Sibling Rivalry

It had been a little over a year since Gwen Stacy's superhuman powers had fully developed. Since she'd begun crimefighting as the superheroic Spider-Woman, Gwen had fought a variety of superhuman criminals and had more unusual experiences than most people three times her age. Despite that, she found herself appreciating moments of peace and quiet, such as when she did the grocery shopping for her family. While her Aunt Nancy wasn't charging her any rent, Gwen Stacy still felt better about living with Nancy and the rest of the family if she was able to contribute to the household.

Yesterday Gwen had helped her cousin Jill clean Nancy's townhouse from top to bottom, and today she was getting the groceries. It was a welcome relief from having to worry about the fallout of Supercharger's rampage at Macy's Department Store almost two weeks ago, or the uncertainty she felt about her boyfriend Randy Robertson. She loved Randy and he loved her back, but it turned out that he disliked and distrusted masked superheroes.

Forcing away those thoughts as they came up again, Gwen barely stopped in time to avoid running into a middle-aged man wearing a rumpled cardigan sweater and worn pennyloafers on his feet. To Gwen's surprise, she recognized the man as Dr. Curt Connors, her Biology professor at Empire State University.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Gwen babbled, startled by Dr. Connors' sudden appearance. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked him, before realizing how silly she sounded.

"College professors have to eat too, Gwen," Dr. Connors chuckled. "I'm actually just picking some things up for my wife's New Year's Eve party. Say, is everything alright?" he asked her, suddenly noticing how flustered she was.

"I'm fine," Gwen assured him, quickly regaining her composure. "I've just had a lot going on lately."

"Well, I have some good news that should cheer you up," Dr. Connors told her. "You did really well on the Biology final-you got an A-minus."

"Really?" Gwen brightened.

"You bet," Dr. Connors grinned. "You should be proud of yourself, Gwen-you did a lot better after October."

"I'm glad to hear it," Gwen nodded. "And I'm not going to let myself slide back again."

"And I'm glad to hear that," Dr. Connors smiled, before he continued on his way.

Gwen's stress immediately faded away as she continued into the dairy section, an extra spring in her step.

She thought of Randy, her family and her teddy bear Theodore.

Comforting thoughts one and all.

SPIDER-WOMAN #42

"SIBLING RIVALRY"

"So, was Othello supposed to be black, or was he supposed to be Arabic?" Gwen asked Randy as they headed to the theater to audition for the new production of the Shakspearean play Othello that Randy had mentioned on Christmas Eve. "I was rereading the play last night, and the text doesn't really seem clear on it."

"That's because it's not clear," Randy explained to her. "Different productions have depicted him as either one."

"Really?" Gwen asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but unfortunately a lot of the time he was played by a white guy in blackface," Randy muttered, a disgruntled scowl crossing his face.

Gwen just shook her head in confusion.

"I never understood that whole blackface thing," Gwen shook her head. "It just seems so stupid-I mean, why go to all the trouble of getting a white guy to put on makeup when you could just cast a black guy in the role to begin with?"

Randy just laughed.

"It's…complicated," he said after a few moments. "But I'm glad you decided to come-Othello's one of my favorite plays."

"Hey, I love Shakespeare," Gwen grinned. "Besides, it'll be nice to be on stage again. The last performance I was in was Tom Ferguson's production of The Wiz."

"What happened to that production of Les Miserables?" Randy asked her.

"Suffice to say that I didn't get the part," Gwen sighed. "It was part of one of the worst days of my life."

"Oh," Randy said, somewhat awkwardly. "I'm sorry it didn't work out…"

"It's fine," Gwen assured him as they arrived at the theater and went in through the front doors. "I was just having a really bad time. Believe me, things are a lot better now," she assured him.

"I didn't have anything to do with that, did I?" Randy grinned flirtatiously.

"I'd say you did," Gwen winked. "In fact-"

"Oh God!" a piercing, distinctly unwelcome voice broke in on their conversation. Looking to see who had interrupted them, Gwen and Randy saw a young woman about their age with long platinum blonde hair and what was almost certainly a fake sprayed-on tan. She was clad in a revealing yellow dress, which contrasted with the more subdued sweater, skirt and stockings Gwen was wearing.

She was Felicia Hardy, and she and Gwen hated one another with a passion.

"Hoping the director will take pity on you, Stacy?" Felicia sneered. "Too bad about the Eponine role, huh? You should have seen the reviews I was getting."

