Answers to reviewers' questions or statements:
Fireofargentis: I have something like that in mind for a possible future story that will take elements from both that story, Spider-man: Reign and Marvel's first Civil War
JJChandler: Yeah, good thing he has some credible durability and a healing factor, else he would have died years ago
Spawn Hades: Originally I wasn't going to use Phantasm but after watching the movie again because I've taken to binge watching all of the DC animated movies/shows that Bruce Timm made in preparation for the Justice League Movie coming out in a few months, I thought what the hell she'd make things interesting. The new and official harem is just below.
Jestalnaker94000: I liked the Thor one a bit more, mainly because I like how their showing off Hela, Hulk talking and Thor trying to cover up the fact he got his ass kicked by Hulk and Banner asking if he won and Thor saying, 'No, I won easily'. Plus that final shot of Hulk charging at mother freakin SURTUR of all beings was epic! Granted I doubt Hulk will be able to do much against a guy of that power but still epic. Justice League, eh looks alright and I'm willing to give it more of a chance after Wonder Woman but I'm still skeptical of it being good, like anyone else that's looking forward to this movie.
Wingd Knight: No she'll be part of the story, won't have a real major role given she'll be a baby and can't do too much but she's not going to be written off like she was in the comics.
superspiderfan: She is the final DC girl and she and Peter will have their own sort of team up soon. Also I have mulled over a story where Peter becomes a member of one of the Lantern Corps and he and Jessica are the main pairing
Karlos1234ify: Yeah, Peter's starting to meet Bruce's ex's and it'll be fun to watch Peter following him around and asking what she's like and if he can explain why he keeps sleeping with apparently evil women. It'll be even funnier when Talia shows up
Devilboy101: Maybe
JP-Ryder: We won't be seeing any Marvel stuff for a while, like another six or so chapters as we start to really get into why Peter is here in the first place and him finding a way to get around Otto's little fail safe, but when we do get back, get ready for a war against the forces of hell and the long awaited fight between Stark, some people that are loyal to him and a good portion of Peter's friends and family
Marveldcfan: Yeah, but that little tumor won't be an issue for too long.
90skid4life: Well it looks like Marvel is actually going through with pairing Spider-man with Mockingbird so he kind of is being paired with a superheroine. My question is how long will it last
Harbinger of Kaos: Oz is aware of Mephisto's presence and is watching him and Spider-man but we won't see any direct action for the time being, mainly because he's curious to see what the lord of lies has planned. Yeah poor Jess may have unintentionally helped spider-man bring out a sort of wild side that's been building in Wonder Woman. The Colony will be taking in interest in Peter's suit, after all how often does one come across a nearly full sentient suit of highly advance armor from another universe in another multiverse?
gunman: Eh Batman probably would still exist in some form or fashion, he just likely wouldn't be as depressed and angsty as he usually is. Yeah, but I'm sure GL wouldn't have minded too much, after all a threesome with both Spider-man and Wonder Woman, who wouldn't be down for that? Ture and the whole time Batwoman is around Huntress listening to her complain about Spider-man, she can say 'oh just sleep with him already!'
cabrera1234: Yeah he'll encounter Harley and Ivy at a later point in time. No tony won't be trying to make amends because well he thinks he's right, as usual so he won't be trying to fix anything between him and Spider-man
MCRasengan: The final DC girl is Jessica Cruz because I figured why not they do seem like they'd make a good couple.
Redrangerlegacy: Nah, it's the same people that attacked Azrael but to Peter, they'll be Bat fans because let's be honest that's what they are.
Justafan: I think she was talking that way more for Clayface's benefit then the others, guy isn't too bright even though he's a pretty good actor
Spider-man x Wonder Woman x Captain Marvel x Catwoman x Spider-woman x Batgirl x Madam Web x Black Canary x Black Widow x Huntress x Zatanna Zatara x Jessica Cruz x Scarlet Witch x Wolverine (Laura Kinney) x Jean Grey
Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used
"Can't… catch… my breath" Spoiler panted heavily, sweat pouring down her brow as she leaned against a demolished truck that was lying in the middle of a street in a heavily destroyed Gotham with the other members of Batman's 'team'.
"The next wave is coming" Batwoman's voice echoed through the area.
"Oh god. Why did I do this? Why did I agree to this?" Clayface said with a panicked tone, now in his human and garbed in a ripped black armored body suit of sorts with metal gauntlets with a small green glowing bat symbol on the sides.
"We… we're done" Red Robin said weakly as he was being held up by Orphan who looked to be in a similar state that he was. Both their suits were torn, burned and covered in what looked to be mud, same as Spoiler's.
"Strike…" Batwoman ordered.
"There are too many…" Spoiler said with wide eyes as she stared at a army of Jokers approaching her and the rest of the team, each bearing that horrifying grin and laughing that twisted crackle that's haunted the various members of the Bat-Family for years.
Peter on the other hand, he was having the time of his life.
"WHOOOOOOO! BRING IT YA PAST PALE PENNYWISES!" Peter shouted as he landed between the team and the army of Jokers before raising his arms and having the suit create a pair of what could only be described as 'Arc Miniguns' "You know some would consider this cheating but for the life of me, I could care less because I know that me doing this will piss Batman off!"
He then unleashed a complete and total barrage of energy blasts at the advancing Joker army that broke into a run. Numerous Jokers fell with large gaping holes in their chests, some having entire limbs blown off. Peter didn't have to worry about him killing anyone, after all, it was just a training simulator. And the 'Jokers' he was fighting were nothing more than Clayface excess that Batman gas gathered over the years and runs in through some fight terminal in the old Bat-Computer.
"Guess you're not the muscle on our team anymore Clayface" Spoiler said as she watched Spider-man take on a literal army of Jokers almost single handedly.
