The next morning, I was at The Daily Bugle. I was uploading pictures to the server. Much to my surprise, the atmosphere wasn't any worse than usual. I expected Jameson to be stomping around the office and yelling to the point where his blood pressure rose above healthy levels. But that didn't happen. I found it a bit odd, but I didn't think much of it. However, while my gut wasn't exactly my Spider-Senses, the weird feeling I got from it still had me a bit on edge.

That feeling was about to be warranted.

The phone console on Betty's desk beeped before Jonah's voice sounded through the console's speaker.

"Betty, I need you to get some credentials ready as soon as possible!" he barked out.

"Um… sure," Betty replied, caught off guard. I looked over at her. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, what are the credentials for?"

"There has been an arrest made at Midtown High. A Michelle Jones-Watson is believed to be an accomplice to the Spider menace! They're taking her to the 13th Precinct!" My eyes went wide. Without saying a word, I stood up and made my way out of the office. Silently thanking God that I had the mind to don my quick change outfit, I made my way to the roof. I put on my Edith glasses and put my mask on over it. It was a bit uncomfortable, but given that MJ was arrested, I could care less about my discomfort.

I jumped off of the building and swung through Manhattan. As I did so, I spoke to Edith.

"Hey Edith, I need a huge a favor!" I said.

"I take it you got news of Michelle's arrest," she replied. "How may I help?"

"Can you locate the car that she was taken in?"

"Scanning the camera network now." I waited as I continued swinging towards the 13th Precinct. After some seconds, Edith spoke up. "There's a police convoy making their way down 8th Avenue. They just passed The Museum of Arts and Design."

"Thanks!"

I shifted directions. I swung as fast as I could – really, not even when I was running late to Midtown have I ever swung through the city so fast. It didn't take me long to find the convoy of vehicles. There was a row of five vehicles – one normal NYPD squad car, driving in the middle of four black NYPD trucks. I didn't bother waiting to formulate a plan. I broke my line, brought my arms out and shot out several wads of webbing. The wads sailed through the air before they exploded, forming for large webs that spanned across the street. Their way was blocked. The vehicles skidded to a stop. I flipped backward before I landed in a three point stance.

I slowly stood up and stalked towards the convoy. I felt my Spider Sense go off. SWAT members started to file out of the vehicle. Remembering that I didn't have any armor on, I quickly shot out multiple strands up webbing, catching their rifles before I yanked them out of their hands. I then stalked forward.

"Spider-Man, you don't want to do this!" one of them called out.

"I'm only here for the student you arrested!" I called out. "Don't make things worse than they already are!"

"She was arrested on a warrant," another officer pleaded. "We're just doing our job!"

"So am I"

"Last chance, Spider-Man!" The whole group pulled out their pistols. "One more step and..."

Apparently, they forgot how fast I was. I quickly kicked things into high gear as I ran weaved through the officers. Within moments, they were all taken down and webbed to the street. I looked around until I huffed out a breath. I brought my attention to the squad car. I saw the look of fear in the eyes of the two officers. Still, the two of them stepped out of the vehicles and aimed their pistols at me. Without thinking, I shot webbing at them. As soon as the strands hit their chests, I pulled, sending them flying behind me. With them out of the way, I walked towards the back of the car and ripped off the rear passenger door before I looked in the back, seeing MJ.

"Not the best way to start the morning," she deadpanned.

"Yup," I replied. I beckoned her to come out. "Come on. Let's get you out of here." She nodded. As she moved towards me, I stepped aside, giving her room to get her feet on the pavement and stand up. "Stand still for me, please." I moved behind her and grabbed the handcuffs. With my strength, I easily snapped them apart. After that, I moved in front of MJ. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," MJ assured. She sighed. "You know, I didn't think I'd be a fugitive so young."

"And you won't be!" I promised as I smiled underneath my mask. "Just… We'll get you to Pepper, and she'll have everything straightened out, I'm sure!"

