Spider-Man swung towards where his Spider-Sense directed him, leading him to an armored van that crashed into a nearby building. He recognized the gruff voice yelling out from within the van.

"Come on, boys! Let's cash out!" The voice yelled. Walking out from the smoky debris of the truck was the Shocker. If nothing else, he was consistent with his dramatic exits. Following behind him were three goons in ski masks. All of them were carryings bags of money.

Spider-Man landed on the ground on all fours, "We've gotta stop meeting like this, Herman."

"Spider-Man?! Oh fer cryin' out loud! Guy can't catch a break in this city!"

Shocker whistled, summoning another villain to come flying out from the roof of the van. Dressed in vibrant green and purple armor with piercing yellow eyes and pink wings sticking out of his back, it was the Beetle.

"Take care a' this jerk!" Shocker demanded while pointing forward.

"Oh, now this is cute. Which dating website did you guys meet at?"

"You used the same joke when I teamed up with the Rhino." Beetle retorted in a nasally voice.

"Really? He said the same thing to me when I teamed up with the Rhino." Shocker added.

"Fresh material is hard to come up with, okay? Sometimes you gotta fall back on old classics."

Beetle flew at Spidey with electric discharging out of his hands. He reached for the wallcrawler, only for Spider-Man fall onto his back. He shot two strands of web at his foes' stomach. He pulled back and tried swinging Beetle around.

Beetle resisted his pull. He wrapped his hands around the strands and sent a stream of electricity down them. Spidey let go of the strands before the electric hit him. He lunged towards Beetle, but he was instead knocked back down to the ground by one of Shocker's blasts.

Shocker turned back to the three goon and started handing them bags of money from within the truck.

"Alright, Vic, here's yer cut. Georgie, here's yer cut. Jack, here's yer cut. Now spread out! He can't possibly catch all of us!"

The three mooks nodded, taking their money and running away in different directions. Shocker called out to Beetle, "Hey! Grab yer loot and fly!"

Spider-Man leapt back up and tackled Shocker.

"Didn't anybody ever teach you that stealing is wrong?"

Shocker shot out another blast with Spidey on top of him. Swiftly, Spidey grabbed Herman by the shoulders, front flipped, and slammed Shocker flat on his chest directly onto the concrete. Shocker tried to get back up but was stopped by Spidey landing back onto him for good measure.

Shocker groaned in pain. He wheezed heavily as he said, "Suuuuure...ya managed to get me, but the others are getting away right as we speak."

Spider-Man jumped off of him, shot a thick glob of web to nail him down to the concrete, and swung after the Beetle next. However, he was quite confused when he heard angered yelling coming from the direction he last saw Beetle.

He then heard laughter. The loud, obnoxious kind of laughter. He had a sneaking suspicion of what was going on, but that hunch was confirmed as he felt the nearby temperature rising.

"Oh no." He thought.

It was the Human Torch.

Johnny was literally flying circles around Beetle. Abner was shouting in frustration at being toyed with in such a way.

"Hey!" Spidey called out as he landed on a nearby building. "Butt out, hothead! I had this situation under control!"

Torch stopped and smugly grinned, "I wouldn't be so sure of that, webhead. It seems like he was getting away before I stepped in."

"Shouldn't you be with the rest of the Fantastic Four? I didn't think it you were the type to fly solo."

"They were at some stuffy party. Something about uhhh, I dunno. I wasn't paying attention. Either way, I decided to dip. Good thing too! Can't believe you were struggling with the Beetle of all people."

"He teamed up with the Shocker!" Spider-Man explained in a flustered manner.

Johnny stifled his laughter as he said, "Is that supposed to make it better? Come on, webs! Not that it matters, I've got this handled."

As the two bickered, Beetle took this time to strike. He shot his arms forward and fire extinguishing foam spat out from two nozzles that popped out from his purple gauntlets.

"Don't think I forgot about the previous times we encountered each other, Torch! This time, I came prepared!" Beetle bragged, the white foam overwhelming Johnny.

