Spider Gwen: Bushido Chapter 2: PLANTING A BUG

As the night was about to come to an end, the Seaport area was starting to get quieter, especially around Foswell’s club. The dancing floor was slowly emptying itself as patrons were finishing their drinks and getting their coats from the wardrobe before leaving. Staff members were cleaning the empty tables and collecting any tips left as the DJ was turning off the music.

“Have a good day to you all, drive safely now. And remember: you get caught with a DUI, that’s your problem, not ours!” said the bouncer as he was tending the patrons leaving the club and making sure everything was in order. Suddenly, he felt someone approaching him from behind, as he was about to go inside the club once again and close the doors for today. “… sorry, closing hours. Come back tomorrow at night”.

Meanwhile, in the club’s office, Frederick Foswell was about to call it a day, after a long night of doing his accounting. His skills as a crook taught him a thing or two on how to hide as much money from the tax man without raising any alarm bells, so any cent he managed to hide from the IRS was a cent remaining in his business. But the moment he put the pen down and was reaching for his walking cane, the door behind him suddenly opened.

“Fred… you got visitors,” said the bouncer in a rather concerned tone as he opened the door of his office without entering.

“Jeremy, is closing time. Whoever it is, he can make an appointment.” replied Foswell as he was getting up and going to get his coat from the hanger.

“Ummmm… They are two women, one said she is an old friend of yours. She also gave me this to pass it to you.” said Jeremy as he was showing Fred a piece of webbing from his hand. The former crook took a look at it, before making a deep sight.

“Send them in. And lock the door behind after they enter.” said Fred as he sat back on his office chair while grunting, taking a shot of gin “The day has 24 hours and she wants a favor from me right as I want to go home. Jeez…” seconds later, the door opened as Spider Woman and She Hulk entered the office… though, Shulkie had to duck a bit in order to enter, walking by Jeremy who then closed the door behind them.

“I guess you’re not here for a VIP pass for you and your… new friend over here…” said Fred in a bored and annoyed, as he was yawning, showing signs of sleepiness. For him, having to stay overtime was always an annoyance, no matter who it was.

“Sorry for depriving you of your beauty sleep, princess’, but I think this belongs to you.” replied She Hulk while tossing the piece of calling card, landing it on the desk, next to his fingers. The former crook simply looked at the piece of paper and then looked back, unimpressed.

“Yeah, so? Didn’t know it was illegal to advertise my club with calling cards. Or someone littered on the sidewalk and you tried to pin this one on me?” he said while crossing his arms.

“There was a whole building that now lays in pieces, said building was stashing a lot of illegal contraband, and these cards were found in the rubble, alongside many bullets… I suggest you be more cooperative with us, little pal…” Shulkie got closer to him, making sure that Foswell got the message, however, Foswell remained unfazed, despite the green brawler's scare tactics.

“You are going to need more than this oversized Broccoli if you want to intimidate me, kiddo” At this point, Spider Woman made a hand gesture, signaling She Hulk to just leave the “tough guy” approach.

“Leave it to me, I know how to talk to him…” said Spider Woman as she walked closer to his desk while She Hulk crossed her arms, but still wanting to squash the guy “…Fred, I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t extremely important. But it is.” She then paused a bit and gave a sigh, knowing him finding out about  the Murder INC revival won’t be something he wants to hear, since he has bad memories about the organization’s top assassin “You got some very interesting guests frequenting your club.”

“Kid, I’m here only once a week when I do the accounting. I don’t know who comes and goes and to be frank, I don’t care. As long as they don’t trash the place or bring the cops to my doorstep, they have a pass.”

“Then it means you have no problem to welcome Murder INC goons in your house?” replied Spider Woman, pretty much spilling it out. This made Foswell immediately both intrigued and shocked at the same time upon hearing this.

“…Excuse me? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought Murder INC was finished when your Fed friend… what was his name? I forgot… anyways… didn’t he put the final nails in Murder INC's coffin a while ago?”

