Queens

“…you did what?”

Mattie sighed, lowering her head with her eyes shut. Still, she could feel Greg’s eyes on her, burrowing into her head. And she repeated herself, once again in as low a voice as she could muster, almost to the point where Greg couldn’t hear her.

“I terminated the pregnancy.”

She stood up on the roof of her house, taking a few steps away from Greg, keeping her back to him. “It’s why I haven’t been around much over the past few weeks. I just couldn’t face you…or anyone for that matter.”

“How…how could you do this?” asked Greg.

“Be realistic,” said Mattie. “We couldn’t have this kid, we wouldn’t have been able to care for it. You were going to what, drop out of school and support us by working at McDonald’s? In one of the most expensive cities in the world?”

“That’s not the point!”

“Then what is the point?”

“The point is you came to this decision without me.”

Mattie glared at him. “This wasn’t your decision to make.”

“The hell it wasn’t! That was my baby, too!”

“We didn’t have a choice,” said Mattie. “We’re too young to have a kid.”

“There were other options. Adoption for one.”

“Easy for you to say!” she barked. “You’re not the one who was going to carry that baby to term. You’re not the one who was going to have to take maternity leave from high school. You’re not the one who would have to try and find a way to explain this to a somewhat-crazy uncle.”

“You’re right,” said Greg. “But it was still my baby. And you should have at least talked to me about this first. Maybe if we talked about it, we could have found a solution, found a way to make this work.”

“What do you mean…?” she asked. “Make this work? Make what work? Having a family?”

“No, I didn’t mean the baby, I meant us,” said Greg. “Let’s be honest with each other, Mattie. You did this because you didn’t want your dream of being a superhero to come crashing down around you.”

Mattie clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. “You self-righteous prick…I’m not the only one here who dreamt of becoming a superhero.”

“Except I was willing to take responsibility for my actions, you weren’t,” said Greg. “Face it, it’s kind of hard to swing from rooftops and beat up on supervillains when you’ve got a baby growing inside of you, isn’t i—”

Mattie cleared the distance between them in a fraction of a second and delivered a powerful uppercut to Greg’s chin that knocked him clear off the rooftop. “HOW DARE YOU!”

Greg called upon his mutant ability to control his gravitational field in order to suspend him in midair, an aura of blue energy surrounding his body. “Go ahead, Mattie. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Mattie just continued to glare at him. Part of her was tempted to unleash a venom burst on him, as powerful as she could muster and she could already feel the energy building in her.

“Get out of here,” she said.

“Fine by me.”

And with that, Greg took off like a rocket, a trail of blue energy following him. Mattie crawled back inside her room, looking at the Spider-Man poster on her wall. “What are you looking at?” she asked. “Bet you never mixed your personal problems with your costumed life.”

CONCEALED WEAPONS

Part III

By Dino Pollard

The Crash Pad

“DIE, DIE, DIE YOU UNDEAD PIECES OF SHIT!”

Johnny Gallo hopped on the couch as he wielded the video game controller, watching his character burst his way through a crowd of zombies with whatever weapons he could find. He found himself surrounded by them, however, and soon they quickly overcame him and the screen turned red. A prompt came up, asking him if he wanted to return to the last point or save and quit.

“Dammit,” he muttered as he dropped the controller on the ground and fell back on the couch. “Fifth time that’s happened…”

“…helloooo?”

Johnny pulled himself up, looking over the back of the couch and seeing Robbie Baldwin enter the room. Johnny allowed himself to fall back on the cushions again. “What’s up, o fearless leader?”

“Trying to figure out where everyone is,” said Robbie. “There a mission that someone forgot to text me about?”

Johnny shook his head and reached for the open can of beer on the table. “Nope. Joystick and Blink are down at some protest at ESU and Eddie’s monitoring it from overhead to make sure it doesn’t turn violent.”

“What about Elvin? And Mattie and Greg?”

“Rage is with Eddie, I think. As for the lovebirds…” Johnny shrugged, “…haven’t seen them in a while.”

“Ah,” said Robbie. He jumped over the couch to one of the empty chairs. “So what’s this protest? One of those teabag things?”

“Nah, it’s about that mutant attack,” said Johnny. “Because of that, the administration said because of the potential danger to other students, mutants are barred from being on campus until further notice. Said it’s like carrying concealed weapons.”

“Oh…so what does that mean for you an’ Blink?”

Johnny shrugged again. “Damned if I know.”

“Why aren’t you there, too?”

Johnny sipped his beer. “Don’t you start with me, too. I’ve been getting it in both ends today.”

