A/N: Here is the first chapter of this fanfic as promised. Just a disclaimer, this fanfic is based off of movie info so I took a few liberties with the holes they didn't fill for her introduction. But I did do research on whether or not the holes I filled were accurate but I'm still not sure if it's 100% right. Feel free to correct me if you comic book whizzes spot anything wrong and hope y'all enjoy!
"Gwen!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Gwen!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"God damn it Gwen!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Said girl groaned and rolls over. Gwen pushes herself up to a sitting position, her chin length blonde hair creating a thin curtain over her blue eyes. The door slams open to reveal a very annoyed boy on the other side, two backpacks in hand. "You left your textbooks out last night and didn't even bother packing back up," the boy says as he drops the black coloured pack at the foot of her bed.
Standing at the foot of her bed was her older brother, Dominic Stacy. The two had the same blond hair color but that's where the physical similarities just about ended. While Gwen had blue eyes, Dominic had a silvery touch of color to his eyes, which would cloud over very fast if he got angry. He was also taller, about half a head taller than her. "Dominic, wha-?" Gwen mumbles confused, trying to blink the tiredness away from her eyes.
"Gwen, I can't be your alarm clock every morning you know," Dominic reminds her with a small smile. "It's already 7:50. Get dressed, breakfast is already waiting, and let's go."
With that, Dominic turns and exits her room. At least he had the sense to close the door behind him. Gwen flops back onto her bed and stares at her digital clock. The glowing red numbers stare back. 7:51. She throws her covers off herself and slide out of bed. Gwen hurriedly dresses for school and throws her backpack out her room. She hops out into the hall with one sock on as she tries to pull the second onto her other foot. She straightens out and a look of realization and exasperation crosses her face.
"Almost forgot my suit. Don't want a repeat of last time," Gwen groans as she grabs her backpack and rushes back to her room.
"8:00," she hears Dominic yell from the door.
She rolls her eyes and grabs her suit, stuffing it into the depths of her bag. Mask and web shooters, where are they? She scans her room and her eyes land on both of them, sitting on her desk. She grabs them too and into the bag they go.
"Gwen!"
"I'm coming, geez!" she yells back as she crashes down the stairs. "Breakfast?"
Dominic points at a disposable plate and fork with 2 slices of toast, scrambled eggs, and an apple on it next to himself. "Breakfast on the road again," he says.
Groaning, Gwen pulls her sneakers on and the two head out.
"Where's dad?" Gwen asks as she begins to shovel the food into her mouth.
"He told me he had an early start today. Asked me to wake you up since you seem incapable of doing that yourself," Dominic replies. "You coming today?"
"To what? You're going to have to be more specific than that," Gwen asks back with a smirk before crunching down on her apple.
"My tournament? Don't tell me you forgot," he replies.
"Oh, your Muay Thai thing. Yeah, I can afford to miss band practice for that. Where is it?" Gwen waves it off. 'And maybe I can do a bit of patrolling around the area.'
"It's at Central Park. We're hosting so I have to get there early to help. Ms. Dellinger already gave me the green light to leave class early."
"Ms. Dellinger huh? How is she anyways? I heard the rumors from the kids in her class and you've never told me anything," she asks slyly.
"Find out yourself next year. Who do you have right now, Mr. Cheng?" Dominic shoots back.
"Yeah, he's pretty good. He'll round up your grade if he feels that you understand the content he teaches in class well enough," Gwen explains.
"That's how it is with all teachers here," Dominic says as he gestures to the Midtown High School building. "You reap what you sow and Gwen, it'll do you some good to open up to some people."
"I'm fine," Gwen insists. "Can you please drop it? It's already been a year."
"And despite everything, you still push everyone away. Peter was my friend too," Dominic replies sadly before entering the school building.
Gwen looks on until the door closes and sighs. "I wish you could understand Dominic. I don't want to lose anyone else."
"Gwen! There you are! I've been looking for you!"
