Spider Gwen-Bushido: Ch1: OLD ENEMIES

The store looked like a place where you could get any sort of Chinese based antiques and curiosities. Ornaments and decorations made of thin high quality porcelain and clay were displayed inside the place as the owner was sitting in the counter area, enjoying a cup of coffee while counting the daily earnings before closing shop for the night. It was a bit strange that a Chinese antiques store would be open at midnight, but the place was owned by him, so he could choose whatever work policy he wanted. Next to him was a small radio that was broadcasting some news stories about the latest events, mostly highlighting the potential threat of a gang war between the newcomers, the Chinese Demon gang and another new group that just recently moved its operations inside New York. One that, strangely, rose from the ashes of the defunct Murder INC organization, adopting their same tactics, but improved and more violent.

“Heh… not even six months passed since Murder INC went down and there’s already people coming to take their place” said the old clerk while occasionally taking a sip of coffee. Hearing the news was always entertaining for him, both the serious and silly ones, the only source of entertainment for the time he worked the counter. Upon finishing counting the cash, he looked up to see a shadow right in front of him “What do you want?”

Two individuals managed to sneak inside the store without even opening the front door. These weren’t customers, nor the standard crooks, they looked like ninjas, and by the outfits they were using, it was obvious these guys were part of the infamous Hand organization. One of the ninjas walked close to the counter as the other one remained behind, not making a single sound.

“You have until sunrise to leave Hell’s Kitchen and never come back. There will be consequences if you refuse.” said the one who approached the counter with a serious tone.

“No.” simply replied the old clerk, crossing his hands and standing his ground “But I have a counter-offer: you have time until I load up my shotgun to leave and never come back. There will be consequences if you refuse.” he then pulled out a loaded shogun from underneath the table and cocked it, pointing it at the still unfazed ninjas. This made them quickly reach for their swords and pull them out, making the situation more tense as both parties looked like they were ready to settle things violently. However, the sound of a vase being broken made everyone look at the store’s entrance. Turns out She Hulk knocked a vase on purpose to get the ninja’s attention. Spider Woman on the other hand, was hiding in the shadows and sneaking inside the store by going into the ventilation system while they were distracted.

“Oops!” said She Hulk in a joking manner “Sorry! I didn’t see the ‘Don’t Touch’ sticker in this super expensive wannabe Ming vase.”

The ninjas on the other hand weren’t impressed by her taunts. One of them quickly raised his hand and made a gesture. Feeling someone behind her, the gamma Amazonian quickly turned around and saw three more ninjas, weapons ready and about to attack her. They were packing the same gauntlets they used at the first encounter with her and Spider Woman and were keen on using the devices again to put the heroine down.

“Oh… Hello there y’all! How about you guys put those toys down and we all hang out at my place for a bit?” she said, cracking her knuckles with a smirk on her face “There is plenty of me for everyone to share…” said as she gave the ninjas another of her poses, taunting them. Spider Woman on the other side, was giving herself a facepalm while still sticking to the ceiling above them. She was just underneath the grille of a ventilation shaft, oblivious she was being watched too.

But before she could act and provide support for her partner, the webslinger felt two things: one, her spider sense was tingling madly, and two, a sudden strong kick in the gut as there was another ninja hiding in the ventilation system as well. The kick was so strong that she fell straight into a set of glass shelves, shattering it to pieces. Quickly getting up and brushing off pieces of glass, she found herself back-to-back with She Hulk, both of them surrounded by six of these warriors, all with their weapons ready.

“So much for a smooth takedown…” said Spider Woman, getting ready to fight “Let’s put what I have learned to good use…”

“Dying to see you in action, sugah!” replied Shulkie while adjusting her weightlifter gloves and giving her a wink, annoying her. Just then, two of the ninjas rushed at the heroines from the front, ready to slice them with their swords. Taking a deep breath, Spider Woman anticipated the attack by closing her eyes, but nothing happened. She Hulk intercepted the attack by catching the blade with her hand, sustaining no damage due to her rock hard skin. As the opponent tried his best to pull the katana back, the jade bruiser made a small chuckle, before kicking the ninja with her right leg. The strike was strong enough to send him flying backwards through the drywall straight into the employee’s restroom, crashing in the toilet, creating quite a geyser.

