Where a New York tourist visits the lake, talks to a local boy, meets a celebrity and starts making plans.
Part 1 - Chapter 1: A Trespasser in Gotham City
My arrival in Gotham City was… eventful, but not unexpected.
I'll spare you all the details, but, as you might expect from my line of work, things got dangerous, then weird, then someone says that they have some sort of machine that can destroy the world, then you find out it is the "ray-that-shoots-up-into-the-sky-and-opens-up-a-portal-to-who-knows-where-else" scenario (you gotta love the classics), then you end up punching the bad guy's face and stopping the machine…
… except.
Yeah, you might have guessed it, the machine did not exactly stop. Instead it decided to implode with all its cosmic energies combined.
I did well enough, though, and managed to disconnect and toss the whole overloading power source into the Hudson river.
Last thing I remember doing, before feeling the push from a blinding light and the instant pull towards whatever the center of the explosion had become.
Next thing I remember, I'm floating in the middle of a lake, having no idea of where I am or how far from New York I ended up.
Answer to the first, Lake Gotham.
Answer to the second, far.
So far from home.
As I was saying, with no idea of where I was, no smartphone, no money and dressed up in spider-threads, I had to… do some morally questionable things. After swimming to the shore, I 'borrowed' some dry clothes from a trailer parked nearby - don't worry, as soon as I got things in order, first thing I did was returning them to whoever lived in said trailer - and hitched a ride on (top of) a bus to the nearest city.
Gotham.
(I almost cursed my luck when I got here, until I found out that things could have been worse, and I could have picked a bus towards Blüdhaven - affectionately called "Just like Gotham, minus the charm". Yeeesh.)
Asking around didn't help much, until I found out the directions to the Public Library.
(Remember, kids, nine times out of ten, libraries are the safest place for you.)
Had to fill up some paperwork and count with the kindness of the librarian there, but got myself access to the public computers - which, surprisingly, were actually pretty good, the 'W' logo brand on them still unknown to me.
Did some Google - err, a "Querioo" (?!) search (still getting used to this whole alternate Earth thing) and discovered, much to my chagrin, that I ended up in the worst kind of place, a different reality altogether.
Most heroes back home joked about the subject. The Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, any of "X" teams, hell, the West Coast Avengers, everyone has their own anecdotes about traveling to worlds that are similar or completely different from ours.
There is even a whole debate on if the occasional time traveler from the future is in fact also coming from an alternate dimension - the famous four hour debate between Hawkins, McCoy and Richards on the subject has over a million views on Youtube.
I ended up in one of those realities with similar important details - planet Earth with its only one moon, Pluto no longer a planet, Nazis still lost World War II, super heroes helping protect the world, 'The Princess Bride' being released in 1987, etc.
But! Several key differences make me believe I am REALLY far from my original universe - Justice League instead of Avengers, metahumans instead of mutants, Khandaq but no Wakanda, Querioo instead of Google, Chirper instead of Twit-wait, that's not even the name now, right? Well, again, these kinds of things.
No New York either, instead some completely new and different metropolises - including a city ACTUALLY called Metropolis! I mean, what?!
Back to my story, now that I was fully and dreadfully aware of how screwed up things were, what could I do to return to my home reality?
I left the building and started walking aimlessly, things around me both strangely familiar and yet painfully different from what I was used to.
Still, big cities are all similar, and soon I gave into that old instinct and climbed the nearest cathedral, got on top of a gargoyle and just let life happen hundreds of feet beneath me.
The spider-bite gave me powers, sure, but it also gave me… a new life. Or maybe I should say, a different way of feeling alive.
Sometimes, when I actually stop and let it wash over me, I can feel it, the movement of people below me, not each person, the People. Always seeing the trees, but just having the glimpse of what a forest truly is.
I must have been quite a sight, 'borrowed' clothes a couple sizes too big, wearing the mask, gloves and the 'feet' of my suit, lazily listening to the hustle and bustle and pondering.
Actually, I WAS quite a sight, given the reaction of the vigilante hero that had just landed on the gargoyle right next to mine, who took half a second to notice me and the other half to pull some sort of batons from his waist belt - quick reflexes, I admit it - while taking a defensive stance.
His suit, unlike mine, was armored but sleek, yellow and black with a huge white bat shape on his chest.
I could see from the exposed part of his helmet-cowl that he was African-American, and quite young in fact, probably in his mid-teens, his expression serious, all business. Very unlike me, I remember in those days, I was glad for the mask, or else everybody would see how much in panic I actually was.
