Shades Of Grey

Being stressed and frustrated was hardly a new feeling for Gwen Stacy. Working diligently in the Empire State University computer lab on her homework, Gwen tried to focus on the controversies within feminism and its relations with the transgender community, but other thoughts kept crowding into her mind.

For one thing, there was the problems faced by one Nate Grey, the mutant youth with the immense psychic powers. He had trouble controlling his abilities, which had led to the deaths of his family when those powers had manifested. To make matters worse, he was fleeing for his life from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, who intended to make him a living weapon. Despite Gwen's best efforts, she'd been unable to convince him to let the X-Men help him, and he was still convinced they would use him the same way the Brotherhood would.

There was also the issues relating to her boyfriend Randy Robertson. She hadn't seen Randy since the Fright Night Halloween parties, when she'd been captivated by the first sight she'd caught of Nate. Randy had noticed the way she'd been looking at him, and he'd been justifiably angry with her. Gwen still felt deeply ashamed about it, particularly when Randy had always been so supportive of her fighting crime as the spectacular Spider-Woman.

He hardly asks for anything, Gwen thought to herself, and a hell of a lot less than I ask of him. So, why do I…

She shook her head at that.

Don't be stupid, she reproached herself. Nate needs my help-if he doesn't feel like he can trust the X-Men, who else is he supposed to ask for help? Gwen wondered. And besides, God only knows what the Brotherhood will do if they get their filthy hands on him…

She sighed as she resumed typing.

They both deserve better than I've been giving them, Gwen realized. The problem is just the amount of homework I've had to deal with lately, she continued. Ever since school had resumed after midterm exams, Gwen's professors had been bombarding their students with an avalanche of assignments. Even when she'd had some free time, Gwen had been unable to get in touch with either Randy or Nate. When she tried to call Randy, he was always working at the radio station, when she tried to track Nate as Spider-Woman she ran into some kind of crisis that she had to stop and help with, and in every other case she was tied up with household chores that the rest of the Stacy family needed her to do.

And I haven't even done anything for finding any new acting work, or even for building up more of a social media profile, Gwen thought, as she closed the file.

It was only several seconds later that she realized that she had closed the file without saving any of the work she'd been doing for the last four hours, ignoring the system's questions about whether she wanted to save the work.

Groaning quietly as she put her face in her hands, Gwen realized that she would have to start the afternoon's work all over again.

Yeah…that's exactly what was missing, she thought to herself.

SPIDER-WOMAN #80

"SHADES OF GREY"

"I'm home!" Randy Robertson called out as he shut the door to his parents' townhouse behind him.

Putting down his bag with a sigh, Randy walked into the kitchen. He hadn't been in touch with his parents, or anyone else for that matter, much over the last couple of days. In between work and school, and other peoples' activities, Randy simply hadn't had the time to spare to talk even to his father Isaiah or his mother Louise.

Hence he brightened at the sight of his mother Louise coming to join him in the kitchen. He got out a second can of soup as he turned the oven on, greeting his mother brightly as she sat down at the table.

"Hi baby," Louise smiled at her son. "How have you been?"

"Tired," Randy sighed. "You wouldn't believe all the stuff that's going on at HABQ-FM," he continued. "How are things going with the Wakanda scholarship?"

"They're going fine, but…" Louise trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Randy asked, alarm creeping into his voice.

"I ran into Gwen at the Coffee Bean," Louise explained, "and…"

Randy just blinked, not entirely sure what Louise was getting at. He had been frustrated by how much Isaiah and Louise disliked Gwen, not because she was white but because she wanted to be an actress and a model. They were less than pleased at the idea of a potential daughter-in-law flaunting her body, as they saw it, to attract peoples' attention. Nor were they very keen on the idea of Gwen having a hard time making good money and needing to be supported by Randy instead of being an equal contributor to the relationship.

"You talked to Gwen?" he finally asked. "How did it-"

"Not exactly," Louise shook her head, pulling her smartphone out of her pocket.

Typing on it for several seconds, she displayed a picture of Gwen sitting with a brown-haired white guy, maybe a year or two older than her and Randy. Her hands were wrapped around his, and the emotional look on her face clearly indicated just how she felt about the guy she was with.

