The Spectacular Spinnerette
Disclaimer: I don't own Spider-Man or any other Marvel Properties that appear in this fanfiction.
Author's Note please note that as with all fanfiction I am taking certain creative liberties. Characters may appear sooner than in canon, in a different role or not at all.
Chapter 2: Friends Lost, Enemies Gained
So I just press this button with my middle and index finger, with exact pressure the web will come shooting out?" Gwen asked as she examined the mechanical webshooters on her wrists.
"Yeah that's right. You load the cartridges into the carousel at the back there. It'll rotate the empty cartridges out automatically. I also added a small valve to allow you to shoot a thick web line or a fine wide stream." Peter explained as he pointed out the features so Gwen knew exactly where and what than me.
"Wow that's amazing, I never would've come up any of that. Okay maybe I would have but I wouldn't know where to begin to build it. You're a genius Peter."
"I'm just glad I could help. These hands are all I have left to work with."
"I'm sure Spinnerette will have plenty of work of them to do as time goes on. Gwen Stacy on the other hand is just happy to be with Peter Parker."
"Thanks Gwen, but it's getting late, you should probably get home soon."
"You're right Peter. I'll see you tomorrow. I'll probably test these when I get home." Gwen quickly put her books back into her bag, they'd been doing her homework before he'd shown her the webshooters and then she laid the shooters on top of them. She actually had her costume on under her clothes and her mask in the bag. She then headed downstairs. She paused in the stairwell as she heard Ben and May Parker talking in the kitchen.
"This just isn't right," Ben said, "They want to just shove our Peter in a room with a bunch of other damaged kids. His legs don't work but his brain's just fine he doesn't belong there with them!" Gwen heard a hand slam down the kitchen table.
"I know Ben, but there's nothing we can do, Peter has to go to school and get an education." May said.
"An education? He won't be getting much of an education where they want to send him. I'll get a lawyer and fight for his rights!"
"We can't afford a lawyer. We're already getting help with the medical bills."
"I'll pick up extra shifts at work. I'm going to do to whatever it takes to fight for Peter's rights and win."
Gwen snuck past them and out the door. She never realized just how bad Peter was going to have it in the coming days. He'd have to struggle every day for things she took for granted. Well that was why she'd decided to become Spinnerette wasn't it? So things like what happened to Peter wouldn't happen to others, to give the police a helping hand.
She'd been planning for Spinnerette to make her debut later tonight, sneaking out her window to do some crime fighting before going to sleep but why not start right now? For Peter.
Gwen found the nearest alley she could and ducked in so she could change and strap on her webshooters. She shoved her street clothes in her bag and shot a web line toward a streetland and swung on it. Gwen had made her webbing more than strong enough to support her weight and with her enhanced strength and a running start the swing carried her several yards forward and into the air. When she felt herself starting to fall she webbed another object to keep her momentum going and her Spider Sense made sure she didn't hit anything.
"This is so much faster than the subway!" Gwen mused as she made her way to the main streets and climbed higher using the skyscrapers. Despite the seriousness of what she was setting out to do Gwen couldn't help but laugh.
Being above the city like this made it all look so peaceful. The wind blowing her hair back. She could get used to this. Then just as quickly as it began her bliss was shattered by an alarm. Someone was breaking into a bank.
Gwen was on the scene in less than a minute, placing her bag on a nearby rooftop and jumped down in front of a pair of men in ski masks who were making their way toward the getaway car.
"Hello boys, a bit late for a withdrawal isn't it?" She asked with a smirk. To say that two burly men were surprised to be confronted by a teenage girl in spandex was an understatement. To their credit they got over it quickly and began laughing.
"I think it's a little late for you to be girly," one of them said, "It's dangerous to be out on the streets at night."
"Am I out late? Yes. Is it dangerous? Not so much." Gwen quipped. Her Spider Sense went off as the two men pulled out handguns Gwen was already dodging as they fired, jumping on and sticking to the wall of the bank. Her heart was pounding and her ears ringing. If it hadn't been for her superpowers she'd be dead right now. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this.
"No," she thought steeling herself, "I'm doing this for Peter, I can't back out now."
"What are you?" The robbers asked in shock as they saw her stick to the wall.
