Puppet Dance, Part One: Marionettes

"Oh banish me my lord, but kill me not!" Gwen Stacy pleaded to the livid Randy Robertson.

"Down, strumpet!" Randy Robertson scowled angrily.

"Kill me tomorrow, let me live tonight!" Gwen begged.

"Nay, if you strive-" Randy answered, his fury rising.

"But half an hour!" Gwen interrupted, still hoping for mercy.

"Being done, there is no pause," Randy shook his head.

"But while I say one prayer!" Gwen made one final effort.

"It is too late," Randy said with a tone of grim finality, as he picked up the pillow case and moved to smother Gwen.

Their Drama class burst out in applause as Randy backed off and helped Gwen to her feet. Randy nodded in appreciation, as Gwen offered an elegant curtsy. They'd chosen to do a scene from Othello as part of an assignment to do a Shakespeare reenactment in the Drama class they were taking, and had nailed the roles perfectly.

Choosing a scene from Othello was an added bonus, as Gwen and Randy had auditioned for a classical performance of the classic play that would be taking place at the start of February. They planned to do the scene, one of the most emotionally charged of the entire play, if they were called back for the second round of auditions.

On the surface, everything seemed to be going well for Gwen. She was caught up on her schoolwork, her mother Helen Stacy was doing well and she had a boyfriend who treated her like a queen.

Unfortunately, as the spectacular Spider-Woman Gwen now had an Internet hate campaign organized against her organized by people who blamed her for the damage and death caused by the murderous Supercharger. She was also plagued with guilt from Supercharger's murders themselves, since the electrically-charged maniac had committed them to force Spider-Woman to fight him. Finally, there was the tension with her boyfriend Randy. Ever since New Year's Eve, when she'd been forced to run out on him to become Spider-Woman and confront her old enemy the Brothers Grimm, Gwen could feel a certain tension in the air between her and Randy.

Randy knew that she'd lied to him about why she needed to leave the party, although Gwen couldn't tell if he suspected why. Gwen would have told him about her dual identity as Spider-Woman, but Randy had made it clear just how much he disliked superheroes. Gwen wasn't sure what to do-she knew Randy was upset with her for lying to him, but she was concerned with how he'd react if he found out she was a costumed heroine.

Hence the tension between Gwen and Randy.

Everything about Gwen's life looked good on the surface, but most people didn't see the hidden tensions and problems underneath it all.

SPIDER-WOMAN #43

PUPPET DANCE, PART ONE

"MARIONETTES"

Returning home later that evening to do his homework, Randy tried to figure out what was up with Gwen. Ever since that New Year's Eve party at the Fandango Club, there'd been a distinct stiffness between them, with Gwen having trouble looking Randy in the eye. He still wasn't sure why Gwen had run out on him when the Brothers Grimm first attacked, or why she'd come up with the absurdly flimsy lies that she had when Randy had asked her why she'd left.

It's funny, Randy mused as he typed away at his computer. Gwen runs away, she comes back all battered and bruised, and then she tries to dodge the question when I ask her where she went.

And it wasn't even the first time we found her so injured, Randy realized. Especially that one time, when Kitty had me pick her up from their old apartment. She was lucky to be alive, he recalled with a shudder.

Randy then remembered the arguments he and Gwen had about superheroes. Gwen had tried to defend them, and didn't seem the least bit pleased when Randy criticized them.

In that case...

...was Gwen...

...Spider-Woman?

Randy leaned back in his chair, needing a moment to realize the implications of it.

It would explain an awful lot, he realized. But why in God's name would she even want to be doing this, anyway? If she wants to help people, why didn't she just become a cop or something? And where's she getting her powers? Is she a mutant? Did she get chosen by some spider-god? Is she taking some sort of superpower potion or something?

And she's lying to me about it, Randy thought, anger rising up within him. Even if I don't like costumed heroes, you'd think she'd at least have the guts to be honest about it if she really is one...

So now what do I do? he wondered. Do I ask her about it, or do I wait for her to tell me? Will she tell me when she's ready, or does she trust me enough to keep her secret?