“Pfft! This glorified knife is smaller and softer than what I grabbed last night after a party!” said She Hulk while squeezing her fist and shattering the sword with little effort. Spider Woman on the other hand let out a sigh at all these lewd remarks, feeling quite uncomfortable about hearing these words.

“Look… I will handle the guys with the swords, you take care of the ones with the gauntlets” said Spider Woman, since those devices were made specially to deal with her and going against them would result in her defeat.

“Okie dokie, sexy dolly.” replied She Hulk stated as she cracked her neck a bit and walked outside of the store where the Ninjas with the gauntlets were expecting her “So… who wants momma’s chancla?”

Inside the store, Spider Woman got ready to battle the two ninjas as she got into a fighting stance once again, signaling them to come at her at once with her hand. One ninja was out of commission, the other two were still up for a fight. One of them advanced fast at her, striking with his sword. Due to Specter’s training, she was able to read the moves of her opponent. However, despite this and her upper strength, speed and reflexes, she was still being beaten by her opponents.

“F*ck! Took lessons from Marc and I still get my ass kicked!” mumbled Spider woman as she crossed her arms in front of her head to block a punch from one of the ninjas, only to get a kick from the other where she was vulnerable “Come on web head, use what you learned!” So far, she was able to dodge most of the attacks, especially from their blades, but these ninjas were working in coordination: if they couldn’t slash her with their swords, they resorted to physical attacks. Even if she managed to block one’s strike, the other took the opportunity to attack where she was exposed. Her superhuman endurance helped her withstand the attacks, but her body was already showing signs of fatigue.

Crashing against a wall due to a powerful roundhouse kick received at her head after blocking another attack that left her exposed, she tried to keep herself alert, but couldn’t react fast enough, as another ninja charged at her with a kunai. She was able to stop the attacker from delivering a fatal blow, but she still was pinned down against the wall and the ninja wasn’t about to go easy on her. His partner, though, dropped his sword while pulling out his kunai and charged at the webslinger in order to finish her off for good.

“Enough!” screamed Spider Woman while grinding her teeth, as she gave the attacking ninja a kick between his legs, making him scream in pain, losing his grip on her and backing off. Seeing an opening, she grabbed him and used his body as a shield against the incoming Ninja who ended up stabbing his partner on the left shoulder. “My turn!'' She then pushed the wounded ninja aside and charged at the second one who was now vulnerable since the kunai ended in his partner’s shoulder. The heroine then tried to deflect a right hook coming at her face by crossing her arms again to block the incoming attack. Afterwards, using what she had learned, she went for a low punch at his guts, making him wince in pain, followed by a fast kick at his right knee in order to make him lose his balance.

“Got you!” She then grabbed her opponent by one of his arms in order to break his defense, bending him over as she applied force on both his arm and shoulder. She then delivered a knee kick to his head, busting his nose and ending with a karate chop on his back with force as he crashed against the floor, knocked out.

She let out a sigh of relief after finally having some breathing room, only to see the other ninja stumbling up to keep fighting. His left arm was bleeding and it seemed that the kunai did some damage as he was barely able to move his arm without experiencing quite some pain, however, he wasn’t backing down as he pulled the weapon from his shoulder with right hand and charged at her. This time, Spider Woman was able to intercept the attack by dodging the blade, then grabbed him by the arm and elbow and responded by giving it a good strike with her forearm, breaking his arm. The Ninja screamed in pain, dropping his weapon, as the wall crawler resorted using the chokehold technique, applying enough pressure to his neck from behind in order to make him lose consciousness, passing out after a brief struggle.

“Finally! Thank you, Marc!” exclaimed Spider Woman, celebrating her small victory. Her little “victory dance” was short-lived as the ninja that She Hulk threw through the bathroom wall resurfaced. He was covered in white dust, pieces of drywall all over his ninja uniform, he was completely wet from hitting the toilet and from the look in his eyes, he wasn’t very happy.

“You will pay for this…” said the ninja as he kicked the drywall to make the hole big enough for him to pass through. Spider Woman on the other hand, was ready to face him and do another round.

“Then come and get me, Moshi Moshi. I’m ready for round two.” replied Spider Woman, taunting him by making a come-at-me gesture with her hand. He then grabbed the two swords of his fallen comrades and proceeded to spin them on his hands in a skillful manner getting in a combat position, leaving Spider Woman both impressed and worried “Oh… crap”.

