Manhattan – 34th Precinct
The night was chaos. Sirens echoed through shattered glass and twisted metal, smoke curling from burning wreckage. At the center of it all stood the Rhino suit, a mechanized beast with hydraulics hissing and a jagged horn glinting under the streetlights.
Pinned down behind an overturned squad car, Captain George Stacy fired shot after shot at the armored giant. The bullets clanged uselessly against the thick plating, bouncing to the asphalt.
"Fall back!" He ordered, shoving two younger officers behind cover. But he himself stood his ground, gun raised, knowing he was outmatched.
Aleksei's mechanized growl boomed from inside the Rhino armor.
"Little men with little guns! I'll crush all of you!"
Then the ground quaked, not from Rhino's steps but from something landing.
A white-and-cyan flash streaked through the smoke, accented with streaks of pink that caught the harsh glow of the city lights. Four magenta spider-limbs unfolded from her back, their tips glowing a fierce electric blue.
[Image]
The Iron Spider Mk. II had arrived.
Spider-Woman landed in front of the pinned officers, suit gleaming like a futuristic warrior-goddess. Her mask's cyan lenses narrowed as she squared herself between Rhino and the defenseless police.
"Hey, tin-head." Gwen's voice rang through the comms, sharp and cocky. "How about you pick on someone who actually bites back?"
Rhino bellowed with laughter, lowering his horn. "Pretty paint job! I'll grind it into the street!"
He charged.
The ground shook with the force of his sprint, pavement cracking under the weight of his armour. Officers braced for impact.
But Gwen didn't move.
Her magenta limbs anchored into the asphalt, her palms braced forward. Rhino hit her head-on, momentum of an eight-wheeler slamming into her body. The air thundered with the impact yet Gwen didn't budge an inch.
The suit's energy shielding glowed faintly working in tandem with the Vibranium-S to absorb the kinetic energy into every plate and joint. The ground beneath her cracked in a spiderweb pattern, but she stood tall.
Rhino snarled, confused. Gwen tilted her head.
"Sorry, big guy. Wrong wall to crash into."
She released the stored energy in a pulse through her palms. A thunderclap of force erupted and Rhino flew backward like a ragdoll missile, smashing through parked cars before skidding to a halt in a shower of sparks.
"Lucky shot!" Aleksei roared, launching upright. His shoulder pods snapped open, missile tubes arming with a hiss. "Let's see you block this!"
Missiles screamed toward her, machine guns rattling in a rain of lead.
Gwen's spider-limbs came alive, firing concentrated beams of cyan plasma. One by one, the rockets detonated mid-air in blossoms of flame, the shockwaves rolling past her harmlessly.
The hail of bullets pinged against her white armor but each round flattened and dropped to the asphalt, absorbed by the Vibranium-S and energy shielding's kinetic absorption.
She raised an arm, bullets sparking off harmlessly, and quipped. "Seriously? You brought bullets to a Vibranium fight? Rookie mistake."
In a blur, Spider-Woman charged him . Her limbs anchored into the street, propelling her forward like a rocket. She slammed into Rhino with enough force to dent the armor plating inward, spider-limbs pinning his mechanised limbs.
"Let's see what's under the hood." She growled.
Her hands tore into the plating, ripping away slabs of armor with brutal efficiency. Sparks flew as she shredded the exosuit like wrapping paper, tearing off the horn and tossing it across the street.
With a final heave, she pried open the cockpit. Aleksei sat inside, pale and terrified, his bravado gone.
"Game over." Spider-Woman said coldly, standing over him in her gleaming armor.
The police rushed in, cuffing Aleksei as best they could while medics tended to the injured. Spider-Woman stood apart, her magenta limbs retracting behind her as the suit dimmed from combat mode.
Captain Stacy approached, his chest still heaving from adrenaline. He looked up at his daughter, masked but unmistakable.
"You did… good tonight." He said finally, his voice carrying both pride and weariness. His eyes softened for just a moment. "Better than good. You saved lives."
Gwen's lenses narrowed into a playful expression, but her voice was quieter, tinged with vulnerability. "Just doing my job, Dad."
He exhaled, gaze lingering on her armored silhouette. "It's not the job I wanted for you. You know that. Every time you go out there, I…" He stopped himself, shaking his head. "But tonight proved you're not just my daughter anymore. You're her. You're Spider-Woman. And I can't change that."
Gwen's lips curled into a small smile behind the mask. "Guess you'll just have to trust me not to get squashed."
George Stacy's answer was gruff but genuine.
"Just… promise me you'll come home safe. That's all I ask."
For a heartbeat, hero and father simply stood together amid the flashing sirens. Then, with a graceful leap, Gwen soared onto a nearby rooftop, silhouetted in white, cyan and pink against the city skyline.
From below, her father whispered quietly to himself.
"God help me… I've never been prouder."
Read 65 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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