Robbie cringed. “Thanks for the visual.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“So…you haven’t seen Mattie at all?”

“I haven’t seen her since the business with the Folding Circle like, a month ago. Why are you so interested in the Spidey Fan Club President all of a sudden?” asked Johnny.

“Had a run-in with her earlier,” said Robbie. “My counselor says if I don’t pass some classes, I’ll have to go for a sixth year of high school. So he assigned Mattie as my tutor.”

“I’m no scholar or anything, but seems like if you’re going to schedule a tutor session, you should call the tutor first.”

“No, we already had the first session…and I kinda blew it.”

Johnny looked up. “Oh?”

“She was trying to help me and I wasn’t feeling it, so I said we should hit the rooftops, blow off some steam.”

“And?”

“And she snapped at me,” said Robbie. “Told me that since her uncle found out she’s Spider-Woman, he’s been all over her about this. Then when I tried to talk to her about the…y’know…”

“The preggers thing, yeah,” said Johnny. “Why does everyone just dance around shit instead of coming right out and saying it?”

“Alright yeah, the preggers thing, I tried to talk to her about it and she snapped even harder. Told me I’ve got no business asking her about it, that we’re not friends like that and then she stormed out.”

“Hormones, dude.”

“Dunno, seemed like something more than that. Anyway, I’ve been trying to get in touch with her to clear the air, but she won’t answer my calls or texts,” said Robbie. “Seriously though, why aren’t you there? You planning to enroll at Xavier’s or something?”

“Hell no.”

“So what, you don’t care if you get the boot from college?”

“They’ll only go after the freakish ones, I bet,” said Johnny. “Probably won’t even bother with the norms. It’s all just an illusion so they can make it seem like they’re doing something.”

“Maybe we should suit up, meet Elvin and Eddie, just to keep an eye on things.”

“Pass.”

“But—”

Johnny sighed. “Look, I said I’m not going. And I also told you not to start. I’m not gonna sit here and be lectured by a guy named Speedball, okay?”

“Hey, no lecture, I’m just trying to figure this out is all,” said Robbie.

“Yeah well, maybe you shouldn’t butt into other people’s business,” said Johnny. He jumped from the couch, walking towards the door. “That’s why Mattie bolted on you earlier and that’s why I’m doing it now.”

Robbie watched Johnny go and could think of nothing to say. And then he started to ask himself, what sort of leader was he trying to be? Dwayne and Vance, they knew what they were doing. They were born for this sort of thing. But him? He was always the team goofball. What in the world ever made him think that he could lead the New Warriors?

Johnny donned his Ricochet costume, but he intended to stay as far from Empire State University as he possibly could. Right now, his only interest was in getting to the rooftops and clearing his head. Figuring out just what he would do next.

“Maybe this Warriors thing isn’t such a good idea anymore,” he said to himself out loud. “It was fun at first. But the media attention, the Folding Circle, and now all this political shit? This isn’t what I signed on for. This is nothing like it was—”

“—before the Warriors?”

Ricochet turned. Although he had been alarmed by the new voice, his warning sense hadn’t gone off. That alone told him it wasn’t a threat. Still, his throwing discs were within easy reach if he needed them. And given the sight of the man in the golden armor with the red cape, he had no idea what to really expect.

“Hello Ricochet,” he said.

“This…you’re kidding, right?” asked Ricochet. “Ritchie? Is that you?”

Recently, Ritchie Gilmore had been given a replicated Super Soldier Serum by GeneTech and took on the identity of Patriot. It was under that identity he founded the latest incarnation of the New Warriors. But once they discovered GeneTech was using Ritchie because they wanted their own team of heroes, the Warriors struck out against them and Ritchie chose to leave the Warriors, humiliated by what he had done and what had been done to him.

But before Patriot, Ritchie had known both Ricochet and Hornet. The three of them, along with a young woman called Dusk, had been given costumed identities by the former Black Marvel. Now, it seemed like Ritchie had returned to his, once again becoming the man called Prodigy.

“It’s me, Rico,” said Prodigy.

“What’s this all about?” asked Ricochet. “Why the old duds?”

“Because there’s something I need to do, and I need your help,” said Prodigy.

“Alright, well we can get the rest of the Warr—”

“No, this isn’t Warriors business,” said Prodigy. “This is a job for the Slingers.”

Empire State University

It was impossible to determine who started the riot. Whether it was the pro-mutant crowd, the anti-mutant crowd, or the local police who had come in to provide security. Whatever the case, the riot was in full-swing right now, with both mutants and humans punching out their differences on the campus.

