Thank you so much to everyone who read the first chapter, all of your support means a lot!
Tw: swearing, violence/injury
Hope you all enjoy 3

I woke up with a start; my body was very sore from laying down on a hard surface. I sat up with a grimace, my damn back felt like it was knotted. It was also breezy and cold as hell. I shivered, hugging myself for warmth, waiting for my eyes to fully adjust in the dark. I had fallen asleep at the same building I had perched on earlier. This isn't the first time this has happened, but damn… I need to get it together. I fully stood up, stretching out my back. My muscles groaned, yearning for my own bed.

"Here we go," I muttered to myself, sliding my Spider mask back on.

I leapt off the top of the building, shooting a web effortlessly to swing to the next building. I knew the way back to my apartment by heart, even in the dead of night. I landed on the fire escape outside my apartment with a thud, startling a cat nearby that let out a shrill meow.

It was my neighbor's cat. The grumpy little bastard never liked me.

"Sorry, Apollo." I called out to the cat, seeing that he was on the fire escape above me.

He gave me a hiss in response.

I opened up my apartment window and slid inside, taking off my mask and immediately stripping down as I made my way to the bed. My little apartment was a mess. I nearly tripped over a few pairs of shoes and a notebook on the way there, but I was way too tired to deal with that now. As soon as my head connected to my pillow I was out like a light.

Not even sure how long I slept, but the sunlight shining through my window jolted me awake. I sat up, rubbing my eyes and yawning loudly. I went over to my window, noticing I had left it open last night and shut it, cursing myself for being so forgetful and careless.

My usual morning (or whatever time I got up) routine consisted of turning on the TV to watch the news and dig something out of my fridge to eat.

Looks like it's leftover Chinese food again.

"I hope this isn't spoiled," I muttered to myself.

As I sat on my bed I gave my small studio apartment a real look over, it was more than just a mess, it looked like a tornado had come through. I sighed, knowing it was time for me to have an honest conversation with myself about how bad my depression had gotten. I desperately needed to do laundry, and that included cleaning my Spider suit, so I knew that would entail forcing myself to clean my entire apartment.

I used to keep my apartment clean back when I was first sent home. I was thinking Miguel would come back for me, or any of my friends. I cleaned and waited but days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months… nothing. Didn't seem like there was much of a point to keep up with it now, it's not like I ever had visitors.

I cleaned up the apartment, gathering my dirty laundry into a basket, and shoving my Spider suit deep inside so it would be hidden. Miscellaneous things I either put on my desk, threw away in a garbage bag, or shoved in my desk drawer. I checked the time, knowing the laundromat would be busy at this time, but I didn't have anything else to do. Slow news day I guess. I grabbed my headphones and mp3 player, put them in my pocket, and picked up my laundry basket. Miguel used to comment about using such "outdated technology" to listen to music, but Hobie dug it.

I smiled sadly to myself as I left my apartment, shutting the door with my foot. I missed them dearly, so much that it had manifested into a physical pain deep in my chest. Damn, maybe I need to see a doctor.

Apollo was sitting in the hallway in front of my neighbor's door, grooming himself. Right when he saw me he let out a guttural meow as if he was annoyed by my very existence.

"Love you, too." I chided, sticking my tongue out at the little creature.

I noticed a paper hanging from my door and already knew with a sinking feeling what it was for. I hadn't been able to keep up fully with the rent, since my other Spiderverse connection and support got severed it has been more than a struggle, and it's hard to hold down a job while trying to fight crime at the same time. I had been fired so many times for showing up late or having to leave, and now it was all catching up to me. I took off the eviction notice from my door and crumbled it into my pocket, I would cross that bridge when I got there, it was too much to think about right now.

I sat at the laundromat, my focus on my mp3, waiting for my clothes to dry. I reminisced how easy it was to do laundry in Nueva York; I didn't have to wait around for a few hours in a crowded laundromat there… and I didn't have to worry about paying rent, not sure how exactly the economy worked there but it was a lot better there than my universe.

My mp3 switched to the next song, a song Miguel liked that I had added to that stupid mixtape. I felt like throwing the damn thing out the door. Literally everything reminded me of him, even after months of no contact. I don't know how anyone could describe infatuation as something positive, the fucking emotion is a straight-up disease that takes over the body and mind. How am I supposed to get my life back on track at this rate?

Another forty minutes and my laundry was finally done. I walked back to my building, throwing the basket to the ground as soon as I walked in the door. I was beyond frustrated, I just wanted to cry, I never knew I could ever feel this miserable.

