Three Hours Later
3:00 P.M.
Christina's POV

The wind outside of the train station had picked up significantly as Christina waited for her scheduled train to arrive, and she figured it was only a few minutes late. The sun was partly covered by the clouds in the sky and she figured a storm was probable in the near future. She briefly adjusted her jumpsuit and hugged her arms to her chest to prevent herself from the admittedly chilly air.

Her day shift at her social working job had just ended and she was waiting to take the nearest train to the station close to the university so she could have her appointment with her therapist. She didn't intend for it to be a very long session, as her night classes would be starting at 5:30. Luckily, there were only two of them to deal with, so she wouldn't be back at her apartment too late.

She just hoped that Sidney would survive a couple of hours without her.

Humming softly to herself, the brunette tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her left ear as she heard the bell of the train making its way towards her. She visibly perked up as she tugged her purse onto her shoulder a little more tightly, yawning from the slight tiredness she felt in her body. As she waited for it to come to a complete stop, she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten her locket at her apartment when she had left that morning. She silently scolded herself for a moment but eventually thought it wasn't the end of the world. She would just wear it tomorrow.

The automatic doors opened once the train stopped in front of her and Christina waited for the other citizens to pile out of the car. She just barely made it inside in time before the doors practically slammed shut, and she went to grab one of the poles to help stay on her feet while the train moved. Afterwards, the young woman glanced around at the other people surrounding her and she had to admit that it was a little crowded but she chose not to complain. She instead sighed to herself as she politely smiled at a few random people, and her heart warmed lightly when she saw some of them nod their heads at her in return.

On cue, the lights in the train car began to flicker from time to time as it finally began to move forwards and towards the brunette's destination. This would happen whenever Christina boarded any train in downtown Manhattan and she humorously thought that the people responsible for constructing them should fix the electricity on them.

But, then again, this was New York City. Nobody really cared that much.

The train lurched a little bit and the woman made it out to be that it had hit a faulty set of tracks on its journey and she mentally sighed with relief when everything was steady again. Her nerves got the better of her because of this, however, and she just hoped for a safe trip to her destination, which was five stops away. She didn't want the train to end up derailing, for God's sake! She just took a deep breath to calm herself, which was something that worked a lot better recently, and she preferred doing this over taking her medication a month prior.

Earlier that day, Christina had contacted Connor Roberts's foster parents to see how the young boy was doing in his new home. According to Judy Nelson, he was adjusting to his environment really well and was getting along with his foster siblings after he got more used to them. This brought a grin to the young woman's face as she had the feeling that she would have a successful journey with her first client.

Afterwards, the woman's thoughts went to Peter as she thought it was insanely weird that he hadn't called her throughout the past few days. In fact, she had even tried to call him again while in her office and he still hadn't picked up, which left her totally puzzled.

Nevertheless, she tried her best to not think about it too much, as it would lead to her being insanely worried.

The train stopped at the first stop that led to the university and Christina watched as people exited and boarded the same car she was in. She made some room for a few of them, to which they thanked her for doing so. A few seconds passed and they were taking off again.

She tried to hum to herself but she couldn't hear herself over the loud clanging of the train against the tracks, so she eventually gave up.

Out of nowhere, a tumultuous BOOM filled Christina's ears along with the screams of several of the citizens, and her head snapped upward out of utter surprise as the commotion from the roof of the train continued. Was it possible that a flock of birds had collided with the vehicle while it was speeding along the tracks?

No, that would be weird, she thought.

"What the hell?!" an older man exclaimed just as the booming sounds ceased for just a little while.

Still feeling cautious, Christina decided to try and look out the window in order to possibly see what was going on at the roof of the train. But, unable to catch a glimpse of anything, she just shrugged as she pulled back and glanced at the ceiling.

It finally occurred to her that the ceiling had fresh dents in it that protruded towards her and the others with her. Her eyebrows raised in utter bewilderment as she looked all around her, trying to look at whatever she could find.

"What's going on...?" she quietly whispered to herself.

