Short Circuit

"Alright ladies, once more from the top!" Roderick Kingsley called out to his models, as they prepared to go around again. "Go slower this time, so the buyers get a really good look! Try and show them every angle!" The skinny, tanned and blond man grinned brightly as he surveyed his girls, while his tall, pale and brown-haired brother Daniel stood behind him impassably. Roderick eagerly watched his models spin and twirl, silently congratulating himself both on the impressive quality of his fall collection and the high quality of the girls he'd gotten to display it.

Gwen Stacy was one of those girls, wearing a stunning yellow sundress. To no one's surprise, she got the most attention from the cameramen, the technical staff, and the Kingsley Cosmetics investors, to say nothing of Roderick Kingsley himself. Even when she had her back turned, she could feel Kingsley's grin and stare, and couldn't help but imagine his eyes flashing every time she passed him by.

Aside from her lovely attire, Gwen's naturally photogenic appearance and her playful, inviting smile made her the hit of the rehearsal. Everyone, even the other models, congratulated her on how well she'd done.

Gwen did her best to show gratitude for all the compliments, as she knew that most of the people who gave them were simply wanted to congratulate her.

It was just that, every time she felt Roderick Kingsley leering at her, she had to fight the urge to vomit.

SPIDER-WOMAN #22

"SHORT CIRCUIT"

It was with considerable relief that Gwen left the studio where the photoshoot was taking place. She waved to Harry and Liz as they pulled up in Harry's car, hopping into the backseat before the car took off again.

"How was the photoshoot?" Harry asked.

"Pretty good," Gwen nodded, "except for Kingsley. He just…ugh…" she shuddered, all of a sudden feeling very dirty.

Harry was about to ask what she meant, before Liz touched his arm and briefly shook her head. He wasn't too sure why Gwen had wanted this modeling gig, if Roderick Kingsley bothered her so much, but he and Liz had already agreed to respect Gwen's privacy.

There was something else he couldn't help but wonder about, though.

"Are you so sure about this?" Harry asked, as he drove the girls towards Riker's Island, New York City's infamous island prison. "I mean, are you sure that Marie-Ange Colbert chick will even let you see her?"

"It can't hurt to ask," Gwen shrugged. "I haven't heard about anyone else going to see her?"

"That's probably because she kidnapped just about everyone else she knows," Harry replied acidly, as they pulled into the prison parking lot. "Why do you want to do it?"

"Well…" Gwen paused awkwardly as they got out of the car. "I just…I don't know…I mean, no one's ever even tried to reach out to her before! Maybe if I'd actually done something back at Midtown…"

"Gwen, you don't need to blame yourself," Liz interjected as they entered into the prison and prepared to sign in at the registration desk for visitation. "People like Felicia and Sally were the ones who bullied Marie-Ange."

"And we didn't do anything about it," Gwen shook her head. "I mean, we should at least try, shouldn't we?" she said in a slightly awkward tone.

As Gwen went ahead to go through the prison metal detector, Liz and Harry looked at each other, before shrugging in unison.

Even though it was the smallest size the prison could provide, the orange uniform hung off Marie-Ange Colbert's thin frame like a loose sack. She had remained sitting on her bed since her arrest more than a week previously, blankly staring up at the ceiling and emerging only for mealtimes. Having pleaded guilty at her trial, Marie Ange, alias Tarot, had quietly accepted her fate without comment. She never interacted with her fellow supervillains, finding them to be hateful lunatics who were mostly concerned with hatching some sort of inane revenge scheme against whatever superhero had arrested them.

So it was with a bemused, detached air that she left her cell when she was told she had visitors, curious as to who would want to visit her. When she saw Gwen, Harry and Liz waiting to see her, she merely raised an eyebrow as she sat down.

"Never thought I'd see you here, Stacy," she said coolly, picking up the receiver and putting it to her ear. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"Well," Gwen began, trying to keep the awkwardness out of her voice, "we were just worried about you. Ever since…what happened," she said, choosing her words carefully, "we were wondering how you were holding up."

