Kicking the Hornet's Nest

Guest 1: Thank you! That really helps.

Gamerlover41592: to be fair, they don't have a warrant out for them.

RadBman21: Yeah this will be more standard chapter length. And yeah I don't think Punisher really does lie? Or ever has a reason to lie? Especially to kids.

pyrojack25: Yeah Thomas was the one I was thinking of, John is also a great punisher but Thomas James just has something about him that is perfect for me. And Yes I have watched the Dirty Laundry short, it's awesome, and totally recommend any punisher fan check it out. And the RWBY comics probably won't be kept in stores, I'd try amazon and see if there's a trade, and if not you can get all of them digitally on the DC comics app.

Dcraus: Yeah I know, I'm excited for MHA but I haven't seen Demon slayer.

Gundam Knight Chris: I mean Punisher did start out as a Spider-man villain so it's not that big a leap.

StriderSpider01: Yeah, just like with RWBY, the world is opening up to Peter and he's still trying to figure out his place in it.

Endermite: I got plans for Rhino and Hobgoboblin. Tombstone too, but the others I'll have to think about how I fit them into this.

Ben: Ben 10 was one of my favorite tv series growing up, I do think it sorta hit it's peak at Alien Force, Ben got serious and acted mature which was a great stepping stone considering how he was as a ten year old and to fifteen. However they unfortunately undo that character development with the next season and the series onward I think. There are certain episodes that are written really well after season 1 of Alien force, the ones with Captain Nemesis are actually really good and some of my favorite.

Spider-Man rubbed his temples through his mask as he sat atop a billboard in downtown Vale in the afternoon, "Ok….ok….so on the one hand, D.A. Bullet is clearly in cahoots with Fisk." he said out loud to himself. "I mean it's not really surprising, Fisk has to have a in with SOMEONE at the District Attorney's office right?" he asked himself rhetorically. It certainly explained how that no one would push for an investigation into the supposed Kingpin of Crime. "So f he gets into office, he's going to make my life incredibly harder." he reasoned.

"BUT THEN. JONAH is the only. Other. Candidate…" he paused as he looked up from his lap, "So I'm screwed either way." he sighed out before shooting a webline and swinging off her perch.

Obviously Jonah here is the lesser of two evils. But that still means he's evil here! Why couldn't have Martin Li run for Councilman? Or Glynda Goodwitch. Or anyone else?! he thought to himself in frustration, casting out another webline to a building and swinging down towards the street which he zoom over traffic. Launching off a line, he landed on the roof of a bus to hitch a ride, I gotta put Fisk away, I don't care what it takes, I gotta stop Fisk. he thought with determination. Which first meant getting in touch with Jean DeWolf.

With no Scroll reception in the Kingdom, it was currently impossible to get a call out for ore then a few city blocks away. So after checking in at her station as Peter Parker, he got word that she was at a murder downtown she was investigating. So he suited up and started on his way to the crime scene to help her if he could. "Hey! Look! It's the Freak!" Spider-Man looked over to the curb to see an man pointing at him with the people around him backing up from the bus in fear. "Why don't you just get out of here! You've screwed things up enough!" the man shouted as someone in the crowd threw a plastic bottle at the vigilante.

Peter moved his head to the side out of the projectile's way, "Well that's not nice! I didn't throw anything at you, and you choose to wear socks in sandals! Nobody does that!" he retorted as he shot a webline out to pull him off the bus and out of the way of a rock. Also yeah, maybe tone down the fearmongering when we just now got the Grimm out of the Kingdom. Peter thought dryly.

Flying overtop a building, he shot a webline out to a crane's arm and swung himself over a city block where he saw a police cruiser parked on the side of the rod in front of an alley. Shooting a web down to swing from, he landed on the wall of the alley and crawled along underneath the windows of the abandoned tenement he was on. Crawling deeper into the alleyway, he looked down to the ground to see a few officers inspecting the area. Oh man, hot crime scene. Alright, be careful not to mess with anything. he thought as he continued down the wall to an open parking lot.

Leaping off the wall to a light post, he saw CSI techs going over the scene of the crime below, he also saw DeWolf talking with a few officers. "-for about six blocks. I'll be radioing the precinct and getting some airships to help search." she said to her officers who nodded at her orders. As Jean waked back to her car to radio for a air support in the search, she stopped when she saw a web across the side of her tire with a note inside it.

Plucking it free, she opened it up, 'Alleyway meet?' it read. Looking over to the alleyway she saw Spider-Man's head poking out over the top, watching as people below went about their tasks.

Making her way across the crime scene to the alley entrance, she made sure none of her men were around to see as Spider-Man crawled down the wall above her, "How are you doing?" she asked.

"Considering there's a warrant out for my arrest and I'm talking with a Police Captain? Pretty good." the vigilante replied from above. "What happened?" he asked.

Jean looked over to the street where one of her men was interviewing for witnesses, "We'll according to ten people, a young lady parked her car here and was, and I quote, 'Attacked by a swarm of Bees.' end quote." she relayed to him, having to have heard that story the same way a number of times from people to be sure.

"Wait…..you mean like Grimm Bees right? Those are a thing." Spider-Man asked unsurely. All of his friends who were huntsmen and huntresses were out of the Kingdom so he couldn't be sure.

"Yes there are, but no these were not. I mean a literal swarm of Bees." she explained, looking up at him and showing their shared confusion. Spider-Man shook his head, it had to be someone new, unless somehow Norman Osborn managed to train a beehive to follow his commands. "They attacked an hour ago, the swarm was so dense they couldn't even see her, then it split up in the air and they found her stung to death so….yeah."

