Chapter Text
Peter -
I've always joked about Peter luck, but honestly I'm starting to believe it's real because how the hell else would I be trapped in hell? You see, I've figured it all out after researching this place for a few hours now. It's cloudy 80% of the year, cursed to be filled with crime, and it’s somehow stuck in eternal gloom? Like how does that even happen unless Satan isn't running this place himself.
Sorry I got sidetracked but basically me, Mj and Ned have been gathering data for a while now. Using some great detective skills it’s pretty easy to calculate that it’s just us. No Avengers or any recognizable superheroes actually, myself included. The most confusing thing though about jumping universes is the time change, and I'm not talking about daylight savings. I mean this world is about seven years in the past, unless my math is wrong and 2026 is not seven years after 2019. And I mean I guess that doesn’t really matter but it’s a little weird. Or I guess it does matter because their tech is lightyears behind ours and these computers are slow as molasses.
“I don’t know about you guys but I'm starving,” my stomach rumbles at that exact moment to emphasize my point. “Karen, can you lead us to the nearest food place? Something cheap, I've got like 30 bucks and a penny.” Karen responds, giving me instructions to a cheap food place nearby, something called batburger. These local heroes seem a little narcissistic.
“I mean from what I read this place isn’t really that different from home. I mean beside the fact that the local heroes in this city are what seem to be human.” Ned says, logging his computer out and joining me standing up. Together we start walking out the door, Mj close behind with the paper she’s been using to sketch on while we’ve been working.
As much as I hate the fact that Mj and Ned were forced into this mess with me, I can say that their company is really keeping me together. On my own I probably would have been borderline depressed, thankfully I'm not alone. We say goodbye to the librarian, Barbara, who I know has been watching us for the last few hours. As suspicious as it is, I know that our injuries were bound to catch some wandering eyes no matter how nonchalant these people appear to be.
Considering the crime rates, it's not unreasonable. Thankfully Gotham has a whole litter of heroes to protect it. They seem pretty cool but information is super limited on them. The fact that they all have secret identities is different then our world as well, where most heroes don’t even bother to conceal their real names.
After 15 minutes of walking we arrive at the restaurant. “God this place has such a super hero complex” Mj rolls her eyes, putting her sketchbook away and walking to the register. Mj gets a small kids box, same with Ned. Using the excuse of an enhanced metabolism, I order the kids meal along with an extra burger and fries.
After getting our food we sit down in a small booth near the corner. Ned reaches into his meal and pulls out a small black and blue figurine, nightwing I believe. “Go figure” I smirk, the avengers had the same deal with McDonalds.
“Man I was hoping for an oracle figure, feel like she’s more my vibe,” Ned replies, I smile at that comment and watch MJ hide her matching grin. She pulls out the batman figure and scoffs.
“Wow the guy who lets mass murderers escape prison every week, nice.” Choosing not to reply I pull my own and recognize Robin. Huh, kid hero. Relatable. We eat quickly, watching the light flowing through the fog recede under the skyline. Finishing up, we clean up and speed out the door.
“So Karen, any somewhat livable abandoned buildings nearby?” I ask as we begin walking in no specific direction. Karen responds, telling me of an abandoned building in an area called crime alley, the same place we arrived in. The three of us began walking in the direction given and I can’t help but be reminded of the times we walked together back home. The thought of home brings down my mood and I'm silent for the rest of the walk.
…
30 minutes later we arrive at our new home, at least until we can find jobs and afford a better, more legal, place to live. The small building is run down and weary, we walk through the broken window and climb up to the second floor using the remains of what I'm assuming used to be a staircase.
“God this place is awful,” Mj starts,"thank god its summer because all these holes in the walls would be horrible for trapping heat.”
Ned looks around nervously, “lets just try not to make this a permanent stay.” I nod my head in agreement. We all began walking around and setting up for the night. Ned wanders around the building and returns with a blanket, lantern, and some canned foods.
"You guys can use the blanket, ill web myself a bed up near the ceiling to keep watch at night.” Ned smiles gratefully and Mj kisses my check in gratitude. The three of us are exhausted so after rationing our food and sharing a small dinner we move to our prospective beds.
With everything that’s happened, there is no way I'm falling asleep tonight. The same can not be said for Ned and Mj who are both snoring like sailors. From our building I can easily hear the night time activity happening around us. I decide to put my slightly ruined suit on and make my way up to the roof. This might be an entirely new universe, but Spider-Man is always here to help.
I spend the next two hours or so helping out small muggings and lowly criminals, each person in assistance running away the second I distract their attacker. People here are very confused to see a new mask around and each one asks if im a bat. A stupid question to ask a man named Spider-Man.
After running around the city I've started to realize two things, one, the criminals here are pretty weak, I'm uninjured even after working non stop. Two, if I don’t head back now Mj and Ned will be unprotected for longer than I want.
Just as I'm flying over the crime alley sign, a gun shot rings out and before I know it I'm falling rapidly to the ground. I shoot a wed to a nearby lampost which slows my fall somewhat but not enough to fully stop my momentum. I crash to the ground and my vision turns black for a moment before I come to and look up into the eyes of a very bulky red helmet.
