I looked down at the math question, one hand cushioning my chin and the other one fiddling with my pen.

I stared at it, caught between frustration and exhaustion. I knew how to do it, I did damnit! Except my brain had decided to shut down and go 'ha! Good luck doing anything without me.' I groaned and thumped my head a few times against the book. We, Ganke and I, were sitting in our shared dorm working through our homework. I was lounging on my bed while Ganke was at the desk. It was around nine at night.

"How're you doing?" Ganke told me, oh so helpfully, in an annoying, teasing voice.

I turned my head just enough to glare at him, and he laughed. "What do you think?" I hissed.

"Look, if you need some help-"

"No, nope, I can do this question thank you very much. It's just my brain has forgotten that." I said, thumping my head against it one more time for good measure.

Ganke leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. "Did you do that Spanish homework? It's due tomorrow."

I sat up and looked at him in alarm, "What homework?"

"Where we have to translate a bunch of sentences? No?" I shook my head, "If you give me five bucks you can copy off me." I dug around in my wallet with a grumble and flicked some coins over in his direction. He gave me a huge, smug grin, "Pleasure doing business with you."

As I went to attempt the math problem again a phone pinged and we both went for our phones. Ganke found his first and read aloud, "There's a… giant bee monster destroying stuff by Times Square. You want to go fight it?"

"'Course I do. Are the Ultimates there?" I asked as I shoved my homework into a bag. I grabbed my costume and began quickly tugging off my clothes in a hurry to get down there before someone else had taken care of it. I struggled to tug off my hoodie, and for a moment I was stuck before I finally got it over my head.

"Nup, not yet." I nodded and pulled my costume on, it didn't take me long to and I was pulling the window up in under a minute.

"See ya, I'll be back in… two hours or so. Bye!" I yelled over my shoulder as I jumped out the window. I rapidly swung in the direction of Manhattan, keeping an ear out for alarmed cries. It would be annoying to stop for a robbery or something but the Ultimates should be on the way to help out with the bee monster thing. Plus, it was sort of in my job description to help out with small crimes. I couldn't ignore them like the Ultimates might. I knew they were 'better' heroes than me and had bigger fish to fry, but it couldn't hurt them to help out with the smaller stuff every once in a while.

Sure enough, when I was nearing Times Square I heard a shout: "someone get him! He stole my purse!"

I swung down lower, easily spotting the guy running with a woman's purse in his hands. I dropped down in front of him and webbed his feet to the ground. His momentum carried him forward and he faceplanted with a shout of alarm, followed by a groan. I grabbed the bag and walked towards the woman who had been frantically running after him.

"Here. Will you call the police to collect him?" I asked as I handed over the bag. She was puffing pretty hard but managed to nod.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Thank you so much." She said, rummaging around in her bag and pulling out a phone.

I stepped back and did a mini-salute before continuing to swing towards the scene of the fight. When I was close enough I jumped onto a ledge to look at the fight, wanting to at least get an idea of what I would be dealing with before jumping into the middle of it.

The Ultimates had arrived at the scene and as I leaned forward to get the full scope of the action I saw Iron Man fly up and punch the monster in the face before swerving out of the way as it tried to hit him. It was followed by Captain America's shield hitting its side and it roared in pain. It looked like I could get in on the action without overcrowding since I couldn't see at least three of the Ultimates. They were probably on crowd control.

Feeling more confident, I jumped off the roof and swung towards the fight. "Hey everyone!" I yelled, getting a web on the monster's side and swinging myself around it in hopes of slowing it down.

"Careful kid, that stinger packs a lot of punch!" I heard one of them yell, followed by an arrow narrowly missing me and digging itself into the creatures back. A moment later it exploded causing the bee monster to roar in rage. Hawkeye.

I jumped over the creature's head, grabbing its antennas for a few seconds so it would focus in on me instead of Hawkeye. I let go of it and a few moments before I hit the ground I turned around and shot a web at one of its legs. It tried to follow where I was going so I swung under its body and I let go of the web so I could land safely with a roll.

I took a couple of steps back, watching in amazement as the scene unfolded in front of me. Hawkeye was grappling himself between buildings while shooting at it. Iron Man was zipping around the creature and zapping it every few seconds. Captain America was shouting orders as he kept it from causing major collateral damage. I could now see Black Widow herding people away. By the looks of it, Thor and Hulk hadn't been called in yet. I couldn't see Spiderwoman either but I could hear the faint sounds of thwipping a street or so over.

