to fire blindly.

“F*ck!” said Spider Woman as almost instantly, her spider sense went off like mad. A barrage of bullets penetrated the false ceiling, filling it with holes. Caught by surprise she crawled through the tight space as fast as she could, some bullets barely grazing her. However, moments later, she felt excruciating pain from her left thigh after it felt like something hit her. Making a painful scream, she unwillingly unstuck from the concrete ceiling and fell through the false drywall one, crashing down on some disused office desks. Trying to get up, she felt her left leg almost completely numb and a sharp pain shooting through. Her entire body began shaking like it went into a shock as she realized one of the bullets managed to not only hit her left leg but completely pierce it, making her bleed quite badly.

Screaming and cursing, Spider Woman limped her way from Aleksei, taking cover in a corner while leaving a trail of blood, gritting her teeth and groaning in pain as she saw the extent of her injury: a nasty hole in the middle of her thigh. Although the symbiote was trying its best to fix the injury as quickly as possible, it will take quite some time until it will at least seal off the wound and days until it will fully heal.

“Does it hurt? There is more where that came from!” said Aleksei while letting out a sadistic laugh. The mask he was wearing was able to track Spider Woman’s heat signature, so no matter how much she tried to hide, he could track her down without issues “Too afraid of smack talking now, bitch!? You were talking all that good shit a second ago! Until you got shot in the ass!” He then paused, letting the heroine flee once again before following her again like in a sick game of hide and seek. Seeing through his mask how Spider Woman was limping away while leaving a trail of blood behind was giving him a sadistic satisfaction, finally getting payback for foiling his contract. Readying his weapon, he began to fire once again at Spider Woman, forcing her to shelter behind a reinforced concrete pillar. It sheltered her well, but she could feel how the structure was shaking from the impact of the bullets, as chunks of concrete flew from it like popcorn.

After a quick thinking, an idea came to Spider Woman’s mind, but she needed to wait for a window opportunity, either Aleksei to stop shooting or catch him reload, in order to get close enough and deal with him in close combat. No matter how armored he was, it would take a few blows to the head to knock him out and allow her to web him up. However, due to her injury, her speed was severely limited, as she was unable to dash at her usual superhuman speed. On the other hand, the situation she was in made her extremely scared to the point she felt the symbiote was about to take over, like a fight or flight mechanism. For a moment, she considered letting it happen, remembering how Aleksei tried to murder her father, but then refrained and tried her best to calm herself down and not “flip out”, knowing she would throw away everything she stood for if she would kill him.

“Ernesto will be very happy to see your lifeless mutilated corpse! Especially after what you did to him!”

“Why don’t you show this to your mom instead!?” replied Spider Woman flipping Aleksiei off by showing the middle finger from her cover, irritating him quite a lot.

“So, the bitch finally talks back again! That is not going to save your ass!” said Aleksei as he resumed firing while getting closer to where Spider Woman was, stripping the pillar almost completely off the outer layer, leaving the steel reinforcement and the concrete core left. However, before he could completely demolish the pillar and potentially cause part of the building to collapse on them, the PKM overheated and refused to fire one more shot, jamming itself. Taking this chance, Spider Woman fired a web line straight at the gun in order to yank it away from him. Unfortunately, due to her injured leg, she couldn’t stand up properly in order to apply enough force to pull the weapon out of his hands. Besides, Aleksei wasn’t budging, holding at the gun with all the force he had, refusing to let go.

“That shit won’t work with me!” yelled Systevich while pulling out a machete and quickly cutting the webbing, then pulled out a grenade and tossed it towards her, hoping to kill her or at least distract her while he got his gun working again.

“If i can’t use my legs…” acting quickly, Spider Woman dodged the grenade, then fired two web lines directly at Aleksei, who managed to dodge them in time, as these stuck to a wall behind him “…then I will use my arms instead!” It was a longshot, but she was willing to take the risk. Using all the strength remaining in her arms, she launched herself with tremendous force, catching Aleksei by surprise as she was already shooting towards him, like a missile. Hitting Aleksei she sent not just him crashing through the cinderblock wall that was behind him but also herself, leaving a massive hole in the process.