Randy stared at the photo in disbelief for several seconds, hardly able to believe what he was seeing.

"This…you saw this?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes I did," Louise said sadly. "You didn't think she'd do something like this?"

"…I don't know what to think," Randy muttered as he sat down, his head whirling as he did. "Why would she be…I can't…"

"This is what your father and I have been trying to warn you about, sweetie," Louise said pointedly. "If your girlfriend is going to be flaunting her looks like this, is it any wonder that she might end up cheating on you?"

Randy didn't answer, still trying to digest it all.

"…Sweetie?" Louise asked gently, reaching out and taking his hand in hers.

"…I need some time to think," Randy murmured, the shock all too evident on his face.

Getting up, Louise reached over and took Randy in a reassuring hug.

She'd never liked Gwen, and she was even angrier than ever at the little tramp for what she'd done to her boy.

All of that was far away for now, though. She knew how much Randy loved Gwen, and she knew how much support he needed.

That was all that counted right now.

That jogging's been doing her some good, River Verys mused to himself as he pondered the sight on his webcam. I swear, she's lost a couple of inches off her waistline.

Damned if I know why she's sleeping in a Jets jersey, though, he continued, before shutting off the computer.

Getting up from his chair, River strode over to the couch before lying down, wondering what to do with the rest of his evening.

His recent concerns with the police came back to him, as he remembered his old friend Gooch telling him about the rumors that the April Reese case was going to be taken up by Detective Mulligan. Apparently even the police unions had gotten fed up with Ralph Arbuckle's stupidity, and he had been unceremoniously fired. Now Arbuckle's cases were being reassigned, and April's murder was likely going to be one of the first ones on the list.

So now he needed to figure out what to do.

Going underground was an option-he was known at plenty of clubs, and a lot of the scene regulars owed him favors. On the other hand, quite a few of them also liked April Reese, and if they somehow found out who had shot her then they'd turn on him like dogs.

No, better to skip town for a while, he realized. There were a few old scores he wouldn't mind settling while he was on the run anyway, and one of the things he'd learned growing up was how to handle things on the run.

The only problem was money-at the moment, River didn't have a whole lot of it.

He did, however, have some other people who owed him favors.

And of course, he could turn that into some quick cash.

The next day…

Sitting at a table nursing his second coffee of the evening, Nate Grey wondered what he was going to do. He couldn't keep running forever, not if he hoped to stop stealing from businesses to avoid leaving a paper trail and hypnotizing people to forget who he was. Even that didn't always work, since the Brotherhood had come close to catching him several times already. And when they did, he fled like a coward, leaving other people like Spider-Woman to do the fighting for him.

Staring in his coffee, he wondered if he could focus his powers so they would only work on himself. So far, all he'd done was just try and restrain them, or occasionally use them in short small bursts.

Thinking about it, a realization suddenly hit him.

Maybe I could turn my powers inwards, he realized. I could induce something, like a murmur or arrhythmia, or-

"You look like someone who could use a friend," he heard a familiar voice interrupt his thoughts. Looking up in surprise, Nate blinked in recognition of Gwen Stacy, alias the spectacular Spider-Woman, holding a coffee of her own.

"Spider…Gwen?" he asked, correcting himself as she shook his head briefly. "How did-"

"I've got powers too, remember?" she reminded him with a half-smile. "So, do you mind if I sit down?"

Before Nate could answer, Gwen did just that, pulling her chair up with an impish grin on her face.

"What are you doing here?" Nate asked, an edge in his voice.

"I was just in the neighborhood," Gwen explained, not seeming to notice the edge in Nate's voice. "So, what are you doing here?" she turned his question back at him.

"…I wish I knew," Nate said after a moment. "I was…thinking…"

"About what?" Gwen asked, before she leaned in for a closer look.

What she saw made her pale in horror.

"…No," Gwen said quietly.

"No what?" Nate asked in alarm.

"Don't you dare even think about it," Gwen shook her head.

She could have slapped Nate, and elicited the same reaction from him. He recoiled in shock, realizing that she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"How did you-" he choked in astonishment briefly. "Do you have psychic powers too, or something?" he asked.

"No, I don't," Gwen said calmly.

"Then how-" Nate started.

"Because I know what to look for," Gwen said, always maintaining that same calm. "I've seen it in people."

