"Alright, you got my attention. But why would a White Fang dude be so kind as to keep the baddies off me?" Spider-Man asks the Faunus standing across from him.

"I told you, I was hoping we could talk." The new figure states, keeping his hand on his sword.

"I'm all ears." Spidey responds, crossing his arms.

Adam then asks, "Why do you fight for those who oppress us?"

"Hey, I don't know what the news has been saying, but I'm just helping those I see who need it! And didn't steal any pizzas!"

"No, I mean, why not help those who really need it?" Adam asks like it should've been obvious.

"Uh, that is what I'm doing, I see anyone in need, I help, equal opportunity superhero here!"

"Instead of helping your own kind, you're really delving into that childish fantasy aren't you?"

"Well I mean, I already got the suit and abilities-"

"The fantasy of Believing that humans will ever accept us." Adam clarifies. "You save anyone, doesn't matter if they're human or Faunus, you try and help them all, yet the humans still hate you. You've saved probably thousands already, and look how they've repaid you. By sending in the police force now backed by an Atlesian General to hunt you like the animal they see us all as." Now trying for a sympathetic angle Adam continues, "I understand. We all used to believe in peaceful actions too. We tried, tried for decades, it just didn't work."

Spider-Man goes silent for a minute. Adam was kind of right. Despite all he's done for the city, they're now trying to bring him in, even if he knew it was only because the council made them. But he was still used to a more hostile reaction.

"I never did this for the praise. I knew many would react this way. I only do this because it's the right thing, the responsible thing to do. And if I can turn even one mind away from bigotry it'll be worth it."

"In the long run, that would do nothing for our kind." Adam counters. "Even if some would tolerate us, the vast majority of humans will only ever see us as animals. Their kind only responds to fear and violence, they always have."

"That's terrorism." Spider-Man states, feeling the spider-sense warning him of the bull Faunus.

"One person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter." The Faunus answers.

"How does that set us apart from the very people who hate us then?" Spidey asks.

"I guess you're saying you'll keep opposing us?" Adam rhetorically questions, his words edged with hostility.

"So long as you keep threatening innocents." Spidey firmly states.

Adam sighs and unsheathes his sword. "Then you really are a traitor to your own people."

"I'll leave that for our people to decide." The Arachnid states as he crouched down with his wrist ready to fire.

The two then lunge at each other.

"What are we going to do?!" Sun whispers loudly to Blake.

"I-I'm thinking."

As they're walking, Sun notices that Roman seems recognizes them. "He sees us." He then tries getting the thief to brush them off by waving hello.

"He can't see in the dark." Blake tells him as she shoots at the fuse box with her weapon.

As soon as the building goes dark, the two make their escape as Roman shouts, "Don't let them get away!"

"The window!" Blake yells.

"Stop them!"

The two crash through one of the windows to escape, but they could already hear the mech hum to life before it came tearing through the wall, hot on their tail.

"So you wouldn't happen to have, oh, I don't know," Sun yells to Blake as they leap and run through the city buildings, "some form of backup?!"

"On it!"

Weiss was just leaving the tower when she got Blake's message.

"Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-"

"HEEEELLLLP!" Sun cries out.

Rolling her eyes, Weiss goes over to where Blake was supposed to be, albeit smiling at the excitement.

Meanwhile, Ruby managed to escape the rat in the dumpster, having trapped it with some wooden boards, as she gets Sun's call.

"Big robot! And it's big, really big!"

"Oh, I am not missing this!" Ruby excitedly exclaims, hoping to see Peter in action outside of the Spider Suit. Hopefully with some improvements with his use of aura.

Yang is with Neptune on her motorcycle, Bumblebee, when they get Sun's message.

"That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him, he's, like, controlling it or something!"

"Where are you guys?" Yang asks with urgency.

Answering her question is Blake and Sun running away from Roman in his mech nearby.

"HURRYYYY!" Sun cries again.

"I think that was them." Neptune states.

"Yeah, I got it." Yang responds, speeding after them.

"You really think killing and threatening innocents is the way to go?!" Spider-Man shouts at the White Fang leader as he dodges his sword swipes.

He noticed his scroll was going off on vibrate, but didn't pay it any mind, he was busy.

"You think those humans are innocent?!

"If they haven't intentionally harmed anyone or anything, then yeah, that's kinda the definition!"

After unsuccessfully trying to web Adam up, Spider-Man goes over to deliver a good right cross, aiming for his chest, putting some power into it to get his aura down.

The guy was surprisingly quick, as he blocked his punch with the flat of his blade.

"I can understand going after the Schnee company or something, but you guys try to murder the employees! Not all humans are your enemy! Maybe if ya took that mentality and stopped the killing, I'd actually be helping you all!" Spidey continues, dodging a swipe from Adam's blade.

"That whole company and everyone associated with them are the enemy of all Faunus! Even someone as naive as you should be able to understand, or do you not know about how they treat our people, our children there?" Adam questions, blocking a kick and ducking under a strike from the Arachnid's stinger.

"Yeah, of course I do, the whole thing stinks like something rotten, that don't mean ya get to decide to play by their book and kill them!"

Outside the bar, without Spider-Man being able to notice, some White Fang operatives were setting up a cannon, aiming it towards the back wall.

"If we really want to be better than them, we can't use the same tactics they use! Then we become just like them, only in a different face!" Spider-Man finishes to the Faunus.

"How can you possibly insist on being this naïve?!" Adam yells.

Adam actually manages to nearly stab the arachnid, before Spider-Man catches it in his forearm guards, Adam slams him into the back of the bar.

As if taking a que, the bull Faunus jumps back a good distance, and stabs his sword into the ground, bracing for impact.

Spider-Man then realizes what's going on when the spider-sense warns him of something dangerous coming his way.

The back of the bar blows out, causing Spider-Man to get flung through the doors of the warehouse behind it.

He managed to avoid the brunt of the blast, but couldn't completely dodge it.

He gets himself to his feet and notices the different building he was blasted through.

Only this wasn't an abandoned warehouse that the White Fang often made use of. It was a fully functional SDC facility with workers having no idea what was going on.

"Oh no."

"Have to admit, you're really everything they say. No wonder Roman had trouble with you." Adam says as calmly walks over, no worse for wear, with a bunch of White Fang now raiding the facility for its dust.

"You were planning on hitting this place too?"

"Not initially. We just needed a place like this. Because I know, unlike most humans, that spider Faunus have something of a 6th sense that gives them a better feel of their surroundings. Your's seems much more heightened than most though, like you can actually predict where your opponents are going to strike. But if it's anything similar to other Faunus of your type, it can be overwhelmed if there's too much input, such as an enclosed place with plenty of loud machinery; and I'm sure that one as heightened as your's is particularly sensitive."

"Really bringing the heat here, huh?" Spidey quips, kinda impressed he was able to figure that out.

"All it took was some bait to get you here. Luckily Roman has plenty of human trash that follows him."

"This whole thing was just a giant setup wasn't it?" Spidey rhetorically asks.

"And you predictably fell for it." The Faunus grins.

"Well, you didn't account for everything my bovine friend."

"What?"

Adam could swear he saw the Spider smirk under his mask, right when he catches with a spider leg a White Fang soldier who looked like he was about to land a good hit with a blade.

"I've learned to hone that sense. You ain't at any significant advantage here!" He shouts leaping at the surrounding soldiers, quickly making his way to Adam.

Even if the Spider was an annoying, naïve enemy, Adam had to at least admire his ability to counter a weakness that plagued his kind of Faunus. "You would've been such a versatile ally. Now you'll just be another traitor that needs to be crushed for the good of our people."

"Ok, if you wanna argue about who's betraying their own, what about you guys working with that Dapper Dan clown?! He was more than willing to sacrifice a lot of your own to try and kill me!" Spider-Man yells, bringing out his spider stingers from his wrists.

"That scum is only a means to an end, who will be gotten rid of the second he outlives his usefulness!"

He then slices at the hero, only for Spidey to parry it with his stinger, careful not to let it touch its sharp edges. Spidey then goes for a stab, which Adam blocks with his katana.

"Yeah, and in the meantime, that 'means to an end' nearly has ended your guys!" Spidey continues arguing.

"They knew the risk, which you've only added to!"

"Do you even hear yourself?!"

Spidey had to admit, this guy was definitely skilled. He was supposed to be a high leader after all, and it wasn't easy dodging those swipes.

"What happened to the White Fang that only engaged in peaceful protest, who actually was a symbol of hope and any possible unity between us and the humans?!"

"I told you, we realized it wasn't working because humanity doesn't respond to peace!"

"That might be true for some humans, but even then, we could at least have the satisfaction that we'd never succumb to their level!"

"Our cause alone puts us above them! We are justified in what we do to protect Faunuskind!"

Right then, the raiding White Fang members start herding the workers attempting to flee back into the building.

Spider-Man sees and manages to fire some impact webbing at Adam, one finally snagging his sword, and runs over to try and save them, with him for being trapped at least for the time being.

Before he can even get to them, Adam cuts himself free, and leaps over to Spider-Man, and slashes at his back, using a bit of his semblance, just enough to get through his armor.

Spidey cries out in pain, and is slammed to the ground.

"Cheap shot." Spidey groans.

He had a hard time sensing the strike since he was focusing on saving the workers. What made it harder was a normal dust facility being enough of a death trap already, but due to the recent dust robberies, this one was functioning over its intended capacity, and now had no one manning the machines' controls.

Spider-Man manages to web up some of the White Fang going after the workers, as the others start trying to help their leader in the fight. Spidey then gets into his signature crouch, only for his scroll to go off.

It was ringing 'the itsy bitsy spider', Ruby's ringtone.

He felt his scroll vibrate earlier, but knew not to answer it. But he set Ruby's calls to ring in case of emergencies.

Knowing she wouldn't call for just anything when he was out in the suit, Spidey quickly webs up Adam's mouth and yells, "Time out!", and tries to pick up his scroll.

It proves much harder in reality than in his head as he bends backward to dodge a sword sweep, then rigidly stands back upwards to dodge a dust round and punch the swordsman in the face.

This action allowed another bad guy to try and slash at Spidey's arm, which caused him to drop the scroll.

"It doesn't have a case!" The costumed teen cries as he fires a webline after it, safely catching the device, elbowing the White Fang who caused him to drop it in the face as he yanks back the scroll.

Finally being able to pick up the scroll, Spider-Man answers,"Hey, uh, Babe!", not wanting to reveal Ruby's name with the baddies in earshot.

Wanting to call Peter something different too, Ruby quickly responds with, "Hey… Petey Pie! Good news!… You don't have to worry about finding Roman! Because he's in an Atleasian mech tearing apart the freeways!"

"What?! Where?!" Spidey shouts as a White Fang operative yells, "Die already!"

"What was that?!" Ruby demands.

"Angry baddie, nothing too serious!"

Ruby gets a bit concerned. "Are you sure Peter, if it's getting bad over there-"

Right then Adam tries for another slice at the arachnid, only for Spider-Man to fire a webline to the face and force him to slam his forehead on a nearby metal bar, trapping his horns.

"Nah, it's all good! Just some goons getting excited, don't worry, about to wrap it up soon!"

Just then, two of the white Fang operatives try to stab him with their swords, only for Spidey to grab them by the hilt, keeping his scroll to his ear with a spider leg, and tosses each operative away. Another one tries to shoot him from behind with a rifle, with Spider-Man responding by flipping frontwards on his hand, with his foot attaching to her torso, tossing her at Adam, who just freed his horns with the help of some more of his goons, then pushes the thrown baddie out of the way.

