Season 5 Chapter 2: Background Check

"Ohhh boy…"

"Wow, check that out!"

"What's going on over there?"

The next day, in a cafe called Buck's Brews, a few blocks away from ESU, amidst a crowd of onlooking buzzing city girls was a conspicuous table of three. And in that table sat Liz Allan, sitting nervously in between her super-boyfriend in just a jacket and pair of jeans and sneakers, Peter, and her hot, dark, and rich suitor, Roberto, wearing a white polo shirt and some beige joggers with brown topsiders. Beneath the table, Liz's hand taps lightly on Peter's thigh subtly to get his attention, catching the corner of his gaze.

'Petey, I'm sorry,' Liz whispered.

'For what?' Peter worded with his lips only.

"Ahem! Whew! Is it hot in here? Or is it just me bein' hot?" Roberto quipped as he cracked a smirk, rubbing the back of his nape with eyes gleaming like a ray of sunshine.

"Uhhhh, probably just the AC needing some work to adjust to your temperature," Peter quipped with a hint of sarcasm, partially shielding his eyes from his gleaming glare for a moment.

"Right, of course. How observant. I guess that is how Liz was attracted to you in the first place. You tutored her a lot since high school, no?" Roberto chuckled.

"Well, yeah. We have been through a lot back then. The good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty. And I'll never forget every single bit of it."

Peter holds onto her hand resting on his lap under the table before shooting a smiling grin at her, causing her to smile and blush in return.

"So I noticed. To be frank, Liz, I met you when we're young many years ago. You probably don't remember me because we were both like about five when we met."

Roberto then takes out his sleek blackish brown leather wallet and pulls out a laminated photo of a young latino and latina, around the ages of five or four, standing beside a large lantern made of seemingly light translucent material.

"Oh! So you were that kid with the chipped tooth I met years ago!" Liz yelped upon seeing the little boy with a chipped tooth under his huge smile.

"Hah! So you do remember me. That's good enough for me," Roberto smirked, making Liz want to retract her insensitive remark.

"Wow, you looked like you never aged, Liz," Peter adds upon seeing Liz's kid picture, making her blush in response, which ticked Roberto's brow for a good reason.

*Errt!* *Errt!*

"What the? Now?" Roberto groaned, taking out his ringing smartphone. "Sorry, excuse me for a minute."

As soon as he gets up and walks out of the café, he answers the call that keeps him preoccupied, leaving Liz and Peter alone.

"Okay, now with him out of the way, mind telling me what's bothering you now? You look like you're about to hurl."

"How can you not when you're with two boys, one being my boyfriend and the other my family's trying to hook me with."

Liz slumps in her seat out of the sheer thought in embarrassment, now reenacted before her eyes. As a sign of assurance, Peter takes her hand, catching her off guard again and making her look into his eyes.

"You kidding? This has been quite the experience I never thought I'd get myself into. I get to finally act like a boyfriend, after, you know what I did. Plus, I learnt something new from this, so it's a bonus in my book," Peter grinned. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Liz."

"Oh Petey!" Liz yelped that she couldn't help but peck Peter's cheek.

"Sorry, something came up with my company," Roberto apologized, finishing the call. "Darn pendejos, what will they do without me? Today's been a fine day to talk with the two of you, but I gotta get going, ciao!"

With that, today's date prematurely concludes by coincidence, freeing the embarrassed former cheerleader, but saddening her curious boyfriend.

Meanwhile, in Ravencroft Institute, home of rehabilitation for New York's Worst…

"Eddie, will I really be able to stop? I mean, it's really hard…"

"It's possible alright. You just need someone to push you."

Eddie Brock, assistant and colleague of the institute's founder, is in the middle of a counseling session with a chronic assault convict with many felonies in his record. Before his period shortly ends, he pats over the back of the patient with a reassuring smile.

"If you need anything else, just ask."

"I-I will. Thanks," the patient replied before getting drowsy and walking over to his bench to sleep.

After a light chuckle, Eddie quietly leaves the room and shuts it tight for a supposed job well done as he walks out of the corridor, only to bump into his fellow colleague, Dr. Tanis Nieves.

"Finished another session, Ed?" Tanis quipped.

"Finished two for today."

"Man, you're on a roll! It's been a while since we've gotten this busy."

