Chapter 1

I always find it amazing just what people think on the internet. I mean it’s crazy just how things have gone.

There is a current theory that Lady Spider is a result of a girl from another dimension brought to ours by an evil villain.

Of course they believe she is going by the name of Stacy something or another.

Let them believe Lady Spider is really ghost spider from a colorless dimension.

Also known as Spider-Gwen, Spider Girl Gwen Stacy or Petra Parker

Ha!

If they only knew!

You see my name is Steven Gray, Steven Edward Gray the third. I was born with a slight defect. Thanks to medication when I was young I am healthy...ish. Instead of being as tall as say my ex football player millionaire father, I’m short at five feet two and half.

I will never have anything more than a very small bone structure. And despite loads, at the limits mind you, of testosterone I still look more girl than boy. Well almost. Junior is quite well formed.

My testes on the other hand did not survive the medication when I was younger and disappeared before they ever appeared.

Just in case you’re wondering, I also have two legal names. Sadly one of them is Gwendolyn Elisabeth Gray. When I was eleven my parents, and the doctors thought I should experience life as a girl for a year, at a girls school as a girl, I wore a device below that mimicked a vagina and looks quite real. I don’t understand the whole idea but it is some bioorganic thing a ma bobber that sorta lived on my crotch. Well lives is a better description since I still use it. But ill get to that.

I wore a real training bra because I actually do have breasts, now a blasted b cup, but I‘ll get to that too.

The idea was that since the meds kinda destroyed my life as a guy that I should be given the option of being a girl.

Don't get me wrong it wasn't all bad, and wearing skirts in summer is kinda nice but a royal pain in winter as they are friggin cold as hell!

Tights get runs just looking at them!

And putting on your makeup that doesn’t look like makeup in a tearing hurry is no fun!

Being a boy is so much easier.

Which is what I chose but... its not going well.

First off, the medication altered my body so that testosterone has limited effect while estrogen, even a little, has lasting effects.

I have hips and boobs dammit, and I’m a guy!

I have to wear plain girls’ jeans for crying out loud!

I wear loose shirts with a compression vest underneath.

However, during summer Mom likes to have Gwen, yuck, put on a dress and go to beach in a blasted bikini.

Well, what do you expect, we live in just north of California in the state of Washington, which apparently has nothing to do with Washington state capitol, go figure! Err well capital of USA that is. It is kinda confusing since there is a capitol of the state of Washington.

Oh, and Gwen makes an appearance two nights a week plus Saturday or Sunday, sorta. Mom says that I have to wear a bra and not compress my breasts as its bad for me or something.

So, getting back to things, I am also quite the anime/cartoon nerd. So of course when Comicon comes along I am all for it, big time. Usually I go as a guy and visit all the booths and seminars I can. You can get some great stuff, usually samples, of things.

Usually it’s held during the cooler winter season, leaving other more popular cons, such as science fiction trek or Star Wars type cons the summer. I know they are all labelled as "comicons" more or less. I can tell you that there should be one for Harry Potter alone!

This summer however, the con I prefer to go to, mostly, was held. Aside from the Harry Potter fandom crowds and booths there was also a Marvel booth where they were showing off the concepts for a new series they were in the works of doing.

I had followed the Spider-Gwen storyline before but the new art, I got a sneak peak earlier, really had my interest!

It was not quite right though. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it and all, but the story was meh.

I remember the day that it all started. There I was in a bikini with Mom on the beach, my normal dirty blonde hair all but bleached out staring at the stills, while I had various stuff around me about the Comicon coming up. I had let my hair grow for the simple fact that getting a haircut usually ended up on a Gwen day. Aka I tried to avoid it.

Now I should mention that during my Gwen year I went to a private school, which meant a uniform; pleated skirt, white blouse with collar and puffy ribbon tie and jacket. I hated it the first time I saw it.

The school was down south from me, which meant most of the girls I went to school with didn't live close to me at all. I was more than fine with that.

Some did visit from time to time though, hard to not go to school and avoid that.

"Gwen!" Squeal x four. In my head I went, well let’s just say that I swore in the three languages I knew fluently.

I tried to hide by bringing up the stills I was looking at, printed from the internet and enlarged. Which of course did not work.

"Gwen it is you! How you been girl?" inwardly I sighed big time and dropped the sheets to my lap, face up. Big mistake but I didn't know it at the time.

"Gwendolyn I believe these are your friends from school.” I flinched for two reasons. One, the full name was to let the girls know I was in trouble with Mom. And two, I just hate the name, period.

"Hey guys!"

I got the look.

