Spider-Man: Spider Lost

by FumbleFeatures

Peter Parker/Spider-Man is flung into a new world unfamiliar to him. A world of heroes similar to his own, but endlessly different. Landing in a city called Gotham, Peter initially just wants to go home. Making new friends and enemies along the way, can Peter adjust to this new world or will he crumble under the mounting pressure of Parker luck?

10. Chapter 9 - The Bat And The Spider

Author Preface:

The chapter title is a little nod to Nothingspecial43 from FF who has been very helpful throughout this fic for me, thanks mate.

Its a reference to both the chapter content as well as THEIR fic that you should definetely check out. I'm still not caught up but I'm enjoying it a lot.

See ya on the other side (if anyone actually reads these author prompts...)

Chapter 9

DC Universe – Earth Prime

Queens, New York – Parker Residence

As Peter's eyes were locked on the stranger's face, his 'sister's' face, he eventually willed his mouth to speak again. Though, it was an intense struggle...

A battle between his force of will fighting to say something, anything, against all the synapses of his brain refusing to give him any input. His body fighting him too, refusing to overcome his fear and allow him to speak.

Nevertheless, through immense mental strain, a sentence stumbled its way from Peter's lips, "So… How's life?" He observed himself from outside his body and saw as a wave of cringe shuddered through him. The broken silence becoming a sweet memory in comparison to the utterly absurd question he just asked.

Teresa's expression flashed with shock at the question before truly considering its stupidity, causing the shock to immediately dissipate and be replaced with a look of irritation and bafflement, "How's life? That's the best you could come up with! How the hell am I meant to answer that? Grrrah! You're such an idiot!"

Peter watched as she stormed back into her room and threw herself defiantly onto her bed, picking up one of her stuffed animals and clutching at it aggressively. Clearly trying to seek comfort from the teddy and relive a sense of childhood innocence as the whiplash of Peter's question rumbled through her.

She was staring at her bed sheets with a look of annoyance and hurt as she huddled into herself, pulling her knees to her chest. Muttering to herself in aggravation though no sounds escaped from her lips.

Peter rubbed the back of his neck before sighing and trying to reclaim his first impression, "Sorry, that was dumb… I'm just kinda' at a loss for words here…"

Teresa shot her eyes at him for a moment before resuming her stare of disassociation at the bed, muttering under her breath, "Yeah... No shit..."

"Language…" It was a knee jerk reaction, one from his younger years raised by Ben and May, who were strict about profanity, "Sorry. That just slipped out… You have every right to swear at me. And be mad. That was terrible. Can I try again? I notice you didn't slam the door in my face so, can I…?" He gestured to the chair next to her bed, prompting her to look back at him and see his request.

"Go ahead, I guess…" She said with a severe tone, one that wasn't from malice but from pain.

She was struggling to hold back her emotions, desperately trying to keep her cool, but it was harder when she saw Peter's face.

His opening sentence had cracked her composure slightly, she was faintly shaking while trying to regain control of herself before she began crying.

Peter walked into the room and sat on the chair, he looked to her again. She was purposefully avoiding his gaze, he sighed as he looked at the ground and spoke again, softly this time, carefully, "What do you want me to say? How can I make this easier for you?"

"You can't… Just… Don't say anything." She replied, still not looking at him.

So, Peter didn't speak, he just sat there with her, in silence, passively studying her.

He didn't know what her thoughts were, but he theorised they were unpleasant to experience.

She was stiff, rigid, strict with every minute movement of her body. Her breathing was slow, and her eyes remained fixed forward.

There was an aura of strain about her being and the slightest twitches were intermittently dancing on her face. As uncomfortable as Peter felt, sitting static in the room, he could tell she felt worse.

The ache in her heart was a painting that had chosen her face as its canvas, it hurt for him to look at.

After far longer than was reasonably comfortable, her eyes darted to him. They were red and painful, misty from un-cried tears that were begging to fall. Peter froze for a moment when he felt her gaze meet his, unsure how to react to the sudden acknowledgement of his presence.

"You're an idiot…" The words escaped from her mouth with an exhaled chuckle of annoyance.

"Excuse me?" Peter replied instinctually, confused by the confrontation.

"I don't know what I expected you to say, but that?" She sighed as she looked deep into his eyes, "Y-You're just like him… He was an idiot too."

"Well, I guess we're two Pete's in a pod." Peter cringed again as he spoke without thinking, his mouth moving simply to kill a silence, rather than to actually say anything of worth, "Errr… Pretend I didn't say that."

She just looked at him with mild contempt before speaking, "You look older than he did…" Her voice was stern, solid. But there was a hint of invitation in her tone, she was urging Peter to respond.

"Well, I am older."

"No. That's not what I mean… You were born in the same year, right? You just- I guess you look like how he would if the car wreck never happened…" Her voice was trailing slightly as her thoughts meandered before she continued with harsh focus, "But it did happen. He's dead and you're alive."

"I'm sorry."

"Did… Did you just apologise for being alive?" She had placed her stuffed toy on the bed and was turning to actually face him now as she spoke, her expression still painful but was ever so slightly softening into one of curiosity, offering input from Peter.

"What? Oh… No. I- I meant sorry for your loss…"

She paused for a moment and stared at him, taking in the details of his face, "It is so weird hearing that from his… You're face. God, this is sooo messed up!"

"Heh. You're definitely right there… You know, funnily enough, I know how it feels… Seeing someone else with the face of someone you've lost…"

"Uncle Ben, right?"

"Yeah…" Peter thought for moment longer, Ben wasn't the first time he experienced the feeling, "And others…"

"Others? Like, who? I thought we were the only family from your world that exist here?" Teresa had shuffled on the bed, she was closer to him now, subconsciously closing the gap as they begun to settle into each other's company.

"I… That's too long of a story to get into now..." The story of him meeting Ghost-Spider was too complex for this moment, and talking about meeting her would only remind him of Gwen, Peter didn't want to allow those thoughts to overwhelm him, not now, "I will say though, this isn't the first time I've travelled to another earth…"

"Wow… You know, having spider powers sounds way more complicated than I thought they'd be." Teresa was vocalising the stray thought as she recalled what Batman and Superman had told her of how Peter arrived here.

"Yeah, you can say that again…" Peter spoke as he chuckled grimly, "Listen Teresa, I can't tell you how you should feel, or pretend that I know exactly how that is... But, for me at least, it got easier..."

Teresa didn't respond, she didn't know what words would do justice to her thoughts. She just looked at him. The shellshock when she first saw his face was fading and she realised what he said held some truth, it didn't hurt to see his face as much anymore.

As they held the moment Teresa noticed a chain around Peter's neck and felt her hand being drawn to her own. Noticing the sudden movement Peter's eyes tightened, "What is it?" He asked.

"You're necklace…" She replied, slightly startled by his voice.

He looked down at the chain he was wearing and pulled it out from under his shirt, seeing Teresa's eyes widen as he did so. It was his mother's necklace, one of the few belongings he had from his parents.

As Peter showed her the Star of David he wore whenever he wasn't Spider-Manning, she copied his action and pulled her own necklace from under her top. They were identical.

"You have mom's necklace…" She said, her voice slightly stiff.

"So do you." He replied, it was a pointless statement, but Peter was trying to fight another silence coming between them.

"I guess that makes sense, I got the necklace, he got dad's watch…" She said as her eyes drifted to his left arm, noting the watch on his arm. It too was identical to the one next to Peter's portrait downstairs, "You got both… Hey… P-Peter?" It hurt to say his name out loud.

"Yeah?" Peter replied as Teresa began to formulate a question.

"Do you believe in an afterlife?"

"Phew… That's a heavy one… I don't really know… I'm not religious if that's what you mean… I don't believe in God or anything like that, other than the ones I've met…"

"You met God?" Shock was evident in her tone.

"Ehhh… Demi-Gods technically, you heard of Thor? The Norse thunder God? He's kinda' a hero back home…" He then thought to his meeting with the Justice league, "Also Wonder Woman, I guess… Apparently, she's like the daughter of Zeus or something."

"Wow. You've met Wonder Woman? That is so cool… What's she like? Wait, don't. D-Don't answer that… I'm getting sidetracked… Experiencing something and believing in it are different things. So… you didn't really answer my question."

Peter thought for a moment before answering, faith was never really something he considered all that much, "My Aunt May and Uncle Ben were Catholic… May still is, I guess. But me? I don't know, I guess you could say I'm agnostic. But an afterlife? I- I just don't know… The scientist part of me thinks that when someone dies, they're dead… But another part of me likes to think they're still out there somewhere…"

Teresa seemed to be considering his words as she nodded slowly, "Our Uncle Ben's Catholic too… I don't believe in anything though. I wear this to remember mom by, but other than that I don't have any spiritual connection to it… But I like to think my brother's soul is somewhere, watching over me. May too… Maybe not heaven, but I just… If there's nothing, then what's the point?"

Peter looked at his own necklace for a moment, studying it. He never really considered himself Jewish, nor Catholic. But his necklace had always been one of his only connections to his mother, in a way it was a connection to her faith. Even if he himself had no belief in it.

Same with Ben, May prayed and spoke to him nearly every night, he had seen her do it. He never considered Ben would actually be listening… But he realised something, he spoke to Ben too sometimes, whenever he found the chance to visit his grave.

He had spent hours at the graves of Ben, Harry and Gwen, just sitting, talking to them. In those moments was he really just speaking to empty stones, or could they hear him? He hoped it was the latter.

"If there isn't anything, then I believe it's up to the living to keep their memories alive. That's the point..." He absentmindedly ran his fingers over the Star of David on his chain as he spoke as his gaze drifted to his watch, in a way, they symbolised that his parents never truly left him...

Peter looked back to her, the room had developed a morbid atmosphere and Teresa was looking at the ground as she seemed to be thinking deeply about what he had said.

Taking his eyes off her, his gaze wandered around her room, in his reality this was the spare room. The one Jess had taken when she moved in with them.

Unlike his own, this room was distinctly unique in comparison to its counterpart. Peter felt himself passively studying it's layout and decorations, trying to gain a stronger impression of the girl who lived in it.

On her desk, besides which Peter sat, he spied a mini figurine of the Empire State Building. Looking back to her timid frame he gently tried to coax her out of her morose thoughts. "Hey, you wanna' get out of here?"

She looked at him curiously, his attempt to change the subject wasn't subtle, but she appreciated it nonetheless, "A-and do what…?"

He picked up the figure next to him and presented it to her, "You ever been? The view is great!"

She saw that he was holding her figure of one of New York's most famous tourist landmarks, "Empire State? No, never… We nearly went as a family once, but… it didn't happen. And then… You know…"

Peter nodded with understanding, "Wanna' check it out?"

"Right now? What about lunch? Besides it's closed for repairs…"

Peter just chuckled softly as he smiled, "Let me worry about that… Get changed. It's a little cold for pajamas. Meet me downstairs in five?"

"I- What are you doing?"

"You look like you could use some air… So could I. Whadya' say?"

She squinted her eyes as she inspected his face, he was smiling at her kindly and his eyes had seemed to light up with enthusiasm, "I- Okay." The thoughts of mortality were pushed to the back of her mind as she grew interested in Peter's offer.

"Great! Just let me know when you're ready."

She was watching him curiously as he left her room, she didn't know what to make of him.

In many ways he was exactly like she expected him to be. But in too many others he was entirely different. That in itself wasn't all that surprising, but she couldn't tell if that made everything easier or harder. All it seemed to do was make every emotion feel more complex than they ever had before.

Peter quickly told Ben where he was taking Teresa, checking if it was okay and giving the older man details about his talk with her.

After getting overwhelming approval from the older man, Peter got changed himself, donning his costume once more before sitting with Ben in the kitchen as he prepped lunch.

After a few minutes, Teresa also came downstairs. Wearing jeans and a hoodie, she paused as she saw Peter, in full costume, save for his mask, sipping at a glass of water at the table.

"Woah… Is that your costume?" She asked excitedly as her confusion was immediately replaced with fascination. Stepping closer to him as she knelt down to examine it closer, taking in details of the fabric and design.

Until the other day, when she met Batman and Superman, she had never actually seen a superhero up close. Her closest before that being one time when her school had to close early while Powergirl was fighting a D-list villain a few streets away. She saw her flying off in the distance and it was one of the coolest moments of her life.

