Peter was speechless. He kept trying to think of something to say, but he couldn't collect the many thoughts running through his head into anything remotely coherent. It was as if his brain had shut itself down at the worst possible time. He eventually did manage to get something out:

"What?"

"Yeah," M.J. said, "you're Spider-Man."

Grasping desperately at any thought as he attempted to reboot his short-circuited mind, he managed to awkwardly force out another question.

"Uhm, what would make you think that?"

"Oh, I don't know," M.J. began, "what happened in Washington, how you disappear for no reason, how you show up late to everything..."

"I... I have a lot of tummy issues," Peter insisted, though he could feel how poorly convincing that statement was coming out of his mouth. Still, he continued: "I tend to get sick a lot, and I, uh, have terrible time management. Yeah, I NEVER make it to the bus on time."

"Okay," M.J. said, "then what about the fact that nobody has ever seen Spider-Man during the school day, or that he's more active in the summer? How about that?"

The hole she was digging for him seemed to be growing deeper and deeper by the second. This wasn't just a matter of things she could've observed; M.J. had actually done RESEARCH into this. How long had she been doing this? Why was this so important to her? Had she only been getting to know him all this time just to confirm her suspicions? His thoughts were rapidly spiraling out of control, and he was starting to get stressed out, even annoyed at her incessant questioning.

"I don't know," Peter finally answered. "Maybe he is the same age as us. That obviously doesn't mean he's me."

"Then let's go back to that day a couple years ago," she said. "That trip we took to ESU. They said one of their genetically designed spiders escaped, and later, you were starting to act sick. It's not long after that that Spider-Man shows up. Seems like more than a coincidence to me."

"Oh my goodness M.J, why is this so important to you?" Peter said, his volume level rising. "Why is it so important to you that I be Spider-Man?"

"I... I don't know," M.J. said, her facial expression beginning to show concern.

"Is that why you've been hanging out with me all this time?" Peter asked, his voice still rising, "so you could get the scoop on Spider-Man, to prove that you solved the mystery?"

M.J.'s face looked stunned, even mortified, and Peter felt a pang of guilt in his stomach, and he instantly regretted his words.

"I'm sorry M.J," Peter said, moving over to lean against a countertop. He buried his hands in his face for a moment before continuing: "I'm sorry; I had no right or reason to question your integrity like that."

"It's okay," M.J. said softly after a moment.

"It's just... the topic of Spider-Man is a bit sensitive to me right now," Peter said.

There was a moment or two of silence before M.J. spoke up again.

"You were there, weren't you; fighting with them all."

Peter nodded, and he could already feel the tears threatening to well up in his eyes once more as the memories of that day were already coming back.

"I stowed aboard a ship to try and help Mr. Stark rescue Dr. Strange," he began, "and we ended up on Titan. Apparently, that was Thanos's home planet or whatever. Anyway, that's also where I was when everything... when it happened."

M.J. took a moment before responding: "Wow, that sounds..."

"M.J, I'm so sorry," Peter said, unable to contain it anymore.

M.J. gave him a puzzled look. "For what?"

Peter collected himself as best he could, fighting back against the forthcoming sobs.

"We had him," he said. "At one point, we had him, and I had my hands on the gauntlet that had the stones in them. I was so close; I could even see most of his thumb as I was removing the glove, but then... I couldn't do it."

Peter sniffed hard; he feared what he was about to say would cause the flood gates in his eyes to burst wide open, but he said it anyway.

"M.J," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I'm the reason you'll never be able to see your parents again; the reason you'll never have the chance to reconcile with them. I could've prevented it, but I failed."

M.J. then moved over to him, throwing her arms around him and pulling him into a tight hug. Peter instinctually reciprocated, and the tears rapidly began falling from his eyes. After a moment, he heard M.J. speak up again.

"It wasn't your fault," she said, shifting so she was in front of him again, though her hands were still on his shoulders. Tears were forming in her eyes too. "It was no one's fault but that monster's. You understand me?"

Peter nodded. Even though it might not make him feel any different, he knew M.J. was right. Perhaps he always knew but wouldn't let himself think about it in that way.

M.J. then embraced him again, and Peter let the tears flow. It was the reverse of how things had gone that night at F.E.A.S.T. Now, M.J. was the one who was there for him, and he was the one weeping on her shoulder. Now, he could feel for himself how good it must've been for her at the time; the ability to release everything that had built up, all the pain from the memories that haunted him over these last several weeks. After a little while, he was finally starting to feel better.

"Thanks," Peter said as they finally separated, wiping away his last tears.

"Nothing you haven't done for me," M.J. said, trying to act like it was no big deal. "Also, for the record, I wasn't 100 percent sure I was right about you being Spider-Man. Maybe something more like... 67 percent."

Peter looked at her funny, then let out a laugh.

"Well, obviously it was a good guess," he said.

"Or you're just bad at maintaining a secret identity," she said, "but we'll go with your idea. It makes me sound smarter."

Peter laughed for the second time. Somehow, it seemed like M.J. knew just what to say, no matter the situation.

"Thanks M.J," he said.

"Of course," she said, offering a light smile. "Now, back to our current issue: what are we going to do about Martin Li?"

Wow, Peter realized he had almost forgotten about that in the last few minutes.

"I'm not sure," Peter said. "The only things we do know for sure is that he has to come for the parts he still needs, and that he has the ability to make people do what he wants. Happy could probably get me the locations of the remaining tech, so at least that way I know where he'll strike next."

