His steps soft and quick, the creature then leapt off the nearest building, landing on the roof across the street as it continued its course. It needed to be very selective about the path it took, given the area of the city he had been put up in. It kept to the shadows as much as possible, but now that it was in its final stretch towards his destination, he'd opted for speed over stealth towards the finish, the night having grown quite late.

Finally, it could see its end goal up ahead, leaping across a street yet again, this time sinking its claws into a wall. He then lowered his foot, sliding open a window just down and to the right, flipping inside and landing gracefully on the floor, hardly making a sound despite his size. Standing to his feet, he then walked over until he was just in front of the bed. Taking a seat, the creature crossed its legs, took a breath, and closed its eyes.

Slowly, the creature began to settle, its heart rate slowing and breathing becoming regular again. He could feel the transformation happening, his body undergoing a change that once had been difficult, even painful. Now, however, it was simple and painless, though still requiring concentration, so his eyes remained shut as he allowed the process to carry on. After about another ten seconds, the man finally opened his eyes; he glanced down at what had once been a hand covered in fur, but was now merely like the average human hand, his ferocious claws now reduced to fingernails.

No sooner had his transformation been completed than he heard his phone ringing on the counter. Uncurling his legs, he stood up, walking over and checking who it was. Though there was no name with the number, he recognized it as being the one whom he'd been in touch with regarding his latest contract. Picking it up, he answered.

"Yes?"

"Our men said the deal went down, so I take it your evening was a success?" the voice on the other end inquired.

"Not yet," the man replied.

"You don't sound too disappointed," the individual pointed out, "especially for a man who failed to get the job done."

"I am disappointed," the man replied. "It was my belief that I would be dealing with a criminal and a vigilante, yet he purposefully abandoned our fight to save another man's life. Tell me, why would someone like who you had described to me do such a thing?"

"I assure you, he is everything we have said, and much more," the caller assured the man. "That should be enough for you. Now, can we count on you to finish the job?"

"Don't worry, your deposit will not be for nothing," the man replied to his caller. He then hung up before the individual could get another word in and strolled back over to the window, glancing out into the city. His mind returned to the battle, reflecting on his first encounter with Spider-Man. He had not followed much regarding the red and blue suited individual's career prior to the night, only reading the occasional Daily Bugle article that perpetually called him a menace and a threat to society. This lined up with what the one who'd reached out to him for his services had told him as well, with the supposed "superhero" having been plaguing his business dealings for some time.

He knew that he had a job to do, and he would do it. Still, from what he'd seen tonight, the man began to wonder if there was more to Spider-Man than he had been led to believe.

As the elevator doors within the Bugle closed, Peter tilted his head, trying to stretch his neck out a little. Though his enhanced healing abilities had done their job overnight and taken care of all the spots where blood had been coming from, he was still just a little sore. If he was being honest, he was concerned about whoever he'd fought last night like he hadn't been about an opponent since the Green Goblin. Whoever this was, they had attacked him with a ferocity he hadn't encountered often in his nine-year run as Spider-Man, which told him one of two things: it was personal, or someone had paid them EXTREMELY well.

As his ride neared its end, Peter resolved that this would have to be something he'd figure out later. Right now, his biggest concern was getting these pictures in and getting his money that would be needed for rent next month, given how much he'd already sunk into repairing his costume this morning. The doors then opened and he strolled onto the area, heading straight for Jonah's office and finding Betty at her desk as usual.

"Hey, Betty," he greeted her as he usually did.

"Peter!" she said, quickly getting up and blocking his way. She glanced back at the office, where Jonah seemed to be on the phone with someone, before glancing back in his direction.

"Listen, tread carefully today, okay?" she continued. "Jonah's not exactly been in the best moo..."

Suddenly, the office doors slammed open.

"Parker!" the man yelled. "You better have brought me some good Spider-Man shots!"

"Well, you're in luck, boss!" Peter replied confidently, hoping to reassure his boss as he held out what he'd taken this morning. The man snatched them from his hand, sifting through them after brief glances at each one.

