Change With the Light

Smile on my face

Like doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I'm changing

I change with the light

Hiding away running from reality

Who am I

Am I an actor in this game?

-Ace of Base, "Change With the Light"

"You're never going to believe it, Gwen!" Liz enthused as she and Gwen Stacy met after their American History class that morning. "Take a look..."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at the copy of the Daily Globe, the Daily Bugle's main competition apart from the Times, that Liz handed her. The article was marked with the tagline Watch out, Spidey: There's a new webslinger in town!, and pictures of Spider-Woman in battle with the criminal Blizzard, culminating in the webbed-up criminal being arrested by the police. Glancing over the article, Gwen noted how it described the intensity with which Spider-Woman fought, and the damage she and Blizzard had nearly caused in their fight, with the debris flying everywhere.

"Cool, huh?" Liz asked Gwen as she took the paper back.

"The photographers definitely got her good side," Gwen answered, a grin on her face.

SPIDER-WOMAN #2

"CHANGE WITH THE LIGHT"

"You're in a good mood this morning," Liz noted.

"Hmm?" Gwen started. "Oh, I was just thinking about something funny I saw on TV a while back...it's nothing."

"Now I know we're in the Twilight Zone," Liz laughed. "Since when would Gwen Stacy smile at something funny, much less laugh about it?"

Instantly, Gwen shifted uncomfortably.

"Look, it's nothing, alright?"

"Good thing Harry didn't see that smile," Liz grinned, "or else he'd be going after you in a heartbeat!"

"What?!" Gwen balked. "He'd better not be cheating on you. That two-timing son of a-"

"Whoa, whoa, Gwen!" Liz said hastily, raising her hands to calm her friend down. "I was just kidding!"

"...Sorry," Gwen muttered. "I didn't mean to go off like that."

"Are you okay?" Liz asked, a note of concern in her voice. "You seem kind of stressed lately."

"It's nothing," Gwen said calmly. "Can we just drop it?"

"Sure...sure," Liz said reassuringly.

"Being a drama queen again, Stacy?" Felicia Hardy's piercing, cat-like voice rang out mockingly across the hallway as its owner strolled down the hallway towards Gwen and Liz.

"Get lost, Felicia," Liz spat in disgust. "Lost without your hangers-on?"

"At least I respond when they ask me out," Felicia smirked. "Jealous, Stacy?"

"Of the girl who dated Harvey Broxtel back at Midtown?" Gwen's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, like I could ever be jealous of her."

For a moment, Felicia's eyes flared, before they calmed again.

"Harvey had some serious problems," Felicia noted dryly, "but at least I actually dated some of the guys when they asked me out. I heard about the way you blew Kenny off Saturday night at the club. Still too good for the rest of us?"

"Oh, and what would you know about it?" Gwen demanded heatedly, her voice rising. "At least I have standards...it's not like I was the one pawing Flash Thompson when-"

Fortunately, Liz was finally able to get between them and drag Gwen away.

"Don't let her get to you," Liz tried to reassure Gwen. "She's just a-"

"I know what she is," Gwen muttered. "Look, I've got to get to my next class. I'll see you later."

"What are you doing after class is done?" Liz stopped Gwen before she could leave.

"It's Monday," Gwen rolled her eyes. "I always visit my mom and Aunt Nancy on Mondays."

"Can I come?" Liz offered. "I'd love to see them again..."

"How many times have we been over this?" Gwen sighed, turning her back on Liz and heading towards the Drama building.

All Liz could do was stare back at Gwen in concern.

"Hiya, Gwen!" Jill Stacy said brightly, embracing her cousin in a tight hug as she came in the door of Nancy Stacy's Forest Hills home. The sixteen-year old's bright and cheery mood always reflected off Gwen whenever she came for a visit. Rather resembling a younger version of Gwen herself, her bouncy and energetic demeanor raised even Gwen's spirits.

"How's it going?" Gwen smiled gently.

"I'm getting straight As," Jill returned Gwen's grin with one of her own. "Mom and Aunt Helen are so proud!"

"So am I," Gwen chuckled as the two girls came into the living room, where they were greeted by their mothers. Nancy Stacy was as cheerful as ever, seeming to radiate kindness that warmed Gwen's heart. Gwen noted that Aunt Nancy gave little care to her advancing years being more concerned with Jill, who she had adopted after her niece's parents' deaths in a plane crash more than twelve years ago, with Gwen, and of course with her sister-in-law Helen. Helen Stacy, as pale and subdued as always, greeted her daughter with a small smile as she poured Gwen a cup of tea.

