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Gwen jumped down from the container, landing in a low crouch. Her eyes swept across the warehouse. There was nobody else beside her and the goth villain.
"My very own goth archnemesis." Gwen straightened up and held her chin. "Why is God so generous today? It's not my birthday. Did dad lie about it?"
The woman spread her arms and let out an unhinged laugh. "That is your intellect? What a disgrace to spider-kind you are." (Check paragraph comm for image)
"Excuse you, I'm an honor student. I'll reject that insult on academic grounds."
The woman shook her head, clicking her tongue in mock pity. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Honor student or not... you're terribly slow, little spider. Did you truly believe we only seized poor Yuri Watanabe's mind to lure you into this little box? How pathetic."
"What are you—" Her lenses widened dramatically as the realization came over. "You messed with Felicia's mom."
"Bingo." The woman grinned. "Though that's only one part of the grand scheme. Every companion Dante has in Manhattan shall taste the wrath of the Morlocks."
For a moment, dread froze Gwen solid. This was a scheme against every one of Dante's allies. Dante had warned her that something like this could happen. They weren't dealing with mindless monsters anymore. Their enemy was a centuries-old mutant, who was cunning. A man who would cheerfully cross any line to reach his goal.
'I can't let him down.'
Gwen gripped her shoulder and rolled her arm. Her joints popped audibly. "Welp. Guess I'm ending this fast, then."
Law be damned. There would be no mercy for anyone who raised a hand against her friends. And especially not for anyone who tried to hurt Dante.
"Before I end you, I owe you the courtesy…" the woman said, strolling forward confidently. "To let you know why Essex calls me the Spider-Queen."
Gwen's web-shooter was pointed right at the self-proclaimed Spider-Queen, but a warning from her Spidey-Sense changed her mind. She fired at a container behind her, yanking her body away. The alarm, however, didn't fade. It got worse. It shrieked that danger lingered in every direction.
The Spider-Queen pressed her pale hand against her chest and hummed. The gentle sound exploded inside Gwen's skull like a sonic spike. It drilled deeper, painting her thoughts in white. She felt warm blood seeping from her ear canals.
"Down."
She felt herself wrenched up off the floor by an unseen force at the woman's lazy gesture and flung across the warehouse. She slammed into the steel, buckling it with the impact. Pain saturated every inch of her body, which faded quickly as Anti-Venom healed her.
Without this suit, she would've lost on the spot.
She exhaled and got back to her feet. "Talk about mind-blowing performance."
"You've got a sense of humor." The Queen tilted her head, studying her like an insect under glass. "A pity you're a woman and therefore useless to me in the grand scheme of things."
"Whoa, lady. Watch your mouth. Don't say that stuff in public, or you'll get canceled. I don't make the rules."
Spider-Queen raised her hand and swept it to the right. Gwen recognized the motion and fused tendrils of symbiote to the floor. The training experience against Jean Grey paid off massively. Without Felicia, she wouldn't even know this move could be used to make telekinesis useless.
"Why do all telekinesis users make hand gestures? Does it help with focus?"
The Spider-Queen looked unamused. "Just how long can you cower behind that little parasite of yours?"
"Longer than you can keep that telekinesis up." Gwen kept her defensive stance, refusing to commit before knowing the full extent of her opponent's powers. That sonic scream had made her quite cautious. "I know that's eating at your mind right now. Universal rule of superpowers—everything's got a price tag. Except my boyfriend. That guy is all gas, no brakes. It's kind of unfair."
The Spider-Queen crossed her arms with an irritated look on her face. "I truly believed it would be overkill to use this on a little spider. But you leave me no alternative. I can't have Essex branding me incompetent. I still need him."
Gwen's mind buzzed as her Spidey-Sense went haywire. It felt like a thousand alarms shrieking over each other. She fell to her knees and clutched her head, but her hands slowly peeled away on her own. Dante's ring had walled her mind off from telepathy entirely, so the Spider-Queen couldn't be using telepathy.
The Spider-Queen controlled her body, or rather, her body followed the Spider-Queen's command. It felt good doing so. Her hormones sent the signals of happiness through her.
"Essex's theory was correct." The Spider-Queen's heels clicked across the concrete. "There is spider in you, girl. Woven into your very cells. And I hold dominion over every insect and arachnid that crawls this earth. They exist to serve their queen."
Gwen focused in the middle of exploding Spidey-Sense and the clash between her mind and body, and commanded her symbiote with her thoughts. A sharp drill formed from symbiote tendrils and stabbed toward the Spider-Queen, who just tilted her head to dodge the attack.
The symbiote moved her body rather than the usual way of following and enhancing her natural movements.
"My, my. What a resilient little mind you have. You will be perfect spider-slave material." The woman rested her hands on her face, her eyes glowing with a maniacal glee. "I'll get Essex to make a male clone of you. What a perfect mate slave that would be."
Gwen shuddered under the symbiote suit. She had joked about the goth woman being her archnemesis, but she didn't think the Spider-Queen would have so many abilities that completely shut her down. Someone had deliberately chosen the Spider-Queen to go after her.
'I have to kill her.'
Which was easier said than done. With her body completely under Spider-Queen's control, her combat experience had gone down the drain. She had to fight off the Queen's control and command her symbiote at the same time.
Even knowing the odds were futile didn't stop her from throwing herself at the Spider-Queen.
'No overthinking. Stick to the basics.'
She drove her fist into the Spider-Queen's face. Her telegraphed attack could've been easily dodged, but the Spider-Queen smiled and caught her fist with her palm.
"Was that meant to hurt, little spider?"
