Reviews
I-Hate-Freaks: If you don't like the story, you can leave it. I'm writing this because I enjoy it.
DJ Rodriguez:
Chapter 4: Yes, the horror of someone not knowing Disney. LE GASP!
Chapter 5: I had fun writing the interactions very well.
Now on with the story!
Origins Issue 06: The Interdimensional Spider-Gang
CLICK.
CLICK.
CLICK.
CLICK.
After seeing Spider-Man, Spider-Woman and a guy dressed up as a bat jumping off the balcony of Alchemax University, Kingpin stood still, just clicking his fancy pen in hand, staring off into the distance. His mind wanders off to memories of his family, his wife Vanessa and their son Richard.
He remembers the birthday they had for their son, the boy's laughter echoing in his mind before he was battling Spider-Man himself weeks later, and had the Wall Crawler by the throat, and then Vanessa and Richard walked in and saw them.
He remembered the looks of horror in their faces before they ran out of the house.
"Wait! Vanessa! Richie! Don't go!" Wilson shouted after their driving away car. He remembers Richard was looking back at him before his mother gestured for him to not look back.
And then a semi truck slammed into the left side. Vanessa died upon impact, Richard a few minutes later.
CRACK.
The pen broke apart in Kingpin's hand. Just then Doctor Octavius climbed onto the balcony. Tombstone aimed his guns at her, only for one of her tentacles clamped onto his throat and she looks at Kingpin with an almost innocent expression while Tombstone kept his guns aimed at her.
"I killed Spider-Man," Kingpin said slowly. "Why did I just another with a Spider-Girl and a guy dressed as a bat?"
"All together, there are four Spiders," Octavius replied, with a smile. "The Bat has Spider powers too."
Kingpin growled. He didn't like the sound of that.
"It's okay," Doc Ock said to him soothingly. Almost hypnotically. "It means my Collider works. In twenty four hours, you can bring your family back. As many families as you want. All we need to do is kill a handful of spiders. . . and a bat."
Kingpin stared at her impassively before waving his hand at Tombstone to stand down. Tombstone lowers his guns and Doc Ock lets go of his throat.
"Get my collider up and running," was all Kingpin said as he walked away. "And take care of those bugs. And the flying rat."
"Our collider," Octavius corrected with a smile.
"So the security guard at your Visions Academy has it out for you too, huh?" Nico asked Hunter as they all sat on a bus that was driving back to the city. He sat next to Gwen while Peter B. was sleeping in the far back and Hunter was across from the two teens in the bus.
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Hunter replied. "The guy's a constant pain in the ass."
"I call the guard Larry Dale, just to spite him," Nico replied. "But truthfully, it's because some bullies wanted to get me expelled that they dressed up as me and tried to frame me for vandalizing school property. But even before that, he didn't like me at all. I think he might be a racist and he's just-"
"Looking for any evidence to get you kicked out?" Hunter finished.
Nico nods his head. "Yeah, exactly." Then they both say, "Good luck with that."
Nico chuckles before realizing something. He made a grunt that sounded like a mix of 'Oh' and 'Hup!' "I just remembered," he muttered and started to gag.
Hunter looks at him in confusion. "What? Are you carsick?"
Gwen realized what was going on. "Oh no," she muttered as Nico kept on gagging.
"Hey, what's going on back there?" the bus driver asked as he looked at the mirror above him.
Nico kept on gagging before the override key/flashdrive was vomited out of his mouth and he caught it in his hand, along with a bit of vomit.
"Bleh!" Nico gagged before clearing his throat. "Worth it." he said.
"You ate a flashdrive?" Hunter asked in surprise while Gwen gagged in disgust.
"My Sense told me to not let the hobo get it," Nico replied with a shrug. He looks at the override key/flashdrive in his hand.
"I'm not a hobo!" Peter B. calls from his spot in the back of the bus.
"No? Then why were you dressed like one?" Nico jabbed. He looks at the drive in his hand. "We might need a new one. . . "
Gwen rolls her eyes in response to that. "Gee, I wonder why?" she drawled.
"Okay, that aside," Hunter said, "It's nice to finally have somebody to talk to about this who won't worry about your safety and whatnot."
