? woke up. Gwen woke up? They had all of Gwen's memories but it didn't feel like they were Gwen. Gwen had opened Murderdock's vial, they had jumped out and surrounded herself. They? She? What was gender again? Didn't matter.

Murderdock was their enemy. He had tortured them before stuffing them in a vial. Done some experiments? Studied them? Whatever you'd call it. He had also on multiple occasions targeted her to make her life a living hell.

He wouldn't let Gwen be for long. Not after he realized that she had opened the vial. They needed to go on the offensive.

S.H.I.E.L.D. had a surveillance team ready, she reminded herself. They might not be able to use anything as evidence if ? attacked first...

They wanted to hit something. She might be a bit too aggressive now. She? Was she a she? Were they a they? Again that gender thing, but they also had to consider the possibility that they could be two.

Symbiote. ? was a symbiote. Gwen was a symbiote, why should ? be the symbiote. Then again ? was both of them, sort of. And regardless both halves had to be symbiotes by the definition of the word, but the non-Gwen part was part of the species people often called Symbiote. A Symbiote with a capital 'S'.

Murderdock, their mind provided; bringing them back on track. He would be a problem, but they'd anticipate it, act first. Not by attacking him though, maybe attacking his criminal business? Something without a clear, provable, tie to him, or that would make him a criminal if he revealed said tie.

The only problem was that he had sacrificed it all to come after Gwen last time around so they had no idea what business dealings he had anymore. Who his allies were or what company he kept.

But she knew who his former allies were, and to exploit it she'd need her suit. Or rather they needed to look the part. ? changed the shape and color of their exterior layer, the part of them that surrounded 'Gwen's body', made it look like the Ghost-Spider suit.

Their first stop was Hell's Kitchen, a little sushi and ramen place called Oishii to be precise. It was a known Hand front, though no one had ever been able to prove it.

They barged into the back room, not bothering with being polite or about any trespassing/probable cause issues. They found a number of staff minding their own business.

"Where's your boss."

One of them pointed to another door, they opened it without knocking.

"Who are you? You think you can just come in here and treat me like a second class citizen just because I'm Asian? I'll have you know I know my rights!" He was a short man, slightly on the chubby side and well into the process of balding. His watch was gold though, Rolex probably, suggesting more money than the restaurant was likely to produce.

"I'm sure you do, and I'm equally sure lots of superheroes keep pestering you whenever they're looking for the Hand so I'll be quick.

"Let them know Matthias Murdock is back in town, and unless they give me everything they have on him I'll consider them his allies again, which means I'll attack them without reservation." They weren't sure, but considering Murderdock's goons had worn gray, instead of the Hand's signature red, ? figured they might not be part of the Hand anymore.

"Is that all," he scoffed, "doubt they'd care about just one superhero."

"Just deliver the message," ? said as they left.

"Hey, I'm not working for them," he called behind them.

They didn't turn back to him when they answered. "Don't care."

The hand fronts were easy. Few of them were so obvious about their illegal dealings that they'd draw weapons on every superhero that tried to goad them into a fight. Fisk's were the polar opposite. They were obviously criminal but hard to trace back to him.

There was a lot to be said about just attacking his things and hoping you'd make his business go into the red, chiefly that it didn't work because of how many cops would just 'loose the evidence'. She hated corrupt cops.

As consequence, breaking into one of the front's to leave a message would be a big hassle, but he did have legit businesses as well, and an office you could book an appointment with. They didn't bother with an appointment though.

"Wait, Mr. Fisk is in a meeting right now."

They ignored the secretary, just like they ignored the office workers after they had entered through an open window.

Fisk, in his white suit, and some guy in a dark blue suit were discussing something, but both became silent when the door flew open.

"I'd ask you to be careful with the doors, because they're expensive, but something about you barging in here makes me suspect that you wouldn't care." Fisk shot them a glare.

"Matthias Murdock is back in town."

"My old lawyer, what does he have to do with anything?"

They rolled their eyes. Deniability, they could play ball.

"Nothing, really. Seems like he's a criminal as well, might have business with your old friends so I thought I'd see what you might know about it."

"Nothing at all, I assure you. My parole strictly stipulates that I don't have any contact with known criminals." So he wouldn't tell them in person.

