The following days had been slowly getting better for Adrien. He was actually making friends, his teachers were respectful and understanding, and if he had any problems, Bruce was always there to lend an ear or a hand.

It was currently the end of the school day and Adrien couldn't help but look at Marinette as she packed her things to go home. Apparently, he was staring a little too much as Nino and the rest of his classmates noticed.

"Should we give you some time alone there, Romeo?"

"Huh?" Adrien perked up, snapping out of his trance as he turned to see Nino along with Mylene Haprele, Alix Kubdel, Juleka Couffaine, and Rose Lavillant, all of them with teasing smiles on their faces. "O-Oh! Uh, I-I can one hundred percent explain!"

Nino just smirked. "Busted, Bro."

"Save it, Adrien. We know what's going on." Juleka said.

"Well, you see, the thing is-!" Adrien tried to defend lamely but his friends weren't having it.

"Don't deny it, Adrien," Mylene giggled.

"Yeah, Bro. Just admit it." Nino said, his smirk bordering on shit-eating as some slang terms would use.

"You're crushing hard on Marinette, dude," Alix said in a bored tone as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I, um, I-!" Adrien's mouth opened and closed before he groaned, throwing his head back and covering his face with his hands in defeat.

Rose squealed joyfully. "See? I told you. He's embarrassed. Come on, sweetie. Just admit it."

"Yes...Yes, I like her, okay?!" Adrien groaned out, slamming his head into his desk.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed, nugget! It's okay!" Rose said, giving Adrien a reassuring hug.

"Yeah, dude. It's alright. We all have crushes." Nino shrugged, stealing a glance toward Alya as she followed after Marinette.

"Guys, PLEASE promise me you won't tell anyone. ESPECIALLY Peter! You saw how much he cares about Marinette." Adrien pleaded/

"Betray my bro like that? Never." Nino reassured, shaking his head.

Rose nodded. "Don't worry, sweetie. We won't."

"Of course not." Mylene smiled.

Juleka made a zipping motion. "Not a word."

"I might."

"ALIX!" Everyone cried as they looked at her aghast.

"Kidding."

"Well, just another day of being Spider-Man, I guess," Peter said as he donned his costume and mask and leaped up onto the rooftop of a nearby building, looking around at the city streets for any crimes occurring.

Suddenly, a crash was heard, followed by a scream as Peter's patented "Spider-Sense" tingled through his skull. Quickly following the source, he saw a jewelry store with a window broken and several jewels stolen...and a figure flying off from the scene of the crime.

"Guess today's not gonna be so boring after all!"

Firing a web line from his wrist, Spider-Man took off after the flying figure, swinging across town before finally catching up to the thief and he was certainly a surprising individual.

He was an old man who was bald, with not a single hair on his head. He was clad in a high-tech suit that was black and light green with silver trim. Jutting from his back was a pair of metallic wings that were emitting some kind of anti-gravitational energy that was allowing him to use them for flight. He also had a respirator-like mask that covered his mouth and nose that was in the shape of a beak.

"I've heard of the Birds of Prey but this guy is bucking up for special membership!" Spider-Man quipped as he fired a web line onto the man's back and hitched a ride on him, getting his attention.

"Spider-Man?! What are you doing here?!"

"I should ask you the same name, old timer! Shouldn't you be hanging out in the retirement home?"

The man scoffed. "My name is the Vulture! And I've still got plenty of good years left in me before I'm food for the buzzards!"

The now-named Vulture did a barrel roll to try and throw Spider-Man off but the young hero held on tightly thanks to his powers of adhesion. However, he was momentarily dazed, allowing Vulture to drift in the air and slam him into a billboard, knocking him off as he lost his concentration.

"Sheesh, for an old geezer he sure knows how to move with the best of 'em..."

Spider-Man quickly recovered and resumed web swinging after Vulture, who turned around while still flying forward to see him following before scoffing in annoyance.

"Dodge these!"

With a flap of his wings, Vulture sent out dozens of knife-like projectiles in the shape of bird feathers at Spider-Man, who swiftly twisted and turned through them, one just barely missing him by an inch.

"Hey, watch it! You could poke some eyes out with that thing!"