"I keep telling you guys, I can't fight like this…" Clayface said as he found himself surrounded by several Jokers before Orphan appeared and in the span of several seconds, she disarmed and disabled all of them with a sort of skill that would leave any martial artist green with envy or red with jealously.
"He's using lethal force though…" Red Robin said as he ducked under a swipe from one of the Jokers and sent a powerful jab into the ribs but still keeping Spider-man in his field of vision "I know it's just a simulator and I know he wouldn't use this level of force out there but…"
"You think he's enjoying himself a little too much?" Spoiler asked as she delivered a powerful drop kick to a Joker before kicking the feet out of another.
"You tell me" Red Robin nodded towards Spider-man who had since formed an hammer with his armor and a small canon.
"Man, I'm really starting to see why Sandman liked to form hammers all the time in our fights. I first I thought it was Thor envy. Like how some people try to get the hair or the body, he tried to get the feeling of using a hammer. But now I realize that it's just fun hammering things!" Peter said as he crushed a Joker's head with the hammer before blasting several others away with his canon.
Normally Peter wouldn't be into this level of brutality, but given that he only had a few months at best to live and a mountain of stress and built up anger to unleash that he can't do with sex or beating up Gotham's seedy underbelly, he decided to go for the next best thing.
Plus, he wasn't joking when he said Batman would be pissed…
'That and in the words of the great Wolverine, sometimes you just need to unleash your inner animal and raise hell' Peter thought with a fond smile of his late 'blood-brother' and best friend while he drop kicked a Joker into another before grabbing another and running his canon through it before blasting several that were behind it to pieces.
Spoiler was momentarily distracted by Spider-man's onslaught against the Joker army that she didn't realize that she was boxed in until it was too late. She tried to defend herself best she could but she was being slowly overwhelmed from the sheer numbers and the fact she and the others have been running this for several hours now.
"No… can't…" Spoiler said as she was pushed back until suddenly Orphan was there.
"Stay." she said as she pushed purple clad girl back before launching herself at the Jokers and unleashing a barrage of jabs, pressure point strikes and brutal punches or kicks into the assembled group.
"This is too much. Shut it down!" Red Robin yelled as he made his way to Spoiler who was barely standing from such a long drawn out fight.
"This session hasn't ended yet" Batwoman responded coolly.
"Good, because I'm barely breaking a sweat and no before you ask it's not because I have this suit of armor. I used to do stuff like this back in my reality almost on a daily bases" Peter said as he lifted one Joker over his head before bringing it down on his knee, breaking the clown in half before he back handed another one away and without looking caught a crowbar coming towards hi head before he ripped it out of the Joker's hands and impaled it with the non-curved end "Heck, I even once held the record for longest Danger Room session ever until this girl that I liked called Jean went all sort of Phoenix on it and practically broke the machine!"
"Red Robin. Override code 436." The third partner of Batman said as the simulation came to an end. The Jokers began to break down into puddles and piles of mud and the city around them disappeared and was replaced with large empty room that had several large vats open up in the floor for the liquid like mud to begin falling into.
"It's okay. It's over" Red Robin said with an unsteady tone.
"Awww, no fair. I was just about to score my like thousandth kill" Peter whined as he had crossed his arms and hunched forward slightly like a small child who was told that playtime was over as he followed Red Robin and the others out of the 'Mud Room'
'Heh, Batman can make a myriad of cool looking tech and gear but he has to be the worse labeler I've ever met' Peter thought with a chuckle as he wiped some of the mud off his armor 'I mean Mud Room? Come on, why can't it be the 'Crisis Simulator' or the 'Endgame'? Now those sound like rooms I'd try out… after checking that they were completely safe and wouldn't run the risk of being hacked into by some sociopath and I'm forced to fight it on it's absolute highest setting or risk death'
"You let us run three hours Batwoman" Red Robin said as he looked up at the team's leader who was standing on a platform with the 'Mud Room' controls before her and a large window that gave her a perfect view of the space.
"Three hours, sixteen minutes and twelve seconds to be accurate" Peter said as he saw some mud on Orphan's back and brushed it off "If you're going for accuracy that is, but yeah three hours is about right"
"You told me your Mud Room could take it Red Robin" Batwoman said.
"I thought you were talking hypothetically" Red Robin scowled in annoyance.
"Just be glad it wasn't the Black Widow running it, we'd never survive" Peter said with a shiver at the image of the red headed beauty controlling such a machine. Black Widow and Peter's views of when enough is enough tended to vary greatly. Peter was going until you couldn't, learn from it and come back and last even longer. Natasha was for going until you drop and then keep going, even if you have to crawl the rest of the way and if you survived, good for you because your expected to keep going even past that!
"These attacks are designed to stump Batman" Red Robin said as he watched Clayface exit the room in his mud form "You could have hurt one of us"
Batwoman looked unfazed by red Robin's comment as she stared down at the assembled group of heroes "I needed to see how each of you responded past the point of exhaustion. I needed to see how your forms break down. Because they did"
"Heh not mine, armor or no armor, it's going to take a lot more than fighting an army of pasty looking guys with lipstick in a cheap three-piece suit for three hours to bring me down" Peter said with a shrug. His tone wasn't arrogant, he's just been fighting large amounts of non-superpowered people armed with a wide variety of weapons over the years to the point that it doesn't even really register with him half the time until after the fight is over.
'Though if it is more than a hundred or my Spider-sense is going off as if I'm fighting someone like Laura, then I start to get a little concerned' Peter thought as he scanned the room for Batman while listening in on Batwoman pointing out everyone's flaws.
She stared at Peter for several moments, her glare almost on par with Batman's before she let out a small sigh of annoyance and turned towards the purple cladded form of Stephanie Brown and started with her first.