"What's all that noise? It sounds like a factory over there!" Ruby continues, sounding more and more worried.

Switching spider legs to hold the scroll, Spider-Man replies, "Nothing to worry about, I'm fine!", as he spins two operatives around, almost like nunchucks, throwing them into the crowd of Adam's henchmen while firing impact webbing at Adam's hands.

"Peter, please get out of there soon, it sounds like you're getting into some trouble that you'll have a hard time dealing with on your own!"

"Don't worry Babe! I'll be there real soon, still gotta take you to that place we were talking about after!" He finishes before he hangs up.

"So Spidey has a-" The Faunus doesn't get to finish as Spider-Man clunks him on the head, knocking out the criminal.

"Really gotta end this fast if I wanna help Rubes and get Rome!"

Spider-Man then goes over to save a worker the White Fang were attempting to use as a hostage. He fires electricity dust laced impact webbing at them, and carries the worker away to the platform above. Unfortunately, more of the White Fang were waiting for him there, with one particularly scary looking guy being armed with bladed knuckles that had fire spewing from them.

"Logan?! Is that you?! I thought you were hanging out with the professor back at your mansion! Got an upgrade with the claws I see!"

Having no idea what the Arachnid is talking about, the X-Men copycat lunges at his ribcage, with two others attempting to slice at his neck. Spider-Man then throws the hostage in the air as he bends back dodging it all three bad guys, and uses his shoulders to spin himself on the floor, kicking out his enemy's legs, while using his own spider legs to throw him down to the floor harder, as the upper two grab the other operatives heads and clunk them together, knocking them out, and catch the hostage as he falls back down.

"Ya gonna wanna get to safety fast now dude!" Spider-Man tells him before the worker runs off.

Getting back up on his feet, the Arachnid then sees an even angrier Adam climbing to the platform, only to be met with his own downed underlings to the face.

"You do not look happy right now buddy! It's the red isn't it?" the Arachnid quips, pointing to his outfit. "I know you bulls got a problem with it!"

"Do you ever-" Adam yells from below, but doesn't get to finish as Spidey has a large, unconscious operative raised above in his arms, as his the legs in his back fight off others behind him, and yells, "¡Ole!" Throwing the large Faunus down at Adam.

Being knocked all the way back down, Adam pulls the downed Faunus off and about to curse the Spider out some more, but then is informed on his earpiece, "Sir, hostages on the southside are secured."

Smirking, the leader responds, "You know what to do. Then get out of the way."

Adam then runs over to the south of the facility, with Spider-Man swinging after him, throwing the recently knocked out baddies into a web.

"Come on Señor Toro! It's not time for the running of the bulls yet!"

The spider-sense is then triggered as Adam sends an arc from his sword towards some tied up workers.

Thankfully, the arc only goes above them, but weakens some support beams, threatening to cause some very heavy machinery to collapse onto them.

Spider-Man wastes no time, and swings himself over, catching the massive debris before it can crush the hostages, even knowing it was a trap.

Now facing Adam down, the superhero tries to calm the workers and tells them, "Don't worry, you're all gonna be fine!"

Holding the giant machinery proves difficult, even with the spider legs. Must have been gravity dust in the machine or something, but unfortunately for Spider-Man, Adam now had a great opportunity to unleash his semblance at the hero.

"Let's see you joke your way out of this Spider-Man."

The Arachnid yelps as fiery pain is lashed across his torso, cracking the armor, but still holds the machines up.

"Amazing. You're willing to put yourself through this much effort and pain, but won't lift a finger towards your own kind in any meaningful way."

"At least I'm trying to help people, not scaring humans into accepting us. You really think that could even be called acceptance?! That's just going to breed more hatred towards us!"

"Hatred that was always there. Humanity wants to see us as monsters, they have monsters now. Only these monsters will prove to be their superior." Adam states as he's about to unleash his semblance again. "You could've made such a difference with us." He finishes, almost sounding regretful.

As he's blasted away, Spider-Man manages to web the workers toward him to save them from the falling machinery, letting them go as he's slammed into a wall.

His chest armor's now completely broken and has nasty gashes that are going to need attention soon.

"Rubes and Ma ain't gonna be happy. That really stung." He thinks as he webs his wound up to act as an impromptu bandage.

"I'm impressed, you still managed to stay alive even through all that punishment, while even saving the human trash. And your strength is something to behold. Proved more than enough to power my semblance to turn it against you!" Adam taunts, slowly walking over to finish the job.

"My own strength against me?" Spidey thought.

His semblance must be able to turn an opponent's force against them. Kind of like what Vibranium can do. Or even what Yang does when she gets hit.

Spider-Man then gets an idea.

Ruby was concerned about Peter but tried to brush it off. He's Spider-Man, she kept reminding herself. A mighty hero that no one had been able to truly best yet, with new powers they haven't even seen the full potential of yet! Still, she couldn't help but be a little worried about her boyfriend.

But now that she mentioned Roman was here, he wouldn't be too far behind! As Peter would often state, 'This clown's goin' down!'

"It's not like anyone would be powerful enough to keep him away for long!" She thinks, aiming another shot at Roman's mech.

Spider-Man was always known to be a bit reckless at first glance. Seemingly haphazardly throwing people caught in the crossfire into a web often; but what most didn't know was that the spider-sense made it so that he could do all these things safely. So webbing up the broken up machinery, Spider-Man uses it as a web softened wrecking ball against the White Fang, including their leader, who he continues to taunt, knowing he's feeding the Bull's semblance, while managing to throw the workers into a web safely away.

"¡Ole Toro! Come on!"

Adam looks like he's getting real sick of the matador jokes.

"Wait, would that be considered racist? Ok, maybe it's time to kill it with that humor then."

After knocking out the last of the underlings, Spidey tosses away the machine ball, watching on a ceiling corner as Adam looks around and sees his comrades are either knocked out, or in a web. "Are you attempting to delay only the inevitable-"

Spidey interrupts by leaping over and grabbing his horns and giving him a good knee to the face, breaking his nose and throwing him away to his left.

"Catch me if you can, tough guy!"

Their chase led them towards the roof, which Spidey gets to through a hatch.

Webbing it closed, he takes a minute to rest a bit, and notices the damage done to the nearby freeway.

Right then, he hears some clash and dust blast in the distance, knowing Ruby had to be there.

"No."

Peter was not going to have a repeat with Gwen because he wasn't there when needed. But he also can't just leave Adam there.

As if to make the choice for him, the bull Faunus tears through the roof, with a blood red arc, looking angry. "Quite unheroic of you, trying to run away like that!" He yells, using his semblance to speed up too fast for Spider-Man to counter, managing to land a strong punch on Spidey's eye, cracking the lens.

Spider-Man doesn't respond, but looks furious, with his one eye being visible now.

"No more quips this time?" Adam questions as he engages him again, keeping Spidey on the defensive, with the Arachnid wishing to end this fight sooner to help Ruby.

She's supposed to be at the freeway where all the real fighting's happening. Fighting where she could get hurt. Fighting where he should be now. And the one thing keeping Spider-Man from his girlfriend was this ass of an edgelord.

He was not going to fail another person he cared about.

Going with his plan, Spider-Man covers Adam's sword in thick webbing, as he unleashes a flurry of kicks, knees, elbows, and punches, being too quick for the Faunus to defend or counter. Grabbing the bull's horns again, Spidey flips in the air, still holding onto Adam, and flips him over to the nearby building, leaving the bull in a pile of rubble.

"How can you call yourself any kind of hero?" Adam yells, picking himself out of the pile. "You're just like the others of our people who won't aid their brethren. Cowardly, blind, and naïve! You all only hinder our cause! The only way for our people to truly succeed in this world is to cull those who just get in the way!"

Adam get to his feet, and with help from the punishment Spider-Man gave him, prepares to slice another arc at the Arachnid, putting all his semblance into it.

Spider-Man just stands and watches.

If Adam knew as much about spiders as he claimed, he would know that spider silk is proportionately stronger than steel, with Spider-Man's webbing being no exception. If the Faunus leader was only a little more observant too, he would see that there were plenty of spare dust laced web cartridges in the webbing coating his sword.

The roof explodes in a gigantic mix of red arcs and webbing, with Spider-Man using his legs to shield himself and keep from flying off.

Once the dust settles, all that's left is a cocooned, exhausted, and barely conscious Adam, who Spider-Man tells, "I'll leave you to the cops."

Spidey is about to leave to finally help Ruby, but sees the panicking SDC workers trying to escape the falling apart facility, remembering the trapped White Fang as well.

He was still needed here.

As much as he wanted to get to his girlfriend, the workers would die if he left, so praying the rest of team RWBY and Sweaty Sun and his cool friend were aiding her, he runs over to save whoever was still trapped in the building.

"Just got this thing cleaned…" Roman complains, climbing out of the ruined mech.

Blondie is about to unleash all the power she absorbed, only for Neo to timely arrive and block it with her weapon.

Taking a moment to be smug, Roman addresses the team, "Ladies, Ice Queen."

"Hey!" Weiss shouts at her annoying nickname.

"Always a pleasure!"

"You two might as well give up, Spider-Man will be here any second to apprehend you!" Weiss confidently states.

"I'm sure he would if he could! Unfortunately, I made sure he'd be… kept busy." Roman ominously states.

"What did you do to him?!" Ruby frantically questions.

"Neo, if you would!"

The girl bows dramatically, with Yang charging at the thieves, still having stored up the damage from the stolen Paladin.

Except her fist just connects with glass, shattering the illusion of the duo. The group can see that they've smugly escaped into a bullhead, much to their frustration.

"Just glad the bug wasn't here." Roman tells himself from inside.

"You know, I'm really not liking that girl." Yang comments.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" Weiss tries to joke.

Yang only states, "No. Just... no."

"What- But, you do it! And Peter's even worse!"

"There's a time and a place for jokes." The blonde tells the heiress.

"Like Peter ever quips when it's appropriate!" Weiss reminds her.

"It just wasn't very good. But it's funny he's rubbing off on you!" Yang responds as Weiss gets a horrified expression to her face. "Speaking of which, where is the little dude?"

"I called him before, but he sounded like he was caught up in something!" Ruby states, getting increasingly worried.

Blake then asks, "Do you think it had anything to do with what Roman sa-"

Before she could finish, a bunch of wild arcs of energy burst behind them, somewhat far away, dancing like electricity.

That's where the Big Sky Billiard Room is…

She then tries calling Peter's scroll, sighing in relief when he actually picks up.

"Peter, what happened, we could see that big… thing!"

"What?! Are you ok?!" She sounds worried to her teammates, with Ruby hearing even more concerning noises than before on the other end.

"Just stay in the area! We'll be there soon!... Don't worry about that, he's gone! Just stay put and get yourself out of building!"

"What happened?" Blake asks.

Ruby sighs out, worry obvious on her face. "Apparently things turned sour and Peter got hurt. He tried to downplay it, but it sounded kind of bad. Especially when that was in his direction!" Ruby points at where the arcs were coming from.

Everyone had a similar look of concern. They'd all seen the many scars Peter had on him, especially considering the recent events that showed how often Peter found himself in danger.

Weiss particularly seemed to be concerned, besides Ruby.

"That little… Ughhh! If he thought the scolding before was bad, he hasn't seen anything yet! Just wait till his mother hears about this!" Weiss promises.

Ruby straps her Crescent Rose and gets ready to hurry to her boyfriend. "I'm sure he's ok, I just, really don't like how often he's getting hurt."