"You're right," MJ nodded. "You're right, just… Ah just hug me, will you?!"

Without saying a word, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her. She wrapped her arms around my abdomen. We remained like that for some seconds. I then pulled away just enough for me to place my forehead against hers.

"I'm sorry," I whispered morosely.

"Don't be," MJ replied consolingly, sliding her hand up and down my back as she did so. "I knew this was going to be a possibility a long time ago. We'll figure things out." I nodded before I pulled away, looking her in the eye. She smiled. "I'm still here, Peter. And I'm never going away." Underneath my mask, I smiled back at her. For a moment, just a moment, I had a feeling that things were going to be okay. And why not? Pepper had enough influence to pull strings and have MJ's arrest passed off as a mistake to the media. MJ would probably be hounded by the media still, but she could handle it.

However, my optimism was dashed when I felt my Spider Sense go off. I saw MJ look past me. Her eyes went wide. I forgot her arms were around me until she tightened her hold around me and tossed me to the side. A split second later, I heard the sound of gunshots. After I hit the ground, I quickly moved to my knees. I looked up to see MJ slumping downward until she was in a seated position. I blinked once. I saw the red stain over the left side of her shirt, right over her heart. The stain was only getting bigger.

"No," I whispered out.

I stood up before I turned my attention over to the cop that was standing. His gun was aimed at me, but his hand was shaking. In a fit of rage, I walked over to the manhole cover. With ease, I picked it up with my hand before I slung it at the cop at high speed. I watched as the manhole cover wedged itself in the cop's chest as it knocked the officer off of their feet. Without caring one way or another if the cop would live, I turned my attention back to MJ. I ran up to her before I kneeled down in front of her.

"MJ, are you okay?!" I asked, worry and alarm in my tone.

"Peter…" She coughed, sending some blood out of her mouth. "…I don't feel so good."

"MJ, just hold on, I'll get you help!" I moved to try and pick her up in my arms. However, she slowly raised her hand and placed it on my chest.

"Peter… no… get out of here… run."

"No, Em!" I yelled out. "I won't let you die here!"

"It's… it's over… for me." She coughed up some more blood. She then slowly looked me in the eye. I saw the life fading from her brown orbs. She forced a smile. "…Peter… we had… we had a… good run." She closed her eyes slowly. "…I'm sorry… Tiger."

Those were the last words I heard from her before she became limp. I started to shake her.

"No… MJ, no! Goddamn it, no! No! No!"

"Peter… Peter… Peter, wake up!"

I suddenly sat up. My eyes were wide, and sweat was all over my face. My heart was pounding to the point where I could hear my pulse in my ears. I looked around, trying to see where I was. Slowly, I recognized that I was in my apartment.

"Hey, look at me," a voice said. I looked to my right, seeing MJ kneeling next to me on the bed. She had a look of concern on her face as she stared at me. "Are you okay?"

I didn't say anything. Instead, I turned and repositioned my body until I was kneeling in front of her. I then wrapped my arms around her before I planted a kiss on her lips. The kiss wasn't short. I wanted… No, I needed to know that this moment in the very apartment was real. I needed to know that MJ was alive and well. Perhaps she caught on to how distraught I was, because she kissed me back, matching my intensity. She moved in closer until she was straddling my lap. She took the lead in the kiss as she grabbed the hair on the back of my head and pulled, causing me to tilt my head back. I squeezed her tightly against me. I needed her warmth. I needed her presence.

I needed her.

After several seconds, she pulled away, breaking the kiss. But she wasn't done comforting me. She placed soft kisses all over my face, starting with my forehead and working her way down. After she placed one brief and chaste kiss on my lips, she held the side of my head against her chest. I closed my eyes and focused on her heartbeat. Slowly, but surely, my heartbeat returned to normal. We remained like that for… Well, I don't know how long we remained in that position. But I knew it was for a long while. After several moments of silence, I spoke.