"…What do you mean?" Nate asked.

"You're not the only one who's been there, Nate," Gwen explained, taking a deep breath as she did so.

"You mean you've…" Nate ventured.

"Not in the same way you have," Gwen shook her head, "but I know the feeling-being helpless, powerless, trapped, alone."

"You were attacked by people who wanted to use your powers too?" Nate asked sympathetically.

"No," Gwen shook her head, "but I did have a father who treated my mother and I like punching bags, treated his mistresses better than his family and kicked us out of the house when I was seventeen."

"You haven't had anyone trying to turn you into a killing machine," Nate replied, the edge coming back into his voice.

"No, I haven't," Gwen replied, "but I do know that I was never alone, the way I used to think I was. You're not alone, either-would I be here if you were?" she asked Nate pointedly.

"…No offense, but somehow I don't think you can deal with the Brotherhood and the X-Men by yourself," Nate shot back with a frown.

"Why would I need to fight the X-Men?" Gwen persisted. "What makes you think they just want to use you like a weapon?"

"That's what they do, isn't it?" Nate asked. "They fight mutant terrorists like the Brotherhood."

"Yeah, but they also fight for mutant rights," Gwen pointed out to him. "They've tried to recruit other mutants, like another friend of mine, but they left her alone after she turned them down," Gwen continued. "That's more than the Brotherhood could say-I ended up having to fight Avalanche to stop him after he tried to kidnap her and kill her boyfriend."

"Yeah, but…" Nate trailed off.

"You know that I'm not lying, Nate," Gwen said, reminding him that his telepathic abilities could tell if she was telling him the truth. "The X-Men helped me save my family-why would they do all that if they would just use you the same way they would the Brotherhood?"

"So I'm supposed to just go waltzing up to Jean and tell her outright that I murdered her family?" Nate demanded, the air seeming to shimmer all around him.

"You didn't murder anyone," Gwen pointed out. "Do you really think that Jean would accuse you of it? Are you really that afraid of what she would say?"

"I…" Nate trailed off, not entirely sure what to say.

"…What are you afraid of?" Gwen asked, her voice softening.

"I can't…how can I look her in the eye and…" Nate murmured, as tears formed in his eyes.

"…You're not afraid of what Jean would say, are you?" Gwen realized. "It's…"

Nate looked away, as tears came down his cheeks.

"Damn it, Nate, that's not true and you know it!" Gwen insisted, reaching out and turning Nate's face back to look at hers. "I've been there too! I thought the way you did!"

Nate sat in silence for some moments, as Gwen stared intensely at him.

They looked into one another's eyes for a moment.

Nate recoiled in surprise, as Gwen's memories began flashing through his mind.

"You…" Nate started.

"I found a better way," Gwen said urgently. "You can too, Nate."

Nate stared into his coffee again, but Gwen could see that the look on his face was one of contemplation, not shame.

The edges of a smile played around her lips.

"What's the outlook, Jubilee?" Cyclops asked the younger mutant as she came into the foyer.

"Storm and Cannonball are pretty much out of it," Jubilee shook her head grimly. "The Blob really did a number on them. Iceman isn't in much better shape, either, and neither is Thunderbird. Dr. McCoy said they're both going to need a couple of days before they recover," she continued, referring to Dr. Henry McCoy, alias the Beast, who served both as one of the X-Men's physical powerhouses and the team physician.

Cyclops only frowned at the news. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had dispatched many of its members all over the city, committing crimes in between searching for Nate Grey. The X-Men had been forced to take the time to confront the Brotherhood mutants, and while they'd managed to defeat Stonewall and Super Sabre, another team had been brutally beaten by the Blob, Avalanche and the Crimson Commando. It was only through luck that Spider-Woman had been able to defeat Pyro, as none of the X-Men had been in the vicinity at the time.

"We haven't heard anything from Forge or Jean yet, have we?" Jubilee continued. "How about Angel or Rogue?"

"I'm afraid not," Cyclops frowned, cursing the team's bad luck. Forge's modified Cerebro scanner had been hit and miss in trying to track Nate, likely because his psychic energies were themselves interfering with the scanner's sensors. Nor had getting Angel and Rogue to search from the sky, with Rogue borrowing Wolverine's powers of scent, worked any better. Now, the ranks of the X-Men had been thinned, while the Brotherhood could just get Spiral to teleport into prison and free the Brotherhood members at will.

