5 Is that a horn, or are you just happy to see me?

(Elijah's POV)

*sigh* "This is gonna be a pain in the ass"

I can't exactly ignore my mission, otherwise this whole trip out to New York will have been useless. I duck into a nearby alleyway and open my backpack. I take out my black hoodie and face mask.

"It ain't the best solution, but it's all I've got right now"

I put the hoodie on and flip it's hood up. I put the face mask on and run out of the alley just in time to see a black and white blur fly past me.

*whoosh*

*crash*

"You alright?"

Arachnid(?): *groan* "Yeah, I'm just great. Wait, who are you?"

"Just someone with a vested interest in you not ending up in the morgue"

Arachnid(?): "Huh. That's rare in this line of work" 

"You've got a pretty deep voice for someone with such a small build"

Arachnid(?): "Okay, A) Fuck you, and B) It's a voice modulator"

"Huh. Not a bad idea"

As those words left my mouth, we both heard thumping footsteps approaching us, and looked down the street to see the dude in a Rhino costume glaring at us, before he spoke in a very distinct Russian accent.

???: "Spider. Today is the day you die"

"Well, hopefully not, otherwise I'll be getting lectured by an angry super-spy with an eyepatch"

As he begin to charge towards us, I did the same, but right before we met in the middle, I jumped up to deliver a flying uppercut to his chin.

*Wham* 

I watched him get stunned for a second, before turning his gaze back at me. Not gonna lie, he looks pretty pissed.

???: "I did not know spider had friend. I will enjoy crushing both of you"

"Yeah, not gonna happen, buddy. Yo Spider Lady, I got this big pile of dumb. You go get the other guy"

She didn't respond at first, seemingly worried about my chances, but after what I'm assuming was 5 seconds of her weighing her options, she agreed.

Spider-lady(?): "Got it. Handle Rhino while I fight the Shocker. Just stay alive till I get back"

"Is she underestimating me? She's underestimating me"

*Thwip*

As she swung by to go handle the other guy, she turned back for a second to yell.

Spider-lady: "Also, it's not spider lady, it's Spiderwoman!"

"Oh yeah, that's what I was worried about. Your name"

I watched her flip me off before getting to work kicking the Gauntlet dude's ass.

"Alright, big guy. It's you and me"

(No-one POV)

The Rhino suit wearing mountain of a man swung his left hand at Elijah's head, intending to send him flying through the nearest store. Elijah ducked under the punch and weaved to the Rhino's exposed left side, before punching his body with the strongest force his body could exert at the moment. The Rhino reeled back in pain. Even with a heavy duty suit, taking a full 1 tonne blow to the ribs is gonna hurt. He staggered for a moment, but that was enough time for Elijah to capitalize on his advantage. He delivered a powerful elbow to the Rhino's chin, intending to knock him out. Unfortunately, it seems the Rhino isn't just built like a tank. He also has the durability of one.

"Gotta say, punching that armor is really doing a number on my knuckles."

Elijah thought to himself. This wasn't going to fly. If he's going to be facing enemies like this, he'll have to build himself a new battlesuit. The combat efficiency increase alone would do him wonders, not even mentioning the defense and stealth capabilities it would grant him. It would also really help to hide his identity.

"Hey, Rhino. What did you even have to eat to get that big. I feel bad for your mom, couldn't have been easy pushing you out of her v-"

Before he could finish that sentence, the Rhino threw a car at him. Elijah had to lay on the ground as the car flew overhead.

"Okay, don't mention his mom. Got it"

Rhino roared in anger and charged at Elijah, intending to squash him under his feet. Elijah wasn't going to lie, seeing a seemingly 500kg beast of a man running at him was kind of intimidating. Fortunately, Elijah wasn't some kind of amateur. He was trained to fight from a young age. All that mass meant nothing if Rhino didn't know how to properly utilize it.

