14362/The Hunter becomes the Hunted

The Hunter becomes the Hunted
Date of Scene:	09 March 2023
Location:	5D - Gwen's Greenwich Loft
Synopsis:	Gwen investigates Peter's disappearance from her life and gets more than she bargained for.
Cast of Characters:	Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker

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Gwen Stacy has posed:
It was supposed to have been the perfect birthday but then it turned into the worst nightmare.

Peter leaving without saying a word, then never coming back home. It didn't help that any attempts of communication had been rebuffed so Gwen was at a loss. Had she done something? It's almost as if it was a different man. But he was Peter, wasn't he?

Just a day ago Gwen was reading on the paper about Spider-Man, on how he had sent Paste Pot Pete to the hospital. Very unlike him. Sure, there was always violence when fighting the bad guys, even for a friendly neighborhood Spider. But those injuries had been brutal. What was going on?

She had to investigate and by a stroke of good luck she had overheard a talk of someone coming by Wong's store that her cousin had witnessed Spider-Man fighting a few nights back. The night before his birthday. On a alley not far from their place.

It merited investigation.

Peter Parker has posed:
It had taken a few days to calibrate the strength right. That first fight against that glue guy was a bit unnerving, seeing just how much strength this body possessed. The next few proved to be similar, with him continuing to dial down the strength until he eventually found himself not requiring hospitalization of this opponents.

But he had to focus on it, _all the time_. He was starting to get a newfound respect for the Spider, with so many things to pay attention to during each fight. It was starting to make sense, and he understood that perhaps there was a reason why the Spider acted the way he did. Perhaps he was not weak, so much as...unwilling to allow his strength to be seen.

Either way, he had become more comfortable in this new body. He had decided not to go back to the love den he had woken up in, and when he had left in his eagerness to wear the suit, he left the wallet and ID back there. Not knowing where the Spider lived, he had to retreat back to his own home. Which was not the worst thing in the world, as it let him check in on his real body from time to time.

Now, he was perched on a streetlamp, waiting until he heard the telltale sound of a scream echoing down an alleyway.

"Time to go to work." He swings off towards the darkness.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Night time. The Ghost Spider suit had been donned and Gwen swings down the side of a building that leads to the particular alley where Spider-man had been seen on that fateful night. Sure, it was like searching for a needle on a haystack but Gwen was a good junior investigator. She had learned from her father back in her universe. It felt almost like a lifetime ago...

Of course that she also cheated with that perfect spatial awareness of hers so when she lands atop a low building that leads directly to that alley she takes note of it all. The dumpsters, the poor lighting. Perfect place to lie in waiting and assault someone.

*thwip*

She shoots a web across and then lowers herself to the ground, masked head turning here and there. And if she was a no-good villain where would she lie in waiting? There... She walks to where she believes the robbery took place, near a pair of dumpsters.

Something catches her attention she leans over between the dumpsters. "What's this...?" picking up a small capsule. A bullet of some kind? No, it seems a bit different...

Peter Parker has posed:
The mugger didn't know what hit him. Literally. It took one punch from the descending Spider-man to send him toward the wall, and he bounced off it with a sickening thump. Well, sickening to his would-be victim, who looked at her savior and then turn and ran, screaming louder than she had to summon him.

He glances over at the mugger and frowns. His body was twisted in an odd way. Thinking back, he had not thought about the momentum his punch would have coming out of a full swing. He may have hit him harder than he hit that sticky guy. Oh well.

He takes a moment to reflect upon that, wondering what he should do with the robber. Unaware that two blocks away, Ghost Spider was investigating the tranquilizer capsule that he had used to bag his greatest trophy a few nights earlier - the Spider himself.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen has to squeeze between those dumpsters to reach the capsule. Good thing she's nimble as she is. But then she is turning the capsule around between her fingertips. Is there something on it? Considering the smear being left on her white suit glove it seems like it. She brings it to her nose to sniff. A grimace as her sharp senses take it in. Some kind of drug. Sleeping agent? That's a lot more sophisticated than what normal thugs would use.

And not like Peter would use this either.

It's one more thing to add to the mystery. But what else can she find..? Her head cocks up at something. Did her danger sense just flare up? A scream? No, but....

Something catches her attention, still hanging high near a lamppost but behind it so to stay mostly in the dark. She shoots a web at it and pulls it down.

Peter Parker has posed:
At the end of the day, the mugger is just a mugger. He leaves him there in the puddle (although it had not rained in days) and fires a strand of webbing to launch himself back into the sky. No doubt the woman who ran screaming would bring the cops back to arrest the thug anyway, and talk about how well the Spider saved her.

He starts swinging along in search of something else to do, some other criminal to fight. He had a few more hours to play with before he intended to return home, so he would see what kind of help he could be to the city along the way.

He feels a bit of a tingle on the back of his neck, and he realizes that he is swinging over the alleyway where he trapped the Spider. A bit of nostalgia, perhaps?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
A camera.

No, not just a camera. THE camera. This was the camera Gwen gifted Peter, the one he brought with him to use. She hadn't thought about that since that day but it was weird that it wasn't there anymore, because Peter had left pretty much everything else in the apartment. And he hadn't even been by Aunt May.