"How's school, dear?" Aunt Nancy began.

"It's alright," Gwen said, sipping at her tea. "Biology's rough, but Doctor Connors is really helpful. He's always ready to help, if you need it. Better than that creep Dr. Warren, I can tell you that. American History is good, but I'm stressing about this one Dance assignment. It's got to be a contemporary piece...I wish it was tap instead," she muttered.

"Any luck finding some outside acting work?" Jill asked.

"Not much," Gwen frowned, before she chuckled. "Believe me, Jill, I'm wondering whether I should change my major-it's so damn competitive out there, and the backstage politics are just disgusting," she sighed, stirring at her tea. "I did that modeling gig last month, the one that was interrupted by that weird electrical monster that Spider-Man defeated, but I haven't had much time to look for more work, what with dance classes, martial arts, and schoolwork. But how's school going for you?"

"Just great!" Jill enthused. "I finally worked up the nerve, and asked Matt out. We're going to the Christmas Formal together!" she tittered.

"You should wear your red dress with that one...or the green!" Gwen advised her, as Jill began laughing. "Keep the Christmas theme!"

"The green dress matches my hair better!" Jill smiled.

"Liz and I should come as chaperones," Gwen offered. "I'm sure she'd love to see you again..."

"I want to see Harry again," Jill laughed in mock romantic tones.

The two girls giggled for several minutes.

"How is it around here?" Gwen asked, noting with concern how Helen just sat on the couch next to her sister-in-law.

"Oh, they're good," Aunt Nancy reassured her. "Nothing much out of the ordinary..."

They sat in silence for some minutes.

"So, did you talk to Ms. Page, or what?" Jill finally ventured in an almost hesitant fashion.

"I..." Helen looked at Nancy, who frowned.

"...we're meeting with her next week," Nancy finished.

"You're waiting another week?" Jill said in frustration. "How long are you going to let this sit?"

"You know how much Uncle George can delay things," Nancy said slowly. "Ms. Page warned us over the phone that he's an expert in this sort of thing."

Helen just swallowed hard.

"First you don't call the police on him when he kicks you both out of the house, and now you won't divorce the bastard? You deserve every last cent that son of a-"

"It's not that simple, Jill-" Nancy began.

"What's not simple?" Jill demanded, fire in her eyes. "The flings? The stench of booze on his breath? The fact that he..." She suddenly stopped as her Aunt Helen grew a shade paler.

"Sorry," she apologized. "But you can't go on like this, I mean..."

"We know, Jill," Gwen stepped in. "But you don't realize how complicated these things can get."

"So now you're supporting this?"

Jill asked incredulously.

"He'll point out that he's paying for my education," Gwen pointed out.

"Big whoop!" Jill stormed. "He just did that to get rid of you! Why the hell would he send you to a public college like ESU when he could afford anywhere you wanted to go?"

"Jill!" Helen finally spoke up, frustration spilling over and flooding her voice.

"We're doing everything we can," Nancy tried to reassure Jill. "It's just that..."

"That what?" Jill wondered.

"...George has always had a knack for winning friends and influencing people," Nancy said grimly.

Lawyer, investor, pillar of the community, all-around realizer of the American Dream...many were the titles bestowed on George Stacy by those around him. Tall and well-muscled, with slicked-back hair. George reclined in his luxurious office, easily balancing his telephone conversation with his work on the computer.

"Where are you routing it from?" the voice on the other end of the receiver demanded.

"From one of my Cayman Islands accounts, Graydon," Stacy rolled his eyes in mock patience. "You of all people should know we have to do this carefully-we don't need to be giving the muties any ammunition-and I don't want to give the Bugle any leads they could use to expose our...association," he finished smoothly, before pulling his ear away from the receiver at the predictable tirade of obscenities. In spite of himself, he couldn't help but chuckle at the way the Daily Bugle's pro-mutant rights editorials sent Graydon Creed, leader of the Friends of Humanity, into a spitting frenzy of rage.

And, Stacy had to admit to himself, pushing Creed's buttons was fun.

"I'm thinking of the good of the Friends of Humanity here, Graydon," Stacy continued patiently, going to his office bar and pouring himself his sixth beer of the night. "Spend the money as you see fit, but I'm just saying that we need to take care in our financial dealings...I don't care who you hire, as long as-I'll have it to you wired tomorrow, all right? I'm done-I've got other things to do," he concluded, hanging up and setting the phone down with a frustrated sigh.

An hour and another beer later, he crossed into a well-decorated lounge. Recoiled on the couch was a lovely young dark-haired woman, one...Tara, was it?