"You need to convince him to stop being so reckless! Also I think Sun is a bad influence on him!" Weiss continues.

Once they finally got to Peter, the team could see something really big went down at the bar he was at.

"Hey guys!" Peter groans out with a tired grin, sitting in the back of a firetruck.

The team lets out a gasp at the scene with police and firefighters milling around the charred remains of the billiards bar and the crumbling SDC facility.

Ruby notices the nasty shiner Peter has, and the bloody bandages he has around his torso, which Peter sees her looking at.

"Things got a little more dangerous than I thought."

Before Ruby could say anything, Weiss shouts, "Peter Benjamin Goodwitch-Parker, what happened here?!" Looking over at the damaged buildings, she continues, "Another one?! Are you going to destroy all the buildings in Vale?!"

"Criminals were extra cranky today." He tries to joke out.

The joke fell on deaf ears as he can see they were all worried at yet another bad scuffle he was caught in.

"Hey, I'm alright. Just got a bit banged up-"

"Bullhead. Now." Ruby demands.

"...Yes ma'am."

Inside his office, with General Ironwood having just arrived, Ozpin informs, "James, I've called you here to discuss the problem in your capture attempt with Spider-Man."

"Yes." The general agrees. "I believe-"

"OZPIN WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"

Both gentlemen expected this. It still was jarring to see Glynda like that.

"Now Glynda, I called James here to clear the air on certain matters."

"If those matters include what I believe they do, then I do not agree with them!"

"Glynda, said matters are starting to gather attention to where we can't proceed with them the way we used to."

"I hardly believe this is a solution to-"

James then interrupts before the two before the meeting gets any more uncomfortable. "If this is about Peter and his relationship with Spider-Man, then I believe I know where this conversation is heading."

A harshly glaring Glynda is about to give the General a merciless verbal thrashing, before Ozpin states what he believed the Ironwood likely already had a good idea of. "Yes, Peter is Spider-Man."

"OZPIN!"

"I had a rather strong feeling." Ironwood states calmly.

"How?" Peter's mother demands, with venom dripping in her voice.

"I had my doubts, but they both have too many similarities to be ignored. They both have a similar build, and Peter is the only one able to get a decent photo. But what really raised my suspicions was the unusual accent they both share, one I've never heard before. He even tried to hide it with a deeper voice, which if I'm being honest, did nothing to help. That, and along with the advanced suit he had made me think he was helped from a source that not many have access to. And Peter couldn't even hide his own attraction to Miss Rose as Spider-Man. As soon as she was mentioned, he commented about having a crush on her."

Even Glynda had to admit that was some good detective work, even if she wouldn't voice it. She'd have a talk with Peter about his ridiculous insistence on changing his voice when it was obvious. And about not making his feelings for Ruby clearly obvious when he was in the mask, as endearing as it was.

That wasn't info his enemies should know.

"Honestly, there's plenty of people who would be able to make the same connections as I did, imagine what would happen if someone else found out about him." Ironwood continues.

Glynda didn't like how close that sounded to a threat.

Before she could say anymore, Ozpin responds with, "Yes, we need to figure out how to keep more people from finding out, and I believe you could help with that James, along with convincing the council that Spider-Man isn't a threat."

"With the two of us, I believe that we could get them to calm their paranoia about him."

That sounded better to Glynda, but she still didn't completely trust Ironwood, especially when her son was involved. "Well, glad you both can figure out some way to resolve our problem. If you'll excuse me." She says, quickly exiting before her mood worsens any more.

"She doesn't seem too pleased with the situation." Ironwood reads the obvious.

"She's just concerned for her child as any mother would. And I believe she suspects your plans for Spider-Man haven't changed." Ozpin tells him.

Ironwood sighs in response. "How long will this peace last Oz? With the things that have been happening, Qrow's report, and Amber? We're going to need everyone we can get, including Peter who, if I'll be frank, is easily the most powerful huntsman his age. We need more people like him."

"I know. Glynda just wants to protect him. He's been through a lot in his young age. More than many in their entire lives go through. And she hasn't said so, but I suspect she doesn't want him growing up too quickly yet. Despite what's happened to him, he still never lost his youth, and I think Glynda wants to keep it that way."

"I can understand that." Ironwood states. "But she can't keep him a child forever. Not when all these things are happening."

Ozpin sighs inward, but can still appreciate where both sides are coming from.

"That does remind me, I do have a favor to ask."

This got Ironwood's interest. "What would that be?"

"You do have a lab on board your ship, and Pietro is here with you, yes?"

"Yes." Ironwood confirms, but concerned Ozpin might have figured out the certain girl he still didn't want the old headmaster to know about just yet.

"If he's not busy, I'd like him to analyze Peter's biology for me.

"You said you were just banged up! Not cut up and battered!"

Ruby had taken Peter to the school infirmary to patch him up, and saw the real extent of his wounds, which needed stitches. Thankfully, she knew how to suture really well.

"Didn't wanna worry ya."

"Yeah and how did that work out?!"

"Sorry Rubes."

She just groans and continues sewing up his chest gashes.

"Where'd you learn to stitch so good?"

"Signal requires all their students to pass an advanced first aid class, and my Dad made sure I knew how to do things like this."

"Maybe I should look into something like that, All I really know is band-aids."

"If you learned, you wouldn't have so many scars!" Ruby shouts.

"I know."

Ruby felt a bit bad at that, knowing that a lot of his injuries ended up as scars because he didn't really know how to heal himself very well, even with aura, mostly relying on his biological ability to heal a bit faster

"I just hate seeing you like this Petey, though I'm glad you were able to be more careful tonight, even if you need to learn to use your aura more often. "

"I know, still not too knowledgeable on using it. Also wasn't expecting Stabby the edgelord to be there, just thought it was gonna be only punks there. Apparently he's some kind of high ranking leader in the White Fang, who set this whole thing up."

"Are you saying Turk never had information?" Ruby asks, feeling Peter's disappointment.

"I don't really know, but I don't think he was lying. He said the Fire-Lady who helped Roman get away the night we met is actually his boss. The creep described it like her having a leash on him."

"Are you sure? I mean Roman doesn't seem like the type who would let someone have that power over him. And you've said Turk is a really scummy guy." Ruby reminds him.

"I thought so, but if he even knew about Fire-Lady at all, then he might be in the know, especially since Roman's mentioned he has an employer before. Still not entirely sure though, since Rome seems to know Turk can't be trusted. If it wasn't for his connections and convenient skills, Roman would've gotten rid of him already. But if he's telling the truth, then it just shows how powerful the boss lady probably is. Gonna have to be careful if I meet up with her again."

Ruby had a small frown at that. She knew Peter's career as a superhero was dangerous, and was well aware of how powerful he actually is. Ruby again thought she might be being a bit overprotective, but she still didn't want to think of Peter facing someone even stronger than the man who managed to almost kill him, even if the attempt was kind of a fluke. But Ruby shakes that thought out of her head, she doesn't want to worry, and in turn worry her boyfriend. Besides, she'd be there for him, and it wouldn't happen anytime soon.

After all, he's Spider-Man! Going about the way he does without aura, or even a semblance for as long as he did was a great testament to how powerful and skilled he is! For the most part, he really is doing ok! Still, she hated seeing him hurt.

"You think Blake might know about Stabby though?" Ruby asks.

"Probably not, this guy seemed to be real high ranking, I don't think she knows anymore than I do about that clown, or was anyone too high up on the evil totem pole. He even had some backup cronies free him while I was busy with the hostages."

Ruby finishes putting a bandage on his chest and kisses his forehead.

"Just please be more careful Petey."

"I will."

Ruby smirks a bit, and tells him, "By the way, be prepared for another one of Weiss's scoldings when we get back to the dorm."

"Aw, no! Why?" Peter whines.

"Also we're going antiquing the day after tomorrow." Ruby informs.

"You sure that's a good idea? I mean we really don't got a lot of room for the stuff we already have…"

"No, I don't think we're actually going to buy anything, we're just going on a bit of a double date with Jaune and Pyrrha."

"Jaune ask her out? Finally! He was kinda simping bad for Weiss."

Ruby sighs a bit. "No, he just doesn't see that she clearly likes him, so we're both gonna be playing wingman."

"Hopefully it'll get him to see the obvious." Peter states. "How he doesn't see it, I'll never know."

"Don't act like you were any better! It took weeks for you to finally act on your feelings, and you were never able to see I returned your feelings until I told you!" Ruby reminds him.

"Ok maybe, but I still wasn't as dense as he's being!"

"'Wow Petey! Your muscles seem to be getting bigger, are you trying to impress someone? I'm sure you're just trying to get more fit, not trying to look good for any special someone close to you!'" Ruby recalls an obvious flirting attempt in a high pitched voice.

"Guess I shoulda seen that for what it was." Peter admits.

"Aw nah Rewbs, that's just mah new semblance kickin' in, nothin' else!" Ruby mimics Peter.

"I don't sound like that!"

"You sure smell amazing Rewbie! Ah don't eat no bugs!" Ruby keeps teasing.

Adam's backup managed to quietly rescue Adam while the Spider was busy trying to rescue anyone who was still in the crumbling building. If they were any earlier, they might have finally been able to get rid of that Arachnid, but apparently Roman was playing with his new toy and tore up the streets and freeways, forcing them to take a lengthy detour.

Adam questions if this partnership with that girl and her associates was worth it as he treats his wounds using some crates as a couple of chairs and a table.

"So can I assume that your attempt to do… anything with Spider-Man didn't work?" A female voice asks, seating herself across from him.

Adam wasn't really in the mood for conversation. "No." He says irritably. "He is much stronger than I thought. Apparently he holds back his strength more than we realized. Don't know what made him decide to show more of his strength tonight though."

"Guess you must have pissed him off." The woman reasons.

"What did you come for Trifa?"

"Wanted to see if Spidey was with you." She answers. "Then I found out that he left you unconscious for the police."

Adam didn't appreciate that jab. "This only proves how much of a traitor and hinderance he is to our people's advancement."

"Sounds like you want to kill him." Trifa states. "I don't think I need to remind you that-"

"I don't care how much your father funds our operations, even he should see that Spider-Man's a problem that's rapidly getting worse, of which there's only one solution for!" Adam yells before clutching his ribs in pain. "Why's he so interested in him anyway?"

"He just wants to meet him." Trifa simply states with a smile. "Afterall, how often does someone get to meet another Spider Faunus?"

"-and without even letting any of us know that you were in trouble?! You could've gotten hurt worse! And the worry you put Ruby though! I knew we shouldn't have let you go on your own!" Weiss scolds Peter, not letting up even after ten minutes.

"I know, I know, I probably should've made you all aware that I was in trouble, but you guys sounded busy, and I thought I could handle it on my own!" Peter defends.

"All I hear are excuses."

"You all were dealing with Rome in a war machine! I was just dealing with a bunch of trigger-happy thugs who got explosive, if anything you guys were the ones dealing with the more dangerous thing! Y'all gotta admit that!" Peter tells his teammates, looking at them for support.

"No, I'm with Weiss on this." Yang states. "You should've let someone know, and I think it was a mistake letting you go by yourself."

Peter lets a slight groan out. He can't really fault any of them, especially when they're all really just concerned for him.

"I blame Sun." Weiss continues. "I think he's a bad influence who also encouraged you to be a pervert towards Ruby!"

"Are you still on that?" Yang asks. "We all know Peter isn't a pervert!"

"Thank you!" Peter lets out.

