Your Cheating Heart

Despite the cool November weather, the sun was shining brightly, reflecting Gwen Stacy's attitude as she made her way across the Empire State University campus. During everything that had been happening over the last week or so with Nate Grey and the X-Men, Gwen hadn't been able to get in touch with her boyfriend Randy Robertson. While she'd tried to get in touch with him before now, they hadn't been able to coordinate their schedules until Randy had texted her to meet at the Coffee Bean about half an hour ago.

Now, with her last class for the day done, Gwen was eager to see Randy again. She needed to talk to him about everything that had happened with Nate, and even more so apologize to Randy for gawking at Nate the way she had. It was one thing for either of them to occasionally ogle other people, but Gwen felt like she'd crossed a line by how strongly she'd been attracted to him. The shame and guilt had been eating at her for the last several days, and she was eager for the opportunity to set things right.

Randy was already sitting at a table waiting for her when she entered into the Coffee Bean, so she went to get a latte. Fortunately, there wasn't much of a line this afternoon, and it wasn't long before she was sitting down to join Randy.

"Hi, sweetie," Gwen said warmly as she sat down. "How've you been?"

Randy didn't answer at first, merely taking a drink of his coffee.

"Things have been crazy for me," Gwen continued, "and I'm glad it's mostly done. I would have met up with you sooner, but I just haven't had the opportunity."

"You've been busy, huh?" Randy asked, reaching into his pocket.

"When am I not?" Gwen replied. "And they must be keeping you pretty busy at the radio station, too. Every time I tried to call, you were tied up there, so-"

"So you thought it was alright to do this, I guess?" Randy said coldly, tossing his phone onto the table for Gwen to look at.

Glancing down at the phone, Gwen saw that Randy had opened up a picture of her having coffee with Nate Grey, with her hands wrapped around his.

"Wh…where did you get this picture?" Gwen asked in shock. "Were you spying on me?"

"My mother took that picture," Randy explained, "and she showed it to me. You mind telling me what's going on here?"

"Randy, it's not what it looks like," Gwen protested.

"Isn't that the same guy you were drooling over at Fright Night?" Randy asked pointedly.

"I wasn't drool-okay, yes he's the guy I was ogling, and I'm really sorry about that," Gwen replied, guilt in her voice. "But I wasn't dating him-he's just a friend of mine who needed help!"

Randy didn't reply at first, but he was clearly unconvinced, the skeptical frown on his face all too evident.

And he has every right to be pissed off, Gwen thought to herself. First I look at Nate like he's Edward Cullen, then he ends up seeing me holding Nate's hand, so what the hell's he supposed to think?

Her mood had been eager and bright coming into the Coffee Bean, but now all Gwen felt was shame and anger at her own stupidity.

SPIDER-WOMAN #81

"YOUR CHEATING HEART"

"So exactly what kind of help did he need?" Randy demanded.

"The mutant powers kind," Gwen explained, before briefly explaining about Nate's abilities, his pursuit by the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and her efforts to help him both in helping him work through his issues and protecting him from the Brotherhood.

"I couldn't just leave him when he needed me!" Gwen concluded. "He was in a really bad place when your mother saw us. Try and imagine what he might have done to himself if I hadn't been there to help him."

That made Randy pause for several moments. He was all too familiar with the despair many people of color felt for all kinds of reasons, the despair that led them to lash out at the world and end up in prison because of it. Mutants didn't face quite the same kinds of problems as black people usually did, of course, but it was that same despair that led some of them to do the things they had done.

That all made sense to him, of course, but he couldn't help but still feel angry at Gwen about it.

"I'll admit, I crossed a line with the way I looked at him," Gwen said, looking down in her coffee. "I'm really sorry about that, Randy-if there's any way I can make it up to you, I'll do it, whatever it takes."

Randy stared intently at Gwen for several long moments.

"Everybody does things they regret," he finally said, taking her hand in his. "This has been eating away at you for a while, hasn't it?"

"Am I that obvious?" Gwen asked with a rueful smile.

"Not necessarily," Randy replied, the ghost of a half-smile on his face, "but I do know how high-strung these things can make you. You shouldn't let these things eat at you so much."

"Sometimes I just can't help it," Gwen shrugged sadly.

