Chapter 5: Better Than You Realize

In Prowler's lair, Gwen took a scalding hot shower, trying desperately to wash the vision out of her mind of what she had witnessed. She wasn't a pure flower, not since those dark days after Miguel dropped far too many bombs on her. But the idea of Miles and… what even was she? She wasn't just another Gwen Stacy plugged into her place in the Multi-Verse, that much she knew.

She leaned her back against the shower wall and let the hot water run over her. She's thought for hours and hours of how to fix this, to do … anything beside just canceling the contract. If Miles could find a way to save his and her fathers and not cause the Multi-Verse to implode, then she could find a way to fix this so her life would be normal, and Miles wouldn't be … Miles would still be here.

She exited the shower, towel dried a moment before wrapping her body in the towel, then exited to the central area drying her hair. She had to think of something. She had to talk to him. Speaking to him in person went smashingly well. Plan B, if she can't get to him, she'll let him come to her. Her blue eyes fell on her the Prowler armor. She'd make it easy. She knew the first place they'd look for her.

"This is going to blow up in your face, Gwen…" She whispered to herself as she looked at the Prowler mask. "Everything else has…" She answered herself, "Why stop now?"

A few hours later, she stood with her cape blowing in the wind on a tall building overlooking the hospital. Her mask had built in binoculars, and she focused in on Rio.

While she was incredibly relieved to see her heart monitor showed improvement, her heart broke at the sight of the woman who was so kind to her after they… after what happened to Miles. She would almost put up with the villain role thrust upon her had this not happened to Rio.

Her eyes widened when a webline attached itself to her clawed glove. "Here we go…" She said to herself as she spun around and grabbed the web with her other hand and jerked hard, sending Miles tumbling across the roof.

"Bout time, Spider-Man," her masked voice spoke as she cut the webbing.

"I won't let you near her, Prowler," Spider-Man flipped to his feet.

"I'm not here to hurt your mother, Miles," Prowler replied relaxing before him.

"You expect me to believe that, after what you did?" Spider-Man tightened his fists when it finally clicked. "Wait… how did you know my name? Is that why you hurt my mother…"

"I'd never hurt her, Miles, please… you have to believe me. This isn't right. This isn't how it's supposed to be," Prowler said desperately, reaching up to remove her helmet. But before she could unsnap it, she heard the sound of some kind of engine. "Oh crap…" She jumped and barely dodged a barrage of missiles. She turned and her eyes widened at the sight of Peni's mech, which was a lot more intimidating than the one they first came in contact with almost two years ago.

"Shit…" She glanced around finding herself surrounded by not only Miles and Spider-Woman, but Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, Peter B, Peni and her mech, Spider-Punk, and Pav.

"You're surrounded…" Spider-Woman growled at the Prowler.

"The only thing I'm surrounded by …" Prowler said, her eyes glowing red, "Is fear and dead Spiders…"

'Where did that come from…' She asked herself as she dodged Ham's attack and went right toward Spider-Woman.

The two locked up, and Gwen could see the amusement through Spider-Woman's mask. "Getting into the role I see… good, good, Sister…" Spider-Woman whispered as they rolled across the roof. "It won't be long before you won't even give how things used to be another thought. Happily ever after… beautiful story isn't it, sweet heart?"

"Who are you!" Gwen asked as they fell off the roof. She clung to her wrists to keep her from swinging away as they tumbled onto a dumpster before landing on the ground.

"I'm you, Gwen," Spider-Woman said, managing to get one hand free, and pulled off her mask. "I'm you. The you who you would have been if you hadn't run away. The you who would have been if you hadn't got Peter killed. The you who would have been if you had reached out to Miles instead of letting Miguel destroy him. Who's the bad guy, Gwen? Who's the one with blood on her hands?"

Spider-Woman kicked Gwen off her then pinned her down, "One more time, from the beginning. I'm Gwen Stacy. I was bitten by a radioactive Spider, and since you signed the contract, I've been the one and only Spider-Woman. I am Miles Morales' lover. I will be with him all the days of his life. And you. You're just the Prowler. And you get to watch."

"Why are you doing this…" Gwen growled out through clinched teeth.

"Why am I doing this?" Spider-Woman laughed, "This is what you wanted from my master, this is what you signed up for. Miles is alive. And I'll keep him happy. You don't have to worry, Gwen… I'll take real good care of him."

"I'll find a way to fix this…" Gwen growled, her eyes going to where the others landed behind them. She quickly kicked Spider-Woman off and threw a smoke bomb to conceal her escape, cursing herself for failing to talk to Miles yet again.

She made it to her bike and escaped to her lair as quickly as possible, she didn't even slow down as she roared inside and laid the bike down at full speed and watched as it slammed into her computer system.

She screamed in rage as she threw her gloves at the TV and shoved the armor vault over. She stormed into the bathroom and removed her helmet. She looked at her own bloodshot eyes before screaming at herself and shattering the mirror with her helmet, before turning and throwing it across the floor.

The helmet was stopped by a black boot.

Gwen glanced up to see who had tracked her home. "Noir…" She whispered as Spider-Man Noir eyed her down. "How did you find me?"

"Sweetheart, I've tracked down slyer scum then you with my eyes closed," Noir said, taking a step toward her, his hand on his side arm. "I wasn't expecting to see you under that mask, Gwen Stacy. I'm not seeing any glitches so I'm assuming you're the Gwen Stacy from this universe. But assumptions can be incorrect."

"Noir… Peter, you have to believe me…" Gwen held up her hands.

