When we look at the night sky, we barely see anything anymore. We can recall from when we were younger, that we could see a countless number of stars floating through the night. And although we know they are ever-present, to us it feels like they've all died. Those ethereal pinpricks breathed life eternal into our realm, but they're gone now. What they left behind was a choked, rotting piece of coal drifting helplessly through space. We've spent decades watching them fade with little motivation to change any of it. Our world is drowning in people who are bent on its destruction, and we can't seem to do a single goddamn thing about it.

Gamma radiation; have you ever heard of it? A lot of different mechanisms in the Universe can produce gamma radiation, from cosmic rays to mankind's favorite example: nuclear fission. The extreme dangers of gamma radiation are probably known by most; no one wants to get hit by a nuclear explosion or be within eight kilometers of one. In case you weren't already aware, gamma radiation can penetrate just about anything which is what allows it to be undeniably deadly. Gamma radiation can destroy your cells or give you cancer, but you know what else? Gamma rays can mutate your genes.

Doctor Curt Connors wasn't using gamma radiation to achieve his lifelong dream of prolonged existence. Instead, Connors was splicing human DNA with other types of non-human creatures. He wanted to take the best survival traits from animals in the wild world and integrate these features into human beings. Connors had limited success, and what success he did have was in creating The Lizard. However, even Connors saw this as a failure. The point wasn't to turn humans into monsters, it was to make humans better. And in all his failures, Connors refused to use gamma radiation on himself or his fellow test subject Peter Parker. The reason? It was off the charts ludicrously dangerous.

There was once an unethical research lab hidden away in Pachaug State Forest in Connecticut. In this lab, they spliced human DNA with non-human DNA, similar to what Connors was doing, but time and time again they had little success. The mutations were too severe, too noticeable; they were essentially turning humans into uncontrollable beasts. And this was the case until they started using gamma radiation along with their gene splicing. Through the manipulation of gamma rays, the researchers and doctors were able to control the developmental process of the mutations. That is when their test subjects didn't die from exposure to said radiation.

This is how Spider-Woman came into existence; through the magic of gamma radiation. Gwen had known that she was exposed to some manner of radiation during her time at the research lab in Pachaug Forest. The young girl she was with, Fire-Ant, mentioned something about radiation through cries and screams of horror on an exceptionally terrible night. If it was even night; Gwen could never tell. Gwen had no idea how many people were tortured at that facility until she got a hold on Doctor Connors files.

Connors had detailed reports on everything that went on in that facility. In total, the research lab in Pachaug Forest had run experiments on seventy-seven individuals including Gwen. To Gwen's benefit; however, these people were never referred to by any given name, just a number. Recognizing a picture of her thirteen-year-old self, Gwen discovered that she was subject nineteen. As well, she found her old bunkmate Fire-Ant, who was referred to as subject twenty. There were fifty-eight people after Gwen and they were all reported as deceased before the scientists of Pachaug Forest died in a freak accident. But Gwen knew no freak accident had transpired. Gwen knew exactly what happened to the Pachaug Research Lab and everyone in it. In fact, Gwen had personally made sure that no one ever left the Pachaug research lab again.

Curt Connors had been doing genetic research for the better part of twenty years, but it seemed he'd only made significant breakthroughs in the past couple of years. These breakthroughs came to him after he managed to obtain the research files from the Pachaug Forest lab. That's when everything became a whole lot stickier and Gwen realized she should probably share all of this fascinating information with somebody.

Stephen wasn't answering Gwen's calls and she didn't know what to say in a message, so she never left one. It occurred to Gwen that there was a possibility Stephen Strange's accident was in fact not an accident at all and not a coincidence. Last time they spoke, he made it clear that he had told Gwen something he never should have. This begged the question, how could anyone have known he spoke to her? Were they listening? Were they always listening? And if so, how long had they been listening for? So, it also occurred to her, maybe staying away from Strange was the right thing to do. Or perhaps she was imagining all of this and Strange really did drink himself into that car crash. The only way to know for sure would be to talk to him, but you can't talk to someone who isn't willing to talk at all.

Not knowing if she would ever hear back from Stephen Strange, Gwen did what all good super-heroes should do. And that was to pay your local cop pal a visit.

"I haven't heard from you in over two weeks and the next thing I know, you're breaking into my apartment, again." Lee blinked his heavy and groggy eyelids at the masked woman who peered down from above his couch.

"Yeah, well, I've been a bit busy."

"Haven't we all?" Lee rubbed at his face and eyes while twisting his body into an upright position.

"You're gonna wanna see all of this." Gwen held a stack of papers in her white-gloved hand. "This is gonna make your fucking day."

Terry took a deep sniffle and scratched at the tip of his nose before glancing down at his watch. He squinted carefully at his analog watch trying to concentrate on the tiny hands. The clock read five-twenty.

