Welcome to Gotham City

That's what the large sign read as Alfred drove the limo through, with Bruce and young Peter in the back. Talking. Chill got what he deserved, life in prison. He was lucky not to get the death sentence. But even though he didn't get death, but Bruce, and Peter was very, very happy. Justice had finally been served, it was a good day. After the trial, Bruce and Peter discussed the possibility of adoption some more, and it didn't take Peter long to warm up to the idea. And so, the deal was struck, the papers were signed, and now Peter was moving into Wayne Manor. Though he did insist on keeping his last name, but Bruce didn't mind. Anything to make him more comfortable. Just then, as Peter glances out the window, his sight is captured by what is in front of him. The main road leads to a small path, obscured by trees and shrubs. Eventually the path would clear up, to reveal a large patch of grass, with the driveway going all around it in a circle. The smell of various flowers leaks it's way into Peter's nostrils, and he inhales deeply. Birds are chirping in the distance, shrouded by tall trees that guard the entire perimeter. All this leads up to a luxurious stone staircase, that in turn, leads to the biggest house Peter has ever seen in his life. It was more of a castle then a house, with regal style windows, and points on either side, leading up to the pure blue sky above. His mouth hangs agape as he tries to take it in, tries to take in the fact, that this, was his home now.

"You like it?" Peter is taken out of his thoughts by the sound of Bruce's voice, and he slowly looks at him, and nods. Bruce just chuckles.

"Shall I retrieve Master Parker's things, sir?" Alfred asks Bruce.

"Thank you Alfred, that'd be great." Bruce says. As Alfred heads to the car and opens up the trunk, Bruce puts his hands on Peter's shoulder.

"Shall we head in?" He asks with a smirk. The most Peter can manage is a light nod, his sights still set on the monument in front of him, studying it. Bruce leads the boy up the steps, and after inserting the key, opens up the door. Peter's eyes once again go wide at the sight of the foyer. It was even grander then the outside, with a long regal rug covering the hardwood floors, leading to a large staircase. The staircase in turn leads to the next floor, where one can get a look at the magnificent chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the earrings glistening in the light. If one were to stand on the landing of the staircase, there would be a large window which they could look out of to get a view of the garden, which is filled with enough plants to repopulate the rainforest, each more rare and amazing then the last. Peter can't see much of upstairs from his current position, but he knows it must be just as astounding as the rest of the house. His eyes divert back downstairs, and to the right. A small archway leads to the lounge, where Peter can just barely make out the form of a large grandfather clock next to the fireplace. Adjacent to that archway is a door, which Peter suspects leads to the kitchen. On the other side of the room is a couple more doors, each regal style just like the windows and previous door, both closed.

"And where shall I put Master Parker's things sir?" Alfred asks as he comes in, grasping Peters two suitcases. Peter didn't have many belongings, or at least many that he wished to take. He only required two suitcases to fit his meager belongings.

"Uh... here Peter, why don't you head upstairs with Alfred and pick out a room. He'll help you get settled in, and afterwards you can take a rest. I'm sure your tired after the trip." Bruce says in a comforting voice. Peter nods before running upstairs, nearly tripping up the staircase. How can you trip up a staircase? Well, apparently Peter found a way to deny gravity. Bruce couldn't help but give a chuckle, sometimes brains came with a price.


The light tapping sound fills the dark cave, the only source of light coming from the large computer, which also seems to be the source of the tapping sounds. Bruce Wayne sits at the chair, typing away at the keyboard, his costume on, sans for the pulled back cowl. A low shuffling sound is heard above, followed by footsteps. Soon enough, Alfred is standing right next to his employer.

"Is Peter asleep?" Bruce asks.

"Yes sir, I've just put him to bed. He's sound asleep." Alfred answers.

"Good." Bruce says simply. Without even looking, he reaches over and pulls a mug from Alfred's hands and takes a sip. Tea, Alfred would always bring him some when he knew a long night was ahead. Alfred had at first thought coffee would be more beneficial, but Bruce stated that he preferred tea. Alfred's tea anyway. The hot liquid burns down his throat as he gulps it, then sets it on the desk.

