spy-der woman

Listen up, bitchcakes. I'm Jessica Drew and what you just got a f a c e f u l of was my spider-bite. Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman. "We're part of some-thing bigger than us. Bigger than our egos, bigger than our mistakes. When someone targets one of us, they answer to us all. This guy invaded your home... This is war now.

[arachnophiliad]

scvietwinter:

Bucky had spent four years travelling throughout Europe in an attempt to figure out who the hell he was, and what the hell he had done under the Soviets’ and Hydra’s control. That entire time he had been little more than a shell, not quite a machine, but far from the man that was depicted in the history books, the man revered as a fallen American hero. In the months since he had arrived in New York again, though, the memories had been coming back thick and fast. Maybe being around the Avengers had something to do with that, maybe it was because everywhere he turned there was another familiar face, but either way, it was giving him plenty of leads to follow up on, and at least he knew who was worthy of trust. Jessica Drew definitely fit into that category, and when it came to people with shared life experience, she ticked the box as well. “Deal. You know someone gave me twenty bucks last night to go and punch their brother in the face? ‘Just a light punch, really. More of a love tap.’ That’s genuinely what they said. Easiest twenty bucks I ever made. Apparently their brother mispronounced GIF?” Had Bucky just mispronounced it? Who knew, who cared, he was flush with cash and ready to eat burritos.

“Better than it has been, honestly,” Bucky admitted, wiping cheese sauce off his mouth. “Lot of things are coming back from when I was a kid, you know? The books say they’re deeply entrenched, or something. I met a guy on the street, he suggested meditation or martial arts, so I’m going to try that out. Do you have any experience with those?” Jess seemed to have experience with everything, which was why she was his first port of call. “I’ve remembered a few details about Hydra safehouses, too. Might need someone to dig up more intel on them with me. Do you know a good P.I.’s number, by any chance? The one I know shortchanged me for burgers last month, so I can’t forgive her,” he teased.

Acquaintances were something Jessica had an abundance of, largely by choice. She’d never been the most trusting woman and in order to get close to people properly, trust was a necessity. Carol was one of the rarities, and briefly, Clint had been, too. Weirdly, she trusted Bucky a decent amount, too, and she reasoned that was due to their similar histories. HYDRA had treated Bucky far differently, forcibly wiping his memories in order to keep a tighter control on him, but Jessica had been mislead for the majority of her life. Hell, she’d essentially been born to be a HYDRA agent and to have her DNA altered. (Jonathan Drew wouldn’t be winning any parental awards.) Despite the differences in their essential imprisonment, they understood the horrors and guilt associated with what they had experienced. Jessica had worked for years, learning to forgive herself and accepting her status as a superhero. Bucky was only beginning to explore his freedom and being able to support him through that was an honour. “Wow, that’s one family I wouldn’t want to be a part of,” Jessica mused. “What do you think the brother did? My bet’s that he stole a motorcycle. There’s no bigger insult,” she said seriously. As far as Jessica was concerned, her motorcycle was her prized possession.

“Makes sense,” she said with a nod. “You’re back in familiar surroundings.” Jessica didn’t understand Bucky’s particular brand of memory loss, nor did she expect anyone other than HYDRA’s evil scientists to. It wasn’t amnesia, wasn’t brought on naturally, and that made aiding with the healing process nearly impossible. “Well, if a guy on the street suggested mediation or martial arts, it’s gotta be foolproof.” God, New Yorkers were so opinionated. “I obviously have experience with martial arts, but mediation’s not my area of expertise. A few of the Avengers are into it if you want to contact them,” Jessica suggested. Her patience had never been conducive to mediation. “That’ll be useful,” she said with a faint smile. The idea of wiping out every single HYDRA base on Earth — or in New York currently — was incredibly appealing, especially with the Winter Soldier. “The best P.I. in New York informed me that you crashed on her couch three times last night which should make up for that, Barnes.”

[arachnophiliad]

spidcrgwens:

When she’d first heard that there was a Spider-Woman in 616 too, Gwen had naturally expected an alternate version of herself. Maybe that was sort of an arrogant way of thinking, but it had made sense. It had been the wrong assumption, though. This world’s Gwen Stacy had been dead for years now, and this world’s Spider-Woman was far better than Gwen had ever been. Jessica Drew was, more than anyone, someone Gwen found herself wanting to live up to. If she could be half the hero Jess was, she’d be happy. She’d be proud. 

She was also, as it turned out, a pretty awesome friend. She proved as much when she let herself into Gwen’s apartment carrying a takeout bag that smelled, frankly, incredible. Gwen’s mouth watered the second Jess entered the apartment, and she let out a dramatic sigh. “You’re my hero,” she replied simply. “I’m taking the Smiths posters off my walls and replacing them with pictures of you. I’m gonna get a Spider-Woman bulletin board where I draw hearts around your pictures. I’m gonna write ‘Mrs. Gwen Drew’ in the back of all my notebooks.” A little dramatic, sure, but Gwen was totally starving. Spider powers took a lot out of a girl! “It fucking sucks,” she grumbled, scooting over to give Jessica room. “’Hey, guys! Sign my weird list! I promise nothing bad will ever happen! You can trust me even if I am the sketchiest guy on planet Earth!’ What a joke!” At the question, she shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “MJ wants me to, and I’ve been thinking about it. I feel like listing now is doing it for all the wrong reasons, you know? How about you?”

