"M.J, you didn't."

"Didn't what?" M.J. replied to her best friend's inquiry.

"Did you seriously ambush him like that?" Liz clarified.

"I didn't ambush him," M.J. asserted. She had just begun sharing with Liz about her conversation with Peter the night prior, and already she was accusing her of things.

"Oh, then what would you call it?" Liz asked, her eyes wide as she awaited the answer to her question.

"He didn't have to come with me, Liz," M.J. defended. Her best friend's head tilted and an expression took over her face that indicated she didn't believe her. "Seriously, he didn't," she continued. "He could've just gone up the elevator and left me there."

"Uh huh, sure," Liz replied, still seemingly unconvinced.

"Anyway, we actually had a nice talk," M.J. said, "that is until he randomly got some reminder on his phone about having something to do and kind of abruptly left."

"So, let me get this straight," Liz said, "not only did you basically ambush this guy that you've only encountered briefly before, but you also flirted with him non-stop all the way up the stairs?"

"It wasn't flirting," M.J. defended, almost starting to get a little flustered at her friend's making more out of last night's encounter than it was. "I was just being neighborly."

"With your neighbor that just so happens to be really cute?" Liz questioned.

"Okay, so he's good looking," M.J. said, "so what?"

Liz stopped walking, standing there along the street and just staring at her.

"Liz, what is it?" M.J. asked, almost starting to get a little irritated at her best friend's behavior during the conversation.

Liz shook her head a little at first, like she was in disbelief about something.

"Mary Jane, what is this really about?" Anytime her best friend used her full name, M.J. knew she was serious. She thought about it for a moment, trying to give her the answer she deserved. The truth was that M.J. didn't know quite how to put into words what had driven last night's interaction. It was something that had been in her mind for years, something she had wrestled with a lot, but never really expressed to anybody, even her best friend.

"You know how I used to be," she finally began, "in high school, maybe even worse in college. I was always the party girl, and the life of it at that. And I always had a guy with me, like I couldn't survive without one."

"Yeah, I remember," Liz said, nodding. The sad truth was, her best friend had warned her many times against almost every guy M.J. had ever been interested in, but she never listened.

"Well, after the way the last one ended, I decided to take a good, hard look at myself," M.J. said. "When I did, I realized I never actually had a relationship with any of those guys. It was all physical attraction and even some emotion, but never anything..."

"Never anything REAL," Liz finished for her. M.J. looked up to meet her eyes, her best friend's expression being one of knowing sympathy, like she'd already known all this without her ever saying it. In hindsight, that made total sense; anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to her life during her school years could see obvious evidence of everything she had just said. This was helpful given that it was only within the last few years that she'd gotten better at expressing herself in a deeper way to anybody.

"Anyway," M.J. continued, "now that I've had a few years to myself, I've been thinking more recently about what I really want. I think it goes without saying that I never had a very good example in terms of seeing what a healthy relationship looks like, but...I don't know, I just feel like there needs to be a friendship there first."

"Okay," Liz said. Her tone was different now; instead of the teasing almost bordering on mocking one from earlier, she now seemed to understand where M.J. was coming from, regardless of what she thought of her methods. She came back alongside her and they resumed walking down the street.

After a moment, Liz spoke up again.

"So, what made you want to start a friendship with this guy?" she asked.

"There's just something...different about him," M.J. answered. "I can't really put a finger on it, but even when he came to the store the other day, he was just so quiet, so unassuming, like he was content to not be at the center of the conversation."

"Well, that would certainly be a change from your usual type," Liz pointed out.

"It was so weird though; for a lot of the conversation last night, it was like he did a complete 180," M.J. added. "He was quick-witted, sarcastic, and seemed to pick up on how to push all my buttons. He wasn't a jerk about it or anything though; he was still the same guy, but it was a side to him that I never would've guessed was there at first."

"Okay now I want to be there the next time you two are in a room together," Liz said. "I'm not sure I've ever seen a guy press your buttons like that."

"Not many people can," M.J. said, turning to her best friend, "if I'm being honest, it's something I kind of take a little pride in."

"Oh really?" Liz questioned, sarcasm dripping in her words. "I hadn't noticed."

"Maybe it's just something I bring out in certain people," M.J. replied. "You didn't used to be like this until I basically adopted you back in middle school."

"Ah, yes, ever since that fateful group project where I got unlucky enough to be paired with the most popular and annoying girl in school," Liz reflected, smiling even as she said it. "That day still haunts my dreams every once in a while."