Gwen whirls around and finds herself face to face with a red haired girl about her age. "Oh hey Em Jay, need something?"
"You coming to band practice? You've skipped out the last three times and we need our drummer back," Em Jay asked, putting her hand on her hip.
"Umm, I can't. Actually I have this thing that I-" Gwen begins before Em Jay interrupts her.
"Ohh, I see. Well, don't let me get between you two," the red head laughed, giving her friend a knowing look.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Gwen asked, genuinely confused.
"I mean, I have to give you credit. He is good looking," Em Jay continued.
"Wait, hold up. Back up there. He's my brother!" Gwen begins, her face flushing.
"I'm messing with you! But he is pretty good looking," Em Jay whispers as she walks by.
Gwen stares at Em Jay as she walks into the school building before shaking her head. "Now my friend thinks my brother is hot. What kind of messed up world is this?" she mutters to herself before dashing to her class.
"Car chase going towards 22nd Street from Central Park, requesting backup from all nearby vehicles."
Gwen glanced up from her phone as she races down the street. Ducking into a small alleyway behind a burger joint, she yanks open her backpack and pulls her spidersuit out. Slipping into her costume, she slings her backpack over her shoulder and swings towards the car chase.
'At least I have an excuse to be late because cover stories really aren't my forte,' she thinks as she spots the jam of cars and buses headed to Central Park.
Up ahead, she can already spot the smoke of some overturned vehicles. "Geez, is this guy driving an armored car or something?" she complains as she pulls up to the rear of the chase.
As she gets closer, the distinct clangs of bullets hitting the police cars could be heard. "Great, and a robbery as well."
"Haha! Ya damn police, take this!" a thug yells as he opens fire again, spraying the lead car with another hail of bullets.
"What about me? Sharing is caring," Gwen retorts as she swings in and kicks the thug square in the chest.
"It's spider woman! Kill-"
"Kill her, blah blah blah! I've heard it all. Try coming up with something more original please," Gwen interrupts as she smashes two of the goons' heads together and webbing up the fourth. "Now the driver!"
Gwen slides next to the driver and the man does a double take. "Ooh, I want to drive! Can I have a turn?" Gwen asks sarcastically as she throws the last goon into the back with the others.
"Which one is the brake?" she wonders and steps on a pedal, causing the truck to lurch forward faster. "That's the gas pedal! Brake brake brake!"
Slamming her foot down on the other pedal, the truck grinds to a screeching halt. Breathing a sigh of relief, she takes her hands off the wheel. Crawling back to the back of the truck, she webs up the remaining criminals into one pile. One of them grinned nastily at her. "We've done our part!"
Gwen immediately froze and yanked the guy's collar. "What do you mean you've 'done your part'?"
"You thought that we were it? No Spider-Woman, we were the distraction," the man spat.
"Hands up, out of the vehicle! We have you surrounded!"
"Oh geez, the NYPD," Gwen groans as she takes off her mask.
Opening the door a smidge, she sticks her mask out and waves it around. "Don't shoot!"
"Lower your weapons! You can come out Spider Woman!"
Gwen sighs and pulls her mask back on before hopping out the armored car with the five hogtied men in tow. She drops them at the feet of a police man.
"The webs will melt away in an hour," she says. "You might also want to keep an eye out for other trouble. They said something about being a distraction but nothing else."
"We'll see if we can get anything else out of them. But in the meantime, try not to meddle in anymore police business," the officer grumbles.
"Can't guarantee that sir," Gwen replies and swings away. "Now what time does the bus get to the station?"
'Ah geez, is Gwen late again? Sometimes I really wonder about her,' Dominic sighs as he checks his watch for the time again.
"Dominic, get over here! Our fight is in five minutes," a brown haired boy reminded nervously.
"I know Chris. I'm still waiting for someone," Dominic replies shortly.
"Who? Our roster is completely filled up! There's no one else," Chris says confused.
"That's none of your business. You just worry about yourself and I suggest you should acquaint yourself with your new friend, the ground," Dominic retorts.
