lepoffaith

by Lazydaily

marvel peter gotham long ass chapters

7. Chapter 7

Deus lays in agony on the ground, his jacket slick with his blood. His groans of pain are the only sign that he's still alive, otherwise, he is rapidly approaching a sickly color that cling to those near death. He clutches at his shoulder, curled in on himself pathetically. If Peter weren't Peter, he wouldn't have been able to hear that Deus, despite all of this, was managing just fine to exhale curses on Two-Face while he trembles in the shock.

Two-Face stands above him, observing his goons' handy work while lighting a cigarette between his lips. The older rogue puffs out some smoke as he stands watch over the subway car full of hostages, all too relaxed about the situation. It suggests an ease and comfort from years of causing panic and heartache that makes Peter feel like he hates this stupid Knock Off Cruella De Vil. He's kidding himself if he thinks he is even close to pulling it off.

You haven't missed much since the last chapter, is what that means. Peter knows that doesn't make the cliffhanger any better.

Two-Face had his goons begin separating everyone mere moments after he shot that gun and did his whole dramatic, scary one liner. Peter had kinda sorta remembered from the wiki research he did a while ago: Two-Face has a love for doing things in even numbers, or by the twos.

Yeah, what a shock. The guy named Two-Face, who's wearing a corny half black- half white suit, is flipping a coin absently in one hand, has a lighter that is also split in half with black and white, and is separating everyone into even groups of hostages, likes the number two! Who would have guessed? Not Peter.

Anyway, that's why Peter isn't as surprised when Two-Face has them separated into two sides of the car, rather than doing what was the normal for a hostage situation, which would be making everyone drop to the ground where they were and not moving, nor giving anyone time to think about moving.

Seriously, where did this guy learn to villain? An old cartoon? He's met villains and heroes with gimmicks (Peter himself is not an exception to this) but this is taking the fucking cake and throwing it out the window.

Peter is on hostage team A, as he so cleverly calls it in his mind, on one side of the stopped car. It suspiciously smells like someone spilled cologne everywhere to mask a different smell of rotting fruit, to Peter's dismay. No one is allowed to sit in the perfectly fine seats, no, they have to sit on the nasty ground. To someone raised in New York, this sounds like Two-Face wants them to contract unknown diseases and start a world wide zombie outbreak, but that'd be giving Two-Face too much credit.

Peter can only imagine what horrifying substances have touched this ground here, and are now all over his perfectly clean pants. This is the real crime here- Does Two-Face even know how expensive pants are? Peter has been budgeting pretty much his entire life, so he knows. Some obnoxious crime lord whatever guy doesn't care. He could probably buy himself a million pants, that rich fuck. Peter only has so many pairs of pants! A whole two pairs! Now down to one, because surely, he'll never be able to wear these again. Not without thinking about these nasty smells and potential zombie diseases.

Mourning his better pair of pants, Peter glances up at Damian. The other boy squints at him in confusion mixed with not-at-all-hidden suspicion.

"What the hell are you pouting about?" He whispers like it's a bother to ask.

Peter sighs too heavy for what he's about to say. "I liked these pants."

"You didn't shit yourself, did you?" Damian wrinkles his nose with pure disgust, reeling back from Peter as if that wasn't a joke. Peter, offended that that even came to his mind, sits up straight and glares in his direction.

"No, I didn't shit my pants! What is wrong with you? Why would I shit my pants?"

"You're from New York, you're some punk-ass cowardly kid-" Damian lists, holding up two fingers. He lifts a third but Peter punches his shoulder and Dick shushes the both of them. Damian tries to protest while rubbing his shoulder, but Dick silences him with a glare that pretty much says 'Do you want to get shot?'

Peter waits a moment for Dick to return his attention to the active hostage situation, and then he whispers to Damian: "The emergency lighting washes you out."

"Take that back." Damian hisses through gritted teeth, but then pauses. "I don't care about something that stupid. What is wrong with you?"

Peter has no reply because Dick is once again shooting them a look that says he's five seconds away from taping their mouths. He sticks his tongue out at Damian when Dick turns away, then exaggerates a rude face. Damian huffs petulantly, crosses his arms, and turns his face away like he's too good to stoop to low levels. That's fine, 'cause Peter is all about that life.

Luckily (or unluckily, because Damian is a little shit), Peter had been split into the same group as Dick and Damian. If Dick hadn't come to get him when he did, Peter would have been stuck on Team B, with Lanky and Shoes.

At the moment, Peter is trying to forgive Damian because obviously the other boy has severe issues (Peter is such a saint), and gain a sense of familiarity with the entire car, putting it to memory.

Commissioner Gordon has enlisted Andrews' help (lawyer number 2, for the folks that already forgot his name because he's a background character) in calming down the civilians that are actually bothered by the situation. Peter thought that New York had a way of not giving a flying fuck about a situation, but even New Yorkers care when their lives are in mortal peril, you know?

But Gothamites?

They care, but more so in a way like 'they stepped in dog shit on the way home after a bad day' kind of care. They're all quiet and going along with the situation, but they also keep glaring at the floor and grumbling about how this was the 'worst time for them to decide to take the subway.' and 'of course this happened to me.'

And it had only gotten worse when the goons started searching people.

Peter is always aware that every Gothamite has at least one weapon on them at all times. That's why there's that buzzing of danger towards seemingly the most normal of people- they're all willing to do what needs to be done in order to survive.

But holy shit Peter is gobsmacked when the goons hold out bags and the other passengers begrudgingly begin putting their weapons in them. For a minute there, Peter was sure he'd been knocked out and sucked into a dream, because they just kept finding more weapons to put in the bags like when a magician has those stupid cloths they pull out of their sleeve.

One chick had a dagger. A dagger. And she had tears in her eyes when she had to put it in the bag.

"That's vintage," She had claimed, one hand over her heart, as if she was giving up a coat. "Please take care of it. I want it back."

And the goon had just. Given her a thumbs up? As if to say 'no prob.'

Peter didn't think Gothamites could get weirder. And then they do. They certainly live up to their emo-namesake of a city.

Dick and Damian are near Peter, towards the front of the group. Dick had been torn about this when it happened. He tried to push Peter farther back into the group (subtle, Dick, really. As if that wouldn't make Peter question why he wasn't worried about his own safety or Damian's as much as he apparently was Peter). That hadn't worked because one of the goons yanked Peter back towards the front and forced him to sit down, smirking at Dick like he dared him to do anything about it.

Now that had pissed Dick off majorly, but he couldn't go all Nightwing on his ass, not with this many people around. Instead, Dick settled for placing himself in front of Peter and Damian, making it where Dick was on the very outside of the group, Peter protectively tucked under one arm, and he's the one closest to Two-Face and Deus, not Peter or Damian.

It's actually pretty interesting to watch a vigilante work like this. Peter's only ever seen it from his perspective, but it's kind of funny, really. Because Peter knows, he gets a front seat to seeing them try to keep their identities straight. Peter's never been on this side before; he had no idea how entertaining it is. Maybe this is what Loki meant that one time he said "The Spider has a sense of humor like mine."

(He hadn't gotten it at the time, because he was just laughing at Thor and Tony getting into a spat during a mission, and Loki just happened to hear him over the comms. Loki was the one that the spat was about, and yet he had been very casual about it all.)

Damian sits in front of Peter, balanced in his sitting position like a panther on a branch, waiting for the right moment to tear someone to shreds. He's impatient, obviously annoyed that he has to sit still and pretend to be "normal" in front of everyone. Every time the other boy shifts, Dick sets his other hand on Damian's knee, a silent gesture that says Don't do it.

It certainly doesn't help that he and Peter are sitting right next to that old guy, the frog hat toddler, and Stacey McGuire, all of whom Damian is clearly uncomfortable being around.

Speaking of whom, there's another interesting detail that Peter has noticed: Stacy is pale in the face and keeps looking over at Deus Johnson like she's the one in trouble and bleeding out. She attempts to hide herself from Two-Face's sight using the old man, but it's not very successful. And even still, she keeps trying to see Deus, folding her hands like she's praying.

This is also something that Damian and Dick had noticed. Their shared glances to each other and side eyes in her direction say a lot. (Peter takes note of this in his mental list of observations- the Bats likely knew about Two-Face and Deus, at least in some capacity. That's because the two vigilantes here shook off their surprise fairly quick, and have settled into annoyance or frustration, and a settled focus that just screams they're willing to take him down and make a cover story if they have to.)

On the other side of the car is Team B, the other half of the hostages. Lanky and Shoes had been grouped into this category, the unlucky duo. They're the only ones that Peter happens to know on that side, besides one other familiar face among the crowd:

Bus Stop Guy himself!

Bus Stop Guy is also stepping up to the plate. He's quieting down anyone who is actually worried about the situation, and shushing an older woman who is trying to fuss at Two-Face and using her cane to point at him. He's keeping up a pretense that he's chill, but he's sweating buckets, fanning his face every few seconds and muttering a prayer under his breath.

A little funny that the guy that had been there for Peter learning about Two-Face in the first place, is now being held hostage like Peter is in an incident involving Two-Face. Small world, Peter supposes.

Right, so. Peter looks up at the ceiling as Two-Face crouches down in front of Deus, puffing out another breath of smoke and prodding the bleeding man. Dick clicks his teeth, annoyed at the sight, maybe feeling a little useless to help.

Peter absently leans backwards into his side, only sort of paying attention to how Dick relaxes by a fraction and sets his hand on Peter's head, tucking him closer. He's still set very still like a statue, watching Two-Face and the goons with his eyes alone, sharp and clear, ready to attack and standing guard over everyone. He and Damian are much alike in that sense- they almost look blood related, the both of them a mimic of the other.

Peter is thinking hard about the situation at hand, and what he can do to help out on his own terms.

And by 'help out' he means 'mess with the Bats.'

Because come on, man, what did we think was going to happen? A serious fight? Peter has had enough of those with Ohnn, he doesn't need any other villain trying to make shit serious. That's not only boring, it leads to Peter having to face the fact that serious = trauma. And he's got enough of that, thanks.

This is what he was talking about last chapter earlier before they got to the subway. The chance to mess with the Bats before revealing his identity? It has miraculously fallen into his lap out of nowhere. It's almost like divine intervention. Or an extremely relevant plot point that an author has been eager to drop for a while now.

Damian leans towards Dick, dropping into whispers about Two-Face. Peter is vaguely aware that Damian slips into some sort of code (Why? Does he think Peter can hear? Peter can, but is Damian catching on? Also, do the Bats talk in code a lot? Peter is also adding this to his mental notes), but he stops paying attention to them when the toddler next to Peter wiggles his hand t get his attention.

Peter lowers his gaze to the young boy and he receives a strangely intense look. However, this toddler is wearing a cute hat, and Peter can forgive the weirdness.

The toddler holds up a hand- seriously, he holds out his hand as if to say, 'One minute, sir'- and reaches into his overalls. After a moment of clinking noises (what is in that pocket?), he pulls out a chunky, black, Batman themed pen. He holds it out towards Peter like he's about to bequeath a crown instead of a writing utensil, blinking up at him curiously. When Peter just raises a brow, the toddler wiggles his hand again, more urgent than before.

Peter holds out his hand, keeping the same dead serious look on his face that the toddler has. The baby drops the pen into his hand, satisfied, and nods at Peter appreciatively. Serious business, the pen offering is.

What a strange little guy. Peter instantly adores him.

"Sorry, he likes to hand people things." The old man whispers. He looks like he's a few seconds away from a heart attack, and Peter can hear his heartbeat, so he's worried the old guy is actually gonna croak right here. That would not be ideal.

"It's fine. I like being handed things." Peter tucks the pen into his own pocket, holding out a hand for the toddler to take. "What's his name?"

"Simon." The baby looks up when the old man says his name. He points at Peter.

"Dimon." He repeats.

"I'm not Simon, you're Simon." Peter says, to prevent whatever identity crisis might be brewing. The toddler does not care, in a true turn of events. "I'm Peter, by the way. Nice to meet you."

The old man blinks at him for a moment. "I'm Charles? You… You're a little weird. You from New York?"

"Yes sir, I am. How strange of you to put it that way, and out loud."

"You're strange. Can't say it another way."

They fall into a silence after that. Peter has half of his ear on Two-Face's goons, the other half on Dick and Damian's coded whispers. Dick will run a hand over Peter's hair every time something is said between he and Damian that sounds pretty intense. Whatever they're talking about, it's probably what Peter is thinking: who's coming to stop Two-Face's plan.

Earlier, Peter had sensed Red Robin out and about at the Hallow Fest. That's not very far from the subway, so he should be here already, probably regrouping with Batman. Jason and Babs had separated from them earlier, so that makes at least four vigilantes… Spoiler might be out too, but doesn't she have a stab wound?

Scratch that, Spoiler is probably barred from patrol and stuff, if they work the way Peter thinks they might. If his teammate was injured like that, Peter would also beg them to stay down (even if this was a futile effort). Considering Peter's small glimpse into Steph's personality, this could mean she's either at home resting, or she's 100% out there right now. Peter puts her down as a 'maybe'.

There's also Signal, but he's a daytime vigilante, and Peter doesn't know enough about him to claim that he'd be here. However… there's that secret Bat that Peter had met, that no one ever seems to mention. If she's also with the Bats, then she might be around too.

So definitely: Red Robin and Batman. Maybe: Red Hood (this would be cool but it's not like Peter thinks that because Red Hood is cool or whatever), maybe Babs (what is her secret identity?), maybe Spoiler, maybe Signal, and maybe the secret Bat, but definitely not Nightwing or Robin, because they're currently stuck in the situation with Peter. And no Spider-Man, but that much is obvious as well.

above! close no far? far? close no both

His spider sense is sort of all over the place, but Peter gets the gist. There's something the the subway tunnel itself that is setting off the alarm bells. Probably explosives. It's usually explosives.

Despite the probably-explosives, the situation is looking fairly simple and cut out. It's actually something that Peter might see in a simulation that FRIDAY would cook up.

(Every Thursday, FRIDAY and Peter run through simulations together in one of the floors of the Stark Tower. That's where Peter gets to run through situations that are slightly more up to speed than his usual villains. FRIDAY helps him figure out how to use his skills to get out of them, like he's playing a video game. It was Pepper's idea, and ever since then, it's all he talks about on Thursday nights during dinner. Sometimes, he uses the simulations to run through a potential Black Cat heist, or to figure out a weak point for Armadillo.)

With that in mind, Peter tries to think of how he'd approach the simulation… No, he tries to think of what FRIDAY would say. She'd probably inform him that he doesn't need Spider-Man to help out…

And she'd be right, of course.

Because villains? They can actually be really predictable. Especially when Peter read their wikis, and he has a decent memory. Trust, in just a few moments, Two-Face is going to start goading them, and telling everyone what his reason (complaint) is. Peter won't even have to ask or wonder what his motivation is for all of this. From there, Peter will be able to figure out his next course of action in no time, all because Two-Face can't keep his mouth shut.

"Well, look at the mess you've made here, yeah?" Two-Face toes Deus' shoulder with his boot, just to be an asshole. Deus hisses in pain, rolling over to get away from him. "Was it worth it?"

See? What did Peter just say? Here he goes.

"Was what worth it, you crazy freak?" Deus has the balls to snap, despite looking five seconds away from becoming a corpse.

"Don't play dumb now, Johnson." Two-Face holds out his cigarette to purposefully let the ash fall on Deus' face. "I'm asking if killing the mayor was worth all of this. I mean, surely, it must be. You're acting pretty confident."

"I'm confident 'cause I was acquitted, dipshit! That means I ain't did it, and I'm a free man!" Deus writhes on the floor, attempting to move away from the ash that falls on his face. Peter pointedly looks away, rubbing his right arm when the skin feels like it's burning.

Don't think about that don't think about that don't think about that-

"I didn't kill him, and they couldn't prove that I killed him."

"Well there's an excellent reason why you got away with it. But not because you didn't kill the mayor." Two-Face takes a drag of his cigarette. "You definitely killed him. The only reason you're walking around right now without the cuffs is because your acquittal was orchestrated from behind the scenes."

