After retrieving her everyday clothes and changing back into her civilian identity of Gwen Stacy, the blonde ESU student headed over to the residence where Mary Jane's Aunt Anna lived. Upon arriving, Gwen found everyone seated in the living room having tea, all looking surprisingly chirpy, considering all the heartache they had been though.
"Hiya Gwendy!" said Mary Jane with a smile. "Did you get that stuff sorted at the library okay?"
"Oh yeah, swell," said Gwen, glad that Mary Jane had established a believable alibi for her. "Hello, Mrs Parker. I'm glad to see you're doing okay, after what happened to Doctor Octavius."
"Oh, that's nice of you dear," said May Parker with a warm smile. "But you needn't worry about an old lady like me. It has been a difficult time lately, but as I once told Peter, we Parkers are tougher than we look."
"Well, I suppose I better go and get some more tea on the go," said Anna Watson, as she picked up the teapot and headed to the kitchen.
"I'll help you out, Aunt Anna," said Mary Jane helpfully, picking up the used cups and following her Aunt, leaving Gwen momentarily alone with Peter's Aunt.
"Now, how have you been doing, dear?" May asked Gwen. "I haven't seen much of you since... since Peter's funeral."
"Oh, I've been coping, Mrs Parker," sighed Gwen. "It's just... been hard you know. It's been months now, and I still miss Peter terribly."
"I know, dear," said May understandingly. "I miss him too. But he wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your days mourning for him."
"Yeah, I do get that. But I made a promise to try and honour Peter's memory, and sometimes... it feels like I'm letting him down, no matter how hard I try to do otherwise. There are times I wish... that I was the one who died at that bridge, instead of him."
"Now, young lady, you must try not to think like that," said May firmly. "Peter gave his life for you because you were special to him, because he loved you for the kind-hearted person you are. However much I mourn for him, however painful it is for me to have lost him in the same way as my husband, Ben, I'm also proud of what Peter did. He stood by his sense of responsibility right to the end, and so long as we all remember that, he can have no better tribute. Now I know that these are trying times for you, probably more than the rest of us, but you mustn't give up on yourself or give in to despair, however bleak things may seem. Just remember more the good times you had with Peter, and let that encourage you to find new happiness, rather than let the bad memories make you bitter, angry and lonely."
Gwen gave a hopeful smile, feeling a bit more encouraged by this. "Thanks, Mrs Parker. I think I really needed to hear that. And you're right. I shouldn't give up so easily. If I want to do Peter proud, then I have to stay true to myself, as well as stick to the principles my Dad taught me, no matter how hard things get."
"That's the spirit, Gwen," grinned Mary Jane, as she and her Aunt came back into the living room. "Say, Mrs Parker, I was telling Gwen earlier that Betty Brant is holding a party on Christmas Eve. Maybe you and Aunt Anna might like to tag along too."
"Oh, that would be lovely, dear," smiled May. "In times like these, it's important to be with one's friends. On another matter, Mary Jane, pardon me for prying, but have you given any thought as to what you'd like to do when you eventually graduate?"
"Well, I have been dreaming of either becoming an actress or a model," replied Mary Jane as she sat down, while Anna poured out the tea. "I also hear that there's quite a bit of work to be found in the fashion business, so perhaps I might try setting up my own in the long run."
"Just make sure you keep clear of guys like Roderick Kingsley," advised Gwen. "I remember hearing my Dad and some of his friends from the force mention him, and it seems he's been mixed up in some pretty shady deals."
"Sounds like a man to avoid," nodded Anna Watson. "How about you, Gwen? Do you have any particular plans?"
"Funnily enough, I have been talking to the Dean," said Gwen, "and it seems that with Professor Warren gone after his breakdown, there may a future vacancy for teaching in biochemistry, which the University Board think might interest me. I've been giving some serious thought about doing that, assuming my own grades pay off and I get my doctorate."
"Professor Gwen Stacy, expert on biochemistry. Has a nice ring to it!" grinned Mary Jane.