His flames died down and he started falling. He would have crashed onto the pavement, were it not for Spider-Man swinging in to save him.

"My hero!" Torch sarcastically chimed.

"Save it."

Beetle chortled and snorted in a bizarre manner as he started flying away again. Spidey dropped Johnny off on a nearby building and swung after Beetle. He shot a strand of web at Abner. He slung himself forward in Beetle's direction and kicked him directly in the wing pack.

Beetle slammed onto pavement with a loud crash. Bits of armor went flying everywhere, alongside all of his cash. Despite his armor being thrashed, Abner got back up and tried running. However, he was stopped by an incoming ball of fire landing just in front of him. He turned around and saw the Human Torch hovering just above him with his finger pointed upward.

"I hope you weren't thinking of running. The fun's only just begun."

Beetle tried running again but Spidey leapt in front of him. He froze in his tracks, unsure of what he could do.

"Looks like it's lights out for the Beetle!" Spidey said as he rammed his fist right into Beetle's faceplate, leaving a fist size dent in it. Beetle collapsed after that, passed out.

Human Torch landed next to Spidey and said, "Lights out for the Beetle? Really? Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"I mean, y'know, like lightning bugs."

"Aren't lightning bugs a type of fly? Hence the name fireflies?"

Peter tilted his head in a befuddled manner as he said, "Wh-! No! I shouldn't be surprised you don't know this, but they're actually a type of beetle. Lampyridae, man!"

"You're not even speaking English at this point."

"Guess everybody's a critic today." Peter responded.

It then dawned on him that he was missing something important. Spidey slapped his own face and said, "Oh, man! That stuffy party the rest of the F4 was attending! It wouldn't happen to be an event one J. Jonah Jameson was attending too, would it?"

"Now that you mention it, I think it was!" Johnny said.

Peter groaned, "Jonah's gonna kill me for running late! I had better get going!" He nearly swung off before he remembered something else, "Aww! I just remembered there were three other thugs in Shocker's gang that dispersed!"

"Hey, relax." Johnny said, "You go to that party. I'll chase those crooks down."

"Guess I don't have much of a choice. But, you better be good, Johnny! Don't you slip up!"

"I'm not the type to play the fool." Johnny bragged as he waved his friend off.

With that said, Spidey swung off back to his apartment so that he could change back into his civilian clothes. Leaving this in the hands of the Torch couldn't hurt...probably.

Back at the apartment, Tomoko was on her phone talking with Yuu.

"So, how are things going back at home?"

"Things are good!" Yuu responded enthusiastically. "Komi-chan took me and some friends to a baseball game yesterday."

Tomoko rolled her eyes, "Isn't that the second time this month? I swear you went to a baseball game with her the day before I left."

"Well...we did." Yuu admitted. "But Komi-chan is just passionate about the sport and she wants to share her passion with us! Is that so bad?"

"I bet that pervert would love to share her passion with my brother..." Tomoko muttered while chuckling.

"What?"

"Nothing! Anyway, it's less of a passion and more of an obsession if you ask me."

"Well, sure! A lot of us have obsessions. Even if Komi-chan is...very enthusiastic about her's." Yuu replied in an exasperated tone. After that, she yawned.

"It's been fun talking with you, Mokocchi, but it's getting late here. I should really go to bed. Have a goodnight! Or, good day? Whatever! Talk to you later!"

"Goodnight, Yuu-chan." Tomoko said before hanging up. She laid on the couch and stared up at the ceiling, completely bored. However, she would not be bored for long as she heard something moving around in Peter's room. She shot up from the seat and she peeked over the couch to his room. The door was shut, so it didn't do her much good.

She gulped, fearing that it was Venom. The door flew open and it was Peter, much to her relief. He was wearing the same suit he had been wearing just the night before. This time, he actually managed to tie the bowtie just right.