"Hey, you could've always asked the teacher to switch partners," M.J. pointed out.

"Nah," Liz replied as they continued walking. "I was still too quiet and self-conscious to risk bringing that much attention to myself. Besides, I always knew that deep down underneath that spontaneous, wild party girl was actually a really sweet, caring and loyal woman in there somewhere. It was just a matter of bringing her out into the open."

"Yeah," M.J. said, thinking back to those days. There were so many memories that made her cringe at how ridiculous a person she was. Even aside from all her guy issues, she had also been quite shallow, never really doing much of anything for other people. She'd been far too focused on whatever the next thrilling, even rebellious thing she could find to do.

"M.J, you okay?" Liz spoke up, bringing Mary Jane back to the present.

"Oh, yeah," M.J. replied, realizing she'd let her brain spiral worse than she'd initially thought. "Anyway, what's next?"

Peter fired another web, letting himself glide downward through the air before pulling his legs up as he reached the peak of his descent, adding to his momentum as he rocketed back into the Manhattan skyline. The sensation of swinging high above the city never got old, even after all these years. In a lot of ways, it was the best part of being on patrol: just being out and about, surveying his home. Even better, it was nice weather on this Manhattan evening, cool enough where he could feel the breeze in just the right amount as it rippled through his suit and body.

Things had been quiet so far that evening, but for some reason, Peter just had a feeling that something was going to happen before he returned home. He didn't know what it was, and he had no real basis for it, but he just had this unexplainable sense that something was going to do down that night. It was a feeling that was familiar to him, even if he didn't understand it. Maybe he was subconsciously picking up on patterns from his years as Spider-Man, or maybe his spider-sense was evolving to some higher state of precognition (probably not, but he thought it would be really cool if it was), but he just knew in his gut that he was going to see some action.

He kept swinging, waiting for whatever would come his way. As he did so, Peter's mind ventured to all sorts of places, like it usually did. Occasionally, it drifted back to his conversation with Mary Jane from the day before. It had been a long time since he'd just talked with someone like that other than May. Sure, he had frequent conversations with coworkers, but it was different being in an environment where he had to see all those people every day. M.J. being his neighbor might be similar, but there was something just particularly ALIVE about her that brought out a similar side of him.

Most of all, it was just FUN.

Despite that, Peter still got an uneasy feeling thinking about the whole thing, and not in a good way. However, before he could spend any real time dwelling on it, he heard an alert through the police radio in his mask about another tech robbery in progress. As with the others, it was at a storage facility downtown. Firing a web to change direction, Peter arced his body, making a hard turn and heading off in the direction of trouble.

It wasn't long before he arrived on the scene. He immediately noticed that, unlike Mysterio's more cautious approach, whoever did this had barged right in through a garage door on the outside. Whoever was heading this whole thing up clearly had multiple individuals capable of carrying out their dirty work, so Peter swung inside to check on who it could be this time. Once he was just inside, he immediately found a higher vantage point, scoping out the situation to see nothing but some ordinary criminals working meticulously to gather and load up what they needed.

"Well, maybe this will be easier than I thought," Peter allowed himself to think.

As soon as his spider-sense went off, he immediately chastised himself for allowing such a stupid thought to enter his head. Jumping and twisting out of the way, Peter narrowly avoided a spray of green acid just above him. Landing on a stack of containers, he looked up to see a familiar face.

"Well, well well," came the voice of the Scorpion, leaning on all fours, seemingly ready to spring at any time. "Looks like I get to have a little fun after all."

"Hey there, Mac," Peter exclaimed, "long time no see." Despite his casual, jokey tone, Peter kept his body on alert, his muscles ready should Gargan try to make a move. He'd learned the hard way on their first encounter never to underestimate the man, and he'd found it usually took almost everything he had to take him down a lot of the time.

"That's because you had me thrown in a hole, wall crawler," Scorpion replied bitterly, "and in all that time, there was only one thought that kept me going...crushing your tiny little neck with my BARE HANDS!"

Scorpion lunged all at once, with Peter only barely avoiding the man as he leapt out of the way. Shooting his wrists forward, he fired two webs straight for his enemy's face, blinding him just long enough for Peter to pull himself back with two more webs, delivering a flying kick with both feet straight into Gargan's chest. The man went flying back, slamming against the wall.

"AARGH!" Scorpion growled in frustration. Peter knew well enough what the man was capable of to know that blow and impact did more to frustrate him then hurt him, exaggerating the man's already rough temperament...which was something Peter also knew he could use to his advantage.

