When Dante arrived at the base, having gone there as soon as he got out of school, he immediately went to the training room. They had all met up in the morning to talk about Gwen but before he could get some morning exercise Gwen had taken the whole room for herself. Just from peaking inside he'd been able to tell that he did not want to get in-between Gwen and those training robots, so he'd waited.

The automatic doors swung open and, to his surprise, he saw Gwen fighting some more robots. She was wearing her Ghost-Spider suit, not her Bite-size one, so maybe it was fine if he joined her? He wasn't sure.

"Have you been going at it since this morning?"

Gwen put some distance between herself and the bots. "No, I took a few breaks in between."

"Unless those breaks totaled at least an hour the answer you're looking for is 'yes, Dante, I have'."

She chuckled. "Okay, fine: I did. But there wasn't anything better I could do on my own."

"Isn't Daisy here? Or Rayshaun?" They still had jobs at S.H.I.E.L.D. so they sometimes had to go on missions, but their primary mission was to train the Secret Warriors.

He had no idea how Captain Marvel had convinced Fury to allow that, but it was possible that all he'd done was allow them un-paid time off for it. Maybe Stark was writing their checks while they were with the team.

Gwen rubbed her neck. "Ah, well, I'm not sure doing things with them is such a good idea right now. Pretty sure they wouldn't want to at least." She went back on the offensive, after dodging an attack she couldn't have seen, punching the robots while holding back.

"Then how about going back to school? Daisy said Murderdock probably wouldn't attack you, and even if he did, you've got your powers back right?"

"Well, Gwenom has a few more powers than Gwendolyn used to have, but," she grunted as she took a robot fist to the gut, "sure, basically."

"So how about it? I can't imagine skipping so many classes wouldn't be reflected in your final grades."

"Between being Ghost-Spider for the whole year and hunting Sheath for weeks, if I skip any more they might not let me graduate, but right now I'm still officially in protective custody. I'm starting again next week, though." Gwen shot a web at the stop button, pausing the robots' assault on her. "Wanna spar with me or should we take on the training dummies together?"

"Is it even safe for us to spar anymore? I mean Rayshaun said Symbiotes are weak to fire?"

"We could find out."

Gwen got a short break while the automatic clearing system pushed away any straggling robots and some derbies from whenever Gwen hadn't held back enough. That wasn't usually a problem for Gwendolyn (it was too soon to say if that was also the case for Gwen), but then neither was dealing with Murderdock.

She jumped to her feet. She recovered faster than Gwendolyn used to, so she was pretty much in peak condition already. According to the limit tests she did before fighting the robots she was also a little stronger than Gwendolyn used to be, so all in all she was an upgrade.

They got ready for their sparring match, which for Inferno meant flying up into the air and for Gwen it just meant waiting until he was ready before counting down.

"3... 2... 1..."

Inferno shot a fire-blast at her, but it completely failed to hit while Gwen, even mid dodge, pelted him with web bullets.

She didn't really change her usual strategy for fighting Inferno, starting with mid-range web-attacks before finishing him with punches and kicks. With most flying opponents she'd use her webs to finish them if she could, but she already knew that Inferno could burn through them so that was out.

"You know I can do this all day, did do this all day." Inferno balled his fist, and with building frustration fired another blast of fire, which she easily dodged. "You're gonna have to do better than that."

Inferno released a wave of fire that would cover half the room in flames which was good because it was harder to dodge, but bad for several reasons. If they were fighting in a city, which they were more often than not, that'd risk hitting civilians so you couldn't use that strategy too often, it also wouldn't be as effective in an open space, but in this case it was bad because it also blocked his view.

She jumped forward while pulling herself with her webs for an extra boost and got behind him, ready to punch.

Her Spider-Sense just barely alerted her to the fire before Infernos entire body shot out flames.

She fell to the floor, severely burnt on both her arms and legs as well as her sides. She'd managed to protect her vitals, thank god, but it was bad.

