Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

Sighting || Gwen Stacy

"Fills his night with the thought of a girl"

-Of the Girl, Pearl Jam

The night rain created a haze over the lights of New York City-a shimmering mist with bright dots of red, blue, and yellow throughout. As she remained perched atop the Chrysler Building, Gwen Stacy kept her hood over her hair, the rain rolling off the slick suit she'd been wearing for her anonymous heroics. She adjusted her earbuds, continuing to listen to the latest tirade from everyone's least favorite journalist, J. Jonah Jameson.

"...As I have continued my relentless promulgation of the truth amongst the great people of New York, I have witnessed this menace-this absolute freak of a human being-leave a path of destruction in her wake again, and again, and again..." The gruff, accusatory tone that everyone in the city recognized made Gwen shake her head, scoffing to herself as Jameson again made everything her fault. "...Over a week ago there was a car chase that left a hot dog salesman's career in ruin due to the recklessness of our local nameless, masked menace... and just last week there was, as we all know, a botched attempt at saving hostages that left the city's beloved Dr. Curtis Connors missing his left arm... hold up, Jared's telling me it was his right arm..."

Gwen snorted. "Have some respect, Triple-J." She muttered under her breath. "At least get the man's appendages right..."

"...Many have tried to place a title-a name, if you will-on this monster who continues to make a mockery of our streets. Spider-Girl, Web-Woman, you know the drill. But these continued atrocities... these repeated grabs at personal glory at the expense of our citizens before vanishing into thin air have me thinking that we're dealing with something that's more like a ghost... a Ghost Spider, if you will..." 

"Pfft, that's a new one." Gwen chuckled, her eyes continuing to scan the streets below.

"...And if we as a city are not vigilant, if we do not come together against this threat in the shadows, then I am CERTAIN that she will begin to leave a trail of death in her wake-making each of us into ghosts as well. Do your part, fellow citizens!! If you spot this villain, be sure to call the police SECOND-call us first, we want to get the first take on what the masked menace is up to now. Until next time, this has been J. Jonah Jameson..."

As the podcast ended, Gwen shut her phone off, smiling to herself as she slipped it into her backpack. Here she was, a junior in high school, and she had the nuttiest reporter in the whole city obsessing over 'bringing her to justice.' "Good luck with that, Jameson." Gwen chuckled, moving stuff around in her backpack before pulling out one of her dad's old police scanners-one that she'd been working on to pick up distress calls once again. She plugged her earphones into the add-on tech that she'd hooked up, then slipped them back into her ears and stayed where she was, waiting for an opportunity to protect her fellow New Yorkers.

Gwen listened, hearing only the normal checkups and communications between officers-letting each other know where they were headed, maybe stopping to write a parking ticket-but nothing that required her intervention.

The absence of a high-stakes crime left Gwen to dwell on some of the bigger events in the past few days... notably the two conversations with two different boys that had been able to calm whatever anxiety she'd faced in that situation. It wasn't like she was dealing with two different versions of the same personality-Owen was more soft-spoken and reserved, yet held an undeniable relatability with how he communicated; Miles was far more straightforward and upfront, but had a distinct thought process that was equal parts entertaining and helpful. While the logical side of Gwen was bemoaning herself for allowing two boys to occupy her thought process, her inner hopeless romantic was dying with joy-two kindhearted guys, two great options to pursue something deeper with, it seemed as if her repeated failures with relationships were about to be a thing of the past!!