SPIDER-MAN: THE OTHER SPIDER (CHAPTER 31)
11:15 pm Stacy residence…
For past few days, Gwen enjoyed a bit of peace after her recovery from the hospital. She enjoyed the comfort of spending more time with her family. Sitting in her bed, she put down her copy of Dune and reached for the light switch on the lamp on her bedside.
"I can't remember the last time I read this book." Gwen said as she laid her head to rest.
As she closed her eyes, she let the sound of silence smooth her as she prepared to sleep. However, this all changed the moment she heard sounds that resembled water dripping. The sound prompted her to open her eyes a little.
"Rain?" Gwen thought before her Spider-sense began to tingle.
Soon enough, Gwen stood up to prepare for the danger. She saw a person's hand touch her bedroom window and another. Gwen watched before recognising who it was. She saw Anton crawl himself up to the window with his terrifying red eyes.
"Anton?" Gwen asked in surprise and shock.
Anton's eye slowly adjusted to Gwen's direction creeping Gwen out. He was wearing a dirty red shirt and jeans as Gwen looked at him.
"H-hel-p me." Anton murmured as if he were a zombie.
Getting out of her bed, she slowly approached Anton and examined what she was looking at. The red eyes combined with the zombie-like attitude were enough for her not to open the window.
"What happened to you?" Gwen asked remembering the last time she saw Anton as a person was when he volunteered for Miller's experiment.
"L-L-Et Me…In." Anton groaned before tapping on the window.
"I don't know what this is but I know something isn't right." Gwen thought as she continued to stand her ground.
The tapping on the window became more violent as Anton pounded in desperation eventually breaking the glass. Gwen gasped as Anton came forward with his eyes fixated on her.
"Back away!" Gwen yelled as she tried to search for something to fight back with.
Anton ignored Gwen's words and menacingly came forward before pinning her down.
"Get off me!" Gwen groaned as she tried kicking Anton in the stomach.
Despite her strength, Anton's seemed to be much stronger. Eventually, Gwen winced as Anton began to vomit out a substance that resembled a sticky spider web.
"What are you doing?" Gwen growled as she tried to avoid the material out of Anton's mouth.
Before anything else happened, a gunshot was heard prompting Anton to let go of Gwen. Gwen then saw her father in his pyjamas aiming his pistol at Anton standing in front of her bedroom door.
Anton quickly darted out of the broken window in fear after George missed his second shot.
"Gwen! Dear, are you okay?!" George said lowering his gun to check on his daughter.
Gwen carefully stood up before nodding.
"Thank goodness." George said before hugging his daughter close to his chest, "It would've been a bad day otherwise."
Gwen's mother, Helen and little brother, Simon also came to the room and were relieved to find her relatively unharmed.
4:15 am Stacy residence…
"Thank goodness, you're all finally here." George said as he watched as a group of police and detectives entered his house.
"It's been a long time, captain." One police woman said.
"It's only my daughter's room, so don't cause any more trouble." George warned as if he was still a police captain.
Gwen stood in her room and watched the police guard her bedroom doorway while two detectives had a peek in the room themselves.
"Hello, miss Stacy. I'm detective Brandt." The man introduced, "Gotta a few questions if you don't mind me asking."
"Ask away." Gwen replied.
"First off… Describe the attacker. Do you have any history?" The detective asked.
"His name's Anton Rodgríguez. He used to study at Empire State with me in biology." Gwen explained, "Black hair, olive skin… Uh, red eyes."
The detective wrote down the details on a notepad before asking another question.
"So, you do know him. Is he…? Your boyfriend; friend? What's your relationship to him?" The detective asked.
"He's just a friend. And I think something in the past changed him. Like an experiment we did in class changed him." Gwen went on.
"Okay. What was the nature of the experiment?" The detective followed on.
"Uh… Genetics. Human experimentation. Let's say that. Maybe you should ask my professor. His name's Miller Warren." Gwen said.