"You tell me. Though, there are some exceptions that will need lots of work," Eddie points out as his eyes glare at Cletus' cell at the end of the corridor of cells.

"Just be patient. Let things come naturally, and they can sober up in their time, we just have to look out for them while they're with us."

"Not so sure about mindset of yours, but you do you."

With that callous response, Eddie walks away before sensing and having a double take on something odd about Dr. Nieves.

"Eddie? What's the matter? You're kind of scaring me."

"N-Nothing. Sorry. Just on edge back there, see ya!" Eddie bade before running away from making a fool out of himself.

However, Eddie's suspicions were not entirely false, but it was too late as he failed to notice the small red slime clinging onto Dr. Nieves's cybernetic right arm.

And in the echoing cell of Ravencroft's infamous felon and superpowered murderer…

'Hehehehehehe, I'm stilllll hereeeeee, kiddoooo. I'm WAIIIITINNNNG…'

The next day back in ESU, after being dismissed from another long day of classes, with the gang walking down a bustling hallway of college kids…

"Aghhhhh, I'm famished, wanna hit the shawarma joint a block away?" Johnny yawned.

"Sounds good to me, but I gotta check-in with Connors' before heading to the Bugle. Boss' orders," Peter shrugged and refused.

"Awww man! How about you, Hobie?"

"I gotta go for my part time job. Gotta work a little extra," Hobie replied.

"Wow, any special reason? Eh, eh?" Johnny nudged and winked at his side.

"No…no not really. Just gotta keep myself supplied. Tuition doesn't pay for itself, right, Pete?"

"Ditto, bro," Peter replied with a fistbump.

"I dunno about you, boys, but in case you haven't noticed, Kitty's absent," Gwen sternly points out with a concerned look.

"Actually we have, but isn't that okay?" Johnny shrugged.

"No…it's just…well…" Gwen sighs before mustering the courage for the truth. "You see, Kitty said that this may be her last year in New York."

"Wait, what!?" Johnny screamed.

"Okay, that's all news to me!" Hobie looked at her with wide open eyes before turning to an awkward Peter. "Wait, did you know too?"

"...Yeah…"

"Figures. But why though?" Hobie asks.

"Things don't seem to be looking too good, not just for her and Bobby, but I think it involved Dr. McCoy too," Gwen adds. "Now, I'm not the gossip type, but…I heard that he's not really treated too well, despite the amazing and cool things he's done around ESU…"

"That does explain why they were all absent, but why didn't they say a single goodbye or something to us?" Johnny wondered.

"I…I… don't know…" Gwen replied heavily.

After the tough conversation, they went their three separate ways, with Peter and Gwen making their way to the ESU laboratory. However, by the corner of Peter's gaze, even without his Spider-sense, he feels a curious gaze staring at him like an arrow, coming from the street parallel to their block. It all happened like a blur, with only a physical afterimage of a woman vanishing behind a running truck.

"Peter? Is something wrong?" Gwen wondered why he stopped walking.

"I-It's nothing. I think my Spider-sense is going backwards on me…"

And so they enter the lab again. No wreckage, nothing broken, and no supervillain visits today for sure. They were kindly greeted by the second doctor and wife of Dr. Curtis Connors, Dr. Martha Connors.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Connors!" Gwen greets.

"Gwen! So glad to have you back!" Martha replied back, tucking her clipboard under her arm.

"Hey doc!" Peter greets.

"Hello, Peter! If you're looking for my husband, he is just in his office. I won't be here long because I have to pick up Billy later."

"Righhhht, where's his school at?" Peter wondered.

"He's studying where you two graduated: Midtown High."

"Awesome! It's a great place to start off with cool friends to meet!"

"I suppose so, but he's never really talked too much about it except the things happening in his clubs."

"Club?" Peter and Gwen looked in curiosity.

"Why yes! He was barely the chatty type until he found two clubs with great circles of friends: one is in the Science Club, and the other is the Vigilante Club."

"Vigilante Club?"

"Oh it's just a club following the escapades of super heroes and superhumans all around Manhattan. It's just a kids' fan club, in my opinion," Martha playfully adds.

"W-Wow! That sounds cool!" Peter geeked out. 'I gotta pay that place a visit!'

