Chapter 44

Friends of Conspiracy

Last Time: The Suit goes out of control, turning Spider-man into a horrible monster! But, before the suit's able to rampage and fulfill its never ending hunger, a mysterious Hero appears and saves the day!

-Spider-Men?

It has come to the Daily Bugle's attention that there are multiple individuals who have appeared with Spider-man's appearance, two of which dressed in black and white, one of which that turned into a horrible monster. It is our opinion that there are multiple imitators out there, some of which being superhuman extremists who are trying to ruin Spider-man's good name with the people.

For the current time, The Daily bugle considers the 'Spider-man monster' to be a different individual than Spider-man, especially considering that it seemed to act differently than Spider-man's previously figured patterns without even bringing up the existence of the other 'Spider-man' that appeared moments later.

-J. Jonah Jameson- re-established editor of the Daily Bugle

"Cletus Kasidy escaped!

"Today, the New York Police Department reports that…"

The Moon

It's been a long two days. You've been on wait, uncertain how to act, how to respond. Especially after what happened. Ever since Peter went out of control with that suit his father made…

You sip your coffee, feeling disgusted with yourself. But, then again, you've felt that way with yourself for a while now. Ever since you ran away.

You are Gwen Stacy.

And today you're having a very important meeting.

You're in a park, not too far off from either one of your homes. It's the first time there's been any good news. Peter' fever has broken and he seems to just be sleeping off whatever that suit did to him.

And if you hadn't been so…

Shaking your head you look over at the person who sits down beside you. Her black hair's a mess and her green eyes seem bloodshot as she look at you. "How is he?"

She lets out a sigh, shaking her head. "Better. Not awake yet, but he's not feverish. My illusions have kept Aunt May and Uncle Ben off his back. Not like they can know…"

You offer her shoulder a comforting grip. That's right. Neither they nor anyone else could know. Especially after the suit went berserk. If anyone could link that to Peter…

His life would be ruined. At best.

You glance over at the girl. She called you here to talk about something important, but couldn't say what. Personally, you've been curious about what's so special about Felicia Hardy that Peter won't let you know. You might have screwed up, big time, but it hurts not to be trusted. Especially since the girl knows who you are. You're not so stupid as to not have figured that out.

"So, why did you call me here?"

Stella looks hesitant, like she's committing some betrayal. You know the look well enough, when you tried to keep your distance, tried to keep Peter safe from your own stalker. You should have…

Grimacing, you shake your head. "If you don't want to talk about it yet, then I have a question? Who is Felicia Hardy? Why's Peter so hesitant to have her around me or talk about her to me?"

She gives you the same look before setting down a folder and looking away. "I can't say anything. I've been told not to. I can't go against what I've been told not to do."

You grab the folder and pick it up, quietly reading through it. There's a feeling of betrayal there, certainly. There's nothing from what's written that outright states anything, but it gives implications. Implications that Felicia Hardy is the Black Cat. You're not sure if you want to laugh or cry.

That he'd do so much for a thief. He picked her, over you. Hid her identity from you, while giving you away.

You look over at Stella, slamming the folder down as she almost flinches- the wood cracking under you hand.

"Why?"

The word is desperate, and the speaker sounds lost and betrayed.

It's only seconds later you realize that this is your own voice.

Stella keeps her head looking away. "I don't trust her. She's up to something. That's why I need you to look into her. Stop her, if need be."

Hurt runs through you. Despair. Was that all you were?

"So I'm supposed to just go and protect his precious girlfriend from screwing up? Save her despite the hardships that I've had to endure? Is that all-"

"No."

The girl's voice comes out, rough, angry and sad, all at once. "I don't expect you to. I'm asking you to."

The girl look at you, and despite her childish features, you see disdain in her green eyes. "I don't think any of you are good enough for him. But Peter seems to treasure her, worry about her more than anyone else. I hate her, can't trust her. But…"

The disdain fades as she looks absolutely miserable. "…But I don't want to see him sad, either. There will be a day when he sees that woman for what she truly is, so until that day I have to at least try to do something. But, I couldn't also just sit and let you suffer, either."