Without even taking notice of her, he rushed towards the door exiting the apartment. Tomoko called out to him, "Hey!"

Peter stopped and turned around, "Oh! Tomoko! Sorry, I'm just so preoccupied right now. I gotta get going to this big party. You're probably not interested."

"I'll go."

"Really?" Peter didn't expect this answer. He normally would be more enthused with her taking a more proactive interest in his activities, but not in this case. In terms of close associates he'd like her to meet, Jonah Jameson was just about the last person on the list.

"Well, if you're sure, but I really don't know if you'd really care. It sounds like a boring event, I'm just going because my boss wants me to..."

"I have nothing better to do. I'll go." She insisted, getting up from her seat.

Normally, Peter would be right. She normally would have no interest. However, this might be enough to take her mind off of both the previous night and Asuka. Ever since Peter brought her up, Tomoko couldn't stop thinking about her and the reasons why they broke up. So, going out might be enough to distract her from these heavy thoughts.

Peter sighed and relented, "Alright, alright. Put on some nice clothes, though. I don't think shorts and a t-shirt is a look that would pass at an event like this."

She trudged over to the bathroom to change. When she walked out, she was wearing a black button-up dress shirt, a red tie, and brown slacks. She also tied her hair up into a ponytail for good measure.

"This formal enough for you?"

Peter nodded with an impressed look on his face and a low whistle, "That works."

The two of them left the apartment. They quietly walked along the sidewalk for a few moments. Tomoko then asked, "Why are we just w-walking there? Can't you just s-swing over?"

"Yeah, just swing over there in my civilian and compromise my secret identity." He whispered back. "Besides, walking never hurt anybody."

"What about old people?"

"Yeah, okay, grandma."

Tomoko squinted at him in an angered manner, "Okay, don't you at least h-have a car? Some kind of S-Spider-Mobile or something?"

Peter groaned, "I don't want to talk about that fiasco. Besides, do I look like I wear pointy ears and a cape?"

He then changed subjects by saying, "Okay, get this. I was talking with one of my superhero friends. I beat up this bad guy named the Beetle and just before I landed the final blow, I said 'Looks like it's lights out for the Beetle!' He didn't get the joke! Unbelievable, right?"

"What?"

"Like lightning bugs! Lampyridae! They're a type of beetle! Am I the only one who ever paid attention in class?!"

Tomoko didn't even respond, she just shook her head and thought, "God, how can someone so attractive be such a dork? How can someone who's an actual superhero be such a dork?! How does that even happen?"

The two continued on their way, until they made it to their destination. It was a very extravagant banquet hall with a very classical style of architecture. Painted a dull gold-ish color with red ribbons and banners decorating various places, it was clear that this place was quite fancy.

Standing at the massive double doors was a very large man wearing a suit with sunglasses. He held his hand out as Tomoko and Peter approached.

"This isn't for just anybody to attend." The man spoke with a very deep voice. "Got an ID or invitation?"

Peter reached into his pocket and pulled out a Daily Bugle ID card, "I'm here with J. Jonah Jameson and she's here with me."

The man stepped aside and motioned them both inside. They walked in, seeing MANY people were attending the party. Not even five seconds in, J. Jonah Jameson was storming up to Peter. He was gritting his teeth so hard, it looked like they were about to shatter.

"Blast it, Parker! You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago! If you were five minutes later, you would have missed my interview with Reed Richards!"

Peter backed away, "I'm sorry, Mr. Jameson! It's just that, while I was heading here, I saw Spider-Man and Human Torch fighting the Beetle and Shocker. I just knew you would want some pics of that."

"Don't make assumptions you know what I do and don't want from you! Now c'mere! Get pics of me shaking hands with Richards."

Jameson grabbed Peter by the arm and dragged him over to the center of the hall. Tomoko tried following after him, but lost him in the sea of people.

Now that she was alone, her anxiety spiked up. This was the first time she had been around this many people she was unfamliar, at least in a long time. Not helping matters was that she felt the ground around her shake. Almost like an earthquake, or something big was approaching her.

