answers to reviewers questions or statements:
Jason Chandler: Plenty will happen.
darthwolf: I have but never really knew how to pull it off.
Stormhound12: Well... there's the first inconsistency for the story. But her age in this really is thirty six while Peter's thirty seven. The ages were a last minute change so I must've overlooked it. I've thought of a beta from time to time and tried it once but never really thought of making it a permanent thing. Sides, I prefer to do it my stuff, helps me improve more. Won't catch everything granted but no one's perfect. There's a few elements of Wolverine that'll be in this story, aside from the obvious X-23 appearance and eventual romance of course.
E NIG MA: It's just that one author, not naming any names, that thinks making a new account to complain about certain stories or leaves a review as a guest instead of his actual account name is always complaining about me making a new story and not updating the stories he wants updated and what not. If he doesn't get the message than too damn bad.
Lilthug: Yep.
RubixJr: No, he's gonna be a lot worse off in comparison.
Omni-Creator Kami of Anime: Black Cat and Grail are doable. As for the likes of Wonder Woman and Power Girl ending up with some inferior guys, I'm not gonna bother with any them. This story is about Peter and the girls he's with. Don't like? Don't read.
ThundrGodRaiden: Their may be some Arkham-verse influence in this story but I'm basing this story's Nyssa al Ghul more off the one we got in the comics in that she wants Ra's al Ghul dead for abandoning her.
Adtr509: What Peter's experiencing isn't connected to the Void from New 52 or the Demon from a Web of Wonderous meetings. As for Ra's being dead, well even he has his limits. His immortality isn't all that useful when all known means of which he maintains it has been destroyed.
cabaera1234: I'm more annoyed than angry. Some people just don't seem to get the picture: My story, my direction.
Reverse: He wants peace but in a different sense compared to what John wanted. Not sure why your review would offend me.
Guest: I'M PERFECTLY COOL!
Nomad98: I'm losing my sanity because of this lockdown crap. I've considered making a Spider-man and Witcher crossover, especially after watching the show. granted it'd be set more in line with the games or books but there's elements from the show that were good.
Guest: Cassandra Cain might be a bit difficult given how deeply ingrained Batman's teachings are into her but I may have a way around that. As for Artemis, like the red headed Amazon Artemis or Artemis Crock? Ice might be too gentle, Fire was a government agent for Brazil so she has more of the dark mentality needed than Ice does. The other options are pretty good though and can fit with this.
DxD-Supreme: I'm not sacrificing the quality of my story because you want every possible woman in either DC or Marvel added in when it makes no sense and will over saturate the story. The women I add are there for specific reasons, to help with the flow of the story and help further develop both the character of the MC and their own. Don't like? Don't read, simple as that.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.
Peter didn't know why, but he half expected to find Talia still dressed in that red dress of her's when he stepped into the kitchen the following morning.
The other half of him expected her to be long gone by the time he woke back up to start off his day. Having found his refusal to help her more than enough to leave in search of someone that was willing to bloody their hands for her in her apparent war against her own sister and some crazed assassin that was obsessed with creating the ultimate assassin.
Instead Peter found Talia sitting at his table with a bowl of fruit in front of her, her dress gone, replaced with a long black robe with emerald lining that probably cost as much as Peter's house. Her hair was a bit tussled, likely from sleep but her eyes were sharp and as observant as ever. She had no makeup on but in Peter's opinion, she never needed it, she was one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen, even more so knowing the hell she came from. Peter stepped more into the kitchen and was about to greet Talia when he noticed something else about the demon's daughter's appearance...
Aside from her robe, she was wearing nothing underneath and if the faint glimpse of her naked breast was anything to go by.
'Still as shameless as ever' Peter thought as he continued to stare at the breast before Talia's robe covered it.
"You had no food, only bottles of liquor in your fridge" Talia said with a smirk as she plopped a red grape in her mouth and chewed it carefully as her eyes followed Peter's form to the fridge.
He was a bit bigger than she remembered, and his muscular system wasn't as defined as it used to be but it was still very enticing. The word handsome came to her mind.