"Bah! I have no time to waste on arrogant youths such as yourselves! I've got bigger prey to catch!"

With that, the Vulture swooped down toward a nearby manhole cover and fired some kind of egg-shaped grenade from his pouch, which blew up the cover and allowed him to dive through the now-open hole into the sewers.

Spider-Man quickly followed but as soon as he entered the sewers, the Vulture was long gone. Snapping his fingers, the hero crawled out and rubbed his chin, recalling the last words the man said.

"Bigger prey to catch? What does he even mean?"

"Did you hear about the new villain just now, Marinette?" Alya asked as the two friends walked together.

"What do you mean?"

"It's been trending since the last hour!"

Alya showed Marinette her phone, which was currently depicting a news article from the Daily Bugle.

VULTURE SWOOPS IN! NEW THIEF ROBS LOCAL JEWELRY STORE!

"The Vulture? Seems like a pretty basic name." Marinette noted as she saw some blurry pictures of the criminal in question, managing to get quite a few details from them. "How is he able to fly? Some kind of jetpack?"

"I hear he's using actual WINGS to fly! Like they're coming out of his back and everything!" Alya excitedly said. "This could be something huge! I gotta investigate this!"

"Alya, you're already bucking for an internship at the Daily Bugle. But don't you think this is a bit dangerous?" Marinette worriedly asked.

"Girl, nothing is gonna stop me from uncovering every last juicy detail of the action!" Alya said with determination. "And this guy even gave Spider-Man the slip! That guy usually always catches the criminal when they first commit the crime!"

At Wayne Manor, in an underground cave that had been refurbished into a secret hideout with all sorts of computers, gadgets, and other machinery moved in, Bruce Wayne was hard at work studying the news article about the Vulture.

"Computer, scan and see if you can ID this guy based on facial recognition."

The Batcomputer whirred to life as it zoomed in on one of the clearer images taken of the Vulture and soon after some scanning, found a match.

"Identity Confirmed: Adrian Toomes, Former CEO of Toomes Aerosmith. The company went bankrupt after a lawsuit was filed against them by Gabriel Agreste."

"Any particular reasons FOR the lawsuit?" Bruce questioned as the computer went to work before bringing up some notes about the case involved.

"Lawsuit filed for 'Reckless Endangerment and Criminal Neglect of Equipment'. The reason for this was due to Toomes Aerosmith's last known project; an anti-gravity flight suit designed for military, police, and security work. Was given a live demonstration to Agreste Fashions under new security ideas when the test pilot was killed due to faulty wiring in the suit."

"Mr. Agreste may have a tight fist on his company but he still has morales to him at least," Bruce noted. "What happened to Toomes after the lawsuit?"

"Toomes went into hiding after the company went bankrupt. Nobody had seen him for five years until today."

"I think I have a hunch why he returned." Bruce hummed as he stood up and went into a special chamber, mechanical arms putting together his suit, a bold black bat emblem across the chest area as he pulled up the cowl connected to his cape over his eyes and head.

"I should have known that old buzzard wouldn't let it slide..." Gabriel sighed, taking off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his forehead. "Five years and he still hasn't gotten over it."

"What should we do, sir?" Nathalie asked with a slight hint of concern in her voice.

Gabriel stood up, putting his glasses back on as he gave a stone-cold serious look to his assistant, secretary, and friend.

"He'll keep circling the skies until he spots prey. It's a risky move, but...I need to step out into the light."

"And let him possibly kill you?" Nathalie asked incredulously. "Adrien can't lose his father! Emilie can't lose her husband!"

"And how many wives and children will that madman threaten beforehand, Nathalie?" Gabriel questioned back. "I'm the one he wants and I need to make this gambit myself/"

Gabriel walked out of his office, Nathalie watching worriedly, unsure of what her boss had planned.

At the Dupain-Cheng residence, Marinette was humming to herself as she wrote in her diary, a slight blush on her cheeks.