"Spoiler, you execute complicated attacks, but you never built your body to use them properly"
Spoiler, who was leaning against the wall with sweat drenching her face as she panted heavily nodded "Amen… to that…"
Batwoman then turned to Cassandra Cain who was still wiping bits of mud off her face "Orphan, you know you're the best fighter in the arena so you fight everyone else's battles for them. You are focused on every target, and even you can't fight twelve battles at once… you were distracted"
The daughter of Lady Shiva didn't comment on the assessment as she wiped more of the mud off her face.
"I would have been fine if you guys didn't slap this toy on me to cancel put my powers" Clayface said as he held up the device.
Batwoman glanced at the attempting to reform criminal "You need to learn fundamentals. You have none. What if you could fight as well as one of us without your abilities? Imagine being able to harden parts of yourself instinctively. You can't just rely on smothering the world around you"
"Hey, it's worked pretty well for me so far" Clayface said before pointing towards Peter "Besides, how come he isn't wearing a power damper? Hell, with that armor of his, it's almost unfair"
It was then that Peter answered with a snort "Well it's really quite simple Clayface, if she wants me to wear one like you and not have my armor on as well, I told her to beat me in a one on one fight. And to give her a chance, I said I'd face her without my armor"
"What happened?" the former actor asked with a question look on his face.
Peter glanced au at the slightly seething form of Batwoman before he spoke with a smirk under his helmet "Well I'm not wearing the power damper and I have my armor on still… what do you think?"
"No way, you beat Batwoman?" Spoiler asked with wide eyes.
Peter glanced at her with a confused look before nodding "Uh yeah, why is she supposed to be unbeatable or something"
"Its just that Batwoman is arguably second to Batman in combat prowess" Red Robin revealed before he glanced between the two older heroes "Even he has trouble against her"
"Well perks of being taght kung-fu by the 'Master of Kung-fun' in my world… and Captain America… and Black Widow…" Peter said with a sheepish expression before it fell as Batwoman spoke.
"And you weren't all that impressive out there either Spider-man"
Peter looked up at her in susprise "what makes you say that? I took down more than any of the others combined!"
"You broke formation not even five minutes into the simulation and spent most of the time acting like some one man army!" Batwoman said with narrowed eyes "This is supposed to be a team, not run off cocksure of yourself and expect things to work out"
Peter stared at her for a moment before he glanced at the others "Well in my defense… it's not like we've been having any team bonding excerises. Well me and Red Robin have with the whole upgrading and modifying this place's tech like theirs no tomorrow in some weired unofficial contest of trying to one up each other"
"I'm in the lead because of the windows" he said with a small grin.
"Yeah, well I'm still beating in in the gadget department" Peter boasted.
"For now…" Tim said with a challenging smirk
Peter had a smirk of his own "Heh, More like forever-"
"ENOUGH!" Batwoman nearly shouted in annoyance and rage as she made her way down the platform, her boots echoing through the room "None of you are taking this seriously"
Red Robin sighed at this "Look, I think everyone, minus Spider-man apparently, is just exhausted. Batman never-"
It was then that Batwoman interrupted him with a frown "Batman has expressively forbidden me taking you out as a unit until he's satisfied you're ready"
"Which means this team will never be deployed since he's never satisfied. That feeling would imply happiness which is too alien for him to understand" Peter said as he folded his arms.
Batwoman's brow twitched as she stared at Spider-man who was returning her look with a blank one of his own before she inhaled and exhaled loudly through her nose and turned her attention back to Red Robin "The only way to make you ready is that room. Of course I'm going to push you"
"Then I recommend you get a higher setting for me" Peter snickered "After all I've been through in my fifteen years, fighting an army of clowns ain't gonna cut it. Maybe something challenging like I don't know… an army of this world's Atlanteans, over a dozen metahumans with varying powers over the elements, trying to get Batman to smile without breaking reality or even an evil Justice League maybe?"
"I can do without the last one" Clayface said with a shiver at the thought of an evil Justice League. He's already seen that with the Crime syndicate, he'd rather not again if he could help it.
"This is such B.S., we've all been in the thick of it before" Spoiler said as she moved away from the group to explore the rest of the new base of operations for the team "Look, we're in this crazy awesome new superhero base. When do we get around to superheroing?"
"When Batman gets desperate or our pride compels us to leave here without his permission to tackle some big baddie" Peter said as he and the rest followed Spoiler to the main hub of the base.
Meanwhile, Batwoman and Red Robin continued to hold their conversation "To be blunt Batwoman… the Belfry is fully operational. I brought the supercomputer online this morning"
"With some help!" Peter said as he looked over his shoulder at the two "I held the console in place while he bolted it down"
Red Robin stifled a chuckle before he schooled his expression into something more serious when he saw Batwoman's less than impressed expression "It's plugged into every line of law enforcement in the city. It can triangulate nine one-one calls faster and more effectively then GCPD ever could"
"Though that isn't saying much… I mean they need some rich boy with issues and a fixation for bats to do their jobs half the time" Peter mumbled to Orphan who grinned a little at the slight insult towards Gotham's less than finest.
"And we could get there in minutes" Red Robin continued to explain the benefits of the Belfry's systems and location "No long drive in across the bay. This is a fully functioning Batcave right in the heart of Gotham City. It wasn't built to be a cage, it's a new frontline in the war on crime. There are people out there right now who could use a helping hand, and we have the ability to give it to them"
'Well no one's stopping you from leaving on your own to do that' Peter thought dryly as he glanced outside to see the snow fall has picked up a bit 'Oh the days I had to rely on just my old spandex suit filled to the brim with heat patches while I swung through the air instead of a hyper advance suit of armor with it's own heating system…'
"And there are other people hunting vigilantes, who left an incredibly trained, well-armed ex-assassin in a coma down at the Gotham Cathedral" Batwoman said as she stared at Red Robin with a cool expression as she made her way to "I understand your frustration, I really do. But understand where Batman's coming from"
"A place of darkness and depression, been there and bought the shirt while I was at it" Peter said as he sat down at the computer and leaned back in the chair.
