By Moonlight (P.P + M.J)

6. The Intern

*MJ pov*

After detention, Michelle left and headed for the bus stop. Even in the late afternoon, she was wary about walking home. But she had to stop at the Daily Bugle first. She hoped to get some decent money out of the Spider-Man pictures, so at least last night wouldn't be a total waste.

As she waited at the bus spot, her eyes were locked on her phone as she played Flow. Not many people were out and about today because of the Fall chill that had set in over the Northeast.

Focused on connecting all the dots in her game, she didn't notice someone join her on the bench. She didn't give them too much attention, until she felt like she was being stared at. Glancing upward, she saw the guy quickly avert his gaze. He looked about her age and had light brown hair with very faint red highlights, as well as a some scruff on his cheeks. He looked like the type of guy that grew facial hair when he was fourteen, but it wasn't all weird and patchy. In fact, she'd reckon he cared for it rather well. She wrinkled her nose and looked away.

"I like that game too," he suddenly said, leaning slightly, his voice light and good-humored. Once again, she turned her attention to him. He wasn't looking at her, but her wore a small grin that made his blue eyes glitter.

"So do a million other people," Michelle replied, trying to sound as dismissive as possible so this random guy would stop talking to her.

"Where are you headed?" He asked, still hellbent on making conversation. She couldn't deny his politeness, but that was a rare thing in the city. Some people were genuine, but most were just creeps.

"Downtown," she mumbled, hoping that being vague would dissuade him.

It didn't.

"Hey, I'm going there too," he said, as if that coincidence that best thing that could have happened, "I have an internship at Oscorp."

Now that impressed her. Sure, her head slightly turned when Peter Parker had said he had an internship Stark Industries, but Oscorp was very selective about who it hired. You had to be hella smart and have basically no social life, devoting it instead to looking at test tubes and mixing chemicals. Kind of like Peter, actually.

"What do you do there?" She asked, trying to act indifferent but she couldn't hold back her curiosity.

"I work in a lab mostly, with this genius scientist. I can't say much. The company's super secretive about its activities. Kinda like SHIELD was," the guy answered with a shrug.

"Do you like it?"

"It has its moments."

Michelle nodded, somewhat scolding herself for giving him so much of her attention. But she figured if he was going to be honest, so was she.

"I'm going to the Daily Bugle. Gonna try to sell some pictures," she said, not looking at him as he glanced her way.

"A photographer, eh?"

"Of a sort."

"Freelance?"

"Kind of."

He nodded in understanding. They sat in silence for a bit, both waiting for their bus to arrive.

"Name's Jack, by the way," he introduced himself, flashing a charming smile.

"Michelle," she said rather bluntly.

He smiled, then looked down the street. He checked the bulky hiker's watch he wore on his wrist, them checked the street again.

"This bus is super late," Jack observed, sounding both irritated and concerned.

Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, the bus appeared, driving at an incredibly fast rate. If there were more cars in the road, the vehicle would have barreled straight into them. But thankfully, this street was somewhat quiet. The few cars on the road were pulling over to the side and honking their horns.

"That doesn't look good," Jack said, standing up as the bus careened closer.

"No kidding, Sherlock," Michelle scoffed, remaining in her seat as she watched the rolling rectangle.

"You think Spider-Man will stop it?" He asked, looking down at her.

Suddenly, there were blaring sirens and two cops cars appeared behind the bus, calling for the driver to slow down over a megaphone. But the bus didn't let up its pace. As it barreled by the bus stop, Jack stepped back, then took off in a sprint after it.

"Where are you going?!" She called after him, wondering how stupid you'd have to be to think you could chase down a speeding bus on foot.

Jack didn't answer as he vanished down the sidewalk. Michelle, with a groan of frustration, stood and starting to half-run, half-walk in pursuit. If Spider-Man were to show up, that would mean at least one good picture for the Daily Bugle. They might pay more for a photo of him in action.

Then, she saw the bus, cop cars surrounding it. It had come to an abrupt halt in the middle of an intersection. As she drew nearer, she saw that smoke was pouring out of the front end. A helicopter hovered above the scene, and policemen were forming a line around the crash to keep the growing number of bystanders away. Through the pillar of smoke, Michelle saw a figure leap into the air, using the smoke for cover, clawing its way up the nearest building and disappearing onto the roof.

Taking out her phone, Michelle switched to the camera and held it up, zooming in closer. Then, out of nowhere, Spider-Man appeared, swooping down and landing on the roof of the bus. She took a quick picture, then started to record a video on her phone. Spider-Man broke a window and crawled into the smoking vehicle. A few minutes later, the pull-back doors were aggressively kicked open, and out came Spider-Man, carrying the driver over his shoulder. He gently placed him on the ground, and ran back inside. Within seconds he carried out a few more people, passengers most likely, and gave the approaching cop a thumbs up. Shooting a web, he swung away, disappearing above the surrounding buildings.

The bystanders cheered at his heroic rescue, and they started to talk excitedly among themselves. As Michelle weaved through the crowd, she picked up bits and pieces of the conversations going on around her.

"Who was that first guy?"

"That was the Hulk, for sure."

"But it was too small! And it wasn't even green!"

"I thought I saw a tail on him too."

"No joke, bro, it decked that bus. Threw its shoulder into the bumper and it folded like paper."

Michelle's interest only escalated. A non-green thing, a possible tail, with the strength to level a bus. Was that her werewolf savior from the other night? And if it was, was it in league with Spider-Man?

Michelle then thought of Jack, the stranger she had met. He had left so quickly, acting like he was about to do something crazy. Moments later, the bus was smashed and Spider-Man appeared. Could the Oscorp intern be Spider-Man, or maybe even the werewolf?

Either way, that meant she was walking to the Bugle.

Boom shaka laka, say hello to number 6. I'm trying to be super diligent with these updates and so far it's been pretty easy. But there it is! Hope you liked it!

~Fargone5