Spider-Man Imagines I

How Do You Get To Wonderland | Ned Leeds

Peter had warned Ned about walking to his grandma's house. It was a dangerous neighborhood, but Ned didn't feel right about asking his mom, who had just gotten off of a twelve hour shift, to drive him over.

"I'll be fine," he said over the phone, "and I'll text you when I'm there. Hey... if a mugger tries to mug me, do you think he'll get scared if I say, hey pal, don't try it! I'm Spider-Man's guy in the chair!"

"Uh, I don't think that'll work," he said, laughing. "But hey, don't get mugged. I need a guy in the chair."

"I know," he said. "I'll be careful, dude. I'll text you later."

"'Kay," Peter said. "Later."

Ned hung up and put his phone in his pocket. He fixed his backpack straps and continued on, looking both ways before crossing the empty, dark road.

As his sneakers hit the sidewalk, he both heard and felt someone run by him. By the time his head snapped around to look at who it was, the person was nothing more than a back disappearing through the warm yellow streetlight.

He shivered, feeling hair raise on his arms and neck. He looked around before going back on.

"That was weird," he muttered, and then he heard a gunshot.

Not only that, but he felt a bullet whiz past him.

He gasped and fell forward, landing on his hands and knees, but he didn't bring himself down to the ground. He turned around to see a girl in a superhero-type suit standing over him.

A man stepped in the streetlight, gun raised. "Hey! I knew you were following me, Cat!"

Ned watched her as she disappeared. Literally disappeared right into thin air. He gasped and she reappeared right in front of the gun. Her small hands wrapped around the barrel of the gun and jerked it to the ground. It fired again, taking a chunk out of the sidewalk.

Ned got on his feet but couldn't move.

She kicked him down and then tackled him. After a second of him fighting, she grabbed his throat and head and hit him against the sidewalk again and again until he stopped fighting. When he was limp, she got up, breathing heavily and limping towards the sewer at the center of the road. She lifted the plate off and then dragged his unconscious body to it. She dropped it in and it landed with a splash.

Ned pressed himself against the wall as she put the plate on. "Is he... is he dead?"

She looked up fast, like she forgot that he was there. "Oh, no. He'll wake up when that smell hits his nose. Then he'll be heading downstream." She smiled proudly.

"You..." Ned was breathing hard. "You disappeared!"

She nodded. "Yup."

"And that's - that's normal?" he asked.

"For me, yeah," she replied, shrugging. "There's a guy that swings around the city on a web and crawls up walls. I'm not the only weirdo in Queens." She smiled. "But you almost got killed and I saved your life, so you're welcome."

"T-thank you," he stammered. "That guy called you Cat?"

"Yeah," she said. "Well - because I disappear. Like the Cheshire Cat."

He gaped happily. "From Alice In Wonderland! I love that movie. Disney is awesome." He took a step off the curb and hissed in pain. Looking down, he saw blood drying up on his legs. "Oh, dang."

"Oh crap, that's from when I pushed you, isn't it?" she asked. "I'm so sorry."

"No it's... it's okay," he said. "You pushed me out of the way of a bullet."

"Still," she said, cringing at the sight. "I keep a first aid kit in my backpack. Let me fix you up, okay?"

He shrugged. "Okay," he said, because who was going to say no to a cute girl that was a superhero?

He sat on the curb and stretched his legs out. She opened her tiny pink backpack and pulled out a little kit. She opened that and knelt in front of him, pulling out a pack of wipes.

Ned flinched as the cold, wet towel touched his skin. She rubbed at the blood that was caked on his skin.

"Do you have a flashlight?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah," he said, digging into his pocket for his phone. He pulled it out. "Oh, man!" His entire screen was shattered from where he fell.

She stifled a laugh. "Never mind."

He sighed and shook his head and put it away.

"So is Alice In Wonderland your favorite Disney movie?" she asked, probably trying to make the situation less awkward.

"Nah... I like other ones," he said. "Like, uh, Aladdin and Hercules. But Wreck it Ralph is my favorite."

"Oh, cool," she said. "That one's great." She grinned. "I really like the classics. Like Pinocchio and Peter Pan and Snow White-"

"And Alice In Wonderland," he added. She smiled shyly and nodded. "I think it's really cool. Cheshire Cat is awesome. Plus you can disappear? Can you do everything he does? Like... take off your head or fade out into just a pair of eyes and a mouth?"

"No..." she said, giggling.

"How'd you get powers anyway?" he asked.

"Um-"

"And can you do the Cheshire voice? Can you say, we're all mad here and convince me that you're actually him?" he asked excitedly.

"No!" she laughed. "And it's most everyone's mad here."

"Oh. My bad," he said. "You've gotta be an expert, since your favorite Disney movie is Alice In Wonderland and your name is Cheshire Cat."

"So you're an expert on falling and breaking stuff, then? Huh, Wreck it Ralph?"

"Ha-ha," he said, and she raised her eyebrows. "I walked right into that one, I guess."

"Yes. Yes you did." She shook her head and put a bandage on him. She packed up the kit and put it in her backpack and suddenly Ned realized-

He didn't want her to go.

"Uh, hey," he said, clearing his throat. "Thanks for everything."

"Oh. No problem," she said. She put her bag on her shoulders and smiled. "It was nice meeting you. Get home safe, okay?" She looked shy as she turned away from him and headed down the dark side of the road.

"Well- hey!" he half shouted, tripping after her. "I don't... I don't want to say goodbye. I don't know, it's kinda... kinda rare to meet a girl that kicks butt and likes Disney. So can we talk more?"

She turned her head and nodded.

He breathed out a sigh of relief and held out his hand. "My name is Ned Leeds."