Spider-Man rubbed his head in confusion, "Uhh, ok. Do we know why?"

"That actually I have a theory on it." the Captain said as she crossed her arms. "We searched the car of the victim, it belongs to a Debora Greendale. I thought I recognized the name so I flipped through my notes. She works for an auction house owned by Fisk." she said with a smirk, making the hero's eyes grow. "Fisk bought a lot of goods from other Kingdoms before the Fall, it's how we think he's gotten weapons for his men into the city. Store them along with art pieces for transport."

Spider-Man nodded, "Ok, you think this might be the Rose making another move at Fisk? I mean Tarantula must have been his guy too right?" he theorized. Someone using powered individuals to their own means was what Fisk did to him, so Rose doing it to Fisk wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.

"Right. And here's the kicker, this is the third Kidnapping of someone who works for Fisk." she added, "But this is the most public one."

"Meaning that they're close to getting what they want and don't think we can stop them." Spider-Man reasoned as he adjusted himself on the wall so he was upright and crouching against it with one hand on it. "So I'm going to assume your watching the other people who work for Fisk. Could I maybe convince you to make forget about the D.A?" he asked.

Jean shook her head, "No, look I wish I could do something about it but he's shut me out completely. Anyone who even tries to bring something against Fisk? He dismisses." she explains, Spidey's eyes narrowing in frustration. "But he wasn't out with us in the Fall, everyone on the force knows where you stand Spidey, boys and blue will give you a chase but if you happen to be 'too fast'…..well what can anyone do?" she asked smugly.

"Peter smirked under his mask, "DeWolf, your awesome. You know that?" he asked, the Captain rolled her eyes. "So what do I do? Aside from keep my eyes out for roving Bees?" he asked.

"Right now? Just that. I have my men carrying flares with them if they come across something so if you see one, then that's where I need you." she let out a sigh of frustration, "Sooner we fix the network the better." she said as Spider-Man crawled up the side of the wall.

As Jean walked back out to the crime scene, neither she nor Spider-Man noticed the figure watching them across the street on the rooftop. Holding a walkie talkie up to his head he pressed the call button, "It'ssss me. We have a problem."

'What kind of problem?' the voice of the Rose asked on the other end of the line.

"The Ssspider kind. He and his cop friend know what I'm doing for you." the figure said with a drawl.

The Rose hummed in thought, 'Then get rid of her. If he's busy keeping her safe he can't stop you from taking care of the rest of our deal.'

The figure growled, "The Sssspider should be my target! You said you'd help me kill him after I take care of your problemsss!"

'I know, and I said that I'd help you and I will. But if the police get involved, Fisk will rain fire down on us with his D.A. friend. After you take care of the police captain, the Spider is our next target.' the Rose replied before hanging up.

The elevator to the Bugle's Bullpen opened to Peter, walking into the offices Peter had to hold back his groan when he saw a cart of poster advertisements for Jonah's Councilman campaign roll by. Remember Parker, lesser of two evils. Lesser of two evils. he thought to himself as he walked. Approaching Jonah's office, he saw the door was cracked open and Betty wasn't outside at her desk, peeking inside he saw her and Robbie in his office with Jonah….with a hologram of himself.

"I'm thinking we ship one to every paperstand in the Kingdom! Get this face out into the Kingdom! Betcha Bullet doesn't have nearly as many billboards or ad space." Jonah said cheeky with a grin as the Hologram of him gave thumbs up and a smile that Peter personally thought would make small children cry.

Robbie sighed, "Listen Jonah, you know I support you on this, and I'm glad that you see that Bullet isn't fit to hold a seat on the council but are you sure about this? I mean you didn't even consult with me about this." his friend asked as he crossed his arms over his chest, his expression stern but not angered or disappointed.

"Robbie I know that I'm doing! I'm taking a stand for all the people who have suffered because of some lawless vigilantes like-" he began ranting before seeing Peer standing in the doorway. "Parker! Stop lingering and get in here!" he barked. The young man entered and smiled at Betty who flashed him a smile, "What is it, what do you want, why are you wasting my precious time?"

"I work here?" he supplied. "And I was wondering if you heard about this thing about bees abducting people?" he asked. Silence took over the room, "I swear it's an actual story, someone was kidnapped by a swarm of bees today and it's not the first time this has happened." he explained.

Jonah's hand hit his desk! "Exactly like that! Bees kidnapping people! Betty, get your fiancé on that. This is all because of Spider-Man! I mean come on! Bees?! Spiders?! There must be a correlation!" he argued.

Peter sighed, Yeah should have seen that one coming. he dryly thought. As Jonah's Spider-Man rant continued, Betty tugged him out of the office and closed it behind him.

"I just went in there to ask if there was anything about leaving Vale for our honeymoon but nope, politics." she said dryly as she sat down at her desk and opened her drawer and flipped through it for the check they owed Peter for his last batch of Photos.

Peter smiled at her, "Speaking of which, when's the date? MJ is excited to come, she promises not to wear something that will take the spotlight off you." he said jokingly, making the faunus chuckle as she pulled out a check and handed it to him.

"Next week. We're setting it in stone, rehearsal is two days before on Friday, Sunday morning at 10 a.m….." she trailed off, taking a long, deep, breath to calm herself down. "I shouldn't be nervous but…."

"You are. Totally understandable." Peter replied with a knowing look. He could only imagine what Betty was going through, he was nervous as hell asking Mary Jane and Yang out respectively, asking MJ or anyone for that matter for Marriage? His heart might not take it. "Hey, how long have you two been together?" he asked.

Betty smiled, "Five years now….though before you got here Ned spent eight months as a foreign correspondent." she added with a sad smile, "He wanted to do it though, see the world? And I get it, I still missed him though."

