Puppet Dance, Part 3: Master Of Puppets

The Sleepwalker gazed out over the New York skyline, his face a mask of determination. Normally he would have enjoyed the sight of the beautiful city lights glimmering against the night sky, which evoked memories of his home in the Mindscape, the otherworldly dimension that connected the minds of all living creatures in existence. Tonight, however, it only served to remind Sleepwalker of how vast New York City truly was, and how ultimately futile his search for the villainous Moonstone was.

For over a week and a half, Sleepwalker's human host Rick Sheridan had been lying in a coma, badly injured by one of Moonstone's rampages at Empire State University. Rick's unconsciousness had released the Sleepwalker from his mind, and the alien warrior had sought to avenge his human friend and bring Moonstone to justice, but she'd managed to escape when Sleepwalker had been forced to help the victims of her attack. Since that time, Sleepwalker had been searching for Moonstone, in between conducting his regular patrols to protect the innocent people of New York from criminals. While Sleepwalker hadn't been able to track down Moonstone, he had rescued several hundred people who were being held hostage by the Brothers Grimm, a psychopathic showman that was in effect two people in one, and who had been forcing his hostages to watch the warped "performances" he put on with his magical creations.

Sleepwalker had been badly injured in the aftermath of that fight, and the simple strain of being in the physical world for so long had taken its toll on him. His race needed mental energy to sustain itself and heal its wounds, and Sleepwalker typically got what he needed when he rested in Rick's mind by absorbing energy through Rick's connection to the Mindscape. Normally Sleepwalker would be pulled back into Rick's mind whenever Rick woke up from sleep or otherwise regained consciousness, but that was before he'd been put into a coma. Sleepwalker had been forced to draw the mental energy he needed from Rick's friends while they slept, using their connections to the Mindscape, over and above what they took for themselves.

Frustration was evident in Sleepwalker's features as he pondered his next move. He hated the way he had to hover over Rick's friends while they slept so he could absorb mental energy from the Mindscape through them, even though they'd been the ones to encourage him to do it. He felt a growing sense of anxiety over Rick's condition-he didn't know how long humans could or would be able to survive in a coma, or what kind of condition Rick would be in if and when he finally woke up. He felt a growing sense of hopelessness that he was ever going to find Moonstone, who had apparently gone to ground after her last set of rampages.

The Sleepwalker simply couldn't figure out what to do next.

Across town, a beautiful young woman with long, blonde hair and bright blue eyes was laying in bed, her mind racing as she tried to get to sleep. Ever since she'd begun fighting crime as the spectacular Spider-Woman, Gwen Stacy had been confronted with all kinds of complications in both her civilian and her costumed life, and it was just as true today as when she'd started over a year ago.

Her relationship with her boyfriend Randy Robertson had hit a rough patch ever since New Year's Eve when she'd had to run out on him to fight a supervillain as Spider-Woman, and he clearly hadn't believed the feeble excuses she'd tried to make. Now, there was a serious tension between them as Randy suspected Gwen of hiding something from him, although so far they'd been dancing around the question. Gwen might have told Randy about her dual identity, but he'd been rather blunt in his dislike of costumed superheroes and she was afraid of how he'd react if she told him about being a costumed heroine herself.

Things weren't much better for her as Spider-Woman, either. After the maniacal, electrically-charged supervillain stalker who called himself Supercharger had murdered several of Spider-Woman's critics as a way of proclaiming his sick "love" for her, the brother of one of those victims had started an online hate campaign against her. That was bad enough by itself, but several of the contributors to the campaign had used rather disgusting sexual language and bragged about what they'd have liked to do to her if they got the chance, something Gwen doubted they'd have said if they'd displayed their hatred of a male hero like Daredevil or Darkhawk.

She'd also seen another grisly example of what supervillains could do to their victims when she'd seen Rick Sheridan lying unconscious in a hospital bed, clinging to life. Although Gwen hadn't known Rick herself, her friends Julia Winhill and Kenny Anderson had been friends of Rick's, and judging from their reactions Rick wasn't the first one of their friends that had suffered at a supervillain's hands. It was the latest in a series of grim experiences Gwen had witnessed, from her father being murdered and her Aunt Nancy taken hostage by Jack O' Lantern to her friend Kitty Pryde being harassed by human bigots and mutant extremists alike after being outed as a mutant.

What made Rick's case stand out in Gwen's mind was the fact that he'd been injured by her old enemy Moonstone. Twice before, Gwen had confronted Moonstone as Spider-Woman, but in their first battle Moonstone had escaped and in their second fight she'd outright defeated Spider-Woman and gotten away with the Enervator machine she'd been sent to steal. Gwen realized that it was partly because of her incompetence that Moonstone was still on the loose. If she'd done her job as Spider-Woman, Moonstone would be behind bars now.

That made Gwen feel especially guilty, not just for Rick but for all of Moonstone's most recent victims. She might have gone after Moonstone when the light-casting villain appeared at Empire State, but when she'd seen Sleepwalker flying after her she'd assumed that he'd be able to handle it. More likely Sleepwalker had gotten caught up in helping Moonstone's victims, allowing Moonstone to make her escape. Not that Gwen could really blame Sleepwalker, as she would have done the same thing in his place.

Gwen slowly drifted off to sleep, her thoughts whirling with everything she was trying to deal with. While she was glad she had been able to save Captain Philip Watson from being murdered by the sadistic billiards-based criminal known as 8-Ball, that didn't get her any closer to bringing Moonstone to justice, or in solving any of her other problems.

Gwen simply couldn't figure out what to do next.

SLEEPWALKER/SPIDER-WOMAN CROSSOVER #1

PUPPET DANCE, PART THREE

"MASTER OF PUPPETS"

Death by a thousand cuts, Dr. Karla Sofen mused to herself as she worked diligently on her home computer. The victim bleeds out more slowly and painfully than if you'd simply shot him, and you profit all the more in both profit and pleasure.

She burst into laughter in spite of herself, before marveling at how easily it came to her. As Moonstone, she'd burst into laughter much the same way when Sleepwalker had confronted her about why she was running amuck at Empire State University. Moonstone replied that she'd been doing it because she could, and even now she still recalled the thrill she felt at the time.

This, this is what it feels like to be a supervillain, Dr. Sofen realized, as she continued to transcribe all the theories, observations and other notes she'd come up with over the last year she'd spent analyzing the mentalities of costumed criminals. The rush, the power...the feeling of knowing you can do anything to anyone...

It was everything Dr. Sofen had dreamed of when she'd first psychologically compelled Lloyd Boch, alias the first Moonstone, to give up the mysterious moonstone pendant that was the source of his powers. What better way, after all, to understand the supervillain mentality than to become a supervillain herself? Now, she'd come to understand the supervillain love of blatant, public crimes, outrageous displays of power, and committing crimes as much for the sick thrill of it as for the monetary gain.

