16 YEARS AGO:

At an airport in Metropolis, Clark Kent, also known as Superman, Man of Tomorrow, and many other nicknames, was waiting alongside Lois Lane for a special guest. An airplane landed from Gotham to bring in a surprise visit from none other than Bruce Wayne.

"I hear Wayne's deal with LexCorp could run into the billions," Clark tells Lois, waiting for the man to step out of the plane. "He's a high roller."

"I hear he's nothing but Gotham trash." Lois didn't seem as impressed when the plane door opened. "Rich, spoiled, and...absolutely gorgeous."

PRESENT DAY:

Bruce found himself in the breakroom of the Watchtower, his mind reeling from the bombshell news he had just received. According to the more detailed report in front of him, Peter, the son of Lois Lane, was indeed also his son. The reality of the situation hit Bruce like a ton of bricks. He felt a mix of emotions - shock, confusion, disbelief, and a deep sense of betrayal. As he tried to process the news, his stomach churned with a sickening sensation that threatened to overwhelm him. He wasn't sure how to react or what to do next - all he knew was that his life was about to change in ways he had never imagined.

Clark approached his friend after getting the word out to Kara, his cousin, to bring Lois up to be with her son. Explaining where she had been, seems Kara was picking up Clark's slack across the world after he disappeared and seemed to be just as surprised to hear Peter was Spider-Man. She didn't have much time to drop by and check-in or even talk to him. Kara was a big help with raising Peter over the years. Being familiar with babies since she was there when Clark was an adolescent, she was the prioritized babysitter Lois trusted with Peter.

"You knew all these years?" Bruce asks Clark.

"Yeah," Clark confirmed. "I knew."

"We've been working together for years." Bruce reminded him. "And you never mentioned it?"

"After she learned who I was and that we see each other often enough, Lois made me swear I wouldn't mention it," Clark explains to him. Despite the differences, Bruce was his best friend and he'd never intentionally harm him. "Figured after the League was formed that I and you would be close and worried I'd tell. It was her secret to tell. Not mine."

Bruce was mad at how that was an acceptable excuse, especially for someone like Clark. He doesn't break a promise. And he can keep a secret if he's good at it. But what's really ticking Bruce off is he never noticed it. That should have been the most obvious thing. But yet again, he didn't exactly keep tabs on Lois after he left all those years ago.

It's quite a strange concept to consider. He has a son. Not like Dick or Tim. Even though he saw them as his own, this was official. Peter was his flesh and blood.

Peter slowly started to regain consciousness after a long night of being unconscious. As he opened his eyes, he felt groggy and disoriented, but he quickly realized that he didn't recognize his surroundings. He tried to remember what had happened and then the memories of his fight with Symbiotic Superman flooded back into his mind.

As he slowly surveyed the room, he noticed that Kori, his friend, was sleeping next to him in an uncomfortable position. He could see the lines of discomfort etched on her face, and he instinctively wanted to make her more comfortable.

As he shifted his gaze, he was startled to see his mother, Lois, sitting in a chair next to him, her eyes filled with concern. He was surprised that she was there and wondered how she found out that he was in the Watchtower hospital. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry, and he could only manage a hoarse whisper. Lois immediately leaned over, taking his hand in hers, and assured him that everything was going to be okay.

"Hey, how's my hero?" Lois asks her son with a smile.

"Sore." Peter groaned. "Venom? You good?"

"I'm fine. Trying to keep you alive is a pain." Venom tells his host.

Peter chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Thanks for that."

"Flash and Superman told me what you did," Lois tells him. "Just so that we are clear, you are grounded."

"I should have seen that coming." Peter chuckled as he leaned back.

"Like that will stop us." Venom retorted but also kept Lois from hearing.

"How are things going in here?" Clark asked as he entered the room.

"Been better, Clark." Peter groaned, noticing that saying his name caused him to freeze. "Sorry. Spooked you with that one, didn't I? I figured it out during the fight. Riot and Venom merged minds, and I caught a few glimpses into Superman's. A few personal ones that I recall you being there for, and definitely not Superman."

Clark chuckled. "Yeah, well, sorry for lying to you."

"Nah, I get it," Peter promised. "I mean, keeping this secret has been a pain for me."

"And you still didn't keep it for long." Lois mocked her son playfully.

"Still don't know how you managed to keep it for so long." Kara Zor-El said as she entered the room. "Hey, Pete."

Peter was shocked when he recognized who Supergirl was. "Kara?"

"How many Kryptonians are on this planet?" Venom wondered. "So much for the last of his kind."

"Sorry, I couldn't help out with everything going on," Kara told Peter. "Someone had to pick up his slack." She gestured over to her cousin. "Glad to see you're back."

Clark then looked over to Kori. "Saw you made a new friend."

