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Queens, New York. Inside the bedroom of a high-end apartment.
Ring ring ring…
The sudden ringing cut through the silence and woke up a middle-aged couple sleeping in bed.
"Hello? This is George Stacy. What's going on?"
The man answered without hesitation. As the captain of a NYPD precinct, he knew all too well—if his phone rang, no matter the time, he had to pick it up.
"Captain Stacy, Spider-Woman's been spotted again! And this time it's serious—we might need you on site personally."
"Again with this Spider-Woman…"
He didn't know what had happened yet,
But George Stacy was already sitting up in bed. "Give me the details."
He spoke as he quickly got dressed.
"Chief, we don't have all the details yet. We just got a report from a citizen saying they saw two Spider-Men fighting downtown."
"At first, we thought it might be a prank call, but then we got over a dozen more reports from different people all claiming they saw two Spider-Men battling in the city."
"Right now, several streets are in total chaos because of their fight. It's hard to say exactly how many casualties there are on site."
"But we've already notified hospitals and the fire department. All on-duty officers in this precinct have been sent to assist…"
"Captain, what should we do next? Please advise."
The officer on the other end quickly and clearly ran down the situation and waited for the captain's orders.
"Contact every officer who's off duty right now. Wake up those who are asleep and tell the ones living nearby to head straight to the scene."
"Mobilize every weapon and piece of equipment the precinct has. This time, we're going to take down this guy wearing the spider mask—once and for all."
"And send a helicopter to pick me up at my place."
After giving these orders quickly, George didn't wait for the officer's reply and just hung up.
He was already dressed, badge and gun on, and without even saying a word to his wife, he left his home.
"This time, I'm gonna personally tear off your mask, and let all the people of New York see the face hiding behind that terrifying spider mask."
Meanwhile, the battle between the two Spider-Men had fully woken up the neighborhood, turning what was a quiet night into a chaotic mess, as busy as daytime.
"What's going on?"
"No idea. What's happening over there?"
Lots of clueless bystanders poured onto the streets, curious to see what was going on.
But those who had managed to escape from the fight were desperate to get away fast, wishing they had extra legs to run even quicker from the dangerous scene.
Right at the chaotic center, police officers had arrived and were trying their best to evacuate the crowd. But with their limited power, there was no way they could get involved in a fight between two super-powered people.
And anyone could see the cars on that street—there were hardly any left undamaged.
They sure didn't think their fragile bodies could stand up to metal cars.
After all, their monthly salary was just a few thousand bucks—definitely not worth risking their lives over this.
Helping to clear out the crowd was already brave enough.
At this moment, countless vehicles were being hurled by Peter, who'd basically turned into a "bomb-throwing maniac," aimed right at Gwen in midair.
Gwen was dodging the driverless cars with her usual agility, but she also had to keep an eye on the ones that still had people trapped inside, trying to rescue them.
Because of this, she couldn't just use her quick moves to escape easily.
Slowly, Peter was catching up to her.
Then, after saving yet another unlucky victim who'd just experienced a "roller coaster ride," her spider sense suddenly flashed a warning.
"Oh, shit!"
Usually known for being gentle and graceful, Gwen was now so pissed she wanted to curse.
"Why the hell won't this guy just leave me alone?"
But cursing to herself didn't solve anything.
She'd already used a lot of her energy saving innocent people.
Even though her spider sense was warning her ahead of time,
her tired body just couldn't react fast enough to dodge.
Zzz…
That familiar sound, plus the sticky feeling behind her—
made Gwen instantly realize what was happening.
But she didn't even have time to break free from the webbing wrapped around her.
Suddenly, a huge force pulled through the webs.
The next second, she was yanked down from dozens of meters up in the air.
Her body crashed hard onto a car that someone must have abandoned in a hurry—door wide open.
Bam!
The terrifying force crushed the car completely flat.
And to make things worse, maybe triggered by some bad luck,
the car exploded just like in a Hollywood blockbuster, sending a wave of scorching heat that engulfed Gwen.
"Hmm, now that's a blockbuster move. This should be enough to finish the job."
But Peter didn't rush to keep chasing Gwen.
Instead, he took a moment to pull up his system and check if his mission was complete.
"Damn, don't tell me this still isn't enough?"
Looking at the screen showing the task was unfinished, Peter couldn't help but grumble to himself.
"Since the scale's not big enough yet, let's stir up a bigger scene."
Peter didn't dwell on it. His eyes went back to the explosion happening in the distance. "Heh heh heh… cough cough, kinda getting used to this now."
Following Peter's gaze, suddenly a figure leapt out from the heart of the explosion, flipping skillfully in mid-air.
Then she landed right in front of Peter, striking a super cool superhero pose.
Well, if you didn't pay attention to the fact that her tight Spider suit had several big holes burnt through by the heat from the blast, leaving patches of pale skin exposed, that pose was actually pretty impressive.
Peter's eyes were locked on Gwen—not because of her stunning figure or the pale skin showing through the torn suit.
After all, with his spider-sense, he'd already seen…
cough cough Peter just thought, "Doesn't that hurt her knees landing like that?"
Gwen was kneeling on the leg whose suit had ripped just at the knee, exposing her skin.
Peter actually felt a twinge of pain in his own knees just watching.
"Tobey Maguire, you've officially pissed me off now!"
Gwen slowly lifted her head, and even though he couldn't see her eyes, Peter could feel the cold fury pouring from her.
This was the first time Gwen, as Spider-Woman, looked this disheveled and beaten. To her, Peter was now a sinner of the highest order—someone unforgivable.
Whoosh!
But before Gwen could let out all her rage, two beams of light suddenly shone down from the sky, illuminating their figures clearly.
Rat-a-tat-tat...
Two helicopters had circled in silently above them.
Wooo wooo... screech screech...
At the same time, distant sirens approached, followed by the harsh sound of tires screeching sharply on the road.
Several police cars had completely surrounded the two of them.
"Oh, I get it now — no big explosion, no chaos. Gotta make some noise to make it count."
"....."