"I'm going back out, on the street, in search of that lunatic lizard in forty minutes." He focused on the glowing halo that surrounded Gwen's figure. "And I wasn't done napping, so you got ten minutes."

"Why so grouchy?" Gwen faked a whine.

"I know you have your own shit to deal with, Gwen, but in case you haven't noticed, the PD is a bit fucking busy at the moment." His words snapped at her. "I don't have time to entertain the goddamn Spider-Woman."

Gwen's eyes widened and her jaw gaped. "Uh… Okay… Was it something I said?"

"Two weeks ago, you were almost killed. You were almost killed, Gwen," His words crashed down on her. "You were almost killed and you couldn't be bothered to call me, to say you were okay, to say anything."

Luckily, Lee was unable to see Gwen's flustered expression that hid behind her mask. "You came and saw me at the hospital. I was fine then and I'm still fine now."

"Captain Stacy told me what happened." Lee stood up to berate her. "A giant lizard crashed you through a window, landed on you, and slashed your face open. You could have been killed, Gwen."

"I'm pretty durable, in case you forgot," she replied with patience. No point in trying to make a bad situation worse unless you were a masochist, that is. "Lizard boy is gonna have to hit me a lot harder than that if he wants to take me on toe-to-toe."

"That is exactly what you shouldn't do!" Lee jabbed a finger in her direction. "This thing is a maniac; it's a monster and a murderer. Gwen, half of the PD is out there looking for that thing. You're either gonna get yourself killed or arrested. And… And I don't wanna see that happen."

"You can't protect me from The Lizard," Gwen's shoulders relaxed. "Bullets don't seem to do shit to this guy, if anything it just pisses him off. When they find him, if they find him, he's going to do some damage and people are going to get hurt."

"S.W.A.T. is getting involved; they carry electric sticks, shotguns, they wear riot gear. I don't even think you could take on a group of those assholes."

Gwen thought back on her accidental killing of the officer who stunned her during Alistair's trap. "I'm not worried."

"You should be," Lee's voice dropped. "Those guys aren't gonna play nice. If they get you, if The Lizard gets you; what's going to happen then?"

"Honestly I'm hoping to avoid all of that." Gwen lifted her open palms in a shrug.

"Nothing has changed, Gwen." Terry roamed to the side of the couch where he picked up a wrinkled, white button-up shirt. "While you've been doing whatever you've been doing, crime rates, murder; it's all skyrocketed in the past two weeks. And you can bet your sorry ass Kingpin has a lot more to do with all that's going bad around here."

"This is why I came to you." She dramatically dropped the stack of papers on Terry's cheap Ikea coffee table. "I found some pretty damn incriminating evidence about our lovely head honcho."

"What's this?" Lee glared at the stack of papers and slowly lifted them from the table.

Gwen let out a quick cough to clear her throat. "Doctor Curt Connors is a medical researcher who works for Oscorp and is performing unethical, illegal experiments on human beings. One of those individuals was Peter Parker and another, well, is himself. His experiments are based on illegal research which destroyed the lives of seventy-seven people resulting in the deaths of seventy-six of those people. And who did Connors get this research from? Wilson Fisk. And who is sponsoring Connors research at Oscorp? Wilson Fisk."

"Where'd you get this?" Lee asked as he flipped through pages of the document.

"I stole it," Gwen flapped her hands. "Obviously. And I didn't steal physical files. I printed them off for dramatic effect."

"You stole this?" He raised his brows at her. "This would never be admissible in a court of law, Gwen."

"Fine, okay, whatever. But maybe we can threaten him or something?" Gwen knew the papers weren't going to fly, but they had to mean something.

"You said seventy-six people died from these experiments. So, who's the person that's still alive?" Lee flipped through the papers again. "Why haven't they come forward about this? Where are they?"

"Uh…" Gwen licked her lips and crossed her arms with a weak sigh. "It's me; I'm the last person."

"You're serious?" Lee scowled at one of the pages. "Subject thirty-five was terminated today," he read off the page. "Initial results seemed positive, but unfortunately his body could not withstand the long-term gamma-ray exposure and his body became cancerous. We monitored his condition for seventy-two hours, but when it became obvious no improvements in his condition were being made... We had to destroy him." Lee paused to gape at Gwen. "Gwen… What were they doing to you?"

"Some fucked up shit," she reached over and yanked the stack of papers from his grasp. "Wilson Fisk had all of this; he gave it to Connors. You can probably make some leaps of judgment from there."

"That's great, but I don't know what you want me to do with any of this. Threatening Kingpin is not a plan, it's suicide and I can't show this to anyone."

"Maybe I could find Connors," Gwen suggested. "There's no information about his home address or family or anything like that."

"This Connors guy," Lee gestured at the papers. "You said he was doing experiments on Peter Parker and himself. Are we talking about The Lizard here?"

