Surprise Reinforcement

Gwen gritted her teeth and battled off the enhanced drones trying to grab her. However, as soon as she destroyed one, another dozen seemed to appear in its place. It was getting pretty tiring fighting off all of these nuisances with kicks, punches, and sloppily aimed hits with her web-shooter. What Gwen could really use right now are some prenaturally destructive claws to take out some of this swarm. Turning her head slightly, she looked back to see that the Prowler was battling off some robots made from what she thought might be scrapped assembly-line machines meant to build things like cars. From what little she could see between fighting off the drones attacking her, she thought the Prowler could be trying to get through them a little faster.

"Hurry up over there, would you, Prowler, dude?" she called as she wrecked one drone that got too close to her face with one its sparking appendages. "I could use a little—" she yelped as one shocked her, causing her leg to spasm and her to fall to her knee as she took out another two with a shot from her web-shooter. "—Help!"

There was the distinct sound of another robot dying and the Prowler grunting before he shouted, "I'm tryin'!"

Gwen wanted to yell back 'try harder!', but knew it would only be counterproductive. It certainly wouldn't endear her to the Prowler either. Somewhere above, from his flying saucer-like contrapion, she heard the Tinkerer laugh one of his obnoxious chortles. "How far you've fallen, Prowler!" he said to the Prowler, voice cracking at the end. "You were once the greatest cat burglar New York and now," he paused and even though she knew she shouldn't because the brat was just trying to get a rise from them with his pre-teen dramatics, she looked up.

He was grinning devilishly down at her as he finished, "You're Spider-Woman's sidekick!" She rolled her eyes behind her mask at the words. Please, her side-kick? He may tag along pretty frequently on her patrols these days, but he was doing plenty of his own good deeds in between. He brought his flying saucer closer to her and lifted the big, ugly yellow safety goggles off his eyes. "And you, Spider-Woman…" he purred, blue eyes flashing as he moved a lever on his saucer and what looked like might be some kind of gun emerged from it.

Her spider-sense started to scream and she knew they were in for some shit if she didn't get out of here now. "Prowler!" she cried, trying to keep the panic from her tone.

"I'm comin'!" he yelled over the sound of another robot falling to the ground.

"Are going to be evaporated," The Tinkerer hissed, hand raising in the air as if he was planning to slam it down on some kind of button. However, before he could, the Tinker was tackled out of his saucer by a blue and red blur with an"Egh!"

Gwen watched on in surprise and relief as Peter B. wound up the Tinkerer in webbing and stuck him to a nearby lamp post. As she took in the show, the Prowler appeared and took out the last of the enhanced drones. When Peter seemed satisfied with his work, he dusted off his hands and strutted over.

"Hey, kid," he greeted.

She grinned behind her mask and returned, "Pe— Spider-Man!"

He came closer and swept her up for a quick embrace before he set her back on her feet. "I guess I picked a good day to do a check-in, hey, kid?" he asked with a clear cheekiness to his tone.

She laughed. "Yeah!" she said. "Thanks so much!" she told him as she gave him her own short hug to go along with her verbal gratitude.

"It's no problem," he said lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. His gaze then moves to behind her, landing on where she can feel the Prowler hovering by her left shoulder. "Oh, I see our goofball wasn't getting my goat," he remarked. "You are working with the Prowler."

She nodded. "Yeah, it's still pretty new," she admitted, crossing her arms and looking up at the Prowler and then at Peter. "We're working out the kinks."

"Oh yeah?" Peter replied, mirroring Gwen's pose and leaning in close to hear what she had to say.

Gwen huffed and turned taut where she was previously relaxed. "Why do you sound so surprised?" she grumbled.

"Weeell, not to rag on you, buuut…" he said, drawing out the words.

Gwen stepped forward and narrowed her eyes at Peter. "Come on, Spider-Man, spit it out."

He sighed with an exaggerated motion. "It took you forever and a day to tell the kid you knew him here too," he said, almost with a bit of an edge, "so, sue me, but I was curious if you'd decided to sit on this development a while before sharing."