She turned around and saw a man towering above her. This guy made that bouncer outside look like a 98 pound weakling. Even weirder still, his skin was orange and had an almost craggly texture. As if it were made out of rock. Despite his girth, he was shorter than one might expect. He still towered over her, but that's only because she was so short. With a thick brow ridge and a large underbite, who else could it be, but the Thing?

"Hey, kid." Thing asked with a gruff voice with a thick accent. "You din't happen ta see a blonde guy wit' an obnoxious personality 'round here, didja?"

Tomoko looked at him with her eyes as wide as they could go. She slowly shook her head.

"What's a giant rock monster doing here?! Why is he wearing a suit?! This city attracts all kinds of weirdos like some kind of weirdo magnet! Is that why I was chosen to come here? Am I a weirdo too?!" She thought as she resisted every urge to outwardly panic.

"Ahhhh, damn. Looks like he flaked out on us after all. Just like 'em too. Not like I want t'be here either but y'don't see me leavin'."

Ben could see that she was scared. He warmly smiled and said, "Hey kid, relax. I know, I don't look too friendly, but I ain't gonna hurtcha."

"O-okay."

"You must be new 'round these parts t'not recognize me. Once y'see this face, odds are, y'ain't gonna ferget it. Anyways, I'm Ben Grimm. I've also been called the Thing, idol o' millions! Nice ta meetcha."

"T-Tomoko." She meekly introduced. His cordial attitude was actually doing a fair bit to lower her anxiety. At least to the point where she wasn't actually scared of him.

Thing patted her on the head. She winced at first, but it felt surprisingly nice despite his hand being made out of stone. He knew how to be gentle.

"Heheh, shy, ain't we? I ain't gonna bother ya no more, then. Thanks fer helpin' me out." He lumbered away after that.

Tomoko thought, "He's definitely the nicest rock monster I've ever met. Not that I've actually met any others. I wonder if he has a..."

Her train of thought was interrupted by someone tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and saw Peter, standing there with one of his hands on his hips and the other rubbing his face in an embarrassed manner.

"Sorry about losing you like that. Let's just say, my boss can be awfully pushy sometimes."

Jameson marched back over to Peter, his face steaming red. He grabbed Peter by the shoulder, "Parker! I didn't say you could leave yet! I was just getting to the good part!"

The curmudgeon turned his attention to Tomoko, "Who's this?"

"This is uhhh, my new roommate I told you about. She's a transfer student from Japan, Mr. Jameson."

As if in an instant, his snarling scowl shifted to an unnatural grin that stretched across his face. It was almost unsettling to see. He shook her hand and said, "I had heard about you! Parker keeps talking about it at the office! Name's J. Jonah Jameson! I run the Daily Bugle! Perhaps I could offer you a subscription?"

As soon as he let go, she quickly retracted her hand and pocketed it. She turned to Peter and whispered, "Wh-what's with the freaky smile?"

"He sees a potential new customer."

She didn't even have a chance to introduce herself as Jameson fervently handed her a rolled up newspaper, "Here's a sample, on the house. I'm just a generous, stand-up guy like that. I'm sure you'll like what you see."

Tomoko looked over the paper. The headline read, "SPIDER-MAN ATTEMPTS TO ROB BANK. IS FOILED BY OTHER, MORE PATHETIC MASKED CRIMINAL."

Peter squinted at the headline and thought, "I was close to predicting that headline."

"You attempted to rob a bank?" Tomoko asked in a hushed tone.

"What? No. He just like spinning it so that I'm a bad guy."

"You sell your pictures to this guy?"

"He's the only one that won't ask questions."

It's a good thing for both of them that Jameson was distracted by yelling at someone who accidentally spilled some drops of wine on his blue jacket.

Peter tapped Jameson on the shoulder as he was still yelling at the poor sap who bumped into him. Jameson turned back around, "What is it, Parker?"