I kept laying down with my hands behind my head, almost appearing to the casual observer that I was resting up, as if taking a moment to rest at the twentieth floor height on top of a concrete statue was the most obvious thing.
(Of course, I was anything but relaxed, spider-sense tingling at a constant buzz, which I grew to recognize as an alert of "low enough threat nearby". Kid must have been good enough in a fight, it only buzzed like that near guys like Kraven or Hammerhead)
He gave me the usual treatment, 'who are you?', 'what are you doing here?', 'that doesn't look comfortable', you know that attitude, way too serious for his age? Yeah.
Time to introduce myself to the local hero community…
Duke Thomas, aKa 'The Signal', kept his guard up.
Whoever this guy was, he was entirely too cozy at this height and in the presence of someone armed, especially someone wearing the Bat insignia.
"You know how it is, came for the Sunday mass, missed the time, didn't find an empty seat, so now I have to wait for the next one", the suspect replied, too naturally, like he really did not care about the strangeness of the moment.
Duke decided to go for a different strategy, lowering the bat-sticks a bit - 'Defensive Form Four, the one where you look like you are not ready to knock someone out', Nightwing had explained - and discreetly pushed a button hidden under his left glove's thumb.
The camera hidden in his helmet turned on its streaming mode, hopefully being picked up by whatever member of the batfamily was awake at the moment.
"There are no masses today", Signal replied. "Since Gotham Cathedral is under restoration. Also, today is a Wednesday."
"Ah, makes sense. Never liked Wednesdays.", the man replied, now sitting down. "Nothing good airs just on Wednesday, you know?"
"There is that Awkwafina show.", the younger hero remarked, which made the stranger give pause then a nod. "Almost nothing."
"Now, again, who are you and what are you doing up here, man?"
"First, I'm a masked guy. Wanting to keep my identity a secret is kinda the whole point? B, I'm actually a superhero who traveled between dimensions after being swallowed by a man-made miniature black hole and now I'm trying to figure out how to go back home without having access to my advanced technology and my fortune that I left back home."
"You serious?"
"Nah, no high tech and I'm actually a couple months overdue on my rent… maybe three. No more than four. Yeah, I'll probably be homeless by the time I return…", he mumbles, while everything is being picked by Signal's recording device. "Gee, thanks kid, you helped me get sad real fast."
"My bad?", the teen half apologized, half asked.
The stranger quickly stood up and started stretching. "Nah, nevermind , real talk, being homeless doesn't reach the top twenty worst things to ever happen to me. Losing to the Kangaroo and the Grizzly duo, now that was depressing."
He extended a hand. "Name's Spider-Man. Hyphen between nouns."
"The Signal", the younger man did not take his hand - what a hard lesson taught by Red Hood, that had been. "No Hyphens", he added.
"Cool, cool."
Awkward silence came between them, until, "You know I have to take you back down to street level, don't you?", Duke warned the strange 'Spider-Man'.
"Sure, sure... wait, really? Why? I'm not doing anything wrong, am I?"
"If you don't have permission to climb the cathedral, yeah, you are, it's called trespassing, a criminal misdemeanor."
"Oh", the stranger said, in surprise, scratching his chin. "That is new, never been accused of that before. But, wouldn't that make you an illegal climber as well?"
Another moment of silence, just as awkward as before.
"... That's… I mean…", Duke tried to formulate a reply, now regretting the fact that all of this whole exchange was still being streamed to his 'work colleagues'.
"Well, my fellow lawbreaker, allow me to remedy this!"
And he stepped back and fell from his gargoyle, Duke not being able to reach for the strange man before his apparent suicide attempt but leaping after him to try and grab him, bat-chat sticks discarded (and magnetically reattaching themselves to his belt) for the grappling gun…
… only to be surprised by the man swinging towards another building by some sort of stretchy white rope he suddenly manifested.
"Hey!", the Signal yelled, shooting his grappling hook towards the probable destination of this Spider-Man, but already realizing the stranger was much, much faster than he was.
'Bats is just gonna love this', Duke groaned to himself.
A few minutes later, a maskless Peter Parker now walks aimlessly, just mingling with the mass of Gothamites coming and going, just another face in the crowd, though still wearing red webbed gloves and 'boots'.
'So.', he wondered. 'Different dimension. Different heroes. No friends. No contacts.'
He spotted a fast food joint, the name 'Big Belly Burger' in a red and yellow round logo.
