HenryJonesJr

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Should have a post up tomorrow

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

"Pete," I call my boyfriend, "any chance you can track down where Arcade is?"

"I've been working on it," Peter responds. Of course he is. He's the best. "But he's good. I'll need a bit more time."

"Copy."

It doesn't take me long to get to Central Park. When I reach the destination Arcade sent me to, I find another group of civilians trapped in a force field just like the one in Times Square. It's smaller, and seems to be a small box over the top of them. I land on it, and can hear them calling for me.

Which seems weird if these things are supposed to be airtight.

Searching the side of the box, I see there are small gaps allowing air in and out. If he's not trying to suffocate these people, then why did he trap them in a box?

"Spider-Woman! Welcome to the arena!" Arcade's voice explodes above me, drawing my attention above. There I see a swirling spiral of his drones coming down from the night sky like the New Years fireworks I should be watching right now. "I didn't expect you to get here so quickly. I would have had things set up already."

"Why do you have these people in a cage, Arcade!?" I yell to the villain. "Let them go and deal with me. I'm the one you want!"

"Oh no, that wouldn't be any fun!" the criminal titters with laughter. "What I want is entertainment. And I want to see if you can save the people from the space invaders! Get ready for the challenge of your life, hero!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I mutter to no one, knowing that there's no way he'd respond to me even if he heard me.

Suddenly, the drones above me snap into attention, and begin moving down towards me. They begin to dance, almost. But it's in a completely straight line coming directly for me. Suddenly, the line closest to me breaks off from the rest and streaks towards me and the box the civilians are in. My Spider Sense warns me of the coming danger, and allows me plenty of time to get out of the way of the dive-bombing drones. But as I flip out of the way, I find that the drones don't follow me. They simply head down and swipe against the cage he has his prisoners in. Below me, the cage shrinks, causing the people inside to lose some of the little room they have.

And that's when it hits me.

It's literally space invaders. He said it right there in his taunt to me before the game began. I need to play a giant, real life game of Space Invaders to save a bunch of innocent people on New Years Eve night. You know, I say this a lot, but my life is really, really weird. I wonder if Batman ever has to deal with this kind of stuff. I bet he doesn't.

The same line of drones breaks rank yet again and comes our way, but now I'm ready for them. I web one of them up and decide to use it as a ball and chain to take the rest of the drones out. While the craft is fast and nimble, it's not strong enough to get out of my grasp. I wrangle it in towards me, before spinning it around my head.

The first enemy drone that comes near me and my unwilling partner is knocked off course before slamming into the ground a few yards clear of the box.

"Oh yea, this one is gonna be much more fun," I smile under my mask. Who says fighting evil masterminds can't be fun too?

I ninja my way through the next few rows of drones, but from the looks of things, there's plenty more coming. Still, my improvised mace is doing its job, knocking its friends away with relative ease. I don't know if Arcade planned for me to do this or what, but if he didn't he had a serious design flaw with this one.

Of course, just as I think that, the speed from the drones starts increasing exponentially after every dive bomb.

"You just had to get cocky, didn't you?" I ask myself.

Before long, the drones are too fast for me, and they break through my defenses. They begin slamming into the force field, shrinking it each time. I can see the people inside begin to panic, and I can't blame them. If this keeps going on, they'll be crushed by not only the force fields, but by the other people trapped in with them. I can already seen some of them climbing on top of the others in order to relieve the pressure growing around them.

It's clear my strategy isn't going to cut it. I search desperately for something that can take out a large amount of the drones at once, and come to one conclusion.

I'm going to throw a Central Park tree at them.

In order to do that, I have to leave the box completely unprotected, unfortunately. I don't have any choice, but it still kills me that these people are going to see me desert them, even if it's only for a time.

