Any day now, it's gonna happen.
Peter was finally getting closer and closer to his re -entry into crime fighting. Of course his skill was improving immensely when he was training with Glynda for a few weeks, but when Jaune actually managed to jump start his semblance, it was like how when he first got his powers. Everything got enhanced, his strength, speed, even his senses, including the spider-sense. Peter was a bit confused as to why he got more spider-like qualities than before. Ozpin believed his semblance brought out more aspects of his spider nature, which is why everything also got so enhanced when it activated. It still confused both Peter and the old man though, as he so much resembled a Faunus, but couldn't really be called one. No matter, Peter thought it was really cool anyway. As a bonus, so did Ruby.
She actually seemed to think his new abilities were even cooler than Peter himself thought.
It had nothing to do with the fact he was noticeably a bit more muscular now.
Yang teased that Peter was trying to look good for Ruby.
Unfortunately, no one was sure exactly of what he was capable of with his semblance, so he still needed more training before his Mother and Ozpin were comfortable allowing him to go out again.
It was still a lot of fun since Ozpin allowed him to have monitored training sessions with Ruby, away from any prying eyes of course, as he thought it would help the teen get used to sparring with others his age, and to learn control, so he didn't accidentally go overboard. Peter also noticed Ruby started joking around with him a lot more recently. He just thought his quippy nature was rubbing off on her, and enjoyed the banter, even if it often embarrassed him.
What the arachnid didn't know either was that his mother was also well aware of his crush.
He was currently practicing on some dummies, blindfolded, testing the limits of the Spider-State.
It helped that said dummies were also firing low caliber dust rounds at him. They wouldn't kill him of course, but would sting.
Thanks to the spider legs on his back, he was more agile than ever, so he could easily weave between shots and deliver devastating strikes with them.
He was on the last batch of dummies, so to wrap it up, he does a front flip with his hands landing on the ground, adding momentum to a powerful kick with both legs upon the largest of the remaining dummies, then striking the surrounding ones with his spider legs, bringing them all together as soon as he did a vertical leap in the air, webbing them all up.
What amazed Glynda was that he did this before the automatons could react, and they were programmed to have response time that would give some of the best huntsmen trouble.
"Excellent Peter, you seem to have improved better than ever. I do believe you're done for the day now." Glynda informs with an impressed tone.
"Ah sweet!" Peter exclaims as he whips out his phone and immediately starts texting.
Glynda has a feeling on who it is. "You have plans tonight Peter?"
"Yeah, Ruby thinks that the web-shooters can be improved, so she wanted to try out some ideas later today."
Glynda smiles at the obvious. "It looks like you're really excited about seeing her."
Worried at what she was getting at, Peter tries to save himself with, "Uh, well you know, I'm up for improving my stuff at any time, besides, it's actually pretty fun and cool working with her on these things, not that it isn't without her-"
"Peter, it's ok to look forward to spending time with the girl you like."
"She is my friend after all…"
"You know what I mean."
…
"I'm really that obvious aren't I?"
"Peter, for a while, I thought you were trying to hint your feelings at her, I'm sure everyone except Ruby knows that you're deeply infatuated with her, and I'm not too sure if that's even still true."
"And here I thought I was being conspicuous."
His mother continues, "I know it can be awkward, but if you just tell her how you feel, you won't have to keep yourself in a state of unknowns and questioning. Besides, you two seem close, even if she doesn't return your feelings, you'll still be friends."
"It's not even that." Peter explains. "The last time I had a crush like this, it ended pretty badly. We both liked each other, but we couldn't even get together for… well it's complicated. But ever since I started realizing that I really like Ruby, I almost feel like… I don't wanna go through something like that again."
Glynda puts a hand on her son's shoulder. "Peter, you can't try and bury your feelings for fear of the past." She then cups his chin. "You don't have to tell me what happened if you don't want to, but you shouldn't be worried about history repeating itself."
Ruby had recently taught Peter too that he can't keep dwelling on the past, no matter how painful its reminders are. After all, he was once told that keeping in something as complicated as romantic feelings will make him sick.
He was sick of trying unsuccessfully to suppress his feelings for Ruby, especially when they were, if he's being honest, stronger than what he had for Gwen.
He always did think Ruby was extremely cute.
And knowing Gwen, she would've wanted him to move on in his situation, he decided that Glynda was probably right.
"You're right Mom, thanks. Just gotta figure out how I'm gonna go about this."
"Honesty can work wonders Peter."
At first Peter planned on trying to tell Ruby how he felt about her that night, but he chickened out.
Maybe it was because he wasn't used to having such a big crush, or maybe it was his stubborn awkwardness that wouldn't let him confess.
Or maybe it was because he thought Ruby almost caught on to him.
Either way, he blamed his lack of success on the curse that is the Parker luck.
"Is there something on my face Petey? You keep looking at me."
Coming up with an instinctive excuse, Peter responds with, "Nah, there was just… a bug! Yeah, you know, spider nature and all, hard not to notice things like that!"
Still having a falsely innocent smile, Ruby continues, "I don't see any bugs, and you even keep looking in my direction."
"N-no, I definitely see some kind of insect!"
"That's always hanging around me? Is it one of the flies you crave?" She then holds a hand to her chest in mock hurt. "Do I stink or something?"
Continuing her teasing of the poor boy, she then gets real close to him, trying her best to hold in her laughter. "I don't smell funny do I?"
"You smell great! I mean, g-good. You smell the way you usually do! N-not like I'm always smelling you or anything! Heightened senses and all!"
Ruby, unable to hold it any longer laughs out loud. Holding her sides, she replies, "I'm just messing with you, you don't gotta be so defensive!"
"Why do you feel the need to get cheap laughs at my expense?" Peter frowns at her.
"You make it too easy! So I usually smell pretty good?"
With an increasingly reddening face, Peter groans out, "Please stop."
"You don't smell bad yourself either.~"
"That's good news, I wasn't too sure if my deodorant was working!"
"No, that's something else, are you wearing cologne or something? Are you trying to impress me?~"
"Nope, never bought the stuff, guess I don't got to if my deodorant's that good!"
Ruby inwardly sighs. "Guess that's another one that went over his head." She thinks.
Peter didn't really mind Ruby getting any laughs off of him. He loved hearing her laugh, and it was nice that she was probably the only one he ever met who actually found him funny when he joked, besides Yang.
He was aware that the teasing wouldn't stop with Ruby though. Yang also was teasing him and Ruby about each other more and more for some reason. At least the redhead was a bit more tasteful with her teasing.
Of course Yang didn't go as far as revealing to Peter that Ruby liked him too, no matter how much she wanted to.
Or how painfully obvious it was.
It didn't get any better the next day.
Ruby groans as she plants herself on her bunk, expressing her unsuccessful flirting with her crush.
"Another one went over Peter's head?" Yang asks, smirking.
"I told you the cologne bit wouldn't work!" Weiss states. "Ruby needs to try and use her feminine charm with Peter. If done properly, he'll be like putty in your hand!"
"I don't get it though!" Ruby yells. "I'm so obvious! How can someone be as smart as he is, but so dense?!"
"Is he though?" Weiss asks.
"His grades alone prove it!" Ruby defends.
"Yeah but like all nerds, Peter probably doesn't have too many social smarts." Yang informs. "Just ask him out! You already know he has feelings for you!"
"Why do I have to be the one to initiate the relationship?!" Ruby whines out.
"We both know Peter's probably too awkward to ask you himself! He's probably gonna be building up the courage for years, and by then you probably would've already moved on!"
"I wanted him to be the one to ask me out though…" Ruby whined again.
Maybe she knew Peter probably would be extremely reluctant to admit his feelings to her, despite the multiple hints she kept dropping that she was interested. Seriously, she thought her flirting was almost as obvious as Peter's staring! She still couldn't pass up the possibility of how cute it would be if Peter asked her out while being his adorable dorky self… Guess being the initiator though was better than never getting with him at all.
Deciding to get support from the rest of the team, Yang asks, "Well what do you guys think?"
