LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 13
The towering building was quite the spectacle for the students who arrived, and watching from the side, Harry couldn’t help but have a slight smile on his face as he watched everyone whose jaws dropped at the imposing sight of the interior of the building. He was pretty proud that his fellow students were becoming like this due to his father's achievements.
Gwen, on the other hand, was also looking around in wonder. The interior of the building had a nice mix of large windows that let a lot of light in. Holograms up in the sky played a welcoming video to the new students who had arrived, and she couldn’t help but be slightly amazed at the sight. The interior even had a nice amount of plants to bring some life to the otherwise pale interior, which seemed to liven up the place and make it feel much more welcoming.
There was only one time that Gwen had ever been to this building, and that was when she saved Hailey Osborn from those kidnappers on her first night being Ghost Spider. Despite that, she had never actually been inside the building, and watching the hustle and bustle all around her, people walking around in lab coats and having conversations with their colleagues, she couldn’t help but think that she would fit right in if she was to work in this environment.
As the guide brought the whole class of people along, that feeling of belonging was getting more profound at the same time; it was an experience that she could feel would have profoundly affected her if she had not had such a life-changing experience in the last couple of weeks. The whole tour lasted a pretty long while, and the entire time, Gwen couldn’t help but struggle with what she wanted to do in the future. This place seemed like it was made for her, with other like-minded people around her who tried to use their brains to change the world and positively impact the world around them.
If it were the Gwen from before, she would have raised her hand to ask question after question when the guide was talking. Try to set herself apart from her peers, establish a business relationship with some workers, and make herself stand out to get an opportunity in an environment like this. But despite all these thoughts going through her head, she stayed silent. Yes, it was an environment she liked; it was even a place where she could envision herself spending a good few years working there after university. But now Gwen had been given a taste of something else. A new kind of life that others may only be able to wish for.
Even if I don’t work here in the future, I can still help others and positively impact society. She thought to herself. She steeled her mind. A little part of her already knew that she had decided, especially when thinking about the last couple of weeks she’d spent with the Yuri System and Petra and Jean. She couldn’t see herself committing herself to the life of an average person any longer. Her aspirations had grown, and her desire to become something more and stand out from the rest had been birthed.
She couldn’t see herself as an employee in a building like this; she could only see herself as the big boss of such a building. The owner. Was that unrealistic? She asked herself. But she didn’t think so. In fact, from the things she had seen in her system store, she couldn’t help but think that such a thing was just par the course given her circumstances, whether it was the knowledge she wanted to expand and share that she could get from the Gatcha or even buy from the store. She just didn’t see herself as an asset in someone else’s hand when she could be an asset of her own.
A massive shift in perspective allowed Gwen to take a breath and realise that she had yet to come. She was going to be something in the future; whether it was with her Ghost Spider or anything she would be in life, she would succeed. She should have realised it even before she acquired the Yuri System. She was a hard worker and felt that, while it would have been a lot harder and required a lot more hard work, she felt that as long as she had the right mindset, she could do anything.
Right, why have I been limiting myself? She couldn’t help but ask. She was sitting in a lecture hall and listening to the lecture provided by Curtis Connor, a man in his mid-fifties with blonde hair and one arm. She should have been excited by the lecture; she should have been taking notes furiously like the rest of the class, but she had long realised that even if she didn’t take any notes, she’d remember it all anyway. She felt that her mind had been even further enhanced after getting bit by that spider and taking that pill that she had gotten from her time with Jean.
She had never really realised how much her mind had improved since she took that pill and how much it helped with learning new things. The last week in school and having fun at home went by so quickly, subjects that she was already familiar with, and she didn’t spend time learning new things, as usual, to spend more time with her lovers, so much so that most of the stuff on the board were already making sense despite only being halfway through the lecture and only having half of her mind on the task at hand, while the rest of her mind was wandering from one place to another.
Gwen’s behaviour even caused a little fuss among the rest of the students. They all knew that she was an academic type, and when others were making a fuss in the classroom, she quickly sent them a scary glare so that she could focus back on the lesson. But here she was, seemingly absentmindedly staring into space. The rest of the class weren’t the only ones who noticed, and Petra couldn’t help but send a worried glance towards Gwen.
To some degree, she could figure out what was going on in Gwen’s head, and having been best friends since the age of five, she had been next-door neighbours for even longer than that. On top of that, she felt closer to Gwen since they had started their relationship and was getting to see a new side of her best friends that she didn’t know about all these years. To top it all off, she also had thoughts similar to those of her girlfriend. Could she go back to her everyday life? Work for a company like this when she had so much potential elsewhere? She used to think she’d work for a company like this, but her income from uploading videos with Gwen and getting her share was already more money than she had ever seen. And that’s not even considering the fact of Gwen’s points that she earns. Gwen stated clearly that the points she earned from her system couldn’t be generated without their help; thus, she felt entitled to share some of the points with them.
