answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
spiderman1fan: Doom's reaction will be shown what's on that drive and well he'll be less than impressed and his already low opinion of Stark will drop further.
kival737101: the next lemon is with Wonder Woman after the events in this arc
Harbinger of Kaos: It'll be explained why Morgan and Doom seem to be good and the reason won't be all that complicated really. Yeah, Doom's going to enjoy rubbing Reed's nose in it, and really, he'll have every right, to some extent. No, it's not Madwell Lord, it's someone else and yeah Gotham's still dying like he did in the comics, wished I could keep him but considering all the heavy hitters already in this story, it'd start to get too crowded
Galabrax: Doom will help Reed and Strange figure out what Mephisto's goal was into regards to having the hero's not realize that it was Ock pretending to be Peter this whole time and help Valeria figure out where Doomsday came from. No Loki won't have too much of a role in here, might pop up from time to time but that's it, as for Marvel characters showing up, if you mean anymore I have a few in mind as we explore hoe Daredevil is taking this Peter being dead news
justafan: The energy being that thought it was Superman or was a version of him was insane, but the new 52 Superman was infamous and not in a good way for fighting first and asking questions later unlike the Pre-new 52 Superman who would have first tried to figure out what was going on instead of diving head first into a fight. No the Spider-man show in Japan wasn't animated, it was made like back in the eighties or something around that time and well, think Power Rangers but worse
chimera629: If you mean Cap left Peter to fight Doomsday on his own then no, he was in India at the time on a mission and even then Peter couldn't have called for help because he was locked out of the network that a lot of the superhero teams in the Marvel universe use to contact each other, don't know if that's actually canon but it would explain how the Avengers can easily contact the X-men and vice versa or any of the other superhero teams but if you mean that time before that, he discovered he was a sort of HYDRA sleeper agent so he had to deal with that and his duties that come with being Captain America, plus Octavius made it his goal to try and isolate himself from others and distance himself so they won't catch on to the fact he wasn't Peter, plus the fact that it's been mentioned that Annihlus invaded not too long ago with Mephisto's aid also dragged his attention away from the Superior Spider-man. No, the others who sided with Stark and left Peter out to dry will pay their dues in time, it's just that Stark at the moment is top of the list, mainly because of what was discovered about him in that flash drive, once that's dealt with the others will get theirs be it in big ways or small. Peter hasn't slept with anyone in the better part of a year and a half and when someone as attractive as Catwoman says she wants to sleep with you, what straight guy would say no, and now she's telling him she wants to make it a regular thing, he'd be an idiot to say no, sides he did something similar with Silk when she first appeared, after knowing her for like two issues he was sleeping with her.
Dark King Marcel: No, Jean for a brief moment sensed Mephsito but he quickly covered himself before she could confirm it was him, right now she just sensed a brief dark presence. Cassandra Cain yes because aside from Barbra Gordon, she's my favorite Batgirl, I like Stephanie well enough but well with how she's going in the comics currently, I don't see them happening anytime soon.
gunman: Bruce will meet his girl, next arc in fact and it'll take some inspiration form the Phantom Mask movie so no real surprise on who's showing up. Mephisto really doesn't have to do anything, he's just doing this to keep the Marvel heroes from realizing that Peter isn't really dead yet, he knows they'll figure it out eventually because he knows they're trying to find out where Doomsday came from, he's just stalling them long enough to hopefully get his due soul from Peter and maybe squeeze a bit more out of him
chucky700: You can envision her as that version of Catwoman if you want. No that Morgan Le Fay was the Marvel version, and no Mordrid isn't who Spidey has to get, not to be a jerk but even with the subtle hints I'll be dropping I don't think anyone will really know who it is until the big reveal, granted that may be more my fault but meh I think that reveal will make up for it.
ShadowWolfNinja: The web warriors won't be appearing for a while, not until around the time the Marvel heroes realize that Peter and Doomsday weren't killed but transported to somewhere else.
