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Josephine's thoughts were a succinct and very eloquent chant of shit shit shit as she hurled a baton at the lizard’s head, successfully taking his attention away from nñNed and MJ. She ran the opposite way, sparing a second to feel relief in the decision to stay with them just in case, and from the corner of her eye caught sight of Spider-Man swinging down their way.
Turning just in time to catch him tackle Connors over, she switched paths and jumped over the railing to follow after them. If in younger years someone had told her that she would one day be standing atop the statue of liberty trying to help her boyfriend, who happened to masquerade as Spider-Man, heal the enemies of alternative world’s Spider-Men she would’ve laughed and then proceed to help them commit into a mental health institution, if she was a normal person maybe, which she wasn’t. If anyone had told her that, she would’ve believed them. The sky is blue, her boyfriend is Spider-Man, the multiverse exists, this is happening. Throwing Peter the cure when he called out her name, she thought–
Doctor Octavius was here, good. Electro was taken care of, good. Doctor Strange was back, good. Green Goblin is here, good and bad.
(From the little kids who first met in Queens, to the teenagers who reconnected again, to the vigilantes who kept their little corner of the world safe and watched each other's backs.)
Bad, bad, bad. Jo threw herself over a railing, hurrying her way back to her friends, Green Goblin’s laugh echoing through the air and chilling her.
(From throwing sand at each other's face and crying to sharing candy and holding hands, from sitting in the park’s swing set, helping with homework, exchanging looks and screaming songs to smiling for pictures, lingering touches and sharing food.)
She reached them in time to hear Peter yell and then, an explosion. The construction site shaking, screams. Jo grabbed a fistful of Ned's shirt and slapped a conjured thin bracelet on his arm before throwing him away from the edge. White noise. She lunged towards MJ, twisted around and pushed her back Ned's way. Whispers in the back of her head, something hitting her side and then she lost her footing.
She fell and as she did, she thought–
(From hanging around at the Tower, studying and movie marathons, cooking and sleepovers, training and learning and loving, through grief and losses and victories however big or small, just happy to be together.)
–there is nowhere else on earth Josephine Flores would rather be than at Peter Parker's side.