Her observations of the various supervillains she'd helped escape from prison had also been incredibly enlightening, as she saw how many of the traditional supervillain traits had varied based on the individual villains' personalities. The madness riots Psyko had caused after she'd orchestrated his escape from Ravencroft had been especially worthwhile, since she'd been able to observe the worst fears of many of the supervillains, which they'd begun experiencing after Psyko had enslaved them. As an added bonus, Dr. Sofen had been tasked with treating many of them once they'd regained their sanity and were back in custody, which gave her a firsthand look at how they recovered from the trauma.

Just as fascinating, of course, was the psychological effects of supervillain crime on its victims. Her first attempt to measure how people reacted to this type of stress had been unfortunately thwarted by Spider-Woman, but she had every intent of picking up the experiment again. Dr. Sofen knew how she was going to do this, and all she needed was one final confirmation.

All of a sudden, she was alerted to the e-mail coming in through the Outsider, an off-the-grid communications network used by the worldwide criminal community that was almost impossible for law enforcement to trace. It was the Tinkerer, the notorious criminal technologist, alerting her to know that the special devices she'd commissioned him to make were all ready to be picked up. It might have been a risk to commission the Tinkerer to create these things, particularly given that he knew their true purposes, but like all of his other clients Moonstone knew the Tinkerer took great pride in his professional discretion.

Everything was ready, at long last.

All she needed was one final piece of the puzzle...

...and the final part of her research could begin.

The laughter was erupting up from within her once again.

She found, more and more, that she liked it.

Returning for the afternoon from his patrols and endless, fruitless searches for Moonstone, Sleepwalker took refuge in the basement of the house Rick and his friends were renting to wait for Rick's friends to return home. He had enough energy to last him for the next two or three days, so he wouldn't have to absorb any more energy through Rick's friends tonight, but as they were visiting Rick at the hospital Sleepwalker wanted to get an update on his human host's condition from them.

Alyssa Conover's dog Rambo was sleeping on the couch next to him, seemingly content to keep Sleepwalker company until his owner and the rest of her friends came back. Rambo's ears perking up was the first sign that Alyssa had come home, followed soon after by his barking and running upstairs to greet her. Sleepwalker heard Alyssa greeting Rambo and putting away her schoolbag, before coming downstairs to meet Sleepwalker. She looked much the same as she had for the last week and a half, pale from fatigue and stress as Rick remained in hospital.

"What is Rick's condition?" Sleepwalker asked her gently.

"...Stable..." Alyssa murmured, taking a deep breath. "Nothing's changed. What if...what if he..."

She was trying to keep up a brave front, but it was getting harder and harder for her.

"You will doubtless recall the tribulations that Rick has endured ever since my entrapment within his mind," Sleepwalker reminded her. "His initial belief that you would not believe or accept his explanations, the trauma of the murders of his parents, his grieving Cyrus's death, all of which you have borne witness to. And yet, he successfully overcame them, due in no small part to the faith that he held in you and the rest of his human companions. Now, it is our faith in Rick's ability to recover that will allow him to do so. It was within his capacity to extricate me from certain doom on more than one occasion, and I have no doubt that he will extricate himself once more."

"I know," Alyssa smiled sadly. "I keep telling myself that, but the heart doesn't always listen to the head, you know?"

"It is something I am all too aware of," Sleepwalker nodded. "Many are the times whereupon Rick or another human has found the necessity to remind me of the truth about a particular situation. Might I inquire as to the whereabouts of our other companions?"

"Julia's working late at the Daily Bugle," Alyssa explained, "but she says that things should cool down there a bit now that Giuliani's dropped out of the Republican nomination race," she smiled in spite of herself. "Red's planning a Super Bowl party with some of the guys he knows on the football team and Kenny's out shopping for art supplies. They should all be back later tonight."

"And yourself?" Sleepwalker asked.

"I'm doing alright, all things considered," Alyssa nodded. "I've got one of the lead roles in this tap production that some old friends of Gregory Hines are putting together as a tribute to him for the 20th anniversary of National Tap Dance Day. Hines was one of my heroes-he's one of the reasons I wanted to become a dancer in the first place," she explained, color returning to her face as she talked about her passion.

Sleepwalker only chuckled at that.

"What's so funny?" Alyssa asked him.

"Humans are among the most curious and unfathomable creatures I have ever encountered, both among the indigenous creatures of the Mindscape and the creatures of this universe whose minds I have visited in the course of protecting them," Sleepwalker smiled. "I have only ever known humans to devote so much passion and energy to so many different diversions, interests and goals, often placing an emotional and material investment in them far out of proportion to what an entity of another race would consider to be its impartial value. I do not mean to imply that it is in any way a negative trait of humanity, but rather it is something that I have otherwise infrequently encountered."

Alyssa blinked at that.

"...Seriously?" she asked. "You don't have things like art, sports or industry in the Mindscape?"

"Such considerations are immaterial to us," Sleepwalker shook his head. "Anything that we require we typically craft with our warp vision, and each Sleepwalker will create what he needs. Otherwise, our time is devoted to combat training, consummating our romantic relationships and patrolling the Mindscape to defend the minds of the innocent."

"And you never do anything else?" Alyssa asked, feeling a slight sense of horror. "You don't have any choice about what you want to do with your life? You don't have any kind of art, movies or music?"

"The discomfort and astonishment you are feeling stems from the fact that you are considering the situation with the mindset of a human," Sleepwalker pointed out to her. "As I have been required to elucidate to Rick on more than one occasion, I am not a human and I do not possess entirely the same mentality as you would. While the nature of my race's existence is crippling and abhorrent from a human perspective, to a Sleepwalker there is no greater reason for existence than to defend those who are incapable of defending themselves. It is fulfilling, meaningful and gratifying all at once. Indeed, although my race may lack the same creative impulse as humanity, it does not preclude my admiring what humanity has wrought."

"...Huh," Alyssa realized. She thought about that for several seconds, before realizing that she'd completely forgotten about worrying about Rick.

"Thanks, Sleepwalker," Alyssa hugged him briefly in appreciation.

Sleepwalker only returned her hug briefly in response.

Grumbling at the stubbornness of soap scum, Gwen finally stood up and briefly turned on the shower to rinse the last of the grime she'd spent the last hour cleaning out of the basin. She briefly caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she made her way out of the bathroom, and couldn't help but admire the way she still looked good even with her long hair tied up in a bun and dressed in an old T-shirt and a pair of paint-spattered coveralls. Returning to her bedroom, she changed into something more comfortable and prepared to get started on her studies. Last semester, she'd neglected her schoolwork due to her attempts to find work and fight crime as Spider-Woman, and she could easily have ended up on academic probation. Gwen had managed to salvage her grades by doing well enough on final exams once she'd moved back home and could concentrate on them, but her grade point average still wasn't particularly good and she knew she needed to get her grades up.

Unfortunately, that left her with less time for a social life, particularly with her crimefighting responsibilities as Spider-Woman. She hadn't gone out with Randy in almost two weeks, and she hadn't seen her other friends much either. Not that things were entirely cool between her and Randy, either, what with the underlying tension between them over what Gwen suspected was Randy's suspicions about her secret identity between them.