Blake, wanting the back and forth conversation to be over complains, "I think you all should take the shouting and crying outside."
Wanting to voice her opinion, Weiss comments, "I still say you can do much better than someone as annoying and loud-mouthed as him… but I guess he's not the worst choice, or looks too bad... and hopefully you can get him to improve on his immature habits. Yang's not wrong though that Peter probably wouldn't be able to get over himself to ask you out."
Ruby groans at her fantasy crashing into reality. "Uhhhggggg! I know, I just thought it would be cute if he did."
"Exactly!" Yang exclaims. "You both really like each other, and you know he's not gonna say no to you!"
Ruby can only blush at the thought of turning into a couple with Peter. She already felt more connected to him than ever since he told her how he became Spider-Man. Not to mention she already thought he was very physically attractive.
"Besides, you'll probably be going with him when he goes out to get pictures of Spidey more often! If he's, you know. Still alive." She adds somberly.
Weiss huffs in indignation. "He's not dead! He's probably just trying to recover and come up with a new plan or something!" She refused to believe her hero was dead like many were thinking. "Has Peter said anything about Spider-Man, or even tried to contact him?"
Trying her absolute best not to seem suspicious or a bit territorial at Weiss' likely celebrity crush, Ruby replies, "No, I think it was mostly just luck and roaming around on his photography hobby that he even captured a Spidey pic in the first place. Back to Peter though, I kind of just want to wait a bit if I'm gonna have to ask him out." She finishes, getting a bit flustered again.
"I mean, if you don't want him…" Yang coily says, knowing her sister's own awkwardness could prevent her from asking out her crush as well.
That snapped Ruby out of her fluster. She knew Yang thought Peter was attractive, and was one of the only ones who thought he was funny. What if she stole him!? And what about Weiss? She was a Spidey-fan too and also seemed to like his abs! What if she somehow found out he was Spider-Man as well, and wanted him too?!
If she didn't get to him soon, someone else would.
"N-no! I met him first, I got dibs!" She then immediately runs out to the dorm before her sister can say anymore.
"Diiiibbbssss!"
"Couldn't hurt to give her some motivation!" Yang smugly finishes.
"Hey guys, was that just Ruby yelling dibs in the hallway?" Peter just came in the door a little bit after Ruby ran out. "I don't think she even saw me behind her."
"We were just arguing about who got to something first." Yang dismissed. "Didn't you guys have something planned today?"
"Yep, just studying again is all." Peter replies with his face clearly showing how much he was looking forward to getting more alone time with Ruby.
She then gets a sinister smile on her face. "You've seem to be real excited to be with Ruby~"
Peter, knowing where this is going, only refutes, "She's my friend, I like to think I would enjoy my friend's company."
"Yeah, but you really seem to enjoy being with her, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of you wanted to see if it could go any further.~"
Getting a bit tired at Yang's constant teasing, and deciding she didn't need to know he actually was gonna try to ask her out at some point, snapped out, "Oh please, she's way outta my league, I doubt she's gonna settle when she's the only one in the entire school who was hand picked by the headmaster for her skill alone. That'd be like Pyrrha not finding a date for the school dance!" Peter finished, thinking he just shut her down, not realizing what he just implied.
A smug smile spreads on Yang's face, seeing that Peter took the bait. "You still don't seem to deny that you would be opposed for it to go further."
"Oh no."
"A-aw, come on! I was just focused on what you said in the later part of that sentence! Not about anything else!"
"Are you sure Peter? We all see the way you look at her, you spend almost all of your free time with her, and even when you have a project or assignment, you two usually work on it with each other. Come on, you have to admit Ruby's pretty cute, who knows what she'll say if you're interested, even if she's 'way outta your league.' "
…
"You all really do know…" Peter says under his breath.
"What was that?" Yang says, still smiling, knowing full well what he said.
"I said you might be right though. I actually was thinking about asking her out. Eventually. Still though, what's she gonna see in me and my nerdy behind?"
"Maybe she likes nerdy behinds! You'll never know unless you ask! Which you should do soon. Like real soon!"
"Guess I'm gonna ride this wave of sudden boldness."
"Guess I should try."
"W-wait, what?" Yang didn't think it was gonna be that easy or quick. She thought Peter would be a lot harder to convince.
"I mean, I was once in a situation where I waited too long to tell a girl how I feel, so by the time I was gonna tell her, it was too late… It was awful. I don't wanna go through that again."
Yang smiled at her match-making operation getting successful. "Well you better hurry then, the dance isn't too far away, and I hear Cardin has his eye on her!"
Couldn't hurt to throw in some motivation for Peter as well, in case he got cold feet.
"What?! That meathead?! She's way out-, she's too good for that guy! She doesn't even like him! Like at all! Not even as a friend! She wouldn't even say yes to him!"
"Well you better go make sure he doesn't even get to ask! Who knows what he'll do to her if she turns him down?"
He knew Cardin wasn't one of those guys who was afraid to get physical with girls, and while he knew Ruby was more than capable of defending herself, he still felt a protective urge for her.
"That clown tries anything, he's gonna be grimm chow." Peter says right before he makes a beeline to the lab.
Once he's gone, Blake chastises, "You didn't need to do that, he's already a nervous wreck about his feelings."
Yang just grins. "It's only fair. Ruby got some motivation thrown at her, and now Peter has some too! Besides now it ensures at least one of them will confess their feelings!"
Peter got to the lab before Ruby. She said she was going to get snacks before they met up earlier that day, so it would be a while before she got to the lab, thanks to the eternally long line at the snack bar. Plenty of time for him to figure this whole thing out.
Maybe he was being impulsive, maybe he should've maybe waited a day or two, but he took what his Mother and then Yang said to heart and was determined not to let history repeat itself.
Peter's finally gonna ask Ruby out.
He was gonna at least get out the fact that he had feelings for his team leader, even if she rejected him.
He just needed to practice what he was gonna say.
"Hey Ruby, that's a killer cloak you got on!… Room for two in there?... No, that's stupid. And creepy, not funny. Ah geez, how am I gonna go about this?" Peter racks his brain trying to think, then remembers what his Mom told him.
"Alright, honesty. Ruby, I really like you. You're really cute, and I wanna know if you wanna be my girlfriend! *Sigh* Ok that's probably too hones-"
He doesn't get the chance to finish as his newly heightened spider-sense goes off and he turns around to see a madly blushing Ruby.
"Of course. The one time the snack line actually moves at a decent pace."
"You just heard all that didn't you?"
Ruby only nods, with her heart furiously beating in her chest.
Deciding it's do or die time, Peter inhales to gird up his bravery and continues on the honesty route. "To tell you the truth, I've really, only felt like this once before, and really, it seems like… this time they're stronger than the last time. I think that might be because, you're really, probably my best friend. I mean, I've been able to tell you things I never told anyone before… You've always been there for me, to pull me out of my self pitying bouts, to help me with my weapons, and you're amazing with how smart you are at mechanical engineering. You're a real caring leader, and… you once said you thought I embodied everything a hero should be, but the way I see it, you're the one who truly embodies all that, and you didn't even need a great loss to teach you that, like I did… I like you, you're super pretty, and I know you're like, way outta my league, but if you want, we can maybe… get dinner or something or whatever?"
Peter looks up to meet her face and sees that she's still very red faced, but now has stars in her eyes.
A dreadful silence overtakes the room as Peter can feel his nervousness reach new levels of anxiety until Ruby finally responds.
"I-I'm free this Friday, a-at seven…" Ruby manages out.
"S-same here." Peter responded, trying to hide his happiness.
"A-and to answer y-your first question… Yes."
Peter gets confused for a second. "What? First quest- oh. Oh, uh great! Yeah!" He nervously chuckles. "That's great!"
Unsure of what to do he awkwardly gets ready to hi-five her, but realizes how weird that would be, so he just runs that hand through the back of his head instead.
"I, um, think I left a textbook back at the dorm. I'll be back." Ruby finishes.
