I'm glad that you guys seemed to like Ms. joke being Peter's "mentor." Honestly, it just seemed obvious. I've read a million Peter x MHA stories, and every time the internships come around, I always think, "this is it, he's gonna meet Ms. Joke." But then he gets paired with somebody like Edgeshot or Endeavour. No lie, I actually read a story where he did his internship with Endeavour.

Not that I'm saying these are bad ideas. The authors can do what they want, this just seemed like the obvious choice to me.

I do want to mention something before we start. Remember...I think 15 chapters ago, when I wrote the USJ chapters? Well, that tiny little KamiJiro moment was mostly just there for fun, I didn't actually plan to do more with it. But, I've been getting a few PMs where I was asked if I was going to write anymore KamiJiro stuff in this story. I wouldn't mind it as a subplot, maybe I could even have Peter help set up Kaminary on a date. If you guys want to see that, tell me. If not, it'll just remain ignored.

Right then, on to the story.

"Did you get here alright? It can be a real jungle out there."

"That explains the monkeys I saw. Seriously, how do people live here?"

"It just takes some getting used to. At least you didn't have to climb a waterspout."

"Oh that's real original."

"What, you think you can do better?"

"..."

"Are they still going?" One of the desk workers turned to her friend, looking both amused and concerned.

For nearly twenty minutes, Ms. Joke and the new kid, Peter, had been exchanging puns and jokes. Some of them were funny, and some were absolutely terrible. Sadly, the latter was more common.

"Oh yeah. I don't think this'll be stopping anytime soon."

"Okay, but for real though, we should probably start talking business." Ms. Joke cleared her throat, throwing out a little bit of her joking tone.

"Oh, never mind. I guess they're finished now." The two interns outside Ms. Joke's office shook their heads and returned to work.

Meanwhile, inside the office, Peter was having a pretty good time. He had been pretty scared of getting stuck with a hero who would be too controlling, or too full of themselves to do anything properly. So far though, it wasn't that bad. Ms. Joke seemed like a nice person, and her jokes weren't half bad either. Maybe the next week wouldn't be so bad after all.

Peter would be pretty angry if that weren't the case. He'd spent so much time obsessing over documents with Spinner, narrowing his options down, researching heroes, and gathering as much information as possible. After all that, if his choice ended up being wrong...well, even the most patient people had limits.

If he were being honest though, Peter knew right from the start that Ms. Joke would be perfect for him. When he searched for information on her, he was pretty pleased with what he saw. Apparently, she was similar to him. Rather than pursuing fame, she simply did her best to be helpful.

More often than not, she left fighting criminals to other heroes while she comforted the civilians in the area, making them smile and laugh. And even if she did play a major part in a villain takedown, she would often request that the other heroes involved get the bulk of the credit. She most likely felt she didn't deserve it since all she did was run crowd control.

On top of that, she was known to be a polite, cheerful person. She always had a joke ready to cheer you up and didn't mind being called a "useless" hero because of her quirk simply making people laugh.

All in all, Peter liked her. She really did seem like a good hero, one he wouldn't mind getting to know better.
But that could wait till later. For now, he needed to listen to her instructions. They had already lost a lot of time thanks to all the jokes they exchanged.

"Right, so first off, I'd like to thank you for accepting my offer. As I'm sure you can imagine, there aren't a lot of people who want to be associated with the Smile hero. It means a lot to me that Spider-Man himself chose to work with me."

"Wait, you're...flattered? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, angry about me being a vigilante?" Peter inquired.

"Meh. Obviously, vigilantism is illegal. If I see somebody doing illegal hero work, it's my job to capture them, but that doesn't mean I like it. Vigilantes are just people who want to help out and do the right thing. As long as they don't kill anybody and they're capable of taking care of themselves, what's the harm?" Ms. Joke shrugged as if it were no big deal.

That did it. Ms. Joke just shot up to the top of list of Peter's favorite heroes.

"Besides, you're like the king of vigilantes. I have read your file as well you know."