Inferno landed next to the emergency med-kit and pulled it off, starting the injury alarm.

Daisy heard the alarm just as she got the notification on her phone. If she didn't respond to it within two minute S.H.I.E.L.D. medics would come running assuming, correctly or not, that the injuries were really bad.

When she got to the training room, the alarm speakers where saying the location in a repeating loop, she saw Dante trying, incorrectly, to treat burns all over Gwen's arms and legs. Gwenom had thinned out, but was trying her best to cover the damaged areas.

"Move!" She told him, and he did, stumbling to the side.

"Gwenom, let me..." Gwenom moved aside on the arm she was holding.

"We're not separate..." Gwen said through gritted teeth, her eyes clenched in pain. "And I think my healing factor's better than anything that gauze can do."

"We can't know that for sure." Daisy kept working, moving on to Gwen's other arm. "And even if you're right, it can't hurt right."

"Unless my outer layer is more effective." Gwenom kept covering her arm. "I think it is." Gwen tried to pull herself up, but recoiled as soon as her knees touched the ground.

"Because Symbiotes are famously good with fire, right? Let me help," Daisy said as she reached for Gwen's left arm again.

And Gwen did.

Gwen was lying in her bed. It wasn't the bed she usually slept in, or rather the one Gwendolyn usually slept in, that one was at home, but it was still hers unlike the one she spent the previous night in. Her arms and legs hurt whenever she moved them so she wasn't moving. If it had been an option she'd have watched TV or something but her side was burnt too so she could only lie on her back, listen to music (thankfully she'd gotten Gwendolyn's phone back), and sulk.

She wasn't sulking because she lost or because she got hurt, if her teammates got better that was good and she got hurt all the time. No, she sulked because despite having gotten stronger Dante won with an attack she'd usually shrug off.

Up until earlier in the day she hadn't really put much thought into whether she was better or worse than Gwendolyn, but the numbers had told her she was better, which felt nice. It was something to justify her existence when it felt like everybody around her, okay: Daisy mostly but to a lesser extent everybody else, would have been happier if Gwendolyn had just stayed Gwendolyn.

She also had other powers; she could change her outer layer for stealth or just to quickly change into her costume (no more clothing stashes around the city for her). She also had a tongue she could use as a third arm and that thing she did with the spiders, if she could figure out how she did that.

But what good was that extra umpf or neat little powers when all it'd take to defeat her was a flamethrower. Or hell, a matchstick by the looks of it. Maybe a torch?

She'd heard that Symbiotes were weak to fire and sound, but to be destroyed so easily was beyond her expectations, it had been as though her outer layer was made of butter, including the frying her skin part, which was less than useful.

Gwen's stomach rumbled, healing should require a lot of food, just logically, but it didn't usually affect her that much. Then again, she was also re-growing her outer layer.

"HEEEY!" She shouted out of her open door as she pulled her right earbud out.

"WHAT?" Dante answered.

"I'M HUNGRY; CAN YOU BRING ME SOMETHING TO EAT?"

It didn't take long before he came into her room with four sandwiches, two PB&J and two with ham and cheese.

"You sure you're gonna be fine?"

"I told you already, it hurts to move now but I'll be fine in a couple of hours." It really wasn't a big deal at all, but both Dante and Daisy had fussed for a good ten minutes before leaving her alone.

"Well if there's anything else I can do-"

"Then I'll call you. Yes. Now go, I'm busy sulking over my humiliating loss."

Dante left the room with a sympathetic smile. She really couldn't stay mad at him, which is why she was more mad with herself than with anybody else. Frustrated at her weakness.

Gwen eventually moved on from self pity to trying to be constructive. She was sure there were ways around her weakness. She could, for example get a special heat and flame resistant suit made, for whenever she went up against someone likely to use fire against her, or she and Daisy could think something up to somehow avoid the flames?

