Swept up by Spiderman

In the middle of the day, it would seem that she is perfectly safe. However, Mindy doesn't allow herself to be fooled. Its been only three days since she moved to New York. In the short time that she has been here, she has already heard of three muggings, a shooting and a bank robbery. The city seems to be teeming with criminals.

However, there are some positives to the city. While the city is overflowing with villians, there is also a healthy supply of superheroes who seem content to purge the streets of crime. Just last week Mindy witnessed Hawkeye patrolling the city and yesterday she thought she had seen Iron Man shooting past.

All of these thoughts were on Mindy's mind as she wandered through Central Park during her lunch break. Mindy wished that she had more time to experience the perks of the city instead of focusing on its defects, but contented herself to the 30 minutes she had alloted to lunch.

Exiting the park, Mindy paused, frowning as she tried to remember which way she had to go. She started down a narrow alley, but became more hesitant as signs of life seemed to dissipate with every step she took. Looking farther down the alley, she could see heaps of trash and grungey men swigging beer bottles as the lounged against the buildings. Mindy decided that it wasn't worth the risk. She turned around and began to make her way back up the alley.

Her current job writing articles for the Daily Bugle was barely enough to pay rent, but it afforded Mindy the freedom that she loved. Mindy very much prefered wandering the streets of New York in search of a story to the boring office work that most of New York's citizens had to endure.

Never in her life did she imagine that she would be the story.

"Hey there, sweetheart. What's the hurry?" One of the drunken hooligans called out.

"Yeah, where yah running off to, sweet cheeks?" Another whined.

Mindy glanced behind over her shoulder nervously, then jumped when she realized that the group of men were all advancing on her down the alleyway. She turned around, accelerating to a brisk walk.

She skidded to a stop, seeing two more men in front of her, their mouths grinning cruelly. Greasy knots of hair hung from their faces, and their sunken eyes betrayed the harsh lives they were living.

"Its been a long time since a lady as pretty as yourself has come along." One of the men said.

"Yeah, usually them ladies are smart enought to stay away from here."  Another one said with a chuckle.

Mindy reached in her pocket, groping around for the small bottle of pepper spray that she had taken to carrying around.

"So pumpkin, are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?" the leader asked, drawing a rather rusty knife from his pocket.

"Hmm.... I could say the same for you."

Mindy looked around hopefully for the source of the new voice. The men also looked, but with worry showing in their expressions.

Suddenly, a masked man jumped from the rooftops on one side of the alley, and gracefully landed beside Mindy. Mindy jumped, shocked at the sudden appearance of the vigilante.

The figure turned towards her, cocking its head slightly. Mindy took in the red and blue spandex suit along with the spider emblazoned on his chest. With a gasp of recognition she said, "Spiderman!"

Spiderman chuckled, "The one and only." Turning towards the drunken men, he said, "I don't know about you, but I think you need to work on your pick up lines. Most ladies aren't interested in knife brandishing neanderthals."

The leader stepped forward, laughing loudly. "You think we're intimidated by a stupid bug?" Brandishing the knife, he started running towards Spiderman.

With a sigh, Spiderman jumped out of the way, grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck as he flew by. "Sorry honey, but I'm not interested. Go back home to your husband now." With a heave, he threw the man down the alley. He then turned to Mindy and extended an arm. "Shall we?"

Mindy took his hand without a second thought. "We shall."

Spiderman wrapped his arms around her, shot a web, and swung them out into the street.