"I have a file?"

"Of course. Heroes like myself can just go down to the station and request the files of criminals, which you technically are. Sorry." She raised both her hands in a pleading motion, though she was still smiling. "Anyway, I was pretty impressed by what I saw. 32 villains captured, 47 civilians rescued, and, of course, 24 heroes assaulted. Those are the file's words, by the way. All of that in two weeks. Most heroes don't see this kind of action even after months of work. You should be proud."

Peter couldn't help but brighten up a little. After being told for so long that he was a villain, even after he stopped his work as a vigilante, it felt pretty nice to have somebody praise him. Sue him for appreciating some thanks.

"Thank you. I really didn't do anything special though, I just helped whoever was in trouble. Anybody else would have done the same." Peter deflected the praise. Hey, he still appreciated it, but that didn't mean he was used to it.

"I'm not so sure about that, but if you say so, then whatever. Anywho, back to business. In case you don't know, I don't spend much time fighting criminals. Most of my time is spent handling the crowds, keeping them calm and happy while others handle the danger."

Peter caught something odd about her statement.

"Wait, criminals? You're not going to call them villains like all the other heroes do?" It was a small difference, but an important one, and Peter wanted to know if there was a reason for it.

"Well, yeah. They're not the same, are they? A villain is somebody who knows they're doing something bad and does it anyway for no good reason other than that they can. A criminal is the same, only they've got a reason. Maybe they don't have a choice, or they're being manipulated. A villain does bad things out of desire, a criminal does bad things out of necessity. Until I can confirm they're truly a villain, I simply consider every lawbreaker a criminal.

"...I...love this woman!" Peter tried to remain silent as he cheered loudly in his head. The heroes in this world always threw around the word "villain" so casually, not really considering what it meant. Finally, he had met somebody who didn't call every lawbreaker a villain, as though they were all beyond sympathy or saving.

"I see. Thanks for explaining." Peter bowed slightly. "So, what exactly will we be doing then?"

"Well, that's the thing. Most students seem to think that getting an internship guarantees some crazy action, but that's not the case. For the most part, we'll just be patrolling the area. Primarily, we'll be walking around, checking up on the people in the area, making sure nothing is happening. If there turns out to be a criminal nearby, we head over and handle the situation." Ms. Joke explained patiently.

"Of course, it's always easier to understand when you experience it yourself. I could sit here and talk for hours about the process, or we could get out there and start patrolling. Sound good to you?"

"Yeah, totally!" Peter excitedly shook his head. Patrolling wouldn't be anything new, but it wasn't very often that he did it with a partner, but on the off occasion he worked with somebody, it was usually enjoyable.

Ms. Joke left the office, telling him to get changed into his hero outfit and meet her outside the building afterwards. It wasn't until then that Peter took a proper look at the office he was in.

Just like the building's exterior, it was decorated with orange, blue, and green. The colors didn't mix very well, yet somehow, the room just "worked." Peter couldn't explain it, the colors just felt right. Aside from that, there wasn't much by way of decoration.

There was a simple desk with a laptop resting on it, along with a few binders and pens. There was a coffee table surrounded by four plain, brown chairs a short distance away, and a good sized TV hanging from the wall. A glass sliding door led to a balcony outside, though there was nothing out there aside from a single chair.

Overall, it was a nice place, just a little empty due to the lack of decoration. Well, there was one thing, but…

Peter shuddered a little when he looked at the single clown painting hanging on the wall next to the sliding door. Whether it was just to go with the theme or if Ms. Joke actually liked it, he didn't know. Honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to know.

Peter set down the briefcase he'd been caryrong with him on the table. He undid the clasps on the side and lifted it open, revealing his new suit.

It wasn't exactly his pride and joy. His masterpiece still had yet to be made after all, but it was definitely something to be proud of. Peter couldn't help but grin widely as he pulled his costume on. That grin grew wider as he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection of the sliding door.