"…How are you holding up?" Jubilee asked in concern, clearly noting the strain on his face.

Cyclops only smiled back at her. It was amazing how much Jubilee had matured in the last year or so. Before that, she'd been prone to making foolish decisions on the battlefield and most of the team had serious doubts about her capacity as an X-Man. Now, though, she had repeatedly proven herself in battle, her keen tactical senses fitting in perfectly with the rest of the X-Men.

"We'll get through this," Jubilee reminded him pointedly. "We always do."

Cyclops's smile grew wider, as he felt a weight coming off his shoulders.

That was when Forge strode into the room.

"You don't really need to be employin' your healing magic, Spiral," Pyro grinned at his six-armed teammate as she danced, weaving her hands and feet in an intricate spell to restore his health. "Just watchin' you dance makes me feel a thousand times better!" he chuckled.

Spiral only laughed back as she turned the dance on to the rest of the Brotherhood. Soon they were fully restored, healed from all of the injuries they'd suffered in their battles with the X-Men.

It was a rested and eager Brotherhood that awaited Detective Fanon, alias Mystique, as she strode into the room of their safehouse.

The look on her face told them everything they needed to know, and confirmed everything they could have hoped for.

"How have you dealt with having your power?" Nate asked Gwen curiously. "Was it something you had an easy time controlling, or were you scared at first?"

"My problems weren't so much with my power as they were with my-" Gwen started, before they heard a loud booming sound outside in the street. Running to the window along with several other patrons, Gwen and Nate were startled to see a hugely fat man sitting in the middle of the street, dressed in a pair of coveralls and a T-shirt with the image of Eric Cartman prominently displayed on it. The pavement all around him was riddled with cracks, as if he had come crashing down onto it. The man didn't seem at all hurt, grinning as he got to his feet. Waddling over to a nearby car, he picked it up and hurled it as if it was a toy, laughing at the terrified screams of the bystanders around him.

It didn't take Gwen or Nate long to recognize the Blob, the morbidly obese, super-strong mutant who acted as one of the strongmen in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Gwen had encountered the Blob once more when she fought alongside the X-Men to rescue her family after they'd been kidnapped by the Brotherhood, and she could imagine what the big lummox was capable of.

Gwen and Nate looked at one another, her determined look matching his concerned one.

"Do you-" Nate started.

"I've got it covered," Gwen assured him, before the cries of some of the other coffee shop patrons made them look back outside. More of the Brotherhood's members were now causing havoc in the streets, as the Crimson Commando flipped through the air, tossing daggers with pinpoint accuracy at terrified passerby. Pyro had trapped several other bystanders in a ring of fire, while Stonewall tore up chunks of pavement and threw them at some of the other bystanders.

The old Stacy luck's working overtime, Gwen realized, never liking the idea of fighting while outnumbered. Any one of the Brotherhood members could easily have killed her-she'd learned that the hard way fighting Spiral, Pyro and Avalanche-but battling more than one could easily turn into a suicide mission.

That didn't stop Gwen from looking around for a way to escape so she could change into her Spider-Woman costume, but she might have been better served keeping her eye on Nate. A few cries of alarm were Gwen's only warning before Spiral appeared in the midst of the coffee shop patrons, grabbing Nate and then vanishing before Gwen or anyone else could react.

Gwen's spider-senses triggered, and she knew that she would be able to track Nate down wherever Spiral took him. Unfortunately, she couldn't pursue Spiral while the Brotherhood was running amuck outside.

Of course, that's the whole point, Gwen realized. The rest of the Brotherhood is a distraction for anyone who might try to catch Spiral.

Cursing her luck yet again, Gwen began making her way through the crowd of patrons, many of whom were trying to escape out the back way. She ran into little resistance as she hurried up to the front door, and soon she was out on the street, looking for a place to hide for the few seconds she needed.

That was when she noticed the other new arrivals coming on the scene.

Smiling widely, she ran off to find a hiding place.

Maybe things were looking up after all.