"Peter! Great to see you!"

Coming out of the office was the humbled doctor Curtis Connors aka The Lizard.

"I hope I was not interrupting anything," Curtis replied.

"Nope, nothing to bother here, doc!" Peter replied.

"That's good. I need you in my office, Peter, so may I have a moment of your time?"

"Sure! See you, Gwen."

Peter waved his hand at Gwen before entering into the office with Dr. Curtis Connors.

"Bye, Pete..."

"I hope I'm not in trouble or anything, doc."

"No, far from trouble. There's just something I would like you to see…"

As he sits Peter down on his office chair, he turns on his desktop and clicks the mouse on a folder full of video files.

"Uhhh, what are you showing me exactly? Secret memories of you and your family?" Peter questions.

"Not mine."

*Click. Click.*

He opens a video file with a thumbnail showing an unfamiliar young woman with dark brown hair in a ponytail, clearly not Dr. Martha by a long shot. As the video's played, it shows that woman wearing a lab coat while clinking and examining two vials in her hands before her eyes turn to their corners and face the camera with a bothered look on her face.

'Richard, get that camera off my face,' the woman ordered, giving him a mature version of "the look", and then the video cuts abruptly.

"Wait, Doctor Connors, call me out if I'm wrong, but doesn't she… look like my…my mom?"

Curtis silently nods before clicking on another video, this time with a thumbnail featuring a young man resembling Peter in many ways, maybe except the part where he wears a lab coat. When the video plays, it shows him handling a spider with long legs and a rectangular abdomen, sedating it with a certain spray before putting it on a dish for him to examine over a special microscope. When he notices that he's being filmed, he holds his face with an amused look.

'Oh hey! Did you catch my good side, Hon?' The man joked with a silly smirk on his face.

Behind the shaking camera, they heard a loud chuckle and snort from the voice of the same young woman from the previous video before it shortly cuts again.

"Dad… that was him…wasn't it?" Peter muttered with a gaze that's mixed with awe and sadness.

Curtis nods at his answer with a smile.

"He was—a little eccentric back in college. I was also told that he was always like that in high school, from Mary."

"Mary?"

"Your mother. That's her name. They were close long before our college days, even to go so far as to get engaged early right before graduation. After that, they both interned here in ESU, and the same went for me and Martha," Curtis adds. "They made many great memories, but among these little bits they've kept…"

He scrolls down the folder full of video files before clicking a one with a black thumbnail, which was odd until Connors opened it.

'Guess whooooo?' Richard hummed amusingly.

'Uhm, I don't know? What's this about now, Rich?' Curtis wondered behind the camera.

"Hey it's you!" Peter points out.

"Shh!"

'Drum roll, Martha!' Richard exclaimed, only to hear silence before pulling back a black piece of film that looks like an ultrasound print. 'Okay! Guess what everyone! Looks like we're getting a new member in the making!'

'What do you…oh, dear! Mary! You're—!' Martha gasped

'Ohohoh yes! We're making a new life! And we're a few months in right now, whoo!' Richard screamed at the top of his lungs with fists raised up high.

'Shhh! Ughhh, Richie, please stop it. This is too much to just celebrate,' Mary bashfully begged with a reddish face.

'How could I not, Mary?!'

'Whoa! Hey!'

Richard's seen catching Mary off-guard as he lifts her up in the air by her waist, spinning with glee before quickly putting her down.

'Mary, I love you. Thanks…for everything…!'

And just before the video cuts abruptly, Peter sheds a leak in his eyes from the sight of his dad gently pulling his mom close in for a short yet long kiss. He feels a tap on his shoulder, and Curtis gave a weak smile before it drops into a slight frown.

"But…that's all for the good part…"

"What do you mean?"

Curtis then scrolls all the way down to the last video file at the bottom, dating back to nearly more than a decade, with bold letters saying "Sorry Curt". This piqued Peter's curiosity, with eyes wide open and gaze glued to the playing video. This time it features an anonymous office different from Connors', and the oen operating a video camera on his desktop was none other than Dr. Richard Parker, but with a face dripping with sweat, and panting as if he was in the middle of something serious.