Red Robin frowned at Batwoman's response "I don't think-"
"If you have an issue with Batman's rules, you can tell him yourself. I have places to be" Batwoman said as she fired off a grappling line and swung out of the belfry and into the night.
Red Robin watched her go for a moment before Clayface approached him and held up the device that allowed him to remain in his human form with a questioning look "So uh… can I borrow this? I haven't been able to hold my form as Basil Karlo for more than a few minutes at a time for a while now, since my DNA got all mudded up… it's just… I could actually use this to go on an audition I think…"
"I see no problem with that" Peter said as he glanced at Red Robin "Besides the longer he wears it, the more information I can pull from it to improve or modify it"
Red Robin let out a tired sigh as he nodded "Sure, go ahead Basil"
Clayface seemed to perk up at this "Thanks…"
Red Robin turned to leave aong with Spoiler before Peyer stopped him "Oi tweety!"
Tim stopped and glanced at Spider-man with a quirked brow "Yeah?"
"When you see Batman, tell him he and I need to talk about something related to the Fitzgerald Corporation" Peter said as he grabbed another bit of mud that was still on his armor and flicked it at Karlo who grumbled as it morphed back into his body.
"Why can't you?" Red Robin asked with a frown.
"He won't answer my calls… or my friend requests on Cracklechatty!" Peter said with a depressed sigh.
Red Robin couldn't help but roll his eyes "I'll drop your name when I see him"
"Thanks!" Peter said with a wave as he watched the two leave followed by everyone else over the next few minutes until he was alone in the Belfry. After sitting there for the next several minutes, he turned towards the computer and let out a sigh of exhaustion as he attached a small device to one of the USB ports and opened up the search engine on this thing.
"Let's see… L… A… Z… A… R… S… pit" Peter said quietly as he typed in the last few letters before hitting enter and watched as a stream of information began to pool on the screens.
'Mephsito said I should ask Batman about this thing in regards to seeing if it can stop that tumor, but since he'll likely give me a vague water down version, I figured I might as well do some investigating of my own. Now let's see why the lord of lies decided to drop this name on me…' Peter thought as he began to silently read the information before him with a focused expression.
…
It was over three hours later after Peter had finished up reading everything that Batman had on the Lazarus Pit that he appeared to see Peter watching some horror movie with a clown in a sewer drain talking to a kid. Bruce frowned at the movie before glancing at Peter.
"You told Red Robin you wanted to speak to me?"
Peter nodded as he watched the clown bite the kid's arm off "Yeah, found out some interesting info about them. And maybe how they gave Gotham and Gotham Girl their powers"
Bruce folded his arms and gave Peter an expectant look "Explain"
"Well it went sort of like this…" Peter said as he began to fill Bruce in on what happened after it was revealed to him by Canary and Huntress that it was apparently an old flame of Bruce Wayne that was now one of the higher ups of Fitzgerald.
…
Three days ago…
Peter stared at the image of the beautiful woman for a moment before he sighed "It's always the pretty ones in this line of work. Why can't I meet a beautiful woman that's either not a super villain or a hero who's pretty viscous but not outright evil or anything. Why can't they just be boring like the most daring thing they've ever done is eat something with more than five hundred calories or decided to try a new hair style?"
"Because that's boring" Dinah chuckled as she made her way to the edge of the building "Come on, Miss Beaumont is out to dinner this evening with a potential investor and won't be back for a few hours hopefully. Plenty of time to raid her place and see what she knows about what went down with Gotham and Gotham Girl, and maybe a clue as to what set their building here on fire even though we all know they did it to cover their tracks because they likely concluded that we'd trace it back to them or something like that. These apparently evil corporations have a habit of doing that a lot according to Green Arrow"
"Well we can safely rule out insurance claims since Batgirl and Oracle have been monitoring them and so far, they haven't claimed anything yet, not that they'd need it" Huntress said as she and Spider-man followed the blonde bombshell "These guys make Wayne and Luthor look like cheap millionaires in comparison"
"Yeah but when has that ever-stopped people like that from wanting to make even more money?" Peter questioned.
"…True enough" Huntress agreed before she shot a grappling hook out and use it to swing towards the hotel while Dinah grinned at Peter.
The universe displaced hero raised a brow at the woman "What?"
"Carry me" Dinah said as she held her arms out with a pout "Pwease? I promise not to scream… too loud"
"Why?" Peter asked with a questioning look.
"Partly to see if I can cop a feel or two and stake my claim before Huntress gives into her obvious sexual frustration for you and takes you all for her slightly homicidal self" Dinah said with a smirk.
Peter stared at her for several moments before he sighed and nodded in resignation to being the blonde's taxi "Fine…"
"Yay!" Dinah said as she latched on to Peter who then leaped into the air and shot a web line out and used it to swing after Huntress all the while Dinah hung on to dear life with a wide grin on her face.
'Gotta say, spider boy here knows how to show a girl a good time' Dinah thought before she let out an excited yell as Spider-man flung them into the air and preformed a rather heart stopping series of flips and twists before shooting another web line out 'Yeah, I'm definitely going to enjoy this while it lasts…'
Five minutes later Peter, Huntress and Black Canary were entering Andrea's room and the first thing either one of them thought was that she had good tastes.
"Man, and here I thought Bruce Wayne's penthouse was nice" Peter said as he examined some of the things on the wall and saw one image of a large bat, curious.
"How do you know what Bruce Wayne's penthouse looks like?" Huntress asked with a curios gaze.
