𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐐𝐮𝐨

thirtythree.

Sirens echoed through the city as I sat in a homemade hammock made from webs, suspending me between two buildings as I swiped through news reports on my phone. Article upon article, video report after video report, everyone everywhere was talking about the new policing laws and the lack of superhero representation.

The first public ask was of course for Spider-Woman to turn herself in, which didn't happen. The mayor then allowed any policeman to shoot me on sight, which also hasn't happened. After that, Fisk enforced multiple laws within New York saying that all superheroes were not allowed to operate without explicit requests from law enforcement.

Seriously, there's footage online of a cop handing Clint Barton an arrest notice for a court hearing after he'd saved a woman from being killed. Who would have saved her if he wasn't there? Are we supposed to wait for someone to die to then watch the cops to lug their asses over to crime scenes?

"I blocked her, don't worry. I literally just had a sexting phase with her and she got all psycho and assumed we were dating and then I ghosted her. Trust me, I don't ever talk to Liz Toomes," Peter told me on the phone through my suit.

"I just like, I dunno... I think I have feelings for you and I just feel dumb knowing I'm one of hundreds of other girls who catch feelings for you too. Even before you became Iron Man you had like a million fucking Instagram followers," I chuckled awkwardly, swinging from side to side ever so slightly from the wind.

"Yeah but you know you were only my fourth person I slept with. Doesn't that prove I'm not a fuck boy?" He whined.

"You could be a virgin and never have slept with anyone, but get a thousand blowjobs a day from a thousand different people, the logic is there but it doesn't hold up," I joked back, knowing that Peter was definitely trying to gain my trust.

I did trust him. He really stepped up after college and stuck to his own promise to live as the real Peter Parker. He struggled at first, not knowing how to act when paparazzi posted 'Stark's son revealing nerdy side in Brooklyn comic book store?' as their headlines. He learnt to shrug it off when they then posted bullshit headers along the lines of 'New Iron Man has half the charisma as predecessor as he is spotted wearing tattered converse and old sweatshirt to cinema'.

He hadn't spoken to Flash or any of the pompous, stuck up boys he used to hang out with; he just stayed friends with Ned. He even invited MJ and I over to make homemade pizzas with them. He just seemed a lot more genuine now.

Oh fuck, that reminds me. Ned and MJ are so horned up. They're always trying to touch each other and they're always saying dirty comments in front of us. Seriously, MJ said that her fingers were all sticky from making pizzas and Ned said something about his fingers being the same with her or some bullshit.

They're both insanely whipped.

Meanwhile, I still saw Peter multiple times a week when I was secretly patrolling the streets and staying at the Stark house afterwards but I tried to not hook up with him. I didn't feel as bad lying to May and Ben about where I was because at least they knew now I was at Peter's.

I used to always say I was having sleepovers with MJ whenever I had to be out late and didn't want to come home injured. I'd stay at Tony's house in the guest room and my powers would heal me pretty rapidly overnight before I ventured home. But since graduation, May and Ben became suspicious about me having feelings for Peter. So now I just say I'm hanging out with Peter and will end up staying over.

I'm still lying about the whole Spider-Woman thing, but at least they know where I sleep at night when I'm not home. And although I saw Peter a lot and we shared the same bed, I was reluctant to do anything sexual in a test to see if that's the only thing he was interested in me for; to fuck me.

He tried once or twice to initiate things, but I told him I was testing him and he just laughed, told me I could take the lead and that he'd be fine to just hang out. Which was surprising, but nice.

"I need to go, my suits telling me there's a robbery down on 31st and West," I said hanging up the phone to Peter and swinging to the destination Jarvis was directing me to. Tony had him built into this new black stealth suit which made me happy; I love Jarvis.

By the time I had swung to the robbery, the assailants were gone. They must have worked quickly. I walked through the abandoned jewellery store with smashed glass cabinets and empty display units, looking around for evidence.

"Freeze!" A man shouted from behind me, causing me to turn around slowly and look at the cop pointing his gun at me.

"I'm just trying to help..." I said cautiously, putting my hands up about my head slowly in surrender.

"I said freeze you son of a bitch!" He said in a thick Bronx accent, stepping towards me as I raised my arms in a defenceless position. He pulled he rigger and shot my in my shoulder, causing me to fall back into the already smashed jewellery stand and onto the floor.

"I'm not the bad guy here, please don't do this," I whined, still holding my hands up in front of the policeman to show him I wasn't a threat.

"You're going to prison you hear me?" He said pulling a pair of handcuffs from his belt and attaching them around each of my wrists. And I had to just let him do it because I was in an immense amount of pain, Jarvis was telling me I had critical blood loss and I was scared to get shot again.

The cop pulled me to my feet and stared at me through my mask with a mix of pride and anger, slowly reaching up towards my face nervously before pulling my mask off. Fuck.

"Y-you're just a kid," he said seeing my tear filled eyes staring back at him in fear, stepping back in shock.

"I graduated college a few weeks ago," I said quietly, looking behind him on the street knowing that other cops were bound to come here at any second.

"My daughter did too... Fuck me, fuck this isn't good, I just shot a kid," he mumbled to himself, letting go of me and pacing back and forth in front of me. I'm not a kid but I appreciate the remorse and regret he was feeling. If only he just hadn't shot me that would have been great.

And look, I can't blame him. He had orders to shoot Spider-Woman on sight, but I guess now he had realised that he never once considered who was inside the suit.

He looked at me again, rushing to pull the mask back onto my face crookedly and telling me that he would pretend this never happened as long as I did. I nodded, not being able to see him properly as the mask wasn't on correctly, but I saw him run back to his cop car and get inside. I pulled my mask down properly and ran from the store quickly, still wearing his goddamn handcuffs.

My web shooters still obviously worked despite being restrained in handcuffs, but my balance and aim was way off. Also, lifting my arms and holding my own body weight was tremendously difficult with a mother fucking bullet lodged in my right shoulder. I swung myself up onto the roof of a nearby apartment building and asked Jarvis to call Happy as I laid on my back out of breath and in seething pain.

I need him to come and get me, I'm losing a lot of blood right now.