Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 36: Moonlight Shadow

"That should cover it," the university administrator smiled at Gwen Stacy. "All we need is one business day to process it, and the flag on your account will be lifted."

Gwen only smiled back in relief, glad that she had at least one thing less to worry about now. The advance money she'd gotten from Roderick Kingsley had nicely covered the tuition money she still owed because of Empire State University's hike, and she'd be able to keep attending school this year.

Leaving the administration office, Gwen was about to head for the library to do some more studying for next week's midterm exams, but then she remembered that she had to work tonight. That was another problem Gwen had to deal with, namely finding a way to get enough money so she and her roommate Kitty Pryde could pay the rent on their apartment...and along with that Gwen had to shadow Kitty as Spider-Woman to help protect her from the harassment she'd been facing after being publicly outed as a mutant by the Daily Globe…and she had to find time for studying in between all that.

Staying up later at night trying to study didn't help much, since she was usually so tired by the end of the day that she wasn't really in any shape to be studying and the sleep she'd been losing had slowed her down the next day…

Returning to her apartment to get changed for work, Gwen happened to look into the mirror and saw how pale and drained she looked.

She wasn't the least bit surprised, of course.

Dismayed at how the dark circles under her eyes contrasted with how pale she looked, and upset at the absolutely terrible job she'd done with her hair that morning because she'd still been half-asleep, sure.

But not surprised.

SPIDER-WOMAN #36

"MOONLIGHT SHADOW"

Detective Jason Philip Macendale looked around in some disgust at the dingy apartment building as he made his way up the stairs. He wasn't the least bit surprised that the suspect lived in a shithole like this, given what a fucking idiot he was. He hadn't been very hard to trace at all-indeed, Macendale would have made this bust weeks ago if he hadn't been tied up with other cases.

Today was the big day, however, and he was eagerly looking forward to it.

Stopping in front of one apartment's door, Macendale nodded to the two officers accompanying him. As they nodded back, he began banging on the door, shouting angrily.

"Willie Stryker?" Macendale demanded, as he finished his first round of knocking. "New York Police! Open up!"

The door opened a crack, and Macendale saw half a face peeking out at him from behind it. The woman the face belonged to had seen better days, her homely middle-aged features not improved at all by the amount of cheap makeup she was wearing.

"Whaddya want?" she demanded in a surly voice.

"Detective Macendale, New York Police," Macendale replied coldly. "We have a warrant for your husband's arrest."

"He ain't here," Mrs. Stryker shot back. "I ain't seen the fat pisstank for the last three days."

"Then how come I see his jackets hanging on the peg up there?" Macendale asked, gesturing with his head to the coat stand that was visible near the door. "Everyone I talked to says that Willie loves that Mets jacket. When was the last time he went anywhere without it?"

Cursing, Mrs. Stryker frantically tried to shut and lock the door, but Macendale easily shoved his way into the filthy apartment. Mrs. Stryker took a run at him, screaming and cursing, but one of the officers accompanying Macendale easily grabbed and held onto her as Macendale and the last officer made their way into the apartment to look for Willie.