"Hah hah, very funny. I'll wait in the tent," Chris deadpans. "Don't forget to wrap your hands."
"Oh yeah. Kinda forgot bout that. Can you grab mine from the tent? They're on the table to the left," Dominic asks as he scratches his head.
"Get them yourself, ya lazy bum!"
"Gwen, why are you late again?" Dominic sighs as he turns to face his sister.
"For your information, I would have been on time! That is if some crass psychos hadn't driven an armored truck with guns blazing down 22nd Street!" Gwen snaps back.
"Did you get hurt?" Dominic immediately asks.
"I'm fine. I was on the bus when the guys blew by us with the police chasing after them. Didn't get a good look though, they were going way too fast," Gwen replies. "Now that's enough from me. Go and get ready!"
Gwen turns her brother 180 degrees and shoves him towards the tarp tent. She places a hand on her hip, cocking an eyebrow. Shaking her head, she looks down at her ticket. Seat A-5. At least she got front row seats. Taking her seat, Gwen takes out her phone and begins to scroll through her feed. Tapping her foot impatiently, she looks up and around the area. It was quite simple really, just a large tent with the arena inside and a connecting tent where the competitors were required to stay until it was time for their match.
"Ladies and gentlemen, awfully sorry about the delay. We had some difficulties in the competitor's tent but now that it's been sorted, let's move on to the first round of the day," the announcer shouts, giving Dominic and the boy, Chris, a particularly evil eye. "First up, we have Dominic Stacy versus Chris Rabel! Can the contestants at this time please prepare themselves?"
At the request, both boys take off their t-shirts and grab their gloves. The two walk towards the center as the crowd watches with eager anticipation. The referee signals the start of the match and the two boys immediately begin to circle one another. Almost lazily, Chris strikes with his left hand only to find it blocked by Dominic, who returns with a hook almost as lazy as Chris's strike.
As the match drags itself out, each of the boys' punches and kicks grew in speed and intensity. Chris, on one hand, was already shining with sweat and just about out of breath. Dominic, however, still looked fresh. Taking the advantage, Dominic began to move in. Stepping to the side, he raises his leg and swings. Chris instinctively raises his arm up high to block the strike but at the last moment, Dominic drops his leg a little lower and smashes his shin into Chris's side instead.
That did it. Chris doubles over and staggers off, rubbing his side. The referee stops the match, and it was over. Gwen clapped along with the rest of the audience before getting up and going around to the back.
"Gwen!" Dominic calls as he pulls his shirt back on.
"That was pretty good," Gwen says. "Nice kick at the end there but why did you guys start out so slow?"
"We agreed to a slugger's match. We start out with the minimal amount of effort and as the match goes on, we put more power and effort into our strikes," Dominic explains. "In the end we just end up slamming each other with haymakers the entire time. Good training for endurance though."
*DUCK*
Gwen's eyes widened as her spider sense began to go off like crazy. "Duck!" she screams.
The two of them hit the deck just in time to see a semi sail over their heads and into the arena, skidding towards the now screaming crowd. The mass of people broke and everyone began to run.
"Oh shit," Dominic groans. "I think we should leave."
"Hahaha! Come out little spider!"
'Why is Rhino here? This is very bad,' Gwen thinks as she stands up.
*WINGS*
"Hey, don't forget that the rest of us also have a score to settle with her," another voice said from the rafters.
Gwen follows her spider sense and looks up, spotting another familiar face, Vulture. 'Two of them?! You've got to be kidding me!'
*GOBLIN*
"The itsy bitsy spider, climbed up the water spout. And here comes goblin, to help flush the spider out!" a third voice sang.
"Osborn, I hope you can behave yourself," Rhino warns. "After all, we have the good doctor to thank for this."
'Rhino, Vulture, Green Goblin, and Doc Ock are here?! That's way more than I can handle!' Gwen thinks as she grits her teeth.
