Dr. Evans: I'm not saying who he's going to hook up with but it won't be for some time. Maybe a little thing with the titans later on.
Wage Shenron: Maybe later on he could take on Bane, and I'm glad you like it, although I don't know much about Huntress.
C-Theory: Thanks and trust me I try not to, just remember that if Superman can punch Metallo and not make a real dent then Peter's attacks would only annoy him.
Booyah: In a couple more chapters, not long.
Jezrianna: Well Peter was already at Clark's so it was more for continence. Besides where would see sleep at Clark's? Yeah it was a little rushed sorry about that but I couldn't really think of anything to say, so sometimes I just skip ahead at times, don't worry it shouldn't happen often, plus I wanted to get ahead of the story so I wasn't feeling up to expanding on all that stuff. If you want I'll get into this ID thing in the Batcave. I can't give out perfect chapters all the time, and sometimes I have off days like that, thanks for commenting on it, and I'll try and not be like that again.
Knight's Shadow: I don't think I'll add any other Marvel people to this.
Star Lin: Man what is it with people, I swear you're like the fourth person I've heard of that stays up late to read my stuff, that can't be healthy. Glad you got the Malcolm McDowell thing I wasn't sure how many people would get that.
Ldypebsaby: Yep he is and Bruce might find time to see if Peter can train with him now and then too.
Aaron: Yeah this takes place right before the unlimited's first episode. Soon you'll see the 'initiation' episode soon, right after Peter settles in.
The Uncanny R-Man: Yeah that was funny about the movie wasn't it? The pop tart thing was from Ultimate X-Men when he was in it with Wolverine and of course the Joker will be there, wouldn't have it any other way.
Ervin: If you paid attention during the first few chapters you would have realized that in Peter's world DC comics and everything with it doesn't exist.
Emerald Knight1: No problem, ah you got the Malcom McDowell thing nice. Glad you liked all that stuff and yeah it did, but I think it was Ultimate X-Men actually.
Thanks to: Gyre, c-wolf, Dowd, X-over, spyder616, Kaliann, Casey, TJThunder, SiriusAboutMarauders, Syne, Spider-Fan, White Mage, SotF
JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE SPIDERCHAPTER 7: LIFE IN GOTHAM
It had been a couple of weeks since his visit to Metropolis and Peter had to admit he was getting used to his new life. He was really getting along with Flash and he was also finding some pleasant quiet time with J'onn too. It was kind of cool hanging out with an alien and couldn't help but notice how wise and introspective the tall green man was. Speaking of aliens although he kept forgetting that she was, he also stayed in touch with Kara, it was nice having someone his own age to talk to when he needed. Peter went back down to Earth from time to time when not on the Watchtower whenever he needed to 'get out' as he called it. He was given a device so he could use the teleporter to call him up to the Watchtower when he needed to.
Mainly he was exploring some of the strange cities he had never heard of. Like East and West coast city. He visited Flash or Wally West as he was let in on his secret identity, in Keystone city. But so far he had avoided New York...he wasn't ready to go back there...not yet.
He helped out the League by working on the Watchtower and after the Metallo thing he had even gone on a few missions, but it was small time stuff. He got the feeling they were trying to see what he could really do out in the field and to be honest that was fine. He just wanted to ease himself back into this. He also was being 'trained' by Batman. Or more accurately getting his butt slammed onto the ground until it was bruised. Which was what Peter was doing at the moment in the training room in full Spider-Man gear as Batman flipped him onto his back...again.
Peter couldn't get it, he was supposed to be fast and was definitely stronger so why was this so hard? Okay so Batman fought better then anyone he'd ever met but they had been at this for over an hour and he only managed to 'tag' Batman almost a dozen times in hand to hand while Batman had nearly three times that amount.
Batman for the pat few weeks had been training Peter in the fine arts of hand-to-hand combat. He was impressed at how well he was doing, his reflexes and speed were already above average in fact even though he didn't show it he was trying his best. He found out early on that Peter's spider sense was the first thing he had to overcome. In the free for alls, Peter did a lot better since he wasn't limited to the ground like now.
