Daisy wasn't sure what to do about Gwen. About Bite-size . Daisy believed her, despite what she thought about the arguments intellectually, but she couldn't just take Bite-size's word for it.
Of course, legally speaking she didn't have any evidence that Gwen had done something wrong, other than stalking them (which could lead to a restraining order but no prison time), but she had both said and done suspicious things, especially her attack on Iron Heart.
She understood the reasoning, Gwen's Spider-Sense told her about the sonic weapons aimed at her and she knew getting away would be difficult, as proven by her last escape, but the Gwen she knew, Gwendolyn, wouldn't have done that. The question was if that was because Gwenom was in charge or because what Gwen had said was true, and she was a different person.
If Bite-size was just pretending to be Gwen then they'd have her on kidnapping as well, which could get her sentenced to prison, but if not they probably wouldn't want the police involved.
She needed help, and there was only one person she knew who had the experience she needed: Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel. Honestly Spider-Man or one of the good Symbiotes might have been better, wasn't like Carol had run into Klyntars all that often, but she didn't know any of them well enough to ask for help with this.
She sent a message to Carol, asking if they could meet up later that night.
Her team wasn't done interrogating Gwen, and they'd probably have to compare notes once they were done, but at that moment she'd need to be ready in case Bite-sized tried to escape. She also wanted to prepare for what to do afterwards.
"Iron Heart, can you watch the door while I make preparations?"
"A.M.I. is already monitoring the room, I should know if she tries anything long she actually escapes."
"Good. Be ready just in case."
Daisy prepared one of the sleeping rooms. They all had a designated room for themselves, but Patriot was the only one who actually lived there, everybody else either lived with their parents or in her, Dante's, and Chavez's case their own apartments.
The room Daisy prepped wasn't Gwen's, but one of the empty ones, and she made sure that it was properly sealed with the only exception being the vents.
Once she returned she'd ask Riri to whip something up to secure the vents, or at least alert them if a Klyntar tried to reach through.
"Bite-size." The younger woman flinched, but didn't move. "We're not going to arrest you, but I'd appreciate it if you stayed in a room we've prepared for you, at least until tomorrow morning." Technically she could hold Bite-size for twenty four hours without arresting her, like any American law enforcement could, but it would be better if it was voluntary.
"I... I was planning to hit another gang base tonight," Bite-size said, still motionless.
"You can say no, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't. I don't know how to handle the situation so I'm meeting with Captain Marvel later tonight to discuss it with her. I'll let you know what we decide to do in the morning."
Bite-size looked her in the eyes. "Is there a chance you'll ambush me and try to tear me apart?" The hurt in Gwen's voice was obvious, and she really didn't want to do that but...
"I..." Hiding the truth would make it easier on Daisy, probably Gwen too. "Yes." But she wanted to build some trust between them, in case they decided to let Gwen back on the team. "Part of the reason I'm asking is so we won't have to track you down if we decide that that's what we have to do."
"Okay." Gwen stood up and, with her head hanging low, she followed her. First to the toilet, then to the room Daisy had prepared.
When she had locked the door behind Bite-size Kamala surprised her.
"I can't believe that you locked our friend in a cell," she said with a glare.
"Technically it's just a bedroom since we don't have any actual cells here."
"That's beside the point! She's our friend, friends don't lock friends up." Daisy didn't need the scolding, her conscience hurt enough.
"I asked if she'd let me first, Kamala. And I would have let her go if she said no." Daisy let out a sigh. "I really don't know what to do with her. If we're lucky she really is a fusion of both personalities and decides to keep being a hero, but there's a chance that she's lying or that she isn't as heroic anymore."
"So give her a chance to prove it."
"I'll talk it over with Captain Marvel. If she agrees with you I'll let her back on the team, but only if the rest of you keep your guard up, at least for a little while." Daisy wasn't forcing her guard up for nothing, she'd read the reports on villains like the Purple Man and it really seemed like mind-control was the worst thing you could experience. If Gwen was going through that... she'd have to make sure to notice even the smallest sign.
After she had finished telling Carol about the situation with Ghost-spider, never mentioning Gwen's name since her identity was a secret from her, Carol texted someone then pulled her away from Marlin cafe, where they usually met, towards a random rooftop.
"Why are we here?"
"Because I asked Spider-Man to meet us here. It's better to ask a Klyntar expert, right."
"So not even you know what to do? Aren't you supposed to be a pro?" She smirked
"Laugh it up all you want Johnson, but I know enough about aliens to know when to ask someone else about them."
"And you couldn't just phone him?"
"He isn't the expert, he's bringing the expert."
They only waited a short while longer before they saw two figures web-slinging towards them.