"I bet…..are you guys really going to stay in Vale?" he asked unsurely. The Fall made the population in Vale drop like a stone in water, you didn't need to be a brainiac to figure out why. Minstrel and Vaccuo both seemed like safer Kingdoms to be, but with Atlas going dead quiet it was either those two or stay if you wanted safety from the Grimm.

Betty smiled, "Things have been pretty shitty Pete…..but I think the fact we're all back in town show we don't run when things just get a little though." she said with pride. Peter smiled back, "You do have a shirt and coat for the wedding right? I know a good place you could rent one if you don't." she offered.

Peter shook his head, "Nah I got it covered, thanks though Betty." he replied with appreciation before walking away with a friendly wave goodbye.

There were many unspoken rules for being in a relationship with someone, most of these rules were common sense and just simple. Pull the chair out for them when at a restaurant, hold the door open for them as they leave or enter a building, and most of all offer up a hand if they are doing something which requires a lot of work. Now Peter and Harry being the boyfriends they were readily offered to help Liz and Mary Jane move into their place with Gloria. However neither one figured how much stuff they would be moving, "Peter….I don't think my arms can keep this up." Harry said as the boxes of clothes, accessories, and shoes in his arms wavered.

Peter's spider strength was giving him a clear advantage but was making sure he was shaking just as much as Harry was out of solidarity. They were in the elevator of the girls' apartment building and had two more floors to go, "Just hold it a little longer Harry. We got this." he 'struggled' to say.

"Why did I agree to this? I'm rich! I have movers! We did the same thing with our furniture!" Harry exclaimed.

The elevator doors opened and the two scurried out into the hall where Gloria was holding the door to her apartment open for them with a strained look, "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I swear Vaccuo food is on me." she said, clasping her hands together as they entered the apartment and bowing her head gratefully as the two sat the plastic containers down, Mary Jane and Liz taking a box each and walking them to their perspective rooms.

Harry waved his numb fingers, he and Peter crashed on the couch in the living room while their girlfriends walked back in, "Thanks a bunch guys." Liz said gratefully, walking over to Harry and pecking him on the cheek, the Osborn heir groaning in soreness as he stretched his feet out. "Awww, poor baby. Are your hands hurting?" she asked. Harry nodded, she smiled at him, "Well I promise I'll make it up to you later." she swore before pecking him again, this time on the lips.

Peter looked at MJ expectantly, "Where's my 'thank you smooch' lady?" he asked playfully, MJ instead ruffled his hair affectionately, knowing full well he didn't so much as strain a pinky doing the heavy lifting. Instead she offered him a bottle of water which he gladly took, "Thanks."

"Thank you guys." Gloria replied as she crashed between the two on the couch, "Went by much faster with you two helping out."

Harry ran a hand down his sweaty face, "No problem Gloria, wish Flash could have made it to help but he needed to get paperwork signed." he explained. Flash still intended to join the Military, however with Atlas pulling out of the rest of the world and going silent, he instead decided to join the Vale Defense Force, the standing military that was forming here in the Kingdom to help the smaller settlements deal with Grimm.

Liz smiled softly, "I'm glad he's sticking around instead of going all the way to Atlas." she admitted. Just because they were exes didn't mean she didn't care about the Griffball player.

Harry smirked, "Yeah, I think he's going out to basic next week."

Peter sat up straighter, "Wait, when next week?" he asked.

Harry shrugged, "I don't know, he didn't say, he just said next week. Why?" he asked.

"I got the wedding to shoot at next week. I don't want to miss Flash going though." he explained. Flash and he had a…..complicated past. But he admitted that he and the blonde had become good friends since high school, and seeing him off to basic was only right. And there was the fact that Flash felt obligated to enlist because Spider-Man of all people inspired him to do so, and he felt, of course, responsible in a way.

Liz shrugged, "He probably means like Friday or something. Flash wouldn't just leave at the drop of a hat." she assured before smiling. "So the wedding is next week? Ned and Betty right?" she asked, Peter had told them about them and she found it romantic that the two wanted to be wed now after the Fall since they nearly lost each other.

Peter nodded as MJ sat on the arm of the couch beside him, "Yep. I've never even been to a wedding before this one." he admitted, he had been to more funerals then weddings, that thought made him frown momentarily. He glanced over at gloria, that last two events he had to dress up for where Pyrrha's wake and Kenny's funeral, Both you could have stopped. a small voice in his head whispered.

He shook his head of that thought, taking a breath he forced himself to smile and look up at MJ, "By the way I told Betty you wouldn't steal the limelight on her special day, so maybe don't wear something gorgeous if that's possible?" he asked jokingly. However the redhead seemed to notice his slightly dower mood but smiled back at him nevertheless.

"So…you guys ever think about it?" Gloria asked the two couples on either side of her with a grin.

As she predicted, both parties stumbled with their answers.

"I….well…..me and Liz are…." Harry cleared his throat as Liz's face turned peachy and her gaze was drawn to her hands, a small smile on her face which Harry was too flustered to notice. "We….we haven't discussed it." he settled on.

Peter looked over at Mary Jane, meeting her surprised eyes with his curious ones, she immediately broke his gaze. "Yeah. We haven't….we haven't either." she replied awkwardly. Peter felt a pang of guilt in his chest from the tone of her disappointment just ever present in her voice, shaking her head she smiled and turned back to the others, "Look, we have more pressing matters, where is our food?" she asked.

Gloria grabbed her scroll to dial, only to see that there was still no reception, "…um…..give me…..ten minutes!" she said before shooting up from her spot a bolding out the door.