The sound of a loud bang and crash erupted from outside my window. I dashed over, peering out to see a car had hit a fire hydrant. People were yelling and running away, but running away from what?

My spidey-senses picked up on something - the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I grabbed my Spider suit with my web and dressed as quickly as I could. Jumping out the window, I went down to the street to get a better view of what was going on. I heard a voice roar in the distance, and what followed was man (at least I think it was a man, dude looked like a giant) crashing through a bodega. He had a suit of armor that almost completely covered him, except for his mouth and chin.

It was Rhino, but it didn't look like he belonged here in my universe. An anomaly? Here? Rhino didn't even exist in my particular universe, not that I know of anyway.

Rhino spotted me, shouted something in Russian, and charged. I readied myself, hoping I wasn't too rusty.

Okay… I'm definitely rusty.

I had been trying to subdue Rhino for over thirty minutes, and the amount of collateral damage this crazy man-beast thing was causing made me sick to my stomach to think about. He easily broke from my webs, and trying to hit him with any other type of physical attacks were pointless. Dude was literally built like a tank. I wrapped my web around a nearby motorcycle and spun it around to gain momentum to throw it at Rhino. The motorcycle collided with Rhino's head and blew up, and the man barely staggered.

"Goddam!" I huffed, jumping in the air to avoid Rhino's charge.

Even while he glitched he didn't miss a beat. He grabbed a car that was in motion by the bumper, slowing it down to a halt. The driver desperately tried to accelerate to get away, the tires of the car smoking and screeching horribly. Rhino picked up the car over his head and threw it at me. I tried my best to quickly create a web to catch the car, but I knew it would only slow it down and not fully stop it in midair. I caught the front of the car, feeling the near full impact in my stomach, my webs still clinging on for dear life.

I won't lie, that shit knocked the wind out of me. Holding my gut and trying to catch my breath, I ripped the doors off the car so the driver could escape. They took off in a sprint, not even looking back, and I don't blame them. Rhino took that moment to run up on me and swat me violently into a nearby brick building. I bounced off and landed on the ground, going face first onto the concrete.

Some Spider-Woman I am, I can't even catch myself when I fall.

I could feel blood pooling from my nose as I sat up. It ran down to my mouth and dripped onto the concrete sidewalk. I grabbed my gushing nose, standing up as fast as I could. Rhino approached, ripping a bench from the sidewalk. He threw it in my direction. I leapt out of the way in time, and gripped the side of the brick building to climb. I attempted to crawl up as fast as I could, but Rhino started to hammer the side of the building, causing part of the structure to collapse and for me to slip down just enough for him to be able to reach and grab my leg. He ripped me off the wall. I could hear a scream erupt from my throat. I shot a web, trying to swing away but he held onto my other arm and slammed it into the ground. All of the pressure and all his body weight against the concrete below did not give well, I heard the crack before I felt it and immediately knew my radius or my ulna had been broken. He went in to hammer down on my arm again, but I managed to swing away this time. The pain didn't set in right away, I was too focused on getting as much distance from Rhino as I could. I managed to make it to the top of one of the nearby buildings, when I landed I finally felt the intense pain radiating from my broken arm, and damn was it beyond awful.

Trembling, I dared myself to look down at my left arm and saw what looked like I had two elbow bends on one arm. The sight of my misshapen arm made me sick, I wanted to keel over and vomit more than anything, but Rhino was still raging from ground level. I knew he was strong, but this was some other kind of strength that I was ill prepared for. Rhino must have gotten an upgrade in his universe or something. I knew there was no way I would be able to take him down by myself, but I couldn't just let him tear apart the city. With every fiber of my being I wanted to stay on top of the building where it was safe, but I knew I couldn't.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Sometimes I really hate that motto.

I jumped back down to take on Rhino, not sure what I could even do to slow him down. With one arm it made it more difficult to swing and throw things at him, but I still tried. As dodged his blows and objects he hurled at me, a disturbance suddenly lit up brightly in the sky. I knew instantly that a portal was opening, and my heart leapt into my throat. Two Spider people I didn't recognize emerged from the portal, catching Rhino's attention. They weren't glitching so I knew they were from Miguel's team.

But Miguel wasn't here… of course he wasn't.

