A/N: ❗️WARNING❗️This chapter will include curses, blood, gore, death threats, and anxiety attacks.

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"In your positions?"

"Yes, Ghost-Spider. Coming at three o'clock."

Ghost narrowed her eyes as she spotted the criminals breaking into the bakery. She wanted to punch the Lieutenant so bad for having to wait. But he insisted they wait until they leave the bakery and catch them. They were standing in the shadows.

Officer Barton, Mary Barton, called her in the middle of the night to help with an occurring stake-out. Ghost groaned as she has been working with Barton for a few weeks when she was out on patrol.

She was still sleeping when Barton called and now she is here...bored out of her mind.

Ghost knew how this works...pure cowardice. Once the criminals trash the place, the owners will sue the police station but they will say "It's by the name of the law to protect citizens. We were just doing our job."

Then, the owners will have no choice but to close down the bakery and Gwen will have no job.

Bullshit.

She looked at Lieutenant Rogers. Her eye twitched in irritation as she heard glass breaking.

Ghost had enough and ran in. She ignored the call and climbed to the ceiling. She spotted four criminals. One was supposed to be the look-out of the family who owns the bakery, two were getting the money in the bag and the other holding a gun and looking around, eating some pastries. They all wore ski masks and gloves.

"Would you hurry the hell up? You're making too much noise," the fourth snapped.

The two men stopped and turned to him, "Shut the hell up! Don't say crap. Ghost-Spider has ears you know? And there's no doubt she'll find us if you don't shut up."

"Zip it. You'll wake the family," the lookout hissed.

Ghost shook her head and crawled on the ceiling near the lookout. He will alert everyone and she has to take him out first. Once she was above him, she webbed the ceiling and hung upside down, and tapped his shoulder.

The thug turned and his eyes widened at the mask. "Gh–!"

She karate-chopped the back of his neck, instantly putting him unconscious. She grabbed him and web-cocooned him to the ceiling. She made sure to check over her shoulder in case they heard it.

They didn't.

Ghost crawled back to the ceiling and went to the center of the room. She smirked and she aimed for the gun of the man but the car lights of the police shun brightly, alerting everyone in the room.

"Shit!" The man holding the bag cursed.

"Ghost!" The other pointed.

She cursed the Lieutenant and dropped to the ground and sweep the two men's feet, making them fall to the floor.

The other gritted his teeth and pointed his gun at her and shot at her. She dodged each one and ran towards him. He screamed and threw a punch at her but she caught it and swung her fist at his face.

Blood spilled from his nose as it cracked. He cried in pain and held it. Ghost used her web grenade and throw it at him, making him stick to the wall and drop the gun.

"Let's get out of here!" the two men groaned and ran for the door, but Ghost was quick to tackle them to the ground. One of them kicked her face, making her fall back and crash into one of the pastries.

Ghost huffed and stood up. She webbed one of the men's faces and pulled him to her. She swung her fist back and punched him across the jaw.

She pants as it goes quiet for a moment. Her senses tingled indicating someone was here. The lights turned on and revealed a terrified Tom, Sabine, and Marinette at the entrance.

They here instantly woken up by gunshots and crashing coming from the bakery. Marinette ran with them but Tom told her to stay back and call the police. She didn't.

Once they arrived they saw a whole mess in the bakery. The glass shelves were destroyed, their cash register was broken open. Sabine yelped as she noticed two men stuck in the wall with spider webs.

Ghost-Spider stood at the center of it all and pants. "I got them."

"Wh-What? What happened?" Marinette trembled in her parents' arms. Tom glared, looking around.

Ghost pressed a button in her bracer and speaks, "Lieutenant. Do you copy?"

Her senses tingled wildly as she felt everything become slow. One of the men she tackled earlier stood up and pointed his gun at the family. Her eyes widened and lunged in front of them.

Sabine, Marinette, and Tom's eyes widened, and closed their eyes to feel the impact of the bullet.

But they didn't feel a thing. They heard the bullet fly, causing their ears to ring loudly but they still didn't feel any pain.