"Uh mom this is Stacy, Evelyn, Trish, and Renee." In case your wondering Renee is a nick name as she is really French-Korean. Her real name is next to impossible to figure out as it has something to do with Japan. It starts with what sounds like Ren then takes off. We just called her Renee as it was just plain easier to say. During school you knew when she was called to office as the headmistress would stumble over the first Ren part and then always mispronounce it before giving up."

Stacy is your typical redhead. Meaning she freckles and burns easily. Smart but dumb at same time. Evelyn is from Canada, so sometimes she gets mad when we pronounce certain words, in her opinion, wrong. Decals are not decaf. But like levels.

Yeah, we just nodded and went on with it.

Since they were there, and I was supposed to be a girl, we did the hug thing and I had to come up with an edited version of life at school.

They had continued on at the school while I went to a local school as myself. Well my normal boy self that is. Editing it as a girl took a bit of doing. Mostly, no I did not have a boy friend or boy crush. Mom pipped up that I was too young for that nonsense. Eye rolls.

Renee had picked up the prints and was looking them over. Now she is quite the little seamstress in her own right. She makes half of her clothes, not because she can’t afford some but because her style is just that little bit better. She always looks great. Stacy couldn't sew to save her life and wants to be a doctor.

Yeah we kinda don't think that will work.

Evelyn is an aspiring actress, with a good memory but she can't do accents worth a spit. I think she will make it in Hollywood as half the current actors can't do accents either.

Trish is the usual quiet book nerd, complete with glasses. We got along great. She, like me, liked anime. Unlike me, she prefers subs. I can't stand the things because my eyes focus on words and not the actual anime. Might as well read a manga.

A chance meeting with my old friends, that I did miss, ended up with me having to turn my room into Gwen's room again. Games stayed, vanity got cleaned and makeup put back. Boy's clothing got boxed and stored in the storage room, wearing nighties and that vagina thing constantly again.

Since I had had no need to get any new regular stuff, aside from my jeans, I had a closet filled with mostly skirts, dresses. It was not intentional but when you removed all the boy stuff... well Gwen was a girlie girl as far as the girls were concerned. Yeah me...not!

The reason for this was because they came over. Every. Single. Day. Usually for hours. There is a family portrait in our living room with Mom, my dad, and myself as Gwen all dressed up with help from my friends.

Mom loves it. Dad thought it was hilarious!

During the second week the girls decided, without me and against my objections, that we would go to Comicon as a group.

In costume.

The first day I was Sailor Venus.

Second, I was Luna Lovegood.

Third day, you guessed it, I was dressed up in a custom made costume by Renee. It is really good quality. She went way overboard using material that is really used for super suits.

White and black suit with a mask I can see quite well out of. Even with the new enhancements. The hood stays put over the mask and has the webs in it.

Under arm web wings that work ...sorta.

I won first prize, of course. And when I removed my mask to show the blonde hair with the tips dyed a slight pink I was so "in character" simply because Gwen is my name, that the judges were overwhelmed.

About that.

Alright, you know how many actors have adopted names that are not their "legal name" but have to sign things using said name?

Well there is a clause that allows people to register as having two names. It is not cheap and, as far as I know, can only be done in California by a judge.

Reason being, the school required that I have a legal girls name to attend.

Simple as that.

It was supposed to be stopped, but with Mom wanting Gwen around and my… er chest it kept going.

Dad teases me that I am more his princess that his buddy, he stopped the little part, as that annoyed me.

They have told me more than once that I can do boy stuff as Gwen.

So has my therapist.

A part of me is dead set against being Gwen all the time. To be honest, another part of me doesn’t want to stop being Gwen either. I like wearing skirts and dresses in warm weather and lets face it men’s clothes are rough on delicate skin.

Okay, okay.. there is more to the girlie girl side of me than I want to admit.

I...am...just …not ...ready.

So, back to Comicon. No, I was not bitten by a radioactive spider.

Nor was I the subject of some warped scientist.

According to my specialist, and this is his wording, whatever was in the gas that was released during the stage event triggered something in me that is part of what my medication did years ago, my semi dwarfism(that’s why I was on medication) and the half and half chromosomes, with a side does of possible mutation.

I say again, Possible Mutation.

It is unclear, and I have been tested by a few, if I really am a mutant or just had injections of medication that mutated.

Injections that I no longer need.

According to the doctors, I have stabilized in my current form.

Yes I look, and somewhat sound, like a cute blonde haired girl.

But I’m not.

Not really, anyways.

Oh yeah, that device thing down below is now permanent.

Apparently, the gas was the result of some villain, but more accidental as he was trying to hide it. Hiding a somewhat unstable mutagenic liquid inside dry ice in a store was not the best idea. I guess that he thought he could retrieve it later.

The vial cracked and mixed with the dry ice so when they did the stage fog thing a bunch of us got a dose of it. Since I was in middle of stage, nearest the fog machine, for my award as Spider Gwen/Ghost Spider. I got the worst.