Comparatively, the meeting with Bats and Supes was much more intimate, but she quickly lost the feeling of being starstruck as the conversation grew more painful. After a minute she barely registered their presence at all.

As such, being able to get this close to Peter's costume was incredible to her. Even if he didn't have the same star power as the bigger names, he was quickly becoming notable within Gotham.

She had been keeping up with the news and forums about him online but had never been able to see the costume up close. Most of the pictures were pretty blurry and unclear.

"No. Why would you think that? This is my lounging outfit… I wear it when I lounge…" Peter put down his glass and gestured over his costume as he replied with soft sarcasm.

She looked up into his eyes as she stood back up, her enthusiasm dropping and being replaced with amused annoyance, "Dumbass…"

"I kid, I kid…" He stood up from his chair and put his hands on his waist, puffing out his chest heroically, "Soo… What do you think?"

She crossed one of her arms as she put the other to her chin, examining the suit closer as she focused her gaze and looked him up and down, "Hmmm… Not bad. Red and blue always a classic. I think black would make the red pop more, though. Oooh maybe a bit of white too… Have you ever thought about wearing a-"

Peter interrupted her, "Spider-Man doesn't wear capes!"

She looked him in his eyes as she raised a curious eyebrow, smirking as she spoke, "I was going to say hood…"

"Oh… A Hood… Ehhh… Hood's aren't really my style. Although…" Peter thought about it for a moment, he'd seen other Spider-People with hoods, and they wore it pretty well. "Hmm. You know what? I'll think about it…"

She had crossed her arms and was watching him with a grin while he pondered her suggestion, "So… Mr. 'doesn't wear capes'… I'm ready whenever you are."

"Right! We'll be back in a bit Uncle Ben." Peter turned back to the older man with a grin as he spoke.

Teresa felt a grip in her chest as she heard Peter say the words… Uncle Ben… It reminded her that technically, legally, Peter had become her brother.

A sense of guilt momentarily grabbed her. She suddenly felt as if her enjoyment in Peter's company and the comfort she felt in the moment was a betrayal to her brother…

Ben had paused his prep as he had been watching his niece and 'nephew', a wide smile on his face.

It dropped slightly as he noted the sudden shift in Teresa's demeanour and paused for a second before looking back at Peter who was looking at him expectantly, unaware of his words' unintended consequence.

"Have fun you two… Lunch'll be ready at two so don't be too long… Hey, Pete, can I have moment with Terri?"

Peter looked between them and noted the sudden shift in tone. Teresa had retreated into herself again and was staring at the ground. He looked back to Ben who was still smiling at him but with a knowing look in his eyes.

Peter simply smiled back, "Sure thing. Meet you outside?" He said to Teresa who nodded back stiffly, her smile forced as her eyes told him all he needed to know…

Peter exited the kitchen and stood in the garden, using the moment to put on his mask and check his web fluid and other mundanities through its HUD. Trying to distract himself as he waited in the cold. For a moment he heard the sounds of talking, immediately realising his superior senses would pick up on their conversation.

Not wanting to pry, he tried to focus his superhuman hearing on other sounds around him. Focusing on the distant sounds of birds singing above as he allowed Ben and Teresa their moment.

As Peter was lulled by the birdsong and other sounds of nature around him, the muffled talk ended, and Peter turned to see a noticeably less depressed looking Teresa coming down the steps towards him, wearing a coat over her hoodie.

Not referencing their conversation, he smiled at her before realising she wouldn't be able to see through his mask. So instead, he just turned around and crouched, getting ready to speak before he was interrupted by her.

Looking at him strangely as he changed his position, she said, "Popping a squat in the backyard already? You know we have a bathroom inside, right?"

Standing up and turning to her he crossed his arms as he replied, "Toilet humour, really? Come on that's just childish…" 'Although I will admit that was pretty good… Gotta' use that one later if I get the chance… Actually, I don't want to think about a scenario where that might happen.' He thought to himself as he noted she too had inherited Uncle Ben's childish sense of humour.

Clearly whatever Ben said to her in the kitchen had worked wonders though, and she chuckled slightly as she replied, "Sorry. Sorry. You just looked sooo stupid."

"Yeah, yeah. Just hop on, before I leave you here…" He said as he turned back around and leant down, less suggestively this time.

She jumped onto his back, wrapped her arms around his neck, before he webbed around her back and wrapped it around his front, as well as attaching a strand to each of her shoulders and fastening them under his armpits, creating a makeshift a harness for her.

"Errr… This stuff doesn't stain, right?" She thought as she inspected his webbing.

"Nah, it's fine. It dissolves in an hour…"

"Ermm, no offense but I don't want to be stuck to you for an hour…"

"You won't be, trust me. I've done this a ton of times; this is just added safety in case you let go. But for the record, try not to let go. Hey, how are you with heights?"

"Alright, I guess… Just please start off slow."

"Alrighty then…" Putting on a faux-pilot voice he spoke, "Thank you for choosing air Spidey. Please keep all arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and all breakfasts safely un-hurled! Seriously though, please try not to vomit on the suit, it's just been washed."

"You're such a dork…" Teresa chuckled her reply before immediately shutting her mouth as her eyes widened when Peter started moving.

Peter leapt over the house in a single movement and Teresa clenched her teeth and shut her eyes as the motion shuddered through her.

"What was that?" Peter called; he genuinely hadn't heard her as he focused on his trajectory.

"N- Nothing-gg!" She called as Peter shot a web to the leafless trees ahead and pulled them forward.

"How are we feeling back there?" Peter replied as he continued to swing on the taller trees and buildings, landing sometimes on the roofs of the smaller houses which he used to point launch forward.

Teresa opened her eyes again before immediately closing them again, "I'm g-g-good! You do this every day? How the hell are you not constantly throwing up?"

"Hah! Lot's of practice!" He called back as they approached the Queensboro bridge.

When they reached the bridge, Peter's movements became calmer and easier to handle as he had a consistent target to swing from. As they swung across the water there was a softer rhythm to the movements and Teresa's eyes opened properly now.

It was surprisingly calming, and she could appreciate the view now without constantly trying to focus on keeping her breakfast inside. As she slowed her breathing, she looked at Manhattan island as they drew closer, taking in the city from a new perspective she'd never even considered would be possible for her to experience.

Her wonder grew as they swung further into Manhattan, sailing through the buildings and catching the eyes of several pedestrians who stopped and stared at them as they effortlessly moved through the city skyline.

Peter was careful with his movements, going much slower than he normally would and keeping the tricks tame. Never once going upside down for Teresa's sake.

But he'd be lying if he said the swing wasn't nonetheless enjoyable. A bittersweet sense of familiarity hitting him as he took a route that he knew so well he could do it with his eyes closed.

The Empire State Building was one of his favourite thinking spots and he had memorised every shortcut and route between May's house and the iconic landmark.

For a moment he truly felt at home in the city, as if he would look around a corner and see the all too familiar sight of Iron Man or someone else flying off in the distance.

"Hey, can you flip upside down?" Peter was taken from his thoughts by Teresa calling out against the wind.

"I can… You sure you can handle it?" He called back, his voice battling the rush of air around them.

"Hell yeah! This is so fun!" Her queasiness and apprehension when they first started swinging was all but gone now.

"Alright. Just try to keep any stomach content inside for me!"

"Trust me, that is my top priority right now! Now do a barrel roll!" She responded, citing a retro game that she used to play with her brother when they were kids.

Peter just smiled to himself as he shook his head in disbelief before pulling them into a swing. When at the highest point of the arc he let go and launched them both high into the air as he used his legs to pull them into a backwards somersault. It wasn't barrel roll, but it was still fun.

"Wooo-hooo!" Teresa yelled as they flipped upside down through the air, closing her eyes as the wind stung them, but still enjoying the feeling of complete weightlessness.

Peter mimicked her behaviour and also called out to the air with a cheer. It had been a while since he had enjoyed a swing this much.

Most likely it was the result of him vicariously experiencing the moment through Teresa on her first Spidey outing. Reminding him of how much fun it was when he finally got the hang of swinging in his early days all those years ago.

Eventually though, Teresa's roller-coaster ride drew to a close as Peter landed on the side of the Empire State Building. Crawling the last few feet until reaching the top, hopping over the tall fence of the observation platform. As they landed Peter got out a vial of his solution and removed the webbing from between them.

Teresa watched fascinated as she dismounted Peter's back and saw as the webbing dissolved almost instantly, "That's so cool…" She muttered to herself.

For a moment she looked up at Spider-Man, his demeanour was different now, his confidence while in the suit seemed almost tangible. Then the moment passed as she looked past him and saw the view from the top of Empire State.

"Woah… The city looks beautiful from up here…" She stated as she walked right past Peter and towards one of the viewing telescopes. Fishing through her pocket for loose change for a moment before putting two quarters in the slot and looking through the lenses.

"Everything looks so small…"

"Yeah… That's called perspective… They're actually a lot bigger up close!" Peter replied, adding a tinge of sarcasm.

She looked away from the telescope and rolled her eyes at Peter before resuming her tourist experience. She viewed the city through the lenses for a couple minutes before she had enough and pulled away.

As she looked back to Peter, who likewise was admiring the view of the city, she asked, "Hey can we go up to the top?" Nodding her head above them as she spoke.

"Sure. Grab on." He offered his back to her again and leapt above the viewing platform. Right to the top of the building where he helped her down so she wouldn't slip.

They sat there, as high as they could possibly go without climbing the spire, their legs dangling off the side as they allowed a moment of peaceful silence to fall between them.

Peter removed his mask and tucked it in his waist band so he could appreciate the view uninterrupted. Embracing the cold wind that was blowing against his face.

The wind was strong, but Peter sat in front of it's path to shield Teresa, but he was still worried about her falling so he kept looking back every now and then.

"What…?" She asked, with a curious smile, "You keep looking at me..."

"Just making sure you don't fall… Uncle Ben would kill me if I let anything happen to you."

He said it again and her smile dropped slightly. This time Peter noticed what caused it, and realised what must have caused her mood to change earlier as well.

"Sorry… It must be hard to hear me calling him that... I'll stop if that'll make it easier for you."

She shook her head slightly as she looked off into the distance, "No! No… Don't do that… That's not fair to you… You should be able to call him that. I- I can't imagine how it felt to lose him…"

"I mean you lost your Aunt and Brother…"

"Yeah, but that was different. For both of them it was different. A different pain… You know?" She looked back to him for a moment, he nodded, she returned her gaze to the skyline, "But Uncle Ben… I couldn't have gone through that without him… He- He's all I have… Even though you had Aunt May... I just don't know what losing him would be like… I don't what to think about it… I guess I'm just sorry, for your loss…"

Peter looked to her before he too stared at the city below them, "Thank you… But I can tell that's not really why you're upset…"

She let out a breath, which developed into a dark chuckle, a frustrated exhalation of air that communicated Peter had seen right through her, "I didn't want to like you, you know… And I guess hearing you say that... It reminds me you're just taking his place… And that just reminds me of him… Part of me feels so guilty about enjoying this moment, with you. But I do... I am..."

"I get it, trust me… It feels like your disrespecting Peter's memory by talking to me."

"Yeah… How did yo-" she paused as she realised, "You've been through this before… Right."

"Look, I'm going to try to say this in a way that isn't complicated, which is hard cause' this entire situation is really messed up, but, If I was him. Which I kinda' am, but like, If the roles were reversed... Okay. How do I put this?"

Peter considered his words, "I got it! Aunt May and my adopted twin Jess… If I was gone… Which to them I might as well be, I guess… But if another Peter was sent to my world. Which could've actually happened now I think about…"

He shook his head as his sentence was running away from him, "Anyway, if another Peter was sent there, if another one has been sent there… Well, I wouldn't want them to feel guilty for being happy about it… I'd just be glad their happy. You know?"

He kept on with his speech, "…To answer your question earlier, really answer it this time… I don't know if there is an afterlife. But I can say this, I do believe your brother is looking over you. And I can tell you, he's glad that you're smiling… Because I am..."

He looked at her and noticed she was staring at him, carefully listening to his words. Smiling darkly as she wiped away a couple of budding tears.

