The Amazing Spider-Girl

Chapter 8: Unity Day Festival

Part Two

BECA POV

I pushed hard off of the pavement, the tread on my shoes adding friction to the concrete that I was skating on. I bit my lip in concentration as the large crack in the concrete came in my path as I got closer. I wiggled my left foot slightly, trying to find the sweet spot on my board and readied myself to ollie. I kicked my foot down, causing my board to rise up to ollie and kicked it forward. I twisted my shoulders allowing myself to spin the air as I pressed my feet down onto the grip tape and landed on the opposite side of the crack. Backside 180 kick-flip was probably one of my favorite tricks that I'd learned recently. Simple, yet effective.

I rolled to a stop in the middle of the abandoned warehouse and attempted to catch my breath. I'd been skating around for about two solid hours now and I was beginning to feel it. I swiped the back of my hand across my forehead to rid it of the sweat and rested my hands on my hips.

The warehouse itself was an old abandoned dock shipping yard. Various ropes, levees and pallets were scattered everywhere as well as old shipping containers and chains. It looked like something out of an old horror movie to which Jesse would have a hay day at. I sat down on my board crossing my ankles and hugging my legs to my chest. I closed my eyes and blew out a breath as I tilted my head back and tried to relax.

I frowned when I heard multiple sirens from outside the building as the raced by and began fading as they headed in the direction of the city. I would've normally brushed off the noise since in New York there was always something going on, but there was almost always no cars on this road, this warehouse was in a deserted part of the city, on the outskirts where the abandoned docks were.

I grumbled in annoyance when I heard my phone vibrating in my pocket once again, I'd been ignoring it all day, fed up with everyone trying to 'help'.

"What?!" I snapped into the speaker, not bothering to look at who was calling me.

"Beca! Oh thank God you're okay! I've been worried sick about you!" I heard Aunt May panicking on the other line as I rolled my eyes instinctively. Ever since Uncle Ben had died Aunt May was constantly concerned and worried about everything, me in particular. How I was coping, how I was feeling, if I needed anything…it was past tiresome.

"I told you I'm fine, I just need space."

"Have you not seen what's going on? Honey there's been some kind of attack! You weren't answering-"

"Whoa whoa whoa an attack?! Where? What's going on?!" I jumped up to my feet as I grabbed my board in my right hand.

"There's been a bombing in Times Square!" I felt the color drain out of my face as a chill flowed through my blood. I ran over to the hanger doors to see what was happening. My jaw dropped as I froze, taking in the smoke filled skyline of the City in the distance. Gray smoke and brown dust was billowing up into the sky at a steady rate, the sounds of sirens filled my ears, cutting through the dulled ringing.

"Beca where are you?!" The worriedness was back as I snapped back into reality. I took off in a run down the road and past the metal gates with the rusted "Employee's Only" sign barely clingy to the fence.

"I'm safe. I'll be home in a bit. I love you." I didn't wait for her protests as I hung up and put my phone away in my jacket.

The gang was meeting in Time Square. Aubrey. Jesse. Some more of Chloe's friends. Chloe.

Chloe.

I tightened my jaw as I could feel my nerves going crazy. I dropped my board in front of my and jumped on, pushing off the pavement to gain more speed, my eyes set on the smoke that was taunting me, out of my reach.

xxx

CHLOE POV

"Everyone get inside!" A distressed security guard yelled over the screaming as we all were trying to take cover from the falling debris on the balcony.

"That our glider!" I looked to my right and saw that Mr. Balkan was pointing at the figure flying above us. I could feel the extreme heat from the fire in the floors below us and began to panic.

This is it.

"Watch out!" I heard someone else yelled as more concrete pelted down towards us, barely missing a few officers. "Code 3! I repeat Code 3!"

"Here he comes!" I turned and saw that the figure was flying back towards our balcony, another orange bomb gripped tightly between his fingers. He didn't hesitate before winding his arm back and throwing it in our direction.