“Ouch… that wasn’t very bright of me…” said Spider Woman while groaning in pain, trying to stand up with some difficulties. She felt like she just got hit by a train, ending up with more bruises to her already growing collection. Looking around, she spotted Aleksei motionless on the floor, covered in pieces of cinderblock and dust, with his voice scrambler giving out several distorted static sounds due to the damage it sustained. She decided to get closer in order to make sure that he was no longer a threat. At first sight for what she could see, he took the worst part of the impact, pretty much acting like a cushion between herself and the wall. The military grade armored suit did prevent him from sustaining permanent injuries, but it was clear that he was knocked out and no longer going to cause her any more trouble. “That was for my dad, you son of bitch…”

Some time later after she was able to web all the goons in one place, including Aleksei and make sure Vincent was still alive and wasn’t going to die due to blood loss, Spider Woman messaged Marc with the location and requested backup in order to take the captured criminals in custody and Vince to a hospital. She then kicked down the door from the control room that was located at the top floor of the building and began examining the place for clues. This was the place that Systevich used as Murder INC s new base, filled with paper documents, paper shredders, old style computers that seemed to be using encrypted software and much to her delight, his own mobile phone that he used to contact Ernesto. It also looked like someone left in a hurry, maybe the remaining members of murder INC that fled the building when things went downhill. It was a shame that some escaped, but for now, she managed to deal the resurrected criminal organization a massive blow.

“Better deal with this leak in my leg, fast. Don’t want any nasty infections…” she said while grabbing a nearby first aid kit that was on the wall, tending to her wound. She applied some disinfectant, causing her to scream in pain as it came in contact with her massive open wound and applied a fresh piece of bandage to it, allowing at least for a clean heal.

Suddenly she heard a buzzing sound coming from one of the tables inside the room. Getting closer to it, she saw Aleksei’s cell phone ringing. Picking it up, she saw that despite it looking like a regular commercialized Pixel smartphone, it had some weird custom OS on it, with several counter surveillance apps, a browser that allowed for untraceable Dark Web browsing and a small contact list. This time, one particular contact was calling. It was from Santa Lucia, Cuba and it had “3rn35t0” tagged on the contact information. Holding the phone in her hand for a few seconds, she felt her heart racing, but also a sickening feeling in her stomach, making even the symbiote react like it was frightened inside her. It was the same sensation she felt the first time she heard Ernesto’s voice, like he sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she heard him before. Taking a deep breath, she finally pressed the button and answered. Nothing will prepare her for what will happen next, it will be the shock of her life.

“Aleksei, ¿qué estás haciendo? ¿Por qué no contestaste cuando te llamé antes?... Aleksei?... ALEKSEI???!” said one now more familiar voice via the phone. This time, Ernesto didn’t used a scrambler to mask his voice, considering he was talking to his second in command via an encrypted call. Despite his Spanish, it was clear as day that he wasn’t Cuban at all. He didn’t sound even Hispanic, he sounded like he was from Eastern Europe. “Maldita sea, ¿qué diablos estás haciendo? ¡Diego necesita ayuda! ¡El cargamento va a venir pronto y Li esta preparando un asalto al lugar!” at this point, Spider Woman didn’t knew what to say, as she had a mental block after hearing his voice loud and clear. She still couldn’t recognize who he was, but moments later, she saw Ernesto switched to video call, revealing himself. “-ALEKSEI!!!”

“What the-? Vladislav Ivanovic? You’re Ernesto??!” replied Spider Woman as she was in utter shock. At the same time, she couldn’t believe she didn’t figure it out from the beginning, especially after the clues were pretty much thrown in her face. And there he was, running the show from his self-exile in Cuba, after escaping the prison transfer that was supposed to send him to Europe to face the consequences of his career as a ruthless hired killer and Murder INC s top assassin.