The train passed under two small bridges that had been constructed for people to walk on in order to get to buildings across the railways. Seconds later, however, another CRASH emanated in her ears and she turned to her right to see an incredulous sight just outside of the windows.

Two figures that were stuck to the side of the train car she was in were in a violent and aggressive brawl with one another. Christina just watched Spider-Man and Otto Octavius punching and kicking one another with wide eyes alone with the other people surrounding her. She then sighed through gritted teeth at the semi-amusing thought that her luck was running out by the second. She just wanted to go to her therapy appointment and she couldn't even do that without some shit taking place such as this...

Christina slowly began backing up just in case something were to take place and she instinctively made her way to guard some of the terrified and stunned people behind her. She didn't know how effective this would turn out to be, but she was determined to at least try and keep them safe.

"Please leave the train... Please leave us alone..." she whispered to herself.

A few moments passed, and Christina was able to notice one of Octavius's arms wrapping around Spider-Man's waist as the hero was torn away from the outside of the train. Instantly after, the man was thrown through the automatic double doors, which made them break apart. The woman shrieked out of surprise and yelled at everyone to get down, and she saw Spider-Man gripping one of the metallic poles in order to free himself from the grip of the A.I. arms.

He successfully did so, but Christina still stayed low as he swung out of the train and continued to fight his nemesis.

"STAY DOWN, EVERYONE!" the brunette ordered the others, quivering with slight fear from how out-of-control the entire situation was.

Watching the two polar opposite people battle it out on the side of the train reminded Christina of choreographed fights in plays that she would see in high school. But, obviously, this was much more savage than those were. She just prayed that neither one of them would die from how vicious the hits to each other were, especially since she was well aware that Spider-Man had super strength. But, since Otto didn't seem to look severely hurt from the punches, she deduced that the hero was taking it easy on him.

A little while after this took place Otto had quickly moved away from the side of the train and Christina perked up in curiosity as to why. Her answer was in the form of a train directly next to all of them coming at them at full speed, and Spider-Man had to flatten himself against the windows to avoid the brutality of the blow it would have caused had he not dodged it in time. Then the hero was out of her line of sight, only for him to be on the other side of the train in less than ten seconds, making the passengers freak out a little bit.

One of the metal arms then smashed through a window directly next to Christina, making the woman duck and she was missed by a milliliter. She was barely able to feel one of the claws of the arm brush against her hair for a moment.

When she looked back up, however, Spider-Man was nowhere to be found whatsoever.

Where the hell did he go? she thought, instantly figuring out that Otto must have knocked the webhead off of the train somehow.

She shakily stood back up and looked all around her, the only sound resonating with her being the train against the tracks as she noticed the third stop beginning to come into view. She just prayed that whatever the fuck had happened outside was now over, and that she could get to therapy safe and sound; it was even to the point that she pictured what she would say to her therapist.

"While on my way here, my train car was ambushed and I saw Spider-Man and Doc Ock duking it out through the windows. So how's your day been?!"

She saw that the passengers next to her were slowly beginning to calm themselves down, and her eyes locked with a blonde woman that seemed to be in her late twenties holding an infant baby girl in her arms. "It's okay... we're safe, I think," she assured her when she heard the baby crying a little.

"I sure hope so," the slightly older woman replied in a trembling voice.

But it wasn't about to be okay.

Right as they finished their small conversation, two of Octavius's metal arms came crashing through windows on either side and grabbed two random citizens just minding their business. One was an African American male in his early thirties and the other was a young redhead wearing a crimson dress and appearing as though she was just going home from work like Christina was.

The brunette reached out to both of them to try and help them but they were yanked out of the train before she could get to them, and their screams would haunt her dreams that night. Although she would find out later on that Spider-Man ended up saving them and they were fine, Christina was now more anxious than ever.

Out of nowhere, though, she began to feel her stomach twisting as an instinct hit her full-force in the gut. Her body tensed up as a really bad feeling began to wash over her soul and she slowly peered towards the front of the car, where the electronic mechanics used to operate the train were. She could see around a dozen people crowded in front of the windshield and she suddenly worried for their safety.