"Actually Mac, I'm pretty sure it's called The Vault, not the The Hole," he taunted. "It really just doesn't have the same ring to it."

Scorpion finally ripped the webbing from his eye coverings, lunging for Peter again. Leaping onto a nearby side wall, he avoided his enemy once more.

"Though I will say, I am touched that it was me who kept you going this whole time," Peter added, putting his hand over his heart. "It really warms my soul."

"Your soul won't feel so warm once I've melted your skin into a pool of blood and bones," Scorpion replied, firing another blast of acid from his tail, causing Peter to jump to the floor to avoid it.

"Okay, so first you want to choke me out, now you want to melt me," Peter said. "I'm getting really mixed messages here, Mac." If he could just push his opponent a little more, make him just a little sloppier, he could at least pin him enough to stop the guys who were actually performing the robbery. Stealing a quick glance at the workers, Peter could see that they were wrapping up, so if he was going to stop them, he needed to act quickly.

"As long as your dead, it really doesn't matter to me," Scorpion admitted, lunging at him again. Peter jumped to get out of the way, but this time not quite fast enough to get away from his opponent's tail, which he suddenly found wrapped around his waist. It gripped him tightly before slamming him hard into the ground. His enemy then seized his chance, jumping on top of him. Knowing he stood no chance in this position, Peter tucked his legs tightly inward, delivering a powerful kick that sent the Scorpion up into the air, causing him to hit one of the rafters. The man then gripped onto it, remaining up there.

Getting back up from the hard impact he'd felt moments ago, Peter looked up to his enemy, who looked ready to spring back into action at any time.

"C'mon, Mac," he taunted. "Is that the best you got? Afraid to come down here and fight me scorpion to spider?"

To Peter's surprise though, Scorpion didn't appear to be paying him much attention. Instead, the man looked like he was mumbling something to himself, or to someone who wasn't there. Gargan had seemed to be a little crazy, especially since the process that transformed him into what he was today. However, this looked like something else. What if he was communicating with the same person that Mysterio was working for?

That certainly opened up a whole other issue.

Peter suddenly heard the sound of a vehicle starting and, sure enough, the men had finished working and were taking off with the stolen equipment, driving right towards him. He flipped out of the way as they sped past him, heading for the same way they'd gotten in.

"Not so fast," Peter said, firing a web at the back of the vehicle. It latched on, and he gripped the web, bringing the vehicle to a rough stop as it pulled against his taut muscles. As he fought to keep it in place, his spider-sense rang out again, only this time, he couldn't get out of the way as the Scorpion came flying from the rafters above, pinning him to the ground again. This time, Peter's opponent made sure to pin his legs down so he couldn't get them up. The man then wrapped his hands around Peter's neck, squeezing tightly.

He fought against the man's grip, but it was a losing battle. He could only barely keep his opponent from exerting the fullest pressure against his throat, and it was rapidly getting harder and harder to breathe. Peter could seemingly only watch as the man smiled gleefully, the look expanding by the second. He tried to break his legs free, but the man's pressure against them was too great as well.

Peter needed to think of something fast, or this was it.

Then, out of nowhere, Scorpion's expression changed from one of glee to one of frustration, his head turning away slightly like he was listening to something through an earpiece. In fact, Peter was pretty sure he heard something too, though he couldn't make out what was being said.

"I have him," Scorpion muttered in response to whoever it was on the other end, "and I'm going to finish it."

Taking advantage of the man's distracted state, Peter fired a web at his eye-covering mask again, causing him to relinquish the grip of one hand over his throat. He then broke free from the other hand, delivering a strong headbutt to Gargan's own, disorienting him just enough for Peter to finally break his legs free, enabling him to force his enemy off him.

With Scorpion still struggling with the webbing, Peter went on the attack, grabbing the long tail of his opponent, swinging him around multiple times, finally tossing him so hard that the man crashed through the next wall. He heard scrambling, but his opponent did not return. When he raced through the hold in the wall to see, all Peter found was an empty room and a broken window. He leapt up and checked, but it was no use.

Scorpion was gone.

At this point, the sound of police sirens drew near, so Peter took this time to make his escape from the scene, getting to a higher position. However, there was still no sign of Scorpion. Not only had he lost his enemy, but he'd failed to stop the theft as well. Plus, he was pretty sure he was going to end up with a headache later from that headbutt.

All in all, not what he'd call a successful night.

Hope you guys are still enjoying it!

Continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!

"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Proverbs 15:1