"Well, maybe I can help," Randy smiled. Standing up, he offered Gwen his hand. "Care to join me?"

"Thank you so much…" Gwen trailed off as she stood up.

Within her mind, Gwen felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Randy was her rock, one of the loving supports that had helped keep her sane whenever nothing else seemed to be going right.

I'm going to make things right for him, she thought to herself.

Whatever it takes, whatever he needs, I'll be there for him.

Looking down at Gwen, who leaned on his shoulder as they walked across campus, Randy felt some distinctly mixed emotions.

It's just like what happened with Jack O' Lantern learning her secret identity, Randy realized. She made a mistake, and she nearly tears herself apart over it.

He understood that, he really did, and he felt a keen sympathy for her.

Yeah, but how many more of these things are going to happen? Randy couldn't help but wonder. One day she's letting some psycho in a fright mask find out who she is, the next she's making goo-goo eyes for some guy she's only seen for ten seconds.

He knew he probably wasn't being fair, and he was trying to fight those feelings, he really was.

At the same time, though, he just couldn't stop himself from thinking those things.

"So we'll see you in a couple of months, Donnie?" the prison guard asked as he escorted Donald Gill to the police launch.

"At the outside," Donald smirked, before the guard joined him in his laughter. Several of the other inmates who were also getting a ride off Riker's Island laughed along with him. They were all familiar with the Gill family's reputations as chronic jailbirds, and knew that it was a Gill family tradition was for family members to celebrate their parole by finding some way of breaking it. That didn't prevent the state parole board from repeatedly paroling the members of the extended Gill clan, although they inevitably ended up back in prison within a few months. Despite his comparative youth, Donald Gill had still done his family proud with an impressively long list of felony arrests, starting at the age of eight and then just going on from there.

Donald also stood out from the rest of his family in many ways, and not just because of his snow-white skin and hair, or his ice-blue eyes. An accident involving cold-inducing Freon gases had imbued him with superhuman abilities, notably the ability to generate and control excessive cold. He had embarked on an all-too short career as the supervillain Blizzard, and earned the distinction of being what criminals frequently referred to as "supervillain firsts", or the first supervillain a new superhero battled. Donald was proud of that on its own, but he was even more proud of the fact that he had been the first villain to confront the spectacular Spider-Woman, the city's only female superhero aside from the Invisible Woman.

Once Donald and the last two prisoners following along behind him had boarded the police launch, it wasn't long before the boat was cutting through the waters towards the city harbor.

"So what are you guys planning to do when you get out?" one of the inmates asked his buddies.

"You mean besides bang Josie until my unit falls off?" another inmate grinned. "Sweet fuck all, my man, sweet fuck all."

"I got a good job lined up," another guy said. "Trevor's hired me as a bouncer. Not only will I get to stare at the honeys all day, I'll be able to kick the asses of anybody else who gets too close…and I get paid for it! Can you believe it? Trust me, I'm never coming back to this shithole again!"

"I want to get out of New York," a third guy chimed in. "There's way too much crap going on in this city."

"I've got some stuff lined up with Jean Paul, Mike and Robb," Donald said, "they'll need me for-"

"You sure you really want to do that, Donnie?" another one of the inmates interrupted him.

"Of course I would," Donald blinked. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because Ray-Ray's at it again," the other inmate told him. "Ray-Ray and his buddies are tearing up all kinds of shit. You don't want to know what they did to Cornelius and Fresh Squeeze…"

Donald's good mood instantly vanished, replaced with an anger he hadn't felt since he'd learned about how his good friend Marie-Ange Colbert, alias Tarot, was being harassed in prison for being a mutant.

Donald wasn't worried about Tarot. He'd gotten his family to protect Tarot from the other inmates, and even though he was now being paroled he knew that Tarot would continue to be safe.

But Todd "Ray-Ray" Iainuzzi?

That was a whole other problem.

"I hope they're what you were looking for," Gwen said, as the prison guard passed the incense bundles to Marie-Ange Colbert, alias Tarot, once he'd inspected them and determined they weren't contraband. "I couldn't remember if it was cedar or sage that you were looking for, and-"

"No, you got it right," Tarot assured her. "Thanks a lot for this, Gwen-this is just what I need for my readings."

