Spider-Woman did not sleep much that night.
Not because of crime.
Not because of patrol.
Because of a house that shouldn't exist.
She stood again on the same rooftop across from where she had sensed it. The street below looked ordinary. Quiet. Peaceful.
Too peaceful.
Her spider-sense tingled faintly.
Like a whisper.
Inside the hidden manor, Hunter watered a cluster of silver-leaf plants that glowed faintly in the moonlight.
He could feel her again.
Persistent.
Curious.
He admired that.
Eli ran across the greenhouse room laughing as two rabbits chased him. The other mutant children he had quietly rescued over the past week—three more—slept peacefully in separate sections of the massive sanctuary.
A girl with crystalline skin.
Twin boys with faint telekinetic pulses.
All hidden.
All safe.
Hunter leaned against the wooden railing overlooking the indoor garden.
Peace.
He almost had it.
Then the sky tore open.
A violet rift split the clouds above Manhattan.
Energy crackled.
Hunter's eyes sharpened.
Spider-Woman reacted instantly, leaping toward the anomaly.
Hunter sighed softly.
"…Of course."
He vanished.
Above the city, floating constructs emerged from the rift—sleek, metallic drones humming with alien energy.
Spider-Woman swung between buildings, dodging plasma beams.
"This is new!" she muttered.
One drone locked onto her mid-air.
Before it fired—
It split cleanly in half.
Hunter stood on empty air.
Casually.
Gravity didn't apply to him unless he allowed it.
Spider-Woman blinked mid-swing.
"You can fly now?!"
"I'm standing."
"…ON WHAT?!"
Hunter didn't answer.
More drones swarmed.
He extended one hand.
The scars on his back faintly glowed.
For a brief second—
An outline of enormous wings made of golden light appeared behind him.
The drones froze mid-air.
Crushed inward by invisible pressure.
Collapsed into scrap.
Spider-Woman landed on a rooftop beside him.
"You're not even trying to hide it anymore."
Hunter glanced at her.
"I am."
"That's you hiding?!"
The rift above began expanding.
Something larger was trying to force its way through.
Hunter felt the energy signature.
Not cosmic-level.
But invasive.
He stepped forward.
Spider-Woman grabbed his arm.
"Wait. We don't know what that is."
"I do."
"You do?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"It won't be allowed."
He ascended toward the rift alone.
Spider-Woman stared for half a second—
Then followed.
Inside the tear in space, a massive armored figure pushed through—an alien warlord with crackling violet armor.
It roared.
Hunter appeared in front of it.
Small in comparison.
Insignificant in size.
The warlord swung a massive energy blade.
Hunter caught it between two fingers.
Snapped it.
Then gently tapped the warlord's chest.
The alien shot backward through the rift like a meteor.
Hunter closed the tear in space with a simple gesture.
Silence returned to the sky.
Spider-Woman hovered nearby, breathing slowly.
"…That was an interdimensional incursion."
"Yes."
"You handled it like swatting a fly."
"Yes."
She removed her mask slowly.
Red hair fell free in the wind.
Green eyes locked onto him directly for the first time.
"Who are you really?"
Hunter looked at her quietly.
"…Someone who wants a quiet life."
She stared at him.
Then laughed softly.
"I don't think the universe agrees."