Shelley Wankworth, alias the Crimson Commando, switched from her knife-throwing skills to her target-shooting ones as she expended the last of her knives. Drawing the submachine guns from her belt, she began firing at the victims who had survived her knives, but were too injured to move.

It helped Shelley that she was able to imagine her brother Gordon Wankworth, alias the Taskmaster, as the victims. The Wankworths' mutant powers of "photographic reflexes", as Gordon had come to call them, were much the same for both Shelley and Gordon. Simply by seeing any physical action performed, Shelley and Gordon could both flawlessly repeat those actions for themselves. By studying any number of athletic and combat feats, including the fighting styles of warriors ranging from Bruce Lee to Moon Knight, Shelley and Gordon had become formidable warriors.

Their shared powers were the source of hatred more than bonding for the Wankworth siblings, however, as Gordon had opted to use his skills as a mercenary combat trainer for hire, providing lessons to anyone, from government agencies to subversive organizations, that paid the price. Shelley was disgusted at what she viewed as Gordon's selling out his own people, while Gordon mocked what he saw as her obsessive fanaticism and waste of her talents. They'd both threatened to kill one another more than once if they ever got the chance, and Shelley was looking forward to the day when she'd finally get to blow Gordon's brains to kingdom come.

The thoughts, pleasant as they were, didn't distract the Commando enough to prevent her from sensing Cyclops's optic blast, or of backflipping out of the way. Whirling around, she retaliated with a hail of gunfire that likely would have torn Cyclops to shreds, if Jubilee's energy sparks hadn't shattered them first. Jubilee then turned her focus on the Commando herself, pointing her hands to release her energy sparks. The Commando was faster, though, tossing one of her guns into the air and using her now free hand to toss a flash bomb that blinded the X-Men, before she caught her guns once more.

The Commando was ready to take down Jubilee and Cyclops, but she was suddenly knocked off balance by the impact of Warpath slamming down onto the ground nearby. Thrown into the air by one of Avalanche's earth waves, Warpath was left stunned for a moment as he landed. That moment was far too long when dealing with the Crimson Commando, as she peppered Warpath with bullets. The large Apache man screamed in agony, before lashing out with his fist.

The Commando was gone before he could strike her, though, easily flipping out of the way.

Her jump would have made Michael Jordan proud, particularly since she learned to do it by copying him.

Cyclops felt as though every bone in his body had been broken when Stonewall tackled him. The huge mutant, as impassive and silent as his namesake, forcibly yanked Cyclops to his feet before punching him in the stomach. Flying back to slam into a wall, Cyclops bounced off and landed square on the pavement, his entire body on fire. Forcing himself to his feet, he managed to hit Stonewall head on with an optic blast, but if Stonewall felt it at all he did not show it. His vision still hazy because of the flash bomb, Cyclops struggled to aim again, realizing that if he didn't Stonewall was going to kill him.

Stonewall never got to that point, as another body came crashing into him. As Stonewall looked down in surprise at his fallen comrade, Cyclops realized what had happened. Super Sabre had been flung into Stonewall, likely by Jean Grey's telepathy, who came down protectively between Cyclops and the larger mutant. Stonewall charged again, but this time he was the one flung through the air by Jean, as Cyclops took aim with his optic blasts and fired once again.

Cyclops knew his optic blasts couldn't really hurt Stonewall, but they worked just fine for dropping him down on top of Pyro, knocking the flamethrowing mutant senseless before he could roast Warpath and Jubilee. Getting to his feet, Stonewall might have thrown another chunk of pavement, but he was suddenly struck the face by Jubilee's energy sparks, which staggered him long enough for Warpath to pick him up and brutally slam him into the ground.

Behind them, Warpath braced himself to shield Jubilee from the wave of pavement flying at them, but Wolverine beat him to it. Snarling eagerly, a manic grin on his face, Wolverine easily slashed through the debris with his claws, constantly leaping to keep Avalanche's shockwaves from throwing him off balance. Finally catching up to Avalanche, Wolverine viciously slashed his arms and legs with practiced skill, leaving the mutant alive but in no shape to continue.

Unfortunately, Cyclops saw that Wolverine and Warpath were both knocked off their feet by the pavement chunks flung at them by the Blob, and the blubbery mutant didn't seem intimidated at all by how outnumbered he was. Leaping forward, he easily sent Wolverine flying with one open slap, and the other one would likely have broken Jubilee in half if Jean hadn't pulled her away at the last moment.