He felt Peter should know a bit more on how to defend himself when he saw all those scars on his body. He hadn't said it but he didn't want to see this kid get anymore hurt then he had. In fact he saw a lot of potential in him, and to be honest if only to himself...he felt for him. Peter knew what it was like to lose your loved ones, to see it happen and feel totally powerless.
He had been watching Peter closely ever since he got there. At first it was to see if he was a threat but then it soon became apparent that he was trust worthy. He had been thinking of what to do about him also. He made a basic background for him in the system in the US with the driver's license but beyond that nothing much. He would need Peter's help to fill in a lot of the blanks and he had been thinking on something for awhile now too. J'onn had said he trust him, so did Clark and Flash with their identities.
Peter got himself off the mat and got ready. "Alright bring it bats, I'm ready for you this time."
"That will be enough for today Peter." He said. Peter sighed on the inside, okay sure he was learning some decent fighting skills but man this guy was tough. "I want your help with something."
"O-kay...what?"
Batman started walking to the door. "I need you to help me finish your personal information and put it into the system. Then you can start to live a life with a paper trail."
Peter watched him walked off before he went after him. "And you're getting around to this now? I've been here a month already!"
"Three reasons." Batman said calmly. "First...I've been busy. Secondly even you weren't sure what you were going to do with your life and lastly for all we know you might not have been around this long."
Peter thought about it. "Okay...I get the point. So...where are we going?"
"Home." Batman simply said leaving a confused Peter in his wake. Peter just ran after him and caught up to him at the main teleporter. Peter wasn't sure what to think about that until Batman punched in a destination and his own personal code and to Peter that meant only one thing.
'No freaking way...we're not going to where I think we're going are we?' He thought to himself as he got on the teleporter with him. Then they disappeared and suddenly Peter found himself in a huge cave. He looked around in awe at the place. It was massive to say the least, he could hear bats overhead in the darkness and saw a lot of advanced equipment, a small science lab, and in the center a very large and impressive computer that Batman was walking to.
"You know...when they said you worked in a cave...I thought everyone was just exaggerating." Peter said looking around. He looked over the edge of the ground into a crevice. He was wondering how far down it went but decided he didn't want to find out. He walked over to Batman who had pulled up some kind of file. It had his picture on it and limited information.
"I'd like for you to give me as much information about your life as possible to fill in all the blanks." Batman told him. "If someone looks you up you need to have an air tight paper trail so no one realizes that you only just showed up not to long ago."
"Alright...but will it work? I mean I looked myself up and it seems my family never existed in this world." Peter had tried to see if maybe his family was alive in this world, he wasn't sure why he did it, it's not like he could see them. If they were alive then what if there was already an alternate version of him living there? Maybe he just wanted to see them, even if it was from a distance. But it turned out not only did he not exist neither did his family.
"That's even better, saves the trouble of working around that." Batman told him. Peter sighed and tried his best to remember everything. He gave him his parents and aunt and uncle's names, birth dates and everything he could think of. Some of the places didn't exist in this world so Batman had to improvise. For instance Peter's old high school went by a different name. So that was changed in his information and other things.
So far Peter's 'official' life was basically the same. Parents died in a plane crash, raised by his aunt and uncle, then he changed it to so that they both had died in a fire and he was a ward of the state. His grade were all A, except for gym. Peter had said that he should keep that to make it more 'real'. Batman also made him a high school graduate. Now Peter was a little uneasy with that, it didn't seem fair to just 'graduate' like that. But then again he was smart enough to get a GED a few years back. Hell he could have been in collage a few years back with his mind.
After several more hours they finally finished. "So...that's it?"
"Yes." Batman said getting up. "I'll put it into the system over this week slowly so not to get anyone's attention."
