WASP DOMINION

Part I: Conquering Loneliness

By Justin Santos

The Wasp Nest—Location Unknown

The Sisterhood of the Wasp, a group that was formed in 1099 A.D. in the Kingdom of Castile (Spain). Over the centuries the group would war against their enemies, the Spider Society. In recent years, thanks to the efforts of Araña, the group of insects had fallen off the radar. That was about to change. The leader of the group, a woman in a long white dress, sat in what appeared to be a throne. She looked upon her soldiers. Their numbers had greatly dwindled.

The two large doors that lead to the throne room swung open. Through them stepped a hooded man in black and white robes. He immediately approached the throne that was blocked by her soldiers.

“Know your place,” said the man. “You dare hold your weapons to me?”

The Wasp leader recognized the voice of the hooded man. Across his chest was the symbol of the Sisterhood. The soldiers moved out of his way allowing him to reach her. The truth was in fact that this man was the leader of the Wasps.

“You take my wasps and lead them down a path other than my own?” he questioned as he grabbed the woman by the neck.

“Lord Hechicero, I…”

“Stow your excuses!” he ordered. “I will not tolerate my soldiers following a fool. Apocrita! Dispose of her.”

Hechicero signaled for a gray-skinned woman carrying a bow in hand. The woman named Apocrita grabbed the false leader and dragged her out of the room. Hechicero sat at the throne as he watched the shadow of his henchman pull back on her bow. The next sound heard was that of an arrow being shot followed by a body collapsing to the ground.

“Red Wasp,” he turned his attention to another of his henchman. “Go forth and find my youngest son. He is the hunter of our society. We must persuade him to defend his people.”

The woman with a black helm that pointed at the top like a stinger nodded her head in agreement. Her costume was mostly black and red leather with her midsection covered in a black and red corset.

Hudson River—Manhattan, New York

“Are you nervous?” we hear the voice of Anya Corazon as we look down upon a ferry floating down the Hudson.

On the side of the ship we find our wall-crawling hero with Lucas Garcia, a young man she met nearly a month ago and now found herself in love with. She had backed him against the wall and had her arms around him. He looked down to her curious of what she was talking about.

“Are you nervous?” she asked again.

“Nervous about what?” he still had no idea what she was talking about.

“About kissing me, you big goof,” she smiled. “We’ve been together for how long now? And you haven’t made a move.”

He blushed, “I…I never had anyone that wanted to be this close to me. I don’t want to ruin it.”

“This moment can’t be ruined. It can only get better.” She moved in and kissed him.

As the two of them shared their first passionate kiss together, the other passengers on the vessel all crowded back to the stern. Lucas started to look in that direction aware of why they were back there but Anya grabbed him by the chin and turned him back to her.

“I know it’s been tough,” she said. “But you are no different than anyone else. This power of yours should not rule your life. You deserve to live a life like any other person. That’s why I felt it was necessary to get you out of that house. What better way to enjoy our first night out together than to see this beautiful view of the city? Come on if they’re gonna stay on the back of the ship lets go to the front.”

Hand-in-hand they went to the bow of the ship. They again wrapped their arms around each other as they watched over the city they protected as the masked vigilantes Araña and Avispa. Anya met Lucas through school and found out that coincidentally he was her neighbor. Another coincidence was that their powers stemmed from the same source, the magic of the Insect Kingdom. When a traitorous member of the Spider Society went after Anya, Lucas jumped into the way of her oncoming attack nearly dying while trying to save her.

The act meant so much to her that she had to repay by saving him herself. Love grew from their selfless acts. Over the past month they learned so much about each other. Lucas learned that Anya was a kind spirited young woman who wanted nothing more than to protect the people she loved. Anya learned that Lucas was an outcast, hated by the people he protected, which would sound about right if what his sister said was true about him being a mutant. However, he wasn’t a mutant.

“We’ll figure a way for you to conquer this power,” she assured him. “The first step is for you to get out there and meet people. And I know it’s gonna be hard, but I’ll be there with you every step of the way.”