"This one's for you Balkan! This isn't the last of me!" He yelled as I could hear the high pitched chiming draw closer. I looked, horrified as I saw the bomb headed towards Mr. Balkan on the opposite end of the balcony of me. It exploded similar to how I'd seen the bombs from the Boston Marathon back in 2013. Direct. Controlled.

"Chloe come on!" I felt arms grab me from behind as I lost my footing. I could feel myself being swept up into a pair of arms and carried away from outside, heading to what safety was left from the building. I looked and saw Jesse pushing his way through the debris, trying to fight our way towards the door to head inside. He held me close to his chest as I held tightly to his neck.

"Look out!" Suddenly, I felt myself falling as Jesse's arms dropped me. I landed on the concrete floor hard and I squinted my eyes, trying to sort my bearings. The dust from the debris was floating through the air, the smell of the burning wood, burning metal, it made me feel nauseous. I felt like I was trapped in a slow motion. I looked down and saw that Jesse was lying face down beside me, a path of blood oozing from his forehead and falling onto the destroyed concrete.

"Jesse!" I cried out as I crawled across the floor to him.

"Chloe are you alright?!" My dad was crouched in front of me now, searching my eyes as I stared back into his. "We need to get out of here! Sergeant, we have to get the kids out!" He yelled behind him as he slid his left arm under the backs of my knees and cradled me into his chest with his right. I saw as a few officers in blue grabbed Jesse and followed behind us. I started coughing as the smoke grew thicker from heading inside the building.

"Chloe! Honey stay with me we're almost there!" I could hear the fear wavering in my father's voice as everything around me started to fade to black, my eyes fluttering closed.

"Captain this way!" A voice called out and instantly it felt as if I had jumped into a pool of cold water. The feeling of coolness, while it was refreshing, it also awakened your senses.

"Get them to a hospital immediately!" Dad.

I could feel myself being set onto the gurney, I just couldn't find the strength to open my eyes…they were stinging from the heat of the flames.

"Get her on a breathing treatment for smoke inhalation!" My head was lifted as an oxygen mask was being placed over my mouth and nose. My lungs were on fire, begging for the fresh oxygen and the first breath that I drew in extinguished the flames that I felt were engulfing my lungs.

"Captain your wife is okay! She's in the cruisers behind us, she's going to follow us to Roosevelt hospital. Jesse Osborn is in the ambulance in front of us!"

Thank God Mom was okay, I don't know what I would've done if something happened to her or my dad.

"Alright boys let's go!" I heard my dad yell out. My body jolted as I was lifted into the van and rolled into place.

"Chloe can you hear me?" I felt my dad take my hand as I squeezed his tightly. I fought against the weight of my eye lids to try and let them know that I was okay, I was just tired.

"That's my girl. Can you open your eyes for me sweetie?" I flickered my eyes slightly, trying to adjust to the brightness of the ambulance lights. My dad's face was cover in black dust and his hair was awry.

"Alright Miss Beale, just follow the light here for me and we'll be at the hospital in no time." I looked to the paramedic as he signed his flashlight in my eyes.

xxx

30 minutes later…

BECA POV

I had ditched my skateboard about 4 blocks ago, the madness in streets making it impossible to maneuver around the crowd without getting run over. The scene was pure chaos, everyone was running around trying to get to safety and some were being carried away, too injured to run themselves. I cut across W 46th Street and ran past the Marriot Hotel, where a few civilians had gathered trying to find their loved ones. I rounded the corner to end up in Times Square and looked in horror at the scene in front of me.

The windows from the buildings that were facing the square had blown out from the force of the bombs. Various debris of the buildings, concrete, street lamps and litter were everywhere but so was one other thing. Blood.

Blood painted the streets like it was puddles of rain. I could smell it in the air I breathed as I felt myself grow sick at the thought. I looked towards the red steps, TKTS, where everyone had planned to meet. I dodged between people and police officers who were attempting to clear the scene. Firefights were high up on the ladders, making their way into the higher levels to help the people who were trapped.

