Peter was incredibly tuckered out from the day before. When he finally got home, he greeted Aunt May and was out like a light after laying on the couch. May naturally brought her sleeping nephew a blanket as he slept the rest of the day away.

While the young man slept, the city was about to encounter some changes. Primarily in the underworld, but that did not mean New York was safe.

When Peter was awakened later that day for supper, he knew something was wrong in the city. Just not sure yet.

"How was the shopping trip with Mary Jane?" Aunt May asked cheerfully.

Right, my lie. He recalled regretfully.

"It went good, and she sure likes her shopping. A couple of nice outfits equalled 10 minutes to marvel at the craftsmen ship. Her words, not mine. Still nice to hang with her." Peter replied, attempting his best to hide the lie.

Aunt May smirked. "I know what you're trying to hide young man."

"What?" Peter questioned, looking as innocent as possible, starting to sweat slightly.

"You tried to peak."

"Sorry?"

"Change rooms." She laughed.

"Oh. Oh! No! I would never!" Peter cried, surprised.

"I wouldn't be shocked, you know when I first started going out with Ben, he tried to get a show once looking inside." She scoffed.

"Really?"

"Of course not Peter! I'm just pulling your lag. Ben was a classy man. My sister, on the other hand, had a sneaky side. Did that exact thing to Richard, claimed it was a mistake for years until one night she slipped up and confessed. The four of us had a good laugh about that." Aunt May's face lowed.

Peter grabbed her hand, keeping on tight. "I know it's still hard talking about them. Thank you for sharing." He kissed her hand.

"You have the best parts of all three of them." She said proudly.

"All four." He smiled back.

After dinner was over, May went to lay down now, saying it was her turn. Peter thought he could use this chance to listen to the news while doing the dishes.

Oh, hey, I'm in the headline! Praising my tireless efforts of protecting this city, not the Bugle os surely it will be fair.

"Standoffs, a break-in with a considerable amount of damage, a raging mechanical rhino, collapsed building and a dead major crime boss! All in a matter of hours with the only throughline being Spider-Man! We interviewed the biggest expert on the supposed hero. Fellow news reporter Jonah Jameson joins us today to discuss the situation with us."

"Thank you, Mitch," Jonah responded, appearing from another part of the city. It was edited to make it look like they were sitting in the same room the whole time. Unless JJ could teleport, this could have explained how the man was so active. "Spider-Man is a threat to all of us! Look what he's done in such a small time frame. It's a miracle no civilians or police have been reported dead! That menace has no regard for the people, only cares for himself! I would dare say Spider-Man is a psychopath!"

"What do you have to ask this up?"

"Video graphic evidence was taken from events he's been spotted in."

An edited video showing some of Spidey's more unsuccessful attempts of his time played out. It played out like a slapstick comedy than anything dangerous. This was reflected with the man named Mitch had a tiny laugh he tried to cover.

Jonah's face turned red with anger, and he continued after the video finished. "Spider-Man is a threat to the whole city!" He yelled.

"The young man seems to be a danger to himself. The city does not appear to be an issue."

Peter scoffed. I am not a danger to myself. So I fall down a lot. And get hit a lot, and push my body to its absolute limits. That does not mean anything! Peter nearly dropped one of the dishes, getting distracted by all this. Reflexes allowed him to catch it before it landed.

Whoopsy, that was a close call.

Jonah shot back. "We know from the police, for a fact Spider-Man involved himself in that standoff involving the criminal Hammerhead, who also escaped immediately after being shipped back to prison. Spider-Man was then spotted on camera assaulting Fisk Tower. Multiple people were put in the hospital."

"It's a difficult situation. Police have opened an investigation into Wilson Fisk, so it could be possible that someone tipped Spider-Man off and got him to attack?"

"Anything is with the wall-crawler, Mitch. I'm sure Wilson Fisk is not in the wrong by any means, I've had partnerships with him. I can assure you that his heart is large. While giving credit, I shall give some to Spider-Man for stopping that rampaging beast."

Oh my goodness, I can't believe he just said someth-

Jameson kept talking. "However! It's also in the realm of possibilities that Spider-Man was in cahoots with that rhino! It was to throw us all of his real goals of killing Silvermane and establishing himself as the new head of organized crime!" He took a breath. "That might have been overreacting. I can admit that. We must look at all the possibilities, with Spider-Man we can only speculate the worst!" Jamieson shouted before being cut off by the host.