Watermeloan: Well Mephsito is the devil or acts like him, only makes sense he's an ass of the highest order, but no it's not him that's made Peter's life suck, granted he had a hand in some moments but what caused the rest aside from good old bad luck will be revealed at a later time.
cabrera1234: It won't be a full on Civil War between the heroes but there will be a rather large fight between Stark and some of the others that are with Rogers and the girls, the most obvious being the X-men and Scarlet Spider, Toxin and Venom and Teressa
Guest: Oh Doom will have lots of fun at sticking it to Reed in that he's had to come to him for help. And yeah Doom will be bragging to Reed that he was able to figure out what was really wrong with 'Peter' during the whole Superior Spider-man incident and why he never said anything, and really, it'll make a lot of sense.
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used in this story
Marvel Universe…X mansion
The room was silent as Steve stood before them all with a stern expression on his face while behind him stood Jessica, Teressa, Carol, Julia, Wanda and Jean. Each woman had their own hard expressions their face as they along with the Captain stood at the x-men, X-factor, the Guardians of the Galaxy and the current members of the Spider clan
It was then that the young Scott Summers from an alternate past spoke up "I'm sorry, but can you please repeat that. I could have sworn that you just said Stark has tried to wipe out the Mutant Race and take over the world…"
"That's exactly what I said son" Steve said with a careful nod at the young man who stared at him for a few moments along with the rest of the room's occupants before he gave a simple nod
"Oh…just making sure" Scott said with a nod before leaning back in his chair
"You're not gonna freak out and go on a rampage, are you?" Bobby Drake asked, sitting next to a still sad Angelica "Cause really we do not need another Magnetoclops right now"
"No, no I will, especially if it is true but I'll wait until I'm in the danger room before I start blasting things and raging on like some dramatic little brat" Scott said in a tense tone
"…That's fair" Ice man said with a nod before turning back to Steve and cleared his throat "So uh Cap, not that I really want or need a reason to go kick Starks ass, cause honestly, I was just about to head out and do just that, but um…do you have actual proof of this?"
Rogers nodded "Yes, as a matter of fact I do or more accurately the women behind me discovered this"
He then activated the X-men's holographic display and gestured for Carol to install the flash drive which then brought up a list of images and documents that ranged from deposits through a series of shell companies, purchases of a wide variety of items be it rare metals like Vibrainium, Adamantium, Carbonaium, steel, iron etc. and-
"Wait, are those Charles's files on how to take down the X-men if they ever went rogue?" Old Man Logan asked with a frown as he recognized his, or rather his late counterpart's file
"Yes they are" Steve said with a sigh as he watched the various members of the X-men begin to read through some of the images and documents they saw
"Wait hold on, why would Stark try to take us out?" Kitty Pryde soon to be Kitty Quill asked with a frown "I mean yeah we'd be less than happy he'd try to take over the world but if it didn't affect Mutant kind in any way, if not made things better…I hate to say it but we'd probably wouldn't have picked a fight with him. Some may have even decided to help him"
"And you'd be right, but not all of you would be onboard for what Stark had in mind and would have challenged him, which in turn would have eventually dragged the rest into the conflict. And to be honest…the X-men are a far larger threat then the Avengers are by a good margin" Carol said as she folded her arms across her chest and sent a glare towards a picture of her when she sided with Stark's 50 state initiative in the wake of the Civil War
"How the hell are the X-men a bigger threat then the Avengers?" Toxin asked with a confused growl "I mean yeah they have some tough guys on their teams and all but don't you guys have the likes of Thor, Hulk, and even Sentry for a time!"