"You can say that again," Gwen replied. "Two years and I'm still nervous to tell my dad about me being a vigilante despite the fact I saved his life." She frowns as she thinks of the other reason why her father, the lawful cop, doesn't like Spider-Woman in her world.
Peter B, Nico, Gwen and Hunter now stood in front of a house in a neighborhood in New York. Peter B. rings the doorbell with his web shooter.
". . . We shou- . . . We should probably go." Peter B says nervously to the three, pointing in a random direction.
Gwen replies in a restrained patient voice. "Peter, we're literally on the doorstep."
While he wasn't showing it, Nico did sympathized with Peter B since it would be hard for him to talk to his parents that are alive in another dimension when they're supposed to be dead in his world.
"Bad idea. This is a bad idea." Peter B says as he starts to walk away from the house but is pulled back by Hunter's web shooter, the punk teenager saying, "Just relax."
"You guys are all very sweet but no more fans today, please." May Parker says in a tired tone as she opens the door, holding a baseball bat in hand. Only to see an older version of Peter Parker standing in front of her house.
". . . I'm not ready for this." Peter B says nervously as May gasps in shock and drops her bat.
". . . Peter?" May asks in disbelief as she slowly walks up to the older variant of Peter Park and touches his face and chest to confirm that he's real.
"Hey, Aunt May. . . " Peter B said softly. "So this is gonna sound crazy, but I'm pretty sure that I'm from an- "
"An alternate dimension." May finishes as she caresses his face and Peter B. just says ". . . Yeah," in slight shock while Nico, Gwen and Hunter also looked surprised that May figured that out.
"You look tired, Peter." May says softly.
With a light chuckle, Peter B replies, "Well, I am tired."
"And older. And thicker." May adds as she sees Peter B's belly while the man just grumpily replies "Yeah. I've heard that already."
"Oh jeez. Are those sweatpants?" May asks as she lets go of Peter B., slightly disgusted as Gwen confirms. "Yes, yep, that's what they are."
"Mrs. Parker, I was there. . . when it all happened. I am so sorry." Nico says to May, stepping forward.
May just turns to the Native American teen and asks, "And what dimension are you from?"
"Well, originally, I'm from northwestern Idaho but I live with my grandfather in Brooklyn." Nico remarked. "Look, we're on a bit of a tight schedule. Did Peter have a place where we could make another one of these?" he asked May while holding out his flashdrive.
"A goober. Follow me." May says as she recognizes the device, her eyes narrowing in a determined glare as she led the four spider people to the shed in the backyard.
"Oh yeah, I got one of these too." Peter B. says to Nico, Hunter and Gwen. "A little old shed where I keep my spider-gear."
May then unlocks the padlock as the shed suddenly glows and opens a high tech elevator door with a glowing white spider symbol. May smirks and nudges at the four to join her and they enter.
". . . I mean, this place is pretentious…" Peter B. says, clearly sounding jealous as they go down the elevator.
Nico and Gwen look around Peter's Spider Lair and sees that it is filled with many suits and souvenirs from his adventures plus a red and blue jeep and motorcycle with a airplane hanging from the ceiling
"Dang, I should get myself a place like this." Hunter said in an impressed tone.
"Dude. Was yours anything like this?" Nico asks Peter B. "Wow, this feels like a real life Bat Cave."
"Mine was like this, but take away the jeep, the plane. Imagine it way smaller. Imagine a futon." Peter B says as he gives the Native American teen a visualization of his version of the Spider Lair.
"I feel sad for this guy." the older Peter Parker jokes as he tries to reassure himself until he sees a portrait of Mary Jane which he picks up and looks at longingly.
Nico looks at the different spider suits and sees Peter B. with the picture. He recognizes the same look in the man's eyes, knowing it was similar to the look he gives to the photos of his parents and sister. Like the one his grandfather gives to the pictures of his deceased wife.
"Hey, Pete. I think this is a cape." Nico says as he decides to distract Peter B. and shows him a spider suit with a cape which makes Peter B chuckle while Gwen looks in amusement. Nico then sees the original spider suit in front of him. He sees his reflection in the glass, smaller than the suit.
"It always looks like it's not going to fit, but it does eventually," Hunter said to him as he looks at the spider suit before looking at Nico with a reassuring look.
Nico furrowed his brow before realizing what he was really talking about. The mantle Spider-Man left behind. "Thanks," he said to the older teen who shrugs. "No prob."
