New York never slept, and that evening, the city was alive with chaos. On a Manhattan street, Ghost-Spider-Gwen Stacy-battled Rhino, a massive, armored villain who bulldozed everything in his path. Her webs barely slowed his charges, and every hit she landed seemed only to annoy the giant.
"Come on, Rhino, had enough yet?!" Gwen shouted, firing a web to pull him away from a flipped car.
Rhino roared, tearing the web and charging at her. Gwen dodged at the last second, landing on a lamppost. She was fast, agile, but Rhino was a tank-unstoppable. She was barely keeping up.
From the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper, hidden in the shadows, Brandon Breyer watched. His super-vision caught every move, every detail of the fight. He didn't intervene-he didn't need to. He wanted to see Gwen in action, how Ghost-Spider handled pressure.
Suddenly, the sky lit up with a flash of red-and-gold armor. Iron Man descended with a boom, firing repulsor blasts straight at Rhino. The impact knocked the giant down, and Gwen seized the moment, wrapping him in webs and pinning him to the ground.
"Nice work, kido," Tony Stark said, hovering in the air. His voice, modulated by the suit, was confident, with a hint of amusement.
"Thanks, Stark!" Gwen replied, catching her breath. "But next time, show up earlier, yeah?"
Tony chuckled, and Rhino, still roaring, was subdued by arriving S.H.I.E.L.D. units. Gwen prepared to swing away, firing a web to leap between buildings. But then her gaze landed on the rooftop-on Brandon, standing in the dim light, hands in his pockets, a faint smirk on his face.
Their eyes locked. Gwen froze for a moment, hanging from her web. Brandon, holding her gaze, said calmly, with a touch of playfulness:
"Sup, Gwen."
Gwen blinked under her mask, then, instead of swinging off into the night, fired a web and landed on the rooftop right in front of him. She stepped closer, her posture radiating irritation, though her mask hid her expression.
"What the fuck?" she snapped, pointing at him. "How do you know, and why are you grinning like an idiot?"
Brandon raised an eyebrow, his smirk only widening. He stood unfazed, as if her outburst amused him.