In a day of fighting crime coupled with a fun time at night, they could earn more than 1000 points a day, already $50,000. That’s not even thinking about the amount of joy she had while doing all of this. Whether it was fighting crime, taking pictures, or their new sex life, she loved every second of it.
So, Petra did the only thing that she could at this moment. She took Gwen’s hand and gave her an encouraging squeeze and a soft smile. A gesture that Gwen quickly reciprocated.
While Gwen was already feeling better, simply due to holding Petra’s hand, a familiar shiver went down both Gwen and Petra’s spine and caused them to both look towards the back of the lecture hall simultaneously. Gwen’s eyes immediately locked on a familiar Asian girl she had seen earlier on the bus ride. While unfamiliar with the girl's name, she did recognise that she was a member of the school hockey team. The girl was rubbing her neck with an uncomfortable expression on her face.
Sharing a look with Petra, we quickly understood what was happening. This time, it was like a resonance between spider senses rather than the usual danger sense that occurs when they are in danger. It also happened when Gwen and Petra were together, but they learned to ignore it.
Luckily, the lecture ended only five minutes later, with Dr Connors saying that he looked forward to seeing their accomplishments in the future and had hopes of working alongside them. As the class filled out with smiles, some students stayed behind and asked extra questions while the rest were dismissed for the rest of the day. Seeing the uncomfortable look on the girl's face, Gwen and Petra quickly realised something.
“Gwen, do you think our experience was lightened and made easier due to your system?” Looking at the clammy face of the girl they were following, Petra couldn’t help but remember the ease at which she not only acquired but quickly adapted to her new body.
Gwen couldn’t help but feel that Petra’s conjecture was correct as they left the Oscorp Building. After a quick word with Harry, saying that they would stay in the area and have a date, they split off from the rest of the class, together with the girl who seemed to be a little out of it and ready to faint at any moment.
They quickly left the group after saying some goodbyes to the teacher before walking away, keeping the girl in their sights, worried that she may endanger herself while seemingly in such a listless state. “Do you think there will be any side effects due to it not being from the system?” Gwen asked in a low voice as they followed from behind.
Quickly taking the chance when nobody was looking, they quickly entered an alleyway while walking, and Gwen changed them into hero costumes. They promptly scaled the building and watched the girl stumble in the middle of the road. Not wanting to risk it anymore and sending a nod towards Petra, she quickly jumped down and swooped in to pick her up before she got herself killed due to oncoming traffic.
Now that they were in their spider costumes with the visor, the girl, who was now sitting on a roof while still looking slightly out of it, was easy to identify. Cindy Moon was her name, and she was the ace of the hockey team at Midtown High. Gwen even had access to all her school achievements and was surprised that she had never heard of her. But it quickly made sense when she realised she was from the year below and had just turned 17. She wasn’t in any of Gwen and Petra’s classes and could only join this school trip because she was at the top. The teacher felt the opportunity was too good for their favourite student to miss.
Gwen quickly made a decision and summoned a mid-grade healing pill before tossing it into the girl's mouth. The effect was almost instantaneous as her pale face quickly regained some colour, and the listless look in her eyes was gone after just a few seconds.
“Are you all right there, girl?” Gwen asked, her forearms resting on her knees as she sat in a comfortable squat. Cindy Moon wasn’t like Jean or Petra, and while she knew what her school records said about her, she didn’t know her personally, so she decided to keep her identity a secret for at least a little while. Whether that changes in the future can be decided later on.
Cindy, meanwhile, couldn’t help but be taken aback by the rapid change of scenery. The last thing she remembered was an achy feeling on the back of her neck, and then she started walking while feeling listless, almost as if she had been drugged. But then, all of a sudden, she woke up with two people in front of her. Two people that she recognised very well at that. Who else was it but her favourite superheroes she had followed almost religiously on social media the last week?
Her research on Spider-Woman and Ghost Spider had even expanded her horizons in ways that she never expected. Who would have thought that a post on Reddit about how Ghost Spider helps someone's relationship would have broadened her view of the world around her in such a way? It was thanks to her deep diving while researching about them that she found out that she might be gay. It was something that she had been questioning herself about for the last few days, at least until this morning when she happened to catch two senior students, who were both female, making out. After seeing the sight, let’s say she was lucky to always have a change of panties in her rucksack for emergencies.
While looking at the two people in front of her, she couldn’t help but let out a happy squeal as she quickly sat up and grabbed the surprised Gwen by the shoulders. “Ahhhh! I’m your biggest fan!” She exclaimed with stars in her eyes.
