Peter sighed as the plane-spaceship-thing landed and he stood up. In the three weeks since the appearance of a literal goddess from ancient mythology had appeared in the middle of an argument between him and this Earth's mightiest heroes, he had taken the time to gather as much information on this new world as possible. Luckily, Google still existed in this universe, and it didn't take much work to give himself access to one of the Watchtower's computers, much to the consternation of Batman - who he quickly learned was named Bruce Wayne, one of the wealthiest men in this world, and essentially a darker, broodier, less alcoholic version of Tony Stark with paranoia rivaling that of SHIELD at its worst. Peter constantly held the fact that he knew more about Bruce than the other man did him over the man's head, as well as the fact that his spider-sense and his symbiotic friend (who had chosen the name Greg of all things) kept him aware of where Bruce was in relation to him at all times within a ten meter radius.
That alone was reason enough for Peter not to trust the guy. Not even Norman Osborn at his worst had caused his sixth sense to tingle unceasingly, which meant that, while Batman may be dedicated to fighting on the side of good, he would capitalize on every opening Peter gave him to ensure that he constantly had an advantage over him. This led Peter to take to sneaking around the Watchtower through its ventilation shafts and webbing up any camera he walked by, since Greg made sure to dissolve it before the Bat-Brain could get a hold of it.
Meanwhile, Peter and Kara would spend most of their time together in the League's training room, working on helping her master her powers under the watchful eye of Diana while the rest of the Justice League attended to their regular duties. Peter could tell that he and the Amazonian princess did not see eye to eye, but he respected her nonetheless, and after reading up on what was known of the Amazons of Themyscira and their history of seclusion, he made sure to be nothing but respectful in matters pertaining to both combat training and her people. He may crack wise and tease pretty much everyone he met, but he could tell that Diana was a woman who was genuinely trying to help people, and that her sisters' past with men had left many scars that lingered to this day. The only members of the Justice League Peter truly got along with were the Flash, who seemed like a generally nice guy and was fun to kick back and hang around with, and J'onn who shared the story of his people with Peter and told him if he ever wanted to talk that he would be there for him.
Kal, who after a little bit of digging Peter had unearthed went by Clark Kent among the common folk by hiding in plain sight, spent the least amount of time with him and Kara after the Green Lantern who had been called away less than a day after the appearance of Hera. Peter found it strange that someone who apparently lamented the loss of his home planet so much would work so hard to avoid his last living link to it, and would constantly find Kara moping after yet another failed attempt to maintain a conversation with him. In their freetime, Peter helped Kara learn about Earth cultures which Diana supplemented with lessons on the culture of Themyscira, and, in return, Kara taught him some basic Kryptonian. They had learned that both came from families of scientist, and bonded over the different technology around the Watchtower.
The doors of the aircraft opened, rousing Peter from his reminiscing as he stepped outside only to be met with about fifty spears all pointed at various points between his throat and his groin. Restraining a sigh at the Amazons' understandably frigid welcome, he had Greg change from his normal suit to a pair of loose pants and a long-sleeved shirt as he raised his hands away from his body, not quite in surrender, but enough to show that he was not a threat.
"You know, whenever I pictured paradise in my head, it always did involve an inordinate amount of pointy things directed at me," he groused, smirking when he heard Kara giggle behind him as she and Diana disembarked behind him.
"And I was just starting to really enjoy the silence," Diana groaned to herself as she passed him and approached a woman who looked nearly identical to her with the exception of a handful more years around her eyes before kneeling on the ground. "Mother, words cannot express my joy at seeing you again."
"You took the words from my breath, daughter," the woman said regally as she reached down to help Diana to her feet. "And I see you have brought with you a new sister to join our ranks," she smiled at Kara, who waved shyly, before directing her gaze at Peter and he could almost feel the millenia-old, misplaced hatred she was directing at him. "Among other things."
"To be honest, I'm flattered," Peter mock whispered to Kara, knowing full well every Amazon in attendance could hear him. "That's probably the nicest thing I'm going to be called while here."
"Peter," Kara giggled. "Be polite."