Dear Diary,

Today, I caught myself looking at Adrien's butt. Bad Marinette! Bad! You shouldn't look at boys that way, especially ones you've only known for almost a week. Even though it is a really nice butt, legs… arms… face… and eyes… Diary, I think I have a crush on Adrien. I probably shouldn't tell him yet. I mean, we just met after all. Who knows what kind of pressure that would have on that sweet, gentle, baby boy? Maybe I should take it slow, and see if it goes anywhere. I'll start with a bracelet. A nice little friendship bracelet. Yeah, that would be a good start. Still, regarding Adrien's tushie, BAD MARINETTE! BAD!

Marinette sighed and closed her diary before locking it securely and putting it back in the drawer of her desk. She then slumped backward on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, contemplating these newfound feelings.

A knock on the door alerted her as she looked up to see Peter walking in, giving a friendly wave as he jumped onto her chair and slid it over to her.

"Do I come to your house and sit in your desk chair?" Marinette asked playfully as Peter shrugged.

"Well, yeah. Sometimes you even use my bed."

Marinette giggled as she got up as Peter sat across from her, a serious look on his face.

"Marinette, Ol' JJJ has asked me to get some pictures of the Vulture. My gut tells me he's gonna show up again soon."

"Ugh, he's always making you go after the crazier criminals!" Marinette groaned. "That guy's a jerk!"

"Well, he's the one who provides me the money to help with Aunt May's bills. So I just gotta suck it up." Peter said. "Still, I promise I'll be safe. And hey, maybe I'll bring you back his suit, could go great with those new design concepts you've been working on."

"I doubt any fashion magazine worth their salt would want to show off some gaudy vulture suit." Marinette scoffed as Peter simply laughed.

"Dad, are you gonna be okay?" Adrien asked worriedly as he and his parents were heading out to dinner in the family limo, driven by Gorilla.

"I'll be fine, Adrien. Toomes is nothing but an old buzzard. Desperately searching for profit like the cowardly scavenger he is. I told him that the flight suit hadn't been safely tested for human use but he was willing to count any corner to get ahead."

"Still, that company was his life, Gabriel," Emilie said. "Even if he was an unscrupulous man, it feels wrong to ruin him like that."

"I made sure he still had enough finances to live a normal life, maybe even start over. I'm not heartless, Emilie." Gabriel said.

Before more could be said between the Agrestes, the roof of the limo was torn open by a pair of mechanical talons. Emilie screamed as she hugged Adrien close protectively while Gabriel looked up with a glare, seeing the Vulture peering down through the hole he made, the talons coming from his boots.

"Long time no see, old friend!" Vulture sneered behind his mask. "What do you think?! I took your advice from all those years ago! Now the flight suit is even better than ever...and I'm going to use it to get my revenge on you for taking everything from me!"

With that, the Vulture grabbed Gabriel by the shoulders with his boot talons and tore him from his seat, dragging him through the sky.

"DAD!" Adrien cried.

Nearby, Spider-Man was watching things go down, having been at just the right place at the right time to try and take pictures of him. Down on the streets, a sleek black high-tech car roared through the streets, being driven by none other than Batman, who looked through the window of his cockpit to see Vulture carrying Gabriel off.

"Alright, JJ is gonna love these!" Spider-Man chuckled as he began swinging after Vulture. "And I get to save Adrien's Dad on top of that, so double win!"

Batman narrowed his eyes as he typed on the small computer on the dash of his car before pressing the Eject Button, launching himself out of his car, the Batmobile, and opening up his cape like a pair of batwings, using them to glide through the sky like the flying mammal he took after.

"Gotta thank Lucuius for the cape's glider functions." Bruce thought to himself as he took out a grapple gun and fired it at a nearby rooftop, using it to pull himself across and then shoot through the sky using the momentum, keeping up his gliding pace as he followed after Vulture.

"No way, Batman?!"

Batman turned to see Spider-Man himself web-swinging across. Apparently, he was after Vulture as well.

"Just so you know, I'm a huge fan! Never thought I'd be chasing the same criminal as you! And don't you usually operate at night?"

"It's evening, it counts!" Batman retorted. "Keep on him!"

Gabriel kept a steady head, even though he was being dragged through the air helplessly by the madman who had him in his talons.

"Toomes...!"

"Not Toomes now! I'm what you called me; I'm THE VULTURE!"