To say that Gwen was surprised would be an understatement. She and Petra had already had a fair share of fan encounters, but that was limited to their names being called out as they swung from one place to another. They never had an encounter like this, much less with someone who happened to be getting the same powers as them. Letting out an awkward chuckle as she spared a glance towards Petra, she gently patted Cindy’s hands as she replied. “Well, that’s nice to hear. But how are you feeling? Are there any weird sensations? Still feeling dizzy?” Gwen asked.
Cindy, seeming to realise what she had just done, blushed. At least before she remembered what had happened before, did she get drugged? Did she get kidnapped and saved by these two? What had happened? She had no clue what was happening as she found that her memories of the last couple of hours were quite fuzzy at best. “What happened?” She asked, with a slight quiver in her voice. She may be a fan of the two in front of her, but if something serious happened, she at least knew when it was appropriate to act like a fan girl, even if it was slightly embarrassing, and when to be serious.
“Nothing serious, don’t worry,” Gwen said as she looked at Petra, who was walking towards them.
“We think that you’re like us,” Petra said, shooting a web out of her wrist and hitting the floor in front of Cindy.
Cindy didn’t need to be at the top of her class to be able to pick up what they were insinuating, and taking a few deep breaths; she remembered what Ghost Spider had said earlier. ‘Any weird sensations?’. And now that she thought about it… some weird sensations were going on in her body.
She couldn’t help but clench her fist, feeling the absurd strength she was unused to. She was the ace of the hockey team. She knew her strengths as she was used to pushing herself and knowing her own body, but this strength that she seemed to have acquired was a lot more than she was used to. While still staring at her fist in wonder, Gwen quickly stood up, walked around Cindy and focused on her neck.
A spider was dangling from a web there, and she quickly yanked the web, causing a sharp pain to erupt from the bite mark. With a hiss of pain, she quickly covered the bite with her hand. She was about to ask Ghost Spider what that was for when she noticed the spider dangling from the web.
Once again, she didn’t need to be a genius when she saw the spider and the two people with spider-like powers. Quickly connecting the dots, she couldn’t help but be bewildered, feeling that her life was about to change what she knew drastically. She didn’t know whether to be excited or scared, but she was confused. She looked at the two people before her and couldn’t help but feel a slight connection to them, especially Ghost Spider. For some inexplicable reason, she couldn’t help but blush, as a hot feeling seemed to come from the pit of her stomach, and a blush covered her cheeks.
Gwen couldn’t help but be slightly surprised by the turn of events. Sure, her Yuri Senses already knew that Cindy had a tiny bit of a crush on Ghost Spider, whether it was physical attraction, like many of her fans online, or an appreciation for helping her discover more about herself, Gwen couldn’t quite tell. But it suddenly just completely switched up to blatant lust while feeling a connection between them.
‘Yuri, what’s happening here?’ She couldn’t help but ask, slightly bewildered.
[Haha. Well… This was an honest mistake on my part. When I had you bitten by that spider from the starter gift box, I had it the same spider you were supposed to be bitten by today… And technically, the very same spider that had also bitten Cindy Moon here…]
‘I still don’t understand why this is happening though… you’re going to have to explain it better than that…’ Well, it turned out that Cindy wasn’t the only one affected by the current situation. Gwen couldn’t help but feel a little hot and bothered due to whatever was happening here. She quickly wanted to get her wits about her, and the best way to do that, at least from what she had found, was to use her recently acquired power to manipulate electricity to give herself a shock.
[To simplify it to its most basic terms… the two of you are linked in a certain way, and in terms of spider society, she would be equivalent to The Bride, more specifically… your bride…]
Gwen felt her eye twitch in response to Yuri’s explanation. She didn’t understand what was happening, but she wasn’t one to let such a thing disrupt her flow. She looked over at Petra, and she could almost feel that Petra’s eyes were burning into the back of her head in curiosity. She took a deep breath and sent what Yuri had told her over the link in their visor.
Petra also stilled for a moment in shock at what was happening. Gwen couldn’t help but smile wryly at the situation, and although her mask hid it, Petra knew her well enough to see through such a thing quickly. Finally, the silence was broken by Petra, who let out a sigh of her own. “I should have expected something like this to happen…”
Gwen, Jean, and Petra had already long realised that the more women Gwen had, the stronger they would be and the better their chance of survival in this crazy world they would have. The last week they spent together also made both Petra and Jean realise that Gwen was quite needy, and despite the two of them ganging up on her, they still felt that they couldn’t quite keep up with her. It was always her that was the last one standing in bed, and she seemed to have this insatiable lust that seemed endless.
