A/N: Hey, guys! It's meowloudly15 at the helm! And today, I've got for you the start of a story that I've been working on for the past month and a half! It feels so great to finally get it out there! I mean, I'm not done writing it, but still, you know that feeling, right?

I saw Into the Spider-Verse the day after Christmas. I was already in love with Butch!Gwen, and the movie did nothing but help. But one thing about her origin story made me think. If she showed up to Brooklyn a week before the collider accident happened, what did she do during that week? And how did she really find her way to Miles?

Those were the questions that I sought to answer by writing this fic.

I'm currently set to post chapters twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. Here's hoping that I can actually stick to a schedule for once in my life.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse or any related characters. I am using them without permission. Please don't sue me.

I hope you like it!

PERSONS TAKING NOTICE

Gwen slowly elevated herself to a sitting position on the solid concrete, rubbing her aching head. She breathed a sigh of relief upon noting that she was still wearing her Spider-Woman mask and costume, because people were gawking at her crash landing. At least, that was what she assumed her spider-sense was warning her about.

Gwen scanned the area and noticed a disheveled man propping himself up from his seat on the stoop of an apartment building and looking her way. She also noticed a stained brown paper bag lying on the ground next to him. With any luck, the man would dismiss her as just being a drunken hallucination or some fashion of specter. She didn't see any other people nearby, so she presumed it safe to remain visible.

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY

Right. Where on earth was she?

Was she on Earth?

Gwen stood up and studied the somehow familiar yet unfamiliar landscape. There was something about it that made it appear almost unrealistic. The city resembled Connecticut City, but was it?

It was a different dimension, wasn't it. Gwen remembered what her spider-sense had repeated over and over as it went haywire right before she was sucked into the, uh... the weird bubbly thing. It kept saying "INTERDIMENSIONAL TRANSPORTATION IMMINENT". If that wasn't a tip-off, she didn't know what was.

She ought to ask someone about where she was. But Gwen couldn't go talk to people at random while she was in her costume. They'd freak out.

RISK OF NUDITY

Right. She didn't have street clothes. They were back at her house, wherever that might be. She'd have to get some somehow.

Gwen rummaged through her pockets, taking inventory. Extra web fluid; very important... phone; hopefully she'd get service... driver's license; probably not valid here... house keys; she hoped she'd be home by curfew but kind of doubted it... a notepad and pen; tools of the trade... earbuds… aha! Money!

Only seven bucks worth of it!

The stores here might not even accept her cash. Gwen sighed.

She could steal something.

Gwen clenched her fists. There really wasn't any other way, was there?

IMPENDING MORAL CRISIS

"Thanks a lot," Gwen muttered under her breath, "but I already saw that coming."

And she needed to get a wallet, too, Gwen thought as she stuffed the crumpled bills back into her pocket. But that could wait.

She had to find a store. In the process, she could explore this place.

There was also a lot of other weird feedback from her spider-sense, Gwen recalled as she shot a webline towards the nearest street sign (it read "Wideway", which wasn't the name of any street that she knew of) and swung into the city. Something about "HAIR-RELATED CRISIS", and "PIGEON SWARM", and "LOZENGE BOMBARDMENT", and "BLOODY PREDICAMENT". She shrugged them off as her spider-sense just going haywire from the extreme duress that she was un-

PIGEON SWARM

Gwen looked up and found herself just feet away from a flock of pigeons which was headed straight towards her. She yelped in a rather undignified fashion and dodged between the startled birds, somehow managing to navigate through with only a few scratches.

Okay, maybe the spider-sense was right that one time. But it was just a coincidence. Wasn't it?

Gwen sighed and continued to web-swing, searching for a store as she traveled.

What the... Bold Navy?

Gwen swung to the building, clinging to its face and crawling down to peer in the shop windows. There were racks of clothes and mannequins inside. A few shoppers and clerks milled through the brightly-lit aisles.

Huh. This place must have been this universe's version of Gold Navy.

So what was the plan, what was the plan?

SHOPPERS INCOMING

Gwen flinched and crawled backwards to avoid being noticed by two young women who were emerging from the store. She had half a mind to steal the clothes from their bags, but she didn't know if they would be the right size or not. Instead, she vaulted through the automatic doors and clung to the wall above it inside the store, staying out of range of the cameras.

