With Great Power: A Fated Confrontation

Taylor's realization came with an expression of recognition from the scarred woman down below. She gestured widely, stepping over the groaning man she shot as she moved closer to the two of them up above, “I didn't realize that I extended invites to little miss spider and she-who-stalks-dark-alleys! If I had known some real, bonafide heroes would show up, I would have put out some refreshments to liven up this little party!”

“Dont worry about any of that, we aren't here to party anyway, so you can keep the refreshments to yourself.” Taylor said, watching with narrowed eyes as the scarred woman tossed her gun to the side and pulled another out of the pocket of the man she shot, “We're here to take you down.”

The woman snorted as she racked the slide, “You think you're the first bitch with a chip on her shoulder to come after me? I've been in the business a long time girl, long enough to-”

Taylor's web shooter hissed as she shot a clump of webs at the woman mid sentence. She missed her mark as her target saw it coming and pivoted on her heel, twisting out of the way in one smooth motion and coming to a stop with the pistol pointed in Taylor's direction, causing the girl to freeze.

She smirked at Taylor's shock, “Like I said, you aren't the first one to try and get me booked, and you sure as hell won't be the last.” Not taking her weapon off Taylor, she gladed at the men around her, "Especially if you limp dicked assholes would fucking shoot her already! Why the hell are you just standing around!?”

Her words spurred the entire warehouse into motion, Taylor included. Shadow Stalker burst into smoke and flew backwards through the wall, and Taylor wasn't given a second to yell at the girl for abandoning her as bullets screamed in her direction.

Bending her knees, she leapt off the catwalk hard enough to bend the metal underneath her feet. Flipping through the air, she attached a web to the ceiling and swung across the warehouse in a fraction of a second.

The scarred woman let out a whistle, slowly lowering her gun as she watched the superheroine move through the warehouse, twisting and turning as she dodged in midair, “Damn. That bitch is nimble.”

Taylor landed on top of the truck, denting the roof under her weight. Her powers told her she didn't have any time to stay immobile though, and she immediately flipped off as soon as she had enough purchase to do so. Bullets streaked by her face, but she didn't flinch, instinctively knowing that any unnecessary movements would spell her doom.

By chance, she landed on top of one of the men shooting at her. She forced him to the ground, rolling off of him and delivering a quick spray of webs to his body to keep him immobilized, before jumping to her feet as her danger sense yelled at her to stay mobile.

She whirled around, ducking low to dodge the bullet that whizzed by her face before sweeping the man's legs out from under him.

Taylor's heart and mind were moving a mile a minute as she was spurred into action by her power. She didn't have a moment to think or even consider what she was doing, acting on complete instinct as she leapt up and over the truck again as a few men moved to get a better angle on her.

“You're a slippery bitch, little miss spider!” The scarred woman called out as she watched Taylor take down her men, “Hey! Whoever gets a good hit on her gets to do whatever they want with the bitch when we capture her! Just make sure you let me watch.”

While Taylor’s face wrinkled in disgust at the woman’s words, she didn’t have any time to focus on her as she ducked underneath a knife and sunk her fist into the abdomen of the man who tried to stab her. He fell to the ground clutching his stomach and Taylor’s senses immediately warned her against an attack from the side, prompting her to lean to the side.

An arrow passed through the space she just occupied, slamming home into the knee of a man who had been trying to sneak up on her. Taylor glanced at where it came from and smiled as she saw Shadow Stalker reloading her crossbow. The two of them exchanged nods before Taylor returned to the fight as two men with knives charged at her.

It looked like she was wrong when she assumed that the other girl had abandoned her. She was just fighting from the shadows. Like Taylor probably should have tried doing before drawing the attention of literally everyone in the warehouse.

Oh well, it was too late now. She ducked underneath a knife and threw her assailant over her shoulder. He hit the side of the truck hard enough to dent it and slumped over with a groan. As he passed out, Taylor bent backwards to dodge a bullet and pivoted on her heel, sending a web line out to snatch the gun away from the man who had shot it. Throwing it away, she shot another web and dragged him towards her, clotheslining him and sending him to the ground with a painful sounding thud.

