Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 20: Ill Met By Moonlight

"So your exams went well?" Gwen Stacy smiled at Liz Allan as they ate their lunch in the Students' Union Building. "That's good to hear."

"Yeah, but I'm really glad it's over," Liz sighed, rubbing her eyes. "I was lucky to get any sleep at all studying."

Gwen only frowned in sympathy, realizing that she'd been lucky to do as well as she thought she did on her own exams. Work, rehearsals, studying and superheroing had all taken their toll on her, and she was just as glad that the semester was over.

"So what's going to happen with Harry?" she asked. "Have you heard from him since...well..."

"I know how it sounds, but at this point I'm having trouble even caring anymore," Liz replied bitterly. "It's terrible, I know, but..."

"But nothing," Gwen interrupted. "Harry ditches you all the time, he refuses to explain what he's doing...frankly, you're have been justified in dumping him," she pointed out.

"I suppose..." Liz replied. "I'm mad at him...but I'm worried about him, too. He's so angry at his father, I don't know what he'll do."

"Is there any way any of us could help?" Gwen asked. "Maybe Randy, Kitty or Ben could-"

"No, thanks," Liz shook her head. "Right now, I don't know if there's anything anyone can do."

Gwen only frowned in sympathy. She knew there wasn't much she could do to help Harry right now.

Of course, she knew that there were other ways of helping someone who needed it.

SPIDER-WOMAN #20

"ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT"

Dr. Karla Sofen typed away diligently in her office at the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, before looking up at the knock on her door. Inviting the person in, she was surprised to see the middle-aged Dr. Charles Jefferson. Formerly one of the senior psychiatrists, Dr. Jefferson had been appointed overall head of the institution since the death of Dr. Ashley Kafka in the murderous breakout that had occurred several weeks ago. After Dr. Kafka had disabled all the security systems and overrides, the supervillain inhabitants of Ravencroft had staged a mass breakout led by the nightmarish Psyko, which had just barely been contained by the Avengers and New York's superhero population.

"So it's alright, then?" Dr. Sofen asked Dr. Jefferson as the older man sat down in the chair opposite her desk.

"I suppose it is," Dr. Jefferson sighed as he glanced over the notes he had brought with him. "You've been speaking with many of the patients?"

"Yes, I have," Dr. Sofen replied. She had intended to write up an analysis of the breakout and the riots from the supervillains' perspective, particularly in analyzing the mass reaction they had shared before Psyko had brainwashed them. As she had not been on the premises when the breakout occurred, Dr. Sofen had been more detached from the madness and was capable of taking what she viewed as a more balanced perspective on the matter.

"What did they tell you?" Dr. Jefferson asked.

"They all felt a sudden rush when they realized they were free," Dr. Sofen replied, glancing back at her notes. "Few of them had any real reservations, and in fact were looking forward to getting back out into the world where they could cause some real damage."

"How unfortunate," Dr. Jefferson sighed. "And when they fell victim to that Psyko creature, they all began suffering from terrible nightmares, didn't they?"

"That's right," Dr. Sofen nodded. "The Chain Gang dreamed of seeing his fellow soldiers die all over again, the Brothers Grimm dreamed of being trapped in a boring, lifeless bureaucracy, Blackout dreamed of being trapped entirely alone and in the dark, and so on."