"I called you a BUZZARD!" Gabriel snapped. "Though I guess that name comes close enough for you!"

Vulture merely rolled his eyes and threw Gabriel into the air. The fashion mogul flailed helplessly before falling down, but Toomes swooped down to catch him in his talons again.

"What do you even hope to accomplish?!" Gabriel demanded angrily, refusing to show any fear.

"A means to an end, Gabriel! Something you should know all about!" Vulture smirked behind his mask. "You will announce to the world how unlawfully you persecuted my company, and you will pay me all that I am owed with your company's assets!"

"There's a reason I filed that lawsuit, Toomes!" Gabriel snapped. "You were too eager to cut corners to get that suit on the market! I lost a good employee who had a loving family because of your negligence! You should have just accepted your mistakes and moved on, old man!"

"I may be an old man, but I'm NOT a patient one!" Vulture snarled. "Or do I need to go after your precious wife and son to get you to see reason?!"

"Leave them out of this!" Gabriel yelled furiously.

"Yeah, you may be an old man, but you really have the attitude of a child!"

Vulture looked over his shoulder just in time to see Spider-Man swing in to kick him in the face, knocking him out of the sky. Gabriel was almost about to fall before a small bat-shaped device attached itself to his back and suddenly expanded into a parachute. Gabriel quickly grabbed onto the harnesses to steady himself as he landed on a nearby rooftop.

The parachute device had been fired from Batman's gauntlet, who made sure to see if Gabriel landed safely before following after Spider-Man and Vulture.

"I'm truly honored to be in the presence of both of Paris' esteemed defenders but these skies belong to me!" Vulture snapped as he turned around to face the two tailing heroes while still flying forward.

"You may be right, I just rent." Spider-Man playfully quipped back as Batman rolled his eyes.

Vulture just scoffed and sent out several feather blades. Batman swerved out of the way while Spider-Man tried to dodge but Vulture was clever, having aimed his blades at the webs the hero was swinging on to make him fall.

"SPIDER-MAN!" Batman cried out as he divebombed after his fellow hero, Vulture smirking as he made his getaway.

Luckily, Spider-Man was able to fire a web line and safely swing across before hitting the ground. Seeing the other hero was alright, Batman quickly sent a link through his wrist computer to the Batmobile, allowing it to drive itself to his location and have him safely land back in his driver's seat before closing the cockpit and resuming the chase on the ground.

Vulture quickly checked over his shoulder every few moments to make sure the heroes weren't following him. Just when he thought he was in the clear, Spider-Man swung out in front of him and kicked him in the chest, causing him to swerve out of control.

"Look, I respect anybody who dresses up as their favorite animal. Why do you think I like Batman so much?" The Web-Slinger joked as he perched on a nearby billboard on the building Vulture crashed into. "But I gotta ask; do you know the thing about Great Power and Great Responsibility?"

Vulture growled and took flight once more, aiming his fists forward as his wings folded up to make makeshift blades to try and slice Spider-Man in half but the Webhead quickly backflipped out of the way, leaving Toomes to just scrape his blades against the back of the billboard instead. Despite this, the villain quickly turned and resumed flying away.

"Hey, don't fly away mad!"

Batman kept his eyes locked on Vulture's location before flipping a switch on the Batmobile's control module. The back of the car opened up to reveal a special cannon that fired a large pellet which exploded into a glowing blue energy net that entangled Vulture, catching him by surprise as he began falling.

"Hey, thanks for the assist, Bats!" Spider-Man called from above as he moved to web the Vulture up, only for the villain to cut himself free, landing on a nearby building and turning to see both Spider-Man and Batman scaling the building to confront him personally together.

"Why do you two defend Gabriel Agreste?! He took everything from me!"

"He had a reason for filing that lawsuit against you, Toomes!" Batman pointed out. "Your criminal negligence in the development of your flight suit cost an innocent man his life! And you refused to take any responsibility for it!"

"But I've taken responsibility now! I worked tirelessly to perfect my flight suit and now look at me; I am a proud bird of prey!" Vulture retorted, showing off his wings in their full glory

"Yeah, and you used it to commit a petty robbery and also kidnapping and attempted murder." Spider-Man said. "Heck, you could have joined me and Bats and been a Hero helping people out!"

