I held in a growl as I was barged out of the way again. “Watch it, meat breath!” Someone growled, shoving me. If I was any less nimble I would have fallen to the pavement. Typical Manehattan.

I quickly entered the newspaper company I worked for, The Daily Reader, and took the lift up. As I arrived at my floor I dodged out of the way of a Minotaur overburdened with a stack of papers. As he went he gave me a quick, “Sorry, Rush.”

I passed by the overflowing desks that were everywhere, heading for the back of the room, a single desk in front of a large glass wall with a glass door. I gave a smile to the boss’ secretary, Bouncy Hops, a unicorn mare with a brown coat, big, blue eyes and a short, black mane and tail.

“Hey, Rush, how’re things?” Bouncy asked, adjusting her glasses.

I shrugged, “Same as usual, Bouncy, waded through the shit to reach the trash.” I smirked, “And through the trash to reach the front door.”

“Well...if you ever need anything.” She gently rubbed her hoof against my claw. “I’ll be there for you. All of us here will.”

I smiled, “Thanks, Bouncy. The boss in a good mood?”

She raised an eyebrow, “Is he ever?”

I glanced behind her, through the large glass window and saw the boss, a dark gray unicorn with a brown flattop and toothbrush moustache, wearing a white shirt and tie sitting behind his desk, puffing on a cigar. “He busy?”

“Take a seat.” Bouncy said, getting up and entering Printed Press’ office.

I sat down on one of the chairs by the office and watched as Bouncy exchanged a few words with the boss before returning to her desk.

As I waited for Printed Press to see me I grabbed the latest newspaper and skimmed through it. A Griffin had been arrested after flying without a license. Mainly because his apartment was burning down, but no one cared, as usual. His name had been stripped, as in accordance with the corrupt laws of the city, and was now known as Circuit Board.

I shook my head in disgust and threw the paper down. What a shitshow. I could only hope the guy got lucky and had a rich family, otherwise he’d be screwed. I sighed and tried not to think about it too much. But it could have easily been me in that situation. If I had to hide my powers or expose them to save my own life, what would I do?

Those thoughts went forgotten when Printed Press’ door slammed open. “Rush! What are you doing just sitting there?!” He yelled, grumpily from his desk, his magic holding the door open, “You’re fired!”

“...Okay.” I said, standing up and waiting.

“Forget it! You’re rehired! And you better have good photos today!”

I walked up to him and I handed Press the photos of the Spider. “Trash, terrible, more trash, junk.” He criticised as he flipped through them. He paused, “But they’re useable. I’ll give you one hundred for the lot.”

It was a lot better than anyone else in the city was willing to pay, but still on the cheap side. “Alright.” He passed me a bag of bits. As I counted them out I asked, “Any extra work today?”

“We need pictures of traffic accidents, kid! Just get back here before five or you’re fired!” He paused, “Oh, yeah, there’s a small bonus if you get any crashed emergency vehicles.” He puffed on his cigar.

“Got it.” I pocketed my one hundred bits into the bag I had under my right wing. I didn’t have a flying licence, so I made other uses for my wings.

As I turned to leave he called out, “And speak to Urich, he’s been wanting to talk to you about something.” He hesitated, “And, Rush, don’t get yourself killed. You’re the only one able to get decent pictures of that masked menace!”

“That mean you’ll give me more for them?” I smirked.

“Don’t push it! What are you waiting for?! Get going!” He yelled, slamming the door as I left.

I watched the glass wobble a bit before turning to Bouncy, “How hadn’t he broken that yet?”

She just giggled, “He knows exactly how much force is needed to shatter that glass.”

I nodded, “Right. Any idea where Urich is?”

“He turned one of the unused back rooms into an office. He’s probably back there.” She offered me a smile, “And...he looked on edge when I saw him, try to not sneak up on him.”

“Got it. See you around, Bouncy.” I said as went in search of Urich’s office.

————

I found the makeshift office easily enough, there were only a handful of unused rooms around, mostly due to old newspapers filling them, Printed Press liked to keep his life’s work. All he really had in his office was a desk and a cork board with a few names pinned to it, he must have been looking into something.

Urich was stood by the wall, staring out the room’s only window. His brown feathers were half grey and his blond coat was following close behind.

I knocked on the door, “What’s up, Urich?”

He turned and gave me a smile, his brown eyes relaxing as he saw me, “Rush, you’re here. Good. Good.” He hesitated. “Look, I need help. I can’t go to Press about this, he’ll chew me out, but...I need your help. Anyone’s help.”

