Gwen Stacy had just entered the Incubator's data into the table when an unfamiliar voice sounded behind her.
"Venom."
Her pen left a long streak across the page.
The laboratory door was closed. On the access screen, the last entry still showed her student ID.
The black substance on her shoulder abruptly shrank into her collar.
"Go."
Gwen Stacy did not turn around. Her fingers slowly reached for the phone at the edge of the table.
Venom's words nearly tumbled over one another.
"Don't grab that! The window! Now!"
"We're on the fifth floor."
"We can catch you!"
In the window, a dark figure rose from the reflection of the lights.
Silver-blue patterns lit up along his chest. He neither blocked the window nor bared his teeth, merely raising a hand to straighten the blinds he had knocked askew.
"You still always run first."
Gwen Stacy turned around.
She held her phone against her palm. The screen lit up twice in succession, both times with calls from Peter.
"You know him?"
Venom squeezed a mouth out from the side of her neck.
"Lightning. A guy who knows the Klyntar Laws better than his own name."
"You left out the part where you stole a transport while on duty."
"That's not the point!"
"And three levels of detention facilities."
"They were in the way!"
Gwen Stacy slipped the phone into her pocket and answered the call without speaking.
"You're here for him?"
"Yes."
Lightning's gaze swept over her clenched right hand and stopped where the black fluid met her skin.
Gwen Stacy edged half a step backward.
He stopped immediately.
"I won't hurt you. Please don't be nervous."
"Coming through the window of a locked laboratory isn't usually how you put people at ease."
Lightning glanced at the window frame.
The