The remaining X-Men were trapped between the Blob on one side and the Crimson Commando, spraying a hail of gunfire, on the other. With Warpath too injured to continue, the remaining X-Men braced themselves, hoping that they could hold out in time for Wolverine to heal and come back to help them.

It never came to that, as the Blob leapt forward and the Commando readied herself to fire. The Commando's shots were suddenly blocked by Rogue coming down between her and her targets, easily charging forward and disabling the Commando with a single powerful punch. The Blob, meanwhile, froze in midair, caught by the Angel's windstorms. Rising up into the air, using the winds to drag the Blob up with him, Angel spun the Blob around with dizzying speed, before finally flinging the large mutant down into the ground. Dizzied from being tossed around in the air and then slammed into the ground, the Blob isn't even able to stand, much less continue to fight.

"You cut it a little close, didn't you?" Jubilee asked Angel and Rogue sardonically as they came up, a recovering Wolverine coming to join them.

"Blame Cyclops, not us," Angel grinned, reminding her that it had been Cyclops who'd ordered him and Rogue to get the civilians out of the way before joining the battle.

"Are you going to be okay?" Jean asked her companions with concern.

"I will," Cyclops said after a moment, the look of discomfort from his wounds all too clear to Jean. "But you need to get Warpath back to Beast. He took a lot of bullets."

"Will do," Jean nodded, as she rose up into the air, telekinetically levitating Warpath with her.

Looking around at the rest of the X-Men, Cyclops could see the looks of concern on their faces.

"I'll live," he said curtly. "I'm more worried about Spiral-she obviously went after Nate while the Brotherhood ran interference for her."

Activating his communicator, Cyclops contacted Forge for an update on Nate's location.

Nate had been too startled to react when Spiral had grabbed him, but when they'd emerged from the teleportation, she'd released him. Shaking his head vigorously, Nate struggled to regain his bearings, feeling his powers rise up again within him. Glancing around, he saw Spiral leering at him, her six arms weaving in a sinuous dance. Thinking quickly, Nate realized that his powers could likely overcome Spiral easily, and his eyes glowed a bright white as he began to focus.

It was far too little, far too late, as a jolt of pain exploded through Nate's body. His muscles felt like they were on fire, and his brain felt as though a thunderstorm was raging within its depths. Sinking to his hands and knees, barely able to focus his thoughts, Nate's vision blurred, as a small, numb part of him realized he could not access his abilities.

The bitter irony was not lost on him.

"A valiant effort, boy," Spiral conceded as she finished her dance. "But you face one with far more experience than you, far more wisdom and skill. All your powers, so much greater than so many others, are yet as naught against my sorcery. Your mutantcy grants you dominion over the powers of the mind, while my mutantcy grants me power over sorceries unbound, legends too long forgotten, powers far more ancient and mighty than those of mere mortal minds," she cackled.

That same experience had led Spiral to cast spells of warning whenever anyone who posed a threat attempted to attack her, and those spells triggered as Spider-Woman sprang down through the back window of the empty storefront she was hiding in. Spiral hadn't teleported too far from the battle between the X-Men and the Brotherhood, as she would need to see them when she teleported them and Nate away to their safehouse. Unfortunately, that had given Spider-Woman time to catch up with them.

"We meet again, little spider!" Spiral noted, the hateful glare on her face indicating that she had neither forgotten nor forgiven her previous defeat at the younger woman's hands. "Does the power of love motivate you to interfere in concerns not your own?" she demanded, slashing mercilessly with the weapons in her hands as she charged at Spider-Woman.

Expecting Spiral to cast a spell, Spider-Woman was caught off guard. She tried to flip out of the way, but Spiral caught up and struck her dead-on with her weapons. Spider-Woman landed awkwardly, blood trailing from her legs and her left arm as she struggled to her feet. She fired a blast of webbing at Spiral as the six-armed mutant began a dance, but Spiral simply blinked out of sight and reappeared behind Spider-Woman, striking at her again with her swords. Spider-Woman dodged again, this time taking a cut on the shoulder as she rolled out of Spiral's way. This time she countered with a sting blast, catching Spiral on the arm.