Gwen felt a well of disgust rising up within her, one that was only worsened by her knowledge of Felicia's role in the murder-that was what it was, the murder-of Brigid O'Reilly. Although Gwen had saved Felicia from Brigid after she'd become the insane and murderous Mayhem, there were times when Gwen cursed herself for doing it.

"And what about you?" Felicia asked Randy in a hurt tone. "You haven't called me in months! I've been so lonely…" she purred coquettishly as Randy swallowed, reminding him of the time he'd briefly used to date Felicia earlier that year.

It was a testament to both Gwen's self-control and Gwen's acting skills that she managed to keep calm as she got between Felicia and Randy. Gwen's eyes flashed angrily and her complexion was becoming red, and Felicia instinctively stepped back in spite of herself.

"You should know that talking to my boyfriend like that can be extremely hazardous to your health," Gwen said icily. "If I were you, I'd leave, now, before something extremely bad happened to me. Get the message?"

Glaring spitefully at Gwen, Felicia scowled at her before turning and leaving, winking and kissing at Randy as she left.

"I…I'm sorry, Gwen…" Randy stammered, as Gwen took a deep breath. "I never tried to suggest that…I mean…"

"It's not your fault," Gwen assured him. "She just does that to get under my skin. Come on, let's go sign up," Gwen finished, leading Randy to where the other actors were going to register for the auditions.

As he followed Gwen, Randy wasn't sure what bothered him more, the look Felicia gave him or just how angry Gwen got when Felicia flirted with him.

"Just how long did you spend practicing that monologue?" Gwen asked Randy as they got some lunch after the auditions.

"Almost a week," Randy smirked. "Did you like it?"

"You bet," Gwen smiled back. "Have you ever played the role before?"

"Once, for a Shakespeare in the Park thing," Randy said, "but it wasn't really the best production. It rained so much during our run that it would have been hard going even if the director wasn't a complete idiot."

They ate in silence for a few minutes, until Gwen blinked in surprise.

"Wow, that's…" she trailed off.

"Who?" Randy asked, turning around to see where she was looking. Outside the window, he saw the dark blue form of the mysterious armored superhero Darkhawk flying overhead, rising higher and higher into the sky until he was out of sight.

"Another one," Randy muttered in disgust.

"I'm surprised you don't like superheroes," Gwen ventured. "I mean, look at Spider-Woman. She helped out Kitty, didn't she? And Harry and Liz, right?" she persisted.

"Yeah, and how do we know she wouldn't start using her powers to commit crimes?" Randy pointed out. "Same thing with Moon Knight, or Daredevil or any of the others?"

Gwen did well to hide the pain she felt at that.

"You realize that people say the same thing about mutants, right?" she asked tersely.

"The difference is that mutants don't go running around in funny Halloween outfits," Randy pointed out. "You don't see Kitty Pryde taking the law into her own hands. Most mutants only use their powers to help them in their everyday lives. You probably saw the same stuff in high school-mutants with super strength use it to help with manual labor, pyrokinetics use it for things like welding or working in steel mills, stuff like that. If they start breaking the law, then they go to jail like any ordinary person."

"So what makes a superhero any different than them?" Gwen asked.

"The fact that they're out there taking the law into their own hands, and the rest of us get caught up in the crossfire when they have their grudge matches," Randy explained. "There's no accountability, no responsibility, nothing but their say-so that they won't just start using their powers for their own gain. I mean, we regulate the police, and look at the crap so many of them still pull!"

Gwen shook her head in frustration, completely at a loss as to what to say, or even how to say it.

"Are you okay, Gwen?" Randy asked her, seeing the consternation on her face.

"Yeah…" Gwen mumbled, her mind racing as she tried to come up with a plausible excuse. "It's just that…I just can't agree with you on that, Randy. Not after Spider-Woman saved Kitty and the others, or after the X-Men rescued my family from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They would probably have all been killed if it hadn't been for those heroes helping them."

"Hey, it's all good," Randy assured her. "I just have friends who've nearly gotten killed by super-powered grudge matches. I understand how you feel, it's just that…" he trailed off.

They finished their lunch in an awkward silence, before hesitantly kissing one another and heading home.

"How do you deal with it, Peter?" Gwen asked Peter Parker on the phone later that evening. "I mean, how does Mary Jane deal with the fact that you're Spider-Man?"

There was an awkward silence on the other end.