"Your uhhh, interview with Reed Richards, sir."

"Right, right, of course." Jameson said was he snatched Peter by the shoulder to drag him back to where Reed was still waiting. Peter grabbed Tomoko by the arm to make sure she wouldn't get lost either.

She looked down at his hand and smittenly thought, "I love it when he gets so forceful."

Jameson resumed the interview as if nothing happened. This lasted for 45 more minutes. The interview was surprisingly mostly rational. Jameson kept a level head for the most part. It seemed like Reed was actually enjoying it. The exception came when Spider-Man was brought up. That led to a heated argument between the two of them over masked vigilantes. Reed calmly tried to rebuttal every one of Jameson's claims, to very little avail.

Peter was taking pictures all the while. Including a very nasty one with Jameson getting spit all over the place by yelling with his mouth as wide as humanly possible. It wasn't one he'd dare offer Jameson, but it was one for the personal collection just for when he needed a laugh.

Tomoko just watched the debate with silent boredom. Perhaps coming here WAS a mistake. Still, she couldn't take it back now. She was here, she had to live with it. She was incredigly close to nodding off to sleep until Reed's arm stretched past her shoulder to get something at the catering table.

Her eyes bugged out and she started tugging at Peter's jacket sleeve. She was frantically pointing at the stretching arm with her other hand.

"Oh, that? Yeah, he just does that. That's his superpower. He can stretch."

Tomoko recoiled in disgust at first. It was so freaky and uncanny looking. But then, as she considered the applications of being able to stretch your body, she nodded in approval.

Finally, the interview ended with Jameson storming away with his fists balled up, fuming over Reed defending Spider-Man so vehemently. Reed shook his head while sighing.

"I'll never understand that man's hatred for Spider-Man specifically. Quite the conundrum."

Peter sighed, "I'll never understand it either. Sometimes hatred is just irrational."

"I know he dislikes other vigilantes too." Reed replied. "But, nothing gets him fuming more than Spider-Man. You're Jameson's photographer, correct?"

"Correct." Peter confirmed.

"Interesting. Your voice sounds quite familiar...have I met you before?"

Peter gestured to himself, to feign ignorance. "Me? You must be thinking of someone else. Maybe we met once? But, I'm pretty certain I'd know if I met Mr. Fantastic. I think you're mistaken. Anyway, I should probably get going. Y'know. Follow my boss, make sure he's okay."

He slowly backed away and gestured for Tomoko to follow him with his head. Tomoko just tilted her head in response. Peter sighed as merely dragged her away by the sleeve instead instead.

As they left, Reed stroked his chin with one hand and took a sip of fruit punch with the other.

Peter and Tomoko walked home together as the sun set. They were both quiet almost the whole way there. As they closed in on Peter's apartment, the silence was broken when he sarcastically asked, "So, did you have a good time?"

"No." Tomoko answered bluntly.

"Hey! You're one who wanted to go. I said you wouldn't be interested, but you didn't listen. Look, to make it up to you, we can run by the Coffee Bean. Get some desserts or something. My treat."

"R-really?"

Peter was about to reply when he noticed a giant flaming message in the sky. The message was a crudely drawn spider alongside the word, "SPIDEY."

Peter groaned, "Alright, change of plans. We can stop by there tomorrow. Promise. Right now, I have to have a meeting with a dull matchstick."

"Wh-what?"

"Wordplay. If you knew who I was talking about, you'd probably find that funny."

"No I wouldn't." Tomoko dismissively thought. She sighed, being abandoned by Peter so he could meet with this guy wasn't a great feeling. Assuming this even WAS a guy? What if it was some flaming hot chick? Once again, her fears overwhelmed her.

By the time she stopped thinking about it, she was ALREADY in Peter's apartment. He looked down at her in concern, seeing that her face had gone completely blank.

"You alright there?"