"How do you think?" Marie-Ange replied acidly. "I'm in prison. Multiple kidnapping charges. They agreed to drop the attempted murder charges in exchange for my pleading guilty to the kidnapping. Felicia Hardy and Sally Avril actually started cheering when the judge sentenced me."

"Good lord," Gwen said in disgust, as Harry and Liz were similarly revolted. "They went to your trial just to watch you get sentenced?"

"I'm surprised you didn't," Marie-Ange spat. "Isn't that the only time homecoming queens can associate with nerds?"

"I'd never do that!" Gwen protested.

Marie-Ange just snorted in response.

"Then the only other reason is to cover your butt," Marie-Ange accused. "You just feel so guilty about the way you let people treat me back in high school, and now you're trying to make yourself feel better. That's the way it's always been-Miss Popularity always trying to show how sweet and kind she is, before moving on to the next good deed?" she sneered.

Gwen merely fell silent, unable to respond to Marie-Ange's allegations. The words stung, but Gwen knew Marie-Ange was right.

Liz only frowned, feeling much the same way as Gwen did and realizing she was probably in the same situation. Harry, on the other hand, marched forward and snatched the receiver out of Gwen's situation, pulling her out of the visitor's chair as he sat down in her place. His cheeks flushed angrily as he began to speak.

"Big words coming from a convicted felon," Harry spat in disgust, catching all three women in the conversation off guard.

Marie-Ange only flushed angrily, as Gwen stood there dumbfounded and Liz tried to intervene.

"Harry-" Liz tried to intervene.

"Let me finish!" Harry snapped, pushing away the hand Liz put in his shoulder. "You know what? You're right. We do feel guilty about the way we just ignored how you were treated back at Midtown. But at least we're here trying to make up for it. Hell, Gwen insisted we come-you could have rotted in here for the rest of your life, for all I care."

"Harry!" Gwen tried to interject, as Marie-Ange fell back in her chair and Liz stood in shock.

"What?" Harry rolled his eyes. "We're not the ones who tried to murder everyone who ever pissed them off. God knows there've been times when I've wanted to do it to my old man…"

"I stopped the Bookworm!" Marie-Ange shot back, as her own cheeks started to turn red. "He would have killed all our prisoners if I hadn't fought him!"

"Only because Spider-Woman stopped you first," Harry shot back. "If she hadn't interfered, you would have killed Liz the first time!" he continued, as Liz paled and began to look down at the floor. Some of the other prisoners and their visitors began looking at the conversation, their attention attracted by the argument.

"Harry, that's enough!" Gwen finally steeled herself enough to interrupt.

"Hey, she went after you too!" Harry replied. "The only reason you didn't get dragged away with Liz is because you fell out of that freak monster's grip!"

"And you know exactly how she probably feels," Gwen stated, not yielding an inch. "Isn't that right?" she asked more gently this time, taking the receiver from Harry. "Frustrated, helpless, angry?"

Marie-Ange's anger dissipated, replaced by a look of deep sadness.

"We've been there, Marie-Ange," Gwen continued. "We're still there. That's the real reason we came down today-we know you aren't as bad as the Bookworm. If you were, you'd have killed all those people without thinking twice. We know how it is-we might not have been on the same level as you, but we understand what you're going through."

"And you're right," Gwen finished. "We didn't do anything in high school, back when we should have. I just want to say we're sorry..."

Marie-Ange sat in silence for several minutes after this, as the other prisoners and visitors returned to their own conversations. Finally, she picked up the receiver again and spoke so faintly Harry, Liz and Gwen all strained their ears to hear the one word she whispered into the receiver.

"Thanks…"

With that, Marie-Ange hung up the phone and stood up. Bowing briefly to her visitors, she nodded to the guard, who led her away and back to her cell.

"You're absolutely sure about this, Mr. Hilliard?" Dr. Karl Malus asked, raising an eyebrow at the very large check the sixteen-year old boy handed him. "Five million dollars?"

"My entire trust fund," Ronald Hilliard grinned. "So, can you do it?"