"Fuck you!" Deus spits. Dick's arm tightens around Peter's shoulders. "Someone needs to put you down like the sick dog you are. Ain't no one did anything to keep me from behind bars 'sides my lawyers. The prosecution had nothin' on me 'cause I didn't do it!"

"Is that so?" Two-Face hums like he's got an arsenal of evidence Deus doesn't know about yet.

And of course he does. Because Two-Face wouldn't set up a plot like this with no proof- Deus must be a fucking idiot.

"Why don't we ask your little girlfriend?"

panic fear loud

Peter hears Stacy McGuire squeak, feels her flinch and duck down as if that'll stop anything. His gaze shoots away from the floor and to the scene again. Two-Face must have directed his goons to find her, because one of them stalks forward towards their group. Dick leans over Peter and pulls Damian closer as the large goon pushes past them roughly, his boot kicking Dick's side.

The goon smacks Charles' head out of the way, tipping he and Simon over. Stacy yelps and tries to crawl away, but the goon snatches her arm and pulls her to her feet, on her broken heel. Her ankle rolls-

CATCH!

Stacy falls backwards, just in time for Peter to jump out of Dick's hold and onto his knees. He reaches out one hand to Stacy's back, preventing her descent onto Charles. His other hand catches Simon, who had toppled out of Charles' lap. Peter cradles his head with one hand before it could hit the ground as Simon lets out a startled cry.

The goon drags Stacy over them. Peter crouches over Simon and Charles as she does so, nearly getting the not-broken heel to his head. Stacy steps on Damian's hand on the way out, and Damian hisses, flinching backwards.

"This is- This- ridiculous!" Stacy protests, trying to pull away from the goon, but his grip is too tight on her arm. She leans fully away from him, dragging her heels into the ground. "I am not involved in this! I was just on the prosecution!"

"That's exactly the problem, McGuire." Two-Face hisses.

"You okay?" Peter asks as he pulls Simon out of Charles' grip and into his own lap. Simon wails loudly, clutching onto Peter's neck for dear life. Charles grunts, trying to wave it off and mumble that he's fine, but his hands are shaking. Peter reaches out one hand to the old man's, clutching tight, and is relieved the old man grabs his hand back.

Dick touches his shoulder, getting Peter's attention over the crying child. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Peter pats Simon's back. The kid hiccups again, stuffing his face into Peter's neck.

"You turned out just like your father, who would have guessed?" Two-Face chides. He lifts up the barrel of his gun underneath Stacy's chin, tilting her head upwards. She lets out a whimper and tries to flinch back, but Two-Face grabs her face in his free hand. He points the gun down at Deus again, and Stacy goes still. "Evan McGuire, real cocky bastard. Thought he could get away with anything he wanted. That's what got him disbarred.

"One would think," Two-Face continues darkly. "-that children should learn from their parents' mistakes. Not repeat them."

"I-I didn't do anything wrong." Stacy insists. "I did my job. Don't talk about my father like that."

"I went to class with your father, that earns me the right to talk about him anyway I'd like. It just so happens that I choose to speak the truth about the kind of man your father was. He was a lying, cheating, man-whore who went around intimidating, bribing, and getting rid of anyone that stood in his way, all because he was a trust fund baby that wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Turns out the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree."

"What are you trying to say?" Stacy gets the nerve to push Two-Face's hand away from her face.

"That you and your boyfriend killed the mayor, and then bribed your way onto the prosecution team so you could botch the case and get him acquitted." Two-Face reveals, and Stacy falls still in her struggle to get away from the rogue. "That's it- that's the face you should be making. You scared, McGuire? You see fate catching up to you?"

Gordon and Dick make eye contact through the crowd. Peter squints at the interaction- neither of them look surprised by this information. So they had figured this out? Or they had likely been thinking about it. Maybe that's why Gordon was with Stacy and Andrews today?

"Stacy, you did what?" Andrews' eyes go wide- the dumb, dumb idiot. Gordon slaps a hand over his mouth.

"Be quiet, Andrews, he's mad at the prosecution." Gordon's words cause Andrews to slap his own hand over his mouth when Gordon releases him, eyes wide. The younger man sweats as if he hadn't thought about that, then eyes the exists like he would really like to go home now.

"Why does this even matter to you?" Deus snaps. "You've killed plenty of people, it ain't your business what we do. You've been on trial more times than anyone in this damn car- you have no right to judge us!"

"Are you admitting that you did it? Is that why you're getting so defensive?"

"No, I'm not! I ain't admittin' to somethin' I didn't do!" Deus shouts.

Simon flinches in Peter's arms, and Peter holds him tighter, rubbing the toddler's back and trying to calm him down. Charles, too, is trying to keep him quiet, trying to distract him from what's going on. Something about the way the kid trembles and flinches when their voices shout makes Peter's heart wrench.

"Deus, be quiet." Stacy scolds through gritted teeth. Deus scoffs, laying his head down on the ground. He's looking paler by the second.

"Yes, Johnson, be quiet. It isn't your turn to speak. It's mine." Two-Face says, turning to Stacy. His non-injured eye narrows at Stacy, full of a contempt for her entire existence. "Here's what's going to happen, McGuire. We're all going to sit and wait for Batman to get here, and when he does, we're going to hold another trial. This time, you won't be able to weasel yourself out of fair proceedings."

"Fair? How is any of this fair?" Stacy argues. "You hate my guts, you've seem to have already decided my fate! You can't be impartial!"

"Not that kind of trail." Two-Face lets go of her face, digging into his pocket. From there, he pulls out the coin he was flicking earlier. Stacy attempts to step back as if the coin was a weapon. "You'll get a 50/50 shot- my decision, or Batman's."

"That's not fair!" Stacy cries, and Two-Face's eye twitches. "It's not fair! It's not! You don't even know my circumstances- you haven't let me plead my case! You can't jump to punishment before then!"

"Be quiet! You know nothing about the plan!" Two-Face argues back. Peter wishes Stacy would be quiet, now, because holy shit, girl, why are you arguing with an enraged gunman who hates your guts?

"She's right, and you know it! You don't have any proof, do you? You're just a washed up freak with no future ahead of him! You're gonna get sent right back to Arkham, but you fucking belong six feet under!" Deus sits up, and he reaches for the gun in Two-Face's hand.

NO!

BANG!

Peter flinches, and Simon screams. He screams in Peter's ear, sobbing and trying to cover his ears. Charles begs him to be quiet as Peter reaches his hands over Simon's ears, but the toddler can't help it now. It only gets worse when Stacy's blood curdling cry manages to be louder than Simon.

She drops to her knees, crawling towards where Deus had fallen down again. This time, he had taken the shot to the ribs. Two-Face digs into his pocket as Stacy throws herself over Deus, his eyes cold as he pulls out a detonator.

Explosives.

It's always explosives.

"You killed him!" Stacy cries, holding her hand over the gunshot. Deus is making a gurgling noise that makes Peter's skin crawl. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and shutting out the bad memories of when Ben made that sound. He holds onto Simon, whispering in his ear that it's going to be okay.

"I thought you said you weren't involved with him." Two-Face says, his voice clear of any sort of emotion. "You acted like he wasn't important, you were just his prosecutor. And yet, here you are weeping over his body."

Stacy has no reply for him. Peter opens his eyes as Simon bawls louder, clutching onto Peter's jacket like his own life depended on it.

Two-Face waves the detonator around, showing all of them the shiny black metal in his hands. He hasn't pressed down on the button yet, but at any second he can. The rogue doesn't have to look around the car to know he has all of their attention. Simon cries, and cries, and nothing Peter does can make it stop.

"We don't need him for this trial. This is for you, McGuire. Fate is going to decide your chances, now. If you can't plead your case to her, then you are going to die."

Stacy sobs, trying to form words, but she can't get anything out. Her hands are stained with Deus' blood. Peter tries to shush Simon, holding his hands on either side of the toddler's face. "It's gonna be okay, buddy." Peter whispers. "It's gonna be okay. Help is coming. Do you like Batman?"

Simon isn't listening- no doubt because he's literally just a baby. How could Peter expect him to listen, to understand what's going on? All Simon knows is that everything is loud and people are angry. What can Peter do-

"Will you shut that brat up!?" Two-Face snaps, turning on them, now, with the eyes of a wild animal in a rage. He holds up the gun in their direction, the barrel still smoking from the shot a few moments ago that killed Deus. Dick shields Peter and Simon with his whole body, and Peter feels a wave of cold wash over him.

!bad NO NO NO!-

close hello we know!

Peter feels the familiarity wash over him, his spider sense loud- louder than normal, like it always is when Peter is in an actively dangerous situation and someone he knows is nearby. It's not Red Robin, like he maybe expected, nor is it Red Hood.

Batman is on top of the subway car. If Peter focuses enough, he can hear the metallic jingling of some kind of device that Batman is about to use to enter the car.

And then just like that, all the pieces fall into place. Peter knows what he has to do, now.

Honestly?

Peter doesn't know how he gets the courage to do stuff like this. That's something probably lost to genetics that he doesn't get to know. From the stories Ben would tell him, his dad was a mouthy little shit too. He had the courage to mouth off during a fight at bullies that had nothing better to do than make him feel small.

He bites his tongue, passing Simon off quickly to a bewildered Charles. The old man ducks over his kid as Peter sits up, making sure his snark is loud and clear.

"Wow, it's almost like toddlers hate loud noises, such as gunshots."

Dick's horror is evident when he turns around to gawk at Peter. Damian, however, cracks an appalled grin, and he almost laughs. Dick grabs onto Peter's arms, shaking his head at Peter, who doesn't meet his eye, but Two-Face's instead. He hopes that the rogue can see his contempt in Peter's eyes, but most importantly, hopes he sees Peter's challenge.

Two-Face stares at him, just as shocked as Dick and the rest of the subway car. "What did you just say to me?"

"Peter, no-"

"Did you make yourself deaf, shooting twice in a room this small? Blew your ears out?" Peter leans to show off his face to Two-Face, so there's no mistaking who said it. "Or is it because you're an old shitbag, you need me to speak up?"

"Peter-"

"Get up!"

Damian watches with keen interest as Peter attempts to stand up. He finds the strength not to laugh- even though Damian isn't quite sure why he wants to. It's a mix of bewilderment and confusion, and something that reminds Damian of getting close to solving a puzzle.

He never thought the other boy had it in him. Because, well, from his perspective, Peter is always running. Always hiding, sneaking around, lying to their faces. He's strange, he's a fool, and he's, admittedly… not as annoying as Damian thought he would be. Though still plenty annoying.

It almost frustrates him how Richard and Barbara had been right- one proper conversation with Peter had given Damian a new way to look at the other.

He doesn't like liars, he hates cowards. However, while Peter is surely lying to them all, he's not a bad person. (Though Damian will say that 'good' and 'bad' is a grey scale, one that Damian himself struggles with all of the time.)

Damian hadn't been jealous, like he thinks Richard is assuming. It's just that Damian hadn't known what to do with the situation. He's the youngest of them all (which still boils his blood, sometimes, and he hates that about himself), so he hadn't seen this side of things. Damian wasn't like the others, he hadn't been chosen. He had been thrown into the family, only there by blood. The first person he had felt chosen by was Richard. (And that was his fault, for the way he acted.)

So he hadn't understood what their obsession with Peter was about.

In fact, it worried him that they were just so sure that they had Peter figured out, personality wise. He would never admit it out loud, but he would like for his family to not die (again, for a few of them). He took it upon himself to be the one that kept his suspicion towards Peter, if only so that if they ended up wrong, their family wouldn't be completely blindsided.

He's just a liar, right? And no doubt, he's a meta or super of some kind, because he's always able to see where Father and the rest of them are when they're following him. And the evidence doesn't stop there, either.

See, just this day alone, Peter had pretty much flaunted that this might be the case.

The battery box at the library, he stopped the ladder from shaking under Damian, he somehow figured out that ridiculously rigged shooting game (Damian is sure this must have been the case), and, more seriously:

Peter had known the train was about to stop.

Damian hadn't lied when he told them that he'd continue to investigate Peter no matter the conclusion he found. He was keeping an eye on Peter (doubly so, when it sounded like he challenged Damian's own observational skills by claiming that his own was 'unmatched'). Not only had it looked like he sensed Gordon when the man hadn't even gotten close to him yet, but he had also started acting strange the minute the train had started to move.

He had been wondering if Peter was just uneasy about the people, or whatever excuse he could use to play 'devil's advocate' as Richard so unpolitely reminds him is important. Then, Damian was wondering if it had something to do with the two men Peter approached. Damian is fairly sure he recognizes their case file for petty crime, as Richard had done his research on the area near Benny's when he learned that Peter was staying there.

("Just in case." Richard had said.)

And then that fucker looked up at the ceiling and braced himself before the train had even started to squeak. He caught one of those criminals like it was nothing. The man is tall and wearing a heavy coat and no doubt Peter shouldn't have been able to catch him with one hand while not even moving from his seat.

Peter is a liar, a meta, a potential danger. These are facts.

But he's also interesting.

Like he said: the conversation with Peter had revealed that the boy understood Damian in a way that others don't usually try to. He barely batted an eye when Damian allowed himself to be a bit more lenient and tried interrogating Peter. He was more honest with Damian than he had been with any of them in the weeks that they've known him.

And besides the fact that Damian happened to tolerate his presence, Peter had ended up surprising him immensely when those baboonish teenagers attempted to pick a fight. He had already succeeded that Peter was allowed to have a degree of trust. But then Peter had taken that cigarette and put it out so nonchalantly that it hadn't even registered to any of them what was going on until the cigarette was under his foot.

It was surprising, yes, but what it really had been was the key to changing Damian's mind about how he approaches the Peter situation.

Because it was funny.

He hadn't liked Peter until that second. That was the moment Damian finally understood why his family had been so invested in Peter. Now, he supposes it wouldn't be so bad if Richard or Father brought him back to the Manor and he became another annoying family member. Not to say that Damian isn't still suspicious- but that it wouldn't be unnatural for him to be part of the family.

Peter's still an idiot, though. An idiot, but not a coward after all.

Because he is definitely already a vigilante.

Damian has his suspicion that he's about to get a confirmation that Peter is exactly who he thinks he is:

Spiderman:

Close to the Jonathan Ohnn case

Is a meta

Is around Damian's age

Is suspiciously similar to Nightwing

Peter 'Grayson':

Close to the Jonathan Ohnn case

Is a meta

Is Damian's age

Is suspiciously similar to Richard

He might as well be waving a flag around that says "I'm Spiderman!"

Richard pulls Peter down to the ground, preventing him from getting to his feet. "Harvey, please-"

"Be quiet and don't interfere." Two-Face snarls, not liking the use of Harvey's name. "The boy wants to say something, so he's going to. Get up!" He barks again at Peter. Richard holds onto Peter's arm as long as possible, and Peter briefly pauses in front of Richard to smile at him. It's like he's just going up to the front of the classroom for a presentation, rather than standing next to a madman with a gun.

"It's gonna be fine."

Richard is entirely displeased with this outcome, preventing himself from leaping forward and taking Peter's place only because Two-Face has been even more unpredictable as of the last few years. In this case, Two-Face personally knew Evan McGuire, and no doubt he was infuriated to see a legacy of the man get away with making a mockery of the judicial system.

One of the goons grabs Peter's arm, pulling him away from their group and shoving him in front of Two-Face. The rogue's nostrils flare with indignant fury, waving the gun around recklessly.

"Go on, kid. There must be something you want to say to me, right? I can't imagine why else you would choose to open your mouth." Two-Face asks, his voice dangerously level. Peter makes unflinching eye contact, just as he had earlier this night with those teenagers.

Prove me right, damnit. Damian glares at Peter's back. I know what you are.

"Well, no, I didn't have anything to say." Peter muses, putting his hands in his pockets. "I was just pointing out that you were mad at a baby for doing something that babies do. Seems a little fucked up."

He also just murdered a man in front of all of them, but sure, Peter 'Grayson', that makes total sense.

"But whatever, man. You're the guy with the detonator. As ill-advised at that is. They tell you not to run with scissors for a similar reason, you know." Peter shrugs, glancing at the device in Two-Face's hands, and then back to the man. "Can I ask why you decided on this? Is it because you were having a bad day? I'd recommend therapy."

