Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 26: Hellfire At Midnight

"We all wear masks, Spider-Man. But which is real? The mask that covers your face...or the mask that is your face?"

-The Green Goblin, The Spectacular Spider-Man

I fold out the Daily Bugle and read with interest over the latest accounts of the gang war I've orchestrated.

Five more people are dead, and now my war has claimed twenty-seven lives.

Bazin and the Kingpin have both taken damage from this war, but the Maggia is bleeding from an open vein. Harassed by Bazin on one end, the police on a second front, and the Kingpin on a third front, Silvermane will be lucky if he lives out the month. Crimewave has been picking his shots carefully, eager to nip at the heels of Bazin and the Kingpin while they're otherwise occupied. The Green Goblin, oddly enough, seems to be staying out of the war entirely.

Perhaps the results aren't quite what I expected, but that was the beauty of my plan.

I already knew of George Stacy's ties to organized crime from the beginning, and I realized he would be the perfect stooge for my plan. Once I caught him with my special mind control gas, and installed the appropriate devices on his telephones and computers to monitor his conversations, he made the perfect puppet.

Once I had George give me all his knowledge of the New York crime world, I began giving him orders on what to say and what to do. I knew the crime lords would react the way they did, given how paranoid they were and determined to crush any threats to their power bases.

After that, all I had to do was sit back and watch as all hell broke loose.

No one knew I was ever involved, particularly since I took care to have my devices erase all records of my correspondence with George.

Perhaps best of all, I've been able to keep track of Miss Gwen Stacy. One of the boomerang bats I attacked Spider-Woman with when I battled her at the Plaza Hotel jabbed her in the back, injecting a tiny homing device into her body. With that homing tracer, I have been able to keep track of her movements. When I saw where she lived, I knew that she had to be Gwen.

Now, everything is coming to a head.

I smirk at the thought.

I have a chuckle.

I giggle a bit.

I start to laugh.

I find myself howling with glee.

Before I know it, my shrieks and cackles echo off the walls as I revel in the ecstasy, the pure joy, of my evil.

SPIDER-WOMAN #26

"HELLFIRE AT MIDNIGHT"

"How'd your family reunion go?" Gwen Stacy asked Randy Robertson as they made their way towards the American Globe Theater to look at the final casting call for the colorblind production of The Wiz they had auditioned for. Randy had gone to attend a family reunion in Massachusetts, and he had just returned yesterday.

"Pretty good," Randy replied. "It started to wear thin after a few days, though."

"Why's that?" Gwen asked.

"Because I really don't know most of them," Randy replied. "I mean, how much can you say to an uncle who only met you a couple of times when you were little, and who you barely remember?"

"Good point," Gwen thought on that for a bit. "But why did you say the reunion went well when it began to get boring?"

"Mostly because it made my mom and her parents really happy," Randy grinned. "Mom moved out to New York when she married my dad and Grandpa Joe got him that job at the Daily Bugle. Mom doesn't get to see her relatives much anymore, and it meant a lot to her for us to meet them."