Gwen returned to the treehouse the next morning with a knot in her chest and dirt on her palms.
She'd barely slept.
Not because of fear—though it still sat heavy in her chest—but because her brain wouldn't shut off. Her spider-sense kept twitching in the dark, warning her of everything and nothing.
She expected silence.
Instead, she found Luffy sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, already awake, straw hat off, and a pen dancing over his notebook.
Gwen climbed through the hatch and sat across from him without a word.
The air between them still held yesterday's argument—but it wasn't sharp anymore.
Just... heavy.
After a few minutes, Gwen finally said, "So. You still want to build it?"
Luffy looked up.
He slid the notebook across the floor.
A sketch covered the page: a crude but clear cross-section of a large underground chamber beneath a sloped hill. Interior labels marked "Main Platform," "Emergency Ladder," and "Perimeter Access Grid."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. "You already named it."
He nodded. "Field Alpha."
She stared at the design for a long moment.
Then smiled.
"Alright," she said. "Let's find it."
The Search
They scouted for hours.
The woods were no longer good enough—not after what happened. They needed somewhere Oscorp wouldn't scan, somewhere off any official map. They crossed dried riverbeds and ducked through tunnels near the industrial edge of Queens.
Near sunset, Gwen pointed toward a rusted grate behind a long-abandoned substation.
"I remember this from a news clip," she said. "Back when I was little, there was this whole flood-prevention project—post-hurricane drainage channels. Most of it got sealed when Oscorp built their water redirection grid."
"You think they left anything behind?" Luffy asked.
"Maybe something they forgot."
They crawled through the gap, squeezing past sharp roots and rusted bars. Gwen shone her flashlight down a sloped dirt ramp.
It led into darkness.
Cool air drifted out.
They climbed slowly. Quietly.
At the end of the tunnel, the space opened up.
And they stopped.
It was bigger than they'd hoped.
Discovery
A wide, circular chamber stretched ahead, the remains of a concrete shell long since cracked by time and nature. Thick steel pipes lined one wall. On another, an old flood gate—bent, sealed shut by rust and dust.
The ceiling arched high enough to stand. The floor was uneven but solid.
Gwen turned in a slow circle. "Luffy..."
He was already pulling a flashlight from his bag.
"This could work," he whispered.
"It's like a forgotten skeleton."
"A skeleton waiting to become something," Gwen echoed.
They moved deeper into the space, checking for hazards. Gwen stuck to the wall and tested load-bearing points. Luffy ran fingers over cracked tiles and loose pipes.
"It's deep," he said. "Shielded. Hard to trace. No cameras."
Gwen crouched beside an old maintenance box, brushing away debris.
"No light, no power," she said. "We'll have to bring it all in."
Luffy nodded. "But the space is perfect."
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then Gwen said it out loud.
"Field Alpha."
And that was it.
It had a name.
It had a shape.
Now it just needed purpose.
Plans Begin
They worked quickly.
With chalk and scraps of cardboard, they sketched a preliminary layout across the concrete wall.
Gwen marked out zones:
Training Ring – center of the chamber
Supply Cache – where the old utility box could be reinforced
Tech Bench – a narrow side alcove with stable footing
Perimeter Motion Points – all entrances and tunnels to be trapped or sealed
Luffy noted airflow points and drew up a filtration plan using salvaged fan blades and charcoal filters.
"We'll need tools, power cells, solar converters," he muttered.
"And a new whiteboard," Gwen said. "Treehouse one is almost full."
They stepped back, staring at their sketches glowing under the flashlight beam.
Then Gwen dug into her backpack, pulled out a marker, and began sketching a logo near the top of the wall.
A simple spider—round body, long legs, stylized to look like it was weaving over crossed wires.
Luffy pointed at it. "That's us?"
"That's me," Gwen said. "You'll need one too."
He thought for a moment.
Then drew a minimalist straw hat resting on a hammer.
They both grinned.
A New Mission
Before they left, they made a checklist:
Move critical gear from treehouse
Reinforce tunnel entrance
Design portable light grid
Build sound buffer system
Develop password alarm protocol
"We do this right," Luffy said, "and no one finds us again."
Gwen nodded. "This isn't just hiding."
He looked at her. "No."
"This is preparing."
The Carve
As they climbed back out of the tunnel, Gwen paused at the entrance.
She pulled a small screwdriver from her bag and knelt beside the stone wall near the access ramp.
Luffy watched as she carved, slow and precise.
Not letters.
A spider.
Stylized. Symmetrical. Marking the space.
Not just claiming it.
Protecting it.
She stood and dusted her hands.
"This is where it starts," she said.
Luffy placed a hand on the wall beside hers.
"This is where we stop hiding."
And in that silence, as the night air swept through the forgotten chamber and the weight of their mission began to settle over their shoulders, Field Alpha was born.
Not as a shelter.
But as the foundation of something far greater.