Or am I just imagining all this? Randy pondered. Maybe Gwen was just scared when she ran off when we were at the Fandago, and she's just ashamed of it.

Not only was Randy unsure of how to handle the situation, he wasn't even sure how he felt now.

Angry at Gwen for lying to him, and not trusting him enough to confide in him about being a superhero, if that was what she was?

Sympathetic to Gwen for the crap she's probably had to deal with in her life?

Confused about why the hell Gwen would be a superhero in the first place, and about where she's even a superhero or whether he was just misinterpreting it all?

Randy spent almost two and a half hours thinking about the matter, but he just couldn't figure it out.

"How could you do this to me?" Barton Grimes shouted angrily at his brother Percy. "You betrayed me, you sick piece of-"

"Betrayed you?" Percy shot back angrily. "You're the one who's been taking this body for a joyride and picking fights with Spider-Woman. At least I never tried to make an enemy of her! She only ended up ruining my performance because you were the one stupid enough to make us part of her rogues gallery!"

Barton and Percy Grimes were closer than most brothers, given that they shared a common body as a chimera. As two separate zygotes that had become fused in their mother's womb, the brothers' distinct personalities had remained fully aware and intact after their birth and as they'd grown into adulthood. Now, as the costumed supervillain called the Brothers Grimm, Barton and Percy were as deadly as they were bizarre, and as bizarre as they were insane.

Normally, their mutant conjuring powers were under Barton's control, but after he'd been hypnotized into a stupor by Dr. Karla Sofen Percy had taken control of their powers and embarked on a warped "performance" of his own. Percy had been thwarted by Spider-Woman, who'd managed to defeat him and leave him for the police, but the Brothers had managed to escape the police before they could get the power-blocking restraints on him. While Percy had been knocked out by Spider-Woman's blows, her attacks had jolted Barton out of his stupor and allowed him to retake control of their body. He'd used his conjuration powers to create an Easter egg filled with laughing gas, which distracted the police as

Now, hiding out among the pimps, drug dealers and other lowlifes on Yancy Street, the Brothers had kept a low profile, travelling in his street clothes and only using the strange creatures he conjured to steal food and money from various shops. Although they took great care to not publicly display their true nature when they were out and about, Percy and Barton had taken to arguing furiously behind closed doors in the dingy motel room they were renting, knowing full well that anyone who happened to hear them would interpret their argument as a drug addict's ravings.

The room was also filled with the rest of their creations, some of which were Barton's and some of which were Percy's, each reflecting their creator's artistic interests. Barton's creations were warped childhood things like insanely giggling masked teddy bears, animated harlequin puppets that had all been killed in some gruesome fashion and dancing jack-in-the-boxes with skulls for heads. Percy's creations were macabre things reflecting classic works of art, such as hairless screaming figures, creatures that resembled gruesome crosses between lobsters and telephones and dwarflike creatures dressed as priests who wielded clubs that resembled severed animal limbs. These creatures snapped and spat at one another, reflecting their masters' argument.

"At least I wasn't the one gullible enough to fall for that twisted headshrinker's schemes!" Barton snapped back. "And then you had to come up with that creative abortion you called a performance! How much money did you even make, dear brother?" he sneered.

"As much money as you ever made, brother," Percy shot back. "And I should add that I terrified my victims much more than you did! Your creations simply are simply creepy and disturbing, while mine are outright frightening!"

"Are not!" Barton answered.

"Are so!" Percy replied.

"Are not!" Barton screamed.

"Are so!" Percy yelled.

"Are not!" Barton whined.

"Are so!" Percy sneered.

"Alright then, Mr. Smartypants," Barton finally snorted, "why don't we put on a contest? Let's put on a dual theatrical presentation, each with our own creations. Then we'll see who scares the audience more!"

"Agreed!" Percy nodded. "I'm going to do so much business, it'll make your bulbous head spin!"

"This is your head too, you numbskull!" Barton shot back, before the Brothers Grimm burst into hysterical laughter.