Not that it mattered overmuch to Stacy. He could never keep these call girls' names straight anyway.

"Hard day?" the young woman purred as she began to massage his shoulders.

"Too many damn mutants," George muttered to himself, contemptuously flinging down the Daily Globe after shooting a hateful glare at its front page. "The muties are joining the costumed set, I just know it. These new ones, that Sleepwalker person and now this Spider-Woman," he spat the last word out in disgust, "are mutants. How else do you explain Sleepwalker's green skin, or Spider-Woman's twisted powers? They're all freaks, every one of them..."

"That Spider-Man guy seems pretty nice," the call girl said off-handedly. "Saved me from a gang of thugs once, and-" her words were cut off as George whirled around and backhanded her across the face. His eyes flaring, Stacy breathed heavily as he glared down at her, nodding slowly as she recoiled in fear.

"I would suggest...purely for your sake, my dear...that you refrain from discussing those costumed freaks in my presence. After all, I am not paying you for intellectual conversation...Tara?"

"Tanya," the young woman swallowed. "T-Tanya Sealy."

"Ah, yes," George nodded, taking a long pull on his freshly opened beer. "Just as a reminder," he said with a smile as he swatted her across the face again, "you would do well not to talk back to me in the future, much less discuss anyone of the costumed set in a positive manner."

All Sealy could do was nod.

Her homework done for the night, Spider-Woman set out on her nightly patrols. Swinging into the wealthier areas of the city, Spider-Woman found little of interest that night aside from ordinary passerby and traffic. One hour turned into two, and there was still nothing of interest.

Passing into Fifth Avenue, Spider-Woman was contemplating heading home to get some rest, until a mysterious flash of light caught her eye. Stopping on a wall and looking about quickly, she raced to the roof and peered over the skyline, catching a faintly shimmering trail of light that seemed to emanate from the windows of one of the classy, high-end expensive boutiques that some of the city's most famous society ladies and socialites were known to peruse. Quickly webswinging over to the building, and looking into its window, Spider-Woman was astonished by what she saw inside.

A glowing orb of light, trailing a ribbon of golden light behind it, floated within the boutique, lighting it up from within and revealing the room as the manager's office. To Spider-Woman's surprise, the orb began to grow, slowly taking on a human form, before the light faded, replaced with the form of a man with long golden hair and matching glowing eyes, clad entirely in a costume of green with a golden light emblem on the chest. Staring intently, the man began striding over to a wall at the far end of the room, throwing aside the painting to expose a large safe hidden behind it.

The office door was suddenly thrown open, and the green-suited man whirled around as a security guard burst into the room, pistol drawn. The guard shouted at the green-suited man, who merely stood there as his eyes glowed. The guard's eyes began flashing in return, and he slowly lowered his gun, before turning it around to place in his mouth.

Before he could do so, however, Spider-Woman burst in through the window and caught the guard with her webs, pinning his arms to his sides and leaving him unable to finish what he started. The green-skinned man gawked in amazement at the new arrival, before an ugly scowl flared across his face.

"I never expected to attract the attention of the illustrious Spider-Woman," the man said in mock tones, taking a sarcastic bow. "To think that a petty bandit such as myself-" he started before dodging out of the way of Spider-Woman's electric sting, which blasted into the wall behind him.

"No standing on ceremony?" he grinned, leaping into the air and taking the form of a ball of light, charging at Spider-Woman and smashing through the wall into the hallway as she rolled out of his path. "You may call me the Will o' the Wisp," he smirked, still shimmering in the air as a ball of light. "I was hoping for something to enliven the proceedings," he said, bursting into laughter as he smashed back through the wall, this time charging at the still hypnotized guard, who Spider-Woman quickly pulled out of the way with her webbing and bound to the floor to keep him from wandering off and hurting himself.

"I'd just as soon call you stung," Spider-Woman said coldly, firing one and then another sting blast from her hands, tagging the Wisp with the second as he dodged the first. Shouting in pain from the blast, the Wisp briefly flickered, before suddenly emitting a brilliant flash of light. Blinded, Spider-Woman could only raise her arms as the Wisp charged into her, his orb of light now as hard as rock, smashing her back into the hallway and into the far wall. Spinning around Spider-Woman, he repeatedly struck at her from different angles, hitting once, twice and again as she scrambled to defend herself.

Her eyes still dazzled by the Wisp's attack, Spider-Woman squatted down, spraying her webbing all around her until she heard the cries of the suddenly entangled Wisp. Swiftly regaining her sight, Spider-Woman caught the Wisp with another sting blast before the Wisp shifted to become intangible once again, freeing himself from her webs. Clearing Spider-Woman's mess of webbing and resuming his human form, the Wisp only grinned as she leapt to face him, his eyes glowing evilly.