"Glad I could help," Gwen assured her. "How are you holding up?"

"About as well as I could, all things considered," Marie-Ange smiled, looking all around them at the visitors' area of Riker's Island Penitentiary. "How about you, Gwen? You look like you've got a lot on your mind."

"Yeah, I do," Gwen nodded. "I just feel really bad about something that got between me and my boyfriend," she continued.

"What was it?" Tarot prompted.

"I drooled over this one hottie at a Halloween party, when I really shouldn't have," Gwen said, shame crossing her face. "I mean, my boyfriend's treated me like a queen-it's one thing for me to ogle other guys every now and again, but to look at the guy like I did…I almost feel like I cheated on Randy," she finished.

"You do realize just how many people harbor those kinds of lustful feelings, even when they're in a committed relationship, right?" Tarot asked her pointedly.

"Well…I guess…" Gwen trailed off. "But that doesn't-"

"No, it doesn't," Tarot agreed, "but you don't need to be so hard on yourself all the time."

Gwen wasn't quite sure what to say, and the look on her face showed it.

"…And now you're being hard on yourself because people have told you that more than once, and you've forgotten it," she grinned. "Seriously, Gwen-you really push yourself too hard."

"…What can I say?" Gwen shrugged helplessly. "Sometimes I feel so guilty I wonder if I became Catholic without realizing it."

They laughed at this.

"Thanks for that, though," Gwen nodded appreciatively to Tarot. "I need the reminder sometimes."

"We all do," Tarot assured her. "Thanks for stopping by-I always appreciate it!"

Walking back to the entrance, Gwen reflected on what Tarot was saying.

She's right, Gwen thought to herself, and so are the half-dozen other people who've been telling me the same thing. Why do they need to keep telling me-

That was when Gwen realized that she was doing exactly what Tarot was pointing out…again.

Gwen burst out laughing at that realization, surprising the guard who was escorting her.

The man raised an eyebrow, but he simply shrugged it off when he saw the relaxed look on Gwen's face.

Just remember what you told yourself, Gwen thought. You can't change the past, but you can make things right with Randy. Whatever it takes, however long it takes!

This time she wasn't even reproaching herself for needing the reminder.

"You're looking better," Louise Robertson said to Randy as they picked up the dishes from supper. "Did everything work out with Gwen yesterday?"

"Yeah, I found out what she was doing with that guy you saw her with," Randy explained. "They're just friends, and he really needed her help with some problems he was dealing with."

"What kind of problems?" Louise asked with a frown.

"It's a private thing," Randy shook his head. "Doesn't really matter."

"Are you sure about that?" Louise persisted.

"Yeah, I am," Randy nodded. "It was a private thing between them, Mom. Nothing we really need to worry about."

"So you don't think it's any of your business?" Louise continued. "Even when Gwen was looking at this guy like he was Prince Charming? You're damn right it's your business!"

"No, Mom, it isn't!" Randy finally said in exasperation. "Seriously, why can't you at least give Gwen the benefit of the doubt once in a while? Why do you always have to treat her so badly?"

"What are you talking about?" Louise asked in surprise. "I'm not-"

"I've heard you and Dad talking about how Gwen is a homewrecker, a whore, a whole bunch of other things. How do you think that makes me feel?" Randy asked.

"How it makes you feel?" Louise asked in confusion.

"Yeah, because apparently I'm so stupid I end up dating whores," Randy frowned in annoyance.

"That's not true at all!" Louise protested. "You could do so much better-remember that nice Kitty Pryde girl?" she continued.

"Of course I remember Kitty," Randy replied. "I'm friends with her. So is Gwen."

"So why don't you-" Louise began.

"Because we never hit it off," Randy explained, frustration creeping into his voice. "Seriously, Mom-can't you and Dad just let this go and be happy for me?"

Louise paused for several moments, trying to think of what to say.

"Just make sure you know this girl as well as you think you do, Randy," Louise finally said. "Secrets can have a funny way of sneaking up on people," she pointed out, as she passed the last of the dishes over to him to dry.

With those words, she left Randy to finish up, thinking about what she'd just told him.

He hated to admit it-he really, really did-but Louise's words were sticking with him much more than he would have liked to admit.

