"What are those weapons? They are nothing I have ever seen before, and I have no information about the energy surrounding them."

Using the enhanced lenses, she examined several weapons that seemed to have some kind of dark energy imbued within them. "I have to take them. They could be dangerous in inexperienced hands."

Activating stealth mode, the white sections of her suit turned black while the more opaque colors faded into the darkness.

Climbing along the walls, she began moving around the area until she positioned herself on top of a lamppost.

A green dot appeared above one man’s head, making her sigh internally. She fired two lines of webbing, pulled him toward her, and quickly struck him in the stomach before sticking him to the lamppost.

Jumping toward a nearby ledge, she fired another web.

When one of the men turned around, all he saw was darkness.

Just as she was about to grab another target, the green dot above his head turned yellow, causing her to stop. Her lenses warned her that another man had a direct line of sight toward her position.

Leaping from lamppost to lamppost, she quickly created some distance before throwing a web grenade, which struck the man and sent him crashing into a wall, where the expanding webbing wrapped him in a cocoon.

She moved carefully until she spotted two more men nearby. Before dealing with them, she fired an electric web at her previous target, knocking him unconscious.

Just as she prepared to use a trap web on the two criminals, the men’s communication frequency appeared across her lenses.

"Get ready. There is an intruder. Several of the Demons have vanished," said a voice in Chinese.

"Well. It seems the element of surprise is gone."

Activating the voice modulator, she jumped into action.

Firing a web at a lamppost, she swung toward one of the men and struck him with a double kick before trapping him against the ground with webbing.

As she straightened, a sudden tingling sensation spread through her head, and the world around her seemed to slow considerably.

She immediately jumped and twisted through the air.

’Incredible.’

Her eyes widened behind the lenses as she watched black projectiles move past her with unnatural slowness.

Once she cleared them, she landed, rolled across the ground, and delivered a double kick to the gunman’s chin, sending him flying backward.

Using her hands to propel herself forward, she struck him again with both feet directly in the chest. She then fired two webs at the ground, using the tension to launch herself forward with even greater force.

A sharp cracking sound echoed when her feet connected with the man’s body.

She quickly turned her head.

A missile surrounded by black energy was heading directly toward her.

Cortana fired a web grenade into its path, caught the projectile in the expanding webbing, and redirected it toward the man who had launched it. He barely escaped before the missile exploded behind him.

"She is a fraud! This is not Spider-Man! Kill her!" shouted a voice in Chinese.

"You are a fraud, your whole family is a fraud! I am the original and only Spider-Atrax!... I really need a better codename."

The name came from Atrax robustus, a tiny creature whose name she had selected almost entirely because she liked how it sounded. Whether the identity would become permanent remained highly questionable.

When she searched for the man who had escaped the explosion, she saw that he had retreated toward several others.

One was tall and heavily built, wearing bracelets that surrounded his hands with black energy. Another carried a submachine gun.

The man who had attacked her earlier still had the rocket launcher, while the final fighter carried a katana whose blade became coated in the same dark energy.

’Damn. I thought this was going to be a normal patrol, not a fight against gang members carrying weapons powered by some unknown energy.’

She readied her web-shooters and focused on her opponents.

Cortana ran forward just as the large man charged toward her, supported by the gunman behind him.

She quickly removed a small sphere from one of her web-shooters and threw it against the ground, creating a thick smokescreen. Her lenses immediately switched to night vision.

Avoiding the large man, she moved after the gunman instead.

She dodged several shots, quickly moved backward, and jumped to avoid another missile. Taking another leap, she fired multiple webs at the large man, wrapping them around his body before closing the distance and striking him several times.

She quickly stepped back.

The black energy surrounding his arms intensified, and with a violent movement, he tore himself free from the cocoon.

"I will enjoy killing you little spider," the large man said in Chinese.

"No thanks. I like being alive."

She dodged several blows but failed to avoid the energy wave created when the man slammed both hands into the ground.

The impact sent her flying.

Recovering quickly, she rolled aside to avoid a tackle and immediately went after the man with the rocket launcher.

He was becoming a serious problem because every time she avoided one attack, she was either shot at or forced to dodge another missile.

The moment he prepared to fire again, she launched a web grenade directly into the barrel.

His eyes widened.

The missile attempted to launch.

The barrel exploded.

Boom!

The blast threw the man backward, knocking him unconscious and leaving him badly injured.

Cortana had no time to celebrate because her spider-sense immediately warned her of another attack.

She twisted aside just as a black-energy-coated katana sliced through the space where her neck had been.

"Come on. Give me a break," she said mockingly while creating distance. "Today is my first day on the job. Can we not make this easier by having all of you peacefully surrender?"

"I will kill you," the swordsman said in Chinese.

"No? Well, guess what. I want two things: to chew gum and kick some ass, and I do not have any gum."

Moving away from the swordsman, she fired shock webs at the large man, electrocuting him. She followed with two more, increasing the charge before using the attached web lines to spin him around.

The swordsman moved to intervene.

Exactly as she wanted.

Building enough momentum, Cortana released the large man directly toward him. The two collided violently and crashed across the ground. For a few brief seconds, she could hear the unpleasant sound of bones shifting from the impact.

"Everyone down. One remains."

She turned toward the swordsman.

He was gone.

So was his mask.

Cortana immediately searched the surrounding area, scanning rooftops, alleys, containers, and nearby structures.

Nothing.

"Damn!"

She stomped her foot hard enough to crack the ground beneath her.

Sigh...

After making sure there were no immediate threats nearby, she gathered all the unconscious men into one area and disarmed them of every weapon they carried, including their masks.

Searching available databases for information on each of them, she found that they were not particularly dangerous individuals.

One or two had minor criminal records, but there was little information suggesting that any of them should have possessed weapons of this level.

Sighing at the lack of useful information, she created a bag from webbing and placed all the masks inside. She then moved toward the section of the docks where the men had been working and discovered a large collection of firearms and bladed weapons.

Nunchucks.

Shuriken.

Spears.

Pistols.

Grenades.

Knives.

There was enough weaponry to equip a significant group.

Cortana quickly contacted Officer Dan and gave him the location. This led to a brief explanation that she was a colleague of Spider-Man, and judging by his tone, the revelation had left him considerably surprised.

’I can understand Dan’s astonishment. Peter does not exactly look or behave like a team player when he is wearing the suit. He used to be more cheerful, but lately he has become much more serious during patrols. More intimidating too.’

She paused.

’Mmm....Very sexy too.’

Cortana shook her head and forced those thoughts aside.

’But the biggest surprise will be discovering that there is another person with spider powers. It is probably a good thing George retired. If he saw both Peter and me swinging around the city, he would probably have a heart attack.’

Putting her increasingly lustful thoughts aside, she opened the briefcase where she had stored the weapons surrounded by the strange energy and carefully examined them.

"Peter might be able to determine who these men were or what this energy is. Whatever it is, it is extremely powerful."

Taking the web bag containing the masks, she created a large cocoon around the unconscious men before picking up the briefcase.

"I think I can leave this place to Dan and patrol for a while longer while Peter continues his work with Logan."

With that decision made, she prepared to leave.

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