The suit itself was mostly black. The trademark spiders on the front and back, along with the eye lenses, were a bright green. The lenses themselves were a bit bigger than those on most of his other suits, and they had an easily missed compound design. It offered less protection than his two Iron Spider suits, but it would allow Peter to move faster and the dark colors would make stealth easier. [1]

Sadly, he hadn't had time to replicate Karen's drive yet or to copy down her data, so she would have to remain in his Iron Spider compartment for now. That was part of the reason he still wore the compartment on his chest even now, just in case.

Now fully suited up, Peter left the office and headed outside. Just as she promised, Ms. Joke was waiting right in front of the entrance. She gave an impressed whistle when she set eyes on the new suit.

"You've been busy. Kind of a gloomy color scheme, but I like it."

"Thanks. I'm pretty proud of it myself."

No further conversation needed, the two left the building behind and began their patrol.

"So, do you have a usual patrol route, or do you just wander around looking for crimes in progress?" Peter wondered aloud.

"Well, it's sort of both. I mostly just wander around, but there are a few places that I always cover. Just follow me and try not to get lost. Don't leave me behind now. I hear spiders like to explore." Ms. Joke snuck in a teasing comment at the end, though Peter didn't really mind.

For a few blocks, everything was normal, which felt a little off. Ever since he arrived in this world, Peter had felt like there was crime everywhere. Regardless of where he was, he couldn't seem to go two minutes without some kind of crime occuring. Was this just a nice part of the city?

It was around this time that Peter felt a tingle in the base of his skull. He stopped walking and took a cautious look all around, but couldn't find anything.

"That's weird. Is somebody following us?"

"Peter? Something wrong?" Ms. Joke quickly noticed that he had stopped and turned back to check on him. "You're not nervous, are you?"

"No, it's just...it's nothing. I'm alright, don't worry." Peter waved her off, returning to her side. The feeling still didn't go away. If it got stronger or if he could find what was wrong, he would act on it. For now, it could simply be his spider sense malfunctioning.

"So, how's school?" Ms. Joke innocently asked.

"Uh, what? That's kinda random."

"Hey, if we're gonna be spending an entire week together, we may as well have something to talk about. I figured I should ask about school." Joke shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it's good, I guess. The work isn't difficult, and I'm doing pretty well in the hero course. Of course, I could always do with less of Mr. Aizawa's temper, but-"

"Wait, Aizawa?" Ms. Joke stopped walking and whipped around to face Peter. "Aizawa is your teacher?"

"Uh, yeah?" Peter backed away a little from the green-haired woman, who was now smiling widely. "One of them anyway, but I do see him more than the others. He's not a bad teacher, but he does get angry pretty easily."

"Yeah, that sounds like Aizawa. Always getting angry so easily." Ms. Joke sighed, as if she was remembering something nice.

"Uh, are you friends or something?" Peter pushed. She was right, after all. If they were going to be together for a week, they may as well learn more about each other.

"You...could say that. It's a pretty...one-sided friendship though." The heroine replied, scratching the back of her head in an embarrassed manner. "It'd be nice if he paid more attention to me instead of just brushing me away like he usually does, but then, he wouldn't be Aizawa, would he?"

"That...doesn't sound like a healthy relationship." Peter sweatdropped.

"W-well," he quickly spoke up again. "Maybe if you should just...stop trying? I mean, if he doesn't want to be friends, why bother? It's his loss, not yours." That helped, right.

The older woman's hand dropped to her side. For a tiny fraction of a second, Peter thought he saw pain in her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess so." She turned around again and went back to walking. She muttered something under her breath that Peter just barely caught. "Though it'd still be my loss."

"Oh, I think I get it now."

Peter was about to say something to comfort her, but decided against it. He really wasn't the best at this kind of thing, and he'd probably just end up making her feel worse if he tried.

Deciding to just remain quiet, the two of them continued their patrol.

1 Hour Later:

Peter had noticed a lot of things in the past hour. For one, Ms. Joke's sadness didn't last long. At one point, they had passed a group of children on the sidewalk, one of which was crying. The minute she saw that, all traces of sadness vanished from the heroine, replaced with a cheerful smile and a happy stride.