Having the sensation that something terrible was going to happen, Christina quickly made her way towards the front of the subway car, trying her best to not stumble due to the heels she wore. She frantically pushed through some of the passengers in order to make room for herself; she had to get to the front in time, or everything would go wrong. She had completely abandoned her purse where she originally was, not knowing that the kind woman with the newborn baby had picked it up and kept it so she could give it back to her when she returned.

The third stop towards NYU was quickly approaching and the train was starting to slow to a stop.

Christina was ten feet from the front...

Just then, the woman could hear booming thumps against the roof that seemed to be directly above her head. She instinctively looked up, not stopping her journey to the front. Her heart rate went up significantly as she realized what was happening, and she scolded herself for being right.

"EXCUSE ME, PLEASE!" she screamed at one of the passengers and he moved out of the way for her.

She was now five feet away from the front.

The train was slowing down even more as the third stop was fully in view.

Four feet.

Three feet...

Two...

One.

She was too late.

Just as Christina was half a foot away from the front, one of the metal arms crashed through the window and full-on hit an elderly man in the face, knocking him to the floor.

"SHIT!" the woman cried out in shock at what happened, but she recovered the moment the same arm grabbed a lever and jerked it forward.

Christina immediately gripped said arm and tried her best to tug at it to get it to let go of the lever, avoiding falling backwards due to the high amount of speed the train was now going. But the metal tentacle was much stronger than she was and, no matter what bit of strength she put into trying to pry it away from the mechanics, nothing would work.

The train sped past the third stop, refusing to cease all movement.

The speedometer on the train's dashboard quickly moved from forty miles per hour, which was the most it was allowed to travel, to its maximum speed: one hundred and twenty miles per hour....

That was when the arm ripped the lever out of the dashboard, making Christina's heart sink as sparks flew out in every direction.

But the train refused to stop.

"Oh no..." the young woman whimpered as she helped the recovering elderly man to his feet, instantly feeling a huge amount of guilt for not being able to stop Otto in time.

She was unaware that the nemesis was now completely gone from the train.

"HELP! HELP!" the elderly man screamed as he repeatedly pushed at one of the buttons to try and fix the problem. That was when Christina realized that he was the train's conductor. "HELP!"

Christina glanced to her right and saw a glimpse of Spider-Man surveying the situation from the roof of the train. For some reason, she didn't seem to feel relief upon seeing the masked hero; this was an extreme rarity since she was often happy to run into him. But this was a one-time exception.

"I CAN'T STOP IT, THE BRAKES ARE GONE!" the conductor bellowed over the roaring of the train rattling against the tracks in order for Spider-Man to hear him.

Just then, a small explosion of sparks erupted from where the lever once was and some of them singed Christina's turquoise jumpsuit. It even led to a few flames forming on her left sleeve and she frantically patted at it to make them vanish, which they did and she was unharmed.

Around twenty seconds later, while Christina was helping the conductor try and solve the issue at hand, a figure jumped to be in front of the first car of the train. Noticing this, she peered up and out of the open window and she instantly saw that the hero had his mask removed, likely having also been hit in the face by the burst of sparks and electricity. She could tell that he was looking in all directions, deciding what to do next, and that was when someone spoke up.

"It's Spider-Man!" a younger man shouted in amazement.

"Oh, my God, this is it..." the conductor cried out in pure terror, making Christina place a hand on his arm in an attempt to offer comfort.

At that moment, Spider-Man whipped his head around to face the brunette and the other passengers, and she was instantly able to recognize his all-too-familiar face.

"TELL EVERYONE TO HANG ON!" Peter Parker frantically instructed everyone in the first car, his blue eyes wide with complete panic.

"Brace yourselves!" the conductor yelled to everyone else.

Christina ignored this command, instead stepping closer as her eyebrows scrunched together. There was absolutely no way she was actually right with her suspicions!

Right?

"What the hell are you doing here?!" she yelled stupidly, her jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

Peter spun back to look at who had asked that question and, the moment he saw Christina, his heart plummeted. The woman he had swore to protect and keep his distance from just happened to be on this exact fucking train that he needed to stop. Oh, what unfortunate timing.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" he retorted with a stunned expression, now more determined to try and slow the train down than ever.

