Throwing back the covers with a frustrated sigh, Gwen sat up on the edge of the bed and glanced over her shoulder at Peter, who was still sound asleep. It was the middle of the night and try as she might, she just couldn't sleep. Checking once more to make sure that he hadn't woken up, she got to her feet and tiptoed across the room towards the door. She placed her hand over the catch to muffle the clicking sound as she opened it and did the same as she closed it behind her. Continuing down the stairs, she headed over to the back door and sat down on the steps on the back porch. Taking a deep breath of the cold night air, she looked up at the stars strewn across the pitch black sky and gave a weak smile.
With everything that had been going on recently, she'd barely had any time at all to think about her family, but now... In the dead of night, when all is quiet and there is no fighting, the horror was fresh in her mind. Every time she'd attempted to close her eyes, she found herself back in the family apartment, following the blood trail and finding one of Harry's biggest sins. It was a pain that she knew would always be there and all she could do was attempt to get over it. Wake up every morning, force the pain onto the back burner and focus on her new life. The life she'd chosen for herself with Peter; the life of a superhero.
"Gwen..." She heard her name spoken softly.
She gasped and turned around quickly. Having not expected anyone to come out here since she was the only one awake, she quickly made herself somewhat presentable and focused her attention on who'd spoken.
"I thought that you were still asleep." She mumbled.
"I was... Until I felt you get out of bed and leave the room." Peter informed her.
"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." She said, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm as the cold began to nip at her.
"Meh, don't worry about it. Sleep is for the elderly." He quipped.
"Well, we should probably at least try to get some sleep before the night sky disappears." She stated, reaching for the door.
"Gwen..." He called.
"What?" She questioned.
"I know." He said vaguely.
"You know what?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That you've been struggling when all is said and done and everything is silent." He elaborated.
"Peter..." She began.
"No, it's okay. I understand the way you feel and I know why, but I don't resent you for it. While I didn't choose to have these powers, I did choose to be someone that the city depends on and despite my decision, I sometimes feel pretty crappy about things myself, so I want you to know that it's okay to have a shred of regret at times." He interjected.
Gwen let her hand fall back down by her side and sat back down on the porch steps, patting the empty space next to her for him to sit besides her. He looked towards the door for a brief second and then sat down beside her.
"I don't regret it at all." She informed him.
"You don't have to hide it from me, I can see it in your eyes." He pushed.
"I'm not hiding anything. Peter, whatever it is that you see in my eyes... It isn't regret. I don't regret this lifestyle, I don't regret anything that has happened between us and I sure as hell do not regret being with you. Does that mean I wouldn't change anything? No, because if I'm being fully honest there is one thing I would change... But it's not you or us. The only thing I regret... That I would change is how much we both have lost." She declared.
Peter stared at her as she spoke and he could tell just by the way that she looked up at the stars that she was being sincere. He tore his eyes away and followed her stare up to the sky, where he focused on one little star in particular; larger than the rest, and brighter too.
"You see that star right there?" He questioned, giving her a nudge with his shoulder.
"Yeah. What about it?" She asked, adjusting her head to get a proper look.
"In that one are the souls of everyone we love that we have lost. You can tell just by how much it stands out to us against the million other stars in the sky." He explained.
He took his eyes off of the star he was describing and watched as she stared at it, most likely pondering his words too. Though what he enjoyed most about sitting out here with her at this hour, was the serenity. In their crazy lives it was rare to get a moment of peace, but he was okay with that because it made those rare times all the more special. He couldn't help but smile in contentment as he saw the way the twinkling star was reflecting in her eyes, causing a warm glow, it made him feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.
"It's a hard drive?" Peter questioned.
"That's what it looks like. Let's plug it into the laptop and see what we get." Gwen suggested, examining the cube. "Do you have a USB lead?" She questioned.
"Uhh... Yeah." He answered, digging it out from underneath a pile of paper on his desk.
Gwen took the small lead from Peter as he handed it to her and connected the bigger end into the laptop and the smaller one into the cube. They sat on the bed waiting for it to load for a second and when a small folder icon appeared on the screen, she didn't hesitate to click on it. Inside the folder was a document titled PJ1-SS, with an added note underneath; DO NOT CLICK.
"PJ1-SS?" Peter questioned, looking at Gwen. "Is that code for something?" He added.
"I guess we're about to find out." She said, moving the mouse pad to click on the file.
