Snake Charmer

Gwen Stacy was wreathed in smiles as she entered her Aunt Nancy's townhouse, glad to put final exams behind her. There was a spring in her step as she walked upstairs and lay down on her bed, eager for a nap after all her hard work. She knew she'd aced her final exams, a far cry from last year when she'd failed most of her midterms because of the exhaustion she'd suffered trying to juggle school, her waitressing job, her acting and modelling career and her superhero career as the spectacular Spider-Woman. Gwen had been lucky not to end up on academic probation after that semester, and it was only after she'd moved back in with her family and been let go from her job at the coffee shop that she'd improved her grades.

Nodding off in the warm spring sun as it shone in through her window, Gwen still couldn't entirely believe how much things had changed for her over the last several months. She had a hunk of a boyfriend who treated her like a princess in Randy Robertson, her mother Helen was in perfect mental health, she had a number of choice acting and modelling jobs to apply for, her other friends like Kitty Pryde and Harry Osborn had overcome their own problems, she'd recently won a Spring Break beauty pageant that had earned her a substantial number of fans, and she'd been able to use the prize money from the pageant to pay off both the back taxes her mother had been stuck with and a fair amount of Aunt Nancy's property taxes.

Smiling to herself, Gwen reached into her pocket and pulled out the I-Pod Helen and Nancy had insisted she buy with some of her winnings. Putting the headphones in her ears, she set the I-Pod to play her favorite Jonas Brothers song and closed her eyes, reflecting on how well things were going for her.

SPIDER-WOMAN #58

"SNAKE CHARMER"

Tanya Sealy was the first to admit that her costume didn't leave much to the imagination. The black leotard was made of flexible Kevlar that allowed its wearer to bend and twist as necessary, meshing well with her flipping, kicking fighting style. Her gloves and boots were knee- and elbow-length, made of light hardened steel alloy painted emerald green and decorated in serpentine patterns. The costume was topped off with a green tiara she wore on her head, which was crafted to resemble a serpent wrapping itself around her head, its own head staring intensely at the viewer.

The fact that the costume was revealing didn't particularly bother Tanya. Her past career as a call girl and exotic dancer made her used to such outfits. Nor was she upset by her new career, that of joining the Serpent Society, a group of snake-themed costumed supervillains, as an assassin. In her old jobs, she'd killed more than one john who'd tried to get violent. She was also quite comfortable with the other members of the Serpent Society. Many of the male members had been some of her best and most respectful customers in her call girl days, and the female members of the Society had been nothing but welcoming and supportive.

Even the superpowers the Society had arranged to get her, powers that duplicated those of the now-dead assassin whose costumed identity she was taking up, didn't bother her. And yet, for all that, Tanya Sealy, codename Black Mamba, still felt nervous and on edge as she went over the details of her first assignment, pacing her quarters endlessly as she thought the matter over in her head. Jumping at the knock on her door, she marched over and pressed the button that opened the door.

Standing in the doorway was a slim, nondescript man with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, a look of concern on his face. Without a word, Tanya turned back and resumed her pacing, as the man followed her into her living quarters.

"How are you holding up?" Davis Lawfers, better known by his supervillain moniker as Copperhead, asked her. Davis was the Serpent Society member who'd recruited Tanya to replace the first Black Mamba, who'd been killed last year during a failed mission. He'd been disgusted by the abuse Tanya had been suffering from her clients, and had recruited her to the Society to try and provide a better life for her.

"What's wrong, Tan?" Davis asked her gently. "Are your powers giving you trouble?"

"No, it's…" Tanya trailed off. "I…I don't know…"

"Let me guess," the perceptive Davis nodded. "First-time jitters, right?"

Tanya looked away from him.

"Bingo," Davis nodded. "You don't need to worry, Tan-Anaconda and Princess Python will be there to back you up."

"Yeah, but…" Tanya trailed off.

"No buts, Tan," Davis replied pointedly. "You've got the training, you've got the powers, and you've got the drive. I know you can do this, Tan-you've just got to have as much faith in yourself as I have faith in you. Do you honestly think that I would have spent all these months training you, and had the Serpent Society get you your powers, if I didn't believe in you?"

