Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 53: Pumpkinhead

Gwen Stacy sighed in annoyance as she looked herself over in the mirror, realizing that she was probably the only superhero in New York who had to worry about split ends. Fighting the cold-wielding Blizzard hadn't done much for her complexion, nor had the various scrapes and bruises she'd suffered from the icicles and snowballs Blizzard wielded. Granted, she'd become used to such problems ever since she'd begun fighting crime as the spectacular Spider-Woman, ranging from hiding her injuries with makeup to treating her skin and hair with the right mix of oils, creams and lotions so that she could keep up her appearance. Doing it on a budget had been even trickier, given how long she'd spent living paycheck to paycheck. Social media sites like YouTube had been a huge help, of course-many of the beauty gurus who'd made videos with makeup advice had provided her with helpful tips.

She laughed at herself for a moment, amused at how annoyed she could get over something so trivial. When compared to fighting crazed supervillains and protecting the innocent, or even just making sure to do well in her studies, being concerned with beauty and makeup hardly compared in importance. That said, Gwen continued to do it anyway. She did it partly because her good looks were a point of pride for her, but more particularly because it was something that never seemed to change.

Considering everything she'd been through in the last fifteen months since her spider-powers had started to develop, Gwen needed all the stability she could get. Even though things were much better for her than they used to be, the knowledge that her old enemy Jack O' Lantern was still on the loose, and taunted her with the fact that he could reach her any time he wanted, still gave her nightmares.

SPIDER-WOMAN #53

"PUMPKINHEAD"

"Good morning, Mom," Gwen greeted her aunt as she came downstairs.

"Morning, sweetie," Helen replied, as Gwen set about making some breakfast. "Have a good sleep?"

"Better than before," Gwen smiled, always cheered up by how well her mother was doing these days. "How about you?"

"Not that great," Helen sighed.

"What's wrong?" Gwen asked in concern.

"Remember how we found out that your father was a big tax cheat, and that we were going to be responsible for the back taxes he owed?"

"I wish I could forget," Gwen frowned.

"Well, I got a letter from the IRS yesterday informing me just how much money we owe in back taxes," Helen winced. "I managed to pay a lot of it off by letting them seize your father's assets, and I've been setting a lot of my own pay aside to pay it off ever since I started working again, but we're still going to be $40,000 short."

Gwen choked on her milk when she heard the figure.

"Forty thousand dollars?" she balked. "Where are we going to get that kind of money?"

"I wish I knew," Helen groaned. "I honestly have no idea," she continued, seemingly to lose all of her energy at once as she slumped down at the table.

"How can you be responsible for his tax cheating?" Gwen asked incredulously. "Isn't there some way you can get exempted from it? I mean, you weren't involved with any of that stuff," she pointed out.

"I tried that," Helen frowned. "The problem was that your father filled out all the tax forms, and got me to co-sign them. I applied for this thing they called 'innocent spouse relief', but I was denied. They claimed that we benefited because George paid to put you through school and for your first apartment even after we separated."

"He just did that to keep up appearances after he kicked us out," Gwen protested. "That's bullshit!"

"Don't I know it," Helen muttered. "I just wish I knew what to do…"