Peter Parker's New Groove by CambrianBeckett

Jessica Jones

He was lucky, to be living a double life. Not something that Peter usually thought, but it was the truth. It was nice to just be able to leave Peter Parker behind and go out as Spider-Man for a night of patrolling. Crimefighting, saving lives, rescuing kittens stuck in trees… it was all so much easier and simpler than whatever the fuck the mess his life had become could be called.
 
And so, clad in his Iron Spider armor, Peter swings from building to building, keeping his senses alert and his head on a swivel as he relies on his enhanced hearing to locate the sounds of any ne’er dowels. Meanwhile, Karen is in his ear like usual, it being one of his original AI’s days of the week after she and Friday had split his time between them.
 
Peter was grateful for that. He could just imagine the sort of teasing Friday would be engaging in right now if she were here instead. The AI had clearly known something about Toni and Pepper’s intentions, their… desires. Had she seriously moved in on him before they could just to say she got there first? Or perhaps even to try and spur her creator and her creator’s wife into finally making a move?
 
In the end, it didn’t matter. Peter wasn’t thinking about that sort of thing right now, or at least, he was trying not to. Instead, he was trying to focus on the task at hand, namely patrolling New York City and stopping crime wherever he could. With the Iron Spider suit, Peter was stronger than ever. He could tank bullets, he could bring down bad guys en masse, he could even move quicker and hear more. In every way, the suit of armor specially designed for him by Toni herself augmented Peter’s already existing powers.
 
“There is a robbery in progress five blocks over, Peter. Providing a route now.”
 
 “Roger that, Karen.”

And of course, the ever-present AI in the suit helped out a ton as well. Peter could only hear so well, could only see so much even from his high vantage point in the sky. All in all, he and Karen made a great team. As he swings around a high rise and makes his way along the route that the AI provides for him, Peter can see the robbery once he gets within range.
 
The masked man seems to be reaching the end of his crime, having held up a convenient store. Backing out of the store holding a gun on whoever is still inside with one hand while carrying a bag of what’s likely money with the other, he’s not paying attention to his surroundings very well. You’d think he would, you’d think any criminal who thought they could get away with committing crimes in New York City would have learned to look up by now.
 
No matter though. Peter’s eyes, enhanced by his powers and also by the Iron Spider suit, catch the exact moment when the masked robber moves his gun away from where he’s pointing it inside. That moment, where he’s not aiming it at the convenient store clerk, but also hasn’t managed to find anyone on the street to aim it at threateningly yet.
 
That moment is when Peter swoops in, one hand holding onto his web and the other shooting out a spray of the stuff to completely coat the gunman’s hand and weapon. With a fraction of a second, Peter alters the type of web he’s shooting and fires again, this time ripping the bag of stolen cash right out of the guy’s other hand, causing him to cry out and spin around from the force of the blow.
 
Swinging in nice and close, Peter gets a good look of the masked robber’s widened, surprised eyes, and even gives him a mocking two-finger salute before snatching up the fallen bag of money and coming in for a swooping landing. Almost casually, he tosses the money back into the convenient store, before turning to the robber who’s just beginning to turn and try and run.
 
Needless to say, he finds that very difficult when Peter webs his feet to the ground a moment later, sending him faceplanting rather comically… though there’s nothing all that comical about the crunch that signifies his nose breaking from the fall. Peter winces, but in the end can’t bring himself to feel all that much sympathy for the thief.
 
While it’s true that many people who fall to crime do so for desperate reasons, Peter is fully aware of just how many options there are in New York City for those who have fallen on desperate times. He’s especially aware when his mentor is the biggest philanthropist in the world and has only given more of her fortune away in recent times in the aftermath of Thanos’ attack.
 
So yeah, no sympathy.
 
“Karen, go ahead and call the police, just in case the clerk inside hasn’t yet.”
 
“Already done, Peter. They’ll be here in five minutes.”
 