'Hey Curt. This is too abrupt to tell you, but time is something I don't have right now. Look…there are bigger things happening too fast, and now we are going to be in the middle of it. Someone…others worse than SHIELD is coming, and Curt, I'm sorry to ask and bother with one last request: when Mary and I are gone, to finish what we've started, please look out for Peter—in our stead. Of all the great things we've uncovered as scientists, nothing beats how valuable our son is.'

'Richard! Hurry! Pack up everything! We have to go now!'

'Curt! One more thing! I've forgotten to delete everything in my drive. My files, documents, findings. Burn them all! If anyone gets their hands on them, it will turn the world upside down. Please, don't let Peter find them too, because if he does, those coming for us will come him and all that we have. That is all.'

*Zzzt!*

"I did what he told me. And… that was the last time I've seen him and Mary around. After that, the Brocks were also nowhere to be found. I could only assume the same occurred to them as well. I'm sorry, Peter."

"Wait, waitwaitwait, hold up, my dad, just who was he really? I just don't completely understand!?"

Peter jumped up from his seat with sadness leaking in his tone, mixed with a hint of anger and confusion, but Connors was at a loss on how or where to start again.

"Will Peter be okay? He doesn't sound like he is."

"I hope that's not the case."

Meanwhile, while examining reptile and arachnid biometrics of the various specimens kept in the lab's confined compartments…

"I'm curious, Gwen. Are you and Peter dating by any chance?" Martha bluntly asks, causing Gwen's heart to jump. "Judging from your reaction, I might be right."

"Not might. You are right," Gwen replied in an embarrassed tone with a blush over her face. "And it's been going great!"

"I could tell. You were…pretty gloomy years ago when you two were in high school. And although Peter may not be the dreamy guy every girl wants, he suits you well, so I was wondering when will the two of you get serious."

"R-R-Really? H-How did you figure it out?" Gwen stuttered.

'You're stuttering,' Mania mentally deadpans.

'Shut up,' Gwen mentally groaned.

"I may be a scientist, and being a wife and mother, I was quite the romanticist in my younger days," Martha confesses, slowly forming a fading blush on her face too. "I just wish I could forget going through that phase."

"Really? You're serious?"

"Oh yes. Curt, on the other hand, he was aspiring to be a top bioresearcher on reptiles, and I think he is getting close to achieving that. But there were many times he never forgets about his loved ones, me included, and that's what's admirable about him."

Suddenly, the office door opens, and Peter stops by the doorpost with his head turned back.

"Sorry, doc. I didn't mean to explode back there."

"I can't blame you. Your reaction to everything is reasonable. I just wish I could help you out more," Curtis apologizes.

"No, doc. You've helped me plenty today! Don't worry about everything else."

"Hey Peter, so how'd things go?" Gwen sheepishly asks.

"Oh nothing, just some…catching up with things, no biggie. How about your end?" Peter asks.

"Nothing scientific for today, it felt more like a girls' talk here," Gwen quips.

"Cool! Alrighty then, what do we have for today's list of tasks?" Peter quips.

Meanwhile, with Mary Jane, in one of St. John's plays…

"Aunt Anna, I'll be fine. It's just part-time anyway, don't worry too much," Mary Jane replies over the phone. "Trust me, I've got enough time for my next class later. Take care, bye."

"Is everything alright, MJ?" Sha Shan wondered.

"Ye—no, not really…" Mary Jane reluctantly replied.

"Do you…wanna talk about it?"

"Maybe later, we got a play to get to amiright?" Mary Jane quipped. "Plus, I'm eager for a certain someone to come around and see."

"Really? Who is the lucky guy?"

"You'll see him later." Mary Jane ends with a confident smirk.

Back with Peter, after finishing up his work with Gwen in the ESU Lab, he quickly swings his way to the Daily Bugle for any wanted scoop as its exclusive photogrpher.

"Wonder what does JJ Jokester got in store for me today?" Peter hummed to himself as he changed out of his costume and leaves the janitor room, surprising Glory walking past the door.

"Wao!"

"Oop—sorry Glor, my bad!" Peter apologizes.

"Uh, question: were you doing in there? Don't tell me you've been hiding in there? Were you?"

"What? No! I–"

"Just kiddin' man! Say, how's Rand doin' these days?" Glory replied in her usual sassy playful tone.

"Oh uh hehe, doing good as always."

"Parker! Parker! There you are, kid!"