"Wasn't expecting company" Peter answered as he opened his fridge to see that his bottles of tequila had been replaced with a plethora of fruits and vegetables. He glanced at Talia with a raised brow "When'd you make a run to the market?"
"One of my guards did" Talia answered as she ate another grape and slowly chewed it.
"Oh... well tell them thank-"
"Your wallet's now sixty dollars short as a result" Talia said as she took a slice of apple and ate that as well.
"On second thought, tell them to go to hell" Peter said dryly as he looked back into fridge to see if anything inside it looked appetizing enough to him.
After a few seconds, he closed the door and took his seat across from Talia... without any food.
"Your not hungry?" Talia asked with a frown.
"Not now" Peter responded with a shrug "I'll make something later"
Talia's eyes narrowed a bit at this and leaned forward on her elbows as she leveled a hard stare "I want to see you eat. It's obvious to me that you haven't in a few days at least"
"I've gone longer before, you know that" Peter responded with a frown "Food wasn't exactly common in that hell hole if you recall"
"Peter..." Talia said with a sigh of frustration "We're not in that 'hell hole' anymore and it's too early to argue this. Please eat... for me"
Peter grumbled as he stood back up and made his way to the fridge and pulled out a number of fruits, mostly apples, a few bananas and a few strawberries before he made his way to a blender that looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a few days. Talia made a face as Peter peeled the bananas and tossed them in along with the apples and berries before he took the pitcher for the blender and held it in the sink and switched on the faucet. Once the container was half full with water, he switched it off and put the pitcher back on the blender and covered it before starting it.
Talia winced at the sudden sound as she and Peter waited for the fruits to be shredded until it was in a semi liquid state.
"Your being a bit childish" Talia remarked as she watched Peter pour the contents of the blender into a cup he fished from the sink.
"No I'm not" Peter said as he topped off the glass with the fruity contents before retaking his seat at the table "Can't eat solid food anymore thanks to Cain"
"What?" Talia said with actual surprise on her face "What do you mean?"
"The additions that Cain made to my body all those years ago. The alterations to my DNA with that cocktail of spider DNA? Turns out there's some long term effects I doubt even he knew would pop up" Peter answered as he took a long sip of his 'breakfast' before he set the glass down and wiped away some of the drink from his mouth "My body's digestive system has evolved the past few years that it no longer takes solids. It has to be in a liquid like form now, like an actual spider eats it's food. Heh, go figure"
"Have there been other changes to your body because of Cain's experiments?" Talia pressed for details.
"Can see as well at night as I do in the day time. I can heal even faster than before now" Peter answered with a shrug before he gave Talia a dry grin "But if your asking if I have a few extra limbs attached to me somewhere, than no. Still two arms and two legs"
"Pathetic your worthless little shit. Are you really so weak that you can't even mutate right?" Talia snapped before Peter suddenly grabbed her by the hair and yanked her on the table.
"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Peter yelled as he slammed her head into the table again and again-
"PETER STOP! PETER-!
"Peter!"
"Huh?" Peter jumped at the sound of Talia's voice and looked to see her leaning back in her chair, her arms folded across her chest and looking at him with a frown.
"I asked..." she said with a slow blink "Is night vison, even greater healing and the alteration of your digestive system the extent of your mutations?"
"Oh..." Peter said with a blink before he cupped his glass and looked down at it's contents "Sorry, I was... I was thinking of something else"
"What?" Talia asked.
"Nothing to worry about" Peter said with a shrug as he downed the last of his glass's contents.
Talia hummed at this before she resumed eating her breakfast "How long have these been happening?"
"Past four, five years? Haven't really bothered to keep track" Peter said with a shrug as he glanced out the window "How long have you been awake?"
"A few minutes before you came down" Talia answered as she pushed her now empty bowl away "Thank you for the hospitality"
Peter nodded at this before he noticed that Talia was staring right at him, causing him to frown "What?"