The rest of the afternoon passed by pleasantly, and by the time Gwen and Mary Jane said their goodbyes and headed off, it was starting to snow again. The city streets were busy, with people going in and out of stores, doing some last-minute shopping for presents, and all around them were various festive decorations and colourful lights, giving a merry feeling to the whole neighbourhood. There was even the faint, delightful sound of carols being sung from a nearby Church, which added to the strong feeling of the Christmas spirit.
"You know, MJ, I don't think I've appreciated before just how strong willed Peter's Aunt is," remarked Gwen, as the two friends walked past some kids marvelling at a large Christmas tree. "She's been through some terrible losses, and yet she still presses on, determined not to be overwhelmed by all the grief in her life."
"I guess we can all learn a thing or two from May," agreed Mary Jane. "Do you think we should have told her the truth? About Peter being Spider-Man?"
Gwen shook her head. "No she's already convinced that Spider-Man's a menace and Doctor Octopus a good guy. After everything, it would be cruel to tell her how mistaken she is on both points, telling her her nephew was a masked vigilante and her benefactor was a master criminal. Besides, she already knows what kind of person Peter Parker was, and she's satisfied enough with that."
"Yeah, you're probably right," agreed Mary Jane, as they came up to her apartment. "Anyway, I'm gonna head in and whip myself up some hot chocolate. Catch you later?"
"Sure," smiled Gwen. "I'm just gonna go for a walk, get some fresh air for a bit before heading home."
When she had said 'go for a walk', what Gwen really meant was that she was going for some web-slinging across the city as Spider-Woman. She had grown to love swinging past the tall skyscrapers like a modern-day Tarzan, and the view of the city from the air was spectacular, especially with it all lit-up by the various Christmas lights, with all their bright and cheerful colours.
"Wow, I doubt this will ever grow old!" Spider-Woman grinned beneath her mask, as she landed on top of a gargoyle and perched herself on its head, as she gazed at the good view she had of Manhattan. It was moments like these that made Gwen Stacy glad that she had opted to carry on Peter Parker's legacy. However hard life as a superhero could be, as she had discovered over the course of the last year, she had found that there was also a lot to be enjoyed in this new life of hers. It also gave her a new sense of purpose, to fight injustice and help people in need, much like her father did right up to the day he died.
A fresh load of snow began to come down from the clouds above, and Spider-Woman shivered a little, glad that her costume included the jacket and hood that helped protect her from the cold of the Winter season. As she hugged the jacket closer around her body, the Wall-Crawler stiffened a little as she felt spider-sense begin buzzing, not warning her of danger, but of something important nearby. Quickly, she got out her tracker device, which was giving a positive beeping sound and pulsing light on its radar screen, confirming that she was picking up a signal from the spider-tracer she had sent out earlier.
"The Punisher must be nearby!" realised Spider-Woman, as she swiftly bounced off the stone gargoyle and urgently began to wall-crawl and web-sling her way towards the source of the spider-tracer signal. As she raced along a rooftop, Spider-Woman glanced down at the road running alongside the current block of buildings, and her eyes widened as she spotted amongst the speeding traffic the same black armoured van that the Punisher had used earlier to make his escape. Taking care to make sure she would not be easily spotted, Spider-Woman began to trail the War Wagon through the maze of roads that ran through New York, until the vehicle pulled into a shadowy avenue and parked itself.
As Spider-Woman kept to the shadows of the wall of the building she has currently adhered to, she watched intently as the driver's door opened and a muscular figure in a hat and trench coat clambered out. Even though the figure had his back to her and had taken precautions to hide his features, Spider-Woman recognised the shape of the man straightaway. It was, without a doubt, the Punisher. Stealthily, Spider-Woman slowly crawled along the wall and watched as the Punisher headed over to a store with the name 'REISS ARMORERS' plastered on a large sign above the main door and shop windows. Pausing for a moment to glance this way and that, in order to satisfy himself that he had not been followed, the Punished stepped over the threshold and entered the gun store.