Nodding, Peter goes ahead and sprays a solvent that will have the webbing he’s stuck to the would-be robber dissolved within fifteen, and then cheerfully swings away from the scene. This is but one scene of many taking place across New York after all, and Peter has a long night ahead of him still. Long, maybe… but rewarding? Definitely.
 
Of course, the next couple hours aren’t as exciting as the store robbery. He rescues a couple cats, stops a purse snatcher, helps a few old ladies cross the street, but that’s it. Admittedly, crime IS down since everything happened. Your average joe thinks twice about doing anything illegal when he might have to tango with Spider-Man or Daredevil. Of course, as night falls completely and the underworld of New York truly comes alive, Peter expects things to pick up again.
 
And he’s soon proven right too, as Karen’s voice comes up in his ear.
 
“I’m receiving reports from Friday of continuous gunshots down at the docks, Peter. It would appear there’s a firefight taking place in one of the warehouses, potentially over some sort of territory or product dispute.”
 
Now that’s what Peter was talking about. A small grin spreads across his face as he swings in that direction, following the route that Karen swiftly provides to him. Once upon a time, guns would have made him a bit more anxious. He still would have gone, he wouldn’t have let his fear stop him, but these days he really was bullet proof, leaving the only worry that the guns involved in any of his fights might end up hitting innocents. But down at the docks, this late at night, in the middle of a fire fight? There would probably be a lot less innocents to potentially get injured.
 
However, as Peter finally reached the scene of the shoot-out, he quickly realized a number of things startlingly fast. One, it wasn’t as much of a firefight as one might think. A firefight, after all, usually relied on two opposing forces to be shooting at each other. This, on the other hand, was concentrated fire power against what appeared to be one unarmed woman.
 
Appeared to be, because as Peter came into a landing and initially assessed the situation as such, said unarmed woman than proceeded to growl in frustration… and toss an entire piece of machinery at the men shooting at her, before racing to another bit of cover. She was strong… but judging by how she was having to hide as they slowly penned her in and cornered her, Peter could tell she was decidedly NOT bullet proof.
 
“Uh, Karen… any idea who this is?”
 
As much as his first instinct was to immediately swing in and come to her rescue, the damsel in distress had already proven herself to be less of a damsel than first appearances would suggest. And while the gunmen hunting her were getting close, he had time to figure out what was going on before he leapt into the fray.
 
“Facial scans recognize this to be Jessica Campbell Jones, sole Private Investigator for Alias Investigations. Hospital Records indicate that she was in an intense car accident as a child, one that resulted in her parents and brother being killed and her being doused in experimental chemicals. Those chemicals either activated a dormant gene within her or gave her powers directly.”
 
 That was a bit more than Peter was expecting, but at the same time, he didn’t stop Karen from elaborating for as long as she did. Still, the important part was that this Jessica character wasn’t a bad guy. A P.I. was practically more legitimate than Peter was, before he’d finally joined up and become one of the Avengers.
 
And these gunmen, whoever the fuck they were, were getting closer and closer to entrapping her to the point of no return. With all the information he needed, Peter finally swings in.
 
-x-X-x-
 
“Thanks for the assist, Spider. Was getting a little too hot for comfort, I suppose.”
 
The fight itself, once Peter joins the fray, is practically a foregone conclusion. The gunmen turn their guns on him, but none of them are using anything that he needs to really worry about. He knocks heads together, breaks a few bones, and in the end takes down all of the thugs. Once she sees that he’s entered the fight, Jessica even leaps out to help him, punching a guy straight through a wall at one point, and all around proving to be quite the brawler with that super strength of hers.
 
Now here they are, chatting a few blocks away after the police arrived to collect the armed criminals.
 
“Not a problem. I guess you kicked a hornet’s nest or something while in the middle of an investigation, yeah?”
 