“I don’t think there’s anything that can be done,” he replied. “You see how people see me. The fact that you’re able to stand next to me is surprising.”

“There’s gotta be a way. I don’t feel this power emanating from you and neither does Lynn for some reason and she has nothing to do with the insect groups. We’ll figure it out tomorrow, tonight is gonna be all about you and me.”

They went back to looking at the New York skyline. They held each other as the other passengers stayed in the back of the ship.

Tomorrow—Garcia Household

Lucas was now with his twin sister Jessica. She was packing a bag as her brother stood in her room. He told her what Anya was planning. After neatly placing some more items in her bag she turned to her brother and smiled at him.

“I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “But you have nothing to worry about. You can trust Anya. She won’t guide you down the wrong path. I’m sure of this. That girl is in love with you.”

“It’s not her I’m worried about,” his expression told her everything. He was afraid of what he might do. “I don’t know what it is that makes her friend Lynn different but I still see everyone staring at me with hatred in their eyes.”

Jessica hugged her brother. Life was hard for Lucas. Growing up being hated his entire life has made it difficult for him to trust people. How Anya was able to break through to him baffled Jessica, but she believed things were starting to change for the better.

“You’re going,” she said firmly. “There’s no backing down from this. If you want I’ll see if I can get Mike to go with you if it will make you feel any better. He is the only other person in the family that never felt your powers. That’s why you two always got along. I wonder what decides who can tolerate your powers and who can’t. That’s what I’m going to find out on this little retreat I’m going to.”

“Retreat?”

“It’s nothing too big. But it’s something that might help me get a better understanding of the Insect Kingdom’s magic. You’ll be fine without me. Just keep out of trouble.”

He looked away and took a deep breath. The problem, of course, was that trouble always found him no matter how much he tried to stay out of it.

“Have fun,” she threw her bag over her shoulder and then kissed her brother on the cheek. “And get to know Anya better.”

Manhattan, New York

Later on after talking with her brother, Jessica had journeyed to the city. She never did tell him where she was going. It’s not like he would be able to find her as her destination required the use of magic which wasn’t his specialty. She was a bit annoyed that she had to travel into Manhattan just to get to where she was going. However, she was happy to have an opportunity to learn news ways to help her brother.

As she approached a building that had nothing in particular to make it stand out from the others, someone appeared above her running along the rooftops. Jessica looked around cautiously before she opened a portal. Before she stepped through it the person above threw a small device that landed on Jessica’s back.

“About damn time,” a full view of the rooftops revealed the former partner of Steve Rogers, now using the codename Nomad. “Don’t know where you’re going wasp-girl but I’ll be waiting for you.”

Brooklyn, New York—Corazon Household

It is Saturday afternoon and Anya is home finishing up some homework before she goes out to meet Lucas. This morning was unusually quiet. Her father, who typically stayed home to have breakfast with his daughter, was already gone by the time she woke up. Not sure of what to do with herself, she decided to get some school work done.

While she wrote she heard someone knocking at the front door. She placed her pen down and headed to see who was at the door. She opened it to find her best friend Lynn Johnson waiting outside. She walked on in before Anya could even say anything.

“Okay, so I have no love life,” she said as she walked for Anya’s kitchen.

“So, why don’t you come on in and make yourself at home?” Anya was obviously being sarcastic. “And raid the fridge. Pop, won’t care.”

“Are you done yet?” Lynn sat down and popped open a soda. “Now like I was saying. I have no love life.”

“What did you do this time?”

“What?!” she acted a bit defensive over the question. “I didn’t do anything. You know ever since we met Lucas you’ve done nothing but spend time with him every single day. You’re so lucky. He may not have a good rep with other people but when he’s with you he’s the sweetest guy ever. I wish I had that. Every guy I’ve dated had turned out to be nothing more than losers.”

“Are you done yet?” Anya shook her head as she returned to her studies. “I would love nothing more than to help you, but I don’t know what I can do. You’re only eighteen. You’ll find someone.”

Lynn took a sip of her drink, “Come on you have all weekend to work on homework. Let’s go do something.”

“Can’t,” Anya quickly replied. “I have plans with Lucas.”