"Oh...that's cool...so...what now?" Peter asked. He had taken off his mask and as 'sitting' on the side of a large piece of protruding rock from the floor. Batman looked at him and considered something. He figured Peter was trust worthy, he had shown himself to be, even though Batman wasn't too trusting by nature he felt Peter was as good a choice as any. Besides if he didn't then what he had planned later on wouldn't be possible.
"How about I show you the 'family'?" Batman asked him.
"Huh?" Peter was at a loss for words, mainly because he didn't know what he meant by that.
Batman had a small smirk, one of his rare ones at that and walked over to the computer and pressed a button. "BG and N, could you two get back to the Cave?"
"Sure thing B." Came a female voice.
"I should be there soon, is it serious?" Came a male's voice.
"No...I just want you to meet someone." There was a strange silence over the line and then they both said they would be there soon. Batman turned off the communications and pressed a call button.
"So...what's going on?" Peter asked confused.
"Peter...I'm going to let you in on something that only a handful of people know." Batman said ever more seriously then usual. "And I want you to know that if you tell anyone who doesn't know without my permission you will regret it." Peter could sense the threat and nodded.
Then to his utter surprise he saw Batman pulled off his mask. "You can call me Bruce...Bruce Wayne."
Peter blinked a few times. The name sounded familiar to him then it clicked. "Wait...as in that Wayne Enterprises?" Bruce nodded. Peter looked around the Batcave. "Well...that actually explains a lot."
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Well for starters how else do you afford all this cool stuff? I mean this doesn't come cheap." Peter began. "And I've been wondering how the League paid for the Watchtower. Since no Government paid for it not only does that mean the League doesn't owe any country anything, but it also means all the costs have to come out of the League's pocket."
"Plus there the fact that you seem to be on call nearly 24-7, I mean how does someone do that and earn a living, believe me I know how hard that is. So...how am I doing so far?" Peter asked with a smile. He knew his question was also another of his little tests, that Peter had noticed Batman had been subtly giving him over his time there.
"Not bad." He said flatly although he figured Peter did pretty good, he knew Peter was smart but he also seemed pretty sharp too, which in his opinion was just as important. Then he noticed the light on the elevator blink and open and a familiar elderly man walked out. "Ah Alfred I would like you to meet Peter Parker."
Peter turned and saw a butler walking over to them. "Ah so you're Mr. Parker. I've heard much about you, I'm Alfred Bennyworth." The elderly man said with an upper crust accent.
"Hi nice to meet you." Peter said. 'I guess I shouldn't be too surprised he's got a butler I mean he's supposed to be rich, maybe it's just that Alfred here knows about all of this that's kind of throwing me for a loop. It is kind of weird but then again so is my life.'
Just then a roaring sound could be heard from the distance and Peter looked to see a pair of supped up bikes racing their way towards them. They stopped and the two figures walked towards them. Peter saw a woman in a bat-like costume with red hair coming out the back and a tall dark haired man in an all black costume with some kind of blue bird on the chest.
"Hey what's up?" The guy said, then he and Batgirl froze seeing not only Peter there without his mask but Batman too. "Uh...what is all this?"
"This is Peter Parker, also known as Spider-Man." Bruce began. "He currently helping out the League while here and-"
But Batgirl cut him off and ran to Peter. "Oh! So you're Peter. Kara's told me all about you."
"You know Kara?" Peter said surprised. She never told him she knew anyone in Gotham but then there was most likely a lot he didn't know, hell he was still learning about this entire planet.
Batgirl smiled. "Oh yeah, were best friends. I'm Batgirl by the way." She looked at Bruce and he nodded and she pulled off her mask to reveal a pretty redhead with green eyes in her early twenties. "But I'm really Barbara Gordon."
"Oh so you're that Barbara she told me about." Peter said recognizing the name. "Glad to finally meet you."
"Likewise." She said. She remember all the things Kara had said about him it was kind of weird standing in front of him now, he was from another world, another Earth which was a new one for her. The fact that Bruce had shown him his face and the Batcave also said a lot.
"So he's the new guy I've heard about." Nightwing said walking forward. "Hey, I'm Nightwing, or Dick Grayson." Then he turned to Batman. "Is Robin still at Jump City with the Titans?"
