Chapter 31 MCE

"Ms. Felicia, why are you so afraid of Mr. Constantine?" Wanda asked curiously, her voice soft as she peeked into the kitchen.

"He’s clearly a nice guy. He even helped you lift that curse."

She glanced at Felicia, cheeks tinged pink.

 Felicia’s figure was almost intimidating—it would make even another girl blush.

"You’re still new here, little girl... you wouldn't get it—"

"Ahem."

A light cough came from outside. 

Felicia froze, face pale, and quickly zipped her lips.

———

While Felicia and Wanda were handling dinner, Luke had stepped out alone for a walk through the quiet neighborhood.

He needed to breathe.

Too much blood today. Too many bodies.

Today’s chaos at the Sokovia base? 

Not an isolated incident.

Thanks to teleportation magic and his demonic energy channeling, Luke had gone full rampage mode across multiple Hydra outposts. 

All in one day.

Thousands dead. 

Hundreds captured. 

A one-man exorcist blitz.

Only Baron Strucker’s base had gone perfectly. 

That one gave Luke’s shadow abilities a solid level-up.

"I wonder what level my strength is now..."

Marvel’s power scale wasn’t exactly precise, but there were rough tiers:

First, the Street Level — guys like Captain America, Black Widow, or Black Panther. Strong, but human-tier. 

Next up, Planetary Level. Thor, Captain Marvel, or Thanos without the Gauntlet. 

They could casually destroy cities, and if they wanted to, even destroy a continent.

Then came the Cosmic Level, or "Skyfather" tier—Odin, the Ancient One. 

These guys didn't fight often because the collateral damage would wipe out a planet, and in some comics, even a galaxy is not spared.

"Judging by that scale..."

Luke crossed his arms, mulling it over.

"I think I’m comfortably past the street and close to planetary."

Especially after juicing up on Baron Strucker’s stolen energy, his shadow magic had exploded in strength.

If he unleashed it all, he could spread his Shadow Domain over an entire city. 

Literally summon an army from the shadows.

"Still, I don’t feel that powerful..."

Luke sighed.

Probably because he hung out with powerhouses on the daily—Odin, Ancient One, literal Hell Lords. 

It warped his sense of scale.

While pondering whether to find a few mid-tier villains to pummel for fun, a shout broke through his thoughts.

"Don’t come any closer! I swear, I’ll scream!"

He turned toward the voice.

At the mouth of a shadowy alley, two thugs were cornering someone.

Luke narrowed his eyes.

It was a Gwen, she was being ganged up by two thugs.

Now that was unexpected.

A classic cliché—hero stumbling into a damsel in distress.

And it just so happened to be his favorite kind of cliché.

Time to play the knight in a demonic armor.

...

It’s a shame Luke didn’t get long to enjoy the whole damsel-in-distress moment.

The opportunity to swoop in and save the day vanished in an instant. A few solid thuds echoed from the alley, followed by a groan or two. 

Seconds later, Gwen strolled out casually, brushing dust off her skirt and swinging her school bag like nothing had happened.

"Told you not to mess with me," she muttered with a satisfied little grin, not even glancing back.

Luke raised an eyebrow.

He watched her saunter toward him, her usual composed demeanor back in full effect—until she noticed him.

"Luke?! What are you doing here?" Gwen froze mid-step, her expression shifting to one of awkward surprise.

She tugged her jacket straight and tried to look innocent.

"I live around here," Luke said simply, glancing past her into the alley. 

The two guys were sprawled out on the ground, out cold.

Peaceful as babies.

"Okay, okay, look, it’s not what it looked like..." Gwen fumbled for an excuse.

But Luke cut her off, voice low and curious: "Gwen. You’ve got powers now, don’t you?"

She blinked. "How’d you—" She caught herself, then backpedaled fast. "No, no, I mean—uh—I gotta go!"

She turned to bolt, but Luke reached out and caught her wrist.

"Sorry, Luke. Really. I need to—"

She pulled, but his grip didn’t budge. 

Her eyes widened.

Wait... what?

She’d bent a steel pipe barehanded two days ago.

But now she couldn’t break his grip?

"You’re—" she stared at him, realization dawning.

Luke gave her a half-smirk. "Yup. Just like you’re thinking."

"So... you were bitten by a spider too?"

He didn’t answer. 

Just raised an eyebrow.

………

"You’re the Demon Slayer?!"

On the walk back, Gwen looked like she was still trying to process everything.

"I literally have a whole folder of your stuff saved on my computer!"

Luke glanced at her, amused. "Stuff like what?"

"Well... art of you. Like, what you look like when you transform. To be honest, it's kind of terrifying." She leaned in a bit, studying his face like she expected to see horns hidden under his skin.