Not wanting her to lose her composure or to feel more grief than she already did, he finished his monologue, "You just need to remember I'm not him. I'm me." Peter looked to her, "Hi. I'm Peter Parker of Earth-616161. Nice to meet you." He smiled invitingly as he extended his hand to her.

Her resistance to her happiness faltered and her guilty smile was replaced with a genuine, unapologetic one as she dried her eyes, "I'm not gonna' shake your hand you dork! For two reasons: One, this isn't the sixties, and two I might fall if I let go of the ledge… But thanks… I think I needed to hear that."

"I must have missed the memo that handshakes died in the seventies, but you're welcome… Can I say one last thing?"

"Oh, they did! After the big handshake riots of 69, don't you know your history?" She joked back before composing herself, "Sorry… Go on…"

"I may not be your Peter, but if you let me… I think I'd like to try being your brother…"

She looked away from him as she knew that if she kept his gaze she would start to cry, properly this time, "I- I think I'd like that too." She said as she playfully nudged him with her shoulder, careful not to lose balance.

One last thought lingered in Teresa's mind, and timidly she asked, "Hey, Peter… If Jess is adopted, how can she be your twin? You know that's not how twins work, right?"

Peter chucked as he responded, "Now that is a long story… I promise I'll tell you one day, but not right now…"

She nodded understandingly before looking into the distance.

The silence returned as they sat comfortably in each other's company, the wind whistling around them as the symphony of city sounds played their afternoon score.

As Peter took in the landscape, he noted the differences, not noticing Teresa as she watched his face while he carefully studied the buildings.

"Tell me about your New York." She said, continuing when he looked at her, "You're noticing the differences, right? Tell me about them."

Peter smiled at her; she was perceptive, clearly very good at reading people. Or perhaps Peter was just terrible at masking his thoughts. Maybe a bit of both…

"Okay." He looked about for a moment before pointing, "You see that building there…" He was pointing at a large skyscraper with the logo for Queen Industries.

"Yeah."

"Well, whatever that company is, isn't there. Instead of a 'Q' imagine a red 'A' on a white background. In my world that's Avengers Tower…"

"Avengers Tower? What are the Avengers?"

"'Earth's mightiest heroes'. Basically, my world's Justice League. There's Iron Man, who paid for the whole thing, he's mega rich… Captain America, The Hulk, Thor, Captain Marvel… A bunch of people really… I'm a member, too. Well, reserve member, but still counts."

"Bullshit!"

"It's true! My membership card's in my bag at home... I'll show you when we get back."

"Ugh... That's so not fair! You're basically a member of two Justice League's… I don't even get to be part of one…"

"Ehh… Just get bitten by a radioactive spider and they'll let you in… It's how it worked for me."

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen…"

Peter gave her knowing smile as he thought of all the Spider-People he knew, "Happens more often than you think… Ooh. I got another one… There!" He pointed at Wayne Enterprises.

"Okay remember Iron Man, well his name is Tony Stark. That is where his building is, Stark Industries."

"Wait he owns two skyscrapers in New York? Greedy much?"

"Yeah well, he's a billionaire and a superhero… He gets to be a little greedy, plus at least he uses his money for mostly good…" Peter thought about the poetry of Wayne Enterprises inhabiting the same building as Stark Industries, "Kinda' like Batman, I guess. Makes sense they'd share a location, sorta'…"

Teresa looked at him confused for a moment before her eyes widened in shock and recognition. "Wait! Bruce Wayne is Batman?!"

Peter slapped his forehead as he realised what he'd just done, looking at her face of awe and excitement as he desperately tried to calm her, "Shhhh… Not so loud!"

"Oh, shut up. Who the hell could be listening? We're a thousand feet in the air! But seriously, he is?"

Peter sighed as he spoke, "Yes… But you have to promise me you won't tell a soul. Not even Uncle Ben…"

"Oh, Uncle Ben knows… He'd refused to tell me."

"He did? Actually, that makes sense now I think about it… But please Terri…" Neither Peter nor Teresa had noticed he'd used her nickname without thinking, "This is serious… That information in the wrong hands… Swear to me you won't say anything."

"I know! I'm not an idiot… Besides, I already got this talk from Uncle Ben about you." She put on deep voice as she mimicked Uncle Ben's speech, "'Teresa! With great knowledge, there must also come a great duty to do the right thing!' Or whatever he said... I usually tune those speeches out…"

"Well don't. He's right… Trust me. Also, it's 'great power, great responsibility'." Peter was paraphrasing the actual message Ben had most likely given Teresa.

"That's it! God, that's been bugging me for days… Tip of my tongue, you know?"

"Right… But you promise?"

"Yes. Yes. I promise… Bruce Wayne… That's so cool…" She stared out in the city with bewilderment at the information she had just learned, before her face shifted into another excited expression, "Now give me another one! What else is different?"

"Alright, alright. Last one, though, we need to start heading back soon…" Peter found another building, but hesitated for a moment when he realised what stood in its place.

Teresa saw his eyes focus on a spot and misread his contempt for fascination, "You found one?"

"Yeah…" He realised what he had done but knew he wouldn't be able to dissuade her interest. He sighed as he spoke, "That building there."

"Lexcorp?" she asked as her eyes followed his arm.

"Well back home, that's Oscorp. And it used to be owned by a villain…"

"Heh. It's owned by a villain here, too."

"No, I don't mean a corrupt billionaire, although he was that too, I mean an actual villain…"

"So do I… Lex Luthor is a real piece of work, he's had it out for Superman for years... Tried to destroy the League a couple times… It's all pretty common knowledge, there's even a documentary about it…

"Woah, really?"

"Uh-huh… Right now, he's running for president, it's a massive scandal. Apparently, he's 'reformed'. I don't believe it. Doesn't matter what I believe though, because apparently, he's doing well in the polls... It'll be brutal if he's elected next year... No one knows how it'll affect the League, but it probably won't be good..."

"Woah. I should read up on this Luthor guy. Need to know what I'm getting into if I'm gonna' be a 'friendly neighbourhood Justice Leaguer'."

"We can watch the documentary tonight… I mean… If you want." Her voice became mildly timid for a beat.

"Yeah… I'd like that."

She smiled softly as she avoided his gaze again, before looking back at him, "What about in your world? Who's the villain there?"

Peter had hoped she would've forgotten his lack of explanation, "I- Norman Osborne… The Green Goblin." He paused as his thoughts lingered on the sick face that haunted his dreams, or at least they used to.

One of the mercies of this world were his dreamless sleeps, whatever their reason, they freed him from the Goblin's control over his sleeping thoughts. Now he only plagued his waking ones.

Teresa was still looking forward, not noticing the change in Peter's expression, "Hah! 'The Green Goblin'... What kind of name is that? Sounds like a crappy theme park ride…" She turned to him and felt her smile immediately being wiped from her face as she saw the coldness that came over Peter, "Hey, are you okay? Sorry, I didn't- Peter, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to…"

"I don't want to…" Peter's voice was uncharacteristically harsh before looked to her and smiled softly, "But I'm not going to keep secrets from you, either... I don't want that. Just… Give me a second."

"Okay." She looked at him severely now, his face was focused, and there was a deep, unending pain behind his eyes. She wanted to cry just seeing how his face changed. Whatever this guy did, it clearly broke Peter for a time. Maybe more than once.

"I won't go into too much detail, not now… But that man, that monster… He was one of the worst of the worst. At least, to me… The Avengers… They fought some bad guys, I was even there for some of it… Trickster Gods. Power mad Titans. World Eaters. Evil Robots..." He looked out into the distance as he vocalised his memories of the Avengers level threats.

His eyes darkened and his voice became colder, "But Norman Osborne? He didn't care about the Avengers at all… He had his eyes on one target. Me. He made it his life's mission to make mine hell."

He paused and looked down, swallowing a lump in his throat, "At first, it was small… Fun even, a villain that I could banter with… A goofy man in a silly costume trying to grow a criminal empire with pumpkin-themed mascots… Then, he pushed harder, it was never enough. He took a lot of lives…" Peter shook his head, fighting his urge to break into tears.

"Then- Then he found out who I was… And he wasn't just targeting Spider-Man anymore, he was after Peter Parker. And anyone that I cared about…" Teresa's eyes widened as she realised the implication of Peter's words, dreading what she might hear from him next.

Peter didn't notice Teresa's terror-stricken face, he was too focused on his dark memories, "The Goblin got what he wanted; he killed people that did nothing wrong except be stupid enough to love me…"

He thought about Gwen and then Harry. In some ways Gwen's death was a mercy, at least she was spared what happened to Harry before he died, "…And worse…. No one was safe, not even his own son."

"Jesus…" Teresa couldn't help the word escaping her mouth.

"But even after all that, he just kept pushing. And…" Peter inhaled the largest most gut-wrenching sigh Teresa had ever seen, he stopped talking for a moment.

"What happened to him?" She asked, cautiously. Her heart breaking as his eyes became windows into the deepest pit of despair she had ever seen on another human.

"There are some lines I refused to cross, but Goblin just saw that some kind of sick challenge. He wanted me to snap… To finally kill him. I'd be lying if I said part of me didn't want it too…"

"And did you? You know… snap?" She was terrified of his answer, but her morbid curiosity got the better of her and she felt the question escpaing her lips before she could stop it.

Peter didn't answer, he just looked out over the city, his eyes lingering on Lexcorp. Even the buildings were similar, they both had purple colour schemes and both looked unnecessarily intimidating compared to the rest of the city... Peter couldn't help feel a dark shiver as he imagined the building that held Lexcorp's place in his own world.

Deep down, Peter knew that Norman's death was an accident, he never gave up on trying to save him, but when he finally died… Peter's relief was sickening.

To Peter, that made him guilty of murder. He didn't mourn the Goblin. Not for a second. But the man who was once Norman? That was the man Peter felt guilt for.

He looked back to Teresa, she was anxiously waiting for him to answer, "No."

Teresa breathed out a sigh of relief at Peter's definitive answer. Not because she had any moral aversion to someone as evil as the Green Goblin being killed, but because of the impact that choice would have had on Peter.

Peter, breathed heavily before continuing, "He caused his own death... But that doesn't matter because when he died, when that sick grin finally left his face, I just felt so… relieved. So, in the end I guess he won…"

The Slimbiote inside him bristled, trying to comfort Peter. But he could feel the Other's hate to the Goblin in its attempt at reassurance.

Peter knew he shouldn't linger on his anger; he didn't want to feed the Slimbiote any negativity. But he knew deep down, its feelings were its own, and it hated the Goblin as much as he did.

Teresa didn't respond with words; she was too shocked. But she leant towards Peter and squeezed his arm.

He looked back at her, his eyes misty and red, he quickly wiped his eyes with his arm.

Peter smiled at her cheerily before he jumped to his feet, "Anyway! Enough doom and gloom... We should head back, don't want to miss lunch. Phew! I'm hungry, are you hungry?"

As Teresa took the hand that Peter offered her, she stood up, wobbling slightly as she felt the wind hit them. Her eyes never left his and before he could react, she had grabbed him, hugging him tightly. They both knew It wasn't for balance…

After a moment, Peter felt his smile become genuine and he hugged her back. His heart ached, but now it was an ache of love, not pain.

He felt Teresa's grip tighten even more and Peter knew now, it was more than words on paper, more than convenience of a name or a face, he had a sister... One that cared for him. One that never wanted to see him hurt like that again.

Eventually, the hug ended. She stared into his eyes with her own empathetic ones, her expression communicating all her grief for the Peter she lost, but also for him. For the pain he suffered.

"Yeah… I'm pretty hungry." She said, and her words were true. But they both felt the meaning hidden under them.

After a quick swing home, the Parker's found their peace in one another as they ate their lunch as a family.

The evening came and they watched the documentary about Lex Luthor, as a family. Peter making notes throughout as he tried to gain a deeper understanding of the villain turned presidential candidate.

After another dreamless sleep, Sunday came. Peter went for a several swings in the big apple. Stopping crimes, fighting muggers, repairing a kid's bicycle, even rescuing a cat from a tree.

And again, his evening was spent with his family. Serenity washing over Peter as he settled into the simple life as Peter, and the familiarity of Spider-Man watching over New York.

And all too quickly, the weekend ended... Peter had his last dreamless sleep in his old bedroom. At least until next weekend.