Ghost grunts as a bullet buried itself in her chest. She coughs as she drops to her knees.

Sabine exclaimed in horror and Tom dragged her and his daughter away from the bakery to upstairs.

Ghost snarls as the thug grabbed the money and fled. She pressed her bracer, "He's running away!"

She ran after him, ignoring the pain in her chest and the blood falling from her wound. Ghost found him entering a white van. She jumped and swung as he drove off.

"Ghost. Come back here!" Lieutenant shouted from her bracer. She shut it off and followed after the thug.

As it got nearer to her, she jumped to the top of the van. She crawled to the front and dodged the bullets flying from the ceiling of the van. She rolled to a side to the driver's and punched through the window and grabbed the wheel and directed it around.

The thug screams and shoots her. Ghost moved her head to a side and dodged the bullets.

"Screw you!" the thug screams as he stopped the car causing the hero to fly to the front and abruptly fall to the pavement and roll around. She held in her cry as she landed harshly by her shoulder, hearing a pop.

The thug smirked and drove to run her over. The car lights shone so brightly, blinding the hero but she shakily stood up and punched the car to a stop. The impact of the punch caused the windows from the car to explode and the car to levitate high and fall in a thump.

The airbag exploded in the thug's face, making him groan.

Ghost huffs and walks to the car door. She grunts as she pulled the door out of the car but stopped as the thug was pointing his gun at her. He had blood falling from his head.

She glares as the man shakily gets out of the car and grabs the bag.

"I don't think so," she shot her blasters at him, making him scream out in pain and fall to the floor unconscious.

Ghost sighed as she finally finished the mission. She limped to the bag and grabbed it. She also cocooned the thug and dragged him back to the bakery.

She stopped as she heard a cry behind her. She tensed as she turned to see one of the familiar stores and saw someone on the ground not too far from her. Her eyes widened as Tony was kneeling in front of his uncle.

Ghost gasped, dropping the thug and sprinting to them. Her eyes shrunk in fear as blood seeped out of the man's leg. She trembled and dropped to the ground, pressing onto the wound. As the thug drove through the streets, he must have shot at the man.

"Kid! Call the ambulance. Now," she ordered. But Tony kept wailing for his uncle and shook his head, refusing to leave him. She grabbed the boy's wrist, getting his attention. "Listen to me. He's going to be all right. Call the ambulance."

Tony's eyes reddened as he couldn't stop crying and ran inside for the ambulance. Ghost's hands trembled as the man's face scrunched in pain. "You're going to be all right, sir. I won't let you die on me."

The familiar sounds of the sirens came close and she prepared for the worst. It was her fault. What was she thinking of getting this family in danger?!

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Ghost paced in the hospital as Tony's uncle was inside performing surgery. Turns out the bullet pierced through his right femur. He had previously had trouble in his leg, and this bullet confirmed his now state.

Ghost stopped as she heard steps behind her and turned to see the Lieutenant stomping towards her angrily. She shared the same anger, if not, the worst anger.

"What was that?" Lieutenant snarls.

"What was what?" she glares.

"You were supposed to wait for my signal!"

"You were supposed to trust me!" Ghost shouted. "Do you realize what you have done?! Not only have you let your cover blown, but you also put the family in danger! Now the man's injured!"

"None of this would have happened if you listened!"

"To hell with that! These thugs were trashing the place. We could have ambushed them and brought them to the police, but no! You decided to be flashy and blow my cover!" Ghost shouted, clenching her fists.

What the hell do they know?! They don't know anything about the real world! They just don't want to hurt their sorry asses!

Lieutenant glared at her. "Oh yeah? If it wasn't for your carelessness, the man wouldn't be injured in the first place. It was your fault this whole thing happened if you just listened."

Ghost gritted her teeth. "You don't know anything!"

"I know that you only focus more on the akuma than the citizens. You're just as selfish as me. And your selfishness caused this!"

Ghost stopped as her breath hitched seeing Tony standing in front of them. His face was flushed from his tears previously and looking up at them.

"What did you say?" he croaked.