Peter looked over to Harry, "How's that comm grid coming along?" he asked, Harry had told him that Oscorp had a plan on a large scale communication grid that would replace the CCT in Vale planned out by his dad. One he found before the fall, which simply added to reasons why Peter hated the man. He planned on profiting off all the destruction he helped cause.

"Well the plan is pretty simple, we got these cell towers we need to hook up to the power grid, and they'll cover the Kingdom, but…." he trailed off.

"But?" Peter ventured.

"Well we need a direct connection to the CCT to make it so that scrolls can hook up to it, but until they get Beacon back? And get rid of that thing at the top of the tower? That's not gonna happen." he explained sadly. "We're working on some other way in the meantime but it'd be faster if we could get the connection to the CCT."

Peter cupped his chin and nodded, "Right, you guys would need access to the old network, otherwise people wouldn't be able to access the data stored before the Fall." he said more to himself as MJ smiled. Watching the gears turning in her head she looked over at Harry and Liz as she counted down from 'five' with her hand, "You might not need the CCT to be fully operational, if you could just get the uplink code you could get all the data wirelessly through the new network your setting up. But that would be in the tower itself…hmmm…."

On paper, all you would need is just one Huntsmen to do the job, maybe someone like Glynda Goodwitch. "I might have an idea Harry."

MJ smiled as she leaned down and pecked him on the forehead, "That's what earns you a kiss." she replied cutely as Peter smiled up at her.

"Ok…..ok, here it goes." Spider-Man cleared his throat as he walked up the brick wall in full costume. Patrol was a little slow tonight so he thought of rehearsing what to say when he finally told Mary Jane how he felt about her. "MJ, I know that you said I don't need to but…..no, no, no that's a dumb way to start." he dismissed with a shake of his head. Leaping off the wall, he shout out a webline and swung from it, I don't want to sound like I'm obligated to do this, I really do love her! he thought as he flung himself off his web with a few flips through the air and letting out another strand to swing from.

Looking down below he could see a few people on a rooftop trying to enter through the roof entrance. As one of the men approached the door with a tool box in their hand, they knelt down with the other two standing watch, however neither of the lookouts saw the webbing from above slam into the back of their friends' head and stick him to the door, "GAH!" he yelped.

The two intruders looked back to their friend, not seeing Spider-Man come down from above, landing into the back of one of them, "Oh come on guys really? Your sneaking in on the roof in the Amazing Spider-Man's home turf? Whose the genius who thought of this one?" he asked sarcastically as the last guy swung a crowbar at his head which he easily caught. "Ah! You must be the genius!" he said before punching the guy clear aross the roof, before he could go over the side however, a webline attached to his chest.

Falling over the side, the webbing went tight and the robber was swung into the sideof the building. Attaching the end of the webline to the roof, he made sure to web the other thief in place, "Solid B for effort guys." he said before leaping off and shooting a webline to swing from out from. Man I hope Harry takes my advice for the network he's making so I can just text Jean pickup locations for bad guys like I used to. he thought.

The lack of Scroll coverage was starting to wear a little thin on everyone, "Alright then. Mary Jane….I love you, I know you didn't want-wait-no-ah!" he cursed himself as he swung up over a rooftop. Letting himself go, the touched don on a wall and walked along it, "MJ. I love you, I know you said I didn't need to say it but I really do love you and…and what genius?" he asked himself as he ran his hands down his mask, "Man what am I doing?! Just tell her how you feel you dummy. What's the worst that can happen….she breaks up with you…which is actually pretty bad because then we'll be so awkward around each other…..god what if she avoids me! Like! Forever!?"

He shook his head, "No, no. MJ's not like that. She's mature. Your mature. She'll just tell you, 'I said you didn't need to say it. So why are you saying it?' which somehow is even WORSE then breaking up because then it's just weird." he said to himself, predicting how he'll have to explain how he wasn't just saying it because she did MONTHS ago. As he continued with his private plight however, a screech filled the night, "Oh thank you! Literally anything else!" he exclaimed in joy as he leapt up the wall to the top of the roof, watching as a red flare burned up into the sky. One of DeWolf's flares! he let lose a webline and swung off towards the flare.

Cresting over a watertower, Spider-Man heard the screams of people as he pulled himself across the rooftop with a web, reaching the other wide he saw the cause of the pandemonium.

There were Bees. EVERYWHERE!.

The winged swarm of insects covered the entire street in a fog as acar drove down the road, "Well I was wondering where their target was." Spider-Man said as she swung down after the speeding vehicle and through the swarm of bees. Wait a second I know that car! That's- "DeWolf!" he shouted as he swung around the corner after the car. Guess our bee keeper set his sights on Jean! Crap! Alright get Jean to safety. he thought as he swung through the bees, pulling up on his webline to try and get some breathing room where he didn't swallow three of them through his mask.

They're not stinging me, they're only after DeWolf then. he realized as he leapt off his webline and ran on the wall, shooting large web nets at the car to try and pull the bees off her. Ahead on the street however, there was a red light with a semi passing through the intersection, "Crap!" he exclaimed as Jean pulled to the right on the curb and clipped the street lamp!

The sudden break made her car lift up off the ground and spin in the air, swatting the bees aay as Spider-Man used his webs to pull himself onto the car heading for the semi, landing on the roof of the vehicle, he lifted his legs up into the air as they spun and planted them firmly on the ground, making the concrete crack from the sudden impact, Peter winced as he felt the contents of the car shift within, "Oooh boy I hope she doesn't blame me for that one." he said as he lowered the car's roof to the ground and looked inside the cracked window.

