Spider-Gwen- Tall Story Chapter 1

 Life had not always been easy for Gwen Stacy. Not only was she a young woman growing up in Queens New York but she was also different from practically every other person on Planet Earth. On one fateful day she had been bitten by a radioactive spider that had given her spider like abilities. She had the ability to stick to walls, super strength, super reflexes and what was called a spider sense that warned her of danger.
 At first rather than using her new powers to help others Gwen selfishly used them to try and further her career as a masked drummer. It was not until the death of her best friend Peter Parker that she realised that she had to use her new powers for the good of mankind. From that day forth she became the superheroine known as Spider-Woman but her career as a costumed crime fighter had not started out well.
 The death of Peter Parker had been blamed on Spider-Woman herself and a campaign spearheaded by a loud mouth newspaper editor named Jay Jonah Jameson. The situation wasn’t any easier for her father was the captain in the police force. He had only recently learned that his daughter was Spider-Woman and since then he was wrestling with his conscience. He had always been a good cop but he didn’t have the heart to turn in his own daughter.
 On top of all that Gwen had been involved in an event of truly mind blowing proportions. Her and hundreds of other Spider-Men and Woman from countless alternate realities fighting against of vampire like creatures who were aiming to destroy every spider person in the entire multiverse. It had been one of the most terrifying experiences in Gwen’s life but she had come out the other end with her life intact. She had also met many different versions of her deceased best friend Peter Parker, most importantly the Spider-Man who had led the other Spider-Men. She had seen much similarities between this Peter Parker and her. Much like her when he had gained spider powers he had tried to make himself a celebrity but it was the death of his Uncle Ben that had motivated him to a life of crime fighting. More importantly he and his world’s Gwen Stacy had been in a relationship but her tragic death at the hands of a villain known as the Green Goblin had haunted him ever since.
 On this day Spider-Woman was web slinging through the streets of New York. She couldn’t go crime fighting without a disguise on or else people would recognise her and begin to hound her and her loved ones. Instead she wore a costume that she had made herself, it was primarily black and white with a few patches of red webbing located under her arms and on the lining of her hood. Her mask was white and the outer lining of her hood was also white. There was no part of her skin showing and it was impossible for anyone to see who was underneath the mask.
 It had been a relatively sunny day and Spider-Woman had just finished tackling some thugs who were trying to rob a nearby convenience store. Unfortunately the time that she had taken to stop the robbery had made her late for another band practice with her band known as the Mary Janes. They wouldn’t have minded if she was late every now and again but she was late for practically every concert and gig that they had. The band’s leader Mary Jane Watson would have kicked Gwen out of the band already but she was the most talented drummer that they had come across and the band knew that if they got rid of Gwen it would be difficult to find a suitable replacement. The band had no idea about Gwen’s double life and just assumed that she had terrible time keeping skills.
 “Come on I can’t be late,” said Spider-Woman quietly to herself as she continued to web sling through the city. She was having to be careful now as well since she was public enemy number one in New York City. Many people called her a menace after she swung passed, even people who she had help saved even called her a menace but there were a few people out there who knew that she was a heroine. “If I’m late again MJ’s gonna kick me out for sure.”
 With the speed that Spider-Woman was travelling she thought that she was actually going to make it on time but those thoughts were soon dashed. She could hear gunshots and police sirens blaring and she knew that something was going down. She would have liked to have ignored it and carried on but she knew that if someone was hurt because of her inaction she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself.
 With some manner of reluctance Spider-Woman web-slinged towards where all the action was taking place. In the corner of her eye she could see people staring at her as she went passed and one even tried to throw a can of soda at her but thankfully they didn’t have the throw of a professional baseball pitcher. She was used to this and she sometimes thought if it was really worth it trying to help all these people who considered her a menace. On more than one occasion she had considered putting the costume away and trying to live a normal life. But every time that thought crept into her head she remembered the promise that she made to Peter and she would realise that she had a responsibility to use her superpowers for good.
 A short distance away a car was driving erratically as it was trying to get away from the squad of police cars pursuing it. The two drivers were wanted men had been fleeing from the police for a somewhat brief amount of time but they were still determined not to go back to prison. The driver was travelling at over double the speed limit while the passenger was firing his gun at the chasing police cars.
 “These pigs just don’t know when to quit!” said the Passenger with some amount of anger in his voice.