I find a suitable tree, and summon all the strength I can muster. I know I'm strong, but I can only hope I've got enough strength to uproot this giant and use it as a weapon. The tree strains under the force I apply to it, and can hear the roots start to give way. Suddenly, it gives way, and I'm able to swing it in a large arc. I gain momentum and toss it like an Olympic hammer towards the drones. It cuts through them like a hot knife through butter, and in a blink of an eye they're gone.

The force field disappears, and the innocent people are released. Some of them hug their loved ones. Some of them look to the heavens in appreciation. Some look to me and merely wave weakly, thanking me for the help.

"Impossible!" Arcade's voice rages over a surviving drone. "Completely impossible!"

"Okay, Arcade," I growl at him. "I've played your game. It's time to end this."

"No! No it's not! I'll think of another game! You'll never beat Arcade!" the villain rants.

"Gwen...I have him. He's in the Paramount Building," Peter comes over the comms. "You've got him."

"Okay, Arcade," I say to him. "If you don't want to come to me, I'll come to you. See you soon."

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Yea. I don't want to go on hiatus, but I'm good with a lengthier break between seasons next time. That would give me more time to have posts ready to go before the season starts, and would open up more improvisation and interaction opportunities as it would mean that I wouldn't have to work so much on getting in my solo story. But a hiatus, for me, would be a huge bummer. I'm getting 2 posts out a week (not to mention writing posts for a game I haven't even started yet), so I'd like to keep working.

I'd also be good with maybe a more relaxed timetable for this season. The Holidays are always a tough time to get posts done, so maybe having a bit more of a tail to Season 2 could help.

Still, I'm for anything that makes this game last. I think everyone is doing great work, and don't want to see another one like this go down the tubes.

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

<Snipped quote by HenryJonesJr>

They don't come more reliable than you, Henry.

@Morden Man

I will carry this game to the end of season 3 so I can finish my Gwen story plans, at the very least. Lol

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

I should have a post up tomorrow

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Sorry for the double post, but I wanted to get it out before the holiday. Will hopefully have another one up this weekend.

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

It doesn't take me long to get to the Empire State Building. Swinging is by far the most efficient way of traversing New York. I need to make sure no one notices that, or I'll end up with Tony Stark ripping off my webshooters and selling them to every idiot stock broker who things they're important enough to need the shortcut. Actually, you know what, maybe I should let that happen. It would probably mean a whole lot less idiot stock brokers running around New York, and honestly who wouldn't want that?

When I get to the New York landmark, I see a bunch of flying light drones forming an arrow to the very top of the building. I sigh. Of course he wants me to go all the way to the top. He's a weirdo criminal gameshow host. The only way this was going to happen is if he gets the best shot he can of me atop the most famous building in the city. Still, that doesn't make me any more annoyed.

Yet again, Richard Dragon's warnings of becoming imbalanced echo through my brain, and I take a few deep breaths as I start my climb to the top of the spire.

Once I get there, the drones swirl around me, before forming into a new shape a few yards in front of me. Instead of the arrow, they now look like a crude representation of Arcade's face, all of them lit up in that bright white, just like the suit he was wearing in the video earlier.

"Well done, Spider-Woman! Well done!" the drone drawing grins and mimics its master's movements. Whoever this guy is he has some serious engineering skills. To get drones to act like this, in perfect synchronization usually takes a huge team of techs, and they even end up screwing it up. He's good. He's really good. "Now smile, you're being broadcast all across the world on the internet. I wanted everyone to see my Murderworld challenge, and I wanted everyone to see you fail. Once we're done here, I'll test the rest of the so-called heroes on earth, to see who's good enough to survive Murderworld!"

I roll my eyes under my mask, "Listen, PITA Barnum. I have people to save. Can we get on with this so I can put you behind bars?"

This guy wants me to fail, so he's going to do his best to keep me talking. He probably thinks he can sucker me into some dumb mistake that will end up with a bunch of dead partiers.

Think again, a-hole. This is the kinda new and semi-improving Gwen Stacy.