I looked at my hands for a moment before deciding.

"Cap! I'm taking this thing down! Get ready!" I yelled. He looked up and a few moments later he gave me the thumbs up. Grinning to myself, I jumped at its back. I tapped it then jumped away from it and stuck myself to the side of a building.

"Three, two, one," I whispered before suddenly the bee monster went ridged as the venom blast took a hold and it fell to the ground with a loud 'thump' that shook the ground. Once it hit the ground I went to web it up, but Iron Man flew in front of me.

"No need for your webs kid. SHIELD's got this. You can swing off and do whatever." He said dismissively.

I remembered Cap giving me the go-ahead, of Hawkeye's comradery. I had helped. I had! Sometimes I felt like I was being underestimated, and it sucked, plain and simple. I felt a stab of bitterness flood through me like poison.

In the end, who had knocked the monster over? Not Tony. Me. Spider-man. He'd get to take all the credit, I knew he would. The fact he was so dismissive made my stomach twist with something I didn't want to admit was anger and jealousy. I was tired of being overlooked. I opened my mouth, a snarky remark forming on my tongue. Then I thought the better of it. "Alright, uh, bye!" I yelled over my shoulder as I began to web myself away, beginning to mutter under my breath.

I didn't even get a thank you. Hah. I just did their job for them and they hadn't had the decency to say a single word of gratitude. Wow. So much for being role models.

I landed on the side of a building. Now that I had fought that bee monster thingy, I was toying with the idea of going on patrol. Maybe I could burn off some of this... I wouldn't call it anger. I knew I had that Spanish homework due tomorrow but…I would much prefer to do this. I mean, Ganke was going to let me copy off him anyway. What was the harm? And a break from my math homework would help me get back on track.

I jumped away, heading in the general direction of where I normally patrolled and wondered what I would find tonight. Mostly petty theft I suspected, maybe some murder attempts. Who knows? I would just have to find out. That was the exciting part.

A rush of exhilaration swept through me as I swung high into the air. I let go of the web I was hanging onto and thwiped another web, where it landed on the side of a building. Just before I touched the ground, I pulled myself up, propelling myself forward and up.

Nothing could beat the feeling of swinging through New York City, with my only concern being helping the people I'd sworn to protect.

With a final swing, I landed neatly on the top of a rooftop. Smiling under my mask, I went and sat on the ledge, looking around. I was pretty lucky to be where I was now. I was going to a good school, I had these amazing powers and a great friend. I mean, it was annoying when the Ultimates didn't acknowledge me but that was to be expected?

I took a deep breath, letting the cool night air fill my lungs. I felt calm now, relaxed. Travelling through New York at night, with the buildings lit up like blazing stars, always helped me to relax when I was upset.

A loud bang ripped me from my thoughts. Immediately I got up, looking around for the source of the sound. Just a few shops down I saw a man with a gun in one hand and a large bag slung over the other running away from the source of the sound. I couldn't help but smirk. I mean, did they never look up? I was right here.

I jumped down, swinging directly towards the robber. Before he knew what was happening, I kicked him in the face. He fell, giving me the opportunity to grab the bag and back away as he stumbled to his feet.

"Hey, Mr Robber, what's in here?" I asked, faking curiosity with an ignorant tilt of my head. He made a swipe at the bag, which I dodged. "No snatching! Where are your manners?" I wagged my finger in front of his faced and tsked.

He seemed to remember what he was still holding and aimed his gun at me, pointing it directly at my chest. I whistled, pretending to be shocked for a moment. "Put the bag down and no one gets hurt!" He yelled, but from the way his hands were shaking, I could tell this was probably his first time. Or maybe it was my awesome costume, who knows?

I thwiped a web to cover up the gun before it could shoot, and then a second later he was stuck to the wall. His eyes widened in horror.

"You know, for a robber, you should know that threats never actually go anywhere." I chided him, looking around to see the shopkeeper standing a safe distance away. I approached them and passed them the bag. "Here you go."

They smiled, "Thanks, Spider-man, I owe you one."

"That's okay, just doing my job," I smiled, even though they probably couldn't see it. Sirens were quickly approaching, heading straight towards us. "That's my cue!" I called over my shoulder before crawling up the side of the building and beginning to swing away.

