Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

Epilogue

"Come on, oh my star is fadin', and I see no chance of release"

-Amsterdam, Coldplay

"If there is anything-and I mean ANYTHING-that last week's tragic events taught us, it is that the Ghost Spider is, unequivocally, a bloodthirsty monster... a menace that is unfit to share the streets with the great people of New York!!"

The fiery rambling of J. Jonah Jameson resonated in Gwen's ears as she lay flat on her bed, donned in a buttoned-up flannel and sweatpants. Sprawled on the ground was a somber black dress-her outfit for Peter's funeral that had ended just two hours ago.

Her eyes stared up at the ceiling, dry after days of shedding tears in the dead of night as she slipped deeper and deeper into a black hole of despair. She'd fought and fought to keep a handle on all of her dreams, exhausted all of her strength to stay afloat of the responsibilities that she had taken upon herself... and all it had taken was one simple slip-up for it all to come crashing to the ground.

"While many of my new listeners have taken time to give me credit-seeing as I was the first one to call out this villain on her despicable intentions-I will defer all praise for the time being to none other than New York City's finest citizen-NYPD Captain George Stacy!"

The name of her father made something tremble deep inside of Gwen-was it her heart? Or something else? Her hand instinctively went to the bandaging on her shoulder, remembering when she'd slipped into the crowds outside after the fateful close to her battle with Peter... how she'd had to play the part of a hurt, confused girl who'd been attacked by the lizard when it first entered the gym, and had to play dumb about Ghost Spider's brief appearance on the scene. 

But most of all, Gwen remembered locking up in a way she'd never felt before upon seeing her father approach her, her heart crawling up into her throat as she held in a shout of fear. But, of course, he didn't know that it was his daughter that had been the mystery person he'd fired a warning shot at earlier. George had embraced her, on the verge of tears as he saw the damage done to his baby girl's arm, and asked what had happened.

'The lizard thing got me.' She'd said. Thankfully, the gash on her arm from where the bullet had ripped across her skin was close enough to the earlier slashes from Peter for nobody to suspect anything.

 "Without his timely arrival at the scene, we would have been left without any clue that it was indeed the Ghost Spider that was behind this giant lizard roaming our streets. I've spoken countless times on my theory that Ghost Spider took one of New York's own children-a young man that was identified by Captain Stacy as Peyton Parver-" 

Still can't get any names right. Gwen thought to herself. Normally, she'd be getting inflamed with offense at someone getting Peter's name wrong, but there was nothing inside of her strong enough to get mad in this moment.

"-And twisted him into a giant monster, for the purposes of having something to fight so that her self-centered, narcissistic ego could be fed by the praises of our unknowing people. This is a sick individual, ladies and gentlemen, and I for one am glad that our beloved Captain Stacy was able to ward her off! Thank God for Captain Stacy!!"

Just hearing J. Jonah Jameson shower her dad's name in praise was enough to send shivers down Gwen's spine, and she couldn't listen anymore. She took the earbuds out of her ears and turned her phone off, setting it on her nightstand.

As she did, her fingers brushed against a piece of paper, and Gwen froze. Was that...

Gwen reached forward, remembering where she'd gotten that paper from-this morning had been Peter's funeral, but yesterday had been Owen's.