"Bruce Wayne is expected at 8:00 for a meeting sir." Alfred says.

"Don't worry Alfred, I won't stay up late." Bruce assures him. Alfred simply sighs as he gathers the now empty cup, and prepares to take his leave. Before he can however, an image on the screen captures his sight.

"Master Parkers birthday is many months away sir, is it really necessary to find a clown now?" He asks half joking.

"Alfred, trust me, the man on this screen is no laughing matter." Bruce says, as serious as ever. "He is a grade A psycho, he appeared last week, and so far he's killed 8 people. I have to find him soon, before anymore meaningless bloodshed happens." Alfred raises his eyebrow, now getting curious.

"And what shall we call your newest enemy?" He asks.

"He doesn't have a name." Bruce says. "However," He suddenly continues. "We will need something to call him, I suggest this." Bruce holds reaches into his belt, and from a pouch, pulls out a playing card which he quickly flashes to Alfred.

"A... joker card sir?" Alfred asks. "And may I ask what relevance this has to do with our new friend?"

"He leaves one of these at each crime scene, a calling card sort of. I guess Joker would be a good name for him."


"Say gang, we need one more guy for the dance! How about Peter Parker over there?"

"Are you kiddin? That bookworm wouldn't know a cha-cha from a waltz!"

"Peter Parker? He's Midtown High's only professional wallflower!"

"Oh, if they could see me now!" Peter thinks to himself as he soars through the air. An alarm rings in the distance, out of auditory range of any regular human. Peter on the other hand, is no regular human. Not anymore at least. He's there in a second, and before anyone even knows he's there, he's rounded up 2 of the 5 thieves.

"Huh? Hey, who'z dis bozo?" One of the thugs ask as he finally notices the web slinger.

"Excuse me!" Peter asks in genuine shock. "You don't know who I am!"

"Huh? O-oh waitta minute! Yeah, your dat Spidah man dey's been talkin bout on the news!" The brainless thug finally realizes.

"Aww, so you do care!" Spider man says in mock affection.

"Look, theres a great new exhibit at the science hall tonight! Would any of you like to go with me?"

"Science hall? Hah!"

"You stick to the science son, we'll take the chicks!"

"Hmph, I bet there wishing they came now!" Spider man says to himself as he effortlessly dodges the gunfire of the largest thug, then flips over him and takes him out with a back kick. "Or at least they would, if they knew that that was the day I got my spider powers!" Peter yanks the other mans gun away from him with a webline, shortly followed by a flying kick to the face.

"And Spider man was born!"

Beep beep beep beep beep beep

"Wha- oh no!" Peter yells as he looks at his watch.

"Aww man, its almost my curfew!" He quickly finishes off the rest of the thugs, webs them up nice and tight for the police, then swings off.

"I gotta get home before Bruce!"

Meanwhile

"Alfred!" Bruce's voice echoes through the mansion, bouncing off porcelain walls, spreading far and wide, cutting through the entire house. This booming voice was one that demanded attention, and Alfred wasn't about to deny it that.

"Yes sir?" Alfred's voice soon comes as he waltzes into the lounge.

"I've been thinking, maybe Peter should continue attending school in New York?" Bruce asks. Alfred doesn't pretend to not know why he thinks that.

"I must say sir, what with the current condition of Gotham Elementary, and master Peter's... err, fragilness, that might be the best course of action."

"So your with me?" Bruce asks. Alfred knods.

"I see no other alternative sir, you've tried teaching him martial arts and look how that turned out." Bruce remembers it all to clearly. Martial arts was anything but easy. Even with the greatest teacher in the world, a person must have at least some natural ability. Talent, for lack of a better word. Peter lacked that. So, as any fool can guess, he failed at martial arts, miserably. After 2 weeks of training, Bruce knew Peter wasn't going to get it, and decided to quit. Said that he should focus more on his studies.

