They say life's easier when you're a teenager. Less struggles to deal with on the regular, less life woes, generally you've got it pretty lucky before the big bad world eats you up. It probably is when you don't have to dress up in nothing but a full body suit made of polyester and spandex fabric beating up criminals on the regular as a volunteer job you don't make money on for a bunch of years. Having to miss school classes, dates, family get-togethers, job interviews, all to get what in return? No money, no respect, a mixed at best public reception and ton of scars and bruises that come in a bunch of various ways. Metal scratches, burns from explosions and electricity, and a ton of broken bones. Even a broken toe or two just from a few bad landings without any fighting at all. The funny thing is, it's not the action against the super scumbags that feels good the most. It's saving someone from a mugger, beating down an attempted rape, keeping the average person feel comfortable walking the streets. Whether they're thankful for it or whip out the mace, nothing tops the feeling of helping someone.
It's 12 PM. Gwen Stacy had finished a morning only class for college and was ready to meet with her father, chief George Stacy of the NYPD for an afternoon lunch at a fast food place they would often go to since Gwen was a little girl. As she closed in, she noticed her gray haired dad already sat at a table outdoors, passing a smile towards him as he saw her in the distance and stood from his chair, visibly ecstatic at seeing his daughter again, their meetings being rather sparse as years went on due to his promotion from captain to chief as well as Gwen getting older and going to college, thus making these meetings more treasured for the two, something felt by their long hug once close together again. "You're getting old, dad..." Gwen snarks with a smirk as she glances at his hair, to which George simply chuckles and points at her face. "You laugh now missy, but one day that pretty little face is gonna be just as old, then I'll be laughing at you from the retirement home." The two share a laugh as they sit together.
"I got you your usual, if that's okay. Haven't became a vegan on me since last time, have you?" George asks while twiddling his hands together as Gwen leans back on her chair, shaking her head, perishing the thought of ever becoming a vegan. "Not me. With the volunteer work I'm doing, I've gotta keep good conditioning, can't do that without having some meat, y'know?" She explains with a toothy smile, to which her father nods. "That's my girl. How's college life been keeping you?" He asks. "About what I expected. Lots of studying and running around. My social life is all shot up, I barely get to talk to Harry or MJ." Gwen responds while ruffling her hair back as their food arrives. "Well, be careful about that. The boys have had to break off a few 'adult' parties around the area that some of these kids have been starting, and I don't wanna see you get mixed up in that." Taking a drink, Gwen almost burst into laughter at the tragic irony. "Dad, I was never the popular kid in school, and I didn't care back then. I'm not gonna try and change that now with a bunch of kids trying out coke to be cool." While not inaccurate, things were obviously a little more complicated than that. "Thattagirl. I guess since you've been keeping busy with your studies that you haven't been seeing anyone? No more sneaking out at night to hang out with mystery boyfriends?" George asks with an all too familiar parental tone, making Gwen almost choke on her drink. "Uhh no, none of that stuff. I haven't really dated anyone since that vacation in England."
"Well if you find someone, I'll be checking to make sure they're good enough for my gir-" George begins before suddenly being interrupted by his police radio. "All units, report of an assault. Officers needed west of Midtown." Both of them roll their eyes upon hearing it, for more similar reasons than Gwen would like to let on. "Duty calls, huh?" She asks, with George giving a shrugging apology as he pats Gwen's shoulder. "I'm really sorry, Gwen. I'll make it up to you as soon as I can." With an earnest smile, Gwen waves goodbye to her father, bearing no ill will for him doing his job. "Don't worry about it, dad! Keep on being you, stoppin' those bad guys!" She remarks, waiting patiently until she sees him getting into his car and driving far enough away. Once out of sight, the young blonde quickly dashes out of her table, running towards the nearest alley way, knowing that it was hero time. Once in a secluded place, she takes a breath and leaps up to an inhuman height, before literally running up the side of the wall of the building to her left until she reaches the rooftop, doing forward roll onto her feet once on it.
Now comes one of the most awkward parts of her 'volunteer work'. She lays her rucksack down on the ground and opens the middle zip of the bag, quickly whipping out her all too familiar white and black suit. Ditching her denim hoodie, red baseball shirt and skinny black jeans, Gwen quickly slips into the full body suit, eternally glad she made the conversion from sneakers to flats in her everyday wear making the costume changing so much simpler with less laces to deal with. But on the other hand, this winter season made these costume changes a nightmare, well, putting the costume in general on did at this time of year. You ever try wearing just spandex during a season known for being cold as hell? Freezing her butt off while waiting on rooftops for crimes was not Gwen's idea of fun, so in a way she was kind of glad that it happened so suddenly. But that's not relevant right now, someone needs help, and ASAP. Pulling her mask over her face and raising her hood, she quickly webs her rucksack to the ceiling ground while running to the edge of the rooftop "At least this one's somewhere I can remember..." She remarks in her head, having lost way too many bags containing study materials and clothes because she forgot where she left them.