In just a few seconds, her entire demeanor changed. She had walked up to the children and almost immediately got the sad one to smile and laugh. Peter smiled under his mask at the sight. Even back home, there weren't many people who would take time out of their day to comfort some random kid.

After that, her cheery attitude remained. She took the lead several times, practically skipping. Her happiness must have been infectious, because Peter noticed plenty of people beginning to smile when they saw her. Thankfully, nobody commented on his presence. It was surprising, sure, but the surprise wasn't unwelcome.

Peter liked being famous, sure, but he didn't seek out his fame. He had gotten the thanks he wanted earlier, he was fine with being ignored for the rest of the day.

They still had yet to see anything out of the ordinary, but the tingle in Peter's skull still hadn't disappeared. Several times he had looked around for the cause only to find nothing. He was pretty sure it wasn't just his spider sense going haywire, but he didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing. The tingle barely even registered, so whatever it was, the threat couldn't be that big.

Peter's thoughts were interrupted by a low buzzing sound. He looked around curiously, trying to locate the source. Ms. Joke tapped his shoulder, showing him that the noise came from a small radio attached to her belt.

"Most heroes carry them. It's so that law enforcement can alert us if there's something happening in our area." She explained before turning her attention to the radio. "This is Ms. Joke. How's your day going?"

"Fukukado? Listen, there's an active robbery going down at a jewelry store a few blocks from your current location. We have officers inbound, but you need to intercept them before they can get away." A feminine voice gave the details through the speaker.

"Oh, is that it? Don't worry, we've got this." The greenette gave a thumbs up, as if the woman on the other side of the radio could see her. She hung the radio on her belt once more, her face only somewhat serious.

"Well, you heard her. There's a robbery to be stopped."

Peter nodded at her and they both began to run to the store they were told about.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ms. Joke shot Peter a confused look. "We both know you're faster than me. Don't wait up, get over there."

"But-"

"Don't argue! If you can get there, get there! I know you can handle it."

Peter debated for a few seconds before reluctantly agreeing. He took a flying leap and began to swing. He understood his "mentor's" reasoning. She wouldn't do this with any other student for risk of putting them in danger. The only reason she sent Peter ahead was because she knew he would be alright until she got there. Still, it felt wrong leaving her behind.

With his increase in speed, Peter quickly arrived at the storefront. It seemed like a simple place, with brick walls and gold lettering instead of a sign. Much of the front of the store was a large glass window, leaving the inside in plain view, along with the 4 robbers inside.

"Really guys? You couldn't have at least activated the security shutter? This is amateur hour." Peter held back an eye roll as he knocked on the glass window. Entering the shop would leave him in a confined space and letting them leave was asking for trouble. Better to just confront them now.

All 4 robbers turned to look at Peter, who sent them a cheeky wave. They all jumped back and activated their quirks. From what Peter could tell, their quirks wouldn't be too hard to counter.

One man's hair grew by a ridiculous amount, to the point that it reached the floor. Afterwards, his hair rose up and flailed around like it was alive. Another man didn't need to activate, he simply had a few extra arms growing from his sides.

The third robber, the only woman in the group, raised both her arms and pointed her fingers at Peter. Her nails grew sharper and longer, resembling small knives. Then, she somehow shot them at Peter, her nails detaching from her fingers and zooming towards the window, only to grow back shortly after.

Peter flipped to the side to avoid the nails and the glass shower that followed. He still hadn't seen the fourth robber's quirk, so he would need to watch out for that.

"Who the hell are you!?" One of the robbers demanded.

"Whoa, no need to be so hostile! I'm just here to buy a bracelet. You don't have anything in size small do you?" Peter quipped. Surprisingly, the cashier, who was hiding behind the cash register, sent him a nod.

Well, guess that's a yes then.