"Hey nice to meet you." Peter looked at the small mask on his face that seemed to defy gravity. "Can I ask you something? How does that little mask think stay on?" Dick grinned at that, he liked him already.
"Yes, Peter hasn't met him or his team yet." Batman replied. Then a beeping noise was heard from the computer and he walked over to it. "The Bat-signal has been activated."
"You want us to come too?" Batgirl asked pulling on her mask. Batman nodded and started to walk off and Nightwing and Batgirl went to their rides. Peter was feeling a little left out at the moment and he figured as long as he was in Gotham he might as well see the city at least.
"Hey...mind if I tag along? Or do I got to stay in the creepy old cave for the entire time I'm in this city?"
Batman regarded him for a moment. "Fine, come with me but do as I say. This is my city and you'll follow my rules." He said in typical Batman fashion and Peter pulled on his mask and leaped over to him. They came up to a black, sleek car. "Whoa...nice wheels." The top opened up and he jumped into the passenger seat. He looked around the controls on the dashboard as the Batmobile drove off.
It turned out it was kind of a longer drive to the city then he thought and in the distance he saw a giant Batman symbol in the shy. 'Must be nice for people to actually call you up for help.' He thought. He was still adjusting to how cops and other law enforcement agencies took to this super-hero thing so well in this world. After years of being shot at, yelled at, or those that tried to arrest him he had to admit this was different. It was also a lot nicer too.
Peter looked at the controls. 'Why do I feel like I'm in Star Trek?' Then he pointed to one of the buttons. "Say what does this one do?"
"Passenger ejector seat." He said flatly.
Peter was about to pull his hand away when he realized his spider sense wasn't going off. "Nice try but I'm not getting anything dangerous about it." Batman flipped a switch and suddenly his spider sense did go off and he did pull his hand back.
"It wasn't armed until now."
"Okay, point made. No touching anything." Peter said folding his arms across his chest. When they all finally got to a large building that he saw was a police station the car stopped and the top opened up and Batman shot a grapple as did the others and go up into the night sky. Peter shrugged. "Well if you can't beat them." He said to himself and fired a web-line.
On the roof Commissioner Gordon, a man in his fifties, with glasses and short white hair was in a trench coat waiting by the bat-signal with Harvey Bullock. An overweight detective in a dark suit and hat looking like a cross between an old private detective out of some bad film noir movie and a caveman. There was also detective Montoya. A Latin woman with long dark hair in more sensible attire then Bullock.
"So how long until the freaks in pajamas get here?" Bullock asked. "I hate this waiting around."
"Why you got a reservation at an all you can eat buffet?"
"What?! Who said that?" He demanded only to turn right into an upside down Spider-Man. "Whaa!" Bullock shouted and fell back onto his ass. "Who are you?"
"A friend." Came Batman's voice from the shadows as he emerged with Nightwing and Batgirl. "What's the problem?"
"Joker's back in town, he just robbed a bank but when the officers tried to pursue somehow he filled the streets with some kind of bubblegum or something." Gordon told him. "The officers lost him and no one knows where he is."
"I'll get right on it." Batman told him and turned to leave.
"Why is it we always got to turn to the freaks?" Harvey asked Gordon. He never like them and in his opinion he thought the criminals should be handled by the police not vigilantes.
To Peter it was the same old song it was like he was back in New York seeing that guy, so he figured to take him down a peg. "Dude, you know those doughnuts they bring in are for everyone and not just you right?"
"What?" Bullock was shocked at that. Normally they just ignored him but this was the first time one of 'them' actually did something like that. Even the others were a little surprised and even amused. Montoya was trying to hide a smile with her hand while Batgirl was grinning alone with Nightwing.
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me." Spider-Man said to his face. "A got two words for ya big man...slim fast." Then Peter jumped off the roof Bullock chasing after him.