"Of course I can," Dr. Malus assured him. "All you'll need is to lay down on this operating table…"

Dr. Malus only smiled to himself as he watched his patient eagerly hop up on the table, a lovesick grin plastered all over the teenager's face. As the Kingpin's top scientist, Dr. Malus had scientific resources that rivaled even the wealthiest corporations, all of which were at his disposal to use as he saw fit.

Originally hired to increase the potency and addictiveness of the drugs the Kingpin sold as part of his criminal empire, Malus had immediately proven his worth by lacing the drugs with chemicals that made them so addictive that the user became physically dependent on them, literally dying if they tried to clean themselves up or purchase drugs from another supplier. The Kingpin had also made use of Malus's original scientific interests, namely the imbuing of humans with abilities found in the animal kingdom, for the creation of superhuman assassins and enforcers. The Scorpion and the Rhino were two of Dr. Malus's creations, a worthwhile investment that had repeatedly paid. For all his successes, Dr. Malus was otherwise allowed free reign of the equipment and supplies the Kingpin had given him, as his experiments had proven to be very useful for the Kingpin on multiple occasions.

More recently, Malus had developed an interest in imbuing humans with other types of abilities, intrigued by the many freak accidents that had occurred over the past decade, which had imbued ordinary humans with a wide variety of bizarre metahuman powers.

As he moved to the control panel that would initiate the procedure, Malus only chuckled.

He'd been hoping for a guinea pig, anyway.

"I'm home!" Ben Reilly called out as he slammed the door to his parents' house. Taking off his shoes and making his way to the kitchen, he returned his father's greetings as he made a sandwich and sat down at the table.

"That Gwen girl called while you were at work," Andrew Reilly told his son as he sat down to join him. "She said she'd really like to see that movie with you…"

Ben brightened immediately.

"Hey, that's great!" he grinned. "Maybe Kitty and I could double-date, if she finds someone to go with."

"Are you really sure about this girl, son?" Andrew frowned.

"I…of course I am," Ben replied, looking at his father strangely. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know," Andrew shook his head. "I just don't like her, is all."

"…Why?" Ben asked, slightly dumbfounded.

"She's the daughter of that George Stacy bastard, for one," Andrew replied. "And from what I've heard, he's been losing a lot of clients recently."

"Dad, you can't possibly be thinking…" Ben trailed off.

"Ben, when I was your age I had to deal with a lot of gold diggers before I met your mother," Andrew said sadly. "You'd be surprised how charming they can be."

"Dad, no, that can't possibly…have you and Mom been talking to Uncle Steve?" Ben asked. "Gwen's not like that. She found Kitty a place to stay!"

"Like I said, you'd be surprised," Andrew frowned again. "Some people are experts at hiding what they really are. You think they're good people, but behind it all they're only out for themselves."

Once again, Ben was left to simply think this over in silence.

First his Uncle Steve, and now his parents.

Could he have been wrong about Gwen?

"So that's how it is, huh?" Fancy Dan asked George Stacy as they finished discussing laundering some of the Kingpin's assets through legitimate businesses that George had contacts with. Fancy Dan was one of the Kingpin's "Enforcers", the lieutenants who oversaw the day-to-day operations of their boss's criminal syndicate. Fancy Dan was in charge of internal affairs and administration, while Montana looked after the "quiet" operations such as gambling, extortion and drug dealing, and the Ox handled the enforcement side of things.

Dan had dealt with George Stacy on a couple of occasions, particularly when he'd acted as a liaison for Norman Osborn, but this was something new altogether. Dan and the Kingpin had both been aware of George's faltering business fortunes after he'd been outed by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants as a sponsor of the Friends of Humanity, but this was something new. From everything Dan had heard, George was actively trying to become more involved in criminal financing, aggressively making use of all his previous contacts in the crime world to do so.