“He did, but it seems someone doesn’t want to let this gang die…” replied Spider Woman as she continued the conversation “…These guys just resurfaced. Me and my… partner here, just had a ‘reunion’ with two of them after we played with some weird ninjas in a Chinese Shop. We encountered Aleksei, who was supposed to be out of the game after Operation Hellfire and I believe some of his associates were hanging out at this place at some point.”

“… Jeremy! Come here for a second!” shouted Foswell as the bouncer got inside the room. The place was now getting a bit cramped, considering that there was a massive sized jade amazon inside as well.

“Yeah? What is it?” he asked, showing a bit of concern.

“Did you know if someone named Aleksei has been in the club over the last days or weeks?”

“Aleksei? He’s a regular here. He brings several of his friends to discuss business and have a good time. You’re actually lucky, he’s bound to come tonight again. And judging from the number of seats at the table he ordered this time AND the fact he wants somewhere away from the crown, I guess he will bring important ‘friends’ with him this time around.”

“How do you know all this? These guys aren’t the types that brag or act too flashy.” asked She Hulk as this piece of news was intriguing.

“I do keep an eye on anyone looking suspicious, that’s my job. Wouldn’t want someone having ideas to cause a scene. This way, I can throw their ass out the door before things can get ugly.”

“Spying on these guys is a sure way to get you clipped, Jeremy. Especially someone as dangerous as Aleksei.” replied Spider Woman, as she was crossing her arms thinking on how to take advantage of this opportunity. Suddenly, an idea popped in her mind. “We need to find a way to hear what they are saying without them noticing. And eavesdropping isn’t an option.”

“How about disguising ourselves as waitresses and trying to keep them company. After a few drinks, we’ll be able to loosen their tongues.” replied She Hulk as she winked and pointed with her head at some spare waitress uniforms that were packed in the open closet nearby, Spider Woman facepalmed herself at the idea of wearing a waitress suit, let alone flirting with some drunk crook to squealing.

“Too risky. And these guys aren’t stupid enough to be drinking that much while knowing a lot. They are too much of a liability, besides, they always request to be in a very secluded area where nobody is near them” said Jeremy while scratching the back of his head.

“I have a better idea. How about we bug the entire place and listen to their conversations from a safe distance? I can call a favor from my FBI friends and get all the gear we need.” said Spider Woman as she pulled out her phone, ready to make a call, but Foswell and Jeremy immediately reacted to that idea, not in a positive manner.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!” both screamed in anger almost in unison at the idea “You’re not bugging this place!”

“Why not?” asked the webslinger as she put her phone down, surprised and shocked by their reactions.

“People like them pick places like these for a reason. If the police disrupt their plans or something goes wrong, who do you think they will come after? ME!” said Foswell in a very worried tone.

“If they think we might be involved in this, it could mean a death sentence for all of us, including the staff! You know the rule of the streets: don’t snitch! If you rat someone, you will die.” said Jeremy.

“Damn… there must be a way to listen what these cretins are saying.” said She Hulk as she was getting a bit frustrated, grabbing the bottle of gin from Foswell’s desk and drinking straight from it, not even using a glass, seeing with the corner of her eye that he was quite annoyed over her action “And before saying anything, ‘Fredo’, put it on my tab.”

“You can bet on that… anyways. As Jeremy said, bugging my club is a death sentence for us all. The only way you would be able to listen would be if you could be a fly underneath their table.”

“A fly… or a wasp.” replied Spider Woman as a smile appeared underneath her mask. Even though nobody could see it, they knew she was smiling and having a plan already being created in her mind “Fred, you’re a genius!” she exclaimed as she pulled out her phone again and began searching her contacts list, much to Foswell and Jeremy’s confusion over her reaction “Come on, partner. We need to get to the Avengers Mansion and ask Janet for help...” she then urged She hulk to leave the booze alone and exit the office together as she was making a call, web slinging her way out of the place as She Hulk followed suit “…Hello? Marc? I need some listening equipment. Can you pull some strings and borrow some from the Bureau…?”