Inside, Jean was hanging upside down with a dazed look, he tapped on the glass, "DeWolf! Are you alright?!" he asked.

She swallowed and nodded, "Yeah….yeah get me out of this…" she breathed out, Spider-Man pulling her door off, "Spidey, come on, my door." she dizzily chastised as Peter pulled her out and Buzzing once again filled the air.

"Yeah, yeah, bite my head off later we gotta go, hang on to your lunch!" he said as he hoisted Jean over his shoulder and shot a webline up and launched himself into the air on it as the insects flew over her car. Landing on a ledge, Spider-Man set Jean down as she rubbed her head, "Guess they really didn't like that floral pattern on your back seat." he joked as Jean pulled herself over to the ledge and watched as her car was infested with the insects. He looked to her with concern, "You ok?" he asked again.

She nodded, the entire stunt she just went through having left her a little shaken up, "Yeah, yeah I'm good…..jeeze. I was just heading home when I heard the buzzing. I looked in my window and saw them." she admitted as she rubbed her head. "But why are they in my car, did they not see us bail?" she asked.

Spider-Man watched as the bees formed a cloud around her car, "I don't know….look, I'll get you to a hospital to get checked out-" he began before she shook her head.

"No, no that's bad. If Whoever did this is after me, I can't put innocent people in danger. There's an old safehouse nearby you can take me too. I'll radio in what happened." she said as she stood up and shook the cobwebs out of her head. Spider-Man stood up beside her and put a supportive hand on her shoulder, "I'll be fine just…..still a little shook." she admitted.

"And she's ok?" Mary Jane asked as she walked along with Peter up the steps of the public library of Vale. It hadn't been hit hard like some of the other buildings during the Fall thankfully. He had plans to meet with MJ for breakfast but he needed to do what research he could on bees, to at least try and find some way to explain how they were sent after Jean. And with the CCT down the only place that had the information he needed was the library.

MJ was more than willing to accommodate their breakfast date to a study one.

"Yeah. Shaken up but I mean who wouldn't be when a bunch of bees are coming after you like you threw their hive off a roof?" he asked as they walked up the steps to the front door together. Holding the door open for her, MJ entered before Peter and looked around to see a number of people at the library. "Entomology is this way if I remember right." Peter said as he left MJ off to the right. The redhead smirking over at him as they walked, "What?"

"You know exactly where the books on insects are?" she asked teasingly, Peter smirked and bowed his head, "Ok, wow, you said you were a nerd but memorizing the library?" she asked jokingly as he leveled a finger at him.

"I didn't-when I…" he looked back to make sure they were alone before turning back to her as they entered the isles, "-when I first got my powers I dropped by here to study myself." he explained in a whisper.

MJ's lips quirked playfully at him, "Is that what you call it? I'm surprised you got away with that in here." she replied, Peter's cheeks burned red as he elbowed her, "Ok, ok. So you hoping to figure how Bee man or whoever it is can control his bees?" she guessed.

"That's the idea, yeah." Peter replied as his eyes glanced over the spines of the books lining the shelves. Seeing one about insects he pulled it off the shelf, along with the next on which had scientific studies about different local bugs, and for good measure just a general education book on nature and the biome of Vale and the Kingdom. "I remember Yang telling me that Weiss had to drag her and the others to the libaray to study for a Grimm final they had." he commented as he walked over to a empty table with his girlfriend.

MJ nodded, "Yeah, Pyrrha told me about that. Apparently the professor put half his class to sleep telling the most boring stories ever that didn't even talk about Grimm." she replied as she flipped through the book, checking the Index for where to search for the chapters detailing bees, hornets, and wasps. "You ever wonder why they can look like animals?" she asked.

Peter paused as he looked over the page of a wasp, "I remember when I was a kid, Uncle Ben would tell me that Grimm look like animals because they got too angry with Humans and Faunus for killing them." he recalled. He had asked Weiss about what the prevailing theory was, however he was surprised that there wasn't one, they simply focused on how to best effectively deal with the creatures. "But I mean….he didn't know about Salem."

Mary Jane frowned and nodded, the fact that the Grimm followed someone terrified her, because it meant that if she just wanted to she could make all of this just…..stop. No more families being killed by Grimm, no more worries that Vale could be hit by another wave if things got too negative or depressing. Part of her wanted to shout it from the rooftops out of spite for what happened to Pyrrha, her hand balled into a fist at the thought.

If she ever saw Ozpin again, she'd break his goddamn nose.

Peter saw the bubbling frustration and swallowed, "Um…look, about the other day with Gloria…I'm sorry." he apologized, making MJ's head snap up at him in surprise.

"What? You didn't do anything." she replied.

Peter felt his neck warm up, "I know….right…..it's just…..should I have?" he asked unsurely. MJ suddenly found the book she had been casually flipping through interesting, "I mean…I'm not asking obviously, I was just…you seemed uncomfortable and….." he trailed off. Jeeze telling her I love her is less awkward than this. he thought.

Her emerald eyes glanced up at him with a soft look in them, she shook her head, "No your fine. I just….I never really put much thought at all into that sorta thing." she admitted. Marriage seemed like a fantasy for the longest time, but now…even if it wasn't with Peter, settling down one day could be in her future. "I guess…..one day. Not anytime soon obviously."

Peter seemed to relax at her answer, "Right. Obviously." so it wasn't just him that hadn't thought about it, that was a relief. As he looked back down at his page, he skimmed over the text in search for anything that makes bees aggressive.

