Love and Hate

"The thing to remember about crossing over," Dr. Curt Connors explained to his Biology class, "is that each individual chromosome exchanges some of its genetic information with another chromosome. Otherwise, you'd be inheriting every allele for the genes linked on the same chromosome from your parents. Crossing over allows for greater genetic diversity and the possibility that you'll inherit recessive genes from your parents."

The class eagerly nodded, their pens scratching as they noted what Dr. Connors was telling them. Dr. Connors was one of the most popular professors at Empire State University, his classes highly sought after by students because of Connors' skill at explaining complicated scientific principles to even the most scientifically untalented students.

"That's about it for now," Dr. Connors concluded as his students finished their note-taking. "We still have a few minutes-does anyone have any questions?"

Most of the students seemed satisfied with what Dr. Connors was telling them, although a few hands still came up. One of them belonged to a beautiful young coed with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a puzzled look on her pretty face as something suddenly seemed to register for her.

"Yes, Gwen?" Dr. Connors asked the young woman.

"Doesn't this crossing over stuff mean that no two gametes are identical?" Gwen asked. "I mean, if some alleles cross over but others don't, it seems like every sperm or egg is going to carry a different set of the parent's genes."

"You're exactly right, Gwen," Dr. Connors nodded, pleased with Gwen's question. "That's why, like I said, children can inherit recessive genes from their parents if they don't inherit a masking gene along with it."

"Nice observation," he finished with a smile.

Gwen only smiled back.

SPIDER-WOMAN #40

"LOVE AND HATE"

Returning home from school that afternoon, Gwen had to admit that it still felt weird living at her Aunt Nancy's townhouse with Nancy, Nancy's daughter Jill and Gwen's mother Helen Lieber-Stacy. Ever since she'd lost her apartment and had to move in with her family, Gwen hadn't felt entirely comfortable coming home, since she wasn't sure she was contributing enough to the family.

"Hi, Gwen!" Jill greeted Gwen, coming into the kitchen as Gwen was peeling some apples. "How was your day?"

"Pretty good," Gwen replied, handing one of the apples to Jill. "How was yours?"

"Tiring," Jill sighed. "I'm taking my SAT on Saturday. I've got to go out later tonight-some of my friends are having a study session. I swear, this is going to be the longest week of my life…"

"I know how you feel," Gwen frowned, remembering the grind of taking the SAT herself in high school. "I wouldn't worry too much, though-you're going to do great."

"I would if that was the only thing I had to study for," Jill reminded her. "Remember, I have midterms next week too!"

"I feel your pain, believe me," Gwen assured her with a smile. "That's when my finals take place! And my grades haven't exactly been the best this year…" she trailed off.

"That's because you spent too much time working to pay for your apartment," Jill pointed out. "You should have just moved back in with us when you lost your first apartment."

"Well…" Gwen frowned at that.

"Come on, Gwen," Jill rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me you still feel guilty about coming back with us!"

"Well, I…" Gwen replied, not sure what to say.

"It's like Auntie Helen said, you've got more important things to worry about," Jill reminded her. "Besides, you did plenty to help her already."

"I suppose so…" Gwen smiled.

"And just for the record, I'm thrilled that you're here too," Jill grinned widely. "You think I like being the one who always has to do all the housework around here?"

"Well, I suppose that's one way to earn my keep," Gwen laughed. "I suppose the other way is for me to let you borrow outfits that you like from me?"

"Now you know the price of admission," Jill's smile became even wider.

Sitting in the visitor's section of the maximum security wing of the Raft, the section of Ryker's Island Penitentiary that housed supervillain criminals, Karen Reilly still had a hard time believing it. She was there to see her brother, Steven Mark Levins, who'd been exposed as the psychopathic mass-murdering costumed criminal Jack O' Lantern after his defeat by Spider-Woman. Levins had worn a ghoulish costume with gauntlets and boots crafted to resemble human bones, a chainmail vest that looked like it was covered in tiny skulls, and a hideous leering pumpkin for a head that glowed with holographic flames. His Jack O' Lantern attire had proven more than appropriate for the crimes he committed while wearing it, which ranged from bank robberies to hostage takings to killing sprees, all of which he'd cheerfully pled guilty to when he was finally brought to justice.

Karen had suffered a severe case of shock when she'd seen and heard the news. At first she hadn't wanted to believe it, but seeing Levins admit it on live television had been more than enough. Her home had been vandalized by people throwing rotten produce and dog crap at it, and she'd received a number of threatening phone calls and harassing letters from the friends and families of Jack O' Lantern's victims. Both Karen and her sister Danielle had been put through hell because of the actions of their brother Steven. The man they'd grown up with had been a sadistic monster, hiding his true nature behind words of love and support for his family.

The man himself entered the room, smiling widely despite the bleak weather outside. Steven Mark Levins was a rakishly handsome man, his muscled athletic figure, dark brown hair and finely honed face being the envy of men half his forty-three years. His face lit up with a twisted smile as he noted his visitor, nodding as he sat down on the prisoner's side of the visitor's panel. Karen noticed his dark eyes shone with a bizarre inner light, a hellish fire that sent chills down her spine as she truly looked into his eyes for the first time.

