Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 62: Snake In The Grass

"So who do you think I look more like as a redhead?" Gwen Stacy asked her mother Helen as they sat eating lunch. "Do I look more like Amy Adams, or Isla Fisher?" she continued, as her normally blonde hair took on a bright red color. As the spectacular Spider-Woman, Gwen had a wide variety of unusual superhuman powers, one of which was her ability to change the color of her hair and eyes at will. When she assumed her costumed identity, Gwen turned her hair jet-black as a means of heightening her disguise.

"Somewhere in between," Helen replied with a smile.

"Come on, I need a better answer than that," Gwen grinned.

"I'm serious, though," Helen replied. "You could probably ask a dozen people, and half of them would say you look like Adams and the other half say you look like Fisher."

"You're a mother, you have to say that," Gwen rolled her eyes.

"What does that mean?" Helen asked, as they finished their lunch and put their dishes in the dishwasher.

"It means you're just trying to give whatever answer would make me feel better," Gwen replied.

"Please," Helen rolled her eyes. "Like I need to resort to that."

The Stacys both laughed at this, but in fact Gwen did feel better.

It had been over a week since her battle with Gregor Shapanka, the first Blizzard, who had gained the powers to control ice and cold due to Gwen's interference as Spider-Woman. Gwen still felt guilty about that, as well as her failure to catch the superhuman assassin Black Mamba. Both villains had the potential to cause all kinds of chaos, and Gwen considered it her fault.

Those were the problems in her costumed life, but she had other headaches to deal with in her personal life, too. Things were still tense between her and her boyfriend Randy Robertson over her being a costumed superheroine, and her audition for a major role in an upcoming TV show was being overseen by Mrs. Jannetty, a TV producer who had a serious grudge against Gwen.

With all that going on, Gwen was grateful for her mother's support.

It made her problems so much easier to deal with.

SPIDER-WOMAN #62

"SNAKE IN THE GRASS"

About an hour later, Gwen found herself walking through Central Park, waiting to meet Randy. They hadn't seen each other in almost a week, as Randy had been tied up with his work at the HABQ-FM radio station and his preparations for some sort of family event. Gwen herself had been tied up with other auditions for some more acting and modelling work, spending most of her time either preparing for or participating in them. She could only hope the good work she'd done with Vaughn-Pope Cosmetics and the productions she'd appeared in over the last year or so would help her get some additional work, as she wanted to build up some more cash to pay her tuition when she returned to school in the fall.

I got a good vibe from Richard Banks, at least, she thought, referring to the director of the Shakespeare In The Park production of Othello that she had auditioned for with Randy. Maybe I should ask Derrick Deja or Tom Ferguson what else they-

The call from Randy broke Gwen out of her reverie, and her response was an eager cry of delight as she saw him approaching. They ran forward and quickly embraced, Randy hugging Gwen tightly before he released her. Gwen had a delighted look on her face, her eyes lit up with pleasure, while Randy expressed his own pleasure with a more reserved, satisfied smile.

"Hey sweetie," Randy greeted Gwen. "How have you been?"

"I've been alright," Gwen replied, although Randy caught the way her eyes flickered when she said that. "Lots of auditions to do. How about you?"