"Sorry, Jameson were out of time today, we gladly invite you back to the show to talk longer about Spider-Man once more evidence." Mitch now passed it off to the weather, and Peter lost interest.

He was upset about how Jameson seemed always to find a way to trash him every chance he could. Honestly, it was quite the talent pointing out the worst in someone consistently without fail.

After the dishes were finished up, he checked some texts from MJ. She asked him to come over a couple of hours ago after questioning him when coming back home if he was even alive.

He checked to see if May was asleep, which she was. Peter headed over silently and left a note just in case.

Around the same time, Wilson Fisk was morning his wife while his allies were celebrating at a party. Ranged from corrupt officials, cops, high ranking criminals directly working for Fisk and other crime bosses all no doubt planning to backstab Fisk first chance they got. It was the way of life. He chose his road, and it was clear of what it entailed.

To keep up appearances and not reveal weakness, he went to the party with a happy clam face, well under the surface coming close to snaping.

Wesley looked at his boss, concerned as they approached the crowded room. "You don't have to appear here today. You don't owe these people a dammed thing. Let alone an explanation for why you'd rather miss that gathering!"

Fisked glared over, fixing his bowtie. "They'd know something is up and take advantage. They're savages like that."

The whole room began clapping for him.

"Cheers to the man who killed the Manfredis!" Someone shouted. Cheering and clapping grew.

"Please, don't give all the credit to me. I only helped organize the red cloured Bettle is reasonable for the finishing off. My well thought out plan gave the path for this dream's completion, still improper to take all the credit."

Everyone in the room, including The Enforcers, continued to clap and cheer after he stopped speaking. As it began to calm, a voice in the crowd asked a question. "Now the old man's dead, what plans do you have? Some changes must be made!" Everyone cheered in agreement.

"Yes, changes will be made! They'll need to be finalized first, of course."

"Finalized? It appears your not proposing on getting anything achieved!" Another voice shouted. Half of the people in the room agreed, cheering again.

"Ah, I see. Sheep. Your all sheep, following the herd." Fisk laughed.

"Sir, don't." Wesley approached whispering.

Fisk ignored, glaring at him. Turning away, a smirk formed, looking at the crowd. "You people all nothing but pathetic sheep! The ones who already dare question me, joining along with the first fool who's dumb enough to challenge me about what I'm willing to do. Was creating super-criminals not enough? Having Ozcorp in my pocket? Killing Silvermane? Not a soul in this room could accomplish the goal of killing that man! I did! I'm in charge if you want another chance. Go ahead. Take your best shot."

Everyone in the room reminded silent. They were shocked by Fisk's outburst. Everyone practically held their breaths, waiting for what would come next. Would someone dare take their shot now?

After a couple of minutes of pure silence and hardly any movement, Fisk spoke up once more. "That is all I shall contribute tonight. Enjoy the party, and remember everyone I'm not Silvermane. Overstepping with me will not be tolerated. You will pay dearly if you do. I'd prefer we are working together for a new prosperous age for us all. Thank you." Fisk walked out of the party with Wesley close behind.

"Sir, was it wise to say all that?"

"What does it matter, Wesley? Either I do doing my best to make the best criminal empire I can for her and die doing all I can. Or die nothing but a pathetic old man like Silvermane, after years of thinking to be untouchable to be killed like a dog. I know my choice, Wesley." Fisk affirmed, saying and motioning the automobile to come back, wanting to leave.

Back with Peter, he thought it would be nice to talk with MJ about the day's events.

"Hey," Peter said, crawling into her window.

"Hey, She replied.

"So, have you seen the news?"

"Was tempted, I just wanted to hear it from you first."

"Okay, thank you. Well, first off." Peter explained all the events that happened throughout the day.

"Please don't die in my room. I don't feel like explaining that to either of our aunts." Mary Jane said in response to this story.

"Don't fear, I don't plan or feel like dying at this moment. I would like to sleep, however."

"Then, why are you here?" MJ asked, confounded.