"You two know each other?!" a man around his mid-thirties spoke up in Christina's direction.

"Not the time!" the brunette replied instantly.

It all made sense now. Instantly thinking back to how Peter had been acting suspicious the day their senior class had gone to the Science Department of Columbia University and had been feeling 'nauseous.' That must have been when everything started, which had led to Peter supposedly 'getting contacts,' to his fight with Flash at school the day after their field trip, and how he would randomly vanish whenever something crazy and dangerous was happening. The day of Otto's presentation was what stood out the most, as Peter had disappeared out of nowhere, only for Spider-Man to show up moments later.

She especially thought back to the kiss they had shared the other night and how it had felt eerily similar to her kiss with Spider-Man, and how the moment where he had gripped her arm to assure her that he wouldn't harm her was an exact mirror to Peter holding her hand to assure the same thing to her. The entire revelation clicked for her and she understood everything now.

Peter Benjamin Parker was Spider-Man....

Instantly after she attempted to break out of her overwhelming thoughts, she saw Peter looking down before jumping to where the tracks were. She was able to peer in his direction to notice him using his foot to try and stop the train or slow it down at least, but he was just breaking every single one of the tracks, all while Christina could hear him crying out in agony that it caused. She winced from what she was seeing but, luckily, it didn't last too long since Peter leaped back onto the tiny platform in front of the large door, gripping his leg in utter pain.

The train had refused to stop once again, and the fourth stop to NYU sped past them at an insanely quick rate.

"Any more bright ideas?!" the conductor asked in a sneering tone, which made Christina glare in his direction as Peter also turned to give him an incredulous expression.

"I got a few, yeah!" Peter replied sarcastically before turning back to think about what he was going to do.

A few seconds passed and Christina could then see a few webs protruding from Peter's left wrist and eventually his right wrist as he attempted to attach them to buildings. It was a last-ditch effort to slow everyone down and to save all of their lives, especially Christina's.

Let's just say it failed miserably.

As the train passed by the fifth and final stop to the university, Peter suddenly fell forward and Christina thought that he had landed on the tracks and that he was run over by the train. She nearly cried out in pure horror from this but what came out was an audible sigh of relief when he catapulted back up and was against the door.

"Are you okay?!" she shouted to him, and Peter was barely able to nod, completely out of breath.

Then Christina looked up and her heart stopped, the feeling of dread taking hold of her entire body.

Around a thousand feet ahead of the train, there was a place that signified the very end of the journey; it was the edge of the tracks where the train would stop and basically reverse itself all the way back to the beginning of the subway. If that was the edge and the train wasn't going to stop, then that meant... That meant....

Say your prayers, she thought.

Christina's blue eyes welled up with a few tears and she completely ignored Peter shooting out dozens of webs to various buildings in his final attempt. One slipped soundlessly down her cheek as the thought of Sidney's smiling face appeared in her mind, and that only made her heart rate go what seemed to be a million miles an hour as she figured out that her life was flashing before her eyes. She then thought of Aidan... of Allyson... of her father... of her mother... of Peter... of Mary Jane....

She had forgotten to give Sidney a goodbye hug when she left for school...

She hadn't called her father that morning and hadn't requested to talk to Aidan...

She forgot to contact Mary Jane to discuss hers and John's wedding in a few days...

She was going to miss said wedding...

She was going to be gone and wouldn't be there for everyone she loved...

She was going to die.

The thing that brought her back to reality was the sounds of Peter's screaming from the excruciating pain that was brought to him, as well as the train door bending and the left window shattering from the force of his hold.

The train was now seven hundred feet from the edge of the tracks.

The right window then shattered, and a shard of glass slightly cut Christina's right hand, but she fought through the pain. She peered around the now glass-free window pain as she heard a particular howl of agony leaving Peter and, for a moment, she began to feel the slightest amount of hope.

"We're slowing down!" the man next to her spoke up to everyone and Christina was finally able to sense that he was right. She could feel the train slowing to an eventual stop.