The idea of being a mentor had never appealed to Jessica. She didn’t feel particularly worthy of it, heroism wasn’t something she had actively chosen like Stark or even Thor. It was quite literally the opposite of what she had maybe been born to do, but the only choice she’d had at the time. With SHIELD on her trail, living a normal life in London and been impossible, and frankly, attempting it had been pretty damn boring. Jessica had no customer service experience, she was not great with children, and all of her skills served in espionage and now with the Avengers. She hadn’t earned her title as Spider-Woman (the good version), she’d been given it and obviously Jessica actively tried to amount to it, but that didn’t always seem possible.

Regardless of whether she wanted someone to mentor or not, Jessica now had Gwen Stacy, and in no realm could anyone ever complain about that. From what she’d heard, Gwen was daring enough to continue being Spider-Woman despite people absolutely hating her and from what she had witnessed, Gwen was constantly improving. There was no one in the world Jessica imagined being more proud of. “Okay, creepy,” she said with a snort. “If you do none of the above, I’ll give you the food,” she replied, opening the bag and removing her own box. “Yeah, it definitely sucks,” Jessica agreed before digging in. Doom’s betrayal of every superhero’s trust wasn’t a surprise, the government was incapable of being decent, but a lot of people had counted on him despite the mystery surrounding Doom. It was unfortunate it had gone south so quickly. “He put on a decent show,” she said bitterly. “I don’t think listing to give yourself a break is a bad reason,” Jessica pointed out. “It seems like a damn good reason actually. No, I don’t align with the government these days. Been there, done that, it went worse than this amazingly.”

[arachnophiliad]

quakesjohnscn:

Back on Earth, there’d always been an abundance of things to punch. There were big organizations like HYDRA and AIM, supervillains who figured New York was the place to target. Lately, things like that seemed fewer and farther between. The big organizations were either laying low or hadn’t been in the city when the separation happened, and the supervillains who were out of towners had missed New York’s trip to outer space altogether. The villains who were in town at the time were still active, and though there weren’t as many of them as there’d once been, they were still a little more entertaining than demons to go after. At least villains recognized when the heroes made a quip! The demons just kept coming. It got old fast.

Unfortunately, the A-list villains seemed to have been taken care of already. Daisy’s big villainous find wasn’t exactly the bad guy you dreamed of facing off against but, hey, they had to work with what they had! It was a little easier to maintain that thinking when you weren’t looking at the villain in question. Daisy sighed, shaking her head. “That’s him,” she confirmed reluctantly. “I really thought the costume was, like, a meme. I didn’t think he’d actually be dressed like that.” A quick Google search had revealed only snippets of information about Leap Frog, and even scouring the Panel’s databases hadn’t offered her much more. Daisy let out a laugh at Jess’s insult. “That was a good one,” she commented, dropping to the ground and putting a hand to the concrete. The earth around Leap Frog began to shake, making his leaping a little harder. “Easy, Kermit!” She called out with a grin. Looking back to Jess, she sighed. “I saw him listed in the Panel’s database. I really thought he’d be cooler. I mean, he fought the Avengers one time! That seems like the big leagues!” 

The worst part of isolation (besides the obvious) was the repetition. You couldn’t walk down the street without running into demons, there were no unique people, no more coming into New York City. Jessica had adjusted to constant change, and while she didn’t always love it, she wasn’t sure another lifestyle suited her. There was a reason why she solved cases as quickly as possible and a reason why the Avengers and vigilante work suited her the best. A mix maintained a healthy — healthy as life threatening work got — balance. One minute Jessica was tracking down a cheating spouse, the next a robber, and then lastly a high class super villain.

Until they were trapped in another dimension or on another planet that was. Rather than do any of the things Jessica felt passionately about, she was reduced to doing grunt work and battling demons. As well trained and numerous as they were, there was no change of pace. Their tactics rarely changed, and she highly suspected that was because they worked. For a day of ‘excitement,’ she and Daisy were confronting a man that jumped high and wore a fucking frog suit. So much for the glamorous life of an Avenger, a laughable thought where Spider-Woman was concerned. “Well, you tried,” she replied, laughing at the sight of ‘Leap Frog.’ “What do you mean, Daisy? The costume is terrifying,” Jessica deadpanned, lip curling. She had an animal motif herself, but at least she’d chosen an animal that had a slight intimidation factor. Besides, Spider-Woman also made sense due to the powers her father had forced upon her. “I didn’t want to insult frogs by associating them with this,” Jessica said, gesturing to Leap Frog. As the concrete began shaking, it was obvious he was off balance and Jessica immediately hit him with a venom blast. Leap Frog groaned loudly, but he was seemingly relentless and his jumping continued. “You thought he’d be cooler?” She asked, laughing once more. “The Avengers have fought the lamest people, Quake. Once they made me fight Typeface. He had type writing on him,” she said with a sigh.