"After all, he knows the very real consequences that would happen to him if he dared to try anything against my sweet and innocent baby sister!" Yang continues, patting him on the shoulder in a way that very clearly told him she wasn't joking about that part.

"R-right."

Ruby groans at the scene while Blake is staring at Peter as if something doesn't sit right with her.

"Those were pretty dangerous criminals weren't they?" The black haired teen asks Peter.

"Oh yeah, one was just dripping in edgelord apparel straight outta a comic book! To tell ya the truth, I thought it was just for show. Guess it wasn't." Peter quips.

"But they all concentrated on you for some reason?" Blake continues.

"Well, when some dude comes in asking questions about someone like Rome, it tends to make criminals shaky. Evidently." Peter motions to himself with his hands.

"I guess." Blake finishes. "Was Spider-Man there?"

"Uh, no." Peter lies, learning his lesson from when him and his alter ego were supposed to be in the same area. "Otherwise I don't think I woulda gotten this." He points to his black eye.

"And you still neglected to properly use your aura! Haven't you been practicing?" Weiss takes back up her scolding.

"Rhetorical question right?"

The look Weiss had told him it wasn't, and that she already knew his answer.

Even Ruby had a small glare at him for that. Peter thought it was actually a cute look on her, but he got the point.

"I'll, uh, do better."

"Good. Bedtime now." Ruby orders Peter, giving him a goodnight peck on the cheek.

Peter was ready for bed after an exhausting night and disappointing night, even if he did get a bit of some important info. Deciding he'd try his luck again some other night, Peter lets his thoughts take him as he slowly falls asleep.

"Even if tonight was kind of another bust, we're getting closer to nabbing the not so gentlemanly thief. Guess that means the worst gotta be behind us right? Ruby and the others did manage to take away his new dangerous toy after all. And the dance is coming, which means me and Rubes are gonna have a night off from the whole thing! Which also means-" Peter's mind then imagines how cute and pretty Ruby would look in whatever outfit she wears on the big night, giving him a red face. "Gotta make it real special for her, she deserves it for being the best girlfriend- OH CRAP! I haven't even done anything to get ready for that! Gotta get a suit, corsage, that's a thing here right?... Learn to dance… Damn it, I only got a week to figure out how to dance! Guess ma can help with that! I'll ask her tomorrow."

As she falls asleep, Blake can't help but think about Peter's connection with Spider-Man.

How was he the only one who could get a photo of the vigilante, and why did he always seem to get caught up in trouble?

The biggest question she had was how did he always manage to get a photo of Spider-Man each night he went out without fail? Even the best photographers fail sometimes, but Peter never did!

There were some theories she had, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions, it needed to be tested out.

She'd get to the bottom of it.

Weiss on the other hand was thinking about how reckless her male teammate could be.

Poor Ruby was probably regularly beside herself with worry on how often the boy got himself hurt. And he was annoyingly always trying to make a joke out of everything, while never really bothering to learn better social graces or to quit some of his habits she personally thought he could do without, such as his constant need to find something to spike up his adrenaline. He should settle down, especially now that he has a girlfriend!

Ruby deserved someone who was dignified and collected, which Peter could have the potential to be. With the right pushing, Weiss was sure Peter could abandon his wild bachelor lifestyle, her hope being stoked by his more caring side, which revealed itself clearly with how doting he was on Ruby. The lengths alone he went through to make her laugh or smile only testified to that fact, and reminded Weiss of how influencing Ruby would easily lead to a much greater impact on Peter with how easily she could control him. While it was fun to see someone like Peter be taken down a peg like that, she did have to admit it was incredibly endearing to see how the two of them were together, with Ruby laughing all the time with him, and again, the great lengths Peter would go to spoil her; he even took her with him to get his Spider-Man photos!

Some more slight jealousy at the fact Ruby got to see the hero on a regular basis.

One would think that constant contact with such a noble individual would rub off some more admirable qualities onto Peter, but alas, it didn't.

Guess it's up to her to mold Peter into the gentleman Ruby deserves.

Maybe he'd also get Ruby to give up her own annoying habits.

Yang, the self appointed big sister of the team, could only think of how Ruby hit the jackpot with her boyfriend. Despite being a nerd, he was surprisingly athletic, with the attractive physicality that went with it. Like really? Eight pack abs with the rest of him being the perfect balance between toned and bulk? Peter was clearly powerfully built, but wasn't any kind of overly muscled guy that screamed douchey gym bro like Cardin and his cronies. And he was hilarious with an adventurous personality Ruby obviously loved, even if he was kind of an adrenaline junkie.

Peter definitely didn't realize it, but plenty of girls found him attractive, including her and Weiss. The girl in white wouldn't admit it, but there was no way someone who apparently took up that much of her brainspace wasn't thought to be good looking by her, at least objectively. And Yang made it no secret that she thought Peter was hot.

But of course, Peter was crushing on Ruby, still staring at her with a lovesick look all the time. Ruby would always brag about all he does for her, taking her on one of their Spidey photography dates nearly every night, taking her all over the city to do whatever; those two really did go well together.

She just falls asleep and hopes Peter heals in time to show Ruby a good time at the dance.

"Are you kidding me?! That old green fart sold me out?!" Peter shouts.

Glynda called her son to her office to inform him about how Ironwood was now in the know about him and Spidey.

"While I'm not very pleased with Ozpin's choice in the matter, it may have been the best of bad options we had." Glynda informs Peter. "And I've made the General well aware that you are not a soldier for him to exploit."

"Well that's a relief, I don't need another government stooge trying to turn me into their own personal attack dog. Speaking of which does he know about, you know, me not exactly being from… anywhere?" Peter asks.

"No. Ozpin still thinks it's best that no one knows about that. It's one of the few things we agree upon." Peter's mother answers.

He did think though that he would be telling someone else one day about his true origins, namely Ruby if their relationship gets anymore serious. Truthfully, he really hopes so. He already trusted her with more than he's ever let anyone else know about him, even his adoptive mother and aunt May! Though he thought he should probably tell Glynda about the harder stuff soon. Including why his past love life made asking out Ruby difficult.

"So what happens now that Ozzie ratted out my secret to his war buddy?"

"Now Peter, I know it seems like your trust was betrayed, but Ozpin did what he thought was best in our situation. And even though James can come off as militaristic, and really is to a certain degree, his primary concern is the safety and peace we have right now."

"I guess he seems like he's not as bad as the last military dude that found out who Spidey was." Peter states.

Glynda remembers again hearing her son complain about this Nick Fury. Peter's encounter with that man was what made her wary of those who would turn him into a weapon.

"On an unrelated note, mom, I'm sure you know about the dance coming up, and uh that it's me and Ruby's first time doing something like this as a couple."

Knowing exactly what he was trying to ask, Glynda responds, "I know you need help with the whole event Peter, but unfortunately I'm too busy with the festival to be able to teach you to dance other than a few basics, or maybe even find a suit for you."

"I… did not think about that." Peter laments. "Aw da-"

"That sentence better end with 'dang it.'" Glynda interrupts.

"It was!" Peter lies. "I just feel like this is kinda a milestone in our relationship, so I don't wanna do anything that'll cause a bad memory, and she's such an awesome girl, and she deserves to have a really nice time there, and-"

"Peter, you're rambling again."

"Sorry ma, I just wanna make sure I give Ruby a good night to show her how much she means to me."

Glynda then gets a thought. "Why don't you just ask Weiss to help you? I'm sure she knows about what you need help with and wouldn't mind assisting you."

"Uh, I don't think she's gonna be too keen on that."

"She's your teammate and despite being understandably annoyed by you and what you may think, she genuinely cares about you." Glynda then sees the look her son has on face. "Or you can try and solve your problem on your own."

"W-well I guess if it's for Ruby, we both can try and take care of it."

"I thought so." Glynda smugly says.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright Petey?" Ruby asks, as they go off into Vale, holding hands to meet with Jaune and Pyrrha at an antique shop.

"Yeah, you know I heal kinda fast, even without aura. I promise, feelin' fine here!" Peter assures Ruby.

"If you're sure Petey Pie."

"You gonna keep calling me that?" Peter asks, smiling. "Makes it sound like I'm the Muffin Man or something!"

"No, it makes it sound like you're the cutie pie!" Ruby replies as Peter brings his arm around her shoulders.

"Hey guys!" Jaune greets in front of the shop with Pyrrha.

"What's up!?" Peter greets back, with fist bump to Jaune.

"I hope you're all ready to hopefully find something interesting!" Pyrrha states.

"-and then she made me sit through a twenty minute long lecture of how I'm 'no longer a slob of a bachelor', and that somehow practicing using my aura and studying will lead me to be more of a gentleman that Ruby deserves." Peter regails to Jaune.

"I get Weiss wanting her partner's boyfriend to be good for her." The blonde responds to Peter.

"You saying I do act like a slob?"

"Uhh…"

"You could stand to at least learn more life skills, like using a stove!" Ruby teases.

"Hey, I've gotten by on microwaves just fine! If Weiss wants to risk another flaming dumpling incident, that's on her!" Peter replies.

"What about the time with the pot pie? Which is how I got the idea to call you Petey Pie!" Ruby smiles, with Peter turning a bit red, which only made him look cuter to Ruby.

Suddenly, Peter sees a wooden bed desk and immediately gets bright eyed at it.

"I could finally do stuff sitting up in bed…"

Ruby sees what he's looking at and lets out a sigh, but smiles as Peter is being cute again with the look he has on his face. "Go ahead."

"You're the best!" He says to his girlfriend as he runs after the desk.

After Peter goes after the desk, Jaune continues his lament on his Weiss situation.

"It's just, I could never figure out how to talk to girls, especially ones like Weiss."

"W-well, there's probably other girls who would be easier to approach!" Pyrrha responds with.

"Yeah!" Ruby adds. "You've already tried just about everything with Weiss, so ya know… maybe there's someone else who's a lot closer than you think that you'd have a chance with!"

"Sometimes I don't even know why I even bothered at all." Jaune replies, still stuck on the heiress. "I mean, she clearly has a thing for Spider-Man, how do I stand a chance?"

Now getting a bit of a vein of jealous anger that was only obvious to Pyrrha, Ruby just responds with a smile, "Oh?"

"You should hear how she talks about him, how honorable he is, how strong he is, and how enchanting his exotic accent is… I think she's gonna try and date him. And you know, find him first. If anyone could, she can, I mean he'd be an idiot to reject her."

"Would he now?" Ruby asks with poorly internalized anger.

Jaune continues, "I mean Spidey's really cool and all, but to Weiss, he's like the greatest hero of all time, she always gushes about how he's like a modern knight errant."

"Does she really?" Ruby gets increasingly irked with Pyrrha guiltily feeling thankful that Jaune likely won't have any chance with the corporate princess after all. "You think she'd actually be able to woo him?" Ruby continues.

"She's Weiss Schnee, of course he'd say yes to her dating him. Who wouldn't?"

"Oh no," Ruby insists, still smiling to hide her jealousy. "He's taken."

Pyrrha and Jaune look at her with a bit of confusion and surprise at how matter-of-factly she responded.

"How do you know?" Pyrrha asks.

Realizing the situation she just put herself in, Ruby defends with, "I-I mean, he's just really busy saving the kingdom you know! He doesn't have time to go out with girls, take them to weapon shops, tell them funny jokes, take them to bakeries, or be the absolute cutest little dork with them, o-or… Weiss just wouldn't be able to date Spidey!"

Pyrrha stares at Ruby, knowing full well she was speaking out of jealousy and possibly experience?

