Spider-Gwen || Caught in a Web

Bravery || Gwen Stacy

"Sometimes I feel like my only friend is the city I live in"

-Under the Bridge, the Red Hot Chili Peppers

The morning New York wind billowed over the East River, whipping around the Brooklyn Bridge and the odd sight underneath it-Gwen Stacy, clothed in her spider-suit, had made a small hammock out of her webbing and attached it under the bridge.

The blonde slipped her mask off of her face, knowing that she wasn't going to be seen where she was at. Gwen sighed deeply, trying her best to not stress as she took some time to mentally prepare for today-school started in less than an hour, but she needed some alone time to gather every ounce of courage she could.

Today was the day that she asked someone to prom.

She could hear every car above her, tires rolling over the concrete and heading in and out of the city. But that wasn't the sound she'd come here to listen to. Gwen continued staring at the bridge above her as she slipped her earphones out and hooked them up to her phone, scrolling through her playlist for a few moments before landing on a song that fit the mood.

As she lay back in her makeshift hammock, Gwen let her eyes drift shut, memories of the path that had brought her here filling her mind. The freaky, chance encounter with a mutated spider at Midtown High's Science Fair that had left her with these abnormal powers; the days spent figuring out what exactly she was capable of; then, that one moment as she walked home from school... the memory grew more vivid as the breeze made Gwen's blonde hair billow around her face.

The air had just begun turning crisp, signaling the advent of fall. Gwen looked from side to side before making her way along a crosswalk, hugging her arms to her stomach. It wasn't often that she walked home alone, but things had just been so weird lately... her eyes drifted down to her hand, looking at the two small marks on her hand-the healing bite marks from that spider that had bit her.

As she reached the other side, Gwen looked around-there weren't as many people walking around at this time of day, a lot of them were at work. Her piercing blue eyes continued to study her surroundings, stopping only when they saw something down an alley to her left-two people, one backed up to the wall while the other approached slowly.

Everything in Gwen seemed to lock up-somehow, in that moment, her vision seemed to home in on the two figures; one was a larger male, holding his finger up to his lips to shush the person in front of him while he held out a knife... the other was an older woman, her hands shaking as she clutched her purse to herself.

Fear surged in Gwen's heart-it was such a depraved, terrifying scene. A dark portrait of how the strong people in the world often preyed on those who were weaker... a portrait of why Gwen's father had taken a job as police captain.

Gwen had always been told about things like this-how she needed to protect herself and stay safe so that she wouldn't end up in that position. For the longest time, the stories of people going missing or being robbed had caused Gwen to associate with the victims in the situations. But now? Now she couldn't see herself as the old woman... no, there was something different inside of her now, literally. A power that made her think only about what George Stacy would do in this situation.

Gwen took a tentative shuffle forward into the alley, tripping over herself as her nerves continued to flare. The begging of the old woman reached her ears, pushing Gwen to take a deep breath to compose herself. 

"H-hey!!" She shouted, getting the attention of the rough-looking male, who immediately laughed. 

"You gonna' talk me out of it?" He taunted, a sleazy light in his eyes as he turned towards Gwen. "Or maybe you're the one who needs this knife, hmm?"