I jumped up and down trying to see if I could spot Aubrey or Chloe out in the crowd but no luck. Why'd I have to be so fucking short?

"Help! My daughter's trapped!" I turned around instantly and saw a Chinese man in distress, trying his hardest to hold up the wooden and metal fence that had been set up for the parade. Underneath the mangled mess I saw a girl lying with her legs trapped in the mesh. I ran over to him and grabbed ahold of the wooden pickets and lifted them up with ease. As soon as I lifted it up, the man crawled under and grabbed the woman by their jacket and dragged her out so I could set the wreckage down.

"Thank you so much!" I heard him as I looked down at the person dragged out. It was a girl, close to my age, maybe a little older.

"My leg!" It was then I noticed the amount of blood that was oozing out of her leg, pooling around her body in the street. Shit.

I kneeled down beside her as the Chinese man flanked her other side. I leaned forward and clasped my hands together before pressing my body weight onto them, covering the gash on her thigh.

"Give me your belt!" I ordered at him as he looked confused at first before quickly removing it and thrust it towards me. "Put pressure here." I instructed him on what to do, replacing my hands with his. I looped the belt around her thigh and pulled it together as tightly as I could manage without snapping it, making it into a makeshift tourniquet.

"Paramedics! Over here!" I screamed to the two medics in blue who had just arrived on scene. They grabbed their kits and ran over to us, taking control of the situation, ushering myself and the man out of their way.

"Thank you so much! Thank you!" He grasped me by my shoulders and pulled me into a tight hug, crying against my shoulder. It took me a minute to process that he was hugging me. This stranger who I knew nothing about, his name, his family, where he's from…he was letting himself go right in front of me. He was letting his guard down for me because I'd saved his daughter. His family. He was trusting me, by allowing himself to be this vulnerable.

I reached up slowly and hugged him back briefly, closing my eyes. I could feel the tears pooling behind my lids as the reality of the situation hit me hard. I had the power to help people…to protect them.

To save them.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

I pulled away from the man and nodded my head. He let go of me and went back to standing over his daughter as I jogged over to where the red steps were. I pulled out my phone and dialed Chloe's number, pressing the iPhone to my ear.

"Come on Chlo…" I prayed to myself as I bounced in place, looking around the crowd for her bright mane of red hair.

"Hey it's Chloe! I can't get to the phone right, so leave a message!" Her voice was bubbly even on her voicemail…I shut my eyes in frustration.

"Hey Chlo it's me, Beca. Call me back so I know you're okay. Just…let me know you're safe." I hung up the phone as I held it in my hand, playing with it anxiously. I ran my tongue over my teeth as I clutched my phone tightly.

"Fuck!" I growled out in anger, kicking a piece of metal that was laying in the street. My phone starting ringing as I answered it straightaway.

"Chloe! Where are you?! What's-"

"Beca!" I froze as I heard the other voice on the line. It wasn't Chloe. It was Aubrey.

"Aubrey? Where are you? Where's Chloe?"

"Beca thank god! We're at Roosevelt. Beca, Jesse and Chloe, they're-" I furrowed my eyebrows trying to hear what Aubrey was saying. I pressed my right hand to cover my other ear so I could better hear her.

"Aubrey you're breaking up! They're what?!" I yelled into the phone, only to be met with dead silence on the other end. I pulled the phone away from my face and noticed that the call had dropped.

Roosevelt Hospital. Jesse and Chloe were BOTH in the hospital.

I clenched my teeth and balled my fists in anger at the thought of either of them hurt. I punched the nearest building near me as the bricks chipped away and I left a small hole. I recoiled my fist and noticed that there were barely any marks on my knuckles.

Whoever did this is going to pay.

With that in mind, I took off in a sprint down Broadway and headed as fast as I could to Roosevelt Hospital. Worst case scenarios were flashing through my mind the entire way as I tried desperately to keep the thought that I might have lost my two best friends out of my mind.

xxx

CHLOE POV

"I'm completely fine Dad." I sighed. "There's nothing wrong with me."

