Summary:Spidey and SpiderGwen meet to talk about Silk, and wind up in a um…face-off. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's been a quiet night so far, and talking to Kori has helped. But he still feels the need to touch base with a few people, just to get everyone on the same page.
So, at about 9 PM, a message comes through on the Spider-Comm system, meant for Spider-Woman.
If you can meet to talk, I'm on the WTC roof. Security's staying inside tonight.
Gwen wasn't three buildings away when the call came in. So what greets Spider-Man immediately is radio silence. But a few moments later, a flash of white and pink appears and lands right next to Spidey. "You raaaaang? This comm thing is TOO cool, y'know. I love it!"
Spidey jumps. A little. He hadn't been checking the GPS, which was his fault. Man, she could catch him off-guard easy. "Hey, Spider-Woman," he says, his voice pleasant. "Hope I didn't pull you from anything important!"
"Nope! I was just y'know…swingin'. What're you up to this evening? Seems all quiet at the moment," SpiderGwen replies, bubbly as ever. "I'm still gettin' the hang of this thing. I had NO idea you were this close, or I'd have had to swing in and say hi!"
Spidey chuckles. "Well, if I'm out and about, tap my icon twice and it should give you the option to show my position." He paused, "And, speaking of icons…I fetl I should bring you up to speed on the new Spider-Person, Silk. Spider-Girl and I were drawn in, but I don't know if anything happened to you, so I wanted to get you fully up to speed on her."
"Another…spider? And what do you mean by drawn in? Or what could have happened to me?" There's confusion in Gwen's voice, and she sounds a little more tentative again. "I'm not used to having a whole harem of spiderchicks. I just…I just always did my own thing. If you want my comm for Silk, you can give it to her. I can take care of myself…" Trust issues are one thing. Trust issues with a whole group of people she didn't know existed, who are just like her, suddenly? That's a whole new game altogether.
Spider-Man sat down. "I'll give it to you from the beginning. Spider-Girl and I were both affected by these vivid dreams. Although you could call them 'visions,' based on how intense they were. For Spider-Girl, she was this warehouse she'd never seen before. For me, it was…the day I got my powers. Except there was something in that dream that I had not seen, or had forgotten. Another person who was affected the same way I was." He looked to Spider-Woman. "Did you experience any vivid dreams? You don't have to describe them if you did, I am just curious if something happened? It would have happened a few days ago…"
Spider-Woman shakes her head slowly. "I didn't…didn't have any dreams that I know of. If I did, I don't remember them. Maybe I'm not one of the flock, after all." She breathes a laugh. "Not like it would surprise me. I've never really belonged to any…particular person, or people. But then I don't put myself out there to belong to anyone, either. I sort of just…" She makes the gesture as if her two fingers are legs, running away. "I flee. So maybe I'm not a part of the super special spider-club, but I will still help you all, where I can."
Spider-Man looks to her. "Spider-Woman…I was bitten by a radioactive, genetically-engineered spider. Spider-Girl had found some sort of magical talisman that gave her her powers; she was freaking out about what the talisman did to hear body, if she was going to start laying eggs. And I think that the spider that bit me bit the new girl, as well…but visions are weird. The point is, just because you didn't pick up on something that you're somehow OUTSIDE of all of this going on. We're allcoming from different circumstances, Spider-Woman…but that doesn't make you any less valid. You're part of this team."
"You know, I'm really beginning to wonder if creating all of these genetically engineered radioactive spiders was really a responsible move," SpiderGwen quips. "Or maybe they should be genetically engineered to be less bitey." She sniffles and begins to pace in small circles around a roof vent. "So this girl was bit, too. And Spider-Girl just had this talisman thing. And she's not laying eggs, which is /awesome/ for you. Dodged a bullet there, huh?"