"Very well, Spider-Woman,' the weird, drone thing smiles without any teeth. "Your first challenge is a simple race. Get through my obstacle course alive, and we can move onto the next one. Sounds awfully simple now, doesn't it? Shall we begin."

"Wait, you said a race? Like against the clock?" I ask, confused. There's clearly no other racers here, so I can't be running against someone, right?

"Why you're racing away from them, of course," Arcade responds just as the beep goes off inside my comm systems.

"Goblin patrol incoming," WEB warns me.

Of course. How did I not see this one coming? He told the freaking world where I'd be. Of course some Goblins would have been dispatched to the location. It's the most obvious thing to happen, and I didn't even consider it.

"Better get moving, Spider-Woman!" Arcade yells with glee as his face turns back into an arrow pointing down towards the street.

Not wasting any time, I leap, following the direction. As I do, I can see the Goblins streaking up to meet me. I streamline my arms and legs in order to give the smallest possible target to them. Just in time, too. My Spider Sense warns me as they let go with a volley of the bladed projectiles that gave me such an issue on Christmas night. Thankfully, the first volley misses thanks to my quick thinking. They won't miss again though. But I'm not low enough to swing out of the way and start putting some distance between them and I.

The next round of projectiles come my way, and I'm forced to do some midair acrobatics in order to get out of the way of them. All the while, they keep getting closer. I'm gonna have to do some more fancy moves if I'm going to get past them.

"How is Spider-Woman going to escape this one, viewers?" Arcade cackles. Great. He's commentating.

I decide to give them some New Years confetti.

Letting go with my webshooters, I fire a few streams of webbing towards the heads of the goblins at the center of the formation coming my way. That causes them to open a hole for me to pass through. I do just that, and in the process get to the level of the city where I can swing away easily.

"Ha! See ya, boys!" I laugh as I swing away.

My Spider Sense tells me that maybe it's too early to celebrate.

As I come through my swing, I see that the drones are not floating in front of me in formations of four. Suddenly, force fields begin forming between them, creating obstacles I need to dodge.

"Oh right. The obstacle course."

It takes all my concentration and my reflexes to get me through the barriers. As I do, the ones behind me zoom past me and form new ones further down the street. Who knows how long this is going to end up being. Trying to gain altitude doesn't help, as the barriers move to box me in. Arcade thought of everything, and if I'm gonna get out of this and save those people, I'm gonna have to play his game.

"Uh, so are you okay?" Peter's voice comes over the comms.

"Yea!" I responds. "I'm just glad you always make me play video games."

"What's this one like?" he asks, almost with amusement.

"Uhhh...you know that level in Battletoads with the speeder bike?" I respond, shooting through a gap. "It's like that."

"Oh god," he responds, clearly aghast.

"Yea. Right?" I say through gritted teeth. "So I'll check in after I'm done here."

"Copy, babe."

When he hangs up, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I turn my head slightly to find the Goblins catching up to me yet again. The momentary glance has repercussions, though. Turning back to where I'm going, I find two of the barriers closing in front of me. I zip a line between them, and yank myself through quickly. Behind the now closed passage, two of the Goblins slam into the barriers at full speed, causing a huge explosion. Their two comrades go around the other way, but at least the numbers have thinned a bit.

"Oh! Look at that, good viewers!" Arcade thrills at the sight. I can't even imagine how many hits this nutball is getting right now. "Spider-Woman escapes by the skin of her teeth and takes two of her foes down with her. That's going to be on Sportscenter!"

God this guy is unbearable.

Luckily I'm starting to get the hang of this course. A couple more blocks, and I can see flashing red barriers in the distance. Hopefully, that means I'm almost at the end. That's good for me. What's also good for me is, I now know that the barriers can cause the Goblins some irreparable harm. I purposefully swing by one, missing it by milometers. As the obstacle disappears in order to form another one down the street, I loop back and behind the following Goblins. Quickly, I fire weblines to the rudders of their gliders and yank them both towards a pair of obstacles. They hit them with the same kind of force, taking them out of the equation.