"Hello, Karen," Levins leered, smiling a twisted smile that made Karen shudder involuntarily. "Finally decided to pay me a visit?"

Karen did not reply, only staring intently back at him.

"Well, let's get on with it, shall we?" Levins rolled his eyes. "You're going to ask me why I did it, and I'm going to give my reason for the umpteenth time. I'm going to point out that I did it because I'm evil, because I'm not supposed to do it, because it's wrong. I've explained myself over and over again, and quite frankly I'm getting a little sick of it. So unless you actually have something new to say, don't waste my time, okay?"

"…Do you even know what's been happening to us?" Karen asked. "The vandalism? The harassment? Kitty being publicly outed as a mutant? Mom suffering a heart attack in the nursing home? Having to live in fear of retribution?"

"Yes, I have," Jack O' Lantern rolled his eyes. "So what? It just proves my point, really-those hypocritical bastards are finally showing what they're really like underneath their masks. If anything, I've inspired them! And as for living in fear…well, now you know how my victims feel…the ones I've left alive, at any rate," he burst into a chilling laughter.

"You don't even care?" Karen asked in horror. "Not even for Mom and-"

"No, I don't," Jack O' Lantern sneered, his eyes narrowing. "In fact, I'm happy to hear about what's happened. Is she…"

Karen blinked, and the tears that appeared in her eyes gave Jack his answer.

"She just couldn't stand to see what she gave birth to, could she?" Jack O' Lantern laughed. "Think about it, Karen-you're related to me, too. Can you live with that? Can you live with the fact that, for all those years, you grew up with a depraved psychopath? That all the time we shared those laughter and those tears, I fantasized about how much I wanted to cut your throat, blow your head off with Dad's gun, or simply beat you to death with my bare hands?"

Karen only paled, the tears flowing freely now.

"But you have to wonder-just how did I become such a monster in the first place? I mean, there was certainly nothing in our home life that could have ever influenced me to turn out like that! Maybe I was just born a bad seed! Just think, Karen-you and I share a common heritage, a heritage that turned me into what I am today. How do I know it isn't somewhere within you too, just waiting to come out…" Jack O' Lantern smirked.

"Stop it…" Karen pleaded her brother.

"Come to think of it, how do you know it isn't inside Kitty or Ben, or any of my other little nieces and nephews?" he continued mockingly. "After all, I'm not going to be around forever-I'm sure I could find one of them to take up my mantle after I'm gone…"

"STOP IT!" Karen screamed at him.

"Then again, they're probably all too pathetic and weak to really be worth training," Jack O' Lantern realized. "Quite frankly, I'd probably be better killing them all off. After the way you and Danielle have probably coddled them all, they wouldn't be any good to me anyway!"

Horror and revulsion filled Karen's mind as she stood up. Too disgusted to stay any longer, she felt a similar feeling of hate rise up within her as she stared at Steven Mark Levins.

"You're dead to me," she finally managed to spit at him.

Jack O' Lantern merely stared back at her, completely unimpressed.

"You seem to be under the mistaken impression that you were ever alive to me to begin with," he pointed out to his sister. "You've always been dead to me, Karen-you and our entire family. Be sure to remember that, if I ever get out of here. Maybe I'll pay you guys a little visit!"

He burst out laughing, a twisted, maniacal laughter that sent Karen fleeing from the room as the guards roughly picked Jack O' Lantern up and took him back to his cell, cackling all the way.

Dragged back to his cell, Jack O' Lantern reflected on his little visit with Karen.

It was really too bad that Kitty Pryde, Ben Reilly and the rest of his nieces and nephews might have had some potential at some point, but they'd been pretty much ruined by their idiot parents. Even if they did act on their dark sides, their spirits had been pretty much crushed long ago and they wouldn't last a week as costumed criminals.

That was the sad thing with this generation, Jack realized-their parents had drilled the civilized bullshit he so hated into their minds. He'd despised it in his own generation, and he continued to despise it among Generation Y. Hell, one of the few young people who seemed to have any kind of spirit was Gwen Stacy, and…

…Jack O' Lantern felt the seething anger and hate rise up within him, the same way it did whenever he thought of the one person he hated more than any other in the world, the person who he most wanted to make suffer, the person he most wanted to crush and slaughter and murder…

That was the irony-the person he hated most of all, his archnemesis, was the one with the most potential. It was one of the things he hated most about Gwen, since as Spider-Woman she had managed to overcome her violent temperament and now settled for protecting weaklings like his family. And yet, he recalled just how violent Spider-Woman had been when she'd managed to beat him, fighting all the harder because he'd threatened one of her loved ones. She still had that same fire and passion within her, but she wasn't using it properly.

Killing Spider-Woman in cold blood definitely had its advantages, but what if there was another way to destroy her?