Lieutenant turned to the boy and to Ghost, turning away from them. "Why don't you ask her?" He stopped, glancing back at the hero. "I hereby expel you from any hero duty with the police station."

Ghost glared at him. "Only Ladybug and Chatnoir can decide. I don't work for you. I only helped you, sir. You didn't help at all. Next time, don't get in my way. Or you will get the consequences."

She glared at the man's back as he left the hospital and turned to Tony whose face paled, taking a step back from her. He shook his head in disbelief.

"You caused this?" his voice trembled.

Ghost's eyes widened and crouched in front of him, "Ton–"

"Don't touch me!"

Ghost's breath hitched and her heart sunk seeing the fear in Tony's eyes. The pain, the anger. Tony gritted his teeth and ran at her, throwing his fists at her chest. She winced as he kept punching her bullet wound and screaming at her repeatedly.

"It's your fault! It's your fault! I'll never forgive you!"

Tony stopped as he whimpered and cried into her chest. Ghost's eyes welled up in tears and wrapped her arms around the boy. "I'm sorry. I'm deeply and truly sorry."

Tony's anger welled up again and shoved himself away from her. "Stay away from me, you freak!"

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As soon as Gwen arrived home she took out her medical supplies and started tending to her wound. She used a tweezer to get the bullet out of her chest.

She grunts in pain as she covers the wound with a towel and compresses it. She turned on the T.V. to see the news of the earlier occurrence.

"This just in. Our Paris' hero Ghost-Spider stopped a robbery once again. Tonight has been a travesty as the famous bakery The Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie was broken in by four criminals tonight. Unfortunately, a citizen was injured and taken immediately to the hospital..."

Gwen walked back to the bathroom and used water to clean the wound. She grimaced and used alcohol to disinfect the wound. She looked down at the bullet and narrowed her eyes at it.

She grabbed the string and needle and put herself into work.

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"Did you hear what happened last night?"

Gwen looked around the school as all the students conversed of the last night's news. She sighed as she had her hoodie cover her eye bags. She decided to stay up last night to see stupid theories of Lieutenant being at fault or Ghost-Spider being at fault.

Gwen shook her head and cursed at the man in her head. If he didn't get in the way, it wouldn't have happened. As long as the family were all right, she doesn't have anything to worry about.

"Gwen! Hey Gwen!"

She inwardly groaned as Juleka and Rose called her to the group. They and others were surrounding Marinette in worry. Gwen shuffled her backpack and walked towards them.

"Marinette, are you okay?" Alya asked in worry.

Marinette nodded as she felt awkward about the situation. Ghost-Spider willingly saved her and her family. Hell, she took a bullet for them. She's just so confused, she feels it in her heart not to trust the hero but she still wants to trust her.

She stopped her thoughts as she felt a hand on her head and looked up to see Gwen crouching in front of her. She softly smiled. "Are you all right? You didn't need to come back to school if you're still in shock."

Gwen stood up again and turned to the others, "Come on, guys. Give her some space. Marinette, why don't you go home and rest. We'll be here when you need anything."

Everyone complied and agreed, patting Marinette's shoulder.

"But, I'm fine."

Gwen smiled. "We know, come back tomorrow. No one will blame you."

Marinette seemed unsure but nodded, going home. Gwen sighs as she started hearing her friends talk.

"I'm worried about her," Rose spoke.

Nino nodded, "Yeah. Did you guys notice all the crime rates going down in the news? Apparently, Ghost-Spider has been stopping them for a while. I found it unfair how Lieutenant just told her to stay out of it."

"Yeah, but did you see how cool she fought yesterday?" Kim asked.

Everyone nodded. "I even saw that she took a bullet for Marinette, too! No wonder she was in shock."

Gwen closed her eyes and left the group. No one noticed this and kept conversing. She walked to the locker room and saw that no one was around. She sighed, leaning against the doors and looking up the windows. The faint shadow flew away from the pigeons, showcasing their wings flying away.

Gwen faintly heard the students' voices leave her ears, leaving nothing to hear by herself. She walked to her locker and gritted her teeth, punching it. Her eyes teared up in frustration.