"And look at that! She's take the other two out as well!" Arcade celebrates, though I figure he's just playing a part. He's probably really disappointed.

Good.

A few more blocks, and I pass through the red barriers, and fireworks explode as I do, celebrating my "victory".

"Congratulations, Spider-Woman!" Arcade mocks. "But the games are just beginning. There are some people waiting for you in Central Park, and you're not going to want to let them down."

"You want to play, Arcade?" I growl. "Then let's play."

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

The winter wind whips through the streets of New York around me as I pace on the sidewalk outside the Osbron compound. Conflicting feelings rush through me as I consider all the ways this night can go. Will MJ and Harry be annoyed that I actually showed up? Will they be cool with me being here? Maybe even happy? I don't know. All I know is that I'm more nervous to see the people that, up until a few weeks ago, I consider my best friends than I am to ever go up against a super villain.

That's probably a bad thing, right?

Peter eyes me suspiciously as he leans on a pole nearby, "You're sure you're okay with this? We don't have to go in."

"Of course we have to go in," I grumble. "It's my homework."

Sensei insisted that I come tonight. After a talk, he decided that it would be a prime place for me to practice emotional control and on the spot meditative techniques. I didn't fight that, as it, unfortunately, does make a lot of sense. If I can't keep my head when talking to normal people, I'm never going to do it in the heat of battle.

"I don't think you should be thinking about a party with your friends that way," he says helpfully.

"No, I shouldn't," I agree. "But right now I do."

"Well, should we go in?" he asks.

"Sure," I shrug. "No turning back now."

The two of us walk into the grand foyer of the Osborn Manor, something that never fails to take my breath away. A grand set of marble stair cases wrap around in front of us, representing the strands of DNA, just like the design inspiration for Oscorp Tower. The gleaming white of the entrance way shocks the sytem, and the size of the house has always been too big for the family, even when Harry's mom was still alive. But Norman doesn't do anything half way.

People fall into hushed whispers as I walk by them, leading me to believe no one thought I was going to show up.

"Oh man, she's here!" Flash Thompsons calls out as if he's a pro wrestling announcer. "Things are about the heat up!"

"Drama!" Liz Allen exclaims, wrapped around his arm.

I take some deep breaths, trying to gain my center like Dragon has been teaching me to do. Normally I'd probably have yelled something back at those two. So, hey, progress!

I spot Glory and Betty standing by the big fire pit outside, and decide that's probably where I should start with my apology tour. The two of them were innocents caught in MJ and my war of words. No reason I shouldn't try and mend that fence before dealing with MJ.

"Hey," I sidle up to the two of them, brushing my hair back, pinning it behind my ear. "How's it going."

"Whoa," Betty gasps, yet still talks in her normal, monotone voice filled with an unimpressed tenor. "I did not think you were gonna show."

"Yea, girl," Glory offers me a drink, but I wave it away, "you guys
gonna have it out again?"

"I hope not," I wince at her. "Sorry for that. Didn't mean to put you guys in the middle like that."

"I mean, you weren't totally wrong," Betty admits. "Neither was she, to be fair. But she was being a diva."

"She's been a lot better since then, if I'm being honest," Glory adds. "So maybe you got through to her a bit."

I look surprised, "You guys have been practicing without me?"

"Kinda," Betty rolls her eyes. "We had two sessions."

"Yea, I dunno if you know," Glory chuckles, "but it's really hard to play rock music without a drummer."

I laugh along with the two of them. I know it's only been like a week since I stormed out of the last show, but it still feels longer. Maybe Pete is right. This is going to be good for me.

"Well, you came," Harry's voice almost makes me physically flinch. I turn to find him eyeing me suspiciously. I don't blame him. I didn't even tell him what I was feeling to his face like I did with MJ. Instead, he heard it all second hand. That makes it worse. That always makes it worse. "I'm glad your here. Hope it's not too over the top for you."

