When Gwen woke up, she felt her face and realized she didn't have her mask on. She looked around in a panic. As her vision cleared, she realized Miles was sitting beside her and had her mask in his hand. They were in his room. She was on his bed. She took a few moments to collect herself and stop hyperventilating. He put his hand on her upper arm. He spoke in Spanish.

"Relax, Girl, I got you."

He held out his hand with her mask dangling off of it. Gwen rubbed her face. She was still aching all over. And her head was throbbing.

"English, you know my Porta Rican is crap. How long was I out?"

"It's called Spanish, and ten minutes give or take. I barely got you laid down. What's up with you girl? That black costume was fire, but uh… you sounded crazy."

Gwen blushed.

"Sorry. It was nothing. I have to go. Thanks for getting me out of there."

She reached for her mask. He held it up out of her reach.

"Girl, you can't go out again. You're going to kill someone if you don't stop."

Gwen glared at him. Whether it was because he was eight inches taller than her or that he was making too much sense she didn't know. She flicked her wrist and caught her mask with a web yanking it back to herself.

"I got it under control."

He frowned at her.

"I've heard way too many addicts say exactly the same thing. Whatever you're taking you need to stop."

Gwen pulled her mask over her face and moved to climb out his window. He grabbed her arm. She looked back at him.

"Take your hand off of me, you don't want to piss me off."

He released her and held up his hands.

"Me? Don't you mean Us?"

She didn't respond to him and just climbed out of his window and swung away. Spider-Woman wasn't sure where she was going. She'd lost control three times, at least she hadn't killed anyone but she'd come damn close. The city was still in chaos. Whatever had knocked her out had come out of left field. She had no idea what the source was, but the problem was without her on the streets it was one less agent of order. How many people would die if she didn't resume her patrol?

She sighed and swung into action when her spider-sense triggered. She looked for the source it was a car accident. The engine of one of the cars was starting to smoke. She launched herself towards it when she noticed a woman trying to get her car door open but the car was too damaged for her to manage it. She landed beside the car and ripped the door off its hinges and snapped the seat belt. She heard a child crying in the backseat. She gently pushed the woman away from the car that was about to go up.

"Go, I'll get your kid."

She ripped the rear passenger side door off and ripped the child seat out. The boy couldn't have been more than two years old. She rushed away as the car was engulfed in flames. She heard the mother screaming. Spider-Woman did a big circle around the burning wreck to reach the boy's mother and offered her the child seat. The woman grabbed Spider-Woman's hands after putting the child seat down safely on the curb.

"Thank you, thank you!"

Spider-Woman patted the woman's hands.

"I'm sure the EMS will be here soon. You're in shock. Just sit down. Hug your son and wait for them."

Spider-Woman launched two webs and swung away. She continued providing assistance but avoided anything with violence involved. She fought the urge to jump in but realized how dangerous the symbiote was becoming. The more she engaged in some form of battle the more it seemed to feed rage into itself and her. The black outs continued well into the evening. She had no clue what was going on, on the opposite side of the world. She hoped Loki and Thor were winning. She was standing on one of her favorite perches when the lights started to flicker and then come on block by block. She collapsed against the dome and pulled off her mask. She let the air leave her lungs slowly as relief washed over her. She was exhausted. She pulled her mask on and swung home. She figured she wouldn't see her father or Erica for quite some time. The city was still unsettled but with the electromagnetic interference gone they would be able to coordinate and respond.

She started by lighting a scented candle and running a hot bath which she dropped a bath bomb in, put on her relaxing music mix and sank into the turquoise water with a contented smile. She was far superior to a normal human, but she had been on for six hours straight save the incident with Miles. Every muscle in her body was complaining. The bath bomb and hot water went to work helping her relax those tired muscles. She soaked in the bath adding hot water to it every so often to keep it warm. She wished she was back in Asgard, the mineral hot springs that fed the baths in the palace never cooled. She sighed when she heard a knock at the apartment door. She pulled herself up and out of the tub and called out.

"Just a minute!"

It was about five minutes before she managed to be decent enough to answer the door. She opened it and peaked out. Thor was standing there, but he was wearing civilian clothing and carrying an umbrella of all things. He did not look like he had good news. She wondered what was wrong because the world was still here and she'd assumed if the Dark Elves had succeeded it would not be… Thor spoke.

"Gwen Stacy."

Gwen motioned for him to come in and closed the door behind him.

"Can I get you something? We have beer and soda, this isn't Asgard by a long stretch."

Thor held up his hand.

"No need, Gwen Stacy. I am sorry I come with ill tidings."

Gwen shook her head.

"Where is Loki?"

Thor's face fell.