"Did I wake you?" I whispered.

"Yeah, you did," MJ replied in an even tone. "You were thrashing about."

I groaned apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"I did."

"What happened?"

I sighed. I pulled my head away from her chest and looked at her. As I did so, she moved her hands until they were in my hair.

"It was horrible, Em," I began. "I was just sitting The Daily Bugle office, along with Betty. Betty got buzzed by J. Jonah Jameson. He told her to get credentials ready because you got arrested for being an accomplice to Spider-Man." I frowned. "I dropped everything and rescued you from this police convoy. I was reassuring you that we could have Pepper solve everything. But… my Spider-Sense went off. Before I could react, you grabbed me and tossed me out of the way of upcoming bullets and…" I trailed off and shook my head. "…MJ, tell me you're okay. I need to know you're okay."

"I'm okay, Tiger," MJ she said. She smiled sympathetically as she massaged my scalp with her fingers. "I'm okay."

I leaned forward and hugged her again. "I love you, MJ."

"I know."

I was given pause for a moment. I then leaned back and looked at her with a smirk. "Did you just – ?"

"Yes, I did. And if you tell anyone – especially Ned – I'll deny it for the rest of my life." She smirked at me. At that, I couldn't help but chuckle. Her smirk disappeared as her expression became solemn. "But just in case you need reassurance… I love you, too, Peter." Now it was my smirk that became a full on smile. I leaned forward and placed a short kiss on her lips. "Now are you ready to go to bed now?"

"Yes," I replied.

She nodded. "Okay." She removed herself from my lap before she moved underneath the sheets. I moved under the sheets with her before I lay my head on her right shoulder. As she wrapped her right arm around me, I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

In the morning, I was awakened by MJ. Once we got out of bed, I made breakfast while she got ready for school. After we sat down and ate, we shared one more kiss before she was on her way. Reluctantly, I got ready and made my way to work. I was a bit on edge there, anticipating news of MJ's arrest. But it didn't come. I finally allowed myself to calm down. The week turned out to be rather uneventful. While there was a lot of talk about what was dubbed The Skirmish at Ravencroft, nothing major happened. During different days of the week, I hung out with the X-Men and The American Idiots doing random stuff.

Then Saturday rolled around.

Craig, Ned, and I were hanging out in Central Park, sitting on a bench to pass the time.

"I still can't believe you managed to book an appointment at Dapper Dan's!" Ned exclaimed.

"He owed me a favor from a couple of years back, so I cashed in on it," Craig said simply. "If we're going to do this dance, then we need to be dressed up nice. And Dapper Dan is about as nice as it gets. Of course, it helps that I can cover all three of us with no problem."

"Right, secret millionaire," I said with a nod. "But, why so early? We still got three hours before our appointment."

"I try to be in the area as early as possible in case something happens." Craig looked up at the sky. "Lord knows our lives can be rather chaotic."

"He has a point," Ned said in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right," I conceded.

Ned chuckled as he looked forward. "Though, with Scorpion sent packing, I don't think there's much to worry about for now."

I heard the sound of sparks behind us. All three of us looked over our shoulder to see a portal behind us. Said portal was outlines by orange sparks. I narrowed my eyes as I looked into portal, seeing where it led.

It was the Inner Sanctum.

"Are you sure about that Ned?" Craig deadpanned.

"What do we do?" Ned asked, worry in his voice.

Craig looked at Ned. He then looked at me. I stared back at him for some seconds. I then nodded.

"We go in," I said.

So, the three of us stood up. We ignored the onlookers as we walk around the bench.

"Never a dull moment in a life of an X-Man," I whispered.

"Ain't that the truth," Craig replied. "On three?"

"Yeah," I said. "One…."

"Two…" Ned stated after swallowing.

"Three," Craig finished.

With that, the three of us stepped into the portal.

The End

The X-Men and The American Idiots will return