As the detective jotted the notes, Gwen noticed the other detective looking into Gwen's wardrobe prompting a concerned look on Gwen's face.
"Hey Jeff… Work's here, buddy." The detective said as he noticed his partner snooping around.
"Sorry… Just trying to clear the area more." The other detective replied.
5:30 am Stacy residence…
After the investigation, the police declared Gwen's house a crime scene and ordered the Stacy family to begin packing.
"I have to wonder why this happened." George said to Gwen as he carried his coffee mug with him.
"He was an old friend, dad." Gwen said, "You remember the time when we had the attack by a spider monster on ESU right?"
"Hm. Actually forget what I said. After everything broke down at the Raft, I want to know how many of the crooks they have are super human." George said.
"I thought the purpose of the Raft was to imprison super humans." Gwen answered.
George took a deep breath before shaking his head.
"I probably need to re-enlist again." George said stretching his arms, "You mind helping mum clean out the snow first?"
"Yeah, I'll give mum a hand." Gwen replied.
8:30 am Upper Manhattan police station…
Peter arrived at the designated police station to meet with Ned who had been recently charged with the death of Frederick Foswell. He wanted to pay one last visit to his friend before he is wrongfully convicted of the crime and potentially never to be seen again.
Arriving at the phone booth area, Peter took a seat and waited for his friend while picking up the phone cord. Ned arrived wearing a white prison suit looking uncomfortable in the position he is in.
"Hey Peter…" Ned said picking up the phone while staring at his friend between the sheet of bulletproof glass separating them.
"Hey, buddy. You doing okay?" Peter asked.
"Does it look like?" Ned asked back.
"I'll get you out of this. I swear… Fi-…" But before Peter could finish Ned jumped in.
"Let's keep it safe. Can I ask? How's the Bugle right now? How's Betty and the rest?" Ned asked.
"The Bugle is in shambles. Jonah has lawsuit problems and… Betty's fine. She's just going to look for a new career that's all." Peter said, "We're also planning a funeral for Fred."
"A funeral? Hope it's nothing but nice things. Anyway, that's a simple way of putting things. To be honest, I'm not sure if this is a good place to talk." Ned said looking wearily at his surroundings.
"Crooked cops?" Peter asked.
Ned nodded in reply.
"Ned, you shouldn't be behind bars. I'm going to do my best to get you out of here." Peter said.
"Hey, I'm glad you're trying to help. Just so you know… I can get around." Ned said with a smile.
Peter put a hand on the glass in concern for his friend's safety.
"My time's running short. Listen, can you check the flowerbed near the basement? I've dropped something that might have been useful." Ned said, "I gotta hang up."
Ned then stopped the call and prompted Peter to finish as well. He waved goodbye to Peter before having to separate as requested by the police.
Peter put the phone away and thought of his next move. Without Ned, he would have to take more responsibility in handling the gear ranging from web shooters and web bombs. He would also have to work alone for the time being in his quest for justice against Wilson unless he asks for Gwen's help.
9:35 am Warren's residence…
Gwen wanted answers for the recent attack by Anton on her own terms. The first place she wanted answers from was at the house of the professor who once taught her. Wearing her costume, she wanted to discreetly uncover the mess Anton was in and learn more about Miller's work.
"At least visiting the house will be less creepy than before, right?" Gwen asked as she saw the house had been sealed with crime scene tape.
Jumping off from a tree, she landed near the chimney of Miller's house. She then took the route of entering the chimney and carefully climbed down. At the same time, she was worried if Anton was stalking her.
Landing on the ashes of the fireplace, she remembered the same living room she was in at the time Miller invited her to discuss about continuing his work.
"Same musty smell. If there's nothing here, then ESU is next." Gwen said looking around.
Looking around, she could not pick anything out of the ordinary as of yet but continued to snoop around randomly.
"How long ago was this place investigated?" Gwen wondered as she walked about.
As Gwen continued to venture, she peered at the staircase within the house.
"Any dirty bedroom secrets, I wonder?" Gwen joked before climbing the staircase.
