By Moonlight (P.P + M.J)

21. Once A Thief

The next few days went by quick. Peter never got around to telling Happy what the deal was. When everything was quiet the night after Werewolf's breakout, he assumed that whoever he was working for was lying low, along with himself. Karen kept Peter updated on his movements, but in the few days that went by, Werewolf never moved from the sewer. But whether he asked for it or not, the media had picked up on Werewolf's actions at the bridge. Several eyewitnesses claimed that it was a huge wolf, not the Hulk as previously theorized, that attacked. They even talked about how Spiderman had thwarted him.

But besides that, Peter couldn't be in a better state of mind. After telling Ned about MJ's newfound discovery, the boys quickly welcomed her into their group. As in, she actually sat with them at lunch as opposed to the end of the table. But both Peter and MJ deliberately refrained from telling Ned about what happened between them.

In fact, MJ seemed to be avoiding the subject entirely. She never brought it up when it was just them two alone, and Peter was too scared to ask her about it. What did this make them? They were in a limbo state, and Peter had no idea how to get out.

But MJ did tell the boys about what happened to her almost a week before. Since Peter had already described his encounters with Werewolf, she thought her experience would help in piecing together what his mysterious motives were. Peter recalled that night, and he remembered having to save a guy that had been launched out of the alley. It never occurred to him as to who might have thrown him.

"So, he robs stores and helps out?" Ned questioned, confused, "is he an anti-hero or something?"

"Mr.Stark said that someone who plays both sides of the law is dangerous," Peter pointed out, "maybe he was right."

"But you said yourself that something was different about him on the bridge," MJ countered, raising her finger, "like his eyes and the thing he had on his head."

"Well, he wasn't himself, that was for sure," Peter agreed with a nod of his head, "but I don't know what it could be."

"Could that helmet have been controlling him?" Ned asked, pulling out his phone to look at something.

"It did look like it electrocuted him every few minutes," Peter conceded, "but I don't know what that could be doing to him personally."

Then, an expression of shock came over Ned, and he looked at Peter with wide eyes.

"Werewolf's been spotted," he said simply, his eyes wide.

"What? Where?"

"He's attacking an Oscorp truck," Ned said simply, giving Peter a worried look.

"Attacking?!" Peter demanded, realizing what Ned was telling him, but wondering why Werewolf would be out in broad daylight, "where is he now?!"

"The chase is going on through Clinton Hill," Ned answered, and Peter stood up quickly.

"You can't just ditch in the middle of school!" Ned said as Peter started off in a fast walk toward his locker.

"Don't be stupid," he heard MJ say as Peter took off in a sprint through the hall. He didn't care that the other students gave him weird looks as he catapulted by. All he knew was that there was a truck on the rampage through New York, and Werewolf was involved.

After retrieving his backpack with his suit, he ran to the front door. But he stopped short to see that the principle was there, probably guarding it for this exact moment. Peter took a sharp left and escaped out an exit door, which took him down a flight of stairs to the parking lot. He sprinted across the lot and across a street, diving into the nearest alley. He beat his previous changing time of five and a half minutes by 15 seconds. Not wishing to waste anymore time, Peter kept his backpack with him, slinging it over both his shoulders before webbing up into the buildings.