Eyes are wide under her mask and her breathing catches on her throat. What's going on here? She turns it over, turning on the digital screen. The screen lights up and she starts thumbing through a few. There's a couple they took in their suits and posing to the camera and then ....

Pictures of the alley. A fight with some thugs, all good.

She thumbs to the next picture, showing Spider-Man stumbling...

Peter Parker has posed:
Why did the hair on the back of his neck keep standing up?

The Spider swings along and towards the alleyway, and that's when he sees her - Ghost Spider. One of Spider-man's frequent teammates. He tries to twist back in the direction he came, but his momentum is too great. Maybe the Spider would have been able to pull it off, but not in this form. Already twisting about in order to try to do so, he ends up pulling up short on his swing, and ends up doing the exact opposite of what he intended.

With a bit of a flip, the Spider sticks the landing on the edge of the roof, just overlooking where Ghost Spider is.

No way she doesn't notice him, so he may as well pretend that was what he wanted.

"Hello there."

How likely is it that the Ghost Spider knows the man beneath the mask well enough to detect a difference?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Why does Ghost Spider have a camera in her hands? And why is she at that same alley that Spider-Man was when captured? She is thumbing on the screen, her eyes down on the screen. So intent on what she is seeing that it's as if for a moment she hadn't noticed Spidey landing on the rooftop nearby.

Didn't she have the same kind of capabilities as Spider-Man?

The camera gets turned off. Put away. She looks up to directly stare at the figure up on the roof. She is silent for a few, just watching. The mannerisms. The differences. Could she had been so blind?

"Hello." She finally says, her tone sounding ..., off. It's not a greeting between friends, but isn't this Spider-Man's girl? Or wasn't it the same girl that was with Peter the other day?

Silence abates on the alleyway.

Peter Parker has posed:
He may not know much, but he knows that that response is not really consistent with what he suspected of the Spider's partnership with Ghost Spider. Was it something about how he was standing? Was she suspicious? Or was she just very professional and business-like by nature. It could be that. No reason to be paranoid.

He momentarily curses himself for not having spent more time researching the Spider's friends and allies. He had spent all of his attention on watching video of the Spider at work. Was this a partner? A sidekick? A romantic partner?

Was this the girl from the love nest??

His eyes move towards her neck, wondering if he can see the outlines of that charm that that girl wore beneath the distractingly tight uniform she is wearing.

"Got anything good?" he asks, nodding towards the camera.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen knows much, and she certainly knows that Spider-Man's greeting was NOWHERE near consistent to what it should be with her. It was Gwen after all. They knew each other for ages, they have laughed, loved, fought together and in a way Peter knows Gwen better than anyone, in the same way Gwen knows Peter. And this man?

That's not Peter Parker.

Gwen isn't wanting to toss the game but there's little clues that a hunter can pick up on. The more guarded stance. The way those shoulders tense. All little things that Gwen most likely doesn't even know she is doing.

"A few." her voice laced with some stress, "Been hearing about some of your accomplishments in the news. Seems you are bringing it to the criminals of New York.."

She shifts her posture and ..., is that something under her skin-tight suit close to her neck? Could it be a necklace? Or just a wrinkle on the fabric?

Peter Parker has posed:
She knows. Or suspects, at least.

The Hunter considers the girl before him. He does not need to see her face - he is almost certain she is the Spider's bedroom mate. And super hero partner both. It makes sense. Any chance he had of convincing her of who he was left the moment he greeted her the way he did. Her entire posture is on guard, despite familiarity with the man. And the mask. Which means there is only way to handle this.

Well, two ways. He was not about to kill her. That would be a waste.

"I've been thinking a lot about things, lately. About who I am, about what being Spider-man means." He takes a moment to consider. This is a gamble. If he is wrong, then the charade may be over. And he may have to take out this Ghost Spider. But if he is right - not only will this free him of obligation, it may evoke enough of a response to cover up any eccentricities in his behavior. He cannot be close to one who knows the Spider without giving himself away. So he needs distance.

"I need to be better. Stronger. To give the city what it needs." He reaches up with his fingers to slip out the necklace from around his neck, the one that matches what _must_ lie beneath the girl's costume. "And I can't do that when my focus is on anything else." They curl around the charm and he pulls it from his neck, the quick sound of the chain snapping punctuating the near silence of the alleyway.

"I'm sorry. But this city needs Spider-man more than I need you." He tosses the charm and the chain towards Ghost Spider, and casts a web line into the distance to swing away before the necklace can even cross the distance to where she is standing.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
No matter how much she suspects or even knows there is no denying that's Peter's voice. With his powers. Telling her he needs to focus on becoming better. It's easy to dismiss it as being a ploy from one of his enemies but how could it be possible? Mind control? And this Peter knows about the necklaces.

How much they mean to them.

So doubt creeps in. Maybe she was creating these scenarios in her head in which Peter is gone because he has been controlled or who knows what happened to him while the truth may be just this. That he wants to take a new step in his life. She hesitates just enough in her adamant belief that Peter wouldn't just leave like this to let all her doubts insidiously creep in, take over, break her inside.

The hand takes the thrown necklace. More by instinct than anything else. She doesn't go in pursuit of Spider-Man. Instead she stares down at the broken necklace.

And grips the camera tighter in her hand.