"Peter knew how dangerous the job was." May spoke up. "But he figured the only one who could stop this guy was Spider-Man." she adds as she along with Nico, Hunter, Peter B, and Gwen approaches a large evidence board with Wilson Fisk/Kingpin at the middle as the main target with photos of the Sinister Six and a couple of scientists working on the Super Collider.
"Kingpin knows we're coming. We're gonna be outnumbered." Nico points out to the other Spider-people
May sassily replies, "Don't be so sure. You might need these." as she holds out markers and empty name tags. Just then the four Spider-People's Spider Sense went off. They were not alone in the cave. Peter B instantly looked upwards while the four younger Spiders looked around before looking up.
In the darkness, Nico sees red digital eyes along with two pairs of white eyes.
"You think you're the only people who thought to come here?" May smugly asks as the four look up at the other three Spider People.
"Hey fellas." Spider-Man Noir greets, tipping his fedora hat at them, sounding just as old as Peter B. if not a little younger. The wind was blowing his trenchcoat like a cape.
Hunter leans to Nico and asks "Is he in black and white or am I tripping?"
"Nah, I see him in black and white too," Nico replied, just as confused and surprised while Gwen furrows her brow.
"Where's that wind coming from? We're in a basement." Peter B asks in confusion and honestly he had a point. How was the guy's trenchcoat flapping?
Spider-Man Noir replies dramatically, "Wherever I go, the wind follows. And the wind, it smells like rain."
"Must be nice," Nico remarked.
"Hi guys!" Peni Parker, looking like a Japanese Anime schoolgirl, says before she speaks Japanese as she and her near ten foot tall blue and red robot strike a couple of dramatic poses.
". . . An Anime Japanese schoolgirl Spider-Girl," Nico states in surprise. "Well how about that?"
". . . This could literally not get any weirder." Peter B says with a befuddled expression while Nico and Gwen look at each other in confusion and May just watches amusedly.
Hunter saw something else before the others did. "You just jinxed it, old man." he jabbed at the older Spider-Man.
"It can get weirder!" A cartoon animorphic pig walked forward and held a soaking wet hand out to the others to shake. ". . . I just washed my hands, that's why they're wet. No other reason." Spider-Ham says to Peter B, who looked SO done with his life.
And suddenly, all the Spider People's Spider Senses sensed each other. They all point at one another and say in unison, "You're like me."
Nico paused and recalled the voices that spoke in his head the night Peter Parker died. At one point there were voices in his head that were not his own saying the same thing, "You're like me." He looks at the Spider People before him and realizes that those voices were from them all.
(Three comic books then appear above the previous as it shows Spider-Ham, Spider-Man Noir, and Penni Parker on the covers.)
"My name is Peter Benjamen Parker ."
(Spider-Man Noir is standing in the rain looking up.)
"My name is Peni Parker."
(Peni Parker is looking to the fourth wall with a cheerful expression.)
"My name is Peter Porker."
(Spider-Ham is eating a hotdog while hanging off a line of web.)
Where did he get the hotdog? No one knows.
(The screen splits in three comic panels, Noir on the left, Penni in the middle and Porker on the right.)
""I was bitten by a radioactive spider."" Both Spider-Man Noir and Peni say in unison while Porker says, "I was bitten by a radioactive pig."
(A glimpse of Noir and Peni getting bit by their spiders while Peter Porker was a normal cartoon spider before he was bitten by a radioactive pig and this transformed him into a pig. Both Noir and Peni glance over at Porker's panel in surprise.)
"In my universe it's 1933, and I'm a private eye. I like to drink egg creams, and I like to fight Nazis. A lot."
(Noir sits at a chair in a bar and drinks egg cream, he works as a private detective/cop Spider-Man before he punches a Nazi in the face.)
"I'm from New York in the year 3145. I have a psychic link with a spider who lives inside my father's robot. And we're best friends. Forever."
(Peni holds up her hand as the mentioned spider climbs on her wrist before it was shown inside the mech known as SPR-DR. Peni is then seen hugging the spider controlled robot lovingly.)
"Sometimes I let matches burn down to my fingertips just to feel something, anything."
(Noir holds a burning match and lets it burn down to his fingertips but sighs sadly as he felt nothing.)
