Pain.
Then light.
The first thing I felt was suffocation, like my entire body was being squeezed through a tunnel. The next, a flood of cold air rushing into my tiny lungs.
"Waaahh! Waaahhh!"
Wait—what the hell?! That's my voice?!
My blurry vision adjusted, revealing two giant faces looking down at me. A beautiful woman, sweat dripping down her forehead, cradled me with tired arms. Beside her, a man in a police uniform, eyes trembling with joy.
"Congratulations, Maria," the man said warmly, "it's a girl… our Gwen."
Gwen?
Don't tell me—
I tried to move, tried to speak, but all that came out were pathetic infant cries. My mind, however, was roaring.
Hold on… Gwen Stacy?! Like Spider-Man's Gwen Stacy?!
I wanted to laugh, but my tiny body wouldn't allow it. Instead, I could only curse silently. Of all the people to reincarnate as, why did it have to be someone destined for tragedy?!
The woman named Maria Stacy smiled weakly. "She's beautiful… our daughter."
The man named George Stacy looked proud. "She'll be strong, like her mother."
My thoughts spiraled. In my past life, I was just an ordinary middle schooler. Nothing special. Not handsome, not smart, just… average. Now I was reborn into Marvel of all worlds, as Gwen Stacy, who I knew very well had a future soaked in pain.
Damn it. Of all the timelines, I had to land in this one?
The doctor cleared his throat. "Captain Stacy, please wait outside. The mother needs rest."
George nodded reluctantly, giving Maria's hand one last squeeze before stepping out.
For a moment, things were calm. I could almost accept this bizarre reality. Maybe..just maybe..this world wouldn't be the same as the comics or the movies. Maybe I could survive.
And then it happened.
BOOOOM!!!
The walls shook violently as an explosion rocked the hospital. Dust and screams filled the air. Maria gasped, clutching me tighter.
"What's happening?!" she cried.
Outside the window, flashes of gunfire lit up the night sky. Gangs were fighting.. dozens of them. Machine guns rattled, grenades exploded, and sirens wailed in the distance.
George Stacy's voice roared from outside the room, "Everyone down! NYPD! Backup! We need backup!"
Great. Just great. I haven't even been alive for five minutes and New York is already trying to kill me.
Another explosion tore through the building, and a massive chunk of ceiling cracked loose.
Time seemed to slow. I saw it falling, directly toward us. Toward Maria. Toward me.
Are you kidding me?! This is my first time traveling to another world, and I'm about to get flattened by concrete before I can even crawl?!
I wanted to scream, to curse, to demand a refund from whatever god handled reincarnation.
The rubble crashed down. My vision turned black.
And just like that, my second life seemed to end before it even began.