[arachnophiliad]

valhallabcund:

New York seemed crawling with powered individuals, as if they flocked there in heaps. Maybe that should have made Valkyrie feel more at home, more like she fit in, but in reality, it was sort of unsettling. She’d surrounded herself with warriors in the past, and it hadn’t ended well. As someone who didn’t make friends easily, she disliked making them with people who would inevitably be lead to their own deaths in fighting battles that weren’t strictly their own. It was why she never asked her companions about their private lives, why she didn’t inquire about whether or not they might boast abilities or alter egos. If she befriended someone who was going to get themselves killed, Valkyrie didn’t want to know it. She didn’t want to live with that fear, that worry. 

In return, her friends asked little of her hobbies, and Valkyrie was glad for that. Few people in New York knew of her Asgardian roots, and Valkyrie wanted to keep it that way. Thor and his insufferable brother already knew of her presence here, and the last thing she wanted was for anyone else from her homeworld to be clued in as well. Jess was a good friend for that, asking no questions even after watching Valkyrie consume an inhuman amount of alcohol. “I get bored! Can you blame me? There’s nothing to do these days.” The demons, though they traveled in large numbers, were ultimately easy for Valkyrie to take out in battle, and provided her with very little entertainment as a result. People were far more fun to fight, more unpredictable. “A woman after my own heart,” she grinned, raising a brow. “I’ll take the bet,” she agreed, throwing herself into the fight without hesitation. 

Curious as Jessica was, she had no desire to press her friends for details about their personal lives. If anyone could understand the need for secrecy, it was her. Spider-Woman wasn’t exactly a broadcasted identity, although she never went to great lengths to hide her alter ego the way some heroes did. With New Yorkers snapping pictures at every opportunity and social media spreading them like wildfire, Jessica understood how futile it was to entirely hide behind a mask. If Valkyrie were real bored, she could most likely Google for a couple hours and connect the dots, although Jessica trusted her to respect her privacy the way she respected Valkyrie’s. (Admittedly, trust was a loose term with Jessica, but it seemed to be the most accurate in this situation.)

“Are competitors deterred by the demons or something?” She asked, snickering. There was never any real competition in the ring for Valkyrie, judging by what Jessica had heard, but inevitably, someone would have to challenge her. There were countless super people, most of which would most likely use their abilities to win. Obviously Jessica expected that Valkyrie could handle anything and everything — hell, it would most likely excite her if competition suddenly breathed fire or had laser eyes. “But you’re not wrong,” she agreed after a moment, shrugging a shoulder. “New York’s not exactly thrilling right about now.” Jessica genuinely missed Earth and its many dramas, although she suspected that was largely due to her favourite ice cream shop being on Staten Island and the variety of missions. “I thought you figured that much out by now,” she said, snickering. “Hey bud, can you do me a favour and hit your friend?” Jessica called out to the short man. He looked confused for a moment but obliged and cried out in pain a moment later. Ducking underneath an arm, Jessica turned back towards Valkyrie, “This mean I win?”

[arachnophiliad]

hcwkguys:

“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Clint replied mildly. He never quite knew how to act with Jess, never knew how to respond. He’d fucked up with her, and while he was man enough to admit that, she hadn’t exactly been receptive to his attempts at apology, either. Some of the stuff she’d said to him had been, in his opinion, a little harsh. It’d knocked him off his feet, brought him down a peg, made him doubt himself even more than he usually did. It was hard to know what to say to someone after that, hard to know how to speak to someone you still cared for deeply after they’d let you know just how fucked you really were. It wasn’t as if he’d wanted to be paired up with her, either. Clint would much rather work alongside Natasha or Wanda if he was running an Avengers mission, or have Kate watching his back when he was doing something less official. Things with Jess were strained to say the least, and while he knew she wasn’t about to let him get killed, it would be nice to work alongside someone who didn’t look at him like she was seriously considering leaving him with his pants down in the middle of Time’s Square.

At least she seemed sort of willing to work with him for the moment, though. Not long ago, even that might have been a pipe dream, but it turned out having the city torn away from Earth made people a lot more receptive to their ex sort-of-boyfriends! Small victories, he guessed.

“Why not lead with the explosives? That might take ‘em out quicker.” It was sort of a risk, offering an alternative to her plan, but Clint had always been one to test the waters. If she was willing to work with him, maybe she’d be willing to let him lead! It seemed far fetched, but worth a shot. Either way, it’d let him know where they were without having to ask, and that certainly seemed worth the gamble.

