New York City was always bustling with people and traffic.  It was one of the busiest cities in the world and one of the largest.  Money flowed in and out of the city quicker than the rivers that bordered Manhattan.  It was the perfect target for a terrorist organization known as HYDRA.  It was the middle of the day when green and yellow hooded individuals poured out of semis near the United Nations building.  That was not their real target.  While they were attacking the UN, more were in the financial district and setting off explosions near the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.  The gold being housed there was worth billions.

tags: ant-man/giant man, matt murdock, sif, spider-woman-drew, the thing, wolverine

It was extremely rare for Janet to be in a bar. A lounge, reasonably often. A restaurant, frequently. But a bar, very rare.
But something she wanted -- very much wanted, after being publicly humiliated -- was here, so she was here. Now, if she could get something else she wanted.

"What do you think," she said as she stepped behind the security professional. "Would it be a mistake to order a pineapple martini here?"

tags: spider-woman-drew, wasp

She's still not sure why she left SHIELD.

Ok, she was. They were going to have her behind a desk for months. And being behind a desk was not going to do a thing to lessen the crap she was going to have to put up with and listen to while playing government bureaucrat. All her time of service, and now she was practically starting over.

She'd been a good agent. One of their best field agents. Which is why she'd been selected to look into the emergence, or maybe re-emergence of this HYDRA thing. Bunch of idiots claiming a legacy from something in the 40's, during WWII. It had been going well - until someone had botched. She's pretty sure it wasn't her. Her cover was solid. Either someone else on the mission slipped up, intel made a mistake or... something. She'd been used as a guinea pig. Something about radiation treatments and venom. Whatever had happened, she was different when it was over. More powerful. Enough to escape, and then to return to SHIELD.

And despite suddenly having a powered operative, they didn't trust it. They wanted to run tests. To ground her - indefinitely. Sure, she'd still draw a paycheck, but not for anything like she'd been trained for. Not for what she'd signed on for. Rumor had it there was a new director moving in soon - but she wasn't going to hold her breath on anything changing.

She had her P.I. license. She had her gun license. Getting her private security clearance wasn't hard. Moving her things to California also wasn't hard. It wasn't til she left SHIELD that she realized how few things she actually owned. Half her wardrobe was uniforms. Half of what was left were various things she'd been given for undercover work, with armorweave, hidden pockets, and so on. Those had to go back too. If it hadn't been for having to pack the cat's things, and the cat, her life would have fit in two suitcases. Kind of sad... but it sure made moving cross country easier.

She'd been there not three days when she got her first hire. Apparently no one else was taking jobs for a particular client, following a host of injuries to their security. Turned out, the thieves had been these two freaks in masks that talked in grisly little nursery rhymes, calling themselves the Brothers Grimm. They rode on what had looked like clouds, and flung... magic beans at her. Yeah, she hadn't been able to believe it herself. Especially when they sprouted into thorn vines all around. After that, it got weirder. She'd run them off, but everything hurt after that fight. And in trying to find them... well, it seemed they had friends.

New city, new approach. While she'd gotten some good publicity in security circles for her success, she wasn't making any progress in tracking down the Brothers. So she'd taken to working a second job. She'd heard about some costumed odd-jobs back east, and it seemed that now the west coast was sprouting costumed villains who walked on clouds.... she might as well join the party.

Jessica fashioned herself an outfit, and, searching for a name that fit, she decided the whole super strength plus crawling on walls thing was as good a deciding schtick as any - so at least til this case bore fruit, she'd work her day job as Jessica Drew, while Spider-Woman handled the investigation side come nightfall.

Didn't leave much time for anything else, but that's ok. Not like she has much of a life.

tags: spider-woman-drew