Gwen Stacy was an average high schooler, she was smart, was in a band, and had great friends. Until she got bitten by a radioactive spider. Since then, she's been trying to juggle her life as Gwen and ghost spider. What will happen when the avengers...
'Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies' - fleetwood mac
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EVER SINCE GWEN met Natasha Romanoff, her life had been a roller coaster. From fighting half the avengers and battling alongside her fellow arachnid hero, to getting taken home by Pepper Potts. Turns out, her relationship with Black-Widow didn't last long, the auburn haired woman having changed sides towards the end of the 'civil war'. But Pepper was good enough company for her journey home, if not even more friendly than the intimidating hero.
Other than their few childish moments and team-ups during the battle, Gwen didn't spend too much time with Spider-Man, despite the fact they were both heading to and from Queens. However, she supposed it was for the better, it would've been a hassle if they were to both find out each other's identities with so little trust.
"Gwen?" Pepper alerted the tired girl, time zones were always a pain.
"Yeah?" She asked after a yawn, displaying her sleep deprived state.
"This is your stop." The strawberry blonde stated, looking into the mirror to see the teen sprawled along the backseats.
"Oh." She realised. "Sorry, I don't travel too often. Do you want me to leave the suit in the backseat?" Gwen asked.
Pepper only laughed at Gwen's comment, she knew the other spider themed hero would act similarly to Tony's suit upgrades. Making them evolve into technologically advanced systems that would not only improve the way they functioned during heroics, but also allowing them both to look good doing it. Gwen quirked a brow at Peppers laugh, wondering if the conclusion she'd jumped to was right.
"Gwen, you can keep the suit. But you're under strict orders not to misuse it in anyway, that includes wearing it for Halloween." Pepper said, her last remark made her seem like a telepath to the teen.
"Yes Ma'am." She saluted, which only made the woman question if Gwen was really ready for the responsibility. But she trusted Tony, besides, the kids would only be in more danger if they didn't have the right equipment to protect the city.
"All right." Pepper sighed. "Need any help carrying your things?" She knew the girl had super strength, but it was still polite to ask, she doubted her boss had the same decency.
"I'm fine, thanks for everything." Gwen waved, carrying her case and her duffel bag. "Bye."
And with that, Gwen had to greet her overexcited family. She'd tried to meet her dads request and called a few times, but he'd still want to know all the details regardless. Which only led to more lies spilling out of the teens mouth. Gwen didn't like all the secrets, but she couldn't let anyone know, especially her dad. In spite of his protests, the warrant for Ghost-Spider and Spider-Man's arrests had been diminished, she'd have to thank Tony Stark for that later.
Reluctantly, she placed her key in the lock and opened her family home, she knew there was a surprise lurking for her behind the corner, she could just sense it. "Congratulations!" Everyone cheered at once, their synchronisation could've had some work, but their effort was appreciated by Gwen.
"Wow, everyone's here." She observed. Smiling at each of her family members individually. Her dad, George. Her mom, Helen. Her brothers, Phillip, Howard and Simon. Given that they were a family of six, it was rare to see them all in the same room, let alone in the same house with her dads work hours.
"You came home just in time." Helen exclaimed as the oven began to beep, alerting the family that dinner was ready. "Phillip, would you set the table?" She asked the eldest of Gwen's brothers. The boy rolled his eyes, but did as asked.
"You guys didn't need to do all this for me." Gwen stated as she smelt the mixtures of glacier coming from their kitchen. Much different than the usual microwaved meals her family individually consumed.
"Interning with the Tony Stark is a big deal." George countered. "We're all just proud of you."
"I'm gonna quickly unpack before dinner, I'll be two seconds." Gwen declared as she hurried into her bedroom, hiding her new suit under to floorboards beneath her rug.
The teen couldn't handle all the praise being pushed onto her, she didn't intern with Tony Stark, it was all just a cover in order to save her family from disappointment. She was beginning to feel guilty. Unfortunately, she had to suck it up until their excitement died down, if she was lucky, she could escape early and claim she was stressed.
"Gwen!" Simon, the youngest, knocked on her door.
"Coming." She said back, quickly waking from her room towards the dining table. It all looked too good to be true, it was amazing what her family could do when they were forced to believe an extravagant lie. But, as soon as the teen took her seat, she was bombarded with questions.
"So, how was the internship?" Helen asked.
"It was educational, stark had a ton of tech, most the internship was spent getting familiar with it." Gwen had practiced that lie since she was in the car, it was an answer that would shut down most unpredictable follow ups.
"And how was Iron-Man? Did you meet him?" Howard, the middle brother, asked.
"He was actually pretty arrogant, but he had a great sense of humour." That actually wasn't a lie, something so minimal that Gwen could be proud of.
It took a while for the questions to die down, but it took even longer before she could fake a yawn and make her great escape. "All that interning was exhausting, I might head to bed early." She stated.
"Okay, but you better wake up on time for school tomorrow." George scolded. Gwen only smiled and said her good nights before locking her bedroom door.
So, she may have lied. Again, it was becoming a habit. However, she needed to check out her new suit, it was amazing when she wore it in Germany, but she needed to check, just in case her mind was tricking her. When she first put the suit on, it looked deflated, and insanely baggy, just like last time, but all was fitted once she tapped the centre of her chest. She assumed it had been accustomed to Spider-Man's suit, considering he had an arachnid symbol in which her costume didn't.
"Holy shit." She muttered, stunned as to how amazing the suit looked on. But she couldn't help but feel as though something was off, as though something was missing. Pepper had muttered something about how Tony trusted her with such amazing tech, but although it was cool, it wasn't spectacular. So she searched around until she found the place where all the wiring connected.
Gwen quietly snuck towards her wardrobe an took out her tool kit. She needed to find out the full capabilities of Ghost-Spider. Before she knew it, she managed to disable her babysitter mode and unlocked a whole new aspect of the suit. Gwen was astonished of what was hidden, but what shocked her most was when an AI started communicating with her from inside her mask. It created a whole new world of things Gwen could see, annotating every object and welcoming her as Ghost-Spider.
"What's you're name?" Was the first thing Gwen asked, she didn't want to be rude to the system in control of her life.
"I do not have a name, would you like to enlighten me with one?" The AI asked.
"Sure, how about Ashla?" She thought aloud. Of course, there was a hidden, somewhat childish reason behind the name. But when given the opportunity to name something, who wouldn't?
The name Ashla sprouted from Gwen's love for Star Wars, she stuck by her opinion that Ashoka was one of the best characters after watching the clone wars as a kid. So when a novel came out about the said Togruta, Gwen was quick to buy it. Ashla was Ashoka's code name after order 66. She didn't want to be too obvious about her star wars obsession, besides, Ghost-Spider had to look cool for the public eye.
"Thank you, address me as Ashla when you need my assistance." The AI instructed.
"Okie Dokie." Gwen said. In truth, she wanted to go out on patrol, but her tiredness countered her will to try out her suit, besides, she'd just sat through an 8 hour flight. If Spider-Man was all he was cracked up to be, he could do her work for the time being.