After a much needed nap and a late breakfast, plus a good dose of caffeine, the duo found themselves heading towards Janet’s Mansion. Spider Woman had the idea of asking Janet to assist her and She Hulk in listening to Aleksei’s meeting with his associates in a shrunken state while Specter was providing the listening and recording equipment needed to gather any intel on the revived Murder INC chapter. She knew it wasn’t quite the moment to ask for help, considering everything that happened over DeMara’s apparent death, but she couldn’t find another alternative, as asking her colleagues might be risky, considering her status as a wanted fugitive. All the webslinger could hope was for her friend to be in brighter spirits and accept to help her out.

However, after realizing she wasn’t in her room and searching the entire mansion without any results, the duo was getting slightly worried over the heroine’s whereabouts. After half an hour of a wild goose chase, Spider Woman decided to ask Dr Connors about Janet, knowing he was taking care of her ever since she sunk deep in her depression. As she expected, he found him in the place she knew he often was frequenting: in the main lab, working on some more tech equipment under a microscope. It looked more like Stark’s arc reactor, but much smaller, almost to the size of a coin.

“Working on something new, Curt?” asked Spider Woman, breaking the silence, startling Connors, making him almost jab the device with one of the tools he used to weld tiny components.

“God dammit!  Don’t do that!!! I nearly broke it!” responded Connors, visibly irate as he tried to calm himself down, examining the contraption via the microscope connected to a large monitor next to him “Tony asked me for a favor to fix his mini arc reactor and would be embarrassed to return it more broken than it was before!”

“Oh, sorry. Wasn’t my intention to break something…” replied Spider Woman, removing her mask and her hood before he could get to the point of the visit. However, She Hulk was beginning to get on Connors’s nerves as she began to walk around and keep examining several pieces of lab machinery that contained some of Janet’s Van Dyne particles.

“Hey! HEY! Hands off! Don’t you read the label?” shouted Connors visibly annoyed over the gamma heroine looking at a vial and shaking it.

“Chill out, pencil neck. I’m not that clumsy… “replied She Hulk, but before she could finish, the vial accidentally slipped out of her fingers, falling on the ground, shattering to pieces and enlarging a passing ant to the size of a medium size dog. Gwen immediately got startled and leaped, sticking to the ceiling as that ant began to move erratically until Connors calmly sprayed it with a neutralizing agent, reverting it to its regular size.

“In my defense, that vial was slippery before I even touched it. And I can make the argument stick.” said She Hulk with some embarrassment in her tone, but only ended up getting a cold stare from Curt and Gwen.

“Clumsiness seems to run in the family… besides gamma radiation…” sighed Connors before placing the neutralizing agent in a safe place. The scientist had his fair share of situations with Jade Bruiser’s cousin, especially when he was in his “green form” around the lab.

“Anyway… we’re here to see Janet, but we can’t find her. You know where she is? Is she alright?” asked Gwen, trying to ease off the tension and get back to their objective.

“She’s fine. Actually, she has gotten better after your visit. Don’t know what happened, but after I woke up from that anesthesia, she finally smiled after two weeks of total depression. Now, she is on her way to the therapist to get back on track mentally.”

“Finally. Thank God she is better and stopped thinking about killing herself…” replied Gwen giving a sigh of relief and feeling happier, knowing Janet was finally getting the help she needed “When she gets back? We need her help on a mission.”

“Tomorrow morning. She’s out of state, to a retreat in Florida.”

“What? But we needed her help tonight!” exclaimed Gwen as she saw part of her plan starting to fall apart.

“Sorry, I cannot help. She turned her phone and communicator off as this therapy session she is attending is all about disconnecting from the outside world and being one with nature.”