Spider-Man blinks. "Uhm, what?" Then logic kicks in and he gives an embarrassed laugh. "No! No, we're not…we're not in a relationship. We're not even DATING. She was frightened that the magic that gave her her powers was doing things to her body. She was scared that she was going to start pushing out eggs. That was why she was so happy about…her time of the month. That at least that part of her body stayed normal."
"Oh…" SpiderGwen slows to a stop on the far side of the vent, still looking down at it as Spidey explains. "OH!" She looks back up at Spidey with those wide white lenses. "So you guys aren't…?" She trails off, shaking her head. "Well I mean, whatever makes you happy, either way. I just thought you were like…a thing. I thought you were worried about a happy little 'accident' so to speak. I guess I was WAY off…"
Spider-Man says with a wry grin, "Well, to your credit, I can totally see how you could come to that conclusion. But yeah. Body dysmorphia, not a pregnancy scare." He takes a deep breath. "Okay…where was I? Oh, yes. Okay, We find the warehouse, and break into it. It's built like a bunker, a doomsday prepper's dream. And inside…is this girl. See, someone she called the 'Old Man' hid her there. Told her that Morgan Lykus…you know, the billionaire that died six months ago?…was after her blood…"
"Wait, how long had she been there? If that guy died six months ago…" Gwen's frown is audible in her voice. "Who was taking care of her? How did she survive?"
Spider-Man nods. "Food, water, power…she'd been in there for 18 months, since when I was bitten. She had enough to last a few more YEARS, to boot. I sent her some home-cooked food to get her used to real food again. The warehouse should be the one with Silk's icon on it. "The other thing is, she was separated from her parents. And now that she feels safe again, she tried to find them…only she can't. She has no idea where they are."
"So…is she still staying there?" Gwen ceases her pacing and approaches Spidey slowly. "Are we gonna help her find her parents? They have to be /somewhere/ right? We haven't heard of anything…gone afoul…that could have befallen them? I'll be glad to help however I can."
Spidey smiles again. "Yes, she is. She can secure it, and she still has supplies there. We are gonna help her in any way we can, Spider-Woman. To find her parents, to make absolutely sure the Nutty Billionaire is truly dead. And she want to help in the whole crimeifghting thing, too."
"Well…so much the better, then. Hopefully we can find her parents and put that other gruesome crap to rest. And she can continue forward with a clean slate of things to worry about, yeah?" SpiderGwen seems genuinely concerned for the girl's wellbeing. "How old is she?"
Spider-Man thinks about that. "I've seen her face. High-school junior, senior." He looks up to Spider-Woman. "Truth be told, I think you and Spider-Girl can help a lot more than me. I mean, you're pretty together on this. Spider-Girl is different, but she understands having to deal with changes and stuff. Upshot of all this is, she can use all the help she can get."
He paused once more, then said, "Do you think we trust each other? Pretty solidly?"
"Well…yeah, I guess. I mean…You helped me get in touch with someone who could help me. Which in turn could help you, too. We both have too much to lose if we screw each other over. Why would we do that?" She has dropped back to pure logic. "Trust is a big wall for me," she confides. "I don't implicitly trust /anyone/ because people are prone to all sorts of horrible things. You've seen it. I know you have. You do the same thing I do."
Spider-Man nods, then stands up. "I don't like deceiving you or the others. So…I want to take the mask off, so you can see who I am. I'm not going to require you to do the same, though. I think…it will make some things easier if I do." He looked around once more. "Do you want to know? For sure?"
"Dude…" SpiderGwen backpedals a little, catching herself before she stumbles. "I mean, are you sure you wanna do that? This is something you can't take back. Not even if there's a fire." She shifts from one foot to the other, her mask moving just enough to show she's looking around, left and right. Either for an escape, or to make sure there's no one else around.
Spider-Man chuckles. "I asked myself about this. A lot. But in the end, it comes down to this. Do You Want to Know?" He stretches. "I want to…but I'm not forcing this on you. If you want to know, say yes. If you don't, say 'no.' So it's your choice, and you get to make it freely."