As he reflected on that, Jack O' Lantern also recalled the sad fate that had befallen the Tomorrow Legion, his attempt at creating a voluntary supervillain crime syndicate. The Legion had been taken over by Doctor Octopus, who used the other villains as pawns in his own personal schemes rather than coordinating the villains' activities to increase their profits and cause more mayhem, which was what Jack had specifically envisioned the leader's job to be. Because of his arrogance and mistreatment of his fellow villains, Doctor Octopus received no help from them when he was attacked and defeated by Moon Knight, and the Legion had subsequently disbanded.

The Legion had disbanded due to Octopus's arrogance and short-sightedness, but Jack O' Lantern was certain that he could reestablish it, thanks to his formidable reputation in the supervillain community.

Leaning back on his cot, Jack began to consider the possibilities.

The last week of November passed slowly for Gwen. When she wasn't studying for her own final exams, she was helping Jill study for her own finals. While she got together with some of her friends for study groups, Gwen was otherwise almost a recluse. She didn't patrol as Spider-Woman, she didn't hang out with any of her friends, and she didn't even give any thought to her birthday on December 3rd.

So it was that, on the Monday of December 3rd 2007, Gwen found herself sitting in the exam room for the Empire State University. Compared to when she had taken her midterms back in October, she felt surprisingly relaxed and ready for the test. Ever since she'd moved back home, she hadn't had to worry about bills, finding new acting and modeling work, showing up on time to her waitressing job, or making the rent with Kitty.

Mom was right, Gwen realized as she worked diligently at the exam. This did me a world of good…

Gwen finished the exam with barely ten minutes to spare, but this time she was confident that she'd done a much better job than she had before. She still had some time before her next exam, so she headed for the Students' Union Building to get some lunch. On her way there, she heard a delighted voice calling out to her. Turning around in surprise, she smiled brightly as she saw the handsome figure of Randy Robertson coming towards her.

"Happy birthday, gorgeous!" he grinned at her, wrapping her in a hug as she came to greet him. "How's it going?"

"A lot better than I expected," Gwen smiled. "How about you?"

"It's going," Randy sighed. "My Poli Sci exam was murder. What did you have this morning?"

"English," Gwen replied, "and I have History this afternoon too."

"Ouch," Randy frowned sympathetically. "What do you have tomorrow?"

"Nothing, thankfully," Gwen shook her head. "I'll be able to take it easy tonight."

"So you're free tonight?" Randy asked, his expression brightening.

"I guess so," Gwen smiled back. "What did you have in mind?"

"What, you think I'm going to spoil the surprise?" Randy laughed. "Not a chance. Can I pick you up at six?"

"That'd be great," Gwen assured him, hugging him tightly. "Want to get some lunch in the meantime?"

"Sounds like a plan," Randy grinned, linking her arm in his as they continued on their way.

Randy's plans turned out to be a comfortable, relaxing dinner at the Argent Room. For Gwen, it would have been a lovely night on its own, but she could tell from the anticipatory look on Randy's face that he had other plans. She wasn't entirely sure what he wanted, although it was clearly something he'd been looking forward to for a long time.

Finally, once they'd finished their dinner, Randy gathered his courage.

"Your family doesn't mind my taking you out tonight?" he asked Gwen.

"Not at all," Gwen reassured him. "We aren't really going to do anything until the weekend after finals are over anyway."

"Oh, okay," Randy nodded, seeming to get a little flustered with his nervousness. Gwen reached out and took his hands in hers, gently patting them to reassure him even as she gave him an encouraging smile.

"Here goes," Randy finally said. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now, Gwen-I just never got the nerve to do it until now."

"What's that?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"…Would you go steady with me?" Randy asked her. "You're just about the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and when I'm with you I always feel…so…well…"

Gwen thought about it for a few seconds. As much as she cared for Randy, she also cherished her relationships with Ben Reilly and Mark Raxton, and wasn't sure if she felt more strongly about one of them than the others. On the other hand, Kitty Pryde had been entirely right when she pointed out that Gwen couldn't leave them all hanging like that. That was what Gwen had done in high school, never committing to any of the boys, always making sure to leave them wanting more. She owed it to Randy, Ben and Mark to make a choice.

"You don't have to decide right now," Randy assured her. "It's just that…you make me feel special in a way no other girl ever has. That's why I'm asking you this."

Gwen only smiled back.

"I'm flattered, Randy, I really am," she assured him. "And I really appreciate everything you've done for me too. I just need a little time to think about it, but I promise you, I won't leave you hanging."

"That's all I ask, Gwen," Randy smiled back at her. "And whatever happens, you know that I'll always care for you."

"Just like I'll always care for you," Gwen smiled back, her eyes shining brightly.

Dr. Karla Sofen was known for her incredibly strong work ethic. When she wasn't holding sessions with her patients at the Ravencroft Institute for the Criminally Insane, she was working diligently on her home computer. Tonight she was at home, typing away as she compiled and reviewed the notes she had from her most recent therapy sessions with her patients.