"You better run you little creep! When I get my hands on you, you're gong to eat that mask!" Then he turned around to see Gordon trying to hide a smile while Montoya was clearly holding in her laughter.
It took some time, a little snooping and a few intimidations of a few street scum. Let's just say Peter's views on how scary Batman could be was increased that night. They found out the Joker was hold up in an old factory in the industrial district. Currently all four of them were looking at the factory, Batman looking through some binoculars.
"So...what's the plan?" Peter asked.
"We go in and you stay here. The Joker is not the kind of person you want to mess with." Batman said sternly. Peter was about to object but the tone in his voice was a good indication not to. When Batman went off Batgirl padded his shoulder while Nightwing came up to him.
"Don't take it personally, he's just very territorial." Peter sighed as he watch them move off. The three of them made their way stealthy towards the building. There were a few guards but they never saw them coming and were out of the fight before it was too late.
When they got inside the factory they could hear the Joker's laughter and his voice. They saw at a table with Harley Quinn with a lot of loot on the table. "I'm telling you Harv, this was too easy, I mean, I figured Bat-brain would have showed up by now at least."
"Maybe he's out of town Mr. J?"
Batman nodded to the other two and they quickly made their way to the table and Batman grabbed the Joker. But it was too late to realize his mistake. The room with the Joker had only one way in, it was an old office with one door and the Joker and Harley weren't facing the door, now he knew why. He was holding a dummy of the Joker.
"About time you got here bats, and boy did you pick the wrong door, ha ha ha ha ha!" Then the door to the office slammed shut and the 'Joker's' head exploded and a green gas fill the room quickly.
OUTSIDE THE FACOTORYPeter was waiting forever. It had been nearly an hour and nothing, in fact it was really quiet at the moment, too quiet. Plus they should have been back by now too, but when they didn't he got a bad feeling and not from his spider sense either. "He's going to be pissed but I can't wait here forever." Peter said to himself and jumped off the roof.
He managed to get to the roof and tried to find a window on the wall, since those weren't really guarded since no one actually expected to get in through those ways. He found a few thugs below him sporting a few bruises. "Man I hate this. We get our buts kicked and we don't get to watch."
"Tell me about it! But then do YOU want to tell Joker that?"
"What are you nuts?! No way I'd say something like that to his face, you know the kinds of things he would do to us."
"Just remember that! Now he said to guard and make sure no one spoils his 'fun' and that's what we're going to do and like it." Peter had heard enough and figured the others were in trouble and needed a rescue. But first...he'd had to make sure these clowns were 'tied-up' so they didn't ruin his surprise on this Joker character.
He stayed in the shadows and from the ceiling he could get a better look and didn't like what he saw. Hanging over the opening of a processing machine were Batman, Batgirl and Nightwing. He saw the utility belts being worn by some girl in a weird clown outfit and some really pale green haired guy that seemed to love to laugh.
"Well Bats it's taken years but I've got you good this time around." Joker said with his ever-present smile. He walked over to a leaver. "When I pull this the processor with start up and one by one I'll drop you all into it. But you Bats will be last, I want to savor this moment and you're face seeing your little playmates get it first."
Peter had heard enough and when he got to the right position he fired his webbing at the base of the lever. Joker went to pull on it them. "Let's get this party started shall we? Urg!" He tried to pull but it wouldn't give. "What's wrong with this thing?" He asked angrily. Then he looked down at the base. "What in the world is that?"
"Oh just a little something of mine." Peter said from the darkness. He had to get the others down from there but he also had to take care of these clowns first.
"Who's there?" Joker demanded. "Come out and I promise to make your death nice and painful-I mean painless."
"Yeah right, I'm not as stupid as you look."
"What was that?" He said angrily. "Why don't you come out here and say that to my face, and we can talk."
"What you mean 'we' pale face? And somehow 'talking' isn't what you had in mind." Peter had to keep this nut off balance while he circled around them. He was just glad his voiced echoed off all the metal and machinery in this place so they couldn't tell where he was. So far he had tied up a couple of the goons nearby without them noticing by webbing their mouths and then pulling them quickly into the more dark areas of the factory.