Her danger sense suddenly screamed at her louder than ever before, and Taylor’s eyes widened as she jumped backwards, narrowly dodging the blade that sliced through the air where she had just been standing. The scarred woman stared at her as she jumped away, a disappointed look on her face as she realized that her sneak attack had been unsuccessful, “Damn, I thought I had you.”

Taylor’s expression hardened as she was now face-to-face with the reason she had come out here in the first place. Her jump carried her all the way to the nearby truck, and instead of just landing on it and sticking, her legs acted like a spring, storing her momentum before releasing it all in an explosive launch that nearly pushed the truck onto its side.

Taylor tackled the scarred woman around her middle in a classic spear, knocking the wind out of her and sending them both to the ground several feet away.

Taylor rolled to her feet, glaring at the scarred woman who had already done the same as well. She watched as the woman reached down and pulled her gun from its holster, brandishing it alongside her knife as she prepared to fight the spider-themed heroine one-on-one, “You know, you should be thanking me.” She said as the clamor of Shadow Stalker taking down the remaining men in the warehouse faded into the background.

Taylor was taken aback by the statement, “Thanking you?”

“Yeah!” The scarred woman grinned widely, gesturing at the girl, “Look at you! A little bit of trauma, watching your little friend get shot, and you've become a real threat!"

So she did know who she was. Taylor had been wondering if she had made the connection between her identity, but it seemed like she didn’t have to worry after all. Taylor’s eyes narrowed behind her mask and her fists clenched at her nonchalant attitude, “Do you think this is some sort of game?”

“Honey, life’s a game. The meaning of life is to enjoy it as much as you possibly can, even if it comes at the cost of another person’s happiness!” The woman ran towards Taylor with a manic smile on her face, brandishing her knife high in the air, “Hurting people makes me happy and fills my pockets so I’m gonna carve you up with a smile on my face because I know I’ll enjoy it! That’s just how life is!”

Taylor stepped back as a knife slipped through the air where she was just standing, “You’re crazy!” She said, stepping forward to punch the woman in the face.

“Aww, that’s not a nice thing to say!” Her opponent ducked underneath her fist and brought up her gun, firing twice. Taylor danced out of the way, but her movement brought her right into the path of the woman’s knife. It scored a hit along her forearm, slicing through her jacket and biting into her arm just deep enough to get through the skin and draw blood, “Ha! First blood goes to me!”

Taylor growled at the pain, slinging a web at the woman's foot and yanking it from under her. As she went to the ground, Taylor jumped, stomping down on her leg to break it and immobilize her but her sneakers only struck concrete as the woman rolled out of the way. She pivoted into a kick but that was dodged too, as Taylor watched in disbelief as the woman stepped back, panting from the effort but still smiling from ear to ear.

“You say I'm slippery! What the heck was that!?” Taylor asked angrily, unsure how she hadn’t hit the woman a single time, “Do you have powers?”

“Nah, you're just predictable as shit.” The scarred woman laughed, pointing her gun at Taylor, “You're better than you were in the alley, but not by much.”

She tilted her head, thinking audibly, “I’d bet that little redhead isn't nearly as nimble as you though, is she? Especially after I put her in that wheelchair. Maybe I should pay her a visit! I'm sure she misses me just as much as I miss her!”

Taylor growled at the threat, slinging a web that the woman dodged, “You won’t touch her! I’m taking you down here and now!”

The web Taylor had shot at the woman landed on a pile of large crates behind her instead. Taylor gripped the thread as hard as she could and yanked, dislodging one of the crates and sending it flying at the back of the woman’s head. The scarred woman cottoned on to what she was doing and rolled out of the way, but Taylor was already in motion once again. She ran forward, slamming her fist into the woman’s hard enough to really do some damage.

She crumbled around Taylor's fist, falling to her knees as she let go of both of her weapons. She wheezed as Taylor stepped back, watching with satisfaction as she suffered.

“Holy shit, bitch!” The scarred woman coughed, wincing at the pain in her abdomen, “You hit like a goddamn truck!”

“It’s less than you deserve.” Taylor muttered angrily, getting a laugh.

“Oh definitely! I would have just ripped my head off and been done with it! You clearly got the mitts on you to do that.”