Glancing through the second act of Lysistrata, Gwen frowned as she wondered how much she should even continue to be Spider-Woman. It pained her to think of all the acting or modeling gigs she'd probably missed out on in between needing to spend more time on her studies and fighting crime as Spider-Woman. She remembered what Ben Parker and her Aunt Nancy Stacy had told her about pushing herself too hard-indeed, before moving back home Gwen had nearly had a nervous breakdown from putting too much pressure on herself and doing too many things at once. Being Spider-Woman wasn't exactly helping her romantic life, either-the main reason she hadn't told Randy her secret was because of her fear of how he'd react.

That said, Gwen also remembered all the good she'd been able to accomplish with her superpowers, helping people ranging from random bystanders to close friends like Kitty Pryde and even her family. Moonstone, especially, was still on the loose out there, and Gwen knew that it was her responsibility to stop the golden-hued villain. Not to mention the rest of her rapidly increasing rogues gallery-if past experience was any indication, sooner or later she would be running into Joystick and Netshape once again.

May Parker apparently said that great responsibility was supposed to come with great power, Gwen realized as she rechecked her notes. So what happens when your responsibilities end up clashing with one another? I mean, I've got a responsibility to help people as Spider-Woman, but then Uncle Ben reminded me of my responsibilities to myself...

Rubbing her forehead in frustration, Gwen tried to concentrate on her homework, but the thoughts continued to nag her at the back of her mind.

"What's the point of these devices?" Mr. Fear asked Moonstone suspiciously as he considered whether to put the thing on. It was a small, watch-like device that would easily fit around the wearer's wrist, easily adjustable to fit any given size, although the technology was far more advanced than anything a normal watch might carry.

"They're communication devices," Moonstone explained. "With them, we'll be able to coordinate our efforts better than Jack O' Lantern's Legion did."

"Where did you get them?" the Porcupine demanded, not entirely convinced of Moonstone's sincerity.

"The Tinkerer produced them for me," Moonstone said matter-of-factly, which seemed to put many of the villains at ease. The Tinkerer was known for his hatred of double-crosses and his impeccable record in respecting the confidence of his supervillain clients. He made sure that none of the people using his technology were able to enslave each other or override the rightful owners' control of their equipment. It was impossible for anyone using the Tinkerer's gear to doublecross someone else using another device produced by the Tinkerer.

Moonstone did well to hide her smile at that.

Her fellow villains were quite reasonably suspicious of being double-crossed or sold out, but Moonstone never had any intention of doing anything so foolish.

No, the devices Moonstone was outfitting her colleagues with were just that-communication devices.

Of course, verbal communication wasn't the only thing they broadcast.

Walking home after his last class, Kenny congratulated himself on the success of his charity calendar. Originally conceived as a new type of erotica that emphasized the beauty of the woman in the context of her surroundings, rather than simply focusing on her overt sexuality, Kenny had gotten twelve female friends of his to pose for a series of drawings that he'd eventually compiled into a charity calendar. The calendar, meant to help the victims of supervillain crime, was a huge seller, and had raised almost a hundred thousand dollars in New York sales alone. That was just the beginning, though-Kenny's parents had introduced him to the publisher who was producing the calendar, and the publisher had plans to expand sales throughout New England, and then nationally, possibly even into Canada and Mexico.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, he didn't see the flash of golden light until it was too late. Bumping headlong into the solid wall of light in front of him, Kenny stumbled back in alarm. Whirling around, he saw that he was now completely encased in a semi-transparent cube of golden light, one that he was unable to break out of. At first he wondered whether he was being attacked by Lightmaster, but then he heard the shrill laughter. Straining his eyes, he looked through the semi-transparent light of the cube and saw that it was connected to a trail of light that led to the beautiful, deadly Moonstone.

"Wh-what the hell do you want?" Kenny asked in alarm.

In response, Moonstone advanced towards him and threw something that somehow passed through the cube. It vaguely resembled a wristwatch, but instead of a clock face it held a bizarre technological device whose purpose Kenny couldn't even begin to comprehend.

"Put it on, or the cube's going to crush you," Moonstone ordered, as the cube suddenly began to shrink in size.

Kenny hastily slipped the device around his wrist, before Moonstone suddenly took to the air, pulling the cube behind her. He could only swallow hard, hoping to God that the cube's energy wouldn't give out.

It was a long way down...

It had all happened too quickly for Kitty Pryde to react, trapped as she was by Moonstone and forced to wear this bizarre device on her wrist. To her alarm, she found that she couldn't phase her way out of the bizarre energy cube Moonstone had trapped her in, and she was otherwise powerless to escape. The cube's walls had become completely opaque as Moonstone carried her for what seemed like hours, leaving Kitty completely disoriented and unsure of where she was going.

Finally, the cube regained some of its transparency, although when she saw where she was Kitty began to think she would have been better off not knowing.

It seemed like a large underground laboratory or bunker, filled with almost two dozen other golden cube-cages. Kitty heard screams, shouts and cries for help coming from the cubes, although she couldn't really tell who they were. In all likelihood, they were prisoners just like her, although she couldn't imagine what anyone would want with her. Trying once again to phase through the golden cube, she simply bounced off the wall and landed back on the floor, rubbing her shoulder painfully.

"Where the hell am I?" Kitty screamed, fear turning into anger. "Let me out of here!"

"You'll be freed soon enough, child," a calm, measured voice seemed to reply to her. Turning around, Kitty saw a short, scrawny man staring at her through the semi-transparent cube wall. His eyes glinted behind thick spectacles, and his thin face was marked with a short, well-trimmed goatee. A mocking smile was on his face as he looked at her, the way a biologist might stare at a choice specimen in a cage or a jar.

"Who are you?" Kitty shouted angrily.

"I...?" the man asked in amusement. "Well, I have a much more famous moniker, one by which most people know me, but for now you can call me Dr. Calvin Zabo."

"Why did you kidnap me?" Kitty demanded.

"Oh, I didn't kidnap you," Dr. Zabo adjusted his spectacles. "I'm more of a...temporary custodian, shall we say. I'm just looking after you for Moonstone, the one who actually abducted you in the first place."

"What do you want?" Kitty asked.

"Moonstone wants the same thing from you that she wants from everyone else she's kidnapped," Dr. Zabo explained. "One million dollars from your family."

Kitty reeled in horror, wondering if her family would even be able to come up with that kind of money.

"...And if they can't?" she asked, her voice fading.

"Well, there's reason I've been tasked with looking after you all," Dr. Zabo chuckled.

Kitty wasn't sure what terrified her more, the look in Dr. Zabo's eyes or the sneering, depraved laugh that came from his lips.

While the city was reeling with Moonstone's high profile kidnappings, she then sent the victims' families her ransom demands through the Outsider network, making them almost impossible to trace. Once that was done, she gave the signal for the Tomorrow Legion's members to begin their rampages.

Quicksand attacked a Brinks convoy on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Whirlwind ripped through the concert happening at Yankee Stadium, causing mass chaos and panic.

The Scorpion went on a bank robbing spree in Queens.

The Ice Princess began smashing buildings in Harlem with pillars and blocks of ice.

Cyclone began looting the Brooklyn Museum.

All of the attacks were carefully timed and coordinated, throwing New York City into chaos as the authorities scrambled to respond and people began to panic. Over it all hung Moonstone's kidnapping of twenty people who belonged to wealthy families, and the $1 million she was demanding in ransom for each of them.

