Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 70: What A Tangled Web We Weave

They lay in silence, not moving an inch nor making a sound. All around them was silence, save for the faint beeping and whirring of the machines monitoring their condition. Although the whiteness of the room was meant to feel cool and soothing, it seemed more lifeless and sterile, a limbo somewhere between life and death.

Gwen Stacy shuddered at that realization as she looked from one of the patients to the other. Just being in the hospital room was draining, as she witnessed the suffering of Isaiah and Louise Robertson all too vividly. They were lifeless in all but name, which made it all the more painful for Gwen to recall how full of energy and life they'd been a scant few days before.

The thought would have hit Gwen hard by itself, but it was doubly painful to see it reflected in the face of their son Randy Robertson, Gwen's boyfriend. She'd loved his fiery spirit, that passion that drove him to do great things for his community, the strength that had helped support Gwen in some of her own despairing moments. Now, all of that was gone, replaced in with quiet despair, a sense of lifelessness that made Randy barely more active than his comatose parents.

Randy's parents had been attending a community rally in Harlem when they'd been seriously injured by a savage bombing that had torn through the march. Gwen had seen the grim results walking through the hospital on her way to the Robertsons' room-many of the other people injured in the bombings were being treated in nearby rooms, and few of them looked much better than the Robertsons.

A scream cut through the silence, making Gwen turn around with a start.

The sounds of bitter weeping dulled the sudden surprise Gwen felt, as she was weighed down by the realization that yet another victim of the bombing had not pulled through.

Closing her eyes, Gwen did her best to blink back the tears she could feel starting to appear.

Why this? Gwen wondered.

Why them?

Why now?

Why...

why...

why....

SPIDER-WOMAN #70

"WHAT A TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE"

Dejectedly, Gwen left the hospital and made her way towards the home of Randy's grandmother Martha Robertson. For the last few days since the bombing, Randy had been staying with Martha, and Gwen hoped that he would be in a talking mood today.

Making her way through the outer streets of Harlem, Gwen could still see the aftereffects of the bombing. Maintenance crews were repairing the damage to the streets, police detectives were interviewing residents, and many of the residents themselves walked as if they had the weight of the world on their shoulders. That last fact stood out in Gwen's mind, as she realized just how much community spirit the good people of Harlem shared...

...and how much it had endured, not just in the bombing but in all of the trials it had gone through and that Randy had mentioned to her at different times.

How much have they gone through? Gwen thought to herself as she walked up the street towards Martha Robertson's residence. How much are they still going to go through...and how many other people could deal with all that, even in New York?

It didn't take long for Martha Robertson to answer the doorbell. Despite her advanced years, Martha carried herself with the determination and vigor of someone a third her age, her black-and-grey hair the only major indication of her true age. Her face lit up as she let Gwen in, the smile on her face indicating her pleasure at Gwen's visit.

"It's so nice to see you again, child," Martha said, hugging Gwen tightly. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright," Gwen smiled back, doing her best not to wince. She was still in pain from the last battle she'd fought in her superheroic identity of the spectacular Spider-Woman, against a vicious costumed supervillain with the superpowers and bad disposition of a scorpion. Gwen had tried to stop Scorpia from murdering a group of innocent people in the apartment complex she was raiding, but Gwen had been lucky to avoid becoming a victim herself as Scorpia brutally defeated her. In between her waitressing job, getting ready for university in the fall and simply resting from the fight, Gwen hadn't had the time to track down Scorpia or the mysterious new employer she'd talked about.