"I see why you're the detective."

"This is no joke, Gwen." Lee pulled on his crumpled dress shirt and started buttoning it up. "If Connors is The Lizard, you can't go after him." Lee then turned to grab his pistol from the side table next to the door.

"It's a serum," Gwen spoke up. "Remember? Like the unidentified poison you found in Peter's blood. Its effects are temporary. He isn't always The Lizard; sometimes he's just a man. And this would explain his disappearing act."

"The Lizard was targeting your dad, what does scientist Curt Connors care about your dad for?"

"Maybe Curt Connors doesn't, but the Kingpin does." Sometimes even Gwen was impressed by her own sleuthing capabilities.

"If Wilson Fisk is funding Connors research, what is Wilson Fisk getting in return?" Lee asked rhetorically.

"So, are you gonna help me? With Curt?"

"I'll see what I can do," Lee hesitated to grab the knob on his apartment entrance. "Right now, everything is a bit crazy. It might take a while before I can discretely get this guy's info."

"The sooner the better, but I'll take what help I can get." Gwen started back toward Lee's tiny living room window.

"Gwen," Lee turned to away from the door to face her. "I'm sorry about what happened to your friend."

"Strange," Gwen released a short breath. "We all make mistakes."

"It seems like he got it pretty bad, from what I heard."

"Turns out I'm not interested in talking about it," she quickly brushed him off. "But I appreciate the concern."

The waiting game was the worst game if you didn't already know Gwen's feelings about it by now. Waiting was always filled with a sense of dread and always followed by the unspeakable or something else dire. Night had fallen, and the muggy warmth of summer had begun stretching its fingertips into the spring evenings. Gwen never knew a day of silence in New York, not even at night. No matter where you went, the streets were filled with the constant vibration of neon signs, jumbo LEDs, and undying traffic. This was in addition to the endless moaning and yapping of the many New York residents.

Gwen was slouching on a fire-escape roughly concealed behind an awning that draped above a hole-in-the-wall Indian restaurant with smells that taunted her stomach into making beastly howls. In retrospect, it wasn't a convenient place to hide, but it was out of sight from her father's police cruiser. This time, they were grabbing dinner at a different diner than before. Oh yippee, Gwen cheered in her mind; something different for once.

Two of the officers, not including her father, stepped out of the vehicle and exchanged a glance with a short nod. Was that normal; was that some sort of officer, policey, sign thingy that Gwen was unaware of? It was odd that the pair decided against entering the diner but instead headed for a confined alley on its south-facing side. Was that also normal, Gwen wondered? And it most assuredly was not because only a few seconds later her father exited the cruiser literally scratching his head.

"Up to no good?" Gwen unfurled from her crouching position to look over the awning. They were absolutely going down the dark, narrow, and probably scary as most alleys in New York were, alley. Her father, still showing confusion, trotted after the two officers. Gwen propelled herself off of the escape and landed on the diner's roof to get a better view of the straying police.

"Hey!" her dad yelled after them. "Hey! What's going on?" But despite his shouts, the two fellow officers continued to wander into the darkness. The claustrophobic alley led to nothing but a flat brick wall that offered no means of escape. The whole scene stunk of a trap.

Gwen could feel a lump in her throat as her heart began pounding in her chest. "What is this?" she whispered at herself.

The two men finally came to a halt at the dead end and turned to face George. "Captain," one of them spoke.

In the same instance, from the shadows that cascaded down the tight walls, a seven-foot-long creature slithered to the ground. As it stood up, a vicious grin of wet teeth grew across the monster's face.

"No- Connors?" Gwen could have sworn her heart exploded that very second.

George Stacy was a man of composure and not easily driven into shock. He knew something was wrong the moment they stepped into that alley, but only now had everything become clear. Officers Falk and Marino had made no secrets in their personal thoughts about Hydra. Both of them were proud supporters of the President and even prouder supporters of Hydra and all they've done. But George had never doubted the two's loyalty as police officers of the NYPD. Any other day of the week, if you would have asked George, he would have told you that both Falk and Marino were fine officers and fine men; they were good men, or so he had always thought.

A hiss came from The Lizard's mouth, "Captain."

Gwen dropped down from the edge of the diner's roof, blocking Connors' line of sight on her father.

The two officers unholstered their pistols and pointed them at Spider-Woman. If they were going to fire at this range, one of two things would happen. They were either going to hit Spider-Woman or if she moved out of the way, they were going to hit her father.

"Connors!" Gwen yelled as she held her arms out and took a step back closer to George.

The Lizard snarled at her, "What?!"

Both Falk and Marino tightened their grips on their weapons and glanced over at The Lizard. "Get it over with," Falk spoke to The Lizard trying to hide his nervousness.