Gwen sort of wanted to be annoyed, maybe even upset, because some of that sounded pretty accusatory, but honestly she just understood. Gwen wasn't always the greatest about sharing stuff happening in her life or neck of the woods these days. Her Peter's spiral and subsequent death had taught her to be careful about sharing, even if she did love and trust the ones she wanted to tell. "Nope, not the case," she replied with forced easiness. Looking back at Prowler in an attempt to change the subject, she put one hand on her hip and said, "Oh, hey, Prowler, got out of those things, did you?"

"No thanks to you," he replied gruff, annoyed. Clearly, he wasn't pleased with her ignoring him the last minute and a half or with the appearance of Peter.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," she said. "I was a little, uh, distracted."

His gaze moved from her to Peter. "I can see that," the white eyes of his mask growing smaller as they fixed themselves into a glare.

Peter stuck out a hand. "Spider-Man."

"Prowler," he returned, taking Peter's hand and giving it a firm shake before letting go. He turned to her, a look of questioning drawing one eye out its glare."Ain't that other guy you was working with Spider-Man?"

She nodded. "He's another Spider-Man."

"There's two?" he said sounding astounded as he looked between her and Peter.

Gwen couldn't help it, she started to giggle. She didn't know why it was so funny the Prowler sounded so concerned about the number of Spider-Men running around, but it was. Peter, as she continued to snort and snicker, appeared to take pity on the Prowler and told him, "If you wanna get technical, there's three known between us." He titled his head and glanced at her. Gwen grinned, excited for what new tidbit Peter was going to throw in to break the Prowler's mind. "And a Spider-Pig who's male."

As expected, the Prowler's crossed arms fell to his side and his eyes turned wide and disbelieving. He looked down at her, silently asking if Peter was shitting him. She reached over and gave one of his arms a squeeze. "No, he's being serious," she reassured him. "I got caught up in some interdimensional mess a while back and met them all."

He shook his head. "You're fucking with me," said the Prowler.

"No!" Gwen decried. "For real, Prowler, I can show you my Goober I use to talk to the others later if you want," she offered, hand going to the hidden pocket she kept it in case of an emergency.

He blinked. "Goober?" he said, crossing his arms again and considering Peter.

"It's a communication device another one of us Spider-Beings made," Peter explained pulling out his own Goober for the Prowler to see. "The name is kind of an inside joke. You encounter a lot of tech as a Spider-Being and remembering all their different names is too much, so, goober."

"Huh," he murmured, leaned in very close to Peter's Goober, inspecting it.

After another moment, Peter pulled it away from the Prowler and re-pocketed it. "You keep up this hero thing long enough Spider-Woman here might be able to vouch to our tech-girl on your behalf and get you one too," he told the Prowler.

"You're kidding?"

Peter shook his head. "No, not all," he said. Peter then turned his attention to her and cleared his throat. "Hey, kid, since I'm in town…"

Gwen felt her lips twist into a frown. She already knew exactly what Peter was going to say to her. "Do you have money on you?" she demanded. "I'm not paying again."

"Aw, kid!" Peter complained, trying to sling an arm around her shoulders, but she stepped out of the way and turned her back on him. She refused to be used like this. Maybe a couple of burgers and fries didn't cost that much, but it was the principle of the thing. If one friend pays one time, the next time, the other friend is supposed to pay. When he realized she was not going to budge, Peter turned to the Prowler. "Hey, Prowler…"

"What?" he replied, suspicious.

"How'd you like to treat the guy who saved your guys' sorry butts to a burger and fries?" Peter asked, trying to put an arm around his shoulder, but getting no better a result than when he tried with her. The Prowler hardly tolerates her touching him most of the time, he was definitely not going to let a stranger so much as brush a finger against him by accident.

He looked at her then, questioning. Gwen sighed. "If you give a Spider-Man burgers and fries…" she trailed off.

"…He'll ask for a milkshake?" he finished, half-serious, half-teasing.

She laughed. "Ah, you got it in one."

The Prowler snorted. Then, he seemed to deliberate a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and said to Peter, "You know what? Sure." He looked over at her. "You're comin' too, ain't ya, Spider-Woman?"