Unfortunately, all that seemed to do was make Spiral angry. She quickly followed up with a spell, one that wracked Spider-Woman's body with pain and left her staggering. It was only the double sting blast that Spider-Woman managed to fire that forced Spiral to teleport that kept her from being decapitated.

Spider-Woman's mind raced as she continued dodging, trying desperately to think of a plan to counter Spiral's magic.

That was when it hit her.

Spiral caught me completely off guard, Spider-Woman realized.

Let's see how she likes it!

A wicked grin crossed Spider-Woman's face as she sprang forward, leaping over Spiral's blades and catching her mutant foe in the head with a thrusting kick. Now Spiral was the one staggering back, before Spider-Woman fired a stream of webbing to entangle Spiral's arms. Her arms fully entangled, Spiral couldn't have hoped to keep a grip on her weapons when Spider-Woman twisted her arms, much less to cast any spells.

Instead, she sprang forward, lashing out with a series of kicks at Spider-Woman, but the arachnid heroine easily blocked them and countered with a kick of her own to Spiral's stomach. Gasping in pain, Spiral staggered before Spider-Woman followed up with a series of punches and a pair of sting blasts that left her groaning semi-conscious on the floor.

"Isn't…over…" Spiral gasped as Spider-Woman came up to her. "Going…kill…"

"Maybe you haven't noticed how many people have told me that," Spider-Woman said calmly, "but I'm still here. What does that tell you?" she continued, before giving Spiral another kick.

Concern replaced the disgust on her face as she turned to tend to Nate, who had crawled several feet away during their battle. Kneeling down, she helped him to his feet, noting with worry the pain in his eyes.

"Are you going to be okay?" Spider-Woman asked gently.

"I…yeah," Nate finally said. "Thanks, Gwen…"

"For what?" she asked him.

"For everything," he finished.

He lay in her arms for a few minutes more, comforted by her strong grip.

It was then that they heard the front door of the building bang open and the X-Men come into the room. Jean Grey was in the lead, staring intently at her cousin.

The Greys looked at one another for a long moment, neither one daring to speak.

Finally, Nate remembered what Gwen had told him.

"Jean…" he said slowly.

"I'm…sorry," he continued. "So, so sorry…"

In response, Jean came up and gathered Nate into a tight hug.

"You don't need to apologize," she reassured him. "We all know you didn't mean for any of this to happen."

"I just didn't know what to do," Nate said as Jean released him. "I turned into a thief, a criminal, just so I could-"

"You don't need to apologize," Jean repeated herself. "We can help you with all that-we can pay for the companies you stole from, get you legal help, all those things."

"What about all of the people the Brotherhood hurt and killed because of me?" Nate persisted, the shame still prevalent on his face.

"The Brotherhood chose to do all those things, not you," Jean reminded him. "If they try anything again, they'll have us to deal with. We'll face them together-we're family, aren't we? And not just you and me-all of the rest of the X-Men too!"

"Jean…" Nate trailed off, almost too overwhelmed to speak.

"Please…come back home," Jean asked him.

Nate's response was to tightly embrace Jean.

"Thank you," he murmured. "And thank you," he continued, turning back to Spider-Woman once he'd released Jean. "You really helped me get through this."

"I'm glad I could help," Spider-Woman assured him. "You take care, alright? And promise me something."

"What's that?" Nate asked.

"You're not alone," Spider-Woman reminded him. "You never are, and you never will be."

She hugged him one more time before he turned to leave with the X-Men, as they dragged the semi-conscious Spiral along with them.

For all the stress and frustration she had been feeling, Spider-Woman felt nothing but joy at that moment.

He's not alone, and neither am I, she realized, a determined look on her face as she emerged from the building and swung away to where she'd hidden her street clothes.

(Next Issue: Although Gwen has helped Nate Grey with his problems, she has problems of her own when Randy confronts her about what his mother Louise thought was her cheating on him. Her life as Spider-Woman also risks becoming more complicated too, when Donald Gill, alias Blizzard, is paroled from prison and returns to his old haunts on the streets. Meanwhile, River Verys hatches a plot to acquire the money he needs to go underground after April Reese's murder! All this and more in Spider-Woman #81: Your Cheating Heart!)