Again, the woman fired her nails at him, only for Peter to dodge them and fire a web. The woman tried to avoid it, but the web connected with one of her hands, sticking it to the wall behind her.

"Touma, get her free! Kazuyo, help me with him!" The fourth man shouted out orders, thrusting his finger at Peter the whole time.

"Hey, I've got a name you know. I'm Spider-Man, if you didn't know. Who are you?"

"Shut the hell up!" The final man, probably the leader, finally activated his quirk. His hands both turned orange, as did his eyes. He raised a single fist and smashed it into the ground, sending a shockwave towards Peter. He managed to dodge at the last second by jumping on the side of the building, though the shockwave continued to move down the street.

"Great. I'm gonna need to take this guy down soon." Peter complained as he jumped back down to the street.

"PETER!" Hearing his name, Peter momentarily turned away from the criminals before him and saw that Ms. Joke had finally arrived.

"Good to see you here. Listen, I can handle them, I need you to handle any civilians in the area." Peter instructed, earning him a raised eyebrow and smile. Ms. Joke chuckled a bit before she turned away.

"You know, technically, I'm supposed to be giving you orders."

Peter watched her move around, grabbing the attention of anybody still nearby and leading them away. Satisfied, he shifted his focus to the group of criminals still in front of him.

The leader's hands and eyes were still glowing, the man with the long hair right next to him. The woman was still stuck inside the shop, with the four-armed man trying to get her free.

"I've gotta be smart about this. I don't want them to cause any more damage to this area."

Peter sized them up for only a second longer before he made his move. He rushed forward, causing both men to panic. The leader slammed both hands into the ground, creating an even larger shockwave, while the man with the long hair remained still, allowing his hair to bind together and whip around.

Peter leaped over the shockwave, landing not on his feet, but on a single hand. He raised the other hand and fired another web, this one hitting the glowing man's eyes. While he was incapacitated, Peter turned to the other man. By now, his hair had fused into four thick strands, all of them waving around wildly.

The man himself simply stood with his hands in his pockets, smirking as though he had already won.

"Jeez man, you really need a haircut, you know that? This is some Tarzan type length you've got going on here."

For just a second, the man's cocky smirk was replaced with an annoyed scowl. One of his hair strands whipped forwards, trying to score a hit. Peter narrowly moved out of the way, saving his head a painful smack.

The other 3 strands moved as one, all trying to land a hit. Peter was able to dodge them, but the first strand came back and wrapped around his leg before tossing him across the street. Peter crashed through the wall into a small room, which thankfully did not have any people inside. He let out a pained groan as he rose to his feet and stomped to the hole he had just made.

Back on the street, the hair man clearly thought he had won, because he wasn't even looking in Peter's direction. Deciding to take advantage of his cocky attitude, Peter backed up a short distance before giving himself a running start and leaping out of the building. He sailed through the air, cocking his fist backwards as he came closer.

"INCOMING!" He shouted, making the man turn around, his eyes widening. Before he could react, Peter's fist slammed into his face, slamming him into the street hard enough to crack it underneath him.

Seemingly detained, Peter turned back to the man whose eyes he had webbed. He was still struggling to tear them off until, with a frustrated roar, he slammed his palm into his face and released a small shockwave on himself. The impact made him stumble backwards and release a pained grunt, but he had successfully removed the webs, shooting Peter a vicious glare.

"...You know, I really think-"
Peter was cut off by yet another angry shout from the man. He leaped into the air, raising both hands above his head and preparing to strike the street once more.

"Crap, that'll take out the whole street."

Reacting quickly, Peter raised his hands and rapidly fired webs at the ground beneath the man. When he finally landed, slamming his hands down onto the mass of webs, his attack had mostly been canceled. The webs absorbed most of the attack, sparing the street from total destruction.

Luckily, the webs weren't destroyed this time, and the man couldn't free himself on account of his arms and legs being stuck.

"Hey man, word of advice. Next time, look before you leap."

Peter took a quick look around to make sure Ms. Joke was alright. She was nowhere to be seen, but the saem could be said for any civilians who might have been in the area, so she would likely be returning soo-

Spider sense.