"Me and Catwoman snuck in there the other day and totally did it on his bed and in his giant waterfall of a shower" Peter said with a simple shrug as he saw a desk with a computer on it and began to make his way towards it.
Huntress stared at Spider-man for a moment before she sighed "Why did I have to ask?"
"Cause you want some ideas for when you give into your secret lust for Spider-man" Black Canary chuckled as she opened a closet before suddenly jumping back in shock "HOLY SHIT!"
"What dead bodies, mountains of porn, some sort of outfit that proves she's a supervillain or possible superhero?" Peter asked as he rushed over along with Huntress to see what caused Black Canary to yelp in surprise before seeing it as well and safe to say, Peter was a bit creeped out by what it was.
It was the short fat clown he saw at the Fitzgerald building before he was forced to face down Gotham and get his butt handed to him.
"Oh… it's Pennywise's short stubby brother" Peter said as he tapped the clown on the nose and watched it rock back and forth.
"Why the hell does she have a fat grotesque clown in her closet?" Huntress asked with a baffled expression.
"Maybe it's a metaphor or something?" Canary said as she rubbed the back of her head "Like she locks the clown she is up until it's needed or she has an ugly sense of humor and wants to keep it hidden"
"That's weird" Peter said as he lifted the clown up and examined it before looking in the closet for anything else.
"Yeah well welcome to Gotham, you see a lot of weird stuff here" Canary said as she made her way to the living room while Huntress moved towards some of the other bedrooms. Spider-man meanwhile examined the clown a little bit more before he shrugged and placed the demented looking thing back in the closet.
Just as Peter set the clown down, he felt his spider-sense briefly go off, causing him to tense and scan the room for signs of danger. He even had Genesis scan the area for a few moments before he saw the results come up as nothing.
'Weird, but my spider-sense doesn't go off just for kicks, there's something here…' Peter thought as he glanced back at the clown and started into it's admittedly life like eyes before he slowly closed the door and walked away. Had he looked back just for a second, he would have noticed the clown's twisted grin lengthen ever so slightly.
Peter had reached Andrea's desk and glanced at the contents with a critical eye. He saw a few papers about Fitzgerald's current stocks and other economical information but nothing too out of the blue like maybe increased funds to a certain sector or another account, not even signs of embezzlement which meant one of two things.
Either Fitzgerald is the cleanest company Peter has ever encountered or they have the money and influence to cover up any shady activity and keep it out of their records. Given Fisk does something similar with his own enterprises, he's willing to bet in the latter. He also saw she had a laptop under some papers and hummed as he brushed them off and opened it up to show a login screen asking for a password.
Peter stared at the screen for a moment before he slid his finger across the keyboard and watched as Genesis break off a few pieces and seemed to dig into the computer's hardware and watched the screen glitch for as moment before the password filled out and unlocked the computer. Peter hummed in approval as he had the buts of his armor re-assimilate in one hand while he used the other to scroll through some of the things on Andrea's desktop.
'Let's see here… portfolios but no mention of Gotham and Gotham Girl or their actual names… potential new sights for Fitzgerald's Gotham Branch, save and copy that… Mimicry?' Peter's eyes narrowed at the last one. He clicked on the icon and frowned as he saw another window open with various images of some woman with a rather buxom figure dressed in a white leotard with a keyhole to show the top of her generous bust, a red cape, blonde hair and a heart stopping smile that was slightly marred by the woman's glowing red eyes.
To Peter, she looked like an older Supergirl that filled out a lot compared to the teenager he's seen on the news.
'Must be a relative…' Peter thought as Huntress came to stand next to Peter and frowned at what she saw.
"Why does she have images of Power Girl on her laptop?"
Peter glanced at the former Spyral agent "Power Girl?"
"She was apparently this Supergirl from another earth that got stranded here with another Huntress from the same world when Darkseid invaded years ago. They went back a while ago to save their world or something" Huntress said with a shrug as she leaned in and examined the screen closely.
"How do you know all this?" Peter asked with some intrigue.
"Batgirl" Huntress replied with another shrug "When she's bored she combs through the Bat computer"
"Does she do this while sitting in the bat chair and drinking a bat cup of bat coffee?" Peter snickered.
"Why don't you ask. But I'm warning you, she can get a little batty" Huntress said with a snort.
"Aww aren't you two adorable, making fun of the bat family's need to put Bat in front of everything" Black Canary teased as she re-entered the room.
"That's how it usually starts. Making fun of others then a moonlit patrol through the city and before you know it, me and Huntress are teaming up to beat down criminals" Peter chuckled as Huntress huffed at the two before something caught her eye.
"What's that?" she pointed to a small file.
Peter saw what she was pointing at and clicked it only to frown as it required an encryption code to access "Hmm whatever it is, it's important because the level of encryption is almost as good as the Reeds"
"Who's Reed?" Huntress asked with a frown.
"A really, really smart guy I know" Peter said with a sigh "And given that this thing is nearly at that level, it'll take me a few hours to get in. Hours we don't have since my armor just showed footage from the lobby of Andrea returning from her date, early"
"Crap" Black Carny said with wide eyes as Huntress went back to re-positioning some things that were moved while Peter shut down the laptop and placed the papers back over it and followed the two women to the windows.
It was just as Peter was about to leave that he saw something on Andrea's nightstand that caused him to stop. It was a phot of her, younger and she was smiling… with a younger Bruce Wayne.
"Oh my god…" Peter said with wide eyes as he leaned in close to the picture "He… he could smile once upon a time"
"Spider-man, let's go!" Black Canary hissed at Peter as Huntress fired off a grappling hook and prepared to swing away.
"Alright, alright I'm coming" Peter said as he neared Dinah before scooping her up and leaping at the window after Huntress jumped off the frame and swung through the air towards the neighboring building. Peter shot a web line out and swung after her as his mind raced at the implication that Bruce Wayne used to smile and once more a woman wanted to be around him and seemed happy!