"Saved her along with Venom from a LexCorp science lab," Peter explained how they all met. "I don't think she has a good grasp of her powers."

"We can help her with that," Kara promised, eyeing Clark. "Well, he can. I still have school."

"Thanks for volunteering me," Clark replied sarcastically. He then looked at Lois. "Uh, Lois, Batman thought you two should talk."

Lois sighed and knew that this was bound to happen eventually. When she left the room, Peter was left curious about what his mom had to say to the Dark Knight. Lois approached the lunch room of the Watchtower and saw that the entire place was empty, likely so that the two of them could talk alone. What surprised her most was the fact he wasn't even wearing his mask.

"I have a feeling the world's greatest detective finally caught on." Lois took a guess.

"I was never one to look back," Bruce admitted. "But I should have looked into it. One year after we met, you have your son."

"I did go to a few lengths to keep you and him separated," Lois explained. "Could you blame me? The last thing I needed was some freak from Gotham coming after me and my kid to get to you."

"You had a right to keep him safe," Bruce admitted that she had a good excuse for that.

Lois wasn't sure where they were supposed to go from here. "So... what happens next?"

Bruce was sort of wondering about that one himself. "I know now, and I don't think that I can just let this go."

"You want to meet him." Lois took a guess.

"I was also thinking of maybe something else." Bruce wondered about something. "What if you took him to Gotham? I can help train him to use his powers better."

Lois wondered about that one and knew that training with Batman might just be painful, but it would be a lot better than letting her son go out there and get his back broken fighting some criminal. "Well, I can't just leave Metropolis and expect people to not suspect something is up."

"How about a last confession out of Cletus Cassidy before his death sentence?" Bruce offered her. "I can easily pull some strings at Arkham, keep my name out of it, you could go and hear what he has to say."

Lois saw that could work as a good cover story as only an exclusive like that would get her out of the city. "Alright. I might be able to make it work. But I want something first. A few days. Once I get Peter home, I will explain everything to him. I'll tell him who you are, and...who you are. You okay with that?"

Bruce nodded. "I'll have to let Alfred know we might be expecting guests."

Lois nodded in response. "Alright."

After several days of waiting, Lois and Peter were finally able to use the functional teleporter again. Kori stayed behind on the Watchtower where she was receiving training from Clark to develop her full power potential. When the teleporter successfully transported them back to Earth, they landed directly on the patio of their home. Peter let out a groan as he stretched his limbs, having been confined to bedrest for several days due to his injuries.

"Oh, it is good to be home." Peter yawned. "I am going to be glad to finally sleep in my own bed. Rather than those uncomfortable hospital beds."

Lois, on the other hand, knew that it was finally time to come clean about Peter's father. She took a deep breath, bracing herself for the difficult conversation she was about to have with Peter.

"Hang on, kid," Lois called him out before he could head inside. "There are a few things that I think it's about time that I came clean on."

Peter was confused by this and wondered what she had to come clean about. "Uh, okay, like what?"

"Your father for starters." Lois finally confessed, causing Peter to freeze upon hearing that news. The two of them headed inside for Lois and Peter to sit on the couch so that she could finally explain everything. "A few years ago...about a decade or so, I met someone. He was supposed to be someone I was reporting on. He was this wealthy businessman who came into town, who was known for being mysterious."

"Sounds like the kind of girls that you told me to stay away from," Peter said as a joke.

Lois chuckled when she heard her son say that. "Alright, laugh it up." Then she got back to the story. "Well, when I got to know him, he didn't seem all that mysterious. He was actually quite charming."

"I am going to hurl." Venom proclaimed.

"So, who was this strange man who swept you off your feet?" Peter asked jokingly.

"You've actually already met him," Lois admitted. "In some form at least. Your father...is Bruce Wayne. But you met him as the Batman."

That was when Peter's whole world got turned upside down.

As Felicia sat down at one of the gates at the airport in Metropolis, she held a ticket in her hands, her eyes scanning over the information on it. She was going to be flying off to Gotham City. Her suitcase beside her contained her Black Cat attire inside. She had a mission to complete; she was heading to Gotham to bust her mother out of jail. This wasn't her first time in Gotham, but she was excited to make a little visit to the city again.

As she approached the ticket taker to hand over her ticket, he looked at her with a confused expression. "You're going to Gotham City alone? You ever been to Gotham?" he asked.

"Born and raised," Felicia replied confidently as she took the ticket back from him. "Mom got herself into some trouble."

"Well, good luck." He told Felicia as she walked to the gate.

The ticket taker wished her good luck as she entered the plane with her suitcase. She had made up a story about going to a convention in Gotham, and luckily, the scanning people bought it. But, little did she know, even running across the bay, that she was still going to run into Spider-Man.

And many more secrets were still being kept from a lot of people in this city. Metropolis and Gotham.