"Morning, Aunt May," Peter says as he slips into the kitchen to start his breakfast.

"Oh Peter, have you seen what's on the news?" Aunt May distraughtly asks him. Puzzled, Peter abandons his attempts at breakfast and walks over to her where she's watching the television.

"The Lizard and his partner in crime were not seen afterwards. Their break in to Oscorp at one A.M. this morning was successful, according to the staff at Oscorp and Norman Osborn himself," J. Jonah Jameson says from the TV as fuzzy images pop up of Doc Connors and Doc Oc.

"After a thorough search through all laboratories and supply rooms, we found that multiple highly sensitive chemicals were stolen, as well as a few menial pieces of equipment. We only have a few injuries, but we can only speculate why such items were stolen," Mr. Osborn says as the screen switches to him.

"My best guess is that Spiderman is behind this," Triple J begins, making Peter face palm. Of course it's not him, but his boss will take any opportunity to destroy Peter's alter ego. Tuning out the rest of the news broadcast, Peter realizes that it may have been his fault. If he didn't go to sleep last night instead of going on patrol, then the Lizard and Doc Oc wouldn't've gotten those chemicals for who knows what. And then Oscorp, his best friend's dad's company, wouldn't've been broken into, or at least stolen from. And then those people wouldn't've gotten hurt...

"Peter?" Aunt May's voice cuts into his guilt session. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, uh, yea. I'm fine, Aunt May, just thinking. That's all," Peter stammers out.

"Maybe you should call Harry. I know you're worried about him since it is his family's company. It'd be a nice gesture at least." Peter nods, knowing the suggestion was more of a command rather than option.

"Alright," Peter says before walking out of the apartment door and into the hallway to do so. Peter flips (he knows) his phone open and calls Harry's number. But it just keeps ringing. And ringing and ringing.

"Hey, Harry," Peter says into the voicemail machine. "I just heard what's on the news and figured I'd check in with you. Uh, just uh, give me a call back when you can." That was strange. Harry usually picks up his phone. He's probably just freaking out like Peter.

Now that Peter thinks about it, he should probably call his boss too. Maybe Triple J needs him to take pictures of the scene, and what better way would he get a look at the place to maybe find out what was stolen? Sounds like a plan. Except he has to call J. Jonah Jameson when he's mad. That's not good. But, Peter assumes, it's best to just get it over with, like ripping off a bandaid.

"Daily Bugle. This is Rebecca, how may I help you?" the lady at the front desk asks over the phone.

"Hey, Rebecca. It's Peter," he tells her. Thank goodness Rebecca picked up. She's really nice, unlike Cathy, the other lady who works at the front desk.

"Oh Peter! How are you? Did you hear about the break in at Oscorp? Triple J is pretty much off the walls thinking it's Spiderman," she chuckles. Peter and her have often commiserated with each other over their boss's obsession with ruining Spiderman's reputation. It's kind of nice to know his alter ego has someone in his corner.

"I just saw it on TV. I figured I'd call in and see if Triple J wants me to take some pictures there," Peter tries to offer real nonchalantly. Not that he's ever really good at being inconspicuous.

"That was smart of you. Tom's out today for his daughter's birthday in the Poconos and Johnathan is sick. He's already two photographers down. I'll patch you through, how does that sound?" she kindly informs him. Sounds like he'll get to go after all.

"Thanks so much Rebecca," Peter thanks her.

"Of course, Peter. And good luck," she kindly tells him before patching him through to his boss's phone. Peter takes a deep breath. This really won't be so bad, right? Triple J likes him, just not Spiderman (although it's hard for Peter to differentiate between the two).

"Peter. What can I do for you? I don't suppose you're calling to take pictures?" Peter hears his boss tease over the phone.

"Uh, actually, sir, I called for just that. I wanted to know if you need me to take pictures at the scene," Peter bites his lower lip. He should really go and see what Doc Oc and Doc Connors wanted with Oscorp, but he doesn't want to blow his cover either.