“See this is what I’m talking about. You’ve been with him every single day for the past month. You’re supposed to be my wingman…or woman.”

Anya sighed, “I already said I was gonna do something with him all afternoon. Why don’t you just come with us? I’m gonna introduce him to some of our friends. I’m hoping to break him out of that shell a little more.”

“I don’t know…”

As Lynn let her last word drag on, the doorbell rang. Anya went to answer it. This time outside stood Lucas and next to him was another young man who appeared to share a bit of resemblance to him. They were the same height and build, same short brown hair. They were almost twins of course Lucas already had a twin and that was Jessica.

“Lucas, who is this?” asked Anya.

“This is my cousin, Mike Gonzalez,” he answered as his cousin reached to shake Anya’s hand.

As soon as he introduced him Lynn rushed the door. Anya stepped back trying to get out of her friend’s way. She grabbed Mike’s hand and shook it.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Lynn,” she said. “So you’re Lucas’s cousin? So are you seeing anyone?”

“Lynn…,” Anya grabbed her and backed her away. “Sorry, she gets overly excited when she meets new people. Chill out and let them come in.”

They let the two guys enter the home. Mike looked around and finally spoke, “So you’re the girl I’ve been hearing about, the girl who somehow bypassed my cousin’s curse?”

“Curse?” Lynn asked. “What are you talking about?”

“He means the negative vibes that people feel when around Lucas,” Anya answered. “It’s some kind of ‘curse’ that makes people hate him. Somehow you and I don’t feel this ‘curse’. Jessica doesn’t feel it and I’m safe to assume that you don’t either?”

“Nope,” Mike replied. “Never have. Me and Lucas have been close ever since we were kids. We’re almost like brothers. Ain’t that right?”

Mike roughhoused with Lucas a bit.

“Yeah, damn,” Lucas said. “I know we haven’t seen each other in a while but you can chill out.”

Anya laughed, “You guys can take a seat. I’ll be just a moment.”

Anya went into the kitchen with Lynn. The two talked about the guys and laughed a bit. It was at this point Lynn finally noticed something.

“Where’s your dad at?” she looked around.

“I have no idea,” she shook her head showing she really wasn’t sure. “If he was heading to work early he would have left me a note. I called him but he won’t answer his cell phone. I hope he’s all right.”

“I’m sure he is,” Lynn put a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “He’s a strong guy, he can take care of himself.”

The Wasp Nest

Hechicero now stood before his people. The crowd of people was made up of men and women. Next to the Sisterhood’s leader stood the gray-skinned woman Apocrita with her bow strapped over her shoulder.

“Forget what that woman told you,” said Hechicero. “The Sisterhood of the Wasp is not just some group of hoodlums. Our purpose is to destroy the evils of this world. The corrupt run the world from the shadows. Their control created the masked heroes and villains of this era, created the chaos that occurs overseas.”

“You really think there’s some kind of conspiracy going on?” asked a man who had two giant red eyes and green skin that made him look like a humanoid wasp. “I may have come in when the ‘Wasp Queen’ was running things but I read up on your leadership. What sources do you have that leads you to believe there’s some kind of super-secret group that controls the world?”

“What was it you called yourself? Stinglash, was it?” he started. “I’ve witnessed it myself. Back in the old days, 1099 A.D. The Kingdom of Castile summoned the groups of the Insect Kingdom to fight their wars. The seven groups fought proudly to protect their country but in the shadows those with power plotted against us. In fear of not being able to control us this ‘secret’ group had the monarchy order our deaths. I watched my family be slain before me.”

“Dude, how old are you?”

“The Spider Society preaches to their people about the ‘evils’ our Sisterhood has committed. We’ve committed no evil. We turned against Castile in an act of defense. Corazon, the foolish leader of the spiders, blindly followed the Spanish monarchy and nearly brought an end to the Insect Kingdom. It is time we right the wrongs committed against our kin. It’s time to change the world!”

The Wasps cheer for their leader.