Moonstone, Dr. Karla Sofen, there wasn't much difference now. She had become a psychiatrist to indulge her fascination with the criminal mind, and she had become a criminal to indulge her love of psychiatry. That wasn't her only interest, however-she was also curious to see how victims and victimizers alike reacted in a situation of mass chaos, how their psychoses interacted, one with the other. That was the truth behind it all, the reason she had gone to so much trouble and planning to revive the Tomorrow Legion and kidnap the people she had. It was all to create the beautiful, intricate thought experiment that Moonstone now saw playing out before her.

The bots on her computer were monitoring anything and everything that might be of interest on the Internet and otherwise in the media, showing her the public reactions to the chaos she had sown. The wrist devices she had forced her kidnap victims to wear recorded their speeches and monitored their biorhythms, measuring their physiological reactions to their stress. The wrist devices being worn by the Tomorrow Legion members also allowed Moonstone to monitor their speeches and physiological reactions as well, even as she tracked where they were and what they did once they'd accomplished their original missions.

It would continue, of course-Moonstone had every intent of analyzing the fallout from the Tomorrow Legion's actions, even as she continued to observe and record the actions and reactions of the supervillains who made up the Legion. She would continue to tailor and adjust her plans to the realities of the current situation, all while working on the inside as one of Ravencroft Asylum's most trusted psychiatrists. The developing thought patterns of the criminals who were re-imprisoned would make excellent supplementary material.

The experiment remained carefully planned, as Moonstone would control for new and unforeseen factors.

All the while, her lab rats would run through the mazes she set for them, her puppets would dance on their strings.

Puppets...?

Yes, puppets.

She knew how to make people do what she wanted, when she wanted. She could make them laugh, she could make them cry, she could build them up, she could tear them down.

Yes, it was a delightful feeling.

Dance, puppets, dance! Moonstone thought gleefully to herself, doing her best to restrain the laughter that was starting to rise up within her.

Returning to the house Rick and his friends were renting, Sleepwalker felt a thrill of horror as he saw the police car parked out front. He could see Red and Julia talking to the police, although he wasn't sure what was going on. At first he thought he should stay away, not wanting to give the police any suggestion that he was connected to Rick's friends, but he realized that if he simply approached as a concerned hero, the police would likely fill him in on what was going on. Even if Red or Julia accidentally let it slip that they knew him, he could probably explain it away as their being familiar with his exploits.

"Might I inquire as to the reason for the necessity of the involvement of law enforcement?" Sleepwalker asked, as he flew down to join the humans.

Red pursed his lips and Julia looked away, both of them no doubt trying to avoid looking like they recognized the alien warrior.

"These kids said their roommate was just kidnapped by that crazy Moonstone lady," one of the police officers sighed. "She's been kidnapping people all day, and she's holding them all for ransom. Unless their relatives pay a million dollars for them, she's going to kill them in cold blood."

"We just got a call from Kenny," Red frowned. "Alyssa's on the phone with his parents in Albany now. They're getting ready to wire the money over to us, and we'll deliver it."

"I presume that you have been unsuccessful in discerning the location where Moonstone is detaining her prisoners?" Sleepwalker asked. "How does she possess the capacity to abduct so many people in such a short period of time?"

"Crimes have been breaking out all over the city," another one of the officers shook his head in frustration. "Even with guys like you helping us, we're really spread thin. Moonstone's probably taking advantage of that."

A boiling rage welled up inside Sleepwalker, the same anger that had been festering at the back of his head ever since Rick had been crushed by the falling debris. This was the second time Moonstone had endangered someone close to him, and it was the last time Sleepwalker intended for anyone to suffer at Moonstone's hands. His hands clenched into fists and began trembling, and it was all Sleepwalker could do to keep from lashing out in his anger.

The alien's eyes were glowing with a bright red light, one that caused Red and Julia to look at one another nervously and even made the toughened police officers step back in alarm.

The alien wasn't entirely sure how Moonstone could travel around the city so quickly. Then again, maybe she wasn't-was it possible she was flying through the sewers and the underground road and subway tunnels? With all the chaos caused by the current crime sprees, there probably wouldn't be many people using any of the tunnels, much less keeping track of whoever had used them.

Finding Moonstone was another problem, though. The labyrinth of subway tunnels, underground roads, storm drains and sewers beneath New York was akin to a rat maze, and Sleepwalker had never been down there. The alien wouldn't have had the faintest idea where to start looking. It was possible that another hero, one like Moon Knight who was more of a detective, could better figure it out...

...but that was a risk Sleepwalker couldn't afford to take. Moon Knight might not be aware of it, or he might have his hands full, as would most of the rest of the city's heroes. And even if Moonstone got her ransom, how was he to know she wouldn't just murder her hostages anyway for the sick thrill of it?

"Have you summoned the Avengers?" Sleepwalker asked one of the police officers.

"You really think we wouldn't?" the officer shot back.

A part of Sleepwalker felt guilty about leaving the aboveground criminals to the other heroes and the police, but at the same time he knew it was all he could do to keep his emotions in check. He had to track Moonstone down, and he had to save her hostages-the last thing Rick and his friends deserved was to lose another loved one, particularly when Rick himself was fighting for his life in the hospital.

Whatever happened, Sleepwalker knew he had to try.

And may this world's God help Moonstone when at last I confront her, Sleepwalker vowed, as he flew into the air.

When Gwen's spider-senses had first begun tingling to alert her of what was going on, she wasn't sure what they were trying to alert her to. She had marked many of the people she knew, friends and enemies alike, with her special tracking pheromones, which allowed her to track them with her special "spider-senses". Oftentimes these pheromones only activated when Gwen wanted them to, but sometimes they activated on their own when whoever it was that she had marked them with was in a situation of interest to her.

Looking up the situation on the Internet, Gwen's blood ran cold at the superhuman crime spree she saw tearing through New York. At first, she wondered if any of her old enemies as Spider-Woman were responsible, but in glancing through the accounts of the crimes she soon realized what had triggered her spider-senses. Her old friend Kitty Pryde had been kidnapped by Moonstone, who was demanding $1 million for each for the people she'd abducted. As one of the victims, Kitty was no doubt the one who'd set off her spider-senses. While she was home alone, there was nothing to indicate that any of her family were in any danger...yet.

Changing into her Spider-Woman costume, Gwen began webswinging towards wherever it was that Kitty was being kept. Her spider-senses were locked onto the pheromones she had placed on Kitty, leading her to her old friend with unerring precision. However, as she descended toward the sewers where Kitty was being kept she felt a strange twinge in her spider-senses. Now, unnervingly enough, there were two signals calling out to her, one she recognized as Kitty's, and the other one of which seemed to be branching off from Kitty's signal and leaving it. Spider-Woman realized it was probably Moonstone's signal, and she was leaving Kitty and the other hostages alone, for some reason.

Did Moonstone leave them in some sort of deathtrap, or was she going to leave to get another hostage?