Hearing those words reminded Tanya of just why she'd agreed to do this.

Her fears were forgotten, replaced by the determined smile on her face.

"So you got the e-mail too?" Gwen asked her boyfriend Randy as they made their way into the theatre.

"Yeah, I actually originally met Richard Banks when I auditioned for another show he directed," Randy explained. "He was the one who told me about the new production of Othello he wanted to do, and asked me to audition."

"Do you know why he postponed the production from last year?" Gwen asked curiously. "It was like the play just dropped off the radar. I thought it was cancelled."

"I don't know, exactly," Randy shrugged. "He just said that he had some personal issues he needed to work through."

"Well, I can certainly sympathize with that," Gwen nodded. "Do you think we practiced the scene enough?" she continued.

Gwen and Randy had originally done the scene where Othello murders Desdemona in an assignment for their Drama class at university, and they'd decided to do it again for their audition for the play. They hadn't been able to rehearse as much as they would have liked, in between their final exams, Randy's work at the HABQ-FM radio station and Gwen's web-slinging exploits as Spider-Woman, and they could only hope that they could do the scene justice. They figured they were a natural fit for the roles of Othello and Desdemona, given that they were dating in real life and could translate that into the marriage of their characters.

The main lobby was full of other people who were also trying out for parts in the play, and Gwen and Randy knew several of them from previous auditions. They fell into chatting with the other actors, eagerly catching up on what they had all been doing since the last time they'd seen one another.

Gwen was quite pleased to see most of the people she knew, but it was while she was going back to rejoin Randy that she heard a distinctly unwelcome voice.

"Hey there, lover-boy!" the shrill voice greeted Randy as Gwen came up to join her boyfriend. They turned around, Randy looking distinctly nervous and Gwen looking distinctly sour and unhappy as they recognized Felicia Hardy skipping up to join them. She was much the same as she always was, her long platinum-blonde hair flowing behind her, her bright brown eyes sparkling mischievously and her skin deeply bronzed from hours in the tanning bed. Gwen had known Felicia since high school, and the two girls hated one another with a passion.

"I didn't know you'd be trying out," Felicia said in a sultry voice as she reached out to stroke Randy's cheek. "Can you imagine us, side by side, announcing our love on stage, heedless of what the world says?"

In a flash, Gwen had reached out and caught Felicia's hand, as Randy continued standing there awkwardly.

"Tell me, Felicia," Gwen said icily, staring daggers at Felicia as she stepped between Felicia and Randy, "do you think that you can play Desdemona with only one hand?"

"Stacy," Felicia replied with a false sense of sweetness as she airily withdrew her hand and turned to face her hated nemesis. "Now I remember why I love Randy so much-he always had a thing for charity cases," she smirked, contempt in her voice.

An angry flush crossed Gwen's cheeks, images of throttling Felicia dancing in her head. She had to actively restrain herself, reminding herself that she couldn't afford to lose her temper, as Randy looked nervously from one girl to the other.

"By the way, Gwen-Roderick Kingsley says hello," Felicia leered. "You wouldn't believe what a success our Satin Angel campaign has been. It's a pity you weren't able to get the part, but..."

"…but he had to settle for second best," Gwen shot back, pained at the reminder of how she'd been groped by Kingsley and fired after she struck him. The pain in her voice weakened the strength of the comeback, and she was struggling to keep her fury under control, as Randy looked from one girl to the other. Felicia didn't seem bothered at all by the insult, only continuing with that arrogant, condescending smirk.

"Gwen…" he quickly intervened, grabbing his girlfriend by the arm, "we need to go over our lines again. Here, you want to help me?" he asked, quickly pulling Gwen away.

"See you soon, sweetie," Felicia finished with a wink and kiss at Randy as they turned away.

"Are you okay?" Randy asked in concern, as Gwen began breathing deeply to calm herself down. "Don't listen to her, she's just-"

"She's just trying to throw me off my game," Gwen nodded, blinking repeatedly, "but damn it, she knows exactly what buttons to push."

"You mean about…" Randy asked her.

