CHAPTER FOUR

THE MANHATTAN APARTMENT OF PETER PARKER.

"Doctor Octopus," Tony Stark said, holding aloft a palm-sized communications device that was linked to JARVIS. The device was able to generate a much smaller version of the holograms that Tony and Batman had observed in Tony's workshop when they analyzed the contents of the JLA armband. The device now projected a hologram of Otto Octavius, his four mechanical arms still adhered to his body. He wore an old trench coat, sunglasses, and fedora hat. "Or, as you know him, Doctor Otto Octavius. We essentially prevented his super-villain origin just now."

Peter Parker sat on the bed in his small studio apartment, staring at the hologram. He was still in shock from the chaos that had occurred at the science demonstration about an hour ago, and in disbelief that billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark and the urban legend Batman were in his apartment right now. Tony sat straddling a backwards wooden chair. Batman stood quietly in the shadows in a dark corner of the room.

"His… super-villain origin?" Peter repeated.

"Yes," Tony replied. "Doctor Octopus was an enemy of…" Tony waved his hand over the device, prompting the hologram to change. "…this guy." An image of Spider-Man appeared.

"Hey, wait a second!" Peter exclaimed, standing up and taking a closer look at the hologram. He adjusted his glasses. "That's the guy who gave me and MJ the armband!"

Tony and Batman exchanged glances.

"MJ?" Batman grunted from the shadows. "Mary Jane Watson?"

"Yes… Do you know her?" Peter asked.

"She's the one who gave the armband to Bruce Wayne," Tony replied. "Bruce gave it to us." Tony set the device down on Peter's bedside table. The hologram of Spider-Man continued to display, rotating around 360 degrees to show every angle of his costume. "I didn't realize you were involved in that. Tell me more."

Peter shook his head, trying to recall the details. "Um. We were on this field trip, with our school. This was a few years ago. We were visiting Columbia University. MJ and I got separated from the rest of the group because I was taking photos of her…" Tony raised an eyebrow at this. "It was nothing like that," Peter said quickly. "I was the photographer for the school paper and I needed a picture with a student in it. Anyway, this guy…" He pointed at the hologram. "…he showed up out of nowhere. His costume was all torn and tattered though. He looked hurt, bad. He gave the armband to me and MJ. He mumbled something. It was like he couldn't talk clearly. I think maybe his jaw was broken or something. He said something about Bruce Wayne. At least I think he did. Like I said, it was hard to understand him."

"What happened after that?" Tony asked.

"He just ran off. We never saw him again."

"Well, this is a little awkward," Tony replied. "Because, this spider guy, allegedly… is you."

Peter just blinked. "Um… what?"

"Read the bio on Spider-Man, please," Tony said in the direction of the device.

"Name: Spider-Man," came the response from the device. "Real name, Peter Parker. Powers include strength, agility, the ability to stick to walls, a pre-cognitive 'spider sense' that warns of impending physical danger, and the ability to generate webbing from organic 'web-shooters' in his wrists. Powers obtained after being bitten by a genetically-altered 'super spider' at Columbia University while on a field trip with his high school class."

Tony looked up at Peter. "They have any 'super spiders' on this field trip of yours?"

"Yeah…" Peter whispered. The color had drained from his face. He sat back down on the edge of the bed.

Tony turned to Batman. "I think this supports your theory, Bats," he said. "Someone is tampering with time. In the original version of events young Mister Parker here was bitten by a spider on that field trip and became Spider-Man. Somehow Spider-Man then traveled back in time to that same day with the armband to give us evidence of how the timeline was supposed to play out before things got changed."

Peter looked up at Batman, still looking pale.

"Were you bitten by a genetically-altered bat?" Peter said quietly.

"No," Batman grunted.

Knock! Knock! Knock! There was a loud and incessant pounding on Peter's apartment door.

"Rent!" came a voice from the other side of the door.

"Who the hell is that?" Tony asked.

"That's Mister Ditkovich," Peter sighed. "My landlord."

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! "Reeeeeent," Mister Ditkovich said through the door, in an annoying, almost sing-song voice.

"You wanna handle that?" Tony asked Batman.

Batman turned with a dramatic flourish of his cape. He threw open the door, grabbed Mister Ditkovich by his coffee-stained tank top and slammed him up against the wall.

"Stop banging on the door!" Batman growled, his face mere inches from Ditkovich's. Mister Ditkovich rodent-like eyes were wide with terror, his mouth agape. He stammered something in what sounded like Russian. Batman replied back in the same language. Ditkovich looked like he was going to soil himself.

Across the hall another apartment door flew open. A tall, skinny blonde girl popped out. "Dad, are you-?" She dropped the spatula she had been holding, evidently having been in the middle of cooking something. She screamed at the top of her lungs.

Batman released Ditkovich and shoved him forcefully toward the other apartment. The old man stumbled to the floor, then scrambled away on all fours like a startled cat. Batman swept back into Peter's apartment and shut the door.

"Jesus, I meant write him a check or something!" Tony exclaimed.

"We should go," Batman grunted.

Tony grabbed the hologram device and switched it off. He stuffed it into his jacket pocket as he stood up.

"Come on, Parker," Tony said. "You're coming with us."

"I am?" Peter said. "Why? I'm not this Spider-Man guy!"