Gwen had no idea where to look first but decided to check the bedroom. Opening up the door, Gwen peered inside but did not spot anything out of the ordinary.
"How am I going to find anything around here?" Gwen wondered.
Soon enough, she heard a thud on the rooftop which alerted her that she was not alone in the house. In response, Gwen tried to hide to which she took cover underneath the bed and held her breath.
"This might be useless." Gwen thought as she listened carefully to the new footstep sounds.
Gwen suspected it was Anton who had followed her. However, it has been quite a while since she saw Miller in person and wondered what became of him. She watched a pair of bare feet approach the bedroom door before suspecting it was Anton. A growling sound was heard once the feet stopped near the bed. Gwen blinked twice before the bed was violently tossed aside exposing her cover to the monstrous Anton.
"Damnit." Gwen said rolling over once Anton spotted her.
The two brawled around Miller's bedroom trading off webs as they wrecked the surroundings. Gwen scrambled out of the door and leapt over the stair fence to the ground floor. Anton persistently followed in animalistic fashion and tried to attack her at every turn.
"Anton, please. Stop this!" Gwen pleaded as he swiped his arms around knocking a vase off a table.
Anton then stopped for a moment and acted hurt. Gwen then noticed the bullet wound her father gave when he attacked last night. Using the opportunity, Gwen grabbed the nearby fireplace poker in self-defence.
"Settle down." Gwen said waving the poker.
Anton was unfazed as he lunged forward causing Gwen to shove the poker into his abdomen. Anton's red eyes watered in pain as the poker stuck into him. Gwen backed away again when Anton got up. This time, Gwen noticed tiny mandibles pop out of his mouth.
"That's not a good sign." Gwen said backing to the kitchen.
Anton's appearance became more grotesque with two hairy spider-like appendages popped out of her back. Another shorter pair also tore out completing Anton's spider monster look. Gwen nervously backed herself until she found a kitchen knife. Lunging forward, she knocked Anton to the ground in an attempt to cut off the appendages.
In retaliation, Anton used to the appendages to bind Gwen together. The squeeze got tight before Gwen used the knife to fatally stab Anton. The knife released Gwen out of Anton's bind prompting her to try and catch her own breath. Meanwhile, Anton was getting weaker from blood loss and staggered side by side.
Gwen lay down on her back as Anton started to cough like a normal human again. The next thing she noticed were Anton's eye colour beginning to turn brown again.
"Anton?" Gwen asked before taking her mask off.
Anton looked up slowly and smiled still bearing the mandible teeth he grew.
"Gwen…It's…A while." Anton spoke trying to catch his breath.
"Are you human again?" Gwen asked.
Anton nodded while clutching onto his wounds.
"Mostly. Gwen…I'm sorry." Anton apologised, "I lost control."
"Don't blame yourself." Gwen said coming forward to comfort him.
"Warren… I let him do all kinds of things to me." Anton slowly explained, "I'm so stupid."
"Are you kidding? You were the best student. Especially during lab classes." Gwen assured.
Anton laughed a little before attempting to speak more.
"I wish my familia were here with me." Anton said sadly, "Show them…How strong their hijo has grown."
Gwen noticed Anton getting weaker and tried to stop with the palm of her hands.
"Gwen…Please know this." Anton said, "Don't trust Warren… Stay a-aw…"
Anton then slipped out of conscious and at that moment Gwen knew he was not alive anymore. In sadness, Gwen removed her palm off Anton and looked at the blood stained on it.
5:30 pm Parker residence…
During evening, Peter worked on making a new suit alone inside his own room. The suit was mostly a recreation of the old suit he lost back at the Bronx when he left it with Hobie.
"Man, I forgot how hard it was to make the suit." Peter said trying to attach the eye lens onto the head mask.
As he was busy manually creating the mask, his phone notification sound popped causing him to stop. Picking up the phone, he noticed it was Gwen's message. Gwen's message read the following:
"Hey, you mind if we talk?"
TO BE CONTINUED…