"Your not as talkative as you used to be" Talia remarked as she brought her hands together in front of her mouth as she stared at Peter like he was a puzzle she was trying to figure out "You used to be known as the Shadow that never shuts up"
"Well I haven't had much to talk about in the past few years" Peter responded with a yawn "Besides, I'd think you'd be relieved to hear I'm not as chatty as I used to be"
"Your talkative nature was something I always found charming" Talia remarked with a small smile on her face "You used to talk me to sleep when we were little"
"Well talking about dust covered walls and mounds of sands is bound to put anyone to sleep" Peter said with a chuckle.
"Or the various shapes that the rust make on the bars and floors" Talia hummed thoughtfully "Every time I find myself in some old warehouse or in a abandoned factory and see rust I keep flashing back to those nights"
"I flash back to having to hear you snore" Peter remarked dryly, causing Talia to snort in a very un-lady like amusement.
"I do not snore"
"Tell that to my half death ears" Peter said as he stood up and took his glass and Talia's bowl when she pushed it towards him, towards the sink and set them down with the rest of the unwashed dishes.
"Are you going to clean those at some point?" she asked with a furrowed brow.
"At some point, yeah" Peter answered as he turned back to the Talia before he froze, his gaze going beyond her.
Talia followed his gaze and saw one of her guards standing on the patio outside in a kneeling position. A slender but fit build, long black hair that reached halfway down her back, a dark green colored kimono that reached the woman's knees held tight to her body with a black sash and equally black knee high boots and a mask made in the shape of a cat's head with red stripes and a wide grin.
'Cheshire...' Talia thought as she turned back to see Peter staring at one of her guards with narrowed eyes "She's one of mine. Cheshire. Like the cat from the Alice in Wonderland books. You'd like her, she's a remarkable toxicologist"
"Pretty flashy for a member of your Elite Guard isn't she?" Peter asked, his eyes on the assassin outside.
Cheshire seemed to sense Peter's gaze on her and lifted her head enough so that the mask's eyes could just be seen staring up at him. The angle also had the added effect of making the mask's grin look more sinister than it actually was. But Talia knew Jade well enough to know that she was grinning under that mask of her's.
"Well I hope she's house trained than. I don't fancy cleaning up her hairballs and whatever hair she sheds" Peter said as he turned to leave "I'm gonna go get dressed. When I come back down, I'll... I'll make a few calls"
"...I'll be here" Talia said as she watched Peter head back upstairs before she stood up and silently made her way to the patio door and slid it open. She gave the young assassin before her a curt nod followed by an even more curt order "Report, Cheshire"
"Mistress, so far none of your sister's men have discovered our location, nor Cain's. We've investigated the nearby town as you requested and have found no possible threats to your safety" the young woman responded in a equally curt tone before she glanced up at her mistress, her voice carrying a trace of curiosity in it "My lady, who is this man?"
"An old friend of mine from when I was a child" Talia answered as she turned to leave, adjusting her robe as she went "Ask Honor for more details if you wish, but do not ask me again Jade"
Cheshire responded by bowing her head in acceptance and with a single backwards summersault, vanished over the edge of the railing and slid back into the shadows of the trees around the house. Talia didn't bother to give the woman another glance as she silently made her way to her own room to change. She knew that her actions were seen as odd by her guards, even Honor that's been with her the longest, since she first arrived before her father's doorstep all those years ago but Nyssa and Cain have forced her hands. She only has a few dozen men left that are loyal to her where's Cain and Nyssa have people numbering in the hundreds and far more resources to pull from compared to the few hundred millions that Talia has left.
She considered approaching her beloved, Bruce, but she doubts he'd be eager to help her eliminate her own sister and Cain, regardless if she's the mother of one of his 'sons', thanks to that ridiculous moral code of his. Deathstroke would soon as kill her as help her while Bane will likely demand she make herself subservient to him like some glorified concubine.
Which left her with Peter, her childhood friend and perhaps the one person on earth that she can truly rely on to help her.
It wasn't easy finding him, most of the records the League of Shadows have kept over the years had been lost to all manner of things but she found her father had kept track of Peter for a time after he was forced out of the League. He traveled through Asia for a while before making his way to South America, working for one Drug Lord after another to kill a rival of theirs or some corrupt official that tried to turn on them. Eventually he vanished after taking on a job by some minor warlord in the heart of the rain forest only to reappear up here in Alaska of all places close to a decade ago.