Out of all the insane superpowered criminals that she'd been assigned to treat, she found Supercharger to be one of the most interesting. Based on her one-on-one sessions with him, and what his parents had told him, the creature that used to be called Ronald Hilliard had always been a strange one growing up. Even as a little boy, he was isolated and weird, staring intently at both girls his own age and women twice as old as he was. He had no friends and didn't participate in any social activities willingly, only doing so when he was forced to by his family. Even then, his parents had always had to muster up the courage to drag him along, fearing the chilling look he gave them whenever they tried to force him to do something he didn't want to do.

Ronald's parents hadn't been sure how to handle it. He had never done anything illegal, so the police had never gotten involved. He'd never engaged in much social contact, and when he did he usually alienated and unnerved his peers. Nothing seemed to attract much interest to him, although in their sessions he had talked about having a "lot of love to give." He was also incredibly narcissistic, claiming that Spider-Woman had fought Jack O' Lantern to protect him, and only him, when Jack had attempted to rob that high-society gala. Ronald also angrily dismissed the notion that Spider-Woman might have been trying to protect the other people at that gala, too.

The thought that Spider-Woman had been trying to protect him was clearly the trigger that set Ronald off to turn himself into Supercharger and begin murdering people to "prove" himself to Spider-Woman. Now, given that Spider-Woman had "rejected" him, Supercharger was obsessed with punishing her for "breaking his heart". He also seemed to view her as rightfully belonging to him, and thought that if he couldn't have her, then by all rights no one could.

It was curious-Ronald had never displayed any of the traditional signs of psychopathy, such as bedwetting, starting fires or animal cruelty. However, he'd showed himself to be incredibly narcissistic, completely remorseless in his crimes, and displayed bizarre sexual behavior that had culminated in his obsession with Spider-Woman. All he'd been waiting for was something to trigger his deviant impulses, and then he took steps to act on them.

Dr. Sofen found it all so fascinating.

She might have determined how to treat Supercharger and help him deal with his issues, but where was the fun in that? She'd already learned so much from many of her other patients after they'd escaped and run amuck through New York City when Psyko had broken out of his cell and enslaved the rest of the asylum's inhabitants. Dr. Sofen knew that, in his current state, Supercharger was likely to go on a rampage if he somehow managed to escape from Ravencroft.

That'd be fun to watch, wouldn't it? Not to mention that it would a fascinating intellectual exercise. Dr. Sofen had always been fascinated by the motivations of criminals and whatever it was that led them to do the things that they did. Especially now, with the increasingly bizarre motivations and compulsions among superhuman criminals, conventional psychiatric theories and models were rapidly being discredited.

It was an exciting, revolutionary time in the field of criminal psychology, and Dr. Sofen was at the crest of it.

Pulling out her cherished moonstone pendant, Karla Sofen stared intently at it, admiring the way it caught and reflected the light.

Several days had passed since Gwen's birthday, and in that time final exams for the Empire State University Fall 2007 semester had concluded. Although finals had been a grind, Gwen had been much more prepared and better rested for them than she had been for her midterms. She hadn't needed to act as Spider-Woman all week, and her friends and family were using the Saturday following exams to throw her a belated birthday party.

First it had been brunch with Helen, Jill and Aunt Nancy, followed by the presents they'd gotten her. Now, her friends were throwing her a party at the Argent Room. Everyone was there-Randy, Kitty Pryde, Ben Reilly, Liz Allan, Harry Osborn, Bruce "Kong" McFarlane, Julia Winhill, Kenny Anderson, Peter Parker and even Mary Jane Watson. At first Gwen had felt a little guilty about it, especially when she'd learned that Harry had paid to reserve the room, but she had to admit that she enjoyed the attention. More than that, though, she was really enjoying the company-as much as she loved big parties and social events, there was really something to be said for a quieter, lower-key gathering with friends.

She laughed when Kenny jokingly proposed to her with a cheap costume jewelry ring, she gushed over Robert Pattinson and Daniel Radcliffe with Kitty and the rest of the girls, she got into an impromptu dance-off with Gwen, and began hatching plans for the shopping spree she planned to go on with the gift certificates several of her friends gave her as gifts.

It was while she sat down to drink some water, weary from dancing, that Peter Parker came to join her.

"Thanks for coming," Gwen smiled at him. "I really appreciate it!"

"Hey, it's my pleasure," Peter smiled back. "How are things going with…you know?" he asked, referring to her activities as Spider-Woman and the unique heritage they shared.

"Well, I've had to deal with a lot," Gwen smiled ruefully, "but you probably saw a lot of that on the news. Is Mary Jane having any problems after…well, what happened to her?"

"No, she's been doing really well," Peter grinned. "She's really looking forward to finishing her degree next year-she's going to try and get an internship at the police forensics lab next summer!"

Gwen only smiled back, happy to hear that Mary Jane was alright. Glancing over, Gwen saw Mary Jane earnestly discussing something with Liz and Kong, and really couldn't tell much difference between the fiery Mary Jane she'd seen before her kidnapping by the Goblin and the fiery Mary Jane she saw now.

"It's funny, isn't it?" Gwen realized.

"What's that?" Peter asked.

"It's been over a year since I became a superhero," Gwen realized. "Things have changed so much since then."