MJ read through as well, stopping briefly to breeze over the arachnid section of the book, glancing up at her boyfriend she briefly imagined him here after getting his powers for the first time. I wouldn't even have thought to research Spiders. she thought to herself as she cam across the Bees section, "Ok lets see…Queenlessness?" she asked skeptically, "Huh, never thought about it but that makes sense."

"Don't think a lack of leaderships is the problem but good to know." he said, it meant that once he takes out whoever was in charge of the bees, if they were identified as the 'queen bee', they might turn hostile to everyone around. "Means I gotta be careful when I take them down." he explained as he turned the page. "Wait, here's something. Fighting Bees will release and Alarm Pheromone to identify attackers." he read.

Mary Jane leaned over the table and Peter turned the book so she could read it, "That sounds about right. You said they totally ignored you right? Can you make concentrated Pheromones?" she asked unsurely.

Peter nodded, "Yeah that's not a problem for someone knowledgeable in biochemistry." he replied, artificial pheromones was a niche field but it was being researched to potentially dissuade Grimm from attracted to people. "So that could explain how the killer attacked Jean…in fact I might be able to track it." he said as he gathered up the books and closed them up.

MJ shook her head in disbelief, "What? Peter, this is probably the first time I've read up on bugs but last time I checked, Spiders aren't known for tracking." she replied.

The vigilante smirked as he picked up the books, "True. But you need specific equipment and chemicals in order to make pheromones." he explained, making his girlfriends' eyes widen in realization.

"You just need to find where they can make this stuff. And there's only so many places in the Kingdom where that could be." she realized as she followed Peter back down the isle.

He nodded in affirmation, "Exactly." he said as he put the books back on the shelf where he found them, pulling out his scroll he used the 'map' to pull up a map of the kingdom. All scrolls were given a updated map of the Kingdoms and larger settlements annually, people in Vale had to update theirs manually to include areas that still weren't entirely safe or clear or people to move back in. Glancing over at the parts of the Kingdom which where still under 'lockdown', once place stood out.

Both Peter and MJ frowned at the familiar corporation which had a place that specialized in biochemicals. Oscrop. they both thought.

After leaving the Library and giving MJ a kiss on the cheek, he left for the Oscrop Biochem Research Lab.

And here I was hoping I was done looking down at abandoned streets. Peter dryly thought as he swung through the air on his webbing. The Eastern part of the Kingdom was still quarantined from the rest of the Kingdom due to it's proximity to Beacon, in the distance he could just see the School, the large shadow of the Dragon atop the school's CCT tower. But it is the best place for a killer to be hiding out. he thought as he shot a webline onto the side of the Oscrop building and swung up onto the roof.

Landing atop a AC unit, he saw a large skylight that spanned across the roof with a few broken windows. Diving through the sharp shards he cast a webline up to the support ribs of the skylight and spun himself down into a large lab. Awww man! I do not want to trash this place. he thought quietly to himself as he swung his body off the webline and onto the wall. I asked Harry about this place a while back, he said that they were researching some way to suppress emotions with pheromones. But Norman pushed for Human testing and now some of the test subjects are seemingly stuck in apathy. he recalled.

He stopped on the wall when he heard buzzing, looking up to the skylight, he watched as a purple becloaked with insect wings in their back floated down through one of the broken skylights. Around her a moving army of bees followed her down to the lab setup. The large insect wings folded beneath her cloak, Spider-Man watched as she approached a cooler and retrieved some vials. Holding them up and sniffing them, the figure popped the corks off and drank them!

WOAH. WOAH, WOAH! That's not how that works! Spider-Man thought as he dropped from the wall to a support beam that divided up the lab stations behind the assassin. "I don't know who taught you proper lab safety but that's like….the absolute last thing you EVER do." Spider-Man warned, making the cloaked figure whirl around.

"Sssssspider-Man!" the figure hissed out at him as the hive around them buzzd to life. Spider-Man simply raised his hands and sprayed a large net of thick webbing, wrapping up the assassin and making her stumble back against the cooler, her hood fell and Spider-Man was stunned by what he saw. The woman's eyes…..all six of them, were large a black like that of a hornet, her skin was disclored a sickly yellow. "You! You did thissss!"

Spider-Man reeled back, "Me!? Lady, I don't think I've ever met you before in my life! I'm pretty sure I'd remember you." he said in bewilderment.

She let ou a sick chuckle, "You….he was obessssed with you. He wanted us to be just like you….." she spat out, Peter's blood running cold. "Merlot…I first sssaw you and I thought, 'It mussst be amazzzing to fly like that.' ." she hissed out with a buzz in her throat. Spider-Man's head bowed, when he and RWBY liberated the people from Merlot's Island there were some who managed to escape. But they never had an idea of how many, but it was clear that this young lady was one of them.

"I…I'm sorry." he apologized before his Spider Sense ran down his spine, the woman let out a screech that reverberated through the room and sounded like a inhuman insect-like noise that Spider-Man had to cover his ears from. Turning around to the source of danger, he was sidelined by a mass of bees!

"Ssssave it! I don't want your pitty! I want your life!" she spat out hatefully as Peter shot a webline out and pulled himself away, feeling a few dozen bee stings down his back as he pulled himself free. Swinging up onto the wall and sprinting along it, he could barely hear the woman over the sound of he buzzing. "I coated this place with a pheromone that marks you as a invasssive species! You can run all you want, but they'll hunt you down!" she called out as Spider-Man leapt up towards the skylight, bursting through the glass and sprinting across the roof.

Ow! OW! Ow! Ow! God I hate bees! he hissed to himself as he flung himself off the roof and shot a webline out as the swarm flew after him. That poor woman, she's one of Merlot's experiments to try and make me…god is this my fault?! he shook his head as he swung around a lamp post and up along the side of a building he ran on. Guilt trip later, survival now! I gotta find a way to kill the bees, but if I get near people who knows how they'll react? he thought as he sprayed a large web back the way he was swinging to try and stall for a moment. The swarm piled against the sheet of webbing, ballooning against it until it burst apart!.