"Wait!" He almost yelled.
"What?" She asked, retracting her hands from the laptop.
"If it says do not click, then don't you think it could be some sort of virus or something?" He pointed out.
"Well, it's not impossible... But I'm willing to bet that the reason they put that in the label is because if this cube falls into the wrong hands, they don't want anyone knowing of their plans." She stated, proceeding to click on the file.
The file loaded in a matter of seconds into a written document, again with the title PJ1-SS. Underneath the title was a video. Gwen briefly glanced at Peter, wanting to read his expression to see what he was thinking, but his mouth was in a firm line and his eyes focused solely on the screen. Her mind racing with thoughts and ideas, she loaded up the video and expanded the screen. The recording started out with only static, before the picture finally came into focus revealing Norman Osborn once again with Richard Parker on the ground floor of the Oscorp headquarters.
"My father knew about this?" Peter questioned in disbelief, sounding almost disappointed.
"I'm sorry, Peter. I know it probably hurts to have to see this." Gwen sympathized, hitting the pause button.
"Not at all. My parents were shady, it's no secret. It doesn't hurt me... Just disappoints me a bit that he was even involved with such a place." He explained.
"But I used to..." She began, but trailed off.
"Oh God, no! Gwen, I'm not disappointed in you for spending time there at all, so please don't think that. What I meant was that my father got involved with their darkest secrets... Which is what disappoints me." He clarified.
"Let's keep watching. The sooner we get this over with, the better." She said, resuming the video.
The recording progressed past the intro and soon, Richard Parker disappeared behind the camera, operating it whilst Norman headed over to one of the first diagrams on the whiteboard; one that went into detail about Electro, revealing that Maxwell Dillon's accident wasn't entirely coincidental. It had all been set up by Oscorp that a tragedy would befall an unfortunate worker, enabling them to be able to turn him into something much more powerful.
After Norman was done going over their plans for him, they moved on to the next diagram; The Sandman. Although he was not one of their intended creations, they had captured him and used him for testing and experimenting. Norman went on to explain how he'd started off as another one of New York's most wanted criminals, but after falling into an experimental particle accelerator while running from law enforcements, it had bound him with the sand, creating yet another extraordinary being.
Gwen sped up the video as Norman continued to talk about all these different beings, until finally he'd gotten to the last one. She paused it again, looking at the diagram on the whiteboard behind Harry's father and then turning to Peter.
"This project is supposedly called the Sinister Six, right?" She prompted.
"Yeah... Why?" He asked, confused.
"Because Norman has already been through six beings. This one is the seventh." She pointed out.
"Hmm... That's odd. Let's see what this last one is." He suggested, pressing play on the video once more.
Gwen watched closely as the camera zoomed in on the diagram and her eyes widened as the camera turned around, focusing on a black substance kept in a rather large glass tube.
"That's it!" She exclaimed.
"What on earth are you talking about?" He asked.
"Peter, that's it! That's the thing that was pawing me in the dark!" She cried, relieved to have found some answers.
"Errh... Now Gwen, you know I love you to the moon and back, but that thing is in a freaking giant test tube... I don't think that it would be able to get out of there so easily... Also, it looks like a giant melted liquorice." He pointed out.
Her smile faded upon hearing his words and she turned to him with a scowl, not knowing whether to yell at him or cry. She may not have seen this thing, but she was certain that it was the only thing that could possibly fit the description of what it felt like. It wasn't hard for her to understand that he needed to see it to believe it, but it angered her that even now, he still doubted her account.
"First of all, this video was filmed over fifteen years ago and that thing could have easily gotten out by now, Lord knows that those radioactive spiders sure did. Second of all, it was dark and I didn't see anything either, but I know what it felt like and I'm telling you that whatever that thing was, is exactly what we're looking at here. And thirdly, if you're going to doubt me then don't try and sweeten it up with an ''I love you." She snapped.
Peter thought it through for a moment, his cheeks flushing pink as he took in what she was saying. Before he made any kind of decision however, he wanted to know what this thing was.
As things fell silent between them, they tuned back into the video, learning a few things about this mysterious substance; the first was that it was a symbiote... Rather dangerous if ever it should become attached to a host. The second was that they had named it Venom. Watching on, Norman soon explained that a host does not choose to combine with Venom, instead it chooses its own host based on strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the video came to an end and realization dawned on Gwen; it was in fact, Venom that had been with them in the dark that day and more than likely trying to make her its host.
