SPIDER GWEN: EXPOSED CHAPTER 2: HORIZONS

The sun was starting to rise, as the late summer wind was starting to blow some leaves off the trees in the Forest Hills neighborhood. One leaf entered Gwen’s bedroom window and landed on her face while she was still asleep. Feeling the itch, she blew it off before sneezing. Minutes later, her alarm clock began to ring, indicating it was 8:00 am. Opening her eyes after shutting the alarm off, she was giving a warm smile. It was the third consecutive night since Harry arrived that she had a quiet sleep, not to be disturbed by nightmares or nights when sleeping was a massive issue. It felt like things were going back to a normal-ish routine. Maybe Harry’s return was a sign that things were finally looking up. 

“Whew…no nightmares, no symbiote mass on me in the morning, no hanging by black webs on the ceiling… finally some normalcy…” she said as she got out of bed and stretched her arms and legs a bit, seeing her reflection in the mirror, reminding her of the signs that her old appearance was still a distant memory: the scar, the white eye, the other red eye, the pale skin and her quite athletic body, one detail that was very noticeable in her black sports bra and underwear “...Well, normal-ish.” giving a sigh after that constant reminder. She even made a funny face and stuck her long tongue out to at least make fun of her situation. One bright side in all this was her new improved physique, which she started to appreciate more as time went on, the other scary bits? Not so much. One improvement she instantly managed to make was adjusting her blonde hair over the scarred white eye, at least masking that part of the face. After seeing this little adjustment did the trick, she then went to begin her morning routine, knowing she had to start her patrol early today, as she was teaming up with She Hulk this time.

“Hope something interesting happens today, last patrols were boring as hell…” she said to herself while putting her suit on and making sure she had everything she needed in her thigh pocket. After one final check, she opened the window, shot a string of webs and left for Brooklyn where she was supposed to meet She Hulk for an operation involving some Maggia mobsters.

A few hours later, after the takedown went flawlessly and all key players were either webbed up or wrapped nicely in metal beams, both Spider Woman and She Hulk were on a rooftop overlooking the apartment building where the police and Agent Specter along his team were processing the captured criminals, with Marc using his lizard strength to pry apart the makeshift “cuffs” that She Hulk made, even giving a sigh of amusement when he found a small note with “From one Big Green to another. Give ‘em hell!” written on it.

“Look at that, the Mister ‘Serious face’ actually has a sense of humor.”

“About time. First time I saw him somewhat laughed since he was transformed into that…” replied Spider Woman, giving a wave at Marc, getting one in response from him. 

“Hope he loosens up one day… dialing down the ‘stiff upper lip’ personality will help anyone a lot.” said She Hulk as she was watching how everyone was being arrested, taking a large sip out of a bottle. Whatever it was inside, it wasn't your regular energy drink, nor water. After grunting a bit due to the strong flavor of the liquid, she handed it to Spider Woman “Want some? To celebrate.”

“No, I’m good, thanks.” replied the webslinger, rolling her eyes under the mask, she could smell the alcohol inside that bottle from a mile away “Besides, isn't it a bit against the rules to drink on the job?”

“Aw, come on hot stuff, you know this gamma temple can endure a lot of things, some gin is nothing. Besides, getting ready for a date in the afternoon. Wanna join? In three, it will be more fun…”

“Ugh… pass. Guess I’ll be continuing patrol on my own then.” replied Spider Woman, visibly annoyed over her partner’s proposal and uncontrollable hornyness.

“Pfft… buzzkill.”

“Seriously? How the hell can you be so reckless, so unbearably wild and indecent all the time!?”

“Listen up, Sugah. If I have a hyper powered gamma body that makes me so strong and nearly invincible, YOU CAN BET those tight buttcheeks of yours that I will take as much advantage from it as possible. The real question here is: When ARE YOU going to start to enjoy life for once?” 

Gwen stared at her partner with her arms crossed as she was standing up, not averting her gaze from her as she made a deep sigh. They already had this sort of argument before. 

“What happens in my private life is only up to me alone, it’s no one’s business, and less from you.”