Percy and Barton immediately calmed down, each using their half of the mind they shared to plan the upcoming performance. The venue was easy to figure out, as was how they were going to gather the audience.

The only question, of course, was which conjurations would get the greatest terror out of the audience.

Dr. Karla Sofen worked diligently at her computer, analyzing her findings on the public reactions to the escapes of Supercharger, Mr. FX, the Chain Gang and the Brothers Grimm. She marveled at what technology was capable of these days, as the netbots she'd developed had proven to be very useful. Dr. Sofen was using the netbots to scour the Internet for any mention either of the supervillains she'd helped escape from Ravencroft, as well as any mention of the Tomorrow Legion or her costumed alter ego of Moonstone.

As Moonstone, she'd developed the bot program with the assistance of the Fixer, a criminal technologist known for his mastery of computers. The Fixer had become famous in the criminal underworld for his development of an "off the grid" communications network, which he referred to as the "Outsider" that could not be traced through Internet service providers or phone company records. Criminals ranging from drug smugglers to child pornographers were using it to support their depraved "businesses", even as supervillains and terrorist organizations used the network to communicate with one another. Moonstone's bots allowed her to scan both the conventional Internet and the Outsider, and return all the results to her home computer for analysis.

The results were good, very good. Reading through the blogs, news sites and message boards that discussed the issue, Dr. Sofen saw how tense things were becoming in New York. The rampages of the villains she'd released from Ravencroft were making people increasingly scared, as they speculated on what would happen next. There were rumors of another supervillain crime wave, or an attack on the city like the ones caused by Psyko.

The rumor mill on the Outsider was similar. A number of villains were expressing admiration at what Supercharger and the others had accomplished, and they too were noticing the increasing tension in New York. To Dr. Sofen's delight, she found that several of them were discussing the themes that she'd tried to get them thinking about in her conversations with them as Moonstone. The villains talked about how they could make more money and cause more suffering if they organized themselves and coordinated their efforts, and just how right Jack O' Lantern had been.

A smile spread across Dr. Sofen's face, as her eyes lit up with eagerness.

Everything was working out just as she'd anticipated, and the months of planning were starting to pay off. The Tomorrow Legion was ready to be revived, and all it needed was a leader.

However, Dr. Sofen would still have to get elected as the leader first. Jack O' Lantern and Doctor Octopus had done it based on their status in the supervillain community, status that Dr. Sofen had yet to attain.

Not that attaining that status would be particularly difficult, of course.

Rubbing her chin thoughtfully, Dr. Sofen planned her next move.

That night...

"This is the place?" one of the masked men asked his buddies.

"Yeah," the second man replied. "She e-mailed Vinnie, and then he tracked down her address. Stupid bitch won't even know what hit her."

All five of the masked people, the three men and two women, sniggered to themselves before they walked up and surrounded the house. One of them cut the phone lines, another one disabled the burglar alarm and a third one opened the back door with a drill. In just a few moments, they'd made it into the house, making their way upstairs in dead silence.

Harold and Sierra Weston were rudely awakened by their son's cries, and the beating sound that followed. They were in darkness for a few seconds as they got out of bed, but when Harold turned on the lamp on the nightstand they found that the light wasn't the least bit comforting. Standing around them were three figures dressed all in black, their faces covered in ski masks. As Harold and Sierra recoiled in horror, they heard the sounds of a struggle and saw two more of the masked figures drag their son into the room, throwing him roughly to the floor. The boy was covered in bruises, one of his eyes was swollen shut from the beating, and blood trickled from his mouth.

Enraged, Harold and Sierra attacked the masked figures. One of them easily dodged Harold's punch, before hitting him in the back of the head with a baseball bat. Harold collapsed on the ground, moaning pitifully, as Sierra screamed. It didn't take long for the masked figures to grab her and throw her down on the bed, pinning her arms and legs so she couldn't escape.

"No hero to save you this time?" one of the masked figures demanded, looming over Sierra.

Sierra only struggled, begging the masked figures not to hurt her or her family. Finally, the masked figures released her limbs, and she was able to sit up on the bed.