Before leaving, she puts her hand on Peter's shoulder, lifts herself up to the taller boy, and plants a kiss on his cheek.
Peter can only blush and get a shocked look on his face as his brain short-circuits.
When he recovered and thought she walked out of earshot, Peter lets out a somewhat stifled, "YES!" as he raises his fist.
"Yeah! Eat it Cardin!"
In truth, Ruby only went right outside, next to the door, smiling as she thinks endearingly, "That was the sweetest thing I ever heard! It was even cuter than I hoped!"
Of course she didn't forget anything, but just came up with a quick excuse to gather her thoughts for a little bit.
A long five minutes later, and she's back in the lab.
There's an awkward pause between the two as neither is really sure what to say.
"So you've had a giant crush on me…" Ruby states, trying to be funny.
"Yeah." Peter admits.
"I've sort of known for a while." Ruby's still not really sure where to steer the conversation into.
"W-what? Who told you?! YANG?!" Peter questions, starting to imagine a sinister faced, smirking Yang in his head. "She's an evil mastermind!"
Now having a laugh to get rid of the awkwardness, Ruby answers, "Petey, you look at me blushing all the time, then come up with crazy excuses why you weren't, you weren't hiding it at all!"
"I might've been if Yang wasn't selling me out! Did she?"
"She teased about it, but I thought it was just her messing with me, until I actually saw you once. All it took was one look and I knew you had a crush! You're really bad at being sneaky when you're not in the onesie."
"Yeah! Well… true. And it's not a onesie!"
Smiling brightly, Ruby continues, "And you admitted that your crush on me was big. I'm kind've embarrassed that I didn't notice sooner."
"Cheap laughs." Peter mumbles as he turns red yet again.
"It's just so cute Petey!" As she goes over to hold his hand. "It's normal for couples to tease each other."
"So we really are a couple?" Peter asks.
"Well you did ask me and I said yes." Ruby replies a bit sheepishly. "Unless you don't wanna-"
"No, I do!" Peter says quickly. "Like I said, I really like you, you know almost everything about me, even things I didn't tell anyone else before, and I feel like I know you really well too, so, I mean… I really wanna be with you."
Ruby smiles at the affection her now boyfriend has for her. "The feeling's mutual." She states, kissing his cheek again.
When the duo were heading back to the dorm, they were still talking, only now they were holding hands.
"It really was that obvious? You knew for weeks? And you wouldn't even tell me?"
"I wanted you to be the one to confess first! And it was so cute seeing you get so flustered about your little glances, and even cuter hearing you confess! Besides, I was trying to hint that I liked you back during that whole time!"
Peter mumbled under his breath something about the Parker luck to blame for his failure at being inconspicuous before finally realizing the obvious.
"Wait, so those times you were teasing… you were flirting with me?"
"Duh! And Weiss says I'm dense!"
"Sorry, you're talking to a science geek here! Our kind isn't too used to female attraction!"
"Evidently you guys wouldn't even notice if a girl was attracted to you."
"Well, you're not wrong."
Yang apparently heard them, because opened the door before they even touched it, staring intently at their interlocked hands together with a grin.
"I gotta… go shower, I kinda stink." Peter nervously stated.
Ruby replied with a bashful, "Kay."
Right when Peter got into the bathroom, Yang pulled Ruby inside.
"Gimme the details!" She demanded.
Ruby looked around and saw that Weiss and even Blake were interested as well, so she knew she wasn't thinking she'd get out of spilling.
Coming to terms with the recent events to relay them to her team, Ruby responds, "Well, Petey asked me out, in a bit of a weird, but really cute way, and I said yes. Then I went out of the room to gather my thoughts for a while. Then we talked about our feelings for each other, and now… w-we're official. We have a date this- wait, you don't need to know!"
Yang squeezes her sister in response and shouts, "My baby sister has her first boyfriend! Of course I need all the details!"
Blake turns to Weiss and smirks, "Told you."
"You two are considering yourselves a couple already though?" Weiss asks. "You haven't even gone on a date yet."
"Yeah…" Ruby replies. "We just know each other so well already that I felt that since we're already pretty close… shouldn't we? He was so sweet when he asked me out too."
Weiss finishes with, "As long as he doesn't break your heart."
Yang continues to grin as she adds, "We'll all make sure he knows the consequences if he dares to try!"
Ruby can only turn red for the thousandth time that day as she hears how protective her team is of her.
She hopes Peter takes it in stride though, as he undoubtedly heard every word with that enhanced hearing of his.
This was gonna be Peter's first date in over a year. He's nearly forgotten about how it's supposed to go, or if there's certain things he's supposed to do. He really didn't want to mess this up with Ruby, so naturally his thought process had devolved into an overthinking nightmare.
Fortunately for him, his adoptive mother was a lot more level headed than he was.
They were analyzing his new abilities again, with much success, with Glynda assuring him she'd soon be allowing him to make his comeback very soon.
But during a break, she noticed there was something about Peter, so she asked, "What's the matter Peter, you seem nervous."
"Well… I have a date this weekend, and I'm not really sure how to go about it."
Glynda smiles knowingly and states, "So you finally asked Ruby out."
"Yeah. I thought the worst of the whole thing was behind me, but now I'm more nervous than ever. She's not even my first date, let alone girlfriend, but I still feel anxious, though I'm not too sure why."
"You two are already considering yourselves a couple?"
"Yeah, we talked about it for a good while, and we didn't really seem to have a reason for not getting together. It just feels right to us for whatever reason, we both know almost everything about each other, and I really like her."
Endearingly looking at her son, Glynda tells him, "I think you have feelings for Ms. Rose that you haven't felt in quite a long time."
Peter then gets a smile to his face. "You're right. I haven't."
Glynda continues smiling at seeing her son discussing his feelings for a girl he clearly cared deeply for. "But you have no idea at all of how you're going to go about your date with Ruby?"
"Well Mom, that's what I was hoping you could help me with."
Glynda thought as much. "For starters, you're going to have to change your wardrobe."
"What's wrong with my outfit?" Peter questions. He liked his ensemble ever since he picked it from a thrift store back in New York.
Glynda gives him a look. "You've been wearing the same thing since before you came here. It's starting to wear down on you. And I know you were planning on wearing that for your date."
"I like the sweater…"
"Which reminds me," His mother remembers as she gets out a thin rectangular box. "Your new suit's finished."
Peter gets a wild smile to his face as she opens it for him.
It was rather endearing for her to see her adoptive son like this. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning.
"And of course, there were upgrades."
"Hey uh Weiss?"
"What is it, Ruby?" She answers.
Peter was doing something for his Mom at the time, so he wasn't in their dorm, which Ruby took as an opportunity to ask her partner something she didn't want Peter hearing.
"You know about clothes, right?"
Weiss gets a questioningly sly look to her face. "Is this about your date with Peter?"
Before Ruby can respond, Yang shoots up from her nap in bed and looks over to Ruby as Blake just sighs.
"No! I-I just wanted to update my wardrobe a little bit, you know, look nice for myself!"
"And Peter!" Yang jokes out. "It's ok to wanna look nice for your first date Ruby!"
"Don't worry." Weiss says as she and Yang grab Ruby and take her away as Blake decides to tag along.
"When We're through with you, Peter will be drooling over you!" Yang laughs out.
It was finally the Friday of Peter's first date with Ruby. To say he was excited was an understatement. He had already made reservations at a place they both liked, and planned to see the new Spruce Willis movie afterwards, stealing the idea from one of Jaune's sad attempts at asking Weiss out.
In this one specific case, the poor boy somehow had even worse luck than Peter when it came to the ladies.
"Oh well. At least the luck's giving me a break tonight!… I just jinxed again didn't I?"
He decided not to focus on that, but to just enjoy the afternoon stroll with his team, holding hands with his girlfriend, who really liked his new look.
His mother had made sure to get him his new clothes in time for the big day, and he had to admit she chose pretty good.
He now had an army green jacket with black jeans, a black long-sleeve shirt with thumbholes, having a new blue hoodie over it. He was thankful for Glynda at least keeping some resemblance of his old outfit with the hoodie.