Dan had also heard about George's efforts to approach other crime bosses, including Silvermane and Crimewave. Apparently there was a brewing war between Silvermane and Philippe Bazin over Bazin getting hold of some evidence that could seriously harm the Maggia's operations. Bazin, in turn, was threatened by the Maggia encroaching on a number of his territories in retaliation. Bazin and Silvermane had always hated each other, particularly given how Bazin had adamantly refused to combine his operations with those of the Maggia when they'd formed at the end of the '80s.

Although his expression was perfectly calm as he talked things over with George, Dan smelled blood. A war between two factions in the New York crime scene offered tantalizing opportunities for its enemies. Things had been competitive enough between the four major crimelords-Bazin, Silvermane, Crimewave and the Kingpin-before the Green Goblin's arrival, and that costumed lunatic's presence only heightened the stakes.

And then there was the fact that George seemed to be trying to play every side in the debate. Dan didn't quite know what his angle was, or what he hoped to gain from this, but that didn't mean that the Kingpin's syndicate couldn't benefit from exploiting it somehow.

The Kingpin would have the final say, of course, but plans were already starting to form in Dan's mind.

It had been another long day for Michelle Gonzalez, but she was able to unwind by posting on her new favorite message board, one devoted specifically to discussing hatred of Spider-Woman. Michelle had had two unpleasant encounters with the web-slinging heroine, both of which had left Michelle with a deep dislike of Spider-Woman.

The first had been when Spider-Woman had tried to stop Polestar's robbery of the Russian art exhibit at Empire State University, and Michelle had nearly been killed by the manic way Spider-Woman had been flinging broken debris everywhere in her attempts to beat down the magnetic villain. The second was decidedly more poignant, when her brother Vincent had been taken hostage by the Brothers Grimm, meant to lure Spider-Woman into fighting him again after she'd already sent him to prison. From what she'd seen, Vincent could have been killed if the Brothers had decided to make him and the other hostages hang themselves, all just for revenge on a so-called "heroine" that was just as crazy as the villains she fought.

Of course, she'd also exchanged nasty e-mails with the idiots who actually like Spider-Woman, either because she'd apparently saved their lives or simply because of her good looks. They trolled her anti-superhero message board, and in turn she retaliated by trolling their pro-superhero forums and websites.

It was while typing in her latest screed against Spider-Woman that she heard the popping sounds and explosions. The lights in her bedroom, her computer and monitor, her clock radio, and everything else suddenly began flashing off and on, before sparking and sizzling in a bizarre pattern. Everything in the room seemed to be short-circuiting, and she heard a loud explosion from her living room as the television apparently exploded.

Running into the living room in alarm, Michelle was confronted by the thing that was responsible for the electrical meltdown in her apartment.

His hair was bluish-white, standing on end as if he'd been electrocuted, while his skin was a deeper shade of blue, with a bright streak of red splitting down the middle of his face, his open torso, and across his arms. He wore an open, sleeveless duster that was bluish black in color with matching silver lightning streaks down either side, along with a pair of black shorts and bright punk-rocker boots. His skin had a bizarre metallic sheen to it, accented by the electrical sparks that coursed across it at random.

Perhaps the most unnerving part of him, however, were the wires that crisscrossed his arms, his legs, his torso and all over his body. They were like semi-exposed veins, coursing across his skin before threading back into the flesh of his body, pulsating with a life of their own.

"What…what are…"

"I noticed you've been insulting Spider-Woman," the creature rasped at her.

"How…how…" she stammered.

"You weren't exactly hard to find," the monstrosity told her, "with the way you kept flaunting the place you lived in every single rant you posted. All I had to do was look up your address on the Internet. And now, here I am."

"What…what the hell do you want?" Michelle finally managed to get out.

"I'm fed up with the way you insult Spider-Woman," the thing replied. "She's one of the kindest, most compassionate people on the planet, and look at how you insult her. She risks her life over and over again, and this is the kind of thanks you give her?"

"Hey, she's just like the rest of those caped freaks!" Michelle shot back, suddenly losing her temper. "They think they're so much better than the rest of us, but they put everybody in danger with their crazy stunts! They spend more time trashing the city than they do saving it! Hell, I almost got killed by that crazy spider-lady!"