The folder vanishes into smoke- you wonder if it was ever really there as Stella sits there, silently. There's emotions crashing inside. Betrayal, sadness, anger. Despair. "I'm not asking you to protect her. I'm asking you to find her, watch her. And then tell Peter what you've found out. By the way, our meeting never happened. I will deny any existence of it."

The girl waits there as you sit there in the cold. You sip at your coffee.

You sit there.

Thoughts swirl through your mind. Olans plot, indecision. You feel disgusted with yourself as you croak out an answer.

"…Fine. I'll do it."

Stella looks at you and nods, vanishing. You wait a few moments as disgust and self-loathing fills you. Staggering to your feet, you walk further off- tossing your coffee in the trash. Heading to an isolated area, you make sure nobody's there you vomit from the sickened feeling rising inside of you. before staggering over and collapsing against a tree.

Wrapping your arms around your knees you give out a weak laugh that turns into a sob. Which turns into more. It isn't long before you're sitting in a forest, sobbing your eyes out.

You're disgusted with yourself, with Peter. With Felicia. Disgusted you agreed, because that bitter jealous part of you could twist the situation to your advantage. But still, you're pretty sure you know what you hate most.

The spider.

The source of everything. Had it not been for this, you'd be normal. Peter would be normal. You'd both be living normal lives. None of this all would have happened. It's selfish and terrible of you. But all you want is to go back and stop yourself and Peter, to go somewhere else.

If you'd both been normal, without that horrible spider-sense in your head, maybe you'd be able have gone to your father more willingly about the stalker. Maybe you wouldn't have ran away from Peter.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Whatever happens, you're going to get dirt on Felicia. You're going to tell her to stay away from Peter or else you'll turn her in, bring her to justice. Peter will likely never forgive you, but that's alright. With all the regrets you have, all the things you should have done…

Maybe you're just someone who shouldn't be forgiven.

?

Your body feels weak as your eyes crack open. It takes a second to realize that you're in your own home. You're alive and weak and -oh god you ate that guy, didn't you? How many have you eaten? What have you done?!

Sitting up your arms wrap around yourself as your vision blurs.

You don't feel it anymore. The hunger's gone. Quieted. You shouldn't be here. You could hurt them.

You swallow and try to get out of bed, but your legs are too weak, unwilling to support you. You hear footsteps as you see Stella by your side, supporting you.

"Peter, are you alright?"

You look at her and she how disheveled she looks. It seems like she's not slept for a week. She gives you a relieved look.

Your voice is cracked, weak. "-ay. I'm dangerous."

She shakes her head and draws you closer, into a hug. You tense, afraid of it being there. Of the hunger. Of you being a monster. But nothing happens. It's quiet. Gone.

You feel tears against you. "You idiot. You stupid idiot. You're not dangerous. You didn't hurt anyone. You're fine. It's gone."

Relief fills you at those words. Letting Stella get you back to bed, she tells you of what happened. There's another Spider-man out there. Black and White and military- your mind can't help but remember.

His blood over you, the monster in the rubble. Please, no. No.

"-ter? Peter?"

You snap back to see Stella staring at you, worried. "So, it's gone then?"

She nods as you let out a sigh of relief.
"Good."

You let yourself fall back into the embrace of dreams. It takes another two days to get back to full health. All in all, you've been out for about a week. Most of it has been sleeping, but your Aunt couldn't help but be worried. "If you'd been sick longer, I would've made sure you went to the hospital."

It's currently morning. Today's the second day of the new year. You haven't heard from Felicia, which is worrying, but Stella's assured you she's been keeping an eye open for her while you were sick. Gwen's not answering. Again. You'll need to have a talk with her sometime again.

Honestly, the only person who did answer is Flash, who was busy helping his sister out. But he seemed interested in meeting up to continue his studies.