"I felt the same way after the first year that I became a hero," Peter nodded. "Hell, things changed for me more in that year than in all the time before that. I had to really grow up fast. So have you, I think."

"What do you mean?" Gwen blinked in surprise.

"Just look around you," Peter pointed out. "Could you really imagine having a party like this, with this many people, a year ago?"

"Well…" Gwen paused at that. "I mean, I did it all the time when we were at Midtown…but that was all just shallow socializing. I just did it to keep up appearances, and I never really let any of the guys get close to me. Here, though…"

"It's different, isn't it?" Peter noted.

"And it's better," Gwen realized. "I could do without the rogues' gallery, though."

"You and me both," Peter sighed in mock tones, before they both laughed.

"I'm sorry I didn't get you a better present," Peter apologized, "but Mary Jane only found out about the party yesterday and we had hardly any time to find something."

"It's no big deal," Gwen assured him. "Besides, you've already gotten me something way more valuable."

"What's that?" Peter asked in confusion.

"You're like the brother I never had," Gwen smiled at him. "You and Uncle Ben have been a big help to me."

"I'm just returning the favor," Peter grinned. "Remember how Bullseye and Boomerang had that contest to see which of them could kill me, and you stopped them?"

"Well, what did you expect me to do?" Gwen smirked. "I mean, if you got killed MJ would have had to wear black to your funeral, and that's just not her color!" she joked.

They both burst into laughter at that.

The birthday party had been fun, but as mid-December approached Gwen knew she had to get back to reality. Free of any responsibilities relating to school, she now had some time on her hands. Not wanting to sponge off the rest of the family and knowing that she'd need money for next semester's tuition, Gwen had gotten a temporary job over the holidays to earn some extra money before going back to school.

Working as a Christmas elf in the Santa Claus display at Macy's Department Store wasn't exactly her idea of a dream job, however. She felt more than a little silly wearing a pointed red hat, a forest green smock, dark green tights and ridiculous curly-toed shoes with bells on the end of the curls, and having to introduce herself as 'Fairydust' to the parents and the children. In spite of that, she couldn't help but smile at all the eager little children and proud parents who were so eager to meet Santa.

Noon came and went on Gwen's first day without too much trouble. The lines were long, but most of the children were quite eager to meet Santa. Santa himself barely even needed any props, as he already had the plump body, thick white beard and jolly demeanor needed to play the part. One little boy, however, was screaming and crying as his flustered mother tried to drag him along. The mother tried to pick him, up, but he broke free of her grip and tried to run away. As he passed by Gwen, she quickly stepped out from behind the camera she was operating and knelt down in front of the boy.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Gwen asked the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't wanna go!" the little boy sobbed, tears in his eyes. He couldn't have been more than five years old, panicky and shaking as he looked around fearfully.

"You mean Santa?" Gwen said gently. "He's not going to hurt you."

"B-but he's laughing and…gosh, you're a pretty lady," the boy said, blinking in surprise at her.

"Thanks," Gwen giggled. "My name's Fairydust. What's yours?" she asked him.

"Sammy," the little boy replied.

"Nice to meet you, Sammy," Gwen smiled. "Why are you scared to sit on Santa's lap?"

"He looks and sounds really scary," Sammy said sadly.

"You don't need to worry," Gwen reassured him. "My mommy always took me to sit on Santa's lap when I was little. He was always really nice to me, too! He even gave me a candy cane and everything!"

"He did?" Sammy blinked in surprise.

"Of course he did!" Gwen said brightly. "Santa's not going to hurt you. Your mommy won't let anything bad happen to you," she continued.

It was as much how Gwen spoke as what she was saying that reassured little Sammy. Looking at her, Sammy felt a comforting sense of warmth coming from Gwen, as her kind smile and gentle tone of voice calmed him down.

"Promise?" Sammy asked.

"Promise," Gwen winked at him.

Sammy smiled back, and went back to his mother, who put him on Santa's lap.

The next several days were busy, but compared to the stress of preparing for final exams, being sexually harassed by Roderick Kingsley or fighting for her life against maniacal supervillains, it wasn't anything Gwen couldn't handle. If anything, she was settling into a more comfortable rhythm of working at the Santa displays during the day, and then Christmas shopping and/or socializing with her friends in the evenings after her shift was over. Remarkably, she hadn't encountered any supervillains for the last few weeks. Aside from stopping various non-powered robbers and petty thugs, Gwen hadn't even needed to act as Spider-Woman.

That all changed one day when a massive explosion rocked the far wall of the main lobby where the Santa display was set up. Electric lights exploded and burst, people screamed in terror and pain, pandemonium ensued as people ran in horror and lightning bolts exploded through the air. Above it all, though, there was a voice that all too familiar to Gwen. Her heart sank as she recognized it, and realized that it sounded more crazed than ever. The voice's owner had been dangerous enough in an open area, but in a crowded department store he was even worse.