Diving off the roof like an Olympic diver, the newly ready Spider-Woman shoot a web from her wrist and proceeds to begin making her way out to head for west Midtown to stop this assault from getting much worse. As fast as the police could potentially be, no way they could catch up to the immense speed of New York's fastest web swinger. She considered it a sense of pride that she genuinely believed that she could move quicker than her male counterpart due to her lankier and smaller frame, maybe they could have a race sometime, where the loser has to take their mask off. Well, she'd offer it thinking that she'd win, but she wouldn't hold him to it if she did. She wasn't gonna unmask for him and she wouldn't expect him to do it for her, there's a weird kind of honor in that whole thing. Hopefully he doesn't disapprove of her doing his thing. Wallcrawling's been his schtick for so long that were he not keeping a secret identity, he could probably sue her for plagiarism or something. The thought has crossed her mind of talking to him sometime, but there's hardly ever an opportune time for it, because the only times he pops up are when he's dealing with a crime then swinging away to do whatever he does when he's not doing that, and chasing after him in-costume might only net Gwen an ass kicking from him. Maybe someday they'll bump into each other while going after the same people.
Finally arriving at the scene of the crime, Gwen finds a guy on the ground being kicked around by two goons in hoods and bandanas over their faces. Hanging on top of a street lamp, she shoots two webs on both sides of one of her targets and propels herself forward, smacking feet first into the guy's face, splatting him to the ground. Turning her attention, to the other, she tilts her head back. "So, question. Is the bandana because you're hiding something, or just because you're ugly as hell under it?" The aggravated 'gangsta' responds by throwing a punch. "Screw you, bitch freak!" Bending backwards with a Matrix-esque dodge, she sweeps the leg and jumps on top of this goon, pouncing her feet on his chest and pinning him down with her hands, her super strength keeping him down easily. "Dude, bitch freak? That's the best you could come up with? You like to tag team on dudes then try to punch a girl AND you suck at insults? Look at me, man. I look like an abstract art painting." Suddenly feeling her Spider-Sense tingling, shortly accompanied by the sound of a switchblade click, she does a quick flip several feet into the air, dodging her first target's attempt to knife her while simultaneously webbing the other's arms to the ground, keeping him from going anywhere anytime soon, all before landing perfectly and striking a pose.
"Sick knife, bro. Can you do cool tricks with it too?" She asks condescendingly as he approaches her with it. "Yeah, thinkin' maybe I'll cut some holes in all the right places in that little suit you got there..." The slimeball responds, to which the spider themed hero rolls her eyes under the mask at this classless attempt at a comeback. "Wow. Sure sounds like a romantic night out. Haven't had such a tempting offer since that one guy threatened to cut my head off and crap down my neck hole. Here, lemme borrow that." She asks while flicking a web out, easily snatching the knife out of his hand and into her own, flicking the switch to turn it off and then tossing the handle at his head all within a few seconds, the quick distraction from his pained reaction allowing her to charge and hit a dropkick that knocks him to the ground, landing on the chest of his partner in crime. "Awwww, you look so cute together!" Gwen tauntingly remarks with a mocking grin under her mask and cupping her hands together before webbing the two beaten down stooges together and leaving them for the cops to catch, who fittingly enough, just arrive. Helping the guy who was being attacked up, she pats his back as she steadies him on her shoulder. "You're gonna be okay now." She tells him as an act of comfort before noticing her father get out of the police car and approach her.
With several cops taking the assault victim out of her arms, Gwen stands with her arms folded as she once again encounters her dad twice in one day. "Thanks for doing our job for us again, Spider-Woman. Hope you hero types don't ever end up on the payroll, or else us cops are gonna end up being totally redundant." He remarks with a chuckle while scratching his head. Smirking from under her mask at how pleasant he is towards her without a clue of who he's addressing, Gwen places her hands on her hips as she honestly responds. "Appreciated, but I'm just setting an example, doing the right thing. Besides, you guys get to do the paperwork and keep these Wu-Tang Dans behind bars, you're the ones keeping New York safe, all I do is make it a little easier for you in the long run. Anyway, I should get going, there's probably all sorts of crazy stuff going on, and if not, maybe I'll drop by the station and steal a donut." She remarks while running up over one of the closest cop cars and shooting a web onto a building before swinging away to do more hero work for the day. Maybe some sort of blanket material stitching for the inside of the costume, that could make it warmer during the winter.