He said his goodbyes and hugged his family, he paid his respects to the Peter before him and the Aunt May he never had the chance to meet, and he made his way back to the teleporter. Ready for another week in Gotham.

Gotham City, New Jersey

Wayne Industries – Chemical Engineering Lab

"And this is where you'll be working, the mechanical engineering department…" Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Industries, Wayne Enterprises' R and D subsidiary, spoke as he led Peter through the wide-open lab.

The space was impressive to say the least, but Peter expected nothing less from Wayne Industries. He was surprised to find out though, that his point of contact in the company was the CEO himself, assuming that wouldn't be typical of any other intern.

He assumed it was because of Lucius' connection to Batman, the man being given all the necessary information about Peter's situation.

This assumption was dissuaded by Lucious who simply explained that Mr. Wayne likes to run a tight ship and so they only have a handful of interns in the whole subsidiary, all of them reporting directly to Lucius if there are any issues.

However, by that point in the meeting Peter's shock had a different culprit. He had just been informed that the internship was actually paid.

He had assumed it would be simply unpaid on lab work, like his brief stint as an ESU intern when he was a highschooler.

Peter's mind had been reeling since that moment, excited that he was actually going to be getting paid to do science all day… It was a dream come true.

"Now, let me show you who you'll be working under, Dr Micheals... He's brilliant but be warned he can be very… Intense."

As Peter was taking in the beauty of all the fancy science equipment around the lab, Lucius led them through to an open plan office section where a very befuddled looking man in his late 40s was frustratedly running through work on his desktop. Pausing briefly to gulp down the remainders of his stone-cold coffee, cringing at the taste.

He held his hand up as he spotted the Peter and Lucius approaching from his peripheral, speaking, "Wait! Don't say anything, I've nearly got the bastard… I'm this close to a major breakthrough!" he pinched the finger and thumb of his upheld hand together.

Pausing their approach, Peter looked to Lucius with confusion, to which the older man simply shrugged and smiled. Communicating this is what he meant by 'intense'.

In contrast to the rest of the lab, the other open office spaces included, Dr Micheals' was an absolute mess of books, papers, wrappers and other equipment.

Thankfully it appeared all the important stuff was safely stored, but Peter couldn't help but think those were deliberate choices by the Dr Micheals, causing the rest of the clutter to build in their stead.

Peter had read up on the Doctor of chemical engineering in preparation for his internship. He was born and raised in Yorkshire in the UK and his wiki page noted that throughout his career and studies he had won lots of award-winning research and commendations, but also, as mentioned on his Wikipedia profile, he had an ADHD diagnosis.

This in no ways affected Peter's opinion of the man, in fact it made him respect him more, but he could definitely see its effect on his workspace as the chaotic sense of organisation, or lack thereof, made Peter's own disorganisation seem like child's play in comparison.

"Agh! Nothing! Why the hell won't you work for fu-" The man spoke in a strong Northern English accent.

"*Ahem* Dr. Micheals… This is your new intern, Peter Parker."

"Eh? Was that today? Christ! Is it Monday already? Bloody hell… Sorry mate, forgot you was comin' today." Dr Micheals stood up from his desk and grabbed Peter's hand in one fluid motion, shaking it violently.

He had a full head of very curly and unkempt hair, and his eyes were weighed down by dark bags, he looked about his workspace before his face went slightly red from embarrassment. "Err, sorry about the mess… Was gonna' have a tidy up, but got a little distracted…" His eyes became slits of rage as he angrily stared at his computer monitor, "This pissin' 'clean energy' project has been nagging at me for weeks… Err no offense, Lucius. I mean, it's all very important work, I…"

Lucius held up his hand as he smiled, stopping the man's ramblings.

"None taken Dr Micheals, I know how dedicated you've been to this project, you can curse at all you like..." Lucius looked to Peter with a smile, "Despite our suggestions for him to take a break, Dr Micheals has been working around the clock on our latest initiative... We're trying to create a more fuel-efficient alternative to standard fossil fuels, ideally with zero carbon emissions."

"Wow, impressive. How long have you been working on it?" Peter asked as he looked at the layout of the lab.

"Pffft… In total? Years… But I've been getting closer these last couple weeks, I know it… been stuck in the lab all weekend." His accent was difficult to decipher for Peter's New Yorker brain, but he was slowly catching on to his dialect.

The English accent, or accents, were baffling to Peter, how could Dr Micheals sound so different to Alfred when they came from the same tiny island?

"Well hopefully Peter here can give you a hand. Help speed things along... Maybe after showing him the ropes, you should head home, though. Rest that brain of yours..." Lucius Fox added.

"Trust me, won't be getting any rest at home either, not with my missus. I do miss my dog, though…" He playfully punched the air in front of Peter's shoulder, careful not to actually make contact, lest he face a meeting with HR. "Hah, that's a joke… I don't have a dog. Haha, nah really, I love me wife, honest. Just lightening the mood… You married?"

"Err, I'm nineteen…" Peter was mind blown by how quickly the man was speaking, causing Peter to think really hard about his replies.

Peter could probably handle his accent and his pace separately, but together? It was like the English language had been thrown in a blender, creating a liquid dialect that was being used to waterboard him.

"So probably not, ay? No judgement if you are though, me mum n' dad were married at sixteen! But different times back then, eh? But you ain't here to hear me talk about me family. Let me guess science is your missus?"

"… Um… Yes? My 'missus' is science… Specifically Biochemistry and Biophysics… But I was told this place had the best facilities for Chemical Engineering, so I switched majors…" Peter said, after taking a moment to decipher what the other man said as well as remember his story.

"Fair play don't need to justify yourself, mate. But you made a good choice if ya' ask me… Anyways glad to 'ave you here! Let's get cracking then, shall we?" He spoke enthusiastically as he led Peter into his office proper and began showing him around. Giving the younger man a lab coat and other equipment.

Clearly the sleep deprivation was causing an adrenaline spike in the older man, as Peter was struggling to keep up with, and understand, his northern ramblings.

Lucius Fox said his goodbyes and returned to his office, giving Peter his emergency number if there were any issues.

After a while, Peter settled into his role and he saw what Lucius meant, Dr Micheals truly was brilliant, when he actually understood what he was saying. His casual, yet all the same frantic, demeanour was refreshing.

In a field like this, there was an odd dichotomy in the behaviour and language of Dr Micheals, which Peter felt would better fit the stands of a Soccer stadium, and the groundbreaking research he had been conducting.

After an hour, the older man's energy had all been sapped from him and he was yawning out sentences painfully slowly. So, he called a cab and headed home, leaving Peter with a list of jobs to do.

After somewhat organising the space and setting up his own desk opposite Dr Micheals' workspace, he began working on several tests, logging the results as he went.

A few times he had to ask for help in finding equipment from the other technicians and scientists about, most of whom were pretty willing to aid him.

The open layout of the lab meant there was also open communication between them about their progress and work, despite the fact they were all leading, or working on, different projects.

While Peter was in the midst of one of his tasks, a familiar voice called out to him from behind, "Keeping busy?" he turned to see none other than Bruce Wayne himself behind him, his hands in his suit pockets, an expression Peter had never seen before on his face, he was smiling...

Peter had seen Bruce smile before. But those were soft, subdued, genuine. This was exaggerated, large, charismatic…

Before Peter could vocalise his confusion, the older man stretched his hand out and offered it to Peter speaking, "Good to see you again, Peter! Lucius tells me you've been given a lot of work from Dr Micheals already… I'm sure a prodigy like you will catch up quick, though…"

Bruce's voice was calm and friendly, and it unnerved Peter just how well he was able to slip into the charismatic philanthropist, playboy persona.

"Umm, thank you, Mr. Wayne. That means a lot… Thanks again for the opportunity." He spoke, loudly as he noticed several of the other employees in the lab were looking at them with fascination.

In a way though, what he was saying was entirely true. He was genuinely grateful for the opportunity.

"Don't even mention it! Once I heard your story and saw some of your work… Well, it was only natural I had to offer the best opportunity to a mind as great as yours… Hopefully you'll learn a lot here! Try, not to go wandering too far either, a scientific mind like yours? Well, I'm sure the competition will be snipping at your heels soon enough... Can't have Lex Luthor taking away another one of my potential employees!" Bruce's tone was overly chipper.

To everyone around he sounded as charismatic and friendly as ever, but to Peter it was downright disturbing.

He knew Bruce was going to pay him a visit, it was part of their cover. According to the news Peter had been missing for two years, assumed dead in a car wreck that killed his aunt.

Their current lie was that Peter had actually lost his memory in the car crash; a John Doe's body being mistaken for his.

Fake Peter had actually been living in homeless shelters across NYC, eventually applying for ESU and gaining full scholarship due to his genius.

This was not completely untrue as Peter had taken several tests Batman had given him to check his mental capabilities, his scores warranting him an actual scholarship in this world.

According to their story, the amnesia eventually left him and when his memory returned, he moved back in with his family.

Bruce Wayne had heard about Peter and, out of sympathy for the young man, offered him an (apparently paid) internship.

Again, not entirely untrue, but obviously there were major disparities between the real story and the fake one.

Nonetheless there were already articles about it, Peter surprised to find himself in the news when he saw he had apparently given an interview to a reporter named Clark Kent. No such interview had happened obviously, but it had gone semi-viral in the Gotham area.

"Thank you, Mr. Wayne, I hope I can live up to your expectations!" Peter's performance was just as convincing as Bruce's. The result of years of practice.

"Haha, I'm sure you will! Just keep up the good work. We're only trying to change the world after all!" Bruce replied cheerily before going around the rest of the lab and checking in on his other employees.

Although it was a rarity to actually see him in person in the R and D department, Bruce Wayne had garnered a positive reputation from nearly every one that worked for him.

He was a very caring boss and there were several stories of his dedication to his employees among the co-workers across all departments.

He'd been known to personally pay for surgeries and treatments for his workers and their families who suffered from complex afflictions. Even helping with tuition fees for his employee's families without being asked, and with no request for repayment.

All employes were provided with healthcare, dental and even housing (for any employees who needed it). All of this while providing a very competitive pension scheme that was so extreme it bordered on socialistic.

Peter had initially thought that those stories were exaggerations, merely part of Batman's Bruce Wayne persona, but seeing him interacting with everyone, it was clear deep down there was some truth to his philanthropy. He was a man that truly wanted to help Gotham from the inside, using his enormous wealth for good.

During his earlier research into his new home, Peter's scepticism about Bruce's intent was shot down.

Peter had discovered that they were several homeless shelters, orphanages and even a hospital with completely free healthcare, all operating under a Wayne subsidiary.

Interestingly, very few people actually knew about those as his name wasn't even attached. Peter having to do some pretty deep digging to realise it was Bruce behind the company, it wasn't a publicity stunt to deepen his cover, it was a genuine effort to better the city.

Peter had realised, relatively early into his stay here, that Batman wasn't just Bruce's excuse to hit people. It wasn't a waste of money that could better be spent trying to improve social programs. That money was being spent, Gotham's services and social infrastructure were actually far beyond any US city Peter had been in before.

But it seemed that nearly every other rich socialite, or businessperson in Gotham was determined to sap the city of its every penny.

Regardless of the social benefits Wayne Enterprises provided, there were at least ten other corporations, both legit and in the underworld, causing the very problems that made them necessary in the first place.

The city was poisoned. Corruption and crime were so rampant that even with Bruce Wayne, the billionaire, pouring his heart and soul into bettering the city, the rot still festered. That is why Batman existed, to end the corruption in a way Bruce Wayne couldn't.

After a few hours, Peter had finished all of his daily jobs, and he was pretty proud of his work. It felt great to be actually working in a field that interested him, and to be getting paid for it. When he remembered that fact, he grinned to himself. 'I'll finally have actual money, not just pocket change from taking photos for picklepuss…'

Wayne Manor

Batcave

Later that night Peter was getting ready for patrol, stocking up his web fluid and other odd jobs in the little corner of the Batcave that had been unofficially designated as his space.

He'd been working on a couple of prototypes for new gadgets, taking supplies, as well as prompts, from some of Batman's gear. Only one was in working condition though.

It was inspired by a gadget he'd seen Batgirl use, a grapple extension that created a zipline for her to walk along or slide down.