“It’s a miracle that you listened,” Jessica muttered. It seemed like an accurate statement, Clint seemed to be too self-deprecating to listen seriously to what she’d had to say on various occasions. All he heard was the accurate insults she’d thrown his way following their break-up, and honestly, Jessica didn’t have the patience to correct him. If Clint wanted to wear his mistakes like armour, he was free to. Jessica wasn’t responsible for making him feel any better, nor did she have any desire to attempt to sway Clint Barton into finding self-confidence. He stopped her problem the moment he decided to sleep with another woman when they were together. Clint, of course, would claim that they were not together and that he was confused about the status of their relationship, but they were free to have their own interpretations of the situation. Jessica had no doubt that hers was the accurate version. “You know I’m capable of doing this alone. Can’t you leave to go find Natasha or Scarlet Witch?” If he was willing to split in order to spend time with anyone, it would be one of those three, Jessica was positive that it was a fair gamble. Unfortunately, she highly doubted that Barton would take it. He was a loyal guy — except for where it counted.

“Are you suggesting I won’t take them out fast enough?” Jessica challenged, folding her arms across her chest. Clint most likely had not been trying to suggest that at all, Jessica knew. Barton was the special kind of idiot that enjoyed seeing how far he could push people, especially if it lead to their forced abandonment, but Jessica wasn’t one to listen to Clint’s bullshit any longer. He could push her exactly zero and if proving that involved being a complete bitch, Jessica could live with that.

[arachnophiliad]

the-m3chanic:

Tony hadn’t imagined that there would be any point of his life when he would actively look forward to a good old fashioned fist fight with a giant slime monster. There was no morality there, nothing to debate with the rest of his team, no transparency that could be manipulated into betrayal. It was a one-two punch, and when he had Spider-Woman by his side, that made for one hell of a fight. Typically he felt satisfied after something like this, as if he had done something unarguably good for the world at large, but then the slime monster let out one last belch before it dropped onto the pavement, and he and his teammate were drenched in some form of ectoplasm.

“‘I can’t believe we’re still alive?’” Tony suggested. When Jess spoke again, he let out an ‘ah,’ nodding in agreement. He kept a step behind her as she threatened one of the journalists, which made him look as if he was about to piss his pants, rightfully so. He had just witnessed her blasting the fuck out of a slime monster twenty times his size, after all! “She means it,” Tony said, which felt a lot less threatening but definitely counted as support. “I think I could pay anyone off with enough motivation,” Tony said, lifting his arm up and wincing behind the mask, “and this is definitely motivation. Hey, me and Riri worked on these echo blasters. Want me to see if sound can blast this stuff off us? I really don’t feel like explaining to Nat why we trailed this into the gym showers.”

No one believed that slime monsters were the ideal enemy. They smelled terrible, they left residue all over spandex — never easy to clean — but slime monsters were cathartic. For once, Jessica wasn’t worrying about whether she was in the right killing demons (wiping out an entire population native to the shit planet they were on never sat well with her) or if she was somehow betraying her friends by refusing to sign. No, the slime monster was straightforward. Not a single soul in New York would applaud something that disgusting, and really, considering New Yorkers’ low standards, that said a whole lot.

“Like a slime monster could best me,” Jessica scoffed. If anything was going to bring Spider-Woman down, she’d made her peace with it being a villain akin to the literal apocalypse. She’d worked hard to get where she was, and while it was debatable whether she could be viewed as anything remotely heroic, she intended to help people in whatever ways she could. Naturally, those ways were primarily violent (occasionally investigative), but at least she was trying to do some good in the world. “I definitely mean it,” Jessica confirmed, illuminating her hand in green. The reporter looked like he was contemplating running, but with evidence of Spider-Woman’s unfortunate appearance, there was no way Jessica would allow that. “I’d take the money, give us the evidence and then split. A lot less pain that way,” she suggested, glancing over at Tony. “Give it a shot,” Jessica agreed, stepping away from the reporter so he wouldn’t be affected by the blast.

[arachnophiliad]

captcinmcrvel:

Carol went into everything that she attempted with the same singleminded, determined focus. If she was to be a SHIELD agent, she would be the best SHIELD agent she could be. If she was the commander of Alpha Flight, she was damned if a single alien was passing through their defence system and putting the Earth at risk. If she was going to be a pet owner, she was going to be the Mona Lisa of pet owners. It was a well documented fact that cats ate owners if they died, but Carol was determined to be the exception to that rule. People would find her glowing, surrounded by her pets, and worship her as some kind of cat goddess after death, as it should be. Jess was under strict instructions on what kind of chapel to build to her honour, and Carol trusted in her friend entirely to carry it out.