A part of Talia thought that he'd be overjoyed to see her again and jump at the opportunity to help her...
'At least, that's what I thought before I arrived here and saw him for myself' Talia thought with a sigh as she entered the guest room that Peter had offered her.
It wasn't much, but it was well kept even if it was a bit dusty on some of the shelves. It had it's own fully stocked bathroom with a small tub and shower and even a small vanity for her to use and a closet for her to leave her clothes for the duration of her visit here. The only flaw in the room was the sheets for her bed, they were rather heavy and itched a little, Talia was ashamed to admit she's grown too use to the soft silken sheets that her father used to provide for her to sleep with.
The realization that she was no longer used to such poor quality sheets, especially given where she grew up, was almost laughable.
"What my younger self would say now" Talia said with a shake of her head as she moved to her bag where more of her clothes were stored and began to assemble an outfit for her to wear for the day.
…
KILL!
"N-No please oh go nooo-
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
"P-Please... P-Please not my daugh- noaaahhhhhhh-"
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
"You don't have to do this, you don't have to- no wait, please no wait ahhhh-"
KI-
Peter almost flinched at the sound of the shower head switching on and peppering his face with droplets of warm water before it became a more steady stream of water. With a sigh he closed his eyes and rested his head against the shower wall and let the warm water wash over him. He looked down at his hands and frowned at how bloodied they were, some of his fingernails had bits of gore under them and his index finger nail was a bit chipped and bleeding.
"Dammit..." Peter said as he stepped out from under the spray and looked around for a cloth to wash his hands with.
Her found none and was forced to push open the shower door and grab the towel he had left hanging as a substitute. After holding part of it under the warm water for a minute Peter began to scrub his hands clean as best he could. Blood always was a bitch to wash off in his opinion no matter how hard he scrubbed it skin raw to clean it off.
KILL!
"N-No please oh go nooo-
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
"P-Please... P-Please not my daugh- noaaahhhhhhh-"
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
KILL!
"You don't have to do this, you don't have to- no wait, please no wait ahhhh-"
"GAH- GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!" Peter yelped as he rubbed too hard on the finger with the chipped nail and accidently dislodged it entirely.
Blood began to drip from the finger and on to the floor next to the bloodied nail before the water from the showerhead washed it down the drain. Peter held up his finger and stared at the now exposed flesh before it was suddenly replaced with a new nail. Peter's eyes narrowed as he stared at the regrown nail before slowly dropping his hand down to his side and sighed as he rested his head against the wall again and allowed the water to pelt his upper shoulders and the back of his neck.
Peter lifted his hand up and stared at the healed finger with a frown on his face before he exhaled his through his nose and stepped out from under the water and shut if off.
Water, water, water, water, water, water, so much water-
"Shut the hell up" Peter smacked the side of his head as he climbed out of the shower and looked for his towel before he remembered he used it to help clean the blood of his hands.
He turned back to grab it only to stop when he saw that it was now in pieces on the shower floor, like some kind animal tore it apart. Peter blinked at this before he glanced down at his hands and saw his hands and nails were covered in the drenched fuzz material that was used to make the towel. With a scowl of annoyance Peter turned away from the shower and headed back into his room only to freeze half way out at the sight of Talia sitting on his bed.
She was dressed in a scarlet red blazer and pitch black pants while her hair was held up by a black headband that was almost invisible against her dark brown colored hair.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Peter said with wide eyes as he continued to stare at Talia, in his room, on his bed, looking right at him... while he was soaking wet and naked!
"I've been waiting for you for over two hours Peter" Talia said with a frown.
"Two hours?" Peter blinked at this before he glanced at the small digital clock on the bed stand and saw the time "Huh... didn't feel like two hours"
"Well it was" Talia said as she stood up and smoothed out the winkles on her shirt and pants and flipped her hair over her ear "Will you be ready to go soon?"
