Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light

Chapter 108: Clone Saga, Part Two: Heir Apparent

Helen Lieber-Stacy was jolted awake by her daughter Gwen Stacy's horrified scream. She felt sick with worry as she ran towards Gwen's bedroom, knowing how fragile Gwen was right now.

Gwen made many enemies in her superhero identity as the spectacular Spider-Woman. The most dangerous of them all was likely the psychotic supervillain Jack O' Lantern, who'd developed a sick obsession with Spider-Woman for interfering with his crimes. Jack somehow learned Gwen's secret identity, and he'd exploited it to threaten and harass her even in her own home.

According to Gwen, Jack not only knew who she was, but also where she was at any given time. He could strike any time he wanted, endangering not only Gwen but her loved ones. Although Gwen had defeated him multiple times as Spider-Woman, out of all her enemies he was the one who frightened her the most. Aside from nearly killing her, he'd also nearly destroyed her sense of self. Gwen was already upset at his stalking and threatening her, and Helen was afraid she was close to her breaking point. She'd already suffered one panic attack, and Helen was afraid of what another one might do to her.

Gwen, still dressed in her pajamas, was collapsed on her bedroom floor in a dead faint. She looked ghastly pale, and her breathing was shallow. As Helen knelt down next to Gwen, screaming for her sister-in-law Nancy Stacy and niece Jill Stacy to call 911, she looked up and saw the reason for Gwen's despair.

The large, bloody message written on Gwen's bedroom wall simply read:

NOWHERE TO RUN, NOWHERE TO HIDE!

SEE YOU SOON, GWEN!

SPIDER-WOMAN #108

CLONE SAGA, PART TWO

HEIR APPARENT

Gwen felt a throbbing headache as she slowly woke up and looked around. She was lying on the couch in the Stacys' living room, her mother Helen and a paramedic hovering over her with concern.

"Oh, sweetie…" Helen said, hugging Gwen. "Thank God you're alright."

"The writing…" Gwen said, returning her mother's hug. "It was…real?"

The paramedic interrupted before Helen could answer.

"Don't think about that," the paramedic said, shaking her head. "You really need to take it easy. This is the second shock you've had in a really short time."

"But-" Gwen said, before the paramedic interrupted her again.

"No buts," the paramedic said, her expression insistent. "You're suffering from acute stress disorder, sweetie. You're in no condition to be doing anything right now."

"Aunt Nancy and Jill," Gwen said, not seeming to hear anything the paramedic said. "Are they-"

"They're taking care of everything with the police," Helen said, "and they're going to clean everything up. Please, honey…just relax."

Gwen didn't argue, as her headache suddenly got worse. She slumped back down onto the couch, her stress making her feel worse than ever.

"And none of you heard anything?" the police detective asked Nancy and Jill.

"No, of course not!" Nancy said, as Jill shook her head. "We would have reacted if we had!"

"And no one else has access to this place? You haven't made any spare keys for anyone?" the detective asked.

"Again, no," Nancy said. "You can't even tell how he got in?"

The detective didn't answer, but his expression spoke volumes.

He wondered what he was going to tell Captain Jean DeWolff, head of the New York Police Department's Superhuman Activities Unit. There was no sign of forced entry, no potential footmarks or fingerprints, no sign that any of the doors or windows had been tampered with, and the crime scene techs weren't even sure what Jack O' Lantern used to write the bloody message on the wall.