After exiting the lab and a few minutes of hanging around in Janet’s room, both heroines kept trying to find a way to be able to adapt to this little flaw in their plan. The clock was ticking, Specter already called back and announced he secured a surveillance van with all the equipment needed to listen to Aleksei’s conversations, but all was in vain as introducing the microphones was still a problem.

“Maybe fake a bomb threat? Delay tonight’s party until Janet returns?” asked She Hulk, only to get a shocked and annoyed stare from Gwen.

“Are you crazy? You want another citywide TAC alert? I had one when Vlad nearly torched the Renalia building! No, it must happen tonight and we need Janet...” replied Gwen as she sat on the couch, trying to find a solution, looking at the dummy that was wearing Janet’s latest Wasp combat suit, still with the cracked visor and marks from the last battle  “… or, just her suit. I got an idea. If it works, we’re golden. If we mess it up, we’re better off if Murder INC catches us…”

Minutes later, both heroines were walking towards the mansion’s exit with a package in She Hulk’s arms and judging by the fact they were looking around to make sure nobody sees them implied it wasn’t cookies inside.

“Almost there…” whispered She Hulk as they were slowly walking, making sure they weren’t detected and caught red-handed as they approached the exit.

“What are you doing?” asked a voice behind the heroines, startling them. Turning around and hiding the package behind them, the two women saw it was Connors. He left the lab to get some coffee and caught them by coincidence “What you got in that package?”

“What package?” asked Gwen, trying to play dumb, showing her hands “I got nothing. See?”

“You got nothing because you passed it to Walters. Come on, seriously… what did you take from here?”

“Some clothes!” quickly replied She Hulk, trying to show an innocent look on her face “Saw some cool stuff in Janet’s closet and wanted to borrow from her.”

“Clothes?” replied Connors, raising an eyebrow. He clearly wasn’t buying it “You’re twice Janet’s size and yet think you can fit in her clothes? You think I’m stupid?”

“Details, details. I will try them in my boring normal body. Now come on, we’re late for a party. Let’s go, sugah.” quickly said She Hulk as she turned around and pulled Gwen towards the exit, almost feeling Curt’s suspicious stare. If his look would have been a laser, she would have felt the back of her neck burning.

“You call me Sugah one more time and I’ll …”

“Shhhh, I think we fooled him.” quickly whispered the gamma heroine as they left the premises.

“No, we don’t. He’s not stupid. I’m sure tomorrow we will have a talk with Janet. But better to ask forgiveness than permission.”

Later that day, as the sun fully set and ten o'clock came, the Seaport club was beginning to open. People were lining up at the entrance with their ID’s and reservations ready in order for Jeremy to grant them access. They will have to wait a few extra minutes, as something important was happening two blocks away, where a seamlessly silver Mercedes Sprinter van with the name of the city’s water company was parked nearby an open and cordoned off manhole cover. All of this would seem unsuspicious to the naked eye if someone would actually do some work. However, the van was shaking, as some muffled swear words could be heard until the back doors opened. Out of the back of the van fell She Hulk because she tripped while putting on what looked like Janet’s combat suit. Falling on the floor was also the remnants of the package it was hidden in, the same package the duo managed to take outside the Avengers Mansion.

“Argh… f*ck! I thought this thing was as stretchy and form fitting as my suit, but it feels more like a damn cocoon. How can Janet even get in this thing?” said She Hulk as she tried to put on the combat suit, but she was starting to have trouble even at the beginning, as her muscular legs barely slid inside the suit. Despite ditching her thigh strap, belt, harness, shoes, gloves and keeping only her leotard on herself, this still proved a challenge to put on a suit that was designed for someone half her current size.