"Hmm, so this is where the Punisher gets all his toys from, huh?" Spider-Woman thought to herself, as she paid a quick visit to the War Wagon, before she then swung herself over on a web-line and landed on the front of the store, just above the windows. Creeping her way down, Gwen spotted that one of the top glass frames was slightly ajar, just enough to enable her to hear the voices of two men inside, one recognisably that of the Punisher, while the other seemingly belonged to the owner of the shop. Taking a chance, Spider-Woman peered over the top and looked through the glass. Inside the shop she could see the Punisher, who had taken off his coat and hat, talking to a middle-aged man in a wheelchair, who had a large black beard, a hook where his left hand should be, and no legs.
"This guy looks like a retired war veteran," pondered Spider-Woman. "Maybe these two guys fought together on the front line. It would certainly fit in with the Punisher's militaristic approach."
Indeed, the way the two men were talking to each other was very much like old comrades in arms, as the Punisher presented the shopkeeper with a list of equipment he wanted.
"I'll need a new Wire-Gun, Mechanic," said the Punisher. "and if you have any non-lethal device that might be useful in dealing with the police or that meddling Spider-Woman, that would be a big help."
"Spider-Woman, huh?" echoed the man called the Mechanic. "That'll be a challenge, Captain, but I reckon I might be able to come up with something. Pity that people like her don't realise we're all on the same side."
The Punisher nodded with some regret."I know, it would make our job a lot easier if those who are supposed to uphold the law realise the necessity of taking lethal action against the scum of the criminal underworld. But they refuse to accept that in war, there is only one way to deal with the enemy. Since they refuse to get their hands dirty, it's up to us to do the unpleasant deeds ourselves."
Spider-Woman had heard enough. These two men were positively in cahoots, and were waging their own lethal war on the underworld, taking it upon themselves to pass sentence on anyone they deemed guilty, regardless of what the law or anyone else said. And it seemed to be up to Spider-Woman to stop them both before some innocent bystander got caught in the crossfire!
Scaling up the wall a bit, Spider-Woman fired a web-line downwards, which snagged the top of the store window. Then, keeping a firm hold on the line, the young hero launched herself off the wall and used the web-line to swing herself in an arch, sending herself flying like a cannonball right towards the glass window.
KRASSSH!
Glass fragments were sent flying all over the room as Spider-Woman crashed through the window and landed on the floor in a crouch before the surprised eyes of the Punisher and the Mechanic.
"Hiya boys! Hope you don't mind me crashing this little party," joked Spider-Woman, as she took up a fighting stance.
The Punisher was quick to react, lashing out with his foot in an attempt to deliver a formidable karate kick. But Spider-Woman had braced herself for such an attack, and she swiftly stepped to the side, thus avoiding the kick, whereupon she grabbed the Punisher's outstretched leg and flipped the unfortunate Veteran onto his back with a sickening thud.
Seeing his friend in trouble, the mechanic tried to reach for one of the various rifles stacked on his shelves, which had already been filled with mercy bullets. But Spider-Woman's spider-sense had already warned her of what the man was trying to do, and she let loose a barrage of webbing from her web-shooters, which ensnared the Mechanic in his wheelchair, rendering him powerless.
Upon seeing this, the quickly recovering Punisher charged forward. "I don't know how you tracked me down, Spider-Woman, but no-one does that to my friend and gets away with it! I didn't spend three years in the marines for nothing you know!"
He threw a fist towards his masked adversary, but Spider-Woman dodged the attack and leapt onto the ceiling, as the Punisher's balled-up hand instead impacted with the wall, leaving a large dent in it. Swinging around, the Punisher whipped out a tranquilliser pistol from his belt, specially reserved for dealing with misguided policeman on his tail. He proceeded to fire upwards at the ceiling, but however accurate his aim was, Spider-Woman's reflexes enabled her to dodge the darts, as she leapt about from one side of the room to another.
"Hey! Didn't your mother tell you it's rude to take shots at a lady like this!" called out Spider-Woman as she carried on evading the Punisher's attacks.
"I've no desire to do you permanent harm, Spider-Woman," said the Punisher truthfully, as he continued to fire upon the web-spinner. "But if you continue to obstruct my crusade like this, I shall have no choice but to take you down!"