He turned to the closest nurse that was near us for a second opinion. I felt the nurse place the oxygen mask back over my face as I felt myself getting annoyed. I was being treated like an invalid when in reality I just had minor smoke inhalation. The Emergency Room was in complete chaos…nurses and doctors were running around trying to attend to the many New Yorkers that were being brought in from the bombing. I glanced in the direction I had last seen my best friend only to see her retching her guts up in the garbage bin. She gripped the aluminum can so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

Poor Aubrey.

The ambulance got a police escort to the hospital. I felt ridiculous the whole time they were unloading me. I'd been placed into a neck brace when my dad mentioned that I may have hit my head. Despite my protests that I didn't in fact hit my head, the EMT claimed it was normal procedure.

The put us in the Emergency room, a long room with a line of beds separated by pastel-colored curtains. A nurse had placed a pressure cuff on my arm and a thermometer under my tongue. Since no one bothered to pull the curtain shut in the state of emergency we were in, I decided that I wasn't obligated to wear the neck brace anymore. When she walked away, I quickly unfastened the Velcro and tossed it aside.

Jesse had been wheeled further into the room. I watched as the nurse had been working on his stitches before a doctor had pulled the curtain shut. We were told that he had a concussion as well as the laceration on his forehead. They give him some morphine to help with the pain and he was being wheeled into another room seperate from mine.

It seemed that Aubrey had stopped her stress puking as she washed up in the bathroom and walked over beside my bed, beside my father.

"Your mother is fine sweetie, I had Jones escort her back home with your brothers." I nodded to him as I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Honey I hate to leave you but I have to go. I have to catch this sick son of a bitch." My father said as he stood up from the plastic chair.

"Go get 'em Dad. Be careful." I told him sincerely as he knelt down and kissed my forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too honey." With that he placed his hat on and was out the emergency room doors with his fellow officers. I watched him as far as I could before he disappeared into the crowd.

"I tried to get ahold of Beca, but the phone cut out." Aubrey said as she smiled sadly at me. "She knows were here."

"Thanks Bree. As much as I wish she wouldn't shut us out, I'm glad she didn't come today. She would've been caught up in this mess…or worse."

"Have you heard from her since her Uncle was killed?" Aubrey asked me. I shook my head in defeat and pursed my lips.

"No I haven't, I think-"

"Chloe Beale! Where is she?! Jesse Osborn?!" I looked up from Aubrey as I heard my name being shouted towards the doors to the Emergency room. I could hear arguing and more shouts as I pushed myself to sit up more. It was then that Beca had pushed past the doctors and nursed and entered the emergency room. I leant forward as I watched her eyes roam across the room. Finally they settled on my own and she stilled her movement. A few moments passed of just us looking at the other and then she crossed the room in a few short strides.

"Chloe! Aubrey!"

"Beca!"

She threw herself at me as her arms wrapped around my body protectively. I gripped her jacket in my hands as I relaxed knowing she was safe. She pulled away just as quickly as she had held on to me.

"Are you okay? What happened?" She rambled question after question. She held on to my biceps as her eyes swept over me, her body never pulling completely away from me.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." Her eyes looked between mine, almost as if she was trying to convince herself that my words were true.

"Minor smoke inhalation, doctors said she just needs to take it easy and no strenuous activity. They're giving her an inhaler." Aubrey spoke up from beside us. She smiled shyly at Beca whose hands had moved down from my upper arms and were lightly gripping my hands. The fact that Beca was being the one to initiate the contact as well as keep it...it was nice.

"Jesse has a concussion and some stitches. He should be okay too, Chloe is being discharged later tonight and they're keeping Jesse a bit longer." Aubrey walked around my bed as she stood in front of Beca, who had finally let go of me and allowed the contact to break. The two of them stood looking at one another before they both reached out and gripped the other tightly. I heard a sniffle and for once I wasn't sure who it had come from. This was completely uncharacteristic from both of them. With the mixed fear of the bombings and the adrenaline from everything here at the hospital…all of our hormones were on edge.