On that note S.H.I.E.L.D. might have some ideas and Gwendolyn had toyed with the idea of joining them. She'd certainly help a lot of people that way, even more so with her new stealth powers and maybe even the spiders? She could totally spy on an entire building at once with it while being almost invisible.

It could also be an excuse for how she met Daisy if they started dating, seeing as her dad knew Daisy as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Agent Johnson.

By evening her wounds had mostly healed. Okay, so they were maybe half way there, but she could move without hurting too much so as far as Gwen was concerned she was fine. Daisy hadn't agreed but she did concede that Gwen hadn't needed any first aid after her complete defeat by Inferno, and had let her leave as long as she promised to be careful and not web-sling.

So she walked. It wasn't late yet, but it was getting dark so if she really wanted to take it easy she should avoid the worse neighborhoods... Or go straight to the police station. It was closer than her house and she'd be able to meet George Stacey sooner that way.

Gwendolyn hadn't always gotten along well with her dad, especially regarding Ghost-Spider but also just as an angsty teen girl with a single parent, but that didn't change that she loved him.

Gwen loved him. She hadn't figured out what it meant that he was the father of one of her halves, if that made him her dad or not, but she had still missed him.

She jogged to the police station, said hi to the officer at the desk and kept walking in to George's office. It felt weird to call him George; it'd be even weirder to say it out loud without explaining her situation so she decided against it.

"Hi dad."

George looked up. "Gwen! What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be in protective custody?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks it's safe to come back home now, doesn't look like the suspect will make a move anymore." That was mostly her own thoughts, but that didn't matter, she had the power to defend herself if he tried anything.

"So he's still out there?" George frowned.

"Yeah, they'll keep an eye on him though." She moved around his desk to give him a hug.

"That's something at least." He patted her back.

"Can't catch them all, dad."

"Don't I know it." He leaned back before stretching. "Not going to stop your old man from trying though."

She gave him another hug and kissed his cheek. "And that's why you'll always be my hero."

George smiled. "And here I thought that would be some rock-star somewhere. Maybe that one lady, what was her name? The 'I love Rock n' Roll' one? Or that drummer from seven nation army?"

"Joan Jett and Meg White?" Gwen asked.

"Yeah, them."

"I look up to them sure, but neither of them are my hero."

"Is that right," he said, not asked, with a smirk. "So what do you want then, a new drum-set maybe?"

"No." She'd just missed him. "I just want to go home with you.

"Speaking of heroes though, I was thinking of maybe joining S.H.I.E.L.D., do you think I could get in?" She was pretty sure she could do it; Gwendolyn had gotten more than enough training as Ghost-Spider, both when it came to fights and stealth. As for the investigative side, her dad had covered that over her entire childhood so Gwen was confident in that area too.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.? Do you really want to do something so dangerous? I thought you wanted to be a rock-star with your friends."

"I do." She said sincerely, before deflating. "I don't know, I like the idea of saving people too, you know. Putting away bad guys, like you always do." What she always tried to do as Ghost-Spider...

And she could do both . Probably. She had been working as Ghost-Spider, drumming with her band, and gone to school, even if she didn't always manage to balance the three, so doing just two should be easy. Right?

"But you'd rather do it at S.H.I.E.L.D. than with the police?"

"It was just a thought, dad." She hoped this wasn't insecurity about S.H.I.E.L.D.'s operating scale, the police were just as necessary in her eyes since without them there'd be too many criminals for S.H.I.E.L.D. to handle, but S.H.I.E.L.D. was where she could make the most use of her powers, where she'd go up against the people normal police couldn't handle. Even more so than as Ghost-Spider. "I'm just thinking about what to do after high-school. Isn't that what parents always tell their kids to do."

"It's a bit late to change your plans from music collage to S.H.I.E.L.D. training, Gwen. Just what they ask of you, both in terms of physical fitness and mental aptitude is so far removed from what you've been working towards that you'd have to change all your habits."