"The name's Spinnerette and I'm your worst nightmare. I guess you could say I'm a spider and this entire city is my parlor, I guess that would make you the flies." The thugs moved to draw a bead on her but she shot webs on to their muzzles before they could fire.
"What is this junk?"
"Oh that would be my webbing. I wouldn't recommend trying to shoot those guns, my webbing will stop the bullet and the recoil will tear your arm clean off. Very messy. Not that I'll give you the chance," Gwen quickly encased the would be bank robbers in cocoons of webbing.
Upon seeing this the getaway driver, tried to, well, get away. Well Spinnerette wasn't about to let that happen. She hopped back down on to the street and shot a web line onto the frame of the car. She pulled hard using her super strength stalling the vehicle. She felt the driver floor it and strained slowly pulling the car back toward her. The driver panicked and got out of the car only to have Gwen put him in a matching cocoon to his comrades. She laid the river with the other two, removed their ski and used her ring to leave her spider seal on their foreheads.
"There, three nice little presents for the NYPD, too bad I don't have a bow to put on it, but I do have gift tag for it. Jumping back on to the rooftop that held her bag and pulled out a specially made calling card. She laid it on the ground in front of the robbers and was on her way home before the police arrived.
When the police did arrive they were baffled to find the three robbers trapped in webbing with red spiders stamped on their foreheads. The only clues to who might have done this were the physical descriptions the would be robbers gave of a young blonde teenager in a halloween costume and a small index card that found on the ground. On the front of the card was the same red spider. On the back was a short message: "A gift to the NYPD from your friendly neighborhood Spinnerette." It seemed New York had a new superheroine.
J. Jonah Jameson was fuming and it had nothing to do with the cigar in his mouth. Over the past couple of weeks people and been sighting some new costumed crime fighter known as Spinnerette. The eye witness accounts were vague, all that was know was that she was a young blonde teenager with strange powers.
Jameson as a rule wasn't a prejudiced man. He'd hired Joseph Robertson, a black man to work on his paper, he had no particular hatred for Mutants like many others did. He didn't have a problem seeing a girl as a hero, but he wasn't convinced this Spinnerette was in it for the heroics.
No, he was convinced she wanted attention. Sure she was stopping crimes but she always left a calling card like she was trying to upstage the police. Add to that the fact that no one had any actual proof that this Spinnerette character even existed and she was already fast approaching urban legend status, and J. Jonah Jameson one of two things: To either prove that this Spinnerette didn't really exist or to expose her for the glory hound she was.
Back in the day he would've automatically jumped to this whole thing being a farce but with Mutants appearing, the Fantastic Four and Namor, he couldn't dismiss Spinnerette as a myth so easily anymore. It looked like he might actually have to discredit her, but to do that he needed something on her other than vague descriptions and he didn't have any. That was why his best journalist was in his office right now.
Eddie Brock was a well-built man and a well-respected journalist. It had been quite a steal for Jameson to get him from the Daily Globe, and an expensive one at that but Brock had more than paid for himself as time went on.
"You wanted to see me J.J.?" Eddie said as he sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
"I've got a new assignment for you," Jameson said in his rough gravelly tone, "Spinnerette."
"You mean that new girl hero everyone is talking about but no one is sure actually exists?" Eddie asked.
"That's the one Brock. From now on you eat, sleep, and breathe Spinnerette unless I tell you otherwise. Is that clear?"
"Is this some sort of punishment J.J.? What did I do that was so bad you're sending me out to find urban legends?"
"This isn't a punishment Brock, quite the opposite. Spinnerette is making the NYPD look silly. Beating them to crimes and stopping those crimes before the police can even arrive, and leaving her cute little calling cards calling the criminals 'presents'. It makes the city look bad. That's why I want Spinnerette either disproved or exposed. You're the best journalist I have. If anyone can do this, you Brock."
"I won't let you down J.J.!" Eddie Brock was positively glowing from the praise.
"I'm sure you won't." Jameson replied.
Gwen scowled at one of the headlines in the pages of the Daily Bugle "Spinnerette a menace it read. J. Jonah Jameson seemed to have some sort of gripe with Spinnerette. He seemed to post some disparaging story about her alter ego every day, he was even giving public anti-Spinnerette talks. He went on and on about how she was a glory hound who was upstaging the police or how she was dangerous because her exploits would inspire children to fight crime.