The Spider-Queen lifted her leg and kicked Gwen's ribs. Even with the symbiote suit, Gwen felt the air leaving her lungs in a strangled wheeze. She tumbled over, crashing through a stack of empty crates. The Anti-Venom may have healed the damage, but the force of the kick lingered in her bones.
'Okay. Okay, that wasn't normal goth-villain strength.'
The Spider-Queen's physical strength rivaled or even surpassed Gwen's strength with the Anti-Venom suit, which threw her "Defeat the Queen with brute strength strategy" out of the window.
"You're wondering how a slender woman like me can send you flying like a child's toy." The Spider-Queen strolled after her, savoring every moment of her triumph. "Allow me to spoil the mystery. Essex has perfected every muscle and fiber in this body. I'm perhaps his finest work."
"Don't need the sob story, miss." Gwen controlled the symbiote to raise her. "Let's carry on."
The Spider-Queen's gaze swept Gwen up and down. Her eyes were filled with condescension. "You're a half-baked accident, empowered by a parasite. What can you do?"
"Watch me then."
Her body still belonged half to the woman across from her, every nerve fighting a war on two fronts: body against the Spider-Queen's command and mind against the abundance of sensations her body produced in the "honor" of serving Spider-Queen. Her reflexes and Spidey-Sense had gone to mush the moment the Spider-Queen took the reins.
So she did the only thing she could—fall and get right back up, forcing herself to adapt under the harsh conditions.
Gwen flung herself in again, and this time she let the symbiote hurl tendrils to anchor on the rafters and yank her body around the Queen's guard. The Spider-Queen couldn't react in time as Gwen's symbiote-hammer fist struck her temple.
The Spider-Queen staggered a few steps and touched her face. "Persistent. I'll grant you that much."
She dashed and caught Gwen's leg before slamming her down. The combination of Spider-Queen's speed and telekinesis left her utterly vulnerable to the attack. The Queen stomped her high heels on Gwen's chest.
"You know, I'd appreciate this…" Gwen coughed, still managing to smile. "If I were a man."
The symbiote latched around the Queen's feet and flung her away. Gwen got back to her feet as the Anti-Venom surged to repair her, but she felt it thinning this time. The Anti-Venom could only heal so much. The more exhausted it grew, the weaker she would become.
She swung up and kicked the Queen's head. Forming giant hammers with both fists, she rained them down on the Queen. The flurry of offense would've utterly decimated a normal human, but this woman absorbed every blow without a single bruise. No grunt of pain escaped those smirking lips. The current her just didn't have the power to hurt this abomination of a woman.
Spider-Queen hummed again, forcing Gwen to retreat. "Are you finished or shall I let you tire yourself out a while longer? It's rather endearing, in its way. Like watching a kitten attack a lion."
"Oh, I'm just getting warmed up," Gwen shot back, even as frustration started to rise. "Y'know, most people pay good money for a workout this intense. You should open a gym. Spider-Queen's Boot Camp. I'd leave a five-star review: 'Got my butt kicked. Would get kicked again.'"
The thing about Gwen Stacy was that the more cornered she got, the louder and messier her quips became. It was a verbal middle finger to a situation that refused to break her way.
"You talk a great deal for a dying husk."
"Coping mechanism, lady. A lot of therapists say it's a healthy way to stay positive."
Gwen didn't give up. She rushed again and again. With each pass, she grew faster and stronger as she adapted to controlling the symbiote. If it was any normal opponent, they'd have called out on this bullshit, but the Queen still carried that nonchalant smirk on her face.
Because none of it mattered.
Every time she struck, nothing happened. Every time the Queen fought back, Gwen felt the Anti-Venom drain its healing essence.
The Queen slammed her through the counter. Drain. Gwen got slammed into the ceiling, denting the steel. Drain. The Queen kicked her head. Drain. The telekinesis slammed her in all four corners. Drain, drain, drain. The healing became progressively slow, the symbiote straining to keep pace with a body it could barely hold together.
"It's rather poetic," the Spider-Queen whispered, watching Gwen drag herself upright on shaking arms. "I thought superheroes who never give up didn't exist in real life, but two people have proven me wrong."
"Who's the lucky first?" Gwen asked, feeling the Anti-Venom symbiote peel back, retreating into her body to rest. "Asking for a friend who loves goth women."
"Steve Rogers," the Spider-Queen replied with a thick venom in her voice. "The man I wish I could strangle with my own hands. Unfortunately, that pathetic man drowned himself."
"Isn't he the one in the museum?"
"Yes, he is."
Gwen got up, only to get hit with a fist in her gut. She went down to her knees, blood trickling down her lips. This time, she didn't have the strength to get back up.
"Is that—all you got?" she slurred through a mouthful of blood. "'Cause my—my Russian trainer hits harder. She—she is a demon."
The Spider-Queen leaned over and lifted Gwen's chin with her cold fingers. "I can't make you my mate, but you've earned the qualifications to be my perfect spider slave."
"Sorry. I already have a loving boyfriend…" Gwen scoffed. "I love him a lot."
Spider-Queen straightened up and put a hand on Gwen's head. "We shall witness his death today as well. But first, I must enhance you with a small dose of my enzymes."
Gwen looked up just in time to see the Queen withdraw a syringe from a fold in her dark suit. The syringe's chamber was filled with some viscous fluid. The Spider-Queen lowered the needle toward the bare skin of Gwen's throat. Gwen weakly brought up her hand, but she couldn't even force the hand away.
The plunger sank into her neck.
"There, there." The Spider-Queen brushed a strand of blonde hair from Gwen's face. The smile on her face was filled with maternal warmth. "With this, you'll grow stronger. In every way imaginable. Isn't that a wonderful thing?"
***
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