The last thing Spider-Woman wanted was for Moonstone to abduct yet another victim, but if Kitty and the others were in some sort of danger then she couldn't just leave them to die. Her mind raced desperately as she tried to figure out what to do, but Spider-Woman just couldn't seem to decide.

"From your otherwise unwarranted presence here, I gather that you too endeavor to rescue Moonstone's victims?" came a strange voice from behind her. Whirling around, Spider-Woman was stunned to see what looked like a tall, thin man dressed in a ragged purple and blue outfit, with an olive green-skinned mask. The creature's eyes glowed red, and were compounded like an insect's making them glitter strangely.

At first caught off guard, Spider-Woman soon recognized the new arrival as the mysterious Sleepwalker, one of New York's newer superheroes. He'd appeared only a few months before she had, although Sleepwalker had quickly become involved in many high-profile incidents, most notably the destructive battles he'd had with that nightmarish Psyko thing.

Sleepwalker, in turn, recognized Spider-Woman from her distinct red-and-gold costume. She too had been caught up in some memorable superhero battles, most notably an incident where sixty people were taken hostage by the psychopathic Jack O' Lantern at a Stark Enterprises building. Spider-Woman had saved the hostages and eventually defeated the pumpkin-headed maniac.

"Moonstone's become part of my rogues gallery," Spider-Woman frowned. "I followed her here because of the kidnappings that she's been committing. I take it you're here for the same reason?"

"Precisely so," Sleepwalker's eyes narrowed. "And yet, is there such a necessity for the both of us to be pursuing Moonstone? Many other criminals are spreading misery and horror across the city as we speak. Perhaps it would be for the better if one of us were to-"

"No, it wouldn't," Spider-Woman shook her head, before explaining to Sleepwalker about her powers and the two trails that were now emerging. "The last thing I want is for Moonstone to abduct somebody else, but if she's leaving those other hostages to die we have to save them!"

"The solution is therefore elementary," Sleepwalker realized. "One of us is obligated to attend to Moonstone's victims, while the other engages the villainess herself to bring her to justice."

"And that's going to be me," Spider-Woman said determinedly.

Sleepwalker's eyes flared, as he opened his mouth to protest.

"Listen, it's my responsibility she's done this. It's because I wasn't able to stop her before that she's been able to cause all this chaos. She's part of myrogues gallery, and I need to take her down," Spider-Woman explained, her voice as hard as iron, before she began breathing heavily to keep her emotions under control.

Sleepwalker was struck by the intensity of Spider-Woman's feelings, and how similar they were to his own. Whatever Spider-Woman's history with Moonstone, it clearly ran much deeper than his. While he had sworn to see Moonstone brought to justice, Sleepwalker knew his first duty was to see that Kenny and the other hostages would be rescued. If Spider-Woman fought Moonstone for him, his vow would be fulfilled all the same.

"Very well," Sleepwalker nodded. "You have my word that I shall do everything within my power to alleviate Moonstone's prisoners. Your knowledge presumably extends to their location-if you provide me with the necessary directions, I shall attend to their needs."

Spider-Woman closed her eyes and focused on her spider-senses, most notably the signal emanating from Kitty. The trail shone brightly in her mind's eye, as she tried to calculate exactly where it was.

"It's in that direction," she explained, pointing off to the right into the maze of sewer tunnels. "I don't know exactly how to get there, though-I could only figure that out once I got closer-"

"It is of no consequence," Sleepwalker assured her. "Your abilities have been of the utmost assistance to me today, and now it is my responsibility to repay your contributions in kind!"

His eyes flaring, Sleepwalker simply warped the sewer wall open with his warp vision, flying through and sealing it behind him as he dug a path straight to the location of Moonstone's hostages.

Nodding once, Spider-Woman turned and ran in the other direction down the tunnels, pushing Kitty's signal out of her mind as she tuned her spider-senses towards the other signal, coming from Moonstone.

Her heart was pounding and the blood was racing in her ears with the anticipation of the coming battle, and instinctively she knew that Sleepwalker was feeling the same thing.

As he carved a path through the New York sewers with his warp beams, taking care to reseal the tunnels behind him once he passed through them, Sleepwalker was struck by just how many seemingly forgotten tunnels and chambers lay beneath New York City's streets. They no doubt made splendid hiding places, lairs and laboratories for supervillains, criminals and terrorist groups, who could easily splice into the city's electrical and water grids to gather what they needed to live down here.

Sleepwalker's suspicions were confirmed as he emerged into what was clearly an abandoned subway station. Rows of golden cubes lay before him, through which he could vaguely make out human shapes. The prisoners' screams and cries rang out in Sleepwalker's ears as the prisoners called for help, begging the new arrival to free them from their cages.

Sleepwalker still felt the rage burning within him, but now he also felt disgust and revulsion at what Moonstone had done to these people. From what he'd come to observe of humanity since becoming trapped in Rick's mind, humans often did certain things as much for the emotional fulfillment they got as much as any purely rational gains. It was no different with Moonstone or any other supervillain-while they could have made money by using their talents legitimately, they used their powers for criminal gain because they enjoyed the thrills, the notoriety or even just the opportunity to indulge their sadism.

That realization made Sleepwalker pause. Moonstone had clearly gone to a lot of effort to kidnap these people, so why was she now leaving them unguarded? Surely she would have anticipated someone like him finding her lair and trying to free the prisoners?

"And here I was anticipating Moon Knight," a mocking voice suddenly caught Sleepwalker's attention, as he heard footsteps approaching from the other side of the station. "I would have thought he'd be the only one smart enough to figure out where this little hiding-place is, but then again not many people know very much about you, do they?"

Looking around for the speaker, Sleepwalker saw a puny, bespectacled man emerge from behind one of the golden cubes. He was little more than skin and bones, barely five and a half feet tall, with a neat, well-trimmed goatee. His attire was surprisingly refined, a dapper suit with a flowing Inverness overcoat. Sleepwalker wasn't sure what to make of him, but he knew full well that the man was probably more dangerous than he seemed, particularly if Moonstone had left him to guard the prisoners.

"Who are you?" Sleepwalker demanded, his eyes glowing as he glanced around, expecting the little man to activate some sort of trap to attack him.

"You'll find out soon enough, although for now you can call me Dr. Calvin Zabo," the little man bowed mockingly. "I suppose I could have joined in with the ruckus up there," he said, pointing upwards to street level, "but Moonstone needed someone to guard her prisoners. Besides, one supervillain more or less wouldn't have made a whole lot of difference?"

"The supervillain activities are but a distraction from Moonstone's kidnapping initiatives?" Sleepwalker asked in horror. "It is an aspect of a larger conspiracy that she has orchestrated?"

"How perceptive," Dr. Zabo smirked. "I can see now how you managed to survive a battle with the Incredible Hulk."

"Your mentioning of my battle with the Hulk is as incomprehensible as it is immaterial," Sleepwalker scowled. "I presume you seek to oppose my liberating Moonstone's prisoners? You may be assured that your efforts, whatever they may be, will come to nothing!"