Peter sighed dramatically. "Fine." He turned to Diana and her mother and bent down in a sweeping bow, using his exceptional flexibility to nearly brush the tips of his hair against the sand at his feet. "Oh great Queen of the Mighty Amazons, it humbles this wicked man's soul to be granted passage to the shining beaches of the paradies you call home. When stories of your strength and prowess on the battlefield reached mine ears, I risked life and limb to cross the seas between our worlds and braved the terrors of your daughter and her compatriots to be blessed with the opportunity to stand behind a ruler as just and noble as yourself."
The queen glared at Peter coolly, but he found himself entirely unfazed. This woman had nothing on the likes of Aunt May when it came to glaring and he matched her gaze with his own, channeling every bit of Tony Stark as he could while he tested the limits of the people he would be living with until Kara was properly trained.
"You are certainly more… verbose than I expected," the queen said after several long moments. She took a menacing step towards him and all of the surrounding Amazons tensed as they likely prepared for the order to turn him into a human pincushion. "However, I have little tolerance for disrespect, especially that which is hid beneath a flimsy veil of decorum in what can only be described as wit the way a damp pillow could be a sword."
"Oh, darn, and all that time practicing in front of the mirror wasted too," Peter replied easily not backing down as the queen stepped ever closer. "Though I suppose a queen who doesn't even introduce herself to her guests can't be expected to really grasp the subtle nuances of polite conversation, let alone my unmatched sense of humor."
"You'll be skinned alive for disrespecting Queen Hippolyta you honourless cur!" A voice shouted before peter easily dodged a charging amazon, disarming and webbing her to side of the aircraft.
And there it is, he thought. He knew he had trouble keeping his mouth shut at the best of times, now he would have a baseline around which to keep his comments so as to avoid a mob baying for his blood.
"Respect is earned," Peter growled as he swatted aside Hippolyta's blade. "And not a single amazon I have met so far has done much to do so save maybe Diana."
"Peter, maybe you should stop trying to make the angry warrior women try to kill you before the end of our first day here?" Kara suggested quietly, placing a hand on Peter's shoulder. There was something dark in his eyes. Something that haunted him and compelled him to engage in this little verbal sparring match. Peter closed his eyes and took a deep breath, thanking Greg for helping to siphon off some of his aggression before nodding.
"I'm going to find a place to set myself up, alright?" He said as he turned to Kara. "I have a feeling everyone will sleep easier if I don't hang around the city too often, but I'll come see you tomorrow to help with your training."
"Okay," Kara replied demurely, tightly hugging Peter before watching him easily launch himself into the air and flip over the gathered amazons as he fired a web at a nearby tree and disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
"Come Kara," Diana said after several moments of tense silence. "I will show you to your new living quarters."
Kara nodded and cast one last glance towards the treeline before following Diana and the others into what was supposed to be her new home for the foreseeable future.
Peter took a deep calming breath as he swung through the dense jungles of paradise island, making sure to keep to the shadows as he trailed Kara and the procession of amazons. It wasn't so much that he didn't trust them, but he would be lying if he didn't admit that he had grown close to Kara over the past few weeks. Not only did she understand what he was going through, having lost everything and winding up on a different world, but her eternally sunny disposition helped keep him from falling too far into depression as he thought about his family and loved ones,
Shaking his head to clear away that train of thought he watched as Kara was led into a what he presumed was a palace before finding himself a nice tree not too far away and making a hammock out of webs as the sounds of some sort of celebration started to fill the air.
*(OoO)*
Donna grumbled to herself as she trudged through the familiar jungle behind the royal palace where she lived. She loved her older sister with a passion, and was always beyond happy to see her, but Diana was not only the crown princess to Themyscira, but Wonder Woman as well. Her exploits were legendary, and whenever she came to visit, it didn't take long for Donna to end up receding into a corner as everyone clambered to hear about what she had been up to until the wine started flowing and the inevitable comparisons between the two sisters were made.