"He fell in battle with the Kursed."

Tears started to drop down Gwen's cheeks and she shook her head repeatedly.

"No, that's impossible."

Thor pulled her close and hugged her tightly. Gwen sobbed into his chest. If you asked her, she wouldn't have guessed she would have had this reaction. She would have assumed she would be sad. She would never have guessed ugly crying. He patted her back. That was how Erica and her father found them. Her father cleared his throat loudly. Neither of her parental figures recognized the Norse God of Thunder. He released Gwen and turned and offered his hand to George.

"You must be Gwen's father."

Her father looked up at Thor in confusion. George was not a short or small man but compared to Thor he looked tiny. Gwen's father looked suspicious but shook his hand.

"And you are?"

Thor glanced at Gwen who was trying not to sob while sniffling and wiping tears from her eyes. She gave him a small nod. Thor answered truthfully.

"I am Thor Odinson."

Erica and George blinked in disbelief. Erica spoke first.

"Don't you usually have armor and a cape? And a hammer?"

Thor nodded.

"I am in disguise. I did not wish to draw attention to your home."

George stared at Gwen. She had told him she was Spider-Woman and hence he had known she was an Avenger, the meaning of that had not sunk in until he was face to face with an actual God whom Gwen accounted among her friends. Erica was less impressed and started wagging her finger at Thor's face.

"And what exactly were you doing hugging my half-naked, fifteen-year-old stepdaughter? Hmm?"

George went pale. Thor looked confused and spoke plainly.

"She was close to my brother who died in battle. I was providing comfort. As she did for me when my mother died."

Erica didn't back down.

"She's a child, let her father or me take care of 'comforting' her."

Thor looked angry.

"You should not insult her by calling her a child! Odin, the All-father himself, called her a Champion of the Nine Realms. She is the chosen bearer of the Adamantium Shadow Blade of the Dark Elves. She has proven herself in battle against the Dark Elves and Marauders, tales of her prowess have reached the farthest corners of Asgard and beyond into the Nine Realms! Her ferocity is becoming legendary. She gutted a marauder with her bare hands. Faced a Kursed warrior and made him retreat. She braved the depths of Asgard and an ocean of Lava to warn Earth of the Dark Elf's coming. There are beings of power that fear coming to Midgard lest she join the Avengers. My father entrusted the safety of Asgard with her. She was among his chosen war council! Even though she is a mortal with no powers to speak of, she is anything but defenseless."

He snorted derisively at Erica.

"Child. You do not know her."

Erica stepped back. She was a tough as nails cop, but she wasn't sure what this man was on. Gwen stepped between Thor and Erica and spoke in between sniffles.

"Its okay Thor, she doesn't know what I did while I was gone, neither did my father… exactly."

Thor blushed.

"Oh, my apologies Gwen Stacy."

George pulled Erica aside and they had a whispered conversation. Erica looked more and more sick to her stomach with each word. Her nervous eyes kept glancing at Thor. Thor patted Gwen on the shoulder.

"I will seek out your blade and return it to you. I did not find it on Loki. It is rightfully yours."

Gwen tried to say something more, but Thor held up his hand and left. George looked at Gwen. She could see awe in his eyes, along with a good amount of fear. Erica pointed at the couch.

"Okay you two, enough secrets. What happened at the theater?"

Gwen looked at George who didn't look like he wanted to answer. He looked a bit sick at the mention. Gwen rubbed her face.

"Look, I'm not telling you everything to protect you. If you don't know you can't be charged with anything or lose your job."

Erica looked annoyed.

"Gwen, you're fifteen. Let adults make those decisions. Now spill it."

Gwen closed her eyes.

"I'm Spider-Woman. Dad shot me in the heart. I went to Asgard to get medical treatment. Time is different there. For me it's been six months. I did everything Thor said. He just doesn't know I'm Spider-Woman. No one does except for you, now, my dad and Adam. I guess and Odin and Loki… but Loki is gone now."

Erica paused for a moment. She nodded.

"Okay it all makes sense now."

She looked at George.

"You could have told me George."

George looked up at Erica with moist eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to drag you into my mess… our mess."

Erica crossed her arms.

"We're married George, its all three of our messes. You should have trusted me."

Erica looked at Gwen.

"And I may not be your mother in anything but name, but what are you doing fighting in wars? You're fifteen!"

Gwen blushed.

"It wasn't like that. I was asleep and… the marauder touched me. I reacted and the Dark Elves were about to kill children. I am not built to ignore people in danger as much as I wish I was sometimes."

Erica narrowed her eyes.

"Thor said you gutted one with your bare hands."

Gwen blushed and looked at the floor.

"You know how things get exaggerated."