"Thanks Aubrey." Beca said sincerely as the two pulled away. Aubrey simply nodded before she swiped at her eyes, clearing the tears from falling.

"I'm gonna go and check on Jesse." She motioned behind her.

"I'll be there in a minute." Beca told her. Aubrey turned and walked further into the room as Beca hesitated to turn back around. I couldn't see her face as her back was to me.

"Beca?" I questioned her as her left hand rose to her face. "Becs look at me." I watched as her small frame shook slightly and she turned around. My heart broke at the sight of her: eyes watering with tears, a little bit of dirt from the bombing covered her face and clothes and I could tell how hard she was fighting her emotions, trying to keep them in check. Trying to keep the façade that she was 'Beca effin' Mitchell' and she 'didn't care'.

"Ah Beca." I too began to cry as reached forward and grabbed her forearm, pulling her down to me. She collapsed into my arms as she shook, crying softly on my shoulder and I held her with everything in me. "Shh it's okay." I felt her arm come up to grip a handful of my hair as she pressed her face into my neck, her tears tickling soft tracks down as they fell.

"I could have lost you, I could have lost both of you guys." I felt her choke out as I pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I'm fine, I promise. And Jesse is going to be okay too, were both right here with you, okay?" I questioned her as she sniffed once again. I took the pads of my thumbs and brushed away the fallen tears. "Okay?" She swallowed hard.

"Okay." Beca whispered out. I tried to smile softly, but I could feel myself starting to get worked up at the reality of the situation. Beca took her left hand and brushed my hair behind my ear.

I sat there, relishing in the warmth that Beca was providing, the security I felt of being in her arms. Beca was my safe place, she always had been. Always had her arms open for me to crash into when I needed her. And after today I realized that just maybe, I might be hers as well.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cry and-" Beca mumbled as she went to pull away from me, swiping her eyes.

"Hey." I caught her arm before she was out of my reach. "Don't you ever apologize for telling me how to feel or for crying. Ever. You know I'm always here for you." She didn't say anything, she simply sat down on the chair beside me. She reached for my hand and held it between both of hers as she leant on the railing. She brought my hands to her lips and gently placed a lingering kiss there. I began to cry as everything was overwhelming to me and seeing Beca in such a vulnerable state…I didn't like it. I cried softly as she held my hand against her cheek.

"Attention! We need anyone who is not in need of immediate medical attention to please step out of the emergency room! We need to make more room!"

The nurse's shout broke us out of the bubble that me and Beca had been engaged in. Beca shuffled away from me as she stood up.

"Can I come by your place later?" Beca asked me softly.

"Yeah you better!" I laughed softly, trying to ease the mood. Beca chuckled lightly as the corners of her mouth broke into a slight smile.

"I've got to take care of a few things but text me when you're home and I'll come over." Beca spoke as another gurney was being wheeled in beside us.

"I will."

"I'll see you in a bit Chlo." Beca told me as she cautiously leaned her face closer to mine. I glanced down to her lips and back up curiously as she got closer. She paused briefly as her eyes studied me, gaged my reaction. I could have sworn I saw her smile softly before she tilted her head and her lips pressed against my cheek, so very close to the corners of my lips. She held them there briefly as my eyes shut.

And just like that she was pulling away and walking away from me. She took one last look over her shoulder as I smiled brightly at her as she fought to hide the one she was sporting as well.

Beca Mitchell would be the death of me.

xxx

BECA POV

I sat on the bench that was outside the hospital building as I fumbled with the post-it note that was in my fingers. I'd re-read the number around twenty times now. I blew out a breath as I dug out my phone and dialed the number. It rang a few time before I heard it pick up.

"Dr. Connors, how may I help you?" His words echoed in my head as I knew what I needed to do. What I had to do.

"It's Beca…I'm in."

xxx

A/N: Thank you to every single one of you who has either reviewed/favorited/followed/read, it truly means the world and I appreciate every last one of them :)