In a form of last-minute desperation, Christina took her right hand and reached out of the broken window, grasping Peter's arm and feeling the odd texture of his Spider-Man suit. She gripped his arm tightly as she stared ahead, hoping that she could motivate him further.

The train was four hundred feet from the edge.

"You can do this..." she whispered, hoping she was heard. "We all believe in you. You can do it...."

I believe in you, she thought to herself.

Peter was able to hear her. And her words encouraged him to hold on more tightly to the webs he had shot out.

Two hundred feet away.

Christina could barely notice some of the strands of webbing beginning to snap, which made her heart drop a little as she gripped Peter's arm more firmly. Peter only clutched the webs more as he cried out in anguish, refusing to let go for even a second; he wasn't going to let anyone on this train die, he couldn't allow it to go over the edge, he wouldn't be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, and he wasn't about to lose Christina.

The woman in question began to admire just how Peter was able to hold onto the webs like he was doing, and she was suddenly extremely grateful for his superhuman strength. She reminded herself to thank him later... if he successfully stopped the train.

Fifty feet.

"EVERYONE HOLD ON!" the brunette shouted at the top of her lungs in order for everyone to hear her over Peter's screams and the deafening roaring of the train speeding along the tracks.

Thirty feet.

Twenty feet.

Ten feet.

Five feet....

Christina squeezed her eyes shut as the front of the train collided with the edge of the railway, and tons of rubble exploded outward from the force of the crash. She cried out in terror as she rested her forehead against the dented door, just praying to the Lord above that she would make it out of this alive. She had been given a second chance at life a month ago and she didn't want it to be for nothing.

Although one of the wheels of the train slipped over the edge of the tracks and everyone yelped out of fear, Christina could sense the engines finally running their course and stopping, and that made her open her eyes.

Just keep holding on, Pete... she thought. You've got this.

And the train finally froze in its place, almost as if time had stopped as the engines gave one final and painful screech before giving out completely.

All Christina could hear now was silence as she peered out of the window to look at the ground two hundred feet below, and she could glimpse dozens of cars swerving to avoid the debris falling from where the train was.

The young woman chuckled happily as she grinned, the largest weight being lifted off of her shoulders at the comfort she felt at being alive. But, when she turned to thank Peter profusely, she saw him release the webs as he began to topple forward, likely passing out from the pure exhaustion he felt. She panicked as she kept the tightest grip on his right arm possible to prevent him from plummeting hundreds of feet, and she was helped by a few other people that had leaned out their windows to catch him mid-fall.

"Get him inside..." Christina mumbled, and the others listened to her as they all assisted one another in lifting Spider-Man up. She politely excused herself through the crowd as she noticed him being quickly carried by dozens of people towards the back of the first train car.

Eventually she stopped in a big enough space on the floor and she rested her hand on the back of Peter's head as she helped the others gently lower him.

"Nice and easy, we'll go down," one of the middle-aged men spoke up.

"Be careful with him..." Christina instructed as they gingerly set him down on the floor, and she internally winced once she saw how badly his suit and skin were torn open around where his ribs were.

Noticing he was still out cold, the brunette reached out to feel a pulse and her heart rate returned to normal upon finding out that it was still beating strongly.

"Is he alive?" the mother of the baby asked timidly, and Christina nodded her head at her as they exchanged relaxed smiles.

Christina then tilted her head as she examined Peter's peaceful face and she chuckled on the inside upon realizing just how obvious it was that he was Spider-Man. She grabbed his left gloved hand and held it tenderly, caressing the back of it to keep him comforted as she smiled down at him.

"He's... just a kid," someone said out of surprise. "No older than my son."

That was when Peter slowly opened his eyes, and the first person he saw was Christina. He gently squeezed her hand that was holding his and he could see her grinning now, and he couldn't help but smile tiredly in return.

"Hey..." he muttered quietly.

"Hey..." Christina whispered, not daring to say his name out of fear that people would expose him.