Erica raised a single eyebrow.

"Exaggerated, right."

Gwen held up her hands in surrender.

"Look, it was a troll. They're stronger than me. I may have used a little more strength than I meant to. When you've got people who can throw cars around duking it out and one isn't as tough as the other, things get messy sometimes. That's all it was. I mean he was trying to uh, I'm not sure if it was to eat me, or rape me. I was just very emphatic with my no-"

There was a knock on the door. Gwen stopped speaking suddenly at the disturbance. Erica held her hand up and went to answer the door. She stepped back and looked a bit surprised. Two detectives from Internal Affairs walked in. One looked at George and had handcuffs out.

"George, we're going to need to take you in."

To say, Gwen, Erica and George looked confused would be an understatement. Erica pushed in front of George.

"On what charges, Leo?"

Leo sighed.

"The murder of Detective Stanley Carter."

Gwen went pale. How would they connect her father to that? George must have noticed her reaction because he held out his hands.

"Let's get this over with."

Erica opened and closed her mouth a few times but didn't manage to get any words out. George looked at Erica.

"I'm going to need a lawyer."

The detectives seemed content to escort George out, neither had noticed Gwen's obvious reaction. Erica collapsed on the couch she finally got over her initial shock.

"Of all the… your father would never do that. He's as by the book as they come… but then again he… wait, you… did you do this?"

Gwen wiped away a few tears that had started to form under her eyes, she'd barely had a chance to recover from the shock of Loki's death. Now this.

"He was the Sin-Eater. He killed Detective DeWolf, and he was about to kill kids. I hit him. I had to get the explosives away. He was alive when I left him to put the TX-01 in the ocean. If I hadn't… it could have taken that whole city block out."

Erica narrowed her eyes.

"How alive?"

Gwen couldn't look directly at Erica.

"He had armor on… he's not a normal human… he wouldn't stay down."

Erica stood up.

"And you have webs!"

Gwen still couldn't look at Erica as she responded.

"He's broken out of them before. He was too dangerous to let loose."

Erica stood up and paced for several minutes rubbing her face.

"You're sure he was alive when you left him?"

Gwen nodded.

"I stopped before… before I ended him."

Erica shook her head.

"You know if your father thinks you did this, he'll take the blame, won't say a damn thing all the way to the lethal injection. This isn't some street thug, it's a cop. You're sure he was alive, and wasn't about to die when you left him?"

Gwen had tears dripping from her eyes.

"I don't have x-ray vision, Erica. He was breathing, cops were on the way, I figured they could get him to the hospital and if I hadn't gotten rid of those explosives he would have died along with everyone in a hundred foot radius. I can't fucking believe I let Obadiah turn TX-01 into a weapon system."

Erica snapped her fingers.

"You have a recording right? You record everything you do."

Gwen shook her head.

"No, I had everything turned off and even if it was turned on it would have been useless because of the EMI from the Celestial Alignment and the Dark Elf attack with the Aether."

Erica stopped midstride to look at her stepdaughter in confusion.

"What are you even talking about?"

Gwen sighed.

"Its not important, we need to call a lawyer."

As if on cue there was a knock at the door, Erica swore under her breath and opened the door. A man in an expensive looking dark, almost blood red suit, a black shirt with a red tie, his ensemble was topped off by a blood red fedora was on the other side. He wore a pair of opaque ruby colored sunglasses. If Gwen had to guess she would have guessed, he was the devil himself. She wasn't far from the truth.

"Did I hear someone was in need of a lawyer?"

He smiled. Gwen felt sick in the pit of her stomach. Her spider sense did not like this man, not one bit.

Author's Notes:

The urge is strong to post the next few chapters but they're not edited! I finally made my choice on a character if he was going to be from Spider-Gwen's earth or MCU. More to come in the next chapter.

Just a note on Gwen's comment about Mile's Spanish. All of Gwen's Spanish knowledge comes from school. My research tells me Porta Rican Spanish is a different dialect then the Spanish that is taught in schools (Much like French is here, Academic French in Canada is different then French from Quebec, it was fun sorting out some of the differences when I was stationed in Quebec City with the Navy lol). So her comment/Mile's response is sort of an inside joke. Spanish (what does it have to do with Math/Science/Engineering?) is not her strongest subject so she has trouble translating Spanish in school, then add in Mile's slang-filled alternate Caribbean style Spanish dialect and she struggles. So when Miles/his mother speak Spanish she calls it Porta Rican. Not in a offensive way. (This is kind of a dynamic I developed with a friend from Quebec we've been friends for almost 30 years and I still have trouble understanding her sometimes, still makes us both laugh when I tell her to translate what she just said into proper French.)