Fort Greene Park—Brooklyn, New York

Anya and friends headed over to Fort Greene Park, the site of Araña’s creation. There it was Anya’s plan to have Lucas meet more of her friends. Anya and Lynn walked side-by-side discussing something while Mike stayed close to his cousin, reassuring him that everything would be fine.

On a park bench Emi Kitane a.k.a. Armory, the Spider Society’s weapons specialist, sat with Anya and Lynn’s other friends. Two of them were African-American, Jerome ‘Rome’ Sierra who was tall with braided hair and Rocky Flint who was average height for a young woman with thick hair held up in a hairband. The last of them was a Caucasian male named Alex Hughes with short blond hair.

Anya walked down a path with Lucas in hand. She could tell he was nervous meeting new people. Feeling rejected by others is a horrible way to feel and he knew it all too well. Together they approached the group. It was right when they were next to the bench they all sensed the dark energy that radiated from Lucas.

“Uhh,” Anya muttered. “Everyone this is Lucas, the one I’ve been talking about over the past few weeks.”

Being next to him was unsettling. After the introductions the group was left to an awkward silence. Lucas knew this would happen. This was no different than any other time around people. He just wanted to leave, but Anya wouldn’t let him.

Lynn turned to her friends, “Come on guys don’t be like that. Lucas is okay, there’s nothing wrong with him.”

“Anya, I knew this was a bad idea,” said Lucas. “I should leave.”

“No,” Anya stopped him from moving. “Lucas saved my life. He’s a kind soul who is a victim of a ‘curse’. A ‘curse’ that repels people from him… Don’t let this make you treat him any different than others.”

“Hmm…” sighed Lucas.

“A curse?” Rome held a hand out to shake Lucas’s. “What kind of trouble have you been getting into? With all the crazy things that happen in this city I’d believe anything.”

Lucas went to shake Rome’s hand. As soon as their hands met a strange sensation overcame Lucas. He couldn’t explain what he felt, but before he could put the words together he was blinded by a flash of green light. When he could finally see again he noticed his surroundings had changed. He wasn’t in Fort Green Park anymore. All he knew was that he was now in a single large room with a giant cage that was dark inside. An orange mist began to pour out of the cage.

“Ha, the thought of you making friends makes me want to laugh,” called a sinister voice he knew all too well. “The little wasp/ant half-breed seeks to no longer be alone. But you will always be alone, so long as my power is bonded to you.”

“Wasp Hunter!” exclaimed Lucas. “Get out of my head! I’m sick of you! I’m sick of insects and arachnids. It’s time I take charge of my life and that means this power struggle we’ve been having is over.”

“Ha!”

“What’s so funny?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t sense it,” started the Wasp Hunter. “The one you’re shaking hands with, the power that radiates from him. It’s almost as powerful as mine. Do you want to see what he is?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“See for yourself,” a cloud of the Wasp Hunter’s energy swirled in front of the cage and took a rectangular shape. “See what evil power dwells within the precious friend of the Spider Hunter?”

An image appeared on the rectangular cloud. It was Lucas. He was in his Avispa costume with his goggles blown out. He ripped them off his head to get a better view of his enemy. In front of him on a glider was a man wearing a dark costume with green features. The suit itself seemed streamlined, possibly to help maneuver while on the glider. To cover his face he seemed to use some sort of faceplate consisting of a pair of green goggles and a green mouthpiece. His whole head wasn’t covered leaving his hair visible, which was neatly braided. In one hand he held a pumpkin bomb and in the other an unmasked and unconscious Araña.

“The true enemy to a spider is not a wasp, but a goblin,” the Wasp Hunter claimed. “You see it yourself, he will be the downfall of your Araña.”

“This is your trickery,” Lucas said. “Get out of my head!”

Lucas was finally free of the strange room. He was now back in the park with everyone looking at him. He let go of Rome’s hand.

“Well if Rome can look passed it so can I,” stated Alex as he held a hand out.

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t do it,” said Rocky. “Don’t feel bad, it’s just this feeling. It’s overpowering.”

“We’ll figure this out Lucas,” said Anya. “Somehow you’ll beat this ‘curse’.”

“Can you put any more emphasis on that word?” Lucas asked her.

