Spider-Man swung his arm out, swatting aside a falling, blazing timber a moment before it pinned him down under its weight.

"So Cat..." he called out to his one-time partner "What was that back there?"

"What d'you mean?" she asked, punching through a door, covering her mouth as an eruption of smoke poured out of the room.

"The whole... kiss thing, you know?" he said, covering his mouth under the mask as he coughed, the black smoke beginning to affect his lungs.

"Oh right, yeah... sorry about that buddy, I kinda got a little emotional for a second there" she chuckled "Don't think I was serious"

"Oh" he said, a knot forming in his throat as a deflated feeling took control of him "Right"

"You're not disappointed are you?" she asked playfully.

"Maybe a little" he shrugged, booting down a door and calling out for anyone who might be in the room.

"I don't date, nothing personal of course but its just my policy" she said, quickly followed by a cough. There suddenly came a cry for help from inside the room Spider-Man had just opened, a young voice screaming in terror.

"Spidey!" Cat yelled.

"I got it!" he yelled back, sprinting into the room and yelling out again.

"Where are you?!" he called.

"I... I'm in the closet!" the voice screamed "Please help me!" Spider-Man quickly surveyed the room before his eyes fell onto the closet, a large wooden timber having fallen down in front of it and trapping the child inside.

"Just hold on!" Spider-Man ordered "I'm getting you out of there!" With a swift kick he managed to move the timber out of the way without injuring himself, but the impact of the timber hitting the floor caused it to crash through it and down into the lower level.

"Well... we can put a fireman's pole there later" he shrugged before tearing open the closet door and seeing a small blond boy cowering in fear. His eyes lit up as he saw the costumed superhero and he held his arms out in front of him, begging to be saved. Spider-Man grabbed hold of the child by the torso and hoisted him up onto his back.

"Hold on, I'm gonna get you out of here" he promised "What does your mother look like?"

"She's... got blond hair like me... and she was wearing a white shirt and black pants" he said, coughing loudly due to the smoke.

"Then let's get going!" Spider-Man grunted, charging out of the room, scanning it for Black Cat but noticing that she was nowhere to be seen. Spider-Man closed in on the open window at the end of the hall and with a quick jump he shot through the opening and out into the fresh night air.

"Hold on!" Spider-Man warned as the force of gravity began to take hold, the child tightening his grip in response. He used his webbing to slow down their fall and they landed safely on the ground, fire fighters rushing out of the building with a train of people behind them.

"That's it!" one of them yelled "That's everyone out!" A woman came rushing over to Spider-Man as he set the child down on the ground.

"Oh my God!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face "My baby!" She wrapped her arms around her son and sobbed into his shoulder for a long second, the child hugging his mother tightly.

"I'm OK Mom, Spider-Man saved me" he said, looking up at the costumed hero. The woman looked up at him with a teary smile before speaking.

"Thank you Spider-Man... I'll never believe a word the Daily Bugle says about you again" she said in a shaky voice.

"The Daily Bugle?" Spider-Man asked "What're they saying about me?"

"You mean you haven't read the paper recently?" she asked, blinking in surprise "The owner of the paper's started a smear campaign against you"

"What!?" Spider-Man demanded "What for?"

"He... he thinks you're a criminal" she answered "But he's wrong"

"Damn right he's wrong... I'm gonna go have a little talk with our editor in chief right now!" Spider-Man snapped before he realized what time it currently was "Uh... when do the doors to the Bugle shut?"

"Eight PM I think" she said "Its nearly eleven PM now" Spider-Man recoiled in shock upon hearing the time. He was nearly two hours late on his curfew and his Aunt was going to kill him for it.

"Excuse me I, uh, think I left my dishwasher plugged in" he said awkwardly, turning away from the others, still seeing no sign of Black Cat anywhere, before firing a web-line and swinging off into the city.

"Hand it over" Aunt May said in a harsh tone.

"Do I have to?" Peter asked, clinging to his phone as if it were his own child.

"Well seeing as how you don't know how to use that phone of yours, I figure you don't need a phone" she growled "Hand. It. Over" Peter looked solemnly at his phone for a long second before placing it softly in his aunt's hand.

"You take good care of that" Peter whimpered.

"Stop being so pathetic" May sighed, stuffing the phone into her pocket and looking at her nephew with a confused expression.

"Peter... why do you smell of smoke?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, on the way home I got caught downwind from a burning building, smoke was billowing all over the place and I accidentally ran through a cloud of it" Peter said quickly, keeping his face as still as possible to not give away his half-truth.

"Really?" May asked in a disbelieving tone "And you haven't just been smoking?"

"No, it should be on the news by now" Peter said, pointing at the TV "We can watch it if you want?"

"No Peter, I can watch it" May corrected "You can go sit in your room and do nothing"

"What?" Peter asked in a horrified tone "Why?"

"Because you're grounded" May said, snapping her fingers and pointing to the stairs "Go on boy, get upstairs" Peter looked at his aunt with a very bemused look in his eyes, this causing the woman's stern face to falter for a second and a smile to crack briefly. Peter grinned back only to have his aunt move forward quickly with a new angry expression, this terrifying the young man and causing him to sprint out of the living room and up the stairs. He walked into his room and sat down on the bed, crossing his arms and glaring angrily at the carpeted floor.

"This is bullshit" he growled "You can't ground Spider-Man" Next Chapter: Ice Cold Reception Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 38 Minutes