Now he was making his way to the girl from above. "Hey you look like a guy that likes jokes, since you look like a walking joke that it. Why are mimes funnier then the Joker?"
"Why?" He asked bitterly trying to find him in the darkness. He wished there were more lights but anymore might draw attention and most of them didn't work anyway. He picked up a gun from a table he had set up to watch the heroes from and probed the darkness.
"Because mimes don't talk." Peter then snagged the girl's feet and pulled her up fast. She managed a yell before he webbed her mouth.
Joker turned around fast and noticed that Harley was now gone. "Okay funs over! He pointed the gun at Batman. "Come on out or the Bat gets it!" Peter swore he didn't have a good angle to web the gun and he got the feeling he wasn't bluffing.
Peter unhooked Batgirl's belt and jumped down near the table. "Alright laughing boy I'm here." Joker turned to face this new threat. So far he didn't seem the type to be found in Gotham and he had to admit he was a lot more chatty then any of the Bat's normal companions.
"Where's Harley?" Joker demanded. Spider-Man pointed up and Joker looked up to see her hanging by the ceiling upside down. Then Spider-Man acted quickly and shot a web line at the gun and pulled it from his grasp. "Now that wasn't nice." Joker said with a grin and reached into his purple jacket. Batman shouted to watch out and Peter felt his spider sense go off as the Joker threw several razor shard playing cards at him.
Peter bent back in inhuman agility as the cards sailed just over his chest and then he righted himself. "You know, it's guys like you that give clowns a bad name, I mean what happen? One kids party too many for you?"
"Listen, I do the jokes around here!" Joker said and threw several 'jawbreakers' on the ground. Peter felt that old familiar feeling again and jumped high up into the air as they exploded. Joker saw this and knew he was up against a meta human, since that was impossible for a man to do. He considered his options. Stay and fight against and unknown foe with who knows what kind of powers, or flee and fight another day?
He turned to take one last look over at Batman to see if he could finish this but was surprised to see him and the others gone. He looked down and saw he still had the belt and was wondering how he got out without it but decided the odds were not in his favor and turned to run...right into Batman's fist.
Joker was knock back onto the table as it shattered from him hitting it. "Was it something I said?" He said in a slightly dazed voice and laughed a few more times before falling into unconsciousness. Peter fell down from the ceiling to see Batman and the others.
"Whoa...how did you guys do that?" He asked them.
Nightwing smiled. "We got a good teacher in escape artistry."
"You've guys have got to teach me that sometime." Peter said as Batman took back his belt from the Joker.
THIRTY MINUTES LATERThe police were rounding up the Joker and his gang. Joker was fuming the entire time grumbling something about bats and spiders as he was placed in the armor police carrier, to send him back to jail.
Peter watched it all from a nearby rooftop. "Well this was a nice night." He turned to Batman. "Sorry about not staying put but I figured you guys had to be in trouble." Batman nodded and walked off. Peter was a little put off by his cold reaction and looked over to Batgirl and Nightwing. He flung his arms open and then gestured to Batman with them in an 'what the hell?' meaning.
Batgirl smiled. "Don't worry about it that's just his way. I think you might have actually impressed him a little."
Peter sighed. "Well...alright then. You know while we're out I might as well take a look around the city." He looked in the distance and had to admit, it did have a dark and gothic quality to the place. "Uh...but could I have someone show me around. I don't want to get lost in this city."
"Sure thing." Batgirl said. "I've been looking forward to meeting you anyways." She had to admit she'd been curious as to Kara's new friend. She really seemed to like him as a friend and when she talked about him she had gotten Barbara curious.
"Hey I might as well go too, I got nothing better planned anyway." Nightwing said. "What about you?" He asked Batman.
"I got some work to do...you three go on just bring him back to the cave later." He said before firing his grappling hook and left.
"So..." He said to them. "Where to first?"
NEXT UP CHAPTER 8: BACK TO NEW YORK