Peter spent the majority of his nights at the Red Hood's safe house. It was the only place he could make his new suit since the Red Hood graciously offered him the materials he'd need. Well, graciously was an understatement. He told him straight out he'd shoot him the next time he went out in his flimsy homemade trick or treater outfit. When Peter mentioned he'd been meaning to make a new suit, Hood had directed him to a different safe house where he had the right supplies and a start-up suit.

As it turned out, the suit was a replica of Nightwing's suit. Peter didn't want to use it because the colors were all wrong and there was some sort of eagle motif on the chest that would not do. But it was a good point of reference. It was made with nanotubes in the fabric. It was thinner and more flexible than the Red Hood's Kevlar bodysuit. Not to mention fifty percent lighter. But it was bulletproof and would protect the wearer from heavy impacts. Maybe not from sharp knives. Or dog bites. Especially not from big dogs. But that was something Peter depended on his Spider-sense for. He was supposed to dodge. Except when he couldn't. But dogs were never on his villain list. Sometimes cats were but not usually house cats. Then there were things like the otherworldly claws of Killer Croc. This material may have helped but wouldn't have prevented him from being clawed. It probably wouldn't have been as deep. But who knows. The only way to know for sure was a test run and Peter didn't feel like facing the Croc anytime soon.

While he worked, he read up on the files the Red hood gave him access to. Everything Killer Croc had told him was in his file. And Peter wished he would've read the file before his encounter with Waylon. But that was neither here nor there. Some of the costume characters were par for the course. Then there were others like Condiment Man that just made him laugh. The Joker, the one the Red Hood was obsessing over, was not what he expected. The clown was ruthless and seemed to be motivated not by power or greed but to get under Batman's skin. He didn't care how many people he killed in the process either. Chaos and destruction seemed to be the only thing that stood out from all his assaults on the city. Except of course when he was doing it to receive some sort of payment. Or if he wanted to reach some obscure goal. He was outright maniacal in his methods regardless.

After a week, Peter finished his new suit and he put it on quickly. He crouched down and jumped to the ceiling. He crawled around and was happy with the feel of the suit. And was very happy to be back in his red and blue. No one should mistake him for that Black Spider he had yet to run into. Peter crawled until he was right above the Red Hood who was busy looking at some CCTV footage. Peter slowly came down, upside down, on a web line until he was face to face with Hood.

"What do you think?" Peter said and was surprised by Hood's reaction.

The man pushed back on the desk with one hand, pulled out his gun with the other, and fired while saying, "Fuck!" The Hood rolled and faced Spider-man with an outstretched hand. He was ready to fire again. But Spider-man was crouched on the ground.

Spider-Man had to flip midair to miss the shot coming at him. It helped that he had fast reflexes and his spider-sense. Spidey had an open palm out to show he was not a threat.

"Calm down there, big guy. It's just me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-man," he said, sounding a little amused. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Hood huffed and stood up, holstering his gun. "Don't sneak up on me like that. I could've killed you."

"Uh, how exactly did I sneak up on you? You knew I was here, right?" Peter tilted his head as he watched Hood catch his breath. "Right?"

"Yes, over there," Hood said in exasperation as he pointed at the work table Spider-man had been using. "Not in my face like a creepy spider."

"Hey! I may be a spider but I'm definitely not creepy."

"You're more creepy than you think."

"Dude," Peter said with a hand on his heart. "I thought we were friends. Plus, I'm a cute spider. Not a fuzzy creepy crawler with fangs and all those eyes." Peter's entire form shivered.

"Wait," Hood said, pointing at him. "Don't tell me you're afraid of spiders." His eyebrows shot up when all Spider-man did was cross his arms over his chest in answer. "You're afraid of spiders?!"

"Hey! Have you ever been bitten by one?" Peter said defensively. Or had your entire life changed because of a spider bite? Not to mention have a mutant transformation that still gives me nightmares. "I'll have you know it's not a fun experience."

Hood was too busy laughing to answer.

Peter went over to the fridge to grab a cold drink and then he went back to the computer desk. Hood was picking up the chair and getting comfortable with an amused smile. Peter looked over the notes that Hood had written down. Then he looked at a map with notes and marks of possible hide-outs.

"Are you any closer to finding out where he is?" Peter said looking up at the CCTV footage Hood had restarted.

"No," Hood said with a shake of his head.

"Well, no use obsessing over it," Peter said with a shrug. "He'll pop up eventually. But you'll be the last to know if you're cooped up in here. Come on."

Peter headed towards the door. Though he jumped up, did a flip to land on the ceiling, and crawled on all fours to get there.

"Creepy spider," Hood said with a huff. "Where are we going?"

"To show off my new suit! Plus, I need to test out my new webs!"

"What happened to the old ones?" Hood said with a tilt of his head. He grabbed his helmet on the way out the door.

"Not strong enough," Peter answered and adjusted his web-shooters. He shot out a web line and pulled himself up onto the roof of the next building.

"Huh," Hood said and slipped on his helmet. He shot out his grapple gun and followed Spider-man to the roof. "Alright, you have any idea where you're going?"

"Uh," Peter said and stood up straight. He looked out over the city and shrugged. "I figured I'd do a sweep of the area. If I see someone who needs help, I'll intervene."

"Take this," Hood said, pulling out a comm from his jacket pocket. Peter didn't reach for it. Instead, he crossed his arms. "I need to check in on a few things. I'll meet you when I'm done. I can get ahold of you through the comm."

