By Sunlight (P.P + M.J)

44. A Cold Day in NYC

*Gwen's pov*

What the hell, what the hell, what the hell.

It was the only thing Gwen was capable of thinking. She thought she'd be walking in on the ass-kicking of a lifetime, not a bloody scene of nightmarish proportions. Who had shot Michelle? And that blood trail! Had that been Jack's?

Damn her own lack of punctuality.

"Where do I even start?" Gwen wondered aloud as she landed on a high rooftop, looking down at the streets below. She stuck her hand in her jacket pocket and found her white ski mask, pulling it over her head. If it was going to get gnarly, then she didn't want to be recognized. "A black van? Yeah, real specific, Parker. That'll help me."

Then, her hearing picked up the sound of an engine. Not a car engine, but something much bigger. She looked up, and was surprised by some kind of small aircraft that flew over her head. It wasn't like anything she had ever seen, small and sturdy with a large hull. There were jet turbines in each wing that allowed it to hover, and Gwen recalled only seeing the Avengers have something like that when she used to watch their escapades on the news.

But it wasn't like Captain America was coming to help her. Iron Man himself seemed a little preoccupied at the moment.

The jet was making its way over toward Central Park, and something told Gwen to follow it. Something this big had to be trouble, and no one seemed to even know it was there. There were no police chasing it or helicopters telling it to leave the city's airspace.

Scratch that. There was something chasing it.

A black van turned a corner about three blocks away and took the street that followed the plane. It was a sizable U-Haul kind of van, big and boxy and bad with sharp turns. It was sitting quite low on its wheels, like there was something heavy inside.

"Wow, that's like a coincidence out of a movie. I just happen to be where he is? I can hear the Cinema Sins 'ding' in my head," Gwen told herself, running and backflipping off the roof before swinging after the van. As she closed in on the vehicle, she noticed it pick up its pace, swerving around cars as it tried to escape.

Gwen had experience chasing vans. Sure, she was 0-1 in retrieving the kidnapped person, but she was determined to not have that happen again. She would be smarter this time. She wouldn't be dramatic and rip a hole through the van's roof.

It suddenly turned a corner, its wheels screeching and leaving a black trail as it drifted into a narrow alleyway. Gwen took to the rooftop beside it and ran as fast as she could, jumping as it appeared on the other side and landing firmly on the hood in front of the driver's seat.

Moon Knight was driving. His hood was down and his mask was off. Honestly, she expected his face to be scarred or burned or something. He was just a regular guy under all that apparatus.

How boring.

"What up, A-hole!" Gwen shouted at him before throwing her fist through the glass. She grabbed the wheel of the van and turned it, all while Moon Knight beat down on her hand. She drove them through a row of trash cans, sending garbage everywhere. "Sorry! Never got my permit!"

Moon Knight rolled down his window and stuck his hand out. He was holding some kind of gun, and Gwen's eyes widened at the sight of it. Before she could react, she was propelled into the air and forcibly thrown into the neighboring building, crashing through the window and into an apartment living room. The family inside screamed as she careened across their room, stopping only when her back met the other wall, leaving a dent in it. Despite the new ache in her body, Gwen quickly got to her feet. The crash had ripped her hood and left sleeve off, also leaving new tears in her front.