I was casually swinging around the side of a building when my spider-sense blared so badly that I almost lost my grip on my web. I maneuvered myself so I landed on a lamppost where I promptly stood up and looked around for what was causing it to go haywire.

It suddenly spiked and I managed to dodge a bullet just in time. I looked down to where it was buried in the ground, finding it to not be a bullet at all but in fact some sort of... tranquilliser... I felt a wave of panic begin to rise within me as I began to piece together what might be happening.

My spider-sense blared at me again and I flipped out of the way as multiple bullets - no tranquillisers - tried to hit me. They were shooting at me in a suburban region, someone could easily get hurt! My fear was replaced by anger, fuelled by the protective instinct danger brought out in me. Again my spider-sense spiked and I jumped out of the way of yet another bullet.

Determined, I swung towards the rooftop where I thought the shooter was. I camouflaged and walked forward, keeping my eyes peeled for movement. I heard a sound similar to a walkie-talkie and ran in that direction. I finally spotted the shooter hiding behind a vent, gun tucked up against him. I ran towards him, flipped over the vent and kicked him in the face. I wasted no time to hit him with a venom blast and he cried out in pain. I used that moment to web him to a wall.

I walked up to him, letting my camouflaged meltaway. I was about to ask him why he was shooting at me when my spider-sense once again went off and I turned around to find five men surrounding me with guns in hand. Not only that they seemed armed to the teeth with weapons. And I could see a badge on all of their suits. It was a red skull with octopus arms coming out of it.

Fear trickled down my spine and wrapped me in a vice-like embrace. I recognised that symbol. I laughed nervously, I knew I was in trouble.

These were Hydra agents.

It was obvious that they were after me because their attention was solely focused on me. They weren't shooting at me with bullets either, but with tranquillisers, so they obviously wanted me alive for whatever they were going to do. And that was all kinds of terrifying.

I heard one of them bark a few orders, and I slowly lifted my hands up above my head. "Please don't shoot, I really don't want to be littered with holes," I mumbled, dropping my chin to my chest as I fought down the nauseating fear that came with being surrounded by Hydra agents. The group began to slowly move closer, forming a tighter circle around me. I pursed my lips, hoping I would make it out alive as I got ready to make an escape.

If I was hurt, I was only a block or two away from Ganke, right? He could help stitch me up, right?

Before I could hesitate a second longer, I jumped up and over the heads of the agents. Several tranquillisers whizzed past me, one getting lucky and burying itself in my thigh. Adrenaline pumped through me, numbing the pain enough for me to not cry out. Still flying through the air, I reached down and yanked it out before all of the liquid could get into my system. I held on to the tranquilliser and shot a web with my free hand.

I pulled myself along as quickly as I could, landing on a building with a roll before running and jumping on to the next. I was sprinting as fast as I could, heart pounding in fear. I had to get back to school to hopefully wear off whatever was in that thing.

But then I remembered that there would be students in there sleeping. If I went in there then the Hydra agents would follow. I couldn't put that many people at risk! I skidded to slow down before turning to my left and racing that way.

I was running like a wild, scared animal. My movements were frantic, erratic and ultimately stupid. I couldn't do that, I had to be smarter about all of this. I was drugged, I had no idea what it was going to do to me (though I was pretty sure it was going to knock me out) and if I just kept running they would be able to track me. I could break into a place and ask for help but who knew if they would help me or reveal my location and identity.

I dropped down into an alleyway and sat down against the brick. I had to make a choice, potentially give up my identity, hopefully hide somewhere where they won't find me or run until I pass out. I looked at the dumpster next to me. That should work.

As I was climbing in I noticed that my movements were quickly becoming more and more sluggish. I was about to close the lid when I heard a "Spidey?"

Someone rushed over to me. I couldn't focus on what they looked like which was all kinds of bad.

"What happened? Why are you climbing into here?" They asked urgently.

"Hydra, run, call... call the Ultimates," I managed to slur out, eyes drooping. God, I wish the ultimates were here.

They were pulling out what I assumed was their phone when there was a loud noise and they looked up in alarm. A shape grabbed them and I was too weak to even try and defend them. My companion was shoved to the side and they took off running.

'Smart thinking,' I thought hazily. One of the attackers was reaching to grab me and I tried to fend them off, maybe elbow them in the side, but unconsciousness swallowed me up before I even had the chance. My head hit the trash in the dumpster a moment later and I knew nothing more.