The dig hits hard, and I hear Betty and Glory shuffle away from the two of us. A spike of anger rises in my throat. Who is he to throw that back in my face? He's the one that's been acting like a spoiled sweet sixteen chick. He's the one that's been bragging about his daddy's money and robots who want to kill me. I just told his girlfriend how it is. How is he the one that gets to throw things back in my face?

Richard Dragon's words about control and balance float through my head, interrupting that train of thought. I take a deep breath, and look back up at Harry, who seems to be waiting for the blow up.

"Listen, Harry, it was wrong of me to say those things the way I did," I begin to apologize. "If I had a problem with how you or MJ were acting, I should have come to the two of you as a friend. We've known each other forever. There's no reason I should have kept it bottled up inside until it exploded out of me."

"Yea, well, maybe we were being a little-"

Something catches his attention behind me, and I turn to see something going on at Times Square. More of the party goers begin to flock to the TV as their phones begin to alert them of the disturbance at the famous New Years gathering space. I stand back from the crowd, but get a good vantage point. I can't hear what the panicked reporters and emcees are saying on the broadcast, but I can see the events unfold.

A weird, bubble-like force field envelops the area, coming straight out of the streetlights in Times Square. That means whoever is doing this had a plan long in the making. It's not easy to do that kind of thing in a tourist area, at least not quickly.

Suddenly, the screen turns to fuzz, and replacing the scene is a man with fiery red hair and a gleaming white suit. He twirls a cane around in his hand, smiling broadly as he does it. He tosses it into the air before snatching it and taking a bow as if waiting for applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen of New York," he starts, sounding almost like a carnival barker trying to entice the viewers into playing a game, "happy new year! Well, not yet, I guess. But I'm here to make the last few hours of the year some you will never forget. As you can see, I've encased Times Square and everyone in it in a little bubble of my own design. Neat, huh?"

He raises his eyebrows to the camera, "Nothing can get in or out...including air! By my calculations, everyone inside that bubble has until the stroke of midnight for it to come down before suffocation becomes a real problem, and this New Year becomes a tragic one."

Walking around, he continues, "But how can we save the people, you may ask? Simple. You can't. My game is only made for one. I have covered New York in challenges for the amazing Spider-Woman to complete. If she does so in time, everyone lives. If she fails? Well then, she has even more blood on her hands."

A sinister, chesire grin appears on the screen as he stares into the camera, "Time is running out, Spider-Woman. You have three hours. Better get to the Empire State Building so our little game can begin."

He backs up and opens his arms, presenting himself to the camera, "Ladies and gentlemen of New York! My name is Arcade, and I will be your host for tonight! Allow me to welcome you to Murderworld: New York!"

The feed cuts back to a live shot of Times Square as I begin to head out. Before I can, MJ gets in my way, "Gwen, you can't leave now. It's clearly not safe. Plus I thought we could talk."

"MJ, I would love to talk, but I need to go," I try and protest, realizing I have absolutely no good excuse to get away. "I...my dad will probably want me to be home with all this going on."

"Going out there is dangerous, Gwen," she looks at me like I'm crazy. "Are you so afraid to be stuck somewhere with me that you'd risk you life?"

"What? No," I recoil and shake my head. "I just...you wouldn't understand."

"Yea, clearly there's a lot I don't understand about you anymore," she rolls her eyes and bumps past me in order to join the rest of the party.

"Ouch," Peter sighs. "There's no good way that could have ended."

"Can you get somewhere to help me out? There's no way this is going to be easy tonight," I plead with him.

"Yea, I'll figure something out. Now go. Those people are counting on you."

I kiss him on the cheek, then move as fast as I can towards the middle of Manhattan.

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

I should have a post up tonight.

Get ready for the Amazing Spider-Bat-Woman

(Kidding)

Ultimate One Universe: Season Two

Considering I came to him for combat training, so far Richard Dragon, or "Sensei" as I'm supposed to call him, has taught me very little combat. So far it's been a lot of mdeitation, a lot of trying to "center" myself, and a lot of nothing, if I'm being honest.