She tried to not let it get to her, after all she was helping people, helping the police. Stick and stones and all that, but being attacked in the newspaper every day, even when only one other person in the entire world knew it was you wasn't easy on a girl's self-esteem. Still she was proud of the work she was doing and several women's rights groups were sending angry letters to the Bugle over the articles.
No one had managed to get a picture of Spinnerette and Gwen wanted to keep it that way. There was always the chance that a good picture would blow her cover. Spinnerette had already been identified as a teenage blonde girl and the number of sightings was going up every day. Still many were skeptical that she even existed because of the lack of photographs. That made her smirk just a bit. Gwen Stacy had dreamed of being many things over the years but an urban legend wasn't one of them.
"Dad why does Spinnerette get so much bad press? I mean she's just trying to help, what does Jameson have against her? The Fantastic Four and Ant-Man are doing the same things she is." Gwen asked. Captain Stacy laid his paper down and looked her in the eye.
"I've known Jonah for years Gwen, he's a hard man but not unfair. When he was a boy he saw Namor the Sub-Mariner battle the Human Torch, not the one on the Fantastic Four, this was an earlier hero by the same name. After that he became convinced that no one with superpowers who worked outside the law could be trusted. The Fantastic Four's identities are known, Ant-Man works with the police. They're just easier for Jonah to swallow than Spinnerette is."
"I guess I can see that, what do you think about Spinnerette dad?"
"I think she means well and is trying to help. The others down at the station love her because she's making their jobs easier. Personally though I think Jonah has a point. Spinnerette, whoever she may be, from all the descriptions is just a child and a child has no place fighting crime. The thought of you going against the kind of thugs that are on the streets scares me to death Gwen. You're all I have left." She had to resist the urge to flinch as she saw the emotion in her father's eyes. She hated to imagine what it would be like if he found out she was Spinnerette.
"I love you too dad." That was all she dared say to that. There was silence for an extended moment before Captain Stacy picked up his paper again.
"Speaking of Jonah his son John is going up in a rocket tomorrow. Would you like to go see it? I know you like that sort of thing sweetie." Gwen sighed. He was right. She really wanted to go to the launch, but she had a job now. Spinnerette needed to be out on the streets fighting crime and she couldn't do that if Gwen Stacy was watching a rocket launch.
"I was going to go visit Peter."
"Oh, you've been spending a lot of time at the Parker house Gwen." There was a note of concern in his voice.
"You know as well as I do that Peter needs friends right now and no one seems to visit him other than me. It's not like I have anywhere else to go after school anyway. Harry's dad has been working on some big project almost nonstop so I haven't really gotten to see him lately."
"Probably trying to find legal loopholes so he can buyout Stark Industries. Tony Stark has been missing for some time but until he pronounced officially dead no one can make any deals that would affect the company's future like that. Of course with Stark gone his company's stock has been dropping so when he is pronounced dead it'll be easy for Norman to buy it all up and merge it with Oscorp."
"I see..." Gwen didn't have much business acumen so she really didn't see, "Anyway if it's alright I'm going to see Peter tomorrow." It wasn't a lie, she would go see Peter tomorrow but she would also be doing more crime fighting as Spinnerette.
"Yes, that's fine. You're right the boy needs support right now."
"Thank you Dad."
The next day would go down in history as black day in history for the American space program. As Colonel John Jameson shot up in the rocket and reached Earth orbit everything seemed fine, but that was not the case. A small piece of the guidance system broke off causing the rocket to reenter the atmosphere and crash, killing Colonel Jameson on impact. His father newspaper mogul J. Jonah Jameson famously broke down in tears and kept repeating "Where are your superheroes now?"
The funeral for Colonel John Jameson was a lavish public affair. That was to be expected given that he was an American hero. The death of such an upstanding young man was always a tragedy so that was part of the reason Gwen was here at his funeral, to pay her respects. The other part was that she was expected to be here. Her father was a prominent police officer and a friend to J. Jonah Jameson so of course he was here and as his daughter it was just kind of assumed that they were a package deal. It was proper decorum for these things after all.
Gwen hadn't really known John all that well, she'd met a couple times in passing but nothing more than that, but she'd heard nothing but good things about him. She wasn't sure how someone could turn out so nice with that J. Jonah Jameson grump for a father but miracles happened every day. Speaking of Jonah, she could see him at the front of the church crying, she may have had no love for the man because of him constantly trying to drag Spinnerette's name through the mud but even he didn't deserve this.
