Peter stayed with Aiden until he fell asleep before he made his way down the stairs. He'd heard the police leave but a patrol car was stationed outside. They were parked in the street in front of the house and weren't paying attention to their surroundings. If he could hazard a guess, he would say that they were listening to something on the radio. Maybe sports highlights or some talk radio. Whatever it was, Peter imagined it had to be entertaining for them since it kept them engrossed in whatever was being said. So they had no clue that Mila Peter received an impromptu visitor. Peter heard the front door open while Mila was in the kitchen. He hurried down trying to be quiet as a...mouse? Well, he was no Mickey unless Mickey had been bitten by a radioactive spider, too.
When he finally had a visual on the uninvited guest, he could tell by the physique that it was a woman. A woman wearing a mask with a crossbow affixed to her wrist. The very one she was pointing at him. She'd whirled around when Peter lightly landed in a crouch behind her.
So much for being quiet. He wasn't as quiet a mouse. Unless this chick had bat ears.
"You have a thing for purple?" Peter said when he took in her outfit. Purple mask. Purple cape. Purple gloves. Purple utility belt. Purple boots. The white cross over a black tightly fitted blouse that accentuated her bust didn't go unnoticed either. Neither did the gun in the holster. The woman didn't answer nor did she let down her arm. She was his height. Tall. But not over imposing. "I got to hand it to you. You mesh the whole Batman chic with your love of Prince nicely."
"Huntress," Mila said with a heavy sigh as she stepped out of the kitchen. "Put that weapon down before you accidentally kill my nephew."
Nephew? Is that what she was going with? I guess it's time to play the role of a long lost relative. Or I could be the twin that no one knew about. Oh, I've always wanted to be the evil twin to the nephew of the woman who had ties to the mob. Now that's a mouthful. Eat your heart out MJ!
"I don't remember your nephew being so dexterous," Huntress said, lowering her weapon. She looked Peter up and down as if she was measuring him.
"Gesundheit," Peter said with a small smile not letting her intimidate him. She wasn't the first pretty woman who pointed a life-threatening object at him.
Huntress scoffed. "He's still annoying, though."
"Hey! I'm standing right here, Anita Blake," Peter said in annoyance. He hated it when people spoke about him when he was still in the room.
Can't they wait until I turn a corner, at least? Sheesh!
From the way Mila spoke to this huntress persona, he'd hazard a guess that she was friendly. Or friendly enough to Mila. So once again his use as a friendly neighborhood protector to all was rendered useless.
"And he doesn't remember me," Huntress said, ignoring the last gibe and turned to face Mila. "We need to talk." Huntress turned to look at Peter as if she expected him to take the hint to leave.
Peter stood his ground and crossed his arms over his chest. He may not be needed to protect Mila from Huntress but he didn't want to be kept in the dark. Not if he was going to protect Mila and Aiden from the mob in some near future.
"Come. Sit," Mila said to Huntress as she gestured to the kitchen table where a tea set was already waiting.
It's as if she'd known the Huntress was going to pay a visit. She probably did.
The Huntress did as instructed and looked back to Peter who hadn't moved an inch before answering whether or not she wanted sugar or honey in her tea.
Peter was glad Mila hadn't asked him to give them privacy. It was so much easier to eavesdrop when you were in the same room as the people who you were trying to, well, eavesdrop.
Huntress began speaking as if she were debriefing a Mila. Peter wasn't sure what was going on. Was Mila an informant for this Huntress? And did Huntress work alone or was she one of the bat-gang? From what little information Peter had managed to gather from snippets of stories in the paper and what a few of the people in the shelter said there were only a couple of females that worked with/for Batman. Batgirl. And the Black Bat who wasn't even in Gotham. Batwoman wasn't really affiliated with him. Or that was what the Commissioner said to the press. Then again, he may have been covering his own ass. Or Batman's. Who even knew? Not Peter. But he'd never even known of the existence of this Huntress. And that annoyed him. How many more caped crusaders worked out of Gotham?
Peter felt the sensation of being watched. He made his way towards the window past the table. He felt Huntress following his movements with her eyes but ignored her. He looked out the window towards the direction he felt the sensation and barely caught a movement of a shadow. He narrowed his eyes and stared at the spot and allowed his focus to expand on the rest of the rooftop of the building across the street. But there was nothing else. And the sensation was gone. It could've been his imagination but Peter knew better. Huntress wasn't alone. She had back-up. He turned to look at her but Huntress was focused on Mila.
"Mila, is there something you're not telling me?" Huntress asked with a tilt of her head.
Dammit! When did I stop listening?
Mila looked down at her tea and took a small measured breath. "No."
Huntress narrowed her eyes. Whether or not she suspected Mila was lying to her about something, she didn't bring it up. "If you ask me, whatever their planning and the move they made on you and your son involves your ex."
"Why do you think that?" Mila said, taking a sip of her tea. She didn't appear to be unnerved but Peter saw the slight tremble of her fingers before she gripped the handle.
"You still have a tight hold on all of your ex's assets. Your presence in Gotham is enough to discourage him from coming back when he's released. And if that's really your nephew right there, then it comes to stand that your ex will be released sooner than you think. They could have wanted you out of town to bring him back in since you refuse to play nice with them."
"No, you're wrong. If what they wanted was for me to be out, I'd be dead," Mila said and shook her head. She looked up towards her son's room and tightened her fists.