I made sure to help out my fellow non-ponies as often as I could, but more than being a Griffin, Urich was the one who got me this job, I owed him one. “Calm down. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I…” He took a deep breath. “It’s my brother, he screwed up. He borrowed money from the Reds, now they want back triple what they agreed.” The Reds were a gang who mostly consisted of loan sharks who were known for completely destroying the lives of anyone who didn’t pay back on time, even going so far as to sell their families to the black market. They also sold drugs and did thug work.

“Okay. And you want my help to...what? Help with the cash?” I eyed him skeptically.

“Nah. No, I want your help to capture everything on camera.” He grinned, “We’re going to set them up for a long fall. Make it look like they’re trying to make a move on another gang’s turf. No one messes with my little brother.”

I stared at him. “You got a hell of a pair, Urich.” I smirked, “Alright, I’m in. You just let me know where and when.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’ll keep you in the loop, Rush. Now go, you’d best not give Press an excuse to yell.”

——-

I wandered the city, heading to the most pedestrian heavy areas, which had the most chance for carriage crashes. On the way I dropped off most of my pay at Aunt May’s. She needed the money more than I did, she still had bills to pay, me, I’d just paid my rent.

I wandered the city for a few hours, taking the occasional picture, both of any accidents and just of well framed shots of the city, you never knew when a travel company might need new photos of the place.

I eventually found an ambulance crashed into a fire hydrant. As I snapped a few shots I noticed something in the corner of the frame. I turned and looked in through a jewellery shop window where I saw a unicorn trying to rob the place, holding the store owner at knifepoint.

I took some photos of him, making special care to get his mark in the shot, which the idiot had left uncovered. I waited until he made his escape through the back of the shop before I entered and approached the owner.

“What now?” He grumbled. “First I get robbed and now...you here to beat me up?”

I pulled out my press pass that proved I was a member of the press, “Determined Rush, Daily Reader. I saw what happened and got pictures. Including his mark. Was just wondering if you wanted them.”

His eyes widened, “And you didn’t alert any of the police out...Never mind. Dumb question.” He sighed, “Yeah. How soon can you get them?”

“End of the day. I’ll have a member of the Reader bring them for you. Unless you want this in the paper, in which case I can get you in contact with Printed Press.”

He shook his head, “No, I…” He paused. “You know what? Buck that guy, I ain’t covering for him no more. Can you get someone down here? I...I have to clean up.”

I nodded, glad he didn’t decide to blame me for the theft, “No problem.”

——

Two hours later and I’d dropped by the Reader and given Printed Press his photos and told him of the robbery. I got another fifty bits for a mediocre job and kept ten for myself, the rest going into my suit repair fund.

I decided to grab an early tea. I used the last of my bits to buy a sandwich and sighed. “Well, that’s it, Rush, you’re completely broke. Great job.” I muttered sourly as I bit into my sandwich. Hopefully I could make the sandwich last most of the day if I ate only a little bit at a time.

A bird suddenly swooped down and stole my sandwich. I just sat there. “...Aaaaaand it’s gone.” Thanks for nothing, Spider-Sense. Sometimes it seemed like it was only good for actual danger, in all my years with these powers it hadn’t grown in capabilities or expanded its potential once.

I gave an annoyed sigh and headed back home to my apartment, at least there I could relax for a few hours before going on patrol.

I ignored all the insults I got and just kept my head down, not wanting anyone to think I needed to be taken down a peg. I had to run through several alleyways to avoid a group of drunk ponies who thought I needed the crap beaten out of me. By the time I got home I just wanted to get a nap. But of course, nothing was that easy.

As I approached my apartment door I held back a groan. My landlord, High Payment was stood outside. “How can I help you, Mr Payment?” I asked, forcing a smile on my face.

He grinned and I got a bad feeling in my stomach, “You owe rent, freak.”

I frowned, “I paid you yesterday.” I wasn’t due to pay for another week!

He just grinned greedily, “New policy. You freaks pay the full rent every day. Normal ponies don’t have to pay as much as you abominations.”

I clenched my fist. I’d be easy to smash him through a wall, maybe knock out his teeth and break a few bones. Hell, maybe I’d throw him out the window and watch him fall, the world wouldn’t miss scum like him, they might even thank me.

Instead I relaxed my fist, “Whatever. Now are you going to keep standing there? Or are you going to let me get the money?”

He scowled at me, “Just bring me my money by sundown, freak! Unless you want to be homeless in winter!”

