This was getting ridiculous.
By now, Peter had been chasing a runaway armored vehicle for the past five minutes. Normally he would've had such a situation handled by now, but these guys were INSANE! It was one thing for most thieves stealing a transport full of cash (or, in this case, microchips), to disregard most traffic laws, but these lunatics seemed determined to hit anything or even anyone they could.
If they were trying to lose him forcing him to swing in and rescue civilians in danger, which was likely the case, they were at least succeeding in the second part. That was the whole reason this chase had dragged on for as long as it had: every time Peter caught up to the vehicle, they would veer off even onto the sidewalk, threatening innocent bystanders and forcing his attention off them in the process. However, he was experienced enough in the many methods of rescuing people that it was always a quick process, even in the situations where he really had to improvise. Peter always made sure that they were fine and that the adrenaline from the situation hadn't aggravated a heart issue or something before resuming his pursuit.
The good news was that they were entering a much less busy area of the city, at least by comparison, so Peter knew he would have to capitalize on this development and do so quickly. Of course, they couldn't just make it that easy, so the thieves he was chasing switched tactics. Peter observed as the back doors of the vehicle flung open and two guys with guns started opening fire on both him as well as the police who were pursuing them, causing their vehicles to start skidding around in an attempt to avoid it.
"So THAT'S how it's going to be?" Peter shouted towards the thieves. His spider sense worked in perfect tandem with his enhanced reflexes, releasing and firing new webs to keep up his progress as he twisted and dodged out of the way, not losing much momentum in the process. As he was in the middle of all this, the system in his mask alerted him that he was getting a call from M.J. He hated to ignore a call from his girlfriend, but he also knew she would understand when he got the chance to explain why to her.
She had been pretty good about that over the last couple years.
Plus, lives were on the line, including his own.
Finally getting within close enough range, Peter pulled hard on his web, keeping ahead of the gunfire as he launched himself, ultimately landing on the truck just above them.
"I'll take those!" Peter said, quickly webbing away the guns from the men, sticking them to the roof of the vehicle. He then grabbed both of their heads, smacking them against each other, knocking them both out. He quickly pushed both of their unconscious bodies back into the vehicle, webbing them to the floor just in case the final landing got a little messy.
Shutting the back doors, Peter moved back to the top of the vehicle, where his spider-sense proceeded to go haywire. Instinctively, he looked ahead and could see why: an elderly couple were beginning to cross the street right in the path the armored truck was headed in. They were still a ways off, but at the rate the vehicle was moving, he didn't have a lot of time.
Peter rapidly worked his way up to the roof over top of the driver. Leaping out towards the passenger side, he fired a short web back to the vehicle. As soon as it was taught, he yanked the web, throwing himself into the vehicle feet first. In one swift move, he pushed the driver out through the door window, coming out right behind him. Firing a quick web barrage to make sure to ease the man's stop, Peter grabbed the door with his free hand, wrapping himself around to the front of the vehicle in a lightning quick motion.
Digging his legs into the street, Peter pushed against the vehicle with all that he had, gradually slowing it down.
"Come on!" he said through gritted teeth, pushing harder.
Finally, the vehicle came to a stop. Peter gave himself a moment to catch his breath, hanging his head for a moment as he rested his arms against the grill of the armored truck. He then turned around to check on the elderly couple, only to find them both just starting at him from the walkway, which was only about 10 feet away. Their expressions were blank, which made Peter wonder if they were even fully aware of what was going on. The man eventually gave a light nod towards him before the two of them continued along.
Peter walked around the side of the vehicle to see that the driver had indeed landed on the web trap he had shot, and the police had caught up to him and were removing the shooters from the back of the vehicle. He walked up to one of the officers.
"You guys okay?" Peter asked.
"Well, our vehicles look a little worse for wear, but it doesn't look like anybody got hit," the officer responded. "Thanks for lending a hand, as always."
"Just trying to do the best I can," Peter responded. He then could've sworn he heard what sounded like a couple of people clapping, and he turned to see that was exactly what was happening as a couple of people on the far sidewalk were cheering him on. It wasn't long before a couple people turned into a chorus of clapping, with some of the officers even joining in. Peter raised his hand towards the crowd, turning to acknowledge each group of people. He was never one to indulge himself too greatly in other people's praise, but it certainly felt nice to be appreciated.
After a few moments, he fired a web, launching himself into the sky.