"Not unless your ex didn't give them permission to off you and his kid."
Peter didn't like her tone or what she was implying. But whatever the Huntress was doing at Mila's, it wasn't to keep her safe and secure. Peter decided he'd heard enough.
"Hey," Peter said walking forward and placing a hand on Mila's shoulder. "That's enough. She's already had a rough night. She doesn't need you to try to intimidate her, too. So if that's why you're here, see your way out."
"What I don't understand is why you came back?" Huntress said standing up and staring down Peter with anger that Peter hadn't seen in her before.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Peter told her. Mila reached up and squeezed his hand. Peter looked down at her with some confusion.
Oh, no. No. No. No. This is bad. I am this woman's nephew from this dimension. But what does that mean? I have memories of an entirely different life. Unless the 'me' of this dimension died and I was transposed here from my own. Or somehow only my subconscious was transposed when I died in my original world? Does that mean Mary Jane and Aunt May really do believe I'm dead? This can't be happening. But it is. It's my Parker luck showing it's big ugly face once again. Of course.
"You don't know what I'm talking about?" Huntress said in disbelief. "You don't remember your uncle trying to kill you? Then the convoluted court case that followed. The only witness willing to come forward was killed. Luckily Batman had gotten the kill order on tape and the witness' recorded testimony was allowed in court. Now your uncle is sitting in Black Gate serving a twenty-five-year sentence for your murder and only your murder. Nevermind the countless crimes he's committed. Your murder was the only crime that the DA could convict him for and then you just waltz back into Gotham to give him a free ticket out of jail?! Why the hell did you come back?!"
Peter hadn't even noticed that Huntress was walking towards him until she was right in his face jabbing her finger in his chest. He stared at her in shock with his hands up in surrender.
"My—what? Murder?" Peter said, looking from Huntress to Mila. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about, Lady!"
Mila pulled Peter back and stood between him and Huntress. "Get out!"
Huntress stood there breathing hard. Mila stood her ground. Peter suddenly jumped in front of them both in a defensive stance when he noticed a dark figure in the doorway of the kitchen that was suddenly open.
"Huntress! We're leaving now!" Batman barked and turned around with a swish of his cape not even waiting for Huntress to follow. Huntress huffed but left without another word.
"So that was the Batman?" Peter said staring past the door into the dark in awe. Batman had a presence. Peter would definitely give him that.
"He knows better than to come here," Mila said and spit on the ground.
"What?" Peter said in confusion and turned to look at her. She'd allowed the Huntress to enter without question. Peter had assumed Mila worked with the vigilantes.
"It doesn't matter," Mila said, placing a hand on Peter's forearm. "It's late. We need to rest." With that, Mila retreated to her room.
Peter watched her go up the stairs then he turned towards the kitchen door to close it. He yelped and jumped back a step when he saw a dark shadow in his peripheral. He felt stupid that he'd reacted like that but he always hated when someone or something caught him off guard. Peter blamed his jumpiness on his dependence on his spider-sense. He needed to be more aware of his surroundings depending on his other senses instead of just his Spidey sense since it only warmed him when there was danger.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you," said a youthful voice that came into the light. "I'm Robin."
"Uh," Peter grabbed the door and peered out behind Robin. "Are there any other vigilantes hiding in the shadows that I should know about?"
Robin chuckled and shook his head. "No. Just me," he said and shrugged. "Do you mind talking to me for a bit? I have a few questions."
"Uh, sure. But let's do it out here," Peter said, gesturing to the patio and closed the door behind him. He didn't want Mila to be disturbed any further. She'd had a hectic evening.
"So you're Mila Peter's nephew?" Robin said following Peter who sat at the edge of a flower bed ignoring the chairs a few steps away.
"Yeah, I guess," Peter said scratching the back of his head.
"You guess?" Robin said carefully. "What do you mean?"
"Huntress mentioned something about my...murder? She was a bit hot under the collar about it. What was she talking about? I don't remember anything," Peter told him pressing his palms into the edge of the bricks to hold himself in place. Not that he needed to. But it was good for pretense.
"You have amnesia," Robin said as he looked at Peter in interest. "Ah, I figured as much." He pulled something out of his utility belt and handed it to Peter. "That's your file. This just got a lot more complicated."
Peter looked at the small R shaped USB drive that Robin handed to him. "Complicated?" Peter looked up just to see that Robin had disappeared.
Well, that's annoying.
Peter got up and went back inside. He found a computer in Mila's office and plugged in the USB drive. He looked through the contents and went through the police reports, court transcripts, photos, recordings, and a slew of other information. It took him a few hours to get through the entire drive. Mila had a nephew named Richard that had a very uncanny resemblance to Peter. After seeing the pictures, Peter was one hundred percent certain that he and Richard were not each other doppelgangers. Richard was not the Peter of this dimension. According to the dates and the similarities between them, it was fairly easy to confuse the one for the other. Peter scratched the back of his head and looked heavenward. He now understood why the Huntress had been so upset. Now they had nothing but the attempted murder to hold against Mila's ex-husband if he was Richard. But if Peter proved—and he was going to have to prove—that he wasn't Richard, what would that do to Mila? From the transcripts Peter read, Mila was unequivocally convinced that her nephew was alive. Peter sighed. Complicated was an understatement.