At least Kara, the new girl Diana had brought with her to train with them, had seemed genuinely interested in her. The girl was like sunshine incarnate, especially considering what she had been through. Each smile she graced Donna with brought about a warmth beneath her breast that filled her slowly, while the mixture of wine and the girl's legs as she sat in her newly gifted toga sparked another noticeably lower. The two had talked for quite a while even as Donna's friends left in fits of drunken laughter to go hunting. Kara had been worried however as her sensitive hearing picked up scraps of their jovial conversation and thought they might be going after her friend who had come with her and would be helping with her training.
Donna was intrigued by the idea of a man living on Paradise Island with them. Even Diana, who had been the one to open up contact between the amazons and man's world, would never have proposed one living with them. She had asked Kara all about the man, learning that his name was Peter and that he had apparently not only held his own with the legendary Batman, but had even resisted the power of her sister's Lasso of Truth. She had comforted Kara when she admitted guiltily that she was the reason the Justice League knew anything about Peter in the first place because they were both tied up together.
That had angered Donna. From what she had heard, Batman was the member of the Justice League with the most experience, operating for well over two years before the League even formed six months ago, and while she expected that kind of behaviour from him based on what she had heard about the caped crusader, she had never expected Diana or the others to stoop to such levels.
Donna's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a groan from above her and looked up to see Agatha, one of the warriors her age, hanging from a tree in a cocoon of some strange substance. A second groan drew her attention away from Agatha and she ventured a little farther to see another of her sisters hanging from a tree branch, and yet another not too far from there. In only minutes of walking she had found well over twenty of her sisters dangling above the forest floor, their weapons stuck to the ground and tree trunks by the same strange substance.
"Donna," Agatha groaned as she returned and shook the girl awake.
"Agatha, what happened?" Donna asked as she tugged at the strange fibers wrapped tightly around her. They were sticky and stretched when she pulled on them, but it took almost all of her strength to stretch them even minutely.
"We tried hunting him," Agatha moaned, shaking her head. "Too fast."
"In your defence," a voice said from the shadows above them and Donna jumped back, preparing herself for a fight. "You are really drunk."
Out of the darkness a pair of large, glowing green eyes stared out at her and Donna reached for her sword only to remember she left it at the palace.
"The Mother Hera herself invites you to our home, and the first thing you do is attack us?" Donna demanded angrily.
"No," the man said as he peered down at her. "The first thing I do is mouth off to your queen. The first thing you do is throw a party and decide to play a game of pin the spear on the Spider-Man."
"I guess Kara was worried for nothing," Donna said placing her hands on her hips.
"You met Kara?" Peter asked. "How is she doing?"
"Everyone has met her," Donna replied. "She will fit in nicely - assuming my sisters can overlook her attachment to you."
Peter scoffed. "Not likely. You're the only amazon I've met so far who seems genuinely pleasant."
"Well, I'm a bit of a black sheep," Donna admitted, looking away slightly.
Peter cocked his head to the side, noting how the girl before him looked shockingly similar to Diana, only around his age. Jumping down, he landed before her with barely a sound and held his hand out. He was taller than her by several inches, but unlike the other superheroes she had seen, he was incredibly slender. His suit was black as pitch with glowing green trim on his ribs and the inside of his arms and legs, as well as a similarly coloured emblem in the shape of a spider on his chest while the long legs of the one on his back reached around over and under his shoulders and down his side to his thighs. It clung to him like a second skin, showing off many of his tightly coiled muscles.
"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Peter, also known as Spider-Man."
"Donna," she replied grabbing his hand and thanking Dionysus that the fresh air had helped sober her up enough so that she didn't act on the urge she suddenly had to run her hands over his well-defined chest.
"So, Donna," Peter said, leaning back and casually patting Agatha, setting her spinning in place and making her groan in discomfort. "If you haven't come out here to join the great drunken hunt, why are you wandering the jungles all alone in the middle of the night?"
"I can take care of myself," Donna snapped defensively.
"Never said you couldn't," Peter replied easily, jumping back into the tree and making himself another hammock. "Just figured you'd want to be in the party, not wandering unarmed where the big scary man might be lurking."
"From what I've heard, big isn't the word any of my sisters have used to describe you."
"That's because they haven't seen me outside this suit," Peter fired back.
Donna laughed and shook her head before jumping into the tree as well. "You know, my mother will not be happy to see what you've done to her subjects come morning."