George stepped out from behind Spider-Woman. "This isn't going to end well, for anyone." He didn't have any illusions about how this situation was going to play out.

"Put the weapons down, boys-" However, before Gwen could finish, Marino started recklessly unloading his clip in her direction. He had been waiting for Captain Stacy to move out of harm's way.

Not wanting to be left out, Falk also started shooting at the friendly spider. Gwen ricocheted between the alleyway's walls and hopped back on the diner's roof for some much-needed cover.

At this point, Captain Stacy managed to draw his own pistol, but it made little difference in the end. Only a few feet away, The Lizard sprinted up to George and wrapped its scaly, clawed fingers around the man's throat. With a long exhale, Gwen peered over the ledge of the diner to watch her father get throttled by The Lizard. She had a split second to panic before a well-aimed bullet cut clean through her right shoulder.

Gwen flipped on to her back and continued to use the diner rooftop as cover. She overheard a gargling yelp as every muscle in her body tensed up. Being shot to death; why did it matter anymore? She flung herself over the roof with one hand, ensuring her foot had a bead on Falk's easily destructible head. More shots were fired as her body raced to the ground. Two bullets managed to nick her, but their effects were inconsequential. Her outstretched foot made contact with Falk's chin which instantly knocked him to the ground. Insistent on stopping Spider-Woman, Marino let off an additional shot despite his comrade's unconscious condition. This shot lodged itself straight into Gwen's right forearm, but it did not shake her steady rage. She launched a string of webbing at Marino's face and tugged him down to the cement in one fluid motion.

Held in The Lizard's behemoth talons was the limp body of Captain George Stacy. Paralyzed by shock, Gwen watched The Lizard's crooked grin grow wider as he released the Captain's body. George stiffly tumbled to the ground in silence. Tumbling over herself in a hurry, Gwen fell on her knees next to her father's body. Her vision became blurred with tears and when she gazed up to scream at Connors, he had already disappeared.

George Stacy showed zero signs of life. His spine had been broken and his neck had been crushed; there was no chance for resuscitation.

"It's over," Falk had found the strength to raise his broken face from the ground and threaten the Spider-Woman by pushing the muzzle of his pistol into the back of her skull. "You're under arrest for the murder of Captain Stacy."

"Just shoot me," she murmured in response.

"I'm afraid Kingpin wants you alive," he spoke as he shoved the gun forward causing Gwen's head to bend forward.

Slowly, Gwen turned her head so she could meet Falk's eyes. "I'm afraid I don't care what Kingpin thinks."

Marino, who had also managed to pick himself back up, approached the two while carrying a stun baton in one hand.

Seeing this, Gwen warned them, "That didn't end so well last time, I don't think it's going to end well this time." She was looking forward to being hit with that baton.

"Pipe it," Marino snarked as he wound up before smacking Gwen across the face.

Startled awake by sirens getting closer, Gwen jumped up from the ground to observe her surroundings. Before she regained full awareness, her recollection of the recent events felt like a dream; she hoped it was a dream. Time and time again, nightmares would haunt her, horrific visions filled her mind, and the dreadful came true. In that moment, everything became surreal. What had transpired; there was no way it could be true, could it?

Back here, in this world, in this reality, awake from the dreams, nothing ever ended like a fairytale. With the stench of atmosphere still lingering in the air, Gwen noticed that Falk and Marino were dead. She was right; it didn't end well. If a shred of what was left in her cared for the world, she may have felt guilt over accidentally killing them. But there wasn't a shred of anything left in her. It was true; her father was dead. There was no avoiding it or ignoring it or missing it. Sprawled in the alleyway in front of her, she could see him and she felt nothing inside of him. No heartbeat, no breath, no synapses still firing away. There was nothing.

George Stacy never found out that Spider-Woman was in truth, his own daughter. Stacy died with low regard for the masked vigilante and few of his last thoughts were about what the killer spider was doing and why she was attempting to help him. There was always too much left to say and too much left to do. But life had always been this way because it was kinda funny like that. There were a thousand last words he wanted to give his wife and his son, but instead, he had said the mundane things we all say. Have a nice weekend and I'll see you guys when you get back, were his final words to his wife and son. They weren't the last words he spoke to Gwen though. No, his last words to her were: Maybe you should go see him. They were undramatic and inconsequential, but they reminded George of how much pain she must have been in. When the world takes, it takes and takes and takes again. It might even seem like the Universe isn't the type of place to give back.

"Don't give up, Gwen," these were George Stacy's final words. Because even when the world seems to be collapsing in on itself, there is always hope for something better. There is always hope that the sun will rise again, the clouds will part, and your life will get better. The trick is to keep going no matter what, no matter how difficult it may seem. If you don't try, nothing will get better; the world won't get better. People still need to try.

Unfortunately, nobody heard George's final words. Not even Spider-Woman, the one person in the Universe who could have used them the most.