He couldn't just shake them like a regular bad guy! They basically were tracking him by scent, Alright then, just gotta loose the scent. And there's one place in the abandoned part of the Kingdom of Vale you can do that! he thought as he spun out two weblines to pull him over the side of a building and fall down towards the street below. Shooting a precise webline down to the ground, he hit the lid of a manhole cover and pulled it up towards him as he inhaled a deep breath. He flew down past the lid, the webbing pulling taught on it and yanking it back down as the swarm pursued him, diving down into the hole, the lid slammed shut behind him with the bees crashing into the ground in a mass of buzzing.

Back at the Oscorp facility, the cross species was trying to break free of the webbing around her. As soon as I can, I'll find the police woman and fulfill my deal with Rose, I'll make sure that Spider-Man is dead! she thought spitefully without her speech being impeded with the change to her vocal cords. Suddenly something rancid was in the air, "Ugh! What isss that?!" she hissed out before more webbing covered her shoulders from above and pulled her up to where Spider man had looped a strand of webbing through one of the ribbed supports, "UGH godsss! It'ss you!" she said before nearly heaving from the odor.

"Hey you're the one who made me dive into a sewer that hasn't been cleaned in six months! What do you expect lady!?" the vigilante asked indigently. "Look, tell you what, tell me what the Rose is planning and I'll get one of those little trees you put in cars. The woman glared at him, "Or I could stick around until the cops show up, and by then you'll be just as rancid as me!"

The woman nearly gagged, "Guh! Fine! I'll tell you! Jusst sstay away!" she relented.

Spider-Man crawled along the ceiling until he was a few feet away, "Now talk! Or so help me you'll need even more tomato sauce then I will to smell anything remotely close to normal!" he threatened.

She frowned and looked down at the ground below, "The Rossse wantsss the Kingpin to ssssuffer. And with hisss sights on his friend in the council ssseat, he can't protect his interessstssss. Sssso he offered me a opportunity to sssslay you if I helped him." she hissed out.

Spider-Man rubbed the back of his head, "Listen…I'm sorry this happened to you. But I had nothing to do with it-"

"It doessen't matter!" the woman barked out at him, "If you meant to or not, I'm thisss freak, this Ssswarm, because of you! And we'll get our revenge!" she spat out venomusly.

Spider-Man's head snapped up at her, "Wait. We?"

After dropping Swarm, as Jameson later named her, off at the police, Peter went to Jean and informed her of what he learned. Rose targeting Fisk's associates because he was trying to establish Bullet as the next Councilman. This would be one thing if he was just ruining Fisk's Businesses. Or stopping his illegal money flow, I'd stay out of it then and let them fight it out, but I can't ignore people dying. Peter thought as he grabbed the bottle of sanitizer and sprayed it in the sink where he was currently soaking his costume in. Harry was out at work and he had stopped by the Bugle to drop his photos off he took of Spider-Man dropping Swarm at the police station.

He also made sure to search the Oscorp facility for a pheromone blocker so that once he got clean he wouldn't need to worry about Bees randomly attacking him in the Kingdom.

But that left Peter with one problem. His costume STANK.

He had spent ALL the soap and shampoo but at least he didn't smell like sewage….the costume on the other hand needed some work. "It's sorta sweet that your trying your hardest not to have to throw away the costume I made you." Mary Jane teased as she looked over his shoulder to inspect his work, only for her eyes to water at the chemicals used to clean the suit, "Ugh! Hoobooy, that's…strong. Ugh." she said, blinking the tears away and rubbing her eyes.

Peter saw and dropped the suit in the sink and dried off his hands with some paper towels, "Oh damn! I'm sorry MJ, I should have warned you." he apologized as he pulled open the drawer and take out a cloth. Reaching his hands out he cupped her cheek gently with one and wiped her eyes clean with the soft cloth. Her eyes blinked open and the emerald orbs looked at him softly as he looked at her with concern.

"Your fine Tiger. Just go easy on the bleach." she joked as she lifted her hand up and clasped her hand over his. He smiled at her and leaned his forehead against her's, "Hey…..you ok?"

He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm fine, just…..Swarm being that way because of Merlot? Sorta got to me." he admitted. "I'm just…..I'm pissed that he ruined that girl's life."

MJ smirked, "Well that's a change. Mad at someone else, reasonably, and not feeling guilty." she replied in fake 'awe', Peter chuckled as his arms encircled around her and her hands slid up his shoulders and locked around the back of his neck.

"I know it's not my fault….but there's more people out there like her and from the sound of it, the Rose is-Mmmhhh." he was stopped when Mary Jane kissed him. He tasted the sweetness of her lips, he leaned into her more, pressing her back against the small island that separated the kitchen and living room. Pulling back, MJ looked at him sweetly. "-is…..a problem for another day." he said with a smile.

MJ giggled, "I know you got a lot on your mind Tiger. But look, you won today, sure it got your costume all…." she looked over his shoulder and winced. "….messy. But Jean is safe. That's a win." she told him positively.

Peter smiled contently, "Yeah…yeah it is." he agreed before leaning in and capturing her lips with his own. Pulling back he saw the caring look behind her eyes, the ever so soft but happy smile, "….I love you."

And just like that her eyes were wide, "I….know you said I didn't need to say it back, but…I do love you Mary Jane….." he admitted, feeling his heartbeat pound in his ribcage. The redhead stayed quiet as she looked at him, he wondered briefly if she could feel the pounding in his chest as well.