“Jen, it’s useless. You need to shrink back to your normal self in order to fit.” replied Spider Woman as she exited the back of the van as well. She was wearing a pair of big headphones with a small antenna on one side. It looked like her plan was She-hulk to use the Wasp suit and do the field work while Spider Woman and Agent Cage conduct logistics from the surveillance van. However, seeing the gamma Amazonian struggling to get that thing on was hilarious for some, but for Spider Woman and Luke it looked more like time wasted.

“No way. If I get caught, at least I won’t have my real identity blown. Besides, if the shit hits the fan, I will need all the power I got. Just… need to reach the damn zipper…” said She Hulk as she managed to put on the suit with extreme difficulty, but the creaking sounds were clear signs the fabric won’t hold on for a long time due to her massive body. She was struggling to reach the back zipper, but the more she struggled, the more Spider Woman could see the seams beginning to show signs of strain.

“Just stop it. Turn around, lemme try it.” replied Spider Woman, putting her headphones aside and trying to close the zipper, but no avail “oh, for f*ck’s sake, how the hell can one G-damn zipper be such a f*cking hassle?" She then climbed She Hulk’s back and began pulling with both her hands, careful not to break the suit.

“Hold on, I might have an idea…'' Just then, She Hulk inhaled as deep as she could while putting on the helmet. This caused her back to straighten a bit. Spider Woman immediately managed to close the suit, but nearly lost balance causing the gamma heroine to lose balance. On accident, she pressed a switch on her glove, causing her to rapidly grow in size, reaching 60ft, feeling quite cramped in the alleyway between the buildings.

“Damn… so this is what she sees when she is big… I might get used to this…” said She Hulk as she tried to move a bit without damaging the buildings, but she felt some muffled sounds and something moving on her back. Turns out she accidentally smothered Spider Woman between the wall and her back “ouch, sorry! It was an accident!”

“…the switch…press it…can’t breathe…” mumbled Spider Woman, her voice completely muffled as she struggled not to be crushed. Immediately, She Hulk pressed the switch on the other glove and quickly shrunk back to her regular size, freeing the webslinger, allowing her to catch her breath.

“Are you done yet? The clock is ticking and Jeremy is waiting.” asked Agent Cage as he brought the listening device and attached it with a harness on She Hulk’s back, avoiding catching the wings “this thing is sensitive, so try not to damage it. Marc called in a lot of favors to get you this equipment. Make it count.”

“Alright, alright. I got this.” replied She Hulk, trying to gain some confidence after this giant sized fiasco. She then walked around the corner where Jeremy was waiting, ready to infiltrate her in the club without being spotted. “Alright, I am ready, sweetie. Once you get me inside, I am taking over.” She then pressed the correct switch this time shrinking herself to the size of an actual wasp and climbed the bouncer’s finger.

“Hold on. Gonna have to do a sprint all the way back to the club. I’m sure people are getting impatient.” Said Jeremy as he began running through the dark streets in order to get back to his post and not arouse any suspicion. After getting back to his post and starting to do his job, he discreetly gave the tiny She Hulk the signal to enter the club, as nobody will see her.

“Ok Jen… here goes nothing…” mumbled She Hulk, then deployed her wings and tried figuring out how to make them flap, eventually managing to find the controls and activate them “… fly, baby! Fly!” she then jumped from the back of Jeremy’s jacket and began to fly erratically. She aimed to shoot through the door’s keyhole, as synchronizing herself with each time someone opened the door was too risky, she could end up crushed. However, she missed the hole and hit the door instead. She tried again and again, missing every time due to her lack of flying skills and inability to control those wings properly, looking more like a fly who kept banging on the glass, unable to exit a room.

“Aw for f*ck’s sake! How does she make this look easy!??” shouted She hulk as she got annoyed by constantly banging on the door. She then dashed back and flew towards it at full speed, fist stretched. It was another miss, but still entered the club’s lobby, leaving a small hole in the door “…you can add the door on my credit card, ‘cause I have had enough of being a fly.”