“You are young, Gwen. You should be enjoying these young years as much as you can, because Daddy time is not going to be gentle with you once you ‘Hit the Wall’. Then, when the Wall smashes through you like a Train, you realize that you spent those years on patrols and webbing low life goons for people that don't appreciate you at all.”

“Great… now you are sounding like my father…” 

“Just Saying! It would be a shame to live the rest of your life wondering ‘What If’, I'm right?” 

“I don’t think having a massive body count would be something that I would like to be proud of when I get old…” the webslinger grunted at the amazonian’s words of ‘Wisdom’ if you could call them that. 

“Oh,Come on! At the very least there must be someone in this city that you want to spend some quality time with!” 

Gwen frowned at the idea… and to be fair, the Jade Brawler wasn’t wrong. 

“Well… there’s someone…” she whispered to herself.

Meanwhile in a simple apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a certain someone was having restless sleep. Mumbling while turning over in his bed on his left or right, it was the same nightmare, always flashing back to that fateful day at Midtown High School:

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Arriving in a flash in the hallway, Harry saw Peter on the ground, much to his dismay. He was bruised and his glasses bent, again. Peter being targeted by bullies was an unfortunate occurrence, sure, being in friends with the son of the wealthiest man in the city made most people to not mess with him, but, for others, that made poor Peter something of a challenge to bully, be damn the consequences.

“Damn it! Stay still, Pete. I’m here. Try not to move too much.” said Harry as he tried to help him stand up, but it was clear he was in serious pain. At this point, Gwen arrived after hearing from MJ that he got beaten again. The sight of her best friend in such a state made her blood boil. Seeing a drop of blood on her finger after she touched his face was the final straw.

“Alright, that’s it! Ned and his douchebag friends will have their fingers broken after this!.” said Gwen as she was struggling to contain her anger. She was clenching her fists as she got up and was ready to find the ones responsible, but Peter tried to stop her by grabbing her by the ankle. He could barely move as he was in pain, mainly due to the bruises, but something else that was increasing the sensation.

“Gwen, it’s ok… not worth it. Just… don’t...don’t leave….please” said Peter, breathing heavily, still curled on the ground and groaning in pain, but this only fueled Gwen’s anger. 

“No, Peter. It’s not ok. They did this to you… and when it was supposed to be a happy day for you, for us, our dance at the prom night. When I am done, they won't be able to lay a finger on anyone, anymore...” replied Gwen before turning around and walking out of the hallway “Harry, call Professor Connors and tell him to come to the medical ward. Peter needs help… and two others will need their fingers reattached.”

“Gwen, where are you going?! Don’t do anything that will get you in trouble!” shouted Harry, seeing Gwen running towards the back exit into the football field, focused on breaking bones.

“Jeez… what got into her all of a sudden? She normally is not that hot headed…" At this point, Gwen was out of his sight after she slammed the door shut with enough force to break its glass window, but Harry’s attention shifted back to Peter, who now was groaning in pain, grabbing his sides. He was used to beatings, so seeing him in discomfort was ‘normal’ to Harry, but something seemed off this time.

“Hey, hey! Pete, you ok? Let me help you get up, I’ll take you to the doctor...” said Harry as he kneeled next to Peter, trying to help him get up, only to see much to his worry that he was coughing up some blood “Shit! I’m calling an ambulance!”

“Harry… J-just-” said Peter, having extreme difficulty talking, as he spat and coughed more blood. The amount on the floor was already beginning to become concerning.

“Shit! Peter!” Harry was starting to panic at seeing his friend coughing a bigger amount of blood out of his mouth. He was starting to ask himself if the bullies punched him so hard that they caused internal bleeding. Those thoughts made Harry feel more understandable of Gwen’s wrath, and in a way, he wanted to join her in giving them a lesson, be damned if that meant getting suspended for a while or even expelled.

“Is ok, Pete, don’t worry! Once we get you safe I am gonna-” however, before Harry could even help his friend, Peter suddenly stood up, his body shivering violently as a mix of saliva and blood was dripping from his gaping mouth, breathing erratic, as cold sweat was running down his face. 