“YOU AGAIN!!?” shouted Vladislav after seeing who picked up the call. Out of anger and shock, like on instinct, he squeezed the cocktail glass he held in his right hand, shattering it to pieces, cutting his hand. Much to Spider Woman’s shock, he didn’t even react to the fact he was bleeding profusely from the wound, but then she remembered he had the same cold non-reaction when they fought last time, nothing did faze him at all. “Well, that’s it. I should have dealt with you a long time ago, you freak of nature…” His last part sounded like a low deep growl, making her genuinely shiver. Despite defeating him once, something from him made her still fear him.

“Missed me, Vlad? Because you can bet your bottom dollar I did not.” replied Spider Woman, as she was still trying to get her act together over this revelation “Thought you were hiding in some insanitary hole after I kicked your ass last time. What’s your game with The Hand and Murdoch?”

“This is none of your business. You better turn around and walk away while you still have the chance!”

“Not gonna happen. I already know you revived Murder INC and got some old members out of jail. As a matter of fact, I just met some of your old pals and had a serious talk with them. So, you might as well just spill the beans and make it easy for everyone, now that Aleksei and the rest are down.”

“You what?! Idiot! You just sentenced them all to death! Li is about to send a welcoming committee over there. Aleksei and Vincent were about to rebuke and eliminate them to stop a potential war!” replied Vladislav, visibly angry over hearing his second in command along with part of the crew were out of action.

“Wait…what-?” Before Spider Woman could continue, she heard an explosion outside along with tire screeching and gunshots. Looking out the window, she saw that at the bottom of the building site, several cars busted through the gates, some of them doing drive-by shootings at whatever guards were on ground level, massacring them. She could clearly see Mister Negative’s guys were having no trouble advancing towards the building’s entrance, wielding their usual weapons infused with his power, but much to her concern, they also were packing rifles and shotguns that seemed to fire bullets that were infused with the same energy, instantly killing all remaining resistance at ground level. “- what the hell you got yourself into, Vlad? Tell me already!!!”

“Keep my men alive and I’ll tell you. Good luck and keep the phone, you will need it.” replied Vladislav before immediately ending the video call letting a visibly concerned Spider Woman figure out how to deal with a full-on assault by the Demon Gang. She was already wounded and her mobility was severely limited, trying to run only caused her more pain.

Going back down the stairs, the heroine tried to do her best to dull the pain and use her wounded leg as best as she could. Meanwhile, gunshots and explosions were echoing through the building, some explosions making the stairwell slightly vibrate, causing dust to fall as she thought for a moment that Li’s men were actually trying to bring the building down. Just then, her earpiece connected to her regular phone began to ring, alerting her that Agent Marc Specter was the caller.

“Marc, where the hell are you? I need backup right now!”

“We’re on our way in full force. But what in the name of God is going on there? I just got reports of a full-on war in the area. Thought you dealt with Ernesto’s employees!”

“I did, but it looks like they were expecting an attack from Negative’s gang! These guys are everywhere…!” replied Spider Woman, nearly stumbling, after an explosion at the bottom levels caused the building to shake, making her more scared “…hurry! I’m wounded, I cannot deal with all of them! Help! Please!”

“We’re three minutes away. Called in SWAT from Midtown’s precinct to help out. Do your best and try not to die until we get there!” said Specter before giving his team one coded order and hanging up. For Spider Woman, this was some sort of assurance that help was coming, but it was no use for her if she won’t survive. At least she knew she had to stay alive three minutes and hold the line against the Demon attack.

Limping her way downstairs past Aleksei, Vincent and the rest of the Murder INC squad she captured, Spider Woman was trying to come up with solutions to hold back the assault, but so far, nothing came to her mind. She was used to working under pressure, but not like that. It felt more like she was going through a warzone. All she could hear were gunshots, explosions and much to her relief, sirens far away in the distance. First thought that came to her mind was to try and ambush them from above, suspecting they were unaware she was in the building. But this plan hit a snag once she took a wrong turn at the lower floors and bumped into one of the Demons, accidentally knocking him down, alerting the others nearby.