“Shit, I knew this would happen…” muttered Hornet. “You ready?”

“Let’s do it,” said Rage.

Hornet’s armor took him into the air and he flew down into the crowd, laying down a flurry of stingers, the sedative in them acting fast to incapacitate many of the rioters. Rage leapt from his position, landing right in the middle of the crowd. He clasped his fists together and slammed them onto the ground with all his strength, sending out a shockwave that caused the rioters to stumble.

“Stay down! This has gotten outta control!” he said.

A bottle shattered as it struck the back of his masked head. He turned and saw one of the anti-mutant rioters shouting at him.

“Go back to Genosha, you freak!”

“Genosha?” asked Rage. “Dude, I’ve never even been to Genosha! And I was born in Brooklyn!”

“Get outta here, you fascist!”

Now the shouts and jeers were coming from the pro-mutant side as well and Rage found himself caught in the middle. “This is getting ridiculous!”

They swarmed towards him and Hornet and it was all the two could do to stop the rioters from killing each other—or them, for that matter. The swarm continued until many of the protesters at the fore found themselves at the rear. Blink and Joystick had now made their appearances known and were decked out in their costumes.

“I thought you were part of this whole thing,” said Hornet.

“We were, until it turned violent,” said Blink. “This isn’t what was supposed to happen. Now they’re just making things worse for everyone.”

“What can you do about it?” asked Joystick. “Anything?”

“I’ll see if I can,” said Blink. She closed her eyes, concentrating and about half the protestors on the pro-mutant side vanished. She then turned to the anti-mutant side, doing the same to them. And after they were gone, she nearly collapsed and Rage caught her, keeping her steady.

“That…that was a lot…” she muttered.

“Where did you send them?” asked Joystick.

“Different parts of the city. Should help to calm things down, at least for now,” said Blink.

“We should get going, too,” said Hornet. “Don’t wanna be here when the cops arrive.”

“Greg…?”

She knocked on the door as she whispered his name. When it opened, she breathed a sigh of relief, until she saw that the man standing in the doorway wasn’t Greg Willis but his roommate, Frog.

“Hey Mattie, how are you?” he asked.

“I’m… forget it. Is Greg here?”

“…you mean he didn’t tell you?” asked Frog.

“Tell me what?”

“Because of the whole mutant thing, he just took off. Said he’ll send for his stuff later.”

“You mean he…he left? Left for where?”

Frog shrugged. “Home, I guess. He didn’t really say much about it, just packed a bag and bolted outta here.”

“Oh…”

Mattie turned from the door and Frog noticed her demeanor. “Hey…everything okay?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” she said. “Thanks for letting me know what happened.”

Elsewhere

“Here are the targets.”

A newspaper was set on the man’s desk. He opened it up, viewing the headline of NEW WARRIORS WOW NEW YORK. The man behind the desk handed the paper back to his guest and leaned back in his leather chair.

“Okay. I assume you’re aware of my standard fee?”

“Does that fee apply to all of them?”

The man nodded. “One million dollars, and I’ll kill ’em all.”

“Seems low.”

He smiled. “That’s because I don’t do it for the money. I do it for the show.”

“So we’re agreed?”

“Oh, absitively.” The red-haired man leaned forward, a wide, toothy grin spread on his face. “I promise you, the Warriors will never forget a visit to Murderworld!”

NEXT: The Nastiest Place On Earth

WAR ROOM

Plenty of shake-ups abound in this arc and the last. Now the Warriors are down to six members (maybe five? Doesn’t sound like Rico’s too happy). This is a story that is about some heavy subject matter and I hope I was able to address that matter in a way that showed them as being the complicated matters they are as opposed to the simplistic, black and white way they’re usually addressed as.

But let’s quit the weighty discussion. As some of you may already know, I’ve been having some difficulty with both this title and Ultimate Spider-Man. However, I’m not stepping down from them. Instead, I’m going to put them both on hiatus for a while as I work on two new projects. One of them will be a Cable limited series I’m doing with Hunter and the other will be a short run on a new title, Force Works.

I encourage you guys to check both these books out as they’re going to be a lot of fun. Also, as far as Prodigy and Ricochet go, you’ll be seeing them as well as Hornet and Dusk in the pages of Amazing Fantasy.

And once New Warriors does return, they’re going to mix it up with Arcade in Murderworld. And I’ll be joined by Hunter as my new co-writer on the book! If you’ve checked outRunaways, then you already know Hunter’s got a great handle on Marvel’s younger generation of characters, so he’ll be a welcome addition to this book.

That’s it for now.

-Dino