"Just remember, Sierra...we'll be back," the lead figure threatened, as he smashed her in the face with the baseball bat.

It would be several hours before any of the Westons regained consciousness and were able to call the police and the paramedics, but it would be a much longer time before they would be able to sleep soundly at night.

Liz Allan couldn't imagine why Randy Robertson had wanted to meet her for lunch, particularly on such short notice. He had just called her out of the blue yesterday, asking her to meet him tomorrow. When she arrived at the Blue Star Restaurant, she found that Randy was already waiting for her. He'd been looking anxiously at the entrance to see when she'd arrive, and looked considerably relieved when she finally showed up.

"Thanks for coming, Liz," Randy said as she sat down. "I'm so glad you're here."

"What's wrong, Randy?" Liz asked in confusion. Randy seemed exceptionally nervous, wringing his hands nervously and looking from one direction to the other, and was pale with tension.

"There's something I need to ask you about Gwen," Randy finally said. "I...uh..."

"You think something's wrong with Gwen?" Liz asked, more gently this time.

"I don't really know how to phrase it," Randy admitted. "I'm just really worried about her."

"Why's that?" Liz wondered.

"I think she might be having some sort of problem," Randy explained, "but I'm just not sure what it is. I mean with the way she reacts when something goes wrong-she gets so stressed out that I worry about how she's handling it. She doesn't seem to want to talk to me about it, and I'm not really sure what to do. I want to help her, but I could use some advice. That's why I asked to meet with you-you've known her for a long time, right?"

"Yeah..." Liz trailed off, wondering how much she could or should tell Randy. She hated talking about Gwen behind her back like this, but she knew Randy was just worried.

"Gwen's always been a pretty guarded person," Liz said. "She was the beauty queen in high school, but she always tried to look available and be unobtainable. She'd come to parties and dances with a different guy on her arm every time, and she was always socializing as part of the dance team and everything like that, but she didn't exactly have many close friends."

"Why, though?" Randy blinked, remembering how well Gwen had fit in with their fellow cast members in The Wiz and with their fellow partygoers on New Year's Eve.

"I'm not exactly sure," Liz explained. "Gwen never wanted to talk to me about it, either. I don't think she had the best home life growing up. That might be part of the reason."

Would that have had something to do with it? Randy wondered, although he couldn't be sure. It seemed like a strange thing to do, but then he still couldn't be sure Gwen was really fighting crime as Spider-Woman.

"I just wish there was something I could do to help her," Randy frowned.

"Hey, you've already done plenty," Liz assured him. "Why don't you ask Gwen, though? She'd probably be comfortable telling you about it now."

"You might be right," Randy nodded, although privately he wasn't really sure. He didn't have any idea how Gwen would react if he asked her about being Spider-Woman, much less if she even was Spider-Woman to begin with. While a part of him was still angry at her for apparently keeping secrets, he'd also become increasingly uncertain, after what Liz had told him.

If Gwen really was Spider-Woman, was she doing it because of the problems she had growing up?

And if so, what did they have to do with it?

Working on her homework later that night, Liz couldn't help but think about the things Randy was asking her. She thought back to almost a year ago, when she'd been on the verge of being kidnapped by the murderous Harvey Broxtel, alias Firebrand, and had been rescued by the heroic Spider-Woman. Liz had to be treated for shock and smoke inhalation, and Gwen had come to visit her in the hospital...

Looking up in surprise, she saw the door open and Gwen come in, limping all the while.

"Hey girlfriend," Gwen smiled at her oldest friend, wincing as she sat down. "How are you doing?"

"How are you doing?" Liz asked ironically, noting how singed and burned Gwen seemed to be, noting the bandages on her arms. "Don't tell me you got caught up in Harvey's rampages..."

"...Harvey?" Gwen asked in surprise, before Liz explained Firebrand's true identity and origins to her.

Gwen only paled at the news, before a look of what seemed almost like understanding crossed her face.

"Yeah, I got too close to one of the burning buildings," Gwen nodded. "I just want to see how you were feeling."

