Peter had been worried that he wouldn't find Barbera as it took awhile for May to finally go to bed and for him to be sure she had actually fallen asleep. He didn't want a repeat of that night she thought someone was breaking in because of a noise he made, since she spent the next week being suspicious of everything. He had asked around at the centre if anyone knew Barbera and one person had directed him to the precinct he worked at, and he had been relieved that chance was on his side tonight as he had noticed Barbera working at a desk after quickly entering the precinct as himself.

For the last two hours he has been waiting on a rooftop for Barbera to leave, dressed as Spider-Man with his coat while light rain fell from the sky, and he was becoming more impatient with every second that passed. He had been worried that he would have to wait until tomorrow to find out what Barbera knew but by this point he was beginning to wonder if he would be here all night. Surely there had to be rules stopping police from working too late otherwise they would be usefulness during their normal hours.

As time passed Peter couldn't help but think of his lack of progress in this investigation and that he was forced to sit here waiting for a cop so he could follow him. He certainly wasn't Dick Tracy by any stretch of the imagination but for some reason he had thought he would be better at this after being Spider-Man for a year. But then again its not like being a vigilante actually required much investigation on his part as when it came to the big crooks like Osborn or mad scientists like Octavius he pretty much just got lucky, so it was ridiculous to think that he actually knew anything about finding clues or finding leads. And if he wanted to continue working at the Bugle and get a better paying job as a reporter those might be things he needed to work on.

But the point was that he felt he should be better now and he was simply learning that he was as close as he thought to being perfect at this job. He was friendly with a librarian, or at least May was friendly with her which means he can use that connection, so surely he could get some books about criminology and the like. Not only would that give him some sort of knowledge when it came to this stuff he might be able to apply it as a reporter, all of which would mean he won't have to rely on simply being lucky to actually fight the criminals of this city.

As time went on his thoughts drifted away from his feelings of inadequacy in his vigilante life to what has transpired today in his normal life. Now that he finally had a chance to just sit down and think about it all he honestly wasn't sure how he felt about it. Yes he was still excited to have Teresa in his life but their conversation to the Daily Bugle really shed some light on their differences along with what Ted had told him about her views on people like the Spider-Man. He couldn't escape the feeling deep inside that there was more he didn't know about Teresa and that the dinner May was so excited about will be a big disaster, that there would be something that separates them that will make it impossible for them to have a good relationship. This feeling originated from the fact that his life has never been easy and fair, and it would just be typical for him to reunite with his long lost sister only to find out that they hate everything about each other.

Suddenly he saw Barbera walking down the street and disappearing behind the corner a second later leaving Peter cursing himself for how distracted he was as he began to leap across the rooftops in Barbera's direction. He was lucky they were so close together otherwise he would have completely lost track of Barbera, who wandered past several buildings unaware he was being followed. This went on for a while, made somewhat more difficult when Barbera crossed a street forcing Peter to swiftly get off one building and climb up the one on the other side, but despite the occasional few seconds of worry when he thought he had lost track of him Peter was able to follow the policeman until he suddenly stopped after entering a deserted alleyway.

Barbera stood there for several minutes, looking around impatiently for whoever he had been expecting to meet with. His hand kept drifting to his coat pocket which Peter imagined was where he was keeping his gun, and conscious of the danger that he might face Peter checked that he had his own on him. He didn't want to kill anyone, especially after how May had looked at him after he killed Toomes, but he knew that he can still get use out of it without actually hurting anyone which is why he kept it on him.

"You Barbera?" a voice called out from the shadows, and out stepped a man Peter would have assumed was homeless judging from his clothing.

"Yeah, that's me."

"Let me guess, money trouble?" the man with scruffy hair and beard asked as he gestured at Barbera's clothes.

"Isn't every one who gets this regards have money troubles?"

"Sure but they're also homeless or have lost everything. You're clearly not a hobo, your clothes are too clean, and you don't look like a man who's lost everything. So I'm guessing you have a big favour to pay back for a fella you don't want to annoy?"