"Alright. You wanna get serious? Let's get serious"

As Rhino charged at him, Elijah closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As Rhino neared, Elijah's eyes shot open, and he twisted his body to fall backwards into a falling hook, allowing him to slip under Rhino's tackle and exert the maximum amount of force he was capable of when pushing himself to the limit. He sent a 2 tonne punch straight to the beast's chin. Unlike his last attack that had simply staggered him, the force of this punch, paired with the Rhino's own momentum, sent him careening into the nearest building.

Spiderwoman, who was on the verge of wrapping up her own fight, saw this move and went wide-eyed. Sure, she was capable of pulling off a move like that, but that was mostly due to her enhanced reflexes and Spidey-sense guiding her towards the correct timing. Pulling off a move like that without the crutch of the Spidey-sense would take years of combat experience. She couldn't be sure, but this guy didn't seem any older than her. Where the hell did he learn to do something like that?

Spider-woman: "Alright, Herman. Looks like my friend over there made short work of your buddy, so why don't we get this over with"

Shocker: "In your dreams, Spiderwoman!"

Shocker, whose gauntlets had been broken by Spider-woman, charged at her in an attempt to tackle her. She simply leapt up above him into the air, letting him run past her. She then shot a web line over his shoulder and used it to propel herself towards him and land a devastating punch to his jaw.

Once she was done wrapping the shocker in webs, she walked over to the man that had just helped her. She wasn't sure what to think of him when he appeared out of nowhere saying he would help her, so she made sure to keep an eye on him even when she was fighting the Shocker, and after seeing his fighting ability, she was shocked. (Pun very much intended)

He had incredible reflexes, battle sense and strength, which all went beyond what an ordinary human was capable of. She had no choice to be suspicious of him. Was he like her? How does a 17 year old exert that much force in a punch without being enhanced in some way. It's simply not possible.

Spider-woman: "Hey there. Thanks for the help. Alone they aren't much of a problem, but fighting two at once was gonna be pretty tough"

???: "No problem. Can't let a hero die on my watch."

Spider-woman: "Oh really? And why is that?"

???: "Uhhh... good set of morals?"

Spider-woman: "Uh-huh. Well, I should get going. See you around, I guess"

???: "Hopefully not in the same circumstances"

Spider-woman: *chuckles* "Yeah, hopefully"

*Thwip*

(Elijah's POV)

I watch as Spider-woman leaves. I can't put my finger on it, but she seems really familiar. I can't say anything for certain until I have some concrete proof, but I'm starting to have my suspicions.

I duck back into the alley and take off my hoodie and mask. I leave the alley once I'm done, deciding to look for Gwen now that the situation is dealt with. As I turn to look near an Ice cream store down the block, I bump into someone.

Gwen: There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Looking for me? You're the one who randomly disappeared!"

Gwen: "I was uh, calling the cops!"

"...then where are they?"

Gwen: "Oh uh, I'm sure they'll be here any second. Come on, let's go home"

She starts dragging me towards Queens, much to my annoyance. But then I take a moment to think. She disappeared right before Spider-woman appeared and reappeared after she left, Spider-woman and her have a similar height and body type, even the way Spider-woman talks felt familiar. There's no way, right? I need some more proof before I assume anything, but I will have to keep my eye on her.

But, before anything else, I have to make a new battle-suit. I need to be prepared for tougher enemies if I'm going to protect these heroes. 

Fuck you, Fury.

Gwen and I walked almost the whole way home, separating only a block away from both her and my apartment. Apparently, we live closer than I originally thought.

Gwen: "Alright, looks like this is where we part ways."

"Looks like it. Today was exhausting"

Gwen: "That it was. Don't worry, you'll get used to it"

"God, I hope not"

Gwen: "Hey, give me your phone"

"What? Why"

Gwen: "No questions, come on."

I begrudgingly handed her my phone and saw her typing something on it. She handed it back and I saw a new contact added to my phone. I looked up and saw her walking away while looking back at me and smirking.

Gwen: "It's my number. Call me sometime"

I chuckle a bit and put my phone away.

"Will do"

I walk into my new apartment building.

"Time to get to get to work"

End of Chapter 5~

Well, that was a long one. As always, please make sure to leave a comment as it really helps motivate me. See you in the next chapter!