Gwen had had a nightmare; it had been about all of her friends deciding that she wasn't real, just some act by Gwenom. It took her half a minute after jolting awake to remember that only Daisy and Rayshaun had actually thought that.
When she woke up she was disoriented and confused. It felt like she wasn't just in the bed but in every nook and cranny of the room, filling the whole space, including someone's legs? She was spread thin and most of her was dying. She looked around and saw the whole room from every angle, saw that it was covered in spiders, saw the spiders crawling up Daisy's legs, and felt herself inside of the spiders.
She pulled herself together, moved the spiders back into her surface and ate herself. She had no idea how long she'd been like that, but she knew that she couldn't have lasted for much longer, the spiders would have died.
"Well that was something." Spiderman was standing at the door, together with Captain Marvel and someone who looked like a Symbiote in body armor.
"Hey Spidey, who's your friend?"
"Do I know you?" He looked at her more closely, tilting his head.
Gwen thought on it. Peter knew Gwendolyn, just like she knew him, but he didn't know Gwen. "Not really, no."
"Well my name is Agent Venom," said the Symbiote in body armor while he entered the room. "What's your name?" He held out a hand to her.
"Bite-size? I didn't really pick it but it's what my friends called me in a S.H.I.E.L.D. report." She took his hand and for a moment she felt him in her head, very faintly, then she pulled away. "What was that?"
"I think it's a Klyntar thing, basically how they recognize each other despite how much they change during their life time. For the record Venom's pretty sure your Symbiote is his grandkid."
"Me, not 'my Symbiote'. I'm a perfect bond."
"If you say so." Agent Venom shrugged.
"So you buy it then?" Captain Marvel asked.
"Yeah, I don't think it's impossible, not like Carnage is that far from it."
"Carnage regularly switches host." Spider-Man added as they all left her room.
"And whoever he bonds with experiences a strong change in personality, even the ones who already were crazy."
Daisy cast her one last glance, then the door shut and locked behind them.
Agent Venom and Spider-Man were clearly brought in as experts but they didn't seem too convinced about her so she tried to keep her hopes low.
After Agent Venom and Spider-Man left she stayed up for maybe one hour, anxiously hoping that Daisy would open the door to let her out, but that never happened and in the end she fell back asleep.
When she woke up the room was covered in spiders again, and she ate them up again. She had no idea why they did that, or even how, but she was certain that she hadn't done that while she slept in the alleys. She stayed on her bed, without moving, until she heard a knock on the door.
"I know what we'll do with you." Daisy's voice said through the vents, the door was too reinforced to let any sound other than banging through. "Whenever you're ready I'll let you out."
"Okay." She stood up. "I'm ready."
Daisy opened the door. "We've decided to trust you."
Gwen couldn't believe her ears, after their talk the previous evening she'd been sure that Daisy thought she was an evil mind-controlling alien, and Agent Venom hadn't inspired a lot of confidence, but now she said she'd trust Gwen... She felt her eyes getting wet.
"If you want, you're free to join the team again, or you can keep attacking gangs on your own. Exile's back by the way, he and Sheath broke out of prison last week and we're working on tracking them down."
Gwen stopped for a second. "Sheath..." She didn't want to be reminded of that.
"Actually, didn't you see her when we fought them a while ago?"
"Yeah. And I saw you catch her. How did she get away?"
"Exile and his team rescued her; they hit fast and hard then teleported away with her before her escorts knew what hit them." Daisy looked at her apologetically, almost like she had been part of Sheath's escort, but from the way she'd said it that didn't seem right.
"Well I want to help catch her again, but Murderdock is a higher priority right now, even if I haven't been very successful in baiting him out."
"Is that what you were doing?" Daisy glanced her way.
"Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing," Daisy shrugged, "just looked like you were attacking gangs to me."
"Supposedly he's an ally of them, but I'm surprised he hasn't made any moves lately." She hung her head. "He probably knows he's under surveillance." They arrived in the common room.
"Could be. Or, if he's as manipulative as you say he is, he wanted you to attack those gangs."
Gwen stopped. She had assumed the Hand and Fisk had cooperated because they wanted Murderdock dead, so a cost free way to hurt him would be nice, but they could have just given her a list of their enemies. And none of them would assume that a hero was working for Fisk so he'd avoid any retaliation they'd give if they knew he was behind it.
"Webs!" She slammed her fist on the wall, just next to the doorframe. Murderdock had even said it would be productive. Not fun, productive! He had told her that it would be about business and she hadn't realized for weeks! "Fisk and the Hand benefited from every one of my attacks."
Daisy put a hand on her shoulder. "At least we know now."
"Sure, but that doesn't make me want to punch Murderdock's face in any less." Daisy backed up a bit. "I'm going to the training room."