Most people got a mild allergy type effect from it.

One guy mutated in a bad way and died. I don't know the details but it was apparently not a pretty sight.

The liquid was supposed to go to some group to be put in a machine to force trigger Activations in un-Activated mutants.

Apparently it happened anyway, about a month or two later.

What it meant for me was that I was treated as a girl, in a hospital, as Ghost-Spider of all things. My parents were not notified until about three days had passed.

Myself. I was out of it in a semi coma.

The… er spider-like abilities did not manifest right away.

I do know that I cannot mutate into a spider-like creature.

Why? Because an expensive psychic mutant told me so. Why she had to come visit me and tell me that is beyond me.

But she did, and she also called me Gwendolyn.

I still deny being Gwen.

Even though the bioorganic thing a ma bobber developed by a Tinker is now fused with me. Aka I look like a girl.

Even though in a week and half in hospital I went from an A cup to a solid B cup, with wider hips and butt to match, and a thinner waist.

I still consider myself male.

Mom is quite proud of my figure.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

B cup is not that bad.

Sure...if your band size is in the thirties!

Try being a 26 b cup.

It is noticeable!

I didn't do so well when I found out about all of this in hospital. I was sedated, which didn't last long, I got hysterical and scared more than a few nurses.

The end result after many tests, and LOTS of therapy, is that I live as Gwen now.

I don't like it.

And I try, from time to time, to live as myself.

But myself is ...undetermined.

I was sent back to the girls’ school with my friends, I just couldn’t go back to the local school as Gwen.

It was while I was at St Trinity's that I found out about my increased agility and slight precog or as Trish puts it, spider-sense, but due to legal issues I cannot say that.

After the con I was in the hospital for a month, it ruined my summer, and I pretty much got out to go to school in that dang uniform.

It’s a red pleated skirt with an off-white blouse and stupid necktie. Jacket or sweater, depending on weather.

Black knee high socks.

The shoes must be black, have a slight heel, and not be outrageous. Aka not "Maryjanes" although a number wear them, but we have some freedom there. Sneakers/runners/trainers are for gym. I hate the gym uniform just as much.

It’s a white pleated skirt with undershorts...ruffled

Tennis style top, no buttons, with school logo.

Yuck.

The darn thing attracts stains like a magnet.

I get yelled at for whatever stain happens to appear, and embarrassingly once, got a lesson on feminine hygiene.

I don’t have a period and never will.

It just happened to look like I had "spotted".

Mom still thinks it is hilarious beyond belief.

None of the girls question if I’m a girl since then. Apparently a few wondered if I was trans.

If they only knew!

Anyway, back to my story.

So, the day I found out about the agility and psi-sense (take that legal vul....gars) It was during dodge ball in class. Nobody could hit me with a ball, and they tried. I just kept dodging even when thrown at from behind. I could also bend over easily, not unusual for a girl, but I was much more flexible than before.

But the icing on the cake was when we, that’s my girlfriends and myself, were walking over to Trish's place after school. Some guys made a grab for Renee. Before I knew what I was doing I had shoved my friends down and somehow stuck to a wall. I was not more than an inch or two off the ground but I noticed. I didn't know why I did that, but I did.

When the van side door opened I reacted and shot a web to block it. They took off in a squeal of tires.

The web comes from a small tube that comes out of my arm just a little bit, and flattens into it when not ...activated. I have to activate it, which takes some effort or extreme stress. It's a fight or flight instinct.

In case you’re wondering, when the van took off so did I and some of the cement wall for about ten feet. I got a few scrapes from it and ruined yet another uniform.

It is a regular occurrence.

Trust me, road rash breasts are NOT fun in any shape or form.

I went braless for a few days while I healed up.

And I did heal up, completely with no scars.

I apparently have low-level regeneration.

Since the girls saw me do the web thing, and all the rest, guess who was sent out in the Ghost-Spider costume to nab bad guys.

It wasn't my idea.

But the girls can be...persistently persuasive.

I got dragged down a street, you can't stop cars just by swinging a web at it. Trust me.

Rescued a cat that didn't like to held.

Retrieved eight lost balloons.

And managed to somehow stop a minor "super villain".

Show-off is a mutant with the ability to show off his uhm… physique which locks people’s attention. They are also temporarily blinded by it. Very annoying. He does it to steal stuff.

In today’s age, stolen items are mostly tagged in some way, cameras, hidden tags that must be zapped, recorded numbers etc. so the items you can steal are limited somewhat.

Stealing cash from a bank is not only dumb but ensures that you’re screwed. As soon as it goes missing it’s reported and the bills become invalid.

