Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 55: Darkness And Light

To Kitty Pryde, the hatred between them was palpable.

One of them was a monster, a twisted maniac who had donned his nightmarish costume to indulge his darkest and most sadistic desires. There was no underlying trauma, no sense of injustice, no cycle of abuse or mistreatment that had made him a mass-murdering psychopath. He committed his crimes because he knew he should not, because they were wrong, because he was evil. That same depraved compulsion had caused him to develop a crazed obsession with his nemesis for daring to interfere with his hellish "fun". This obsession had driven him to try and destroy his nemesis's very identity, to the point of making her his heir, the very thing she hated most in all the world.

He was Jack O' Lantern.

The other one was Jack's nemesis, the courageous young woman who had originally been compelled to use her strange superhuman gifts out of a combination of anger and compassion. The latter motivation had eventually won out, as the young woman came to terms with her inner demons and continued to fight for what she believed was right, to defend the innocent who needed her protection from monsters like Jack. She might have preferred to never have to deal with Jack again, but she was compelled to fight him not only for what he had tried to do to her, and more importantly for all the victims he had murdered. A part of her still blamed herself for his crimes, and she saw it as her duty to bring him to justice and stop him from spilling any more blood.

She was Spider-Woman.

Stuck in an iron cage hanging from the ceiling, unable to phase free because of the ghost grabber she was trapped in, Kitty Pryde could only watch helplessly at the scene below her. She felt paralyzed by fear, fear of the monstrous pumpkin-headed monster who'd kidnapped her and fear for Spider-Woman, who now confronted the monster.

"You…YOU!" Jack O' Lantern screamed, completely mad with rage. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he continued, leaping on his hover disc in one quick motion and charging at Spider-Woman.

"Alright, you bastard," Spider-Woman shot back as she charged at Jack O' Lantern in turn, "let's party!"

SPIDER-WOMAN #55

"DARKNESS AND LIGHT"

A pair of concentrated blasts from the blasters on Jack's wrists cut through the air as he fired at Spider-Woman. The arachnid heroine rolled forward to dodge them and came up near Jack O' Lantern, firing her own bioelectric sting blasts at him. The pumpkin-headed madman pulled back on his hover disc in time to dodge them, before striking once again with his wrist blasters. This time, he didn't miss and caught Spider-Woman dead on. Spider-Woman didn't stay down long, however, springing right back up and releasing a double blast of webbing at Jack O' Lantern. He dodged Spider-Woman's webbing, but Spider-Woman immediately blasted at him with a sting blast, catching him square in the leg and knocking him off balance. Spider-Woman quickly followed up her advantage, leaping into the air and spinning a webline. As Jack O' Lantern tried to strike back, Spider-Woman swung forward and caught Jack O' Lantern in the face and chest with a vicious swing kick. Jack O' Lantern went flying backwards before crashing into the wall of the abandoned subway station where they were fighting, bouncing off as he dodged Spider-Woman's next sting blasts.

Jack O' Lantern was far from finished, however, flinging a pair of pumpkin bombs from his utility belt at Spider-Woman. One of the bombs exploded as Spider-Woman dodged, filling the air with a thick, cloying smoke. As Spider-Woman gasped and coughed, the other pumpkin grenade exploded in a gout of flame that scorched the web-slinging heroine and left her off balance. Jack O' Lantern quickly flew in and grabbed Spider-Woman by the hand, spinning her around with his hover disc and sending her flying to crash heavily into the far wall.

Dancing skeletons, screaming bats, cackling witches, drooling spiders and shrieking pumpkins danced at the edges of Jack O' Lantern's vision as he sent Spider-Woman flying. He heard their cries goading him on, reminded him of what he was and who he most sought to kill. Images of his victims flooded through his head, the thoughts of all the dozens of people he'd murdered. He could have done much more, so, so much more, if not for the young woman he now sought to kill.