"Will they, now?" Dr. Zabo smiled evilly, as he removed his spectacles. "And I brought up your battle with the Hulk for very good reason, given that I wanted to give you an idea of what you're now facing!" As he spoke, Dr. Zabo began to grow in size, his clothes growing with him as his limbs grew in length and became powerfully muscled, and his torso dramatically expanded. Zabo's very face seemed to twist and distort, his face taking on a demonic-looking sneer as his features became those of a different man altogether. Calvin Zabo still wore the attire of a fine gentleman, but the puny doctor had been replaced by a powerfully built giant of a man who stood almost ten feet tall. His huge muscles rippled with a terrifying strength, and his eyes glowed with a hellish light that could have belonged to the Devil himself.

"Now do you understand why I brought up the Hulk?" Mr. Hyde leered at Sleepwalker. "I know him quite well, actually-I'm actually more of a Hulk than he is. All his intelligence, his anger and his cruelty, without any of that pathetic compassion that so often seems to hold him back. Every bit as strong, every bit as vicious, every bit as powerful. And...the more my bloodlust increases...the stronger I get...Want me to show you?"

"WANT ME TO SHOW YOU?" Mr. Hyde shrieked as he lunged at Sleepwalker with frightening speed. Rolling out of the way, Sleepwalker barely managed to avoid the thundering punch Hyde threw at him, which left a web of broken cracks deep within the concrete. Calvin Zabo had become a completely different person, going from a puny scientist into a demonic, well-dressed killing machine that destroyed anything in its path.

Using his warp vision, Sleepwalker shaped the concrete floor into a battering ram that he slammed into Hyde's chest, but the man-monster simply shrugged off the blow and caught Sleepwalker dead on with a punch that sent the alien flying across the room to crash heavily into the wall. Gasping for breath, Sleepwalker was forced to dodge again as Mr. Hyde leapt after him, crossing the length of the room in a single bound before driving his feet squarely into where Sleepwalker had been lying. Hyde's eager screams blended with the terrified shrieks and cries of the prisoners, who could only watch helplessly through the golden cubes that were their prisons.

Sleepwalker tried to fathom Hyde's strength as he figured out what to do next. He hadn't been hit that hard since his battle with the Hulk, a battle that would have killed him if he hadn't been pulled into the Hulk's mind at the last minute. Hyde seemed every bit as strong as the Hulk, and if anything his strength seemed to be increasing with his bloodlust. Ducking another one of Hyde's punches as he pulled away from the wall, Sleepwalker turned his warp beams on the half-finished metal railings lining the subway platform, reshaping them into deadly barbed spears and rings that he used to tear into Hyde and force him back.

Suddenly ripped and bleeding, Hyde let up his assault for a moment, before a new surge of strength poured through his body and he tore himself free once more. Amazingly, his bloody wounds were already healing, and he caught Sleepwalker with another glancing blow. Although the alien warrior managed to dodge the worst of it, the sheer force of the punch left him reeling and nearly seeing double as Mr. Hyde charged at him again.

Focusing his warp beams, Sleepwalker made the ground between them jagged and rough, tripping up Mr. Hyde and sending him stumbling forward. As Hyde lost his balance, Sleepwalker grappled him and tossed him into the air towards the far wall, where a maze of half-finished metal pipes were embedded on the wall. Reshaping them into a bed of sharp, pointed spikes with his warp vision, Sleepwalker made them impale the shouting Mr. Hyde before twisting them around and driving them back into his body once again. Blood poured from the spikes as Mr. Hyde became increasingly entangled into the metal spikes, which now went straight through his body in more than a dozen places.

Unbelievably, Hyde managed to tear himself free, although he was now covered in his own blood and his clothes were shredded rags. Screaming like a man possessed, Hyde pulled the spikes out of his body and tossed them aside even as his injuries began to heal yet again. Leaping onto one of the golden cubes and then into the air, Mr. Hyde caught Sleepwalker and brutally drove him into the ground at the far end of the subway station, holding him down with one hand while punching him with the other. Pain exploded through Sleepwalker's body as he felt his bones snapping, even as Mr. Hyde's screams ringed in his ears.

That wasn't the only sound Sleepwalker heard, however.

He also heard the terrified cries of Moonstone's prisoners, particularly those of Kenny. Sleepwalker recalled how Kenny and the others had all been abducted by the same villain whose previous actions had left Rick fighting for his life in the hospital. Rage filled Sleepwalker's heart as his eyes glowed with his warp vision once again.

Sleepwalker shifted the ground underneath Hyde's feet, causing him to stumble and lose his grip as Sleepwalker broke free. Screaming in rage, Mr. Hyde leapt after him once again, but this time Sleepwalker was ready. His warp beams refocused on the bent metal railings and pipes that he'd previously used to impale Hyde, and he combined and reshaped them all into a large, spiked bear trap-like vise, one that snapped directly onto Hyde and held him fast.

The trap would have cut any ordinary human in two, and even Mr. Hyde was paralyzed with sheer agony. Flexing his muscles, he managed to break free of the trap, although he was now covered in open, jagged wounds and more blood than ever flowed freely from his injuries. Despite it all, his wounds continued to heal, albeit more slowly than before as the shock caused Mr. Hyde's bloodlust to abate.

It was all Sleepwalker could do to avoid fainting from his own pain, but he stubbornly kept up the pressure. Once again, he used his warp vision on the large metal trap, this time reshaping it into a large, oversized axe head, which he then swung directly at Mr. Hyde's head and chest.

This latest wound was the worst one of all, leaving a large, hideous wound down the front of Hyde's body. Reeling from the blow, Hyde struggled to his knees, gasping for breath even as he continued to bleed. Despite it all, his wounds continued to heal, although this time Sleepwalker could see that his bloodlust and his strength were both rapidly fading. That was the key, he realized-the shock and surprise at being caught in what was an oversized bear trap had weakened Hyde's emotional state, and the blow from the axe head left him completely stunned. Amazingly enough, Mr. Hyde was still alive, and his wounds continued to slowly heal, although he had now lost consciousness and wouldn't be hurting anyone else for a long time. The sheer amount of force Sleepwalker had used against Mr. Hyde was well beyond what he normally would have used, but with a healing factor as powerful as the Hulk's, the alien realized that he could do it without killing Hyde.

Sleepwalker's rage began to abate over the next few minutes, as he systematically shattered all of Moonstone's energy cubes with his warp vision and freed her hostages. Even though they were still trapped beneath the city streets, that hardly mattered as Sleepwalker next used his warp beams to dig a tunnel through the ceiling back to street level and formed a staircase for the staircase that the humans could use to climb to escape.

Wearied from his exertions, his entire body wracked with pain, Sleepwalker remained to guard the hostages from any further chaos that came, even as they called for help on their phones. They were indeed lucky not to be threatened by any of the members of the Tomorrow Legion still running amuck through the city, although by that time the Avengers had arrived and were helping the police and New York's local heroes fight back against the menace.

Now totally exhausted, Sleepwalker needed the support of the humans he had saved to even just be able to stand. Kenny was one of the humans supporting him, and as Sleepwalker glanced wearily at his human friend, Kenny smiled and winked.

The rage in Sleepwalker's heart was gone, replaced with a tremendous sense of peace.