And there's the familiar loud scolding voice of the boss with a hard heart and hard head, J. Jonah Jameson.

"Get your butt in 'ere, I got news for ya!" Jameson barked upon spotting Peter.

"Have fun dealing with him," Glory quipped.

"I hope so," Peter deadpans before leaving Glory. "What's up, boss! Anything I can do for ya today?"

"Peter, I got news for ya: you need yourself a partner, and we managed to snag a good one to lend you an edge."

Between Jameson and Robertson is a girl about Peter's age, wearing a gray blazer over her shirt and gray slacks and sneakers with a smug look on her face. Her hair's blond in a bob cut, with arms crossed.

"Time you two get aquainted! Peter, meet Paula Crane! Crane, meet Peter Parker!" Jameson introduces.

"You can call me Pete if you want?" Peter nervously replies with a hand extended out to her.

"Sure?" Paula hesitantly agrees, not shaking his hand with arms crossed and shrugging shoulders.

"Oooookayyy? Wait, JJ, what are we here for again?" Peter asks again.

"What are you, deaf?! I said that she's gonna be your partner writing scoops for SPIDER-MAN!"

"Wait, what!?"

"Geez, do you guys yell a lot here?" Paula groaned in disgust and pain from her ringing ears.

"Welcome to the Bugle," Robertson humored her.

"What do you mean, what!? This is your chance, Parker. The chance to help impact all of New York with the power of the media! And she will help you journal every bit of it!"

'Yikes! Bad enough to have one nutcase on my tail, but two of them is a crowd enough!' Peter screamed internally. "Uh I dunno, boss, I'm fine with just photos on my own, soooo…"

"I don't see the problem you have with me," Paula points out in a snarky tone. "Did I do anything wrong?"

"Uhhh no! Not really, it's just that, I've gotten used to goin' out solo, so this is kinda too sudden for me to adjust!"

"He's got a point, Jonah. Maybe give him time to think on this," Robbie adds.

"Hrrnn—fine. This rookie gotta learn the ropes before taking on the big fish anyway," Jameson replied in defeat.

'Sweet!' Peter internally screams.

Hours later, in a tiny diner down near an alley in the heart of Manhattan…

"Enjoy your coffee, Alex."

"Thanks."

Sticking out like a huge sore thumb, one customer wearing a huge trench coat over his hunching back enjoys his hot cup of joe, served by a latina waitress with tanned skin and frilly brown hair, ignoring the prying eyes from other customers.

"Sorry for the commotion. You're just quite the sight for a regular around here," says the waitress holding up a platter of a stack of ten freshly baked pancakes on one hand while holding a pitcher of sweet maple syrup in another.

"Whatever they say," the stranger named Alex says as he merely slurps on his hot black coffee. "They ain't nothin' but talk."

"I suppose so. But if you wanna talk about it, can we talk it over after my shift?" The waitress playfully offers.

Receiving nothing but a grunt for a response, the waitress shrugged her shoulders and continued on working and serving and waiting dine-ins.

*Klonk, klonk*

In the midst of civilian customers, several men in ominous business suits started entering with eyes scanning around the area in every nook and cranny as they walked to the front counter to confront the owner and registrar of the diner.

"Greetings, Santy," one man greets.

"Sirs, I can explain. Today's been a good and great bustling day, please wait till—"

"Our master's never been the type to wait, my friend. We can only do this in two either ways: either you pay what is due for lending you what you need for this establishment; or…"

The goon snaps his finger, making one of the goons manifest a fist of white and black energy before slamming his fist on the counter. The slam was strong enough to create a small tremor to scare away all the customers and spook the waitress, all the while tipping and spilling the stranger's coffee. With that, he gets up on his stool and glares at the familiar gang of goons. As he stood on his "hooves" for feet, the coat fell off his huge hunchback, revealing his identity as the infamous Rhino, who ran away when Anti-Venom appeared.

"Hey! You wanna fight, big guy!?" One dumb goon barked before being slapped in the back of his head.

"You idiot, don't you recognize the guy? The master's been looking for all his lost sheep after what the annoying bugs did to our home," the head goon scolded. "Sir Rhino, it is good to see you in good health, would you please lend us your power once more?"