"Then I guess I'll have to pay all of them a visit myself. I think Hammerhead should know, right? Of course if he doesn't I'll have to beat him and your other friends until one of them remembers something. I hear he hangs at the docks these days?" They'd made that last part up; it was just where they suggested to meet him.

"He was the type to know things, yes, but I wouldn't know his whereabouts."

They turned around and walked out the door.

"Weren't you a criminal? Killed a boy if I recall."

She struggled to keep her outer layer from changing, from adding spikes to her shoulder or becoming black."I was wanted for questioning. They caught the killer."

They left.

Kamala was worried. She worried about Gwen, her missing teammate, she worried about Dante, even if the doctors said he was fine and fit to fight villains with them again, and she worried about Daisy, who was getting desperate in her search for Gwen.

She looked like she'd stayed up all night searching, with heavy bags under her eyes and slightly more messy hair than usual. She didn't show her desperation though not in her face or how she acted, at least not if you looked at her actions individually. It was only when you took her actions as a whole that it was clear how stressed their missing teammate was making her, it was the lack of breaks, that she had been intermittently calling people or searching the streets herself... 'Patrolling' she'd called it, as if the team didn't know who she was really looking for.

Kamala was almost surprised the police didn't have an APB out on her, but that would have probably done more harm than good once J. Jonah Jameson heard about it. Or Captain Stacey if they put the APB on Gwen instead of Ghost-Spider.

"Why don't you take a break? The world won't end if you nap for a few minutes."

"I have work to do." Daisy kept typing away at her computer. Kamala wasn't trying to snoop on her friend, she respected Daisy too much for that, but she could tell that whatever she was doing was S.H.I.E.L.D. related just from their signature color scheme, so she knew Daisy wasn't lying exactly.

"Gwen won't get hurt either..."

Daisy stopped for a second, then kept typing. "You don't know that."

"But doesn't everybody already know to look for her, what more can you do? Just rest and let the others handle it."

"I..."

Kamala's phone went off. She didn't want to check it, but it could be important.

It was a twitter notification; she'd set it so that it'd go off if someone tagged Ghost-Spider, which had led to mostly just crap, but it had just paid off. She had been sighted in Midtown.

"Daisy!" Riri called out as she ran across the room to her Iron Heart suit. "A.M.I. just found Gwen!"

Daisy shot out of her chair.

"You don't have to come though," Kamala tried; "me and Riri can handle it ourselves."

Daisy didn't stop as she headed to the elevator.

There wasn't anything else ? needed to do that day. Nothing else they could think of would help them head off Murderdock. Maybe they could try to go after other criminals, see if anybody knew what he was up to. That wasn't too likely though, he was a former Hand member after all and few people knew much about any of them.

They were on their way back to their hiding spot, to wait for night to come when they saw Gwen's friends, when they saw Daisy. They stopped on a wall.

Ms. Marvel embiggened to reach up while Iron Heart just flew closer to them.

"Ghost spider, where have you been? We were worried about you." Iron Heart said.

They changed their outer layer again, back to the black suit. Last time ? hadn't known why they left, that time they did. They weren't ready to be Gwen. Weren't ready to be Gwen again? It was complicated. And maybe it'd always be complicated; maybe they'd never be ready to be Gwen again. Did they even want to be her?

Gwen's friends recoiled when they saw them change. Ms. Marvel got angry; the others were harder to read; Daisy because she was too far away and Iron Heart because of her mask was an emotionless face-plate.

"Why did you dress up as Ghost-Spider?"

They shrugged.

"Are you Ghost-Spider?" Iron Heart asked.

Technically they were, but what would her friends do if they found out? Would they try to fix them, to make them into Gwen again? Did they want that? No, not like that, they decided, but maybe Gwen would have wanted it...

Daisy said something, making Ms. Marvel stand down for a bit, which ? took as her cue to leave. They jumped and swung away, unsure of whether the team would follow them or let them leave. Thankfully they chose the second option.

For the first time ? realized that they had lost Gwen's phone. Upon bonding they had destroyed Gwen's clothes and her phone must have dropped at that time. It wasn't a big deal but it did mean that they had no way of contacting people, other than by approaching them in person.

That in and of itself wouldn't be a problem, but they didn't want Gwen's father to worry, didn't want her friends to worry either, and definitely didn't want Daisy to worry, but actually meeting them would mean they'd have to be Gwen for a bit.

