Part Three

            Peter stood in the dance club blankly. He had stood here for two minutes without so much as shaking his leg. He watched everyone, people here ranged from bizarre to simply quirky.

            Gwen smiled at a guy she had danced with for only a moment and then focused her much-desired attention back on Peter. "Come on, what's wrong?"

            "I can't do this." Peter replied shamefully.

            "It's not that hard, all you have to do is move naturally." Gwen assured her boyfriend, "Just move with me."

            "No, it's not that." He interrupted regretfully, "I can't do this. I can't be with you anymore." He yelled over the loud music. Peter almost wished he hadn't heard her, but her face showed it clearly enough.

            Gwen stopped moving, "Why?"

            "Can we talk somewhere a little more private?" Peter asked and pulled Gwen from the crowd towards a wall. The music wasn't as loud here allowing him to speak without yelling.

            Gwen stared at him coldly almost making Peter back out of it all together. "There's someone else." He said very humbly, "I've been trying to tell you, but something kept coming up."

            "Who is she?"

            Peter gulped and took the plunge, "Mary Jane."

            "That slut?" Gwen yelled out furiously as she imagined a knife was being stabbed into her back, "You're dumping me for her!"

            "Please, understand, I didn't mean for this, I really care about you, but it's just I did a lot of thinking." Peter placed his hand on her shoulder trying to calm her rage, "Ever since I came back this has been a problem. It gnawed at me and I needed to tell you."

            Gwen was silent, he could see tears in her eyes; "I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."

            Peter nodded, "I'll be right here." He said gently. Gwen walked off into the bathroom of the club. He gazed across at the dancers. They were a ragged bunch, not the crowds he was used to. Peter had always been a little sloppy when it came to taking care of him but this was too much for him. It felt like every eye was focused on him, waiting to see if he would do something.

            Peter felt that tingling again; it wasn't an immediate danger but something that could hurt him. He turned to his side and gazed at a corner of the club filled with people. Something was wrong with them, they were packed together, had seen this sort of group before on the streets. Peter spotted a syringe being passed around and frowned.

            A few more minutes passed and he became worried, he saw the same sort of scene going on all over the club, different drug same results. Peter then realized Gwen hadn't been back yet. Now wasn't the time to play it safe.

            He walked over to the women's bathroom and closed the door behind him; the scent of urine was strong here. Peter moved into the bathroom and found Gwen on the floor, crying, with a man on top of her, doing as he pleased.

            Peter lunged forward, "Get off her!" He threw the man away straight through the bathroom door smashing it away. "Gwen!" Peter rushed over to her, "What happened?"

            She was shaking quietly.

            "Come on, let's go." Peter picked her up to her feet and held her get dressed again, all the time there was a terrifying silence. Gwen was crying, Peter was trembling and both of them were anxious for the other to say something to say it would be okay. Neither did.

            Peter led her out of the bathroom keeping his arm around her. "Relax." He said feeling how tense she was, "We're leaving." The patrons of the club watched him contemptuously as if he had violated their way of life. He stared back at them angrily. A few bowed their heads in shame.

            This wasn't new, he could tell. Peter had knocked heads together in these kinds of places before.

            They made it to the top landing when somebody in the crowd said, "I think she wanted it."

            Peter stopped, something clicked in his head and he faced them. "You'd stand by and make excuses for it. You'd blame the victim; find a scapegoat anything to keep the responsibility away from you. In the end there's nothing I can do to change your minds." He shrugged, "Maybe you'll keep doing it, I don't know, but just remember that you are being watched and certain people don't forget faces as easily as some of you. There's something to chew on when you get some undeserved sleep tonight."

            "Where is he?" The HobGoblin clamored over another burning wreck of a home. "I'm beginning to run out of homes." He powered his glider and began to head for another street block.

            "Eventually I'm going to hit something he cares about."

            "Thanks for helping me." Gwen said quietly as Peter held her during their walk to her home.

            Peter nodded, "It wasn't a problem…Has that ever happened before?"

            Gwen closed her eyes, "I'd rather not talk about this right now." She replied sheepishly, "When did you guys hook up?"

            "We sort of eased into it." Peter replied. He could see the pain in her eyes, "I'm so sorry."

            "It's alright I guess I had a feeling. I should have known." Gwen shrugged, "Peter, answer the question, please."

            He sighed heavily, "I'm Spider-Man."

            She nodded, "That's why MJ knows. You love her. I was afraid of this, I could see how you look at each other since the first time we were all together. The dance, do you remember the dance?"

            "Yeah, I do." Peter quietly replied, "You were beautiful that night."

            Gwen smiled and clutched his gently, "You were the hero. This is the end for us? It's over?"

            Peter slowly nodded, "In that way, yes." He could almost see the words crushing what was left of her fortitude.

            They had reached the steps that led to her home. The house was quiet, the kind of place that people living in cities save up for. "She's lucky, tell her I said that." Gwen placed her hand on Peter's cheek, "I won't tell a soul. Goodbye, Pete."

            He watched her leave him and enter her home and with it was over. There was dual sense of relief and sadness in him. Peter had learned about a part of Gwen that was not unlike the suffering MJ had experienced. It made him realize how much a façade can look like the real thing.

            Something halted his thoughtful introspection. There was a light in the distance, it was a fire and smoke was coming from it, covering the sky in a fog of death. Peter stared into the fire silently and then something was carried along the air. Somebody was laughing.