"…Peter?" Gwen asked him.

"I haven't actually told her yet," Peter finally admitted in embarrassment. "I mean, she shouldn't have to worry about my risking my life!"

"How do you think she'd react?" Gwen asked him.

"Well, I don't know if she'd actually have a problem with it," Peter said, seemingly unsure of himself. "She and her dad are actually pretty grateful to Spider-Man for saving her from the Green Goblin," Peter explained, referring to the Green Goblin's attempt to get back at Captain Philip Watson by kidnapping Mary Jane and throwing her off a bridge in full public view. As Spider-Man, Peter had saved Mary Jane's life and prevented the Goblin from killing her.

"Then why won't you tell her?" Gwen persisted.

"…She might be angry that I was lying to her and didn't tell her about it before now," Peter ventured. "But even then…"

"…Peter?" Gwen had to ask again.

"…I need to think about it," Peter said slowly. "What about you, though? Why don't you tell Randy?"

"For one thing, he doesn't like costumed heroes," Gwen frowned. "I can only imagine how he'd react if he found out that I was one. And then there's the fact that he'd probably be mad at me for not telling him. That's the problem-I feel like I'm lying to him by not telling him I'm a hero, but I'm afraid of how he'd react if he did find out!"

What Gwen didn't mention to Peter was that Randy's comments about people being caught in the crossfire of super-powered grudge matches had struck a nerve with her. She still had uncomfortable memories of how she'd very nearly hurt a number of innocent people with her reckless behavior when she'd first become a superheroine.

"I wish I knew what to say, Gwen," Peter sighed on the other end. "I really don't. I'm in kind of the same boat you are."

"It's okay, I understand," Gwen replied. "Thanks for listening, Peter."

"Anytime," Peter assured her before hanging up.

A fat lot of good that did, Gwen thought in frustration, leaning back in her chair as she hung up the phone. And apparently I'm not the only one who has this problem-I wonder how many other heroes besides Peter and I have to deal with it?

It was a small bit of comfort, but it wasn't going to help her deal with her problems with Randy.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Jackson Arvad asked Steven Mark Levins as they sat down at the cafeteria table. Jackson was a tall man in his mid-thirties with shoulder-length blonde hair and entirely white eyes, while Steven was a solidly-built middle-aged man in his early forties with a chiseled face and figure that was the envy of men half his age.

They'd become good friends ever since they'd discovered they shared a common interest, namely their hatred of the spectacular Spider-Woman, who'd defeated them during their criminal escapades as the supervillains Will O' the Wisp and Jack O' Lantern. Now confined in the Raft, the wing of Riker's Island Penitentiary used to house imprison super-powered criminals, they'd both taken advantage of their imprisonment to make friends with other members of Spider-Woman's "rogues gallery", as well as the many other superhuman criminals who were regular inhabitants of the Raft.

"You don't need my permission," Steven, who preferred to be called by his supervillain name of Jack O' Lantern, shrugged. "What did you want, anyway?"

"To know what kind of progress you're making," Jackson said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, you mean about reviving the Tomorrow Legion?" Jack O' Lantern asked. "Well, I haven't been able to take a really direct hand in it, but from everything I've heard it looks like there's already a movement to revive it."

"Damn it all," Jackson muttered in frustration. "The first time you formed it, I was stuck rotting in this hellhole. And now someone else is forming it? When do I get to join?" he sulked petulantly.

"Oh, I'm sure you will," Jack O' Lantern smiled. "Besides, even if I'm not the one organizing it, that doesn't mean that we can't play a…'special' role in it," he chuckled.

"By 'special', I take it you mean getting a suitable revenge on Spider-Woman?" Jackson asked.

Jack O' Lantern only leered at that.

"Has anyone else said anything about that?" Jack O' Lantern asked.

"What, you mean among Spider-Woman's other enemies?" Jackson asked. "Polestar says he'd be interested in doing something like that. Firebrand flew into a rage when I suggested it-he thinks that he should be the only one to get revenge on Spider-Woman. Joystick said it sounded like fun. Netshape wanted to know what would be in it for him. Blizzard flat-out refused, and Tarot got herself transferred into the women's general population because she was afraid of the rest of us. The Brothers Grimm and Supercharger are locked in Ravencroft Asylum, so I can't reach them. And Moonstone's still on the loose out there. All in all, the prospects aren't too good."

