บท 2: Just Another Night

The night was pitch black with the moon blotted out, the dark of night was only offset by the lights of the city scape. Cars honked and tooted as people rushed home to get in their comfy beds, or head to their night jobs.

Between the alleys of 2 buildings in a dark neighborhood a woman walked quickly. *Click Clack* Her heels clicked on the side walk as she power walked to her destination, she wasn't far from her apartment. She had to get off the bus a block back as no other stop was closer.

She looked over her shoulder every other second as she felt a presence creep behind her, a small tingling in her spine told her someone was watching her. Call it a 6th sense or a woman's intuition, but she increased her pace as fast as possible without running.

Clutching a black bag in her embrace she quietly stuck her hand inside and felt around for her pepper spray. Feeling around and finding nothing her heart leapt into her mouth as she realized she forgot it back at the house. The premonition she had came true in the next second.

*Step Step*

From behind her she heard the rush of feet and turned quickly. A group of men were rushing directly towards her on the nearly empty street. This was one of the neighborhoods that people usually stayed inside at night; she would have gotten home earlier if it wasn't for her boss making her work late. And now it looked like that would cost her.

Her heart reaching new heights she started to run as fast as she could towards her place, which was hard considering she was in heels. She may have used them for years, ever since her teenage years, but it didn't help. Left with no other choice she headed towards the alley way that was a small shortcut to her place.

She wasn't sure she would be able to outrun them, but there was still a small part of her mind asking if this was the right decision, going into the alley way would be even more dangerous. Gritting her teeth and throwing caution to the wind she ran forwards.

*Shuffle* *Pant* *Huff*

The sounds behind her increased in volume as she made it past the half way mark, she tried to block the noises out as she kept he sight on the end of the alley way, the only thought going through her head was, 'I can make it, I can make it', and just as she was a meter from the end a pair of rough hands clasped onto her dress tearing it.

Not expecting the sudden force from behind her heel snapped from her unbalance self and she fell forwards. *Smack* The woman hit the ground hard and screamed in pain, after that she quickly tried to pull herself up. But it wasn't to be as another 2 pairs of hands grabbed her shoulders and body, and started to drag her backwards. "Hahaha. Got the bitch." The voice of one of the men sounded happy as they caught their prey, but to the woman she felt like she was dipped in ice water.

Her hand became clammy and her breath turned even more erratic, she started to lose hope as she was pulled backwards by strong hands. She wished she had her protection right now, there was only one thing left she could do. "HELP! HELP!" The woman screamed for dear life as she continued to be pulled backwards, but no one responded to her call, the din of the noise around the city seemed to drown out her pleas for help.

The woman started to feel despair as another hand grabbed for her face to shut her up, she struggled with all her might, but she wasn't a match for the group of men surrounding her. Tears appeared in her eyes as parts of her dress were being ripped apart. Looking around with her bleary eyes she even caught site of a knife! She panic even more and her thoughts begged for anyone, someone to come help her.

*Thwip*

Peter sprung into action as he saw what was happening. He had been swinging by, listening to radio chatter, when his sensitive ears picked up the distressed call for help from the woman. His face instantly changed as he pinpointed the sound of suffering. After all the years he had been Spider-man, he had developed a skill for such occasions.

Honing in on the 2 buildings and their alley way, he quickly sprung into action against the criminals. His eyes scanned quickly as he shot a web at the man closest to the woman. He could only see one person with a knife and no guns in sight, not that they couldn't be hidden, but he should be able to deal with these guys before things escalated to that point.

*Snag* "Huh?" The confused voice of the man ripping her clothes sounded out before a large force pulled him into the air. His friends standing around and keeping a look out were shocked for all of 2 seconds before one of them screamed. "Shit its Spider-man!" The person with the knife instantly started shaking as he watched his comrade fly in the air and come into contact with a red fist. The person instantly was knocked out and webbed to the side of a fire escape.

Seeing what was happening, his shaking increased as he dropped the knife and made a run for it, his other mate had the same idea and made a break for it. They both ran in different directions not caring about the other or the woman they were just assaulting. But it didn't matter. *Thwip* *Thwip* 2 strands of webbing shot out as Spider-man finally landed in the alley. He stood tall as he tensed his muscles and pulled them both back.

"Argh" "Nooo….help!" Not letting them get in another word, 2 quick webs to the mouth and sticking them both to walls and the fight was over. The woman who was just seconds ago crying for help and filled with despair looked disbelievingly at the sight. She wiped her eyes quickly and looked at the person who saved her.

She had seen pictures of Spider-man before; he was the hero of New York, a city icon, the first hero of a generation, but something didn't look right. She squinted her eyes and looked at his costume. It wasn't as pristine as she thought it would be, actually it looked like it was ripped in a lot of places and had been worn out.

Her frown didn't last though as she shook her head and tried to stand. Her legs wobbled as she got to her feet and Spider-man quickly went to support her. She felt warm as she felt the presence of another human being after what she just went through, she felt tears threatening to come out again. But first. "Thank you!" *Sob* *Sob* She couldn't help it after she thanked him; she couldn't help but think what could have happened to her if he didn't show up.

"No problem miss." His voice was gruffer than she expected but she didn't care right now, she just continued to cry into his shoulder. After a full minute of this, Spider-man finally moved and gripped her shoulders moving her back a bit, his voice was gentle as he spoke to her. "Can you get home by yourself?" The woman really wanted to say she couldn't she could still feel the lingering fear from those men, but she knew better, Spider-man had to help other people, she couldn't take up his time.

Showing a brave face and steadying her voice she tried to look confident. If she was to pay more attention she might have noticed the bad state of his costume or how skinny he actually was when she cried into his shoulder, but she noticed none of this. "I-I-I'll be fine." No matter how much she tired she still stuttered in the end.

Spider-man stood there for a second before giving her nod and motioning towards the men. "When you get home, make sure to call the cops. Try to stay in well lit areas and go home earlier if you can, you never know what might happen." *Thwip* She gave a small nod before he reached up and swung away. Watching his flying figure she thanked her lucky stars and gave disgusted looks towards the men webbed up. Finally she quickly went home and called the cops.

Peter swung away from the scene as a female voice spoke through his comms. "Peter, a silent alarm was tripped at a bank down town." With a flick of the wrist and movement of the body Peter changed directions and listened to the address of the bank.

In a small whisper maybe to himself, or to the female voice he said. "Just another night" And with those words his figure disappeared to stop another crime.