No, that couldn't be true, Ruby's dating Peter and seems very happy with him! It was a bit weird that she was describing exactly how her dates go with him though.

Jaune didn't notice since he was too caught up with Weiss.

"He likes redheads anyway." Ruby whispers.

Pyrrha was about to ask Ruby what she said, only hearing some of it.

She doesn't get the chance as Jaune wistfully states, "He'd still be lucky to date her…", while Pyrrha tries to hide her hurt.

"Hmm. Nope. Something tells me she would end up not being able to stand him." Ruby finishes.

"I got it!" Peter excitedly shouts proudly holding his small piece of furniture. "I got this little number for a steal!"

He then saw the different expressions the trio had on their faces.

"Uh, what-"

"Peter, be honest… Do you think Spidey would actually be willing to date Weiss? She seems to be really interested in him." Jaune sadly states.

"Uh, you know, um, probably not." Peter stamers out with Ruby giving a bit of a concealed smile.

"What?" Jaune asks.

"Icee don't seem like the type who would mesh well with the guy, he's kinda a weirdo and a bit of an adrenaline junky. And if you think my jokes are bad, you ain't seen nothing if you spend more time with him."

"But do you think he'd actually try to see if anything could happen with Weiss if she made it clear she was interested?" The blonde asks again.

"No, I'm like 99% Spidey wouldn't like Weiss that way." Peter finishes as they walk over to the store's register.

"He's got a thing for silver eyed redheads." Peter whispers to Ruby, who smiles and turns a bit pink.

"So then she's just waiting to have her heart broken." Jaune says with somewhat anger.

"I mean, it seems like if anything, she just has a hero crush or something." Peter quickly defends. "They've only met like, what, twice? She honestly doesn't even know much about him, or seen his face. But don't even feel bad about you and Weiss dude, take it from a guy who's failed enough times in the romance department; know a lost cause when you see one. I wish I did."

"I don't wanna just give up though." Jaune states, not being convinced of Peter's supposed failures. Especially when he's got a girlfriend he'd been drooling over for months before they got together!

"I'd say more like strategically retreating." Peter replies.

Jaune was still unconvinced. This was the same guy who told him to make his feelings to Weiss clear! The blonde couldn't help but feel that if he could just somehow get Weiss to not see him as some bumbling goof, he'd have a fighting chance. But he had no idea how to do that.

But sure as hell wasn't gonna give up! It's not like any other girl made him feel the way Weiss did.

Blake could swear Peter was hiding something. She still didn't want to assume anything about her friend, but she couldn't truly rest until neither the problem with Peter or Roman was taken care of.

Deciding to see if any of her thoughts held water, Blake decides to question Peter while he was reading his history textbook in his corner, the only class he had any real struggle with.

To break the ice, and test one of her theories, Blake throws a pen at Peter.

He catches it without even looking of course, just like the person who's been occupying her thoughts.

"Aw come on what I'd do to you?" He asks.

"She's probably tired of you babbling under your breath as you read your book!" Weiss says, being annoyed at his noises.

"Hey Peter, I'm curious, what do you think of Spider-Man?" Blake asks immediately.

"Uhh, I guess he's sorta cool, little bit of a kook, kinda reckless, funny voice."

"Don't you dare insult him!" Weiss shouts from her bed. "You're just jealous of how heroic he is!"

"You two do seem to have quite a few similarities though." Blake responds to Peter.

Oh crap.

"Aww, ha, ha, Blake-"

"You can't be serious!" Weiss voices. "One is a responsible, selflessly sacrificing hero that strikes fear into criminals everywhere! The other is a wannabe comedian who always just goofs around!"

"But Weiss, you just told me it was bad to talk about Spidey like that!" Peter quips at her.

Before she can say anything, Blake continues, "No, you two definitely share some qualities. You're both about the same height, have the same accent, quip incessantly, and you two have a similar build."

"They definitely are not similar!" Weiss starts up again. "Spider-Man engages in clever witty banter to confuse his enemy, Peter only has a few moments of decently thought comments when his joking isn't just humorless babbling!"

"Gotta admit his witt puts my own to shame, wish I could think of material as good as him…" Peter sadly recognizes.

With a smug smile, Weiss finishes, "I rest my case."

But Blake wasn't convinced. Peter's response didn't help either. But Weiss's comment reminded her of something that the heiress apparently couldn't see, being blinded by her celebrity crush.

Spider-Man did never really seemed to take anything seriously. No matter how dire the situation, he always was cracking jokes and acting like everything was alright. That explained two things to her.

One was that he truly was doing this whole vigilante act for the thrill, without much care for any consequences, especially the ones innocent people would deal with in the fallout of his fights and his enemies's responses. The second was that he must be one of the most irresponsible people on the planet to go about the way he did, which was why he never really seemed to put much effort into finally putting away the two greatest threats to Vale right now.

All he did since he was spotted was swing in, crack a few jokes, and web up some criminals, and swing away, much to the adoration of his fans.

Didn't that demeanor sound awfully similar to someone she knows?

Still not wanting to jump to anything, Blake couldn't help but feel frustrated. Here was Spider-Man, easily one of the most powerful individuals in the entire city, and he was doing nothing. What investigations had he done, what late nights working were there, what information had he sought out, beyond just shallow rumors and whispers he might have heard?

The likelihood of him only being a gloryhound was becoming more and more evident. It also explained why he never really seemed to work with the police, why he-

"Uh, Blake? Ya alright?" Peter questioned.

He thought he saw some actual fury flash in her eyes right then, but it quickly fades away.

"Peter? If you knew more about Spider-Man you would tell us right?" Blake suddenly asks.

"What'd ya mean?" Peter responds, feeling nervous.

"I mean, you're the only photographer able to win his trust, to the point where he actually talks to you. If he told you, or if you found out something important, like who he is or anything about Roman, you'd tell us right?"

"Uh, sure Blake! Though I don't know about sharing his identity if I knew! If he'd trust me with that I don't think I'd wanna betray his trust, he's my main source of money!" Peter defends.

The two girls look at him weirdly. That whole statement seemed kind of suspicious.

"So you do know something." Blake states.

This gets Weiss interested as she stares intensely at Peter for any gives.

"I-I didn't say that! Just that I don't know nothing about that!"

"But you admitted you wouldn't tell us." Blake reminds him.

"Have you seen him without the mask? What does he look like? Is he really as dashing as he sounds?" Weiss immediately asks.

"Guys come on!" Peter replies. "I admit, we do got a sort of work friendship thing going on, but I have no idea who that dude is, he ain't someone who'd just share anything like that!"

Thinking for a moment, Weiss agrees. "No you're right. A brilliant tactician like him would know better than to share his identity with someone… someone associated with investigative journalists."

"Exactly!" Peter happily responds.

"He needs someone who he'd know would have his full confidence! Someone who would understand his sacred noble duty to the kingdom who would be a valuable companion to his quest! Who he could share his heart with-"

"Uhhh." Peter isn't sure what to make of Weiss' speech.

Blake just thought the whole conversation made Peter even more suspicious. "I'm going out for a bit. I won't be too late." She lies.

"I hardly think that's-"

Blake leaves before Weiss could finish.

"I swear I'm fine Rubes, it's just gonna be for a few hours, and that's it, I'm fine!" Peter reassures her.

The couple were walking back towards the school from the bakery they originally were going to try before Peter ran into Adam. Peter was just walking Ruby back to their dorm and then was going on patrol.

"If Yang didn't need help with something, I'd go with you! I still don't like you being by yourself, and I don't think your mother does either!"

"Yang even tell you yet what it was?" Peter asks.

"No." Ruby says disappointedly. "I know it's a surprise, but I still wanna know!"

"I think that's the whole point of it being a surprise though."

"But don't change the subject!" Ruby chastises. "Do you really need to go out tonight?" Ruby then busts out her pout, already making eye contact with Peter before he can protest.

"A-aw come on! Ya know I'm trying to find Rome! I'm hoping that it'll get Blake to let up on the whole search and do something about that luggage she's been getting under her eyes." Peter still sees Ruby's pouting, somehow putting more effort into it. And it's working.

"But what about your luggage?" She asks, hoping to reason with him.

"Well a certain huntress who's pretty and adorable face is getting much harder to resist has been making sure I'm well rested!" Peter says.

"You might have a point. But you're sure you'll be fine?" Ruby asks, finally relenting on her pout.

"Promise! Won't even be too long tonight, then straight home, nothing too bad's gonna happen."

Ruby was thinking maybe she was being overprotective again. She keeps forgetting after all, Peter's a real life superhero!

Even if his injuries and run-ins with the most dangerous criminals in Vale scares her more than she wants to admit.

"Promise you'll stay safe? Hopefully more than last time?" Ruby asks, holding out her pinky to seal his word.

Grasping it with his own little finger, Peter kisses Ruby's finger and replies smiling, "Promise."

"Y'all sure you don't just wanna head home? I'm feeling embarrassed for you guys!" Spider-Man mocks at the White Fang soldiers robbing a SDC truck.

"Die you traitorous scum!" One yells.

"I'm thinkin', I ain't gonna be doing that!" Spidey yells as he cocoons them.

"Afraid I'm gonna have to take these goons away, but you gonna be alright now?" The Arachnid asks the driver he just rescued.

"Y-yeah, j-just gonna call the police, d-don't worry!"

"Good to hear!" He replies, swinging away.

Once he's out of the area, the driver hurriedly calls the Vale PD. "Hello? I've got Spider-Man on North Avenue- Yes, this is about the warrant! Now about the reward- What do you mean there's no reward?! The warrant's not active anymore!?" The SDC driver then angrily hangs up. "There goes my jet ski payment." He growls out.

"Alright ya goons." Spidey tells the cocooned bad guys that he attached to the wall of a dark alley, away from any prying eyes.

Crawling up with his spider legs and stingers out for a scare tactic towards them, he continues, "You all know I'm looking for Rome, and being your apparent boss, or at least Capo, or whatever you call him, I'm sure you know his whereabouts."

"W-we ain't gonna be talking!" One of them states, clearly nervous.

"Alright! Won't waste my time with you then!" Spidey states, throwing him far out of the eyesight of his partner, into a web he already spun before taking the baddies here.

But as far as the remaining White Fang knew, Spider-Man just made his partner go splat onto the pavement a good distance away.

"H-hey, were all Faunus here-"

Spidey interrupts by grabbing him with his spider legs and swinging off to a skyscraper, then quickly running with him close to the top.

"Thought a change in scenery would loosen the awkwardness! We feeling more comfortable for conversation now?" Spider-Man yells over the wind roaring around them.

"You aren't going to be getting anything out of me! You betrayed your own kind and even help the humans! You're only hindering our cause! You should be helping us, not harming us!"

"Debatable as far as perspectives go!" Spidey replies. "And from the looks of it, you're the one actually harming our people." Spider-Man then gets really close to the Faunus. "All you guys are doing is proving to the humans that we're every bit the monsters they fear. How many you think were on the fence about us, then instead of moving on from bigotry, fully embraced it, now only creating more hate towards us? You think you clowns are the heroes here?!"

"What choice is there?! Humans will never see us as anything but monsters! Why bother changing it, when they refuse to leave us alone?! They even branded you a monster!"

"Yeah, thought they would, didn't stop me. You on the other hand are just going by a self fulfilling prophecy." Spidey tells him. "But enough arguing. I'm gonna need Roman's location. Pronto."

"Go to hell."

"Think you got it backwards!" Spidey replies, throwing him off the building.