"You've got to be kidding me." Richard puts his head in his hands.

"Why would I put hundreds of people in mortal peril because I had a bad day?" Two-Face tries to sound annoyed, but it comes out as more befuddled.

"Bad week?"

"No, you moron-"

"Bad month?"

"What is wrong with you?"

"Does your tummy hurt?" Peter pats his own stomach. "I get that, 'cause I mean, I get stomach cramps sometimes and I hate that a lot. But you know people are joking when they say their stomach hurts bad enough that they consider world domination, right?"

There's something about watching Peter be so unshaken by the situation, so calm in the face of a rogue despite being a civilian, that makes Damian wonder who any of his ridiculously blinded family hadn't noticed what Damian is seeing right now. Seriously. They'd had how many encounters with Peter both in and out of suit? They'd seen him get into several dangerous situations, seen him clam up about his past and his living circumstances, etc, and none of them thought 'Peter could be Spiderman'?

It has only been less than a month since they met Peter, and they don't see him every single day- they were on a rotating schedule of just patrolling around where he's been staying, and only recently had they tried approaching him out of suit. But still. There's been more than enough proof.

Isn't this moron allergic to peppermint? Like spiders are?

Richard opens his mouth to stop- well… either Two-Face or Peter. Could be trying to stop Two-Face, but at the moment, Peter looks like the crazier one. But Damian holds out his hand to stop him. Annoyance flickers across Richard's face, and he shoots Damian a questioning glance.

He understands why. Not only is Damian completely aware that Richard holds some strange parental urge to take care of Peter, but Peter is also in danger right now.

(Seriously, Damian would have to magically lose his brain in order to miss how Richard is acting. Not that Richard is noticing it himself.

Not only is Richard constantly fretting over Peter's well being, he's got it in his mind already that Peter is theirs. Richard looks at Peter like he's important, and actually managed to forget that Peter wasn't going going home with them after one day of 'bonding.' He also managed to pick out a coat that matches Richard's current coat.

It's bad enough that Richard has been non stop about Peter since they learned his last name is "Grayson" ((Damian has his own theory about that)), but now he's subconsciously making Peter match him. Damian himself barely got out of this- he had to threaten bodily harm if Richard made him wear matching t-shirts.)

They should be putting a stop to an untrained civilian talking to the rogue that had just made sure everyone knew that he's feeling particularly homicidal this time. They're the ones that have been trained for this type of situation, not Peter (this is to be confirmed. He could or couldn't, but Richard doesn't know there's an option). Father would surely agree that getting Peter out of Two-Face's radar is the best course of action.

And surely, if any of the other vigilantes found out that Peter had put himself into danger, they'd already be lining up a lecture for him, hypocritical or not. They've grown fond of Peter and they would hate to lose someone else, like they've lost people before.

But Damian?

He wants to see where this is going.

Peter is Spiderman, Damian has no doubt about that in his mind now. That only leaves one conclusion to make, really. Damian has to help Peter with whatever harebrained plan he managed to cook up while a child was screaming in his ear.

Damian has to see it through, if only to get a read on the boy that is so confusing to him. He'd been so sure, this entire time, that Peter was holding something back, hiding from them. And he'd also been sure that Spiderman was trained like he was. Not by the League, but by someone else, and surely by an assassin at some point. He'd been wanting to meet Spiderman since he first saw him, and to find out that he'd been closer than they thought, the entire time?

He wants to see what makes Spiderman, what makes Peter, tick.

And if anyone has a problem with Damian helping Peter by holding back Richard from butting in, he'll claim that they wanted him to make friends, and now they're mad he made one?

"Get to your point, stop beating around the bush." Two-Face chides.

"Sure, my bad, my bad." Peter clears his throat. "…How do I put this…? Why choose explosives and hostages, if your issue is personal with Miss McGuire and her boyfriend?"

Two-Face points his gun towards McGuire. The woman has steadily lowered her sobs, and now she stares at Deus' face in silence, unseeing of the world around her.

Damian hadn't expected McGuire to actually love Deus.

In their research, trying to catch up to Two-Face's plan, they had to dig into Deus' life. In that time, they had uncovered his affair with McGuire, a woman with a fiance. Deus has traits that lead towards being a psychopath, but what he feels for McGuire is something akin to love. He actually adored her, would do anything for her.

Which is why Gordon was going to investigate McGuire and Andrews tonight, to get evidence that she had botched the persecution for him, after doing exactly what Two-Face said she did. But that was because as vindictive and cunning as McGuire is, she always repays her debts. However, seeing her now…

She holds him like she loves him. Like he was someone important.

"We aren't just here to talk about McGuire and her wrong doings. When you display a root of one problem, it exposes the sickness that lays underneath it, hiding from the rest, feeding off of itself."

"You mean the people that let Miss McGuire get away with what she did?"

"Exactly."

"But then why not go after them?" Peter frowns at him. "…I don't think that's what you're doing here. I don't think you want justice. You just want to be angry."

His eyes are steely and cold as he glares up at the man that used to want exactly that- justice. The old friend of Father, who actually wanted to make Gotham a better place, one court case at a time.

Damian sees Peter glance behind him for a second, and his own eyes snap towards the top of the car behind Peter. Sure enough, a circle is cut through the roof, and the metal is pulled back with a grinding noise that screeches through the car. Two-Face turns Peter around in a flash, pressing the .22 caliber against the back of Peter's head. Batman drops down into the subway car, fists clenched, silent and imposing as always.

It was a split second, but Batman and looked towards their hostage group. Specifically, he looked at Damian and Richard.

That split second is all it took for Damian to understand that he's disappointed.

Damian doesn't know how long he was watching, but somehow, he has the idea that he's going to be in trouble later. Like Father just somehow already knew that Damian had stopped Richard from cutting in and stopping Peter from making things 'worse' for himself.

…Damian will have to deal with the consequences later. For now, he's going to see what Peter is made of.

Peter does look displeased with the outcome, but not overly panicked, like any good 14 year old citizen hostage should be. He's trying to look like he's panicking about being held at gunpoint, but at least Damian, Richard, and Father could see right through it. He holds both of his hands up, like he's surrendering, but he's just grimacing.

"…Two-Face."

"Nice of you to show up, Batman." Two-Face mocks. Batman looks towards McGuire and where she holds the dead Johnson's hand. "You're a little too late for him. But I think we still got a chance for the rest, don't we?"

"Let's talk about this before we do anything else rash. No one else needs to be hurt." Batman is calm, determined, and it contrasts Two-Face in this moment. The man who used to be Father's friend is an imitation of the man he used to be, a destructive glint in his eyes. Batman's lips press into a thin line, already aware that Two-Face isn't as in the mood for talking this out as he is trying to be.

Usually, Dent is easier to talk to. He has a lot to say, always wanting to make a change. If he wasn't at the whim of that coin or his own trauma, he'd have made a difference that Gotham needed.

"Why are we here?" Batman asks. "I hardly doubt that you believe I wasn't already aware of McGuire's wrong doing regarding the case."

"And what were you planning to do about it?" Two-Face counters. "What you always do?"

"It isn't my job to play judge."

"No, you just throw everyone into the broken system, letting us crawl right back." Two-Face pulls Peter back, the gun dipping lower to rest on the side of his neck. Peter gulps when the cold metal presses down. "You let people like McGuire take charge. You don't weed them out until it's too late."

Damian watches as Peter leans towards the gun hand.

"Did that coin already make your decision?" Batman asks, and Two-Face's gun hand twitches. "Innocent lives for your own vindication? Why are you risking yourself like this, Harvey?"

Two-Face doesn't reply to the question, in fact, he ignores it completely.

"Right now, there are multiple explosives set along the stretch of the underground. I have the detonator right here." Two-Face shakes the hand with the detonator. Peter's gaze casts towards that side without moving his head. Had he heard Two-Face move his hand? It wouldn't have made any noise. Just what is that power that allows Peter to do that? "If anyone makes a wrong move, or doesn't play along like they need to, then I'm setting them off. And it won't just be the people in this car that will die."

Batman hasn't moved his gaze from Two-Face, or if he has, it wasn't a visible movement. The stakes are too high to just rush forward and take him out. Peter's too close, and they're stretched too thin. If only he wasn't stuck playing civilian, he could be doing something. But no, he has to sit idly by.

For the last two years, Two-Face has been spiraling. Each plot of his dances closer and closer to self annihilation, standing on the precipice of true suicidal ideations. When Father was lost in the time stream, Two-Face had been one of the few rogues that knew it wasn't him, but Richard, in the Batman suit. Though he didn't know it was Richard, just that someone else was in his costume.

"What are your demands?"

They knew that he'd been losing himself more and more to this persona he created, losing the person that was Harvey Dent. But Batman has always tried reasoning with Two-Face before hurting him. Every time, without fail, Two-Face lets him down.

"Tell me what you know. Tell everyone here what you found out."

Batman thinks it over- no, likely, he's made his choice, and is working through what exactly to say that won't set Two-Face off into more of a rant.

"Stacy McGuire's mother, Juliet McGuire, is running for mayor in the next election. She asked the mayor to step down from the running and to endorse Juliet to his voters, because he had the backing and the likeability. He was one of the few in office that was working for the people. He refused."

Batman looks down at Stacy. Her hand has stilled from petting Deus' cold face.

"McGuire and Deus have been together for two years. He worked as a hitman when he was younger, and he was more than happy to help Stacy. He believed she was going to leave her fiance and they would get married. So he killed the mayor for her. Stacy was going to make true to her promise, which is why she bribed her way onto the prosecution and worked systematically to get evidence against Deus thrown out, and his defense was also approved by Stacy. They both worked for her. He was acquitted because of the lack of evidence, and he was going to change his name and face so he could start over with her."

Two-Face scoffs bitterly.

"There's a list of names of all the people that McGuire had at her beck and call." Two-Face tells him, a dangerous light in his voice that Richard once told him sounds far too much like the Harvey Dent that was close to putting someone behind bars. "I took the liberty of… rounding up the ones that I could get. And then I got more for you. They're waiting on your choice."

"My choice?" Batman asks, though he already knows the answer. Two-Face often forces him to make a decision like this.

"Either you choose to save the souls on this train, like this snot-nosed brat, here." Two-Face hisses in Peter's ear, digging the barrel under his jaw. Peter winces at the sharp pain, but he bites his tongue. "…Or I'll tell you where to find those big fish that are swimming in that sea of their own filth, and you can save them. You choose who's more important."

"And why would I make a choice like that?"

"Because that's what you do." Two-Face insists. "You make that choice every time you don't kill us, Batman. What were you going to do, when you outed McGuire? Hm? Just send her into the prison system, like she don't got the money, the affairs, the influence to get right back out? Sure, she won't practice law again, but she'll get to keep her life. And she'll ruin others on her way."

Inane ramblings of an inane man. Damian hardly believes that this is about McGuire at all. It sounds more like Two-Face is getting tired of being alive, and he's chosen a case that reminds him that he'll never get to go back to his past, will never be able to be who he once was.

"Killing these people won't solve anything. I know you want to make a change in the system, but this isn't justice. It's revenge."

"It'll make damn sure they can't keep pulling the strings."

"Or it'll create a power vacuum for someone else to fill, Dent. You know as well as I do that with McGuire's people gone, there's more than enough people in power that will just take her place."

"You're stalling." Two-Face points out with a low growl. "I did you a favor, finding all of those weasels for you. I'm practically serving them up on a silver platter, and for what? Just so you can ignore me? Ignore why this was needed? The choice shouldn't be difficult! So make your choice, Batman!"

Two-Face is screaming again, his thumb twitching towards the button on the detonator. Peter tenses up, eyes growing wide. Besides Damian, Richard sits up, almost in a runner's start. Damian supposes this isn't like before, and that he wouldn't be able to stop Richard if Two-Face decides to-

"Unless you want me to make it instead. That what this is? Trying to make me look like the only bad guy?" He rambles, his speech almost slurred. He's sweating in his delirium, an almost hazy quality about him. When his gaze lands on Peter, it's as if he's remembered the boy is there again. Peter, though he doesn't see Two-Face's attention has fallen on him, falls still.

And there.

Damian loves to be proven right.

It's the exact posture that Damian himself learned from his own training, with the League of Assassins. Loose shoulders, arms raised at the sides, above the hips- just slight, so the opponent won't be able to prepare for you to strike- and feet shoulder width apart. His fingers twitch, ready to turn around and take the weapon out of Two-Face's hands at any second. It's like he knows what Two-Face is about to say, just as well as the three other vigilantes on board are.

"How 'bout I start with this one?" Two-Face offers. He leans his head back, the emergency lights flickering overhead. There's a buzz of tension. No one has forgotten the corpse already on the floor.

Richard places his hands on the floor, ready to push off, Batman be damned, to save Peter. Damian wants to scream that Peter doesn't need it, that he's right, that Peter is Spiderman and this isn't as dangerous as they think it is.

"Let's toss a coin for it." Two-Face laughs.

"That's not what you wanted."

Damian has worked alongside his Father for a while, now. It took just that long of a time to be able to read him while he's in the cowl. He changes much about himself, even down to his silhouette. However, even a Damian from a year ago would be able to tell that Batman was angry.

It's startling enough that both Richard and Damian both react- Batman doesn't get angry. Not unless someone has crossed a line too close to family. Peter looks at him with wide eyes, as if he too had been able to hear it.

"Release half of the hostages, show some good faith." Batman offers, the anger washed away as soon as it had appeared. "If you want to give me those names, that's my demand."

"That's not how this works."

"That's what you're getting." Batman's word is like a stone wall. No one can get past this wall- it's built too high, it's made too heavy. It's guarded by only one man, but no one dares get too close.

Two-Face's jaw clenches, staring Batman down as he mulls this over. It's a tense few seconds where everyone, especially Richard, believes he's going to pull the trigger anyway.

"Fine."

The passengers perk up at this, looking towards each other as they contemplate what this means for everyone. No one dares to utter a word, not with those goons still armed and dangerous. Two-Face lazily points towards the group that Damian and Richard are in with his gun hand.

"That group can leave. You," Two-Face nods at one of the four goons. The man stands up straighter with the rogue's eyes on him. "Let them off. Just their group. If anyone else moves," He directs this order to the rest of his men as well. "-shoot them on the spot."

What?

No!

They can't leave now. He can't see what Peter is up to if he isn't here to keep an eye on him! That was the whole point of stopping Richard- letting Peter play out whatever the hell he is doing and getting answers! And there's no way that Richard will let him interrogate Peter when they get off, he's gone soft to whatever spell Peter has that makes people like him so easily.

But there's not a chance that Damian can get out of this. If he puts up a fight to stay on the train, that's even more suspicious. Besides…

Loathe as Damian is to admit it right now, their new job is to help out these hostages, then try to double back. Or at least help Timothy disarm the bombs, as no doubt, that's what he's having to do. Damian doubts that Batman didn't already know full well that Two-Face had taken McGuire's associates- they had evidence already that Two-Face was occupying warehouses, they had gotten that when they followed after him a few nights ago.

Which means that Red Hood, Black Bat, and Signal are likely on their ways to these warehouses, or already there. Leaving Red Robin to deal with the bombs.

The man walks over to the train doors, pulling out a burner phone, likely to whoever is operating the train. After a beat of tense silence, the doors slide open and out into the tunnel. The goon raises his gun as a warning, then nods towards the woman closest to the door. "Get."

She complies immediately. Their group is shuffling off in a hurry, guided by the goon. Damian looks back to Batman for an order, however Batman doesn't look their way. He remains steadfast, hands at his side, daring Two-Face to try anything to the hostages that are leaving.

With his plan in mind- there's no doubt that Richard would at least let him go, if he wants to keep an eye on the potentially suicidal Peter-, he stands to get off of the train. But Richard hesitates when it's their turn.

Damian sees the problem almost instantly.

Peter is still in Two-Face's hold. He isn't being released with them.

"The fuck're you doin'?" The goon hisses at the two of them. Damian elbows Richard's side.

"Richard," He whispers, and Richard only half-looks his way, torn between going and staying, or fighting for Peter to come with. "He's going to be okay."