"So it's decided," Bruce says as he gets up. "I'll make a call tomorrow morning. Peter's old school is only about a half hour away, I see no reason why they shouldn't allow enrollment."

"And if they still say no sir?" Alfred asks.

"Then the superintendent will find a large sum of money wired to his bank account." Bruce says with a smirk.

"It was the right decision." Bruce, or Batman as he is currently, assures himself. It had been a long night, Clayface was never easy to deal with, and Bruce was tired. He had allowed his thoughts to wonder, and as they often do, they wondered to Peter. The boy was a 100%, certifiable genius. Bruce knew that one day soon, Peter would surpass even himself in mental capabilities.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep

Bruce curses inwardly at the sound of his watch going off. He had to get home before Peter did. Over the years, their had been much to many close calls regarding Bruce's secret. Time after time, Bruce would find Peter fiddling with the grandfather clock, dangerously close to activating the secret door which lead to the batcave. Other times, when Bruce would come home late expecting Peter to be asleep, he would instead be wide awake watching TV. Peter would ask where he'd been, and Bruce would come up with a lame excuse. As if knowing Bruce was lying, Peter would often immediately change to the news channel upon hearing this, just in time to see a report about how Batman had foiled Ra's al Ghul's attempt to spread a plague across the nation. Several times now Peter had made comparisons about Bruce's physique to photographs of Batman. It was obvious the boy had suspicions, and Bruce wasn't about to give him another reason to be. That's the thought he had in mind as he switched the batmobile to second gear and sped off.

Minutes later

The Batmobile makes a silent stop as Bruce parks it in the cave, shortly before jumping out and checking his watch. Good, he got here 10 minutes before Peter's curfew was up. Bruce didn't know why, but over the course of the past few weeks, Peter would stay out late. Very late, often getting in seconds before his curfew was up. Bruce didn't know if he had a secret girlfriend or what, all he knew was that it started at the exact same time that Spider man fellow started to appear...

Peter, meanwhile, makes a not-so silent landing as he reaches Wayne manor's roof. He winces at the loud thump, hoping Bruce didn't hear. He quickly checks his watch, good, he actually got in early for once. The last thing he needed now was to be grounded. He carefully makes his way to the web bundle nearby, and unwraps it to find a spare set of clothes. Peter quickly puts them on, shoves the mask in his pocket, and brings out his inner ninja as he creeps along the roof, towards the door that leads inside. He opens the door, and makes his way downstairs, just as Bruce makes his way upstairs. The two eventually reach the same floor, and continue on there way, each quiet as a mouse. Their both heading in the same direction, the bathroom. Bruce had to clean up his wounds and Peter needed to... relieve himself. They both open up adjacent doors, step out, and...

"Peter!" Bruce nearly screams as he shoves his hands behind his back, clutching his cowl. Stupid mistake taking it up here, but it had blood obscuring the eye holes and it needed cleaning. Not Bruce's blood of course, but blood all the same. Peter, meanwhile, had been examining his own mask. It was stuffy in there, hard to breath, Peter was trying to find a way to fix that. He quickly pushes his own hands behind his back as well.

"What the-aww, stupid spider sense!" Peter says inwardly. "Why didn't you warn me!"

"Bruce is not a thread and therefore needs no warning." Peter could almost hear a little voice in his head say.

"Doh, umm, Bruce... nice to see ya." Peter says casually.

"Yeah..." Is all Bruce can say. He didn't miss it, Peter shoving his hands behind his back. Before he can ask, however, he realizes Peter had the same idea.

"So... whatcha got there?" He asks.

"Huh? Oh, err, uhh, nothing... what do you have?" He asks, gesturing to Peter's hands.

"Oh, erm, nothing." Peter replies. The two stand their together, and awkward silence filling the air, as thick as the skin on your bones.

"So... I'd uh, better get going. School in the morning, gotta go to bed." Peter laughs.

"Oh oh yeah, yea... goodnight." Bruce responds. So its with that awkward goodbye that the two circle each other round, keeping there hands behind their back, and walking off to their own destinations.