The service was a rather boring and somber as funerals often were. When the service itself was over a lunch was being served. Gwen didn't really want to stick around for that though. There had been a rash of mysterious bank robberies that no one had been able to solve and she figured it was about time Spinnerette tried her hand at catching the crook. Unfortunately there was no way she could just up and leave.
Her first instinct was to go and offer her condolences but she could see that Jameson was with a group of presumably very important people. More importantly she could hear him. Ranting about how the so-called superheroes had failed to save his son a real hero and how was wasn't going to rest until he exposed them all.
Gwen didn't need Spider Sense to tell her there was danger in approaching him. So instead she sat down at a table and began writing a letter to Kitty that would detail her latest exploits as Spinnerette and check on her to make sure everything was still on the up and up at Xavier's school. She didn't get far though as her old friend Harry Osborn approached her.
"Hello Gwen it's been a long time." He said. as he sat next to her.
"That it has Harry," She said stashing the letter to Kitty in the small purse she was carrying, "It's been over a month since we've really talked hasn't it?"
"Yeah, since the day after you fainted at that science demonstration at ESU. How have you been?"
"It's been crazy Harry, a lot has happened."
"So what was that piece of paper you put in your purse?"
"It was just a letter to a friend, nothing you need to worry about." Gwen replied.
"Since when do you have friends that you need to write letters to Gwen? I thought all your friends went to our school. Well almost all of them." Gwen's eyes narrowed at the obvious jab at Peter. What was Harry playing at?
"It's someone I met very recently, no one you know."
"Oh really tell me about them," Harry said with interest, "I know it's not that Parker kid, from what my dad told your dad you go and see him almost every day so you wouldn't need to write him."
"I don't think that would be a good idea Harry." She had no idea how to even begin to tell Harry about Kitty anyway. She'd have to be incredibly vague about how they met in order to not reveal that Kitty was a Mutant and that she had similar powers of her own because of a bite from a radioactive spider. That wouldn't satisfy Harry though.
"What going on with you Gwen? I've seen you at school you're always tired. I'm your best friend and you don't talk to me anymore, you're always running off to that Parker kid's house and now you're writing letters to mysterious 'friends' you don't want to tell me about. I'm worried about you."
"I'm fine Harry. I've just gone through… changes you can't even begin to understand. I'm sorry I've been neglecting our friendship but I have a lot of things on my plate right now and people in my life who need my attention more than you do. Please try to understand."
"Oh, I understand. I understand that only thing the Osborns are only good for anymore is asking for money to help the family of your cripple friend. I understand that you can't even find the time to say a simple hello to me, your childhood friend because you're too busy fawning over Peter Parker, a guy you just met a month ago." Harry's voice went from level to shouting in the space of three sentences.
That was it, Gwen had had enough. Without thinking she stood up and grabbed Harry by his necktie lifting him into the air with her Spinnerette strength causing the little worm to gap and struggle in surprise but Gwen's grip wouldn't budge She spoke with a voice made of ice. "Peter Parker is twice the man you'll ever be. He has been nothing but kind and considerate to me since I met him and he is going through the hardest things a person can. I'm sorry you lack any empathy Harry. Maybe someone should shoot you in the spine so you can see what it's like. I'm done with you." With a flick of the wrist Gwen tossed a very stunned and pale Harry about five feet.
Not wanting to be caught in the fallout of her own spectacle, Gwen ran out of the room where lunch was being served and into the church foyer. There she found a blonde woman in her late teens to early twenties sitting on the couch crying her eyes out. If gwen were one to judge she'd say this woman was beautiful even in this compromised state.
"Go away I don't want to be consoled. I just want to be alone." She said.
"Oh no, I was just trying to get away from some drama. I had a falling out with an old friend Ms.-"
"Hardy, Felicia Hardy." She said.
"Felicia Hardy? Heiress to the Hardy fortune and John Jameson's girlfriend?" Gwen tended to keep up with high society gossip due to the influence her father had she was technically a part of said high society so it would be a bad idea to not stay informed.