"Yes but in terms of numbers the X-men and the Mutant population which was on the rise outnumbered the Avengers to the point that if a war broke out between us then like it did with Cyclops when the Phoenix Force had returned for Hope…we'd have lost that fight before it escalated as far as it did" Steve revealed before he cleared his throat and continued "So Stark decided that to avoid that eventuality he made it so that the X-men would never dare try to challenge him when he took command…and he did this by purchasing a series of different drugs and materials over the course of several months…"
Steve had highlighted a series of purchases that showed that on their own they seemed harmless enough…but the more intelligent members of the assembled heroes saw that if you were to combine these they'd make one very potent and powerful hallucinogenic that could cause bouts of insomnia, paranoia, and eventually if left untreated lead to an emotional and mental breakdown and the equipment he used to disperse this hallucinogen into a gas like state…was vented right into Wanda's room
"Damn…" the younger version of Hank McCoy said as he stood next to his older blur furred self "He…he orchestrated Wanda's mental breakdown and eventual depowerment of most of Mutant kind?"
"Yes…" Steve said with a stony expression, aware that behind him Wanda was glaring at the ground in rage, scarlet energy beginning to dance around her
He took a deep breath before pushing onwards "After most of the Mutants on earth were taken out of the picture, Stark then turned his attention to the Avengers themselves and by proxy the other superhero teams that could in theory and actuality stop him. He thus decided to start removing individuals that he knew wouldn't back his plans, Thor was already gone and Sentry was and still is to some extent easily manipulated, which left only Doctor Banner and Hulk to truly contend with"
"Grrrr metal man had Hulk and puny Banner kicked off earth" Hulk said in an angrier tone than usual
"So he more or less commits genocide through Wanda after driving her crazy with some serious messed up LSD, then he spun the Hulk's then recent fight in Vegas that left a lot of people dead or hurt and had him shuttled off into space" Deadpool said as he began to write down something in his note book that had the words 'Stark's going down and here's why' on the cover with a small picture of Tony Stark with devil horns and an evil curly mustache on it
"Yes and it gets better" Teressa said, sarcasm evident in her tone as she stepped forward "Afterwards we uncovered a series of payments made to one man that possessed similar powers to the Purple Man in that he could influence others by speaking to them. He was spotted in Stamford the day Nitro went off…from what could be gleamed from this man after he was captured a few weeks after the Civil War and interrogated by Maria's most trusted agents…he was payed to convince Nitro to go nuclear and well…you know what happened"
Images of the destruction of Stamford began to appear, the incident that led to the creation of the Superhuman Registration act which in turn caused the Civil War, one side led by Captain America, the other by Stark
"Stark did say that someday a superhuman was going to either kill a lot of people or make a mistake that would…" Storm said as she rubbed her brow in exhaustion "Guess he decided to cause an incident himself to help forward his agenda"
"Wait, wait, wait uh a minute here!" Laura stood up with a confused expression on her face "If SHEILD knew this, then why the hell didn't they-"
"Maria Hill was one of his supporters, it was Stark that backed her recommendation that she be placed in charge after Fury went into hiding after the events of the Secret War he waged" Jessica revealed
"So at this point, Stark had instigated the events that would lead to the Civil War and who knows maybe even had a hand in the ousting of Fury as director of SHIELD so his pawn Maria could be placed in it to help him take charge when he finally made his big move?" Scarlet Spider asked with a raised hand
"In simple terms yes, after all with SHEILD's backing during the Civil War, Tony's side was next to unbeatable…and that's before we took in to account the likes of Sentry, Wonder Man, Ares and…me" Carol said the last part with a cough and looked away as several people gave her some rather less than impressed looks "…At the time I didn't know what would happen and it seemed like a good idea in the beginning…mostly"
"So your saying beating me to a bloody pulp in front of my own daughter was a good idea?" Julia asked with an edge in her tone that caused quite a few in the large crowd to tense up
Carol looked away in shame at that, one of her less than stellar moments on the whole
"So now what?" Logan asked with a frown
"Now? Now we go kick Stark's ass!" Bobby said as he stood up "That asshole as nearly wiped out Mutant kind, tore the Superhero community in half and tried to imprison the ones who wouldn't follow his lead"
"Easier said than done Bobby" Steve said as he continued "Stark, from what we can gather from these files has both the likes of Sentry and Maria on his side along"
"Yeah well we have a Hulk" Bobby said as he pointed to the large green rage machine himself "Hell he's kicked all three of their asses on several occasions"
"Aye, and the Hulk will not be alone in this endeavor, for I myself would still like to repay the Sentry for killing my brother" Thor said as he held up his enchanted Uru ax, Jarnbjorn. A weapon capable of cutting even Celestial armor
"But isn't Loki now alive again?" Laura asked with a confused frown
"…That is beside the point" Thor said with a cough
"If we're going to take down Stark, we're going have to do it in a way that will make sure that he can never strike back" Steve said as he began to run through possible plans before glancing towards the numerous holographic files floating before him "And I just might have a plan"
"What is it?" Logan asked with a interested expression
Steve studied the faces of the mutants, looking for one person in particular "Where's Emma Frost?"