She closed her gaping mouth and bobbed her head. "Uh, sure," she agreed. Hurry to catch up with the two of them as they started to walk away from the destruction the Tinkerer had caused only fifteen minutes prior, she mused, "Wow, this is going to be a first."

"You two haven't done public out-reach yet, huh?" Peter asked, falling in between the two of them.

She shook her head. "We've been working toward it."

"Welp, I guess today's the day!" enthused Peter. "We'll soon find out if a Prowler squished into a booth with two Spider-People is enough to make the civilians feel safe around him."

She smirked, amused at the image. "Guess so!" she agreed.

The Prowler stopped mid-step. "Hold up," he said. "We're gonna eat in a restaurant dressed like this ?" he demanded, incredulous, gesturing at himself and then them.

Peter shrugged with his palms turned up toward the sky."Why not? Sometimes they'll comp the fries for you."

"Spider-Man," she chided. That was not cool, accepting free food. They were hero(ines).

"What!" Peter whine. "I always leave a big tip when they do."

She pursed her lips."That's… better."

"I'm so glad you approve," he said sarcastically.

-o-O-o-

Eating at the diner actually went quite well all things considered. There was some initial panic from the waitstaff at the sight of Prowler coming into the diner with him and Gwen, but once they realized that the place wasn't about to turn into a battleground and the three of them just wanted a meal, they calmed down relatively quickly. Peter even caught a couple of the cooks and a waitress and waiter peeking out at them from the window between the kitchen and dining floor a few times over their meal to look and whisper about them. He thought one might have even taken a picture of them with their cell phone. He had a feeling it was going to be all over Facebook, – or whatever equivalent Gwen's 'verse used – tomorrow.

Eating with the Prowler wasn't all that awkward either. Sure the guy didn't or wouldn't say much, but he added to the conversation to add to what Gwen would say sometimes. Especially when he started asking about who the snot-nosed brat he left tied to the light-pole was (turned out he was Gwen's Tinkerer. Peter had found that deeply amusing considering his own was a seventy-something-year-old man). By the time they all finished their burgers and fries, the conversation naturally petered off to a point that he felt pretty good about calling for their check and letting the kid and the Prowler handle the payment before they all got up and left the diner, the waitress who served them waving goodbye at them as they left.

On the street once again, he reached out to Gwen, pulling her in for a side-hug. "See ya, kid!" he said.

The eyes of her mask curved with a smile. "Bye, Spider-Man!" she returned, "safe travels home and say hi to M— Uh, say hi to your wife."

He chuckled, a little amused by her almost slip-up. Peter had a feeling if she called his wife by her name there would have been some interesting conversations between her and the Prowler later. "Will do, thanks, Spider-Woman," he said.

Gwen turned to her new partner-in-crime-fighting. "Bye, Prowler. I'll see you around?" she said, sounding just a tad unsure. Peter could understand that. Today had taken a turn and with the whole not-quite-silent and brooding thing the Prowler had going on it was hard to tell how he'd taken to Peter's addition and if he was going to need some time to himself to work through his feelings about all he'd learned today.

He offered Gwen a fist to bump, which she did eagerly. "Yep," he answered, adding a little softer, "…Goodnight, Spidey."

"Thanks!" Gwen chirped, clearly delighted by the nickname. Peter had to wonder if this was the first time he'd called her that. If it was, it probably felt like a monumental step in their relationship as partners. He was starting to return the affection she'd been showing the whole time. Peter was happy for Gwen. She was doing well. Really, really, well. Her 'verse's Miles might never have to worry about losing his uncle. Their Miles would be over the moon when heard about this.

Gwen and the Prowler exchange a few more words and Peter only listened with a half-ear. It sounded like logistics about when they would next meet up. When they finished, Gwen waved at him one last time before shooting her webbing at a nearby building and swinging away. He waved back at her until she disappeared from view. He then turned to the Prowler and raised an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "I'm waiting for my ride to show up."

"Cool," he said, "cool." Realizing now was probably the best time to do this, he began "So, I know Spider-Woman probably wouldn't want me to do this—"

"Then don't," the Prowler cut in, hard.