Oh, and the thing about how Power Girl is connected to Fitzgerald through project Mimicry.
'Though given Gotham and Gotham Girls powers, I think the answer is obvious. They somehow replicated her power set' Peter thought with a troubling frown.
He'd have to pay Andrea's laptop another and longer visit soon, and he may have a way of doing just that.
'Plus, I did say he needs to get laid' Peter thought with a chuckle, something that didn't escape Dinah's notice as they landed on a barren rooftop that was already occupied by Huntress.
"What's so funny?" the blonde asked with a quirked brow.
"Andrea is single, right?" Peter asked.
"According to all forms of social media she uses and my own observations" Huntress said as she folded her arms.
"Well, I may have a way for us to get more intel on her, or at the very least give me some time to hack into that encrypted file she has on her laptop" Peter said with a grin in his voice.
"How?" Dinah asked with curiosity, something that was displayed on Huntress's face as well.
"Tell me ladies… is Wayne still single?"
…
"Sooooo batsy, what'd ya say? Are you willing to break up with whatever girl your dating now and try and reignite an old obviously doomed romance in our quest to uncover the truth about Gotham and Gotham Girl's powers and what the Fitzgerald Corporation is hoping to achieve?" Peter asked as he looked expectantly at Batman for several long minutes.
Finally, the caped crusader spoke in a tone that was a cross between resigned and annoyance "Why can't it be you?"
"Well for one, she still obviously likes you, though that right there is already sending up my red flags" Peter said as he gave the man a look "Plus I'm already taken between Wonder Woman, Catwoman and I think Black Canary. Also, maybe Huntress when she finally admits she likes me and just goes for it. So if either of them find out she's sleeping with me… I'm pretty sure you'll never find the body, or recognize it when their done with it… same with mine"
Batman stared at the wall crawler for several long moments before he pinched the ridge of his nose "In all of my years… I've never met someone like you… and I prey to every god that's ever existed and will that you'll be the last"
"Until you meet Deadpool, then you'll be begging to me stay" Peter snickered before he let out a gasp "Oh my god!"
"What?" Batman asked with a frown.
"I just realized that we're going to need to get you to a surgeon before you try to approach her!" Peter said as he activated a holographic display on his arm and had Genesis begin to search for world renowned surgeons.
"Why?" Batman asked with confusion.
"Simple, so I can have them repair the muscles that are supposed to let you smile. You've been scowling and glaring for so long that you've probably forgot how to" Peter said with a shrug before he found a surgeon from Australia "Hmm, she might do. Little unorthodox but she might be the one that can put a smile on your face!"
Batman's response was a growl as he turned on his heel and walked away from Peter who watched him go for a moment before he shrugged "Hey it's either this or some of the weird Joker Venom, but one way or another, your gonna need to smile at some point in your two's fake relationship so I can gain longer access to her laptop and break that encryption! She won't stick around if you can't crack a grin that doesn't look painful for you"
…
"WAKE UP!" Red Robin's voice shouted in Peter's ear, causing his eyes to shoot open and for him to be on his feet in the span of half a second with both his stingers protruding from his wrists.
"Huh, what's-…?" Peter said with a confused frown as he looked around the Belfry for signs of hostiles.
"It's Batman" Red Robin said as he nodded towards a large screen with numerous small ones in it that showed Batman, one of the best fighters he's met, getting his ass handed to him but what looks like over a dozen men and women clad in a sort of militarized version of his suit.
Peter quirked a brow at this before he realized just how sore his body was and caused him to let out a groan as he cracked his neck "Damn, how long have it been sleeping in that chair?"
"Did you ever leave after me and the others left and Batman came to meet you?" Red Robin asked as he contacted Batwoman.
"Ummm…" Peter said as he tried to remember before shaking his head while Genesis, who had been curled up in a ball under Peter's chair began to attach itself to him "Nope"
"Well than the better part of a day"
Peter hummed at that as he glanced up that the various images of Batman fighting and losing "Man… that's got to be a blow to his ego on soooo many levels"
It was than that Batwoman entered the room "How bad is it Red Robin?"
"Pretty damn bad" Red Robin said with worry as he gestured to the screens.
"My god…" Batwoman said as she stared at the video in shock "They beat Batman"
"You say that like it's impossible" Peter said with a frown "Look I know you guys are all super proud of not needing powers to save the day like most of the other heroes out there with your fancy fighting styles and gadgets but you do realize that at the end of the day, he's one man, one very human man?"
"We know, it's just surreal to see Batman losing this badly is all" Red Robin said as he rubbed his brow "It usually takes something more than human to do that"
"When did this happen Red Robin?" Batwoman asked as she turned away from the screen as it showed Batman getting his jaw nearly fractured from a particularly brutal kick to the face.
"Three hours ago. He was enroute back to the cave" Red Robin said.
Peter glanced back up at the footage and frowned as he saw something interesting about the way these Batman looking men moved. It reminded him how people like Steve Rogers or even Logan would move "Military…"
"What?" Red Robin asked.
Peter nodded towards the screen "Their using military tactics and fighting styles against him"
Red Robin and Batwoman both glanced at the screen and watched the various angles of the fight before the red headed bat vigilante nodded in agreement "He's right, their soldiers. Look how they move together"
"They're part of an organization named the Colony. That's all we know" Red Robin said as she watched the fight play out.
"We know?" Peter said as he glanced at Red Robin "You mean only you and Batman?"
"He was going to brief us when he got here, and in a sense, he sort of is" Red Robin said with a troubled expression as the footage ended with Batman lying beaten and defeated, surrounded by the Colony Soldiers.
"So what do we do boss lady?" Peter asked as he glanced at Batwoman "Assemble the team and get ready to kick these overzealous fanboys asses or start diving up Wayne's very nice estate? If so, I call the cars!"