Pressing those full lips of hers together into as thin of a line as she can, the dark-haired woman nods. Wearing a biker’s black leather jacket and turn jeans, Jessica was an interesting contradiction when you got up close and personal with her. She had this fae-like quality to her face, with high cheek bones and pale-white skin, not to mention her full, pouty lips and pixie nose. Framed by her wild raven-black hair, it made for quite the sight. But then, everything below the neck spoke of a no-nonsense tomboy of a woman who didn’t take anyone’s shit.
 
“Yeah, you could say that. I was just following up on a lead… didn’t expect things to get so dicey. Going to have to ask the client for hazard pay after all this…”

That last sentence was said more quietly, and Peter wasn’t sure that he was meant to hear it. So, he pretends he didn’t and instead focuses on the first half of what she said.
 
“Glad I could be in the area to help out, heh. Can’t promise I always will be, so you be careful, alright?”
 
Jessica lets out an unladylike snort and smirks dryly as she crosses her arms over her chest.
 
“This where you give me the superhero spiel? Tell me to ‘stay safe, citizen’?”
 
Grinning beneath his mask, Peter cocks his head to the side.
 
“Will it work?”
 
“Nah. Though you can tell your partner I regret not taking her up on her offer to come along earlier. That was my bad.”
 
Blinking owlishly, Peter can’t help but be confused.
 
“Sorry, partner?”
 
Raising an eyebrow, the PI cocks her head to the side.
 
“Spider-Woman? Sorry, I just assumed you two were a matched pair. But that was foolish of me, now that I’m looking at you… her costume isn’t bad, but it’s clearly not as advanced as your armor.”
 
Spider-Woman? Whomst the fuck?! Blinking rapidly behind his mask, Peter taps a finger into his palm in order to mute himself so he can speak to Karen without being overheard.
 
“Uh, Karen? Any idea what she’s talking about?”
 
When Karen comes back to him, his AI sounds as harried and frantic as he’s ever heard her. Which still wasn’t much, but it was all too noticeable given her usual speech.
 
“I’m sorry Peter, I don’t know how I missed this. There have been reports all night long about it, a woman in a white, black, and pink costume. Not dissimilar from your own, but also not quite the same. She’s been calling herself Spider-Woman to the police, and for all intents and purposes has displayed many of your natural abilities from the video I’ve managed to obtain by scouring the internet.”
 
For a moment, Peter doesn’t know what to say to that. He doesn’t know what to do. There’s a… Spider-Woman, now? What does that even mean, exactly? Who in the world is she?
 
“Of course, there is one similarity your two suits share. They’re certainly… form-fitting.”
 
Jessica Jones’ sudden comment in a surprisingly flirtatious if brash tone brings Peter out of his momentary blue screen of death, making him blink as he looks over at her. Needless to say, by this point the webslinger is well-versed in recognizing bedroom eyes in the women who interact with him. Jessica Jones is making something akin to bedroom eyes at him right now, though they’re more like “fuck me in this alleyway right now” eyes truth be told. Which Peter could also recognize now, thanks to Felicia…
 
“I owe you one for saving my ass back there, Spider. If you wanted, we could go back to my office and get a drink. Maybe I could tell you a bit more about this Spider-Woman chick, since it’s obvious you don’t actually know a thing about her.”
 
It’s said offhandedly, so nonchalantly… but Peter is plenty savvy by now. If he goes back to Jessica Jones’ office for a drink and more information, he’s going to end up fucking the gorgeous raven-haired woman. Which isn’t a bad thing, necessarily… he just needs to decide if that’s what he wants to do or not. Given Jessica’s super strength, she might have the stamina to keep him occupied for the rest of the night.
 
Alternatively, he could go hunting for this mysterious ‘Spider-Woman’ all on his own. With Karen helping him, would it not be easier than relying on a PI? The only question is, did he really want to snub Jessica? It wasn’t like he knew her; they’d only just met. But apparently whatever made him catnip for super powerful women was working double time tonight, because the dark-eyed woman looked ready to jump his bones anyways.
 
Maybe he should just call it a night. Deal with all of this in the morning…
 
… Nah.