"You must be a mind reader, son," Triple J laughs in relief. "I lost two photographers already. If you'd take some photos and give them to me by 2, we'd make the morning edition for sure. Just hop on over here first, I'll give you a Bugle pass at the front desk to show the cops. That should get you in to some areas at least. And I'll have you go with Jack so that he can write up a report. Sound good?" Wow. That was super easy. Like super easy. Why doesn't everything go this smoothly for Peter?

"Uh, yes. That sounds awesome Mr. Jameson," Peter spits out, still stunned at his luck. "I'll grab my camera and head out now."

"What do you think we'll find there, Pete?" Jack asks him.

"I dunno. Probably lots of cops, a mess, and lots of damaged property," Peter tells his reporting partner of the day. Peter's lucky. He likes Jack. The guy is pretty cool and he's almost out of college. The guy really likes to help Peter with "honing in his reporting skills". Not that Peter's really interested in reporting, but it helps him know what to focus his photos on.

"You don't say," Jack laughs at Peter's response. "You think the police captain will be there? Who is it again? They did replace Captain Stacy, right?" Jack asks. Peter feels the words get caught up in his throat. He doesn't like to think too much about Gwen's dad. He died because Peter wasn't fast enough, smart enough, and strong enough to defeat the Lizard on his own. But Peter learned from his mistake. He practices with his webs and trains himself so that that doesn't happen again.

"Pete?" Jack asks, concerned over Peter's lack of response. Usually the kid's nonstop talking.

"Sorry. Sorry. Uh, they did replace Captain Stacy. But I think there won't be too many cops left since it's been awhile since the break in," Peter answers.

"So we'll need to find the most senior cop there, maybe find a few witnesses, maybe some employees if we're lucky. I want you to take some pictures of the wreckage. We really want people to see those two monsters as menaces. Maybe I can get the police's opinion on those two in general. Take pictures of things as you find them, and then we'll go over them. Sound good?" Jack asks as they step out of the subway.

"Yep. Sounds good," Peter responds as he climbs up the steps to see the Oscorp tower in all its glory. In all honesty, Peter prefers seeing the towers from up above, swinging from one to the next. It's freeing, really.

"Detective Palmer!" Jack calls out to the cop he recognizes, increasing his walking speed, and therefore Peter's.

"Jack. It's good to see you again. Here to report for Triple J?" Detective Palmer asks him from her position at the barricade and police tape.

"Yes ma'am. And I have a photographer with me. Do you remember Peter?" Jack asks, presenting Peter to the cop.

"I think so. Peter... Parker, is it?" she asks Peter, probably seeing his name tag for aide in the name.

"Uh, yes ma'am," he responds, fixing the strap of his camera bag on his shoulder before reaching his hand out for a handshake.

"You've got a firm grip there, kid," she tells him with bemusement in her eyes. Oh she has no idea. "Well, Jack," she addresses the elder of the duo, "I assume you need some interviews around here? And a synopsis of what happened, right?" Jack nods his head in reply. "You can head on over to Smith. Peter, you can come with me, and I'll let you take some pictures. Sound good?" she tells him, not really giving him an option.

"Perfect," Peter tells her, slightly intimidated by having to separate from Jack, but Peter simply swallows his fear. He faces scarier situations every night. He even swings across the city tens of feet up in the air on thin cables, why is he scared of this?

Peter takes as many pictures as he can, filling up an SD card before he even makes it to the main scene of the crime.

"Here's where the chemicals were stolen," Detective Palmer tells him out of the silence, making Peter jump. Thankfully, she doesn't comment on it. "The employees couldn't identify which ones exactly, but they said they were highly sensitive. All of the ones not stolen were placed somewhere else for everyone's safety. But watch you step, kid. There's still evidence and chemicals on the ground," she warns him. Peter suddenly feels very out of place in the crime scene. This isn't usually his thing. He stops crime and fights crime, he doesn't report crime. But Peter keeps snapping pictures and walking around, using his Spidey sense to tell him where he should and shouldn't step. He does not want to gain more weird radioactive powers from an Oscorp lab.