"I'm a photographer for the Daily Beagle. When I'm not pooching around, I'm working like a dog trying to sniff out the latest story."
(Peter Porker is seen taking photographs with a camera before he is seen running for his life.)
"I frolic and I dance and I do this with my pants."
(Peter Porker continues as he is seen doing what he said before frolicking, dancing and stretching his pants over his face for some random reason.)
And then Peter angrily interrupts him. "Okay! Enough!"
Meanwhile May, Nico, Hunter and Gwen just watched amused.
"So uh, how did you all get here?" Hunter asked the other three Spider People (Or two Spider People and a Spider Pig), straight to the point.
"Well it's kind of a long story." Spider-Man Noir replied.
Two days ago. . .
The Super Collider is once again seen exploding in Brooklyn before the three Spiders are shown flying through the sky and then smashing into billboards of Times Square close to each other. They then look around with confused expressions.
What just happened?
Back in the Spider Lair. The the three all stare at Hunter and the others.
"Maybe not that long." Spider-Man Noir admits sheepishly.
"And now we're just trying to find a way home." Peni says in a sad voice as SPR-DR has a digital sad face.
"The only way home is back through that Collider gizmo. The only trouble is-" Noir starts to explain but Porker finishes for him. "One of us has to stay behind and destroy it."
All the Spider People were silent before almost all of them (Minus Peter B. and Gwen) said in unison, "I'll do it."
Nico remembered what Doc Ock had said to Peter B. back in Alechmax Campus. "No, no, no. You guys don't get it." the Native American teen says frantically.
Peni looks at him in confusion and asks "Don't get what?"
She gets her answer when everyone from other worlds suddenly glitches in multiple colors and shapes, crying out in pain and dropping to the floor. Not even SPR-DR was spared.
They all recover before Nico continues, "None of you can stay here. If you stay, you'll die. I'm from this dimension and I don't have to worry about glitching to death. So I'll destroy the Collider. And I'll get you all home before I do."
"Look, I made a promise. So I have to keep it." Nico finishes as everyone else looks at him in admiration before Noir suddenly asks, "Who are you again? Zorro?"
"Or the Grey Ghost?" Peni asked.
Sighing, Nico looked up at the ceiling in annoyance. Why does it seem that every Spider-Person (Save for Gwen and Hunter) mistake his costume for Zorro or the Grey Ghost?
"This is Nico, the Batman and he's gonna save the multiverse." Peter B says as he sides with Nico, the Native American teen agrees with him, saying. "Yeah."
Peni, Porker, and Noir now just stared at Nico with questioning or blank expressions.
"Look, I've seen him in action. He's got potential." Gwen spoke up. She looks at Nico. "I think he's gonna get us home."
The Native American teen looks at Gwen and nods to her, thankful for her speaking on his behalf like so.
"Okay, Man of Bat," Noir stepped forward to Nico. "Kingpin's gonna send a lot of mugs after ya. I'm talkin' hard boys, real biscuit boxers. Can you fight them all off at once?" He said dramatically, punching the air a couple of times and entering a boxer's stance.
"I'll do my best," Nico shrugged, entering his own fighting stance. "Can't be completely different from fighting bullies. Just add the fact that they actually want to kill me."
"Surprise attack!" Noir suddenly shouts and swings his leg at Nico's legs only for Nico to quickly catch himself and cartwheel to his feet.
Gwen rose an eyebrow noting that Nico copied her move from their own spar in the subway station.
"Not much of a surprise attack if you shout it," Nico remarked to the black and white Spider-Man.
"Can you rewire a mainframe while being shot at?" Peni asked in a serious tone with a matching expression while tossing what looked to be a black phone.
"Rewiring isn't my strongest forte," Nico answered bluntly, tossing the device aside. And then he's punched in the face by Hunter. "Ow! Dude, what?"
Hunter looked at Noir and said simply, "That's a surprise attack."
"Can you swing and flip with the grace of a trained dancer?" Gwen asked.
"Dancing's not my thing." Nico replied with a shake of his head. "Unless you're talking about traditional Native dancing."
"Can you close off your feelings so you don't get crippled by the moral ambiguity of your violent actions?" Noir asked, sounding like he himself has some issues.