"That Satin Angel commercial would have been great for my career," Gwen sighed, "but losing it doesn't make me half as angry as being groped by that old pervert Kingsley. And he got away with it, too. Just like how Felicia got away with…" she trailed off.

"What did Felicia get away with?" Randy blinked curiously, as Gwen recalled that no one but Spider-Woman and Felicia knew the truth about what had happened to Brigid O'Reilly and how she had become the monstrous Mayhem.

"I'll tell you some other time," Gwen shook her head. "Let's just say it involved one of my old cases as Spider-Woman."

Shaking her head slightly, Gwen mumbled under breath to try and remain calm, as Randy put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"So what exactly did this guy do?" Black Mamba asked Anaconda and Princess Python once more.

"You mean you don't-oh, right, the briefing didn't include that information, did it?" Princess Python asked.

Black Mamba shook her head.

"We'll have to have a word with our administrative staff," Princess Python frowned. "Long story short, this Horace Green guy is a rich asshole who thinks that his money and his power give him the right to treat women like his own personal punching bags, especially his wife. Her brother hired us to…shall we say…'enlighten' him."

"Okay, but I don't get why all three of us are needed for this mission," Black Mamba explained. "Wouldn't be easier to just have one of us go after him?"

"You want to tell her, or should I?" Anaconda asked Princess Python, looking over her shoulder from the controls of the saucer she was piloting. Although was crafted to resemble a large serpent's head, the image-inducing technology built into it allowed the saucer's operator to disguise it as a typical car, enabling them to travel through the streets of New York without notice.

"One of the basic rules for supervillain assassinations is to make it look like your target was the victim of a random supervillain robbery and that he got killed in the crossfire," Princess Python explained. "That makes it much harder to trace the killing back to your client. The police might suspect something, but without any evidence, who's to say that your victim wasn't just an unlucky casualty of a supervillain attack?"

"This is why we're using disguise technology," Princess Python continued, referring to the image-inducing technology they carried. It was similar to the image device built into their serpent saucer in that allowed its user to look like an ordinary passerby until they chose to reveal themselves. "Anaconda and I are going to reveal ourselves and start a ruckus. We're going to draw out any heroes that might be around, while you keep your disguise up, go after Horace, and then take him out. Once you're done, come back to the saucer and get the hell out of there. Don't worry about us-if we get caught, Sidewinder will just free us," Python assured Black Mamba.

I have everything I need, Mamba realized. I know how to operate these serpent saucers, I know how to use my powers, I've been trained how to fight, I have my allies for backup, and I know the plan.

I am ready.

Gwen was shaking, trying as best she could to keep her anger under control. It sickened her that neither Kingsley nor Felicia had ever really been punished for the twisted things they'd done, whether Kingsley sexually harassing her or Felicia's prank causing the deaths of Brigid O'Reilly and all her high school clique. Gwen might have been able to shrug off Felicia hitting on Randy-she knew full well that Randy wouldn't give Felicia the time of day-but the fact that Felicia and Kingsley were both walking free turned Gwen's stomach.

Randy was holding her, whispering reassuring words in her ear, and that helped her keep her cool.

Gwen thought of Desdemona, the role she was auditioning for, and the scene she was going to play with Randy for their audition. In her final scene, Desdemona was in despair, upset at the thought of losing the trust of the man she loved more than anything in the world. She pleaded her innocence, but Othello had been so thoroughly manipulated by Iago that he killed her in cold blood, although she defended his honor to the last.

Then she recalled her audition for the role of Eponine in Les Miserables, when the stress she was experiencing had made her performance all the more realistic and poignant. While she'd unfortunately blown the callback due to a particularly nasty run of what she'd come to call the 'old Stacy luck', her harried emotions had no doubt been a critical reason why she'd gotten a callback in the first place.

Desdemona was driven to despair by things she couldn't control, something Gwen could sympathize with all too well.

Acting was stepping into another person's shoes, making their personality your own.

And when the emotions of the performer and the character were so similar, Gwen knew, the resulting performance could become all the stronger.