…
Meanwhile in the Sanctum Sanctorum Reed Richards and Dr. Strange stood before the recently arrived monarch of Latveria Victor Von Doom aka Doctor Doom and his ally, Morgan Le fay
"I mean honestly Richards, it shouldn't have been that hard for you to notice the change in the Spider's mannerism, his speech pattern, even the way he addressed others to realize that he wasn't himself" Doom said as he paced before Dr. Strange and Reed and observed some of the recent renovations to the Sanctum while Morgan watched the two men that have both rivaled Doom in either science or magic on many occasions
"If you knew it wasn't really Peter, then why didn't you say anything?" Reed asked with narrowed eyes "You could have saved us a lot of trouble in the end, he may even still be alive today"
"Would you have believed me if I did mention anything?" Doom responded with a brow quirked under his helmet "After all, it's not like I have a rather unfortunate reputation of manipulating others and instilling discord amongst others for either my amusement or to further my own goals of saving this world and helping humanity and to some extent mutant and Inhuman kind reach it's full potential"
Reed's fist tightened at this before Strange loudly cleared his throat "Let's get back to the matter at hand here…Victor, do you have any idea as to why Mephisto would keep us from realizing that Peter was no longer Spider-man, but it was in fact Otto Octavius?"
At this Morgan spoke in a calm tone "Likely because he had some use for Peter when he finally regained his body. It was simply a matter of keeping him in an environment created by Otto where he was alone, disliked or outright hated…and in a perfect position to be manipulated"
"I'm sorry, I know this is a little off topic here, but I thought you two hated each other?" Reed said as he gestured between the two
"We did…" Doom said as he passed a book shelf counting a host of tomes that he's either already read or heard of
"Then what changed?" Reed asked
"Simple Richards" Morgan said as she placed a hand on her hip "Doom has reached that point in his life where he seeks companionship, even though he will never utter such a thing willingly, and well I'm the only woman on earth if not the universe that is willing to put up with his ego and let him into my vagina…"
Reed glanced back and forth between the two before he sighed "It's really that hard for you two to say the 'L' word isn't it?"
Dooms and Morgan's response were both scoffs before Strange loudly cleared his throat and motioned for the original purpose of this meeting to continue. Doom obliged and decided to reveal what he's learned of the demon that's plagued him more than any other being save Richards and even then, it was close
"What truly makes Mephisto such a dangerous creature isn't that he holds great power or commands an entire realm filled with demons and other nightmarish creatures which he has plenty of in both aspects, it's that he waits until one is at their lowest point, when they have no one or nowhere else to turn to…and then appears as some sort of twisted savior, usually by then the person he's making the contract with truly has nothing else to lose and will do anything, give anything to be free of their current predicament, to know either peace, or joy or even love…" Doom said as he folded his arms across his chest as his eyes gained a sort of faraway look in them
Morgan placed a hand on Doom's shoulder and gave it a light almost unnoticeable squeeze of comfort and affection
"So maybe we should be asking what it is that Mephisto has that Peter might want?" Reed asked
"Yes but what we really should be asking is…what would Mephisto want that he felt he needed someone like Spider-man to do it for him?" Doom said in a curious tone "While Mephisto does like to collect souls for payment, his true passion is to enthrall capable agents for him to use to either further his own goals or to simply disrupt and harass others if for nothing else to amuse him…"
The room soon grew silent as the four mentally theorized what it is that Mephisto is up to or could want that he felt he needed Peter to accomplish it before his untimely demise…
…
"I'm still not following" Blackherat, the twisted spawn of Mephisto said to his father as they stood deep in the realm of Mephisto's domain surrounded by fire, smoke, ash and the souls that were foolish enough to make a deal with the lord of this domain
Mephisto frowned at his child "What's there to follow? I just need you to take a few legions of demons to earth and…have fun"
"No that I get, what I don't get is why you want me to take over a thousand of some of our most brutal, our most powerful demons and lay siege to three different cities on earth in the first place" Blackheart said with narrowed eyes
"That is for me to know…" Mephisto said with a grin as he placed a hand on his son's shoulder…before slamming him into the wall and leaning his face in "…And for you to not question and do as your told…remember Blackheart you are not my only child…question me again and I will make you pray to whatever higher being lies above the Living Tribunal if you ever question me again!"