Meanwhile, back in the surveillance van, Spider Woman was trying to get accustomed to all the gear Agent Cage was showing her and explaining how it worked. Marc did her quite a favor by supplying all this gear, more than enough to stake out the club from both inside and outside. They were also able to stay in contact with Fred, Jeremy and She Hulk via communicators with high end encryption, making them impossible to be tracked and hacked. She had to admit it felt like in one of those spy movies or police/ FBI documentaries she enjoyed watching when she was younger, but she had to keep her head cool and try to gather as much intel as she could. They had one shot at this, they had to make it count.

“Jeremy, get ready, kid. They’re coming.” said Fred as he saw Aleksei parking a luxury Mercedes S-Class near the club and exiting, accompanied by Vincent and two Asian looking gentlemen, all in business suits. He was able to see what was happening through his own cameras and provide whatever support he could from his back office.

“Got it, uncle.” replied Jeremy, as he got ready to greet the guests properly “ID, please…thank you, gentlemen” he said after checking the crew’s papers as he would normally do.

“You got my special request, do you?” whispered Aleksei to Jeremy’s ear, making sure he wasn’t heard. What he didn’t know was that his issued headset was also picked up by Spider Woman, Luke and Frederick, recording the conversation as well.

“Yes sir. It’s all set, the VIP lobby, above the dance floor. Nobody will bother you.”

A few tense seconds passed as Aleksei seemed to look straight into his eyes, like he was looking in his soul to see if he was lying, but afterwards, he smiled in an assuring manner, easing off the tension.

“Thanks, Jeremy.” replied Sytsevich, letting the Asian delegates to enter the premises first before him and Vincent “don’t spend it all in one place” he then entered last, leaving Jeremy a bit confused over the last part he said, only to discover afterwards $500 tucked in the pocket of his jacket, a “tip” he got from the Murder INC goon.

“Uncle? What the -?” asked Spider Woman after hearing that little piece of detail via her headset. She wanted to ask Fred what was this about, but she had to focus on the objective “Alright… Jen? They’re here. Follow them to their table but keep your distance. Don’t let them detect you.”

“That’s a 10-4. Time to put this show on the road.” replied She Hulk as she stuck on a nearby light rig above the dance floor and saw Aleksei and his entourage coming down the stairs. At the wardrobe, they left their coats and jackets, but insisted on keeping their pistols, bribing the valet as well, before turning off their phones and leaving them in safety deposit boxes. What was strange was that Sytsevich kept his phone and even didn’t turn it off, something She Hulk saw and found it a bit suspicious. Starting to fly near them with the intent of recording what they said, she nearly bumped into the dancers as she tried her best to avoid them, only to ricochet against many other objects, like a pinball.

“Vincent, you know the drill: scan the area and keep a lid on your kisser until you’re sure it’s clean.” said Aleksei as he pulled out a piece of tech that looked like a baton and handed it to his acolyte. That device was made to detect any potential hidden microphones or any listening devices, making sure no evidence would leak to police or FBI. While Vincent began to carefully wield the detector around to search for suspicious signals, Aleksei and his Asian friends began looking around to search for obvious signs that the place had been bugged. They also searched for cameras, as they requested this particular table because it was in a “blind spot”, away from even Foswell’s CCTV system. She Hulk had a hard time trying to stay out of the detector’s range, as she was wearing long range listening devices on the back that could be picked up with ease by Vincent.

“Dammit. Need to up my skills…” mumbled the tiny heroine as she heard Vincent’s detector picking up her signal and flew right under a table where a lady was enjoying a drink. She had a plan and from the fact that the goon was coming to the table and began to scan underneath it seemed that it was working. Without hesitating, she pinched the lady’s leg, catching her attention and flew off as quickly as possible before the device could detect her signal again. Immediately the lady shouted after feeling the pinch and saw Vincent with both hands under the table, giving the impression that he was the one responsible.