 “Believe me they’ll quit eventually,” replied the Driver. “As soon as we’re out of the city we’ll lose them for sure.”
 They seemed to be doing relatively well until they were completely caught by surprise when Spider-Woman suddenly dropped down on the bonnet of the car. The driver couldn’t see the road in front of him and the passenger gave a small yelp of surprise as the superheroine had seemingly come out of nowhere. Spider-Woman even gave them a little smile and a wave although the smile couldn’t be seen under her mask.
 “Hey there guys,” said Spider-Woman. Thanks to her ability to stick to any object she had no fear of sliding off the car. “Got room for one more?”
 “Crap its Spider-Woman!” shouted the Passenger as he put his gun outside of the window and tried to shoot her. Before he even had a chance to pull the trigger she had used her webbing to completely cover the gun and his hand making it impossible for him to shoot. It was almost like he was wearing a boxing glove made out of webbing. “What the hell is this stuff?”
 “Now this is no way to treat a lady. If you’re mothers could see you now I’m sure they’d make you sit in the naughty corner.”
 Despite all the banter and jokes Spider-Woman knew that she had to end the chase as soon as she could or else innocent people would be hurt. She quickly moved to the driver’s side door and was able to rip it off thanks to her enhanced strength. She was easily strong enough to lift the entire car but for what she needed to do she didn’t have to lift the car, all she needed to do was to stop it.
 With the driver’s side door ripped off Spider-Woman had easy access to the driver himself. She could more than easily just throw him out of the moving car but at the speed that it was travelling it could easily kill him. Instead she quickly attached a strong piece of webbing to his back and then used that same webbing to attach a nearby lamp post. The entire maneuverer all happened within a second or two but suddenly the driver found himself being pulled out of the car and flying towards the lamp post. Once again if he struck it at this speed he would be killed but instead he went passed it and would have kept going but the webbing prevented him from going too far. The sudden motion of being pulled back had knocked him out but he suffered no permanent injuries and was just now slowly swinging from the webbing as the police officers moved in on him.
 With the driver now out of the car Spider-Woman quickly moved herself in the driver’s seat. The passenger was less than pleased to see her but he was greeted with another spray of webbing that kept him in his seat and he was unable to move. With the passenger now incapacitated Spider-Woman pressed down on the break and brought the once fast moving car down to a gradual halt. Thankfully there had been no injuries and this made her a very happy super heroine.
 Seconds after the car had stopped the squad of police cars stopped right behind it. Quickly the police officers took their positions and took out their loaded pistols. They watched as Spider-Woman stepped out of the car and she looked towards them. She knew that in a few moments she would have to escape from the police again and it would cause more stress for her already stressed out father.
 “Freeze!” shouted one of the Policemen as the other police officers got into their positions. There was around a dozen of them all aiming their weapons at the costumed vigilante before them. They were a few metres away from where Spider-Woman was standing and they didn’t risk moving any closer. “For the murder of Peter Parker we are placing you under arrest Spider-Woman!”
 “Hey this has all been a big misunderstanding,” replied Spider-Woman. Despite the fact that there were a dozen guns pointing at her she was able to keep a cool head and she knew that she had to leave as soon as she could. Not only for her own safety but she was still late for band practice. “I’ve just stopped the bad guys that was turning the streets into a NASCAR track so I’ve just sorta done your jobs for you.”
 “Get down on the ground and lay your hands in front of you!” The police officers were not being distracted by her words. A few of them thought that she was a heroine but they had their orders to bring her in.
 “I’m sorry guys, I know that you’re only doing your job but I’m in a rush here. Can we just pretend that this didn’t happen and go our separate ways?” She could hear the handguns preparing to fire at her and quickly she shot a line of webbing at a nearby building and she used it to lift herself off the ground and towards safety. The police officers began to fire at her but using her agility she was able to dodge all the oncoming bullets even though a few of them were only millimetres away from finding their target.
 Unfortunately for the police officers by the time that they had gotten into their squad cars Spider-Woman had disappeared and they would have a lot of explaining to do for their commanding officer. A couple of them were glad that she had actually escape but at least in their minds they had the original criminals all webbed up and just waiting to be arrested. That was at least one success that they could be happy with.
 Spider-Woman continued to web-sling away and she didn’t stop until she was just outside the gymnasium of Midtown High School. Even outside she could hear the other member of the Mary Janes practicing and it made her feel guilty that she was late again. She knew that she was going to be in for a severe telling off by Mary Jane Watson but all that Spider-Woman could do for the moment was find a spot where she couldn’t be seen and take off her costume to become Gwen Stacy once again.