As with everything else in their lives, though, owning two cats was monumentally more complicated than expected. “Yeah, well, I’m just hoping he won’t lay eggs. It should be biologically impossible, but I thought that of Chewie too.” Carol shuddered at the memory. Jess hadn’t seen Chewie’s hundred and twenty seven babies, but the entire experience had been divulged to her in great detail. Carol had to trust that her best friend had an accurate enough imagination to recreate the disturbing horror of it all. “Cheese is following in your footsteps. This is what I get for calling you Aunt Jess.” Carol nodded, looking over at the O.G cat of this household. “She’s got a nifty new haircut now, but I think it suits her. Her left side has always been better anyway.” Carol leaned back against the sofa, rolling her eyes, but there was a fond smile on her face. “You think I’m wasting spices on you after you did me like that?” Carol teased. “Seriously, though, what’s your plan? Unlisted heroes aren’t exactly top of the pyramid of favourite heroes now. Do you have a plan? Do you need my help for something? Say the words, Jess, they’ll be like music to my ears!”

For a moment, Jessica was no longer furious and really, it was a nice change of pace. She wasn’t imagining how corrupt Doom was in order to release the list, and she wasn’t preoccupied by imagining how the government officials had ruthlessly made the decision to destroy all the reputations heroes had made for themselves, forged in blood. Unfortunately, that moment didn’t last long. Chewie and Cheese were only entertaining to a point, and as much as she loved Carol Danvers, she was hardly a distraction. If anything, her best friend was more likely to join her, storming the building, than she was to calm her rage. They were a match made in hell, and frankly, Jessica wouldn’t have it any other way.

On the bright side, Carol had more to say about her cats, as per usual. Star Wars and the cats were topics she constantly had an opinion about. “If he lays eggs, I’m not helping you clean it all up. I’m going to be super busy for that whole month,” Jessica informed her immediately. After Carol’s description regarding the hundred and some babies of Chewie’s, she never wanted to witness anything remotely similar. The mental image had been more than enough. “Should I be proud of disappointed in Cheese for taking after me?” Jessica asked, taking a moment to study the cat. Cheese meowed loudly at her, and honestly, Jessica wasn’t sure whether it was friendly or threatening. Cats were confusing creatures. “Yeah, the haircut is great,” she lied easily, having never noticed. She couldn’t keep track of Carol’s pets properly, although she doubted anyone was capable. “I deserve spices,” she said confidently. “I’m gonna be dead and that’s all I ask of you.” As the topic shifted predictably, Jessica leaned back into the couch cushions. “My plan is to prove that Doom is a slimy bastard that doesn’t deserve any of our attention,” she replied, unfazed. “Besides that, I’m going to keep doing what I always have. I’m not allying myself with the government again after SHIELD, especially not with some guy more suspicious than Fury.”

[arachnophiliad]

captcinmcrvel:

This was Jessica’s plan. As was typical, Carol had informed her best friend that, based on her many, many years as NASA’s head of security, boss of space and all around super-woman, as well as basic common sense, was an absolutely terrible idea that would get them shot at without a doubt. As was typical, Jess had ignored all of that, had stormed forward with righteous indignation, and Carol hadn’t hesitated before following after her. In Carol’s defence she was extremely busy lately, even if her main job as Space Avenger had been curtailed by the whole other-dimension thing, and that meant she didn’t have enough time to find another best friend if Jess ended up getting thrown in a prison cell. Plus, Cheese would be even more pissed off than usual, and no one deserved that.

“Stealth is never usually as fun, anyway,” Carol said, almost shuddering at the memory of her days as an intelligence operative. Undercover missions sounded fun until you realised they involved hours’ worth of stakeouts before the bullets started flying. “Especially when it comes to Doom. Can we agree now if we see him, we cut the lights and each get a quick hit in? He won’t see it coming, we can have plausible deniability. I know a few good lawyers!” Jess was already at the door by this point and Carol resigned herself to her fate. Just in time, too, because the demons immediately began pouring out. “Maybe they just really wanted to punch him as much as we did?” Carol suggested, charging up a photonic blast to take out a small line of demons advancing towards her. “I thought he’d have Secret Service, but demon bodyguards are definitely sketchy. This one is even trying to bite me! I don’t want demon rabies!”

As an ex super spy, it was reasonable to assume that Jessica was great at planning for missions. At one point, she supposed she had been. She looked over details carefully, watched her targets closely, but these days, Jessica no longer saw the point in stealth unless it provided a real advantage. Against President Doom, there was no point in subterfuge. The man had consciously and purposefully betrayed every single superhero in the New York area. He didn’t deserve the courtesy of subtly, nor did his associates. Whether she and Carol found the President himself or Chamberlain or one of their lackeys, they would most likely have information, and stealing it, as Jessica had learned near the beginning, was pointless and next to impossible. It looked like their beloved Doom had burned every fucking file he possibly could, in a truly Fury-esque move. Few people managed to be that suspicious.