'No 'Five Guys' either. Oh, Ariana, we're definitely deep in it now…', Peter sighed, then closed his eyes. 'Deep breaths, Spidey. Deeeeeeep breaths.'
The food did smell so greasy… just so tempting…
'Ok! Focus, assess your situation first, perfectly warm oily fries later! So!'
He turned around, starting to cross the street, avoiding the occasional bike and car who just didn't care about the red light.
'… So.'
Now he was in front of one of those fancy coffee shops franchises, the smell of overcharged lattes enticing the superhero.
'So? What next, Parker?'
The first idea would be to ask for help. That is the sensible one, there ARE heroes in this world, so… why not calling these Justice Leaguers?
… and who the heck would call themselves Justice League, like they are some sports division? Justice World Cup, Justice Little League, Justice Hall of Fame…
(Great, Parker, not a full day stranded on another Earth and you are resorting to sports jokes. You would be making Flash Thompson proud!)
Peter didn't put much faith in that route, though. Not that he didn't trust the heroes of this world - he gave a quick look at their past achievements and, yeah, they sounded amazing! - but mainly because of that.
With this whole saving the world 24/7 - and apparently even the Universe every couple months or so ('the heck?!') -, they would most likely not be able to stop their duties just to help a stranger from another dimension to get back home.
Their hearts would be on it, sure, but there is always a fire to be put out in another continent, a cat to be rescued from a tree or some sort of giant planet-eating space bacteria to defeat.
'I would be left in the To-Do List, for sure'
'Second idea? Well, maybe I could make myself my own portal generator? I would just need the parts, the science… the knowledge of how physics works in this reality… a power source strong enough to puncture through the fabric of not one, but two different universes… not forgetting I have no money of my own nor my own place… or what, steal - sorry, 'borrow' - everything and do it myself? Make some sort of crazy jury rigged machine for a most definitely risky attempt in a hideout, probably targeted by the police and the local heroes?'
Peter sighed. 'Yeah right, maybe if I were younger, stupider and more desperate…'
Peter stopped and watched the inside of that café.
A charming young man in a very expensive looking designer blue blazer, matching pants and yellow turtleneck pullover - that the guy actually made look good - was paying his paper bag order, with a hundred dollars bill, with a disarming "Keep the change" along.
'Third idea, magic.'
Peter narrowed his eyes.
'Yeah, no way, screw messing with magic. Science, I can deal with. Magic is the cheat code of the Universe, and my life is already in big enough shambles to start messing around with rune circles, enchantments or deals with demons.'
A lot of people were taking photos of the guy, as he was some kind of celebrity and, by the looks of his charming million dollar white marble smile, yeah, he might as well be.
'Fourth idea, just accept that I got screwed by life, once again, and start looking for a new job, have a new life on a new Earth. I could always take photos of myself, like in the early days. Or maybe they have superpowered wrestling in this reality? Man, when was the last time I talked with Crusher Hogan? I miss that guy. Probably won't be seeing him anytime soon. Or ever again.'
'I will never see anyone I knew before ever again… Gosh, MJ. Things were looking up for us again and what was the last thing I told her, 'Meet you Friday at Mick's', wasn't it? Typical Parker's Luck.'
'And, if all else fails, there is always pizza deliv-'
The rich man - because of course he was - left the store, nimbly avoiding bumping into Peter, hopped into his stereotypical convertible sports car, parked just in front of the café, and drove off in a rather impressive display of speed and control.
The hero decided to continue his walk, barely hearing someone talking on her phone about the 'Gosh-darn beefcake Grayson having just left the store' or something.
'Yeah, sure, being rich like that looks awesome, but it wouldn't help much in getting back home…', which made Peter stop in his tracks.
'Wait, it actually WOULD help. As in, a lot. Money can be exchanged for goods and services, after all, and the equipment, lab for the science experiments, power source, they would all cost major big bucks. Then, I would need my own laboratory - or someone else's - and with that, sponsors, contacts, advanced tech and information which could really make things happen, yeah.'
'Stark, Reed, heck, even Otto did stuff like that all the time. There are no Stark Industries or Roxxon here, nor Baxter Building, but maybe I could look into an alternative sponsor…'
'This could really work!'
To be continued!
Author's Notes:
First of all, THANK YOU for reading the second chapter!
Second, some playing around with POV's. I will be doing a little of that in the future, just warning you.
Third, I had to make a few references to the AO3 Classics in this chapter, how could I not? But you'll be seeing how Peter will be straying from the usual route soon!