Peter had designed a small metal pellet that would stick to a wall and send out a webline, similar to his trip mine, but not for offense.

It would be less violent and have a much longer range, designed to make an easier environment for stealth or simply to give him somewhere to crouch while he wallowed in angst.

He'd also began sketching designs for a new suit, one more appropriate for the Gotham scene. He loved his OG costume, but when out in Gotham, especially when paired with another Batfamily member, his red and blue spandex did stand out a little.

Alfred had offered to design and create a new one for him, but Peter denied. At first because he didn't think he'd need one, but now he simply because he wanted to do it himself.

He was studying the materials Alfred had provided him with and admired the craftsmanship. They were thicker than his suit, but not by any outwardly noticeable degree. The security and protection would be leagues ahead of his current material, but it would still seem mostly skintight.

He decided he would get working on crafting it from tomorrow, but now he was waiting for Steph to enter the cave, he was out with Spoiler tonight apparently. A voice called out to him; it wasn't Steph's.

"Change of plans, Peter. Spoiler is patrolling with Robin tonight."

Peter, unmasked but suited, turned to the voice. Batman was entering the cave and was approaching the younger man.

"Oh… So, who've I got? Red Robin, Nightwing?"

"Tim's taking the night off to study, and Dick's in Bludhaven… Get in the car."

"Wait. You? You're babysitting me tonight…?" Peter didn't know if that meant Bruce trusted him more or less…

"No."

"We're meeting up with Babs, then? Or am I finally going to meet Orphan?" He'd met Cass in the manor earlier but hadn't worked with her as Orphan yet.

"Peter, stop talking."

"Stopping talking…" He replied as he mimed zipping his mouth shut.

"We've got a lead to follow… I'm taking us into the city. From there, you're in charge."

"Are you smelling burnt toast too, or is that just me? Seriously? You're going to follow my lead? Why...? Don't get me wrong I'm honoured but…"

"For someone so smart, Peter, I thought you'd piece it together. Doesn't matter. Get in, I'll explain on the way."

Peter was looking over the information on the small tablet device in his hands, sending the relevant details to the HUD in his mask as he spoke, "An arms deal, huh? Always a classic..."

Black Mask was moving for territory and had a tricky relationship with the other gangs in the city. There was still one unspoken agreement; although still rivals, Oswald Cobblepot, the Penguin, was willing to deal with Sionis.

Roman had respected the Penguin's territory in the past, and though the tension was rising as Mask became more desperate, for the time being they still upheld their uneasy alliance.

"Is the intel good?" Peter asked as he returned the tablet to its dock in the dashboard, it retracted into the car as a quiet whirr was sounded.

"Oracle picked up a tip last night."

"Right. And what was her source?"

"You're asking questions… Good." Bruce said with a grunt of approval.

"Enough of the hand holding Bats. Is it really that hard to believe I know what I'm doing?" He continued, "So what was it? I doubt one of Mask's dudes was just casually tweeting about it… Although, I wouldn't put it past some guys, criminals never fail to surprise me with their stupidity…"

He looked at Peter for a moment before returning his eyes to the road. It was hard for him not to coddle Peter; he hadn't seen his experience with his own eyes. Not like he had with Dick or Barbara, so it was easier for him to underestimate Peter, even if he was trying not to.

"Quinn. Some former Joker goons who defected to Mask's crew gave her a heads up."

"And you trust her?" Peter asked, unsure of what to make of Harley Quinn. She was on probation apparently, trying to distance herself from her life as Joker's partner.

"I trust the information. A lot of Joker's former clowns were much more loyal to her than they ever were to him. Besides it isn't Harley's MO to feed oracle false intel."

Harley actually had a soft spot for Nightwing and Batgirl, even when she slipped back into her more criminal tendencies, she avoided trying to kill them. Batman wasn't so lucky in those moments, but they both knew he wouldn't take the attempts personally.

That was the past though. Now Harley was a minor inconvenience at worst and a helpful asset at best. She hadn't tried to fight any of them for nearly a year now. More surprisingly, neither had her partner Ivy for some time.

"There's a pattern to this… So, you're letting me take point on Mask's grab for power, right? Is that's why I'm leading the charge? Makes sense, if he already has a bounty on me… No point giving him more targets. I go in cause a ruckus and you take them down from behind?"

"Yes and no… Mask is focused on you right now, which makes him desperate. You're our wildcard. The more noise you make, the closer we can get to finding him and stop the brewing gang war… But there's more."

"What?"

"Your bounty has been closed."

"I feel like that should be good news, but the more sensible part of me knows it isn't…"

Batman nodded, "Your right. According to Quinn's source, Mask has some fresh blood that have taken on a contract for your head..."

"Anyone I should know about?"

"That's the problem… Their descriptions don't match any of the big-name mercenaries we thought he might hire. They're unknown entities. Like you."

Peter was piecing the puzzle in his head, "You don't think…"

Batman gave another small nod as he spoke, "All Quinn heard was that one of them has a tail that shoots acid… Sound familiar?"

Peter actually felt some sense of relief, finally, someone he knew, "Now I get why I'm leading. That sounds like Scorpion... I hoped they'd learned to be subtle by now, but I guess they can't resist a chance to take me down and get paid for it… Wow, I wish I'd planned this on purpose…"

"Accidental or not, this is an opportunity we can't pass up… Scorpion? Armoured suit, increased strength, speed, agility and durability?" Bruce was recalling the brief Peter had given the Batfamily on his rogues.

"That's the arachnid… Doubt it's just him though, any word on who the others could be?"

"None. That's why I need you to take point. You know their weak points and what makes them tick. I want you to push them, irritate them, make the others come out of hiding."

"Oh-Ho-Ho, trust me, that I can do."

After stopping the Batmobile a sensible distance away, they continued their approach to the shipping yard at the docks where the deal was taking place, via the rooftops.

Batman held back a few blocks and was perched on a skyrise, adjusting his lenses to view on the tiny figures below as he saw Spider-Man swing to the taller section of shipping containers near the arms deal, before crouching on the ledge.

Shortly after finding his position a few cars and a couple trucks arrived, from two different parties.

Peter scanned the area, both figuratively and literally. His HUD told him there were 17 criminals in total. Mostly common variety thugs, but two figures stood out to him.

"Who's the pudgy guy with the umbrella? Penguin?" Peter asked through his comms, his voice quiet so as not to alert the criminals below.

Bruce grunted affirmatively in response, "Hmm-Mmm. Don't see anyone matching Scorpion's description. What's your visual?"

"Seventeen, all armed. Scorpy hasn't shown up unfortunately, I see Shocker though…"

"Shocker… Trained mercenary, Kevlar suit, shock gauntlets."

"You forgot cowboy, but yup, that's the one. Any pointers on happy feet?" Peter replied, referring to Cobblepot.

"Trick umbrella. Can be difficult at range. Get in close and you'll be fine…"

"Got it." Peter replied quickly as he tested his new webline gadget and attached it to the flood light opposite. Leaping onto its middle as he listened to the villains below, now he was in a better position.

"I see Mask 'imself couldn't honour us with his presence. Yet again." The Penguin spoke in a thick cockney accent, taking his cigar out of his mouth as he spoke.

'Another brit? With another different accent? Seriously, what is it with Gotham and British dudes… Is there a cult of fish and chips here or something? Is it the miserable weather?'

"You didn't say the Penguin was British…" Peter whispered through his comms.

"He's not. He went to boarding school in England. Why does it matter?" Batman replied unamused.

"Oh… It doesn't really. Just making conversation."

"Well don't. Focus."

"Pffft. Spoilsport…" Peter muttered to himself. Batman ignored him.

"Yeah, yeah… You got the goods Cobblepot?" The lead thug spoke, clearly this was a common complaint from the Penguin.

The Penguin sneered at the disrespect for a moment before gesturing his men to open the back of the truck labelled 'Gotham Fish Market'.

'Thematic… I can dig it.' Peter thought to himself.

"Only the finest fishin' gear this side of the Atlantic… Got some special gear courtesy of Intergang n' all… Competitive rates, of course…"

Several of the mask thugs representing the False Face Society began inspecting the equipment.

"Who's the new fella' in the funky suit?" Cobblepot questioned as he pointed to Shocker with his umbrella.

"Pest control, Mask has a Spider problem." The lead thug spoke as he was eyeing an assault rifle.

"Oh yeah… Heard 'bout that. Nasty business... But can't say I haven't enjoyed the peace and quiet from Sionis' latest distraction… Rivals n' all that. You understand." Cobblepot responded to the thug, who didn't look back at him but absentmindedly nodded in acknowledgement.

Penguin took a hefty drag of his cigar before approaching Shocker. Waddling slightly as he moved.

'Huh, he actually walks like a penguin… Is that on purpose or just a coincidence?'

"So, what's so special about you then? Got some bug spray hidden in that fancy suit a' yours or something?"

Shocker was unphased, stood crossed arms as he finally spoke, "Or something. Name's Shocker…"

"Cor blimey! Now that accent's the real shocker, mate! Long ways from home ain't ya'… Get tired of fighting the 'Injuns' did ya'?"

Shocker, bristled slightly but kept his cool, "You mockin' me?"

"Eh? Don't get your nickers in a twist, lad. Jus' taking the piss... Say, you ain't expecting the Spider here are ya'?" Cobblepot turned his head as he directed the question to the lead thug.

"Can never be too careful…" The thug responded as he was checking the sights pf the rifle in his hands.

"Right… Well as long as you ain't too careful with my payment. Can't say that I give much of a toss 'bout who you got with ya'. Eh, Butch Cassidy?" Penguin replied before laughing with a grating high pitch sound, like a bird cawing.

'Jeez, he even sounds like a penguin. Well… guess that's my cue.'

He quickly whispered in his comms, "Batman, making noise, starting… now." He said as he webbed the Penguin's umbrella and snatched out of his hands.

"Copy that. Stay on guard."

Peter didn't respond to Bruce, instead loudly calling to the villains below, "Hey, cool umbrella! Where'd you get it?"

"Huh? Give that back ya' little prick!" Cobble pot called as he looked up at Gotham's newest pest.

"Wow... Interesting name for a store! Do they do deliveries? Or do I have to waddle down there myself?" Peter responded as he pressed a small button on the umbrella and saw a blade come out the end, playfully swinging it around himself as the criminals below rushed around in panic, preparing to act.

"I thought you said he wasn't gonna' be 'ere!" Penguin shouted at the lead thug who had dropped the empty rifle he was examining and pulled out his pistol, firing shots at Spider-Man.

"Does it look like we invited him?" The goon shouted back as he continued to fire.

"Wait you didn't? Ah man, now I just feel silly…" Spider-Man called as he dropped to the ground between Cobblepot and the thug, launching the umbrella in the river as he fell.

He weaved out of the way of the bullets before attaching a line to the gun and sending it flying into the head of another goon who was more colourfully dressed. Presumably one of Penguin's.

He leapt in the air and webbed the lead goon to the back of the floor next to the truck, before leaping off hte ground once more.

Landing on the side of a cargo container he regarded Shocker, genuine cheer in his tone, "Hey Shocker! My buddy! My pal… My good time boy! How ya' been? Still roaming the old west, herdin' cattle and taking names?"

He leapt off to avoid more gunfire and flipped through the air as he swung before launching several tethers to different thugs from both groups and pulled them into a pile in the middle of the battlefield.

"Been just dandy, pardner! Can't believe I'm saying this, bug. But it's good to see ya'!" Shocker called before he fired at his adversary with his gauntlets.

"Aw shucks, Shockster. You really do care...! I'm choking back tears here..." Spider-Man had landed on the top of one of one of the containers and started running to avoid the shock waves being fired his way. He flipped off it and planted his feet on the chest of one of the thugs that was stumbling to his feet after Spider-Man pulled him to the ground.

He punched the thug who dropped like a sack of potatoes before he front flipped off him and fired a few web grenades at the remaining pile of thugs who'd been slower than their ally at standing up.

There was a collective cry of frustration as a cocoon of webbing fastened them all to the ground and each other.

Penguin grabbed Shocker's collar as the mercenary temporarily halted his fire, "What ya' pissin' about for? Stop chatting to the bug and finish 'im off! That's what you're here for ain't it?"