“Stealth is only fun when required,” she replied. Jessica was the first to admit that in some instances, stealth was the only safe way to go and she had all the experience to kick ass at it. “We can definitely cut the lights and deal with Doom that way,” she said with a snicker. “Matt could get us out no problem. He’d probably be jealous, actually.” Her neighbour wasn’t subtle about his dislike for Doom. Most decent people were open and honest about how much their current President sucked, in fact. As the demons poured out, Jessica couldn’t say that she was overly surprised. Doom seemed like a smart guy and in order to ensure New York’s safety, he had to deal with the enemy directly — unless they were all one enemy. At this point, nothing surprised her. “Demons do seem strategic,” she agreed slowly. “They could have been trying to take out the President in order to deal with the rest of us easier.” The demons weren’t usually overtly aggressive, but it was a theoretical possibility. Before they could land a hit on Jessica, she was sticking to the wall beside her, and she climbed up to gain height before launching down upon them. “Demon bodyguards are probably more efficient,” she pointed out. “Can you even get demon rabies?”

[arachnophiliad]

@captcinmcrvel

Technically, trying to invade a government building wasn’t the smartest course of action, but Jessica had never been much interested in the technical. When something horrible happened, she acted, and right now, Doom had managed to singlehandedly turn all of New York against the unregistered heroes. To say that she was pissed was an understatement and rather than stand back and consider options, Jessica decided that she wanted evidence it had been Doom’s plan all along. There was no chance of getting into the empire state building, but she could attempt to break into their Municipal Building. Surely there had to be something of value in there. With Carol at her side, Jessica hadn’t stopped to consider anything else, deciding that it needed to be done.

“I say we go in through the front door,” she said to Carol. “Stealth is kinda worthless once everyone in the city either appreciates or hates you. Besides, Doom should know that we’re onto him,” Jessica said. There was no getting close to the president, but if he felt pressured or panicked, there would inevitably be a response. Only a monster invaded people’s privacy and exposed them like that, as far as Jessica was concerned. Once she went to break down the door, demons began pouring out of the Municipal Hall and she sighed. “Typical,” she said, glancing over at Carol. “If this isn’t evidence, I don’t know what is. Doom is a crook.”

[arachnophiliad]

valhallabcund:

@arachnophiliad

Though she was, by Midgardian standards, a goddess, Valkyrie was not blessed with an abundance of funds. She’d come to the planet with next to nothing and unlike the last planet she’d resided on, physical might alone couldn’t pay the rent. Luckily, Valkyrie had found a means of making money that was both enjoyable and lucrative. It introduced her to a good many people, both enemies and friends, and of all of them, Jessica Drew was among her favorites. She’d proven a worthy opponent in the ring, and a decent confidant outside of it. Valkyrie hadn’t yet gone into detail regarding her past, but Drew never asked.

She also didn’t seem to mind watching Valkyrie drink her weight in liquor, a quality the goddess actively looked for in her friends. Drew always seemed willing to accept Valkyrie’s invitation to city’s bars, even if her favorites were never very nice bars. The one they sat at tonight was grimy and dark and run down, and Valkyrie loved it. She and Jessica had been having a fairly decent conversation when a fight broke out in the corner, causing an excited gleam to flash in Valkyrie’s eye. “I was hoping something like this might happen,” she informed her friend, downing the rest of her drink and getting to her feet. “Will you be joining me?”

The friends that Jessica made were never conventional. Her best friend was Captain Marvel, one of the world’s mightiest heroes, and the majority of her other friends were ‘super’ in some capacity. It was far from the average, everyday lifestyle, but it was the only one that Jessica had ever known (besides those few months in London before SHIELD came along). Mundanity never suited her, and judging from what she knew about Valkyrie, the woman was the same. Valkyrie was one of the best fighters Jessica had ever witnessed, and considering the circle Jessica kept, that said a hell of a lot. While Valkyrie she fighting crime or saving the world alongside Jessica, she was very far from stereotypical.

Tonight, they were frequenting yet another bar. Though Jessica had never asked about how Valkyrie drank so much without being heavily affected, she assumed it was some kind of superpower. At this point, the signs were glaringly obvious. If Valkyrie ever chose to share details about her past, explaining how she managed to chug a five pound keg of beer, Jessica would be willing to listen. Naturally, before the topic had the chance of coming up, a fight erupted in the corner. Typical drunk men, Jessica thought irritably. “Of course you were,” she said, snorting. “Would I ever miss fighting people who probably don’t know how to throw a punch? Never,” she said, walking over to the corner alongside Valkyrie. “Ten bucks says he breaks his fist trying to hit his friend in the jaw,” she said to Valkyrie before intervening.

[arachnophiliad]

@scvietwinter​

Normal had never been a good or even decent descriptor for Jessica’s life. She’d essentially been born into HYDRA, infused with spider DNA (god knew what kinds) and somewhere along the way, ended up a HYDRA agent and then one of the good guys. Her ‘normal’ was private detective cases that typically lead her on more adventures, dressed as Spider-Woman. So sitting across from a man she met in HYDRA that remembered in bits and pieces when he wasn’t completely brainwashed? Not as weird as someone else might have found it. Honestly, hanging out with Bucky was something that Jessica had gotten used to. Really, humans were capable of adapting to anything if given the right circumstances. “You’re buying the burritos this time,” she informed Bucky before digging into their shared plate of nachos. Technically speaking, the restaurant was supposed to be closed, it was well passed curfew, but Jessica had connections. Being a superhero got you many places, thank you very much.