“It’s her! She’s here too!” shouted one of the Demons, immediately beginning to fire his gun at her. Luckily, Spider Woman was quick to react and dodged the first shots, rolling behind a stack of lumber and laying on the floor, covering her head with her hands. “You’ve chosen the wrong side, little girl! Now you will feel the Demon’s wrath!”

As the three Demons kept firing at her position, Spider Woman could see the power of their weapons first hand. Their bullets kept glowing the same pattern as Mister Negative’s energy and were not just stronger in terms of penetration, but upon impact they released black glowing shockwaves, ripping chunks of wood from the stack she used as cover. At this moment she thought she was about to be ripped apart by them, but much to her luck, her attackers stopped to reload. Seizing the opportunity, the webslinger immediately got out of cover, spayed several ventilation tubes that were hanging above them and pulled with all her strength, bringing the entire HVAC network crashing on their heads, immobilizing them in a pile of aluminum and steel.

“Now’s my chance…” mumbled Spider Woman as she immediately limped her way towards the yard. However, she ended right in front of many other Demon Gang members that just finished massacring anyone on ground level. This time, she was in the open, no place to hide. It seemed that her luck had run out. However, right before Li’s men could fire one more shot, part of them got mowed down by a barrage of bullets fired from behind them. Others turn around, only to be met with Specter’s elite tactical team.

“THIS IS THE FBI! DON’T YOU F*CKING MOVE!” shouted one of the agents via the loudspeaker, as a Bureau helicopter was surveilling the area above them, complete with a sniper at the ready. Much to Spider Woman’s surprise, it looked like Marc expanded his team, reaching a bigger number than back when he arrived in NYC and had his squad infiltrated with corrupt agents that were under his former partner’s control. Here, it looked like among veteran agents she knew from the last time they helped her out, there were many younger ones among them, most likely cadets or fresh out of training. The squad was ready to fire the second wave, waiting for  Agent Luke Cage to give out the signal.

Upon seeing they were greatly overpowered, the Demon crew began to quickly retreat and try to flee, some laying cover fire, only to end up falling like flies under the FBI team’s hail of bullets, bringing a quick end to the assault.

Noticing SWAT officers among the team members, Spider Woman decided to make herself gone from the area, as she knew her wanted status will cause red flags to show, especially if Specter’s team won’t try to arrest her, a contradiction to how NYPD cops treat her. Seeing an opening, she went for the backyard exit, only to be sucker punched by a remaining Demon gang member as she took a left turn. He was hiding behind a wall, waiting for her to come by.

“Got you now.” said the lone Demon member, looking at the exhausted Spider Woman. She was on the ground, a bit dizzy from the hit she received to the left temple, barely aware of what was going on. Raising her head, the heroine saw her attacker raising an energy infused katana, ready to strike her, but before the final blow could be delivered, a gunshot was heard and the gangster simply stood in shock, as a hole the size of a fist could be seen through his chest, likely made by a high caliber bullet. Seconds later, with the same shocked expression, he collapsed dead on the ground, next to Spider Woman.

“What…?” looking around, Spider Woman saw in the distance who saved her: clinging to the side of the building behind the now dead Demon gangster, Agent Marc Specter was pretty much her “guardian angel”, one armed with a high caliber sniper rifle and wielding it with only one hand thanks to his lizard physique and strength.

“Run! Get out of here! We can talk later!” shouted Marc, hanging his rifle behind him and jumping from the building, heading towards his team’s position to evaluate the situation. At this point, the webslinger could only wave at him in gratitude and flee the area, thankful that her friend saved her skin, again.

Third chapter of the new story arc, created by me and https://www.deviantart.com/snarkymofo

As Spider Woman is inches away from finding out who codename "Ernesto" is, she is confronted by an old enemy... someone important in her heroine career

previous chapter  https://www.patreon.com/posts/spider-gwen-2-84297658