"Ummm…." SpiderGwen fidgets. "S…sure. Yeah this seems logical. I mean at least I'd know who I'm dealing with, right?" Maybe it'll help with the trust. Maybe it'll help her not flee. Or maybe it'll make her flee. At this point, she can't definitively say one way or another. What does it really matter what the guy looks like, though? Right? She already knows he's not going to totally throw her under a bus.
Spider-Man nods. He takes a deep breath, then reaches up to grab the balaclava mask. He pulls slowly, the mask deforming ast it stretches, and then it just…pops off.
…revealing the sheepish looking face, rumpled hair, and half-smiling face of Peter Parker.
"Hi…I'm Peter Parker."
No amount of preparation could save her this time. Spider-Woman backpedals in shock and tumbles back, landing on her tush on the rooftop with a squeak. "No. Way. Really?? You're a super genius AND you're a spiderdude. And you're all 'whatever, this is just like Tuesday for me' about it all." She splutters, and clambers to her feet again with a heavy sigh. "Jesus, you know what this means, right?" She shifts her weight again, and looks around tentatively, before reaching up and pulling off her hooded mask to reveal Gwen Stacy.
"Uh…hi."
Peter smiles at her initial shock, and in that hangdog way when he was telling her about #3 Pitney flanges. Then she backpedals and landed on her derriere, and Peter suddenly looks stricken. "Aw, hey, are you all right? Because you're…"
Then her mask comes off and his brain stops. His smile disappears, the mouth drops open.
"Guh-guh-GWEN?" he utters in a shocked hiss. "OHMIGOSH…" He stands in front of her, and for a moment, he doesn't know what to say. So Stupid Mouth chimes in.
"Well, it's not that surprising, since you were always cooler than me…"
"Dude, I was never cooler than ANYBODY," Gwen laughs. It's a little bit of a nervous laugh, but at least she's not running, right? Not running, at this point, is a good thing. Probably. "Well. For what it's worth, I figure at least we know whose butt we're protecting. Because I was gonna protect it either way, but now I just have one butt to protect, not two." She offers a lopsided grin and takes a deep breath, exhaling it slowly. Decompressing.
Peter chuckles. "You know…you didn't have to take your mask off for me, Gwen. I didn't want to make you feel like you had to. God, I'm overdoing this. Uhm…Gwen, I thought you were cool when I saw you at Bake's. This is just…another way. And now I don't have to go through having to remember to give Peter all the credit for the tech stuff." He steps back slightly, then his eyes widen and he says, "Right! I forgot to tell you. I have the new webshooter rigs ready for you, with the water cartridges and stuff."
"Oh! Way cool, that's awesome! So are you gonna do something like that too? To help you keep from running out and stuff? Because whatever I can do to help you, I'm totally willing to. We can't have you running out mid-swing and falling like 140 feet, because we've already established that there's nobody that's got a stick that long. Not that a stick would save you. Probably actually complicate matters, actually, because a stick is arguably more dangerous than the ground. Unless you could pole-vault with it…" Rambling is her only defense….
Peter smiles wryly. She's doing it, too. "Hey…on the count of three, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and put your mask back on. See if it help."
Gwen doesn't even wait for him to count. "One two three!" And she puts the mask back on. She exhales the deep breath. Hard tellin' whether her eyes are still closed or not, though. (Spoiler: They're still closed.)
When Gwen puts her mask on to become Spider-Woman, Peter closes his eyes, and puts on his own mask, becoming Spider-Man again. He exhales, then opens his eyes to look at Spider-Woman. "Okay…open your eyes if you haven't already. Feel better?"
"Maybe." Or maybe her eyes are still closed. "Yeah this is a lot better. Loads. SO much better." She sways just a little, in place. "Yeah this was a great idea, glad you thought of it, because it's like, everything's cool now…" She'll open them when she's ready…
Spidey smiles. "My mask is on, too, Spider-Woman. Just so you know."