"You're a real ingrate, you know that?" the electrical thing shot back. "All Spider-Woman does is give and give and give, and look how she's treated. If you ask me, you don't deserve to be protected by her."

Michelle looked back at the thing with even more amazement than before, if that was possible.

"Is that the only reason you're here?" she asked incredulously. "To talk shit to me about speaking my mind?"

"No, I'm here to show Spider-Woman just how much I care," the creature grinned, as its hands suddenly began glowing brightly.

All the color drained from Michelle's face as she realized what the creature was doing. She tried to run, but she was paralyzed with fear.

"YOU DON'T DESERVE HER HELP!" the monster shrieked, as it emanated a nightmarish wave of crackling, sparkling electricity.

Michelle Gonzalez's apartment became an electrical hell of exploding machines, burning furniture, bright blue and gold lightning bolts, and horrified screaming as the apartment's owner was charged with electricity.

The electrical creature laughed hilariously as it watched everything explode and burn out, overwhelmed by the energy supercharging it.

"Come to think of it, that'll make a great moniker," the monster noted to itself. "Supercharger…yeah! Supercharged with love, supercharged with energy!"

Cackling to himself, Supercharger blew a jagged hole in the wall before flying off, eager to track down the next person who had insulted his lady love.

In his wake, he left the smoking corpse of Michelle Gonzalez.

It was a beautiful Saturday in June, but the plans Gwen had been making to go shopping had been spoiled when both Liz and Kitty had been called into work, and her cousin Jill had been invited to a sleepover with some of her high school friends. As a result, Gwen had been able to get caught up on making the arrangements with Aunt Nancy for her mother Helen to get the counseling she needed. Needing a break from her work, Gwen had sat down to watch TV, and possibly catch the Titanic rerun that was on the local movie station.

Unfortunately, she'd left the TV on the local news station, where she was treated to the horrifying sight of a murderous electrical storm in downtown Brooklyn. At the center of it was the freakish Supercharger, screaming at the top of his lungs, and the several dead bodies already surrounding him. Gwen's blood ran cold as she watched the sickening sight, and when the reporter on the scene tried to mention that Supercharger was calling himself a fan of Spider-Woman it was all she could do to avoid vomiting.

Horror turned to anger as she began changing her costume.

Supercharger felt a wonderful sense of accomplishment as he surveyed the destruction he'd caused. Dr. Malus's treatment had been worth every penny the monster formerly called Ronald Hilliard had paid, with the seemingly limitless electrical power he could not only draw from surrounding electronics, but could even generate on his own if he had to. He particularly loved the new punkish look the surgery had given him, and had decided to dress appropriately, realizing that Spider-Woman was probably the kind of girl who preferred bad boys, anyway.

Now, when she saw everything he'd done for her, Supercharger was confident Spider-Woman would recognize and reward him.

It was when he heard the siren call that he turned around, a wide grin on his face. Spider-Woman landed on the other side of the square, looking around in amazement at the carnage he'd wrought.

"You're finally here!" he called out to Spider-Woman, who stopped and stared at him. "You don't know how long I've waited for this moment!"

"Wh…what are you doing here?" Spider-Woman asked, her voice sick with horror.

"Well…I punished everyone who's been saying bad things about you," Supercharger said innocently, slightly confused by Spider-Woman's tone. "These ungrateful bastards didn't deserve your help!"

"Didn't deserve…? What the hell's the matter with you?" she shouted in disgust. "They're innocent people! You can't just-"

"But…I did this for you!" Supercharger replied, hurt by the expression on Spider-Woman's face. "I just wanted to show I care about you!"

"Care about me?" Spider-Woman asked incredulously. "This…this is sick! You're sick!" she exclaimed, spraying her webbing at him and ensnaring Supercharger, who stood there in blank amazement.

"But…I…I love you!" he finally exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Spider-Woman shot back, "well, I can sure do without the 'love' of a sick freak like you!" she exclaimed, as she pulled Supercharger off his feet.