"So help me train?" she said with an unsure shrug. "I'll see if it's something for me and then I'll make my decision last minute like everybody else."

George sighed. "I'll think about that later, so why don't you let me get back to work so we can head home before midnight."

"Alright." She gave him another kiss on the cheek. "Love you."

She yet again spent her time quietly with just music playing in her ears, but she didn't mind this time. She watched Gwendolyn's dad work, going over the bigger profile cases, delegating officers, and just generally doing a lot of paperwork.

Being a police chief meant he wouldn't be personally involved in many cases but she knew for a fact that that didn't mean he wasn't putting away the bad guys anymore. On the contrary almost every arrest in his district could in some small part be attributed to him.

Even when the arrest was a citizen's arrest by a superhero it was still his men who had to gather the evidence left on the scene and build the case that would actually put the criminals behind bars.

She looked out of the office, through the glass walls, to see the detectives, sergeants, and officers milling about. Among them was Detective Jean DeWolff, George's old partner, who he'd trained when she'd just become a detective. She'd been around for much of Gwendolyn's childhood and had often kept her company while she waited for George to finish some paperwork or another.

She hadn't realized before but Sarah, from Gwendolyn's S.H.I.E.L.D. protective detail, was a lot like Detective DeWolff, maybe that's why she had gotten along with her so quickly.

She stood up and took a peak at George's paperwork. She recognized the prisoner transport forms, Gwendolyn had seen a lot of police forms growing up so she'd recognize most of them relatively quickly.

"Why are you requesting prisoner transport from S.H.I.E.L.D.? Are there a lot of super-crooks in your cells?"

S.H.I.E.L.D. or top heroes like the Avengers would usually move super-powered villains to specialized prisons like the Cage whenever they had the time, or on an irregular schedule but even more common for the big threats was for S.H.I.E.L.D. to arrive early enough to take them from the arrest site, or at the very least arrive without a formal request. That meant that most of the time the super-villains in NYPD custody were small-time ones or those that could be held in normal cells.

"There's some, but I'm mostly just concerned about one of them, Piledriver from the Wrecking Crew. He was the only one arrested, which means his friends will probably show up to free him if we don't get him out fast."

"That does sound like trouble. They've got super-strength right? Could bust down the whole building to free him?"

As soon as Gwendolyn had gotten the chance, which meant right around the time she joined the Secret Warriors, she'd read (skimmed) the S.H.I.E.L.D. files on every New York based super-villain, which included the Wrecking Crew, so that she'd be vaguely aware of how a fight with them would go. She'd of course read up on villains before that, but that was beside the point.

The point was that the Wrecking Crew was bad news.

"Just one of them could do that," George said with a frown, if they tried a lot of his men would probably die. Gwen wasn't surprised though, they were punching in her weight class after all, each of them slightly stronger than her but not by a huge amount.

"So how is he locked up? Did you use special handcuffs on him?"

"You know we've got power dampeners in some of our cells just for people like him, but yeah, would be hard even with that.

"Turns out the Wrecking crew actually don't have super-strength, just their leader does and he's got some power sharing ability to make the rest of them strong. One of my officers got lucky and saw him out on the streets just a short while before he was supposed to recharge and we arrested him just half an hour later."

"Ah." Gwen hadn't known that. Most of the time you wouldn't be fighting the Wrecking Crew without their leader, which she supposed was why she hadn't known that, but it was still an important detail, an important detail she'd somehow missed ! She told herself she'd go over the files again, more carefully this time, starting with the Wrecking Crew.

After that she went back to her chair, kept silently watching as he finished his work, then happily sat in the car as he drove them home. Gwendolyn's home? No, she thought of it as home, would live there for the foreseeable future (unless she was forced to move for her studies), and Gwenom hadn't had a home before, so it was her home. Gwen's, both Gwendolyn's and Gwenom's, home.

She'd missed it.

As she went to bed later that evening she sent a text to the band:

[Gwen today 23:55

I'm back.]