Alright, let's see here… River Verys thought to himself, as he reviewed his inventory. Power drill, extra duffel bag, leather gloves, bolt cutters, smartphone, handgun, bleach, blowtorch, glass cutter…

Looking up from the table, he reached over to the bloodstained knife he'd retrieved from the scene of a superhero fight several days ago. For the last several years, River had been collecting trophies not just of his own exploits, but also of any other crimes and incidents he'd come across. He had quite an impressive collection, although for the most part he kept it all in a storage locker that he only visited when he wanted to gush over some of his treasures.

The bloody knife was an exception. River had found that it was much harder to retrieve mementoes from superhero fights than one might expect. Such collector's items were usually taken as evidence, destroyed in cleanups, or scavenged by people who were closer to the scene than he was. Given how well acquainted he was with the cops, River didn't dare get too close to too many high-profile scenes too often. Fortunately, the knife had been easy for him to retrieve, since he'd already been on the scene when Spider-Woman had fought those psychos from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. It was the one treasure he was taking with him-both because of how rare it was, and because a good knife was also eminently practical.

His most recent exploit, a particularly brutal criticism of indie filmmaker April Reese for his dislike of her long-winded, pretentious style, had attracted more attention than he would have liked. The case had originally been assigned to Ralph Arbuckle, widely known as the most incompetent cop on the force, but Ralph had recently been fired after even the policemen's union had enough of his incompetence. Now, the case was getting reassigned, and to someone who actually knew what the hell they were doing.

That was bad-and if word got out in the club scene, or among the art house crowd, that he was involved in April's murder, he was fucked.

So he had to go on the run, and he needed money.

Fortunately, he knew exactly where to get it.

I almost feel sorry for Moose, River thought to himself as he pulled the smartphone out of the pocket of his backpack. I told him he should have replaced this outdated crap, and I told him he would have gotten his money's worth…

River loved new technology, particularly the new programs commonly referred to as "apps". New ones were being developed all the time, allowing users to do everything from getting driving directions to downloading electronic books for reading.

River conceded that they could be useful-he did particularly enjoy downloading bootleg movies, after all-but he preferred other kinds of apps, namely the ones that allowed him to override older alarm systems that weren't shielded against the signals the apps could make smartphones equipped with them emit.

Putting away his smartphone, River then retrieved his drill and began jimmying the lock.

Swinging through the air, Spider-Woman reflected on the events of the last couple of days. She was all caught up on her schoolwork, and she'd patched things up with Randy, but she still needed to figure out what to do to really make things up to him. That wasn't the only thing she needed to figure out, either-she needed to get a Twitter account going, and probably a YouTube site, if she really wanted to build up a social media profile. She also needed to check in on the Gloom Room A Go-Go, to see if it was ever going to reopen…

…and then she also needed to think about checking in for some new modelling work.

Shaking her head, Spider-Woman released her webline and perched onto the wall of a nearby building to gather her thoughts.

She hadn't gone too far when she'd seen the light click on in the building a little further up the street.

Normally, that might not have attracted Spider-Woman's notice, but she began to get the feeling that something was wrong. She couldn't tell why-her spider senses didn't work the same way that Spider-Man's did-but something about the whole setup didn't seem right to her.

Her eyes narrowing behind her mask, Spider-Woman spun a webline and swung down to street level, creeping up towards the door to the building and looking through the window.

The light was on and everything looked calm, but the suspicions she felt still nagged at her. Listening to her gut had saved her life more than once as a superhero, and she wasn't comfortable leaving until she'd investigated. Walking up to the door, she tried the handle and found that it was unlocked, to her astonishment.

Walking without a sound into the building, she looked around.

She heard the sound of rummaging faintly in the distance.

Making her way further into the building, she saw an open door and a broken padlock lying on the floor next to it.

Now fully alarmed, she briefly sprinted back and glanced into the room she had just passed.

Using the telephone, she quickly and quietly telephoned the police, before slipping back towards the open door.

The sound of rummaging was getting louder.

These designer drugs are the shit, River thought to himself with a smile, as he placed several bottles into his spare duffel bag. Just a couple of sales at the raves, and I'll be twenty grand in the black-perfect while I skip town for a bit…

…and have a bit of fun in the meantime, he smiled to himself. I've already got some people picked out, and-

"You might want to hold it," he heard a feminine voice coming from the doorway of Moose's drug lab.