Supercharger was vaguely aware of some of the things Spider-Woman was saying as the police came in to arrest him, but at the moment his mind was echoing with his words.

"After everything I did for you…" he mumbled, as Spider-Woman and the police froze.

"AFTER EVERYTHING I DID FOR YOU, THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?" Supercharger shrieked at the top of his lungs, as he began glowing brightly. Instinctively, the police officers ran for cover as Supercharger began emitting another frightening electrical storm, causing electrical devices all around him to overload and short circuit in a cacophony of sparks and explosions. Spider-Woman jumped back in alarm as Supercharger rose to his feet, glowing with bluish-white energy.

"I cared for you," he spat, his eyes glowing white with power. "I cared for you, I did everything for you, I never asked for anything in return, and all you do is spit on me!" Almost out of his mind with humiliation and rage, Supercharger tossed a flurry of electrical bolts at Spider-Woman, who dodged frantically as she tried to avoid being flash-fried. All around her the few people who were still there ran away screaming in fear, but Supercharger ignored them all, his efforts focused solely on Spider-Woman.

Spider-Woman's sting blasts were simply absorbed by the berserk Supercharger, and her webbing was blasted away by his electricity. All she could do was leap and dodge his blasts, until she mistimed her leap over one and was caught by another blast full on and sent flying. Crashing heavily into the wall of a building on the other side of the square, she slumped to the ground and forced herself to her feet.

Supercharger came flying at her, screaming at the top of his lungs. Thinking quickly, Spider-Woman shot a blast of webbing at him as he closed in, catching him in the face and blinding him before springing out of the way. Caught off guard by the webbing, Supercharger lost his concentration as he began trying to burn the webbing off, before slamming head-on into the wall. Dizzied from the collision, Supercharger stood up and then stumbled again as he tried to get his bearings. Spider-Woman quickly tagged him with a webline and then whipped him around again, slamming him into the ground before he could fully recover.

Getting to his feet faster than Spider-Woman expected, Supercharger used the webline to determine where she was standing and blasted her with another energy bolt, which knocked her off her feet and flat on her back. Forcing herself to sit up as she heard Supercharger stomping towards her, she fired a double sting blast that knocked him off his feet, unable to react to them in time. Spraying him with webbing, Spider-Woman reeled Supercharger in and began hitting him with a rapid flurry of punches and kicks, too quickly for the electric monstrosity to charge his energy to defend himself.

One final punch stunned Supercharger and left him out cold as Spider-Woman wrapped him in a double layer of webbing for the police. Breathing heavily, aching all over from her electrical burns, Spider-Woman staggered over to a large pile of broken debris and sat on it to rest.

All around her she heard cheers and catcalls, some of the bystanders thanking her for her efforts to save them, and others cursing her for being the reason Supercharger had gone on his rampage. Arguments broke out in the crowd between her supporters and her detractors, both of whom continued to call out to her.

Feeling extremely guilty, closing her eyes in shame, Spider-Woman couldn't bring herself to support either group. All she could do was take to the air and webswing out of sight.

Both groups were right, after all.

When Supercharger regained consciousness, he was in a special police holding cell with power-restraining manacles around his wrists. He ignored the police officers, the ordinary criminals, and even the other supervillains who tried to speak to him. All he did was just sit there, his eyes occasionally glowing white with electricity.

In his mind, he was dwelling on his betrayal at Spider-Woman's hands.

All he could feel was grief, rage and hate.

Pure, complete and total hate for the woman he had once loved, but who had so cruelly broken his heart.

If he could not have her despite all his devotion and sacrifice, then by all rights no one could have her.

No one.

(Next Issue: As Helen Stacy begins to undergo some therapy, Gwen continues her work for Roderick Kingsley to pay for it, but she has to put up with Kingsley's increasingly discomforting attention. Finally, exhausted from work and stress, Gwen takes a much-needed vacation at Fire Island with her friends. But even here, however, the Spider-Woman finds that she can't rest when Polestar launches a deadly attack on the beachgoers! All this and more in Spider-Woman #23: A Magnetic Personality!)