Right now, they're all walking to the Vale docks. Weiss wanted to check out the festival preparations and leave a flower at the ruins of the warehouse where Spider-Man supposedly died.
It had been more than a month since Spidey's last appearance, so many were believing he was dead. Some were even calling for a public vigil and to turn the rubble into a small memorial for the hero that was taken away all too briefly.
Weiss still believed Spider-Man was alive. She just wanted to show her respect for her hero. To keep up appearances, Ruby and Peter left a single rose as well, which he found ironic.
Weiss' mood still remained good though, despite the somber look she had at visiting the warehouse ruins. She was really looking forward to the Vital Festival.
"The Vytal Festival! Oh, this is absolutely wonderful!" She gushed.
Ruby was a bit put off by her partner's uncharacteristic happiness. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much, Weiss. It's kinda weirding me out…"
"How could you not smile? A festival dedicated to the cultures of the world! There will be dances! Parades! A tournament! Oh, the amount of planning and organization that goes into this event is simply breathtaking!"
"Yeah, organizing really pumps the adrenaline." Peter sarcastically responds. "Base jumping's got nothing on this thrill ride."
Weiss groans as Ruby laughs at Peter's humor. "Do you always have to be a comedian? Not even Yang and her annoying puns are this bad!"
"Hey! Puns are an incredibly underrated form of comedy! At least they're not as overdone and overrated as quipping!" She defends, aiming the last comment at Peter. "Remind me again why we're spending our Friday afternoon visiting the stupid docks?"
"Ugh, they smell like fish!" Ruby complains, holding her nose.
"I know. It's been overpowering my nose for the last few blocks." Peter agrees, his senses allowing him to smell the stink before most of the other teammates.
"Wait." Blake questions. "How can you smell that far?"
Peter internally curses himself for speaking his mind so casually he forgot to put up a front.
"Really, the rest of you couldn't smell that stench before? I wish I couldn't!"
"Hmm." Blake unconvincingly responded. She had always been somewhat cautious of Peter. He had some of the best reflexes she'd ever seen, beastly strength, and skill that he said himself didn't learn at an academy. She had started to wonder if maybe he was a Faunus and had a similar past to her…
Call her paranoid, but Blake wondered if said past didn't send him to her. Her fears were dashed when she learned Glynda wasn't just his guardian, but apparently his adoptive mother.
When Professor Port had done a roll call, he apologized to Peter when he came to his name, for the misprint of it in the roster. Thankfully it was now corrected to Peter Goodwitch-Parker.
The whole class was more than shocked, but none more than Cardin and Weiss. Cardin, because the kid he hated the most was now untouchable. Weiss found it hard to swallow because she couldn't in her words, 'understand how an individual as uncouth as you have someone like the deputy headmistress as their parent!'
Blake was just thankful Peter wasn't a threat.
"Anyway," Weiss forcefully stated, annoyed at not being able to answer Yang's question yet. "I've heard that students visiting from Vacuo will be arriving by ship today. And, as a representative of Beacon, I feel as though it is my solemn duty to welcome them to this fine kingdom!"
"She wants to spy on them so she'll have the upper hand in the tournament." Blake deadpans.
"You can't prove that!" Weiss huffs.
As they continue walking, Ruby suddenly stops. A dust shop had been blown up, with now police tape surrounding the area as a couple of detectives investigate the scene.
"What happened here?" She asks one of them.
"Robbery." He answers. "Second Dust shop to be hit this week. This place is turning into a jungle."
"That's terrible." Yang sadly comments.
Ruby glances over to Peter, who has a hard face on, trying to hold in his anger at the situation. She knew he was still itching to go out Spider-Man ever since Glynda had given him the all clear to go out again, starting tomorrow night. He even had a new suit to replace the damaged one. (She practically begged for him to let her see it, but he just said he wanted to surprise her, promising the upgrades were worth it.)
As the other detective pokes around the scene he comments that the robbers didn't take any money but only all the dust.
"Huh?" Ruby asks.
"Yeah, this just doesn't make a lick of sense. Who needs that much Dust?"
"I got a few guesses." Peter says under his breath, loud enough for his girlfriend to hear.
She squeezes his hand to comfort him in his guilt about not being there to stop the burglaries.
After one of the detectives suggests it was the White Fang, Weiss spits out a spiteful, "Hmph! The White Fang. What an awful bunch of degenerates!"
Blake glares at her teammate's reaction. "What's your problem?"
Weiss turns to her and responds, "My problem? I simply don't care for the criminally insane!"
"The White Fang is hardly a bunch of psychopaths. They're a collection of misguided Faunus."
Peter tried to hide his surprise and even anger at Blake's defense of a terrorist group.
"Misguided?!" Weiss rebuffs. "They want to wipe Humanity off the face of the planet! They nearly killed Peter! And even Spider-Man! Who is Faunus himself!"
"So then they're very misguided. Either way, it doesn't explain why they would rob a Dust shop in the middle of downtown Vale!"
"I'd think terrorists, however 'misguided' they are, would be interested in getting their hands on something that powers weapons." Peter voices himself.
Blake could hear the anger in his voice and was actually a bit unnerved at hearing an emotion like that from him for the first time.
She almost didn't blame him.
Wanting to diffuse the situation, Ruby steps in with, "But Blake's got a point. Besides, the police never caught that Torchwick guy I ran into a few months ago, maybe it was him! Working alone… maybe."
She knew that wasn't true, she just didn't want the three of them to fight.
"That still doesn't change the fact that the White Fang are a bunch of scum." Weiss continues as Blake gets increasingly upset. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal."
"That's not necessarily true…" Yang responds, sensing the growing hostility as well.
"It ain't exactly false either." Peter mumbles out.
Blake was about to say something to him before they heard a voice shout, "Hey, stop that Faunus!"
The team looks over to the docks as a blonde monkey Faunus jumps away from a couple of sailors trying to get him.
"Thanks for the ride, guys! Ha, Ha!"
"You no-good stowaway!"
"Hey! A no-good stowaway would've been caught! I'm a great stowaway!" The Faunus taunts as he eats a banana.
As the blonde teens goofs at the sailors, one of the detectives shouts, "Hey! Get down from there this instant!"
In response, he throws the banana peel at the detective's face, crouches on the lamppost, only to jump away laughing all the while. As he runs past the team, he takes a moment to wink at Blake before he continues running.
Thankful that the situation stopped before it got any uglier, Yang gets Weiss to forget about it by telling her, "Well, you wanted to see the competition, and there it goes…"
Realizing that she's missing an opportunity, Weiss shouts, "Quick! We have to observe him!"
"I think Peter beat us to it." Ruby responds, pointing over at the arachnid, who was already close to getting him.
They all run after Peter, with Weiss shouting, "Don't let him get away!"
Thanks to his abilities, catching up with the Faunus was easy.
Of course Peter wasn't going to rat out some kid who came off as more mischievous than anything, but he was still curious about what the whole thing was about.
"Hold up dude, just wanna talk!"
Stopping to catch his breath, the blonde teen huffs out, "Dang, you're sure quick on your feet!"
"Made it kinda part of my living!"
Still not comfortable around a stranger, he continues with, "So you don't wanna try and hand me over to the cops?"
Peter responds with, "I'd hope they would have better things to do than focus on a stow-away, you know like dealing with a real crook."
Knowing he's now not a threat, the Faunus teen holds out his hand. "Sun, Sun Wukong."
Shaking it, Peter introduces himself as well. "Parker. Peter Parker."
"Wait, you're the guy who takes pics of that spider vigilante!"
"Yeah, I didn't think too many people outside of Vale would've heard about him."
Smiling, Sun goes, "Are you kidding? He's done more against those White Fang Freaks than the entire police force! I mean yeah, some say he's a traitor to us Faunus, but I heard he caused some to actually get a change of heart and leave the whole organization! Don't blame them, those creeps sacrificed their own to kill spider-guy. If you ask me, they're the real traitors to Faunus!"