 Inside the gymnasium the other members of the Mary Janes were practicing a new song that they had been working on. Mary Jane was trying to get the vocals for the song to sound decent while the guitarist was still trying to come with the right rift that went with the vocals. Glory Grant had more or less decided on how the keyboard went with the song. Much to their annoyance their music at that moment in time was missing the drumming talent of Gwen Stacy. They had told her when the practice was taking place but they had suspected from the start that she was going to be late. They remembered that she had always been good at time keeping but that had disappeared after Peter Parker had died.
 The music that the band was playing at that moment in time didn’t sound like it was meshing very well and Mary Jane quickly put a stop to the practice for a moment. There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was the head of the band but she didn’t let the fact that she was the leader go to her head. Although she had the final say in most matters there was a fair amount of space for debate.
 “Ok guys we really need to work on this song if we’re gonna get it right,” said Mary Jane as she looked at the other band members. “If we ever wanna get a record deal we’re gonna have to sound good.”
 “It would be easier if Gwen was here,” replied Glory somewhat annoyed that Gwen was late again to the practice. “You did tell her what time the practice was?” She sat in front of her keyboard with her arms crossed to show that she wasn’t too happy with the band’s drummer. If it were up to her Gwen would have been kicked out of the band some time ago but Mary Jane and the guitarist still wanted her in.
 “Yes I’ve told to her face, by text and even of Handnote but she’s still late as usual.” She didn’t want to admit that she was annoyed herself. Suddenly she heard the door to the gymnasium open and coming through it at a quickened pace was the band’s drummer Gwen Stacy. She seemed to be out of breath as she was taking off her jacket. She came in with a backpack which not only contained her drumsticks but her Spider-Woman costume. For now none of her band mates knew that she was the costumed vigilante Spider-Woman. “Speak of the devil.”
 “I’m so sorry that I’m late again,” replied Gwen as she took her drumsticks out of her backpack and sat down before her drum kit. “You won’t believe how bad the traffic is out there.”
 “It’s traffic this time? Last time you were finishing up a project and lost track of time and the time before that you said that you said you had to help your dad out around the house. Being late once is unfortunate, being late twice in a row is annoying but being late three times smells fishy.”
 “Hey I’ve just been unlucky that’s all.”
 “Is there anything you want to tell the rest of us?” The three band members were all looking at Gwen as she sat at her drum kit. She wanted nothing more to tell them that she was Spider-Woman and that she’s been fighting crime ever since she made a promise to the dying Peter Parker. But she knew that if she did she would be putting their lives at risk and this was something that she simply couldn’t allow.
 “No I just really need to keep my eye on the time more. I promise next time I’ll be here on time, early in fact if that makes you guys feel any better.”
 “Just be here on time the next time alright. Now we’re going over ‘River of Truths and Lies’ again.” The band got ready to start practicing once again. “Let’s take it from the top girls… A one, two, three, four.”
 The practice lasted for a couple of hours and with Gwen on drums they finally began to make real progress. Together the music that they were making sounded fantastic and it almost seemed that they were meant to perform together. Each member had their own role in the group and they each performed this role with great precision and confidence. Individually each member were not all that great but together they worked better than many professional bands.
 As Gwen played her drums her mind did wonder from time to time. She had a silly little thought in her head what would have happened if the spider bite that gave her, her powers also gave her four extra arms. She had seen a Spider-Man during her cross dimension adventure who had six arms and she thought that if she had six arms there would not be another drummer in the world that could touch her.
 When the practiced was finished the band members went their separate ways and for the moment Gwen was having to make a tough decision. She wanted to call her father so that they could talk about the fact that she was a costumed superhero. They had barely spoken since she admitted to him that she was Spider-Woman and she hated to think that there was a rift between them. She loved and respected her father above everyone else and she would love nothing more than to hug him and for him to tell her that everything was going to be alright.
 When Gwen did step out of the gymnasium it was already night time. She didn’t realise just how long she had practicing for and she thought that she had a good few hours to do a bit of patrolling before she went to bed. Although she had been fighting crime during the day she knew that quite a lot of the criminals operated at night so that they could perform their activities under the cover of darkness. It only took her a minute and a secluded place to change once again into Spider-Woman and she web-slinged away so that she could find crimes that needed to be stopped.