“So, how’s the whole ‘memory’ thing going?” She asked between mouthfuls. She could have beat around the bush, asked questions that would have given her indirect answers, but Bucky (and Jessica) had been manipulated enough. After everything the Winter Soldier had endured throughout the years, he deserved honesty, and if Jessica was among the few willing to give it to him, well, it was her duty as a mediocre human being.

[arachnophiliad]

@the-m3chanic

It wasn’t a good time for a lens flash, but if Jessica had learned one thing about the Bugle and their cameramen, it was that they loved coming around at all the wrong times. When she was covered in slime, blood or another substance that was not hers, they were right there, taking hundreds of pictures. When Spider-Woman made one of the greatest saves of all time and still looked amazing, the Bugle’s people were nowhere in sight. Currently, they were in a similar situation. Some kind of monster had gotten slime or something —  god knew what it was exactly, all Jessica could tell was that it was bright blue and sticky — coated her and Stark head to toe. So much for having a good night!

“What’s that saying that Clint always uses?” Jessica asked Tony bitterly. “This looks bad? ‘Cause it looks terrible,” she continued. Quoting Clint was also a low point in her life, but she figured she couldn’t get much lower than blue and slimy across New York City papers. Turning towards the Bugle’s reporter, Jessica fixed a glare. “If you want to keep standing there, I’m going to miraculously get the rest of this slime/guts combo all over you, bug boy,” she informed him. At least the insult wasn’t half bad, he was wearing a shirt with bugs all over it, and he was really bugging her. “You think you can pay them off to never run that? I’m not all about vanity, but Spider-Woman’s got an image to maintain.” She would never be intimidating or cool again.

[arachnophiliad]

captcinmcrvel:

@arachnophiliad

Ever since Chewie came into Carol’s life, albeit through an extremely strange set of circumstances, she had prided herself on being a cat owner, so much so that at Christmas, at least three Avengers had bought her some variant of a crazy cat lady mug. Then she had gone to space, colluded with the Guardians, and found out that her cat, for all intents and purposes, was an alien masquerading as woman’s best friend. Chewie had a massive spot in her heart, though, and having a Flerken in her house was amazing as long as she didn’t think too hard about that one time tentacles came out of her mouth. Still, she needed a cat, and the day after things went to hell at Doom’s party was definitely the time to take that plunge. After all, they could be vaporized by Galactus next week, for all they knew!

“See? I told you Cheese was a lot more tolerant,” Carol argued. The moment Jess had walked into her apartment, Chewie had made her normal bolt for the door, while Cheese just continued to scratch at the furniture, unperturbed. What a good cat! “They’ve calmed down since last night. I’m sorry for the distress call, really. I know you probably thought it was Stilt Man or something getting creative again, but Cheese was taking chunks out of Chewie’s fur. I’ve never seen carnage like it, Jess.” For now, it seemed a stalemate had been reached, and the cats were merely circling each other, maintaining a safe distance. “Have you recovered from last night?” Carol asked, pulling her legs up under her on the sofa. “I’m going to put in a disclaimer now - if your answer includes any variant of ‘I told you so,’ I’m feeding you to my cats and feeling only mild regret.”

There was a time in her life where Jessica contemplated getting a pet of her own. A nice goldfish or a guinea pig, something low maintenance. It seemed like a great idea, a whole new journey into adulthood that she’d side-stepped due to her other, more violent commitments. All those thoughts had derailed the second she witnessed Chewie and Cheese in a room together. Carol could handle just about anything, Jessica believed wholeheartedly in her best friend, but she couldn’t wrangle her own cats. It was embarrassing, though she doubted anyone else had witnessed the chaos. A guinea pig or goldfish wouldn't be quite so horrifying, but Jessica was unwilling to take the chance; she was pretty sure she godmother to Carol's hellbeasts anyway.

“Cheese doesn’t have the same brainpower that Chewie does, I guess,” Jessica replied, shrugging a shoulder. In her defence, the cat looked completely unaware. “Or maybe he’s smarter than Chewie… that’s some serious property damage. Cheese is doing me proud,” Jessica joked. According to the Bugle, Spider-Woman was a ‘deeply destructive’ hero. “Yeah, Cheesed definitely takes after me. I’d be that brutal, too,” she continued. “Did Chewie manage to live through it? Is the fur intact?” Okay, so if one of the cats was seriously harmed, Jessica would definitely take them to the vet, but that didn’t make her a proud godmother. “Nothing can keep me down for more than five minutes,” she replied, shrugging a shoulder. “Except for that one takeout Thai place we found,” Jessica added, smirking at Carol. “I told you so and I would like to be served with cajun spices, thanks.”