“Perv!” she shouted, slapping the goon with all her might, making him drop the detector and nearly drop the sunglasses off his face. Seconds later, he felt his face wet after the woman threw her glass of martini at him.

“You hitting on my girlfriend, bitch?” asked a voice behind him. Turning around and readjusting his sunglasses, he looked at the guy who came to deal with him, thinking he was someone he could bully his way out of this mess. He was dead wrong, as the guy was quite big and for sure not a pushover. Back in the surveillance van, Spider Woman, Cage and everyone involved in the operation heard the sound of Vincent getting a massive right hook to his face, followed by the reaction of everyone around after seeing that.

“The hell was that?” asked Cage after hearing something that resembled a sack of potatoes hitting the floor.

“That? That is how you get a tail off your ass.” replied She Hulk, enjoying the victory of her plan, flying back to the VIP area and hiding in the plant near the Asian delegates. They were all waiting for Vincent to return and signal that it was all clear for them to talk.

“Got a report of a disturbance on the dance floor. What the hell is going on over there?” asked Jeremy via his headset, ready to intervene and kick Vincent out of the club if needed.

“Nothing, just go on as usual. We’re good.” replied Fred, trying to refrain himself from laughing after seeing what happened via the cameras.

Meanwhile, the special guests were getting served, still waiting for the go ahead to be able to talk business. Aleksei was already getting curious why his partner was taking so long, but his wait came to an end when he saw Vincent coming back, pressing a pack of ice on the left side of his face while holding the glasses and scanning device in the other hand.

“The hell happened to you, Vince? What are you hiding there?” asked Aleksey as he got up and removed the pack from his partner’s face and put it back after seeing his swollen eye socket, refraining himself from laughing “I’m not even going to ask. So, we’re clear?”

“All clear…” replied Vincent, with some pain, as that injury made it painful even to talk properly. “I need to lay down… and order some more ice...” He then sat right behind the plant where the wasp sized She Hulk was hiding, not hearing her giggling after seeing what happened. She then dashed forward and stuck right underneath the table, ready to record everything the crew was saying.

For the next half an hour, everything She Hulk was recording was a real gold mine: the Asian friends turned out to be high-ranking Hand members who are having strong ties to notorious blind lawyer Matt Murdoch. They were discussing the evolution of recent events regarding Martin Li’s ambition to enter the criminal scene, but what was interesting was that he was interested mainly in areas owned by Oscorp. They also were concerned over last night’s event, especially after seeing what Spider Woman did to one of their ninjas, as they had to put him in intensive care. They were talking freely, unknown that despite their precautions, they were talking straight into a wiretap. A tiny winged one, to be precise.

“Do not worry about the spider and that roid junkie, Mr Yamaguchi. This is why Ernesto got those gauntlets for you from SHIELD’s vaults. Besides, his little game of chess with DeMara and that sabotage that allowed her to go down with the Helicarrier got the heat off everyone else. SHIELD will be busy for a few months getting their toy from the bottom of the ocean. By then, any evidence will be gone.” said Aleksei, before taking a sip of his drink “We got more trouble thrown at us by Li himself. He got the Bratva on his side and considering their second in command is a manipulative psychopath who screwed Ernesto back in his early days when arriving in America, I have high doubts they won’t try anything funny soon.”

“Why is everything in America so complicated? When our client hired us and we had to collaborate with your leader, we thought it would be straight up business. All we see is a complete lack of honor and everyone stabs everyone in the back.” replied Mr Yamaguchi’s younger associate, quite displeased over how things turned out. Suddenly, Sytsevich’s phone began to ring. He immediately answered and began speaking in Spanish, sounding a bit concerned. Back in the surveillance van, Cage and Spider Woman could hear him but neither understood what he said. Also, it was a shame they couldn’t tap into his phone and hear who the caller was, but they could faintly hear the caller speaking in Spanish, but with a weird funny accent.