She was very close to losing one of her closest friends! Everything could have gone wrong if she didn't make the wrong move!

Her shoulders shook as she silently cried, leaning her head against her dented locker.

Could she do any more wrong?! Tony resents her for hurting his family and it was all her fault! What if another family dies? What can she do?!

Ladybug and Chatnoir weren't around but she was there! She's always there! She always takes the punches! She always takes the bullets! She always takes the blame!

Spider-menace!

Ghost-Spider killed my student!

Kill the insect!

"Stay away from me, you freak."

I just...just...wanted to be special...like you...

Her breathing picked up and her hands start to uncontrollably shake. The walls are closing in on her slowly. She whimpers as she felt small in a large room with no one around. Her heart pounded against her chest loudly. She winces as it also pounded against her wounded chest. Why is no one here?! Why is no one ever here when she needs them!

Make it stop!

Gwen gasped as her vision left her. Seeing stars in every corner. She couldn't see a thing. It was dark. There was no one around. She felt the wooden floor and thought to herself that she is still in school.

Breathe.

Just breathe.

Gwen pants as she used her senses to guide her out of school. She flinched as she would come in contact with an object or a person. But she ignored it and kept going. What is happening to her?! Why can't she see?!

Gwen felt warmth envelop her and knew she managed to leave school. She needs to get home. She stopped at the familiar park.

Home?

Gwen has no home...

Her father most definitely despises her. Her world hates her. Her friends hate her. She is alone. She'll always be alone.

"J.A.N.E.T..." she whimpered.

"Signs of tachycardia, hypothermia, hyperventilation, sweating are present, distorted vision. Diagnosis...anxiety."

"J.A.N.E.T," she whimpered louder and dropped to her knees. "I can't breathe," she gasped, clutching onto her shirt. "I can't see."

Is this her breaking point? Is she seriously going to pass out?

"Peter...Peter!" she cried, clenching her fists and digging her nails in her palms. "What should I do?! Peter!"

A hand was then placed on her back, making her flinch back and fall to the floor. Someone's there! She didn't sense them coming. What are they going to do with her?! Take her?! Kill her?!

"Who's there!" she shrieked, looking around but it was still too dark.

"Calm down...take deep breaths."

"I-I...I can't! Get away from me!"

Gwen trembled as she felt her eyes burning in tears but the person slowly grabbed her hands and rubbed her knuckles with his thumb in circles. She whimpered as she felt they are warm, but she can't trust anyone. She just can't. Not after she was a monster!

"That's it...small breaths. Do it with me..."

Gwen's lips quivered and followed the pattern the man did. She hiccupped and continued to follow the pattern.

Her dark vision was slowly showing light. She felt blinded by it and squinted at it. It was blurry but she was able to see a blue figure in front of her. She continued leveling down her breathing until she was able to see better.

It was a boy. Probably a few years older than her. His blue eyes and hair caught her attention. His peach skin was smooth at the touch as he kept rubbing her knuckles.

He smiled as he saw that she was staring at him. "That's it...good job."

Gwen sat there still staring at the boy, thinking his face could be a distraction from her attack.

"What's your name?" he asked. His voice was like a warm melody that helped her get entranced for a moment.

"G-Gwen. Gwen Stacy," she whispered.

He smiled. "Luka Couffaine."

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ Next Episode: Gamer ♥

A/N: Hi guys! I apologize for the late update. In the previous chapters, I mentioned that I have problems with my family and my home (In Simon Says, if I remembered correctly). But good news! My family finally found a place to live and I am so relieved about that. It took us a while to pack our stuff and unpack later on.

I was saddened that after living in that house for 14 years, we had to move and leave our home. We buried our dogs in that house and couldn't stop crying for leaving them behind. It was difficult for my family and for myself for being forced to move on and move homes. 🥺

I just hope later on in the future, it doesn't get worse because I am exhausted and I just want to rest without problems.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, I had to rewrite about three times because I didn't like it. 🥲 I still don't like it, but eh. I hope you guys are all right and hope for the best for you guys!

-Wuv out 🤍

Published: April 4, 2022

Word Count: 3135