Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 94: Poor Misfortunate Souls

Over the last few weeks, Gwen Stacy had been spending far more time in hospitals than she would have liked. Gwen's cousin Jill Stacy had been hospitalized after a subway crash caused by Gwen's old enemy Will O' the Wisp, who she'd repeatedly fought as the spectacular Spider-Woman. As Spider-Woman, Gwen had also protected her friends Harry Osborn and Liz Allan from the attempts of the revenge-crazed villains the Squid and Ms. Fortune to kill them. Unfortunately, her boyfriend Randy Robertson had been injured in the crossfire. Now, the Squid and Ms. Fortune had begun targeting Harry's and Liz's friends, brutally assaulting Bruce 'Kong' McFarlane.

As Spider-Woman, Gwen had been the one to find Kong. She had called the paramedics with Kong's phone, getting him to a hospital in time to save his life. Unfortunately, Kong was now in a coma, and the doctors couldn't say when he might come out of it.

Along with all that, Kong's boyfriend Kitty Pryde was an emotional wreck. Although she was a mutant with phasing powers that allowed her to pass through solid objects, Kitty had fled when Spider-Woman fought the Squid and Ms. Fortune. Kitty's guilt made her an emotional wreck, and Gwen wondered if she'd have yet another friend in the hospital.

Gwen felt sympathy for her friends' suffering, and she hoped they'd recover. More than that, though, she was seething with rage at the Squid and Ms. Fortune for what they had done. She had been guarding Harry and Liz as best she could as Spider-Woman, but she arrived too late to save Kong.

Now, walking through the hallways of the hospital on her way to meet Randy for his release from the hospital, Gwen struggled to keep her anger under control.

It's easy to pick on someone with no superpowers, isn't it? Gwen thought to herself.

Why don't they try picking another fight with me?

ULTIMATE SPIDER-WOMAN #94

POOR MISFORTUNATE SOULS

Gwen caught sight of Randy as she approached his hospital room. He was still a little pale, but Gwen was relieved to see the fire in his eyes she loved so much. Those eyes lit up even more as Randy caught sight of Gwen. She rushed towards him, and he embraced her in a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you're all right," Gwen said once Randy had released her.

"Not as glad as I am," Randy said with a smile. "How are Harry and Liz?"

"As well as they can be right now," Gwen said. "No signs of the Squid or Ms. Fortune, though," she continued, as she and Randy began walking down the hallway. "The only one of us that they went after was…" she trailed off.

"Yeah, I know," Randy said, his good mood gone in an instant. "And you didn't mark them with those tracking pheromones of yours, did you?"

"I'm afraid not," Gwen said, shaking her head guiltily.

"Don't blame yourself," Randy said, as they approached Kong's hospital room. "You-" he suddenly stopped speaking as he saw the young woman approaching Kong's room from the other direction. The young woman had long brown hair and bright matching eyes, with fair skin that contrasted oddly with her hair and eyes. Gwen knew that the young woman's skin was paler than usual, given the emotional pain she was carrying.

Kitty Pryde froze at the sight of Randy and Gwen. She opened her mouth to speak, but Randy beat her to it.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face here," Randy said, clenching his fists as he stormed towards Kitty. "What the hell do you-"

Before he could say anything else, Gwen stepped between him and Kitty.

"Not here, not now," Gwen said, grabbing Randy's arm and pulling him away. "Let's go."