[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XV1PIyT.jpg?2[/img][/center] 

[b]Stacy Residence
The Next Day[/b]  

[color=ec008c]"One, two, three, four,"[/color] I whisper to myself before letting loose on the drums. On either side of me, Glory and Betty get to work as well, playing the guitar and bass respectively. Once the three of us are in a groove, Mary Jane launches into a "Cherry Bomb" by the Runaways. It's the first song the four of us played together and actually liked. It vibes with us. Punk and rock? Give it to me on a plate. Plus MJ gets to really let loose with her voice, which she likes doing more than anything else in the world. I love the girl, she's one of my best friends, but when she's not the star of the show she tends to be less than enthused.

Once the song finishes, the four of us nod to one another. It's always good to get a session off to a good start, and this is one of the most important sessions we've ever had considering MJ decided to sign us up for a gig. Glory and Betty are all for it. Well, Glory is. Betty doesn't really get "excited" in the way that normal humans do elsewhere. She's certainly in a league of their own.

[color=f6989d]"So,"[/color] Glory leans over, [color=f6989d]"you and Pete, huh?"[/color]

Glory and MJ are peas in a pod when it comes to gossip. I think you could replace their blood with rumors and they would be stronger than I am. 

I playfully glare at Mary Jane, [color=ec008c]"You told everyone, didn't you?"[/color]

She squeals with delight, [color=f26522]"How could I not!? We've all been waiting for it to happen. Harry wants a double date ASAP, bee tee dubs."[/color]

[color=8493ca]"Yea, I wish you many years of bliss,"[/color] Betty adds, looking over her glasses with a deadpan look.

I smile and laugh with the rest of the band, [color=ec008c]"You guys are too much."[/color]

Having the band, and everyone else, backing up Peter and I feels good, I can't deny it. When friends date, more often than not people are wary. So much can go wrong. Hell, so much can still go wrong. There's still the voice in the back of my head telling me I need to tell Peter about Uncle Ben. But the euphoria swimming around my head has done a really good job drowning that out so far. Plus everyone celebrating the fact helps a lot.

[color=f26522]"So...should we try 'Face It Tiger'?"[/color] MJ asks with hopeful eyes.

Face It Tiger is the one original song we've been working on for more than a year. The lyrics are pretty good, but we're still no where close to nailing the music down. MJ loves it, and we try it every single time we play together, but Glory and especially Betty are not so keen on continuing to try it out.

[color=8493ca]"Oh yea,"[/color] Betty rolls her eyes, [color=8493ca]"it is about time we waste 20 minutes of practice time."[/color]

[color=f26522]"No, it's gonna work this time, because Gwen found the beat."[/color]

I realize she's talking about my freestyle from the other day, and I smile at her, [color=ec008c]"Yea. Let's try it. I think it'll work."[/color]

After counting us down, I dip into my memory and pull out that riff I ripped of the other day. Before long, Glory and Betty pick up what I'm putting down, and finally Mary Jane launches into the lyrics. Personally, I don't think there's anything more beautiful than great music, and it's clear a few seconds into this new version of our song that we have something. The energy flowing between the four of us is palpable, and outside my garage a few pedestrians stop and begin to watch, some of them bobbing along to the beat. When we finish, everyone claps.

[color=f26522]"YES!"[/color] MJ starts running around the garage, planting hugs and kisses on the rest of the band. [color=f26522]"That kicked so much ass! Ladies you rule!"[/color]

[color=8493ca]"I do have to admit, that was pretty great,"[/color] Betty gives what is the most enthusiasm I've ever seen from her.

[color=ec008c]"Careful, Bett," [/color]I look over at her. [color=ec008c]"Don't get too excited. We don't want you passing out."[/color]

[color=f6989d]"Ladies,"[/color] Glory smirks, [color=f6989d]"I think we're ready for a show."[/color]

[center]**********[/center]

[b]One Week Later[/b]

[color=7bcdc8]"I know you're mad,"[/color] Dad says, trying the break the prolonged silence that we've shared since he took his new job. It's not that we haven't talked. It's that both of us know what the other is going to say, so we've avoided the conversation.

Meanwhile, I push some peas around my plate, not looking up at him. All I want is for him to be safe, and he goes and volunteers to lead the team now directly responsible for taking down not only the most dangerous man in the city, but me as well. This is literally the last thing I want George Stacy doing, yet here we are. 