"You've certainly been busy," Jack O' Lantern pointed out. "What were you planning, anyway? Did you intend to form a group to go after Spider-Woman, or something?"

"I know it's been done," Jackson replied, somewhat defensively. "The problem with the Sinister Six was that Doctor Octopus made Spider-Man fight each member one at a time. My group would all go after Spider-Woman at once!"

"And you'd promptly end up getting in each other's way as you all try to kill her," Jack O' Lantern pointed out. "How long would you and your allies spend training so you could coordinate your attacks?"

The disgruntled scowl on Jackson's face told Jack O' Lantern everything he needed to know.

"Don't feel too bad, Jackson," Jack O' Lantern reassured him. "It's not a bad plan in and of itself. You'd just need to figure out how to make better use of each team member's talents."

"And I suppose you could do better?" Jackson asked testily.

"I gave rise to the Tomorrow Legion, didn't I?" Jack O' Lantern smirked. "To my mind, the key would be to adapt your planning to the circumstances you face. I always tried to figure out how to integrate the goals of the other members of the Legion into my own plans, and coordinate them for better effect."

"So…" Jackson stared at him expectantly.

"If I get re-elected as leader of the Tomorrow Legion, I'd be figuring out how a nice, vicious revenge on Spider-Woman could be incorporated into my plans, and how my friends could help me!" he grinned.

Jackson smiled evilly in his turn, before he and Jack O' Lantern finished their meals and stood up to put away their lunch trays.

Sitting down to work at her laptop the next morning, Gwen checked her grades on Empire State University's student services website. To her delight, her grades for the semester were much better than she could have hoped, ranging from an A-minus in her Drama class to a C-average in Biology. With the extra time she'd been able to devote to her studies after moving back in with her family, Gwen had raised her grades to a much better level.

Her mood brightening immediately, she then logged into her e-mail account and got caught up on her correspondence, before logging out. She glanced briefly over the news items, not intending to give them much notice, when she saw what one of them announced:

'IT'S ALL SPIDER-WOMAN'S FAULT', SUPERVILLAIN VICTIM SAYS

Shocked by what she read, Gwen clicked on the link and read about Vincent Gonzalez, how Supercharger had murdered his sister Michelle, and how his family had fallen apart after that. Aghast, she read about how Vincent considered it her fault that Supercharger had murdered first all the people who'd criticized her online, and then all the people at Macy's Department Store to force her to fight him. According to Vincent, Supercharger would never have done those things if not for Spider-Woman.

"He got powers so he could express his sick love for her," Gonzalez was quoted as saying. "Supercharger wouldn't have done that if Spider-Woman hadn't led him on the way she did."

The article concluded by describing the website Vincent had launched, dedicated to expressing how much he hated Spider-Woman, and provided a link to the site itself.

Clicking on the link, Gwen was taken to a website that reiterated many of Vincent's points about the chaos perpetrated by the likes of Jack O' Lantern and Supercharger being Spider-Woman's fault, the lack of control she'd displayed in her early fights, and how much Vincent wanted to make her life hell the same way she'd supposedly done to his.

If you've lost a loved one because of Spider-Woman, Vincent had written, then post here and tell me just how much you hate her. Tell me what you'd like to do to her, how you'd like to pay her back for what she's done to you. Let her know just how you feel, and show that stupid bitch the truth about her pathetic, miserable life.

Reading through the comments, Gwen felt an equal amount of horror and rage rising up within her. Many of the comments went even further than Vincent's, calling Spider-Woman a bitch, a whore, and even more vulgar names related to her gender. Some of them described, in sickeningly graphic detail, what they would have liked to do to her if they could.

It was all Gwen could do to from smashing her laptop, much less the desk she was sitting at, with her bare hands out of sheer rage. Being blamed for Supercharger's killing sprees was bad enough, but that was only part of the reason for her fury. Somehow she doubted that the people posting on Vincent's website would have used the names they did if they were condemning Spider-Man, Daredevil or Moon Knight. Nor did she think that the people posting on Vincent's website would describe all the graphic things they wanted to do to Spider-Man or any of the other male heroes.

Stewing inwardly, Gwen was reminded of the lewd comments that several of her enemies had made towards her when she'd first encountered them as Spider-Woman. Again, she doubted that Spider-Man's, Sleepwalker's or Darkhawk's enemies had done that sort of thing when they met their male enemies for the first time.