Moonstone's lair was well-hidden, an underground maintenance station that was abandoned when the New York public works department had sealed off this portion of the sewers. While it wasn't all that comfortable, it suited her temporary needs quite well. From here, she would be able to monitor everything that went on with the Tomorrow Legion's activities, the information she was gathering from the supervillains and their victims and the money that she would be set to receive from the ransoms, all while minimizing the risk of any of it being traced back to her identity of Karla Sofen.

However, if all was well with the lair, it most certainly was not with the woman inside it. At first relishing the data that was being fed to her computers, she had been horrified to see the sudden emotional spike of hope and surprise that registered from her hostages. As she switched to view the monitors at the underground subway station, she saw the mysterious hero commonly known as Sleepwalker in a life-and-death battle with Mr. Hyde. That Sleepwalker appeared to be losing and the prisoners' hope rapidly turned back into fear and terror didn't matter-what mattered to Moonstone was that the prison had been breached.

How was anyone able to find it? Moonstone wondered in amazement as she watched Sleepwalker and Hyde battle. Even Moon Knight doesn't look like he figured it out, given his focus on Quicksand, Firefist and Blackwing up above, she realized. But if someone was able to track the prisoners' lair so easily, then that means...

Whirling around, Moonstone cast a barrier of solid light to deflect the energy blasts Spider-Woman shot at her. That didn't stop Spider-Woman from firing her sting blasts once again, shattering the energy barrier as Moonstone hastily backed away to defend herself. Spider-Woman was forced to dodge Moonstone's energy blasts, giving Moonstone the opportunity to try and encase Spider-Woman in a cube of golden light, which she then began narrowing in an attempt to crush her arachnid foe.

Shouting in anger, Spider-Woman simply blasted the cube into nothing and charged at Moonstone, leaping over her next energy blasts and drop-kicking Moonstone squarely in the chest. The golden-clad woman flew back and crashed into one of the computer monitors, shattering it, as Spider-Woman struck her with another combination of sting blasts. Moonstone rolled out of the way, but Spider-Woman followed her with another blast, one that shattered the next computer and shorted out her data feed.

Screaming in anger at seeing her precious data flow interrupted, Moonstone charged directly at Spider-Woman, surrounding herself with an aura of golden energy as she streaked through the air like a comet. Flying out of the maintenance station, Moonstone whirled around and fired a concentrated blast of energy into the room, intending to crush Spider-Woman before she could escape. Almost everything in the room was blown to pieces as the ceiling caved in, but Spider-Woman managed to escape the room before it collapsed and fired a double blast of webbing at Moonstone.

The golden-clad villain phased right through it and blasted Spider-Woman dead on with her energy bolts, taking advantage of the fact that her web-slinging foe didn't have much room to dodge in the cramped tunnels. Spider-Woman was brutally slammed into the wall and slumped to the ground, but she was up in a matter of moments, deflecting Moonstone's next blasts with her stings and then whipping debris at Moonstone with her webbing.

Spider-Woman's heart was pounding as she pressed the assault, forcing Moonstone back. Images of all the suffering and horror Moonstone had perpetrated flashed through her mind, increasing her determination to bring Moonstone to justice. She was reminded all too clearly of her past failures, which only made Spider-Woman more determined to succeed this time. This time, Spider-Woman knew she had the advantage, as she shot a web net at Moonstone and blasted her when she phased through it. Moonstone was caught completely off guard, and she was still struggling to keep up with the web-slinging heroine.

Moonstone realized it too, and knew that she needed to take the battle to a location of her choosing. Knowing that she couldn't stay phased long enough to get to street level, she surrounded herself with her golden energy field and plowed straight through the ceiling and up to street level, leaving a trail of jagged rubble to fall down on Spider-Woman as she did so. As Spider-Woman tried to follow, slowed down by the need to protect herself from falling pieces of concrete jarred loose by Moonstone's ascension, she was blasted again by Moonstone's energy bolts and had to hold onto the side of the tunnel for dear life with her spider-grip to avoid falling back into the sewers.

Her entire body was wracked with pain from the blast, and she was bleeding in several places from where the concrete debris had cut her, but Spider-Woman was ready for another round with Moonstone. Using one hand to spring into the air with a webline, Spider-Woman used the other to deflect the energy blasts Moonstone was shooting at her. Unfortunately, Moonstone was correct when she realized that she should move the battlefield to one of her choosing, as she cut through Spider-Woman's webline with a blast from one hand and blew her off balance with a bolt from the other. Stunned, Spider-Woman fell back and crashed into the wall of a building, and only managed to save herself with another webline before clinging to the side of the building.

Now Moonstone was the one to follow up her advantage, blasting energy bolts at Spider-Woman and cutting through any weblines she tried to spin to get away. Spider-Woman could only dodge awkwardly up and down or to the sides, trapped as she was by her need to cling to the building. Finally, she was blasted through a window and into the building itself, slumping to the floor. Moonstone came charging in immediately after, protecting herself with her golden force field and slamming Spider-Woman dead on, smashing her through the far wall before angling towards the street far below, intending to crush Spider-Woman once and for all.

Struggling not to black out from the pain, Spider-Woman knew she only had a few seconds before she would be killed. With one hand, she blasted Moonstone at point-blank range, disrupting her force field and causing Moonstone to stop her flight, as she spun around in confusion. With her other hand, Spider-Woman spun a webline and swung free of Moonstone's grip, before coming around and catching her head on with a vicious double swing kick. As Moonstone reeled from the blow, Spider-Woman hit her with another sting blast, stunning her briefly. Her entire body tingling uncomfortably from the blast, Moonstone was powerless as Spider-Woman caught her with a webline and brutally swung her across the street and into another building. Anchoring herself on the side of yet another building with her feet, Spider-Woman used one hand to hold the struggling Moonstone in place while using the other hand to continually blast her, until she finally fell limp.

The adrenaline faded from Spider-Woman's body as she reeled the unconscious Moonstone in, wrapped her in a net of webbing, and began the long, slow trip back to street level. Drained and exhausted from the battle, Spider-Woman felt her injuries all the more painfully as she knelt down and removed Moonstone's helmet to finally see who she really was.

At first, Spider-Woman was struck by how young the blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman seemed to be. She didn't even seem to be thirty years old, and Spider-Woman was confused as to how she could have possibly caused as much chaos as she did. The policemen coming up to arrest Moonstone and the passersby who had been watching the fight didn't seem to recognize her either, although they murmured and whispered to one another, as surprised as Spider-Woman was about Moonstone's youth.

"Do you recognize her?" one of the police officers asked Spider-Woman, who only shook her head wearily.

"How many of the other criminals are still on the loose out there?" she asked the policeman. She wasn't sure if she still had it in her to fight any more criminals, but she had to know.

"Not anymore," the officer shook his head. "The Avengers helped us catch some of them, although a lot of the others got away. It was like the Tomorrow Legion all over again."

That realization hit Spider-Woman like a ton of bricks, as she recalled the depraved criminal association originally formed by Jack O' Lantern.