"Yeah. So what happens now?"

"If you want to meet professor Inumaru, you'll shut up and follow me."

The man gestured for Barbera to follow and turned around to lead the way, but while Barbera did follow he pulled out the gun from his pocket. Peter immediately leaped into action as Barbera swung his fist to hit the man at the back of the head, leaping off the building to leap downwards between the two walls of the alleyway before landing on Barbera and pushing him into the ground. Past experience has taught him to remember that people aren't as strong as him and leaping off a building without slowing down his descent was a sure way of putting someone he wanted to talk to into a hospital. Peter, with his incredible reflexes, made sure to cover the back of Barbera's head to prevent a serious injury while the force of his collision knocked the gun out of Barbera's hand and made it skid across the ground. At the corner of his eye Peter saw the hobo spin around in shock, pulling out his own protection from his pocket but quickly shaking in fright at the sight of the vigilante in front of him.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked the hobo, but he simply span around and ran off while Barbera was shaking off his surprise and started yelling at Peter.

"What the hell are you doing? Stop him!"

"I'll find him later if I need more answers. So what was the plan, kill him to cut off any loose ends. Is that the same reason you took the evidence from Murphy's apartment?" Peter questioned as intimidating as he could. "Who are you working for, who's responsible for all this?"

"That guy has the answers! I was going to find out what he knew about the disappearances" Barbera practically growled in anger, and it took Peter a second to acknowledge what Barbera was telling him.

"Wait, so you're not involved in the disappearances?" he asked as he loosed his grip on Barbera's coat, unable to hide his surprise which earned a violent glare from the policeman.

"No, but that guy you just let get away is!"

The cynical part of Peter doubted what Barbera was telling him, especially after what happened with DeWolff who pretty much did nothing to make sure Octavius pay for what happened despite his promises. But the fact was that he knew where he could find Barbera while the other guy could disappear if he wasn't quick, so Peter leaped up the walls and climbed swiftly up the rooftops before racing to the edge in the direction where the man had run off. Today must be the day it was decided he must be rewarded with good luck after all the bad he's had in recent memory as he was miraculously able to spot the mystery man running through the street, and Peter began leaping across rooftops in order to catch up with him.

The stress of the situation almost mad whim lose him a few times but thanks to how high he was he was able to find him again, spotting him rushing towards a small building before entering by the side door. It only took Peter a few second to get off the roof and race towards the opened door, slowing down as he approached it as he was wary of some kind of trap. As he entered the building he looked around for some light switch, unable to really see except for some outlines, but when he found it he quickly found it wasn't working.

He took more steps inside, trusting his spider sense to warn him of any danger, and looked around as he wondered where the man went. The building didn't have a second floor and while there were plenty of small wooden boxes piled into walls all around him that one could hide behind, that didn't explain why the man ran to this building specifically or knew that the door would be open. There had a specific reason why he ran here and it might even be that something here might explain what was happening. Peter's excitement and relief grew at the thought of this, especially at the possibility that doing this might give him a chance to speak with Felicia, and he began looking around more urgently.

Despite this increased effort however the man appeared to have vanished and Peter was actually starting to wonder if there was some kind of hidden passage when he heard something move behind him. Peter span around and raced forward when he saw nothing, looking around wildly while considering the possibility he had imagined it. Of course that idea was proven wrong when some boxes fell behind him and he span around to see the outline of something vanish behind a corner.