Blackheart nodded fearfully, while he was powerful in his own right, his father surpassed him by leaps and bounds in both power and brutality
"Of course father…"
Mephisto grinned before he released his child "Good, now assemble the army and leave as soon as possible, start with your assault on New York, the home of Professor Strange to be precise"
"It's Doctor Strange actually-"
"Don't care" Mephisto said with a wave of his hand before turning his back to his son and created a red and black portal big enough for him to fit through "You know where to find me after your either surprising success in conquering the earth or your defeat"
Blackheart watched as his father left, leaving him wondering just what his father was hoping to gain from this
"…Grrr" Blackheart growled in annoyance before turning on his heel and teleporting to his father's demons' barracks to rouse the troops for a brief but hopefully bloody attack on the earth
…
DC universe…
"Question…why can't you do this?" Peter asked as he stood on top of a building, scanning the horizon for any signs of Gotham and Gotham Girl "I mean they probably like you more than me anyway, mostly because they know about you a lot more than me"
"I'm heading to the home of their parents to uncover just what it is that set them on this path and possibly just how they got their abilities. Their parents aren't metas, which means that they've somehow gained these abilities from another party…someone with a possible agenda that they may not be aware of" Bruce said over Peter's com
"Ooooookay" Peter said as he scratched the back of his head "And I suppose you want to try and cross check the parents and these kids story to see if there's any consistencies?"
"Yes…they might end up telling me what I want to hear or they might overlook something they might deem insignificant" Bruce said before some shuffling occurred "I've arrived at their parents' home, I'll contact you when I'm done"
"And I'll send you a text if I find the dynamic duo, yes I've hacked your phone to get your number but he that means we can send text to each other and talk!" Peter said with a chuckle
"…Never have I ever hoped something horrible would happen to another human being since the Joker" Bruce said through gritted teeth
"Heh, wait till I introduce you to a man named Wade Wilson" Peter said before he made out two distinct shapes in the distance flying at high speeds "Found them, I'll let you know how it goes"
Peter didn't wait for a response before he shot off towards the duo, making sure they see him coming less they think he's a missile or something, he really didn't feel like getting blasted out of the air because of a mistaken of identity
…
"Is there something wrong Spider-man?" Gotham Girl asked as the three touched down on a rooftop overlooking a river a few moments later
"What? Oh no, just wanted to talk is all" Peter said as he took a seat on the building's ledge "Since I'm going to be staying here for a while, figured I get better acquainted with the local populace"
"What about Catwoman?" Gotham said with a snort "Can't she inform you of the others?"
"Well the bat clan yeah, but you two are new sooo I thought I should start with you guys first, that way if I don't like what's going on with Batsy and his band of little underpaid and overworked helpers doesn't work for me, I can shack it up with you" Peter said as he cupped his chin "In fact, I can see us now…Spider-man and his Amazing friends!"