“H-Heeelp…!” He yelled, in a mixture of pain, shock and fear. Out of nowhere, the small slim nerd pushed Harry so hard that it nearly sent him flying backwards for a good 10 feet on the floor. 

“P-pete…what’s happening to you!?” Harry barely had time to stand up before seeing Peter’s body contorting and bracing himself in an uncanny way. His grunts and painful cries were mixed by a loud, gut wrenching sound that was coming from inside his body… like meat shifting and churning.

“T-this…wasn’t supposed to happen…!” Before he could speak further, Peter vomited a large amount of blood staining everything around him, lockers and floors, as Peter violently threw himself to a nearby metal locker, denting its surface due to the force of the impact. 

Harry tried to reach for his friend, not knowing what the hell was going on anymore. There was an odd silence, in which none of them spoke, only Peter’s long and loud breaths could be heard. His face was hidden between his arms as he was using the locker as a support, not facing his friend at all. Before he could even get closer, Peter suddenly faced him, making Harry recoil back in fear at what he just saw. Eyes bloodshot red, his face skin cracking and bleeding, teeth falling off from his mouth as new, sharp fangs were growing instead, but his facial expression still showed clearly he was in tremendous pain and scared to death. 

“HARRYYYYYYYY!!! HELP!!!!”  The sounds coming out of his mouth were something that no human, not even an animal could make. It was like a growling hiss that made Harry’s blood run cold. Suddenly, Peter’s form began to shift, growing several inches tall as his non-existent muscles began to form, straining his shirt to the extreme as his skin began to tear and bleed, scales emerging to replace it. Claws were emerging from his fingertips as Peter grabbed his head in pain. In a moment of the pain driven madness, Peter stumbled himself into a nearby classroom, destroying the door in the process. 

Harry, on the other hand, felt like the place was spinning in his head. Peter’s screams and pleas for help were repeating and echoing in his head, as he tried to get away, not daring to look back, nor pay attention to the horrifying hissing and growling noises that echoed through the hallways. But the environment started to distort, Peter’s screams getting louder and louder, until they changed into screams from his army colleagues, overwhelming him.

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At this point, Harry woke up screaming, bathed in sweat as he stared around his apartment bedroom, pointing the handgun he slept with at random places. After taking a small break to compose himself, he put down the pistol. 

“Again…it happened again…” mumbled Harry to himself as he placed the gun on his nightstand. His service time in Afghanistan taught him to always sleep with his sidearm beside him, an old bad habit that wouldn’t be forgotten any time soon, despite him no longer being in a warzone  “i cannot live like this anymore…” 

Nobody knew, but Harry kept a secret of his own. Something that he carried for a year and kept haunting him: he was the only one who saw it all: saw how Peter turned into a monstrous Lizard creature… and saw how his life ended, up to every last detail. He thought going far away from home would help him to forget about what happened, but it didn’t work. He thought returning back home would help to ease the painful memories, and it didn’t work either. If anything, it seems to have made it worse and his medication he took for almost a year was ineffective.

Sitting on the side of the bed, it was clear he was reaching his breaking point, with the night terrors constantly haunting his sleep. Looking at the pistol, a Beretta 92F, the clip was loaded with the 9mm Parabellum bullets, ready to be used. Loading the gun, he started to contemplate… one squeeze to the trigger, just one. And everything could end. 

“... Goddamn it.” He muttered as he tossed the gun away, staring at the empty space in his room, those dark, insidious thoughts were back again, and more frequent than before. He didn’t knew what was worse: dealing with the nightmares of that faithful night, or dealing with the suicidal ideas of just end it all. He thought that getting away from the city, from everything, would help him to cope better with the loss of Peter and the cause of his death, but that only made things worse for his psyche. He left a hellish hole, just to land in another one. 

After contemplating for god knows how long, something else caught his attention: The picture of him, Peter and Gwen, sitting on top of his desk. It was all covered in a thin layer of dust, not touched in a year, ever since he left the city. Picking it up and cleaning the dust off the glass, a painful smile was made but also helped him realize: using the gun on himself wouldn’t solve anything, but made things worse for the people who still cared for him, especially Gwen.