"Gwen, we need to leave now! Subway should be the safest," Dominic says as he grabs her hand, breaking Gwen out of her stupor.
Stomping over to the nearest car, Rhino flips it towards the crowd. The vehicle soars through the air flying directly towards Gwen and Dominic. The two leap out the way but even with her spider sense, Gwen was just moments too slow. The car slams into the dirt besides her, the force flinging her into a tree. Dominic rises to his knees in a coughing fit, shaking his head to try and get rid of the ringing sound.
"Hahaha!"
The laugh of the Green Goblin soars over the two siblings before the villain himself actually stops in front of Gwen. "Hello miss," the Green Goblin greets evilly. "I hope today's been an explosion of events!"
The villain flies off, throwing something at Gwen as he does so. The soft beeping emanating from the small object grows louder and faster as it falls towards the girl, who was only beginning to register what was happening. Befuddled and confused from her impact with the tree, her mind was working slowly.
'Pumpkin huh? Why is it beeping?' she thought, her mind addled. 'Beeping...SHIT!'
She struggles to rise but in her heart, she knew she wouldn't be able to get away from the blast radius fast enough. In her mind, she always wanted to die of old age one day but at some point, she had entertained herself with the thought of going out with a bang as Spider-Woman. But this? This just became way too real for her. She tensed up, waiting for the explosion when she was suddenly tackled to the ground just as the bomb went off.
The force of the explosion sent her and her saviour tumbling a couple more yards before coming to a stop. Groaning, she raises her head to see a mess of blonde hair beside her but something was off. The green grass was slowly being stained red and when the sight finally registered in her mind, her own blood ran cold. Dominic laid next to her, face down but she could already see the damage done by the bomb. A massive segment of his right shoulder spanning across his back was gone, blown away from the explosion with the flesh charred. By some stroke of insane luck, he was still alive but that would change very quickly if he continued to spew his life out onto the grass in front of her.
"Oh god, nononono. Please Dominic, stay with me," Gwen croaked as tears threatened to make an appearance. "Don't die on me!"
As carefully as possible, she picks him up and sprints away. She sets him down behind the fallen sign a few yards from where they were, stopping because of the horrible sounds that Dominic was making as she ran.
"Osborn!"
Gwen peers over the sign to see Doc Ock stomp up angrily to Green Goblin, raising himself to eye level with his mechanical arms. "We are not here to harm the civilians! We are here for Spider-Woman!"
Gwen crouches back down and turns her attention back to her brother. "Dominic, I don't expect you to understand but please, forgive me," she whispers before getting up and sprinting away.
"Doctor, what do you propose we do then? Spider-Woman has yet to appear," Vulture asks.
"We take the boy back to my lab. I will heal him," Doc Ock replied as he pried away the sign Dominic laid behind. "Another soul to turn against Spider-Woman."
Carefully picking up Dominic with two of his mechanical arms, Doc Ock begins to stomp back to his lab. "Where do you think you're going?"
Doc Ock stops in his tracks and smiles. "So the spider finally arrives. We've been expecting you." He turns around to face his enemy whom was currently perched atop a lamp post.
"What makes you think you have the right to cause this destruction and walk away?" Gwen's voice quivering with anger.
"We are not the ones at fault. If you had come earlier, all of this could have been prevented. All of this," Doc Ock said, gesturing around himself, "is on you. You failed to stop the destruction. You failed to save this boy."
Gwen had no response to this statement and instead bowed her head. Suddenly, a boiling hatred she had never felt before began to bubble and rise. The thought of Dominic, the sweet and caring boy who came home everyday beaten and bruised to protect her from her bullies, being twisted by Doc Ock infuriated her to no end.
"Give him back," she whispered.
"Huh?"
"Give him back! You have absolutely no right to twist a person into doing your bidding!" she screamed, venom dripping from her words.
"That will never happen," Doc Ock replied coldly.
His words filled Gwen with dread and panic. With a scream of rage, she fires her web shooters, launching herself at the villains and that's when all hell breaks loose.