Whirling around with practiced ease, cocking his gun, River stared murder at Spider-Woman, who strode into the lab to face him.

"Yeah, I don't think so, babe," River said humorlessly, keeping his gun pointed at her. "Ever see what a dead body looks like? The only way this ends is if you learn it for the first time, or I get a refresher course."

"I already called the police," Spider-Woman pointed out to him. "Next time, you might not want to leave a light on where it can be seen from the street, genius!"

"You fucking-" River started, firing a blast from his gun at Spider-Woman, who expertly sprang over the bullet. Raising her hands, she fired a stream of webbing, one of her hands aimed at the gun in River's hands and the other directed at River himself. Unfortunately, River had twisted after firing at Spider-Woman and released a second blast, this one aimed at the flammable chemicals stacked on a nearby counter.

Moose's stupidity and negligence was driven home as the chemicals exploded into fire, blinding Spider-Woman and causing her to relax her grip on the webbing. River managed to get a start on pulling himself away, pulling out his knife to cut himself free, but then Spider-Woman tightened her grip on the webline. Stumbling as he lost his balance, River crashed into a table, sending it flying into the counter and knocking some of the burning chemicals down onto River's prone form.

The knife gashing River's arm pained him enough, but the burning drug paraphernalia falling onto him made him scream in agony. Thrashing around, he managed to cut himself once and again with the knife, even as the burning chemicals spread over his body.

Vaguely, he heard the sounds of Spider-Woman's weblines shooting through the air, dousing the flames around him. He then felt the blessed relief of the webbing smothering the flames on him as well, as Spider-Woman slowly dragged him to his feet. He felt himself being dragged back towards the entrance of the building, and the red and blue lights of the police sirens danced at the edge of his vision, but at that point he hardly cared.

He felt like his skin was going to tear off.

"What were you doing in this building anyway, kid?" the suspicious police officer asked.

"I was out patrolling," Spider-Woman explained, before looking at where the paramedics were loading the badly burned River into an ambulance. "That's when I saw the light, and I checked to see if somebody was trying to rob the place or something."

"Yeah, whatever," the cop shook his head. "So he shot his gun at you, and then at a bunch of chemicals on the counter?"

"Yeah," Spider-Woman nodded. "I don't know what he was thinking," she shrugged.

"Probably trying to create a diversion," the cop sighed. "I've seen it before in drug labs like this. These dumbfucks use all sorts of flammable-"

"You were right about the owner of the building, Bert," another cop came walking up to them. "Moose does own this building."

"Aw, Christ," the cop named Bert swore. "I'm going to be up for the next two days on the paperwork on this one…"

"Come again?" Spider-Woman blinked.

"Long story short, sweetie-Moose Johnson's an up-and-coming drug lord wannabe, producing new designer shit. It wouldn't surprise me that an asshole like River Verys knows him-they probably met at some rave or something," Bert explained.

"…So is he going to be alright?"

"Hell if I know," Bert shrugged. "You shouldn't really care, anyway-if anybody deserved to get fried like that, it'd be Verys. Just hit the road, kid-we can take it from here."

Frowning uncertainly, Spider-Woman sprang into the air, webswinging away as she resumed her patrol.

As the ambulance took him away, River Verys felt the paramedics bandaging his wounds, and providing medication.

Despite the treatment, it wasn't doing River a bit of good.

Despite his delirium, he could hear the paramedics talking about how the dirty knife might have given him an infection, and how some of the drugs had gotten into his bloodstream.

That didn't disturb River nearly as much as the maddening, growing hunger he felt.

He was going to need to be fed.

And soon.

(Next Issue: Gwen resumes her effort to find work, as well as building up her social media profile, resuming contact with old employers like Jonathan Caesar and Desiree Vaughn-Pope in the process. Meanwhile, Donald Gill makes plans to begin dealing with a violent thug who's begun threatening his turf. Meanwhile, River Verys is treated for the grisly injuries he suffered during his confrontation with Spider-Woman, only to find that the nightmare is just beginning! All this and more in Spider-Woman #82: Skin Deep!)