Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 74: Equal And Opposite Reaction

He might not look a whole lot like Randy, the spectacular Spider-Woman thought to herself as she watched Luke Cage enter the office, but I can see why he admires Luke so much.

Even from her vantage point, Spider-Woman could see that Luke Cage had earned his formidable reputation. Well over six feet in height, and looking like he weighed almost three hundred pounds of solid muscle, Cage's dark skin gleamed like polished steel, a side effect of the industrial accident that had given him his amazing superhuman strength and resistance to injury. He carried himself with the practiced ease of someone who'd become a skilled fighter, toughened by a rough life growing up on some of the meanest streets in the country, but from everything Randy had told Spider-Woman Luke fought only to defend the innocents of his community, and anyone else who might need his help.

For the last twenty minutes, Spider-Woman had been watching the headquarters of the Heroes For Hire, waiting for them to open for the day. The Heroes For Hire were a group of freelance superheroes who sold their services, frequently carrying out everything from security work to rescue missions for pay, although they poured most of the substantial fees they charged into supporting everything from recreation centres to food drives for lower-income communities who needed it the most. They also routinely did pro bono work for those same communities, defending them against the drug lords, street gangs and other criminals who often tended to target the most vulnerable parts of New York society.

That connection to what happened on the streets, and the Heroes' role in defending their inhabitants, was why Spider-Woman had come. Her boyfriend Randy Robertson was active in supporting the Harlem community, and when many of the people in that community had been grievously hurt and killed in a bombing several weeks ago Spider-Woman had been determined to bring the bombers to justice. She'd eventually learned from the Heroes that the bombings were being committed by a new crime syndicate that was seeking to establish itself in New York, although neither the Heroes For Hire, any of New York's other superheroes or the New York Police Department had been able to find out much information about them…

…until now.

In her civilian identity as Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman had been having a long and nasty feud with Felicia Hardy, an old rival from high school. Felicia had moved up in the world, apparently now having taken up with a prominent lieutenant in the mysterious new syndicate. In a bizarre twist of fate, Felicia had seized much of her boyfriend's knowledge about the crime syndicate when she'd killed him, and Gwen had subsequently absorbed a lot of that knowledge herself when Felicia had tried to kill her.

Spider-Woman shook her head as she began crawling down the side of the building, trying to forget about the disturbing experience with Felicia, Brigid O' Reilly and the thing they'd become, that had come to call itself Mayhem.

She had more important things to think about.

SPIDER-WOMAN #74

"EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION"

As she walked into the lobby of the Heroes For Hire headquarters, Spider-Woman was startled as a door in the side wall was flung open and Luke Cage himself emerged, a steaming pot of coffee in hand. For a moment, Spider-Woman was surprised at the look in his eyes, a look of fire and determination that reminded her of a look she'd seen in Randy's eyes many times. She recalled the pride Randy had felt when he talked about Luke and how far he'd come, overcoming the adversity he'd had to deal with and becoming stronger for the experience.

"You looking to hire us?" Luke asked calmly as he sat down and poured himself a cup of coffee. "That is why you're here, isn't it?"

"No, not quite," Spider-Woman shook her head, somewhat startled by Luke's lack of formality. "Do you mind if I sit down?"