"You know my name… you have my curiosity…" Noir tilted his head. "If you want me to believe you, you have to make me believe you." He nodded to her, "go on, convince me."

"Ok…" Gwen breathed, glancing around, "Ok…" she took a deep breath, "You know Spider-Woman is supposed to be Gwen Stacy…"

"Spider-Woman is Gwen Stacy…" Noir corrected.

"No, that's not Gwen Stacy. I am Gwen Stacy, I'm supposed to be Spider-Woman," Gwen replied.

"There can be many Gwen Stacy's, I had one die in my arms after being thrown from a clock tower by Crime Boss Norman 'The Goblin' Osborne," Noir shook his head, "You're going to have to do better then that, Miss Stacy."

"There was a man in a red suit, he came to me and offered me something… something I couldn't turn down… and I think he was the devil. Not a super villain calling himself that, not that crazy person from Hell's Kitchen but the actual, honest to God devil…"

"The… did you…" Noir took a step toward her, "Did he hand you a parchment, describing the details of the offer… and to sign it you had to prick your finger on a needle attached to the signature line on said parchment?"

"… Yes, that's …" She gasped when Noir grabbed her wrist.

"Don't say anything else, nothing. Be silent," Noir said quickly, as he used his goober to open a portal. "Come with me, quickly. Before he catches on."

"Wait, what?" Gwen blinked in confusion.

"Don't ask questions, move, baby cakes," Noir said pulling her into the portal, a moment later they stepped out in a black and white church.

"Ok, we're safe here, we can talk. He won't dare set foot on holy ground," Noir said.

"He? Who are you talking about…" Gwen asked, but blinked in surprised when Noir removed his hat and mask and turned on her with a look of angered disgust.

"Mephistopheles, that's who," Noir growled at her, his face twisted in anger, "The demon you let screw up reality with a drop of your blood as sacrifice. What were you thinking?!"

"Mephistawho?" Gwen squinted her face up in conclusion.

"You took a deal form a demon and you didn't even ask his name?" Noir shook his head, "Did you have trouble with just walking into the arms of kidnappers growing up?"

"No, he just… I couldn't say no…" Gwen turned her back.

"You can always say no, Honey," Noir replied, "He and his ilk only have power when you give it to them."

"You don't understand…" Gwen hugged herself.

"Then make me understand," Noir pressed, "What did he offer you? A chance to let your hair down and be a bad guy? Did you want to get your rocks off as a super villain? Explain to me what in this situation that you could possibly want!"

"MILES NOT DEAD! THAT'S WHAT!" She turned and screamed, "I COULDN'T… I … can't… I couldn't lose him… not again… I couldn't…" she said starting to cry.

"Miles Morales died fighting the Spot… didn't he…" Noir breathed, it wasn't a question. "Jesus…"

"What can I do?" Gwen asked in a small voice.

"Did he offer you an exit clause?" Noir asked, sitting down in a pew.

"Yes but…" Gwen shuddered.

"It'd put things back how they started with you," Noir said knowingly, "Morales in the ground, and you grieving your man. He knows what he's doing, that's for sure."

"How do you know all this?" Gwen asked.

"I've dealt with Mephisto before," Noir said, pulling out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one and lighting it. "I'm assuming, when you were Spider-Woman, we discussed our similar origins with either our little band of marry Spideys, or the Society?"

"We were all bitten by radioactive spiders, Miles was the only unique one, the anomaly. His was from a different dimension," Gwen answered.

"I lied," Noir said, taking a drag of his cigarette. "I was on a case a few years ago. The Goblin's goons were out to steal religious artifacts that came in from South America… I was there to stop him. Things went south quicker than the wind can change. An idol shaped like a spider broke and I was attacked by a swarm of spiders that came from it. As I lay dying from the poison, I had a vision of a god or goddess, showed me the web of life, and that it was my job to protect it from criminals and the Nazis. Been fighting the good fight ever sense."

"Why didn't you ever tell us that?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"None of you seemed quite … understanding of the more religious nature of the great web and the web of life," Noir cleared his throat, "So … I kept it to myself. None of you needed to know."

"So, what does this have to do with this Mephisto?" Gwen asked sitting down herself.

"He's up to something bigger than you and Morales, Kiddo," Noir replied, "But I believe it has to do with you two at least to an extent. This is smoke and mirrors."

"Watch the hands not the mouth," Gwen bit her lip.

"Exactly," Noir nodded.

"Is there a way to fix things, so that whatever's going on can be fixed but Miles stay with me… er us?" Gwen asked.

"If we can find out what his scheme is, it's possible," Noir nodded, "I'd go out on a limb to say that the Gwen Stacy that's Spider-Woman in your place is one of his lesser demons. Likely keeping Morales and the rest of us accepting of the changes. If too many people realize reality has been altered, it would make whatever he's done the alterations for a lot harder to accomplish."

"So how do we do that?" Gwen asked in frustration.

"You keep playing Supervillain," Noir said, putting his mask back on, "you've already on your way to establishing yourself as Spider-Woman arch foe. Keep doing that. Keep her distracted while I do what I do best. And don't lose hope, not yet. There's always a way. Just whatever you do, don't trust anyone. Only me, and only after you've confirmed it's me. We'll set up a password…"

He put his fedora back on and gave it a tip toward her, "Stay strong, you're not alone, Miss Stacy."

'you're not alone' echoed in her mind as her eyes filled with tears. Noir gasped when Gwen threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Peter…" she sniffled, "It's been so hard…"

"I know, kiddo…" Noir said tightly, hugging her back gently, "I know better than you realize…"

To Be Continued…