[color=ec008c]"I'm not mad,"[/color] our gazes finally meet. [color=ec008c]"I'm scared, Dad. The Punisher isn't like anything you've dealt with before. He's been doing his thing for less than a month and he's almost got a triple digit body count. And Spider-Woman? She's a freaking superhero! What happens when supervillains start showing up and you get caught in the crossfire?"[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]"Well the idea is to stop her before those show up,"[/color] he gives me a sympathetic look. [color=7bcdc8]"Plus, I put away Max Dillon, sweetheart. I've dealt with men like Frank Castle before."[/color]

Max Dillon. Dad's claim to fame. The arrest that shot him up through the ranks of the NYPD. Dillon was a serial killer in the city when I was a kid. The man was, well is, a sociopath. He did it all for fun. Currently he's locked up in Ravenscroft Asylum, the very place I'll be working in a few weeks.

[color=ec008c]"Dad, Dillon was a thug,"[/color] I shake my head. [color=ec008c]"Dangerous? Hell yea. But the Punisher is surgical. Look at what he did to those cops the other night. Dillon would have never been able to pull that off."[/color]

He pounds his hand down on the table. Dad doesn't often get mad, but the entire situation surrounding him clearly is beginning to take a toll, [color=7bcdc8]"I'm just trying to do what I think is right, Gwen. I'm not going to sit around and watch this town turn into a circus. I have a duty to protect this city and its people, and a duty to make sure it's safe for my daughter to live in."[/color]

I get up from the table and head for the door, [color=ec008c]"You have a duty to stay alive for me too."[/color]

[color=7bcdc8]"Where are you going?"[/color]

[color=ec008c]"I have a show,"[/color] I grab my bag containing my costume and head out the door. [color=ec008c]"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll be with Pete, MJ, and the girls."[/color]

[center]**********[/center]

[color=7ea7d8]"Spider-Woman and the Punisher...your days are numbered,"[/color] J Jonah Jameson seethes through my speakers as I swing around the city trying to clear my head. I have  [color=7ea7d8]"The NYPD are on you now, and the boys in blue won't stop until you're rotting on Stryker's Island! Now, I do have to take issue with the police saying these two aren't in league with one another. I find it to be incredibly coincidental that Spider-Woman just happened to show up after Punisher kills two of New York's finest. And then they 'fight', knocking down a building in the process and allowing both of them to escape? Please. Spider-Woman is just as guilty as Frank Castle is!"[/color]

I switch over to music and continue to traverse the streets of New York. I've been keeping up with Jameson's rants ever since the Punisher incident, and they've become even more unglued. I know it's probably not the healthiest for my psyche, but I need to keep up with what the press is saying about me. Especially since Triple J seems to be gaining even more of a following. How the insane ramblings of a middle aged white guy can be must-listen content for so many people is beyond me, but this is the world we live in now. 

But he's not been above saying the citizens of the city should take precautions against vigilantes, and that worries me. All it takes is some nutjob to take a shot at me while on patrol to end up with an innocent bystander killed. I may not be the most skilled or trained fighter out there, but I have the ability to make sure the innocent people around me are safe. Some loon with a gun isn't going to be able to do the same.

From blow, the front of a building explodes, sending debris flying into the air. I let go of the webline I'm on and dive headfirst down towards the scene in a freefall. Wen I'm within range, I web up the larger, dangerous pieces of concrete and plaster in order to keep them from striking someone below. I land hard and catch the final, boulder-sized piece before it falls on a car. I drop it on the street beside me, and wave to the kid in the backseat of the sedan, "Hey kid. Eat your vegetables!"

From the blown out building, which I now see is a bank, comes a hail of gunfire. The cars on the street speed off in an attempt to escape, and I don't blame them. I swing though the dust of the explosion, and on the other side I find another team of six Silk Cartel commandos covering the front of the building.

Coming in low, I drive my feet into the first, delivering a devastating swinging kick. I land further into the bank and take cover behind a large, marble column in the bank. Bullets from the rifles chip into the hard stone, but it should hold long enough to give me an opening.

When the firing stops to all them to reload, I spring into action. I fire a webline to the closest man, and pull down, smashing his face into the hard tile floor. With my other hand I web his gun and flick it into the face of the man next to him.

[color=ec008c][b][i]Three down.[/i][/b][/color]

I flip behind the next pillar as the firing resumes, and as I take cover my phone rings.

[color=ec008c][b]"Hello?"[/b][/color]

[color=0054a6]"Gwen where are...is that gunfire?"[/color] Pete's voice asks.