"I'll just need to stay overnight," Liz reassured her, "and then I'll be released tomorrow. But what about you? You look like you could use the rest."

"Oh, I got what I needed," Gwen replied, showing her bandaged arms and shoulders to Liz. "They said I'll be alright with some rest. I'm more worried about you, though-mind if I just sit with you for a while?"

"Sure, that'd be great," Liz smiled in sincere appreciation, before she leaned back on her pillow to rest.

Liz was indeed grateful for Gwen's presence, but at the back of her mind she reflected on everything that was wrong with this picture.

Liz's training as a nurse told her full well that no one with the kinds of burns Gwen had suffered would be allowed to leave the hospital on the same day she had been treated.

She thought back to the time she'd been kidnapped by Tarot, and found Gwen covered in scratches and bruises when they'd met afterwards.

And then there was the fact that, to Liz at least, Gwen had always been a bad liar.

Liz knew all these things, but she wasn't sure how to handle them.

As she drifted off to sleep, she continued going over it all in her mind.

Why would Gwen be so reluctant to confide in Randy?

What was she hiding?

That's about got it, Gwen smiled to herself as she printed out the document she'd written on the library computer. Boy, I'm glad I was able to get this done. Now I can concentrate on my other assignments...

Once the document had printed out, she emerged from the Van Buren Library towards the Students' Union Building, where she was planning to meet Liz and Kitty for lunch. She had just started walking when she heard a voice calling out behind her. Turning around to see who it was, Gwen's face lit up as she recognized Julia Winhill, a friend she'd met in English class last year.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Gwen grinned. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good, all things considered," Julia nodded. "Work's been hell, though."

"What do you mean?" Gwen asked, as they set off together towards the Student's Union Building.

"I work for the Daily Bugle," Julia explained. " and J. Jonah Jameson has a lot of axes to grind."

"What kind of axes?" Gwen wondered.

"You don't want to know," Julia laughed. "Suffice it to say that Jameson and Rudy Giuliani won't be sending each other Christmas cards any time soon."

"If you say so," Gwen shrugged, knowing little and caring even less about politics. "What kind of classes are you taking this year?"

"Political Science, History, Women's Studies, stuff like that. How about you?" Julia asked.

"Mostly my Drama classes, but I also decided to get rid of my social science requirements this year too," Gwen replied. "I got Criminology and Women's Studies."

"Criminology?" Julia blinked. "I didn't think you'd be interested in something like that."

"Well, when you're an attractive woman living in the most crime-ridden city in America, it's probably a reasonable precaution," Gwen frowned. She was telling the truth, although she didn't tell Julia the other reason she was taking the class, namely to see if she could learn anything from it that could help her crimefighting career as Spider-Woman.

"You're right," Julia frowned, as they entered into the Students' Union Building. "In fact, maybe I should-"

Julia was interrupted by a burst of screams and crashes echoing further in the building. Looking at one another in alarm, Gwen and Julia ran to see what was going on, and ran into a gruesome sight.

A large, gaping hole had been torn in the side of the building, with rubble scattered all over the floor. That wasn't what horrified Gwen or Julia, though, as they were more concerned with the bloodied and unconscious bodies of the students. There was little Gwen or Julia could do for any of them, however, because of the beams of golden light being shot everywhere. The source of the beams was an all-too-familiar figure in golden body armor with a silver helmet, gloves and boots, who Gwen recognized as Moonstone.

Moonstone was laughing hysterically, firing her energy beams in every direction, even as she flew towards the main foyer where most of the students stayed. Students screamed as debris came crashing down on them, forcing them to run every which way. Gwen ended up getting separated from Julia, and she looked frantically for some place to hide so she could change costume.

Unfortunately, Moonstone had already taken off and left the Student's Union Building, leaving a path of destruction in the process. As Gwen followed her outside, running to keep up as best she could, Moonstone flew at breakneck speed, her sole objective simply to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible. Unfortunately, the flood of people running from Moonstone's attacks got in Gwen's way and prevented her from being able to keep up with Moonstone. Gwen didn't want to change costume before she knew where Moonstone was headed, since she knew Moonstone could just as easily escape while she was occupied.