[arachnophiliad]

@theoriginalbatgirl

It was no secret that Oracle was one of the most successful and well connected superheroes in New York City. She had never divulged the secrets of her network, nor had Jessica asked, but it was always impressive when she got a ping from Oracle accompanied by pertinent information. As a superhero with a reputation of poorly thought out plans, it was much appreciated when she was warned about how many men were around the corner or whether or not the police were en route. Sure, the Avengers had a similar system and Jessica appreciated it just the same, but no one could deny that somehow, Oracle’s system was much more vast. None of that was relevant currently, Jessica had done her time darting throughout the city in red spandex, and for now, she was sat in her apartment with Oracle across from her. No life threatening injuries, no property damage, and now decent company with beer on the table made for an all around good night — her standards had gotten real low.

“So, you catch any of tonight’s motorcycle chase?” Jessica asked, cracking open her beer. It had gone on for exactly one block — some demons were ridiculously fast — before she was in the vicinity to spider-bite it, but hey, made for good conversation. Plus, she was a little curious just how vast Oracle’s sight truly was. “Looked like that demon had some kind of super-speed, but nothing can compare to Betsy,” she said, shrugging her shoulder. Betsy, of course, was Jessica’s motorcycle. “The takedown was pretty impressive, too. If you missed it, you really missed a good show.”

[arachnophiliad]

@moonkxight

Drew Investigations wasn’t the most successful business the world, Jessica had never tried to delude herself into thinking otherwise. Investigation was a niche market, but it paid the bills when the Avengers did not, Stark really needed up increase their salaries. The cases that came in were typically limited, a lot of missing persons, some angry spouses with accusations their significant other was cheating, money gone missing, etc., but with New York City isolated from the rest of the world — just their luck — New Yorkers were getting desperate. The cases were piling in, people begging for leads on where their family members might be. Allegedly, a whole lot of people were supposed to be in the city when everything went to shit, and while Jessica was worried some may not want to be found, she couldn’t pass up cases with kids involved.

The makeshift office was small, but it had a desk, a filing cabinet, and a computer, everything that she and Marc would need in order to begin their search. Mia D’Angelo was first on the light, a seventeen year old NYU student. Her last sighting was at a deli in the meat packing district, although that hardly narrowed things down. Ah, well, Jessica was confident in her skills, and thus far, Moon Knight was competent, too. “I guess we’re starting with a good ol’ interrogation,” Jessica said as they arrived at the deli. “They’re about to close thanks to the curfew, should be a good time to get information on our girl.” If it turned out that Mia was hiding for a reason, Jessica had every intention to protect her, but if she were in danger, that wasn’t something Jessica could live with on her conscience. “Do you and your god wanna take the lead or do I have the honours?”

[arachnophiliad]

@osborngcblin

Green Goblin — the original — was a criminal that Jessica had been looking into for years. It wasn’t a compulsive search, he had either been busted in his day clothes or retired from the super villain lifestyle, but Jessica’s curiosity frequently got the better of her. Inevitably, the investigation lead her to the name ‘Norman Osborn.’ His obituary had been posted, it was clear that there was no questioning him on the matter of his dual identity, but his son was now running the company, and that meant it was time to see if the proverbial apple fell far from the tree. Judging by the recent (it had been a few years, Jessica let the ball drop) Green Goblin sighting, it was possible.

Under the guise of one of Jessica’s many dual identities, supplied by SHIELD, but still useful, Jessica made an appointment and was patiently waiting to be escorted into Harry Osborn’s office. Once she was inside, Jessica went through the motions of ‘Candice Jones’ and pulled out a small notepad. According to her appointment and information, Candice was a great reporter. “Hello Harry, pleasure to meet you,” she said, lying with practiced ease. “I was hoping to do a piece on the parallels between you and your father. Mind if I ask a few questions?”

[arachnophiliad]

@heartcfiron

When Jessica saw a metal shaped person flying through the sky, her immediately thought was Stark. In that, she was sure she was speaking for all of New York. Sure, logically she knew that there were three other possibilities — War Machine, Iron Spider and Iron Heart — but Stark was the most flamboyant. He was also the most commonly spotted, although Jessica wasn’t sure whether that was fact or people being presumptuous like she was. Ultimately, it didn’t matter too much, she decided, casting her gaze away from the iron suit. They were all good guys, none of them were threats to Spider-Woman, and currently, she was watching for trouble and snacking on a bag of chips.

Quickly, her peace was interrupted, and that only confirmed that it was Stark in Jessica’s mind. Turning around, she threw a Dorito into her mouth easily and eyed the suit for a moment. It was an exact replica of Tony’s original suit, but she knew Stark well enough to know that he’d never move backwards, plus the stature was all wrong. Without the spider legs/arms and War Machine’s dark colouring, that left one possibly left as to who was standing in front her. “Hey Iron Heart,” she greeted. “Thought you were Stark and I was definitely going to finish all of these chips, but since it’s you, you can have if you want,” Jessica offered.