Peter dropped down, pressing his body to the ground just in time to allow the sharp projectiles to pass over his head. Spinning to his feet, he saw that the woman from earlier, while still stuck, had used her free hand to shoot her nails at him. The four-armed man had given up on freeing her and now stood a short distance away, arrogantly cracking his knuckles.

Peter did the same, though instead of actually cracking his knuckles, he just made noise with his mouth. This seemed to annoy the man, he abandoned strategy and rushed Peter.

Peter watched him carefully, waiting for his first move. The bulky man reared back both arms on his right side, throwing both forward at the same time in an effort to catch Peter in a double punch.

Peter nimbly avoided them both, grabbing one of his arms jumping to the man's left, forcing him to punch himself in the stomach. Unfortunately, the big man simply groaned, but otherwise didn't falter. He continued to throw punches Peter's way, all of which were dodged.

It wasn't helping that the restrained woman continued firing nails at him.

Peter decided that he really needed to end this fight. It had been going on for way too long and something was bound to get destroyed if it continued for much longer.

Dodging an overhead slam, which crashed into the street instead, Peter reared back and cracked his fist underneath the bulky man's chin. The man was forced off his feet, flying about a foot off the ground before crashing onto his back. If his eyes rolling into his head were any indication, he was down for the count.

In the corner of his eye, Peter could see the woman once again raising her free hand. Having enough of her, he raised his own hand and fired one final web, sticking her free arm to the wall as well.

"Okay, role call. Is that all of you?" Peter took a quick look around the area to make sure everybody was down. The woman had been restrained and so had the shockwave guy. Four-arms had just been knocked out and the hair guy…

Where was the hair guy?

The man was gone, leaving only the cracked section of the street he had been lying on before.

"Oi, stand down now!"

"Ah, balls." Peter slumped when he heard the demand. He slowly turned around to face the now-conscious criminal.

Somehow, the man had gotten into the store when Peter wasn't looking and managed to grab the cashier. Peter cursed himself for forgetting about that guy. He wouldn't have been able to escape since he was right in the middle of the fight, so of course he would be a target.

"Listen to me very carefully. You're gonna free my guys, and then you're gonna leave. Or I'll snap his neck." The man growled threateningly, curling one of his hair whips around the cashier's neck.

"Think Peter, what do you do here?" He tried to think of a solution, but Peter couldn't think of anything. Then, like a miracle from the gods, the perfect solution presented itself.

"Gentlemen, you seem tense. Might I suggest a nice joke to help you calm down?" That familiar voice sent a wave of relief through Peter. Ms. Joke was back, surely that would be helpful.

"The hell are you talking about? I don't want to hear any jokes!" Hair-man shouted.

"Aw, are you sure? Well, that's alright. Thanks for your help."

"Help? What are you-" The man tried to angrily protest, but he was cut off by his own laughter. Peter smiled under his mask. He remembered this from when he was researching Ms. Joke. Her quirk allowed her to force people to laugh, but they had to respond to something she said first. Usually she used jokes, but in emergency situations like this, she simply took whatever opportunities she had.

Thanks to the man's crazed laughter, his grip on the cashier weakened considerably. Seeing his chance, Peter fired a web onto his chest and pulled, wrenching him out of the man's hair. The cashier fell to his knees just in front of Peter, gasping for air and rubbing his throat.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

"It's okay, you don't have to thank me. Now get out of here." Peter calmly sent the man on his way, happy to get him out of the battle.

The hair man continued to laugh, though he somehow managed to regain some control of himself as he did so. He took several shaky steps towards the two heroes, somehow glaring even as he laughed crazily. He flung all of his whips forward at once, hoping to score a lucky hit. Peter dodged out of the way but Ms. Joke wasn't as quick. She managed to defend herself with the thick metal bracelets she wore, but the attack still knocked her off her feet and forced her to release her quirk. The man immediately stopped laughing, looking absolutely furious.