"Get your stinkin' hands offa' me! I don't take orders from you, fish breath! 'Sides what's it look like I'm doing?" Shocker responded with anger as he shoved Cobblepot off of him.

"Looks to me like ya' just fannying around!"

"Wanna' say that to my face, limey?"

Peter was chuckling softly to himself as the two bickered, using the distraction to focus on the regular thugs. Yanking a bigger guy into the air as he twisted and kicked him the back of his head. Covering him in webs and casually flinging his unconscious body into the side of a cargo container, suspending him on its surface.

"What'd you call me, ya' yankee git?" penguin responded as he pulled out his own sub-machine gun and begun firing at Spider-Man who was weaving in and out of the bullet spray as he was easily dispatching several goons.

He flipped and yanked the gun from Cobblepot's grip, to which the older man let out an avian caw of frustration. Spider-Man kicked another thug in the face, knocking him out before landing and flipping over one of the last remaining goons.

Crossing his arms and attaching a web to each side of the thug's shoulders as he leapt, he flipped and pulled the goon in the air. The goon was turned upside down before being thrown him back down to the ground, landing on his upper back and rolling onto his front as he was sent to sleep.

Peter leapt up on top of an isolated shipping container, turning around to face the bickering villains.

"Fellas, fellas. You're both pretty! Although, Penguin, is it? Shocker's right, your breath does smell like fish…"

Cobblepot went red with rage before throwing his hands in the air, "Screw this! I ain't getting roped into doing Black Mask's dirty work! The deals off! Lads, we're leaving…" Cobblepot looked and saw that all of his men were either webbed up, unconscious or both.

Before the Penguin could react however, his early exit was halted by Spider-Man.

"Aww… So soon? But we were just getting to know each other!" Peter remained crouched on the container as he sent a webline to the back of Cobblepot and pulled him to the ground.

"Gah!" Was all he managed to vocalise before his face and the rest of his body was encased in webbing.

Shocker simply looked at the annoyed figure of Penguin as he writhed in rage against the webbing, before casting his gaze back to Spider-Man who was now sat with his legs dangling over the side of the container. Shocker casually crossed his arms as he looked to his nemesis. Grinning under his mask as he saw where the Spider had coincidentally chosen to sit.

Peter looked around and noticed he'd already defeated everyone else, now it was just him and Shocker.

"So… Just the two of us. Can't help but notice you're not shooting at me… Wanna' play catch up? How about twenty questions?"

"Tempting, but you might wanna' count again, Spider. Fellas' it's showtime!"

"Woah." The cargo container Peter was on shook violently as the doors burst open, Peter stood up as Rhino charged out, Scorpion leaping out after him, "Ah come on! Don't tell me this was all a trap!"

Peter jumped of the container and swung away as he avoided more shockwaves as Brice recommenced his assault.

"Nope. This here was meant to be a gen-u-ine deal. But like the other fella' said can't be too careful, not when there's bugs about." Shocker called out as he fired at Spider-Man.

"Wait, so if I didn't show you, two would've just sat in there all night? Hah, that's so ridiculous!" Spider-Man quipped back, regarding Rhino and Scorpion as he fired several webs at Gargan who flipped and ducked out of the way of the ranged attack.

"Call it a gamble, Spider!" Gargan replied as he fired his own acid attacks back at Spider-Man with his tail.

"And our bet paid off, no?" Rhino responded as he picked up the container they were just in and threw it at Spider-Man.

Peter was mid swing as he saw the larger container flying at him, the closed side first. He suddenly adjusted his position, attached his webs to the closed doors that were quickly approaching, and pulled.

Yanking the doors open as he pulled himself forward, he tightened his posture as his form sailed through the container. The contents inside flying around him as he saw two stools, a table and a chess set floating in the air.

"Hang on a minute! Were you guys playing chess in there? That's adorable! Who won?" Spider-Man asked as he continued flying through the container and in the air the other side.

Landing feet first into the side of shocker who stopped firing as the wind was knocked out of him and he was launched backwards.

"Me/Me!" Rhino and Scorpion called out in sync before turning to each other with annoyance.

"God you two are like an old married couple… Like two peas in a pod, or two buffoons in a shipping container…" Spider-Man replied as he flipped off shocker, literally not figuratively, and landed deftly on the ground.

Catching Scorpions tail as it was aimed to strike right at his face. He was wrestling back as Scorpion kept pressing down, weaving his body out of the way as Gargan swiped at him with his claws.

He dodged all of the attacks except the last when Scorpion twisted his body and wrenched his tail from Spider-Man's grip before kicking him in the chest, sending him back a few feet as he let out a grunt.

Peter landed on his back before rolling backwards and pulling himself to his feet. His Spider-Sense blaring as he leapt and twisted his way out of the path of a charging Rhino. Landing vertically on the shaft of the floodlight behind him.

"So, where's Otto and the rest of the gang? They're not in another crate playing Yahtzee, are they?"

"Pah! We would not tell you even if we knew, Spider!" Rhino responded as he punched the light post, Spider-Man flipping away as the pole was shattered in two and the top part was sent flying into the water behind them.

"Oh. So, you don't know… Give a me a sec to decide whether that's good news or bad!"

"Damnit Rhino! Learn to keep ya' mouth shut ya' blockhead!" Shocker called back as pulled himself to his feet and immediately started firing again at Spider-Man.

"Hey, go easy on the big guy! It's gotta' be hard trying to keep up with who's here and who's not when you struggle with all the numbers past three…"

By this point a couple of Penguin's goons had managed to cut themselves free of their webbing and rushed to their boss. Using the distraction to cut the Penguin free.

"Let's get out of here!" Penguin called as he was helped to his feet by one of his goons, "Had enough of this bloody freakshow...!" He stated as he look at the chaotic display around him.

Peter noticed the Penguin clambering to his feet and rushing to the vehicle with their contraband. Frantically ducking and dodging the webs, debris, acid and shockwaves being thrown about in every direction.

Spider-Man tried to find an opening to stop them but was still in a deadly dance with three of his villains. Avoiding several ranged attacks from the two S's while Rhino was throwing deadly punch after punch at his position.

Penguin's thugs managed to start the truck as their boss clambered into the back and picked up a weapon, the one he'd acquired off Intergang. He paused slightly as he watched with annoyance as one of the crates fell out the back of the truck. Ignoring his frustration for a moment he pulled, what he assumed was, the trigger and the rifle looking device whirred for a moment as it heated up before it fired.

A blinding light shot out the end, and an extremely satisfying noise rang through the air as it sent forward a singular red laser beam that caused devastating damage to the containers behind Spider-Man as he flipped out the way of its path.

The beam also caused Scorpion to flip back as he narrowly avoided being fried by the blast. Rhino also stopping his charge as Penguin was cackling sickly while the truck began speeding off.

The gun overheated quickly however, and Penguin let out a cry of frustration as it burnt his hands, "Ah, ya' little bastard!" He shouted at the weapon as it dropped to the floor of the moving truck.

He desperately clambered to grab it as he struggled to keep his balance in the moving truck. He watched pitifully and angrily as a web line was attached to its barrel, and it was snatched out of the truck.

He snarled as he watched the airborne hero, who was flying toward him with impressive speed, caught the device before tossing it behind him and webbing it to the side of another floodlight.

Ironically, Penguin had caused exactly the distraction Spider-Man needed for him to be able to catch him, his rogue's stopping their assault on him as they avoided the beam. Or so he thought.

As Spider-Man pulled himself towards the truck, his Spider-Sense rang violently. Too late for him to react and avoid being sent flying sideways as a wave of concussing force from Shocker's gauntlets struck him.

He twisted in the air to try and right himself and pull himself to attack shocker, but his Spider-Sense struck again as he felt his body being grabbed.

Scorpion had managed to use the moment to leap into the air and grab Spider-Man with his tail. He flung it down violently as he released his grip, launching Spider-Man out of his grip and directly at Rhino.

Peter felt another warning from his Spider-Sense as a blurry image of Rhino readying a punch came into view. There wasn't time for him to launch webline and avoid the hit, so instead he curled into a tiny ball and braced for impact, blocking his face with his arms.

The punch obviously still hurt as Spider-Man was sent flying backwards in response to Rhino's gargantuan fist, but his shins and forearms took the brunt of the blow. 'That's gonna' leave a bruise…' He thought as he was launched into the side of a shipping container at the bottom of a pile of five.

The side of the container crumpled in its entirety as peter found himself violently landing inside of it, hitting the other side with enough force to majorly dent both it and the container behind.

The roof had been ripped apart too as a result and Peter heard a worrying creak as he looked up through the giant hole his body had created. The container above, or more accurately containers (he knew there were several above the one he was in) was beginning to fall as their weight couldn't be supported by the flimsy excuse for a bottom container that remained.

Before he was squished by the containers, he pulled himself to his feet and raised his arms as their weight crushed the remains of the all-but-destroyed container around him. Crumpling the behind wall and bending the doors beyond any recognisable shape.

His legs buckled slightly as gravity continued to fight against him. Desperately trying to force the containers down on him.

"Spider-Man," Batman's voice called through his comms, "I'll get Cobblepot. Going to circle around after, you need backup?" There was a soft rumbling in the background, he had clearly left his rooftop and was in pursuit of Penguin in the Batmobile.

"B-Batman?" Peter had nearly entirely forgotten about Batman's presence, "I-I've got this. Wouldn't mind a h-hand with c-cleanup, though…" Peter could feel the floor of the container in his hands was crumbling under its own weight as he desperately held it above him.

"Copy. Be with you shortly." He could hear muffled gunfire and tires screeching as Batman was clearly in a high-speed chase.

"J-jeez, what the hell's… Ugh… I-in these things?" He spoke aloud as he looked up and saw a shipping code between his arms, reading aloud he continued his struggled sentence, "L-Lexcorp, huh?"

He thought about his conversation with Teresa as well as the documentary they watched over the weekend, "Whatever it is… Agh… I'm sure it's something e-evil…" His legs buckled a bit again as the containers creaked above him, the dents his hands were making were growing "It definitely feels h-heavy enough to be evil…"

Even if Peter could hold the weight forever, which was unlikely given whatever the hell the contents were, eventually the pressure his hands were putting on the floor above would cause it to tear.

Any longer and his arms would go straight through the floor of the container above and the pile of large metal crates and and their contents would drop all the same.

That didn't matter though as he looked forward and saw as Rhino was charging towards him, "H-hey Rhino," He called as adjusted his hands to give him more leverage and pushed with all his strength, "Catch!"

Peter gave once last push, and he felt the tower of giant crates jump out of his grip as he sent them skyward with impressive force. All of them separating from each other slightly as they flew through the air.

As they begun to fly upward, Rhino was still charging. Spider-Man, now free from carrying them, leapt over the charging villain who crashed into the other side of the crate behind.

As he leapt, he twisted in the air and landed on the bottom of the still rising containers. He quickly checked the area and spotted a mildly stunned and… impressed? Looking Scorpion who was watching the display.

As the containers creaked and began falling again, Spider-Man shot a webline on to either side of Scorpion. Moments before the chaotic collapse of the containers, Peter had stopped his adhesion and pulled himself forward on his weblines.

The containers crashed to the ground, one after the other on top of Rhino; who'd incidentally managed to embed his horn into the container he collided with.

Launching himself at Scorpion like a human bullet, he heard Rhino yell in frustration and pain as the containers fell on him. Crushing the crumpled bottom container as they started collapsing in on their own weight, their structural integrity destroyed by Rhino's armoured form. Causing the machinery inside to batter his form as it was being steadily buried.

While flying at Scorpion, Spider-Man landed a punch on the villain's armoured face. Causing him to call out in pain as he was sent flying backwards, bouncing along the ground before catching himself and skidding across the floor.

A couple of streets away, Oswald Cobblepot was desperately firing an assault rifle at the armoured car behind him. All of the bullets ineffectually pinging off the side of the Batmobile.

Batman continued driving, unphased, before he pressed a button on his dashboard. A small metal bullet was fired from the front of the vehicle and contacted the chassis of Penguin's truck beside the back wheel.

A tiny explosion emanated from the point of contact and the wheel was blown off as the truck flipped over onto its side from the force of the explosion. Penguin yelled as he thrown backwards, sideways and upwards by the sudden shift in his vehicle's position.