Putting her head in her hand, Gwen took a deep breath and muttered to herself for a few moments, before her phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked, an edge in her voice.

"Are you okay, Gwen?" Randy asked her on the other end.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine," Gwen quickly replied. "I'm still a little sleepy, that's all. I slept late this morning. What's up?" she asked.

"I just wanted to know what you were planning for New Year's," Randy asked. "Did you want to watch the ball drop in Times Square?"

"Not really," Gwen said. "I'd be more interested in having a party, if anyone's doing that. Do you know what everyone's got planned?"

"Not really, but Tom Ferguson's got this party going on with a bunch of people he knows in the theater community," Randy replied. "You interested in going?"

"Sounds great," Gwen smiled as she tried to calm down. "What time did you want to meet at?"

"Would 5:30 work?" Randy asked. "We could get some dinner before we go to the party."

"You bet!" Gwen grinned. "See you then, sweetie!" she smiled, before hanging up the phone.

It's funny, Gwen realized with a sad smile as she stood up.

Every time I get too happy, something always seems to go wrong for me. But when I start feeling too low, something else starts to go right, she thought to herself.

Looking over at her bed, she saw Theodore, the teddy bear that Randy had gotten her for Christmas, sitting at the foot of it.

Impulsively, she went over and hugged him.

It always made her feel better.

Vincent Gonzalez only laughed as he read through the e-mails people were sending him about how much they hated Spider-Woman and superheroes in general. A few people tried to defend her, but Vincent had already noted their names and e-mail addresses, and he'd be sending them some very personal rebuttals very soon.

Several of his supporters were already offering to help him however they could, and he had to think about exactly how to use their help. A couple of them had suggested pooling their resources to hire a supervillain mercenary to go after her, but Vincent wasn't entirely keen on that. While making Spider-Woman's life hell with a supervillain might be appealing, he preferred to avoid dealing with those costumed freaks at all.

No, there was probably another way around it.

Nodding to himself, Vincent set to work, searching online for anything and everything he could find about the people Spider-Woman had previously interacted with.

Vincent had a head start already-some of the people who'd e-mailed him defending Spider-Woman had related their anecdotes of how she'd saved them.

He and his new friends would start with them.

Just think about it, Percy Grimes told his brother Barton within the mind that they shared. Think of all the chaos we're going to cause. We're going to put on a performance that will go down in history!

It sounds nice, Barton replied meekly. Are we going to fight Spider-Woman?

Of course we are, Percy assured him. After all, like you said, where would the act be without our straight woman?

Yeah, that'll be fun, Barton realized, before he faded into unconsciousness.

Percy laughed inwardly, marveling at how well Dr. Karla Sofen had managed to hypnotize the typically more hyperactive and outgoing Barton into ceding control of his mutant powers to Percy and leaving Percy to execute his own plans for New Year's Eve.

Although he'd initially deplored the warped childhood imagery Barton had used when he was in control of their shared body, Percy had come to appreciate that Barton in fact had the right idea. Although they had been born Percy and Barton Grimes, they were more popularly known as the Brothers Grimm, a crazed supervillain who'd been one of Spider-Woman's earliest enemies.

Rather than robbing banks or jewelry stores, Barton had hit on the idea of kidnapping people and forcing them to watch the Brothers' ghoulish performances, before robbing them blind as "payment" for the show. Percy had considered Barton's ghoulish childhood imagery to be silly and immature, so he planned to give the audience a touch of suitably macabre culture for his performance.

Along with being a show, though, Percy intended for his first big performance to be an audition. Jack O' Lantern had only created the Tomorrow Legion after the Brothers Grimm had already been arrested and put in Ravencroft Asylum, and Barton had been bitterly disappointed at not being able to participate in it. The Brothers Grimm had heard from several of the other inmates about all the destruction they'd been able to cause and all the money they'd been able to make. Although they'd later been recaptured after the Legion's initial foray, they'd said it was one of the most fun times they'd had.

In their therapy sessions, Dr. Karla Sofen had mentioned in passing to the Brothers about how many costumed criminals were in fact eager to see the Tomorrow Legion revived. Any criminal who committed a sufficiently audacious act would no doubt gain a lot of respect among his supervillain colleagues, and would have an inside track to even become elected as its leader…and wouldn't Barton love that?