It all seemed to be a moot point, as another figure soon took off after Moonstone. At first, Gwen didn't recognize the tall, lean being in the blue body suit and purple cowl, gloves, boots and bandage-like arm and leg wrappings, much less the figure's green skin, but she soon realized that it was the form of the Sleepwalker, one of New York's more recent costumed heroes. Gwen saw him flying off in Moonstone's direction, no doubt to stop her destruction.

Realizing that Sleepwalker could probably handle Moonstone, Gwen felt a sudden sense of panic as she realized that Liz and Kitty had been waiting for her at the Students' Union Building. She had turned around to run back to the Building when she heard the cries for help. Turning in surprise, Gwen was horrified to see that part of a wall had fallen on several students, trapping them underneath it.

Calling for help, Gwen came over and began trying to shift the rubble enough so that the people trapped underneath could get out. Although it wasn't too difficult for Gwen to move the debris with her superhuman strength, she made sure to pantomime straining herself even as she kept calling for help, so that no one would suspect that she was stronger than she looked.

Finally, some larger male students came over to help her, and they were able to hold the debris in place while she slid in and freed the trapped students. Two of them were moaning and sobbing in pain as Gwen dragged them out, covered in bruises and their limbs twisted in fractures. The last student twitched feebly, but stopped moving right before Gwen touched him. As she managed to finally pull him out, she saw why he wasn't moving-he'd died from his injuries.

Gwen wanted to retch, but she forced herself to stand up and kept going back towards the Building, stopping twice more to help people who were trapped under fallen trees or other debris. Horror and anger filled her mind as she saw what Moonstone's victims had suffered, but those sentiments were soon replaced with worry as she wondered what had happened to her friends.

The scene inside the badly damaged Students' Union Building was no better. Looking around, Gwen saw badly injured and dead students, survivors comforting one another, and grim-faced emergency crews. Finally, to her immense relief she saw Kitty and Liz coming towards her, apparently unhurt. Unfortunately, Gwen's relief was shattered by the sound of Julia's voice crying. Following the sound, Gwen rounded the corner to where Julia was sitting next to a group of stressed-looking emergency crews. The paramedics were carefully placing someone into a gurney, which they raised.

Gwen managed to get a look at the young man on the gurney as the paramedics began to take him away. His body was bloodied and beaten, with a fractured arm and a broken leg, and looked as though he was struggling to breathe. Gwen felt like retching again, horrified by what had happened to him.

"...Julie?" Gwen asked gently, as Kitty and Liz approached. "Who was that?"

"...Who? Oh, Gwen," Julia replied. "That was my friend Rick. A part of the wall fell right on top of him...they don't know if he's going to make it...oh God..."

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked as Julia forced herself to her feet.

"I'm calling Rick's friends, and then I'm going to the hospital," Julia explained, trying to steel herself.

"Not by yourself, you're not," Gwen insisted. "Are you guys coming?" she asked Kitty and Liz who came to join them.

"Do you even need to ask?" Kitty blinked in astonishment. "Of course we'll come."

The young man's full name was Rick Sheridan, and he'd been taken to intensive care as soon as he'd reached the hospital. At Gwen's insistence, she'd been the one to call Kenny Anderson and let him know what was going on, not wanting Julia to get any more worked up than she already was. Kenny arrived at the hospital soon after, bringing two more people, one of whom was introduced to Gwen and the girls as Alyssa Conover, Rick's girlfriend. The other person was a large muscular man with thick brown hair in a sharp crew cut, who Gwen recognized as Red Ericsson, a member of Empire State University's varsity football team.

The strain on their faces was all too apparent to Gwen, who could tell they'd been through some rather trying experiences themselves. She took the lead in telling them what had happened to their friend Rick, as Julia was still too upset to talk and Liz and Kitty didn't seem comfortable explaining the situation. Rick's friends didn't really seem to feel like talking, and so the seven youths were reduced to waiting until the doctors were finished with Rick. It was a long day-Moonstone's rampage had left almost ten people dead and nearly two dozen wounded, including Rick-and no one was sure how long he'd need to be in surgery.