"Go now." Batman says, his back turned towards them. Richard's fist clenches, glaring at the back of their Father's head. Damian contemplates what will happen if Richard actually decides 'fuck it' and stays, but it doesn't happen.

Richard pulls Damian off the train. When Damian looks back inside as the doors close, Two-Face is throwing Peter to the ground.

Peter lets himself hit the ground with a thud. The impact shudders through his knees, but he doesn't get any time to recover and get up on his own. Someone snatches him by his jacket hood like it's the scruff of a cat, pulling him away from Two-Face and into the Team B's group. More than a few people hover over him, and a familiar voice hisses in his ear:

"What the fuck were you thinking, you crazy brat?"

"Heyyyyy, Shoes." Peter grumbles.

"You're fucking crazy, do you have a god damn death wish? Do you have any next of kin I gotta notify? I'm not a mandated reporter, but at this point, I'm starting to think I gotta tell someone you're trying to get yourself killed. Fucking idiot."

"You got so lucky he didn't kill ya then and there," Lanky agrees with Shoes' pointless rambling.

Peter thinks this is a bit of an overreaction, but whatever. It's not like this time, he told someone to shoot him.

(And even when he did tell Lanky to shoot him, that had been when Peter was sure the guy didn't have any bullets. He's sure that counts for something on the 'Not so Crazy and Reckless' scale he has, that no one else seems to be aware of.)

Peter is still hunched over himself, hand buried in his jacket pocket. Peter worriedly looks over his shoulder, only to find that Batman has all of Two-Face's attention, just as Peter hoped. That's good, because the next part of Peter's plan requires going under the radar rather than hiding in plain sight.

"Kid? Are you hurt?" The man that had pulled him into the group asks, and Peter looks up at Bus Stop Guy. It'd been only a month since he last saw this dude- no, not even a month, because it's not November yet- but he looks like he's aged five years.

That… might not be Peter's fault… He'll blame it on Two-Face.

The man's brow is furrowed with worry, hands hovering over Peter's shoulders like he doesn't know what to do with himself. And Peter? He can't help but give their group an exhilarated smile. It causes a chain reaction. Each of them are bewildered in their own way, like Peter has grown another head in front of them. He whispers back his reassurance, "I'm okay!"

"You're insane!" The grandma with the cane (that Bus Stop Guy was trying to shush earlier) points said cane at Peter, then bonks him on the head with the end of it. Peter slaps one hand up to his forehead, pouting.

"Hey!" Peter protests, but Cane Grandma isn't done fussing at him.

"Insane! Reckless! Stupid!" She repeats, whacking his forehead with each word, and Bus Stop Guy yanks the cane out of her hand before she can go for a fourth hit.

"You're getting this back later." He hisses in a pure Dad voice. Peter, Lanky, and Shoes fold back like they were the ones scolded. Lanky grabs Shoes' hands and holds it close to his chest. Bus Stop Guy then turns back to Peter, eyes softening back into worry, and then pointing at him angrily. "But she's right! Why did you do that? What in the world could make you think that was a good idea!?"

"He has a death wish, I'm telling ya." Shoes whispers conspiratorially. "You know he told Adais here to shoot him?"

"You need to learn to let that go, for my peace and for yours." Peter whispers back, only half paying attention to them. He's got his ears trained on Batman and Two-Face, as well as on the goons that are standing around.

"He did what?" Someone asks from behind Shoes. Shoes nods and turns to the stranger.

"He did!"

"You did what?" Bus Stop Guy scolds. Totally not cool, cause he's not Peter's parent in any shape, way, or form, and has no grounds to fuss at him. Just like all of the adults that are currently fussing at him.

The entire bunch of strangers are looking at him like he's the one that escaped Arkham, not Two-Face- or with relief that he wasn't shot in front of them. None of this is new to Peter, but it's a little strange when he gets this reaction as Peter rather than Spider-Man. He hadn't realized that this many people would be that worried about what he did- they're being held hostage, what do they care about him, if they live?

Peter really should stop underestimating the amount of people that would prefer to keep a teenager alive.

But he had to do this, and he knew that it'd probably turn out fine. And, of course, it did. His calculated plan (half formed and soley residing on Batman properly distracting Two-Face) worked out just as he hoped it would (no deaths and everyone has their limbs in tact). He supposes he has Damian to thank for this, considering that he saw Damian prevent Dick from stepping in.

(That'll come back to bite him later, won't it? Damian has been keeping a close eye on him this entire time. But it's not like Damian could connect Peter back to Spider-Man, that'd be an incredible leap.

…Or not… Both Peter and Spider-Man are about the same age, both are connected to Ohnn, have talked to both versions of the vigilantes in and out of suits, and it would be suspiciously timed.

Y'know what? Whatever. Now's not the time to dwell on that issue. Maybe he can rope Damian into messing with the others if he really figured it out.)

He got everything he wanted out of that interaction. Two-Face let him get closer, Batman kept his attention while he rambled on and on about injustice and shitty lawyers and bad rich people. And Peter?

Taking one last look over his shoulder to see Two-Face and Batman are still preoccupied with the call (listing off more names of people that Stacy managed to loop into her scheme, seriously Stacy, how many people do you got in your back pocket?), Peter pulls his hand out of his jacket pocket. He grins sheepishly, one hand rubbing the back of his head when someone gasps.

"You won't believe what I've got."

Peter has an explosives detonator.

It had taken some patience, because there were just that many eyes on him and anyone could have noticed him take it, but Peter managed to snag it when Two-Face threw him towards the group remaining on the car. In Two-Face's hand right now is not the detonator he thinks he's still holding, but is the Batman themed pen that Simon the toddler had handed to him a few minutes ago.

The plan had formed pretty fast, because everything had been laid out before him. Looks like all of the simulations that FRIDAY put him through ended up helping him in the long run.

That, and Peter spent a good amount of time using his new abilities to become a good pickpocket.

Look, he's not super proud of it, alright? But he was 12 years old, homeless, had a bunch of freaky spider-powers that he was trying to figure out, and he was hungry. So yeah, before he got into his fixing things business, he learned how to pick pockets. Morally, he couldn't go after anyone that looked like parents, other kids, or people struggling. So he stole from rich people who wouldn't even notice or care.

And it came in handy, this little trick. The whole switcheroo routine is one of Peter's favorites. He may have learned this from a few books about spies.

Bus Stop Guy's hand goes over his mouth, and Lanky's jaw drops. Shoes looks five seconds away from death. Some of the other passengers are leaning over to try and see, while another keeps lookout of the goons that are watching over everybody.

These are none of the reactions that Peter expected.

"You-"

"I take it back!" Cane Grandma breathes through a silent laugh, wagging a finger at Peter and her eyes sparkling with awe. "You sneaky little boy! You're some kind of genius, aren't you?"

"Shh, shh!" A woman with a green tote bag warns them. close near danger! Peter stuffs his hand back into his pocket, jutting his bottom lip out and trying to think of something sad so that he looks sad. Arms of the angels commercials, wiener dogs, cat with three legs, Old Yeller, Bridge to Terabithia- One of the goons stalks closer, eyes narrowing at Peter for more than a few tense seconds. But then he moves on, looking towards the other hostages, who sink back from his gaze like he was going to bite at any second.

When he's gone to the other side, Peter lets go of the pouting facade with a breath. Lanky starts to shake him by the shoulders, and Peter swats his hands away, startled by the reaction. "What? Why are you-"

"How did you pull that off? Are you some kind of magician?"

"No, you idiot." Shoes slaps his shoulder. "Obviously he's just a damn good pickpocket!"

Peter, not willing to admit that that is exactly right, decides to answer vaguely. "I'm just someone who happens to be good at getting explosives away from a dangerous, hardened criminal. I've got-" Peter chuckles to himself, "-I've got sticky fingers." Each word is like a blow to Bus Stop Guy, who clutches the fabric over his chest like he's having a heart attack. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Bus Stop Guy chokes. "You- My god- I've never in all my 45 years of life-"

"He's just like a damn Robin." Lanky whispers conspiratorially to Shoes.

"I resent that. I look way cooler than they do." Peter will not become a Robin. Not because he has anything against that, or whatever. It's just that he has his own thing going on. Besides, it's not like Peter will be staying here long enough for that to happen. And he isn't adding yellow or green to his red suit.

"Well, what're you gonna do with it now that you've got it? Did ya think that far?" Shoes taps his temple, like Peter doesn't have a brain.

Peter silently looks up at the ceiling, where the hole Batman came through is. Bus Stop Guy takes in a sharp breath, shaking his head and protesting before Peter can even say anything. "No. No, that's too risky. You'll get caught before you can even take one step over there."

"I have to." Peter says.

"It's enough that you got the damn thing." He says, side eyeing one of the goons that makes his way over. They fall into another bout of silence as the goon pauses near them, observing the group, then checking the windows. That's when Bus Stop Guy's eyes fall on the emergency exit window. "You can-"

"That'll make a shit ton of noise as soon as we try to get it open." Peter reminds him. "Those goons are nearer to the exits than we are. The only way out is through the hole in the roof that Batman made. I have to get the detonator away from the car."

"Why? Just give it to Batman! You know, the furry in the batsuit right fuckin' behind ya? Kind of fuckin' hard to miss!" Shoes argues, and Peter shakes his head adamantly.

"No! We need to get it away from Two-Face. Batman needs to focus on what he's doing. Red Robin or someone else is probably deactivating the bombs that this is connected to. I get out of the car with this, and Two-Face can't prematurely set anything off."

"I don't like this." Bus Stop Guy frowns. "You're just a kid. Let someone else do this."

"It's because I'm a kid that he'll underestimate me. Also, I run pretty damn fast." Peter informs him. He's already secured the detonator by zipping it up into his new jacket's pocket, and he's checking his shoes to make sure they're tied properly. He sits up onto his knees, looking out at the scene with Batman and Two-Face.

The exit point would be easy to get through if no one was watching, or if he was wearing his suit right now. But to get through and not out himself here and now in front of civilians, he should try and find a way to keep Batman and Two-Face from-

"I've got it." Lanky's voice is harrowed. As if he's just seen his own grave, he sets a hand on Peter's shoulder.

"You what?"

"Crazy Kid…"

"My name is Peter."

"Crazy Peter…" Lanky reforms, a determined light in his eyes. "You scared us into going back to regular paying jobs."

Peter blinks at him in astonishment. "You're- You're welcome?"

"We owe you that, because we've been doing better since we got our first paycheck."

"This is a really odd time to be telling me this. You should work on that."

"You're a weird, freaky little guy. Unsettling, really. I know you're not a Gothamite, because you're looking out for us without being paid to, which means you got a good heart. But you got the mind of a Gothamite, and that's all that matters."

"Is this, like, some kind of pep talk? If so, you need to work on that, because it's not very good. This sounds like something you tell someone before you sacrifice… yourself…" Peter stares at Lanky as it dawns on him. His stomach sinks as the realization hits. "No…"

There's no way. There's no way that this guy that Peter met and chased away a few weeks ago is now risking his life to do something like this for Peter and the others. The man who had no bullets in his gun, and was just trying to live?

"No, Lanky, I can't ask you to do that." Peter protests, but Shoes sighs.

"No, he's right. You've got a decent chance." He says, just as resigned to his fate as Lanky apparently is. "Listen, Crazy Peter."

"It's just Peter-"

"When you get the go ahead, you run." Shoes looks him in the eye, daring him to disagree. "You run, and you keep running until you find someone to hand that detonator off to."

"But what are you-"

"I see." Bus Stop Guy runs a hand through his hair, and Peter blanches.

"I don't see! Hello! Why am I the only one out of the loop?"

"Peter, you've got this." Bus Stop Guy pats his shoulder, giving him a thumbs up. "We'll make a distraction so you can get out of here. You're right, we can't let Two-Face get anywhere near the detonator, and Batman is busy. You'll probably run into one of the Robins, maybe Red Hood, cause he's a good guy too, again, apparently? You can had it off to them."

"But he could-"

"He could kill us." Bus Stop Guy agrees. Peter's mouth clamps shut, and Bus Stop Guy continues. "Gotham's a pretty fucked up place, kid, no doubt that you know that."

Peter does, very well. Hell, from Bus Stop Guy's perspective, he had seen Peter on the worst day of this mess: the very first. Peter had been battered, bruised, lost, confused. And since then, what Peter has seen is a lot of humanity come from the roots of Gotham. Gotham is a city that struggles to thrive, but manages to live.

"But my family lives nearby. My wife and my daughter- my wife, she's always saying that if you have the ability to help someone, and you don't help them, then you've managed to fail yourself and that other person. I ain't the only one who's got a family round here. Everyone on this car has somebody. These explosives go off, then we're asking for hundreds more people to get hurt and lose their homes. Gotham's bad enough, we can't roll over and let it happen without trying to stop it."

"We know what we gotta do." Lanky give him a wobbly grin. "At this point, we just gotta put our faith into you and Batman, right?"

Peter nods numbly, the detonator suddenly a heavy weight in his pocket. All of this…

It's a nice sentiment.

Too bad Peter isn't gonna let that happen.

"I feel bad that I don't know your name, now." Peter tells Bus Stop Guy, his voice hushing low when that goon makes another round towards them again.

The man chuckles at him. His hands are shaking. "Giovanni."

close coming near see it?

"Alright, Giovanni." Peter grins, patting the older man's arm. "You're gonna get home to your wife and daughter. 'Cause it's not necessary for anyone to risk their lives here."

The three men groan in disbelief that Peter wasn't 'getting' the message. Giovanni runs a hand down his face, about to protest, when Peter kicks his foot out behind him, swooping underneath the approaching goon's foot.

The astonishingly large man trips over Peter's foot, falling over the seat and hitting his head on the window. Immediately, the three other goons freak out. Two of them run over to grab their buddy, who's clutching his nose as blood freely drips from between his fingers. One of them rounds on the group, pointing his gun at them, and Peter kicks upwards at the man's elbow, breaking his arm as his elbow snaps! in the wrong direction.

He grabs the gun before it can hit the floor, stands up, and butts the end of it into the third goon's face as the second falls to his knees, clutching his broken arm. The third goon howls in pain, enraged, but Peter hits him again before he can reach out to grab Peter. The goon knocks out, falling to the ground on top of the first goon.

Peter drops the gun just as Two-Face whirls around to see what's going on. Batman slams his fist into Two-Face's cheek, the man hitting his head on a pole with a sharp ding! Peter jumps over the first goon and pulls down on the emergency exit window lever.

The entire car bursts into noise and emergency flashing lights. The alarm rings out overhead, mixing with Cane Grandma's howling laughter. Two-Face has lost his gun with the struggle with Batman, but he's surprisingly able to keep up with the vigilante in a fist fight.

The two men are hitting each other, scrambling to get the upper hand. Batman ducks away from Two-Face's next swing, and the rogue's fist hits the window. A ring on his finger makes a painful screeching noise, and when he pulls his gloved fist back it's covered in blood and glass, the fabric torn over his knuckles.

"That's it! You've just signed everyone's death warrants, Batman!"

Peter scrambles to his feet, turning to the other hostages. "Get up and get the doors open!"

It takes them a second to comprehend what Peter said. Giovanni is the first to snap out of his shock. He's on his feet in moments, hopping over the sprawled goons and headed towards the door. He slips in Deus' blood as he gets there. Lanky helps some of the other hostages up off their feet as the more athletic of the passengers join Giovanni in trying to pry open the doors.

Peter hangs back for a heartbeat, just to make sure that Batman doesn't need the backup. He bounces on his toes, ready to make a break for it in either direction- backup, or run.

WATCH IT!

He bends his knees and flattens himself on the ground. A shot rings out a second later, the bullet smashing through the window that was behind his head. The glass rains over Peter. He shakes it off of his jacket and his hair, a shot of adrenaline coursing through him. He shoots his gaze back up at Two-Face and Batman, heart thudding loudly in his ears.

The .22 caliber was back in Two-Face's hand, but it's now on the ground again, having slid underneath some seats. Two-Face is choking Batman near the doors that lead to the other car. He had aimed for Peter just then, not Batman, even though he had the shot.