You'd think that if they had to be Gwen they'd meet Daisy, but they really weren't ready for that, so instead ? went to visit Glory, the one least likely to ask too many hard questions. The person who almost always cut Gwen the most slack.

While swinging over to Glory's apartment they worried that she might not be there, or that she wouldn't come back at all if they thought Gwen had been abducted. They might even run into S.H.I.E.L.D., but it was a risk they'd have to take.

They climbed up the wall to Glory's window, easily got it open without damaging it, that's fifth floor window security for you, and hid inside. They changed their surface layer again, this time to look like normal clothes.

As they waited for Gwen's friend, their friend? They certainly thought of her as one, but the feeling might not be mutual.

As they waited for their friend they pondered what exactly they were. Clearly they were both Gwen and the Symbiote that Murderdock had put in a vial. That part of them didn't even have a name yet, maybe it never would since they'd spent so little time in that state.

The door opened, and Glory entered, throwing her purse on her bed.

"Glory," they whispered, startling their friend.

"Jeesus, Gwen! You scared the shit out of me!" She closed the door and spoke in hushed tones, probably to hide ?'s sudden appearance from her family. "What are you doing here? Scratch that, what have you been doing since yesterday? Your 'colleagues' came by asking about you."

"What about you, thought you'd be cooped up in a safe house after my sudden disappearance." It had been a lucky break, but it was strange.

"No, they wanted me to come by in case you showed up somewhere other than your own safe house. Apparently they didn't think I'd be at more risk once the villain had gotten you.

"So about what you've been doing..."

"Work."

Glory leveled a serious stare at her. "Don't bullshit me; your colleagues didn't even know where you were."

"I realize that, it's why I'm here. To tell you, and everybody else, that I'm fine. But I'm kind of busy, trying to deal with some work related stuff, so I won't be around for a while." Was their identity crisis work related? Their problems with Murderdock definitely were, but if that was all it was they'd at least talk to S.H.I.E.L.D. about it. "Don't worry though, I'll be fine." Probably.

Glory sighed. "And I suppose you won't tell me what you're doing."

"Got it in one."

Glory hung her head slightly. "Is there anything you need for your mission?"

"Um... I kind of dropped my wallet, so cash? It might be a while before I can go back home and I don't want to starve."

"I'll see what I can get you, but you'll have to pay me back, alright? I can't really pay for a week's worth of food just before I'll be college broke." Glory went to her door.

"I promise," ? whispered.

"You'll have to come back in one piece to pay me back, you know."

? was lying on a roof, back in black, and really just waiting for night, when they'd visit Hammerhead and see about finding some Hand ninjas.

Glory really was one of their favorite people. Without too many questions she'd gathered up enough money to last them for a week and had hugged them before they left, doing her best to be reassuring.

They stood up and stretched, not that they really ever needed to stretch. As much as they wanted to deal with their troubles regarding who, or what, they were, they were just thinking in circles at that point, and it really wasn't helping. And as much as they wanted to deal with Murderdock, there was only so much they could do if they weren't going to attack him directly.

? swung around in the city, aimless, when they noticed Kamala talking with some friends that weren't from their team. They missed that. Friends, that is.

They hadn't really been comfortable talking with them; even with how supportive Glory had been, unless they told her about what they were, unless they stopped being Gwen to her, they couldn't really be comfortable in her company. And they just weren't ready for that.

They followed Kamala for a bit before they swung away.

The elevator lowered into their base. Dante had been cleared to join them again, but because of Kamala's insistence he'd agreed not to really do anything for another day. That meant he wouldn't have had a reason to be there, other than to hang out with his friends, if it weren't for that strange incident half an hour earlier.

It had been late by then and he hadn't noticed at first but he was definitely followed on his way home from the vegan doughnut place.

His friends where sitting quietly mostly frowning.

"What happened here?"

It was Kamala who answered, in a half whisper. "Well apparently Gwen is on a warpath against Murderdock, but doesn't want our help, and some weird girl in a black suit is stalking us."

Dante noticed the screen showing both a picture of the girl he saw following him just a bit earlier and a gif of Ghost-Spider transforming into her.

"It's a Symbiote, not a suit," Rayshaun said. "Actually the correct term is Klyntar, but almost no one calls them that.

"They're considered very dangerous by default and that can be bumped up to extremely dangerous if they bond to someone intelligent enough or if they're modified in a lab first."

"Well whatever she is, I saw her too." Dante told his team.

