Gwen woke up. She was lying face down in the dirt. She was in the wooded area that she had used to hide her pack. She rubbed her face and tried to remember how she got here. The sun was streaming through the trees. Her new costume was charred and shredded. She was basically naked at least the parts that counted were still mostly covered. She sat up and felt dizzy almost immediately. She held the side of her face. She smelled the faintest hint of blood on her fingers. She was still having trouble focusing so she moved her hands back and forth. Then she realized they were filthy. When she was finally able to focus she realized most of the dirt was actually dried blood which had run down her forearms. She took a closer look at herself she was covered in blood splatter. She was horrified.
She scrambled over to her backpack and dug through it until she found her make up kit. She quickly opened the mirror. Gwen's stomach lurched when she saw the blood splatter in her hair and on her face. The most horrific part was her mouth. Dried blood coated her lower lip and ran down her chin and neck. She dropped her mirror and landed on all fours. She felt like she was about to vomit. She dry heaved for several minutes. Nothing came out. She heard the rumble of diesel engines in the distance and remembered the truck stop she'd gotten off the bus at. She shoved her mirror into the backpack and pulled herself up. She ended up doubled over, backpack sitting in the dirt. She tugged out her cyan Chucks, leggings and her hoodie. She tugged them on over the remnants of her new costume one at a time. She was glad she always went baggy with her hoodies. It would cover her hands and face.
Gwen stumbled tough the wooded area and up an embankment. She hopped over the guard rail. There were a dozen big rigs parked here with engines running. She crept between two trucks and started to seriously ponder her life choices up to this point because she heard a couple very loudly having sex in one of the trucks. She admitted she probably should have started doing that reconsideration when she realized she woke up covered in someone else's blood. She leaned heavily on the wall of the Truckstop's restaurant. She looked at her reflection in the window. She had her hood pulled up and settled in such a way the blood wasn't visible. She pulled the door open and walked inside. One of the waitresses noticed her and moved to confront her.
"Paying customers only."
Gwen looked at the waitress. She had the urge to punch her. Gwen shook her head trying to clear a sudden burst of anger. The waitress took it as a challenge to her authority and called out.
"Sheriff!"
Gwen grimaced when a man in a beige LEO uniform started to approach. Gwen reached into her pocket and tossed a hundred-dollar bill on the nearest table.
"Tea and three of your biggest breakfasts, just do whatever for the eggs. Whatever is left over is a tip. It was a long night. Where are your washrooms?"
The waitress blinked a few times and picked up the bill and straightened it out. She shrugged and motioned to the back of the restaurant. The sheriff noticed Gwen had paid and went back to his newspaper and breakfast. She was thankful it wasn't her dad; He would have definitely wanted to know more. Apparently six was too early for the Sheriff to do actual work. Gwen made her way through the restaurant. She spotted a couple with a baby. They had a pack of wetnaps on the table. She walked up to them and pulled out another crumpled hundred-dollar bill.
"This for your wet naps."
The woman gave her partner a dirty look as he offered the wetnaps and took the hundred. Gwen heard her giving him a dressing down for getting involved. She lost the conversation when the door to the women's washroom closed. She pulled down her hood and started scrubbing the dried blood off her face. Then she started on her hands. She felt like she was tearing her skin off she scrubbed so hard. She felt panic rising up in her again. She leaned on the sink and looked in the mirror. She took several deep breaths trying to calm herself. The entire room seemed to shake around her. She jumped back from the mirror when she saw black spiders crawling out of her eyes and ears. When she opened her mouth to scream spiders swarmed out of it too. She stumbled back into one of the stall doors and almost fell into the toilet. When she pulled herself up there was no sign of the spiders.
Gwen shook her head and resumed cleaning the dirt and blood off her hands. She looked at the pile of bloody wetnaps. She gathered them up and dug into the large garbage bin and stuffed them underneath the paper towels. She went back to the mirror and moved her head around looking for anything she missed. She noticed the blood splatter in her hair. She started scrubbing it out.
She went into one of the stalls and pulled her clothes off. She tore the remnants of her costume off and wadded them up into a ball. She pulled on her t-shirt and leggings. She felt super uncomfortable without underwear underneath them, but she had no choice at the moment. She made a mental note to carry an extra bra and underwear next time. When she finished getting dressed, she tugged her shoes on and stuffed her hoodie into her backpack. The remnants of her new black costume were unidentifiable, so she just stuffed that under the trash with her blood-covered wetnaps. Gwen pulled on her Yankees baseball cap before leaving the washroom.
When she left the restroom she noticed three plates of breakfast at the table she'd dropped her money on. She passed the young couple with their baby and dropped the wetnaps she hadn't used.
"Thanks."
She sat down and started devouring her breakfast. She was starving. The sheriff had apparently decided to take notice of her. He hooked his thumbs under his belt and cleared his throat. Gwen looked up from her half-empty plate of breakfast. She decided it was probably best to forgo her usual attitude.
"Sorry, sir, can I help you?"
He looked her over.
"I don't recognize you, you're a little young to be out here all alone, aren't you?"