Through the panicking crowds, Gwen could see him ranting and raving as he fired lightning bolts every which way. He was just as she remembered, with his bluish-white hair standing on end, his skin a deep shade of blue except for the bright streaks of red passing down the middle of his face, his open torso and his arms, even as it gleamed with a bright metallic sheen. His entire body was threaded with electrical wires that went into and out of his skin, resembling gruesome stitching. His costume was even the same-a dark blue sleeveless duster with matching silver lightning streaks down either side, black shorts and thick punk-rocker boots.

"WHERE ARE YOU, SPIDER-WOMAN?" Supercharger screamed as he fired lightning bolts, blasting people left and right. "I KNOW YOU'RE HERE, YOU BITCH! GET OUT HERE AND FACE ME, OR SO HELP ME I'LL BURN THIS ENTIRE FUCKING MALL TO THE GROUND!" he shrieked, almost out of his mind with rage, the charred corpses surrounding him a clear indication of just how far he intended to carry his threat.

Gwen's hands flew to her mouth in horror, as she frantically tried to find a place where she could change costume. Fortunately, in the mass of stampeding, panicking people, no one noticed her trying to run away.

That was something to be thankful for, at least.

His eyes glowing madly, Supercharger looked around as he threw electrical bolts left and right. He knew Spider-Woman had to be here-where else would a selfish, materialistic whore like her be on one of the biggest shopping days of the year? He'd managed to escape from the prisoner transfer that one of the doctors at Ravenscroft Asylum had arranged for him, and once he'd obtained a new set of clothes he had come straight to Macy's, where he suspected Spider-Woman would be. Even if by some strange circumstance she wasn't, it wouldn't take her long to arrive.

In their therapy sessions, Dr. Sofen had described the "rogues' gallery" phenomenon to Supercharger, whereby costumed superheroes tended to acquire a series of recurring adversaries. Supercharger was already aware of some of the other supposed members of Spider-Woman's gallery, such as the Brothers Grimm, who he'd met in group therapy. According to Dr. Sofen, if he managed to escape from custody and went on a crime spree, it was extremely likely that Spider-Woman would be the one who tried to stop him.

"Here I am, you monster!" Spider-Woman shouted, answering Supercharger's prayers. Yanked off his feet by a webline, Supercharger fell onto his back, his electrical bolts missing the bystanders he had been aiming at. Looking behind him as he got up, Supercharger saw Spider-Woman's gorgeous figure standing behind him, her long black hair flowing behind her and her red and gold costume and a disgusted look on her pretty face.

"You don't know how much I missed you!" Supercharger exclaimed venomously as he shot a double line of energy bolts at Spider-Woman, even as he burned the webline sticking to him off his body. "I've been dreaming of this moment for every lonely night ever since you betrayed me!"

Springing over Supercharger's energy bolts and shooting her webbing at him, Spider-Woman wasn't sure whether she should be more disturbed by what Supercharger was saying or what he was doing. He easily blasted away her weblines, and as she charged in at him his eyes flashed brightly. All of a sudden, electricity flared from the light fixtures above her and came down on top of her in a deadly lightning bolt. Screaming in pain, Spider-Woman was paralyzed long enough for Supercharger to blast her with a wave of his own lightning, before she finally managed to break free. Struggling to her feet, she barely managed to dodge as Supercharger fired another lightning blast that tore a large, ugly scorch mark on the floor where she'd been lying.

Looking around quickly, she saw that Supercharger advancing towards her. Using one hand to shoot webbing at him as a distraction, she used the other to snag a large prop from one of the mall displays and swung it at Supercharger. Giving a cry of surprise as he was knocked off balance, Spider-Woman used her bioelectric sting blasts to further disorient him as she charged forward. Punching and kicking him quickly, Spider-Woman tried to knock Supercharger out in much the same way she defeated him last time.

Unfortunately, Supercharger recovered more quickly than she expected, creating a defensive energy field around himself. As Spider-Woman came in for her next punch, she burned her hand on the field and recoiled with a cry. Supercharger quickly reached out and grabbed her arms, shocking her to keep her off balance, before pulling her forward in a tight embrace.

"I'm insulted," Supercharger sneered. "Did you really think that same tactic would work twice?" he asked her, channeling another wave of energy into her. Mockingly, he kissed her on the lips, charging another wave of power into her as he did so, before he let go. Grabbing her arms and spinning her around in the air, Supercharger sent Spider-Woman flying to smash into and through the glass display of one of the nearby stores, flying after her as she crashed into the glass and bounced off the mannequins she collided with.

Her entire body tingling painfully, Spider-Woman struggled to her feet once again, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. She knew she was in serious trouble, her muscles aching as she backflipped out of the way of Superchargers next electrical bolts. That wasn't her only problem, as she had to duck and dodge out of the way of the electrical blasts Superchargers was summoning from the various electrical appliances in the store, including the light fixtures, the cash registers and the electrical plugs. By some miracle, she managed to avoid being struck again, but she was tiring rapidly from dodging the electrical bolts that were streaking from every direction.