"Why should I help out those who have wronged me?!" Vulture snapped, sending out several feather blades at the two heroes, who quickly jumped out of the way, Batman doing a combat roll before flinging out a Batarang, the bat-shaped boomerang flying through the air before clobbering Toomes across the head, making him stumble and fall off the building they were on.

"NO!" Spider-Man cried, jumping off the building to catch Toomes before he hit the ground, only for the Vulture to smirk at him and take flight once more, loop-de-looping around and kicking him in the back, sending him crashing through a tarp and into a table at a restaurant.

"Owww..."

"Did you forget I could fly, you fool?!" Vulture taunted as he was about to dive and strike Spider-Man down with his wing blades, only for a grappling hook to wrap around his leg and halt him just as he got uncomfortably close to stabbing the young hero.

"I don't think so!" Batman said as Vulture scowled and took flight once more, dragging the Dark Knight with him through the air as Bruce grunted, holding on as tightly as possible.

"Hey! Leave some for me, Bats!" Spider-Man called out as he took off web swinging after the two, soon catching up to them.

"He's fast...but those wings of his are an obvious weakness!" Batman thought to himself before shifting his full weight to make Vulture swerve, making him lose focus and fly upside-down, allowing Spider-Man to catch up and web onto his back.

"Thanks for the opening, Bats! Now let me take care of this!"

Spider-Man then fired webs at both Vulture's wings, causing them to be tied against him along with his arms as he gasped in horror, losing full flight and plummeting to the ground.

"My wings! What have you done, you fool?! You've doomed us all!"

"Uh, you do realize Bats and I still have options? Guess the news was right, you really don't pay attention to the important details."

Together, the two heroes wrangled up Vulture and left him hanging upside-down for the police to find and arrest. The villain scowled, silently swearing revenge on the two as he was cut down, stripped of his wings, and hauled into a police car by Sabrina's father, Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix.

"You know, we make a pretty good team," Spider-Man said to Batman as they watched Vulture get driven off. "If you ever need me to swing by during the night, I can come around."

Batman smirked. "And if you need me during the day, I'll see what my schedule is like."

Spider-Man chuckled before offering a fist to his fellow hero, who stared at it curiously for a moment before smiling and shaking his head, returning the fist bump before the two heroes went their separate ways.

Gabriel managed to reunite with Adrien and Emilie, hugging his wife and son close with relief as Adrien sobbed into his chest.

"Adrien!"

Turning, the Agreste Family saw Marinette running up to them, a concerned look on her face.

"I heard on the news about the Vulture! I'm so glad you're all okay!"

Gabriel looked to the sky, briefly making out two figures going their separate ways.

"It's thanks to both Spider-Man and Batman that I managed to get out of that situation alive."

"You must be Adrien's new friend, Marinette." Emilie smiled sweetly. "It's so good to finally meet you, dear."

Marinette blushed. "I-It's nice to meet you too. Especially you, Mr. Agreste, you...you're kinda my inspiration."

Gabriel hummed. "Yes, I believe Adrien has mentioned you to me. You wish to become a fashion designer?"

"It's my lifelong dream!" Marinette beamed.

"Well then..." Gabriel chuckled. "I'll be sure to try and remember to give you a call."

With that, the Agreste Family went home, with Adrien giving Marinette a thankful hug for checking up on him and his family beforehand. As for Marinette herself, she felt like today, despite the hectic situation with Vulture, ended on a pretty positive note.

And so we have the appearance of our first villain; The Vulture! It was running through my head to have him appear as the first main rogue to show up and I decided to take from Spectacular Spider-Man for his reason to debut. Also, Vulture's outfit in this story is based on his one from Spider-Man PS4.

Also, we get Spider-Man and Batman's first official team-up! But when will the main stars of the show, Ladybug and Chat Noir, show up? Well, that'll be soon, VERY soon! Hold on to your hats, true believers!

Also, a major shout-out to the amazing A Whole Lot of Ladybug on Tumblr, whose Stammering Adrien AU is the primary template for this fic.