Spider-Gwen 2 || Hanging by a Thread

Plea || Miles Morales

"Lookin' at my dreams, who I wanna' be?"

-Small Worlds, Mac Miller

Two hours after the hospital visit, the sun was dipping below the horizon, causing the formerly blue hues of the sky to shift towards a dark purple as the lights of New York City came to life. In one of the few places without light-an alleyway-Miles Morales continued peering around the corner of a building, his Spider-Man mask over his face as he watched a certain police cruiser keep watch over an apartment.

"How much longer?" Ganke complained, worriedly looking over his shoulder as he took cover behind a dumpster. "I think my jacket's going to smell like trash forever at this rate..."

"His shift's almost done." Miles whispered back, trying to stay as hidden as possible as he watched his father sit in the police cruiser, occasionally chatting on his radio or glancing at his phone. He'd heard his father mention having to monitor a certain apartment in Queens the night that Black Cat had been subdued, and he'd tucked that information away just in case it was needed.

Lucky break, he told himself. But Miles would take any break he could... Max had claimed that her new suit had been bonded to Black Cat before, so if anyone could help Max break out of her weird, edgy funk that she was in, it was the former master criminal that had vanished from the headlines.

Miles's father began to shift noticeable in his seat, and Miles tensed up, knowing that something was happening-a young woman, her hair dyed platinum blonde and held in a ponytail, was walking along the sidewalk towards the apartment. She glanced in the direction of the police cruiser, and Miles's father nodded in acknowledgement before making sure she went inside. When she'd returned to her abode, Captain Morales started his engine, and made a U-turn onto the street to return home.

"You're clear," Miles told Ganke, smiling to himself as he heard his friend exhale in relief and emerge from his hiding spot.

"That hiding spot was such trash."

"That was a garbage joke, Ganke."

"This bad joke war is a waste of time."

Ganke's last retort hung awkwardly in the air as the two friends stared at each other.

"Yeah, that one wasn't as good-"

"Just hang tight for a while, okay?" Miles chuckled, looking both ways before jogging across the street to the apartment that his father had been watching. If he was going to find out where Black Cat stayed, he was going to have to sneak in without being seen.

Miles took a deep breath, trying to maintain a strong focus on what he wanted, just like Max had been teaching him. He squeezed his eyes shut momentarily, and when he opened them, his skin and clothing had become invisible.

Alright!! He thought, doing a fist pump as he reached the apartment. I'm starting to get the hang of this...

Opening the door, Miles peeked inside to see what he was going to have to navigate-there was a receptionist desk, but he seemed to be too busy watching something on his phone to notice the door getting opened by seemingly nothing. Miles kept his footsteps quiet as he jogged past the desk into an open doorway that led to the apartment rooms.

Inside was a winding staircase that rose up the floors of the house, with a balcony on each level that an occupant could use to get to their room. An uncomfortable sensation made its way down the back of Miles's neck-something like pinpricks or light scratching that made his skin crawl, oddly directing him to look up...