The Unassigned Mission

Located

Peter sat on the fire escape, clothed in his spidey suit. His mask sitting next to him as he scrolled through his phone messages.

N: tell me when ur done so I can start putting together the LEGO Avengers set !!!

P: still seems a bit odd of us to build a set of my CLOSE friends

P: ...I'll be ready in 10.

His head snapped up when a wailing sound echoed through an alleyway nearby. Peter grabbed his mask and slid it on before slinging a web onto the building closest to him. He landed in the alley, looked around and then slung a web to fire escape that was running along the apartment complex on his left; further down the alley. He perched himself on the rail and waited.
Another wail came out of the window Peter was closest to. He moved onto the wall and climbed to the side of the window. He kept himself out of view to inspect the crime scene in front of him. Except the room was in normal conditions beside the one person inside of it. It looked like the girl from the hallway. She was sitting in the corner, in fetal position, crying and slowly rocking. Peter felt uncomfortable looking in on her, so he stared for a moment longer before he jumped back onto the fire escape.

"Karen, did you see that girl?"

"I see everything you do, Peter. Do you want me to run her face scan through the criminal records and see if she has a file?"

Her robotic voice rang into his ears as if he were wearing noise canceling headphones. No matter how many times he turn to Karen for help, her voice seemingly appearing out of nowhere would always surprise him. Peter hesitated answering her question when he heard the muffled cries in the room one over. He sighed and made his way back to the ground without tipping anyone off.

"Doesn't seem right, maybe another time. Should I have said something to her?"

"Do you think you should've said something to her? Is she someone you know? Is it your place to ask her a question in a personal situation like this?"

Peter groaned and shook his head, "no, no Karen. I don't know if you're trying to be sarcastic or condescending but you're right."

"Those were only honest questions, Peter."

"Well thanks, I'll talk to her another time. She doesn't seem to be in any danger. She just sounds sad."

"Not quite, Peter. The vocal range of those cries appear to mean she is distressed."

"So sad?"

"Not quite, Peter. Tell me when you want me to do a scan and I will."

"Not this time, KAREN," Peter said and looked up at the window one more time. She was there leaning out briefly, no particular facial expression so thankfully she probably didn't hear Peter's conversation. He paused and stared back before sending her a weak wave. She watched him a moment longer and shut the window with a bang.

"Yikes, not off to a good start Peter."

He scolded himself as he walked quickly out of the alley. He shot out webs to any approaching building as he flew through the city at the height of ten story buildings. Peter then landed in his room like an Olympic javelin guy, not as gracefully, his body collided with his dresser and it toppled back hitting the wall. He steadied the dresser and then himself, walking over to shut his own window. Peter rubbed his thigh after taking off his uniform and pulled on a crewneck. He could hear Aunt May in the kitchen, most likely attempting to make dinner. Peter pulled on jeans and opened his door to face his Aunt.

"Hi there," he said as he kissed her cheek. Her skin paler than usual. She's grown stressed since she found out Peter was Spider-Man. She looks less youthful and more like a worried parent with the bags under her eyes signifying sleepless nights. She was still beautiful and Peter sure knew people thought so because she still got hit on whenever he was with her.

"You weren't out too long," she hummed; trying to not seem too worrying.

"Just stopped some petty cat burglars, like literal cat burglars and returned them to the old lady."

Aunt May laughed and looked at Peter, "any reason they wanted those cats specifically?"

"I dunno, I think they were rare breeds."

Aunt May examined him with a soft smile and turned back to her cooking, "glad you're staying away from the scary stuff."

"It's not really by choice...there's not that much action recently since I turned down Mr.Stark's offer."

She nodded and turned off the stove as the smell of burnt tofu started looming all around the kitchen,

"I know you're upset but at least you're helping out your friends in this neighborhood. Every ounce of compassion can help anyone in the biggest way. That should be your motivation to keep it up. You don't need to fight off an alien army to feel important with what you do."

Peter nodded and went to put on his shoes, his mind flashing back to the girl as he thought about Aunt May's words,

"Thank you, that's why I do what I do. Listen, I'm going to Ned's if that's okay, so we'll probably order take out."

Aunt May tossed the ruined dinner into the garbage and set the pan into the sink, "be safe."

"I will," he promised and hugged her briefly before making his way back into his room and grabbing his mask. Stuffing it into his book bag before slinging it over his shoulder. He said his goodbyes and left the apartment. Leaving Aunt May in a cloud of concern and burnt tofu.