"…Why's your name go first and how come ours isn't even mentioned?" Gotham Girl asked with a frown
"Cause I'm older, cooler aaaaand…it sounds catchy" Peter said as if speaking to a child
Gotham and Gotham Girl both shot each other a look before turning back towards the armored spider hero with Gotham speaking this time "…Be that as it may, we're not looking to really partner with anyone yet. Aside from Batman considering this is his city"
"Aww why?" Peter said as his shoulders slumped before his head slowly rose and his glowing lenses narrowed "Oh I get it…"
"Get what?" Gotham said with a frown
"You two are magic based heroes aren't ya?" Peter probed
"What?" Gotham asked with growing confusion
"Well I'm a science based hero, meaning that my powers originated in the more scientific side of things, meaning we can't be friends because of our conflicting natures!" Peter said as he crossed his arms and turned his head to the side "And here I thought heroes in this world were all tolerant of others origins…"
"we're not magic based!" Gotham Girl said "We've gotten our powers from science too!"
At this Peter turned towards them with a slightly quirked head "Really and how did this happen? Joined up with some weird cult? Both ex-military and volunteered some super soldier program or kidnapped by a crazy scientist and he experimented on you and boom powers?"
"Yeah, we uh…uh paid to have these powers" Gotham said with a cough "Cost a lot, like to the point our parent thought we may have pissed some drug lord off or something, but uh it worked and…here we are…superpowered"
They now had Peter's full attention 'Heh, hook line and sinker!'
He then adjusted his seating on the ledge "Oh well that's a relief…but what made you wanna become the second coming of Superman and Supergirl?"
"What do you mean?" Gotham asked
"I mean what drove you and blondie here to throw on some spandex and save the day? What you just woke up one day and said 'I'm gonna be a superhero, hey sis you want in on this' or was it like 'Well let's see what being a hero is like before going all villain and then afterwards see which side's better'" Peter said as he looked back and forth between the two
"…It was Batman actually" Gotham said
"Batman inspired you to be a hero?" Peter said with a raised brow "Could have fooled me, if anything that guy inspires depression and angst in everyone around him within a three mile radius"
"Heh…No, uh actually a while back me and my parents went to see a movie and we were about to get mugged and maybe worse…then Batman swept in and saved us" Gotham revealed as he glanced out towards the city "He said…that I was going to be scared and that it was fine, because everyone gets scared. He said that everyone gets the opportunity to fight that fear…and be brave. After that my sister and I started helping people…small things at first like food kitchens and helping the elderly…but after a while I we wanted to do more"
"Huh…so seeing Batman beat a guy to a bloody pulp inspired you be a hero?" Peter said with some amusement before he shrugged "Well that's a hell of a lot better than what inspired me to be a hero"
"Well there was more to it than that but yeah, but what inspired you?" Gotham Girl asked as she stared at Peter along with her brother with curiosity
Peter was silent for a moment as images of his uncle flashed through his mind…their last conversation…a wrestling match…not stopping a thief…and then…no more Uncle Ben
"...Let's just say I found out the hard way that when you have the power to do something, to make a difference, to help people who are in trouble, then you should. Because if you don't…then bad things can happen to good people and that's not on the people doing the hurting, that's on you" Peter said as he stood up and rubbed the back of his head
"…You lost someone, someone close to you…didn't you?" Gotham Girl asked as she carefully approached Peter and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder "Because you didn't act?"
"Yeah…I didn't stop someone from doing something not so nice and well…the closet thing I had to a father died because of it" Peter said before suddenly a distant boom caught the three's attention "…And cue disaster, thank you Gotham City, could have done with something less destructive though!"