"No, you're not. At least not in this timeline. But you are a variable in this equation. I can't do the math if I don't have all the variables. Until we have a better understanding of what exactly is going on, I want you close by."

"Where are we going?" Peter asked.

"You ever hear of a town called Smallville?"

. . . . . . .

SMALLVILLE, KANSAS. THE REEVE DAM.

Tony Stark and Peter Parker walked along the catwalk above the Reeve Dam, heading toward the adjacent water treatment facility. Tony carried a large red and silver metallic case with a handle.

"Where did Batman go?" Peter asked.

"Well for one thing being out in broad daylight isn't really his scene," Tony replied, straightening his tie. "For another, he said he had something else to do here in Smallville. I can't imagine what though. From what I've seen this town has a bowling alley, a coffee shop, and a lot of open fields. Maybe he wanted to take up square dancing, I don't know."

Tony set down the metal case.

"What's that?" Peter asked. "Are you going to take some water samples or something?"

"Or something," Tony replied. He gave the case a nudge with his foot. It promptly sprang open, revealing elaborate mechanisms inside. Tony jammed his hands down into two cylindrical protrusions that popped out from the middle of the case, which affixed themselves around his wrists. He lifted the case up and pressed it against his chest, prompting further extensions of circuitry to expand and contract down along his arms. There was a high-pitched whine as an arc reactor glowed to life in the center of his chest. Servos clicked and clacked as red phalanges snapped into place along his arms and legs. Peter took a few steps backward in awe as he watched the familiar Iron Man helmet protract and clamp into place over Tony Stark's visage.

"Wow…" Peter said in a hushed awe.

"Stand here and keep a lookout, kid," Iron Man said, stepping one foot up onto the railing that ran along the catwalk. "I'm going to do a little deep-sea diving." He casually vaulted himself over the railing and plummeted down into the river with a splash.

Under the water, Iron Man strained to pull his his feet through the muck of the riverbed. This particular suit was not ideal for underwater excursions, but its portability made it the most useful when he didn't have a lot of time to "suit up." He adjusted the lenses inside the helmet to be more accommodating to the thousands of gallons of water rushing past him.

There, nestled up against the wall of the dam, was a sight unlike anything Tony Stark had ever seen. It was what could only be described as a spaceship, pinned in place against the dam by the rushing current. It was a huge metallic craft, mostly silver but with a reddish tint to it. He could not make out further details under the water.

Iron Man navigated his way over to the spacecraft. Placing his hands on the underside of the vehicle, he routed additional power to the rocket thrusters in his boots. He strained, the servos and circuits in the armor struggling to free the ship from the years of mud and silt that had caked it to the riverbed floor.

A few minutes later, the enormous ship shot out from the surface of the water.

"Holy cow!" Peter Parker shouted, jumping with a start.

It initially appeared that the ship was rising from the river of its own volition. However, Peter quickly noticed Iron Man braced beneath the ship, struggling to keep it aloft. His rocket thrusters sputtered and sparked as he wobbled wildly in the air, trying desperately to balance the craft.

"There's not enough room on the catwalk for me to set this thing down!" Iron Man called down to Peter. "Meet me at the base of the dam!"

"Right!" Peter yelled back, his eyes as wide as saucers. The young man sprinted for the ladder that led back down to the ground.

Moments later there was a deafening CRASH of a large object smashing down through the trees below. Peter scrambled the rest of the way down the latter, afraid of what he would find.

Peter jogged his way down the path that led from the dam to a nearby wooded area. In a small clearing, he found Iron Man standing beside the spacecraft. The trees surrounding them were damaged and branches were strewn all about the forest floor. Iron Man tapped the side of his helmet and it retracted, revealing the face of Tony Stark once again.

"It wasn't pretty, but here it is," Stark said.

"Wow," Peter said, slightly out of breath. "A real, live spaceship?!"

"I don't know if it's 'live'," Tony remarked. He brushed some debris off of the cool surface of the ship. "But it certainly appears to be a spaceship."

"What are those markings on it?" Peter asked, pointing to some glyphs carved into the ship's hull.

"JARVIS, can you help us out?" Stark asked.

"I am able to provide a partial translation by cross-referencing the JLA files," JARVIS replied. "The inscription on the hull reads, 'This is Kara Zor-El of Krypton. Our last hope.'"

Peter carefully scraped some silt out of the groove of one of the glyphs with his fingertip. "Krypton," he repeated in a hushed voice.

As if in response, the glyphs on the ship lit up with a bright yellowish-orange glow. Peter scrambled backward. Had the ship responded to his touch, or to his saying the word Krypton? Or just from being out of the water for a few minutes? It was not clear what had activated it, but the glyphs were now rotating and changing their configuration right before Peter and Tony's eyes.

"Maybe it is alive," Tony mused.

Peter and Tony both took a few steps back away from the ship. As the glyphs re-aligned, the canopy of the ship slowly opened. A pod within the ship's cockpit was lowered gently to the ground. The pod opened, revealing a tall blonde woman wrapped in white robes.

Her blue eyes fluttered open.

Like a baby deer finding its footing, she took an awkward, off-balance step out of the pod. She looked around, wide-eyed.

"Where…?" she asked, looking at Tony and Peter with confusion. "Where is Kal-El?"