 She didn’t realise just what was going to take place that night. At the Museum Of Science a robbery was taking place for but it was not riches that the thieves were after. It was something else that could be considered to be more valuable but also a lot more dangerous. They were seeking a compound that was called Van Dyne Particles which were a marvel to the scientific community.
 Van Dyne Particles were created by the young but brilliant Doctor Janet Van Dyne. The world knew her better as the costumed member of the Avengers known by both names Wasp and Giant-Woman. The Van Dyne Particles that she had created gave her the ability to increase and decrease her size at will, when she shrank she grew wings and was able to fire beams of energy from her hands which she called Wasp Stings. She could range her size from being as small as an ant to as tall as a skyscraper. More than once along with the Avengers she had saved the world and she was widely regarded as a heroine to all. The Van Dyne Particles that she had created could also change the size of most objects when it came into contact with the compound. For now there was very little of this compound in the world and if Doctor Van Dyne could somehow find a way to mass produce it she would use it to solve some of the world’s problems. She could use her compound to shrink waste and pollution products down so that it would no longer be an issue or increase the size of food and natural resources.
 The next morning was Saturday and Doctor Van Dyne was planning on showing the diversity of the Van Dyne Particles to the public. For now the only time that they had seen them in action was when she had been fighting alongside the Avengers. She had wanted to show the public that there was more to her compound than simply using them to fight crime. For this demonstration Doctor Van Dyne had left a weaker version of the compound at the museum so it was there when she needed it the next morning. She had decided to make it a weaker compound so that she didn’t accidentally shrink something of value so small that it could no longer be seen. On the flip side she wanted to show how the particles could make things bigger as well and by using the weakened compound she wouldn’t accidentally turn anything into a monstrous size. Just something that was maybe two or three times bigger than it had been before.
The thieves had forced their way in through a side entrance to the museum and they were already making their way through the building so that they could locate the Van Dyne Particles. There were a team of three men who were on the job and these weren’t the run of the mill thieves either. This was a professional team of thieves that people with shady backgrounds could hire to obtain an item through illegal means. So far they had a very high success rate.
 With the information that they had been given they were able to find the canister of Van Dyne Particles in what had been a locked room. The system that was being used to lock the maximum security area had been easy for them to get passed. The canister itself was only the size of a flask that a person would be used to seeing with a lunchbox. They couldn’t believe that the person who had hired them was paying them so much to obtain it. They weren’t asking questions and they just got on with the job at hand. Everything was going smoothly and they wanted it to stay that way.
 After obtaining the Van Dyne Particles the thieves began to make their way back out of the museum without alerting any attention towards themselves. There were a couple of guards within the building but they hadn’t even heard the thieves entering and stealing the Van Dyne Particles. So that they didn’t have to create another exit the thieves were leaving the way that they came in.
 As they made their way to the outside museum they thought that they had succeeded without being confronted by anyone. This faded when they saw Spider-Woman hanging upside down by using her webbing. She had been there waiting for them for several minutes and the fact that they were all wearing black and carrying a canister that didn’t look to belong to them was all she needed to know that they were up to no good. She had spotted the back door being open when she had been out on patrol and she had decided to wait to see if the thieves were still inside. She had been considering looking for clues and tracking them down but she didn’t have to.
 “What do we have here?” asked Spider-Woman loud enough for the thieves to hear her clearly. “Three guys all in black coming out of a side entrance of the science museum hours after closing and carrying something that clearly doesn’t belong to them.” She gave a small sigh. “What’s a girl gonna think?”
 “Oh crap its Spider-Woman,” said the Shortest of the three Thieves. “I knew this was going too well.”
 Quickly the thieves took out the pistols that they had on their person. Each pistol was fitted with a silencer so that they couldn’t be heard by people from a distance. Immediately after the shooting started Spider-Woman leaped down from her position and took the fight to the thieves. Thanks to her Spider-Sense it was like time was moving in slow motion as she used her agility to leap and dodge the bullets that came her way.
 As soon as she landed on the ground she punched one of the thieves causing him to fall to the ground. With her strength it was like he had been punched by a heavyweight boxer and he went down like a sack of potatoes. Even then she was holding back her strength so that she didn’t cause any permanent damage.
 “Come on guys,” said Spider-Woman as she mocked her foes. “You gotta try better than that if you wanna impress this gal.”
