Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 18: Party Crashers

"Terminated?" George Stacy snapped into the telephone as he sat in his office, his face turning red. "What do you mean, terminated? I'm the one that put you in touch with Senator Finster, I'm the one that got you the contract in Baghdad, and I'm the one that-"

"Times change, George," Simon Utrecht replied calmly. "I just feel that my needs can be better served by another agent. Recent...controversies have forced me to reevaluate my options," he said evasively. "That's why I've decided to seek the services of another agent."

The reply was pure bullshit, and they both knew it.

"Don't tell me you're buying what those fucking muties were saying!" George thundered, his knuckles white as he tightened his grasp on the telephone. "They just picked me as an easy target! Lies, that's all they were!"

"Just keep telling yourself that, George," Utrecht said unflappably. "You ought to know that, sometimes, it pays to keep a low profile. And now, unless you're prepared to continue wasting my time, I have work to do," he finished, before hanging up the phone and leaving George to stew in his own rage.

Simon Utrecht was the fifth client to break away from George in the last month, ever since the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had exposed his dealings with the Friends of Humanity to the world when they had taken his sister, niece and ex-wife prisoner. Whatever biases they may have held against mutants, many people were wise enough to keep such thoughts to themselves, and didn't care to be associated with prominent anti-mutant activists.

The fact that George had refused to talk to the press or make any kind of statement at all after the Brotherhood had made their demands public couldn't have helped, either.

Opening his desk drawer and taking out a bottle of whiskey, George took a long, hard pull on the flask, savoring both the kick of the alcohol and the wonderful tingling sensation it made as it passed down his throat. He took another drink as he looked over his accounts, and was filled with such a sudden rage that he had to take a third swig to keep his mood from deteriorating any further.

It was too bad his ex-wife Helen wasn't around.

He really needed to hit something.

SPIDER-WOMAN #18

"PARTY CRASHERS"

Gwen Stacy lay back on the couch at her apartment and groaned as she looked through the results of her midterm exams. First had been her Biology exam-she had been lucky to get a C-minus on that one. Then there was her English exam, on which she got a D-average. Her other subjects weren't much better-hell, she'd been lucky to even get the B on her Drama project.

She yawned wearily, worn out from checking up on her mother's bank accounts, putting in as many hours as she could at the coffee shop, her crimefighting as Spider-Woman, memorizing her lines for A Streetcar Named Desire, and trying to keep up with her studies. Unfortunately, she hadn't been getting much sleep lately, and it was starting to catch up to her. On the other hand, now that Spring Break had begun, hopefully she would be able to get caught up on everything...

Checking her watch, she was astonished to find that it was almost 4:40 PM...and she was supposed to meet Randy at 4:20 for the final casting call of A Streetcar Named Desire. Despite the three weeks since their first audition, the director Mr. Llewellyn hadn't yet made his decision on who would be cast, being too occupied with overseeing the repairs to the Aristophanes Playhouse, which had been damaged by the supervillain riots and which had just finished this week. Now, with his schedule clear, Mr. Llewellyn was ready to announce his cast...

...and Gwen realized he wouldn't be impressed at all if she arrived late, as she already knew she would.

Gwen burst into the theater as Mr. Llewellyn and the other actors stood onstage, before freezing in embarrassment as they all looked at her in surprise. Mr. Llewellyn merely stared at her in annoyance, tapping his foot impatiently.