Peter crawled through the window of his room, quickly removing his Spider-Man suit and throwing on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He ran over to the mirror, straightening his hair out just enough to make himself at least look like he hadn't just been on patrol. Deciding it was good enough, he exited his room and headed for the kitchen table, only to find M.J. standing there, blocking his way into the room. Her eyes were narrowed into that cold stare she gave when she was trying to intimidate someone.
"I'm sorry; I'm so sorry," Peter apologized profusely. "I was chasing these lunatics in an armored truck, they were trying to run over everything around them, and..."
"You're late," she said dryly, her eyes continuing to stare into his very soul. Peter swallowed in nervousness. He was late for their dates fairly often, which he hated, but usually she didn't give him this treatment. Was there something else, something he forgot maybe? It wasn't an important date to them or anything, was it?
After a moment of him sweating it out, unable to form any words, M.J.'s lips slowly curled upward until a smile stretched from one cheek to the other.
"Oh my goodness," Peter said, putting his hands over his head as he let out a breath of relief. "Come on, M.J, that's not right."
"Maybe," she said with a smile, "but it is fun."
"Fun for you, maybe," Peter retorted, "but for a minute I actually thought that..."
She silenced him with a deep but gentle kiss.
"Okay, okay, we're good," Peter said. M.J. just knew all the right buttons to press.
"Well, if you two aren't too busy, we better get to this dinner before it gets cold," Happy called from in the room. Peter followed M.J. to the table, where they all took what had become their usual seats, with Peter and Happy on the ends, and M.J. sitting on the side next to Peter. Tonight was taco night, which was a collective favorite amongst all three of them, so not much talking was done at first until they'd at least had one plateful.
"For the record," Happy said while getting seconds, "she actually only got here just a couple minutes before you came in, so technically she was late too."
M.J. turned in her seat to face Happy's direction; Peter couldn't tell for sure, but given the brief look of deep concern on the man's face, it wasn't hard to picture the look M.J. was giving him.
"That's okay Happy," Peter said. "The score is probably still a bit lopsided in my favor anyway." While he'd gotten much better over time, instances like tonight were still all too common. He always intended to meet up with M.J. on time, and he always left with enough time to do just that. Unfortunately, criminals didn't seem to care that superheroes had personal lives too, and Peter's sense of responsibility always won out over his punctuality.
Thankfully, M.J. seemed to have taken very well to dating a superhero. There were definitely times where Peter could see that she was hurt, bothered, or just annoyed by his tardiness or sudden vanishings, especially early on, but she was always understanding. By now, over two years since they first started dating, M.J. was basically used to it. She supported him through the good and the bad, and Peter tried his best to do the same for her.
"I had something come up at F.E.A.S.T," M.J. explained. "You know, just making sure some of the new people know the right ways to do things."
Peter smirked in response. Somehow that sounded just like his girlfriend.
"What?" M.J. asked.
"Nothing," Peter said. He could tell by her expression she was basically reading his thoughts anyway.
"Uh huh," she muttered, taking another bite of her vegetarian style taco.
Happy finally returned to the table.
"So kid, anything interesting happen on patrol today?" he asked.
"Oh, just the usual," Peter answered. "Busted up a drug deal here, stopped a runaway vehicle there, just the basics really."
"Wow, I didn't think it was possible to make being a superhero sound boring," Happy complained.
"You forget, Peter doesn't talk about himself," M.J. chimed in. "Like, ever."
Peter swallowed the bite of food he just took.
"I guess it's just normal to me by now," he answered. Really, he didn't care to share with his girlfriend and the man who had become the closest thing he had to a father anymore that he was inches away from several bullets, because he knew they worried about him as it was. They still tried to pry details out of him occasionally, so he indulged them as best he could.
"I did save an old couple that were crossing the street from the getaway vehicle though, so that was neat."
"I've always wondered what that must feel like," Happy said, trying to swallow the rest of his bite of food. "Being able to stop a vehicle with nothing but your bare hands."
"It's cool after you've gotten past the accidentally breaking things because you don't know your own strength stage," Peter said. "I couldn't even lean my arms on my bathroom sink too hard at first without hearing the wall crack a little."
"That's okay," Happy said, "it'd just give me an excuse to get an even better one."
"Oh wow, how practical," M.J. said, "anytime you don't like something, just break it off, cause more damage, and get a new one."
"What?" Happy asked. "We live in an apartment; therefore, it would be covered."
"That's what I thought too when I did it," Peter said, "turns out that, if it looks even remotely like it might be the fault of the people living there, landlords can get out of that."
"Really?" Happy replied.
Peter nodded his response.
"Well, there goes that I guess."