In the meantime, She Hulk was having her own share of the battle. Her opponents were more than capable of going against her, as his martial arts skills triumphed over her incredible strength. She was capable of lifting up to 100 tons and turning military equipment into crumpled tin foil without breaking a sweat, but it was all useless as the ninja’s skills, agility and speed were overwhelming her. Their tactics consisted in wearing her down little by little, forcing her to push herself more and more, exhausting her quickly. It didn’t help the fact that those gauntlets were dealing a lot of damage due to their kinetic energy they delivered, causing internal rather than external damage.

“Ok, you guys are starting to piss me off, for real!” she said while raising both of her fists and slammed them against the ground, just like her bigger cousin, creating a powerful shockwave that threw her opponents on the ground and charged at them once again.

Back inside the store, things weren’t looking any good for the webslinger. She was trying to avoid the last ninja’s attacks, but despite being just one, this guy was more skillful than the others, double wielding swords like a swordmaster. Spider Woman on the other hand couldn’t respond to his attacks, only avoid them. Getting desperate, she started to throw all sorts of things at him inside the store, only for him to slice them without problems.

“Damn it!” she exclaimed as she was running out of options. Changing tactics, she shot two lines of web at two large vases that were behind him, as she was planning to topple them over the ninja, but he was aware of her plan, immediately ducking to avoid the projectiles, as they were now coming fast towards the webslinger. She was barely able to avoid her own projectiles, only to be struck by the ninja’s flying knee at her chest, followed by a kick at her abdomen, making her feel like she was out of air. She coughed as she tried to recover from the impact, only to be struck by the swords, slashing her torso and making her bleed.

“F-f*ck…” was all she could say before her attacker kept the pressure on by delivering a massive reverse kick directly at her head, making her fall on the floor hard. She tried to get back up, but fell back on the ground, completely exhausted.

“This is the end for you….” said the ninja before raising his sword, ready to deliver the final strike as the heroine couldn’t stand up or move after that attack. All she could do was to raise her right arm and hope that it would stop the incoming blade.

“No…” an ominous voice came from her as the ninja tried to impale her with his sword, but the blade was stopped by her arm. It went through, but it stopped inches from her chest. Spider Woman then suddenly got up with renewed strength and grabbed him by the face and raised him slightly. The attacker immediately responded by striking her with the second blade, making Spider Woman let him go, but left the other blade stuck in her arm. Taken by surprise, the Ninja backflipped and took a more defensive stance, as he watched how Spider Woman was bleeding from her wounds. Suddenly, the blood stopped, as a black tar substance was coming out from her lacerations, healing them. Making a terrifying hiss, she pulled the blade out of her arm as it started to tweak and move in unnatural ways. Her muscles on her right arm could be seen swelling all over as small sharp looking blades started to come out around the elbow and forearm, getting bigger and sharper. Gwen groaned deeply as her arm painfully got covered in the black substance that hardened itself in a grotesque fashion, morphing it into a blade.

“It’s over for you…” her once cheerful voice changed to a deep and terrifying one as she cracked her neck, now facing her opponent…

“Dammit… I should have done at least some warm up before coming here!” said She Hulk as her blows began to be less and less powerful, still missing her target as the ninjas were too fast and agile for her. Eventually she received a strong enough punch on her knee, making her stumble only to receive another powerful strike from those gauntlets right at her head, making her fall on the ground. She was super strong with incredible endurance, but the Gauntlets were designed to create internal damage by bypassing the skin with kinetic force. Her body was burning energy on healing those internal wounds while she was trying to hit them, but she was too slow for them.

As that wasn’t enough, she was also feeling the strain of the battle, as the devices used against her were proving themselves to be effective also against gamma metahumans, not just symbiotic beings.

“That’s cheating you f*ckers…!” she yelled while laying on the ground as the three ninjas were approaching her, charging the gauntlets at maximum power in order to deliver the final blow “…Heh… Do your worst…” said She Hulk, mocking them one last time before they were about to pummel her to a pulp. However, out of nowhere, the trio got hit by a body that was thrown so hard at them that it sent them crashing into a parked car, denting it.

“Hah! Thanks for the help, hun!” said the Jade Bruiser as she tried to stand back up, still feeling dizzy and disoriented after receiving so many punches, only for her to notice that something was very wrong.