"Uh, where we going?" Peter asked.
"Into town" Talia said with a pointed look on her face "You don't have a phone and no internet connection"
"Oh... heh, guess I should've mentioned that huh?" Peter said with a nervous chuckle.
"Perhaps" Talia said with a frown as her eyes took in Peter's appearance "Will you be ready to leave soon or not?"
"Uh yeah, just uh, just give me a minute" Peter said with a cough as he quickly made his way to his dresser to grab some clothes.
"There's no need to act all nervous Peter, I've seen you bare before. Hundreds of times" Talia commented as she left the room.
"We were younger than!" Peter replied as he found a shirt to wear and began his search for a pair of pants to go with it.
"We're also adults and have seen our fare shares of a naked man or woman!" Talia called back from outside the room. From what Peter could hear she was just outside his door leaning against the wall. The faint tapping of her fingers against her arm told him that she was growing impatient.
"Y-Yeah well..." Peter trailed off as he tried to think up of a retort before he shook his head and continued to dress in silence.
After another thirty seconds, he stepped out into the hall and saw that Talia was gone. It sounded like she was downstairs on the patio, talking, likely with one of her guards. Peter was just about to loudly announced he was done before his curiosity got the better of him and he silently made his way down stairs before a idea came to him and he slowly began to scale down the stair case... by the wall.
'Thank you Cain' Peter thought with a smirk as he made his way up to the ceiling and towards the sound of Talia and the unknown woman's voice.
...
If Talia was annoyed and felt inconvenienced by Peter's hermit like life style, it had since flowed into outright anger as she listened to Cheshire's latest report.
"We've found no means of plausible transportation for you and your associate mistress. You'll have to travel to the town on foot" the woman said, her head bowed as she spoke.
"Not even a bike?" Talia's voice was laced with mild irritation.
"Not even a scooter mistress" Jade responded with barely hidden amusement.
When Talia first arrived here the previous evening and didn't see a car, she assumed that perhaps Peter parked it in the garage or simply got around through other means like a motorcycle. But after a quick visit to his garage and a order for her guards to scout the area for any sort of mode of transportation she found that Peter was well and truly isolated from the rest of the world.
'Why would he do such a thing...' Talia wondered before she took a deep breath and exhaled it out sharply before she turned away from Jade "Understood. Resume your post Jade. Let Honor know we'll be leaving by foot shortly"
"Yes mistress" Jade bowed before she slipped away back into the tree line, her attire allowing her to easily lose herself in the foliage.
Talia watched her go for a moment before she returned to the interior of the house and closed the door before she felt a pair of eyes on her. Talia's own narrowed as she scanned the room for signs of Peter before she heard a snicker. The dark haired beauty took a few steps forward before she heard anther snicker that caused her to stop and look around for this house's only resident.
"Peter, where are you?" Talia called out as she looked for signs of the man.
"Right here"
Talia froze at the sound of Peter's voice... coming from right above her.
She slowly looked up and saw Peter was looking down at her in a crouching position on the ceiling. It was still a bit unsettling seeing a person hanging upside down like that, even after all she's seen over the years. People dangling from the ceiling because of a rope or because they were holding on to something was one thing, but seeing a man do it with no apparent aid was something else entirely. Her father was remarked that seeing such things invoked a primal part of the human brain that hadn't been used since the days man was just discovering fire. The feeling of something that couldn't be understood and was thus feared and avoided.
"Why are you on the wall Peter?" Talia asked in a tone that sounded very similar to one a mother would use on her child when she catches him somewhere he isn't supposed to be.
"My house, I can do whatever I want in it" Peter answered with a shrug.
"It's rude to eavesdrop on two people's conversations regardless if it's your house or not" Talia commented as she made her way t the table where her purse was sitting.
"An assassin telling me that spying is rude? What's next? A vampire telling me that staying out of the sun is bad for one's health?" Peter grinned.