The truck let out a painful screech as it skidded along the ground before eventually coming to a stop.

Landing on the floor, which was originally the side, of the truck Oswald let a cry, "Goddammit!" He rubbed his head, "Stupid bloody Bat..."

He tried to stand but was immediately sent unconscious by a batarang colliding with his head.

Batman casually approached and cuffed the unconscious crime lord before he left the back of the truck and checked on the driver and his colleague in the front.

After he'd cuffed them all and sent an alert to Jim Gordon he returned to his car, readying to circle back to aid Spider-Man.

Gargan leapt forward once he caught himself. Launching himself directly at Spider-Man who was in the middle of a backwards handspring avoiding fire from Shocker.

Feeling his Spider-Sense again, Peter twisted in the air and delivered a kick to Scorpions head. Which the villain had anticipated having been the victim of such an attack many times before, he caught the leg with both hands before circling around a couple of times, planning to fling the Spider back towards Shocker.

"Woah-ahh!" Peter called by the sudden shift in momentum, but he stopped Gargan's by sending a line to ground and clinging desperately.

Scorpion felt a sudden tug halting his spin as he staggered, he still had the Spider by his leg, but he felt a second foot strike his head as Spider-Man used his other leg to kick at him.

Staggering back from the hit he lost his grip on the hero, who had landed in a crouch before grabbing Scorpion's tail. Spider-Man copied Gargan's idea and span on his heel before launching Scorpion directly towards Shocker.

Quipping as he did so, "And Spider-Man takes the first pitch of the season! Can the Texas Ranger, Jackson Brice, meet the ball head on or will he crumble under the pressure?"

He watched as he let go of Scorpion's tail and sent him flying at Brice, putting his hand over his eyes to mimic blocking the sun as he watched Shocker yell as he quickly dove into a forward roll out of the way. Narrowly avoiding Gargan who crashed into the railing behind him.

"Stee-Rike!" Spider-Man yelled as he watched Shocker jump out of the way.

Shocker jumped to his feet and took aim at Spider-Man, or at least he would've had the Spider stayed where he was, instead he was midair, flying towards him pulling his fist back readying a punch.

Shocker leapt backwards and desperately fired off a shockwave which Spider-Man was able to dodge. But Brice had managed to avoid Spider-Man's assault.

As Spider-Man landed he swung at Shocker with his fist which the Mercenary barely avoided. Shocker was getting desperate now, as he activated both his gauntlets and smacked them together.

A concussive wave shuddered out of the point of contact and sent both Spider-Man and Shocker flying backwards. Shocker's suit absorbed the kinetic force, so his skeleton wasn't shattered, but he was still launched backwards from the sheer impact caused by the wave.

Peter bounced along the floor after he finally landed, being sent several feet. He quickly rolled back on to two feet. Standing up and seeing the much smaller figure of Shocker climbing to his feet as Scorpion was also back up, standing next to his ally.

Spider-Man leapt and swung himself closer, still keep his distance from his enemies who were clearly growing unenthused by the continued battle.

As Peter landed, he spoke, "Come on guys… How many times do we have to do this dance? You try to kill me; I try not to die. I web you up; you go to prison. You break out… Rinse, repeat. Rinse, repeat. Can't we just catch up over coffee and have a civil conversation? Like normal people…"

Shocker was growing noticeably tired, while Scorpion was rubbing his head, clearly fighting an oncoming concussion from his blows to head from Spider-Man.

"We ain't exactly normal people, are we, bug…" Shocker responded.

"No, I guess not. But look I've got a proposition. I can help get us home…"

Scorpion and Shocker looked to each other before Shocker spoke, "We're listenin'…"

"Look, I know some- Ah!" Peter leant back to dodge a cargo container being thrown at him.

It crashed into the other side of the shipping yard, causing another crash and collapse of the stack of containers beside him.

Rhino let out a growl of anger as he walked towards Spider-Man, smacking his fists together, he was clearly unhappy about being buried under several shipping containers worth of, very heavy, Lexcorp equipment.

"Stupid Spider… I crush you…" He was angrily mumbling to himself between, what Peter assumed was, profanities in Russian.

"Hold it, Rhino… We're hearin' him out for now…" Shocker called out.

"What? But he is right here! I can crush him and then we 'hear him out'…"

"How da' hell are we meant to hear him out if ya' crush him first? Ya' giant-" Shocker paused as he took a breath to calm himself, "Just, git on over here would ya'?"

Rhino simply stared at Spider-Man and growled again before reluctantly agreeing and walking over to his allies, Spider-Man just shrugged at his titanic rogue.

"Speak, little Spider. Before I decide to use my stinger and make you speak…" Scorpion said after he watched Rhino defiantly stomp over to them.

"As I was saying before Rhino rudely threw a container at me… Not gonna' take that personally by the way, tensions are high, I get it… Look, I've met some people. They think they can send us back, but they need to run some tests… To find out the cause of whatever sent us here..." Peter paused as he noticed an opportunity, "Say, I don't suppose any of you guys know what Doc Ock was trying to do with the collider in the first place, do you?"

Shocker, Scorpion and Rhino all look at each other. They didn't need to answer, they clearly had no idea, but it was clear from their body language it wasn't this…

"He never felt the need to tell, didn't matter to us, we was still getting paid… But even if we knew we wouldn't tell ya'." Shocker responded.

"Yeah, I figured… Honor among thieves, right?"

"As pleasant as all this small talk is… You gonna' get to the point Spider-Man?" Scorpion added his voice indignant and sarcastic.

"Right. So, these guys I know… They can make a portal, but to do that they need to find our earth first… It's all very complicated and science-y, you know?"

"How long?" Scorpion asked with a growl…

"That depends... Do you want the bad news, or you want me to lie?"

"How long?" Scorpion repeated.

"Answer the question, bug…" Shocker added, his own voice deep with contempt.

"Errr… It's- It's a… You know that's a funny story actually-" Spider-Man replied as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Rhino, you can squish him now." Scorpion spoke as he looked up at the brute who had a sick grin on his face.

"Coming in hot Spider-Man…" Batman's voice came through Peter's comms as he noticed a faint rumbling in the distance.

"Wait! There's one more thing." Spider-Man called, halting Rhino's approach momentarily as the giant now stood between his allies and Spider-Man.

"Say it quick, Spider." Scorpion replied as his tail bristled with anticipation.

"Well, you see, I wish I could let bygones be bygones and all that. Kick your asses and just leave you be until ya' next jailbreak, you know like the old days. But there's just one thing you forgot to consider…"

"Yeah, n' what's that?" Shocker replied as his gauntlets began to whirr.

"Well, this isn't New York. If it was this could go differently, but… Look what I'm trying to say guys, is unfortunately it's not up to me… This isn't my city…" The rumble of Batmobile grew steadily louder as Peter spotted its movement, it was close, close enough for Peter to time the ending of his sentence perfectly, "It's his."

Spider-Man nodded his head behind Rhino who turned as he heard the rumbling of a car rapidly approaching, he opened his mouth to yell but was halted as the grill of an armoured car smacking him square in his face. Sending him flying back as he landed unceremoniously on the floor, bouncing along the ground.

Batman had used the boosts at the bottom of the Batmobile to gain some air and aimed his vehicle directly at the larger armoured villain, who bounced backwards several feet as the car made contact.

Before the Batmobile landed itself and performed a hand brake turn, screeching to a stop, its top opened. In a matter of moments Batman leap out, stretching his arms wide as he pulled his cape up behind him, causing it to bristle in the air.

Shocker took a step back in stunned awe as the figure rose through the cold night air, he looked ethereal. Like the embodiment human will in the form of a mortal man.

Batman landed on the ground as his car parked itself behind him, the vehicle rumbling with hellish power from its engine. The Dark Knight slowly stood back up, he was staring at Shocker and Scorpion with a glare so intense it made the two of them hesitate for a moment.

They had heard of the Batman from some of Black Mask's goons, and he had clearly crafted an image of fear in the hearts of Gotham's criminal underworld. At the time they dismissed it, he had no superpowers, just fancy gadgets and tricks. But as they saw his face, heard the deep rumble of his armoured tank playing a symphony of power and terror, they began to understand the fear.

"First and final warning. Stand. Down." Batman's voice was cold, calculated, certain. It sounded like vengeance itself.

"God… You have no idea how good it feels to be on the receiving end of backup for once… So, guys what's it gonna' be?" Spider-Man spoke as he hopped over the car and walked up next to Batman.

"What? Was that display supposed to scare us?" Scorpion asked, his voice betrayed the air of nonchalance he was clearly trying to emit.

"I mean, yeah, kinda'… Come on Scorpy, your at least three supervillains short of a Sinister Six. And I've kicked all of your asses more times than I can count, way more than Rhino here can count at least…" He gestured to Rhino who rubbing his head and moaning in pain as he sat up on the floor, "Wait, hold on a sec…"

He shot a flurry of impact webs and web grenades at the dazed Rhino on the floor, the titan being pushed to the ground by the force as he was coated in layer after layer of webbing. Struggling pointlessly against tense substance as he yelled muffle expletives in Russian.

Spider-Man turned back to the other two, "Sorry, where was I? Oh right… So, do you guys really wanna' go through all this again? Especially now that I have the Watchful Guardian here on my side?" He said as gestured to Batman.

Shocker and Scorpion shared a glance. The former was tired, he had no superhuman abilities after all and his age was catching up to him. Not to mention he could feel he had several broken ribs courtesy of Spider-Man's earlier blow to his chest.

Scorpion wasn't doing much better, his lens was cracked and the HUD on his helmet was flickering with static, but his helmet was doing better than the head inside it which was throbbing with pain. He definitely had a concussion, and the back of his armour was battered slightly as a result of Spider-Man flinging him into the metal railing. His tail wasn't fairing much better either as Spider-Man's grip on it had slightly severed the connection to his spine, meaning its response time would be slower and it also hurt to use it.

Rhino was, mostly, physically okay, if a bit bruised and battered. But that didn't matter now as he was buried under a mountain of webbing, writhing in fury.

"Choose. Option one or option two." Batman spoke, his voice cutting, "Option one, you hand yourselves in and we hold you in the meta-human wing at Blackgate while we work on sending you home. Option two, the exact same thing happens but we punch you first. Decide."

The two villains looked to each other before nodding, "If it's all the same to you, pardner. We choose option three..." He spoke as he looked up at the giant loading crane above them, firing his gauntlets at the structure above.

Scorpion leapt to the other side and switched the firing mode of his tail to its shock blast setting as he fired at the leg of the structure from the other side.

As it began to collapse Spider-Man shouted, "Batman!" He grabbed the hero and, before the older man had time to react, he was thrown backwards several hundreds of feet through the air.

Batman tried to grab his grapple gun, lest he be in for a painful landing. But instead found his fall suddenly halted as he landed in the middle of a large bed of webbing that Spider-Man had fired shortly after throwing him. Suspending him roughly a hundred feet in the air as he watch the structure fall on top of Peter.

Spider-Man flipped out of the way of the two-ton container that the crane was carrying as it crashed to the floor. But the beam that was supporting the crate, which was ironically much heavier, was about to fall directly on top of him.

Stopping in his tracks he braced and held his hands above his head as it landed in his palms, his legs buckling and he fell to one knee as his feet were pushed further into the ground causing two major impact craters below his legs.

He was struggling to hold the weight of the structure as more debris began piling on top of it, choking slightly as dust and smoke began to fill the air. He looked forward and saw as Shocker was standing in front of him, his gauntlet aimed directly at his chest.

"See ya' around, bug." He said as he fired one last shockwave at Peter who was sent falling backwards as the rest of the structure fell as a result of him no longer able to hold it.

Several hundred tons of, legs, platforms and cargo containers fell down on top of Spider-Man in an explosion of metal debris and smoke.

Using his Batarangs in combination with the formula Peter had shared with him, Batman finally managed to free himself from the giant cobweb he was stuck to. Using his grapple gun, he rappelled down to the ground and ran towards the pile of metal that he saw fall onto Peter.

"Spider-Man! Come in Spider-Man!" He called into his comms. Peter's comms still worked but he was unresponsive, a grating static noise was all that Bruce heard in his cowl.