"Might have hit my head, sleeping in the first place was a bad call. So, I need to make sure I don't fall asleep if I have a concussion. And I just like spending time with you, I guess." Peter said that last sentence silently looking away from MJ.

"I like spending time with you too." She replied.

"Anywho, how's life?"

"It's fine, nothing new or interesting has happened."

"Well, how was the shopping trip?"

"It was boring, going alone. And I did not pay anything which did not help my enjoyment."

"Tell you what, how about if nothing insane happens in a week, we go to the mall for real. I could even buy you something nice if I'm not broke. Which I likely am. Also, I kind of wanted to buy Aunt May something nice for all the crap I've put her through. So even if I was not broke, I couldn't pay you something likely."

"That's a very complicated way of saying you're broke and can't buy crap." MJ laughed.

"Wouldn't have any other way of speaking."

"Oh, hey, you said a reporter could help you outright?"

"Yeah," Peter replied skeptically, "Well, that's what guy said. I could go to Captian Stacy, and you're not getting involved for certain!" Peter exclaimed.

MJ rolled her eyes. "That's not what I was going to say. I only have a slight interest in reporting. Many subjects outweigh that with what I'd prefer doing with my time." She replied passionately.

"Alright, sorry for jumping to an incorrect conclusion. What were you going to say?" Peter asked calmly.

"This guy Frederick Foswell. For a while, he hung out around our house once in a while after that and helped us out a bit. Seemed like a standup guy."

"Yeah, I remember him. Met him once, I think, such a while ago. Don't remember much."

"Same here, still, I think it would be worth trying him, I've read some of his articles. Seems to like Spider-Man from what I can gather, he works at the bugle, so I imagine Jameson wouldn't want anyone working for him not criticizing you."

"True, I'm really thinking I should go to Mr. Stacy."

"Why would he have time to help you investigate a hunch? He's a police captain!"

"True as well. Got to have a million things on his plate. Okay, I'll try Mr. Foswell."

"Sounds good to me," MJ chirped. "Anything else of note you feel like sharing. I'm guessing were going to have to scrap the bottom of the barrel for stuff to talk about to keep you awake for a while yet."

"Would you mind if I talked about my other friends?"

"You mean Harry and Gwen."

"I have other friends!"

"Sure, you do."

"It's." He paused. "Of course, it's them. They're all I have, and now they could be on the verge of a fight which could destroy our friendship. Or the concussion or my lack of energy might be screwing with my head." Peter said wozzy.

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't worry about that. Just relax, but not too much. The perfect amount where you don't pass out." She said quickly.

The next few hours consisted of MJ trying to keep Peter awake as they chated the whole time.

Norman Osborn sat in the dark drinking casually. He hardly drank, sometimes a couple of glasses were necessary. This happened to be one of those days. Wilson Fisk had won his war to Norman's displeasure. It was inevitable, giving him Rhino and along with getting an upgrade for Bettle's amour. Those were only his most recent actions for the man. Fisk had used a ton of Ozcorps resources on all the 'super-criminals' as they were called that faced off against Spider-Man.

Norman looked at a ton off files as knocking on his door could be heard. He slammed his laptop shut.

"Come in!" He roared.

Harry opened the door. "Dad?"

"Oh, son. Apologies for raising my voice. What's the matter?" He asked calmly.

"I'm heading to bed, just wanted to let you know," Harry replied softly.

Norman was puzzled. "You must be tuckered out."

Harry scoffed unnoticed by Norman. "It's nearly past two in the morning." He walked away after responding.

"Good night, son," Norman replied.

Norman went back to work. Fisk would be likely breathing down his neck even further now, desiring the need to hold control during this transition period. With that, he'd likely be unfocused on an attack from within.

The phone rang, it was the person who would help deal with the situation. A man picked up.

"Mr. Osborn, glad to hear from you again," Jason said happily.

Osborn replied joylessly. "You're needed. Come into Ozcorp on Monday. You have an opportunity for all effort to pay off."

The first volume, as I call it, is nearly come to a close! Two more chapters left, and an end of an era will be upon us all! Of course, I'm dramatic. I wish parts of this story were different and regret some of the decisions I've made throughout and likely will continue to.

I hope you all are doing well and are looking forward to what's to come. Also, a reminder to read my other story? Batwoman pre-write/fix of season 2? Or not, whatever lol.