"Yeah, I was caught in the crossfire, ugly stuff."
Sun then hears some running footsteps. "Well if you don't mind, I think I need to make myself scarce and book it! Nice meeting you though!"
"See ya dude!"
Even though Weiss isn't going to be happy at Peter not playing cop and dragging the kid out, Peter just calmly walks back to the team, hoping to convince her that Sun isn't anyone to worry about.
As he makes his way over, he hears a new voice then sees an orange haired girl talking to Ruby.
"...and talk about cute boys! Like him!" The new girl shouts, pointing at Peter.
"Huh?"
"That's my boyfriend." Ruby states proudly.
"Wow!"
"You let that criminal get away!" Weiss angrily accuses.
"Yeah, but it turns out the dude's harmless, I think he just needed a ride, not really any kind of criminal. He actually seems pretty cool. His name's Sun." Peter informs.
"Oh well." Ruby says. "By the way Penny, this is Peter, Peter, this is Penny."
"Salutations!" Penny enthusiastically greets.
"Hey." Peter politely states.
Weiss just groans as Yang asks, "So Penny, what are you doing in Vale?"
"I'm here to fight in the tournament!" She proudly answers.
Weiss looks with some confusion. "Wait, you're fighting in the tournament?"
Saluting Penny replies, "I'm combat ready!"
"Forgive me, but you hardly look the part."
"Says the girl wearing a dress." Blake jabbed, wanting to get some licks in at Weiss.
"It's a combat skirt!"
"Yeah!" Ruby shouts as she runs over to Weiss as they hi-five.
"Wait a minute." Weiss realizes. "If you're here for the tournament, does that mean you know that monkey-tailed... rapscallion?"
"The who?"
"He's just a dude…"
"The filthy Faunus from the boat!" Weiss shows her a crudely drawn picture of Sun to get her memory jogging.
Blake has now had enough. "Why do you keep saying that?! Stop calling him a rapscallion! Stop calling him a degenerate! He's a person!"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Would you like me to stop referring to the trash can as a trash can? Or this lamppost as a lamppost?"
"Come on Weiss, he's not a criminal, he's just a dude who hitched a free ride." Peter interjects.
"And? He broke the law! Give him time, he'll probably join up with those other Faunus in the White Fang!"
"You ignorant little brat!" Blake growls out and walks away.
Hurt, Weiss follows with, "How dare you talk to me like that! I am your teammate!"
"You are a judgmental little girl!"
"What in the world makes you say that?"
"Uhhh." Peter lets out, not sure what he should do in the situation.
"The mere fact that you would sort that Faunus boy with a terrorist group solely based on his species makes you just as much of a scoundrel as you believe him to be!" Blake continues.
"Um, I think we should probably go…" Yang suggests.
"Yeah…" Ruby agrees and she takes Peter's hand into her's.
Penny pops up behind the trio and asks, "Where are we going?"
"Out of the line of fire." Peter jokes out.
Unfortunately, the two never stopped arguing, as it continued well into the night and in the dormroom, now nearing the time when Peter and Ruby were supposed to go out.
"I don't understand why this is causing such a problem!"
Blake shouts back, "That is the problem!
"You realize you are defending an organization that hates Humanity, don't you? The Faunus of the White Fang are pure evil!"
"There's no such thing as pure evil!"
"Wish that was true." Peter lets out, remembering Norman Osborn, Venom, pretty much most of his rogues gallery.
"Why do you think they hate Humanity so much?" Blake argues back. "It's because of people like Cardin, people like you, that force the White Fang to take such drastic measures!"
Hurt yet again that night, Weiss angrily asks, "People like me?"
"You're discriminatory!"
Fed up now, Weiss defends with, "I'm a victim!" Now speaking quietly at bad memories coming out she continues, "You want to know why I despise the White Fang? Why I don't particularly trust some Faunus? It's because they've been at war with my family for years. War, as in actual bloodshed. My grandfather's company has had a target painted across its back for as long as I can remember. And ever since I was a child, I've watched family friends disappear; board members executed; an entire train car full of Dust, stolen. And every day, my father would come home, furious. And that made for a very difficult childhood." She lets out, nearly tearing up as she bangs her fist against a bookshelf.
Trying to comfort her partner, Ruby goes over to her. "Weiss, I-"
"No!" She yells turning away. You want to know why I despise the White Fang? It's because they're a bunch of liars, thieves, and murderers! Who, if you forgot again, almost did murder your teammate!" She states pointing at Peter. "Yet another friend of mine, almost killed! And if his line of work and collection of scars are anything to go by, I doubt it's the first time! Isn't it?!" She asks Peter.
"I really don't like talking about those…" Peter uncomfortably states, seemingly confirming Weiss' theory.
At her breaking point now, Blake yells back, "Well maybe we were just tired of being pushed around!"
A heavy silence descends upon the room at Blake's revelation. She looks at Weiss, who looks surprised, while Peter has an unnerving look to his eyes.
Something about the way he looked at her really disturbed her.
Suddenly, to the surprise of everyone, Weiss puts herself between Blake and Peter.
It was a bit jarring for Blake. She was already put off by Peter's look, but Weiss looked… protective.
Blake stammers for a few seconds trying to think of an appropriate response, but seeing Peter's eyes again, and how Weiss was looking at her now, she quickly runs away.
Ruby shouts out, "Blake, wait! Come back!", as she tries to go after her
"Um so-"
Weiss cuts off Peter with, "I don't want the White Fang hurting anyone I care about again."
Peter would have been more touched if it wasn't for the context.
The rest of the team tried to find her, but Blake had already disappeared into the dark.
They all tried to look for her well into the night, with Peter considering going out as Spider-Man to look for her. Ruby wouldn't let him, thinking it wasn't the right time for Spidey to make his comeback.
"I'm sorry we couldn't go out tonight Petey." Ruby apologizes as she walks with Peter looking for their teammate.
"There'll be other nights. Besides, I was able to get the tickets refunded, so it's all good. The restaurant guy wasn't nearly as forgiving though." Peter quips out to lighten the mood.
"So you're not angry about Blake or anything?"
Peter takes a minute before sighing to respond.
"Angry? No. At least not so much now. Betrayed and somewhat suspicious? Yes. I mean, it sounds like she left a while ago. I just wonder how deep her involvement went, and if I ever ran into her as Spider-Man. I've also always felt like she was kind've suspicious about me. I'm even starting to wonder if she suspects who I am and if she would've done something to me if she had the chance."
Surprised at her boyfriend's ponderings, Ruby nearly shouts, "No! Of course not! She's talked about Spidey before, and while she seemed a bit cautious about you, she never really said anything bad! If Blake really saw you as an enemy, I'm sure we would've heard or seen some kind animosity from her! You should know that! I think if anything, you only kinda scared her."
"I guess. Wouldn't be the first time someone close tried to kill me. Some of them even became friends later."
Seeing Ruby's face Peter quickly states, "I'll tell you some other time. But yeah, guess you're probably right. Hope Weiss is as understanding with her though."
She wasn't.
The entire team had gone into the city an earlier time than usual to continue their quest to find Blake, with Weiss still upset at the whole situation.
"No, we aren't going to sic the cops on Blake Weiss." Peter stated.
"It was just an idea." She defended.
"Yeah. A bad one." Ruby responds.
Yang, not wanting to believe that her partner could be a criminal, states, "I think maybe we should hear her side of the story before we jump to any conclusions."
"I think that when we hear it, you'll all realize I was right!"
"I really hope not." Peter says.
Weiss was really surprised at Peter defending her. "Why are you so calm about this whole thing? She's part of an organization that sent you to the infirmary. She might've even had a hand in that whole affair! And did you ever consider that they may have targeted you to try and find Spider-Man? Or if Blake would have tried to finish the job?"
"The thought occurred to me, but I'd still rather not act too quickly, that's just gonna make a bad situation worse."
She should've known. Peter was pretty easy going. None of them had really even seen him angry before yesterday.