"What was that?" Gotham Girl asked as her brother floated up and looked towards the source of the explosion
"The Vincefinkle bridge!" Gotham said before he shot off towards it like a rocket, followed quickly by Peter and Gotham Girl
"Gotham, hold that bridge, keep it from collapsing, Gotham Girl you're with me in getting these people off. It's rush hour which means we have a lot of people to relocate!" Peter shouted towards the two over the roar of the wind and his armors repulsoers, he really needs to see if there was a way to make them quieter somehow
"On it/Understood" the duo said as they quickly rushed off to their assigned tasks
Peter quickly landed before a car that was still filled with several people in it about to fall into the now large gap made by what his suit's scanners has identified as some sort of bomb. Peter quickly grabbed the bump of the car and pulled it on to more solid ground before he signaled people to get off quick
He then turned to see some of the cables holding the bridge were beginning to snap 'Uh oh, that ain't good!'
"Peter-" Bruce suddenly chimed in
"Bridge collapsing, get back to me!" Peter said as he began to shoot web lines towards at the suspensions to help keep them secured for a little longer, but given the wright of the bridge, he wasn't expecting it to last even five minutes
"I'll be there in three minutes!" Bruce said
It was then the bridge shook as Peter began to push some of the vehicles aside that had people trapped and ushered them out and towards safety "Hate to tell ya Bats but uh this bridge ain't gonna last two at this point"
"It'll hold" Bruce insisted
"Oh my god…" Peter said suddenly as he was helping a couple out of their car that had crashed into the side and had one of the suspension cables pinning them in place
"What?"
"It's just…here I am expecting the worse and then there's you being all optimistic…dear god what is the world coming to!" Peter said in mock alarm as he lifted the heavy metal coil and used his head to gesture for the people to get out
"Hhh" Bruce grunted before he appeared on one of his many bat-cycles and had several objects shoot off his bike and split into two groups, three imbedded themselves into the bridge while two others seemed to fly underneath the bridge to where Gotham was just as a large high tech jet appeared and shot more grappling hooks into the collapsing structure and suddenly activated it's underside thrusters at full power
"Huh…well that works" Peter said as he saw Gotham Girl carrying several people toward the far end of the bridge and let them down before she landed net to him in a flash "Good job kid…"
"Thanks" Gotham Girl said with a smile as she saw her brother land next to them "You okay?"
Gotham nodded "Yeah, bridge was heavier than I thought…didn't use enough strength that time…"
At that Peter's eyes narrowed in slight interest 'Wait, 'didn't use enough that time'? The kid had no problem lifting an air plane the other day or going toe to toe with Grundy…how the hell was this harder?'
"Batman's here, looks like he wants to talk" Gotham Girl said as she pointed up towards the caped crusader who was standing on top of the bridge, looking down at them
"Well better go see what the big brooding man child wants" Peter said as he turned to leave
"You aren't coming?" Gotham asked as he and his sister began to rise into the air
"Nah, sides I uh have somewhere to be…see ya at the next big Gotham City heroes' rooftop meeting at GCPD yeah?" Peter said before he shot off before either sibling could say anything
"Wonder where he's going?" Gotham said as he began to rise towards batman
"Don't know…" Gotham Girl said before she leaned in towards her brother "Hey… do you think-"
"No" Gotham said with a snort "I really don't want to explain to mom and dad why Catwoman skinned you alive after trying to make a move on him"
"Spoil sport" Gotham Girl said with a scowl "…And I could take her"
…
Half an hour later Peter was standing in the Bat cave and was about to head back to Selina's apartment when Bruce came in on his bat-cycle
"So how was your conversation with the two's folks?" Peter inquired as his helmet receded
"Fine…and your talk with them?" Bruce asked
"Well enough. For starters, their powers aren't natural"
"The parents confirmed as much, they were asked to wire a large sum of money to them a while back…"
"When they were abroad right?" Peter asked
At this Bruce turned towards Peter with a questioning gaze "How'd you know they got them abroad?"