Of course he wasn't going to turn him into an asphalt pancake, but the White Fang guy didn't know that. After a few seconds of screaming Spider-Man quickly leaps down and catches the terrorist.

"Rethinking about sharing that info?"

Catching his breath, the operative only states, "Not talking you creepy eight limbed son of a-"

"That don't sound like no location!" The Spider says, dropping him again.

Letting the screams go on a bit longer this time, Spider-Man catches the criminal again, and continues, "This little game of 'catch the crook' is getting old. So old, I don't think I'll stick around to play the next time I let go. And I don't think either of us are having fun anymore!"

The White Fang soldier doesn't say anything, still recovering from the shock and fear of being dropped again.

"Alright fine! Had your chance!"

"Wah-wait, wait! I'll talk, I'll talk!"

"Finally!"

Sweating profusely, the baddie informs, "There's a storage facility in the red light district, goes by the name of Waldemeyer!"

"You ain't lying are you?" Spidey asks as he dangles him.

"Please! We were supposed to report to him there, it's in my ledger in my armor here!"

"Alright you're sounding reasonable, I'll believe it." Spidey states, putting him over his shoulder.

"J-just get me down."

Spider-Man webbed him right outside a police station, then went right to the warehouse the ledger claimed Roman was staying at for the week.

"You hear something?" A White Fang guard asks her fellow lookout at the storage place.

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Kinda sounds like a rubber band?"

Spider-Man then shoots at an incredible velocity, feet first, breaking through the doors, using a web slingshot he made.

"Knock, Knock!"

None of the operatives seemed to expect the Arachnid would be there, and are unprepared to combat him effectively.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are! Ya lost the hide and seek game Rome!"

"So this is the famous Spider of Vale." A new voice comments.

Spidey looks up and sees an oddly familiar grimm-masked green haired woman in the rafters staring at him.

"I mean, yeah, but I prefer 'The Spider-Man of Vale'. Don't forget the hyphen! Too many people do! Why don't you be kind and show me where Torchie is?"

The lady doesn't say anything but jumps elegantly down towards Spider-Man, ready to kick with both feet onto his chest. Spidey was about to dodge it, but noticed that not only was the spider-sense kept switching between the threat of the kick, and a faint warning of a blade coming at his back.

He doesn't know what to do, as nothing, not even Mysterio really seemed to confuse the spider-sense like this before, so he dodges both, but starts to feel that the more prominent threat is the blade, so he fires a webline at it and pulls, activating his semblance and unsheathing his stingers in mid yank.

Surprised, the woman manages to block the stinger with her blades, but notices how the sheer force sends her flying back.

"Yeah, I've faced failed magicians before, ya ain't nothing original."

"You really are as good as your legend claims."

"I'm a legend?! Sweet!"

The woman tries creating multiple copies of herself, to try and overwhelm him and his weird sense, hopefully using the info one of her mistresses associates reported back to them, even if he did apparently have a resistance to receiving too much input.

She was surprised that he was able to not completely fall for her illusions, but now she imagined it would be much harder for him to keep doing that.

She was right as Spider-Man couldn't accurately tell where his enemy was, which she tried to use to her advantage.

It nearly works as Spider-Man almost finds himself on the wrong end of greenie's attacks.

"No cheap shots!" He yells as the woman almost kicks him in the crotch.

He knew he was being pushed back, but then remembers what his mother taught him and closes his eyes.

His sense was now laser focused and no longer as badly confused as before.

The green haired lady notices this with increasing concern as he was starting to not even react to her illusions anymore as he zeroed in on her as she kept trying to dodge with her illusions.

Those creepy and scary looking stingers were getting closer.

Now she started to panic as she had no idea why he was now able to ignore her semblance. She knew she also stood no chance against him in close quarters combat.

Stealing a risky glance over at the White Fang, she notices that they're just standing there. But they actually looked… scared. Must have heard the stories about what he supposedly sometimes did to those he caught.

"What are you doing?! Your worst enemy is right here!"

Too slow for her comfort the operatives try and combat him, but even with the added number of threats to overstimulate the Spider's sense, he seems to be mostly unaffected by it. He even stings some of the White Fang members with his stingers.

As they immediately fall at the sting, one of them yells out, "You killed them!"

"Relax, they're fine. Just temporarily paralyzed. The venom ain't lethal."

Hearing this, even with her semblance exhausting her, the disguised woman tried to make a quick getaway by conjuring up a deathstalker hallucination to act as a distraction with the soldiers attacking Spider-Man.

If he managed to paralyze her and take her to the police…

She only makes it to a fire escape on the other side of the street, as the Arachnid uses his spider legs to break everyone off him and runs after her.

Stealing a galnce below her, once at the top of the ladder, she sees him crawling up the wall with his eight limbs. It deeply unnerved her seeing that.

"I'll be fine." She thinks. "Just have to make it to the other side of the roof-"

Leaping right behind her is the Spider, using fire dust with his semblance, giving him a crazed appearance.

"Where you going? Thought you could take a few requests for that party trick of yours!"

She's too smart to exhaust herself even further by futilely trying her semblance in a final attempt, but decides to test something her mistress gave her, even if she wouldn't exactly approve of her using it right now.

"What the hell?!" The Spider satisfyingly yells. Greenie unleashed some kind of gas that she combined with her semblance to create a new illusion that the spider-sense was treating as real.

It kind of looked like Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, to Spider-Man, but more deformed and bigger and darker.

It was kind of hard to make out exactly what it was, but it didn't matter, Spider-Man had two enemies to fight now.

He dodges the more evil Mac's stinger and gets ready to counter with his own, only to notice that the stinger left no impact where it struck.

Just Illusion Girl's semblance getting a more realistic boost.

"Alright, enough magic acts, it's curtains for you!"

He jumps through fake Mac, only to find no trace of greenie.

"Are you kidding me?!"

The next day Peter was enjoying a really entertaining show going on.

Team CRDL was hopelessly flailing around Pyrrha, with Cardin looking really irritated that he could barely even get close enough to do anything without getting hit until his aura was depleted.

"Well done, Miss Nikos. You should have no problem qualifying for the tournament." Professor Goodwitch congratulates her.

"Thank you, professor."

Looking at the clock on her scroll the Professor announces, "Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" She asks, looking around and noticing an idle Blake. "Ms. Belladonna? You've been rather docile for the past few classes. Why don't you -"

"I'll do it." Mercury answers.

"Mercury is it?" Glynda responds. "Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually, I think I wanna fight... him." Mercury says, pointing at Peter.

"Cool." Peter says smiling, with Blake now snapping awake at Peter now entering the ring.

"Very well." Glynda says, proud on the inside at her son being able to show off his skill again.

"Alright Petey!" Ruby yells out.

Once he gets into his gear, eager to blow off some steam from the trap he fell for again the night before, Peter quips to the kid, "I don't suppose I could ask you guys to go easy? My girlfriend's watching and I don't wanna look bad in front of her!"

"Where's the fun in that?" Mercury smiles back.

Emerald couldn't help but smirk at the hopeful thought of Mercury being able to take this geek down a peg, being the deputy headmistress's son, and supposedly on the same level as the cereal girl.

Mercury goes for a kick, only to be met with Peter's knee, with the brown haired teen then countering with an elbow.

Mercury could barely dodge it, taking note of the force behind it, even when he could tell Peter was still holding back.

He then tries for a spin kick to Peter's neck, putting his strength behind it, which Peter impressively blocks with ease. Then grabbing his opponent's ankle, the brown haired teen spins him around and throws him a good distance away.

Back in the audience, Ruby looks on, smiling with pride. "Sometimes I forget how skilled and strong Peter really is." Weiss comments.

"Yeah." Blake says, intensely watching the match despite her lack of sleep.

Peter then senses some danger coming from the gray kid's shoes. Going for a fake strike, Mercury knees at Peter's chest, which he blocks with his Onyx Avenger, which Mercury counts on, allowing him to kick at his head with a dust blast, now that Peter's vision was blocked by his shields. To his surprise, Peter dodges it by leaning far back and kicks Mercury upwards on his chin.

Mercury wouldn't admit it to himself, but this shrimpy looking nerd was actually really strong. It intimated him, especially when Peter hadn't even used his weapon offensively yet.

Once Mercury landed in roll, Peter ran and lept to deliver a flying kick, which Mercury blocked with his shin, but could feel that his Aura was about to go down in red.

Peter then goes over to continue the fight, unsheathing his weapon's retractable blades, but seeing that Peter's aura was still full, Mercury cries holding up his arm, "Wait! I forfeit!"

"It's all good!" Peter replies, holding out his hand to help up his opponent.

"Next time, you may want to think a little harder before choosing an opponent." Glynda chastises, still proud that Peter expectantly won the match.

"I'll be sure to do that."

Whatever sleepiness Blake had temporarily left her body at seeing Peter's display at avoiding the unsuspecting blast from Mercury's shoe. There was no way a huntsman, unless they were incredibly skilled and experienced with reflexes honed from years of combat, could have dodged that like Peter had done in a split second, without even seeing it. At least the day she first saw him, when he blocked a paper wad from hitting Jaune, it could've been explained away by him seeing the projectile from maybe the corner of his eye.

Actually, no. He still shouldn't have been able to do that, wasn't the thing behind him? She was just too tired to care at the time.

How could a normal human be able to do that?

"That is all for today." Glynda announces. "And remember, the dance is this weekend. But you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses."

"Learning is so much fun." Mercury reflects to Emerald.

Being reminded of the dance by his mother, Peter signals to Yang, who then leads Ruby away for something, as he goes over real quick to talk to Weiss.

"Hey Weiss, you gotta second?"

"Uh sure Peter." She answers, being a bit put off by his worried expression. "Is everything alright?"

"It's just uh," Peter stammers before going to a full blown panic. "I need advice, bad!"

"Finally, you've come to your senses!" Weiss happily replies. "I suggest you drop the comedian act for good, actually dress yourself properly, stop with the late night outings with Ruby, you both need your sleep, and you really should be a lot more careful of who you allow yourself to be associated with-"

"I don't mean life advice! I'm fine with that part!"

"Are you sure? There's a lot of suggestions I have…"

"I need a suit for the dance!" Peter panics again. "I wanna do right by Ruby and make sure it's a good night for her." He finishes with a red face that even Weiss finds endearing.

"Well, I'm glad, it's going to be so romantic for you two, dancing so close, and- wait! You didn't even get a suit!"

"Lisa's been keeping me busy at VNN! I almost didn't even get the night off! It kinda slipped my mind." He sheepishly finishes.

"You don't even know how to dance do you?"

"Mom gave me some pointers… Not as much as she would've liked though. She's been busy with the whole festival." Peter admitted.

"We are going to Vale first thing after school." Weiss ordered. "Ruby deserves a nice romantic night, and you are going to give that to her! And if you complain the whole way-"

"Promise I won't, I'll even be quiet with the quips! I owe you one!"

"The ceasing of your annoying comments for a day will be enough payment."

"Really?"

…

"No. I'm going to need much more than one day." She smirks.

Under his breath, Peter repeats, "It's all for Ruby, it's for Ruby…"

Blake was pretty annoyed right now.

She already was trying to focus on the two big problems she found herself pretty much alone to deal with, with not even Sun caring enough to help. He went as far as to try and ask her out to the dance. Now her teammates were deciding to follow suit as well.

"You what?"

"We want you to go to the dance." Ruby repeated.

"That's ridiculous." Blake insists.

"But that means fun!" Peter quips, with Blake shooting him a glare. She was getting more annoyed at his stupid joking more than usual now.