“What? It is a curse.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Lynn laughed and Emi looked over to Mike, “So who is this?”

As Mike tried to answer Alex pushed him aside and went over to Lynn. He looked her up and down.

“Who cares who he is?” he replied. “There’s only one thing I care about.”

Lynn tried not to acknowledge him, but Alex kept forcing himself in front of her. Mike stepped in front of her.

“What are you gonna do pretty boy?” Alex asked.

“Pretty boy? Nice…” Mike laughed. “What are you like six foot tall? I didn’t know they stacked shit that high.”

Lynn snickered behind Mike. Anya backed Alex away while Lucas told his cousin to back off. After taking sometime to cool down the group decided to go somewhere to get a drink. They settled on their usual coffee hangout.

“So is there anything crazy we need to know about your cuz?” asked Anya as she nudged Lynn slightly.

Lucas shook his head before something came to mind, “The last time I saw him was back in Massachusetts. He came to visit us and went to some party with my sister and her boyfriend at the time.”

“Oh, no don’t you dare,” Mike threw a hand up to stop his cousin.

“No, no go on,” said Anya.

“I went to go to the bathroom and found him in the same bed with Jess’s boyfriend,” Lucas said with laughter following.

Lynn pushed Mike affectionately, to which he answered, “Hey, there was alcohol involved get off me.”

“Órale vato, you should have said that to him,” said Lucas as he received a light slap on the arm from Anya.

“So you lived in Massachusetts?” asked Rome. “What brought you here?”

“I was born here,” explained Lucas. “But we left because of my mom, she never really explained to us why we left. Anyway, me and Jess are going to ESU after high school so we convinced our mom to re-relocate.”

“Well, I’ve lived here my whole life with my parents and older brother David,” he said before his phone rang. “Speaking of, that’s him. And he’s probably pissed I haven’t met up with him yet. Lucas, brother it was nice meeting you. We should hang sometime when school isn’t being too crazy.”

“Yeah,” he said while Anya threw an arm over his shoulder.

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” she kissed him on the cheek as Rome headed out.

The group continued talking. A few moments later a car came flipping in the air down the road. It caught everyone off guard. Everyone in the coffee shop rushed to the front to see what was happening. It wasn’t clear from there but something was going on a distance away. Everyone ran to the back of the shop when another car flew passed. Anya and Lucas nodded in agreement that they needed to see what was causing the problem. They ran out together and down the side of the shop. Anya pulled her shirt up uncovering her costume. Flames ran down Lucas’s body switching him into costume, his long orange scarf that ran down his back was enveloped in flames, this allowed him to use the two long strands of cloth as wings and flew off into the sky.

Above the buildings, Avispa flew near the ledge where Araña landed in a crouching position. The pair looked to find the source of the chaos. What Araña found was something she didn’t expect. A man in a red and blue costume. The red portions were lined with web patterns.

THWIP!

“It’s Spider-Man,” Araña told Avispa.

New York’s very own friendly neighborhood Spider-Man was fighting, to our heroes’ surprise, wasps. Spider-Man was being attacked by green-skinned humanoid wasps. They all looked alike except for one, Hechicero’s lieutenant the Red Wasp whom he sent to find his son. She fired one of her wasp stings at Spider-Man. He used his webbing to swing out of the way and sent his body down like a missile dropkicking on of the other wasps.

“Come on, we should help him,” said Araña.

The two young heroes went into action. Araña used her own webbing to catch a wasp trying to sneak attack Spider-Man. He turned when his spider sense alerted him but Araña had already nailed the attacker. He sensed another sneak attack but this time Avispa dropped out of the sky landing on the attacker’s shoulder causing him to collapse to the ground.

“Well, it’s been awhile Spider-Girl,” said Spider-Man. “When did you get your own webbing?”

“First off, it’s Araña, we’ve been over this,” she replied. “Second, it’s a long story, but with a fine performance from…”

Avispa cleared his throat, “Sorry to cut the chitchat but we have a problem to attend to.”

