I let out an audible gasp as I watch the orangey-red flames engulf the building where Spiderman was trying to save the hostage.
"Mom, we need more milk!" My youngest brother yells from the kitchen
"I'll go get some right now!" I say a bit hysterically as I hop up from where I was perched on the couch and run to my room. I jam a pair of flip-flops on to my feet and grab my wallet and cellphone, and run into the hallway and quickly out the front door.
Fueled by an odd mixture of fear and adrenaline, I run down the 8 flights of stairs straight down to the lobby, and run out of the double doors and hail a taxi. A taxi immediately pulls over and I hastily pull it's door open.
"500 and Park Avenue in Brooklyn. Step on it." I say a bit breathlessly. The taxi speeds away. After about 15 minutes of the taxi speedily navigating through the city streets and my mind replaying the image of the building bursting into flames, the taxi finally lurches to a stop, I throw a 50 dollar bill into the little hole in the bullet-proof glass and run out of the cab.
I see Chief Anderson; the man who took over my father's position as Chief of the NYPD, and I quickly duck into the nearest alleyway before he could catch a glimpse of me. I peek out of the dark alley and watch the fire-fighters put out the raging fire. I draw a deep, shaky breath and do the only thing that I could possibly think of. I take out my phone and flip it open and dial Peter's number. Praying that it isn't burnt into a crisp, it starts to ring. And I hear a phone ringer echo through the alleyway.
I immediately start scanning the dark alleyway for the source of the noise, but when I hear a "hello" mumbled into the phone also come from the darkness, I let out a yelp of relief.
"PETE- I mean SPIDERMAN!" I yell, and I see a familiar sillouhette straiten out in the darkness. A flood of sudden calm runs through my veins as I hear Peter's voice say,
"Gwen?"
"Spiderman!" I say, stumbling into the darkness. I feel a pair of familiar incircle me and I bury my head in his chest.
"I was SO WORRIED! I thought you w-w-were turned into a spider shishkabab!" I mumble into his chest as he gently rocks me back and forth and I shake with adrenaline. I put my hand on his waist and he winces, so I look up at him in alarm and try to unmask him but he holds his mask down and gestures at an unfamiliar figure that I didn't notice before laying on the ground.
As my eyes focus better to the darkness of the muggy alleyway, I see a pretty looking unconscious ginger girl with the body of a Playboy Bunny strewn across the floor.
"Whose that?" I say in a stage whisper.
"Those thugs took her hostage right in front of me, like RIGHT in front of me, so I had to go after them, right? It turns out they just wanted to lure me into a trap because once, like a LONG time ago, one of their people tried to hurt this one lady in a dark alleyway and I stepped in to stop 'em, but the thing is I didn't use to wear a mask back then, and they kind of figured that I was Spiderman. Anyways, this was their revenge but the jokes on THEM because their headquarters ended up burning down." Peter says hurriedly with only one breath and letting out a hysterical sounding chuckle that sounded like a hiccup to the end of his sentence.
"What happened to your waist?" I said, glancing at it and trying to make out his hip in the darkness. Peter mumbles something completely unintelligible as I look into the eye-pieces of his mask in concern.
"I didn't quite catch that, Pe-Spiderman, could you say that a teensy bit louder?"
"I got shot." He says.
"WHAT?!" I yell, and Peter puts a gloved hand to my head as I see something move in the corner of my eye. I turn my head to see the attractive red-headed chick start sit up.
"W-where am I?" Says the girl softly in what sounded like a southern accen, looking around the dark alleyway with wide-eyes. Spiderman steps forward and says, "Miss, you where kidnapped in a random act of street gang violence, and you might be suffering from a concussion." In his most authoritative tone.
"We need to get you two to a hospital!" I say
"I can't exactly strut into a hospital looking like this." Spiderman says, gesturing to his flashily recognizable suit.
"Well then, you'll have to morph into a civilian, Spidey." I say a bit sarcastically. Now isn't the time for Peter to be worrying about keeping his identity anonymous, for Christ's sake!
I help the clueless red-head up as Peter gets changed behind a pile of trashcans.
"M-m-my family must be lookin' for me." The girl mumbles in an unmistakable southern twang.
"We'll call them for you as soon as we get to the hospital and get you checked out dear, alright?" I say in my most reassuring tone as Peter emerges in the same rumpled gray T-shirt and jeans he was wearing over at my house.
I raise his shirt quickly to inspect his wound and feel a chill run up my spine as I inspect Peter's nasty blood-splattered wound.
"Now isn't the time for you to be checking me out, Gwen." Peter says jokingly and I smack him hard in the arm, making him exclaim in pain.
"Now isn't the time for you to be making jokes!" I say as I support the only semi-conscious ginger girl, whipping out my phone from my pajama shorts' pocket and google a map of the city. I find that the nearest hospital is only two blocks away.
"Okay guys, the nearest hospital is like two blocks away, we can make it on foot." I say, "Peter, web that gash in your side shut." I say in a bossy tone, as I lug the girl forward into the moonlit street.
Peter webs the still-bleeding wound shut as we hobble as discreetly as possible onto the street. I pray that the Chief doesn't decide to suddenly turn to look at the dark street across from the now smoking building, as I drag the red-head who turns out to be heavier than she actually looks with Peter right behind me. I start to pant as we reach the end of the first block, and suddenly I feel the weight of the girl being lifted off my side. I turn around to see Peter fling her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, but as I'm about to complain, he throws me over his other shoulder and hobbles down the sidewalk a bit faster. Seems like he can't hold up his tough-Spiderman act for much longer.
We get to the front of the hospital much quicker than I anticipated and Peter then takes me off his shoulder and places of me on my feet lightly, and then putting the other girl down. He takes me by the arm and I grab the girl who doesn't seem too stable on her feet, and we walk into the hospital.