As played by Gwen, Desdemona was a lost soul, doomed by the manipulations of others and crushed by that realization. She lost all hope, even her will to live, when she realized that Othello's trust in her was shattered. Desdemona had loved Othello with a passion, and that same passion made her despair all the stronger when she realized that he no longer shared her love. The harsh condemnations Randy threw her way as Othello stung all the more painfully, coming from someone Gwen cared about so much.

It all proved to be worth it as they ended the scene and stood up, as several of the other actors applauded. One person in particular seemed impressed-a tall, heavyset black man with spectacles and a trim beard, who just happened to be Richard Banks, the director of the play. He had a distinctly satisfied look on his face, writing something down in his notebook as he nodded to himself.

Gwen and Randy had both seen that look before, and it was a very good sign. They hugged each other briefly, exchanging hopeful glances, before they went back to sit down.

They passed by Felicia as they went up to their seats, and Gwen could see that now it was Felicia's turn to stare daggers coldly at her.

That meant it was Gwen's turn to smirk at Felicia, and she milked it for all it was worth.

Once all the auditions were done, Horace Green nodded in satisfaction as he stood up and headed for the exit. As the owner of the theatre Richard Banks was using to hold auditions and rehearsals, Horace would get free tickets to the show once it was running. Perhaps this time he might take Janelle…provided he didn't have to discipline her again. Fortunately, he hadn't had to throw her against the wall in quite a while-a few backhands were usually all it took to remind Janelle who the head of the household was.

It was while he was in the lobby that the loud crash occurred. The front doors of the theatre were torn right off their hinges and thrown outside, as what looked like giant, ghostly green serpents slithered in through the front door. People screamed and recoiled in terror as two bizarre women strode in through the gaping hole that was left by the doors.

One of the women was a large, husky blonde clad in green battle armor with snake-like patterns. Her arms were exceptionally long, twisting and coiling like the bodies of snakes. She was popularly known as Anaconda, and her cybernetic arms not only gave her the superhuman strength to tear the front doors right off the building, but also to entangle and crush victims in their powerful snakelike coils.

The other woman was a petite brunette, whose own armor had serpentine patterns similar to Anaconda's, only hers was a deeper shade of forest green. She carried herself with a light, easy step, which matched well with the ghostly phantom serpents that wrapped and coiled around her. Princess Python's psychic creations were just as strong and deadly as their real-life counterparts, their bites and crushing coils claiming more than one unlucky victim, and they were totally obedient to her will.

"Alright, who owns this joint?" yelled Anaconda, sweeping her arms all around her menacingly. "Ya'll oughta know the routine by now, so hop to it! Open up the safe, or ye're all…"

Horace didn't wait for Anaconda to finish, and he had no intention of giving the two serpentine villains the combination to his safe. Making sure the two snake women had their backs turned to him, he carefully opened a door at the back of the lobby and ran up the stairs to his private office, where he knew he could hide.

What he didn't notice was the middle-aged Hispanic woman following him up the stairs.

Gwen and Randy had been gathering up their things when they heard the screams and crashes, and immediately ran out to see what was happening. Gwen and Randy were horrified to see Princess Python and Anaconda threatening the people in the lobby, and they looked at one another instinctively. Randy briefly nodded to Gwen, confirming that she should do what she needed to, but their attention was immediately diverted by the dark figure of the superhero Darkhawk, who had caught the two villains completely by surprise and was now fighting them head-on.

The few remaining bystanders had already fled the lobby through the gaping hole in the front door, or were running for other parts of the theatre where they could hide. Gwen was going to join them in an attempt to find a place where she could change costume, but her attention was caught by the Hispanic woman who seemed to not be panicking at all, and was in fact skulking at the far end of the room. Gwen's experienced eyes noted how the woman seemed more calm and determined than anything, following the owner through a door marked PRIVATE that all the other bystanders had ignored in favor of exits that were easier to reach.

Her suspicions aroused, Gwen looked back at Darkhawk and found to her relief that the armored hero seemed to have things well in hand with Anaconda and Princess Python, despite being outnumbered. She suspected that the two criminals were in fact a distraction, and that the real target was the man who presumably owned the theatre.

Nodding once, she quickly set out to find a place where she could change costume.