"This room was one of their genetics facilities. Oscorp was looking at that selective child thing. You know, you could possibly stop your child's heart attack 40 years prior by mingling with their genes. Or you could chose their eye color. There was other stuff too, but that's the one project that stood out to me. I'm not into all this science," she explains, trying to keep the conversation going for Peter's benefit.

"I like science. I actually worked as an intern at Oscorp for a little while," Peter supplies as he takes photos of the claw marks on the wall. "I worked with Doctor Connors's division before he went all... lizard-y."

"Sorry to hear that, kid. Was he evil back then? I heard some of my co-workers say he was actually a decent guy before hand."

"Yea. He was really nice. He just really wanted to find a way to grow back his arm, like a lizard. He was a friend of my dad's too," Peter supplies as walks over to the Detective, ready to leave the main scene and take photos of the surroundings and the people.

"Was a friend? What happened between them?" she innocently asks. She couldn't have known.

"My dad passed away," Peter says, trying to keep his volume and tone level. It really shouldn't affect him so much. Dad died when he was six, he couldn't have really known him. He doesn't remember too much of his mom and dad anyway. It's Uncle Ben's death that hurt so much more.

"Oh. I'm so sorry, Peter," she says, pity and empathy instantly washing over her features.

"Don't worry about it, I was six," Peter tries to brush off the topic as they make their way back over to Jack.

"Ready to go, Pete?" Jack asks him, putting away his notepad, pencil, and recording device.

"I think so. We can look at some of the pictures on the subway?" Peter asks as they walk away, waving to the cops who helped them out.

"Sure thing. Want to know what I learned?" Jack asks Peter like he's dangling a bone to a dog. Peter simply nods his head yes, trying not to seem too eager.

"They think the Lizard is still Doctor Connors. He used some override codes that only few employees would have known. Not everything was broken down or barged into. It's either that or that Octopus guy is some employee there. Or was an employee there. Or they had inside help. But like I said, it's not like many people know those codes. Those people are so invested in the company, that they'd have no reason to steal from it unless they were being threatened or something. But I honestly can't imagine Osborn being threatened."

"When I was taking pictures of one of Spiderman's fights," Peter uses his usual lie, "that Octopus guy called himself Otto Octavius." Jack's eyebrows crinkle at Peter's information. "Was Octavius an employee there?" Jack pulls out his notepad again from his bag, searching through his notes for the name.

"Well, I have his name written down here. He was an employee there that had stolen chemicals before. Stormin' Norman fired him soon after. This was only a few months ago. How 'bout that?" Jack asks him. "Thanks for that, Pete. I get to add something to the article. Maybe we'll make the front page!" Jack smiles and slaps him lightheartedly on the arm.

"Jack, did you find out what chemicals were taken? Or what could be done with some of those chemicals?" Peter asks. He has to know what Doc Oc is planning with that stuff.

"It's for some blood mutations for their DNA changes. That's what most of the chemicals are for. But others are used for curing diseases prematurely. Take your pick from that. They really could be up to anything," Jack tells him, thinking of the situation himself. "Wanna know something else? The cops saw some sand around the place. Sand, Pete! Why in the world would there be sand in Oscorp, where the place is supposed to be super clean and sterile? What's the point of that?"

"I don't know," Peter responds to the rhetorical question, trying his best to come up with a good enough reason for sand to show up in NYC. What is anyone doing with sand? "How much sand was there?"

"When the cops first showed up: they guessed almost two 3 lb bags. When we got there: about a couple handfuls. That's it. There wasn't any wind to blow it away, but the security cameras showed it moving out the doors to outside. That's all an interesting mystery, but I don't think Triple J will like mystery on the front page. I think I'll put it in a separate, tiny article. Get the word out, but don't freak 'em out. You know?"

"Yea. I know."

Sorry for being so slow guys. Life really got in the way. But I want to thank you all for sticking with me and for all the support you give me! I'm currently writing the next chapter, but I wanted to make sure I gave you guys something, even if it was shorter rather than a long one. But I admit, it does seem jam-packed with information.
I hope you guys enjoy it, and know that I love this story too much to abandon it. I will see it through, but I might be slow. Thanks again for your patience and support!

Love,
Dopamine Lover