Peter scoffed. He wasn't going to be intimidated by this guy. He'd heard some of Miles sillier stories about the guy. He knew he wasn't half as tough as he pretended. "You wish," he said. Realizing he probably came off a little more aggressive than he meant to, Peter sighed. "Sorry," he said. "I know you don't need the big speech, but I think there are some key points that we should still discuss." He lifted a hand and began to count off on his fingers for Prowler. "Like her becoming a hero? It was rough. She lost her best friend," he explained.

Tapping another finger, he continued, "Her being a hero isn't a cakewalk either I would guess if my own experiences being one are at all similar. I do think she's doing really good, all things considered, of course." He paused to smirk at the Prowler who he felt was listening intently, even if he was trying to give off an indifferent air with his crossed arms and ankles and head tilted away from Peter. "She's got you to switch sides," he said, "that's better than me. I've swayed a couple to stop being villains or at least work for my side if they're going to dabble in the business, but not this fast." Musingly, he remarked, incapable of hiding just how impressed he was by Gwen, "Kid's a prodigy."

"You call her that a lot, Spider-Woman," the Prowler broke in, voice quiet. "She really a kid or you just old?"

He huffed, annoyed. "Hey, I'm not old," he complained. Sure, he still had a little bit of a gut, but it wasn't half as bad as it had been when the whole incident that brought them altogether happened.

The Prowler said, "So she's a kid, huh?"

Peter crossed his arms and shook his head, almost turning away from the man. "Nope, that's not my information to share."

"Nah, it's cool," the Prowler reassured Peter, putting up a hand. "I've got the impression before she's young,"

Peter bit back a sigh. 'Gwen…' he internally, groaned. She really should be a little more careful with the Prowler. He might be on the path to heroism, but he could still be turned off it at some point, especially with how early it was in the journey. But she was young and that meant she didn't always know how much of herself she had to hide as Spider-Woman. She would figure that out in time. What the Prowler needed to know was he needed to be careful with her. "Anyway, my main takeaway from this whole thing is, don't fuck up," he said.

"Don't fuck up, that's pretty broad," he replied, sounding partly amused, partly annoyed with Peter.

He shrugged. "Yeah, well, I think you know what I mean," he said. "You switch sides, you let her get seriously hurt, me and rest of the Spider-Beings are going to come and hunt you down."

"That's not very Spiderly of you," the Prowler remarked.

Peter lifted his head and met the Prowlers masked-gaze head-on. "Being Spiderly isn't the same everywhere."

"Oh?" he said.

He nodded. "Yep."

The Prowler relaxed his stance and told him, "I was just kiddn' with you, but I get what you're sayin'. I'm not going to fuck the kid over in the future." His voice took on a quieter, softer note as he explained to Peter, "I've got some kids in my life, they look up to me, and I'm just trying to be what they see. If I screw over Spider-Woman, I won't be accomplishing that."

Peter felt a little stunned. Gwen had told him it was because of her Miles and her that the Prowler was switching sides, but he was surprised the guy was admitting it to him. Gwen was one thing, they were working together, after all, but him? Peter felt kind of touched. "I see," he said. Trying to sound warmer, he finished, "Well, good talk, Prowler. Nice meetin' ya."

"Yeah," he replied as they watched his bike roll up in front of them. "See you 'round?" he asked.

Peter nodded. "I'll be popping in now and again, yeah," he answered. They all would be, Peter knew. At least for a little while. They all wanted to be sure that Gwen was okay and the Prowler wasn't going to turn on her and hurt her.

He nodded and went and got on his bike. "See you 'round," he said.

Peter waved. "Bye, Prowler," he called as he watched the man drive off down the street, weaving between cars. When he was well and gone from sight, Peter slumped in place and said, "Wow." He'd had a lot of expectations for how this visit to Gwen's 'verse was going to go, but the Prowler had sure done a lot to prove and break them at the same time. Peter was actually impressed. Really impressed. "Her, Miles, and Peni are going to really change the hero-game," he said to himself before walking off to find a more private place to create a portal home.

A little crime-fighting! Some Peter B.! Thoughts?

Thank you for reading everyone :)