There was still the problem of escaping from Ravencroft, but Dr. Sofen had noted that wasn't necessarily as much of a problem as the Brothers was inclined to think. In fact, she'd described the Chain Gang's escape from the Institute several months ago, not to mention the mass outbreak Psyko had caused before that…

Percy Grimes knew full well that Dr. Sofen was practically begging him to escape from Ravencroft, given the hints she had been dropping. He wasn't entirely sure why she wanted him to do it, and in fact he didn't really care. Percy knew that he, Barton and almost all the other criminals in Ravencroft were untreatable lost causes, and the psychiatrists who "treated" them didn't really hold out much hope of doing so. Most of the shrinks were disillusioned cynics who were simply working there to collect their paycheck, or stubborn idealists who didn't let reality get in the way of their dreams. Dr. Sofen was different, in that she actively saw the inmates as objects of study that fascinated her.

Barton might have resented being used as a guinea pig for Dr. Sofen's intellectual curiosity, but Percy hardly cared. If he escaped, he'd finally have his opportunity to shine.

If he had to be Dr. Sofen's guinea pig to do that, he'd be a very good guinea pig indeed.

Tom Ferguson's New Year's Eve party was held at the Fandango Club, a trendy, upscale nightclub that had emerged as the place to be for New York's young, wealthy and glamorous. Randy had been able to get him and Gwen admitted through his friendship with Tom Ferguson, and Gwen took it from there. She fit right in with the partygoers, and before long Gwen had them orbiting around her. One moment she was leading the dance, the next she was chatting with media celebrities as if she'd known them all their lives.

"You're certainly popular tonight," Randy grinned, as he and Gwen sat down to take a break less than half an hour before midnight. "How do you do it?"

"It's easy," Gwen grinned, revealing a perfect white smile that left Randy's heart pounding. "All you have to do is approach people with confidence, and they'll respect you. That's the thing with a lot of these media types-people are usually so nervous or so gushing around them that they'll respect you if you just act normally around them. If anything, they'll find it refreshing to be treated like an ordinary person."

"Is that the voice of experience?" Randy asked.

"It will be, in a few years," Gwen winked. "Seriously though, it's just something I've noticed after following the theater scene for so long."

"I'm glad you're having a good time," Randy smiled. "You seemed kind of stressed over the last couple of weeks."

"When am I not?" Gwen grinned ruefully. "No, I'm fine. I've just been looking forward to a break, that's all."

"Haven't we all," Randy sighed. "In fact, I-what the hell?" he asked as he saw the club's upstairs windows shatter. People screamed and murmured in confusion as they saw the strange things floating in through the broken windows. They were small humanoids, pale-skinned and hairless, holding their hands to their heads, dressed in black robes. Looking at one another, they burst into horrific screams, sonic shrieks that echoed throughout the dance hall. The partygoers' screams were added to the mix, as they sank to their knees, doubling over from the pain.

"Gwen…" Randy began as he sank to his knees, holding his ears to try and block out the horrible sound. Covering her ears, Gwen forced herself to focus on the broken windows. Through them, she could see surreal madness outside.

Melting clocks flew through the air, exploding into numbers and clock hands that ripped and beat at passersby before reassembling themselves; black bats ripped and pecked at passersby, undersized demonic old women with rictus grins wielding whips with which they attacked their victims, strange dwarflike figures dressed like priests wielded what looked like severed animal limbs as clubs to beat on passersby, lobsters that vaguely resembled telephones ripped and tore at the people, owl-headed bats flapped through the air, hooting and screeching all at once.

Sick with horror, Gwen ran for the exit, trying to find somewhere to change costume before this insanity killed anyone.

The chimera was said to be a creature of myth-part lion, part serpent, part dragon. However, chimeras were also a very real thing in life. Some creatures, even humans, were chimeras in the sense that they carried more than one set of DNA in their bodies. This was exceptionally rare in humans, of course but it could happen. Most often, it occurred when there were two nonidentical twin embryos in their mother's womb, and one absorbed the other. Usually this second twin died, and the surviving twin lived on, usually not knowing that they carried part of their dead twin's DNA.

If only it had been that simple when Percy Grimes had absorbed what would have been his brother Barton.

Perhaps due to his mutant nature, Barton in fact survived being absorbed by Percy, and so it was that the two brothers shared one body, each contributing some of its DNA. Barton was fully aware of everything around him, and of the unique circumstances that he shared with his brother Percy. This would have been enough of an issue for Percy to grow up with, but things were made even worse by the wretched poverty the Grimes brothers grew up in, to say nothing of the fact that their mother was a cokehead who continued to indulge her habit while pregnant.