"Now you see why I don't want to be in there. I don't want to hear how sorry everyone is for my loss. They don't understand. I was sure John was going to propose after that mission. Now that will never happen. I loved him like no one else did. Most of them were his friends because of the influence he or his father held. They didn't care about John. Why am I telling you about this? I don't even know you."
"Maybe you don't want to be as alone as you think you do Felicia. By the way I'm Gwen Stacy."
"Maybe you're right Gwen. Maybe I just need to get that off my chest. I had to talk to someone. I can't even talk to my mother right now because she's trying to do her best to keep the Hardy Foundation together. One of the recent bank robberies hit us hard."
"Well I'm happy to listen if there's anything more you need to get off your chest."
"No, I'll be fine for now thank you." Felicia said regaining some composure.
"And you'll be even better when Spinnerette catches that robber and your family gets its money back." Gwen thought.
Spinnerette sat perched on the roof of a bank. She was sure that this was where her target would strike next. She'd analyzed the locations of the previous robberies and was fairly certain this was here her target was going to strike next.
She'd been waiting here for a couple hours now and was afraid maybe she'd gotten it wrong when a silver skinned woman with a shaved head appeared. Considering that normal business hours were over this probably wasn't a friendly visit.
"Hello there, what do we have here," Gwen sent out a web line that caught the wouldbe crook's arm and pulled her up on to the roof none too gently, "My name's Spinnerette, what's yours?"
"So you're real after all. Well that's a pain; I'll have to finish you quickly and get on with robbing this bank. Though I suppose I should be happy I ran into you and not the Fantastic Four. You can call me Swiss Miss because I;m the human Swiss army knife." Swiss Miss didn't look so good. Gwen pulling her up to the roof must have dislocated her shoulder.
Gwen's Spider Sense went off and the web line on Swiss Miss' arm began to bulge. The next thing she knew a knife had shot from Swiss Miss' arm and was flying right at her. Thankfully her agility let her dodge it easily.
"Mutant?" Gwen asked cocking her head a bit.
"Mutant." Swiss Miss said as she popped her shoulder back in place. That looked like it hurt. Then a pair of steel blades grew out of the sides of her arms and she charged swinging wildly. Gwen had no trouble dodging the attack though.
"Neat trick but it's not good enough. Now let's put an end to this, Shall we?" Jumping inside Swiss Miss' guard Gwen tried to punch her in the face but a steel plate spouted over Swiss Miss' face. Gwen puch dented it and sent the Mutant criminal skidding backwards but Gwen got a bruised hand for her trouble.
"Dance for me little hero." Swiss Miss retracted the faceplate and blades and pulled a Thompson machine gun out of her right arm and opened fire. Again Gwen Gwen was able to dodge the attacks but this time they were only near misses due to the speed of the bullets.
Gwen fired a web line and pulled the gun away throwing it to the street. "Why does everyone try to shoot me?" She asked rhetorically as she put Swiss Miss in a web cocoon. Sadly the cocoon didn't last as numerous blades popped out all of Swiss Miss' body and shredded it.
Gwen got ready to fight again but was distracted by a flash of light from the next rooftop over. Her Spider Sense tingled and she turned to see her opponent holding a bazooka. The weapon fired and a rocket powered explosive was something Spinnerette couldn't dodge. She took the explosion square on the chest and went flying off the roof into an open dumpster.
"Ow..." Gwen moaned as she climbed back out and went to continue the fight. Not only did she ache all over, she smelled like garbage and she'd have to repair her Spinnerette costume. Oh Swiss Miss was going to pay.
Speaking of Swiss Miss she was peeking over the rooftop. "Still alive little hero? Well as much as I'd like to fix that, the police will likely be here any minute and I'd rather not deal with them and you." With that Said Swiss Miss popped a jetpack out of her back a flew away.
"Well," Gwen mused, "that could've gone better."
Eddie Brock was ecstatic as he climbed down from the rooftop next to the bank. JJ was going to love this. Not only had he proved that Spinnerette existed he'd witnessed her first defeat! On top of that he'd solved the recent rash of bank robberies. From where he'd been standing he'd heard everything. It had been a Mutant called Swiss Miss. Oh he could expect a big paycheck for this.
Gwen watched as Peter crumpled up today's Daily Bugle. "I can't believe that Jameson guy. Saying Spinnerette teamed up with Swiss Miss to rob that bank! I have half a mind to go down there and give him a piece of my mind." That made her chuckle a bit.