Why?

Did he seriously get that ticked off from what Peter said? Or-

No, Peter knows why. He wants Batman to get angry enough to kill him.

The entire set up here didn't make sense. Two-Face was angry, rambling, and several times, he had referenced himself lumped in with the other criminals. What he was implying was that Batman's choice wasn't the people he needed to save, but that he needed to decide to kill Two-Face, for good.

Peter has a feeling Two-Face isn't gonna get what he wants.

Batman flings Two-Face over his shoulder in a swift motion, glancing towards Peter's direction as soon as he's able to. When he sees that Peter isn't hurt, there's a split second where Peter hears Batman's short sigh of relief in the chaos.

He pulls back on Two-Face's arm, attempting to pin him with his foot to Two-Face's chest, but Two-Face grips Batman's arm and twists it, then kicks into Batman's knee. It doesn't actually break anything, but it hit hard enough that it forces Batman's center off balance.

It's just long enough of a recovery time that Two-Face gets the door open to the other car, and the last remaining goon starts shooting into the car.

Peter takes a step forward to stop him as the bullet ricochets too close to the hostages instead of Batman, but he blinks and the goon is down. The man's body slumps forward onto the ground in between the cars, a red mark on his forehead and cut that begins to bleed. Batman runs after Two-Face into the other cars, and Peter is left torn.

Does he go after Batman after all? Does he help? Or does he stick with what he was doing before? Or, does he help the hostages?

The answer is provided for him. The hostages are getting the door open without his help, nearly halfway there. And Batman is already gone, chasing after the man who, for some reason, didn't set off his bomb yet.

Or at least, tried to. Because Peter has his detonator.

Peter slaps his forehead to break himself out of it.

Batman doesn't need Peter's help with Two-Face, and Peter has a job to do, with this detonator. He needs to make sure the bombs are disarmed, because that's where the biggest source of danger is coming from.

"Peter!" Shoes gawks at him over the noise of the fight. "Where the hell are you from, kid!?"

The question snaps Peter out of his indecision fully. He laughs, even if it makes him look absolutely bonkers.

"Queens!"

Peter salutes the astonished man, who just shakes his head as if he didn't believe Peter in the slightest. That's alright- let him believe anything he wants. He hurries past Stacy, who is still clutching onto Deus and hasn't moved from the car.

He grabs a pole and shimmies up it, then flips up through the hole that Batman made in the ceiling. Both feet land on the top of the car, and he peers down both directions of the tunnel.

They hadn't been moving for very long when the train had been stopped, maybe five minutes? There's yellow emergency lights flickering down both ways he could go, and a sign on the wall that directs subway workers which way the stations are. There's also a couple of graffiti tags that tell Peter that this section of the subway had been closed for a while at some point, based on the fact that they're all faded around the same amount.

He closes his eyes, setting his hand on the metal of the car.

The explosives…

near close fading?

Fading, huh?

That's gotta mean that one of the Bats is nearby just like he thought they'd be. The explosives are slowly getting disarmed.

It's probably slow because they had to split up. Someone had to go find the warehouses with the other kidnapped people that Two-Face had listed off. Red Hood, maybe, or Spoiler? Doesn't matter who, he'll find out who's in the tunnels soon enough.

He hears the doors screech as they're finally pried open.

"Peter!" Giovanni yells, sticking his head through the doors. "Where did the kid go?"

"He went through the hole!" Lanky shouts. "Come on, he's gonna go find a Bat!"

"That crazy-!" Peter hears Giovanni scoff, and he can't help but smirk as he runs the opposite direction that the hostages do- towards the right, while they take the left, which leads back to the station their train had left from.

Peter doesn't need a coin flip to tell him which one was the way he needed to go.

hello! we know! hello! hey danger close danger get away friend

It didn't take long for Peter's spider-sense to tell him that someone was nearby. And that it wasn't happy to see Red Robin defusing a bomb.

Even without spider-sense chiming in to tell him, Peter recognized his heartbeat just as he's done quite a few times recently. He can finally admit that when he heard Red Robin nearby, he felt his chest rise with excitement, and he couldn't stop smiling. Just like his spider-sense, Peter was anticipating seeing his friend.

The dark of the tunnels sort of put Peter at a sense of ease, as well as his spider-sense, despite the active bomb threat overhead. Look, he never said that he made sense, ever. It's just that the air is just chilly and damp enough that it feels like a burrow, somewhere decent to crawl and hide and to make a nest.

He's feeling more "nesty" as the month draws into colder and colder weather, as he does every fall and winter season. Peter hadn't known that spiders hibernate when the temperature drops low enough until his first week as Spider-Man. He had gone homeless on Christmas day, so one can imagine how that had worked out for him. Maybe he'll reflect on that later. His skin gets itchy when he thinks about it for too long.

Well, Peter doesn't think he'll make a nest right now. That'd be too weird, in this situation. He should save that for later when he gets back to Benny's, or something, and wants to get cozy.

Because he can't give in to that spider-instinct, he satisfies the spider part of him by crawling on the top of the tunnel instead of walking on the ground. It feels safer, and he likes being higher up, having a better vantage point of the area.

He left the train behind a couple minutes ago, as well as most of the noise. He can still hear and feel the traffic up above, but it's moving away from where their train had stopped in the tunnel, so Peter thinks it's safe to assume people are evacuating. With the city going quiet up above, and his spider-sense just buzzing lowly from the nearby bombs, everything has this still sort of feeling.

(Peter doesn't know how to describe it other than it being like before a decathlon meet. One time he had stood on the stage alone, before they let the people outside walk in. The lights had looked down at him, and there was something about the moment that felt like it was frozen in time.)

His mind is sort of caught on that feeling as he turns around a bend in the tunnel and he spots Red Robin below.

Peter crouches, one hand on the stone, his feet underneath him, tilting his head as he watches Red Robin- Tim, he reminds himself- work. Red Robin moves with scarily accurate speed, but he's so gentle with the wires, like he's done this a million times before. It's almost like watching someone practice an instrument, with how familiar Red Robin's movements are with the bomb.

Maybe Batman makes them do this sort of training? He seems like the type to make everyone do that. Meanwhile, Peter knows how to defuse a bomb, but he's also been told, "Just call me or someone else to do that and get the hell outta dodge, yeah?" when he brings it up to Tony. The last thing he'd want is to lose Peter, let alone in an explosion.

His bo-staff is set to the side, along with a few tools that Tim is using to disarm the bombs. He sticks his tongue out between his teeth as he works, brow furrowed. He's so concentrated on the bomb, that he doesn't notice that Peter is lurking behind him.

"Double R, how's it coming?"

That's Bab's voice coming from Tim's comm piece. Peter once again wonders about her. Is she at the library right now? That must have been what she was doing all those other times- Oh, man, Peter was right there when she was doing vigilante work and he hadn't even noticed.

Babs being the first of them that Peter came across while in this world is sort of… He doesn't know. It makes him feel warm inside to see that she had been the one that had the others start following him around, even if that had been frustrating and scary for him, at first. She had cared enough to find him even though he was such a weirdo when they first met.

(And still is weird.)

It's because of her that Peter ended up trusting them, in a roundabout way. Sure, he hasn't had a heart to heart with her like he had with Red Hood or Nightwing, but she had been a safe place to go to, even though he pretended the library wasn't exactly that.

He could have gone to another library and sorted that out. But he went for Babs. She saw how weird he was being and not once did she pressure him. She just tried. And that means she's pretty cool, in his book.

"It's coming." Red Robin replies and grits his teeth, not happy at all. Peter wonders who switched out is Cheerios for bland old raisin bran. Who doesn't love defusing bombs on a random evening?

"How many have you gotten to so far?" Babs sounds just as tired.

"There's a crap ton of these in the tunnels. I've gotten about 6 of them so far but there's 7 more that I need to get to. Which means there's at least one more, because that only adds to 13." Tim snips a wire in the bomb.

"Batman is still keeping Two-Face preoccupied so he doesn't set off the detonator. They ended up off of the train and are fighting in one of the abandoned stations that were claimed during No Man's." She informs him. What is No Man's? Peter hasn't heard of that before in his Gotham gossiping. "Red Hood managed to get three of Two-Face's targets out of the first warehouse, but there's still more. This McGuire woman sure had a lot of people behind her- bet that's changing after today."

Peter crawls down the wall on the other side of the tracks from Tim, landing silently on the ground. He sits down on the side, dangling his legs over the tracks and watching the back of Tim's head. He wonders when the best time is to tell Tim that he's here. Would that be, like, right now…? Or…?

"Hey, can you hear me?"

He perks up when he hears Dick's voice on the line, foregoing announcing himself. Peter had almost forgotten that Dick and Damian might not have been able to get away so easily from the police that are surely outside, so they can come help the others. He wonders where they are- are they with Team A? Or are they helping Team B? Is Team B back at the station already? Peter had been walking long enough that they should be back by now.

But it strikes Peter just how panicked Dick sounds- or, maybe not panic, but fear.

"Wing, you're alright." Tim's shoulders almost relax, but he surely noticed it too. "What's happening on your end? The other two okay?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to contact you for an hour now. Can you fill me in on what exactly happened on the train? There's only so much I could do with audio." Babs lets out her own breath of relief.

"Just a moment." There's a beat where Peter thinks he hears ruffling noise, but he's too far away to hear that on the comm, he'd have to have it in his ear. "What do you know?"

"All I was able to ascertain was that Two-Face killed Deus and was holding Stacy and someone else at gunpoint while making his demands. Bat was busy with that, so I sent Red Hood, Black Bat, and Signal after the names that Two-Face listed. Red Robin is defusing the bombs that are in the subway tunnel. After that, Bat got into it with Two-Face, there's was some kind of commotion. He's unable to talk at the moment."

"We're here at the station where they evacuated us." Dick informs them greaviously. "But it's just Rob and I- I'm kind of hiding in someone's car to talk to you, so I gotta make this quick."

"What?" Tim hesitates, then cusses to himself and focuses back on the wires in his hands. "Please tell me you know where Peter is. I know it's sort of his thing, but you can not have lost him after him being under your watch for, like, five minutes."

"I… can not tell you that." Dick is immensely regretful, and Peter feels both terrible for stressing him out and finding it just a little funny. "We were doing fine for a minute there. But Two-Face killed Deus and I could see he was slipping. I was going to do something about it, but he yelled about a kid and Peter… Jesus. He started mouthing off to him. I think I'm still having a heart attack."

"I'd say something, but I'm pretty sure we've all done that at some point." Tim mutters.

Dick chuckles, but it comes out as more of a strangled noise than anything else, like his heart really isn't in it.

"Wait, do not tell me that it was Peter who was being held at gunpoint." Babs already knows the answer.

"Bat showed up right after Two-Face made Peter get up and they were talking. Or more like a verbal beatdown. Peter was winning." Dick almost sounds proud, but why? "But that's besides the point- We were on the first group of hostages that were let out, but Peter got put into the second group after that. We got split up, and I haven't seen him since."

"So he's still on the train?"

"That's the thing- The second group just showed up at the station and are being evacuated from the area. Peter's not with them. From what they're saying, he caused a distraction and got them off of the train."

"That would be about the time that Bat chased Two-Face down, he said the hostages were getting off, and that was his latest line of communication." Babs sounds so exhausted that Peter feels a strike of guilt. He hadn't meant to get separated and cause them to think he's hurt somewhere. "I can try to start a search for him, but I'm sort of spread thin here."

"Hold on, I see Lanky and Shoes."

"You see what and what now?" Tim shakes his head, cutting the last wire on the bomb and sounding absolutely baffled.

"Two of Peter's friends, they were in group B. I'm gonna go get some answers. Talk to you in a minute."

With that, it's just Tim and Babs left on the line.

He definitely has to sort this out now, so that Dick and the others don't think he died. He wants to mess with them, but he'd never just go radio silent after an event like this. Who would? That'd be a major dick move, to just not let them know that he's alright.

Peter jumps down onto the tracks, then pulls himself up to Tim's side. He stands behind Tim as the older boy sits back on his heels, pulling up a small device from his utility belt. Peter peers over his shoulder curiously.

Looks like he's listed all of the bombs that he's spotted. Some of them are nearby, some are farther down the tunnel. Red Hood and Signal are saving the people that Two-Face had rounded up in other parts of the city, and apparently, so is the Secret Bat. "Black Bat" is kind of cool for a name, but then again, she had been kind of cool, even though she scared the shit out of Peter at the time.

With those three off doing something else and Spoiler injured… Looks like they might need help defusing the bombs. Or, well- they don't have to rush Tim, because he doesn't have to worry about Two-Face setting them off without warning.

"Oracle, does Bat have eyes on the detonator? Why hasn't Two-Face set these off yet, if everything went to shit for him?"

A wicked grin slides onto Peter's face. He can't stop it, not that he would want to. It's just that… Coupon has left himself open to this.

"Because he doesn't have it."

"He doesn't?"

There's a beat of silence, where Tim is still checking off two of the bombs he's already disarmed. Then, very unsure of what she just heard, Babs says slowly, "Double R, who just said that?"

A tense few heartbeats where Tim doesn't move, besides every muscle in his body tensing up like a live wire. Peter takes a step backwards, the hairs raising on his neck as he feels the shift from calm to near deadly.

LOOK OUT!

Peter ducks back, bending at the waist and setting his hands on the ground as Tim's bo staff swings overhead. The air breezes past his nose by an inch with a whoosh. Peter flips backwards, landing in a crouch on the balls of his feet. His hands fly up to grab the end of the bo staff right before it can slam into his mouth.

"What the-"

He leans to one side to show Tim his face, beaming up at the older boy like he hadn't just tried to knock him out. "What's up, Red Robin?"

"Peter!" Tim pulls back the bo staff instantly. He looks back in the tunnel as if that'll tell him where the hell Peter came from. Peter snickers, standing up and dusting his hands free of the tiny rocks. "Why are you- I mean- When did you get here?"

"Just now." He replies smoothly.

"I could have hurt you! Don't sneak up on people like that, especially not one of us!" Tim scowls at him. He reaches out to touch Peter's shoulder, giving him a once over. He for sure wants to ask more about how Peter even managed to sneak up on a Bat at all, but he bites his tongue. Literally bites his tongue. "Are you hurt at all? Were you on the train?"

Of course, he has to ask. Peter shouldn't know that Red Robin knows he was there.

"Oh, no, not at all. I just happen to like strolling through the subway tunnels and risk my life, bombs or no bombs." He raises a brow, and Tim just stares at him, unimpressed with the sarcasm. "Jeez, fine, I won't say anything funny ever again."

Babs laughs, however, and Peter can't help but feel a little bit of pride upon hearing it. It only spurs him on. "I was walking home with a couple friends of mine and the craziest thing happened." Peter smiles oh-so-innocently at the vigilante. "I'll give you three guesses what it was."

"You seem uninjured."

"Boo you for not playing along." Peter pretends to pout, but he gets over his grievance quickly. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing that involves you. You should head towards the next station and evacuate, okay?" Tim squeezes his shoulder. worry his spider sense bites at Peter, telling him that Tim would really appreciate if Peter took him up on that.

Peter doesn't.

"I heard you asking your friend about the detonator." Peter tilts his head. "Two-Face doesn't have it anymore."

Tim's lips press into a thin line. He hesitates, but he says, "Oracle, did you get that?"

(Babs vigilante name is Oracle? That's… sick as fuck.

Peter has to stop himself from grinning too wide, lest Tim ask why he looks like that. But that's actually such a cool name for someone like Babs, who is their tech person, or something like that. Peter thinks his is the first not-stupid name ((besides Nightwing, he'll give credit for that one)) that he's heard since he's gotten here. Way cooler than 'Superman'.)

"I haven't heard from Batman about it." Babs says. Peter pretends he can't hear, because he's not supposed to, choosing to look idle by looking around the tunnel with his hands in his jacket pocket. He rocks back and forth on his feet, whistling a nameless tune.

Peter is 100% sure, even though Tim has his mask on right now, that he just narrowed his eyes with suspicion at him. "Peter…"

"Red Robin."