His trance was interrupted by the sharp and loud ringtone of his phone. Picking it up, he saw who the caller was: it was his father, Norman Osborn. Despite all the wealth that his father had, Harry never asked help from him, even turned down almost anything his father offered him, apart from the apartment. He wanted to become self-made, just like his dad, even if that put him at odds with Norman. After a few seconds of thinking, he finally answered it.

“Not one call? You leave for a year, come back and not one phone call to me? This is how you treat everyone?Lletting them get worried if you are still alive or not?” said Norman in an irate tone, oblivious to what his son went through just a moment ago.

“Good morning to you too… Dad.” replied Harry in a semi-annoyed and somewhat sarcastic tone. Even though he admired and respected his dad to some degree, his cold and direct attitude was something that was left to be desired.

“Morning? You might want to check your clock from time to time, it’s already afternoon. I know you just came from the war, but come on…”

The argument between Norman and his son went on for a few minutes until the father eventually let it slide, as he was getting tired of the back and forth bickering, but also he knew Harry was already exhausted over the tour in the Middle East.

“...alright, look… Get some rest and get your act together, because in a few days time I need you to be with me at City Hall. It’s my election ceremony where I will start my term as Mayor of New York City and I need my son to be there with me. Also, I think you might like the presentation I have managed to squeeze in that schedule. It is that system that made Oscorp the company that is now, only more evolved.”

“So… after a whole year, the first thing you want to do with me after returning home, is to use me as a publicity stunt for whatever new gadget your company is building?” Been depressed to the point of been suicidal was hard to endure, but hearing his father just talking about bussines instead of wanting to spend some time alone with his son was a kick in the gut, and Harry wasn´t in the mood to ignore that. 

“Oh, so when I try to show concern and see how I can spend some time with you, you are upset. When I leave you alone because you want to ´Man Up´ by yourself, again, you get upset. You should be more grateful for what this company has provided to me and you,  it prevented all of us from sleeping on some sidewall with no roof over our heads!”

“I don't want to spend time with Norman Osborn, I want to spend time with MY GODDAMN FATHER!! BUT GUESS WHAT? HE IS NEVER THERE!!!” 

“...”

“He… is never there…” 

Harry was at the brink of tears after yelling through the phone, and possibly waking up a few neighbors after his rant. There was an awkward silence that maybe lasted a minute or so in which neither father or son spoke. 

“... You're still there, Harry?”

“Yeah… I am still here.”

“Listen… I am not going to pretend that I understand how you feel, this… job of mine barely leaves me with free time to do anything else, I don't have the free time to be a father to you. And…  I apologize for that, Harry, but that's how things are. This is the reality we live in.”

Harry still remained in silence while his father spoke, what he was saying wasn't something that he liked hearing. However, it was nice that at least he was being honest with his son for once, instead of shoving whatever issues he had away for the sake of his work in the company. But hearing his voice fill with some degree of genuine regret and concern for his son… was nice, at the very least.  

“The invitation is still up, maybe after this we could… eat somewhere together, I will see if i can make some arrangements, or, you can stay in that apartment for the rest of the day. Your call.”

“... Fine, I will be there, but under one condition: I will attend it with Gwen.”

“Gwen? Gwen… Oh, Miss Stacy! I remember her now. It is good that you reconnected with her after so long. Keep her close. Friends like her are hard to come by and she is the last friend I know you have, since that poor kid was murdered… I really feel bad for his parents. I wouldn't wish that to happen to anyone else....”  replied Norman in a mournful tone. It was a bit hard to tell if his father really felt bad for Peter’s death, or due to the fact that he was unable to ‘snatch’ him as an upcoming talent to be put in the Oscorp workforce…  

“Ok then, I’ll expect you and her at City Hall. Don't be late, ok? Talk to you when you wake up properly.” He then hung up, leaving Harry to look at the floor, giving a sigh. The conversation… somewhat lifted his spirits a little bit.

Second chapter is online.

previous chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/spider-gwen-1-144209972