Batwoman didn't respond as she watched the replays of her cousin getting the ever-loving hell beaten out of him. She always thought nothing could bring him down, and yet and it was, batman being beaten down by people that apparently were even better than them.
"You're frustrated, aren't you?" Red Robin asked before he glanced back at the screen "Batman told you that you were in charge, and then he told you exactly how he wanted you to run this whole operation. I bet you didn't even have a say who was on the team"
"Hmm that sounds like half the teams I've been on that are run by a playboy billionaire that moonlights as a hero" Peter said as he tapped his chin "Only difference is that Bat's is more black and grey then red and gold"
Batwoman looked a bit unsettled with how accurate Red Robin was in his comment "I don't-"
"He's a frustrating guy, heh just any of the Robins or even Spider-man here" Red Robin nodded in Spider-man's direction "He thinks he knows exactly what he wants and doesn't and he thinks he's right all of the time"
"According to Catwoman, he was wrong about the existence of the Court of Owls… and the Joker not knowing who you all were" Peter said as memories of his conversations on Batman's history with the jewel thief came to mind.
"See?" Red robin nodded in agreement "But at the end of the day, he's always right about people. When he lets someone in, that means something. When he put you in charge, it was so in this exact situation, you would be calling the shots"
He then glanced at Batwoman with a serious expression "And I trust that. Because I trust him. Even if I want to strangle him sometimes"
"Amen to that" Peter chuckled.
Red Robin smirked at this as he stated at Batwoman "So, tell us…"
Batwoman was silent for a few moments as she kept her gaze on the screens before she sighed "Batman wouldn't want to set off the alarm. He'd want to deal with this privately. A controlled mission. Just the two of us. No matter how long that would take"
"And what do you think?" Red Robin asked.
Batwoman glanced at Peter before she smirked "Assemble the team"
"On it, and we really need to come up with a cool name for ourselves. How about Spider-man and his Amazing Friends?" Peter suggested as he sent out the call to the rest.
"No" both non superpowered humans responded dryly.
…
It took the team the better part of half an hour to get here, or most of them at least. Clayface arrived only ten minutes ago, Spoiler was just now walking in and Orphan was still enroute.
"I am still so sore from yesterday. If this is another nightmare training session, I'm definitely going to-" Spoiler said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes before they widened in shock at the image of batman losing to the Colony soldiers "- Is that Batman? Is that Batman losing?"
"Yes, and yes before you ask we've saved it to show him later on when he say's nothing can beat me, keep him humble and all that" Peter said as he was busy loading up his web shooters and running a systems check on Genesis.
Clayface was watching the fight and whistled at Batman getting powerful left hook to the face "Oh wow. That was a good hit. I've always wanted to pull something off like that…"
It was then he saw that everyone was looking at him, causing how to shrug "What?! A good hit is a good hit"
Spoiler glanced at Red Robin with worry "Tim…?"
He nodded towards Batwoman "She's the boss Steph. Batwoman?"
"Batman didn't want you to know what I'm about to tell you. He wanted to wait until you were ready. Until you were trained. But these men and women have been tracking you for over a month. They are the reason batman brought you together" Batwoman said as she stepped forward and nodded towards the still images of various Colony soldiers "If the worst happened, he wanted you to be ready when they come for you. But now the worst has happened. And separately, we aren't ready, even Spider-man may not be able to beat them, not on his own at least"
"I'm willing to admit that" Peter said with a wave of his hand.
"But together…" Batwoman started as she glanced at the team "We might be able to survive. That means we need help. So I brought in an expert"
"An expert?" Peter and Spoiler said at the same time in confusion before the former picked up movement behind them with both his superhuman senses and Genesis.
"I think she's talking about me" a middle aged man with short red greying hair said as he emerged from the shadows clad in green military fatigues with the name 'Kane' on his right breast along with the words 'U.S. Army on the left and had the markings of a colonel on his uniform "Although that's probably the first time she's thought of me an expert in anything but driving her insane"
"Who are you?" Clayface asked with a frown.
"I'm a hell of a lot prettier then you Clayface. That's for sure" the man said as he stared at the recordings with a nod "Now show me what you've got"
Peter had Genesis run a quick facial scan before he got a result, Colonel Jack Kane… the father of one Katherine Kane aka Batwoman and the uncle of Bruce Wayne aka Batman…
'Hmm… something's there and it's yelling at my face… but what is it?' Peter thought as he gazed at the man. He didn't know why, but for some reason he could hear Natasha's alluring yet intimidating voice echoing through his mind, it only ever did that when something wasn't right with him but he couldn't place his finger on it. For now, he'd wait and see…
"These are recording from the Batmobile from last night" Red Robin said as he re-round the footage to the beginning of the assault.
Kane hummed as he watched the fight play out for a few minutes before he glanced at the team and nodded towards the screen "The first thing you have to ask yourself is why a military organization would model themselves on Batman?"
"Because they have poor tastes in heroes and have clearly never met the guy, let alone interact with him. If they did, they'd find there isn't much to be inspired by other than that he likes to put 'Bat' in front of half his things" Peter joked while the voice of Natasha was starting to grow louder.
Years of being around super-secret spy agents like Romanoff, his sister Teresa and Bobbi had started to rub off on him, at least he thinks it has because there was something about Kane that unsettled Peter and he's only ever felt this feeling when around people like Maria Hill, Scott after he went crazy and became the new Magneto, Tony Stark and someone disguised as Jameson and made a positive comment about Spider-man.