"How do you know if Two-Face has the detonator or not?" He asks, putting his hands on his hips and staring Peter down. Ah, well, Peter's not one who gets fussed at easily. If Tim is going to treat Peter like he's a cat who's started chewing on something he's not supposed to have, then Peter is going to act like it.

"I'll give you three guesses."

"Peter."

"Is that your first guess?" Peter tilts his head to the side. It's right then that Babs bursts into laughter, and Peter has to hold back his own laugh.

"You do not have a detonator on you right now."

"Reverse psychology doesn't make detonators magically disappear, Bird." Peter shrugs, but he pulls out the detonator from his pocket. Red Robin's heart stutters.

"How did you get that!?" The older boy demands, going to snatch it from Peter. Peter pulls his hand back fast, out of his reach. "Give that to me!"

"No, it's mine now. Finders keepers, losers weepers."

Tim goes to grab it again, but Peter's reflexes are too quick for him. Peter ducks under his arm, twists on his heel, and faces Tim's back before the other can so much as blink. Peter puts on his best Innocent face when Tim turns around again.

"You little-!"

"Double R, you alright there?" Babs practically hums with amusement in Tim's ear.

Tim tries once again to snatch it. "Peter, you can't keep a detonator! Do you even understand how dangerous that is?"

Peter jumps out of his way, unrestrained laughter echoing in the tunnel. "Why not? It's not any less dangerous if you hold onto it."

"Double R, tell me you're not actually struggling to get it from him." Babs is starting to sound more astonished than she is amused. Tim growls in frustration, chasing Peter towards the wall. Peter hops onto it, sticking his feet for a second to climb a couple steps, and then jumps as if he's just parkouring. He lands behind Tim and he plops himself onto the ground, cross legged.

Peter leans his chin on one hand, blinking up at Tim, who is standing there gobsmacked. He snaps out of his shock to point at Peter.

"How did you get it!?"

He hums, wiggling the detonator in one hand. Tim's heart stutters again, disliking the action, so Peter does it once more. "Hmmm… well, Two-Face looked like he was going through it. And in my experience, cuckoos lose their focus when they're mad. I've got a little pickpocket experience, so I figured I might as well put it to use."

Tim pinches the bridge of his nose. His every movement screams frustration, confusion. A little bit of 'I want to strangle this kid' which is rude. He sets a hand on his hip, thinking his next words over carefully.

"So that's what Wing meant earlier?" Babs asks. Peter can imagine her leaning back in her chair to look at her screen better. "About Peter mouthing off to Two-Face? …He had that planned out."

Peter would preen from how impressed she sounds if he wasn't so conscious about knowing he shouldn't be hearing her. He might not succeed, but Tim still had his eyes closed. Tim takes a deep breath, lowering his hand from his face to stare at Peter fully. Then, he drops into a crouch in front of Peter, defeated… ish. He might just be waiting to strike.

"You confronted a dangerous rogue while he was actively holding you hostage with both guns and bombs."

"That's such a boring way to put it." Peter says, and Tim scoffs. This time, there's a small grin on his lips, and Peter knows he's working him down. "But whatever. However you put it, I'd say: If he didn't want me to steal his detonator, he shouldn't have made it so easy to steal his detonator. Simple math."

"Can I have it now?" Tim holds out his hand.

See, the thing is… Peter could give it back. He could leave and go back to the tunnel, fully done with messing with the Bats, and he could find Dick and Damian. And then he'd tell them that he's Spider-Man, because he's had his fun.

However… Coupon is just so fun to mess with, man.

"Absolutely not." Peter shakes his head. "You should really be focusing on your bombs."

He has an excuse to hang around and bother Red Robin if he holds onto the detonator, and Tim doesn't look like he wants to hurt Peter in order to get it. Peter awaits with bated breath for what Tim is going to decide next, his chin now on both hands and smiling ear to ear.

Just a little more fun, and then Peter will tell them.

"He's kind of right. I don't like that he's so dead set on keeping that thing, but you do have to move on, if you, for some reason, really can't get it from him." Tim scowls and tries to protest, likely because Babs isn't here to know that Tim had no fighting chance. "They still need to be defused so they're less dangerous." Babs reminds Tim, who doesn't take well to that news. He hangs his head for a moment, then stands up again.

"Roger that." Tim sighs, then turns his attention to Peter, pointing at him seriously. Peter fakes a serious face, and it must be obvious that it's fake, because Tim remains steadfastly unimpressed. "You stick close to me. You're giving it back once this is over, or I'm telling Batman to take it from you."

Peter jumps to his feet in a flash, stuffing the detonator in his pocket and zipping it up in one smooth motion. He jogs over to Red Robin's side as the other vigilante starts hurrying towards the next bomb, farther down the tunnel. He has a small skip in his step, with furthers Tim's dislike for the situation.

"Gee, this is super fun, Red Robin! I'll be on my best behavior, promise!" Peter slaps on his cheeriest voice. Tim is clearly not buying it. "Who were you talking to just now?"

"No one that you need to know."

"No fuuuuuuun." Peter throws his head back to groan.

"Wait, no, put me in Peter's ear too." Babs sounds all too eager.

"What?" Tim stops dead in his tracks. Peter stops too, turning back and looking at Tim like he's crazy, but inside he's ecstatic.

"What're you freaking out about?" Pleeeeease give him a comm please please pleeeeasseeee-

"I want to talk to him too. Besides… we all know there's no way he's not coming back with you guys later tonight." Babs says, and Tim groans, slapping a hand on his forehead.

What!

So now they're blatantly planning to kidnap him right in front of his face! Or, basically in front of his face! It counts!

"You're right…"

Peter would like to disagree, and finds it very difficult not to do exactly that, out loud. Just because he's going to tell them he's Spider-Man doesn't mean he was planning on going back to their place. That would mean getting too comfortable with them- he isn't going to play house with anyone. He is not playing Batman and Robin with anyone. Spider-Man is not a sidekick!

"Who's right?" Peter steps closer, and Tim drags his hand down his face, wishing to be anywhere but here.

The older boy reaches into his utility belt, pulling out an identical comm to the one in his own ear. He shows it to Peter, who takes it without warning. Tim blanches at the action, and then says, "…This is a comm piece. In case we get separated."

Lying liar. But hey, this is cool!

"Sick!" Peter shakes one hand out to relieve some of his excitement.

The comm is a small thing, but not nearly as developed as Tony's tech is. Though, Wayne tech isn't that far off- or is this exclusively BatTech? It's just like it's a few years behind Stark Industries. But it's still cool to see. Peter's own comm- that he turns on every now and then when he's unobserved and waits for a message on- sits in his hoodie pocket now, underneath his new jacket, next to Little Legs.

"To turn it on-"

"Got it." Peter says, already having placed it in his ear as it came to life. Tim blue screens with how fast Peter had figured it out. However, Peter himself was more focused on memorizing their frequency line. "This is pretty cool! Is Batman on here? How often am I allowed to annoy him? Don't answer that, I want no limit so no matter what you say, it's happening."

"Is this Peter?" Babs' voice filters through Peter's ear. At first, it's a little too loud, so Peter adjusts the volume to go way, way lower while wincing. Immediately, Peter feels Tim's gaze on him, and his spider-sense tingles watching watching.

Whatever. Peter's going to tell them anyways. Also: sort of funny that Babs has to pretend like she isn't fully aware of Peter's voice. And Peter, hers.

"Hi, yeah, I'm Peter. Who's this?"

"Hey Peter," Babs, for some reason, sounds ridiculously fond. Peter tries to ignore it, but it makes him feel really nice. "-I'm Oracle. I've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Oracle. I guess I can assume you're the one that keeps the Bats' heads on straight?" Peter's joke makes her laugh loudly, and Tim scoffs, but it's a light hearted thing. Tim continues on now that Peter has the comm in his ear.

"Yeah, that'd be me. And you're the one that has everyone running around the opposite." She says, and Peter can't help but grin at that. "You know, for someone that just apparently stole a detonator right from under Two-Face and faced a hostage situation, you're pretty calm."

"You wouldn't believe it, but this is hardly the worst I've had to face. This has actually been pretty fun." Peter can practically see the discomfort from Tim in front of him, as if the idea that Peter had seen worse was eating away at him.

There's a click as someone else comes onto the line. In a hurry, Babs speaks before they can.

"Wing! You'll never guess who Red Robin found in the tunnels." She says, and there's an intake of breathe from Dick.

"Hey, Nightwing." Peter, for some reason, says this a little quieter.

"Peter, buddy, I'm glad you're okay." Dick sounds so harrowed that the guilt manages to sink in. He supposes he got a little carried away, but he hadn't… Well, now he feels stupid. But he hadn't really expected Dick to get this worried about him. "I was looking for you. I heard from your friends what you did. That was pretty brave."

"Which friends? I made a ton in Team B."

"Team B?" Tim looks over his shoulder as they come to a stop. He drops down to his knees in front of the next bomb, and Peter leans against the wall next to him, nodding.

"Yeah, Team A, Team B. Was easier than referring to it as "hostage group A or B", and I had baseball on the mind. I dunno. I just visited my friend Happy, and he likes baseball, so that's probably why."

Tim perks up at the name, and Peter wonders why. Had he mentioned Happy before…?

"Well, Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne were worried about you, so they asked me to see where you went." Peter thinks Dick is just being an asshole, now, trying to make him feel like the meanest Spider-Man ever. But before Peter can ask how they're doing and try to save some face here: "Then I heard from your friends Tomas and Adais about you getting everyone else on Team B out."

Peter purses his lips in thought, ignoring how his spider sense whispers curious about Tim.

"I'm sorry, but who in the world are those two?"

There's a beat of silence. "Um, a skinny dude, and a shorter man-"

"Oh. Lanky and Shoes." Peter can't believe he forgot their names already. They're just Lanky and Shoes in his head, so he can't compute that they have actual names.

"Do I even want to ask why those nicknames?" Tim, who must still be bitter about Coupon, sounds like he's just gone through a tornado. Peter chuckles.

"They tried to rob me and I didn't have the pleasantry for asking their names. Forevermore, they are Lanky and Shoes. But that's besides the point. What'd they say, Nightwing? Are they okay?"

"They're fine." Dick, as well, sounds like he needs a drink. However, his voice softens next, and he almost sounds proud. But it doesn't make sense. "You were pretty cool in there from what I heard. Sounded like you were a hero."

Peter feels his face flush, and he crosses his arms. He doesn't know why he's reacting like this, it's nothing he hasn't heard before, with Spider-Man, or from his mentors. It felt different this time, and Peter doesn't want to compute that.

Tim laughs as he cuts the last wire off the bomb, and Peter glares at him in an effort to make his brain explode. Despite the cut throat motion Peter waves at him, Tim proceeds to tease, all too delighted, "Oh, man, Peter, what's with that face? You-"

"Don't you have more bombs to defuse!?" Peter leans off of the wall. Tim's laughter echoes across the tunnel, and Babs' chuckling in his ear doesn't help the matter. "About 6 more, right? That's plenty of time to shut up."

"Wait, how did you-"

"I looked over your shoulder."

"You said you just got there!" Tim protests. Peter jogs to walk in front of him, giving a big huge over dramatic shrug. "Peter!"

"Red Robin!" Peter mimics.

"So, are you apart of the Justice League?"

"That's a long story."

Tim tears out the wire of the last bomb, and with it, Peter knows the fun has come to an end. Tim leans back onto his heels as he crouches down, then decides that he'd prefer to just sit down all together, like Peter is. Peter is sitting close enough that their knees touch, fiddling with the detonator in his hands. He's nervous, is why. Always nervous.

"Batman is."

"I'm not Batman."

"That's obvious." Peter grins at him, leaning back to look at Tim better. With Peter facing the tracks and Tim facing the wall, sitting side by side, it's the only way to get a good look at his face. "You couldn't pull off that voice he does. I'm Batman. See? I can't do it either."

"You haven't had your voice drop yet, kid. And can you please stop waving that thing around?" Tim finally takes the detonator from Peter, who yawns loudly, stretching out the noise just to tick Tim off.

"It's literally fine. I broke it way earlier and you got all the bombs."

"You what?" Tim looks down at the thing. It looks so inconspicuous, for something so deadly. Peter had pulled it apart and snapped the wires about an hour ago, when Tim was focused on the bombs and Peter was talking to Babs, for the most part. Sure enough, when Tim pops open the side, the wires are mangled up.

'Nightwing' had to get off of the comm during the worst of the evacuation outside. There were bound to be troubles and annoyances and accidents, what with this city, and with everything in general just being a nightmare. Someone needed to help clear it all out while the GCPD (those fuckers) had to handle the aftermath with the victims on the train, etc etc, whatever.

Since then, Babs had been keeping tabs on everyone. She keeps Peter and Tim on the line, and occasionally he'll find out what the other heroes are out there doing. Signal had made a brief appearance at some point when he got three people out of one warehouse, and he was fairly surprised to hear Peter, but he hadn't the time to talk. Black Bat had just sent in a single silent communication to Oracle, which means she is as mysterious as ever. And then there's Batman- who has apparently captured Two-Face as of 30 minutes ago.

All he had said was that he was going to drop Two-Face with some GCPD fellows to take him to a high security whatever, and that he'd meet Tim at one of the stations nearby the last bomb. Peter wishes he could have seen Batman fight more. He got Two-Face down for the count in 30 minutes, it's kind of impressive. But he supposes he'll be seeing more of it soon, considering he has to tell them his identity now.

Peter has been messing with Tim for about an hour, so he figures it's time to let it go. He had his fun with the Two-Face thing on the train, he freaked them out a little, and now he's gonna do it.

He just has to work himself up to saying it.

It's just that it's a little hard to do that.

After all, he's never done this before- that being, telling another vigilante, or groups. The Avengers figured it out during the whole kidnapping shit that Peter went through. Peter is one of the most strict about his identity needing to be a secret out of all the Avengers.

Hell, look at Tony. He just went right out and told everyone on the planet. Peter is the complete opposite, in that regard.

Right. Working up to it.

And working up to it means that Peter is gonna slowly work his way into talking about Spider-Man, and then that'll work. Perfect plan, Peter Grayson. No, Peter Parker. He's getting his identities mixed up again… Why does he have to have so many names? Spider-Man, Peter Benjamin John Andrea Parker, Just Parker, and now Peter Grayson.

Heeeeee's stalling…

"…When did you…?" Tim looks down at the useless detonator, scratching his head.

Peter doesn't answer. He lies back to lean on the wall, hands behind his head and throwing his feet out to get comfortable.

"You sound like you don't like them."

"Huh?"

"The Justice League. You said 'It's a long story' like how people say it when they dislike someone."

"We have a complicated history." Tim settles on, putting the broken detonator into his utility belt.

"Does that mean Superman is secretly a jerk?"

"No, it's just… things are complicated. I just don't work with the Justice League unless they need me. I prefer my team."

"Batman and co? I guess that makes sense." Peter shrugs. He knows there are plenty of people with powers and vigilantes that manage to not work with the Avengers.

"I- Yeah, of course." Tim says, and even Peter, not the best at social awareness, can hear that Tim had said this like he just remembered he was apart of the Bats. Now that's curious… "And there's also Young Justice. I work with them a lot."

So that's who Tim really meant when he said he preferred his team.

"Young Justice?"

"Um, yeah?" Tim sounds confused by his question, and Peter pauses. He fucked up.

He… is probably supposed to know who that is, isn't he? Shit. He hadn't done any research on them, all he had seen was about the Justice League and the Bats. He really should have snuck into the library to do more research about this world.

"Ah. Right. Young Justice. I know them." Peter recovers oh so smoothly.

"…You don't?"

Damn. Peter is never gonna catch a fucking break.

"I'm chronically offline."

Tim scoffs at him, standing up and then holding his hand out to help Peter up as well. "I'm fairly sure they teach this in school."

"Okay Rockin' Robin, I don't think either of us should pretend that I go to school." Peter takes his hand, then puts his hands on his hips when he's upright. Tim raises a brow. Oh, right. "Currently. I have, in fact, been inside a school before. At times." Peter saves it.