Remembering what had happened to the security guard, Spider-Woman closed her eyes before she could be hypnotized, hoping to locate the Wisp by sound. Rather, she found him by her sense of touch, as the Wisp suddenly punched her in the back of the head, having resumed his light form and flown behind her, before shifting one of his arms back to human form to strike at her.

As Spider-Woman fell to her knees, she crawled around to face the Will o' the Wisp.

"Forgive my intellectual curiosity, my dear," the Wisp asked sardonically, "but what could motivate you to take up such a dangerous profession as crimefighting? I at least have my monetary gains, as well as the possibility of repaying those lowly peons responsible for my...circumstances, as they were," he smiled. "But what is it that motivates you heroes to do what you do?" As Spider-Woman raised her head, his eyes began glowing again.

"More that you'll ever know!" Spider-Woman shouted as she punched straight up, again shutting her eyes to protect herself from her foe's hypnosis. Caught totally off guard, the Wisp was caught on the jaw by Spider-Woman's punch, and crashed into and through the wall leading into the main shopping area as he reflexively shifted his molecules into their dense form. Once again a ball of light, he whirled around menacingly as Spider-Woman sprang through the hole after him, spinning a webline and crashing into him with a vicious swing kick, sending him spinning off course and crashing heavily into the floor, before resuming his human form.

"I may have been inclined to be merciful!" Will o' the Wisp shouted in fury, as he flashed another burst of light, which Spider-Woman instinctively closed her eyes to defend against, gritting her teeth in frustration at her foe's ability to blind her. "But you, my dear, have hindered the efforts of your betters, and such an affront demands punishment!" Spider-Woman reflexively opened her eyes once again, the Wisp seemed to have disappeared...until the lights of the store began flickering weirdly, spontaneously exploding as bursts of electricity struck down at her. The Wisp had taken control of the boutique's electrical system itself, a point driven home by the blaring loudspeakers and alarms that echoed through the store. Will o' the Wisp had created a nightmare of blinding lights and deafening noise, leaving Spider-Woman hopelessly confused...

...at least until a strange tingling sensation echoed through her mind. With her eyes and ears closed, she followed the sensation's insistent pull, turning around until she saw where the intuition was leading her. Eyes still closed, she unleashed a double sting blast in the direction she was being directed.

The noises and the lights ceased immediately as the Wisp roared in pain, sputtering in anger as he emerged from the boutique's central computer, which he had overridden to take control of its light and sound systems. Opening her eyes, Spider-Woman saw she had aimed her stinging blasts at the precise place where the Wisp had been hiding. Without hesitation, she spun a web and sprung into the air, striking down the hardened orb the Wisp had shifted into. The Wisp crashed heavily to the ground, electricity still coursing across his body. As Spider-Woman moved to web him up, however, he shifted back to intangibility and became an orb of light once again, although he continued to spark from Spider-Woman's attack.

Agonizing tingles coursed through the Wisp's body; being attacked with electricity while in a computer system had short-circuited him. Barely able to control his powers through the pain, he began screaming in a rage at Spider-Woman as he took to the air again.

"You'll pay for this, all of you!" Will o' the Wisp shouted, half mad from pain, as he smashed through the far window and took off into the night. "Again! AGAIN you ruin everything! Maureen, Hugh, Spider-Woman, all of you!" he screamed as he took off into the night, too fast for Spider-Woman to catch him, still sparking and fizzling and leaving a trail of electrical sparkling light behind him.

All Spider-Woman could do was try to follow him, but by the time she got to the window, the Wisp was long gone. Going back upstairs, she allowed herself a smile as she found the wall safe intact and the guard unharmed, although now unconscious, and soon to be free once her webbing dissolved. Checking outside, she saw the police cars pulling up, no doubt attracted by the light show Wisp had created with the boutique's electrical system.

She also noticed the flash photograph taken of her, no doubt by another news photographer who would have it in the newspapers tomorrow morning.

All of a sudden, Spider-Woman felt a sense of peace and serenity flood through her, as she began to swing home, satisfied of a good night's work.

One thought continued to nag at her, however...

How had she known where the Wisp was hiding?

Still sparking and fizzing, it was several hours before the Wisp regained enough control of himself to come to his senses. He was in a foul mood as he flew back to his lair, as he felt the ugly memories begin to resurface in spite of himself.