I entered my shitty apartment and slammed the door shut. “Fucking bastard!” I yelled, punching a hole through the wall to the bathroom. I glared at the room, unidentifiable stains covered the floorboards, that cheap bastard refused to even buy a carpet or rug, no matter how many people asked, rusty nails sticking up all over, the walls bare and covered in scratches and graffiti, and I refused to even use the bathroom with what was growing in the pipes. I’d turned on the taps once and black gunk started pouring out, and to top it off black mold constantly grew on the ceiling, which I had to clean up myself every week.

Well, to hell with it all! I didn’t need this shit! I quickly packed my stuff into a duffle bag and stormed out of the apartment and out into the street. Damn that bastard! A week’s pay each day?! Even if I kept all the money I got at the Reader and even if Printed Press gave me a bonus every day there’s no way I’d be able to afford that! And he knew it. Something nasty was afoot, whether it was just him being greedy or something bigger I didn’t know.

I stormed down the street, desperately wishing some idiot would try and fight me. No such luck, in fact everyone around me gave me a wide berth. I was so tempted to suit up and go show Payment exactly what I thought of him!

I passed an alley and heard muttering coming from inside. I slipped in, hoping for some thugs to beat up, instead I found two Griffin teenagers graffiting a wall.

“Man, screw those losers!” One of the teens snapped. “Like they can just control us?! Screw ‘em!”

“Yeah, let’s send them a message! Our art is the catalyst to showing them we ain’t just punks!” The other cheered.

“Hey!” I called out. They were Fritz and Kurt, two angry teens wanting some form of justice against the world, be that attacking the racists or making ‘art’ in the streets. I’d caught them with their pants down more than a few times, both metaphorically and literally. In return they were a little scared of me after I shouted them out of one of my favourite alleyways.

They froze. “Uh...Mr Rush...we...we weren’t trashing your stuff, man! We’re just…” Fritz stammered.

“Wanting to show them all that you’re not worthless. That you’re not going to let them walk all over you.” At their shocked looks I smirked, “I was a teenager too, once. I tossed them my apartment key. “Catch.” As he caught it I started to walk away. “The fuckhole upped the price to a whole week’s rent once a day for those like us. Why don’t you show him a little appreciation?”

“R-really?! You actually want us to do this?!” Kurt giggled.

“I want him to pay. I’ll report the key stolen in two or three hours. Gives you plenty of time.” I left the alley, “See you around, boys.” Before taking even two steps I heard them begin to start making out. I shook my head, “Teenagers.”

I wandered around the city before, true to my word, reporting the key missing after about two hours. After that I had only one place to stay.

———-

It was late at night when I knocked on the door of Aunt May’s home, my home. Even when I lived in that shitty apartment I still thought of Aunt May’s as my home. It was one of the few places I could relax, and she never judged me.

She cracked open the door with a yawn, “Who is...Rush? What are you doing here at this hour?”

I gave a sheepish smile, “Uh...I kinda abandoned my apartment. Can I stay the night?”

She opened the door all the way and pulled me into a hug, “You stay as long as you need, you hear me?” She looked me right in the eyes, “But why did you leave your apartment?”

I told her over a glass of milk. That may have been a mistake. “I am going to rip out his eyes!” She yelled.

“Then you’ll be in trouble! It’s not worth it! I’m…” I was about to say I wasn’t worth it, but thought better of it, “I’m okay.” I then muttered, “Besides, he didn’t get the last laugh.”

She narrowed her eyes, “Peter Benjamin Parker, what did you do?”

I winced, I never should have told her that name. I was in trouble. “I...sort of...gave the apartment key to...Fritz and Kurt…”

“So, you let those two boys in to trash the place?” She sighed, “I suppose I should be thankful you didn’t decide to throw that landlord out the window.”

I coughed. “I...uh...considered it.”

She gave me a flat look, “Do you have any good news?”

“Uh...me and Cat are...maybe together?” I muttered quietly.

Her eyes lit up, “What does ‘maybe’ mean, Peter?”

I gulped, “We...kissed. And, uh, danced?”

She sighed, “Years of this and that’s all…We’ll discuss this tomorrow. Go to bed, Peter.”

We went up the stairs and I hesitated by my room, “Goodnight, Aunt May.”

She smiled, “Goodnight, Peter.”

I went into my room and just flopped onto my bed, staring up at the ceiling. “What am I going to do now?”

Author's Note

Okay. First of all? Like with Cat, none of the characters you find familiar and actually Displaced or other humans. They’re just there due to Peter (real name absolutely not even necessary) being a Displaced.

Also, these types of chapters, where it’s just Determined Rush, no Spider at all. Should I do full chapters of it, or mix it in with normal chapters?