"I was wondering why you looked so similar to Diana," Peter remarked, noticing the way she flinched at the comparison, he continued. "Of course, you're better looking than her my a wide margin. Must have something to do with not joining her and your mom in sitting on a ten-foot spear all day."
Donna giggled and felt her face warm up as she watched Peter's suit seemingly melt before transforming into a loose set of pants and a shirt. "Besides, the webs will dissolve on their own… eventually."
"When, exactly, would that be?"
"As soon as word spreads around of what happened, and these lovely ladies have had their egos taken down a few notches, Greg'll let them go."
"Greg?" Donna asked only to yelp in fright as Peter's shirt became fluid-like once more and rose above his chest on its own, molding itself into into a circle with a smiley face cut out of it before shifting into a hand and waving pleasantly. "What is that?" She asked, trying to force herself to stay calm.
"This is Greg," Peter said, high-fiving then bumping fists with the simulated symbiote hand before it melted back into his shirt. "He's an alien who bonded with me before I was brought here. He helps me out and keeps me company."
Blinking at the strangely mundane name for the strange living clothing Peter wore, Donna shook her head and got back on track as she heard one of the suspended amazons briefly wake up and struggle against her bonds before exhausting herself.
"You know, there are a more than a few women here who view humiliation like this as a fate worse than death."
Peter's face hardened as he looked down at the snoring lump beneath them that was Agatha. "Tough. I don't kill. Not if I don't have to."
"So why risk my mother and sister's wrath?" Donna asked. "Considering how easily you snuck up on me, you could have easily just evaded them until they get bored."
"And what do I do when they sober up and decide to try again?" Peter countered. "I would have to run and hide yet again until they came back with even more friends."
"They're going to do that anyway," Donna said. "Why risk letting them do so with the blessing of the queen?"
Peter sighed, expelling every last bit of air from his lungs and stared up at the cloudless sky. Donna focussed on his eyes, which were staring wistfully at the stars shining through the foliage above them. They were a deep, earthy brown - the colour of the dirt in the arena after a torrential rain. They were deep, the same way the earth beneath them held layers of different soil and minerals that protected the Earth's secrets and nurtured the life held up above.
"There is only one thing I have left to care about now, and it's that girl in your palace right now. She is dealing with the loss of everything she has ever known, and still finds the strength to keep smiling. She needed my help when we met, and she asked for my help when we met the League. From what I've learned of your people's past with men, I respect and understand your opinions on men as best as someone in my position can, and why you would be wary of one suddenly living among you.
"That being said, I'm here for Kara, not to be a scapegoat for misplaced anger from a thousand years ago. I have no desire to hurt anyone I don't have to, but that doesn't mean I won't defend myself."
Donna shrunk back slightly under the weight of Peter's tone. The loneliness in his eyes was heartbreaking, and she immediately understood why he and Kara were so close despite having only known each other for a short time. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and smiled as she leaned forward.
"Then I guess I have no choice," she said with a feigned sigh.
"What do you mean?" Peter asked, tensing despite the fact that his spider-sense was not going off.
"In order to protect my fellow amazons," Donna said. "I'll just have to befriend you as well as Kara. Most of my sisters will think twice about harassing you if they know that they'll risk offending one of their princesses in the process."
Peter relaxed and the smile he gave her, while smaller and not quite as bright as the ones Kara did, still filled her with the exact same warmth deep in her chest, causing her to return his smile even as her mind raced.
Oh, I'm in trouble.
A/N: So I know that Peter is coming across as more than a bit of an asshole, but considering what has happened to him, I like to imagine that, instead of brooding like Batman, his quips would wind up becoming a tad more hostile as he struggles with his past. That aside, this is going to have a small harem as I wanted to go more in depth into the relationships between Peter and the girls and between the girls themselves. So far, the roster is Kara, Donna, and Zatanna, with room for maybe one more, though I don't know who that would be. I'd love to read your suggestions, but more than just a name, or someone you think it would be hot to see with Peter, I'd really appreciate it if you could also write down why that particular female would work well with them.
Anyway, thanks a ton for reading and reviewing, and I'll see you all next time!