"Yeah." Tomoko answered, sitting down on the sofa. She was lying, but things were easier this way at least. Peter could tell something was wrong. He really didn't want to leave right now, but he knew he had to see the Human Torch over what this was about.

A few minutes later, he landed on a rooftop in full costume. The roof was just below the fiery message that attracted him here in the first place. Johnny was leaning against a doorway with an unsure expression on his face.

"Alright, Fireball," Spidey began, "tell me why I'm here. I had to cancel something with a friend to meet with you here."

"I caught two of those goons." Human Torch explained with enthusiasm. "Buuuuuuut I couldn't track the third one down." He said with a sad tonal shift. "I looked all over the area, but he was gone! The only place I could think to look was this open manhole, but, I didn't want to go into the sewers. All those fumes in there, I probably would have ignited them. That and uhhh, I also had a date. I didn't want to smell like a sewer while I was on it."

"I was ready to rag on you for letting him get away, but I wouldn't want to go into the sewers to track him either. You're off the hook, Johnny."

Johnny pumped his fist while shouting, "Woo!"

Spider-Man hunched over slightly with his hand cupped around his chin.

"I just can't help but wonder where that one thug went to." He pondered aloud.

That very same thug was still wandering around in the sewers. As he had been for the past few hours. By that point, he had long since abandoned his ski-mask. It was just too hot down there to wear one. He was so exhausted, he'd almost prefer being taken in by Spider-Man than having to trudge through the muck for even a few more seconds. The further he got in, the harder to navigate it became. It felt like the walls were closing in around him and he was ready to go insane.

He collapsed onto the side of one wall, on the verge of passing out. As he fell, the wall actually slid up like it was some kind of door. He shot up in shock! To his surprise, the air on the other side of the wall smelled fresh. Completely unlike the musty fumes of the sewer.

He made his way into the secret corridor. To his surprise, lights turned on as he walked down the hall. It seemed like he had stumbled across some kind of secret hideout. As if this all weren't bizarre enough, he stumbled across an elevator at the end of the hall. He approached it a bemused expression, not expecting it to work.

Unexpectedly, when he stepped in, he could feel it moving up. It felt like it was going to give at any second, though. The ride was shaky, the light in the ceiling was constantly flickering, and it even stalled one or two times. However, it got him to wherever it was taking him in a little under a minute.

He dreaded what was on the other side of the doors, fearing what might be waiting for him. The twin doors of the elevator sprang open, revealing a room that was too dark to see anything in. As he stepped out, the lights came on. Surprisingly, it was a room littered with all kinds of weird looking gadgets.

In the corner was what seemed to be some kind of bat themed...something hanging on the wall. It almost looked like some kind of sled that you stood on, with a jet engine sticking out the back. There were also jack o' lanterns littering a nearby stand.

However, he knew exactly what he found when he found an all too distinct green scaled and purple clothed costume on a mannequin. He reached for the rubber mask on the mannequin's head and pulled it off, examining the piercing yellow lenses on it.

The thug smiled a devilish grin as he realized just what this was. It was just one of many lairs of the currently deceased Green Goblin.

"Jackpot." He mouthed to himself as he got out his phone. While he wasn't all too interested in the gear itself, he knew he could sell it all for a high price. He also knew the perfect buyer...

That'll do it for chapter 8, then. Quite the eventful chapter. I think you all know exactly what that ending is teasing. I'm pretty excited about it, I hope you are too. You might notice I end a lot of these chapters on cliffhangers. It makes writing the next chapter easier since I already have a springboard to lead into it, so that's what I do it. That, and I'm bad at writing endings.

Alright, let's address the reviews. Err, review. Just one this time around.

Stark Knight - Thank you for the kind words. The reassurance means a lot. Hugs are practically guaranteed in the future, but I doubt I'll go much further than that. I'm not well versed in writing anything beyond hugs and kisses. Still, I'm glad your finding their interactions adorable.

So, I guess that's it, then. As always, thanks for reading! I hope I'll see you in the next chapter.