The Spider person in a white suit approached, she said something to me that I didn't comprehend. She stared down at my arm, clearly alarmed, and said something to the other Spider person. I cradled my broken arm, trying to listen to what she was saying but my pulse was pounding in my ears. She spoke into her dimension travel watch as the other Spider person tried to subdue Rhino. My vision was getting blurry, I could feel myself start to fade but I fought against it. I touched my nose and sure enough, it was still bleeding. I think more Spider people came through the portal, I'm not sure if I daydreamed that part. If it was real it sure took a hell of a lot of us to finally capture Rhino. The Spider girl in white helped me stand up and took me to the portal. Damn, if I wasn't in so much pain I'd actually be excited.

We arrived in Nueva York in the giant Spider building base thing. The Spider girl led me as quickly as she could to the medical wing of the building, bursting through the doors and yelling at the nurse that I needed help. Everything was happening quickly and was blurring together.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"We need to let Jess know what happened."

"Jess?" I echoed, reaching out to them.

Thinking about seeing her again did make me happy, even in the terrible state I was in now. But I was hurt with the consequences of being exiled; how could Miguel leave me by myself to fight villains like that alone? If no one had shown up… I don't even want to think about it.

"What are your names?" I asked the two Spider people that had brought me here.

"I'm Gwen, and this is Pavitr."

"Thank you for saving my life."

Jess burst into the med room, startling the nearby nurses. I had been put on an IV, not sure what for as I wasn't really paying attention when any of the medical staff were explaining anything to me. My arm was put into this futuristic cast thing, and it was apparently re-mending my broken bones as we speak. Technology in the future was crazy, that's for sure, it hurt a bit and there was a lot of pressure, but not as unbearable as it was before. My nose had been broken, and was now fixed with a bandage over the bridge of my nose. I had gotten a day pass watch so I wouldn't glitch, but I really hoped for the real thing back.

I smiled at Jess, genuinely happy to see her. She approached my gurney, shock and distress etched plainly on her face. Her belly had gotten bigger, I assumed she didn't have much time now until her baby was born.

"What the hell happened?!"

"What? You don't know how anomalies work all of the sudden?" I joked, but she wasn't having any of it.

"I'm serious! You look awful!"

"Really? Because I feel fantastic."

Jess shook her head in irritation. "This isn't the time for jokes, Sunshine. You could've gotten killed today."

My smile faded. Not sure if it was the pain I was in or the fact that me being sent back home in the first place caused this to happen.

"Yeah, you know stuff like this tends to happen when I have no way of seeing or contacting any of you for help." I retorted back.

Jess' expression softened. "You're right, and you know none of us agreed with Miguel's decision. I don't think anyone could have predicted this would happen, I'm so sorry."

"I don't need apologies, that won't unbreak my arm. I need to speak to Miguel myself, he needs to understand."

Jess shook her head. "Now you know why that isn't a good idea. I don't think he would like that Gwen even took you back here."

Hearing that made me fly off the handle.

"What? He would rather that I died? What the fuck is his problem, anyway? All of this pain and suffering because I gave him a stupid mixtape?!" I flared.

"That's not the reason, there is more to it than that-"

"Fuck this."

I ripped out my IV and got up. The monitors immediately started blaring off an alarm and the medical staff rushed over to my gurney. I pushed them out of the way and brushed by Jess. She tried to reach for my good arm but I yanked it out of her grasp. I can't remember the last time I had been this upset, but all the rage, sadness and stress that I had been bubbling up the past few months had reached its boiling point.

I marched down the corridors, making my way to the main room where Miguel was always at with his stupid virtual monitors. I could feel the stares and hear the whispers as I passed, but no one tried to stop me. I'm sure I looked insane, injured and stomping around in a hospital gown (that thankfully fully covered the back, unlike the hospital gowns in my universe). I finally made it to the corridor. I could hear some familiar voices talking deeper into the room. This stupid room was always too dimly lit to fully see all the way through. I could see Peter B. Parker, in a pink robe for some reason, speaking to that Gwen girl and Pavitr boy, and Ben Reilly. I glanced up and sure enough, Miguel was up on the damned platform.

Seeing him again, even with how upset I was, I could feel my heart skip a beat in excitement? Giddiness? I don't know what to call it, but at this moment all I could let out was anger. He was watching a replay of Rhino terrorizing my city; I could see another live feed of him in containment field, and could hear Lyla giving him the rundown on the situation. Does that mean he knew I was hurt, and didn't even come to see me? I was just getting more and more livid with each passing second.

I think Peter felt my presence because he turned around, and was instantly startled.

"Sunshine?!"

Miguel heard this from his platform, and snapped his head around to see me. Our eyes locked as I glared up at him, my teeth gritted and my one good fist clenched. I hoped he had a good explanation for all of this, for his sake.