"What are you going to do, roll yourself down there and tell him you know Spinnerette wasn't trying to rob the bank because she's your best friend?" She asked.
"Okay, I see your point, but still, it just seems wrong that he can get away with it."
"The Bugle isn't exactly the most reputable paper Peter. Besides my actions will speak for themselves. A lot of people already see me as a hero."
"You're going to fight Swiss Miss again aren't you Gwen? Are you sure that's a good idea after last time? I mean she pulled out a bazooka on you. It might be too dangerous."
"I have to. The police can't handle her. A superhero has to."
"There are other heroes Gwen. Let the Fantastic Four or Ant-Man deal with her. If anything happened to you…"
"I understand your concern Peter, and thank you for worrying about me but this is something that Spinnerette has to take care of. Swiss Miss beat me because I made a rookie mistake and got distracted by Eddie Brock's camera. If I don't beat her and redeem myself, no one will ever take me seriously as a hero again."
"Gwen, I don't care about Spinnerette, I care about you. You don't really need to be a superhero do you?"
"Yes I do have to be Spinnerette. I became Spinnerette because of you Peter. You know that. I couldn't help you but I can help other people with these powers, it's the right thing to do."
"Alright, you've made your point. I still don't see how you're going to beat Swiss Miss though." Peter said.
"That's something I could use your help on, I need a stronger batch of webbing." Gwen replied.
Eddie Brock was marching through the Daily Bugle exuding an aura like a demon walking out of hell itself. It was plain to everyone he passed that the Bugle's star reporter was livid and he had a copy of today's front page in his hand. Without a word he stormed right into Jameson's office and slammed the paper on to the editor's desk.
"What the hell is this J.J.?" he roared.
"It's the front page Brock."
"Yeah well it's not the article I wrote, so what are the pictures I took doing on this story that's slinging mud at Spinnerette?"
"I decided to handle the Spinnerette story myself. Let the public know the truth about their new 'hero'." Jameson replied coolly.
"Ever since your son died you've lost it JJ. Every day the front page is a story slinging mud at some hero or another, and if not an outright hero, some anti-Mutant piece. You done a complete 180! I hear the Fantastic Four are planning on suing you for libel. The only reason Ant-Man and Spinnerette probably aren't is because they have secret identities to keep."
"It's my paper and I'll print what I want Brock and I've made it my mission to expose these costumed freaks for the menaces they truly are. I'll have you know that our sales have gone up since I made these changes. You have no right to question my business practices."
"Your sales have gone up because you're appealing to close-minded bigots who don't want to read the truth. I reported what actually happened on that rooftop and you printed the opposite. I can't work for someone who has no journalistic integrity, I quit. I'll find a job at another paper JJ and I swear I'll expose you!"
"It'll be your word against mine Brock and I'm a respected member of the community. No one will believe you. Besides you have no proof, for all you know Spinnerette and the other woman really were working together."
"The truth always wins in the end J.J. You'll see."
"I'm counting on it Brock. Now get out of my office! Just know you'll never work in this town again!" Eddie didn't have to be told twice. He went straight to his desk and started cleaning it out. Surprisingly he found Joseph "Robbie" Robertson doing the same thing.
"Robbie what are you doing?" Eddie asked the African American man.
"The same thing you are, quitting. I found the article you wrote after Jonah threw it away. I can't work for a man that would print things like he did. Omitting facts, coloring the truth. I used to respect Jonah as a newspaper man and a friend but ever since John died he's gone crazy. That's why I'm going to use my savings, and take out a loan to start my own paper, one that only prints the truth."
"Sounds good Robbie. You'll need journalists right, because I happen to be looking for a paper to write for."
"I'd be happy to have you on board Eddie."
"Good, though you might want to let me take out the loan, no offense, but some people might not want to give you a loan for rather stupid reasons."
"Thank you Eddie." Robbie said.
"So what are you going to call this newspaper?"
"I was thinking The Pulse, to show that the truth is still alive."
"Alright Swiss Miss, where are you?" Gwen mused as she swung through the city. She was ready for some payback on Swiss Miss, but she needed to find her first. Swiss Miss had gone underground after their last encounter but Gwen was willing to bet the rematch wanted a rematch just as much as she did. The question was where that rematch was going to happen.