“What the…?” She looked at what struck those ninjas, only to see a shocking scene: it was the body of one of their comrades, but it looked mauled up pretty badly, like a bear had its way with him, not to mention the fact that he was barely alive. Looking back at the store, she saw Spider Woman falling on her knees and collapsing on the floor. Seeing that, She Hulk rushed back inside to help her.

Reaching the webslinger, she saw the place was an absolute mess as almost every single object was broken apart, like if a raging blind bull stormed inside. Spider Woman was on the floor and was twitching violently, like she was having a seizure or an epileptic crisis.

“You ok honey??” asked She Hulk as she cautiously approached her, only to get a loud hiss as a response from her partner, making her back off and fall on the ground, visibly scared. Crawling backwards, she saw how Spider Woman’s body was mutating. It wasn’t like she normally does when she allows the symbiote to come out. It looked more… grotesque. Her face was covered in a full black mass, only showing two massive alien looking bright orange spots where her eyes should be and a massive mouth full of razor sharp fans appeared after it “tore” apart the face, though her expression showed a lot of pain as she was doing her best to restrain herself from allowing it full control. Her entire body was going haywire as some parts were expanding, increasing its muscle mass, deforming it as she was also growing bigger.

Grinning her fangs, she did her best to suppress the symbiote before transforming completely, as she grabbed her head and began to roll left and right. Her breathing went from erratic and almost animalistic to a more controlled and deeper one, as the symbiote started to calm down and return back to her body slowly, in a matter of seconds, shrinking herself back to her regular size and bringing the parasite back inside, leaving a disoriented and exhausted Spider Woman out of air.

“Wow…” said She Hulk as she got closer to the webslinger once again “That… wasn’t smexy, but extremely terrifying.” she proceeded to help her to stand up as carefully as she could “What… happened?

“I… I did something… the ninjas…” said Spider Woman as she was still trying to remember everything that happened, but it was the same fog in her mind that was back when she fought Rita DeMara.

“No worries, hun. We won… they kicked our asses hard, but we won regardless” joked the jade bruiser, as she dusted herself off and adjusted her suit, especially since it was riding up her rear again. As both heroines tried to catch their breaths, they got surprised by the sound of a shotgun being cocked.

Both women turned around to check on the clerk, only to find themselves staring at the end of his loaded shotgun. Slowly raised their hands in order to show the old man that they are not hostile towards him.

“Mister Negative doesn’t tolerate folks like you nosing around in his business. Get out before I kill you!” said the old man in a strong Chinese accent, pointing his shotgun and ready to fire.

“You blind or something, Ming Mao?” asked Spider Woman, getting angry at the situation. They saved this man’s life and he still had the nerve to aim his gun at them. At this point, she has stared at many gun barrels in her life, almost to the point of recognizing every gun model just by the look of the barrel and she was starting to get tired of this treatment “We are not with those damn ninjas! Maybe… we should have let them turn your old ass into sushi….”

“Forget it, hun, this place is nothing more than a front for one of Negative’s smuggling operations…” said She Hulk as she pulled the shotgun off the clerk’s hands and used it as a bat to smash open a big vase that was right behind him. Out of it fell several packages, some splitting open, revealing diamonds and white dust that surely wasn’t flour “…just that one was a million-dollar score. Guess grandpa here will enjoy retirement in prison.”

But before she could even attempt to restrain the clerk, Spider Woman felt her spider sense warning her of danger, but didn’t have time to react as several gunshots could be heard from the entrance behind them. The bullets went by just inches past the two heroines, but they weren’t the target. Much to their shock, they saw as the old man was riddled with bullets, staining the wall behind him with his blood before falling on the floor, dead.

“Target down. Now let’s show our “old webhead friend” what we think about her ruining our business!” said a voice outside, a voice that gave Spider Woman a sense of deja-vu. She didn’t have the time to remember where she heard it before, as her spider sense went off again. Turning around, she saw several grenades being thrown straight at them, ready to blow.

The explosion caused by the grenade was powerful enough to send both heroines through the wall straight into the back office and to knock down the attackers outside as the store ended up completely demolished, with the ceiling collapsing and shattering several windows at the apartments above.

“Dammit, Vincent! You brought the spicy ones, moron! Those were supposed to be for the other job! This is coming out of your pay!” said the thug as he waved his hand around to clear some of the dust, coughing.