Puffing heavily from his exertions running up the stairs, Horace finally made it to his office. He was turning to close the door when it was suddenly kicked. Horace couldn't react before the door smacked him in the face and sent him stumbling back to land flat on his back. Rising to a sitting position, he was surprised to see a Hispanic woman walking into the room, clearly the person who'd kicked the door in his face.

"Who the hell do you think you are, you stupid cow?" Horace snapped as he rose to his feet. "I ought to-" he said, raising his fist, before the image of the Hispanic woman disappeared in a flash. In its place was the much younger-looking Black Mamba, who only stared at him coldly.

"Wh…what the…" he mumbled in confusion. "Who are…"

"The name's Black Mamba," she said solemnly. "Bert sent me."

"Bert?" Horace demanded, referring to his brother-in-law, who'd always been too much of a coward to confront him directly over the way he disciplined his wife. "That cowardly prick sent you to do his dirty work? That's too bad, sweet…"

Horace's threat dissolved into a confused mumbling as Black Mamba's powers went to work. Before long, he was completely entranced, standing mutely with a blank look on his face.

A scowl crossed Black Mamba's face as she read Horace's disgusting thoughts, and saw what he enjoyed doing to women, particularly his wife. It reminded her of what some of her former johns had enjoyed doing to her during her time as a call girl. Taking a deep breath, she focused her powers and prepared to fulfill her first assignment as a member of the Society.

The months of training with Copperhead suddenly paid off as Black Mamba whirled around at the sound of the footsteps coming up behind her. Instinctively, she moved to put herself between the new arrival and Horace Green. If the new arrival attacked her, the attacker would hit Horace if Black Mamba dodged. For all that her instincts were still on high alert, Black Mamba's eyebrows raised in surprise at the sight of the intruder.

Black Mamba had heard of the spectacular Spider-Woman, but she'd never expected to meet the costumed heroine in person. Her long, silky black hair and bright red and gold costume were everything that Black Mamba had expected, but she was astonished to see just how young Spider-Woman was, even more so than Black Mamba herself. Spider-Woman, too, seemed somewhat surprised at Black Mamba's own youth.

"So who are you supposed to be?" Spider-Woman demanded. "The Snake-Charmer?"

"That's Black Mamba to you," Black Mamba replied. "And I suppose I should have known that I'd run into one of you hero-types sooner or later. I just never thought it would be on my first time out."

"It's also going to be your last," Spider-Woman assured her. She was unable to use her webbing or her sting blasts in the small office out of concern for hitting the man Black Mamba had clearly hypnotized. Instead, Spider-Woman immediately sprang forward, intending to catch Black Mamba off guard. To her surprise, Black Mamba struck back, and soon the two women were exchanging punches, kicks and blocks as they fought.

Spider-Woman was caught off guard at how well Black Mamba could fight, and that allowed Black Mamba to get the advantage for a bit, striking her in the face and again in the stomach. Spider-Woman immediately struck back, lashing out at Black Mamba, and her superhuman strength gave her a clear advantage as she struck Black Mamba in the gut.

Black Mamba nearly keeled over from Spider-Woman's punch, but Copperhead had taught her the virtues of moving so any blows she suffered were only glancing ones. Realizing that time was running out, she reached out with her powers and pierced into Spider-Woman's mind.

Help me…

Spider-Woman temporarily broke off her attack, hearing the voice inside her head. The voice sounded maddeningly familiar, although she couldn't place it-was it her mother, or her Aunt Nancy? Shaking her head vigorously, Spider-Woman looked around for Black Mamba, and it seemed like she found her serpentine opponent, but-

…what was Randy doing there?

"Help me!" he pleaded, pointing back to the door. "They killed Darkhawk, and now they're going after the rest of us!"

"Randy?" Spider-Woman asked in spite of herself. "How did you get here?"

"Gwen, please!" Randy insisted. "There's no time!"

"What do you mean, there's no time?" Spider-Woman asked in confusion. "How did you know to come up here?"

"Some superhero you are," Randy snapped, his voice taking on an accusing tone. "Are you going to let me down again, the way you did when you let Jack O' Lantern find out your true identity?"

"Wh…what?" Spider-Woman asked in horror. "How could you say that?" she demanded, her shock turning to anger.