Still, he's acting like someone from the terrorist group might not even be a threat? No one she knew who was in Peter's situation acted like this.
And she definitely didn't want a repeat of something like that happening again.
Sighing, Weiss responds to Peter with her voice full of concern, "I think you're being way too forgiving for your own good."
"And I think Weiss' hair looks wonderful today!"
"Aaaah! Penny!" Ruby shouts in surprise. "Where did you come from!?"
The orange haired girl just continues being friendly like nothing. "Hey guys! What are you up to?"
"Looking for our teammate, Blake." Yang answers.
"Ooooh, are you talking about the Faunus girl?"
"What?! How did you know that?!" Ruby demands.
"Uhh, the cat ears?" Penny states, like it was obvious.
Yang gives a bit of a chuckle. "What cat ears? She wears a booww…"
In a cosmic way of humor, a tumbleweed blows through the area as everyone is silent for a beat.
"She does like tuna a lot…" Ruby softly breaks the silence.
"There goes the last thought that I had any real detective skills." Peter sighs out in a defeated tone.
"So, where is she?"
Ruby answers sadly, "We don't know. She's been missing since Friday."
Penny lets out a gasp at the bad news. "That's terrible! Well, don't you worry Ruby, my friend! I won't rest until we find your teammate!" She exclaims to slightly awkward Ruby.
Smiling through the pain, Ruby tries to politely turn her down. "Uh, that's really nice of you, Penny, but we're okay! Really! And Peter's actually really good at finding people! Right, guys?"
She looks over to her teammates for confirmation but only to find that they've bailed, save Peter, with another tumbleweed blowing through.
A sheepish looking Peter states, "I swear, I tried to stop them."
"It sure is windy today!"
"So, Blake is your guy's friend?"
Ruby sighs out, "Yes, Penny."
"But you're mad at her?"
"Not really. Well, at least not me. Weiss is. And kind of Peter?"
"Nah, I'm all good for the most part, just kind've cautious is all about the whole thing." Peter answers.
Penny then asks Peter, "Are you and Weiss friends with Blake?
Not really knowing himself, Peter responds with,"Uh, I…"
"That's kind of up in the air right now…" Ruby answers for her boyfriend.
Not really understanding their situation, Penny continues with the questions. "But why?"
"She was just keeping a really big secret from us that may have damaged her relationship with the group as a whole." Peter informs, though feeling hypocritical, since he's pretty much doing the same thing.
"What do you mean? Was that serious? *Gasp!* Is she a man?! Or even Spider-Man?!"
Peter almost lets out a cough at the sheer absurdity and irony, as Ruby's able to get some comic relief out of the scene.
Getting out some slight giggles, Ruby answers, "No! No, Penny. She's... I don't know what she is. She didn't exactly talk to us before she decided to run off."
"Oh." Penny gets a bit of a serious look to her face. "I don't have a lot of friends, but if I did, I would want them to talk to me about things."
"Me too…" Ruby finishes.
"So how'd you and Peter meet?"
Ruby smiles at the memory. "He was a cutie looking at the same dust magazine I was, then we got to talking about weapons. Next thing you know, we're on the same team, and he horribly tries to hide his massive crush on me, then we're dating!"
Peter gets a red face and mumbles, "Cheap laughs."
"That's so cute!" Penny responds. "And you're the photographer for Spider-Man?"
"Yep, kind of turned me into a celebrity with people. You a Spidey-fan?" Peter asks.
"Not really." Penny states to the surprise and even somewhat hurt of Peter. "My Father's friends don't seem to like him."
"But he's so cool!" Ruby defends, holding Peter's hand.
"I guess, but a lot of people are a bit untrusting of him, he is still, or rather was, a vigilante, some of them were even trying to put a warrant on him."
This surprised Ruby, but not so much Peter. He always was expecting this, being the norm back home, and Glynda and Ozpin mentioned that there was some kind of contingency plan. Glynda wanted to try and force her son to stop going out if need be, but Ozpin thought up something else, but never told him what it was, only mentioning that they'll cross that bridge if it happens.
"So who is your Dad?" Peter asks, wanting to know who could potentially try and get him in jail.
Penny gets a panicked look on her face, before they all suddenly hear an explosion go off, with smoke rising in the distance where the docks are.
"Oh, no." Ruby says with concern, having an inkling who could be involved in that.
"I think that's Blake at the fish market!" Peter suddenly yells out, running away in another direction.
"There's no fish market there…" Penny states questioningly to Ruby, only to see she's gone towards the docks.
Penny follows her friend to where they saw the explosion, seeing Roman Torchwick of all people making an appearance with the lady Ruby remembers Peter telling her and Ms. Goodwitch about.
With his weapon ready to fire in the face of the Faunus they ran into the other day.
"Hey!"
The thief looks up and smirks at Ruby. "Oh hello Red! Isn't past your bedtime?"
"Ruby, are these people your friends?"
Ruby forgot Penny had followed her.
"Penny get back!"
Seeing her distracted, Roman took that as an opportunity to get rid of the pest and fires a round at her.
Before the projectile can even hit the roof, something grabs Ruby and quickly gets her out of harm's way.
"You ok?"
"Y-yeah I'm fine."
After the smoke clears, Roman gets a confused expression as he sees the red girl, but she's smiling a surprisingly really big grin and even waving at him.
"Sir!-" Before he can finish his sentence, the White Fang grunt finds himself being pulled upwards.
Roman looks over to who called him, only to find a dropped rifle without a user.
He then looks up to see every operative that was on the ground now hanging in…
Cocoons of webbing.
"You know, you and Neo really gotta try and not be so predictable Rome! Or at least try something different, you've already made it clear that oceanside places are your guy's thing big time!"
Neo glances over to Roman, freaking out about the one who's just returned from the dead.
Following that infuriatingly familiar voice, he looks over to see their nightmare confirmed.
Everyone's eyes are on him, each with a shocked look. The only exceptions were Weiss, who's eyes were gleaming, and Ruby, who just has the biggest smile on her face.
"No."
"Oh, Yeah!" Spider-Man shouts back, in his best Kool Aid Man voice.
The freak even got a new suit. This one still had black netting under the arms to help with swinging and gliding he assumed, along with most of everything else. The only real differences was he had a bigger spider emblem that went all the way down to his waist, which was now white. It also had light metallic armor on his torso, elbows, forearms, knees, shins, and the tops of his hands, including his knuckles. Even his shoes looked like they were protected by armor.
"You know, you really should've stayed behind, make sure you actually got the job done. And I thought I was being careless that night! Still stung like a mother though! Or maybe I could be a ghost!"
Roman can barely hold his temper. They finally started meeting their client's ridiculous quota, only for him to show up.
"Aw! And the murderous gang's here too? This really is a reunion! Now all we need is the color coordinated couple and some good bbq! You know a good place?" Spidey continues joking as he senses the two about to attack.
Neo was the first to strike, using her umbrella's sharpened end.
"Guess my spider-charm was irresistible, huh?"
Knowing how bad the situation was getting, Roman shouts into his earpiece, "Kill the bug!"
"Ok, how many times have I had to tell you, it's arachnid! I thought you said you studied up on spiders or something, where you getting your info?"
After his quip, Spidey's spider-sense goes off, warning him of the heavily armed bullheads training their guns on him.
"Guess it's time to get serious!"
Before anyone can figure out what he means, Spider-Man activates the Spider State with electric dust, surprising everyone around them with his four spider legs sprouting from his back.
For the first time in a long while, Roman is at a loss of words.
"W-what?"
Suddenly Roman whatever advantage Roman thought he had on the Spider is now out the window.
Noticing that the dust containers were being easy pickings for the White Fang now that the attention was directed at Roman, Spider-Man shouts to everyone else, "I got this clown! Go deal with his lackeys!" Noticing that Blake and her new friend in particular were hesitant to leave, he shouts again, "I'm serious! Go! The others need help!"
Blake still seems reluctant, but ultimately decides helping her friends is more important than her beef with Roman.
She felt her past had caused enough strife for her team for one day.