"Sorry, I'm not anyone's sheep pet anymore!" Rhino grunted with a clenched fist.

In the middle of a traffic red light, on the road just leaving the Daily Bugle…

"Man, what a day to be alive: just got off my part time job in ESU with my girlfriend, and now I get a new partner from the Daily Bugle," Peter humored.

"Keep patting yourself on the back, pal," Paula deadpanned in a sour sarcastic tone. "Geez, I could do this easily on my own, but nope, now I had to deal with—"

*KABOOM!*

Suddenly there was an explosion, and it sounded like it was huge to hear from a far distance that many drivers around them got up and out of their vehicles, driven by their mixed sense of danger and curiosity.

"Huh, our first day of meeting just became our first day on the job together," Peter quipped as he and Paula got out of her blue car.

"This makes things even better for us, c'mon!" Paula excitedly pulls out her smartphone.

"Ughhh, oh man, my stomach," Peter groaned, heading into another direction of a nearby building while clutching his stomach. "I gotta go, you go on ahead! I'll catch up!"

"What!? Some partner you are!?" Paula screamed in confusion. "Argh, so I'm flying solo this time…!"

"Heya miss! You look to be in a rush?"

Sticking on all fours to a wall up high is Manhattan's Spectacular Spider-man, spooking the Bugle's intern journalist out of nowhere.

"Whoa hey! Watch it, don't do that!" Paula screamed from the little heart attack.

"Whoa sorry miss. Just swingin' on by till I heard a loud party over thataway. Judging from your clothes, lemme guess, Daily Bugle reporter?" Spider-man playfully guesses.

"Close? But my partner ran off somewhere, now I have to do lots of things myself."

"Oooh sorry about that. Say, wanna have a free swing over there? The Bugle could use some piece of that action."

"Well, I can't get anywhere in this traffic, nor could I run on these sneakers and slacks. They're expensive to tear, so thanks," Paula accepts his offer.

"Please keep your hands tight onto my neck as we board upon Manhattan's Swinging Express. We are now taking off, please don't look below for mental safety if you are afraid of heights, thank you!"

"Whoooaaa!"

*Thwip! Thwip!*

As he swings while she screams over to the site, sirens of cop cars could be heard heading to the area while civilians are found running in their direction.

"Sounds like this is more than just an ordinary robbery," Spider-man quipped.

"Yeah, if only I got a better camera like Peter, our shots would've looked better," Paula groaned in frustration.

Without sparing another word, he quickly stops to land at the sidewalk and leaves the journalist from a distance before entering the site of trouble. There he enters a power struggle outside a diner with one side being the Rhino who escaped many episodes earlier, and the other a group of goons wielding the same energy that Mister Negative manifested, the Inner Demons. Despite the disadvantage in numbers, the Rhino's been able to hold his own against the superpowered mobsters with his great size and strength to an extent, but how long he could endure them is another matter to think about.

"Is that all you fleas got?!" Rhino roared as he slammed his fists to make tremors that swept the goons off their feet and balance, only to shield himself from bullet fire and dark energy blasts from another group of goons. "Nrrrgh! How many are ya, a hundred?!"

"Fourrrr!"

Swinging in to the rescue, Spider-man swoops and kicks some of the goons attacking Rhino into the air and wall of nearby buildings, temporarily demoralizing the fight.

"Wow, I got a five in one! But I doubt I'd get any prize for that record, won't I? I'm a dummy with golf, help me out here," Spider-man quipped, gracefully landing next to Rhino. "Whatup, ex-partner? Seems like you could use more than a horn."

"Well, good that I ain't angry at you now, Bug-boy!" Rhino grunted.

"Spider-man, get 'im!" the head goon ordered while taking out his baton and imbuing it with dark energy.

"Awww great, guess they're your old boss' pawns, correct?"

"He ain't my boss no more! Raaaaagh!" Rhino roars, charging straight for the goons regrouping their ranks.

"Wait! We need a plan to take them out quickly!"

Like a stubborn animal, Rhino rushes at them, enduring hard hits of bullets and energy blasts and pushing a bunch of them back with a tremor before dealing each of them standing with fists and his horn, all until a big goon the size of Ox with a menacing mask appeared among them, cracking his knuckles imbued with a mixture of that dark and light energy.

"Outta my way, Dumbo!"