Thinking quickly, and criticising himself for not doing it sooner, Peter leaped onto the wall and crawled towards the ceiling, looking around as he did for whoever was running around. He saw nothing for several minutes before feeling something hit the wall next to him while a loud hiss broke the silence and his spider sense began to scream inside his head, with Peter barely having enough time to turn his head before something powerful smacked against his entire body. Peter was sent flying towards the boxes, smashing through some of them while others broke apart after hitting the ground, and the shock of the pain left him too dazed to react quickly enough to the next attack. He wasn't sure what direction it came in but a second later he found himself flying through the air before slamming into the wall. He felt the wall break a little as his back hit it and knew that it was only because of his powers that he was still alive, but he also knew that if he didn't do something quickly whoever was attacking him will eventually kill him. He spider sense was still warning him of the danger he was in, but when it suddenly got worse he acted and leaped away from the wall just in time to avoid a box being thrown at him. Pushing himself up to his feet he turned to face his attacker and immediately froze in surprise as what he was seeing.

It was still too dark to get a proper look at it, but he knew it wasn't human just from the shape of it. It was a bit larger than him and stood on it's hands and feet, both of which made scrapping noises as it moved around observing Peter which heavily suggested it had claws. It's head didn't resemble a man at all and despite how quickly it was moving in the darkness it clearly had a thick tail. Peter watched the creature hesitantly while the monster did the same, both waiting to see who would make the next move, and eventually Peter pulled out his gun. Before he could aim however the creature was already upon him, its claws digging through his clothes and into his chest before he was lifted and thrown backwards. Peter was able to regain focus and turn his body so he reach out a hand to the floor and stick to it, landing safely on the ground not that far from the door. While he couldn't see anything he couldn't find any blood after a quick search with his hand and still aware that the darkness put him at a disadvantage, he raced outside while hearing the monster following him.

He span around and fired instantly once it was in his sight, and the creature paused to clutch its arm giving Peter a chance to finally look at the thing. Outside of the building Peter was able to see that it looked like a man shaped reptile, with dark green scales and a head that looked like a crocodile which opened its jaw wide to show its sharp teeth. Curiously there was a metal collar around its neck, though Peter didn't have the time to think about the implications of this at this moment. Gripping the gun tightly Peter fired again but the monster dashed out if the way and was leaping onto Peter before the masked hero could do anything to defend himself, being pushed onto the ground as the creature's claws dug deeper into his body than ever before.

Peter aimed his gun to the creatures head but faster than he could react, his spider sense screaming at him in warning of the attack, the creature bit into Peter's arm making him scream and instinctively drop the gun while punching the monster in the face. It felt like hitting the ground and actually hurt Peter to do so but it made the creature let go of his arm. However before he could punch it again it opened its jaw and moved it closer to his head, and Peter was seconds away from being it's meal when he grabbed both of its jaws with his hands. The teeth at the front dug into his fingers as he struggled to hold the beast away from him, and he desperately tried to kick the monster off his body to no avail. For the next few seconds all Peter could do was grit in teeth in agony, the monster's claws repeatedly ripping into his body while its jaws got closer and closer as Peter's strength began to fail him. Finally unable to hold it in anymore Peter screamed, with the knowledge that he couldn't keep fighting and quickly realising to his horror that this might be how he died.

And then with no warning the claws were gone and the beast retreated, taking several steps back while hissing menacingly at Peter. He lifted his head, unable to ma's his body move at all, to look at the monster while finding that he could hear a loud ringing. Before he could think about this further the creature was gone, vanishing into the night after dashing around a corner, leaving Peter on the ground in confusion and pain. Peter just laid there for a moment as his brain tried to take in everything that had just happened, before he realised the immediate issue after checking his chest and seeing the blood stain left on his gloved hand.

Sitting up straight felt like climbing a mountain without superpowers or equipment, and Peter had to take several minutes to breath deeply before pushing himself onto his feet. It took several attempts as every time he thought he was ok he would take a step and fall down to his knees. But eventually he was taking small hesitant steps forward, clutching at his wounds as it became harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He knew he couldn't fall unconscious here, if he did he would most likely die from his injuries and even if he didn't he was unlikely to be found by a good samaritan, but with each step he took he found it much harder to take another. After only a few more steps, reaching a building which he leaned again while breathing heavily, he slowly fell down to the ground and into an empty void.

I hope that the action was enjoyable in this chapter.