[CENTER][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/PVN1L81.png[/IMG][/CENTER]
It didn’t take a clock to tell Gwen that she was severely late. The sun did that all by itself by choosing to stay that high up. Noon had fallen upon New York city and public transportation was as reliable as a nun at a bachelor party.
Gwen let the sound of her jacket announce her arrival at the lab, as she threw it on a random table. [color=f7976a]“Sorry, I’m late, doc,” [/color]she said and was met with a pair of disapproving, lowered eyebrows. At first, she assessed his judgmental exterior as being a result of her black, lowcut top and matching skirt. Not exactly an outfit she used to wear in front of him, or really anyone.
But then her mentor, doctor Curt Conners, spoke: [color=6ecff6]“Where were you? We had the 8 o’clock meeting, remember?”[/color] His tone felt more worried than angry.
[color=f7976a]“I slept in,”[/color] she answered, possibly a bit to casually.
[color=6ecff6]“You never sleep in.”[/color]
[color=f7976a]“Things change.”[/color]
[color=6ecff6]“For the better I hope… Well, I suppose it wouldn’t have mattered. Norman Osborn is shutting us down.”[/color]
It was as if a meteor had struck the lab and left a cloud of silence. Gwen blinked a few times rapidly, trying to comprehend the nature of what had just been said. All her expectations went right down the elevator shaft faster than she could catch them. [color=f7976a]“Wait what? … but why would he take the time to set up a meeting like that? Why make it seem like he had news in the Symbiote-experiment? W-Why would he get our hopes up?”[/color]
[color=6ecff6]“It doesn’t matter, we’ll find a way. Possibly go back to focusing on the endless possibilities in reptilian mutation again.”[/color]
Gwen spoke through exposed teeth. [color=f7976a]“He’s a sadist. An angry, bitter sadist mad with power, who wants to strike back at us for losing the specimen. We can’t let him do that. We have to fricken do something!”[/color]
[color=6ecff6]“No. No, we’re not going to do anything, you understand, kiddo? You are smart enough to realize the graveyards of bodies, cemented into the foundation of Oscorp.”[/color]
[color=f7976a]“I’m not scared of Norman Osborn. Not anymore. And there was a time where you weren’t either.”[/color]
For the first time ever Conners actually acted his age. It showed itself: The tiredness and surrender of an almost 50-year-old man, whom had pushed himself to the very brink for about a month. Suddenly the long tables, wide areas, the whole lab made him seem lonely. [color=6ecff6]“Like you said: Things change. Kiddo, what you need to understand is the rivalry between Osborn and Stark. But Norman, he was always one step behind. For every innovation Stark Industries produced there was a not-so-cheap knockoff from Oscorp. Now, it’s been 4 years since the first time Tony Stark flew the skies as Iron Man, and you can bet Norman has put every single penny, he has, into creating a response. But in contrast to Stark, he doesn’t feel the need to share its capabilities with the rest of the world. No, he uses it for his ego alone, and when he does, he doesn’t leave many witnesses to tell the tale. Of course, all of this was just theory … right up until Hammer Tec challenged Norman. They somehow acquired a Symbiote for themselves, a less pure one, and Norman’s reply was delivered with the precision of a scalpel and the force of a Hellfire missile. So, in the end, your safety comes first.” [/color]Conners placed a reassuring hand on Gwen’s shoulder and then another. [color=6ecff6]“Besides…”[/color] He added, [color=6ecff6]“there are more pressing concerns.[/color] [color=6ecff6]Like the story behind that tattoo on your back."[/color]
The joke pulled up the left corner of her mouth. Somehow her mentor always knew what to say.[color=f7976a] “It’s a rose. A black one.”[/color]
[color=6ecff6]“Why is it melting?”[/color] he asked, while leaning to the side to get another glance and the decoration that peek out over the top of her clothing.
[color=f7976a]“It’s not. It’s transforming, reshaping into … well, I don’t know yet.”[/color]
[color=6ecff6]“Let me know when you do.”[/color]
Dr. Conner hid it well, nonetheless Gwen realized that above all else she worried him. The tattoo, the revealing outfit, her sudden a-bit-too-casual relationship with appointments. And then there was the perfume and how she was covered in it. An obvious attempt to conceal a long night of partying, drinking and not so safe sex left and right. Yeah, Gwen did know, she had changed.
[b]And so what?[/b] A voice said in her ear. One that was clearly not her own. [b]When have you ever felt so good? The power, the ecstasy of true freedom. Things change. And I’ll let you change the very fabric of life itself.[/b]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later Gwen tinkers with her responder, one of the few things she managed to save from the claws of Oscorp.
[i]Sure, they originally owned the equipment and wanted it back,"[/i] she throught to herself, [i]"but now that I’ve tweaked it, they can’t use it for its intended purpose anyway. Yep, better hold on to it. And this has nothing to do with me carrying a grudge. Nope, not at all. No. Nada. Zero. No chance.[/i]
It was then something came through. Not just another order of pizza, and not Ms. Jefferson reporting her cat missing. No, Gwen actually seemed to have hit Jackpot on this one.
“We’re outside. Moving in quietly,” someone reported.
[i]That’s not the police. This is some X-Files kind of shit![/i] Gwen's eyes widened. Had the voice not sounded so urgent, she might have stayed to celebrate. Her crime fighting just became a whole lot easier, now she could listen in on the shady government guys. While staying on the channel, she checked the source and address on the call, grabbed her earpiece and did a whole Swan Lake dance down the stairs before running into the streets and dived right into a secluded ally.
[color=f7976a]“Alright,”[/color] she said, [color=f7976a]“let’s go get these motherf… you know what? Let’s just call them [i]mothers[/i]. You know, keeping it PG-13 and stuff.”[/color]
The Symbiote obeyed the calling of her body: The texture on her top changed into a shining rubber-like surface while spreading down her bare arms, encasing them completely. Her skirt liquefied and crawled down her legs, until she was completely covered. In actuality only her underwear had been from Hennes & Mauritz, the rest of her clothing came from … [i]fricken space[/i] … and could transform. Now in her suit she launched upwards and shot out what she had coined Venom Web, and in her ear came another order: “Closing in on target, over.”

It felt like she had been swinging forever when a rusty voice suddenly said: “We have custody of a female and will be taking her in for questioning.”
Hopes of helping these guys out suddenly seemed a lot more irrelevant, however, there was always the chance that more criminals were hiding there. Besides the tiny beeping in her ear told her, she had arrived at her destination.
A few vans were parked rather subtly outside with armed personal standing next to them, but no one seemed to guard the place the team had entered. Gwen passed the threshold and then she was inside.
[color=f7976a]“PG language. R-rated violence.”[/color]