"Blake, we're worried about you. This investigation is starting to mess with your head." Yang pleads.

Trying for a more logical angle, Weiss continues with, "You can't sleep, you hardly eat, and to be honest, your grades have been suffering."

"You think I care about grades?!" She angrily shouts. "People's lives are at stake, and no one is doing anything about it!" She finished that statement while looking at Peter.

"We know, and we're all still trying to figure out what Torchwick is up to." Yang keeps trying to reason.

"Look on the bright side!" Ruby says. "Thanks to you and Sun, we know they're operating somewhere outside of southeast Vale."

"And, the Schnee company records singled out Vale as the primary target for Dust robberies over the last few months." Weiss reminds her.

Yang keeps up the list of success they've had. "Don't forget about their missing military tech too."

"We also found out Roman's got a boss who's giving him the means to make the high end robberies he's been doing." Peter adds.

Refusing to heed their words, Blake fires back with, "But there's still unanswered questions! Roman's still out there without anyone knowing their end goal, and not even Spider-Man has been able to get him!" Blake exclaims, seemingly aiming her statement at Peter.

Ruby could see that it bothered him. "I'm sure Spider-Man is doing everything possible to find him."

"Well maybe he should try harder."

"Why would you say that!?" Weiss shouts. "Spider-Man is the only one who can actually hold back Roman, and he knows it! Why do you think he's been too afraid to show his face in public?"

"At this point, all Spider-Man is doing is patching a growing problem where an actual solution is needed." Blake continues. "Someone who's supposed to be as powerful as him should have taken out Roman by now."

Seeing Peter's face, Ruby tries again to calm the mood in the room. "Don't forget who Roman is though. Peter found out that Roman's employer is powerful enough to not only strong arm him, but also get him resources that he never had before. The fact Spider-Man has been able to single-handedly keep Roman and the White Fang at bay for this long speaks volumes of how much help he's been to all of Vale!"

"Exactly!" Blake cries. "You've all seen how casually he acts, yet is still able to push back against crime like no one else! Think what he'd accomplish if he actually tried to finally put an end to the organization and Roman behind bars! I honestly doubt he takes anything he does seriously if nothing has really been changed yet! I can't even do everything he can, and yet I feel like I'm the one actually trying to find anything!"

Knowing how Peter would take that exclamation, Ruby holds his hand, which only Blake notices, as she responds, "Blake, you don't know what Spider-Man's actually thinking when he fights crime, but that doesn't even matter. We're talking about you, who won't be able to find anything if she can't even keep her eyes open!"

"You need to rest, so all we're asking is that you take it easy for one day." Yang tries again.

"It will be fun! Yang and I will make sure of it." Weiss informs.

"Yeah! We're planning the whole event!" Yang reveals.

"Excuse me?" Blake glares.

"Team CFVY's away mission lasted longer than expected." Weiss clarifies.

"So, Weiss and I were asked to pick up where they left off. And now we can make sure you have the perfect night."

Continuing again, Weiss adds, "And once it's all over, we'll return for our search, rested and ready."

"So what do ya think?" Ruby finishes.

Great. Now her team is justifying not doing their duty with using the dance as rest. And of course their resident joker is more than happy to go along with that. Guess there was more similarities with him and the vigilante he photographs than she thought. "I think this is a colossal waste of time. I'll be in the library."

"Great."

"She can't keep going on like this." Weiss comments, right before they get a knock at their door.

The heiress opens it, to her horror as Jaune with a guitar is there trying to serenade her. "Weiss!"

Immediately slamming the door on him, Jaune pleads, "Oh, come on, open the door! I promise not to sing."

Against her better judgment, she believes him, only to hear more of his song. "I lied! Weiss Schu-nee, will you accompany me, to the dance on... Sunday!?"

"Gotta give the kid credit for not giving up." Peter whispers to Yang.

"There's determination, and there's not being able to see doomed failure."

"Are you done?" Weiss asks with an annoyed expression.

"Yes?" The blonde hesitantly answers.

"No." Slamming the door at him again, Weiss sees the look Yang is giving her. "What?"

"And that is why they call you the Ice Queen."

"All my life, boys have only cared about the perks of my last name. Besides, I already have a date in mind."

"Spidey?" Yang teases.

"Well, I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it." Weiss replies wistfully.

"Spidey's probably busy though, so maybe you should consider Jaune!" Ruby states, then gets a sullen look on her face. "But date or no date, none of this will matter if we can't get Blake to go."

Peter perks up at that, and speeds out the door.

"Now where do you think you're going?" Weiss asks with disapproval.

"Last ditch effort!" Peter shouts.

Weiss understood then. Even she had to admit it was super cute with how much effort Peter was putting into making sure Ruby would have a nice night at the dance.

"He spoils you." Weiss says to Ruby.

Peter runs after the girl in black and shouts, "Wait, Blake!"

Hoping he has something important to say, she stops walking to listen.

To her disappointment, Peter just says, "Blake please, if you ain't gonna go for yourself, then… do it for me? Or Ruby? She's probably not gonna wanna go if ya ain't there and I've been putting up with Weiss all week to learn how to dance! I'm not sure how much more the two of us can take, and I don't want that to be for nothing! I really want to enjoy the thing with Ruby!... And I feel like you could really use the break!"

Blake glares harshly at him for a bit before responding. "Don't you think there's more important things than some dance, or things you should be doing?"

"Come on Blake, this is me we're talking about, you know there ain't." Peter quips.

It doesn't do anything for Blake but cause her to storm off before letting out a comment.

"That's the problem."

"...and finally, Peter Goodwitch-Parker. Ugh, that's a mouthful, I'm just gonna call him Peter Goodwitch." Emerald complains.

"Ah, the famous photographer." Cinder remembers.

Cinder and her followers had gone back into their dorm, making preparations for their plans for the dance, and reviewing recently gathered info.

"He may be on the small side, but that kid is crazy strong, and he was still holding back." Mercury recalls from their fight.

"Do tell." Cinder tells him, very interested in this info.

"I could feel the crazy strength behind those hits too, which apparently is his semblance, which he claims is balanced by his very weak aura." Emerald continues, with Mercury chiming in with, "When he grabbed me, he tossed me away like nothing. Again, still holding back. And when he struck my legs… no one I've come across has been able to hit like that before."

"It's actually a great disguise." Emerald finishes. "He looks kind of shrimpy, but he's clearly extremely skilled. He looks so non-threatening, but the way he moves does suggest that he has something that tells him where his opponents are going to strike. Just like Spider-Man."

"Those are a lot of similarities. Anything else you noticed last night?" Cinder asks.

Happy to give valuable info to her mistress, Emerald answers, "My semblance didn't work on him. At least not entirely. He even said he faced someone with a similar one before, so I'm guessing he has more experience than we thought. It seemed to work though when I used that venom gas!" She happily finishes.

"You mean the venom which is the only substance we know that's actually lethal to him? And the last we currently have of it?" She asks with anger.

"H-he was catching up to me, I didn't know what else to do, b-but it actually made him believe the illusion was real!" Emerald defends.

"That's the only thing we know that can level the playing field with him, and which can take away the advantage his sense gives him, and you just wasted it?!"

Not wanting to deal with another one of Cinder's fits, Mercury reminds her, "What did you expect her to do? And sense or no sense, you still shouldn't have too much trouble taking him on. Roman almost killed him, and we all know he's well aware that he can't even hope to challenge you. The bug won't be able to do much better."

Getting back to her original train of thought, Cinder retorts, "But as you pointed out, he hides his true strength."

"We still don't know if he's Goodwitch."

"Hmm... He has the same accent, height, appears to have the same build, and is surprisingly the only one who's gotten a good photograph of Spider-Man. What do you think, Mercury?" Cinder asks, making sure Emerald knew she was disregarding her right now.

"If he's the one, it does makes sense. They're both freakishly strong, don't use their aura to protect them in a fight, and can dodge better than they really should be able to." He reasoned.

"As you said, he holds back. I doubt we've seen what he's truly capable of yet. I must admit I'm quite curious to see what he'd be able to do if he was pushed. But you're right. Even at full strength, he shouldn't be too much of a challenge. But that's all if Goodwitch's son even is him. I'd rather wait for confirmation before we try anything." Cinder states with sadistic curiosity. "Come to think of it, it looks like Emerald didn't waste the gas canister at all."

The green haired girl looks hopefully at Cinder, thinking she might be back in her good graces.

"It was for emergencies after all, and it proved how much the venom affects him. Renders him weaker, more than enough for a more skilled individual to finally kill him. Not like Roman who failed even with a bomb at his disposal. This only makes me look forward to finally squashing this pest once we get confirmation on who he is."

"I hate waiting." Mercury complained. "But I'm still not sure if Goodwitch's kid is the most likely candidate. He doesn't even look like a Faunus at all. I'd think he'd have a hard time hiding those legs in his back, or those weird bone things in his wrists."

"Those things creep me out." Emerald shivers.

"Don't forget Mercury." Cinder reminds him. "He's genetically modified. The same biological rules don't apply to him, even if it's just speculation right now. But don't worry, we have a fun weekend ahead of us. We'll likely know soon enough." She finishes with a smile as she gets to work on her dress for that event.

"No, no, no, you're still getting the rhythm wrong!" Weiss chastises.

"I'm trying!" Peter whines. "It's not like I really have much of any experience with this kind of thing!"

"You would think someone who's as nimble as you on the battlefield wouldn't have such a lead foot!"

"That's fighting! I ain't that skilled in much of anything like dancing!" Peter argues back.

Weiss groans at him. "Have you ever thought about maybe applying what makes you agile to dancing?"

"… Uhhhh-"

"Just try it."

Weiss then put her hands back on Peter's shoulders to teach him as he gets into position himself.

"Allright, like she said, just do what you do as Spidey."

Peter then hones in using the spider sense and focuses on his surroundings. He hears Weiss's footsteps, the rhythm of the music she's playing, feels his body's movements. Then, using his heightened awareness of his body and its actions, starts successfully syncing himself to the music.

"See! I told you!"

"That… actually made sense. Alright! Now just really hoping Ruby either still goes or Blake gets over whatever complex she's got down." Peter states.

Weiss sighed at that. None of them really wanted to go without Blake, but she and Yang were heading the whole event, and Peter was already going through all this effort to make it a special night for his girlfriend. She couldn't help but be annoyed at Blake and her stubbornness for single handedly ruining her and Peter's plans. At first Weiss thought Ruby was too good for Peter and that she could do a lot better, but she's seen just how much the hooded girl has brought out the quipping photographer's sweeter side. Even she couldn't deny how cute it was.

"Blake, I swear, you better not ruin this romantic night for these two!"

"Alright! Now again!" Weiss orders.

"Aw rea- I mean, yes!" Peter jumps at attention.

Weiss smiled. It was nice having this kind of control over Peter.

Blake never did go to the library. She had a much different plan.

Getting off the bullhead into Vale, she goes straight for the police department.

"Excuse me." She cordially states to the desk Sergeant. "I'm with the student newspaper at Beacon academy, and was wondering if I could ask some questions about the recent incident at the Schnee facility on 11th."

"You're just in time little lady. Council's finally declassifying the whole thing." He informs.

"Why was it classified at all?" She asks.

"Spider-Man was there. Council's been wanting to keep it on the down low ever since that warrant for him was out. Apparently they changed their mind now."

"Interesting." Blake acknowledges as she writes it down. "Peter didn't mention anything about Spider-Man being there."