His fear stopped when she leaned into him and kissed him on the lips, her hands cupping the sides of his head as he felt her push herself against him unexpectedly. When she slowly drew back, she smiled at him in relief, "About time dummy."

He snorted, "Oh yeah, that's the reaction I was hoping for." he joked, making them borth snort out a laugh. "And what about Tiger?" he asked, she laughed before kissing him again.

Sliding her lips off his, she breathed against them and Peter felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, "I love you too Tiger." she answered before closing the distance that was between them again.

Peter's hands encircled around her, Mary Jane felt like she was walking on air. Leaning back she looked into Peter's eyes and felt her heartrate skyrocket as she felt herself pressed against him. She kissed him again, this time a little more rough, he seemed surprised by the sudden action but he quickly adjusted and met her lips with his own. She felt him tug at her lower lip and they broke back breathing heavily.

*BANG BANG BANG!*

The two lovebirds broke apart startled as they looked to the door where the knock came from. Peter looked back to the sink in a panic where his costume was!

Peter and MJ separated as the door 'spoke', "Hey uhh Pete…..you in? I kind a left my keys at work." Harry's voice called as the two both breathed a sigh of relief.

MJ walked over to the sink and pulled out his costume, "I got this." she assured him with a smile. Peter nodded in gratitude they broke apart, MJ taking the costume to his bedroom while Peter went to the door.

Opening it Peter smiled to himself, Harry was standing outside with a slightly annoyed look, Peer opened his mouth but Harry held up a hand, "Before you start, I know exactly where they are." he told him assuring .

Peter closed his mouth and moved aside to let his friend enter the apartment, "So how'd the meeting with your scientists go?" he asked, thinking back to their conversation yesterday after helping Liz, Gloria, and MJ move into their place.

Harry shrugged his jacket off and tossed it onto the coat rack, "They think that what you said could work. They're looking into it but it'll be a few days before they can get back to me." he said as he sat down on the couch, "You know, your more then welcome to actually get a job there right? I could let you make all sorts of stuff." he offered with a smile.

Peter stuck his hands in his pockets, the reason he didn't take Norman up on the offer was that he didn't want to owe Norman of all people any favors, and he wanted to make money on his own. But with Harry, that was different, "I'll think about it. But I'm happy with my job at the Bugle Harry." he said, walking over to the sink to drain it.

His friend, shrugged, "Suit yourself….hey, why is the floor wet?" he asked, noticing a trail from the kitchen to Peter's room.

"Oh uhh…..MJ was helping me with dishes and the sprayer went off on her." he said, tapping the nozzle that was retracted next to the sink handle.

Harry didn't look convinced. "Um…I'm not like…..interrupting anything am I?" he asked carefully.

Peter felt his throat tighten a little. He wasn't exactly…..NOT interrupting something, "We….no, she and I were just….hanging out." he answered honestly….for the most part.

Harry breathed out a sigh of relief before MJ's voice from his bedroom called out, "Hey Pete! Where should I uh…..put your shirt?" she asked covertly, however it coming across more….insinuating then anything.

…

Harry stood up and raised his hands, "I'm just…..gonna go to my room…..sorry dude." he said, his face flushing red with embarrassment. He quickly made his way to his bedroom and shut the door, Peter hearing it lock as he covered his face with his hands.

I love my girlfriend…but man her timing can be awful.

AN: I decided to end on a more fun note…..for certain reasons…..SHUT UP I HAVEN'T BEEN CRYING YOU HAVE!

Ok…..ok…..I'm good.

So, gonna come out with the bad news, I unfortunately got Covid-19. Good news! I went through quarantine, and I'm now free to leave my house without risk of infecting anyone or anyone infecting me for a little bit! I'm feeling better, I can taste food pretty much normally, and I'm not experiencing any more symptoms.

So…..RWBY Volume 8….ended in a way that I didn't expect, and is why I make sure to be a few volumes behind so I can plan around this sorta thing. I can't wait to get Spidey to atlas eventually (maybe with a certain new suit?) and see what happens then. And to be clear, I do want more interactions with RWBY, but with this being in Volume 4, there's only one he can really do that with (and we'll be seeing her soon) unless Spidey can somehow teleport across Remnant.

Which I why I have chapters like the last one where we get a sorta check in on RWBY with them dealing with certain Spider-Man characters.

Speaking of which, the RWBY/Justice League comics have come out and HOLY SHIT THEY ARE GOOD! There's some interesting twists in the comic that I won't get into because it should be read and bought (they're only a dollar guys). I will say it has given me an idea for Spidey, one which people have been asking me about.

I'm at a point where Spidey in this is more the traditional Spidey we all know, and I can sorta play with him more than I used to.

Swarm this chapter was a pretty easy win for Spidey, but I think that tradionally Swarm is more easily beaten by Spidey? I mean usually he's just a big swarm of bees against a guy who can make Spider Webs, I figure insects get beaten by an arachnid easily…man I'll be honest I can't even remember the last time I saw Swarm in a comic!

Huh. Weird. Speaking of comics, one of my all time, favorite comics, has FINALLY gotten a adaptation in INVINCIBLE!

Surprised? Well I can't blame ya, I never really talked about it but yeah, I love the comic series. There are some parts where it sorta made me question if I should keep reading, in fact one of the people I follow for comic book related stuff actually stopped reading after one particular issue. And reading it? I totally get his reasoning.

But I think the series overall is awesome! It's on Amazon Prime if you want to check it out! Just be warned, not at ALL a kids show.

Anyway, until next chapter true believers!