"You're not relaxed," he says beside me as the two of us sit quietly in the dojo. It's become like a secon home to me in the past week, and I've been spending most of my Christmas vacation here, much to the chagrin of Peter. But if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right, even if it is driving me crazy up to this point. "If you are not relaxed, you will not do what you need to in order to succeed."

I almost feel the frustration rise to my throat like a bitter pill.I know he knows what he's doing, but that doesn't lessen my annoyance with all his talk of being centered and calm.

"Sorry, Master Yoda," I respond sarcastically. "I'll go back to lifting rocks."

Speaking to his own centered and in control persona, he never seems to get annoyed at my jabs. Maybe he knows I'm not trying to be all that annoying, but I didn't come here just to sit around.

"You know I'e seen Star Wars, right?" he shakes his head. "I may be a master of martial arts, but I don't live in a cave. Luke leaving Yoda's training because he's annoyed is specifically shown to be a mistake. Just saying."

My face scrunches up under the mask, "Don't throw nerd knowledge back
in my face. That's my thing! Don't steal my thing!"

He chuckles softly. When he does, the greying-red beard that hugs his face contorts, making him look like a happy dragon himself. He's been a decent mentor so far, I have to admit, even if he's being far more secretive about his motives than I would like.

"You joke, but your emotions are what get you in trouble," he harps on his favorite criticism of me.

"I haven't heard that one before."

"Yet you continue to let them control you," he waves his hand, as if presenting me with my failures. "If that does not change, our time here will have been for nothing, and you will not be ready for the challenges that are to come."

"I don't understand why you harp on the emotions stuff," I finally say out of frustration. I haven't really pushed back against him, not in any significant kind of way. I've been trying to keep my cool, to show him that I can do what he says I can't. But I can't hold back any more, and it comes flooding out in a torrent of words that only a teenage girl can summon up. "My emotions and drive are what have kept me alive. They've pushed me forward and allowed me to get out of situations I've never would have gotten out of otherwise. Now you come saying that's my biggest problem? Why?"

Another smile creeps across his face, "Finally."

"What do you mean 'finally'?"

"I've been waiting for you to ask me why I do anything. To be curious. To want to learn," he explains. "I learned a long time ago that a student who sits and merely listens will never get what they need to get. Even you with your snark would never have succeeded with me until you were willing to ask questions. So now we can truly begin."

A smile flickers at the corner of my mouth. But I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that, "So are you gonna answer my question, or no?"

"You're not wrong that your raw will has protected you up until now," he concedes. "But that has also gotten you in trouble. You tend to throw punches when you don't need to. Normal people can't take a beating from you, nor should they need one. You have the power to stop them without violence. That will win you the love of the people you're currently missing."

I consider what he's saying, and realize it doesn't sound wholly different than what Tombstone had told me as well. That me taking down guys with my fists is going to create more problems than they will solve. It's something I've been considering, but to hear it from someone like the man training me makes it an extra poignant point.

"And when you come up against someone who does require you to fight them head on, while your grit may help you survive when you're back is to the wall, you should never be there in the first place," he becomes serious at this sentence, driving home how important he thinks it is. "You go head first into these fights with no preparation and a head full of ego and emotion. You're lucky that you have a second gear to go to when you need it, but you tend to need it too much. If you went in with a level head and an ability to fight with skill, you could save that for very few emergency situations. That's where you should be when we're done, and that's only going to happen when you get your emotions under control. Until then, no matter how much I tell you about martial arts, every fight you have will be a fight for your life."

It all makes so much sense. Even I don't have a snarky reply or a comment for that. He's right. That's about all I can say about it.

"Yes, Sensei," I nod. "I'll try to do better."

"Good," he motions for me to sit back down. "Let's meditate some more, in that case."

"You really enjoy testing me, don't you?" I shoot back at him.

"I do," he smiles. "I really do."