Dodging the shots from the turrets, Spider-Man leaps into air, at a height greater than any remembered him being capable of, and lands on the windshield of the bullhead.
Before the pilot can react, Spidey takes out the engines by firing electric dust laced impact webbing, then cuts a circle into the glass of the windshield with his spider legs, throwing it aside, leaving the pilot exposed. He tosses the White Fang soldier over his shoulder, then shoots a web to catch his fall, as well as trapping him.
Knowing there were others inside, Spider-Man makes quick work of them and tosses the rest over to the web with their pilot, then, with a dust crate he nabbed in the cargo hold, leaps out of the aircraft, and fires another web to catch the falling vehicle, then slams the dust crate into another bullhead's engine with a webline.
Roman was in complete shock.
Spider-Man was never this swift and strong before. After a month of not seeing him he was hoping his job would get easier, without the wall-crawler's interference, but now he's more powerful than ever, even with a new ability!
Once the spider's back on the ground, Roman and Neo try to rush him with whatever White Fang was nearby, in a desperate attempt to subdue him, but he just dodges, blocks, and strikes like fluid, with the spider legs on his back helping.
Those things were pretty unnerving to watch in Roman's opinion.
And it looks like Neo's umbrella can barely stand the force behind those strikes.
"Here, hold this!" Spidey exclaims as he attaches a webline above them, then attaches the other end to a grunt's gun, which causes him to be slung into the air, holding onto his weapon for dear life.
One tried to hack him from behind, only for one of the spider legs to catch her blade with ease, as if it had a mind of its own.
She then finds herself being flipped overhead, onto two of her comrades in front of the Spider, taking the three of them out in one move before being webbed to the ground.
Roman and Neo try to rush him again, hoping to initiate a coordinated attack on Spidey, only for him to catch Roman's cane and Neo's bladed umbrella and point both ends at each other before they try anything else.
He was also able to sense that some more White Fang goons were hoping to use that as an opportunity to attack in his supposed blind spot, but Spider-Man just used the spider legs to toss and block them, before spinning around, backhanding them with the legs, while delivering a spin kick, as well as tossing Neo and Roman away.
Being able to multitask, Spider-Man takes a quick glance over to how the others are doing, who are having pretty good success.
Well, at least one person was.
He couldn't see who, but someone had swords swinging around and taking out the bad guys that were too far for him to get to, and was now using those same swords, now attached to super thin strings, to pull down some other bullheads by hooking into their hulls.
Were those also lasers coming out of those things?
Oh well, as long as they're getting help.
Roman sees him and Neo are in a losing situation.
Oh great, more useless reinforcements just arrived too late by the farther crates, and will probably be soon dealt with by these crazy kids.
Wait.
He gets an idea. Looks like the animals will be of some use after all.
Smiling devilishly, he does a bait and switch, fires a round at Spider-Man, allowing Neo to occupy his attention twirling around his creepy spider legs with her weapon as she tries to get a kick or elbow into his torso. Roman then quickly fires another dust round, but this time at a container of dust hanging on a crane, as Neo keeps the bug busy, causing it to ignite and drop by its base.
The result is a giant explosion, which both traps the White Fang soldiers there and causes the crane to fall over onto another one, making it start to fall as well, like a domino effect to the rest of them.
Spidey looks on in shock before Roman grabs his attention.
"You can either play rescuer or cop and get me, hero! Your choice!"
Cursing himself for being outsmarted again, and not reacting properly to the spider-sense, Spider-Man responds with, "You know, I think I'm gonna do both!"
Spidey shoots an expanding web ball at the two, only for their image to shatter like glass.
"Damn it!"
Of course. They must have done that while he was looking onto where Roman shot. The explosion took so much of his attention, he didn't even notice they left.
Firing two webs over towards the area, he sling-shots himself to the dust fire, seeing the operatives desperately trying to get out.
"Should've packed some ice dust!"
Seeing him, they seem to prepare for a fight, only for him to web up their arms and weapons faster than they can react.
"Sorry, but we're in a hurry right now, and I'm not here for fighting! I'm gonna get you all outta here, but please try and cooperate with me! Or at least try not to stab or shoot me! Whatever works with you!"
Spider-Man then proceeds to grab them all, one by one, and holds them in his arms and spider legs. Being sure he got them all after he slings the last one over his shoulder, he then runs over to the edge of the fire.
"W-hat are you doing?! You'll burn us all!" Shouts an operative.
"You do know spiders can jump right?"
Surprising everyone, Spider-Man's jumping capabilities aren't hindered in the slightest, even with the weight of ten people, and jumps clear over the flames.
Getting the operatives to safety, Spidey lets all of them go, only to web them to the ground.
"Sorry again, can't let you guys run off!"
His work wasn't done.
There were now six giant industrial cranes still falling, now towards some buildings.
"This is gonna be a real workout."
He runs over to the cranes and starts webbing them together. He tries to go as fast as he can, but there were already many that had fallen into each other and were picking up speed.
He swings around the cranes with one arm, and leaves a wide trail of webbing behind him with the other. After finally wrapping them in several layers, he then attaches four weblines to the bundle, one for each hand, and the other two for his upper spider legs.
Jumping down, he uses the lower spider legs to help anchor himself to the ground, and pulls with all his might.
Slowly, but surely with great exhaustion, he manages to pull the cranes back, despite the screaming pain in his arm muscles.
Unfortunately, his work still wasn't done.
Once the cranes were no longer toppling, he quickly sticks the weblines he was holding to the ground and starts running around the bundle anchoring them with more lines.
The webbing would last a day, thanks to Ruby helping him install a setting that would control how long it would take for the webs to dissolve.
Finally, the crane bundle is now stabilized and not threatening anyone, with Spider-Man's arms feeling the strain of the ordeal.
Roman looks on from a safe distance in a bullhead and only says, "These kids just keep getting weirder!"
Spider-Man then jumps down to see if the others were okay.
"So everyone 'ere alright?" He asks with an exaggerated Queens accent.
Ruby really tries to hold in laughter as she responds. "Thanks to you! It could've been a lot worse!"
Weiss still hasn't said anything, even as the rest of her team walk over.
"Love the new suit, Spidey!" Ruby continues. "You fill it out really nicely!"
Her teammates kind of look at her questioningly, with Weiss seemingly looking upset. Is she flirting with Spider-Man? Even though she already has a boyfriend?
"Isn't one cute muscular boy enough for her?!"
Changing the subject, Yang comments, "So this is Spider-Man huh? I thought you'd be taller."
Weiss snaps out of her shock at that remark. "You'll have to excuse my teammate, she can be rather… informal."
"It's all good, Ah don't mind any jokin'!"
Blake thought he sounded familiar and could tell he was deepening his voice and making it sound weird. "You saved those people, even though they were White Fang, why?"
Weiss answers Blake before Spider-Man can even say anything. "He's a hero! He always saves anyone in danger!" Then politely approaching him, with a slight reddened face, with Ruby getting a bit irked, Weiss continues, "On behalf of me and my team, I thank you for saving our lives and protecting us from that criminal."
"Aw, don't sweat it! It's what Ah do!"
Right then, sirens start going off. "And with that, it's best Ah make ma leave!"
"Wait!" Weiss shouts as he swings away.
Peter runs over to his team in a hurry looking concerned.
"Guys I thought I saw Blake by the fish market but it wasn't- Oh. Hi Blake."
After making her peace with Weiss, Blake immediately walks up to the teen. "Peter I just wanna say, I'm sorry for what the White Fang did to you, and I had nothing to do with that, I haven't even been with them for-"
"Hey, it's fine, and even if you did, I've had friends who've done worse. You're fine! So what happened here?"
"Spider-Man is back!" Wiess shouts. "You missed it, he was so majestic and strong and chivalrous!" She wistfully continued. "I only hope to see him again…"
Ruby, who's jealousy was obvious, responds to her, "Yeah well, he probably has a girl to go back home to, so we probably won't be seeing him again for a good while, so don't get your hopes up."