"You know damn well how I can say it," Randy muttered, as he reached out and began to strangle Spider-Woman. "You're disgracing everything you ever believed in!"

Anger rose up in Spider-Woman as she struggled against Randy's strangulation and broke it off. He recoiled in surprise as Spider-Woman's head began to spin, trying to sort out her scrambling thoughts. She fell to her hands and knees, struggling to get a grip as she tried to remember what she had come into this upstairs office for.

Black Mamba broke off the telepathic contact and withdrew the dark energies she'd used to form the image of this 'Randy' person, whoever he was. To Black Mamba's surprise, Spider-Woman had been able to resist Black Mamba's telepathic intrusions, which had left most of her test subjects entirely defenseless. She then remembered what the Wizard, the criminal scientist who had given Black Mamba her powers, had told her about how people with a strong enough will could resist her intrusions and attempts to kill them with the images she'd formed of their loved ones. Clearly Spider-Woman was one of those people.

Black Mamba realized she didn't have much time. She wasn't sure what would happen to Princess Python or Anaconda as they fought Darkhawk, much less what would happen by the time the police arrived. The serpent saucer they'd used to get here was safely hidden, and she could get to it…but she had to act fast.

Turning back to Horace Green, who'd remained entranced all this time, Black Mamba reached out with her telepathy and entered his mind once more. Finding the images of the strippers he loved most in all the world, she formed them out of the Darkforce energy she could manipulate and had them slowly throttle him to death. Horace Green was a fundamentally weak-minded fool, and so the Darkforce girls had little difficulty in killing him.

For a moment, Black Mamba wondered whether she should try again to kill Spider-Woman. Then she realized how difficult it would probably be, and remembered Copperhead's warnings about not taking unnecessary risks.

She was gone in an instant, escaping down the back stairs, disguising herself with her image-inducing technology and taking off in the disguised serpent saucer. Although Black Mamba would later learn that Princess Python and Anaconda had been defeated by Darkhawk and left for the police, that hardly mattered, since the teleporting Sidewinder could free them from custody any time it suited him.

Her heart pounding from the experience, Black Mamba smiled to herself.

She'd had her first assignment as a paid assassin, and as the rest of the Serpent Society would tell her after she'd returned to base, she'd passed with flying colors.

It took Spider-Woman several minutes to sort out her whirling thoughts. Looking around in surprise, she found that Black Mamba was long gone, leaving behind the corpse of Horace Green in her wake. Coming back down the stairs, Spider-Woman told the police about Black Mamba and her failure to stop the serpentine killer, before returning to the place where she'd hidden her street clothes.

Walking home with Randy that afternoon, Gwen wasn't sure what to feel. She had almost certainly nailed the role of Desdemona in the play, but she'd failed to stop this Black Mamba character from killing her intended victim. Almost as bad was whatever Black Mamba had done to her-how did she manage to make Gwen see an illusion of Randy?

Worse yet, the memory of what that thing had said and done, which hit some particularly sore points with her. Being reminded of how she'd been careless enough to let Jack O' Lantern discover her true identity (although Gwen had never quite figured out how it was possible) was something Gwen deeply regretted, all the more so after Randy had found out and chewed her out for it. Although Randy had been making an effort to understand, and she loved him all the more for trying, she could still see the look of anger in his eyes on occasion whenever they discussed her superhero identity.

Try as she might, she couldn't get it out of her head, almost as if it refused to leave. Now, when she thought of Randy himself, she couldn't help but flinch, as the memories of what Black Mamba's illusion had said to her stuck in her mind.

Rationally, she knew it was all an illusion and that it didn't show Randy's true feelings.

Emotionally, though, she had a hard time convincing herself of that.

(Next Issue: Gwen continues to seek out more acting work, this time taking up Desiree Vaughn-Pope's offer for more modelling work. At the same time, she also gets an unconventional job as a cosplay model at the New York Comic Con. Unfortunately, she gets much more than she bargained for when the video game villain Netshape crashes the proceedings, eager to make his name as a dangerous supervillain! All this and more in Spider-Woman #59: Game Over!)