Peter's head was pounding, as he finally began to regain some semblance of consciousness. He put a hand back to the aching part of the back of his head. It was still tender, but when he put his fingers up to his eyes, he saw no trace of blood. Sighing in relief, he scanned the room to see he was in a typical bedroom.
He himself was lying on a pleasantly comfortable bed, which he got unsteadily out of. He looked to the right of the bed to see a window. It was nighttime, but a deep, orange glow of fire could be seen dancing from offscreen. Occasionally, the sounds of explosions could be heard, as well as the orange glow getting momentarily brighter.
Peter went to the window, and looked out at the city in the distance. Fires raged unchecked throughout the streets, while the sounds of shouting, gunfire, and other disturbances filled his hypersensitive ear.
Peter strode over to a wooden chest of drawers, where a mirror was set in the wall above the top. Peter turned his head to check the spot where he had hit the statue of the monk, only to see no visible sign of a bruise at all. Strange.
Peter opened one of the drawers (thankfully, not causing any sort of creaking noise) to see his Spider-Man suit, neatly folded. He looked down at his current attire, an orange and red outfit not unlike the outfit worn by the man who had attacked him with air.
"I don't care if your granted emergency powers by the council in emergencies like this, but trying to arrest that boy was foolish!"
The shout penetrated the walls of Peter's room, causing him to go to a defensive pose. When no attack was forthcoming, he moved towards the wooden door into his room. Due to the creaking of floorboards outside his room, he figured there were guards outside the door. He put his ear to the door, listening...
Although the voices were not coming from just outside the door, his hypersensitive eardrums could just make out the conversation.
"I have to leave.", came the voice of Lin, the police officer from before. "That... abomination of a city isn't going to fix itself. We've finally got radio contact with the rest of the council; Tarrlock has ordered us to help in whatever way we can to end the chaos on the... mainland of wherever here is."
A pause, then the man's voice from before. "Fine. But I'm coming with you; as the only representative of the Air Nomads, it's my duty to try and calm down Republic City... or at least, what's left of it."
"No!", came a woman's voice. "You can't leave your family behind during this!"
"It's all right, Pema.", said the man. "I'll be back before you know it." The doubt in the man's voice was pretty evident to Peter.
"Take me with you.", came another female voice, this one a teenager's.
"Absolutely not!", said the man. "You are to remain here, Korra!"
"But I can help; I'm the Avatar, for goodness' sake. If any Benders or Nonbenders from Republic City is out there, it'll reassure them that I'm here as well, fighting for them."
"No, you will stay here with Pema and the children.", said the man. Another pause, then, "If you want to help, find out all you can about the boy we fought at Avatar Aang's statue."
Peter's eyes widened, as Lin's voice said, "Are you serious, Tenzin? That 'boy' took out six of my best officers. This... Korra is only a teenager."
"Hey, lady, I'm not just a teenager. I'm the..."
"Avatar, I know. But that means diddly-squat here and now..."
"Enough!", came Tenzin's voice. "I happen to trust Korra in this endeavor, Lin. Now, let's be off."
The sounds of footsteps approaching his room caused Peter to backflip back on his bed, as if he hadn't just been eavesdropping.
The door opened, and in walked a beautiful teenage girl with dark skin and an excellent physique.
"Um, hello.", said what Peter assumed to be Korra. "I'm... Korra... the Avatar."
It was clear that she didn't know what the hell she was doing. "I know, I heard you guys talking.", said Peter.
"Eavesdrop much?", said Korra, giving a half-hearted smirk.
Despite himself, Peter chuckled. "I'm..." He hesitated. "I'm Spider-Man."
Korra stared, then burst out laughing. "Are you serious? What in the world's a 'Spider-Man'?"
Peter deflated somewhat. "Well, what in the world's an 'Avatar'?"
Korra looked confused. "How have you never heard of the Avatar?"
"If you were from my city, it would be just as strange to not know who Spider-Man was.", retorted Peter.
"Your city? So, you're not from Republic City?"
"I don't think I'm even from your world.", said Peter plainly.
"What do you mean?", said Korra, looking both scared and intrigued.
"I come from a planet called Earth, where I live in the city of New York. There, I'm the superhero called Spider-Man, who takes down bad guys and protects the innocent.", explained Peter.
Korra stared at him. "What's your real name? You said you go by the name of Spider-Man when you fight crime, so what's your real name?"
Peter sighed. "I can't tell you; it's a secret."
"How am I supposed to trust you when you don't tell me your actual name?"
"I don't need you to trust me.", shot back Peter. "I need you to let me go. My friends and family are all in that city somewhere, and I need to find them."
Korra thought for a moment, then, just as she was about to say something, the door knocked. A woman with gray streaks in her hair appeared at the door. "Korra, we're about to have some supper, if you want to join..." She caught sight of Peter, now conscious and glaring at Korra.
"It's OK, Pema.", said Korra, reassuring the woman's concerned face. She looked back at Peter, and gave that smirk again. "Dinner sounds lovely."
