By Moonlight (P.P + M.J)

17. Full Moon Memories

Peter swung wildly through the city, his body not able to keep up with his racing mind. Now that Michelle knew, he didn't know how he would go about addressing it to her. Would she keep it to herself? Michelle wasn't the kind to go around spreading news. Ned was more prone to that than her.

But she had been teasing him! She knew who he was and dangled the truth right in front of him. While as harmless as it was, it still bothered him. He couldn't get her knowing smirk out of his mind. She was haunting him, in a way that he couldn't stop thinking about her. How could he like someone as sardonically cynical as Michelle Jones?

Around seven, he found himself at the doorstep of her townhouse. He had spent a couple of hours patrolling the city, making sure to keep an eye on the Oscorp building in case his lycan friend decided to make an appearance. But whether he knew it or not, he ended up in front of the Jones' residence, in the exact spot where he had been gasping for breath a few days before.

He didn't even know what he was doing there. It's not like he was going to walk up and knock. Shaking his head, he ran and quickly scaled her building, careful to avoid windows, and sat on the edge of her brick roof. He took off his mask, running his hand through his messy brown hair as he contemplated what he was going to do. Oddly, the memory of his earlier conversation with Karen surfaced to the top of his mind.

"Hey Karen, could you find someone for me?" Peter asked her as he landed on the top of Empire State Building, waving at some of the people who were visiting the balcony.

Sure Peter, who?

"Search Jack Russell," Peter said. He didn't know why he felt compelled to do a background check on someone Michelle had talked to for less than a minute, but something about that guy had rubbed him the wrong way.

It's a dog breed.

"No Karen, a person. Jack Russell's a person," Peter clarified, shaking his head.

I'm kidding. I've got one match.

"Pull up a picture."

Karen did so, and a picture taken by a security camera popped up in front of Peter. The camera seemed to be placed on an intersection, and Peter's person-of-interest was standing in the sidewalk, waiting to cross. Karen zoomed in and enhanced his face.

This was a taken three weeks ago. He doesn't have a license.

"That's definitely him," Peter said, recognizing Michelle's friend, "anything more recent?"

Hold on. This was taken a few days ago.

Another picture popped up, this time the image was blurred due to the guy running at the edge of the frame. Karen froze it and enhanced the face, and Peter saw that it was the same guy. He checked the date. It had taken place Friday afternoon, at the exact time the bus crash happened. Peter told Karen to keep the video going, and suddenly the guy disappeared from the frame. The bus careened into view, and a huge figure jumped into the middle of the intersection, stopping the bus with its entire body. It really had looked like the Hulk.

His real name is Jacob Russoff, but legally changed his name to Jack Russell two years ago after the death of his father, but that's where his record stops. Apparently he went on a hunting expedition in the Rockies, then never came back. There's a missing persons report. And hey, he's a natural redhead.

"What's he doing at Oscorp?" Peter asked, ignoring Karen's last statement as he leapt off the building, skydiving toward the street below.

I just checked their employee roster. There's no record of him working there.