"Dear God," she sighed, rubbing her face wearily. After she'd defeated Jack O' Lantern, she'd read about how so many of the other villains active that night had bragged about being part of a larger crime ring that called itself the Tomorrow Legion. Staring down at Moonstone, and recalling the monitoring equipment she'd had set up in the underground maintenance station, Spider-Woman wondered if Moonstone had revived the Legion as part of her kidnapping plot.

"Do you know what happened to her prisoners?" she asked the policeman, hoping against hope that Kitty was alright.

"That Sleepwalker guy rescued them," the policeman smiled in relief. "It looks like they're going to be alright. Thank God something turned out alright today," he sighed as he turned away.

Spider-Woman felt a sympathetic ache as she leapt into the air and swung away, intending to return home and change clothes before seeing how Kitty was doing, and whether any of her other friends or family had been hurt by the Tomorrow Legion's rampages. She could only imagine how many other people had lost their livelihoods, their homes or their loved ones because of the Legion's crimes today. As painful as the experiences people like Rick Sheridan and Kitty Pryde had gone through were, many other people oftentimes experienced problems that were just as bad, if not worse.

Dr. Jon Carmichael had always prided himself on his ability to juggle the needs of many different patients at once. While most of the other physicians were tied up dealing with the current influx of people needing treatment from the Tomorrow Legion's crime spree, he'd made sure to get himself assigned to look after the longer-term patients. At the moment, he was looking in on one Rick Sheridan, who'd been in a coma since he'd been crushed under falling debris during a violent incident at Empire State University over a week and a half ago. Since that time, Rick hadn't moved, and although his vital signs were steady he didn't seem to be making much progress.

It was while he was rising to leave and move on to his next patient that Dr. Carmichael heard the machines begin beeping loudly. Turning around in surprise, Dr. Carmichael grinned widely as he saw Rick's eyes open, as the young man slowly emerged from his coma.

"Wh...where am...I?" Rick slurred, blinking his eyes as he tried to figure out where he was.

"In the hospital, son," Dr. Carmichael said as he sat down in the chair next to Rick's bed. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"...Tired..." Rick mumbled, smiling back at the doctor. "Do my...friends..."

"Yeah, they know you're here," Dr. Carmichael assured him. "And I'm sure they'll be glad to know you're okay."

"Am I going to be alright?" Rick asked, smiling weakly.

"Yeah, you are," Dr. Carmichael said, nodding in satisfaction as he noticed Rick's vital signs improving. "Just take it easy for now. You still need your rest."

"Thank you..." Rick mumbled, before he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Although Rick was unconscious once again, Dr. Carmichael got up and continued on his rounds, secure in the knowledge that Rick would wake up in good time.

Now back in Rick's mind, Sleepwalker felt the same way. All around him, Rick's mind was regaining its strength, as the familiar thoughts and images began to filter past him. Off in the distance, the vague outlines of dreams were forming, in short all of the things that were part of the normal workings of Rick's mind. Rick's connection to the Mindscape was opening, as mental energy began flooding into his mind. Gratefully, the bloodied and exhausted Sleepwalker flew up underneath it and began absorbing some desperately needed energy for himself.

As he felt his wounds heal, Sleepwalker reflected on everything that had happened. He thought of the grateful look on the faces of Kenny and the other hostages, the realization that no more of his loved ones would be lost today, and the tragic realization that while he and the people he cared about had largely avoided any major catastrophe, there were many others out there who were not so lucky.

Sleepwalker also found himself thinking about the spectacular Spider-Woman, and the determination she showed despite her comparatively tender years. From what Sleepwalker could tell, she was even younger than Rick and his friends, although she displayed a fighting spirit much like those Sleepwalker had seen in Moon Knight, Spider-Man and the other male heroes he had fought alongside.

Although our cooperation was limited in nature, we rendered each other a tremendous service this day, Sleepwalker realized. Without her assistance, Moonstone would remain at large, and without my contributions Mr. Hyde would have no doubt murdered the people she kidnapped when he realized that Moonstone had been captured, he knew, having heard of Moonstone's capture from the police who'd come to take care of the hostages before he'd been pulled back into Rick's mind.

I cannot help but wonder, therefore, if our paths shall cross at some indeterminate moment in the future, he realized.

That was a question for another day, however. For now, Sleepwalker was able to rest, secure in the knowledge that Rick was going to recover and that Kenny was unharmed.

It had almost become routine for Gwen by this point, cleaning herself up and then bandaging her injuries before making up some excuse about how she'd become caught in some sort of supervillain attack. Despite the sheer number of times she'd said that, chaos like that caused by the Tomorrow Legion made it a perfectly plausible explanation.

To her immense relief, Gwen had found that none of her family or friends had been hurt. There had been some close calls with her Aunt Nancy Stacy and her friends Harry Osborn and Liz Allan, but fortunately they'd escaped unharmed thanks to the interventions of Moon Knight and Hank Pym, respectively. Kitty was the one Gwen was really worried about. Luckily, although Kitty was shaken up Gwen was overjoyed to discover that Sleepwalker had been as good as his word in rescuing her and the rest of the hostages, despite having to fight for his life against the maniacal Mr. Hyde. As an added bonus, Kenny and Julia also told her about Rick emerging from his coma, even as his health was starting to improve.

Gwen was all too aware of the horrors that the latest incarnation of the Tomorrow Legion had left in its wake, which were just as saddening to her as they'd always been. However, she was able to take comfort in the fact that her friends and family were safe, and that Moonstone, alias Dr. Karla Sofen, would finally face justice for her crimes.

It disturbed Gwen to read in the Daily Bugle about just how extensive Dr. Sofen's crimes truly were, and her role in founding the new Tomorrow Legion, although it served as a useful reminder of her battles with Jack O' Lantern and her role in undermining the first version of the Legion. At the time, she'd come to realize just what other people were capable of as supervillains...

...and just how much she was capable of as a superhero.

Being Spider-Woman caused her no end of headaches, and she wasn't sure how much time she could devote to being Spider-Woman with all her other responsibilities, but when Gwen realized just how much good she'd done for loved ones and strangers alike, she was reminded of why she continued to do it. It was the same thing for Peter Parker, who fought crime as Spider-Man to honor his Aunt May's memory and to protect people who couldn't protect themselves.

That made Gwen's thoughts turn to the mysterious Sleepwalker.

She couldn't fathom why he fought crime, although from what she'd heard about his battles with the nightmarish Psyko it was clearly very important to him. What she did know was that he'd been a brave and valued ally today, and without his help either Moonstone would still be at large or Kitty and the other hostages would be dead.

For a moment, she wondered if they would be fighting together again in the future, but she realized that was a question for another day.

Gwen was physically and mentally exhausted when she fell asleep that night, but she was also at peace, a peace that provided her comfort for all the turmoil going on in her life.

(Next Issue: Although Gwen has finally brought Moonstone to justice, she is still confronted with the question of how to deal with her boyfriend Randy, particularly when he finally asks her if she's truly Spider-Woman. On top of that, Gwen still has to deal with the hate campaign organized against Spider-Woman by Vincent Gonzalez. Even as all this is going on, Tanya Sealy begins her training as a new inductee of the Serpent Society! All this and more in Spider-Woman #46: Lying Truth!)