She needed to figure this out and redeem Spinnerette's name. If she were a criminal, perish the thought where would she strike next? A thought occurred, no Swiss Miss couldn't be that predictable could she? Following her instinct Gwen went back to the bank they'd fought at and waited on the roof for Swiss Miss to show up.
She didn't have to wait long. Gwen jumped down in front of her Mutant adversary taking her by surprise. "You know, I always heard criminals returned to the scene of the crime, but I never believed it. You're really sad and predictable."
"Spinnerette, come for another beating? A sane person would hung up the Halloween costume after I shot them with a bazooka. Do you just have a death wish?" Swiss Miss asked.
"No, no death wish, I just believe in justice and since the police can't bring you in it falls to me to do it."
"Well I'll be more than happy to fight you again Spinnerette, only this time it'll be the last fight you ever have." Gwen's Spider Sense went off as blades appeared on Swiss Miss' arms. Gwen was able to dodge the attacks easily just like she had before. She was taken by surprise when Swiss Miss fired the blades at her. She was able to dodge it but it was a close shave.
"This will put you down just like it did last time!" Swiss Miss pulled out the bazooka again and fired. Gwen had been waiting for this though so she was ready for it. She fired a web line and caught the rocket. She tossed the rocket into the air with her web line and watched it explode harmlessly in midair.
"Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I don't fall for the same trick twice." Gwen leapt at Swiss Miss and attempted to punch her in the chest but several steel plates appeared, armoring the area. Gwen was able to dent them but could do little more than that.
"You don't fall for the same trick twice huh? Did you forget about my armor?" Swiss Miss taunted.
"No." Gwen said simply as she used her free hand to chop Swiss Miss' neck knocking her out. That had been easier than she thought it would be. Then again she'd had all the physical advantages and only lost the first fight because she was distracted by the flash from Eddie Brock's camera.
Well the police would be arriving soon thanks to that explosion. So it was time to leave, but before she did that she webbed up Swiss Miss and left her calling card and making sure to leave her Spider Seal on Swiss Miss' forehead. Spinnerette had redeemed herself. Now it was time to go home.
Peter smiled as he read the retraction J. Jonah Jameson had been forced to print in the Daily Bugle. After Gwen had caught Swiss Miss and the Mutant had denied to the police that she'd ever worked with Spinnerette he'd had eat his words.
"So how's it feel to finally have that guy off your back Gwen?" He asked. Gwen put down her pen, she'd been working on a letter to someone named Kitty Pryde that she'd met at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.
"I don't think I've heard the last of J. Jonah Jameson unfortunately," she said with a sigh, "He's a very rich man and ever since his son died he's had a bone to pick with superheroes. I'm sure he'll find some other reason to attack Spinnerette and others like her and he'll probably go broke trying to discredit us."
Peter took a moment to muse on just how sad that was before speaking, "You're probably right, but I can't help but feel bad for him. He lost his son and he's looking for someone to blame."
"Yes, but that doesn't make what he's doing right." Gwen said.
"So what were you writing to Kitty?"
"Oh just the usual, making sure everything is still on the up and up at that school she's at. Though it occurs to me that her replying to my letters doesn't mean much with a guy there who can modify memories. Still I can't just abandon her to be possibly brainwashed by those people. That's why I'm writing the second part of this letter."
"Second part?" Peter asked.
"I was asking if she can come visit next weekend. If she can I'll go get her and come back. If she can't… I'll go anyway because I'll be worried something is going on. Plus I thought you might like to have someone other than me to come see you for once." Gwen explained.
"I like it when you come see me Gwen. Are you worried you can't trust yourself alone with me anymore?" Peter asked with a teasing wink.
"Why wouldn't I trust myself to be alone with you?"
"Well you did kiss on the cheek me that one time, something we really haven't addressed since then." Gwen blushed.
"When did you get so confident?"
"I guess being around a pretty girl you like almost every day will do that to you. I've just gotten comfortable around you."
"I've gotten comfortable too. I won't lie. I'd be willing to explore being a couple… when we're a little older. After all we're only fourteen and I have a lot on my plate right now. This isn't a no Peter, it's just a rain check."
"I understand," Peter said with a smile, "and I'm going to hold you to that Gwen."