"Are you kidding me!?" he screamed. "None of these are worth printing! There's hardly any good action in them!"

"That's not true, sir!" Peter insisted, quickly pointing to one of them. "Did you see where Spider-Man managed to web that purse snatcher to a lamppost?"

"The people have been seeing that same shot every year since 2015!" Jonah yelled, his face growing red. "Rumor was that Spider-Man was fighting some other cross species freak out at the docks last night. Why don't you have any pictures of that!?"

"Well... it was late, and everything seemed kind of quiet, so I just kind of turned in for the night," Peter lied. He couldn't say that he'd made an error in guessing that nothing exciting was going to happen, plus he'd been keeping the idea of getting back to M.J. in time open last night.

"Look, Parker, I know that you've got big dreams of winning the Nobel Prize or whatever, but you better get int gear soon, or else..."

Robbie Robertson then stepped into the picture, coming alongside the Editor-In-Chief.

"What Jonah means is that we just need to try and make sure we catch the good stuff as best we can, but we'll run with what you have, Peter," he spoke up. "Right, Jonah?"

Taking a moment to compose himself, the man then handed the pictures to Robbie before turning back and heading for his office, closing the doors behind him. Peter observed as the man ran his hand through his hair, still appearing flustered.

"Sorry you had to be on the receiving end of Jonah's frustration today, Peter," Robbie apologized.

"You don't have to worry about me," Peter assured him. "I'm used to it like you all are, but what's going on that's got him so on edge today?"

"Don't go sharing this with anyone, but our quarterly numbers came in today," Robbie shared.

"I'm guessing that they weren't exactly in the black?" Peter questioned.

"You could say that, yeah," Robbie replied. "Suffice it to say, Jonah knows he's going to have some big decisions to make if we don't get our readership up, and soon."

"You mean, like..."

"Like letting people go, yeah," Betty replied.

Peter let out a sigh, glancing back in at Jonah, who was back at his desk now. His boss of the last nine years was certainly rough around the edges, but he didn't envy his position right now. In his own way, he did care about the people under him, even if he didn't always know how to show it, so he knew something like this had to be weighing on him.

"I'll see if I can get some better pictures," he added.

"Try not to stress about it too much," Robbie said. "Also, how did your interview go at Stark Industries on Friday?"

"Oh, um, not that great," he conceded.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Betty said. "I'm sure something will turn up!"

"Yeah," Peter replied. He had to admit, it was kind of weird to talk to the people at his current employment so openly about how he was looking for other employment, but he was grateful for how Robbie, Betty and others had offered their support to his dreams of becoming a scientist.

"Randy just started a new job after a six-month search, so anything is definitely possible," Robbie added.

"That's great!" Peter replied. "I know how hard you said it had been on him and his wife."

"Yeah, suffice it to say that they were pretty relieved when they got the news," Robbie replied.

"Here you go," Betty chimed in, offering Peter his check.

"Thanks," he said, taking it and putting it in his pocket.

"Just try and take of yourself, alright?" she added. "You honestly look kind of tired."

"Still worrying about me, huh?" Peter teased her.

"Well, if you boys wouldn't give me reason to, I wouldn't," she retorted.

"Ned giving you that hard a time?" Peter questioned.

"Him, you, and everyone other male around our age!" Betty clarified.

"That's because we don't grow up until we have kids and we don't have a choice," Robbie added. "Even then, it still comes out sometimes."

"No wonder women live longer than men," Betty joked.

"Alright then," Peter said. "Well, I guess I'll head out and try to find something nice and safe to get into."

"Good luck," Robbie replied, "and don't worry. Like Betty said, I'm sure something will turn up."

"Thanks," Peter replied.

Mary Jane took another sip of her coffee, setting it down just in time to hear the door to the shop open just behind her.

"Sorry I'm late," Peter said as he came up beside her. "I guess I'm owed another one now."

"There's no point in really counting anymore," she replied. "I gave that up a long time ago."

