Gwen woke up at the sound of her alarm and rubbed her eyes. It was Thursday; there were only two more days until the weekend. On the other hand, there was only one day left until her back assignments were due. She had completed part of it last night but had grown fatigued rather quickly. Additionally, she had been distracted by worries about being trapped in this dimension for the rest of her abbreviated life.
Out of curiosity and suspicion, she had paid more attention to her atomic disjunctions. They had increased in frequency over the past five days. Also, they had become more painful and had lasted for longer.
The atomic disjunctions had been a pain during class, pun not intended. Gwen had to leave roughly once every two periods to spaz out in peace. It was a good thing that her spider-sense warned her about upcoming disjunctions, because otherwise, matters would have been even worse.
Gwen's history teacher, Mr. Adams, had grown suspicious from her asking to be excused to the bathroom every day. After she returned that day, he asked, "Forgive me for intruding, but why do you keep leaving class?"
Gwen managed to stammer out, "I-I-It's, uh, es ze feminine issues."
Mr. Adams was taken aback and stopped inquiring.
The excuse wasn't worth the laughter garnered from her classmates. Cover stories were not her forte.
Gwen returned to her room around 5 pm, thoroughly worn out. She'd had five separate atomic disjunctions, and her whole body ached, especially her head. She wanted nothing more than to relax and go web-swinging. No, that wasn't right. She wanted to go home.
An idea that had lain dormant in her head for a couple of days resurfaced. She could go to Alchemax. They had a dimensional transporter. They could help her get home.
No. That was a terrible idea. No way was she ousting herself from her undercover position just for the slim likelihood that she might be able to find help.
But it might be her only ticket back. What was the likelihood of some quantum boogaloo picking her up and tossing her home?
Gwen steeled her resolve. She was going to Alchemax. She was going home.
She flipped through her physics notes which serendipitously contained the location of the facility. She stuck all of her belongings in her backpack and donned her Spider-Woman costume. With any luck, she wouldn't return.
She took off from her dorm window and headed west. Alchemax was about two miles away as the crow flew or, alternately, as the mutant dimensional castaway swung. All that was left for her to do was to figuratively sit back and enjoy the ride.
PERSONS TAKING NOTICE
Gwen swung a bit too close to a restaurant window, and several patrons gaped at her. One of them pulled out his phone and snapped some pictures. She paid them no attention and kept going. They would never see her again.
The sun sunk ever lower as she closed in on Alchemax. Before long, Gwen was perched on top of a tall birch tree. She could see the skyscraper not too far off.
She landed at the front door to the facility and walked right in, feeling more confident than she had felt in quite some time. She rapped on the receptionist's window. The lady at the desk on the other side looked up and screamed.
"GHOST! No, wait! INTRUDER!"
SECURITY CALL
Yes, this was a terrible decision. But Gwen refused to back down from her terrible decision. It was too late, anyway.
The woman's hand inched under the table to press some manner of button. Gwen quickly pulled open the window.
"Wait wait wait!" she exclaimed.
The lady paused, her face stricken with terror.
Gwen held up her hands defensively. "I'm not a ghost. I'm not here to hurt you. I just need some help, ma'am. Please."
The secretary looked at her suspiciously. "What is it?"
"Could I talk to one of your head scientists, please? This is really urgent."
SECURITY CALL
Gwen backed away slowly as the lady glanced at something on the wall and reached back under her desk. "I, uh, we'll see abou-"
All of a sudden, a blaring alarm sounded. Gwen jolted. A voice crackled from the intercom in the ceiling: "Security breach on lobby floor. Code turquoise. Evacuate all visitors and non-essential employees immediately. I repeat, evacuate all visitors and non-essential employees immediately."
Gwen took the opportunity to burst through the door and enter the facility.
The secretary leaped up and threw out her arms to block Gwen, two seconds too late.
Gwen ran through the halls of Alchemax at random, looking for any place that seemed helpful.
Should she be here?
MEH
That definitely didn't sound promising.
Alchemax was a creepily polished place with a confusing floor plan. Did research facilities in this dimension typically consist of white-coated scientists toting handheld plasma cannons and running to stop a superhero invasion?
The facility was surprisingly well-prepared for such an unlikely scenario. Those plasma shots hurt, and the scientists had decent aim.
Maybe it wasn't all that uncommon? Maybe Spider-Pete had broken into this place before?
After beating a few nerds senseless and taking several wrong turns, Gwen stumbled across a directory placard mounted next to an elevator. She stopped and read it. Maybe what she was looking for – she wasn't quite sure what she was looking for anymore – wasn't on the ground floor.
The label for Floor B-3 read "Dimensional Studies; Neuropathic Technology; Mail Room". That looked promising. Gwen pressed the elevator call button.
Right. There was an emergency. Code purple or something. The elevator wouldn't work. She'd have to take the stairs. Where were the stairs?
Gwen looked around for a set of stairs. There was a door not far down the hall that looked like it led to some.
She ran across the hall, evading plasma cannon fire, and flung open the door.
ATOMIC DISJUNCTION
A spasm struck Gwen while she fled down the stairs. She lost her balance and fell down a level, bowling over a lady on the landing.
They pulled themselves to their respective feet.
OCTAGONS
Gwen took a look at whom she had ran into and gaped. "Doctor Octavius?"
Doctor Octavius grinned. She didn't seem taken aback by Gwen's attire. "Yep, that's my name. Sorry for knocking you down, sweetie."
"D-do you have a moment?"
The doctor, who had started climbing again, turned around. "I'm a very busy woman, but it depends. What do you need?"
Gwen pulled off her mask and stammered, "I, uh, I, you see, I'm from another dimension. D-do you, do you think you can get me home, Doctor?"
Doctor Octavius blinked, absorbing the revelation. "Hmm. Is that so? Oh, and you can call me Liv. That's what all my friends do."
"Yeah, uh, Liv, it's true. I got here almost a week ago. You do research on that type of stuff, right?"
Liv grinned. "Yes, I do."
There was something unsettling about the researcher's smile that Gwen couldn't quite identify. Maybe it was because her mouth stretched a bit too wide; maybe it was something about the slant of her brow; maybe it was the way in which her glasses reflected the harsh fluorescent light and obscured her eyes. Whatever it was, it made Gwen nervous. She started to back away.
Liv reached under her lab coat and continued, "I'll see what we can do about that."
RUN NOW
Gwen turned tail and leaped down the stairs, but a long plastic arm shot out of Liv's coat and grabbed her by the neck, smashing her head into the wall. She struggled to free herself, but its pincer grip was too powerful. The arm bashed her head into the concrete again and again until she went limp, consciousness giving way to a dizzying blackness.