Three-Star Good Citizen (Seeking Collection, Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Queens, New York. The bedroom of a high-end apartment.

Ring ring...

The sudden ringing of the phone woke the middle-aged couple sleeping soundly in bed.

"Hello, this is George Stacy. What's going on?"

The man answered without a moment's hesitation. As the captain of the NYPD—even if just a precinct captain—he knew that no matter the time, when his phone rang, he had to pick up.

"Captain Stacy, Spider-Woman has appeared in the city again! And this time, the situation is especially tricky. We might need you to come down and take charge in person."

"That Spider-Woman again..."

Though he didn't yet know the specifics, George Stacy had already sat up in bed. "What exactly happened?"

He asked for details while quickly pulling on his clothes.

"Captain, we're not entirely sure either. We just got a call from a citizen reporting two Spider-Men fighting in the city center."

"At first, we thought it was a prank call, but then we received over a dozen more reports from other citizens. They all claimed to have seen two Spider-Men locked in battle across the city."

"Several streets downtown are in chaos because of their fight. Casualties on the scene are still unclear."

"But we've already notified the hospitals and fire department, and we've sent all the officers currently on duty at the precinct to provide support..."

"Captain, what should we do next? Please give the order."

The officer on the other end of the line quickly and methodically reported the situation, then waited for the captain's instructions.

"Notify every officer not currently on duty. Wake up anyone who's sleeping. For those living nearby, tell them to head straight to the scene."

"Requisition every piece of equipment the precinct can mobilize. This time, we're putting an end to that spider-masked bastard once and for all."

"And send a helicopter to pick me up from my residence."

After issuing his orders swiftly, George hung up without waiting for the officer's response. His clothes were already on, his badge and sidearm secured. Without even a word to his wife, he left his home.

"This time, I'll tear off that mask myself and show every citizen of New York what kind of face hides behind that terrifying spider mask."

Meanwhile, the battle between the two Spider-Men had fully awakened every resident on the surrounding streets, turning the once-quiet night into chaos as bright as day.

"What's going on?"

"No idea. What's happening over there?"

Countless bystanders on the periphery, clueless about the situation, stepped out into the streets, trying to get closer to see what was happening. But those fleeing the combat zone wished they had an extra pair of legs to escape the danger faster.

At the very center of the chaos, police officers had already arrived, quickly evacuating the surrounding crowd. With their power, there was no way they could intervene in a fight between two superhumans. Hadn't they seen that almost no cars on that street were still intact?

They didn't think their flesh and blood could be tougher than metal cars. After all, they only made a few thousand dollars a month—not worth losing their lives over. Just helping evacuate people from a distance was already a brave show of effort.

At that moment, countless vehicles had been turned into weapons by Peter, who had become a "bomb-throwing maniac," hurling them at Gwen in the air. Gwen, meanwhile, nimbly dodged the empty cars thrown her way while also trying to rescue vehicles that still had people inside.

This made it impossible for Gwen to use her usual agility to escape. Gradually, Peter was catching up to her from behind. Finally, after she saved another unlucky soul who had just experienced a "roller coaster ride," her Spider-Sense suddenly flared a warning.

"Oh, shit!"

Gwen, usually known for her gentle and graceful demeanor, was now so furious she wanted to curse.

"Why the hell is this bastard chasing me nonstop?"

But her internal grumbling couldn't solve the immediate problem. Having saved countless innocent people earlier, her strength had been significantly drained. Even though her Spider-Sense warned her of the danger in advance, her tired body couldn't react in time to dodge.

Zzzip...

The familiar sound, along with a sticky sensation on her back, made Gwen all too aware of what had just happened. Yet she had no time to snap the web strands wrapped around her.

A tremendous force came through the web line.

The next moment, she was yanked straight down from dozens of meters in the air.

Her body slammed into a car that some idiot had abandoned, fleeing in such a hurry they'd forgotten to shut the door.

Boom!

The sheer power crushed the entire vehicle flat.

Even worse, this time it seemed some bad luck buff had triggered.

The car she hit exploded just like in a Hollywood blockbuster, a terrifying wave of heat engulfing Gwen.

"Yeah, now that's got that blockbuster feel. Should be enough to finish the mission, right?"

But Peter wasn't in a rush to chase after Gwen. Instead, he took a moment to pull up his system and check if the task was done.

"Come on, don't mess with me. That's still not enough?"

Seeing the task still marked incomplete, Peter couldn't help but complain internally.

"If the scale isn't big enough, I'll just make a bigger scene."

Without dwelling on it, he turned his gaze back to the explosion zone in the distance. "Hehehe... cough cough—how'd I start getting used to that laugh?"

As Peter watched, a figure suddenly leaped out from the blast's center, flipping nimbly through the air a few times.

Then she landed in front of Peter with a very stylish superhero pose.

Though, if you ignored the fact that her tight Spider-Suit had been burned through in several places by the explosion's heat, leaving large patches of fair skin exposed, the pose really was pretty cool.

Peter's eyes were locked on Gwen, but not because of her graceful figure or the pale skin now on display.

After all, with his X-ray Vision, he'd already seen...

Ahem. Peter just thought, "Doesn't her knee hurt landing like that?"

Watching Gwen kneel on the ground with one leg, the suit torn right at the knee, he couldn't help feeling a phantom ache in his own.

"Tobey Maguire, you've successfully pissed me off!"

Gwen slowly lifted her head. Even without seeing her eyes, the cold fury in her voice was unmistakable.

This was the first time since becoming Spider-Woman that she'd been this humiliated. In her eyes, Peter had become a criminal steeped in sin, beyond redemption.

Shwoosh!

But before Gwen could vent her blazing anger, two beams of light suddenly descended from the sky, illuminating both of them clearly.

Thud-thud-thud...

Two helicopters were already circling overhead, appearing from who knows when.

Woo-woo-woo... Ssssskrrrt!

At the same time, police sirens grew closer, followed by the screech of tires skidding across the road.

Several police cars had surrounded them both.

"Oh, now I get it. If the star rating doesn't go up, how can it count as a big enough riot?"