Going down the spider hole...

30 minutes later…

Following Carol’s directions to where she was last, Lady Anti-Venom made it across the Manhattan Island to where she was told to go. Leaving Carol behind as the woman had yet to regain her strength. Swinging and landing against the wall of the alleyway behind Joe’s Pizza, Susan made a face of disgust at the smell before letting the symbiote completely envelop her and change colour and texture to match whatever surface she touched, essentially making her invisible as she snuck into the back door and crawled up onto the ceiling, completely unnoticed by the police searching the pizzeria’s interior. The front of the building was occupied by a pair of police cruisers where at least 4 officers tried to investigate a mass disappearance at the diner after it had been stuck up in a robbery. Witnesses across the street claimed they saw several vigilante heroes arrive to deal with the gunmen, until a large, lanky armed creature with a spider’s face entered the pizzeria and seconds later the place was scurrying with massive spiders. One even shot out of the window and flew off into the night!

Listening in on the investigation while invisible on the ceiling, Susan crawled her way back out of the rear exit and back out into the alley. Susan pinched her nose to block out the smell and landed on her feet to the ground. The alleyway smelled like rotten bread and fruit… But then again, that would be expected behind a pizzeria. But the smell was NOT just stale bread and green peppers in a dumpster. It was something else… And it was rancid.

“Sometimes you just don’t want to know what you’ve been eating…” Gagged Lady Anti-Venom, silently making her way deeper into the alleys.

Stepping away from steam blowing out from under a dumpster, Susan thought she was going to throw up when the symbiote wrapped around her face again, filtering her breathing air and muting the smell for her. Standing up to her full height and breathing in deeply through her skin, it still took her time to get used to the experience as she looked around. The alley went to a dead end, drawing Susan to cross her arms and tap at her chin.

“So, he didn’t leave here… And no one said anything about them leaving out the front… Except for Carol of course. The people outside didn’t see any of them leave through the entrance and sure as heck didn’t see them crawl up and out over the building… Where oh where did a swarm of spiders the size of sherpa dogs scurry off to?”

Turning to leave, she looked back at the dumpster where steam could still be seen escaping underneath it. Looking down, she raised an eyebrow when she spotted strands of spider silk lathered underneath it. Grabbing a handle from the dumpster, Susan pulled the metric ton metal container out of her way, finding a gaping hole in the ground covered over in webbing where the dumpster had covered over.

“I once had a dog, and his name was BINGO!”

Grabbing the webbing and ripping it free of the wall and ground, the steam coming out of the hole became more pronounced, making Susan thankful her symbiote was protecting her. When she was sure no one and no thing was right there and poking her head through the hole to check where it went, she jumped down and began her journey to see where it led. Narrowing her eyes, her vision changed, allowing her to see in the ultraviolet spectrum and make out where she was going in the pitch darkness.

A few minutes later, she found herself in the sewers of the city where she could hear reservoir water flowing down heavy pipes overhead and the occasional subway line run by. Tracing her hand against the brick wall of the sewers, she could still make out webbing leading deeper down the reservoir, like a trail of sticky breadcrumbs. Speaking of sticky, taking another step, she paused and looked down, her mask eyes squinting in disgust as she flicked her foot to clear off what she had just stepped in.

“I swear, after tonight, I am going to make TWO batches of brownies with my kids… One for the bake sale and one for…”

A screech filled her ears as she was body tackled against the wall by a massive arachnid, pinning her against the wall just about the time Susan caught it before it could bite her.

“Oh NO… I’m not falling for THAT again.”

Tentacles sprouted from her sides and back and speared into the offending arachnid’s underbelly, causing it to screech again as its body changed. Course brown fur fell away, and the many legs receded back into the body as the remaining limbs changed shape, developing human hands and feet. The body changing back with a human mouth crying out just as the now fully restored woman fell to her feet, quickly turned on her bare heels and fell to her knees to retch into the reservoir. Pressing her back against the brick wall, Susan nodded as she slid down to the ground, recovering her strength after curing the woman.

“BlaaaaaAAAAAARrrrrrrGH… Uuuugh… Where AM I?” Coughed the woman, pulling on the rags of her clothes to maintain her dignity.

“Downtown Manhattan… Like… REALLY downtown!” Huffed Susan, getting back to her feet and preparing herself for a fight when she and the woman she rescued looked up to the sound of a chorus of hisses and screeches in the dark.

“What’s that?”

“You don’t have a problem with spiders, do you?” Susan Asked, regaining her footing despite feeling so woozy.

“I’m scared to **** of them!” Looking out into the dark, the woman could make out dozens of massive arachnids immediately rush towards them. Her eyes rolling back into her head as she fainted on the spot.

“A month ago, I’d have been RIGHT there with you.”

Clenching her fists and eyeing the swarm charging towards her, Lady Anti-Venom reached out… And dozens of tentacles branched out from her arms, shoulders, back and legs, snaking their way towards the spiders and each hitting one after the other. Eighteen massive spiders caught in her tendrils and left paralyzed as she pumped them full of the cure for their affliction. Right before her eyes, she could see the group of creatures become more and more human by the second, limbs disappearing and the remaining ones becoming arms and legs, heads forming at the shoulders and crying out once they were no longer stuffed with fangs and mandibles. All the while Susan continued to feel drained and weakened. She had never gone this far in using her powers to heal anyone on mass like this and it was starting to take its toll.

Falling to her knees but keeping her arms out, she looked up with tired eyes to find everyone had been completely healed. Finally allowing herself to collapse just as every slowly got up dazed and confused, wondering where they were… And why their clothes were ripped.

“WHERE THE FUCK AM I?!” Screamed a woman, covering herself up as she looked around the darkness of the sewers.

“Is this a sewer?” Asked a man getting up, still dazed and confused.

“I want to go HOME”!

Another person yelped in fright when they spotted one of the cured people grabbed a woman from behind and brought a sharp object up to her neck, something he found off the ground and pressed it deep to her neck and kept her close. Backing up with the woman’s arms behind her back with his other hand, the man shifted his gaze to the crowd of people in the sewers and the white and black clad woman at the far wall regaining her strength.

“NOBODY MOVE! ANYONE GETS IN MY WAY IMMA SLIT THIS BITCH’S THROAT…”

The thud of a rock hitting the back of his head, made the man drop his make-shift blade and fall to the ground face first. Where behind him Moon Knight put on the rest of his mask and looked to the woman’s safety and then to everyone else.

“You alright Mrs. Jones?”

Rolling her shoulder and making sure her clothes weren’t left open, Jessica Jones, the leading member of the Heroes for Hire scoffed and kicked the man Moon Knight knocked out in the balls, eliciting a pained groaned from her assailant. Resting her hands at her side and giving the drooling **** man the stink eye.

“Bastard tried to rob a pizzeria, then he brings a sharp rock to my neck when he wakes up in the fucking sewer, yeah… a LOT of good life choices this guy’s made.” Looking over to the Susan getting to her feet, the two made their way over to her, finding their footing just as sluggish as they finally got to her and helped her up.

“Hey lady, how are you feeling, okay?” Asked Jessica as she and Moon Knight helped her up.

Looking around with an almost drunkenly sluggish gait, Susan pressed up against Moon Knight for support as she waited for her strength to return to her legs.

“I could really use a chocolate bar right about now…”