End

To Be Continued…

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Publisher's Note:

Stella Appearance: People been asking what Stella's disguise is when she's out crime fighting, she looks like, Her crime fighting disguise with the power of her illusions makes her appear to everyone else as a Large, shadowed and cloaked. Ominous figure, with glowing green eyes and covered in chains. Her voice is rather deep and echoing, though female. Peter is not effected by her illusions that's why I haven't described her disguise as much in his point of view.

Also Stella was the one who saved Anya in the interlude after the time travel arc when she fell off the building.

I will talk about the characters a bit and how decisions the players made in the quest have affected them and their relationship with Peter.

Harry- there's very little to have done for Harry, but had Peter taken a giant leap of faith way early on in the quest, it would have changed things drastically. He's been on a downhill spiral for a while, though.

Gwen-Just so you know, Cosgrove is actually a fan of Gwen Stacy(so am I by the way). Well, before her character was assassinated. So don't believe he's out to get her or bash her.

Gwen's insecure over her powers and doesn't know what the fuck to do. She kinda thinks she's a freak, and when she ran off and everything started to go' that's fucking dangerous' with her spider senses and kept her distance as she grew more and more worried and indecisive because she was afraid she'd get not only herself hurt but the people she cared about, too. She's afraid to go to any authority because she doesn't want the spider-powers getting out to Oscorp and ruining everyone's lives, if not putting them in danger. Had Peter done something dangerous like go to her house or somewhere not public and see her in person, and asked her to come clean to him despite the dangers, she would have. Despite all this, she was also not told when Peter got into a relationship with Felicia and so her trust and feelings took a hit when she was called over to help but found Peter and Felicia in the situation they were. Felicia's attitude towards her was a little more cautious after that which made Gwen think, believes Peter had told Felicia who she was because of everything (This is not true, Peter did not tell Felicia, reread chapter 20, the cat's curse allowed her to gain increased hearing so she accidently eavesdropped on both Peter and Gwen when they suspected she wasn't listening).

That's a character driven thing. Peter knows, objectively, that Felicia learned it by overhearing. SUBJECTIVELY, Gwen believes that Peter trusts Felicia enough to tell her Gwen's identity, but that he doesn't trust Gwen enough to tell her Felicia's identity and have betrayed her trust AGAIN. The first time being when Peter called her for help, she rushed over and kicked down the door only to find him with Felicia, which hurt her because she didn't also know that Peter was going out with Felicia. Gwen had originally made plans to ask Peter out that weekend to see Strange's show and try to patch things up and see if they could try again with the whole relationship thing.

It isn't about the right or wrong thing, its about how she saw it.

She's mostly only called on to have her help with things and she doesn't feel like she's trusted or forgiven for her screw up where she isolated herself, and after coming across Peter and Felicia she also realized she's probably lost all chances with getting together with Peter. Gwen's someone that tries to keep to herself, but really wants someone to force the issue and draw her out of her shell.

Stella- She's actually a character Cosgrove especially will reveal little on, but with Peter- she expects him to be the better man, so in situations with Gwen and Felicia, since one knows who the other is, she expects Peter to take responsibility and level the playing field. She's trying to take what Peter says to heart, but she's also severely psychologically damaged. She likes to feel needed, which is part of why Mary Jane and her get along so well.

Felicia- Peter screwed up once or twice with her, but he's done his best to make amends with her. He's done pretty well, but Felicia actually enjoys being the Black Cat, so that is an issue that will become a thing. She's tried to live normally, but it's incredibly boring for her. This whole plot is something that not only is incredibly important for her, but its allowing her to do the things she enjoys again.

Mary Jane- Can't say much, but Cosgrove says there's a chance things might turn out well for her, depending on how things go.

Flash- He's decently stable, but that's so long as he thinks people believe in him. If something happens to his sister, he'll kill the person responsible, the symbiote would tell him it's the right thing to do. Peter's a close friend to him, Flash would also get vengeance for him if something happened to Peter such as being seriously injured and Flash knew the culprit.

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