"You sound like you need some therapy," Nico pointed out as he ducked under Hunter's swinging guitar. "I can hook you up with my therapist for a couple of sessions."
He gets knocked off his feet in response.
"I didn't hear a no!"
"Can you help your aunt create an online dating profile so she can get out of the dang house once in a while?" May suddenly asked, walking forward from where she stood with an intense expression.
Nico didn't know if he should laugh at the absurdity of the question or be very confused because what did that have to do with fighting criminals. Then again. "You know, you're the second person in my family to ask me that." was what he settled for a response. Then he tilts his head at the gray haired woman with a considered expression. "How old are you?" he asked, thinking he set May up with a member of his family that is looking for a date.
Then he is punched by Gwen and he sees Spider-Ham floating above him. What?
"Can you float through the air when you smell a delicious pie?" the Spider pig asked while smelling something. Peni looked at him in confusion from sitting on top of her mech.
"Only in my dreams, Porker," Nico replied honestly, shaking his head lightly. "Only in dreams."
"Can you be strong?" Gwen asked.
"Ruthless?" Peni asked with a ruthless anime expression, doing a throat slicing gesture with her right hand.
"Disciplined?" Gwen asked.
Nico hesitated briefly before answering. "I'm willing to do what it takes."
"Psychic?" Peni asked next.
"I have spider powers, I'm not Charles Xavier," Nico replied bluntly. The Anime girl tilted her head in confusion.
"Show me moxie, soldier," Noir said.
Hunter offers Nico a hand to pull him to his feet. "Above all, no matter how many times you get hit, can you get back up?" the hardcore punk teen asked firmly.
"You're going to have to snap my spine and legs or put me six feet under to find your answer," Nico replied grimly before lunging forward only for his fist to get caught by Hunter and then he was thrown over the punk's shoulder and he hits the ground hard.
"'Cause when a Spider-Man is on the floor." Noir spoke up.
Ham kicks Nico in the chest, knocking him on the ground. "When you think you can't keep going. Force yourself to get back up."
This training session continued for about two and a half hours and Nico was really being put through the ring of it.
At the final two minutes, the more experienced Spider themed vigilantes gave encouragment for the Native American teen to get back up, push through his exhaustion.
Nico's breathing got heavier and he felt anger boil in his skin. Anger that has been repressed for almost ten years. He growls a bit, the lenses of his bat cowl narrowing as he looks up to the others and rises to his feet.
Everyone looks at him as he spat some blood on the ground. "Well? Is that all you got?" he asked, challenging them to keep on sparring with him. "My heart's still beating and I can still stand."
The Spider-Gang all looked at one another before Hunter stepped forward. The two teens enter a fighting stance before Nico charges forward. The Native American teen changes his fighting style from boxing to Chinese Kung Fu while Hunter begins to fight Nico like a drunk.
After ten minutes of trading blows or blocking punches, Hunter then catches Nico's next punch in his hand and then puts him in an armlock. "You fight like a young man," the hardcore punk teen points out. "Not holding anything back. It's pretty admirable, Bats, but it's also mistaken. You need to be ruthless, yes. Strong, definitely. But this is when you need to fight with discipline like Gwen had said. Fight without emotion like Noir said. Or at least tried to say. You need to fight with a clear head or the Sinister Six, who have experience fighting Spider-Man will use your emotions against you."
Then he body slams Nico to the ground, knocking the air out of him.
"Okay, guys, let's give him a break." Peter B. said to the others.
Nico sat up, rubbing the back of his head with a hiss of pain. Hunter crouches down next to him.
"Sorry about that, Bats," Hunter said apologetically.
"Nah, it's fine." Nico replied. "You guys didn't have anyone giving you tips on how to do any of this, even if some of you haven't been doing it longer than five years and such. You're just teaching me the way you probably wish you were trained."
"Well, still maybe we shouldn't be that harsh on you," Hunter replied. "You're still a kid."
Nico sighed in response. ". . . I haven't really been a kid since I was seven years old, Hunter." he said.
". . . With how you've been fighting, I figured," Hunter said after a moment. He then lists all the martial arts Nico had used during the two hour spar. "Boxing, Kung Fu with Tae Kwan Do and Karate, plus kick boxing? If I didn't know better, I'd say you have trained for this."
