The night air was crisp, almost cold. Shivering, I thought about adding a jacket to my costume. Even though it was colder, it was calmer than the afternoon. Well, calm from a certain perspective. Despite the calm of the air and gentler traffic, the crime at this time got a lot uglier. All of it can't be fixed by me, but I can try to help as much as I can. I had stopped crimes this week I didn't even want to think about again. But I had to. I had to remember why I was doing this.

Gunshots broke through my thoughts. Spider sense had already been pulling me towards the rough area of the situation. As I pulled myself through the air, I pushed off of walls and street lamps to gain speed. Turning the corner, I scanned the area. There were two masked men, one with a pistol and one with a knife. Victim looked familiar, a shorter, older man who seemed scared out of his mind. He had his hands in the air, a mugging.

"Hey there! Couldn't help but overhear you trying to attack someone, and I would like to say that I object," I said, landing at the entrance of the alley. A street lamp illuminated me, but not much else.

"Damn, it's that spider freak," said the one with the gun. Both criminals turned and tensed up. I could see a bit of relief in the victim's eyes, thankfully. At first my jokes were an awkward way to build confidence. But after the first time I saw that look, I knew I would never stop.

"Again with the freak thing? Either you guys are talking behind my back or I need to fix my image." As I heard the pistol cock I webbed the gun, swinging it out of his hand and onto the ground hard enough to break it. Before he could do anything, I pulled myself to him with a web, putting him off balance. When I reached him, I hit him hard enough to knock him to the ground, but light enough to stay conscious. The one with the knife ran towards me, but quickly found I had also webbed his feet to the ground. His knife flew out of his hand as he collapsed onto the rough concrete. "You can stay down now. If you don't want to, I have a solution for that too," I said as I caught his knife. Before I dropped it, I crushed the handle.

"You're Spider-Man right? I've seen you in the paper," the old man said as I webbed both men's mouths shut, and hands together. His Italian accent reminded me of his name, Papa Tony. He ran an amazing pizza place a block away named after him. Come to think of it, his name probably wasn't actually Papa Tony.

"The one and only. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"Didn't lay a hand on me. Could've handled it myself if I was in my glory days," he said as he puffed out his chest a bit. I could still see the fear in his eyes through his faked confidence.

"I'm sure you could've sir, but if it's alright with you I think we should leave. The police will take care of these fellas." I webbed them up to the wall, leaving a trail of webs to the nearest street lamp. My calling card had developed over necessity, not the flashiness. I barely had time to catch the crime, I could forget bringing them to precincts.

As I walked 'Papa Tony' back to his apartment, we made some small talk.

"This is just my luck. Even if they did get my money, I'm sure they'd be disappointed by it," he said as he counted the small amount of bills in his wallet.

"Well it's not just you. Whole city's been going through a rough patch recently." I wanted to tell him just how much I knew his struggle, but figured that would be unprofessional.

"Tell me about it," he scoffed. "My whole business has been going under recently. I just can't compete with the big guys moving in."

"Hey I've had some of your pizza, that's the best stuff in town! I'm sure things will get better."

"I appreciate it Spider-Man, but with this budget I'm not sure if I can even make the pizza anymore. Tonight I have to choose whether to advertise this month or pay my delivery staff." Normally I'd cut conversation like this short, however something caught my attention. Advertising was something I didn't know much about, but I knew that celebrities featured in all sorts of ads. What better way to advertise your business than with the city's biggest story?

"Maybe you don't have to choose," I said as we approached his apartment complex.

"Whaddya mean?" He stopped and turned to face me.

"Well, I already swing around the city every day. I could drop by, pick up a few pizzas, and deliver them faster than any other delivery man could." The more I talked, the more his smile grew. "Nothing like Spider-Man delivering your pizzas to drive up interest, right?"

"My boy, that is an excellent idea! I'll pay you double my normal rate, that fair for you?" I wanted to turn him down. But no matter how much I wanted to believe this was out of kindness, I couldn't help but think of Aunt May struggling to keep up with rent.

"You got yourself a deal Tony. I'll meet you tomorrow bright and early. For now, you should get some sleep." We waved good-bye and I swung away. Making a little money off of the brand couldn't hurt right? Before I could think about it more, I heard screaming from a block away. As I swung to the scene of another crime, I stopped thinking about that moral dilemma entirely. But through the night I couldn't help but feel worried about what I had just agreed to.