He clashes hands with Rhino, whose towering size couldn't even budge against him for some reason, shocking the webbed hero.

"Wuh-oh! Big dude just entered the ring!" Spider-man quipped, slinging himself for a heavy double heel arrow kick at the big dude stopping Rhino and pushes him back away. "He's tough, I can tell from his arms."

"Yeah? What you got, bug?" Rhino wondered, noticing that they are surrounded by a lot of Demons. "I'm all ears."

"Tag team: we take down the big guy in alternation. I take the little dudes for a few minutes while you keep him distracted, then we switch foes, deal?"

"Deal's a deal. Raaaaaagh!"

And once more, Rhino bullrushes at the huge goon with his horn bared to impale him, only to be blocked by the goon's huge energy-imbued arms to keep him at bay. On the other end, Spider-man keeps some of the goons entertained with his slick reflexes and array of web bullets against their energy blasts.

"Ya know, if I never thought my Spider-sense would ever disappear on me, I could take you guys down with my eyes closed," Spider-man quipped as he dodged and kick one goon before looking back to duck from a machete swing and strike an uppercut below the goon's chin that it cracked his mask. "Alright, partner, tag!"

Spidey backflips and taps Rhino's back before landing a heavy jab at the big goon's mask and face, though not even dazing him in any way.

"All yours," Rhino grunted before facing a group of seven goons with weapons and grabbing a piece of the pavement to throw at the combating goons, splitting their ranks with his rampaging tricks.

"Master won't be pleased with our delay on schedule," the big goon scowled behind the mask.

"Hey, I'm a people displeaser sometimes," Spider-man quipped as he threw a couple of jabs at his body and arms, trying to also land heavy kicks to his legs, back, and from below. "Man, you're tough! I gotta think of better moves than just throwing punches!"

"Why don't you just keep quiet!?" the big goon roared as he slams his fist at the ground, but misses the Webhead's face by an inch.

With his guard down, Spider-man quickly springs up with feet to the goon's gut and kangaroo kicks him to the air, scaring him before webbing a line that zips him up close in midair and punches him high up in the air before slamming both his hammer fists back to the ground so hard that it created a small crater in the middle of the road.

"Whew! That took way longer than I last calculated!"

As Spider-man's done on his side after webbing up the goon into a burrito, he turns to see a sight of great property damage caused by the Rhino's messy dirty fighting; although it has gotten the job done knocking down all the rest of the gang.

"Nice job, partner. And I guess this is the part where you wanna split with no handshake?" Spider-man deadpans.

Just before they could do anything else, the NYPD arrives with Capt. George Stacy leading the team, pointing his pistol at the Rhino and Spider-man.

"Sorry Spider-man. Stand down, and put your hands up!" George apologizes.

"Nuh uh, I ain't goin' back!" Rhino grunted that he rushed away from the scene, unknowingly leaving his tracks and sounds uncovered with every step he makes.

"You're not taking him away, are you!?" the waitress from the diner cried, wearing a jacket over her uniform.

"Uhhh, miss, you know him?" Spider-man questions.

"N-no! But, he saved us in the diner! He was the one who stopped those guys when we were interrogated for a debt our owner owed!"

"And you are uhh…" Spider-man trails off before seeing her name tag. "Miss Owana?"

"Yes? Spider-man, sir?"

"Say, mind getting a free swing ride?"

"Nuh uh, I ain't goin' to jail again! I had enough!"

Running on stomping hooves to the far side of Manhattan, the Rhino finds himself at the boulevard near the pier and sea, all the while scaring the nearby civilians around him in the area.

"Rhino, wait!"

Spider-man calls as he lands on the sidewalk, putting down the waitress from the diner named Owana.

"Look man, I don't know what happened earlier, but whatever it is, I'm not here to fight you, or scare you."

"But you're with the po-po, and ya think I'm gonna let you take me back in!?" Rhino roared with a stomp that created a tremor shaking the ground.

"Alex, please, calm down," Owana kindly urged, getting close to him.

"Get back, girly, or I'll squash ya like a tin can!" Rhino tries to intimidate the waitress with a heavy stomp that shakes the ground.

"Miss, I don't think you are eligible to counsel him. He's a little dense in the membrane, not just his huge hide."