"Thanks for waiting with us," Kenny ventured, as he sat down next to Gwen. "You guys weren't hurt by that crazy Moonstone lady, were you?"

"...No," Gwen murmured. "But...it's just...why does this have to keep happening?"

"What do you mean?" Kenny asked, slightly alarmed by the vehemence in Gwen's tone.

"Supervillains are always using this city as their personal playground," Gwen said angrily. "And when the heroes try to stop them, people like Rick are always getting hurt in the crossfire! Why do these sick maniacs keep doing this? What's the goddamn point?" she asked, her eyes flashing angrily.

Kenny wasn't sure what to say.

"...I'm sorry," Gwen finally said. "I just hate seeing these things happen," she finished, clenching her hands in frustration.

Kenny patted her hand gently, saying something to comfort her.

Gwen wasn't really listening, though. Gwen was angry at what had happened to Rick and all of Moonstone's other victims, but she was also angry at herself. The last time Gwen had fought Moonstone as Spider-Woman, she'd completely failed to stop her from stealing the Enervator device she'd broken into Empire State's Physics Department to steal.

If I'd done my job properly, this never would have happened, Gwen realized, doing her best to hold back her tears.

That psychotic bitch is running amuck out there, and it's my fault, she thought to herself.

They were allowed to see Rick briefly, although he wasn't conscious. He looked like he was dead, hooked up to a respirator with his arm and leg in casts and his ribs heavily bandaged.

Although Gwen had her supervillain enemies hurt their victims many times before, this was one of the first times she'd gotten a good look at what those innocent bystanders actually went through. Hooked up to a respirator, his arm and leg in casts and his chest heavily bandaged, Rick was pale and thin, lying in what looked like a coma.

As she looked at Rick, Gwen felt Randy's words come flooding back to her. Perhaps more than since she'd ever begun fighting crime as Spider-Woman, Gwen realized just why so many people disliked and distrusted costumed heroes. If what happened to Rick was the result of super-powered fights, it was small wonder that so many of the people whose lives and livelihoods were endangered in the crossfire tended to deplore not only the villains, but the heroes.

It was a sobering reflection as Gwen headed home with Kitty and Liz, with the rest of Rick's friends escorting Julia back.

Jeff Hagrees stared down the length of his pool cue, measuring the angles and lining up his shot. Applying just the right amount of force, he expertly flicked the cue ball with his stick, causing it to bounce off the edge of the pool table and then hit the 8 ball at an angle, knocking it into the side pocket.

"Game, set and match!" Hagrees laughed. "That'll be four hundred bucks, my man."

"Yeah, yeah," Fred Foswell muttered, handing the cash over to Jeff. "You realize that somebody's going to kick your ass someday for the way you behave when you win?"

"A lot of people have already tried," Jeff replied unflappably. "They usually tend to stop after I break the cue stick over their heads."

"And that's how you paid for all your fancy gear when you became a supervillain, huh?" Foswell sneered, as they cleaned up the table. "By pool hustling?"

"No, by hustling the hustlers," Jeff grinned. "I find it's more fun to pretend to be a sucker, get the hustler to lure me in, and then fleece him. The looks on their faces when they get suckered are even better than the money."

Muttering in irritation, Foswell headed for the bar to get something to drink, as Jeff tried to get some of the other people in the lounge interested in a game. Most of the other employees were well aware of Jeff's pool skills, and none of them cared to get involved with what would be a sucker's bet.

The men who were involved in the upper echelons of the Kingpin's crime syndicate were not generally known for their stupidity or for taking unnecessary risks. If they were, they typically didn't last very long. The lounge where Jeff and several of the Kingpin's other minions were relaxing was one of the perks the Kingpin provided to men who'd earned their way up the ranks of the organization. Jeff Hagrees was one of the newer recruits to the Kingpin's organization, although he'd quickly won the approval of the Enforcers, the Kingpin's lieutenants who ran the day to day business of the Kingpin's syndicate, for his services.