"ENOUGH GAMES! I'LL KILL BOTH OF YOU!"

"You know what? He's right. No more games, let's finish this."

Peter waited for him to strike before he made his move. The man lashed out with a single whip, which turned out to be a major mistake.

Peter leaped and grabbed the strand, forcing it down and webbing it to the street. The man paled slightly and tried again, only to be met with the same result.

"Grrr, GO TO HELL!" He shouted, losing his cool after seeing how close he was to being caught.

Both hair whips sent his way at once, Peter made his final move. He flipped to the side to avoid the first one and jumped over the second, kicking the man in the face at the same time, dazing him. Before the man could attack again, Peter jumped once more and unleashed a hard snapkick on the man's face. The impact sent him shooting backwards, only to be pulled back by his hair that was webbed to the street.

Seeing him coming back, Peter raised his right arm to his side so it hung sideways and smashed it into the man's chest. All the air instantly left his lungs as he crashed down to the ground, knocked out for good this time.

"Peter, are you okay?" Ms. Joke ran up to him, seemingly uninjured.

"Yeah, I'm alright. We got them, and nobody got hurt. I call that a win." Peter took off his mask to help him cool off and raised one hand for a high five. Ms. Joke smiled back at him and smacked her hand against his.

"Great job. I'm sorry I wasn't much help though. You had to do most of the work while I didn't really do a whole lot."

Peter sent her an "are you serious" look, which utterly confused the woman.

"What's that look?"

"What do you mean? You were really important. When we got here, there were people all over the street. If they stayed, somebody could have gotten hurt. Thanks to you getting them out of here, nobody was injured. Who cares if you didn't fight the villains? You still helped out a lot." Peter stubbornly argued. It was only because of her that nobody was hurt. There was no way he was going to let her think she hadn't helped.

The clown-themed woman smiled brightly at him.

"Thanks Peter. I really appreciate that. I often hear people say I'm not a real hero just because I don't do any fighting very often, so it's nice to hear this from you."

"Of course." Peter smiled back.

It was only then that he realized his spider sense had never stopped. Whatever was bugging him for the past hour was still there, and the tingling sensation was now much stronger.

Turning around quickly, Peter jerked his head all over the place, fully expecting to see nothing once again. However, this time, he caught a tiny glimpse of something. A momentary flash of green that disappeared on a nearby rooftop.

"What is that?"

"Uh, Ms. Joke, would you mind watching them for a second? I need to go check something." Not waiting for an answer, Peter ran to the building and quickly scaled to the top.

"Hey! I know you're up here! Who are you and why are you following me around? It's creepy man!"

There was no response. The top of the roof was covered by AC unites and vents, so there were plenty of places to hide.

Peter took a few slow steps forward, looking for a glimpse of whoever had been following him for the past hour. He heard rustling nearby, likely his pursuer trying to escape, and leaped over to intercept them. He saw the same flash of green and fired multiple webs at it, feeling satisfied after hearing the grunt from his target.

"Now, who are y- SPINNER!?"

Indeed, the man before Peter was undoubtedly the lizard-man he'd gotten to know so well. Both his feet were stuck to the ground, and a glob of web was attached to his chest as well.

"..." Spinner simply stared at him, guilt written all over his face.

"...I can explain."

Jesus this chapter was long. I'm sorry if it wasn't very good, but I wanted to do a simple chapter of Peter just hanging out with Ms. Joke before all the craziness with Stain goes down. As for Spinner, there's a very good reason for him being here.

[1]: Before somebody asks, yes, there is a specific reason I chose the Stealth "Big Time" Suit. And no, that reason isn't just that it looks cool. You'll understand later.

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I love hearing all your theories for what I'm going to do. Ever since I started this story, I've gotten a bunch of PMs from people who try to guess where I'm going with the story. I love getting messages like that, so if you have theories of your own, feel free to ask. I like reading your ideas a lot, especially the more creative ones.

Thanks for reading and remember to leave a review.

Aren signing off.