“So you’re him?” asked the Red Wasp of Avispa. “I didn’t think it would be this easy to find you. I guess next time I’ll go straight to thrashing the overrated wall-crawler.”

“Thrashing?” asked Spider-Man. “Is that what you were doing? From what I saw I was kicking your butt lady.”

“Whatever the case is, I’m here for our Wasp Hunter,” she explained.

Araña looked at Avispa. She had believed that the Sisterhood of the Wasp was done for after she and the rest of the Spider Society fought them last.

“A new age of the Sisterhood is upon us!” claimed the Red Wasp. “And we require our hunter.”

“That’s all great, but I want nothing to do with you,” Avispa pulled a kunai from his belt. “So I suggest you go crawl back under whatever rock you came out of.”

“If we have to do this the hard way, then so be it,” Red Wasp signaled for her drones to attack.

“You suck at talking down your enemy,” Araña said to Avispa.

Spider-Man spun around shooting out webbing at wasp drones. He caught two of them and pulled the strands to make them crash into each other. Araña punched one of the drones and turned to face another one that was hit by Avispa’s Kunai before she could do anything. She looked at him.

“What? They’re not like the tarantulas. These drones are actual monsters.”

As Avispa explained his actions he was fired upon by Red Wasp. He flipped backwards to dodge her sting blasts. On his final flip he sent a fireball at her to counter her stings. To his surprise she shrunk to an actual size of a wasp. With this and a bit of quick maneuverability she was able to dodge the fireball. Now with a wicked grin on her face she flew toward Avispa. A number of drones ambushed him. They piled on him. Red Wasp grew back to her normal size and landed in front of him.

“Looks like you’re ours,” she said.

She motioned for the drones to take Avispa. Just as they moved an inch Araña flew out of nowhere grabbing hold of the back of Red Wasp’s head. While dropping the both of them to the ground she impaled her knees into the wasp villain’s face. Her body bounced up from the force of the attack eventually falling back.

“Sorry, chick but he’s mine,” Araña kicked up.

Araña used impact webbing to break the drones off of Avispa. They flew off leaving the Red Wasp alone. She got up to see Spider-Man and the teenage heroes standing before her.

“Maybe it was a little early to engage you,” she claimed. “This isn’t over by a long shot.”

Before she could continue Spider-Man interrupted, “Let me guess you’re gonna say, ‘we’ll meet again Spider-Man’? If I coined that phrase I’d be rich.”

The three heroes watched as the Red Wasp miniaturized herself and flew off to regroup. Araña and Avispa looked at each other, their thought process was interrupted by Spider-Man being there.

“So anyone care to clue me in on who those people were?” he asked. “The only wasp I’m familiar with was one of the original Avengers.”

“They’re the Sisterhood of the Wasp,” Araña explained a bit confused. “Old enemies of the Spider Society. They never told you this?”

“I never paid any attention to a thing they told me,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I was too busy fighting madmen on gliders, crazed scientists with metallic limbs, and a large variety of psychopaths that made up New York’s crime world to hear the whole 1099 AD and Castile thing.”

“Fair enough. Well, the Sisterhood is one of what I recently just found out seven groups based on insects and arachnids. Just like all the other groups they have their hunters and mages and my boy here just happens to be their hunter and wants nothing to do with them. Spidey this is Avispa.”

“Avispa? Spanish for wasp right? Look maybe we should talk somewhere else.”

Later they regroup on a rooftop. Spider-Man shakes Avispa’s hand. Araña seems a bit surprised that there was no hesitation.

“So you don’t feel anything?” she asked Spider-Man.

“No, should I be feeling something?” he had no idea what she was talking about.

“The overpowering energy that pours out of him,” she replied. “It causes people to dislike him.”

“Nope, don’t feel a thing.”

She elbowed Avispa in the arm, “See we’re getting somewhere, Lucas.”

“Hey, don’t use real names,” Avispa finally spoke.

“Oh, please it’s Spider-Man. If you can’t trust Spidey than who can you? Sorry, he’s got a lot of trust issues that we’re trying to work through. Like I said his power makes people dislike him. He spent most of his life a social outcast.”