When their father was imprisoned for armed robbery and their mother overdosed on cocaine, the Grimes brothers were shunted from one foster home to the other and then becoming an aimless drifter when they came of age. As they grew up and became self-aware, the Grimes brothers began fighting for control of their shared body. Most people who saw their arguments simply believed Percy to be delusional or suffering from a split personality, and indeed they may not have been entirely sane to begin with given the amount of cocaine their mother had done while pregnant with them.

Eventually, Barton's mutant conjuration powers manifested, allowing him to conjure strange creatures and objects imbued with powers all their own under his control. They were made of pure magic, although they had solid forms and whatever powers Barton's twisted mind could imbue them with. Noticing how many people were fascinated or repelled by his psychic squabbling with Percy, Barton eventually came up with the idea of using his powers as a depraved criminal performer. He had always loved imaginary toys, fairy tales and other strange childhood images, and this was how he manifested his powers.

Percy Grimes, although forcibly dragged into it by Barton's cajoling, had eventually come to agree with Barton's methods. He was always interested in a life of crime himself, although he was more interested in macabre and surreal art than the silly childhood fantasies of his brother. Percy and Barton had fought constantly over the best approach to take as performers, with Barton refusing to incorporate any of Percy's ideas. Now, with Barton's personality hypnotized and repressed within their shared mind, Percy could take control of Barton's mutant conjuring powers and use them for himself.

Now, he could indulge his love of paintings by the likes of Francisco Goya, Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon, Salvador Dali and Hieronymous Bosch, giving his audience a taste of the intellectual and the macabre before he looted everything they had..

Emerging from the club, Spider-Woman sprayed her webbing in a wide arc, capturing many of the creatures all at once and slamming them against one another or into the snowy pavement. Many of the strange things, most of which were no taller than one or two feet at most, turned to attack her, until they were called off all of a sudden. Looking up in alarm, Spider-Woman saw the all too familiar figure of a man dressed in a black and white striped Beetlejuice suit, a sleeveless straitjacket worn as a vest, a purple jester's hat on his head and a grinning harlequin mask on his face. His mount was even more bizarre, resembling nothing so much as a large carving knife with two human ears on either side.

"So nice of you to join us, Spider-Woman," the Brothers Grimm leered down at her. "Do you like my new artistic direction?"

"This isn't exactly your usual motif, is it?" Spider-Woman pointed out, an edge in her voice. "Where are the demonic teddy bears? The wicked witches? The maimed toy soldiers? What is all this?" she asked, disturbed by all the warped imagery around her.

"Oh dear," the Brothers Grimm sighed mockingly. "What are the schools teaching you young people these days?"

In response, Spider-Woman leapt up at the Brothers Grimm, spinning a webline and swinging towards him. Her kick slammed into the Brothers Grimm's vehicle, sending him rolling back before she hit it with a sting blast. The weird creation shuddered briefly before the Brothers Grimm regained control of it. Flying after Spider-Woman as she swung away, the Brothers Grimm gestured and created a lobster telephone with one hand and an owl-headed bat with another. Moving with lightning speed, the bat carried the lobster phone to where he could throw it at Spider-Woman's webline. The lobster phone cut right through Spider-Woman's webbing, sending her falling.

With a gesture, the Brothers Grimm directed one of the melting clocks to fly underneath her, blocking her path. Landing on top of it, Spider-Woman was thrown into the air again as the clock exploded, slamming against the wall. Bouncing off the wall, Spider-Woman clung to it as she struggled to clear her dizziness, her entire body throbbing with pain from the explosion and her collision with the wall.

Unfortunately, the flying, skinless screaming men she'd originally seen in the nightclub were now shrieking at her, disorienting her as the owl-bats began pecking at her. Spraying her webbing in a wide arc to try and protect herself, Spider-Woman snagged several of the bats and screamers. Springing into the air, she flung them at the Brothers Grimm, forcing him to dodge them. As he flew out of the way, Spider-Woman blasted the strange knife-and-ear contraption he was riding with her free hand, finally shattering it. The Brothers Grimm began to fall, but he was caught by several of his flying creations.