"Look, Maureen, I have to go!" Jackson Arvad said in exasperation, sitting in his office just outside the electromagnetic research lab he worked at for Roxxon Industries. "Yeah...yeah I know you made reservations, but I already told you I was working late tonight...give me a break! Do you even realize what kind of a promotion I could get if this experiment succeeds? We're talking..."

"Blast it all!" Arvad cursed as he slammed the phone down.

"What's wrong?" his assistant Howard asked.

"Difficulties with my significant other," Arvad muttered. "Are the preparations complete?"

"Just about," Howard answered, fiddling nervously with his moustache. "But I really wish you'd approved those vibranium safeguards. I mean, this kind of electrical acceleration on molecule protons...didn't Hank Pym publish something about its dangers in Scientific American a few years ago?"

"Are you even aware of the costs of vibranium these days?" Arvad reproached him. "With the exorbitant prices charged by the Wakandans, I am not about to surrender even more of the company's money. In any event, you are aware of Mr. Melvin's thrift and frugality," referring to their boss, a quintessential bean counter. "He will appreciate our efforts to maximize our budgets."

Perhaps the Roxxon brass would have been impressed with Jackson Arvad's budget-conscious measures, if the catastrophic lab explosion hadn't killed six people in the process, and exposed Arvad himself to a dangerous amount of electromagnetic radiation, that later had to be siphoned off from his body.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Mr. Arvad?" Emerson Bale, Attorney at Law, asked his client. "We might be able to make a countersuit against Roxxon for wrongful dismissal, but why are you countersuing the families of your colleagues who were killed in the explosion?"

"Their accusations against me are the grossest slander!" Arvad shouted, his eyes seeming to flash with golden light. "How can they possibly claim that I am responsible for the explosion?"

"According to their attorneys, it's because you refused to install certain protective measures that might have guaranteed their safety. That's gross negligence, at the very least," Bale warned him. "I would advise you most strongly not to proceed with this. If their allegations are proven in court and the jury rules against you, your case against Roxxon will be severely weakened..."

"Given what you are charging me, I should expect that you would follow my directives!" Arvad ordered. "See that it is done!"

Bale's warnings proved to be well-founded. Jackson Arvad lost all the lawsuits he filed, running up expensive lawyers' fees even as he was struck with heavy damages from the families of the people killed in the lab explosion. Of course, he stood to lose much more as well...

"Jackson's always had a stubborn streak," Maureen Arvad sighed as she shook her head, reading about the lawsuits in the Daily Bugle. "Always so vindictive, too..."

"Like you need to tell me," Hugh Jones muttered, sitting down and putting his arms around Maureen. "The bastard got me demoted and kicked out of my department just so he..."

Maureen put a finger on his lips.

"Ssshhh, let it go," she advised him. "Jackson's made his choices. Let him take responsibility for them."

"Hey, he doesn't realize what he had going for him," Hugh smiled as he brought Maureen in for a kiss.

Nothing had gone right for Jackson Arvad since that time. First bankrupted by the lawsuits against him, he soon found that no company would hire him, owing to his bad reputation. With his mortgage past due, his wife filing for divorce, and his inability to find another position in his field, Jackson Arvad seemed to truly have nothing...

...until he found himself glowing. As his eyes turned golden, and his entire body began to tingle and shimmer, Jackson Arvad found himself able to become intangible and immaterial, or rock solid. Able to hypnotize and control people with his glowing eyes, and override and seize control of electrical systems, Arvad could even shapeshift into a ball of glowing light, fully conscious and in control of his movements. A specially made green suit could transform along with him. Like a good scientist, he experimented and practiced until he gained full control of his abilities.

While he had himself disdained myth and folklore, it was one of Maureen's passions, and she had told him a number of interesting stories, including several about the mysterious will o' the wisps, most of which had to do with the dark choices people made, that left them trapped for all eternity, or that led the foolish to their doom.

They told me I had choices, that I made the wrong ones, the Wisp smiled wickedly that night as he flew over the New York skyline, seemingly a shooting star in the darkness. But were my actions so foolish, when they gave me power? More than any of them could ever hope for?

If I made the wrong choices...I can make new ones.

Maureen...Hugh...Bale...Spider-Woman...

You all made me...and I'll be sure to return the favor.

His laughter echoed on the cold winter breeze as he flew into the night.

(Next Issue: After a stiff meeting with her father George, Gwen is confronted with memories of her home life growing up in his house. As she later meets to commiserate with her friends Liz and Harry, Gwen finds that she has no time to relax when her friends are abducted by the twisted showman known as the Brothers Grimm! All this and more in Spider-Woman #3: Sins of the Fathers!)