…Peter had missed 2 years of schooling during his bout of homelessness. He only got into Midtown because he had to go through legal hoops and testing to prove he could keep up with his grades, and get a certification for his middle school education. He's… He's missed an entire month of his freshman year…

He begs Loki to be doing well.

"Yeah, I figured."

Ah, he sounds a little salted about that. Peter forgot he met Tim at Gotham Academy. That must have rubbed in his face the wrong way. Peter holds back a laugh as Tim walks away from the bomb, and towards their designated meeting spot for Batman. Again, Peter recalls that he's supposed to be telling Tim that he's Spider-Man, and that little knot of anxiety in his chest comes back.

"So who's on the Young Justice team? Besides you."

"There's Impulse, one of the speedsters." Peter nods as if he knows what the hell that means. "And… well, it's. Also complicated, right now."

"Sounds like your life is pretty complicated. Justice League, Young Justice, Bats. That's rough, buddy."

Tim ignores him. "But then there's Superboy-"

"Hold on, hold on. He willingly named himself Superboy?"

"Yeah?"

"That's… Like, didn't he want his own name?"

Tim hesitates, then cryptically answers, "…You'd have to ask him. But maybe don't."

"Was it just because he's young?" Peter asks, but then pauses. This is a good opening, isn't it? It is. He should say something. He should say, 'Like, I didn't name myself Spider-Boy.' It would work, and it'd confuse Tim, and they'd laugh.

"I mean, Spider-Man isn't calling himself Spider-Boy."

Literally what is wrong with him?

"I-" Tim stops in his tracks, hands on Peter's shoulders to stop him too. Peter almost flinches, but then remembers that Tim is safe. "That's right! Peter- Have you… met him?"

Oh.

"Spider-Man?"

"Yes. We've been trying to get in touch with him."

Oh.

This could work, too. Peter would like to know what they think of Spider-Man, too.

Babs cuts in, then, and Peter almost forgot she was constantly listening in. "He means that he's been chasing the spider all across Gotham to try and get information about him, but the guy is always just out of reach. It's been driving Double R crazy."

"Yes, thanks, Oracle, for that." Tim gripes, and Peter resists the urge to grin like a maniac. "It's just- you know him, don't you? He went after Ohnn. Is he helping you? Have you spoken to him?"

He's been driving Tim on a wild goose chase? Or no, like a game of bird and spider? This is fucking hilarious. He likes bothering Tim (though Peter has no idea why), but to think he'd been able to bother Tim without even meaning to? God, he's brilliant.

"Oh, yeah, we're pretty close." Peter says cheerfully, and Tim drops his hands from Peter's shoulders, mouth open a little like he can't believe it. Peter presses on: "We see each other all the time, really. Why are you guys looking for him, exactly?"

"To help with catching Ohnn." Tim goes quiet for a moment, and Peter can see the gears turning in his head even with that mask on his face. Suddenly, the humor is a muffled, and Peter is forced to remember why he's getting close to the Bats in the first place.

They've been looking into this the whole time, trying to keep Peter safe. They probably have leads that Peter doesn't, they probably have an idea of how to stop him. If they work together, they'd probably be able to send Peter home pretty quickly. Peter could have been doing that, working with them, if he wasn't such a coward.

"We really want to help, Peter. You know that, right?"

Of course I do. He wants to say it with all his chest. I know you guys are safe. You're good. You're gentle. You're friends.

"…I do, yeah." Is what comes out. Peter smiles softly, raising a brow. "Why do you think I'm bothering you?"

Tim is taken aback, but he recovers quickly. He reaches up to shake his hand in Peter's hair, and Peter ducks, a laugh escaping him as he lets Tim catch him, for once. Even if it makes his hair look ridiculous and stick up all over the place. "You're not bothering me."

Peter's almost taken aback once again at how fond he sounds. All of them, with their stupid voices, sounding like they care about him just as much as they act like it. What assholes. Stupid jerks.

"Really?" Tim nods at him. "I guess I should try harder."

Tim scoffs, dropping his hand from Peter's head, and they continue walking again. There's a beat where it's just them, the silence, and an increasing weight on his mind where Peter wonders if this is the time, now. Second time's the charm, right? Or. No. That's not the phrase. He was close, though.

Peter gulps nervously, taking another second to pump himself up. He can do this. He's got it.

"So, is Spider-Man really that hard for you to find?" He asks.

"No, I know where he is."

"That's a lie." Babs says instantly.

"No it isn't!" Tim squawks, and when he sees Peter's look of disbelief, he presses on indignantly: "I know where he is! It's just that he makes it impossible to catch him. One minute he's in Coventry, the next he's in the West End, and then seconds later he's in the Bowery. Trying to figure out where he's going next is near impossible, no matter how many simulations I run through. How do you meet up with him? Does he come to you?"

Peter squints, his steps faltering as he thinks on that. The thing is… He's fast, but he's not that fast. Is that an exaggeration?

Never mind, it doesn't matter.

He has to say it. This is the perfect time.

It's literally fine.

His stomach feels like it's in knots.

Peter takes a deep breath to steel himself, glancing up at Tim in the corner of his eye. "Hey, Coup-"

"Oracle, I got the fuckheads out of the second house."

Damn it all! Okay, regroup. This is fine, Peter, chill the fuck out. Peter just got the timing weird. It happens all the time!

"Copy that, Hood. Sending the location of the third house to you. It's nearby where you are." Babs replies easily, unaware to Peter's dilemma. Some of the anxiety chips away when he recognizes that it's Jason on the other end of the line (he was so busy freaking out, that he hadn't noticed)- Why is it easier to picture himself saying it to their civilian identities than the vigilantes? They're the same people. Peter needs to be psychologically tested.

"Hey, Red Hood!" Peter can't help but grin. Jason would be chill about it, he thinks, if Peter told him.

"…Peter?"

Or not.

Something in Jason's voice sounds too strangled. Tim's shoulders tense as they walk, and he checks on Peter suddenly, reaching his hand out to pat his shoulder as if to make sure he's there. He doesn't look back at Peter, though.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What are you doing on the frequency?"

"He's with me." Tim says, and Peter can hear the way he pitches his voice up, keeping himself amiable. "Peter was on the train when Two-Face stopped it." Tim says, as if Jason probably wasn't fully aware of that, since Jason had seen them going to that station. "I am forced to babysit him."

"It's not babysitting, because I'm literally not a baby. We're bonding." Peter bumps into his side on purpose. "We're friends now, aren't we?"

Tim is taken aback by the casual way Peter asks, as if it made all the sense in the world. To Peter, it does. They've proven so far that Peter could call them friends. Not family, because Peter already has that. But friends, surely. They feel like it. Peter doesn't have a lot of friends. He has Ned, and he knows people at school, but that's about the extent of it.

"Right." Tim grins, and his spider-sense practically purrs happy! "We are."

"…And who decided to give Peter a comm?"

"That would be me."

"Not Batman?" Red Hood says his name like it's a curse, and Peter feels a chill down his spine from here.

"…Hood-" Tim tries, but Red Hood barrels over him.

"I know he can hear me right now. If you even think about it-"

"Hood, now is not the time to talk about this." Tim snaps. Jason falls silent on the other end, but without him being nearby, Peter can't tell what Jason might be feeling. That only makes him feel more out of place.

Peter is, frankly, astonished. He hadn't heard Red Hood so volatile before, like he wanted to burn right through someone, down to the bone. No, not someone- He wanted to burn through Batman. And what could possibly be the story there, that he'd sound so angry, maybe even a little hurt? Peter must have the question in his eyes, because Tim shakes his head and mouths 'Not right now.'

Which… it's not like Peter was really going to ask. In all honesty, maybe it's better if Peter doesn't know their histories at all.

He's going to leave, after all. He'll never see them again once he's back in his own dimension. They're friends of course. At least, he would like that, and Tim has given the impression that that's okay, but Peter is also looking at them as temporary teammates. He doesn't have to know anything about their personal stories.

(It's the truth, so why does it tear Peter up inside? Why does it sting, like a cigarette pressed into his skin?)

Instead of interpersonal relationships, because trust that Peter will dodge that if he can, Peter asks something else that nags at him. "Batman has been listening?"

Tim has a questioning tilt to his head that makes him really look like a bird, in the costume. "You thought he wasn't?"

"Oracle said she couldn't contact him!"

"I meant that he couldn't speak to us. But Batman usually has his comm on, unless he's actively talking to one of us in person. He's been listening in the whole time, we just can't hear him."

"Huh."

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

Peter wonders just how well Batman was able to concentrate on his fight with Two-Face while Peter was blabbing in his ear… 'Too damn well' is the safest bet. The man is far too smart for his own good. No one tries to mask their body language and succeeds that well unless they're smart. Plus, Gotham's villains are very, very clever and tricky, from what Peter remembers from the wiki and what Gotham has told him. Batman had probably connected Peter's entire backstory and his connection to Spider-Man by now, just based on the train incident alone.

"Speaking of keeping comms on…" Tim has that air in his voice again, like he's hoping he'll cool down the hot coals before they could burn into smoke. "Hood, don't you usually turn yours off by now?"

Hood doesn't reply for a moment.

"Whatever."

"You're still on? I thought you left." Peter asks, and Tim is biting back the most shit-eating grin Peter has ever seen.

"So when it's your favorite little problem maker, you'll stay on comms to listen. But if it's just boring old us, your team and family, you don't. I see how it is, Hood. Have your favorites."

Peter perks up, wondering what Tim could possibly mean by 'favorite little problem maker.' Tim snickers when he notices, something about that pissing him off almost instantly. He squints at Tim, the absolute biggest jerk in the entire universe.

"You're being obnoxious."

"You're being obnoxious."

Red Hood and Peter gripe at the same time. It only serves to make it all a bajillion times worse because Tim and Babs both laugh at them like it's the funniest joke in the world (it's not) and Peter thinks about crawling into a hole and dying. Because the universe will grant him small mercies every now and then, Peter spots the station, finally. To save from Tim mocking him, he runs up ahead.

"Peter, hold up!" Tim calls out, but Peter is already at the entrance.

He has to drop off onto the tracks when he gets there, because the platform doesn't connect to the maintenance paths that these tunnels have. He tip toes in a hurry along the metal, chuckling at Tim when he manages to catch up.

This station is not the one that Peter had been dropped off at- that was further inside the University district. But from what Babs had informed them, it was nearby the edge of the evacuation zone, where everyone was gathering. The main force of the GCPD is up on the street, and Peter can hear from here all of the chatter and panic. Huge trucks and… maybe something like a tank? Damn. They pulled out all the stops for this, but how were they gonna get a tank in the tunnels?

He can also hear the amount of people. There's hundreds, if not thousands, all clamored onto the streets, jam packed together. That's likely where Peter will be able to meet up with Dick and Damian in order to get back to Benny's. If they still want to take him, no doubt this was a long night for everyone-

Wait.

Right. Peter won't be going back to Benny's for a little bit. He has to tell them, and he doubts that they'd just let him drop 'I'm Spider-Man' and then fuck off to have the conversation another time. He got caught up again (he blames Tim for making him embarrassed.)

"Hey-"

"Step up." Tim is already kneeling down, cupping his hands together to give Peter a foothold.

Peter looks up at the platform above him. It's pretty tall, and no doubt, Peter wouldn't get up there by just reaching. He'd have to do what Tim is doing- have Tim lift him up to reach the edge, and them Tim could grapple himself up just fine.

But Peter doesn't need the help.

Oh, this is gonna be hilarious.

Peter steps his foot into Tim's hold, sticking his hand onto the wall with a huge grin. He reaches his other hand up, and Tim's brows furrow in confusion when he doesn't reach up for the platform- it sort of looks like he's just bracing himself against the wall.

He's about to lift is foot out of Tim's hands when someone snatches his coat, behind his neck.

His stomach drops in a panic like no other, instantly letting go of the wall to grab the hand behind him in a vice like grip. Peter dangles above the subway tracks, picking his legs up to kick at the attacker that just appeared out of fucking nowhere-

safe! SAFE! fine! friend! safe!

Eyes wide and one foot ready to kick, Peter feels like he just saw a ghost. His heart stutters to catch up to his fear and panic, letting go of the wrist as soon as he manages to recognize this isn't a threat. Batman sets him down on his feet on the platform, letting go of Peter's hoodie and jacket.

Holy fucking shit balls, Peter has never had that happen before.

His spider-sense has been such an integrated part of Peter, ever since he was first bitten on that Christmas day. His certified Secret Keeping Therapist (SHIELD approved, then Tony approved, then Natasha approved), tells him that her theory is that it reacts to Peter's need for survival. He's constantly had to be aware of mood shifts, possible danger, how to act out a balance that keeps everyone happy and himself alive. Peter doesn't know what to think about that. All he knows is that his spider-sense has never not detected someone before they get near him.

Hell, Peter has scared the Avengers before with how fine-tuned his spider sense is. Natasha is the only one who's ever gotten that close- maybe Loki, too. But-

Batman has the nerve to smile at him. Or, his version of it. A thin white person smile, or close to it. Peter can't even bring his voice to work, too busy trying to catch up to what the fuck just happened.

He had gotten close enough to grab him! He'd picked Peter up and everything, and yet, Peter didn't know it was him or that he was there until it could have been too late.

His heart rackets around his rib cage, a wave of nausea overcoming him. near his spider-sense whispers when Tim grapples up to the platform. Peter feels like he's watching from a 3rd perspective as Tim and Batman talk.

It takes another millisecond that feels like a minute to Peter to understand that he's Slowing Down again. That's when his senses tune up to a hundred and Peter feels like the world around him is slow, but he's taking in everything so fast. His mind paces at a hundred words per second, coming to a conclusion that is written into the picture of Batman in front of him.

Batman did that on purpose.

Peter has sensed the man before, multiple times. Even when they weren't stalking Peter, and he was just walking around Gotham, Peter would know he's nearby and he would go the other direction.

He had wanted to meet in an odd place- why wouldn't he have Red Robin drop Peter off with someone Peter knows, or bring him back to Benny's, and then Red Robin meet him at whatever bat cave they hide in? Unless he had a reason to meet up with Peter, specifically?

"-right, Peter?"

"Huh?" Peter snaps back to it, unable to properly look away from Batman. His suspicious are raised that this is about to get difficult for them. Because Peter has never made anything easy, ever in his life.

Tim pats his shoulder, and something about his smile feels a little too much like he's connecting something in his mind. "Batman asked if you were alright."

"I'm great." Peter replies, trying not to bite stand-offishly. That's not what he set out to do today.

Batman crosses his arms, and Peter catches himself mirroring the pose a second too late to stop, otherwise he looks like the dork in this situation. Whatever, Batman. Peter tries to keep a straight face and not glare at him like he wants to. Let's play this game.

The man has a mission here, and unfortunately, Peter feels like what just happened had pieced something together for him. Peter's senses are wired up, his defenses raising no matter how hard he tries not to, and he can tell that Batman is studying him, like Peter is a puzzle to be figured out.

"What you did was so reckless that you can not even fathom it." Batman starts, and Tim is quick to jump in right as Peter's hackles raise.

"Bat, we've given him plenty of lectures." Tim tries, but Batman keeps his sight set on Peter.

"What were you thinking when you pulled that stunt?"

Peter narrows his eyes at the old jerk. Who does he think he is, lecturing Peter like he's one of Batman's multitude of kids? Like he's a Robin? Who does he think he is sneaking up on Peter?

"Maybe I live for the glory of it." Peter puffs up, indignant to his stupid face and stupid Batman authority. "Maybe I'm an attention seeking brat."

"Hm." Batman grunts at him, and it almost angers Peter to see how the tension releases from him, like Peter had said something funny, maybe. "Somehow, I find it hard to believe that. I didn't see a brat snatch a detonator from Two-Face or knock out three armed men then dodge a bullet that was coming at him from behind."

"Excuse me?" Tim blanches, and Peter's haunches raise.

He knows.

Peter doesn't know why it makes his blood curdle to think of it. (He does.) This was exactly what he set out to do. But he also doesn't know why his heart won't calm down (he does), or why his skin sort of feels like it's buzzing (he does), or why it feels like Peter was just issued a big fat challenge.