'She's too close' Luke inwardly thought,

"When’d you get bit?" Luke asked, lightly pressing a hand on her head to push her head a bit and stop her staring.

"A few days ago. The school organized a field trip to Oscorp Labs. It was actually supposed to be Peter’s spot."

She hesitated a moment before continuing.

"But after the second New York invasion, Peter and his family were moved out of the city. He gave me the spot."

Luke stopped walking. 

That tiny change... it clicked.

"So... you weren’t even supposed to go."

"Right," Gwen nodded. "Peter handed it to me."

Luke exhaled slowly. 

The butterfly effect hit harder than he expected. 

In a normal timeline, Peter Parker would’ve been the one bitten. 

Gwen? Just another student. Well, in most universe that was the case,

But now Peter had missed the spider bite. 

Gwen had taken his place.

"Guess this world’s Spider-Man is Spider-Woman now," Luke muttered under his breath.

Still, it wasn’t all bad. 'At least Uncle Ben’s probably alive.'

As much as Luke respected the original Spider-Man, every version of Peter Parker seemed to come with the same curse. 

Uncle Ben’s fate was practically a fixed point in every timeline. 

In other words, it was a canon event.

"By the way... what are you doing in Queens? Looking for Peter?"

Gwen gave a soft nod. "Yeah."

Then with a mischievous grin, Gwen patted her backpack and said,

"Hehe, since he got evacuated, the school dumped a ton of homework on us. I figured, being the generous person I am, I’d hand-deliver it to him."

Luke raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Bet he’s super grateful for that."

He could clearly see the playful side of Gwen peeking through, and honestly, it was kind of fun to watch.

The two of them walked side by side, casually chatting as they made their way back to the neighborhood.

"I’ll stop here," Luke said as they reached the corner near the community gate. 

He handed her a small card with a gold-etched address. 

"If anything comes up, or if you need help, come find me here."

The card had the address for the New York Sanctum printed on it.

Gwen accepted it with a small smile. 

For the first time since gaining her spider powers, she didn’t feel completely alone. 

There was someone else who understood, and surprisingly, that someone didn’t look at her any different, didn't look at her like a freak. 

That meant more than she could explain.

"Thanks, Luke."

And then—before he could react—Gwen suddenly stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. 

Her face turned bright red as she spun around and bolted in the direction of Peter Parker’s house.

"...The fuck? That was totally random..."

Luke blinked, stunned.

"I thought she had a thing for Pete? Or am I mistaken? Is Pete gonna get curse with a red-head in this universe too? That's rough, buddy..."

He shook his head, a small laugh escaping as he turned around.

………

Back home, dinner was already on the table. 

Felicia had cooked up something that actually smelled amazing.

While they ate, Luke suddenly paused mid-bite. 

His eyes slowly swept across the room, locking onto each of the three women sitting with him—Elektra, Felicia, and Wanda.

Elektra, ever composed, didn’t even flinch. 

She kept on serving soup like she hadn’t noticed his stare at all.

Felicia? Total opposite. 

She looked like someone caught red-handed, eyes darting everywhere except toward Luke.

Wanda, however, blinked in confusion, clearly caught off guard by the attention.

"Um... Mr. Constantine? Did something happen?"

She tilted her head slightly, a little nervous. 

The way Luke was looking at her made her heart beat faster, which, honestly, wasn’t helping. 

He was older, confident, and frustratingly good-looking. 

Definitely dangerous territory.

Luke set down his utensils and leaned forward slightly, expression serious.

"I’ve been thinking."

"Thinking about...?" Wanda asked, lowering her eyes with a soft flush coloring her cheeks.

"How does someone go about recruiting a strong, intimidating woman to join them in a quest of conquer?"

Silence.

Wanda’s blush evaporated instantly.

Felicia even peeked up from her food, silently mouthing, 'Seriously?'

The air was thick with unspoken judgment.

"Wait, wait, not like that!" Luke quickly added, waving his hands. "I meant in a battle sense. As in, make her fight for me. Not... you know... conquer in the other way."

Wanda let out a sigh of relief she didn’t know she’d been holding.

Felicia went back to eating, though now with a faint smirk playing at her lips.

"I mean, I wouldn't know," Wanda said, tucking her hair behind her ear. 

"I’ve never really met that kind of person. I spent most of my time... well, surviving. Labs, streets, running. Not really a crowd full of intimidating queens."

"Don’t look at me," Felicia chimed in. "I’m a pretty chill girl. Not really the hard-to-tame type."

Just then, Elektra—who had been completely silent the entire time—set down the ladle and turned toward Luke.

"The more powerful and domineering a woman is... the easier it is to see where she’s vulnerable. Find that crack in her armor... and you’ll have her on your side before she even realizes it."