He is not the smartest villain by a long shot, very high profile but stupid.

He has been stopped before by heroes and cops alike, hey the police do have some minor mutants on the force. I think the limit is Category 1 or something.

I would love to say that the whole, recorded, incident was on purpose.

I would even love to claim that I was after him on purpose.

The truth is that I was trying to learn how to swing from building to building with my webs, and badly failing.

There is a number of broken windows, brickwork, and more than a few shorted wires due to me. You see, in order to use webs it has to be a solid surface, OR the web has to be wide. It does not come out and splat wide like the movies!

It is actually small, thin, and the surface it clings to is small. That means that there is the full weight of say me *cough cough* 140...ish pounds on a space the size of a large coin. It does not work! Windows shatter with that much force in a small spot. Old brickwork and cement does the same. The buildings also have to be higher than three stories to get much speed since you only really use about a third of the arc.

It’s also tricky as hell to shoot a web, swing, let go, and spray another.

Quite simply, I was going wildly through the air out of control when I hit something, rebounded off, and then landed in the "classic" spider pose on the hood of car.

On LIVE TV...National TV!

I had hit Show-off right smack dab in his face, which broke his concentration. This freed the local police from the stupor, but not soon enough to capture the now pissed off Show-off.

Who, I should mention, is like a Cat two psychic and Cat two in strength as well.

While I am technically Cat 3 agility and strength, at the time I had been out of the hospital for all of a month. I was still recovering, so I was not really up to my full strength.

He is also built like a brick shithouse.

The only thing that prevented me from getting my ass handed to me on a white platter (get it white and black from costume...whatever) was my Psi-sense.

I also couldn't see a damn thing!

Plastic lenses with that coating on the outside in a mask...while swinging through air at speed equals cold, fogged up lenses.

Of course, on the news it looked like I knew what I was doing the whole time.

When I actually could see him, I panicked and sprayed the hell out of him, emptying my reserves. Now my webs might be strong as hell, but they do break down quickly after five minutes

In no time short I mummified him. Again the whole classic Spiderman/ Spiderwoman/Ghost-Spider/Spider-Gwen thing.

On TV.

National TV.

While dressed up in the, not yet released...sorta, Ghost-Spider costume!

I left by swinging away after waiting for some web fluid stuff to develop.

So there is LOTS of video and pictures of Ghost spider in clear view.

Yeah, Marvel was NOT impressed...sorta...I’ll get to that.

I had to practice quite a bit with web shooting to learn how to stick to buildings without the web giving way. And I found that power lines, while I was not a path to ground, still give a shock of sorts.

Well the webs are fluid till it sorta dries, so I got jolted a bit a few times.

Thankfully, the one good zap I got didn’t last beyond a second or so.

Note to self, do NOT shoot webs near hydro lines and another at a different building at same time!

I won’t say that I didn’t still bust a few windows.

Or run into walls, and a train. That hurt!

But I was getting better.

After the Show-off incident I tried to quit the whole hero thing.

I really did.

But ...it’s addictive. The whole freedom of swinging flying through air thing.

Marvel group has a set of mutants with powers.

They fly around in suits.

But not the hero kind, the men in black kind of suits with glasses.

Well, except the one woman who wore a skirt, but considering how she was flying I could see why.

I was brought to an even further terrifying group of lawyers and business men and women to discuss things.

I was NOT brought up on copyright charges. Apparently my suit was not exactly like Spider-Gwen or Ghost-Spider.

Why? Because of one small detail my costume had that the official version didn't.

The Spiderman spider symbol, while smaller than the original and, apparently again different since it had eight legs, oops.

However, it was close enough to be an issue.

So what, instead of white on black it’s white on dark grey.

And officially I’m registered as Lady Spider.

Yeah...many people call me Spider-Gwen.

Ghost-Spider is not actually a "thing" yet.

But, as part of the agreement I made with Marvel, I do occasional appearances in an official Ghost-Spider costume.

IE, I am paid to do promotions for an upcoming release of a comic.

Having a lawyer as a parent, even when said parent was pissed off to no end and grounded me for a month, helps with legal negotiations.

Mom isn’t stupid, she knows the girls got me into it.

Yep, my mother was called in and she just happens to be a lawyer, a business law lawyer.

Dad golfs.

A lot these days, come to think of it.

Oh, he got his say in as well.

"Gwendolyn what the h(blank) did you (blank) think you were (blank) doing!"

I was wearing the stupid skirt uniform going back and forth to school.

I hate skirts!

Earlier this week Mom and Dad sat me down.

Apparently, just south of us in California, there is a school for mutants.

I have been signed up to go there.

I will start there soon, and I am quite happy to go.

No more stupid skirts and blouses to deal with!

The end...maybe....