“I sort of know what you’re going through,” Spider-Man said to Avispa. “I didn’t have a power that turned people away from me but I know what it’s like to not be liked. I used to be bullied all the time and it didn’t help that I would hide myself in science books. The worst thing was not having my parents around to talk to, sure I had an Aunt and Uncle that cared about me but kids need their parents. It wasn’t until the day I got my powers that I started to break away from the old me. I learned to not be afraid of people and a life lesson I’ll never forget, that with great power comes great responsibility. You need to take charge of your life and learn to control this power of yours. It’s your responsibility to use it for the better of mankind and not to associate yourself with these wasp people. You should control your powers, it’s shouldn’t be the other way around.”

“Nice speech,” Araña laughed. “If anyone is good at it’s you. So you hear what he’s saying?”

“Yeah,” Avispa replied as he looked to the sky.

“It was nice seeing you again,” Spider-Man said to Araña. “Wish I could stick around and chat but one of my students is expecting me. If the Sisterhood causes anymore problems let me know and I’ll bring a big bottle of Raid.”

Araña waved Spider-Man off. She looked at Avispa who was contemplating the resent emergence of the Sisterhood. She put a hand on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, nearby another insect watches from a distance. It was Hormiga of the Ant Council. He used his powers to shrink down to avoid detection.

“So the Wasps are making their move?” he said as he pressed his fingers on the right side of his red helmet, he planned to use the antennae on his helmet to send a message to the Ant Council. “Better send word to the Council.”

The Wasp Nest

Hechicero paced back and forth before the Red Wasp who had returned empty handed. He was angered by her failure but knew that the weak drones were the reason she couldn’t complete her task. The Sisterhood had been without its master for some time. They have lost their way.

“Before we can take the city we must strengthen our forces,” he said. “Come we must visit the All-Mother.”

To be continued…

[Anya Narrates]: The Sisterhood has returned! I can only imagine what Lucas is going through knowing his father is back and planning something evil that may bring harm to the city. What is up the evil Wasp leader’s sleeve? It’s never good when the Sisterhood of the Wasp is scheming in the shadows. Well we’ll have to see what they’re up to next issue. Next time: Wasp Dominion, Part 3!

Also: See more of what’s to come in the ‘Wasp Dominion’ in the debut issue of Nomad & the Young Allies! It’s hero vs. hero, but can Nomad put her feelings aside to see the bigger picture? That of a wasp controlled world?

Bonus Scene—What Rome Saw

Lucas went to shake Rome’s hand. As soon as their hands met a strange sensation overcame Rome. He couldn’t explain what he felt, but before he could put the words together he was blinded by a flash of orange light. When he could finally see again he noticed his surroundings had changed. He wasn’t in Fort Green Park anymore. All he knew was that he was now in a single dark room.

“Ha, ha, ha, do you feel it?” called a sinister voice he knew all too well. “Surely you must. After taking that cheap knock off of Osborn’s Goblin Formula you must have gained enhanced senses.”

“Goblin!” exclaimed Rome. “Get out of my head! I’m sick of you! I’m sick of seeing what you are.”

“Ha!”

“What’s so funny?”

“Don’t tell me you don’t sense it,” started the persona of the Green Goblin. “The one you’re shaking hands with, the power that radiates from him. It’s almost as powerful as mine. Do you want to see what he is?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“See for yourself,” a green mist swirled in front of Rome and took a rectangular shape. “See what evil power dwells within the precious friend of the Spider-Girl?”

An image appeared on the rectangular cloud. It was Rome. He was in his Goblin costume with his faceplate open. He looked up to get a better view of his enemy. Up above him was Avispa. He held Araña by the throat. Rome stood still afraid of what might happen. Next to him was Avispa’s sister Estrella and the Spider Society’s weapon specialist Armory. The group watched as Avispa dropped Araña to ground several feet below him. Rome noticed she had already been wounded prior to the fall.

“The true enemy to a spider is not a goblin, but a wasp,” the Green Goblin claimed. “You see it yourself, he will be the downfall of your Araña.”

“This is your doing,” Rome said. “Get out of my head!”