"Peter if your going to be like this all day I'll head down to the town myself" Talia said with a glare of annoyance "I've tolerated your antics well enough so far as it's been years since I last saw you, but you are eroding the last of my already thin patience"
"And just earlier you were going on about how much you loved hearing me talk" Peter said with a shake of his head as he detached himself from the ceiling and fell to the ground before he righted himself and landed in a crouch and slowly stood up. Peter and Talia held one another's gazes for a moment before he stepped out of the way and gestured towards the door
"Shall we go?"
Talia shot him a glare of annoyance as she walked past him, leaving Peter to snicker a little as he followed close behind before he stopped as he noticed something.
Talia was wearing heels...
"Uh, you wanna change out your shoes before we go?" Peter said, causing Talia to stop and look back at him with a quirked brow "It's not exactly a even surface out there and it's a long walk into town..."
"I'll be fine" Talia said as she turned to leave "Though I have to wonder why it is you were looking at my feet"
"I wasn't looking at your feet, I just happen to notice-"
"So you were looking at something else than?" Talia said with a grin in her voice as she stepped out into the later morning air.
"No that's not what I meant and you know it!" Peter said as he followed Talia at the door.
Talia's response was a soft chuckle as the door closed behind them.
…
To say Cheshire and the rest of Talia's guard were curious about this man named Peter was an understatement. Up until recently, none of them had ever seen their mistress speak with a man like she did with this Peter fellow. Even the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman, the father of her son Damian, wasn't spoken to like this and Talia often referred to him as her 'beloved'. Honor, known to many as Silencer, was infuriatingly mute on the subject of who this Peter was, leaving Jade and her fellow Elite Guard, Psylocke and Widow pondering on just who he was exactly.
They saw he was clearly a former member of the League of Shadows, albeit one that's been out of practice for a while. But the way he walked, the way he held himself was something that could never be completely lost after clearly spending years with the League.
'Perhaps he's a brother of her's… it would explain why she's been so careful in her travel here. She doesn't want Nyssa to catch wind that there's more than one contender for Ra's empire' Jade thought as she took her usual place on the property, a medium sized tree that offered her a birds eye view over most of Peter's property south of the house, Widow from the North and Silencer from the West while Psylocke watched the property from the East and used her telepathy to monitor the whole property and half a mile out.
If someone was going to try and attack this place, they'd have to move fast and enforce, a rather difficult goal given how rough the terrain was. If Jade didn't know any better, she'd wager that's why this Peter had chosen this house in the first place.
'It's probably a coincidence it's like that' Jade thought as she adjusted her position in the tree and settled in until Talia's return.
The Demon's daughter was adamant that she journey to the nearby town alone with Peter, as a sign of trusts she claimed. Jade didn't buy it and neither did Natalia nor Elizabeth but the three kept their objections to a minimum.
Still, it wasn't entirely bad to be left here while the mistress wandered the woods with Peter, it gave the accomplished toxicologist time to catch up on her sleep. And this brief unofficial brake from her duties allowed her to wonder what's become of her old flame, Roy Harper.
'I wonder if he's still trying to pine after the Amazon teammate of his' Jade thought as she began to relax and close her eyes 'Or that damned alien girl with orange skin...'
If there's one thing she can give Roy, he had a type. Women that were way out of his league and a bit... toxic, for him.
'Wonder if that was my fault' Jade thought as she began to drift off to sleep-
'Jade, meet me inside in five minutes'
Jade's eyes flew open at the sound of Psylocke's voice in her head. It took quite a bit of effort on her part to keep herself from fighting at the sudden telepathic intrusion as she slowly turned her head in the direction she suspected her purple haired teammate was.
'Why?' she responded and waited for an answer.
'You and I are gonna see what's so special about this Peter Parker fellow while Natalia keeps Honor distracted. Inside, master bedroom, five minutes' Psylocke responded before the woman's presence vanished from Jade's mind.
"So much for an hour or two of sleep" Jade said with a shake of her head as she sat up and began a series of stretches to loosen her body up a little before she began to silently descend her tree.
She wasn't exactly opposed to investigating Peter a little more, but she'd have like to do it when she's had a nap first.
...
And done.
Next chapter, Uncomfortable lunch and an unsettling discovery...