"Funny, cause I was going to say something similar to you, pal!" said Spider-Woman, before she fired out another web-line, which managed to snag the nozzle of the gun, preventing any more darts from being fired out. Pulling hard on the line, Spider-Woman wrenched the gun out of the Punisher's hand, swung it about in the air, and sent it crashing right onto the side of the murderous vigilante's head. The Punisher gave a cry of pain, and for a moment, spots seemed to dance in front of his eyes, as he dimly registered that Spider-Woman had now launched herself towards him.
Pulling himself together, the dazed Punisher jumped to the side and barely managed to avoid getting hit by Spider-Woman, before he then propelled himself out through the gaping hole in the shattered window and landed in the thick snowy streets. It was clear now that Spider-Woman was a relentless opponent and her incredible strength made her very hard to defeat. The Punisher's only chance now was to get to the War Wagon and get out some weaponry or heavy artillery that would take down Spider-Woman, hopefully without killing her, before he could then attempt to free the Mechanic.
Sprinting his way across the street, ignoring the cold bite of the snow lashing against his face, the Punisher managed to reach the War Wagon, but to his dismay, he found that all the doors had been sealed up by Spider-Woman's webbing, preventing him from getting inside the vehicle and reaching his equipment.
THWIP!
Before the Punisher had a chance to work out an alternate strategy, he felt something sticky hit the back of his shirt, and the next second, he was yanked off his feet and sent flying back towards the gun store.
"Ahh, you went thinking of leaving the party this soon, were you?" said Spider-Woman, as she gave the web-line another sharp pull and sent the Punisher crashing into a lamppost, which he was quickly secured to by a particularly generous amount of webbing from the Web-Spinner. "The cops haven't even arrived yet. I bet they're just dying to meet you, after all the mayhem you've been letting loose recently."
The Punisher gave Spider-Woman a look like one a disappointed parent would give a child. "You interfering, misguided fool. You just don't understand, do you?"
"You're right, I don't," said Spider-Woman dryly. "So why don't you try explaining yourself? You said you used to be a marine, so how come you decided to start your own personal war in New York? What gives you the right to make yourself a one-man judge, jury and executioner?"
"Because my family died at the hands of criminal scum, girl," growled the Punisher. "Innocents like my wife and children are in danger here everyday, because the state doesn't have the backbone to deal out proper justice to the vermin that infest this city. Oh, they may lock them up for a bit, but eventually they break out, and the cycle of violence starts all over again. There's only one way to deal with their kind, and that's to make them pay the ultimate price for their actions!"
Spider-Woman's mask prevented the Punisher from reading the expression on her face, but she gazed silently at him for a long moment, before she finally responded:
"You know something, Punisher? There was a time, not too long ago, that I felt the same way you did. I lost my father as a result of a fight between a criminal and a brave man, and that man, whom I loved with all my heart, was himself later murdered by a monster. I wanted so much to get my revenge too. But I stopped myself from taking that fateful step into the abyss, because I realised that if I took the law into my own hands like that, it would dishonour the memories of those I lost and the principles they stood for. The pain of what I've lost will always stay with me, but I've learnt to move on. I still have my friends by my side, good friends, and perhaps, someday, I'll find love again."
The Punisher looked thoughtfully at Spider-Woman, hearing clearly just how sincere her words were. "Then I do hope you find that love, Spider-Woman. And in a way I envy you. For that life you look forward to, I can never have myself."
"I can see that now, Punisher," said Spider-Woman, as the wail of approaching police sirens filled the air. "And for that, you have my pity."
There was nothing more to be said, so Spider-Woman fired a web-line and swung herself upwards, before she started to swing her way home, while behind her, the police surrounded the Punisher and prepared to cart him and the Mechanic to jail. Gwen could not help feeling sorry for the Punisher, as the path he had taken was one she so easily could have taken herself. But when it came to it, she had not taken that path, and for that, she would be forever grateful.