The shoppers were another thing that her spider-sense had warned her about while going through the bubbles.

Two coincidences?

Maybe they weren't coincidences, Gwen wondered.

There was no time to think about that. She needed to steal herself some clothes.

But Gwen still hesitated, more out of nerves than anything. Should she be here?

INCONCLUSIVE

She sighed. She was here already; she might as well get it over with.

Gwen clambered across the white-painted rafters on the ceiling, looking for something that she would wear while also avoiding the people passing beneath her.

Nobody ever looked up. But it was best to stay safe.

That grey shirt looked decent. Gwen used a webline to snag it from a pile, slightly disturbing the clothes to either side. She held it up to herself. A bit small, but it would fit well enough.

A little further down, Gwen spotted pairs of khaki pants. She snatched one up, then returned it to the shelf upon realising that it was the wrong size. This time checking the label, she grabbed the correct one.

Gwen grabbed a jean jacket and backpack to complete her ensemble and had started to stuff the clothes in the pack when she remembered that she had to take off the dye tags. She crawled back to the front of the store and took a tag remover, using it to pull off the tags and promptly returning it to its proper location.

Gwen put the clothes away and took out her notepad, scribbling a quick message to the Bold Navy employees and firing it down to the checkout counter with a webshot. It read:

"I took some clothes from your store and I'm sorry but I needed them urgently. I'll pay you back asap. SW"

Gwen was about to leave when she realised that she needed different shoes. She couldn't run around town in teal ballet slippers. She hurriedly snatched a pair of blue sneakers before swinging out of the store.

She landed on a nearby rooftop, searching for cover in which to don her new outfit, and spotted a stairwell entrance. That would be perfect.

PERSONS TAKING NOTICE

Gwen threw herself to the ground, anxiously glancing around for whomever might be looking at her. She saw nobody but still commando-crawled to take shelter behind the stairwell. She threw on the outfit on top of her costume, replacing her ballet slippers with the sneakers, and tossed her mask, gloves, and slippers into the bag. Standing up, Gwen examined herself as she tore the price tags off of her clothes, casting them onto the ground. The pants fit surprisingly well, as did the jacket, which also conveniently concealed her hood and web-shooters, but the shirt was a bit tight and the sneakers were far too loose.

She was ready to go down and brave the city.

GUARD ON WATCH

Gwen opened the stairwell door and almost immediately found herself staring down a security guard. She froze in place.

RUN NOW

Gwen obediently turned tail and fled. The guard exclaimed and ran after her, waving his baton and flashlight.

Gwen's feet slipped inside her oversize sneakers as she rounded a corner, heading towards another rooftop. The new shoes were only slowing her down; at least she was still running comparatively quickly, thanks to her super speed. She propelled herself to the next roof, her feet sliding as she jumped and reducing her traction on the ledge. She landed awkwardly on the raised lip of the other roof and rolled onto the gravel rooftop just below before the guard could see where she had gone.

Gwen watched a flashlight beam pass over her head, waver from side to side, then vanish. She heard the distant crunch of boots on gravel receding and a man muttering something.

She'd be caught if she stayed up here much longer, Gwen knew. But she couldn't exactly go wall-crawling down buildings in civilian garb.

What if she asked the security guard where she was?

Then again, she was wearing stolen property. And she was trespassing. Gwen did not want to risk getting arrested.

ATOMIC DISJUNCTION

What in the ever-living heck did that mean?

Gwen was seized with a violent tremor, like an electric shock but extending through every inch of her body. She convulsed as startlingly bright colours flashed before her vision. She shrieked involuntarily through clenched teeth.

The strange seizure ended as abruptly as it had begun. Gwen was left with only a pounding headache for her troubles.

Through her rapidly receding pain, she heard louder, faster crunches of gravel and a man distantly saying, "... someone on the roof, some girl just yelled. Probably the same one. I'm checking it out."

Gwen stood up on unsteady legs and started to run. Her newly-stolen backpack thumped uncomfortably against her torso. She leaped to the next roof, tripped, and fell on her face not far from its edge.

She picked herself up but froze in the blinding glare of a flashlight. Holding the flashlight was the same security guard that she had run into previously. Gwen must have jumped onto the first building in her confusion.

She figured she already knew the answer but wanted to ask just to be safe: should she be here?

NOT A CHANCE