Spider-Girl: the Life of a Teenage Spider Person

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I have been trailing mystery man for over ten minutes now.

"Is he even going somewhere?!" Layla exclaims, exasperated.

"I don't know... Do you think he knows I'm here?"

"How could he?! You have been very quiet and sneaky. He hasn't even glanced in your direction!"

"Yeah... You're probably right..." I say nervously.

Mystery man turns another corner.

I leap to another building, peering down the street he turned onto.

"Uh... Layla?" I squeak.

"What?"

"I saw him turn a corner... and now he is gone..."

"No! Crystal, you can't lose him! You've been following him for this long, you can't give up!"

"Okay, Layla..."

I leap from building to building, keeping an eye out for mystery man.

I reach another corner, "No! He could've gone straight, or turned!"

Glancing around nervously at my surroundings, I slowly crawl down the side of the building. I stand at the corner, under the streetlight, looking all around.

"Layla... I don't like this. It's really dark... I don't see anybody..." I whisper.

Layla sighs, "Okay, Crystal... You should probably get out of there. We can try again later..."

I open my mouth to respond when my entire body begins to tingle.

Eyes wide, I turn around - where I am met with a punch to the face.

"GAH!!!!" I scream.

"Crystal?! What happened?! Are you okay?!" Layla is freaking out.

Unfortunately I don't have time to respond before I barely dodge another punch.

"Why are you following me?!" Mystery man says, preparing to punch again.

I quickly flip onto the streetlight, "Uh... Because you are selling weapons illegally? I thought that was pretty obvious!"

I then mutter, "CASSI, start recording."

"Recording started."

Mystery man chuckles, "How do you know I'm selling weapons illegally? What I am doing could be perfectly legal!"

I scoff, "Yeah right! I'm sure all business men sell their weapons in dark, creepy alleyways!"

I start shooting webs, hoping to stick mystery man to the pavement.

"Okay, okay... You've got me there..." he admits, easily dodging my webs.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask.

That's right... keep him talking.

"That's none of your business!" he laughs, "Listen, Spider-Girl... I don't want to hurt you. If you leave now, nobody gets hurt. Forget all this happened!"

"I think it's a little too late for that," I say.

He sighs frustratingly, "Spider-Girl! Just. Leave. I really don't want to have to hurt you!"

"I'm not leaving! How about you let me stick you to the ground so we can call it a night?" I retort.

Mystery man sighs again, "I'm disappointed... But I gave you a choice, and you chose wrong."

"Yeah, uh huh, sure," I mutter, continuing to shoot webs.

BANG

My heart skips a beat as my Spidey Sense kicks into gear. I stop shooting webs and stare at mystery man - who is now holding a gun!

He proceeds to fire more bullets at me, forcing me to flip onto the pavement.

I stand up, immediately feeling a kick to my stomach.

I grunt and begin to fight back.

Punch, dodge, kick, webs, dodge, kick, punch, webs, punch...

I look around in a panic, jumping onto the wall of the nearest building. I rush to climb up the wall.

As soon as I have climbed to the ledge, my arm begins to tingle.

I quickly turn towards mystery man, when an unbelievable pain shoots up my arm.

"WHA?!" I shout, before losing my balance.

I fall to the ground, landing on my stomach.

I lift my face from the pavement, watching as a blurry mystery man approaches.

My heart is beating it's way out of my chest, my head hurts, there is a ringing in my ears, I don't know what is going on with my arm, and my vision is blurred...

I try to stand up, but a weight is suddenly on my back.

Tears start forming in my eyes as I struggle under the weight.

"I told you... Stay out of this, Spider-Girl," mystery man warns, before lifting his foot from my back.

I quickly sit up, letting the tears fall.

"Layla?" I sob.

"Crystal! Finally! What happened?! Are you okay?!"

"I- he- the gun- getting away- hurts..."

"Crystal! Calm down! Breathe!"

I follow Layla's instructions. I take a few deep breathes, allowing myself to calm down.

I lean against the wall, the pain in my arm becoming worse.

I look down at my arm, sucking in my breath.

"L-Layla..." I stutter.

"What?"

"I-I got shot..." I whisper, staring at the tear in my suit.

"What?! Is the bullet in you?!"

"No... I think it just grazed me... but... it's bleeding... a lot."

"Oh, Crystal! You need to get home!" Layla exclaims.

"I know... CASSI, stop recording."

"Recording stopped."

I stand up slowly and crawl up onto the roof of a building. I aim for a building to swing to, and shoot the web.

Shoot the web.

Shoot the web!

I look down at my hand, "My web shooter isn't working!"

I check the fluid container.

"Layla! I'm out of fluid!"

"Oh no! What are you going to do?!"

I sigh, "I guess I'll have to walk home..."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine..."

"Okay... See you tomorrow."

"Bye."