The Night of Christmas Eve arrived almost briskly, and when Gwen and Mary Jane arrived at Betty Brant's apartment, along with Mrs Parker and MJ's Aunt Anna, the celebrations were already in full swing. The guests was largely made up of Betty's friends and colleagues from the 'Daily Bugle', but there were also more familiar faces there as well, such as Joseph Robertson's son, Randy, whom Gwen and MJ knew at ESU.
"Gwen! MJ! I'm so glad you girls could make it," smiled Betty warmly as she let her latest guests in. "And it's so nice that you and Mrs Watson could come along too, Mrs Parker."
"Thank you, dear. It was so kind of you to let us old ladies come along," said May, returning the warm smile.
"Indeed. A friendly gathering like this is just what we all need, after this last year," agreed Anna Watson. "It wouldn't be right to spend Christmas Eve of all days alone."
"I'd like to second that statement, Mrs Watson," said Mr Robertson, as he came over to greet the guests. "It has been a pretty rough last year, especially after what happened to poor Peter. But no matter what tragedy befalls us, we should stay strong and stick together."
"Yeah, Mrs Parker was saying something similar to Gwen a few days ago," said Mary Jane, elegantly dressed in a long yellow satin dress, which contrasted a bit with the new jacket and waistcoat suit Gwen was wearing. "Life sure has it fair share of ups and downs like a rollercoaster, but I've always been one to put on a smile and press on."
"Oh, by the way, Mr Robertson, how's Mr Jameson doing?" asked Gwen.
"He's surviving," replied Robertson. "I'm afraid the fallout from that Wolf-Man business and the resulting public backlash has led him to resign from the Bugle, so at present, he's busy looking after his son."
"Ah, that's a shame. I guess the Bugle is stuck without a publisher then," said Gwen sympathetically.
"You're wrong there, Gwen," cut in Randy Robertson. "The Bugle's Board of Directors asked Dad to replace Jameson as publisher, and he's accepted!"
"Far out! Congrats, Mr Robertson," grinned Mary Jane. "Anyway, come on you guys. Let's party!"
The following few hours passed by pleasantly, with everyone gathered around the Christmas Tree in Betty's living room, chatting merrily away as they drank glasses of fizz and chomped down on party food. As she took a sip of champagne from her glass, Gwen thought to herself how lucky she was to have such good friends in her life to help her get through the dark times that had threatened to overwhelm her more than once. Moments such as this helped remind her that there was still much to look forward to in life and there would always be a silver lining to shine through even the darkest of clouds.
"Oh, I almost forgot, dear," said May Parker, as she handed a Christmas parcel to Gwen. "This is for you. It used to belong to Peter and I think he would have wanted you to have it."
Gratefully accepting the gift, Gwen removed the wrapping to reveal a rather splendid microscope. "Wow! Peter's old microscope! He often told me how much he cherished this."
"Yes, it was the last gift my late husband gave to him," said May with a sad smile. "I thought you would like to take care of it, dear. I feel it symbolises everything Peter believed in, and how much he meant to all those close to him."
Blinking back tears, Gwen gave May an affectionate hug. "Thank you, Mrs Parker. I will treasure this for the rest of my life."
Across the room, Mary Jane smiled to herself as she watched the lovely heartfelt scene that was taking place. Despite all that Gwen had lost, and how much she had changed as a result, MJ was glad that the young woman had retained her kind heart and restored at least some of her sunny optimism. There would undoubtably be greater challenges laying ahead in the future for the girl, both as Gwen Stacy and Spider-Woman, but somehow, Mary Jane felt that her best friend would be able to face them. And somehow, in her heart, MJ could feel that wherever he was up there, Peter knew as well, and that he was as proud of Gwen as Mary Jane was feeling. His legacy, the legacy of Spider-Man, would forever live on in Gwen Stacy, and so long as it did, he would never truly be gone from the world.
THE END... FOR NOW!
Many thanks to everyone who faved and reviewed this story. Particular thanks again to jettmanas, who kindly did the cover-art.
I may possibly have ideas for more stories to write next year featuring this version of Spider-Gwen, which I may either add to this FanFic or do as a separate sequel. However, I cannot make any promises, as I tend to be quite busy at home, so I hope you all enjoyed reading what I've done so far.