"Seems, like you don't enjoy being something you aren't," Gwen said as she looked at the now deflated red symbiote head. "That's something most people can relate to, you know." She wasn't sure why she said that. Maybe she wanted to show the symbiote that she considered it a living being? No use second guessing herself.
Second order of business was to calm down, meaning a hot shower and a meal. She shoved two frozen pizzas into her oven, not really keen on cooking after a day like this. While her food was slowly getting ready, Gwen allowed herself a thorough shower, enjoying the hot water running down her aching body. The only part of her not covered by a few cuts or bruises was her head. Since she had gotten a cold flamer to the face that had to do with with the symbiote head that Gwen had temporarily worn, no doubt.
Once she felt clean and refreshed enough, she put on her bathrobe, got the now finished pizzas out of the oven and sat down at her computer. While Gwen was no expert in any science the way her counterpart in Jessica's and Peter's reality had been, she still had comparable brains. Ever since she had started doing this Spider-Woman gig, she had noticed more and more how much of an underachiever she had been in school. She had also started to miss her own Peter Parker more than ever. It had never occurred to her how much his scientific curiosity had provided her with an outlet for her own innate curiosity.
But it was too late now and after months of beating herself up about his death, Gwen came to terms with herself. Especially after she saw in the other reality what continued self-loathing would do to her. While the other Peter Parker was quite respected among heroes, he never had gotten over either his uncle's or his Gwen Stacy's death. And that over developed desire to be responsible for everything was pushing people away and keeping him from having a life beyond being a super hero.
In a sense, Gwen was more at peace than him, despite being actively hunted by the police. She really wanted to help him, though she had to admit that she also had a crush on him that might (possibly) play into it. But Spider-Man didn't see her like that.
Shaking those negative thoughts off, she started to eat her pizza and put the flash drive with the A.I.M. data into her PC. Hopefully the stuff wasn't encrypted AND contained useful information. Luckily the drive was neither damaged nor full of useless things. While she was eating, she went through folder after folder. It was mostly tests and their results, but once she understood the near anarchic system by which things was ordered it was easier to get to the useful information.
The symbiote she had stolen was a clone. No name was given for the original, it was only referred to as Subject 4. Subject 0 was the 'originator' symbiote, so most likely Venom. The others must be offspring of it. There were more clones, based on other symbiotes. Mass producing was not yet possible and might never be.
The entire idea behind it seems to stem from the other reality's US-Government attempt to create a controlled, symbiote enhanced soldier. Gwen had heard of this 'Agent Venom', though she thought it needlessly risky to use experimental drugs to keep the symbiote in check. A.I.M. appeared to agree with her. Their solution was to create symbiotes naturally subdued in their attempts to bond and influence a host.
When it came to limiting their creations, A.I.M. had worked wonders: They had not exhibited any controlling influence, could barely move without a host and also had a hard time to change their default form, though they could if given outside motivation. A.I.M. had not been satisfied, though, because there was ample evidence that symbiotes could think long term and possessed cunning. Gwen thought they were surprisingly cautious, especially since A.I.M. was usually all for taking unnecessary risks.
And the symbiote clones granted all the nifty little powers the real deal could, to some degree at least: Strength, speed, agility, endurance, sensory enhancement and even healing and shapeshifting. It wasn't known how they would match up against real symbiotes, lack of data, but A.I.M. wasn't willing to conduct field tests. And the reason for it was simple.
The costume could not be worn.
Oh well, it could, but like Gwen had noticed herself, separating mere hair strands from the rest was already a task beyond most baseline humans. Making an actual opening on the symbiote's surface? Well beyond any human being. It required either industrial machinery or superhuman strength. There were certain energy-wavelengths that could briefly cut parts off. These wavelengths were hard to achieve and even harder to maintain, however. At least that explained how part of the symbiote had gotten cut off. Reality warping certainly generated strange energies. And to make matters worse, it seemed that the symbiotes had a very hard time harming themselves, though this seemed more related to willpower than actual physical strength. Like it took quite some conviction to cut off a part of one's own body. Basically, It required a strong willed person to force it to open even with the strength the symbiote provided.
That obviously explained why it wasn't field ready. It couldn't be taken on or off without help by most people. Even so, Gwen was surprised that the project was by and large a huge success. Maybe she should check whether she could pull the symbiote apart, though considering that this didn't guarantuee that she also had the ability to take it off... maybe not. One way or the other, it was late and time for bed. Gwen placed costume and head far apart from each other and snuggled into her bed.