"That makes three," Rayshaun said. "Kamala, me, and you."

"Well I still think it's Gwen in there. It would explain how it knows our identities." Doreen said.

"But why would Gwen be stalking us?" he asked.

"Helloo, it is possessing our friend, obviously it thinks we'd have a problem with that. Which it's totally right about!" Doreen answered.

Daisy frowned. "We should have put a tracker on her."

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Daisy." Kamala fussed around their stoic team leader. "We couldn't have known she'd stalk us back then." She looked upset as she tried to console Daisy, who really didn't look like she needed it. Then again, Kamala was better than him at picking up on that sort of thing

"If GiB is Gwen, does that mean she isn't fighting Murderdock?" America asked.

"All we really know is that she told her band mate she was doing superhero things, but that could just as well have just been the Symbiote, right?" Doreen looked to Rayshaun.

"Yeah, maybe," he answered. "I say that regardless of who GiB is: we should capture it. If Gwen is really under that mask, then her message to Glory was probably a lie and she needs our help, if not then she's just off doing her lone-wolf thing which means we can focus on our stalker."

That sounded reasonable to him.

Doreen knocked on his door. Rayshaun was sitting at his desk, writing a digital report on GiB.

"So Kamala, Dante, and I were going to go hang out at the mall and we were wondering if you want to join us."

"Are the others coming?" He was pretty busy, and he had a whole list of things to get done that day, but teambuilding was also an important task.

"I don't know, haven't asked them yet."

"Well I'm busy with this report right now, but I could meet you there in half an hour."

"What'cha reporting on?" She leaned over his shoulder to read the screen.

"GiB. I'm writing down everything we know about her for S.H.I.E.L.D."

"What're you calling her in the report?"

"GiB?" That's what they were calling her, so what else would he write?

"What?" Doreen shouted with a horrified expression, startling him. "You can't!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's gonna be her permanent alias if you do that. At least name her something proper like Overbite- no that's stupid. Maybe Spider-Bite? Big-Bite? Jaws- no that's a movie.

"A proper super-hero slash super-villain name, basically."

"Really?" He looked at her to make sure, and she looked completely serious.

"Yes, really. Wait until one of us comes up with something good before you send your report to S.H.I.E.L.D., alright?"

"I'll wait until we go home for tonight then I'm sending it, either with GiB or whatever other name you want, okay?"

That surprised her. "You're letting me decide?"

"You're the only one who cares, Doreen."

"Alright, I'll just have to make sure I come up with something super awesome then."

After that she and most of their team went to the mall, and he finished his report.

? waited on a warehouse in the docks, the sun had set but it wasn't dark yet. Thing was, they hadn't agreed on a time, or even an exact location, their fault really, so they waited and hoped that 'at sun-set' was an obvious enough time to assume they'd meet up. Otherwise they'd probably have to wait until midnight.

They had already changed their surface to look like their Ghost-spider suit before they got there, complete with a backpack to put anything he gave them into, just in case Hammerhead had his people on the lookout for them. It still took a while before he arrived in a car, as if to prove that the docks weren't his usual base of operations.

"Ah, Ghost-Spider, I heard you're looking for Mathias Murdock these days." He looked their way as they jumped down from the roof.

"He started it. Personally I was sure the Hand had killed him already."

"Yes, well, he got some new associates who make it rather troublesome to go after him."

"Figured, so who is it?" they asked as they came within punching distance of Hammerhead.

"That's the thing, see, it isn't one group or organization, it's everybody. He's situated himself as somewhat of a peace broker, a neutral party; got chummy with half of the underworld by now. If anybody targets him, he's got it set so all parties he's worked with come to help him.

"In New York alone that makes five decently sized organizations that are backing him up, among them Man-Wolf's gang, who I've heard you're familiar with."

"Anything else I need to know?"

"We have some of their locations on file." He waved a file folder in his hand. "You could go after them right now if you wanted."

"I'll cross reference my own files if it's all the same to you." They took the file from him, flipped through it quickly, then tucked it into their backpack. They did so without taking said backpack off since it was actually a part of them.

Hammerhead raised an eyebrow.

? didn't like the way he looked at them, like he was trying to figure them out. It reminded her of Murderdock just a bit too much despite the fact that Murderdock never looked at anything.

"Is this everything?"

He nodded. "It's everything we'll give you. At least for now."

They swung away.