“Muy bien. Te mantendré informado. Adiós” said Aleksey before hanging up “Alright, that was Ernesto. We need to step up our game. Our collaboration is supposed to have one purpose: to drive Mister Negative and his demon gang out of the country. In a wooden box ideally.”

As the conversation kept going on smaller issues, the team heard enough and ordered She Hulk to discreetly exit the club and return to the van. It was on time, as she felt the suit beginning to show signs of strain and wanted to get out of it as soon as possible, as it was way too tight for her. Flying as fast as she could out of the club, she discreetly thanked Jeremy for his help and got back at the mobile base, reverting back to her original size.

“Whew… gotta give Janet some credit. This flying and size shifting thing is not a walk in the park.” Said She Hulk as she removed the helmet and shook her head to loosen up her hair. But as she inhaled deep and exhaled a sigh of relief, a loud ripping sound echoed the alleyway and in a flash, the high tech suit ripped, splitting at the seams and in her chest area. Just then, Spider Woman got out of the van and saw the disaster they now have on their hands.

“Oh shit… we’re dead!!!” exclaimed Spider Woman after seeing Janet’s suit in that state, with She hulk still in shock over what happened. Both knew she would be furious over the suit’s destruction.

“Don’t worry… I-I’ll fix it somehow… I think.” replied She Hulk after quickly taking it off and wrapping it up in a hurry “Going back home to sort it out, you make sure everything I recorded is safe and ready for us to analyze them. See ya.” She then performed a massive leap and disappeared from her sight, leaving Spider Woman quite nervous. She knew the gamma heroine won’t be able to fix that high tech suit and was very scared over the phone call she would get when Van Dyne returned from her therapy session.

“Alright, I’ll be returning the van back to the Bureau before anyone asks for it. Once we’ll process all these recordings, Marc will send the files to you. Good night, kid. I’m off to sleep too, I’m beat.” said Luke as he started the Mercedes and drove off. Spider Woman could simply wave at him and thank for his time before heading home herself. She could rest as well, as processing all the intel will take time and she really needed some rest. But the wardrobe malfunction remained in her mind, so she turned off her phone as a precaution, fearing the call she would get…

The next morning, Janet Van Dyne just came back from her trip to Florida. This first therapy session away from NYC did help her overcome seeing Rita’s death and her depression that culminated with her failed suicide attempt, but there was still work to be done. Giving Curt a kiss before exiting the car, she entered the mansion, as Connors left in order to return the device he was working on back to Stark Tower in Midtown.

“Ahhh… back home.” she said as she walked the hallway, about to open the door and enter her bedroom “Time to un…wind?” She dropped her duffle bag on the floor after seeing her ruined Wasp combat suit on the bed. It was badly botched together with poor stitching and duct tape. Unintentionally rubbing salt in her wound, a note with a green kiss was resting on top of it with the message “I’m sorry ☹ ” written on it.

“Janet? Hey! I need to tell you something, Jennifer and Gwen came here yesterday and-” Connors was cut when he saw Janet shaking slightly…he thought she was about to have a heart attack, but then noticed the special suit she made was nearly destroyed and by the way she was clenching the piece of paper in her hand, it was clear she was reaching meltdown quite fast.

“J-j-just remember what the therapist said. Count to ten Janet. Count to ten and breathe…” whispered Janet as a way to try to calm herself down, but it didn’t seem to work, as her face was getting red and it could be seen she was getting increasingly angrier “...seven, eight, nine, ten… WHAT THE F*CK IS THIS!?? JENNIFER!!!!”

Her scream echoed through the entire mansion and outside, making some birds fly away from the tree near her window. Outside, She Hulk was just exiting the mansion and upon hearing Janet’s scream, it was her cue to flee, knowing the Avenger won’t appreciate her handiwork…

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

Planting a bug- quite literally...

Let's just say someone is extremely angry over the damage of this "tiny" operation.

previous chapter  https://www.patreon.com/posts/spider-gwen-ch1-83619118