The Native American teen chuckles hollowly in response. He reaches up to his bat cowl and takes it off and holds it in his hand. "Not for this, but for something else." he replied as he looked at the cowl in his hand.
Hunter rose an eyebrow. "You were actually thinking of becoming Batman?" he asked.
"I've gone through the same thing Bruce Wayne went through at a young age," Nico replied, a bit vaguely. "I didn't have the money or the drive to travel the world and train like Bruce did, so I settled what was offered here in New York. I kinda lost the drive to follow through with it after I started going through therapy a year ago."
". . . Or maybe the drive just went dormant for a bit." Nico said, more to himself than to Hunter.
"Something tells me there's more to it," Hunter stated.
Nico stiffened at that and lowered his head a bit. He grabs his left hand as it shakes a bit. "It's in the past, it doesn't matter." he said monotonously as he stood up. "I need some air. It's a bit stuffy down here."
He moves to walk the elevator platform before Hunter speaks after him, "It may be the past, Bats, but stuff like that really shapes your future. It's best to confront it and not run away from it."
Nico glanced back at him before looking away as the elevator rose up. Hunter stared up after his form before turning and walking to the Spider-Gang.
"-I know he's green," Peter B. says in defense of Nico, apparently the others were still having doubts about letting him on the mission. "But he just recently got bitten, of course he's going to be green."
"He does have the potential," Gwen added.
"And add on that he's trained to fight will make it easier for him to fight criminals," Hunter said in support.
"I'm still not sure about this," Noir spoke up. "He's just a kid."
Hunter turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "So were you." he points out, glancing at Peter B with his eyes. "So am I." He tilts his head at Gwen and Peni. "And so are they."
Nico walked through the streets of Brooklyn, wearing his jacket over his Batman costume and listened to a few voicemails and messages from his friend Miles and the kid's parents. He winced realizing that he had not Miles and his family like he usually does for the weekend and his grandfather may not have told them anything.
But then he saw a message from someone he hadn't spoken to in a long time. Barbara Gordon, an old friend of his. He clicked on the contact and read the message.
Barbara: Hey, Nic. It's been, what, a year since we last spoke? I know it's random for me to speak to you again, but a few things have happened. One, the night Spider-Man died, I was at a mall and I thought I saw you running through the building while shouting at people to move out of the way. Then later, my dad told me that he picked you and a blonde girl with a dog up and drove you to your street before he was called to duty. Said something about you being soaking wet as well. And today, I bumped into someone wearing what looked like your Halloween costume here at Alchemax Campus.
Barbara: Crazy, right? But a lot of things happen here in New York. So, was that you? If so, I know we haven't spoken to each other in a long time, but we're still friends, and you can talk to me about anything.
At the mentions of him running through the mall and being driven by Captain Gordon, Nico grimaces slightly. He should have known that there was a chance that someone was there to recognize his voice and Gordon could have told someone in a conversation. At least he hasn't told Officer Morales.
Then he furrowed his brow at the mention of Alchemax Campus. Was Barbara one of the security guards that shot at him, Gwen and Peter B. with a laser gun?
But then a clear memory came to his mind's eye. The student that he bumped into in the hallway when he and Gwen were running away from Doc Ock's office. How did I miss that? the Native American teen thinks to himself, stopping in his tracks and facepalming.
Nico thinks about responding. What does he do here? He hasn't spoken to the girl in a year. It wasn't because they used to date, but they just went their separate ways in life. She went to Alchemax with a plan to apply to a police academy and he was enrolled in Visions Academy. Live in the same city they may, but it was hard to keep in touch and not from the lack of trying. Could he trust her with all this?
He does need to tell someone. Maybe it doesn't have to be his family like Cecil has suggested.
I can't tell you on the phone, he eventually replies. Meet me at Central Park during Winter Break. With that, he continues to make his way to Aaron's apartment.
He expected both Miles and his uncle to be there, like they were last weekend, but that's not the case here.
He decides to leave a note for the two of them. But then before he gets to the middle of the letter, his Spider Sense goes off. There's someone outside. He looks out to the window and sees a shadowy figure moving on the fire escape. He narrows his eyes and slowly pulls the cowl over his face. Then he sees the hands of the figure reach around the bottom of the window with the sound of metal tapping the wood. It was a familiar pair of gauntlets.
It was the Prowler.
"Not this fucker again."