The Brothers Grimm tried to conjure a new knife-and-ears vehicle to ride off on, but he lost precious seconds conjuring something that large and left himself vulnerable. Now swinging on a fresh webline, Spider-Woman used her free hand to snag several of the owl-bats supporting him, tearing them off him and causing him to fall awkwardly. Spider-Woman slammed into him at that point, throwing him into the air and zapping him with her sting blasts before she caught him again. Twirling through the air, she landed expertly on the roof, letting the Brothers Grimm go as she struggled free.

"Right now, my minions are just torturing those people," the Brothers Grimm scowled angrily behind his mask. "Surrender now, or I'll kill them."

"Really, now?" Spider-Woman grinned wickedly, looking past him. Glancing over his shoulder, the Brothers Grimm saw a large group of New York police officers battling his creations, which dissolved into nothing as the policemen shot them or struck them with batons.

Shouting in anger, the Brothers Grimm conjured a group of meat-club-wielding creatures and whip-wielding rictus-grinned women, none of whom were more than two feet high, sending them at Spider-Woman one after another. Spider-Woman sprang into the air and entangled them in her webbing, before she was blown out of the air by another screaming man. Landing roughly on her back, Spider-Woman was chargedone of the whip-wielding women who'd escaped her webbing. The nasty little thing cracked its whip at her, but Spider-Woman caught the whip in her hand and spun the woman around like a flail, slamming it into the screaming man before they both vanished out of existence.

The Brothers Grimm was conjuring a knife-and-ears vehicle to escape, but he couldn't do it fast enough to avoid Spider-Woman hitting him with a double sting blast. As he staggered, Spider-Woman advanced him and knocked him out with a single punch. His creations vanished as he lost consciousness, before Spider-Woman wrapped him up in webbing and carried him back down to street level, handing him over to the police.

Returning in her street clothes to Tom Ferguson's party, Gwen began looking around for Randy. To her immense relief, she found that he was still there, and apparently unhurt.

"Oh, Randy!" she exclaimed, running up to him. "Thank God you're okay!" she continued, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"And what about you?" he asked with a frown, noting Gwen's injuries. "Why did you run away the way you did?"

"I…" Gwen trailed off, frantically trying to think of a lie. "I…went to call the police!"

"…What?" Randy asked her incredulously. "We both have our cell phones in our jacket pockets! Why would you need another phone? Were you looking for the club's landline, or something?"

"I…wasn't thinking?" Gwen tried, realizing how unconvincing it sounded, even to her.

"Seriously?" Randy asked skeptically. His eyes narrowed in suspicion-he clearly suspected she wasn't telling him the truth. "And how did you get hurt the way you did, if you were just looking for a phone?"

"Well…I…" Gwen stammered.

"Come on, we should probably get you home," he said brusquely, picking up her jacket and moving to give it to her.

They headed home in an awkward silence. Gwen could sense the irritation and annoyance coming off Randy. It wasn't so much the fact that she'd left him at the party, she knew, but his clear suspicion that she'd lied to him about why she'd left, that made him angry. Gwen couldn't blame him for that-she'd probably be upset too, if Randy had left the party and made those types of lame excuses to her.

She would have told him the real reason, of course, except that she knew his feelings on superheroes and had no idea how he'd react if he realized that she'd been hiding the truth from him.

It used to be that I had everything going right as a superhero, Gwen thought in frustration once she'd gotten home and gone upstairs to shower and treat her injuries. Whatever problems I had with work or school, I did everything right as Spider-Woman.

Now, everything's going right for me in my normal life, she realized, and it's my costumed life that's all screwed up. I've got an Internet hate campaign blaming me for all of Supercharger's murders, and now my boyfriend is mad at me because he knows I'm lying to him but I can't tell him the truth…

Hugging Theodore as she lay back on her bed, she recalled Peter Parker alluding to how he'd had days like this as a hero. Peter suspected that New York's other heroes, whoever they were, probably had to deal with the problem too.

That knowledge didn't really make Gwen feel any better.

(Next Issue: Gwen tries to patch things up with Randy, but how can she do so without revealing the truth behind her secret identity to him? Meanwhile, larger threats lurk in the background as Vincent Gonzalez takes his hate campaign against Spider-Woman to a new level. Even as this goes on, Moonstone puts her long-await plans to revive the Tomorrow Legion into action! Even the Brothers Grimm has a larger part to play when Barton Grimes snaps out of his hypnosis and confronts Percy over what he's done with their shared body! All this and more in Spider-Woman #43: Puppet Dance, Part One: Marionettes!)