After everyone had had their fill, Happy went to his room while Peter and M.J. got out a puzzle to work on. Throughout their time together, this had come to be one of their favorite little date night activities, as it was something that could work their problem-solving minds while allowing them to maintain conversation as well.
"How's campus life in the summer?" Peter asked.
"Quieter, thank goodness," M.J. replied. She had stayed on campus at ESU the previous summer as well, having gotten a job working for the criminal justice department, which she was majoring in.
"I'll bet," Peter replied.
"I start my summer classes here in a couple days, so I might have to dial it back at F.E.A.S.T. a little," she added.
"Typical," Peter replied, "leave me to pick up the slack, as always."
M.J. gave him a stare before playfully punching him in his left arm. Really, Peter was proud of her. She was working towards graduating early with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice, in the hopes of becoming a private investigator, all the while continuing to volunteer at F.E.A.S.T. when she could. She didn't know for sure yet if she wanted to operate independently or work in tandem with a lawyer or something like that, but M.J. had always said that, however she applied her studies and skills, she wanted to be able to do so for those who didn't usually have access to such services due to their expense.
"If I'm being honest, I'm kind of jealous," Peter conceded.
M.J. looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Jealous of what?" she asked.
"You've known what you've wanted to do for a while," Peter answered. "I know I want to do something in science, but I still can't narrow down what I want to do with my life."
"Well, I would have to imagine that a degree in biochemistry will at least get you in a lot of places," M.J. said.
"Yeah, I don't know," Peter muttered, moving a puzzle piece in place. "I guess I just wish I felt more certain about it. It's ironic; I can figure out on the fly how to avoid pumpkin bombs midair from the Green Goblin or come up with a trap for Sandman, but when it comes to my personal life, I can't seem to make decisions or plans to save my life in a different sense."
"That's what I'm here for," M.J. responded, grabbing a puzzle piece and holding it up for Peter to see. "To help you figure out what piece you are in the puzzle." She then stuck it perfectly in place.
"Wow, when did you trade out true crime novels for philosophy books?" Peter asked.
"Contrary to the reputation I may cultivate," M.J. explained, "my personal library is more diverse than you realize."
"How about that?" Peter said. "Over two years later and I'm still learning new things about you."
"Oh, you'll be learning things about me the rest of our lives," M.J. said, smiling at him.
"Sounds good to me." Peter said.
After they finished the puzzle, Peter and M.J. relaxed to a movie before it was time for her to leave.
"You know, I can always swing you back," Peter said.
"Yeah, like I had forgotten the last time you swung me around the city," M.J. replied.
"I'll go easier this time," Peter said.
"Peter, you said that that time was already easier than you usually go," M.J. answered him.
"Come on," Peter said, trying to put on his best begging face.
The serious expression on M.J.'s face showed it wasn't working.
"Okay," Peter said dejectedly. Maybe one day.
He put on his jacket and walked with her out to the bus stop that would take her back to campus.
"Peter, don't worry," she said as the bus pulled up to its stop. "I know you'll figure it all out."
Peter nodded. "Thanks."
"It might help if you had some help out there," M.J. added, pointing skyward. "You know there have been rumors of other vigilantes in the last six months or so."
"Maybe," was all Peter said. He'd heard of these rumors, but nothing concrete had been confirmed yet. He had been very busy as Spider-Man, so some help around the city would be nice.
M.J. leaned in, giving him a kiss.
"I love you," Peter said once they separated.
"I love you too," M.J. replied. She then turned and walked onto the bus, the doors closing behind her.
As he entered his room, Peter caught a glance of the pictures on his desk. He had finally worked up the courage to actually put pictures of May, Ned and Tony where he could easily see them. Sometimes doing so was painful and others it was a reminder of previous good times. He walked over to his desk, taking a seat.
"Miss you guys," he said. While things had improved a lot in his life since the snap, there were times when Peter still felt at a loss, not knowing the answers. If it wasn't for M.J. and Happy, he didn't know where he'd be right now.
The thought of his loved ones getting a little overwhelming, Peter got up from his desk, moving over to the window. He stared at nothing in particular at first, until something caught his eye: shadow, a figure running along the rooftops, using the darkness as an ally to keep itself hidden. Curious to find out who this individual was and wanting to determine whether they might be friend or foe, Peter quickly discarded his clothes in favor of his Spider-Man suit.
Maybe there was more to the rumors after all.
A new adventure begins! Hope you all enjoy this continuation of my previous story, The Path Home! I'm not going to lie, I'm really nervous about this one, as there is a lot to juggle!
Anyway, know that I am continuing to pray for you all; stay safe and healthy!
"Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom." James 3:13