"You need to get your eyes checked. All I did was pull the emergency lever. I'm sure if you asked the other hostages, that's what they'd tell you." Peter is banking entirely on the help from two criminals, an old father, a grandmother with a temper, and nameless other people in that crowd, if Batman actually decides to ask them.

"I don't need to ask anyone." Batman sounds too sure of himself. Tim is looking between the two of them like it's a tennis match- Peter, glaring down the big scary Batman, and Batman, who is surely aware that he's looking at a venomous spider. Neither wants to relent first- or maybe that's just what Peter thinks, because Batman says, "We'll talk about this on the way to the Cave. It's too open here."

"To the what?"

There's a brief click from his comm that sounds like Jason's voice, but it's cut off almost immediately. Like Babs had known to do it.

"Batman…" Tim sounds breathless, like it's not a good idea. Peter agrees! He's not going back to their cave to talk about it. No, not after the very obvious stunt the jerk just pulled. He was knows that Peter is Spider-Man, he has to. That's why he wanted to meet here, with Peter, and confront him about what he saw.

And damn, that's what Peter wanted. But Peter's always got a habit of swiping at a hand that tries to get close, and Batman just managed to make Peter want to prove himself.

Because fuck that. Peter is not about to let Batman win. For some reason, it settles under his skin like he's been pricked by barbed wire. To think that Batman was able to sneak up on him? It was one thing when Black Bat did it. It just really grinds his gears that Batman did it, purely to mess with him.

Peter is so gonna get him back for that one.

"Yeah, you will. But I gotta get home and crash." Peter turns on his heel and walks towards the exit leading to the street. He pulls the comm out of his ear and throws it on the ground, then reaches up to his hood.

"Wait, Peter, kid, we can bring you back to Benny's!" Tim tries, jogging to catch up to him.

Peter pulls off three trackers from his hoodie and jacket, where Batman had grabbed his coat. He throws two down on the floor, and then smacks the third onto a poster of Gotham city on the wall as he gets to the steps. The anger cools for a second as Peter looks over his shoulder, building more and more into anticipation. Batman hasn't moved an inch, watching Peter with a much wider grin than before.

He matches it- the smile, and the challenge. "See you later, Batman."

Neither of them follow him up to the street, which is good. But he has a feeling he'll be seeing them soon. Already, a plan is forming in his mind. He'll get Batman back for that jump scare he pulled. He's going to make it the most obnoxious, inconvenient way to do it. It's gotta be big enough that Batman will know Peter won't be snuck up on again, and he won't be ordered around like he's a sidekick.

So caught up in his storm of emotions, Peter is relieved to feel his spider-sense acting as normal (though, so finely tuned at the moment as the paranoia sinks in that Batman could be following at Peter might not know.) close near know! we know! He glances up to see Bus Stop Guy.

No, Giovanni, Peter reminds himself. The guy has a name. Unlike Lanky and Shoes. They don't get names.

It looks like he managed to get away from police questioning after all this time. Giovanni is handing out water bottles and quickly printed papers to people in the huge crowd. Everyone is packed together like sardines, and there's a tension brewing from everyone, like true Gothamites that hate crowds. Peter slinks through them, trying not to touch anyone, as he observes the other people volunteering. He sees no sign of Lanky or Shoes with the man, nor Cane Grandma. Last he heard, Dick had went to speak to them, and wouldn't it make sense to ask them where he last was?

It'll be hard to find Dick in this crowd, and he kind of has to play along with the identity role right now, in order to get Revenge on Batman. (He's starting to sound like a villain, but he swears this is more like a frustration fueled prank where his honor hangs in the balance. Great, now he's talking about honor, like he's Zuko.) Dick is probably…

Is Dick looking for him? He did just kinda get into a spat with Batman down there. What if he backs off from Peter? (Or is that just his insecurity sparking up?)

"Gio!"

His shout has the man looking up instantly. His eyes widen when he sees Peter, and he removes himself from the busy volunteers to meet Peter halfway. He grabs onto Peter's shoulders, checking to see if he's okay, with a smile. "Peter, kid, you're alright! What happened?"

"I gave the detonator to Red Robin." Peter leaves out the part where he hadn't for at least an hour. "I stuck with him because he was worried there might be more goons in the tunnels. But we were fine."

"I'm glad," Giovanni sounds like he really is. "I was worried about you. Hey, listen," Gio grows unsure, but then shakes his head and grows more determined. "Who were you with when you were on the train? Were you by yourself?"

"I-" Peter dodges a someone pushing through the crowd to go yell at the volunteers. Gio sidesteps the man, continuing on.

"'Cause I really don't like the idea of leavin' you by yourself tonight. Do you have a place to stay?" Gio is eyeing his clothes, and particularly the brand new coat that Dick got him. "If you don't, there's an extra bedroom at mine and my wife's place. If you don't mind a two year old asking you a billion questions, that is."

He jokes, and Peter smiles. He'd only known the guy for a few hours, really. Gothamites like to play it like they're all hardasses, but a lot of the people he meets are really nice. Well, they can be both. Gio was planning to stand up to Two-Face to help him.

"That's really kind, but I was with, um, a couple friends. We got separated when I did that whole pick pocketing a rouge thing. Do you know if I might be able to find them?"

"It's a pretty big crowd," Gio looks around like it might help. He pulls Peter towards the outskirts of the crowd, towards the volunteer tables and the police barrier. He whistles to get a cops' attention, and Peter pales.

"No, that's not necessary!" Peter can't deal with any identity whatever, nor does he have the heart to figure out if this cop is chill like Gordon or if he's like every other cop. "I might be able to find them, they're sort of celebrities, I think."

"Huh?"

"Gio!" Someone else calls out, and Gio's eyes snap up into the crowd. Peter swivels to search too, but for Dick and Damian instead. He can sort of feel a familiar sense, but it's kind of hard in the-

there!

Peter spots Dick at the same time Dick spots him. "Found him! I'll see you later, Gio!"

"Wha- oh, be good, kid! No more of the shit you did today, got it?"

"Uh huh!" Peter waves over his shoulder, hearing Gio call out for who Peter thinks is his wife, 'Ales!"

He weaves through the crowd to find Dick. The older man is pushing people out of his way, and before Peter can even give a clever hello, he hears his spider-sense go close safe hug! and he only had a second to brace himself for a hug.

Dick has to lean over a little to hug him fully, because Peter will hit a growth spurt later. He wraps Peter up in a way that feels so familiar, that Peter finds himself blinking in the shock of it. Dick holds the back of his head, pressing Peter's face into his coat, and the other holds Peter's shoulders, keeping him tucked away from the crowd.

"I'm so thankful you're alright."

No, Peter doesn't feel a lump in his throat, or his eyes grow a little hot. But he does hug Dick back, wondering Why it feels like he hasn't been hugged in years. He's gotten hugs before. They… stopped, for a while, when Ben died. He was used to them every day, so that took some adjusting to. But he's gotten them, sporadically, over the years, and then none for two years of not having a home. And then yeah, he doesn't get them all that often from his foster parents or his mentors, and it's mostly just Ned. But Peter isn't a clingy kid, or anything. He doesn't need hugs to survive.

He likes this one. It just feels overwhelming, though, like he's missed it, or something.

Peter pulls back first, and Dick graciously allows that. Peter thinks he does a decent job of hiding how shaken that made him, grinning up at him. "I'm glad you're okay too. I'm-"

Peter almost struggles to say it. But it needs to be said.

"I'm sorry I did that. I mean," Peter backtracks. "-I'm not sorry I did it. But I'm sorry that I scared you?"

Dick's face melts from relief to what Peter refuses to acknowledge as fondness. He sighs, running a hand through his hair and looking far older at the moment, as if the stress had nearly killed him. "I'm really not happy that you did that, especially without telling me, but I'm, just… I'm just glad you're okay. But why? Batman was so close, Peter. You could have gotten seriously hurt, or worse. What would we have done then? What about your Dad?"

All valid questions, sure. But Peter will only answer one.

"My Uncle Ben and his family, they used to say that if you have the ability and opportunity to help someone and you don't follow through with it, then you've failed yourself just as much as you failed that other person." Peter finds it hard to look him in the eye, because the guy looks like a damn puppy dog, all sad and kicked like Peter had really terrified him. But he does meet his eyes again, and is surprised to see that the man is thoughtful, searching. Peter stutters out,

"I- I knew I could help, and, I mean- You were right there?"

Dick's brow furrows in confusion, and Peter realizes his mistake.

He had been confident that Dick would help him if it came to that, because Peter had been aware of everyone in that car the entire time. Dick had been crouched, ready to intervene at the first sign that it was going downhill. He was in perfect range to do that, and Two-Face was distracted enough. If Peter somehow failed himself, Peter trusted that Dick wouldn't let him fall.

But he can't say that. And he doesn't know how else to say it. Because Dick Grayson 'isn't' Nightwing. So he doesn't say anything at all- choosing to let the man make his own interpretation of that.

Dick reaches up to his hair, and Peter totally doesn't lean into the touch like a stupid kid. Dick has a broad smile on his lips. "Sounds like you're of sound mind. But we're gonna have to test that."

"Test what?"

"That you don't have brain damage!" Dick's other hand smushes Peter's face, and he gently shakes Peter around, pretending to check his head while grinning. "Or are you just an adrenaline junkie!? We gotta get you to a doctor ASAP! Were you dropped as a baby!?"

"Hey!" Peter protests, trying to release from the hold like a normal teen, but Dick insists.

"Come on, Crazy Peter." Dick teases, slinging his arm over Peter's shoulder and pulling him through the crowd. "Let's get you back to Benny's, yeah? You need a good rest."

"Two things: It's just Peter-"

"Had a convo with Lanky and Shoes. Sounds like your name is Crazy Peter."

"-secondly, where's Damian?"

"He went back to the library with Jason." It sounds like a lie, but Peter can't dispute it. "He's safe, and now I'm making sure you're safe. I'll walk you back."

He grins to himself. Tucked under Dick's arm, he already feels safe. His spider-sense agrees, always humming to him that danger is farther away when the guy is there. He has a lot on his mind: how the train incident went down, how Batman- and by extension, some of the other Bats too, like Damian- must know he's Spider-Man, how he's going to work around that and get his revenge for that jump scare. But for now, he lets his mind quiet, chatting idly about the crowd with Dick as they start their walk back.

He misses the news cameras. And he doesn't think about Ohnn, even once. There's just so much to keep track of, you know?

Boss is annoying.

Jonathan has never worked well under other people. He prefers to have his hands on everything, he likes to be the one that has the control, who can organize all of their work. He's never had that position, though. That power, the ability to be the best in the room. And lately… He's not of the soundest mind.

He's always had a temper. But it was never this bad, before. But Jonathan also knows his mind is slipping- always slipping, always just out of reach, ever since that snake bite.

He remembers how the fangs sunk into the skin of his arm. He scratches at his wrist now, unseeing of the angry red color. All he really feels is his skin, mottled with scales that grow more and more distinct by the day. It took his body a while to catch up to that wretched bite, to show the proper signs on any form of stability.

One moment, he's fine. He feels human, again, and the rage he has for Dr. Connors is stemmed. In another, he feels the bones under his skin as they stretch, as they change, as his body changes, and something else, something that hisses and spits in his ear, tells him he should tear into Dr. Connors' flesh and leave him as the one who is a shell of a man he used to be.

There's a spark from one of the wires, and his eyes snap onto it in an instant. Right.

Boss is annoying.

Jonathan is failing immeasurably. He hardly faults himself. He's not in his sound mind, not anymore. He knows that. If Boss wanted it done his way, he should be the one to go after Peter. But alas, the fool doesn't want to risk his body in the jump to the alternate dimension. Boss is weak.

Boss tasked him with finding a way that he could keep an eye on Jonathan. He had phrased it as 'Just to talk while you're there' but Jonathan is insane, not a fool. He knows that he wants more control, knows that he shouldn't trust Jonathan.

He hadn't meant to hurt Peter. But that snake that bit into his skin did. There's just something he wanted to tell Peter- and he knew that he could do that, with Boss helping him get the kid alone, without an Avenger in his ear. It just so happened that it aligned with Boss' own plans. That's the only reason- besides Boss' Help- that Ohnn agreed to even do this.

Boss in annoying.

"Are you even listening to me?" Boss snaps, and Jonathan grits his teeth. The fangs in his mouth make it harder to do so, because feeling them there reminds Jonathan that he is less than human, now. And that annoys him too. "Can you do anything right? You can't even listen to me when I'm speaking to you?"

"I'm doing what you asked."

"I asked you to get Peter and keep him in one spot. But you managed to lose him, and now everything has gone to shit. You can't even stop yourself from getting caught! I had to save you. You could at least do one thing correctly."

"What do you think I'm doing right now? Sitting on my ass!?" Jonathan hisses, standing up.

Boss' glare turns icy,and the tech in the room rumbles. Jonathan flinches back- not again. He doesn't want to see any of that again. No, he'll do better.

He sits back down, his head twitching as he tries to calm himself down- calm the snake. "I'm making the interdimensional communicator."

"What do you have so far?"

"I'm about to test it" Jonathan replies, hunched over his work. The screen in front of him flickers to life, showing him the log in. He types it out, making sure that Boss could see it too, so he knows later how to get in. Jonathan had to do a lot of work to make it hard for Stark to get close to them again. It was just in time for Boss to show their location from a storage unit in Queens rather than where they really are. But he doesn't know how Boss managed to get there himself to leave a message for Stark without being seen.

Or maybe he does. Jonathan doesn't like to think about the drones.

The screen turns to a standard interface home page. Jonathan hadn't the time nor the material to make it as advanced as he wanted, and it just needed to be functional. He put everything else into making sure it was untrackable, for now. Stark is clever, he'll figure it out. It only takes a minute for the screen to load to what Jonathan was looking for.

"What is this?"

"I'm making sure it is connected to their internet and cable."

"Cable? Seriously? We just need to be able to talk to each other, not watch fuckin' movies."

"The news stations." Jonathan wonders how Boss became the Boss of the operation. If he hadn't had Jonathan, he'd be stuck going nowhere. The screen shows a couple of news pages, and then one news station on the other side. There's a reporter talking, but Jonathan just checks that it's the right one-

GOTHAM, reads the top, and Jonathan directs his attention elsewhere. But not for long.

"Do you see that?"

Boss has stood up now, pointing at the screen. Jonathan glances up, then goes still. Peter is standing with a man, almost hidden in the crowd. The headline that he had missed in his nonchalance stares at him, alerting him that he had managed to miss a villain attack in Gotham while he's back in 1299 universe.

"Found him."

Boss smacks the back of his head. "You're lucky that he's on the TV to prove he's alive after all! What have you been doing all this time?

"Spider-Man makes it hard to get anything done in that wretched universe!" Jonathan jumps to his feet, and Boss stands his ground. The drones lift up, and Jonathan reels back. In a blind rage, he chooses instead to kick his chair. It skitters across the ground and slams into the wall, denting the metal of the leg and leaving a scuff mark in it's place. "That damned vigilante won't let me get anywhere! I'll be there for five minutes and suddenly he's there!"

Boss is quiet as Jonathan collects himself. He leans away from the drones as if they're sentient, as if he could placate them to leave him alone.

"…Spider-Man?"

"He managed to make some counter-tech to mine." Jonathan hisses, putting his weight on his hands, trying to feel the cold of the table rather than the burning fury in his veins, spitting and desperate to bite. "Detects my jumps. And then he shrinks and grows, shrinks and grows… Always there, always bothering me. Can't get to steps without him there. Bastard."

Boss is quiet again, for a long time. He lets Jonathan cool himself before he says anything more.

"I want you to focus on catching Spider-Man or Peter."

Jonathan looks up at Boss. He's grinning to himself, staring out the window with amusement. He always makes that damned face when he thinks he knows more than other people. Jonathan doesn't know what is so damned funny, or what he missed.

(His mind is no longer his, after all. It's always a gamble on what Jonathan does or doesn't know. What he can comprehend, and what he can't.)

"Why?"

"I have a new plan. Better than before." Boss scoffs, as if Jonathan should have been able to keep up. "This time, let's see if Stark will refuse to bend and hand over that company, and EDITH along with it."