As the costumed supervillain 8-Ball, he'd originally started out as an independent operator, but had since been recruited as one of the Kingpin's special enforcers after his initial battles with Sleepwalker. Jeff had recently attracted much notice in the supervillain community after the mob war that had rocked New York City last summer, one in which he'd killed the sadistic assassin Bullseye in a one-on-one fight. Since that time, his successful operations had made him one of the Kingpin's most valuable employees.

As Jeff headed for the bar, chuckling to himself, he found a large, powerfully built man blocking his path. The Ox was one of the Enforcers, specifically responsible for enforcement and violent crime, always giving orders from and giving messages to the mysterious, never-seen Kingpin. Many people, ranging from the majority of law enforcement agencies to many of the Kingpin's own men, thought that there was in fact no Kingpin and that the Enforcers were the true leaders of the syndicate. Jeff didn't particularly care, so long as he got paid for what he loved to do.

"How's it going, big guy?" Jeff grinned at the Ox, who earned his street name by virtue of his huge frame, nearly three hundred pounds of muscle, scarred and tattooed arms, and grizzled, hairy face.

"Not too shabby," the Ox grinned, belching before taking another drink from the mug of beer in his hand. "You ready to go back in the field?"

"Are you kidding?" Jeff snorted. "I've been going stir-crazy, waiting for a new job!"

"Well, you've got it," the Ox assured him. "You know that Captain Watson is a guest lecturer at Empire State now?"

Jeff just spat on the floor. Every criminal in New York knew about Philip Watson, Captain of the New York Police Department's Organized Crimes Unit. Under Watson's leadership, the Organized Crimes Unit had become a major headache for New York's crime syndicates, skillfully exploiting last summer's mob war to cripple the syndicates of the Maggia and the Green Goblin.

"Well, the Kingpin wants to send him a little message," the Ox explained. "Specifically, he wants you to kill Watson during his first lecture at ESU. It'll be a nice message to the NYPD, on top of getting rid of Watson. After what that crazy Moonstone bitch did at Empire State, it'll have double the impact," he grinned wickedly.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I love working for the Kingpin?" Jeff laughed.

"Just look at it," Vincent Gonzalez was telling the TV reporter. "Rick Sheridan is a textbook example of what these super-powered maniacs do to ordinary people! It's just like what happened to my sister, and all those people at Macy's!"

"And where was Spider-Woman, the great and noble superhero, when Rick and Moonstone's other victims needed her?" Vincent spat in disgust. "Moonstone is supposed to be one of her enemies, isn't she? Spider-Woman thinks that she's some big bad hero, but she can't even do her damn job properly!"

"So, this is Spider-Woman's fault?" the reporter asked.

"Who else would it be?" Vincent scoffed. "If she were any kind of real hero, she'd have stopped Moonstone by now! Instead, people like Rick Sheridan suffer because of her incompetence!"

Laughing at the report, Dr. Karla Sofen closed the file. It had been an invigorating several days, tearing through Empire State University, Madison Square Garden, Central Park, Times Square and several other New York landmarks. From everything her bot program had found, Moonstone was being widely talked about both on conventional news sources and among her fellow New York supervillains on the Outsider Network.

Everything was finally coming together, and she was ready to begin the final step of her plan.

It was time.

(Next Issue: Gwen and Randy each try to figure out how to deal with their suspicions and fears regarding Gwen's crimefighting career as Spider-Woman. Meanwhile, Liz Allan tries to figure out what's going as well, as Randy's questions have led to her having questions of her own. Vincent Gonzalez's hate campaign against Spider-Woman starts to pick up steam, and Dr. Karla Sofen begins to put the final phase of her plan into action, as she revives the Tomorrow Legion! Gwen has more immediate problems, however, as she's forced to confront the murderous, billiards-based 8-Ball when he tries to murder Captain Philip Watson! All this and more in Spider-Woman #44: Puppet Dance, Part One: Dancing On A String!)