He pressed a button on his belt and saw as several pieces of scrap fell off the Batmobile as it shuddered. It was beaten up, badly, but had activated its automatic shielding, so it appeared to be in something akin to working condition.

He looked to the side and saw a pile of webbing under a bunch of metal scaffolding, flecks of acid decorating its circumference, the Rhino had evidently been freed from his cocoon.

"Scan for heat signatures." He spoke and his visor shifted. He looked around and saw the outline of a body under a pile of steel.

One immensely large beam was covering his lower body and stomach, while smaller bits of debris and scrap covered his upper half. It was a miracle there was even a body to be seen underneath all the scrap, if it were Bruce in Peter's stead, he'd be nothing but a puddle.

He desperately wrestled with the fallen metal and cleared the lighter beams and sheets, grunting in frustration as even they strained his muscles. He saw Peter's chest and head now; he was breathing thankfully.

Bruce's eyes were drawn forward as he heard Mask's truck being started, Shocker clearly taking the driver's seat as Rhino piled into the back, Scorpion following close behind.

Batman quickly pulled out a tracker Batarang and threw it towards the vehicle, watching as it sailed through the air before being casually swatted away by Scorpion's tail as he climbed into the back of the truck. The armoured villain turned and snarled at Batman as he closed the shutters before it sped off into the street.

Bruce stared at the villain for a moment before looking back down, "Spider-Man! Can you hear me?"

The younger hero murmured slightly, an incoherent babble of noise escaping through heavy breaths.

"Alfred, Send the Batwing to my location and prep the med bay, Spider-Man will need medical attention."

"It's on its way sir, ETA four minutes…" Alfred replied. His voice calm but tinged with concern.

Bruce grunted in frustration before he turned back to Peter, "Batmobile, winch." He spoke and the front of his car shot out a metal spike with embedded itself into the large beam.

It revved loudly as it desperately tried to reverse against the piles and piles of scrap behind it, only moving slightly.

The beam shuffled slightly, uncovering more of Peter's form, his suit was torn and tattered and blood was covering his stomach as Batman noted a metal pipe was sticking out of his side.

When the beam reached a few inches above his waist, the beam proved too heavy for the car as it stalled, and smoke began pouring out the from under its hood.

Batman desperately reached into his utility belt and pulled out a corrosive liquid which began eating away at the metal, not fully destroying the beam but weakening it. He frantically rummaged around once more and pulled out a tiny metal cylinder.

He pulled the cap off and pressed down on the switch as a tiny blue flame fiercely spewed from the end, he pressed it to the beam and began cutting away at it, managing to split the beam in half before the flame flickered and fizzled out, unable to cope against the strain of the cutting wind and the beam's density.

"No! Damnit, no! Work!" He smacked the device, but the flame fizzled out completely.

Bruce looked at Spider-Man's damaged body and pulled off his mask, the was a large gash on his head which was bleeding profusely, "Spider-Man! Peter!" Peter only groaned more nonsensical noises.

Batman searched the area around him and found another, metal pole. He dug it into the ground next to Peter and pulled desperately. Straining with all his might, he saw as the beam shifted a fraction.

"Yes! Come on…" He said before the pole snapped in two causing Bruce to stagger back.

He looked back to Peter; his breathing was becoming shallower. Bruce sighed before he pulled out once last-ditch effort from his belt, a small capsule which he snapped In half and held under Peter's nose.

It was dangerous to try this, especially considering Peter's head wound, but it was the only option left.

Peter's eyes darted open as a rush of adrenaline hit him, his gaze was falling around his head, and his eyelids were heavy.

"Peter! Peter! Look at me." Bruce spoke as he grabbed the younger man's shoulders.

"H-hey man… Ugh… My head… I feel so dizzy…" Peter replied, drowsily as if slightly drunk. He wasn't fully lucid and the blood loss from his head was clearly interfering with his conscious state, but he was aware enough to feel pain which was a good sign.

"Peter. Listen to me, I can't get you out… I need you to push."

Peter's head rolled back as his eyelids became close to closing, Bruce grabbed him again, and lightly shook him.

"No. Don't close your eyes, you need to stay awake." Bruce snapped his fingers in front of his face and Peter's eyes widened again.

"I'm awake! I'm awake! Jeez… Ow… My head is killing me…" His eyes continued to widen even further this time as a form of awareness seem to suddenly overtake him.

"Having several hundred tonnes of steel fall on your head will do that… You have a major head wound." Bruce replied as he helped clearer away more of the smaller pieces of scrap around Peter's body.

"Huh? Oh yeah." Peter pulled his hand to his head and felt the warm blood through his glove, "Well that's definitely not good…"

"And worse…" Bruce looked down and cast his gaze over the pole sticking out of his side.

"Oh damn… I got stabbed by a pipe? Man, that sucks…"

"You good enough to lift this?" Batman asked as he looked at the large beam covering half his body.

"Huh… Oh yeah," Peter looked at the beam on top of him, he realised that was probably the cause of the crushing sensation he felt on his lower body.

Peter strained as he pushed, his arms shaking as he continued to lose blood from his head wound, "Agh… Come on!"

The beam continued to rise, but as it shifted it collided with some scrap, which was supporting another beam, causing the second beamn to fall on the other side of Peter. Creating an arc over his body and covering a large section of his chest as he grunted in pain and frustration and the development.

"Ugh… You've got to be kidding me!" He turned to face Bruce, "Do you think I did something terrible in a past life? I mean it can't just be bad luck at this point, gotta' be karma or something…"

"Peter. Focus… I can't help you here, you've got double the weight now, so you're going to need to push even harder…"

"Yeah, yeah… Easy for you to say, you're not the one trapped under two-hundred tons of metal…"

"It's more like two-fifty/two-seventy-five, due to the overlap…"

"Hey, Batman…

"Yes, Spider-Man…"

"I know you think your being helpful, but comments like that? Aren't all that helpful..."

"Do you think you can lift it?" Batman ignored his statement and cast his gaze over the giant metal support struts over Peter's body.

"Pfft… I mean maybe… If I really pushed myself... But normally I don't have a major head wound or a pole sticking out of my stomach…"

Batman just looked at him.

"Alright! Fine! I'll give it another try…" Peter's face grew red, and his arms were shaking violently as he continued to push.

The beams began rising again, painfully slowly before he lost grip, his hands slipping and the beams beginning to follow after them.

However, they stopped mid fall as Peter braced his body for another overwhelming crushing sensation. He stared dumbfounded as thick black tentacles were sprouting from each of his wrists, holding the beams in position a few inches above his waist.

His legs were still trapped however so, as Peter felt tremendous power surge through him, he watched with fascination as thick black goop wrapped itself around each of the beams.

Yelling as he pushed himself harder, he pulled himself to his feet and gave one last shove.

"Gah!" He yelled and the beams were flung flying in each direction, spinning through the air before crashing violently into the river on either side of the shipping yard.

"Wow! Holy crap! Thank you Slimbiote!" He stated and he felt a very tired, but appreciative, bristle from the Other.

Batman looked at him, smiling only slightly. So slightly that to people who didn't know Batman, it wouldn't look like he was smiling at all, "Well done…" He spoke plainly.

"Thanks… Err sorry about polluting the harbour, I didn't know they would go that far... Did Shocker and co. escape?" Peter asked as he yanked the pipe from his side with a grunt and began webbing up his wound to stop the bleeding..

"Yes."

"Damn!"

"Well done tonight, you did good."

"I did good? Did you miss the whole villains escaping, major head wound and major property damage thing?"

"Considering the destructive capabilities of your villains, I'd argue that the fact any part of this place is even standing at all is astounding… But that's not what I meant. Stop focusing on what didn't happen and focus on what did."

"Oh yeah and what's that?"

"You stopped an arms deal; you made your villains reveal themselves and you also helped capture Cobblepot. All in all, I'd say tonight was mostly a success…" Batman looked up as the Batwing finally appeared above them, it slowly descended to a clear area near their position and the screen opened up, ushering them to enter, "And Spider-Man…"

"Yeah?"

"Next time just take the compliment… Now get in."

Gotham City

Black Mask Safe House

Rhino and Shocker stood to the back of Sionis' office while Scorpion stood near the desk. Black Mask was standing facing them, his skulled face filled with rage.

"You only got ONE crate?" His voice was being torn to shreds by his fury.

"And this." Scorpion said as he threw the laser rifle onto Mask's desk.

The crime lord eyed it for a second, before looking back at him, "And just what the hell is that supposed to be!?"

Scorpion shrugged, "Laser cannon, I guess. Don't really care… Penguin nearly fried us with it, though. Packs a serious punch..."

Roman sighed as he rubbed his eyes, "Tell me this entire travesty was worth it. Is the Spider dead? The Bat? Anyone?"

"Ehh… Don't rightly know, pardner." Brice spoke.

"What do you mean you don't know? You dropped dockyard crane on him! A big one!" Roman yelled with bewilderment.

"Da. This is true," Rhino spoke, the crane fell on him too, before he was fished out from the debris and webbing by Scorpion, thankfully the larger sections missed him entirely, "But the Spider… He is tough. A crane may not kill him."

"This was a disaster…" Roman said with barely contained anger, "Not only did the deal go south. I also lose at least five of my men. The Batman comes swooping in and Cobblepot ends up back behind bars! Plus, we don't even know if the Spider died, the entire reason I hired you in the first place!"

"Cobblepot behind bars is good for you though, right? Wasn't he your rival?" Scorpion spoke, his tone annoyingly casual.

"Of course he was! But he's also one of the only people in this godforsaken city willing to still cut a deal! I doubt that'll happen again after tonight! God… The press are gonna' have field day with this, I'm gonna look like a joke! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't terminate your contract right now!"

"I don't see the point in makin' all this fuss over nothin'. The Spider and the Bat knew about the deal anyhow… Woulda' gone south even if weren't there… Least' thanks to us, the Spider's gonna have a hell of a headache. Plus, ya' still get that crate there and whatever that is… All without giving the limey son of a bitch a penny!" Shocker was clearly agitated, but what he said made sense.

Scorpion looked at Mask as he spoke, "And we still made it back, that's more than can be said for most of ya' other men…"

"Maybe, more of my men would have made it back if you hadn't dropped an entire FUCKING shipping yard on top of them!" Black Mask yelled sitting back down as he breathed heavily before slamming his fist on his desk.

"Li! Sorry… Li…" He calmed his tone as he looked to his most loyal employee.

"Yes, sir…" She replied, unphased by his anger.

"Could you please grab my meds before I pop a GODDAMN blood vessel?"

"Of course." Li spoke calmly before exiting the office.

Mask stood back up and walked over to his window, staring out over the city before taking a deep breath and sighing.

"You're right…" Mask finally spoke after a very uncomfortable silence, "I suppose you did better than I'm giving you credit for… You're the only people so far who've managed to a fight the Spider without being put behind bars… Already had to grease some palms to keep Deadshot out of lock up…"

He paused as he grinned sickly, it took a lot of effort to keep Floyd out of prison, but having a mercenary like him in his pocket was worth it…

His grin faded as frustration once again took hold of his expression, "But still, it's clear that he's more capable than even you three are willing to admit... Throw the Bats in as well and I'll never get back control of this city! That's why I going to have to pull some strings, maybe some I'm gonna' regret pulling… But I'm not left with a lot of options here…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scorpion, spoke as he stared at Roman.

Black Mask didn't answer, he simply looked at Li as his assistant re-entered his office and placed a bottle of pills on his desk.

"Thank you, Li. Could you do one last thing for me?"

"Of course, sir. What is it?" She spoke, her voice was unbelievable controlled and professional.

"Get Slade Wilson on the phone… Tell him… Tell him Black Mask is willing to cut a deal with the Light…"

Author Note:

Obviously Dr Micheals is OC but he isn't meant to have a big role (this may be his only appearance) but I couldn't find any apropriate DC characters to fit the bill. So I just tried to make a fun character for the sake of it... I don't how well I did, but I thought he was worth the word count lol...

Also here's a Top Gear intro for this chapter for any fans of that...

TONIGHT ON TOP GEAR! Peter trauma dumps on a child... Batman drives a car... And the author uses the word 'container' so much he questions his sanity...

Just imagine that with the theme tune in the background.

Also next chapter should be fun, I've had the idea for it for a while and I'm excited to get started on it.

Till next time,

Bye