"Okay... Now, I believe you." Peter stated, sitting in disbelief over what they'd just watched.
"That's great, but don't you have something else you want to say to me." She pushed, still unimpressed with him.
"Of course. Gwen, look, I'm sorry that it took me this long to believe you and that I ever doubted you on it in the first place. Now that I have seen the evidence for myself, I know that whatever happened down there with Venom... It sounds dangerous. So I think we should try to stop Harry from getting his hands on any of it. Project Sinister Six and Venom could be deadly if it falls into his hands." He explained.
"Alright, I forgive you." She decided. "And I think that you're right, we need to put a plan into action to ensure that Harry doesn't get his hands on any of it." She added.
"So, what's our move?" Peter asked.
"First thing's first... We bury this. Somewhere it won't be found." She put forward.
With that being said, she unplugged the cube from the USB lead and shut the laptop down. She slipped the cube back in her bag and then lifted the strap over her shoulder, waiting for Peter to make a move.
"Or we destroy it." He suggested.
"Do you think that's wise?" She questioned.
"I'm not sure, I was just spitballing ideas." He shrugged.
"Perhaps we should just hide it, I mean it could become important later on. I think it's best that we hide it and don't tell a single soul." Gwen decided.
Peter nodded. "Well, I think I have the perfect place." He stated.
Gwen's eyes lit up in anticipation as Peter took her by the hand and led her out of the house and away. She allowed him to lead her through all the hustle and bustle of the city until he came to a stop just before a set of steps that led into a subway station.
"Uh... What are we doing here?" She questioned.
"Ah, now just wait and see." He hushed, leading her down the concrete steps.
Down in the underground, she noticed instantly that something was different about this one compared to others that she had been in before. There was only one platform in the entire lot and an unmoving train with its doors open, but that wasn't even the most chilling part; there was an eerie silence from the lack of people. Not a single person was down there other than the two of them.
"Why are we down here?" She asked.
"Why do you think?" He retorted.
"There's really only a few reasons why people come down to these abandoned subway lines." She began.
"And what are they?" He prompted.
"To kill someone, to make out, to play hide the sausage or to keep a secret." She listed, raising her eyebrow.
"And, which out of those would you say we're here for?" He asked.
"Well, I know it can't be to make out since we've never had to sneak around together and we're not horny teenagers either so either you've brought me here to kill me or you have a hiding spot down here." She narrowed it down.
"Hmm... I'd have to be pretty damn stupid to even think about killing you, I'm a hundred percent certain that I would be lost." He hinted.
"Which only leaves hiding something... Is this something the cube?" She questioned.
"Correct..." He confirmed, holding out his hand and waiting for her to hand him the cube.
Gwen took it out of her bag and placed it in his hands, following closely behind as he walked over to the edge of the platform and inside the stationery train. She was about to speak up when he knelt by one of the seats and lifted up the fabric to reveal a little hidden compartment, then placed the cube inside before sealing it back up again.
"Peter, are you sure that it's going to be safe here?" She questioned.
"My father used to hide things down here himself, and other than he and my mom, we're the only ones who know about it, so I think it'll be just fine." He assured her.
She nodded, accepting his answer and choosing to trust that the cube would be safe where he'd hidden it. He got back to his feet and turned to her with a smirk plastered on his face that made her question what was going through his mind now. The smirk on his face only increased as he moved towards her, placing his hands on her hips as he reached her.
"Now that you mention it... I do kind of wonder what it's like to have to hide down here from people." He mentioned.
"Oh yeah?" She questioned with a curious smile. "Wanna try it out?" She challenged him.
"Does this answer your question?" He retorted, placing his hand below her chin and lifting her head gently before planting a kiss on her lips.
He pulled back for a second to read her expression, watching as she smiled in a way that he hadn't seen her do in a long time; a big toothy smile. Content with her mood, he moved in to kiss her again but jerked away in surprise as her phone rang, creating a loud echo.
"Sorry." She said, cringing at the loud volume of the ring.
Turning her attention to the screen, she swiped left to answer the call and put the phone to her ear. She didn't recognize the number, but didn't want to reject anything that could be of importance.
"Hello?" She questioned, her voice shaking as she was hesitant to speak.
"Hello, Gwen." Came her reply.
"Mom!" She gasped, almost letting the phone slip from her hand as shock overtook her.