"Simple, if the US government or any rational first world country would never give kids like them, no matter how much money was thrown at them, the powers to rival Superman. Which means they had to go to a third world country at some point and well…I also listened to your recorded meeting with the parents after I got back" Peter said as he thumbed towards a small monitor on the Bat-computer
"Anything else?" Bruce asked as he sat in his chair and logged into his system while hiding the annoyance he felt that this man was on his computer while he was away, no on it in general
"Yeah, apparently watching you beat a mugger that could have killed them is inspirational enough for them to undergo some shady ass procedure in god knows where to become a superhero" Peter said with a snort as he eyed Bruce carefully "Honestly, I'm not seeing it, maybe it was Batgirl that they saw or this Batwoman I keep hearing about, you know people that don't look like they sleep on a pile of rusted nails and drink acid for breakfast to get that face of yours"
"It wasn't…" Bruce said as Peter confirmed what the parents told him and inputted in into Gotham and Gotham Girl's files "Hmm…"
"What is it?" Peter asked
"Did something seem odd about Gotham today?" Bruce asked as he watched footage of Gotham struggling to hold the bridge up while Peter and Gotham Girl helped the civilians get off as fast as possible
Peter saw what the man was referring to soon enough "He's struggling to hold that bridge up…odd since he could catch a several hundred-ton plane falling from the sky, which would be even heavier thanks to it reaching terminal velocity despite out best efforts to slow it down"
"And then there was the fight with Grundy…" Bruce hummed at that "I was willing to chalk it up to them being new, but even then, they should have been able to take him down without too much trouble"
"Maybe they were tired? Or to keep their powers they got from whatever procedure they underwent, they have to take pills or something to keep them at their peak" Peter theorized
"Possibly…did they say who gave them their powers?" Bruce asked as he typed in the names of several groups that could possibly give people super powers of any sort
"No, didn't get that far and even then, I don't think they're so willing to snitch on the guy that's made them the next Superman and Supergirl, at least not any time soon" Peter said as he eyed some of the results that Bruce came up with "How many of these guys can give god like powers to people without using magic or divine backing?"
"Unknown, believe it or not this is rather new here…" Bruce said as he leaned back in his chair "From what I can gather from your conversations with the others, your world is far more populated with super powered beings"
"Mutants, Inhumans, gods, magic users and well people like me" Peter said with a thoughtful expression "They number in the tens of millions, and even then, there's new ones showing up and being born everyday"
"Where's here there's, by my estimates, only around a million meta humans in the world give or take a few thousand and in that, only a few hundred to a few thousand have omega to alpha level powers" Bruce said as he showed images of people like Aquaman, the Flash, Doomsday, Swamp Thing, Zatanna and so on "Which means that the governments of the world and privately funded organizations don't feel as pressured to make something to combat this"
"Take that as a blessing Bats" Peter said dryly "Not a day went by where I didn't see a super powered attack on the news or something along those lines"
"Well it's increasing here, so I shouldn't hold my breath" Bruce said with a sigh as he glanced at the images of Gotham and Gotham Girl "What do you think?"
"about?" Peter asked with confusion
"Them" Bruce nodded towards the pair "Do you think they have what it takes? For this life?"
Peter glanced up at the two's images and studied them for a few moments as he mentally ran through his meetings and conversations with the two "Far as I can tell, yeah. But then again, they haven't been exposed to the darker aspects of this lifestyle…"
"Hmm" Bruce sounded as the two stared at the images of these two for a few moments before an alarm went off
"What's that?" Peter questioned as Bruce checked to see what it was and paled slightly
"…Something I really wished wouldn't happen…"
…
And done
So next chapter Peter and Bruce discover something's gone wrong with Gotham and Gotham Girl and find themselves in the fight of not only their lives, but the future of Gotham!
I don't know why but this chapter was hard t write for some reason. Anyway what did you think of the big reveal, I feel it's kind of original to an extent in that Stark had orchestrated the events of House of M
Basically, Stark in his rise to power took out most of the Mutant population by more or less drugging Wanda, then the stuff with the Illuminati in regard to Banner/Hulk being kicked off word and then placing Maria in SHEILD to insure he has their backing for the first Super Hero Civil War that he started and eventually won, cause after that he's the most powerful man on earth in terms of resources and influence.
I feel like I didn't do a great job conveying it but het I'll leave that to you all to decide, be gentle-ish I cry easily