I’m Not Becoming Spider-Man - Chapter 49: Spider-Woman's First Battle (Patreon)

Peter knew perfectly well what George had hoped to get out of his visit. But Gwen had made plenty of friends and hardly lacked company these days. It was George who had been left alone at home, nearly dying of loneliness.

“So, you're the police chief, right?” Peter asked. He finished slicing the fruit, poured a glass of milk, and settled in to talk with him.

“That's right. I happen to have the day off.”

“Nice. I thought about becoming a police officer once. Seems like a worthwhile career.”

“Well, the path into the force is straightforward enough, Peter.” Glad to have someone interested in the subject, George began explaining. “We have an established series of examinations and assessments. Pass them, and you can become an officer. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you truly have your heart set on the job.”

“Sounds as though there's a story behind that advice.”

“Police work is dangerous.” George took a long breath. “There are still two bullets in my left shoulder. They're lodged in the bone, and I got them on duty years ago.”

He went on, half advising Peter and half venting his own frustrations. “You can never get rid of all the criminals. One gang disappears, and another takes its place. We get death threats all the time. The flow of smuggled goods from Mexico never seems to stop.”

George's voice grew heavier. “And I don't want Gwen to become a police officer, either. I'm scared... I'm scared she'll get hurt one day. That she'll end up crying...”

“But what you do matters,” Peter said. “You keep us safe, protect people, fight crime, and make our lives more peaceful.”

“Thank you, Peter. Personally, I wish there would come a day when nobody needed to do this work anymore.”

After all, who would want to live in a world filled with crime?

“But George, what if Gwen decides she wants to become a police officer?”

“Then I'll stop her. I don't understand why she never listens to me, Peter, but if she insists on joining the force, I'll do everything in my power to prevent it.”

...

“Oh, come on! Slow down! Slow down!” Gwen shouted as the bus pulled away from the stop. Mary Jane was still looking out at her from a window.

But Gwen had been just a little too late. Was today going to be one of those days when absolutely nothing went right?

She pulled a fresh, still-warm stuffed roll from the paper bag Peter had given her and ate while waiting for another bus. She remembered to save Mary Jane's share, although at this rate it would be cold before she could deliver it.

A long wait passed without another bus in sight. In frustration, Gwen set off on foot for the next stop. She might as well make some progress.

And then a bus swept straight past her, close enough that she could almost have touched it.

“Damn it! You've got to be kidding me!”

She sprinted after it, but by the time she reached the next stop, all she could see were its taillights.

Fine. She'd walk to the stop after that. Surely she'd reach it well before the next bus appeared.

As she passed an alley, however, a disturbance on the other side caught her attention.

Beyond a green iron fence, several Black men had surrounded a young boy. Fear was written all over his face.

Crimes like this were hardly unusual in New York, but Gwen rarely had reason to witness one. The city's divisions kept wealthy neighborhoods and neglected districts worlds apart. Public transit did little to bridge that divide, and even the roads seemed to reinforce it.

Hell's Kitchen and Oscorp Tower seemed to belong to different worlds. An invisible barrier divided the two.

Now Gwen stood at the edge of that divide.

On her side was a broad, relatively clean street, bright with sunlight that caught in her blonde hair. Beyond the green fence lay a patch of the city swallowed by shadow, a place where no one knew what happened and hardly anyone cared to find out.

Garbage littered the ground. Rusted pipes, filthy clothing, and black trash bags lay scattered among discarded needles and the remains of smoked weed. Groans clung to the alley like maggots to bone, impossible to shake off.

The boy noticed Gwen, and Gwen noticed him.

Yet they belonged to different worlds.

He watched her turn away and wished desperately that he could live in the world on her side of the fence. To him, it felt impossibly far away, no matter how good a person he tried to be.

“Come on, kid! Hand over everything you've got!” one of the men demanded. The others had the same dark skin as the boy, with needle marks visible on their arms. They were plainly addicts.

“B-but... I need that money to buy medicine for my mom...”

“Like I care!” The men lunged to take it from him.

“No! Please!”

“Hey! Let him go!”

Several pieces of bread flew into their faces.

They turned to find an odd-looking figure holding a paper bag of bread, wearing an overcoat despite the sweltering weather.

“Huh? Who's this freak?” The men exchanged looks, then ignored her and went back to emptying the boy's pockets. When he tried to resist, one of them drew a knife.

“Hold still, you little brat!”

Thwack!

Something struck the back of his head the moment the knife appeared. The others looked around to see the strange newcomer holding a length of iron pipe. Their companion reached up to touch the back of his skull, then crumpled to the pavement.

“Uh... Would you believe me if I said that was an accident?” Gwen asked. She hadn't even known she could hit someone that hard.

“Get your weapons!”

The remaining men closed in at once, throwing punches and kicks.

Gwen had good coordination and trained her body regularly, but she was no match for someone like Thompson in a straightforward fight. Perhaps he could have handled these men easily. Gwen, however, was already wondering whether she'd acted without thinking.

Her heart hammered as a fist came hurtling toward her face.

Then something changed.

The world seemed to slow, every detail sharpening before her eyes. She could even make out the individual pores on the attacker's face.

Duck. Sweep his legs.

The movements appeared in her mind as a complete plan. Her body followed almost instantly.

The man cried out and fell. Gwen barely had time to register what she'd done before another attacker rushed her.

She drove her leg upward and caught him squarely in the groin. He collapsed beside the first.

Two more men attacked together. Gwen retreated two steps, and another sequence unfolded in her mind. Avoid the punch coming from the left. Strike the man's face with the iron pipe while he was still recovering from the missed blow. Slip past the attack from the right, then drive an elbow into his side near the kidneys.

It felt as though she had spent ages considering every movement. To the boy watching, the whole exchange happened in an instant. The strange figure with the bread bag had dropped two grown men almost before he could blink.

The attackers were already weakened by heavy drug use and had little stamina to spare. After the beating Gwen delivered, none of them could get back to their feet.

When the strange slow-motion feeling finally faded, Gwen found herself gasping for air.

What... was that? What just happened to me?

There was no time to work it out. She collected the scattered money and handed it to the boy.

“Here. Go on, get out of here.”

“Th-thank...”

He stopped before finishing. Behind his rescuer, one of the men she'd just knocked down was on his feet again. With a trembling hand, he was pulling something black from his pocket...