“Quit whining, Aleksei! It worked, didn’t? Our Tokyoite friends had the chance to flee. Let’s get out of here, let the cops clean up this mess!” replied Vincent as he went back into a black BMW M5, alongside with the rest of the gang, speeding off in dark streets, leaving the devastated store and two heroines in the rubble.

Minutes later after the dust settled, Spider Woman and She Hulk managed to lift the pieces of concrete aside and free themselves. Looking around, they could see everything destroyed and no traces of the ninjas or their backup.

“You ok, hun?” asked the bruiser as she helped Gwen get out the rubble as she was coughing a lot “How are you feeling? Everything is where it needs to be?”

“Yeah… I guess so…” replied Spider Woman, feeling how the symbiote was working in order to heal her. She was in a rather good condition despite being so close to the grenade’s blast but still, she was feeling some sort of weird pressure inside her right arm that made her hold it tightly.

“Something wrong?”

“Y-yeah, is just… lately I have been feeling something… weird with this arm…” she said as the strange sensation was fading away, unaware that her right arm just transformed into a blade and reverted back to her regular shape “Since the whole thing with DeMara…”

“Maybe you should let Janet to take a look at it, ya know… just to be sure”

“It’s nothing… besides, I don’t want to bother Janet right now, not after what she’s been through…” said Spider Woman as she was trying to move her arm a bit “How about you?”

“I took the worst part of the blast… but this body can take more than a stupid grenade” replied the gamma bomb while doing her trademark flexing, in which Spider Woman just rolled her eyes.

“Great…” The webslinger looked at what was left of the store as some debris from the floor above was still falling, the whole section of the structure looked very unstable, as the store completely disappeared in the rubble “I guess we lost a whole store with clues… and a key witness”.

“Hmm…” She Hulk kneeled on the ground, looking at the cartridges that were scattered on the sidewalk where the assailants fired. Picking one of them and examining it “Maybe not… here, give it a look” she then tossed the disposed cartridge to Spider Woman who gave it a look as well.

“Sorry, but I am not a gun nerd, this is more Specter’s expertise.” she replied, tossing the cartridge while looking at the devastated store.

“Those are 7.62x39mm shells, Soviet type ammunition. Same type of bullets that are used on AK’s assault rifles, quite a rare sight here in the U.S.”

“Hmm… the only gang that I know used AK’s was Murder INC… wait, how did you know a lot about ballistic?”

“Hey, one of my dates works as the NYPD’s main gunsmith, so I know who to ask if I need help with pop guns. Told ya, using your looks will get you far if you would do the same, sugah!” replied She Hulk, giving a seductive a confident smile which made Spider Woman let out a sigh and nod her head in disagreement.

“Could you please stop calling me Sugar? You are DEAD wrong if you think I will follow your advice. Anyways… I also remember the name Aleksei. He was a captain in the gang until Operation Hellfire. He was part of the first out of town chapter to fall when Marc, Agent Cage and my dad coordinated the nationwide raid.”

“And with Foggy letting out some of them, you think Murder INC has been reborn?”

“Possibly. Tombstone and Jimmy might be still locked up and Vladislav in exile, but there are still people eager to fill their shoes. But the question is: why helping The Hand? What do they gain by helping a rival gang?” asked Spider Woman as both heroines made their way out towards the street. As they searched for clues, She Hulk found some pieces of paper that probably were dropped by the attackers. Picking them up, she examined them, giggling at some until reaching the final bit: a piece of a calling card.

“Hey Spidey, you might want to see this. These losers seem to have expensive tastes.” said She Hulk as she handed the piece of calling card to Spider Woman “This place is a complete rip off, I can get the same liquor this guy sells for a fraction!”

Looking at the incomplete piece of paper, a smile appeared underneath her mask, as she recognized the logo. Putting it in the pocket strapped to her thigh, she then quickly fired a line of web and got ready to take off.

“Come on, let’s go get yourself a drink! We might see them over there if we’re lucky!”

“That’s the spirit” replied She Hulk as she jokingly winked at her before leaping high in the air, following her to their destination.

well this is it. the first chapter of the new story arc, created by me and https://www.deviantart.com/snarkymofo

The continuation of the previous arc is having Gwen and She Hulk going after the notoriously secretive organisation called The Hand. Along these ninjas, some old "friends" from Gwen's superhero career will return, with intent on payback

previous chapter/arc: https://www.deviantart.com/ci0/art/Spider-Gwen-Massive-Crisis-FINALE-THINGS-TO-COME-912487982