 The remaining two thieves continued to shoot at her but once again she was able to dodge the bullets. They couldn’t believe that someone could actually dodge their bullets in this manner. It caused them a small amount of terror and the thief carrying the container came up with an idea. They had not been told which type of Van Dyne Particles was in the canister, there had only been one canister and they knew that there were two different types of Van Dyne Particles. The one that could make things smaller and the other had the opposite effect. He just had to hope that they were the shrinking Van Dyne Particles and although he thought that they would lose part of their payment for using the canister it was better than being beaten up and thrown in jail.
 As Spider-Woman sprayed the downed thief with webbing so that he couldn’t escape she sensed the thief with canister running up to her. She quickly turned to him and used her webbing to stop him from moving any closer. She didn’t realise that he was close enough to use the spray on her. His arm with the canister was free from the webbing. He had been able to remove the top of the canister and he just needed to wait for Spider-Woman to get close enough for him to use it. Most of his body was wrapped by the webbing but he still had his free hand to use the canister when he was ready.
 Spider-Woman for the moment was concentrating on the last remaining thief and although he did try to fire his pistol at him she used her webbing to jam the gun so that it couldn’t be used. With ease she leaped into the air and landed behind the final thief and as he turned around she punched him hard enough to knock him out. She also webbed him up on the ground so that he couldn’t escape before the police arrived.
 The thief carrying the canister was the only one who was still conscious and Spider-Woman wanted to know a few things before she left for the police to pick the thieves up. She was planning on going to a nearby phone and leaving a tip off for the police so that they could arrive on the scene.
 Carefully Spider-Woman approached the webbed up thief with the canister and he tried to play it cool so that she didn’t suspect that he was going to use his stolen goods as a weapon. Her Spider-Sense for the moment wasn’t indicating that there was any danger and she thought that if she stayed from arm’s reach of him she would be fine. She didn’t know that he was planning on spraying her with Van Dyne Particles and hopefully shrinking her so that he and the others could somehow escape.
 “Now that your little midnight stroll has come to an end why don’t you tell me about that little piece of what looks to be very expensive material in your hand,” said Spider-Woman as she stood a few feet away from the thief. She still believed that she was safe from anything that the thief could try. He was webbed up and only his canister holding arm was still free. “I admit that it looks expensive but don’t you guys kinda go more for gold and money? That’s your usual M.O.”
 “I ain’t talking to anyone without my lawyer,” replied the thief trying to show that he wasn’t intimidated by the costumed heroine before him.
 “I’m not a cop, I’m your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Woman who just wants to know what three strapping men like you would want with something that’s inside a canister. Unless of course it is gold or money in some kind of liquid form. Now that would have its uses, not many but some.” Her speech was throwing him off a little but he just needed her to get a little closer before he could use the canister.
 “Why don’t you jump off the George Washington Bridge and be done with yourself.” He thought that he could provoke her. “You and me ain’t so different, you murdered that Parker kid and every pig in the city is after your bacon. You’re more of a criminal than I ever could hope to be.”
 This greatly annoyed Spider-Woman who took a few steps towards the thief and her mask did prevent him from seeing her face but if he could he would have seen that she was very angry at him. She was sick of people believing that she had killed her dear friend Peter Parker and it seemed that no matter what she did people would always think that she was responsible for a murder that she didn’t commit.
 “Listen here right now!” stated Spider-Woman in an annoyed tone. All the humour had gone from her voice and now the thief could hear how angry she was at him. Just the way that he planned. “I am nothing like you!”
 “You got that right web-head.”
 Instantly the thief pulled up his free arm and Spider-Woman’s Spider-Sense warned her too late as the thief brought the canister up to her face. He was able to spray some of the contents in her face and instantly Spider-Woman began to take a few steps back. Although her face was covered with a mask she could feel some of it going through the fabric and on her actual face. She coughed a little and she could hear the thief laughing at her, he was hoping that these were the Van Dyne Particles that he wanted them to be.
 “What the heck is this stuff?” asked Spider-Woman as she continued to take a couple of steps back. She could feel the world around her begin to spin and at first she thought that it was some kind of knock out gas.
 “I think you’ll find out soon enough ‘little’ hero,” replied the thief with confidence in his voice but only seconds later his look of satisfaction soon turned to one of horror as he saw Spider-Woman change in size before him. Unfortunately for him it was not the way that he had wanted.