"I know, but I still feel bad," Peter reiterated as he took his seat across from her.

"You shouldn't," she said. "If anything, it helps me to plan properly."

"I guess that makes sense," Peter conceded, ", though it is sad that I've become that predictable. How did the next round of auditions go?"

"I don't want to speak too soon or sound too confident, but I have a pretty good feeling," Mary Jane replied.

"Hollywood's going to regret missing out on you," Peter assured her. "I bet they'll be at your doorstep begging you to be in some new movie or show as soon as they see your first reviews."

"Yeah, well, it'll be their loss," M.J. said, taking another sip of her drink. She was stalling for time and she knew it, her brain trying to figure out how to address the main thing she'd wanted to discuss with him.

"How's your aunt doing, anyway?" Peter questioned. "May still talks about her a fair amount; she always said she missed you terribly."

"Oh, she's over the moon," M.J. replied. "My first night back, she cooked my favorite meal and even broke out her famous chocolate pie recipe that she usually only makes on Thanksgiving!"

"Oh man, now I'm kind of jealous!" Peter said. "I know I've only gotten to try it a couple of times, but I loved it!"

"You'll have to stop by sometime soon; I think we still have quite a bit leftover," M.J. said. "You'll be pleased to know that she hasn't lost her touch."

"I'll be setting my expectations as high as possible," he replied. Silence then fell between them, neither one seemingly knowing where to go next. M.J. began to wonder if the way last night ended between them was weighing as much on his mind as hers.

"Oh, we still need to get you your drink!" she suddenly realized, getting up from her seat.

"Maybe later," Peter said. "I think there's something that we need to talk about."

"I agree," M.J. concurred, immediately sitting back down. "So, let's talk."

"I just feel bad still about having to leave abruptly last night," he said.

"It wasn't your fault," M.J. assured him.

"I know, but still, I... it's not how I wanted to end the evening between us," he explained.

"Oh?" she questioned. "And how would you have wanted it to end?"

"I don't know," Peter admitted, "maybe with me walking you home, telling you how nice a time I had, not getting interrupted..."

"...and what about what we were going to do before you had to leave?"

M.J. observed as a thin smile crept over Peter's lips.

"Yeah, that would've..."

Suddenly, Peter cut himself off, his gaze turning sharply towards the window just to their side, then to his other side.

"Peter, what is it?" she questioned; she wasn't sure why he seemed so on alert all of a sudden.

"We need to go," he replied, hastily getting up from his seat and helping her up as well.

"What, why?" she questioned.

"Just trust me," he insisted, leading the two of them out of the shop. Mary Jane said nothing at first as they began walking briskly down the street; she glanced around, searching for anything that appeared as though it might be the source of Peter's mysterious apprehension, but found nothing that appeared suspicious or out of place.

"Just act normal," he said, probably addressing her head appearing as though it were on a swivel.

"Why?" she questioned again. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain in a second," Peter replied as he led them both down into a subway tunnel. Soon, they came to the subway station, getting in line with everyone else. M.J. observed as Peter glanced around once more; he seemed to be a little more at ease now, but something was still clearly weighing on his mind. After a few moments, the doors opened, and the two entered along with the herd of individuals, taking their seats.

"Where are we going?" M.J. asked.

"I'm taking you home," Peter replied, still maintaining a watchful eye on their surrounding area.

"Oh," she said.

"What?" Peter turned to her.

"It's just... I was hoping we could talk about..."

"Mary Jane," Peter spoke up, placing his hands gently on her upper arms, "I know how strange this looks, but if you trust anything, trust this: you are my favorite person in this world, and I assure you, we WILL talk about things between us, and soon. Right now though, the thing I need most is to keep you safe, so please, just don't ask me any questions and let me get you home safely."

M.J. let out a sigh; though this was far from how she wanted the evening to go, there was an earnest, genuine nature to Peter's words that gave her at least a semblance of peace, so she saw no reason not to adhere to his instructions.

"Okay."

Hope you're still enjoying it!

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

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10