Supercharger was in a frenzy now, throwing lightning bolts at Spider-Woman from every direction. In that, Spider-Woman managed to try one last, desperate tactic. Instead of backflipping away from Supercharger, she immediately began leaping towards him, continuing to dodge the lightning bolts he shot at her. Finally, as she began to approach, Supercharger called one final, powerful lightning blast out from the light fixture she was about to pass under. As she twirled through the air, Spider-Woman fired her weblines and caught Supercharger, pulling him forward and above her so that he took the lightning blast instead.

Stunned by the force of the blast, Supercharger crashed to the floor. The electrical activity around him ceased as he lost his concentration, and before he could recover Spider-Woman struck him again with her sting blasts to keep him off balance. Picking him up, Spider-Woman gave Supercharger an especially hard punch that sent him flying back to crash into a display case, where he collapsed unconscious. Taking no chances, Spider-Woman wrapped him in a double layer of webbing before hauling him out for the police.

Dropping the unconscious Supercharger in front of the police, Spider-Woman walked past them to see the carnage Supercharger had wrought to lure her out. Burned bodies, destroyed displays, parents mourning their children, children mourning their parents, Christmas presents destroyed, all around her the holidays had become a nightmare. Her mind reeled at the horror, tears forming underneath her mask as she realized what Supercharger had done.

All around her, the mourning victims looked up at her, some of them with gratitude, and others with anger.

"This is your fault!" one man shouted, cradling the body of his badly injured wife.

"That maniac killed my son because of you!" a woman shouted, her eyes red from crying.

"I…" Spider-Woman trailed off, almost too horrified to move.

"She saved us from that maniac!" another woman interrupted the first. "He would have killed us all if Spider-Woman hadn't stopped him!"

"Bullshit!" the first woman snapped. "He didn't kill your son!"

"No, he killed my daughter!" the second woman scowled.

"And you're just letting her go?" the first woman asked incredulously.

"It wasn't her fault!" the second woman insisted.

Arguments were flaring up all around her, and Spider-Woman knew that her presence wasn't helping things. Springing into the air, she swung off to where she had hidden her elf uniform, doing her best to hold back the tears.

Returning to the half-destroyed Santa display in her elf uniform, Gwen didn't even notice that her many bruises, cuts and electrical burns made her blend in with the other badly injured survivors of Supercharger's attack. All she could think about was the fact that Supercharger had come here to try and kill her, and in so doing murdered at least a dozen people.

Worst of all were the crying children gathered in a small huddle near the display. One little boy was crying for his mommy and daddy, while another looked sadly at his father being taken away by the paramedics. Some of the other mall employees, as well as some of the customers and police officers, were already starting to distribute candy canes and hot chocolate to the kids. As the children ate, the adults sat down next to them, keeping them company until their family members-or in the worst cases, Child Services-could come and take them home.

Gwen did the same thing, passing out some cookies and cocoa to a group of worried-looking siblings who were holding one another.

It was all she could do.

"It was just…oh God," Gwen sighed as she recounted the entire nightmare to Randy at the Coffee Bean two days later. "Eighteen people were killed, and nine more died in hospital."

And it's all my fault, she realized guiltily. Supercharger killed all those people to get to me…

Her hands began to tremble involuntarily, before Randy reached out and held them. Almost immediately, Gwen began to calm down.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked her gently.

"I…I don't know," she admitted. "It's just…all that, to get back at Spider-Woman? It's insane!" she continued, her voice rising involuntarily.

"Of course it is," Randy reassured her. "People like Supercharger are just sick, Gwen."

"I…just don't know what to…" Gwen shook her head.

"You don't know what to say or do because you're just so horrified by it," Randy pointed out. "There's nothing to be ashamed of in that, Gwen. It's perfectly normal."

She only looked back at him with a sad smile on her face. Gwen felt so much better after talking to Randy about the problem, just like he always had been. He treated her like a princess, a queen, a goddess, and all with a loving smile and ready support.

That was when she made her decision.

"Would you walk me home?" Gwen asked him as they got up. "My injuries still haven't quite healed," she explained.

The bus ride home was uneventful, as was the walk up the steps to Nancy's townhouse. As they reached the door, Randy turned to leave.

"You're not coming in?" Gwen asked, opening the door.

"No, I've got to get home," Randy shook his head.

"Please, can you come in for just a moment?" Gwen asked him.

"I…oh, all right," Randy sighed, following Gwen into the house. As he looked around, he found that he was standing underneath a mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. Spinning around, Gwen immediately caught him in an embrace before he realized what was going on.

"Gwen…?" he trailed off in surprise.

"Remember what you asked me before?" Gwen asked him.

"Yeah…" Randy replied, surprise giving way to a rising sense of joy.

"Here's my answer," Gwen replied, as she drew him in for a long kiss.

"You've done more than I could have ever asked, Randy," Gwen whispered, still holding him in that tight embrace. "I just wanted to say thank you…"

Randy more than returned Gwen's hug, and they stood there in a warm embrace for several moments. Finally, they let each other go, as Randy turned around and left.

They'd arrived at Nancy's townhouse as friends, but as Randy left he and Gwen were much, much more.