Everyone looks at Ruby's outburst much to her embarrassment
"Wait, Spider-Man's alive? And was here?!" Peter exclaims, suddenly realizing he didn't get any photos. "Ah man, Lisa's gonna kill me…"
"I cannot be late for this!" Peter shouts as he carries a box of Roy's Pizza, said not only to be the finest pizza in all of Vale, but even the original Roy's Pizza place. "They better not have been lying!" Peter exclaims while rushing through the city.
He had to make it back to the bullhead soon, otherwise he'd be late getting back to Beacon, and have to wait 2 more hours before the next one arrived.
Unfortunately, it looked like waiting for the late bullhead was becoming an increasing possibility.
"This is taking me too long!" Peter says to himself as he runs into an alleyway.
Peter didn't know, but a guy just casually staring out his car window watched him go into the alley. The next thing the driver saw was Spider-Man, swinging out of the alley with the exact same pizza box the young man before was holding.
"Woah… Spider-Man stole that guy's pizza!"
"So Ruby, I couldn't help but notice you're all dolled up!" Yang happily inquired. "You wouldn't have anything planned tonight, would you?"
It was Monday night, the day after the dock incident. Yang wasn't expecting anything else besides school going on that day, but now she sees her little sister making herself look nice, and seems to be in a bit of a hurry.
Ruby was in the dress she got with her team. It was all black with a red trim, pretty much a slightly fancier version of what she usually wore.
Getting a bit annoyed Ruby just answered, "Sometimes I just wanna look nice for myself."
"This late in the day? It's just I couldn't help but notice I haven't seen Peter except in class, and it's already evening. Not to mention you two are hardly ever not seen with each other. And it's such a nice night, don't you think?"
"Well, gotta go, have some personal things to do somewhere else!" Ruby exclaims as she rushes out of the room.
"Don't let him try anything!" Weiss shouts to her partner.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure he doesn't!" Yang then gets ready to follow Ruby, before noticing her teammates' looks. "Come on, think of it as sneakily chaperoning!"
Weiss sighs in reply. "Guess I better make sure you don't ruin their date."
Yang looks over to Blake. "Well?"
"Don't wanna leave Weiss to be the lone voice of reason." She smiles out.
They correctly assumed Ruby would go to the port where the bullheads dock to meet her boyfriend. He was dressed decently too, yet still casual, with a dark blue blazer and red long sleeved polo underneath, carrying a box of pizza.
"Is that seriously what he's getting for their first date? Pizza?" Yang hissed. "My baby sister deserves better than some cheap eats!"
"Give him a break." Blake whispered back. "His main source of income only appeared last night and he didn't even get any photos. And something tells me Ms. Goodwitch doesn't really do allowance."
"It looks like they're leaving. Wait no, they're going back inside the school?" Weiss observes. "They're having their date inside the school?"
"Quick! After them!" Yang shouts.
They attempt to try and stealthily follow the duo, only to lose them immediately after they turn into a courtyard.
"Where'd they go?!"
If Yang, or anyone else, would've looked up, they would've seen Peter climbing up the wall, carrying a quietly giggling Ruby.
"They really weren't being stealthy at all." Peter comments.
"Says the guy who couldn't hide his lovesick stares from his crush." Ruby teases as she sticks out her tongue at him.
"Sorry this probably wasn't the date you may have had in mind."
They were having a little picnic on the roof of the school, with the pizza and a movie using Peter's scroll.
He'd have to thank Ozpin later for suggesting the place when trying to think of a makeup date for him and Ruby. It had a great view of the city and school.
"I don't mind, this is actually really nice!"
Peter was still a bit bummed about not being able to take Ruby out the way he originally intended, but she was right, their pizza picnic date was nice.
It also helped that the air was kind of cold where they were, so Ruby snuggled over to Peter for warmth as they enjoyed each other's company.
Being there with his girlfriend Peter couldn't help but feel optimistic about the future. Him and his team busted one of the biggest heists in history, he's got a new armored suit, he's stronger than ever, and finally has a girlfriend that he really connects with.
Still, part of him felt as if moments like this would be harder to come across soon.
His pessimism goes away when Ruby cuddles closer and kisses him on the cheek. She even takes a selfie of her kissing him to save the memory. Guess he'll just have to enjoy the rest of the night with her.
Roman's night wasn't anywhere near as pleasant.
Thanks to the bug and his friends, they're now walking away with only 10% of what they were supposed to nab.
Now the client was on the way, no doubt to demand an explanation of the whole mess.
"How disappointing Roman."
"Hey it was your idea to work with those mutts. And in case you didn't notice, the pest is back!"
"Yes, he… has shown to be much more of a problem than previously thought. He will only cause more trouble in the future."
"So why don't you take care of him already? He's already proven repeatedly to be more than the mutts can handle."
"We don't want to take him out just yet. We're going to observe him a little more."
"I-I'm sorry what?! You're just gonna let the bug get in the way of business?"
"No, rest assured we're working on a way to keep him out of our operation. He's just gotten our interest, which could also lead to his true demise."
"Oh and what's that? Hopefully something different from last time?"
"We analyzed his blood."
"So what?! How does his DNA help us?"
"One of our associates was intrigued about his genetic makeup. We thought his strength was part of his semblance, but that wouldn't make sense as his aura has never seen to be used until today. Not to mention that his recent display has shown his true semblance."
"Again, how does this help any of us?" Roman repeats, getting increasingly irritated.
"We've come to two conclusions. The first is the most interesting. When Spider-Man's DNA was looked into, there were signs of genetic engineering found."
"Wait, what are you saying? The kid's some kind of science experiment?!"
"More than that." She smirks in response. "His blood is not only slightly irradiated, but also has some spider DNA never seen before. This explains his odd combination of abilities and why he's been such a hassle to deal with despite his age."
Roman was still having trouble wrapping his head around the fact that he's been fighting some kind of mad scientist's project. "So you think he's from Atlas then?"
"It's possible he was created there, but we think his origins are much closer. After all, who do you think would send him to disrupt your operations, taking in the fact that he's apparently had his semblance unlocked, along with the clear training he's had. Don't forget his new suit, that couldn't have come cheap."
Roman's eyes widened in realization. "The old man."
She smirks again. "But don't worry, we have a new, 'exterminator' if you will, being primed for our problem. He just needs time, but it will be long before he'll be needed."
"What do you mean?"
"Our associate in the White Fang suggests allowing him to meet with the arachnid. He thinks he can convince him to join their side."
Roman scoffs at the idea. "You really think he'll be able to convince that cockroach to join with him?"
"No, of course not. But he wants to try. In a perfect world, they'd mutually dispose of each other. But, the likely conclusion will probably be the Spider taking him down and turning him to the police, eliminating our need for him. The White Fang will certainly be much easier to control with him out of the way. And even if he manages to evade Spider-Man, I believe he can be convinced that he must continue hunting the arachnid. At least until the exterminator is ready to kill him."
"And how is this exterminator gonna be doing that?"
Her eyes glow with malicious delight as she continues her answer. "If Ozpin is going to be using genetically enhanced warriors in this fight, then so will we. And the best part is, I think we have an idea on who the Spider is."
"You were there Penny?"
"Yes sir."
"What do you make of Spider-Man?"
"His strength, speed, agility, and skill outclasses many experienced huntsmen from what I've seen. His Faunus nature and semblance work in perfect harmony to achieve this, but I've noticed that his other abilities don't appear to be from either, so I have no idea how he is able to utilize them."
"Hmm. And Glynda's child wasn't there at the time?"
"No General Ironwood. He only appeared shortly after."
…
"I suppose I should pay his mother a visit soon then. It's always nice to see Ozpin as well."
As promised, I rewrote the old chapters, hopefully fixing any previous mistakes. Sorry this took a lot longer than I hoped! Again. Big shoutout to my co-writer, Mrsauce906 for helping big time! Please continue to send reviews on any suggestions or criticisms, I really can't overstate how important they are for the story, and I promise, I'm gonna really try to not have such long gaps between the chapters! Thank you and God Bless!