As she went to web the woman up, boots on the concrete made Taylor turn around with a tense expression. She relaxed as she saw it was just Stalker, walking up after dealing with the rest of the men in the warehouse.

“Hey.” The girl nodded, “Good work out there, that was pretty cool. Next time though, try not to blow out the cover just to save some asshole who's about to get what's coming to him.”

“I wasn't just going to let her kill him!” Taylor defended.

“She's a real hero, this one.” The scarred woman wheezed. She looked up at Stalker with a smirk, "She's not like you, dark and gloomy. She's got morals~.”

“Shut up.” Sophia said, aiming her crossbow at the woman. Taylor raised her hand to tell her to stop but just as she did, the woman suddenly moved.

She surged up and as she did so, Stalker flinched. The heroine's finger twitched and an arrow slammed into the concrete by the scarred woman's feet as she surged forward, slamming something into Stalker's stomach who instinctively tried to switch to her Breaker state.

It sounded like a big zapper being pressed into a chain link fence. Arcs of electricity spread from the flickering cloud of darkness as Shadow Stalker let out a garbled, distorted scream and fell to the ground in a twitching heap.

“Stalker!” Taylor moved to help, but the scarred woman pulled another, smaller pistol from under her shirt and pointed it at the downed heroine's head.

“I don't think so.” She said, grinning as Taylor froze, “You stay right there or she gets a led injection. And you can ask your friend just how much that shit hurts.”

Stalker groaned, curling into a smoking ball and the woman glanced at her, “Oh yeah, I bet that hurt too. This baby hits with more power than a car battery. Didn't think it'd put you on your ass that hard but hey, even I get lucky sometimes.”

Stalker just whimpered, twitching slightly as electricity burned through her nerves. The scarred woman chuckled as she turned back to Taylor who was staring at the girl anxiously, “So here's how things are gonna work. You're gonna stay right there while I walk away and get the fuck out of here, or I'm gonna blow her brains all over the cold concrete, got it?”

Taylor breathed deeply through her nose, “You won't get away with this. I'm going to catch you. Even if you get away today, I'm going to find you. There's nowhere in the city you can hide from me.”

“Spooky!” The scarred woman said as she began backing away, “But I doubt it. I'm pretty damn good at hiding when I want to.”

As she edged towards the door, Taylor's fingers twitched. She was far enough away now that she probably wouldn't be able to actually hit Stalker, but Taylor didn't want to take the chance. Just a little bit farther, and she would be able to-

“Oh, by the way.” The woman pulled the trigger. Taylor's heart dropped, but the only thing that came from the gun was a dull click, “The gun’s empty. I picked it up earlier!”

The woman's laughter rang in Taylor's ears as the girl watched, completely flabbergasted as she cleared the last few feet and ripped open the door.

“This was fun, spider, but I’m afraid I’ve got to cut and run. Things to do, people to kill, all that jazz. I’ll be seeing you soon though, so don’t miss me too much!”

She disappeared into the night before Taylor could register her statement, and the girl stared after the woman with a conflicted expression, unsure what to do with Shadow Stalker convulsing on the ground right in front of her.

Luckily, the decision was taken from her as Shadow Stalker reached up and grabbed her forearm in an iron grip, “Don’t l-let her get away! Go… after her!” She wheezed, “I'll be… fine!”

Taylor's face hardened and she nodded, standing up, “I'll catch her.” She said, sprinting after the scarred woman. She didn't like leaving the other hero like that but Stalker was right, the scarred woman was more important.

She ran into the alley and immediately zipped up to the rooftops, getting a bird’s eye view on the whole area. She ran to the edge of the building, pulling off her goggles so that she could see better in the dim light as she searched for the scarred woman in the alleys and streets nearby. Building by building, she combed the area as thoroughly as she possibly could. She jumped and swung across gaps, checking allies, looking for open doors and shifted dumpsters, searching for anywhere that the woman could be hiding.

There was nothing. Everywhere she looked was completely barren of life, and as the minutes wore on and Taylor was met with nothing but trash and empty streets, her heart sank into her stomach as she realized that she had failed.

The scarred woman has gotten away.