Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 51: Vigilante Man

It wasn't unusual for Gwen Stacy to have mixed emotions these days, and this morning was no different as she caught up on her e-mails between classes. She'd gotten an email from Desiree Vaughn-Pope, the head of Vaughn-Pope Cosmetics, who'd contracted Gwen for a modelling campaign featuring a new line of thigh-high socks patterned with the colors of the teams of the National Football League. According to Vaughn-Pope, sales of the socks were through the roof, something Vaughn-Pope attributed to the outstanding work Gwen and the other models had done. As an added bonus, Vaughn-Pope had taken the models' photos and used them to produce a series of posters of Gwen and the other models. The posters had also racked up huge sales, and Vaughn-Pope had written to tell Gwen that she would be getting paid a second time for her modelling work. Her first cheque had been for the photoshoot itself, and the second cheque would the posters that had been developed from the modelling shoot.

That was the good news, and Gwen knew she'd be able to make good use of the money Vaughn-Pope would be paying her. Unfortunately, the bad news came in the form of an e-mail from her boyfriend Randy Robertson:

Hi sweetie,

I'm so sorry I haven't written or called lately. I've just been so busy lately, working at the radio station and keeping up with my schoolwork. I also went to my cousin's wedding-I wanted to bring you, but Mom said that it should be a family-only affair. I don't know what she was talking about-when I got there, I saw that a bunch of the other guys brought their girlfriends.

I really don't know what's going on with my parents, Gwen. Every time I try to talk to them about my bringing you to anything they do, they always find some excuse for me not to do it. I'm going to ask them about this-it's not fair to me or to you.

Love,

Randy.

Gwen frowned at that. She didn't doubt that Randy would do everything he could to try and get his parents to change their minds, but she knew he probably wouldn't succeed. When she and Randy had met his parents for lunch a week and a half ago, Gwen had gotten a chilly reception from Isaiah and Louise Robertson, particularly once they'd learned that she was an actress and a model. She wasn't entirely sure why they seemed to dislike her so much, but she suspected it probably had to do with her career choices.

Not that this was the first time she'd gotten a less-than-warm welcome from a potential boyfriend's parents. Ben Reilly's father Andrew had been especially hostile to the idea of Gwen dating his son, to the point where he'd outright threatened her over the phone. Things had pretty much fizzled out between her and Ben after that.

Now, she hadn't spoken to Randy in over ten days, not since she'd stormed out of the From East To West restaurant. Her frustration had gotten the better of her when she'd had to deal with Randy's parents' dislike of her on top of all the other problems in her life, and she'd come to regret it since then. Unfortunately, in between following up on helping Tarot, preparing for her midterm exams, fighting her old enemies Will O' the Wisp and Firebrand as Spider-Woman and working for Desiree Vaughn-Pope, she hadn't been able to talk to him.

Gwen only sighed as she started typing a reply to Randy.

I've never broken any mirrors, stepped under any ladders, spilled any salt or had any black cats walk in front of me, she thought to herself, and yet the old Stacy luck strikes again…

SPIDER-WOMAN #51

"VIGILANTE MAN"

This is the life, Roderick Kingsley mused to himself, enjoying the company of a beautiful woman while the wife is out of town. I mean, yes, Rebecca still turns me on, but she turned thirty last year! What am I supposed to do? She's only getting older, after all-she's going to be thirty-one in May!