Then Peter remembered the events that had led up to this moment and his heart skipped a beat out of worry. He raised his right hand to feel for his mask but it wasn't on his face, as he had torn it off before stopping the train. A feeling of trepidation swarmed him as he frantically sat up, noticing Christina still having a hold on his arm to assist him. His eyes were wide as he stared up at everyone that was smiling down at him.

"It's all right," a much older man assured Peter as he knelt down to his level.

Out of nowhere, two younger boys around nine to ten years old walked up to the small crowd with bright expressions on their faces, which made Christina squint her eyes out of slight confusion.

"We found something..." the older of the two muttered, while the other held out the slightly scorched Spider-Man mask, which Peter tenderly took from him.

Christina smiled softly at all of them as a silent 'thank you' for the help they offered to their famous hero and, for once, despite the dangerous moment that had transpired before this, she felt at peace.

"We won't tell nobody..." the younger boy of the two said, and Christina nodded in agreement with everyone else.

Spider-Man had saved their lives, and now all of them were going to save his.

Peter just gave one curt nod to them as he smiled gratefully, putting his full trust in all of them as he slowly pulled his mask back over his face.

"It's good to have you back, Spider-Man..." the younger boy spoke up again, and Christina grinned as her head bobbed up and down.

She could then notice Peter wanting to stand up, so she carefully grabbed his hands and helped him to his feet, and four other people also assisted him as if he was just another citizen and not the most well-known person in New York City.

Everyone on this train car viewed Spider-Man as someone who was just like them, as a human being, and that relieved both him and Christina, who had always thought of him as someone similar to her and everyone else in the world.

"I'm proud of you..." the brunette whispered to Peter under her breath, and he put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently to thank her silently.

The untouched door to the back of the subway car then collapsed onto two of the passengers as it burst through, which made Christina jump nearly a foot into the air. She slowly turned her head around to see the source of the pandemonium that had broken out again, only to see Otto Octavius's metallic arms snaking their way into the vehicle.

This motherfucker again, she thought sarcastically as the arms bent the doorway to the car, making everyone with the exception of her and a few others scream with utter fear.

"HE'S MINE!" Otto bellowed furiously.

"You want to get to him, you gotta go through me," a random citizen standing much closer to the villain spoke up, standing in his direct pathway.

"And me," a much older man said.

"Me too..." a girl around five years younger than Christina said.

Finally getting her true confidence back and being taken back to the memory of the World Unity Festival where she helped the masked superhero in a way, she stepped in front of Peter to protect him. "Me too," she muttered, her arms outstretched to shield him. She then smiled proudly when nearly everyone in the train blocked Otto's line of sight in order to guard his target.

"Very well..." she could hear Otto say before two of his arms forcefully shoved many of the innocent citizens out of the way, pinning them against the subway's windows and even shattering a few of them.

Christina's heart plummeted but she refused to move out of the way once the arms weren't able to quite reach her yet. In fact, she stepped to fully block Peter from Octavius's vision with a look of bravery and determination on her face.

That was when Otto glanced at her and an expression of recognition flickered in his eyes. "Christina..." he mumbled just loud enough for the much younger woman to hear.

"Otto..." the brunette growled under her breath, her scowling eyes staring right back at him.

"Chris, move out of the way..." Peter whispered to her as he gently nudged her aside.

"No," she muttered, glaring back at him.

"Please..." he pleaded with her, and he finally made her move to the side as he weakly stepped closer to Otto. Christina let out a huff of extreme annoyance as she thought about what to do next.

Otto then enabled one of the robot arms to come flying at Peter's face.

At the last possible second, Christina leaped in front of Peter in a final effort to keep him safe, but they were both hit by the claws.

The woman felt a brief sting of pain in her chest before she roughly landed on the floor, everything turning black in an instant.

A/N: that was a lot lmao

ANYWAYS, thoughts on this chapter? did you like it? let me know!

did you like how i executed the train scene and made it be in christina's point of view the entire time?

did you like how christina was protective of everyone on the train and how she actually tried to help out?

what did you think of christina finding out that peter is spider-man? was that written well? let me know!

what about the small but cute moments between them? they're too adorable!🥹

predictions for the next chapter?

be looking forward to the next chapter!

-denbroughswife