[color=ec008c][b]"Yea, the Cartel is attacking a bank!"[/b][/color] I respond as I come out from behind the pillar and spring into the closest commando, tossing him into his two comrades, and webbing him to the floor. [color=ec008c][b]"I should be good now. Be there in a few."[/b][/color]

[color=8493ca][b]"Don't be so sure, Spider!"[/b][/color] a growling Russian voice says. I turn to find Aleksei Sytsevich, the big guy who threw me in the river the other night, approaching with what looks to be a shoulder mounted RPG. That means the Enforcers are here. The Silk Cartel's elite squad of saboteurs and fixers. When the Black Tarantula has a problem, these are the guys that get called in. If the big dumb one is here, that means others are as well.

[color=00a651][b]"You take care of her, big guy,"[/b][/color] the one who wears the duster says as he heads back to the vault. [color=00a651][b]"We'll get the money."[/b][/color]

Mac Gargan, a former special ops soldier turned mercenary. The guy has a penchant for maximum destruction, but is smart as the whip he uses. Came from out west somewhere before becoming an Army Ranger.

Sytsevich turns back to me and snarls, [color=8493ca][b]"Looks like you are in our web now."[/b][/color]

[color=ec008c][b]"Whoa there, big guy,"[/b][/color] I put my hands up and start backing up. [color=ec008c][b]"If you use that in here we're both gonna be a lot flatter."[/b][/color]

The Russian merely chuckles with a deep, guttural rumble, [color=8493ca][b]"Who sayz this is for you? We know Spider's weakness. People."[/b][/color]

With that, he points the RPG out of the gaping hole in the side of the bank and fires it into the building across the street. The resulting explosion seems to play out in slow motion to me, as I have absolutely no way of stopping it, [color=ec008c][b]"No...what did you do!?"[/b][/color]

[color=8493ca][b]"Get in our vay again, and this will heppen again,"[/b][/color] Aleksi snarls and heads back towards the vault.

I take in the warning and head for the damaged building. Luckily, the structure seems to be strong. Still, it's clear the third floor is on fire, and anyone inside is more than likely injured, at the very least.

Looking at the two pillars I hid behind, an idea strikes me. I attach webbing to each about two thirds of the way up, and back up until the lines are straining under the load. As I let go of the pressure, I'm slingshotted into the burning building. 

Smoke chokes my lungs and stings my eyes as I call out for survivors. The sprinklers of the building try in vain to extinguish the blaze, turning the soot and smoke into a slurry below my feet. I can hear the muffled groans of at least three people. The first I find under their desk, a shard of glass embedded in their thigh.

Looking down at the wound before looking up at the woman, I find a girl not much older than I am. Probably right out of college, scared out of her wits. He blond hair is filled with soot, and her mascara is running from her tears. I put my hand on her shoulder, [color=ec008c][b]"I'm gonna get you out of here, but you need to tell me how many people were in the office when the explosion happened."[/b][/color]

"T-three," she stammers out. "Only three. Me, my boss, and Jerome. Jerome was the closest. Oh god what if he-"

[color=ec008c][b]"Don't think about that now,"[/b][/color] I say as I grab the shard of glass. [color=ec008c][b]"Sorry."[/b][/color]

I yank it out and she yelps in pain. Acting quickly, I fire my webbing into the wound, sealing it. I throw her over my shoulder and head for the gaping hole in the building, hoping I can find one of the other trapped people. Unfortunately, as I get to the edge of the flames, I do. There, with his legs pinned under a flipped desk, is Jerome. 

[color=ec008c][b]"Hey, do you trust me?"[/b][/color] I ask the girl I'm carrying, and get nothing but a confused look from her. [color=ec008c][b]"Good!"[/b][/color]

I fire a webline at a streetlight below, before tying it around her waste and tossing her out the gash in the building. She screams bloody murder, but when she gets to the end of the line she bounces harmlessly above the street. Quickly, I flip the desk off her coworker and do the same for him.

[color=ec008c][b]"Two down, one to go."[/b][/color]

I head back into the smoke filled office, looking for the girl's boss. I find him barricaded behind his office door, his expensive Wall Street banker suit stained with what I'm going to pretend is spilled coffee. He has a fire extinguisher in hand, as if that is actually going to help him.

[color=ec008c][b]"Come on, Gordon Gecko. Time for your rescuing. And now, I'm not carrying you after...that."[/b][/color]

I swing down to the street with him in tow before getting the others down from the streetlight. As I do, the assembled citizens of New York begin to cheer. I wave to the crowd as emergency services shows up to get the situation under control. 

Sometimes it's good to be Spider-Woman.

[color=ec008c][b][i]Oh shit! The show![/i][/b][/color]