"Does Oracle have access to it?" Peter said, cocking his head to the side.

"You really need to get over your big-sister-is-watching qualms. Oracle is on our side," Hood said and sighed. "Not accepting her help is more of a hindrance than you can imagine. But I doubt she is actively listening and watching anyone unless it's pertinent to a case."

"I'd rather not take my chances," Peter said with a shrug. Plus, I don't need anyone finding out who I am under this mask. I may not have anyone I need to protect in this dimension other than Mila and Aiden, but that doesn't mean that the knowledge of my identity in this reality couldn't be used against me. "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself."

"Oh, sure. Say that after I had to take you to Doc Thompkins to save your life," Hood said with frustration.

Peter sighed heavily and rattled off a phone number. It was a second line he'd patched into his phone that would be untraceable. It wasn't hard to add a line that wouldn't need a service provider. At the pace technology was advancing, it wouldn't be long before service providers were a thing of the past. He was certain that not even Oracle could trace the added line. He'd learned plenty about coding and software patches from Tony Stark that he was confident about the anonymity of the added line. Besides, comms were the easiest thing to hack into if someone gets their hands on an earpiece. From there they could hack into the pairing process which would nullify the encryption. Peter knew from experience that no one was infallible in their line of work. He'd been captured more times than he would like to remember. Even though he was biased about Oracle, he needed to take precautions from unknown dangers because he never knew when someone would strike.

Peter stuck close to Hood's hideout as he patrolled. He would rely on his spider-sense to know where he needed to stop. But he also kept his eyes and ears opened just in case someone who wasn't in actual danger needed help. The first person he stopped for was stumbling about and grabbing onto every pole he could to regain his bearings.

Peter followed the man closely until he almost stumbled into traffic. Peter quickly shot out a web to stop the man and then landed beside him. He took hold of the man's upper arm and asked him where he was going. The man was too drunk to notice who he was speaking to and answered easily. Peter had to pick the man's pocket to find his license to find his address. Afterwhich, he decided the best way to get the man home was to carry him there. A few people stared at him as he carried the man up the stairs of his apartment building but they didn't bother to ask who he was. Peter greeted them either way and one woman rolled her eyes at the sight. "Well, at least I won't trip over his fat ass on my way to work," she said and the neighbor she'd been talking to chuckled in agreement.

Peter took to the roofs again and stopped when something caught the corner of his eye. When he looked down over the street he saw a hooded person pacing back and forth in front of a convenience store. The person had their hands in their pockets and was looking through the window every few moments to gauge the cashier's location. The person was short of stature and Peter wondered if it was a kid who wanted some food but couldn't afford it. He made his way down and walked up to the person.

"What's so interesting there?" Peter said, placing a hand over his brow as if he was peering through the window. He was watching the person from the corner of his eye. But the person spun around and stared at him in shock.

"Wh-who are you?" said a young female voice.

"I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man," he said looking down at the young lady. "I'm here to help."

"H-help?" she said and shook her head. "How can you help me?"

"Well, if you tell me what's going on maybe we can come up with a solution together," Peter said, leaning against the wall and bending his knees to slouch so that he didn't seem so intimidating. The girl looked like she was about twelve years old.

"I need to get some milk for my baby brother but I don't have enough money," the girl said with a sniffle.

"Okay, how short are you?"

"I only have a dollar," she said and wiped her nose.

"Is there anything else your brother likes besides milk?"

"Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but if I can't get milk, how am I supposed to buy bread?" she said sadly with a shrug.

"Leave that to me," Peter said and walked into the store. He went straight for the milk and grabbed a loaf of bread on his way back to the register. He had a short conversation with the clerk and walked out with the food without paying. He handed them to the little girl. "Here you go."

"But how?" said the little girl as she looked back and forth between the clerk and Spider-man.

"People are more willing to help than you think," Peter told her and steered her away from the store. "Don't be afraid to ask for help. Not everyone will be so kind, but don't give up hope."

"Thank you so much," said the little girl and she took off running.

Peter sighed as he walked back into the store. He had some inventory to count then he'd find the little girl through the tracker he placed on her. He needed to make sure she was safe and wasn't a victim of child neglect.

Peter stopped a mugging down the street from the convenience store half an hour later. He stayed with the victim and waited for the police to explain what happened. The cop he spoke to wasn't too happy with him but he didn't yell at him or try to shoot him. Peter counted that as a win.

He was checking in on the kids when his phone rang. They were happily watching TV as they cuddled on the sofa. Peter saw the remnants of the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and two empty milk glasses on the coffee table. The place looked clean. And from the pictures he saw on the wall, they had two living patents. Peter found the mother asleep in a bedroom. A handful of prescription bottles on the nightstand. Peter sighed heavily. The father might be working hard to keep up with the medical bills. He wondered if there was some sort of program in the city that could help them.

"Spidey here," Peter said as he answered the phone and crawled up the side of the building.

"I wasn't sure if you'd given me a fake number," Hood said with an amused lilt in his voice.

"Well, I'm not an ingrate," Peter said as he plopped down on the edge of the roof. "Besides, I don't want to get locked out of your clubhouse."

Hood huffed out a laugh. "I do have a cool clubhouse."

"Did you need something?"

"Oh, am I cutting into your busy night?"

"No, just wanted to know if the call was a casual check-in or if you had something you wanted my help with."

"A little of both actually," Hood said. "I'm following a lead. Need to do some surveillance."

"Where do you need me?"