Red Robins answer to the Colonel's question seemed a bit more accurate then Peter's "He built a model worth replicating. A skill set that makes one person as effective as an entire platoon"
Kane nodded slowly as he turned back towards the screen "Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Then you gotta ask yourselves why a group would take down the guy they based themselves on"
Peter decided to answer, this time leaving his usual quips and humor out of it for now "Maybe it's supposed to be symbolic? Like to prove they've taken what they learned and improved upon it? Student surpasses the teacher and all that"
"Hmm, that's a possibility" Kane said with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"They were after something Batman wouldn't allow and they couldn't risk him standing in the way" Batwoman said as she tried to piece together this puzzle and the motive behind the attack "So it was something here in Gotham"
"That makes sense" Kane agreed.
It was then that Red Robin noticed something off as he glanced around the room "Orphan should be here by now…"
Batwoman's focus was still on the screen "So, what's changed recently? What would bring them out of the shadows?"
"…Us?" Clayface asked as he gestured to the team and the Belfry "You said they were watching us… maybe they don't like he brought us all together? Maybe they had their own plans?"
No one answered the man as they stared at the bloodied image of Batman's bat symbol before Red Robin sighed after he placed he made a call to Orphan but received no answer and made his way towards the computer "Sorry, something's wrong… Orphan isn't responding"
"Does she ever respond?" Clayface asked with curiosity.
"I gave her a simple tap answer command. She's distracted" Red Robin said as he began to type in a series of commands to trace Orphan's signal.
"This is the fighter, right?" Kane asked "The trained assassin girl that fights as well as Batman?"
At that, Peter's alarms went off in his head as he centered his gaze on the Colonel, the way he asked that question didn't sit right with Peter… it also didn't help that his spider-sense was starting to go off just as Tim located Orphan.
"She's on the roof…" he said with some confusion before panic set in "Computer bring up cameras fourteen twenty-five through fourteen twenty-seven"
The screen was suddenly filled with camera fed from outside the tower… and Orphan was already engaging the Colony.
"So much for secret base" Peter said wordily as he set genesis to combat mode as Kane stepped forward with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Stand back, I know what to do…" he said as he pushed Tim aside and reached for something in his breast pocket.
Tim frowned at the man "Wait-"
Kane plugged something into the terminal and not a moment sooner, the computer spoke "Lowering defensive shielding"
"Dad… what are you doing?" Batwoman sated at the man in complete shock as the top windows suddenly exploded and Colony soldiers began to rappel down.
"My duty" he said as the Soldiers of the Colony poured into the Belfry.
Peter watched the Batman inspired men surround him and the team with a frown, his spider-sense and common sense were flaring up at the new arrivals. It was than he sighed as he glanced towards Batwoman as her words about being push to their limits came to mind.
"Now this… this might push me to my limits… and give me a brand-new set of bruises and broken bones to replace the ones I got from Gotham and Doomsday"
…
And done.
Next chapter, Peter and co. contend with the Colony!
Now I know some of you are going to be all like 'Wow Peter's pretty arrogant around the team' and yeah to a degree he is but remember Peter as Spider-man has been in the thick of some of the biggest events to ever happen in either DC or Marvel Comics. Infinity War, Secret Wars, Civil War, Battleworld, Spider-island, Ends of the Earth, the Dark Reign, Fear Itself, Siege of Asgard and a host of others that while not massive in scope are no less daunting.
Red Robin, Spoiler, Clayface, and Orphan, especially their New 52 incarnations haven't even gone through the grinder like he has. And as for Spider-man beating Batwoman out of his armor, yeah it wouldn't be too hard for him. I mean it wouldn't be a simple quick fight for him but in the end, she's no Batman. She doesn't have the level of training or equipment to face someone like Peter in a straight up fight, prep time or not.
He's faster, stronger, obviously smarter, though no real insult to her he just is, and most off he has the 'Way of the Spider' to back him up along with the powers he gained from his sort of rebirth in 'The Other' like enhance strength, organic webbing, night vision, stingers thanks to Mephsito and a little thing called his trusty Spider-sense. She'd need him to be handicapped to a large degree to win that fight.
Plus, the guy can stalemate Captain America in a fight, not an easy feat. Sure, Rogers isn't the greatest fighter in Marvel comics but he is among one of the best at the very least. Plus, Spidey has a good decade on her at least in fighting highly trained non-super powered individuals. All those run ins with the Hand, Punisher, Taskmaster, Bullseye, Elektra, Silver Sable when they've been sort of enemies, even fellow heroes had to pay off at some point.
And being trained by Shangi-Chi, Marvel's hard to argue against master of Kung-fu and an even greater fighter than Iron Fist or Steve Rogers? Your gonna be in a league of your own after that training session.
So fighting Batwoman who's at the end of the day a non-super powered human or even facing an army of Jokers who are only armed with what they can pick up and swing or shoot while he's decked out in something that's like the Superior Iron Man suit but arguably more advance with his own spider powers to boot, is it really a fight that that point?
Also some are likely going to say that Peter picked up on Colonel Kane pretty easy when the rest couldn't until it was too late and to a point he did, but like Batman said when he brought Peter into this team, he's likely going to see and notice things that others don't. Where's the rest of the team likely passed off Kane's observations and questions as simple comments or curiosity, Peter, who's been around secret agents and the like for years, noticed that the way Kane was asking his questions, how interested he seemed in Batman, it was enough to raise some alarms in his head.
Bruce would have noticed it to if he was there, ever noticed how Kane never directly met with Bruce? He knew that the man would put it together quick enough if given the time. And Peter is every bit as smart and as experienced as Bruce is, maybe not the same level of detective savvy but he can put things together pretty quick too. Remember people, Batman isn't the only hero in comics that can put two and two tether and get four like some of his die hard fanboys seem to think.
Also anyone read the first issue that delves into the identity of Mister Oz yet? If you have, don't be that guy that spoils it in their review because DAAAAAAAMN I didn't see it coming and I want others who haven't gotten to reading yet to be just as surprised as I was!