Gwen reached into her backpack and slapped her return bus ticket on the table.
"Just a stopover. I fell down and missed the bus last night."
He motioned to her backpack.
"Mind if I take a look?"
Gwen frowned at him.
"My dad's a cop, I know you can't do anything if I say no. But go ahead."
He picked up her backpack and unzipped it. He pulled out her wallet and opened it. Looked at her state ID card. Checked how much money she had. She had another three hundred dollars in various denominations. He raised an eyebrow and put the wallet on the table. He found her Stark Industries ID badge. Then her SHIELD ID badge. Gwen was very thankful she'd ditched the remnants of the costume instead of trying to salvage it. Finally, he pulled out her holo-phone which she had powered off so it couldn't be traced. He held it up.
"What is this?"
"Smartwatch. Its kind of flashy I didn't want to risk it getting stolen on the bus if I fell asleep."
He finally pulled the envelope she'd forgotten was in a side pocket and opened it. He pulled out the check and he blinked a few times. Gwen winced inwardly. How was she supposed to explain a ten-thousand-dollar Federal government check. He whistled then slid it back into the envelope. She realized it might actually explain why she had so much cash.
"Paycheck?"
Gwen shook her head.
"No, sort of. I am a highly skilled engineer, and I did some work for them with that alien stuff in New York. All classified of course."
He didn't seem to have a reason to argue the point. He put her belongings back in the pack except her SHIELD ID badge.
"No phone?"
"Lost it. My dad is going to be super angry."
He looked at the badge and looked out of the restaurant's bank of windows then back at Gwen.
"There was an explosion near here last night, do you know anything about it? Did you see anything? Hear anything?"
She shook her head.
"No sorry. A nice truck driver let me crash in her cab. Slept like a baby."
"Could you show me the truck?"
Gwen shrugged.
"Sorry sir, she pulled out really early this morning. I went for a walk afterwards to stretch out. Got a bit muddy when I was poking at some stones. That's why I wanted to get cleaned up."
He kept his fingers hooked under his belt.
"Did you get a name? License plate?"
Gwen shook her head.
"No, she just saw me miss my bus, asked if I needed a place to crash. Nice older lady. I gave her some money to thank her. She said she was excited to get home to see her granddaughter. What was her name? Oh yea, Cynthia. Though they call her Cindy because she can't pronounce her name properly yet."
He was obviously not happy with her answers. Gwen wasn't really giving him anything to latch on to.
"So, why all the cash?"
"I didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere and be told they don't accept debit. It is so terrible when that happens. I have a metabolism problem; Means I have to eat a lot, or I feel really sick. I just can't take the chance I won't get food. Sir, is there something you want me to answer? My breakfast is getting cold."
He held up one finger.
"Don't move please."
He picked up her SHIELD badge and walked away from the table. He spoke into his radio. Gwen went back to eating. She heard the conversation he had with his office.
"Hey, it's the Sheriff, I need you to pull a name for me. Gwen Stacy. She has some Federal ID badge. SHIELD?"
"I've seen something that said SHIELD somewhere."
"Yea, I've seen it too, on the trucks dropping stuff off at that building that blew up. She also has a Stark Industries employee ID badge. Her state ID says she's fifteen, from New York City."
He kept glancing at Gwen who had no intention of leaving her meal unfinished. She seemed even more hungry than normal this morning. He got a response after a few minutes.
"Uh, her ID is flagged by the Feds. I'm getting access denied and a contact number for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. Sheriff, I think you should just let this one go. I've only ever seen this kind of thing from the Feds once before and it was the⦠incident that got the last Sheriff retired."
Gwen shook her head. Fury really wasn't taking any chances on people tracking her down easily. The sheriff walked back to the table and handed her SHIELD ID to her. Apparently, he was a dog with a bone.
"Are you sure there is nothing you can tell me about that explosion last night?"
She smiled and slid her empty plate away.
"Sir, if there were any information I could share with you, I would gladly do so."
He frowned.
"Your bus will be here in an hour, make sure you're on it."
Gwen nodded.
"Of course, sir."
The waitress came back around. She looked at the Sheriff as he made his way back to his table. Gwen looked up at her.
"Could I get another breakfast, same one?"
The waitress nodded and took out her pad. She added the new item to Gwen's bill. She spoke quietly.
"Sorry about earlier, sometimes we get people who can't pay coming in, they cause a ruckus. Drugs, you know. I didn't mean to get you harassed by the sheriff."
Gwen had the urge to say something to the effect of: but it's alright if he harasses the homeless and poor then? Instead, she pulled out a twenty and gave it to the waitress.
"Don't worry about it. Keep the change from that too."
Gwen finished her meal and eventually caught the bus heading back to New York City. She desperately wanted to see what she'd managed to steal from the strange AI before the building apparently blew up. Maybe it was her blood after all. She couldn't pop out her hologram and start sifting through stolen data right here on the bus. She wished she had an actual phone, but she hadn't gotten around to buying a replacement. She decided that the building blew up, so she must have been hurt and that was where the blood came from. She couldn't remember because she hit her head. It was making so much more sense now. She smiled and enjoyed the ride.