"It's old news though, I doubt the media's gonna be interested in that when there's plenty of new Spidey sightings to report."

"So no reporters have been asking about it?" Blake asks.

"None but you. Except maybe that photographer boy VNN has everywhere. To be honest I'm glad the Council isn't hounding Spidey anymore, with all the good the kid's done, it's nice to not be so overwhelmed with all the dust robberies. Not to mention he's really the only one that's been able to make criminals think twice before going out, especially the White Fang. Between you and me, the whole department couldn't be more grateful that he's been helping out. We all feel safer knowing he's out there."

"Exactly why he should be out here more." Blake mumbles under her breath.

"I'm sorry?"

"Nothing." Blake states. "Could you please tell me what else happened then?"

The next day, the team's preparations for the dance were in full swing. Weiss had managed to get Peter to agree to taking care of the more technical side of the dance, like the lighting and repairing the machinery. He gladly agreed, since he owed her.

She still couldn't believe he was this smart with things like this, or really in general.

Blake was gone, doing whatever. Ever since the night before, she seemed to be more obsessive than ever.

"Don't forget, I need focused lighting here at the center of the dancefloor, with others illuminating the edges. And soft lighting at the banquet table!" Weiss orders.

"I hear ya boss!" Peter replies from the rafters, effortlessly climbing around the lofty lighting truss, even with tools. It still kind've freaked out Ruby that he was up so high without even a safety harness.

"Come on, Petey's fine, like Yang said, I shouldn't be so overprotective! He's Spider-Man after all!"

"And I need you to pick a tablecloth." Weiss continues, smiling at Ruby as she shows her a sample of each.

"Aren't they both the same?"

"I don't even know why I asked!" Weiss groans. "Didn't your boyfriend teach you things like this with photography?"

"I'm still a newbie!"

As the heiress walks away, Ruby sadly plays with one of the samples, as Yang comes in, hefting a large speaker, heavy enough to shake the entire room when she drops it down.

"Easy with the movement down there, these things ain't secure yet!" Peter shouts.

"You're fine!" Yang shouts back. "So, have you picked out a dress yet?" She asks Ruby.

"What's the point? I'm not gonna go to the dance if Blake isn't going."

Peter nearly chokes at that revelation.

Yang couldn't blame him. Ice Queen had been teaching him to dance so that he could make it a special night for Ruby! She thought it was super sweet and she wasn't going to accept Ruby missing out on that. Especially when this was her baby sister's first boyfriend!

"But what about you and Peter? It'd be so romantic for the two of you!"

"We can do other romantic things." Ruby dejectedly responds.

No, Yang decided she would personally handle this. "Well then, don't worry, she's going." She promises with an older sister's determination. "Weiss! I thought we agreed, no doilies!"

"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines! And that was only if Peter could fix them after he finishes installing the lighting."

"I actually just finished it. I'm moving to the sound stuff now, which shouldn't take too long." The teen answers as he flips and lands flawlessly on the floor.

"Thank you Peter!" Yang states victoriously.

"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asks, walking into the room with Sun.

"We were thinking about it~" Weiss says, hoping for Neptune's approval.

"That's pretty cool." The blue haired teen responds.

Then the 'bad influence' asks, "You ladies all excited for dress-up?"

"Pfft! Yeah, right!" Ruby states.

"Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads that night!" Yang brags.

Weiss then asks, hoping to have an idea of what the cooler boy will be dressed in, "What are you two wearing?"

"Uh, this?" Sun points to the clothes he's wearing now.

Before Weiss can voice her disapproval, Neptune steps in front of his friend and states, "Ignore him for he knows not what he says."

"Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place." Sun defends himself.

"Yeah, we noticed." Yang replies obviously as the others give him a look.

Peter just mumbles something about a dress code and sweaty chest that should be covered.

"Well, this is Vale now; we dress appropriately here. We wouldn't want that kind of indecency to rub off on certain individuals." Weiss comments, making sure Peter heard.

Not really paying attention to what she said, Sun asks, "Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?"

"Obviously." Weiss says with frustration.

"I still can't think of a way to change her mind." Ruby states, still sad about that fact.

"Guys. Trust me, Blake will be at the dance." Looking over to Peter, Yang then whispers, "And you'll owe me bigtime for it."

"If." Peter whispers back.

"We need to talk!"

Without even giving the poor boy a chance to put on anything decent , Jaune drags Ren all the way over to the couch in their dorm, where Peter is waiting. Looks like Jaune nabbed him while he was undressing, being dressed in an undershirt and boxers with black tube socks.

"Hey" The boy greets.

"Ren, Peter, I'm just gonna say it. You two are some of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we've really bonded, even though you don't say much, and Peter's often away with Ruby on his photography job. I mean, Ren's really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you, personally, and Peter's a bit of a weirdo who's jokes are hit or miss. But darn it, I consider you both to be the brothers I never had!"

"And I you." Ren smiles, trying his best to deal with the awkwardness of being nearly naked in front of the two, with Peter in his underwear.

"Ditto." Peter replies.

"Which is why I wanted to get your guy's advice on... girls."

"Girls?" Ren asks.

"Buddy, I might have a girlfriend, but I ain't got any lady knowledge." Peter tells the blonde as Ren tries to reach for his clothes. "And besides, Weiss really don't seem like she's interested in anyone right now, like at all."

"I told you though, I don't want to just give up, I still wanna try! I just... don't know... how to... girls."

"You don't know how to girls?" Peter asks. "Like, how to operate a machine?"

"Um, I-I guess what I'm asking is... Well, you and Ruby, Ren and Nora... y'know, but more in depth for that."

"Uh, uh... uh…" Ren stammers, getting even more uncomfortable.

"We're actually not together-together!" Nora saves him, previously reading a book in her pajamas on her bed.

"NORA! HEADPHONES ON!" Jaune orders, with her complying immediately.

"Jaune, what is this all about?" Ren asks.

"Who ya think?" Peter asks.

"It's Weiss." The blonde confirms. "I'm completely head-over-heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. I tried what Peter did with Ruby, but even that didn't work!" Jaune sadly states.

"They're both different people though dude." Peter tries to reason. "And I honestly chalk it up to rare good luck more than anything with Ruby going out with me. But if you want my opinion, cut your losses now, while it still won't bother you too bad. I think there's people who'd mesh a lot better with you who are closer than you think." The brunette teen tries, heavily emphasizing the last part.

"But that's just it!" Jaune shouts. "It's already bothering me really bad, and I can't think of anyone else! I mean yeah, she's pretty and all, but there's so much more to her than that! She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented. I mean, have you heard her sing? I-I just wish she'd take me seriously, y'know? I wish I could tell her how I feel and have her actually see that, I'm not some guy who's only interested in anything superficial about her. I like her for who she actually is as a person."

Peter was surprised to hear that. Sure, he knew Jaune had a crush on Weiss, but he assumed it was the kind that every nerdy guy had on the pretty girl of their class. But the way Jaune just described her was really similar to how he feels about Ruby. Maybe the kid's feelings toward Icee did go deeper than a typical crush.

"Then do it."

Pyrrha makes herself known to everyone as Jaune asks, "Uh, wha?"

"Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just... be honest." Pyrrha states.

"But what if I- and Peter said-"

"Jaune." She smiles. "You can't get it wrong if it's the truth."

The blonde thinks for a moment. Peter did tell him that honesty did go a long way. Was this what he meant, instead of all the flash? "You're right! Thanks, Pyrrha!" Then looking back at his half-naked friends in the room, tells them after standing up, "Good talk, you guys!"

The two boys smile back with relief as he walks out, thankful they can get into some clothes.

But once Jaune is out of the room, Nora tells the redhead, "Practice what you preach, Pyrrha"

Ren looks over to his brunette friend and asks, "You told Jaune to try and sing to Weiss?"

Peter groans, "Apparently I did."

Peter just sighs as he embarrassingly walks back to his dorm, trying to ignore the giggles of his classmates. He didn't blame Jaune though, Peter could tell he was desperate and in need of help.

He couldn't help but feel for him as he realized that Weiss really did mean a lot to the boy.

His mind kept going back to his girlfriend on the way back. He couldn't help but feel that his feelings for her are still growing like that, with Jaune of all people reminding Peter of what Ruby meant to him. Which then brought him to his own personal problem.

"I really hope Blake gets over Roman so Ruby will wanna go. Even I'm taking a break! Maybe I should try and see what I can find out about Fancy Pants' whereabouts and see if that eases her conscience." Peter thought as he walks into his team's living space and takes off his tank. "Could Blake be right about me though? Can I really be doing more, instead of-"

Ruby then barges in.

"Hey Petey, Yang wants your opinion on having lasers installed in the fog machinnneee…" She drones, increasingly smiling and at her boyfriend's shirtless body.

Peter shoots up to try and explain himself as they both turn redder by the second.

"Uh, it's, um, well-"

Right then Weiss walks in followed by Yang.

"Peter, tell Weiss-Cream here that lasers are not impractical for the-" Yang stops herself as she sees Weiss's expression, which leads her to see an almost naked Peter and a smiling Ruby.

"Did Sun put you up to this?" Weiss venomously asks.

"Peter. I was willing to accept that the bunk thing was an accident, but this… It can't be a coincidence." Yang informs with equal malice.

"H-hey, I know how this looks, but Jaune dragged me out of here for… help while I was changing, so-" Peter then sees the two's expressions more clearly. "Not my fault!"

"Come on you guys!" Ruby defends Peter. "It's not like this isn't his normal sleepwear! We cuddle like this all the time!"

"Keyword like! I'm always wearing a shirt or something! And not in my undies either!" Peter says before they get another wrong idea. "Like I said, Jaune was kinda desperate to talk, I don't actually think the kid even really noticed I wasn't fully clothed! Either that or he's oddly comfortable with his buddies not wearing all their clothes." The poor boy finishes with humor to ease the girls' temper.

"So he's the one responsible for putting these perverted ideas in your head!" Weiss announces jumping to another conclusion. "I knew that little-"

Ruby was giggling at the scene, finding Peter acting cute yet again, especially with him not putting a shirt on yet. Unfortunately, she got a text from Blake asking to talk on the balcony a few stories above them for some reason. Just the two of them. Seeing that the other's were busy grilling Peter, she decides it can't be any harm, especially when Blake seems to want to speak with her just one on one.

It made sense. Too much sense. There were too many similarities. The more she thought of it, the more obvious it was. The late nights he's been out, the scars, the skills, the injuries he got at the warehouse and facility. But it also made something else clear.

"Hey Blake, are you ok, it sounded important; whatever you have to tell me."

Ruby noticed that Blake wasn't with anyone else at the balcony where she asked her teammate to meet her at. Whatever the girl in black needed to tell her must be serious.

"What's wrong?"

Taking a moment to gird her bravery, Blake tells her, "I know Peter is Spider-Man."

So, it predictably happened again. I was busy these past few months with school, being cast in a school production, etc, and am now in the process of moving! Not sure where to yet, but it might likely be to a different state than the one I live in now! Real sorry for taking a super long break though, but I still am gonna try and get the next one out as soon as I can, hopefully a lot sooner than before! Also, yes, while Pyrrha will still be a big threat to Cinder and company's plans, Peter/Spider-Man is seen as the biggest fish to fry by them, so that's why they're focusing on him for the time being. Not to worry though, Pyrrha will still get plenty of attention these next coming chapters!

A big thanks to my cowriter, Mrsauce906, and my beta readers, 13talos and Eli villa! Super helpful, and again, open to suggestions and any corrective criticism! Thanks for reading!