Dr. Karla Sofen left the board meeting at Ravencroft Asylum, quite pleased with herself. Everything had worked out as she'd hoped, with Supercharger's rampage giving her some new and additional insight into the recidivism of career criminals. Having Supercharger moved to another facility had been her idea, of course, as had disabling the power-restraining shackles that kept superpowered criminals from using their powers to escape confinement. It had worked once before with the Chain Gang, who'd later murdered the wealthy Morgan family and absconded with their $70 million fortune.

Not that Dr. Sofen was foolish enough to arrange these releases herself. Most of the other staff members at Ravencroft were avid coffee drinkers, and it had usually been a simple matter to slip her special mind control drug into their coffee. Her specially tailored formula made the drink somewhat bitter, but that was a small price to pay for making whoever drank it completely and totally obedient to her will. It was how she had forced the other doctors at Ravencroft to enable Supercharger and the Chain Gang to escape, not to mention hypnotized Dr. Ashley Kafka into disabling all of the locks on Ravencroft's cell doors, power-restraining shackles and outside communications, allowing Psyko to organize the mass inmate breakout and lead the superpowered inmates of Ravencroft to cause the destructive riots in New York City.

It came back to the reason that Dr. Sofen had become a criminal psychiatrist in the first place, namely her fascination with the way psychotic monsters like Supercharger, Psyko and the Chain Gang tended to think. The stories of people like Jeffrey Dahmer and Ted Bundy intrigued her-she wanted to know what led them to do the things they did, why they found them pleasurable and what they were thinking when they committed their unspeakable crimes. She was especially fortunate in that her career had begun at the same time as costumed supervillains had first begun to appear.

If killers like Bundy and Dahmer were fascinating, the likes of Electro, the Brothers Grimm and Mister Hyde were even more so. Their motives and psychology were frequently as bizarre as their attire, often committing crimes as much for the horror and destruction they could cause as for the monetary gain. Even if the villains were capable of using their talents legitimately, many of them simply chose not to.

Dr. Sofen found it all so compelling.

Studying them just wasn't enough, though. More and more, Dr. Sofen had wanted a firsthand look at seeing what supervillains saw, and feeling what they felt. What better way to truly analyze what the supervillains were thinking than to actually become one?

Hence the unique opportunity that had come when Lloyd Boch, alias Moonstone, had been given over to her care. He'd become a costumed criminal after finding a mysterious golden pendant that he claimed came from the moon, and battled the Incredible Hulk and Captain America with the power it gave him. However, he would eventually be tortured by the Red Skull for his failures, to the point that simply possessing the pendant had made him an insane, twisted wreck. He'd thought that the pendant wouldn't come off, and that he couldn't get rid of it, but it had been a simple matter to make him realize that it wasn't the case, and get him to give up the pendant. Driving him further into madness so he wouldn't be able to tell anyone what she'd done had been simpler still.

Her first plot, kidnapping those people and then forcing their loved ones to let her monitor their biorhythms to see how they reacted when their loved ones were in danger had been her first scheme. Money hadn't been a problem-she'd merely drugged the head of Ravencroft to embezzle the funds she needed for her monitoring equipment, and then have the devices set up to remotely broadcast the data she recorded back onto her home computer. Spider-Woman had prevented her from killing her hostages, although she'd achieved everything she wanted.

Dr. Sofen, or Moonstone as she'd come to call her costumed alias, had been even more thrilled with Jack O' Lantern's insightful idea of the Tomorrow Legion. Supervillains had gathered in teams before, like the Sinister Six, the Frightful Four and the Masters of Evil, but all of those had been hierarchical organizations with a single goal in mind. The Legion, on the other hand, was more an ongoing, coordinated exercise in supervillains combining their efforts to maximize not only their profits but the suffering and mayhem they were able to cause.

That had been Jack O' Lantern's initial intent for the organization, although after Spider-Woman had defeated him the Tomorrow Legion had been taken over by Doctor Octopus, who ran it like a more traditional supervillain team. The resentment generated by the other villains, who expected to be treated like collaborative partners rather than simple henchmen of the arrogant and condescending Octopus, meant that none of them raised a finger to help him when he'd been defeated and captured by Moon Knight. As of now, with both Jack O' Lantern and Doctor Octopus behind bars, the Tomorrow Legion was for all intents and purposes dead.

Or was it?

The Legion existed as a concept among the supervillain community now, an idea that any sufficiently charismatic villain could use to get his fellow costumed criminals to support him…or her…in carrying out the leader's plans in exchange for greater profits and greater pleasure in the destruction they caused.

There was a vacuum in the criminal underworld right now, Dr. Sofen realized, and nature abhorred a vacuum.

Within her mind, she saw the possibilities open up before her.

(Next Issue: Having officially become a couple with Randy Robertson, Gwen must immediately decide whether to tell him about her crimefighting alter ego. As she wrestles with this dilemma, she also faces another one when she becomes increasingly blamed for the death and destruction wrought by Supercharger at Macy's Department Store. That may well be the least of Gwen's problems, as Dr. Karla Sofen hatches a plan to resurrect the Tomorrow Legion! All this and more in Spider-Woman #41:I Am Legion!)