Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 28: Crack the Whip

It was a very quiet and low-scale funeral for someone who used to be such a prominent citizen. Gwen Stacy could only count her family and a few of the deceased's former business relations, the most prominent of which was chemical magnate Norman Osborn. None of her friends had wanted to come, repelled as they were by the deceased's fairly open support of mutant registration. A few members of the press had initially come, wanting to cover the memorial services of the man publicly associated with the gang war that had recently torn through New York City, but Norman Osborn's intimidating presence had been enough to drive them away.

Otherwise, George Stacy was not mourned or missed by many, and indeed his daughter Gwen realized that she probably wouldn't have come either if she hadn't been related to him. Murdered by the supervillain Jack O'Lantern after his involvement in the gang war was made public, George s life had gone steadily downhill ever since he had been outed as an anti-mutant activist by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Once it became known that he had bankrolled human hate groups like the Friends of Humanity and Humanity's Last Stand, many of George's clients had deserted him, since they didn't care to be associated with a known anti-mutant activist, even if they'd shared his views. Desperate to maintain his wealth and upscale lifestyle, George had begun selling his skills to the New York mobs, before apparently triggering a gang war that had ultimately led to his disgrace and murder.

Now, all George Stacy had to show for his years of work and effort was public disgrace and humiliation, driven home by the less than ten mourners who had bothered to show up for his funeral.

She felt ashamed of herself for thinking so, but at the back of her mind a small part of Gwen felt there was a certain poetic justice in that.

SPIDER-WOMAN #28

"CRACK THE WHIP"

Gwen and her family gathered back at the Stacys' townhouse to get some dinner, as well as to catch up after a while. It was a family-only affair, as Osborn and the other businessmen who'd come to pay their respects hadn't really known any of the Stacys and didn't want to intrude. None of Gwen's friends had come either, respecting the family's desire to be left alone.

Despite everything that had happened, the dinner's mood was lightened by the one participant who was neither a woman nor named Stacy. Despite his advanced age, Stanley Lieber still had a merry twinkle in his eye and a warm, affable smile. His horn-rimmed glasses, thick moustache, salt-and-pepper hair and penchant for dark-toned plaid shirts never seemed to change, but that was what his daughter Helen Lieber-Stacy and his granddaughter Gwen loved about him. He'd even formed close relationships with Nancy and Jill Stacy, who'd come to see him as a beloved old uncle.

It was while Gwen was sitting on the upstairs terrace after supper, looking out over the city streets, that Grandpa Lieber came out to join her.

"How's it going, sweetie?" he asked Gwen gently as he sat down in one of the chairs, grunting slightly as he rubbed his aching back. "You've been pretty quiet all day. Are you going to be alright?"

Gwen looked back at him for a few moments, and then shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't really know," she finally said. "Angry at my father, for the way he treated Mom? Sad, because he died? Even then...it's just…"

"I know how you feel," Grandpa Lieber replied sympathetically, patting Gwen's shoulder. "You feel bad for what happened to him, but you're still angry at what he did to Helen, right?:

Gwen's eyes flickered, as a guilty look crossed her face.

Grandpa Lieber figured it out immediately.

"…And a part of you still feels like he got what he deserved, don't you?" Grandpa Lieber persisted.