Cindy, who wasn’t privy to the knowledge shared between the two women in front of her, couldn’t help but perk up at Petra’s words. Did they know what was happening? Did they understand why her panties were so damp all of a sudden for the second time today? She was just about to ask them but was cut off from asking due to their conversation not seeming over.
“Haha… Well, I suppose something like this was bound to happen eventually due to our circumstances.” Gwen started, and Petra knew she was talking about the Yuri System. They had long discussed the possibility of the system creating situations like this without their knowledge. Whether this was due to Yuri’s schemes or if it was just a coincidental by-product of its earlier actions was something that they would probably never find out. But they already knew the possibility of such a thing happening, so they glossed it over. Gwen went silent for a moment before continuing. “...It seems that her Spider-Sense is quite strong and even linked to mine. There’s no longer use hiding out identities; she’d find out quickly anyway.” She said softly.
Petra also thought about it for a second before she nodded her head. They were relatively high up, and their spider senses were pretty good at letting them avoid detection if they were in the right mindset, so they had no hesitation as they took off their masks in front of Cindy.
Cindy, surprised by the sudden change in events, couldn’t help but open her mouth in shock when she realised that she recognised the two people in front of her as the very two people who were making out this morning on the bus. As she was the only person in her year who attended the field trip to Oscorp Tower, she felt a little out of it as she didn’t know anyone else in the school year. Inevitably, her eyes drifted towards the two people in front of her throughout the day while thinking about the scene from that very morning.
She didn’t know the names of the two girls in front of her, but after almost a whole day of thinking about how the two girls had been licking each other's tonsils just that morning, it was fair to say that their images had been burned into her mind. The image from that morning couldn’t help but pop up in her mind again, and along with the new inexplicable intimate connection that she felt between herself and Gwen, she couldn’t help but blush even harder.
With a sigh, Gwen could tell what was on Cindy’s mind due to her Yuri Senses and decided to intervene before she got too ahead of herself. She placed her hand on Cindy’s shoulder and did the same thing to herself to calm her down and gave her a little shock. While she found the whole situation amusing, she wouldn’t take advantage of the girl when she was in such a state.
It was a different situation with Jean and Petra. With Jean, they had been flirting and testing the waters between each other for well over a year, and it just needed that little spark to make it come alive. Moreover, Gwen knew that Jean could have stopped the situation back then if she wanted to quickly. On the other hand, Petra was someone that Gwen had always loved as a friend and trusted confidant; it was just that the situation changed, and they had a proper talk about it before anything happened.
Gwen knew she could take advantage of Cindy in her current state, but she would have been disgusted with herself if she had done so and regretted it. With a sharp breath, Cindy quickly found her muddled and lustful thoughts calming down due to the shock.
Knowing that she had calmed down, Gwen shared a look with Petra before starting. “Firstly, you’re feeling like that because the two of us are bitten by the same spider. When that happened, we became connected, and now we both have become like this.” She explained, and Cindy only now noticed that she wasn’t the only one getting slightly flustered with whatever was happening, as Gwen’s cheeks were a shade darker than her usual fair skin. “I will be frank with you. I don’t know what will happen, and we currently don’t know much about each other. The only thing I know about you is that you play hockey and are the top student of your year. And that your name is Cindy Moon.”
Gwen stopped for a second before she realised something. “Right. My name is Gwen Stacy, and I am also part-timing as Ghost Spider after school. This is my girlfriend Petra Parker, who is also part-timing as Spider-Woman after school.” She said with a wry smile.
It was only at this moment that Cindy seemed to realise something. She had never met Gwen or Petra before today, but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognise their names due to rumours circulating recently and overhearing a conversation once or twice. “I thought that Gwen was going out with someone called Jean?” the mumbled words came out of her mouth before she could even think them through, and she looked up in a bit of fear. Did she accidentally just expose a secret that Petra didn’t know? Did she accidentally just cause a conflict between these two girls?
She hoped not! That kiss that she witnessed this morning was the very reason that she confirmed her sexuality. She didn’t want her words to be the reason that they broke up or got into an argument. Gwen’s following words, however, made her both calm down and get excited at her chances of getting together with the beautiful blonde girl in front of her.
“Well, I’m dating both Petra and Jean.” Cindy’s eyes widened at the declaration as she instinctively looked over to Petra… only to find the girl in question nodding slightly as if what just came out of Gwen’s mouth wasn’t anything new…
Really… what was going on here? Did Gwen have two girlfriends, and did they even know about each other? Did that mean that they were accepting of others joining in the future? And was she somehow getting involved in this as well? She only confirmed the fact that she was gay this morning, and all of a sudden, she could imagine herself joining this complicated relationship.
One thing was sure: When her teacher allowed her to go to Oscorp Tower, she didn’t think the day would go this way!