"Okay, then you can suit up and take him down, right?" M.J. asked.

Peter hung his head at that.

"M.J, I... I haven't been able to put on the suit since I got back," he confessed. "I've tried, but every time I do, all the memories of that day just come flooding back to me."

"Okay," M.J. said, "then... we figure out something else, or maybe go talk to someone else."

"There is no one else," Peter said. "I'm the only one of the Avengers to have survived the Snap."

"Oh," M.J. said, uncertain of how to proceed.

"Somehow, I have to do this, M.J," Peter replied. "I guess I'll just have to figure out a..."

A lightbulb clicked in Peter's head.

"Figure out a what?" M.J. said when he didn't finish. Peter didn't answer her, instead turning around and darting towards his room. He went inside and, looking at his desk, found the paper exactly where he'd left it.

"A new look," Peter said, finally finishing his sentence. He held out the paper to her, showing her the drawing she had given him.

"Woah, you mean you'd really use that?" she asked.

"Yep," Peter said. "I'll just have to go to the workshop Mr. Stark and I used to use." His face then fell as his words caught up to him, and he realized that this would be the first time he'd been there without his mentor.

"I could go with you, if you want," M.J. said, apparently catching onto his uneasiness.

Peter smiled lightly at her in return.

"That sounds nice."

Peter and M.J. made sure to be as careful as possible on the way to the workshop. There was no telling who else in the city Martin Li might've gotten to, so it was better safe than sorry. They took the least busy way (which wasn't saying a lot these days anyway) and didn't bother to make eye contact with those they did come across. After a while, they finally made it. Peter entered the access codes Mr. Stark had granted him and gained access to the work area.

"Good afternoon, Peter," came a familiar A.I. voice. M.J. jumped a little, but Peter gently reassured her it was okay.

"Thanks F.R.I.D.A.Y." he replied. "It's good to be back."

"What are you and the boss working on today?" she said.

Peter stopped in his tracks for a moment at the mention of Mr. Stark but then resumed his steps towards the experimental 3-D printer in the room.

"Actually, it's just me today F.R.I.D.A.Y." he replied, "and I need you to pull up what you have on Spider-Man."

"Of course," the A.I. responded, and sure enough, the printer roared to life, with designs for potential suits, web shooters and more at the ready of his fingertips.

"Okay, I'm not usually one to geek out like you and Ned, but this is pretty cool," M.J. said.

Peter smiled. "Yep, it sure is." He then set the drawing that the new suit would be based off next to him where he could see it, before turning to look at what suit design matched it closest. He chose each aspect of the suit as precisely as he could, showing M.J. some of how it worked in the process. He had to admit, it was really fun to be able to share all of this with her.

After making his selections, he gave F.R.I.D.A.Y. the order to begin the suit's construction, and the process was underway.

"Now what?" M.J. asked.

"We wait, I guess," Peter said. "It'll take some time before it's ready."

"Okay," M.J. replied. "In the meantime, maybe we can find out more about Martin Li in a database on here or something? I mean, maybe if we find out more about what made him the way he is, it'll help us stop him sooner."

"Oh, good idea," Peter said. They then walked over to one of the computer systems in the building, and Peter motioned for her to sit down.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yeah," Peter replied. "I mean, it was your idea, after all."

M.J. slowly took her seat, accessing the large screen in front of her. An initial search on Martin didn't turn up too much, at least nothing of great importance. There was information about how he was born to a poor family in Manhattan, but later amassed a fortune in his young adult years via the shipping industry, before returning to New York to start up F.E.A.S.T. They scanned through the results for what felt like forever but came up with nothing useful.

"We've got to narrow this search down," M.J. said.

"Yeah," Peter agreed. "Most villains I've come across were like me in the sense that an accident or freak circumstance happened to them; that or they built their own stuff.

"Okay," M.J. said, typing away, "maybe we can try 'Martin Li accident.'"

She hit enter, and a surprising number of results popped up.

"Click on that one," Peter said, pointing to the article that looked most descriptive. M.J. did so, and an article came up on an accident involving a quantum energy generator. It detailed how, about five years ago, Martin Li had been funding a project that could do something similar to the device on the schematic Peter had found.

"It looks like he was funding this as a means to provide a more efficient energy source," Peter said.

"So, what went wrong?" M.J. asked, scrolling down.

They soon found out.

It turned out that Martin was there the day the device was first tested. The machine grew unstable, and a massive amount of quantum energy was released. Three died, and several more were injured, including Martin himself.

"Maybe this was how he gained his powers," Peter speculated. "They must have manifested sometime after that."

"But what happens next?" M.J. asked. "There's no record of anything that follows after the events of that day, or any sightings of him using any kind of abilities."

"He's clearly done a good job of keeping himself under the radar," Peter replied. "We're going to have to find another angle to get those answers."

They then heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. announce that the new suit and its additional equipment was finished. He went over and removed the suit from the body model it was on.

"Well, looks like it turned out good to me," Peter said, taking the suit and stuffing it into a backpack he'd brought along.

"Well, I guess there's only one thing left to do," M.J. said.

Peter smiled at her, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. He knew what she meant.

He just hoped he was ready for it.

A little bit shorter than the other ones, and I was never too sure how I felt about this chapter. Oh well, live and learn I guess. The next chapter is one of my favorites that I wrote for this story, and I can't wait to share it with you!

Hope you all are still enjoying it!

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

"He provided redemption for His people; He ordained His covenant forever..." Psalm 111:9