And while the logical side of my brain forces me to get up and tells me to prepare for a fight, the 15 year old boy side of my brain see’s a superhero, “Holy heck! Your Red Helmet right? Man this is so crazy, I was just reading about you online. My friends would be so jealous that I got to meet a bat before they did, especially Ned, he's like a superhero fanatic. Or I guess you guys don’t call yourselves superheroes right, vigilantes? I guess I am one too but I like to call myself-”
“Oh my fucking god can you please shut up. I shot you in the arm for fucking crying out loud and you fell from 30 feet up, how the hell are you still alive? Scratch that, how the living hell are you still talking so much?” Red Helmet, what I've started calling him in my head because I can’t remember his name, says as he keeps his gun raised pointed towards my head.
“Oh sorry Mr. Red Helmet it’s cuz ive got super healing, came with the whole powers thing y’know?” I reply, throwing my hands up to show I mean to harm. I'm not really scared though because I know for a fact I can dodge the bullet and get that guy on the ground faster than he can say the word helmet.
“Don’t call me ‘Mr. Red Helmet’, my name is Red Hood, Mr. makes me feel old. Now can you tell me what type of death wish you have to try and work in my part of town.” He snaps, gun still raised.
“Well Mr. Hood, you see me and my friends are pretty new to this area, actually this world in general. I uh, made some mistakes and now the three of us have ended up un gotham. I'm in crime alley cuz it’s got the most abandoned buildings, not super easy to find a place to live in if you don’t legally exist, y’know?” My friends and I discussed this at the library. If we saw one of the bats we would tell them the truth. Knowing my luck they would find out eventually and we really don’t wanna anger the local heroes by lying to them.
“I mean actually I do know. Nevermind that, why the hell are you telling me this? Shouldn’t you be trying to fit into your new life, I'm sure if you wanted help leaving our world you would go tell the big Bat.”
“First off, we don’t plan on leaving. Second, I have no reason to lie to you especially when you could probably help me and my friends way better than we can help ourselves.” Finally he seems to get the message that im not trying to cause him harm and he lowered the gun.
“Listen, obviously your life seems to kinda suck right now but if you're staying here for a while you need to follow the rules of the crime alley, which is my turf. One, no patrolling or working out of the crime alley at all. You don’t understand what’s going on here so you can’t make any bullshit hero calls. Two, never harm any of the children around this area, if you do ill come for your stupid red and blue head. Follow my rules and I'll let your friends stay here no problem.”
As much as I like this talk, MJ and Ned are still unprotected so I decide it’s time to head out, “thank you sir, I can say we all really appreciate it. You have been the nicest person to us in Gotham besides that librarian” Peter said, putting a hand to his heart. “Also since I've already told you enough of my secrets, I gotta go now! Have fun stopping crime Mr. Helmet!” I say, using my not bulleted hand to swing away. I take a random path back to make sure he’s not following and eventually end back at our building.
…
I wake up to the sound of Karen playing my morning alarm in my ear. After two minutes of trying to ignore it and pretend I'm dreaming, I give into the noise and get out of my makeshift web bed. Ned and Mj are very much still sleeping so I scrounge into our food supplies and start rationing breakfast. I leave them both a little more than me and move back to my web nest to start figuring out the next steps.
Using the hologram from my watch, I configure my Karen headphones and Stark watch into glasses. The nanotech from both the headphones and watch form together to create glasses that connect to my ears, making it so Karen can both speak and show me images whenever. God, Stark tech is so cool.
“Karen,” I whisper, “please pull up any available tech related job listings nearby.” A hologram appears through the glasses, displaying 107 job listings that relate to engineering and science. Karen knows me so well.
Karen interrupts my reading of the jobs and suggests that. "Peter I would strongly advise applying to the Wayne industries mechanical engineering position.”
“Wayne industries? Doesn’t Bruce Wayne and his flurry of children run that place and like half the city? The guy is like a carbon copy of Tony Stark, is this just your ploy to replace me.” I narrow my eyes, knowing that she can probably feel and see my skepticism.
“During your patrol last night I was able to connect into the satellites with the strongest data range, two of which being the Wayne Industries and Justice league. Through this data collection I am able to cross check messages and com communications, leading me to have reason to detect an 87% match between the “Bat family members" and the Wayne family.”
My eyes widen at this information but slowly it begins to make more and more sense. They both have the same amount of members, everytime a new hero in Gotham appeared another child was adopted from Mr. Wayne, this I know from the evidence Karen is currently projecting on the hologram. Huh, I guess Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark have a lot more in common then I thought, it would be crazy if they both lost their parents at a young age and were raised by an older family friend who is close with their dad or something. That would be crazy though.
“Peter,” Karen starts, “I believe that by working under Wayne industries it will help you both gain money to support you and your friends and allow you to learn more about the heroes of this world. While I can see everything done online, I cannot assess whether or not these people can be fully trusted. It may be smart to learn who they are before you trust them with the lives of your friends.”
“You know what Karen, I think you’re right. Why don’t we start filling out that application.” I respond, a smile tugging at my lips. I already know Ned will be so excited about all of this when he wakes up. I can’t wait to meet these heroes out of costume.