"Spider-man, you are not helping him right now," Owana sternly scolded in a soft voice, shocking both the hero and the villain that they looked like they took a splash of reality before the civilian. "Alex, you don't have to do this, and you don't have to run away."

"Speak for yourself, you got nothin' on me!"

"...But I know you are not completely bad enough to squish me. And I wanna say…thank you for saving me and my boss back there. I don't know what you might have been through, or who you are for that matter, you saved me from those gangsters, and I'm grateful for that. I do hope you can become better than who you were, just like what you did for me today."

Silence loomed within that moment, but it was there that the Rhino was frozen stiff from her response and could do nothing but just look at her in realization, a good kind of realization compared to when he was out living life as a criminal on the run.

"Uhhh, miss, are you done? The police are coming!" Spider-man points out.

"Ughhhhhh, JJ is gonna have a field day with what I'm about to do," Spider-man shook his downcast face with guilt.

Before the police could arrive and confront them, the hero looked around the pier and found a scuba tank in one of the crates that came in with an oxygen mask connected. He tosses them over to Rhino outta nowhere.

"You'll need this!"

"What for!?"

"And sorry not sorry for doing this!"

Thinking on his feet, Spider-man then kicks Rhino so hard off the ground and down to the sea in its high tide time. All the police could find was a huge loud splash and an awkward masked hero with the civilian in the midst of it.

"Spider-man! What happened!? Where's Rhino?" George demands.

"I uh, ugh, it was my bad. He slipped."

"He escaped!?"

"You mean you let him escape!?" Detective Carter angrily replied.

"Simmer down, Carter, I think you should go check on the new tenants for Ryker's."

By the Captain's orders, the hot-headed detective leaves the Webhead alone to check on the captured goons from the Inner Demons from the fight earlier. Scooting close to nudge his elbow…

'Pst, you good?' Rookie Detective Cooper sheepishly asks in a soft voice.

"Other than feeling a bunch of iron sights aimed at me in that one gaze, never better, thanks?"

"Well, we fail sometimes, but that never deterred New York's Finest! We'll catch that big bloke and bring 'im back to justice next time!"

"I wish that could be the case with those Demon dudes. Their boss might bail them out in a few days, I'm calling that."

"Arghh! Men! Always a bunch of lazy bums, where were you when I needed you, Peter!?"

"Paula!"

Just right after the action clears, the infamous photographer Peter Parker reappears at the worst of times for the rookie journalist.

"Peter Parker, where the heck have you been!? Didn't you hear all the alerts!? All the action!? All the fighting for crying out loud!?" Paula screams at the top of her lungs. "Ughhhhh, what a stressful first day…!"

"I'm sorry for leaving you out there, but I was right behind you in all the scenes out there! Look!"

Peter takes out his camera full of photos of scenes around the battle, the chase, and Spider-man's losing the Rhino.

"Wait, who—where—what!? How did you get all these pictures so easily!?"

"Yeah, sorry about leaving you to get these."

"…Fine, you are not completely useless as I thought. Guess JJ was right about you being very competent," Paula complimented. "Good work out there."

"Just doin' what I do best, Ma'am!" Peter playfully salutes.

Hours later, in a penthouse in a business district of Manhattan…

'After what I've done to Ben Parker…I don't deserve to go back out there…'

"Haaaaaagh, why, Daddy…just right after all the trouble, after every single attempt I tried to get you free…all because of him…!"

Amidst the steam, a blonde broad emerges from a hot bath and steps out to grab a clean towel to dry her silky smooth white body before drying her hair with a blow dryer, revealing herself to be Felicia Hardy. Draping a bathrobe over herself, she then slumps into her huge queen-sized bed and tinkers with her tablet, scrolling down her news feed and spots something that piques her interest…

"Villains In Tandem: Spider-Man Working With The Infamous Rhino Against Manhattan's Nefarious Inner Demons!" –written by Paula Crane

In huge red letters in its heading, an article from the Daily Bugle sends a message that gives another slandering message about the Wall-crawler, but much worse, other than coming from a new journalist for the Bugle. However, this slander seemed like a ray of hope in the eyes of this broad.

"Well well, Spider. I hope you don't forget our deal…" Felicia hummed, playing with her Black Cat mask.

—To be continued